The Bad Batch: One Shot Collection

BBAW Day Three

Author's Note: I hate how awkward this came out. Ik Hunter and Omega are gonna be having issues after being apart for so long, but this just came out cringey. T_T

Warning: Suicidal thoughts. Just a brief mention, but still there.

PS. This is a gift for SnipsSkywalker on Wattpad.

~ Rivana Rita

Bane is still sore about how Omega escaped him before, and when he has a chance to get her again, he doesn't let it slide. Or, in which Bane kidnaps Omega again, and Hunter doesn't know how he lost his kid again.

An icy, raw fury curls inside him, licking and nipping, tearing him apart.

Omega's gone.

Again.

He doesn't know how he keeps failing her. Hunter just wants to make sure all his kids are safe, but he has no idea how to. He failed Crosshair. Tech. Omega. Again. And again.

"If you can't pay the bounty, I'm sure the Empire will," Bane finishes, smiling smugly. Omega's lying beside him, still and unmoving. The hologram warps what she looks like, but there's soot smeared on her face, and she looks hurt. She's too still.

He hurt her.

Bane cuts off the connection before Hunter can formulate anything, not that he hasn't already gotten a signal trace, anyway.

"We don't even have half those credits!" Wrecker whines.

The deal is insane. Bane's demanding twice the bounty the Empire placed on the kid, and Wrecker's right. They don't have half that amount. Hunter and Wrecker scrapped by the entire time Omega was on Tantiss. There were many days they never even got to eat. It hadn't mattered. They could recover later. Protecting Omega was all that did. But – Omega's gone, again, and Hunter doesn't know how Bane snatched her out from right under their noses.

"It's too risky," Crosshair says quietly – it's still so strange for him to be here. "We can't let the Empire get her again."

Hunter wholeheartedly seconds that. They can deal with a bounty hunter. Not – the last time they fought the Empire, it cost them Tech. They can't – go through that again. "We have the coordinates. We'll have to go there and scout out."

He doesn't mention how he failed to fight Bane the last time they saw him. Hunter lost. He was too slow, and the kid was taken. She was so scared, and he'd vowed with everything he had not to be too slow again.

But he failed.

Again.

Wrecker sighs. "The last time we fought Bane, it didn't go so well."

"What happened?" Crosshair queries.

"He got the kid, an' shot Hunter."

Crosshair's head swivels towards Hunter, and he opts to ignore it. He wants to call Echo, but asking him for help isn't what they need. Hunter's gotta figure this out. He's the one who failed. Not Echo. Echo's busy. He has his brothers to worry about. Omega is Hunter's responsibility, and he can't go to his older brother every time he can't do his own job.

"Where were you?" Crosshair asks.

"We – uh – got separated."

He doesn't know how he keeps failing.

"Every choice you have made since Kallar has been wrong."

"They're all going to die here because of your failed leadership."