Author's Note: This is a gift for Ares on Ao3. :)
~ Tirana Sorki
They're finally off Tantiss and being given their first mission, though CX-2 didn't think their first mission would entail hunting down another CX.-0, who went off-radar, and was detained by the people he was sent to take out.
Pathetic.
Really.
"Are you clear?" CX-1 asks.
He can't help rolling his eyes. "I'm clear," he snaps back, "I only heard the mission details three times. I'm beginning to think you just like hearing yourself talk."
The glare is impressively hard even through the helmet. "Stay focused."
"I am focused. Stop giving me orders."
"I am the one in charge of this mission."
CX-2 crosses his arms and scowls fiercely at the person who is supposedly one of his brothers. How he could be related to someone so annoying, he still doesn't get. "And I'm well aware of what the mission is. You can stop repeating it."
"That's good," CX-1 tells him flippantly, "Because your life is depending on it."
He knows that. Everything on Tantiss depends on usefulness, and if they fail, they die. They'll die eventually, anyway – no one can survive an infinite number of assassinations, but that doesn't mean CX-2 is very keen on it being fast.
Not that it matters.
How would it matter if he died, except that he wouldn't have done enough for the Empire?
(The Empire that has given him nothing, only taken and ripped him apart until there's – there's nothing left to take?)
That's the only life he has. All that matters, but...
Focus.
He swears he didn't used to be like this, but he can't remember a time he wasn't. This is all he ever does remember even if there're fleeting moments where he can't help thinking that it feels like there was something... before.
Whatever that even means.
He could hardly have been born at whatever age he is now, after all. Not that he has any real knowledge of the passage of time on Tantiss. But –
It doesn't matter. Nothing but the mission matters. That's all there is and he needs to stop thinking about anything else.
That's probably why CX-1 is being so annoying. They can't afford to get distracted, but he keeps letting it happen.
CX-2 has never seen a city before though something about the city they're flying through now looks familiar. He shakes off the sensation, keeping his focus on where their target is.
They're tracking CX-0's tracker, and it's leading them down somewhere in the underworld of Coruscant.
They leave their ship behind once they're on the right level, approaching the target on foot to conceal themselves. There's no one outside the building. CX-1 motions him forward, sprinting up to the entrance and forcing the door open.
The place looks like some kind of mechanic's shop. There's machine parts and various kinds of ships everywhere, and it does well to conceal them.
CX-2 can hear voices filtering in from the far side of the room.
They move across the room together, until they're close enough that they can see the targets. There are six of them.
CX-0 is restrained to a beam behind him.
YOU ARE READING
Winter Force 99
FanfictionOne of Hemlock's operatives, Crosshair remembers nothing of his past. At least not until he runs into what's left of Clone Force 99. Bit by bit, he starts to remember his brothers and begins to realize that another one of the CXs working with him ma...
