The Bad Batch: Oneshots

The Bad Batch: Light In The Dark P3

     Omega listened to Saw drag on the conversation with the vendor. He seemed to be in no hurry to wrap things up. The girl stared at the pile of shirts and trousers sitting stacked on the table ready to be packaged if a certain merchant would do his job.

"Saw," Omega asked with a slight hint of boredom in her voice, "Are we almost done here?"

Saw, feeling the judgement, rolled his eyes. "Gimme one more minute to catch up, kid. Why don't you go look at the luxury clothing in the stand next to us?" He jerked his thumb to the right before continuing his discussion of the latest pod race.

Omega grumbled to herself just as Hunter appeared next to her.

"Yeah, I know how you feel," the sergeant said, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"If this is going to take a while..." The girl eyed the clothing that Saw had previously mentioned.

"For a few minutes I suppose," Hunter agreed.

He watched as Omega bound over to the table of colorfully beaded shirts, examining each and every one. His heart warmed as she looked like a real kid doing normal kid things. The sergeant made sure to stand just a few feet away from her; his arms were crossed over his chest as he stood in a supervising manner.

"Hey, Sergeant." Saw's voice cut into Hunter's thoughts. "He's ready for the payment."

"Took long enough," Hunter mumbled. "Omega, come on. We're leaving in a second," he called to the girl.

Hunter turned his back, reaching for the spare credits in his rear pouch.

"How much?" Hunter asked the merchant.

"That'll be sixty credits," the Pantoran stated, eying the currency in the man's hand.

Hunter scowled. He was ten credits short. Sighing, he looked into the crowd, catching Crosshair walking toward the stand.

The sniper tossed the main bag over to his brother. "We still have a good amount left over from Shep. The last of what we need is fishing gear."

"Great." Hunter handed the Pantoran the rest of the credits.

Crosshair stood in silence. Despite the crowd's chaotic roars, it was too quiet. Much too quiet. But what was missing? Saw was standing to the side making more conversation with the salesman, Hunter was gathering the paid for items, Omega was standing next to Hunter and–

Crosshair's eyes fell back to the kid next to Hunter, only this kid was a different human child with a similar height and hair color to Omega, but it was certainly not Omega.

"Sorry," a feminine voice said, brushing past the sniper. "She wandered off." The mother of the kid grabbed the child's hand, leaving the clone squad with one less member than they originally started with.

"Hunter," Crosshair hissed. "Where the kriff is Omega?"

Hunter's head snapped to the spot where he had seen her last.

Empty.

"S-She was right there a minute ago." The sergeant's heart dropped as his blood ran cold.

"Well, she's not there now," Crosshair's voice began to rise as his own panic set in. "Omega!" he shouted, causing passerby's heads to turn.

"Omega, where are you!" Hunter cupped his hands, scanning the crowds.

"What are you two doing?" Saw asked, his brows furrowed in confusion as he watched the clones pace.

Hunter stopped in his tracks, whirling around with a finger pointed directly at their guide.

"If you hadn't taken forever chatting, we would have been gone by now with Omega."