Special Forces

Ol' Brother Bear

Walter the Wrecker had his whole career ahead of him. At six foot six and three hundred and fifty pounds, this man was pure muscle and could lift five hundred pounds when he was fifteen. He would have gone a lot farther, perhaps performing and even the television. Walter had had aspirations to make money and move his family to Santa Fe so his little brothers could grow up in fresh air. Every dollar he earned was put away in a jar.

But then their father died. Walter didn't waste any time dropping out of school to get his two youngest brothers to school and start taking over as head of the family. For a few months, Wrecker's prize money went to paying bills and buying food. He learned to cook, iron, do laundry, everything his father had always done. Eventually, they started to run low, he needed to find a job, since the funeral, he couldn't bring himself to leave his brothers. But it had to be done.

So he called Hudson into his room one night and explained their circumstances, that they didn't have money. Wrecker needed to work, which meant Hudson had to take over while he was at work. The young boy eagerly accepted, he wanted to prove to his brother he could be a leader. As months went by, Hudson attended parent-teacher conferences, learned to cook, clean, everything Wrecker had.

He'd learned what a genius their youngest brother was, and they could give Tech a real good education because the boy was so smart he could skip a few grades. But one thing lead to another, Tech's brain got him far, but there was always money involved, buying him things to build and win first place, even winning a scholarship to the best prep school in their state. So Hudson talked to Wrecker and they decided their brother deserved a chance they'd never get, Tech was a diamond in the rough, too good for this old town. Hudson never missed a science fair, attended every play, every concert. Everything his baby brother did, Hudson was right there cheering on his brother.

But Walter? He was working. As they got older, Walter worked more and more, rent was rising and four growing boys eat a lot. There weren't any permanent jobs in town that payed what Walter needed them too, so he picked up random and obscure jobs to pay the bills and get food on the table. But Hudson never failed to mention how their two younger brothers always asked where their big brother was. When he was at home, he was sleeping, sometimes in the living room and Hudson would find the two curled up by his side. They idolized their oldest brother, but he was never even there! Hudson would never forgive him for that.

But Walter did what he must, he provided for his family and Hudson's screaming couldn't get him to stay home. Walter spent a lot of his time on the road, he was driving back to Coruscant for the weekend when another truck slammed into his and sent him flying off the road. Any normal man would've been dead the moment the truck hit the ground. But Walter's size and muscle had protected him, gave him tomorrow. But not after months in the hospitals, to this day, the man has a giant scar covering most of his head and became blind in his left eye.

When Walter came home, he was on bed rest. He couldn't move a whole lot and had struggled with speech, he'd improve over time, but the damage to his brain had been so severe the doctors were surprised he hadn't any crippling damage that would leave him a vegetable. Everyday for those next few weeks, Tech and Crosshair would run home after school with their stories of the school day. Tech had come home with award winning thesises and Crosshair came home with drawings and a B- on a math exam. Walter was proud none the less. Hudson would watch from the doorway, eventually joining them and they'd all fall asleep in Walter's bed.

Hudson had to pick up some extra shifts but the hospital bills were too high. Crosshair found Hudson crying in the kitchen one night and Hudson tried to play it off, but Crosshair said he'd quit school to help Hudson. Who told him no, but it was for their brother, that's all the reason Crosshair would ever need to help. So Crosshair quit school and proved a hard worker. When Walter was back on his feet and the bills were paid off, he told Crosshair to go back to school, but it was then the boy admitted he'd rather work, Tech was so successfully, by going to school, he'd be living in his brother's shadow. Walter didn't argue.

So Walter went back to work and that was their lives for years. Tech had won scholarships and small grants for his scientific research, he was going places. He had his entire life planned out. Now, at the end of his Junior year, the boy had been asked by Mayor Palpatine to host the town's science expo. He'd yet to tell his brothers, for he knew Wrecker wouldn't be able to come. And he didn't just want two of his brothers there, he wanted his entire family there.

Wrecker had been gone for three months when he finally came back late at night, he'd practiced his saxophone, then headed to a gig. He got home long past midnight and was still sleeping by ten a.m. Walter had only a few days in town before he'd be heading out for a month or some in Iowa. It wasn't a big job, but it would pay. That's all Walter thought about when accepting a job, that his brothers wouldn't go hungry and had a nice, warm home with running water.

The watch Tech had sold gave his family enough money for the month. With the extra money, going to the bank to deposit it as backup might've been enough to get Walter to cancel the job to go to the Expo in three weeks. But with the money gone, Tech had already pushed any thought of telling his brothers out of his mind. Walter most definitely would have canceled the job regardless if they had enough money or not, once he found out just exactly what Tech was asked to do. But Walter wouldn't blame him for thinking he wouldn't stay.

Everytime Walter and Hudson fought, the man got tired. Hudson had never completely comprehended that Walter didn't want to leave them and work job after job, be gone for months at a time, but his constant work provided, so Hudson and the boys didn't have to work as much. The other two had one solid job, and Walter's work ensured Tech wouldn't have to work so his only focus, and all his effort went to school. Occasionally, Crosshair's attitude got him into fights and the boy didn't have strong bones, every time the boy landed himself in the hospital, Walter's work paid for the bills, every time. That was the part Hudson didn't understand. That Walter was gone for his family. He hated being gone for so long, he hated being alone. But when he got home, he came home to his healthy and happy little brothers, and that's what gave him the ability to leave again.