The Bad Batch: One Shot Collection

That Was Tech

"You chose the wrong side!"

"Don't make the same mistake twice. Don't become my enemy."

"We never were."

"You're still their brother, Crosshair."

Can't stop remembering the knife slashing toward him, the way he struggled to keep it from hitting his face or anything lethal. The hands, holding him down.

Tech.

Crosshair had always known. He just didn't want to believe it. Mindless and memoryless, he could recognize his brother anywhere.

It's no wonder Hemlock had always taken such pleasure in pairing CX-2 with Crosshair in their training. Crosshair helped train him – if, you know – getting used as a punching bag counts as training. He's always been familiar, and Crosshair always tried to tell himself there were some regs that – that resembled Tech, because they're brothers and it could happen, but he never knew.

He was never certain until a time they got overly aggressive with each other, and Crosshair had mostly accidentally broken CX-2's arm. He'd still won, holding Crosshair in a chokehold until he was almost certain he'd die right then, right there, when Hemlock called him off, and that was the last time he ever wondered about Tech, because Tech would never hurt him.

He wouldn't.

CX-2 had always been strangely possessive. Crosshair knew he knew him from somewhere. Just – didn't think –

There was only ever one person it could be. There are exactly five people in this galaxy he belongs to. Exactly five who ever wanted him.

"There is a fundamental difference between taking fire in battle, and being used for target practice."

Crosshair shot an explosive at him. Threw him over a waterfall. Shot at him.

Fireball blew up the entire room, burying him under rubble.

Tech shot them from the sky. Killed almost all of Rex's men. Shot Nemec through the heart. Tried to stab Crosshair. Nearly drowned him.

Just as Crosshair did all those things to his brothers himself.

He tried to stab Hunter once, too.

His clothes are still dripping and sticky and wet, and he hasn't twitched from his chosen spot on the floor. Wrecker sits across from him, eyes wide and fixed ahead of himself.

"Alright. Out with it. What's going on?" Echo demands from the pilot's seat.

"That was Tech," Hunter whispers finally.

Echo pauses, turning. "What?" he sounds breathless, skeptical.

"That was Tech," Hunter repeats, hands clenching. "The assassin after us."

"I understand what you're saying, but that's not possible," Echo argues, "We saw him die. We saw him fall."

Omega's curled by Batcher, and she tightens her skinny arms around her knees, tears trickling down her face in a steady stream. She's their eldest sister, for as small as she is – she's fourteen now. Still tiny with her unaltered aging – she knew them when they were little.

"Technically, she is older than we are."

Crosshair never saw what Tech's loss did to her. Omega buried it well, hidden, stayed strong just for him.

"It was him," Crosshair interrupts quietly. "I saw him."

"We all did," Rex agrees, "It was fast, and I didn't get a good look, but there's only one clone who looks like that."