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tbnrpotato · 12 days

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Our Own Choices

Chapter 9

"So how'd you know I was on that gunship? I was specifically extra stealthy that time," I ask Rex as we jump off the vehicle that Crosshair was driving as we arrive back at the base. I put on my helmet.

"You've done it 19 times, kid. I know when you've clipped yourself to the outside of the gunship just by the sound of it," Rex replies, not bothering to look at me. He's not even bothering to scold me for coming here without his permission. I think he's just tired of me, he does have a job to do as a captain as well.

But why should I listen to him anymore? Even though he's technically my superior in the GAR, I don't need him anymore. I'm biologically 20, I can handle myself. But clearly he doesn't think so, considering how he usually doesn't let me on missions anyways. He says the reason that he grounded me was because he didn't want me getting myself killed out in the battlefield because of my impulsiveness.

"But there was no sound-" I protest as the bad batch walk past me, and I stare at them as they walk to their ship.

They're really cool. They don't fit in here, just like me.

Rex nudges me in the side, I take it as a sign to go to the ship as well. Rex says he talked to General Skywalker and he says that he'll have to wait for the council to approve of the mission to Skako Minor to get Echo. I'm surprised that he lets me come along on this mission. I guess he knows that there's no stopping me when it comes to saving my brothers.

As I head into the ship, I receive looks from the batch.

"What?" I ask.

Tech looks back to his datapad, Wrecker goes to lift the gonk droid in the back of the ship, Hunter just sits there staring at me, and Crosshair is checking his rifle. I take off my helmet and lean against a wall, staring at Wrecker and the poor gonk droid, and then to toothpick boi.

Gotta admit, their armor is really cool. Crosshair's got that belt thingy with a bunch of places to store ammo, almost like my own. And then he's got that bar thingy on his left shoulder armor, probably for his rifle or something. Hunter has a random bandana for the dog shit on his head, with a small skull on it. Wrecker's helmet would scare the absolute shit outta me if I saw that first thing in the morning. Tech's helmet is cool, at least it hides his receding hairline. Whatever. At least now I'm not the only one with dark-colored armor.

Anyways, Rex and General Skywalker board the ship soon enough and we set off for Skako Minor. Tech's flying the ship, while General Skywalker checks out Crosshair's rifle and Wrecker's still lifting poor Gonky.

"So, how many missions has your team been on, Sergeant?" General Skywalker asks Shithair as he passes Crosshair's rifle back to him.

"Honestly sir, I've lost count. All the action sorta blurs together," Hunter replies, and that felt like a big "skill issue lmao" smack in the face.

"I know you work with Cody sometimes, but who do you guys report to?" Rex asks.

"Hm, good question," Hunter says, crossing his arms. "Can't say I've got an answer."

And then I'm reminded of that "good question" Shrek meme that I saw on the holonet a few days before I came to Anaxes, and I try to keep a straight face.

Wrecker, who's still lifting Gonky, chews on a big ass chicken drumstick which I think was kept in the ship's storage area for days. Then, the ship suddenly shakes.

"We are approaching Skako Minor," Tech reports. "It looks to be a difficult landing."

So we strap in and Wrecker gently sets Gonky down, before going to the co-pilot's seat with Tech. The ship shakes a bit until we land on the ground, and we stand up and head towards Tech and Wrecker.

"Rex, what do we know about this place?" General Skywalker asks, Rex standing next to him. Toothpick boi and I stand behind them as I play with my knife, because I'm just kinda bored and need something to do with my hands.

"On this part of Skako, there's a race of locals, the Poletecs. All we know is they're very primitive," Rex replies.

"Primitive is being kind," Tech says. "My intel says the Poletecs worship flying reptiles."

Suddenly, one of those flying reptile thingies land on the front window of the ship, cracking it slightly. I look out, sheathing my knife into my wrist compartment.

"Oh! What the heck was that?" Wrecker looks out the same time as I do. "It's one of those reptiles," Tech says.

"I want that thing off my ship," Hunter says, sounding really annoyed, before moving to get off the ship.

"Hold on! Hold on! Don't just run out there," Rex tries to warn them but we all run out anyways because which one of us even follows orders?

We see the Poletec and a flying reptile thing jumping on the ship. General Skywalker ignites his lightsaber and Wrecker points his blaster at it, and I'm tempted to do the same.

"Hey! Get off of there!" Wrecker shouts.

"Hey, calm down. We needa talk to them," General Skywalker says.

"Why?" Hunter asks.

"The General's right," Rex says, and then I hear some more flying reptiles in the distance, and I spin around to look at them, blaster and sword drawn. General Skywalker pushes Rex out of the way so that Rex doesn't get clawed to death by the reptiles. We all point our blasters towards them, unsure of whether to shoot or not.

Suddenly, the flying reptile and the Poletec on the ship swoop down and grab General Skywalker. He's caught off guard, dropping his lightsaber, and I throw my knife at the reptile before it can get too far away. It hits the reptile in the chest, but not deep enough to be a lethal shot, although I can hear it screeching as it flies away. Rex fires his pistol at the reptile but none of the shots hit.

"I have a thermal reading," Tech says. "Point two five east, elevation 175." His visor is lowered.

"Relax. I'll handle this," Crosshair says, before attaching a grappling hook to his rifle and using Tech's shoulder as support (we'll never get to see this again this is so sad), shooting it at the reptile. It hits and Hunter attaches the cable to himself.

"What are you doing?" Rex asks.

"Going for a ride." And then Hunter's lifted off his feet, flying into the air.

I just stare at Crosshair, eyes widened. Holy shit that was fucking cool. Bro really has to be so pro at sniping.

And then I think of my own sniping skills which are slightly decent at best and suddenly I'm filled with a slight jealousy of his skills. Like bro he gets to be badass and do all those fucking trick shots and I'm stuck here throwing knives.

Shut up.

"Tech, I'm with the General. Hone in on my signal," I hear Hunter say through the comms. Tech and the rest of us head back to the ship and do so, before heading to Hunter's location. We land on a ridge near what looks like the Poletec village and run down to Hunter, who's near the edge, looking across at the village.

"That creature still has a hold of the General," Hunter says.

Rex zooms in on the village, and I do the same, seeing the General getting pinned under one of those reptiles' claws. "We're going in, but remember what the General said. No casualties, disarm only," Rex says.

"We're on it, Captain," Hunter says. "Wrecker, Crosshair, rockslide."

The rest of us slide down the ridge to the village as Wrecker and Crosshair push a really big rock down the ridge, and we run behind it as it knocks down some tall but not-so-advanced structures, using the dust as cover.

We shoot at the weapons that the Poletecs are holding, disarming them. I throw a few knives at their weapons, they all hit their target and disarm them.

We run to the place where General Skywalker is, and I see some electrified thing hit the claw that's holding General Skywalker, probably shot by Crosshair, and the reptile jumps back, letting General Skywalker dodge the rock that's rolling towards him. We all point our blasters at the Poletecs in case they try to do anything.

The Poletec that Hunter's pointing his blaster at speaks some alien language, and Hunter asks Tech to translate what he's saying.

Tech steps forward, presses a few buttons on that control panel on his wrist, and moves his visor down above his eyes. "He says he does not want our war on his planet. That is why he took our leader."

The rest of us still point our blasters at the Poletecs.

Can we just hold them at gun/knifepoint and just get them to give us whatever info we want?

"We didn't bring the war here. It was Wat Tambor and the Separatists," General Skywalker says.

Tech translates what General Skywalker said into the alien language, something that both Crosshair and I find kinda funny as I'm tryna hold in my laughter as we all lower our blasters. Definitely gotta roast Tech for that.

"Tell him we apologize for what's happened," Rex says. "But tell him the enemy is holding one of our men prisoner in Purkoll. As soon as we rescue him, we'll leave his planet for good."

Tech translates what Rex said into the alien language again, and I try my best to keep a straight face. This is just too funny.

As Tech and the Poletecs talk some more and agree about sending scouts and stuff to help find the city, I run to the reptile that I threw my knife into and rip it out. It's wedged kinda deep in there, and when I pull it out, it's covered in red blood, dripping onto the floor. The reptile screeches and tries to attack me, but I shoot it with a stun blaster a few times and it's knocked out. The other Poletecs move to attack me, but then Rex and Tech help to calm them all down.

"Woah woah woah, calm down, she's just tryna get her weapons, no need to panic," Rex says, and Tech helps translate it. The other Poletecs calm down when what I think is their leader nods at them.

I pull my other knives out from the weapons that I threw them at and head back to the others.

"Nice going," Crosshair knocks his shoulder into mine as we set off with the other scouts, the sarcasm in his voice is obvious. I cross my arms as I follow behind him. "Thanks."

We follow the scouts quite a bit of distance and find ourselves on a really high cliff. The Poletec scouts point at what looks like Purkoll in the distance before walking down the direction we just came up in.

"Hope nobody's scared of heights," General Skywalker says. I try not to let it show, although sometimes heights get on my nerves.

Hunter and Crosshair look at Wrecker.

"Well I'm not scared of nothing. I just...When I'm up real high, I got a problem with gravity," Wrecker says.

"That's being scared of heights, Wrecker. You're real smart," I roll my eyes under my helmet, standing next to Rex.

"Speaking of problems," Tech, who's standing behind Wrecker, speaks up. "I am no longer picking up Echo's signal."

"I...I don't understand," Rex says. "You said it was coming from this city." He points towards Purkoll.

"I can only speculate, but it is possible there's a latency issue with the frequency caused by all these atmospheric disturbances."

"Or, maybe they sent the signal to lure us into a trap," Hunter suggests. "And maybe your friend's actually dead." He folds his arms. "Well, I can't be the only one thinking of that."

"Every mission could be a trap," Rex and I say at the same time, and I glare at him, falling silent. "This one is no different," Rex continues. "I'm telling you that signal is being sent by Echo himself! He's alive!" I nudge Rex in the side. "Be realistic, Captain. There's not really a high chance that that's gonna happen."

"I think you're letting your personal feelings get in the way because you left him for dead at the Citadel," Crosshair says, and I clench my fist around one of my knives, which is sheathed in my belt right now. That eagerness to punch him in the face out of pure anger, it's strong, but I resist it. Not really the logical thing to do right now.

"I had no choice, you hear me?!" Rex, unlike me, isn't doing much of a good job hiding his anger.

"Oh, I don't blame you. I would've left him for dead too. Besides, he's just another reg."

I'm breathing heavily under my helmet, one hand gripped on the hilt of my knife, the other with my nails digging so hard into my skin, even though my glove, it leaves marks. Even though Crosshair is directing his words towards Rex, it's having an effect on me as well.

And then Rex punches Crosshair in the face/helmet, knocking him to the ground.

"Yoooo Rex, just chill!" I try to get him to calm down, but he's not stopping. I pull out my pistol and point it to Crosshair's head as Wrecker picks Rex up by the back of his armor. "I called first dibs."

"Hey! Why don't you pick on someone not your size?" Wrecker throws Rex to the ground, who almost instantly gets up, walking up real close to Wrecker. "You'll be a whole lot smaller when I'm through with you."

My pistol is still pointed to Crosshair's head, my finger resting on the trigger, my other hand drawing my knife and pressing it under his helmet and to his neck, I'm breathing heavily, all sense of logic gone, it's the same feeling when Fox killed Fives. And it's strong.

"That's enough!" General Skywalker puts a hand on Rex and Wrecker's shoulders, pushing them away from each other before Wrecker beats Rex to clone mush, and then he pushes me and Crosshair apart before I can get any more blood on my knife.

"Sergeant, take your men and scout the area for a tower entrance. I want to talk to my troopers alone," General Skywalker orders, sounding slightly fierce.

Rex and I stay behind as the batch walk away. Toothpick bitch glances back at us for a moment, before looking away.

"Rex, Aris, I hate to say it, but...you have to prepare yourself for the possibility that Echo is dead, and this is all a Separatist trick," General Skywalker puts a hand on our shoulders.

"Sir, I have watched so many of my brothers fall during this war, and I try not to hang on to any one of them," Rex says, taking off his helmet. "But that changed when I heard that Separatist transmission. It was no algorithm. That was Echo's voice. I know it."

"And if there's any chance that Echo, my brother, is still out there, alive, we have to take it," I add on, taking off my helmet as well.

"I hope you're right," General Skywalker says. "But if, for some reason, you're wrong..."

"Then I'll deal with it," Rex and I say at the same time.

And I've learned to deal with it on my own. No "Dad" to comfort me or help me. That's what I did with Fives. And if I have to do it again with Echo, I will.

All I'll need to do is constantly wipe the blood off my knives, and make sure no one sees the wounds on my arms.

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jedi-lothwolf · 5 months

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Merry Whumpmas Day 1: Hospital

Fandom: Star Wars The Bad Batch

Summary: Echo has to go to the hospital after cutting his hand open. Tech goes with him to help his stay calm as he tries not to think about Skako Minor.

Echo hated hospitals. They scared him. They seemed to quite and to loud for his liking. He hated being around them but even more he hated being in them.

Pabu was a beautiful place. Even that wouldn't ease Echo's mind as Tech and him walked towards their hospital.

"Are you sure we have to go?" Echo asked.

"The laseration in your palm is deep. It will need stitches. Maybe be more careful around knives next time." Tech kept walking forwards. "It should be a simple procedure. They will numb your hand and stitch it. You will have to come back to get the stitches out."

"Why can't we wrap it?"

"Bacta is not something overly easy to come by so they need to preserve it. So do we."

"Alright."

Hospitals were to clean, to blank, and to bright. Even though Echo didn't remember much from when he was with the Techno Union, he did remember some things.

It was cold and white. It smelled too clean. Echo shook his head. He tried to clear his mind. As they arrived the clone paused. "I don't think I can go in."

"I understand this may be difficult for you. Trauma is not easy to overcome. We will take it slowly. Or at least we will try. Can I provide some form of comfort to you?" Tech walked up to be right beside him. Despite his slightly robotic tone, Echo knew he was genuine.

Nothing came to mind. The domino tried to find anything that might help. even in the slightest. But there was nothing. "Just stay close?" He shook.

"I intend to." Tech started to walk forward.

Echo had been right. Exam rooms always looked the same. He sat in his, trying not to cry as a droid came in to look at his hand. Tech intervened quickly and asked if there was a living doctor there. The droid seemed offended but Tech didn't seem to notice. Still he went to grab a doctor.

Just as Echo had feared, all he could think about was the Techno Union. He thought about how the only memories he had were before he was put in the tube he was found in. Memories filled with pain and suffering.

Memories of droids that had stood over him, putting him back together. The few thoughts he had had been wondering if he should have survived or about what happened to the others; what would happen to him. The pain, though only a memory, had been the worst thing he had ever physically felt.

That pain could never compare to the pain that would come with healing from what had happened to him. That pain could never compare to the pain of losing your brothers.

Even now he wasn't completely healed. It felt like those droid's scalpels just kept cutting. Maybe he would never heal? Maybe those wounds would never scar.

Those droids had stood in a clean, white room. When thinking about it, it only ever reminded him of hospital rooms. Sometimes the people nearby cities or towns would let the clones use their hospitals. Other than that, Echo had never been in a hospital.

But now he knew why he feared them so much. They looked just like that room he had been put back together in. Even if his time on Skako Minor was a blur, he knew that this was what the room looked like.

A chill went down Echo's metal spine. He looked over at Tech who stood near the door. He wanted to call for him but his voice hung in his throat. The tears he had been trying so hard to hold back started to slide down his face.

Tech turned around and walked to his side. Unsure of what to say, he just sat with him. He had learned that he wasn't very good at handling current emotional reactions and crying was one of them. Echo reached for his brother and cried into his shoulder.

The doctor opened the door but stopped. She stood in the doorway, confused and slightly concerned. "Is everything alright?" She asked kindly.

"My brother suffers with trauma related to rooms that look similar to this one. Let him calm down." Tech never even looked at her. He just, somewhat awkwardly, held Echo.

Soon he was able to think a little better. He moved from his place in Techs arms to look at the doctor. She had gone to get him some ice chips and had just gotten back. "ice chips?" She asked.

"Sure." Echo didn't question why she had brought him ice chips of all things. He reached for one but hissed as he remembered why he was there. Tech took the cup and ate one of the pieces of ice.

"Let's get that taken care of." The doctor talked to Echo through the whole thing. It helped being able to focus on something else. When she was done, they were sent to the front to check out and then they could leave.

As they left the building Tech spoke. "That could have been worse" he said.

"Yeah. It could have been."

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fionajames · 4 months

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Heyy! Can I request a little something on how you think Echo’s time on Skako Minor went down? It can be head canons or whatever you feel like writing ❤️it’s just that I NEED to find out how he got the way he is because like, wouldn’t he have burns or scars if he was really blown up? And how can the explosion take off both legs at around the waist, one arm, and not kill him? I’m not familiar with that kind of stuff, and I’m curious to see what you think.

Thanks! -Sha

HEY

BOO

THIS IS DRABBLE AND HEADCANON STYLE IG

REQUESTS PLEASE

ENJOY

IDK

I AM NOT A NURSE/DOCTOR. IM 15. IVE NEVER TAKEN A DOCTORING OR MEDIC COURSE OR ANYTHING. I AM JUST GIVING MY OPINION, THIS IS FANFICTION (kinda) SO YEAH.

Echo wasn’t sure why exactly he did it, but a part of him took over, and suddenly he was running to the ship, his shield up in an attempt to shelter himself. He felt the heat first, the ringing sound of the explosion taking over his hearing. Time froze as his eyes turned to Fives, who he could tell was horrified, even through the visor. Echo hadn’t thought death would be like this, painful and dark. As soon as time had resumed, he’d been engulfed in an explosion of fire.

The battle droids at the battle had returned afterwards to find the Clone covered in rubble, clutching his shield to his body and covering his face, his helmet gone. That shield and his armour had protected him from death, but he was now bleeding out. Upon order from higher ranking, the droids took the Clone to Medbay, where he was nursed back from his deathly state.

The strange position he’d attempted to shelter himself in and the way his body had turned left him with deadly burned legs and an arm. So the medic droids removed all three limbs and replaced them with robotic legs and a scomp link, I think you called it? I don’t remember.

Echo was in such bad condition from the explosion that he acquired some amnesia, and therefore didn’t think that the droids were enemies when he woke up.

The Techno Union did not treat Echo well, not in the slightest, but he didn’t really remember much and was disoriented, so thought nothing of it.

The medics basically tossed him in a bacta tank a few months after his limbs had healed enough to be able to remove the robotic stuff. He stayed there for hours on end for weeks, which did a lot of his healing and since the scars were still fresh, they healed.

After that, he went through a lot of torturous machine trying stuff. As in, them plugging him into machines to try and communicate with his subconscious brain or whatever. Pretty messed up but yeah.

Eventually, they found something that worked, and Echo was stuck in the machine from then on until Rex rescued him. That’s why he so pale. He’s pale not just cause of the explosion but because of the, like, 0 vitamin D (the Techno Union were probably pumping that, other vitamins and food or whatever into his body somehow but like, no sun, boi pale. Boi vampire pale).

After coming out of the machine, and over time, Echo’s memory worked. It was back to it’s full condition before they put him in the machine, so when he gets yoinked out, he’s all good.

He’s defo traumatised from everything, but still rather cheery - the Bad Batch Echo we all know and love.

It takes him a little to get used to his robotic limbs but he gets to before they toss him in the machine. But when he gets out, he’s not able to manoeuvre himself normally at first. It would be hard for someone with all their natural limbs intact to do so, but with robotic limbs, it’s even harder.

Had a breakdown when he asked Rex “Where’s Fives?” and found out.

Like, didn’t leave his room for weeks.

I feel like if Fives was still alive, he would’ve gone back to the 501st but kept in contact with the Bad Batch. I feel like cause Fives wasn’t there, he couldn’t bare to go back there.

Never talks to Fox again.

Fairly.

I love Fox but like, Echo does not after that.

Has the most horrible night terrors, mostly of his time at Skako Minor, the explosion and then just his imagination creating visions of what Fives’ death might have looked like.

Echo’s very glad he joined the Bad Batch, but always misses the 501st. He will constantly do shit that is so 501st-coded, none of TBB members understand. Like, he’ll make inside jokes and laugh until he remembers and then freeze and sometimes cry.

Honestly, same boi.

Unrelated headcanon, but I fully believe he got the number five tattooed on the back of his left hand, so he always carries a bit of Fives with him. It’s covered so much that it takes months for TBB to find out.

When he remembers the droids are the enemy, he’s disgusted about how buddy-buddy he treated them.

So basically, his odd position he was in left his limbs burnt, not ripped off. They however had to be removed because of the burns, and then he was thrown in a bacta tank for ages.

HOPE YOU ENJOYED HAVE A GREAT DAY/NIGHT

taglist: @transmascanakin @skellymom (srry)

REQUEST THINGS PLEASE GUYS IM BEGGING

#clone troopers #tcw #clones #501st legion #anakin skywalker #captain rex #ahsoka #clone wars #the clone wars #star wars #bad batch echo #tbb echo #arc trooper echo #arc trooper fives #tbb #the bad batch #skako minor #idk #ka’ra writes ❤️

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dreamqueenkala · 1 year

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Okay, but does anyone else think it’s really hot when Tech translates and then proceeds to speak in the primitive native language on Skako Minor? Anyone?? No? Just me? 😮‍💨😍

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mksolomon1 · 10 months

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Perkoll, Skako Minor

with Techno Union flying-droid attack force

#the clone wars #skako minor #droids #planet

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frostycatblr-fandom-files · 11 months

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When I tell you how violently this art idea struck me in the middle of Sad Clone Simp Hours while writing angsty fanfiction material I do mean violently.

First bit of fan art in a hot minute and it's for copy-paste men that I'm totally normal about deserved the galaxy. Twins just trying to do the right thing. Trying to save their brothers, all their brothers, before it's too late and the war dooms them all.

Fives would have burned the whole damn galaxy to the ground if he saw what they did to his brother. There would have been hell to pay for the horrors they put his twin through and how Echo was forced by means outside of his control to become a brother-killer. Fives would have been a force to be reckoned with as he sought justice for his brother had he not died in 19 BBY perhaps just months before Echo's rescue (I'm fuzzy on the timeline as of writing this).

He died believing he was the last of the Domino Twins. He died believing he was going to save his other brothers by blowing the whistle on the chips. He didn't get to see what kind of man his brother would become and all the good his twin was doing, is trying to do, to protect his brothers.

I think he'd be proud of his regulation-loving twin for giving the Empire hell and Echo's resiliency.

#frosts fandom freakouts #frostsfanart #(woof that's probably a tag I won't be using often)#star wars #domino twins #tcw echo #arc trooper echo #tbb echo #echo tbb #tcw fives #arc trooper fives #ct 5555 #ct 1409 #swtcw #sw tcw #star wars fanart #Fives would have gone scorched earth had he seen what state Echo was in on Skako Minor. He'd have raised hell #watercolor

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therealcalrissian · 22 hours

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echo, i’ve got to say you were gone for so long i was starting to think i made up your whole character in my head from the get-go

#domino squad? DELUSION #the citadel? DELUSION #skako minor? DELUSION #echo? DELUSION #star wars #the bad batch #sw tbb #tbb #star wars the bad batch #tbb season 3 #tbb spoilers #the bad batch star wars #echo tbb #tbb echo #tcw #the clone wars #grand army of the republic

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kellygreeny · 5 months

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WIP survivors guilt

I just finished the main part of the line art and I died on the way but I'm a bit proud right now 🥲

I had some time and doing something else felt too much. But I'm happy to get further with this.

The comment of my bf was, it reminds him of Warhammer 40k and I'm not even mad.

I was mainly inspired by a figure of a steampunk angle to this.

@isthereanechoinhere96

#bad batch echo #arc trooper echo #tbb echo #skako minor Echo #fanart #line art #digital drawing #the clone wars #star wars #ct 1409 #the bad batch

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voidartisan · 2 years

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love the fact that echo goes from wearing blue and white armor at the end of the skako minor arc to wearing red and gray armor in tbb, mostly because it means at some point this conversation had to have happened

Hunter: First things first, we need to get you a matching paint job

Echo: Is that really necessa--

Tech: Yes

#also the little red skull on echo's blue and white armor in unfinished business #was that supposed to be some of the batcher's old armor or did they paint thaton there on the way back from skako minor???#either way it's adorable #echo #tcw #the clone wars #tbb #the bad batch

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tbnrpotato · 12 days

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Our Own Choices

Chapter 11

General Skywalker comes in to check on us. I don't say anything to Echo, because I know that anything that will come out will be a pile of emotional shit. And I don't wanna do that in front of General Skywalker, Tech, or even Rex. Too embarrassing. Besides, Echo probably won't give a shit.

I can still hear some blaster fire from outside. "Situations almost under control out there," General Skywalker says. "How's it going in here?"

"I'm still trying to decrypt Echo's cerebral interface," Tech reports. "Until I do, we cannot disconnect him from this computer system."

"How's he doing, Rex?" General Skywalker's tone softens. Rex stands up. "He's too weak to walk. Very disoriented. Doesn't even remember how he got here. He remembers being at the Citadel, but that's about it."

Who wouldn't remember that?

"Any word on the extraction squad?"

"We called it in, but no word back," Rex replies.

A droid comes flying into the room, and I assume it's thrown by Wrecker. "Well, that's no surprise." Maybe General Skywalker's referring to the extraction squad and the droid that just crashed in here. "We knew when we got into this we'd be on our own."

Hunter, Wrecker and Crosshair back into the room, closing the doors. "It's gonna get more difficult to get outta here," Hunter says, loud enough so that all of us can hear it. "There are several squads of droids closing in." I hear Hunter and Crosshair sealing the door.

Shit.

"Enemy approaching. Droids. Lots of em," Crosshair says.

"How long can you hold them off?" General Skywalker asks.

"How long do you need?" Hunter replies.

"Tech, how much longer?"

"Not yet. I need more time."

I can feel the atmosphere get more tense.

Everything's gonna be okay. Everything's gonna be okay.

Yea right it is.

Shut the kriff/fuck up.

No you.

I look at Hunter and Crosshair, who are sealing another pair of blast doors. I look over at Tech, who's pressing a few buttons before saying, "I've got it. We can unplug him now." And then he takes off his helmet, showing his receding hairline.

Echo turns around, and Rex and I start unplugging him, ripping off a wire from one side of his neck, and then the other. Echo clutches onto the control panel, I can tell it hurts a lot.

Sorry.

And then Rex rips out the last cable from his head, and Echo falls to the ground, groaning slightly. "Rex?"

"What is it?" Rex looks concerned. Echo coughs a bit, before smiling slightly. "I got a big headache."

"Better to feel something than nothing, old buddy," Rex says, smiling.

"At least your sense of humor's still intact. Now what our fucking plan on getting outta here?" I ask.

Echo coughs slightly. "There's an exhaust vent that leads to the cooling systems right there," he says, pointing upwards at a circular vent on the ceiling.

"They've breached the front door," Hunter reports. "It won't be long before they're through the second."

I look up at the exhaust vent. How the kriff are we supposed to get up there?

Echo uses his cybernetic arm and plugs it into the control panel, turning some stuff. "That should get it open."

I look up. The exhaust vent opens, revealing an upwards tunnel that's glowing blue.

"Great. Now how do we get up there?" Crosshair asks. Bro literally spoke my mind.

"I can help with that," Wrecker replies, and I see him grabbing a slightly confused Hunter and throwing him up the vent.

"WRECKER WHAT R U DOING-"

I hold back a laugh as Hunter shouts, "A heads-up would've been nice!"

One by one, Wrecker throws each of us up the vent, and after he throws Tech up, it's my turn.

"Just don't grab me by the ass," I warn him, for obvious reasons.

So he grabs me by the sides and throws me up, and I grab the side of the vent, climbing up behind Tech. Rex follows behind me. Fives and Echo usually do that, but I guess since Echo's not really functioning right now and Fives is DEAD COS FUCKING FOX KILLED HIM-

Rex just likes to make sure I don't fall to my death. I'm really tempted to kick him.

We climb up to reach the cooling systems and Crosshair helps me up. I hear an explosion down below and assume that's Wrecker's work.

We walk through the cooling vents and Rex and I help Echo walk. Echo says that he can find us a safe way outta here. My fingers are slightly cold, because it's a cooling system, obviously. My gloves don't help much, considering they leave my fingers exposed. It's a design choice. It looks cool.

"Well, there is a way," Echo says, and he's referring to how we're gonna escape this place. "But you're not gonna like it."

We walk through the cooling systems for a while, General Skywalker and Echo leading the way, until we reach a door that opens up to the above of a large metal pipe connecting to another of those floating city buildings. It's windy as we step out. I don't particularly like heights either. Echo was right. I don't like this at all.

"I don't know about this," Rex says as he looks out.

"I'm telling you, there's a landing pad on that other building," Echo says, pointing to the building across the pipe.

"So you think there's a ship there we can steal?" Hunter steps out as well.

"Well, I hope there's a ship we can steal," Echo replies.

R u serious right now bro

"Let's hope this trip isn't for nothing," Hunter says as General Skywalker, Echo and Rex start walking across the pipe.

If it is, I'm definitely hacking your Call of Duty account and using up all your COD points.

I follow behind Rex, and Hunter and the batch are behind me.

"Oh boy, I can't even look," I hear Wrecker say from the back.

"Then don't," I reply from the front.

"Just keep walking, Tech," Wrecker says.

"That's fine, but if you fall don't take me with you."

"Uh oh, I looked," Wrecker sounds scared. "I think I'm gonna be sick."

"If you vomit don't vomit on Tech," I tell him.

"Hang on Wrecker, we're almost there," Hunter tries to calm down a currently very freaked out Wrecker.

I hear that familiar sound of droids coming from the front, and draw my knife and pistol, trying to keep my balance on the pipe. To be honest, drawing my weapons makes it easier.

"Turn around! Go back!" General Skywalker shouts from the front, and I see him igniting his lightsaber. When we turn around, we see some more droids coming from the back.

Shit. We're either fucked or very fucked.

I hear General Skywalker deflecting a blast bolt at a droid and Tech shoots another, I throw one of my knives at one of the droids' heads, and the droid falls from the pipe.

I never liked that knife anyway.

I see Crosshair falling from the pipe and Wrecker, despite his intense af fear of heights, literally jumps down and catches Crosshair, hanging by the legs from a support just below the pipe.

Stupid ass. Bro could've died.

"Anyone got a brilliant idea?" General Skywalker shouts.

"I do have a brilliant idea," Tech responds.

"I'm hanging here!" Wrecker shouts from below.

"When the locals attacked us, I recorded the creature's distress call," Tech says, tapping a few buttons on his datapad.

"He records everything. It's a hobby," Hunter says, as I shoot a few more of the droids, not wanting to use my knives because those things are expensive.

"Which allows us to call those flying creatures to us," Tech continues, and presses a button which produces a really high-pitched screeching noise, and we cover our ears to try and block out the sound.

"Ow! Enough with the sound!" Wrecker shouts, and he and Crosshair shoot from below. Crosshair's literally hanging from Wrecker, and he literally puts all his trust into Wrecker not to let him fall while he shoots the droids.

Really wish I had friends like that. Oh wait, I did. Yea, that was Fives. And Echo. But I was closer to Fives.

"There is our ride out of here!" Tech says, pointing at some shadows in the clouds which I could only assume to be the flying creatures that he called, and we all look up at them as they fly up and past us.

"Now how do we get on them?" General Skywalker asks, and I shoot another droid.

We jump you fucking dumbass.

"How else? We jump," Tech replies as the flying creatures fly below us, and General Skywalker jumps and lands on one of them.

You can do this.

I can hear my heart pounding in my chest, and I see Hunter looking at me expectantly, and because I have to impress the batch, I use what little strength is left in my legs and jump off, trying not to close my eyes.

I land on one of them, on its back. I'm breathing heavily. That choking feeling when I'm in a life-threatening situation starts surfacing, and I'm trying to calm down, gulping down dust-filled air like I'm resurfacing from a deep dive.

And now I'm starting to get angry. Getting scared like this makes me feel weak in front of the others. I don't like it. I hate this.

Suddenly, a blaster bolt whizzes past my head, and I look back seeing a bunch of droids shooting at us.

Gotta steer this thing. But I don't know how. My legs grip the flying creature tighter, because I have no interest in dying today.

I turn back and aim with my pistol, lining the back sight up with the front sight and aiming slightly below the droid's head, and I shoot. It hits the droid in the head and I shoot at the others.

We fly sideways, and I was just aiming at another droid when I feel a sharp pain shoot through my right hand. It slams against a rock, hard, and my pistol flies out of my hand, and my hand doesn't feel so good. I grit my teeth as I'm almost thrown off the flying creature, and I'm hanging on for dear life on the creature's tail with my left hand.

I can barely move my right hand, it hurts so much. But with one last clench of my fist, which sends jolts of pain shooting down my arm, I shoot my grappling hook at the back of the creature, pulling myself up as I retract my grappling hook.

"Hey ad'ika! How you holding up?" I hear Echo shout from the flying creature next to me.

I take a few moments to regain my sense of surroundings and find out that we outmaneuvered all the droids.

Should I shout back? That could come off as cringe to the batch.

I nod at him as we land back in the Poletec village. Before the flying creature lands, I jump off and land on my feet, dusting myself off, at least hoping to look slightly cool to the batch. My injured hand throbs as I land, but I try to act as if it doesn't hurt at all.

The Poletec leader comes up to us and starts shouting shit at us.

"Their leader is impressed that we tamed the Keeradaks," Tech translates. "But he wants to know why we returned here."

"Tell him we had no choice. Tell him...that we wore out our welcome in Purkoll," General Skywalker tells Tech, who translates and speaks back to the Poletec leader in that weird ass language again.

I nudge Crosshair in the side. "Keep reminding Tech about how goofy he sounds rn." Crosshair nods back, and I think he has the biggest smirk ever under that helmet.

Suddenly, blaster fire rains down from above, and I draw my other pistol with my good hand, General Skywalker ignites his lightsaber. The flying creatures take flight and fly away, and Crosshair shoots at the incoming droids, hitting one and sending it spiraling to the ground, leaving behind a trail of smoke. I manage to hit one as well with my pistol, and as the droids fly away, I keep my pistol in my hand, my other arm hanging by my side as I try not to move it.

"Not good," General Skywalker says. "If I know Tambor, he'll come after us. Us and the Poletecs, with everything he's got."

The Poletec leader starts talking shit to us again.

"What's he saying, Tech?" General Skywalker asks.

"He says that we have broken our word. We have brought the war to his village."

"You're right," Rex speaks up, stepping forward and taking off his helmet. "Tell him he's right, Tech. Tell him we didn't plan to drag his people into war. But look what the Separatists did to one of our people." He points at Echo, and all the Poletecs look at him, all gasping, looking slightly horrified.

"They took away his freedom, his humanity. They tried to turn him into a machine. The Techno Union claim they're neutral, but they have chosen sides. Now your people have to choose."

"Couldn't have said it better, Rex," General Skywalker says.

That was a good speech, Da-Rex.

Crosshair scoffs. "Let's hope it works. Because I see forces coming. More than we can handle alone."

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