Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Echo has the feeling that something bad is about to happen. It’s not an uncommon feeling in the middle of a zombie apocalypse, but there’s an extra power to it this time that puts Echo on edge. He feels inclined to follow his instincts, so he enters the apartment behind Rex and in front of Fives with his senses on high alert.

He can feel his twin’s frown without having to look behind him, but Fives doesn’t comment on his tenseness, so the trio pick their way down the hall with their weapons drawn.

“We’ll go through each room one-by-one. I don’t feel comfortable having us split up and it’ll be better to make sure we get as much as we can so we can avoid a second trip,” Rex instructs, testing the first door to their right. Echo’s inclined to agree; they’re too close to the city as it is and it wouldn’t do well to get caught in a horde, regardless of how much they’ve prepared for it.

The first few floors go by relatively smoothly. They find less than they would like; most of the food has been pilfered, as well as medical supplies, but they take what little they find and head upstairs. It’s always the bottom floors that get raided first, so there’s likely more to be found the further up they go.

It’s right as they step out of the stairwell and into the fourth floor hallway that they hear scrambling footsteps and a pained yelp further down the hall. The three brothers snap their heads and weapons in the direction of the sound, only to falter in their movements.

There’s two kids in the hallway with them, one sitting on the floor slumped against the wall and another brandishing a knife and snarling like an angry akk dog. They both look as scrappy as Echo would expect for kids in an apocalypse — their clothes and skin are streaked with grime and it’s definitely been a while since they’ve last had a decent meal. The one on the floor has his arm in a makeshift sling. Echo’s heart lurches and he’s struck with the urge to scoop them up and run them back to base.

Rex raises his hands in a placating manner and the twins copy him.

“We’re not going to hurt you,” Rex reassures, lowering his blaster slowly to the ground. “We were just here for supplies.” He glances over his shoulder at his younger brothers and they do the same.

At this, the kid with the knife relaxes a fraction, though he appears loath to put it away. His younger companion shifts on the floor so he’s facing them. Echo is a little surprised to find the kid wearing glasses, miraculously intact.

Echo’s brow furrows. “Do you guys need help?”

The older one’s hackles raise, and he snarls, “No.”

Fives raises his eyebrow skeptically. “You sure about that? Your friend there looks injured.”

“ Yes . Go and finish your supply run or whatever. We can handle ourselves.”

Rex shakes his head. “We have plenty of medical supplies and our base isn’t far. We have a medic who is pretty proficient with treating injuries.”

The younger boy looks up at the knife-wielding boy. “Hunter, taking advantage of this opportunity would raise the likelihood of our survival. We have very little to lose at this point.” His Coruscanti accent catches Echo off guard.

Knife kid, Hunter, growls in frustration, before sighing. “Fine. But we’re staying here.”

Rex hesitates, opening his mouth to protest, but Echo steps up before he can say anything. “That’s fine, we’ll bring our medic over here.”

Rex sighs and Echo shrugs. The boys barely trust them as it is, so they need to take what they can get before the two boys get scared off.

“Alright. Echo, Fives, run back to base and grab Kix. I’ll stay here with the boys,” Rex relents, turning to the twins and ignoring Hunter’s protests of “We don’t need a babysitter!” behind him.

“Actually, I think I should stay here,” Echo suggests.

Fives rolls his eyes. “Oh yeah, it’s probably better if Kix checks up on him, too.”

Rex shoots Echo an unimpressed frown. “Kix is going to bite your ear off if he finds out you’re having problems with your prosthetics and didn’t tell him.” Figures, Rex knows what’s up without Echo even having to tell him. Damn ori’vod senses are too powerful for Rex’s good.

“ When he finds out, because he’s definitely going to find out,” Fives corrects with a devilish grin.

Echo groans and accepts his fate, huffing as his twin retrieves his weapons and heads back down the stairwell.

Rex follows after him, though not before placing a hand on Echo’s shoulder with a “Call me if you need anything.”

Echo nods and turns back to the two boys who’ve been watching the whole interaction in silence. “So, introductions?”

The younger one glances up at Hunter before saying, “I am Tech, and this is Hunter. We’re half-brothers.”

Echo smiles in what he hopes is a reassuring way. “Nice to meet you. I’m Echo. My identical twin with the tattoo is Fives, and the tired-looking blonde one is Rex, our older brother.”

Hunter frowns. “Is it just you three and the medic?”

“No, we’ve got a whole group back at base. There’s probably around thirty of us, but most of us are from the same Mandalorian clan. The rest are Jedi. How about you two?”

Hunter and Tech share a look before Hunter warily replies, “We’ve just been hopping around different groups.”

Echo nods. He can understand the hostility and distrust; Rex, Echo, and Fives had encountered people outside of the 501st during the apocalypse and some of their vode have stories of camps they’ve been part of. Desperation and hunger will make people willing to do whatever it takes to survive, even if that means harming others. It’s probably even worse for kids, the more vulnerable of their population.

It’s evident these kids have gone through more than they’re letting off. Tech is curled around his injured arm protectively, and though Hunter has finally returned his knife to its sheath, he looks ready to pounce if given a reason to. Echo makes the decision to leave his blaster on the ground and stay where he is, though he does move to lean against the wall.

He wishes he hadn’t told Fives his prosthetics are acting up again, but his twin had noticed his microexpressions of pain and frustration and weeded it out of him. Now Fives is going to tell Kix, and Kix is going to give Echo an earful about prosthetic maintenance as though Echo hasn’t already heard the lecture about a hundred times over before using precious medical supplies on him yet again just because Echo’s body is having a hard time adjusting to the metal legs he’s had for a few years already.

Echo glances over at Hunter and Tech, the former fussing over the latter much to Tech’s chagrin. He still has so many questions about them — where did they come from? How did Tech break his arm? He can’t ask them now though, not when the trust these boys have in him, Rex, and Fives is threadbare and seconds away from snapping. He knows Rex wants nothing more than to drag them both back to the 501st base and keep them there until they could find somewhere safer for them to stay, but they need to earn the boys’ trust and respect whatever decision they made — forcing them to do anything isn’t the right move. The most they can do now is try and coax them into safety, at least make sure they are as well prepared as possible to go out on their own if they don’t want to stay. But that doesn’t mean Echo isn’t going to fight to earn their trust, no matter how long it takes. They deserve that much.

Echo fiddles with a loose plate on his hand, catching looks of interest from a few feet away where Hunter and Tech have settled. He toys with the idea of removing the plating on his legs and doing his own assessment to preoccupy him when finally they hear quick footsteps from the stairwell. Echo shifts closer to his DC-17 on the floor, tensing as the footsteps grow closer. In his periphery, he sees Hunter unsheath his knife, similarly coiled to strike.

When the door is thrown open to reveal a disheveled-looking Fives, Echo relaxes, tension unraveling in his chest. Hunter is still wary, though he sheaths his knife again.

Rex emerges from the stairwell after him and immediately disarms himself, blaster back on the floor. Kix pops in and catches the message as Fives sets down his weapons as well. He quirks an eyebrow at Fives, but complies without question. He’d want answers later, but now isn’t the time.

Kix immediately zeroes in on Echo, mouth opening to scold him but Echo shakes his head and gestures to Tech. Kix gives Echo a withering glare that promises a strongly-worded lecture in his near future before softening his features and approaching Tech and Hunter.

Hunter almost growls at Kix and Echo is a bit worried he might bite the medic. His worries are quelled when Tech says something quietly to Hunter and Hunter backs down, allowing Kix to run a med scanner over Tech’s arm.

Fives plops down unceremoniously on the ground next to Echo with a sigh.

“You okay?” Echo asks his twin, who nods and runs his hand through his hair.

“Ran half a mile to get here, but yeah. You?”

“’M okay.”

Fives shoots him a doubting look but doesn’t press further. Echo offers his flesh hand out and Fives holds his glower for a little longer before relenting and intertwining their fingers.

While Kix properly bandages and splints Tech’s arm, Rex, Echo, and Fives resume their supply hunting on the floor. Kix also gets full body scans of the boys after some convincing, though there aren’t any other injuries that the scanner detects. He does still offer hydropacks and ration bars to them, which they take hesitantly.

Echo notices Kix stalking towards him with murderous intent in his eyes, but he’s saved by Fives bursting into the hallway with quick breaths. He’d offered to survey the roof before they left. Rex startles from his position crouched on the floor, where he was taking inventory.

“Fives?” Rex asks, concern pinching his brow.

“There’s... a horde...” Fives pants, bracing his hands against his knees.

Echo’s stomach fills with dread and the group of them rush to the nearest window.

Fives is correct. A mass of shuffling zombies crowd the once-deserted streets, pooling around the base of the building. There are too many to push through without risking getting bit and if the zombies have caught onto a scent, they won’t be moving for a while.

They’re trapped.

Chapter Text

Omega ducks behind the nearest doorway with a hushed swear underneath her breath. It’s a good room she chose to hide in: a bathroom she remembers well from her childhood, with pristine white tiles and a medicine cabinet always stocked to overflowing with what her mother insisted were necessities. The mirror provides a line of sight into the hallway, though Omega doesn’t need it to know someone’s looking for her. The shuffling and sluggish thumps of decaying limbs are easy to identify.

Omega bounces on the balls of her feet, unsheathing a knife and weighing it in her hand. Poised for a strike, she waits with bated breath for the zombie to come into view.

One second turns into five seconds before Omega finally sees a rotting grey limb. In one swift strike, she darts out of the bathroom, throws the knife, and slides into a bedroom across the hall. The knife lands with a satisfying thunk and the zombie slumps to the ground. Omega estimates she has about ten minutes before the zombie reawakens, so she quickly extracts the knife from the zombie’s skull and creeps down the hallway.

Omega feels a strange sense of déjà vu, looking into the various rooms she remembers growing up in. The last time she stepped foot in Nala Sé’s house was seven years ago, and she’d merely silently collected her few belongings and left without a second glance. She’s certainly glad her mother isn’t here; Omega has no idea what she would do if she was , so it’s a small relief in this wild mess she’s found herself in.

Omega resists the urge to scratch at the bandages wrapped around her forearm. She’d checked earlier for infection, and she’s been bitten before without turning, but she can’t help but feel like a ticking bomb, primed and ready to explode in a flurry of dead skin and animalistic fury. Right. Omega shakes her head and focuses forward. A mission’s a mission and she needs all the attention she can afford.

Her mother is — was, there’s no evidence to prove she’s alive so she’s dead in Omega’s eyes, not that she feels any remorse for that woman — a private person, but her experiments were near and dear to her, including Omega herself, and the files on said experiments will likely be in a hidden compartment in her desk, so that’s where Omega headed, knife switched out for a blaster she’d picked up a couple months ago.

Thankfully, she doesn’t have any further encounters with the undead and makes it to the office upstairs unscathed. She bolts the door behind her and shoves a stiff-looking wooden chair under the doorknob for extra measure. She can slip out the window if need be.

Nala’s office is unkempt, which is unusual for her, given her need for tidiness and spotlessness, but not surprising, given the setting. Omega had noticed pretty quickly that the house had been raided, and whoever was responsible was very thorough. The office would not have been spared. She just hopes that the files she needs weren’t deemed important enough to steal.

There are loose sheets of paper strewn about, scattered on the ground as though a stack of them had fallen in a hurry. Omega walks over to the desk, allowing herself a bit of childish glee at tracking grime on her mother’s pristine carpets and documents.

The desk has a couple of hidden compartments for various items. Omega checks the false bottom of the largest drawer first, finding nothing but a small key, a bundle of cash, and a pearlescent pendant with a strange diamond symbol etched into it. It looks vaguely familiar to Omega, so she pockets it, along with the key. If she’s able to find whatever it unlocks, she might find something useful. 

Omega checks the trapdoor underneath the desk next, finding a tiny divot in the wood and pressing inwards. With a click, the compartment tilts open, and Omega crouches below the desk to examine the contents. Jackpot. She pulls out a pair of manila folders, flipping the cream cardstock of the first open only to find a startlingly young face grinning back at her.

The boy in the photo paperclipped to the front page can’t have been older than seven at the time the picture was taken. He’s got a gap in his teeth where one of his front incisors is missing, and his hair is shorn close to his scalp. Omega examines the front page, which lists basic information about the kid. The project is referred to as “Project Wrecker,” though the kid doesn’t appear to be named, only ever designated as “Subject 03.” Omega doesn’t know how she feels about how the number suggests there may be two others before him. How many people has her mother hurt? The use of numbers instead of names is equally sickening; it’s as though they were working with objects or animals rather than people.

Omega is unnerved, to say the least. She never really knew what her mother’s mysterious experiments were about, just that they took up so much time and energy that she began to pull away, emotionally and physically. It’s appalling to find out that it was experimentation done on children that caused her parents’ divorce and Nala Sé losing custody of Omega.

She opens the second folder, though she has no idea what to expect. Her stomach churns at the sight of an even younger face, the birthdate listed underneath “Subject 04” revealing the scowling boy in the photo to be only five. “Project Crosshair” is listed in cold lettering at the top, though Omega doesn’t think she can handle reading the rest of the file. There are definitely other horrors waiting in the small stacks of paper in each folder.

However, she does notice an address on a sticky note tacked onto the inside of Subject 04’s folder, in a town by the name of Tantiss. It’s not far from here, and Omega figures it’s as much a lead as she’s going to get if she doesn’t find anything else in the office. If she can locate her own medical records or similar documents, that would be great, but if she doesn’t, then she might find the boys she’s discovered, and that’s still a win in her heart. She tucks the note into her pocket and the files into her pack.

A quick sweep of the room reveals nothing else, so Omega can only assume that any other important files have been stashed away elsewhere. No matter, she’ll simply head over to Tantiss and see if she can find anything there. She removes her pistol from its holster again and exits the office.

Chapter Text

Kix likes to claim that his stubborn attitude is a necessity for life as a healthcare worker, but Echo disagrees. He might be a little biased because of how often that attitude is turned towards him, but Kix is undeniably insufferable when he has his mind set on something.

Exhibit A: Kix forcing Echo to lie horizontally across the couch of the nearest apartment so he can get a good look at Echo’s prosthetics. Echo complies with a sigh. His prosthetics are being troublesome and Kix looking over them will definitely help, but that doesn’t mean Echo won’t dig his heels in and fight back a little.

Once Echo’s settled on the couch with his prosthetic legs detached, Kix gets to work removing the metal plating covering the wiring in his right leg. Kix is so zeroed in on his work that he doesn’t notice Tech creeping up behind him until the boy is nearly touching the medic, leaning over to look at what Kix is doing with a curious glint in his eyes. For the sake of Kix’s dignity, Echo doesn’t comment on the yelp Kix lets out, though Fives snickers from where he’s perched on the dining table.

“Do you need something?” Kix asks, pausing his work on Echo’s prosthetic.

Tech shakes his head. “I was merely curious. May I observe?”

Kix looks startled, but doesn’t refuse. Echo can’t help but smile as Kix shuffles over to allow Tech to see his work. The medic even explains his thought process and points to various different pieces. Tech watches intently and Echo can clearly see him drinking in all the information like a dry sponge.

Hunter drifts over, refusing to let Tech out of his sight, ever the quiet sentinel.

Echo waits a moment, before deciding to tread into unfamiliar territory. “Does he like circuits?” Echo asks, directing the question to Hunter, seeing as Tech is entranced by the inner workings of a prosthetic limb.

Hunter shrugs. “I think he just likes learning things. We never really learned much about prosthetics, but I’m sure he knows the basics about electricity and mechanisms.”

Echo laughs. “Most kids your age don’t know much about prosthetics, don’t worry. I was never really into the mechanical side of tech either. I was part of the robotics team in high school, but I was involved with the coding rather than the building of the physical robot.”

Hunter furrows his brow in what Echo thinks might be confusion, but doesn’t comment. Echo isn’t sure what he said that elicited that reaction but he’s still worried he’ll spook Hunter if he prods too much.

A silence lapses over them, only interrupted by Rex and Fives talking in a nearby room. Echo notices Tech has stopped watching Kix as intensely and instead he’s now stealing glances at Echo every once in a while.

Echo is kind of expecting what comes next. Tech finally turns away from Kix and directs a question at Echo. “How did you get the prosthetics?”

Kix stiffens and opens his mouth, likely to tell Tech about how that’s not an appropriate thing to ask someone, but Echo huffs and shakes his head. Kix relaxes minimally and returns to his work, but he’s still visibly tense. Echo definitely appreciates Kix being ready to step in at the drop of a hat to defend him, but Echo can fight his own battles. Besides, he has a feeling that this might be his way of connecting with the boys. He’s pretty sure he’s read something somewhere about vulnerability being the best way to earn trust — showing his pains and weaknesses so he doesn’t appear as a threat.

“While I don’t mind you asking,” Echo begins, choosing his words carefully so he doesn’t sound angry or annoyed. “Some people may not be comfortable sharing about these sorts of things. For one thing, it’s their own private business, and sometimes the stories behind injuries can be rather traumatic.”

Tech nods, his expression ever so slightly twisted with fear. Hunter, oddly enough, has a bigger reaction and scrambles in between Tech and Echo.

“I’m so sorry,” Hunter gasps, face white as a sheet and eyes blown wide with fear. “I- Tech thinks in facts rather than emotions- he didn’t mean to upset you or anything like that-!”

Echo startles at Hunter shaking like a leaf and has to suppress his anger. Hunter wanted to protect Tech, stood in front of him so that any punishment he thought Echo might unleash on Tech would instead be inflicted onto Hunter. Echo wants to have a conversation with whoever is responsible for Hunter having such a severe reaction.

“It’s okay, he’s not in trouble,” Echo soothes, keeping his anger out of his voice and expression. “I’m not angry at all, Tech doesn’t know any better. I just wanted to make sure he knew, so if he ever found himself in that position, he’d know what to say.” When Hunter remains tense, Echo adds, “’Sides, there are plenty of adults who should know better and have said worse things or behaved worse than that.”

Kix scoffs, knowing exactly who Echo is referring to. Hunter seems to accept this and shuffles to the side so he isn’t standing between Echo and Tech.

“To answer your question, Tech,” Echo informs the bespectacled kid. “I got trapped in a burning building a couple years ago and had to get my limbs amputated.” Echo tries not to grin at Kix’s disturbed expression at such a crude representation of the traumatic experience. Good thing Rex isn’t in the room because he’d certainly give Echo an earful about how he shouldn’t be using humor to cope with his past. It’s an even better thing Fives isn’t in the room either. From what Echo knows, his twin still blames himself for the incident, no matter how often Rex and Echo reassure him that it wasn’t his fault.

The two boys don’t have a large reaction; Tech’s eyes are still twinkling with curiosity and Hunter only looks mildly uncomfortable, as though deciding whether he needed to comfort Echo in some manner.

“I’ve come to terms with it; sometimes I get nervous around fire, or I get claustrophobic, but otherwise, it’s just an accident in the past,” Echo reassures.

“I’ve heard of phantom pain before, do you still experience it?” Tech asks after a moment.

“ Tech! ” Hunter hisses, but Echo only smiles.

“I do, but it used to be a lot more frequent than it is now. Having the prosthetics helps, too.”

Hunter relaxes a fraction when it becomes apparent Echo still isn’t going to lash out at Tech for asking. Echo and Kix exchange glances, and judging by Kix’s pinched expression, Echo gathers that Kix is just as concerned for the young boys as he is. Something has definitely happened to them in the past; their tense postures and exhausted expressions are identical to the ones Echo has seen in Rex and Fives, and in the mirror, when they were younger. But it isn’t their business and Echo also knows firsthand that if it’s traumatic, it won’t be easy to talk about.

Tech turns back to Kix as the medic finishes checking on Echo’s legs. Hunter glances over before moving to the glass balcony door of the apartment they have holed up in, presumably to check up on the horde situation. Judging by the grim expression cast across Hunter’s face, it hasn’t gotten any better.

Just as Kix is instructing Echo to stand up and walk around as though Echo were trying on new shoes, Rex and Fives waltz in, balancing several bowls in their hands.

Kix squints. “Is that food?”

Hunter frowns, confused. “How did you get hot food?”

“Magic,” Fives answers with a grin.

“There was a portable stove in the cabinets,” Rex deadpans, kneeling down to set the bowls on the coffee table. “You feeling better, Echo?” Rex turns a scrutinizing eye at his younger brother, as though daring him to lie.

Echo nods anyway. He is feeling better; the increasing ache in the flesh portions of his legs are gone, now replaced with a vague soreness, which Echo knows will be gone quickly.

Kix’s mouth is downturned, mock hurt flashing across his features as he looks at Rex. “Of course he’s feeling better! Do you doubt my ability to look after my patients?”

Fives plops down unceremoniously on the couch beside Echo. “I honestly thought you’d be skinned alive,” he muses, sipping at whatever’s in the bowls. “Good to see you still have skin, vod.”

Echo ignores his twin in favour of picking up one of the bowls and peering at its contents.

“Chicken broth,” Rex clarifies, sensing the question emanating from Kix, Echo, Hunter, and Tech. “We found some cans of it in one of the other apartments. You’re welcome to eat as much as you want, there’s more.”

Not a bad meal, and Echo trusts it’s been cooked well if Rex was monitoring the process. Fives unsupervised in a kitchen is simply asking for trouble. Kix seems to agree, picking up a bowl of his own without much hesitation.

It’s the younger two boys that are more wary. Judging by their reactions when Rex and Fives had come in with six bowls rather than just four, they probably weren’t expecting to be fed.

Rex also notices their trepidation and nudges two of the bowls in their direction. “Here, eat. There’s plenty to go around.”

Tech looks to his older brother as though asking for permission, and Hunter slowly extends his hand out to touch one of the bowls, pick it up, and examine it, all while keeping a careful eye on the adults and checking for reactions, Echo realizes with a start. After a moment, Hunter deems the dish acceptable to eat, and passes the bowl he’s holding to Tech with an approving nod before taking his own, movements still measured and cautious as though he’s sitting in a room full of fragile china.

“Sorry we couldn’t get you anything more nutritious or tasty,” Rex apologizes as he picks up his own bowl. “Not a whole lot of options, what with everything coming out of cans.”

Tech nods in understanding. “No need for apologies. This is an acceptable meal, considering you did not have to feed us.”

Hunter shoots Tech a look before turning to Rex. “Thank you.”

“It was nothing, I figured we’ll be here for a while and we all need to eat.”

They make idle talk for a while, with the boys pitching in and reacting every once in a while, and everything seems okay until Rex asks the five-million-dollar question: “Do you have anywhere to go after the horde passes?”

Hunter and Tech immediately tense up, glancing at each other nervously.

“We just want to make sure you’re not alone. It’s dangerous out there, for anyone,” Echo adds when Hunter’s face morphs into a scowl.

Hunter’s hackles lower a bit, but he still bites out, “We don’t need your help. We’re fine by ourselves.”

Rex’s face pinches. “I’m afraid I can’t allow that. Do you have a group that you got separated from, or are you on your own? We could help you get back to them.”

“We don’t need your permission,” Hunter snarls. “We’re going to go do whatever we’d like, we don’t have to listen to you. ”

“No, you don’t, but it doesn’t sit right with me letting you two go when it’s so dangerous outside,” Rex counters.

Hunter glares stubbornly back at him, making no indication to listen to Rex.

Echo decides that Rex’s approach isn’t going to work out. It seems Tech is inclined to follow logic and take strategic advantages. “At least stay until Tech’s arm heals?” he offers. “We can provide food, shelter, safety, and continued medical aid while Tech recovers, and then you can decide whether you want to stick around or not.”

Rex shoots Echo a look, clearly unhappy with creating that compromise, but Echo knows what he’s doing. His ori’vod has good intentions, but him being headstrong isn’t going to help earn their trust. They need to take this slowly, like approaching skittish tookas.

Hunter shakes his head, still unbudging, but Tech, as Echo predicted, appears to be considering the option. Echo only wishes that they didn’t have to think so tactically. Kids deserve to be guaranteed safety, and not questioning it with every breath they take.

The younger brother tugs on Hunter’s sleeve. “Echo is right,” Tech admits. “Neither of us could properly care for my arm if it were to get worse, and we’d be at a severe disadvantage with my injury.”

Hunter directs his scowl towards Tech, but Tech stares resolutely back. Echo watches as Hunter’s resolve crumbles and he droops with a resigned sigh.

“Fine,” the boy concedes. “We’ll go with you, but only until Tech’s arm heals.”

Echo smiles. “That’s all we’ll ask for.”

Chapter Text

Tantiss, as it turns out, sits isolated outside of a forest in the region of Wayland. The town is pleasant — small enough so it isn’t overrun with zombies, and out of the way, so houses and buildings haven’t been raided. Omega even considers staying in the village for an extended period of time, but small towns mean supplies run out quicker, and if she’s ever injured, it’ll be pretty much over. She’s always been more of a city girl anyway, despite the dangers.

The facility near Tantiss, on the other hand, isn’t a place Omega ever wants to return to. The building is set into a mountain and the only entrance is a pair of metal doors that have been warped and bent beyond recognition. The air is eerily still, as though it is holding its breath, waiting for something to happen. It sets Omega on edge, her hand itching to grasp the blaster resting in its holster on her hip. There isn’t anything hostile here, as far as she can tell, but it feels so devoid of life that it’s unnerving. She proceeds through the ruined entryway cautiously, pulling her DC-17 out just in case.

The interior is significantly worse than the outside. Not even a few steps in does Omega find the gory splatters of human remains painting the walls and floor, the work of either a hostile animal or — more likely — a zombie. She can see bloody bite marks on the human corpses strewn on the floor, even with the lights dimmed, but more interestingly, they are dressed in white lab coats, some still donning blue latex gloves or holding scalpels and syringes. Seems like Omega is in the right place, if anything, though it doesn’t help with her unease. If there really are — or were, Omega is choosing to ignore that possibility for the time being — children being housed here, the projects her mother was directing are more sinister than Omega initially thought. Nala Sé had no qualms about making her own daughter a pin cushion for her needles; it wouldn’t be that far of a stretch for the people working for her being perfectly okay with doing the same to kids that weren’t theirs.

Omega picks her way past pools of blood, attempting to not soil her boots with the metallic smell. She won’t benefit from being bait for zombies, immunity or no, and if these scientists were who she thinks they were, she doesn’t want to dirty herself with their chakaaryc blood anyway.

The first couple rooms she peeks into yield nothing helpful. They’re mostly offices, with file cabinets she rifles through but finds nothing really important. Omega gets the sinking feeling that the majority of the documents have been destroyed, and without power, she has no way of accessing the computers set up on the desks. At least the back-up generators still power the lights at half brightness. It saves her the trouble of having to use a flashlight, and she can reserve the energy in it for a later date.

She’s starting to have doubts about whether or not a zombie hoard was actually responsible for this carnage, though. Judging by the plethora of cameras set up in the rooms and hallways and the fact that the doors are all made of metal, they didn’t skimp out on security here. Zombies have strength, yes, but not enough to tear open the large metal doors of the complex. Omega recalls them being absolutely ruined. Besides, she has also been noticing inch-deep gouges torn into the walls and floor, though they seem to be concentrated near the entrance of the building, just like the bodies of the facility’s staff. The members of the undead that plague everyone now don’t have claws capable of doing that damage. Something else must’ve been responsible and Omega’s not interested in sticking around long enough to find out, so she hurries along.

Omega is beginning to feel despair set in as she leaves another room empty handed when she encounters a barricaded door further down the hall. When she tests the handle, she finds it unlocked, and the door gives way when she shoves her shoulder into it, so with a bit more force, the door swings open, hinges screeching.

This room is different from the others and its purpose is less clear. It appears to be a safe room of some kind, though judging by the flimsiness of the door and the security features equipped on the outside of the facility, it was never meant to be used, just a back-up plan in case something went horribly wrong.

The room is pretty large, about the size of a decent studio apartment and with a similar lack of walls. A small kitchen sits to the right, connected to a seating area and table, and is littered with wrappers and empty water packs. There seems to be at least an attempt at cleaning up, since most of the trash has made its way to the general vicinity of the overflowing garbage bin. The other half of the room is in a similar state of disarray; bunks have been pulled off the wall like shelves, though notably only one of them seems to have been used, blankets and pillows piled in a messy heap on a lower bunk and spilling onto the floor. The ground here is cluttered with paper and stray pens instead of food wrappers, and the papers hold messy scrawlings and crudely drawn pictures. There’s also a closed door, presumably leading to a fresher, on the left side. Judging by the state of the rest of the room, Omega’s glad the door is closed. The whole place seems like it hasn’t been cleaned in a week and she’s not sure if she wants to see the condition of that particular area.

Just as she steps through the doorway, she hears shuffling and a hissed whisper of “Oh-three-” from the kitchenette before everything goes quiet again.

That’s certainly odd. Up until now, the only sign of life had been the chirp of birds and rustle of leaves outside. It doesn’t seem like the undead, though, so Omega lowers her blaster and walks slowly over to the kitchen, footsteps purposefully audible on the linoleum.

“Hello?” Omega calls out. It goes against all the training and experience she’s had since the apocalypse started, but she has a feeling there aren’t any threats present, if the files she found earlier are anything to go off of.

When she passes the island, she ends up locking eyes with a figure crouched in one of the lower cabinets. Omega hears a sharp “eep!” and the cabinet door snaps shut.

Omega crouches down, returning her blaster to its holster. She’d put it on the floor to further calm whoever is in the cabinet, but she doesn’t feel safe enough in the facility to completely disarm herself.

“You can come out, if you want. I’m not going to hurt you,” Omega reassures, settling into a low squat a few feet away from the cabinet.

She hears a whispered argument, opting to not try and listen in and instead waiting patiently, hand braced against the ground. She only catches a louder whisper-yell of “Well I don’t think she’s scary, so I’m gonna say hi,” before the cabinet door creaks open again to reveal a young boy dressed all in black, grinning widely at Omega. She instantly recognizes him as subject 03 from Project Wrecker, though he somehow seems smaller in person.

“Hello,” the kid greets, with no concerns at all about talking to a potentially dangerous individual. “I’m 03, and he’s 04.” 03 points at the cabinet he’d just emerged from, and 04 lets out a hiss.

Omega smiles. “My name’s Omega, nice to meet you.” She glances around at the scattered plastic wrappers and pouches on the ground. “Are either of you hungry or thirsty? I have some granola bars and water bottles, if you want any.” Omega doesn’t have much experience working with small, probably traumatized children, but she’s gained the trust of stray tookas before, coaxing them with bits of tuna and sardines. Surely the same method will work with these kids, right?

She must be right to some extent, because 03’s eyes light up. “Yes, please!”

Omega hands over the promised sustenance and 03 takes it with eager hands, passing the extra bottle and granola bar to his companion still tucked away in the cabinet. When Omega looks over, she’s startled to see a pair of irises glowing in the shade of the cabinet, watching the older teen with a sharp gaze. 04 only ever averts his eyes from her to take the offered items before warily tracking her movements. She’s not hurt by his distrust; neither of these kids could’ve had a great time here, if her own childhood is anything like theirs.

“Are you two here alone?” Omega asks when the pair finishes their bars.

03 nods. “Emerie was here a while ago, but she left ’cause she said she needed to check to see if it was safe. She told us to block the door and hide if anyone came inside.” He grins sheepishly as he registers that they must’ve done something wrong, since they were found almost as soon as someone entered the room.

“Well, you definitely did what she asked you to do,” Omega observes, trying to keep the amusement out of her voice. “How long has Emerie been gone?”

03’s brow furrows and Omega can practically see the cogs trying to turn. After a couple minutes, he shrugs and looks helplessly to his companion in the cabinet.

04 huffs, slinks out of the cabinet, and ducks behind 03, peeking out at Omega from around his taller brother’s arm.

The first thing Omega notices with no small amount of shock is 04’s hair, which is silvery white, like the color of the hairs she and Boba had teased their dad about having the older the man got. She’d noticed it in the picture of the file, of course, but she’d written it off as some weird lighting and assumed his hair was just a light blonde.

The second is that 04 looks positively tiny next to 03 — though, now that she thinks about it, 03 seems bigger than a 7-year-old normally should be, both in height and in bulk. No wonder a scrawny little kid like 04 is dwarfed by 03.

04 thinks for a moment before responding, “7 days.” He refuses to make eye contact. “I think.”

Omega can’t stop her face from pinching in worry. Emerie is likely dead or infected, if she hasn’t returned for a week (Omega doesn’t want to think about the possibility of this Emerie person just leaving them there to fend for themselves). Her stomach churns at the thought of their caretaker being one of the corpses lying in the halls. Most of them are torn and ruined beyond recognition, and the majority are gathered near the entrance, with fewer remnants of violence remaining further into the building. Omega can only hope there’s another exit so she can steer clear of the bloodbath if she takes the kids with her. When she takes the kids with her. Because she won’t just leave them here.

“That’s a long time for you two to be here alone. You both did a great job taking care of each other,” Omega praises, unfolding herself from the ground.

03 beams and looks over at 04. “Did you hear that? She said we did a good job!”

“I have ears, too, 03,” 04 grumbles, but he’s visibly fighting the urge to smile.

Omega grins before turning away to examine the rest of the room, choosing to ignore the way that 03 and 04 clamber after her. 04 grips the back of 03’s shirt and bites at the index fingernail of his other hand.

Omega stoops down to pick up one of the scattered sheets of paper, watching from the corner of her eye as 03 does the same with another piece abandoned a few feet away, tilting it for 04 to peer at over 03’s elbow. The piece of paper Omega is holding contains a drawing of a woman in blue ballpoint and messy lettering spelling out “EMERIE” in all caps. The stick figure wears a high ponytail of dark hair, rectangular glasses, and a white lab coat and stands in a meadow, though some of the flowers look suspiciously neater than the others. She can only assume one of the kids drew this, with some help from Emerie, and she thinks her heart has melted in her chest.

Omega sets down the paper and hears the boys giggle at the content of theirs, 03 pointing at something and causing 04 to snigger into his hand. Omega smiles — she can’t seem to stop doing that around them — and stands up again to survey the rest of the room. The boys notice quickly and drop the paper to scramble after her.

Omega deduces, after inspecting the bunks hanging off the wall, that 03 and 04 had opted to share one of the bottom bunks, leaving the other one for Emerie to sleep in. The other two bunks above are folded into the wall, unused. 03 flops onto his and 04’s bunk with a giggle and 04 runs his tiny hand along the hem of a blanket.

“Is it comfy?” Omega asks the boy lying facedown on the bed.

03 gives a muffled confirmation and 04 snickers before launching himself on top of 03. 03 removes his face from the blankets to squawk indignantly as 04 lands on his older counterpart with a soft grunt and laughter.

After everything the boys have been through, Omega feels they deserve to be silly and have fun, like most kids should, so she lets them tussle on the bed for a bit as she sweeps the rest of the room with her eyes. The room doesn’t seem to house any important documents, especially the ones Omega’s looking for, so she decides that she’ll have to leave the safe room if she wants to continue searching. The real question is what to do with the boys. Omega is certainly not leaving them here by themselves, but would they be willing to come with her? 03 seems to like her well enough, but 04 is not as quick to trust. She doesn’t love the idea of bringing them along around the facility, but at least with her, she’ll be able to protect them, if anything bad happens.

Omega turns back to the pair of kids, who pause their roughhousing and blink at her owlishly. “I have to go check the rest of the building,” she announces, resisting the urge to smooth down 04’s ruffled snowy hair.

“Why?” 03 asks, flinging the blanket covering his head backwards.

“I’m looking for something, something... important.” That’s all they need to know, really.

03 scrambles off the bed and grabs Omega’s hand. “Please don’t leave us here! We can help you!”

04 nods in eager agreement from his spot in the blanket pile.

Omega feels a wave of relief crash over her. She was worried she’d have to convince them to tag along. “Alright then. But you have to promise you’ll stick by my side. It might be dangerous.”

She takes their enthusiastic bobbing of heads as confirmation and herds them out the door. Omega can only hope nothing goes wrong.

Chapter Text

The zombies take their sweet, sweet time to vacate the streets below their apartment. Fives suggests shooting them from a couple floors above to pick them off, but Rex shuts it down, wanting to err on the side of caution and let them pass.

It's well into the night when they begin to pack everything up and head back to their bunker. Echo’s almost tempted to wait a little longer as he watches Tech blink sleepily behind the round frames of his glasses, but Rex seems anxious to stay here for longer than necessary. As soon as Kix finishes fine-tuning Echo’s prosthetic arm, despite Echo’s insistence on it feeling fine, they exit the apartment and hurry down the stairs, Rex in the lead followed by Hunter, Tech, and Kix, with the twins bringing up the rear. All of the adults rearmed themselves as they left, and thankfully, beyond an initial tenseness, the younger boys did not scamper off at the sight of the blasters. Echo will take any progress they get, no matter how small. Hunter also unsheathes his knife and advises Tech to stay close, though his brother only responds with an exasperated eye roll.

The streets are thankfully empty, though they keep their weapons out anyway as they skitter down the sidewalk. Echo can’t help but feel on edge — they usually avoid going out at night unless strictly necessary due to low visibility, and Tech isn’t the only one feeling fatigued. Echo’s sleep pattern has been inconsistent as of late and joining in on a supply run probably wasn’t the best idea. He can feel the exhaustion settling into his bones as he runs alongside Fives. His twin gives him an odd look, because of course he knows Echo hasn’t been sleeping well. Echo ignores his concerned side glances and presses forwards. At least Kix doesn’t know; the medic would really have his head for this.

They make it about a block before they run into trouble, which is impressive to Echo. He had been peeking warily into the alleys they sped past, hoping they weren’t about to get jumped by a member of the undead. But it seems their luck has just run out, judging by Rex’s curses in Mando’a and a thud as a zombie hits the ground, a glowing vibroknife buried in its throat. Echo and Fives rush to Rex’s side, blasters up and ready to fire at... nothing?

Hunter pushes past Echo and yanks the knife out of the zombie’s neck. He makes a face of disgust at the grey flesh and dark blood staining the blade and wipes it against the rags hanging off the corpse before sheathing it.

Rex stares at him, stunned, and Fives chuckles.

“You’ve got fast reflexes, kid,” Echo’s twin remarks, lowering his blaster.

Hunter shrugs. “I heard it and just... reacted, I guess.” Tech makes a face that Echo can’t quite read, and Hunter responds with a sharp glare.

Rex looks incredulously at Hunter. “I didn’t hear anything...”

“Maybe you’re just going deaf, old man.” Fives elbows his older brother with a devilish grin.

Rex merely sighs. “Let’s keep moving, boys.”

They continue trekking down the abandoned roads, alternating between a swift walk and a jog in hopes of covering ground faster. They encounter a few more undead stragglers, but they’re easily handled with a quick blaster shot (or knife throw from Hunter).

Echo can feel the nervousness seep out of him as he begins to recognize more of the landscape, rapidly replaced with fatigue as they slowed their pace near the outskirts of the city.

Rex leads their small party around the back of a dilapidated looking office building to an unassuming grayish-green door. The man knocks a short rhythm onto the metal surface and simultaneously clicks a button on his communicator. A few moments later, something heavy behind the door shifts and a tattoo-ed head pokes out of the entrance.

“Rex!” Jesse crows, pulling the door open wider. “Su cuy’gar! The general’s been worried sick.”

Someone behind Jesse sputters. “I was not ‘worried sick,’ that’s just false!” Anakin elbows Jesse to the side and crosses his arms. “Besides, I think any sensible person would be concerned when their friend comes back early from a supply run missing one man, grabs the nearest medic, and then leaves again without even saying hello!”

Rex rolls his eyes. “I told you, everything was fine. You know the communicators have limited range and if it was an emergency, I would’ve told you.”

Anakin huffs, clearly not satisfied by Rex’s reassurances but out of convenient arguments.

“Why did you need Kix, anyway?” Jesse asks, looking each of them up and down for any visible sign of injury. “Is Echo okay?”

Echo scoots into view from behind Kix and waves. “I’m fine,” he assures, ignoring Kix’s scowl. Clearly, the medic is still upset at him for neglecting his prosthetic care. “It was Tech over here who had the broken arm.” He glances around only to find that the two boys had tucked themselves out of view behind Fives and Kix, now that Echo had moved. The medic shifts to the right a little and Anakin and Jesse can only stare at their younger companions for a moment.

Jesse looks up incredulously. “How...?”

Rex sighs. “Meet Hunter and Tech. We found them in the apartment building we were raiding. Hunter, Tech, this is Anakin and Jesse.”

Tech nods politely at the men standing in the doorway and Hunter merely levels them with a glare, as though challenging them to try anything.

“We managed to convince them to stay while Tech’s arm heals,” Rex continues. “I didn’t want to leave them there when we could help.”

Anakin nods in understanding. “We have plenty of room and supplies, you two are very welcome here. I think Ahsoka would appreciate having someone closer to her age to talk to.”

As though summoned by her name, the padawan materializes behind Anakin with a bright “Welcome back!”

Hunter shrinks back even further at the appearance of the teenager, hackles raised. Tech lays a gentle hand to calm his older brother and Hunter untenses slightly. Ahsoka seems to notice and smiles reassuringly.

Anakin jolts suddenly, as though remembering something, and pushes Ahsoka and Jesse to the side. “You guys should come on in, it’s still dark outside.”

They all file in and Anakin leads them down a narrow corridor into a stairwell descending into the ground, lit by dim emergency lights. The staircase then opens up into another hallway, this one significantly shorter, with a set of double doors at the end.

Anakin approaches the door and knocks his own rhythm onto the metal, clicking the communicator clipped to his belt at the same time. Even the spontaneous ex-police officer knew when to adhere to protocol, especially in an environment where few could be trusted.

The door creaks open and another shaved head appears in the doorway, this one with a blue line cutting around the right side of his head and through his eye.

“Rex, Fives, Echo! You’re back!” Hardcase grinned ear-to-ear. “You slowpokes missed dinner! It was Tup’s turn to cook, and he made the best tiingilar, there might still be-” He cuts himself short at the sight of Hunter and Tech, who have, once again, tucked themselves out of view behind Echo.

The man at the door opens his mouth to ask but Kix cuts him off with a tired sigh. “Hardcase, this is Hunter and Tech. Hunter and Tech, Hardcase.” The medic gestures at each person with his hand. “Now can we please go inside?”

“Ooh, someone’s grumpy,” Hardcase notes with a teasing smile, stepping to the side and holding the door open. “Guess I shouldn’t be surprised that Rex picked up some stray adiike.”

Rex shoots the man a glare sharply contrasting the twin beams on Echo and Fives’s faces. Whether or not Hunter and Tech realized it, the younger boys have all but been adopted by Rex, just short of reciting the gai bal manda, though it wasn’t like Rex needed to for it to be obvious. Rex had a habit of picking up kih’vode, even when he doesn’t mean to. His protective nature fit the bill of ori’vod perfectly.

Kix makes a beeline to their improvised medbay, presumably to drop off supplies and make sure everything is in order before turning in for the night. Nobody moves to follow or intercept him — a tired Kix is a Kix you do not want to cross, and it’s always best to let him recharge into a slightly less acerbic mood.

Rex and Anakin are the next to break off, likely so Rex can debrief their impromptu leader about the events of their run and plan a trip to retrieve the supplies they weren’t able to carry back on foot. Jesse and Hardcase also trot off to the side, bickering about something with animated hand gestures.

Echo expects Ahsoka to leave as well, but when he turns over to the young Togruta, she’s grinning at a wary Hunter and a cautiously curious Tech.

Echo thinks about heading off to the showers but he decides to stick around with the pair of brothers, judging by how uncomfortable they seemed around Ahsoka. The girl doesn’t seem too put-off by their distrust, however, still beaming with an intensity brighter than the sun.

“I think a tour is in order!” the padawan chirps and gestures at the tables, chairs, and sofas scattered around the room. “This is the common area! People hang out around here most of the time, if they wanna talk or eat or brood or whatever. This is also where the people taking watch will sit and hold down the fort.” A small group of vode on watch playing a card game at a nearby table wave at them, which Ahsoka returns brightly. Echo and Fives share an amused glance before following the trio of younglings into a room off to the right.

“Hopefully you won’t have to spend too much time in here,” Ahsoka tells Hunter and Tech. “This is the infirmary, a.k.a. Kix’s den.”

Said medic scoffs but doesn’t retaliate further, simply tucking a drawer back into its slot in the cabinet and standing up from his rolling stool. “Well, I’m turning in for the night, and I better see you all in bed soon.” Kix jabs a particularly insistent finger at Echo as he walks by and exits the room.

“Don’t worry about him.” Ahsoka brushes off Kix’s disappearance with a laugh. “He’s all bark, no bite. He won’t actually do anything, he just acts like that.”

The next room they visit is the galley, though Echo makes Fives stand outside with a firm gaze. His twin complies with a grumble, and Tech tilts his head curiously.

“He’s banned from the kitchen,” Echo explains and Ahsoka snickers. “He and Jesse almost burned down the last one, and I don’t trust him anywhere near anything remotely dangerous while sleep deprived.”

Tech nods in understanding and Hunter cracks a smile — he seems to understand the chaos little brothers can get into (even if Fives is just a handful of minutes younger than Echo).

Echo lets Ahsoka show the boys where the fridge is, the contents of all the cabinets, how to start the generator if it ever malfunctioned, and a secret stash of snacks Echo’s pretty sure belongs to Hevy, not that that has stopped Cutup or Fives or Echo or literally anyone else from rifling through it. Luckily for Hevy, it doesn’t seem like Hunter and Tech are terribly interested in taking anything, though Echo has a feeling he might find food of their own squirreled away in some pocket somewhere.

Fives rejoins them as they journey over to the storage room, where the twins drop off their packs to be sorted away tomorrow.

Ahsoka shows a fascinated Tech the inventory sheets pinned to the wall and explains the system as well as she can while Hunter hovers behind. It’s a complicated thing that Echo knows could be streamlined pretty easily, but it’s what has worked for their little group after all these months. Tech seems to think so too, as Echo can see the cogs turning in the boy’s head as he examines the hand-scrawled chart with a finger on his chin. The tiny genius chooses not to comment, however, and after grabbing somewhat appropriately sized clothing for the boys to sleep in, they move out.

Ahsoka chooses to introduce the communications room next, though just as she opens the door, Rex’s and Anakin’s voices filter out into the hallway, so the Togruta closes the door just as quickly.

“It’s okay,” Ahsoka says, leading them back into the common room and towards the last unexplored area. “It’s not super important that you tour that one. It’s just where all the communication devices are stored, and where Anakin and Rex and all the other important adults meet to talk about important things.”

“Tech might like the communications stuff,” Hunter remarks, nudging his little brother in the shoulder. “That’s right up his alley.”

Ahsoka laughs. “Of course, we can check it out tomorrow if you want. I don’t really understand much of it, but maybe someone as smart as you will.”

Tech doesn’t react much to the praise beyond a pleased expression, but Hunter grins, glad that someone else appreciates his brother’s intelligence.

“Okay, here are the bunkrooms and freshers! This side is for the boys and further down is for the girls. There isn’t enough space for separate rooms for everybody, so you’ll have to share. There’s toiletries and stuff in the bathroom already, but make sure you grab a bag for your toothbrush and toothpaste so you know it’s yours.”

Hunter and Tech both nod before turning back to Echo and Fives, looking up expectantly.

Echo’s brow furrows in confusion, but his twin seems to catch up a bit quicker.

“You don’t need to ask us for permission, kids,” Fives reassures with a disarming smile. “Feel free to use any of the sinks, toilets, and sonics, and you can pick whichever bunk you’d like, so long as it isn’t already claimed. We’ll be nearby, so holler if you need anything.”

The boys nod again, this time slower and more uncertain, before trudging to the freshers.

Echo and Fives opt to stay in the common area until the boys are done, so they bid Ahsoka good night and join Jesse and Hardcase in a heated but hushed debate about whether it was possible to bake uj’alayi in a solar oven with ingredients they already have.

“I’m just saying, I don’t think the foil will get warm enough to bake it all the way through!” Jesse argues. “Even if you were to have the stuff to make uj cake, I don’t think solar ovens get that hot, right?”

“We’ve literally grilled stuff on sun-heated metal, don’t you remember, di’kut?” Fives whacks the man upside the head. “Or is your memory already failing?”

“Hey...” Jesse rubs the back of his head and glares. “I swear I don’t remember us ever doing that.”

Echo’s chuckle is cut short when he feels a tap against his flesh elbow. He turns to find Hunter with his hair a wild untamed mess from the sonic and Tech hovering behind him, though the younger boy doesn’t seem to have washed up much more than his face and hair in the sink, his light brown curls still damp. It seems that they didn’t want to jostle Tech’s injured arm more than necessary, but at least he changed the lower half of his clothes. 

Jesse, Hardcase, and Fives pause when Hunter and Tech arrive, but when both boys seem to withdraw at the attention turned on them, they resume their conversation and Echo steps away from the group to address the kids.

“Finished with the bathroom?” Echo asks, leading them slowly over to the bunkrooms.

Hunter nods. “We weren’t sure which beds are claimed and which ones aren’t...”

Echo smiles reassuringly. “That’s okay. I’d offer you two your own room but unfortunately, there aren’t any completely unused rooms, or at least ones with bunks that I can assure you that you won’t get walked in on. If you want, you can stay in Rex, Fives, and I’s room instead. The three of us can sleep elsewhere, if that’ll make you more comfortable.”

Echo opens their room for the two to investigate. It’s a small room, with two pairs of bunk beds on opposite sides of the room. Rex insists on them keeping the room relatively tidy and Echo will admit that he’s a bit of a neat freak, so most of it is clean, beyond Fives’ bunk, which he never chooses to make. Like most of the rooms in the base, it’s also pretty void of furniture beyond the bunks and light fixture. There wasn’t really a need for drawers and such, so there’s just a small table set between the bunks with a couple random items scattered on it: a deck of cards, a plastic fork, and a pack of tissues.

“Since there’s only one free bunk, you can use mine, and one of you can take the bunk above Rex’ bunk. Or you can take Rex’s bunk, if neither of you want top bunk. I doubt he’ll mind much. We’ll work out more permanent bunking arrangements tomorrow, see if we can get you your own room.”

Hunter and Tech tentatively step into the room to examine everything and Echo decides to lean against the wall of the hallway across from the door, so they don’t worry about him trying to lock them in.

After a short while of them peeking around, Hunter returns to the hallway, Tech hovering in the doorway behind him.

“I think we’ll just share a bunk,” Hunter decides and Tech doesn’t voice any disagreements. “I... I don’t really mind if you three want to sleep in here as well, just... can we keep the door open?”

Echo nodded. “Yeah, that’s fine. Some of the vode might make noise when they switch shifts but if it makes you feel safer, I’m okay with it. If it bothers me or Fives or Rex, we can just go crash in Hevy, Droidbait, and Cutup’s room. And Fives sleeps through literally anything, anyway.”

Hunter’s expression shifts from nervous to relieved. “Thank you,” the boy responds.

“Of course, it’s no problem, really. You two can take my bunk, it’s the one on the left. I don’t want either of you falling off in the middle of the night, we already have one broken arm between the two of you.”

Hunter and Tech both nod and clamber into said bunk, Tech turning off the overhead light before tucking himself between Hunter and the wall.

“Good night, you two,” Echo says, pushing himself off the wall.

As he turns to head back to the common room, he hears two voices chorus “Good night, Echo” quietly behind him.

Chapter Text

Surprisingly, the blood drying on the walls and ruined corpses littering the floor don’t seem to faze 03 and 04 very much, though they make a game of trying to hop over body parts and gore so they don’t stain their shoes. At least the amount of bodies here is less compared to the number at the entrance, which Omega notices with no small amount of relief.

She tries to walk in pace with them, torn between taking the lead to deal with threats up ahead or falling behind to watch their backs. She hates having to rely solely on her reflexes, especially when she has more than just herself to protect. Even when she was travelling with her father and Boba, she knew they could hold their own in a fight. She won’t underestimate 03 and 04 — she doesn’t know what they’ve been through — but they’re just so little, and Omega can’t help but feel a flash of protectiveness every time she looks at them.

She lets 03 and 04 guide her to a room a little further down the hall and on the opposite side of the safe room. The steel door reminds her of the classroom doors from her and Boba’s public schools, though the grey colour is a lot less inviting. The resemblance is more through the window set into the door, making it easy to peer into the room, though she doesn’t end up seeing much when she notices 03 tugging on the door handle, which refuses to budge thanks to some kind of locking mechanism. Omega bends down to examine a keypad with a small card slot attached to the wall next to the door. She’d probably trigger an alarm system by trying to brute force the 4 digit code, and even though there doesn’t seem to be any personnel left in the facility, Omega isn’t super keen on drawing any unwanted attention to their location.

She instead moves over to one of the more... intact corpses lying in the hall and slips into the deceased’s lab coat pocket, rooting around for a key card. Hopefully the kids aren’t too freaked out about her looting a dead body. She’s lucky enough — or unlucky enough, depending on how you look at it — to have done this enough in the past, so the thought doesn’t disgust her as much as it might have before this whole osik-show. She finds the palm-sized piece of plastic in the scientist’s left pocket and swipes it along the reader, relieved when the light flickers green and the door swings open without any resistance.

The room they’ve unlocked seems to be some kind of exercise room. Why they need an exercise room for kids half her height, she doesn’t know. The walls and floor are padded with mats similar to the ones in school gyms. One wall has a large mirror instead of padding, though given the second door on the far side of the room next to the mirror, Omega is guessing it’s one-way. The door has an identical keypad attached above the handle, and though the ID card she’d picked up off the dead lab worker doesn’t seem to have terribly high clearance, they seemed to be allowed access to the side room.

03 giddily runs for a rack of dumbbells lining the wall and Omega is about to run over and stop him from potentially hurting himself before the kid picks up a 25-pound dumbbell as though it were only 5 pounds with a level of care beyond what Omega expected. Judging by his form, she can only assume that he’s handled these weights before, which soothes some of her worry. He definitely enjoys the activity, anyhow, so Omega just opts to watch him out of the corner of her eye as she scans the rest of the room.

04 surprisingly hangs back near the door, despite his initial distrust of her. He doesn’t seem terribly interested in following his friend’s example with the weight training, but Omega doesn’t miss him eyeing the pull-up bar set up on the far side of the room. The height is set at about 4 feet off the ground, but considering 04 barely reaches 3 feet tall, that’s plenty of room for the kid to use it properly.

Besides those two items, there is also a plethora of other exercise equipment, including a medicine ball on the smaller side off in the corner and a pair of jump ropes hung on the wall, which are at least items she’d expect for a gym catered to younger kids. Everything else, though, is for more serious physical training, and Omega isn’t sure if she wants to know why the scientists wanted the kids to use this equipment.

Once she has taken inventory of everything in the room, she moves over to the second door, swiping the card again and opening the door with caution. She can feel 03 pressing against the side of her leg to peer into the darkness and 04 gripping the side pocket of her cargo pants, tucked partially behind her frame.

It turns out to be some sort of observation room and Omega’s assumption about the mirror being one way is correct. The window gives a full view into the training area, and judging by 03 and 04’s awed expressions, the two were never allowed to enter, likely because they were always the ones being observed.

The room is equipped with various electronics, though all of it is still powered down like the rest of the building is. Omega’s more interested in the various drawers of the desk all the machinery is sitting on, so she quickly rifles through them, though she’s quickly disappointed to find mostly blank notepads and pens. Clearly they had enough time to destroy everything they didn’t need before whatever it was had torn through the place, and everything they did need is probably long gone. She’s too determined to give up on the search though. She can’t have come this far just to turn back now.

“How come we can’t see this window on the other side?” 03 questions, clambering onto the office chair situated in front of the desk. 04 stands on his tiptoes to peer through said window, touching the glass tentatively with his hands. Omega doesn’t bother stopping him from leaving fingerprints on it.

“It’s a one-way mirror,” Omega explains absentmindedly, still sifting through papers in case something was shoved in there last minute or left behind by someone less thorough. “Remember the big mirror on the other side? The glass has a reflective coating, so you think it’s a mirror, but really, you can see through the mirror on the other side.”

“So that’s how they know what we’re doing!” 03 spins his chair around excitedly. “04 thought they had cameras.”

“They do have cameras!” 04 protests, not about to be proven wrong. “They’re hidden in the walls but they’re still there!”

“I’m sure they’re also using the cameras,” Omega soothes, wary of the two starting an argument. She isn’t really sure if she’d be able to de-escalate that.

Luckily, 03 doesn’t seem to want to start a conflict. “Maybe the computers are for the cameras then!”

Omega nods, closing the last drawer in the desk. She’s pretty sure the cameras were probably used by a security team for surveillance purposes rather than observing their “subjects” (Omega still hates that word, for the record), but she doesn’t really have the bandwidth to point that out right now.

Done with her search and reluctant to stay longer than strictly necessary, Omega gently nudges 03 off the chair and out the door on the other end of the room, beckoning 04 to follow with her hand.

“Aww, can’t we stay longer?” 03 pleads, though he and 04 still trail after her, right on her heels. “I wasn’t done playing...”

“Sorry, kiddo.” Omega shoots the boys an apologetic smile. “We can play later, but we need to get moving.” She hates that she can’t keep that promise, but she isn’t sure what else will convince 03 to keep going.

04 grumbles a little but they press forward. Omega initially assumes that the boys’ sudden slowed pace is simply them dragging their feet so they can go back and mess around, but her suspicions are raised when she looks back and finds anxious expressions and twisting fingers rather than scuffing soles and whining.

Omega pauses. She can spare some time easing their worries... they’re not far from the next room, anyway. “Is something wrong?” she asks, bending down to match their height.

04 shies away from her gaze, eyes set firmly down the hallway instead of on her face. Omega can see the fine tremble in his shoulders even as he ducks behind 03.

03 seems equally nervous, wringing his little hands and flicking his eyes between Omega and the door just beyond them. “N-nothing...” he replies, wariness creeping into his voice. “We can keep going...”

Omega frowns. “If neither of you want to go into the next room, you don’t have to. I’d just rather you both be nearby so I can protect you if anything happens. Preferably within view.”

That only seems to make them more nervous. “You can’t go in there by yourself!” 04 protests shrilly, panicked tears sprouting in his eyes. “Bad things happen there!”

Omega’s eyebrows furrow in worry and she tries her hardest to conceal her anger. What on earth did those shabuire do to these kids? “Okay... how about this? I’ll look through the window and see if I need to go in and search the room. If not, then we can skip it, okay?”

“What if you do?” 03 asks, eyes big with concern.

Omega sighs. “Then I will have to go in and search, but I promise, I won’t let anything bad happen to myself or to you two. I’m very capable of defending myself and others, so you don’t need to worry about me, okay?”

03 and 04 seem slightly appeased by that, but they still cling to each other as Omega nears the next door. When she peers in through the window of the door, her stomach drops.

Beyond the door lies an examination room, fully equipped with a stiff metal table outfitted with restraining straps, a stool with wheels, and, unfortunately for the boys, a two-drawer file cabinet sitting in the corner. Omega thinks she might be sick if she tries to imagine exactly what went on in this room to freak the kids out so badly, though her mind dredges up images of 03 and 04’s tiny bodies pinned onto the table, eyes filled with fear and pain.

Omega blinks rapidly to banish the unbidden thoughts, turning her head to tell 03 and 04 the bad news. She finds them standing just inches behind her, 03 even reaching out to cling onto her pant leg as though it can stop her from entering the room. They look back up at her, eyes wide with fear, pleading without speaking to not go in.

Omega exhales slowly and lowers herself to their height. “There’s a file cabinet in there that I need to check. Do you two want to stay outside or come in with me? Remember, I will protect you and myself no matter what. This is important, but I also want to make sure you two are comfortable.”

03 glances at 04 nervously, but the younger boy is frozen and provides no response. Omega can’t help but worry more at his almost catatonic state, but she isn’t really sure what to do.

03 swallows and answers for both of them. “We’ll go in with you.” In a stronger voice, he adds, “It’s safer when we’re all together.” He gently takes 04’s hand and nods up at Omega.

Omega unlocks the door and enters the room, 03 pulling 04 along behind her.

It is so much worse being actually inside the room, and it seems both boys agree. 04 halts at the doorway as though an invisible force is preventing him from stepping inside, though a small tug from 03 gets him past the threshold. Omega tries to be quick as she flips through the manila folders, keeping an eye on her surroundings and on the kids standing nearby. Her heart sinks as the pattern she’s been noticing continues, finding nothing but blank pages and forms, not a single piece of paper marked.

She looks back at 03 and 04. The former is looking at the latter worriedly, the latter with his eyes glued to the table sitting in the center of the room. His breathing appears shallow judging by the quick rise and fall of his chest and Omega quickly shuts both drawers, wincing slightly at the sound the metal makes as they fall closed.

“All done,” she says quietly, ushering them out the door. “We can leave now.”

03 guides 04 out and all of them let out a breath as the door shuts behind Omega.

04’s breath is still a little too quick for Omega’s liking, but he definitely seems more aware now that they are out of the room. Omega’s heart tugs at his face, still panicked, and she kneels down again in front of 04.

“04?” she asks softly, waiting for the boy to meet her eyes. “You’re still breathing a little too fast, I don’t want you to hurt yourself. Can you breathe with me?” She takes a deep breath in, waiting for 04 to follow her lead before guiding him through a few deep breaths, counting down the inhales and exhales to give him something to focus on. 03 joins in at some point, though whether it’s for his own benefit or to help 04, Omega doesn’t know.

When 04 is breathing more normally and not at risk of potentially passing out from hyperventilating, Omega stands upright again and continues down the hall, carefully watching 03 and 04’s body language. The two of them still seem shaken by that experience but they don’t seem nervous about the next room, so she treks onwards, stopping to check the room before they go in.

03’s eyes light up when he realizes which room they’re outside of. “Wait, can we go inside please?”

Well, that reaction is a bit surprising, but Omega supposes it’ll be okay to make a pit stop. The boys deserve something they might enjoy after the last room. She nods and opens the door for them and 03 rushes in as soon as it’s wide enough for him to squeeze through. 04 hangs back again, clearly still subdued, but he relaxes slightly as he enters, following sedately after his older companion.

Apparently, 03 is excited about what Omega can only assume is their usual living quarters. The room is furnished with two beds in either far corner, though one is outfitted with a guard rail to stop the bed’s occupants from rolling off. In the middle of the room sits a short round table, with tablets sitting on wireless chargers built into the table’s surface. 03 climbs into one of the chairs surrounding the table and picks up the tablet, though his expression droops when the tablet’s screen remains black even as he presses the power button and taps the screen.

“Why isn’t it working?” 03 pouts, voice a little louder than necessary. “I wanna play games!”

“It’s out of battery,” Omega explains, stepping forwards to examine it. “The building is currently running on back-up generators, so only things that need power are on.”

“So that’s why the lights are dark,” 04 pipes up, startling Omega slightly. “They should have it like this all the time.”

Omega frowns in confusion. “Why’s that?”

“’S always too bright,” 04 grumbles.

“Yeah!” 03 chirps. “04’s eyes are ‘senistive.’ That’s what Emerie said.”

“Sensitive,” Omega corrects gently. She makes a mental note to retrieve her sunglasses and baseball cap when they need to exit the building. If the interior lights were normally too bright, Omega doesn’t want to imagine how much worse direct sunlight will be. “Is there anything you want to grab from here? We should get moving.”

03 and 04 shake their heads, though 03 seems hesitant to leave before playing anything. Omega’s just glad she doesn’t have to pry the tablet out of his hands as they exit the room; 03 leaves the tablet readily enough.

There’s one final room at the end of the hall, and judging by how much space is between the door and the wall, it’s not very big.

Omega’s still sure to check to see if 03 and 04 have any negative reactions to being led to this room, though it seems they’re just as unfamiliar with the area as she is.

“I’ve never been this far before!” 03 comments as they stop in front of the door. He stands on his tiptoes, trying to peer in, but the window is just a few inches too high. Omega spares him the strain and opens the door when she doesn’t spot any notably traumatizing contents.

Omega still makes sure she’s the first one in, quick to scan the room for anything dangerous before letting the boys in.

This room just seems to be a small office. A wooden desk sits to one side and a file cabinet has been shoved in the corner. There are no personal items or decorations, just a computer sitting on the desk and some stray pages. The thing that stops her in her tracks is the placard sitting innocently on the wooden surface, stating the desk’s occupant in white letters: Nala Sé.

“Who’s Nala Sé?” 03 frowns, peeking out from behind Omega.

“That’s my mom,” Omega breathes, quickly moving to rifle through the desk drawers. If there is something, anything pertaining to Omega’s medical history, it has to be in this room somewhere. She just has to find it.

03 and 04 are more interested in the pens sitting in a plastic cup on the desk. 03 grabs a few of the empty sheets of paper on the table and brings them onto the floor, passing a pen and paper to 04 so they can both scribble while Omega continues her search. She’s glad they know how to entertain themselves so she doesn’t need to worry about them wandering off when her back is turned.

Much to Omega’s dismay, the desk drawers and filing cabinet still provide no answers and Omega is almost ready to give up before she notices a divot under the surface of the desk. Just like her desk at home, Omega recalls, and judging by the fact the files hidden there helped lead her here, she might actually find something useful.

She presses into the indentation and finds her suspicions are confirmed. She gets a weird sense of déjà vu when she sees the manila folder sitting snugly in the hidden compartment, though there is only one this time around. She removes it and flips it open, only to be met, again, with something she does not expect. In bold letters, the page reads, “Special Operations Team Part 2: Project Wrecker and Project Crosshair.”

Omega finds herself wanting to vomit. 03 and 04 weren’t intended as just science experiments.

They were also created to be child soldiers.