#bad batch s2

'...need your help... went bad... on our way...'

'echo?' you say. 'you're breaking up really bad. how far away are you?'

'...injured... going to... you... tech-'

you hear a faint beep as the comm suddenly ends.

you can feel your heart beating faster. something or someone disconnected the connection you had with the marauder. was it simply a bad connection or was someone jamming their comms? or worse?

and then there is the way echo said tech's name. you knew echo, he knows how to keep his cool in battle. but he said tech's name in a panicked tone.

you don't know how far out they are, but you start preparing straight away. you live on a hot planet, and most of the locals live in huts with a lot of big windows. you've helped most of the locals when they get injured, it's how you met the bad batch in the first place. they got stranded on your planet and sought medical attention.

after your first meeting with them, you always stocked up on medial supplies, just in case. it seemed today is the day you'll need most of them.

you've only just finished setting everything up, when one of the local kids runs into your house.

'y/n! there's a ship approaching!' he says.

you follow him outside and spot the marauder. they're coming in fast, and you anxiously watch as they land none too gently and a bit too close to the village.

as you run up to the marauder, wrecker emerges from the ship, his back to you. you frown and run a little harder. you reach the ship and see that wrecker is carrying one of his brothers.

you feel your heart stop as your eyes land on tech. wrecker has his arms hooked underneath his arms, and echo is carrying tech's legs.

it looks like tech's entire body is bruised and bloody. he looks unrecognisable. one of his eyes is swollen shut, his nose appears to be broken and his lip is cut. he's not even wearing his glasses.

you stand there, rooted to the spot. if he hadn't been wearing his signature armour, and if you hadn't committed his face to your memory, you wouldn't be able to tell it was tech at all.

of course you cared about all of them. even though you didn't see them that much. but it always had been different with tech. you'd never acted on your feelings. afraid of too many things. that it wouldn't work out and it would make things awkward between you, that he didn't feel the same way, that something would happen and that he would leave you behind.

it seems like you should have taken the chance while you still had it. now it might be too late.

you come back to your senses when you spot hunter. he's holding tech's broken glasses in his hands.

'get him to my place.' you tell wrecker. 'I've set everything up already.'

wrecker nods and heads toward your house. you turn to hunter.

'anyone else injured?' you say.

'I've got a few broken ribs. might be some internal bleeding but I can't be too sure. omega took a heavy hit, but at least she can walk for now. I'm sure she's got a pretty serious concussion. you need to look at wrecker's neck and shoulder. echo is fine, he wasn't with us when we fell down. but you need to see to tech first. he's the worst of us all right now.' hunter states.

you're grateful for hunter's quick facts. it helps put you in a concentrated mindset. tech first. then omega, hunter, and wrecker. echo could help you. tech first. tech first. tech...

you nod once at hunter, then take off running toward your house.

once you get inside, you see wrecker and echo have put tech on the makeshift medical cot. they've taken off some of his armour.

'move.' you say.

you may sound harsh, but wrecker and echo know it's because you're focused, and a little stressed. they do as you say so you can quickly assess tech.

he's unconscious, but at least he's still breathing.

your fingers trail over his body. you'd been right about his face, a black eye, broken nose, a cut lip. he doesn't appear to have any more damage to his head, which you take as a good sign. you thank the maker for tech's helmet.

after further assessment, you can tell he's dislocated his left shoulder, and he's broken his left arm. you feel along his ribs and feel a few broken ones, but miraculously he shows no sign of internal bleeding in his chest.

he's broken his left leg the same place you helped set right a while ago. it looks like he fell on his left side, because his left knee is also dislocated.

you straighten your back and look at wrecker and echo. hunter and omega have arrived as well, and omega is worriedly looking at tech.

'echo, you're going to be my assistant today. you do everything I say, understood?' you say, slipping back into the role of the village chief medic.

echo nods. 'yes ma'am.'

'I'll get started on tech. you're going to help wrecker and hunter first, so they can help omega. then you're helping me with tech.' you say. 'first, you need to put a brace on wrecker's neck and check for other injuries. wrecker, you need to make sure you don't move your head and neck too much.'

both echo and wrecker nod at you. as echo moves to help wrecker, you give out the rest of the orders.

'echo, when you're done with wrecker, see to hunter's ribs. get a bandage around his chest nice and tight. but he needs breathing room, so not too tight. hunter, you can then see to omega. make sure she rests enough and drinks enough. when she gets dizzy or lightheaded, come to me immediately. echo, when you've seen to hunter, you help me with tech.' you say.

as they all start following your orders, you focus on tech again.

you take a deep breath. it's alright. just do what you do best.

you start bandaging up his chest. nice and tight, but with breathing room. just like you told echo. one thing at a time. you move to his left shoulder, inspecting it. you'd need echo to hold tech still while you set it right, but he's still busy with the others. you settle with taking a look at tech's leg.

just as you're done with tech's leg, echo is by your side.

'tell me.' he says.

you nod. 'I need you to hold him still while I put his knee and shoulder back.'

echo moves and holds tech's leg steady while you place your hands on his knee.

'one, two, three!'

with one quick movement, you snap tech's knee back in place.

'his shoulder next.' you say.

again, echo holds him while you count down and put tech's shoulder back in place.

a part of you is glad tech is still unconscious. at least he wouldn't actually feel you putting parts of his body back where they belong.

'what next?' says echo.

'I'm going to bind his arm and see to his face.' you say. 'can you get the others to the guest bedrooms? there's also water and food in the kitchen, make sure they eat something. then they need to get some rest.'

echo nods and takes off, getting the others to the bedrooms. you turn back to tech.

you exhale a shaky breath. just a few more, then it would be out of your hands. then all you had to do was stay by his side and wait for him to wake up.

as soon as you start taking care of tech's broken arm, you fall back into an easy routine. you'd taken care of more than one broken arm. it's ironic how you could do the movements in your sleep.

once you've finished with his arm, you finally move to his face.

you take a clean bandage, and use some water to make it damp, so you can clean some of the blood off of tech's face. behind you, you hear footsteps.

'the others are resting. omega is in the big guest room, hunter refused to leave her side so we got some pillows for him. wrecker is already asleep in the other guest room, I'm taking the other cot next to him.' says echo.

'alright.' you say, surprised you can maintain such a steady voice. 'I'm nearly done with tech.'

'you should get some rest as well.' says echo.

'sure.' you say.

you and echo both know you're staying up until tech wakes again.

echo's footsteps trail up the stairs, and you hear a door close in the distance.

you turn back to tech, cleaning his face.

'don't you dare scare me like this again.' you say softly. you're aware tech probably can't hear you. but you need this.

you don't know if you could ever tell him how you felt when you saw his bruised and bloody body in the arms of wrecker and echo. you would have given anything to change places with him.

sometimes you don't understand why you still have hope he could feel the same way about you. but there's always some tiny part of you that stubbornly refuses to believe tech doesn't care about you. maybe it was all foolishness, anyway.

you pull up a chair and sit down next to tech, letting your eyes roam over his face. he didn't look like himself without his glasses. hunter had put them on a table nearby, but they were broken. knowing tech, he could probably fix them. if only he would wake up.

now that echo is gone, you let the tears fall. everything you held back while you worked on tech, it's all coming out now. you sit there in silence, tears streaming down your face. you'd been this close to losing tech. and you wouldn't talk to him because you liked him.

no, you loved him.

holy fuck, you loved tech. maybe deep down you'd known all along. that whatever you felt for him went deeper than just caring about him. you loved him. you'd go crazy if you were to lose him.

'wake up.' you say softly. 'I need you to wake up.'

you sit there for hours. the tears long gone. you're just sitting there, waiting for tech to wake up. at some point in the night, echo had come down to get a glass of water for omega.

he didn't seem surprised to see you awake. instead, after taking the glass of water up to omega, he sat with you. talked with you about tech. what had happened. you just sat in silence and listened.

after a while, echo left again. and your fear and sadness turned to anger.

how could tech have done that? how could he have left his brothers behind like that? he almost left you behind.

you're not even tired anymore. the anger is giving you a new reason to stay awake. you needed tech to wake up so you could ask him why the fuck he would do that.

it's nearly dawn, and you're getting hungry. you get up to get a quick snack from the kitchen, then you return to tech's side.

'what the fuck were you thinking tech?' you mumble softly, as you look a this beaten up face. 'you’ve got people who care about you. do you have any idea what it’s like to lose someone that means that much to you?'

the soft rays of morning sunshine begin to fill the room. you watch tech's chest rise and fall beneath the bandages.

'what the hell were you even thinking.' you mumble. ‘it's like you don't even care about us.'

‘I do care about you all.’

you nearly drop the cup of caf you are holding. surely you didn't hear that right? but when you look at tech's face, you see he's opened one eye. the other is still swollen shut.

'then why the fuck did you do it?' you say.

tech looks confused. it might be because he's still in a lot of pain.

'I do care about you all.' says tech again.

you frown, getting up and stepping closer to him. 'I need to check to see if you haven't gotten a concussion anyway.' you say.

'I do care about you all.' says tech, more firmly this time.

you frown as you look at him.

'oh.'

‘it was the only way they would be able to get to safety.’ says tech.

‘I hate heroes’ you mumble. ‘a lot of heroes go to their deaths for what they think is a noble cause. all it does is cause the people who care about them more hurt. I’ve grieved enough for one lifetime.’

tech blinks slowly, as if staying awake is taking tremendous effort.

‘I will not give you any reason to grieve.’ he says.

‘but you can't promise me that.’ you say, feeling tears well up in your eyes.

‘I can promise you I will do my best to ensure you will never have to grieve the loss of either one of my brothers. or omega. or me.’ says tech.

you quickly wipe away your tears. 'you better do your damn best, you hear me? I was terrified you wouldn't wake up.' you say.

'you look like you haven't gotten any rest.' says tech.

'I didn't. I had to see to everyone's injuries.'

'surely that did not take all night?'

'well, no.'

'then why did you stay awake?'

'I was waiting for you to wake up.'

you look at tech again. there's a look in his eyes you can't quite understand. 'seriously though, don't do that again. I was scared.' you say.

'I will try to be more cautious.' says tech.

'and less heroic.' you say.

'I am a soldier. most soldiers tend to do heroic things.' says tech.

you chuckle softly. 'didn't lose your sense of humour, huh?'

'can I ask you something regarding your medial skills?' says tech.

'sure.' you say.

'how much good can you do in this village? it seems to shrink every time we get here.' says tech.

you shrug. 'that's because it does. most people move to the city, or off-world.' you say. 'in a couple of years this village won't exist anymore.'

'we could use a medic.' says tech.

you slightly raise your eyebrows. 'you're asking me to come with you?' you say.

'yes.'

'shouldn't hunter ask me?'

'I am asking you.'

you smile softly. 'I would go with you.' you say. 'if only to make sure I don't have to set your leg right a third time.' your smile falters slightly. 'why?'

'you said you've seen enough grief for a lifetime.' says tech. 'I simply think you need to balance it out. traveling with us won't be easy, we're still wanted by the empire. but at least you will be with us. people who care about you, instead of staying in a village that's disappearing.'

'if hunter is okay with it, I'll come with you.' you say.

'I'm okay with it.'

you look over your shoulder. 'how long have you been standing there?' you say.

'long enough. welcome to the bad batch.' says hunter. 'echo's making breakfast. I'll make sure he brings two plates here for you.'

'thanks.' you say as hunter leaves.

you turn back to tech. 'looks like you're stuck with me.' you say.

'I don't mind being stuck with you.' says tech. 'and thank you.'

'for what?'

'taking care of me.'

you impatiently wave your hand. 'I'm a medic. it's what I do tech.'

'true. but you did not have to stay with me all night. you have my thanks for that, too.'

'you're welcome, tech. now get some rest.'