#eldritch echo

He explains this the Hunter once, trying to see if he’s noticed anything, and Hunter frowns. “Can you give me an example?”

“His eyes for one.”

Hunter blinked. “What?”

“We all know what most trooper’s eyes look like. And we’ve seen some variations. But they don’t change color. I’ve seen his eyes go golden or violet, and it wasn’t the lighting.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yes I’m sure what do you take me for?” Crosshair snapped. “Look. Next time we’re on a sunny planet. Take a look at his shadow. It doesn’t match him at all. I’ve seen it prowling around him like a tooka without him or a light source moving. It doesn’t look like him either. And remember that time we were sparring and he panicked and bit me? I asked Tech, the Techno Union didn’t do anything to his teeth, but I know what bitemarks look like and that was not it.”

Hunter sighed. “I’ll pay attention but-” He paused. “Huh.”

“What?”

“It might not be anything.” He replies and only knowing that he’s getting to the point keeps Crosshair from interrupting. “But remember how I told you guys that people smell like animals? They’re distinct from each other, and you know I can’t describe it cause I tried to describe you guys, but it’s not like they smell like flowers or old books or whatever people like to think they’d smell like unless they’re wearing a scent. Echo, he doesn’t smell like a trooper. I just never thought about it for some reason.”

“And what does he smell like?”

Hunter frowned as he tried to find the words. “Well. He does smell a bit like a trooper and a bit metallic. But he also smells like, what’s was the spice in that cake you liked so much? The one we found on that mission with the weird vultures?”

Crosshair hummed. That had been a really freaking good cake. “The lady said it was a cardamon cream cake. So he smells like cardamon?”

“Cardamon and lilies and wet dirt is the best way I can describe it and I know it’s not his soap cause he uses the same stuff as the rest of us. So yeah. I guess I’ll pay attention.”

Two days later Crosshair gets confirmation that something’s up in a way he did not expect.

Because walking around in the dark in the middle of the night is his job so it’s already odd to find Echo leaning against the cabinet in their ship’s tiny kitchen in the pitch dark. “You’re going to trip reg.” Crosshair says and leans over to get the lights when Echo looks up.

And twelve pairs of golden violet eyes meet Crosshair’s.

He staggers back, trips over something, falls. “Crosshair!” Echo grabs his hand, pulling him up, then scrambles for the lights as if he forgot they might be necessary and Crosshair yelps as the light hits his eyes.

He blames that and the shock for blurting out; “What the hell are you Echo?”

Echo blinks, looking hurt. “I’m a trooper. Like you all.”

“Troopers don’t have twenty-four freaking eyes.” Crosshair hissed. They aren’t there now, he’s got 2 brown eyes in the exact same shade of brown nearly every trooper has, but Crosshair knows what he saw. He knows what he’s been seeing.

Echo tilts his head. And he grins. It’s a smile Crosshair’s seen before, whenever Echo’s about to respond to his taunts with something cutting and clever, part “take that” and part inviting him to share the joke. There’s nothing off about that smile save for that it’s mirrored in Echo’s shadow, splayed against the cabinets behind him too dark for their lights.

“The Bad Batch.” Echo muses, like there’s a joke Crosshair hasn’t caught yet, and he’s never had a reason to call Echo dangerous even when he didn’t trust him, but he’s starting to feel cornered even though Echo hasn’t moved. “You think you’re the only strange ones. ‘Don’t worry Rex, we know how to handle a reg.’ Never mind that Torrent was always a little crazy, or it used to be. Never mind that I was an ARC and a damn good one, and we’re all more than competent. And I appreciate what you all did, in welcoming me into the squad, I appreciate it more than I can say, and I do really like you guys, but you are so freaking cocky. So certain you can handle anything. And to be fair you’re damn good at your job, but sometimes it’s annoying. So.” He grins that taunting grin again. “You want to know what the reg’s deal is? Figure it out.”

He leaves. His grinning shadow lingers a moment before following. Crosshair stares.

“Fives – ow stop that Kix – Fives you gotta greet the Bad Batch like this they’ll be so confused-”

“Why? And more importantly, Echo’s alright?”

Kix yanked Jesse back into place as his pillow as Rex responded. “We found him Fives. Not long after we thought you died. He’s been working with a group of enhanced clones since then.”

“Tell me more?”

“Fine but don’t think you’re getting out of your own explanation.” Rex said, poking his menace of an ARC before he settled into explaining how’d they found Echo.

A little to the right there’s another vod pile, this one mostly made up of Corries, the 121th, and 187th. Blood and Bones are curled in the middle of it, Blood deeply asleep while his twin holds him and listens to Helix quietly updating him on the status of the 212th they’d had in the medbay. Having been on planet at the time, Cody and Ponds’ men had lept into the task of making sure the Corries were comfortable and fed, and making sure they slept. Blood had only left the medbay after reading every vod’s sheet and with the condition that he be allowed to stay close. The room they were in was near the Healing Halls, and Blood had cried red tears into his twin’s shoulder before falling asleep, carefully shielded by Corries and politely ignored by the rest of the troopers. He’d left with Bones during the day to check on everyone but returned after dinner and been cuddled back to sleep. Fives made a note to check on the medic later before he froze.

“What is it?” Rex asked as Fives tensed beneath him.

“Echo’s here.” He whispered, his twin’s proximity humming along his veins. “I need to go.”

There’s some teasing grumbles but no one really complains as the vod pile is dismantled, allowing Fives to bolt out of the room. Rex and the others follow him at a much slower pace; Fives has made some adjustments to his skeleton that have him literally leaping off the walls above the Jedi and the troopers in his way and they don’t need to keep up with that.

On one of the Temple’s landing pads the Bad Batch disembarks, Echo out of his seat and moving to the door before anyone else is even unbuckled. They pick up the pace, Crosshair grumbling as Tech helps him.

 “Fives!”

“ECHO!”

The Batch walks towards to two troopers near the bay’s doors, no longer seeing the need to rush. They don’t look like they’ll be moving soon.

Echo and another reg are wrapped around each other. The unknown trooper is crying blue tears, and his arms seem to wrap much further than they should around Echo, who’s holding on so tight Wrecker would have trouble prying them apart.

They’re still holding each other by the time a small group of Torrent troopers reach the hanger. Hunter glares at Rex and pointes to the blue lines dancing under exposed skin. “A heads up would have been nice.”

Rex grins without regret. “Where’s the fun in that? Besides, it’s nice to know he causes trouble for people other than me.”

The twins snorted in unison. “Who us? Cause trouble? Never.” The other twin – Fives – laughs, a moment before Echo shakes him, fanged and much taller.

“Fives you just faked your death and assassinated the Supreme Chancellor and you did it all WITHOUT ME you force-damned bastard–”

“That’s what you’re mad about? You got blown up! I thought you died!”

“I survived for the express purpose of kicking your ass for getting into this without me–”

“Should we stop them?” Wrecker asks, staring at the two vod who with multiple eyes who are gripping each other’s arms with wide clawed hands marked with blue fives.

“Let them get it out of their system.” Kix replies, giving Crosshair the suspicious look medics give injured vod when they don’t know if they’ve been cleared to leave the medbay. “What happened to you guys?”

“Mission went sour. Echo got us out.” Hunter replied.

“He went all twin huh?”

“What gave it away?”

Kix snorted. “You’re not the first troopers I’ve seen rescued by a pair of twins. They tend to keep the changes small most of the time, so something drastic leaves an impression.”

“You think it’s funny, don’t lie.” Echo says as he leads his twin over to them. They’re back to regular size, each with an arm around the other’s shoulder. Echo seems brighter, and Crosshair remembers when Wrecker lost his eye and how hearing that he was alive wasn’t the same as seeing him and thinks he understands. His twin has those same golden violet eyes. “Fives, this is the Bad Batch. Hunter, Tech, Wrecker, and Crosshair. Guys, this is Fives, my twin.”

“Nice to meet you.” Hunter says, shaking Fives’ hand. “Echo’s mentioned you before.”

Fives grins, friendly and sharp. “All insults I assume.”

“Only sometimes.”

Fives laughs, but his words are sincere when he says. “Thanks for taking care of him for me.”

…

In the Marauder, Wrecker approaches Echo, who’s been reading for the past hour. “We’re gonna talk about what we know about your thing. I thought you’d want to know, and since you’d probably listen in anyway I should just invite you?”

“Thanks Wrecker.” Echo replies. He’d been listening to their conversations as much to know if they wanted to kick him out as to see how their investigation was going. As a twin he’s used to looking strange from time to time, but there’s strange and there’s forcibly and painfully altered before being used to kill vod. He’s growing comfortable with his new limbs and his new team, but he hasn’t fully reached comfortable yet. And he thinks it’s mutual, maybe especially now that he’s been messing with them.

But hiding it isn’t a long-term solution, not on a ship this small. The Bad Batch says they like weird. If they’re honest about that, his tendency to occasionally grow claws and turn blue shouldn’t be a problem.

He catches Hunter’s eye when he follows Wrecker in and the Sergent shrugs. Crosshair gives Echo his usual scowl, which he uses for everything from inconvenient terrain to burned coffee, so that’s probably not too bad. “Any chance you’ll just give us an answer?”

“It’s payback.” Echo grins, needle-sharp for all of a second. “For those two times you forgot I hadn’t memorized your plans yet. And the smell of the ship. It’s also entertaining.”

“Your plans are the same kind of crazy don’t deny it.” Hunter sighs. “Can you at least agree not to lie if we ask?”

“I never lied. Not for these questions.” And it’s true. Crosshair may have gotten nowhere with his questions, but every answer Echo had given had been either blatantly ridiculous or true but vague. He’d gotten a lot of entertainment out of it this week.

“We should start by reviewing what we know.” Tech states. “Echo has some form of deviancy from the Prime that expresses itself in multiple ways. They mostly appear to be physical but has also included using his shadow to eavesdrop and talk to us when he was in another room.” He paused, then glanced up. “Incidentally, could you use that to scout ahead?”

Echo made a so-so gesture. “Depends on the terrain. I wouldn’t recommend it over someone scouting ahead in person, but it’s helped before. And I’m not separate from my shadow, I can’t pay attention to what’s in front of me and what’s in front of my shadow at the same time.”

“That is good to know.” Tech replied. “We have seen multiple examples of your shape changing in small ways, not enough to indicate your limits, though from your comment about your prosthetics I believe you either cannot alter them or are still learning how to. Is that correct?”

“Yeah.”

“Could you elaborate?”

Echo tilts his head back, frowning. He’s tried to put words to this before, he likes words, and he’s trying to remember what he’d thought then. “The changing is a bit like a reflex. You can stop it – we all did our best too while we were on Kamino – but it’s also partly automatic. My body’s still adjusting to the prosthetics so they don’t change as much on their own, and I’m still adjusting mentally, so it takes a little more effort to do something like this.”

He raised his right arm. The scomp end split apart into something like a flower, Torrent blue with red stripes.

“There are more of you then.” Hunter states.

Echo smiled, bittersweet. The sweet glowed under his irises, the bitter ached in his throat and bruised his skin as if it was trying to do more than metaphorically suffocate him. “It’s never a good idea to assume you’re entirely alone in the universe. The first pair were decommissioned within their first year. The Kaminoans like uniformity, and from what Ninety-Nine told me that first pair was way off the mark. He said it was as if all of us that came later got the message somehow, our differences were quieter as tubies. But we’ve never adhered to uniformity well.”

Echo, who found comfort in the kind of quiet minute detail-work that was essential but considered boring, who had been threatened a time too many with decommissioning, and who was often overshadowed by his louder twin, had been an exception to that norm. Not anymore.

“And who’s we?” Crosshair asked.

As fun as this game has been, he might as well wrap it up. “We’re twins Crosshair. Myself and Fives, Cobalt and Cerulean, you know that absurdly cheerful medic in the 212th? He’s another.”

“But what is a twin when we’re all clones?”

Echo shrugged. “We just are. You know how you know how to reassemble a blaster, effortlessly and thoughtlessly? It’s like that but without the endless drills. Or the way most batches pick oldest and youngest by vibes. Each twin in a set was decanted on the same day, and when we find each other, we know. Fives I, I don’t remember meeting him and if he says he does he’s lying but, we’ve always known. Someone suggested there was Force stuff involved and it’s as good an explanation as any, but I don’t think any of us knows the why of it.”

Tech and Crosshair shared a glance before Tech said, almost hesitantly, “I read the report of ARC trooper Fives’ death. But you always talk about him in the present.”

Echo’s next breath shudders. “I, I would know. He’s the other half of my soul and I would know if he was truly gone. There was this shiny in Torrent a bit before the Citadel called Dogma. He’d lost his twin a few months before being sent out and I think the only thing keeping him going was his remaining batcher and his extreme loyalty to the Republic. He told him that he felt his twin die from all the way across Tipoca City. So I’d know.”

The squad glances at each other uncertainly and anything they might have said interrupted by a beeping from the console. Tech hurried to the pilot’s seat and Hunter sighed. “Mission time boys.”

“He didn’t say Fives was dead just now.” Crosshair realized. “He said Rex told him Fives was dead. And given how he and the medic looked before Echo spoke, I bet they believed that. But if Echo was left behind after an explosion that could have killed him, could something similar have happened to Fives?”

“And if it did, does that mean Fives is the same kind of trooper as Echo?” Tech added. “I do not believe Echo’s oddities were designed by the Kaminoans, I have found no references in their files of any experiments with the Regs that look like they could have caused this. Either it was something Echo hid, or the cause originated from something that he encountered after Kamino.”

“Find out how Fives died. I’ll see if I can find a question he’ll give a straight answer to.” Crosshair snarled.

“Fives was shot in the chest by Commander Fox.”

Both troopers jumped. No one was in sight, but Echo’s shadow loomed on the wall, Torrent-blue eyes dull against the metal. Echo’s voice continued from somewhere above their heads. “And if we’re ever on Coruscant, I’m gonna have a little chat with him about shooting my twin. Now if you don’t mind, I’m trying to sleep. Stop talking.”

Crosshair flips off the shadow on the wall with both hands. It grins with silver needle teeth and sinks into the wall. “Night Tech. I’ll wake you up for the next watch.”

“Very well.” Tech agrees. But, much like Echo’s earlier choice words had stuck in Crosshair’s head, the word ‘twin’ won’t leave Tech’s mind. He searches the term before he goes to bed, and only leaves his datapad when Crosshair glares at him.

Twin. Forming or being one of a pair born at birth. He knows this. But the clones are decanted in huge batches, hundreds in a day, and there’s always only one trooper per tube. Either each decanting is one multiple birth or none of them are. Either each batch is all twins – or whatever the word would be for hundreds of brothers born at once – or none of them are.

So why did Echo call Fives his twin?

And then, just before Tech finally drifts off to sleep, he realizes that this isn’t the first time he’s heard of troopers calling each other twin. There had been a pair of troopers who did that in the 41st Elite Corps, under General Unduli. They had painted their armor to be mirror images of each other and had been friendly to the Batch. And when Wrecker had complimented their armor, one of them had laughed and said it was a good reflection of their eyes and each had taken off their helmets to demonstrate.

Heterochromia, when the eyes were two different colors. They each had a blue eye and a brown eye, and much like their armor, their eyes mirrored each other. What had been their names? Ah yes, Cobalt and Cerulean.

He falls asleep trying to remember if they had been like Echo in any way.

It’s true that Crosshair is probably the most observant of them, but it isn’t as if Tech doesn’t pay attention to people. That’s dangerous on Kamino. He is willing to admit he pays more attention to machines and that sometimes he misses things, but that doesn’t mean he’s unobservant.

And yet while Wrecker immediately had an answer when Crosshair brought this up and from the sound of it Hunter had responded quickly as well, Tech cannot recall seeing or hearing anything to suggest that Echo was genetically anything other than another trooper. And aside from that brief thought of bright teeth that could simply have been the sunlight, Tech doesn’t notice anything until two nights later, when Echo is injured.

Echo had been deliberately elusive in response to all of Crosshair’s demands, answering questions as unhelpfully as possible with an innocent smile that Tech would have known was false even without his goggles. He distinctly remembers Crosshair yelping and looking up to see Echo grinning like a wolf while Crosshair swore at him. When he’d asked Crosshair had snarled “That little bastard just made his tongue purple.” Tech hadn’t known how to react to that and had returned to reading through Echo’s medical records. He and Crosshair shared a medic’s duties for their batch and so he had everyone’s records, but even after reading them three times he didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.

And then they have a mission with commando droids, and Echo wound up under Tech and Crosshair’s careful hands due to a gash in his side that his armor hadn’t quite blocked.

“I want a word with whoever gave those bastards swords.” Echo hissed as Crosshair began to stich him up. Their sniper snorted.

“Understandable.” Tech replied. “I have never asked what your tattoo is.”

The tattoo in question is on Echo’s right shoulder, a few inches above his prosthetic. It’s simple, a straight line with three dots below it and two dots above, but Echo’s expression turned sad.

“It’s my squad. Domino. The bottom three are Hevy, Droidbait, and Cutup. The top two are Fives and I.”

“Fives.” Tech mused. “I’ve heard you mention him after your nightmares.”

Echo grimaces. “Yeah. Yeah Rex says he died a bit before you found me. The others, they died on Rishi. Fives has a matching one on – ouch!”

“Don’t twitch so much.” Crosshair ordered as Tech handed him the bacta. Echo rolled his eyes, closing them. Crosshair glanced up, then caught Tech’s eyes to point at the tattoo.

The dots have changed position.

“Your tattoo has moved.”

Echo smiles without opening his eyes. “They do that.”

“That is not normal for a tattoo Echo.” Tech states. The smile transforms to a grin, jagged and wide, and Echo opens his eyes.

Oh. That’s what golden violet is.

“Normal’s relative Tech. Surely you’ve figured that out.” He pulls himself to his feet, taps his chest. “Thanks Crosshair.”

Blue lines move under his skin, over his heart. They make a little five that pulses like a heartbeat. Tech looks into Echo’s eyes.

“You were asking Wrecker and Hunter why you didn’t see anything off about me. You want to know why?” Tech nods. Somehow his grin goes wider and oh human mouths definitely aren’t supposed to make that shape. “You’ve been focusing on my prosthetics. And I’m still adjusting to them.”

And then there’s nothing off about him as he practically chirps “I’m going to sleep. Bye!” and leaves. Tech stares.

“Tell us anyway!”

“Nu-uh. First Hunter and Tech gotta tell me what they think.”

“I have not noticed anything out of the ordinary.” Tech asserts. “Echo is polite and kind, and he’s recovering well.” Wrecker blinks at him and Tech’s eyes narrow. “But I’m not willing to discount Crosshair or Hunter’s senses.”

“How kind.” Crosshair retorts.

Hunter rolls his eyes. “He smells funny and no Wrecker, not didn’t-shower-after-a-battle funny. Like flowers and spices and rain, along with smelling a bit like trooper and metal. And after Crosshair mentioned it I started paying more attention and I have noticed his eyes changing color a couple times. His voice is also strange. Not all the time just, the other night, when he woke up screaming again? His voice resonated. Like he was in a cave or something instead of on the ship.”

Tech blinked. “I did not notice this.”

“You fell back asleep almost immediately after Wrecker and I calmed him down you probably wouldn’t remember if you had noticed.” Hunter replied. “Alright Wrecker. Your turn.”

“You really haven’t noticed this?” Wrecker asked Tech, who glared.

“How can I answer properly when you haven’t explained what you’re talking about?”

Wrecker shrugged. “I mean, at first I thought he was just really really lucky. Or that he’d been given some new fancy armor to try out. Didn’t figure out that that didn’t make sense until he’d been with us more than a couple weeks and he told me some stories of before he was with us.”

“Can you please explain the point before giving context?” Crosshair sighs without much hope. This is a pretty typical Wrecker-style explanation.

“He was on the ramp when the shuttle exploded. He told me when I was helping him with his physical therapy and I asked what happened. Right on the ramp. Said he lost his arm and one leg completely, and whoever pulled him off the platform cut his other leg off the rest of the way. But his organs are fine.”

“That does not-” Tech started then stopped. “No. One moment.” He turned on his datapad and began scrolling furiously.

“That close to an explosion there should have been internal damage.” Hunter said and it makes sense that Wrecker would notice something like this, because he knows as much about the damage demolitions do as he does about the explosions themselves and he’s the one who’s taken the lead in helping Echo through his physical therapy.

“Malnutrition.” Tech states. “There was some internal damage that the 501st’ medic ascribed to malnutrition. That and the implants in his skull were the only signs of damage to any internal organs. But that does not make sense. Between his proximity to the explosion and the damage to his spine, there should have been organ damage.”

“Well. The medics already established it was a miracle he survived.” Crosshair mused. “You’re saying his organs can’t be damaged or something?”

“Nah. I’m saying that now that I’m saying it, I think if they’d left that metal out of his spine he’d still be walking.”

They all stared at Wrecker. He shrugged. “Maybe I’m wrong but, I know what it looks like when people get hurt really bad. I don’t know all the fancy words for medicine and stuff like Tech but, I remember when I got this eye and I know what you guys are like when you’re hurt and I know that Echo got better really fast. I know he was moving really good really fast after we got him out of there and maybe he’s just stubborn but maybe not. And yeah, he wasn’t eating for a while, and using his scomp makes his head hurt and I know he can get hurt but like, I don’t think he gets hurt like we do. Or the injury doesn’t last as long? I don’t know.” He froze suddenly and their hands drifted to weapons in unattended instinct at whatever had Wrecker spooked. “And maybe I’m wrong but I think Echo might have heard all of this.”

They whirled around and something dark zipped across the wall and out of sight. Tech glanced back at Wrecker, who was wide-eyed. “I thought, it looked a bit like Echo. Just for a moment.”

They raced outside, almost stumbling as they exited the ship. Echo was where they’d left him, perfectly content as he set one piece of armor to the side and picked up his helmet. “Something wrong guys?”

“Something you want to tell us?” Crosshair snarled.

Echo hummed, still not looking at them. “About?”

Wrecker raised a hand. “Uh, should I also have mentioned that his scars all look really old instead of recent?”