#tracked part four

Tech was worried.

Tech was never worried. Not like this. He’d seen grisly injuries in his time, but he’d never seen someone’s condition deteriorate so fast before. Not from a simple stab wound, anyway. It didn’t really add up, so Tech started running tests, unbeknownst to Hunter and the others. They were all far too stressed to be of any use to Tech right now. Tech was content with just himself for company, for the time being. The others had picked up on Tech’s odd discomfort whenever he glanced at you in Hunter’s bunk. Tech’s lack of word vomiting about your condition was making them all suspicious. Wrecker, on the other hand, was attempting to distract Omega but she was proving hard to distract, especially when you were laid up in the bunks and looked almost like a corpse. Still, she tried to keep her attention on Wrecker, as hard as that was, and tried to forget you were there. She kept telling herself that you’d wake up soon and be absolutely fine, just a bit too much blood lost, that was all. But, something inside of her bright mind was screaming at her to help, yet she just couldn’t indulge it. Hunter was silent. He’d been barking orders and pacing for the first few hours, then all of a sudden he realised that was getting you all nowhere. Echo had been hastily piloting the ship, searching for anything that was remotely like a medical facility, with Tech’s occasional assistance. The unprepared jump into hyperspace had messed with the navigation, and Echo was doing his best to do without it. The strange thing, though, was that the infamous Bad Batch had been in such worse situations before, either on their own or together, and they’d all acted as if it was fine because they trusted one another so deeply. They just knew by instinct that nothing could really go wrong for any of them, the were too good at their jobs. Yet, for some unknown reason, they didn’t trust themselves with looking after you. It wasn’t until Tech’s own tests came back that he finally saw the missing piece to the puzzle of your rapidly deteriorating condition. It was poison, the blades were finely laced with poison of some sort. He’d need a chemical breakdown of a sample to figure out exactly what had entered your system, and how it was hurting you, but he had a starting point. And that was better than nothing.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

Hunter hated seeing you this way. He loved it when you were up and about, busy doing things, buzzing around the Havoc Marauder with Omega in tow. He didn’t like you when you were like this, out cold in the bunks, unresponsive to Tech’s voice, and running a dangerously high fever now. It had all set in so quickly in the last few hours that it made Hunter want to vanish, and take you away with him, so he could look after you all on his own. As much as he really appreciated the help from the others, Hunter’s instincts were pointing in another direction entirely. Tech, in all his wisdom, had set up and IV to keep you hydrated and somewhat stable, but even Tech could only do so much. Omega was nervous too, and she was a medical assistant for a brilliant Kaminoan. Those guys meant business, and what Hunter wouldn’t do for their help right now. If he could, he would order the others to wait on some distant planet whilst he piloted the ship straight to Kamino and exchanged himself for your care. He’d spend a hundred days in a Kaminoan facility if it meant you had a 1% chance of survival. Hunter was so deep in thought that he didn’t register Omega coming to his side, with her Bad Batch trooper in her fidgeting hands. Hunter was fixated on you, and only you. He’d sat by your side in the bunks constantly. He had been the one who placed you in his bunk, after Tech and Echo had seen to your arm. Wrecker had spent the last hour just wiping up blood from the floor, and there was more to go. It had dried now, but the entire ship smelled of it, even more so to Hunter’s heightened senses. It was nearly choking him, but he tried not to think about it.

“She’ll wake up,” Omega kept saying whenever she checked in on Hunter and you, “she’s got to.” .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

Luckily, Omega was right. You stirred after twelve straight hours of being deeply asleep, and when your eyes finally wrenched themselves open, all you wanted to do was close them again. The lights of the ship were blindingly bright, they stabbed into your eyeballs and made them cry. The tears ran fast, and you turned your head, only to feel as if you’d been frozen into a cryo sleep for a hundred years. Every bone, muscle and nerve screamed with the slightest movement, touch, sense. Your voice was lost in the desert that had overtaken your throat and mouth. Maker, what you wouldn’t give for a drop of purified water right now– Omega was there, holding a flask to your lips. She slipped a hand under your head and lifted you towards the flask, your weak arms went to take it, but they felt as if they were on fire at the effort. You dropped them to your sides, and let Omega keep watering you. When you’d emptied that flask, Omega produced another one straight after, and held it to you. She sat there, patiently, as you drank and drank. The lights of the ship assaulted your eyes each second they were open, but you resisted the temptation to fall back asleep. “Thank you my darling.” You wheezed as Omega took the second flask away, now bone dry. She went to lift up a third, but your head flopped down to the pillow again. “Do you want me to get the others?” Omega whispered, as to not alert them. You half opened your eyes and tried to see Omega clearly, but your vision was all fuzzy and far away. It was like your eyes weren’t actually yours. “Sure, tell them to be quiet.” You croaked, turning onto your side that didn’t have a recent stab wound in it. Omega waved the others in, and you watched, through lazy eyes, as they came in. It was like a burst of energy, Hunter at the front, right by your side. Tech and Echo came bumbling in, and Wrecker last, very quietly with Omega in tow. Hunter pushed the stray hairs out of your face, and tried to look at you in your eyes. They were too messed up to look into, you thought, as he ran his hands over your face. You didn’t look right at all, not to any of them, and they knew that they needed to find help, real help. “May I speak to her?” Tech shuffled forward, kneeling down next to Hunter. “Just be very quiet, she’s not really here.” Omega warned, from behind Wrecker, who was as still as a statue. He really took the ‘no noise’ thing seriously from Omega. “I, uh, hope the painkillers are working. We stopped off for fuel and meds a few hours back, and I’ve done some tests in the meantime.” He pushed his goggles off of his eyes and looked at the floor, almost unable to deliver the news with Hunter right there next to him. His brother, his family. “I believe the daggers were laced with some sort of poison. What exactly it is, I am not sure. I’d need more equipment and time to decipher that, which we don’t have.” Your hand reached out for Tech’s face groggily, and he let you find his shoulder. “I’m... putting all of the meds we can use into you, until we find help, so just try to rest for now.” His hand awkwardly patted yours, and then he disappeared back into the ship. Hunter took his place, and held your hand in his, putting it to his forehead like he was in prayer. Echo came to see you, promising to fly the ship as fast as he could to the nearest planet with a good hospital, before giving you a gentle kiss on the forehead and leaving you alone. Wrecker asked Omega if he could say hello, if you’d remember it, if you’d be mad at him for talking to you. Omega had to join Wrecker, he was so worried, and Hunter encouraged Wrecker to talk to you. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there to help, I’m normally good at that.” Omega hugged Wrecker’s large arm, reminding him that she was there to support him. He wasn’t alone facing you, in this state, and Hunter was there too. “She knows you would’ve done everything to protect her. It was... my fault, I didn’t notice the attacker soon enough, and here we are.” Hunter told Wrecker with a sorrowfully low voice, holding onto your hand with a burning sense of regret and shame. He could’ve taken the hit, saved you from this pain, this poison. The others could definitely have handled it if it had been Hunter who was injured, but seeing you like this? It wasn’t right, not in the slightest. Wrecker and Omega slowly departed, Omega tugging the drooping form of Wrecker away. Wrecker wasn’t the brightest star in the sky, but he sure was the soppiest. It made him upset to see you in pain, so drained of energy. You weren’t the woman he knew, and that scared him. It scared him even more that there was just nothing he could really do apart from be there. He didn’t like that feeling. Now, it was just you and Hunter, not that you really noticed in your state, it was as if you were a shell of what you should be, but you were still clinging on, somehow. You were being forced by this poison to mock how you would look in death, and it was so unbelievably cruel, thought Hunter, that once you were better he’d track down whoever did this and make them pay in such unimaginably horrific ways. “I make a vow to you,” He began, quiet as whisper, “as someone I would be honoured and blessed to call my riduur.” He closed his eyes, “I vow to find whoever did this when you are recovered, and I will go to the edges of this galaxy, even if it means being apart from you, to bring revenge down on them.” Hunter never thought in his life that he’d be making a vow to someone he’d considered his riduur, partner in life, in order to take revenge out on their attacker. Maker forbid it became your murderer. There would be no force in the entire galaxy that would stop him, and he was fine with that. If he became a monster, so be it, he would make sure that this person never got away with this again. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. Echo was piloting the Havoc Marauder for hours straight after laying eyes on you. His face looked haunted, and he was. He could not believe how at the end of your tether you looked, and he was putting the ship into overdrive to find a planet with a damn doctor on it. Tech was helping every so often, chipping in with recommendations to get the speed up, avoid the longer hyperspace routes, take shortcuts. Echo was really risking the integrity of the ship’s engine with the way he was treating the thing, but no one was saying anything, not even Tech, the ship’s number one fan. Echo was losing hope, losing sleep, until a beep on the radar made him slam on the brakes and drop out of hyperspace. Wrecker and Tech launched themselves at the cockpit, staring at the glass, expecting something grand, something lifesaving, no less. And it was grand. Naboo, the planet of fucking Naboo, was sitting right in front of them. How they’d ended up here, Echo wasn’t entirely sure, but still, Echo’s heart leapt, and he slammed the ship into its fastest speed heading straight towards the beautiful planet with a dazed grin on his face. The others told Hunter the news, and he went limp with the shock of it, they’d only gone and stumbled across fucking Naboo! Tech took over and navigated the landing at the nearest hospital, before Wrecker scooped you up, wrapped in Hunter’s blanket, and ran out to the hospital. The rest of the Bad Batch followed suit once the ship had been safely landed as close to the hospital as they dared, and they watched as a team of doctors and nurses in classic Naboo finery took you away, behind the closed doors of the hospital. Omega couldn’t help but cry a little bit at seeing you go so quickly, and Wrecker had to pick her up and carry her away for a while. Though no one would ever admit it, it was hard living on the Havoc Marauder, it was constantly close quarters, and feelings were often canned up and released at a later time. Wrecker and Omega didn’t return for some time, supposedly letting off the steam they had built up, and even Echo said he was going for a walk when Tech proposed returning to the ship. It was as if your ghost haunted the Marauder, and not a single one of them wanted to go back onboard. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. The Bad Batch had remained outside the hospital, even after being asked to move the Marauder to a safe distance. The sky was painting itself as a sunset, and each member of the Bad Batch were waiting as patiently as they could for news of your condition. It wasn’t until the night sky had settled over Naboo that someone started walking towards the Bad Batch from the hospital. It was a nurse, admittedly a little on the young side, but clearly equipped with boundless knowledge from the way she spoke. In fact, Omega was right in pointing out that it was the same nurse who had first spotted the Bad Batch landing. She delivered some good news, and some bad news. “I am pleased to inform you that your friend is stable, but she is quite ill. We expect to run some initial tests tomorrow morning, but for the night we will assign a nurse to her in case she declines in condition again.” Echo did most of the talking, being all polite and charming, as he was. The nurse then turned to Tech, who was sitting against the Marauder, not paying much interest. “I hear it was you who kept your friend alive for so long, I really must commend you on your medical skills, sir.” Tech’s eyes nearly popped out of his goggles. He stood up, dusting himself off, and said his thank you to the nurse. She nodded before departing, but then turned around, her face in a downcast expression. “There is also the matter of payment for the treatment to be discussed with the doctor of the ward, whenever one of you is ready, of course. There is no rush, really, it’s just formalities. I bid you all a good night, and please rest assured knowing that your friend is in excellent hands.” The nurse returned to the hospital, having done her part. Omega asked the others if they could camp outside tonight, watch the night sky and hope that you recovered quickly. Wrecker and Echo said it was a brilliant idea, and started up the Marauder to go somewhere a bit less busy than a major hospital. Hunter was silent, thinking constantly about the sound the dagger had made when it sunk into your arm, the smell of blood and sour poison filling the air when he removed the blade. He should’ve known it was poison by how horrible it smelt, but he didn’t think, didn’t pick up on it at all. Maybe you wouldn’t be in such a dire condition if Hunter had been in the right frame of mind for once. Ever since that mountain, up in the trees, he has struggled to concentrate on anything but you. When he wakes up after a long flight, he looks for you first. Then, Omega and the others shortly after. Your scent is the very first one he can pick out from the ship, your laugh is better than anything else he’s ever heard, your voice is always easy to pick out above all others. He could sit and wait on you for hours, doing your every request just to see you smile, or even smirk at him. Even under the pressure of battle you were unavoidable. He couldn’t escape you. His every move had you in mind, were you safe, were you winning, were you looking at him? He realised after the mountain that he’d been gravitating towards you unknowingly, and had greedily seized at the chance to ‘teach’ you that day. The only thing he could think about cleary that night was ‘look at where my stupid ass has gotten me, and her’. You, alone in that hospital, not well enough to survive without the best medicine Naboo could provide. The last thing on Hunter’s mind was the cost, anything was worth saving you, he’d come to terms with that the second you passed out from the stab wound. Maker, he’d considered trading himself over to the strange Kaminoans if it meant you getting medical treatment. He wondered how that would’ve gone down now, if they hadn’t made it to Naboo in time, thanks to Echo’s mad piloting of the hyperspace routes and Tech’s quick calculations of whereabouts you would arrive in the galaxy after dropping out of hyperspace. Hunter told himself to thank the others for all of their endless work trying to save you, but the words died on his mind. He stared at the campfire Omega had constructed with Tech’s assistance, and Echo’s, and let it blind him into sleep. Or, what would’ve been sleep. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.