Crimson Shadow

Part 1

Author's Note: This fic was requested by Thsle on ao3, and I hope you enjoy it! It was written for the Clone Bang. :D Our artist for this fic is ReadingBlueWolf on ao3 (@DivilusCorner on tumblr). ^-^

There's three parts to this fic, and we'll update weekly. :)

PS. This is for the square "depression" on the 501st bingo, and the square "apocalypse" on the Bad Batch bingo.

~ Amina Gila

It's the eighth Imperial base they've hit in the last fifteen days, and they aren't stopping. They can't stop, not until they find Omega and bring her back. They gave up everything for her, and she's only a child. They failed to protect her when they should have, and because of that, she's been taken.

But they're going to get her back, no matter what the cost.

She's their kid. They aren't going to stop until they find her.

Echo is worn, tired, but he's also angry, angry enough that he can push past the exhaustion, the grief over Tech's death, the fear for Omega and what she's going through. He's angry enough that he can ignore everything else, even logic, which tells him that this ninth base they've hit has maybe been too easy. They haven't attacked with any type of pattern, and they've left everything in flames and ruins when they leave, if only out of spite.

And still, there are no signs of Omega or of Hemlock. But there's got to be something. No one is a ghost, even if Hemlock is very good at hiding. They'll find something eventually, they will. They just... need to keep looking.

"This seems too easy," Hunter murmurs over comms as they sweep through the halls, blasters at the ready. There's no signs of resistance of any kind, and that's weird. It's setting off alarm bells in Echo's mind, the faint worry that this could be a trap. Maybe it would be better to pull back and do more recon first.

But looking at the grim, determined profiles of his brothers, remembering the broken way they've all but clung to each other over the days, being the last members of their batch, and Echo can't even say it. He's angry. Angrier than both of them, because they – the Bad Batch took him in, and they took care of him when he didn't have a place anymore. They took him in, and now, they've lost Crosshair and Tech. And Omega. They have to find her, get her back, and if Hunter and Wrecker will plunge headlong into this, no matter that it's probably a trap, Echo will be there with them, to the end.

"Yeah, agreed," he says, cautiously glancing around the corner, looking both ways. "Feel anything? The control room is up ahead?"

"There's... something there," Hunter replies, backing against the wall, blaster raised. "I don't know what it is, but I don't like it."

"Something what?" Wrecker asks.

"It's a concentrated energy source. Similar to a droid, but not quite."

"Cyborg?" Echo guesses, because Hunter had said the same thing about him."

"Maybe. It's similar, but much stronger than any one I've met." He sighs. "Let's move." He's afraid, and Echo is too, just a little bit, but it's fine. They have a mission, and they are going to get Omega back, no matter what it takes. Even if none of them are left to see it through, he won't rest until he knows it'll happen.

Echo scomps into the wall, opening the door ahead of them.

The control room is mostly dark, except for the lights on someone standing right inside waiting for them. The armored figure towers well over them, but what makes Echo momentarily freeze is the... ignited red lightsaber.