#TBBspoilers

[barissoffee]

STAR WARS: THE BAD BATCH | 3.07 EXTRACTION

[jedi-hawkins]

I have a sneaking suspicion that Crosshair will always tell a different story about his hand when asked. Some that he's given:

Omega cut it off

Got cut off as punishment for trying to steal the Crown Jewels of Naboo

Knitting accident

Ventress ate it

Cooking mishap

A porg attack

Frostbite

Got caught in a rayshield

Slept on it weird and it just fell off

Cursed by a Nightsister witch from Dathomir

He cut it off himself to fake his own death

He broke it petting Batcher too hard

Lost a fight to a lawn chair

(Tech’s reason) He was tired of being the ‘more boring twin’ and had to be a pick me

(Echo’s reason) He wanted to be more like him.

(Hunter’s reason) He had such a crush on General Skywalker he did it to impress him

(Wrecker’s reason) He was trying to rescue a baby animal and it pooped on him, Crosshair was so disgusted he cut his hand off right there

Reasons in collaboration with @probadbatch @arctrooper69 @photogirl894 @moonstrider9904

He got hungry

He lit a match and let it burn, just to feel something

He gave Hunter a hand with something but that’s not what Hunter meant.

Hunter ate it. (Crosshair has a tooka he named Hunter so people don't know which one he's talking about)

Halloween costume. (Echo chimes in - ‘he wanted to be me/General Skywalker’)

Papercut.

Now Omega paints his nails twice as fast *or half as slow

For his new fancy toothpick holder prosthetic (it shoots toothpicks out of it)

Omega is the only one who tells the truth about it, and no one believes her cause it sounds just as crazy

Edit/Notable Mention: “What do you mean?” *looks down* “OH SHIT! Oh my god, what happened to it!? My hand, it’s gone!?”

[heyclickadee]

Okay, my turn to go full tin foil hat on Tech living though that fall. So.

Please tell me I’m not the only one who’s seeing this:

“You have to admire ‘em. They find a way to survive.” I know the ice vulture is Crosshair’s thing, but its silhouette also looks like the marauder, and when I think of the marauder, I think of Tech. I think there’s more to tease out here with Tech and Crosshair parallels, but THEY. THEY find a way to survive.

Anyway, I’ll be getting a fitting for a clown wig if y’all need me.

[tanalorr-traveler]

Someone on Twitter pointed out that Wrecker got hurt by the thing that he loves (explosions) and I would just like to say RUDE.

[somewhere-on-kamino]

The Sad Batch + Text Posts pt 1 | pt 2 | pt 3 | pt 4 | Crosshair special

[ceapa-mica]

My best guess why we don't get to see Wrecker and Crosshair in the final scene is because they're living with their partners, maybe they even have kids on their own at this point. Force knows they deserve it! 🥹

[tired-night-owl]

So we all agree either hunter or crosshair is gonna die by the end of the season ?

I feel its most likely gonna be hunter because if it was crosshair it would be too obvious a bit like with tech last season. But seeing omega mirror crosshair and hunter watching them it gives me the vibe of hunter making sure he would be good to her if he were to die.

Anyways I hope I’m wrong because I don’t want them to die but yknow Star Wars and heartaches…

[gardens-dogs-starwars]

So I don't have any sort of concrete theories as to how he survived and/or got away from Eriadu, but what if Tech is alive and gathering the allies the Batch made over the course of the first 2 seasons and will appear right when his brothers need him most in the finale?? And CX-2 was just a red herring??? I am just not convinced the writers would go to such lengths to avoid the word "dead" when describing Tech for the past year and also have this mysterious character who is so suspiciously like Tech but then have him not be Tech and just not bring him back at all. That would just be pointlessly cruel and bad management of fan expectations. I also think that as the episode count winds down and we get less and less time to see the Batch together, the chances that we're getting either a clone rebellion-focused show OR Clone Wars-style show with split focus between Ventress/Quinlan/the Path and the clone rebellion (both of which would feature the Batch) only go up. Why else would they leave such little time with these characters they have spent so much time and energy on?? Totally could be delulu here and my sanity is probably too dependent on this hope of seeing the Batch more past the end of this season, but if they don't bring Tech back or have a version of a wider clone rebellion show featuring the Batch in the works, it would feel like such a squandered opportunity...

[morphofan]

Oh God... Imagine that IS Tech, brainwashed into being "A Believer" like the Clone that tried to assassinate Chuchi.

And imagine his brothers manage to stun him and rescue him. Then he wakes up on the Marauder and the brainwashing kicks in.

He follows protocols for being captured and tries to bite down on his suicide tooth.

Realizing this, Wrecker leaps forward and jams his fingers into Tech's mouth to stop him.

Wrecker's yowling in pain and Tech's just like "GRRRRR" trying instinctively to bite through Wrecker's fingers.

They stun him again and then the first stop is a doctor than can safely extract the suicide shock tooth. And sew up the bites wounds to Wrecker's fingers. 😂

[starrylothcat]

I miss when all TBB were together 😞

[amberskyyking]

99% happy with my Bad Batch ending, but gonna have to fix the 1% myself. Cracks knuckles in malicious-canon-compliance

Tech is alive and I will die on that hill.

Implications Of Being Alive

SPOILERS FOR BB FINALE BELOW!!!

CX-2 had failed.

It knew its mission. It shook its head, its vision was compromised but it was still capable of identifying the enemy, even against the distorted blur left behind from the toxins and the toll of the battle below. But no matter. If Clone Force 99 wouldn’t be turned to their cause, they would be eliminated. It lined up the shot -

And was sent reeling as something struck it on the left, hard. The target was alerted, a new threat emerged, and it spun to retaliate a second too late. Cracking blue crashed into its chest and slammed it backwards against something solid.

There was smoke, buzzing, the smell of smoldering metal and charred flesh, and in the moments before the force of the electricity coursing through its biomechanics overwhelmed what was left of its physical body, it registered a face through the gaps of its helmet. Distinct. Battle worn. Familiar.

CX-2 shut down.

---

Why was CX-2 being activated?

Why was activation causing it pain?

CX-2 opened its eyes, but it didn’t drop from its stasis pod like usual. In fact there was nothing beneath its feet at all. It tried to wrench itself free but a sharp sensation tore through its body and it suppressed a weak organic gasp. Something was undoubtedly wrong. It took a breath that rattled in its chest.

Senses impaired. Functionality damaged. Mobility… Impossible, due to the presence of the shaft of an electro-spear protruding from the center of its chest. Bio-mechanic systems compromised too, then, and a sufficient enough explanation for the pain radiating through its organic parts.

Hemlock sure had a lot of experiments, A voice drifted its way. What do you think was the purpose of these ones? Stasis chambers, training room, clones in weird armor…

Whatever he intended to do with them, it was an obvious failure, Came a second voice, rigid and clipped. No data, no explanation, no survivors? There’s nothing here to salvage. Hemlocks work will simply die with him. We’re moving on.

Yes sir.

CX-2 must have been activated in error. Hemlock was dead. It had no mission.

A gray-clad officer let out an exasperated huff and turned her back on it as her troopers began their sweep. CX-2 gritted its teeth and strained to see more of the room, assess the situation, calculate its options. The room itself clearly lacked power and most of the valuable assets in it had been destroyed. Through the viewport below it could see TK troopers prodding at the bodies of the other CX’s and dead clone prisoners. The officer continued discussing something barely audible near the lift, but it couldn’t activate its helmet to listen in, and straining its ears was useless.

A trooper crossed into its vision, blocking its view. It scoffed beneath the helmet, and the trooper paused.

“Uhh… Officer Bragg? I think this one’s still alive.”

CX-2 narrowed its eyes. Alive was barely the proper terminology. CX-2 was active, perhaps, it had survived, but alive seemed rather generous. The word held many meanings and implications, only one of which could be applied to itself, the scientific definition, nothing more. It was a poor choice of words. There was little alive about CX-2. It had no mission, it had no feelings, it had no life.

“Are you sure?” The officer huffed. “Remove the helmet.”

After a moments hesitation the TK trooper reached up and fumbled for CX-2’s helmet, sliding it off its head, and CX-2 found itself staring at the surprised officer with empty stoicism.

“I’ll inform Governor Tarkin,” The officer nodded. “Perhaps some portion of Hemlock’s work won’t go to waste.”

---

There were no more stasis chambers for CX-2 to shut down in on command, but the imperials assigned it a single-bunk domicile aboard a Star Destroyer once its reconstruction was deemed acceptable. The medical droids never quite understood the complexities of its bio-mechanic enhancements. CX-2 resorted to working on itself when it wasn’t in self-induced stasis mode, assigned to a mission, or subjected to medical testing, and in time, it improved its own efficiency, accuracy, and stamina far past what Hemlock’s original design had allowed. Its results were indisputable. Despite the mysteries that remained of Hemlock’s work, its superiors were pleased.

Yet the enhancements came with its own set of curious drawbacks, and CX-2 had yet to discover the solution for them, which was unusual. Its malfunctions could typically be patched with specialized coding or tweaks to the inner workings of a particular system, yet once these began to manifest, there was nothing it had been able to find to neutralize them. The first incident came when it removed its prosthetic leg for maintenance and potential upgrade. The movements felt familiar, and as it implemented its ideas into the improved design it suddenly saw a flash in its mind of another scenario, another mechanical leg on a table, a different soldering iron in its hand, and a clone sitting across from it, looking sheepish.

I’m not surprised, It heard a voice coming from its own mouth. It has only been a couple of weeks. You’re going to need more time than that to grow accustomed to them, Echo, and seeing as you have insisted on taking wild risks this soon, an accident of this sort was inevitable.

The image dissolved and CX-2 sat frozen. It had been someone else before this, that much it knew, but before didn’t matter. There was CX-2, there were missions, there was the Empire. It was merely a tool, not a person.

It completed its work on the leg and attempted to push the strange scene to the back of its mind, though it couldn’t help but log that the clones name was Echo.

The next time it happened was, unfortunately, in the field. CX-2 usually worked alone but this time it had been assigned to a squad, sent to hunt down rebel insurgents in the Cadavine sector. The mission was supposed to have been a stealth operation, so when CX-2 found itself a visual on the rebel targets, it flashed a hand gesture to the TK-troopers below.

One of them looked at it blankly and shrugged.

Awww, I hate hand signals! A massive clone with a milky eye groaned overhead.

Perhaps it would help if you memorized them! CX-2 snapped back.

You memorize them!

I have!

CX-2 nearly fell from the snipers nest and had to stifle a gasp as the scene faded out. It’s systems, for a moment, had been overwhelmed by something on its organic side, and it took a moment to reset them before continuing the mission. The TK Troopers incompetence had bought them precious seconds, they were spotted, and there was no time to waste wondering about what it had seen. At least when the mission was over, it was still a success. All insurgents were eliminated.

After that, though, the malfunctions began to occur with greater frequently. CX-2 found itself unable to combat them with technical prowess or further enhancements - in fact, each time it made the attempt, it only seemed to instigate more incidences, more images to replay. Memories, it concluded, after working itself to a state of exhaustion one night when it should have been attempting to put itself into stasis. That was the pattern, they were all tiny memories of who it was before, of people it knew. Brothers.

Traitors.

They had opposed the Empire, each and every one of them, even itself. It wasn’t sure why. It didn’t matter. They had been enemies, it had hunted them, they were the ones who opposed it on Tantiss, who harbored the girl, who caused its failure that day even after it gave them all a chance to become like him. Hunter’s face was the one it had seen just before shutting down. If it couldn’t purge itself of the fragmented memories, it would at least lock them away under the weight of their betrayal, where they couldn’t affect any more of its missions. It wouldn’t fail on their behalf, not again.

CX-2 laid back, closed its eyes, and attempted to fall into a form of stasis. It didn’t have family. It didn’t have feelings, it wasn’t a person, it wasn’t even alive, was it? It merely existed…

…So why did it wake up with an all consuming pain in its chest when the little girl in its dream wrapped her arms around its waist and called it Tech?

I’ll be posting updates for this on A03!!!!! Find it/Subscribe here if you like, I don’t usually post full chapters to tumblr lol. But that man is alive and ima prove it’s possible!

[barissoffee]

STAR WARS: THE BAD BATCH | 3.05 THE RETURN

[jedi-hawkins]

Omega introducing her date to the batch:

Date: "Hello, Nice to finally meet Omega's Family. Hunter: “Just show her respect and treat her right and you’ll be fine.” Wrecker: “if you need food recommendations, let me know. Omega loves trying new things.” Tech: “In addition to new foods, new sights and activities would be nice. She is very active in all senses of the word.” Echo: “Heh, yeah. Honestly good luck keeping up with her.” Date: “And I assume you’re the one who’s going to intimidate me and tell me to keep my hands to myself?” Crosshair: *scoff* “Oh, Omega can take care of herself. I was going to warn you about her cause I didn’t listen to her once and look what happened.” *shows stump* “And I’m her brother, so what do you think she’ll do to you?”

Date: 😳😰 Omega: "Don't listen to him. That was done by a brainwashed clone assassin back at the rise of the Empire. He just has a terrible sense of humor about it.” Crosshair: “Sounds like something a guilty person would say.”

[heyclickadee]

Hey so the cloth wrapped around Mayday’s armor is probably practically there to keep out the cold or something, but visually they call to mind burial wrappings or very sloppily done mummy wrappings. Mayday was always a dead man walking. If you need me I’ll be off staring moodily at a wall somewhere.

[tanalorr-traveler]

Bad Batch Spoilers without context:

[uwubeggar]

not Wolffe mogging everyone in this scene