wanderingmirror

[wanderingmirror]

Well you don't know me But I know you

____________

I made a thing. It was for a Hellsing fic of mine. Still working on it. : D

[wanderingmirror]

It happened all of a sudden.

Where millions of GAR troops were at different points of the galaxy, they were suddenly in a grey void like space.

Their faces pitch black except for scars or differences in appearance. Eyes pure white and armor their original phase one set and color. From the oldest to the youngest still alive they all stood there. It was strangely silent despite them all talking at once.

What was even more strange was the black crack splitting the ground and separating them from what looked like the Guard.

Similar to them, they had pitch black faces, and the differences shown in white with their eyes. Despite how many GAR troops there were, everyone could see as if they were standing in front. Almost like a Holo live recording on a Helmet comm.

The GAR was horrified to see scars or missing limbs marking their brothers on the other side of the crack.

It looked like one of the shiny Guards was holding on desperately to a batcher's hand, but the batcher just began to walk towards them. Pulling until the shiny Guard was forced to let go.

The shiny's eyes filled with red tears, the same as the color marking them. They cradled their hand to their chest and the tears spilled over. One of the other guardsmen stepped out of the flood of red and white. Pulling the shiny's attention to them, they lifted their arms in silent comfort. The shiny rushed to the other and was embraced into a tight hug. Armor creaking as the older Guard smoothed their hand into the shiny's short regulation hair.

The other GAR shiny turned to look and froze, seeing how hurt the other was. They tried to reach out to the other. Suddenly, another Guardsman surged to the front and rammed a riot shield into the shiny. This trooper a shiny themselves. The GAR shiny fell to the ground and the other GAR members stepped forward.

The Riot Shiny flinched at so many other GAR soldiers approaching. And that caused a chain reaction in the rest of the Guard. More Riot Troopers rushed out in defense of their shiny member, slamming their shield on the ground. Lining up on either side of the first Riot trooper as a show of support and comradeship.

This caused the heavy artillery Guards to follow, guarding the edges of the shield formation. Suddenly the ground rumbled and high vantage points appeared, allowing the Guard Sniper units to take aim. The rare Guard Enhanced all took positions behind the Riot Troopers with their own weapons in hand. The Guards with normal blasters each took a shoulder behind a Riot Trooper and aimed their weapons.

The massiff units all pushed the medics and soft shells behind them, aiming their blasters at those they could safely aim at. Medics had their makeshift packs at the ready for any who might get injured on their side. And soft shells aimed pistols around the Massiff Units to do the same as them.

And suddenly, everything was quiet again.

The GAR didn't know how to react to their Guard brother's sudden defensive formation. Not one Guard shook or looked hesitant to fire.

It was like time froze, as the bigger side tried to figure out what to do. Until Cody stepped forward. The Marshall Commander stepped as close to the group in red as they allowed. Freezing when one of the troopers aiming over another's shoulder took aim at him. He raised his hand to signal a halt when his own men stepped forward to defend him.

From behind the line of Riot shields came the Guard's own Marshall Commander. The scars of sith lightning scattered across the left side of the oldest Guardsman's face had Cody flinching. The eye was no where to be seen either, meaning he was blind in that eye.

Fox crossed his arms in front of his chest, feet spread to parade rest length, and tilted his head. Not a word left the Guard Commander as he stood in front of the GAR Commander. No one spoke really. One side waiting for their Commander's orders, the other too in shock to speak.

The other Commanders of the GAR stepped forward. And soon after the other leaders in the Guard did the same. One Guard had blonde hair. One had a severely damaged jaw and throat. One had stitches lining their whole body old wounds healed over. One had a missing leg, the air in its place matching the void around them. One had over regulation hair. One had a scar along their head and over an absent right eye. And One with no hair, with a massive burn scar on the left side of his face.

The GAR only knew of Thorn, the one with long hair, Stone, the one with the burn, and Thire, the one with the missing right eye and scar on the same side. The other four where unknown. Until Rex stepped forward.

"Ritz?" He asked, and his voice was almost too loud in the eery quiet of the void. The blonde Guard officer, a Captain, crossed their arms in a silent show of defiance. The other six officers all stood on either side of Fox in a show of support. Not one looked ready to back down. Neither did the rest of the Guard despite their smaller size.

"Vod'ika. Why are you all doing this?" Cody finally asked the question the rest of the GAR had been thinking.

"You abandoned me and my men. So we're just doing what's necessary to defend what we have left. Who we have left. And I'm not your Vod'ika. The only Ori'vod'e I have is Chemi and Stitches. You aren't either of them." The Guard Commander snarled and the mentioned 'Ori'vod'e' both stepped forward on either side of Fox. Chemi was the one with the mangled jaw and throat, while Stitches was the one with a stitched up appearance.

The 212th and 501st CMOs rushed forward suddenly.

"JACOB!" "STITCHES!"

Helix shouted a different name than Kix, yet it was a name the 212th recognized almost immediately. Jacob had been the second in command of the 212th medical bay near the start of the war. But once General Skywalker was made a General, he was sent back to Kamino and was never seen again.

Stitches had been the new and first CMO of the 501st's name. And the man had been sent in once again to Kamino, he was also never again seen.

Only this time he wasn't reconditioned.

Said CMO of the Guard didn't even flinch when his name was shouted, though he was secretly confused by the first name. Both blue and gold CMOs froze when the Captain, Ritz, shot forward and shielded the red CMO. A snarl of a protective riduur marking his scratched up face.

The void rumbled again and Stitches had someone peeking out from behind him. This clone was inverted to the medic. Black eyes and stitches with a white appearance. A malicious smile was marking this clones face, but it wasn't towards the Guard. No it was towards the GAR. The Guard knew who this clone was. Freakshow. The Guard CMO's darker personality.

Helix hissed at the inverted clone and the other just giggled darkly.

"You bastard! I thought you finally left him alone!" Helix roared and the inverted clone's smile faded away.

"Because I was too Independent at the time, here I remain. I'm the one who's kept him alive ever since. With some help of course." Freakshow said as he patted Ritz on the shoulder from behind Stitches. The medic didn't seem bothered by the other presence.

With Freakshow's arrival, it heralded the coming of other similar inverted clones over many other Guard clone's shoulders. And even some GAR clone shoulders as well.

One of the Kamino bound clones looked heartbroken as he stood in front. "So he got reconditioned for nothing? He had hoped it would ease his suffering." All eyes framed by gold and red looked at the man and he flinched. Helix and Freakshow both looked at him and the clone stepped forward. "Joyce, Sirs. I....I was the one who saw him go to recon. He asked me not to say anything, just in case it didn't work. He didn't want me getting hurt."

The clone, Joyce, wrapped his arms around himself in self comfort as the anger in Helix's gaze ignited towards him. Freakshow just smiled soothingly. "It worked a little. It allowed me to explain my presence and give him time to really understand how I got there. It did heal him, even if my darling other half doesn't remember." The inverted clone giggled as he laid himself across the medic's shoulders. The other clone just grumbled in annoyance. Joyce smiled sorrowfully, nodding in acceptance.

Only to be punched in the face and fall to the ground. Everyone looked at Helix as he panted. Joyce cupped his jaw and tears filled his eyes. Pale teal tears that spilled over at the rage aimed at him. "You could have saved him! Now Jacob is dead because of you! I'll never have my Vod'ika back thanks to your silence!" Helix roared and Joyce flinched with a whimper. Freakshow growled.

"It wasn't your fucking choice to make. It was Jacob's. Nothing else was working to save his psyche from shattering and causing him to go AWOL. So don't blame him for something he had no control over." Freakshow hissed as he crossed the crack and helped the Kamino Bound clone to stand. The inverted clone grabbed his wrist and dragged Joyce over the crack to the Guard side. Joyce's armor changed colors to red. Much like Freakshow's had changed to gold and blue when he stepped over to the GAR side.

Fox jerked his head towards the riot barrier and Joyce melted into the Guard ranks. Disappearing from sight. No one really argued the Guard literally stealing one of their men. If it made the Guard feel like the man was safer than so be it. "Helix." Cody mumbled and Helix sighed with golden tears in his eyes. Captain Ritz moved to stand in his original place next to the one unnamed Guard officer, while Stitches stood with Freakshow at his back. No malicious smile to creep the GAR out.

Fox cleared his throat and attention was on him. "I'm glad this has happened. Because now I can say this with full confidence. Let it be known that the Guard will no longer treat the GAR with anything but professional politeness and business. It was agreed upon by all members of the Guard. The only expectation to that had been Bonsai. Who still had a batcher outside the Guard who still contacted her." The shiny who had been comforted at the beginning of all this flinched when their name was mentioned.

The shiny, Bonsai, shook as she became the center of attention. Said shiny stopped shaking when one of the bigger enhanced, one with patchy skin and white lined hair, stepped up behind her. Making their massive presence known. The Bad Batch, also part of the GAR despite their commando and black ops status, all looked shocked to see another of Wrecker's enhancement still alive.

"To answer any questions on the enhanced, the one behind Bonsai is Caboose. One of three of the Heavy classed enhanced among the Guard. The other two are Chalk and Titan." Fox said in monotone. The named enhanced nodded once to signal name and face. "They have a similar grouping system to the GAR's Bad Batch, though they don't strictly form up in their original unit unless necessary. Chalk frequents the medical bay, while Titan acts as the heavy artillery for the crew of the Victorian. Caboose acts as a free agent among the Guard, pulling those being reconditioned or decommissioned into our ranks to keep them safe."

Fox explained and Caboose grinned. Cody mumbled to himself in awe while the other GAR Commanders just stared. The Riot Troopers and those behind them had still not eased up. Neither had the other Guardsmen despite the calm atmosphere. "What can we do to regain your trust?" A clone in Wolfpack grey asked and Chemi was the one to answer. Though his voice was hoarse thanks to the damage in that area.

"That is a question best answered by the individual you want to regain the trust of. I'd say we all have different answers to that. Me personally? There really isn't anyway but through time and effort on both sides." The clone said, he sounded almost like he was mimicking someone. Another guard near the back with the Massiff members snorted sarcastically. "Don't get too hopeful though. Not sure I wanna give my trust back after it was shattered the first time." Some members of the Guard nodded in agreement.

It grew quiet after that. Both sides at a stand still. A member of the 49th stepped forward. "Who hurt you? It was supposed to be safe! None of you should have those kinds of injuries!" He shouted and many other GAR members murmured in agreement. The nameless Captain answered. "The Senate. Coruscant. Only ones who really left us alone was the Jetii. Well except for that Vos guy. He visited with food from time to time after we pulled him from the sewers or a dumpster." The answer seemed to echo in the once again silent space. The Guard seemed to act like it was normal. Like having these injuries was a daily thing to them.

Thinking about it now, Cody felt like it probably was.

"And you are?" Wolffe asked. The Captain grinned ferally. "ARC Captain Gatz of the Coruscant Guard. If you got a fucking problem with it we can fight right here and now." The ARC replied, not an ounce of fear in his face or voice. Wolffe raised his hands in surrender. "Just wanted your name! No fighting necessary!" The Wolfpack Commander reassured. That seemed to deflate the ARC as he pouted with a whispered 'Damn it.' that only Ritz seemed to hear. The blonde Captain patting the other on the shoulder in sympathy. Stitches snorted and crossed his arms. "As much as this little reunion has been informative, I have patients I need to tend to. So how about we figure out how to get out of here?"

Fox nodded in agreement. The Guard Riot formation eased just a little, allowing the troops to shake themselves out of their stiffness and reset their bodies.

"We'll deal with those bastards later then." Bacara muttered and several other GAR members whispering a faint 'oya' amongst each other.

The vantage points all lowered and the sniper units melted into the crowd of Guardsmen. Leaving only the black crack as the single deviation to the grey void.

Not that anyone really paid it any mind. The Guard wasn't trusting of the GAR right yet, and they were willing to work to gain that trust back.

No matter how hard it was or how long it took.

[wanderingmirror]

The 501st was having a meeting with a few members of the Guard, Senators Amidala and Organa, and some members of the Jedi Council. Anakin was currently going on a tangent about the Guard's laziness and stupidity. Or what he assumed was so. One of the Guards on duty was getting agitated. Those who were truly paying attention could see his armor shaking as his rage began to bubble past the point he could hide. Commander Fox was aware of Fenrir's rising anger.

Said Commander was kind enough to warn the council and Senate members prior to the meeting that he would be prone to lash out. Especially when Skywalker was around and in one of his rants. Despite his somewhat cordial behavior during the events of Five's disappearance and later the incident with Ritz, the Jedi Knight was still prone to rants against the Guard. It had gotten to the point that no Guardsman was willing to deal with him alone or at all. Hence the meeting. And once the male got into a new rant about how lazy the men on guard duty were Fenrir finally snapped.

The riot trooper hit the Knight with the butt of his blaster, knocking him to the floor and startling everyone in the room but the Guards. The clone raised his foot and stomped onto the weakest point in the man's leg and a crack was heard. Anakin wailed in pain and Fenrir held up his blaster to point at Jesse in warning. The other members of the 501st froze. The second oldest member of the Coruscanti Wolfpack growled and reached down to pull the wounded Jedi to his feet. Albeit unsteadily.

"Stand the fuck up. You stand back up. The rest of you sit down, or else."

Fenrir growled and most of the ones standing did so but Jesse. Fenrir looked at him and motioned for him to sit too. The blue clad clone did so with hesitation. The red clad riot trooper kept Anakin from sitting down and made him fall into a shaky parade rest. Back straight, legs shoulder length, arms behind the back crossed, and chin held high. Every time a noise of pain would leave the Jedi's mouth, Fenrir would scoff.

"What is it? Your leg? Shut the fuck up and be quiet. You have no right to complain."

He snarled and waved at Senator Amidala to begin her own talking. The brunette woman nodded, slightly disturbed by the events taking place, but used to Fenrir's type of teaching. He knew no better way to teach than experience. After an hour, Anakin started to flag and slump over. Only to get smacked on the back by Fenrir.

"Oi! Did I say you could be at ease?! Straighten up, you shithead! You ain't allowed to relax until I say so. You're a Jedi! Fucking act like it!"

Fenrir snapped and the brunette Jedi fixed his posture despite the pain. Obi-wan was looking mildly distressed by his old Padawan's treatment. Plo Koon was wincing with every growl Fenrir rumbled out. Despite the months having gone by, the Guard was still icy towards those outside of their unit. The only ones willing to be somewhat cordial were the Commanders, CMO Stitches, and very rarely Chemi. Due to the fact that the Healing Halls had been helping heal the Trooper turned Scientist's air ways.

They were never out right mean or cruel, but they never dropped their guard. They never allowed visitors. And they didn't try to make nice. They were all business and professional politeness. Except for a very small group of shinies who hadn't been abandoned yet. And they had been warned about said abandonment happening at any point. So they were enjoying their time while it seemingly lasted. When it was nearing the end of the meeting, Fenrir was still pacing behind Anakin with the gaze of a predator.

He never let the Knight relax, always barking for him to straighten up or fix his posture. The Jedi's broken leg was shaking, yet Fenrir didn't seem to care. He snapped when Anakin would go to ask to sit. Claiming that he had no right. That he wasn't allowed to sit with their "Noble Guests". At first those not in the know didn't really like the way the Guardsman was treating him. Until it finally clicked that he was treating Anakin the same way they were treated.

"Fix your fucking posture, Jedi! I didn't fucking say you could relax!"

Anakin was nearing his physical limit. Yet no one was interfering with what the crazy trooper was doing. He didn't understand why his master or Padme weren't doing anything! His leg hurt! Yet whenever he began to slip, the trooper would snap at him.

"And this is the end of the meeting. Trooper Fenrir, would you kindly allow the Knight to relax?"

Senator Organa asked with a wary smile. Fenrir growled softly but nodded. Hitting Anakin on the back and stepping around to face him.

"Did you learn your lesson, Jedi? Or am I gonna have to start paying a visit to the temple to teach you fucking discipline?"

He asked and the Jedi paled. He did in fact realize that this had been used as an example of what the Guard did daily. What they were forced to do every hour of every day. Before the Sith Lord was killed, before CMO Stitches had the supplies to treat them all. Before they could take time off and didn't have to support the entire Coruscanti police and security system. When they were under constant threat of death and recon.

"You can relax now. But if I hear anything about you talking shit again, I'll break more than just your fucking leg. I'll make you wear armor, go patrolling with me, and spend the whole day with no help for those injuries. And let me tell you, it isn't a walk in the fucking park. Not on this "Cushy Posting"."

Fenrir snarled and Anakin fell to the floor to sit. Whining with pain as Obi-wan walked over to check on him. Stitches didn't help, deciding that his old protege could deal with it. He should have learned that much with him. Kix just sighed as the Guards all walked out of the room. Fenrir more at a stalk than a walk with the intent of finding either his Soka or his Ori'vod, Chemi. Or even his own ad, Pup.

If Anakin had anything else to say, he kept it firmly to himself. Coruscant had Guard eyes and ears everywhere, after all.

[wanderingmirror]

Damn holy shit. O.o dis person got skillz

Prince Vegeta | Fan art

[wanderingmirror]

The cabin was old. But warm and cozy. It was summer on this planet. The trees full and green. Birds chirping in the distance as the window allowed a cold breeze to flow into the cabin. The curtains fluttered in it's grasp. The living room had a fireplace bracketed by a love seat and an arm chair with a coffee table in the middle. All around the room hung pictures of a long forgotten time in history. Of soldiers who looked alike, of monks with abilities beyond the imagination. Of villains and plots filled with darkness and destruction.

The sound of dishes being done in the kitchen were the only noise outside of the birds. The kitchen was clean, counters empty of anything not meant to be there. At the sink stood a man with a scarred appearance. Dark skin with an amber eye. The other a milky white in appearance but really it was a cybernetic. A final gift from an old friend cut down by betrayal. The hands freeze for a moment at that memory before they continue the mindless work. Once dark brown hair was now grey, still routinely shaved across the sides and bottom of the head. Braided to reach the center of the man's back though it was moved to rest over the left shoulder.

The face was the most scarred out of the body. The result of a cannon blast that grazed him. Melting his armor and burning his body. His teeth were visible, the scar going across his eye and towards his scalp. His lips were saved but the cheek was not. Along the edge of the skull rested the tiniest of scars. You would never know that it was the result of a chip being removed from his head unless you were shown. The man wore a tan long sleeved turtle neck shirt with grey jeans, plain socks, and work boots. The shirt sleeves were rolled up to work, showing off the scars of a war fought and lost. A meaningless war for one man's greed to rule. One that devastated millions of souls. Once the last dish was done, the man sighed. He emptied the sink and dried his rough hands before rolling the sleeves back down.

The man began the last chore on his to do list. It wasn't difficult, despite the pain it brought nonetheless. He opened the door to the old basement and went down stairs. Turning on the light, revealing two sets of plastoid armor. Both from two points in time he wanted to both hold onto and forget. The first one was older than the second; blaster marks, scraps, dark places, and cracks littered the pieces like points on a map. Old looking paint colored the armor to look a dulling orange. He gently placed his hand on the chestplate. Eyes weary and guilt ridden. He was reminded of that fateful day. Could still remember aiming his cannon at tan robes and ginger hair. Remembers hearing that awful screech of the beast and the sight of that old friend falling to his death.

Guilt pushes him to turn his gaze away from that armor and glare hatefully at the armor beside it. Pure white with similar marks. Not a scrap of color to mark how different the times were. Despite how close they were. He doesn't remember much of that time. He does remember the icy chill of cryo and waking up almost ninety years after everything was said and done. Despite his somewhat youthful appearance, he was well over one hundred. He felt old. Tired and worn. His frame looked nothing like it. Still fit and strong like his youth. He should be dead. And he has this odd feeling. He smiled sorrowfully. His old friend had rubbed off on him, it seemed. Slowly he left the basement, deciding that cleaning both sets could wait til tomorrow.

He moved to the living room, sitting down in the arm chair and sighing softly. He slumped down and closed his weary eyes. He felt exhausted. Crossing his arms, he decided to rest before going out to town. He knew that he needed a few things but they could wait an hour or two. He settled and started to doze off.

"Oi, Vod! Come on! The General is gonna be facing the Commander again!"

The male was jolted from his doze to see a man who looked identical to him. Outside of the scars and hair. The other man grinned with excitement as the grey haired man stood quickly. He ran ahead but the grey haired male paused at the door to the cabin. Looking back he debated if it was a good idea to leave before he was done with chores.

"Vod!"

He turned.

The man was looking at him with confusion and concern.

"You coming?"

The male asked and the other looked one more time at the cabin behind him. Unknowing of the freshly painted orange armor now adorning his body, the male decided that the spar of his superiors was too good to miss. And without a thought, he darted after his brother with a smile to match the other's own.

He never noticed that he had left an empty cabin behind him as his soul finally moved on.

[wanderingmirror]

O.o So I'm ole Bucket head? T-T I get killed by my little brother who is Bumblebee. XD

Are You an Autobot or Decepticon?

This is a little something I’ve whipped up involving Transformers Prime. Here are the months and twelve of the bots from Transformers Prime. It’s my idea of a reblog thread.

January: Shockwave

February: Ratchet

March: Megatron

April: Bulkhead

May: Wheeljack

June: Starscream

July: Bumblebee

August: Dreadwing

September: Airachnid

October: Arcee

November: Optimus Prime

December: Soundwave

I got Soundwave.

Tagging: @kayssweetdreams, @sundove88, @shadowqueen402

[wanderingmirror]

"Alright, that's it! Square the fuck up!"

A Coruscant Guardsman shouted, causing all attention to fall onto him. Wolffe froze at the venom in the man's voice and the hatred in his eyes.

"What?"

He asked and the Corrie rolled his eyes. He also rolled his shoulders and started bouncing, readying himself for a fight.

"I said, square the fuck up. Are you deaf or is that your ego?"

The Corrie growled. He snarled and Wolffe nearly snarled himself if it still didn't baffle him on why the Corrie was so pissed. The other clone moved into a ready stance, loose and unassuming. But the dark hatred never left the man's eyes.

"You and your boys talk so much shit about us Corries, why don't you prove it? See if you can put me on my fuckin ass. I am so sick of your bullshit. Square up, Commander! Give this pencil pusher a fuckin taste!"

The other Corries didn't seem to care that one of their own was trying to start a fight. The Wolfpack was also quite stunned that a Corrie even wanted to fight. Rule keepers and fun police an all. Master Koon stepped forward and tried to de-escalate the situation.

"Alright, I don't think this is a good way to deal with these issues-"

The Corrie growled low and long, his eyes still fixed on Wolffe with rage.

"With all due respect, Sir, I want this dick to give me a reason to let me beat the ever loving shit out of him. He talks all this bullshit about my fuckin Commander and doesn't expect me to fuckin retaliate!? The only reason I ain't beating the shit out of you now is you haven't given me just cause. So square the fuck up, Commander Shabuir!"

The Corrie was respectful towards Master Koon. But that respect ended when it came to the Wolfpack. The other clones in grey all looked at this pencil pusher in stunned shock. They had never seen a Corrie lose their temper before. And seeing it now was slightly unnerving. The Corrie started to get irritated with the continued shock.

"Oh come on! I'm giving you a fucking opening, you spineless bitch! Square up and prove you're fucking better than me! Maybe if you do, I'll start to think you're more than just a spoiled little brat!"

That set Wolffe off, he growled and charged at the Corrie without further prompting. He tackled the Corrie and tried to get him to the floor for a few punches, but all that did was cause the other man to take a few steps back. He wrapped his arms around Wolffe'e waist and lifted him up upsidedown. The Commander yelped as he was thrown to the left away from Master Koon. He hit the ground outside the Temple with a crack. His right side was throbbing in pain as the Corrie descended upon him with a fury.

He punched the sensitive right side without care for the damage dealt. His face was a snarl as he violently headbutted Wolffe when he tried to sit up and fight back. After some trouble, Wolffe finally got the upper hand. He flipped them over and returned the vicious headbutt to the Corrie, but the other man didn't seem to care that his nose was now bleeding.

"That all you got, you bitch? I've fought stronger assholes than you!"

His voice was nasally from the bleeding nose, but the snarl was still there as the Corrie expertly blocked or parried strikes. He took a few, but like before, he didn't seem to care that Wolffe was beating the shit out of him. Until the tables turned and the Corrie flipped them again, away from the steps and began to punch at the Wolfpack Commander. This continued until eventually the Corrie was pulled off Wolffe after flipping two more times. Wolffe was bleeding from his own nose and the Corrie had a black eye on top of his own bloody nose.

They both had bruises and small cuts lining their faces as they snarled at each other. The Corrie was being held back by a larger Corrie. Wolffe was kept back by Sinker and Boost. The bigger clone was in full armor, helmet and blaster too. He was holding the smaller Corrie around his waist and allowing him to wiggle about.

He was shouting insults and curses left and right, not caring that he was doing this in front of several generals including Shaak-Ti, Plo Koon, and Obi-wan Kenobi. The Generals looked heartbroken and confused at the hatred in the smaller Corrie's eyes. Shocked too, that the other Corries weren't doing anything to really stop their brother from doing this. The larger one was just holding him.

"Talk shit about my Commander behind his back around me again, and I'll make you wish you were never decanted, you fucking prick! I'll beat you so senseless that Prime himself will climb out of Hell just to laugh at you! Don't you ever disrespect my family again! You hear me, you front line bastard!?"

The other Corries ran over to the one shouting and one of them finally put a stop to the cursing and venom. If only because some children were coming over to see what the noise was. The Corrie growled lowly and the larger one just sighed as he lifted the smaller into a more secure hold. The group soon left, all but one. He walked up to Master Koon.

"I won't apologize for my brother's actions or words, but I am sorry you and the other Jetii had to see that. It should have been dealt with in a more private way. I apologize."

The Corrie said and ran off. Tension in his shoulders signalling his obvious discomfort at having to be alone. Wolffe was still trying to calm down from the small fight. Still suffering from the shock at how brutal and vicious the other guy was. His anger cooled into something like awe and wonder at how strong the guy was in order to lift him up like that armor and all.

"Fuck me, I didn't even get his comm number!"

Wolffe finally groaned and Boost snorted. The tension fell away with the laughter and teasing.

~~

Gatz was still fumming when they arrived back to HQ. Bloody nose and black eye all but forgotten as he went straight to his Commander's office, poking his head in. Finding Fox half asleep in his chair, Gatz walked over and sat down on the old couch they had brought into the office. He sighed and texted Dogma that he was in Fox's office. Neither he nor Fox spoke, mostly because Fox could already see and put together what had happened.

"Who?"

The older clone asked and Gatz just huffed quietly.

"Fuckin Wolffe. Bitching about you not being there for the End of the War Drunk fest. Talking about how you had a stick up your ass and how you should really stop being so cold and strict. Really, you'd think by now they'd learn to keep their damn mouths shut!"

Gatz vented and Fox just sighed softly. Nothing pissed the Corrie ARC off more than any form of disrespect towards the Guard. He had nearly been decommed for it. Had been reconned for it twice but the memories always came back after getting a look around HQ. No one really understood how, but they didn't question it. Not wanting it to stop working and risk losing Gatz forever.

The ARC was one of the few really old Corries. That list had grown so short only five people were still on it. Fox, Thorn, Chalk, Thire, and a medic named Word. The only medic the Guard officially claimed due to more and more restrictions and thinly vailed threats to transfer. But now they barely had to worry about it with Chancellor Bail Organa put forth reforms to help with their struggles.

Ritz had to drag Stitches away from the medbay to rest after he had ordered every Guard in for a thorough check up. Having gotten a fully restocked medical bay after three full years. Never had Fox seen the medic so close to his old self. The first CMO of the 501st. Before Kix. But that was the closest they would ever get to seeing the veteran medic. Stress had a way of bringing the darker half of the medic out, and not in a pleasant way.

Dogma entered the room with a scowl that matched his buir's own fierce one. Fox snorted as Gatz flushed in embarrassment.

"The medbay should have been your first destination. Why did Chalk enter the bay alone if you had injuries?"

Dogma growled and Gatz flushed more as he scratched the back of his neck.

"Not used to having a full stocked medbay yet. Was really just given you a heads up since I did remember that the Doc was getting some rest."

Gatz sat still as Dogma healed his wounds. Fox just sighed at the other clone's antics to get the medic's attention. Though the injuries weren't really a part of Gatz' obvious plan to win over the other. He did try to keep his wounds to a minimum. But his temper was a short fused one. Easily triggered. Dogma still helped even when it looked like he wanted to throttle the ARC.

While the rest of the treatment was done in silence, the ARC was quietly watching the medic with this love struck expression. Dogma finished working on his broken nose and Gatz hissed at his poking at the black eye.

"Try to keep out of trouble for a while, Gatz. I don't think Buir would be happy that his new supplies have mostly been used on you."

Gatz nodded and the room lapsed into silence again. But it was broken by a soft snore, pulling both of their attentions over to Fox who looked to have fallen asleep. They smiled, leaving the room quietly after covering the Commander in a blanket.

Gatz parted ways with Dogma along the way to the medbay and then the barracks where he flopped down on his bunk. He grinned and closed his eyes, planning on just going crazy against the GAR the next time they talked shit about his family.

Gatz knew that it would be fun to put them to rights the rough way.

[wanderingmirror]

Bacta and Datapads

Summary:

Darth Vader is still trying to hold onto that little bit of Light in his heart. And because of that he gets hurt during one his master's Lessons. In this timeline, Crosshair stayed loyal but was pulled into the 501st because Vader was holding onto the good things of his past. Striker was one of the few 501st who had been with Vader ever since the start of the Clone Wars. So being with him now made no difference.

Darth Vader is injured in a mission and is forced into a bacta tank with nothing to take his mind off the past. Two very unlikely souls help fix this tiny hurt.

Being unable to hear anything was driving Vader mad. Not only that but he had none of his limbs attached to his body as he floated listlessly in the cool, thick liquid. His mind drifted off to the darker points in his life when he was similarly helpless. His mother, Ahsoka, the clones, and his beloved Padme. The war.

Obi-wan.

If he could still cry properly without the feeling of being weak or inferior, he would. But he was a Sith Lord and an Enforcer. He couldn't show that much weakness in front of so many people. Even if no one was in his chambers now, he could still sense people everywhere in his fortress on Mustafar. What he wasn't expecting was the presence of two familiar souls approaching his chambers.

He opened his eyes to peer out of the blue tinted glass when the doors opened to allow two armored individuals to inside. One was in pure white commando armor from the Clone Wars era. The other in black commando armor with a green tinted visor. Both walked up to the glass of his tank and placed one of each of their hands onto the glass. The white one looked over to the black one and said something. The black one nodded.

Their hands moved to remove their helmets from their heads and two familiar faces greeted Vader. Though his brothers had all been either killed or filtered out, Striker was still in the Empire. His hair still in that half shaved half long look. Braided at the sides with a mixture of grey and black. His left eye still a clear amber. The right a milky white from the blaster bolt that had nearly blown his head off. A light bit of stubble still covered the lower half of his tanned skin.

Crosshair still looked somewhat the same. Hair, eyes, body. The only few differences were the burn scar on the right side of his face. He gave Vader a grin that set the Sith at ease. Both of them sat their helmets and weapons on the floor and moved around the room to fiddle with different things. Slowly, sound came back to Vader. Striker turning on the sound with a scowl. Crosshair was turning off the cameras and listening devices in the room.

"Why do these idjits keep turnin his sound off? I may need to have a word with 'em about it. And not inna nice way."

Striker grumbled while walking over to the tank, sitting down at the base and taking out his personal datapad. Crosshair snorted with annoyance clear in his aura and face.

"You'd better leave some for me. It's bad enough that they left him like this without his limbs or something to occupy his time."

The enhanced clone moved the table of limbs and armor into Vader's view, settling the Sith down now that he could see his limbs. Vader was aware that he was not supposed to be this attached to a pair of clones, but no one was brave enough to comment on it. And his master seemed to not care that he's kept two of them. Both clones had gotten used to being the only two left in the entire Empire.

At the beginning of this little arrangement, Vader had to hide his worries and concern for the two commando's safety. Only to catch them viciously beating the osik out of a nat born officer no doubt giving them trouble. Neither said what the man had said, and Vader didn't bother to ask. Mostly he just transferred the man to one of the more dangerous outposts on the outer rim.

Crosshair sat down at the base of the tank beside Striker and leaned against the reg. No doubt taking this time to catch a bit of sleep for his upcoming mission involving a Sith Temple. Luckily, Vader had plans to go with him to keep the other troopers in line. And wherever Vader went, Striker followed. Whether or not Sidious wanted him to. And since Vader had killed an entire platoon's worth of officers over Striker, so long as the clone caused no distractions, Vade was allowed to keep him around.

Over the few years the two of them had been following him around, their personalities had changed somewhat. Where Striker was quiet and focused energy in the Clone Wars, he was now a little chaotic and loud. Always pulling people's attention onto him with his dark humor. The commando acted as his right hand and one of the best interrogators in the Empire.

Crosshair himself didn't really change much other than his more feral ways of dealing with nat borns and civvies. The only one who was immune to his harsh and pointed words or actions was Vader. Mostly because he understood the pain of betrayal from family and those closest in the heart.

Striker was less immune but still had some cover when it came to his own family of brothers. He missed them terribly, but often times just buried the emotions and thoughts deep in his chest until he could vent his anger through fighting or other activities.

"Hey, boss, what'd'ya say about this new prosthetic design?"

Striker held up his datapad for Vader to see and the Sith looked at the design of an arm. The material was light weight and sturdy from being made of beskar. The swirls of metal looked painted on but were made with the heat of the forge. Vader sent a wave of agreement to the clone and Striker saved the design to his pad and sent it to Vader's.

"I'll see if I can find somethin similar fer the legs too. You focus on gettin some rest 'fore the mission."

Another wave of agreement and Vader closed his eyes. Though it shocked him at first to hear the accent, it had a way of soothing his frayed nerves and settling him down into a relaxed calm he never could achieve with anything else. Even if his master disapproved strongly of his newfound source of calm, Vader was grateful for it.

The Sith could feel Crosshair already slipping into a dreamless sleep. One of the rare few he could get after the many nightmares haunting his time on Kamino. Finding out about the clone's home being bombed had cracked something in Vader. Knowing that the clones were really starting to fade away along with anything that connected to them.

The only things left of the clones were the few who had survived both the war and the slow culling from the Empire. Or the ones who had deserted early on. Only Striker and Crosshair remained as evidence that the clones existed.

Vader slowly felt the edges of his own dreamless sleep closing in around him. And as he drifted off, he felt safe knowing he was still cared about and loved enough to be kept safe. To see and be a part of their lives despite everything that had happened. Despite everything Vader had done.

And for that, Vader was grateful.

[wanderingmirror]

Made on CloneCreator. My Commando Units. IDK if I'll make them into one group or two yet though.

Red-Sideswipe, Yellow-Sunstreaker, White-Ratchet, Blue-Orion, Purple-Lang, Green-Ironhide

Ratchet and Ironhide are the only two who have solid classes. The other 4 are still being decided. Ratchet is a medic. Ironhide is Heavy Weapons.

[wanderingmirror]

The three weeks before the end of the war was when things started to feel like they were going downhill. It had started when the cruiser the Wolfpack were using had experienced engine trouble. Luckily, they didn't need to worry about being knocked out of Hyperspace but walking through the lower levels was a hair-raising endeavor. On one such occasion, a trooper named Bolt was walking towards the main engine room to pull his squad mate, Cup, away from his riduur to go to squad lunch.

If it hadn't been for the engineers, Bolt would have died, and the war would have continued.

Bolt heard an odd noise above him as he passed the engineer's main hang out. He looked up and saw nothing. But the next thing he knew, he was on the floor with a skull splitting headache. He tried to make a call for help, but his body just moaned with pain. Tears flowed from his eyes along with blood. He jerked softly as his blood slowly covered his face. He felt more than heard when someone spotted him. Hearing snippets of what had hit him. A busted pipe. Bolt blacked out soon after that.

__

Later, Bolt had woken up in the medbay with a clean bill of health and the orders to rest.

It was after his head injury that he began to notice the headaches. In fact, it was only because of the headaches that he began to notice something off with his lines of thought. The headaches turned into nosebleeds. But he still felt it was safer to stay away from the medics simply because of the last time someone suffered this type of headache. He knew that the Wolfpack medics were different than 501st medics, but he wasn't going to chance it. He wasn't infected with a virus; he didn't feel sick. And no one else seemed to be dealing with headaches like him.

Bolt began to notice the different ways he would refer to himself mentally. Sometimes he would be Trooper Bolt and other times he would be CT-7350. And he would call himself an it and not a him. Whenever he would wake up, he could hear himself saying Good Soldiers Follow Orders and it scared him. He was not a droid, the General and all his pack confirmed it. But everyone else calls him a meat droid, maybe he is one? Maybe he's the droid and everyone else is a person.

Bolt could feel his mind slipping into that place again, a murmur of Good Soldiers Follow Orders flowing off his lips under his breath. He felt his body start to shake, is it supposed to be this cold in here? He could hear someone trying to get his attention, but he was a Good Soldier who always Follows Orders. He remained standing on guard duty. Had to try and regain his footing so his eyes would focus out of their blurry state. Someone touched his shoulder and his mind snapped back into place.

The CMO of the Wolfpack stood in front of him, datapads in his arm to turn in to Commander Wolffe. Hix was looking at him with a worried expression and he suddenly felt the reason dripping down over his mouth. Shakily he reached up to touch the lip of his helmet and felt the liquid there, pulling it away to see a red shine on his black gloves. He could feel on the edge of his skull a headache trying to take the rest of his senses. It was so cold in here.

"Trooper? Are you okay?" Hix asked him but his mouth wouldn't open. It was taking all of his strength not to collapse on the floor as the headache pulsed closer to his eyes. He was swaying now, that much he was sure of since Hix's arm was moving too. He tried to answer but his head hurt. "F-Fine, Doc. I'm fine." He finally managed to get the words out of his mouth, yet he couldn't help but lean back onto the wall behind him. He could tell that nothing he was doing was helping his case when Hix looked at him with suspicion.

"I'm going to take these to the Commander. You are going to stay here until I get back." Hix ordered and Bolt felt the order wash over him. Good Soldiers Follow Orders. He nodded and Hix walked past him. He remained where he was, swaying back and forth like he was being blown by strong winds. His head began to swim, and his eyes blurred back over. The same mantra fell over him again. He was a Good Soldier. He'd Follow Orders.

His mind degraded and soon all he could think was those four words and Hix's orders. Stay here until Hix got back. That was his only thought as he slowly fell to the floor. He leaned back against the wall as the headache pounded away at his eyes. He closed them. He wasn't disobeying his orders just moving to get more comfortable. He jolted when someone placed their hands on his knees. He whined because the pain in his head was worse. He couldn't open his eyes, could barely hear whoever was talking in front of him.

From the front of his skull to the base of the back and down the sides. He felt blood running down his nose, tears leaking from his eyes. He let go of his blaster and grabbed his head as the agony continued. The pain was sharp and the center of it was at the side of his head. He howled as someone touched his head. Jerking away and curling up. He could hear someone else's voice ringing in his head as they spoke softly. Good Soldiers Follow Orders. He froze and the pain lessened. Someone had given him an order. He tries to listen outside of his own head.

"Easy Bolt. You're okay, just getting a medical gurney to our location. Just breathe and focus on my voice, okay?" Hix said and Bolt did as told. He felt claws against the back of his neck and tensed up, yet they just stayed there. A set of new voices were whispering over his head, and he shivered uncontrollably. He breathed through it and focused on Hix's voice. He was gently lifted up by two strong arms and placed on a flat surface. It was somewhat soft and squishy. He rested his aching head on it and the coolness of it soothed back the pain a bit.

He felt himself being moved and everything went black.

__

The next time he woke up, he was laying on a medical bed with his armor removed. He could just barely feel the headache on the edge of his skull as he tried to open his eyes. The pain sharpened when he opened one eye and he whined softly. Bolt could feel two needles in his arm and hand, but he didn't know what they were pumping into him. He felt a gentle hand rest over his head, and he sighed from the chilliness.

"Hey there, kid. Just Hix. We're heading back to Coruscant to the temple. The General is thinking that something in the temple could help. So just get some rest, we're a few days out." Hix said softly, rubbing his thumb over his scalp. Bolt hummed and curled up to sleep.

__

Over the next few days, Bolt woke sporadically with fits of pain. The same set of four words echoing mentally as they did physically. Different Orders that he didn't know the reasons behind would click into or out of place, leaving him in a painful limbo.

150 orders that it could not follow for one reason or another. So many in fact that the Unit's mind began to degrade every time it woke up. The medical units started to keep it under heavy sedation. The unit could feel itself trying to piece together what little of itself that wasn't a meat droid. Unable to hold onto the memory when it continued to slip away into the empty black surrounding it.

The next time it was allowed to stay awake, they had arrived to Triple Zero and were entering the space port they had docked at. The Unit could feel how its mind began to roll with numbered orders. It could hear the Jedi it was assigned to talking to someone else. Snippets of conversation that seemed to click into a full sentence without the unit's permission.

"He was......The Chancelor is......was considered......a Traitor."

Order 65: Execute the Chancellor for Treason against the Republic.

It could feel the order wash down its senses and everything finally clicked into place for the unit. It would do as ordered, execute the traitor. Slowly the unit's mind returned the missing memories it had been searching for the entire time. His name was Bolt and he had orders to complete.

__

It was difficult to get the attention off him long enough to execute the order. The Jedi were persistent in their mission to heal him. But he wasn't sick? He felt fine. But the need to complete his orders kept gnawing at his thoughts repeatedly. When he was finally able to get out of the medical bay, Bolt took a blaster from his sleeping comrade stationed outside the door. Bolt was sure that his brother would not mind helping him execute this mission.

And if he didn't, then Bolt would assume that he was also a traitor to the Republic. Only another traitor would help the Chancellor. Bolt was calm as he walked along the empty corridors, looking for the traitorous scum. The man was supposed to arrive to see if his orders would pull Bolt out of the hole he had been in. He was nearing the entrance of the Jedi HQ when he caught sight of the traitor.

He could feel the attention of other comrades fall on him as he walked towards the traitor and the Jedi he was talking to. It was the Jedi he was assigned to, Jedi Master Plo Koon. General Buir. Bolt felt a snarl light up on his face as he picked up his pace to the group. That kriffing traitor would pay for even trying to get near his general. The traitor and the General both paused in their conversation as he finally got close enough to be noticed by the two.

"Ah, Trooper Bolt, was it?" Was all the traitor was able to ask before his head was blown to smithereens. Everything was frozen as the body dropped to the floor. Then Bolt felt the slowly growing headache demanding new orders. The pain grew to be unbearable and Bolt dropped the blaster to hold his head in agony. He was a Good Soldier, wasn't he? Didn't he Follow Orders like he was told? Tears streamed down his face as the agony pulsed in his skull.

New Orders. He needed new orders. That was all, the pain would stop when he got new orders. He tried to open his eyes to ask but they spiked with pain and he fell to his knees and vomited. He could feel soft feminine hands cover his own and the pain eased slightly. He needed new orders. He was a good soldier and he followed whatever orders would be given. And suddenly he could hear the woman in front of him speak with the authority of a medic.

"Trooper, stop clawing at your head. Get your breathing under control. Keep your eyes closed." The orders were easy to follow and the pain in his head began to ease back down. He kept his eyes closed, focused on his breathing, and finally realized where some of the pain was coming from. Bolt nearly collapsed into the person in front of him. "Koon, your ad is not in control of his own thoughts. The only thing I can hear is the overwhelming need for orders and agonizing pain."

Another voice spoke but Bolt was already curling into himself as the orders pulsed into his skull. Breathe, eyes closed, don't scratch. Three easy orders to follow. Bolt felt the medic gently soothe at his scratched-up skull. "I'm aware, Master Koon. But the boy has only just now calmed back down. Not only that but he is still a patient of the Healing Halls. Until the reason for these actions are found he is going to stay that way." The medic's voice was firm.

Bolt felt his skull slowly starting to spark with pain. Breathe, eyes closed, don't scratch. His orders, right? The pain grew anyway. He felt a sharp prick in his neck and a cold sensation flowed from the injection point. Bolt's body began to grow heavy and relaxed. He never even knew that the world outside of his eyes had gone dark into a dreamless sleep.

__

The pain in his head was the first thing Bolt woke up to. His frame felt hot and sweaty. The taste of vomit was fresh in the back of his throat. He still couldn't open his eyes, feeling a scratchy cloth over them. He could hardly move his body. He felt a mask over his face and a tube in his throat. The beeping of a monitor at his side pulled his attention. The room around him was quiet outside of the beeping.

He tried to speak but the tube prevented his words. He tried to move his limbs, only to feel the limb jerk to a stop with something around his wrist. He tries with his other hand but that one is bound too. The beeping starts to get worse as his breathing picks up.

He wasn't sick! He was fine! His headaches can be eased with orders, right? Tears gather in his covered eyes and his mind falls with worse events on why he was being treated like this. What did he do wrong? What happened? The beeping turns to screaming as the blank space in his memory glares back at him. He tried to remember what happened during that time. But nothing came back to him.

The door to his room was slammed open and he could hear two people shouting. He doesn't know if their talking to him or to each other. He felt his mind start to settle enough to hear what was being said. But his hand becomes freezing as something is injected into his system. He does his best to fight the medicine flowing into his blood stream. But he could feel its effects as his mind begins to drift off. The tears began to soak the cloth over them, but the tears were the last thing he remembers before his thoughts fall away.

__

Bolt woke up slowly again with his mind finally his own. He could hear someone softly reading something at his left side. He didn't recognize the voice at first but slowly he could hear a brother. But which brother was reading? He slowly tried to open his eyes and found that there was no pain in them. He looked forward at a cream-colored ceiling above his bed. A window was at his right side and he was greeted by warm rays of sunlight. Everything was quiet around him, except for the brother reading beside him.

He turned his head to look towards the other male and saw familiar grey armor. The Wolfpack. They were still with him? Bolt felt something in his chest ease as he looked around the room. Everything in the room was either medical in nature or something to fill a bedroom. The trooper finally turned his attention back to the reading brother. Surprised but happy eyes looked at him with relief. The brother sat the datapad on the table between them and stood up. He moved to sit next to Bolt on the bed.

The other clone leaned down to gently rest his forehead against Bolt's in a careful Keldabe Kiss. The male avoided touching the right side of Bolt's head. "You mir'sheb. Buir and the rest of us have been worried sick. You even gave General Che a firght." The male said and the way the man was scolding him finally put a name to the face. His squad leader, Blast. Blast grinned softly at Bolt when the recognition showed in his eyes. "You remember me now?" He asked and Bolt nodded slowly. "Good, because I'm not the only face you'll be seeing now that you're awake."

Blast slowly lifted his forehead from Bolt's and the Sergeant pressed a button over his head. The other sat back down in the chair next to the bed and Bolt looked over at him in slight confusion. Blast just grinned at him while running feet echoed near the door. A Twi'lek woman entered the room with a hard edge to her eyes and Bolt tensed up slightly. But she settled down as she scanned over him with her eyes. She walked over and gently placed the back of her hand on his forehead and sighed with relief.

"Good to see you awake, Trooper. You gave everyone quite the scare." She said as she gently started taking his vitals. More feet sounded and Bolt's eyes widened in comical horror at the amount of people running towards the room. The woman growled lowly, and Blast also frowned. The woman walked over and stood in the door with a death glare that had those running towards the room slowing down and stopping. "My patient has just woken up. You will not overwhelm him and you will not all be entering this room at one time. Two at a time!" She shouted and Blast grinned.

The Commander and one of his squad mates entered the room with more people outside the room waiting just out of his sight. Blast stood and helped him sit up. Wolffe stood with an angered expression, and his squad mate nearly slammed into Bolt in a hug. Bolt grunted and looked down at his youngest squad mate. "Charge?" He asked when he felt something wet began to soak his shirt.

"You." Bolt jerked and looked at Wolffe. The Commander was nearing the two clones on the bed. His face was curled in an odd expression, though Bolt is unable to read it. "The next time you decide to try dying like that, I'll drag you back to the living just so I can kill you myself!" The one-eyed male roared and Bolt paled with confusion. Bolt raised his hand to the side of his head and tried to figure out what he meant. He nearly died? How-? He couldn't remember what happened after he blacked out the first time.

They all heard a throat being cleared with anger. They turned to the woman, wincing at her dark glare. "What, did I just say?" She growled and Wolffe winced more. "Sorry Doc." He apologized and the woman walked over to continue check over Bolt. Bolt was still trying to remember what caused him to nearly die. His hand was gently pulled away from his head and the woman covered the area on his head with bacta. "After you were sedated at the entrance of the Temple, your body began to fall into multiple seizures. You suffered severe head trauma before that."

The woman said as she wrapped his head with bandages. Bolt remembered the pipe incident. He nodded and slowly rubbed his youngest squad mate's back. "Hix could tell you?" He asked softly and the woman nodded back. Bolt felt a tiring sensation wash over him. He leaned back against his pillow with Charge in his arms. The woman and the other two in the room. Wolffe sighed and sat on the floor near the bed and two more of his squad mates entered his room. Bolt smiled at them, tiredly.

__

Over the next few days, Bolt was greeted by many people and he was able to figure out that his head injury had saved the Galaxy from a dark fate. Bolt had pale considerably when the memory of shooting the Chancellor had come to mind. He vomited what little he had eaten when he was further told that the ex-Chancellor had been a Sith. That the man was going to use the clones to do so and that the reason his headaches had been getting worse was because his had been broken in two. One of the pieces had been digging into his brain after moving around.

Bolt was walking around the Room of a Thousand Fountains. He still had a hard time walking around due to dizziness and smaller headaches. He sat down next to one of the few trees in the room and leaned back against it. He smiled softly and decided that even if it had hurt, he was glad that his head injury ended the war in a better way.

[wanderingmirror]

Priority Alert

The moment Palpatine had opened his mouth to give that fatal order, his small blue figure glitched out and a Republic Admiral named Shigga Mori took his place. A few of the other 212th troopers made a noise of confusion as their comms were called all at once.

{Priority Alert. Order 65 is now in effect. Repeat; Order 65 is now in effect. Be advised, any and all orders given by Sheev Palpatine are to be disregarded from this point on and seen as an act of treason. All units currently serving on the front with any Jedi are to carefully and quickly secure their Jedi and evacuate to their Venator. Those closest to Coruscant are to return here immediately for emergency evacuation of both Jedi and Coruscant Guard Personnel.}

The order washed over the 212th like a soothing wave. The men reacting without even waiting for the order to end. The same was followed by any battalion currently engaged in combat. The message continued.

{Those not close to Coruscant are to report to Kamino. All Non-Kaminoan personnel are to detain and contain all Kaminoan personnel until further orders are given. Be advised any and all trainers who also resist the takeover are to also be detained and contained until further notice. Chain of command on Kamino is to fall to the Jedi General or Generals on sight. Further information will be attached to a chain code after this message is completed.}

The figure of Admiral Mori flickered for a moment before the Chise male continued to speak.

{To any unit in this area, you have new orders to find and retrieve this trooper for immediate medical treatment. Any Natural Born officer that attempts to take command are to be detained and contained, then relocated to a Republic outpost.}

The image of Kix appeared, and several smaller battalions readied up to head to that area. As the message continued, people were both panicked and confused by the sudden demand for Jedi and clone evacuation. The Coruscant Guard had already been given their own version of this message as they carefully removed the members of the council from the traitor's office. Commander Fox and a few others took care of General Windu at the bottom of the window.

{For further information and questions please contact Admirals Ayo, Segura, Hinami, or myself. Comm numbers are attached to the same chain code previously stated. As of this moment onward any and all orders not given by the Admirals previously stated or the Jedi Generals and Commanders are to be disregarded and seen as an act of treason. Report into Admiral Segura once you have either reached Kamino or Coruscant. Good Luck to you all, and may the Force be with you.}

The figure of Admiral Mori vanished, and Cody immediately turned off the comm call with the traitor before he could get a word in.

--

You can add to that if you want. I kinda ran out of steam.

[wanderingmirror]

Ramblings of an Author and Reader.

So, I think both the MCU and Star Wars have at least one tiny thing in common.

Everyone just absolutely hates Palpatine and Thanos.

Like, sure there are probably other things that are similar, and my brain is too slow to find them all, but it's a universal hate of both characters. This knowledge just keeps slamming me in the face.

I read something on Tumblr one day, and I have to agree with the one who wrote it.

We who write happy endings tend to do one of three things; Mention the main villain's death in passing, kill them off in some ridiculous way, or we base our story around the villain's death but it ends up not being the main plot.

And because I enjoy reading happy endings and try to avoid cannon like the plague, I have read many hilarious ways a writer has killed off both main villains.

Heck I have some small oneshots with the Sith prune dying in ridiculous ways. I haven't written anything with Thanos yet, mostly because I haven't thought of a good plot for it. Though since I've returned to reading MCU fics, that may change.

I still find the way Palpatine dies via Fox stepping on him in dragon form funny. Though Fox killing him in anyway is either funny or deserved considering the crap that Sith asshole probably put them through.

Before you ask, no I don't remember which story the dragon au is from, go look. You may run into many other stories that pull your interest.

Anyway, enough of my ramblings, just wanted to throw that out there!

[wanderingmirror]

Hunter was a pain to get but I finally have the bad batch! Well, Omega is in her Kamino outfit and Crosshair is in his Imperial armor but it still counts!

[wanderingmirror]

Difference

(Any Mistakes here are AU errors/changes. Also long read and might have a few grammar errors. Go read it on AO3 for better)

Ritz hears so much about his batcher that it lost its hilarity.

The 501st captain has been on the lips of every vod in the GAR ever since Rex started showing up with the two Jetti. Not that Ritz is jealous, don't get him wrong he loves his batcher dearly. It's just that people forget that Rex isn't actually part of the command batch Kote pulled him into. It hurts seeing his baby bro so far away and yet so close. And it hurts worse that he forgot about the rest of his real batch. Ritz sits with his own drink among the rest of the guard in 79's.

The blonde tries not to stare at his little brother too often, but seeing the other here on Coruscant is giving Ritz flash backs of Kamino. Back when Rex still cared about the batch he was Decanted with. Ritz looks away the moment one of the Command batchers notice him looking at them. He focuses on Sevens and Error as they talk about their next planned prank for Guard morale. This too makes Ritz flinch as he thinks about the Domino twins, and by extension, Rex. It hurts more thinking about what was taken from him.

But, as Sevens looks over at him with a gleeful expression, Ritz can feel bits of that hurt begin to melt away. He knows it will always hurt when he thinks about his batch. The ones who were decommissioned anyway. They were the first ones Ritz would mourn each day. Craze, Flack, and Coin never got off Kamino. They never will.

Ritz is pulled out of his spiral by a hand grabbing his shoulder. He smiles faintly at Fox as the gray-haired clone looks at him with concern. Out of the Command Batch, Fox was the only one who understood the feelings Ritz felt. He knows what it feels like to be replaced and forgotten. But then again, so does every other guardsman. No one has been spared from the feelings as new shinies appear to take the place of those 'lost'.

Ritz nods at Fox and sighs shakily as he takes a drink from his glass. Ritz has gotten many nicknames over the course of the war. Copycat, Pretender, Fake, etc. None of those names bother him, because the ones who call him those things don't know Ritz at all. Everyone outside the two batches is under the impression that Rex never had a batch outside of the Command Batch. And yet if his actual batchers had lived to get off Kamino, they would have told and shown people otherwise.

Ritz stares at the liquid swirling in his glass and decides that he's had enough for one night. It's better to get out of here while people are less likely to cause trouble. He knocks back the rest of his drink and taps the table to let his Ori'vod and ade know he is leaving. Sevens and Error, as usual, stand up when he does while Fox stays behind to stay with Stone. Ritz is hoping he can leave this night behind him and get some sleep in before his shift at the prison and then the Senate Dome.

But that seems to be wishful thinking as his rank is called by an unfamiliar clone. He stops just outside of 79's and his twins move out of the way to stand on either side of him. A clone in grey armor walks up to them and smiles this smile full of teeth. And Ritz knows that he's going to have to break up a fight between them and Sevens if this gets out of hand. Because Ritz recognizes one of Wolffe's boys just by posture alone. Ritz tries to clear his throat to get his voice to work.

"Something I can help you with, Trooper?" He asks and he can sense the tension in his twin's bodies without turning to even look at them. "Yeah, was wondering when you were ever going to let your hair go back its natural shade. Ya know, like the rest of us." The trooper says snidely, and Ritz is quick to grab Sevens' arm before the younger one can do anything. Ritz snatches a look at Wolffe and sees that he's paying very close attention to this conversation. The blonde just sighs, tired.

"I really don't give a shit whether you think my hair is bleached or natural. Right now, I just want to go home and sleep for an hour. I have prison duty and senate duty today and tomorrow, so I'd like to have some energy left for both." Ritz doesn't give the other clone time to reply before he's dragging Sevens and Error away to the hidden route to HQ. He wants to curl up in his Riduur's office just for an hour. Let Stitches deal with the Terror Twins for a while.

Ritz falls asleep without even taking off his armor and helmet. Drifting off to the familiar sounds of the medbay outside the door.

The two must realize that Ritz is drained today, as they start fussing over him the moment they get to HQ. But the blonde Captain doesn't relax until he enters the medic's domain. He nods to Word and Chalk as he passes them. The twins suddenly more interested in finding their other buir. He enters the storage closet/CMO Office to find it empty and sighs with relief. He flops down to rest on the ratty old couch Stitches keeps in his office for this very reason. That and for days his other half gets triggered into a frenzy.

--

Ritz is woken up by a gentle, gloved hand that he knows belongs to Stitches' newest medic Dogma. The tattooed vod is still so quiet and skittish after everything on Umbara. Not that anyone blames the kid, no one comes out of something like that completely unharmed. Thankfully, news about Tup and Fives has seen to lesser stress. For both Dogma and Stitches. Sevens and Error are just waiting for the moment Stitches decides to adopt the kid. Because then they'll have a vod'ika to corrupt into their schemes.

Stitches grumbles but kisses him on the temple before the blonde leaves for the prison and then to the Senate Dome.

Ritz continues to lay on the couch as his youngest ad carefully checks him over. A habit that both buire try to encourage in the new medic. He slowly lifts his arm to check the time, as his helmet has somehow fallen off his head without his notice. He has ten minutes before he has to be at his shift in the prison. He knows that Stone won't be too upset if he's late. After all, the Commander was at 79's and longer than Ritz was. Dogma and Ritz don't speak as both quietly stand to leave the room. Ritz sees his Riduur and walks over to gently kiss the side of his head.

--

Ritz wakes up with blood on his hands and a blackspot in his memory. He just barely keeps from throwing up before the sight of a dead senator's aide makes him vomit anyway. He pants as he cleans the body and the mess with hands that subconsciously already know what to do. He cleans and cleans until nothing is left. He can feel the dam in his mind starting to crack as he rushes back to HQ. The armor he's wearing isn't standard. The weapon he carries is stolen from the evidence room in HQ. The blood sticking his blacks to his skin is not his own.

He says nothing as he passes vod'e in the staff tunnels. They say nothing to him in return. Both sides know the procedure for a blackout mission, though no one in the guard talks about it. You see a vod in black that you know is guard, you leave them alone. If they have a wound make sure their first stop is medbay. Before or After they wake. But Ritz is awake. And all he wants is to curl up with his Riduur and ade and sleep. Wants to scrub at his skin until it hurts to do so and then some. He wants to burn the armor. But he knows that new armor will just take its place.

He hands his weapon off to someone in weapons storage and is gently guided to medical. Stitches is the first to greet him as he sits down on the bed furthest from the door. Ritz is in no condition for questions right now. Please let him not think of anything at all for at least a few minutes. He knows that Stitches can and will force the commanders to leave him alone until he's had sleep. And the blonde is counting on that fact. He gets out of the armor and Chalk is kind enough to close the curtain and give him some privacy.

Ritz knows that this is their first time seeing him get back to HQ after a Blackout mission. His shakes lessen as the warm bodies of his ade remind him that he isn't alone. He can hear Stitches talking with Fox outside the curtain, no doubt telling the commander what type of mission it was. The blonde swallows thickly as the shakes slowly start to leave his system. He felt the exhaustion hot on their tail as his eyelids start to feel heavy. He falls into unconsciousness soon after.

Ritz feels his body start to fall into what Stitches likes to call, "After Black Shock". His blacks still stick to his torso, causing him to pull it off with little to no care if it the top gets ripped. He shakes to the point that he doesn't notice Sevens and Error moving him to lay down on the cot, moving to lay on either side of him.

--

Ritz began to take on more missions like this every three days. And slowly, the other guards did too. It started to make Ritz suspicious. He asked every other guard to start writing down the dates they have a black out, just to see who goes missing on those days. He did the same thing, though he told Stitches to never tell him where the journals are. He told Stitches and the other medics to never tell anyone but themselves or the Jedi. Though there was only a slim few Jedi that they would tell anyway. No one knew how far the Senate's reach rested in the Order when it came to the Clones.

Ritz began to collect little bits of dried blood from each set of blacks for evidence. Taking and giving it to Stitches to also hide as things began to heat up the longer the war raged on. Commander Thire was sent to Kamino to get new shinies for the Guard, and through that, he sent word on a secure comm that something was happening. It was the same day one of Rex's boys was taken to the Chancellor's office over a concern on the chips in their heads. Ritz was surprised at the ARC trooper's near attempt at killing the Chancellor. And then it became even more suspicious when Ritz got the details from Fox and Thorn.

"Commander. Can I suggest something?" Ritz asked and Fox turned to him with a nod. "Let me and my boys handle Fives. I have a bad feeling about this report. You and I both know Fives would never harm the Chancellor. So let me capture him. You can say he was dealt with through the Blackouts, I have a gut feeling we'll need Fives." Ritz says as his twins and Dogma approach. Fox looks at the four of them and frowns deeply. He looks at Ritz and nods his head in silent agreement. "You are not to tell me how or where you take him. If you hide him among our ranks he must stay out of sight. He can't leave HQ for any reason." Fox agreed and Ritz nodded. The four left HQ for the hidden tunnels just as Fives was making his way to 79's.

Ritz looked at the picture of Fives without paint or a helmet and grabbed a shiny helmet on his way out of HQ. They arrived to see Fives just entering the bar and Ritz gave the hand signal to cover the entrance and exit. He entered the bar without a word to anyone and watched as Fives entered the fresher. Dogma and Ritz stood near the door and silently waved any other guards away, the others listened. When Fives came out of the fresher, Dogma went in and Ritz grabbed hold of Fives' upper arm. He moved to whisper into the clone's ear. "Act drunk. Follow me. Stay quiet and keep your head down. When we get outside, put this on." Ritz said as Fives looked at him in startled confusion. He mistook Ritz for Rex and relaxed, doing as told.

Ritz handed Fives the helmet and as soon as the two got outside, Fives put it on and leaned on Ritz in silence. Sevens moved to take his other arm over his shoulder and gently began to lead him to the tunnels. Ritz whispered in Error's ear. "Take him and go. Dogma and I will catch up. Cuyir Ulyc. I have a feeling that our vod'e are not going to be themselves from here forward. Stay away from them and keep that helmet on until you get him to Stitches and turn off your comms until you are in medbay." Ritz finished and Error nodded silently as he ran after Fives and Sevens. The blonde could see the moment Error and Sevens turned their comms off.

He went back into the bar and into the fresher where Kix and Dogma were talking adamantly. "Kix it isn't safe. They'll take you away before you can do anything." Dogma said with a tremor in his voice. Ritz grabbed Kix' shoulder and stopped his argument. "I know you want to help Fives. But the best thing you can do right now is stay silent. If you get caught looking into this, whoever is trying to hide the news about the chips is going to come after you too. Say nothing. Do nothing. Me and mine will handle it. Please, Kix. For Rex's sake." Ritz pleaded with both his words and eyes that the 501st medic would listen.

Kix looks at him and his eyes show an internal war. But then he nods. "Good. Now, if anyone asks you if you saw him, you say that the last time you did, he was on Kamino. Say nothing of this night." Ritz says and Kix nods. Dogma and Ritz sigh with relief and both leave to the warehouse Fives had mentioned. They both waited in silence with Dogma in his helmet to cover who he was. When Skywalker and Rex entered the warehouse, Ritz made his presence known to both of them. They seemed surprised to see both of them. But Ritz just held up his hand before they could open their mouths.

Ritz said and Rex tensed up to argue. "Rex, I know you love your boy but he is safer disappearing than letting who ever wants this osik hidden getting him. He won't be safe in the 501st." Ritz pleaded with his batcher and Rex deflated. "Is there anything we can do?" Skywalker asked and Ritz shook his head. "Keep quiet about this meeting. Tell absolutely no one. Not even the senators or the Chancellor. They might become targets as well." Ritz replied and Skywalker paled.

"I know you have questions General. Captain. But for Fives' safety as well as ours you need to listen." That caught both off guard and Ritz muted his comm. Dogma did too and Ritz gave the medic his helmet to hold. "Someone has the ability to use the chips like control chips. We don't know who and we don't know why except to get rid of the ones wanting this war to end. Me and mine have proof of our claims, but it isn't safe for anyone right know if this knowledge gets out." Ritz says and Skywalker nods in silence. "We have a feeling Fives is being hunted for his knowledge of the chips. We got word from one of our Commanders that both he and a trooper named Tup are both involved. Fives is being hidden by my men now. I don't know where and I'm not going to ask for his sake."

--

When the four left the warehouse, Ritz got a promise from Skywalker and Rex not to say a word until more evidence and the culprit could be found. When Ritz and Dogma returned to HQ, everything was in chaos.

Dogma and Ritz walked through the many moving bodies to the medical bay. The blonde knocked twice on the locked door and the door opened. Inside was the twins, Fives, Chalk, Stitches, and Hound. Thire was still in route to Coruscant with Tup quietly hidden among the shinies. Fives was asleep under sedation in Stitches' hidden back room. Where he would stay until he got through whatever the long necks gave him. "How is he?" Ritz asked and Stitches sighed in frustration. "He's been drugged with a neural drug that weakens his body for a short while. Someone wanted him to appear insane, get attacked, and then killed." The stitched up medic said and Ritz nodded.

Ritz decided he would take Chalk over to the temple to talk with General Ti in person. For safety and for any information she may have on the chips. "Chalk, on me. Hound, you and the others stay here. Do not leave this room for any reason until Stitches gives the all clear. Comms stay off, secret password still in effect. Only Hare should still be on mission." Ritz says and Hound nods, he stays by the door to shut it back and use Stitches' CMO override to keep the door shut. Not even the Chancellor can get in if the man wanted to. Ritz and Chalk left HQ and began the journey for the Jedi Temple.

Ritz left the back room and stood outside with Hound and Chalk. He sighed shakily. "And how is our runner?" He asked quietly. Hound gave a silent thumbs up. Grizzer was panting at his side. Better to get the massif used to Five's scent now so he can be hidden later, Ritz thought. Their runner, Hare, was getting whatever evidence that came with Fives. She would only hand it to one of the medics in this room. If she gets spotted, she is to give the spotter the run around until she loses them. Her comms are also off for the remainder of her mission. So if she gets in danger, she'll have to find one of their safe houses and stay there until Stitches or Dogma can get there.

--

Ritz found his target as she spoke with General Koon near the door. He walked up to them and they looked at him with mild concern. "Trooper, are you alright?" General Koon asked. Ritz could feel Chalk's heavy presence at his back and quietly thanked whatever entity that is helping him. "General Ti, may I have a word with you in private please? I have some questions I need to ask you about clone troopers Fives and Tup." Ritz asked and that seemed to put Generals Ti and Koon on edge. General Ti nodded and led them inside to her private apartment. Ritz looked around for listening devices. Finding none he let the tension leave his shoulders.

He turned his comms off and Chalk did the same. The blonde Captain took his helmet off and looked at General Ti with tired eyes. "Need to know everything that happened the moment Tup arrived at Kamino, to the moment Fives escaped the Senate Dome. It is important that you answer as honestly as you can because this can mean life or death to millions." Ritz said softly and held up a signal jammer. He had a flimsi journal with him to write down everything General Ti said to him. Her eyes widened and then she sat down on her couch. Chalk sat on the floor with the Captain sitting on an arm chair. The General began her story from the moment Tup arrived to the moment Fives escaped. And with each detail, Ritz felt his blood drain from his face.

"Can you tell me what happened from the moment Tup fired on General Tiplar, to the moment you left both he and Fives on Kamino? And were there any bad signs present before that?" Ritz asked and General Skywalker began his story.

When her story was finished and he stopped writing, the blonde inhaled a slow, calming breath. "I thank you for your time. But I'll need to talk to Kix, Rex, and General Skywalker. I have a theory that Trooper Fives is being framed." Ritz said as he and Chalk stood up. General Ti stood as well and looked at them in concern. "Whatever you are doing, Troopers, I pray the Force is with you." She said as both of them leave the room. Ritz felt like he was going to need the help. He found General Skywalker as he was leaving General Kenobi's room, waving him down to talk to him. "Sir, I have a few questions about Troopers Tup and Fives if you are willing to answer them?" He asked and the General nodded. They reentered General Kenobi's room and the signal jammer was turned on once again.

--

Ritz asked the same questions to both Kix and Rex. Both of the other clones getting antsy with him as time wore on. But Ritz knew it was important he got every detail for the sakes of everyone involved. When he and Chalk were leaving, General Koon approached him. Chalk tensed up, but relaxed when the Captain raised a silent signal to hold. General Koon had Wolffe with him, but that was not what concerned Ritz. It was the way the other clone's eyes were glazed over. Ritz knew that look. Had seen it on Sevens and Error too many times after Blackout missions when they weren't quite awake. Ritz gave Chalk a slow Guard signal for Blackout. The giant nodded and moved to stand beside the blonde.

General Koon was concerned but Ritz grabbed his arm. "General, its safer to have him knocked out than under the control of his chip. It seems what ever took hold of Tup and the Guard has a hold on the rest of the GAR as well." Ritz said as he turned General Koon's and Wolffe's comms off. "These need to stay off. If who ever is controlling Wolffe uses them, we are all dead. I'll explain when we get to the Guard Medical Bay." Ritz continued as he turned to General Koon. The Kel Dor nodded and the four continued on there way to Guard HQ with Wolffe safely unconscious.

"General Koon would you be so kind as to come with me to Guard HQ? I have some questions I'd like to ask you connecting to one of your troopers." Ritz asked without taking his eyes off Wolffe. The Commander was watching him with those glazed eyes, waiting for Ritz to says whatever the chip user wanted to hear. "Of course, Captain. Lead the way." General Koon said in an overly cheerful voice. Seems the General has caught on to the unusual silence coming from his Commander. The four walked towards one of the hidden tunnels and Ritz gave Chalk the signal to knock Wolffe out. The giant did so and picked the smaller clone up.

--

Knocking on the door to the medbay twice, Hound let the four of them in. Stitches motioned for Chalk to set Wolffe on the cot furthest from the door. General Koon seemed surprised at the appearance of Fives sitting silently in the same area as Wolffe now rests. His Five tattoo covered up. General Koon looked at Ritz as he sat his helmet on the table near the office door. Hare was sitting on the floor panting, letting the blonde know she had just arrived from her mission. "Did you get what we are after?" He asked and she gave a thumbs up in response. General Koon looked at the two of them in confusion. Ritz sighed and sat down. "Sir, whatever is said in this room is to be kept in this room. For the safety of everyone involved. My CMO is going to keep your Commander sedated until all the important details are spoken." Ritz said as Stitches did as described.

General Koon was quite shocked with the news. Though Ritz couldn't really tell with the mask and all. The blonde could understand that hearing about your ade being under mind control was stressful. The guard Captain moved to give the General some privacy to think. Ritz looked at Fives and crouched to be at eye level with him. "Do you know of any ways to get the chips out of our heads?" Ritz asked and it took Fives a minute to nod. Ritz waved Stitches over after the medic was done checking Wolffe over. "Okay, tell Stitches what to do. He'll start working on getting the chips out of the guard and then he'll send word out for the rest of the GAR." Ritz continued and stood up to move over to his youngest ad. The kid was silently shaking from both stress and anxiety. The blonde Captain wrapped his arms around his ad and began to gently sway side to side with him.

Neither said anything as Dogma wrapped his own arms around Ritz' waist and buried his face into the blonde's neck. Wetness told the blonde that his youngest was crying. Ritz raised one of his hands to gently run through his ad's oily hair. The kid hadn't had time for a shower with keeping watch over his two Ori'vode. Sevens and Error each placed a hand on their youngest vod, thumbing between armor and blacks to sooth the male. Out of the corner of Ritz' eye, he could see General Koon moving to his own ad's side. Wolffe was slowly waking back up. His eyes were his own and no longer glazed over. Ritz closed his own eyes to gently rest his head on his ad's. Stitches huffed as he stood up with a hand on Fives' upper arm, pulling him up to help him to the couch in his office.

General Koon and Commander Wolffe left without saying anything to anyone. Fox looked at Ritz with clear eyes. The blonde captain gave a subtle nod and the commander returned it.

"I know how to get the chips out. But it isn't going to be easy." The medic said and Ritz nodded. He then pulled his Riduur into the family hug, making the medic grumble. He wrapped his arm around Stitches and felt him do the same, wrapping his other arm around Error and encasing Dogma in the middle. Once the youngest had calmed down, Ritz returned his attention to the General and Commander. "I need you to keep this information to yourself, General Koon. At least until your medic has begun the dechipping process. For everyone's safety, even your own." Ritz said and the Kel Dor nodded. Soon enough, they had to reopen the medbay and other guards entered looking around for Fives, but not finding him. Even though the wanted clone was sitting in the bay with them.

--

Things got worse as the weeks continued. The Blackouts got worse for the command staff as things began to fall into the Republic's favor. Especially for Ritz. His mind began to degrade as his chip was used more and more. Leaving him feeling sick and haunted. His body started to shake without even going on Blackouts. He started to lose his already unhealthy appetite. He slept less, too scared of his nightmares and the thoughts of waking up on another mission. Their newest member, Tup, was having a harder time getting used to the Guard life style. Fives was too. Both of them having to get used to also hearing their new names. Though, it all changed when a brightly colored Togruta got framed for a bombing she didn't commit. She threw him into a wall and he hit it head first. The Jedi Commander gasped, looking at him with worry and fear.

Ritz felt something in his mind come back to him. He felt relief pour out of his soul as whatever had control over him was forced to leave. He shook his aching head and stood up slowly. He felt small hands grab onto his shoulders and then the lid of his helmet, pulling it off. The ad looked at him in surprised but it quickly changed back to concern when the blonde of his hair turned a bright pink, and then red. His focus was shot as he tried to get himself back together again. "Captain? Are you okay?" Ahsoka asked and Ritz shook his head again before his eyes locked with hers.

"Come with me. I know a place to hide you until it's safe. You don't have to trust me now, but please." Ritz said as he felt the blood sliding down his head and behind his ear. He gently took back his helmet and put it on. Ahsoka nodded, she took hold of his arm and he led her through the hidden tunnels towards Chemi's labs. The 104th veteran was still working in his lab when Ritz knocked on the glass of his window. The masked clone looked at them both and sat his chemicals down, rushing to the door. "By the maker, Ritz, what have you done now? You just got out of medical bay not more than three hours ago." The older clone said as he and Ahsoka helped Ritz to sit down next to the door.

"Chemi was once part of the 104th. H-He and one other w-were part of the original Wolfpack. Those sent to us from the 1-104th get sent to C-Chemi to keep in the Coruscanti Wolfpack." Ritz said as Ahsoka moved to lean on him. It was strange, having one of Rex's vod'ike leaning on him like this. He moved to take his helmet off and clumsily set it on his open side. The inside of his helmet was deep red with the drying blood. "I-I think you damaged m-my chip, Kid." He said as he touched the area of damage. Ahsoka looked at him with confused concern before he smiled at her. "Th-That's a good thing." He said shakily as Stitches entered the labs through the medical entrance. Chemi alerted the medic that he was heading out hunting before Ritz's world went black and quiet.

"Had to get her to safety. Something stinks with this whole mess and I don't want her getting burned for someone else's wrong." Ritz said and Ahsoka froze. Chemi looked at her and then to Ritz. He took out a scanner and scanned Ahsoka for any nanites of the explosive kind and found none. "You might be right Captain. I'll have my boys gather up and start looking for the real attacker. You two stay here, I'll have Stitches come down to heal you in a bit." Chemi said as he stood up. He pulled out his comm and started calling his wolfpack. Ritz felt the tension in him drain out. Ahsoka sat beside him and looked between the Captain and the Scientist in slight confusion.

--

Ritz came to with a aching head and his right eye covered. He lifted his arm, feeling bandages instead of hair and skin. He winced when the pain in that area stabbed across his skull. He felt movement to his left and looked down to see blue and white lekku. He was confused at first before it all came rushing back to him. Ahsoka and his head hitting the wall. He gently rested his right arm over her head, soothing her rest. He looked around, trying to find out if anyone else was in the medbay with them. Chalk was sitting in his usual corner with one of his newest orphaned tooka kits curled on his shoulder. How the giant was able to keep the tiny things from rolling off his shoulders would always elude the blonde. Ritz smiled faintly at the sight anyway and let his eye shut again. Falling into sleep a little easier than before.

--

When his eye opened to the world again, the blonde was greeted by a mop of light brown and ginger hair. He sat up quickly as soon as the faces beneath the hair crossed his mind. "Generals!" He said and both of the Jedi looked at him, also startled. Stitches appeared and smacked Ritz on the shoulder. "Di'kut! Lay back down you idjit." The medic said and the blonde did so slowly trying to catch up with what was happening around him. "Me'bana?" Ritz asked softly and the two Jedi approached his cot to sit on one side. "We have a few questions about one of our Padawans. Ahsoka Tano. She was last seen knocking you into a wall head first?" General Kenobi asked and Ritz felt his mind try to figure out what he was asking. "Give this Di'kut a click. He's still trying to heal from said head injury." Stitches said as he slowly took the bandages off the blonde's matted hair.

The blonde Captain's memory slowly returned to him and he winced. "I don't really remember anything past that sirs. It's all kind of jumbled up and scattered." He answered, clumsily grabbing hold of his Riduur's lower arm and holding onto it. Stitches didn't shake him off and took hold of his shoulder. "That's quite alright trooper. But I do have to ask, are you feeling alright? Your aura feels very ill." General Kenobi asked as he rested a hand on Ritz's other arm. Stitches frowned at them. "He's fine, sirs. He had just gotten out of medbay when he was thrown into the wall. So you're probably sensing that too." The medic said and both Jedi winced in sympathy. They stood and thanked Ritz before bowing and leaving. But not before General Skywalker tapped something out onto Ritz's leg. {Thank you.}

Ritz inhaled and exhaled shakily. Skywalker knew about his helping the Commander, then. Not that the Captain could really blame the man, if one of his ade were in danger he would be hypervigilant about anything involving them too. Stitches sat down on the cot with Ritz and gently rested his forehead on the blonde's in a Keldabe Kiss. Ritz's eyes fluttered shut as he wrapped his arm around his Cyare's waist. "Stop adopting every sad being that turns their sad eyes at you." Stitches whispered with playful annoyance and Ritz laughed. He lifted his head a bit to kiss his cyare gently. "I will if you finally adopt Dogma like I know you've been wanting to. And Tup. And-,"

"Fine, fine. I will."

Ritz grinned up as the reddening medic interrupted him. The other sighed as he continued to lean into the blonde. They parted when multiple running feet started to get closer to them. The curtain opened to his now five ade all falling into the closed off area. Ahsoka and Dogma falling last and onto Sevens and Error, with Tup safely rolling out of the way and into Stitches' legs. The tear marked ad looked up at the medic with slight embarrassment, but the older clone just snorted and helped the younger sit up. "Is he really gonna say the adoption vows!?" Sevens asked excitedly. "Are you both going to?" Error asked a little more calmly. Ritz hadn't really realized that he hadn't said the vows yet. Both Stitches and Ritz looked at each other before turning to their five ade. "Ahsoka, would you like to be adopted by me and Stitches?" The blonde asked. The togruta nodded quickly and both Captain and Medic smiled.

Ahsoka was cleared of all charges after the really culprit was caught by Chemi's Wolfpack later in the week.

They looked at the five and spoke as one. "Ni kyr'tayl gai sa'ad, Tup, Dogma, Sevens, Error, Ahsoka." They said and five smiles of pure glee formed on the faces of their ade. And then both buire were buried under happy ade.

--

He panted as he limped along the dark corners of the Black Sun district. He'd been stabbed twice. He wonders if he's been shot too. Both blades were still in his stomach and back, their owners both dead. Ritz tried not to whine as his leg began to feel numb. The biting teeth of the blade sticking into his leg dug deeper with each step he took. He doesn't know where in the district he is, he honestly could care less. But he had to find the HQ tunnel that he knew was in this district. It was how he got down here in the first place. He had been on patrol on this level, having sent the shiny with him back up the moment Black Sun members started to appear on the streets. That kid had not been ready to face those Shabuir'e yet. He didn't know where he was going until he tripped over something. The blade in his stomach dug deeper as he landed and the blonde howled in agony.

He moved to fall onto his side as the blood began anew from the stab wound. He slowly sat up and looked at what had tripped him. A small box that came up to the middle of his calf. He looked at it in confusion, before slowly moving to open it up. He recoiled when eight small explosives greeted him. But then, his mind began to turn. He could use these to lure out his chip user. Because he knew it had to be someone in the Senate. No one else knew about the chips except for the Jedi, the Kaminiise, and those in the Senate-

Ritz froze.

Ritz stood up, the pain in his body forgotten as he picked the explosives up. Everything in this war made sense now. But the blonde wanted to know why the Chancellor wanted a war in the first place. What need was there to start a war when you had control over the enter Republic? He had control over the representatives of over 24,372 systems and counting. Ritz began his slow pace to the tunnel in thought. Something didn't add up. The pieces may have come together but that didn't mean he had all of them. Something was still missing. Ritz decided he would think on that after he got back to HQ and tended to his wounds. He couldn't do anything if he was dead after all.

The only one who really had complete control of all three was the Chancellor. He could make any law he wanted, could order the GAR and the Guard to do anything he wanted. The puzzle pieces started to fall into place. Palpatine didn't want this war to end. He and his inner circles had been profiting off this war since the start. Would it make any difference if the old man had control over both sides? Dooku was a Jedi Master before he was a Count. Something made the man want to leave the Republic and the Order.

--

Ritz had a bad idea. It was good for everyone else, but not for him and his target. And his target, was the Chancellor. What the blonde planned on doing would no doubt cost him his life. But it would mean the end of the war and the end to Palpatine's tyranny. Ritz was getting tired of seeing his ade with glazed eyes and robotic voices. He hated seeing them break apart seeing the blood of some unknown soul painting their hands. He hated seeing his Riduur with a pained expression every time someone came in with wounds they didn't know how they got.

So, Ritz decided to put an end to it once and for all. He knew for a fact that the walls of Palpatine's office were blast proof. So he didn't have to worry about anyone but him and the Chancellor getting caught in the blast. He was supposed to be on Senate patrol today. So no one thought it strange for Ritz to be in the building with his weapon. He had the explosives in his belt, the detonator hidden in his wrist armor. If all went well, he and the Chancellor would be dead in the next few hours.

He came upon the door to the Chancellor's office, no guards. Strange. He entered and froze. Fox was fighting the red guard. Alone. Ritz open fired on the red guard and hit one in the neck, and the other in the head. Killing them both. Fox and the Chancellor looked at him in surprise. Though the surprise on Palpatine's face changed to disgust. "How dare you! You insignificant meat droid!" The old man shouted and Ritz felt his body be lifted and thrown into a wall near the window. Without missing a beat, not wanting to think about the implications of this Shabuir being force sensitive, Ritz hid one of the bombs behind the damaged plant without thinking.

A pressure picked him up by the neck and threw him again. One of the bombs fell underneath the desk and Ritz decided that would do. He hit his head on the wall and felt the scarring skin break open again, blood pouring. He coughed as he hit the ground. His eyes locked with Fox's. His commander was trying to get closer to him, but his own wounds were preventing it. Ritz signed for him to get out of the office as fast as the man could while the demagolka's attention was solely on him. Fox shook his head but the blonde didn't have a chance to argue before he was thrown again. Hitting his spine on the table against the wall. He hid another bomb in the broken drawer as he fell to the floor once again.

His helmet was broken near him as his eyes once again locked with Fox's. He mouthed, 'Please.' to his Ori'vod, tears filling his eyes. Fox had tears of his own in his eyes, not liking what's happening any more than Ritz. But the older clone finally began to crawl out of the door while it remained open. Ritz thanked what ever entity that his big bro would not have to see what happens next. Because once his commander was out the door, Ritz used his blaster to shut and then lock the door. Palpatine only laughed as he lifted the blonde into the air once again. "Really? You foolish little thing! You've only sealed your own fate!" He shouted as he threw Ritz around some more before slamming him into the floor in front of the old man.

"Now, I think you've entertained me enough. Too bad that now I'll have to kill you and your worthless commander." The man grinned darkly as electricity sparked around his fingers and wrists. He raised his hands and lightning shot out of his finger tips and at Ritz. Ritz screamed in agony, squirming and twisting in ways no body should be able to. But he was determined to see things through to the end. He fought through the pain as much as he could, pausing when the pain got too intense. The fact alone that he was moving had his hopes rising up. He stood up and held his arm in front of his body, despite it doing little to no good.

The old man's face was once Ritz wished he could have taken a picture of. But that thought left his mind as the lightning began to eat away at his armor and blacks. He walked closer to the demagolka and pulled out the last bomb. Slamming it on the mans chest and causing him to take a few steps back. But the bomb was resting snuggly in the man's robes, leaving him unaware to its presence.

And that, was the last thing Ritz sees before the blast takes him too.

Ritz couldn't help but laugh weakly. Catching the man's attention. "There's one difference between you and me, Lord Chancellor." He said as he held up the detonator. "I'm willing to die for my cause. Can you say the same?" He continued and pressed the button before the old man could take the device from his hands. Every bomb beeped once before going off. The one on the Chancellor beeped and made the man look at Ritz in surprised shock.

--

The blonde Captain opens his eyes slowly to a bright light and the distant sound of marching. He looks ahead of himself and catches sight of three troopers running towards him. His eyes filled with tears as the three troopers tore their helmets off and the faces of Craze, Flack, and Coin greeted him. He stepped towards them and they all wrapped their arms around him, all four falling onto the ground in a giant pile of batchers. Ritz sobbed into Craze's neck as he gripped onto his lost batchmates. They were here. They were waiting for him.

"Gar di'kutla or'dinii! What are you doing here?!" Flack asked as the three troopers pulled back. Ritz smiled watery at the familiar worried anger. "I was trying to save my aliit." Ritz answered and yelped when their oldest batcher smacked him on the head. "You did. But you aren't supposed to be here yet. You can't leave Rex on his own." Craze said softly when he knew he had Ritz's attention again. The Captain looked at his Ori'vod, but then tears filled his eyes. "H-He doesn't need me. He left me behind." Ritz said while trying to hold his tears. His three other batchers looked at him with sadness. "Well then, if not for Rex. Than you still have a Riduur and five ade to take care of. Or did you plan on leaving them?" Coin asked. And Ritz knew he was right.

Stitches would bring him back to the living just to kill him again if he left the medic with five ade and no help. Ritz was the only one who could keep the twins from pranking his medbay. A sad smile filled Ritz's eyes and tears of a different kind flowed down his face as he looked at his batchers. Craze and Flack smiled back. And Coin grinned as he laughed. "You know I'm right!" He said and Craze smacked him on the back of the head. Making the second oldest yelp. "You don't need anymore ego stroking for today." Craze said and Ritz laughed, but that laughter turned to sobbing. The captain was crying for a different reason now.

Ritz watched as his Ori'vode began to back away as the light grew behind them. The youngest raised his hand towards them, not wanting them to leave so soon. The tears in his eyes overflowed and he sobbed. The light blinded him before he could call them back.

He felt a gentle hand on his shoulder and he looked at Flack. "Hey, we'll be right here, Kid. We won't march on without you and Rex. Even though our youngest needs a few knocks to the head." Flack said softly, smiling when Ritz giggled. "We love you, Ritz. You are our baby bro. So don't think for a second that we aren't with you when you need us." The middle batcher said as the younger wiped his eyes with his hand and sniffled. The three older batchers wrapped their youngest in a hug and all three stood up. Craze patted Ritz's shoulder and smiled softly and proudly. "Now, you still have a medic to get back to and ade to comfort. We'll be right here when its time to go for all of you." He said as each older batcher gave the younger a Keldabe Kiss to the forehead.

--

When his eyes opened again, he was greeted by Stitches' familiar, if panicked, face. He blinked a few times, trying to clear the spots from his vision. He groaned and coughed wetly. "Oh no you don't, you motherkarker! You are not leaving me yet, you di'kutla shebs!" The familiar curses of his Riduur had him laughing as tears fell down his soot coated cheeks. Everything hurt, his body felt like it was a giant blaster wound. One of his eyes was sealed shut while the other was slightly blurry. He couldn't feel one of his arms and he couldn't move either. "Easy, take it easy, Cyare. You've just gotten unburied from a ton of debris. Hold still for me, yeah?" Stitches pressed his hand onto Ritz's chest gently as he rested his other one on the blondes head, on the less injured side.

More footsteps sounded as more people began to converge on the explosion sight. Guard red, 501st blue, and 212th gold. He could see the white of their armor and their colors, but not faces. He coughed again and closed his working eye. The gentle hand of Stitches rubbing soothing circles into his aching head. Ritz felt another gloved hand on his leg and he opened his eye. It was Skywalker. He was looking at the blonde with concern and a hint of sympathy. Word and who Ritz assumed was Time came to his other side. Stitches began talking medical nonsense over his head, but his hands never left his frame. Ritz just closed his eye and let the world's noise wash over him.

Stitches turned his attention to the ones holding his stretcher, giving orders on where to go and what to do. Ritz closed his eye again and sighed softly. His Ori'vod was okay. His ade and Riduur were okay. He fell into unconsciousness with the familiar warmth of his brothers and Riduur surrounding him.

He felt more hands on his body, lifting him to a stretcher before his body was lifted off the ground. The voices of the medics and other troopers filling his ears as he let his head fall to the left. The pain in his body was a lot to handle, but for Stitches he would. "Stches? Fx?" His tongue couldn't roll the words. He heard a sharp inhale. "Fox is safe, Riduur. He got back to HQ a few minutes after the blast. Told us everything." Stitches sounded far away, so Ritz opened his eye. Seeing blue, gold, and red on all his sides. He found his cyare on his left side and clumsily grabbed the medic's wrist. Just to hold onto it. Stitches smiled softly at him as the world got dark in the tunnels.

--

Warmth and soft bandages greeted the captain when he woke up. He opened his eye to find himself in a room that looked nothing like the guard medical bay. He had multiple weights on his arm and chest. He looked down to see his ade all surrounding him, asleep. They had tear tracks staining their faces and Dogma was sniffling in his sleep. Ritz slowly pulled his arm free and gently ran his hand through his youngest ad's hair. Which was longer since the last time he'd seen it. His youngest's face scrunched up into a little frown before calming down again. He head a sharp inhale at his right and looked. There with a data pad and a bag of what looked to be food in both hands, stood his youngest batcher. Rex's eyes were wide.

"Ritz?" The other blonde asked a bit breathless. And Ritz smiled softly at his brother. "Hey there, Rex." He said softly. Rex sat his things on the table next to the bed and leaned over to hug him tightly. Neither said anything. Neither needed to. Ritz lifted his hand to dig it into Rex's hair, gently carding his fingers through the fuzz. "Hey, Kiddo, what's wrong?"" Ritz said softly as he soothed his brother's shaking frame. Rex shook his head, not lifting it from his brother's neck. "Not right now, Ori'vod. Just, Just let me hold you for a minute?" His brother asked softly and Ritz nodded. "Sure, little bro."

Rex moved to sit at the head of the bed, his body contorting into a likely uncomfortable position so he could hold his brother. Ritz moved his hand back to gently scratch at his youngest ad's scalp when he felt him starting to wake. Someone else entered the room and Rex sat up. Ritz looked over at the door, a Twi'lek woman was standing in the doorway with her arms crossed over her chest and her eyes were glaring daggers at Rex. "Can you please not suffocate my patient, Captain?" She asked and Rex cleared his throat in embarrassment. "Yes, ma'am, General Che." He said while moving to sit in the chair near the bed.

"No more blowing myself up. Got it, ma'am." He said and she sighed with a knowing look. He smiled innocently and she rolled her eyes. "Follow your children's example, Captain, and rest. You're going to need it." She said as she left. Ritz looked at his brother and Rex just shrugged. "I'd listen to her if I were you, vod." He said and Ritz snorted, doing as told.

The Twi'lek, General Che, scoffed at the rank and walked further into the room. "None of that General nonsense. Now, your CMO tells me that you are the one to thank for all the surgeries being carried out, hm?" She asked and Ritz turned red. "Well, I had some help, ma'am. Fives and Tup were the ones who really confirmed the chips were the cause." He said, giving credit where due. General Che hummed in silence as she worked around the sleeping troopers and Ahsoka. Checking his right stump, his bandaged chest, and his head. "It seems you've been healing quite nicely. But a word from your medic and me both," She started and Ritz looked her in the eye, "No more blowing yourself up. I doubt you'll be so lucky a second time." She said and Ritz chuckled.

It's been a year since Ritz blew the Chancellor sky high. His aliit has grown a small bit. Ahsoka with her own little one and Riduur. Fenrir was joyous as can be when she told him. Tup and Dogma had their own partners, though his twins are still looking for theirs.

Ritz held his Cyare's hand gently in his left, resting his head on Stitches' shoulder. Things were quieting down with the war ending the moment the Chancellor died. Dooku and his group were wandering around Coruscant under strict probation once their reasoning came to light.

And Ritz was considered the Hero of the Republic for ending the war. Earning he and his Vode rights through the new Senate. He and his aliit could grow without the threat of war over their heads and the freedom's they fought so hard for.

He could safely say, that that was the biggest difference of them all.

[wanderingmirror]

The one nice Reg (Alt title: How one clone saved the rest simply by asking questions.)

It started when Sly, still a young cadet freshly out of his tube, began to notice things. Now, Sly had rightly earned his name. He was cunning, slippery, and quick witted. Because of that, Sly noticed things. Brothers acting odd, brothers getting decommissioned or reconditioned for no reason at all. And it all started with a fresh batch of tubbies. And a curious pair of minds.

|=|

"Enhanced! Hey wait a minute!"

Sly shouted, and the goggled clone stopped. He, like the other enhanced often did, tensed and shrunk down. Sly did his best to soothe the other by stopping at a good distance for the paler to run. Sly was holding his journal, one he often times carried around when he had a free day.

"You're the smart one right? The one the others always push around?"

He asked and the other flinched. The smaller nodded and Sly sighed in relief. That confused the other.

"Good, if I may, I'd like to pick your brain about something. It won't take long! I just need you to look at something! You don't have to!"

Sly said quickly when the other inhaled sharply. Sly worried for a minute that the other would decline or run away. But instead he faced Sly and nodded.

"Okay. What do you need my opinion on?"

And that was the day Sly met and befriended Tech.

|=|

Over the next few months, Sly and Tech had delved into the database, holonet, and records of the clones. They discovered the inhibitor chips. Found the orders coded on them. Both had made Sly vomit. Not liking the fact that they would become puppets once under the orders.

Sly was running around, trying to find Tech. He'd had a sudden theory he wanted to try. Though, Sly wasn't sure how they would test it even if Tech agreed. He found the shorter clone talking with his batch and squad. Sly slowed down, letting them catch sight of him as he neared. The three next to Tech all gave him varying degrees of a glare. And Sly wondered under his breath if he should just wait to ask later.

The most normal looking, Hunter, his mind supplied, blinked in surprise. Tech waved at Sly happily and ran over before Sly could talk himself out of approaching. The other three followed.

"Hello, Sly. Anything new on our project?"

Tech asked and all three of the others glanced at the shorter in shock. Then attention was back on Sly. He gulped.

"I had a theory I wanted to run by you. Though I don't know how we would test it anyway."

Sly said and Tech nodded slowly.

"What is it?"

Tech asked and Sly's eyes darted to the other three.

"Please don't take offense when I ask, but, can we trust them? Or do they already know?"

Sly asked carefully. He flinched when the slimmer one glared at him. He slammed his eyes shut and wondered once again if he should just wait for another day. A hand on his shoulder startled him and he opened his eyes. Hunter was standing in front of him.

"Why are you scared of us?"

The taller asked. Sly gaped at him.

"Unlike the rest of my batch, I'm not stupid. All of you could do massive amounts of damage or harm to me if you wanted. Heck, one of you could pick me up and throw me off the facility if he wanted to. I'm not going to pick a fight with you four over the fact you look different. Not even because you have enhancements."

Sly said, offended that these four would think he would hurt them. He wasn't stupid, the big one could easily brake a few bones if he wanted, the skinny one could make his life hell, and Hunter could take him out in seconds if he wanted. Sly also knew that Tech could alter and hide the evidence of his squads activities. And the long necks would be non the wiser.

Hunter blinked at him in obvious surprise. The big one grinned proudly and the skinny one smirked. Sly guesses that the other is going to hold that over his head for a long time.

"What was your theory, Sly?"

Tech pulled Sly from his thoughts and the taller gripped his journal close to him. He opened it to the newly written on page. And breathed before closing it after looking at his notes.

"What if we attempted to see if another clone could control the Chips? A higher ranked one."

Sly asked simply and the other three blinked. Tech hummed and crossed his arms.

"We would need to find one that would agree to keep quiet about it."

The goggled clone said and Hunter's lip twitched.

"I'm gonna be a Sergeant. If that counts for anything."

The other said and Tech and Sly looked at each other. Then in silent agreement, Tech and Sly led the other three into Tech's workshop. Sly stayed near the door, mostly for his own comfort around the bigger one. Who, as he now knew, went by Wrecker. The skinny one was named Crosshair. After the door to the shop was closed, Tech and Sly began to explain their project.

They spoke about Sly's discovery of the chips in the tubbies, about the orders coded to them, and how they were hidden inside every clone's head.

"Is that why you've been spending so much time in the data center, Tech?"

Wrecker asked and Tech nodded.

"Sly asked for my help since he couldn't understand much of the nature of the chips. He also asked for my opinion on the chips when he discovered their existence."

Tech said simply and Sly flushed in embarrassment.

"I figured it would be best to have the opinion of a smarter person than me. I may know a thing or two, but even I don't get all the stuff coded into the orders."

Sly said as he looked down into his notes again. He wrote something down and looked up when his statement was met with silence. Four sets of eyes stared at him in surprise. Sly wondered how often this batch of clones got praised or complimented. He gave them a small, hesitant smile, then returned his attention to his journal so he could find the page with the orders. Sly had learned to write very small. It saved him room and pages. He almost got into trouble when stealing this journal from a trainer.

"Let's try one of the less darker ones. Orders 21 and 36 look okay. Order 21 just says we would go limp. And Order 36 tells us to throw our comms away from us. Not that we have those."

Sly said and looked at Tech, who just cleared his throat. Hunter nodded and sighed softly.

"Let's make this isolated, my number is CT-2831. Just so it doesn't affect you four. The order to release is simply Order 1. But it should fade on its own."

Sly said and that got the others again. Hunter nodded and Sly stood up, placing his journal in Tech's care for the moment. All tensed up as Hunter stood in front of Sly.

"CT-2831, Execute Order 21."

Hunter said steadily. Sly's eyes glazed over and he felt his consciousness melt into the background. He dropped onto the floor seconds later. CT-2831 took over. CT-2831 looked through glazed eyes as another clone crouched in front of him. Calling a name he didn't recognize. The clone beside him, one who had on goggles, crouched down and said something else. That was against Order 21. He wasn't allowed to move until given permission.

"CT-2831, Execute Order 1."

The same clone said and CT-2831 felt his eyes shut. Sly came back to himself with a deep inhale. He coughed harshly into his elbow and shakily inhaled. He took the hand offered by Hunter to stand up, gently retrieving his journal and shakily writing his discovery down.

"I think it would be wise to quietly keep this knowledge to ourselves for the time being. At least until we have the ability to actually deal with the chips."

Sly said after a minute of silence. The other four nodded in agreement. The five cadets all talked a while, the Bad Batch getting to know this reg. Then, the reg waved and left after an announcement for his squad called him to blaster training.

___

(one year later)

Sly hyperventilated as his clutched his blaster to his chest. Staring at his fallen squad mate Lux. Lux, who now had no head. Sly couldn't move, the mission was going to fail if he didn't move. So he pushed away his emotions for now and darted to the separatist stronghold. He wasn't the only one, much to his distant relief. The bombs were set and Sly ran back a good distance. The door to the stronghold groaned as the bombs took it off it's hinges.

Sly and the two others with him all darted forward to get the mission complete. Taking out the rest of the droids and downloading the data from the many consoles. Sly could feel the exhaustion and shock trying to creep into his system but he held it back. Now was not the time for a mental shutdown. He could disassociate later. When the data was downloaded, Sly gave the signal to the other two and they retreated. One of the others, Ghast, commed for pick up and retrieval. Ghast and Ghost were both from the same batch. The Names a joke for most but Sly knew the significance of those names. Both men could be in and out of a base before you even realized they were there.

Training with the two of them was difficult when you were on the opposing teams. Sly stumbled a bit as they entered the forest again. Panting as his body rebelled against anymore movement. Ghost slowly stopped beside him and wrapped Sly's arm around his shoulders to help him stand up. Twin white helmets knocked together as Sly did his best to stay aware and awake. The sound of a landing ship had him jolting back to reality as one of the LAATS landed. The doors opened quickly and all three troopers were pulled into the ship. The doors shut and Sly was sat down on the ground.

And that was the last thing Sly remembered before he gave in to the temptation to pass out.

___

(One day later)

Sly had woken up to Ghost and Ghast sitting on either side of him. Both had one of his hands in one of theirs, talking in low voices over his head. He blinked slowly as his memory returned to him, trying to remember what happened after they got onto the transport. Ghost and Ghast squeezed his hands and he looked at them. They were staring at him with relief in their eyes.

"Doc says you had a severe concussion and a few broken ribs. Says one of em had been scratching at one of your lungs."

Ghast said as Ghost nodded in agreement. Sly then felt the tension around his ribcage and looked down. Bandages hiding a few new scars from both surgery and battle. Sly squeezed their hands.

"Did the mission get us anything?"

Sly asked in a hoarse voice. Ghost and Ghast looked at him and gave a slight grin.

"They can't crack the encryption. Says it's one they haven't seen before."

Ghost said and Ghast continued.

"And since you're our resident Slicer and code cracker, they wanted to wait for you to wake up."

Sly blinked in surprise. Sure being a Slicer was one of his hobbies, but he didn't think it was that well known. Sly flushed a bit in embarrassment as the twin's grins widened into smirks. Sly sighed and Ghost handed him a data pad and the data stick. And soon got to work. Never once did the twins leave him alone in the medbay, even when the medics scowled at them.

After the code was cracked, Sly couldn't help but pale. The inhibitor chips. How did the Sepies know about those? He quickly wrote down the information on that file in a separate new file before deleting the original. He sent the information to his personal pad hidden in his bunk. Any new information on the chips would help Sly get a clearer way of getting them out and saving the Jedi.

Neither twin commented on his sudden shakiness. Nor on the fact that he was editing enemy information. Sly sat the pad down and looked at them. Ghast and Ghost both looked back at him, quiet and patient.

"When I get cleared, I'll explain what I'm doing. But you both have to swear to keep quiet about this. If you don't it could result in Decommissioning or Reconditioning."

Sly said and the twins nodded in silent agreement. They took hold of his wrists and squeezed. Sly did the same to them.

And the twins became the only two Sly could confide in. About anything concerning the Chips.

___

(six months later)

Someone else knew about the chips.

Someone else knew about the chips.

Sly was paralyzed. He needed to get to this ARC trooper first. And fast. He alerted the twins to his plans, saying that it was urgent that they meet in 79's. He had the odd thought to grab an extra helmet. Deciding to use the excuse that it belonged to his squadmate and that his squadmate had dropped it. He arrived to find the clone he was looking for entering the fresher with another. The twins both arrived two minutes later.

When the trooper exited the fresher and started to leave, Sly signalled to the twins to converge on him. He got to the man first right as he was leaving. He took hold of the man's arm and dragged him into an alleyway clear of fronties and guardsmen. The twins blocked off the exit as Sly placed his hand over the soldier's mouth and a finger over his own to signal the man to be quiet.

He nodded and Sly sighed shakily. Sly could see that the trooper was clearly drugged. And not just by one type either. Someone clearly didn't want this trooper alive. Sly took the officer's hat off the trooper's head, making him put on the helmet. The trooper, Fives, sagged with relief.

"Don't say anything yet. Ghost, Ghast, I need you both to find out where the two chips are going. Get them back and head to the Resolute. We'll meet you there."

Sly said and both twins nodded and vanished into the shadows. Fives tensed up at the mention of General Skywalker's flag ship. Sly looked at him and gently hushed him.

"I need you to lean on me. We're going back to the ship from a night of drinking. I decided not to drink much and became your keeper for the night."

Sly said and Fives nodded with a shaky sigh. Fives leaned on Sly and the two made their way slowly back to the Resolute. There were more Guardsmen out tonight than before. Sly worried that he would get stopped and scanned. But no one paid them any mind. Probably thought that they were a pair of drunk clones heading back to the barracks.

Once Sly got Fives to the ship, he hurried them to the barracks he and the twins shared. He sat Fives down on his bed and took the helmet off. Sly snagged the secret medical kit from under his bunk and took a blood sample from Fives. Hissing at the amount of drugs in his system. Thankfully all that Fives needed was rest and water. Sly took out his canteen and gently coaxed Fives into drinking the water inside. He helped the trooper lay down and took out Ghast's paint. He mixed up the pigment for their skin tone and gently painted over the Five tattoo on Fives' head. The paint was skin save and wouldn't come off unless it started chipping or was washed off.

Meaning they would have to reapply it after every shower. Sly sighed and put everything away, keeping Fives on his left side so the paint could dry probably. Ghost and Ghast entered the room two hours later. They had the two chips with them and Sly perked up. He took them both and examined them. Gently tapping the names of each clone over the top. Sly hid the chips in his campaign pack. Where his journal and data pad hid more information.

For the rest of the night, the three clones kept Fives hidden. But when morning came, they were called to the bridge. The three told Fives to remain in their barracks. The man nodded and laid back down tiredly. And the three walked to the bridge, trying to come up with a plan of action. They arrived and stood at attention. Waiting for General Skywalker and Captain Rex to acknowledge them. When they did, Rex seemed to settle.

"Men, I'm glad you're here. I have a few questions for you about where you were last night."

Rex said and the three nodded.

"Of course, Captain."

Sly answered and Rex smiled at him. Being overly cheerful and kind, Sly could befriend just about anyone.

"Well, to start with, where were you three?"

"We each had different plans for the first few hours, they went to a shop in little Keldabe. I stayed on the ship cleaning up our barracks a bit. Then we met at 79's for drinks. Or well, after I got there to give one of my squadmates Fletcher his helmet. Since he was going to be out doing some of his own pranks."

Sly made it appear that he was embarrassed for his "squadmates" mischief. Both general and Captain snorted. Sly continued to give their night to the two and the twins gave their own input when asked. At this point, Sly was glad neither twin minded him speaking for them. Since neither liked talking much outside of each other and Sly.

"Okay, last questions. Did any of you see a trooper with a five tattooed on the right side of his head at any point? Did any brother look off during your time?"

Rex asked and all three shook their heads. Ghast took a minute to pretend to think. Even rubbing the stubble on his chin as if he was in deep thought. All three of them had some time of stubble. Sly's a bit more pronounced. He was also the only one with short lengthed hair.

"Sorry, Sirs. But we didn't really see anything. The only ones we saw were drunk or tired brothers."

Ghast finally said with a sad shake of his head. Both superiors nodded in understanding. Sly and the twins waited for the other boot to drop. They knew this all rides on Skywalker since he was a Jedi. If he sensed even the least bit of a lie, Fives could end up dead and they would be reconditioned. Or also dead.

"Alright, well, thank you for your time anyway. You're dismissed."

Skywalker waved them off and all three gave a silent thanks to whatever aided them. The three of them all turned and left the bridge and returned to their barracks. Sly sighed and moved to walk between the twins in an effort to settle his nerves without being seen from the side. Both twins wrapped their arm around his shoulders, and he wrapped his arms around their waists. They walked back in silence to keep their thoughts between the now four of them.

When they returned to their barracks, Fives was still fast asleep on Sly's bunk. The twins both bunked with each other to give Sly a place to sleep. The group sat in the room, Sly silently working Fives into the system as 'Fletcher' and sighing softly when the orders came that they were returning to Kamino. Sly shook with barely repressed fear. Wondering if Skywalker had known about Fives. But they wouldn't know until they got to Kamino.

___

(Two days later)

Talking with Fives gave Sly more information that completed the puzzle of who could take command of the chips. And the knowledge of the Chancellor being behind the entire war pulled Sly and the twins off center. They decided it would be best if no one knew about Fives being alive. And so, Fives was given the cover name Fletcher. They included Fives in most of their activities. Soon it became second nature to have a fourth member in their group.

Sly and Fives would work on a way to give the information without getting Fives caught or the other three reconditioned. Or worse.

___

(At Kamino)

The four pulled off from the main force and followed Sly to a less wandered part of the training facility. The other three were surprised when Sly greeted Tech and the other members of Clone Force 99. They entered a training room that wasn't used anymore and closed the door. Sly sighed shakily.

"Well, I have good news and I have bad news."

Tech sighed as well and nodded.

"Good news is I know how to get the chips out. Bad news is that if we do, then we may end up being killed to cover up their existence."

Sly said and the bad batch all tensed up. Sly went on to tell them of the past few days and they all agree to slowly and quietly take their chips out. Giving them to Sly to hide in one of the lesser used crates. Soon enough, Sly thinks there is enough evidence in his bag to push it to the Jedi.

___

When he started to gather the evidence, he felt the need to hide it in the bunk of the Resolute. And that feeling was right. He was handed reconditioning orders by one of the trainers. A trainer he knew to be very hatful towards clones. Sly paled at the sight and shakily left for the Resolute. He gathered the evidence and his journal, blankly walking towards General Shaak-Ti, Tech, and General Skywalker. Tech looked at Sly and paled.

"Sly?"

Sly looked at Tech in silence as he handed the goggled clone all the evidence of the chips. He pulled Tech into a Keldabe Kiss and exhaled shakily.

"When you see me again, I won't remember you. Have patience with me."

Sly said and all three of the people before him froze. Sly held up the recon order and gave it to Skywalker. Sly knew why he was being reconditioned, and he knew who was to blame. But there wasn't anything he could do about it. Not without risking Fives and the others.

"You are not being reconditioned, Sly. I won't let them."

General Ti said as she placed her hand on his shoulder. Sly couldn't help but laugh with a slightly hysterical edge. Tears fell from his eyes as the realization finally came over his body.

"I'm being taken out because I know what Fives knew. I know what he disappeared trying to prove! He wants me silenced so his plans don't fail."

Sly said as more tears fell from his eyes. His mind collapsed as the realization that he was about to be reset fell. He collapsed onto his knees and wrapped his arms around himself to try and keep it together. But his mind was already disassociating.

Sly felt hands grabbing him and fell deeper into his own mind. He barely felt the pinch of a hypo in his neck. Darkness chased his last thoughts of never remembering anything at all.

___

Waking up with his memories intact was not something he ever expected to do again. Waking up with his hands gripped tightly in someone else's was reassuring that he wasn't alone. But he worried that the ones holding his hands were trying to trick him into lowering his guard. He slowly opened his eyes to see both of the twins bickering in whispers over his head. Fives was half asleep on his left side with the clothe of Sly's blacks clutched tightly in his hand.

On his right rested Tech, who was quietly talking with someone Sly couldn't see due to Ghost sitting in front of them. Sly didn't get to stay wake for long as he was dragged back under by whatever medication he had been given.

___

When Sly woke up again, he felt himself being moved. He slowly tried to open his eyes but found that the world was too bright for him. He closed his eyes again and decided to just listen to the world around him. He could hear a strange sort of humming sound. Wondering who was humming, Sly slowly got his voice to work as he too began to hum that same tune. A soft but sharp inhale barely rang in his ears, but Sly kept humming to that tune until he was once again dragged under into unconsciousness.

___

(Outside POVs)

The clone was strange. Anakin could freely say that. Seeing the man have a mental breakdown because he was going to be reconditioned had tipped he and Shaak-Ti off that something was wrong. Discovering the amount of evidence against the chips and the fact that Fives was alive and have been hiding in plain sight startled Anakin. The knight was also surprised by the fact that Sly had kept the ARC Trooper safe under the noses of two jedi generals and several thousand other clones.

The evidence was damning towards his friend, Sheev. But it was also real and true. Every clone had a chip in their head that would enable Sidious to control them to kill the jedi. Sly had made lists of who was more likely to survive the attacks of the clones. Seeing that Anakin was not on the list was hurtful until the enhanced trooper named Tech told him that there was an order that Anakin was not to be killed, so putting him on the list seemed redundant.

Sly had come in and out of unconsciousness for the better part of a tenday. Mumbling about random things that the trooper must have been thinking about at the time. Doing some digging resulted in discovering the clone was force sensitive. And had been unconsciously using the force to get to this point. Or, rather, the force was using him.

When the council decided to place Sly under their protection, Anakin was surprised that Palpatine became angered by this. Almost as if he was aware of everything they were doing. And that sent many clones on edge. Sly had been protecting them by slowly alerting the medics about the chips. Using Fives' information to spread the word as silently as possible. It resulted in saving the lives of thousands of jedi.

Anakin decided that he needed a nap with his loving wife more than he needed to be awake in this world of betrayals and hurts.

___

(Sly's POV/One month later)

Sly was just out of a meeting with his mind healer when he was startled by Tech and the rest of the bad batch. Now six members with the adding of Fives and the recently returned Echo. Sly smiled as the five more active people tried to convince Tech to go out with them. Sly grinned and wrapped his arm around Tech, nuzzling the shorter man's neck in silent relief.

Sly could feel the silent presences of Ghost and Ghast at his back and felt the tension in his shoulders lift from him.

Peace was over them and his family was happily growing into something Sly could keep.

(End)

___

(Also on AO3 if you wanna read there. The Nice Reg. is its name.)

[wanderingmirror]

The Crazy Coruscant Guardsmen

Or: Havoc Squadron (my OC clone squadron) and Captain Shay (also mine)

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Stitches | Havoc Squadron's medic. He suffers from split personality disorder due to severe traumatic stress, the other personality prefers Freakshow. Stitches is the only even tempered medic in the Coruscant Guard, he's never seen outside of their medical bay unless it's for a riot or a fight at 79's that needs all hands on deck. He got his name from the many stitch tattoos lining his body and armor. (A GAR myth says that Freakshow got his own name for a similar, if not darker reason.) He has a military cut.

Shay | Havoc Squadron's Leader. He is also even tempered and is often the most rational one. He can often times be found at Fox's right hand side when Thorn, Thire, Stone, and Hound are not. Shay has a missing left leg from the knee down due to a pipe bomb. His whole left side is scarred for the same reason. His hair is shaved due to patches not growing back. His armor is a blank white to spite the rest of the GAR.

Crossbones | Havoc Squadron's sniper. Can and will kill anyone who even remotely makes anyone in Technical support sad or scared. Has actually done so. The senator's body has yet to be found and no evidence can be traced back to Bones. Is patient but easily angered. Hair is shaved at the sides while top is shoulder length and braided. His right eye is pure white after a bounty hunter shot him through his own scope. He has a prosthetic eye like Wolffe, though he doesn't tell anyone but the medics and techs. His armor is pure white, as he also does it out of spite.

Error | Havoc Squadron's sane Twin. Is one half of the Terror Twin set. He is the calm, serious one. He and his twin Sevens have often swapped armor with each other as a game. No one in the GAR is able to tell the difference. And only a few Jedi have been around them long enough know who is who. Everyone in the Guard can tell, even when Error is behaving like Sevens and vice versa. Both have a military cut. Physical difference between them is scars on their backs in the form of their CT numbers: CT-7585 (Error) & CT-7777 (Sevens).

Sevens | Havoc Squadron's chaotic Twin. The real reason the two are named the Terror Twins. He pulls pranks, causes trouble at random points for random people. Even himself if he feels that the Guard need a good laugh. As said, the two look similar outside of scars on their backs. Sevens can and will make it look like the force itself caused you to fall into a pile of Tooka osik. He even pranked the Chancellor so bad, the raisin man had to be put in a hospital for a month. Sevens is proud to say no one has caught him for that. Not even the Golden Boy, Skywalker.

Josey | Havoc Squadron's female Lieutenant. Yes, you read it right, she is a she. Not trans, before you ask. The long necks just decided she wasn't defective. And anyone who says otherwise needs to be kicked or punched in their most painful place. Josey is basically Queen of the Guard. She is also Buir Jos to the Shinies. She is kind but takes no osik. Has a nasty left hook and right kick (men will feel her wrath.). She has waist length hair and sharp golden eyes. (Is secretly a bookworm and nerd.) Has bright pink armor. Yes she knows it means respect, but pink also sends "don't Kark with me" vibes.

Chalk | Havoc Squadron's Bad Batcher. He wasn't added to the Bad Batch due to Wrecker. Chalk also just decided he liked his not-so-regular-regs more than anyone that was similar to him. He is quiet, calculating, and cunning. Often times using his size to fool someone into thinking he is stupid. Same strength as Wrecker as they are from the same set of clones used for enhanced strength. Dread locked hair down to his shoulders. Deep Maroon armor. His power is no joke. He is also Stitches' emotional support human. He can often be found squished in the medical bay, acting as a silent sentry and guard.

Puppy | Havoc Squadron's pilot. He got his name because Hound got to him first. Before Puppy was switched to Havoc's care after too many close calls with rabid animals during patrol. Multi colored hair. As in, rainbow. Happy go lucky, would never hurt a fly. Unless it came to Josey or Fox. He will kill all for his Buire. And no one would even know it was him. Is completely numb to pain in his legs due to animal bites.

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My brain ran away from me. I am sad now.

It is Havoc Squadron's craziness that saves the galaxy from raisin man. Sevens and Puppy didn't know the Chancellor was deadly allergic to shellfish! Honest! And Stitches had been busy with Sevens and Error's latest set of pranks to the command staff. So he couldn't help, even the other medics were busy!

XD it ran away again!

[wanderingmirror]

They could hear him breathing harshly behind the door. Hatchet wasn't responding to anything that was said to him. Before the door had locked, they had the sight of blank eyes and a hollow force signature.

Whatever that Sith Artifact showed him, whatever it did, it wasn't going away.

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Hatchet could see every timeline of ever choice made. He could see, through that version of himself, what happens. And in every choice made, the Jedi fall. Well, most fall. But that doesn't change the fact that they die by the Clone's hands. The chips in their heads could take away their individuality. Take away the very thing that separates them from each other.

Hatchet knows that Commander Wolffe would never hurt his general. Nor would commanders Colt, Bly, and Cody. Captain Rex would probably eat his own pistols before he hurt Commander Tano. Hatchet scratched at his skull, right over the side the chip rested on. He could feel it now, that undercurrent of 'Good Soldiers Follow Orders' and it made him sick. They were heading to Coruscant for leave time. And it meant he wasn't going to be able to get it out. Because then the Sith would find out. He would be executed for some reason or another.

He would be killed like Fives had been. Hatchet felt himself jolt, an idea striking him. He could still get it out, but instead of going to Commander Cody or General Kenobi, he'd go directly to the Temple. He could save his brothers from becoming mindless puppets and save the Jedi from dying. He wouldn't be executed if he gave the evidence to the mind healers in the temple. They would know what to do.

Getting up, Hatchet unlocked the door and ran past the brothers and Jedi at the door. He ignored their worried calls and ran into the med bay. Hatchet turned on the medical droid and dragged it into a different room. He typed in the request for a level 5 brain scan. He prayed to whatever entity was listening to find it, sighing in relief when it was. He locked the door from the inside and broke the lock. He would apologize to Cuts later. He typed the request for the chip to be cut out.

He was given a sedative and knew no more.

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When Hatchet had busted out of the room he'd locked himself in, half crazed with fear, Cody was sure he'd kill someone. Instead, the Lieutenant had ran straight to the med bay and locked himself and a medical droid in a room. Things had been quiet since then. Despite the slicer's best efforts, Hatchet had locked himself in and broke the door. No one could hear anything and the silence was worrying. Hatchet was not the type to do something without a plan, and even then, the man was still paranoid.

Soon enough the door was fixed from the inside and opened. Hatchet stood there, looking as if he was a child in trouble. Though, he had a patch on the side of his head. He walked past them without a word except for a quiet apology to Cuts. Everyone was confused and stunned. But the lieutenant just didn't say anything.

Cody decided to try and question him about it once they landed on Coruscant.

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Hatchet hated lying. It bothered him to no end, but this time it felt like the right thing to do. Normally, he would go with his Batchmate Tin to see their Corrie brother Multi. But tonight, Hatchet felt like this would be a better option. He left the barracks with the excuse of going to 79's. But instead, Hatchet walked all the way to the Jedi temple. Too scared to go by vehicle. He could feel the precious cargo in his pouch, a silent urging to hurry.

He ran when it felt like eyes were watching him. He knew that the sith had spies everywhere. But he wasn't holding his belt and for all they knew, he could just be heading to a clone friendly area. When the temple came into view, Hatchet felt the tension in his shoulders slowly fade. He tried to keep his fear down when he got close but it came back when the two guards approached. They gave him no words and motioned him in. He nodded and rushed inside. He wondered if it was his 212th gold that signalled he was safe. Hatchet fought off a shudder at the memory of firing on General Kenobi.

If this worked how he hoped, then Cody would not give that order. If it worked, Hatchet wouldn't have to aim at his General and pull the trigger. Hatchet knew where to go, it was hard not to when he's been in the area so many times for different reasons. He found who he was looking for in Master Che. He waited until he got her attention. She approached him and smiled with concern.

"What's the matter trooper? Are you injured?" She asked and Hatchet flinched. He shakily pulled out the chip from his pouch and held it up.

"I have evidence that Chancellor Palpatine is the Sith Lord."

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The Jedi Council was silent as they digested the information just told to them. Hatchet had vomited up the information as fast as physically possible. Stopping from time to time to breathe and calm down. He had flinched every time one of the council members had tried to help him. He left out no details, not even the fact that he had been the one to fire at General Kenobi directly. Hatchet couldn't bare to look at his General. And when he was done, he had finally given in to the urge to wrap his arms around himself. Shaking violently and close to crying.

"We thank you for this information, trooper. Please have your medic come and speak with the healers here so we can remove these chips from your brothers." General Windu said and Hatchet saluted. He left the chambers and shakily pulled up Cuts on a very private comm.

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The council members all looked at each other. They had felt the rising fear and anxiety in the trooper the moment he entered. It had only gotten worse since then. Plo Koon and Shaak-Ti could see the flinching every time they had tried to calm him. And Obi-wan could see the obvious guilt manifesting in the form of not looking at him. The news that he had found the sith lord was surprising, the news of inhibitor chips in every clone's head was terrifying, and the fact that he had found this out through a rapid paced tour of each possible choice made future was concerning.

Plo stood without a word and left the room. He called a few men from the Wolfpack to help him ease the soldier's mind. No doubt the trooper believed they would ignore his words. Obi-wan called his own men to the Temple as well. The more chips that get out of the men's heads the better.

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The 212th and 104th all mentally agreed on one thing. Hatchet was a paranoid di'kut. Not only had he told Cuts to meet him at 79's, he had physically dragged Cuts, Tin, Multi, and even Commander Cody to the Temple. Shoving the four into the halls of healing. Then, he had collapsed on the floor from exhaustion stemming from anxiety and stress. General Plo had then ordered Wolffe and a few of his men to make sure the trooper rested.

Since then, most of the 212th and 104th have had their chips removed. And even the Coruscant Guard and 501st once they entered Coruscant airspace. Secure comms were sent out to the medics of other battalions for the same reason. Hatchet had been buried in a pile of his batch and squad mates afterwards.

Taking care of the sith lord was, largely anticlimactic. Since Commander Fox just entered the Chancellor's office, shot the man, and then left. All while giggling madly. Multi murmured that he had been wanting to do that for months, then fell back to sleep.

The war ended soon after once Count Dooku opened up to negotiations of peace.

All because one clone was too attached to his General to think things through.