Summer of Bad Batch 2024
Week 1
Alt Prompt: “It’s not what you think”
A/N: This is a snip it of a later chapter in my fic that is currently in the works. I purposely jumped forward in time to write this and will come back to it later when I get to that part of the story. I thought it fit kinda nicely although the actual prompt doesn't fit until near the end of this segment. Still I hope you enjoy it
Tags: Slight Angst, Truama
Tech was sitting on the edge of a cliff over looking the bustling village of Pabu below, the night sky a deep radiant blue as the full moon shone its light down onto the people below. It was so bright you may have mistaken it for daytime. The light from the houses set a contrasting orange glow from the bright white light from the moon brought a homely feeling to the environment around him. He was so used to the sterile walls of Kamino and the stark, blank, white lighting the filled the building. It was tranquil and not like the empty barracks or the still empty calm from roaming the halls in the dead of night. No this was a calm that was full of life. Full of sweet calm and air fresher than any he had ever breathed before. This felt like living. Not like surviving and fighting for life day in and day out. This was truly living, reveling in the moments as they came and being able to fully enjoy what was right in front of him. He was a solider, had been all his life. Face paced, desperate, determined, with one goal in mind. Serve and Protect. But now he could question his existence, enjoy it without anything being constantly expected of him. Tech was free at last.
At least he was mostly free, there was one sad reminder of these years past that he could never let go of. Because now they were a part of him. After his rescue from Tantis Tech’s new augmentations had been badly damaged, and he had damaged them even more during his period of rehabilitation. They needed to be maintained and fixed long ago but he had not had the heart to tell his family of what had happened to him, how badly he had been injured after his fall on Eriadu, and how Hemlock had “helped” him. He didn’t want to worry his brothers, it was a burden for him to carry not them. So what was the point in worrying them? What’s done is done and he cant changed it, even if he wanted to.
Right now he was just trying to rewire the servers. Once he had been fully conditioned he remembered how Hemlock had rewired his new armour to allow him to use the full range of functions his augmentations had. He was currently focused on his right leg, his pants pulled all the way up to his thigh his leg entirely exposed so he could see everything. He wished he was in a more sanitary environment than the earth he was sitting on but he didn’t have a space in their shared home where he wouldn’t be disturbed.
He unlatched the main compartment of his legs wiring and began refitting anything that had been damaged and altering the flow of electricity so that his leg would work at a higher capacity. He then moved onto his knee joint, he loosened the bolt a little big. He struggled to move his knee sometimes and figured that the joints had wounds the suspension up to tight and wasn’t giving him full range of movement.
Briefly he wonders if that was intentional.
A fun thought crossed his mind, if he could get Rex to get him the right parts he could install propulsion jets into the soles of his robotic feet that would allow him to hover and fly around Pabu. Although that would defeat the entire point of keeping his new body a secret.
He continued to work down his leg until the whole thing had been carefully checked, modified and replaced. Maybe next time he would bring a few more spare parts to properly make the adjustments he wanted.
He rolled down his right pant leg, folding the cuff, once, then twice and replacing his book over the top. He then moved to his left leg, only needing to slide his pant leg up a little ways, to his shin and remove his boot. He looked at the titanium of his foot.
He considered it a moment, the way he had when he first saw it. He didn’t know how to feel about it. It worked just the same as the rest of his body. He had to hand it to the droids they had done well. And now he didn’t have to worry about standing on things he couldn’t stand the feeling off or bumping them with his foot, that issue was one he was thankful to live without. But the cost, the cost of his humanity, the cost of his autonomy, the cost of his freedom…was it worth it.
He knew the answer should be simple. That the answer should be “of course not, it was because of Hemlock that he fell from the rail car and had been turned into a machine, that was never worth it” But…part of Tech felt better, better than he ever had. The parts of him that were machine worked so smoothly and he never had to worry about his body failing him in ways he that he couldn’t fix. If anything did ever fail him he could simply replace the part or rewire the mechanics and he would be good as new again.
He knew that wasn’t the right way to think about his situation but he couldn’t help it. That was simply how he felt.
After he had cleared away some dirt from the joints in his foot and made sure that it was working he rolled down his pant leg folding the cuff two times like he had with his right one and replaced his boot. It was still strange to him, knowing what the sensation of putting on a boot or having material slide over your skin felt like but being unable to feel it. He didn’t know if he liked that or not just yet.
Now it was time for the difficult part. He didn’t exactly know how he was supposed to examine his own spine but if he could open and close the servos without any additional pain then he would have to assume that everything was fine. He was also unable to check the state of his wounds and their progress. He would merely have to hope that his body was doing its job as designed by the Kaminoans. He knew that his time in the Bacta tank, as much as he detested the feeling and the memory, would have helped his body immensely. He hoped that there were no infections or still opened wounds, but he assumes he would have noticed by now if that were the case.
Gently so that the fabric would not catch on the exposed notches, Tech begins to pull his shirt over his head. He had managed to find where Hunter had confiscated his CX armour and stolen the remote access panel.
He picked up the access panel and stared at it. It was a different design to the one Hemlock and Emerie had shared. It was wider, and the base was grey. There was a red and blue button accompanying the black ones. Part of him desperately wanted to throw the remote into the sea below and watch it plunge to a watery grave but he knew that would not be a good idea.
He told himself that he should be used to the pain by now, those months of rotaions under Hemlocks “care” should have him build up some sort of resistance to the pain and fear.
But it hadn’t, he could feel his heart racing and his breathing become rugged and quick. His flesh hand shook slightly as he continued to stare at the remote, his fingers clutched the metal as he shook, he could feel that hollow feeling build in his chest as his stomach filled with liquid dread. Like black ink pooling inside of him.
He clicked the button.
33 clicks sounded as the notches popped up from his back, releasing the mechanism that held his spine together. Tech cried out and clenched his eyes shut. He felt a stinging fill the inside of his eyelids as he held them shut. Once the final click had sounded he hunched over, unwillingly.
The fear clouded in his mind and he was swallowed by the memory of his first encounter with Hemlock, how badly in pain he had been in those first few days, how fear was the only thing he could remember. He knew at first he had been defiant but he was afraid. So all consumingly afraid that he would never escape, that he would be forever stuck by Hemlocks side. The image of Hemlock’s gloved hands floated in front of his face and he wanted to bat them away.
He had to remind himself there was nothing there. He needed to get this over quickly, he took a deep breathed and tried his best to centre himself/
He took a moment to feel his back trying to get a sense of the sensations he could still register in his skin. After he was sure nothing was wrong, he braced himself again and pressed the button once again.
He hissed at the pain and sat upright, almost as if he had been pulled by someone else.
Except that it wasn’t “like he had been pulled” he had been pulled. In the moment.
“Tech?! What the hell?!” He felt a strong hand clasped around his shoulder and he was being pulled to the side. His head snapped up, his eyes opened underneath his goggles and he could feel the sting in his eyes more clearly now, they were tears and as soon as he had opened his eyes they had spilled into his goggle. After looking up he was face to face with Hunter. Omega standing just over his shoulder.
Hunter was crouched down in front of him at lines of worry in his face deeper than usual and his brow furrowed so far Tech was surprised he could still see Hunter’s eyes. He could feel Hunters hand gripping his shoulder, he wanted to shake it off but he couldn’t move. He was frozen, staring into Hunters face. His hand was still clenching the remote and his entire body was now shaking.
His vision begun to swim as Hunter��s face morphed into Hemlock’s and then Emerie’s. Tech gasped and tried to push them away but the attempt was feeble. Whoever was in front of him wouldn’t move. Faintly he could hear someone calling his name, but they sounded so far away, he couldn’t tell who it was.
“Tech?! Tech!” Suddenly Omega’s face had taken up his field of view and the hand on his shoulder was gone. “Tech listen to me ok. You aren’t on Tantis anymore. See it’s me and Hunter”
He felt himself sway and then he was forcefully yanked back to reality. He was sitting on the cliffside over looking Pabu, and Omega and Hunter were standing there with him.
Defensively he brough his hands up to cover his exposed chest. “It’s not what you think” he said staring up at Hunter.
Omega reached over and retrieved Tech’s shirt handing it to him and he slid it over his torso.
“Tech, what happened?” Omega asked him tentatively but he couldn’t answer, not yet.
He took several minutes to sit as still as he could and breath, taking in oxygen and expelling that dread and fear. Omega was right, he was safe, he wasn’t on Tantis and he was with his family. He could see Omega she was right there. They had saved him. He knew that.
Once he was ready to speak again he gave Omega a small nod and looked over a Hunter. A mix of worry and anger was twisted onto his brow.
Hunter spoke first “Tech what the hell? What were you doing?”
All Tech would respond with was a “It’s not what you think"
Somehow Hunters brows furrowed ever more and he folded his arms in anger “What should I think then Tech? Because it seems pretty black and white to me? You are covered in machinery that we had no idea about? You kept this from us?! Why!?”
Hunters voice had gradually raised as he had spoken and each time Tech flinched.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, just don’t hurt anyone”
An eerie silence fell between the three of them. The words had fallen out of Tech’s mouth before he could think about what he was saying.
The anger faded from Hunter’s face immediately and a lump formed in his throat. Dread filled his own stomach now and horror clouded his mind.
“Tech…no ones going to hurt anyone. We are worried for you is all” Omega says softly
Tech closes his eyes again, why did this have to happen, he had everything under control without them interfering. Deep down he was irritated that they had come looking for him. If they had only waited a few more minutes he would have been done and this would have never had happened.
“I didn’t tell you because it is not your issue to worry about Omega” he says it quite coldly but neither of them back off.
“Tech we are family, we’ve been doing everything we can to help you since Tantis. You didn’t have to-“
“Yes, I know that and I am grateful but this was one thing that I did not want to burden you with. There is nothing you could have done anyway” What else was he supposed to say? What did they expect him to say?
Hunter turned away and ran a hand over his face. He was in a state of distress one he had never even been in on the battlefield. His brother, had been his usual self and kept a serious issue to himself, he had allowed himself to, once again, carry a burden that he knew he would never have had to carry alone.
All his creation he had done everything he could to protect his family, and now he had realised how badly he had failed. Not just when he had failed to convince Crosshair to stay with them, or when he lost Omega. He had failed to save Tech and he had left him to a fate worse than anything he had imagined. And now after all of that, even after Hunter had done his best to right those wrongs he had discovered another thing he had failed to do for his brother.
Tech never told anyone about anything that was bothering him until it was so bad it was obvious to everyone around him. But something a sever as this? How had he kept this hidden all this time. And why had Hunter never figured it out. That was his job!
He had failed his family…again
Breaking out of his caging thoughts he listened as Omega talked to Tech
“Omega, it is not what it looks like. I was not intentionally causing myself harm; I need to make sure that everything was functioning to its fullest capabilities so I would not get hurt in the future”
Omega frowned but nodded at Tech. “Are you going to tell the others?”
Hunter cuts over her with another questions “Were you ever planning to tell us?”
Tech looked down at his hands, guilt filling his throat “I do not know, but most likely not”
Hunter sighed and walked over to crouch beside Omega. “Tech I know we don’t know what you went through on Tantis…but we don’t want you to feel like a burden. Because you aren’t. We would never hold it against you for being different or whatever you believed our reactions to be.”
Hunter sighed not knowing how to convince Tech. Tech would rival Crosshair in stubbornness at times and it wore him down, especially in instances like this.
But Tech was his brother, his family. He couldn’t just let this go.
“Tech? Can I give you a hug?” He heard Omega whisper
Tech nodded and carefully wrapped her arms around Tech and collapsed into his legs. He put his arms around her and for a while they just sat there, Hunter sitting beside them both his hand on Omega’s back
(obviously not a full chapter but enough for the prompt. You'll see the rest of it in chapters to come)
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HAPPY PRIDE MONTH QUEERS
Shout out to all of my He/Hims
To my She/Hers
To my They/Thems
To my It/It's and my Ze/Zirs
To my AFABs to my AMABs
To my intersex siblings
To my trans brother, to my trans sisters and my siblings in between.
To my mentally ill queers, to my disabled queers, to my system queers, to my alter human queers.
To all of my kids in the closet, to the kids that have been kicked out, to the kids that never felt good enough, to the kids who wished they could be anyone else, to the kids who are bullied and to the kids who aren't here with us.
To all of my adults who are in the closet, who were kicked out as kids, to the adults that still don't feel good enough, to the adults who wished they could be anyone else, to the adults that are kicked out of jobs and bullied and to the adults who made it so far, but couldn't keep going.
To those who's lives and loves were taken from them and those who were oppressed for their identity.
To my bisexuals, to my pansexuals, to my aces and aros, to my confused as fuck queers and to everyone everywhere.
I love you and you are loved. You will always be loved, there will always be someone out there for you.
Never stop fighting, never stop living, never stop being you. But never stop being compassionate, never stop loving and never stop looking out for others inside and outside the community.
And thanks to the allies, for sticking up for your friends and loved ones.
Happy Pride, cheers to another year!
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If you send me one I'll send you one!
100 follower ask game
Send in the asks!!!
1. Who is your favourite Batcher?
2. If the Batchers came to life what would you do/say?
3. Which Batcher do I think needs a hug?
4. What would I change about a physical character design for each of batchers?
5. Which Batcher is my least favourite?
6. What is my favourite episode from each season?
7. Who is my favourite side character?
8. Which Batcher do I think I could beat in a fight?
9. Which Batcher would I kill if I had to?
10. What is my favourite Hunter head canon?
10. What is my favourite Hunter head canon?
11. What is my favourite Crosshair head canon?
12. What is my favourite Wrecker head canon?
13. What is my favourite Tech head canon?
14. What is my favourite Echo head canon?
15. What is my favourite Omega head canon?
16. What is my favourite crossover head canon?
17. If I had to give one of the Batchers a partner who would it be?
18. Which batcher do I think is most likely to kill a Jedi?
19. If I could trade lives with one of the Batchers which one would I switch with
20. (Not a question) Rant about one of the Batchers (your choice)
21. Which Batcher had the best armour design
23. Which Batcher had the best out of armour outfit
24. What is an angsty or whumpy head canon I have about one of the Batchers
25. What is a design flaw I think Hunter has
26. What is a design flaw I think Crosshair has
27. What is a design flaw I think Wrecker has
28. What is a design flaw I think Tech has
29. What is a design flaw I think Echo has
30. What is a design flaw I think Omega has
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