Chapter Text
It was supposed to be a quick in and out deal, nothing that couldn’t be handled by you and the boys. However, it had somehow ended up with the cruiser being attacked by Separatists, everyone having taken an emergency exit to come out unscathed. You had wound up in a cramped space with Tech in the rush, not even managing a snarky remark as you normally would do in your haste. It almost as though Tech took up most of the space, his lanky legs bumping into your knees when the shuttle jostled. In the panic of leaving the Republic cruiser, you heard Tech swear quietly under his breath as he attempted to maintain control of the pod, only for it to sputter out within a few minutes, leaving you two to wander into orbit of a nearby moon. With a deep inhale, Tech’s hands clenched and unclenched as he tried to bring it back online, only to fail once more,
“It seems all the escape pods have been sabotaged.” His voice almost sounded hollow at the realization. You hoped, and Tech likely had the same sentiment, that his brothers were alright. The back of your head met with the hull of the pod as you closed your eyes,
“Can we at least get onto the moon so we aren’t stuck in space?” Sitting down across from you, he pulled out his data pad before coming to his own conclusion,
“It seems the velocity of which we left the cruiser is just enough to get us into the atmosphere. It will be a risky landing, but nothing that hasn’t been done before.” Tech shoved the visor of his helmet up as you nodded at his statement. Hopefully someone would have sent out a distress signal to the Republic by now to get some help. You sagged back down in your seat as you mind ebbed and flowed with differing thoughts of how this could potentially play out,
“The moon is hospitable, right?” The man before you raised his eyebrows in thought,
“If I’m correct about which moon it is, then it should be fine, save for a few minor issues we may run into. However it is highly unlikely we will be there long so it shouldn’t be a problem.” Okay, so that was decent at least.
You are going to get out of this, it might take some waiting, but that’s all everything has become in the last few years, hasn’t it? The war, your long awaited return to home, the men who you’ve patched together who are merely grasping to the string of life, this shitty mission. You opened your mouth to say something reassuring to Tech, but instead a small noise was jerked out of you as the pod jolted heavily, the transparisteel glowing with the intensity of entering the atmosphere. Over the noise of the straining pod, Tech said something that you couldn’t quite discern as you white knuckled your seat. The metal around you groaned as it warmed, sweat beading down your neck with it. Each time the pod rattled it left your heart to beat mercilessly in your chest, mouth drying as you screwed your eyes shut in an effort to calm yourself no matter how fruitless it seemed.
The heat only eased up when the pod finally dropped through to the inner atmosphere, leaving the both of you in a free fall that made your limbs feel as though they had turned into jelly. The next mistake you made was opening up your eyes to see the ground hurtling at you at quite the alarming speed. It was too fast, the grey of the dirt below coming up far too soon than what it should be. But all that you could do was scrunch yourself back together and brace for what was to come. Before you could do so though, you felt something shove your foot. You glanced down to see a familiar boot poking at you, was Tech really playing footsie now? But looking up, you only heard a few words coming from beneath his helmet. Unfortunately, due to your obscured vision you couldn't read his lips to see what he was saying, hopefully something to quell your anxiety. His eyes squinted as he nodded, likely in an effort to show he was smiling a tad underneath, or grimacing, you couldn’t tell. Before you could react to him, the belt across your lap held taught as your entire body lurched horrendously. The last thing you registered was Tech’s body twisting in a rather ugly way before it all ceased to black, the back of your head colliding hard with the hull.
The first thing to come back to your senses was pain. Searing, hot pain. Hardly any noise left your mouth, throat dry as sand. The pounding in your head was insistent and made your vision fade to white when it became too much. Blinking, you lifted your head, wincing with the movement to look at your surroundings. Varying shades of grey and brown shifted around you, dust settling easily into crevices of the pod, light easily pouring into your half of the pod, right where the other half should be. It was almost as if someone dumped an ice cube down your shirt, the cold settling deep within your belly as you gazed at the torn hull. Somewhere in the back of your head, you hoped Tech was still alive, but after spending some time looking at the current state of things, it felt unlikely. With shaking hands, you undid your safety belt and make a small hop to the ground. Nausea overwhelmed you as you braced a hand on your seat, willing it to go away long enough to find Tech and hopefully get help.
“Tech?” Your voice sounded tinny and far away, as if it belonged to someone else. Squinting against the sun, you shuffled your way out of the mess, metal crunching under foot. The horizon was filled with large, jagged mountains that were devoid of the lush, green flora you were accustomed to on other planets. Off to your right, there was a plume of smoke that filled the air, gnarling upwards as if to taunt you with a possibility of hope. You swallowed your apprehension and followed the trail, slowly but surely. Though before you could get more than a few steps, you had to stop as bile crawled up your throat, burning it in the process. The rubble cut into your palms as you retched, the heaving twisting your stomach. Taking a slow breath, you spit the last of it before wiping your mouth with the back of your sleeve, stepping back up to your feet. Concussion, how fun. Not the worst thing you could have obtained, though. Tech...Tech. Right. Righting yourself, you continued on the path you had made for yourself earlier.
Having looked at the ground up close earlier, you noted there weren’t any signs of fauna. No foot tracks, no unnatural disturbances, nothing. The cool air shifted around you, skittering some small sand patches with it. Your feet ached, the trek being longer than you had originally anticipated. Would anyone know you were here? Nobody else seemed to have landed here following the incident. If they had, the noise would have filled the looming silence that deafened your ears, the only sound coming from your panting breath and shifting feet. Ahead of you, the bottom of the sun dipped into the edges of the horizon. Shivers prickled your skin, you had to hurry now.
Finally reaching the peak of which the smoke emanated just below, you peeked out to find the remains of the other half of the pod. Your heart lurched into your throat, the poor thing looked as if it was crumpled into a lazy ball of metal. Throat raw, you managed to scratch out a quiet call,
“Tech? Are you here?” Silence greeted you once more, only making the knot in your chest tighten more and more as you skidded down the gravel slope to the edge of the pod. As you peered into the mouth of the metal beast, you heard a faint rasp,
“Tech?” You called out, eyes blinking to adjust to the lack of light.
“-ere...I’m here--” Deep within, there was a section of the cockpit panel and underneath, was the familiar bucket head that you had grown so attached to. With a gasp, you couldn’t stop yourself from running to him, crouching by his side and gripping his helmet within your hands.
“Tech, oh maker, I thought you were dead!” With a sag of his shoulders, Tech leaned into your embrace.
“No, just stuck I’m afraid.” Looking back, only Tech’s legs were encased by the panel. Tapping his shoulder, you stood once more, trying to figure out how to get him out. “I’ve tried, it’s too heavy. I don’t think you can get me out either.” You glanced back at him,
“I’m going to try anyway--even if you think it’s not going to work.” Tech’s head just flopped back down, his hands making a similar motion as if to say ‘I give up’. Looking back at the mess, there were some scraps of metal underneath and it appeared that the panel was somewhat still attached to the wall. Maybe…
You set to work at pulling at random pieces beneath Tech’s legs. At the movement, Tech peered over to your motions, quirking an eyebrow. Steadily, piece after piece, Tech’s legs gained more freedom as you worked. At some point, he sat up and pulled at them, being able to wiggle them some. At that, he started pulling at the pieces closer to his thighs, managing after a few moments to pull one of them free with a groan. Standing, you stepped behind Tech to grip beneath his arms to pull the rest of him out. However, as soon as you started to put your weight into it, Tech let out a strangled cry,
“Stop, stop, stop!” He gritted his teeth through hurried breaths, “I think that one might be broken. I-I couldn’t feel it underneath all of that, but--” Tech gave an exasperated sigh, “Maybe if we pulled it out the other direction?” He gestured towards the open end that you had dug out,
“Sure, but please let me know if it starts to hurt more than you can tolerate.” He gave you a curt nod as you stepped past him, crouching by the panel to sneak a hand underneath. Deeper under the panel, your hand came into contact with something warm, sticky, and wet. The grimace on Tech’s face told you this was what you were looking for. You tried to not think about the damage that he might have sustained. With a shuddered inhale, you gripped at the tactical pants and gently tugged until it gave way, Tech trying to mask his cries of pain as you continued until the remainder of his leg slid out. Looking at his now exposed leg, your stomach flipped. The plastoid armor was caked in a muddied mess of his blood and the ash that had settled, only causing your fingers to slip clumsily as you undid the greave. Making sure Tech’s head was thrown back as he recovered from the intense motion, you took it off and saw that his tibia was peaking through just below his knee. The color from your face drained as you took in the injury. Moving with haste, you pulled off your top layer shirt and started to wrap it around his shin. Knowing Tech, he would also know what a break like that meant, and all you wanted to do was keep him calm until further assistance was available.
“How bad is it?” Tech was continuing to look up at the gaps in the hull above him, though it sounded as if he already knew,
“Not the worst I’ve seen. Definitely a break though, I just wanted to help keep it steady.” You gave him a weak smile, even if he wasn’t looking in your direction. Unfortunately with a compound fracture, there was a high chance of infection and with an infection in the bone...You shook your head to keep it from going down that road. Tech rubbed at the front of his helmet, bringing himself to sit upright and scooting over to where you are,
“We better head out and find more suitable shelter. This won’t last with the acid rain storms that frequent this area of the moon.” All you could bring yourself to do was nod in agreement and situate yourself under his left arm to give him the support he needed to hobble out of the wreckage. As Tech settled his weight onto your shoulder, your body bowed slightly under the strain of it,
“Maker, Tech, what do they feed you at home?” He rolled his eyes,
“Nothing much better than the rations we should have out here.” Rations. Your limbs froze. It had almost completely forgotten about that, your stomach having stopped crying for food a few hours ago.
“Tech, did you not have any rations in your half of the pod?” He hesitated,
“No, I suspected they had remained in your half.” The blood in your veins froze,
“No. The only thing that survived in my half was a few seats and the port.” Your voice tapered towards the end of your sentence, “Someone had to have sent a distress signal, I’m sure we’ll be found in a rotation.” Tech said nothing at that, clearly deep in thought. The only thing that interrupted his pondering was a deep rumbling that filled the atmosphere.
“Let’s keep moving, I’d rather not be in here when it starts to rain.” Shuffling with Tech on your side, the two of you managed to return to the surface from the depths of the pod. The sky above you had darkened into a deep charcoal, the rumbling continuing to grow deeper in sound as it reverberated within your bones. With a sense of desperation, you stepped quickly together, skirted the edge of a mountain, looking for an opening in which you could temporarily reside. With the combination of focusing on finding an entrance and supporting Tech, you almost didn’t notice a distant hiss.
“We need to hurry, now.” He frantically ground out, trying to gain some speed on one leg.
It was quiet, in the beginning, but before long you felt a light patter on your shoulders and back. The rain continued to pick up in pace, the drops spattering onto yourself and Tech. As it slowly ate through your layers, you felt the pins of heat from where it had landed on you. Tech shuffled forward faster and soon you were almost in a slow jog, finally pushing yourselves into a shallow overhang that was just barely a shelf into the side of the mountain. Settling Tech down as softly as you could, you followed suit and slumped up against the wall, rocks jabbing into your back. Studying at your clothes, you found little holes in which the rain had eaten through to bite at your delicate skin. The rain outside had turned into a steady downpour, the roaring of the water hitting the ground taking the place of the silence that had been plaguing you for so long. The sky had long turned into an inky black, clouding out any starlight that would have been. Neither yourself or Tech made any sound as you observed the environment slowly melting before you. Tucking your legs in closer, you rested your chin on your knees as you tried to keep warm, the rain and sun having made the worst possible combination for any chance of heat. You clenched your jaw to keep it from chattering, but it only did so much as the shivers wracked your body. Would it be too much to ask Tech to offer up himself to keep you warm? Probably, you didn’t want to impede on his personal boundaries so you kept quiet. Unfortunately, Tech was a keen observer,
“Come here,” Tech nodded his head in a ‘come hither’ motion, but when you furrowed your brow at him, he just gave a sigh and shook his head, “Your body temperature is dropping below what is adequate. We can share our body heat in order to keep warm for the night.”
“It’s not that bad, I’ll be fine.” Tech pulled off his helmet and gave you a rightfully stern look,
“I know how inhospitable this moon is, it’s just going to get colder. So for both your health and mine, please, come over here.” His words softened as he finished. He was just concerned, likely had no other feelings towards it. Sure. With a resigned sigh, you got up and came over to Tech’s side, curling into him and resting your chin on his pauldron. Even through his armor, his body heat radiated out and eased your chill. At least enough that it had lulled you into an easy sleep.
The next morning, or what you had thought was morning, was not any better. The downpour had continued, perhaps even harder than what it had been the previous night. Shifting, you chance a look at Tech’s face. The lines that were usually hard were softened in his rest, breaths coming in shallow puffs. His skin had paled more than you had ever seen it before. You glanced once more towards his temporary ‘tourniquet’ situation. The blood had dried over the surface of your shirt, your hand creeping softly towards the edge of it. You looked once more to ensure he was still asleep, you unraveled the shirt to reveal the fracture. The skin around the protruding bone had turned swollen with a dark purple tint, your heart stopping at the sight. With gentle fingers, you retied the shirt and lay back against Tech. Tears pricked at your eyes, rubbing at them hard with the heels of your palms to try and subside them for later. You can’t get desperate just yet, just hold out for a little longer. You hoped deep down Tech could hold on for much longer.
Instead, your poor stomach just wailed in pangs. To distract yourself from the pain, you thought back on your favorite memories of the last few years. Back on last Life Day, how you had surprised the Bad Batch with treats you made yourself within the confines of your GAR supplied dinky apartment. A disturbance at your side withdrew you from your thoughts,
“You sleep okay?” Your voice rasped in the early morning. Tech blinked lazily as he slowly brought himself back to the waking world,
“It was fine. You looked like you were thinking very intensely though.” Your lips turned up at that,
“I was just thinking about last Life Day.”
“The one where Wrecker ate half of the cupcakes you made?” You giggled at the memory,
“Yeah, I don’t think Crosshair was particularly pleased about that.” Tech shook his head faintly,
“I don’t think anyone was--such a disappointment too, they were rather delicious.” At that, your cheeks burned a deep rose color. Though you knew they were good, it was different hearing it come from Tech. The smile faded on your face though as your mind wandered back to the rest of the Batch,
“Do you think they’re okay?” His voice was quieter as he responded, slow in his consideration of his choice of words,
“I think they were well prepared to deal with what obstacles they were presented with.” The silence that followed Tech’s last sentence weighed heavily on the both of you. Something told you it bothered him deep down to think of their potential demise.
“I think Echo would miss having you around to pick on.”
“You make it sound like we’re dead already.” Tech’s voice was quiet. A heaviness had settled in your chest. The phrasing had been unintentional, but the sentiment was apparent nonetheless.
“Do you think we’re going to make it back?” The only thing you listened to was Tech’s slow heartbeat that faintly pulsed under your fingers.
“I don’t know. I wasn’t able to reach anyone before you found me.” You pursed your lips as you gazed out into the drizzle outside. Thankfully it had let up some and finally some sun was now peeking out, high in the sky. Noticing the rain had stopped, Tech brought himself up to his full height, leaning onto the cave wall for support. You had followed in his steps, both to see what he was doing and to ensure that if he fell over, it wouldn’t be as bad. He hobbled over to the mouth and poked his head out to look upwards,
“I had been wondering if we would be able to spot any large rescue cruisers from down here if the rain had stopped. It seems I was wrong.” His mouth hardened into a line as he adjusted his glasses,
“Tech?” He swiveled slightly to look back at you, a little shriveled from the cold and wet,
“Yes?” The bright daylight warmed his complexion and softened his honey eyes,
“If--if we don’t make it out of this, I just want to get something off my chest. I’ve known you for what feels like forever and--and I love you. I’ve loved you so much these last few years and I know you may not reciprocate those feelings, but I just wanted to say it while I had the chance.” Tech studied your face for what felt like forever before rubbing the back of his neck,
“I’m glad to have known you, glad to have you as a field medic when you can. I don’t think I’ve loved anyone with such abandon as I did with you and I didn’t even realize I was doing it.” He kept his eyes down, a familiar warmth spreading up over his ears, “It was as easy as breathing and perhaps I should have said something to you sooner.” A laugh bubbled out of you, from both nervousness and happiness, Tech’s head snapping back up at you,
“I’m glad because then I can do this--” With one hand, you cupped his cool cheek and stood up on your tiptoes to chase his lips into a soft kiss. His free hand came up to support the back of your head, fingers nestling into your hair as he bent down to meet you halfway. It was brief and over all too soon, however Tech was getting sore from standing for so long, exhaustion drawing him to sit with you once more. You settled into the crook of his body, entangling your fingers in his own.
“I think for next Life Day I’m going to make cookies instead, so everyone can have plenty and I can make a batch all for Wrecker.”
“I’m sure he will be quite pleased with that gesture.” You hummed in agreement, time passing easily as you talked about potential Life Day shenanigans that would likely ensue. Tech shared some of his own stories when he was just a young clone cadet and would get picked on by Hunter or Crosshair for doing “something they considered as odd.”
“Well that’s just plain rude.”
“They were just children, they didn’t know better.”
“If they had been my kids they would have known better.” Tech gave a short snort at that, mumbling something sarcastic under his breath, closing his eyes as he settled his chin on top of your head. In a few brief moments of silence, you once again fell into a deep sleep that left you faintly aware of the quiet beating of Tech’s heart.
When you awoke, it was dark with only pinpricks of light from the stars above with something off in the distance. Blinking awake, you strained to hear what the noise was. Following it were frantic beams of light waving around. Widening your eyes, you came to the realization that it was a search party. They were coming for you and Tech! You felt your stress melt away as you turned back to the sleeping body beside you, resting your hand on his pauldron to lightly shake him awake. The plastoid was cold against your hand,
“Tech--Tech!” You hissed-whispered to him, “We’re found, we can go home!” However, there was no response. “Tech, get up. We have to go home.” His relaxed face neglected to move, even as you placed a palm to his pale cheek, his skin just as cold as his armor. Your vision blurred as you tried to shake him awake yet again, “No, no, no, no…” This couldn’t be real, he was just asleep. Behind you, there was some vague yelling, a human grasping your shoulder, pulling you away from Tech even as you cried out and thrashed to be with him, still. You wailed as they carried your frail frame back to the rescue ship they had landed on the moon with, watching as they covered Tech with a white sheet and carried him out.
After your tears had left you dry, a hollowness took place of it. The deep bruises beneath your eyes never truly going away as you traveled back home. Once you met back up with the rest of the Bad Batch, they had known after just seeing your grim face. At the very least, they embraced your grief with their own, not letting you feel alone in your despair. Maybe, in the next lifetime, Tech will be awaiting for you there.