Chapter Text
Rex was running.
He was on some dingy backwater planet and had way too many of his former brothers on his ass for a middle of nowhere planet like this. Rex had been laying low, the emerging Empire had started an intense manhunt for any unchipped clones and were offering an incredibly high reward for any and all information about any spotted rogue clones. Public opinion towards the clones had never been good, so many were more than happy to hunt clones for the chance of money.
Rex had been on a lovely plot of land where no one would bother him and so long as he didn’t wear his armor when he did talk to others, no one could tell he was a clone.
It had been fine until he got an anonymous tip that the Empire were onto a clone, and a high ranking one too. Rex had foolishly thought he could save them, even if it was a trap, and it probably was. But he couldn’t shake the hope that he could save a brother, and the possibility that the mystery high ranking clone was someone he was close to, like Fox, Wolffe, any of his Ori’vod, and maybe even Cody , well, Rex had to try.
So Rex packed up his few belongings and found passage to the planet he was tipped off to. Disguised as an old farmer who needed tinted glasses to see and a respirator so his face was hidden.
It had been a trap, Rex went to the location and scoped it out, there were dozens of his brothers in the building, but they were chipped. They all had unmarked armor, blank faces, and walked with the robotic gait that saddened Rex to his core.
He had been prepared to turn around and sneak off but before he could he had been suddenly surrounded by his brothers, their blasters trained on him and definitely not set to stun.
As fast as he could Rex had shot up from his crouch and stunned the two in the way of his escape and took off across the roofs, dodging blaster bolts and whatever obstacles that littered the rooftops.
Leaping over an alley a blaster bolt had caught him in the leg and he fell short and slammed into the wall. His pursuers' footsteps had been drawing closer and rather than trying to scramble back onto the roof he had made the tactical decision to drop down below and escape that way.
He had released his grip from the roof and slid as far down the wall as he could before gravity took his body and dropped him onto a stalls overhang. The fabric ripped and had fallen out beneath him and Rex had crashed to the ground, luckily landing on something almost soft.
He had landed on bags of garbage which had been disgusting but at least he hadn’t broken anything. Groaning and climbing up, Rex had pulled the hood of his farmer's cloak over his head and looked around to get his bearings.
The alley he was in was a dead end, that side of the alley had a few doors to inside buildings tucked into the walls and clothing lines and strings of flickering lights hung above, to the other side it opened to a grimy and crowded street, street vendors sold their wares and so many different crimes were transpiring that Fox would have rather short himself than have to deal with.
Thinking about his Ori’vod had reminded Rex what he was doing and he turned to slink into the street, hunching over himself and not bothering to wipe some of the less offensive trash off him.
Before he could step away and vanish out of sight a hand struck out and gripped his arm. Reflexively, Rex twisted using a move from ARC training to break his attacker's grip. The assailant had somehow been expecting it though, and followed the movement and their grip held strong.
Rex twisted his wrist so he could grab the one latched on his and swung a right hook with his free hand. His attacker blocked it but had to let go of Rex’s wrist to free their own and tried to land a jab in his stomach. Rex jumped back and settled into a ready stance, his attacker doing the same.
They started to circle each other, and what followed felt exactly like sparring with his Ori’vod, but this time his sparring partner actually wanted to hurt him.
He had had the upper hand over his attacker when they used a move that Rex had never expected to see again, much less have it used on him.
It was something that Alpha-17 had taught the CCs, one that Alpha had learned from Prime himself. Some of the CCs that had learned, and mastered, the move were the clones in the squad that had rescued slash kidnapped him when he was a cadet.
The realization had stopped him and the attacker, who Rex was sure was a vode, swept his legs out from beneath him and pinned him to the ground.
With the air punched out of him he laid gasping for air with an arm pressed against his windpipe and a knee painfully jabbing him in the kidney.
The man, because that's what he was, gasped.
Rex’s hood had fallen back and his face was exposed.
“Rex’ika?”
Wow, it really had been so long since he’d last been called that.
Rex could only make a pained wheeze but he had felt hope swelling deep in his chest.
Quickly the knee and arm left his body and his apparent brother had helped him sit up.
Coughing Rex had choked out, “who?”
The mask that had been hiding his face was quickly ripped off and Rex was face to face with his own face.
A little older, wrinkles where Rex had yet to develop them, temples grayer than any clone should have been.
“ Fox- ” Rex gasped
“Hey Rex’ika.”
Rex had proceeded to sit there crying into his brother's arms like a tubie for the next 5 minutes, Fox holding him close and comforting him about as well as he always had for the whole time. Still, his brother's awkwardness with feelings had just reassured Rex more that this was real, that his brother was really there.
“How?” Rex choked out, the tears finally slowing.
“How what?”
“The chips,” Rex desperately asked, awareness returning, “how are you here and not being controlled?”
“Rex, I’ll explain later, we need to get out of here.” Fox had said
“No!” Rex pushed away from Fox, standing up and reaching for one of his DCs, “how do I know you’re not with the empire, how do I know this isn’t a trap?”
“Calm down vod’ika, look,” Fox had held his hands up and used one to push back his hood and turned his head to the side.
There on the side of his head there was an imperceptible scar, the same one Rex had.
Rex sighed and relaxed as much as he could allow, there was still the time for something to go wrong, it just wouldn’t be because of Fox.
“I have a place, we need to get out of the open, okay?” Fox asked
“Yeah, okay.”
“Come on vod, Wolffe’ll be happy to see you.”