You: Know Why I Called You In Here?

You: Know why I called you in here?

Wrecker: Errmm… because… I accidentally sent you a dick pic.

You: *Stop pouring two glasses of wine and inconspicuously reach for your sweater to cover up.* Accidentally?

did somebody say old man wrecker!!!!!

Dark Corners and Shadowed Halls

Relationships: Crosshair & Hunter & Tech & Wrecker

Content Warnings: None

Summary:

As cadets, the Batch watch a horror holovid together. They are definitively not scared of it. If they're unable to sleep after, there must be some other reason.

Written for @summer-of-bad-batch Week 4: Cadets

Reading the first chapter of @sadiecoocoo's fic The Shadows Are Coming got me thinking about the Bad Batch and horror, and I ended up here. I highly recommend reading the first chapter of her fic if you like horror!

Word count: 1,884

Read on Ao3

The holovid hadn't been scary, so obviously Wrecker wasn't scared. They'd heard about if from some regs. They'd been scared, even if they were older, but Crosshair said that's just because they're regs. But it sounded fun, and proving to themselves that they were better than the older clones they'd heard about it from was even more reason to watch it. Tech had no difficulty finding it for them of course, as he often finds things for them to watch or read. He's the smartest clone by far, but Wrecker thinks he might even be the smartest person in existence. They huddled close to watch the hologram projected by a device Tech probably isn't permitted to have. Wrecker loves it when they do that. He gets to hug his brothers, all whilst being at the perfect range to annoy them with jokes and commentary about what they're watching. The holovid was fun, and predictably, not scary at all. But Wrecker can't sleep. His growing pains are mild today, so he should really be able to sleep. It's not like he's scared of the holovid, so it must be the storm keeping him awake. Lighting flashes outside their window, casting long shadows across their barracks. Wrecker bolts upright. Is someone standing against the far wall, near the door? Heart beating against his ribs, Wrecker grasps Lula tightly. It was too tall to be his brothers. It can't be one of those things, those monsters, from the holovid. They're not real. But it looked like one. The room is illuminated again. Wrecker hates how many far too dark corners there is in their barracks, all perfect places to conceal one of those things. Wrecker pulls his blanket up to his chin. He's not scared, but he has to check on his brothers. Just to make sure. But he can't call out to them. What if there really is something in the room with them, and he alerts it? Blanket wrapped around his shoulders, Lula in hand, Wrecker inches to the edge of his bunk. It feels like there are eyes on him from every dark corner of the room.

The first step across the cold floor he takes is slow, but then his mind conjures images of hands grabbing at his leg and he speeds up. Crosshair's bunk is empty, so Wrecker has to cross the room. He's almost running by the time something catches his leg and he's sent sprawling across the floor, tangled in the blanket he's carrying. Wrecker panics. He won't let anything grab him! Flailing and tripping over the blanket and his own feet, he gets to Hunter's bunk, immediately hopping up onto it. Next to Hunter, Crosshair is there already too. Their eyes are wide. "Want- Wanted to check on you." Wrecker says, out of breath. His heart feels like it might just leap out of his chest. "Did you have to be so loud about it?" Crosshair snaps, tremble in his voice. "Didn't do it on purpose! I tripped!" Wrecker omits the part where he thought something grabbed him. A figure appearing at Hunters bunk makes them all flinch. Wrecker's back hits the wall as he moves away with a yelp. It's just Tech. "Who made that noise?" He looks very serious, goggles hastily pulled on his face judging by how crooked they sit. "I tripped." Wrecker mutters, rubbing at his sore knees. The fact that he fell flat on his face hurts more than the bruises. Tech hums, climbing into Hunter's bed too. He squeezes himself between Wrecker and Hunter. "To set things straight, I am most certainly not frightened of the holovid we watched." Tech states. "That would be irrational." Wrecker, Crosshair and Hunter second the statement, even if all four of them are trembling slightly. When Wrecker takes both his younger and his older brothers hands, neither Crosshair, nor Tech deny him. "The regs were just being silly, letting a holovid scare them, but that couldn't actually happen, right?" Wrecker asks, clearly directed at Tech. They all go to him for answers, even Hunter, and he's the oldest. "A illness that that can change people, even when they're dead?" "Hypothetically, making a virus with those capabilities could be possible. There are species of fungus that do something similar." As not frightened as Wrecker is, Tech's answer still makes him gasp. "Not here on Kamino, right?" Hunter asks, leaning forwards. "They wouldn't make something like that..." The holovid said the virus was made in a lab, and practically half of Tipoca City is labs. Wrecker squishes Lula to his chest. There was a part in the holovid that played in a lab that was out of power, dark an silent. There was a lot of bodies in those bits. "They wouldn't." Tech doesn't sound sure. Wrecker swallows dryly, pulling his brothers closer. He always sweats at night, so Wrecker's thirsty, but the prospect of getting up and looking for his canteen isn't very appealing.

They stare out into the dark together, huddled closely.

“You see anything, Cross?” Wrecker asks, squeezing his little brother's hand.

“Nothing.” Crosshair says. Wrecker watches as his pupils flick about the room. With his enhanced eyesight, Crosshair can see far better in the dark than any human.

The shadows shouldn't bother Wrecker as much, now that Crosshair's confirmed he can't see anything. But Crosshair looks far too unsure for Wrecker's liking.

“We could beat them easily.” Crosshair mutters, pulling the hand linked with Wrecker's close to his chest. It's clear he means the monsters from the holovid.

“Some of the characters were soldiers too, Crosshair.” Tech says.

“Yeah, but they weren't enhanced.” Wrecker doesn't want to think about Tech's statement more than he has to. Almost none of the characters survived the holovid.

They go silent again.

“How'd they do all the effects?” Hunter asks. There was fire at some point, but Wrecker knows Hunter is referring to the way the monsters looked and the gory ways characters died.

“The holovid was entirely made with rather low budget practical effects.” Tech says. Of course he looked this up already. “That's why everything looks so-”

“Fleshy?” Crosshair interrupts. The word invokes the scene were a character is shown being torn apart and eaten in graphic detail. Wrecker shudders, but definitively not because he thought the scene was frighting.

“Precisely.” Tech says.

After a few seconds, Hunter wiggles free of the huddled group and gets off the bunk. “I'm going to the refresher.” Hunter says, voice wavering.

“Alone?” Tech asks.

Hunter swallows, looking around. “We should all go together.” It almost sounds like a question.

Wrecker nods. He doesn't want to get out of Hunter's bunk, but Hunter leaving their barracks alone wouldn't feel right. They should stick together. What if he runs into some regs?

Leaving their barracks, following behind each other closely, Wrecker regrets not taking Lula with him, even if he doesn't like taking her out of their personal space. Instead, he clutches his now empty canteen tightly.

Tipoca City's lights function with sensors, so they aren't walking in the dark. But the halls in front of them, sensors not yet activated, those remain pitch black. Wrecker squints to sharpen what he sees in the dark, unable to make anything out.

Besides Hunter making them stop a few times so he can listen to their surroundings, they get to the closest refresher without any issue. They're alone, thankfully. Regs is the last thing they need right now.

After they've all finished, and Wrecker's refiled his canteen and drunk from the tap, spilling some water on his shirt in the process, they head back to their barracks. Wrecker is calmer now, certain they won't stumble upon anything unwanted on the way.

Hunter stops them again occasionally. The first time, it's just a precaution, but the second, Hunter's breath hitches.

“Someone's walking towards us.” He whispers. Despite having had water, Wrecker's mouth feels dry. He grabs the back of Hunter's shirt, pulling his closer to the wall.

They can't see what's approaching them, they're standing near a branch in the corridor. Wrecker doesn't dare breath as they wait. What if it really is one of those monsters from the holovid?

Wrecker can hear the footsteps too now, far too loud as they grow closer. They should have armed themselves with something. Wrecker gears up to throw his canteen at whatever is about to come around the corner.

Swiftly, a tall figure turns into their corridor. Without hesitating, Wrecker throws his canteen. The figure dodges, canteen clattering loudly across the white floor.

“What the kark is your problem?” The figure, a human with straight brown hair shouts, making Wrecker flinch. She must be one of the bounty hunter trainers, going by the way she's dressed.

“Sorry.” Wrecker mutters. He's not sure the bounty hunter hears it. She's already turned around to pick up Wrecker's canteen. She throws it back.

The canteen hits the wall between Wrecker and Crosshair's heads, force of the throw knocking the lid off it and splashing them both with water. Wrecker repeats his apology.

The bounty hunter takes a step towards them, disapproving expression on her face. Wrecker looks at his shoes. He knows better than to provoke a trainer that's already mad at him.

“Aren't you supposed to be asleep?” Her words sound almost slurred.

“We were using the refresher.” Wrecker's thankful for Hunter taking the initiative. It's not just the fact that he'd the oldest that makes him their leader.

“And do you have to do that in a group of...” The bounty hunter pauses for a long time. “four?”

When none of them answer, not really having anything to justify their actions, The bounty hunter groans.

“Fine, don't answer! I don't kriffing care what your reason is.” She walks off, turning to look at them a final time. “I'll be watching you.”

Wrecker's heart beats furiously as he shares a look with his brothers. He scoops up his now dented and empty canteen. Wrecker should just be grateful it didn't hit him in the face, but the bent metal still makes him a little sad.

Mind on the confrontation with the bounty hunter, Wrecker doesn't think of the holovid until they're in their barracks. Then, the unease of being surrounded by shadows returns. Walking a little too fast, Wrecker beelines for Hunter's bunk.

Not a word exchanged, they all get comfortable in Hunter's bunk, sharing blankets as well as Lula. It's Crosshair that starts another conversation, asking about a specific effect in the holovid, where one of the monsters is cut in half by a closing door.

Wrecker doesn't plan to fall asleep whilst Tech tells them more about the process of making the holovid. He wants to know what Tech has to says, but even more so, he wants to stay awake to keep an eye on his brothers. But at some point, his eyes drift closed.

Next think he knows, Wrecker wakes to Tech's loud snoring and one of his brother's limbs digging uncomfortably into his back. Whilst the weather on Kamino is rarely good, it's brighter during the day.

Most importantly, the shadows are a whole lot less threatening. And even if they were, it's not like the holovid was scary, so Wrecker wouldn't be scared.

My favorite part of Episode 8: Wrecker getting snippy with Fennec Shand. 😂 Loved that he got more screen time and dialogue.

*originals below the cut

**forgoing taglist for spoiler reasons