Plan 99 - Tumblr Posts
probably 5 months ago I saw an edit of plan 99 to 'o children' by nick cave and the bad seeds and I have not known peace since. I think about it everyday.
"Have you left a seat for me? Is that such a stretch of the imagination? Hey little train, wait for me, was held in chains, but now I'm free, I'm hanging in there, don't you see? in this process of elimination"
like omg when will the torment end
Febuwhump Day 11: Time Loop
Fandom: The Bad Batch
Summary: Hunter keeps reliving the day Tech died and Omega was taken, desperately trying to stop it from happening.
Walking up was something Hunter didn't want to do. When he awoke he would have to face the fact that Tech was dead and Omega was gone. He grabbed his blanket and pulled it closer to him. Hoping that Echo and Wrecker wouldn't notice, he pulled the thin blanket to his face and dried his tears. He didn't have the time to cry or to lie still.
Getting up, Hunter looked around. Echo must have cleaned up. He swung his legs over the end of his bunk and stood up. Echo's bed had been made and so had Wrecker's, even though he never made it. Tech's bed had also been made. Resting a hand on the medal of his bunk, Hi ter thought that Echo must have made his as well.
Then he heard it, Tech talking to Echo. Hunter stepped back. That wasn't possible. Had it all been a dream? The pain felt so real.
Omega walked up to Hunter. "You looked tired so we got you go lay down. How are you feeling?" He didn't say anything. Instead he picked
But things started to fall into place for those hellish days to happen. When Hunter realized they were going to Eriadu his heart sank. But that couldn't be right. That horrible day had been a dream, right?
A few hours later Tech was hanging off the side of the rail car. "When have we ever followed orders?" He had sighed before shooting the only piece of metal that connected the cars.
This time, instead of silents, Hunter called out for him. Almost immediately afterwards, he grabbed a hold of Omega, pulling her close to try to protect her.
But they still ended up on Ord Mantell. Hunter was the one who required AZ to heal him. He was unconscious, making him unable to tell them about Cid's betrayal. It felt he was defenseless this time. As she was taken away, he still tried to follow her. It didn't matter, she was still gone.
Then he woke up. Again.
This time he would do it right. That's what Hunter had told himself at least. Trying to find a way to convince Saw Gerrera and his extremist to stop their attack, to wait just long enough for them to leave. But that didn't work.
"Tech, we will find another way!" Hunter yelled as he claimed to the top of the rail car.
"There is no other way, Hunter." Tech continued to follow what seemed to be his destiny.
"When have we ever followed orders?" Again he shot the metal that connected the two cars. Again Hunter grabbed Omega. He moved to a different place in the car.
Then he woke up on the Marauder. "Hunter, how are you feeling?" Echo asked.
"I'm fine. Where's-" Hunter tried to sit up but couldn't. It hurt too much to move. "Where's Omega?"
Wrecker walked into the room. He looked worried.
"Hemlock has her." The man said.
Then he woke up. Hunter didn't move. Maybe if he didn't move, nothing would happen.
This time, Hunter killed Gerrera. Tech was stunned by his action but didn't say a word about it. However, the explosives still went off. Tech still went to the top of the rail car and he still called plan 99.
"When have we ever followed orders?" Hunter mouthed along with the words. He knew them all too well. It had been three times he had gone through this after all.
There had to be a way to stop this. Why else would he be stuck in a time lop like this? Was this a punishment for something he had done, for not saving them?
Shoving Omega to Wrecker, Hunter turned around. As the rail car hit the wall, Hunter fell unconscious. Unlike every other time, he woke back up on the Marauder at the beginning of the day.
"Oh" he whispered as he sat up. The man hadn't survived the crash. Hunter looked around. First he went to find the others. Grabbing Omega, he ok pulled her into a hug.
"Hey Hunter!" She said, excited for the random hug. It didn't happen often. "Are you okay?" Her joy faded in to concern.
"I'm okay." The man put down his daughter. "We'll be okay" he whispered.
"I know. I trust you."
Tears threatened to fall from his eyes. Hunter just smiled, "thank you." The girl didn't know know what he did. Hopefully she would never know that he knew.
It didn't matter what happened, nothing changed. "There is no time Wrecker" Not again. "Plan 99." Hunter started to tear up. He couldn't do this. The conversation was engraved in the clones head.
"Don't you do it Tech" Wrecker yelled. Hunter felt his mouth move to say something more.
"When have we ever followed orders?"
The rail car fell and Omega pulled in Hunter's arms, "go back, go back!"
The car crashed and Hunter grabbed Omega quickly. They still had to go to Ord Mantell, that stayed the same. Then she was fine, again.
Days went by, at least to Hunter. Over and over he watched as Tech sacrificed himself for his family. Then he would watch as Omega was taken from them. He was done.
"Wrecker, stay here." This was new. This was a plan he hadn't tried yet.
"What?! Why?" Wrecker droned.
"In case we need a pickup."
"Why me?" He winded
"You are the most likely to get us caught." Tech said as he walked.
"Okay." Sulking, Wrecker walked back in the ship.
As the mission went forward, Hunter grew nauseous. What if this didn't work? He would just have to find out.
When they boarded the rail car, everything seemed to be going as it had before. But this time, Hunter had already contacted their get-away driver.
There he was. Tech had gone to restore power to the rail car. Like every other time, he hung from the bottom of the car. "Echo, get Omega on the Marauder!" Hunter demanded.
Wrecker kept the ship steady as the two made their way on board. Hunter had his gun ready. With the two left in the car, Echo ran to man the guns. He started shooting down the empire's air support.
As the rail car creaked closer to falling, Hunter jumped on board. The car began to fall, Tech still dangling from below. The Sargent grabbed his gun and shot his brother with his safety line. He didn't expect the scream that would come from the end of the line clamping onto his brother's left arm and shoulder.
Pulling him up seemed to hurt more. Tech's shoulder was bleeding. It looked painful, the way the clamp dug into his skin. But either way, he was alive. That's all that mattered now.
Calling for one of his brothers, Hunter pulled Tech aboard. "You're gonna be okay Tech. We've got you."
"Thank you" Tech said shakily. "I- I can't move my arm right now."
"I know. We'll get you taken care of."
"We'll head to Ord Mantell for AZ. He can-" Omega started.
"No" Hunter interrupted. "There are doctors on Pabu. Someone there can help him. I-" he sighed, "don't trust Cid."
"We can't just leave Az" the girl protested.
"We won't. But right now we just need to take care of Tech. We can't do that if something happens on Ord Mantell." Omega looks like she wanted to say more but walked away to get Tech's bunk ready.
While Tech's recovery would be difficult, it was better than him becoming a memory. Maybe that was a little selfish. Maybe his arm wouldn't heal but he was alive. That was enough
After twelve attempts, everyone was alive. Tech was in a large amount of pain but he wasn't alone and dead at the bottom of the ravine. Omega may be mad at him but she wasn't taken by the empire. Hunter could fix that when he later sent Phee to pay their debts and to return Az.
It was over. The painful two weeks were over.
Very new here and still trying to figure this out but wrote a mini Bad Batch story to try and fill the gaps in my head. Some mentions of grief and loss. Takes place after Season 2 finale. Hope you enjoy.
Hope
Hunter sat in the pilot seat of the Marauder, staring at the hypnotizing blue swirls of hyperspace as his brother, Wrecker, snored loudly from the back of the ship. The hum of the engine, the random clinks and bangs that were ever present background noise a few weeks ago were now so pronounced Hunter would occasionally flinch.
Even so, it was too quiet. Echo had stayed with them for a week or two, but suggested that Rex and his network would be the best shot at Intel that could lead them to Omega. Hunter understood his reasoning but Omega’s words rang in his ears whenever he thought about it.
“…but he’s not here. We’re meant to be a squad”.
They weren’t much of a squad anymore. With Crosshair lost to imperial custody, Omega kidnapped (again), Echo off with Rex and Tech…
Hunter ran his hands through his hair and over his face, stubbornly wiping at the tears that had formed at the thought of his lost brother. He looked to the copilots’ seat to see Tech’s goggles, lifelessly staring back at him.
They hadn’t known what to do with them at first. Wrecker had spent the first two days gingerly cradling them as he moved about the ship. When he finally put them down, in the pilots chair the three of them paused in silent tribute. They had since been moved to the copilot’s seat, always on watch. They couldn’t stay there forever; they all knew that. But it was as good a place as any for now.
Hunter let out a sigh and heard Wrecker grunt and roll over on the bunk. He was unprepared for what was next. Had been all along really. There were no leads, he had no strategy, they were flying but he didn’t really know why or where. Echo’s comms were infrequent at best. Whatever he and Rex were up to, it was time consuming, and he couldn’t help feeling like Omega should be the priority. She had to be.
Hunter had this buzzing in his brain that got louder whenever he thought of Omega, especially the last few days. This was the longest they had been apart since they took her off Kamino. The Marauder seemed so lifeless without her, like every sun in the galaxy had shut off at once. He missed her giggle, and how she hovered too close as he practiced twirling his knife and the way her legs dangled from the gunner mount as she snuggled with Lula. He looked back through the ship to the tooka doll slumped under Omega’s chair.
They had stopped to gather supplies and every time desperately asked around as if by some miracle she had passed through.
“Have you seen a young girl, blonde hair, wide, bright, amber eyes”. They were always asked who she was to them, and Hunter always struggled to answer. She was the youngest member of their squad, their sister technically, but what she really was to him got caught in his throat. It was a word that clones didn’t use, had no use for really… Daughter. That’s what he wanted to say. “She is my daughter, our daughter” but how do you explain that? Besides, he knew it was useless. Omega was lost to Hemlock’s secret base. There would be no trace on some random planet. He knew that but it didn’t stop him asking, every time.
A button on the far side on the console trilled and Hunter leaned over and flicked it off more aggressively than was necessary. Echo should still be here. He thought glumly. If Echo were missing, Omega would stop at nothing to get him back. How could he leave her? Leave them?
Hunter stood up and kicked the console to his right. Sharp pain radiated from his foot and up his leg like electricity. Yeah, that’ll fix everything, he thought bitterly, a broken toe. He wanted to brake things. He wanted to rage. Where was a battle droid in need of dismembering when you wanted one? He closed his eyes and took a breath. He had to focus. He had to plan. There was no margin for error, or doubt, or pain. He had to push it all down and push all the fear away. Because that’s what it was. Fear.
He had lost Tech. That was on him. His plan, his squad, his loss. He was responsible. He had left Crosshair. That was on him too. What if he was dead now too? What if he never got a chance to make things right? Omega was taken from him, from them. She was a child. She was his responsibility, and he had failed her too.
There was nothing about war that scared him, had every scared him really. It’s what they were made for. He feared for his brothers’ safety from time to time but as the war went on and they pulled off one daring, insane mission after the next, even that didn’t cross his mind. Wrecker using his head as a battering ram, okay. Tech hacking a separatist ship when they were outnumbered thousands to one, sure. Crosshair taking out a Tactical droid for 12 clicks, easy. But since Kamino, since the Republic fell fear was gnawing at his chest and now. After everything that had happened, that feeling seemed like it would consume him completely. The crushing weight of the last few weeks, few years, came crashing down on to him.
His hands shook. His breath rattled deafeningly in his ears. Fat tears fell onto his bandaged arm and refused to stop. He didn’t know how long he stood there, hunched over the console, arm outstretched as though to catch him if he fell, as if he had any strength left.
Just when he thought he wouldn’t be able to catch his breath, just when he thought he would die from his despair and utter hopelessness, he felt a shovel sized hand grab his shoulder and pull him into a suffocating bearhug.
Even with enhanced hearing, Hunter hadn’t known Wrecker was there until he was on top of him. He was too consumed in his overwhelming grief to notice. His body was shutting down. He was giving up. Wrecker’s mountainous form engulfed him so completely he had to tap on his shoulder to get him to loosen his grip. Hunter wasn’t much of a hugger, but he didn’t try to pull back.
Wrecker pulled away when Hunter’s breathing started to return to normal and gave his brother two sharp claps on the shoulder blade.
“we’ll get ‘er back Hunta. We’ll get Cross back too.” he said earnestly. “it’s been days since you’ve slept. Why don’t you get some rest. I’ll keep an eye on things up here?”
Hunter steadied himself. His breath, his body, his mind. He gave his brother a curt nod, wiped his face on his uninjured arm and straightened his bandana over his forehead.
He wasn’t the type to lose control. There was always a way, there was always a plan, there was always…hope.
This is such an amazing story!!! Love it!
When You Wake
Written for the @summer-of-bad-batch prompts "Hold still" and "Don't avoid the question."
Hunter wonders what he will tell Omega after she wakes up from her injuries. Set during Plan 99. Angst, grief, overall sads. ~1895 words.
---
“Please, CT-9901. Hold still,” AZI said. Hunter knew the medical droid’s voice was meant to be soothing, but the words were like shattered transparisteel, tearing at his ears.
Hunter took a deep breath. Tried to listen to the droid. But his eyes kept darting to where Omega lay huddled limply on the bed, still unconscious. Wrecker sat at her bedside, trying to remain strong for her. But the brace around his neck, the slump of his shoulders, the raggedness of the rise and fall of his chest all showed he was barely doing better than she was.
“Why won’t she wake up?” Hunter asked in a hoarse voice as the droid continued placing a sturdy wrap around his chest.
“She will,” AZI said. “You must give her time. She experienced a concussion and pulmonary contusions. She will recover, but even with my care recovery is not instantaneous. All of your injuries are serious, and will take time to mend.”
Hunter bit his lip as the droid finished wrapping his chest. Between the extra support and the medication the droid had already given him, the pain was finally receding.
The physical pain, anyway.
Don’t think about him. Don’t think about the fall. Don’t --
“Am I good?” Hunter muttered.
“Yes, CT-9901. You will make a full recovery with appropriate rest. Would you like me to stay in here and continue monitoring Omega, or --”
“Go. Please.”
Hunter exhaled heavily. The droid had saved them; Hunter didn’t know what would have happened to Omega or Wrecker without AZI’s work, but Hunter couldn’t stand looking at him and his cheerful demeanor a moment longer.
“I will be waiting in the bar, should anything in her condition change.” The droid hovered out of sight, his servos buzzing and grating. Everything felt too loud right now, too sharp, too much.
Hunter stiffly got to his feet, resting a hand briefly on Wrecker’s back for support. Together they looked down at Omega, neither of them able to speak.
Hunter shuddered, remembering the sight and smell of her little cap, soaked through with blood. Luckily AZI had been able to stitch the wound in her scalp and clean her hair, though Hunter could still pick up a faint whiff of dried blood in the thick, close air of the back room.
How could she look so calm right now, like nothing had happened?
When everything had happened?
Wrecker painstakingly stood up, face twisting with effort. “Here. You -- you should sit with her. I’ll go.”
Hunter looked into his brother’s face, seeing puffy, reddened eyes. “But what do I say to her? When she wakes up?”
Wrecker shook his head, tears threatening again. “I don’t know. I can’t -- don’t -- don’t make me.” He grimaced, looking past Hunter as if seeing something far away. “She won’t wanna see me. I could’ve stopped him, Hunter -- I could’ve saved --”
Wrecker, get him up here!
Hunter reached out a trembling hand. Laid it on Wrecker’s shoulder. Shook his head. “No you couldn’t,” he said, voice dull and empty. “And neither could I.”
---
They’d talked about it once, days before their first mission.
Tech glowed. He scribbled his thoughts on the walls, plans a dozen times over, a manic burst of ideas. There were plans where Hunter infiltrated, where Wrecker smashed or exploded, where Tech used the Seppies’ own droids against them, where Crosshair set off a chain reaction with his mirrors. They strategized long into the night, nearly giddy with making up more plans: some of them insane, some of them just good clean fun blowing up clankers.
Until Crosshair swiped Tech’s datapad five hours past lights out, scrolling down idly and then looking puzzled. “You haven’t gone over this one. What’s Plan 99? There’s no details, nothing else, just the number.”
Tech grabbed it back. “Ah. It’s -- it’s nothing.”
“Tech, it’s always something with you,” said Hunter.
“Yeah. Don’t avoid the question,” Wrecker said, yawning. “Unless Plan 99’s going to bed an’ getting some shut-eye. These plans are fun, Tech, but I’m never gonna remember ‘em all.”
Tech frowned. “Very well. You recall 99, our fellow defective clone.”
“Old 99,” Wrecker said, his eyes going soft. “He was a hero.”
“He showed those regs a thing or two,” Crosshair said, nodding respectfully. “But what’s he got to do with our plans? He’s been gone a long time.”
Hunter sighed. “I think I know what it means.” He gave Tech a long look. “Self-sacrifice, is it?”
Tech nodded. “We are soldiers and clones. Statistically speaking, it is highly unlikely that we will die of old age. I had thought that discussing it now might bring down the mood, so to speak, so I had not mentioned it before.” He looked around at them, the smiles from a few minutes ago all faded. “I see I was correct.”
“You all can be emotional about it if you want,” Crosshair scoffed. “But I wouldn’t miss any of you.”
“Bantha shit,” Wrecker said, punching Crosshair in the shoulder. Crosshair winced, rubbing his shoulder hard and scowling. “You’d miss me the most, and you know it!”
“That is irrelevant, if the mission requires it,” Tech said. “As it well may, in service of the greater good.”
“Look, Tech, don’t tell me the odds,” Hunter said. “Let’s just do our best to get through the war. This squad is something special. The regs might call it being defective, but I call it being better. That’s how we’re gonna get through this war -- being better together. So that means Plan 99 should only be the ultimate last resort. Understood?”
“Understood,” Wrecker and Crosshair said.
“Of course,” Tech agreed, blinking and adjusting his goggles. “I have no desire to implement Plan 99. It is only that it is a possibility that must be considered.”
---
A possibility.
An eventuality.
Hunter sat in the chair, his skin crawling, his mind blank hissing static.
Omega still lay unconscious, her heartbeat pulsing faintly, a soft rhythm he could sense beneath her gentle exhalations. The rhythm was slightly off from what he had attuned himself to on countless nights on the Marauder, its pattern disturbed by injury. But AZI had said she would be waking up, and soon.
What could Hunter possibly say to her?
He sat there, desperately hoping she would wake up and be all right, desperately hoping she would stay asleep. If she kept sleeping, he wouldn’t have to see her face when she woke up and realized Tech was gone.
She breathed in. Breathed out. He reached out, gently brushing a lock of hair back from her cheek. His hand froze, and he pulled it back.
He closed his eyes, but then there was Tech’s voice in his mind, resolute, determined, resigned. When have we ever followed orders?
He couldn’t dwell on that. Couldn’t listen to it again. He reached out, opening his senses, desperately seeking distraction. Anything to keep the memory from playing back again and again. His leg twitched, jittering up and down as he opened his senses as fully as he could.
The room air pressed in on him, warm and stuffy and suffocating. A bead of sweat dripped down his cheek, having slipped past his bandanna. The whine of Cid’s neon lights in the next room buzzed and prickled in his ears. He took a deep breath of the warm air, pulling in the smell of stale alcohol, crumbs of Mantell mix ground into the floorboards, hints of blood and sweat and body odor of a dozen different species.
The floor in the hallway creaked, the sound consistent with someone stopping at the door and looking inside the room. Hunter didn’t bother turning around to see who it was. He knew it was Cid, between the pattern of the footfalls, the pitch of the creaking, the metallic scents of Trandoshan pheromones. His nose twitched, picking up a difference in Cid’s scent. Something was off with her pheromones, but he didn’t know enough about her species to guess what it meant. Maybe it was worry for the kid. Maybe it was regret. Maybe she was just hungry.
He didn’t know, didn’t care. The slow heavy footsteps started up again, kept going down the hall.
His hand slid to his gauntlet, unsheathing his blade. Twirling the blade had become a habit long ago, as unconscious and automatic as Crosshair chewing his toothpicks or Tech scrolling his datapad. He hesitated, the blade’s weight and heft wholly familiar in his hand, and yet something seemed off.
He twirled it lazily. No, nothing was wrong with the knife. He picked up the rhythm, blade spinning dangerously between his fingers --
Kriff. The blade clattered to the floor, narrowly avoiding slicing through his glove. It rattled him, looking down at it laying between his feet.
Nothing was wrong with the blade. It was wrong with him.
Hunter picked up the blade, shoving it roughly back into his gauntlet. What was he doing? Stupid distractions when he should be thinking about Omega. About what he could possibly say to her.
I’m sorry, kid. We couldn’t save him. Nobody could. (But what if Wrecker had been able to get him up in time? What if we’d been faster getting out? What if we’d waited for backup?)
I’m sorry, Omega. Tech knew it was the only way. (Did he? He was a genius. He should have figured something else out! How could he have fucked up like this? How could he leave us like this?)
I’m sorry I failed him. And you. And Crosshair. (Crosshair should’ve come with us, should’ve left the Empire when he had the chance. Then we would’ve never gone to Eriadu. This is his damn fault, all of it!)
I’m sorry I wasn’t a better leader. I’m so sorry, kid.
(It’s on me. All of it. All of it.)
The pain roared within him, but it wasn’t the pain of broken ribs and torn muscles. It went deeper than that, dug itself deep into the very heart of him, emptied him out of everything but guilt and loss and disbelief. It took his breath away. He wrapped his arms around his injured chest, fingers digging into his sides, squeezing hard enough that the physical pain broke through again. He threw himself into it, drowned himself in the way his body jangled and ached.
He panted, grimacing. This he could deal with. This he could live with. But the emptiness, the awful truth that Tech was gone -- how was he supposed to live with that? How was he supposed to help Omega through it?
Hunter slumped forward, releasing his grip, taking a deep, jagged breath. His head swam.
He didn’t know how to do it.
He was going to do it anyway.
Hunter swallowed, nodding, and sat up despite the way his body protested. He watched Omega resting, her young face forgetful for just a little while longer.
He’d be there for her, no matter what. His resolve hardened, and he thought of sunny days on Pabu, the sound of waves on the beach, a town of people who did not practice war. He thought of childhood, something none of them had ever known.
He hadn’t been able to save Crosshair from himself or the Empire.
He hadn’t been able to save Tech.
He’d save Omega if it killed him.
“I’m gonna keep you safe, kid,” Hunter whispered. “I promise.”
Yes!!! I absolutely think Hunter was pulling a plan 99 on Daro.
So we don't know the exact details of what Plan 99 entails, but based on what we DO know about it plus context, I propose that we saw Plan 99 near/at the end of every season of Bad Batch.
Season 3: Crosshair tries to call a Plan 99, telling Hunter and Wrecker he's going in alone, wanting to sacrifice himself for them.
Season 2: ...no I'm not going to elaborate...
Season 1: Hunter tells the squad to leave him behind on Daro, to not come back for him; he's sacrificing himself to make sure the squad escapes.
And hey, you know what, if two of the Plan 99's ended with no squad casualties, I'm going to take it that season 2's Plan 99 didn't actually yield a squad casualty either.
You ever scroll a fandom/character's tag on AO3, coming to a specific time and you realize "Oh, that is when the thing happened"