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kybercrystals94 · 6 months

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Unconventionally Easy

(Part 1)

By KyberCrystals94

Read on Ao3 here!

Whumptober 2023|Day 7|Prompt 7: Radio Silence | “Can you hear me?”

Bad Things Happen Bingo: Please don’t leave me!

Rated: T

Words: 1,459

Summary: A mission goes awry, leaving Tech and Echo trapped, and their brothers racing against time.

“I hate this planet,” Wrecker’s voice whines through the comm. “It’s too hot.”

“Say that one more time, I’ll shoot you to put you out of your misery,” comes Crosshair’s sympathetic response.

“I’ll shoot both of you if you don’t stop the unnecessary comm chatter.” Hunter’s threat is followed by a moment of blessed silence; however, Hunter breaks it with, “Tech, Echo, are you about done in there?”

Tech and Echo swap exasperated glances. Tech can’t actually see Echo’s facial expression because of the clone’s helmet, but his body language is read easily enough. The drop of his shoulders, the subtle tilt of his head. Tech chuckles. “It seems the heat is wearing down our brothers’ patience.”

“What patience?” Echo mutters back, but he picks up his comm to reply. “Just about, Sarge. Give us five more minutes.”

A meaningful pause. “Roger that. Take your time.”

“I can think of so many beautiful responses to that,” Echo tells Tech, “He’s setting me up.”

Tech starts another decoding program on his data pad as he grins. “More like setting Crosshair up.”

“Oh, I bet the man is biting through his tongue right now,” Echo agrees.

Jokes and teasing aside, the splicing duo did feel sympathy for their brothers having to work out in the heat while they had the benefit of working in a temperature-controlled room. Even the short distance they’d had to traverse from the Marauder to the control center had been suffocating, leaving their blacks damp under their armor from sweat and humidity.

“I thought our blacks were supposed to withstand extreme weather,” Echo says, making conversation while he works on sorting information through his scomp.

“Ideally, that would be the case; however, there is a limit to everything, I suppose.” Tech plugs a data stick into the console. “You may start the download whenever it is available.”

“Downloading now.”

“At this rate, we may be done in only two minutes,” Tech says.

“Life Day came early this year.”

Sweltering climate aside, this mission had proven to be unconventionally easy. Tech fights his impulse to make mention of it, not that he is in any way given to superstition. His brothers, on the other hand, are. He can just imagine the curses he’d receive from all four of them if he even utters a word about it. So, he keeps his mouth shut, even as his mind trundles through the statistical likelihood of their mission being completed without a single “hitch”, so to speak. It would be their first. Fascinating.

So enraptured is he in his own train of thought that he doesn’t notice the slight tremor beneath his boots until Echo asks, “Do you feel that?”

“Yes,” Tech says, clicking through the controls. “We haven’t tripped any alarms.” There is a noticeably gradual increase, and the floor begins to sway.

“Earthquake?”

Tech shakes his head, having already checked the planet’s environmental radars on his data pad. “I suggest we get out of here now.”

“I just finished the download,” Echo confirms with a nod, and Tech snatches the data stick out of the console, tucking it in his pocket.

Echo begins to speak into his comm as they stumble across the now aggressively shaking floor. “Something’s not right. We’re leaving the facility now. We will meet you --”

Tech isn’t sure if Echo even finishes his sentence, because the whole building begins to crumble around them in a roar of heat and explosions. The floor disappears and he is aware of the sensation of falling; then the sickening thud of landing, forcing the air from his lungs. Then there is nothing.

“Echo, come in! Tech?”

Static is the only response to the shared and private comm lines. Hunter growls, going back to the shared comm. “Crosshair, what do you see?”

“The building collapsed,” the sniper huffs. It sounds like he is actively running.

“More like imploded,” comes Wrecker’s assessment.

Hunter sensed as much, both through his enhancement and the literal rumble of the earth under him, although he can't see anything from where he was situated. He briefly debates if he should join Crosshair and Wrecker in running to the facility or go for the Marauder. He is equal distance from both; however, common sense quickly overrides his need to race bodily to his brothers’ aid. The Marauder will have scanners and medical supplies, which they will likely need.

“I’m going to retrieve the Marauder,” Hunter says, “Keep in touch and be aware of your surroundings.”

He waits until he gets two brief responses before he starts for the ship.

Echo can’t move. He’s enclosed. Trapped. Skako Minor. The Algorithm. CT-1409, CT-1409... He’s back in the stasis chamber, his mind, his memories, his thoughts being harvested as a weapon against his brothers. He tries to struggle, tries to rip himself free from his restraints. He can’t.

Trapped.

Captured.

CT-1409...

Panic burns his skin. The icy cool of a stasis chamber.

“No! Let me out!” he screams.

“Echo!”

The voice is familiar but safe. Not one of Techno Union’s scientists, not a captor.

A savior. A brother. A friend.

“Tech,” Echo sobs. “Help. Don’t leave me here. Please.”

There is silence, and Echo wonders if he imagined it. Tech isn’t here at all. He is alone. No one is here to save him. Alone. CT-1409. CT-1409...

But Tech’s voice breaks again through the emptiness. “I am not going anywhere, vod. We are going to be okay, Echo, but we must remain calm.”

Vod. The word finds purchase on the verge of his hysteria, anchoring him to reality. Not Skako Minor. Not the Algorithm. He’s Echo. He’s free. But he’s still trapped. Breathing still hurts.

“Where are we?” Echo asks, voice pressed thin and trembling.

“We were on a mission. A simple data extraction. The building we were in collapsed. We are currently trapped in the rubble; however, Hunter, Crosshair and Wrecker are going to get us out. We will be alright.” Tech ticks off the facts of their situation like it’s simply a debriefing.

“Are you injured?” Echo asks, voice still wobbly. Focus on Tech. Focus on reality. Focus. Focus.

“Not critically,” Tech assures him. “You?”

“I’m pinned, can’t move,” Echo says. His throat hurts, trying to keep his voice steady.

“That is not ideal,” Tech admits, “but our brothers will have that remedied in short order.” He doesn’t sound as confident as his words.

But Echo agrees anyway. “Yeah.”

“Is your helmet still on?”

“Yes.”

“That is good. The air quality in here is incredibly low at the moment.”

Echo breathes a hollow burst of nervous laughter, the adrenaline still surging through his blood stream. “Never would’ve guessed.”

Tech chuckles. “I will say it is probably still cooler here than it is where the others are.”

“Lucky us,” Echo grumbles lightly.

It isn’t like Tech to make offhanded and useless comments. They always have a purpose. Distantly, Echo realizes the purpose is to keep him calm, to drag him from the spiral of panic. Thank the force it’s working.

“Our comms are down; however, our last location is known. And while we are not able to communicate with the others verbally, they should still be able to use the trackers to pinpoint where to find us in the destruction.”

Echo wants to ask how long Tech thinks they’ll be stuck down here; however, he probably won’t like the answer, and it won’t change the situation. Instead, he asks, “Why do you think the building exploded?”

“I speculate that it was a remote detonation. Perhaps it was planned to sabotage intruders such as ourselves, or they were hoping to destroy the information before we retrieved it, and we were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“Is it safe for the others to try and get us out?” Echo asks, suddenly concerned for his squad mates on the other side of the rubble.

“Probably not,” Tech responds, “Although, we don’t really have a say in the matter, and I trust they can handle themselves without our supervision, surprising as that may be.”

“You know, it’s usually your plans that get us into trouble.”

“Untrue. It is our squad diverting from my plans that get us into trouble.”

“Maybe there’s a good reason we have to divert from your plans...”

Tech interrupts with a huff of annoyance. “I believe that this line of conversation is ineffective.”

Echo chuckles. “I believe that you know I’m right and are trying to end the discussion.”

“Agree to disagree,” Tech replies primly.

Despite being trapped, a sense of calm has come over Echo. He is with his brother; their other brothers are coming for them. They are going to be okay. Everything is going to be okay.

Please let it be okay.

TBC

PART 2 NOW AVAILABLE HERE!

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