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lightwise · 2 months

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Omega is not okay

I know we've all been over the moon about Crosshair and Hunter's dynamic in The Return, but I want to draw some attention to Omega in this episode, and something that I think Joel Aron is trying to draw attention to with his lighting choices.

Omega is not okay.

Joel has made pointed out many times that he loves doing reveal lighting (think the overhead light in Crosshair's cell or on the freighter at the end of A Different Approach giving him a halo, or how Hunter stops short of the overhead light on the Marauder before stepping out to greet Omega). And throughout this whole episode, the light is breaking over Crosshair and bathing him in warmth more and more. He is slowly returning the light and coming home to his family.

Omega, however, in nearly every single scene in this episode, is in shadow.

Yes, her hairstyle is contributing to the fall of light on her face, and yes, she has her hat on while they're on Barton IV. But this is showing that her psychological state since they escaped Tantiss is uneasy, at best, and very conflicted and darkened, at worst. Even when she wakes up in the comfort and safety of the Marauder, she is shrouded in shadow. And even in scenes where the light wraps around and highlights Crosshair's face, Omega's is kept harshly defined, and she is often looking away from the "camera".

Even when we see her somewhat happier at points in this episode, usually due to watching her brothers reconnect, her face is not as well lit as theirs.

Omega kept her positivity and optimism at the forefront while she and Crosshair were in prison, and throughout most of their escape. It's what we most associate with her--being a ray of sunshine and encouragement for those around her. Now, however, she has the opportunity to relax a bit, for the adults to be handling certain things, and the trauma and perspective shift that she has just gone through is coming to the forefront.

Her survivors guilt, her shock at not being the only female clone, her confusion and questions over who she is and why she is so important, the cruelty she's seen Hemlock be capable of, and her continued empathy for anyone who is suffering is all swirling around in her in ways that she doesn't know what to do with yet. Yes, she has seen much suffering in the galaxy already in her short life, and has always been adamant about her need to help others. But ultimately it had never impacted her like this. Until now.

Crosshair has been broken and remade by his experiences. Omega is being broken and remade by hers as well. And I'm not sure the boys fully realize just how much yet.

Omega refuses to be left behind. She feels responsible for the fact that the rest of the clones are still on Tantiss. She feels guilty that she could have a chance at a life still and they don't. She feels an all-encompassing need to help them if she can, even though she is still young and vulnerable. This is ultimately going to conflict with Hunter's desires to keep her safe and hidden. Echo has already chosen the fight. Wrecker is willing to go wherever he's needed. Crosshair has been through too much to not be willing to fight back however necessary.

Hunter is going to eventually realize that while Omega is still a child, and does need to be protected, at the same time, her own sense of responsibility is going to eventually supersede his desires.

Echo and Crosshair especially will be able to understand some of what she is feeling and hopefully help guide her through it. Hopefully, Omega will be able to reconcile who she is, what she is capable of, and what is outside of her ability to fix, sooner rather than later. But it's safe to say she will never be the same after this. At least she has a little bit of reprieve before facing whatever is next.

#the bad batch #tbb #star wars #the bad batch spoilers #tbb spoilers #omega #omega bad batch #tbb omega #the return #tbb season 3 #the bad batch season 3 #the bad batch season 3 spoilers #tbb season 3 spoilers #some light edits #somelightedits #somelightramblings #some light ramblings

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dragonnnerdd · 21 days

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"Clone Force 99." Yeah, as in, "Each of them have 99 untreated mental illnesses"

#derg rambles #star wars #the bad batch #tbb #bad batch #sw the bad batch #star wars the bad batch #star wars tbb

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sonicrainbooms · 9 days

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I know most of us are normal but I just would like to remind SOME of the fanbase that if CX-2 isn't Tech or Cody (or whoever else) then do NOT harass the crew. That's shit behaviour. You have to accept that theories are just that until proven correct or incorrect, and you can not treat fan theories like canon, or things that "should have been" canon. If you become so angry at being wrong that you feel the need to harass the crew, then you have only yourself to blame for allowing the theory to obscure your enjoyment of the show and its ending. That is how they wanted to tell the story. It is not their job to give us what we want. That's what fanfics and fix-it fics are for.

I also want CX-2 to be Tech. I have made my own posts about the similarities between the two. But that's all they are: theories. If CX-2 never appears again or is confirmed to be Some Rando™ then we're just gonna have to deal with it. We can not change that. You can not change that. But you HAVE TO RESPECT Jennifer, Brad, Dave, and all the other members of the crew. Be. Normal.

#star wars #tbb #tbb tech #the bad batch #not spoiler tagging this bc its not spoilers #pudge yaks on #text #sorry it got rambly i just saw some Nonsense in another post

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fellthemarvelous · 8 days

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Crosshair with his hand on Echo's shoulder means a lot here. This is the same clone who told Rex he would have left Echo behind too because Echo was just a reg.

It's also interesting to see Echo poised between the two people involved with his rescue who ended up working for the Empire knowing that Echo has never once considered following that same path.

Echo became more machine than man but retained his humanity while Anakin becoming more machine than man allowed himself to become a monster.

#i'm just rambling #clone trooper echo #arc trooper echo #echo tbb #clone wars #the bad batch #crosshair tbb #anakin skywalker #darth vader #i love echo so much

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cloned-eyes · 1 year

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Honestly I kinda wished we could get a version where crosshair and mayday make it. Like they successfully flee together and scanavge through the galaxy for a little time with Crosshair not being ready to go back to his brothers just yet and then the Batch run into Crosshair and Mayday by accident while being yet again backup for Phee or something and the scene goes basically like

The batch:😶 ...

Crosshair:😶 ...

Mayday :😃... look other clones who are on the run just like us

And Hunter is ready to equally through hands and hug crosshair and them all being a bit suspicious why Crosshair not only hangs around a Reg but also genuinely likes him

Tech be like: crosshair has made a friend? That never happened before

#The bad batch #tbb crosshair #tbb mayday #Clone force 99 #Let me ramble #They're besties #mayday deserved better

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the-bi-space-ace · 4 days

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Echo & Unshakeable Trust

If we really want to talk about how Echo and trust are intertwined then I think we need to start at The Bad Batch arc of The Clone Wars in season 7. We see pretty clearly that the batch doesn’t trust him, even before they know him. They make snide remarks, doubt him, and are ready to take him down if he crosses them. Hell, they’re sure he’s a traitor. One of the earliest examples of this is when Hunter first claims it’s a trap. He even says they’ll tag along with the mission even just to say ‘I told you so.’ Oh how wrong he was. How wrong they all were.

They venture into Skako to save Echo, following Rex’s intuition and going along with it even if they don’t agree. They go, they’re not trusting about it, but they go. What they find is Echo, being used as the algorithm for the Separatists. Rex has no reason to doubt that this is against Echo’s will but the batch… they’re not so sure.

Echo’s plan to escape through the vents is what saves them from Wat Tambor. They have no choice but to follow his plan, even if they aren’t sure if they can trust him yet. But following along and going with it is what gets them out of there. That doesn’t mean it fixes the doubt. The batch even hesitates before walking across the pipe to escape. They’re still sure he’s screwing them over. They have no idea why Anakin and Rex follow Echo’s plans blindly, even when they’re objectively ridiculous.

Rex trusts him. Always. Every time. When Rex hears Echo’s voice he doesn’t ever doubt that Echo is still alive and on their side. Even in the bad batch season 3 when he’s questioned about whether or not Crosshair gave them all of the information Rex doesn’t doubt that Echo handled it and they have no reason to question that. It’s such a beautiful thing to watch. His faith in Echo has always been unshakable. Just as unshakable as Echo’s faith in himself. At first Rex isn’t sure Echo is battle ready after being rescued; it's never about distrusting Echo, it’s about not being sure he’s ready yet. Has he healed enough? Is he stable enough to pull this off? It’s care, caution, not doubt.

Echo even points that out: ‘I’m not a liability, Rex.’ Mace Windu really had me cheering when he says if Echo has a plan then he’d like to hear it. When Mace asks if Echo is certain he even responds with ‘Absolutely.’ Echo doesn’t doubt himself and he isn’t about to start now. This confidence is something we see from him a lot. From how he plans, how he moves, what he says. He knows he’s good at what he does. It’s so refreshing to watch him be so confident and grow in that confidence as time moves forward.

It’s here we start to really see the batch mistrust Echo. Tech voices this most often, followed by Hunter. Tech isn’t sure of Echo’s plan. He even goes as far as to say that ‘We don’t really know where his loyalties lie.’ You know what’s incredible about this? Rex follows it up with ‘Well, I know.’ Because he does. He doesn’t doubt Echo, has no reason to. The batch, however, isn’t ready for that yet.

When Echo sends all the droids to the assembly complex and successfully shuts them all down is when both Hunter and Tech - the two who were the most vocal about their doubt in him - are ready to accept that Echo is on their side. He isn’t fighting against them, he never has been. They’re ready. Echo has proven himself without ever even really trying to.

Echo: ‘Was there ever any doubt?’ Tech: ‘Some.’

Echo trusts himself totally. He’s been trusted by his squads, by Fives, by Rex, by Cody. Hell, even Anakin, Mace, and Obi-Wan trust him. He’s been surrounded by people who are convinced of his skills. Being confronted by the batch who doesn’t trust him doesn’t even really faze him. He knows his intentions, he doesn’t need to fight their doubt. He just does what he’s always done and he proves himself in his actions. This confidence he has in himself is what carries him through everything and we only see that grow over time. (This post by @phantom-of-the-501st demonstrates how much he’s grown perfectly. Please go read it. It's amazing.)

The batch saw him in action when they first met him, they had their time to doubt, and once Echo had proven to them that he was trustworthy and skilled they’ve trusted him fully ever since then. Hunter trusts him to be his second in command - the mission where they save Gregor comes to mind. He always hears Echo out and usually follows him into nearly certain death even if he doesn’t agree. Hunter trusts his word and he knows he wants only good things for them even when they don’t agree on how to get those good things. I think it’s especially important to note that they do disagree often but that is never cause to accuse the other of something in bad faith. The batch even trusts him to lead them into Kamino, right into enemy territory, when Hunter gets taken at the end of season 1. They follow his lead, listen to him, and know he’s got this. They’d never doubt him. Not for a second. Not now. Not when it’s Echo.

And of course we have this most recent episode, the thing that spurred this all on for me. This episode only solidifies for me that trust is a main thread in Echo’s story. He gets them a ship, has a disguise for Rampart, and he is ready to take on the brunt of their mission when things start to get dicey. Crosshair does say something about how Echo can’t infiltrate the ship alone which I am certain is more about worrying for him than it is doubt in his skillset. Letting Echo go into enemy territory without anyone else is difficult for them but they know he can do it. They always know he can pull it off, even if it’s absolutely ridiculous. When Rampart starts to bad mouth the plan Crosshair is right there with ‘Relax. Echo’s on it.’ I am still absolutely losing it over this line. To see Crosshair go from ‘besides, he’s just a reg’ to his hand on Echo’s shoulder in their first mission after they meet to ‘relax. Echo’s on it.’ That… That makes me so emotional. Of course the plan will work. It’s Echo. He’s got this. He knows exactly what he’s doing and he’s quick on his feet. It’ll work out. It’s Echo.

To follow that line with Hunter’s ‘Echo will come through. He just needs more time.’ just further solidifies that they wouldn’t doubt him, not anymore. He’s proved time and time again that he’s got this. They’re prepared to go with whatever scheme he proposes. He’s just as bad as them but he’s also got the skillset to back up his chaos. He fits in well.

Echo is a skilled man. He’s an excellent strategist and he gets shit done. The batch has learned to trust him with their lives, as quickly and as unshakable as Rex’s faith in him. I think this is a beautiful thing to have seen over the course of our time with the batch. The batch puts their lives in Echo’s hands more than once and they don’t doubt him. Just like how he doesn’t doubt himself. The people around him trust him because he owns what he says, because he can back his shit up.

It’s rather fitting that the intro quote in the last episode of The Bad Batch arc in The Clone Wars (S7 E4 Unfinished Business) is: Trust placed in another is trust earned. They learned a lot by watching Rex’s unshakeable faith in Echo and they knew that’s something they could do too by the end of their mission together. He proved his chaos, his strategies, and his intellect were invaluable. So much so that they wanted him with them, whatever that was going to look like.

#the bad batch #tbb echo #echo tbb #arc trooper echo #tbb season 3 #the bad batch echo #sorry I went all overboard lol #i love him that's it that's the post #I couldn't stop thinking about Echo & trust #he's perfect #he's beauty he's grace #he will punch a droid in the face #or jump on their back and stab them with his scomp whichever is more convenient #I haven't stopped thinking about him ever since I met him #also sorry if this gets rambly I got emotional halfway through and started losing all my composure lol

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nightskyfoxyy · 5 months

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The chaos aunt saga continues

(and yes that is a snow gonky lol)

#she so would teach her about snowball fights come on #did it cost him a few braincells yes but it was funny so thats worth it #lo rambles #the bad batch #star wars #fanart #tbb hunter #phee genoa #omega tbb

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here-comes-the-moose · 8 days

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Can I discuss something about Tantiss and Hemlock?

As someone who studied political science, specifically with a lot of focus on some of the worst human rights violations in history, my thoughts have been going to extremely dark places whenever I think of what Crosshair (and the other clones) went through on Tantiss. We see how evil Hemlock is (I don’t call him Dr because I don’t respect him) and even with that, we don’t even see that much of what he does but what we do know is that Tantiss is this secret, scientific location where all kinds of experiments occur, and children and clones are kept as “subjects” not people, and that he’s given a LOT of discretion and power to do as he pleases.

This is always a recipe for disaster and atrocity, and the fact that we don’t see anything and haven’t so far, and instead it is left to circle our minds, makes Tantiss and Hemlock even more horrifying, in my opinion. Since Star Wars is and has always been very political, this is not something that is lost on me.

It’s also not lost on me that his name, Hemlock, is the same name as a well-known poison.

#star wars tbb #star wars the bad batch #the bad batch #tbb hemlock #tbb thoughts #this is pretty dark I’m sorry #tbb spoilers #tbb ramblings #tbb season 3 #tbb season 3 spoilers #the bad batch spoilers #bad batch season 3 #bad batch season 3 spoilers

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oftincturedwords · 1 year

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can you imagine how devastated crosshair would be to hear of tech's death ??

how crosshair gave everything to escape just enough to warn them to stay hidden , to protect omega , to remain silent about anything else he knew of clone force 99 , but then hearing tech died in an attempt to locate & rescue him because tech still considered crosshair his brother , no matter everything that had happened & the risk it called for , to learn that tech was the biggest advocate to rescue him yet died in the attempt to find him ...

just envisioning the all consuming grief driven rage crosshair would have before likely breaking down entirely

#star wars #star wars the bad batch #the bad batch #swtbb #crosshair #crosshair tbb #tech tbb #tech #tbb spoilers #swtbb spoilers #the bad batch spoilers #star wars the bad batch spoilers #i am sad thus all sad thoughts are on the dash tonight #bayze rambles #my post

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alitherandom · 1 month

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Wrecker finally getting recognised as the explosives expert and Hunter getting to use his skills again is great and it's about time tbh

#I was really pleased when Fennec kept mentioning it #the bad batch #ali's delusional ramblings #bad batch #tbb spoilers #star wars tbb #bad batch spoilers #bad batch hunter #bad batch wrecker #hunter tbb #wrecker tbb

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moonstrider9904 · 1 year

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I also love how much it feels like Mayday was Crosshair's equal while still being utterly different.

The witty banter? Glorious. The way Mayday asked Crosshair what his name was? Fuck. The mine scene where Crosshair makes the deadweight comments, only for him to carry Mayday all the way back to the outpost despite the latter having told him leave me, as in, leave me and save yourself, and Crosshair still carried him anyway? I hope the hatewatchers saw that too. The way Mayday was mocking Crosshair regarding the pressure mine, but as soon as he was done, wiped the sweat off his forehead revealing how nervous he was? If I didn't know better, I'd say Crosshair would act similarly if the roles were reversed. The way Mayday asked what squad Crosshair used to be in and the pain with which Cross answered? Yes.

And it's tragic because, deep down, maybe Crosshair came to think he could find what he lost with one family in Mayday - a brother - and he lost that too. He did what was in his power, more than that, and he still lost it.

#forgive me if i'm rambling #i am clearly very emotional over seeing crosshair again in such a state #please please let my man be okay #the bad batch #tbb crosshair #crosshair #tbb spoilers #tbb s2 spoilers #the bad batch s2 #tbb s2 #tbb season 2 #commander mayday #tbb mayday #the bad batch spoilers #star wars #tbb #bad batch crosshair #crosshair bad batch #imperial crosshair

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lightwise · 2 months

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Full Circle - The Return to The Outpost

The Return is a masterpiece in visual, verbal, metaphorical, and situational parallel and payoff. We have been waiting for 3 long seasons to see Crosshair and his family come to terms with their choices, reunite, and move forward together, and this episode somehow manages to give us all of it by walking us point by point through the scene of Crosshair’s change of heart—The Outpost. Most likely the themes presented here will continue to be parsed out for the rest of the season, but their fulfillment is begun here.

We start with Crosshair outside of the ship, choosing target practice as a thinly-veiled excuse for avoiding his brothers. He is reunited, but not yet comfortable or fully trusted. In The Outpost, the scenes open with Crosshair outside of the ship on a smoking toothpick break, and he is approached by a Lieutenant who is decidedly not amenable to him. In both instances he is starting to be a little more open, however—his helmet is off, and in the first is listening to a group of regs, and the second, chatting with Omega and letting her show him physical affection.

After a reunion on everyone’s part with Echo, who we see fully embrace a hug from Omega, and slip back into familiar banter with Crosshair, we are taken to the dining area on Pabu. This is a callback to the dinner that the main group had when they first arrived on the island, except this time, Crosshair and Echo have come home, and there is an empty chair symbolizing the absence of Tech. This episode shows no other characters besides the Batch (now including Batcher as the best girl that she is). The conflicts and themes in this episode are meant to fully delve into the heart of what makes this family tick.

Barton IV is, as Crosshair states, a “remote, understaffed facility. It shouldn’t be a problem to infiltrate.” He can barely hold eye contact with Hunter while saying it, when once he was Hunter’s second. Hunter wants Omega to be safe and instructs her to remain behind, but she is adamant that they should stick together, just like she always has since joining them. Hunter almost looks like he’s going to cry, but he relents to both her demands and Crosshair’s input, although he is still suspicious of Crosshair’s motives.

Before they leave, Crosshair has his original Bad Batch armor returned to him by Wrecker. His old identity and loyalties, kept by his family the same way he never left their hearts. A contrast to his previous mission, where Crosshair and the other clones are considered “used equipment,” and their only purpose is to protect and retrieve the shiny new armor meant for their replacements.

As they make their way to the base, the weather also points to a drastic difference between the two episodes. In The Outpost, the weather is MISERABLE. Cold, stormy, clouded, dangerous. Crosshair’s inner turmoil at that time cost Mayday his life, and broke his allegiance to the Empire. But on their return it is clear, sunny, calm, settled—almost serene (on the surface). Crosshair has thawed and grown as a person, and his emotions appear to be in a much calmer, if somber, place. As they land, Echo states that there are no signs of life on the scanners.

The planet is a graveyard. A memorial. A resting place. Made to dredge up and bury.

A baptism. A resurrection.

They exit the ship, and a vulture shrieks overhead, a reminder of Crosshair’s failures. Crosshair lifts his head to look at it, and his shoulders slump. (There’s an excellent little explanation of the vulture symbolism here.)

Mayday had told him that the vultures are vicious creatures who find a way to survive. They bury the dead and they take the scraps and they clean up for everyone else. They are shunned but beautiful. And they survive. Against all odds.

The second the vulture disappears, tension between Hunter and Crosshair begins to spill over. While the others are happy to see Crosshair assuming his old identity, Hunter is suspicious that the planet is deserted yet still heavily guarded by sensor beacons, and rounds on Crosshair demanding explanations. Crosshair has willingly led them to the site of his trauma but he is NOT ready to talk about it yet, and matches Hunter snark for snark. According to him (he should know) the danger (local raiders) has been taken care of. Hunter is even more pissed off as he gets a glimpse of Crosshair’s activities under the Empire, and Omega is disappointed in both of them. Their feelings remain tense and tight as Echo convinces them all to get inside and focus on their mission.

Once inside, Wrecker asks a question that encapsulates the fate of all the clones.

“So why’d the empire abandon this place?” “I guess it served it’s purpose.” “Hmm, sounds familiar.”

This prompts Crosshair to separate from the rest and go to a side storage room, where he first comes across the same heater that Mayday had once carried over to him as a gesture of friendship. It is dark and dead now. A sweep of his flashlight, and an even more sickening sight awaits him. All of Mayday’s troopers helmets, once lined up in a silent memorial, are now in a pile on the floor. And Mayday’s is among them.

Crosshair must have known this was a possibility, coming back. He isn’t ready to talk about his feelings toward this place, but his face tells us all we need to know about his grief and his regret. He steps over and in reverence, greets the helmet of his friend. He understands now. Loss, grief, death. The burden that Mayday carried. Succumbed to. At the time, Crosshair had merely watched. Now he participates and gives Mayday and his squad the honor they are due. Hunter, who has become more and more suspicious of what Crosshair isn’t telling him, catches sight of his brother honoring a (supposedly) random group of regs, but slips away to not disturb him. Yet.

Crosshair rejoins the others as the sensors are turned off to redirect the power supply, and Batcher suddenly starts acting up. Crosshair takes her seriously, although he is forgetting something important that Mayday once told him—“you’ll freeze to death in that armor—if what’s in the ice doesn’t get you first.” Typically this is Hunter’s job, to be alert to shifts in the environment, but he is so focused on Crosshair “leaving” that he seems to be completely unaware of something stirring outside.

Crosshair walks out both to scout and to process his feelings, and is greeted with an up close look at the ice vulture that has haunted him. He starts to scowl and as the bird takes off, asks “are you going to be my shadow everywhere?” A statement that could hold true for both the vulture and Hunter, who has followed him. And Hunter gets right to the heart of it.

“I know you,” he says. Or I did, before you became someone I don’t recognize. Someone who would betray us and leave. “There’s more you’re not telling us. Start talking. What did you do to get on the Empire’s bad side?” Hunter needs proof. He wants to know how the brother who swore loyalty to the Empire thrice over and stayed on that Kaminoan platform had a supposed change of heart. But he frames it bitterly, believing that Crosshair is simply repeating a pattern—one that had almost made them enemies.

Crosshair’s hand shakes so much that his toothpick slips (like the sharp and pointed wit that often protects and comforts him), and we see a rumbling in the ice. Their emotions are starting to bubble and seethe.

“You thought we’d take you back and not ask questions? I don’t think so.” Hunter is losing his grip on his emotions and physically shoves Crosshair in an attempt to spark the fight. His face is drawn, angry, and anticipating hurt.

Crosshair remains remarkably calm, not even necessarily wanting to make an argument out of it, but he eventually responds to Hunter’s indignation with his own. And this time he doesn’t hold back. He starts at the end, admitting he killed an Imperial officer, but holds the tender explanation of why close to his chest still. Instead he tells Hunter what he thinks he wants to hear—that his betrayal of the Empire mirrors his betrayal of the Batch. Except Crosshair adds his own perspective—that he only betrays after feeling like he has been betrayed first.

Hunter doesn’t have time to ponder that information as Crosshair now unleashes the root of his own turmoil onto him—and he knows how to hit Hunter where it hurts. Where he’s failed.

“I risked EVERYTHING to send you that message! You ignored it. You let Omega be taken to Tantiss.” The hurt blooms on Hunter’s face. “You failed.”

Crosshair isn’t even concerned about what happened to him on Tantiss. He’s concerned about Omega. And he knows that fact will twist Hunter’s gut in ways nothing else can. Hunter is their leader. He by default bears the blame of what happens to them, even though his squad makes their own choices freely. Crosshair doesn’t want to let him forget it. Hunter never lets himself forget it either.

Both men only know their own sides of the story. And it’s tearing them apart.

They’re ready to trade blows but their attention is pulled back to their family and larger circumstances by Batcher barking. Hunter finally realizes where their emotions have brought them, but it’s too late. The snow erupts from a giant wyrm creature, no longer kept at bay by the high-pitched hum of the sensors. No matter the gulf between him and Crosshair, Hunter’s first priority is to shove him away screaming “move!”--echoing Mayday trying to save Crosshair during the avalanche. They fall to their knees and the ground splits between them. They barely make it back to the base as the symbol of their outburst chases them across the snow.

Plans are made. The squad won’t be safe until this threat is dealt with. Each member volunteers their strengths. Hunter is in mission mode now, his face open, and extends an olive branch after his brother offers to shoulder the burden of leading the creature back beyond the perimeter alone. “We’ll do it together.” But now it’s Crosshair’s turn to be suspicious. Will Hunter really trust me again? Can I trust him?

The creature follows them. Disaster strikes. Hunter shrieks and falls below the ice. All animosity gone, Crosshair rushes to him, panic lacing his voice. Hunter! I can’t lose you the way I lost Mayday, buried beneath the snow.

And now, it is Hunter’s turn to tunnel into the darkness below the ice and face everything he’s been running from. Shot for shot, Crosshair has already been on this journey, already faced himself, his fears, his failures, down there. They can’t reconcile their perspectives, because Hunter has yet to do the same. Hunter commits to making sure that the wyrm is led away from his family, putting himself in harms way to make sure they stay safe. However, he has a safety line—Crosshair and Batcher up top, tracking him, covering for his usual role.

“We found a weak point in the ice. We’ll try to dig through.” “You’ll try?” Their old banter makes a hesitant appearance. Hunter is still running. Crosshair is willing to try, as long as that effort is acknowledged. But despite their words, they hope that they won’t let each other down this time.

“Am I going to have a way out or not?” “If you end up where we hope you do.” Hunter needs reassurance of an outcome first. But Crosshair reminds him that he is the only one who can plot his path, and its consequences. Hunter has to take responsibility for his own journey. The way out of this predicament hinges on how far, and where, Hunter lands. And he won’t take shortcuts, even when Crosshair begs him to go ahead and exit the tunnel once they find each other. He begged Wrecker to get Tech back onto the railcar. This time, he’s in the trenches himself.

Tuned into his senses again, Hunter still doesn’t jump even as he feels the wyrm get closer, until the sensors are reactivated. Finally, he accepts Crosshair’s to help pull him out of the literal mouth of danger as the worm barrels into view. And they run again, leaping to safety just in time, having accomplished their mission. The wyrm is now harmless, roaring at them from the other side of the perimeter, chastened until it finally slinks away.

The boys collapse, share a fully open look. All they need now is a nod. They have each others’ backs. Approval, gratitude, and trust now have space to grow. They are brothers again.

And Crosshair gets a redo of his trek back to the platform, except this time, instead of Mayday dying in his arms, Hunter is by his side, unharmed, and Batcher prances alongside them. Instead of silent TK Troopers and the insolent sneer of Lieutenant Nolan, they are greeted by Echo and Omega’s shining faces, and Wrecker running to meet them (and hug them. We all know they secretly loved it.)

(Side note: both Crosshair and Hunter have shown self-sacrifice on behalf of someone else in these parallels. Behind the scenes, Echo and Omega have a conversation that hints at the fact that Omega might be contemplating the same. The outcome of the guilt and confusion shadowing her even while Crosshair returns to the light remains to be seen, but it does not bode well.)

The episode could end here. But it doesn’t. Now the real conversations can begin. It’s late in the evening and they have dug their ship out in order to depart. Bathed in warm light, Crosshair is finally ready to open up, at least a little, although he can’t face Hunter in the process.

“I thought I knew what I was getting into with the Empire.” Owning up to his perspectives, not shifting blame. It was a choice he made. “I’ve done things. I’ve made mistakes.” Ones that he regrets. Crosshair's default is still to paint himself in the worst light possible when trying to reconcile with someone, in the hopes that the darkest parts of him will be accepted. He so desperately wants to be accepted for who he is, even when he knows he has done terrible things, and maybe especially, because he hasn't fully forgiven himself for them yet. So he tries to shock and hurt in the hopes that either his inner self-loathing will be corroborated, or his need for forgiveness can come from an outside source.

And Hunter does forgive him, and doesn't even dwell on the many, many things he could blame Crosshair for, now that his own anger has passed. He acknowledges that he has regrets too, gives an even playing field by saying that none of them really had full information of what was going on when their separation first began, and extends solidarity in the best way he knows how.

A smoothing of the path behind, and a glimpse toward the path ahead. He doesn't know what it holds either, but he's willing to walk it together.

And I think their choice of words is what they needed from each other. Hunter needed to know how Crosshair viewed his own actions. Crosshair needed to know how Hunter felt about the consequences, both those caused by him and those caused by Hunter’s own choices since. Hunter has always questioned his brother’s perspectives—his mind. Crosshair has always questioned his brother’s heart—his loyalty. Their strengths--and also their weaknesses.

“All we can do is keep trying to be better. Who knows? There might just be hope for us yet.”

And for now, it’s enough. Crosshair looks into the sky, watches the ice vulture flying overhead once again, except this time, it flies off into the sunset, leaving him still mournful, but slightly more whole than when he first arrived.

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