A (very) short story about how Wrecker got his scars.
This started as a warm up drawing then morphed into this. I’m just in a very Bad Batch mood lately. I’ve always been curious about Wrecker’s scars. I had a dialogue going on in my head what drawing so I thought I’d practice a little writing too! Let me know what you think! I’m always very nervous to share my writing because I have no idea if it’s any good 😅 so any constructive criticism is welcome!
Star Wars- The Bad Batch
Word Count: 660
Warnings: Angsty as hell, vague descriptions of battle, vague descriptions of panicking
Scars of the Protector
His hulking form was barely contained in the Bacta tank. The medics seemed doubtful he’d even fit. For the first time in his life, he looked small. Over a day now he floated in the salty healing water, motionless. His brothers watched on in suspense as the hours sluggishly rolled on. If they got him here sooner he’d already be healed and there wouldn’t be scarring like the medics predicted. He’d still have two working eyes and hearing in his left ear. If they actually worked as a team this wouldn’t have happened.
Hunter was always their unquestioned leader, but Wrecker was the protector. Despite his gentle nature, he knew how the regs saw him. A threat. A brute. He took on the role with great pride, always willing to step up. Always willing to fight the battles for his brothers.
This is our fault.
The unspoken words made the air in the small sterile room heavy. There was no point in saying it out loud, they all knew. The guilt was so evident on their faces. They all panicked and now their brother was paying the price.
From the moment they were born, they were told they were special. Different in a good way. It made them better than the rest. The perfect soldiers. Out there, it made them cocky.
It was their first mission. A battlefield they’d trained for and dreamed about their entire lives. Finally fighting the war they existed for. It should have been second nature, and in a way it was. In the beginning, they flowed with the action flawlessly. The commands and formations drilled into their heads. Was it really this easy? It was, until their numbers started to dwindle. They were forced into a corner in the heat of battle.
After gurgling hours of fighting they were the only ones in the squadron left, surrounded in the rubble with no way out. How could it have gotten this bad? They were better than this, weren’t they? Instead, the prodigy Bad Batch had been reduced to cowering children in the bodies of men. They’d ceased firing. The march of the remaining droids was deafening. They’d all froze, fear gripping their quivering limbs. All of them, except for him.
Their strongest brother. The explosives expert still had something left to save them. He gathered his final handful of thermal detonators and armed them all quickly. It was more than enough to take care of what clankers were left. He removes his helmet to get a better aim before tossing the charges over their rubble barricade.
He turned to smile down at his brothers, as he had so many times before, to assure them it was going to be okay now. He’d protected them like he always had. They were safe again. Before he could speak, a single detonator was returned, Wrecker taking nearly all of the blow.
The battle was won. Medics took hours to arrive.
Most men would be dead, but then again he wasn’t most men. A bred killing machine. A freak. Their brother. And now the only one to wear the evidence of the horrors they’d seen on his face. Something to remind them how they failed him that day, and a quiet promise they’d never let it happen again. They’d all make sure of it.
They knew he wouldn’t be angry when he woke up. He was never angry. Still, they were afraid of what had changed in him. Would this be the same brother they knew? Would he still smile and laugh the way he always did? Could he even still do that?
Only time and healing will tell, and they stay by his side for all of it.
They all drift in and out of sleep in the medical bay, but none of them ever notice the small eyes peering around the corner. A vigilante gaze, like theirs, that also makes sure her brother would be okay.
A happier galaxy where the disaster lineage is somewhat less on fire constantly and senior padawan Obi-wan has developed a fixation on Mandalorians:
Sometimes Feemor regretted just how much he had given away when he had spent 5 expensive months bribing a traumatised Obi-wan to call him brother when he was 14. His dignity, for one, his access codes and shadow cloaking techniques, another. So he had a very dignified reaction when he was awoken to the shine of his younger brother’s eyes in the dark at the foot of his bed. “I wou-stop screaming it’s just me-I would like a Mandalorian. How do I procure one?”
“How the fuck should I know?”
Obi-wan scowled as if Feemor was being difficult, he wasn’t, he wasn’t quite awake enough for that yet. “You’re a shadow, you’re supposed to know things.”
Ah, if being a shadow granted you the secrets of the universe instead of just a great many planetary governments, Feemor wouldn’t spend so much time wondering what dark rituals Dooku had committed to result in Qui-gon Jinn. (He already knew what regular rituals Qui-gon had committed to result in Obi-wan)
“I know that I’m about to punt you out of my room right now.”
“…My birthday is coming up, I believe I deserve compensation for all the traumas.”
Obi-wan’s eyes were very big now. Feemor sighed. He flopped back down into bed. He resisted the urge to pull his blankets back up and roll over. ‘Oh sure when it’s time to see mind healers everything’s fine but now-’
“Shouldn’t you be asking Master then?”
“Master would not approve of how I plan to use the Mandalorian.”
He squinted at Obi-wan for a long moment. Obi-wan stared back. He did some quick mental maths and tried not to feel old. Eh. Fine. Feemor swung his legs out of bed. “You had me at 'Master wouldn’t approve’.”
“Do you think I could get one by walking into little Keldabe and asking very nicely?”
As it turns out, yes he could. A few too many in fact, apparently Jedi, their ancestral enemy, in the Mando district attracted attention, who knew? Feemor knew, Feemor would have known if only he had been properly awake when this semblence of a plan was proposed. He stalked through the cantina towards Obi-wan who was leaning slightly forwards against a pillar, ah…speaking, to a Mandalorian with painted orange armour while surrounded by a larger crowd of Mandos. At least they seem mostly amused. He ignored the youngers squawk as he yanked the back of his robes so that he moved away from the Mandalorian and spun him around.
“You cannot solve centuries of animosity by batting your eyelashes.”
“I’m not batting my eyelashes ” Obi-wan sniffed,“ I’m shaking my ass, there’s decidedly more effort involved.”
“I miss when I was an only child.” Feemor sighed deeply. He used the force to scruff the neck of Obi-wan’s robes and dangle him slightly in the air. He ignored the shouting from beside him and bowed politely to the staring Mandos. “My apologies for the disturbance, this will not happ-” He considered his brother who was now yelling out his personal comm code with a wink. “ Please excuse us, this very probably will happen again, we shall workshop it. May the force be with you all.”
You ever think supernatural creatures that consider humans potential prey have that “cat chases a bear up a tree”-thing? Like how bears, being an apex predator, have no concept of something that’s sufficiently prey-sized deciding to attack instead of fleeing, and cats have no awareness of the fact that they can die. So every once in a while a cat and a bear come face to face in the wild for the first time. A bear doesn’t understand what this creature is that isn’t trying to flee, and starts sniffing. A cat doesn’t understand what this creature is and decides to slap it. Utterly baffled, the bear decides it’s best to get out of here. The cat starts chasing because obviously anything that flees is prey.
Imagine having an Entity in your home that eats creatures like you, but has never caught a human before. It doesn’t understand why this prey isn’t trying to escape, the human is clearly unnerved by sensing A Presence but still keeps stubbornly sitting on the couch watching TV. The Entity moves a piece of furniture, making an eerie creaking noise, planning to raise terror in its prey as a way of playing with its food. But instead of even turning to look towards the source of the sound, the human just yells into the empty house:
“WHATEVER THE FUCK JUST MADE THAT NOISE HAD BETTER FUCK OFF, OR START PAYING RENT.”
The Entiry freezes in place, and decides that whatever is going on, it’s not worth the risk to find out. Better leave while it still can.
As many TBB fans, we really missed out on Echo becoming a true member of Clone Force 99. Like yeah, the unresolved trauma, not to mention Fives, but we all known Echo is a little shit, and has been a little shit since his cadets days.
Let’s explore this a little more.
Show me Echo finally getting to spar with someone, anyone, and just pulls a nasty move to win. You know, the kind of move that is downright dirty? We all know what i’m talking about. But show me TBB standing there in shock that this twig of a reg just took down someone twice his weight. He does not yet have all his muscle mass back yet! This was supposed to be a warm up for Echo. A way to build up his strength. Instead they get reminded that Echo is an ARC trooper and he has been through a lot.
Show me Echo trying to stop a cafeteria fight by reciting the reg manuals, saying “per regulation, fighting is not allowed in the cafeteria, and if you would have taken the time to read the reg manuals, you would have known that. Can you even read?” and Hunter furiously trying to deescalate the situation and failing. Echo gets sucker punched but the other clone does not get off as easily. Apparently he had to spend the night in the med bay. Echo only feels a little bit guilty.
Show me Echo matching Crosshair’s snarkiness with his own. Remember “Bravo for Bravo Squad”? But instead of being angry with each other, it starts a beautiful friendship between the ARC and Snark troopers. The rest of TBB don’t get how there friendship works and just have to roll with it.
But overall, let’s not forget that ARC training happens on Kamino. Show me Echo being called up by the ARC trainer for demonstration purposes. Afterall, it’s not everyday a war hero gets to help train new ARCs (except for Alpha-17, perhaps). Show me a bunch of new ARC recruits looking in astonishment because “holy Prime, that’s ARC Echo of the 501st! He withstood the worst torture imaginable! He basically made half the 501st tactics with The Captain Rex of the 501st!” only for Echo to just crush there poor little preconceptions. Because this little shit keeps it real with these recruits, explaining the reality of going on a mission with a zero success rate, of going through torture, of having to build up physical strength to the point that no cyber implants hurt anymore. Echo does not hold back and has no filter, his words are practically as blunt as the dullest blade and it can hurt just as much. But even through that, no recruit can beat him in a spar. Yet. It’s become a new challenge within ARC training.
Of course, I am a sucker for Mom Echo during season 1 and 2, but let me see Echo being a little shit before that! Let me see Hunter calling Cody one night after a successful mission asking “what is up with this reg? Are all ARC troopers like this?” And since Cody has known the little shits that make up the Domino Twins he just solemnly nods his head while sniggering on the inside. He calls Rex afterwards. Rex just laughs.
shifting is so insane cause you randomly get hit with “an infinite number of people are shifting for me in an infinite number of universes. they saw me and decided i was worth jumping through space and time for” and then you kinda just have to continue with your day
