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Acceptance.
Crosshair had finally reached that stage in his captivity. There was no way out of this prison. The Empire had turned on him, just as Hunter had foretold. If only he’d had the clarity in his anger to listen, to go with them when they’d left Kamino instead of stubbornly remaining on the platform.
Maybe he’d still be with them.
Maybe Tech would still be alive.
Yet Crosshair had condemned himself to this fate. The clone found himself a lab rat just as he’d been in his youth. Days blurred together with blood draws, tissue samples, and countless drugs injected into his system. And while reality was hell, the hallucinations from whatever Hemlock was subjecting him to were worse. His specters manifested mostly as Tech or Mayday, or both if his brain decided to react extremely. Cruel, yet deserved for his sins.
Crueler was Omega’s presence. She was still a child. A clone unburdened with an accelerated lifespan, which made her only so much more valuable to Hemlock’s foul plans. She shouldn’t be here, but he’d set off the chain of events that got Tech killed and brought her here. His fault alone.
With his distorted sense of time, Crosshair had no idea how long Omega had been here. Hunter and Wrecker and Echo were hopefully fighting their way here for her. She was their kid. Him? Odds were that he would die here. Crosshair had thought about it several times. After all, he’d started as an experiment in a facility. Made sense that he’d perish that way too.
Crosshair was thinking about this in his cell when something odd started happening. Golden wisps seemed to hang in the air beside his bed. He wasn’t sure whether this was reality or another hallucination. The wisps looked beautiful as they wavered in the air. He raised his hand from his bed, not yet reaching out to touch it yet. More wisps formed suddenly, and Crosshair watched them coalesce. Then next thing he knew, a non-corporeal figure was standing in his cell.
“Ugh,” Crosshair groaned as he took in the strange ghost of himself. Definitely a hallucination.
Calling the figure himself, however, might have been a stretch. Crosshair still had enough of his marbles to recognize his own face, yet the ghost had a full head of unruly gray curls with a beard to match. There was no trace of the scarring from Bracca, but there was a new one that cut into the side of his chin and cheek. He sported his Clone Force 99 armor, only the gear was scuffed and bore numerous score marks. Some of the pieces had been replaced with parts that probably belonged to another kit.
“What the kriff?” the ghost uttered, frowning at him. “Is this…the future?”
Hallucinations normally didn’t ask him questions like this, excluding variations of asking why he left them die.
“Who are you?” he rasped to it, confused.
The ghost scoffed, appearing annoyed, but his body language betrayed him. His hands were clenched under his crossed arms. Crosshair knew himself too well. Whatever this was, the ghost was afraid.
“Is this…my future?” the ghost asked again. “Is this what happens when we finally free my brothers and sister from Hemlock?”
Crosshair shook his head. “No one’s freeing us. No one cares. We’re clones.”
“So this isn’t the future?”
“No,” Crosshair told him.
“Good,” the ghost sounded relieved, but still annoyed. “Then where the hell am I?”
Crosshair watched his ghoulish double carefully take a step to the side, and then another. It was like he was testing if he could walk.
“Dammit, Pulse,” the other him muttered. “What kind of Force bullshit is this?”
How come the ghost looked like him and was asking about a pulse?
“He did some stupid Force crap so I could see where Hunter is being held,” the other him explained and Crosshair realized he’d spoken aloud. “I don’t get it completely. Even Tech isn’t sure how it works. All I know is I’ve got a minute or so to scout around for my family. Instead, I’m staring at myself, who, by the way, looks like nexu shit.”
Crosshair flipped the hallucination off. “Why couldn’t you be Tech?”
“Because I drew the short straw. Tech gets to monitor vitals for ‘data collection’. But he’d probably have the answer to whatever this is. Like that I’m in an…”
The answer clicked for both at the same moment. “Alternate universe.”
“Huh,” the ghost- no, doppelganger- uttered. “Wrong universe, right location. Great, can’t count this as a success.”
Crosshair tuned him out, rising shakily to his feet to study the other him further. This wasn’t a hallucination unless his brain had finally cooked itself out. There wasn’t an abundance of clear details given the other him wasn’t quite solid. He did note the squad’s skull and 99 were absent from his pauldron. The left arm bracer had some carvings on it. His ears bore a few piercings Crosshair used to have during the war, while his face bore a smile line or two lacking on Crosshair’s own.
The doppelganger mentioned he was searching for his family. Hemlock’s name also got dropped, so he was involved in the other reality. Crosshair didn’t know of anyone named Pulse though. But the mention of Hunter being held somewhere…
“Clone Force 99 exists…existed in your universe?” Crosshair asked, pointing to the armor.
“It does,” his doppelganger confirmed. “But everything changed when Order 66 was declared.”
“It did here too,” Crosshair explained. “My chip activated, then got enhanced. I joined the Empire, but it only led me here. I had a chance to go with my brothers after the Empire destroyed Kamino. I should have taken it then.”
The other him looked unsettled but resigned as he nodded. “My chip never went off, but Hunter’s did. He joined the Empire while me and the rest of my brothers took our sister and fled.”
That confirmed Crosshair’s earlier suspicions. The thought of his big brother hunting him like he’d hunted his brothers made him shudder. “Was it bad?”
His doppelganger’s hand rubbed his neck. “Really bad. We brought him back from Kamino, but he left afterwards. Part of it was guilt, but I didn’t help either. If I’d been less of a jerk, he wouldn’t have ended up in Hemlock’s clutches. And Omega wouldn’t be taken and Wrecker-”
“Omega’s here,” Crosshair interrupted the doppelganger. He didn’t want to hear the end of that sentence. “She shouldn’t be, but she is. It’s my fault Hemlock’s got her.”
“She’s still alive, right? Do you get to see her? Is she hurt? Scared?”
Crosshair was caught off guard by the protective tone in his alternate self’s voice. “She comes by sometimes. She still thinks we can escape.”
“Hopefully, she’s telling Hunter the same thing,” his doppelganger said as his form flickered. “I’m going to wake up in a moment.”
Crosshair sat back down on the bunk. “Good luck going against Hemlock.”
The doppelganger shrugged. “Thanks.”
Something occurred to Crosshair. “You mentioned Tech’s watching your vitals. He’s still your twin there, right?”
“He is,” other him snorted. “And still holding those six days over my head.”
“Would you…give him a hug?” he requested, feeling silly. “For me? I never showed him how much I cared about him.”
His doppelganger paused for a second, then nodded. “Of course.”
“Thanks.”
“And, also,” the doppelganger added. “From what you told me, similar events have happened in both our worlds. In my universe, we’re coming to save our family. I’d bet yours are coming for you and Omega too.”
“They’ll come for her, not me,” Crosshair sighed. “I’ve accepted my fate.”
“Then un-accept it,” his double snapped. “End the pity party. Get ready to fight. Unless you forgot how to do that.”
Of course, his other self would know how to push his buttons.
“Hang in there. They’re coming. And tell Wrecker that-”
With that, the alternate version of himself faded away.
Crosshair stared at the space where he’d been. He wondered what his doppelganger was returning to in his universe. A brief smile touched Crosshair’s face as he thought about the other Tech finding out his twin had visited another universe. What he wouldn’t give to hear all the questions Tech’s double would have…
Maybe his brothers would come for him. Maybe they’d only come for Omega. Whatever the case, his doppelganger had said something important. He had to stop the pity party. Again and again, he’d let Hemlock break him. Crosshair let him and Rampart and the Empire strip away everything that made him who he was. That ended here and now in this cell.
The battles would have to be picked going forward, but Crosshair was ready to fight.