After parting with Cham Syndulla and his family, the Bad Batch returns to their ship. Tech and Echo work to do a complete diagnostic scan of the ship as Wrecker and Hunter lead Omega back toward her room. Though the sun is rising on Ord Mantell, everyone is exhausted and ready to get some shut-eye.

"You're right, your friend is strange. But I see why you like her." Wrecker says, picking up Omega.

"She's going to be a pilot someday," Omega replies as he gently places her in her room. She grabs Lula, holding the toy in her arms. "Did you see the way she flew that shuttle? She's already a natural!"

Wrecker laughs in agreement, ruffling Omega's hair. "You should have been here to listen to Tech's complaining."

"Oh, I heard some of it." She yawns, her eyes closing for a moment. "He thought she was crazy. But it was fun and everything worked out alright. We rescued Hera's parents and everyone is safe."

"Yupp. Mission accomplished!" Wrecker cheers with a grin. "Goodnight, Omega." He says before giving her a very light hit on her shoulder. She tells him goodnight as he heads back to the cockpit to join Echo and Tech, leaving Hunter and her alone.

She turns, smiling at him. But when she meets his eyes, she frowns. She can tell that something is bothering him. "What's wrong?" She asks.

Hunter forces a smile. "Nothing, kid. Just a little tired." He says, sweeping her curtain farther back to help tuck her into bed.

"Is it about me and Hera flying the shuttle?" She asks, furrowing her eyebrows. Concern washes over her face. "Because we know it wasn't in the plan, but we had to do something to save Chopper."

"No. You didn't do anything wrong." He waves away, slightly shaking his head. Omega and Hera did a good job. They adapted to the situation and kept themselves relatively out of harm's way. He couldn't be prouder. "I've just got a lot in my mind." He softly says.

He pulls her blanket up to her chin, making sure every part of her is covered. She strains her neck just a bit, adjusting the blanket so it rests a little lower than he placed it. "Like what?" Omega asks, yawning again.

He lightly chuckles. "Nothing for you to worry about. Get some rest. You've earned it."

"Alright." She huffs, quickly understanding that he's not going to share anything with her now. Besides, sleep does sound amazing and she's very comfortable in her bed. "Goodnight, Hunter."

"Goodnight, Omega." He replies before closing her curtains to help block out the lights from the rest of the ship.

He walks back to join the others in the cockpit, unsure if he wants to bring up his current thoughts to the group. He takes his seat, letting them chat among themselves. They deserve to hear what he thinks, but even to him, it sounds crazy. Plus, what will it change? It's not like there's much they can do if there has been a shift. They would need luck and everything the supposed Force can give them.

"Hunter, did you hear me?" Tech asks, arching his eyebrow at him.

He jumps, startled by Tech's sudden questioning. He sits up in his chair, giving his head a quick shake. "No, sorry. Lost in thought." He answers, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I was just asking about the hyperdrive, but I suppose it isn't important at the moment," Tech says, quickly going back to work. He drops the subject, but Echo and Wrecker's attention drifts to their leader.

"Care to share?" Echo asks, giving a slight shrug.

Hunter doesn't really want to.

The topic on his mind is something that he's been ignoring for months. He knows how tense the room becomes when he's mentioned. There are so many conflicted feelings, especially after their last encounter.

But he's their brother. And they should know what Hunter witnessed when they were escaping Ryloth.

"It's about Crosshair," Hunter mumbles, searching for his voice. Tech immediately stops what he's doing, crawling back out from underneath the dash. A frown appears on Wrecker's face and Echo's eyes drop.

Immediately, the tension that Hunter wanted to avoid surrounds them. It's a mixture of anger, sadness, and confusion that comes up every time Crosshair is involved. It might be his name actually spoken aloud, his weapons kit sliding across the floor to land at their feet, or even one of his damn toothpicks showing up in the least expected places.

Something every day makes his presence known to them in the most gutwrenching ways possible.

"What about him?" Tech asks, brave enough to carry this heavy conversation.

"We know how the chip can change our thoughts and actions." Hunter begins. Wrecker instantly shies away, still embarrassed and ashamed for something that he had no control of. Hunter sends him a comforting smile, then continues on. "And I don't know how you boys feel about him, but I believe that when we met him on Bracca, it was the chip doing most of his actions."

After a beat of silent thinking, Wrecker answers, "I think so too." He shifts in his seat. "Crosshair can be a jerk, but that didn't seem like him."

Echo furrows his eyebrows, glancing at Wrecker. "He shot you back on Kamino." He says. The scene floods all of their minds. Without even thinking about it, Crosshair shot and brought Wrecker to the ground. "He threatened to kill Omega on Bracca. I don't think we can gloss over that."

"So did I!" Wrecker quickly defends, his shoulders tightening. "I was going to shoot her until Rex stunned me."

The room becomes quiet, as Wrecker stands up. He rubs the back of his head, slightly pacing in the cockpit. "I know you guys don't hold any of it against me." He says, his voice quieter than before. His eyes scan each of their faces before adding, "So I don't hold it against Crosshair."

"To be fair, we know it was the chip working in you," Tech says with a gentle shrug. "We can't be completely certain that the chip is working in Crosshair or if he is siding with the Empire on his own free will."

"Crosshair never threatened to shoot anyone point-blank like that though," Hunter argues, running his hand along his jaw in thought.

"He was never in charge before either." Echo counters.

"I don't see the point in arguing this. We won't reach an agreement anytime soon," Tech says, getting everyone's attention. He lightly shakes his head, upset with what he has to say. "There's simply not enough evidence for us to definitely say whether it's his chip or not."

"But you saw him before they took him away!" Wrecker defends, his voice giving away how hurt he feels. "He wasn't like his usual self. He kept going on and on about orders. You know he hates orders!"

Echo sighs, crossing his arms over his chest. "You're not wrong. He was acting stranger than normal." He softly agrees. "Though I've only been with you guys for a short amount of time, I've never seen him talk to Hunter that way."

Hunter locks his jaw at the mention of it. The things Crosshair was saying. Though the team always joked and teased that Crosshair was moody and unimpressed with how things were run, not once did he ever say it.

Anytime he had a problem with something, he would bring it up to Hunter when they were alone. And even that was rare.

"I can agree on that," Tech says. "Orders were bendable to Crosshair, at least before Kaller. And never has he spoken like that to Hunter."

Silence fills the room again, no one knowing what to say. There's nothing they can say that will change what happened. The only it's done is bring up hurtful memories. Those final days together, before everything fell apart.

Wrecker sits back down, hugging himself. The frown on his face breaks all of their hearts. "Why did you have to bring him up?" He asks, pain evident in his voice.

Echo and Tech look to Hunter for an answer.

Hunter tips his head back.

Force, why did he bring Crosshair up?

He knew that they would all grow upset, which is understandable. The last few times with Crosshair were aggravating, miserable, and frightening. It's been hard on all of them to see how he's changed just over the course of a few months. From being silent and easy-going to snappy and harsh.

Crosshair's become someone Hunter doesn't know.

He's not the same person who used to offer to take the worst nightwatch shift or humor Wrecker with friendly competitions to keep him entertained. The Crosshair they met on Bracca doesn't seem to remember allowing Tech to be the only one to modify his rifle with him or how he'd work in the dark so that Hunter could give his eyes a rest from the bright lights of the ship.

But what if he is remembering? What if something has happened to change him back to who he used to be?

"It's about how we got away," Hunter answers Wrecker, leaning forward. He gives his head a slight shake, unsure how he wants to word what he's thinking without sounding crazy. What he saw doesn't make any sense, but it means something. At least, to him it does.

"What happened when we were escaping?" Tech asks, arching his eyebrow. He was on the Marauder with Wrecker, so he doesn't really know what happened when Hunter and Echo left with Cham and the others. He sort of assumed it was uneventful.

Echo also scrunches his face in confusion. He didn't notice anything out of the ordinary when they were escaping.

Hunter takes a deep breath. "At first, I thought maybe we had gotten lucky. The shots targeting the shuttle when we were taking off didn't come close to hitting. I assumed they came from some shiny." He explains. "But before we were too far away, I had to look for him. I had to see if Crosshair was down there."

Wrecker perks up, his eyes wide with hope. "Was he?"

Hunter shrugs, a smile tugging at his lips. "Yeah. I think that was him. The one firing at the shuttle."

Echo furrows his eyebrows. "How could you tell?"

"He pulled off his helmet the same way he always does," Hunter says as he rolls his eyes at the memory.

Echo tilts his head, not understanding, but Tech and Wrecker instantly laugh. Picking up Echo's confusion, they use their left hands and pretend to pull their helmet off the way Crosshair has done since they were cadets.

Echo gratefully nods for their explanation, then looks back at Hunter. "But that means that Crosshair was the one who was firing at us."

"And he missed?" Tech scoffs, scrunching his nose at Hunter. His eyes rapidly blink as he tries to comprehend what he is laying before them. "If I remember the Capitol building correctly, the shuttle would have been out in the open."

"Exactly. He had a clear shot." Hunter agrees, finding himself unable to hold back a grin.

Wrecker loudly laughs, excitement radiating off of him. "And he missed!"

"So?" Echo asks, still lost.

Wrecker jumps up, happily slapping Echo on the shoulder. "Crosshair never misses! Especially when it's long-distance."

Echo's eyes widen, processing this information. He knows that Crosshair is a good shot, that's what his defect is. But he didn't really understand until now how him missing a shot could explain that something's wrong. "So what do you think happened?" He asks, looking to Hunter. "That he missed on purpose?"

Hunter chuckles, shrugging his shoulders. "Kind of." He says. "He had to know we were on Ryloth. The probe droid spotted us."

"This new information only further clouds our understanding of what's happening to him," Tech says, beginning to type on his datapad. "We know with Wrecker how intense the chip is once it's activated. So say Crosshair is under control of his chip. The chip could be affecting his shots."

"Or maybe he never was under control from the chip to begin with and he missed on purpose," Echo says, his shoulders slightly dropping. He sighs, glancing between all of them. "Or it could be a combination of the two."

"This just puts us back at square one but with more questions," Tech says, darkening the mood. He's right, of course. They don't know what him missing his shot means. All they know is that it isn't just luck that he missed. Something is happening to him.

Wrecker smiles and mimics Tech by raising a finger. "I for one think that we should investigate this." He says, using fancier words to catch Tech's attention.

"It's not that simple, Wrecker." Hunter quickly argues. "We don't know what is going with Crosshair. Plus we don't even know where he is."

"And since he's with the Empire, it's not like we can just kidnap him," Echo says. "He's going to be heavily guarded since he's important. It's a risk we can't afford to take, especially with Omega."

"But we have to try!" Wrecker says. "He's our brother."

The words ring in all of their heads.

Hunter inhales through his nose, the words stinging him harder than they ever have. The idea of Crosshair being alone sends chills down his arm. "We don't leave our own behind." He mumbles under his breath.

Quickly, he turns to Tech. "Is there any way that you could track him? Maybe find out where he's headed next?"

"Possibly," Tech says, focusing more intensely on his datapad now. "The Empire has a lot of its information locked down tight, but if you give me time, I can try to crack it and get something for us to go off of."

"So when are we rescuing Crosshair?"

Everyone whips their heads to see Omega standing behind them, Lula tucked under her arm. Her hair is more tussled than normal, signaling she didn't get any rest at all and has probably been listening the entire time.

"This conversation wasn't for you," Hunter says, narrowing his gaze at her.

"I'm a part of this squad too." She counters, her bottom lip slightly pouting. "I want to help."

"Well, we need to get more information before we can think about doing anything." Tech answers, glancing up at Omega from his datapad. "Once we have what we need, then we can talk about rescuing Crosshair. But we can't just fly in there and scoop him up. We need to be ready."

"And until then?" Omega asks.

"Until then, we're going to keep working for Cid," Hunter says, standing up from his chair. "We'll keep gathering information about Crosshair every chance we can." He grabs Omega's hand, leading her back to her bunk. She willingly crawls back up into her bed, tucking herself in.

"Do you really think Crosshair missed on purpose?" She quietly asks, her wide brown eyes filled with curiosity.

Softly, he pats her arm. In his gut, he knows it. He knows that the missing shots weren't just flukes or Crosshair being affected by the chip. It was him saving them. It was his cry for help.

Hunter knows he shouldn't say it. He shouldn't get her hopes up, just like he might have with the boys. But when he looks into her sweet, big eyes, he can't do it. He can't lie to her. Not even to save her feelings from possible heartbreak.

"I do."

Omega smiles, her face brightening. "Me too."

~~~~~~~~~~

I don't think those shots during episode 12 went unnoticed by Hunter. After everything he and Crosshair have gone through, I feel like he knows that Crosshair would never miss a shot like that. 

And since the Bad Batch isn't going to give us a scene of them talking about it and wanting to save Crosshair, I decided to! Hope you've enjoyed!