บท 319: Bad Batch Comes To Rescue

"Ugh..."

Moaning, Captain Rex woke up. It took him a while to remember where he was, and what was happening, but the energy chains holding him made his memory come back quickly. He must have fallen unconscious after another round of interrogation.

As he rotated slowly, he saw a black medical droid injecting Metal with something. The drug, or whatever it was, must have caused a lot of pain, because the heavy machine gunner trembled and started sweating profusely. Still, the corners of his mouth curled up, and he spat at the droid.

"You gotta try something better, tin can. This trick is getting old... Ack..."

Holding back a grunt, Metal mocked the droid. The machine, unable to understand sarcasm, continued working unperturbed, but was unable to get anything from the clone. Metal was almost as stubborn as his squad leader.

Captain Rex lost sight of Metal as the energy chains forced him to rotate. To his other side was Jesse. The ARC Trooper was awake, but silent. He seemed fully concentrated on something. Knowing him, Captain Rex was sure Jesse was devising some kind of plan.

It was then that alarms started blasting off. The medical droid was confused by it for a few seconds, but then seemed to receive an order. Putting away the syringe he had been holding, he reached out for a blaster pistol, and aimed it at Metal.

When a base was about to fall in enemy hands, Separatist protocol dictated that a kill-all order was to be instated, for reasons that don't need to be explained. All the clones knew that, and had never had much faith in their lives. When Dageer left the tracker, he knew that Bad Batch would find them, but what he wanted wasn't to be saved, but revenge.

But, just as the clancker was about to squeeze the trigger, the door of the cell was blasted open, and a clone wearing black and red armor ran in. Using his two vibroknives, Hunter cut the medical droid into three pieces, before proceeding to free Metal, Jesse, and Captain Rex.

"You sure took your time, Hunter. Did Bad Batch get the others?"

Using the sergeant as support to stand up, Metal grimaced slightly. He was very weak, but he felt a lot better when he kicked the droid aside, and picked up the blaster pistol. A trooper without a weapon in hands felt naked.

"Yep. But we gotta move fast. Wrecker got a little excited, and threw a Droideka a tad to far, making the alarms go off earlier than we wanted."

Letting out a dry laugh, Metal picked up his armor, which had been thrown in the corner of the cell, and then stepped out of the room where he had been kept for over two weeks. As soon as he did so, he saw Dageer, Cell, Tech, Three-four, Brain, and Dab. Hell Squad was already holding weapons Bad Batch's Tech had handed to them.

"How are you, Metal?"

Leaving the clone to talk to his squad, Captain Rex helped Jesse, and went to check on Fives, Commander Cody, and the members of the 212th and 501st.

He paused slightly to look at the four weird clones that had come to their rescue. He couldn't remember when, but he had heard the name Bad Batch before. Now, however, he was too tired to think about it. All he knew was that they must be as crazy as Hell Squad if they dared to attempt to free them just with four troopers.

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"Ah, that's better."

Slashing the air around him with the vibroblade that Hunter handed to him, Dageer felt a lot more comfortable. As unorthodox and mostly inefficient in a battle as the weapon was, he liked it. Just shooting a seppie wasn't as satisfying as cutting their heads off.

"What is the extraction plan, Hunter?"

"Show them, Tech."

Nodding, the hyperactive member of Clone Force 99 brought up a hologram of the base they were in.

"Commander Appo has two battalions creating a diversion on the east side of the facility. Our exit is to the north. But we still gotta find the Jedis."

"Leave it to Hell Squad."

"Yeah! We need a stretch."

Knowing fully well what Dageer would say, Brain and Cell were already grinning. The weeks of torture hadn't dimmed down their spirits. In fact, it only made their desire for revenge stronger.

"Cody and Rex, you take the others to the exit. Bad Batch comes with us."

"But..."

"No time to discuss, Cody. Jesse, Wildcat, and Bronze are too weak. They will need help to walk."

The 212th Legion commander sighed in resignation. Dageer's tone left no room for any disagreement, and there was something on his words that made others obey him, even a commander. For a brief second, Commander Cody's mind flashed back to a conversation he had with Commander Keeli on the Revontre. It was just after the 303rd leader had decided to nominate Dageer sub-commander.

"Cody, wake up. We have to be quick."

The commander shook his head, and gave the hologram a last glance, before leading the others to the exit.

Meanwhile, Hell Squad and Bad Batch went towards the center of the seppie base. Dageer had seen the Separatist take the Jedis there when they first arrived, and hoped they would still be there.

They had barely left the prison block when they met a patrol. Dageer and his men were about to shoot, but Bad Batch was faster. Hunter jumped forward, cutting three droids into pieces, while Wrecker grabbed a B2 super battle droid, and threw it at the patrol. Crosshair, with Bad Batch's Tech help, used one laser to kill two droids. In less than five seconds, the patrol was annihilated.

Hell Squad was slightly impressed. They could have killed the clanckers as fast as Bad Batch, if not faster, but they had three years of experience, while Clone Force 99 barely had two months.

"Where did you go after Geonosis?"

"Christophsis and Felucia."

Two harsh battlegrounds. No wonder Bad Batch had gotten so much better after just two months. And, hearing about Felucia, Dageer finally remembered the grand offensive. With all that had happened, he had forgotten about it. But, if there were battles going on in Felucia, it meant the Republic was trying to reconquer the planet, what would only happen if Dageer's plan had gone right.

Although he was curious, Dageer had more urgent matters at hand. Once they were safely in Republic territory, he would receive all the information he needed. He was a commander, after all.

When the next group of clanckers appeared in front of them, Hell Squad sprung into action. The days without fighting didn't appear to have any impact on them.

Dab and Cell fired first, almost at the same time, and took down the four droids in the front row. Brain tossed a thermal detonator, and, taking advantage of the explosion, Metal, Tech, Three-four, and Dageer quickly killed the remaining clanckers, which weren't able to fire a single laser.

Stepping over the bodies, the two units ran towards the center of the base. Most of the Separatist garrison must have been locked in a fight with Commander Appo, because they met little resistance.

It came as a nice surprise to them when Hell Squad's Tech opened a door, and they saw Passel Argente on the other side. The Separatist leader, who always had a smug and cruel grin on his face, now looked terrified to see the clones he kept captive, free and armed.