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ajremixI wanted so very badly to name it after a line in Predator: The Musical but there wasn't one that worked with the fic. So instead the title comes from a track off the Prey soundtrack which is close enough though not as fun.
Title: Thrill of the Chase
Fandom: Star Wars: Republic Commando/Bad Batch
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1896
Characters: Hunter, Mird, Nulls, Fixer
Summary: Deep in the the forest a beast is on the hunt.
Even with a clear sky the trees were so thick this deep in the woods that the sunlight was barely visible. In the underbrush it could’ve been mistaken for night were it not for the distant sound of diurnal creatures calling to each other. The noise allowed Hunter to relax. Just a hair- his guard was hardly down. He knew there was no time for him to actually relax while he was being hunted.
He paused, ducking between two wildly overgrown ferns in order to stretch his sense out. He had no helmet and he could hear half a dozen voices protesting in his mind about having abandoned it but the bucket had always been about muting his senses, making them more manageable in the day to day then it had ever been about enhancing them.
Hunter took long, slow breathes through his open mouth, trying to catch the hint of a scent on the wind. For a moment, almost long enough that he started to believe he’d lost his tracker, the forest was lived in and serene.
Then the rapid chittering of some small creature went silent, as if alerting other prey before hiding. Hunter’s heart skipped a beat. It was close. Far closer than he’d anticipated.
He knew the creature preferred to ambush from the trees so he ducked down, all but crawling on his belly. The flora below all the greenery was a mass of dark, thorny vines. His armor protected his body from scratches but without his helmet Hunter couldn’t move too fast without the threat of gouging out his eyes. As it was he was already leaving an easy trail to follow on the ground, grooves in the dirt, still wet from rain two nights ago, broken off plant life and strands of snagged hair snagged and traces of blood as thorns caught him. But he was becoming desperate to get ahead of the beast. He’d lost track of time since his run began and the creature had been slowly but steadily zeroing in on him, learning Hunter’s tricks with every successful evasion.
There was a rustling above and Hunter would’ve thought it was just the wind in the branches except it lasted just a touch longer, the sound almost imperceptibly heavier than the other branches and he froze. It was in the tree just above him though Hunter didn’t dare look up to see exactly where but he could smell it. It had a musky scent that masked it in the thick forest, among the mildew and rotting leave, the rich, loamy soil that never seemed to dry out and the dozens of species of living beings all clustered in every conceivable crevice. But Hunter already knew its scent, just like it knew his. It was only a matter of time before it found him, the best he could do was make catching him as difficult as possible.
There, in between the thick growth, he saw what looked like a pathway, an animal trail. The beast was definitely capable of outrunning him but if Hunter could get to it, he’d at least have a better chance of fending it off. Planning his route, Hunter realized any move he’d make would draw the creature’s attention regardless so his best bet would just be to get to the trail as quickly as possible. He pushed up off the ground, crashing through the foliage. He wasn’t certain what tipped him off but, just a handful of steps in, he spun on his heel just in time to catch nearly 100 lbs of weight in the chest. He managed to get an arm up, the beast’s jaws snapping around that rather than Hunter’s throat. Its forelimbs scrabbled at his arms to anchor itself to him, back legs clamped down on his hips and the middle set of claws would have eviscerated him was it not for the armor. Hunter grabbed the thick ruff of fur at the back of its neck and, its teeth scratching without purchase over his vambrace as it was pulled away, tossed it into the underbrush. It disappeared in a rustle and Hunter realized he’d miscalculated on his strategy. The dense foliage that had hid him also hindered his escape but the creature had evolved to arrow through the dense leaves, its thick fur protecting it from the thorns. Hunter scrambled to the closest tree, pulling out both his blades, stabbing them into the bark and pulling himself up by upper body strength alone. It was hardly a solution with the beast already following him up. Hunter braced his feet, gathered up his strength and jumped, pushing as far out from the tree as possible, hoping he had the clearance to make it to trail. He fell short, the thorns raking across his face and hair as he tumbled to absorb the landing. He’d just gotten upright when he was slammed into the ground again, the beast’s weight knocking the breath out of him and Hunter was helpless to stop it from clamping its jaws around his neck and squeezing-
His collar beeped and a voice in his ear said, “/Killing blow and that’s time. Stand down, Mird. Mirdala, Mird’ika!/”
The weight disappeared and Hunter heaved a sigh, both in disappointment and to catch his breath. “Copy. We’re heading back.” But he sat up, grinning widely. “Kandosii, Mird’ika!” He reached out to scrub a hand through Mird’s thick fur and the strill allowed it. “You’re a tough beast to shake, you know that? Clever Mird indeed.” Mird huffed out a stinking breath and seemed to drool with pride.
Hunter stood, taking a moment to pull out the twigs and leaves that snagged on him and examined the marks Mird left on his armor. They looked impressive but would be easily smoothed over with some duraplast filler. In that time Mird scratched at its neck, shook itself and, deciding it had spent long enough waiting for Hunter, turned and went back to where the others presumably were. Hunter would’ve needed a moment to reorient himself after the hectic chase but the strill apparently knew where to go. Even without trying, Mird’s path barely disturbed the undergrowth but it held the tip of its tail above the bush so Hunter could follow.
It took a little over half an hour for them to reach the thinned out area where a large speeder sat. As they stepped out of the trees a chorus of cheers went up among the Nulls. They moved almost as if to cluster around Hunter but stopped part way, letting him move among them if he wanted. Hunter grinned and stepped into the half-circle, hands slapping at his shoulders and back, a couple daring to ruffle his already tangled mess of hair.
“Kandosii, ner vod!”
“That was a helluva first run!”
“Fixer said you’d be good but damn!”
“That time is insane, are you kidding me?”
“Really?” Hunter asked. It had seemed both like an eternity and an instant. “How long?”
“Twenty eight minutes, forty three seconds,” Jaing said. “Nearly doubled the previous best.”
That threw him for a loop. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah, yeah, amazing.” A’den had a hand clamped onto Hunter’s pauldron. “I need to see that footage stat. With that time you must’ve gotten passed the ravine and I need to know how. Mird always catches up to me there.”
Hunter barely had time to unhook his body cam before the Nulls pounced on it, then proceeded to argue with each other on the quickest way to get the footage downloaded onto a datapad. Mereel at least took a moment to hand Hunter a canteen and a ration bar before joining in the squabble.
That was fine, they hadn’t been the ones Hunter had been most eager to find after the chase. Fixer sat on the speeder’s bonnet, well away from the Nulls’ arguing. Mird sat by Jaing, enduring distracted pets as it nosed its way into the treat pouch on Jaing’s belt that he wasn’t paying enough attention to protect. Chuckling at them, Hunter went to stand in front of his boyfriend- even still that thought made his heart flutter.
Fixer already had a first aid kit out and, once Hunter was within reach, began swabbing at the cuts Hunter had accumulated. They stung but he couldn’t help the warm feeling that always came with being at the center of Fixer’s attention.
“Did you have fun?”
Hunter grinned, still a little flushed from both the exercise and the accomplishment. “Yeah. Yeah, I did.”
“Good.” Fixer looked a little apologetic as he said, “When I suggest this I was worried it might bring up some bad memories.”
And Hunter certainly did have bad memories that haunted him in his years running similar exercises on Kamino. But before the constant monitoring became oppressive, before he started feeling like every failure to improve was a step closer to a death sentence, it had been fun. And when Fixer told him about the hide-and-seek exercises some of the Nulls ran with Mird, that feeling rushed back. “They weren’t all bad memories.” He told Fixer, stepping further into his bubble. “And this wasn’t anything like that.” Because he was choosing to do this. He had nothing to improve and no one to impress. Well, he did want to impress the Nulls but it was less to prove he was worthwhile and more just to show off. And also Fixer but Hunter knew Fixer already regarded him highly. The open awe in his expression was just the proverbial icing on the cake.
Still, he couldn’t help fishing just a little. “Did you proud, I hope,” Hunter said, nudging at Fixer’s knee.
“I knew you would.” Fixer finished cleaning out the scratches, his trained eye having already deemed Hunter otherwise uninjured. “But I like getting you to show off when I can.”
Hunter’s smirk spread into a wide grin. It still felt like a novelty having someone so openly proud of what Hunter could do outside of bolstering their own ego or without wanting anything in return. “So did I win anything?”
“Bragging rights.” Fixer’s lips quirked up at one side. “Prudii will drive himself crazy trying to get anywhere near that time.”
Hunter stepped in a little closer, lightly placing his fingertips on Fixer’s knees as they bracketed him. When he made no sign he minded the touch, Hunter let his palms rest there fully. “I don’t get anything else? Nothing from you, perhaps?”
Fixer’s hands settled on the speeder, causing him to lean back just a bit and his legs spread out just a little wider. Hunter couldn’t stop himself from stepping further into that space because it took all of his focus to keep from pressing his face to Fixer’s neck and breathing him in. “Did you have something in mind?”
“Wash my hair for me?”
Fixer let out a little huff. He would’ve done so anyway, that hair needed more than just a washing. But Hunter considered it a win either way, he loved Fixer’s fingers against his scalp. “Yeah,” he said, brushing asides Hunter’s bangs, fingertips trailing over his skin, “I’ll take care of you.”
Title: Thrill of the Chase
Fandom: Star Wars: Republic Commando/Bad Batch
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1896
Characters: Hunter, Mird, Nulls, Fixer
Summary: Deep in the the forest a beast is on the hunt.
Even with a clear sky the trees were so thick this deep in the woods that the sunlight was barely visible. In the underbrush it could’ve been mistaken for night were it not for the distant sound of diurnal creatures calling to each other. The noise allowed Hunter to relax. Just a hair- his guard was hardly down. He knew there was no time for him to actually relax while he was being hunted.
He paused, ducking between two wildly overgrown ferns in order to stretch his sense out. He had no helmet and he could hear half a dozen voices protesting in his mind about having abandoned it but the bucket had always been about muting his senses, making them more manageable in the day to day then it had ever been about enhancing them.
Hunter took long, slow breathes through his open mouth, trying to catch the hint of a scent on the wind. For a moment, almost long enough that he started to believe he’d lost his tracker, the forest was lived in and serene.
Then the rapid chittering of some small creature went silent, as if alerting other prey before hiding. Hunter’s heart skipped a beat. It was close. Far closer than he’d anticipated.
He knew the creature preferred to ambush from the trees so he ducked down, all but crawling on his belly. The flora below all the greenery was a mass of dark, thorny vines. His armor protected his body from scratches but without his helmet Hunter couldn’t move too fast without the threat of gouging out his eyes. As it was he was already leaving an easy trail to follow on the ground, grooves in the dirt, still wet from rain two nights ago, broken off plant life and strands of snagged hair snagged and traces of blood as thorns caught him. But he was becoming desperate to get ahead of the beast. He’d lost track of time since his run began and the creature had been slowly but steadily zeroing in on him, learning Hunter’s tricks with every successful evasion.
There was a rustling above and Hunter would’ve thought it was just the wind in the branches except it lasted just a touch longer, the sound almost imperceptibly heavier than the other branches and he froze. It was in the tree just above him though Hunter didn’t dare look up to see exactly where but he could smell it. It had a musky scent that masked it in the thick forest, among the mildew and rotting leave, the rich, loamy soil that never seemed to dry out and the dozens of species of living beings all clustered in every conceivable crevice. But Hunter already knew its scent, just like it knew his. It was only a matter of time before it found him, the best he could do was make catching him as difficult as possible.
There, in between the thick growth, he saw what looked like a pathway, an animal trail. The beast was definitely capable of outrunning him but if Hunter could get to it, he’d at least have a better chance of fending it off. Planning his route, Hunter realized any move he’d make would draw the creature’s attention regardless so his best bet would just be to get to the trail as quickly as possible. He pushed up off the ground, crashing through the foliage. He wasn’t certain what tipped him off but, just a handful of steps in, he spun on his heel just in time to catch nearly 100 lbs of weight in the chest. He managed to get an arm up, the beast’s jaws snapping around that rather than Hunter’s throat. Its forelimbs scrabbled at his arms to anchor itself to him, back legs clamped down on his hips and the middle set of claws would have eviscerated him was it not for the armor. Hunter grabbed the thick ruff of fur at the back of its neck and, its teeth scratching without purchase over his vambrace as it was pulled away, tossed it into the underbrush. It disappeared in a rustle and Hunter realized he’d miscalculated on his strategy. The dense foliage that had hid him also hindered his escape but the creature had evolved to arrow through the dense leaves, its thick fur protecting it from the thorns. Hunter scrambled to the closest tree, pulling out both his blades, stabbing them into the bark and pulling himself up by upper body strength alone. It was hardly a solution with the beast already following him up. Hunter braced his feet, gathered up his strength and jumped, pushing as far out from the tree as possible, hoping he had the clearance to make it to trail. He fell short, the thorns raking across his face and hair as he tumbled to absorb the landing. He’d just gotten upright when he was slammed into the ground again, the beast’s weight knocking the breath out of him and Hunter was helpless to stop it from clamping its jaws around his neck and squeezing-
His collar beeped and a voice in his ear said, “/Killing blow and that’s time. Stand down, Mird. Mirdala, Mird’ika!/”
The weight disappeared and Hunter heaved a sigh, both in disappointment and to catch his breath. “Copy. We’re heading back.” But he sat up, grinning widely. “Kandosii, Mird’ika!” He reached out to scrub a hand through Mird’s thick fur and the strill allowed it. “You’re a tough beast to shake, you know that? Clever Mird indeed.” Mird huffed out a stinking breath and seemed to drool with pride.
Hunter stood, taking a moment to pull out the twigs and leaves that snagged on him and examined the marks Mird left on his armor. They looked impressive but would be easily smoothed over with some duraplast filler. In that time Mird scratched at its neck, shook itself and, deciding it had spent long enough waiting for Hunter, turned and went back to where the others presumably were. Hunter would’ve needed a moment to reorient himself after the hectic chase but the strill apparently knew where to go. Even without trying, Mird’s path barely disturbed the undergrowth but it held the tip of its tail above the bush so Hunter could follow.
It took a little over half an hour for them to reach the thinned out area where a large speeder sat. As they stepped out of the trees a chorus of cheers went up among the Nulls. They moved almost as if to cluster around Hunter but stopped part way, letting him move among them if he wanted. Hunter grinned and stepped into the half-circle, hands slapping at his shoulders and back, a couple daring to ruffle his already tangled mess of hair.
“Kandosii, ner vod!”
“That was a helluva first run!”
“Fixer said you’d be good but damn!”
“That time is insane, are you kidding me?”
“Really?” Hunter asked. It had seemed both like an eternity and an instant. “How long?”
“Twenty eight minutes, forty three seconds,” Jaing said. “Nearly doubled the previous best.”
That threw him for a loop. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah, yeah, amazing.” A’den had a hand clamped onto Hunter’s pauldron. “I need to see that footage stat. With that time you must’ve gotten passed the ravine and I need to know how. Mird always catches up to me there.”
Hunter barely had time to unhook his body cam before the Nulls pounced on it, then proceeded to argue with each other on the quickest way to get the footage downloaded onto a datapad. Mereel at least took a moment to hand Hunter a canteen and a ration bar before joining in the squabble.
That was fine, they hadn’t been the ones Hunter had been most eager to find after the chase. Fixer sat on the speeder’s bonnet, well away from the Nulls’ arguing. Mird sat by Jaing, enduring distracted pets as it nosed its way into the treat pouch on Jaing’s belt that he wasn’t paying enough attention to protect. Chuckling at them, Hunter went to stand in front of his boyfriend- even still that thought made his heart flutter.
Fixer already had a first aid kit out and, once Hunter was within reach, began swabbing at the cuts Hunter had accumulated. They stung but he couldn’t help the warm feeling that always came with being at the center of Fixer’s attention.
“Did you have fun?”
Hunter grinned, still a little flushed from both the exercise and the accomplishment. “Yeah. Yeah, I did.”
“Good.” Fixer looked a little apologetic as he said, “When I suggest this I was worried it might bring up some bad memories.”
And Hunter certainly did have bad memories that haunted him in his years running similar exercises on Kamino. But before the constant monitoring became oppressive, before he started feeling like every failure to improve was a step closer to a death sentence, it had been fun. And when Fixer told him about the hide-and-seek exercises some of the Nulls ran with Mird, that feeling rushed back. “They weren’t all bad memories.” He told Fixer, stepping further into his bubble. “And this wasn’t anything like that.” Because he was choosing to do this. He had nothing to improve and no one to impress. Well, he did want to impress the Nulls but it was less to prove he was worthwhile and more just to show off. And also Fixer but Hunter knew Fixer already regarded him highly. The open awe in his expression was just the proverbial icing on the cake.
Still, he couldn’t help fishing just a little. “Did you proud, I hope,” Hunter said, nudging at Fixer’s knee.
“I knew you would.” Fixer finished cleaning out the scratches, his trained eye having already deemed Hunter otherwise uninjured. “But I like getting you to show off when I can.”
Hunter’s smirk spread into a wide grin. It still felt like a novelty having someone so openly proud of what Hunter could do outside of bolstering their own ego or without wanting anything in return. “So did I win anything?”
“Bragging rights.” Fixer’s lips quirked up at one side. “Prudii will drive himself crazy trying to get anywhere near that time.”
Hunter stepped in a little closer, lightly placing his fingertips on Fixer’s knees as they bracketed him. When he made no sign he minded the touch, Hunter let his palms rest there fully. “I don’t get anything else? Nothing from you, perhaps?”
Fixer’s hands settled on the speeder, causing him to lean back just a bit and his legs spread out just a little wider. Hunter couldn’t stop himself from stepping further into that space because it took all of his focus to keep from pressing his face to Fixer’s neck and breathing him in. “Did you have something in mind?”
“Wash my hair for me?”
Fixer let out a little huff. He would’ve done so anyway, that hair needed more than just a washing. But Hunter considered it a win either way, he loved Fixer’s fingers against his scalp. “Yeah,” he said, brushing asides Hunter’s bangs, fingertips trailing over his skin, “I’ll take care of you.”
