Aftermath
Tech had Mini-R2 and Echo do some digging into some of the computers in order to find anything about Omega that would be helpful.
"I honestly should've guessed they were gonna use me for something like this." Boba said. "Especially when Uncle Carmine started having me learn that song to get rid of the inhibitor chips."
"Inhibitor chips?" said Echo.
"Part of the regs programming." Tech said.
"What programming?" Hunter asked.
"It's been well documented that the Kaminoans inhibited the cognitive functions of clones to engineer them to follow orders without question."
"And when the Song Dust was created and got rid of the chips, it allowed clones to be more free-spirited if they so chose." Boba said.
"Precisely."
"Ha! We sure don't." Wrecker said, whacking Crosshair with his Lula plush and wrapping his arm around him.
"Obviously, we are different." said Tech. "They manipulated preexisting aberrations in our DNA resulting in your brute strength, Crosshair's sharp shooting skills, Hunter's enhanced senses and my exceptional mind."
"Well, I was unmodified." Boba said. "Which is why I age like a normal kid and act like a normal kid."
"That would be correct." Tech looked at the data pad. "You possess pure first-generation DNA. A perfect replica of... Jango Fett, the clone template."
"He was my father."
"How many clones like him exist?" Hunter asked.
"Looking... Ah! There is one other. A female clone, codenamed Omega, half of the Alpha and Omega project. Boba was originally codenamed Alpha."
"And Dad decided to rename me after a milk tea? Really?" Boba said.
"That's what you're worried about?" Echo chuckled.
Boba sighed. "No, I've gotten used to it. Too late to change my name now."
"But why wouldn't I have been told I had a sister?" Boba asked.
"Either your birth father didn't know how to tell you, couldn't tell you, or he didn't know about her himself." Tech said. "Did you not say that part of your father's deal with the Kaminoans was just the first clone for himself?"
Boba thought and said, "I guess we know who's the older twin."
But then, Boba thought again. When he was growing up, every few months, Jango went under some kind of procedure with the Kaminoans. At first, Boba had no idea what it was for or why... but then he remembered once when he was smaller and he got bored, and decided to sneak out and explore the facility, when he walked in on what turned out to be how the cloning process worked. And that was when Boba realized... that was exactly what he saw Omega being put through!
Boba remembered now! His father always felt very weak after the procedure. How did it affect a child?
"We gotta get her out of here!" Boba said. "She could be in serious trouble!"
"Right now, our orders are to protect you." Hunter said.
"Ugh! Thanks for the support, guys!" Boba said sarcastically, leaving the room, taking his tablet with him.
"Let him go." said Tech. "He needs to learn to settle his emotions himself."
Boba sat down somewhere and looked on his tablet. On it, there were pictures and videos of him and his family. So many great memories he'd made over the years he'd been a Skywalker.
He opened one video that had been from three years ago, sometime after Boba was adopted.
Video #4: Indiana & Virgina Jones vs the Hall of Mystery
Boba was dressed like Indiana Jones in this video, and Gabby was too.
"Careful with the camera, Remix." three-year-old Gabby said.
(Boba remembered how much smaller Gabby was then. She was still as cute now as she was then.)
"Here we are. Virginia Jones & Indiana Jones finally on an adventure together. Our mission today... enter the hall of mystery and bring back the legendary chest of gold said to hold the boots belonging to the legendary warrior king Anakim Starkiller."
The two kids walked to the "Hall of Mystery", which was actually the closet in Anakin's quarters at the Temple.
Boba opened the door, being tall enough to reach the button, and they saw clothes hanging in there, which they pretended were bats sleeping in the hall.
"Let's not wake the bats." Gabby whispered as she and Boba crawled in and searched.
Achoo! Boba sneezed.
"Ahh! You woke the bats! Run!" Gabby screamed, managing to grab the 'gold chest' which was actually a shoe box, and the kids ran, ran, and ran out of the closet, out of the room, and into the hallway until Boba tripped and Gabby fell on top of them, both of them laughing.
And before they knew it, Gabby was trying on the pair of boots inside the box, which were way too big for her because they were Anakin's. It made Boba and the others laugh seeing Little Gabby pretending to be big and grown up already. It was one of the most adorable things she did.
That was when Anakin appeared in the video.
"Gabby, are you playing with my new boots?" Anakin said.
"Hi, Daddy." Gabby smiled awkwardly. "Just making sure they're comfy enough. And they are."
"And too big for you." Anakin said, picking up the child out from his boots.
That was where the video ended.
Boba laughed looking back at one of those memories.
Boba spent time looking at a few pictures and found himself singing one of his lullabies to himself.
It's magic when you are here beside me
Close your eyes and let me hold you tight
Everything that I could ever need is
Right here in my arms
Tonight
"You're a good singer." said a familiar voice.
Boba nearly dropped his tablet and looked up to see Omega.
"Omega, you're okay!" Boba said, hugging his newfound sister.
"Why wouldn't I be okay?" Omega asked.
"I know about your origins... and the cloning process."
Omega seemed to get nervous at the mere thought of the process.
"I saw my, er our father go through it once. I didn't like what I saw." Boba said sadly.
"Try being the one being hooked up to those machines." Omega said. "Every time they make me do it, I don't get a say at all."
"Really?"
"Yeah. I've tried running, but they always find me."
"Sounds like Gabby could teach you a thing or two about Hide and Seek. She's the champ."
"Who's she?"
"Oh, that's right. You don't know." Boba said. "After Jango Fett died, I got adopted into a new family. Gabby's my adoptive sister."
Boba pulled up a picture on his tablet and showed Omega. "This is my family."
Omega was intrigued. The people all looked different, though some looked alike.
"Those are my mom and dad, Padme and Anakin Skywalker, my dad's twin brother and his wife, my uncle Carmine and Aunt Caroline, their daughter Lamenta, my cousin. My grandfather, Qui-Gon Jinn, Dad and Uncle Carmine's father, and that little girl there is Gabriella. We all call her Gabby."
"That's a big family."
"Don't you have any family at all?" Boba asked.
"No. I've read about families though. Never had one. But I'd like one. A family I can go on adventures with."
"Well, you'd love my family. I've gotten to see a lot of places with them, and meet magical creatures and royal families."
Omega and Boba walked down the hallway for a while as Boba told her some stories about the journeys he'd been on with his family and many kinds of people he met.
"Gabby's the whole reason I have a family now. Had she not been there for me, I would've taken a much darker path and probably stayed there."
"It must be nice knowing a real princess." Omega said. "Nala Se has told me stories of princesses before. I know what it feels like being stuck in one place like a lot of them are. The only difference is I don't have a prince on a steed coming for me."
Boba thought for a bit. It was a long shot, but he had to try for Omega's sake.
"I may not be on a steed, but I think I can get you out of here." Boba said.
"Really?"
"Yeah. Right now, I'm in hiding because I'm doing something really big for my family's protection." Boba explained. "But... I think there's a chance that once this is all over, I can convince my parents to adopt you too."
"Adopt me?" Omega couldn't believe it.
"Yeah. It's scary at first, I admit it, but it's great. You'd have a mother, a father, a sister, and later another sister or brother, 'cause Mom is having a baby soon."
"That's amazing!"
"I can't make any promises now, but I'll try to convince my parents. Who knows, you might soon be known as Princess Omega."
"Hmm. Princess Omega. I like the sound of that. I always wanted to be a princess when I was little."
The twins soon came across the Bad Batch again, who stopped as Hunter sensed them.
"Lads, we've got company." he said.
The entire Batch turned to see the twins behind them.
"Hello." said Omega.
"What's that?" Wrecker said.
"Adolescent human female." said Tech.
"In other words, a girl my age." Boba said. "My sister."
"My name's Omega. I was wondering when you guys would come back."
"You... know who we are?" said Hunter, surprised.
"Hunter, Echo, Tech, Wrecker, and Crosshair. You're Clone Force 99."
"I was surprised by it too." Boba said, looking behind him and turning invisible quickly.
"How did he do that?" Omega gasped.
"What are you doing on Kamino, kid?" asked Hunter.
Before either of the twins could speak, a female Kaminoan with a headdress just like Omega's came in. Her name was Nala Se.
"Her job, of course." said Nala Se. "She is my medical assistant, one with a curious mind that causes her to wander. Come, Omega. There is work to do."
Boba turned visible again once Nala Se was gone.
"Wow, I'm getting the hang of this faster than I thought."
Lightning struck, scaring Boba into Wrecker's arms as some cacti popped out from the floor.
"Overconfidence." said Tech. "One of the things to avoid in order to not unintentionally launch magic."
"Now you tell me!" Boba groaned.
Hunter shook his head and crossed his arms. "This day just keeps getting weirder and weirder."
"I've seen stranger things." Boba said.
Sometime later that same day, it was mealtime in the commissary. Boba was with the Bad Batch as they sat at their table.
"Clones being programmed." Wrecker grumbled, still upset about the chips. "Nothing controls me."
"Wrecker, it is a logical conclusion that your affinity for destruction would stem from your conditioning." Tech said.
"You take that back!"
"I am merely stating a scientific hypothesis based on factual data."
"Well, I got a fact for you." Wrecker slammed his hands on the table. "I like to blow things up because I like to blow things up! Got it?"
"Be glad it wasn't my grandpa who did that." Boba said. "Last time he hit a table, it was clean in half."
"Well, I'm convinced." said Crosshair.
"I suppose you falling for a girl was part of your programming too, huh?" Wrecker said.
"Leave Mila out of this!" Tech said, defending his girlfriend.
"She's out of your league, you know."
"You take that back!"
Suddenly, both of them were squirted with pollen.
"Both of you, stop acting like kids!" Boba said.
"He started it!" Tech and Wrecker whined, pointing at each other.
"Wrecker you're right that you definitely have your own personality," said Boba. "Tech, you are also right that the programming had some things to do with clone behavior. But Wrecker, using Tech's girlfriend as part of the argument is just mean."
Boba sat back down as a new guest arrived at the table.
"Hello again." said a familiar voice.
"Hi, Omega." Boba said, but the Bad Batch said nothing.
"Remember me? From earlier?" said Omega. "I'm Boba's twin?"
"Yeah, kid. We remember." said Hunter. "Don't you have someplace to be?"
"No. I'll stay." said Omega.
"You want to sit with us?" said Tech. "That's never happened before."
"You never thought someone as pretty as Mila would go out with you either, and yet she sent you a love note."
"She did?"
"She gave it to Gabby, who gave it to me to give to you." Boba said. "I'll give it to you later."
"Haha!" Wrecker teased. "Tech is red again!"
Tech was indeed blushing again.
"I like you. You don't fit in around here either." Omega said.
"Welcome to the club." Boba said. "I've read a lot of cowards words about being the only adopted member of a royal family."
"Why are you really here on Kamino, kid?" Hunter said. "Don't you have a family somewhere? Parents?"
"Do you think she'd be here if she did?" Boba said. "Who'd wanna raise a kid here?"
"Weren't you raised here?" Omega pointed out.
"That's different. I had no choice in the matter."
Just then, three clone troops walked by with their trays.
"Check it out. The defect squad's got themselves a couple new recruits." said one clone, laughing. "Two members added to the Sad Batch."
The troopers laughed as they walked away, until one got hit with a burrito.
"What the-" He turned around angrily. "Who threw that?"
Omega stood on the table and had another burrito ready.
"I did," said the girl. "Now, apologize to my friends."
Boba got up and stood by her.
"Yeah! What she said." Boba said.
"I like these kids!" Wrecker said.
The clones came closer. "What did you say to me?"
Boba had another thundering cloud as he was angry again, and briars grew in the floor.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Back off." Hunter said. "Don't make him angry. I suggest you keep moving."
The clone looked behind Hunter as the twins stood their ground and Wrecker stood up.
"Know your place, lab scrabbers." said the clone, walking away.
That was the last straw for Boba. So, he decided to cast a little spell and make the clones slip on ice, making all of them drop their trays. They tried to get up, but the floor was too slippery, and the clones bumped into each other until Boba lightning struck one of them in the butt.
"Yowch!"
"Oops." said Boba.
And then Wrecker threw a whole tray at the clones.
"Oops." Wrecker said.
"That's it!" said the clone.
"Oh yeah!" Wrecker shouted, throwing another bunch of trays.
And an all-out food fight broke out between the clones.
Boba remembered a fight like this breaking out at the Temple. It was a time when Gabby had been teaching him proper manners before their parents' wedding. They had been sitting at lunch before two of their prince friends started a burping contest and then said girls didn't know how to have fun, and then Carousella beat them, only to accidentally hit Remix with mashed potatoes, and a food fight broke out.
Things right now started to get really crazy as everyone started throwing things and jumping on each other.
Boba could quickly see he had to do something, and realized he had some of the Song Dust with him, and decided to use it. (If you wonder what the song sung to use it sounds like, look up: Fairy Dust • Winx Club Soundtrack - YouTube).
Boba took out the song dust and remembered the song Carmine had him practice over and over again and sang it as loudly as he could, putting all the clones into a trance as the song dust spread.
By the time Boba stopped singing, all the clones felt odd.
"What just happened?" asked one clone.
"I remember!" Wrecker grabbed a tray and threw it, resuming the fight.
Boba sighed. "What's a prince gotta do to stop a fight around here?"
Omega screamed as she fell off a clone and more clones jumped on the table.
"Leave... her... ALONE!" Boba shouted, lifting the table right above his head to everyone's shock.
"How is that cadet so strong?" one clone asked.
Uh oh. Boba's power was showing now right in front of what had to be at least half the factory.
Boba dropped the table as he felt an odd sensation running through him, and his eyes unleashed a bright white glow, and he was engulfed in a blue aura of magic as his magic was now going crazy!
Flowers grew in random places, clouds and strong winds came about, fireflies appeared from out of nowhere, and some were caught in the magic making them fly.
"What now?!" Wrecker shouted.
"We have to calm him down!" Tech said, looking around, managing to find Boba's tablet and finding a series of recordings that Boba's family had placed.
One of them was labelled, Calming Songs.
Tech played the one called Right Here In My Arms, Padme's lullaby.
Boba heard the lullaby and started to settle down some. No matter how much time passed, one of his family's lullabies just somehow managed to calm him down. And slowly, the magic in him started to slow down.
Unfortunately, the Kaminoans noticed the commotion.
"I think it's time to run." Hunter said.
Boba grabbed Omega's hand. "Come on!"
"Where are we going?" Omega asked.
"Somewhere safe, but we have to hurry."
Boba ran with Omega while the Batchers tried to get to their ship.
Boba ran with Omega, but everywhere they ran, clones were ordered to block them, but each time, Boba used magic to get them out of the way or pulled up energy shields to block their shots.
"How are you doing all of that?!" Omega asked.
"I'll explain after we're not near death!" Boba said.
There was only one way out now.
Boba might've been terrified of it before, but he wasn't now. And so, he brought Omega to the edge of the city.
"Wait a minute, are we-?"
Omega didn't get to finish her question, as she was pulled with Boba as they jumped off the edge and into the water.
Omega held her breath as she and Boba were now underwater, and she nearly drowned herself by gasping when she saw Boba transform into a merman.
Boba took the blue pearl from around his neck and put it around Omega's.
Boba held the pearl in his hand and said Mermaidous transformous!
And Omega quickly found herself changing. She now wore an orange swimsuit top and her legs transformed into an orange fish tail, and when she gasped... she could breathe!
"H-how-?"
"For starters, my family is magical." Boba said. "Just move like I do to swim."
Boba showed Omega how to swim like a mermaid and they swam together farther and farther away from the city until they saw the Marauder above and returned to the surface to be picked up... once Boba used a spell to lift them up high enough and transform back into human kids.
"I'll contact the operative and let them know we have to meet earlier." Echo said.
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