This fic takes place toward the end of Avatar, during the big battle. Trudy is the main character, and it's from her POV. I changed the ending a bit, because I didn't really like how they did it in the movie. Enjoy, and review when you're done!

-Ivy

x x x x x x x x x x

Duty Calls

Bullets rained down. Well, not so much "rained." More like "downpoured". Explosions were going off everywhere. Humans and Na'vi alike were bleeding, falling, suffering in these magnificent Hallelujah Mountains.

Hallelujah my butt.

More like Hell. Right now, anyway. Because right now, the mountains provided a lovely backdrop to all the chaos, all the destruction, all the dying. The beautiful brown and green of rock and plant matter mixed with the blue of the sky. It was like the mountains were mocking us with their beautiful serenity. While we were flying around out here, fighting for our lives.

So there I was, with my fighter plane, in the middle of this war zone. Yeah, I'm pretty hardcore.

Of course, I was part of the war. Honestly, I'm partially responsible for starting it. If it wasn't for me, the Na'vian leader would not be here, and they would all be dead. Yes, thanks to me, we were at war. It's a great feeling to have, you can't imagine.

I dodged a missile and banked left. The mountains were so close, I could have reached out of my plane and touched them.

Part of the mountain exploded above me. I swore, sending my plane into a nosedive, pulling up at the last minute. Hairpin turn around a mountain. Maneuver through a pack of enemy fighter planes. Dodge a missile. Blast the living daylights out of the enemy. Again and again. There was no end to this senseless violence.

Muttering various curses, I aimed my guns at the main bomber, and fired. Part of the aircraft caught fire. I grinned wildly. I was high on adrenaline, and loving every minute.

I wasn't ready for what happened next.

I didn't see the missile until it flew inches in front of my plane, then crashed into the side. One of my wings was on fire, and my plane was starting to fall. I knew I was going down.

But I wasn't going down without a fight.

I pulled up hard, praying my plane would hold for at least another minute. My plane rocketed into the sky, almost vertical. I waited until I was directly above the main enemy bomber. I leveled the plane, hovering for a moment. I didn't sign up for this to do a suicide mission. But, hey, duty calls.

"Sorry, Jake," I muttered. "I'm going down."

And then I dove.