Ultimatum

by Igaveuponthisyearsago

Ivan, an Avatar driver, has a choice, become one of the people or die. A simple choice? Not for him, a lifetime of war has left him scarred; he is haunted by his past and what he is. Can he leave it all behind and embrace the Na'vi way of life?

10. Chapter 10

Sorry for not updating in like two months. But when my computer decided to eat my work three times in a row, it discouraged me. Then my computer bluescreens atleast once a day; working is hard. But I got this chapter out, it's my biggest so far.

Also changed the rating of this story to 'M' because of things in later chapters; and that Ivan swears enough by himself to warrant the rating.

---

It wasn't the alarm clocks fault; after all he had set the alarm last night. But that didn't stop Ivan; his defenseless alarm clock was now lying broken on the floor. He had a track record for breaking equipment, whether it be weapons, computers, medical equipment, his own belongings, even his Avatar was subject to damage while he was around.

As he performed his morning routine he tried to hold on to the fading memories from his dream. He tried to remember that moment of happiness when he reunited with his wife, that moment when only she mattered. But the dream slowly faded from memory; he didn't know which was worse, his constant nightmares, or dreams like this one that made him happy only to have that happiness destroyed when he awoke.

He tried not to think of Anna as he walked to the mess hall, he tried to forget her; but that hurt worse than remembering. He loved her more than anything and now he tried to pretend she didn't exist; he didn't know what to do anymore, but whatever he did, it always hurt. He should have been able to get over her, to move on, but he never could; it had been so long, but he still couldn't get over her.

Her death was hard in of itself, but the fact that he could have stopped it is what weighed on him so heavily. He would give anything to repeat that day over, if he could exchange his life for hers he would without a second's hesitation. If he had just stayed with her like she asked him, but no, he had a job to do; he had to go help during the riots.

He wanted to scream, fuck his job, and fuck his duty; he was going to retire that month, he didn't have to go help but he did, and it was the worst decision in his life. The horrible feeling that entered his gut during the middle of the day, the feeling he tried to ignore, the feeling that led him to break rank and run miles through a city in chaos. That feeling when he pounded on the apartment door and received no answer, the feeling of dread, anxiety, worry, fear. The feeling when he kicked the door open and found her lying in a pool of her own blood; her clothes torn, her body covered in a madman's sadistic cuts, her throat slit. One hand reaching out, her cold dead stare locked on the baby crib.

The empty crib.

He stopped in the middle of the hall, tears stung at his eyes as he inhaled sharply. How could any man live after an ordeal such as that? He had everything taken from him that day; his wife, his child, his home, his job, everything was taken from him.

He leaned against a wall and tried to fight back tears, he was a man, men don't cry. But he did, he couldn't hold back anymore; in the middle of the hallway he let his emotions pour out, for the first time in several years he cried.

He didn't know what was worse, the savage way his wife was murdered and never finding the sick bastard who was responsible; or his infant daughter's disappearance, and never finding her. He searched for years, but there was never a trace of whoever committed those unforgivable acts. His daughter...he didn't know if she was alive or dead, he didn't know where, or even who she was, he knew nothing. That hurt worse than loosing Anna, he hoped that his child was alive and well; but sometimes he thought it might be for the best, how could he have been a good father? Did his daughter, if she was even alive, even know he existed? Was she happy, was she safe? Or was she a slave to the same madman who killed Anna?

He balled his fists and struck them against the wall behind him. He hated himself, crying was for the weak, it was pathetic; that's what he was taught, and that's what he believed. He should get over it, get over her; but he can't, why was he so god-dammed pathetic. He was warned, he even knew in the bottom of his gut, that him getting to spend his life in peace was too good to be true.

He was told multiple times that he couldn't live his life with her; he had the reasons 'explained' by captain Vyacheslav over and over. Ivan always tried to ignore him and his warnings, the man was nothing but an asshole; but turns out he was right after all, he didn't get to live with his wife.

Suddenly the words of his captain came to him. "I don't know what you have in your head. We are a different breed of men, Sergeant. That little bitch you have back home is a weakness. You used to be different, but now she has brought worry, and doubt to you. She gives you something too lose; and I thought you understood we cannot have that shit on my battlefield. There's a thing called karma, you reap what you sow; and sergeant...look at what we sow. You don't deserve the bitch, you don't get to have her; it's the way of the world...karma. So let's get this straight, one day, she. will. be. gone. Whether she leaves your sorry ass, or she ends up dead; she will be gone one day. You better get ready for that day; because if you are not combat ready that day, you will find yourself dead, by the enemy's hand or my own. I will not tolerate this bullshit from one of my operators.

The tears stopped, those words...he tried to ignore them, tried to ignore everything that man said to him; but maybe he was right, he never deserved Anna. She was always too good for him, he knew it and she knew it, but she loved him anyway. Things weren't perfect but they made it work for almost eight years, then an unexpected pregnancy and the decision to quit; and things looked better. He could have finally gotten away from war, and been with the one he loved. But captain Vyacheslav's prophecies came true; he didn't get to have her, and he didn't even get to spend more than a month with his daughter.

He took a deep breath, wiped his eyes, and continued walking to the mess hall. The pain of the cancer eating away at him was nothing compared to the pain caused by loosing a child. Everything changed after that day; he lost the only things he cared for. He started drinking, he joined a PMC and started fighting for money; and after a while it stopped being about the money. He started fighting for the sake of fighting, something about being in a fight for his own life made him forget. When he fought, everything disappeared, politics, worries, wants, remorse, longing, concerns, everything disappeared. Sometimes his vision would tunnel, sometimes he wouldn't even know he was fighting, he would just find himself alone after a fight with no idea what happened.

War was like a drug to him, all the bad disappeared during it, but it was also when a lot of the bad happened to him. As painful as everything that had happened to him was, he knew he had done much worse to other people. Sometimes he thought being stuck on Pandora wasn't because of his choices, but it was punishment; there was nothing to make him forget here, no more jobs, no more contracts, and no drinks to drown the memories. The RDA called this base Hell's Gate, the name was literal for Ivan, maybe a better name would have been purgatory. If Hell was real, Ivan was sure he had a reserved place in the deepest, darkest, spot...maybe all of this really was karma.

Why he was trying this stunt with the Na'vi was a mystery to him. He had lived his life, now he was just running from death; funny, because after he lost Anna he didn't care if he lived or died, he had nothing left to live for. Sometimes he thought he should just end it, save himself and everyone else a lot of trouble; he had a gun on his nightstand, he wanted to, he tried to sometimes, but each time something stopped him. He didn't know what, but he couldn't pull the trigger, he could kill anyone but himself apparently. But it didn't seem natural, he had his pistol loaded, he had drank himself stupid, he had the gun against his head, he had the desire and the will, but he couldn't pull the damn trigger no matter how much he wanted. No, killing himself would be too easy; he had to continue on with his miserable existence.

It was still dark outside when he arrived at the mess hall, by then he more or less had his emotions back in check. All the bad thoughts and memories still lingered at the back of his mind like they always did; maybe a bland breakfast would help, probably not.

He turned on the lights while he grabbed an MRE and a glass of water, when he walked out to find a table he noticed a figure at one of the far tables. He found the light switches and turned several more on. With the extra lights he found that the night guard had fallen asleep.

Walking over, there wasn't much room at the table; not only was the guard slumped over on it; there was a shotgun, stale food, several cups of coffee, and spare parts and tools to the shotgun.

He cleared a spot, sat down, opened his MRE and began to eat. He didn't remember the sleeping man's name, but the insignia on his jacket designated him as a staff sergeant. Whoever he was, he wasn't keeping his hair short; it looked akin to dirty mop; something Ivan couldn't understand, he hated long hair, long hair was for women. He guessed the man slumped over on the table must stand a good 6' ft 3', and be upwards of two hundred pounds, he was a big boy.

Ivan took a bite another bite of his food and took the shotgun from the table. He cycled the action and was happy to find it empty; he wouldn't have to yell at the staff sergeant for breaking safety regulations by leaving a loaded firearm unattended. As he examined the weapon he noticed it had been heavily modified, the tubular magazine had been extended from a standard five count to a seven, which means he could have eight rounds loaded total. The stock he couldn't even recognize, whatever it was it was custom made, so was the pump. Rails had been added along the top of the weapon allowing for other attachments, along with a number of smaller details; this was a far cry from the standard model that the RDA supplies to security forces.

He smiled, the weapon was impressive, but why anyone would put this much time and effort into a situational weapon was beyond him; he never cared much for shotguns.

He set the gun's stock down on the table and tilted it slightly before letting it drop. The sound of the gun smacking the metal table made the sleeping man wake, jump backwards in his seat, and nearly fall over.

The man sat up straight, "What the hell?" he asked as he rubbed his eyes.

"What the hell?" Ivan said, "I could have walked a whole platoon through here while you were sleeping."

"Well that's real funny but..." The man stopped rubbing his eyes and looked up, "Commander!" He suddenly let out, realizing who he was talking too, "Sorry sir."

Ivan picked up his meal and took another bite, "Cut the parade field crap, I hate when people call me commander, or sir. If I wanted to be an officer I could have."

"Sorry sir."

Ivan gave the man an annoyed glare, "So my memory escapes me, that or I really don't give a shit, but who are you?"

The man chuckled a little before letting out a yawn, "Staff Sergeant Schneider, call me Mike."

"Schneider, that's German?"

"Ja."

Ivan paused for a second, recalling a language he never used, "Do you know any?" He managed in German.

"Of course," Mike answered, "Born and raised in the Rhineland. You know the language."

"Some, it's rusty at best." Ivan switched back to English, finishing the last of his MRE.

"Well it's better than nothing. That Doctor Wilson doesn't know any," Mike leaned back and stretched, "And he claims to be a true Arian, but no."

"Arian? Master race? What, you a Nazi?"

"Are you a commie?" The German retorted.

"No." Ivan responded with a less than amused tone. "Soviet Union died a long time ago."

"So did the Third Reich."

He knew Mike probably didn't mean anything by it, and he really didn't take much offense to it; but the communist jokes annoyed him.

"So," Ivan slapped the shotgun sitting between them, "What have you been doing to RDA equipment?"

"Oh, just making it my own." The man picked the gun up and cradled it, "I saw it sitting there all alone, collecting dust, I've been prettying it up; it's my baby."

Ivan smiled; here was a man that cared for his weapons. "Well the work on it isn't the kind of stuff I would expect from a normal grunt. What are you?"

"I was a Ranger for a couple years, but before that I was GSG-9."

"So you were a glorified cop?"

"Cop? Hell no!" His voice was angry but his expression lighthearted, "You mean the most badass counter terrorists in the world."

"Well if you were so bad why are stuck out here?"

"Well." He sat the shotgun back on the table and patted it a few times.

"Funny thing about shotguns, if you're not using slugs, and happen to be using...oh I don't know, buckshot, and your not as close to your target as you'd like to be. There's that small chance for collateral damage from a stray pellet. And that collateral just so happens to be a civilian, and that civilian just so happens to have some friends who then cause a big fuss with the government...the guy I was aiming for was going to shoot that same civilian. Does he thank me for saving his life, no."

"Well shit happens. So what, you get fired?"

"No, but they 'persuaded' me to quit. So I did, moved to America, joined the Army did a few tours, signed up with the RDA and well, here I am."

Ivan gave a low grunt in acknowledgment.

"So commander, what about you? "

"Me? Bad choices and a worse idea."

"Come on, I just gave you my life story and that's all I get?"

"You don't want my story." Ivan said staring off into the distance.

"Well can I at least know what you were? You look like you seen a lot."

Mike glanced at the deep scars on Ivan's chin, he recognized something; he didn't know what. He could almost swear he had seen this man before. The angry scowl, the scars, the stress wrinkles creasing his forehead, it all looked strangely familiar.

"Spetsnaz." Ivan grudgingly told him.

"Well, there are some people even I don't want to mess with. What branch specifically?"

"GRU, that's all you get, I've already breached security. I could be put to death, you too" Ivan let out a tired sigh "Like I give a shit anymore; what are they going to do?"

Mike kept looking at the scars on Ivan's chin, where had he seen them before?

Ivan noticed the other mans fixation on his scars, "What? Jesus just take a damn picture it'll last longer."

That was it, he had seen him before in a picture; no not just a picture, was it? He couldn't remember, but something came to mind, a wanted poster but he wasn't sure. The conversation died there, he sat in silence, looking down at the table trying to remember exactly where he had seen Ivan before.

Ivan got up from the table, "Well I need to link up soon. Clean this mess up." He said before walking out.

"Ja wohl." Mike said, something didn't sit right with him. Mike knew he had seen Ivan before, he thought in some picture he saw once, and also, in a book but he wasn't sure. Maybe someone else would know, but for now, he had to clean up and finish his shift.

When Ivan walked into the dark link room he was greeted by silence, and he liked it, none of Max trying to talk to him, only silence and dim glow of the control panels in the middle of the room.

Walking to his link capsule he approached the controls and the machine came to life as he warmed it up. Good thing he took the time to remember how Max turned the things on, otherwise he would have made himself look like an idiot, waking up this early and not knowing how to turn it on.

Looking at the status monitor, the signal link was ninety-eight percent and ready for transfer; anything above ninety percent was considered optimal, get under that and the driver would start having problems, like talking on a cell phone with bad signal.

As he laid down in the link bed, he knew Max was going to throw a fit about him linking up unsupervised; he would say something about it not being safe, and that he is concerned with safety, too hell with Max's concerns.

---

"You're up early." Jake said, turning his attention from Neytiri to Ivan approaching the fire pit.

"Up in the morning to the rising sun." Ivan responded, while sitting down on the other side of the fire pit.

"Gunna run all day 'till the runnin's done." Jake grinned and looked up, remembering boot camp.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Oh man, that's cadence. If there's one thing I miss about boot camp, it's that."

"Oh, that's an American phenomenon. We don't need the emotional crutch of singing during boot camp."

"It's not a crutch, it develops breathing control, and it's fun."

"I have never heard this word." Neytiri broke in.

"Cadence? It's a warrior song."

"I did not know MaJake could sing." Neytiri looked at Jake, waiting for him to explain.

He ran his hand through his hair, "Uhh, it's not a song like Ninat sings. It's a song we sing while running, to teach us how to breathe properly."

"A song is a song. Why have you never sung for me Jake?" Neytiri asked.

Ivan smiled as Jake tried to wiggle his way out of having to sing, "It's not something one person sings by himself, there is one person that leads and all the other recruits copy him."

Neytiri huffed in annoyance, and Jake thought he had escaped but Ivan antagonized him, "Oh come on Sully, you don't want to sing for your girl?"

"H-Hey, No, no, no, you stay out of this." He said waving his hands at Ivan.

"Stay out of what?" Norm's voice broke in as he walked up with Ninat.

"These two are trying to get me to sing."

"Jake...sing?" Norm chuckled, "No offense but you better leave that to Ninat here." Ninat smiled as they sat down at the fire pit.

"Thank you, that's what I keep saying." Jake said, relieved someone didn't want him singing.

"Come on Sully, you have to know some songs, even I do." Ivan challenged again.

When Neytiri again looked at him expectantly, Jake brought his voice to an angry whisper with Ivan, "You're digging me into a hole here."

As everyone continued eating their breakfast Ivan watched the two couples, they looked so happy together; it tore at him inside, he was once like that. But it wasn't likely to ever change, he couldn't see himself ever liking one of the blues; they are aliens, they are...were the enemy, they are a bunch of tree huggers. Nothing would change, he would still keep living alone; and that's what he deserved...he stopped and examined his thoughts; he was in a gloomy mood this morning.

He couldn't help it; the thoughts stuck with him and always dragged him into a bad mood. The thoughts stuck with him worse than those stupid pop songs that people called music nowadays; he smiled at that thought, he actually didn't know which was worse, the music or the thoughts...the thoughts.

He heaved a heavy sigh as he watched Jake and Neytiri sit there, happy, and together. He needed a drink, he needed to fight, a cigarette, to kill, he needed something to clear his mind. No, he stopped his thought train, no more killing; he wanted to get away from that.

Now he knew why his father was a drinker, it's hard to forget; Vladimir's wife had died and left him with two children and a war to fight. And his oldest son was killed by his own inaction during a mission he himself had sent him on. Then Ivan was a problem child or 'ungrateful piece of shit' as he called him. Ivan could no longer blame his father for drinking, because his situation was just as bad as his fathers, and he wanted nothing more than to drown himself in vodka and forget.

He didn't know what happened to his father, he completely lost what little contact he had after Anna was killed. But one thing was for certain, the man had to be dead; living the way he did, and he would be old. Ivan wasn't exactly sure how old, but old was a keyword.

He started to compound all the individual months and separate wars into categories. Ivan was thirty-three when he lost Anna, Vladimir was in his fifties. Add almost three and a half years in the Middle East, five years in Asia, add ten months he wished to forget, then almost seven more years working for Alice, then he got word of the Avatar program and spent more than two years...Ivan shook his head in frustration, too much math for this early in the morning. If he had to guess, his father would have been in his late eighties by now; he snorted, there was no way in hell that man was still alive.

---

Back at Hell's Gate several hours later and Mike couldn't sleep; part of the reason being he slept through most of his shift but the main reason was he still hadn't remembered exactly where he had seen Ivan before. Normally something like that wouldn't bother him, and if he really wanted to know it could wait until a later time; but something was different, something told him he should watch out for the commander. He didn't know what he was so worried about,

Ivan was one of the good guys, he wouldn't be here if he wasn't; the take over of Hell's Gate wouldn't have happened as well as it did without his help, that is if it even would have happened without him. Ivan organized the whole takeover in less than a day; and personally led it, wounding his Avatar in the process.

But he didn't know the commander that well, Mike had only arrived on the last ISV, the commander had been here for seven years. The conversation in the mess hall was the first one with Ivan in more than half a year. He shouldn't care that much, but deep down his gut told him to be careful, maybe it was the way Ivan always kept to himself, maybe it was the angry demeanor, or the haunted look in the man's eye, but the biggest thing was that Mike had seen him before.

He kept mulling it over in his head, a picture, a picture, then something clicked, not just a picture but several; and not only pictures but he could swear videos, surveillance footage. And then above all else, a book; the name came to him, 'Paramilitary, a look into the modern day mercenary.' He skimmed through that book once while he was back on earth, a lot of interesting information was in those pages; but that was years ago, he could barely remember what was in it; but he knew who would.

He needed to find Cpl. Stephen Wilds, a scout sniper for the United States Army and a good one too; the man wasn't the normal gung-ho grunt. He read a lot, and was very precise in his actions, especially when it comes to shooting and dealing with his rifle. He could usually be found at the armory, the man had a small obsession with perfecting his weapon, he was always firing it, adjusting the sights, firing again, more adjustments; it went on and on and never stopped. Maybe it was more than a small obsession, but all the practice made the man like a surgeon with his rifle.

Mike needed the armory; he walked for minutes and didn't see a soul. Hell's Gate was too big, normally it would hold twenty-five hundred people, and even then he could walk for several minutes and not happen across someone else; only having fifty-eight made the place a literal ghost town.

He kept walking the empty halls, it was unsettling, being alone, this place used to be full of life; most things were left where they were when the Na'vi kicked the RDA out, offices still had reports sitting on desks, work stations were sitting ready for someone to come. What was even more unsettling was the sound level, the only sounds were Mike's footsteps and the occasional creak and moan of the buildings, it was eerie; the perfect set up for a horror movie, small group of humans, large empty buildings, aliens.

As if on cue, he heard a low thud then a crack echo through the halls, a minute later it was heard again; Stephen was shooting his rifle; that man would use up all the ammo on base by himself. As he neared the armory the gunshots became louder, but less frequent.

He passed through a door and came into the Motor Pool, an oversized hangar that could house hundreds of aircraft and ground vehicles; on the other side was the armory. As he walked he looked up, the ceiling had to be a hundred feet up; only several of the large overhead lights were on, the ones on lead the way to the armory.

He passed through Amp alley, a large corridor running the length of the hanger that was used for maintenance on Amp suits; there were almost twenty still standing at their stations waiting for drivers. Ammo carts were scattered about, some suits still held the massive thirty-millimeter cannons in their hands. It was creepy to look at the giants, just standing there, waiting. No one had touched any of them since the battle in the Hallelujah Mountains, he knew most of them were probably still fully loaded and ready for combat, but there were only two people left who were qualified to operate them.

Another shot echoed through the massive structure, the sound reverberated in the large open space creating a powerful sound.

He was now walking through what, only a year ago, would have been a sea of helicopters; now there were only six working Sampsons, and one Scorpion, which was okay because there were only three pilots remaining. This part of the hanger was now nothing but empty space; the only things indicating the massive air fleet previously stationed here was oil stains and spare parts littering the ground.

Up ahead he heard the clank of a metal tool being dropped and a low curse, in the distance he could see one of the remaining pilots working on the engine of a Sampson; the man's arm was shoulder deep in the engine housing, his face twisted in a mix of frustration and concentration.

As Mike got closer he identified the pilot as Captain Williams; the captain hadn't noticed his approach, he was too occupied with the engine.

Another shot rang out as he walked to the helicopter, looking up the captain was still unaware of his presence.

"What's wrong sir?" Mike asked.

Williams only glanced back at him before mumbling and angry response, "Dropped my goddamn tool, in the fucking...dammit." He muttered more curses under his breath, "Going to have to take the whole damn thing apart now just to get the tool out. Knew I couldn't do it like this."

The pilot thrashed his arm around inside the engine and let out an angry grunt when he still couldn't reach far enough, "Aren't you supposed to be asleep Staff Sergeant?"

"I'm looking for Stephen."

Yet another shot echoed through the hanger, "You know where to find him."

"Sir." Mike said before continuing on his way. Williams let out another string of cursed as he pulled his arm out and climbed on top of the Sampson and began to work on opening the entire engine compartment.

When he passed through the door separating the motor pool and the armory, he looked around; the armory was a large concrete structure, it too was looking bare after the RDA left. What used to be a maze of large pallets of ammo and weapon boxes, was now only several sitting in the corner; but new weapons and ammo could be made on site if need be, all that was needed was the resources and someone to work the computer that controlled the factory machines.

He heard another shot ring out, it sounded like it was outside; he looked towards the firing range and it was empty. Mike then mentally smacked himself, the indoor range was too small for Stephen's rifle, he would be on the walkways that ran the outside of the building.

He went to the opposite wall to a set of stairs, up them and into the airlock that kept them separated from the outside air. He donned an exo-pack, and stepped outside; this time when he heard the gunshot, his ears rang because of his lack of ear protection. He heard someone else say 'eighteen' before he spotted Stephen lying prone on the walkway, aiming his rife off into the distance; another man was standing beside him with binoculars in hand.

As he walked to them the standing man turned around at the loud sound the his footsteps on the metal walkway, Mike recognized Stephen's friend and spotter, Cpl. Ethan Hall, as soon as he opened his mouth and spoke like a redneck, "I didn't know we's invited the krauts out he'a. Whadd'a ya want Fritz?"

"I didn't come out here to talk to an inbred-cousin fucking-redneck-piece of white trash." Mike responded, faking annoyance.

Ethan pressed his hand to his heart, "I will take that there as a compliment."

Mike smiled as he stood beside the two men, "What are you doing out here."

Ethan and Stephen both responded at the same time.

"Loosing a bet."

"Winning a bet."

Stephen still stared down the scope of his rifle.

"What bet would that be?" Mike asked.

"I bet Stephen here, that he couldn't hit yonder target twenty times in a row." He said pointing in the same direction Stephen was aiming.

Mike squinted but could see no target, the direction they were facing looked out over the massive runways built for the Valkrye shuttles to land; but he could see nothing resembling a target. "What target?" he asked.

"Yeah," Ethan said, handing his binoculars to him. "Fence line, between towers five and six, we put a target up in the cargo door of a scrapped Sampson."

When he found the target he let out a low whistle, "Damn, that's got to be at least fifteen hundred meters."

The target was on the complete opposite side of Hell's Gate; it was across the air staging grounds, the runway, past the barracks and civilian quarters, and past the refinery.

Stephen, still staring down the scope of his rifle corrected him, "Actually, its twenty-one hundred and forty meters, give or take one or two."

"Holy shit." Mike let out; the target was over a mile away.

"I know right." Ethan said, "This crazy s.o.b. has hit the target eighteen out of eighteen times now; I was sure he couldn't even hit it once, then he started shooting, and he has hit it every time like it was nothing."

As soon as he said those words, Stephen pulled the trigger on his rifle. The sound was deafening from this close. Ethan snatched the binoculars back and looked towards the target. After several seconds he let his arms drop, "Son-of-a..." he muttered.

"Nineteen." Stephen said coolly, working the bolt on his rifle, ejecting the spent round.

"I swear this guy is cheating or something, I call hacks." Ethan muttered.

"Aimbot?" Mike suggested.

"No substitute for skill." Stephen said, once again staring down his scope. He had several small feathers tied to strings wrapped around the scope, used for basic guesstimation on wind speeds.

"That's some skill."

"It is, a lot of things come into play. I got the wind here, to the target, and at the target. I have the change in elevation. The Coreolis effect, the humidity, how many times I have fired my rifle, the round I am using, you two idiots distracting me, the limitations of this scope, I'm pushing the limits of this rifle, etcetera, etcetera...but this lower gravity makes things a bit easier in the range department; but it is almost negated due to the air density on this planet. It did throw me off when I first got here, but I think I have it down now."

"I would say you have it down." Ethan mumbled. "Wind isn't bad today either."

That is exactly why Mike could never be a sniper, too many variables, too much math; he preferred to be up close to his target. But this here was an amazing show of skill, one more hit and Stephen wins a bet. "What do you win exactly?"

"His week for night watch comes right after my week..." Ethan sighed.

"Looks like you're about to have two weeks straight."

"He still has one more shot to make." Ethan reminded.

It was quiet as they stood there waiting for the final win or lose shot. It was calm, the wildlife didn't come around the base, the factory no longer poured out smoke, there was no air traffic, how things had changed.

Ethan crossed his fingers as the seconds ticked by; Stephen laid there completely still, waiting for his chance. More time passed and the tension grew, just when it looked like he was going to fire, the low howl of the wind could be heard as it passed by the buildings. When the wind didn't calm, the sniper reached his left hand to his scope and adjusted the wind several clicks before continuing to lie perfectly still, shifting his aim only slightly.

Mike fought back the urge to yawn as they waited for that final shot, he was tired now; this was another reason he couldn't be a sniper, he didn't have the patience.

They both heard Stephen slowly exhale, and then there was another deafening crack from his rifle. Mike could feel the over-pressure caused by the rifle slap against his chest; it was a wonderful feeling.

Ethan looked through his binoculars, his fingers crossed even as he held it. After several seconds he saw Ethan's mouth drop and his shoulders drop, a defeated look crossed his face; he didn't say anything.

Stephen stood up, and smiled. "I win Corporal."

"Momma always said gambling would get me in trouble." Ethan said looking down, "She told me that right after she gambled away our apartment."

Stephen patted him on the back before starting to walk back inside.

"Stephen I need your help." Mike said, leaving Ethan standing alone.

"With what sir?"

"Need to know if you ever read-"

Before he could finish Ethan was suddenly behind him yelling.

"READING! No, no, no, no; It is my duty, as a God fearing American, to inform you that Reading, never, not, done did, no one, no where, no good, never."

Stephen stopped and counted, "Wow, there were, I think, nine negatives in that sentence."

"Just pressing my point." Ethan then scoffed, "Reading, what a waste of time."

"This coming from the guy that failed kindergarten." Stephen motioned back towards Ethan as they walked inside.

"No I didn't fail, I was kicked out. That teacher was hot, and what she was wearing; she was just begging for attention." He defended.

"Yeah? And you were what? Nineteen years old."

"We all learn at our own pace."

"You know what? Sometimes I find it best to ignore you."

Ethan stopped following them, "Fine be that way. I still didn't fail kindergarten."

"But you didn't pass either. Anyway, what did you need sir?" Stephen turned his attention back to Mike.

"I wanted to know if you ever read that Paramilitary book, the one about all the big PMC's and had a section on famous mercenaries."

Stephen closed his eyes and blew out a breath, "I might have skimmed through it, any particular reason you want to know sir?" Stephen already knew why, it was only a matter of time before someone other than him came to the same conclusions.

"I need to know about those chapters that list the big time mercenaries."

"I thought so." Stephen said walking into the arms room and putting his weapon away. "And I know who you want to look up."

"Is that so?"

"Yes, and sir, it might be better if you just forgot all about this and didn't ask about it."

"It's too late for that, now I'm interested."

"You really don't need to know more about Master Sergeant Petrovich, there's a good reason he keeps to himself."

"So he was in that book."

Stephen sighed and started walking towards the motor pool. "Yes."

"Well? Why is he in there?"

"You can find out for yourself, there should be a copy in the library."

Mike was silent for several moments, "There's a library here?"

"It's mostly filled with science books, medical journals, and all that; but there is a pretty good collection of other books. And even if we don't have a physical copy, there is an entire electronic library."

"Didn't know that."

"I don't think anyone does."

They began their long walk to the library, on the opposite side of Hell's Gate. By the time they would reach it, Mike would have walked over a miles distance that morning.

When they passed captain Williams in the hanger, there were hundreds of parts spread around the Sampson, and the Captain was very angry.

"All. for. one. fucking. part." He told them as they walked by, motioning to the increasing number of parts sitting around the aircraft.

They walked and walked, Mike thought that there should be some sort of tram system; this place is too big to walk around in a reasonable amount of time. It wouldn't be so bad if wasn't tired, he had been up all...most of the night, and even then only the coffee kept him going.

When they arrived at the library Mike saw the clock on the wall, "Twenty freaking minutes to walk here!" He said aloud.

"Nice little walk isn't it?" Stephen answered scanning the bookshelves lining the walls.

Mike had no clue there was a library in Hell's Gate, but most of the books here didn't look like they would interest him anyway; there was a decent amount though.

"I think there is one actual copy." Stephen said while searching.

"Why can't you just tell me?"

"Because, ah here." He pulled a book of the wall, "You are going to go to read it for yourself. And get back to me on what you think; it will be nice to have a second opinion on it." He walked over to him, flipping through the pages. "Here we go."

He held the book open, and turned it towards Mike, on the page was the heading 'The Bear' and below it was an enlarged, grainy, picture of a man walking down a street looking just off the side of the camera. The man in the picture had the same deep scars across his chin as Ivan, the same haunted look and angry scowl, but slightly fewer wrinkles, and his hair still had color left in it.

"Looks like the commander doesn't it?" Stephen asked, handing him the book.

"That is him." Mike examined the picture. "He is younger but that's him."

"Ahh, it's not confirmed. The man in the picture is known as the name at the top of the page as well as some other names. It's not confirmed whether or not this is actually Ivan Petrovich, but it is suspected and backed by some good evidence. But a lot of it is rumors."

"The Bear." He looked down the page, there were some other aliases listed, "Ivan the terrible? Same name."

"I'm pretty sure there is more than one Ivan back on Earth."

Mike pointed to the picture, "Who looks exactly like this guy, who looks like the guy who is in charge here."

"Listen, just go sleep, then read it; there is a whole chapter on this guy. The man who wrote this did a lot of research, there are a lot of facts, then there are rumors, and there is no actual link between the 'Bear' and Ivan Petrovich, besides them looking alike. Now go." Stephen started to push him out of the library.

"The Bear, wonder why that name?" Mike asked as he walked out.

"Maybe it's because he can grow a pretty mean beard, there's a picture of him with one. But I really think it's because of something else. Rumor says that during survival training, one thing they do is drop the trainee in the middle of nowhere with a shirt, pants, shoes, and a knife and say 'good luck, try not to freeze to death, be back for you in a week.' Instructors came back in a week and Ivan had himself a coat fashioned from bear fur. Supposedly he took down a bear by himself...if this is Ivan we are talking about and not his evil twin or something."

"Wow. I would think that would be illegal; them being endangered and all."

"Well this was about forty years, well forty six counting the trip out here, so forty six years ago. Earth didn't start going to hell until about twenty years ago."

"Hard to believe things changed so fast, but still a bear all by himself?"

"Well it's all just speculation, rumors, and hearsay. And I am not about to go ask the commander about all of it either. And don't you try, and don't tell anyone else about this. Read this first then you'll know why, if this really if the commander then there is a good reason he keeps to himself; even if this 'bear' character isn't him, the commander could still be the Ivan Petrovich mentioned in the book.

"And the book says, that one renowned Spetsnaz assault-man, team 248, by the name of Ivan Petrovich; son of the decorated Colonel Vladimir Petrovich, and younger brother to Captain Nikoli Petrovich. Snapped during the Moscow riots in 2123; this was predicted by commanding officers, who noted decreasing mental stability in him during the past two years. That day, he shot a fellow teammate, stormed his apartment building, killing rioters outside, everyone in the lobby and everyone on the way to his apartment. And when he got to his apartment, he murdered his own wife...and they don't know what happened to his daughter."

"Shit...you have this stuff memorized? But still...no wonder that man looks the way he does."

"Yeah, I might have read through it one time to many. Anyway, go sleep, read, think."

Mike turned to start walking but stopped and looked back and forth down the hallway, he had never been here before.

"Barracks are to your right." Stephen said. "Now go to sleep you big idiot." He added as the other man got further away. Then he considered what he should do for the rest of the day; there wasn't much other than trying to fix the multitude of things that break around the base.

He then decided the best course of action would be to find Ethan, and gloat about wining the bet.

---

Jake, Neytiri, and Ivan were on their way to the fields outside of Hometree where the pali were kept. Introducing Tsahaylu was one of the first things done during training for Jake, Norm, and now Ivan; it would give them a respect for the animals, and knowing how to form the bond was a necessary skill.

Ivan wanted to try and learn more of the language with Norm, but Jake soon came along and dragged him off. So he ended up tagging along with Jake while he took care of his duties; and by tag along, Ivan really only stood off in a corner somewhere.

He had been with Jake for a hunters meeting, Jake would organize the hunts for the day; he couldn't understand a word that was said but it seemed that everything was routine, everything was already planned. Jake probably didn't need to oversee anything at all; the hunters seemed to already know where they would hunt.

Ivan saw the Na'vi woman from the lake at the meeting, Tayrha he recalled her name; she seemed distracted, or distraught might have been a better description. She didn't seem to take part of the hunts though; she headed back into hometree when the other hunters headed out into the jungle.

While they were walking Jake spoke, "I guess I need to warn you Ivan."

"About what?" Ivan responded, shaken from his thoughts.

"Not everyone here is one hundred percent happy with...well me, and they are not happy with anything that has to do with humans, that means you, Norm, me, and even the few left at Hell's Gate. They would rather have us all killed than let us live here."

"Not anything new," Ivan mumbled, "So should I be looking out for someone? I hope no one is going to pull a knife on me or anything." He alluded to the previous night, he hadn't told anyone about the incident.

"I really hope not, some may not like me; but I am their leader and Toruk Makto, they respect that. I don't see anyone trying to kill us, but some may challenge you or just be assholes in general." He ran his hand through his hair, something that Ivan noticed Jake doing a lot. "I guess the biggest person we have trouble with is the head warrior."

"Ko'gan" Neytiri added.

"Yeah, him," Jake confirmed, "He is a real big one, they call him the mountain. You will know him when you see him. Might as well call him goliath."

"It is sad." Neytiri said. "He has been blinded by anger, he cannot see. All but his Tsmuke was taken from him by the Sky people."

"That's his sister." Jake said, Ivan probably didn't know the word.

"His parents, his home, the woman he intended to mate; all taken from him."

"And he was friends with Tsu'tey, the last head warrior." Jake added.

"That will about do it." Ivan said to himself, "I know what he is going through."

"Have you lost a mate?" Neytiri asked cautiously.

Neytiri and Jake waited for an answer but received none; they decided not to pursue the subject.

Ivan changed the subject. "So give me intel, if it comes to a fight; what should I expect?"

"Violence is not the answer." Neytiri said.

Ivan cleared his throat, "Violence may not be the right answer, or the best answer. But it will always be an answer; and with the proper application, it will always work."

Neytiri shook her head disapproval while Jake spoke, "Well for the most part, the Na'vi seem to be good wrestlers. Ko'gan himself is probably more likely to just pick you up and throw you into a tree; seriously, the guy is huge." Jake threw his arms out to emphasize the 'huge' part. "But other than that, there isn't much to worry about; but don't get me wrong, they are good fighters. But they lack the kind of training we have had. I could beat pretty much any of them if I needed to."

They were passing the training fields; Ivan could see several Na'vi sparring in the distance. From what he could see, they looked to favor wrestling; he saw spears and knifes. He could easily handle the knives and the wrestling; the spears, not a thing one sees on Earth, but he would say he could use the same techniques he used on someone with a rifle.

He wasn't worried in the least, his father taught him to fight from the time he could stand; he fought through military academy until he was kicked out, he fought through school, he was an enforcer in a gang, the military honed his skills, the special forces made him an unstoppable force. If Sully could beat most of them, he could beat all of them; because he knew he could beat a marine easy.

"Well then I have nothing to worry about, if you can beat most of them Sully; I can beat them all, I know for damn sure I could take you on easy."

"Hey, lets hold on here." Jake held one hand up, "Don't get ahead of yourself, I know some moves; I can hold my own."

"Where do they train you marines?" Ivan asked.

"Paris Island."

Ivan laughed, "Well, what they taught you at your...Paris Island Paradise, doesn't hold a metaphorical candle, to what I learned in Siberia."

"Is that so?" Jake challenged.

"You two act like children." Neytiri added to the conversation; but she listened intently, Jake wouldn't tell her much about his home.

"Yes it is so. While you were running around on your little Island, I was dealing with below zero temperatures; minimal food, sleep, water. Some of the worst conditions you could find."

"Well, still; it wasn't a paradise, it was hard."

"An Island; just those words I can laugh at. You know what I got? An old Soviet era missile complex, way out in the middle of nowhere, ICBM's still sitting in their silos. We had people go missing, freeze to death, starve, beaten, shot at...shot, killed by animals, we had people die out there Sully."

"We lost one in our squad, accidentally shot himself; name was Chris."

"And by die, I mean killed. The instructors were psychotics; shit...I almost died a few times, some stuff I never want to go through again." Ivan shook himself when memories flooded back.

'Your teachers would kill their students?" Neytiri asked in shock.

"Well it wasn't encouraged, and was frowned upon; but if someone died, no one cared, and no one was reprimanded. Like I said, one almost killed me one day, got it so bad I couldn't even think straight; I was out of commission for a week." Ivan chuckled, "Then I had to make up for that week, I think that was worse than almost dieing...made us tough as hell though."

"Sky people...just so...violent." Neytiri said, still in disbelief. Killing a student, and not being punished, and no one even caring; she couldn't comprehend such a thing.

"Ain't that the truth?" Jake and Ivan both responded.

They had arrived at the Pali fields; Neytiri went to retrieve one of the animals while Jake finished his conversation. "You know what, tomorrow; we go to the training field, and we spar. Let's see if you're as big and tough as you think you are."

"Okay." Was Ivan's simple response. "You'll regret it." He said in Russian.

When Neytiri arrived with a Pali in tow, Ivan examined it for a few seconds. It was basically an oversized horse with six legs; he hadn't been this close to one before, when he had been near them before they would run off. At least it was one of the few things on the planet that didn't try to kill him.

When Jake motioned for Ivan to climb up, he jumped and easily mounted the animal; doing much better than Jake's first attempt a year ago.

"Don't fall." Jake said sarcastically while Ivan steadied himself.

"Do not worry Ivan. It would be hard to do worse than Ma Jake did his first time." Neytiri and Ivan both smiled after her comment.

"You're supposed to be on my side." Jake pouted.

"Ma Jake you think so high of yourself, your head will pop one day." Neytiri slapped Jake on the back of the head lightly.

Ivan just sat there, unsure of what to do; he had never ridden a horse before, much less this giant thing. But how hard could it be?

"So how do I work this thing?" He asked.

"Seven years here and you never formed tsahaylu? Ever think the big pony tail was there for anything other than show?"

"I thought it was just here to get in the way; and hurt like hell if someone hits it. But most of the time when I was on deployment, I was trying not to get eaten; not worrying about my hair."

Jake quickly gave him a 'this goes there' explanation about his braid. Ivan pulled his braid forward towards where Jake had explained, he was slightly surprised when pink tendrils emerged from his hair and reached out towards the same ones on the Pali.

Ivan looked at the neural fibers as the waved back and forth in a futile attempt to connect to the Pali. "Creepy." He said, "What's this like?" He wanted to look before he leaped.

"It's pretty awesome, you will feel what it feels, and vice versa. The Pali are tame, they just do what you tell them; some other animals like Ikran or especially the Toruk are more stubborn...especially the Toruk. Just keep calm, if you freak out, it will freak out. Once you form the bond, you can tell it what to do by just thinking; don't have to speak a word."

"Okay." Ivan exhaled, why did he feel like he was going to regret this?

He slowly brought his braid closer to the Pali's. The pink fibers waved faster as they closed the distance. When they touched, Ivan felt a spark in his mind. Then something else; it was familiar.

"Fight it!" He heard a voice shout.

He felt something enter his mind, something that wasn't normal; it didn't belong there.

"Fight it!" The voice shouted again. "You've been captured; right now the enemy is extracting every detail of your mission."

He felt the familiar pain of something that wasn't him connecting to his mind. Training kicked in, he set up mental barriers; shut himself off.

"We won't stop this until you can stop us. Right now we are extracting everything." The voice shouted at him again. Ivan screamed in pain, it felt like someone was digging through his head with a chainsaw. The machine he was hooked up to was ripping into his mind, tearing out information. The voice laughed, "Nice girlfriend; nice rack she has...oh my, now this is interesting; I know people who would pay to see this."

Neytiri couldn't believe what just happened, as soon as Ivan bonded with the Pali; he screamed, the Pali bucked hard and sent him flying. Jake had barely enough time to get away from the Pali as it stormed off. She couldn't hold back laughter; somehow he had done worse than Jake did his first attempt.

Ivan was lying in the grass on his back; the Pali had thrown him a good distance back, and he hit the ground hard. His right shoulder looked to be in an odd position. Jake was laughing too; he started to walk over to help Ivan up.

What just happened? It felt like he was flying, then there was a sharp pain in his shoulder and now he was on his back. Ivan looked down to his right shoulder, it was out of place; it hurt badly. He was in a large outdoor arena surrounded by large stone pillars; he was sitting just off the side of a mud puddle. He heard shouting, jeers, and cheering of a multitude of people. Then the same voice from before yelled in his ear. "Don't let that dumb bastard win, defend yourself!" Ivan looked ahead and saw a man in a prison uniform approaching, a sadistic smile on his face; a knife strapped across his chest.

Neytiri watched as Jake went to help Ivan up from the ground; then she felt emotions hit her, emotions of confusion, fear, and anger. She saw Ivan looking around in confusion, see caught a glimpse of his eyes; they were empty, she called out to Jake and started towards them, but it was too late.

His opponent was upon him, he had to act now. "Defend yourself!" The voice shouted again. He couldn't move his right arm, but he didn't need it to win. The plan formulated instantly in his head. Ivan kicked out with his right foot, hitting his opponent in the shin and throwing his leg out from under him.

The man's face twisted into surprise as he caught himself right before he hit the ground. Ivan threw a hard left hook, connecting square to the man's temple, stunning him. Coming back with his elbow, Ivan connected with the other side of the man's head, sending him crashing to his left.

The man had been brought to his level, stunned, and incapacitated, only one more step. "Eliminate!" The voice shouted.

Neytiri watched in horror as Ivan stuck Jake several times; and fear overwhelmed her as she saw Ivan reach beside him and grab a large rock from the ground. She didn't have time to think, she only acted as she lashed out with her bow.

He rolled on top of his opponent and raised the rock above his head; but before he could bring it down he felt a hard smack, and the rock flew from his hand. Looking to his right he saw a woman wielding a metal pipe. She swung at him again, and he twisted his body enough that he could catch the pipe with his left arm.

As soon as he caught the pipe the woman reacted, her leg connected with his dislocated shoulder. He grunted in pain as the kick knocked him from atop his first opponent. He recovered quickly and rolled to his feet in time to block another strike from the woman; once again catching the end of the weapon with his left hand.

He narrowly dodged the next attack when the woman used the other end of the pipe to try and strike him in the head; ducking under the attack he was forced to let go or he would be thrown off balance as the woman twisted with her attack.

The woman used her momentum to do a full circle and Ivan didn't have time to move when the woman swept his feet out from under him with the pipe. He felt a sickening crunch as he landed on his right shoulder; ignoring the pain he rolled forward as the woman brought the pipe down towards his head. He managed to avoid having his head smashed but as he rolled onto his knees he tried in vain to raise his right arm to block the next attack, he had just enough time to look back before he felt the pipe connect with the back of his head.

The world was black for several seconds; when he finally regained his bearing he was face first in a mud puddle. What little he could see was fuzzy, and his ears were ringing. Again he heard the voice shout, "Get your lazy ass up corporal!"

He wasn't about to give up, this part of training was brutal; life or death, and his opponents had made the mistake of not killing him. He wasn't giving up, but before he could pick himself up he heard the woman hiss at him.

He still laid face down in the mud, did someone just hiss at him? Why was he in them mud, why did his head and his shoulder hurt; he grunted in pain as he glanced at his shoulder, even under his jacket he could tell it was out of place to a sickening degree, and it was already swelling. He looked at his surroundings, he was still in the dirt and mud, but the large pillars were now trees and there was no more shouting.

He glanced up and saw a man in a Russian combat officer uniform; it was something he hadn't seen in a long time. The soldier, who looked strangely familiar, only shook his head in disgust before fading from view.

---

The same thing, he did the same thing he did every day for the past year. Tech Sergeant Davids stared at a screen for six hours, monitoring signals, broadcasts, and transmissions; in fact this was what he did for the past seven years, only with a slightly different schedule and nothing to monitor. When he signed up to come to Pandora, he didn't think he was going to spend all his time sitting and staring at computers; he cursed himself every day for becoming a signal specialist. For once he wished he could get out and experience Pandora, screw the dangers; but all he had experienced was the walk from the Valkrye shuttle, and the view from the control room windows.

When the native uprising took place he thought maybe he would finally see some action, maybe he would get to do something. He did, he got to sit in the control room and help monitor the battle; now it was worse, for the past year there was nothing to watch out for, nothing to monitor. But command kept him here at his post, he couldn't sleep through his shift, he tried once. So instead he idly stared at his station and thought of whatever came to his mind.

Sometimes he would try and think of what it would be like to finally go home, but then he would remember what exactly he came from; he didn't want to admit it but he would rather sit here staring at empty screens until he died instead of going home. He didn't even have a home; he sold everything before he took the trip out here.

He was so lost in his state of boredom, that he didn't notice the small red indicator light up at his station. He didn't even notice the audible beep coming from the monitoring station; he was so used to seeing nothing that he didn't take notice even when he stared directly at the indicator light.

---

Neytiri crouched over Jake, her breathing was fast but it was slowing; if she had been a second late and Jake would be...she didn't want to think about that. She watched Ivan like a hawk, ready to fight again; but he only stayed lying in the mud, mumbling something in that language she heard him use last night.

Jake moaned and she turned her attention away from Ivan,

"Ma Jake are you okay?" She asked in a worried tone.

Jake once again moaned and brought his hands to his head, pressing down where Ivan had hit him.

Neytiri placed one hand on his cheek, "Ma Jake." she said again.

"He hits hard." Jake mumbled in response.

Neytiri smiled, he was okay. "He tried to kill you." She pointed out.

"Well, good thing you were here." Jake opened his eyes and gazed at Neytiri. Just the sight of her face and that beautiful smile made the pain go away. He turned his head and kissed the palm of her hand.

"Thank you." He said, "Just one more I owe you."

"You owe nothing, but you are a skxawng. You warn everyone about Ivan; and then you don't pay attention, now look at you."

"I could have taken him." He joked.

Ivan moaned and they both looked towards him; when Neytiri readied her bow again Jake laid his hand on her shoulder to calm her, the fight was over.

Ivan grunted as he rolled onto his back, and asked them something in Russian. Neytiri looked at Jake for an explanation but he only shrugged in response. Ivan asked the question again and tried to sit up, but grabbed his shoulder in pain and laid back down.

For a third time Ivan spoke in Russian.

"English." Jake said to him. "English man."

Ivan stared up at the sky for several moments, 'what about English.' he thought to himself. Then he remembered what language to use; that last blow to the head did a number on him.

"What. the. hell. happened?" He grumbled.

"You tell me, you just went apeshit on us." Jake said as Neytiri helped him up.

"I...what?" He looked at Jake as approached, Neytiri behind him; she was still at the ready.

He tried to remember what happened; he remembered the voice of one of his instructors and being attacked.

"Someone was-" He remembered the woman when he saw Neytiri, "That was you two." He let his head fall back in the mud.

Jake kneeled down beside him, "What happened?" He asked.

"I thought...shit..." He was still trying to process what happened. "This is why Max, and that psychia...psycholo...whatever the hell she is; this is why they're so worried about me."

---

Was something happening? He couldn't believe it, something was happening; Tech Sergeant Davids couldn't hold back a smile when he finally noticed the red light at his terminal. Now just what was this, he wondered as he started to investigate.

He selected the new signal and opened it. The signal was coming from an emergency combat transmitter; he didn't know why anything like that would be going off. There were no RDA personnel still left on the mainland, discounting the traitors at Hell's Gate.

He investigated further, bringing up a map showing the location of the signal while searching for specifics of the transmitter.

His workstation screen turned to a map and quickly went from his location to the source of the signal; luckily there was a satellite in range of the beacon. He couldn't move a satellite in fear of the Hell's Gate traitors finding out, but he could access and view the location they were currently covering. He could see a large tree with many heat signatures in and around it; this meant it was a native village. In a field not far from the tree there was a blinking red spot on the map signaling the location of the transmitter.

When he tried to find out exactly who or what was broadcasting the signal he was shocked and confused. All he got was an RDA equipment log, when he looked through the file he discovered it was for an Avatar. But there was no information on the Avatar or the driver, there wasn't even a name; only an ID tag, when he tried to open that he was greeted with large red letters spelling the word, 'Classified.'

He wondered why there was an Avatar with no information available, it's not like the program was a secret, he should have easy access to the information. Another thing he thought about was why this Avatar unit was broadcasting with combat locater; those were for security personnel who were in an emergency. And third, why there was a signal at all; his commanders had tried to monitor the Avatar's to keep track of the traitors' movements, but the traitors had disabled the tracking chips in most of the Avatar units.

After examining the signal more he found that the Hell's Gate traitors probably wouldn't know of this signal unless they were scanning emergency combat channels.

Davids was ecstatic, finally something interesting happening. He looked around trying to find an officer, he didn't see one but he saw someone just as good. "Master Sergeant Yagudin." He called out.

"Da? What is it Davids." Came the reply, a Russian accent covered the words.

Davids watched the man approach; The Master Sergeant was from a different RDA instillation than the one he was stationed at. The man was skinny but had muscle on him; his black hair had streaks of gray running through it; he walked with the slightest limp in his left leg. At first glance the Master Sergeant looked as though he may have been in his forties, but a friend had told him that he was actually into his fifties; but the man was in excellent physical condition.

"I've picked up a locator beacon sir." Davids said once the Master Sergeant was at his side.

"Beacon? From what?" His accent making his last word sound with more of a 'V' than a 'W'.

"Well sir, it's a combat signal. But it belongs to an Avatar."

"I thought all Avatar beacons had been disabled?"

"Apparently not all of them. This one just showed up."

"Who does it belong to?"

"I do not know sir." Davids admitted, pulling up the Avatar file on his screen. "The files are all empty, except for one which is classified."

"Classified, why in hell would it be classified?" The sergeant took his own personal data tablet and synced it with Davids workstation; all the information that David had appeared on his data tablet. "Keep tracking the signal. I will inform the Colonel."

"Yes sir."

---

Ivan was sitting with his jacket off; he gave a low grunt as Jake slowly rotated his shoulder, moving it back into place inch by inch.

He let out low curses as Jake rotated it more, despite the pain Ivan's expression was neutral; he was taught to ignore pain, and in truth it didn't hurt enough to really bother him, he was just angry at the situation in general.

"You fell on this good." Jake said as he continued working the dislocated bone back into place.

"Then your girl went and kicked it, then threw me down on it." Ivan said in annoyance. "Neytiri, good job by the way."

"What?" Neytiri asked, he couldn't be congratulating her for beating him could he?

"You beat me good. I was injured but still...not a bad fighter you got here Jake."

"Yeah, she can kick some ass."

Ivan grunted again when Jake was a little hastier in trying to fix his shoulder.

"Jake maybe we should get a healer." Neytiri said in concern, the dreamwalker's shoulder looked to be in very bad shape; but Ivan's expression made it look like it was only a small annoyance to him.

"Just fucking fix it." Ivan said, he was getting angrier at the situation with each passing second.

"Language." Jake scolded.

"Fuck. you." Ivan glared at Jake.

"Hey...don't threaten me with a good time."

Ivan dropped his head and chuckled, "That's pretty good."

"I try." Jake twisted Ivan's arm hard and he grimaced as he heard a pop.

---

It was a good thing the Master Sergeant was still in good shape, he had to go up four flights of stairs to get the command center where the Colonel was. The limp still caused him problems even though he had several surgeries to fix it; it was better than it used to be but it still bothered him. Just being stuck with a slight limp was a good thing considering it was caused by an angry friend with a gun; he wasn't sure if the word friend still applied to his friend, he only saw him one time after the incident, and asshole didn't even say sorry. But he was a forgiving person, and his friend was having the mother of all bad days so he could forgive him. That was a long time ago; and it was still a long time since he had seen his friend, he wondered what became of him, but this was no time to reminisce about the days of old.

He walked into the command center, which was basically an oversized flight control tower converted for use as a command center; the actual command center was deep down in the lower levels of the base but the Colonel liked to be topside.

The room was crowded, but that was normal; extra barracks and sleeping quarters had to be constructed to fit all the extra personnel, but it was still crowded. He pushed past several workers and spotted the Colonel standing with the major looking out the windows overlooking the base.

The command structure was in shambles, the Major was the commanding officer of the base, but then the Colonel arrived took over much to the Major's disdain; then there were three separate administrators fighting for power. But in all reality, the Colonel had seized most of the control, which was a good thing; for it seemed that he was the only one with any idea of what to do. He was glad that Quaritch hadn't survived, having that idiot here too would completely screw the situation more than it was now.

It was worse than politics, there were three separate groups of security personnel, three large civilian groups, three administrators, two science divisions, and then the RDA executives that wanted Pandoran operations to continue.

The Major and the Colonel fought for power, the Major's men on his side, the Colonel's men on his; the remains of the Hell's Gate security forces were split. Some wanted revenge, some wanted peace, most wanted to go home. Everyone was on edge, there was much unrest, fights would break out, full-scale riots had been narrowly avoided.

Supplies were running low, and the base was well past max capacity. They needed to move, not only because of dwindling supplies, but the administrators insisted that mining operations resume; but that meant the possibility of discovery.

Yagudin noticed that the Colonel and the Major were talking, he had to stop and watch; getting them to talk was impossible, or more getting the Major to talk with the Colonel was impossible.

The Colonel was another Russian ages past retirement, he has a nasty temper, but he never lets it show; mostly because he is under strict orders from the doctors to keep calm lest he risk a heart attack. He is a large man with a commanding presence; he loves his vodka and had an impressive stash back at the old base, although he insists that he doesn't drink much anymore. Most of the time the Colonel is calm and knows exactly what to do, and he never lets anything cloud his judgment. He was once described to have a demeanor like a sleepy bear; he is big, moves slowly, his English isn't good and he is forced to speak it slowly. But once you wake him up, he was a force to be reckoned with; despite his age and slowly failing health, the man knows how to fight, and isn't afraid to jump in if need be. He is a brilliant tactician, an excellent shot, and a proven expert at hand-to-hand combat. If there is one person who can resolve the current situation it the Colonel; and one good thing is that he isn't looking for war unlike Quaritch was, and unlike Quaritch, he is thoroughly prepared for a war.

Major Brown on the other hand is a brash, impatient, U.S. Army Reserve officer who never saw combat on Earth or Pandora, and is looking for his first fight. He is angry that some Russian had taken his base and his men from him. He was mad that they weren't taking the fight to the blue monkeys right now. Master Sergeant Yagudin remembered how the Colonel described the Major once, "A disgruntled American Cowboy with stick up the ass." The Colonel said that right to the Major's face, followed by a slow laugh. Brown made it clear that if he was in charge, he would stomp all over the Na'vi, or at least he would try; but thankfully the Colonel was in charge and had most of the men on his side...most, Brown's men were still on his side but the Colonel had them outnumbered.

Yagudin approached the Colonel and called to him in Russian. "Colonel, sir."

The Colonel stopped his talk with Major Brown and turned to Yagudin, "Yes Andrey, what is it?"

The Colonel and Yagudin were friends for a long time, long enough that he was one of the few people that the Colonel called by first name. "A tech picked up a locator beacon." Andrey answered.

"English." Major Brown's angry voice broke in. "Please...sorry, I think we are all on edge." He tone still remained annoyed; the man was almost a racist, he hated the Andrey and the Colonel.

The Colonel switched to English for Brown's benefit, "What kind of beacon Sergeant?" He spoke slowly, coupled with his accent and made him sound unintelligent.

Andrey still stuck with Russian. "A combat locator, but it's-"

"English dammit!" Brown yelled, causing everyone in the room to stop and look towards him.

"Speak English Andrey. So Major does not get panties in bunch." The Colonel said, following the sentence with a grin and his trademark slow laugh.

The Major's face grew red, and he looked flustered. How he hated those fucking Russians, if he could do away with them he could; and he would do things right, no more sitting around, he would kick the Na'vi's ass and then kill that damn traitor marine Sully.

Andrey continued his English was much better; he learned it many years ago. "Like I said before being so rudely interrupted. A tech picked up a combat locator beacon, but is registered to an Avatar."

"I thought the damn tree huggers disabled all the tracking chips?" Brown asked.

"This isn't the standard locator; this is an emergency beacon, a combat model. The Avatar it's registered to has little information available, and what there is, is classified."

Andrey handed his data tablet to the Colonel, and the Colonel looked over the almost non-existent information.

"Da, I know of this." The Colonel tapped the tablet and handed it back to Andrey. "Some year ago, the Colonel Quaritch spoke to me of special Avatar he was getting. He spoke high of this Avatar; it is supposed to be first military test run for Avatar type body. He say driver is Spetsnaz operator like you Andrey."

Andrey nodded, "Do you think he is a traitor? I cannot see an operator switching sides like that."

"Maybe, maybe not. What would you do Andrey, if you were that man?" The Colonel asked.

"I would do? Given the situation, put myself where he is now. Pretend to be a traitor, then when the time comes; rip them apart from the inside out, exactly what I have training for."

"Maybe he is not traitor, maybe he does as you say. Someone must know him, but Quaritch say is very secret; we must find out who this man is."

"Maybe Mr. Selfridge would know." Andrey suggested.

"It doesn't matter." Brown broke in, "One man, on our side or not; we will still kick their asses."

"We do not look for war, we cannot win."

"Can't win? You're the one using up all the resources preparing for war." Brown accused.

The Colonel, against the will of the Administrators, had for the past year been churning out all manner of weapons, equipment and vehicles from the base's factories. He had also started to up-arm from the standard equipment used by the RDA, but there was only so much he could do from this base. If he retook his old base he could have top of the line weapons and war machines.

"It's just precaution; in time of peace, prepare for war."

"Precaution my ass, with all this firepower we could take over this damn planet."

---

Ivan sat with his head resting against his hand, his head still hurt; Neytiri could hit hard, he was lucky he didn't get knocked out. His shoulder was back in place, or at least it looked like it, the swelling made it hard to tell, it felt better than it did but it still hurt. When they heard a loud pop, and the pain faded, they both guessed it was in the proper place.

Jake was with Neytiri as she soothed the Pali Ivan tried to bond with, his freak out scared the Pali; it had been stomping around the fields in a panic.

Jake approached with Neytiri and the Pali in tow, "So you want to try again? You know what to expect now." He asked Ivan.

Ivan sighed, "What the hell? Got to learn some time."

He stood up and walked over the Pali, he glanced at his shoulder; swollen and purple, it was going to hurt for a while.

"Need help getting up?" Jake asked as Ivan looked up to the Pali.

"Goddammit." Ivan complained as he put his hands on the Pali, getting ready to climb up. "I can drive a tank, fly a helicopter." He moaned as he put weight on his shoulder, "I can work an AMP, I've ran in battlesuits."

Jake heard the last comment and his eyebrows shot up for a second, he wanted to know about that. Battlesuits were for only the most elite of soldiers, you could run through walls, jump up buildings, and take bullets like they were spitballs. This was something he wanted to know about.

Ivan bounced up and down, readying himself to jump up, "I've jumped out of planes, and I've hell jumped." He bounced one last time before jumping up.

"I can ride a damn horse." He said as he pulled himself atop the Pali.

After settling atop the Pali he grabbed his shoulder and moaned, it hurt.

"Alright, if you fall this time; you can get your own self up. I'm going to stand over here." Jake said taking a few steps back.

Ivan exhaled and readied himself, he tried to reach back to his braid with his right arm but the sharp pain stopped him. He took his braid in his other hand and held it close to the Pali's, before he connected he mumbled to the horse. "If you throw me off, I will gut your sorry ass."

He brought the braids together, he watched as the pink tendrils intertwined together, and he felt that strange presence in his mind again. He fought his instincts, he couldn't shut himself off, he wasn't being interrogated. There was no danger here, but this was the strangest thing he ever felt. He could feel not only himself but Pali, its heartbeat its breathing; it was too much for him.

The Pali snorted and shook a little, "Calm." Neytiri called out, approaching them.

Ivan swore he could see not only through his eyes but also the through the Pali, he could feel what it was thinking. The Pali was trying to figure out what exactly he was; he wasn't a Na'vi, that was all the horse could figure out. Its thoughts, that freaked Ivan out, this was the strangest thing he had ever done. It's heartbeat, its breathing, its thoughts, he could feel it stomp its legs into the ground, its annoyance at this strange being riding it.

He took several steadying breaths, "This is...strange." When he said that the Pali whinnied, and Ivan laughed. "He...thinks I'm strange."

Jake and Neytiri both smiled, "It's amazing isn't it?" Jake asked.

"Strange is what I call it." Once again the Pali protested. "I don't think he likes me."

"Probably not." Jake said. "Now ride around some, all you have to do is think it, and the Pali will do it."

He was determined not to fall again; he braced himself while keeping his weight off his right shoulder. And simply thought 'move slow', and the Pali slowly waked forward. He smiled as he walked the animal around slowly; this was easier than driving a car, and dare he say more fun?

He walked it around the field several times, whatever way he thought the animal would obey, he could tell it to simply walk or give it a specific place. It was strange, interesting, and yes, amazing. He found that the Pali stopped trying to figure out what he was and simply walked where it was told to go; from what he could tell, it was a very docile creature, content to simply march around as ordered.

"Nothing too this." He said, walking it by Jake and Neytiri.

"Why don't you try running?" Jake asked, secretly hoping to make Ivan trip up; Ivan was doing much, much, better than his first attempt. Maybe Jake shouldn't have tried to run right from the start.

"Run? And fall? We'll save that for later, I don't want to break my shoulder."

As Ivan got further away Jake and Neytiri turned to each other. They held each other's eyes for a moment; then Neytiri brought her hand up to the bruise now on the side of Jake's head.

"Ow." Jake said when she pressed on it. "He hits hard." He said in Na'vi

"I was worried." Neytiri said. "I saw his eyes, and there was nothing behind them. Then he stuck you, I saw him grab the rock..."

"It's okay." Jake said when Neytiri started to look worried. "I'm okay, and you kicked some butt. We'll just have to be more careful with him from now on."

Neytiri gave a half smile at the strange compliment.

She ran her thumb over the bruise, "Kiss it and make it better?" Jake asked.

Neytiri looked passed them, Ivan was facing the other way; so she quickly stood on her toes and pressed a kiss to the side of Jake's head.

Jake held her eyes; he could stare into those golden orbs for all eternity and never stop thinking about how beautiful they were. He took her hands in his and leaned down and lightly kissed her. She reciprocated the kiss for only a second before pulling away.

"Not here." She shied away.

"Why not?" Jake leaned in for another kiss.

"No Jake, only in private." She backed away slightly.

"We're alone."

"But Ivan."

"He's too far away. Besides, why do we care what he thinks?"

Neytiri gazed at the man she loved; she loved every part of him, body, soul, and spirit. She loved his strong arms, and bigger build, his lighthearted and almost childish attitude, his indomitable spirit; she loved this man more than life itself. She felt a familiar burning in her loins, she knew what it was but Jake was still clueless; if he couldn't figure out on his own why they mated so frequently then that was his problem.

When Jake tried to kiss her again, she pressed one finger to his lips, "Later Ma Jake." She said with a sly smile on her face.

"Oh boy, I like that smile." Jake said.

They turned their attention back to the approaching Ivan; he had built up some more speed but was still making sure he wouldn't fall from the Pali.

---

Tayrha sat on the outside of hometree, a small bowl in her hands she was crushing leaves inside of. Her friend Launume sat behind her, working beads into Tayrha's hair. She had been friends with Launume for as long as she could remember; they had always been there for each other, they were like family. They had both trained to be healers together, but when certain events transpired, Tayrha became a hunter while Launume continued her training; but they still remained best friends.

As Launume braided her friend's hair, she watched Tayrha's mouth twitch; she could tell her friend was hurting, but she didn't ask, if she wanted to talk she would. They both sat in silence as one worked beads into the other's hair, and one crushed leaves to be used by the healers.

After a long while Tayrha broke the silence. "I..." was all she said. Launume didn't press, but she listened.

Tayrha crushed the leaves violently several times, and her mouth twitched again.

"Calm my friend." Launume soothed. "They leaves did nothing too you, tell me what is wrong."

They both sat in silence for several more moments before Tayrha spoke. "You know the male I was courting?"

"Yes-"

Before she could say the male's name Tayrha interrupted. "Do not say that cowards name." Her voice was strained.

"I should assume it did not work out?" Launume asked.

Tayrha fought back a single tear; she wouldn't cry over this, she was used to it. "He said no." She sobbed slightly, "Like all the others."

"I'm sorry." Launume patted her shoulder before continuing to work braids into her hair. "It is not your fault."

"I know." Tayrha's voice was stuck between anger and despair. "My stupid brother, he scared him off."

"He is only looking out for you."

"He needs to stop and stay out of my life." Tayrha snapped. "I am sorry; I did not mean to yell."

"It is okay, but you wouldn't want him anyway. If he is too scared of your brother to want you as a mate, then why should you want him?"

"I know, it's just there are only so many males. And none of them would take me as a mate; all of them are scared off by my brother. And he wants me to mate with one of his warrior friends; but they do not see me, I will never mate with one of his friends."

"Do not worry, Eywa has someone for you."

"Who?" Tayrha asked in desperation. "I am the woman who cannot find a mate, there is no one left."

"Well...there is that new dreamwalker." Launume suggested.

Tayrha was taken aback, "A dreamwalker...you cannot be serious."

"I'm just suggesting, you asked me who. Neytiri and Ninat are very happy with their mates."

"My brother would never approve of that, you know how much he hates the sky people."

Launume stopped and stared at her questioningly for several seconds. "Since when did you care what your brother thinks?"

She was right, "I do not, but."

"But what?" Launume challenged.

"They are strange."

Launume laughed, "I find it attractive...exotic, that new dreamwalker does look good; even if he hides in those strange clothes."

"Yes." Tayrha admitted.

Just that moment, Ivan emerged from the trees; walking towards the trail leading to the lake, his right side was covered in mud.

"Look who it is." Launume pointed out. "If you don't try, I might."

"No, I know about you and Omati. Besides you don't speak any Inglisi"

"Yes." Launume admitted, she already had her mate, it wasn't official but it would be soon. "But Tayrha, you must try; your brother will never approve of anyone, and the dreamwalker might not be scared of your brother. Jakesully wasn't scared of Tsu'tey, Eytukan, or Moat. Normspellman wasn't afraid of all the suitors seeking Ninat."

"It is not enough to not fear my brother." Tayrha sighed; years ago she found a male that stood up to her brother. "They also must be able to fight him." Her brother had beaten him almost to death, after that the male stayed away from her; sadly he died during the time of great sorrow.

"Yes, but you must still try. The dreamwalkers surprise all of us; go and talk with him, find out his name, just talk and go from there."

"His name is Ivan."

"How did you know?"

"I have already spoken with him." She did more than speak, maybe more than just speak...but the dreamwalker didn't seem offended, he was only calm, challenging her to kill him. That took her aback last night, she wasn't expecting that kind of response; and she definitely wasn't expecting the dreamwalker to be able to disarm her. Maybe, if some relationship formed, maybe this dreamwalker would be the one to defeat her brother.

"Then you have already started. What is he like?"

"He is quiet, calm, and showed no fear. I might have sneaked up on him."

"Tayrha." Launume stopped braiding her hair. "I hope you didn't do anything that would scare him off."

"Scared isn't the right word."

"Well hopefully whatever you did didn't scare him away. Go talk to him"

"He is going to the lake to bathe. I cannot go now."

Launume had finished braiding her hair, she put the spare beads back in a pouch and handed them to Tayrha. "Then walk slowly."

Tayrha gave the bowl of crushed leaves to Launume, before slowly starting her way to the lake. Launume watched her go and wished her luck, her friend needed to find someone; no parents, a sometimes abusive brother, very few friends, none of them being male. Over the course of Tayhra's life, Launume had watched her best friend slowly become an outcast; but through it all she remained strong.

Launume gave a prayer for her friend as she took the bowl of crushed herbs and mixed it with a bowl of water. Stirring them, they slowly turned to a paste which could be placed on cuts to clean and seal the wound.

---

Mike yawned as he flipped another page in the book Stephen had given him; he woke up only an hour ago but he was tired already, he had been sitting on the side of his bunk reading the whole time. The more he read the more interesting he became, if the things he was reading were true; he wasn't sure if Ivan was a good guy or a bad guy. He tried to take it all with a grain of salt but his gut told him that the things he was reading was truth. He had read many pages but the chapter on this man was a large one; he wasn't going to finish anytime soon.

He had lost track of time, some of the things he was reading about blew his mind; some things Ivan has been accused of, Mike first learned about in history class. So many sightings of this man thought to be Ivan, so many jobs, money trails, battles...a lot of bodies. This man had been sighted in nearly every country on Earth; and was wanted the world over, his bounty at the publication of the book, was twenty million alive. And that bounty was only a combined total from major governments, notably America, Russia, Britain, Germany, France, China, and the largest single money amount was from Israel.

The business in Israel made Mike rethink his feelings toward Ivan; there was evidence and witnesses that pointed to Ivan for a school bombing that cost the lives of two hundred and forty children and staff. Besides the major governments, there were private organizations that wanted him, many smaller third world countries, a paramilitary group that employed him during the Israel school incident, the U.N., the E.U., and Interpol.

How in the nine-hells could the RDA hire someone like this, Mike couldn't believe it; and he wasn't even halfway through the chapter. The RDA had no morals at all apparently, there was no way they didn't know who they were hiring; they probably didn't care, this man was the best of the best and the worst of the worst at the same time.

Mike started to wonder what could have happened during Ivan's time on Pandora, and why this man would betray the RDA and choose to stay here. But his thoughts were interrupted by a knock at his door.

He didn't know who it could be, "Who is it?" He said.

He recognized Corporal Amy Katherine's voice from the other side of the door. "It's me, can I come in?"

"Sure." The door opened and the redhead walked in.

"Haven't seen you in a while honey, have you been hiding from me?" Amy asked as she looked around his room.

"Hiding? No, Sleeping, Ja." Mike answered as he read.

"You sleep like a dog you know that? You sleep whenever you're tired, where ever too; I was up last night and I came to visit you and you were asleep in the mess hall."

"I'm tired, what else do you expect me to do? Stay up?"

Amy walked up and stood in front of him as he sat on his bunk reading. "Are you reading?"

"I might be." He glanced up at her.

She sat down on his lap, "I do so like me a smart man."

"Mmm hmm." Mike kept reading.

Amy huffed in annoyance, "So, is that book more important than me?"

"Hmm? Book or girl?" Mike glanced between the two. "Book or girl...book or sex?" He glanced again.

"This is a surprisingly hard choice." He said tossing the book to the side and pulling Amy to him.

She let out a squeal as he threw her on the bunk and pressed kisses along her neck. She ran her hands through his messy hair as he undid her uniform and his kissing went down from her neck. Her breath hitched and she moaned in pleasure when his lips met her breasts while his hands continued down her body.

At first it had only been a passing interest she had with him; but she after a while she found she actually liked Mike. Unlike some others he wasn't a jerk, unlike Ethan he wasn't and idiot, and unlike some other idiot jerks, he actually liked her...and he wasn't bad in bed either, and unlike most men in general, he took care of her needs not just his own.

---

Ivan grunted in pain as he tried to pull his jacket on, but his shoulder just wouldn't allow it.

"Screw it." He said as he threw it down beside him. It took him a great amount of effort to get his clothes off, getting them back on was even harder; he just couldn't get his jacket on. So he had to settle for just his shirt.

His shoulder didn't look any better, it didn't feel any better, something must still be wrong with it; it was horribly out of place and it probably wasn't fully in back in place. He tried to roll it but it would barely move, it just continued hurting. Even from under his shirt he could see the swelling.

"Hurts don't it?" He heard a voice that made him freeze. "Oh did I scare you?"

He hadn't heard that voice in over forty years; that voice wasn't real, it couldn't be.

He blinked several times when he saw his brother emerge from under the surface of the lake and walk towards him with a smile on his face.

"Y-you're not real." Ivan muttered, how hard did he hit his head earlier?

His brother put on a hurt expression. "Now that hurts little brother." Ivan stared straight ahead, ignoring whatever his mind was making up.

"You always did have a tendency to get hurt."

Ivan kept staring straight ahead. His brother's image...ghost...whatever it was kneeled down in front of him and waved his hand in Ivan's face. "Don't ignore me." The hallucination said.

"I'm imagining this, I must be going crazy." Ivan said to himself.

"Hey I'm right here." The image said. "That shoulder looks real nasty."

Whatever this thing was, it wouldn't go away; Neytiri must have smacked him much harder than he thought, maybe he did get knocked out and this was a dream.

"Nope, not a dream." The brother laughed and passed a hand through Ivan.

Okay, Ivan was out of his mind.

"You always were." It patronized.

"You are dead." Ivan said to the apparition.

The image of his brother changed its appearance; there was now six bullet wounds covering his brothers body, blood was smeared across his body and across his face. His pupils were dilated and his skin was a sickly white. Sand clung to his body, mixed with sweat and blood.

"Yeah I am, just thought I'd pay you a visit...oh damn." His brother stood up and started walking towards the woods. Ivan kept his gaze locked across the lake, ignoring this insanity.

He heard his brother give a low whistle and a grunt from behind him. "These cat people don't look to bad." At this comment Ivan looked back and saw the Tayrha emerging from the tree line.

"Oh man, you should hit that. Get yourself laid brother, take the edge off." His brother said with a laugh as he disappeared.

Ivan looked back towards the lake for several seconds and rubbed his head. What in the hell was that? Never before had he ever had something like that happen; he wasn't sure, was it a flashback? It couldn't be, his brother...it...he was talking to him. He had strange dreams like this sometimes, where old friends would talk to him; but never before did anything happen while he was awake.

He would think about that later, he turned his attention back to the Na'vi woman standing near the trees. She looked apprehensive, she should be; she attacked him yesterday. He tried to remember the greeting Spellman had taught him yesterday, he heard it a million times today.

"Oel ngatì kameie" He finally remembered, "I hope I'm saying it right."

Tayrha smiled, "Oel ngati Kameie." She said, "You say right. May I join you?" she asked.

"Y-yeah." He stammered, he was still shaken from whatever that vision of his brother was.

Tayrha approached him and took a spot at his right side. She looked at his arm with concern.

"This," She placed one hand on his bad shoulder and pressed lightly. "This is...was." she didn't know the right word.

"Dislocated?" Ivan said.

"Yes. Why you no have fix?" She asked, turning towards him to examine his shoulder.

"I did, I don't thinks it's fixed properly though." She pressed on his shoulder and he winced, "That's tender."

"I help." Tayrha said, getting closer and probing his shoulder. "Remove." She said pulling at his shirt.

"What?" He asked looking at her.

"I need to see to fix. This need be taken care of now."

He grumbled as he tried to pull his shirt off with his one good arm, his right arm wouldn't move up and he was having trouble. Tayrha helped pull his shirt off and tossed it behind her. She cringed when she saw the full extent of the damage. She once again placed her hands on his shoulder; she was focusing on his injuries but a small part of her admired the tough feel of his muscles, very rarely had she touched a male.

"This...this does not hurt you?" She asked moving his arm up.

"This is nothing." He said slowly.

She ran her hand up his arm and around his shoulder, getting a feel for where the bone actually needed to be.

Ivan was starting to wonder if she knew what she was doing when she spoke up. "This need to come up." She tugged his arm upwards slightly, "And in." She looked in his eyes. "This may hurt."

She pulled his arm out straight beside him, and tried to slowly rotate it; but it wasn't moving, "Sorry." She said.

Before Ivan could ask why, she gave his arm a quick jerk up and he gritted his teeth in pain as it moved.

Before he could do anything else, she rolled his arm and pressed it towards his body. It took everything he had not to curse and yell at her as she worked. She continued pressing his arm towards him while she pressed down on his shoulder; she couldn't believe how out of place it was.

He was going to tell her to stop, but he felt his whole arm suddenly move closer to his body with a 'pop' and the pain instantly started to fade. He sighed in relief as he looked at his shoulder, it didn't look so bad. It was still swollen and purple but he could easily see that it had changed position. He couldn't believe he had been walking around with his shoulder so out of place; he needed to yell at Sully for not fixing it properly.

"There." Tayrha released his arm. "I no see anything that bad before."

He rolled his shoulder, it hurt when he did so but not as much as it used to. "Thanks, what are you a medic?"

She looked confused.

"A doctor I mean." He corrected, military habits clouded his vocabulary sometimes.

"Toktor? Kehe, sa'nok...mother was toktor. I was to be also; but..." She quieted and looked across the lake. Ivan could tell why; he had seen that type of sorrow before.

"Sorry." He offered. "I lost my mother when I was young."

She gave a small nod; she had also lost her father, and then only a year ago her home and many of her friends were destroyed by the skypeople.

They both sat in silence for several minutes before Tayrha asked him a question. "Why you here?"

He thought about that question, he thought about it every day. "I had nothing left." He gave a simple answer.

She looked at him, waiting for him to explain.

After several more moments he continued, "I lost everything a long time ago. My family, my home, my job, even my friends. I had nothing left there; so I came out here." he didn't know why but talking to the natives was easier than talking to another human.

"Why would you leave your clan?" She asked, "Why would you come to my home?"

"I didn't leave my 'clan', it didn't want me, and I didn't want it. I drifted for my whole life after that, did stupid things; then I was offered a chance to come here so I took it."

"I no can see why you would want to leave home." She shook her head. Well, maybe she could, sometimes she would think of leaving the Omatikaya; that maybe there was something or someone for her in another clan. This dreamwalker seemed to have things in common with her.

"I didn't have a home. But I am starting to think coming out here was a bad idea." He laughed, "You know what I want?"

"No."

"I want to go home."

"Then why did you not when Jakesully sent all other skypeople back to their home?" She asked. She couldn't imagine leaving her home like the humans did.

"Because I helped you Na'vi out. I fought against my own people, my own friends, my commanders." He stopped for several seconds. "And I don't know why."

"What you mean?"

"I don't know why I did it. I could have stopped Sully from escaping; I caught Trudy and Max before they rescued him. But something told me not to stop them."

---

Trudy was pushing a lunch cart through the halls on they way to the detention block, Max was following behind her. It was a simple plan, walk in, take care of the guard, get everyone to her bird and fly out of here. Maybe it wasn't much of a plan but it was the quickest they could think of.

Her and Max had gotten lucky, there wasn't another soul around this part of the base. She was turning a corner when suddenly a foot stepped out and the lunch cart stopped dead, then Ivan walked into view and leaned on the cart. She met his cold glare, she didn't falter; she would take him out if she needed too.

"Lieutenant Chacon." He said in an ice cold tone, his gaze still locked with hers.

"Master Sergeant." She responded, her voice calm.

Ivan glanced at the lunch cart and then Max, before locking with her eyes. She slowly moved her right hand from the cart, trying to go for the pistol in her belt.

"Don't try it." He said glancing down at the cart. "I'm quicker on the draw than you."

She put her hand back onto the cart, she didn't know how this was going to go down, but she wasn't giving up; she was going to get her friends out of this place.

"So this is your plan?" Ivan pushed the cart lightly. "Just walk in there? Pretty ballsy."

Trudy gave the slightest chuckle. "More or less."

"I have an obligation to stop you...orders."

So this is how it was going to happen, she prepared herself for a fight.

"I should shoot you both right here on the spot."

Trudy was about to go for her sidearm. Max's expression became dreadful as he took a step back.

"But..." Ivan sighed and stood up from the cart. "I'm sick of this shit. And my gut is telling me to forget about this."

They stood for several more silent seconds before Ivan stepped aside and began walking past them. "Good luck." He said to them.

Trudy started walking immediately, not questioning Ivan's actions. That went better than she thought it would; she wasn't sure how well she could trust Ivan but she couldn't waste time.

Max stood there dumbfounded, "Ivan you're not-"

"You better hurry before I change my mind."

Max took the hint and hurried off after Trudy.

What did he just do? Did he just let them go, those traitors. He should have killed them on the spot; or at least inform the Colonel. But no, he wouldn't; something told him not to. He needed a drink; the situation around here was becoming more fucked up by the second.

---

To this day he couldn't figure out why he didn't stop them. But he guessed it might have turned out for the better; at least better for him, if Sully hadn't rallied the Na'vi things might still be as they were. And he might not have this chance to save himself from the cancer; strangely he hadn't had much trouble with it today. But for humanity...no more unobtanium for a long time, that was going to send Earth into a frenzy. He might have helped with the downfall of the human race, he had done some bad things in his life but that would take the figurative cake.

If there was some other way out of this mess instead of becoming one of the blues, aside from dying, he would take it.

Not only could he not go home because he was a traitor, but everyone on Earth that ever wanted him dead would have found out by now that he was here. As soon as he stepped foot back on Earth he would be dead. He chose to betray the RDA to save his own skin, he took the chance when the opportunity arose; but that was after Sully had beaten Quaritch. He still couldn't figure out what possessed him to let Trudy and Max go, but it worked out, to an extent.

He and Tayrha sat in silence; she didn't want to interrupt him since he looked like he was thinking. She discreetly admired his body, it was strange. He looked strong, he was a cross between the bulk that Jakesully had and the skinnier Normspellman; who were both bulkier than an average Na'vi. His eyes were smaller than a Na'vi's and he had eyebrows; the different hairstyle, there were no beads or decoration, the dreamwalkers had no sense of fashion. The only thing he wore that might be considered decorative was that strange necklace, it was made of tiny silver beads with two large rectangles hanging at the ends; every skyperson she had seen had wore those, maybe they were not for style, they may be for something religious. His strange accent and their strange language; even stranger was the extra finger and toe. but she found all of it strangely attractive, like Launume said, it was exotic. For some unexplainable reason she found herself attracted to the differences.

She broke the silence. "You are quiet." She pointed out.

"Don't have much to say." He glanced at her, she was leaning forward; her necklace failed to cover her breasts. They were small compared to human standards, but they worked for the Na'vi, they were proportional.

"Maybe." She suggested, trying to find a reason she could talk to him regularly. "You can help with my Inglisi."

He thought it over, she was a damn sight nicer to look at than Norm; but the last thing he needed to do was start to grow attached or form a relationship to one of the natives. Don't grow attached, it was a rule he had never broken during an assignment. If he made friends while on an operation, they would either end up dead, or have their lives destroyed; it was the nature of his work, and he hated it. It was a rule Sully had broken, it cost not only the RDA, but also the Na'vi; countless lives were spent because he went chasing after a woman. If he had done his job like he was supposed to, he would have gotten the Na'vi to leave hometree; but then again Quaritch was always out for blood, it might not have changed anything.

"I don't know...Inglisi," He copied how she pronounced it. "Isn't my first language either."

She was confused, not his first language; there were others? "Not your first language?"

"No, English was the second, or maybe third I learned." Actually it might have been his fourth, he knew Arabic and Chinese before English; but English was the first he mastered.

"What other do you speak? I did not know there was more than Inglisi."

"Russian." He spoke a few words of it to show her. "Russia is the 'clan' I am from, and we speak Russian. Do you not have any other languages?"

"No." Maybe different dialects, but another language; she had never heard of anything of the sort before the sky people arrived. "But you will help me with my Inglisi?"

"I don't know." He wasn't sure if he didn't want to help, or he was just trying to avoid having to spend more time here than he needed to.

"Please?" She asked, maybe he didn't like her; she hoped that wasn't the case. "I have no one practice Inglisi with, I can help with Na'vi. And you need make friend, or do you plan to spend all your time alone?"

He sighed in defeat, he had no real reason not to help her; he didn't want to tell her to leave him alone, strange because normally he could, but she seemed different. All the Na'vi seemed different; they didn't get on his nerves as much as humans did.

And she did have a point with the friends part, he didn't want any, he wanted to be left alone, but he was going to be spending his life here. He still tried to deny that part, he didn't want to be stuck out here but he was; if he didn't make friends then he would be stuck without friends, in a place he didn't want to be.

Training also told him to 'make' friends, become friends to them but not to him; an undercover operator doesn't want to be the outcast or the center of attention, he just wants to blend in. Make nice with a few people to fit in, make nice with important people to put himself in a position to destabilize things; he was already 'friends' with Sully, so if he needed...

He caught himself as his thought train went somewhere they shouldn't; he wasn't trying to tear this place apart, but he was already setting himself up to be in position too. 'Always have a backup plan' He thought, although he hoped he wouldn't have to use that plan.

"I guess we could help each other sometime. Just don't go trying to pull a knife on me again." He semi-reluctantly agreed. He noticed the glowing spots on her face light up, the Na'vi equivalent of a blush he guessed.

"Sorry." She offered. "I no know what I was thinking."

"Stranger things have happened. Just don't do that again."

"You should no be walking alone." Animals rarely ventured close to hometree, but they sometimes came to the lake; no one should walk around the jungle alone and unarmed. "And should no be..." What was the word? "With no..."

"Don't walk around unarmed?"

"Yes, this is no safe place."

"Who says I'm unarmed?" He reached to his suspender laying to his left; and pulled his knife from its sheath. "I'm not dumb enough to walk around unprotected." Being caught unarmed was a rookie mistake...so was being beaten by a woman in hand-to-hand fight, but he was injured; not an excuse but he was going to use it as one.

He had taken her knife from her last night, so he offered his to her. "It's sharp." He cautioned when she slowly took it.

It was a beautiful blade in his opinion; its worn black finish, the large silver edges he brought almost to a razor's sharpness. The curved false edge, that he did himself, the saw teeth, and blood grooves, and a perfect balance. It was money well spent in his opinion.

Tayrha hefted it in her hand and examined the strange human knife; like every thing they made, there was no decoration, the only style that could be found might be in the shape and the contrast between the black finish and the silver edges as the fading sunlight reflected off them.

She lightly ran her finger over the edge and it cut her skin.

"I told you it's sharp. Now don't go hurting yourself." Ivan said.

"Bah." She wouldn't hurt herself; some males think that because she is a woman, she is not as capable as them, she hated that.

Ivan stood and went to retrieve his shirt from the ground. Tayrha watched him and noticed on his left shoulder and as well as his chest and stomach there were small circular scars which she instantly recognized as ones caused by human guns. There were also smaller nicks and scratches on his arms and body; he looked more like a real man than the other dreamwalkers did when they first arrived.

Now that he could actually move his arm it was easy to put his shirt and jacket back on. Tayrha made a comment about him hiding behind the clothes before they walked back to hometree.

Tayrha remembered his comment the previous night about him being a warrior. That almost put her off, she didn't like the warriors. But Ivan only looked like one and moved like one the previous night when he disarmed her, but he didn't act like one. He wasn't loud, he didn't boast about himself constantly; unlike the warrior her brother wanted her to mate with, he didn't look at her with greedy and disgusting eyes. She had caught the dreamwalkers eyes on her once, but it was only for a second.

During the walk back they exchanged idle chatter, but every time Tayrha started the conversation. His demeanor wasn't what she was expecting when she first saw him; Jakesully was always friendly and was liked by more or less everyone, minus her brother. Normspellman would go out of his way to talk with people; they both were friendly and liked to talk. But Ivan, he seemed to keep to himself; as long as it was with everyone and not just with her, she wouldn't be worried.

Worried about what exactly? She was getting ahead of herself, she barely knew him. At least he talked to her, most males wouldn't say anything to her in fear of her brother's wrath; she hoped that once he found out who her brother was, he wouldn't scare off.

They were nearing the edge of the clearing that Hometree dominated, as soon as Tayrha stepped from the tree line she froze in her tracks. She saw the form of her brother in the distance, she couldn't let him see her with the dreamwalker; she couldn't let him see her with anyone.

"You okay?" Ivan asked after almost bumping her when she suddenly stopped.

"You go, I have things to do." She motioned him on; she would wait before going to hometree.

"Okay...bye." Ivan said idly as he walked away. The Na'vi were terrible liars; he could easily tell by her tone of voice, but also by her body language. She had seen something, and she tensed up for several seconds before telling him to go on without her.

As Ivan walked to hometree he spotted a Na'vi that had to be the one Sully had warned him about earlier; and possibly the reason for Tayrha's unease. Coming towards him was a massive Na'vi, easily standing more than a head taller than anyone else, and while still skinny he was bulky for a Na'vi. He wore more than most others, he wore intricate wrist guards and a well decorated weapon holster; his bow had feathers hanging from it and intricate designs carved in its surface. The comparison to Goliath that Jake gave was a good one. The massive male walked as if he owned the place; and as head warrior, he probably did command great respect.

As they passed each other, the male hissed at him and moved towards Ivan slightly in an attempt to frighten him.

"Fuck off." Was Ivan's cool response. He wasn't going to take shit from anyone, especially some overgrown smurf with a superiority complex.

---

Jake stood hand in hand with Neytiri at the entrance to hometree. He didn't know when something as simple as holding hands became so pleasurable, it was so simple, and honest. He felt Neytiri's tail brush against his leg before coiling around it ever so slightly. The corner of his mouth twitched into a grin as he glanced at her.

At the Pali field when she told him later, she had actually meant as soon as they were done with Ivan. Jake wasn't one to complain, and no man should ever complain about having a mate that wanted him so badly, or frequently. But it was starting to make him wonder, she wasn't like this several months ago; now she would drag him off at least once a day, and she was more aggressive in her actions, he was lucky if afterwards he wasn't left with scratches or bite marks. Whenever they made tsahaylu he could feel how much she needed him; it wasn't a want but a need, and she certainly got it. It would worry him if it wasn't so fun or pleasurable; but he was going to have to ask her what was going on.

"Don't you two just look perfect together?" Ivan's sarcastic tone cut into Jake's thoughts.

Neytiri's tail left Jake's leg but she still held his hand. "How's the arm?" Jake asked.

"Well it's fixed now, no thanks to your dumb ass."

"Aww that hurts." Jake put his hand over his heart and put on a hurt expression. "What do you mean it's fixed now?"

"A healer or someone saw me walking around. She made me stop, and fix it."

"I told you we should have gotten a healer Jake." Neytiri scolded, to which Jake responded with a shrug.

"She told you Sully." Ivan took Neytiri's side.

"And you told me to fix it myself." Jake defended.

"Last time I trust a marine."

"Now that's uncalled for." Jake's ears dropped. "It was so messed up, how was I supposed to know it wasn't fixed?"

"I'm just saying, you're not making a good impression."

Before Jake could defend his beloved marine corps, Ninat's sing-song voice broke in with concern.

"Jakesully are you okay?" Ninat asked as she approached with Norm in tow.

"Whoa, Jake, what's with the bruises?" Norm also asked.

Neytiri looked to Ivan, but Jake stood for several seconds before becoming dramatic.

"Oh man it was horrible." He said in a weary voice. "Ninjas."

"What?" Everyone but Ivan asked at once.

"Ninjas, hundreds of them; came out the trees." Norm chuckled at this and it even earned a smirk from Ivan; but Neytiri and Ninat stood there confused.

"Where were you Norm? Could have used your help; if Neytiri and Ivan weren't there I would have been done for."

"What is a ninjha?" Ninat asked.

Jake had to think for several seconds, some things were hard to explain; but this was relatively easy. "A shadow warrior."

"Jake there were none of these ninjha." Neytiri corrected.

"Yes there were; you were to busy fighting with Ivan to notice me having to fight off hundreds of them by myself."

"Jake." Neytiri chuckled. "You know those bruises are from you losing to Ivan."

Jake let out a long sigh, fighting ninjas sounded better than getting beat by a half-crippled insane man.

"So what happened?" Norm asked.

"Well first, Ivan here set a new speed record for fastest screw up with a Pali." Jake motioned to Ivan who gave a small cheer pumped his fist in the air.

"Wish I could have seen that." Norm added.

"Yeah, he got some good air."

"Yes, it was funny." Neytiri agreed. "I am sorry Ivan."

"Hey, I would laugh if it was you." Ivan responded.

"Then like an idiot, I went to help him up; not thinking to watch out or ask if he was okay."

"Skxwang." Neytiri interrupted.

Jake stopped and stared at her for several seconds. "Anyway, I try and help him up. I then find myself on the ground with him about to bash my head in with a rock."

Ninat looked shocked, both she and Norm looked to Ivan in disbelief.

"I don't remember much of it." Ivan said, unapologetically.

"Luckily for me, Neytiri here came out of nowhere...like a ninja; and saved my ass."

"You're lucky Sully." Said Ivan, "I guess I am too. I told myself I would...try not to kill anyone while I was here." When Neytiri and Ninat gave him accusing looks he apologized. "Sorry bad joke. I don't want to kill anyone."

---

Tayrha hissed in her brother's face as he grabbed her roughly by the arm.

"Let me go!" She spat in his face. She tried to free herself from his grip, but it was to no avail.

"You will stay away from those demons." Ko'gan commanded.

"I am not near them." She slapped his hand, trying to free herself.

Ko'gan pulled her closer to him, his massive size putting her off balance she could only keep on foot on the ground as she was held up by him.

"You will stay away from those scum." They were face to face; Ko'gan was leaning over and pulling her off the ground to accomplish this.

Ignoring the pain in her arm she hissed at him again. "You do not command me."

"You will stay away, or I will kill the dreamwalker." Ko'gan stated coldly as he lightly tossed her aside.

She gracefully regained her balance and hissed at him before walking into hometree. She rubbed her arm, her skin a deeper shade of blue from his iron grip.

She hated him, he was mean and cruel, and it didn't matter to him that she was his only remaining family member. He treated her worse than he treated others; it made her want to cry sometimes, but she was stronger than that. She counted herself lucky that he had only grabbed her; sometimes he wasn't so...lenient.

But she would ignore him, Ko'gan couldn't watch her all day; as long as he didn't physically catch her near Ivan, she would be okay. Actually, she couldn't get near any male without Ko'gan getting angry; she didn't know why he took it upon himself to try and play matchmaker, he wanted her to mate with one of his warrior friends, anyone else was not 'worthy'. And any male that wasn't one of his friends, he would scare off, and threaten; or in some cases, fight, and win.

There was no way anyone could challenge him and win, he was too big, to powerful; he could have beaten Tsu'tey, but he respected him enough not to challenge him, not to mention that they were friends. She was sure he would challenge Jakesully for his title as Olo'eyktan if he could drum up enough support to take over.

She hated her brother, or maybe not hate, hate was a strong word; she loved him as a brother, but she was scared of him, and scared for him. She prayed for him often, being the way he was; there was only a certain amount of time before something bad happened.

---

Ivan sat up with a loud moan and threw his legs over the side of the link bed and sat for several minutes. Max wasn't here to bother him; and he felt like hell so he just sat. His ears were ringing, his vision was blurry, each breath hurt. He stared at his hands, they weren't blue; they were the proper color now, they were his real hands. He flexed his fingers and his right pinky didn't move, the tendons for that finger had fused to the bone due to a wound that had been treated improperly.

He put his head in his hands, he felt the stubble on his neck, and the scars across his chin.

He stood up with another groan and started to shuffle towards the door. He stopped himself, he wasn't that old, he forced himself to take normal steps; his legs popped as they moved for the first time in many hours.

He was tired, his chest burned, he had a headache, parts of him didn't want to move; this was the real him, not that blue thing he ran around in all day.

When he reached his room, he walked in and nearly tripped over the vodka bottle scattered on the floor. Deciding he had to clean them up at some point, he took the initiative and started kicking them under his bunk. When he kicked one and it hit something and rolled out from under his bunk; he got down on one knee to see what was under there.

The bottle had been kicked into the safe under his bed; he had forgotten that the safe was even down there. He couldn't remember what he had put in it; he wasn't even sure he could remember the combination.

After several minutes of hard thinking he remembered the combination and opened the safe. Inside the first things he saw were three, one-thousand dollar stacks of International Standard money, and two boxes of ammo for his revolver. Sitting atop the ammo boxes was a blue beret; he took it out and sat it on top of his bed. Then there was a black military grade hard case, grabbing it he looked at the small phone-like device Alice had given him years ago; tapping the screen, he thought it wouldn't work when it didn't immediately come on, but after several seconds the screen lit up, waiting for the device to be unlocked. He sat it back inside before freezing when he saw the last thing sitting upside down in the corner of the safe.

With a shaky hand he reached in and grabbed the flipped picture; turning it over he couldn't breathe. There she was, her blonde hair, that beautiful smile, Anna was holding his newborn daughter in the picture; she had wrote across the picture, 'Miss you daddy'.

He inhaled sharply and turned from his knee to sit on the floor. Anna had given this to Vladimir who pulled strings and had it sent to him in the field. His hands shook as he stared at the picture, the word, daddy, and the infant Anna was holding, he felt his eyes tear up.

He had missed his own daughter's birth, he had missed the entire pregnancy; he didn't even know Anna was expecting until he had the opportunity to call her one day, and then he found out she was six months into the pregnancy.

He had missed everything; he threw the picture back into the safe and slammed the door shut, he couldn't stand himself. Best father, in the world, best husband too; doesn't even know about wife's pregnancy for sixth months and then when he finds out, still can't see her for another five months.

He pulled himself onto his bunk and sat with his head in his hands for hours. Now he remembered why the safe was under his bed, and the picture was in the safe; why did he bring that picture, it hurt more than anything.

He took the beret he had taken out and threw it on his nightstand before lying down. It was one in the morning, but he wasn't going to be able sleep.

And he didn't sleep, for the entire night he couldn't get Anna out of his head; she used to be his love, now she was his curse.

---

Alright, 42 pages and 22,281 words. The longest thing I have written.

So I'm not even sure if Ivan is a good guy or a bad guy. Maybe he is
a bad good guy, or a good bad guy. I'm not sure, that's up to you to
decide.

And again sorry for the long update time. But this computer hates me
fun fact, some of this was done at school during 1st hour where I would
normally sleep.

Need to give a shout to AndreyRUS who helped me with Russian names last chapter
and yes, I threw your name in there. I promise I wont kill you...I think I wont.
And I thank you for reviewing pretty much every chapter.

Other useless trivia, soldiers at Hell's Gate are based off of several of my friends
Captain Williams "All for one fucking part." That is a quote straight from my father.
My grandfather influences how I write Ivan's character. My grandfather is a war vet
who suffers from PTSD, and he also lost the woman he loved during wartime.

Now I must get to work on an English assignment that was
due two days ago!

Read&Review
PLEASE!