This story is written for entertainment purposes only. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.

Keep in mind that English is not my first language and so I do not claim to have written an error free text. Also, if there are any inconsistencies in this story, let me know and I will correct them.

Chapter 10: Destiny

Activity at the mountain bunker had been minimal over the past few days. Lockwood's squad had set up their motion detectors and wireless cameras in the area near the façade of the complex. One such camera was aimed at the place they were keeping Elynin, their captive Na'vi.

Elynin had to stay outdoors, which was something she preferred anyway over being locked inside the bunker. Her left ankle had been chained to the thickest and sturdiest tree in the vicinity. The chain had a length of almost fifteen meters, so she had a small range of freedom. The idea was that if there was an immediate danger, Elynin could climb into one of the trees to hide or protect herself until the humans could eliminate the threat.

An improvised hammock, made from an old grey canvas, was tied between two other trees near the façade of the bunker, so that she could sleep off the ground. A second canvas had been tied a bit higher, so she would have some kind of shade against the direct sunlight.

This almost luxurious position for their captive left Astrid and Ralf a bit irritable. After all, it had been Charlie who had suggested all these things to Lockwood. His reasoning was that their captive wouldn't give them much information if she didn't feel safe. Joseph had agreed with him. Therefore, Lockwood had accepted it, but in the end the required work had landed on the to-do list of both Astrid and Ralf.

The latter two were currently in the forward storage room. They were seated opposite each other at a table. Several playing cards were on the table surface, while both Ralf and Astrid were holding cards as well. However, Ralf was quite distracted from their game.

Every thirty seconds or so, he looked at his wrist display, to watch a camera feed from outside. Visible on the screen were Charlie, Joseph and their captive. They appeared to be having a conversation of some sort, with Joseph acting as a translator.

"You gonna try this time, or should I declare myself the winner already?" Astrid inquired a bit cynically. "It's not a game if I win all the time."

"I can't stand it." Ralf mumbled. "I don't trust them with each other. Charlie hasn't been himself. All he can think about these days is that damn native. She's manipulating him, probably to get him to set her free." he said suspiciously, revealing his wild theory.

"Jealous, are we?" Astrid started with a hint of teasing in her voice. "How typical. Your boyfriend has grown tired of you, and you blame an alien."

Ralf wasn't amused. "Ha, ha." he mock laughed. "I really fall off my chair laughing each time you make such a joke." he continued in the same irritated voice.

Whilst staring at the wall that was still decorated by the black flag with the Tempest logo, he suddenly spoke his mind. "Charlie and I have known each other since high school. When both our families were gone, we joined the SD to get justice, together, as brothers-in-arms. We weren't good for anything else. That's the way I see it."

"So?" Astrid shrugged. "I'm not your therapist. You're being boring. Quit griping, or I'll shut that mouth of yours." she threatened. She said it with a grin, however, making the threat seem somewhat less serious.

When Ralf looked at his wrist display again, Astrid had had enough of it. She dropped her cards and grabbed Ralf's arm with both her hands, quickly undoing the wrist strap and taking the device from him. Next, she grabbed the collar of her shirt, and let the device fall inside.

"There." she said victoriously. "If you want it back, you'll have to take it from me first." She added, as she quickly got to her feet. Ralf remained silent as he looked at her in a confused state. He thought he could see some kind of sparkle in her light blue eyes.

She quasi-innocently walked around the room for a bit. "You said it yourself: you were supposed to be the banshee wrestler. Well, I challenge you!" she announced quite unexpectedly.

Ralf was now triggered. He suddenly snapped fully awake and got up from the table. "I am the banshee wrestler. Nobody dares to challenge me. Nobody! Anybody who does, is going to learn the hard way." he said, full of pride and fury.

"So come on then. Or are you just blowing hot air?" Astrid yelled, as she took off and disappeared into one of the corridors.

"You! You've stirred up the beast now." Ralf called out as he ran after her.

Outside the bunker, Elynin and Charlie were having their first conversation in which they could understand each other's words, albeit with the help of Joseph. The two were sitting on the ground opposite each other. Joseph was standing stiffly beside them, like some kind of referee.

Elynin was still a bit unnerved by Joseph's unusual appearance and demeanor, but Charlie's presence calmed her. If he trusted this particularly strange human, she guessed that she would be open to trust whomever he trusted.

Charlie didn't know that Elynin was slightly bothered by Joseph's presence. He was just excited that he was finally able to talk to her. After they had arrived at the mountain bunker, he had found out that Joseph had enough knowledge about the Na'vi language to act as an interpreter and that he was even willing to help them communicate. The problem had been that commander Lockwood wasn't open to having casual conversations with their captive. Also, Ralf had been acting strangely every time he had talked about her while he was present.

The others had succeeded in keeping Charlie away from Elynin for a while, but it appeared they had finally grown tired of the pettiness of it, and had let it go. Charlie had wondered what Lockwood could be doing that was distracting him enough so that for once he wasn't thinking about 'what was good for all of humanity' or whatever that guy's drive was.

But none of that mattered to Charlie right now. He had already found out her name and her role within her clan. In turn he had told her who he was and what his occupation was. She hadn't wanted to say anything about why she had been in the jungle by herself, and Charlie had decided not to press the subject.

"Alright, so how about family? You have a clan, but do you also have any close relatives?" Charlie asked with a curious tone. Joseph translated it into a monotone sounding sentence, not at all how Charlie had intended it to sound.

"I have two brothers, Tsa'kan and Namuk. Both are younger than me. What about you?" she replied, whilst looking at Charlie. She appeared to ignore everything about Joseph, except the words she heard. Charlie was sure she was trying to imagine him saying the words, in order to match them up with his facial expressions and intonation.

"That's wonderful to hear. But uh…" Charlie hesitated for a moment. "I don't really have anyone left…They're all dead. It's one of the reasons I came here."

Elynin reacted noticeably to this. She lowered her head slightly and then changed her sitting position. In the process, she moved a bit closer toward him. "Sorry to hear that. May I ask what happened to them?"

"Hmm… how to put this? You could say that… rival clans attacked us. Yeah, that about sums it up." Charlie answered hesitantly. He decided he wanted to talk about different things, and so he attempted to change the subject. "Anyway, there is only one clan left nowadays. It's just us now, the Tempest. When I joined them, I did so together with a friend, Ralf. You've seen him. He's the short and stocky guy."

Elynin silently nodded in understanding. She knew that his friend was the person she had probably had the least interaction with. However, since this person had sided with the rock-thrower before, she would be more than glad to stay away from him.

Charlie now continued describing Ralf, seemingly not getting that Elynin already knew who he meant. Or maybe he was just venting his frustration with his 'friend'.

"Yes, he's the stocky fellow, who claims he's only stocky because of his curved spine. You will always recognize him from afar when you see this face and this posture." Charlie proceeded to make an exaggerated face with his upper lip pulled towards his nose. He also assumed a gorilla-like posture. To top it off, Joseph translated all of it, minus the posing, of course.

Elynin couldn't stop herself from letting out a giggle at this ridiculous sight. She was a bit surprised herself that it happened. For just a tiny moment, it had felt as if she was back in her village, gossiping with the other girls about the antics of certain boys. She could see that Charlie was pleased that he had made her laugh.

Inside the bunker complex, Walter Lockwood had barricaded himself into his improvised office. He was seated at his desk in the small grey room. Several pad-like computer devices had been laid out onto the surface in front of him. His frayed peaked cap with the silver skull and crossbones emblem was sitting at the far right end of the desk.

One of his hands was resting on top of his strained bald head, as he was staring blankly at an old paper photo that was lying in front of him. His eyes did not seem to focus on the image itself. He seemed to be staring right through it. The look in his eyes was one of emptiness.

The photo showed the faces of a teenage boy and a teenage girl. The boy had his arm around the shoulders of the girl. His other arm went outside the frame, indicating that the boy had made the picture as a selfie. Their faces were close together and both were beaming, as if that moment had been the best one in their lives. Perhaps it had been.

The boy was wearing a pink shirt, and had his long black hair styled with gel. His grey eyes did not yet have any unyieldingness about them. That had only come later, around the same time that he had started shaving his head, and when he had started wearing a black military uniform.

Lockwood was silently experiencing a flashback, which he had triggered deliberately by looking at the photo. In his mind, he relived a series of events and vague images.

First, there were flashes of the place and time the selfie had been taken. It had been at a large party. His girlfriend had been with him, and they had had the time of their lives. She had the habit of calling him "Walt". These images were followed by a steady stream of flashes that descended into horror and madness.

Several days after the selfie had been taken; Lockwood couldn't quite remember when exactly; he had taken his girlfriend Hanna to a new restaurant that had just opened that evening. Its entrance was located in a dark and narrow alleyway. Despite this, the interior was quite nice. It was clean, modern and even decorated with allegedly real wood, which was considered a rare commodity only the rich could afford. After a while, they had realized that they remained the only ones inside. When they got up to leave, suspicious looking men started appearing. Walt and Hanna were suddenly ambushed and violently knocked out.

Lockwood remembered the screaming he had heard when he awoke again. He did not know where he was, but he had woken up in quite a literal a nightmare. He had been chained by his arms to the ceiling inside a dark room. His head hurt tremendously and blood was trickling down his face. Soon, he realized where the screams were coming from. A dirty window was all that separated him from the next room where there were people kept in cages like animals.

Eventually, he saw Hanna in one of those cages. Desperately, he started to call out to her. She turned around to look at him. She looked bruised and badly beaten. It appeared she could not call out to him. The only thing she could do was mouth his name without any sound: "Walt."

Lockwood could not quite recall how long he had been in that room, or how long he had seen Hanna there. What he did remember was the first time someone slammed the end of a baseball bat into his stomach. After that, beatings ensued regularly. From what little he could overhear from his captors, he eventually managed to piece together that he and Hanna had ended up in the hands of a human trafficking organization. Hanna was part of the 'goods' that were to be sold. He was the 'bycatch', unneeded to make a profit, but suitable to be used by the employees for 'physical therapy'.

One time, he had awoken to find that most of the cages had disappeared. Hanna was now gone, apparently shipped off to some customer, or to some market to be traded there. There was no way he could deal with it. He had screamed for hours. He had even continued screaming when they had come with the baseball bat in an attempt to shut him up. He had even gone on when he had to cough up blood.

He had been the first one to see the silhouette of a man standing in the doorway. The man was over two meters tall, bare-chested and with muscles like a strongman. His bright blue eyes stood out in the dark silhouette. Lockwood couldn't remember if it was really true that a strange light seemed to be coming from behind the man, and that this light seemed to follow him when he entered the room.

The man quickly took on the three captors and effortlessly beat them with his bare fists. The final captor managed to shoot at the mysterious man. He was hit, but it didn't slow him down in the slightest. He lifted the final captor by the neck, and slammed his skull against the concrete ceiling. Lockwood's captivity had finally been over.

He remembered being carried away from that place by the tall man, who spoke soothing words to him. The man, Wilhelmus, told him that the darkness which had engulfed humanity was receding, but that he needed Lockwood's help to further contain the darkness. From that day on, Lockwood saw Wilhelmus as his new father, like many others already did.

His life had gained momentum. Lockwood joined this radical new movement, and became a member of the paramilitary section, known as the SD. He fought; he conquered enemies; he saved people; he rose through the ranks; he received military decorations. But never again had he seen or heard anything from Hanna. Not even the Tempest, with all its resources and surveillance networks, could find any traces of her. He had no idea if she was dead or alive. There was never even a body found. It was as if she had disappeared into a black hole, into the darkness.

So when he wore a uniform with the logo of the Tempest, this meant something different to him than it did to most other people. The black dot that represented Earth also represented the place where Hanna had gone to: the black hole, the darkness that was still left; the darkness that they were trying to contain and destroy.

The silver skull with crossbones was a symbol which signified the defiance of death. To Lockwood personally, it meant he had to go on with defying the darkness and the death of humanity until his own personal death. That was the only thing left in his life.

The silence in the room was abruptly disturbed by a strange noise. Lockwood was startled by it, remembering he was now on a mission on a moon far away from where his past had taken place. His hand that was holding the picture started shaking. Someone had said his name. But only one person would call him that. A whisper had called out the name Walt.

Lockwood stood up, knocking his chair to the ground. He instinctively turned to face a specific corner of the room. There was nothing there. There wasn't even a grate leading to an air duct or anything like that. How could this sound have gotten into this room?

"Hanna." he whispered, in a moment of futile and irrational hope that she would be there. Nothing happened. There was nothing in the room. He sighed and picked up the chair. He slapped his face a couple of times and told himself that this was no time to start imagining things.

Lockwood finally folded the picture and put it back into his jacket pocket. Suddenly, the silence was disrupted again. This time, however, it was a message via radio.

"…This is Hell's Gate calling squad alpha. Repeat, this is Hell's Gate calling squad alpha. We have a location fix on your transponders. A medivac is inbound. E.T.A two hours. Acknowledge." a voice announced.

Lockwood sat down again and answered. "This is A.U.L. Lockwood from squad alpha. I copy. We're standing by. Nice to hear you didn't forget about us."

He then stood up, placed the breathing mask on his face, his peaked cap onto his head and grabbed his rifle. "Time's up. Time to talk." he said curtly. Though she was out of earshot, his words were directed at their Na'vi captive.

He stormed out of his office, and into the corridors, while calling the members of his squad via his radio. "All of you, meet me at the main entrance. Now. No excuses." he barked.

Everyone had heard him announce this, even Charlie and Joseph. Charlie understood that his opportunity was about to come to an end, and chose to make this known to Elynin.

"I just heard Lockwood, he's coming outside. I think he means business. He sounds serious." he said, sounding disappointed, with a hint of worry. "In case he wants to interrogate you, don't let him get to you. He can be very intense, but that doesn't mean you have to yield to him. You don't have to listen to him. You stay strong."

Just when Joseph finished translating the last of it, the door swung open, and out came Lockwood. Ralf and Astrid weren't with him, but he didn't seem to notice, or care.

"Back away from her, Charlie." he said, while holding his rifle aimed at Elynin. "We're going to finish our conversation one way or another. She's going to tell us what options we have."

"Sir, she's harmless. There's no need for that gun." Charlie tried to intervene, perhaps a bit foolishly.

"I said, back away, Charlie." Lockwood pressed, though Charlie didn't move. The former turned to face Joseph instead. "Grab him."

Without any hesitation, Joseph grabbed Charlie by his jacket collar with both his hands and lifted him up in an instant. His legs ended up dangling a few centimeters above the ground. He was so surprised by this sudden event, that for a moment he didn't know what to do or say.

Just when Charlie wanted to protest some more, Astrid and Ralf came running out of the airlock. Ralf came to a halt and narrowed his eyes for a moment, to take in the unusual scene. Joseph had a lot more strength than he had thought.

"Ralf, get him out of here. Restrain him if needed." Lockwood ordered. "Astrid, Joseph, you are staying right here." Joseph proceeded to lower Charlie to the ground. The latter started struggling wildly.

"Charlie, are you crazy? Calm down, bro." Ralf tried, but the way he said this, almost condescendingly, only made it worse.

"Can't you see he's going to hurt her?! I'm not going to let him!" Charlie continued. Ralf saw no choice but to drag him away from the scene, despite his shouting and heavy struggling.

When Ralf and Charlie had finally disappeared inside, Lockwood sighed. "Remind me not to recommend that guy for a promotion." he said vaguely in the direction of Astrid. "Now, where were we?"

He turned to Elynin and got straight to the point. "I have given you plenty of time to think it over. So let us hear it then. What do you think? Are there other options, apart from going to war?"

From the moment Charlie had been lifted from the ground, Elynin had been staring at the bright blue sky, trying to block out everything else. She wanted to be anywhere but here right now. She had been dreading this moment for days. She knew what she had to say, but she feared what would happen after she had said it.

"I… I don't know anything about leadership, or diplomacy, or war. My clan cast me out, that is why you found me alone. But I know there is another option if you and I believe in it. I do not know how to get there, but I have seen something that will require our peoples to join forces to defend against something not seen before, something unknown, something powerful and threatening."

She immediately berated herself inside her head for wording it like this. To make such a statement based on a partially interpreted vision was very risky. She could be completely wrong. And she had zero proof.

Lockwood raised both his eyebrows. "That is most interesting. But I have no clue what you are talking about. A larger threat? Na'vi and humans having to join forces? Is that our destiny? I think I could have come up with something better than that in the time that I gave you."

He promptly and quite unexpectedly lowered his weapon. "You know what? Forget it. Did you really think that whether or not we would go to war with each other would be decided by this conversation? I suspect the allies and enemies have already been outlined by our leaders at this point. It doesn't matter what we do here. Nothing here is going to change that outcome."

He turned around and started to walk away from her. "It is time for us to go to our new home. I know someone else who will be greatly interested in you. After all, there are not many opportunities to capture a Na'vi without bloodshed, and without a whole clan rising up in protest. Doctor Nitschke can have you. Good day."