Disclaimer and AN: I don't own Avatar – but Miki is mineeeee. Anyways, if I would had known that school would be cancelled today because of snow and ice then this would have been written a lot sooner. But no, they had to wait until 5 am to let everyone know that school was closed! Oh well. Enjoy and please review…oh by the way, short chapters are simply a way I write – sorry!!!! But at least it is better than nothing!

Chapter 10: Hope

"She's stabilized, but I'm not sure for how long." Dr. Ranta said as he met Jake, Neytiri and Norm just inside the Hell's Gate compound.

"Is it McAllen's?" Jake asked, kneeling down so he could see the doctor's face better. Ranta slowly nodded yes. He slowly looked all around him before quickly ushering everyone into another room, where there was more room for Neytiri and Jake to stand or sit if they pleased.

"What is it, Dr. Ranta?" Norm asked, sensing that there was something wrong with the doctor.

"I know Site 26 was destroyed during the battles between the RDA and the Na'vi, but at Norm's insistence, we rebuilt it. Miki is being prepped for transport there."

"Why?" Jake asked.

"Not here," Ranta hissed. "But will you ride with her and Norm and myself to Site 26?"

Jake nodded in agreement.

"I'll follow on Tu'kiai," Neytiri said, referring to her new Ikran that she had bonded with.

"That's probably a good idea actually." Dr. Ranta said as he opened the door to the room and stood there a second. "I promise to tell you everything when we arrive at the mobile link up. Now we better get going. It's getting late in the day."

Jake slowly ran his hand along Miki's sweat matted forehead as he rode in the cargo area of the Samson with Miki and her Avatar body, while Dr. Ranta, much to Jake's surprise, piloted the Samson with incredible ease and Norm rode up front with him.

Miki's eyes slowly parted and a small smile formed on her face underneath the exopack that she wore, since the cargo doors were opened.

"Don't worry sis," he whispered as he took hold of her hand. "You're in safe hands. Just tell me what plant you need and I will get it for you."

She didn't say anything as she closed her eyes again and drifted off to sleep. He never let go of her hand until the Samson had landed.

Once Miki was moved from the Samson into Site 26 and resting comfortably, Jake, Neytiri and even Norm wanted to know why Dr. Ranta had been so insistent about moving Miki away from Hell's gate.

"Someone is trying to kill her." Ranta said taking out a small looking object out of his bag that he had brought with him.

"Why do you say that?" Jake asked.

"This is why," he said holding out the small object. "This is the injection pump that Miki was wearing this morning when I found her practically dead in the hallway."

"Ok so it's her injection pump," Norm said.

"I said that it was the injection pump that she was wearing," Ranta said. "Not the one that she is supposed to be wearing. Out of curiosity, I tested the radiation and gene therapy cocktail that was inside of it. Well it ended up being a combination of drugs that not only reversed the radiation and gene therapy cocktail that Miki's body had been used to, but also it had increased the rate at which McAllen's spread among Miki's organs."

Jake's face suddenly went rigid. Somebody was trying to kill his baby sister. And whoever it was would be as good as dead if he ever found out who it was. He was very close to blowing up right then, but a question of concern from Neytiri brought him out of his rage. "Will she be ok?"

Ranta shrugged his shoulders. "McAllen's is a tricky disease. But it's going to take some time to repair the damage that has already been done, if it can even be repaired at all. That's why I wanted to move her here. Until myself and Dr. Patel can figure out who did this, I wanted it to seem like she had recovered and was staying out here with Norm so that she can search the Hallelujah Mountains for plants in her Avatar."

"That's why you brought her Avatar with us, right?" Jake asked.

"Exactly." Ranta said as he reached into his bag again. This time he pulled out a small journal. "This is Miki's journal about the plants that she has already collected and tested already," he said handing it to Jake. "Until Miki is recovered, it's up to you to continue her work, Jake. I've read over her entries and what I can tell you is this. She had heard about a flower with healing powers from Mo'at. I believe that she was going after this flower next."

"Txumpaywll," Neytiri said.

"The poison-water plant," Jake said, translating.

"Whatever it is," Ranta said. "The faster we get this plant, the faster we can see if is the final piece to the mix that Miki was working on."

"We'll find the plant and get it back here," Jake said, standing up to leave the mobile link lab. Neytiri followed suit.

"Good," Ranta said. "I will stay here the night and then leave Norm here to monitor her prognosis, while I return to Hell's Gate to find out who is behind this because I'll be damned if I'm going to let Miki die because of this."

"I'll send my best warriors to make sure that no one bothers them," Jake said.

"Good." Norm said.

"And Dr. Ranta when you find out who did this, be sure to let me know so that I can make sure that they never bother anyone else again." Jake said before turning to leave the lab with Neytiri in tow.