Final Stand
The gas in the prison room had stopped. Most of what didn't float into the base was dissipated except for what was settled close to the floor in a foggy mist. The damaged interior chamber door was still siphoning a lot of toxic atmosphere from the open tunnel into the base. Billows of smoke left over from the explosion escaped in as well. Breach alarms were still on.
Neytiri stepped over the pile of what was left of the bloodied and burnt human bodies and entered the chamber. The gaping fiery hole created by the grenades opened into a passageway filled with smoke. Red lights were flashing all along the ceiling. In one swift move to avoid getting burned by fire, she stepped into it. The air was breathable despite the smoke but also significantly thinner because of the "human" air mixed with it, mostly the oxygen. Trying to get her bearings, she looked both ways hoping they didn't take Mo'at too far from this room.
Ducking a little to avoid grazing the ceiling, she ran down the hallway then stopped in front of a colorful array of buttons. She had never seen anything like that but figured it might have something to do with the chamber doors. She pushed the buttons and saw that they lit up but nothing happened. She ran to another set and started pushing those. Nothing. Angry she slammed her palm onto the entire strip. Still nothing. She ran to another and kept trying, hoping one would open the room her mother was being held in.
Anger mounting, she pounded the next one quite heavily. This time, something happened. A window slid open revealing a dreadful scene. Neytiri peered in and saw several dead Na'vi, stacked and slumped over each other in a disgraceful, uncaring pile. Two were Mo'at's missing companions: Ti'sal and Seriya. Horrified, Neytiri backed up and fought back tears. She recognized them all and knew them well. It wasn't apparent to her what was done to them, other than maybe a lethal gas. Mo'at was not among them.
She ran down the hallway and pounded on more button strips. Nothing happened. By now, the combination of the noise from the alarms, the pulsing red lights, the gruesome discovery of bodies and the thinner air was making her dizzy and draining her energy. She rubbed a sore area on her shoulder then looked at her hand. Blood. She was injured and didn't even know it. The smoke was foul and burned her lungs with every breath. Panting and extremely frustrated, she slumped against a wall.
A few seconds later she felt cool air flushing through the hallway, clearing away some of the smoke. She breathed deeply. Pandoran air! A corridor entrance not far from where she was opened up. It was Justin wearing an exopack. Neytiri pulled out her hunting knife and sprang to her feet.
Justin put his hands up. "I'm not armed. I'm here to help. Are you looking for Mo'at?"
Neytiri nodded slowly, wary, posed and ready to strike if she had to.
Justin carefully pointed to a door two down from where she was. Neytiri glanced to her side but otherwise didn't move.
"She is in there. I'll help you get her out."
Neytiri looked into his eyes. He didn't look away. Good for him, she thought. She was at odds with her tangled emotions. The warrior raging inside her wanted to kill him but she also needed to find her mother. Could she trust him? Did she have a choice now? At this point, she needed his help.
She motioned for him to go into the room first. Using one hand he punched a series of buttons. The chamber door opened and he walked inside, both hands still up. She followed. He punched more buttons. The chamber closed, pressurized with the same air this time, then opened on the other side revealing Mo'at. She was lying on the floor covered in a thin layer of the mist. Neytiri ran to her. Lifting her up.
"Sa'nok," she said, cradling her mother's head.
"Please, we must hurry," Justin said, certain Selfridge was on to him by now.
Neytiri hooked an arm around Mo'at to support her, then stood.
"This way," Justin said, and motioned her back into the chamber. "I'll show you where you can get out of the base."
When the door opened to the corridor, he looked both ways before stepping out. All clear.
In the comm room, Selfridge was sweating profusely, eyes darting around. The few people still there dared not say a word fearing he would go ballistic on them. Selfridge knew he was done. Gavin reported they were surrounded by a monstrous Dragon and three times the number of gunships they had. Selfridge also had witnessed the defeat of all the ground power, and saw Jake escape unharmed with the others. Not to mention he'd just been fired by Tripp. A complete and utter failure, there was nothing left. Nothing here or back on Earth.
Peripherally, he saw movement on one of the surveillance monitors. It was Justin helping Neytiri and Mo'at. The fire in his belly wasn't out just yet. He decided to make one final stand.
Neytiri followed Justin back down the smoke-filled corridor. He lead them down several different hallways. Mo'at's feet were dragging on the floor, slowing Neytiri down a bit. They rounded another corner into a larger corridor that veered in several different directions.
Justin pointed to the opposite end. "We're going straight through that door up there. That's the way to the bay that leads into the canyon. Ok?"
"Yes," Neytiri said, replying in English.
When they reached the middle of the corridor, they saw the doorway they were heading for slide open. Through the thinning clouds of smoke, Neytiri saw another human armed with an assault rifle. It was Selfridge, his eyes black, empty, cold. Neytiri recognized that look. She had seen it before in the humans when they destroyed Hometree and later during the battle at the Tree of Souls.
As the door opened up, Neytiri let Mo'at slip to the floor and, almost faster than could be seen, armed herself with her bow and nocked an arrow. Selfridge began firing, striking Justin. He fell to the floor, killed instantly. Simultaneously, Neytiri drew and released the arrow then dove on top of Mo'at to shield her. The arrow impaled Selfridge, square in the chest, knocking him backward. The gun, still firing, pointed upward, marking the wall and ceiling with a spray of bullets. He stumbled sideways and stopped against the wall, eyes flipped open wide.
The poison from the arrow was sending a searing hot pain coursing through his entire body. Still holding the gun, he lowered it to the floor with one hand and with his other hand grasped the arrow. Blood began to seep around the wound. Neytiri looked up and watched Selfridge's suffering as he agonizingly tried to catch his breath behind the exopack mask. The poison quickly overcame him. He slid to the floor, propped up, his body lifeless.
Neytiri picked Mo'at back up, stepped over Justin then made her way through the door past Selfridge. His eyes, still open, were now unseeing, but even blacker, as if the evil and fury were continuing to rage inside his dead body, feverishly searching for a way out. It made her sick inside.
The entrance opened up into a large enclosed bay area. Though mostly empty now, what was there was in complete disarray. Parts of vehicles, torn apart amp suits, tools and other machinery were strewn haphazardly about.
Mo'at started to stir in the fresher, less oxygenated air. Neytiri made her way to the large canyon door, which was mostly closed but for a few feet at the bottom. A Sec-Ops trooper armed with a machine gun, stepped out from behind a partition and stood in front of Neytiri and Mo'at. She locked eyes with Neytiri, who by this time, was feeling fatigued. Without stopping or flinching a bit, Neytiri and Mo'at kept walking. The trooper lowered her gun and hit a switch that raised the door all the way.
The showdown in the skies above the canyon went on for quite some time with both sides at a stand still. It came to an uneventful end, however, with two sentences from the pilot of the Dragon.
"Go ahead, kids. We're itchin' for a little target practice and would love to use those old tin cans of yours."
Even before he heard those words, Gavin knew full well they had no power and no control anymore. Due to their outdated IFF Lockout System, they would not have been capable of firing on the newer gunships. But they - in those monstrous new air vehicles - could surely take them out. He surrendered and, actually, was quite relieved. He, for one, wanted to go back home to Earth, despite whatever consequences he might have to face there.
The gunship formations broke up and banshee riders left the sides of the canyons to return home as Neytiri and Mo'at appeared from the base. Mo'at turned her face up toward the bright, warm sunshine, relishing the freedom. Bittersweet though it was, certain of the loss of her two beloved friends and of others who may have been killed during the rescue.
A ground swell of Na'vi on horses and on foot, lead by Vahlo, raced forth to meet them. They protectively surrounded their tired Tsahik and her mother as they were helped onto a couple of horses. Slowly, they all turned toward the forest.
Their journey home was marked not with hoots and hollers of victory, but rather, with a stark silence, their collective mood tired, heavy and pained from yet another confrontation with the Sky People.