A/N: Hey readers! I know it's been a while since I updated but I really wanted to get this chapter as long as I could. I almost got to my 10,000 word limit but it didn't quite go my way. This is actually one of the longest chapter that I've written for this story. This is probably the worst battle sequence that a person has ever written but at least I tried. I'm better at writing romance then what I am at writing action. The scenes are also pretty short so please don't hold that against me. I hope this chapter does justice to my most loyal of readers. Enjoy!
Chapter Thirty-Seven: War Breaks Out
Of what was meant to be the third day of peace for Jake and Neytiri turned out to be a total living hell. Jake was awoken by the sounds of bombs going off in the distance. Going to the tree's entrance, Jake looked up over the treetops to see what looked like a mushroom cloud of smoke. Neytiri stood at his shoulder and saw what he was seeing.
"Neytiri, get the kids and let's go," Jake said knowing that she was at his shoulder. He didn't have to turn around to know that she had gone back to their room and was gathering the twins and their stuff up so that they could get up to Hell's Gate and the Avatar Compound before hell came after them.
Jake carried Neyake up towards his former home with Neytiri at his side. She was carrying Grace and the supplies.
"Oh thank god!" Bec exclaimed as she ran out of the Safe House and towards her brother and sister-in-law.
"Bec! What's going on? Have you heard the bombings?" Jake asked the questions simply flowing uncontrollably from his mouth.
"Here," Bec said to Neytiri, completely ignoring her brother's endless questions. "Let me take her," Without hesitation, she lifted her daughter into her sister-in-law's arms. Together, the trio hurried the twins inside where they met with Norm, Trudy, Grace, Carly and Max.
"Did you-?" Max stared to ask before Jake nodded his confirmation.
"Yes, we heard it,"
"We got a message from Quaritch a few minutes before you two arrived and I'm afraid it's not pretty," Carly said hesitantly as she handed Jake her tablet. He activated it and watched in horror as the scarred man that he had hoped to never see again appeared on the screen.
"Greetings traitors! I see what you have managed to get that shitting little worm, Selfridge on your side. How you managed it I will never know. I will say this once: hand over Sully and we won't attack your precious blue monkey settlement. If you don't hand him over we will attack and slaughter all those bastard monkeys including Sully's pitiful little family," The screen suddenly went blank. No one said anything. Jake and Neytiri's eyes remained on the blank tablet screen while and Jake and Bec rubbed the twins' backs to prevent them from crying.
"Now what?" Trudy asked breaking the silence. Jake and Neytiri looked down at the former pilot.
"We go and fight, that's all we can go," Jake said before the beep of the tablet rang out again.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't the traitor himself and I see that he's brought his whore and his spawn with him. Now nice," Quaritch sneered. Jake's ears went flat against his skull.
"Leave my family out of this!" Jake hissed. He sharply turned his head and lifted their son into Neytiri's arms before mouthing 'Go over to Bec,'before turning his head back to the tablet.
"We will hunt your precious family down and kill them. We start our battle in two hours if you don't hand yourself over,"the tablet's screen went blank yet again and returned to the main screen.
"We're dead!" Norm said throwing his hands up in total defeat. Everyone turned to look at him. He was totally freaked out. "We are totally screwed!"
"So much for not involving martyrdom," Trudy grumbled. Unfortunately, everyone heard her and looked down at her. "What?" she looked up to see all sets of eyes on her. "We need to strike them before they strike us. Isn't that the whole point of battle? Strike the enemy before they strike you?" All eyes turned back to Jake who hadn't spoken since the threat from Quaritch. Neytiri placed a hand on her mate's shoulder. He didn't flinch or turn to her. He just stared at his friends thoughtfully.
"Trudy's right. We need to strike before they strike us. That way our victory will be lot less complicated," Jake told his friends. Everyone could tell that he was frantic.
"We're going to die!" Norm screamed.
"Norm! Calm down!" Grace said trying calm the scientist down. The more Norm freaked out, the more Neytiri became terrified.
"Alright, we fight and if we're to die we'll go down fighting like the heroes we are!" Jake cried causing his friends to cheer. Grace, Bec and Neytiri looked at each other with complete uneasiness on their faces. They knew that once Quaritch entered the fray that there was nothing that would stop him until he got the revenge that he wanted on Jake.
"Wait!" Bec called making the entire group fall silent. "There has to be another way around this, surely,"
"No there's not," Trudy said causing everyone to turn their attention on her again. "Once Quaritch gives an order that's it," She thought for an example to give. "Like when he ordered that the Omaticaya Hometree be bombed. He forced me to go along with it but as I placed my finger on that trigger I knew how much that tree meant and there was no way that I going to hurt innocent people so I thought 'I didn't sign up for this shit!' and abandoned the group only to find out from Max that Quaritch had bombed it anyway," She shrugged.
"You did the right thing kid," Grace said placing a hand on her young friend's shoulder. Trudy felt slightly uneasy with having such a huge hand on her shoulder.
"Come on we don't have long to rally the troops!" Norm insisted as he started toward the door. His friends watched him go before turning their eyes on Jake.
"Norm's right. We have to fight otherwise there won't be anything left worth fighting for. Who's with me?" His friends cheered and filed out of the room leaving Jake, Bec and Neytiri with the twins. "What?" he asked as looked into the worried faces of his mate and sister.
"Is this such a good idea?" Bec asked.
"What?" Jake asked in disbelief. "You want me to abandon all the planning that I've done over the last 10 months?"
"Yes," Neytiri said as she shifted Neyake in her arms. "You have so much to live for my Jake. Why should you give up your life now?" The young mother had to struggle not let the tears that were now forming behind her eyes fall.
"I've had a good run here. I've gotten everything that I never thought that I would achieve on Earth," Jake said his hands trembling as he placed them on Neytiri's shoulders.
"Do not go. Please!" Neytiri begged. Before she knew it, Jake was kissing her goodbye. She allowed the tears to fall down her face. Looking down, Jake was saying his goodbyes their son. She turned to see Jake saying his final goodbyes to their daughter who had been placed back into her basket by her aunt.
Jake then turned to his sister. "Look after them sissy. If something happens to me, I want you to help raise the kids," Bec could only nod. She wanted to desperately go with her brother into battle but the last thing she wanted was to leave her only child an orphan so she had chosen to stay behind with Grace and the other scientists. Norm and Trudy, being the only ones with experience in fighting the RDA, were going along for the ride to bring them tumbling down again.
Without looking back at his family, Jake walked out of the compound and joined Norm and Trudy. Tears continued to flow down Neytiri's face. Bec rubbed her back to soothe her pain while the young mother calmed her son who had started to cry.
Jake walked towards two of his best friends who had their backs to him. "Ready?" Trudy asked.
"Ready," Jake said uneasily as he let out a ragged breath. Together, the friends walked down into the forest and towards the battlefield.
Neytiri paced the Avatar Safe House floor. It had now been 12 hours since Jake, Norm and Trudy had walked down onto the battlefield and there hadn't been one word since they had left. Neytiri already missed it. The way Jake kissed her and way he looked at her. But most of all she missed him cooing over the twins.
"They'll be fine. They're perfectly capable of looking after themselves," Bec said as she sat bottle feeding Grayce on her Avatar's bed.
"I will not rest until they return home safely," Neytiri said as she continued to pace. Bec sighed and tried to think of another tactic to calm her sister-in-law down and ease her nerves.
"Neytiri, if I know those three as well as I do, they will figure something out. Exactly since Jake is their leader," This didn't do anything to calm Neytiri's fears. If it did anything, it only made her worry more.
"I almost lost him once I cannot bear that again," Neytiri said devastated by the memory that almost taken Jake from her. Bec knew that there was no way she could see Neytiri go through the same terror again.
"You won't. Jake's a lot tougher then we give him credit for," Bec said as she burped Grayce. At the sound of her father's name, Grayce squealed. "There you go, she's her daddy's girl," Bec said with a smile. Neytiri turned her head to face her daughter and sister-in-law. She sat down beside them and took Grayce from her aunt.
"You are definitely your father's daughter," Neytiri sighed. The baby girl squealed again at the mention of her father. Though the twins were only a few days old they had already developed minds of their own. While Grayce had appeared to be Jake's little girl, Neycob was very much his mother's son as she was the only one that could get him to sleep while Jake struggled greatly.
Jake ran through the forest with bullets and all sorts of nasties narrowly missing him. His feet were sore from tripping over tree roots.
"Jake!" Yelled Trudy over his comlink device.
"Yeah, Trudes what seems to be the problem?" He replied.
"Where the hell are you?"
"I'm, ah, running for my life at the moment!"
"Well, get your fat ass back down to the Tree of Souls and I suggest you make it snappy!" Trudy replied over the device before cutting off the conversation. Jake changed his course and followed the secret path he had founded back down to the Tree of Souls where he found the place in complete and utter disarray. Warriors were running this way and that trying to get their reinforcements ready for when they were required.
"Jake!" Norm yelled over the crowd. Jake pinpointed his friend and pull through the crowd ignoring the murmurs that followed him.
"Norm, what's happening?" Jake asked.
"Well, we've managed to get through Quaritch's first and second lines of defence," Norm reported hesitantly.
"What? What's wrong? How many lines of defence does Quaritch have?" Jake asked with a cocked eyebrow.
"Twenty," Norm winced as if Jake had clobbered him around the head.
"How do you know?" Jake folded his arms.
"Hu'tu sent flyers out to find out and they came back with the report of twenty lines of defensive with at least, ten thousand men per line. It's big I know but we'll take them, right?" Norm looked at Jake who simply stared back not knowing that to say. When he did the find words, they didn't sound like his own.
"Yeah, yeah, we'll get 'em. For sure," Norm looked down at Trudy who returned his worried glance. They both knew that Jake didn't have the heart to be away from his young family.
"I know you're thinking of Neytiri and the kids but right now, if you want your family to survive, we really need to focus and charge at the heart of Quaritch's army before they get to us," Trudy said in the extremely rare commanding tone that everyone knew she had never used.
Jake could only nod. He struggled to get the images of his family's impending slaughter of out his head. The one thing that he couldn't allow was to have Quaritch get to him emotionally. If he did and accepted the taunts, his family and the lives of the Omaticaya were history. "Alright," he said at last. "Let's do this. If we're to die then we'll go down fighting!"
"That's the spirit!" Norm said clapping him on the back. "Trudy, I'll have Hu'tu take me up with him when he leads the warriors into the sky. You stay with Jake and make sure he stays out of trouble," Norm raised his eyebrows before heading over to join Hu'tu. Mo'at took Norm's place, scaring the hell out of the two former war heroes.
"Mo'at! What are you doing here?" Trudy asked.
"I came to tell you that Riv no longer plans to attack. At least not for the moment. He has decided that he requires more planning," Mo'at then turned her head to glare at her son-in-law expecting him to say something.
"What?" Jake asked when he caught her gaze.
"How are Neytiri and my grandchildren?" Jake wanted to kick himself in the balls. How had he not predicted that Mo'at would ask about his family?
"Not happy that I had to fight but they knew it best if they stayed behind," Mo'at knew that now wasn't the time to argue. She merely nodded before heading away to help prepare the healers' alcove; there was going to be causalities and injuries.
"You made that up on the spot? That won't be enough to keep her at bay for long," Trudy said emotionlessly.
"I know but it's enough for her not to worry too much about Neytiri and the kids," Jake told her though, he too wasn't totally convinced with what he had said earlier either. "Alright, let's kick some RDA and SecOp ass!"
Neytiri sat on what use to be Jake's Avatar's bed. Carly and Bec had pushed the beds on either side against it so that they could be sitting next to her. The twins lay in their baskets simply listening to the sounds of explosions and war outside. Their 3 day old ears were not use to such noises. They knew something was wrong as their father wasn't around.
"It has been over half a day and we have not heard anything yet," Neytiri said in a small frightened voice. Bec and Carly looked at each other before Bec decided to speak up.
"We got a message from Norm about 10 minutes ago saying that the Na'vi forces have managed to take down the first couple lines of defences of Quaritch's soldiers and that they had regrouped at the Tree of Souls other than that we haven't heard anything," she said trying not to upset her distraught friend more. The friends sat silent for a long while. The silence was broken by Neyake's cries for attention. Lifting her son from his basket, Neytiri gently rubbed his back to soothe him back to sleep but it was obvious: he missed his father. It was obvious to even Bec and Carly that the twins knew that their father had gone to war.
"This is not right," Neytiri mumbled more to herself then to anyone else.
"What's not fair?" Bec asked as she took her nephew from his mother.
"I want to be out there with Jake but he told me to stay here and not to disobey him," the new mother sniffed.
"I know you wanna be out there but you know Jake better than we do. He wants nothing more but you and the kids to be safe. If he lost the three of you he would never forgive himself," Bec told her as she continued to rub her nephew's back.
"I know. That's why I love him," Neytiri looked at her two friends who gave their best looks of reassurance; not that it helped too much in the eyes of the new mother.
Norm hung on for dear life as he and Hu'tu flew through the blood coloured sky. Many Ikrans and their riders had been shot down by Quaritch's brutal force and had fallen to the forest floor. Norm's face had gone violently pale. Sure, he was a scientist but he had never seen so much bloodshed before and it was clear that he didn't have the stomach for seeing such gore.
"I thought you were a tokor, Norm. I would have thought you had more of a stomach for this type of thing," Norm was overly impressed with how clear Hu'tu's English was.
"If by 'tokor' you mean 'doctor' I am nothing short of a healer. I study plants not body parts," Norm said as he struggled not to gag.
"Normspellman, in Na'vi 'tokor' does mean 'doctor'," the Warrior chuckled.
"Oh sorry. I've been a bit off my language lately. Stupid Jake!" Norm said cursing his best friend.
"Jake is only looking out for the clan and his family and friends. If it were not for him, we would all be slaughtered," Hu'tu said sympathetically.
"How does Nia feel about this whole war situation?" Norm asked.
"She feels the same that Neytiri does. She wanted to fight but I told her not to. Our daughter cannot be orphaned so I told her that I would fight. She is a lot like Neytiri,"
"So your foot went down and you said 'no'? I bet she wasn't too happy,"
"Yes, my foot did go down and she was not too happy but I am a man of honour and so is Jake. Nia and Neytiri are like sisters. Jake did the same thing and Neytiri was not happy but she knows that Jake is only looking out for her and their children. Jake only wants them to be safe and I want my family to be safe too,"
"Jake can be a bit overprotective," Norm said as they flew silently over the enemy's camp.
"Most men that care about their families are like that and unfortunately, there are very few of those. Most men only want mates so that they carry their sons so their good names can be carried on. It is a stupid law but it is the way men are. Women should get the chance to choose their own mates and not have them arranged. I see now why Sylwanin rebelled against Eytuken," Hu'tu shook his head. It was obvious to Norm that Hu'tu genuinely loved Nia and their daughter and wasn't putting it on. He was willing to fight for his family in the same way Jake was fighting for his own. In Norm's mind this was the heart of a real man.
Before Norm realised, Hu'tu had landed his Ikran on the highest part of a nearby tree so that they couldn't be seen. "So what's the plan?"
"We attack and take down the Skypeople," Hu'tu said as he took his bow off his back and notched an arrow to it. He fired and hit a soldier square in the chest. A dozen of his comrades went rushing over to see the massive arrow sticking out their comrade's chest. Hu'tu and Norm smiled and they struggled not to laugh. "NOW!" Hu'tu yelled. Norm looked up to see a sea of arrows fly down from the sky. Upon one of the beasts of the sky was Jake with a victorious smile planted across his face.
Night had now fallen just past midnight and Neytiri was still up and waiting for news, any news that told her that Jake was safe. She hadn't heard Bec walk in.
"It's late, why don't you get some rest?" Bec yawned.
"No, not until Jake is home," Neytiri said defiantly.
"You don't know how long they'll be at war for. How could you possibly stay up and wait for that long?"
"I have this sense—a feeling -and it tells me that this war with the Skypeople will be a short one," Bec sat beside her sister-in-law and looked at her sympathetically.
"What makes you think that?" she asked.
"I have felt it through my bond with Jake. I feel as he feels. It makes us stronger as a mated pair even if we are apart, I can feel some of what he is feeling..." Neytiri trailed off, unable to finish her sentence but Bec knew what she was trying to say.
"You can sense him through wireless tsahaylu," Bec finished for her in a small voice. Neytiri nodded not bothering to ask her what she meant by the term 'wireless'.
The battle had come extremely close to a climax. With broken and decapitated bodies of both the Na'vi and the RDA/SecOps scattered across the forest floor. Jake walked through the brightly coloured forest to see the ground and the surrounding flora stained blood red. He saw Na'vi he had once known, dead in front of him. Many of his warriors lay many among the dead. With his blood boiling to the point of overload, Jake crouched down and closed the blank, glassy eyes of a warrior from the Clans of the Plain. Standing up, he almost stumbled, but managed to keep his balance. He looked into the night sky to see that dawn was almost upon them. He had never imagined that night could go so quickly. He could have been home, snuggled in bed with Neytiri but no, Quaritch had to start this ridiculous war just so that he could get his revenge on Jake for being partially responsible for his 'death' and for the RDA's downfall.
"I'm going to get you for this Quaritch, you self-centred bastard!" Jake's mind screamed. He looked around as if time had slowed down. Bullets whizzed past him, narrowly missing him yet again. The ground grumbled under his feet. He knew that this wasn't a stampede of animals like the last time. It was Na'vi on horseback... and remarkably Trudy.
"Hey brother!" she greeted.
"Trudy? How did you manage to hitch a ride on a horse?" Jake asked amazed.
"Easy, I asked," Jake could only smile awkwardly.
"Have you heard from Norm and Hu'tu at all?" the former Marine asked.
"Yeah, I just heard from Norm and Hu'tu and they have achieved their goal in taking out the main encampment," Trudy reported.
"How many dead?"
"Too many to count. I thought you wanted to avoid as much bloodshed as you could," Trudy furrowed her eyebrows.
"That's what I'm trying to avoid with our people. The RDA and SecOps can rot in hell for all I care. Except for Selfridge but otherwise..." Jake shrugged. "Alright, here's what I want you to do: send a message back to Hell's Gate and tell everyone that we're alright. It will give Neytiri a bit of relief," Trudy nodded and started to walk back into the forest to get some privacy. Jake turned his attention to a warrior who had arrived with Trudy.
"Toruk Makto," the man bowed. Jake pretended not to take any notice.
"Warrior, what news on the scarred man?" he asked.
"He was not in the encampment when we attacked," the man reported. Jake felt his heart sink. How could Quaritch have so easily slipped out of their net? The man watched as Jake slipped into thought.
Where in the hell are you Quaritch?
Miles Quaritch was overly pissed. Looking over his shoulder to see his path clear, he hurried down the muddy track and found a cowering warrior. Without a second, he shot the male through the head. To many, that would be heartless murder. Quaritch couldn't have cared less. All the Na'vi were to him were fly-bitten savages who only hunted and killed humans as a sport. They weren't important to life like humans were. That was his view anyway. He had respected Jake Sully to begin with but when he had found himself a local tale, things started to get more heated in ways of getting the Na'vi to cooperate. Turned out, it wasn't that hard. All it took was blowing up their beloved Hometree and killing several hundred people in the process. 'No harm done!' Quaritch had thought victoriously but he was totally wrong. It had started a full out war among the humans and the Na'vi... oh, and their scientist allies. It later became obvious that to the Na'vi that it was their now fight for survival. Not that Quaritch really cared. All he wanted was to see every single one of them exterminated; especially Sully's family.
The scarred tyrant fired shot after shot at Na'vi as he passed them. A few he even severed their queues leaving them to die agonising deaths. He walked away satisfied with his slaughter. Why did Na'vi have to live while the humans could rule the planet? All of this was beyond him.
Jake crouched over the bodies of several Na'vi warriors from the Eastern Sea olo' as he examined their bodies. There were several bullet holes in the chests and in various places in the head. One man had a bullet wound straight through the middle of the forehead while another had one through both temples.
"This has to be Quaritch's work," Jake sighed in frustration. Norm kept his gaze on the bodies.
"What a terrible way to die," the scientist murmured more to himself then Jake.
"Yeah," the Marine agreed. "You never did tell me, did Trudy tell you to send a message back to Hell's Gate?"
"Yeah, she did and before you ask it has been sent," Jake nodded in approval. He hoped that Max and Carly were looking after his family.
"Come on. We need to find Quaritch and make him pay for what he has done," Jake snarled as he stepped back from the mangled bodies.
"Wait," Norm said grabbing Jake by the shoulder.
"What?" Jake hissed. Norm didn't jump back in fear like most people would have. He merely stood his ground.
"This is exactly what Quaritch wants. He wants you to find him and challenge him over the slaughter of your brethren. He wants you to react. Don't give in to your anger over his crimes," Norm was practically begging. He had seen the horror for himself.
He had been running through the forest, running for his life, when he saw an AMP suited Quaritch pull a Na'vi warrior up by his queue before dropping him allowing the warrior to scream in pain. Norm had planted himself against the back of a tree and peered around it to see Quaritch's suit holding a massive knife in one hand and a severed queue in the other. It was revolting to watch as this warrior started to die a slow horrifically agonising death. Norm had turned himself around and had run in the opposite direction before bumping into Jake.
Jake's face showed defiance for a short moment before he pulled himself together. "Fine," he muttered. "We need to get out of here before we become targets ourselves,"
The morning sun rose over Hell's Gate. It had almost been twenty-four hours since Jake, Trudy and Norm went to war. Every waking hour was like a living hell for Neytiri and the occupants of Hell's Gate. They had only received two messages which were either Norm or Trudy. One told them that they had attacked Quaritch's camp and second one was a short message saying that they were fine and that they would be home soon. They didn't say how long they would be but it gave the current occupants no relief.
"It has been a day and still nothing!" Neytiri huffed as she nursed Grayce. Bec was sitting crossed legged across from her having already fed Lorraine inside the lab.
"I know and if I would could, I would kick Jake's ass!" the new mother's sister-in-law said slamming her fist into the palm of her free hand.
"Why?" Neytiri asked.
"For not sending us a message himself," Bec said simply. Neytiri pursed her lips before turning her gaze to her daughter.
"They have grown restless, Bec. It is as if they know their father is missing," Neytiri looked up helplessly at Bec who knew exactly how she felt. Lorraine wasn't being herself either. She had the feeling that her little girl knew that her uncle wasn't around. It was as if she knew that he had gone to war.
"I know, I should be use to Jake being away at war but with him and I coming here it's as if I have my brother back again, now that he's entered another battle with the RDA and SecOps, it feels like I've lost him again. First my husband and then my big brother, I-I..." Bec found herself unable to continue her sentence.
"You are his favourite sister, Rebecca. He loves you in ways I can never understand," Neytiri said gently.
"How could you not be able to understand? You're the love of his life and the mother of his children. He loves you in ways I could never understand,"
"He loves me the same way Tom loved you. I might have never known Tom but from I have heard of him he sounds like Jake,"
"He was... something. He was my prince Charming. Like Jake is yours. From the moment I met him I knew that someday he would be mine," Bec sounded as if she was in a trance as she remembered her late husband. "He would have loved this place but of course, like I have said, you wouldn't know Jake and the twins wouldn't even exist," Bec paused as she considered what she was going to say next. "I'm sure whatever happens in this godforsaken war, Jake will come home alive," Neytiri gave Bec a small smile that read 'I hope you're right.'
In another part of Hell's Gate; Grace, Max and Selfridge sat in the Administrator's office in complete silence. Parker sat behind the desk with his fingers interlocked and rested above his upper lip. Grace and Max sat across from him on the other side, staring into space.
"This is ridiculous," Parker sighed bring his hands to rest on the desk.
"You could have stopped this from happening," Grace said her arms crossed against her chest.
"I know but I didn't know what I wanted from this at the time, Grace. If I had of known that a full scale war was going to break out I would have, yes as you said, stopped it."
"Guys, guys whoa guys! Let's take this down a kick, Hm?" Max said trying to stop his bosses from arguing. "Think about those closest to Jake, Norm and Trudy for a moment, will you?" Grace and Selfridge looked at each other before turning their eyes back to Max. "Think about Neytiri and Bec, first. They are trying to hold themselves together for the sake of those kids of theirs. If they were to lose Jake it would destroy them. Those twins deserve a father it's something Lorraine will never know. Tom's dead. The only real father figure that she will have is Jake. We need him to survive," Max slammed his hand down on the desk.
"You're right Max. We have to stop Quaritch whatever the cost," Selfridge said causing Grace to look up in alarm.
"I'm surprised at you Parker. Normally, you want the Na'vi to suffer but you actually want to save the Na'vi? What's a first from you,"
"Yeah well, Sully has made me soft. There I said it! Happy?" Selfridge raised his hands in defeat. He turned to Grace who had her arms crossed and her lips pursed she nodded, pleased with the result.
"Very! Now come on, we need to see what we can do to help Jake,"
Jake allowed the first rays of the morning sun wake him into full consciousness. No, he wasn't in bed with Neytiri. He was stumbling through a field of Na'vi and human corpses. More of both species had been slaughtered through the night. Jake had struggled to stay awake throughout the night so that he wouldn't be slaughtered himself. He had promised Neytiri and Bec that he would live for the sake of his nieces and children and he was willing if Eywa permitted, to stay alive for them, the most important women that meant everything to him. He also knew that if he was die on the battlefield it would devastate his mother who had already lost one of her children, his twin, Tom to murder years earlier. He didn't want Neytiri and Bec to be the ones to tell her and his father, older sister and other niece of his death.
His ears turned at the sound of shouting and collision. His feet pulled him in the direction of the sounds that invaded his ears. He stopped when he entered the clearing. Na'vi warriors from an assortment of clans were trying to bring down three AMP suited men with their useless wooden warriors.
Jake entered the fray and attacked the legs of one of the suits. The warriors followed his lead only many of them were squatted away like flies while others were merely stabbed to death. Jake desperately tried to ignore the dying screams of those dying men but it didn't do much good.
"MEN!" Jake roared over the clanking of metal. The warriors stopped briefly only to avoid the swinging of a metal arm from the suited man they were attacking. "EVEN... OUT!" The warriors evened themselves out on both legs. "ON MY COUNT!" Jake counted back in his head before issuing his order. "NOW!" The warriors heaved, letting out laboured grunts in process. The AMP started to tip and with a murderous clanking sound that reminded Jake of the squeaking of metal against the hardened asphalt of a highway. The man within the suit screamed as his suit came down. There was a sickening smash of glass and the horrific gasping as the man in the suit struggled for breath. The warriors hurried over to the second AMP suit and did the same to that as they did to the first. The third suited man tried to stop them but they were too quick before the third suit also fell to the ground with the glass of the dome smashing upon impact.
The warriors ran from the scene of their crime with Jake leading suit. "Well done!" he called over his shoulder to receive laughter from his companions. Turning his gaze back to in front of him, Jake smiled knowing that this was actually going to be not so bad after all but he wondered what Neytiri would be saying if he came home covered in injuries. 'She would probably freak,' Jake thought to himself. 'More reason for her to love me I suppose.' he smiled to himself even more before leading the warriors back to the Tree of Souls for a rest. It was clear that they had been fighting for over fourteen hours without a break. Jake on the other hand wasn't going to rest until Quaritch was dead.
"Jake!" Trudy called from somewhere. Jake looked down to see his best female friend stumbling towards him.
"Trudes, what have you got?"
"I...just...saw... Quaritch..." she wheezed.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa where did you see him?" Jake said trying to make her sit down. He was afraid he might hurt her since a human body was so much more fragile than of a Na'vi body. He was just glad that a standard exopack lasted up to two full weeks with the proper care.
"I saw him in the field about fifteen klicks from here. I wouldn't bother trying to reach him now it's too far," Trudy collapsed from exhaustion. Norm managed to catch her before she hit the ground. Jake looked down to see that Norm had discarded his Avatar back in its hiding spot at the Tree of Souls and returned wearing an exopack.
"Why did you change bodies?" Jake asked.
"It was getting tired so I had give it time to rest before going out in it again but I have the feeling I wouldn't be able to get back into my Avatar anytime soon," Jake knew better then to argue against him.
"Alright, look after Trudy,"
"Where're you going?"
"I'm going after Quaritch,"
"What? Have you lost your mind?"
"I don't have a choice Norm. He threatened the lives of my family," Jake exclaimed. "I thought you of all people would understand!"
"Jake, I really do but rushing into things could only make the situation worse. I mean, what if he goes after them? Remember what happened last time? He came extremely close to killing you and-"
"I know, I know. Neytiri had to save me. Well, now it's my turn," Norm looked up at his friend. "It's my turn to save them," With that Jake walked away from Norm and Trudy without another word.
Neytiri stood outside the Safe House with Neyake in her arms. She could sense something wasn't quite right on the battlefield. As her son whimpered, she gently placed him to her shoulder and rubbed his back in a soothing gesture. 'Come home Jake. Come home,' she desperately thought to herself. Bec had appeared suddenly and was standing at her side. Her face too portrayed worry for this was her big brother and the father of her nephew and niece.
"He'll be home, don't worry. I know he will," the youngest Sully sibling said trying to sound positive. Neytiri didn't reply. If she was able to speak, her words would come out strangled with worry. The sisters-in-law listened to the rustling of the wind and onslaught in the forest.
Jake bolted through the forest, his heartbeat pounding in his ears. He had been running for forty minutes straight without a break. He had covered less ground then he would have liked but he had managed to cover at least a klick and a half in this space of time which was pretty impressive. Not many people could have covered that much ground over that short amount of time. Jake had thought it merely impossible but clearly he had pushed himself to cover such ground.
With his bow strapped to his back and his quiver of arrows strapped tightly over his back as well, Jake let out a heavy breath as he pushed himself onwards. Minutes passed as Jake continued to run. The world around him seemed to slow down. He could hear the thuds of arrows and the release of bullets from their casings in the background... or was it the foreground? He could almost hear the adrenaline pulsing through his veins. Then, the sound of machinery came to his ears. Was he near Quaritch? Pulling himself from his trance, Jake bolted towards the sound. As he came to a clearing the sound of machinery became clearer. Plastering himself to the closest tree, he cocked his head around the tree to see what was going on.
Quaritch's forces had been heavily damaged over the last two days. They had gathered their dead and their destroyed machinery, AMP suits, choppers, you name it they had it. They must have been up to the second wave by now by the looks of things. Jake could see a tiny man (from where he was standing) with greying hair and what looked like three scars that started on the side of his head. Quaritch. Jake smirked to himself but he knew better then to attack when there was an audience. He had to struggle to hear what Quaritch was saying to his forces.
"We have achieved an ultimate victory but mind you, it is not yet over. We have yet to claim a victory over that devious, blue monkey lovin' traitor Sully. If any of you find him, be sure to bring him to me so that we can claim our victory!" The surviving SecOps cheered. Jake was just glad that he couldn't be seen. To be sure, he started to descend the tree. He was careful not make the leaves rustle. He lay flat on his stomach as he overlooked the RDA/SecOp site.
Broken parts from machinery lay everywhere and their ship, which just so happened to be the same ship that they had left Pandora on, sat in the middle of the field at an odd angle. It looked appalling. Its paint was peeling off like it had been hit by an acid rain shower. The entire ship was in ruins. It was a miracle that it was even flyable at all.
Jake watched as the troops returned to battle. All climbed up into their AMP suits and walked off with either a knife or some sort of gun in hand. These people, both men and women alike were brutal and wanted nothing more to see then the Na'vi species extinct. Once the troops had left and Quaritch had boarded his suit, Jake decided to make himself known.
Quaritch could only smirk evilly when he saw Jake reveal himself.
"Sully,"
"Give it up Quaritch you have nothing to gain from this stupid war,"
"That's what you think," Quaritch commanded his mechanical body to attack with the knife he was holding. Jake rolled out of the way just as the knife hit the ground next to him. He hacked at the legs but found that his strategy wasn't effective without the help he had had from the warriors that had earlier helped him bring down the AMP suited SecOps from before. Quaritch reached behind and tried to grab him but Jake was too fast for him. "I see that you have advanced your skills in combat. Let me guess was it that blue monkey whore that taught you how to move like that?" Jake tried not to let Quaritch's insult towards Neytiri get to him. How dare he insult his woman?
"What... is... this?" Jake wheezed. "This isn't Star Wars you know!" Jake had read enough old Star Wars comics from the 21st Century to know that this was a taunt that would only leave him even more angry and more likely to attack the enemy with more force. Jake managed to keep his composure and kept his focus on bringing Quaritch down.
Neytiri lay on the middle bed of the three pushed together. The twins lay in front of her. She sighed wanting desperately for Jake to be lying with them sharing this moment with her. Both sets of little eyes were trained on her in a longing sort of way. They wanted their father and she knew it all too well. Both infants started to cry.
"Shh! My little ones," Neytiri soothed in Na'vi. "Your father will return to us I just know it," As the young mother tried to sound reassuring to her children she couldn't be sure if Jake would return home unscathed. She placed a gentle, loving hand on each of their bare tummies and gently rocked them. Looking down into the face of her son, she could see Jake in him. Tears started to roll down her face at the realisation that she might lose him to war.
Quaritch attacked with more force as he tried to kill Jake. It was clear that all the extra training he had endured with the blue monkey warriors had given him more skill in the art of combat. With the hardening strikes against the suit, Quaritch knew that he had some chance of surviving this but not much. Jake was too good. There was only one thing he could do and that was to continue his assault. He lunged at the marine with his knife in his extra large hand. He turned but missed his target. For several minutes the men fought. They forgot everything they were fighting for.
Jake's mind raced as he struggled to overpower Quaritch. All he could think of was his family back up at Hell's Gate. He knew that he had to stop thinking about them for just a moment then maybe... just maybe he could win this battle.
Trudy led her troops on foot through the forest. They all had their weapons at the ready in case they were attacked or even worse... ambushed. The warriors weren't at all afraid that their leader was a human female. They had heard nothing but good things about Trudy and her abilities to fight for what she believed in. These words had come out of Jake's mouth like a flow of fresh water. The warriors all knew that a warrior's bond was a warrior's bond for life. The warriors could tell that Trudy was one of Jake's closest friends and one of people he could rely on the most besides that of Norm and Hu'tu. Now these warriors weren't afraid of change like most were. They actually enjoyed having a woman as their leader. That was why Jake had assigned them to Trudy because he knew that they would listen to her while many of the others would be up in arms about a woman having no right to be a leader in a war that was mostly fought by men. Trudy remembered what Jake had said before they had entered the fray.
"Men! This is one of the most loyal female commanders that I know: Her name's Trudy and yes before you all say that a woman cannot lead an army of men I just want you to hear me out first. Trudy is one of the most loyal leaders that I know. She will not lead you astray or leave you to die. She will stay with you until the very end. This will show a lot of you that a woman can lead an army. Dismissed!" Many of the warriors had walked away scratching their heads wondering why Jake would allow them to be led by a woman but a select few didn't argue against him. They liked changed compared to that of their fellow warriors. "Alright, those of you who haven't argued with me about a woman leading an army, you lot will be under Trudy's command," Trudy had looked up and waved nervously at the warriors she was about to lead into battle. She felt like she was crab that was about to get itself squashed. Jake had given her a pat on the shoulder and whispered, "You'll be fine," With that, he had walked into the first wave of battle.
Now, here she was with her entire army still intact. She had watched as Jake, Norm and Hu'tu's armies fell apart almost at the seams. Jake had struggled to hold his own while Norm who had been teamed with Hu'tu had also struggled with their fair share of causalities. It has hard to see a comrade die before your eyes but for a Marine you had to quickly get over it and get on with the task.
"What are we going to do now?" one Warrior asked.
"Patience brother. Just remain patience. I will tell you when we strike," Trudy sounded so calm. The warriors didn't even think twice about why she was so calm. Trudy watched as their target got closer. Closer. Closer. "Now!" The warriors attacked on Trudy's cue and were deep into the fray within a matter of seconds. They cut down the enemy as if they were rubber. Trudy had told them of a way to cut down an AMP suit faster then what Jake had told them at the earlier briefing. "Well done my brothers, you have just learnt the simplest way to cut down an AMP suit!" Trudy beamed up at her warriors and they beamed down at her feeling a sense of pride.
Jake grunted as he struggled to gain new breath over his fight with Quaritch. He had managed to badly damage Quaritch's AMP suit but the old bastard wasn't going down without a good fight. Jake remembered what he had said in their previous encounter before Neytiri 'killed' him. "Nothing's over while I'm breathin'!" Oh how very true that was. He was indeed alive and breathing.
"Die you bastard die!" Jake's mind screamed. He wanted to scream it out loud but he knew that it would be his death and he didn't want his children to go without their father and his nieces to go without their uncle. He knew only too well that Bec, Nic and Neytiri were strong women and that they could handle themselves but he had to stay alive for their sakes whatever the cost might be. Suddenly a thought washed over him like a tide wave. The voice of his old drill sergeant—what was his name? Mason? Clay? Winston! That was it! Winston! He could hear his voice enter his head telling him:
"If you wanna survive, look for a weak spot!" Jake looked desperately around at the dints he had already caused to see a heavily dinted spot on the underarm. He waited until Quaritch had lifted his arm with the knife in his mechanical hand before letting an arrow fly. It hit the target. The suit lurched and Quaritch cursed and screamed as the suit containing him fell to the ground with a frightening crash!
The entire forest could feel the crash of Quaritch's AMP suit. Even as far as Hell's Gate heard it. While Neytiri's ears pricked up at the distant sound of the crash, the remaining residents at Hometree would turn their heads at the sound that would cause their hearts to stop beating for just a moment while the surviving warriors and SecOps stopped their assaults for a split second to listen to the crash of Quaritch's suit. They knew only too well that they were going to lose this battle.
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