"I can't believe there was actually something to it."

Norm's words are enough for Max to stare at him from across the table, eyes squinted, and lips thinned. He clearly wasn't amused. Norm does a double take at his friend's expression and appears sheepish. "Hey...I'm sorry for not believing you Max. It's just…weird things happen in life and I figured it was one of them. I didn't actually think there was a stowaway here."

Max let out a slow breath from his nose. He rubs the side of his face till remembering the scratches by the stinging there. So he drops his hand back down. "She was real alright. So were her nails when I walked in on her. Guess I deserved that."

Norm looked at him. "Was she completely…y'know."

"No. Dressing. Still, it was enough." He turned his head aside, glancing out the windows of the rec room. Max knew Tsu'tey was a few turns away at the clinic. Still waiting, surely. It had only been a few short hours, and he knew better than to trouble the Na'vi unnecessarily. So he focused on his curious human friend who'd returned only minutes ago. "I just don't know why she was so secretive about it. Do you think she purposely tried to stay here…?"

Norm shrugged, brows raised as he thought. "I don't see how or why. They combed this place pretty good." He recalled. "But I guess even a risky life here is better than anything back home."

Max pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing. "True enough…"

A silence fell over the two, both filled with thought. Norm lifted his eyes. "How did Jake take it?"

"Wasn't happy." Max murmured, eyes still focused on the table. He'd since folded his hands under his chin, perhaps to stop accidentally touching his cheek. "Worried, rightfully so. For now he just wants everybody who knows to keep quiet…"

Norm nodded.

Max stared. "That means Ra'nu…" At this Norm lifted his eyes again. "What are you saying?" Max shifted, cautious. "I'm…just saying. She's very social." The man across from him narrowed his eyes. "Are you saying she talks a lot?"

Max had to crack a smile. "A little-" At this Norm got up to leave. "B-But it's not bad! It's cute! Quirky! But seriously don't tell her. You know Jake would agree." Norm glances at him from the corner of his eyes, but he still wasn't happy. "Alright…" He agreed, reluctantly. "But at the first signs of this lady waking up I wanna be there. I've got so many questions." Norm looked off, gesturing his head was about to explode. Max cracked a smile.

"You and me both… I might actually need you there if it involves Tsu'tey…"

At Norm's smirk he rolled his eyes. "Not a word, Norm. Not a word."

.

.

.

Pain was the only thing evident as time wore on. By the slow furrow of her brows, to the lips tugging downwards, and the steady curling of her body, it was clear to see. Tsu'tey's eyes were trained like a hawk the moment the human first shifted. Then she fidgeted her arms uncomfortably, following her toes curling into the bedding. A labored breath left the unconscious woman, eyes still closed, yet her arms wrapped across her middle.

"Sh*t…" she groaned.

Unimpressed, and growing uneasy, Tsu'tey pushed to his feet and went to retrieve the others. A minute later he followed behind the running two, who slid into the clinic. The men go to each side of her bedside, though Max was the one to lean over and hold the bed's railings.

"Hey, can you hear me?"

It was that stage between sleep and being awake, an uncomfortable moment stuck between the two. As Max struggled to get the woman's attention, Tsu'tey stood in the hallway, tail darting behind him. He was torn between watching and reporting back to Jake. "Is she going to wake or not?" he demanded. Max spared him a brief glance. "Go ahead and tell Jake. It won't be much longer." Then he lifted his head to Norm. "Get me the I.V and morphine. And a flashlight. Running that thing is going to use a lot of power so we don't have time for overhead lights." Nodding, his friend rushed off to fetch the items. This left Max to grab a rag and soak it with his water bottle. Hastily he folded the rag and lay it over the woman's neck. The neck was the fastest way to heat or cool a body, and right now her temperature was sure to rise from the pain.

By the time Norm returns, Max spares a glance out of the room. Tsu'tey is long gone. That taken care of, Max sets to work in setting up the I.V while Norm connects it to a charged panel. "Okay, we've got a slow drip going. At best we can keep this running for about six hours."

Max nodded, watching as the morphine slowly ran down the tube into the woman's vein. After a moment her tight features relaxed. "We'll keep it going in intervals. That way the solar panels can charge what we use. But we need to try and conserve as much energy as we can to make it last through the night." Max then rolled up his sleeves and spared Norm a glance. "Hold onto her arms. I need to palpate for any broken ribs… I'd kill for a lousy x-ray right about now." He murmured, moving his hands down to the woman. As Norm stabilized her arms, Max worked his way up from each pair of ribs.

Feeling each was fine he moved up a little more, and once reaching the middle area of her ribs, a breath arched. Only it was neither of the two. Green eyes flew open.

And then the terrified screaming began.

"Hold her down Norm!" Max bared his teeth, mostly worried about the I.V being ripped out. "Would you calm down?! We're not going to hurt you!"

"Get off of me! Get away!"

"We said we're not going to hurt you! Take a breath!" Norm struggled. Gradually, the thrashing stopped, though the woman's breath was frantic. She arched her good arm, pushing both the men away. They slowly complied but kept still, breathing slow. After a moment to stare them both down, the woman warily looks around the room. Even as she begins to grit her teeth and curl on her aching rib, she's guarded.

"…where is Quaritch?"

The two men glanced at each other. "Quaritch is dead..." Max speaks, slow to look her over. "Look, you've got an I.V that we won't be any help at fixing if you rip it out. Plus you have a concussion and broken rib… Will you please take it easy…?"

After a moment to distrustfully look at them she nodded. Norm took a hesitant step closer. "What's your name? And why were you hiding?"

The dirty haired blonde took a minute. Sensing there were no threats, her breathing lightened and her eyes trailed over to the I.V. "My name is Chance. Chance Pancelli… And I was hiding because Quaritch was going to kill me."

"Why?" Max questioned, furrowing his brows.

Chance let out a breath. "Look buddy, my head is spinning and I feel like I'm going to throw up. Can we save this for later?"

Norm glances at his friend and nods. "Sure, sure. Just rest easy." That said, the two walk out of the room. Side by side they're silent a moment. "You don't think she'll try anything?" Norm wondered.

"With the I.V? No. She looked nauseous when she looked at it, so I doubt she'll mess with it. As if she didn't look tired enough… Do you think there's truth to what she was saying? About hiding from Quaritch?"

"No telling now. We'll have to find out later. For now…" Norm trails off, watching as two tall Na'vi men appear at the end of the hall. Max takes a breath as Jake hurries over.

"Jake, I know what you're going to ask. Yes, for one, she's awake. But she barely handled us being there, no offense, but you would be way too much... Her name is Chance Pancelli; she was hiding because of Quaritch. No idea why but he wanted to kill her supposedly- she says."

Jake nods, thankful. "Thanks, Max. We'll still hang around for later though. There's things I need to know. Do you need Tsu'tey to manage things?"

"No, no." Max smiled, at least till he saw said Na'vi's unimpressed expression. His smile quickly dropped. "Between Norm and I we can manage."

"And are you sure of that?" Tsu'tey challenged.

"Definitely." Max simmered, glancing at anything but him. Thankfully Jake turned to his tall friend and nodded his head back. With that they left, wanting to spend as little time as possible inside these buildings. With little to do, the two humans roamed the halls, but kept close to the clinic just in case. Max furrowed his brows. "Which of us do you think is less threatening…?"

Norm thinned his lips and sent him a look. "Haha, very funny."

"No, I'm serious. It might help when talking to Chance… What's funny about that?"

"Oh, hah, nothing." Norm rubbed the back of his neck. "I'll do it. I mean I took a few classes on human psychology and I wasn't the one to walk in on her."

"I didn't know what to expect." Max sighs. "I was just trying to find who was using the power."

"Didn't know what to expect when you walk into a steamy shower?" Norm had to laugh, though it fell short. "Sorry buddy… At least you're healing up good." This left Max to roll his shoulders. "Good enough anyway… Think you're ready to talk to her now?"

Norm shrugged hopelessly. "What choice do we have? Or we could use Tsu'tey..."

"We're not trying to give her a heart attack Norm." Max chuckles. Upon returning to the clinic, they find Chance resting in the dark. Her eyes are closed, her form barely visible with the natural light from across the hall. Though, hearing footsteps, she moves her head and blearily looks at Norm. It seems the concussion has left her squinting.

"Hey there…" Norm quietly speaks. "How are you feeling?" he asks, keeping a comfortable distance from her bed. The woman takes a moment, barely looking him over before dismissing her mistrust. She seemed too tired.

"Like a blue monkey drop kicked me."

Norm ran a hand through his hair, having to turn away so he could mouth 'well then' to himself. It had been a while since he experienced such blatant rudeness. "Huh, okay. Well it makes sense considering what you went through." Slowly he sat in a chair nearby. "Is the morphine helping?"

Chance craned her head to look at the I.V drop. "…yeah… Why is it so dark in here? What happened to the power?"

Norm thoughtfully stared at her. "We don't have electricity or a means of power aside from solar. All the equipment left with everyone else… You knew they were gone right?"

"Obviously. But I didn't know about Quaritch." Chance mumbled, taking the chance to rub her head. Norm shifted in his seat. "About that…why was he trying to kill you? Oh, and here." Norm reached over to set a small plastic container in her lap. "In case my questions make you puke."

Through the dark she glances at him, lips pulling upwards for a split second till it's gone. "Right…Anyway, the thing is I was a journalist. I was one of the first sent here with the last batch of soldiers. Folks back home wanted a 'real' perspective what life was like out here. My job was mainly to write about Pandora itself, see if it was a livable prospect for humanity." Chance swallowed hard, glancing around the room. Norm makes quick work to hand her a water bottle.

"Sorry if it's warm…we don't have cooling."

Chance gives him a thankful nod and takes a swig. Afterwards she clears her throat. "As I was saying, I started writing about the locals when Quaritch took an interest in my job. He wanted me to focus on the benefits of relocating here. All the natural resources and crap." Chance turned her focus to him. "He was adamant I keep quiet about the locals. Truth is, I was curious about that…that Avatar program." She gestured, unsure of the term. "I wanted to see how they were working with the natives. Hostile, peaceful, you name it. If the people back home wanted to know, I wanted to know. But every time I tried to snag a chance to talk to Dr. Augustine, Quaritch would redirect me. Finally one day he said it would reflect poorly on my career if I continued writing about unimportant aspects." Chance rolled her eyes, tightening her grip on her bottle. The plastic crunching was briefly loud. "Power hungry bastard was threatening me." The woman took a minute, staring off at the wall. Her lips were steadily down-turned, but eyes recalling as she stared back at Norm.

"After that I knew I was walking on egg-shells. I kept my writing secret as much as I could, but thankfully some other drama went down and distracted Quaritch. Something about an AWOL-soldier or something pissed him off enough to forget about me." She shrugged, oblivious to Norm's smile. "And when that went down, I didn't hold back in full on investigating. Learned about the RDA and everything. Overheard their plans to uproot some big unobtainium source. Unfortunately Quaritch was so stressed he didn't hesitate to shoot me down when he saw me snooping around." She brought up the bottle to her lips, taking another swig.

"Anyway," she breathed, "he's a bad shot when he's seeing through white hot rage. I didn't want his soldiers coming after me either, so for a while I hoarded up as much food and water as I could and hid in the vents. I don't know how long I stayed up there all cooped up. Like some damn hermit packrat. Nearly got lost in them I hid so far up there." Chance shrugged, eyes falling downcast. "But it was better than being gunned down… Then, one day when my supplies were getting low, I realized why it was so quiet. Everyone was gone." Looking at him, Chance raised a brow.

"So…mind if I ask a few questions now?"

"By all means. Do you need another water?"

She nodded. Hers' was empty after about four dry glugs. After giving her another bottle, Norm sat down again a dragged a hand down his face. "Where do I begin…"

"Well, you can tell me why your friend is hanging around outside. I don't plan on scratching him again unless he's gonna peep some more." Chance murmured, rather distastefully. It left Max awkwardly popping his head in, smiling nervously. "Oh, hi there, sorry about that… And sorry for before… And for you being in this condition." He trailed off. Chance leaned back in her bed, glancing at them both.

"First question… why did everyone leave? Is it just you two?"

Norm and Max exchanged a glance. "Get comfy, Ms. Pancelli… This might be a bit shocking."

Chance sighs, leaning her head back to look at the morphine drip. "Good thing this stuff is strong…"

.

.

.

As the hours wore on and darkness fell over Pandora, Max and Norm's time with Chance grew to a halt. They had explained the main parts of what transpired. Quaritch's defeat along with the others. Humanity being sent back to the stars. Jake Sully basically being the hero of all Na'vi-kind, and his current change to become one of them. Only, the more they went on, the less Chance responded. As her eyes grew heavy, the two quieted down and eventually left. Their mutual silence was taking comfort in the fact the newest human discovery wasn't a threat. Not actually a bad person, they quietly admitted, just a little rough around the edges.

Norm muffled a yawn. "I gotta turn in. Still got that thing with Ra'nu tomorrow. She'll get suspicious if I blow her off… You don't think anyone suspects anything, right?"

"That depends how well Jake responded when he came back here earlier. They're pretty good at reading small clues. My biggest thing is they'll distrust us when she comes to light."

Norm frowned. "Let's sleep on it then." Max chuckled and nodded. "Go on ahead. I think Jake is still waiting outside." Waving, the two split up, Max changing his focus to the front entrance. Along the way he grabs one of the many masks still hanging around and straps it over his face. The night was clear and alive with wildlife, the closest two being Jake and Tsu'tey. Max briefly admired how their bio-luminescent skin shone in a few spots till they noticed him.

"Hey guys… I think she'll be ready to talk to you in the morning. She's wiped out." Max spoke, shaking his head. Jake nodded, eyes cutting over. "I'll be back in the morning then. For now I've got to let Neytiri know everything's alright. Tsu'tey, do you mind?"

As the warrior shook his head, Max took an antsy step nearer. "Jake, he doesn't have to. Chance is too injured to be a threat."

"It's not that." Jake responded with some amusement, especially as Tsu'tey smoldered a glare at the little human. "We've noticed some curious tourists lingering around lately. They must've seen how we were earlier and they're sticking around more than usual. Unless…you want to handle them if they do something."

Max faltered. "Uh…I don't- I'm not-"

Jake cracked a smile, which appeared bright in the dark. "Get some shut-eye Max. You deserve it bud." Max only sighs, doing his best not to look at the other Na'vi glaring at him. "Right. You too Jake." As he went off inside, Jake raised a brow over. "Did…I miss something?"

Tsu'tey merely glances at him before turning, eyeing the woods and crossing his toned arms. "Nothing. Max Patel is simply paranoid." "Right…I'm sure it doesn't have to do with that look, either." At this Tsu'tey turned, questioning, but it only caused Jake to laugh and slap his 'brother's' arm. "Goodnight. I'll be back at dawn." Jake then started off to leave the base, leaving Tsu'tey to stand guard at the entrance and keep watch.

Still, he looks annoyed- or perhaps it was just a natural expression. He can't help but find this all ridiculous, especially over some sky people. Even if two of them had proved themselves… Still, he couldn't deny that even one, like Jake, could make a huge difference.

Tsu'tey just never figured another huge difference would ever affect him.