Here we go again, chapter four hundred and sixteen, quite a high number in my humble opinion. Well, without further delays, let's get back to story…
Chapter 416: No one's rest and peace
The funeral was done and Miguel was speeding toward the hell's gate, his viperwolvish friend barely managing to keep close to him, although it was relatively easy for a six legged viperwolf to keep up with two legged human, it was hard to keep up with a human who was full of energy and joy, and he kept on repeating the same thing.
"I did it, I can go and say 'mission accomplished'" Miguel cheered whenever he got chance and after cheering a little he continued with his sprint through the forest. Then he suddenly stopped after he realized that there was something really wrong with his plan. His plan of running back to Charybdis had only few minor flaws, by few he actually counted six. The first one was that his whole squad got wiped out during initial attack, which meant that even if he returns with 'mission accomplished' he might still end up with 'congratulations, job well done, but we're all out of stealth ops teams, so you'll be helping out in the kitchen' kind of deal. The second problem was that thanks to this incident, he might be looked upon as a traitor, and because he was already registered as 'K.I.A' by the RDA which was more than highly probable, he might be shot after debrief.
The third and the most important thing is that there might be no Charybdis to begin with, it might've just sailed away and left him to rot there, the fourth problem was that his suit was recording the whole thing and while he did nothing wrong after the whole wiping out of his squad, he disregarded an order before the whole mission and that was treason, and treason was punishable by death, that's right, there was no fine for betraying yourself, otherwise everyone would be doing it all the time. "I can see how the world would work like that… Hey, you betrayed your own country… that's going to cost you dearly, you're going to pay fifty dollars!" And even though it was absurd, it would certainly solve one problem for him. Then there was the sixth problem was his new friend. He wasn't sure how will he react to the Charybdis and its inhabitants, or how will the inhabitants react to him.
The best case scenario included the two of them forming the K-9 unit consisting of humans and viperwolves. The worst case scenario included Miguel in tears, eating a viperwolf steak. When Miguel looked at his companion, the companion looked at him with almost scared expression in his eyes. It was obvious that the viperwolf knew that Miguel was thinking about him and that things might not go well. Knowing well the fact that his life was in danger, he decided to show at least some affection toward the human who was leading him by walking over to him and leaning against him. A sign of trust! A sign that even the human could understand as he patted his backs. Together then, they've started running toward the Charybdis, this time however it was much slower than before, mostly because Miguel was thinking about things he was going to do if things would get this nasty.
He didn't come up with any plan when he finally caught a glimpse of the Charybdis which was still standing where he left it, with a few differences. The most noticeable thing around here was the sudden change in terrain, there were holes at the shore and it looked like somebody was shooting there with smaller air to air cannons or were shooting rockets or something, still it looked like a battle already took place, which wasn't making Miguel less nervous than he was before, in fact he was even more nervous which was proven only by his slower approach to the gate leading inside the Charybdis, the viperwolf seemed to be even more hesitant than the human, considering that this was the first time he had to deal with something this big, it was understandable, but he proved once again just how loyal he really was by following the Miguel inside. When he first set a foot inside, he was welcomed rather warmly, truth to be told he was almost coming in hot as there were already several guns pointed at him, and some of them were aiming at the viperwolf who was however heroically hiding between his legs.
"What's going on guys? Something happened while I was gone? Did they outlaw stealth operatives or something?" Miguel asked, managing to maintain his composure even though there were dozens of guns aimed at him and should he even try to make a sudden movement, he would be shot and his mutt would get shot in the head too. While it wasn't obligatory to explain what has happened, one of the guys who were holding the guns near his head decided to bring him up to the speed.
"The stealth ops team, don't know if it was yours or not, blown the airlock after shooting almost everyone before retreating, we've managed to kill them when they were outside but still, you did nothing to deserve better treatment than them" He said but that's when Miguel removed his helmet, or at least the removable part which didn't need to be there in order to keep the air filter running. It was noteworthy that the viperwolf was nervously looking from side to side as he was now surrounded by almost ridiculous amount of humans there.
He however knew that they weren't exactly the most friendly fellows around here, but judging from what his human could do to his former pack, then there was no reason for even attempting to struggle would be pointless and just result in rather painful death. Keeping that in mind, he just looked around and wondered if he was going to survive it and if they were going to have to bite and shoot their way out of here. Thoughts like "Maybe he got lost" were racing through the viperwolf's mind. Little did he know that his leader was already negotiating the meeting with the commodore after he learned that the captain who sent him on the mission was dead for quite some time. "So much for mission accomplished, the captain has died in there… Well, tough luck, rot in hell you bastard!" Miguel thought while remembering the good old captain who managed to get them the most dangerous missions and this time he even managed to kill almost the whole team with that questionable order.
"Commodore? We've caught a stealth operative, he gave us the name 'Miguel' and he is here for debrief." One of the men said to the commodore over the intercom. The commodore was of course interested in meeting another stealth operative, mostly because this one seemed to be unaware of the actions of those who died here before him.
"Tie him up and bring him here." The commodore ordered and was about to get ready for meeting the visitor, but there was an addendum which was making the whole thing even more complicated than before.
"Uh sir, he seems to have a friend with him…" The soldier was about to continue but Commodore seemed to be rather agitated by this addendum
"Bring them both here…" Commodore said with an extra emphasis on the word 'both'
"But it's a viperwolf" The soldier said, making Commodore pause for a second, making him wonder if he really misheard that or if the soldier really said viperwolf.
"Did you say viperwolf?" Commodore asked after a few moments, and the soldier once again confirmed that Commodore's ears were working quite well. He however also proved that while being on Pandora, one should expect almost everything from everyone.
"Put them in the cellblock C, one solitary cell for both of them, I'll talk to them there." Commodore said and after the soldier answered with "Sir Yes sir", the intercom went silent.
The soldier went back to the stealth operative who was standing there with his hands behind his head.
"You're lucky, commodore will talk to you, after we put you into cell." The soldier said with a grin.
"Of course, he would accept you in his office, but then again, your wife seems to be rather scary, so solitary cell it is going to be. Ready to go? " The soldier asked, not actually waiting for Miguel's response as he handcuffed him and pushed him forward. Miguel was already prepared for this treatment but the pushing was little over the top, making him almost fell over his 'wife' as the soldier called the viperwolf who seemed to know what is going on and silently walked beside him.
"…That's funny, a lone stealth operative with a wolf…" Somebody said, making his friend laugh at the hidden meaning of that sentence. It was then when the viperwolf turned around and snarled a little while continuing forward.
"I think he understood what you've just said, I would watch your butt, Postman" The guy who just laughed with this Mr. Postman, chuckled again at the irony of Postman being bitten in the near future mostly for doing bad jokes. In a few moments everyone passed through the airlock and into the base, the small escort was leading them through the known corridors which seemed like they've seen a lot of fighting just recently, and that wasn't too far away from the truth.
"What do you want to tell commodore anyway?" The soldier called Postman asked, making Miguel turn around and smile.
"You'll know soon enough, if commodore decides to let you guys know." And with that, Miguel along with his wife entered the cellblock where they were issued a cell. Although viperwolf walked in there rather reluctantly, Miguel knew that things like that were bound to happen if some stealth ops team decides to go on a rampage and then promptly gets killed. Then again, he wasn't some rogue stealth operative, he was a stealth operative who got rid of Rick No one and Jake Sully in one surprise attack!
"I can't believe we've just buried him" Tarya said to Jake while they were both entering the infirmary. Tarya was being supported by Jake as there were no means of getting a wheelchair this big for her. Jake who just got bandaged and his wounds covered in liquids of unknown origins
"Well, he wanted to get buried, remember?" Jake reminded Tarya what Rick told them. That he must be buried right next to the crashed aircraft, he told them when he woke up after the resuscitation and before he got transported here into the infirmary.
"That's right, whoever tried to kill me, must think that I'm dead!" Rick said from the bed where he lied now, he wasn't burned too much, what saved him was the storage under the bed where he was partially protected from the raging fire in the room.
"It reminded me of how we had to bury you back then" Tarya said while sitting on the bed where Rick was lying.
"I promise you that you won't have to bury me, or my real body ever again, I'm not making any promises about empty coffins like the one lying next to the crashed Samson though…" Rick said, smiling slightly
Yeah, Rick isn't dead, but everyone else thinks he is dead, Miguel is back in action and eywa knows how will he try to lead the assault now that he is in the bed and monday is tomorrow (in the story, tomorrow is saturday ;) )
Answers to readers
-Yukidog: Who said anything about beating my cat to death? I just played baseball with her, she was the pitcher
-Hideout writer: *looks around for the file* oh here is the backup *loads the backup*
-bijuui9: Don't worry, Rick didn't die, IT WAS A TRAP!
-Na'viRabbit: That's why you aren't taking care of the na'vi who are in dire need of medical attention.
Yeah, so, see you on Monday