Chapter 11 - Escalation
"That's it." Jake switched off his video-log and turned around to Grace who was hovering in the background, studying her samples. "I really hate this, worst part of the job," he complained.
"You'll get used to it." She smiled at him and he nodded thoughtfully.
"So you keep telling me."
"Give it time."
Fondly she looked at the young man who she had despised not so long ago. After his little accident in the jungle a lot of things had changed so quickly that she still couldn't believe it. During his period of being M.I.A. Jake had been able to make contact with the Omaticaya tribe of the Na'Vi, a diplomatic feat that hadn't been accomplished since the destruction of Grace's school. And now he was required to learn the tribe's ways, a useful lesson that let him increasingly appreciate the natives. There was nothing left of that cocky, useless marine who had pissed her off so much. Instead there now was a solemn and diligent young man who tried his best. So far he still reported to Quaritch, and the Colonel hadn't caught on to the subtle changes of Jake's behavior. Grace wasn't in a hurry to change that, especially since Jake's efforts were the most promising in years. Maybe he would achieve what she had never been able to: to solve the situation peacefully and thereby removing any sort of power Quaritch held over her. She clung onto that hope because it was the only ray of light she had felt in a long time.
She got up and put a blanket over Jake.
"You have overexerted yourself again. If you want to keep up you need to take care of yourself."
"Thanks," he mumbled.
"Let me get you some tea," she told him, but he held her back by grabbing her wrist.
"Grace, we're friends, right?" She stopped and looked at the young man who could have been her son. His question was so raw and earnest that it brought some tears to her eyes.
"Yes, yes I think we are," she answered after she had collected herself enough that her voice didn't falter. "And I guess I owe you an apology," she added after a moment. There was no need to specify further, they both knew that her initial behavior towards him had been less than hospitable.
"You don't. I really was insufferable." He indicated with his head that she should sit down and she did, unable to process what was happening here. Among all her colleagues, as much as she liked them, there was none she really considered a friend. It had needed an outsider to shake things up a little. And maybe that was what they all needed.
"Grace…" His eyes darted around and he started to fidget with his fingers. Fondly she looked at him, finding his sudden nervousness endearing.
"Is it because of Neytiri?" she asked, hoping to make it easier for him by telling him that she knew what he was talking about. He shook his head.
"It's about you."
"Me?!" That surprised her. The last person who had wanted to talk about her was a sadistic bastard. Jake's request was so innocent in comparison that she gulped.
"What's there to talk about? You know me – smoking, cursing, drinking." She laughed nervously.
"Yes, that is the façade you want us to see, but there is something that hurts you. And it goes deeper than what happened at the school. Something recent."
"So?" She longed for a cigarette, something to calm and steady her. But she couldn't just get up and grab one. Not at this moment. Instead she folded her shaking hands in her lap. She averted his gaze.
"Don't shut down, Grace, talk to me." She felt his hands on her knees, a sense of urgency and she flinched. She was no longer used to unexpected friendly touch and the only thing that came into her mind were the Colonel's hands on her body.
Still, she admired Jake's observation skills. None of her team had caught on that something had been fundamentally wrong with her. Or they had and never dared to approach her. And then used Jake instead because he was the safest option.
"Who sent you?" she asked warily.
"What do you mean who sent me?"
"Max? Norm? Out with it!" Did they possibly know what was going on? Was this their attempt to have her confess? Suddenly she felt panic. She had been able to deal with Quaritch's humiliations only with the knowledge that nothing had changed for her science team. That she could still be in charge and be respected without being seen as a victim. If they knew the truth her last source of confidence would crumble and she didn't know how to deal with that. Obviously her sudden agitation was a pretty good indicator that Jake had been on the right track.
"Calm down, Grace," he said, lifting his arms and waving his hands in a conciliatory gesture just as he had done when dealing with the direhorses. Humans were indeed animals. "Nobody sent me. I just see… things. Call it the curse of disability, but I, too, needed to learn to hide the pain. So I see it in others when they do the same."
"I understand," she whispered. "And you're right, Jake. I carry a secret. It's a pretty dark secret and it eats me inside. But I can't tell you. It would endanger the whole mission and your work. And I need you at your best."
"But…," he started. She smiled a sad smile and put a hand on his shoulder.
"I know," she said quietly. "And I really appreciate having a friend like you. There might come a time when I can tell you more, but not tonight."
He nodded solemnly. "I see."
She got up and put her things together. Sometimes the environment in these mobile shacks felt really cramped. Just now she wished she could step outside and breathe a bit of fresh air without a mask. But it wasn't possible.
"It's getting late," she told him. "We should get some sleep if we want to achieve our goals tomorrow."
Betrayal!
Miles Quaritch prided himself as a man who always had a plan. He was one of those chess players who could anticipate their enemies' moves several steps in advance. However what he just saw on that monitor completely blindsided him. And that made him angry.
"Freeze it. Right… there…"
The frozen image on the monitor did not show a random Na'Vi attacking one of RDA's mining dozers, because this one knew exactly where to hit.
"Son of a bitch," he growled. Cold fury overcame him. He had been so sure that Sully had been his man, his mole into Grace's operations and a bargaining chip to enforce further compliance from her. But somehow that bitch had managed to turn the boy, made him one of hers. And that was a slight that Quaritch took very very personal.
He had always expected her to work on an escape plan while she satisfied his whims. She was far too intelligent not to. But it angered him beyond belief that it had happened right under his nose without him realizing. Sully's intel had been good so far. To see him there on the monitor changing sides and damaging valuable equipment was a betrayal of the highest sort. And Quaritch didn't take betrayal very well.
He turned around and stalked to the exit.
"Get me a pilot!" he barked at one of his soldiers. Grace's little hiding game was over and she had a lot to answer for.
Of course they had chosen the so called 'Hallelujah Mountains' as their hideout for whatever they had been planning. Parker had asked Quaritch to greenlight the operation, because it would give the science team 'an opportunity to work on gathering intel without having to follow procedures on base'. It seemed that Sully had managed to convince the Na'Vi to let him undergo a three month initiation training. This would gain him entry into the tribe and at the same time give Quaritch all the needed info of the primitive's strategic weaknesses. As this training would be very demanding Grace had very eloquently put it forward that it would be better for Jake and her team to work in a secluded space. Of course Quaritch knew the real reason why she couldn't wait to leave base.
It was obvious that Grace had seized the opportunity to get away from him and take the boy with her before he could be further indoctrinated. Since Sully had delivered so far and Parker had seemed convinced that this approach could work, Quaritch had indulged her at that point. A part of him had been curious with what she could come up in a shack in the mountains.
But obviously he had underestimated her. A mistake that he intended to rectify immediately since the current situation was unacceptable.
The pilot's voice took him out of his deliberations.
"Loveshack this is Samson One Six inbound hot to your pos. I have Colonel Quaritch with me and…"
Was she stupid?!
He slammed the comm switch and cut the woman off. "Did I tell you to announce us?" he snapped at her. He had wanted their entry a surprise so he could swipe that arrogance off of Grace's face. He didn't want her prepared.
Put off the pilot looked at him, almost defiantly: "Sorry sir, it's procedure," she defended herself.
"I don't care about procedure. They broke it first so they forfeited any right for fair treatment, understood?"
She nodded, obviously grasping that this was not the time for discussions and brought the helicopter closer to their destination. Quaritch could see the rundown shack of Grace's team perched on a flying cliff. It looked cheap and very much out of place and yet it was here that they had planned their little insurrection. But not any longer. He would take care of the problem right then and there.
While the machine was in approach for the precipice he and his men geared up. Mask first, then weapon, because one never knew with these scrawny science types. When cornered they acted like all frightened animals – fight or flight. He hoped they chose the latter so he had a valid excuse for punching them up. When the helicopter hovered closely above ground, blowing at the grass below it, he jumped down and stalked to the shack.
The door was as flimsy as he had expected it and it gave way after one well-placed kick.
One of the scientists had jumped up, trying to block Quaritch's way. Laughable.
"Hey, hang on," the little man squeaked. "You can't interrupt a link in progress, it's dangerous,… wait!"
Without consideration the Colonel stomped to the first Avatar unit in his sight and slammed the emergency shutdown. It just so happened that this was Grace's. Dazed she pushed the lid down and gasped for air. It took a moment for her to focus and then her eyes narrowed to slits.
"You!" she hissed and rubbed her forehead.
Quaritch had heard once that one of the side effects of an uncontrolled Avatar shutdown were severe headaches. Or worse. Good. That bitch deserved all the pain he could bring. He yanked her off the bed and pushed her in the arms of his waiting soldiers.
"Game over," he told her before he turned around to shut down the unit of the other traitor.
Handcuffed! That bastard had the audacity to handcuff her and her team. It didn't matter how much Grace struggled, the metal holding her wrists together in front of her didn't budge and the only thing that happened was the slow abrasion of the skin on her arms.
"Can't you treat us with some decency?" she had asked while she was ungently pushed into the helicopter.
"Traitors don't deserve decency," Quaritch had informed her icily. "You have gone too far, Doctor and now there will be consequences." For her team that remark meant a corporate punishment, the withdrawal of privileges, wage reduction and maybe jail time. But for her, it contained a very personal threat. She suddenly felt very cold.
She realized that she was shaking because of the indignation and humiliation. How dared he?!
"I have gone too far?!" her voice cracked. "After all you did that's what you are telling me?!"
"If I were you I'd be very careful, Doctor," he said in a low voice, still maintaining that innuendo.
"What is going to happen with us?" Jake asked. Despite his bruised face he didn't show any fear. Quaritch had struck him the moment he had switched off Jake's Avatar unit, but Grace couldn't shake the feeling that the punch had been intended for her. That made her feel fiercely protective of the boy since he had suffered the misdirected wrath of the Colonel. Besides, she realized in that moment that Jake had indeed become her friend. Her mind raced back to their conversation a few weeks ago and she wondered if Jake had caught on what was happening between her and Quaritch by now.
The Colonel scoffed. "Now you will pay," he said quietly.
The atmosphere was tense in Parker's office and Grace felt all their past successes run down the drain. Quaritch had brought them in to Parker to answer for their misdeeds, although it would be more fitting to say that his marines had shoved them into Parker's office. Still handcuffed it had been hard to keep the balance, when she was brought in, but she had succeeded. It was always good to hold your head up high even when you were in deepest shit.
Of course Parker confronted them with the footage. The day it had happened Jake had told her what he had done first thing, but it was different to watch it live on camera.
When she saw the freeze frame of Jake's Avatar attacking the bulldozer she had to blink. The boy was not clever, but he had guts. And although she could very well understand why he had done it there was no denying that it was bad. Yet she felt no remorse, neither for his deeds nor for her support of them. She felt anger at the Colonel's and Selfridge's disdain.
They had never understood. And it was neither for lack of trying on her part nor for lack of clear wording.
"You let me down, son. You got a little local pussy and completely forgot what team you play for," the Colonel grumbled. He took the whole thing more personally than Grace expected. Instead of an answer Jake met his gaze with a defiant glare. Before he could make the situation worse by hurling an insult she stepped in.
"Parker, listen, there may still be time to…" she started, refusing to let all of their efforts go up in smoke. She couldn't let Quaritch win, not after everything she had suffered. He turned around and in his eyes was fury, cold and dangerous. But also something else she had never seen before.
"Shut your fucking hole!" he screamed at her. Stunned for a moment, she stared at him. Even with their worst differences he had never resorted to cursing at her. He was definitely capable of violence and was not afraid to use it, but he usually was more prone to cold, reflected anger. That could only mean that she and her team had succeeded in catching him off-guard and that must rankle. Somehow this realization gave her the courage to reply in kind, no longer willing to hide her annoyance.
"Or what, Ranger Rick? You gonna shoot me?" she taunted him. She had never resorted to personal attacks in public, but the sudden urge to make him pay for all he did to her took over. She couldn't refrain from adding, more silently, to Parker: "You need to muzzle your dog."
And then everything went to hell.
"I have a few questions, Dr. Augustine."
A bunch of datapads clattered on the metal table before Grace. She was still handcuffed, sitting in one of the interrogation rooms of the complex. Before this day she hadn't really paid attention to their existence since she had never been on the receiving end. But things had changed. The sound of the pads on metal jerked her out of her mental void. Quaritch had told Parker that before they went forward with any action against the Na'Vi it was his job as chief of security to deal with the leader of the insurrection. And here she was.
After her humiliating debrief followed by Selfridge's announcement to shut down the Avatar program for good, there was nothing left for her. She was finished. Quaritch would get his little war, the one he had carefully planned from the onset. The one she had helped him wage in her stupidity. She herself had gathered the data in the vain hope that bloodshed could be prevented. But now she realized peace had never been an option.
She simply had been another pawn in the Colonel's game. And what a game it had been. He must have known, even counted on, that she would look for ways to escape while he had his fun with her. And so she had unwittingly given him all the ammunition he needed for the death blow. It had been a fight, but one that had been rigged from the start. He had to know that as well.
So why did he insist on that interrogation afterwards?
She looked at him with pure, unfiltered hatred.
"What do you want from me?" she said coldly. "You won."
He approached her, came very close and put his hand under her chin.
"As I said, I have questions. And I need you to know that is room is sound- and video-proof."
"Are you threatening me?!" she hissed. She got up from the chair, pulled herself away and put some distance between them.
She saw the slap in her face before she felt it and it took even longer before the pain set in. Her head rang and she had trouble focusing. It was the first time he had used physical violence against her. And she couldn't understand. He had won! He had everything he had wanted, so why was he so jumpy?
"I should have put you in your place so much sooner."
"Violence is your only language, huh? You're pathetic," she spat. Another slap hit her and she stumbled backwards. Then she felt him grab her by the shoulder and shove her back in her chair. With interest she watched two drops of blood fall on the table in front of her.
"How did you turn him?" he growled.
She blinked and stared at him in disbelief. "Is that it? Is that your question? You know very well what happened."
"Answer me!"
"What does it matter? You have all the intel you need."
"From you I've never expected any less, but the boy was my responsibility. Before he went rogue under your watch. One could almost assume that you slept with him." He added the last sentence like an afterthought.
"What?!" Grace let out a humorless laugh. "Are you serious? You yourself accused him of turning for a 'local pussy' not too long ago. That's not me."
"Is that so?"
And in that moment everything became clear. It was so simple that she felt stupid for not noticing it sooner.
"Don't tell me you're jealous?! Of a boy? Come on, Colonel, that's ridiculous even for your standards." And for the tiny fraction of a second she pitied the man in front of her. He was so used to getting his way that he couldn't accept that others had a will of their own. In a twisted sense he cared for her so another man encroaching on his territory became an active threat. Even if this man was almost 30 years younger than her and simply a good friend. She was certain that Quaritch knew this. But it explained his irrational anger.
When he stared coldly at her, she added.
"Regardless of what you make me out to be, I'm not a whore. I don't sleep with people to convert them."
"I beg to differ."
"This conversation is over." She got up a second time.
"You know very well, that I could fuck you right here on this table. I obviously haven't made you scream enough the way you are behaving."
"Then do it you asshole!" With the disbanding of her project he couldn't hold the Na'Vi over her head any more. She had already hit rock bottom.
He raised his clenched fists and she prepared herself that he would punch her again. His facial features hardened into a snarl and she recoiled. She lifted her handcuffed hands protectively in front of her, realizing that this was the first time she was afraid of him. She had gone too far in her provocations. But she wouldn't beg for mercy.
The instant he grabbed her, she pressed her eyes closed, bracing for the worst. When nothing happened, she tentatively opened them again just in time to see that he had brought a cloth to her face wiping away the blood from her nose and split lip. When he was done he let his thumb stroke almost lovingly over her cheek.
The rage was gone, but something else had replaced it in the way he looked at her. She couldn't place it. Her heartbeat raced in her ears.
"Why?" she whispered. "Why do you take so much pleasure in hurting me?"
"Because you deserve it," he said calmly. "This is only the result of your own actions."
She shook her head. "So what now? Will you finish what you started?"
For what seemed like an eternity he only stared at her. Then he yanked her arms to him and released the handcuffs.
"Get out!"