Jade took her first breath of unfiltered Pandoran air. It burned her throat and lungs, sending her into a fit of hacking coughs. She tried to breathe, but just drew in more poisonous air. She spotted her exopack mask lying nearby in the grass. She managed to flip herself over and started crawling, counting down the seconds until she lost consciousness. Her fingers hooked around the masks' seal, and she pulled it towards her.
A blue foot stamped down on the mask, shattering the visor. Jade looked up. The leader was standing over her, holding Marty by the scruff of the neck. He threw the smaller Na'Vi into a tree behind him and bent down to pick up Jade. He raised her to eye level.
"You got your wish, human," he sneered, and raised his knife. A tree branch smashed him in the back of the head, snapping his head forwards. He shook his head and started to look around. The second strike carried so much force the branch snapped in half. The leader's eyes slowly crossed and lost focus. He dropped Jade and toppled over. Jade landed in a heap on the ground, unconscious.
"Jade! Jade, come on, wake up!" Marty leaned over her, bruised and streaked in blood from his fight. "Come on, I know you're not dead. Wake up!"
The other three hunters drew closer. Suddenly the roar of helicopter blades filled the air. Michael's Samson swooped down over the scene. Michael spotted the Na'Vi crouching over his little sister's body and reached for his rifle.
"Bring us down!" he ordered.
"Can't sir, clearing's too small! I'll have to-" the pilot began to reply. Michael didn't hear the rest. He jumped out of the chopper. His rifle was slung across his back, leaving both hands free. His target was the disabled bulldozer that towered over the clearing; he planned to hit the front of the behemoth at an angle. He hit the metal hard and slid down the angled section he had landed on. He kicked off just before the angled section stopped and rolled as he hit the ground. He came up in a crouch, freeing his rifle as he did. Michael held his rifle 'gangsta style' tilted ninety degrees to the right. Held in this way the recoil would jump the muzzle to his right if he fired, perfect for covering a wide angle.
"Back away from the woman or I will open fire!" Michael yelled. The three mounted hunters aimed their bows at him. Michael fired a three-shot burst at the ground just beneath the mount of the centre Na'Vi, spooking the animal. He could hear the Samson land behind him and his men jumped out. The hunters sensed that a confrontation wouldn't go well and left. The smallest Na'Vi was left standing alone between the unconscious bodies of Jade and the leader. Michael advanced on him, switching back to a standard rifle grip. The Na'Vi backed away, terrified of the man. Michael stopped next to Jade and crouched down. He took his right hand off the barrel of his rifle to feel Jade's pulse.
"Medic!" Michael shouted. The medic raced to his side and inspected Jade. Not wasting any time he opened a medkit and began treating Jade's cuts with incredible speed. Michael was glad he'd brought the man. The second soldier looked around and found Jade's shattered exopack. Michael felt his heart rise in his throat, and then ordered the two soldiers left to find a spare exopack in the Samson.
"There, it's done." The medic said, having stitched the slash over Jade's eye and bandaged it as well as putting Jade's broken arm in a sling. "She won't bleed out anytime soon but we need that exopack."
Michael tried to remember how much time had passed. It had been three minutes, and even now the seconds counted down almost supernaturally fast. Even if the soldiers at the Samson found a spare mask, they wouldn't make it back in time. Michael stood up and glared venomously at the Na'Vi that must have been responsible.
"You have ten seconds to run, asshole." Michael told the Na'Vi darkly. He glanced down at the medic.
"Use this." He said curtly. The medic looked up, a question forming. Michael took a deep breath, filling his lungs to much he thought he would burst. He ripped off his mask and dropped it next to Jade. Michael stalked towards the small Na'Vi, rage boiling in his veins. The Na'Vi's mouth moved, but Michael didn't hear anything. The only thought in his mind was how he was going to kill it for hurting his little sister. His soldier half reached for his gun, but his brotherly half stopped it. He wanted to feel it. He wanted to beat the alien until it was nothing but a bloody blue pulp.
The Na'Vi put up its fists, as if it stood a chance. Michael let it have one punch. It was a miss so close Michael could feel it part the air. He let the Na'Vi's momentum carry it onto his knee. The force of the strike made it retch. Michael turned around and grabbed it by the braid, dragging it over to him and hauling it off-balance. He slammed his elbow into its chest and brought his knee up into the back of its head. It stumbled away and turned drunkenly to face him. Michael dodged the next punch and just headbutted it right in the catlike nose. He heard a crunch and it toppled over.
Michael crouched over it. He slowly drew his handgun and clicked the safety off. He jammed the barrel into its forehead-
"STOP!" The voice cut through Michael's blind rage. He looked up. Jade was standing, pale and sweating but alive. Michael smiled in relief.
"Jade!" he called, finally releasing the air in his lungs. They began to burn, crying out for oxygen but he ignored it. He holstered his gun, climbed off the Na'Vi and raced over to Jade. He pulled her into an embrace so strong and tight she felt her bones creak, and her feet lifted off the ground. Jade looked stick-thin next to Michael's brawny body.
"Ow, I'm wounded, remember?" Jade said. Michael let her down. The medic tapped him on the shoulder, handing him the spare mask that the soldiers had found. He put it on and tried to breathe, finally paying back with interest what he'd taken from his body.
"Don't scare me like that." He managed to say. "I thought you were dead."
"And miss the look on your face?" Jade replied, smiling. "Ow." She said as the smile twinged her wound.
"Listen miss, we need to get you back to base." The medic butted in.
"No," Jade waved him off, deep in thought. She spotted her gun on the ground and picked it up. She started walking towards the unconscious leader.
"Miss, really, we're going back to base for proper care right now." The medic persisted.
"If you keep annoying me I'm going to make my brother hurt you." Jade snapped. The medic paled at the thought. He backed off. Jade crouched over the fallen leader and slapped it with the barrel of her gun until it woke up. It blinked blearily, having trouble focusing until Jade jammed her gun into its face.
"I said I'd look you in the eyes when I killed you." Jade hissed, cocking the gun. But she hesitated. Her finger was on the trigger, but her muscles seemed to have seized.
"Come on Jade, just shoot it and let's go." Michael said impatiently.
"Please don't do it, Jade." Marty said. Jade looked up, not realizing the Na'Vi was still there. Blood was streaming from his nose and he looked ready to fall over, but he was standing next to Jade.
"Is this the part where you give me a speech about the sanctity of life to persuade me not to shoot this asshole?" Jade asked.
"No."Marty said simply. "I don't have a speech. I'm asking you ask a friend; please don't."
Jade glared at the leader that had tried to kill her. She was in pain and exhausted, and right now the object of her pent-up rage was right in front of her. Jade fired.