A/N: So, I feel like shit right now. I couldn't really make this a great chapter. Next one I promise is gonna be better. If you haven't read the redone chapter two, go back. i re-did a lot of it. I'd like some more reviews, if possible. I don't wanna come off as a jerk off but I do work pretty hard on these. I am grateful to those who have reviewed and enjoyed it. That's what I'm goin for. Thanks guys/gals!

The Plot Thickens

"Khione, do you copy, over? I repeat, Khione, do you copy? Over?" Robert checked his interface three times and had checked a previous four times. Nothing was wrong with it. "Sir," he called to Colonel Quaritch, "We might have a problem." The Colonel nodded and finished talking with Parker. He took a sip of the battery acid coffee in his cup, and made his way over to the desk.

It was morning, light shone through the tinted glass of the Command Center. Little beeps and noises were sprouting up from each terminal. The sentry guns were keeping banshees and other nasty, unclassified creatures at bay, system checks were popping up for all vehicles, loading codes were bouncing to and from their sources and owners. Everyone was working.

Quaritch wove between the multiple computers, reaching Robert in little time. He put a large hand on the desk and bent over to look at the screen.

"Well, Private? What's the problem?" He asked expectantly, taking another drink of the awful coffee he loved so much. Roberts's fingers flew with precision and with speed, pulling files to and fro, until he got a security feed.

"This sir, I haven't been able to contact Khione. No one has responded, I checked my equipment seven times. Something is wrong down there. This is the first time that I've been able to… What the hell?" Robert touched the side of the monitor with his pointer finger. He slid it back towards his palm, but kept it firmly on the screen. The image zoomed in. A large shadow grasped a smaller one by the throat and ankle. It picked it up and broke its back over its knee. "Jesus Christ!" Robert squeaked, his already high pitched voice cracking.

The Colonel snarled. He pointed a large finger at the screen. "Go and pause that clip." He turned to a communications booth. "Get Augustine up here, now! Told them they can't-"

"Sir!" Robert shouted.

"What is it?" He snapped back.

"That clip, Sir. It was live footage."

"I don't know Stephen." Grace told him, blowing out a cloud of smoke. She sat behind her desk, resting her head on the back of her chair. Her office door was closed. The two were discussing the RDA's advancements on her personal work. "I'm really getting sick of it. I can't go two days without one of those assholes busts in here and gives me shit." Stephen gave her a sympathetic smile.

"That's the thing about corporations like this Aunt Grace. They own everything."

"It's a load of bullshit if you ask me."

"Yeah. I know it is." Stephen muttered quietly. "You said they've been breaking in here too?"

Grace nodded. "I've found countless items broken, specimens left out and exposed to this filtered air. Pages have been torn out of my journals, wire taps on my communications, the works. It's really starting to piss me off."

"I'd imagine. Look, that is illegal without probable cause, but since the RDA run's this operation, they can do whatever they want and still get away with it…" His words trailed off for a moment while he composed himself. "I can't really do much. I'm not into the surveillance branch of the Corps. I can just make sure that you aren't hurt in any way." Grace smirked at her nephew.

"Thank you. I know you can't do much about their 'investigation', I was ju-" The communication terminal popped out of her desk. A marine technician appeared.

"Doctor Augustine?"

"Yes, what is it?" Grace snapped back.

"Colonel Quaritch wants you in the command center, ASAP."

"So basically that means now?" Grace asked, already standing up.

"Yes ma'am." She didn't even bother to say goodbye, Grace flipped the monitor off.

"Sorry to cut this short kid, bastard's probably having a hissy fit over something he can't touch." She grabbed her lab coat and walked towards the door. "We'll catch up later, okay? How about dinner?" Stephen smiled at his only remaining family member.

"Sounds great Aunt Grace. But, do you think I could get a cup of coffee before you go?" She smiled and patted his shoulder lightly.

"Sorry kid, haven't you heard? That shit here will kill you." His aunt just walked out of the room with a sadistic smile on her face. She loved teasing her nephew beyond belief. The sound of his head hitting the table with a groan confirmed her suspicions. She called out one last thing behind her, "Why don't you go find Trudy and bother her for a while." Grace left to go and see what the Colonel wanted.

"And you're telling me this why, Quaritch?" Grace asked. She was becoming increasingly annoyed with each word the Colonel spoke. Here he was blubbering on about some base in the subarctic area of Pandora. As far as she knew, the only RDA occupied territory was Hell's Gate.

The Colonel snarled, looking much like a viperwolf. "One of your blue savages has attacked RDA personal!" He leaned in close, bearing his canines. The scars that rand down the side of his face stretched and became jagged and it would have intimated anybody, besides Grace Augustine.

"Colonel," Grace began, rolling her eyes slightly, "plenty of RDA personal have fallen to the Navi. Why? Because you, Parker, and this damned company refuse to listen to me and my staff! Look, you pigheaded roughnecks don't get it. This is their planet. You'd better well remember it!" Her voice had fallen low and intimidating. She spun to walk out.

"They broke into the Command Center there." Grace stopped as he spoke.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me. Breathing our air. Yeah, that fits your fancy don't it, Doc." His smile, that sick and sadistic smile, made Grace sick to her stomach. If he was telling the truth, then he was right. It did fit her fancy.

She needed to see if he was bluffing or not. "That's a bold statement Colonel. Do you have any proof?" The bastard smiled. 'I hate this fucking asshole.' He pressed play on a video screen, and Grace knew he had won.

Stephen secured the exopack to his face. He checked that his weapon, an M41A pulse rifle, was tightly secured on his back. It was. He checked his boot knife. Fit perfectly. His side arm snuggly sat under his arm. 'Jesus. Can't walk ten feet outside without needing a weapon.' He thought to himself as he hit the air lock. The door opened and he shielded his eyes from the suns furious blaze. He had been outside not five seconds and he was already sweating. He wanted to go back in.

It was his first time outside since landing yesterday. It was just as stunning as he had been told. The trees were gigantic, stretching up high into the sky. The sounds melted his heart and terrified him at the same time. Thousands of hoots and howls, growls and snarls, screams and cries, all of them playing in one large symphony to Eywa. The most incredible spectacle, that he could see, was Polyphemus. It's ever watching gaze was overwhelming, staring down menacingly, challenging them in every way possible.

The area surrounding Hell's Gate was what he expected. A bunch of machines just welding grates and holes in the magnificent walls, sentry guns that moved back in forth on a rotating motor, Samson and Scorpion ships flying in and out of the complex, AMP suits doing tasks ranging from moving boxes to fixing large mining equipment, and RDA security officers roaming around, looking for things to do.

Stephen looked around, taking in the surrounding. 'Hell's gate,' he thought, 'probably named it to boost their egos. Should have named it Troy. Look at the size of these walls.' Somebody hit his shoulder, running past him towards a group of amassing people. "Hey, what's going on?" He calledafter the man.

He turned slightly, yelling over his shoulder, "Fight!" Stephen never did like to watch to soldiers go at each other, but he thought it'd be a good place as any to find Trudy.

People were in a circle, most of the screaming stupid phrases, egging on the fight. Stephen tried to fight his way through the mob, but failed. Didn't matter, he really could care less about who it was fighting. He didn't see Trudy in the crowd either so he began to leave. Until, that is, he heard it.

"Come on Chacon! Kick his ass!" Stephen stopped instantly. He spun on his heel, grinding his boot into the dusty metallic ground, and took off towards the crowd again.

"Get her Wainfleet! Kill that spick!" One of them yelled. He happed to be the first one Stephen saw. Blonde buzz cut, perverted smile, slick teeth, malicious eyes.

'Yeah', Stephen thought. 'Jarhead if I've ever seen one.'

"Get that fuckin' whore! Stomp her out!" He kept shouting. He wasn't the only one on Wainfleet's, who ever that was, side. But, he was the first to fall. He lay on the ground, crying in pain spitting out blood, and gasping for breath. Stephen shook his right hand out and began pulling glass and a tooth from his fist. A bunch of others were just looking on.

"Well, somebody get him inside." Nobody moved. "Now!" Stephen bellowed. That cleared out a small portion of the group. He made his way through the gap to the front of the fighting circle.

Trudy threw a punch at her opposition, catching him it the breadbasket. The man snarled and lunged at her legs, receiving a kick to the throat instead. "Come on asshole! You wanted to dance!" Trudy leaned down and beckoned the soldier forward with her fingers. The man curled back around, reaching into his boot. Stephen saw it from his angle, Trudy couldn't. "What are you, a woman? Let's go jerk off!"

"Trudy, no!" Stephen broke through and pushed her out of the way. She fell off to the side as he took a blade to the shoulder. It hurt like a bitch, but he didn't show any sign of pain. Stephen just stared down at the ex-marine. "I really suggest not getting back up." He began to walk away. He heard Trudy calling his name, along with a different voice shouting out in anger. Turning, he caught Wainfleet's wrist just before he struck. With a quick snap, faster than anyone could see, multiple bones appeared out of Wainfleet's arm. He screamed and fell to the ground, cradling the arm. "I told you not to get back up."

"Hey, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Trudy shouted, walking right up to Stephen and shoving him in the shoulder.

"Helping?"

"Come here!" She hissed, grabbing him by the bicep and pulling him towards the hanger. They walked and walked, keeping the exopacks on.

"Where exactly are we going?"

"Shut up." They made their way into the medical lab. "Max," Trudy called to a large, bushy haired man. "Get me a suture kit." The man nodded and ran off. Trudy pulled Stephen into a curtained off area. "Sit down."

"Trudy, what are you doing?"

"When I get that suture kit, I'm going to be stitching that up." She pointed at the gaping wound on his arm. "But first, I… Thank you." She said. She was looking away, as if she was embarrassed.

"Sure Trudy. Why did you take me all this way though just to tell me that though?"

Trudy got up and began to pace. "You don't know what it's like. I always have to prove myself here. I don't have any friends here. I have to show that I can take care of myself."

"Well sorry for jumping in."

"No, no. That isn't what I'm getting at. You are my only friend here. You are the only one who jumped in. I don't show my feelings, never. But, right now I'm gonna say fuck it, because I trust you."

She had walked over in front of him, lightly holding onto his shoulders. Neither had an idea how it was happening, but they were getting closer and closer together. Max opened the curtain with the suture kit.

"Here you go… Oh!" Trudy snarled and took it from him, sliding the curtain closed. She looked from it to Stephen's arm.

"How much does it hurt?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

Stephen shrugged. "I've had worse." Trudy smiled, one that Stephen didn't know whether to enjoy it or be afraid.

"That's what I wanted to hear." She tossed it to the side and moved closer. She grabbed his face and moved closer.

"Stephen!" his comm. link went off. They both looked at each other.

"What?" He replied, growing increasingly annoyed.

"Get up here to the Command Center. Now." Stephen and Trudy looked at each other. "And bring Trudy with you."

"Damn it." Trudy said, getting up.

"Don't worry. I think I got it."

A/N: Yeah, I know. Way out of Trudy character. Don't worry, I might change it, or just twist the plot later. Until next time, I'm out. Oh, and please review. It's much appreciated.