Jake heard a sound come from behind him. It sounded like footsteps. Far away still. The source probably didn't have line of sight of them yet. But that didn't change anything.

Shit. He cursed, they were being followed.

He looked at Neteyam and Lo'ak. He had to get them out of here, preferably before their pursuers didn't make contact with them.

Ever since the Omaticaya moved out of their Hometree and into the forests' caves, he could tell the boys were growing antsy. They had wanted to join him on their raids and fights against the humans.

The first time they asked jake was immediately against it. In what world, what timeline, would Jake think it was alright, should be allowed, encouraged even, to send his children into battle?

But after weeks of them asking, and talking with Neytiri over it, he had to admit that they were all right. He couldn't lock his kids away forever, especially when other teens their age around the tribe were taking part in the fights.

Maybe it was one of the last remnants of his human heritage remaining in him, the part that said children should be protected at all costs for as long as possible, but he still couldn't fully wrap his mind around it.

But despite that, he was eventually worn down and agreed to them going on a mission with him. A simple one, one that it was almost guaranteed for nothing to go wrong. Oh how wrong would he be.

Jake took a quick breath. Having their trail being picked up on by the enemy should only be a slight problem, nothing he hadn't run into in the many missions he had gone on in the last year. These people trailing them probably didn't even realize who they were tracking. They would be able to lose them easily.

He grabbed his sons' shoulders and forced them to squat on the ground behind the trunk of a thick tree.

"Dad?" Neteyam said, turning his head around to look at Jake.

"Shh," Jake hissed, motioning for them to be quiet. "Quiet, there's someone around here."

Their ears twitch, trying to focus on the sounds around them. "Humans?" Lo'ak asked, as he took his bow off of his back and began loading an arrow onto it.

Jake motioned at Lo'ak to again remain quiet while he nodded, indicating that the boy was correct. At that, both of their heads quickly started swiveling around, trying to catch sight of anyone that could be around. The people following them were still slightly too far away and too hidden by the vegetation to be seen. They could still be heard though.

Then, Jake heard the break of a branch. The cause was unmistakable. It wasn't just a random break, or a wild animal walking around. No, he knew that someone, someone with heavier feet than the Na'vi who usually went barefoot, made it. It was still a good distance away, but far closer than it was merely a couple minutes ago.

This wasn't good, definitely not good. It's exactly what Jake didn't want to happen. He knew he wouldn't be able to fight back against them. There were only three of them here, and Jake knew the RDA sent teams out with at least eight people each.

He had to get his kids out of here.

"On the count of three," Jake quietly whispered. "You run, got it?" He pointed in the direction of their camp.

At both of their silent nods, he started counting.

"One… Two… Th-"

Right as he said three, the area surrounding the three Na'vi was wracked by a series of loud explosions. Before they ended, Jake pushed his kids's backs in the direction he had previously indicated them to run. "Run Now!" he screamed.

Once the explosions ended, they started hearing a series of gunshots ring out throughout the newly formed clearing.

He ran to where he saw both his sons trying to pick themself up off the ground. He picked them up so they were standing again, and pushed them to get running. On his way, Jake's steps were slightly halted by another explosion that knocked him to the ground. He quickly stood back up again, and ignored the pain shooting up from his ankle.

"I said get moving!" Jake yelled out when he saw that Neteyam had stopped to look back at Jake.

In a matter of seconds, they had run back under the trees and started moving through the vegetation growth. But their pursuers had taken the opportunity to get a lot closer to them. Now they could even hear their voices.

Jake cursed. He wanted to get his kids home unharmed. But at the same time, he still wanted the location of their current camp to remain a secret. This was really the last thing he wanted to do, but Jake knew that if he wanted to keep everyone safe, he would have to split up from his sons.

"I'll hold these guys off, you just keep running home," Jake yelled to his kids.

"But Dad!" Neteyam yelled out as he stopped to look at his father.

"I said keep running!" Jake yelled out as he pushed the boy towards their home.

Reluctantly, Neteyam did as his father said, pulling his brother along when Lo'ak too turned to look back.

Jake squatted down and went behind a tree, keeping his eyes open for any of the RDA forces around. They must have made some serious improvements to those mech suits for them to have moved so fast through the forest today.

He saw something jostle the branches of a bush about a hundred yards away, and without thinking, he fired a couple shots of his rifle at it. Then suddenly to his left he heard a noise to his right. He quickly snapped his head in that direction, only to see the but of a rifle slam into his right temple, knocking him to the ground.

Before he knew it, Jake was being wrestled to the ground by blue limbs. What were these, new Avatars?

If there was only one person he would probably have been able to fight them off. But there were at least two of them, and the injury to his ankle and new banging in his head wasn't helping. Jake was quickly overpowered by them.

"Oh ho… what do we have here?" Jake heard a voice ask.

"We got him, boss," Jake heard one of the men holding him down say. So this man was in charge, then. Both voices sounded strangely familiar, Jake had no idea where from though.

He pushed a shoulder off the ground, finally getting just a little bit more mobility to move his head up and look at the source of the voice, before he was roughly pushed back down to the ground, a hand pressed down onto the side of his head.

At first, Jake had no idea who the man that was speaking was. Definitely some type of Avatar, not a Na'vi, judging by the clothes he was wearing and the body traits. It didn't surprise Jake at all that the RDA started giving the military personnel Avatars. It was a wonder they didn't do that when he first came to Pandora.

The Avatar smiled down at him. Jake couldn't help but think that face was familiar, like he should recognize it from somewhere.

"Well, well," The man chuckled as he squatted down next to Jake's head. Jake narrowed his eyes and hissed back at the man. "Who would have thought we'd find the great Toruk Makto so quickly?" And it's as the man said that, that Jake realized just who he was dealing with.

Miles Quaritch. Colonel Miles Quaritch.

But how? Jake wracked his brain.

Jake watched the man die, get killed, fifteen years ago.

Even if the RDA had been making the man an Avatar, they couldn't have a dead man control it. Could they?

"You do know who I am, right?" the man Quaritch, asked.

Around a strained and bloody smile, Jake choked out. "Quaritch."

Quaritch merely smiled a sadistic smile down at his captive. "Good, you remember me."

Jake narrowed his eyes on him. "What are you doing here? In that body? I thought you died?!"

Quaricth stood back up, reaching his full height. "You could say I… was brought back to life, in this new body too," he explained.

Jake didn't know what to say about that, he wasn't even sure if he caught what the man said right. So he simply continued to glare up at the man. When Quaritch motioned for the men holding him down to pick him up, Jake once again tried to fight them off, to little success.

One of Quaritch's men grabbed his queue and pulled him up to stand. He tried to get their hands off of his shoulders, but that only caused the men to grip him harder. Involuntarily, he let out a hiss of pain.

He felt a knife press into the front of his throat. "Try anything and you're dead," Jake heard someone whisper into his ear. Reluctantly, he let them move him without much of a remaining fight. With each step he took he could feel the injury in his ankle flare up his leg. Even if he did manage to slip out of their grips, he probably wouldn't make it too far. And he had already lost his rifle.

Jake's only positive thought as they took him away was that at least Neteyam and Lo'ak got away.