Hello to you, because I have another chapter for you and the explicit warning for mentions of violence and torture. Please read at your own digression and be safe.

Chapter 20

Spider swam as fast as he could for several minutes until he noticed that his mask allowed him to dive for pretty much unlimited time. The water was colder than expected, but not so much that he was in danger of freezing. Rather it stiffened his limbs a little, but that went away with some exercise. The real danger was below him. He did not know these waters, or any big sources of water really, except the lake that Jake brought him to years ago to teach him swimming.

They went there multiple times over the years, but not recently with the war starting all over again.

He was accustomed to Pandora's forest predators but knew next to nothing about these waters. Spider really hoped Tom had been right in his assumption about the reef Na'vi. As much acceptance as he had received from the Omatikaya, he had literally spent his entire life with them. Even the other clans cooperating with them were far less friendly. One older warrior had once even told him how high the losses of the first war had been. How his human appearance was like a cruel reminder to the war. The younger generations inherited some of the hurt in some way. The exchange hunters and huntresses were never cruel but they were cordial at best. Spider had no real hope he would be treated any better by a clan that had just watched their entire village burnt down by them.

He got into a steady rhythm while keeping a keen eye on his surroundings. The bag at his waist was heavy with all these batteries that slowed him down a little. Maybe he could shift it to his back, so it wouldn't hinder his movement. Spider doesn't allow himself to stop swimming until the bag had bumped into his left thigh for so long he could feel a bruise forming. There were some rocks rising out of the water some hundred meters away, a good place as any other to quickly change the bag. His leg was seriously hurting as he pulled himself closer and closer to the rock. Then there was sudden motion to his side.

He turned his head sideways, just to look at a huge flying fish with way too many teeth coming his way. With wide eyes he turned back around, swimming as fast as he could to the rocks. He might be able to evade the beast when he was able to move like he was used to.

Spider dared not turn around, his mind focused on swimming faster. He was nearly there, just a few more meters.

The swishing of the beasts tail, that got louder and nearer every second, turned into one splash. Spider finally made it to the rocks and practically flew out of the water and onto the rock. He was barely half a foot above water level, but he felt much safer already.

"Child!" A female voice rang out to him, so he swung around to find a reef Na'vi woman, seated upon the crocodile like animal, that was now peacefully floating among the soft waves. Also she looked very familiar.

"Do not fear child. I won't hurt you." She spoke again, but Spider still had his guard up, holding both his fists up with a defensive stance. You don't run for your life and then relax as soon as a stranger tells you to. He's no fool.

He gave her a closer look and was startled that he recognised her. It was the Tsahik of the clan he'd just been to.

On one hand he was glad he managed to follow Tom's instruction AND keep the right direction. On the other hand he was both physically and mentally drained, but so stressed that there was no way he would listen to anybody.

Spider had suppressed the feeling as much as he could, from the time he had watched her village burn, but he really wanted to scream out in anger now. So much suffering was partly caused due to him and there was still more to come. He so wished that the war would just stop. Could time itself not just stop for a couple few seconds, so he could regain his breath? Because breathing was getting more and more of a task.

Maybe even take some time to assess his own situation and then plan what he would do in the future? Oh how he wished just for some time to figure out what was going on in his hurting head.

He couldn't have known getting kidnapped came along with so much stress. If Spider had known before, he'd have tried to avoid it with more effort. Not that it would have changed anything.

His thoughts were cut off, when he noticed the Tsahik swimming closer to him. Her demeanour spoke of exhaustion but kindness. Spider was impressed, but not enough to put down his guard yet.

"What is your name, child? I am Amer'yl, Tsahik of the Ta'unui tribe, a minor clan to the Metkayina." She introduced herself, her voice warm and careful, like she was talking to a hurting animal. It cost Spider some time, before he managed to greet her formally. He wasn't angry with her, so he shouldn't threaten her.

"I see you. My name is Spider, child of Jake Sully, the Toruk Makto." He did not feel completely okay with his Introduction, but it was the best he could offer. Tom had insisted on it as well. Amer'yl gave him a tired smile, greeting him back.

"I still need to thank you for saving my life." Her voice was soft while Spider pressed his eyes shut, feeling guilt and regret.

"It's me that needs to say sorry instead. Sorry for your village." Amer'yl had a stricken look on her face as she disconnected from her ride, to climb up on the rock with him.

"Do not say that. It was because of you that no one died. For this I am grateful. Very grateful…child." She said, taking another step towards him, slowly extending one hand. Spider flinched when her bigger hand first touched one of his fists.

"You really don't have to fear me, Spider. I do not ignore the desperate pleads of a father, who begs me to save his child." Her hand now surrounded his, as she slowly pried his fingers into a extended position.

"You made it easy for me too, as you stood between me and the demon, saving my mate and me. For this alone I'd never hurt you." Amer'yl said in a soft whisper.

Now both her hands were tenderly holding on to his uncurled one, no detectable lie or fear in her eyes, even as she was slightly surprised by his pinky finger.

Spider found it kind of ironic how she thought of Tom as his father, even if his real father was the demon that had threatened her life. Also he had introduced himself as Jake's child, who was obviously not there. Maybe she found the notion of him being the son of Toruk Makto just as hilarious as he had felt saying it and just ignored what he had said. Calling Tom his father was still way better than Quaritch and for this thought he was so grateful to her. Spider wished that even the last bit of connection between Quaritch and him would vanish. The two months he had spent in captivity and the short moments of sympathy between the two were forgotten with the first pained cry from Norm. Then there was Maya, nearly a corpse herself as she mourned her father.

Spider was not only crying for Amer'yl's village anymore as it finally hit him that he had been parted from his family again. The small family he had found in form of an adult who had shown him unprecedented kindness and a spitfire of a girl he had watched growing up. He added his other hand to her hold, depending on her to hold him up just a bit as he cried for his loss.

"Your father and sister are not fine, are they?" Amer'yl guessed and Spider shook his head. No they couldn't be fine. Tom was at least hurt, taking care of an unresponsive child, surrounded humans who only cared for him as a hostage. What would they do to him now that Spider was gone? He sincerely hoped there would be no repetition of what they had done with Norm.

"Come child. I promised to take care of you at least. Your father looked strong, he will prevail. Trust him to come back to you." The Tsahik loosened one oh her hands to put her arm around the crying teen, who looked very small compared to her wider arm. Spider let himself be guided back to the water. Amer'yl connected to the crocodile fist before sitting down and pulling him in front of her.

"For what it is worth, I am glad to have found you, Spider. I'll help you, like you helped me." The woman said holding his exhausted form a little closer. It went against pretty much every self sustaining Instinct in his mind, when he leaned back into her embrace, eyes dropping first, then falling shut completely.

He just wanted to go home.

Also there was this weird beeping sound.

Amer'yl remembered the foreign golden eyes of an chained and desperate man who feared for a child, blood connection or non. The respect and kindness he offered even while his life was threatened as he greeted her. The anger of what was happening around him and the frustration of having no power.

She remembered his disparate plea for them to save the human children and the prostration he'd done before them. He had behaved like a man whose pride had died a brutal death, begging for what he still had left.

She remembered the love similar to the one of a father for his children.

One child even saved her life from his own tormentor.

As soon as the demon ship had sailed she checked in on the healers to make sure her clan would be okay for the next hour. She left her husband with a kiss and took three elderly hunters to the sea, to begin her search. She had a life debt to repay.

For half an hour she followed the general direction of the ship before she noticed something swimming near some rocks, rising from the water. She hastily commanded her skim-wing to rise out of the water to investigate what she had seen. Amer'yl regretted her choice only seconds after, because it was truly the human boy, but he looked absolutely terrified by her ride, while climbing up the rocks.

She was able to soothe him enough to get him settled before her on her skim-wing but he soon fell backwards already asleep in her arms. The alien looking contraption strapped to his face and back gave off some weird noise. A little lamp glowed in an orange colour, some writing right next to it, that she couldn't read.

The poor thing was cold from the water and exhausted with the way his breath was laboured, but her instincts told her there was more. She was careful on her return to hold the boy up carefully, even wrapping him in her traditional veil, which was the only piece of clothing that she was sure she had left, for her own pod was one of the first to be burned down.

Upon her return she was met with sad, angry and questioning glances, well the by in her arms was. Her mate came up to her, a pained expression on his face as he saw the child.

"I see you found one child." He said, mustering the boy.

"The girl was not with him. She was probably to weak to swim, so she would stay behind with their guardian." She mused, not deterred her clans reaction.

"We have no means to care for him, my love. Our clan needs all the hands we have." Her mates words are true, but she cannot listen.

"And we owe a life debt to him. We will have to warn the others clans anyway, ask them for help. While they are there they can ask for Toruk Makto, to come get his child, or we will bring him to them." She reasoned, holding the boy close, keeping him warmer, but also more hidden from angry eyes.

"Come love, some of the pods in the back have not been badly burned, the rain was able to stop anything serious there." He told her and pointed to some of the pods.

"I'll organise who we will send out in the morning and I'll go to Tonowari myself and ask them myself." Amer'yl disagreed with him.

"We both know we will have to move faster, the skypeople will not rest, so we can't. The clans must be warned now!" She demanded, before turning around and moving to the intact pod. The boy had to be cared for, now.

Both of them couldn't have guessed that help would come far sooner than they expected.

Neteyam stood on the beach with his mother as they observed some of the hand to hand combat training the Olo'eyktan had ordered that morning. He knew his parents along with Grace had spoken to the chief about the looming danger in form of the Skypeople, and against his own fears and expectations, he and his family hadn't been exiled from the clan. Rather it was the opposite. His father spent a lot of time surveying the reef with Tonowari and Ronal had send out many of her helpers to stock up her medical herbs. Weapons were forged and combat skills taught that his family excelled in.

Neteyam had begun learning these fighting techniques before the Skypeople had returned two years back and without bragging, he was really good at them too. His mother on the other hand had offered to teach archery to everyone that cared to learn, but she only had few students. That left her with extra time to help him out in his teaching. Tanu'ley also offered to teach her rather impressive knife throwing or fighting skills.

He had not yet seen the reason why his little brother was so fascinated with her, but even now did Lo'ak spend time with her as she instructed him on his position. He proudly held his hunting knife with his Sully stone out in front of him while he attentively listened to whatever the woman had told him.

"It has been a long time that I have seen him so concentrated." He mumbled to himself but with her sharp hearing Neytiri heard her son. She looked over to Lo'ak and grimaced.

"He's much like Jake in this case too. Your father could be so dense when learning the language, but he always had an affinity for anything related to fighting." She supported his claim. Something about the look in her eyes bothered him though.

"Mom, why do you look at Tanu'ley like this?" He asked. Talking to his mother had always been so much easier than to his father. Of course he trusted Jake, but with his many duties that demanded his time, his father was barely home long enough to listen to his sons problems.

"Tanu'ley was very angry with me for a long time, maybe even now." Neytiri said and her voice sounded heavy, sad.

"Why would she be mad at you?" He asked, though he already had a guess.

"I was promised to her brother, Tsu'tey, before I mated with your father. Along with everything that happened so fast during those days back then, she assumed I had betrayed her family. When Hometree was destroyed Tanu'ley was trapped amongst its branches for a long time and she lost both of her parents that day. She was so angry and hurt and somehow she thought I was the reason for all this pain." She told him, and her eyes had a faraway look to them.

"We loved each other very much once and I treated her like my little sister, when my own sister was gone. She was such a sweet child, curious and kind. When Jake first came to our clan she even tried to play tricks on him, because she though him funny. But that child is long gone now." It was the first time he heard of that and despite his discomfort to ask her of such sad times, he too was all too curious.

"Do you love her still?" He asked.

"I barely know her anymore. She spent a lot of time avoiding me when she was younger and still full of resentment. She even had an easier time to forgive Jake, but not me. I had broken her trust in me somehow and it had hurt her so much worse because she had loved me too. I tried to speak with her but when you were born and Kiri too, I had too may other things to keep me occupied. Tanu'ley tamed her Ikran very young and demanded to leave the clan soon after. There was little we could do to stop her. Years passed before I ever got to speak to her again but by then she was like a stranger to me. A stranger that I had once loved like a sister." His mother finished, leaving him with a weird sense of grief.

"Is it hard to see her like this?" He continued to ask, pointing over to the young woman who was still teaching his little brother how to fight. His mother looked conflicted.

"It is definitely a surprise. I haven't seen her in years and she has matured a lot. She looks much like her brother when he was her age. That doesn't change the facet that I saw her smile for the first time in years yesterday. Tanu'ley had little to no friends in the clan and was always by herself, but now she's here laughing with our Lo'ak and calling him her nephew." She stopped a little, like she was deciding on what to say next.

"The fact that she calls him nephew was always something I had hoped for. But she calls him nephew not because she sees me as her sister anymore, but because she has fallen in love with your uncle. Your uncle who has been dead for over two decades! Life is certainly never what you expect it to be." They were both silent for a couple seconds before Neteyam spoke again.

"It really does sound confusing." He admitted. Neteyam actually wanted to ask some more but he was interrupted by the sudden shout of a hunter. An Ikran circled above them before it landed nearby, it's rider jumping down from its ride to run towards them.

"My Tsakarem! I have found the ship!" The man cried and Neteyam was surprised when he recognised his friend.

"Eyatan?" He voiced his surprise, but only got a short smile and a wave from his friend. Neytiri received a report instead.

"I found the demon ship, many miles northwest from here. They were going south so far and attacked another village in search of our Olo'eyktan." He said and Neytiri nodded her head.

"We need to let the others know what is going on." She said and Neteyam noticed how both Lo'ak and Tanu'ley had come over as soon as Eyatan had arrived.

"There is more!" The latter insisted. "During their raid on the village they brought three prisoners. One was Spider and then a little human girl. Norm's child I think. Then there was To'masuly. They were brought back to the ship but somehow To'masuly made it possible for Spider to flee. He and the girl couldn't." Those news had everyone present immediately focused.

"Spider has fled? And you left him out there?" Lo'ak asked, shocked at the news. Tanu'ley looked like she had questions as well but held them back.

"Yeah, it looked like To'masuly fought their guards and threw him off the ship with some rations. If I understood it correctly he pretended to have killed Spider, so the soldiers wouldn't look for him. I couldn't intervene without getting noticed and I knew few of the reef Na'vi followed the ship. They will have found Spider by now." Eyatan explained.

"Neteyam, I want you to go look for your father and Tonowari, they must be informed of the situation. Another clan has been attacked, so they might want to send help in some way." Neytiri instructed and he obediently bowed his head but stood still to see what else she would say.

"Eyatan will you be able to return to the other clan?" She asked but his friend shook his head.

"Not for at least an hour. My Ikran went as fast as he could and is exhausted." He replied and as soon as he finished his words Tanu'ley was on to him.

"Can you describe the way to me? Then I'll go instead." She nearly demanded from the young hunter. His mother pulled her back.

"What do you intend to do, Tanu'ley? We need to speak with the others first." She hissed a little, but received a far more aggressive hiss in return.

"My Tom is out there, sacrificing himself for a child and I intend to bring this Spider boy here. None of you can go, because you need to stay hidden, but me and Somi are fast and stealthy. I can retrieve the boy and send message to the village that was attacked." She reasoned and Neteyam saw anger in his mothers eyes.

"We still need to speak to the others first. Storming off without a real plan might just endanger us all even more." She insisted what earned her another aggravated hiss from Tanu'ley.

"The boy could be hurt or in danger with the other clan. Maybe they want to harm him because he is human. There is no time to lose!" The younger woman countered. At that point Neteyam turned to the water, calling his Ilu. He didn't need to watch them fight if he just brought back his father for discussions. He was barely past the village waters before he already saw the two men out in the reef. He let out a high pitched call that instantly got him his fathers attention. Neteyam waved him over and luckily both men made their way over to him.

"What's going on Neteyam?" His father asked as he finally reached his son, who just beckoned them to follow him.

"Eyatan just came to mother, telling him he found a ship northwest from here. My uncle, Spider and Maya were on the ship, so it must have been Quaritch. They attacked a village." Neteyam tried his best to offer all the information he had gathered and both men tensed at the news he shared. They reached the beach soon after where Tanu'ley and Neytiri were still arguing. Tanu'ley's Ikran was also waiting there, obviously agitated by her riders emotional state.

Lo'ak and Eyatan looked shocked and pale while they continued to observe the two arguing women. They did look intimidating with their dark expressions and bared teeth but backed off when they noticed the two chiefs leaving the water.

Neteyam was shortly impressed by his fathers bravery as he stepped between the two women. As soon as they calmed a little more Eyatan was called forth to again report what he had seen. Tonowari did insist on some extra time to prepare some aid he would provide for the clan he recognised as the Ta'unui. He left the matter of Spider up to Jake.

Tanu'ley was extremely inpatient when she stepped forward to make the same offer again of retrieving Spider. Jake understood her reasoning, but insisted she'd take along a token from Tonowari, so the clan would hear her out.

The Token, a painted Akula tooth, was swiftly provided and she was up in the air seconds later.

She'd be back in less than two hours, but Neteyam felt the same restlessness he sensed from his brother. Spider was free and he'd be back soon.

While Neteyam never shared the deep friendship like Lo'ak and Kiri did with Spider, he adored his human friend. They sometimes joked around like they only could as the oldest of the kids and he knew exactly what the second song chord on his fathers loincloth meant.

Spider was family. He always had been, and always would be.

Their lost brother would come home.

"Don't let him kill himself, I want to do that myself." Were the first word he heard when he regained consciousness.

Well Quaritch had been anything but happy with him. He communicated his anger quite effectively and he spat out some more blood from his beaten up mouth. His lips felt almost nonexistent with how many times they had split up. His cheeks burned painfully from all the slaps and punches they had received. His ear at least had stopped bleeding though it's remains must have looked pitiful.

The colonels first bout of anger had abated soon, but it had been terrifying and painful to experience. The point where Quaritch had stopped beating him to pulp and promised him to keep him alive painfully long was the actually terrifying experience.

"We also need to keep you all pretty. Can't have you become unrecognisable, you still have a roll to play." Quaritch had said. And curse his suicidal ass, Tom had laughed straight in the man's face. The following punch to the gut knocked him out for good, leaving his muscles sore and lungs with spasms.

Now he found himself bound to a chair, the rough rope dug deep into his wrists and ankles, openly displaying his chest. As soon as the soldiers had left him there, a slight human man with shaggy hair and glasses walked in.

"Congratulations, you made my job even more of a nightmare." He grumbled.

"Believe me I don't find enjoyment in this situation" came Tom's sarcastic reply.

"Guess so. I heard what they did to the girl. For what it's worth, I'm sorry for your loss." He said, his voice much softer now. Tom could not answer to that yet and the other man heaved a heavy sight.

"I came here to explore this beautiful and magnificent world, but all I have done was help these men destroy what I came to study. There you think you escaped a shitty world with shitty people only to come to this paradise and much more shitty people. I can't believe that's so much scum of the earth came here." The other continued to rant a little and Tom smelled the distinct smell of alcohol.

"You are drunk." It was a statement, not a question.

"No shit. I can't stand my life otherwise. God, I hate this." He slumped down on a chair, rubbing his tired looking face.

"Besides that, I wanted you to ask what I should do with the girls body… sorry that was… yeah I have no idea what that was anymore." Tom flinched a little at his words.

"The forest clans burry their dead amongst roots and flowers. Can we preserve her body somehow? So that she can be laid to rest?" He asked, voice shaking against his will.

"I'll probably break like a thousand rules here and go against some direct orders, but fuck yes. They won't force me to dismember a little girl. I'll keep her safe somewhere here, you have my word." The human promised him.

"Whose word might that be?" Tom asked.

"Oh yeah, Dr. Ian Garvin. Marine Biologist and the one to study the marine fauna of Pandora. I'm the one they force to extract the treasures of the sea here, to sell them back on earth." He introduced himself with a self loathing chuckle.

"Thomas Sully, brother to the rouge marine, who fought humankind to save his haven here. I was also a scientist. Majored in genetics and medical research, focused on the regeneration of human organs." Tom replied. Dr. Garvin looked a little shocked.

"No fucking way! I mean the similarity to your brother is a little hard to see with your face all beaten up, but considering that there is an entire shit campaign on earth dedicated to slandering your brother that has quite some video material of him… But I never knew he had a brother, and a scientist to top it. Given the situation I shouldn't say I'm honoured to meet you, should I?" Dr. Garvin mused in surprise. To Tom it was clear to see that the other was just as disappointed and disillusioned by humanity as he had been. It was kind of nice to have someone to sympathise with.

"Sorry to ask, but could you have a look at my back? Quaritch, that bastard thought it was a good Idea to cut it up." Tom asked the other, who jumped up in shock?

"The hell? And you tell me now?! There is a puddle already. Oh, God I'm sorry I didn't notice." The man gathered his first aid material and began to patch the wounds up to the best of his ability, which wasn't great, but Tom wouldn't needlessly bleed out.

"Thanks Ian, is it okay if I call you Ian?" The human nodded.

"Sure, no need for formalities. You'r already my favourite person on this ship Thomas." Dr. Garvin replied, giving Tom a slightly cynical smile.

"There is not much to love here, really." The two men were quiet for some time. Ian continued to work over all of his injuries with a couple instructions given by Tom, who was by far better versed with first aid than the human was. The way he had been bound to the chair made it hard to reach all cuts properly, but somehow they managed. When he was done Ian turned back to his work station. Apparently they were in one of the laboratory's that belonged do the Doctor. Tom was just enjoying the moment of peace to order his thoughts, when an Idea got in his head.

"Ian, do you know what the actual criteria for the planetary black code are?" He asked, and the human turned away from his screen where he was looking through some analytic data. He got a scrutinising look and a scowl, before the man nodded.

"Give me a sec, I can pull it up. Ah there it is." he found the file he had been looking for, opened it up and started reading out loud.

"A black code is the complete restriction to explore another planet or moon that would be able to sustain life. Following are the reasons: First, the treat to human life due to alien species, second, threat to human life due to plague or viral infection. Then some to too high advancement of the other main species. That sounds like humans have still some self preservation but no scruples to exploit any planet if they have something they want." Ian let out a sardonic chuckle.

"We are the best example for a parasite." Tom agreed wholeheartedly.

"Not all of us… you know some were able to integrate quite well." Ian gave him a pointed look.

"The percentage is minimal. Not enough to justify our stay." Tom countered and the other reluctantly agreed.

The other looked like he wanted to say something, but was interrupted by the door being ripped wide open.

"Ah, is the princess up? Nice, because we have something prepared for you." A very amused Lyle Wanefleet sneered. Then Tom found himself rudely escorted out of the door, across the main level of the ship. They passed a pool like structure before he was lost in the many stairs and turns they made until he was pushed into a small and mostly sterile room.

Quaritch was waiting inside wid a sick smile. On the far side of the room he saw the wall plastered with several items that made his insides turn.

"Is this turning into some kind of a twisted sadistic dream of yours?" Tom quipped, because all courage he felt right now was based on his annoyingly loose tongue. Fear somehow burned his brain-mouth filter.

"Your attitude won't make this any more pleasant for you." Wanefleet hissed behind him, but Tom was already so fucking scared that he looked unfazed on the outside.

"I do what I can. Give me a knife and I'll gladly stab you, but right now I only have sarcasm." He said honestly and instantly hated himself for doing so.

"Shut your pie hole!" The enraged Quaritch shouted at him, while his little pet soldier shoved him into to the far corner, where to his unending dread, iron cuff's extruded from the wall.

"Congratulations, your on the same level of wittiness than my fifth grade bully." His mouth blabbered on. Two quick kicks to the back of his knees had him toppling to his knees and nearly his face, because his hands were still held on his back.

"Boss told you to shut the fuck up." Wanefleet demanded while he fastened the first cuff to his wrist.

"Oh, I'm not sure, didn't he say that to you?" Hissed Tom as he tried to spit in the soldiers face. His arm was painfully twisted until he moaned out loud and the pressure let off. Now both wrists were chained, leaving them in an extended uphold position, with his back bared.

"Do you actually want to die?" Quaritch asked him, a feral snarl pulling his mouth into an even uglier state.

"If the other option is looking at your ugly mug… well." He replied, but he had to hold back the tears that already threatened to gather in his eyes.

"Boss, he's crazy!" Was the soldiers embarrassing small minded exclamation. He would go crazy if he spent any more time with such brute dimwits like him.

"Hey and you are actually capable of a coherent thought." He mocked the Avatar, who was by far the ugliest he had seen yet. With his confused stare he did't even catch on to the quip he'd made.

"Can I mug him please?" Wanefleet asked, but Quaritch shook his head.

"Can't stand some opposition from this tied up hostage?" Tom continued on down on his communicational path of doom.

"He'll start screaming soon enough, then you don't want him muzzled." Quaritch promised, with an absolutely evil and sadistic smile.

Tom wasn't even fighting the tears anymore. Now he just hoped he wouldn't pee himself from utter terror. He was not made for this shit and his only saving grace right now was that he knew next to nothing about Jake's whereabouts. They already believed him to have killed Spider, so they hopefully wouldn't ask him about that. Maybe he should make himself believe he had killed the boy before they could use it against him. The thought alone made him feel sick, but in this situation right now, there was little that could make him feel worse.

He was able to barely suppress his sobs, but his state was discovered anyway when the colonel pulled back his head by his queue.

"That fucking pussy is already bawling! We haven't even started anything and he's terrified like a little bitch." Wanefleet sneered in schadenfreude. Quaritch just continued his silent but deadly smile as he looked down into Tom's face.

"I heard that cutting off the neural chord is even worse than death for the Na'vi." He mused and the soldier by his side actually agreed.

"I tried it, when I was human. During the last battle I found one of the savages chiefs hurt in the forest. Tuff little nut with several bullets in his chest. I cut of his stupid hair and he screamed like a girl. Pretty sure he died soon after." He explained and Tom's eyes widened at his tale. A Na'vi chief that had died during the war? Jake's memory of Tsu'tey's death came to his mind. Could that really be? With his Luck, certainly.

Quaritch on the other hand looked displeased with the information.

"Then we can't use that. We need him alive to use him as a hostage." He grumbled and wrapped the braid around Tom's neck instead.

"We start with the classics then." And then the bastard actually picked out a beaded whip with five chords. He let the ends snap through the air with a loud crack before he turned back to Tom.

"Let's begin, shall we?"

Well I personally don't know why it turned out like it did, but there are parts in here that I really like. I'd love to hear your opinions on this of course.

See you next time.