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| Chapter 4 |


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Italics: (Metkayina sign language, and Jake's inner thoughts)
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After a long time of traveling in aircraft towards a region in Pandora, that's close to the forest, Quaritch and the rest of the Avatar soldiers arrived at Bridgehead City. It was a fortified base that was built shortly after a few acres of forest were demolished by the Sky People and it left a big empty space.

Bridgehead City is a larger RDA HQ compared to the organization's previous base, Hell's Gate, back at the forest. Prior to the Battle of the Hallelujah Mountains, the RDA's operations headquarters were corporate-run with a security presence, like Parker Selfridge, However, now under the leadership of General Ardmore, there is little division between what is military, civilian, and corporate RDA.

Inside the ship, Quaritch was dead silent with a menacing and angry look in his eyes as he breathed in the air from the masks he and his comrades were wearing. All he had in his mind was how he would destroy Jake and you, nothing more. He was looking for revenge, and he would do anything to get what he wants.

Upon entering and flying over the base, the giant aircraft hovered and began to descend to the runway where other ships were located. The space itself was filled with construction, machinery, and equipment that was brought by humans from Earth. Small hovercrafts were flying around, supervising everything.

When reaching the runway, the ship where Quaritch was started to descend, and when it finally landed and its wheels touched the ground, the group started to prepare to leave the aircraft. When they were ready, the back ramp of the ship opened, and all soldiers, including Quaritch and a few humans who were assisting, walked out with their air masks on. The moment they stepped outside, the soldiers were met with loud yelling and racket from the entire base. It was sure a busy place.

"Go! Go! Go! Inside the terminal!" A sergeant in charge of overseeing the arrival of Quaritch and his group yelled, but the Colonel was completely unphased and kept walking. "Masks off," Lyle said when he saw Quaritch stop walking to remove his air mask, letting out a soft hiss. The Colonel breathed in the air, and then exhaled, continuing to walk forward.

Shortly after, Quaritch and his group of soldiers were being escorted through the base to meet with the General of the division. She would be the one in charge of helping with Quaritch's plan to get rid of you and Jake. It became harder to find him as the years went by, so the Colonel decided it was time he took things to an entirely new level.

As Quaritch walked along the base, following the lead of a human soldier, he was gazing at the weaponry that was being stored or created. There were even more Ampsuits here and many of the same artifacts the RDA had back when Jake had first arrived.

Eventually, the soldier leading them brought the Avatar crew to a woman who was wearing a robotic suit that mimicked her movements. She was using that suit to train against a punching bag as Quaritch arrived at the scene. "Colonel. It's the General," The soldier said to Quaritch, and he nodded, turning to the woman who was still relentlessly hitting the punching bag.

She eventually stopped and noticed Quaritch's presence, not turning to look at him just yet. The Avatar walked up to the woman in the robotic suit and as he saluted. She turned to face the Colonel, exhaling a bit. "General Ardmore," Quatitch said sternly, waiting to be greeted by the woman. They were both still of high rank, but respect went a long way.

"Nice to meet you, Colonel. I hear good things" General Ardmore said, extending out her robotic hand over to shake his hand. "But, a lot has changed since your last tour here. Walk with me," She started, turning around to start heading the other way. Quaritch turned his head to look at his group and gestured with his head to follow, which they did.

General Ardmore started to walk Quaritch through the base and gave him a briefing on what exactly was happening and what was going to happen. Everything was calculated and there wasn't any detail they missed to include. Quaritch failed at taking out Jake the first time around, but he had a chance now to redeem himself with even bigger forces.

"The new command center, it's over here, that just came online," Ardmore started, still walking in her robotic suit with only Quaritch and Lyle by her side. The others were given orders to stay on another part of the base. "The sworn assemblers can put up an entire building in six days," The General said, pointing to small machines that crawled onto the construction sites, working automatically.

"We have done more here in a year than in the previous thirty years," She continued, and Quaritch nodded, feeling rather impressed by how much progress has been made. "We are not here to run on a mine, Colonel. As on world commander, I have been charged with a greater mission," She said, earning an inquisitive look from Quaritch. He didn't know exactly what she meant by that.

Soon enough, Lyle and Quaritch were led to a section of the construction base that had machinery operating by itself with no human contact. As Quaritch watched a big piece of metal being engraved and placed onto the mechanism, the General took a sip from her mug full of coffee, still using her suit to do so.

"Earth is dying. Our task here is to tame this frontier. Nothing less than to make Pandora the new home for humanity. But, before we can do that, we need to pacify the hostiles," She said, taking another sip of her coffee while seeing Quaritch walk away from the railing that overlooked the construction site.

Later on, the General led Quaritch and Lyle to another section of the base. She was no longer in her robotic suit and was walking on her own two feet. It was similar to the one on the RDA, and it was the main room for the base of operations. Various hologram monitors showed different footage of Jake's attacks over the last few months. Quaritch analyzed them carefully.

"Sully's raids are becoming bolder and more frequent. His strikes and attacks are well-planned, and executed perfectly. Got tight coordination between his ground and air assets. His forces are hitting our outline sites. Mines, pipelines, cutting off our supply chain," Ardmore said, guiding Quaritch through each of the videos displayed as he took occasional breaths from his air mask.

"They hit a mag train two days ago," A man that was overseeing the footage and controlling it intervened in the conversation. The video showed the footage of the attack that Jake and you had on the train full of weaponry and resources. The train track was destroyed.

Quaritch removed his mask from his face and let it dangle around his neck before speaking up. "Any intel on Sully's base of operations?" He asked, being that he was most interested in where Jake was than anything else. Ardmore nodded. "Yeah. Bring up the mountains," The General said to the main in the controls, and he did exactly what was asked, pulling up footage.

Immediately, a detailed and realistic hologram of the Hallelujah Mountains was displayed over the General, Quaritch, and Lyle. It almost looked too real, but then again, technology has made unimaginable advances over the years. "It's a cave system in the Hallelujah Mountains somewhere," Ardmore started, phasing through the hologram as she walked through it. Quaritch did the same thing, paying attention to this part the most.

"But, every time we send our forces up there, we take losses. Our hardware really stirs up the hornets' nest," She said, showing the Colonel a video of a helicopter being swarmed by Ikrans. "We only get ten minutes in enemy airspace before they are all over us," The General said, turning back to face Quaritch again.

"Colonel, we believe your blue team will be perceived as indigenous and will not trigger the immune response," Ardmore said, making Quaritch raise a brow at her. "And how might we test that hypothesis, General?" He asked, already liking the sound of this.

"The hard way," She stated simply, and Quaritch smirked with a grin afterward at her words. He was looking forward to this more than he needed to, and couldn't wait to get into action. "Outstanding," The Colonel said with his smirk widening across his face.

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Time went by flying, and before they knew it, Quaritch and his group of Avatar soldiers were on helicopters flying over the Hallelujah mountains. The aircraft flew through the fog and the mountains, trying to find a good place to land. Quaritch and his comrades had their bodies leaning out of the helicopter to see everything more clearly. They couldn't deny that it was truly a beautiful sight to behold.

"We are entering hostile airspace," The pilot manning the aircraft said, earning a relayed message from the other pilot that was flying the helicopter behind the one the group was in. Quaritch looked back at the Avatar woman that was part of his crew of soldiers, turning his head back to laugh before looking forward again. The woman laughed and grinned at his actions, continuing to look around as well.

Meanwhile, the Sully siblings and Spider were out exploring and running through the mountains. Lo'ak, Kiri, Tuk, and Spider all began to run through a big and sturdy vine that connected two mountains. They were leaping, laughing, and smiling. They were having a nice time being in their element, and just being in the forest where they grew up.

"Go, monkey boy!" Kiri said with a laugh, leaping and jumping from one vine to another as Spider ran ahead of her. He laughed at her words. Kiri also made sure to stay close enough to Tuk who was just behind her, so she could keep an eye on her little sister and make sure nothing happened. "Guys! Wait up!" She called, trying to catch up with the older kids.

At the same time, the helicopter with Quaritch and his crew arrived in a space in the middle of the forest. The two helicopters hovered over the grass, close enough to the ground for all the soldiers on both aircraft to slide down to the ground through ropes. The moment each of them landed, they all pulled out their guns and cocked them, making sure they were loaded in case they ran into trouble.

When everyone had disembarked, the helicopters left and it was now just the soldiers with their weapons, aiming their guns. It was dead silent except for the eerie sounds of the forest. The chattering of animals could be heard echoing through the trees. Quaritch stayed alert, starting to gesture with his hands for the soldiers to follow him, and with that, they were now on their way.

The kids were running deeper into the forest, and now, they came across this large log that they could run on. It was covered with moss, plants, grass, and other flora. While they made their way across it, Tuk stopped in her tracks and kneeled to put her hand on a plant that had tentacles with tendrils flowing outside of it, attaching gently to her hand like an octopus sucker. She giggled as she shook her hand up and down to shake the tentacles off.

Noticing she had fallen behind to look at the plant, Lo'ak stopped running and looked back at his little sister. "Tuk! Keep up!" Lo'ak urged, making Tuk stand up again and run back to catch up with Kiri and her brother. "Okay! Okay!" She said, running to be by Kiri's side with Spider who was right behind Lo'ak.

"Bro, why'd you bring her anyway?" Spider asked, turning back to look at Tuk and then back at Lo'ak, who then turned around to face the group. The young Sully brother rolled his eyes at the memories and situations of being told on to you and Jake by Tuk.

"She's such a crybaby. She's all, 'I'm telling. You're not supposed to go to the battlefield. I'll tell mom if you don't let me come'," He told in a childish voice, mocking Tuk with his best impression. Tuk was not impressed at all, so she stuck out her tongue at her older brother. Spider looked at Tuk, and chuckled slightly.

"Don't pick on her," Kiri said, not wanting Tuk to feel bad. Kiri is always by Tuk's side and protecting her whenever you're not around. They have a strong sister bond, even if they weren't siblings by blood. It was just a connection that was naturally strong.

The group eventually made it further into the forest and the kids climbed up a series of interconnected roots of trees. At the very top, there was an old RDA aircraft tangled in the vines. It looked rusty and dirty after so many years of being there. Spider and Lo'ak were the first ones to make their way up while Tuk and Kiri were right behind them. "Oh, sick," Lo'ak muttered with amazement.

"Are there any dead bodies up there?" Tuk asked, earning a questionable look from Kiri. She had no idea where that question that her little sister quipped came from. She didn't question it but was still puzzled by it.

Tuk eventually caught up with Lo'ak and Spider while Kiri strayed off and started wandering around by herself. She came upon this section of the forest where the flora and the environment of the jungle really showed. Kiri walked through a path lined by big purple leaves that had the sun reflecting its light on it.

She walked a bit more, coming across a normal green leaf that arched over her like an umbrella. On top of it, there was a fan lizard that landed shortly before Kiri arrived. She was completely entranced by everything around her, paying attention to every detail, and seeing the sights around her with love and care.

Kiri smiled gently and raised her arms, running her hands through the leaf and making the lizards open their fanned wings and fly away. One of the lizards landed on a leaf next to her that was closer to the ground, so she smiled and leaned down to inspect it. The creature, out of instinct, opened its wings and flew away. Kiri smiled in wonder at it.

After that, she came across this clearing that had an open path of grass in the middle of it. She lay down on the ground and the soft grass facing up, looking at the treetops as Eywa seedling spirits started to arrive and float around Kiri. She sighed in contentment while she ran her arms around the grass, eyeing the Atokirina with curiosity.

As for Quaritch and his group, they were still making their way through the jungle. They had their guns aimed at anything that moved. They walked cautiously, having no idea what they would encounter. Suddenly, a rustle in the bushes was heard from across them, and they immediately turned around to point their rifles at whatever was moving. Two Vipervolves came from behind the bushes and jumped onto a log, growling, expecting there to be predators, but when the animals realized that they looked like Na'vi, they scurried away.

The men lowered their guns, seeing that the coast was clear. They looked at one another in surprise before they continued to walk and made their way through the jungle. Quaritch raised his hand and gestured quietly for them to keep walking. They couldn't believe being in this form was able to keep such predators away from them. "No shit," The female Avatar behind Quaritch said with a scoff of disbelief.

Kiri had spent a couple of minutes laying down on the grass and she already felt herself falling into a peaceful sleep. The grass moved with the wind beneath her, and the Atorikina still flotes above her, some even landing on her skin gently. They were completely harmless, and if anything, they brought her even more peace.

Spider had started to worry about Kiri since he hadn't seen her with them for a while, so he took it upon himself to look for the girl and eventually found her in the small clearing she was laying on. "Kiri? Kiri," Spider said, coming through the branches, and kneeling next to her. She still seemed to be asleep, so he started to gently nudge her until her eyes opened sleepily.

The girl sat up, noticing Spider was now next to her. She looked around for a moment before turning her eyes to look at him again. "Are you okay?" He asked with concern, but she stayed quiet for a few seconds before sighing. "I was doing that thing again, wasn't I?" She asked, knowing that this has been a normal occurrence.

Spider smiled and chuckled, seeing an Atorikina float in front of him, so he used his hand to gently push it away. "Yeah, you were," He said bashfully, and for a few seconds, they looked at each other with smiles on their faces, that was until they heard the familiar voice of Tuk.

"Kiri!" Tuk called out with her little voice, and from a distance, Kiri and Spider could see Lo'ak coming in behind her little sister. "Kiri, we have to go back," Tuk said worriedly. Spider and Kiri looked at each other before he started to help her up, and in no time, the group of kids was making their way out of the forest.

At least the plan was to go back, but as the group started making their way back to where they came from, they were walking through a large trunk connecting two trees and Lo'ak spotted something in the corner of his eye. He was ahead of the group, so he was the first to notice. He stopped in his tracks and made his way down the trunk, down to the ground, and kneeled to inspect what he saw.

There were big footprints in the mud. Noticing Lo'ak had strayed off, Kiri raised an eyebrow and walked over to the two boys that were inspecting the mud. "What is it?" She asked, not knowing why they had stopped. After Lo'ak looked at the footprints, he concluded. "These are way too big for a human," He said, which could only mean one thing, if what he thought was correct.

"Avatars?" Spider asked, voicing Lo'ak's thoughts and suspicions out loud. The Sully brother nodded, standing up again, and began to follow the trail of footprints on the mud. Tuk, Kiri, and Spider all followed behind him hesitantly. If Avatars were truly the ones who left those prints on the ground, there was trouble coming. Big trouble.

"Maybe. They're for sure not ours," Lo'ak said, continuing to walk his way through the trail. "What are you doing?" Kiri asked, not having a good feeling about this at all. "Shh. I'm tracking," Lo'ak said, with Spider helping him track the footprints as well. The two boys didn't have any concerns so far, but Kiri could sense that something bad would happen. Tuk was too young to witness any of it.

While the kids investigated, Quaritch had made it deep enough into the forest to the point where he and his crew of soldiers encountered the old base in which he and Jake fought in front. Also, it's the place where you killed him. The Ampsuit was still there, with moss and vines growing all over it.

The female soldier that was walking behind Quaritch made her way around him and walked over to the broken window of the base. "Watch your six," The Colonel said to his soldiers. With her gun still being held tightly, the female Avatar looked over the broken glass and didn't see anything out of the ordinary inside. "Clear," She called out, letting the others know that the space was empty.

Taking it upon himself to look over the area a bit more, Quaritch walked over to the Ampsuit he died in. He made his way around it, seeing how damaged it had become over the years. He moved out of the way some vines from the side of the suit, revealing his name printed on it. with white stars above it. With an emotionless face, Quaritch leaned over to see the inside.

There it was. His skeleton and old body had rotted and disintegrated years before. He could see the bones and his skull. The air mask he had on that day because Jake broke through his windshield was still there as well.

What he saw next was something that made his heart almost stop. Still skewered into his human body, the arrows you shot at him that effectively ended his life still looked the same as they did that day. He put his fingers around the stick of the arrow, turning it around to reveal the green feathers that adorned it.

At the sight of the arrows, Quaritch's face paled completely, and his expression turned into a horrified one. His ears tipped back in fear as if the memories of his past were still haunting him even in another life. If he was honest, when you shot him, it was one of the scariest moments of his life.

The Sully kids and Spider eventually followed the trial and they were now hiding behind bushes and some leaves that concealed their presence. Lo'ak leaned over some branches, with Kiri behind him, looking over as well. He could see clearly that Avatars were circling the area and inspecting. They didn't look like the Na'vi from their village either.

The four kids hid behind a log, spying on the Avatar soldiers from afar. They stayed as quiet as they possibly could. "We are never supposed to come here. Dad is going to ground you," Kiri started, but Lo'ak started to get annoyed. "Shhh! Stop," He said quietly, not trying to make any noise. "For life," Kiri finished, turning her eyes to look back at the soldiers.

Lo'ak turned to Spider with a mischievous smile. "Bro, we have got to check this out, let's go," Lo'ak whispered, and Spider nodded, The Sully brother started to walk further towards where the Avatars were, with his best friend in tow behind him. Kiri and Tuk stayed behind, and the oldest Sully sister still thought this was a terrible idea. One wrong move and they would be in so much trouble.

After revisiting his Ampsuit, Quaritch walked away from it and started to head over to the broken window. From his memories, he remembered that he was the one that broke the one he was approaching to get to Jake's pod. At the time, he was so close to winning the battle and getting to Jake, but then everything turned to hell before he knew it.

The same woman from before entered the base with her gun still in one hand, opening the broken pods with her other hand, checking if there was anything suspicious. But there wasn't. Everything was covered in dust and all equipment was rusty on every inch.

Lo'ak started to walk in a crouching manner, holding his bow and arrow in his grasp. Spider was doing the same, avoiding making as less noise as he possibly could. The two boys came across this knocked-over tree trunk that had some leaves fanning on top of it, so Spider and Lo'ak were able to hide in plain sight.

"Bro, that's where your dad and my dad...fought," Spider said in awe, turning to look at his best friend with amazement. "That's your dad's actual suit," Lo'ak whispered, referring to the knocked-over Ampsuit on the ground. "Holy shit..." Spider muttered.

Quaritch stepped away from the broken window and started to approach soldiers nearby that were serving as lookouts. "Lyle? See if you can pull some data off that dashcam" The Colonel asked, walking over to his second in command. Lyle himself insisted that the camera is long gone and overly damaged. It hasn't been active in years.

Lo'ak looked from behind the bushes he was in and turned to Spider with a nervous expression. "Better call this in," Lo'ak said, meaning that he called Jake through his coms to tell his dad what was happening. Spider's eyes widened, knowing they would be in even deeper shit for being in this situation already. "No, bro. We're gonna get in trouble" Spider said, disagreeing with Lo'ak's decision, but as the Sully brother stood up, the human boy followed him to get back to Kiri and Tuk.

You, Jake, and Neteyam were out on patrol, flying on your Ikrans through the Hallelujah Mountains. Neteyam was flying beside you, and you were flying next to Jake. All of a sudden, Jake heard Lo'ak's voice through his com links. Worry instantly seeped through Jake, knowing that he must be calling be something is wrong. Not out of the blue.

"Devil Dog. This is Eagle Eye, over" Lo'ak said, and Jake did not hesitate to respond. He pressed the button to his coms and relayed back a message. "Eagle Eye, send your traffic," He said with the calmest voice he could muster. Panicking would only worsen the situation, so Jake was going to hear what Lo'ak had to say first before going into action, no matter what the situation was.

"I've got eyes on some guys. They look like Avatars. But they're in full camo and carrying ARs. There are six of them; over," Lo'ak explained, as Kiri put on her coms to listen in on the conversation. You and Neteyam had put yours on as well. After hearing what your son said, concern and worry started to consume you. You looked over to Jake, who looked conflicted about what to do.

"What's your pos?; over," Jake asked, wanting to know where exactly it was that they were. Lo'ak knew the moment he said it, Jake would not be happy at all. "We're at the old shack," Lo'ak continued and knew he made a mistake by saying 'we' because that made it clear it wasn't only him there.

After hearing what his brother said, Neteyam turned over to look at his father with a warning. This was not good at all. They had to play this out carefully and strategically. "Who's we?" Jake asked as his eyebrows furrowed together, hoping that his daughters weren't there, but in his heart, he knew they were.

"Me, Spider, Kiri..." Lo'ak trailed off, looking over to her sisters, knowing he had to tell his dad that their little sister was with them. Kiri gave Lo'ak a knowing look, telling him that he had to tell their dad. He would find out anyway. "And Tuk..." Lo'ak said, and Tuk herself tucked herself closer into her sister's arms in fear. She was scared and nervous.

Once you heard what Lo'ak said, that Tuk was there, you gasped and your eyes widened. You looked over to Jake with anxiety. It finally started to register that your children were there, your youngest daughter included. Your maternal instincts kicked in, making you want to get there as soon as possible to take them home and out of the line of danger. She was too young to defend herself if anything were to happen. Your expression contorted into one of anguish, and Jake had a very conflicted look.

Jake groaned quietly to himself, thinking of what to say next. This was a very delicate situation, and he had to get the kids out of there. "Son, you listen to me very carefully. Pull back right now. Do not make a sound. Get the hell out of there. Move, copy?" Jake said as calmly and cautiously as he could.

"Yes, sir. Moving out," Lo'ak nodded at his father's words, starting to get his siblings and Spider to start to move quietly back where they came from. "See? I told you" Kiri whispered, grabbing Tuk's hand and guiding her away, getting her toward the front of the group.

Neteyam flew a bit forward, getting Jake's attention. "Dad! I know a quick way" The oldest Sully brother said, and immediately veered to the left. You yipped, and you looked at Jake with determination, who reciprocated your expression and quickly followed your oldest son on your banshees.

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Okay, I was planning to write more for this chapter but It's 1 AM and I'm tired so Ill continue this scene in the next chapter! This chapter alone is at almost 5k words so far. Since it's the weekend, I can have chapter 5 by tomorrow night so stay tuned!

I feel a bit iffy about this chapter, I don't know why. I just hope you guys like it nonetheless. Ill try my best to improve in the next ones! ^w^

Anyway, for now I don't have a whole lot of announcements to make but I do wish you guys a good weekend!

If there is anything else to say, i'll add it in the author's note of the next chapter <3 Don't forget to vote and comment! All of your replies seriously make my day, I see them all, I promuse :,)

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