Into the Wild Chp 11

"How's your arm?" Marty asked. He and Jade were sitting in a secluded spot near Hell's Gate. Jade rapped on her cast.

"I'll be getting this off soon. It was a pretty clean break, and I heal fast." She replied. "So how are things with tall, blue and stupid?"

Marty looked blank. "Jake Sully?" Jade prompted. "I heard he got accepted into your tribe."

"Oh, him. What about him?" Marty asked.

"Well... how's he doing with the 'please leave so we can get our Unobtanium'?" Jade went on.

"Uhhh... He hasn't said anything about that. He's just been training and stuff. He bonded with his Banshee a little while ago." Marty explained. "Was he supposed to?"

"YES!" Jade snapped. "The whole point of the Avatar program is to diplomatically make you leave. He's supposed to be talking to your tribe!"

Marty waited out the outburst. Jade quickly calmed down.

"Sorry," she said. "I'm a little on edge. I'm on light duties at the base and I'm going a bit stir-crazy. I just want to get this Unobtanium and go home. Believe it or not, I actually don't want a war if I can avoid one. Neither does about three-quarters of the people here. Most people in the army nowadays just want a steady job. The psychopaths who like killing things are in the minority."

"What are we supposed to do? Hand out flowers and ask everyone to 'give peace a chance'?" Marty asked.

"I don't know," Jade admitted. "We just need to do something. Maybe if we both work at this they'll all at least change their minds. I need to get back or Michael will pop a vein worrying."

She got up and moved off back to the base. Marty stood up as well.

"So I'll see you again tomorrow?" Marty asked.

"Sure," she replied, smiling.

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Jade turned on the light in her room. Michael appeared out of the darkness, his arms folded. Jade started.

"So what have you been doing?" Michael asked.

"What are you, my father?" Jade retorted. "I can take care of myself."

"Jade, the last time I let you out of my sight you almost died!" Michael snapped. Jade looked away. Somehow, Michael having only one eye to glare at her with made it even worse.

"You have no idea what you put me through." Michael said more softly, putting his hands on Jade's shoulders.

"So you got knifed by a ten-foot Smurf?" Jade asked.

"Look, it's dangerous out there-"

"I know, alright?" Jade cut him off. "Stop treating me like a baby. I'm having all these talks with Marty because I'm trying to figure out if there's any way this can end without a war."

"So now you're campaigning for peace and goodwill? Just what happened to you?"

"What happened to making sure I didn't get hurt?"

There was a pause. "Point. Taken."

Jade lifted Michael's hands off her shoulders and looked him in the eye. "Look, just trust me. Please."

Michael left without another word. Jade flopped down on her bed, feeling a headache coming on. Finally, she went to sleep.

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Things went from bad to worse. Michael was in the main room when one of the remote-controlled bulldozers was disabled, weeks later. The Colonel rewound the video and recognized Jake Sully in his Avatar body. Michael was part of the security detachment that went with Quaritch to pick up Sully.

Michael was there when Hometree was destroyed. He sat in the back of the Scorpion as it fired its missiles at the base of the massive tree, and wished that he had tried to help Jade. He looked up. Someone was sitting across from him. It was the medic that he had brought to save Jade. He was trying to ignore what was going on outside as well. In fact, even the door gunners were spraying half-heartedly.

When it was finally over and the fleet of airships turned back to the base, Michael made eye contact with the medic.

"How're you holding up?" he asked. "Permission to speak freely." He added before the medic could ask.

"It doesn't feel right, Cap. I didn't sign up for this."

"None of us did. You may not like it, but we have to do this. This is the only road we can go down now." Michael said. "You just concentrate on stitching me up if I accidently blow my arm off, ok?"

Michael's joke did nothing to lighten the mood. He gave up.

Jade heard about the attack when Michael got back to base. He told her all about how Jake Sully hadn't managed to convince the Na'Vi to leave, and had betrayed the RDA. Jade put her head in her hands.

"This is bullshit. It's like nothing makes sense anymore. It's like the universe is conspiring to force us to fight. I mean, did we have to bomb their home like a nuclear test site?" Jade said to herself exasperatedly. Michael patted her on the shoulder and left her alone.

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And now it had come down to this. The Na'Vi were staging one last defence at the Tree of Souls. Jade's arm had healed, and she was marching alongside her brother with the rest of the ground troops. Dozens of Samsons and Scorpions were flying above their heads, as well as a modified shuttle-bomber and a Dragon gunship. Jade adjusted the seal on her mask, checked her weapon and glanced at the AMP suit to her left.

"You ok?" Michael asked. Jade took a long time to reply.

"Yeah." She replied, not looking at him.

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Marty picked up his bow. He was about to take part in the battle to decide the future of his culture, and he was terrified. He barely knew how to use his bow, and he certainly didn't feel like a fierce warrior. His warpaint only compounded the problem. He felt ridiculous, like a child playing dress-up. He'd heard the rousing speech Jake had given, but he didn't feel the effects. He was just scared.

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But most of all, they were both afraid of meeting each other one last time.