( PANDORA'S BOX )
⟵ ◊ ⟶
chapter 4: the journey.

WITHIN the last year, raids on RDA supply lines and moon infrastructure became common practice for the Omaticaya. They'd fought fifteen years before with everything they had only for the humans to return in full force. Anything and everything they could do to slow the human's advances on the land was enough to show they would not give up easily, just as they had not in the past.

The day the humans returned, Ruth witnessed the horrific destruction of the forest floor firsthand with Ri'naya at her side. Her daughter hadn't wailed and cried as they helplessly watched, their hunt interrupted. Instead, she'd been silent, tears rolling down her cheeks as she stood at Ruth's side. That had been a year ago.

Ruth was taught enough to survive the battle all those years ago. To make it through alive, at least. Her minimal skills with a bow at the time had to be compensated with a firearm, which saved her life more than a time or two. Before the battle, she'd been fortunate enough to have stumbled upon a bond with a Thanator of all animals she could have found herself lucky enough to survive an encounter with, the animal protecting her fiercely. Even to this day, Onyx did.

There was a raid to be carried out today. After valuable intel was gathered about the RDA railway, Jake organized an assault. She was painted and decorated for war in the same way she had all those years ago, feathers tied into her braided hair and her face covered in black and gold paint.

Ruth clung to Onyx as they raced through the forest alongside direhorses and riders, her panther-like mount swift over the terrain. Through their bond, she could hear his heart pounding, his lungs working hard. Their bond was strong, and over the years, she and Onyx roamed the forest floor without fear. Because the clan relocated to the floating mountains after the RDA returned to Pandora, Onyx had to nest in the forests below. Never too far from his usual location, Ruth was always able to find him for a hunt or a casual ride on the forest floor.

The group of dire horse riders was converging on a contact point on the railway where the RDA Mag-Lev train bearing essential items would pass by, enough to damage Bridgehead and operations for the time being.

Just ahead of her, one of the clan members lifted an RPG launcher, managing to balance himself on his dire horse long enough to aim at the hovering train and fire. The explosion that followed was intense, with heat and sheer force smashing into Ruth and Onyx. The Thanator growled in response to the blast as the group of riders reeled to a stop as they watched the train derail and crash into the soft dirt like a hot knife through butter.

As she rode Onyx with the group toward the wreckage, Ikran riders began to descend toward the spoils. The clan was quick to dig into the containers scattered amongst the random pockets of fire and twisted metal, and Ruth was quick to begin helping direct them. Leaving her Thanator waiting nearby, Ruth made her way over to a heaping pile of tough boxes that would hopefully contain valuable supplies.

"You're safe," Norm said, seemingly appearing out of nowhere. Ruth had to give him props for becoming so active in the insurgency, considering he hadn't diverted from his path as a scientist as heavily as Ruth had. He still had a human body sitting in a link pod back at camp; her's had long rotted in the ground.

"Make it quick, people. Two minutes," Ruth heard Jake say through her earpiece.

"I am," she stated as she hastily went through a box of medical supplies that would be very useful for the camp. Her heart was pounding, and the urgency to flee before RDA aircraft showed up to make them scatter was screaming at her in her head.

These types of interactions between her and Norm always made her uncomfortable. She'd known for a long time he'd had some sort of attraction toward her. It had been obvious since he'd arrived at Pandora with Jake when he replaced his brother as avatar driver. She'd shut it down fairly early after she'd mourned for Tsu'tey, when Jake had suggested she try finding some happiness again. She'd opted for adopting her children instead.

"I saw the RPG go off from above, and I got a little worried you might have been caught in some fallout. Glad to see you're ok."

They needed to be quicker than this. The battle all those years ago had instilled a nervousness in Ruth that couldn't be anything short of PTSD. Any time the clan ran these attacks, she was always incredibly nervous, masking it to the best of her ability. They reminded her of how many times she almost met death firsthand. Really, her human body did. That was why she'd inhabited her avatar body ever since.

"We're on a pretty serious time crunch right now, Norm. Chatter can wait until we get back to High Camp." She closed up the tough box of medical supplies and called for one of the dire horse riders to secure it to their mount. Norm didn't try to initiate any more idle chatter.

Amidst the loudness of the activity around her, Ruth picked out familiar voices. She paused, turning to see Neteyam and Lo'ak in the near distance. The former was scolding the latter, hands raised as he followed after his younger brother. Their ikran waited nearby, letting out anxious calls.

Panic and anger filled Ruth as she abandoned her spot next to Norm and stormed over with her tail lashing behind her. The two boys caught sight of her and immediately grew still. She reeled to a stop, brow furrowing. "What are you doing on the ground? You were told to scout from above!"

"Oel ngari," the boys muttered, calling her the Na'vi term for a close female relative. Their ears pinned back in embarrassment after they reeled to a stop, looking at her. They had been caught disobeying their father's direct orders and knew the consequences that would follow. 

"Aunt Ruth, please. It is my fault. I shouldn't have let him land—" Neteyam tried saying, but Ruth raised a hand. 

"Stop taking the flack for your brother's dumb decisions," Ruth scolded Neteyam before looking to Lo'ak, her golden eyes narrowed. She'd seen these kids raised from newborns, seen them through all their life stages. They were her nephews, through and through, and she would treat them accordingly. Her treatment would be light in comparison to what Jake would when he found out. "Lo'ak, why the hell would you land and disobey your father's direct orders?"

The boy opened his mouth to reply but didn't have the opportunity to answer. Within a few moments, RDA Scorpions arrived to rain down hell with explosives. A rocket let loose and beamed toward an area not far from them, and Ruth could only react by putting herself between the impact and the boys. There would be no escaping it.

The three of them flew back at least ten feet onto the ground. It all happened so quickly she hadn't registered it. As Ruth's hurting head cleared from the haze, an even louder explosion could be heard. She hoped it was a crashing aircraft. Her arms pulled away from where they were wrapped around the boys as she began to push herself to her feet.

Hissing in pain, she knew there was a gnarly wound somewhere on her upper back. Some shrapnel had gotten her, but her main concern was the boys.

"Are you two hurt?" She asked immediately upon standing, all her anger replaced with concern. She used her hand to grip Lo'ak's upper arm so she could turn him accordingly as she searched for injuries. If it were Kina, Seyu, or Ri'naya standing in front of her, she would be doing the same. Luckily, they weren't even here. They didn't have ikran yet, and Ruth would have never let them join the ground forces. 

The only reason Lo'ak and Neteyam already had ikran was because of the sheer fact that Jake was the type of dad who demanded excellence. They completed their Iknimaya before her children, who were a few years their senior. Jake was often too hard on his kids. A fact Ruth had not always agreed with throughout the years. As much as she didn't like acknowledging it, it was her fault her kids hadn't made their climb.

"I'm fine, Auntie," Lo'ak replied sheepishly as she looked over him aggressively. 

"You're gonna get your ass chewed out by your dad—"

"Lo'ak,"  Ruth halted at the sound of the boy's father. She turned to see Jake charging their way, eyes narrowed angrily under his flying visor and war paint. He reeled up, yanking Lo'ak by his forearm in a way that made Ruth bite her lip in an effort not to retort in disagreement. "What the hell were you thinking, boy? You were told to scout for bogies from above!"

"It is my fault, sir," Neteyam tried saying in defense of his brother, but Ruth was quick to lift an arm and shoot a look. This was not the time to reason with their father.

"Get back to your ikran and get the hell out of here. I'll deal with you two later," Jake growled, and the two boys were off. Jake turned his attention to Ruth, his demeanor changing. "You alright? I saw the payload take off, but I was trying to get everyone to scatter."

"Yeah, I just got a little scratch on my back," she replied. In response, Jake turned to look at her back and hissed at what he saw.

"Get back to Onyx and go home," Jake ordered with all manner of seriousness in his tone. "We don't have much time before more aircraft show up. I don't need you getting more screwed up."

Normally, she might have argued with him to stay and help, but the adrenaline was wearing off, and the pain from the wound began to become more intense and red hot. She could already see a suture kit and a regime of antibiotics in her dinner plans.

"Alright. Get out of here quick, Sully," Ruth ordered as she began to make her way back to her Thanator, where he stood patiently waiting off in the distance.

"You got, Carson," Jake said in reply before taking off. 

With much effort, Ruth swung onto Onyx's back, and the two of them took off into the safety of the forest.

THE moment his boots hit the forest floor, Lt. Riley became eerily aware of his place amongst the denseness of the Pandoran jungle. The blades of the aircraft they'd arrived on still whirred above as the team ducked and jogged to a gathering point a safe distance away.

Despite everything appearing foreign around him, there was something familiar to his surroundings. As if his body was feeling itself in its natural environment for the first time. It was strange, to say the least.

As he looked around to assess their surroundings, he could not help but wonder if his old body lay somewhere on the forest floor, long taken by rot and decay. The thought of the possibility was enough to make him shake his head in discomfort and turn his attention to his team and the task at hand.

Once the aircraft took off to ascend above the canopy, the forest's natural ambiance reassumed its tempo. Riley felt his ears flicker involuntarily in the direction of sounds that could be identified as a possible danger.  Somewhere in the distance, an animal hooted, making the team whip their attention in its direction.

"Alright, team," Quaritch said, drawing them all back to him. Riley adjusted his grip on his rifle and rested his weight on one leg as he stood next to Soap. "Keep quiet while we're on foot. We're going to patrol a fifteen-click area 

"We're just going to wander around until we find something?" Z-dog asked as she chewed on some gum.

"Yeah, why don't we just fly up there and find their asses?" Lyle shook his head in a confused way. 

Before Price or Quaritch had the opportunity to reply, Riley answered their questions. "It seems you've forgotten about the immuno-response the mountains have any time we get close to them. That's the entire reason we're here."

"LT has it right," Price nodded. "The science guys are saying we won't experience any of the response because we're recoms. But that only applies if we're on foot, without aircraft. Our best bet in finding Sully and Carson is by immersing ourselves like the savages."

Thoughts of running around the Pandoran forest with the tiny loincloth and bows the Na'vi always had was almost comical in the lieutenant's mind. Enough so that a smirk tugged at his lips under his mask.

Quaritch nodded, looking around at them all. "We're gonna eat Na'vi, walk Na'vi," he said, pointing to his boots for emphasis as if saying they'd be off and discarded soon. "Speak Na'vi."

The sound of crudely spoken Na'vi coming out of Quaritch's mouth was surprising, to say the least. The team had been issued a small book of Na'vi phrases they might find useful in their endeavors, but many of them had tossed it aside when they found it too hard to understand. Riley was too focused on wrangling his existential crisis to bother looking at it.

"Alright, boss," Soap relented with a shrug. 

"So, we're supposed to just forage for chow, then?" Z-dog asked through the pop of her bubble gum. 

It was reminiscent of how she used to always chew gum before they went blue. Not long after arriving at Pandora, Riley and Zdinarsik developed a no-strings-attached fling they haven't even acknowledged since coming back from the dead. If she wanted to hang around with someone else, it wasn't a problem. The same went for him. Now, it was as if they had never gotten involved like that in the first place.

"You were issued field manuals," Price replied from where he stood, resting on one leg as he leaned against a vine-covered tree. Riley still couldn't get over his lack of beard. "You know you how to read."

The team grunted in acknowledgment. As Quaritch went on with his brief, Soap quietly asked Riley, "So we're meant to wander the forest, hoping we don't get an arrow in the back?"

The LT sighed. "We're all Bridgehead has to use right now. Aircraft can't make it into the mountains long enough to reach the insurgency camp. If we're gonna find Carson or Sully, our best chances are on foot."

Soap huffed in indignation. "Figures."

They traveled quietly for a long time. There was no chatter, and the only communication was hand signals. Riley held up watch near the back of the patrolling group, with Price behind and Z-dog ahead of him. Their heads and weapons remained on a swivel, ready for any danger the jungle might throw at them.

The sound of shivering undergrowth and strange yips drew their attention to a singular point to the right. With the muzzles of their rifles aimed with deadly precision, Z-dog, Price, and Riley watched as a couple of dire wolves appeared on top of a fallen tree. They hesitated a moment, glaring with their green eyes, but eventually scurried off as if the recoms weren't worth bothering. They really were blending in with the wildlife.

The three of them relaxed, lowering their muzzles. Z-dog grunted with a grin, saying, "No shit."

The patrol carried on, spotting wildlife here and there. A part of Riley was terrified by the idea of running into the Hammerhead giants that had decimated the AMP suit ground forces back at battle, as he had been told. Really, he was grateful not to remember a thing of what he supposedly went through during that battle almost two decades ago.

The longer they moved, the more he began to lose his little sense of direction. Under the canopy, they were beholden to the guidance of a GPS. He didn't know which direction was north, south, east, or west. Another reason for the disorienting feeling he has been burdened with since waking up.

Eventually, an area was secured for rest. Riley found a spot to sit against a tree, lay his head back, and closed his eyes. Grabbing his canteen from his pack, he pulled up his mask to down a swig of water. The relief from the fabric on his skin was heavenly, but he would endure the discomfort as he always had.

"So what do you think Dr. Carson looks like now?" Lyle casually asked Riley and Mansk, who were sitting against the same tree. The two of them were the quiet type, and because of that, they often got along. "I bet she's gotten old. She was in her thirties way back when." 

Ruth Carson was the prettiest of the science geeks back at Hell's Gate—even Riley would admit that. Most of them were awkward, both socially and physically, but she'd been an outlier who had drawn the attention of many on base. That didn't mean she didn't have a tongue for a whip she would mercilessly unleash on anyone who made advances on her. 

A handful of times back then, he had found himself thinking she was attractive. Enough so that he thought even Z-dog couldn't rival her. Something he would never tell the recombinant marine that sat a few feet away from him.

"You can see for yourself when we finally detain her," Riley replied as he pulled his mask back over his face. "We're not going to be making bets on what she looks like after fifteen years."

"Too bad she sided with the Blues," Mansk murmured as he wiped the sweat away from his forehead. "For a Doc, she was a pretty one."

"If she still has that avatar, she can still get it," Lyle chuckled lowly as he popped some of a protein bar into his mouth. 

"Shut the hell up, Corporal," Riley muttered. As much as he was a trained killer, he'd never been agreeable with the way the rest of the grunts talked about women. His only 'partner' on Pandora had been Zdinarsk.

For the rest of their break, the lieutenant reminisced on the Avatar Driver they were actively hunting.