Pathfinder || OC X Neteyam

10 - Recombinants

Aha'ri glanced over at Neteyam to see if she heard that correctly. His eyebrows were furrowed and his eyes had gone hard. Avatars? In full camo? Carrying assault riffles? That made no sense.

"What's your pos? Over."

"Uh," Lo'ak hesitated, "we're at the old shack."

Everyone knew what "the old shack" was except Aha'ri, but the look on Neteyam's face let her know that it was not a place Lo'ak should be.

Jake's voice lowered, "Who's we?"

"Me, Spider, Kiri...and Tuk and Lurei." There was defeat in his voice as he said the last two names.

Aha'ri's heart dropped to the forest below when she heard him say Lurei's name. Her fear was quickly replaced with the rush of adrenaline. She needed to get to the old shack as soon as possible. Whoever those Avatars were, Aha'ri knew trouble was not far away and with the storm closing in quickly, it was going to be a challenge to get everyone out safely. But she would take that challenge any day if it meant saving Lurei.

"Son, you listen to me very carefully. You pull back right now. Do not make a sound. You get the hell out of there. Move! You copy?" Jake's serious tone sent a shiver down Aha'ri's back.

"Yes, sir, moving out."

Neteyam flew up to his dad and gestured behind them. "Dad! I know a quick way." He banked sharply to the right and Neytiri yipped after him.

They all follow him; under the floating mountains, weaving between hanging vines, and eventually down in the tree canopy where they land far enough away to not get caught. Thankfully, they had the cover of darkness from the eclipse to hide them.

Aha'ri smelt the rain in the air. As she hopped off of Kilvan and grabbed her bow, the only thing on her mind was getting her sister away from those monsters. Lo'ak hadn't been replying to Jake's attempts to check on them so they must've gotten caught. Aha'ri's legs begged to run straight over there but Jake and Neytiri hesitated.

"Maybe you guys should-" Jake began.

"Respectfully, sir, my little sister is with them," Aha'ri interrupted. "I'm coming with you." There was no way she was going to let them backseat her. Even when she had only been training in combat for a month or so. She was willing to take that risk.

Neytiri turned to Neteyam but before she could even say anything, Neteyam cut her off. "Mom, my little sisters are down there too. I'm coming as well."

Neytiri glanced at Jake whose face was unreadable. Aha'ri couldn't tell if he was annoyed at them or respected their courage. Either way, Jake jerked his head in the direction of the old shack and began to lead the way.

Quietly, as to not alert the nearby captors, Jake gave hand signals indicating to Neytiri and Aha'ri to stay in the trees and take both sides where the kids were being held by the old shack. Jake then motioned for him and Neteyam to go to the ground and stealthily take out the patrols.

Aha'ri nodded and they all split up. As she circled the old shack on the right from above, heavy rain began to fall, soaking her from head to toe. The moss on the large winding tree branches became slightly slippery but she moved slowly enough to not make any sounds, making it easier to get sure footing.

From the other side of the clearing, Neytiri yipped out into the forest below. To anyone else, her vocalization just sounded like animals of the forest, but to the kids, they knew who was coming.

When Aha'ri found her position behind a wide trunk of a tree, she peeked from behind the bark to see the situation. She saw all of the kids; Lo'ak, Spider, Kiri, Tuk, and Lurei, all being held captive by avatar-looking soldiers. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw a soldier yank at Lurei's queue. It took everything inside of her not to release an arrow right then and there, not caring about the consequences that came after. But there was a plan, and Aha'ri would be patient.