Blood and Water | Neteyam

Sweet Promises ∼ 5

"Grab them," The one who seemed to be in charge barked and Tcelia and the others were forced to their knees and a knife was placed at their throats. Tuk's whimpers cut right into Tcelia's heart, and the older girl urged Tuk to be brave and not to make any sudden movements. Tuk stilled beside her.

"Look, Colonel," one of the goons jeered, and forced Kiri's hand in the air, showing it off to their superior, "five fingers, we've got ourselves a half-breed." he smirked.

Kiri looked so small and frightened, trying to pull her hand away, and Tcelia had never hated anyone more than she did right at that moment. She hissed at the goon but all she got in return was a reminder that she had a knife pressed to her neck. She could feel something warm and sticky trickling down her neck. The bastard had cut her. Opposite her, Lo'ak was furious.

Their boss quickly turned to Lo'ak, "Show me your fingers. Now!" and grabbed him by his hair, forcing Lo'ak to look up at him. Lo'ak slowly raised his hands, but instead of showing them off to the Colonel, he made a rude gesture at him, never breaking eye contact. If they hadn't been in a life-or-death situation, Tcelia would have laughed.

"You are one of his, aren't you," The boss drawled, amusement dancing in his eyes. Lo'ak hissed at him, obviously not having any intentions of backing down. The colonel shook Lo'ak's head, "You're his alright. Where is Jake Sully?"

Lo'ak responded in Na'vi, "I don't speak English... with assholes," But the colonel didn't seem to find him amusing anymore. A cold look passed over his face as he replied in broken Na'vi, tightening his grip on Lo'ak's hair, "Where is your father?" Lo'ak hissed again but it was obvious from the sound of it, that he was in pain.

Tcelia glanced at the sky. Surely Jake would be there soon? How long ago had Lo'ak called for backup? It seemed like a million years ago, although she knew it probably had been no longer than five minutes. Her stomach tightened at the thought of Jake reaching them too late, arriving to see his children lying dead on the forest floor.

"Fine, if you wanna play it the hard way," The colonel sighed and pointed at Kiri, "Cut off one of her fingers."

Almost simultaneously, Spider and Tcelia struggled against the iron grip they were being held in, crying out, "No, don't hurt her!"

The colonel's ear twitched, and he held up a hand, indicating for the avatar who was holding Kiri to stand down. His eyes passed straight over Tcelia and landed on Spider. A strange look passed over his face. He kneeled in front of Spider. "What's your name, kid?"

Spider straightened his back, and putting as much bravado he could muster into his voice, answered him, "Spider Socorro." His stance and face said the rest; 'and what about it?'

A marveling tone overcame the colonel's voice as he opened his mouth, "Miles?" Tcelia froze. How did this man know Spider's old name? No one knew about that except for the Sullies, her, and his deceased parents. Unless... Something clicked in Tcelia's mind. She stared at the man in disbelief. Could this Avatar be Quaritch?

"Well. I'll be damned, I thought they had sent you back to earth," Quaritch breathed out, and for the first time since Tcelia and the group had been captured, he seemed a little unsure of himself.

"You can't put babies in cryo, dip shit."

...

Eclipse had come as they waited for the helicopter that the avatars had called for shortly after the conversation Quaritch had had with Spider. It had started raining and every howl in the night, every branch snapping in the forest, made the Avatars jump. The kids had been forced into the clearing with the shack and were once again kneeling in a circle, the avatars standing behind them, either pointing an automatic weapon at the back of their head or pressing a knife to their throat.