Reborn - Pandora's Box (Book 2) AU

-.-The Next Step-.-

"You okay?" Spider pressed when Q finally disappeared back into the trees, slinking back into the shadows like the true snake he was. 

Nix nodded distantly, which did nothing to convince him. Then she spoke, in a voice barely above a whisper:  "This is all just so messed up..."

He could certainly agree with that. After checking on her, he followed after the asshole Recombinant. "Stop going after her like that, and looking at her like you are."

"Like what?"

"Don't do that, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Stop it. She wants nothing to do with you."

He scoffed. "Mind your own business, Kid."

"This is my business. Leave my mom alone."

-.-.-.-.-.-

"How about this one-"

They were once again soaring through the skies on the back of Cupcake, the rest of the squad riding their own respective Ikrans. Nix overheard some of the squad talking about how they had 'now conquered both the land and the skies'. Their words, not hers. 'Conquered' seemed much too excessive in her own personal opinion.

Augustine was nowhere to be found, which maybe was a good thing. With him nearby, freedom seemed so much more within reach. She could only hope and pray to the Great Mother that another situation would present itself for her and  Spider to try and escape, with more success this time ideally.

To pass the time, Spider was testing Q's Na'vi language 'skills', another excessive term in her opinion. Nix was silent, save for her snickering at his horrid pronunciation, which only seemed to urge him on further. However, it wasn't all with bad pronunciation, unfortunately.

"Okay," Spider continued. "How about this one: 'I see you'?"

"No," Nix jumped in.

"Why not?"

"Just no. They don't need that one."

"It's one of the most important phrases, the most important, even -"

"Spider!" She snapped more than she meant to.

Thankfully, he didn't argue any further. "Okay, how about..." She blocked them out - or at least tried.

But Q interrupted. "Oel ngati kameie..." He even did the appropriate hand gesture.

Spider perked up. "Ngati," he corrected, much to Q's confusion.

"That's what I just said, isn't it? Oel ngati kameie."

"Not ngati, ngati!"

"Ngati, ngati. Like it's coming out your nose or something-"

She hated the way it sounded coming from his lips. Hated it, and loved it all the same...

Before he could say anything more - thankfully - he was cut off as he pressed his hand to his earpiece. Spider did the same with the one in his mask.

"What are they saying?" she demanded. Without a mask or comms of her own, she had no idea what was going on.

Q reached forward to hold onto her and Spider as he guided Cupcake into a turn. "Hang on."

"Where are we going?" she demanded again. 

"Back to base."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"Colonel."  General Ardmore greeted them upon their return to the base. "Did you have fun running around the woods?"

Nix was sure he was going to tattle on them, spill the whole escape attempt and praise himself for how he had stopped it all. She waited for the reveal that would decided their fate. She didn't care what happened to her, but she would not let them lay their hands on Spider again. She would be damned if she allowed that to happen another time. 

But it never came.

"'Fun' isn't the word I'd use for it," Q responded. And that was all he said. She was shocked.

"It would seem you've befriended some local wildlife." Ardmore turned to peer around them at their Ikrans.

"A lot more than befriended, General."

She did not seem amused. And if she was pleased, it was hard to tell.  "Colonel, with me."

She led him off while Nix and Spider were pushed towards the sterile, fluorescent cells again. Thankfully this time they were locked up together. 

Much later, the door slid open and Q ducked through, a mug of coffee in one hand and a pair of camo pants and dark green tank top like his own in the other.

He thrust the bundle of clothing to Nix.

She wrinkled her nose at it. "What's this?"

"Change of clothes." He looked to Spider. "I figured trying to get you into actual clothes would be useless."

In confirmation of this theory, Spider hissed as though offended. 

"I'm not wearing these," she told him, also turning her nose up at the idea. "Like hell I'm wearing your RDA-branded shit."

"You said yourself you wanted to bathe. You did so, and now here's some clean clothes to go with your clean body."

"Don't talk about my body, clean or otherwise." She remained firm. "No."

After a moment he shrugged and tossed the offensive clothes onto the cot, in case she changed her mind later. Yeah, right.  

Instead of saying more she grabbed the mug from his hands and took a deep gulp. Blah, straight black coffee. It had always been the way Miles had taken his coffee, as long as she had known him, while she preferred hers as creamy as possible, latte's preferably. It seemed this Recombinant form shared this too.

No, don't think about that. 

"Hey, can I have some?" Spider reached out and made grabby hands for the mug.

But she drew it away. "No, the caffeine will stunt your growth." She gazed up at him, practically having to crane her neck just to see his face. Just like with his dad... "Oi, who am I kidding?" And with that she gave in and handed the mug over.

But Q snatched it, intercepting it before Spider could get a good hold on it. "No more. You two had better get some rest. At dawn tomorrow, we're back out there."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"Colonel." Ardmore was standing down the hall from Nix and Spider's cell when the door slid closed behind him as he left, plus his coffee mug and minus the clothes. She fixed him with her gaze.  "Am I correct to assume your personal past with Vallencourt will not be an issue?"

"Has it been? No, that's what I thought, General. You said the kid wasn't mine." 

"He's not."

"Right. Then she's not my wife." He gave her a respectful nod before leaving her alone in the hall.  "General."

(I'm seeing Fire and Ash tomorrow! It's going to be crazy - I already have ideas for this series based on what we've seen in promos, but I can't wait to see how it's going to inspire me further!

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :) See you on the other side of Fire and Ash!)