Reborn - Pandora's Box (Book 2)

-.-Reunion Pt. 2-.-

"He's completely feral," one of the security guards told Quaritch, showing him the footage from the camera in the boy's cell. "Think's he's one of them."

Quaritch hummed and sipped his coffee.  "And her?"

The guard switched to the footage from Nix's cell and both jumped a little: she was standing up on the chair, face inches from the camera, features set in a firm scowl. 

Was she going to blink? it didn't appear so.

Then, as though she knew they were watching her, she began shouting at the camera in every language she knew: French, English, Spanish, and, of course, Na'vi.

Nix was dragged from her cell several hours after being thrown in. She felt so small being surrounded by these RDA Avatars - okay, she was small to begin with, but still - and she wished she had linked up with her own Avatar body. But how could she have known? How could she have anticipated any of this? 

She heard Spider before she saw him - heard his screams echoing throughout the room.

"HEY!" She charged forward, or tried, as she was held back by two Avatars. 

Spider was strapped down while a machine whirled at dizzying speed around him. A woman in military uniform stood before him, asking questions.

"Where is Jake Sully? We know you know. Just form a picture in your mind, and we will see it."

"Stop!" Nix tried to intervene. "He's just a child!"

"Perhaps. But a child with valuable information nonetheless." The woman barely turned to face her when she addressed Nix. 

"You want to torture someone, torture me!"

"Will you give it up so easily? That's what I thought."

She fought and failed tears. "Please-"

Suddenly, the machine came to an abrupt halt. Someone had pressed the button to shut it down: Quaritch.

"General, maybe I could try the personal angle?"

She was dragged back down the hall and thrown back into her cell, all the while she was shouting, "No, he's hurt, let me help him!" But clearly they wanted to keep them apart.  

She sat upon the table in the centre of the cell for a long time, necklace in hand, praying to Eywa, her usual mantra.

"Great Mother give me strength... Give us strength..."

A hiss made her jump - it was the door to her cell. She leapt off the table and moved as far away as possible, crouched into a defensive lunge as someone entered.

It was an Avatar, having to duck in order to enter the human-sized door of the cell.  The new Quaritch entered the stark white room and stood up to his full height. 

He stopped when he saw her.  "Easy, easy-" He held up his hands. "Are we good?"

She didn't drop her defensive stance. "You know we're not." 

The two stared in silence back at each other for a long moment. 

She dropped her stance and strode forward, swiftly leaping up onto the table so she could stand at roughly his height and finally take him in. Thankfully, he stayed where he was. 

"What is this?" she asked after studying him, breaking the long silence. 

"This?"

"This-" She waved her hands in an all-encompassing gesture around him. "How?"