Eywa's Gift || An Avatar: The Way of Water x reader fanfic

8. The Replacement

The morning after

The sound of rumbling and thunderous shakes echoed through the forest of Pandora. The smoke blasts through the trees weakening the environment around it. Once the tense landing of the ship reaches the ground, the entrance to a large spaceship which was an interstellar vehicle venture star opens.

A man in an elegant yet perfect suit walks out. Charles Stringer. His mask tightly hugged his face preventing any toxic air to enter the fresh oxygen.

'Our new home.'

The remnants of Hell's Gate were still intact, it was due to be their temporary working station until a good portion of Bridgehead-city was built with a more befitting atmosphere to turn Pandora into humanity's new planet. Stringer was meant to be in control of Hell's Gate for the time being as he was an RDA agent and new administrator of Pandora.

The area is surrounded by a large pentagonal security fence that is miles long and encloses a complex. Slightly more than a third of the site is taken up by the shuttle runway, VTOL pads, hangars, equipment storage areas, and garage structures. A similar area is occupied by the armour bay, vehicle storage sheds, and a light industrial plant mainly fabricating parts for mining equipment and ammunition for base defence.

'Sir,' A soldier salutes Stringer as he approaches. He hands him a communication device and Stringer nods at the soldier, a gesture for him to be left alone. A voice rings and Stringer chuckles while he walks towards the entrance of one of the buildings.

'Selfrige, I'm surprised you're not dead.'

'And you would like that wouldn't you?' Stringer smirks at the question, it was no doubt he was here to replace Selfrige but annoying the man was just entertaining.

'You better have a good reason to have contacted me?' Stringer muses once he enters the building and takes off his mask ready to take a fresh breath of clean air. RDA soldiers salute him as he passes them, but he pays them no mind. Instead of waiting for an answer Stringer cuts off the communication with Selfridge and an RDA agent approaches him.

'I assume you have what I've asked for.' Stringer states rather than asks. The soldier nods and leads the commander to a separate section that holds prison cells. In each cell was a rebel that worked with Jake Sully during the final battle.

Some of the rebels were ex-marines and others were scientists. Disgust runs through Stringer's mind but he contains any physical expression which only had a stoic facial gesture.

'Hey, you said would set us free if we surrendered. Why are we in cells!?' One ex-marine shouts at Stringer. His voice is slightly audible through the thick glass blocking him from Stringer. Stringer walks towards an intercom and presses it.

'And who said I would do that?' His static voice was spoken through the glass prison cell. The deep frown on the prisoner causes a raised eyebrow from the intimidating man.

'A woman, she said if we surrendered we would be let free,' Stringer can't help but laugh mockingly at the ex-marine who seemed pretty tough.

'Sure we can set you free. The few creatures out there seem hungry. Might as well let you at them.' Stringer attempts to walk away, and the RDA soldier follows close behind, but a dim thud stops Stringer in his tracks and a sly smirk makes its way on his lips.

'Okay, what do you want?' The prisoner asks timidly. Stringer walks towards the middle of the large room, which made the prisoners a good view of him. He motions towards the soldier beside him, who hands him a portable communicator which would connect to each cell allowing them to hear his voice.

'Look we didn't travel 26 trillion miles to make war or run a prison. Every one of you is more valuable as a worker and not a prisoner. Those who contribute to the peaceful return of the RDA to power will be acquitted and reinstated to paid jobs,' The rebels perk up at Stringer's manipulative words. It did sound promising.