Avatar: The Return of The Songbirds

Chapter Twenty-Eight - Brainwash

It had been four days since the three of them had seen Vialo, and it was apparent that they were struggling with it. "Let's just go visit today?" Nick suggested anxiously.

"Yeah it has been a few days." Matt agreed. "I'm sure they are worried about us, and want to see us just as much as we want to see them!" He added.

"I don't know guys. Lisa was adamant that we stay away from them for a while." Chris exclaimed, conflicted present in his tone.

"Then why don't we find Lisa and ask her if we can...look you said so yourself Chris. They are leaving. What if they leave before we get to say goodbye?" Nick pleaded.

Chris sat there quiet for a moment. He couldn't lie out of the three he was the most restless. He wanted to see them again so badly. "Alright, let's go find Lisa and ask." Chris conceded.

After gathering the bare necessities, the trio made their way through the hallways of the base in search of Lisa. They walked around for what felt like years looking for Lisa, but everywhere she normally would be, was empty. They couldn't find her anywhere. "Where the hell is she?" Matt groaned.

"Good question." Chris agreed, visibly unsettled. As a last stitch effort they walked over to Lisa's main office when, almost as if on cue there was the echo of heavy footsteps that were barreling straight for them.

"GUYS!" Lisa shouted, as she ran full speed down the corridor towards them.

"What?" Chris replied nervously. "What's wrong?" He continued, bracing himself for a potential impact.

"There is something you need to see." Lisa replied, stopping with only inches to spare between herself and Chris. He looked at her for a moment and all he saw was rage and disbelief staring back at him. The boys, although extremely confused, nodding in response and wasted no time following Lisa down into the basement.

"Lisa!" Matt huffed, as he dramatically grabbed at his chest. "Can you please tell us what the hell is going on?" Matt questioned, trying to catch his breath.

"Just look at this." Lisa barked, as she rushed over to her computer. She opened up a pre-existing browser, clicked on a file and pressed the play button before stepping aside. "Watch." Was Lisa's simple order. There was a collective head nod as they began to watch the video playing out on the screen in front of them. With each passing second horror and rage became present on their faces.

"Are those...Na'vi?" Nick exclaimed, moving closer to the screen.

"Yes, somehow the general has been kidnapping Na'vi children, essentially trying to brainwash them and use them against their own." Lisa hissed. "She's been doing this for months under everyone's noses." She added, fists clenched in anger.

"Has she been successful?" Matt shouted. "Are they brainwashed?" He added.

"No...these videos. The children always put up on hell of a fight, which only gets them a beating from Lance mostly. I have seen two where the general was the aggressor." Lisa took a deep breathe to regain herself. "I'm not going to show you those. I don't want to see that again, and I know if you see it...you'll do something stupid." Lisa exclaimed, gaze fixed on Chris.

Chris lowered his head for a moment as the realization started to sink in. "We need to tell Vialo and the others." Chris stated.

"We do, but we have to get those children out of here first." Lisa exclaimed.

"Okay, you figure that out, but I am going to tell them, now." Chris groaned, as he turned back towards the elevator.

"Chris! Wait up." Matt shouted.

"What?" Chris barked.

"We're coming with you." Matt ordered. "And you're not saying a goddamn thing about it." He hissed walking past Chris.

"We started this together, we're ending this together." Nick added, patting Chris's shoulder before proceeding towards Matt. Once the two men were standing in front of the elevator doors they looked back at their friend who was frozen in place. "Well? Are you coming?" Nick shouted with a smile.

Chris's lips raised into a smirk. "Hell yeah." He replied shortly, running into the elevator.

Once the doors closed Lisa let out a stress filled sigh before bringing her attention back to the rest of the group. "Alright, Charlie, can you hack into the keycard system in the armory wing?" Lisa exclaimed, walking back to the computer playing the security footage on repeat.

"I can...but I don't know how long it will take." Charlie confessed.

"I need it done in thirty minutes or less." Lisa ordered. "I know you can make that happen." She added with a smile.

Charlie sighed, uncertainty visible on his face. "Yes, ma'am." He groaned and got to work.

"Jason, you will be my eyes and ears. I am counting on you to be one step ahead of me so I know what threat may be around the corner." Lisa exclaimed, as she walked over to her friend. "We have no time for error...I hate to put this level of stress on you guys, but we sadly don't have to think, discuss and second guess our decisions. We can do this. I have faith in us." Lisa proclaimed gaining a satisfice nodded from the group.

"What's the plan?" Jason questioned, looking up at Lisa.

"We need a way to get them out, off the cameras. That's the only option we have." Lisa replied quickly.

"Alright, I can do that." Jason stated with a smile.

 "Maria and Carmen with me. We need to walk around and find a place to take them once we get them out." Lisa stated, walking to the elevator.

"I know where to go." Carmen exclaimed. "But the window will be small." She added.

"I don't care how small it is, if it's possible we're taking it." Lisa replied. "Let's get them out of here." She ordered. "Jason, Charlie. We believe in you, we're a solid team. We can do this." Lisa exclaimed, with reassurance and confidence in her voice.

"We've got your back." Charlie replied in kind, before frantically trying to hack into the keycard server.

"Go, like you said we don't have time to wait." Jason ordered.

"Let's do this." Was Lisa's final order before they ascended back to the ground level.