ꎇ꒒ꌩꀤꈤꁅ ꅏꀤ꓄ꃅ ꓄ꃅꍟ ꂦꂵꍏ꓄ꀤꀘꍏꌩꍏ (ꍏꃴꍏ꓄ꍏꋪ ꊼ ꂦꉓꌗ)

\\ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝟛𝟝//

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

"Mask on!" Quaritch leaps out of his seat, heading aft as Jake grabs the edge of a weapons pod, his feet dangling over open space. 

Holding his breath, Quaritch blows a rescue hatch and leans outside. Jake sees him aim his massive pistol. K-WHAM! K-WHAM! Rounds clang next to Jake's head. Jake let go, plummeting into the trees. Jake plunges through the jungle canopy. He catches a huge leaf, as Neytiri taught him, and it bends down, breaking his fall. He dropped once more, only to catch another leaf, and then another, as he falls in this green blur. Jake drops to the ground in a feral crouch. Unhurt, but winded and staggering as he stood straight.

"Quaritch is gonna take out the Well of Souls! He's got a clear shot. Hit him, anybody that can! Do it now!" Jake shouted into his comm. 

In her Samson Trudy is all business. 

"On it!" She banks hard, pulling g's, coming around on the Dragon.

She pours on the coal and the Samson leaps forward, straight at the Warship.

Quaritch drills a stream of tracers at her, tearing through her canopy, and ripping chunks off her fuselage. In the jungle below, Norm watches her kamikaze run. 

"No!" He cried out. 

"Norm, I love you." Trudy radioed through her comm before she dived. 

Raking through treetops, and then, at the last instant, yanks back on the stick and the Samson leaps straight up. 

K-KRASH!! Shears off the cockpit of the Dragon as Quaritch throws himself aft along the aisle and Trudy's Samson disintegrates, the wreckage burning as it tumbles into the jungle. Quaritch grips the bulkhead as he stares out the open front of the fuselage. The wind howls through the wreckage where the pilot used to be. The forest rushes up to meet him and the Dragon crashes through splintering trees, impacting in a lake with a white blast of water.

In the Ops center of Hell's Gate, Quaritch's transponder icon disappears. 

"Dragon is down! It's off the board!"

"What do you mean, off the board?!" Selfridge is stunned. 

Suddenly the roar of an engine makes them all look up. Outside the window, Max sits in the cab of an enormous slash-cutter. Max flips Selfridge the bird and pushes a lever forward.

"Oh shit." Selfridge dives as the spinning teeth of the slash-cutter tear through the window in a blast of glass and lethal air. Alarms go off. The technicians dive for cover in a blizzard of glass and shredded debris. The slash- cutter head pulls back, and avatars scramble through the gaping hole into the Ops Center. The troopers look up to see blue giants aiming weapons down at them. The battle is over in seconds. The avatars are holding the Ops Center. Selfridge lies there gasping , in his emergency mask. In shock. How could this be happening?

In the rainforest lake, the Dragon lies half-submerged. Out of the water, a shape rises... An ampsuit. Inside, Mile Quaritch, his face bloody, his eyes burning. He slogs out of the water, covered with mud, then strides into the forest. Quaritch's ampsuit thuds relentlessly through the jungle. He sees something through the foliage ahead, the shack. Inside the shack, Jake and Nate are oblivious under the link. Quaritch's ampsuit steps into the clearing. Quaritch levels his GAU- 90 at the shack. His finger goes to the firing button before a six-legged black demon tackles him. Quaritch pivots as he falls, firing the cannon. It misses Neytiri by inches. He grapples with the Thanator as its razor claws screech over his metal armor. The Titans twist and struggle. Quaritch unleashes a long burst from the cannon. Rounds tear into the creature, which shrieks but Neytiri wills it to smash the cannon hard against a rock, tearing it loose from the suit's hand. Quaritch slams the thanator back against a tree trunk, almost crushing Neytiri. One hydraulic hand, as it draws the suit's knife, and Quaritch twists violently, ramming the knife up under the thanator's chest armor. The creature roars and Quaritch flips on top of it, stabbing. Quaritch stabs down again. The thanator slumps, pinning Neytiri's legs under its great bulk. She is trapped. Quaritch looks down at Neytiri. She glares back at him, panting, scared but defiant she hisses angrily at him. The suit rises slowly, the knife glinting in the morning sun as Quaritch raises it, ready to strike down Neytiri. 

"Give it up Quaritch!" Quaritch turns, seeing Jake dropping from a tree limb.

"It's all over..."

"Nothing's over while I'm breathing." Quaritch repositioned the knife in his hand, sneering at Jake. 

"I kinda hoped you'd say that." Quaritch surges forward.

Jake closes fast, snatching up the broken cannon as Quaritch slashes down with the knife. Jake parries, blocking it with the cannon. He closes faster than the suit can move and slams the end of the cannon into the canopy, crazing it with a web of cracks as Quaritch slices air with the huge knife. Jake ducks, coming up to meet the next slash, and smashes the knife hand with the cannon once, twice, again, and again in a furious attack knocking the knife flying. Quaritch catches him with the other arm, hurling him away. Jake rolls just before THUDDD! The massive foot stomps down where he just was. He scrambles up as Quaritch charges and Jake ducks another roundhouse, leaping forward to smash the canopy again until it is white with cracks .

Quaritch manages to grab the cannon barrel but inside the cockpit, he sees nothing but the sun on the shattered glass. He hurls the cannon blindly, but Jake ducks. The massive cylinder cartwheels toward the shack and it crashes against the pressure window, cracking it but not penetrating. Jake's link sits just inside. Inside the cockpit, Quaritch yanks a yellow handle and the canopy blows off, flying through the air. Quaritch can see again. He dons his breathing mask and bends to pick up his knife. Nearby Neytiri Struggles furiously, trying to get her legs free from underneath three tons of thanator. 

Quaritch, panting, growlers at Jake. 

"Hey, Sully. How does it feel to betray your own race?" Quaritch chuckled at his former subordinate. 

Jake readied himself once more, pulling his knife from its holster and growing a deep hiss at Quaritch. 

"You think you and Shaw are one of them? You'll never be one of them, now it's time to wake up!" Quaritch then, unexpectedly, turns, walking toward the shack. 

He charges straight toward the battered window, smashing it with just a wave of his armored hand. He reaches inside and slams a fist down on what used to be Norm's link, a good thing he wasn't in there anymore. Gas alarms shriek and warning lights flash. Jake panics, pressing his throat mic. 

"Nate the shacks breached!" He shouts and leaps forward in a flying tackle with every ounce of force he has, knocking the amp suit sideways. 

"What!" Nate's voice exclaimed. 

Jake reaches around the suit, grabs Quaritch's shoulder, and, yanks him forward hard, smashing his face into the edge of the cockpit but Quaritch flings him off with a sweep of his arm, and Jake slams to the ground. Inside the link, Jake and Nate's human bodies gasp for air as the toxic Pandoran air swirls in.

Neytiri shoves with one free leg, desperately trying to pull her other leg out. The ampsuit charges, the knife flashing down, Jake just manages to catch it in both hands, but the force of the attack drives him to his knees. Quaritch pushes the knife down inexorably until Jake is pinned against a rock, the blade now inches from his throat. Inside the link, Jake is straining to stay conscious, to stay connected as the knife reaches his throat. 

THWAP! An arrow appears in Quaritch's chest. He gasps, dropping Jake, who is not unconscious, and staggers to breathe as his eyes focus on the assailant. Neytiri stands a fury released. A classic archer figure, she nocks another arrow and draws, releasing smoothly. TH-WHAP! The arrow breaks through the suit's scanner and embeds itself straight in Quaritches heart.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───