Intertwined

Avatar

Miles Quaritch stood before his bed, straightening out his shirt, making sure there were no wrinkles to be seen. He had been discharged the night before and was finally able to see his new quarters in which he would be living for the next however many years. His sight was blocked in his right eye because of the bandage encasing his head, making sure his stitches don't get infected. It was currently five am and he was to be reporting to the stations security commander at five thirty.

When he was sure his appearance was as perfect as it could be, disregarding the bandage around his head, he left his room. It was always proper to be early, it showed his dedication, and he was very dedicated. He walked through the hallways, nodding at soldiers that made eye contact with him. His walk was self-assured and confident, he knew he was strong and would be valuable to this team.

He got to the meeting room at exactly 5:15 am, leaving him 15 minutes to prepare his spiel about how he was still an able-bodied man ready to defend the base. His thoughts were interrupted when he heard the squeak of sneakers against the floor. He snapped to attention, his body rigid and back straight. Perhaps the Commander was here early, but when he looked up he locked eyes with a woman. A scientist woman, if the white lab coat was anything to go by. Two shitty things wrapped in one, how perfect. Apparently his face wasn't the perfect mask he thought it was, if what came out of her mouth was any indication.

"Wipe that sneer off your face pretty boy, this is not a happy occasion for either of us" she barked, her mouth in a permanent frown it seemed. She was tall, commanding and with a sort of inner fire in her eyes. Her hair was kind of bushy, but was cropped closer to her head and the color of a fiery inferno to match her eyes.

"And who exactly would you be?" He said with a snarl of his own. He imagined it might look even fiercer with his new scars.

"You're about to find out sunshine, so look alive." This woman was good, he would give her that.

As he was about to retort he heard shoes clicking against the floor and this time he knew it was the commander. In an instant he snapped to attention once again. He saw the little doctor smirk in his direction but kept his face blank.

"Good to see you are both prompt, makes this easier. Follow me" the Commander said. As Miles followed the commander into the office he couldn't help but take him in.

The Commander was on the older side, the hair on the sides of his head going grey. Yet, he still packed on the muscle and had the classic military haircut. It brought Miles a sort of inner satisfaction to note that he was taller than the Commander.

The Commander waved his hands at two seats in front of his desk and told them to sit. Apparently the chairs aren't meant to be comfortable anywhere on this base it seemed. With springs digging into his back he looked to the Commander, ready to get this done and over with.

"First off, I feel it would be best to start with brief introductions," the Commander started. "I am the bases commander and as such you will refer to me as Commander Riche. To your left is Dr. Grace Augustine, head of the Avatar program."

He seemed to pause here and flicker his eyes to Augustine before meeting Miles' eyes once again. He had a terrible feeling he was not going to like what came next. Before he could stew in his sudden worry the Commander started speaking again.

"Due to your injury and the time since elapsed since-" Here Miles cut him off quickly "Excuse me Sir, but how long was I out for? I had assumed it had only been a couple of days."

"Well, I had assumed Doctor Woor had told you. Son, you have been out for three months*. We had to put you under so the doctors could rebuild the tissue on your head without causing permanent brain damage."

Now Quartich usually took everything in stride, without showing any outward emotions, and he was determined to make this situation no different. "Understood Sir, sorry for the interruption."

"As I was saying, because of you injury the doctors predicted that your body would not be up to its usually standards for at least a year. At the same time the board was already contemplating adding an addition to the Avatar program- a military personal." Here he paused and seemed to search for something inside of Miles before moving on. "Do you understand what I am saying?"

"I think I understand most of it, but could you clarify sir?" Miles said shakily.

With a sigh the Commander continued, "You were the perfect candidate for the program, a military personal with a strong background who would seemingly benefit from this program itself. The doctors already started creating your Avatar while you were out, I believe it has already formed and is on its way to fully maturing. Is that right Dr. Augustine?"

"Yes, his Avatar is, in human terms, almost a teenager."

"As such, in the time it takes for your Avatar to reach full maturity you will be studying up on how to use the Avatar, the language and all the stuff that accompanies this. After this meeting Dr. Augustine" he tilted his head in the direction of the woman, "will brief you on all the details. Do you have any questions?"

"Only one sir." Miles didn't continue until he got the go ahead from the Commander. "Do I have a choice in this? Are there any other options?"

"I am afraid not, Avatars are quite expensive to make. Now if there are no further questions I will let Dr. Augustine take it from here." With that the commander stood and smoothed down his suit. He led Miles and Augustine to the door and saw them out.

When the door had clicked shut behind them he turned to face Augustine to find her scowling at him.

"Follow me, meathead. And make sure to keep up." She snapped in his direction. With that she twirled around and started walking, all the while Miles was glaring a hole into the back of her head.

"First off, I didn't want you on my team. I do not believe in the senseless violence you meatheads seem to thrive on, and I certainly did not need a babysitter to watch over me during my projects." She gave a huff here before continuing. "As such, I am stuck with you and am now wasting resources on you. You will learn fast, learn properly and know the information backwards and forwards by the time your Avatar has matured."

"You will be learning to use the Avatar Chamber, logging as many hours as you can. Along with that, you will keep up with your physical being, making sure you are in top shape. You will learn to mediate or whatever you can to clear you little brain when it comes time to use the chamber. Learn the Na'vi's language, learn the ecosystem and animals of this world, memorize the map of this world we have thus far, every little turn and dip." She stopped here and just turned around. "I don't want to waste any more time on telling you what you are going to be learning, when you can be learning it now. I will show you your Avatar and then give you books so you can get started."

She swung back around and went through a pair of sliding glass door. The room was dark with giant tubes in the middle with what looked like a blue humanoid creature resting in a jelly-type fluid.

Miles had never seen an Avatar before and as such was promptly fascinated for all of two seconds before moving on. Besides, it was essentially just an overgrown blue monkey. When he turned around he had several thick texts shoved into his arms, which came up quickly to catch them before they fell.

"I want these four read in two weeks, at which time I will give up some of my precious times to quiz you. As such, you better not disappoint me." And with those delightful parting words the doctor was off.

When Miles looked down to the first text he almost groaned. It was a thick manual on how use an Avatar chamber. It was not even 6 am yet and he already hated his new life.

A/N

I am sorry for the late update, I will be TRYING to resume the schedule now.

Your reviews really do help me keep uploading, I like to here your opinions or what you think should/might happen.

Thank you for reading and I promise in the next chapter we will get back to Harry, but this intro to Miles Quaritch was very important to the story.