tsamsiyu ta'em - danger's no stranger here
Summary: Things just got a little more complicated…
Pairing: Ronal/Tonowari/Original Female Character
Warnings: Cold-blooded murder, mass shooting, gruesome scenes, seizures, graphic descriptions of blood/death, and possibly dark descriptions of mental illness. I am not kidding when I say that this is a heavily triggering chapter. You have been warned.
Taglist (bold indicates "could not tag"): @motheroffae @undeniableadrenaline @mooniequeen @shit-i-say-shit-i-think @heart-an0n @amiets2 @slutforsmut4ever @yeosxxx @im-in-a-pansexual-panik @sucker4angstt @inolaphoenix @ilovechickenwings @tojisleftarm @andyfromku @ivysully @lightandshadow31 @jamie-poopoo @brittney69 @avatar-lover @ikeyniofthetayrangi @cardi-bre91 @rowwwwlly @uselessmoonlight @crazytacokoala @yuhuahuaaa @kiaralee25 @jadeleonora @lexasaurs634 @mewmew222 @taronyuhunter @li-da-savage @tiswanye @tootstoots @vargon56 @hopelesslycj @ffroztbite @comicsol1999 @oerukeu
I do not consent for my works to be copied/reposted/fed into AI
A/N: The banner just looks like I'm collecting Infinity Stones. Seriously, double-check the trigger warnings. The beginning of this chapter is pretty dark. Enjoy!
It was either death or this never-ending torment. She hoped her body would just give up under the overwhelming lights flashing directly into her eyes, invading her mind against her control. The Neurosect had managed to get Kayla to pass out several times over the course of the interrogation, and each time she woke, there was the underlying threat of her heart finally giving out under the neurological pressure in her head. Kayla's strength has given out on her every time she tried thrashing around; her wrists cut up from where she tried pulling them out of her metal restraints. Even her screams fail her, hardly any sound past a whimper escaping her cracked lips and sandpaper throat.
Ardmore and her tall blue lackeys have been hard at work asking her questions, either demanding the whereabouts of her brother or where he might strike next. After a while, Quaritch orders Wainfleet and Mansk to report back to Bridgehead, and Kayla tries focusing on their heavy footsteps as they leave.
Throughout the interrogation, there are words she knows she's supposed to understand, but over time, they mix in with her other learned languages and the sounds of the scanner, until eventually, she could hardly focus on anything other than one thought.
'Your name is Makayla te Suli tsmuke te Toruk Makto.'
The sound of something powering down fills the room, and Kayla can suddenly feel her limbs again, her skin prickling as if the electricity to the machine had suddenly released her muscles. She starts panting as the lights to the scanner begin to slow and dim, the restraining mask on her face losing power and releasing the muscles around her eyes. Kayla nearly sobbed when she regained the ability to blink rapidly again.
"Where is Jake?" Ardmore continues without interruption, looking down at her captive with boredom.
Gulping in deep breaths even as her teeth chattered, Kayla bites back the bile threatening to come up, all the while feeling hot and cold all at once, her body trembling with confusion. She feels blood start to drip from her nose as she eventually manages to focus back on Ardmore, swallowing to try and quench her dry throat, "Can you ask me something else for a change? It's getting boring."
The general's patience flared as she firmly turned to her labcoats, "I don't have time for this. Up the voltage."
"General. If we do that, there's no guarantee she'll survive."
Kayla wheezes quietly in her attempt to laugh, her ribs screaming in protest, "Then all my juicy secrets die with me. No Jake, no avatar..."
Ardmore slowly turns back around, peering down at Kayla with an expression that unsettles the corporal. With relaxed wrinkles around the eyes and mouth, her former general looked far too calm for someone who had just been given an unsavory ultimatum.
"I don't need your avatar," Ardmore finally replies, surprising Kayla and even Quaritch with her statement, "Sure, it's a costly loss, but Amrita from one baby tulkun would cover that loss and make several avatars all at once."
Kayla's strength returns just enough for her to let out a deep snarl that usually sounded ten times more threatening in her avatar body, "You sick bitch-!"
Ardmore reaches out and presses a button on the side of the Neurosect, a high-pitched sound similar to a dog whistle screaming out as she activates the electricity once more, watching Kayla's entire body grow abruptly stiff as the current forces her muscles to lock up. Kayla lets out an abrupt scream, strained from use as she tries to clench her teeth, but her body refuses to follow her command. Ardmore's thin lips curl up in one corner as she finishes her thought.
"To be honest, the only reason why I would've wanted your avatar back would be so I could see what would happen once I trigger your kill switch."
Kayla's ears burn, her first hint that she heard something she was supposed to grasp. She struggled for a moment before she managed to replay the words in her head, her eyes flicking to Ardmore, "My... what?"
The older woman seems far too pleased to explain, "Call it an insurance policy. You see, no thanks to your traitorous brother, we decided that any avatar we created after him will have a means to an end if they so much as think of betraying the human race again."
Kayla didn't miss it out of the corner of her eye; the way Quaritch's ears twitched at this new information, his expression and posture still conformed even as he slightly tilted his head with interest.
"It's a simple switch, according to my scientists," Ardmore continued, "I push a button, and the moment there's any sign of brain activity, the avatar is triggered into an episode resembling a seizure and dies from sudden cardiac arrest. The heart stops, lack of oxygen goes to the brain, and then certain death. Even if you did escape and sync back into your avatar, you're risking death the moment the control center back at HQ catches any signs of brain activity. Part of me is a little curious, so if you somehow link back to your avatar, I'm thanking you now in advance for quenching my curiosity."
Kayla can hardly process that information as the electricity quite literally fries her brain, making her wish, yet again, that Neytiri was here so she could shove an arrow through her head and put her out of her misery.
Ardmore straightens her uniform casually, "Now. Back to the matter at hand. Where is Jake Sully?"
Her attempt to snarl turns into a weak gurgle in the back of her throat, "You can go ahead and kill me."
A huff of impatience escapes Quaritch, pushing himself away from the wall he was leaning against, "We don't need her intel, General. Given how fast Sully and his goons responded when we cornered their kids, we've narrowed down our search to only a dozen islands close to the area of the latest battle. Just give me a ship, and I will go out there and bring you back--"
"I gave you a ship, Quaritch," Ardmore snaps, raising her voice for the first time in the midst of the interrogation, causing Kayla's brain to pound against her skull, "Now look where it is! It's at the bottom of the ocean! How many resources will I have to waste on you before you finally bring in our guy?"
A deep glare, filled with deep envy and unresolved hatred, crosses Quaritch's scarless face, "You brought me out here twenty-six trillion miles for a single mission. A kinetic hardkill op against one guy. I ain't backing off."
Ardmore appears undeterred, standing tall even when the Recom stood taller, "Then by all means, go be useful somewhere else. Scorsby will be just getting cleared from his physical therapy. Maybe go and form your next battle plan with him. Let him know you want to risk another ship and crew for your manhunt."
Quaritch's jaw visibly shifts, his scowl and piercing eyes looking daggers down at the general standing at his waist height. From what Kayla could see at her angle, it almost looked as though the colonel was planning a mutiny. But then, she blinked, and the moment was over, the tall Recom simply turning away and walking out the door.
His feet are loud even without boots, and Kayla does her very best to focus on each one, counting in her head. One... two... three... four... five...
The sound changes, and it now echoes from a distance. Around a corner, just like Wainfleet and Mansk. Her exit is down a hall and to the left...
The forest reminded Tonowari of the one he calls home back on his island.
And yet, it felt more dense here, and not a mangrove tree in sight. No marui made out of winding roots that plunge down deep into the water. Instead, the roots dig deep into the ground, obstructing the path Norm Spellman led him down in his avatar form, moving slowly and as quietly as a prowling nantang.
The dreamwalker makes a motion with his hand from where he stood ahead of the reef olo'eyktan, then freezes. Tonowari wisely does the same, even if he wasn't close enough to see what Norm was seeing. The male Metkayina followed each of Norm's movements and followed every instruction. He was wise enough to know that, even though Norm was technically human, this was much more his environment than it was Tonowari's.
Norm crouches down behind a tree and then motions for him to follow. Tonowari does his best to hide his large form behind the ferns, but it was proven a struggle, especially when his skin was meant to blend more so in rippling water rather than the deep blue night of the forest. From here, his face crumbles with distress as he finally sees what caused Norm to be alert.
The man-made fortress, while massive and an atrocity to everything Tonowari and his people stood for, looked as though it was beginning to return to the Great Mother's domain, overrun by many plants and not posing much of a threat. The fortress known as Hell's Gate, where Jakesuli says he originated from when he first came to this world.
Surrounding one particular building, not far from where Norm and Tonowari hid, was completely surrounded by Sky People. Not just on foot, but in their metal suits, both big and small, with blinding lights casting overhead and scanning the surrounding perimeter.
Norm ducks back when the light nearly hits his face, taking a deep breath before focusing on the larger warrior beside him, "Now, remember, she won't look like herself. She looks different in her human body, so you won't recognize her. She needs one of these."
He presents a child-sized mask from his belt. Tonowari's ear twitched when he recognized the face covering the Sky People wear. It's small enough to fit in Norm's large hand as he presents it to the reef chief, showing small parts of the mask to demonstrate how it works, "Put this over her face before taking her outside. You can't just slip the mask over the face and be done. Without activating it, the mask will only release puffs of air. You need to regulate the pressure of the oxygen here and here, or else Kayla will suffocate. This scenario, of course, would only happen if she weren't capable of putting the mask on herself."
Tonowari nods along to everything the dreamwalker says and manages to follow every instruction once Norm has him repeat everything and show all the bells and whistles of the mask. Once satisfied, Norm slings his rifle from over his shoulder to rest snug in his arms while peering through the foliage toward Hell's Gate.
"Now all we have to do is wait for Jake's signal."
Sometimes, these punks make it too easy for him.
He's barely hiding in the treeline, Hell's Gate just within his grasp, while an RDA grunt does his routine patrol right within arm's reach of the former avatar. It's just one guy, mask and gun, idly whistling to himself. A rookie.
Neytiri crouches beside Jake, her eyes trained on the soldier like a predator to prey, knife gripped firmly in her hand. A few yards to their right, they know Tarsem and his group are waiting for the signal, and then further to their left, Norm and Tonowari are waiting for the right moment to sneak into the facility.
Jake patiently waits, even as his heart pounds angrily in his chest, silently praying that nothing in his plan goes wrong in the hopes his sister won't be harmed. He had watched Quaritch storm out of the building not long ago, tail whipping angrily behind him. A deep sigh of relief expels from Jake's lungs when the Recom mounts his screeching ikran and takes off, flying off into the night. That leaves one less obstacle in their way.
When the patrolling rookie turns and marches back around to his hidden position, Jake can't afford to second-guess himself, knowing that this might be his only chance. He darts out and bear-hugs the soldier in his massive arms, pulling him back into the brush, crushing the man's larynx in his hand to ensure the bastard couldn't scream for help. The rookie can barely struggle, not against pure Na'vi strength. Jake holds him by the neck while Neytiri darts to crouch in front of their captive, hissing deep in her throat while she holds her knife to the human male, watching him squirm beneath her gaze of pure hatred.
Jake gives the soldier a moment to analyze his situation before bending his head down to growl low in his ear, "If you value your life, you'll send a message to General Ardmore."
Neytiri's added snarl shakes the soldier's bones, her bloodthirsty glare reflecting on his mask as it fogs with breaths of fear.
"General, we have a situation."
A man's strained voice sounds over the radio, dragging Kayla's and all the labcoats' attention to the device as Ardmore turns away to press it to her ear, "Go ahead."
"Bridgehead is under attack! Reported numbers of ten thousand Na'vi are flooding our gates!"
Kayla keeps whatever was swelling in her chest to herself, using her weakened strength to keep a straight face as Ardmore spins back around, barely contained fury stretched thin over her wrinkles as she peers down at her captive. The scientists murmur among themselves, fear underlying their muffled voices. Ardmore's gaze snaps up to her labcoats, keeping a grip on the situation by firmly placing orders without a stutter.
"Keep her here. If Sully thinks she's at Bridgehead, then he's going to die for nothing. Lock her up and continue the interrogation tomorrow. Force food and water down her gullet to make sure she stays alive until she spills the beans."
The general barely gives Kayla a second glance before turning to two of her officers, pointing to one, then the other, "You, you're with me. You, you're in charge here until I get back."
Kayla watches Ardmore leave with one other soldier, silently counting their footsteps in her head. Their strides are shorter than Quaritch's, but she manages to count two pairs of boots that take at least ten footsteps in sync with each other before they eventually fade out. Same as before. Down the hall and to the left.
Her gaze flicks back to the soldier who remains, his posture firm as he stands over the scurrying scientists, his eyes slowly scanning the room. He keeps his fists to his sides, his pistol strapped to his right hip.
Jake and Neytiri hold firm and keep their eyes locked on Hell's Gate without blinking, breathing heavily with anticipation as the former keeps a tight hold on the rookie soldier, who looks confused as to why he hasn't been let go yet. His captors remain silent, not even paying attention to him. All they could do was wait with bated breaths, hoping that their bait had worked.
Within minutes, their labor bears fruit as they witness the AMP suits and footsoldiers falling back to their gunships, hustling and shouting at one another while clambering on board. The engines start as two smaller figures exit the facility, Jake's ears pinned back as he follows Ardmore's movements with steady eyes until she disappears into her own aerial craft, the biggest of the bunch, an assault ship.
Only some of the ships rise into the air, while two single Kestrals remain running idly on the ground, a small squadron of soldiers surrounding it, and the entrance into the building with trained weapons. The small number of Sky People appear to be staying behind.
He waits until Ardmore is airborne and gone from the treeline with her small trail of flying ducklings, then Jake effortlessly snaps his captive's neck and tosses the body aside, motioning Neytiri to follow him back toward their ikran, "Let's go."
Neytiri crows, letting it echo throughout the trees as she sprints toward Sa'ata. In answer, a symphony of several whoops and hollers grows louder and higher. By the time Jake and Neytiri mount their bonded banshees and fly up, Tarsem and his warriors have started to burst out from the treeline astride pa'li, charging toward the small squadron of soldiers left behind with earth-shattering war cries that drown out the gunfire that spits rapidly in their direction. Jake and Neytiri quickly dive down to join the fight, covering fire from above while the propellers from Max's old Sampson, Rogue Two, can be heard coming from the opposite direction, trapping the ambushed Sky People.
The chorus of war cries could be heard from inside the facility, the ringing in Kayla's ears only strengthening the hope that had been gradually growing in her chest. She watches as the only remaining guard bows his head to focus on the listening device in his ear before glancing up to inform the scientists what is going on,
"There's a small party of rebels outside."
"What?" Many of them exclaim with panic and fear.
The suspected lead scientist is bolder than the rest as he angrily shouts, "We should call the General back here!"
"Didn't you hear?" Another pitches in, "Bridgehead is under attack, and that must remain her top priority. She left a squadron behind for us, so relax. We'll be fine."
A younger and calmer young woman sits in front of a monitor while analyzing the layout of Hell's Gate, "There's an old bunker we can take shelter in while the suits handle the traitors and savages outside."
The guard firmly nods, "Let's go. Take the prisoner, too."
Two of the scientists step up to the scanner, reaching around to disengage the metal cuffs around Kayla's ankles and wrists, removing the mask that held her eyes open. Together, they firmly hold onto both of her elbows and assist her from the slanted slab she's spent many hours on at this point, their movements slow even as the others are anxious to get out of here.
Kayla takes one step on solid, cold floor before she feels her legs give out and crash her whole body down into the cement. Something snaps as her eyes suddenly roll back into her head, her frail body seizing up and thrashing all her limbs violently in short, uncontrolled convulsions. The scientists all collectively gasp and rush forward to hold down her limbs to keep Kayla from hurting herself in the midst of her seizure, but the guard snaps and pushes them all aside.
"Move! Get out of my way!"
He manages to get through and forces the scientists to back away and give Kayla some space. The guard inspects her for injuries as her movements finally slow down until they eventually come to a halt, her eyes closed. Pressing two fingers to her throat in search of a pulse, he turns his head back to the scientists, "Alright, she's stable. I don't suppose any of you have training on-!"
The scientists all scream as the sudden loud noise triggers the guard's brain matter to splatter in red against the nearest wall while his body slumps to the ground, his gun holster empty. Just as fast, Kayla gets to her feet, unfazed, and the guard's pistol held firmly in her hands as she points the weapon at the crowd of scientists, her eyes coldly trained on her next targets, the pale skin beneath her nose still smeared with blood. They all begin to trip over each other while barely taking their eyes off the gun, huddling together like a flock of scared sheep in the corner of the room.
"Yeah," Kayla agrees, her voice completely shot, making it impossible for her to speak louder than a whisper. Her top lip curls up into a snarl, "But you sick fucks still tortured a child."
Her hands and heartbeat are all collectively steady as she opens fire on the small crowd, ignoring their screams as they try to escape or shield their bodies with only their hands. In quick time, they all drop to the ground like flies, piled over one another. Even then, Kayla doesn't stop firing until the gun starts to click loudly with an empty clip, slowly lowering her aim as her eyes scan over the bodies, ensuring that not a single one is still moving. She turns and crouches over the guard's body, retrieving some extra ammo before stumbling over to the control panel. She's watched those labcoats hunching over this screen for hours, paying no mind to her as she screamed and pleaded for her life. Now she wants to see what all the fuss was about.
Notes on her interrogation race down the screen as she scrolls through. No notable information, so thankfully, Kayla never gave them anything actually vital, just memories of before her time on Pandora. Regardless, she scrolls through and deletes every single note, erasing that life as much as she could so it will eventually die with her. Using the codes on one of the dead scientists' badges, she's able to access a few other files that they had transported here from Bridgehead. Adrenaline pumps in her veins as she hears an explosion outside, ducking her head for a moment when the crumbling building shakes all around her, lights flickering overhead. Kayla tries to scroll through the files as quickly as possible, her heart pumping in her chest when she recognizes that it's her own file that they had transported here along with the Neurosect scanner. Noted recently on her file is an order from Ardmore: to destroy all of this information once her interrogation is complete. No loose ends, and no one else getting any more ideas of betraying the RDA.
The grin curling onto Kayla's lips felt malicious while catching Ardmore's mistake, "Skxawng."
She types in keywords such as 'avatar', 'switch', and 'kill switch' into her file, and many highlighted comments pop up wherever said words are mentioned. Darting her eyes over the screen, she frantically searches for an answer, hoping that the solution would be there. If she had the means, she would download all of this information for someone smarter like Max or Norm, but instead, she comes up empty for any information regarding where her avatar's kill switch is and how to disable it. Apparently, that wasn't crucial enough to catalogue.
"Fuck this," she snarled, prying open a panel in the monitor, digging her bloody nails into as many of the wires as possible before tearing it all out, hoping that would delay them long enough.
More gunfire and explosions go off, along with flashing red lights now bathing the entire room, blaring loudly and ringing in her ears. Steam and gas are beginning to seep through, and Kayla quickly deduces that the air from outside is getting into the sealed-tight room. She frantically dives for the dead guard on the ground, wrestling with the exopack and rebreather he had hooked onto his belt before prying it free and frantically securing the mask over her face. She's sure to fasten it appropriately and even snags a normal leather belt from one of the scientists' perfectly pressed khakis, wrapping it around her own waist and securing her pack and new gun holster to it. With her loaded gun in hand, she slips out of the room, and as she suspected, there are exit signs down the hall, indicating to the left.
She doesn't run, her cold feet padding along the metal floor, sticking to one wall and carefully peering around each corner before she moves on. The halls, however, are large enough to fit avatars and even AMP suits, so she felt small and frail in her state. Feeling too open and exposed, she climbs up onto some toppled crates pushed against the side of the hall and reaches up, painstakingly unscrewing the large vent in the ceiling, her fingertips now split open and scraping raw against such corroded metal. With a strained grunt, she pulls herself up into the now-opened vent, her limbs cold and shaking weakly in protest. Taking several deep breaths through her filtered air, Kayla pushes herself up onto her feet once she realizes the vent is big enough for a fully grown human to walk through. Well, that's awfully helpful.
The itch to dive into the fray was strong, but Tonowari held back and remained in the shadows as the Omatikaya fought off the small group of Sky People that remained, with Toruk Makto, Neytiri, and Max in the gunship slowly picking off the metal suits and flying machines. Norm's feet shuffle anxiously in the dirt, waiting, his eyes fixed on the doorway, which is currently being shielded by an AMP, firing up at the two ikran and gunship flying above it. Despite his orders, Norm doesn't take any chances of Jake or Neytiri getting hit, so he brings his rifle up and quickly aims, firing several rounds straight into the AMP's glass canopy to get to the RDA soldier within. When the hunk of metal collapses forward, Norm motions Tonowari to follow him.
"Now's our chance, let's go!"
Tonowari can't afford to hesitate, rising from his hiding place and closely following behind Norm, his spear clutched in his hand. With the Sky People too preoccupied with the Na'vi attacking from the front and above, they pay no attention to the two lone Na'vi who slip into the facility right behind their line of fire. That is, until one soldier in a Skel Suit noticed and managed to break off from the fight to follow.
The floor inside is cold and smooth beneath Tonowari's feet, hissing quietly under his breath. Apart from some vegetation making its way into the building, most of the walls are still colorless and sterile, but the flickering lights in the ceiling are what make the atmosphere all the more eerie. Norm's breath is labored while taking his datapad out, revealing a blue-lit map on the screen, "Alright, there's only a few places they could've taken her that haven't succumbed to the elements yet. Follow me."
Kayla hears a voice below her, a specific, unique voice that has her heart jump when she recognizes it. Norm.
Unfortunately, there's no vent opening right beneath her, so she quickly moves down the air shaft to find one. Her heart is beating loudly in her ears when she sees light on the floor ahead of her, quickly kneeling down above the next vent opening to painfully remove the screws once more.
Tonowari's head looks up when the sounds of small footsteps trail down from right above him, but nothing is there. Norm also heard it, his ears twitching in the direction the footsteps were disappearing, "Did you hear that?"
Kayla nearly sobs with relief, wishing her damaged throat would allow her to scream so her friend could hear her. She raised her fist to angrily pound against the vent, but quickly froze when she saw movement below her. A Skel Suit stands just beneath the vent, and the soldier controlling it is aiming his AK down the hall where Norm's voice came from.
"Hey!" The bastard roars, "Traitorous skum!"
Norm and Tonowari spin around, but neither of them is fast enough to draw their weapons with the rifle already trained right at them. Time slowed as the soldier aimed, and when the single gunshot rang throughout the hall, even Tonowari could admit he had flinched. He quickly turned to Norm, thinking maybe he had been hit, but the dreamwalker was looking back at him with an equally baffled expression. Neither of them was injured.
Looking back at the soldier, they watch the corpse drop the rifle, cringing when all that could be seen through his mask was a splatter of blood. His head slumps forward, but the stiff suit keeps him standing upright, and the confusion in both surviving males' minds is quenched when a vent latch suddenly swings open with immense force right above the murdered soldier. With bated breath, they both watch as a human female slowly climbs down, hanging off the ledge of the vent by her hands for a moment before she gets her bearings and safely drops down, though she stumbles when her feet hit the ground.
She's small. Smaller than Tuktirey or Spider in comparison. Squished beneath her breathing mask is short, unkempt hair and a bloodied nose, her pale body beaten and bruised beneath simple shorts and a tank top, her bloodied hands shaking violently at her side. Tonowari's eyes scan the female Sky Person until his gaze falls on her hip, held by a belt that didn't fit her, where he caught sight of a small, metal weapon with an unclipped holster.
Instinct kicks in, and he raises his spear, and Norm quickly rushes forward in an attempt to shove it out of his firm hand, "Wait, stop! It's Kayla!"
The olo'eyktan froze, his gaze snapping to Norm for confirmation before slowly turning back to the small figure standing ahead of them. Her shoulders rise and fall rapidly, struggling to catch her breath and keep her footing. Tonowari doesn't know how to react to the small, frail figure in front of them that doesn't at all resemble the strong and fierce woman he knows. Out of all the things that felt strange to him, the storm-colored eyes looking back at him with an equally shocked expression was the strangest.
Kayla was panting, her vision a little dizzy from jostling herself when she jumped down from the vent, trying to keep her bearings. Her stomach rolls with nausea for a moment, but she forces it down, her ears ringing while her eyes try to make sense of what she was seeing. Norm looked the same. Despite being in his avatar form, he looked normal in this human-like setting. Even with some of the Olangi adornments he wore, he still wore shorts, a shirt, and a vest.
The Na'vi male next to him, however, was not a normal sight in this kind of setting. The harsh light above her is a cold contrast against the rippled stripes along the cyan skin, his paddleboard tail taking up the majority of the hall behind him as it swayed. Even if these halls were built to fit decked-out AMP suits, it still looked far too small for someone as broad-shouldered as Tonowari. It all just looked wrong.
Which, for a moment, made Kayla believe she was hallucinating.
She swallowed some filtered air, but it burned in her lungs as if she had been holding her breath underwater. Blinking several times to ensure she wasn't losing her mind, she glances between Norm and Tonowari several times while trying to make sense of the almost comedic scene in front of her. Seeing them standing next to each other made her realize just how short Norm was.
"What took ya so long?" She managed to wheeze out quietly, a brief smile flickering on her lips before her eyes rolled back and her knees gave out underneath her.
"Shit-!" Norm cursed while rushing forward, managing to catch Kayla in just three long strides before her head could hit the ground. Tonowari's reaction was stalled, but he shook out of his initial shock and took action, rushing forward to inspect Kayla as Norm held her up.
"She's unconscious, and she looks paler than normal," the dreamwalker states while closely looking over Kayla's limp form.
Movement rushes forward in the corner of Tonowari's eye, and this time, he reacts quickly, raising his spear and throwing with a deep snarl.
The spear embeds itself into the chest of another soldier driving a Skel Suit, pinning him to the wall leading out of the building. Norm curses once more, dumping Kayla into Tonowari's open arms so he could grab his own gun and aim it in front of himself, "Go! Get her out of here, I'll cover you!"
Tonowari reflectively held Kayla tighter when he was startled by how weightless she was, frightened that she might slip through his fingers and drop. She was barely the same size as his arm, and she was cold to the touch. Compared to carrying her dreamwalker's body, she was alarmingly frail.
"Jake, we got her!" Norm pressed his fingers to his throat, "We got her, let's go!"
Jake peers down from his position flying above the chaos, quickly spotting Norm with his rifle, firing into the fray from behind the Sky People as Tonowari speeds out of Hell's Gate, carrying something in his arms that doesn't give Jake a lot of comfort.
He presses his own fingers to his comms, "Fall back, everyone. Rogue Two, provide cover until ground team is deep into the trees. Make sure we're not followed and meet us at the rendezvous for pick up."
Swinging lower toward the battle, Jake and Neytiri do their best to provide both Norm and Tonowari cover as they race back to the treeline, while Tarsem and his warriors take up the rear to provide a protective wall astride their direhorses. Max flies at a higher altitude, retreating backwards to fire down into the crowd of remaining RDA, keeping them back even as the rest of the rescue team has completely vanished beneath the tree canopy.
Jake flies above the treetops and eventually loses sight of ground team, continuously looking back over his shoulder to make sure no surprise armada was suddenly giving chase. Seeing only Max in the gunship, Jake takes a deep breath and presses his comms, "Alright, we're clear. Rogue Two, touch down to pick up Tonowari and then meet us back at High Camp."
He and Neytiri branch off and veer right, going a different route from their party in case they are being followed. Max flies to the planned coordinates of ground team's rendezvous and safely lands, keeping the blades running as Tonowari carefully climbs inside with Kayla still unconscious in his arms. Norm and the rest of Tarsem's party ditch the pa'li and call for their ikran. They take to the skies, and Max shortly follows them back to the Hallelujah Mountains, relying on the banshees to guide him without the instruments.
Ronal sat inside Mo'at te Pohatsua Oma'ite's marui, keeping herself busy by inspecting her fellow tsahik's herbs, and the older woman happily obliges, explaining where each one originates in her forest and their purposes. Mo'at does this to distract Ronal after finding her pacing outside, watching from the mouth of the cave in search of the rescue party, her hand resting over her rounded stomach. The Omatikaya tsahik tells stories to fill any silences that come after each herb, even going as far as telling stories about Neytiri's childhood, unaware of some of the disagreements Ronal has had with her daughter in the past. Ronal doesn't say anything, but Mo'at's stories about Neytiri amused her to a point she briefly forgot her worries.
That is, of course, until a horn echoes throughout the cave and Ronal is quick to sit up straight, her eyes darting to the entrance of the marui. Mo'at's movements are slower, but no less alarmed as she explains to the Metkayina tsahik, "They have returned."
Ronal stubbornly helps herself up to her feet even when Mo'at hovered, storming out of the tsahik tent and toward the landing zone, clear signs of a crowd already forming around groups of ikran and a single gunship. Many Omatikaya are smart enough to move out of the way of the reef woman's approach, and she wasn't afraid to shove past some when Mo'at wasn't quick enough to announce her presence to her people. Ronal's eyes looked nowhere but at the metal ship she had seen her husband disappear on when the rescue party initially left. Ignoring the banshees and other warriors who look worse for wear, she moves through them and forces herself to wait at a distance while the ship's rotars started to slow down.
Eventually, Tonowari crouches low to squeeze out of the ship, only standing to his full height once his head is clear from the rotars vacinity. Relief soothes Ronal's heart for only a moment once her mate caught sight of her, then her eyes look down his body for any injuries. He carried something in his arms, or rather someone.
Ronal's eyes are fixed solely on the Sky Person, and conflict immediately takes over her expression. When imagining what Makayla might look like as a demon, Ronal's imagination didn't prepare her for this. She was so... pale and small. Weak and lifeless. Her hair... there wasn't a glow or even a speck of health to it, dull and dry like plant roots. Of course, Ronal knew that the Sky People didn't have sil or tanhì, but to see her intended without any of the traits she was used to seeing on her face and body was jarring. Compared to her Na'vi-like form, Kayla's birth form was colorless.
Tonowari doesn't take his eyes off of Ronal, able to read each of her expressions and feeling the exact same way. His train of thought is interrupted, however, when Toruk Makto shows up out of thin air, standing in front of Ronal, blocking her view, and his eyes already set on the body in the olo'eyktan's arms. Behind the yellow eyes of a hardened warrior, Tonowari saw fear in Jakesuli.
"Shit," Jake muttered under his breath, his brows pinched and eyes wide when he finally looked away from Kayla. He briefly glances at Tonowari before he's back in the role of a leader, waving for his brother-in-arms to follow him, "Come on, quickly. Bring her over here."
He leads Tonowari and the others toward their allied Sky People's metal homes. Ronal moves to follow with determination in her eyes, but both Mo'at and Neytiri step in her way, the former explaining in a low tone, "Sky People cannot heal by our hands."
Ronal paused, her eyes finally peeling away from Tonowari's retreating back to look to Mo'at in confusion. Norm stops briefly when he catches the reef woman looking a bit distressed and further explains, "We have a weaker immune system than the Na'vi. Any sort of heavy medicine you give her might kill her."
The Metkayina tsahik's ears pin back in further distress, but Norm doesn't have time to unpack why. As Max hops out of the gunship, Norm is rushing him over with a wave of his arm, "Max, get in there and prep for surgery. I'll be in shortly."
He jogs toward the Longhouse to disconnect with his avatar, and Max races to the bio-lab trailer to catch up with Jake and the others. Neytiri doesn't pay attention; her focus is mainly on Ronal. She watches as the reef woman forces herself to stand back, looking almost... helpless, as if reality had just set in for her. The rose-colored glasses had lifted from Ronal's eyes as Jake would most likely say if Neytiri described it to him, and without them, Ronal had to face a reality she hadn't thought of until now.
She wasn't capable of healing Makayla when in her human body. And then, her thoughts drift further than that. Back home, at the reef, is a human boy she intends to bring into her family, and she has no means of being able to heal him if he ever gets hurt.
She had been so distracted by her inner turmoil that she hadn't noticed Mo'at and Neytiri stepping away in favor of Tonowari stepping in, placing a hand on his mate's arm to pull her out of her thoughts. Ronal blinks before gazing up at her husband, her hairless brow ridge furrowed with concern, "Why are you not with her?"
"Their healing marui made of metal is not meant for someone of my size," Tonowari answered, "Their healers are with her now."
The tsahik sharply exhales, still distraught from the way her forehead tattoo shrinks in size as she looks away. She feels his hand encompass the roundness of her belly, a small warmth within such a cold cave. Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, she accepts the comfort and rests her hand over his, opening her eyes again once she feels more composed.
"Tell me what you saw out there."
Jake stood at the window, looking into the bio-lab trailer as several of the humans surrounded Kayla, looking so small on the stretcher they set her in just on the other side of the glass Jake stood in front of. He hardly blinks, keeping his expression pensive and grim as they work on cleaning her up and inserting a couple of IV drips. After a little while, Norm, back as a human, walks over to the window and hits a button on the side of it, opening a communication speaker for Jake to talk into.
"X-rays show that her ribs are cracked but not shattered or puncturing a lung. She won't need surgery from what we can physically see, but we won't know any more until she wakes up."
Jake sighs heavily, partially relieved that Kayla wouldn't have to go through surgery. His eyes flick over to her still form on the stretcher as his voice quiets, "What do you think they did to her?"
Norm's jaw moves for a moment before following Jake's gaze, his voice and expression solemn, "My guess, besides physical torture, they used the Neurosect scanner to get information out of her."
He can feel Jake's eyes on the back of his head, so he continues to explain his reasoning, "She... is expressing similar symptoms that Spider described to me when he went through the same kind of interrogation. Now... I don't know how long the kid was under that thing, but given that Kayla looks far worse, I'd say they probably did more to her than they did to him."
The heaviness in Jake's yellow eyes doesn't go away, guilt weighing on his chest while his ears flick in the direction they hear someone approaching. Both he and Norm greet Tarsem with the hand gesture for respect. Once Jake saw the look in the olo'eyktan's eyes, he dreaded asking the question.
"How many men did you lose today?"
"Four warriors, Toruk Makto."
Jake winced with his eyes, glancing at Norm behind the glass when he lowers his head for a moment of silence, respecting the fallen. Jake takes a moment before inhaling deeply, trying to form as much gratitude as he can muster to ensure the lives sacrificed today were not in vain, "Thank you, brother."
Tarsem nods with an aged look in his eyes, not appearing as young as he once did when he was just a warrior under Jake's leadership. The burden of olo'eyktan weighs heavily. Jake exhales through his nose, his eyes fixed on Kayla's sleeping form before looking between Norm and Tarsem, "This stays between us. When my sister wakes up, no one tells her. She would never forgive herself."
All three pairs of eyes, human and Na'vi alike, turn back to the stretcher. There, they find Max and Jocelyn hovering over their patient, and slowly, the woman on the stretcher starts to move, her face scrunching in discomfort, her eyes too heavy to lift.
"Kayla," Jocelyn breathes out with relief, her voice quiet and teeth shining in a warm smile.
Jake finds himself taking a deep breath that he didn't realize he was holding, while Norm jogs away from the window to rush to Kayla's bedside. Tarsem leaves to go and inform the tsahiks, leaving Jake alone to feel helpless while standing on the other side of the glass. It was hard to see his sister from this distance, and with the few humans surrounding her bed kept shuffling around and blocking his view. As Kayla starts to slowly move a little more, her friends are patient, and they do their best to encourage her to be careful.
"Easy, easy," Norm warns quietly as he and Jocelyn stand on either side of Kayla's bed and help her sit up, "Take your time."
She made a weak noise, her eyes struggling to open from how bright everything was around her. It takes time for her to focus while there's a low ringing in her ears, the voices all around her echoing and making her head hurt worse than it already was. Kayla groans and finally manages to open her eyes.
For a moment, her friends could all see it. A brief moment of confusion. Then, Max moves from one side of the stretcher to the other a bit too fast, and his shadow briefly covers the light above her head.
Kayla's heart nearly stops as the light above her flashes, the scanner slowly starting up for another round of agony.
Norm never saw it coming, staggering back when Kayla's knuckles managed to slam into his cheek, pain reverberating in his skull from the impact. Chaos erupts, and Max and Jocelyn quickly try to dive forward and stop Kayla from ripping the IV needles from out of her arms.
Kayla shoves Jocelyn's chest and seizes the opportunity to try again. She's not Ardmore's guinea pig anymore. She refuses to let her little minions poke and prod her until she's full of nothing but scars and holes. She successfully rips the needles out, gritting her teeth as blood drips out in their place before kicking Max's gut and leaping off the stretcher. She noticed the thing was on wheels and shoved it into her pursuers as they all recovered from her attack, then she dove for a medical tray and grabbed the first sharp object: a scalpel.
She had been so fast that Jake had blinked and nearly missed the whole thing, horror and confusion wracking through his brain while watching his sister attack her friends like a wild animal, dripping blood from her arm and backing herself up into one corner of the room, scalpel poised in front of her for protection. She finds herself surrounded by Norm, Max, and Jocelyn, each of them bruising or bleeding in some way, shape, or form, their hands up to show they're unarmed once they saw her makeshift weapon.
"Get away from me!" She screeched, the sound ringing in their ears as it bounced off the metal walls.
Jake grits his teeth, calling through the window, "Guys, get her to calm down--"
"We're trying--" Norm tried to say.
"Calm her down, or I'll come in there and do it myself--"
"Dammit, Jake, just give us a minute!" Norm snapped as he briefly glared at the window, "You're not helping!"
Spinning his head back around to their little stand-off, Norm keeps his hands up while slowly taking a single step closer, "Kayla, it's me! It's Norm Spellman! You're safe. You're back with the Omatikaya."
Several minutes pass in that room with only the sound of Kayla frantically breathing, her eyes wild while snapping her gaze to each human face that surrounded her. None of them speaks, and none of them moves, keeping their hands up in her view while she white-knuckles the scalpel in her hand. Something blue moves in the peripheral of her vision, her eyes briefly look in that direction before looking back to the people she deems a threat. She paused, however, when that flash of blue stayed in her head, slowly jogging a memory. Sparing a few extra moments to look longer, Kayla turns her head just enough to focus on that blue in the corner of her eye.
Jake is already looking back at her, brows furrowed while his ears pin back to his skull, the locs falling over and hiding them from view. His gut turns uncomfortably from the way his sister looks at him... as if she had no idea who he was.
Kayla slowly turns back to the humans surrounding her in that room, her breathing slowly evening out, but she still kept her guard up, scapel held in front of her for protection. When focusing her gaze on Norm once again, she stammers, "Wha... What happened?"
Norm's muscles relax a little, seeing some form of recognition in her eyes. He keeps his voice low and gentle, "Ardmore put you in that neuro scanner. Same one they used on Spider, only we think they upped the power on you. Or kept you in longer, which is why you're feeling confused."
Pieces were visibly falling into place behind her stormy eyes, the tightness in her face slowly relaxing. She catches her breath for all of two seconds before she's frantically looking around with her eyes, "Spider... Spider-- Where-?"
"He's fine, Kayla. Hey, look at me," her eyes move back to Norm while he keeps his expression open and with a small smile, "He's safe. He's back in Awa'atlu. Kayla... everything is fine. Everything is going to be okay. You're safe now, just-- Just give me the scalpel."
Her gaze moves down to the weapon in her hand, brows furrowed with confusion when she doesn't remember when she had grabbed that. Her knuckles slowly return to their normal color as her grip loosens, all the while Norm slowly takes his time to get to her, step by step. Their eyes stay locked, unwilling to blink, as he slowly reaches his hand out to hers.
The scalpel slips into Norm's grasp without a fight, and everyone else collectively sighs in relief, even Jake. Kayla's arms fall to her side, the cold of the room seeping into her skin and making her shiver. Her shoulders scrunch, her head bowed, giving off the impression she was even smaller than she really was.
Her breath shakes, teeth chattering as she tries to focus on forming words, "Norm... it hurts."
Norm's eyes flick down to her bleeding arm before focusing back on her face, "I know."
"I can't-- can't-- make it stop. My head-- Make it stop--"
Confusion flickers on everyone's face, a weight sinking to their stomachs as Kayla raises her hands to press her palms against her eyes, eliciting a sob from her throat.
"Heyheyheyhey," Norm's alarmed tone is still soft as he takes that last step forward and grabs her elbows, "It's okay. You're gonna be okay."
Tears spill down her cheeks once Norm pulls her hands away from her eyes, her lip quivering as she lets out a small whine, "I wanna go home... I wanna go home, please..."
Jake's breath catches in his chest, and it gets stuck. Those familiar words repeat in his head, haunting him, mixed with both his son's and now his sister's broken voices.
Norm, none the wiser about the meaning of such words, tries to comfort Kayla, "You are home, Kay. You're safe."
She shakes her head, regretting it when the room spins around her, a rising feeling growing in her stomach when she tries to even out her breaths. Impending doom is the only thing she feels, her shoulders beginning to rise and fall rapidly when she begins to panic. It overwhelms her, envelops her, and then finally, sucks her into the void, causing her eyes to roll back.
Her knees give out, and she collapses like a sack of potatoes. Norm is quick to grab her but struggles to hold her up when her body begins to convulse and seize.
"Oh, shit. Watch her head, watch her head." Max urges as he and Jocelyn spring forward to help.
Jocelyn is the one who manages to clasp her hands on either side of Kayla's head, holding it steady while the rest of her body shakes uncontrollably, noting the bit of drool spilling out of the corner of her parted mouth. Her skin was dewy with sweat, and when Max peels open one of her eyes and shines a small flashlight, they all notice that her pupil was dilated and unfocused.
"Definitely a seizure," Max confirms and nods back over to the stretcher, "Let's lay her back down."
Jake felt helpless behind the glass, watching as his human allies returned Kayla's twitching body to the stretcher. Starting to pace anxiously, his mind ran rampant, feeling his skin prickling as if there was something he should be doing, but can't think of it.
"I wanna go home, please..."
His vision tunnels, the words still echoing in his head, both in Kayla's and Neteyam's voices. His chest tightens, shortening his breath, his hands shaking at his sides while flashes of their helpless, innocent faces haunt his mind. He couldn't save them. All they wanted was to go home, and he couldn't even manage that. He killed his son. He killed his sister--
The tunnel in his vision recedes, clearing his sight. His skin feels warm beneath Neytiri's hand as she steps up to him. Her large eyes scan his expression, concern pooling in those yellow orbs, as if she had just woken him up from a nightmare... and maybe she had. Jake managed to take a breath, brows pinched and ears lowered in shame as his eyes met hers. It was plain as day on his face, and she could see it so easily. He was afraid.
Neytiri fears the worst, given her husband's reaction, "Is she alright?"
Uncertainty was not a good look on Toruk Makto, his eyes shifting between the glass and her hand on his arm, "I don't know... she just had a seizure."
When they heard that Makayla had seized similarly to Kiri, the Metkayina clan leaders hurried over to the med bay along with Mo'at. Jake and his woman were already there, standing in front of a clear wall that separated them from the Sky People inside the metal marui. On the other side were the two male tawtute that helped rescue Kayla, no longer wearing their masks as they were safe in their bubble of breathable air. As they peer further in, both Ronal and Tonowari see a haunting sight. Behind Norm and Max was a sickly pale, small woman, unconscious and lying in bed. Among her skin and bones are multiple wires sticking into her frail body, mainly her arms and some in her nose. They were hooked to a machine that drew different-sized lines and made a strange noise.
Jake spares a glance at the two Reef people before returning his gaze to the glass, "What's the damage, Norm?"
"She has several broken ribs and is fatigued," Norm explained to the small group of Na'vi, his arms crossed and shifting his legs, "She's malnourished, has bruises all over, along with cut-up wrists and fingers--"
"And who knows what other mental damage that was likely caused by the NeuroSect scanner." Max finished.
Norm nods, sparing a glance back at the other scientist before leveling a grim look at Jake, "From what we saw earlier, I wouldn't be surprised if Kayla is prone to epilepsy from now on," he carefully informs, before a dark look falls over his eyes, "And it doesn't help that she wasn't properly caring for her human body anyway--"
Jake visibly bristles, thrown off by this new information, "What?"
Ronal and Tonowari's ears perk up with interest, growing more concerned considering how distraught Jake looked. Mo'at remained firm, but Neytiri's tail raised behind her with alarm, her eyes downcast while thinking about Kayla suffering the same ailment as Kiri.
"Oh, she didn't tell you?" It was hard to ignore the sarcasm in Norm's voice, "The reason she lost all that weight and looks sickly all the time isn't from Quaritch or any form of torture. Kayla hasn't been breaking her link with her avatar as often as she should, and it drove her human body to start to rot essentially."
Max noticed the upsetting look deepen the wrinkles on Jake's face, so he tried to soften the blow, "Norm--"
But Spellman wasn't catching on, "Why do you think I kept her and Spider here for three weeks?"
The air is heavy from this revelation, with Jake, Ronal, and Tonowari staring at Norm as if he had butchered a young yerik right in front of them, dread wafting through the air while the news sinks in.
Jake's the first to snap out of his shock, eyes darting over to the shorter man behind the glass, "Max?"
In response to his name, the scientist lets out a quick, heavy breath, "It's true. Kayla was suffering from headaches, weight loss, dehydration, and nausea long before any of this. She kept saying that she needed more time."
"Sound familiar?" Norm's voice bore a flat tone while staring straight-faced at Jake.
The intended jab at Jake's character wasn't lost on the former avatar, wincing lightly at faraway memories of a time he was desperate to continue with his neuro link. A time when he was acting irrationally because he felt as if the world was ending, and he still needed to tell Neytiri and her people that their Hometree was going to be destroyed.
It shakes him to think Kayla was feeling much of the same, expecting some impending doom and putting herself on the line because of it. Typical Sully.
"So what'll happen to her now?" He asked.
Both scientists exchange a solemn glance before Max silently volunteers to give the difficult news, "We won't know until she wakes up."
He shouldn't be mad that he didn't know about Kayla's condition.
It's not like he had seen her in human form for some time. Jake couldn't have possibly known that she had been neglecting her true form in exchange for driving her avatar around with the rest of them.
And yet... There were all those times when he remembered she refused to break the link... because his family needed her. Many nights of staying awake after Neteyam's death, soothing his wife or his children when it should've been his job. Kayla had done all of that for him. Those moments happened a few too many times, and suddenly, Jake feels guilt eating away at his gut. Perhaps, deep down, he had known that she wasn't necessarily in good shape, but he let it happen because she was there for his family when, mentally, he wasn't. He was selfish.
Things became a blur for a moment. It was so strange to think that earlier today, he was planning a mission to save his sister, and now, he's keeping an eye on her unconscious form, unwilling to sleep himself. He had encouraged Neytiri to leave and be with her mother, while also coaxing Ronal and Tonowari to rest after such a trying day. Eventually, Ronal caved because of her pregnancy, and her husband dutifully followed, internally exhausted from the taxing rescue mission. Jake managed to convince the pair that he would stay here and let them know if anything changed. He had done so to test them, in a way, to confirm what Neytiri had told him. When they expressed gratitude while also hesitating to let Kayla leave their sight, her brother pointedly turned away while clenching his jaw. He wasn't entirely sure why he was mad about that either.
Knowing he would be here for a while, Jake managed to squeeze himself into the lab and sat before a monitor, his knees bent and head low to avoid the ceiling while looking through mission logs and catching up on everything the clan had been up to while he was gone. Their war efforts have been successful so far under Tarsem's rule, so he felt sound in his decision to name the younger Na'vi his successor. Skimming through the files, he didn't find anything interesting. Outside the mission logs, picked up RDA chatter, and the occasional scientist discovery, he thought he was going to start nodding off.
That is, until he saw a video with Kayla's human face as the thumbnail.
Curious, he selected it, and it was like stepping back through time. His sister was sitting in front of a camera, looking healthier, elbows on the table while looking bored, talking directly at the lens,
"Okay... this is... video log..." Kayla's recorded self looked around for numbers before scoffing, "Ah, hell, I'm not doing that. It's not like this is going to be used for science observations or military data like Jake's. The timeline is this: it's been three days since my brother took his family and left the Omatikaya."
Jake's eyes squint at the date in the top left corner of the screen, confirming her statement while she continued, "I've been keeping myself busy with driving my avatar around and trying to work my way up to my rite of passage. Ickneemia, or something like that. I'm still learning the language. The reason I'm so anxious to get the ball rolling is because I need a banshee, and if I can get a banshee, then I can fly and cover more ground to find Spider."
It's like all his failures were coming back around to smack him in the face like the boomerangs they were. The video log was a reminder of how badly he failed Spider that fateful day. Kayla's recording shows her absently biting the skin around her thumb.
"The kids are counting on me to find him while they're gone, and I'd hate to fail them. I'm hoping for their sake -and Spider's- that the kid was unharmed and still kicking." Her gaze turns more grave, her eyes dark in the bad camera light, "I'm worried for him. I'm worried about what Ardmore is capable of. The general is a stone-cold bitch, inside and out, and I can't imagine that my former boss was ever good with kids. If Ardmore is as incapable of empathy as I fear, I could only imagine what harm that could mean for Spider, and honestly, it's been keeping me up at night."
Despite the topic, the video log felt... nice. Almost like Kayla was sitting directly across from Jake and telling him all about her day. She's seen leaning her head back, her eyes tracing shapes up at the ceiling while distractedly confessing the thoughts she's kept to herself, "He doesn't deserve to be brought into all of this. He's just a kid. Back home, he would be learning how to drive a car right now. He's supposed to be worried about an upcoming math test or how to shave without cutting himself. At least, that's all the shit I worried about back then, including the shaving."
Jake laughed lightly, shifting uncomfortably from her boldness.
"--Instead, Spider's been dragged into a war that isn't his to fight... all because no one cared enough to protect him. Maybe that's why I feel the need to keep an eye on him. I know what it's like to be abandoned by family before I'm hardly considered an adult."
The smile on Jake's face immediately drops as Kayla tilts her head back down, staring more at her nails than at the camera. She was deep in thought, hiding away in her mind, dissociating. Her expression was aged and haunted, while no doubt thinking about one of Jake's biggest failures regarding her.
She blinks and visibly shakes the thought away, her mood slightly uplifted while her eyes dart back up to the camera, briefly flashing a half smile, "Anyway, this is Kayla Sully, signing off."
Kayla reaches over, and the video ends, leaving Jake in total silence. He slowly lets out a breath, feeling sick as his eyes dart over to the makeshift hospital space in the corner of the room, where his sister is now hooked up to machines and looking like she had been mauled by a truck, eyelids closed for who knows how long.
(A/N: I know there aren't a whole lot of moments of Ronal and Tonowari interacting with Kayla in this chapter, and it's mostly Jake-centered, but I promise that the real juicy conversations are gonna be taking place next chapter.)
