I got another silly little prompt for the caught fic that may interest you 🥰
Ok so what IF, at some point the brain scanner is used on Spider for the second time (perhaps as punishment for bad behaviour) and as he blacks out and his iron grip on the memories is released, one of them is finally revealed….but the memory is not of high camp or it’s location. No, the memory is of events that occurred a year ago when humans returned to earth.
In said memory, it’s all red and animal screams can be heard from all over the place. Spider runs through a burning forest, reaching hell’s gate where sirens blare as the scientists scramble to evacuate. Last second, Spider is grabbed by Norm and as they fly away on the scorpion, an apocalyptic image is shown and the boy crashes in avatar’s arms, sobbing and screaming at the horrid sight.
Then, the memory fades away, and Miles’s heart, to his disgust, clenches at what he had just seen, at the suffering his boy endured at the hands of his own kind, those who he is supposed to FIGHT for.
I got this just after I'd written the side plot of the Neuroscanner being sabotaged, but it's such a great idea I wanted to publish the ask anyway! Imagine what seeing that would make Quaritch feel. Would he develop any sense of empathy for Spider (in this AU)?
In the canon timeline, I straight up see him questioning the side he's on, but being too concerned to voice those fears - to anyone. Maybe him and Lyle have a late night discussion one evening while Spider sleeps, about the memories they saw in his brain and how that must have affected him growing up. Quaritch tries to hint at Lyle that maybe what the RDA is doing isn't so great after all, but Lyle reminds him (with advice that only a bestie can provide) that it's not their job to muse over the ethics of their orders. Their business is with Jake Sully and avenging the wrongs done there.
