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48. The reveal
🕑 Added 2023-06-20 16:04:49 +0000 UTCThere was a short silence after the words of Liam were heard, followed by the confusion of Norm and Trudy, a confusion that soon will be turned into more.
"Grace, could you please move your wrist in a way the screen of your watch is facing up?", the deep voice resonated again and the person talked to in question did as asked, her face relaxing slightly and a small smile forming.
She was quite sure the man on the other side was aware of most of what was ongoing, it was evident. Liam didn't follow what was known as humanly possible.
It was as if he was partially omniscient, always aware of what was going on and ten steps ahead. It was both extremely terrifying and incredibly relieving as he was on their side. His goal was simple and the one of every living being, to survive and not end on a dissecting table.
"A pleasure to be able to talk to you as well Liam.", Grace said with a bizarre mix between annoyance, relief, and joy, this time shocking the two others and it was but the start as a hologram fizzled into existence, showing the origin of the voice.
A voice that went almost too well with the person it originated from.
It was a human wearing a dark gray sleek metallic armor of unknown origin but an advanced one, it didn't hide that it was a heavily muscled man inside it, and his helmet was off letting everyone see his face.
A metallic arm of the same sheen was connected to his left armored shoulder and was where the camera was, behind him was a hide and various objects with typical Na'vi aesthetic. He stood out.
His skin was heavily tanned, his long dark brown hair was tightly put into Viking braids on his skull, one of his eyebrows had an almost invisible scar going through it, a small trimmed beard adorned his defined jawlines, an almost arrogant smirk showing pearly white teeth with his canine sharper than usual.
All of these features gave him a ruggedly handsome face of an intimidating man, it gave the feeling of an individual who will not hesitate to break your neck and bathe in your blood while eating your still-beating heart but this wasn't what attracted the most attention. His eyes were…
His severe and calculating eyes of an ethereal silver-metallic-gray gave the sensation that they were something other than human within, something not particularly wrong but off on a fundamental level. It was uncanny.
"Who is this?", Norm spoke shell shocked without realizing, this attracted the full attention of the man in the hologram. He didn't understand what was going on.
His first thoughts were that it was someone of the RDA but the bodily armor was unlike that of the mercenary, or any of the people he knew of for that matter, it looked like the type of armor bodyguards of high-ranked individuals would wear.
And he would have remembered seeing someone like this, same was for Trudy. But even then, it was a mere similarity.
"Good question, Grace has most of the answers to it, she didn't have the opportunity to introduce me to you so I decided to do it for her, though Jake is still driving as I can see. Anyway… We don't have the time for either of you to have a panic attack. You may know me by the Na'vi as the <Lost Child>.", Liam said, his smile growing slightly wider as he let his word sink in.
'This… This is impossible.', was Norm's first thought, the Lost Child was something that came every so and then, something recent and from what was told benevolent if disrespectful of Eywa like them.
'But… No this is just someone who arrived but… A human here breathing… How. This doesn't make any sense!', Norm tried to make head or tail of the situation at hand but could but temporarily abandon, each possibility of why this Liam was here as absurd as the last.
"I'm not from the RDA or any Earth structures of authority for that matter, believe it or not, it is of little importance as you can consider me as a third alien party with the goal of not becoming a test subject and for this, the RDA on Pandora needs to be stopped, something you must want to do as well.", Liam added, this gave birth to even more confusion within the two.
"Alien huh… Yeah, I can see that.", Trudy interjected, not believing what was given to her, but before she could speak again Grace did.
"He is telling the truth, Trudy, Norm, I knew him for several months already and kept him hidden from the RDA… With Max… I lied to keep him a secret from you. And something so significant as him wouldn't slip past the rumors, Selfridge isn't the quietest individual, nor is Quaritch. Trust me, trust him at least for this, we will need as much help as possible.", she let out, both still not fully grasping the situation.
"Oh, you don't have to worry, Grace. I don't need anyone's approval for this. It was mere politeness. I will be honest, you can't win without my help and I can't without you. Being cooperative is what we need, be it with me, you, the People, and Eywa.", Liam asserted, and it was the truth that no one wanted to hear.
The mention of the All-Mother not going unnoticed by Norma and even less by Grace, both wanting to ask questions on this but there was a time for this and it wasn't now.
What Jake, Norm, Trudy, and Grace did was a rash and illogical decision driven by emotion and a sense of right and wrong about why they betrayed the RDA. And by the extent, of humanity, it felt right at the moment but alas there was no going back unless a bullet to the head was what they wanted.
Though there was no regret, something Liam could see, fear maybe but not regret. Stupidity and courage walking hand in hand, good thing he was here because it would have simply been stupidity otherwise.
"How?", Trudy asked, hints of despair were detectable in her microexpression, her gaze locked onto the hologram which earned a buzzing chuckle from it.
"I will not lie to you, the only individual I truly trust here is Grace Augustine. Though this trust can expand over to you, it is up to you to not prove me wrong. The RDA's greatest strength is their greatest weakness, technology, the source of their arrogance, and something to exploit… hmm.", Liam said bluntly but trailed off at the end.
"Jake is exiting his Link Unit, I recommend you go see him as I do not want to repeat myself several times. It would be a waste of time, time we do not possess in excess.", he added, his eyes dialing slightly to an almost inhuman degree, he wasn't going to stop himself from connecting via the smartwatch to the life shack.
'This man isn't human, okay… I see the alien part. I hope it just isn't some kind of bipedal lizard or some kind of robot we are working with…', Trudy thought, even with that in mind she believed his words.
There was no point in him lying, and Grace, someone she knew she could trust with her life seemed to be perfectly ok with this 'man'. That didn't mean the entire thing wasn't strange and suspicious at best but frankly, he was absolutely correct they needed as much help as possible.
This however made her aware this individual had access to the life shak system, the other possibility being ridiculous and it was quite terrifying.
And her guess would be correct, if even if it grossly underestimated how deep his grasp was, he didn't do half the job and let it be, Liam 'hacked' himself inside with extraordinary ease.
It wasn't that there wasn't any defense, it just that they might as well be nonexistent since he simultaneously attacked three dozen places from different angles, all the while staying hidden as he replaced the lines of codes for his own. Literally copying and pasting the original code out of existence.
And the life shack 'defense' was more along the lines of correcting potential bugs and fixing errors that might happen if a piece of equipment is damaged.
The door was wide open for him to do whatever pleased him, the fact Grace connected her smartwatch to one of the computers made it all but simpler… It was a contagious cancer after all.
Back to the present, they did as he asked each taking an exopack to not die by breathing Pandora's toxic air as they climbed down and entered the life shack to be met with Jake.
The ex-Marine in his wheelchair had heavy eye bags under his eyes, his skin was pale, his frame was thin due to malnutrition and lack of care, and he looked sickly, his body has seen better days.
His gaze however was the opposite, even with obvious fatigue and sadness it was hard and determined and its focus was on the holographic screen that gave data about the Lost Child.
"I understand why this was kept hidden from me, I would let Quaritch know… And Max was aware of him as well.", Jake mumbled, the vivid anger at Max's death still present, hearing footsteps he looked up and a faint smile appeared.
"Where are we? I felt we moved and had short interruptions with my Avatar.", he asked no one in particular and the answer he got was from the man he was just learning about, a being he truly wanted to meet in the flesh which wasn't now but that was to happen soon.
"The exact coordinates elude me but I know you four are deeper in the <Ayram alusìng>, and relatively close to the <Vitraya Ramunong> but you are in a relatively stable area, and the reason why I can communicate with you.", Liam said, while at the same time, his face appeared on a bigger holographic screen for all to see.
It showed more of what was behind him, it hammered the fact it was of Na'vi origin, and at this moment someone else entered, it was a male Na'vi, a teenager. Everyone in the life shack was surprised except for Grace and Jake, but what shocked all was that the teen had a prosthetic strapped on one of his hands and a functioning one.
Knowing what likely happened was obvious, knowing who made it more so, Liam did it, how they didn't know but up till now this man had objects not found in the wild.
The only options were he had them from the start or made them, and either choice entailed a lot. Grace was the one who knew more of Liam's prowess to play with such things to create as he pleased.
'It's truly him.', Jake thought, eyes widening slightly as he recalled what Neytiri told him about the Lost Child, admittedly she didn't seem to be a fan of him but she didn't really like anything human looking or from human… Maybe except him.
So this was to be expected, she hated humans, they had taken so much and kept on taking, her sister, the Tree of Voices, her ancestral home… Even her father.
But prejudiced as she was, that didn't stop her from being factual, and as such he knew quite a bit about who this seemingly random Na'vi was and as such how the Olangi must see Liam. Something akin to a hero if he were to take a guess.
Whatever his origin may be, and whatever he truly was was of little importance to Jake because it is actions that told more than words, and anything really, they told more than any origin, culture, belief, skin color, sexuality… Or even species. That much he could tell with his experience.
This individual was not bad of heart, the opposite, and someone to respect if Neytiri's words were to be believed. As he did, the concept of lying was foreign to the Na'vi, even to humans. They didn't even have a word for it.
Though she also made it clear he was strong, to what extent and what it truly entailed that he didn't know. She tended to be cryptic, but he liked that about her.
<Liam, Father informed me that the warriors are ready to depart…>, the teen informed, his expression filled with worry but he paused realizing he might have done something wrong.
"What did he say?", Trudy, the only one not speaking the native language, asked and Norm immediately translated it for her.
<Am I interrupting something important?>, he asked, staying in place as his eyes switched from Liam to a black box with moving images of people, Sky People he recognized.
All were looking at him, all with interest and wonder but the one from his savior was of mild annoyance. He evidently didn't know them but by the current situation he could guess and he was proven right for both. Norm translated again for Trudy and was going to need to do so for the foreseeable future.
<Yes but that isn't a problem, Mìruk. Go tell Akwey that I will arrive soon, and before you ask those are the ones that are to be our allies in the coming days and future...>, he said calmly in perfect Na'vi, his face hardening and softening right after as he shooed the teenager away.
"This was unplanned but… As some might have guessed or already knew. I'm in contact with a Na'vi clan, the <Olangi>. And as much I would like to say this will turn the odds in our favor, even with the <Omatikaya>, and even counting the weapons I have. It wouldn't.", Liam explained, these were unpleasant words but true words.
"What weapons?", Trudy was the first to ask and this earned a nod from the hologram.
"Max's smartwatch is with an individual known as Wainfleet. And for the ones who want to know, it is the piece of shit known as Quaritch who killed him. This means I can spy on this individual who decided to take it as a vulgar trophy.", he said, his voice getting colder at this, he very much was pissed off but he didn't show it in his body language.
He let them digest this news, both good and bad. Anger with sadness briefly flashed in each, some longer and more obvious than others. He continued.
"But that isn't truly a weapon now, is it? What I have is explosive, explosive attached to an arrow sized for them giving an equal yield to five hundred grams (~1.1lb) of hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine when it will explode on impact.", he answered matter of factly as an almost feral smirk formed, but at this, nearly no one understood until the individual who was the least expected to know explained.
"Huh… C-4 and this much… This should be enough to blow up a Samson and render a Scorpion useless if hit right…'', Jake said aloud, a smile growing similar to Liam's own.
He didn't understand what the scientific name made of babble nonsense truly meant or what was the finer detail of but he knew it was this old-school plastic explosive substance. He knew it pretty well.
Why fix something that isn't broken? It works, it's cheap, quite powerful, stable, and 'safe' to use, so it's used even in the 2150. New alloys and materials don't mean they are magically indestructible. It simply meant more explosives were needed.
"That is reassuring to hear.", Norm said nervously, it was too much in too little time for him to process everything as compared to either Trudy or Jake he was still trying to find a logical reason behind this but the more time passed the less it made sense.
Grace on her side knew there was one more if it could be considered as such but didn't deign to inform anyone of it as Liam didn't. She understood why, to a degree, and she decided to put her trust in him.
It was thanks to Max it was usable as well, it could have not cost his life if either of them installed the virus earlier but she couldn't go back in the past to fix her mistake. What happened happened, now if you learn from it that is different and she intended to do so.
"We need more manpower, both aerial and terrestrial for the war that is to come. And it's something I can't fix.", Liam announced the reason why it would be enough, his gaze fixated on Jake's own who didn't let go of the eye contact, understanding what was the problem as well.
"But I can.", the ex-Marine said, his mind going to the legend told to him by Neytiei, the one he read from the Na'vi culture with his twin, the dream he had back on Earth about flying in the sky above a luscious primeval forest after he became a cripple and his stare with the Last Shadow, King, and Master of the Sky.
He knew what to do, what his destiny was, and what role was for him to play.
Comments
Spirit Stones
ty for chapter, pls more
THE SAVAGE KITTY
Thx for the chapter
