【 CHAPTER THREE 】

WARNING: mentions of SA and abuse that might not be suitable for some readers.

JEALOUSY struck Ruth Carson in the strangest of ways. In the passing days that Jake's cot in the avatar hut remained empty, the second pair of brand new boots sat untouched just under the beds edge, she grew angry. One visit to the forest and Jake had somehow made contact with Omaticaya and survived, somehow gaining the chance to be instructed in their ways, to be taught as if he were one of their own. She would do anything to have his opportunity. In fact, she planned to find a way to join. If not to be trained, but to simply see those of the clan she missed so badly.

"Your anger is showing a lot today," Grace murmured from where she sat in front of a microscope, eyes full of the light it reflected through the site glass.

Ruth shot her a look from where she sat in front of her own microscope. "Really? I wouldn't have noticed unless you told me." Her gaze looked off toward the link room, where Jake was currently in a session, doing who knows what outside of the base.

Grace pulled away from her work and focused on the younger woman. "You can be upset with Jake for being presented with an opportunity you wished for yourself," Grace stated simply. "Or you can be happy that we have a way back in with the clan again. Without his foot in the door, all those bridges that were burned would stay that way."

Ruth forced herself not to scoff. "They're teaching someone who has absolutely no knowledge of their culture, their beliefs, or language," Ruth muttered while leaning back in the computer chair she'd been sitting in. She was starting to sound like Norm had when they'd first learned of Jake's opportunity.

"Perhaps it is best he knows nothing," Grace shrugged. "If he knows nothing, he has nothing to unlearn. It'll be similar to teaching a child to them."

Ruth rolled her eyes at the sensible thinking Grace was doing. She didn't want to hear reasoning. She wanted to complain about why she upset.

Here she was, a thirty-three-year-old woman upset that a jarhead marine with no qualifications got to experience and do things she'd trained years for. She didn't know how else to put it more bluntly for Grace, but for the sake of her dignity, the blonde-haired woman stayed silent with her thoughts.

Grace had always been a kind hand with good guidance. Sometimes Ruth envisioned her as the mother she never had.

"I suppose so," Ruth conceded. She frowned after a few moments of silence. "Part of me wonders if the children will even remember me. If Neytiri will want to have anything to do with us after Sylwanin. . ." She quieted for a moment. Ruth often wished the deceased sister of Neytiri had not voiced her protests of the RDA's aggressive tactics for mining and the collection of resources. Destroying a bulldozer with a group of other young Na'vi had led to her demise.

Sylwanin's death, among the few others that had perished in the attack on the schoolhouse, had been the sealing punch that broke any ties the clan had with the avatar teams. The severing of the connection along with the innocent lives lost had turned something inside Dr. Ruth Carson. Somewhere inside, a storm brewed. More than it ever had before.

"Sylwanin," Grace sighed. "She was one of the kindest of those students. I remember how much she and Neytiri enjoyed your company."

Ruth nodded. The early months of her life on Pandora had been filled with days in the school house, teaching children and adult Na'vi alike English. It had been everything she could have hoped for in coming to Pandora. It was simpler then.

Now, too much had happened. Things changed, as well as did Ruth.

Max Patel, one of Ruth's colleagues and one of the other doctors in the avatar program, interrupted their conversation as he made his presence known. He looked between them both, his glasses not hiding the evident trouble in his eyes.

"Grace, Ruth," he said by way of greeting. His voice seemed somewhat shaky. "We've, uh, got a problem."

"Well, spill it," Ruth exclaimed, now worried.

Max sighed, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "I went up to the main deck and saw Jake debriefing the Colonel and the other officers on Hometree's structure," he told them. "He was explaining every detail he knew. From what I could gather, I would assume they have some sort of plans involving the clan, but I have no idea what."

The Colonel was using Jake, then. Ruth had been curious what corporate planned on having him do on Pandora considering he never went through the avatar program or any lab training whatsoever. It seemed they were using him as an insider. For whatever reason, it was unclear. But they were currently in dangerous waters she was not ready to navigate.

Rage immediately took Ruth. Miles had done far too much to her already, she'd been damned if she allowed him to meddle with the avatar program now.

He was a narcissistic, control-hungry monster she wished she'd never even tried being a friend to. That had been her first mistake, allowing him to think he had given him some sort of invitation to her. She'd show him exactly what he was entitled to: a literal ass-kicking. Screw whatever corporate would do to her. Money meant nearly nothing on Pandora, only a promise that one would return to earth with an outrageous amount of cash. She could spend a week in a cell, as well.

Without warning, Ruth was on her feet and making her way through the bio-lab for the colonel's office. If she didn't get her threat through his thick skull, she would just go to Selfridge. She'd find a way to light a fire up under his Ranger Rick ass to prevent his influence over the avatar program from ever happening again. And if that didn't work, she'd take it higher. She had no fucks to give.

"Ruth—Ruth, wait—," Max could barely say as he made an effort to chase after her once noticing she'd taken off. She was nearly three-quarters of the way down the hall before he finally caught up, trying his best to convince her to hold back.

"Ruth, seriously don't do this," Max almost pleaded. "We don't need this kind of flak between departments right now, especially if it has to do with the colonel."

"Fuck the colonel," Ruth muttered as he followed her. They were nearing the wing that held his office. "I can say that, considering I'm not one of his mindless military mutts. He has no reign over me."

"Ruth, this is going to make everything worse," Max sighed as he finally conceded, peeling away as she barged through Miles's door.

The first thing her eye caught upon entering the office was the trophies he'd made sure to collect since being on Pandora. Artifacts and items from the Na'vi and not in the sense that she had them, as a gift and token of appreciation. He had a bow, the same as Selfridge, mounted above his desk on the wall like a prize animal head. She hated the sight of it, knowing what she knew.

The Na'vi treasured their bows, as they crafted them themselves and used them for everything. They were a tool that supported the way of life, provided and took. Yet Miles had one mounted above his desk, one he stole from a hunter. Likely from their dead hands.

Once her green eyes landed on him, he offered her a smirk, the crude scars along the side of his head contorting with his expression. He set down the pen that had been in his hand on the paperwork he'd likely been working on. His camouflage jacket was rested on the back of his chair, his toned muscles exposed under his dark tank like a threatening display.

"And what do I owe the pleasure of this visit, Dr. Carson?" He purred in his taunting way. His blue eyes raked her up and down.

"Getting your meddling ass out of my department," Ruth barked with venom, a sneer on her face.

"Whatever do you mean?" He asked her as if he truly didn't know. "It's not your department. It is run by our dear Dr. Augustine. And I have no part in what you science pukes do. I simply keep this place secured and defended."

Ruth wanted to punch him square in the face, yet she knew the repercussions she'd face. Even for his age, early fifties she had to guess, he was still fit and well-maintained. She supposed he had to be for a Marine Corps colonel. She began to assume that rough handling and some handcuffs at the hands of this man were not worth it today. Her previous thoughts on kicking his ass faded.

"You're using Jake Sully for information," she spat. "I have no idea what for or why you'd have any use of an avatar, but I'm here to give you your one and only warning. I will fuck you up."

His sly smirk turned into a grin. "Look at you, grown a pair of balls I see. Claws too, it seems. Y'know, you and I could've made a good team. Too bad you didn't use the opportunity when you had it," he reached forward and grabbed the glass of brandy he'd likely been working on. "I could've pulled a lot of strings for you, sweetheart. You would have to be fighting tooth and nail for anyone on this damned base to show you some respect. Coulda been living nice and comfy, not in that tiny shit room you call a home. There's a lot of benefit to being an officer's wife." He took a swig of the liquor. "Too bad you chose wrong."

Tears. She was fighting tears the longer she stood in front of him. Yet, she wouldn't give him the satisfaction of seeing her run. She was a doctor with a prestigious background in research and development with the avatar program, a feat not even two dozen humans in existence had done.

He'd wanted her as arm candy, to receive even the slightest bit more money from corporate for having a spouse, particularly on a foreign moon. Those were the ulterior motives he'd have allowed for the outside world to see, to appear they'd somehow found each other in the most hostile environment to man. She knew he was truly and utterly obsessed with her from the moment he'd laid eyes on her. He wanted her to be his and no one else's.

"You act as if you wanted something real out of me," she uttered while trying to maintain her strength. "I show up to Pandora and within the first week you are trying to get into my pants, convincing me you were a good person when I merely accepted the opportunity to make a new professional colleague in this alien world," she was nearly screaming now. "Instead, you got me drunk and tried to coerce me into sex, spouting these bullshit suggestions of a sham marriage that would keep your ass in the position it was: safe and secure. No one would question rumors about your whoring around if you had a wife." The tears finally spilled. "You are everything that is wrong with the military. With this corporation."

He didn't seem to care the slightest about the truths she spit, not even acknowledging any of the things she'd said about him or that he'd done. A typical gaslighter, she'd quickly learned he was.

"Let the adults do their jobs and keep your nose in your books. You made your bed, sweetheart," he shrugged, that disgusting, evil smirk on his lips. "Now lay in it."

She turned heel and left the room as quickly as she could, the tears she'd been holding back finally spilling onto her cheeks. Her ash blonde hair billowed behind her as she darted down the hall at a stride that almost sent her into a run. She hated Miles Quaritch with everything she had.

•••

JAKE arrived to the bio-lab early the next morning, his old military issued bag holding his belongings on his back as he wheeled himself in. He caught sight of Grace, who was gathering a few random items he had no idea the purpose for. Norm was assisting at her side, while Ruth stood solemnly nearby. The blank expression on her face as she stared at the ground peaked his interest, but he didn't dare ask her what was wrong.

"Where are we going?" Jake asked Grace. He didn't quite understand the reasoning for leaving Hell's Gate, but he wasn't going to complain. He spent the majority of his waking time in a link unit nowadays.

"We're gettin' outta dodge," Grace told him, sorting through some lab supplies. "Way up in the mountains."

Norm paused for a moment, stunned. "The Hallelujah Mountains?" When Jake shot him a questioning look, he rolled his eyes. "The legendary floating mountains of Pandora? Heard of those?"

Jake found out quickly what Norm had meant by floating. In Trudy's helicopter, with Ruth, Grace, and Norm's avatars precariously arranged in the cargo hold, the five of them crammed into the cockpit. Upon finally entering the mountains, Jake was confused as to why clouds and mist were the only things visible until they finally broke through the haze and the mountains came into view. The awe of it all lasted far longer than he'd expected.

Trudy eventually landed the helicopter on a open space on one of the mountains where two trailer looking units resides, attached to one another by a tube like structure.

Ruth helped Jake into his wheelchair as the aircraft began to wind down, setting it on the ground and offering to help him down. Jake was still curious as to why she remained quiet the entire time since they'd left Hell's Gate, not uttering a word. From what he'd gathered since arriving, she was somewhat of a chatty person.

"Ruth," Jake asked once the others had gone ahead, leaving them in the middle of the distance between the modular buildings and the helicopter. She paused, looking down at him through her oxygen mask, shouldering her backpack further onto her shoulder. "What's wrong?"

Her expression didn't give away anything. "Rough couple of days," she replied loud enough for him to hear her through their exo-masks. "That's all." She continued walking, leaving him where he was.

Her reply most definitely sounded like a lie, but he wasn't going to force her to talk. He had far too much on his own mind at the moment, including the pretty native woman who was guiding and teaching him every day. He pursed his lips before slowly following behind.

author's note:
Soo there's a little bit of explanation behind Ruth's anger toward Quaritch. I know it was a little tough and all but like 🤷🏼‍♀️