50 50. Meeting in the flesh

Within the Hallelujah mountains on a slightly elevated area where the magnetic vortices were weaker than usual.

"This is insane.", Norm Spellman said fiddling with the M60 Machine Gun in his currently larger and bluer hands.

"No this is just a gun. A big gun with enough power to blow a hole the size of a tree trunk in a man's chest I can give you that but still a gun.", Trudy said with a faint smile as she helped the scientist currently piloting his Avatar on how to use a machine gun correctly.

A machine gun that was one of her Samson, the turrets on each of the doors be precise. This was a big weapon no humans could wield easily or wield at all. The weapon was almost longer than she was tall and certainly quite a bit heavier too.

Their moment was however suddenly interrupted by a blue and purple tetrapteron who landed right onto the gun's barrel, both freezing at this, not knowing what to do. 

It studied them with its four eyes in a way only a self-aware being could, its gaze in particular focused on the five digits on each of Norm's hands, confusion could almost be discerned as it tilted its head. 

This Na'vi had too many fingers, the tetrapteron realized it must be one of the individuals 'Father' spoke about.

Trudy intrusive thought won over her more logical and rational sides and she extended her hand toward the alien, to pet it. 

And the bird instantly screeched in something akin to disgust as it lifted its left talon in aggression, a gauntlet of titanium that until now unnoticed was on it.

The bird snapped the metal claws together in a threatening manner, and sparks of electricity were emitted from it causing both to jump back in fright letting the gun fall on the grass.

"Stop, Septen, those are our allies. I would like it if you do not traumatize them.", a bass voice with a metallic undertone resonated and from the tall grass, a man in full black armor walked out.

He lifted his left hand and the tetrapteron that threatened them earlier landed on of the extended fingers. This snapped the two to the present, Norm picking up the machine gun in a burst of panic while Trudy realized who this was with a mix of relief and dread.

"The safety is on, it can't shoot, Dr. Norm Spellman.", Liam said amusedly as his helmet unfolded showing the slight smirk he wore on his face, his silver eyes instinctively studying both body language. It felt weird in a way, it had been some time since he saw humans in the flesh.

Either way.

It wasn't surprising, Norm to put it mildly was a nerd and one in biology not that Liam himself was much different in various points from this but he just hoped this mistake wouldn't be repeated for what is to come the next day on the battlefield.

Then there was a long drawn-out silence as Norm calmed himself down, embarrassed by what was told and mildly horrified at what he was going to do in such a state. It was broken by the woman next to him.

"So you are Liam Cram… Your pretty tall alright.", she said, stopping the need to back away while her body tenses up ready to flee as if in some kind of primitive flight or flight instinct in her DNA as he approaches them.

He towered well over her measly one meter and sixty-five centimeters (~5ft4) of height, she could estimate he was easily around two meters (~6ft56) if not slightly more. 

And Norm's Avatar, while taller, was a matchstick in comparison to the mountain of muscles and armor in front of them. Liam's face was the most intimidating factor, adding to the confidence and palpable certainty of his every movement as if calculated.

Then there was also this feeling around him that made them both comfortable and uneasy, there was something off about him but they couldn't pinpoint where, why, and what it was.

"The one and only.", Liam answered, his smile receding slightly but still present, "I suppose I should inform Grace and Jake of my presence and that of the <Olangi> that came here to fight."

At those words, his eyes narrowed to pinprick but as soon as it happened they came back to normal, Trudy was immensely creeped out by this split-second change. This being was so deep in the uncanny valley that it explained pretty much everything.

'And what is that glowing piece of metal on his left arm… is it part of his armor or… ', she wondered, as the said object of her interest glowed brighter.

It was similar to the symbol that she saw on Grace's smartwatch and every device's holographic screen in the life shack. It was his symbol or one of significance for him.

As for Norm, he was preoccupied with different, and arguably way less important aspects as he began to ask Liam questions such as.

"How can you breathe? How did you manage to tame the native wildlife even if they are extensively aggressive? How…"

"I'm built differently on a fundamental level, that's all I will say and most of the questions have already been answered in the past, this isn't the time for unimportant questions too. We are in a war.", Liam's voice was severe, frighteningly cold even more than he intended. 

He killed the enthusiasm of the scientist to bring reality back to the table. This was very effective, Trudy began sweating cold sweats and tensing up while the Avatar's ears folded backward as he looked to the ground in shame, Liam didn't mean to scare them but the reality was scarier and colder. 

He wasn't exactly faring better either, he wasn't the most peaceful or loving individual by a long shot but that was a war he will have to fight with them on his side with all of its unpleasant implications.

His head then turned at regular speed for him but for Avatar and human was a snap of the neck and it was to be met with the familiar auburn-haired scientist fumbling out of the metal block that is the life shack, an exopack on her exhausted face.

"Greeting Grace, I would have loved for this first true meeting to be in better circumstances but beggar can't be chooser.", the bear of a man said in a friendly tone toward the rapidly approaching xenobotanist.

"Right, you are, a pleasure to meet you as well Liam. If you want to talk to Jake, the leader of our little group of traitors it will be impossible for the moment as he is piloting his Avatar… He is creating an alliance with the surrounding Na'vi clan but that you must know already.", Grace said with a tone filled with relief, and she extended her right hand for a handshake.

Which Liam took forcing Septem to fly up a random tree's branch while not forgetting to make its unhappiness known.

Liam's left gauntlet up to his wrist then unfolded itself smoothly, showing the great engineering of his armor and it revealed a regular if calloused hand of the size and shape one would expect of someone his build.

But what was the most noticeable was the strange bit of metal with an orange hologram millimeter above was not part of the armor but an integral part of his arm. And no one needed to ask as he did it himself.

"Yes, it is in numerous ways what you might think it is. Consider it as if it were an organ, a simple body part, as much as a hand is a part of your body. I even have a sense of touch on it, if muted.", he simply said, not giving any true explanation and giving a shake to the outstretched hand of the confused scientist. 

Though he was extremely careful with how much strength he used, something easy as he could control his strength surprisingly well. If it wasn't the case he would be a garbage craftsman and likely would have died ten times over.

As for the why. For him most of the Na'vi bones, the ones on the digits and hands in particular felt little different than twigs for a human so the bones of a middle-aged human woman that are weakened by a lower gravity were no different to him than dry grass for a regular human. If not weaker.

It weirded Liam out by not a small amount, even if he knew. It truly put into perspective how different he was as Na'vi were different from baseline humans and as such not a good point of comparison to gauge his own strength.

And Grace felt this striking difference in strength too, how could she not? Though she knew he would be strong but not this STRONG, however, she felt no fear. The opposite in fact.

He was intimidating, extremely so, that was a fact but he wasn't a psychotic genocidal madman like Quaritch and as such there was little to reason of fearing him unless you gave him reasons to want to hurt you in which case. Yes, fear and terror are on the menu aplenty.

And it brought her back to reality from his earlier words about the pieces of lozenge-shaped piece metal fused with his skin. He was strong, insanely so, if a comparison could be made it was as if she was being held carefully by a hydraulic press on the point of being turned on.

"Holy shit, does your adrenal gland naturally produce super steroids in excess for you to be this fucking strong?", she exclaimed shaking her hand off while he simply shrugged and his gauntlet put itself back as if by magic, each of each piece perfectly putting themselves back together in an almost hypnotizingly satisfying manner.

'A monster in both body and mind…', Grace thought, the monster part not being derogatory in any way shape, or form.

"That I do not know, neither for the steroid nor what gland are you speaking of… And that is not the time for pleasantries.", Liam said with a smile appearing for a brief instant before it disappeared. 

The atmosphere became heavier, but as Liam opened his mouth to continue his eyes suddenly narrowed as he looked up to a fiery red dot in the sky that was rapidly approaching. Attracting the attention of everyone present toward what causes him to do this.

The dot was now close, close enough to determine that it was a giant flying creature approaching them at a dangerous speed. 

Liam realized what this was and ordered his three tetrapterons to calm down and not bomb the apex predator of the sky with their explosives charges on their miniatures satchel. 

They were fearless, extremely small, fast, agile, and smart, one rushing and placing an explosive charge on the skin of the flying giant's wing and the beast will plummet straight from the sky to the ground and die on it, its internal organs crushed and punctures by the bones in its ribcage.

It was a Toruk, or in English, a Great Leonopteryx, and its rider was Jake or otherwise known as the Toruk Makto.

A simple deduction from the last call with Grace, the information from the RDA he has access to, and basic common sense. Also what he said to the man in question.

The Toruk's massive wingspan and size created a large shadow by blocking the brightest of the two suns from the sky. It flew around the life shack for a few seconds before landing right in front of Liam and an Avatar jumped down.

Jake gazed at the silver-eyed individual that only gazed back. He guessed it could but only one individual, the Lost Child, Liam Cram. The Avatar's face was heavy as he walked with large strides toward Liam and extended his left hand for a handshake.

It was answered, Jake's current hand, while bigger than the armored right hand of Liam, was weaker in power by a long shot and this caused his eyes to widen briefly. 

The words of Neytiri that entailed that the Lost Child was strong were a gross understatement.

'He can crush my hand alright.', Jake thought as he saw the head of Great Leonopteryx behind him survey everyone with scrutiny, but Liam in particular and it caused unrest within everyone but the silver-eyed man in question who merely gazed back with no modicum of fear. 

Something was hanging around him, a presence with a vague familiarity to something felt when he was at the Tree of Voices. It was strange to describe but it felt like it was hugging him. Jake could feel this, and so did his Toruk.

But that was of little importance right now.

"Excellent, I won't have to repeat what I have to say. Quaritch has completely taken control of the RDA resources on Pandora. He has created a militia of around seven hundred strong composed of the SecOps and a large portion of the civil workforce to destroy the Tree of Soul we are close to and us. His force that is going to be used are one Dragon Assault Ship, twenty-seven Scorpion Gunship, forty-five Samsom, and over a hundred and fifty AMP suits.", Liam revealed in a matter-of-fact way and with an almost flat tone, but his great discontentment was clear and for all to see.

This news was hard, shocking, and horrifying but not unexpected. It hit hard, however.

"When?", Jake asked with a single word, his facial expression hardening as he balled his fists in anger.

"Before dawn, they will arrive. This happened this morning and with my location at the time… It's the reason I came to learn about it only recently, too recently. Quaritch will arrive here before dawn, he saw through the satellites what we might be doing and used this to start a coup and he succeeded.", Liam explained further.

Dread and horror washed over them at this news of impending doom but Liam was far from being finished. And if the monster of a man seemed calm, confident even then there must be good reasons.

"He is going to make a beeline with his entire force straight through the Hallelujah mountains to destroy the Tree of Souls we are close to and take us with it. We are lucky the Bulldozers are too slow to arrive here and too heavy to be transported by aerial means.", he added, not needing to explain in great detail what it entailed.

Terrain, surprise, and numerical advantages were with them, the lack of knowledge about Liam's existence and what he brought only aiding them… But still. The RDA has the technological and firepower advantage to a ridiculous degree. 

A single Scoption Gunship can kill an entire unprepared clan to the very last of its members if it has enough bullets or explosives. 

Arrow as powerful as the one shot by Na'vi simply doesn't go through the military-grade reinforced glass of such an aircraft. The only reinforced glass that was weak enough was the one of the AMP suits and that needed several ones at the right places. 

"This… Liam are you certain?", Grace asked, knowing full well the answer was going to be affirmative. Liam didn't lie nor was deceitful, he was blatantly blunt.

"Yes, I am and I wish I wasn't.", and the answer fell.

"We need to act fast. The warriors I have come with, the <Olangi> are already informing the <Omatikaya> and other clans Jake has made come but we need to inform everyone and form a battle plan… And something I didn't mention but the <All-Mother> had enough of staying neutral.", he said, the last few words confusing all but Jake whose eyes widened and a reassured smile appeared on his face. 

*

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