Pathfinder || OC X Neteyam

13 - New Hope

"Gee, crazy seeing you here," Neteyam joked.

"Yeah," Aha'ri chuckled sarcastically. "We totally didn't make plans to meet up like 10 minutes ago or anything." She played along, but just this once. She just couldn't seem to help herself around him.

Neteyam hooked a thumb over his shoulder, "You ready to go in?"

"Yeah, let's do this."

They walked into the decompression chamber and waited in silence for a moment while the mechanisms around them hissed, taking them from the atmosphere of Pandora to the atmosphere of Earth that the humans could breathe.

As they stood next to each other, waiting for the door to unlock, Aha'ri glanced at Neteyam's arm. More specifically the veins running from his hands up his forearms, intermixing with his muscles.

She also took in his scent. He smelled like smoke and citrus; like the camp fires and the fruits from the cannonball tree. It oddly made her feel at home.

Once the door finally unlocked and they stepped into the lab, Max and Norm peeked their heads from above a monitor they were working on.

"Oh, hey guys," Max said. 'How is it going?"

Neteyam stepped forward, "We're good but we had a question for you guys."

"Yeah, what's up?"

Neteyam looked back to Aha'ri and motioned for her to come stand next to him. "We were actually wondering if we could ask some questions about Quartitch. We're trying to find a way to get my family back, and we figured we'd start with trying to take care of him and the recombinants."

Max gave a weary look to Norm over his shoulder. "Are you sure? Quaritch and his posse aren't a group you want to mess with. That's the whole reason why your dad left."

"We know," Aha'ri chimed in. "But there has to be some way we can get the upper hand. Like to know where they are and where they move to before they do any damage. You know?"

"Yeah, I get you," Max shrugged.

"So, will you guys help us?" Neteyam asked.

Max and Norm exchanged glances. "Sure, but where do we start?"

"Do you know what he could be planning to do?" Aha'ri asked. "Is getting back at Jake his only mission?"

"No, only that it's not good. Whatever it is. We didn't really know much about him while he was human, other than he was a complete asshole," Max explained.

"They have to communicate with the other sky people somehow, right?"

"Yeah they use radios."

Norm went wide eyed, "Wait, you're onto something. We might be able to scan the radio channels and see if we can pick up their channel. If we do that, you guys can hear everything they're saying."

"I think that sounds like a good start to me," Aha'ri said with a smile. She spared a glance at Neteyam and he was smirking down at her with pride. 

"I can see if we can make a radio scanner for you guys. We'll have to get the engineers involved. We're not that handy with making those kinds of things," Norm said with a chuckle, motioning to the scientific notations on the screens behind them.

"That's okay. Take your time," Neteyam assured.

Max still had furrowed brows. "Are you guys sure you want to poke the bear?"

"As the olo'eyktan, I'm responsible for keeping our people safe," Neteyam said. "If that means dancing with demons, then I will do it."

Max and Norm both nod.