Chapter Text
Neteyam knew Lo'ak would go to tell Payakan right after they left that meeting. He knew even as he fought with him now that Lo'ak wouldn't listen.
"He's my brother! I'm going." Lo'ak says, and a wave of hurt crashes into Neteyam. His heart raced in anger as he goes to grab Lo'ak arm.
"Oh he's your brother?" Neteyam says while forcing him to turn, "No, i'm your brother." Neteyam says, as Lo'ak can just stare at him.
Lo'ak rips his arm away and jumps in the water.
"Come on, he's going after Payakan." Neteyam says to the others as he calls for his ilu. Ao'nung, Rotxo, and Tsireya follow him, and soon they see Kiri and Tuk on the way.
He gets closer to Lo'ak who's racing in front of him. He see's Payakan in front of them, who was moving weirdly.
"What's wrong?" Lo'ak shouts, and Payakan turns showing the tracker.
They hurry to help Payakan, trying to pull the tracker out with their hands. It wasn't possible.
Neteyam noticed something flying towards them, it was the sky people.
Lo'ak noticed too, as his eyes widen in panic.
"We have to hurry!" Lo'ak shouts. Neteyam looks at his family members necks, hoping one of them had a way to communicate with their father.
Nobody did, they were completely on their own.
Neteyam grabs a rope and wraps it around the tracker, before wrapping it around a part of the holding area on the ilu. Ships are released from the aircraft, they knew they had to get this out soon. They pull again, Neteyam urging his ilu to pull as hard as he can. Finally Neteyam jerks forward, the tracker coming out from Payakan. Neteyam pulls it to him, as it flashes. He notices the air craft almost reaches them.
"Go! Get out of here! I'll draw them off!" Neteyam yells, as he swims away.
Lo'ak holds onto Payakan as they dive under, before getting on his ilu. They swim away, but notice ships following them underwater. They head towards the sea weed for cover. They shoot at them, and Lo'ak's ilu gets shot. Lo'ak's forced to get off, as he swims through the seaweed. He's struggling to hold his breath, desperately needing air.
He enters a circular plant for cover, and he feels relieved to see it's an air pocket. He notices two people inside, realizing it's Kiri and Tuk.
Lo'ak surfaces, scaring Kiri and Tuk before realizing it's him.
"Where are the others?" Kiri asks.
"I don't know, I got split off from them." Lo'ak says. Just then one of the machines come under the plant, trying to grab them. Tuk screams as it grabs her leg, pulling her under. Lo'ak swims under, trying to free Tuk as the machine forced them all away from the seaweed. Finally the machine let's Tuk go, and swim's back. A net comes and scoops them all up, and they're quickly brought out in the open. Lo'ak takes his knife out to try to cut them out, but there wasn't enough time because they're dropped on the ship.
Lo'ak frees himself from the net, hissing as he holds his knife out. Quickly someone brings him to the ground, and Kiri and Tuk are quickly subdued too. His knife is taken from him, and a hand pulls him up by his queue. He hissed in pain, as he was made to face Quaritch.
"Well look who we have here." Quaritch says, fear filling Lo'ak. He hides it by baring his teeth at the other, struggling from his grip. Kiri and Tuk are on their knees too, both of the recoms with them having tight holds on their queues.
"Let go of us!" Kiri yells, and there's a harsh pull on her queue that makes her gasp in pain.
"I don't want to hurt any of you, just do what I say." Quaritch says.
"I'm not doing anything you say." Lo'ak retorts in anger, and Quaritch just laughs.
"Tell me where your father is, and nobody gets hurt." Quaritch says, and Lo'ak glares at him.
"Fuck you." Lo'ak says, and Quaritch squeezes and pulls on his queue, making a pained yell come from his throat.
"Lo'ak!" Tuk yells while crying. Lo'ak sees the fear in her eyes.
"It's okay Tuk, i'm okay." Lo'ak says, trying to comfort her. Tuk cries more.
Neteyam swims with the tracker, a ship following close behind him. They're sending what feels like bombs in the water, as he's jolting painfully with the blows. One comes directly next to him, blowing him off of his ilu. The force made Neteyam lose all breath he had. He's forced to swim up, gasping for air as he breaks the surface. He looks around, eyes focusing on an ikran flying fast towards him.
There's no time to even swim under as he's grabbed, pulled into the air. The talons of the ikran dig into under arms, he's sure it's broken skin. He's dropped on a bigger ship, hitting the metal painfully. He quickly gets up to run, before the ikran slams him down on the ground. He yells in fear and pain.
He looks up to see one of the recom Avatar's coming over, he recognized him from when they had his siblings hostage in the forest. He thinks they called him Wainfleet. He growls low in his throat.
He struggles to get out from the claw, before it releases and the avatar grabs him. Neteyam struggles against him, elbowing him in the face and Lyle hisses behind him.
"Let go of me!" he yells, trying to kick the Avatar's knee in from behind.
"Shut your mouth and stop fighting." Lyle growls, pulling Neteyam with him roughly.
"Tell me where your father is. I'm not in the mood to play games with you." Quaritch says again, his voice having a threatening tone that sends a chill up Lo'ak's spine. Quaritch sighs, before taking out his knife. Lo'ak's eyes widen as he tries to back away.
"Stop! Don't hurt him!" Kiri yells. Quaritch inches his knife closer to Lo'ak, poking into the skin of his chest but not cutting.
"Hey Corporal, look what I found." Wainfleet comes over, pulling along Neteyam.
"Neteyam!" Tuk yells once she see's him. Neteyam looks at her with wide eyes, seeing the wet marks on her face.
"It'll be okay Tuk, be strong." Neteyam says in na'vi. Tuk nods, a small smile appearing on her face. He looks at Quaritch who has the knife against Lo'ak, and Neteyam feels rage burn in him. He glares harshly at Quaritch.
Quaritch looks at Tuk, before looking at Neteyam. A smirk appears on his face.
"Neteyam huh? You must be another kid of Jake's. It's too bad we couldn't meet back in the forest." Quaritch says, as Neteyam is brought over.
"Get your knife away from my brother you asshole." Neteyam says. Quaritch's eyes widen as he chuckles.
"It looks like both you kids got your fathers spirit."
The back of Neteyam's knee is kicked and he's forced to the ground. A hand gripping his queue keeps him from moving.
"Now, I was just asking this one where your father is. Would you be able to answer that?" Quaritch says. Neteyam stays silent, still glaring at Quaritch.
Lo'ak hopes they can hold out until the clan is warned. Ao'nung, Rotxo, and Tsireya didn't get caught and would be back any minute now to tell everyone what was happening.
Suddenly a fist connects with Lo'ak's face, whipping his head to the side. He groans in pain, and he can hear his siblings yelling at Quaritch.
"I wanted to do this the easy way, but it seems like you kids want me to do it the hard way!" Quaritch yells.
"Don't touch him!" Neteyam yells, and Quaritch quickly turns to him in anger. Neteyam hissed at him, the low growl vibrating through his throat.
Quaritch harshly grabs his face with one of his hands.
"You look exactly like that beast." Quaritch says, holding his jaw so tight it will end up bruising.
"Let me help Corporal, I'll make them talk." Lyle says who's tightly gripping Neteyam's queue. He gives it a tug just to show his power over him, just to show Quaritch the pain he could cause. Neteyam grinds his teeth as his eyes squeeze shut in pain. Quaritch holding his face in place made the tug even more painful.
Quaritch was still staring at him, looking at the hold Lyle had on his queue.
"No, I think I got an idea." Quaritch says staring at Neteyam with a smirk, fear developed in his gut.
"Hold him down." Quaritch says, then he's slammed to the ground. His siblings protest, fearing for him. Neteyam struggles against Lyle, as he's held down.
"Get off of him, let him go!" Lo'ak yells.
"Hold them too, they're about to start struggling." Quaritch says, a low chuckle in his throat. He kneels down, and Neteyam makes eye contact with him, a sadistic glint in his eyes.
"My mother will find you and she will kill you, just like she did before." Kiri hisses, and Quaritch whips his head at her.
"When I find Sully and her, I will make sure to kill them both."
Lyles grip on him is harsh as he's barely able to move up from the ground.
Quaritch grabs his queue tightly, holding it up.
"Sully always talked about these things. How it lets you natives connect to the world around you. He said that when he connected it to his ikran he could hear it's thoughts, they were synced in what the other thought and saw. He also said the na'vi would do it with each other." Quaritch holds the end of Neteyam's queue up, the pink tendrils exposed as they moved in the air. Neteyam stared at him with wide eyes, as he processes what he was saying.
No, he wouldn't. He couldn't. That was too far, he understood that would be too far right?
Then Quaritch had pulled out his own queue from behind his back.
No, no, no, no, no, he can't do this.
Neteyam struggled harder against Lyle in panic, thrashing under him. Lyle's hold only got harder and more painful, as his knee came down on his lower back to help hold him down.
"Boy's smart, he's already figured out what's going to happen." Quaritch says.
"Stop, don't do this. This is too far!" Kiri yells. Neteyam hopes he'd listen, that he would realize how sick this was.
"You sick fuck let him go!" Lo'ak yelled in anger, and Neteyam could see how hard he struggled. They had to force Lo'ak to the ground, but he still struggled fiercely.
Quaritch brought the end of their queue's together, and Neteyam panicked even more. He wasn't ready for this, he didn't know how he was going to handle this.
"Now be good for me and stop fighting back." Quaritch says.
He watched as the ends were almost connected.
"Stop, stop!" Neteyam yells, trying to pull himself away. It was no use, as the tendrils wrapped together, connecting. Neteyam's breath stops and he freezes. He could feel Quaritch's emotions, he could feel his fury and his sick enjoyment of what he was doing.
Neteyam didn't want him to feel how terrified and violated he felt. He panted on the ground, his fists clenched tightly as pain filled him because of how hard he was fighting the bond. He's turned over, and his skin burned as Quaritch grabbed his face.
"Let me in." Quaritch orders. Neteyam couldn't, he couldn't let him feel what he felt, hear his thoughts and see his memories. He would know exactly where Jake was. Neteyam shook his head with his eyes shut. Quaritch growls and he can feel his dark anger pouring through his body.
It was painful, oh eywa, it was painful.
His head felt like it was being broken into, and his queue burned. At some point Neteyam couldn't take it anymore, as his eyes opened to meet with Quaritch's and he forced himself in. Neteyam's irises dilate and he feels Quaritch. It was too much, it was more than bonding with an ikran or ilu, this was more intimate. He felt every part of Quaritch, and he knew now Quaritch could feel all of him. He has never felt so violated and scared.
He knew Quaritch was hit with the overwhelming fear and violation he felt, as Quaritch seems to jolt in shock from the emotions.
"You're sick, you're fucking sick!" Kiri's voice yelled, but it sounded drowned out. Neteyam has never heard that type of rage in Kiri's voice. With her voice a picture of her pops up in Neteyam's mind, it's a subconscious thing, but Quaritch see's it. His eyes widen as he stares at Neteyam.
"This is pretty freaky." Quaritch says with a chuckle, but his eyes are still wide as he stares into Neteyam. He hears Lyle laugh from next to him.
"Get away from me." Neteyam seethes, making sure Quaritch can feel all his anger. Since Lyle had let go of him when the connection was made, he's able to push against Quaritch. He pushes him away and reaches for his queue to disconnect them, but a hand comes and grabs his arm.
He tries to fight as his arms are pinned above his head by Lyle, and Quaritch gets on top of him to make him stop fighting.
"Now tell me Neteyam, where is your father?" Quaritch says. Quaritch see's flashes of memories, he see's Jake who looks angry.
"What happened to keeping an eye on your brother?"
It's gone in an instant, Neteyam didn't mean to think of it. It showed up for less than a second and Quaritch was able to latch onto it.
"Come on, show me where your father is. Show me your new home. I almost saw it." Quaritch says. Neteyam shuts his eyes and desperately tries to imagine something else. He imagined when his father had first taught him to use a bow, and he caught a fish at the pond. He remembered how proud he felt of himself, how proud his dad was of him as he took the fish off the arrow.
He feels how happy they used to be.
"Someone get a map of the reef clans near this area, i'll get something out of him." Quaritch orders. One of the sky people run inside to get it, and Neteyam keeps his eyes shut, still trying to desperately hold onto the memory, not willing to think of anything else.
"Hey, get back here!" someone shouts, and a familiar voice instantly makes Neteyam open his eyes.
"Guys?" Spider questions, seeing them all held there.
"Spider!" Kiri says, worry and relief from knowing he was okay. Neteyam looks at Spider and feels relief, seeing no injuries on the boy. Spider looks at all of them before he stops on Neteyam, because he was being held down by his dad and another avatar. He watched Spider's eyes move till they stopped and focused on the connected queues, and his face lights up in shock and horror.
"What the fuck are you doing?" Spider yells in anger, trying to get down.
"Stay out of this kid, someone get him inside." Quaritch yells. Spider fights back against the avatar that tries to force him in.
"You can't do that, you're going too far! You don't even understand how horrible it is what you're doing!" Spider yells at Quaritch before he's forced inside. The sky person comes out with the map.
"Sorry sir, he just slipped right through before I could stop him." they say, and Quaritch shakes his head.
"It's fine." Quaritch takes the map from him, and he turns it to Neteyam. Neteyam looks at the map but quickly shuts his eyes again, clenching them shut.
Quaritch grabs his face again with a bruising grip.
"Open your eyes." he hissed. Neteyam shakes his head in defiance, his eyes squeezing impossibly more shut.
Then Lo'ak is screaming out in pain, and Neteyam opens his eyes and whips his head to him. Lo'ak had his eyes squeezed shut on the ground, as one of the avatars held a tasing stick above him. They bring it down on him again, and Lo'ak's body convulsed as his screams filled the air.
"Stop!" Neteyam yells, mixed with his siblings pleas.
"Every time you shut your eyes, i'm gonna shock one of them." Quaritch yells at him, and Neteyam looks at him in fear.
"I can take it Neteyam, don't worry about me!" Lo'ak yells as he's tased again. Lo'ak's screams physically hurt Neteyam as he watches.
"Stop! Please stop!" Neteyam begs the avatar that's hurting Lo'ak. The stick turns off and they face Neteyam. His face is pushed to look back at Quaritch, and he glared at the other. The map is moved in front of him, and Neteyam looks at it.
"Don't shut your eyes, or your sister is next." Quaritch says. Neteyam feels fear as Kiri and Tuk flash in his mind.
"The older one." Quaritch clarifies, and Neteyam looks at his siblings again. Lo'ak is getting picked up, a look of pain and fear on his face he was trying to hide.
"Look at me." Quaritch says in his mind, and Neteyam hates it. He felt like he was going to be sick.
"Now, just look at the map and i'll catch something." Neteyam glanced at the map, before looking at his siblings again worried. Tuk was sobbing in fear, and Kiri and Lo'ak looked at him concerned.
Quaritch growled at how Neteyam was distracted by his siblings. He nods to one of them, and the one with the stick heads over to Kiri. Kiri looks at the avatar in fear, before her gaze is filled with anger and hate.
"Stop, don't hurt her!" Neteyam yells, struggling under their grip. His arm slips out from Lyle's. He can hear Kiri yelling out in pain as she was tased. Neteyam pushes Lyle's other arm up and slips out, he reaches for their connected queue's again. His hand grabs onto his, before Lyle's hand grips the braids at the top of his head, and slams his head against the metal floor.
Neteyam goes dizzy and see's stars.
Quaritch groans in pain, as Neteyam holds his own head.
"You idiot, I could feel that." Quaritch says, before Lyle holds Neteyam's arms down again.
"Oh sorry, i'm not sure how this whole thing works." Lyle says guiltily. They didn't even understand the gravity of how horrible it was, what they were doing to him. Neteyam struggles to open his eyes, his vision blurry as he looks at Quaritch.
"Just look at the map Neteyam, that's all you have to do." Quaritch says, and Neteyam wants to scream in frustration. The second he looks at that map it'll give up where they are, his brain will light up in recognition on what the tribe is called and Quaritch will pick up on it. He'll know.
He was so overwhelmed by Quaritch's emotions and thoughts mixing with his, his head hurt and his spine burned, his skin felt like it was crawling from the unwanted intrusion on his mind. Tears built in Neteyam's eyes as he realized he couldn't get out of this, Quaritch was going to win.
He glanced at his siblings again, Kiri was held up again after she got tazed. Lo'ak was looking at him in panic and concern still. Tuk was crying even more, she was too young to be here, to be going through this.
Then he looks at Kiri, who still had a look of worry but acceptance in her eyes.
"It's okay." she whispers in na'vi. Neteyam's eyes widen. "You're in pain. Just show him, it's okay." she continues in na'vi so only him and his siblings could understand her, so Neteyam still had just one thing left that Quaritch couldn't have. Tears build more in his eyes. He's forced to look at the map, and Neteyam's heart races in panic. He felt completely helpless, there was nothing he could do.
He looks at the names of the tribes. He didn't recognize any, till his eyes landed one one word.
Awa'atlu
Waves meet the sand, he hears them under him and smells salt water as he sleeps in his marui. He see's the Metkayina people with their tattoo's. He feels the water push against his body as him and his siblings ride ilu's. He thinks of the friends he's made, he thinks of his mother and father who have done everything to keep them safe. He see's his home,
and Quaritch saw it all too.