The wind rushing through the open side doors of the Samson tiltrotor was deafening, a roaring hurricane of air that smelled like ozone, rich soil, and the unmistakable metallic tang of aviation fuel. We were flying fast and low, the dual turbines of Trudy Chacon's chopper screaming as they cut through the dense, heavy atmosphere of Pandora.
I was sitting in the co-pilot's seat, right next to Trudy, my headset clamped tightly over my ears. Through the reinforced canopy glass, the world outside was a sprawling, infinite canvas of impossible greens and vibrant blues. We were cruising over a massive lake, its surface acting like a flawless mirror reflecting the gas giant Polyphemus in the sky above. Flanking the water were trees that defied the laws of physics—ancient, colossal pillars of wood and foliage that dwarfed the tallest skyscrapers I had ever seen in New York, their canopies so thick they created an entirely separate ecosystem in the clouds.
Standing in the open doorway of the chopper's cargo bay were Jake, Grace, and Norm, all fully linked into their ten-foot-tall Avatar bodies. The wind whipped at their blue skin and dark hair. Jake was leaning out dangerously far, one hand gripping the upper rail, the other holding a massive, custom-built RDA assault rifle.
As Trudy banked the chopper hard, following the curve of the lake, the water suddenly fell away, revealing a massive, breathtaking canyon of waterfalls. Millions of gallons of water cascaded down sheer cliffs of moss and stone, creating shimmering rainbows in the mist. It was more beautiful than any fairy tale, a raw, untouched paradise that made Earth look like a concrete parking lot.
Jake leaned out over the edge, looking down at the dizzying drop, and let out a wild, euphoric shout.
"WHOOOOOOOO!"
His voice echoed over the roar of the engines and the rushing water. Beside me, Trudy laughed, a bright, genuine sound, shaking her head at the sheer excitement radiating from the former marine.
I pressed the intercom button on my headset, unable to resist. "Try not to swallow a bug, wheels! They make them the size of dinner plates out here!"
Jake turned his head, his yellow eyes narrowing playfully as he looked at me through the cockpit window. He brought a hand to his own throat mic. "Keep laughing, Stark. At least I can ride the roller coaster without a booster seat."
"Hey, my feet touch the floor!" I shot back with my usual charm and cheekiness. "Mostly!"
Jake chuckled, shaking his head. The banter felt good, a small slice of normalcy in an alien world. "Seriously though," Jake's voice crackled over the comms, his tone shifting to genuine curiosity. "How did you manage to get on this flight? I thought Grace would rather shoot you than let you come to the jungle."
I flashed a wide, arrogant grin. "What can I say? It was my unbelievably charming smile!"
Two hours earlier, in the Hell's Gate Bio-Lab.
The entire science division had ground to an absolute, awkward halt. Ten highly educated, underpaid researchers were standing by their terminals, desperately biting their lips, covering their mouths, and doing everything in their power to hold back a chorus of laughter.
Grace Augustine stood in the center of the room, looking more distressed and baffled than if she had just discovered that the laws of gravity were merely a suggestion.
I was currently attached to her left leg like a desperate, terrified koala. I had my arms wrapped tight around her knee, my weight acting as a human anchor, completely refusing to let go.
"Please," I chanted, staring up at her with the most pathetic, wide-eyed, puppy-dog expression I could muster. "Please. Please. Please. Please. Please."
Grace tried to shake her leg, but I held on with the grip strength of a boy who had spent the last month hauling heavy machinery. "Tony, for the love of God, let go of me! You are not coming! It is a Level 1 clearance zone! You are ten years old!"
"Please. Please. Please. Please. Please."
"No!" Grace shouted, rubbing her temples as if trying to massage away an impending aneurysm. "It is full of predators! Everything out there wants to eat you! Now unhand my trousers before I have you sedated!"
"Please!"
"Please."
Grace froze. She slowly turned her head to her right.
Standing beside her other leg was a six-foot-tall, inflated white marshmallow robot. Baymax had slowly waddled out of his charging dock, walked right up to the head of the Avatar program, and had wrapped his thick, balloon-like arms around her right leg.
"Please," Baymax repeated robotically, blinking his two dark, connected eyes. "Please. My healthcare protocols require I accompany the patient. And the patient requires fresh air to alleviate symptoms of extreme, whiny boredom."
A scientist in the back of the room completely lost the battle and snorted out a loud, abrupt laugh before slapping a hand over his mouth. Grace's eye twitched. She looked at me, then looked at the giant inflatable robot, then back at me. She was trapped. A hostage to my sheer, unyielding stubbornness.
"PLEASE!!!" I shouted, hitting her with maximum emotional damage.
Grace threw her hands up in the air. She looked like a dead man walking, her spirit completely broken by a child and a robot.
"FINE!" she screamed in frustration, her voice echoing off the glass tanks. "HE CAN COME! JUST GET OFF MY LEGS!"
End Flashback.
Over the headset, I heard Grace let out a loud, irritated scoff.
"Don't push your luck, kid," Grace shouted over her mic, her tone brokering absolutely no argument. "You listen to me, and you listen good. You stay in the chopper with Trudy. No matter what happens, you do not step foot on the dirt. You stay in the bird. Do you understand me?"
I whined dramatically, slumping back into my seat. "Yeah, yeah, I know. Stay in the bird. Don't get eaten. You're no fun."
"I'm keeping you alive," she shot back. "Trudy, keep the engines warm."
"Copy that, Doc," Trudy replied, her hands dancing expertly over the flight controls.
Trudy expertly maneuvered the Samson down through the thick canopy, finding a large, open clearing surrounded by massive, ancient ferns and towering, spiral-shaped flora. The landing gear touched down with a heavy thud, the suspension groaning as the massive rotors continued to spin, keeping the chopper anchored to the ground while kicking up a massive storm of dust, leaves, and debris.
The wind from the open doors whipped my hair around. I had spent twenty minutes that morning trying to get it styled perfectly—messy, but intentionally messy, specifically mimicking Hiccup Haddock's hair from my favorite dragon movie, complete with the slight sweep and rebellious tufts. Now, it was just a chaotic, wind-blown disaster.
Jake and two heavily armed RDA soldiers immediately hopped out of the back. The soldiers swept their assault rifles back and forth, their gas masks making them look like insectoid drones as they secured the perimeter. Grace and Norm hopped down a second later, their massive blue feet sinking slightly into the soft, rich earth.
The turbines of the chopper were still whining loudly, making it almost impossible to hear. Grace looked over her shoulder, waving a hand to get Norm's attention.
"Norm!" Grace shouted. "Your pack!"
Norm blinked, looking down at his empty hands, his yellow eyes widening in realization. "My pack?" he yelled back, suddenly remembering he had left it sitting on the metal bench inside the chopper. He let out a frustrated groan and turned back.
The three Avatars began to move forward toward the tree line, but the two RDA soldiers immediately started to fall in behind them, their rifles raised.
Grace stopped, turning around and holding up a massive blue hand.
"Stay with the ship," she ordered the soldiers, her voice dripping with disdain. "One idiot with a gun is enough."
She was clearly talking about Jake, who didn't even look offended. He just flashed a roguish, unapologetic smirk, patting the receiver of his rifle. One of the soldiers lowered his weapon, nodding respectfully to the head scientist. "You the man, Doc."
Grace rolled her eyes and turned back to the jungle, leading Norm and Jake into the thick, fluorescent undergrowth. Within seconds, the dense foliage swallowed them whole, leaving the clearing feeling suddenly very empty.
I slumped in my seat, letting out a long, exaggerated groan. "This is so boring."
Trudy laughed, taking off her headset and hanging it on the control yoke. She turned to me, her eyes warm and sympathetic. She felt like an older sister, always looking out for the youngest guy on base. "Hey, you wanted to come. You're breathing authentic Pandoran air right now. Soak it in."
"I want to explore," I whined, crossing my arms. "There's probably fifty new elements out there just waiting to be discovered, and I'm stuck in a flying minivan."
Trudy rolled her eyes playfully. "Tell you what. Let's pass the time. I spy with my little eye... something green."
I looked out the window at the literal ocean of endless, vibrant jungle surrounding us. "Gee, Trudy. Is it a leaf? Or maybe a different leaf? Oh, wait, is it the grass?"
We played for a little bit, but the sheer absurdity of playing I Spy in a jungle quickly wore thin. After about ten minutes, both of us were bored out of our minds. Trudy pulled out a small datapad to read some flight logs, and I unbuckled my harness, deciding to stretch my legs.
"I'm gonna check my gear," I told her, climbing out of the cockpit and walking into the cavernous cargo bay in the back of the chopper.
The two soldiers were sitting near the open side door, their masks still securely on their faces, quietly playing a game of poker on an overturned supply crate. They ignored me completely.
I walked toward the back bulkhead, where my modified, heavy-duty canvas backpack was strapped securely to the wall. I knelt down, unlatched the buckles, and tapped a quick sequence on the small integrated keypad I had wired into the front flap. A tiny, cracked monitor screen flickered to life.
Charge 100%. Internal pressure stable.
I smiled. The battery was at max capacity. Knowing that my personal healthcare companion was sitting safely in that bag made me feel significantly less alone on this terrifying, beautiful planet.
And that's when something odd happened.
The air in the chopper suddenly felt perfectly still, the frantic swirling of the rotor wash completely dying down. I felt a soft, gentle brush against my shoulder.
I looked up. Drifting down from the open roof hatch, glowing with a soft, pulsing, bioluminescent white light, were dozens of small, ethereal seeds. They looked like floating jellyfish, moving with a graceful, swimming motion through the air, their long, delicate tendrils trailing behind them. Woodsprites. Seeds of the Sacred Tree.
There were about ten of them, and they descended slowly, completely ignoring the soldiers and hovering directly around me. They pulsed with a gentle, calming rhythm.
I frowned, muttering under my breath. "I've seen these before... but why are they here? This didn't happen in the movie."
In the film, the Woodsprites didn't show up until Jake was already lost in the jungle, saving him from Neytiri's arrow. So why were they swarming me inside a loud, metallic RDA helicopter? Were they a warning? Was Eywa trying to tell me something?
The Woodsprites suddenly pulsed brighter, then drifted slowly to the left, towards the open side doors. My eyes naturally followed their movement.
I looked past the two soldiers playing cards. I looked out into the thick wall of trees bordering the clearing.
Something was wrong. The shadows between the trees were too dark. Too dense.
And then, the massive silhouette shifted. It was low to the ground, built like an armored tank crossed with a panther, featuring six muscular legs and a jaw lined with jagged, obsidian teeth.
It was moving fast. It was running straight at us.
"Oh my god," I breathed, the blood draining from my face.
Suddenly, the creature let out a roar that shattered the air—a terrifying, ear-splitting shriek that rattled my teeth and shook the chopper. It bulldozed through the tree line, splintering massive trunks of wood like toothpicks as it charged into the clearing.
Trudy scrambled out of her seat in the cockpit, shouting a warning. The two soldiers at the door dropped their cards, screaming in panic. They brought their assault rifles up and opened fire. Muzzle flashes lit up the cargo bay as a hail of armor-piercing rounds tore across the clearing.
The bullets slammed into the creature's thick, armored hide, sparking and pinging off the heavy black plating that covered its head and shoulders. They didn't even slow it down.
It was a Thanator. The apex predator of Pandora.
It closed the distance in a fraction of a second. The Thanator lunged, its massive jaws snapping shut over the head and torso of the first marine. The sickening sound of crunching bone and tearing metal filled the air as it ripped him out of the chopper, violently shaking its head like a dog with a chew toy.
The second marine screamed, backing away and firing blindly, but the Thanator whipped its massive, heavy tail around. The armored bludgeon slammed directly into the soldier's chest with the force of a freight train. I heard his rib cage pulverize instantly, his body thrown thirty feet into the jungle, dead before he hit the ground.
I was frozen. My heart was hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird. The creature dropped the mangled remains of the first soldier and slowly turned its massive, horrifying head toward the chopper. Saliva and thick, dark blood dripped from its maw. It locked its terrifying yellow eyes directly onto me and let out a low, rumbling growl.
It took a slow, heavy step closer.
I trembled uncontrollably. I might have been an adult man in a past life, holding memories of a different world, but right now? In this body? I was just a terrified ten-year-old kid staring down a literal monster.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Three sharp cracks echoed from the front of the cargo bay. Trudy was standing near the cockpit door, her hands shaking violently, but her stance firm as she leveled a standard-issue RDA pistol at the beast.
"Tony, run!" Trudy screamed, firing again.
The Thanator hissed, annoyed by the tiny metal impacts against its armor. It turned its massive head away from me and slowly began to stalk toward Trudy. She kept firing, clicking on an empty chamber, her face pale as death as she pressed her back against the metal bulkhead.
My eyes went wide. What am I doing? I thought, a sudden, blinding surge of adrenaline washing away the fear. I'm shaking here like a loser while my friend is about to die for me! No! Not today!
I quickly spun around, tearing into my Baymax pack. I tossed aside medical supplies and spare batteries, my hands frantically searching for the one thing I knew I had packed for an emergency. My fingers brushed cold metal.
I strapped the heavy backpack over my shoulders, pulled out the bright orange RDA flare gun, and bolted out the side door of the chopper.
The Thanator was three feet away from Trudy, rearing back its massive head to strike. Trudy had her eyes squeezed shut, tears streaming down her face.
"HEY!!!" I screamed at the top of my lungs.
The apex predator snapped its head toward me. And the moment it opened its eyes, I pulled the trigger.
THOOM!
The bright, burning magnesium flare shot across the clearing and exploded with a blinding, sizzling flash directly against the Thanator's face, right between its eyes.
The creature howled in absolute, agonizing pain. It thrashed wildly, hissing in rage, violently shaking its massive head to clear the burning sparks and the sudden, overwhelming blindness. It stumbled backward, its six legs uncoordinated.
"Na na na na, you can't get me, you ugly oversized cat!" I taunted, waving my arms frantically.
It roared in sheer fury, as if perfectly understanding the insult, and lunged directly at me.
"Tony, no!" Trudy screamed.
But I was already running. I darted into the thickest part of the jungle, my small legs pumping as fast as humanly possible. Behind me, I heard the terrifying sound of massive claws tearing up the earth, the snapping of branches, and the heavy, ragged breathing of the monster.
I saw a massive, moss-covered log blocking the path ahead. Without slowing down, I scrambled up the slick wood and threw myself over the other side. A second later, the Thanator leaped over it, misjudging the landing due to its burnt eyes. It fell to the ground, rolling through the dirt, but instantly scrambled back to its feet, refusing to give up the chase.
I kept running, pushing through giant fern leaves, completely blind to where I was going. I burst through a thicket of bamboo-like stalks and suddenly slid to a halt.
Standing in a wide clearing directly in front of me was Jake, his Avatar body holding his assault rifle. And standing in front of him was a herd of massive, heavily armored, hammerhead-shark-rhino creatures.
Jake looked at me, completely stunned.
I didn't try to play it cool. I did what any rational person would do. I screamed at the top of my lungs, pointing frantically behind me.
"IT'S TRYING TO EAT ME!!!"
Before Jake could react, the Thanator exploded out of the tree line directly behind me.
The herd of Hammerhead Titanotheres took one look at the enraged apex predator, let out a chorus of terrified bellows, and immediately scattered, fleeing into the jungle in sheer panic.
Jake, realizing the danger, raised his rifle and opened fire on the Thanator, holding the trigger down. The heavy rounds sparked uselessly against its armor. The beast barely even flinched.
"RUN!!!" Grace's voice screamed from the edge of the clearing.
I looked over and saw Grace and Norm standing near the tree line. Grace was horrified, watching the monster barrel toward me. She tried to sprint forward to grab me, but Norm wrapped his long blue arms around her waist, physically dragging her back.
"Let me go! It's going to kill him!" Grace shrieked, fighting against Norm's grip.
"It's too dangerous, Grace!" Norm yelled, refusing to relent.
Jake didn't hesitate. He dropped his rifle, sprinted forward, and scooped me up off the ground with one massive blue arm, tucking me against his side like a football.
He took off running.
The Thanator chased us relentlessly. Jake vaulted over massive roots, ducked under thick, hanging vines, and smashed through fields of glowing plants. Every time I looked back over his shoulder, the monster was right there, its teeth snapping just inches from Jake's trailing heels.
Ahead of us, Jake spotted a massive, ancient tree whose thick roots grew heavily above the ground, creating a small, tangled cavern. Jake dove underneath it, sliding through the mud and pulling me tightly to his chest.
A second later, the Thanator slammed into the outside of the roots. It roared, thrusting its massive, razor-sharp claws through the gaps in the wood, slashing blindly at us. Jake hugged me close, shielding my small body with his Avatar's bulk. The ancient roots creaked and groaned, holding strong against the assault, but the creature wouldn't stop.
"GO! GO! GO!" Jake shouted, pushing me deeper into the tunnel of roots as we both began frantically crawling away.
The Thanator, realizing its claws weren't reaching, pulled its head back. It lunged at a different angle, sinking its massive jaws into a thick root, and with a violent twist of its neck, tore a massive chunk of wood entirely out of the ground.
It was opening a path.
Jake pulled his sidearm, screaming at the top of his lungs as he emptied the magazine into the creature's face. The beast didn't care. It lunged forward, its jaws snapping down over the pistol and violently ripping the weapon right out of Jake's hands.
"GO!" Jake shouted at me.
We scrambled out from under the far side of the root system. Jake picked me up again, throwing me over his shoulder, and ran headlong underneath a massive, fallen tree trunk. The Thanator didn't go under; it leaped directly over the trunk, landing right behind us.
Sensing the beast closing in, Jake desperately threw me forward into the soft mud.
Before Jake could keep running, the Thanator lunged, its jaws snapping shut over the heavy canvas fabric of Jake's supply bag strapped to his waist. It lifted the ten-foot Avatar completely off the ground by the bag, flailing him around like a ragdoll.
Jake cursed, frantically fumbling with the heavy plastic buckle at his waist. With a loud click, the belt released. Jake crashed heavily to the ground, and the Thanator stumbled back, a useless backpack in its teeth.
I was on my knees in the mud. I knew we were out of time. I ripped open the top flap of my Baymax backpack, completely ignoring the medical supplies. I dug deep into the bottom pouch.
A small perk of having small hands, no one notices when you steal something as small as a grenade from the armory, and no one would think that a kid would be the one to do it, if it were noticed.
My fingers wrapped around the cold, textured iron of a high-explosive fragmentation grenade.
I pulled it out, gripping it tight.
"JAKE, MOVE!!!" I screamed at the top of my lungs.
Jake looked back, his eyes widening in sheer disbelief as he saw a ten-year-old holding live ordnance. He didn't ask questions. He scrambled away from the beast.
I yanked the metal pin out with my teeth, reared my arm back, and threw the grenade as hard as I could directly at the Thanator's chest.
"RUN!!!" Jake roared.
He scooped me up off the ground, didn't even look back, and sprinted full speed toward the edge of the tree line. The ground vanished abruptly. We were at the edge of the massive cliff face, directly over the rushing waterfall.
Jake leaped into the void.
"AAAAAAAAAAAH!!!" I screamed, the wind ripping the sound from my throat as we plummeted down toward the roaring rapids below.
Above us, on the cliff edge—BOOM!!!
The concussive shockwave of the grenade washed over us mid-air, followed instantly by the agonized, deafening howl of the Thanator. It roared in absolute rage, clearly wounded but furious that its prey had escaped.
A second later, we hit the water with a massive, bone-jarring splash.
The cold was instantaneous and brutal. The current underwater was incredibly strong, a raging, violent river that immediately ripped me out of Jake's arms. I tumbled through the dark, rushing water, completely disoriented, trying to tell which way was up.
My broken transwarper, strapped securely to my wrist, snagged hard on a submerged root, violently tearing my arm back. The sudden stop swung my body around like a pendulum, and before I could react, my head slammed violently against a jagged, underwater rock.
A flash of white light exploded behind my eyes. And then, everything went black.
I didn't feel Jake swimming frantically after me. I didn't feel his massive hands gripping my shirt, hauling my limp body out of the raging current and breaking the surface. I didn't feel him desperately grabbing a thick vine hanging from the trees, using all of his genetically engineered strength to drag us both onto the muddy riverbank.
When I finally started to drift back to consciousness, the first thing I heard was heavy, exhausted breathing.
Jake was kneeling beside me, using the back of his massive blue hand to wipe a trail of dark red blood leaking from his own nose—a side effect of the intense neural strain. He pressed two massive fingers against my neck.
"Strong," Jake muttered, letting out a shaky breath of relief. "He's alive."
He gently shook my shoulder. "Come on, kid. Please, Tony, wake up. Wake up."
I couldn't move. My head felt like it had been cracked open with a sledgehammer.
Suddenly, a sharp, electronic beep cut through the sounds of the jungle.
"Host injured. Distress protocols engaged. Baymax unit online."
Jake jumped back, startled, as the heavy canvas backpack still strapped to my shoulders suddenly hissed. The front flap blew open, and thick, white vinyl began to rapidly inflate, expanding outward with the hiss of compressed air until a six-foot-tall, incredibly rotund robot was standing in the middle of the deadly Pandoran jungle.
" Hello, I am Baymax. Your personal healthcare companion, I notice you are in distress. Performing optical scans on, Tony.
Baymax slowly blinked his dark eyes, looking down at my unconscious body. He performed a rapid optical scan.
"Scanning complete. The patient has sustained a mild concussion and minor lacerations. Initiating wake-up protocol."
One of Baymax's soft, balloon-like fingers extended, a small compartment opening at the tip to reveal a crushed ampoule of smelling salts. He waved it gently under my nose.
The acrid, burning smell of ammonia hit my brain like a lightning bolt. I gasped, my eyes snapping open as I coughed violently, rolling onto my side.
Jake, who had been watching the robot with a mixture of intense wariness and total bewilderment, let out a loud laugh of relief. He reached down, helping me sit up.
"Easy, kid, easy," Jake said, keeping a steady hand on my back. "You took a pretty hard hit."
I groaned, holding my aching head, blinking up at the canopy of leaves above us. "Remind me," I rasped, spitting out a mouthful of river water. "Next time we go on vacation... let's just go to Disney World."
Jake chuckled softly, the tension bleeding out of his shoulders.
I looked up at my inflatable nurse. "Thank you too buddy. But it's too dangerous for you to be out right now. I am satisfied with my care, Baymax."
"Understood, Tony. There there" the robot replied smoothly, petting my head twice before deactivating. With a long, continuous hiss of escaping air, Baymax rapidly deflated, folding himself neatly back into the custom vacuum-sealed compartment of the backpack.
I tried to stand, but my legs felt like wet noodles. I stumbled forward, but Jake caught me easily. Without a word, he lifted me up and deposited me onto his broad back, letting me wrap my arms around his neck.
"Hang on tight, genius," Jake said softly, looking out into the dense, darkening jungle. The sun was beginning to set, and the shadows were growing long. "We've got a long walk ahead of us."
Hours later, Hell's Gate Operations Center.
The massive, heavily fortified command center of the RDA base was dead silent, save for the furious, echoing shouts of Dr. Grace Augustine.
Grace was a tornado of pure, unadulterated rage. She paced back and forth in front of the holographic tactical table, her face pale, her hands shaking as she chain-smoked a cigarette. Trudy stood right behind her, her arms crossed tight over her chest, looking terrified, exhausted, and equally furious.
Standing on the opposite side of the table was Parker Selfridge, the corporate administrator, who looked more annoyed than concerned. Beside him stood Colonel Miles Quaritch, his scarred face set in an impassive, stone-cold mask.
"He is ten years old!" Grace screamed, slamming her fist down on the glass table, making Selfridge flinch. "He is a child, Parker! He is alone out there in the dark, with an Avatar driver who doesn't even know how to tie his own shoes in the jungle!"
"Look, Grace, calm down," Selfridge sighed, rubbing his temples. "We lost the signal when they went over the falls. It's a massive search grid. And it's night time. Do you know how much fuel it costs to run a night-ops search and rescue? Not to mention the risk to the birds."
"I don't give a damn about your profit margins!" Grace shrieked, stepping forward so aggressively Quaritch subtly shifted his hand toward his sidearm. "He is out there in the most dangerous habitat known to man! You will send out the teams, or I swear to God, I will burn this entire science division to the ground!"
Quaritch took a slow sip from a mug of coffee. "The jungle takes the weak, Doctor. That's the reality of Pandora. If the kid is smart, he found a hole to hide in. If he isn't... well, we'll find his bones in the morning."
Trudy stepped forward, her eyes blazing with a fierce, protective fire. "With all due respect, Colonel," Trudy sneered, "that kid fought off a Thanator with a flare gun today to save my life. He's got more guts than half your marines. He's not dying out there. He's surviving."
Grace took a long drag of her cigarette, her eyes hardening into chips of ice. She looked at Selfridge, her voice dropping to a deadly whisper.
"You better pray she's right, Parker. Because if that boy doesn't come back alive, you won't have to worry about the Na'vi killing you. I'll do it myself."