Chapter Text
Warnings: Inaccurate military talk (tried to be respectful by doing research but could still very much be wrong, my apologies!)
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Sage Mae Mason knew all about the new and fascinating discovery of Pandora. Ever since she was a little girl, she grew up hearing about it — a planet that wasn't dying and being mistreated by their people. It was a distant moon with flying mountains and millions of new species of animals that the human race can't even begin to comprehend. But even the idea of unknown threats and the toxic air won't stop them from invading the eerily beautiful planet and claiming it as their own.
You can count on mankind to start the cursed cycle all over again, taking things that aren't theirs, making enemies and starting war.
For Sage, she's been surrounded by war almost her whole life. Being in the military was all she has ever known. At a young age, being at the base and seeing all the soldiers doing their drills, that was all she could ever see herself being — a soldier.
When she was of age, Sage joined the military and was soon known for being an outstanding soldier, just like her father was. Did what she needed to do and did a damn good job at it too. Eventually her skills were being noticed, causing her to be moved to another branch. A promotion, is what they said. She suspected it had more to do with her family name than anything but she followed along anyway.
Special Operation Forces. It's where Sage completed countless missions where her and her squadron all returned alive with minimal casualties. She was a strong soldier and it showed with every single mission she was assigned to.
However, one fateful operation in Mexico gave her a run for her money. There, special agent Sage Mason was assigned a new crew to lead and was instructed to reveal a drug operation in 4 weeks. It all backfired when the crew she had grown close to, would betray her by turning her into the enemies in place of some valuable intel, leaving her for dead.
Though with someone as strong of a vengeance as hers — she's hard to fucking kill.
The sorry sons of bitches were all a little too late to realize that as they all ended up either tortured, dead, or behind bars a few weeks later. She broke code when she decided to run that mission on her own — getting her revenge. But instead of wasting her talents by relieving the young soldier of her duties, her superiors had a different idea. They decided to send her to the world of Pandora; alien planet central.
For rehabilitation.
There, Sage was tasked to aid and protect Dr. Grace Augustine and her team in the humid jungle and flying fucking mountains. It wasn't like Sage had much of a choice, it was either that or being on probation back on Earth, doing whatever sorts of "community service" and mandatory therapy sessions the government had in mind for her. The first option didn't sound so bad either, she would be assigned a billion-dollar avatar body to blend in, to look like the species that were living there, thriving there.
To add the cherry on top, right when Sage agreed to the transfer they just couldn't help but casually mention that it would take about a quick 5-6 year journey to get there, no big deal.
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The female soldier scoffed as she dropped her duffel bags onto the metal floors. "Sorry, did I hear you right?" She asked as she looked back at her superior, General Muñoz.
He was a rather tall man who stood up straight and always sported his uniform and pins of achievement, just like a good ol' boy scout. He let out a sigh as he adjusted his grip on the clipboard he was holding as he shrugged his shoulders.
"5 years ain't such a big deal, Mason. At least you won't age." He said, feigning a bitter tone.
"You always tend leave the most important parts out, sir." Sage deadpanned.
The general chuckled at Sage's expression, roughly patting her shoulder. "Yeah, yeah. You already know I do what's best for you." He said with a half smile. Sage could only roll her eyes as she finally cracked, shooting her superior a warm smile.
"Did you say goodbye to the old man?" He spoke softly as he looked at the young soldier, waiting for her reply.
The smile faded from Sage's face as she averted her gaze onto the floor. "I have said everything I wanted to say," Sage said looking up at him with a small smile.
Nodding his head, General Muñoz cleared his throat, "I'll make sure to visit him soon, give him a bouquet of roses while I'm at it." He chuckled. Sage smiled with a nod of her head. He cleared his throat as he tilted his chin towards the on-boarding ship. "Head on inside, kiddo. You're gonna be late."
"Aye aye, captain." She said with a mock salute, turning around to grab her bags and head inside the shuttle.
"—You got a long flight ahead of you!" He hollered to her.
After hearing that, all that Sage could think to do was scoff as she flipped off her boss. After all, he would forget about it in 5-10 years... right? Huffing slightly at the sight before him, General Muñoz could only shake his head as he watched the young female soldier disappear into the space ship. The slight saunter in her walk a noticeable characteristic as she easily differed from the other recruits piling in as well.
An electronic voice boomed out throughout the speakers surrounding the military base they were currently stationed at, "Attention all personnel, be cautious and remain a safe distance away as Shuttle AlphaB will begin its departure."
With that warning, the general had no choice but to retreat within the command room, watching as the huge hunk of metal slowly lifted up into the air, taking off into the sky, straight to space where they were to meet with the mother ship that housed all the cryo-pods for the recruits.
A tinge of bitterness flickered in his chest as he watched the ship slowly turn into a small speck of dust, the last bits of the soldier who had been a pain in his ass for his 15 years of knowing her, before recruitment and all, fading away as she was set on her new journey. It was a good 15 years, he'll admit that.
With a sigh he placed his cap back on and adjusted it before walking out of the control room. Making a mental note to go to the local floral shop before his desired destination. Stepping out of his car with a huff, General Elias Muñoz let out a low groan as the joints in his aged knees ached. He grabbed a hold of the bouquet of semi-wilted roses — he never really had a knack for picking the prettiest things, shutting the car door behind him. He set himself down a path and continued down the trail until he stopped in front of a certain headstone. Eyes trailing over the engraved words of his closest friend and colleague's name as green moss was starting to grow within the indents.
Elijah S. Mason
He bent down and placed the bouquet of flowers on top of the head stone, a slight drizzle of rain began to fall as he took a step back to where he was before.
"I got her out, friend. Just like you wanted."
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*quick 5-year spaceship ride later*
The sound of a hydraulic hiss awoke Sage from her slumber. Next was a bright light that blinded her vision, sounds of talking and automated voices were ringing through her ears. She felt like shit. She groaned as she tried to sit up, but paused once she saw she was strapped in. As if sensing her rising level of frustration, a person wearing scrubs and protective gear from head to toe floated towards her and started to unbuckle the young woman.
"Good nap?" The male nurse joked as he worked on the last buckle.
"Hilarious," Sage muttered as she raised her arms to stretch. "Are we here or did we get stopped by space patrol for going too fast?" She said in a half-joking manner.
The nurse chuckled as he went to check off things on his clipboard, most likely checking her vitals and brain activity before letting her go.
"Nope, we are here. It took 5 years and 10 months but we are here." He looked up from his clipboard with a smile. "You should probably collect your belongings, we will be landing soon." He pushed himself off from the metal handles next to the lockers and floated off to help someone else.
Sage huffed as she took her arms and pulled herself up from her prison bed and immediately went to her corresponding locker. After yanking out her duffel bag, she headed towards the exit and got ready for the new world ahead of her.
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"You've got to be shitting me!"
Not even 5 minutes in and the doctor that the female soldier was assigned to was having a fit.
"Grace—"
"No, fuck you! I don't need another goddamn bodyguard, much less another idiot with a gun shooting down anything in their path!" Grace exclaimed as she pointed a finger in Max's face.
Sage had arrived in the science lab about a couple of minutes ago and was greeted warmly by Dr. Max Patel. He gave a small little tour, courtesy of himself and redirected Sage towards the Linking room where she was to meet her new boss. When Sage was debriefed on the mission, she couldn't think much of it. But being greeted with the sight of a redheaded woman, looking for her cigarette while cursing off almost everyone in the room to the point where it looked as if some of them were about to cry, was something she didn't think would happen and Sage had seen a lot.
"Grace, we had just started making connections with the Navi and we still don't fully know what they're capable of—" Max started to say but he happened to lose his voice as Grace turned around and gave him a harsh stare, practically daring him to finish that sentence.
"They won't— Hell, humans have hurt me more than any Navi did," Grace said, placing a hand on her hip.
Max sighed, almost giving up but he continued, "You said so yourself that you would need protection from the wildlife here in Pandora. Now, Agent Mason here, will be there to assist you."
Grace looked over at the young woman who just watched the two hash it out, standing straight up, awaiting further instructions. Grace narrowed her eyes and observed her as she stared back with a neutral expression. God, she just looked like another one of Quaritch's men, they're all the same.
"Do you even know anything about the animals here? The Navi language?" Grace asked the girl.
Sage tilted her head, clearly showing confusion. "No, ma'am—"
Grace gave her fellow scientist partner an exasperated look and shook her head.
"—All I was told to do was keep you safe as you go out to Pandora. Those are my orders." Sage finished, readjusting her hands to clasp together behind her back.
"Yeah and you need to know those things in order to keep me and my crew safe! Goodness, why the fuck is Selfridge even bothering to send anyone in at this point." Grace seethed.
Sage looked over at Dr. Patel who clearly looked to be in distress as he was trying to calm this woman down. Sage sighed as she knew that she had to step in to defuse the situation at some point.
"Dr. Augustine, you don't go out into the field until the 18th — that is in another month. I can learn, I assure you." The female soldier proposed, taking a step closer to the pair.
Grace turns towards the woman with a look of disbelief. She scoffed as she faced Sage and came a couple of steps closer to her in turn. "You think you can learn and memorize the entire Navi language and environment in just 4 weeks?" Not only did Grace look at the female soldier in shock but so did Max and a few other scientists who happened to over hear their conversation. The other scientists merely watching, waiting for her response with anticipation.
"I learn quick, doc." Sage challenged her.
The two seem to make a staring contest out of this situation, both of them not wanting to give in and look away first. But after awhile the side of Grace's mouth quirked up in a smug smile.
"We'll see about that, agent." The scientist walked away to most likely yell at somebody else.
Just like that, like discussed, every day for about 5-8 hours, Sage would be in a room with Grace and another scientist who went by the name Dr. René Harper, to help teach her the basics of what she needed to know. René Harper was a Xenolinguist who studied the Navi language and their dialects alongside with Grace. The female scientist had wanted the male doctor to come and attend these sessions to help further improve Sage's learning capabilities because Dr. Harper was quite versed in the Navi language and the environment itself.
And yes, Grace was totally doubting the soldier's statement from just yesterday.
"Learn quick my ass..." Grace muttered as she sent the message via her tablet to page her friend, René, down to her lab right after the infuriating first encounter with the young female soldier.
Just like Grace had assumed, René had been onboard as soon as the first handful of words had left her mouth. One thing that you could always count on when seeing René was his optimistic attitude that happened to suffocate Grace the most on her sour days. After spending a couple of hours breaking down course work and their plan of action to teach Agent Mason, they soon decided to start as soon as her second day of arriving here.
That day being today. Grace went to the whiteboard and started scribbling down something with a blue expo marker in one of the RDA's many spare rooms. This one seemed to be an old instruction room of some sort, either to teach the soldiers about pointless military shit that Grace couldn't care much about. Sage, who had just finished eating breakfast, watched as her boss started to write down words, not getting the chance to fully read it until she had moved to the side.
Navi language and environment 101
The female soldier practically huffed in amusement at the sight as she thought that this was like high school all over again.
"Special Agent Sage, I would like you to meet one of my team members and old friend, Dr. René Harper."
Sage looked over to see a pale-skinned male doctor walk over to Grace at the front of the classroom and wave kindly at the female soldier. His hair was shaggy and he sported a wrinkled-looking cotton button-up and shorts, both items of clothing looking as if he had just dug them out of the deepest depths of his drawer.
"Hello, I will be here to help assist your learning, Agent Mason." He said as he held his hands together in front of him, a warm smile tugging at his lips.
"Nice to me you Dr. Harper. Thank you for using your time on me." Sage said professionally.
While the two had that encounter, Grace couldn't help but assess the woman with everything she did. How she sat, her posture, and her facial expressions. She had to make sure the agent wasn't one of the spineless military nuts that could care any less about the forest and their people. She would never let one of them steer even close to them for they cannot see the beauty of the Navi and their culture. She cannot let them ruin the forest, the people — her progress.
She has made relationships with the Navi that took years to develop, since their trust in the tiny humans that took over their planet was so little to begin with, she cannot let them fuck this up. If Agent Mason just so much as gives a hint to Grace that she cannot trust her, she will send her back to Earth just as quickly as she came.
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The first 2 weeks in, Grace already had Sage working through 2 textbooks every 4 hours. Every time Sage would finish a book, Grace would slam a new one in its place. The thick textbooks were filled with notes and they all almost looked as if they were about to burst at the seams from all the post-its and index cards that were shoved into them.
Though Sage grew restless at Grace's tough teaching and smug nature, she does have to admit that her own superiors were at fault. They had just sent a military personnel with no training or knowledge of Pandora whatsoever to protect her... in Pandora — no wonder Grace is pissed the fuck off.
Unless this was their intention... to punish Sage from her previous fiasco. The female soldier had to keep reminding herself that she did not leave on best terms with her superiors and this mission wasn't just assigned to her because of her good looks and skills.
Letting out a long sigh, Sage stared at the textbook cover as she thanked the red-haired scientist. She immediately went straight to the specific chapter that Grace had instructed her to turn to. This chapter was about the specific animals in Pandora. It showed their Navi and English names at the top with their corresponding pronunciations in italics. A drawn illustration was then provided with arrows pointing at specific parts of the body, the labeling of the parts were written in Navi. Sage had already gone through the textbooks that went over the introductory words in Navi. Like simple greetings and descriptive words. After Sage had finished those chapters, Grace would then test the soldier by speaking to her in Navi all day.
"Hello, my name is Grace Augustine. What is yours?"
"Hello, Grace Augustine, I see you—" Sage started off to say, making the corresponding hand gesture from first touching her forehead to then dropping her hand downwards, which surprised the scientist for she had not taught the soldier that custom yet.
She looked over to a proud-looking Dr. Harper who shrugged his shoulders with a growing smile. Grace then directed her attention back to the soldier who continued to say her greeting in Navi. When she finished, Sage stared up at Grace expectantly, waiting for her feedback. To possibly say that her words were either too choppy or that maybe her talk was too formal, even. But Grace just stared at the soldier and nodded towards her with a brief look of surprise. The look was then quickly covered as Grace told her to go back to her desk and work on the new textbooks that she gave her.
Sage chuckled as she expected that and nodded, doing what she was told. After all, the more she read and learned she actually found herself interested in the world of Pandora. These textbooks were similar that of a fictional book that Sage would usually be engrossed in, like back at home whenever she had the rare occasion of "free time".
As she retreated to her desk, the scientist watched as she went straight to work, with no problem and no complaints whatsoever. Grace furrowed her brows in wonder as she raised her coffee mug to her lips. She had countless people who were dumped into her department to learn Navi in 4-5 months and even then they didn't sound as good as Sage did now and they were working on the female soldier's Navi for only about 2 weeks.
As much as the scientist would hate to admit, the young woman was retaining things a lot faster than she'd expected. After seeing Sage nose deep within the notebooks and textbooks at her desk, Grace went to pull the male doctor out into the hallway, the sliding doors letting out a soft hiss as they opened.
"We’re gonna get more coffee, need anything, kid?" Grace asked.
"—No? Nothing, okay." Grace finished as she was already out the door, not even waiting to hear her reply. Sage let out a huff of amusement and shook her head as she went back to learning the names of the many animals in Navi.
Once the two doctors were outside of the room, the door hissing as it shut, Grace turned towards the brunette-haired scientist and gave him an expectant look.
Dr. Harper just stood in front of her with a small smile and another shrug of his shoulders. "Yesterday when we finished, she pulled me aside and asked if she and I could work together on her pronunciations. And after a couple of hours of working with her, the information about the custom had just followed." Dr. Harper stared at his superior and friend with a simple smile and continued to speak, "What can I say, Grace? For some reason, I really want her to succeed."
"That's rare considering you weren't so helpful to our previous 'students'. What's so different?" Grace asked him.
René's eyes drifted towards the window that showed the hardworking soldier, her mouth moving, talking to herself as she went over the flashcards she had made, flipping them over and either grinning in triumph or groaning in defeat if she got them right or wrong.
"This one really wants to learn. She's actually interested in what we have to teach — about Pandora and the Navi! And she's learning quickly too." Dr. Harper finished as he stared back at Grace.
He saw that Grace had followed his gaze as he was talking, but she didn't realize that René had finished as the red-headed scientist continued to stare at the young soldier with a new sense of realization emanating from her. The male doctor couldn't help but roll his eyes and smile at his friend.
Every morning from then on out, Grace, Sage, and Dr. Harper quickly made a routine. Wake up, eat breakfast, head to their "classroom" to study, and repeat. There would be some days when Sage would take days off to practice her shooting in the armory and work on her drills. And that place quickly became her second home as she was always seen there if she wasn't with the two doctors. Always shooting whatever crazed gun they stored in there or even cleaned them as she polished them down and brushed out the chambers.
As the weeks passed, Grace and René ran through everything they could think of to teach this soldier the Navi language and the environment. And the questions... Sage had a ton of them.
"So to become a warrior and receive the rite of passage, they must go through a test called Iknimaya?"
"Yes, they travel to the Hallelujah Mountains up to where the Ikran live, getting their own ikran is the final test in becoming a warrior in their clan," Grace said as she wiped her mouth with a napkin.
The three had decided to eat lunch with one another in the classroom since Sage had so many questions to ask. Grace and René were actually enjoying all the questions and Sage was really intrigued by them. They didn't mind taking their lunch to a secluded room rather than a noisy, sweat-filled cafeteria full of marines and scientists alike.
"That's pretty badass," Sage said softly with a small grin.
Grace smiled as she nodded in agreement. She leaned forward as she began to tell the soldier another interesting fact about the Navi people and how they connect with the wildlife around them.
"—They attach themselves with wildlife?!"
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Three weeks had quickly passed and Sage was practically finished with learning the Navi language, though she understood more than she could confidently speak. She knew a lot of their respective greetings and sayings — what to say and what to definitely not say in front of the clan members. She just needed some quick reminder queues from Grace, which she didn't mind at all since the older woman was thoroughly impressed at how quickly the young soldier learned.
She also grew confident in her knowledge of the forest, and the many different species of animals. Which ones were a threat and which weren't, their usual tracking patterns, and what to look out for to help identify who it was. Sage learned this fairly quickly because a lot of the species were painstakingly similar to the ones back on Earth — some but not all.
Earlier on at the beginning of Sage's fourth week of learning, she had linked with her avatar for the very first time. To say that Sage was excited was an understatement but she did her best to not let it show. The young soldier woke up in the observation room with eyes as round as saucers. She just kept on looking at her big blue hands in awe, wiggling her toes in fascination — completely ignoring the instruction of the two scientists before her.
Grace and René couldn't help but cackle at the reaction of the young soldier. She was so amazed at everything that she was in her own little world.
"Listen to them, soldier. Or else they're not gonna let you out." Grace joked through the intercom.
With that Sage was quick to clear her throat as she looked at the two doctors with a nod and an awkward smile.
After going through the necessary drills, Sage was directed to the room next to her and was told to put on the change of clothes in her locker. When she was finished she was then told to leave through the exit doors and holy shit, Sage was not prepared to see what was in front of her.
Her eyes widened even more, if it was even possible, as she caught sight of the other avatar drivers and the beautifully rich environment around her. She shut her eyes and took a deep breath as the otherwise deadly Pandora air filled her lungs. The air was crisp and clearer than she could even imagine. Sage sighed with satisfaction at the feeling of the warm summer air on her now blue-striped skin.
"You gonna stand there and laugh like you're in a shampoo commercial or are you gonna come out and explore with me?" A voice said, breaking Sage from her initial shock.
She looked over to see Grace who had a hand on her hip, a warm smile across her face.
"Dr. Augustine! Holy shit, this is amazing!" Sage exclaimed, shock still evident on her face. Grace gave the young soldier a knowing smile.
"I know, pretty goddamn cool right, agent?
"It's more than that. It's beautiful." Sage said sincerely as she saw the horizon peak through over the treetops that surrounded their base, looking in awe.
Grace stared at the younger woman and couldn't help but smile. As much as she'll hate to admit, Dr. Grace Augustine had grown a liking to her new bodyguard. She was in fact quite relieved that the big guys decided to send her out of all people. Someone who is truly beginning to see.
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A/N: Hey, I hope you all like it so far! Just wanted to mention that René Harper isn't one of my OCs, he is actually from the Avatar video game (the old one, not AFOP) and I thought his backstory was cool so I decided to include him. I haven't played the old game at all so all of the similarities of appearances and/or actions that take place with the character in the game compared to my story are purely coincidental! All rights of René Harper go to the developers of the video game, James Cameron’s Avatar: The Game!