the bright, white lights of what neteyam assumed to be a laboratory burned in the pupils of the boy's golden eyes that were used to the gentle rays of the sun filtering through the forest's canopy and the bioluminescent glow of the flora of pandora. his home, which he was far away from now; he was on earth

neteyam groaned as he sat up, wincing at the pain of magnetic handcuffs cutting into the sides of his wrists and making it impossible to hold his arms at a comfortable angle. he found himself in a large cube of plexiglass, which he knew was bulletproof. he looked around; his cell stood in a large, white room, a glass window at the end, behind which several human scientists sat and monitored their actions through cameras perched up in every corner of the room. beside his cell stood the one of lo'ak, his younger brother, and beside his stood that of jake. his mother and sisters were nowhere to be seen. neteyam wasn't sure if that eased his nerves or not.

of course he and his reckless brother had snuck onto the demonship to get their father out of the hands of the RDA and save the day. and of course that had failed miserably like pretty much any of their missions had.

neteyam looked down at himself. he wasn't seriously injured, a few scratches on his torso from battle and several puncture wounds on his arm where these skxawngs of humans had failed to place an IV. his head thrummed with the after effects of the drug they'd given him, he felt disoriented and spent.

the na'vi boy started pacing up and down, occasionally glancing over to the cells of his brother and father, checking up on either. lo'ak was flipping off the scientists behind the glass, while jake was still knocked out from the narcotics. neteyam had to get them out of here.

suddenly, the door of the white room opened. neyeyam's head spun around and he stood still, ears twitching back against his skull as he watched a lab coat come in, followed by a bunch of human teenagers.

a school excursion?

through the glass he couldn't quite hear the muffled words the lab coat spoke about him, but he felt utterly exposed and he hated it. the air felt tight and heavy in this glass cube, and to make matters worse, there were now about two dozen pairs of eyes ogling at him like he was in a circus. but he would remain calm, the boy told himself and closed his eyes briefly to collect himself. the lab coat probably indoctrinated the students with tales of what violent and cruel creatures they were, and he would not feed into it. still, he didn't know what to do with himself, being watched like this, so he sat down against the plexiglass and closed his eyes, trying to force his focus back onto an escape plan.

he heard his blood rushing, his heart thumping, muffled voices, hands banging against the glass in an attempt to get him to do something to entertain their bored human minds. his tail flicked from side to side on the sterile floor of the cell, his ears flattened against his braids in an attempt to drown out the noise, which worked fairly well, until he heard something shrill; an alarm

when he looked up, chaos had erupted. students were running around in panic, the scientists behind the lab were busy pressing buttons, while others tried to extinguish the fire that ate away at their commando board. and in all this noise, his sensitive ears picked up a quiet click

his ears turned to the sound, his head following before he allowed his entire body to turn to you. he had seen you amongst the students, now he recalled. you were a beautiful face. in your hand dangled the key to the lock on his door, which you swung open to let him out.

he moved quickly, brushing past you. "thanks," he muttered; he wanted to say more, ask why you would let an alien out of its high security prison just like that, wanted to thank you properly, maybe even inquire your name - but there was no time. his brain worked fast: a weapon, the key to his brother's cell. his eyes flickered to the one in your hand.

"where did you get that," he asked urgently and gestured to the key