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Neytiri can barely breathe. She is shaking with the enormity

of it, her voice cracking with rage and pain --

NEYTIRI:

I trusted you, Jake!

106.

JAKE:

Neytiri. Please, I only wanted to --

NEYTIRI:

You will never be one of the People!

NEVER!

TSU'TEY yells to his HUNTERS --

TSUTEY:

(SUBTITLED)

Bind them.

They grab Jake, who doesn't resist. Others seize Grace.

Both are driven to their knees, and their arms bound.

CUT TO:

EXT. RAINFOREST - DAY

SCORPION GUNSHIPS darken the sky as they come over the tops

of the trees. At the head of the formation is one much

larger ship, a monster 150 feet long -- the GENERAL DYNAMICS

C-21 DRAGON GUNSHIP.

Quaritch, next to the pilot of the Dragon, surveys the world

below like Napoleon astride his horse.

EXT. HOMETREE

JAKE and GRACE are lashed to posts at the front entrance to

Hometree. The People look up as --

THE DRAGON and its escort of GUNSHIPS arrive over the trees.

The DOWN-BLAST from their rotors creates a maelstrom of

flying leaves and debris.

IN THE DRAGON COCKPIT Quaritch watches a targeting screen --

a telescopic image of Jake and Grace tied to posts.

QUARITCH:

Well, I'd say diplomacy has failed.

TSU'TEY and another HUNTER hold knives to the throats of the

two avatars, glaring defiantly at the gunships.

QUARITCH:

I think they mean to cut their throats if

we don't back off. Make sure you get a

nice close-up of that. I can tack it onto

the after-action report.

JAKE YELLS to Neytiri, Tsu'tey, the others gathered nearby --

107.

JAKE:

You have to get out of Hometree! Run to

the forest! Please, I'm begging you!

EYTUKAN scowls at Jake, then GRABS TSU'TEY and yells --

EYTUKAN:

(SUBTITLED)

Take the ikran! Attack from above!

Tsu'tey grabs some hunters and runs up the roots of Hometree.

IN THE COCKPIT Quaritch grows impatient.

QUARITCH:

Alright, let's get this done. Give me

forty millimeter gas rounds, right in the

front door.

GUNNER:

Roger. CS forties. Going hot.

QUARITCH:

Fire.

On the Dragon's stub-wings the 40mm ROCKET LAUNCHERS open up

with a BARRAGE of leaping fire which FLASHES down and --

K-WHOOM!K-WHOOM!K-WHOOM! -- the inside of Hometree ERUPTS

with multiple EXPLOSIONS of TEARGAS.

THE GAS rolls across the confused villagers. They begin to

cough and gag.

Eytukan and the remaining HUNTERS bravely fire at the

gunships with their longbows.

IN THE DRAGON'S COCKPIT, Quaritch laughs as arrows CLINK

against the armored windows.

AMID CLOUDS of teargas, the Omaticaya run, stumble, collapse.

EYTUKAN:

(yelling/subtitled)

Everybody outside! Go to the Forest.

The villagers pour out of Hometree. Everyone is yelling.

Piercing SCREAMS in the boiling gas.

JAKE, eyes streaming, struggles with his bindings.

KA-WHOOM! An INCENDIARY ROUND explodes inside the Commons.

FLAMES ROAR through the base of Hometree.

108.

INSIDE HOMETREE it is a burning smoky HELL. Flames roar up

the inside like a chimney. STRAGGLERS scramble outside,

coughing and dragging wounded with them.

High up in the trunk, TSU'TEY and his hunters leap rapidly

from spoke to spoke, climbing barely ahead of the fireball.

OUTSIDE the fire is driven by the rotor-wash toward JAKE and

GRACE who are still bound tightly to the posts.

Out of the smoke, MO'AT appears in front of Jake. She raises

a KNIFE and --

SLASHES DOWNWARD. Jake looks down, surprised, to see his

bonds falling away. He meets her eyes, which are filled with

horror, but also something else. Call it faith.

MO'AT

You are one of us. Help us!

Jake takes the knife and cuts Grace free.

JAKE:

We've gotta move! He's gonna blow the

columns.

As Grace realizes what he means, he grabs her and they RUN.

Around them the Omaticaya flee in horror and confusion.

IN THE COCKPIT, Quaritch watches as the Omaticaya stream away

from the Great Tree, running along roots and branches.

QUARITCH:

That's how you scatter the roaches. Okay,

switch missiles. Give me H-E's at the

base of the west columns.

PILOTS (V.O.)

Copy, switching missiles.

IN TRUDY'S SAMSON -- she hears the other pilots acknowledging

Quaritch's order.

TRUDY:

Screw it.

She takes her finger OFF the fire-control and pulls her

aircraft out of formation.

PUSHING IN ON QUARITCH, the Hometree reflecting in his

glasses.

109.

QUARITCH:

Bring it down.

MISSILES stream down from the DRAGON and the other gunships

and --

The base of Hometree VANISHES in a chain of HIGH-EXPLOSIVE

BLASTS. The massive PILLARS fragment into matchsticks, and --

The Omaticaya watch in horror as --

HOMETREE GROANS and starts to MOVE.

In a cacophony of cracking, splintering roots, the mighty

tree TOPPLES with agonizing slowness.

AT THE BANSHEE EYRIE, TSU'TEY and the other hunters spur

their mounts into flight. They swoop among the branches as

the tree, the one fixed thing in their lives, MOVES.

It CRASHES DOWN through the forest canopy, crushing the

lesser trees in its path, FALLING PONDEROUSLY.

HOMETREE hits the ground like the end of the world, raising a

great cloud of dust and pulverized debris.

IN THE DRAGON cockpit, Quaritch surveys the destruction.

QUARITCH:

Nice work people. Alright, let's light

it up.

INCENDIARIES launch from the gunships, EXPLODING into gouts

of FIRE in the debris of Hometree.

THE GUNSHIPS fan the flames through the trees like a fire-

storm. The Omaticaya retreat as a WALL OF FIRE advances.

JAKE SEARCHES for Neytiri amid swirling smoke and sparks.

JAKE:

Neytiri! Neytiri!

GRACE is gathering crying CHILDREN, and herding them away

from the fire-storm.

NEYTIRI stumbles through the burning wreckage at the edge of

the INFERNO. She sees --

EYTUKAN. A large shard of wood is driven through him like a

spear. He recognizes her as she kneels over him.

110.

EYTUKAN:

(SUBTITLED)

Daughter -- take my bow. Protect the

People.

In his last living moment he places his bow in her hands.

She collapses over him, her face crumpling in grief.

JAKE reels out of the smoke. Kneels next to her.

JAKE:

I'm sorry --

She shoves him away and stands, screaming at him as tears

stream down her face.

NEYTIRI:

Get away from me, Jake. Go away! Never

come back!

Jake stumbles back as she slumps down by her father's body.

Sparks and smoke swirl around him. He watches as --

NETYIRI kneels, grieving. Slumped over, clutching her

stomach. Keening like an animal.

SLOW MOTION -- Jake staggers lost and alone through the

burning forest. Utterly shattered. Eyes vacant.

JAKE (V.O.)

I was a warrior who dreamed he could

bring peace. Sooner or later though, you

always have to wake up...

INT. LINK ROOM

SELFRIDGE watches a video feed of the destruction on one of

the monitors. Max and NORM stare in shock.

SELFRIDGE:

Pull the plug.

A TROOPER crosses to the console and grabs the handle of the

MASTER BREAKER --

EXT. RAINFOREST

The strings are cut. Jake flops to the ground, limp.

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