Avatar Page #28

QUARITCH:

Get back here you worthless pukes!

141.

PILOT:

Are we breaking off?

Quaritch draws his pistol.

QUARITCH:

What do you think?

He is over the edge-- no logic in his brain now. Only death.

INT. OPS CENTER/CORRIDOR

Techs and troopers crowd around consoles, listening to all

the yelling and confusion as they try to plot the

disintegrating battle.

SELFRIDGE:

(in growing alarm)

What the hell is going on out there?

CUT TO:

EXT. RAINFOREST

Regular troopers and volunteers FLEE through the jungle,

scrambling to board SAMSONS as they touch down.

INT. DRAGON COCKPIT

The pilot listens to comms from Hell's Gate.

PILOT:

Sir, all ground units are falling back to

the LZ.

Quaritch's jaw clenches.

QUARITCH:

Stay on target.

EXT. WELL OF SOULS

Mo'at LOOKS UP as the DRAGON appears over the trees like the

shadow of Death. Around her, the Na'vi mothers clutch their

children to them. We see AKWEY'S BOY among them.

INT. DRAGON COCKPIT

Quaritch sets the target cursor on the MOTHER TREE and what

we recognize is the ghostly figure of Mo'at.

QUARITCH:

Switch missiles. Arm all pods.

142.

PILOT:

Arming.

QUARITCH:

Let's see what these blue bastards do

when I b*tch-slap their goddess.

EXT. MOUNTAINS/ AERIAL

JAKE'S LEONOPTERYX drops toward the Dragon like a Mig 29. He

pulls out, skimming over the ship. Uncoupling, he rolls

backward off his mount and --

JAKE HITS, skidding, on the hull of the Dragon. He rolls to

his feet, already running as --

QUARITCH sees the leonopteryx WHOOSH overhead and flap away

with no rider. He snap-looks aft to see --

JAKE SPRINTING along the spine of the ship, yanking two

grenades from his battle-harness, pulling the pins with his

teeth, then --

QUARITCH's hand shoots out and SLAMS the pilot's CYCLIC STICK

hard over. THE DRAGON lurches sideways, rolling sharply with

a ROAR of protesting rotors and --

JAKE IS FLUNG off his feet. The grenades miss the TURBINE

INTAKES. One bounces off the ship. The other lodges against

a cowling and --

JAKE SLIDES OFF the ship, falling as -- K-BLAM! The grenade

blows a two meter hole in the hull --

WHOOOSHH! Pandoran air swirls inside.

QUARITCH:

(to the pilot)

Put your mask on.

Quaritch leaps out of his seat, heading aft as --

JAKE GRABS the edge of a weapons pod, his feet dangling over

open space.

HOLDING HIS BREATH, Quaritch blows a RESCUE HATCH and leans

outside. Jake sees him aim his massive PISTOL.

K-WHAM! K-WHAM! Rounds clang next to Jake's head. He LETS GO,

plummeting into the trees --

Jake plunges through jungle canopy. He catches a HUGE LEAF,

as Neytiri taught him -- it bends down, breaking his fall --

143.

HE LETS GO, dropping again only to catch ANOTHER LEAF, and

then another, and --

WE RUSH DOWN with him through this green blur. Jake drops to

the ground in a feral crouch. Unhurt.

JAKE:

(into his headset)

Quaritch is gonna take out the Well of

Souls! He's got a clear shot. Hit him,

anybody that can! Do it now!

IN HER SAMSON Trudy Chacon is all business.

TRUDY:

On it.

SHE BANKS hard, pulling g's, coming around on the Dragon.

She pours on the coal and the Samson leaps forward, straight

at the WARSHIP.

QUARITCH, DRILLS a stream of tracers at her, tearing through

her canopy, ripping chunks off her fuselage.

IN THE JUNGLE BELOW, Norm watches her kamikaze run --

NORM:

No!

TRUDY:

(clipped, pilot-like)

Norm, I love you.

TRUDY DIVES, raking through treetops and then, at the last

instant, YANKS BACK on the stick and --

THE SAMSON leaps straight up and -- K-KRASH!! SHEARS OFF THE

COCKPIT of the Dragon as --

QUARITCH THROWS HIMSELF aft along the aisle and --

TRUDY'S SAMSON disintegrates, the wreckage burning as it

tumbles into the jungle.

MILES QUARITCH grips the bulkhead as he stares out the open

front of the fuselage. Wind howls through wreckage where the

pilot used to be. The forest rushes up to meet him and --

THE DRAGON CRASHES through splintering trees, IMPACTING in a

lake with a WHITE BLAST of water.

144.

EXT. RAINFOREST - DAY

Norm takes a few steps and drops to his knees. Imploded by

grief.

INT. OPS CENTER/ HELL'S GATE

ON THE PLOTTING DISPLAY as Quaritch's TRANSPONDER ICON

disappears.

TROOPER:

Dragon is down. It's off the board.

SELFRIDGE:

What do you mean, off the board?!

Selfridge is stunned. Suddenly the ROAR of an ENGINE makes

them all look up.

OUTSIDE THE WINDOW, MAX sits in the cab of an enormous SLASH-

CUTTER. Max flips Selfridge the bird and pushes a lever

forward --

SELFRIDGE:

Oh sh*t.

Selfridge DIVES as --

K-RASHHHHH! The SPINNING TEETH of the SLASH-CUTTER tear

through the window in a blast of glass and lethal air. Alarms

go off. The technicians dive for cover in a blizzard of

glass and shredded debris.

The slash-cutter head pulls back, and AVATARS SCRAMBLE

through the gaping hole into the Ops Center --

The TROOPERS look up to see blue giants aiming weapons down

at them. The battle is over in seconds. The avatars are

holding the Ops Center.

Selfridge lies there gasping, in his emergency mask. In

shock. How could this be happening?

CUT TO:

EXT. LAKE

THE DRAGON lies half submerged. Out of the water FG, a shape

rises -- a AMPSUIT. Inside -- MILES QUARITCH, his face

bloody, his eyes burning.

He slogs out of the water, covered with mud, then strides

into the forest.

145.

QUARITCH'S AMPSUIT THUDS relentlessly through the jungle. He

sees something through the foliage ahead -- the SHACK.

INSIDE THE SHACK Jake is oblivious under the link. Through a

window we see Quaritch's AMPSUIT step into the clearing.

QUARITCH levels his GAU-90 at the shack. His finger goes to

the firing button--

WHAM!! A six-legged BLACK DEMON tackles him.

Quaritch pivots as he falls, FIRING the cannon. It misses

Neytiri by inches. He grapples with the THANATOR as its

razor claws SCREECH over his metal armor.

THE TITANS twist and struggle. QUARITCH UNLEASHES a long

burst from the cannon. Rounds tear into the creature, which

SHRIEKS but --

NEYTIRI wills it to SMASH the cannon hard against a rock,

tearing it loose from the `suit's hand but --

Quaritch SLAMS the thanator back against a tree-trunk, almost

crushing Neytiri.

CLOSE ON one hydraulic hand, as it draws the `suit's KNIFE

and --

QUARITCH TWISTS violently, ramming the knife up under the

thanator's chest armor. The creature ROARS and Quaritch flips

on top of it, stabbing.

QUARITCH STABS DOWN AGAIN. The thanator slumps, pinning

Neytiri's legs under its great bulk. She is trapped.

Quaritch looks down at Neytiri. She glares back at him,

panting, scared but defiant.

JAKE (O.S.)

It's all over Quaritch --

Quaritch turns, seeing Jake DROPPING from a tree limb. The

`suit rises slowly, knife glinting in the morning sun.

QUARITCH:

Nothing's over while I'm breathing.

JAKE:

Kinda hoped you'd say that.

QUARITCH SURGES forward. JAKE closes fast, snatching up the

broken CANNON as --

146.

Quaritch SLASHES DOWN with the knife and Jake parries,

blocking it with the cannon. He CLOSES faster than the suit

can move and --

Rate this script:4.2 / 7 votes