angel.

Cullimore has finally gotten me to eat by the time I hear unfamiliar voices in the BioLab. The newbies are finally here, thank god! I crane my neck to get a glimpse at them, one is in a wheelchair–this must be Jake Sully–one is reasonably tall, I place his face as Norm by simple process of elimination. The last figure confuses me. It's female, so I know this must be Max. But she carries herself differently; she stands up a little less straight than the last time I saw her, her head is bowed, but not out of respect, but out of some sort of shame. To top this all off, she's frowning and keeping her hands in her pockets. I chance moving to the edge of the Link Room to watch her for a second, only a second, and see her eyes searching Jake's face as if she's trying to find something in it. But it seems like she's not finding what she's looking for.

I furrow my brow and move back to the Link Room, typing in codes to bring up files on the drivers currently in-link. I glance over my shoulder to see Cullimore pulling Max aside, probably warning her of the dangers of her avatar, confiding how unsteady the DNA structure probably is. I walk over to my station and pick up my little mirror to check my hair, wondering if I look official enough to be taken seriously, then roll my eyes at the very thought. I'd rather be taken seriously for how I act, not how I look.

I catch myself wandering over the BioLab only to find the new drivers gone, only until I catch Norman and Cullimore touring the lab. Jake must be with them…or working on his first log. I finally find Max sitting at a workstation, setting up the camera for her fist log, and watching someone next to her for confirmation that she's doing it right.

Slowly I make my way over just as Max begins her first log, sitting a yard or so away from Sully to keep the sound from overlapping.

"It's on now, right?" she begins and clears her throat, seeming uncertain. "Well…here I am…on Pandora. Doing what I'd swear to myself I'd never do. I guess it makes sense now. I've started a whole new life here, and everyone accepts me as a human being.

"So my avatar–which is insanely expensive, by the way–apparently has some malfunction or something. My wings transferred, so I'm nervous and excited about that. But Dr. Cullimore claims that it'll be dangerous to connect with my avatar because the DNA is unstable or some other shit like that."

I want to cut in and say that it's not shit, it's a legitimate danger, but I keep my silence for the sake of letting her continue.

She runs her hand down her face, "Anyway, it's still a little empty without Tom here. I know that the company was lucky to find Jake, but it's not the same." She hesitates. "I've been having nightmares about the night he died. I'm not going to go into detail for my own sanity. But it's starting to keep me up at night…to the point of not being able to get back to sleep." Her voice is hushed, to the point where I—with my advanced bird-girl hearing—can barely hear her. I take this as a sign to move on, look as if I'm important, like I have a plan or a job to do. But I can't help wondering if she noticed me, if she recognizes me.

"Angela," Cullimore draws my attention and I walk over to where he stands alongside Norman Spellman.

He's nice-looking, I note to myself once I have a good look at him. His face is kind and his stature, though wiry in some ways, is actually lightly muscled and well shaped. It takes a firm mental shaking to keep me from staring. I clear my throat and nod to Cullimore. "Yes, Max?"

"Hi," Norman cuts in before Cullimore can even get in a breath, "I'm Norm Spellman, Avatar Driver." He sticks out his hand and out of courtesy I reach out my own and place it in his. We shake hands for a moment and then I pull away my hand, still smiling politely.

"Angela Ride, Avatar Driver as well," I respond. "It's always a pleasure to meet the new drivers."

Norm's face lights with recognition, "You wouldn't happen to be related to Maximum Ride, would you?"

I shrug, "In a way. We're adopted, so that's our only tie," I try not to let any sour emotion slip into my voice. I guess I'm still pissed that she's here earlier than I'd thought. "She's taken good care of me growing up, though."

This has seemed to silence him. I direct my attention to Cullimore, who finally has time to speak.

"Angela has been with us since she signed up at the age of ten. She's done quite a lot of growing up since then, as you can see, but she's one of our top researchers," Cullimore states, looking irked because of being cut off twice by Norm. I smirk at the expression on his face. "She's in charge if both I and Dr. Augustine are unavailable."

I chuckle, "Which hardly ever happens." I pull at my tank top anxiously and give the two men a nod before heading back to the Link Room, which is buzzing with the noises of techs and machinery. I look at the readings on the screens; the current drivers were coming out of link, which meant Grace would be around soon, which meant I wouldn't have to deal with any of the orientation around the new drivers.

I make my way to Julianne's link unit and start running her stats, making sure she isn't over-working her avatar and that she's doing alright. Julianne is celebrating her first full year on Pandora and has a habit of overworking herself during link time, which transferred to mental weariness at times. The top pops open and I look over at the driver to smile at her. "How are we doing, Julie? Take things easy today?"

She nods and slowly sits up, "Yeah. It's so boring, though!"

I force a comforting laugh, "You only have yourself to blame. I told you to take it easy months ago. I'm sure Grace would agree with me." Julianne is twenty-two, a year my junior, but she acts as if she's sixteen sometimes, and she's been rebellious before, which is a trial. "Now go eat something, okay?"

Julie sighs, but obeys. I smile and wave to her as she leaves. It's not after that I hear Grace's dulcet tones, "Who's got my goddamn cigarette? Guys, what's wrong with this picture?"

A female tech hurries over with both her lab coat and her cigarette. I glance over at the scene with a bit of a smirk, but turn my attention to readying the unit for the next driver by closing the lid and running a few technical tests on it. My attention is drawn away from my unit as the new drivers walk by.

"…the head of the Avatar Program. She wrote the book, I mean, literally wrote the book on Pandoran botany."

I turn my head to look over my shoulder just as they walk away, making me curse myself internally for even bothering to look back. It's not my job anymore, after all. Now it's just making sure things run smoothly or just do what Grace tells me. I can't help myself, however, and leave my position to follow after them, hands in the pockets of my lab coat.

I pass the group of four to stand by Grace, offering her a small nod, which she returns with a drag of her cigarette and a look-over of Jake, Norm, Maximum, and Max. She doesn't seem impressed. She asks Norm about his Na'vi, to which he responds in the language. I note the formality of his tone and speech and I smile at him, impressed only a little by this after he stated his five years of training. At least he was qualified for this.

Maximum steps forward, "Kaltxì."

"You must be Maximum," Augustine frowns, observing her closely. Maximum nods. "I've heard about you. Angie says you're a fast thinker."

I nod, affirming that yes, this was what I'd said when I'd first been asked about her. I'd gushed about her then, when I was only fifteen and still a big fan of her. "She's the most confident person I know."

I feel Maximum's eyes lock on me and I turn my eyes on her just as her jaw drops. "Angel?"