Jurassic Park: Island of Secrets

[Casperphobia]

Caspian-Dinosaur Human Hybrid (Raptor)-24-Male-Escaped-Tagged: River, Alaric
"One day, I'm gonna hurt you. I promise."

Caspian was about to move on with his next plan that he had for Alaric and himself. However that thought was interrupted when River asked an obvious question that the alpha almost felt stupid that he hadn't said anything about what the other should say. "Right... Right, right, right, right, right. What to say..." Now that he was on the spot, his mind was blank. Being in change was hard sometimes. Ok, maybe a calm message? "Something along the lines of a small truce? Miracle is to stay safe if he wants Mills back alive. Maybe set up a day and time for the swap? Just try to keep it calm. Do the opposite of what I would do basically." Perhaps he should have just said that from the start. Cas's words were audibly hasty and the directions were said with little to no real attention behind them. He needed to make sure he wasn't in the room where the call was in process. He was everything that could go wrong. Anger issues, impatience, and selfish. Besides, he had total faith that River could handle the situation. Well, maybe Veridian would be the best, but there was no way anyone else would be watching Mills. Not if Cas wanted to give back a half dead hostage. River was a close second choice though so he felt like he had made the right decision. Besides, he needed Alaric for a little task he needed help with.

The phone began to ring. Caspian didn’t need to look at the screen to know who was calling. “That’s my cue. Alaric, you’re with me. River, do everything you can to get her back.” The raptor motioned for the T-Rex hybrid to follow him as he walked away. They had a lot of work to do. For one, the bodies of the dead soldiers. It probably wasn’t the best idea to leave them there. Not to mention that they didn’t have time to loot them because of everything that had happened. It was kind of crazy thinking back on it. All of this craziness had happened in a span of hours. He supposed hectic days did happen every once in a while. Recently, even more. InGen was becoming more and more desperate it seemed; patrols to find and subdue the pack had been more frequent. But besides that, one would find the hybrids on a hunt or patrol check. Even playfully roughhousing in their makeshift shelter. Today was a totally different story and usually the brunette wouldn’t mind the excitement. When it came to his family being in danger is where he drew the line. He hoped Alaric didn’t blame himself. Veridian seemed to when they broke the new to her. If it was anyone’s fault it was his own; Cas of course wasn’t about to accept the blame and so he continued to convince himself that it was Dorian’s fault. In the long run, there wasn’t anything they could do but work to fix it.

The fading familiar scent of the pack led his attention back to his surroundings. Eroding walls and cracked floors had been replaced with soil and the refreshing smell of overwhelming vegetation. A little further and the stench of blood would be inevitable. Not that Cas minded it. It was a smell he was quite used to and even welcomed it. It was, for the lack of a better word, familiar which in turn made it comforting. He wondered if any of his siblings felt the same way.

“We’re here,” he announced. Letting his arms spread at the scene before him. A few bodies were in sight, thanks to the trampled vegetation. Addressing Alaric, Cas continued, “So here’s what I’m thinking: we take these lovely lads back to the nest. We won’t need to hunt for a while thanks to Dorian sending his minions out. If you want, you can even take a couple and hide them around the island for when you’re going off solo and hungry!” Gaze back to the crime scene, concern enveloped his features. They had gotten too close for comfort. Was it time for the pack to migrate to a new location? Sooner or later InGen would find their hideout. Which was exactly why they had a back up. If he could make a fake trail to lure soldiers away from home then that could help too.

[wolfrunner]

River l location - InGen Compound l tagged - Dorain (phone)

River nodded to show his understanding as his older brothers headed off leaving him with the communications device. Right. A trade. Mills for their sister and as soon as he could get Dorain to agree to the swap the better. Talking to the human was the last thing that the Spinosaurus felt like doing but, in this particular case, it was necessary like it or not. Knowing what the humans were capable of and picturing his little sister in his head were enough for the semi-aquatic predator to push past his disgust at having to talk to one of them. And Dorain of all the humans at that on top of it. They had to find a way to bring Miracle home safe again no matter what it cost.

That was when the phone started ringing and a single glance told River exactly who was calling. It was now or never. It was time to get their baby sister back away from InGen. Taking a deep breath, the Spinosaurus tapped the accept button on the screen with a light tap to take the call. Then holding the mobile device to his ear, “Right on schedule. Big Brother was right about you calling soon.”

[Casperphobia]

Spirit-Dinosaur Human Hybrid (Dimorphodon)-10-Male-Experimental Subject-Tagged: Miracle
"Welcome to the land of the broken minds."

The silence was getting to Spirit. It had lived most of its life in the quiet so for it to return so soon was less than desirable. It’s be fair, Miracle wasn’t to blame. Spirit had insulted her and her... What was the word? Family. No wonder she stopped talking. The wingless hybrid felt a twinge if guilt. It’s neighbor had already been through so much. Not to mention that it really did want to be friends with her. She could tell all about outside! Spirit would have to take the information with a grain of salt of course because she could be lying. She most likely would after all. All it’s life it had been told how horrible the outside. It had been drilled into Spirit. But... What if? No, that was besides the point. No one really described what the world looked like to Spirit. Only why it was dangerous. Only why it was bad. What did it smell like though? What about how it felt and tasted like? Miracle could have the answers. Would she be willing to talk to it after it’s treatment towards her? Maybe she would screech at it. She couldn’t really hurt Spirit however. That’s what the glass wall was there for.

After a mental argument that went on for much to long, Spirit’s voice could be heard. “Sorry.” An apology was in order before it had the gall to ask the other for anything. “Dumb. I am dumb,” Spirit offered. Whether it actually believed the words was up for interpretation. “Are you ok?” It had learned that phrase from her. That was probably an appropriate question. The hybrid peeked out from the puddle of blankets in search of her. It could just see her from said blankets. The jacket. It obviously had some sort of importance to Miracle; if Spirit had to guess, it belonged to a member of her pack. It was almost hilariously oversized for he. Except it really wasn’t a laughing matter due to the situation.

Spirit fully emerged from its hideout and plucked one of the many blankets out of the pile before scuttling to their shared glass wall. The hybrid wrapped the blanket around itself, mimicking Miracle and the jacket. It sat down, back against the glass. It was too quiet. Too quiet. Too quiet.

“What outside like? What family like? You say not monsters... what are they then?” When Spirit thought about Miracle’s so called family, several dangerous ideas manifested in its head. Caspian. An animal with no remorse or sense of morality. River. Unstoppable force of nature that only lives to destroy. Alaric. Wants nothing more than to kill others. Veridian. Ruthless and blood thirsty. Then Miracle... it had heard rumors about her too. Killer instinct and a need to kill for entertainment. The whispers about Miracle seemed outlandishly over exaggerated so... maybe the same was for the others?

[wolfrunner]

Miracle l location-Resort, Holding Lab l tagged-Spirit
The quiet was killer. Nerve wracking. It was so loud, louder then the two year old ever recalled hearing either of her largest brother's roars. It was so quiet that Miracle's ears rang echoing in pain. The raptor closed her eyes buried herself deeper into River's oversized coat letting the warm coat carrying his scent mingled with the rest of the pack swallow her up. Letting the familiar feeling of safety as she imagined it's owner's strength wrap around her was soothing even in her sort of situation. She wasn't used to such quiet or being alone, having not been so since she was an oblivious egg abandoned in the Isla Sorna forest. When the tiny hunter had hatched her entire family was there. When she was just learning how to catch prey for herself and couldn't leave the nest because she was still too weak and small, her mommy never left either. Miracle was never not with someone from her pack, having always at least been with Veridian or Caspian considering that their species were born into and died in groups. In fact Velociraptors were as social in nature as humans were. So the silence that had settled over the holding lab, while a relief humans weren't around, made Miracle shift restlessly in her coat. Or it did until an already familiar voice drew her attention-

"Sorry."

Miracle chanced a peek out from her brother's coat upon hearing that singular word of apology. Just as it had sounded, the apology had come from the female hybrid's neighbour on the other side of the glass wall across her cell. The tiny brunette peeked out finding herself eyeing the back of Spirit as he leaned up against the see through wall which divided them. The seemingly older male wrapped up in a blanket just as she was almost. As if things weren't odd enough, Spirit went on to call himself dumb just as she had. Weather or not he actually believed that or even knew what it meant was besides the point. And his next set of words didn't provide Miracle with any answers-

"Are you okay?"

The question was used in the correct way which made it even more of a curious surprise. He had to have picked that up from her correction earlier, meaning he could probably learn stuff if he wished it. Or given the opportunity was more like it. If the scientists of InGen were the only humans Spirit had interaction with then those opportunities were very slim to none. So of course his already low knowledge would be at a super low level even more then Miracle had assumed. “I want to go home.”, the small female replied simply while careful to speak each word clearly so they would get across to the male hybrid, “I want Mommy and Veridian and River and Caspian and Alaric. I don’t like it here and I don’t like being by myself. You don’t last long when you’re by yourself.”

And then there was the fact that her neighbor had wanted to know about the outside which really made no sense to the raptor at all. Did he not remember being a dinosaur? Were the members of her family the only ones that had any sort of memories about their lives before the experiments? Surely not. Not since they met Ashley and Tempest who, up until being brought back to the lab, the female predator was sure were the only other ones transfered to human forms. "Outside is still outside, it hasn't changed even with the humans building this big nest and the park here. You act like you’ve never been around the island before.”, the speedy theif replied not entirely sure just what the other hybrid was looking for as an answer.

But what surprised the little predator the most was the male's apparent interest in her family. Was this just some sort of trick he or InGen were playing? Did they perhaps put Spirit up to this to get information on her older siblings or was the other hybrid, somehow, actually curious? It was highly likely. He hadn't seemed like the type that would be curious or care, especially with his quickness to trust the humans that invaded their island. But now his questioning made things seem otherwise though it wasn't likely that Spirit would believe a single word she said.

"I said they’re not monsters because they’re not, they’re my sister and brothers. But why do you want to know about them? Is it because I screeched at you or did the human alpha order you too?”

[Casperphobia]

Maximus Threstle-Human-23-Male-InGen Employee-Tagged: Dorian
"When nothing goes right... go left."

Fear gripped Max’s heart when his boss decided to get in his face. He could feel Dorian’s breath on his face and he could feel his eyes widening into saucers. The employee wanted to back away, but he was frozen. He couldn’t seem to move. Dont look down don’t look down don’t look down. Thankfully Dorian pulled away and Maxwell let out a breath he didn’t even realize he was holding. His attention quickly went back to the map; or at least he tried to direct it there. Most of his concentration was on calming his racing heart beat and willing any redness on his cheeks and ears to disappear. This process was made easier when Dorian ran his mouth about his obvious hate for the hybrids. Well, his skin was still tainted pink, but it was a result of frustration more than embarrassment now. It was childish, but Max wanted to cover his ears with his hands; he didn’t want to hear the other’s biased opinions. At the same time, the brunette couldn’t blame Dorian Hoskins. Everyone had morals based on their own experiences and for Maxwell to deflect that would be to undermine whatever the man had gone through. So instead of jumping in, he listened.

He listened to his boss’s harsh words while staring at the map and figurines in front of them. Occasionally, he would glance at Dorian or let out an aggravated sigh so the other would know he was listening. The lower positioned man just wasn’t about to waste his breath. Any argument Max had would surely go over Dorian’s head. To be fair, it went both ways.

His fingers moved the dinosaur figures representing each hybrid across the map, spreading them equally apart so they made a circle around the park. They were placed only as far as Max could hypothesize they may be located. Although the circle didn’t look terribly big on the map, in reality it was a painstakingly large amount of land that would need to be combed through. If they really wanted to make sure that every nook and cranny was checked and accounted for, it could even be a week before they would be done. Carding his hand through his hair, he rolled his eyes at the ravenette’s line about Max’s faith in him. “I’m more disappointed that you don’t value yourself as much as you should...” he grumbled to himself quietly. Max was one to talk, but that was besides the point. Once the circle was made, he pinpointed places the pack could have holed up. There was an abandoned building that would be the best for what the hybrids were trying to accomplish, but it seemed too obvious. Unless that’s what they wanted InGen to think. Maybe it was reverse psychology? Maybe even reverse reverse psychology. Even worse, the idea that the group could still be walking to another location. How could he not have thought of that? Reluctantly, he made the perimeter larger. The clatter from Dorian’s phone startled him, but he kept his focus. That is until he heard the man speak again. Had he just apologized?

Looking at Dorian for a second, Max couldn’t help the soft smile that came to his lips. “I appreciate the apology, Mr. Hoskins. I promise that he’s alive. Trust me?” He knew he was pushing the boundary with the question. There was no reason for the heir to comply to the request. Max was just some guy that worked under him. However, he hadn’t lied when he said with confidence that the man’s partner was alive. Roughed up? Definitely. But still breathing? Absolutely. If the hybrids were as smart as they were designed to be (for better or for worse), there was no way that Mr. Mills was dead. Not unless they didn’t want their sister to be euthanized that is. Suddenly the ring on the phone stopped and was replaced with a voice. It wasn’t the alpha which slightly surprised him. By the sound of it, the said voice was most likely River. At least if his memory was correct. Max kept his mouth shut; Dorian would probably want to lead the conversation. Not that he minded at all. Max was one to be easily intimidated in situations like this. So instead he tried to gather information based on the sounds coming from the phone. River’s voice was even so he wasn’t walking. The background was fairly quiet so it was safe to assume that the group wasn’t out in the open. They had probably holed up somewhere. The old InGen compound was looking more and more likely. River could be there while the rest had hightailed it somewhere else though. There were just too many possibilities. Max grabbed a nearby pad of paper and wrote some of his thoughts down so Dorian could see in case the information was useful. ’Possibly separated. InGen Compound? Too quiet to be outside. Alpha didn’t answer so maybe not there? Possibly took Mr. Mills to another location? Not sure if they will give proof of life, but worth a try.

[Casperphobia]

Tempest-Dinosaur Human Hybrid (Mosasaurus)-25-Female-Escaped-Tagged: Ashley
”Chill, it’s only chaos.”

Stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Tempest slid a hand over her face in an ineffective way to wipe any unwanted emotion out of her expression. She prided herself in being independent and not having any attachments, yet here she was- Wait, no. There was no way Ashley could mean something like that. The mosasaurus refused to believe the other had any sort of power over her; whether the red head realized it or not. Because then Dorian had an advantage and there was no way Tempest would allow that. She needed to be more careful of how attached she got. Ashley was only part of the problem because Skylar was no exception. She hated how the younger woman had wiggled her way into the hybrid’s affections. She supposed the closest way to describe the budding relationship was that of siblings. At least, that was the conclusion Tempest could best come up with based on her observations of actual families that roamed the park. Any type of relationship was a hazard though. The thought of calling the whole raid off crossed her mind. Her heart ached at the idea. She just wanted to be around the two longer. What if I use them? Maybe I can gain something. Use their trust in me to double cross them... Then I could stay with them longer and then have a good reason to cut ties. It gave her an excuse to enjoy the two’s company more and to be able to think about the consequences later which was something she did rather like. It gave her a small peace of mind.

It was only when the brunette went down a dead end hallway that she realized that she had absolutely no idea where she was going. How she had not noticed before was beyond her. Tempest didn’t even know why she had thought that she had even an inkling of a clue where Ashley’s room was. Speaking of, why didn’t the other stop her.

“Hey Ash, where-“ She cut herself off. Ashley was no where in sight. Had she really not followed? Was Tempest on the wrong floor? She could have sworn this was the right one. So where had the red head gone off to? The mosasaurus backtracked mostly successfully to where she remembered the elevator to be. The closer Tempest got, the more she could swear that she could hear crying. The sound caused her go faster. Upon reaching her destination, Tempest found Ashley huddled up against the wall. The woman’s body was shaking and it sounded like she wasn’t able to properly catch her breath. Tempest stood, staring for a moment; she wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do. Said hybrid was well versed with honey sweet words to get what she wanted, but when it came to soft and comforting and actually meaning it? Whole different story. She was capable, but it did require effort. Now that she thought about, she was pretty sure she only talked like that to Ashley. At least it was good practice if nothing else.

“Ashley?” Her voice was surprisingly soft and careful that she ended up scaring herself a bit. Tempest quickly refocused and sat down next to the other, making sure not to touch Ashley. She didn’t know how much of a good idea that would be or if it would startle her. “Are you-“ she immediately stopped herself. Obviously Ashley wasn’t ok. Tempest reminded herself that she shouldn’t even be doing this if her new plan was to betray her new two companions. She awkwardly reached out and gave the red head’s back a few pats. Stop, what are you doing? “I’m assuming you did something...” This isn’t what you should do. She retracted her hand and scooted slightly closer so she could lean over and rest her head on Ashley’s shaking shoulders in a weird attempt to ground her. This is going to make betrayal harder. “Something you think you’ll get in trouble for... probably scared Dorian will punish you.” At this rate, you’ll back out of the plan. “I know you don’t believe I can protect you from him. Who knows, maybe he could kick my ass. But I’ll be damned if I don’t go down swinging, ok?” STOP! She went quiet, trying to decide what the next thing she should say should be; if she should speak at all. After a few thoughts and more mental arguments about whether she should be doing this, Tempest piped up again. “Whatcha thinking about? How are you feeling?.... Do you wanna talk about it? About what happened?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Confusion was all he felt. The female hybrid in front of him had snapped at him and was now what looked like trying to regain her composure. Perhaps it wouldn’t be all that odd if this were a normal hostage situation. It wasn’t though. His captors were not humans. His captors were far more dangerous. Eli couldn’t even blame them for most of their behavior. After all, InGen had wanted to play God. It was almost karma. The company had really thought they would be able to keep things under control despite failing to do so oh so many times before. It would be laughable if the consequences of their negligence hadn’t been so severe. And it now all led up to him sitting in a cell with a raptor hybrid named Veridian guarding him. Guarding him from escaping or from her pack member; he wasn’t sure. Possibly even both.

Not a word escaped Eli as Veridian spoke. At least not at first. He had long decided that he needed to be as compliant as possible if he wanted to make it out of this nightmare as unscathed as possible. The mention of Dorian stirred up his emotions. He wasn’t quite sure if they were positive or not. Of course this had something to his partner. Eli was starting to understand why Dorian hadn’t wanted him to come to the island. If he had listened, he probably wouldn’t have found himself in this position. At the same time, annoyance bubbled under his skin. Why hadn’t he informed Eli about the reason to begin with. Yes, he knew about the escaped assets, but one would think that being told that one of the assets had been captured would have something he would be told. His guard would have doubled, if not tripled. Eli would be lying if he wasn’t angry at Dorian’s arrogance. Not to mention the other hadn’t sent someone when he had left the building since the heir was apparently too much of a coward to do it himself. Everything. Every. Single. Thing. Could have been avoided if Dorian had just-

The man instinctively pushed himself away, despite already being flush against the wall, when Veridian got closer. She was curious about his comment. Maybe his words had been too harsh. Could he be blamed though? He was terrified. Not only that, but sometimes he felt like those words were true. Dorian Hoskins was not know for his empathy. It was his lack of really. And the two’s relationship was no exception. It wouldn’t be a lie to say Dorian was rather emotionally inept. Was it so much to ask for a little emotion? Actual emotion, not any that was faked, something Eli felt like the other did for the sake of their deteriorating partnership. “He probably does,” he slowly replied. He knew he needed to choose his words wisely. “But in his own way. I honestly don’t know anymore. If he does, I can’t tell.” He was trying to not let emotion seep into his words, but he knew he was failing. “I care about him, I always will! But... it’s getting hard to care about him in... that way.” Eli wasn’t sure why he was telling the hybrid this. Part of him suspected it was because he didn’t expect her to understand anyways. Surely she didn’t actually care to begin with. He was a prisoner, plain and simple. If anything, she was probably just trying to keep him talking to get some sort of information she could tell her pack so they could use it against him or Dorian. Or both. He only nodded at her last comment. He couldn’t help but doubt her. Veridian some how felt different from the other hybrids. Almost softer. But Eli had no doubt that if she could change that if she wanted to and he did not want that.