Disclaimer: Jurassic World is owned by Universal Pictures
"Hello?" -Phone or radio.
"{Alpha!}" -Dinosaur language.
The three wounded raptors looked up as Owen walked into the room accompanied by Blue, the Beta looking as unsure as they felt. After Blue laid down in her nest as gestured at by Owen, he cleared his throat. "Girls... I've been meaning to talk to you for a while now since... Well, all this happened." He began to pace around which made the raptors even more worried as they could sense his emotional turmoil. "Part of me doesn't want to know this but I want... No, I need to know..."
Blue tilted her head to the side in confusion and chirped. "{What does Alpha want to know?}"
Taking a breath, Owen let it out slowly. "Why? Why did you girls all start to follow the Indominus? I know that I was a human and not a raptor. Hell, I told that bastard Hoskins that you were trained, not tamed." He sat down the best that he could as the now increasingly uncomfortable raptors watched. "Still, I just don't understand why you all turned on my like that? I was there when you hatched, you imprinted on me. I practically raised you when you were hatchlings and yet..." Owen looked up and glanced at each one of them. "Why?"
Each of the raptors looked toward each other before they hung their heads a bit. Finally, Blue spoke up. "{There be many reasons, Alpha, why we decided to follow White One, the False-Alpha. You raise us from hatchlings, yes. But you not trust us like packmates should.}"
With a jerk, Owen blinked. "What? Of course I trust you girls!"
A soft snort escaped from Echo as she looked up. "{You used to be with us, Alpha. In stone walled place you would play. But then you stopped and only stood high above Pack. Only touch us when we have cold, hard things on head and muzzle. No longer came down to touch pack or talk with pack. Not sure why Alpha would just do that.}"
Despite himself, Owen held back a slight wince as he remembered one of the words of wisdom that his own grandfather had given him, words echoed by a number of trainers though he had forgotten it. '"There is more to animal training then just knowing how they act and how to use that knowledge, Owen. When dealing with animals one should always treat them with respect. But just as important is that there must be trust between you and the animal. It needs to be able to trust you as well as you be able to trust it. Too much respect but not enough trust can be as bad as too much trust and little respect."'
Sighing, Owen much to the surprise of the raptors places his clawed hands on his head. "Yeah... guess that I forgot that lesson... Sorry girls."
Much to his shock, Blue hissed at him. "{Alpha have no reason to be sorry! Pack is more sorry for what it did. Should have trusted Alpha that there were reasons.}" Her head then sunk a little. "{And Pack should never have trusted what False-Alpha said...}"
That caused Owen to look at each one of them with a frown. "Wait... what did the Indominus say to you?" None of the raptors would look at him and his frown one deepened as he narrowed his eyes a bit. "Can you tell me?"
Charlie chirped a bit to catch his attention, so the transformed human turned toward her. "{False-Alpha speak to us. Say that if we follow it and become it's pack as well as attack and kill Not-Prey, that it would not harm Alpha nor Barry. Both would live and be able to leave island.}"
Out of everything that he could have expected, Owen had not expected that and it metaphorically gave him a punch to the gut. 'They went with the Indominus because... it told them it wouldn't kill Barry or me then...?'
A snarl brought his attention over to Blue whose sickle foot claws gouged marks into the floor as she clinched her muscles in silent rage. "{And then False-Alpha arrived after Alpha showed you trust pack, even with hatchlings in danger. Said that it would go back on word and kill Alpha as well as pack unless Pack killed Alpha. Showed true colors to pack, so told it to...}"
With a blink on his part, Owen listened as Blue repeated the sounds that she had made to the Indominus that night and nearly chuckled. 'Never knew that Blue had such... colorful language...'
His attention was caught as Blue opened her arms some. "{Echo and Delta hurt False-Alpha for actions, though they get hurt. But False-Alpha lose fight when Alpha's Mate bring Stern One into battle! Alpha's Mate smart and clever with Stern One listening. We beat False-Alpha together, though Fish-Lizard steal kill. Now pack once more all together as it should be! Alpha trusts pack as does Barry and Alpha's Mate. And pack trusts back! Will not disobey Alpha again.}"
Not quite sure how to really react to what he's finally been told, Owen simply stays quiet as Blue slowly settles down. Sitting down in the middle of his raptors, Owen didn't react when all of them leaned into him and began to nuzzle, seeking some sort of comfort...
Claire strode through the hallways with an even stride and a confident pose. There was a part of her that gave a twinge every time she turned to say something to Zara, only to remember that she was dead. Even though her fiancé had forgiven her without reservation, Claire still blamed herself and sometimes woke up from a nap after having a nightmare about her former aide. At the moment though, she tapped the headset in her ear as she glanced at the tablet in her hand. "Is this right, Lowery?"
The tech's voice drifted through the headset with a sigh. "Yeah, it is." There was a slurp on the other side which made Claire grimace before he continued. "Rexy is somewhere near the old Visitor Center in the Restricted Zone. ACU already stated that they're not going to try and capture her until all the other dinosaurs are accounted for."
Nodding to herself, Claire looked down at the small red dot that pulsed on the map of the island. 'Hope that you're enjoying it, Rexy. I'll try and let you keep your freedom for as long as I can.' She then cleared her throat. "That was the suggestion that I had given the ACU, Lowery."
On the other end of the line, Claire could hear a laugh. "Well, you are the expert on Rexy, Boss. After getting her to follow you, there's no one whose going to argue against your suggestions in regard to her."
With a glance up to check the hallway sign, Claire frowned for a moment. "I see..."
A few moments passed before Lowery spoke up. "So... how is Owen doing? People have been wondering about him and the Raptor Squad since he came down with that illness..."
Having heard the slight disbelief in his tone, Claire's lips twitched as very few knew the truth about what had happened with Owen. Though he had not enjoyed the visit from Doctor Harding to make sure that he was healthy. "As Doctor Harding stated, Owen is non-contagious to the Assets and cannot infect them. It's simply a precaution."
She could practically hear the grin in Lowery's voice after another slurp. "Back to them being 'Assets' again, huh?"
Much to the surprise of those in the control room, Claire stopped and glared into a camera. At his desk, Lowery flinched at the cold tone in her voice. "Need I remind you what sorts of issues could arise as of this moment from getting too close."
Remembering how a few of the higher members of the Board had tried to get Claire dismissed due to being too close to Owen when she had argued to keep them alive, Lowery flinched. He then held up his hands some. "Sorry about that, just worried about Raptor Dad."
Several moments passed before Claire gave a short nod. "Of course, I'll let him know."
With that, she continued walking as the call was cut off as in the control room, Lowery mentally berated himself. For Claire, she clinched her fists as she wished dearly to punch something having been reminded of the meetings with the Board. 'Those utter fucking bastards... Too close to the dinosaurs my ass...' However, she managed to calm down a bit by the time that she had reached the area she wanted. Partially though not wanting to come across as aggressive, and partially as she reminded herself how Simon had shot down some of the Board members himself. Entering through the doors, Claire cleared her throat. "Doctor Harding."
The elderly seeming man looked up from some notes and nodded. "Miss Dearing, how can I help you today?" Suddenly he frowned and glanced at the camera. "It's not about the situation with Owen, is it?"
As she shook her head, Claire walked in with a smile. "It's about what I asked you about before, regarding samples..."
Doctor Harding shook his head and chuckled some. "I found some that we had on end just in case. Turned out that we had three vials just in case, though with the agreement with InGen, we would have had to ship them out for testing..."
Understanding the look, Claire gave him a smile that reminded him of Rexy in some ways. In particular when she was loose on the island back in 1993 with him and his daughter trying to escape. "I won't go into details, but InGen has had their agreement changed and they should hope that we do not change it further."
All she got was a raised eyebrow before Doctor Harding shook his head. "I believe that you've been around Owen too much..." Before she could comment on that, he sighed. "I can get you the one of the samples we have by the time next week that you want it. Hopefully it works... Part of me wishes that I could try it though. Still... I'm a bit too old for that sort of thing."
With a smile on her face, Claire looked down at the tablet which still had Rexy's position on it. 'Well, you did sleep through the whole... Incident, after all.' Not that she would say such out loud. The good doctor had a certain reputation of not caring about one's position after all if he had a problem. A reputation that made sure that people tried not to cross him.
Munching on her meal, Claire suddenly stopped and sighed. "I cannot believe how much of a turn to the strange that my life has taken. It was odd enough when I was just the head manager for an island park full of extinct creatures brought back through science. Now? I have a boyfriend who came with a pack of affectionate predatory dinosaurs known as raptors after having run for our lives through said theme park from a hyperlethal genetic abomination. Said boyfriend who I am having dinner with having been turned into a talking raptor due with a mystical amulet." She then took another bite of her salad. "I almost expect myself to be in either a low grade horror-romantic comedy or a sitcome. In fact, I keep waiting for a laugh track to play at times."
Owen gulped down his own meal and gave her a smirk as he snorted. "Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha." Ignoring her eyeroll, he glared down at the steak, done rare, on his place as he tried to use his fork. "As to your life being weird, you don't say..."
All Claire did was shrug a bit. "I will say though that if this was a movie or sitcom, we have the merchandise for you already."
That caused Owen to pause for a moment as it sunk in before his head whipped up. "Wait, what?"
While she took a sip of the wine, the only normal human at the table took a sip of wine. "I said that we already have the merchandise for you." Taking another bite, Claire chewed and swallowed it before she continued. "That video of Echo, Delta, and Blue turning against the Indominus and attempting to protect you has become a major viral hit. Especially after someone spliced in some of the footage of you riding your motorcycle alongside them and Charlie."
Having narrowed his eyes, Owen remembered his own reaction to that as well as the timing. "Which, of course, had nothing to do with you."
Claire showed no sign though except for a slight upturn of her lips before she went on, as if she had not heard him. "In fact, it's still trending on Twitter as is any news about you and the raptors. After some research with focus groups, we found that merchandise of you and 'Raptor Squad' would be extremely popular by capitalizing on your popularity.
For a moment, Owen stared at her before he dropped his head and covered his face with his hands. "Oh God... please tell me that you are joking..."
As she gestured with her fork, Claire chewed another bite of food. "We have even begun decisions on what to sell on our online store due to the park not reopening for a while yet. Upper management has decided that seizing this opportunity for good press is paramount."
With another groan, the transformed human looked up at his girlfriend. "You can't be honestly doing this... you just can't."
Humming, Claire pulled out a tablet and swiped her finger across it until she came to something. "In fact, among focus groups this gained the most approval as being placed on t-shirts and sweaters."
Not wanting to, though knowing he had to, Owen brought his face up to look. "How bad... Oh for..."
It was hard for Claire not to grin at his reaction to the image. Mainly, it was a cartoon version of him as a human gesturing with one finger and wearing sunglasses. Around him, also wearing sunglasses, where cartoon versions of his raptors in various poses. And above and below were banners reading "Behold" and "The Raptor Squad" while flowers provided a background. "Pre-orders are to be made available in two days."
Once more holding his head in his hands, Owen shook it. "This has to be some sort of joke..." Another look showed him that Claire had the slightest upturn to her lips. "It isn't... and you're enjoying this..."
Finishing off her meal, Claire's eyes twinkled in mirth as she held her glass of wine. "You did ask me to create good press for Blue and the others, Owen."
Yet another groan escaped him. "I never asked for... that."
The red haired woman just smirked. "Well, I haven't gotten into the action figures yet..."
Hearing something, Blue looked in to find Owen banging his head on the table as Claire chuckled about something. With a huff, she left the room. "{Silly, stupid Alpha... Banging head on table...}"
The three raptors all looked up as Blue walked in with a confused expression. With her head tilted to the side, Echo chirped. "{Something the matter, Blue? Is Alpha okay?}"
Blue looked up before she dismissed the question. "{Alpha okay, but heard strange thing.}" At their curious looks, the Beta laid down into her best. "{Alpha and Barry were looking through collection of not-bark. Heard them talking about how Alpha became True-Hunter! Know now how it happened.}"
Needless to say, that caught all of their attention and the injured raptors leaned forward as Charlie tilted her head. "{How did Alpha become True-Hunter?}"
Looking around, Blue cocked her head to the side to listen. Now sure that Owen was nowhere nearby, she leaned in toward her sisters. "{Alpha tell Barry that he place blood from Pack into metal thing around neck. Metal thing around neck then turn Alpha from Not-Prey into True-Hunter. But according to Not-Bark, Alpha will become Not-Prey again, but able to become True-Hunter as he wants. No need stupid metal thing. Can even understand Pack without it!}"
Both Charlie and Echo chittered at that in excitement before Delta blinked and gave a low croon. "{Wait, if Alpha put blood of Pack in metal thing and put metal thing around neck which made him True-Hunter... Maybe Pack can put blood from Alpha when Not-Prey into metal thing and put it around True-Hunter's neck to make them become Not-Prey?}"
For several moments they were all silent before Blue spoke up. "{Maybe? But why become stupid Not-Prey? Not-Prey weaker then True-Hunters. Not fast. So why become Not-Prey?}"
With her head cocked to the side, Delta bobbed her head. "{Heard Alpha say that Pack could not stay with Alpha in his den because Pack were True-Hunters. Pack also could not go and explore Not-Prey places because Pack were True-Hunters. But if Pack become Not-Prey, then Pack can stay in Den and go to Not-Prey places!}"
Charlie perked up at that. "{Always wanted to go to Not-Prey places! And try Not-Prey food as Alpha said it was for Not-Prey only and not for True-Hunters. But if Not-Prey then Alpha not say no!}"
With a thoughtful look, Blue cocked her head to the side. "{Might work. No longer leave Alpha or Alpha's Mate unprotected and can defend Pack's territory. What you think, Echo?}"
Said raptor nodded her head rapidly. "{Is good plan and will follow. Be with Alpha whenever needed.}"
A slow raptor grin grew on Blue's muzzle. "{All needs to do is figure out how to put blood into metal thing. Then Pack places it on neck and become Not-Prey! No need to go back to Stone Place and stay in Alpha's Den with Alpha and Alpha's Mate! Also go to Not-Prey places...}"
Walking into the room, Owen had to blink at the sight of all four raptors staring at him. After a moment, he looked himself over some. "Is... there something the matter, girls?"
They continued to watch him before Blue gestured with her snout at a "Nest" that was on the floor. It took Owen only a moment to realize it was for him and he settled down into it with an amused expression as Blue watched him. Once he had laid down, Blue hooted. "{Now that you here, Alpha, time to teach.}"
Needless to say this only caused Owen to become even more amused. "Teach, huh?"
Echo bobbed her head as she watched him. "{Yes, even though you Alpha, you also True-Hunter now and need to learn how to be one. We teach you like you teach us...}" The next moment, Owen had to hold back a laugh as he watched her pull out a bowl that had hunks of meat in it which she tapped with one clawed finger. Meat that his nose told him likely came from a pteranodon. "{You do well, we give you piece of meat.}"
Clearing his throat in order not to laugh, Owen. "Mind if I ask where that came from?"
The answer he got from Blue caused him to blink. "{Stupid flying thing was on ground around corner of den outside, following Alpha's Mate as she walked to metal beast. Did not see me in bushes next to it as it threatened Packmate. Alpha's Mate should watch better.}"
It took only a moment for the transformed human to translate. 'This morning when Claire left to go back to the control center, there was a pteranodon stalking her right around the side of the house. Blue then killed it because it threatened her.' As part of him made note to yell later on at the ACU who had claimed they had accounted for all the flying reptiles, Owen gave Blue a short bob of the head. "Thanks for watching out for her, Blue. I'll let her know and make sure that you get an Oreo later."
That caused the raptor to perk up a little. "{Alpha does not need to thank me for protecting Pack! But I no mind Oreo...}"
Smiling, Owen shook his head though he turned back to Echo. "So... what are you going to teach me then?"
All of them glanced at each other before Delta leaned forward a bit. "{Teach you how to speak as True-Hunter. You True-Hunter now, but only speak as Not-Prey, needs to fix so you speak as True-Hunter as well.}"
His amusement back, Owen gestured at the bowl of meat. "Just so that I have this straight... You're going to teach me to speak like a raptor, and each time I get it right you'll give me a piece of meat as a reward for doing a good job then?"
With a sigh, Blue huffed at him. "{Yes, what we are doing... Alpha slow as well as stupid at times for needing so long to understand.}"
Now that got a laugh out of Owen as he shook his head. "Well, it is unexpected you know... but why not? I got time to kill after all."
That caused him to get blank looks from the raptors before they looked at each other. Then Charlie reached up with one claw and scratched the bottom of her jaw like she had learned to after copying some of the various handlers. "{How does one kill time? Time not have body to kill nor blood to spill?}"
In reply, Blue scoffed. "{Just Alpha being stupid with saying stupid confusing things.}"
Still with a smile on his face, Owen settled into a more comfortable position. "Well then... what's first?" About a hour passed before Barry came in to see a frustrated Owen and an amused bunch of raptors as he tried to make a honking noise. Once Owen managed to copy it, Barry outright laughed as Blue threw Owen a piece of meat which he gobbled down before he realized his fellow trainer was there. "Not... one... word..." Barry just smirked a bit as he whistled a bit and shook his head as he walked out. "Barry? BARRY?!"
Blue was walking along the metal walkway of the enclosure. A look elsewhere showed her sisters also walking around as they kept an eye on whatever was inside the enclosure when a voice caught her attention. "{Just think about it, Blue! With what you have done, we proved that Not-Prey can be trained! Use them for fights between large packs instead of dinosaurs!}"
Hissing, Blue got up into the face of the Indominus. "{Stop being stupid! Not-Prey only trained, not tamed! Still very dangerous and should not be used by large packs to fight other large packs! Is folly.}"
A screech then attracted her attention and she whipped around to see another raptor fall into the enclosure. "{HEEEEEELP!}"
Not giving it any thought, Blue jumped off the walkway and into the enclosure before she got between the advancing humans and the raptor. "{Whoa!" One of them shouted at her and she hissed back. "{Back, Alpha! I said get back you stupid shit!}" Still shouting, Owen tried to get past her, only for Blue to continue to put herself between him and the raptor as she held out her clawed hand. "{Hey! Eyes on me!}"
Having caused Owen to back off some, Blue kept an eye on him and the others as the raptors managed to get the one that fell in out. With a growl, she caught sight of the Indominus watching with a smirk...
Confused, Charlie looked toward her sister as Owen and the other three humans as sounds were exchanged with the large human in front of them. "{What are they doing? They not attacking?}"
It took only a moment for Blue to realize what was going on just before the sounds stopped and a shudder ran up her spine at the thought. "{They're communicating... Not-Prey are communicating!}"
The dinosaurs around her attacked only for the humans to bring out bang sticks and start attacking back. Much to Blue's horror, she saw an explosion near her sister, though said raptor was only injured, before the humans ran off. Coughing as she tried to not move her nearly gone leg, Charlie looked up. "{Need to stop them! Other dinosaurs in danger, Blue!}"
Nodding, Blue heard the sound of Owen's motorcycle fade into background. "{Agreed, need to stop the Hoskins...}" Her head then tilted a bit in confusion. 'Wonder why Alpha and others turn against us for big Not-Prey though...'
Softly snarling, Blue backed up some with the two whimpering Tyrannosaur hatchlings behind her. "{Get back...}" Hoskins' arm reached out for them again though it was stopped before it could reach them as he howled and yelled. For her part, Blue glanced toward where she saw Owen thrown as well as where she knew the other humans in the pack such as Barry were left. 'Hope they be okay...'
A moment later, she blinked as she heard a roar and looked through a side window to see Rexy running toward them with a road flare in her claws. Right behind her, chasing the Tyrannosaurus in high heels, was Claire. Then Rexy threw the flare which landed next to Hoskins and the enraged and screaming Claire burst through a human skeleton and began to fight Hoskins. Rexy then shouted at them. "{RUN!}"
Not needing to be told a second time, Blue ran with the two Tyrannosaur hatchlings behind her as Claire and Hoskins strugged with each other. When he managed to knock her to the ground and yelled, Blue felt her stomach drop. "{No...}" Then a moment later, Owen came out of nowhere and leapt onto his back with a shout. "{ALPHA!}"
The four dinosaurs watched as Owen and Claire tag-teamed Hoskins, slowly winning as they drove him toward the large pool of water. Hoskins gave another shout to them just before Zara leapt from the water and grabbed the surprised man and dragged in to his death. Beside Blue, one of the hatchlings gulped. "{I-is it over...?}"
While she watched Owen and Claire turn toward each other, Blue let out a short bark. "{Yeah... it's over...}" Both humans then kissed before Owen looked toward Blue. The raptor sighed and then nodded and the two humans took off together...
Awaking with a start, Blue blinked as she got her breathing under control. Several moments passed before she looked around the dark room. Still somewhat out of it, Blue noted how Owen was still a raptor and had Claire curled up into his side as Blue and the other raptors surrounded them in their nests. Blue laid like that for a bit before she shook her head and laid back down. "{Stupid, wierd Sleep-Runs. Won't eat strange colored hopping thing again before sleep. Gives strange Sleep-Runs...}"
Soon after she was once more asleep with some odd dreams...