Title: Project: More Teeth
Author: Divine Dark Angel
Summary: If the I-rex had been prevented from killing her sibling, if someone had stepped in and stopped IGen and the people of Jurassic World from isolating them and had gotten them properly socialized, if they had been trained to know what they are…how would life be different for the I-rex sisters and the rest of the park?
Rating: M for mentions of death and a mature relationship.
Pairing: Owen/Claire, Oc/Katashi Hamada
Disclaimer: All characters that you recognize belong to and are copywrite of Universal. The recognizable plot items and other such things are also copyrighted to Universal. I am simply playing in the rich world they have created for us.
Emma Madison McGovern stood in the lower corner of the observation deck, arms crossed over her chest and a dark scowl on her tan features. The bustle of excited park visitors and their chatter surrounded her as she critically eyed Nenet finishing her seventh – or was it eighth? - great white of the day. The mosasaurus was the only one of her sixteen clutch mates that had survived due to birth defects in the others. Though she was now a juvenile at fifteen meters long and seven tons, Emma felt that her growth had been artificially pushed through excessive feedings for 'entertainment purposes'. She and Dr. Wu would need to have a discussion about this; surely Nenet's breeching would be sufficient for a few of the shows? While not as easily trained as Tut, the bull killer whale she had been responsible for back in Australia, Nenet did have several trained behaviors that would be impressive enough for the crowd. No longer allowed in the tank with her, Emma now interacted with her the same way they did with the breeding whales, through high pressure water guns and a special dock that allowed for Emma to be at surface level but outside of her reach. Large tuna provided incentives for the giant marine lizard to preform when the power hoses weren't enough of an enticement.
The crowd was dispersing now, since Nenet was starting to slow in her circling. She glided over to the windows, causing a few of the guests to shrink back as that large eye swept over them with a predator's gaze. Emma grinned when she met Nenet's eye, raising her hand and giving the 'go to dock' signal. The giant dinosaur gave a barrel roll and headed towards the opposite side of the three-million-gallon tank where she knew she would receive water-gun powered scratches to her itchy under belly.
Emma turned to make her way to the upper deck, dodging around the crowd as they swarmed out of the underground viewing towards other entertainments. She waved to Sarah, the show's 'face', on her way over to the tunnel that lead to the 'socialization dock'. Since Nenet was a solitary creature, daily interaction with her trainer was as important as making sure that she never saw humans as prey animals. A sharp whistle brought the giant creature to the surface, rolling sideways to bring one eye up to peer at the young woman in charge of her care. Emma reached out to itch underneath Nenet's eye ridge. The mosasaur's large eye slid shut, a deep rumble shaking the floating dock and making her laugh.
Standing, Emma gestured for the bucket of tuna to be brought over and Nenet circled around to eye her trainer. Emma raised her arm and gave the signal for 'lap' and was pleased when Nenet began her circling of the enclosure. She gave her three complete laps before giving the signal for 'breach', groaning when she chose to breach next to the dock and completely soak her trainer. Another whistle brought the giant beast's attention back to her and she lined up in front of the dock with her mouth open, expectant. Emma heaved the sixty-pound fish up and over the dock into the waiting beast's mouth. The burbles Nenet gave as she dove with the fish made Emma smile as she un hooked the nozzle of the water gun. The high pressure gun helped to supply the tactile stimulation that was getting harder the larger Nenet grew.
Thirty minutes later, the socialization session was over and Nenet was free to play with the specially designed aquatic toys placed in the enclosure. Emma watched her for a few moments, ensuring that the big beast was happy before she turned and headed for the lab/hatchery where she was sure Dr. Wu would be presiding over the hatching of the new 'asset'. She had words that needed to be hashed over with the good Dr.
The Innovation Center was busy as always, and Emma almost turned back around to leave. Drenched as she was by Nenet's exuberance, the walk over had only helped dry the outer layer of her clothes. Her short hair, colored vibrant shades of purple and grey every two months or so at the salon on the island, was still damp and sticking out at awkward angles. Emma used the shiny glass doors to smooth the mop down a bit, and called it done. Making her way towards the Hammond Creative Lab, she dodged around a group of school children from nearby islands forcing a smile as the children chattered to each other and pointed at her. Passing her id badge over the employee door into the hatchery gave her a small reprieve from all the noise pressing behind her and she sighed. Understanding the necessity of the public's support was one thing, having to deal with them was something else entirely.
A group of the nursery attendants waved at her as she passed by the public viewing window and she smiled back at them. She recognized Sam, the young man who had been part of Nenet's time in the breeding tank as an adolescent, and tried to avoid catching his attention. A failed date left a bad taste in her mouth, having to sit through two hours of lecture about how a Netflix documentary had changed his entire opinion on the study of killer whales was enough to kill any romantic feelings she had harbored. Conveniently one of the herbivore eggs started to crack at that time, and the hatchery team swung into action.
Emma ducked through the back door of the hatchery and began the short walk towards Dr. Wu's lab office. Passing by the carnivore incubators she noticed a peculiar duo of eggs in the very back, larger than the rest and isolated. As she watched, the larger of the eggs started to violently rock and a large talon broke through the shell. Pensively Emma glanced around for a hatchery attendant, but all of them were circled around the herbivore currently hatching. Emma opened the glass door and stepped in, crossing over to the incubator just as the hatchling was able to punch through the top of the shell. An intelligent amber eye peered up at Emma as she stood by the open topped incubator, and a soft chrup emerged from the little dino. Charmed, Emma cooed back at the infant, watching as the little monster went back to work emerging fully from the shell. Not being a master paleontologist, and having been hired mostly due to her experience with Tut and the other whales, she had no idea what species the little thing was. The small dinosaur was all white, with small osteoderms running in triplicate down the beast's spine. Longer forearms than Rexy, but otherwise looking a lot like her led Emma to believe that perhaps this was a different offshoot species of tyrannosaur. The hatchling was perhaps the length of Emma's forearm, with a tail as long again as her body. Her little head swiveled around to eye Emma again as she chirruped, looking for a mother that did not quite exist. Emma crooned back, stepping forward so the little dinosaur didn't feel quite alone. Watching the baby attempt to stand and walk touched Emma's heart and caused quite a few giggles, reminding her of the foals her parents used to raise. Once up on all fours, the little white dino made her way over towards Emma but stopped as there was a cracking from the other egg in the incubator. Her little head swiveled around with frightening intent and her little body tensed as her sister's head broke through the hardened shell. Emma noticed the high prey drive and reached in to grab the little dino before she could harm her sister. The white dino swiveled her head again to hiss into Emma's face, angry that her hunt had ended so quickly. Emma narrowed her eyes back at the armful and gave a sharp 'No!', using her hand to reinforce the reprimand by softly popping the creature on the nose. Little white reared her head back, looking between up at Emma and over at her newly emerged sister. Chirrups from the little one in the incubator caused the held beast to chirrup back, and Emma placed the one in her arms back into the incubator. Watching and ready to intervene at any second, she stood over the incubator as the two siblings circled each other.
The second sibling was nearly identical to the first, with faint stripes on her white hide. Her eyes were also a darker amber than her older sister, less intelligent seeming at first, but as she explored she seemed more intelligent by the minute. Emma cooed at them and their little heads swiveled to face her tumbling over each other in their efforts to get to her first. Chuckling, Emma reached for them, gathering them up to hold next to her heart and cooing to them the whole time. Their little bodies thrummed with a little rumble, talking back to her and running their heads under her jaw. She walked around the carnivore hatchery with the two little ones held in her arms, tails wrapped around her waist for a few moments before an alarm went off and she spun quickly to face the door.
ACU members swarmed into the room, sweeping the room with their tazer guns looking for the threat. Katashi Hamada, ACU commander, stepped aside as Dr. Wu pressed on his shoulder. The good doctor took in the protective way both sisters had their heads up, teeth showing, and a low hiss emitting from both of them and quickly ordered the ACU out of the hatchery. Katashi remained behind but swung his gun behind him on its carry strap, assuming an 'at ease' posture in front of the door.
"Ms. McGovern, care to explain why the most expensive dinosaurs in the park are clinging to you like a pair of toddlers? And why in the world are they out of containment?"
Ignoring the doctor's insistent demands, Emma ran her fingers over the tiny heads of the siblings twined around her torso. Curios chirrups met her ears as the girls swung their heads up to look at her, forelimbs bracing the creatures on her shoulders as they curled their heads under her chin. Emma cooed at them, settling them down again from their agitation before turning back to address the good doctor.
"Dr. Wu, I came to discuss Nenet's feeding schedule with you. The hatchery team was busy when these two started hatching and I came in to…. supervise? The big girl here almost ate her sister when I intervened. I can return them to the incubator if you'd like?" Emma moved over to the open topped warmer to try and place her twin burdens down, but hissing and squirming met her attempts. The girls gave piping distress calls as she attempted to peel them off of her, and after a few minutes of trying Dr. Wu's voice caused her to stop.
"You might as well leave them Ms. McGovern. It appears they've imprinted on you." The disappointment in Dr. Wu's voice made Emma's hide prickle, and the girls responded to her body language by hissing at the other humans in the room. "Ah, yes. Defiantly imprinted. We'll have your things moved into the big nursery paddock and have the junior trainer take over for the mosasaur…."
Emma felt her bright green eyes widen then narrow at the high-handed way the good doctor interfered in her life, "Excuse me Dr. but I am not giving up caring for Nenet. It's vital to her health that her schedule remain as calm and predictable as possible. The girls can either accompany me to training sessions until they grow to big, or they will have to do without me for an hour or two a day!"
She saw the skin around the doctor's eyes tighten minutely and braced herself to be dismissed. Luckily, the operations manager and director chose that moment to come into the hatchery and observed the tense way the two employees were eyeing each other. The girls had subsided in their hissing, settling for a rough grumble as Emma attempted to hush them. Mr. Masrani grinned at seeing the two assets both viable and showing such spirit. Ms. Dearing looked exasperated at seeing another trainer so attached to the assets, already foreseeing the headache this was likely to cause.
"Ah Ms. McGovern! What brings you so far from lovely Nenet's tank? Everything okay with our girl? She's a big hit with the patrons you know!" Simon Masrani approached the younger woman, heedless of the twin pairs of amber eyes watching his every move. He stopped just out of reach of the agitated infant dinosaurs, curbing his desire to reach out and touch.
"Mr. Masrani! Sir, I am so sorry about this! I was just coming over to talk with Dr. Wu about the feedings in the shows, and then this happened! I didn't know they would imprint, I thought that only happened with raptors! I was just trying to prevent them from slaughtering each other until the hatchery people could…..."
"It's quite all right Ms. McGovern! I'd prefer that the girls be in optimal health than have someone in a position to prevent it stand aside. I assume you'll be taking over their care? Should I let Levi know that he will be responsible for Nenet in the long run?"
"No sir! I can care for all three, please don't disrupt Nenet's schedule for this! I know it will be difficult, but please sir! I've just now gotten her to consistently respond to cues and I don't want her to backslide." Emma kept her voice down to prevent the two creatures clinging to her from getting upset. They were curled under her neck, thrumming.
"If you're sure Ms. McGovern, I am sure that arraignments can be made. The assets health is top priority; whatever you need to ensure they reach peak condition will be provided." Ms. Dearing piped up, not quite strident but not quite on level with her boss. She had her cell phone out and was placing calls to get her quarters reassigned in what used to be the velociraptor hatchery. It had a small trainer's quarters just off the paddock that a Mr. Grady used last. Claire knew that there was likely a mess that needed to be cleaned up before Ms. McGovern could take residence and ordered the staff in charge of housekeeping to take care of that as well as moving the trainer's belongings over as well. "The old raptor training nursery should suffice for the first few months while paddock eleven is being finished. There are trainer's quarters that you can take residence in and it's close enough to the mosasaur's tank for you to continue your work with it. Staff will move your things there as soon as a cleaning crew is finished with repairs."
"Um…. thanks? I mean, thank you for the opportunity Ms. Dearing, Mr. Masrani. Dr. Wu, I'm sorry for interfering, I know how important these new tyrannosaur species probably are to your research…"
"Ms. McGovern, they are not tyrannosaurs. What you're holding are the first hybrid dinosaurs to ever be created. The impact on my research has yet to be determined, however they are extremely important. I will need you to keep very detailed records on their behavior patterns, the way they interact with each other and you, everything!"
"Of course Dr. Wu. Anything you need." Emma grinned down at her new charges, meeting sleepy amber eyes. "Nefret and Nefretari will be in good hands I promise."