"Riley!" This was the first word spoken in the Grady-Jennings household every morning. A man about mid-thirties, tall, blonde haired, Owen Grady walks into the small bungalow. He lets the screen door slam shut behind him with a loud bang causing sudden movement from over head. "Riley!" He yells again up to the vaulted ceiling. He walks over to a ladder that's planted in the middle of the one room house and climbs up into the overhead storage space. It's a small space but it's big enough to hold a full sized bed, a trunk that sits at the foot, and the small girl the bed holds. He peeks up just enough to see a wave of brown curls peeking out from underneath the comforter. He climbs up and crouches into the makeshift bedroom and sits on the trunk. "Come on, Riles." He rips the covers of of the brunette, uncovering her head and exposing her to the warm morning air. She groans, rolls over burying her face in her pillow and dragging the covers back up to her chin trying to hide her face from the sun hitting her through the skylight above her.
"It's so early, Owen," she complains muffledly.
"We're no doing this today, cupcake. If you're not up and dressed in five minutes you're mucking out the pig pen today." He yanks the covers fully off this time and she pops up from surprise. "Five minutes!" he yells and he crouched back through the room and down the ladder.
"Okay. Fine. I'm up," she groans unenthusiastically. She swings her legs over and pours herself out of bed and onto the floor. Sluggishly and stubbornly, as to not exert too much energy before she's ready, crawls her way over to the truck. She opens it and pulls out what she usually wears to work, a blue racerback tank top, khaki utility shorts, and an army green cotton button down with the sleeves rolled up. Then she pulls out a small vanity mirror and sets it on top of the trunk. Her chocolate curls are a mess sticking up in every which way. She pulls the chest long hair up into a messy bun. Finally she puts the mirror back and throws her outfit of the day over the railing along with a pair of tan work boots, having it land perfectly on the kitchen island/dining area below, before jumping down to the ground level hardly using the ladder at all.
"Two minutes," her Owen warns as he pours two bowls of Coco Puffs for the both of them.
"Thank you, father time," she says sweetly even though she's being sarcastic. She scoops up the clothes from the table and goes to change in the bathroom off of the kitchen.
"One minute!" he yells as she closes the door.
"Oh for the love of god!" she yells back annoyed. A minute later she emerges fully dressed. "There, see. Five minutes. Dressed. Ready. Hungry." She picks up the bowl of cereal he isn't already eating and her boots and takes them into what they call a living room. Really it's just a couch and coffee table surrounded by fishing poles, mechanical junk, and basically anything else they don't have room in storage to keep so it just got dumped here. She sets the bowl on the coffee table and takes a bite of the chocolatey before going to put her boots on.
"Come on, Riles. I'm serious. We're gonna be late." She knew how important this day was to Owen. Today InGen was coming to inspect the work done in his Velociraptor studies. Everyone knew that Owen would be lying if he said working with dinosaurs for a living was his first job choice. But after what had happened with Riley's parents fourteen years ago he couldn't go back to the Navy, he now had a 2 year old niece to take care of, and he needed more income to feed two mouths. He had worked with animals before in his line of duty, dolphins to be exact. Training them to run obstacles on command in hopes of somehow using their skills to help the navy on missions. Sure that didn't make him an animal specialist but it did give him an in. Soon after the accident he was recommended to the elite group of scientists here on Isla Nublar. So he figured, it paid good money and it provided a fresh start for the both of them. After a few years of them living on the island a new group of Velociraptors were being born and Owen lead the experiment to see if one of the most highly intelligent animals in the park could be trained to respond to command rather than instinct. At this point in her life Riley had become enamored with everything dinosaur, but had taken a special liking to Raptors specifically.
It wasn't until later they realized what practical purposes this experiment could serve, military operations. Owen didn't agree with the reasonings behind the experiment but he'd already grown to care for the creatures and he was so close to a breakthrough in getting them to obey orders. Besides he figured if he didn't protect the raptors from being put in the field of fire, who would?
So, no, this wasn't his first choice in the way he had wished to live his life. But he couldn't deny that over the years he, Riley, and the raptors had created such a strong bond. They were actually quite famous for it, being the first and only humans to be accepted as part of a dinosaur pack. They were all truly his family. He was proud of how far his family had come and today was the day their progress was going to be put to the test. If he couldn't perform, he knew that there was a chance he could get pulled off this assignment and he couldn't let that happen.
"Riley!" he yells again. She sighs as she ties the last knot in her second boot.
"Owen, chill out." She picks up her bowl and walks to put it in the sink before she turns to him. "Everything is going to be okay. I promise." Owen still looked sceptical but his erraticness seems to melt a little. "Now breath." She takes a deep breath and Owen mirrors her followed by a small smile. "Good," she chuckles. "Now," she walk over to the door and takes two sets of keys off a hook hanging on the wall just below some framed pictures of them, and one of Riley's parents, and tosses one to her Uncle which he effortlessly catches. "Race ya," she challenges her Uncle and then quickly runs out the door. Owen quickly runs after her to see her already mounting her four wheeler. "Hey! Helmet!" He yells and hops on his motorcycle.
"Yeah, yeah!" she yells back already strapping it under her chin. The buckle clicked and she quickly starts her engine and takes off away from the house and a few seconds later Owen does too, leaving clouds of dust behind them.
When they finally pull up to the raptor paddocks Owen had significantly pulled ahead of Riley and clearly beaten her. They pull off their helmets both smiling and Riley hit her handlebars in frustration. "Damnit!" she exclaims but still laughs.
"Watch the language, kid," he lightly warns her but she rolls her eyes as he dismounts his bike. "What can I say? You gotta be faster if you ever dream of keeping up with the me, Rookie." He never calls her by her name once they're out to work. She understands though. Here, he's the alpha, not her uncle.
"Owen!" Barry calls as he runs over to them. Barry was Owens friend from the navy. He was deployed in france when Owen left the navy but they stayed close in touch. After noticing that the pack dynamic of Velociraptor was more complex than anything he saw with the dolphins, Owen recommended Barry to be hired as co-trainer and caretaker of the project's Velociraptor pack.
"Hey, Barry," Riley greets him and drapes her arms over the handlebars.
"Salut, petit fougueux" he greets back with a smile. Half of what Barry says is in French and although neither Owen or Riley knew French they always had some sort of understanding.
Riley's smile fades as she looks past Barry to see, Hoskins standing up on the catwalk. The three glare up at him from afar but his sickening smile and greasy hair makes Riley's skin crawl. She sits straightens up "He's early."
"He's eager," Owen corrects her.
"He wants a demonstration...à présent," Barry tells them.
"Is everything set up?" Owen asks.
"Yes, sir. The raptors haven't been fed breakfast yet and the pig is ready whenever you are."
"Alright, I'll be up in a minute." Barry nods and starts back over to the enclosure.
Riley unmounts her bike and walk close enough to her uncle to whisper. "You know he wants to use the raptors as weapons right? If you pass his little inspection of his today there's a very good chance he'll try and take them away from us."
"I know very well what he's doing here," he snaps at her. When she recoils he takes a deep breath before continuing, "But if we don't pass this inspection there's a very good chance he'll try and take us away from them." She looks to ground an toes at the gravel. He grabs her shoulder lightly. "Look," she looks back up to him, "we're a team. All of us. So, no matter what happens today I will do everything in my power to make sure this team stays together. Okay?" She nods. "Alright." he smiles at her. "Now wish me luck."
She shakes her head. "You don't need it." He wraps his arm around her shoulders and they walk over to the enclosure. Owen climbs up to the catwalk while Riley walks over and opens the gate to the stables to get a good view of the alpha in action. She closes herself in the box and watches as Owen and Hoskins exchange pleasantries and run down what's going to happen in this demonstration. It's a few minutes that go by before everyone is finally ready to run this thing. Owen gets in position. Everything is still for a moment. She can't see or hear the raptors yet but she just knows they're there. Owen takes one long deep breath, looks over to the pen door operator, and gives him a nod. He presses a button, a light above the pen turns from red to green, and they're off.
The pig comes running out of the pen, across the field and into the open area while squealing. The raptors can hear the breakfast bell and all of a sudden they burst out of the tree line, hot on the pig's tail. "Woah," Owen yells and all four Raptor screech to a halt, losing their prey as it scurries back into the pen. He holds out his hand out in front of him in command and has his clicker in the other. "Hey," he calls to them. They all look up to the catwalk and see their Alpha, finally. "Okay," he says and clicks to grab their attention."Eyes on me," he commands. "Blue!" he calls as she ignores him to continue looking for the pig, and he clicks at her a few time.. "Blue!" The raptor, with the two beautiful blue stripes down her back, looks up this time. He points at her. "Watch it," he warns her. Charlie, the one with horizontal stripes all the way from her head to her tail screeches next to Blue. She's obviously not happy about Owen keeping her from her meal. "Charlie," he points at her, "don't give me that shit." Delta, the lightest colored one, is the youngest and hatched a day later than the rest of them. She screeches as well, copying Charlie like an annoying little sister would do. "Delta, lock it up." When he seems to have gotten all of their attention he clicks in praise. "Good. And…" he raises his right hand a little higher so they can follow it, "we're moving." He makes his way around the catwalk to the food bucket and they follow him.
"Woah." They stop as he does. He pauses for a moment but they keep their attention on him. "Hey, that's good. That's damn good!" he exclaims and clicks in praise. He reaches into the bucket and pulls out a rat. "Very good. See, Charlie?" He throws the rat down into the paddock and the dinosaur catches it and eats it. "That's what you get. Echo," he calls to the spotted raptor, "here you go." He throws a rat to her as well. "Delta." He throws her one. He pulls another rat out. "Blue," he finally calls the beta raptor. He holds the big rat up. "This one's for you." he throws it to her and she catches it happily. "Hold," he commands again. The raptors still. "Eyes up." He raises his hand over his head and they all stand at attention. "Go!" He drops his hand quickly and the dinosaurs run off past him.
Riley sighs in relief and laughs joyfully. He actually did it. As Owen and Barry celebrate Riley walks over to get her equipment including her non-lethal stun gun (used for dire emergencies only) and her satchel filled with tasty, raptor, rat snacks. She walks back over to the cage doors where the raptors are all lined up looking at her now. "Morning, ladies." She smiles at them. She reaches into her satchel and pulls out another rat. "Is this what you guys want?" They all give respond with a screech or a growl and she laughs. "Alright. Here you go." She tosses them all another rat through the cage bars for a job well done today.
"Hey, Foxtrot!" Her uncle calls her by her raptor nickname from above. She looks up at him. "You mind taking over for a minute?" he asks. She sees Hoskins standing beside him and she figures this is the talk they've been expecting and fretting for months now. She gives him the thumbs up anyway and goes up the stairs onto the catwalk.
Owen walks away from Hoskins in attempt to not punch him but he follows close behind. "I just seen they can respond to command," Hoskins continues to push. "You need to take your research and get it on its feet."
"They're wild animals, Hoskins. Trust me, you don't want them in the field," Owen trie to deter him.
"I just saw a bond. A real bond," Hoskins jumps in front of him and prevents him from walking away anymore, "between man and beast."
"You're in my way," Owen says calmly.
"Come on. We're the same. We're dogs of war. We know that the military needs to reduce casualties. Some people think robots are the future." Owen scoffs and pushes past him again to walk down a platform. "Look," Hoskins calls after him, "nature gave us the most effective killing machines seventy five million years ago and now we know that they can take orders." Owen whips back around to him and glares. Barry finally intervenes before Owen really does punch the guy.
"Finally make progress and this is the first thing he says? Make a weapon?" Barry asks. "Incroyable." Hoskins scoffs like they're the ones being unreasonable in this situation.
"Come on, gents. It's grown up time," He tells them as they continue to walk. "Drones can't search tunnels and caves. And they're hackable. The minute war does break out all that fancy tech is gonna go dark."
"Yeah well that tech's not gonna eat them if they forget to feed it," Owen argues.
"Look," he points down at the raptors who are jumping around. "Look, at these creatures. They have millions of instincts in their cells. Instincts that we can program. Their loyalty can not be bought. These guys are gonna go straight into the enemies teeth and eat them belt buckle and all."
"What if they decide they want to be in control?" Barry asks.
"Well then we'll remind them who is. Terminate the rogues. Promote only loyal bloodlines." Barry laughs and has to walk away before he really loses it. "What? What's so funny?" Hoskins asks.
"You come here and you don't learn anything about these animals except what you want to know," Owen tells him and Hoskins rolls his eyes. "You made them and now you think you own them."
"We do own them. Extinct animal have no rights."
"They're not extinct anymore Hoskins." Owen starts to walk away when they both hear a whistle and clicking noises coming from the middle of the catwalk.
"Woah, woah. What is she doing?" He points out to Riley who's calling to the raptors with a rat in her hand. She walks up and down the walkway and the raptors follow down below her. Then she stops and holds her arms out to her sides to spins around in a slow circle. The raptors spin around down below her and she laughs before throwing the rat down into the cage and having Delta catch it.
"They're playing," Owen explains with a smile.
"Playing?" Hoskins say like it's an insult. Riley takes another rat from her bag, reels back her arm and launches it into the paddock. The raptors all go chasing after it screeching and Riley darts off in the opposite direction, and running up and down platforms. "What's she doing?"
"Well how did you play hide and seek as kid, Hoskins?" Owen jokes and walks away.
After Riley feels she's a safe distance away from all the raptors she crouches behind one of the panels they have placed around the catwalk just for this purpose. She sits waiting, being as quiet as she can, but it doesn't take long for her to hear three squawks below her. Signaling she's been spotted. She smiles and stands up to look over the railing. Blue is below her looking up expectantly. "Good girl, Blue," she cheers and pulls another rat out of her satchel to throw to the dinosaur. Blue was the best at this game. The others have won here and there, but Blue is the champ. "Alright, ready Blue?" She clicks and the raptor looks up at the girl and she turns her body to the side. "You and me. Ready." Riley crouches down getting ready to run and Blue lowers her head to the ground. "Go!" Riley yells and she takes off running around the barrier of the enclosure. Blue races close beside her. Riley loves to race the raptors. She knows there is no way she can beat them but that's not why she does it.
Obviously the raptors are way faster than she is but the whole time their racing they stay right with her. They look after her like the runt of the litter who needs to be protected.
Riley pushes herself further sprinting ahead of Blue. But her body gets in front of her feet and she trips. She hits the grated platform, hard, and bounces up into a wall holding a control panel and accidentally releases the small pig from its containment. She goes rolling in the opposite direction until she busts through one of the safety chords and is now falling off the platform and into the paddock. She grabs onto the bars quickly and is now hanging into the paddock ten feet above the raptors. Luckily the pig goes squealing and running around the paddock and catches the attention of all the raptors. Charlie's the first to react.
"Pig loose. Pig loose!" One of the workers yells as he tries to quickly chase it down before the raptors can get to it. But Echo is quicker. Just as the kid slips the trap around its neck, Echo snatches it up and runs away taking the trap with it, pulling the kid into the enclosure and landing him on his back
Owen takes in the scene before him. He springs into action, his mind is working a mile a minute. He has to work fast cause the three raptors are slowly closing in on the boy. He runs over to the control panel and opens the gate.
"Owen! No!" Barry yells as the gate rises. Riley looks down to see her uncle crawling into the cage with the raptors. She frantically starts trying to pull herself up and swing her legs back onto the platform. Two men come running down the catwalk with big stun guns one of them grabs Riley and pulls her back up. Before they both at full attention point their guns into the paddock at the raptors. Riley gets up quickly and scream, "No!" She pushes their gun away fighting against them. Until, Owen yells from below.
"No, no, no, Hold your fire," he tells the men. He runs forward and puts himself between the raptors and the boy. "Hold your fire. Do not fire!" he calls out once more. The containment team doesn't stand down though.
Riley shoves them both back from the edge and pushes their guns up and away. "He said stand down," she says threateningly. They both exchange a look still having their guns at the ready but finally standing down. She turns quickly to run down to the chaos and watches as her Uncle tries to handle the situation. Barry stops the gate from rising as Owen holds his hand out to the dinosaurs bringing them to a halt as the boy scoots awa. "Put twelve amps in these animals they're never gonna trust me again." They boy finally scrambless to the edge of the cage and Barry pulls him out and tosses him aside. Riley runs past Hoskins, into the box and with the boy safe they turn back to Owen. "Blue, stand down. Stand down," Owen warns her gently but she doesn't listen. She lunges and snaps at him and he jumps back. "Hey. Hey!" He yells taking a more alpha like stance and a firmer tone. "What did I just say?" Delta tries to sneak around his side but he holds his hand up to her too. "Delta I see you. Back up!" She screeches at him but follows order. "Okay. Good. Good," he says as the raptors fall back. "Charlie stay right there," he warns her too. Hoskins watches enthralled. "Close the gate," Owen orders.
"Are you crazy?" Barry yells at him.
"Hey, just trust me."
"Close the gate!" The boy yells from the ground. Barry reluctantly reaches over and presses the button. The gate slowly begins to close and Barry pushes Riley back. When the door is closed just enough Owen makes a mad dash and rolls under the door just before it closes and traps the raptors on the other side. They growl and screech in frustration but ultimately walk away. Barry helps Owen up and dusts him off.
"Tu es un fou," Barry says and they both laugh.
"Yeah," Owen agrees. Barry walks away and Owen turns to the kid still on the ground. "You're the new guy,right?"
He nods exasperated. "Yeah."
"You ever wonder why there was a job opening?" Owen is joking, Riley knows this. But the look on the kids face is that of pure terror as he inhales shakily. "Hey, don't ever turn your back to the cage." He informs him. The kid turns turns to see Blue crouched down behind him, growling through the bars. Owen goes to walk away only to find Hoskins smiling slyly on the other side of the box. He clenches his fists and jaw. He really hates that guy.
"Owen," a small voice says behind him. He turns to see Riley looking at him, arms folded across her chest, trying to be as small as possible, with extremely guilty eyes. He doesn't say anything at first just grabs her left arm, unfolding them, and examining it. It's only now that Riley realizes she is bleeding. And in pain. She has scrapes from the bottom right corner of her left palm and down her inner wrist, from where she tried to catch herself from tripping. Based on her discomfort her right side was definitely going to be bruised and her left knee was pretty bloodied. A stray piece of hair was hanging in front of her face and caked in blood.
Owen opens his mouth and she's ready to be reprimanded. However, all he says is, "You should go home, take a shower." He drops her arm and tucks the bloody piece of hair behind her ear. "You're covered in dirt and blood. You need to see to those wounds." He was so calm. Somehow she found that worse.
In a voice barely over a whisper she starts to apologize. "I'm so sorry, Owen. It was an accident-"
""Go home, Riley!" he cuts her off more firmly. Her eyes fall to the ground submissively. She doesn't say anything else just nods. He sighs heavily. She doesn't move until he walks away. When she can't see him anymore she runs to quickly hangs up her satchel, hops on her four wheeler, and speeds back to the bungalow.