Out of all of the jobs Levi Ackerman has had over the years, he'd have to say his job at Jurassic World was both the best and worst. It was great because it would look great on a resume, not to mention he got to work around dinosaurs. Granted, his job involved him trying to get them back into their pens, but it was still an interesting experience and beat any desk job hands down. And most of the time he wasn't hunting the animals down anyway. He'd just patrol the area and make sure the fences were still strong.
But tonight was different. Levi had gotten a call from the petting zoo that one of the baby triceratopses had escaped while they were being moved back into their pens for the night. It was a simple one-person job and easy enough, but it wasn't something he wanted to deal with at the end of his shift. Tch, why couldn't those damn workers be more careful, he grumbled as he suited up for the mission. This is the fourth time a dinosaur has managed to escape them. They need to be more fucking careful. I don't care if this is the first time it's actually escaped the petting zoo and not just the back enclosure. It's near enough to the guests that it could find them and it's lazy animal management.
"All the other fences are secured," Erwin, the head of the Animal Containment Unit told him while the shorter man loaded his gun. "We don't think the triceratops can get into the other enclosures so we're going to let you track her by yourself. The screen on your gauntlet should tell you where she is."
"Yeah, yeah, I got it," he replied. "I'll be back in an hour or so."
"Be careful." Levi snorted, giving Erwin a skeptical look.
"It's a baby. It's not even a year old yet. I doubt it can do any damage." He left the building and glanced down at the small screen running the length of his forearm. A small red dot representing the escaped animal flashed just north of the petting zoo area. She's so close they could go get her themselves. Lazy dipshits.
The petting zoo was on lockdown when he got there. Several attendants and workers milled around the area, flashlights in hand and clearly looking around for the dinosaur themselves. A petite red-haired woman ran around frantically, pulling at her hair and sprinting around and checking under benches. And in a second she went from on the ground looking under seating to sprinting towards Levi with a speed he didn't think was humanly possible.
"Have you found Muffin?!" she asked, grabbing the front of his uniform.
"Muffin?" he asked, cocking an eyebrow at her.
"The baby triceratops. Her name is Muffin. Please tell me she's okay," the woman begged, tears welling up in her light brown eyes. Really? They named a fucking dinosaur Muffin? These people are fucking weird.
"Well, she's alive. She's just north of here. Let go so I can do my job." He pried her fingers off and brushed past her.
"Why the hell do you have heavy artillery? Muffin wouldn't hurt a fly," the woman demanded, hurrying up and walking in stride with him.
"I'm just doing my job and that includes carrying around a gun. Now will you let me do my job?" The woman got in front of him and once again grabbed his uniform, but this time in wasn't in desperation; oh no, this time it was in anger.
"Let's get this straight. If you hurt Muffin in any kind of way, I will fucking end you," she seethed in a voice that shouldn't have belonged to someone so petite and cute. "And I will thoroughly check her for injuries. If I find any sort of damage, fair warning you're going to see me again and I'm not going to be civil."
"All right, I won't shoot the triceratops. Now will you let me do my job?!" he demanded, trying to get her off him. She gave him one last dirty look before shoving him away. Damn, talk about a firecracker. If I wasn't trying to work I'd like to provoke her a little more for some fun. Levi glanced at his gauntlet; the triceratops, Muffin, was still in the same area he'd seen her before. Good. She hasn't moved. He started jogging towards her only to find the ginger woman running beside him. Great, what now?
"Oi, what do you think you're doing?" he asked, stopping and catching her arm.
"I don't trust you. I'm coming with and making sure Muffin's safe," she replied.
"You're getting in my way. It's your fault she's out of containment in the first place," he accused her, jabbing a finger at her. The woman's eyes narrowed.
"You ACU types think everything is so simple. Well guess what? It's not. Muffin escaping was a complicated accident and I'm not going to let some insensitive jerk like you capture her without someone to keep you in check."
"'Keep me in check?'" he repeated incredulously, giving her a glare of his own. "Listen lady I have a job to do and you're keeping me from doing it. So will you back the fuck off?"
"I'm going with you no matter what, so you better just suck it up and deal with it," she said. Jesus Christ! This woman is so fucking annoying, I swear to God!
"Can't you people do anything about her?!" he shouted, turning to her coworkers. They shrugged in a way that clearly told him, "We could hold her back, but we're not going to." Fucking Christ. I'm not getting out of this.
"Fine, hurry up," he caved. She gave him a sickly sweet smile and followed him as he started running towards Muffin.
"Do you know where she is?" the woman asked.
"She's just north of here," he replied. She sighed in relief.
"Oh thank God. I've been worried sick about her since they told me she got out," she told him.
"You weren't there when it happened?"
"No. I had to deal with Cupcake, she's Muffin's sister. She needed to take some antibiotics for an injury she got a few days ago so I let some of my coworkers take care of Muffin."
"Muffin? Cupcake? Who names these animals? Are they five?" he asked.
"I named them, actually," she replied coolly. Oh.
"I didn't mean -"
"Then what did you mean?" she asked. He fell silent and looked back to his screen. Muffin was still stationary. Shit, she hasn't moved at all. She must be hurt.
"I think the trike is injured. She hasn't moved an inch since I started tracking her," Levi informed her. The woman took off sprinting, calling out to Muffin. Fuck! Can't she stop for five seconds?! "Hey lady, w-"
"Petra, not lady!" she yelled back to him. "Muffin! Muffin baby, where are you?!" she screamed into the void in front of her. She's going the wrong way. But at least now I can track the dinosaur in peace. Jogging towards the animal, he could still hear Petra in the distance yelling for Muffin. She better not wake any of the guests. I admire her love of the animals but if words gets out that an animal escaped …
Levi got to a clearing and saw Muffin. The triceratops was tiny and standing under a tree, quivering like a leaf. He slowed down, taking a net out of his pocket. She doesn't appear to be hurt. That's good. I just have to approach her nice and easy.
"Hey, Muffin," he said in a soothing tone, slowly approaching the creature. "Just come over here and - hey! Get back here!" Muffin had not been fooled by his calm tone and ran off towards Main Street. Shit! I can't let it enter guest areas! He sprinted after Muffin, muttering profanities under his breath as he chased after her. His shoes slid on the wet ground and when he stepped in puddles his shoes became soaked. He winced but kept running after the frightened creature. She ran into a grassy area and Levi followed suited. Heart pounding in his chest, his lungs were screaming at him to stop and take a good, deep breath. His foot hit a muddy spot and he fell face first into a huge pit of mud. That does it, I'm fucking tasering that thing, he thought, spitting out some disgusting mud and grass out of his mouth. Movement caught his eye and out from behind a few buildings burst Petra. Her eyes saw Muffin and to say her face lit up was an understatement.
"Muffin! Muffin, come over here, baby!" Petra called, getting on her knees and motioning for the triceratops to come towards her.
"Shut up, you're going to scare … son of a bitch." Levi watched in disbelief as the baby ran towards Petra and knocked her over. She sat back up and started scratching Muffin behind frill. The dinosaur made vaguely happy noises and leaned in towards her touches.
"Muffin! Don't you ever walk off again!" Petra said firmly, giving the dinosaur a scolding look before going back to petting the animal. "I'm so glad you're safe." Levi pushed himself up and walked over to the two, wiping the excess mud off of his body.
"I can't believe you got it so easily," he said, crouching down beside her.
"She and I have a special bond," Petra replied with a smile. "Are you all right? You look a little harried." She gave Muffin a small smirk. "Did you make things hard for the scary man?" she cooed in a baby voice.
"She's the one that made things hard for me," he corrected her. He paused. "I'm Levi, by the way, not scary man."
"Same thing. I'm just kidding, it's a pleasure to meet you. I can go take Muffin back to her enclosure by myself. You probably want to go wash up," she said, eyeing him up and down.
"I need to ensure she's put back securely. I trust you, but it's a job thing," he replied. Petra
picked up Muffin (no easy feat; Levi knew the animals were pretty heavy) and started walking back towards the petting zoo.
"I think this is the third time you've said something about your job in the span of what, fifteen minutes?" she said.
"I have a serious job," he shrugged.
"It's also apparently important to mention your job at least every five minutes." She gave him a wide grin and he had to admit it made her even more attractive than she already was.
"If I don't I'll get fired." Petra laughed. "Thank you for helping me capture the trike."
"No problem. She really doesn't like men, to be honest. That and she's a slippery one, aren't you my little cutie pie?" she crooned, rubbing her face against the dinosaur's rough skin.
"You really love Muffin, don't you?"
"She's my baby. I'm not supposed to play favorites but she's definitely my favorite and she knows it," she confided in him. They reached the petting zoo and she led him past the gates and into the enclosure behind it. Levi had never been in these enclosures before and was kind of surprised to see how cheery and happy it was. It made sense, it was a nursery after all, but really he imagined enclosures to be bland and sterile feeling. But with various heat lamps, cuddling dinosaurs, and various blankets and piles of hay for midnight snacks, it didn't feel sterile like one would expect of an animal enclosure.
Petra placed Muffin into an enclosure with her sisters Cupcake, Macaroon, and Danish. "We kinda gave her a joking name," Petra informed him as she secured the triceratopses for the night. They're all kind of jokes, he wanted to say, but he didn't want to get on this woman's bad side. "I'm sorry about threatening you earlier. I'm very protective about my animals," she said, leaning against the door.
"I'm sorry about the jerkass comments I made," he countered. "We're both -"
"Doing our jobs?" He gave her a dirty look as she giggled. "Speaking of, I'm off for the night. I hope you get off soon. I can't imagine you're comfy in muddy clothes."
"Yeah, I'm done for the night once I go back to headquarters," he said, checking his watch. "My shift ends in five minutes, actually."
"I'd say I hope to see you around, but really that'd just mean something bad's happened," she said.
"Yeah. But I think a loose baby trike isn't a big deal as long as you're helping me."
"I guess I might as well quit and apply for the ACU," she laughed. "No, I think I can leave that to you. Chasing dangerous animals isn't my thing." He smirked.
"Well if I ever have to track down a baby, I'll be sure to give you a call."
"I appreciate it." She gave him one last grin before walking off further into the enclosure. She's not half bad,Levi thought as he made his way back to headquarters. But I wonder how I'm going to tell Erwin she managed to get trike and I didn't. If I tell him, the next thing I know he'll have brought her into the ACU. But maybe that's not such a bad thing.