A/N: Not much to say- thank you all so much for the wonderful feedback and great response. That definitely helps fuel me onward to the next chapter. You guys are some cool cats, k?
Typical disclaimer: I do not own, nor make any profit off of anything to do with Jurassic Park and/or Jurassic World. Unfortunately. Nor do I own it or any of the rights, plots, etc., etc. If I did, I would have my own raptor squad and Chris Pratt would be hired as my best friend. Okay? Okay. Moving on.
"Hey, watch it. I see you."
A guilty raptor claw stopped halfway through the air, pausing mid-swipe. Owen glared sideways at the green fiend. Delta returned the glare, but slowly retracted her claw. Owen nodded. "Thanks." That was the third time in one morning she'd tried to take his lunch. Over the last couple of days, the four siblings had developed quite a taste for his chicken salad sandwiches and chocolate chip cookies. Owen had been angry at first- but the irritation had faded and he'd laughed for a full five minutes when he realized he'd been duped by a bunch of reptiles. Smart ones, but hey. He chose not to move his lunch from the vulnerable position near the fence, using it as a teaching tool for showing them he was always watching. They weren't just free to do as they pleased all the time. Their morning had been spent working on the build- up for an exercise Owen was hoping to do with them at some point. One at a time, he'd been training them all to seek out a circular hole dug in the field. Every couple days, a project manager changed the location of the hole per Owen's request. The catch was the blindfold- each raptor was deprived of sight during the exercise. When they walked forward, Owen would make a particular noise on his whistle. Each direction had its own whistle signal, and the raptors picked up on it quickly. By this, they could find the hole in no time in all once they allowed themselves to follow his cues. Each raptor had the same signals, but each a different toned whistle. This morning, he'd thrown two of them into the exercises together and given them both their separate cues for finding the hole. He was ridiculously pleased with their progress, but it absolutely put him over the moon when he saw that they started to strategize against each other. Instead of making noises and called out in exasperated distress, they walked quietly; carefully, all the while trying to beat the other to the hole. Eventually, he'd be able to put the whole training exercise into one piece and test it out. They were making great progress though. One step at a time.
Claire was supposed to be coming by soon- she wanted to see how they were doing on the growth charts. Owen was pretty pleased- within the last month, they'd each grown their long claw, their colors and markings became more defined, and they were starting to react to commands much better than before. Of course, that wasn't to say everything had gone smoothly... They had completely ignore him for two straight days when he first introduced them into the paddock, screamed in high-note velociraptor calls every time Claire came in for the first month, and then they'd eaten through the security panel on the paddock door. Just to mention a few incidents. Owen wasn't bothered, though. They were dinosaurs. Anyone who wanted to totally restrict them was out of their ever-loving mind. You can't restrict forces of nature.
"Mr. Grady!"
"Claire. Nice to see you, as always." He smirked at her. Owen meant it. Her hair blew across her face in the breeze and the sheer fabric of today's skirt reflected the sunlight.
"You could call me Owen, you know."
"Yes, I do know." She smiled coyly. "How are things?"
"Oh, decent. Thanks for asking. I've got an itch in the middle of my back that won't go away. Loving this weather, though."
A sigh. "You know what I mean. With the raptors."
They made their way toward the paddock. Joel had started feeding a half hour ago and was just leaving. Owen waved to him as he left. The girls were nowhere to be seen, so Owen lead Claire around the corner. Blue had found a hideout in the brush at the back of the paddock and had only been able to enjoy the solidarity for a couple of hours before the others had joined her. It had become a favorite haunt of theirs in the afternoon- grass, a small pond (more like an overgrown puddle, really) and closely clumped trees.
"They're doing well. Charlie's gained three pounds, which is pretty significant."
"To be expected, considering she was the smallest."
"Sure. She's just had a growth spurt, finally." Owen climbed onto the platform and motioned at the raptors below. "Blue is definitely asserting herself as the leader. I'm not sure how long it'll be before they get into a fight, but I'm not going to stop it if it happens. They've got a chain of command to figure out."
"As long as they don't kill each other in the process," Claire shrugged. Owen bit his tongue. No use getting into it with her now, anyway. "How is training going?"
"Fine."
"I expect the full forms and reports are in the office?" Claire asked. Owen nodded. They stood there silently, watching the raptors wrestling each other in the shade. "Looks like a nasty storm is headed this way." He grunted in agreement. They were supposed to get some rain, 20 mph gusts of wind, and thunder. After a few minutes, she thanked him, and with a last glance toward the raptors, took off, heels echoing on the platform.
Claire had been right about the storm, but they'd all underestimated it. The weather weasels (his dad had always called them that,) had said light rain, if any. By nightfall, the wind was howling and gusting hard enough that Owen had a struggle pulling the door shut on his pickup. It started raining just as he pulled up to the raptor area, buckets of water gushing down onto dry, thirsty earth. He swore, slamming the car door shut behind him. Pulling the hood of his U.S.N. jacket over his head and flicking on his flashlight, he made his way to the paddock. The alert had gone out an hour ago that the generators were hit and the backup generator had failed to turn on. That meant the power wasn't working to electronically open the gates to the paddock, and the lights were out, as well as security cameras and electric fencing. A cry from inside the fence jerked his senses into focus.
"Delta!" Sure, nobody else would have believed that he could distinguish their calls. But that was his girl.
Another cry. Owen was on the platform in a heartbeat, shining his flashlight into the clearing below. He searched for the raptors with the beam as the cry sounded again- though this time the cry was joined by another, more distressed yell. It took Owen less than two seconds to launch himself over the other side of the paddock fencing, landing on the ground with a thump and falling onto his back. Pulling himself up and reaching for the flashlight he'd dropped, he followed the sounds. His boots were soaked through, jeans muddied, heart thumping wildly. He didn't know why he was so worried. It wasn't as if they'd never seen a storm before, not like they weren't wild animals, born to live in these circumstances. Not like he was the only one they really could trust, not like they were the closest thing to his heart. Nah.
Rounding the corner and breaking through a hedge of trees, Owen came to a stop. In front of him was a sight so human he was momentarily stunned. Anyone who said raptors weren't intelligent- weren't capable of human emotion- they'd never seen this. They'd never seen what playing god was capable of producing.
A tree limb had fallen- with Echo underneath. The others were standing by, watching. Charlie, Blue. Their body language was all worry and tension-muscles tensed, bent and poised as though waiting for something else to happen. Delta was by Echo's head, and as Owen stepped forward, she turned to glare at him. Her little body rose to its full height, and she bared her teeth. He paused. Echo made small, guttural noises at her sibling. Delta looked down at her, then turned again toward Owen. She crouched- Owen stood stock still, wondering whether or not she was going to let him help- whether or not he was about to have a pair of raptor teeth in his arm. She seemed to be sizing him up. On a whim, he crouched slowly, landing on his knees and putting his hands up in a motion of surrender. For a moment, all that he knew was the raptor staring him straight in the face and the fear of an attack from the side. The rain dripped down the bill of his baseball cap and hit his already soaking jeans. Then- slowly- she stepped backward, and crouched onto her haunches. Owen moved forward on his knees to where Echo lay still. She glanced up at him with dark eyes and he saw himself. Vulnerability. Shoving away the infringing doubt, he assessed the log and decided he could move it easily. Grabbing and bracing his foot against a rock, he pushed and pulled- and with the help of physics, the offending branch moved.
Echo yelled, followed by a cry from Owen. A sharp pain lanced upward through his elbow and down into his fingertips, and he could feel warm, slick blood washing down his arm and pooling in the bottom of his jacket sleeve. He managed to not drop the log as he cast his eyes sideways, throwing a glare in Delta's direction. "Don't. You stand down." He whistled, the tone for backing up coming into his head. She tilted her head, hissing. Owen repeated the cue, breathing heavily. She took a step back, and he took the opportunity to push himself forward and throw the log away. He crouched back, leaning against a tree. Delta was eyeing him, but he ignored her and inspected the wound. It was deep, and curved from just below the top of his elbow downward and to the underside of his forearm. Leaning his head back against the tree, he let the rain drip down his face and thought about his bungalow. Warm, not wet, and he could trust his bed and tv stand not to claw him. No, he wasn't bitter. Just bleeding.
Owen jumped when something touched his arm. It quickly withdrew- a nose. A wet raptor nose. Echo was standing warily beside him, reaching out with her face. Owen reached out and put a hand to her face. "It's okay. Hey. It's fine." Echo nuzzled his hand, then flopped onto the ground. Her head came to rest on his leg, slowly, and then completely. He smiled. Delta had settled on his other side, farther away. Charlie and Blue were most reluctant to join the others, but had settled down. Echo clucked, tickling Owen's leg with the vibration from her long throat. He reached out, ran a finger across her head. "That's my girl."
Joel didn't say anything when he came in that morning and found Owen in the pen, Echo still resting on his knee, the other three nearby if not nestled up next to him. He woke him up, helped him up, didn't say anything as he shook the cold out of his bones and held his arm to his chest. It hurt like a bitch this morning- much more than the night before. Owen sat still while Joel cleaned his arm, bandaged it. He didn't say it needed stitches, Owen knew. He didn't tell him he was irresponsible, or what he had been doing. He didn't say that Claire would've been upset, or that he was behind in feeding now. He didn't comment that the whole island was running a little behind this morning, and that Owen seemed to be the only one who wasn't bothered by it at all.
"Why?"
Owen glanced up at him, sleepy eyes. He took off his ball cap, ran a hand through damp hair, shrugged. "They need me." He wouldn't meet Joel's eyes, feeling the impending statement before it was uttered.
"You mean you need them." It wasn't a question. Owen knew that. Joel patted him on his arm and left the office, and Owen made his way to his truck. He needed to change clothes- and maybe, possibly-definitely- sleep for a few days.
So. I skinned a bunch of plot bunnies last night and hung 'em up to dry. Next chapter will see some of that, I'm thinking. Who knows. Raptor squad does what raptor squad wants. R&R, if you'd be so kind!
