A/N: This will take place awhile before the events of Jurassic World. I haven't quite decided how far beforehand I'd like to make it. I'd also like to answer a reviewer's question in that, yes, Owen's raptors will be making appearances in this fic. I just haven't quite decided if I want them to be major characters or not. As to the Indominus, well, just read the chapter. I'd also like to say that I don't think that the sizes of Pokemon listed in the Pokedex are what every single Pokemon of a particular species will reach. I believe that Pokemon are like animals in that the size listed for an adult is only the average size of that specific species; some are bigger, while others are smaller. But I digress. This chapter is self-betaed, so don't hesitate to point out any spelling or grammar mistakes I may have missed by either PM or review.
The Hatching
A shrill beeping filled the nighttime air as a phone started to ring. A tired groan reached out from underneath a blanket, fumbling around on the nightstand before finally grabbing said phone.
"You have reached the phone of Owen Grady, please leave a message after the-"
"Cut the crap Mr. Grady," spoke an authoritative, bureaucratic voice through the phone's speaker, "I know that it's fairly late, but we require your assistance in the lab."
Slowly sitting up in his bed, Owen sighed, sliding his hand down his face. "What kind of problem would warrant me getting up at three in the Goddamn morning to the lab?"
Not skipping a beat, Claire began to inform him of how one of their 'assets' had begun to hatch, and that Mr. Masrani wanted him to be the one it imprints onto.
"I'll be up there as soon as I can," Owen replied as he got out of his bed, already reaching for a discarded pair of jeans. He could practically see the smug smile he imagined was plastered on Claire Dearing's face.
"Excellent, I'll see you when you arrive," Claire replied, hanging up before he could even reply.
With a disgusted grunt, Owen threw on his shirt.
Footsteps echoed off of the walls of the empty Hammond Creation Lab. Looking up from her perfectly manicured fingernails, Claire Dearing couldn't help but sneer a smidgen. How could a park employee as renowned as Owen Grady show up in such a state? A frumpy, wrinkled shirt matched with equally wrinkled jeans; Claire's nose scrunched in mild disgust briefly before Owen could notice her disapproving gaze.
"If you'll follow me, I'll show you to the separate room we have setup for special clutches of eggs." And with that, Claire spun on her heel, and started walking. Owen quirked an eyebrow, annoyed, before rolling his eyes, and followed Claire.
"This asset is going to be very… special, as Dr. Wu has informed me," Claire explained, "Which is why we've kept its incubator as far out of the public eye as possible." A card swipe, the noise of an unlocking door, and the click of Claire's heels against the floor saw Claire and Owen walking into the small, hidden away hatchery room.
The whole room was a bright, sterile white. Along the left wall was a series of computers, flashing away while doing performing some sort of task that Owen had no idea about. On the right wall were three incubators. The one furthest to the back wall contained two white eggs, while the middle contained a single egg. This was the egg that Claire had wanted him to see. It was strange for a dinosaur egg considering the multiple colors that the shell was composed of. The top had a patch of white, while the middle was a mud brown, and the bottom was a neutral gray. In three equally spaced spots on the brown middle were three narrow, orange slivers that Owen could barely see.
"Owen! How good it is to see you! How are the raptors doing?" exclaimed a jubilant, friendly voice, startling Owen out of his observations. Upon recognizing the source of the voice, Owen subconsciously began trying to smooth out the wrinkles on his shirt.
"They're, uh, doing fairly well Mr. Masrani," Owen replied, a tinge of nervousness in his voice, "They're still fairly young, so I haven't been able to train them much past the basics." He relaxed a small amount as Simon Masrani chuckled in response.
"I'm sure you'll figure it out, they are still younglings after all." Owen scratched the back of his head with a nervous laugh in agreement before becoming serious again. He then noticed that the esteemed Dr. Henry Wu was also in the room, watching a single egg in an incubator while taking some notes on a tablet.
"What kind of dinosaur did you make that would require my kind of help?" Dr. Wu looked up from his tablet at Owen with a calculating look in his eye.
"We're not entirely sure. One of our digsites in France found an oddly shaped fossil of an as-of-yet unidentified dinosaur's jaw. The only fact that we know about it is that the jaw belonged to an unidentified theropod; one that will grow fairly large as well if our size estimations of this animal hold up."
"And how large would that happen to be?" Owen asked. It never hurt to learn everything you could before training a new animal.
"Our estimations put this animal at a height of eight foot ten, and a length of twenty five feet. It also had a bite force estimated to be greater than that of a Tyrannosaurus Rex." Owen whistled in appreciation of this mystery dinosaur before looking down at the egg in the incubator.
"This the only one you made?" Owen looked back up, immediately taking note of the scowl on Dr. Wu's face.
"The other four had… complications that resulted in their demise." Dr. Wu put his arms behind his back, eyes furrowing in remembrance of the autopsies of the young dinosaurs. "One had a severe malformation of the heart while another had a major congenital defect in the right lung that contributed to a rapid decline in its prenatal health."
"And the other two?" Owen asked. He didn't know what he was expecting as the moment Dr. Wu opened his mouth, Claire interrupted.
"While talking about the failed assets is all well and good, shouldn't we be explaining to Mr. Grady exactly why he is here right now?" Owen leveled an annoyed glance in Claire's direction before looking to Dr. Wu again.
"Right, of course," mumbled Henry. He looked to the remaining egg before continuing with the reason as to why Owen had been called in. "We've been closely monitoring this asset's development." Henry walked over to the computer and brought up an image of an obviously theropod skull. "The primary reason we called you over to imprint on the new asset is that, in spite of her being the runt of the clutch, we assume she will be a highly intelligent animal, maybe even more so than the Velociraptors that you are currently training." Owen looked ready to argue before Mr. Masrani stepped in.
"Here at Jurassic World, visitor safety is our number one priority," said Mr. Masrani in a slightly patronizing tone, "If there's even the slightest chance that an animal here could be a danger to the visitors, we assign a handler to train the animal. We need you to ensure that this animal never becomes a threat to the people who visit this park." Owen swallowed nervously, about to retort, when a loud crack filled the sudden silence of the hastily made hatchery. Owen quickly appeared next to the egg.
A piece of shell was lifted into the air by a diminutive infant theropod's head. Its large eyes squinted in the light before she retreated back into the egg. Henry forcibly removed the egg shard before assisting the new life in hatching by pulling more shell off of the egg. He hissed slightly in alarm as he quickly pulled a gloved finger out of one of the holes in the egg. Owen smirked slightly at the sight. So she's a little spitfire. He liked that. The little dinosaur's head slowly poked out again before turning around to look at the incubator it resided in, shattering the rest of the egg in the process.
Owen looked wide eyed at the infant, startled by the look of intelligence, laced with sorrow and understanding, in her eyes as she looked at the places where her siblings had sat while she was developing in her own egg. He cringed in empathy when tears welled up in her eyes, and a pitiful little whimper tore at her now quivering jaws. Owen scooped up the little infant in his arms as she started to bawl.
"Shh… shh… it's alright baby girl," Owen crooned in a soft, almost parental tone. The infant gestured to the incubator before attempting to push further into his shirt. "Oh, I know, I know…" Owen stroked her back, eyes shining with emotion, and petted her head repeatedly until she had cried herself to sleep.
The room remained dead silent for minutes after the infant fell asleep. Owen was the first one to break the silence.
"Did- did anyone else hear her speak?"