A/N: Well this chapter took longer than expected… And I rewrote the ending half several hours after posting it to repost it, for those of you who are coming back to this chapter. I'm adding a twist to it.
I'm glad so many of you seemed to enjoy that breather chapter though. I had fun doing the guards. So do you think they got fired or transferred for some odd reason? I'll let you, my readers, decide their fate.
By the way, I'm going to have the dinosaurs (Velociraptors, to be specific) talk in this chapter's EXTRA. It's a test thing. It probably won't happen in the main story I think. At least, the dinosaurs won't be so eloquent or knowledgeable. Well… yeah. It'll just be something in the EXTRAS from time to time for now.
Also, attention, I now have a tumblr blog where I post stuff (ideas and questions and thoughts and more) about this account. So… Follow me? The name is "stygianhazardff"
Disclaimer: I do not own Jurassic World or anything about it. I do love dinosaurs though.
"Talking."
'Thinking.'
"Dinosaur talking."
"So…" Zara started conversationally with a slightly sardonic smile on her face. "I heard that you had quite the morning today, Mr. Grady."
"Owen," Owen said automatically as he lied on the couch in the break room. He yawned before replying. "And yeah, I guess you can say that."
"Better you than me." Zara smirked. It wasn't often that she got to see Owen so tired. Usually, he had too much energy. Far more than was normal, especially compared to all of the other workers in Jurassic World.
Zara walked over to the fridge and began rummaging around to see if there was something she could eat as a snack. All the food in the break room's refrigerator fell into two different categories. There is food with your name on it, and food for everyone else. There is no in-between. It was one of the many unwritten rules among the Jurassic World. The most important unwritten rule is, of course, don't fuck with Rexy. It is a rule that had only been broken once by a new employee. It was never broken ever again. At night, after Jurassic World's main attractions closed, some workers would swear that they still heard his screams.
"Bite me," Owen said without any real anger in his voice. "On second thought, please don't. Echo did that already. Again."
Owen held up his left hand, where another finger was now dressed with bandages. Pink and white bandages, to be precise.
"Hello Kitty?" Zara raised an eyebrow questioningly at his choice of bandages.
"It was all that was left," Owen defended himself. He crossed his arms in order to hide them. "It was this or nothing. And, you know… Nothing would suck."
"Right," Zara nodded in agreement as she grabbed some low-fat yogurt from the fridge. "I suppose I can't fault you in that case."
"Thank you." Owen said before looking back up towards the ceiling and sighing sullenly. This day had started out pretty hectic. While it was a nice change of pace, it was still worrisome. He couldn't believe that the Velociraptors had managed to figure out how to escape so soon. He was only joking when he had said that they would knock on the door in order to escape. But now they had, and things wouldn't be the same. They could jump higher, think better, and soon they would be big enough to take down humans. Owen sighed again.
Zara stared at him thoughtfully as she started to eat her yogurt. The last time she had seen him looking this gloomy was after that disastrous date with Claire. She highly doubted that it was the reason for his state this time though. After all of these months, there was no way Owen hadn't gotten over it. Although, there was a slight chance that she could be wrong. Owen was a surprisingly complicated guy despite the laid back appearance he displayed to everyone around the park. His personality rarely matched what was given on his profile. The first time they had met, she had thought he was an imposter because of the contrast between what she had seen compared to what she had read about him. But when he did to his profile justice, even Victor Hoskins would be wary of him. Though, that was always few and far in-between. Most of the workers on the workers on the island had no idea that that side of him existed. Regardless of all of that, she decided to stick to a simple question for now to get his mind off of whatever he was thinking about.
"Does it hurt a lot?" Zara questioned while staring pointedly at his fingers.
"I've had worse." Owen said plainly.
"When did you have worse?" Zara asked before wincing at the obvious answer to her question.
Owen turned to stare at her dubiously. "In the Navy, I guess."
"Yes, of course." Zara blushed and turned back down to stare at her yogurt. 'That could have gone better…'
Owen chuckled a bit. It wasn't often that he got to see Zara of all people flustered. After Claire, she was the most imposing woman working on the island. Well, except for perhaps the Triceratops handler. But she was… Actually, Owen didn't know how to describe her in a way to do her justice. She is a hunter, soldier, mother, and all around badass. Once, a person from the ACU hit on her, and afterwards had to be sent to the mainland because they couldn't handle his injuries on the island. No one ever found out what the injuries were, and no one would ask. Once, he was going to, but then he had chickened out and just asked her how her day was going instead. He was sure that she knew what had happened based on the smirk she had on her face as she answered him.
A few more workers walked into the break room as Owen lay there in contemplation. Both seemed to be scientists. They glanced at him briefly before turning away and walking towards the fridge. Owen eyed them curiously. It wasn't often that the scientists left their playground to go do something, else even eat. Neither of them talked as they opened the fridge and grabbed a few sandwiches before leaving the room just as quickly and as quietly as they had come. Owen kept on eye on them as they walked out. Neither of them had seemed suspicious, yet Owen always remained on alert when he was around them. He did the same thing around security. Those two groups were the main ones that couldn't be fully trusted on the island. Their leaders, Henry Wu and Victor Hoskins, were always seemingly above everything on the island. It was more than just being the heads of their departments. They both viewed Jurassic World as being something else than what the other workers and visitors thought of they place. To them, Jurassic World wasn't the world's greatest theme park. It was something completely different. And Owen could not figure out just what it was to them.
"Owen?" Zara said tentatively.
"Huh?" Owen turned back to look at her. She was looking at him with a bit of concern on her face. He smiled a bit, which eased the tension on her features. "I'm sorry, I was just thinking about what I'm going to have to do today. I'm not looking forward to it at all."
"Oh?" Zara tried not to sigh in relief. That was a much safer topic to discuss. "And what exactly do you have to do today?"
"Well…" Owen tapped his foot against the couch's armrest as he started to list off what he needed to do. "For starters, I need to call Nick and talk to him about the Velociraptor Paddock. After that, I need to go check up on the girls to make sure they haven't gotten into more mischief. Then, I need to talk to be debriefed by Claire about this morning's incident. Oh, and after that, I have to…" Owen trailed off. He had almost mentioned visiting the Indominus Rex, Frost and Gale. It would be best to not tell Zara about them. She may tell Claire, and then he'd be in trouble. As per usual, but still… He would like to avoid it if he could.
"And then…?" Zara asked in interest.
"Oh, you know…" Owen paused in thought for a moment. "Alpha stuff."
"Uh huh," Zara stared at him with doubt. "If you say so. So does this Alpha stuff involve actual work? Or is it something in your head?"
"Both." Owen said after giving it some thought for a moment. It was true, in a way. He had to put some effort into going to see Frost and Gale without being caught by security. Moreover, he had decided to do it on his own. He wasn't getting paid to do it. Which, now that he thought about it, actually really sucked. Then again, he was sure he'd be fired for doing it anyways. So it evened out, somehow.
"That's fine," Zara said with a shrug before finishing the last spoonful of her yogurt. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."
"What?" Owen turned back to look at her. "Come on Zara. I'm being serious here. Honest."
"Mhm," Zara hummed thoughtfully as she looked back at him. He certainly looked serious. Moreover, Owen was never one to lie. He hated liars, and never told lies himself. Sure, he would avoid problems and situations, but he'd be honest about it at least instead of coming up with excuses. It was one of the reasons Simon Misrani liked him so much. That, and his obvious success with the Velociraptor taming thing that was going on. Zara hoped it would last. Based on what she had read about what happened with the Velociraptors in Jurassic Park, she was sure that the Velociraptors would become more trouble than they were worth somewhere down the line. And Owen may suffer because of it. "I believe you."
"Thanks Zara." Owen grinned at her. At least there was someone on this island that he could somewhat count on.
A beeping noise brought both of their attentions to Zara's phone on the table. Zara picked it up and read the message. After a moment, the sighed and got up before shooting an apologetic look at Owen.
"The boss lady needs you." Owen said. There was no reason to guess. Zara only ever answered to Claire.
"Yeah," Zara picked up her purse and walked towards the door. She stopped and looked back at Owen. "Try not to get eaten before I see you again."
"I'll try my absolute hardest not to, ma'am." Owen responded while rolling his eyes. He was smiling though. Leave it to Zara to act like she cared and didn't care at the exact same time.
"I'll see you later, Owen." Zara said before walking out, leaving Owen alone to his thoughts.
"See you later, Zara." Owen replied, though Zara was already too far away to hear him.
Owen groaned as he pushed himself up off of the couch. He was too tired to work today. If he knew of a way how, he would have punish Blue and the others for forcing him to get out of bed so early and then making him chase them all throughout the entire building. Unfortunately, Velociraptors didn't understand that kind of thing. So in the end, it would be a futile effort. It would be best to let it go and move on. But he didn't want to do that. So he would think of some way to punish them, eventually. Some day.
"Now what?" Owen asked himself rhetorically. He stretched a bit before heading out. The first thing he should do was talk to Nick about the Velociraptor Paddock. But there were more pressing matters to take care of. He needed to go check in on Frost and Gale first. And to do that, he would need to ignore everything else for a while. 'That sounds easy enough…'
'It's not easy enough…' Owen thought bitterly a short time later as he glared at the floor while walking passed the security personal in the hallway. It seems as though Vic had increased the security detail around and inside the building in response to the Velociraptor escape. It was a good idea, but it was also annoying. Now Owen was cut off from being able to easily access the Indominus Rex room. 'Only Vic of all people could ruin my day by doing a good job with his security team.'
His phone started to vibrate in his pocket. He pulled it out and checked the screen. Nick was calling him. Nick had probably already been told about the Velociraptor escape and was now under more pressure to finish the Velociraptor Paddock as soon as possible. And that meant that Nick would need him around. He flipped his phone open and held the phone up to his ear.
"Hey there, Nick." Owen said.
"Owen!" Nick's voices yelled through the phone in relief. "I've been trying to contact you for ages! Didn't you get my call from before?"
"I think I that I might have." Owen replied while thinking back. Now that Nick had said it, he could somewhat recall hearing a message from Nick. It was the morning of the day that the Indominus Rex were born. It was no wonder that he hadn't replied sooner. He had pretty much focused on nothing but those two after they were born.
"Well whatever," Nick said dismissively. "Listen, I need you to submit a report on the behavior and capabilities of your Velociraptors. Also, I'm going to need estimates to how they will be in the future. Oh, and if you can stop by to give your thoughts on the construction of the Velociraptor Paddock, that would be really helpful."
"Sure!" Owen said happily with a minor sarcastic undertone. "Do you want me to do all of that in an hour as well?"
"I'm no stranger to sarcasm, Owen." Nick responded.
"Sorry." Owen winced. He really was sorry. Just because he was annoyed didn't mean he should take out his frustrations out on Nick. "It's been a long morning."
"I heard," Nick said sympathetically. "It's fine. I mean, we have time. Don't we?"
"Not as much as I'd like," Owen said seriously. "They learned to escape. They figured out that knocking on a door would get it to open. Who knows what will happen next? It's better to get them out of the main building as soon as possible. They've outgrown it."
"Ok…" Nick muttered.
Through the phone, Owen could hear the shuffling of paper and the creaking of wood. He could also hear some other voices in the background, but it wasn't loud enough for him to figure out who was talking.
"Ok," Nick said again. "I got it. I'll have the basic groundwork set up. But I need you to come by later with those reports and information. Got it?"
"Yeah," Owen said. "I got it.
Owen hung up his phone and sighed. Well there goes his day. Now he would have to go see Frost and Gale at night. That, or wait until the guards thinned out a bit more. He would have to wait and see what happens before deciding though. With a slight scowl on his face, he turned and walked back into the main hallway to head over to his office to start doing those reports. He didn't like using his office. It made this job seem much more official and clinical than it actually was. Plus, he rarely had a use for it. He would much rather stick to only using his bungalow. But because Jurassic World was a professional theme park, he needed to appear the part as well. Or at least, that was what Claire had said when she gave it to him.
The door pushed open easily once he got there. He never locked the door to his office. No one ever visited him there because he was almost never there anyways. It was mainly just for show. Actually, this was most likely the first time he would be using it for its intended purpose. Actual work. He sat down at his desk and pulled out some paper before staring at it, wondering just what to write. After a few minutes, he turned on his computer and decided to look up some things based on the data he was given about Jurassic Park's Velociraptors.
There wasn't much difference between the Velociraptors from then compared to the Velociraptors from now. Although, the Velociraptors that had been made for Jurassic World were a lot more varied with different DNA strains that the scientists had used. Whether or not that was made to show case different styles or not was something Owen couldn't decide. If he had to guess though, he would guess that they had done it to see which Velociraptor would be easier to tame. It was too bad that the answer was none. Owen checked some more data before deciding to copy and paste parts of it into his report. He doubted anyone would notice. Additionally, the information was pretty much the same as what he was thinking of. In some cases, it was even more exact. He had to hand it to Alan Grant. The information and thought he had put into these articles was first class. It was too bad that he had stopped afterwards. Though, after almost getting eaten by the things you dug up would put anyone in a dour mood.
Owen open some more pages, detailing what happened the first several times people had visited this island back before Jurassic World was built. In all of the instances, it seemed as though the Velociraptors were the biggest obstacles. Even the T-Rex paled in comparison. And in the end, the only one who had survived was the current ruler of the park, Rexy. After seeing her for the first time, Owen could easily see why. She deserved having the title of "King." All the dinosaurs, both old and new, knew not to be anywhere near her. She never forgave, and she never forgot. Owen made a point to never go near her paddock. He would never risk getting sniffed out by her due to the stain of Velociraptor scent on his clothes. Owen knew for a fact that it was mainly because of her that the Velociraptor packs of the past had all been thinned out. Rexy hated other encroaching on her territory. And the Velociraptors apparently had had a craving for her eggs. So that was something he would have to teach the Raptor Squad. How to respect boundaries. But that would come after teaching them not to anyone, or at the very least, not to bite him.
He opened up some more documents and looked through them. There were a lot of dinosaurs that weren't around anymore. As he gazed at the picture of the Spinosaurus that was created, he was silently thankful for that occurrence. A lot of those old dinosaurs would have made a big mess. And by big mess, he meant deaths. They haven't had any of those in a while, but there would always be a chance.
A beeping noise brought his attention back to his phone. He opened it hesitantly and was relieved to see it was a simple text from Zara.
Hey -Z
Hey yourself ;) -O
Are you actually writing those reports now? -Z
Yes! -O
Just checking. Be sure to send a copy to Claire. -Z
Is that the only reason you texted me? :( -O
Are you free tonight? -Z
Owen paused as he reread that text. That was a strange question. Especially from Zara. He was sure she wasn't asking him out on a date. She wasn't like that. Plus, Claire would be pissed. The other option was that she just wanted to hang out. He wouldn't mind that, it would be a nice break. But the real question was, what if it was for another reason? Like more work. Then he would have to say no to avoid it. But there was a 50/50 shot at it.
Owen? -Z
Owen drummed his fingers on his desk before deciding on a reply.
There's something I have to do. More Alpha stuff. -O
Owen had to wait a few minutes for a reply.
Okay. I'll see you later then. -Z
Now, Owen wasn't the smartest member of the pack, but he knew that something had just gone wrong. He could feel it. All he could do now was damage control.
Want to get lunch together outside tomorrow? -O
Fine. Text me later with the details. g2g, Claire is back. -Z
Owen sighed in relief. That ended well. He was curious at to why Zara would want to talk to him. She usually only did so when she had to. Which meant, she probably had to tell him something. Something important. He shrugged it off. It was better to just wait and see what would happen. Otherwise, he would overthink it. And history has proven that that was never a good thing.
A beeping noise went off on his computer. The e-mail icon was lit up and he clicked it curiously. He hadn't gotten an e-mail from anyone in ages. That, and he rarely checked it. Plus, he never deleted messages. This was proven by the fact that he had over 6,000 unread messages. Not that it mattered that much, since he only gave out this email for useless reasons. Still, it hadn't received a message in months. His eyes widened as he read the name of the message sender on the screen.
E. REIMAN
Owen quickly opened the message and read its contents.
Mr. Grady,
It has been a long time, Owen. I don't know if you remember me, but we met a long time ago at one of Dr. Grant's digs. I heard recently that they were going to open a Velociraptor exhibit in Jurassic World. I would like to talk to you about it. I tried talking to the management team, but they wouldn't listen. If there's a chance that you will, please e-mail me back A.S.A.P. It's important. I remember you were quite the inquisitive one, and I know that you've grown up a lot since we last met. But still, there are things you need to be aware of. Please message me back.
Sincerely,
Ellie Reiman
Owen closed the message and leaned back in the chair as he pondered over the message. It was really unexpected. He could hazard an educated guess as to what she wanted to talk about and say. Still, it would be rude to not talk to her. Plus, there was a chance he could learn something that wasn't written on the database. It was a good chance, he had to take it. Especially if it was being offered like this. He clicked the compose mail button and quickly typed in a response.
Mrs. Reiman,
That's fine. We can meet. Just tell me when and where.
Owen
He clicked send as soon as he was done. That would do. The sooner this was set up, the better. Next, he closed the window and went back to the reports. He saved a few of them to his computer desktop before sending the requested typed reports to Nick along with a promise to stop by the next day to ensure that things were going according to the plan before sending a copy to Claire. After that, he decided to read some more of the research and findings that Jurassic World had stored in its database on the Velociraptors and the other dinosaurs, to brush up on some information before the potential meeting with Ellie. There was some surprisingly good stuff in there. For instance, how current day animal's DNA could be used to help change or increase/decrease certain aspects in dinosaurs once the DNA is combined. In addition, there were some other things he learned that he would need to check out and test with his pack as well as the Indominus Rex. But that would come later. As he continued to read, his eyelids started to fall until eventually he was asleep at his desk. He would be extremely lucky if Claire never found about that he fell asleep on the job again.
EXTRA
"Hey…" Owen said out of nowhere.
"Yes?" Barry answered back dully.
"Do you ever wonder why we're here?" Owen asked.
Barry glanced at Owen before going back to staring at a random tree. "No."
"Really?" Owen questioned him.
"Really." Barry nodded.
"But does it really make sense?" Owen asked. "Wh-"
"Owen," Barry turned to stare at him. "If we leave this spot, the Velociraptors may escape. If they escape, they will eat people. And we might be one of those people. I do not want to be eaten."
Owen waited a moment before slowly pointing at a spot on the other side of the path. "I meant why are we standing guard here when we could be standing guard over there. You know, in the shade."
"Oh," Barry looked at the spot where Owen was pointing. "Yeah, let's go there."
-Meanwhile in the Velociraptor Paddock-
"Blueeee." Charlie groaned as she lay on the ground next to Blue.
Blue glanced over before snorting to give her permission to continue.
"Do you ever wonder why we're here?" Charlie asked.
"I don't." Blue replied. "And do you know why? Because I already explained it to you earlier. We're watching Alpha and the other one until they slip up so we can escape."
"I know that…" Charlie said sullenly as she gazed pensively at Alpha. "But can't we do that in the shade over there?"
"We cann-" Blue started to say before seeing Alpha and the other one moving to stand in the shade themselves. She growled angrily, causing them to turn and look at her apprehensively. "Fine. Since they're in the shade, we will go stand in the shade too."
Blue turned only to see that Charlie was already gone and had moved to sit in the shade next to a resting Delta and Echo. Blue scowled at her as she marched over before sitting down in a huff in-between her and Delta. "Stupid Alpha…"
-Back at the entrance of the Velociraptor Paddock-
"She's talking about me." Owen said seriously to a bored looking Barry.
"She's not." Barry repeated for what felt like the millionth time.
"She is!" Owen whispered frantically. "Look at her! She's glaring at me and growling."
"She does that to everyone." Barry replied.
"But not as much as she does that to me." Owen retorted while staring back at Blue.
Blue looked right back at him with a haughty expression on her face. She then snorted in a huff.
"Barry!" Owen complained.
"Owen, I love you. No homo. But if you keep complaining, I'll give you to Blue so you can fight for the position of Alpha. And I will watch. Happily." Barry said seriously.
"Worst. Partner. Ever." Owen muttered under his breath.
A/N: And there we have it. My Owen is really different compared to movie Owen, now that I think about it. Mine is a lot more humorous compared to the serious badass Owen that is in the movie. But then again, this is the early days for Owen Grady. He'll get more badass as he figures out his place in Jurassic World. As for Zara, as a character that didn't have much screen time, I enjoy giving her life in this fan-fiction. I feel that she's good middle ground for Owen and Claire. I may even have her end up with Owen. But, that won't overtake this fan-fiction. I won't make it become a romance. The focal point is Owen and his squad.
More original characters are incoming soon. I mean, it's a really huge theme park. We didn't get to see or hear everything going on in Jurassic World in the movies. What about the food court? The other attractions? The boat ride to the island? The meetings to decide what dinosaur to bring back to life? The other handlers? The mistakes that were made? The history? Etc. I plan on adding more depth as time goes on. More people need to work there, among other things.
Don't forget to let me know what you think should happen to the guards in the previous chapter.
Again, reminder, please feel free to follow "stygianhazardff" on tumblr for updates/thoughts about my fan-fiction stuff.
