Knelt down, Mike tried to control his breathing and kept eye contact with Ace. It was a dominance fight between them and he knew he shouldn't blink. The Raptor approached him slowly, his eyes fixed and unblinking just like his master's. Mike gradually stretched his hand up in a familiar sign that calmed the Raptors.
"That's it, buddy. Easy…" Mike whispered as the Raptor came closer. His hand was only inches away from Ace's head when someone's voice broke their bonding.
"Mike?" Winn called loudly.
He must have been gone for too long and had gotten Winn worried.
"Winn don't come any closer!" Mike shouted when Ace broke their eye contact and hissed at Winn standing six meters away. The poor tech genius froze dreadfully at the sight. "Oh my God!"
Mike used the animal's momentary distraction to get back to his feet and changed his position from being so vulnerable.
"Ace, hey, look at me." He commanded in a firm yet calm voice. "I'm right here." Mike snapped his finger and the Raptor finally took his eyes off of Winn to look at Mike.
"That's right. Just look at me." He reached for the snout once again in slow motion. "It's me, remember?" He held his palm nonthreateningly for Ace to sniff. Smelling was the Raptor's sharpest sense and Mike imagined under this pouring rain he might not look or smell as he usually appeared to them, but his smell hadn't changed and the Raptor needed to be assured that it was him.
In what felt like ages, Ace finally relented and blinked. A sign of trust. Mike touched his head and let go of the breath he had been holding. Only then he glanced over to Winn who had been standing like a statue with a pale face and open mouth.
"Hey, it's safe now. You should go back inside. I'll come in a moment."
Winn didn't need to be told twice and scurried away as soon as the words were out of Mike's mouth. He obviously had had enough of this.
To Mike's dismay, Ace didn't stand around much longer. He distanced himself from Mike and gave him one last look before running off and disappearing beyond the dark mist. The night had fallen now.
Mike stepped inside and saw the lights were back on. He found Winn working in the computers in the lab. The screen in front of him was filled with lines upon lines of undecipherable letters and numbers in small font. He was into the system.
"Mike!" Winn finally spotted his best friend. "Are you okay? What happened out there?"
Mike briefly told him about the guy and Ace, but left out the gruesome details. He then decided to rest a bit in a corner. His body begged him to end this day already. Mike saw the small dinosaurs they had company were peeking through his backpack and sniffing it. They could sense the eggs in it and Mike knew it was very possible that they would want to eat it, so he shooed them away and held his bag pressed to his chest.
They got something to eat from their backpacks, sharing it with the little hungry animals before they tried to eat their fingers and Winn went back to what he had been doing, mumbling while working tirelessly and continuously.
Exploring around, Mike found a special device in the lab he had seen before. It was designed to help to keep the embryo eggs in an appropriate temperature. He got it running and put the eggs inside it before closing the glass lid. They should now be safe in there, away from claws or teeth.
Very soon Mike had difficulty keeping his eyes open and staying vigilant. His thoughts drifted to some other place when the tension of fear finally faded away. Two bluest eyes he had ever seen, shining like comets, a bright smile and rosy cheeks. He fell asleep hoping Kara was alright.
Kara looked blankly at her coffee and grimaced against the annoying itch from her stitches, frustrated that she couldn't scratch them. She was sitting alone in the cafeteria deep in her thoughts.
The grey morning had eventually arrived without anyone being able to go back to sleep. Three guards had died and the seven remaining ones were busy taking care of their slaughtered bodies. It wasn't something Kara would have wanted to stay around to witness. What was even more worrying, was the fact that no one knew how that dinosaur had gotten inside and where had it disappeared to. There were no signs of breaking in the electrically charged fences nor the doors or windows. It all had added to Kara and Alex's suspiciousness.
Kara was extra unsettled since Alex had informed her that all the radio communications were down and they had absolutely no idea what had happened to Mike and Winn or what they were doing. The rain was harder than the previous day outside and the wind whistled throughout the building. It was almost noon and the storm was here.
Her train of thoughts broke when Alex stepped inside with Eve and Barry at her heels. The new members of their inner circle. After deciding to trust Eve, confiding in Barry didn't seem dangerous.
"Any news on Mike and Winn?" Kara asked for the fiftieth time since last night if not counting the hundredth other times since yesterday.
Alex shook her head and went to pour coffee for herself. Eve and Barry took seats in front of Kara, both looking nervous.
"So what do we do now?" Barry asked, following Alex with his eyes as she came to sit next to Kara.
Alex put her special sedating rifle – which she had been carrying around everywhere since the accident – on the table and took a long sip at her coffee before answering Barry.
"We stick together." She simply put out.
"Are you sure there isn't anything more we can do?" Eve interjected.
Alex dismissed her with the shake of her head. "At the moment, with the system down, no. I'm counting on the boys to break through…" She dropped her voice very low, forcing them all to lean forward to hear her "…Then we take one of the satellite phones and a car and we get ourselves to the coast."
Kara hadn't expected to hear Alex building her plan on Mike and Winn's success. All this time she assumed Alex didn't care about anyone's survival but them. "D- Do you think they have a chance?" Kara asked before she could stop herself. "Mike and Winn, I mean? Do you think they will do it?" She added hurriedly.
"Yeah, I do." Alex nodded and continued. "That Matthews actually knows how to live in the jungle. He proved it before, so …" Kara wanted to bang her head against the table at hearing that jungle thing again, but instead rolled her eyes. "… my money is on them doing their part."
Kara nodded at her sister and turned her eyes back to her untouched coffee on the table. For some reason, she had absolutely no appetite and she didn't think it was due to the horrible event from last night. She felt a little dizzy and nauseated, but had decided against sharing that fact with Alex or even Dr. Snow. She assumed it would wear off soon, but it was getting worse.
A drop of crimson liquid next to the cup surprised Kara. She leaned forward to inspect it and a second drop joined the first one.
"Oh!" Kara covered her nose immediately and tilted her head back. That was just great. Nothing more than the sight of her own blood made her sick.
"Kara!" Alex called in alarm and tried to see what was happening with her.
"It's ok Alex. Just a nosebleed."
Kara accepted the bunch of tissues Eve handed her and pressed them over her nose.
"Come on. Let's take you back to Caitlin." Alex grabbed Kara's arm and tried to pull her into a standing position.
"No, Alex! It's gonna be fine! Just give me a minute." Kara protested and pulled her arm away.
"No, it won't! There's something wrong with you!"
"No, it's not!"
"SHHHH!" Barry suddenly shushed them and they turned to him in fury and became confused when they found him staring at Kara's coffee mug instead.
"What?!" The sisters asked at the same time.
"Do you see that?" Barry whispered and pointed at the mug.
They all squinted to see what he was seeing and then Kara saw the little concentric waves on the brown surface. The closed circular lines rippled and collided with the white porcelain interior and bounced back with a pause between them. Completely in sync with the quiet thumps of something in the distance.
"What is that?" Kara asked, but no one answered. Barry jumped out of his seat and went to the window. Everyone copied him.
It was heavily raining and not much could be seen from beyond the fences. That, however, didn't stop the continuously thumping that was growing louder and louder with each beat. Kara gasped loudly as she recognized the sound moments before a giant scaly head with sharp teeth emerged from the thick fog. Rexy stood behind the fences in all her glory and opened her jaws to let out a powerful roar that sent waves and shudders into their bones.
Their worst nightmare had turned real. They were all so shocked that none of them saw the appearance of a second equally huge sized dinosaur that ran into Rexy full force, smacked her with its head and threw her over the charged cords of the fences and took them down with herself. Rexy growled in pain as arcs of electricity burned her neck and retaliated instantly.
"That's a Spinosaurus!" Kara cried, recognizing the second hostile dinosaur from its giant dorsal sail and longer snout. The biggest breed of the same species that had attacked them in the control room and the dinosaur that had given Mike that nasty injury on his chest. Predictably, no one cared about her observation in the middle of all this. Briefly, Kara missed Winn because he would have shared her slight excitement in this otherwise ghastly catastrophic mess. There were no sides to take, but if Kara had to choose, she would pick Rexy. She had her reasons despite everything. That Spinosaurus had hurt Mike.
Until now, Kara had thought she had seen everything there was going through the Park, but she was so wrong. Watching a Spinosaurus fighting a Tyrannosaur Rex, that was beyond everything anyone could have ever imagined and she was witnessing it with her own eyes.
The two dinosaurs circled each other, staring back and they charged at the same time, clashing in the middle with a thunderous booming sound as they bit and tore into each other's flesh. As though to make things more dramatic, a huge lightning bolt exploded in the sky overhead. The scene was now ten times more daunting.
The humans would have stayed and watched, but things got out of control when the savage wrestling entered the HQ area and the fences found a few and Spinosaurus size holes in them.
Director Jones was barking orders and sending people around to take positions. He ordered Alex and another guard to take Kara, Barry, Eve and Dr. Snow to the basement, the safest place. Caitlin argued to take Maxwell Lord with them as well, but there was no time. They started running with Alex in their lead. They had made it to the corridor leading them to the stairs that would take them to their destination when the building shook. Alex shouted for them to take cover by the wall right before all the windows shattered. A large tail swung through the wall and showered the cowered group with shards of glass and wood.
The moment the tail passed, Alex shouted at them to move and they broke into a run. Behind them the ceiling came down when Rexy hurled the Spinosaurus into the building, causing rubble to explode and disperse everywhere. Kara glanced back in horror and winced seeing the Spinosaurus had locked its jaw around Rexy's throat and blood oozed where its long teeth had lodged themselves into her neck. The used her feet claws and vengefully made deep incisions on her opponent's stomach. The sounds were deafening. Like nails on a blackboard, streaming through hundreds of megaphones, it set all your nerve endings on fire.
The group made it to the basement and Alex guided them through what seemed to be the boiling room and they each collapsed in a corner, panting heavily and shakily. The bangs and booms from the upper floor could still be heard.
Barry grunted painfully and Kara saw him clutching his left arm, holding it against his chest. His forearm was bleeding profusely as a large shard of glass had pierced it. Even in the dim light from the weak light bulb, the sight of blood sent Kara's head spinning. Caitlin went to Barry's help without hesitation and instructed him to hold his hand in a certain way as she cut the blood circulation with his own belt.
Alex meanwhile had crouched in front of Kara and was eyeing her worriedly. "Hey Kara, are you ok?"
Kara nodded immediately but regretted it as a wave of dizzy hit her again. "Yeah, I'm fine."
"Your nosebleed, has it stopped?"
"Yeah, it seems so." Kara wiped her nose to check and showed Alex her dry hand.
"Okay, but you still don't look so good." Alex pointed out her Paleness.
"No, I Just hate blood." She persistently kept her head away from Barry and Caitlin so she wouldn't accidentally witness anything further.
Alex touched her shoulder and squeezed gently in sympathy. "Almost had forgotten about that."
Kara took a deep breath, growing calmer and less nauseous. She gave Alex a sad smile. "We don't even meet for Supernatural bing watching on Saturdays anymore like we used to."
Alex's face fell, a look of hurt replacing the usual impassive expression she wore to hide her feelings. She opened her mouth to say something, but Caitlin interrupted.
"Ehm, guys?" Caitlin's voice caused both sisters to look to her direction. "We have to get Barry to the infirmary as soon as possible. I don't have anything here to stop the bleeding for long."
Alex nodded in understanding and stood up straight. "It sounds quiet upstairs. Maybe it's all over. You stay here, I'll go check."
"I'll come with you." Kara claimed and rose to her feet next to Alex.
"There's no need Kara."
"But I want to." Kara persisted and looked at Alex knowingly until she realized Kara didn't want to be where someone was bleeding.
"Ok, let's go." Alex said and moved ahead.
The two sisters walked down the dark path along the pipes to find the stairs they had run down earlier.
Alex suddenly started. "Kara, about earlier… I just wanted to say I'm so sorry we've been drifting apart." She brought that topic up much to Kara's surprise.
She had assumed Alex wouldn't be the one to start this conversation since usually Kara was the one to take the first steps. The last time something like this had happened, was about eight years ago when Alex came out to Kara, confessing that she had been hiding and denying her true feelings and being a lesbian since she was 16.
They both had become increasingly unreachable and busy with their lives and jobs during the past few years. Sure they texted and were aware in general how the other was doing, nevertheless a gap had been created between them that neither had the courage to cross it and the longer it took, the harder it had become to initiate the reconnection. Kara really missed her sister and she resented the feeling that was breaking her heart. "Oh, Alex."
She assumed the feeling had been mutual when Alex stopped short to pull her into a hug and Kara couldn't stop the few tears that escaped her eyes. When they withdrew, Kara was a little startled by the sheen of moisture over Alex' beautiful hazel eyes. Apparently, she had forgotten some things about her sister as well. Things like how Alex was capable of getting emotional.
"What was it you said? It takes dinosaurs to get Danvers sisters back together?" Alex remarked in jest and made Kara laugh.
"I said it takes dinosaurs to get you to agree with me, but sure, I guess that's basically the same thing."
Alex smirked with the shook her head. "Fine, but we're gonna have sister nights right after this whole stupid thing. Deal?"
"Yes! Deal!" Kara kissed Alex on the cheek, overjoyed to have her sister back in her life like old times.
"I'm sorry I've been distant." Alex suddenly started apologizing.
Kara shook her head in refusal. "No, no Alex, it's fine. I get it. You moved in with Maggie, you had some issues and you had to focus on your relationship. I get how important that is! I know how much you love her!"
Alex beamed at her in appreciation. "Thanks Kara, but still I feel like I should've tried harder and gave you more chances to be in my life."
"Don't blame yourself Alex, please. I was being all closed off and weird too after things with James didn't work out. If we are playing the who's guilty game, I'm to be blamed too here."
"Ok, then let's make another deal. No more apologies." Alex offered her hand and Kara shook it without a second thought.
"No more apologies!" She grinned at Alex brightly and felt her heart was finally at peace and everything was once again right in the world. Almost everything.
They resumed walking, remembering that Barry's health was depending on them finding the state which HQ was in. Alex turned on a corner, a few steps ahead of Kara, but immediately backed away, colliding into her. Kara was about to ask why she had done that, but had no chance when Alex pulled her to press against the huge pipes and lifted her index finger up to shush her. Kara stared at her in confusion, however, the chatter and footsteps that reached her ears cleared things up.
"…is dangerous! You can't be serious." A female voice with a tint of British accent echoed in the basement.
"Tch, Lena, you may have inherited a Luthor's intelligence, but you always lack the vision." Another female voice answered the first one coldly in a disappointed tone.
"Don't give me that line again! You keep putting Lex on a pedestal, yet you choose to ignore the fact that he is living in a prison cell while I am the one running the company! This is just brilliant!"
"You call your pathetic science projects running the Luthor Empire!? You are a shame to Luthor name!"
"Do you expect me to wage war against the world openly instead!? Is that what satisfies you mother? You kept complaining about the Park, yet you saw how successful it turned out!"
"This Park is nothing but an entertainers business. A disgrace to the name of Luthor."
"Ugh, I did everything you asked me to. I even gave you that lab!"
"Then please tell me Lena, why isn't she dead? The poison should have killed her within two hours and it's been over nine hours!"
Kara cautiously peeked and saw the two fuming Luthors glaring at each other.
"I don't know mother! The venom is more concentrated in the fangs! The modeling is not one hundred percent accurate because these subjects are untested and if you let them out, no one will be able to control the situation."
Lillian started walking again and Lena followed her mother as she spoke, trying to catch up with her fast pace.
"That's where you're wrong Lena." Lillian said matter-of-factly. "We don't need any control over this."
There was a heavy silent following the statement and Kara moved to follow the pair as they got farther, itching to find out where they were going and not wanting to miss any of their conversations. Alex grabbed her arm before she had even gotten the first step.
"Alex, let me go!" Kara whisper shouted.
"No! You're not going anywhere!" She objected threw gritted teeth.
Kara yanked her arm, but Alex's hold was iron grip. "Alex if we don't follow them, we'll lose them. Didn't you hear them?"
Doubt and concern flickered in Alex's eyes and her hand loosened. "Okay, but you're not going alone."
Kara nodded and they walked as quietly as they could down the same path the Luthor women had gone moments before. Kara was about to lose hope that they had lost them when she heard their hushed chatter from afar. The two sisters exchanged a brief look and followed the sound. They made it in time just to see the Luthors standing in front of a door. Lena punched in some numbers on the small keypad next to the door and it slid open softly.
They stepped inside and the door slid shut with a hiss behind them. After waiting for a few minutes to make sure they were far from the door, Kara sneaked out of their hiding place with Alex. They reached the door and stood there indecisively for a second until Kara reached out and pushed in two numbers.
"How the hell do you know the password?!" Alex accusingly asked.
"I memorized the numbers she pushed in." Kara explained as she pushed number 6.
"You and your freaking photographic memory! Something tells me this isn't the first time you're doing this either!" Alex huffed as Kara pressed the last number.
Kara muttered something under her breath including the words "…for journalism…"
"Very creepy journalism!"
The keypad turned green with a low beep and the doors slid open once more, revealing an empty elevator cabin without mirrors. Just plain cold steel.
"Kara, we don't know what we're getting ourselves into." Alex whispered standing next to her.
"I'm not gonna stand around and wait to be killed for something I don't even know what." Kara stated firmly, holding Alex's stare. "If I'm going to die, I wanna know why!" She stepped inside bravely, even though her heart was pounding at the fear of unknown. She turned around and looked back at Alex. "So are you with me or not?"
Alex fisted both hands and a frown formed between her brows. "Who the hell you think I am? You think I'd leave my baby sister go on a suicide mission alone? You're only going to die, over my dead body." The brunette stepped inside, her chin held high. Kara smiled.
The door shut behind her. Unlike normal elevators, there were no buttons to push and the cabin started moving on its own according, taking them deeper into the ground.
"Oh God, we totally forgot about Barry!" Kara gasped.