Scars

by DarkHououmon

Ever since their formation, the Dino Squad have always managed to keep Veloci in the dark about their secret. But what would happen if he did find out? And what if he was far more capable than they initially thought? Despite what fairy tales may say, the bad guys don't always lose...

21. Unlikely

Michelle wasn't in the mood to turn into a dinosaur at this point, but she knew she shouldn't keep Victor or Drew waiting. She closed her eyes slowly, but then snapped them open abruptly, her eyes now glowing brightly like miniature stars in her eyes. This startled Drew enough to make him stumble backwards, causing Victor to smirk. He hadn't even see the full transformation yet. Michelle wasn't finished. Her snout quickly elongated, her human teeth mutating quickly into sharp, serrated teeth. Her skin turned to a pitch black, the underside of her turning a bright red. Claws extended from her toes and fingertips as her arms and legs mutated and changed, becoming more muscular. Tail swishing from side to side, she now stood about six feet tall, and could now easily stood eye-level with Drew.

Michelle was not as big as Victor when he was in dino mode, but she was still of an impressive size. The sight of her caused Drew to stumble backwards even further. He had seen Victor transform and that was it. He thought that Victor was the only one who had dino-morphing powers. He never would have dreamed that two teenagers could do the same thing. Drew stared at Michelle for a few seconds before looking back at Victor. "It's..it's incredible.. How did she...?" But he couldn't bring himself to finish. He was still in awe and shock at what he had just witnessed.

"Ah, but she and Oscura aren't the only ones." Victor said, making Drew look at him, even more shocked. "Another worker of mine..no, two of them, they can also transform. So can an old...friend of mine." Victor growled softly, faintly, at the memory of Joanne Moynihan. "And a team of five teenagers can also transform into dinosaurs, as I only recently discovered."

Drew rubbed his head as his mind was spinning from this information. According to Victor, there was a total of ten people who could turn into dinosaurs other than Victor himself, and he had not known about it all these years. Drew wondered how he could have missed so much, how he could have been so oblivious to this fact. He closed his eyes, allowing this new information to digest inside of him, still trying to make sense of it all. He reopened his eyes and looked at Victor, trying to see if there were any signs that the man was joking, although Victor wasn't the type to kid about something like this. Victor retained his smile, but there were no signs of laughing or chuckling. And when he had spoken, he did sound very serious. There was no way this was a joke.

"Man...I wonder how I could have missed all of this..." Drew muttered, still rubbing his head, getting a small headache. "I've worked here for years, and I've never heard of anyone, other than you, sir, who could transform into a dinosaur."

"You don't know of Peter?" Victor inquired, though not sounding very surprised at all.

Drew nodded his head. "Yes, I know of him. Passed by him a few times over the years. But I didn't know he could turn into a dinosaur."

"I had forbidden it at first because I didn't know what would happen if he transformed." Victor explained. "I wasn't sure if it was a stable transformation. But after his encounter with the Dino Squad, I've been able to confirm that it was, indeed, stable, so he can use that form in future missions." He paused for a second before adding, "Well, after he returns from the hospital that is."

Drew smirked slightly. Somehow, it didn't surprise him that Peter would end up in the hospital. He never was the brightest member at Raptor Dyne, or so from he can recall. Then something in that statement caught his attention. "The..Dino Squad, sir..?" He hadn't heard of that term before. He wondered if they could possibly be those five teenagers that Victor had just mentioned earlier.

"The five teenagers of course!" Victor said, confirming Drew's suspicion. "They are what had thought to be 'perfect dinosaurs', and I had tried to capture them over the years, but they always manage to elude me. They can disappear and appear out of nowhere and are almost always invisible to my scans. I couldn't think of why at first, but recently I discovered their secret: they are humans who can change back and forth at will, just like I can change from my human form and raptor form any time I want to."

Drew scratched the back of his head as he looked over at Michelle. "And was she ever a part of this...this... Dino Squad?"

Michelle tilted her head and snorted. 'Are you kidding me?' She spoke, startling Drew who took a few steps away from her. 'What?'

"You..you can talk?" Drew asked, sounding stunned. He knew Victor could talk in dinosaur form, but he thought that was a trait that only he alone had. He didn't know that the other dinosaur morphers could do the same thing.

Michelle opened her long, black snout to hiss in amusement. 'Why of course! And so can the Dino Squad. How else would they be able to make strategies?'

"..what?" Asked Drew, sounding very confused. He hadn't even asked anything about strategies. He didn't know why she had brought that up. Although it was still interesting, yet shocking, information for him. He never would have thought that anyone would have been brave enough to take on Victor and his entire corporation, least of all a group of teenagers who were too young to be smart enough to outwit Victor. And yet they seemed to have done so for so many years. He wondered if they would still be able to avoid him now that he knows that they are human.

Michelle hissed again, but this time she was feeling less amused. Drew was annoying her a little bit. For one thing, he didn't know about the Dino Squad. How could he not know? They've been around for a few years ago! Surely, he would have heard the news or something! Or maybe he had, but decided to ignore it all this time. The other thing that bothered her was his complete ignorance to the fact that there were two teenagers working for Victor: her and Oscura. Again, how could he have missed? Well, Raptor Dyne was a big place. It was possible that they had simply avoided each other all this time.

But that still didn't make much sense. Even if he didn't see her, wouldn't he have heard things about her and Oscura among other members of Raptor Dyne? There were certainly some people who questioned Victor's judgment in hiring the two teenagers. And while most members have gotten used to their presence, there were still others who would cast a strange look at them, as if they just could not accept them as serious members of Raptor Dyne. The only thing that made her and Oscura worthy members was the fact that they could transform into dinosaurs, although this fact was not known to everyone in Raptor Dyne. Victor had made sure that only certain members of Raptor Dyne were aware of his true goals.

Before she could say anything more, Victor took a step forward, making sure to pound his feet to the floor loud enough to get their attention. Both heads turned over to the raptor-in-disguise, arms folded up in an impatient manner. He didn't come here to watch the two chit-chat with one another. The two adorned an apologetic look, bowing her heads and stepping away from one another. Michelle remained in her dinosaur form for the time being, seeing now reason to change back unless Victor told her to. Besides, to a degree, she felt safer in this form than in human form. It was probably had to do with her claws and teeth, much more formidable weapons than fists and kicks.

Victor took another step forward, and he opened his mouth, about to speak. But then he froze in his tracks, his eyes widening slightly. He thought he could scent something, quite unusual and yet familiar. He couldn't make out what it was in human form. They had such pitiful senses of smell. Without giving any warning, Victor swiftly lifted up his head as it glowed and increase in size, revealing a head of a Velociraptor. Drew took a step back, a little startled by this. He thought Victor's head was going to fall over because of how massive it was compared to his relatively small human form.

"..sir?" Drew asked, sounding a little fearful.

But Veloci ignored him. He didn't transform completely because he didn't need his raptor body to follow the scent that he had detected. Turning his head left to right, he took in deep breaths through his nose, trying to locate whatever smell he had detected, and at the same time try to figure out just what kind of scent he was detecting. It seemed so familiar to him, and yet at the same time, it was completely different. How could that be? How could a smell seem so different and yet so similar? He didn't know, but he was going to find out within about a minute or so. It didn't take his raptor brain long to decipher smells and figure out just what they are.

Victor took a few steps towards Drew, realizing the smell was coming from him. After a few more whiffs with the snout, Victor eventually realized that the scent he had detected was very similar to that of one of the Dino Squad members. More specifically, Drew smelled a lot like the boy who could turn into the Pteranodon. His eyes widened slightly at this revelation. How could Drew possibly smell like the Pteranodon? He moved in closer to Drew, who took a few steps back, feeling uneasy about having the raptor's head being so close to him. 'Relax.' Victor said, his thought voice very deep, almost scary. 'I am not going to hurt you.'

"What are you doing?" Drew asked, still sounding very afraid.

Victor ignored him again. He pressed his long, red-skinned muzzle against the upper chest of the man and took a few sniffs, and then he moved his muzzle upward, sniffing the top of the man's head, trying to figure out if there was any logical explaination for the similarity in smells. Finally, after a few tense moments, he pulled his head back, his glowing eyes staring straight in Drew's eyes. '...do you have a son?' He finally asked. 'Or a daughter?'

"..why yes..I do..a son.." Drew said, fumbling with his fingers nervously. "W-Why do you ask?"

Victor's eyes narrowed slightly. 'Just as I thought.' He snorted. 'It makes sense now...'

Drew tilted his head, confused. "What are you talking about? What do you mean?"

Victor grinned at Drew. In his raptor form, his smile looked threatening, and made Drew take a step back. 'Why...I think I found a way to get another one of the Dino Squad members.'

"How?" Drew inquired, sounding very confused. "How do you expect to..."

'You.' Victor said, interrupting the man, an evil grin across his dinosaurian mouth.

Drew was confused. What did Victor mean by this? How could he possibly help in capturing one of these students? He didn't even know any of them! There was no way he could help. And another thought confused him. How could Victor have known he had a son? And what did scent have to do with anything? It didn't make much sense to Drew, and he could only shake his head. "I don't understand how I could be have any help, sir. I don't know any of these kids. How could I help?"

Victor snorted, his hot breath hitting Drew in the face even at the distance he was at away from the dinosaur. 'Oh but you do know one of them. Oh yes you do...' He lowered his head as he said that, staring at Drew as if he were his prey, his eyes never moving away from the man.

"I..I do..?" Drew asked, looking left to right. "..Who?"

Victor grinned, exposing his sharp teeth and spoke the two words that would stick to Drew's mind for the rest of the day, and for weeks and months to come. 'Your son...'

Eyes snapping open, Drew took a few steps back, and stared at Victor, horrified. Did he just hear right? Did Victor just say his own son was a transformer? Drew shook his head in denial. No, that couldn't be possible. If anyone should know what his son is, he himself should know. He was the father! What kind of father would he be if he, for years, was oblivious to his son being able to transform? No, Victor had to be mistake. He just had to be!

"N-No..." Drew finally said, his voice shaky. "That's..that's not possible! I know my own son! He's not..he's not one of them!"

Victor tilted his head. 'Oh no?' He chuckled lightly. 'Did your son ever..disappear? Did he ever go on any trips? Did he ever give you any reason to be suspicious..?'

Drew shook his head swiftly. "No, of course not!"

'Did he ever go to the tide pools?' Victor asked after a few moments of silence.

Drew was confused. "E-Excuse me? What does that have anything to do with..."

'Just answer me!' Victor hissed.

Drew cringed back. "W-Well, yes..a few years ago, he said he went to the tide pools with this classmates on a field trip..it was around..."

'Around the same time as the dinosaurs started appearing.' Victor finished for him, his eyes narrowed slightly.

Drew lifted up a finger and opened his jaws to protest, but no words came out of his mouth. He felt his finger droop slowly until his entire hand relaxed, and lowered back to his sides. He couldn't bring himself to try and disagree with his boss. He felt himself becoming dizzy with this new, startling information he had just heard. If Victor was correct, and his son truly was one of the dinosaurs, then there was one question that Drew himself would have to answer, and he had a feeling Victor would know of this conflict and find someway to encourage him to pick one particular answer. Drew must now choose between turning in his son, if this turns out to be true, or risk suffering the consequences of defying his boss.

He gritted his teeth slightly. He was now not only feeling stupid for not having any idea about this for years, but he was also feeling angry that his son had never told him any of this before. He couldn't think of any reason why he would keep it a secret. He wondered if the boy thought he would do something horrible to him if he found out, maybe send him off somewhere to be part of some freak experiment or something. But that was preposterous! There wasn't any way he would do that to his own son! Drew couldn't help but feel a little hurt that his own son didn't trust him enough to tell him that he was a dinosaur. He slowly shook his head, too subtle for Victor to take much notice to. He knew what was going to happen next. He stared at Victor, waiting for him to say something.

Victor nodded his head once, chuckling lightly. 'I see you understand where I'm coming from, human.' Drew winced a bit. He didn't like being called by the name of his species, but he couldn't argue with a Velociraptor. 'I have a strong suspicion that your son is one of the 'perfect dinosaurs'. But the only way I can be certain is if you bring me a blood sample.'

Drew gasped. "A-A blood sample?"

'What are you? My echo? Yes!' Victor hissed, showing more of his teeth, a sign that he is getting angry.

"But..how?" Drew asked, holding out his hands in a gesture that said that he didn't know what he was supposed to do. How could he take blood from his own son? Even though he was his son and that he probably trusted him, Drew didn't think he could take blood from him without arousing suspicion. He didn't even know if the boy knew he worked for Victor.

Victor's head changed back into its human form. He took another step closer to the man. His hand glowing, he placed it on Drew's shoulder, gripping it slightly. His hand still retained the five fingers, but was now colored red, was scaly, and claws stuck out from each digit. He leaned in closely, his eyes black with a glowing yellow iris and his teeth sharpened like a lion's teeth would be. "You'll think of something... And if you don't do as I ask.." His hand tightened, making the claw tips stick to the skin but not hard enough to pierce the skin. "...you'll face a tougher challenge next. And trust me...you won't be able to get out of this one...You understand me, Drew?"

Drew's eyes went wide with fear. He starting shaking a little, but he did finally manage to make a reply. "Y-Yes, sir..."

Victor released his grip on the man. "Good..very good. You have a week to get me the blood sample. Do not fail me, Drew." He turned around and lifted up a hand, still raptor-like in appearance. "You're dismissed!" Without saying another word, Drew fled the room, a little shaken up by the turn of events. Victor turned his head, watching the man run away. As soon as he was gone, Victor slowly shook his head. "Mammals... Always scurrying away at the first sign of trouble..." He would never understand mammals, especially the humans.

* * *

On Monday morning, Kista Bakar walked into the school building for the first time, her fake job here now finally beginning. She had decided to wear her usual outfit, seeing no harm in it. The principal, from what she remembers, did not tell her to wear any specific clothing other than to be sure it was clean and school-appropriate. Kista wasn't sure what the school considered to be 'school-appropriate' but she figured this outfit couldn't hurt. It was her favorite, after all. The only difference in her appearance was that she was now wearing an ID on her shirt, which she had made herself. Crude, simple, but it would at least save her some money. She just hoped she wouldn't get caught using a fake ID. But then again, she could always have them get informed by the principal, confirming that she was a legit worker, so she didn't have to worry about it.

She paused after taking a couple of steps, looking around the school, and snorted quietly. She wasn't too impressed with the structure of the building, but she didn't come here to judge the people on how they build their stuff. She came here to disguise herself among these students and faculty long enough to get close enough to Caruso to dispose of him. Killing him won't be too much of a problem. Kista knew that she could do that within a few seconds. That would be no problem. Her main concern was how she would be able to get the boy alone without arousing any suspicion. Surely the students wouldn't trust a librarian so quickly, at least not enough to want to be alone with her. But she would find a way, she was sure. She just needed patiences.

Kista finally started walking down the hallway. She needed to find her way to the library. She looked up at one of the hallway school clocks and knew that her shift was going to start very soon. There wouldn't be any students at the library yet. The doors were still locked. The library was never open if there were no teachers in there to supervise the students. Kista didn't see why they would bother. She didn't know many kids who would try to steal anything from a library. Then again, she could be wrong. People have done stupid things in the past. It shouldn't surprise her if some idiotic student did try to steal from the library.

She quickened her pace a little, knowing that if she was late, and showed a bad first impression on the first day of her job, she risked losing the position and she'd lose her chance to get at Caruso. This caused her to rethink about how she was going to get at Caruso. She would also have to be careful about that. She must think of a place that no one could hear the boy scream and she would be able to find him alone, regardless if he trusted her or not. Kista couldn't think of such a place at the moment, but it would come to her very soon. She was pretty good at thinking of strategies like this. She'd had good practice for a very long time. And she was glad to get some practice at it once more after so many countless years.

When Kista finally reached the library after a few minutes of walking, she pulled out the key that she was given by the principal during the interview. The interview itself went fine. The principal didn't seem too concerned about hiring her, even though she didn't have any experience as a librarian as she confessed. Kista specifically chose either this or a substitute teacher because they were the two best options for her in getting close to the Dino Squad without them suspecting that she meant them any ill will. She would try to get the others, but her orders were clear: she was only to kill Caruso. The others could live. Victor still wanted blood samples from them. He already got Caruso's.

She now stood in front of the doors that led into the library. She lifted up the key and put it in the hole and twisted it a little until she heard a faint clanking sound inside. With the library now unlocked, she pushed the doors wide open and stepped inside. She looked around, a little surprised the library was this big. She thought it would be smaller than this. She shrugged her shoulders. There was no need to complain about that. She looked at all the book shelves that were around the room, and noted the nice wooden tables upon which students would sit at and read or do their homework. There was a lot of large windows around the room as well, giving her a clear view of the sky outside. A few of them, however, had a large, beige curtain covering them, making them look more like a wall than a window.

After looking around some more, she managed to find what she was looking for, which was the librarian desk. It was set in a more open area of the library, which made sense. It would allow her to get a better view of the room and also helped her keep an eye on the students a little better. She wasn't too close to the door, but that didn't really matter. Even if a student was able to get out of the library with whatever it is that they wanted, they could still be discovered by their classmates or teachers. But the chances of them getting out of the library seemed unlikely with this position. She had a clear view of the door from here, and she could easily and quickly scan the library with her eyes and find anything suspicious. There were only a few places that they could hide and that was between the rows of bookshelves, but even that wouldn't save them.

Kista pulled out the chair, colored black and was on wheels, and sat down at it. Like some of the other desks in this room, there was a computer, turned on and displaying a log-in screen. She smirked at it, reminded of the computers that Victor had at his hideout. It did sometimes amaze her how someone who hated humans had to rely on them in order to bring the dinosaurs back in the first place. Even if he didn't use humans' help, he still needed their machines. Without humans and their technology, Victor would be forced to spend the rest of his life living in a world where reptiles were now the underdog and mammals rule. She chuckled at how the raptor would have felt about that.

The bell suddenly rang, nearly startling Kista into falling out of her seat. She recomposed herself and looked up at the clock. It was time for the students to come in to school. The school day had officially started. She wasn't sure exactly when any students would enter the library. It wasn't a part of any particular class it seems. Students would come in here in their free time, when there were no classes for them at the time. Kista leaned back on her chair and waited, contemplating how she was going to not only pull off this mission, but also succeed in fetching Victor's precious weapons. It was not going to be easy, she admitted. But that's exactly what she liked about it, the challenge. She would almost miss the Dino Squad once they've been neutralized. They've been the first real challenge she's had since before she could remember.

The doors to the library were suddenly pushed open, making Kista turn her head swiftly towards the moving doors. Two figures walked into the large library and began combing through the bookshelves, apparently in search for some kind of book. Kista lifted her gaze up to see what area they were looking at. She saw the word 'Biology' written at the top. She narrowed her eyes slightly. The kids were probably looking for something to do with viruses, anatomy, or something else like that. She shrugged. She'd find out when they would come to her desk to check out.

As she leaned back further into her chair to try to relax, she could overhear the kids' conversation. While she didn't mean to eavesdrop, she just had to listen to this conversation. It might be something worth her while. After all, she was assigned here as a spy as well, to keep an eye on things and to report anything strange to Victor as soon as possible. Perhaps these students would say something of interest, something that was worthwhile to report to Victor. As Kista leaned in, she could start to see the forms of the teenagers. They were now close enough for her to tell what they were wearing. One of them was large and dark-skinned and wear an almost all white sleeveless shirt while the second was a little taller, much thinner, and wear a white shirt with a green jacket.

"I'm not sure about this Rodger..." Max said as he walked alongside his friend, looking upward at the many rows of books that lay before them. "I don't think we should be here now..."

Kista looked over at the large student that she had seen first. "Rodger..." She whispered under her breath.

Rodger smiled at his jock friend. "Don't worry about it, Max! I asked permission first, so we'll be all right here." He then looked up at the books. "Besides, there should be a teacher in here, so we can check out some books."

Kista lowered her head slightly. "Max..." She whispered, her voice low again.

Rodger ran his fingertip along the volumes of books, trying to find what he was looking for. He wasn't sure if he was going to find it, and even if he did, he wasn't sure if it was going to help any. But he didn't know what else to do. Still, he continued his search, his eyes scanning the volumes in row after row. While he was searching, Max folded his arms up and leaned back against one of the other book shelves, careful not to lean on it too hard or it would easily topple over. Finally, after a couple minutes, Rodger seemed to find what he was looking for. He quickly grabbed the book and pulled it out quickly. "I've got it!"

Max came over and looked at what book Rodger had pulled out. It appeared to be some kind of book that talked about both the human anatomy and the many diseases, including tons of rare ones, that can affect humans. Max looked up at Rodger. "So how is this book going to help us?"

Curious about this conversation even more, Kista leaned across her desk, trying to get as close as she can to the conversation without getting up. She wondered what these students could be talking about. Perhaps they would be of great interest to Veloci.

"Well, we need to find some way to help Caruso, not to mention Moynihan." Rodger said as he combed through some of the pages in a rapid manner. "I'm not sure if this book would have any answers for the way they've been acting...although I have heard that some diseases might cause a change in behavior." He then closed the book and looked at Max straight in the eyes. "But if nothing else, we could at least find a way to make sure that Caruso completely heals from his wounds."

Upon hearing the name 'Caruso', Kista's eyes went wide with shock. She immediately leaned back in her chair, watching as the students were now walking her way. These must be two other members of the Dino Squad! What luck! She now knew the names and appearances of two more members! Victor had provided her with a brief recording of Caruso, so she knew what he looked like. Now she could inform him of the identity of two other Dino Squad members. She tried her best to hide her sneering smile. She didn't want to arouse suspicion for the two boys. After all, if she was correct, then if she were to do something that would make them suspicious or distrustful of her, they would do whatever they could to keep Caruso and their other friends away from her. She couldn't let that happen.

When the two teens approached the desk, Rodger holding the book that they were going to check out, Kista again leaned across the table, but not to the same degree as before and she made sure she didn't look threatening when she did so. "Hello, boys. What can I do for you today?" She said in a polite manner.

The boys paused, looking slightly confused at what Kista said. At first, the woman thought she had aroused some kind of suspicion, and she opened her mouth again, prepared to say something to settle them down. But then Rodger spoke up. "Yes." He placed the large book onto the desk and pushed it towards Kista. "We would like to check out this book please."

Kista nodded her head and grabbed the book. She opened up the back cover, revealing a small, beige pouch with a card inside it. She quickly pulled it out, and then looked on the computer to find the date upon which the book needed to be returned. Once she found it, she wrote in today's date and then the date the book needed to be returned, which was a week from now. She slipped the card back inside the book, and then pushed it towards the students. Kista then turned to try to work at the computer. She sensed that the boys were still staring at her. She looked over her shoulder, cocking an eyebrow. The boys were looking at her as thought they were confused. Kista knew that she must have done something wrong.

"What is it?" Kista asked, trying to make her voice sound calm. She was, in truth, a little irritated at being stared at. "Did I do something wrong?"

Max and Rodger looked at each other, apparently thinking of how they should respond. They didn't want to insult a teacher, especially one that seemed to be new at the job. They couldn't judge her for her mistake. This was not how the school checked out books, and they guessed that this new teacher didn't know about this.

Finally Max looked over at the teacher. "Sorry ma'am." He said in a polite tone. "It's just that..when we check out books here, we don't write it on the card."

Kista narrowed her eyes. "Oh?" She remembered the beige pouch in the book. She wondered why it was there if they don't write anything on it. Then again, it would explain why it was clean when she had opened it up, no signs of writing anywhere. "Then why have those cards?"

"Oh we used to do it that way." Max said. "But the school issued in a new way that helped them better keep track of what books were out and what weren't." He jerked his head towards the computer. "They use that now. That's why it's there."

Rodger leaned forward, pointing a large finger towards the computer screen. "You just simply put in the name of the book, the time it was checked out, and the time that it needs to return." He waited for Kista to complete this task, the silence broken only by the clicking of the keys as the woman typed in the name of the book. Recalling what dates she had written down, she typed those in their appropriate areas on the screen before her. After she was done, she looked at Rodger for further instructions. "Then you simply print a copy of that out and hand it to one of us so we know when to return the book." Kista did so promptly, handing the piece of paper to the dark-skinned teenager. He immediately grabbed it and pushed it into one of his pockets.

"I have never heard of this kind of system before." Kista noted, not afraid to hide back her feelings of distrust for this kind of system. "I don't see how it could be of any help."

"We're confused by it too, somewhat." Rodger said, shrugging his shoulders. "You get used to it."

"Any other places around here use this system?" Kista asked. There was an edge of sarcasm in her tone when she said the word 'system'.

"Meh, no." Max responded. "Not as far as we can tell."

"Tch. Not surprised!" Kista said, her eyes narrowing. "Things were probably better the old-fashioned way. I'll never understand some of these new..advancements as you call it... I don't see why some of the old methods cannot still be used."

Rodger looked at her, somewhat confused. Tilting his head, he said, "Well you don't seem to be that old! Surely, you wouldn't be..."

Kista lowered her head, eyes narrowed even further, surprising Rodger and he snapped his head back in surprise. Satisfied that the boys were now silent, she said, "Never mind that, okay?" She tilted her head upwards, and then turned to the computer, which was still displaying the information she had just put into it, and looked at the time. She turned back to the boys. "Look, isn't it time for you two to be heading off to your class? Or do you have permission to be here longer?"

Without thinking, Rodger reached into his pocket to fetch something. He pulled out his hand and produced a slip of paper in front of Kista. She took it from his hand, and looked at the writing on it. The paper was small and light blue in color. On it, she saw the handwriting of one of the teachers. It was giving these two students permission to stay here one full period. The signature was signed by Joanne Moynihan. Kista's eyes widened slightly. She recognized that name. Again, she was told of her by Victor. She was the traitorous raptor! Kista had forgotten that she must be working at this school. She became slightly concerned. This might cause some problems. What if Moynihan recognized her somehow...?

Absentmindedly, Kista handed the paper back. "Okay then. You two enjoy the library." She hoped that didn't sound too strange to them. She was trying to sound as polite as she could. But to her surprise and, almost, delight, the two nodded to her, waved politely, and then hurried to one of the tables. As they sat down and began looking through the books, Kista narrowed her eyes at her, baring her teeth in a wicked smile. She continued to speak, but in a tone that was too low for them to hear. "Yes..that's right..continue reading your precious book... That isn't going to save you from Victor...or me..."

* * *

"Are you...are you sure about this?" Zoom asked, sounding a little frightened.

"Hey, you're the one who wanted to do this." O'Ryan responded passively.

The two were sitting at the same stand that was supposedly visited by a mutant dog years ago. The owner had taken a brief leave and left up a sign that read 'Out to Lunch'. There were some chairs that the owner had lent them. He said he was keeping them in his stand for one of his family members, but had said that they could use it. The chairs were positioned a few feet away from the stand and were off the sidewalk so that the two wouldn't obscure the walkway for other people. They leaned back in the chairs, looking up at the sky as the clouds rolled by and birds flew by, chirping away. A few other people passed by, a few glancing over at the two men before walking away.

A few days ago, O'Ryan had discussed with Zoom just what he had in mind. He had also permitted Zoom to tell him of his idea. It was much like what O'Ryan had in mind, so there was not much need for debate. They had both wished to expose the Dino Squad to the public. However, there was one thing about Zoom's version of the plan that he did disagree with. He didn't want to use a bomb. In fact, he had outwardly rejected it, stating that it would probably cause more harm than good for them. O'Ryan believed that just showing that there were living dinosaurs would be good enough to cause a panic. Zoom wasn't so sure, but he knew that he wasn't in charge of this mission anymore. O'Ryan was.

But despite this, Zoom wasn't sure if he could totally agree with O'Ryan's plan. He knew the guy was crazy, like he was. He had heard stories of O'Ryan. He heard what the man was like when he became angry. But he didn't think the man would be this crazy. O'Ryan was suggesting that they wait until the Dino Squad show up. They would wait until they see them, plainly in sight, and then move in, cameras ready, and get footage of them, perhaps pictures too. O'Ryan didn't suggest anything about trying to hide from them. He wanted to go out into the open, in front of the dinosaurs, and get footage of them. He had also suggested trying to get a skin or blood sample of the dinosaurs too. He believed sending this evidence to scientists would at least prove that these creatures aren't modern.

But Zoom couldn't agree with this. He thought it was just plain insane. He had hoped in trying to get the footage in secrecy. He believed that if he were to hide out somewhere and wait until the Dino Squad came close enough, he could take pictures or record them without them knowing that he was there. If he were to go out into the open and do it, where the kids could plainly see him, they would probably recognize him immediately and try to stop him. He didn't want to risk that happening. He had tried to explain this to O'Ryan sometime ago, but O'Ryan refused to listen. He had assured Zoom that the dinosaurs wouldn't try to hurt him because they knew that if they hurt them, they would be branded a nuisance and people would probably be out looking for them. Despite this reassurance, however, Zoom remained unconvinced.

"This just sounds so..crazy!" Zoom said, his voice raising slightly higher than it was before. He looked around, hoping no one was listening in on them. When he was sure that they weren't, he looked over at O'Ryan. "People have told me I was crazy, but I was never this crazy!"

O'Ryan rolled his eyes. Where was this guy coming off calling him insane? If anyone was insane, Zoom was! "Hey, you're the one who wanted to use the bomb! You don't call that being crazy?" He said in a slightly bitter tone.

Zoom narrowed his eyes and he thought about a rebuke, but thought better of it. Taking in a deep breath to calm him down, he responded, "Well I understand the consequences of a bomb.. But at least we wouldn't be at the front line! We could detonate it from miles away! No one would know!" Again he looked around. He thought someone had heard him talk, but luckily no one was currently nearby, so he was safe.

"Still, it's too risky." O'Ryan remarked, scratching his chin in a somewhat thoughtful manner. "You see, if we use the bomb, there would probably be more panic focused towards the bomb itself rather than the dinosaurs. In fact, the dinosaurs might come and save the people. They would be heroes!" O'Ryan growled softly before he continued to speak. "Now we don't want that, now do we?"

Zoom shook his head. "Well no...But we could make it look like the dinosaurs set off the bomb, couldn't we? I mean, it could be possible that...that we could convince the public that the dinosaurs are somehow involved..."

O'Ryan laughed and shook his head. "You're one silly man, you know that?"

"What do you mean?" Zoom asked, slightly offended.

"I mean, do you really think people are going to believe a bunch of stupid dinosaurs set off that bomb?" O'Ryan shook his head. "If you think that, you're crazier than I had thought!"

"Does it really matter?" Zoom growled. "If the public were shown that the dinosaurs were, in fact, humans, wouldn't that mean that they could be tricked into believing that they set off the bomb?" Zoom waited for a response, but when none came, he continued, "I mean, think about it! Human intelligence could easily set off a bomb. Doesn't matter if it's in a human body, or a dinosaur body. It could still be set off!"

O'Ryan finally spoke. "And just how will you convince the public that the dinosaurs had also planted the bomb there? How will you explain that, photographer?"

"What do you mean?" Zoom asked, confused.

"I mean, think about it." O'Ryan responded. "If you can convince them that dinosaurs set off the bomb, then in order to make sure the dinosaurs are the only one to blame, you must also convince them that the dinosaurs put that bomb there in the first place."

"If they knew the dinosaurs were human..." Zoom tried to explain.

"It doesn't matter if the public thinks they were human or not!" O'Ryan barked, slightly louder than he had intended to. "You'd still have to connect them to the crime!"

"Surely the footage would help. We could just do a few editing of the shots we take and prove that it was them to set it off." Zoom said, trying in vain to get O'Ryan to see his idea as something other than ridiculous or too risky. He knew that O'Ryan was probably a little smarter than he was, but he didn't have to rub it in his face. "Look, my ideas..."

O'Ryan rudely cut him off with a short burst of laughter. "Your ideas will get us caught, you fool! Do you really think anyone would be stupid enough to believe mere children could have set up the bomb?!" He turned over so he was now laying on his side. He rested his head on one of his arms and then he raised and pointed an accusing finger at Zoom. "If we followed your plan, we would be figured out very quickly. We would be arrested and sent to prison, perhaps for life!" He waved the finger back and forth. "No, no, we don't want that! No, we should just get footage. At least then, they can't arrest us."

Zoom said, "But..." He wanted to argue his point. But when O'Ryan narrowed his eyes at him, Zoom grumbled and closed his mouth. What was the point in arguing anyway? No matter what he would say, O'Ryan would just shoot him down, determined to do things his way. He grumbled to himself again, muttering a few choice words here or there before looking away from O'Ryan. "Whatever..." He believed O'Ryan didn't hear any of the choice words he had spoken under his breath.

But O'Ryan HAD indeed heard what he said, and he wasn't too happy. His eyes narrowed dangerously, and he immediately got up from his seat. He took care to look around to make sure no one was looking in this direction before he stalked over to Zoom, who was only a couple feet away from his chair. Zoom sensed that O'Ryan was coming towards him. But he barely had enough time to look over before a rough, strong hand gripped him by the neck and squeezed tightly. O'Ryan didn't squeeze hard enough to cut off Zoom's air completely, but he did squeeze hard enough to frighten Zoom and to show him who was boss.

As Zoom struggled to push O'Ryan's hand off of his neck, even trying to kick at him, O'Ryan lowered his head a little, his eyes feeling like they were going to bore into Zoom's. "What did you say?!" O'Ryan snapped, his eyes starting to widen in anger.

Despite being half-choked, Zoom managed to speak, although it took a bit more strength than usual to manage to say anything. "I...said..nothing...!" He grunted in pain when O'Ryan tightened his grip slightly. He looked up at the angered man, and tried to gasp in fear when he saw the red veins in the man's eyes, but he couldn't because O'Ryan was squeezing his throat too tightly.

"Don't try to fool me!" O'Ryan barked at him. "I heard what you said!"

Zoom coughed. "Then..why..do..you..need..me..to...clarify...it...?"

O'Ryan responded by shaking Zoom violently, banging him against the seat that he was in. "Just answer me, you worthless piece of trash!" He quickly realized that he was now squeezing Zoom so tightly that the man couldn't breath. His face was turning to a weird color and he was gasping for air desperately. O'Ryan quickly realized his mistake, and released his grip on Zoom. As the photographer fought to catch his breath, O'Ryan asked him the question again, this time in a calmer voice. "What did you say?"

Zoom rubbed his throat gently. He couldn't see it, but there was a deep red mark where O'Ryan had grabbed him. The area was slightly sore. He glared up at O'Ryan, half-tempted to tell him off, and repeat what he had really said earlier. But then his expression softened suddenly. He felt that he shouldn't anger O'Ryan more than he already had. He had gotten a taste of how strong he actually was. The last thing he needed was for the guy to break his neck, even if it was accidental. "I was just...calling myself an idiot. There I said it. Happy now?" He realized that he sounded a little harsher than he had intended, but he shrugged it off.

O'Ryan narrowed his eyes slightly, as if he didn't believe Zoom at first. But then he softened his expression up and stepped away from Zoom. "My apologies then. I thought you had said something disrespectful about me. But I see that I was mistaken. Sorry."

Zoom narrowed his eyes slightly. From the tone of the man's voice, he wasn't really serious. He was just saying that to try and keep on Zoom's good side, just as Zoom was doing his best to keep O'Ryan from getting angry with him. Realizing just how bad O'Ryan was, Zoom started to wonder if it was a bad idea to join up with him. But then again, what other choice did he have? There was no one else that he knew that had a nasty run-in with the dinosaurs. "Let's just forget this ever happened."

"I couldn't agree more." O'Ryan said, a scary smile on his face. "Just forget this entire argument. It never happened."

Zoom leaned back in his chair, his head facing upwards to the sky. During that brief struggle, he knew that they were both lucky that no one had noticed it happening. During that time, there was no one walking anywhere near where they were currently at, and thus wouldn't have been able to see it happening. But not too long after O'Ryan had let go, someone did happen to walk by. They didn't glance at them, but it did make Zoom realize just how fortunate that they were that they stopped when they did. If O'Ryan had hung on any longer, that person would have seen them and likely would have run over to try and stop them. And more people probably would have realized what was happening if the guy were screaming about it.

"So..." Zoom said absentmindedly as he continued to look up at the sky, waiting the wind as it blew clouds quickly overhead. "No bomb, huh?" Although he couldn't see it, he guessed O'Ryan was shaking his head. O'Ryan's statement likely confirmed this.

"Nope. No bomb." O'Ryan said in a calm tone. He was now sitting back on his chair. The owner of the concession stand was still not back. He thought that was a little strange, but he thought nothing of it. "Now..any ideas on how to get close enough to them without getting spotted?"

Zoom was shocked at this question. He had thought that O'Ryan didn't want to hide from the dinosaurs. He looked at him, eyes slightly widened. "But..O'Ryan..I thought that you didn't want to hide from the dinosaurs..."

"I didn't..." O'Ryan said in a thoughtful tone. "But after thinking about it..maybe you are right." He turned his head to look at the man. "Maybe it is a crazy idea to go out in front of them where they would plainly see me. Any of them, even the heaviest one, could easily catch up with me and stop me before I could get away."

"That's exactly why I objected to your idea." Zoom explained. "I knew that we would have a problem trying to get away from them. Even if they didn't pursue us, they know our faces, and would probably be able to intercept us at any given time."

O'Ryan nodded his head. He was familiar with how clever the kids could be in general. He had seen how clever the blue-haired kid was. He had tricked him into letting him hold his precious camera, and then the kid had broken it by throwing it into a ditch. He was surprised the kid could have outsmarted him like that. If he wasn't so angry with the boy, he would be quite impressed. Still, he had made up his mind. He would find away to make the kid feel sorry for what he had done. He would make the boy beg for his mercy. O'Ryan closed a tight fist and stared at it. He started to think of all the things he could do to the kid if he ever got him in a small room, too small for him to transform, and attacked him. Taking out his rage on the boy would feel so good.

But that wouldn't be a satisfying revenge for him. No, he wanted to do something far worse. He wanted to hurt him emotionally, not physically. He wanted to do something that would effect him for the rest of his life, something that he would never be able to recover from. And that something was exposing his secret, the one that he shared with his friends, to the city, or even the world. O'Ryan smirked as he thought of how the boy might be hunted down, captured, maybe even tortured because of this unique ability. He and his friends would be labeled as menaces, and might even attract the attention of the military. That would be a satisfactory revenge indeed!

Zoom was thinking about what he would get revenge on the punk teenager for stealing his photograph. He admitted that it seemed to be a silly thing to get upset over. It wouldn't have bothered him if Victor hadn't offered him a huge sum of money for it. Meeting up with Victor again a few weeks ago was uneasy for him. He wasn't sure if Victor would turn him down or not. Victor did hire him, and Zoom did work for him now, but he had chosen a shift that would allow him some freedom to do what he actually wanted: actively seek revenge on the Dino Squad and expose them to the public. Victor would forbid him from doing this, but Zoom didn't care. What could Victor do to him anyway? If he hurt or killed him, Zoom could just sue him.

But would that be a wise choice? Victor was a powerful billionaire, a very influential being who had many allies, including ones who know nothing of his true goals. If he were to take him to court by suing him, he would lose. Zoom didn't have enough money to hire any real good lawyer. Victor, on the other hand, had all the money that he needed to hire whom he knew would do a great job in defending him. And if Zoom were to lose the case, he would be the one who had to pay a certain fee to Victor. It would probably drain his entire bank account, and he couldn't afford to allow that to happen. Zoom closed his eyes, still deep in thought. He would have to make sure Victor never finds out what he's actually doing. It would probably be the end of him if Victor found out.

Then a thought got into Zoom's mind. Lifting up his head and looking over at O'Ryan, he called out, "Hey..O'Ryan?"

O'Ryan looked over at him. "What is it, Zoom?"

"Have you...heard of Kista?" Zoom said, swallowing a little after he had asked the question.

"I think you mentioned her to me, yes." O'Ryan responded. After a few seconds, the scary smile returned to his face. "I wonder..is she your girlfriend?" He asked in a teasing tone of voice.

"..what?" Zoom glared at O'Ryan. "No! She's not my girlfriend!"

O'Ryan chuckled, trying to sound innocent. "Oh I was just kidding you! Come on, lighten up!"

Zoom narrowed his eyes further. It seemed that he himself wasn't the only one who needed to lighten up. O'Ryan needed to do something about his temper that he had displayed not too long ago. But he decided to let it go. "Anyway, no she's not my girlfriend. She's the person who introduced me to Zoom. Well..she kind of...captured me..."

O'Ryan chortled. "What?!"

"You heard me." Zoom said, lowering his gaze. "She knocked me out and took me to Raptor Dyne."

"A woman overpowered a man?" O'Ryan cocked an eyebrow. "That seems very unlikely! Not that I have anything against women... But the idea..."

Zoom interrupted him. "Yes, I know. But she..Kista... she's not like any woman I've ever seen..."

"Oh really? And what makes her so special?" O'Ryan asked.

Zoom gulped, not feeling comfortable with remembering what he had seen a few weeks ago. But he had already brought it up with O'Ryan and he knew that he wasn't going to get out of it now. "Well...she..."

Before Zoom could finish, he heard his cell phone ringing. He groaned in frustration and reached down and pulled it out. He looked at the number flashing on the screen. It took him a few seconds to realize who it was. His eye widened slightly and then narrowed. He looked over at O'Ryan and slowly shook his head.

"Let me guess. It's Kista, isn't it?" O'Ryan asked.

"Yes..." Zoom grumbled. He waited a little while longer before finally answering the phone, getting sick of the constant rings it was giving out. The phone to his ear now, he uttered a greeting that sounded anything but enthusiastic. "Hello, Kista..." He leaned back in his chair, placing his free arm around so that the back of his head was now resting on it. But then he quickly shot up, startling O'Ryan. "What?! Are you sure?" The voice on the other end offered no reason for him to disbelieve her. Zoom looked as if he didn't know what to make of this news. "Well that's just..impossible...no!" But before he could get another word in, there was a loud click and then the dial tone. Sighing, he closed his phone and put it away.

Confused as to what happened, O'Ryan asked, "So...what was that all about? And why do you have that look on your face? Did something happen?"

Zoom looked up towards the sky and let out a long sigh. He wasn't expecting that kind of phone call. He thought at first that it wasn't a joke. But Kista had assured him that it wasn't. And it didn't have anything to do with him. He was shocked about something else. He leaned his head forward, gently rubbing his temples with one hand. He was staring to get a headache from this information. It just didn't add up! Finally, he decided to answer O'Ryan's question. "Oh nothing serious..just..shocking." He looked over at him. "Kista managed to make it into Kittery High as a librarian and discovered the identities, well possible identities that is, of two other members of the Dino Squad."

O'Ryan's eyes titled upward in surprise. This was interesting news indeed. He clasped his hands together thoughtfully, closing his eyes for a second and then reopening them. "Oh really? And just who were these two kids? What dinosaurs did they turn into?"

"She didn't say what dinosaurs.." Zoom said. "But she did give me enough detail to tell me one was an african-american wearing a white sleeveless shirt, and the other was some jock wearing a white shirt and green jacket."

The description of the jock caught O'Ryan's attention. "Did she say that he had dark brown hair?"

"I don't think so, but I assume that he does. Why?" Zoom asked.

O'Ryan's eyes narrowed deeply. This was the moment that he has been waiting for. This was the kid that he witnessed transform all those years ago. "Because I think I just found the Tyrannosaurus Rex..."

* * *

Rodger looked up towards the clock and narrowed his eyes. They only had a short time, perhaps ten minutes tops, before they had to get up and go to their next class. They didn't have permission to stay in the library after this period was over, and if they stayed here too long, they would get into trouble. He looked back at the book that he and Max were looking at. Despite the length of them that they were in here, they only managed to look at a small portion of the book. They looked up all kinds of diseases, but none of them fit what they looked for. They tried psychological diseases, but again nothing that would fit the description that they were looking for.

It seemed like the search was in vain. They shouldn't be surprised. This book was slightly out-of-date anyway and wouldn't have some of the more recent diseases that they were looking for. They knew they wouldn't be able to look through the book within the amount of time they wanted to spend in the library. This is why they checked the book out. Since Rodger had the right mind to understand most of this stuff, Max had agreed to let Rodger take the book home with him. He hoped that Rodger would be able to find something that would help make sense of what was going on. They did both agree it has to be something psychological as it didn't seem to make sense that a disease could be causing this. But it has happened in the past, so it was plausible.

As Rodger continued to thumb through the pages, Max looked back over at Kista. The woman had turned away to look towards the computer. She looked like she was typing something, but from this distance, Max couldn't be sure. He narrowed his eyes a little. There as something off about that woman. Something just didn't seem right about her. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but he just couldn't bring himself to completely trust the woman. He decided that he would have to keep an eye on her. He could turn out to be completely wrong and that she isn't a threat. Or he could turn out to be right about her. He recalled how they all first encountered Michelle and thought she wasn't a threat. And yet Caruso had managed to see through her ruse but no one listened to him. Then Moynihan was attacked and they lost the shield. Max was determined not to make the same mistake again.

"Yo, why are you staring at the teacher?" Rodger asked, his head now turned to face the jock. Max had seemingly zoned out as he stared at the new teacher sitting at the library desk. "Do you have a crush on her or something?" He teased.

"What? No!" Max shook his head, breaking his gaze from the woman to glare at Rodger. "Why would I have a crush on someone I had just met?!"

Rodger grinned, but held out a hand to signal that he didn't mean any harm. "I'm sorry! I take it back!" After calming himself down, he adopting a more serious look and posture. "So..why are you staring at her?"

Max narrowed his eyes and looked back at her. "There's just something..odd about her. Something that is keeping me from trusting her completely."

"You mean like how Caruso sensed that Michelle couldn't be trusted and we found out he was right?" Rodger asked.

"Exactly!" Max said.

Rodger narrowed his eyes slightly and looked over at the teacher. Now that Max brought it up, there did seem to be something odd about her. For one thing, why didn't she know the school's system of lending out books? He did pardon her for that simply because he knew she was a new teacher. But now that he thought more of it, perhaps he was mistaken to do that. One of the teachers, perhaps the other librarian, or even the principal, should have told Kista how to do it. So she should have known. And that name tag. It didn't look authentic for some reason. It was like she had made it herself.

Rodger and Max both would have guessed that she was an impostor teacher, coming into the school acting like she was a teacher when she actually wasn't. The only thing keeping this theory was down was the fact that they were informed by the principal himself that there was a new teacher in the library. Surely he wouldn't have said that if Kista was indeed an impostor, would he? But still, the two didn't feel like they should trust her completely. So they would keep their guards up just in case, but they won't show any signs to the woman that they were on to her. They would wait and see if she made any moves that would give them reason to distrust her.

"Well...we should probably keep an eye out for her then." Rodger said in a low voice. "We don't want to make the same mistake as we did with Michelle."

Filling with anger at the memory of what Michelle had done to them, Max answered angrily, "Yes..I know..."

Rodger was surprised at Max's tone of voice and at first he thought that the jock was upset with him. "Are you mad at me?" He asked gently, just in case he would accidentally provoke his friend further.

Max shook his head. "No..it's not you I'm mad at."

"Then...who?" Rodger asked.

"Michelle..Oscura...Victor...and...myself." Max said, a pause in between each name that he had spoken. His head turned away and his eyes closed. He was upset with each of these people for different reasons. He didn't know who he was angry at the most. "Michelle for destroying the lighthouse shield and hurting Moynihan. Oscura for her mocking us. Victor for kidnapping and nearly killing Caruso. And myself for losing my temper with Caruso and not seeing the trap that Michelle had set up for us." Oh how could he have been so stupid? Why couldn't he have seen the warning signs? How could he have been so gullible?

Rodger narrowed his eyes slightly, a concerned expression on his face. He didn't like seeing his friend like this, beating himself up over something like this. He shared the same dislike for Michelle, and he had to admit to himself, he himself was more extreme about it than Max. The jock didn't want to seek vengeance on Michelle, thinking it would only create more problems. But Rodger felt the only way that they could be safe was if they did something to Michelle and Oscura that would make them leave them alone. He also wished he could do something to Victor, but then again, what could teens do to Victor? Moynihan would not allow them to transform and go after Victor. It was too risky.

Rodger didn't know why Max was still beating himself up for what he said to Caruso. He had already apologized to him. Caruso had already forgiven him for it. So why still dwell on it? Rodger used to hold some anger towards Max over what he had said. Max had gone too far in what he had said to Caruso, after all, practically insulting him. But Rodger had let go of this anger after he realized just how sorry Max truly was. And Caruso seemed to be able to forgive Max. So why couldn't Max forgive himself for what he did?

"..don't be so hard on yourself." Rodger finally said, placing a comforting hand on Max's shoulder. "Caruso had already forgiven yourself for what you did. So why can't you forgive yourself?"

Max looked up at Rodger. "It's..it's not so easy to forgive oneself for...for what I did..."

Rodger gently squeezed Max's shoulder to try and comfort him. "I know it is..." He said. He then leaned in a little closer. "But Max, if you don't forgive yourself, this will just continue to haunt you for the rest of your life. Do you really want that to happen?" Max wanted to speak, but no words came out. Instead, he just simply shook his head. "I didn't think so. So please...if not for yourself, then at least for us, your friends and especially Caruso, please..forgive yourself and let this go." He hoped that he would get through to his friend. He didn't think Max deserved to beat himself up over this. "Promise me that you'll at least try."

Max gritted his teeth nervously and looked in another direction, trying to avert Rodger's gaze. "I..I don't know, Rodg. I just don't know..."

"Come on...at least try." Rodger begged him. "If you continue to do this, you'll just hurt yourself even more."

Max looked up at Rodger once again. He could tell just how worried Rodger was simply by the tone of his voice and the look on his face. He didn't want to worry Rodger, or any of his friends. He wanted to try and feel better. He wanted to forget what he had said and just move on. He had tried to do so in the past few weeks. But something always reminded him of what he had done. Sometimes a comment from one of the teammates brought back memories, or he would be reminded through dreams or unwanted flashbacks. But what gets him the most is the sight of Caruso's cut up face. It had healed for the most part, but there were still cuts visible on the boy's head, on his jaws. Just looking at that brought back unwanted feelings of anger and guilt. He couldn't help but think about what he had said to Caruso that fateful day. Those words echoed in the back of his mind and stung painfully in his heart. How could he just forget about that?

"I did try Rodger...I really did." Max put his face in his hand. "But I keep getting reminded of what I said to Caruso."

Rodger frowned. He gently patted Max on the back and said, "Well just keep trying. I know you'll succeed."

"Thanks, man." Max said, offering Rodger a small smile of gratitude. "I appreciate your help."

Rodger smiled back. Then he turned back to the book that they were looking at. He flipped through a few more of the pages. "Come on, we only have a few minutes left before the bell rings. Let's look through a few more of these pages. Maybe something will come up."

Max nodded weakly. "Yeah...maybe."

* * *

"So..did you guys find out anything?" Buzz asked hopefully, leaning in towards Max. He and the other Dino Squad members were now in their second period classes. Currently, the only person that Buzz shared second period with was Max. The jock sat next to him during this class, which was History class. The teacher hadn't walked into the room yet, so they had some time to make some quick chit chat before the teacher would expect them to be quiet and listen to some lecture about whatever topic that they were currently on.

Max regretfully shook his head. "No, Buzz...we didn't find anything. At least, not yet anyway." He looked up towards the ceiling, watching the fan spin around in rapid circles. "We looked through that book for about an hour, and we still couldn't find anything that could help us. It just seems so..hopeless." He glanced back at Buzz. "I mean, how are we going to know that some book is going to hold the answers we are looking for? How is a book going to show us how to deal with something that has only started to happen recently? How..." He was quickly cut off by Buzz.

"Whoa whoa whoa! Slow down, Max!" Buzz said, his voice loud enough for Max to hear, but quiet enough as to not distract the other students, who were patiently waiting for the teacher to come back inside. "This doesn't sound like you at all! You never came across as the kind of person who would just give up like this! Where's your words of encouragement? Where's your leadership?"

Max started to feel bad. He knew Buzz was right. He was the leader of the group, and he is usually the one who spoke words of encouragement, the one who felt they could still get the job done despite whatever odds lay before them. But this time...this time it was different, felt different. He wasn't sure how they were going to get through this one this time. For the first time, Max couldn't offer any encouragement. "I'm...I'm sorry Buzz..I just don't have anything to say..."

"Come on, Max.." Buzz said, trying to encourage his friend. Then looking into the jock's eyes, he recalled something that happened a few days ago. Eyes narrowing slightly, he leaned in a little closer and said, "..are you still upset about what happened two weeks ago...?"

Max closed his eyes. "I can't help it...but..but it's not just that..."

"Then what?" Buzz inquired. "What else is on your mind?"

After waiting a couple seconds before he felt comfortable enough to answer, Max said, "Well..did you know that we have a new librarian?" Buzz looked confused and shook his head. Max wasn't surprised. He didn't think that the principal had told all the students yet. The only reason he told Rodger and him about the new librarian was because he knew that they were going to be in the library this day and he didn't want them to be confused that the usual librarian wasn't there. "Well, there's a new one there. Pretty young looking I think. Didn't seem to know how we check out books, but overall not a bad librarian."

"So what's wrong with that?" Buzz asked, gesturing with his hand. "How is that a problem? I don't see how that would get you upset."

"Buzz..she was staring at us for a while." Max said, his eyes narrowed slightly.

Buzz leaned back. "She..what?"

"She was staring at us for a while, ever since Rodger and I came into the library." Max explained, recalling how he had been able to catch the woman staring at them. "She would stare at us, I don't know for how long. I look over and she'd immediately look away, as if she was afraid to let us catch her staring at us."

Buzz wasn't sure what to make of this. This did seem to be unusual behavior for a librarian. He would say that she was probably making sure they would be quiet, but that didn't make much sense. She would only need to go over if she heard something that she felt was too loud and say something, but not stare at them for what might have been at least an hour. And to look away right away, Buzz could attribute this to her feeling a little embarrassed, but to repeat the same action over and over? Buzz was sure that it was not an accident, but a deliberate act.

"That is strange... She was staring at you? I wonder why." Buzz wondered, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "And she was doing it since you two walked in?"

Max nodded his head once. "That is correct Buzz."

"Did Rodger notice?" Buzz asked.

Max shook his head. "I don't think so, no. At least... I'm not sure. I didn't see him look over to see the woman staring and I don't think he mentioned it."

"Any ideas on why she was staring?" Buzz asked.

Max shook his head. He had thought about it, but he couldn't think of any good reason for why the woman would be staring at them. Oh ideas did come to him, some that might make some sense. But then he'd think of something else that would completely debunk the original idea that he had thought of. He hoped that talking to Moynihan later on would help him out. Maybe she could figure out why the librarian was acting the way that she was. "But one thing is for sure..we better keep an eye on her."

"Yeah..no kidding." Buzz said a little sternly. He then looked over towards the door and saw a shadow moving behind it. He guessed it was the teacher. He immediately leaned back into his seat and spoke to Max in a soft voice. "Looks like class is about to start. We can continue this discussion later."

"Yeah, gotcha." Max said and did likewise, leaning back into his seat to face towards the teacher's desk.

A few seconds later, the door knob turned, and the teacher walked in, confirming what Max had suspected. The teacher walked towards his desk and sat down in the chair. He looked out at his class to make sure everyone was here. After he was sure that there were no missing faces, he got out a pile of paper, all of which seemed to have a pale yellow coloring to them. This was quite unusual as most of the paper the teacher brings out are the standard white paper. For a brief moment, the students wondered if the teacher was handing them out fliers or permission slips.

After the teacher flipped through the paper, counting the numbers to make sure he had enough for one for each student, and still had one copy for himself, he got up from his seat again and walked towards the students. Walking through each row of desks, he placed one paper on each desk with a student sitting in it. Each student grabbed the paper to look at it, and each of them had a look of disappointment on their faces. This wasn't a field trip paper, and it certainly wasn't some kind of flier advertising for something. The students realized it was a test of some kind. But how could that be? They weren't scheduled for a test today. The teacher made no mention of it, anyway.

After he was finished handing out the paper, the teacher immediately returned to his desk. He knew that his students were going to be confused by the sudden appearance of this test. He hadn't anticipated it himself either, but he found that he simply couldn't afford to delay this test any longer. He had to get it out right now, and he also thought that testing them during at time that they weren't expecting it would help him better test them, to see how they would cope at being unprepared. He figured this would be a very important life lesson for them, and it would stick to their minds for, hopefully, the rest of their life. Life was unpredictable, but at least in school, they could try again. Not so in real life.

"I'm sure some of you are wondering about this test." The teacher said, leaning forward on his desk. His fingers were interlocked and his chin was resting on his hands to keep his head elevated off the desk. He looked around the classroom. Almost all the students were looking at him, and he could tell by the looks on their faces that they were curious as to what this test was about and why they were taking it in the first place. "This was a last minute decision that even I did not foresee." He said, lying through his teeth, although he knew the students would believe him. "Anyway, get out your pencils and erasers and begin the test." He glanced up at the clock. "You have thirty minutes to complete it. When you are done, bring it to my desk."

Buzz leaned in over towards Max. "This is not going to be fun." He whispered in a soft tone of voice.

Max nodded. "Tell me about it." He whispered back.

Then the teacher spoke aloud, startling both Max and Buzz. "Rolf! Neil! Please be quiet and start on your test!"

Feeling embarrassed by the other students staring at them, some even smirking in satisfaction of them getting into trouble, Max and Buzz nodded their heads. "Yes, teacher." They said in unison, and turned to work on their test.

After thirty long, almost painful minutes had passed, most of the students were now done with the test, quietly talking to each other so that they didn't disturb the remaining students working on the test. The teacher glanced up at the clock. He was going to allow one more minute for the last few people to bring up their tests. If they didn't come up in time, he would call them up and grade whatever it is they had gotten completed. Then, after a few more seconds of patiently waiting, the last students, Buzz and another student, were finished and they walked up to the desk and gave the teacher their test and then returned to their seats.

Satisfied that everyone had completed their test, the teacher flipped the lights back on. He had them turned off like he usually does for a test. He then returned to his seat and scanned the room. Some eyes were on him, waiting for him to continue the class. They still had some time left. The remaining students were talking to each other in very low voices, thinking that there were still people taking the test regardless of the fact that the lights were now on. The teacher frowned slightly, and cleared his throat loudly to get the remaining students' attentions. Immediately, the students swerved over to look at him, their mouths immediately shutting to allow the teacher to speak.

"I'll grade your tests tonight and tomorrow you will get your grade." The teacher said. He then turned around and pulled down a large, white screen. The students groaned a little. They knew what this was going to mean. The teacher was about to lecture them on some boring topic in History. He almost never talks about battles or significant facts on the screen, only random, seemingly unimportant things.

"I hate it when he brings out the screen..." One student hissed under his breath. "It's always something about..well..nothing to do with anything we usually learn..."

"Yeah... I wonder why he never talks about anything cool on here.." Another student replied, her voice as low as she could make it go.

"Maybe we'll get lucky and the teacher will have lost the slides." Another student said, sounding very hopeful.

"In your dreams.." The female student that had spoken earlier said, rolling her eyes.

The teacher brought out the slides, making some students groan in disappointment. The teacher knew that the students were probably tired of seeing the old slides he would show. So he thought that these slides would be more interesting, albeit they really had nothing to do with actual History. This would deal with more recent events. It was something new, and he figured he had to make it up to the students for giving them such a difficult test on such short notice. They worked hard enough on the test, so perhaps he could stimulate them more using something other than History. He was sure that this particular topic would catch many of their attentions.

"Instead of showing you the usual slides," The teacher said, moving towards the machine that he had wheeled up in the middle row of space between the students' desks. "..I'm instead going to show you pictures taken by people who had spotted what they claimed to be an Apatosaurus walking through the streets, causing a lot of damage, and then mysteriously disappearing into nowhere."

"What?" One student cried, trying hard not to laugh. "That's impossible! Dinosaurs have been extinct for millions of years!"

"What kind of drugs were they on? They must have been hallucinating!" Another female student yelled, shaking her head in disbelief.

"Maybe." The teacher said. "But don't forget, the damage was very much real. No hallucination could have done that."

"That's true..." The same female student replied, feeling a little silly now. "But still..how could this be?"

"That's why I brought this up." The teacher said, smiling slightly. "I'd like for us to spend the rest of the class discussing about this dinosaur, if it really is a dinosaur, and how it got here. Any theories, class?"

As the class started suggesting their ideas, Max and Buzz couldn't keep their eyes off the first picture. While it was very blurry and hard to tell what it is, they could recognize who it was right away. It was Peter in dino mode! The Dino Squad had completely forgotten about him, and how he most likely caught the attention of many people in town and how it was headed towards the lighthouse's direction. Max and Buzz were unsure if they should offer any kind of theories. They had none. They both only knew the truth, but to expose the truth, they'd have to expose their secret identities.

"I don't like this..." Buzz whispered under his breath.

"Neither do I, Buzz.." Max responded.

"What if they ask us a question? What if we can't come up with an elaborate lie?" Buzz asked him.

Max shook his head. "I don't know Buzz..We'll just have to wing it." Seeing Buzz's expression, Max grinned and quickly added, "No pun intended!"

"Maybe we should capture that creature!" Another student suggested, before going into a coughing fit. After he was finished, he said, "I mean, what if the beast comes back and hurts more people?"

Another teen elbowed him and shook his head. "What, are you crazy? We won't be able to capture it because it doesn't exist!"

The other kid responded, "Oh yeah? Then how do you explain the damage?"

"Easy." The other responded. "Earthquakes."

"EARTHQUAKES?!" Some of the students shouted in unison. They thought the kid was out of his mind. There hasn't been any major earthquakes in Maine for a long time and most of them don't' even recall any major earthquakes occurring. How could an earthquake be responsible for the damage that they had seen in the city, especially when vibrations were only reported close to that area.

"Why are you all looking at me like that?" The teen leaned back in his chair, looking disgusted that anyone, let alone much of the class, would doubt him.

"Earthquakes of that magnitude don't occur in this state." One student answered.

Another chimed in. "Exactly, and the vibrations were centered only where the dinosaur was spotted. How could an earthquake effect just a small portion of land?"

"Easy! A mini-earthquake!" The kid responded.

"WHAT?!" A girl responded, trying hard not to laugh. "Are you serious?!"

"Hey, it makes perfect sense!" The kid tried to defend himself.

"Yeah..maybe to someone who has a very low IQ.." The girl muttered, snickering to herself.

As the discussion got slightly more intense and interesting because of the person who thought a mini-earthquake would be able to explain the damage seen in the city, Buzz and Max took this opportunity of distraction to talk to each other about what they should do. They knew they'd probably be safe talking here because most of the other students had their eyes on this one kid and almost everyone was talking. The volume and cluster of sounds would make it difficult to hear anything else, especially if they spoke in a low voice so that anyone too far away would hear nothing because the voices would mix in with the crowd's voice.

"So what do you think they'll conclude?" Buzz whispered, eyeing the group warily. If they knew about the Apatosaurus, he wondered if they would also know of the other dinosaurs in the area, namely the Dino Squad themselves.

"It's..it's hard to say..." Max said, looking at the group as well, for a few seconds, before looking back at Buzz. "It's possible that they could just conclude it was just an illusion. As much as I would like for that to be, I also would like them to know of the dinosaur threat."

"Same here." Buzz nodded. "It's hard keeping all this a secret. I'm sometimes itch to tell my dad about it, but then I just...choke up you know? It's hard to tell them anything nowadays."

"They're your parents, Buzz. I'm sure they would understand." Max said.

"But you don't know my parents, especially my mom." Buzz sighed softly, closing his eyes. "She is getting frustrated with me. My obsession with video games, obsession with insects, all that stuff..." He looked at Max in the eyes. "You have any idea how she'd react to me being a dinosaur?"

"Good point." Max whispered. He looked over at the class and at the teacher to make sure no one was listening in on them. He then turned back to Buzz and continued to talk in a low voice. "Then..what about your father? Wouldn't he understand?"

"I..I don't see him that much actually.." Buzz admitted, lowering his gaze. "He works a lot, doesn't come home that much. I don't get to talk to him a whole lot."

"Ouch..." Max said, giving Buzz a sympathetic look. He didn't know about this before and he wondered why Buzz never said anything beforehand about this. To barely see one's parents, especially when they were still married, must be hard. Max knew he would be upset if he barely saw his mom or dad if they worked so many hours a day, so many days a week. "I'm sorry to hear that... Where does he work?"

"I don't know..." Buzz said sadly. "He doesn't tell me..or even mom. It's a complete mystery."

"That's bad..a father that won't tell his family where he works..." Max narrowed his eyes. What kind of father could this person be? How could he just disappear all day long and not even tell his own son where he's been working all this time? "Maybe..maybe you should talk to him the next time that you are able to see him."

"I'll try... But I'm not sure if I'll be able to talk to him about this." Buzz said, craning his head up towards the ceiling so he didn't have to look at Max in the eyes. "I'm not sure if he's even willing to tell us where he worked. Kind of strange isn't it? He is probably terrified to tell us." His eyes widened in horror. "Maybe he works for a slaughter house! Or is part of a mob!"

Max tried not to chuckle. He knew Buzz could sometimes be a little scared, but this was just ridiculous! "Buzz..come on..how much sense does that make?" He put his hand on the green-haired teen's shoulder. "Look..I don't think your dad works for any of those people. I'm sure he has a good reason for not telling you where he works." But what reason that could be, Max couldn't be sure.

"How can you be so sure?" Buzz asked, looking back at Max. His eyes were narrowed slightly. What did Max know of his father? He never even met him! "For all we know, he could be..."

"I just don't want you to get all worked up over this." Max said carefully. "I don't want you to..make the same mistake I did..." He lowered his gaze. Buzz nodded, understanding what Max was telling him. They then turned their attention back onto the kids who were discussing what they think about this Apatosaurus and how they should deal with it, provided if it was real or not. And for the rest of the period, Max and Buzz didn't say a word to each other.

* * *

Later that afternoon, after school was dismissed and the students were going home, except for the Dino Squad who were probably going up to the lighthouse, Michelle wandered around the outskirts of the town again, like she had before. She hadn't seen Oscura in a while. Victor had told her that Oscura has been made Kista's partner now in order to separate the two teenagers. Oscura was probably with Kista somewhere, although not in the school because the Dino Squad would recognize her. Michelle decided to use the extra free time that she had to walk around this particular spot. She liked it here despite the fact that it brought her dangerously close to the lighthouse. Yet despite the danger, it felt so tranquil and peaceful here. It was hard to believe that a battle took place here only two weeks ago.

The memories were still fresh on her mind. She remembered how she had planted the tracker on Caruso in the first place, which helped to locate him here at this lighthouse. She remembered that the night before, she had destroyed the equipment so that they could not track them. She remembered how Oscura had poisoned a few members of the time with that infectious bite of hers, and the way that Victor had launched himself on top of Rodger and defeated him fairly easily. And she could not forget how she had used her small size and superior agility to make the 'perfect dinosaurs' ram into one another. She chuckled lightly. It was such a terrific battle.

And yet...it didn't feel right. She frowned a little, stopping next to a tree to lean against it. She looked at the dirt on the floor. For a split second, she thought it had taken on a red hue, the color of blood. But when she shook her head, the color had vanished, replaced with the usual dark brown color of the rich soil beneath her feet. She couldn't help but feel guilty about what she had done, especially to Buzz, whom she thought had really grown to like her and trust her, only to have her back stab him in the end. Michelle bit her lip. She wished she could take it back, and to find some way to make up for what she had done. But what could she do?

Michelle looked up and stared out at the horizon. She could see the lighthouse, yet again, from where she was standing, but she knew that they couldn't see her. She was hidden among the trees, obscuring any way to see her. And she wasn't in dino mode, so they couldn't track her using those scans of theirs. Part of her wanted to go over there to try to warn them, or to try the following day at the school. But fear gripped her every time she tried to urge herself to agree with talking to them. She knew that she would not be a very welcome sight for the Dino Squad. They would rather chase her off or try to capture her than to let her help them, even if she were trying to be sincere about it. She had caused them too much harm.

And yet, she knew that if she didn't at least try to warn them, their friend Caruso could wind up dead. He doesn't know that Victor had assigned all of his men to kill him on sight. If Caruso were to wander out of sight for very long, and he caught the attention of a worker from Raptor Dyne, he'd be shot on sight. She grimaced at the thought. She didn't want that to happen, especially to Caruso, who had already suffered enough pain from that horrible human bridle that he had to wear. She gently rubbed her mouth, imagining the pain that the kid must have been through when it was in his mouth, scraping against his tongue and gums.

And she knew that if she didn't say something earlier, many more terrible things would happen following Caruso's death. Victor was going to capture them all and get their DNA, and possibly try to experiment on them as well. Victor was interested in how they could control their forms. Although he was the one who helped them control their dinosaur forms, he hadn't yet conducted any experiments to completely understand it, and since he had other plans with Michelle and Oscura, he decided not to experiment on them. He was saving it for the Dino Squad. And experimentations are the least of the Dino Squad's worries. Michelle knew that once Victor was done experimenting with them and taking blood samples from them, he would kill them.

And if the Dino Squad are killed, then it would be game over for the planet. Victor could speed up his plot, producing many perfected dinosaurs and unleash them into the cities and anywhere else that he wanted. She wouldn't be surprised if Victor revealed his true intentions to the public, and no longer hide his secret identity as a Velociraptor. His men, kept under reservation because they had to keep their true intentions a secret, might no longer hold back and start killing any human in sight. While Michelle had no way to prove this, she wouldn't be surprised if Victor does do this. He hated humans and might rather kill them than transform them.

Then again, it might be easier to transform humans as well. Instead of killing them off, perhaps Victor could just spread the perfect DNA around the world, transforming all plants and animals into prehistoric forms. It would be faster and he wouldn't have to engage in any worthless fighting. He would barely have to lift a finger; he'd just have to let the ooze take its course, allow it to flow through the grass and the dirt and the water, and allow it to transform all the lifeforms that it comes in contact with. But even if Victor were to choose this way instead, it would still mean the end of mankind.

Michelle looked out towards the lighthouse again. She did notice that none of the bikes were there, although she could see the big yellow SUV parked there. She wondered if the Dino Squad were even at the lighthouse. She shook her head. No, they couldn't be there. If they were, then where were their motorcycles? The Dino Squad must still be in school. She narrowed her eyes slightly. That could work in her favor. If they were out somewhere public, they couldn't try to capture her without bringing attention to themselves. She could use this opportunity to tell them. Yes, that's what she should do. It was the right thing to do.

Michelle finally reached a decision. Her eyes narrowing in determination, she knew what she must do. She would have to get into contact with the Dino Squad and tell them what is going on. Even if they didn't want her help, she knew she would have to at least try. What other choice did she possibly have? If she didn't try, she would risk allowing someone to get killed. Caruso didn't deserve it, even if he was such a pain when he was their prisoner. She looked down the road to make sure it was clear. It would be a long walk back to the school if she didn't transform. Turning into a dinosaur would risk allowing Victor to see where she was, and yet if she didn't transform, by the time she'd get to the school, she would be too late.

Finally, she ultimately decided to transform. If Victor saw her, she could say that she was just on patrol and tried looking for Caruso, but never found him. He might not be able to detect him with his radar, as it would only send out alerts of dinosaur and mutant signatures. Humans were of little interest to the machine. After an instant glow of blue energy, she grew in size until she was in her Guanlong Wucaii form. She looked out towards the city, eyes narrowing. She lifted up her nose, and sniffed. The school wasn't far away, and it wouldn't take long to get there on foot. Rearing her head back, she bolted off, sticking to the trees and the cover of foliage to keep anyone from seeing her.

'I hope you allow me to help you, Dino Squad... It's the only chance you got.' Michelle thought as she continued to run down the road, making her way swiftly towards the school.

* * *

The Dino Squad were sitting outside the school, more specifically, at the football field that was close to the school itself. Since it was the daytime, all the lamp posts and lights were turned off. Other than the Dino Squad, the football was completely empty. The group was completely silent. The only sound was the breeze that played through the land, rustling the grass on the field and swaying their hair slightly in the wind. The gang was sitting in the bleachers, looking out the field as they remembered the things that happened on this very field, including when they were all tricked by holographic mutantsaurs and when Victor turned some of their fellow students into mutant Velociraptors.

But they didn't come out here to dwell on the past. They came out here so they would have a private place to talk for a short time before they headed out to the lighthouse. They wanted to be somewhere safe, somewhere where they could discuss what they want to do without drawing much attention. A football field was massive. Even if they spoke out loud, it might be hard to hear unless they were screaming. They also wanted to talk a while before they went over to the lighthouse because they didn't want to see Moynihan just yet. They were still concerned about her sudden aggressive behavior, and they were certain that she was worried about that too.

Getting tired of the silence, Fiona decided to say something to try to induce a worthwhile conversation, even if it was somber and serious in tone. "So..what did the class ultimately say about Peter..the Apatosaurus?"

Buzz shook his head. "I don't know. I sort of...zoned out after ten minutes of listening to it." He shrugged his shoulders. "It just got old, just the same old, same old stuff. Some said he should be hunted down, others say he was a hallucination. Things like that."

Max nodded his head. "I thought they would figure it out; that he was a real dinosaur that caused real destruction." It confused him as to how anyone could think the Apatosaurus was an illusion. "I mean, the destruction he had apparently left behind could not have been created by an illusion, yet even that was dismissed."

Fiona looked confused. "How could they dismiss that?"

Max tried his best not to laugh. "Some kid in the class said it was a mini-earthquake."

Fiona said, "What?"

"You heard him. A mini-earthquake." Buzz said, a similar smile on his face. The fact that someone would suggest such a thing amused him too.

Rodger rubbed his head and shook it. He was shaking visibly, taking in and holding sharp breaths, trying his best not to burst out laughing at what Max had said. Rodger had read all kinds of things about seismic activity, but he had never read anything that would fit a mini-earthquake scenario. He knew that the damage that Peter had caused was within a short distance and he also knew that the chances of an earthquake taking place in one relatively tiny area was very slim. "Something is very wrong with that kid. I'm sorry...but it's impossible for such an earthquake to take place." Then something else came to his mind. "And since when did earthquakes produce FOOTPRINTS?!"

"Although this is an interesting topic," Buzz said with a less-than-amused tone in his voice, "..but don't we have something more important to discuss?" He turned his gaze to Caruso, who was sitting next to Fiona. He had remained quiet since they were out here, probably to reduce the chances of him hurting himself even more. Caruso had his head turned away from the others, but he knew that they were still listening in on their conversation. "...like what's been going on with Moynihan..or what Victor might be up to..?"

"Yes..we know Buzz." Rodger said, closing his eyes solemnly. "It is a very serious manner to discuss..."

"And yet if we don't," Fiona chimed in, "...who knows what would happen next? I mean, we don't even know when Victor will strike again! We don't know what he's up to!" She gritted her teeth and dug her fingernails into her head, scratching at it mercilessly. When she realized what she was doing, she quickly pulled her hands away and lowered her head. "I'm..I'm sorry..It's just that..this whole thing frustrates me.. It's so frustrating not knowing what your worst enemy is up to. He could attack at any time..."

"And when he does attack, we don't know if we will be prepared or not." Rodger said, slowly shaking his head. He could feel Fiona's fear, and understand why she was so distraught. She wasn't the only one. Even Moynihan was concerned from the lack of activity from Victor. This was not the first time Victor had gone silent. He went silent for a period of time before, and that time it turned out he was trying to transform Hawaii into a dinosaur breeding ground. They were lucky to get there when they did to stop his evil plan. But this time, they may not know what he is going to do until it was too late. Still, he knew that they shouldn't give up hope. Something would turn up soon, and he was sure that they could prepare for anything. "But I don't think we should just give up hope."

"I wasn't about to give up hope, Rodger." Said Fiona. "I know that none of us should give ourselves over to despair, especially after we..." She stopped herself short and looked over at Caruso, biting her lip. She was about to tell them about how they had found Caruso and thought he was dead and had accepted it as fact, giving themselves over to the despair of losing a friend. If Max had suggested Moynihan to sniff Caruso again, they probably would have abandoned him, and Caruso would have woken up, badly hurt and alone. "...you know.." She managed to say before going quiet.

"Yeah...we know.." Rodger said sympathetically. "We know.." He and the others knew what Fiona was talking about. They, too, felt horrible about almost leaving Caruso behind. They didn't discuss this very much with Caruso because they knew it would only make him feel bad and hurt him more emotionally. The thought of his friends leaving him behind wasn't something he wanted to listen to very much. But then again, who would?

Then a silence fell onto the group. No one spoke a word for the next few minutes, almost ten minutes. The wind continued to blow, which helped to cool anyone who was hot down. But it did little to comfort them, did nothing to calm them down. Their hearts were wrenched in pain and in worry about what might happen, and what has already happened. Victor had already done a lot to them to hurt them emotionally, and in Caruso's case, physically. They had seen, first hand, just what he was capable of. He went from a villain that they didn't have to come in direct conflict with very much to someone who knew that they were human and would likely confront them a lot more often now, face-to-face. And he had managed to take one of them away on the first try.

Remembering the battle at the lighthouse was very painful for them. The failure that they had endured there stung them deeply. They had failed to save Caruso, even when they were all in dino mode and still outnumbered Victor and his two other fighters. He might have had a good number of humans in the truck, but they weren't used for combat; just to drive the truck and to help capture Caruso in that hideous, giant metal claw. And even though both Michelle and Oscura were much smaller than they were in dino mode, the two still managed to get the best of them in the fight. Some of them still felt silly about allowing Michelle to cause them to crash into one another, and for letting Oscura bite them with her bacteria-filled mouth.

The idea that something like that could happen again was on everyone's mind, especially Caruso, who had been seemingly permanently scarred, both physically and mentally, by the incident. The attack had occurred suddenly, without much warning. They didn't have a scanner at the time, though, so if Victor were to try to strike again, they would know about it ahead of time. And yet, they weren't sure if Victor would be stupid enough to try to attack the lighthouse again. He could try attacking them somewhere else now, and since he knew that they could track him, he could easily find some way to block their signal, making him and his men appear 'invisible', allowing them to keep the element of surprise.

Knowing that Victor was more capable than they had originally thought and that he could find easily find a way to attack again without giving them much warning frightened the team. They weren't sure what he would do next and if he would have any tricks up his sleeves like he had the last time. That tracker he had Michelle put on Irwin's foot had electrocuted him, allowing Victor's team to easily nab him and pick him up into the air. And once they had Caruso, the team had tried, in vain, to rescue him, but failed miserably in the end, much to their guilt.

Now they knew they had to figure out what to do now. All they had done so far was keep their guard up and be very cautious when they were anywhere outside the school and the lighthouse. There was not much else they could do until they could figure out what Victor was up to. But they knew that, even if they didn't know, they had to do something. They couldn't just sit here, doing nothing until Victor struck again. For all they know, he could take someone else, and then they would have to relive the nightmare of when they lost Caruso to him. And that was something that none of them wanted to endure again.

And what has been happening to Moynihan was also of grave concern. At first, they all thought it was just stress. They all thought that she would get over it by now. But they were wrong. She had not gotten better; she had gotten worse. She had gotten more and more aggressive. It was frightening them all, including Moynihan herself. The incident on the Mothersaurus Submarine was probably the scariest they had to endure yet. She had acted so..animalistic. She was sharpening her claws on the wall. Her eyes were glowing intensely. She had tried to hurt Max. She was acting a lot like a...Velociraptor...

Max shivered at the memory of being pinned on the ground, Moynihan looming over him, staring at him like some crazed predator. It was almost like she was reverting back to her primal instincts, but he couldn't think of why she would be doing this. It couldn't be stress...it just couldn't. "Anyone have any theories on Moynihan's strange behavior?" He finally asked.

Buzz gritted his teeth angrily. "I'm sure Michelle has something to do with it..."

"But without evidence..." Fiona said, lifting a finger. "..there's no way we can pin this whole thing on her."

"Fiona's right, you guys." Max said, narrowing his eyes a little. He knew Moynihan would not approve of them jumping to conclusions like this. Regardless of what Michelle had done, she was innocent until proven guilty, and they don't have any evidence to even go on right now. "We can't just jump to conclusions like this."

Buzz shot a glare at Max. "What are you saying?!" He cried. "Have you forgotten what happened the last time we sat around and did nothing?!"

Max shook his head. "No. I don't think any one of us could forget what happened, Buzz."