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...

25. Interrogate

Two days later, Michelle was inside the local library in the same city that the Dino Squad lived in. Michelle wasn't sure why she came to the library. She wasn't on any assigned missions and she wasn't really trying to find the Dino Squad, or any one for that matter. She mostly came here to get away from Raptor Dyne, away from Victor and away from Oscura. At least, that's what she's been telling herself. She's been feeling increasingly threatened by Oscura. Victor had apparently spoken to Oscura within the past couple days. Yesterday, Oscura had confronted her when Victor told her about the scans showing that she was within the city and demanded to know what she was doing there. Michelle refused to tell her, and Oscura automatically assumed that Michelle was mingling with the Dino Squad. This view was further supported by the fact that the teens had managed to slow down Moynihan's transformation.

While Michelle was grateful that the Dino Squad figured out a way to save themselves, even it was just temporary, the fact that they had figured out how to do this after she had told them what was going on put her in a very precarious situation. So far, Victor and Oscura couldn't really pin her to the crime. Victor himself was not completely sure if she was a real traitor or if she was simply captured by them and forced to give out the information. Oscura tried to debunk this theory, insisting that Michelle must have actively sought out the Dino Squad and told them deliberately what was going on with Moynihan and that she probably told them other things as well. Oscura claimed that she was just looking out for the well-being of the company as a whole, but Michelle saw through her lies. She knew that Oscura saying these things because she was angry when Victor had suggested that Michelle was simply a prisoner and forced to give out the information. Oscura wanted to get Victor to label Michelle a traitor, not a prisoner of war.

Michelle looked up and saw a book that she was interested in looking at. It was an old classic that she read when she was younger. It was one of the few books she ever read in her life. She didn't know that the book was still in print. She thought that it went out-of-print years ago. What luck that she found it in this library! Michelle grabbed a tall, metallic ladder and began to climb up it. The ladder was a little unstable and she found herself wobbling back and forth. She gripped onto the book case tightly, using its large mass and weight to steady herself once more. The ladder soon became still and sturdy and she released one hand from the book case. But she still used the other hand to balance herself as she reached up towards the book that she wanted. She grabbed onto it and pulled it out. It was a little dusty and it caused her to sneeze. She shook her head after the sneeze and wiped her nose. She looked at the book for a few seconds and then climbed down the ladder.

"Maybe I should borrow this..." Michelle said softly to herself. The book was about the bond between a young boy and a dog. Although this was a common plot used in many literatures, including the famous Lassie books, this one touched her more than even Lassie ever did. She wasn't sure why, but she didn't really dwell on it too much. This book could probably help her get her mind off of Victor and Oscura and everything that has been happening lately. This book could also help her realize what she must do. Michelle was at a crossroads and she wasn't sure if she should remain at Victor's side or if she should leave him completely and try to join the Dino Squad or become more of a vigilante-type of person, or maybe just a hermit, living alone.

No, she didn't want that. Michelle wasn't a loner type. She didn't like living alone. One of the reasons she agreed to join Raptor Dyne was because it was probably the only place she could really socialize, even though there weren't many people here too willing to talk to her. Either they were too busy or they were doing something else, such as leaving or bringing something to someone, papers perhaps. Michelle did live with someone, an uncle since her parents were recently deceased. She never did find out exactly what happened to them, but when she found out they were dead, she didn't have much time to mourn and was quickly moved here to live with her uncle. But living with her uncle was so frustrating and, at times, terrible. He wasn't particularly aggressive towards her, but he acts like she doesn't exist most of the time, even forgetting to buy food for her at times, forcing Michelle to often fend for herself. Despite the situation, she managed to keep her sanity and retained her personality. That is, until she joined Raptor Dyne, where she was forced to act like someone else for so long, that even Michelle herself couldn't remember what she was truly like, what she truly believed in.

Michelle held the book with one arm and began walking down the hall. On both sides of her, there were rows upon rows of books, even more than what was at the school library in Kittery High. Michelle found herself looking left and right, admiring how many books there were. It was hard to imagine how a building like this could hold these many books. She could only imagine how long it must have taken to build this place, or any other libraries for that matter. She was always fond of libraries, so beautiful, so quiet, and so calm. Just being here relaxed her and she soon found herself lost in her own thoughts and not looking where she was going...

THUD!

Suddenly, Michelle felt something soft and warm slam against herself. She grunted and stumbled backwards, almost losing her balance completely. She heard a grunt in front of her and then another thud, indicating whoever she had bumped into had crashed into the ground. Michelle shook her head, her eyes closed tightly from the initial shock of slamming into someone. "I'm sorry, I didn't see where I was going.." Michelle started to say as she opened her eyes and looked over at who she had knocked down. "Are you all..." Her eyes widened as she realized who it was. "..right..?"

There, on the ground looking up at her in fear, was Caruso. Remembering the warning she had given out a few days ago, Caruso was trying to back away from her. Michelle took a step back, horrified by this turn of events. She had told Caruso that she might kill him the next time that they ran into one another. But she didn't come here looking for him; she was just looking for a good book to read. How was she to know that he was going to be here? There was an extended silence between the two. Caruso tried to back away, but he was so frozen in fear that he kept slipping back onto the ground. He didn't look hurt, but he was shaking, acting as if she was going to strike him at any second.

"H-Help me..." Caruso started to say. The voice was too soft for anyone to hear him, though, so no one came over to see what was going on. Michelle was a little relieved by this, but knew it was only a matter of time before someone realized what was going on. And if Caruso was here, it was likely that either his family or his friends were here. And after what she had told them a couple days ago, they would probably start chasing her as soon as they saw her.

Michelle tried to calm Caruso down by holding out her empty hands in front of her and backing away, trying to show Caruso that she wasn't intending to hurt him. She took another step back, her hands continued to be held out in front of her. But despite her non-aggressive posture, Caruso was still shaking in fear, opening his mouth a few times to say something, only stopped by his fear and pain. Michelle started to panic a little and she looked around the library, trying to see if she could see any of the Dino Squad. While she didn't see them anywhere, that did not mean that they weren't here. "L-Listen to me, Caruso... I'm not going to hurt you." She said in a soft voice. She held out the book in front of her. "I only came to get this b-book...see?" She pointed towards the front of the building. "I-I'm just going to borrow this book and then I'm going to leave and you won't see me again, okay...? So please...don't be afraid..." She begged him, hoping to get through to him.

Suddenly, Caruso managed to let out a loud cry. "HELP!" Michelle winced and she took a few more steps back, looking left to right to see if anyone was coming. A second later, Caruso called out again, "GUYS! HELP ME! SHE'S HERE!"

Hearing footsteps coming rapidly in her direction, Michelle froze where she stood. "Oh no..."

Almost immediately after she had said that, a figure moved in front of Caruso so quickly that all Michelle saw was a blur until the figure stopped to attend to Caruso. All she could see was their back; they hadn't seen her yet and were too busy trying to calm Caruso down to look behind them. But even though it was just from the back, Michelle recognized who it was. It was Rodger. He was one of the most recognizable of the team, due to his dark skin and large size. Michelle gulped and started to take a few steps back. She had to get out of here before the others arrived. But her only chance of escape lay beyond Rodger and Caruso. There was no way she could get passed them without getting spotted unless she went down one of the rows of books and squeeze through the other side to get access to the main lobby.

Michelle was relieved that there was hardly anyone in the library and those who were didn't come to investigate why Caruso had cried out in fear. Although that was probably attributed to the fact that someone was already checking up on him, trying to calm him down. Michelle thought that if she could just hide in one of the rows of books, she'll be safe, for a little while. If she moved quickly enough, she could get away and out of the library before the Dino Squad had time to see her. If they spotted her, she was going to be in big trouble...

Just then, Michelle heard a shout behind her and yelped in surprise. She looked behind her and she gasped in fear as she saw Buzz on the far end of the other side of the hall. He was looking in her direction, his face contorted in a snarl. She gulped and turned around to face him. She took a few steps back, moving back towards the front, as Buzz started advancing, albeit slowly, in her direction. She was now trapped. Rodger lay on one end while Buzz was on the other end. She couldn't think of how things could possibly get any worse for her.

And then, it did get a lot worse.

Buzz stopped in his tracks briefly, lifted up a finger and pointed it in her direction, and gave a shout, "Rodger! It's Michelle! She's right behind you!"

Almost immediately, Rodger turned around. His eyes widened in shock as he saw her. "Michelle!" He shouted, voice mixed with anger and surprise.

Buzz looked over his shoulder. At first, Michelle could not think of why he would do that, but then it dawned on her. He was going to call another member of the Dino Squad. Michelle wanted to take another step back, but hesitated. Rodger was behind her now and if she took a step back, she would only be getting closer to him. Buzz shouted over his shoulder, "Max! Come over here! Michelle is back!"

Then after that, Rodger called out the remaining member. "Fiona! Come quickly! Michelle has returned!"

Michelle found herself trembling in fear as she became surrounded by the Dino Squad. Two were blocking her from one direction. She couldn't run back that way. She couldn't run up front either because there were three people blocking her path that way. She was completely trapped. All she could do was try to remain still, where she was, as they closed in on her to cut off her escape route. Michelle found herself pressing her back against one of the book cases. She had forgotten about trying to slip around behind one of them to get access to the main lobby. All she was concerned about right now was trying to get as far away from this team as possible. But she knew it was going to be like the situation back on the football field; there was not going to be a lot of room left after they've cornered her.

Like before, Caruso hung back, trying to keep himself out of Michelle's sights the best that he could. Many thoughts were running through his mind. He wondered if Michelle had brought reinforcements with her. He wondered how she could have known that he was going to be at the library. Was she spying on him? And when was she going to strike? When he was as far away from the others as possible in this library? For once, Caruso was grateful for his recent paranoia of being alone. If he had come here by himself, Michelle would not have had a hard time in grabbing him, killing him, and then running off before anyone saw her.

As Michelle was surrounded by the Dino Squad, arranged in such a fashion that she had no where to go unless she tried to squeeze past a team member or two, a silence fell upon them. There were no words coming out of anyone's mouths, no warning, no threats, no nothing. Michelle found herself simply staring at the Dino Squad. And they stared back at her. Some expressions were of anger and others simply shock that she was here and they didn't notice until now. Michelle's expression was that of fear and dread, not knowing what the Dino Squad was doing to do with her, especially if they believed she was a threat to their friend or anyone else that they cared about.

The first one to speak up was Max. He was positioned directly in front of Michelle and was, physically, the closest to her. He tried to sound calm, trying his best to hide his anger and fear. He was angry that she would dare come after them again and he was afraid of what she might do if they didn't stop her in time. In a voice as calm as he could make it, but still cracking of emotion, he said, "What are you doing here? Why have you come back?"

Before Michelle could answer, Buzz rolled his eyes and said, "Dude, do you even need to ask that? We all know what she's here for." Buzz narrowed his eyes at Michelle. "She's come here to take Caruso away from us again! She said so herself that she might kill him the next time she sees him!"

Michelle shook her head rapidly. "No, that's not true!"

Fiona narrowed her eyes. "But isn't that what you said before? You gave Caruso a warning, that the next time we encounter, you might try to kill him..."

Michelle remembered saying that and immediately regretted it. Perhaps she should not have said anything. By doing so, she made it seem that any time she saw the boy, she would try to go after him, no matter what she was doing in the mean time. She wasn't even out here looking for trouble. All she wanted to do was borrow a book and be on her merry way! But she doubted the Dino Squad would believe that. They see the book in her hands and they probably think that she was going to use it to knock Irwin out cold and then drag him somewhere to kill him without any resistance or any witnesses. A book in her hands was a weapon.

"Well yes..." Michelle admitted, lowering her head a little and scratching her head with her free hand. "But this wasn't a mission..I-I just came here to borrow this book. See?" She held out the book in front of her, hoping it just might convince the team that she was telling the truth, despite her fears that they would interpret it as a weapon. But their expressions didn't change and she realized that it wasn't working.

"A likely story!" Buzz said sarcastically, pointing at the book with one finger. "You were going to try and kill Caruso with that book, weren't you?!"

Michelle gulped and tried to move back, but couldn't go back any further because of the book case behind her. She closed her eyes and looked away from Buzz. "Please, just let me go. I don't want to fight you guys. I just want to leave. Please..just step aside and I'll leave you alone."

Michelle tried to move forward, but the Dino Squad continued to block her path. Her words did not persuade them to step aside to allow her to leave. Judging from the look in their eyes, they didn't believe anything she was trying to tell them. Michelle was starting to feel even more tense and she could feel her eyes starting to glow out of instinct. The Dino Squad's eyes also started glowing, not because they were angry, but because they were feeling tense as well. Both were preparing as if they were about to fight. Michelle had to use all the willpower that she had to keep herself from transforming completely.

"Why should we believe that?" Rodger asked. "You told us yourself that you would come after him again!"

Michelle blinked a few times. "No I did not! I said that..." But she stopped herself when she realized what she was about to say. If she had continued, she would have confirmed what the Dino Squad had already suspected. She would have confirmed that she was supposed to kill Caruso the next time that they were to meet. She lowered her head. "Never mind..."

Buzz shouted, "See?! You can't even come up with any kind of defense! What's the matter? You couldn't come up with any more lies?!" Michelle looked at him fearfully, somewhat hurt as well. But Buzz just glared at her coldly and said, "Don't give me that look... You brought this on yourself."

Fiona looked over at Max, who was the calmest of the group, but she could tell that he was feeling tense, just like everyone else. She moved a little closer to him and placed a hand on his shoulder to get his attention. "So..." She glanced over at Michelle with a soft glare on her face. "...what should we do with her?" Michelle's head perked up when she heard this and she looked over at Fiona and Max. "I mean, we can't just let her go, not this time..." Michelle's eyes widened in fear. "But...I'm not sure. What do you think, Max?"

Max's eyes were narrowed as he went deep into thought. He didn't come to the library to capture anyone, let alone Michelle. And he wondered if she was telling the truth as well. It was possible that it was just a coincidence that they both ended up in the same library at the same time. But Michelle probably didn't even live in Kittery Point, so why was she even here? It does seem suspicious that she would just happen to be in the same library as they were, and at the same time as well. Even though Max did acknowledge Michelle's story as a likely scenario, it still didn't seem completely probable that this entire situation was pure coincidence. Perhaps Michelle had followed them in here, and if so, the only reason he could think of was so that she could get close to Caruso without getting spotted.

Part of him did want to let Michelle go. She hadn't actually threatened anyone yet and she did look genuinely scared. Whatever she had done to Caruso to make him scared was probably just an accident. With how paranoid the kid has been lately, it's quite likely that he was just overreacting, just like Buzz was. His hatred for Michelle has caused him to act in ways that he never seen the punk kid do before. No matter what Michelle said, he knew that Buzz was just going to twist up her words and through them back at her. He would never give her the benefit of the doubt. To him, everything she says was a lie unless she was acting in the way he had expected her to: cruel, insane, and evil. Max didn't want to be like that. He wanted to act as fair to Michelle as he possibly could without letting his emotions get in the way.

And yet, capturing Michelle might do them some good. Michelle worked for Veloci for an extended amount of time, possibly about as long as they've been the Dino Squad even. She may not know everything about Victor, but she might know enough to give them some kind of advantage. Perhaps she would even know the cure for Moynihan by now, provided that she had talked to Victor about it at all. And even if she didn't know that, she could provide other information, and she could act as a hostage. Since she could turn into a dinosaur, Victor might be more willing to do what he could to get her back on his side. They could force Victor into a checkmate if they took Michelle...

Finally Max's expression softened. He looked at Michelle, who was eyeing him fearfully. Then he looked over at each of his friends. They were waiting to hear his answer. Max looked over at Caruso, who hadn't taken his eyes off of Michelle for the past few minutes. He wanted to say something to him, anything to get him to calm down, but no words would come out of his mouth. He looked back over at Michelle and his eyes narrowed slightly once more. "Perhaps we could take her to the lighthouse for questioning..." Before anyone could say anything further, he quickly added, "Just for questioning! Nothing else!"

"Why not?" Buzz asked, sounding both confused and disappointed. He was hoping that Max was going to say that she was going to become their prisoner. She deserved it after what she had done, after all. "She wouldn't do the same for us..."

"If we act like them, we become them." Max said sternly and looked back over to Michelle. "Just come quietly with us, and we'll get it over with as quickly as possible..." He reached out towards her, but, out of self-defense, Michelle swatted his hand away. Max rubbed his hand, which stung a little from the strike. "What did you do that for? I wasn't going to hurt you!"

Michelle was trembling in fear and her eye glow had gotten more intense. She tried to take a step back, but she hit her ankle against the side of the book case and she almost fall onto the ground. Max tried to reach out towards her again, aiming to seize her arm so she couldn't get away. But Michelle swatted his hand back yet again and bared her teeth at him defensively. "Don't you dare touch me!" She said in a voice slightly darker than normal. She finally couldn't take the fear inside of her anymore and she found herself transforming out of instinct. Luckily no one was around to witness the blue glow surrounding her and her body shape-shifting into that of a Guanlong Wucaii.

Max took a step back as he stared up at Michelle, who was now a little taller than he was. Michelle glared down at him for a few seconds, and then gripped him by the shirt with her jaws. She lifted him straight up into the air. He looked at her in shock and she just simply narrowed her eyes. 'I won't let you take me!' Michelle then lowered her head slightly and thrusted her neck in one direction and released her jaws. Max found himself being thrown into the ground a couple feet from the Dino Squad. The Dino Squad looked at Max in horror of what had happened to him and then looked back at Michelle. 'Get out of my way!' Michelle leaped forward, sailing over the kids' heads and then made a mad dash towards the exist, not caring that so many people were going to see her in dino mode.

As Fiona helped Max back up to his feet, Rodger and Buzz were already about to chase down Michelle. They held back though, waiting for word from Max. The jock brushed himself off and looked over to where Michelle was. She had already made it towards the main lobby. But instead of going through the door, she leaped through the window. The sound of shattering glass filled the library, causing some people from the outside to come over to investigate. This wasn't good, Max thought. Michelle was in dino mode out in the city. Who knows what kind of damage she could do unless they stopped her?

Max pointed towards the front of the library and shouted, "After her!"

That was all Rodger and Buzz needed to hear and then they quickly took off, being a few feet ahead of the others. Max quickly followed suit, following Rodger and Buzz as they chased after Michelle. Even though she was in dino mode, she still couldn't be faster than their bicycles, which they had brought along with them. As they opened up the library doors and headed out to get their bikes before Michelle could get too far out of site, Fiona had to grab Caruso and pull him towards the exit. He was eyeing the main lobby with a look of fear on his face and he clearly did not want to go. But Fiona wasn't about to leave him alone in the library.

"Come on, Caruso! We have to go! Now!" Fiona said to him.

"I-I..I don't want to go... She..She might..." Caruso started to say, his body trembling in terror.

"Caruso, we promise that we won't let her do anything to do!" Fiona said. She looked out of the library and could see that Max, Buzz, and Rodger, and already sped past the library in pursuit of Michelle. "Look, let's just go before we get left behind." She managed to pull Caruso towards the door. There were a few onlookers, but she paid them no mind. She pulled Caruso out towards the door and headed towards their bikes. She managed to convince Caruso to get on his Stego-Cycle and follow her. Fiona got on her Spino-Cycle and she and Caruso quickly sped forward towards the others as they continued their chase.

* * *

Michelle did her best to ignore the screams of terror as she continued to run down the streets. People took notice of her and screamed in horror, many of them running away before she could reach them. Michelle wasn't sure if the Dino Squad was following her or not, but she was too scared to look behind her. She dashed between people, jumped over cars, knocked over equipment of construction workers, and accidentally broke a few windows as her tail swished from side to side, striking a few things because she wasn't being careful enough. Michelle nearly ran into a few people, letting out a roar of surprise. A few people tried to strike at her in self defense, but she managed to get away before they could do anything. Finally Michelle had to stop to take a short break. She still had plenty of energy left, but she needed to catch her breath. She then scented something familiar and looked over. Her eyes widened in fear when she saw the Dino Squad coming after them on their dinosaur-like motorcycles. Shrieking, she took off again.

She could hear them shouting something, but she couldn't figure out what they were saying. It didn't matter anyway. Judging just from the emotion and the fact that they were still chasing her told her enough. They were either telling her to stop or telling the others to hurry up, or that she was spotted. Michelle regretted transforming into a dinosaur to get away. Sure, the black coloration could help her disappear into shadows, and it did provide her with more stamina upon which to use to escape. But it also made her an easier target to spot. How difficult could it be to identity her in dino mode? There was no one else in Raptor Dyne, or no one at all for that matter, who looks like her Guanlong Wucaii form. But it was too late to change back now. What was she going to do?

Michelle continued to dodge the humans that were in her way. A few times, she didn't stop and purposely knocked down a few people just to get them out of her way so she could get through. A few cars skidded to a stop in front of her as she jumped on top of them, her weight dealing minimal damage to the cars, and jumped over them. A few cars skidded across the road and nearly crashed into one another as the drivers looked in awe and shock at the dinosaur that was running through the city. Michelle worked up the courage to look behind her. The Dino Squad were still following her, avoiding all the obstacles in their path. Unlike her, however, the Dino Squad were being careful not to cause further damage and were sticking to only paths that were clear enough for them to go through. Michelle looked ahead of her and saw that there was a raised section of concrete with some kind of bush or vegetation that was planted there for decoration. Michelle's foot got caught and she fell forward, but quickly got up. She started to panic. That fall would have taken precious time away from her. She had to do something quickly to give her an edge.

Just then, Michelle saw something that just might give her an advantage perhaps. Out in front of her, she spotted a large building. It didn't take her long to realize it was the mall. She looked behind her. The Dino Squad were fast closing in on her. Michelle looked back towards the building. She pondered if she should be in dino mode running through the mall or if she turn back into human form and keep running. She quickly decided to change back to human. The Dino Squad couldn't possibly take their bikes with them through here. They would have to leave them behind and that would slow them down, giving her a chance to get away from them. Michelle bolted towards the mall, a swift glow appearing on herself as she shifted back into her human self. As she put her hand on the door knob, she looked over her shoulder. The Dino Squad were now on the mall's parking lot. She quickly ran inside the mall.

* * *

Max quickly stopped his Tyranno-Cycle, tilting it towards the side and supporting it with one leg on the ground. He pulled off his helmet and frowned as he stared at the mall. Michelle was pretty clever, he had to admit it. She must have known that going in here would slow them down enough to make them lose her. "Oh no. She went into the mall!" He said, sounding a bit frustrated. "I don't know if we can catch up to her now."

Buzz had already put his Pterano-Cycle against the side of the building and was heading towards the door. He looked over his shoulder. "If we stay out here and don't go in after her, she will get away!" Despite the odds now being against the team, Buzz wasn't about to give up hope. He believe that they could do this if they simply try hard enough. Michelle couldn't simply disappear and he would recognize her anywhere, even in a crowd. And if all else failed, they could simply scent her out with their dinosaur powers.

Rodger set down his Styraco-Cycle against the side of the building and followed Buzz towards the door. He looked over at Max briefly and said, "Buzz is right, yo. We have to keep going! Look, we already wasted enough time! But if we hurry up, we can catch up to her!" Max, Fiona, and Caruso hesitated for a few seconds, and then put their motorcycles against the building as well and made their way inside.

The mall was pretty busy that day, as if they couldn't tell already from all the cars that were out in the parking lot. The Dino Squad looked around, seeing multiple faces, some looking at them, some ignoring them, others looking away. There was enough room to maneuver around though, and there weren't too many crowds. Bu Michelle could easily hide somewhere in this mall, or easily leave. And since she wasn't in dino mode anymore, they couldn't track her down as easily. The team moved in further into the mall, looking left to right, trying to find any sign of Michelle. They could see a few stands of people trying to sell things like shampoo, computers, and jewelry. They could see some stores that were so busy, people were lining up outside the store. They could even take notice that almost all the benches located in the mall were occupied by at least one person. But they couldn't see Michelle anywhere.

"Darn...I think we waited too long..." Rodger said softly. "There's so many people here, and too many stores. What's the likelihood of us spotting Michelle in all of this?"

Buzz glared at Max. "This is your fault!"

"What? How is this my fault?" Max asked, sounding offended.

"If you had just gone inside the mall right away instead of stopping there, staring at the mall, and giving Michelle enough time to get away, we could have gotten to her faster and she would not have gotten away!" Buzz snapped, jabbing his finger in Max's direction.

"How was I supposed to know she was going to go in here?" Max said, defending himself. "And what was I supposed to do anyway? Just ride the motorcycle into the building? Is that what you wanted?!" He felt someone tap on his shoulder. Growling, he looked over to see who it was. It was Fiona. "What do you want?"

"I don't think it's a good idea to discuss these things here, guys." Fiona said in a low voice. She pointed her thumb in the direction of a few bystanders, who were looking over at the group of teens curiously. Max and Buzz gulped, trying to hide their nervousness. They wondered how much the group had overheard and if they were suspicious of them. They might think that they're a group of criminals out to kidnap someone and they might call the police on them, or mall security. And that was the last thing that they needed. Fortunately, Fiona thought of a good cover up. "Yeah, that was great acting guys! Practice a little more, and you'd be perfect for the roles!"

Max was confused at first, but quickly caught on to what Fiona was doing. He backed her up. "Yes..yes. Thanks. I was up practicing all night." He glanced over towards the bystanders. They were looking each other and nodding their heads. Then they turned and walked away. Max smiled. It seemd Fiona's plan had worked. But it might not work every time and if they continue discussing Michelle, it's likely someone would catch on to what they were going to do and call security. They would need to be more careful. "Okay, from now one, less talking, more searching." He ordered the others and they continued on with their search for Michelle.

But where were they going to find her in this huge mall? It wasn't like they were going to bump into her like they had at the library. That was simply dumb luck. Michelle was probably watching them right now, taking every precaution to ensure that they would not see her. She might be hiding in one of the clothing stores, which were among the largest stores in this kind of mall. She might be over at a beauty parlor, getting a facial done. While the team could not imagine her doing that, they didn't think it would be above Michelle do that out of desperation, since only paying customers could be in the back room where Michelle was likely to be.

Buzz looked straight up. He thought he caught a dark shadow moving across the level just above the team, the second floor to the mall. He started backing away, putting a hand over his eyes and tried to get a better look. Whatever he had seen, it had vanished relatively quickly. He continued to back up as the team continued to move forward. He was certain that whatever he saw up there was probably Michelle and she couldn't have gone too far. But as he backed away, he wasn't looking where he was going. Suddenly he felt himself hit against something soft and warm. The person he had bumped into let out a yelp and Buzz's eyes widened, then narrowed in anger. He knew that voice! He looked around and spotted Michelle. Apparently, she had been backing away, probably trying to find where they were, and accidentally bumped into him. She was looking over at him, frozen in fear.

"Michelle!" Buzz said, loud enough for the team to hear. The team looked over and quickly spotted Michelle. They moved over as fast as they could to try and grab Michelle before she got away. Buzz spread out his arms and lunged forward, trying to grab onto Michelle. But he missed her completely; she had turned around and bolted back towards the front of the mall. A few onlookers were watching, curious to know what was going on. The Dino Squad forgot about the people watching them and simply focused on Michelle, who had now bolted out of the mall and was back on the parking lot. The Dino Squad quickly followed suit, exiting the building and seeing Michelle almost halfway across the parking lot already.

Fiona and Caruso stopped in their tracks as their friends ran out ahead of them. Fiona looked over at the motorcycles, still leaning against the side of the building. Shouldn't they be grabbing those to chase after Michelle? And what if someone tried to steal them? Well stealing them wouldn't be a problem; Rodger and Fiona had devised a way to ensure that they wouldn't be stolen. The bikes each had a tracker in them so that if someone managed to steal one, they could easily track its location and get it back. Realizing that Fiona and Caruso weren't following them, Max stopped, along with Rodger and, eventually, Buzz. They looked back at them, wondering what they were doing, and looked over at Michelle, who was getting further away with each second that had passed.

Max asked, "What are you doing? Come on!" Max motioned with his hand to get Fiona and Caruso to move forward. They didn't have much time to waste. "She's going to get away!"

"But..shouldn't we take the motorcycles?" Fiona asked, gesturing towards the motorcycles. "Wouldn't that be faster?"

Buzz looked out ahead. Since he was the furthest up front, he had a clearer view of Michelle than the others did. He squinted his eyes, holding his hand flat above his eyes to try and get a better look. Michelle had ran between a couple of trees, and Buzz's eyes widened. He knew that area. He quickly looked back towards Fiona and shook his head. "No can do, Fiona. She just went into the forested area past the mall! There's no way we could bring the cycles with us!"

"But that's good news." Rodger said, raising up a finger. "That means the forest is densely populated with plants, which means it will be harder for Michelle to maneuver in there, even in dino mode. Which means..."

"She'll be easier to catch!" Max said as he realized what Rodger was trying to say.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Buzz didn't wait for the others to respond. He immediately bolted forward, heading towards the forest where Michelle had dashed off into. The others looked at each other, but immediately started following Buzz. Even if Michelle couldn't go through the forest very well due to all the plants, if they let her continue to gain more distance from them, they wouldn't be able to catch her. She would get away from them.

* * *

Michelle was afraid to look back. She couldn't hear anything, though, other than her own heavy breathing and her feet pounding the floor as she ran. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest, beating so fast that she thought it would tear open. She couldn't afford to look back anyway; the forest she had ran into to try to get away was so dense that, even if she were to go dino, it would be hard to navigate. But she chose to run into here because she thought it would be the best place to go to try to get away from the Dino Squad. She wondered if they were foolish enough to follow her in here with their bikes. She hoped that they did do that; that meant that it would be harder for them to catch up to her. They would be continuously trying to avoid trees and bushes and roots to keep an eye on her.

Michelle shifted her body to dodge another tree. She winced as she felt her skin scrape against its bark. But she didn't have time to tend to it. Even though she couldn't hear anyone following her, she had to keep running. She wasn't out of danger yet. The Dino Squad could still catch up to her if she slowed down for too long. The sound of twigs snapping filled her eyes as she accidentally pounded her foot onto a few fragile pieces of bark on the ground. She could also hear grass crumpling as she ran across it and she constantly had to fight through low branches. A few smacked her in the face, but she simply pushed them out of the way and continued to run forward. She nearly tripped over a few rocks, but she managed to stop herself just in time and jump over them. But when she jumped over one, she fell forward onto her knees. She grunted in pain, but quickly got up and continued on her mad dash to get away.

Up ahead, she saw that the forest was doing a dip downward. Michelle was now running down a hill and her footing was becoming more and more precarious. It was going to be easier for her to slip if she wasn't careful. She could have ran back and chose another path, but it was too late for that now. She had nowhere else to run, so she just continued down the hill despite the dangers. She still managed to jump over the roots and the rocks and she zipped between multiple wild pushes and closely grown trees. She tripped a few times and fell down, but she managed to get up and still continued to run, ignoring the pain in her legs, which were now a little bruised up from banging them too many times whenever she tripped on rocks or roots. If she continued down this path, she could potentially reach safety. Surely the Dino Squad would not be stupid enough to follow her down here.

Suddenly Michelle heard a cry from Buzz. "GOTCHA!" Before she could react, Michelle felt something grab onto her. She knew it was Buzz; there was no mistaking that voice. She let out a cry of surprise. The sudden impact of Buzz's body against hers caused her to lose her footing. She and Buzz both fell forward and started tumbling down the hill. Buzz kept a grip on Michelle's arms, trying to wrestle her to the ground despite rolling down the hill. Once they hit the ground, they were knocked from each other, Buzz going one way and Michelle going off in the other. They lay there for several seconds, dazed and confused by what had happened.

Michelle recovered first. She quickly climbed up to her feet. She didn't have time to look behind her. She had to get out of here! She looked at Buzz, backing away slowly. Then she tried to turn and run away. But she didn't get very far. She could sense someone was behind her, already so close that she wouldn't even have time to get a running start to get away. Suddenly, two large, strong arms grabbed onto her. One pressed against her upper chest, at the base of her throat while the other went across her stomach. Michelle felt herself being pressed against something large and warm. She tried to squirm to get away, but whoever had her had a strong grip on her.

"You're not going anywhere!" Rodger said. He was the one who had grabbed Michelle. He had followed Buzz close behind and when he saw his friend rolling down the hill, he quickly followed suit, moving as fast as he could move without falling down. When they hit the ground, he expected Michelle to get up and run, but when she just lay there, that bought him enough time to get down there before she recovered enough to get away. "Make it easier on yourself and just give up!"

Michelle struggled frantically. "No!" She managed to free one arm. Once she did, she elbowed Rodger as hard as she could in his stomach. He winced in pain and released her, but recovered quickly enough to grab onto one of her legs. Michelle screamed as she fell onto the ground face first. She tried to get back up but she suddenly felt herself being pushed into the ground by someone else. She looked up to see Buzz, who had recovered from his fall.

"You're not getting away this time!" Buzz said. He had placed both hands on her back and was pushing her as hard as he could into the ground to subdue her. Michelle frantically kicked at the dirt beneath her feet, but something stopped her and she realized Rodger was helping as well. He had a grip on her legs and was holding them as still as he could. A few times one of the legs got free and struck out at him, but he managed to grab it and pin it back down.

"Let me go!" Michelle started clawing at the ground with her hands, trying to pull herself away from these two boys. Just then, she felt someone grab her right arm and pin it onto the ground. She looked over to see Fiona glaring down at her with a determined look on her face. Then she felt another person grab her other arm and pin it down. She looked over to see Caruso. She was shocked. Despite his fear, he had worked up the courage to approach her. Although, that was not going to help her situation. She was now being pinned down practically from all sides.

Max was the last person to arrive onto the scene. He saw Michelle pinned to the ground. Buzz was holding down her body. Rodger was holding down her legs. Caruso was holding down one arm while Fiona was holding down the other. Yet despite this, Michelle continued to struggle, trying to buck a little to push Buzz off of her so she'd have somewhat of a chance of getting away. Max quickly rushed forward to offer some assistance. Once he reached Michelle, he went over to the opposite side that Buzz was on. He pressed one hand against Michelle's back and pushed her down as hard as he could. With the other hand, he grabbed her head and twisted it onto one side. He then pressed his hand against the side of her face and pushed down, pinning her head, on its side, on the ground.

Michelle panicked even more. Usually, she could easily knock someone off of her, but there was now five people holding her down. The combined strength was more than she could handle and she felt herself becoming weaker as she tried in vain to get out. She was too frightened at this point to think of going dino, which gave the Dino Squad the upper hand; they could more easily control her in human form. Yet despite her being pinned down by five people, she was still putting up a good fight, almost freeing a limb from one of the teenagers. And the Dino Squad were starting to get a little exhausted from trying to hold her down. If they were going to take her for interrogation, they would need to restrain her in some way.

Suddenly, Rodger had an idea, recalling what Buzz had picked up at the lighthouse earlier on. "Bind her arms!" He barked the order and immediately Buzz and Max both released Michelle to pull out the rope that they had brought with them for no apparent reason. Michelle took this chance to try to get free, but Buzz and Max quickly pressed her feet onto her back to secure her long enough for them to prepare the rope. "Bind her arms behind her back!" Rodger shouted again, digging his nails into Michelle's legs as he gripped her tighter to ensure that she would not escape.

"No!" Michelle objected, trying to get her arms free from Fiona and Caruso's grasp. As she felt her arms being pulled roughly behind her back, she tried in vain to pull them away. "Let me go!" But it was useless.

The Dino Squad refused to listen to her. Caruso and Fiona continued to pull her arms back behind her. They pulled them as far as they could go, making sure that the arms overlapped one another almost like a cross. They held the arms there as Max and Buzz knelt down, careful not to apply too much pressure to Michelle's back as they were not trying to kill her. Despite Michelle's wild struggles and constant attempts, all in vain, to get away, they managed to wrap the rope around her arms, binding them behind her back. Then they released her to see if the bonds were tight enough. Michelle tried to get her hands free, even trying to transform her arms at one point. But she winced in pain and immediately changed then back. Her dino arms can't bend like that and if she transformed her arms, she could break them. That was why Rodger thought of tying them behind her back.

Rodger released her legs and then grabbed onto Michelle again. The others released her, believing that Rodger was strong enough to hold her long enough to finish tying her up. Max and Buzz then grabbed the remaining rope that they still had. They wrapped it around her body as tightly as they could without cutting off blood supply. Soon, Michelle's arms were pinned at her sides, securing her arms behind her back even more. Michelle growled angrily and in a frightened manner. Her eyes started to glow a little, regaining some of her senses to transform. Baring sharp fangs, she tried to lash out at Rodger and anyone who was close enough to her. She snapped her jaws several times, trying in vain to seize someone in her jaws in an attempt to defend herself, but everyone managed to steer clear of her teeth. Suddenly, someone struck at her with an open palm. Her cheek stinging in pain, Michelle looked over to see who had struck her and noticed that it was Fiona who had done so. Michelle's eyes widened in shock.

"Stop that!" Fiona growled, her hand still raised in the air. "You're just going to make the situation worse for yourself if you do that again!" She raised her hand even higher to prove her point. Michelle's eyes widened in fear and she quickly shut her mouth and lowered her head. Happy to see that Michelle understood her, Fiona lowered her hand slowly, putting it back on her side. "I'm glad to see that we understand each other."

Suddenly, Michelle attempted to struggle again. She jerked her body left and right, trying to free herself from Rodger's grasp. She eventually managed to get him to let go of her with one arm, although he still had a hold of her. Before she could jerk another time to get free, she felt someone grab one of her bound arms and pulled her back into position. She looked over to see Caruso. Then someone else grabbed her other arm. She looked over to see Buzz, who was glaring at her angrily. She quickly looked away. She tried to struggle again, but her efforts were becoming less and less intense, less frequent, and less forceful. She was expending a lot of energy just trying to get away and she was running out of energy fast. Her arms were getting exhausted from trying to free them and her legs were also getting tired from the constant struggling. Finally, she couldn't struggle any longer and nearly became limp on the Dino Squad's arms. If it weren't for the fact that they were holding her up, she would have fallen onto the ground.

Seeing that Michelle was completely subdued, Max stepped towards her. He positioned himself directly in front of her. He continued to move towards her until he was only about a foot away from her. He waited until she looked up at him before he did anything. Once her eyes locked onto his, Max lowered himself so he could be eye level with her. He then spoke in a calm yet assertive voice. "Listen carefully, Michelle. We are just going to take you to the lighthouse for questioning. I suggest you give us your full cooperation and we'll let you go after we're through. If you don't cooperate..." Although it was not necessary, Max flashed his claws in front of her face, close enough so that she could see the sharp tips. "...you could get hurt. Do you understand me?"

Michelle nodded her head slowly, her widened eyes fixated on the claws. "Yes, I do..."

Max straightened up. "That's good that you do understand. But mark my words..." His voice got a little deeper and before he could stop himself, he found himself saying, "..hurt one of my friends, and I'll be sure you won't live to hurt them again..." He quickly shut his mouth after saying that. He didn't know why he had said it. He wasn't trying to hurt Michelle or anything, but he had just now threatened her life. Michelle gasped and cringed away from him when he looked back at her, and Max couldn't help but feel guilty about what he had just said.

But Buzz wasn't as sympathetic as Max was. He seemed a little happy to see Michelle in a frightened state, but he couldn't help but feel that she was just faking it to try and make them feel sorry for her. "Quit your acting, you spy!" He jerked on her arm roughly. "We all know you're just faking it!"

Max grabbed Buzz's arm tightly, trying to assert his authority as leader. "Buzz, don't do that!"

"Why not? She deserves it!" Buzz shouted.

Max let out a long sigh. Then he said, "Look, are we going to take her to the lighthouse or what?"

"How are we going to get there?" Fiona asked. "We don't exactly have a vehicle..and people are going to notice that we are taking a bound girl hostage. We could get reported, and, even worse, cops could come after us!"

Buzz gestured his head in one direction. "We could just walk there. I know a path to the lighthouse from here. We can just call Moynihan and tell her to pick up our vehicles."

"Good idea." Max nodded at Buzz. Then he glanced over at Michelle, and delivered a command directed at those holding her. "Okay, let's head to the lighthouse." All Michelle could do was hang her head in submission as she was forced to walk with the Dino Squad towards the lighthouse. She couldn't help but wonder what they had in store for her there and if she would ever get out...

* * *

"Hmm..." Victor's eyes narrowed as he looked at the scans yet again. They had picked up signs that Michelle was not only at Kittery Point again, but was in dino mode and running in so many directions that it looked almost like she was being chased. She had apparently gone back to human form after she had reached what appeared to be a mall, and after that, no signals appeared on the scanners, nothing of interest anyway. Victor could only guess that Michelle got away, but even that was not a given. If she was after the Dino Squad, and he would be upset with her if she was, she could have been captured because she was outnumbered.

Victor pondered what he should do. He could simply ignore it and move onto other things of more immediate concern. Michelle had dinosaur form, after all, and she could very well take care of herself. If she was captured by the Dino Squad, then she could get herself free from them and get away. She was more capable than many of his other workers and was no pushover once she sets her mind on things. But he couldn't help but feel something was wrong with what he had seen on the scanners. If Michelle had truly gotten away, wouldn't she have gone done afterwards to gain an advantage? That never showed up on the scanners, indicating that it never happened. And what if she couldn't get away? And what kind of things would they question Michelle on?

Well that really wasn't much of a mystery. Victor knew that they were going to try to get her to reveal anything she knew about Raptor Dyne. Anything she was forced to tell them, whether or not it was stuff they probably knew already or did not know, Victor couldn't be sure. There was a lot about Raptor Dyne that the kids probably did not know, but Victor himself wasn't completely sure on everything that they did know about Raptor Dyne. One thing that was definitely a given was that they knew that he had plans to bring back the dinosaurs to replace the humans as the dominant species. And he also knew that they are aware that he often uses Latin as the primary language he uses on his equipment and sometimes even his journals. He chose Latin because he knew of very little humans who could read it and if anyone did stumble upon Raptor Dyne, they wouldn't know what was going on.

But that's not going to stop the Dino Squad from discovering anything if they were to invade Raptor Dyne again in the near future. It was apparent that they had at least a small grasp on Latin and could probably decipher many of his writings, albeit more slowly than a more fluent person like himself could. Yet despite the obvious fact that Latin wouldn't deter the students, Victor had not considered changing the language. It was the rarest language that he could speak; nothing he spoke was more obscure than Latin. At least, as a written language. He had pondered using Velociraptor language at one point, but he found it difficult to make up human words that matched the Velociraptor language precisely. There were sounds that a Velociraptor could make that a human was simply unable to mimic, which was one of the reasons that it would have been impossible to create a Velociraptor language using human words.

Victor's thoughts were interrupted when he heard the sound of the elevator door opening. He knew who it was going to be. He swiveled his chair over and saw Oscura walking into the room. He had called her in not too long ago because of his concerns about Michelle's possible capture. He knew that Oscura was not going to be willing to go rescue Michelle. He knew how very poorly those two got along. So he had thought of a different task for her. And she would probably take some interest in it, as well...

Oscura looked up at the scanners. Since she had just arrived in, she didn't see the blip that was Michelle in dino mode. All she saw was a large, green map showing no activity that was dinosaur-related. Oscura placed her hands on her hips and shook her head slowly. "Nothing exciting today. You'd think that we could do at least one more mutant experiment..."

"The Dino Squad would jeopardize it, like they always have." Victor said, feeling a little angry. "It's been like that ever since they first showed up in that harbor, when that mutant Megalodon had made its first..and only appearance." Victor turned his head up to look at the scans. "They've been a thorn in my side for far too long..."

"Then why don't you just kill them now?" Oscura suggested, shrugging her shoulders. "I mean, if you want them out of your way, why not just deal with them now?"

Victor nodded his head. "In due time, Oscura..In due time... But not now."

"Why not?" Oscura asked, as if she really didn't know the reason.

"You know the reason as well as I do." Victor narrowed his eyes. "I need them alive to obtain blood samples from them first."

Oscura nodded her head. "Oh of course. My bad." She said in an insincere way. Then something else came to her mind. "Did you ever figure out what makes their dinosaur genes so perfect?" She didn't know why she asked that. It just came out of her mouth before she realized what she was saying. "I mean..."

Victor shook his head. "No, I have not. At least, not completely." Victor looked over at Oscura. "I still haven't figured out how you and Michelle got perfect dinosaur modes." Then he leaned in a little closer. "Although perhaps I should also take blood samples from you and Michelle."

"Why?" Oscura questioned.

"You were both contaminated by the same primordial ooze that infected the Dino Squad and their precious canine mutt unless I am mistaken..." Victor said. "Hopefully, after analyzing all the blood samples, I can finally figure out what made the genes so perfect. And once I figure out what it is, a more advanced, perfected primordial ooze will be unleashed, transforming all animal life into dinosaurs!"

"And then what?" Oscura suddenly asked, catching Victor off guard.

"What are you talking about?" Victor asked.

"I mean what do you plan to do after you transform all life? Are you going to destroy cities? Burn down buildings?" Oscura asked, raising up her arms. "I mean, how is this going to work? Surely you thought of this before!"

Victor opened up his mouth to reply, but then paused and lowered his gaze. He honestly hadn't really thought about it. All this time, he was simply focused on trying to figure out how to bring back not only the dinosaurs, but other prehistoric life from sixty-five million years ago. He was focusing on trying to bring back these endangered species and how he was going to succeed in reintroducing them. But it hadn't crossed his mind on what he was going to do after all of that. What was he going to do with all his equipment and his base? Was he going to just destroy it since it would not longer be of use to him? And since he had gotten used to transforming into a human for so long, could he really abandon this power immediately? He shook his head slowly. Of course he could learn to live without it. He was a dinosaur!

Victor snarled at Oscura. "Of course I had thought of it before! But it's really none of your business what I do!" He was lying through his teeth, but Oscura probably didn't know that. "Humans are too curious for their own good! Curiosity killed the cat, as some would say." Victor shook his head as he said that, slightly confused.

Oscura shook her head. She didn't know why she was asking these questions. It was probably just simply curiosity, as Victor suspected, that had gotten the better of her. "Still, it doesn't hurt to ask. It probably wouldn't be a good idea to go through with any plan unless you know how it's going to turn out, or have a backup." Oscura smirked a little as she said that. She could have used this advice earlier when she was trying to get rid of Michelle. She then looked back up at Victor, who was scowling at her. She couldn't help but smile happily. She found herself saying, "You're cute."

Victor's eyes widened a little. "What did you just say?"

Realizing what she just said, Oscura looked away, feeling a little embarrassed. "Oh nothing! I said nothing." She said quickly. But she knew that, even if he didn't question her further on it, Victor was aware that she was slightly attracted to him. Oscura was not too interested in becoming his 'mate' or anything. But she did enjoy his presence. And she was being honest when she said that she thought he looked cute.

Victor decided to return to the matters at hand. He looked back at the scanners. "Do you know why I called you here, Oscura?" He asked her in a soft voice. But he knew what the answer was going to be. She was not going to have any clue, or perhaps she would have an idea, but it would be completely wrong. He looked over at her and awaited for her answer.

Oscura scratched her chin thoughtfully. "Are you going to have me go find Michelle? I know she's been gone for a little while now.." She looked up at the scanners. "And judging from the way you are looking at that thing, you probably spotted her in dino mode shortly before I came in, didn't you?" Oscura asked.

Victor narrowed his eyes and nodded his head. "Yes, but that is not why I called you in." Oscura cocked an eyebrow. "Do you think I am fool in sending you after her? I'm not going to risk letting you two get into a fight again. I do not want to lose either of you because you two are of great value to me..."

Oscura chuckled. "Don't flatter us! You only wanted us here because of our dinosaur forms." Oscura ran her fingers through her black hair. "If it weren't for that, you would have sent us on our merry way and you would never have hired us to be in Raptor Dyne."

Victor ignored Oscura's statement and got right on with what he had wanted her to do. Although it was going to create a drastic change in plans, the reason he decided to make the change was because he did not trust Kista to perform her tasks at the right moment. She was supposed to go get the weapons before she tried to kill Caruso, but knowing her and her love of a challenge, she would likely try to kill Caruso first, thus blowing her cover. So he thought that perhaps he should give the invasion plan to Oscura. She was rather sneaky and could probably pull it off more efficiently than Kista even.

"I was going to send you to the lighthouse." Victor simply said.

Oscura looked confused. She tilted her head and asked, "But, sir, didn't you give that assignment to Kista? I thought she was in charge of that..."

Victor narrowed his eyes. "Do you really expect someone like Kista to perform her jobs as asked? She would probably go after Caruso first and once she does so much as lay a claw on him, the team is going to become wary of her and not allow her to get anywhere near the lighthouse!"

"Not like they are going to trust me any more than her." Oscura said, shaking her head with a small smile on her face. "After what I did to them, it's not likely they are going to let me anywhere near the lighthouse either. So how could sending me be any better?"

"Because I trust you." Victor replied. He looked back over at the scanners on the computer to get the location of the area where Michelle was last spotted. "With how sneaky you can be, you might be able to pull it off. After all, Michelle was able to get into the lighthouse and performed her job as expected." Things might be a little easier than he thought because if the Dino Squad had indeed engaged Michelle, it was miles away from the lighthouse. If Oscura hurried up, she could get into the lighthouse, grab the weapons, and leave before the Dino Squad could return and see what was going on.

Oscura blinked a few times and then a creepy smile came onto her face. That pretty much would make Michelle eat her own words. Victor did still have some trust left in her. And if that is the case, then not only would she win back more of his favor by pulling off this task, but she would also use whatever trust he had left for her to convince him that Michelle was nothing but a useless traitor. Oscura tried her best not to laugh at this. Perhaps soon, very soon, she will finally be rid of Michelle once and for all. "Okay sir. I'll go to the lighthouse, and I promise you, I will not fail..."

"I'm sure you won't..." Victor said, smiling as he watched Oscura take her leave.

* * *

"Oof!" Michelle groaned as she was shoved backwards. She felt herself hit something soft, knowing that it was the couch. The team had brought her into the living room. They weren't very gentle as they kept shoving her to keep up or pushing her back to make sure she did not pass them. And getting into the lighthouse was terrible. She thought she was going to fall down every time she was shoved to and fro to make sure that she stayed in between them. She managed to keep her balance until they got her into the living room, where one of them, Buzz, proceeded to shove her into the couch.

Michelle slowly moved her head up. At first, she eyed the team warily. But she found her eyes wandering, looking around the familiar surroundings. She remembered this place. Even though she was only in here once, the whole place seemed very familiar to her. Her memory was foggy, but she was certain that she was sitting roughly in the same spot as she was when she was being treated. Back then, the team didn't know that she worked for Victor and they seemed so willing to help her. But now things were different. She was not going to get any special treatment this time. She knew that. And when she looked back at them, their expressions almost confirmed her suspicions. There was no sympathy in any of the eyes staring back at her. Only fear and anger.

Michelle wanted to look away. She could not stand staring into those eyes filled with rage and terror. Every time she stared into them, she could feel a cold chill go down her spine and she couldn't help but trembled. She was starting to feel like how she would if she were being interrogated by Victor. Memories of when she endured the war bridle came back to her. She had gotten so terrified back then. She thought she would never have to endure that kind of fear again, but she was quickly proven wrong. If she had only known that Caruso was going to be subjected to that kind of torture, maybe she could have stopped it. She found herself giving a sideways glance to Caruso. Although she could not see very clearly, she could see faint images that she knew were his scars. She gulped, not able to imagine the pain he must have endured.

Michelle's thoughts were interrupted when she felt a shadow being casted on her. She looked up, expecting to see Buzz. But instead it was Max who was looming over her. At first, she didn't know why because it was Buzz who seemed the most eager to question her. Then she realized why he was the one doing the questioning, just as he had before at the football field. He was the leader and he probably took it upon himself to do certain things such as ask questions. She moved a little back into the couch to try and give some distance between her and the jock, who was staring down at her with narrowed eyes. She wondered what he was going to do.

"Here's how it's going to work, Michelle. We ask you questions and you are to answer as quickly as you can. No back sassing, no back talking, just answers. You understand me?" Max asked. Michelle didn't say a word, but she did nod her head. Satisfied, Max leaned a little closer to her and said, "My first question is this. Just what were you doing at the library?"

Buzz growled and rolled his eyes. "Please! We already know why she was there!"

"Shhh! I want to hear her side of the story!" Max growled at Buzz before turning back to Michelle.

Michelle answered Max's question, but she was so frightened that, as she spoke, her voice was tremulous and shaky. "I-I was just th-th-there borrowing a book! That's all! I..I was n-not out looking for C-Caruso.. I didn't even know you g-g-guys were there! I swear!" She insisted, hoping that she could convince one of them that she spoke the truth. She looked over at Caruso. "I-I didn't mean to knock you down, Caruso. I-I-It was an accident! I wasn't l-looking where I was g-going..." She lowered her head a little. "I'm sorry."

Buzz scoffed. "Yeah right! Why do you bother trying to lie to us?!" Buzz moved forward and grabbed Max and pushed him out of the way. Max looked at Buzz, in shock, but he wasn't able to get a word in edgewise when Buzz started yelling at Michelle, unable to hide his anger anymore. "You were the one who told us that you might kill him the next time you saw him! You were the one who said that practically everyone in Raptor Dyne was going to kill Caruso! You were the one who even helped in his capture! You planted that device on him! You lead Victor to the lighthouse!" Michelle cringed at every word. "This is all your fault that this had happened! If it weren't for you, Caruso never would have been kidnapped!"

Michelle opened her mouth to speak, but then Fiona interrupted. "Don't even bother to try to lie about that! We all saw it with our own eyes! Buzz is right. If it weren't for you, none of this ever would have happened! Everything was just fine until you showed up! Ever since you appeared, everything has been going downhill for us!" Fiona tried her best to hide her tears as she thought of what happened to Caruso and to the team when he was captured. "We almost lost someone we held dear... We were torn apart emotionally... And it was all because of you!" She pointed an accusing finger at Michelle, who cringed back even further into the couch, looking up at Fiona and Buzz in horror.

When Michelle didn't answer, Rodger spoke up. He narrowed his eyes at the girl, but didn't move any closer to her, seeing that she was already subdued by both Buzz and Fiona. "Do you deny it...?" He asked in a low voice. He and the others were expecting her to lie, but what she did eventually say took them by surprise.

Michelle's expression slowly went from horror to pained and shame. She closed her eyes and lowered her head. She thought for a few seconds and then slowly shook her head. "..no..I don't deny it. You are all right about that...what you said." She slowly looked up at them, looking at them with eyes filled with guilt and shame about what she had done. "I was the one who put the tracker on Caruso..I was the one who hurt your teacher and destroyed most of your tracking-based equipment... I was the one who helped lead Victor to the lighthouse.. I helped in capturing Caruso..." She let out a deep sigh, closing her eyes again and bowing her head again. "It's true..it's all true..."

The room became silent almost immediately. The Dino Squad couldn't believe what they were hearing. This challenged what they thought they knew about Michelle. Not even Buzz had anything to say to that. He and the others could not accuse her of lying; what she had said was the truth and she was acknowledging it. She didn't try to come up with some kind of excuse to squeeze her way out of the situation she found herself stuck in. She didn't try to give off some witty remark to make them angry at her or frighten them or anything. The Dino Squad had expected her to lie. They thought she would try anything in her power to make them believe that she truly was never involved in any of those activities. But she did not and, to the shock of some of them, she actually looked as if she was a little guilty about what she had done.

Fiona and Max's expressions softened up. They abandoned their somewhat hostile postures and started to move a little bit away from Michelle. They both started feeling a little guilty about how they treated her, but not by much. They were still furious with her about what she did. But the fact that she had admitted her wrong doings instead of trying to lie about them had impressed them a bit. It must have taken a lot of courage for Michelle to admit what she did in front of them. Perhaps Michelle was not as deceiving as they thought and perhaps she wasn't just a liar out to destroy anyone she came across. Perhaps there was a chance that they had misjudged her, even just slightly.

But Rodger and Buzz remained unconvinced. They had to admit that it was a bit impressive that Michelle had confessed her crimes. But they did not see it as her actually feeling guilty about what she did. They believed she couldn't feel guilty about it at all; feeling no pity or sympathy for anyone. They believed that she only confessed her wrong doings so that they would trust her a little more and then she could spring yet another trap. After the way that she had tricked them a few weeks ago, they were not about to take any more chances with her. They just couldn't afford it. Anything and everything Michelle said could very well be a lie.

"Okay..so you admitted to that..." Buzz said, his eyes narrowing dangerously. "But that still doesn't' mean that we should trust anything else that you say! The last time that we bothered listening to you..." He closed his eyes tightly, not wanting to think about what had happened weeks ago. He closed a fist tightly, shaking in anger. "You won't get away with something like that ever again! I promise you that!" Michelle looked up at him horror. But Buzz and Rodger only glared down at her unsympathetically.

Max noticed Michelle's discomfort and quickly moved forward. He placed his hand on both Buzz and Rodger and gently pushed them away. "Come on, you guys. That's enough." He said before looking down at Michelle. Michelle looked a little surprised that Max wasn't glaring at her this time and she thought that maybe she was finally getting through to someone. Then Max did something that the others were not expecting. He knelt down in front of Michelle until he was eye level with her, rather than looming over her like he and the others were before. Then he spoke in a voice that was nonthreatening and calming, and lacking any anger that it had earlier. "From how you told us those things...it sounded like you didn't want to do them..."

Michelle's eyes widened a little. How did Max know that? Perhaps the way she had spoken, yes, that probably could have given herself away, somehow. Or maybe it was the way she had acted. But that would have only revealed she was feeling guilty right that second. Nonetheless, Michelle took in a deep breath and slowly nodded her head. "Yes, you are correct...Max." She felt a little bad that she had nearly forgotten Max's name. "I do feel bad about what I had done. I never wanted to do it. If I ever had a choice, I would never have done the things that I did..."

"Then why did you do it?" Fiona asked softly.

Michelle closed her eyes. "Because I..I didn't have a choice. I was forced to do it. If I didn't do it, I would have been..." She stopped herself and took in a deep breath again. "...do any of you know what it is like working for a Velociraptor?" Then her expression hardened slightly. "Oh but of course you know what it is like. You all work for one..." She shook her head. "Victor Veloci is just...cruel and insane... He is nothing but a monster..."

"Then why do you still work for him?" Max asked, cocking an eyebrow. "If you don't like working for him, why not just quit?"

"Do you know what he even does to traitors and people who turn their back on him?" Michelle asked in a frightened voice. "It's obvious that you do not. Well let me go ahead and sum it up for you. Those who leave him are threatened with death and those who betray him are killed. It's as simple as that. That's how Victor keeps his company's true intentions so secret. That's why you don't see anyone try to protest against Raptor Dyne. Those who try to are...taken care of as quickly as possible..."

"Well you could have still tried to get out out of there." Max said, tilting his head slightly in one direction. "From what you said, people who quit do seem to survive; it is just those who outright betray him that are killed. Am I correct?"

Michelle nodded her head. "Partly. I've only ever known him to kill traitors. But I have heard rumors that some people that failed him, or quit on him, were also killed to ensure the secrecy of his company."

"Then why not just take the chance and quit?" Max leaned a little closer to her. His eyes narrowed slightly, but not in anger. "I am being serious about this Michelle. You could have taken the chance and just quit. Chances are, Victor would not have pursued you if he believed you wouldn't talk about Raptor Dyne to anyone. You could have gotten out of the mess you claim you are currently in. You could have prevented much of this from happening if you had just quit when you started having doubts."

Michelle flinched slightly. Max was correct. She could have quit much earlier on. She could have went back to a normal life, albeit in fear of running into Victor again. She could have saved herself from having to endure all of this nowadays. But she had remained at Raptor Dyne. It wasn't that she had never thought about getting out of this situation. It was that she was still afraid of trying to quit. And it was not only the consequences that she was worried about. There was something else in the mixture that made quitting even more difficult. "The fact that I can turn into a dinosaur makes quitting even harder." She explained. "Victor sees my dinosaur transforming abilities as an asset and considers me and Oscura too valuable to allow either of us to simply leave. If I tried to quit, considering what I am capable of, I don't know how Victor will react. He could be enraged..." Michelle bowed her head. "That's another reason why I never quit."

"I highly doubt that..." Rodger said. He was clearly angry, but his voice was surprisingly well controlled. "If you claim that Victor puts value in you and Oscura, then why did he treat Caruso the way that he had? Why did he torment him? Treat him like some..some wild animal? Why did he almost kill him?" Rodger wasn't sure if he could believe Michelle's claim. If Victor truly did put value in those who can transform, then wouldn't he have treated Caruso a little better? And if that kind of treatment was what Victor called 'gentle', then he would hate to see what his idea of 'harsh' was.

"Caruso was...is part of the Dino Squad." Michelle said, raising her head up a little higher. "Since he is the enemy, Victor didn't think that he could..." Her voice trailed off. She didn't know what she was talking about all of a sudden and lost her train of thought. She shook her head. "Never mind it now."

But that only made Rodger more suspicious. He wondered if Michelle was lying, which would not have surprised him in the least. Perhaps she was just trying to cover something up, and if this was true, what was she trying to hide from them? "I still don't believe you. You aren't making any sense..."

Michelle narrowed her eyes at him. "Let me try to answer your questions with one of my own. Let's say you had some kind of..I dunno company. Let's say you put value in a certain trait, and want to especially keep those kind of people on your team. Now let's say you had an arch enemy who had the same kind of traits that you wanted, and you capture this arch enemy." She tilted her head to one side. "Now, would you treat that person like you would the other workers because of what they can do? Or would you treat them like the enemy? You and I both know what the answer to that is going to be..."

Rodger opened up his mouth to speak. But he could only mutter indistinct words that sounded more like grumbles than words. He hated to admit it, but Michelle was right. Being an enemy or a friend did make a huge difference. That was probably what she was talking about earlier. Victor knew Caruso was an enemy and that was why he had treated him differently from his dino-morphing workers. But that was still no excuse to treat Caruso so cruelly and so inhumane. In fact, there was no excuse at all for doing such things to a kid, or to anyone for that matter.

Then Rodger asked something that took Michelle off guard. "If you did not want to do those things.. If you did not want to help Victor put Caruso through all that pain.. then why did you never put your foot down and do something? I hate to admit it, but you have proven yourself to be clever at times. You could have devised a way to free Caruso..."

"Well that's obvious. She didn't bother trying to help him because she wanted him to go through that pain!" Buzz hissed.

"I..." But Michelle couldn't come up with anything to say. Rodger was right; she did have every opportunity to help Caruso. She could have figured out a way to get him out of there, if she truly wanted to. She made no protest against what Buzz said. For once, she wondered if he was right after all. She did recall being so frustrated about Caruso's behavior. Perhaps she did want to see him hurt. Perhaps she wanted to see him suffer just so that she wouldn't have to listen to his annoying remarks again. But she did warn him however. And if only the boy had listened to her, his pain would have been more limited. Yet he chose to disregard her advice and look what happened!

"See?! She can't even deny it!" Buzz shouted. He was about to continue, but Rodger stopped him, a hand lifted up in the air.

"Stop it, Buzz. Let's just get this interrogation over with." Rodger closed his eyes. He was more interested in helping Caruso than he was in getting even with Michelle. If Michelle had any more information that they could use, they are not going to get it if they continue yelling at her or do any physical harm to her. "So you have no explanation for that, Michelle? You don't know why you had failed in helping him?"

"Well..I did try..." Michelle started to say slowly, her eyes downcast. "I really did..."

"Oh really? And what did you do?" Buzz folded up his arms. "Open up his cage door and then close it right off the bat so he could not escape? Just to tease him?"

Michelle flinched at that remark, but quickly shook her head. "No, that is not what I did." She glanced over at Caruso, who had remained silent most of the time. "You know very well what I did, don't you, kid? You know I did try to help you, but you shot down my advice." Her voice grew a little more stern with each passing second. Caruso looked at her, tilting his head in confusion. But the fear was still in his eyes. "I can see it in your eyes..you know that it's true don't you?" Her voice was sounding a little darker at this point, and there was a hint of anger in her voice. Her teeth baring slightly, she said, "You should have listened to me..."

Narrowing her eyes, Fiona moved herself in front of Caruso. "Don't you dare talk to him like that!"

"What gives you the right to say those things to him?!" Buzz snapped. He had also moved in front of Caruso, hoping to keep Michelle from looking at him in the manner that she was, cold and dark. "He's been through enough already!"

Max joined in, feeling angry with how Michelle was suddenly acting. She was doing so well earlier, but now she had just made everyone, including him, angry with her. How could she act in such a way towards him after what he had suffered through? If she truly didn't want to hurt him, why would she act in this way? "Hasn't he suffered enough already, Michelle? He had gone through..horrible..horrible torture... He was almost killed..! How could you...?"

Michelle growled under her breath. She was starting to feel so angry and frustrated that she found it almost impossible to control herself. These students were starting to remind her of how Caruso was acting when he was a prisoner of Veloci. She understood why they were upset with her, however. She was acting a little unfairly towards Caruso. But she couldn't help but seethe in anger that Caruso had disregarded her advice and it took the war bridle to make him stop. She glared at Max straight in the eyes. Unable to hold back her anger any further, she found herself saying something that she would regret the moment she was finished shouting it.

"And he deserved it! I had warned him what might happen to him if he continued on with his attitude! But no! He chooses to disregard my warnings and continue acting like the selfish jerk that he is! That scoundrel! That pathetic weakling! He brought it all on himself! If he had just listened to my warning, maybe he would have been better off! It's his fault this happened to him! He was asking for it..!" Michelle's better judgment was trying to tell her to stop, but she continued on her rant. "He deserved all of it! The bridle! The torture! The pain! He deserved it after the way he had been acting! It was all his fault!"

Michelle finally managed to stop herself, her eyes wide with shock with what she had just said. Her breaths came in short, sharp gasps. If her hands were free, she would have been covering her mouth in shock. The Dino Squad were glaring at her. Some were shaking in rage. She could tell that some of them wanted to lung at her, tear out her throat if at all possible. But they held back, yet for how long that was going to last, Michelle was not sure. Their rage-filled eyes bore through her own, causing her to feel a cold shudder down her spine. She immediately pressed herself as far back into the couch as she could, her lower jaw trembling visibly as she tried to apologize for her harsh words. "I-I'm so sorry! I didn't mean anything I said! I..."

But it was already too late. The Dino Squad were no longer in a listening mood. Michelle realized that she had gone way too far with what she had said and an apology was not going to work. As they suddenly advanced on her, Michelle heard one last thing before she was suddenly in pain. "It's too late for an apology! You just blew your chance! So why should we listen to you now?!" The voice came from Buzz. Then Michelle felt something crash into her, pinning her down on the couch. And then pain erupted from different parts of her body and she let out a loud scream of pain.

AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!

* * *

Peter was sitting down in the lunch room. Victor was not very pleased that he had come back with an arm that was still broken. He didn't think Peter would be of much use to him in that condition. But, seeing how eager Peter was to return to work after a few weeks stuck in a hospital bed, Victor decided to allow him to stay. But he was to be restricted in only a few areas of Raptor Dyne that required the least amount of physical labor. At first, one would think that Victor cared about Peter's well-being. But the truth was Victor only cared about preventing further injury to Peter's dinosaur form. There weren't many dinosaurs in Raptor Dyne and Victor felt value in those who did have dinosaur forms, with the exception of the Dino Squad of course.

It was very difficult for Peter to obtain his food with just one arm. Luckily, another member of Raptor Dyne was kind enough to grab his food for him, as well as the silverware that he needed. Peter thanked the man as he sat down to eat his meal. The member simply turned and walked away without saying a word. Peter narrowed his eyes in the man's direction. How rude, he thought. Oh well, at least he was kind enough to help him get his meal. Peter held the fork in his hand and began scooping up a dish of seasoned white rice that was on the plate. Peter was not much of a fan of rice, but after eating nothing but hospital food for a while, any food was welcoming to him.

As Peter ate his food, he let his mind wander to Victor. When he had first arrived back at Raptor Dyne, the man seemed to be in somewhat of a hurry. He was pacing back and forth, his mind on something, as if he was worried. But when he tried to ask Victor what was wrong, Victor would simply glare at him and tell him it was not of his concern. Although tempted to keep urging Victor until he told the truth, Peter decided it was best to listen to the guy and stopped pressing him for information. He knew what might happen if he continued to upset him with repeated, constant questions. But Peter was still interested to know what was wrong and wondered if it had anything to do with Oscura, or even Kista. If not those two, then likely something to do with the Dino Squad.

His mind then went to Kista. Oh how he hated that woman. She had driven him insane several times in the past. And the way that she showed up in his hospital room uninvited, that really angered him. When he first met Kista, he thought she was all right. But as time went on, as she revealed more and more of herself and her personality, Peter slowly began to dislike her. Kista would often say big words that were irrelevant to the conversation and when questions about it, she would go off boasting her intelligence and say how whoever she was talking to is too stupid to understand her superior intellect. She was such a show-off and she was too stubborn to realize her own mistakes. The only thing that he liked about her was that she was not as crazy as Oscura was.

But still, Peter couldn't help but wonder how Victor came across Kista in the first place. She was not like the other members of Raptor Dyne. She shared a lot with Victor. In fact, they had a lot in common, more than what other people might think at first glance. Kista might be annoying, but she did bring a lot to Raptor Dyne and she was very loyal to Victor, much to Victor's delight. Kista took no time to 'tame' as some other people at Raptor Dyne did. She had joined up willingly and almost immediately looked upon Victor as the leader. There were very few times Peter recalls Kista ever questioning Victor, and each time it never seemed to escalate enough for her to get hurt. He wondered if that was because Kista was careful with what she said or if it was because Victor was, somehow, afraid of her. It was probably a combination of both, and knowing how Kista is, Peter couldn't really blame Victor for possibly fearing her, even though fear was not something he normally saw the raptor express.

The one he was most concerned about, however, was Oscura. Just like Kista, she didn't really need any 'taming' or discipline. She was eager to join Raptor Dyne as well, but for a different reason than Kista. While Kista joined simply to try to find a challenge in her life, Oscura joined simply for the power that a dinosaur form would give her. She was always a pretty violent person from what he remembered, but not long after she joined Raptor Dyne, something happened that took Peter off guard. Oscura became even more violent. This was evident in the way that she treated Michelle, the way they would sometimes break into fights. Although Victor had tried to enforce a rule to prevent them from fighting, every so often, they would go at it with one another. But it would usually end in a stalemate or an interruption. Peter can't recall a time when one of them actually did win. But knowing how the two are with each other, he was happy that neither of them would win.

Peter was glad at Oscura would never become leader of Raptor Dyne. He knew that Victor would never allow this to happen, although he was not sure what Victor had in mind if the time came when he was killed. Raptor Dyne might fall out of order or someone, perhaps Kista, would take over his position. But Victor had said, at least once, to Peter that he was not going to allow Oscura to take over Raptor Dyne. While his violence sometimes impressed her, it also concerned him. Oscura didn't have as much control over her aggression as Victor himself did. And if she couldn't control it, she was more liable to lash out at someone, which could cause her to lose many of Raptor Dyne's members. And if she were to take charge, she would probably unleash a full scale attack on cities, revealing the true intentions of the company and jeopardizing the whole mission of bringing back the dinosaurs.

Peter was interrupted by his thoughts with the sound of footsteps. He quickly turned around and looked at the door to the kitchen. He couldn't see any shadow, but he heard the footsteps coming closer and closer to the door. After a few moments, he could see a shadow being casted on the door. Peter narrowed his eyes. He wondered if it might be Oscura. If it was, he would just have to look away and continue eating, hoping that she wouldn't try talking to him. Or maybe it was Kista...no, it couldn't be. Kista was out somewhere, probably just hanging out or looking for something. But either way, she hadn't reported back to Raptor Dyne yet and her car wasn't outside either. And it couldn't be Michelle either; Victor had been wondering why she wasn't back yet although he didn't sound too concerned. But then, who could it be?

The door opened up, and the person stepped inside. Peter's eyes widened slightly and he felt a smile tug at his face. It was just Zoom, his old friend. Zoom looked surprised to see Peter at the lunch table and smiled back. He made his way over to the table, forgetting about grabbing his own food, and sat down next to Peter. "Hey, Peter! I wasn't expecting to see you here." He looked at his arm, eyes narrowed in concern. "They let you go with a broken arm?"

Peter placed his hand on his cast. "Well no..I just left. I couldn't stand it there, you know, cooped up for weeks with nothing to do..."

"You should have stayed there, though. What if something were to happen..?" Zoom asked.

Peter narrowed his eyes. "You're starting to sound like that nurse who tried to stop me from leaving. Look, I'm fine! I can take care of myself!"

Zoom grimaced and pulled back, his arms out in front of him defensively. "Sheesh! Calm down! I was just worried about you. Is that a crime?"

Peter's expression softened. "No..I suppose it isn't." He turned back to his plate and scooped up another pile of rice and put in his mouth and started to chew.

"So..how long do you think it will be until you can transform again?" Zoom asked absentmindedly. Peter shot him a glare and Zoom flinched again. "What's with the attitude?"

Peter closed his eyes and looked away. "I'm sorry, Zoom. I'm just..worried that's all. I don't know what's going to happen." He reopened his eyes and his voice grew dark. "And I want to get my hands on that kid who tricked me..."

Zoom's head perked up in curiosity. "What do you mean? What happened?"

"The Dino Squad." Peter said. Immediately, Zoom understood what Peter was talking about. He did recall that the Dino Squad had a confrontation with Peter and they were the ones who caused him to break his leg. "One of them tricked me into revealing information. He tricked me into thinking those..Chillers and Spillers were deadly. But I was recently informed that they're as harmless as water!"

Zoom's eyes narrowed angrily. "Why those little..." He shook his head. Then he told Peter something that he wanted to keep a secret from Victor. "If it makes you feel any better, O'Ryan and I are plotting a way to get back at those kids. He and I also have a bone to pick with them."

Peter looked at Zoom. "I appreciate you trying to cheer me up. But.." Peter looked at the food on his plate. "There is a problem. Victor... You know he's not going to want you going off killing the youngsters. At least..not until he gets that blasted DNA from them."

Zoom nodded his head. "Yes, yes, I am quite aware of that Peter. That's why I'm hoping to convince O'Ryan to delay his..vengeance act a little longer." Then he realized what Peter had said. "And who said that we were going to kill them?"

"It just sounded like..." Peter started to say.

"I thought that was Victor's job." Zoom said, narrowing his eyes slightly. "I thought he was the one who wanted to kill them. Then again..I never heard him say that he actually wanted to kill them..."

Peter leaned back in his chair, dropping the fork onto the plate. He moved a leg over the other, crossing them as he looked over his shoulder at Zoom. "I am pretty sure he wants to get their DNA first. He does have interest in duplicating the results of the experiment they were subjected to. The only way to do that is to get the DNA from them and study it." He took in a deep sigh. "Somehow, I think their perfected DNA has something to do with my nanomachines that I had developed for Victor before. He thought they were a failure, but it seems now he realized they just might be linked to the 'perfect dinosaurs'."

"Oh really? I didn't know you developed nanomachines." Zoom said, slightly curious. "How do they work?"

"They simply rebuild the DNA from the molecular level." Peter explained. "It was designed so that Victor would be one step closer to perfecting his experimental DNA."

Zoom nodded his head, understanding what Peter was saying. "Ah, I see. But regardless of the nanomachines, it's evident that the ooze that they were in was the one that created the 'perfect dinosaurs', isn't it?" Peter nodded his head slowly and then held his fork up again and took another bite of the rice. "So why haven't you gone after them yet? Why did you people wait until now to go capture those students? I mean, you found out not too long ago that they were human..." Zoom held up his arms in confusion. "Why didn't you just go after them right away? Surely you would have been able to..."

Peter shook his head. "No, we could not have. Just because we knew that they were human does not mean that we would've been able to track them down so quickly."

"But what of Caruso? I hear that you captured him only about..what..a day after you found out the truth?" Zoom said, scratching the back of his head. "If you could figure out who he was so quickly, then why didn't you just...?"

Peter interrupted him. "That boy was different!" He pointed his fork in Zoom's direction, jabbing so violently that Zoom thought it was going to break free from the man's good arm and strike him in the shoulder. "Victor had gone to the school and had talked to someone about him. You see, Victor suspected that one of the 'perfect dinosaurs' went to Kittery High, and he spoke with one of the football players to see if he can confirm this. The football player gave enough information, including a name, and that's how Victor was able to find him and his friends. But he does not yet know the identities of all of them."

Zoom looked to the table. "Oh...I see..." He started to feel stupid. How could he have been so foolish? He gazed over at the food that was laid out to whoever wanted it. Zoom decided to go get himself something to eat. He hadn't eaten in several hours, not since he had left O'Ryan for the day. He made his way towards the food, grabbed a plate, and got some chicken, vegetables, and mashed potatoes. It didn't look too appetizing, and they were slightly cool, but he was hungry enough to eat it anyway. He sat back down next to Peter. As he grabbed a drumstick and began to munch on it, he glanced over at Peter. "So...do you think you'll be able to get revenge on whoever had tricked you like that?"

Peter picked up a napkin and wiped his mouth. "That, I'm not too sure of, I admit." He looked over at Zoom. "But it wouldn't hurt to try, don't you think? And it's not just me those pesky brats had angered. Victor himself had once stated that he was tired of them getting in the way of his plans. Once those kids have had their DNA extracted and then killed themselves, there'll be nothing to stop Raptor Dyne from succeeding!" He grinned darkly.

"Well..doesn't it seem..kind of harsh?" Zoom said as he picked up his spoon to eat some of the mashed potatoes. Peter eyed him with a weird, confused expression. "I mean, think about it. Do we really want to condemn all of humanity to death?"

Peter was shocked and said, "Where did you hear that? That's not what Victor told us. He said that some humans will be..."

Zoom interrupted him. "I heard what he said as well. And from I heard, he wants to wipe out all humans and replace them with dinosaurs." He twirled his spoon slowly in the mashed potatoes, starting to lose his appetite slightly. "He probably doesn't even think humans are worthy of being dinosaurs, especially after all we have done to the planet..."

"Well if that's true, why did he turn me into a dinosaur?" Peter said, his eyes narrowed dangerously. "And why would anyone here work for Victor Veloci if he was just going to wipe them out in the end?"

Zoom paused for a moment to think and then replied, "Hmm..perhaps you do have a good point there, Peter. But still...I can't help but worry about that guy sometimes." He shook his head slowly. "Maybe I'm just being paranoid.. especially after... what Kista did." He shuddered at the memory.

Peter seemed to understand. "Ah..so she did that with you, did she?" He let out a frustrated sigh. "That woman will never learn, now will she? Even Victor doesn't want her going around doing that to the workers of Raptor Dyne. Victor knows that when humans are frightened too much, they don't work as well as they usually would. So he had tried to keep Kista from doing that, and yet she still continued anyway. That was proven by you."

"I thought she was going to eat me." Zoom shuddered.

Peter let out a long, humor-filled laugh. He was laughing so hard that he almost dropped the silverware from his hand. "My, my, Zoom, aren't you such a worrywart! Dr. Veloci would never allow that to happen. Not even he would touch human meat that often. And trust me, you'd have to do something pretty bad in order to make Victor even think about eating you!" Zoom's eyes were still wide with fear, and Peter's laugh slowed to a soft chuckle. "Trust me, Zoom. You're in no danger. If Kista tried to eat you, I can assure you that Victor will see to it that she's punished. She knows her place her in Raptor Dyne."

Zoom closed his eyes and reopened them. "I can still see those teeth..." He said absentmindedly, his voice a little shaky as he spoke. "I-I can't get them out of my m-mind..."

"Come on, Zoom... This doesn't sound like you at all." Peter wanted to try and comfort his friend. He didn't like seeing Zoom like this. Zoom wasn't the type of person to get frightened this easily, to give into his fears this easily. Had what Kista done to him been that bad? The next time he saw Kista, Peter made a promise to himself that he would have a talk with her and set things straight with her. But for now, he decided to change the subject a little, to try and get the blond man's mind off of Kista. "So..how are things going in with O'Ryan? You two figure out a plan or something?"

Zoom slowly set down his spoon and turned to face Peter. "Well, yes we did. Well sort of..it's not fully planned out yet. But it involves trying to find those kids and record footage of them."

Peter said, "That sounds...sort of lame. No offense. How is that going to help you get revenge?"

Zoom smiled softly. "Yes, yes. I had a feeling you'd say that. But what we decided on ultimately was this: We record the footage of them transforming, perhaps even causing public damage even if it was an accident, and make it look like it was done on purpose. Through some editing we could do that... And once it's been posted on the internet and television, everyone would know that they are dinosaurs! They will be shunned from society and hunted down like the animals they truly are!" Zoom's evil smile spread across his face. "There would be no place they could go and no place to hide. They'd have no choice but to surrender to Raptor Dyne."

Peter was shocked by this plan. "That's sounds so...so..."

"Brilliant? Genius?" Zoom said, smirking proudly at the plan that he and O'Ryan both developed together. "I'm telling ya, it took us a while to come up with that plan!"

"..dangerous." Peter finished his sentence.

Zoom fell silent. "..what?"

"Don't get me wrong. It is a nice plan and all.." Peter couldn't help but feel a little doubtful about the plan. What if something were to go horribly wrong? "But wouldn't that jeopardize our plans instead of enhancing them? What if the police and military go after the kids? They'd be killed before we can capture them to extract their DNA!"

Zoom felt stupid again. He had forgotten about that. Then his eyes widened slightly as another idea he recalled being mentioned before came back to him. "Well, everyone looks up to Dr. Veloci, do they not?"

Peter scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Well yes...almost everyone, anyway. But what does that got to do with..."

"What if Victor poses as some kind of hero? What if he says that he'll rid the city of these monsters? He could capture them and tow them away and the city would think he was hero. It would up his public image and make people trust him even more!" Zoom explained. He hoped that he was finally getting through to Peter, to make him understand where he was coming from. "Don't you think that could work, Peter? Victor could convince the authorities that he could catch the 'perfect dinosaurs'... Or just as good, he could allow the authorities to try and capture the dinosaurs, but to bring them to him as soon as possible."

Peter scratched the back of his head, still feeling slightly doubtful. But Zoom's idea did sound like it could work if executed properly. "Well yeah..I suppose it could work.. But what if something were to go wrong? What if someone accidentally killed the 'perfect dinosaurs' before they could be transported to Victor? What then?"

Zoom slowly shook his head. "Hey, look. Will you stop worrying? O'Ryan and I are working out all the kinks in the plan. Hopefully, it will be perfected by tomorrow."

Peter asked, "So when will you put the plan into effect? When will you start following those kids around and get footage of them transforming?" He couldn't help but chuckle a little. "It's not like they are going to just show up on your doorstep tomorrow and willingly transform right in front of you. Oh no...they'd know it was a trap." He leaned a little closer to Zoom. "So tell me..how do you plan on pulling it off?"

"Oh don't worry about that..." Zoom said softly. "We have also figured out a plan to get them to transform where we want them to..."

"And what plan would that be?" Peter asked, sounding quite interested in the idea.

"Simple." Zoom grinned. "We just need the right kind of..bait..."

* * *

Moynihan was so startled by the sudden scream that she almost lost her balance and fell to the ground. Rump looked up at her, his ears folded back nervously. He gave a few uneasy barks at her, his head tilted as if he wasn't sure what was going on. Moynihan adjusted the glasses her face and looked towards the door. She couldn't recognize whose scream that was. It was feminine-sounding, but she wasn't sure if it was Fiona or not. It didn't sound entirely like her. But she was the only other female in the lighthouse, so it was likely her. Moynihan wondered what could have happened. She made her way towards the door and opened it up. Rump followed suit, keeping close to her feet.

As Moynihan walked down the stairs, she caught a strange scent in the air. She took in a few sniffs. No, this wasn't a strange, unknown odor. She had scented it before, weeks ago. It was similar to the smell she detected when she was treating Michelle's blood. In fact, this scent smelled exactly like her blood. But why was it here in the lighthouse? Shouldn't the scent of dissipated by now? The only way to get it back was either if Michelle was back or if the kids had gotten into a fight with her. Realizing the situation might be more serious than she thought, Moynihan quickened her pace down the spiral stairs as fast as she could. She wasn't sure what to expect when she got down there. But the matter was too urgent for her to just brush it off.

When she finally got down the steps and was able to see the living room, Moynihan froze in her tracks, horrified at the site. It was nothing like she had imagined was going on. For a second, she thought her eyes were playing tricks on her, but after rubbing her eyes as hard as she could and looking again, the site remained the same. Moynihan was in total disbelief in what she was seeing. She could see Michelle, but to her surprise, it was Michelle who was in trouble. She was pinned down by the Dino Squad. They were either gripping her arms so tightly that they would bleed, or striking her or scratching her with their dinosaur claws. Blood was streaming down her body from many locations but it didn't look like she had lost too much blood. Moynihan looked at Michelle and could see a look of fear and pain on her face as she struggled to get away, her legs kicking at the ground. At first Moynihan wondered why she wasn't using her arms, but then it dawned on her. Her arms had been bound behind her back...