Chapter 28 – Cromulent:
Author's Note:
For those of you concerned about the Raptors in the last chapter, just know that they are currently both alive and dead (heh, Schrodinger's Raptors) because I have yet to decide which ones I want to live and which ones to die. So please, Enjoy!
XXX
As Dr. Freeman descended the steps of the stage, he concentrated on trying to help Saber. She was still locked in a life or death struggle against the other Indominus, and Dr. Freeman was doing his best to help. Except there was very little he could do from this far away.
Cursing under his breath, he tried once more to breech the mind of the other Indominus. "What you see there is little more than a puppet," Gordon remembered King saying. Which meant someone had to be controlling it. Another psychic, no doubt.
And from this range, the shield the psychic had put around the puppet Indominus was too strong to break. Dr. Freeman would have to get closer. But first... he would have to deal with King. He headed towards the exit of the auditorium, unconcerned with Masrani's safety.
Masrani had passed out, but would likely regain consciousness when Gordon left the immediate vicinity. Dr. Freeman sighed to himself, he would have a lot of explaining to do when this was all over. He flinched and closed his eyes tightly when that one dark voice in the back of his head spoke.
What if you're forced to run again?
Never, Gordon growled to himself. He would never abandon Saber... not like he did Marie and her sister. Dr. Freeman's eyes opened slowly to find someone blocking his path. He was relatively surprised to see it was Mary.
She was panting heavily, as if she had just ran a marathon, and she was trembling under the might of Freeman's released state. She had felt the burst of alpha waves while she was still unconscious on the stairs. The initial blast had woken her up.
But as she got closer and closer to the source, she had begun to sweat and shake. And now she stood before the source, doing her best to even remain standing. Dr. Freeman was a mere five meters away from her.
"So you're awake," Gordon observed. He set King down on the ground, not wanting to be weighed down during the inevitable conflict.
"You can't keep me down," Mary glowered at him. She took a deep breath, at least as deep as one as she could, it was very difficult to breath in the auditorium, and waved her hands at the good doctor.
From her fingers, a wave of white fire rushed forth to envelope the good doctor. Gordon did not flinch as the white flames consumed him and hid his figure from her. Mary began to laugh loudly, "How do you like that?! Each time your mind comes into contact with mine, I get stronger!"
Her giggling was silenced as the flames dispersed. She saw Dr. Freeman still standing and in good health, completely unimpressed by her fire. Now that she got a good look at Dr. Freeman, she could see the blood pouring from his eyes.
Unlike regular people, who could only feel Dr. Freeman's immense power, Mary could see it. The violet maelstrom that surrounded the good doctor was dense, like a shield. It was so dense that it was difficult to see the good doctor with her mind, he was just a hazy silhouette.
"It's true that I cannot manipulate the real world as I see fit, but I do not need to. When I let loose my true strength, the density of my alpha waves protect me from harm. Your fire cannot touch me," Gordon said menacingly.
He began to approach the now terrified Mary. She panicked and did the only thing that she could think of, keep trying to burn him. Fire blazed around her and rushed towards the good doctor. But the flames were quenched in his path. Mary began to back up, still blasting fire from her hands, until she hit a wall.
She shrieked in fear when Gordon continued to come closer. She grabbed the only thing she could see with her powers and flung it at him, a garbage can. She then continued to try and set him alight.
The garbage can bounced off Gordon's physical shield and rolled to a stop next to Mary. Gordon took one more step, encasing Mary in his center-most, densest layer of alpha waves. She cried out as her mind was assaulted by Gordon's mere presence.
She halted her fruitless attack and focused everything on defense. She continued to pant heavily as Gordon continued to approach. She cried out as blood dripped down her chin. I'm bleeding? She realized.
At last, Dr. Freeman cornered her against the wall. He stood silent for a moment, letting her struggle under the might of his being. Blood continued to pour from her mouth and her eyes began to bleed. She dropped to the ground, unable to take anymore punishment.
Gordon leaned down so that he was on level with her. She flinched from his presence, "You've been deluding yourself, fool. You couldn't win if you tried a thousand times! In the end, King wasn't strong enough to beat me, and if he couldn't do it, you haven't a chance in Hell. You could face me everyday for a thousand years, Marie, and I'd tear you apart each time," Gordon chuckled.
"W-what are y-you going to d-d-do?" Mary sputtered out, barely able to speak with the immense pressure in the air.
Gordon seemed to think for a moment, before menacingly saying, "I'm going to put you in a coma... and send you back to your sister." Mary's eyes widened in horror as the oppressive being bared down on her mind, shattering her weak shield.
She started to cough up blood as Gordon worked delicately to force her into a coma. Darkness overtook her vision as she felt herself slipping away. It did not take long for her to give in to the darkness, and fall into a deep slumber.
Gordon stared at her prone form. White fire still raged around him. Without a master to tell it what to do, the fire was quickly getting out of hand. Pyrokinesis was a risky ability, the fire could only be completely put out by the person who started it.
Blood continued to drip from the good doctor's eyes, and starting to blind him. He became acutely aware of his lack of vision. He let out a startled breath when he felt something tear. It was his own flesh.
Hundreds of tiny cuts appeared on his arms, each of them dripping with the red liquid. His shirt became stained red as his scar across his chest opened up again. He gritted his teeth when he realized that his strength was tearing his body apart.
He had never allowed his powers to go unchecked for this long before. Breathing a deep sigh, he allowed his being to gradually flow back into his mind. After he put his power back under lock and key, pain crashed into him. He wiped blood from his face, but it did not help his blindness..
Ignoring the pain, he made his way back over to where he left King. The man still had a grin on his face. Gordon once again hoisted King up on his shoulders and began to walk out of the building. He paused briefly to consider saving Masrani.
The fire was quickly consuming the entire building, and Masrani might not wake up in time. Gordon stood still for a moment, but ended up leaving the unconscious man and Mary where they lay. Masrani would likely wake up soon, but Mary couldn't be burned by her own fire.
XXX
Claire sighed deeply as she sat back in her chair. It had been several days since anyone had seen Zara. Claire had no idea where the woman had gone. Claire could get her work done without an assistant, but Zara doubled her productivity. Claire enjoyed not having to work until eight PM every day.
So Claire sat alone in her office, going over the numbers for this quarter. She had just finished closing off the Innovation Center like King had asked. She shook her head. King had apparently gotten an anonymous tip that terrorists were going to attack the Center.
Claire had thought it was ludicrous, but then again, terrorists did target their labs. Maybe it was some animal rights activist group that wanted to punish Jurassic World. She honestly didn't care, all she had done was shut down the main Center and beefed up security.
She was more concerned with what the evacuation had done to their projected values for the quarter. Although Jurassic World had released a new asset, the evacuation screwed everything up. Now people who had been rearing to see the Spino-Rex had decided against coming, selling their tickets online.
Attendance was very low at the moment. Claire groaned, things could always get worse. First she's told that the Spino-Rex is likely to die soon, then the labs burning down, and then the evacuation! One disaster after another, but there was still one thing that tugged at her mind more than anything else.
What do you believe in, Claire?
King's words echoed through her mind. He had been adamant that a man like Dr. Freeman was highly dangerous and untrustworthy. The argument that a man who believed in nothing was worth nothing.
My point is, Miss Dearing, that a man like Dr. Freeman cannot be trusted. For all you know, he could be the one causing all these murders around the island.
There's no way that Dr. Freeman killed those people... right? Claire pondered. It was the strangest thing, no one had any idea how all those men died. It seemed as if they had just... collapsed. No heart problems, no open wounds, no internal bleeding... it was as if their brains had just stopped working.
Claire shook her head, now was not the time to wonder if the man who handled Jurassic World's most dangerous asset was just as dangerous as the asset. But there was some twisted part in Claire's mind that found the idea fascinating that a man could be as dangerous as that monster.
There was an air of mystery surrounding the good doctor, and it was magnetizing. Claire could feel herself being drawn in and surrounding in the complicated enigma that was Dr. Freeman. She wanted to know everything, not just who he really was, but what he really was. Even if he was a dangerous serial killer.
Maybe she was more attracted to the mystery than the man. That's why she had agreed to go on the "disaster date" with Owen, it wasn't just his charm. She wanted to know why a man like Owen would want to work with Raptors. How could anyone be that insane?
In the end, she was unsatisfied with her answer. She and Owen just weren't compatible. They didn't get along and they certainly didn't like each other. She knew he actively avoided her, and she did the same. She secretly hoped Dr. Freeman wasn't like that.
Dr. Freeman is an anomaly. You know almost nothing about the man, and yet he handles your most dangerous asset. How do you think he accomplishes this? He must have some sort of power over her, and what if he could use that power to harm people? He is dangerous.
Claire remembered these words well. At first, she was hard-pressed to believe that Dr. Freeman had some sort of secret power, but King spoke as if he knew from personal experience. Do you not know or do you refuse to believe?
That's exactly how she would put it. Masrani had always been convinced Dr. Freeman possessed a unique power over animals, and Claire had just been refusing to believe it. But what if he could use that power to hurt people?
She would admit to knowing just as little about King as she did Freeman, so perhaps his information was biased. Perhaps the good doctor was using this power for good. But what was good? Claire was continually plunging further in further to some mystery she could never hope to solve. Going deeper only confused her more, and this pit was bottomless.
Powers or no powers, he is still dangerous.
Claire clenched her fist. Perhaps Dr. Freeman was dangerous, and maybe he was a murderer. King definitely wanted Freeman to be the murderer, and maybe Claire did too. Maybe if she could get some real answers out of Dr. Freeman, she could actually understand what was going on.
She let out a sigh and leaned further back in her chair. Maybe she just shouldn't think about it. That might be for the best. She would operate under the belief that Dr. Freeman was indeed hiding something, but she would refuse to believe he had killed anyone until he admitted it himself.
There was knock on her door and she yelled out, "Come in!" Thinking that it was Zara, she put a serious expression on her face. She wasn't always completely formal with Zara, but she had been abandoning her duties as of late.
But it wasn't Zara who came through the door, it was the tall Native American man that acted as King's bodyguard. Claire's stern expression became confused as she watched the man walk stiffly towards her desk. "Can I help you?" she asked.
The man did not respond. Instead, he raised his fist and smashed it down on her desk. The desk shattered and split in half, sending Claire into a confused panic. "What are you doing?" she screamed. The man did not respond.
He grabbed her from her chair and tossed her against one of the office walls. There was a deep thud as her body made contact with the wall. She could feel her mind spinning as she struggled to her feet.
She wasn't able to get up, however. The man shoved her to her knees and then grabbed her by her throat. She choked and coughed as she was lifted from the ground and slammed against the wall again. She grabbed a hold of the single hand holding her and tried to pry the hand off her throat. She had little success.
Splotches were starting to appear in her vision as she clawed at the man's arm. The man ignored the scratches and continued to strangle her. In her desperation, she began kicking at him. She kicked at his legs, only to find it was like kicking concrete.
Grimacing the best she could, she aimed higher. She kicked again and her aim was true, striking the man right in his groin. Letting out a gasp of air in surprise, the man let go of Claire and backed away.
Claire collapsed on the ground, dazed. Once she came-to, she tried to crawl away, but the man was already on her again. He grabbed her leg and dragged her into a corner, slamming her against the wall again. She watched in horror as he reached behind his back and pulled out a wicked-looking knife.
The blade was at least a foot long and curved. It looked like a ceremonial blade. The man grabbed Claire's white jacket and wrenched it from her body, leaving her arms bare. She let out a squeak of surprise when his iron grip latched onto her right arm and pinned it against the wall. She struggled again, but could not free herself.
She froze in fear when he pressed the blade against her shoulder. She cried out in pain as he dragged the knife down, cutting into her shoulder and her arm. He stopped at her elbow. He released her and inspected his blade, as if testing if it was still sharp.
She whimpered softly, cradling her bloody arm. He didn't cut that deep, but it was still one of the most painful things Claire had ever experienced. The man tore off his shirt to reveal a white tank top underneath. He then held the knife up to his left shoulder.
She noticed that there was a tattoo of a bear on his shoulder and a thin scar leading from the bear's maw down to his elbow. She realized what he was doing, it was a ritual to him. He had marked her as his prey and now he was going to mark himself as the predator. She watched, still trembling, as he dragged the knife through his own skin in an act of barbarism she had never seen before.
He did not flinch as the knife tore through his flesh. Why would he? He had likely done this dozens of times. Claire would have wondered how many people he had killed if he didn't begin to brandish the knife at her again.
Just as he was going to swing and cut into her, there was a loud BANG! The man staggered and moved just enough to see Hamada standing at the entrance holding the literal smoking gun. Claire had never been happier to see a person before, but the man did not fall nor drop the knife. The shotgun had not killed him.
Hamada pumped the shotgun, but found that it was empty. He tossed it aside and prepared for hand-to-hand combat, but just before the two warriors collided, she could feel something being released. The air was filled with immense pressure as both of the men collapsed to the ground. The tall man even dropped the knife.
Claire's sobbing became chokes, gasping for air. She could barely breath in this oppressive environment. What's going on? She screamed in her head. She didn't know what happened. Suddenly, she was allowed to take a deep breath as the restrictive environment changed. Hamada seemed to be no longer affected either, but the tall man didn't have that luxury.
Control. Power. Strength. Murder. Danger. Dr. Freeman.
Claire lit up when she understood what had happened. It must be Dr. Freeman. This must be the power King was talking about. He was certainly strong, and his aura was significantly more deadly than one would think. Claire didn't want to be anywhere near the good doctor in this state.
But why was he showing off this power now? Was he finally fighting King? Is King telling the truth and he's confronting Gordon about the murders? Claire pondered. But it didn't make sense like that. If Gordon really was a murderer, why would he bother letting her and Hamada free from his oppressive power.
She was so consumed in her thoughts that she almost missed Hamada striking the tall man in the face. Hamada let out a cry of pain when his hand connected with the tall man's face. It was like punching solid steel. The tall man stood, staggering, but not falling, and hit Hamada back.
Claire watched as the two warriors traded blows, though it seemed as if Hamada was losing even with Dr. Freeman's help. The tall man was just too strong. He picked up the former commander and tossed him across the room.
Hamada stood and wobbled slightly. He held up his fists in defense, managing to stay on his feet after the tall man hit him. Although his arms blocked most of the blow, like in boxing, the tall man still pushed Hamada back from the sheer force of the blow. Hamada countered by ducking under the next punch and throwing a mean uppercut.
The tall man seemed to be in only mild discomfort as Hamada collided with the strong jaw. The tall man grabbed Hamada's arm and twisted it hard, Hamada kicked at him and managed to free himself. It was like watching a mixture between bare-knuckle boxing and wrestling.
Hamada was backed against the wall, he ducked again and threw two more punches against the rock hard chest of the tall man. The blows didn't look like they hurt much, but the man backed off, giving Hamada some breathing space. Hamada moved forward and struck at the man's face again.
But the tall man seemed to be ready for that. He dropped down low, dodging the punch, and rammed Hamada, putting his entire weight behind it. Hamada went flying into the wall, causing cracks to appear on the drywall. Hamada stood again, seemingly a glutton for punishment, and raised his fists defensively once more.
The tall man swung his elbow at Hamada's guard, crashing through it and striking Hamada in the face again. It was at that moment, Claire snapped out of her stupor. She had to do something to help Hamada. She noticed that half of her desk was lying near her... maybe...
Hamada was doing his best to hang on. He could feel the left side of his face swelling painfully, and the tall man before him seemed to be taking no damage. Hamada took hit after hit and never went down, but the tall man never ran out of energy.
BANG! For the second time, a loud noise shattered the sound of flesh smashing against flesh. The tall man stumbled as he felt something hit him in his back again. He turned around slightly, dropping Hamada to the ground, to see Claire holding the smoking gun. A revolver that looked too big for her hands.
She always kept a firearm in one of her desk drawers. She had grown up in a gun happy family, having one was a comfort. She had never used it before, but she knew how to shoot. The tall man approached her, no longer concerned about Hamada. She fired again, this time hitting him in the chest.
Blood burst from the wound, so he wasn't wearing a vest. He was literally ignoring the pain. She fired again and again, at his chest, blood spurting forth each time, but he never stopped. She was down to her last bullet. She didn't want to outright shoot him in the head, she just wanted to incapacitate him.
She she aimed her final bullet at his legs. The bullet flew true and ripped through his knee cap, causing him to stumble, but not stop. Her eyes widened as hopelessness set in. She should've just aimed for the head, killing be damned! This was the end...
Except Hamada leapt forward and swept the man's legs out from underneath him. With his weakened leg, the man fell to the floor. Hamada wasted no time wrapping his hands around the man's head and twisting it in one direction. There was a loud snap! And the man collapsed to the floor, never to rise again.
Hamada panted and glared at Claire, "Next time, shoot to kill," he said. He walked over to her, completely unconcerned that he had ended a life. He held out his hand expectantly. Claire relinquished her weapon, and even supplied more bullets for him. He pulled her up from her still seated position and started to walk towards the door.
"Where are you going?" she asked, following because she had nowhere else to go.
"To rendezvous with Dr. Freeman," Hamada explained. The monstrous aura could still be felt, Claire knew that it was coming from the good doctor. Suddenly, fire alarms rang.
"We should hurry then," Claire said. Hamada nodded in agreement and the two dashed towards the auditorium. Although they had no real idea where Freeman was, it felt as if the wave of power originated from the same direction as the auditorium.
There's no way Dr. Freeman is dangerous. He helped us stop the Native American, Claire rationed in her mind. She truly believed that the good doctor wasn't going to harm them, the fact that Hamada seemed to be operating under his orders confirmed that. And Hamada had just saved her life.
And besides, there was something wrong with King. It was just a feeling that Claire had, like he was not meant to be trusted. Dr. Freeman may very well be a murderer, but she felt as if King was exactly the same, seeing as how his bodyguard had tried to kill her.
XXX
Dracul yawned to himself. He was bored. It had been days since the strange man in the white coat had been to visit him. The man who promised that the massive Spinosaurus would be useful, a piece that must be kept alive. Whatever that meant.
He adjusted himself lazily in his nest. If the man in the white coat didn't want to come, then the Spino would sleep. He had been hoping that he might finally see some action... and perhaps get out of this cage.
Just as his good eye was about to close, alarms blared. Snapping his eyes open, he stood and let out a fierce roar to show his displeasure. The loud sound was annoying and it refused to stop. Enraged, Dracul stomped in the direction of the loud sound.
His journey ended at the massive electric fence. So the alarm dared to taunt him? He was fully aware of his inability to breech the lightning fence. Most of the lightning fences on his island had stopped working, but this one was several times stronger than any fence he had ever encountered.
He growled lowly to himself, cursing the arrogant alarm, before turning and marching back towards his nest. Perhaps he could ignore the loud sound. Just as he began to stalk away, the alarm stopped. Confused, Dracul turned around. Why was the alarm no longer taunting him?
His vivid emerald eye narrowed as he leaned forward to sniff at the lightning fence. To his surprise, it didn't smell as hot as it usually did. Confused, Dracul placed his snout on the fence and received no punishment from his actions.
His lips curled upwards in a type of grin as he took a few steps backwards before barreling through the now worthless fence. The fence crashed to the marshy ground and Dracul let out a roar of victory. He was free.
He raised his head to sniff the air. What was he going to do first with his freedom? To his surprise, the scent of chaos and destruction filled his nose. His emerald eye widened, this island was starting to become corrupted. Just like his island.
A week ago, he wouldn't have cared at all. In fact, he would've rushed to help the process. But as the days passed, he was starting to become relaxed. Maybe this island wasn't all bad. It was definitely less stressful. And he had started to enjoy his carefree routine.
A routine that didn't involve him constantly having to assert his dominance with loud roars or displays of force. He knew now that the routine that had made him king of his island had been swiftly killing him. After just a few days on this island, after deciding to relax, he felt younger and stronger than ever.
This island was paradise. Even though he was in a cage, he had plenty of space and plenty of prey. Although the river that ran through his home was void of large fish that he liked to eat, it was large enough for him to nearly completely submerge. And, although he knew they were there, humans never bothered him. They were quiet and respectful of his presence.
He decided as he carefully stepped over the fallen lightning fence. This island was in danger of being corrupted like his old island. It was what the man with the violet eyes wanted to prevent. And he expected Dracul to help. And Dracul was more than willing to lend a hand in preserving his little slice of paradise.
I'll even let you meet her.
That's right. Her. The strange roars that he could hear at times. The roars that were louder than anything he had ever heard before. The ones that were filled with pain and misery, but had slowly become more and more jubilant. The man with the violet eyes promised him that he could meet the being responsible for those roars.
Dracul was unsure what type of being could sound like she did. He wanted so desperately to know, to understand. She didn't sound like a Spinosaurus, but he could understand her like one. And she sounded even larger than him, which he once thought to be impossible.
Dracul stomped through the marshes of the Cretaceous Cruise, adamant on finding how he could save this island. He knew he was not king here. He knew that one of his roars would not cause all of the other creatures to run in fear.
He paused in his steps when he saw another Spinosaurus. Confused, Dracul stepped closer. A tall spine sat on the thing's back and its long tail swished from side to side. Confirming that it was a Spinosaurus, Dracul decided to make contact. Perhaps this new ally would be able to help him save the island.
"Greeting," Dracul hissed lowly. His one eye widened when the supposed Spinosaurus turned around and he saw that it was not a Spino. It was an abomination unlike any he had ever laid eyes on. It had the head of a Proud One but its body was like his.
The being cocked its head and gave the shocked Spino a confused look. It let out a deep rumble that Dracul could not understand. The Spino responded with a hiss of confusion. The abomination glared at the Spino due to the blatant language barrier between them.
The Spino-Rex turned around fully and stopped in a wide attack stance. Dracul's eye narrowed when the other being presented itself in a display of dominance. The old king was not intimidated by the display, despite the glaring size difference.
Dracul was a king, goddamn it! And the abomination moved like a child still uncomfortable with walking. Maybe it hadn't gotten used to its size yet. Something Dracul could use to his advantage. The Spino bared his teeth and let out an almighty challenging roar that he had done so many times as king.
The abomination stumbled backwards in surprise from the aggressive display, clearly not expecting anything to be stupid enough to challenge his size. But he recovered quickly from his falter and let loose a roar of his own. Although significantly less impressive than Dracul's.
Dracul knew one thing about the cages on the island. They were there to keep them inside and the humans out. He knew that he wasn't supposed to interact with humans, and neither was the Spino-Rex. But since the barrier had been removed, they were both threats.
Dracul figured that this was the being causing the chaos. This was the threat the violet-eyed man wanted him to stop. So Dracul roared again, and rushed into combat, taking the other being by surprise. The sooner he killed this arrogant abomination, the sooner he could go back to his nest in paradise.
XXX
There we go, yet another one down. Another fun chapter to write. Mary(Marie) and Gordon have another spat, but its their last one. He put Marie in a coma?! How dare he? And we get to see Hamada and the tall Native American man fight through Claire's eyes, that was interesting. And the start of Dracul vs Capax (thought I forgot about the name I gave him in chapter 14, eh?) fight. What more could you ask for? Oh, right... what happened to Saber and the other Indominus? We'll get to that.
I'm sure most of you have noticed the slight romantic feelings Claire has towards our favorite psychic doctor. Now the reason I don't expand much on that (besides what Claire is thinking in her head) is because I'm terrible at romances. That's why Owen and Sam never worked out... or Owen and Mary (although that one was never supposed to). So for those of you asking where I was going with the whole Claire being attracted to Dr. Freeman thing... nowhere, really. Just something to give Claire a little depth and add her into the story a bit more.
Now that that's over with, the next chapter is going to be the most exciting one of all. And the dramatic conclusion of the game between Gordon and King! But it won't be the last chapter... just the conclusion of their game. Stay tuned until next time!
