Disclaimer: i do not own Owen or Jurassic World elements. The engineering conundrums presented here are not supported by research and are purely fictional, please do not try them at home.
Owen managed to scavenge scraps of meat that was left from the kitchen. It struck him that the management did a hasty evacuation, and that they planned to come back in a short while later given that they haven't taken everything, but just about everything that they need to survive on the island without resorting to eating each other. The paddock that housed his Optimus was emptied completely. No food, no medication, nothing. He then thought about the next place associated with food, somewhere he had dined for the past year. Barrack kitchens. Technically, as an experienced raptor trainer should know, they shouldn't be eating marinated chicken and pork ribs, but desperate time calls for desperate measures, and just like his human companion said, it's either that, or themselves.
Blue was given the biggest slice of meat, Owen made sure of it. As the alpha of the group, it is important for her to establish the chain of command, and separation of ranks for as long as possible, given their current condition. He didn't dared to imagine what will happen when Optimus finds out their abilities, and Blue had none of them.
Owen then bagged up whatever that was left of the leftovers in the kitchen, and rummaged around to see what else he could bring. It occurred to him that the kitchen at the guest building would be a better place and headed towards the compound. Blue had other plans. She gave two calls, and the raptors scattered, towards the research paddocks. She then gave Owen a few chirps before darting off herself. Curious, he followed them, crossing the main compound to find Zeng had taken the Wrangler with the broken window and was gone. He dropped the bag of meat near her makeshift work station and chased after the raptors.
Blue had gone to the paddock that kept her captive for the longest of time. There, she burst through the front doors of the lab and did a quick sweep across the lowest floor. There, she found a little of the feed that was stored there for her use, and gobbled them up immediately. Then she proceeded to burst through more doors, startling Owen with her intense animosity towards the building. She sniffed the air, and headed for the stairs, thumping her way up. At the top of it, she burst through another set of doors, and snarled. Owen came in after her, and tried the switch on the wall. Nothing. He turned on his own flashlight, and the first thing the light illuminated, was a tranquilizer gun, the same one that he saw the researchers hold when they enter her paddock. Blue chirped at him, then at the gun, as though beckoning him to pick it up. He stroked her head and smiled. Indeed, she was a clever girl.
Owen checked the gun, noticing it was customized, resembling a revolver, giving it a capacity of 6 darts. He opened the cabinet directly above it, and found a case of darts and filled the gun quickly. He grabbed another case and pocketed both into his shoulder bag. Satisfied, Blue gave a chirp and went out the door. Owen followed her down the stairs and out to the open, where the other raptors were waiting. He was curious about one thing, so while Blue was communicating with her squad, he rounded the building to the stairs he took everyday to see her, and climbed. Turning on his flashlight again, he shone it around the place. It seemed pristine, just as he remembered. Lowering the light, he scanned inside the paddock for any clues. As the light moved, it reflected something and Owen did a double take. He squinted in the slight glare and made it out to be a metal bucket, positioned just a small pace away from the railing. He turned quickly to see Blue at the bottom of the stairs, her eyes sharp. Owen managed a chuckle as he made his way down to the clever girl.
"Well, maybe I trained you well, maybe not. But one thing's for sure, you weren't the same back on Jurassic World." he said, holding her head between his hands. Blue responded with small chirps and allowed her former alpha to stroke her. The other raptors looked on, tilting their heads, taking in the situation. Owen knew they were learning, but it was still sad to see they too, were once nestled quietly between his hands.
The sound of engine and very loud scraping against the dirt brought their attention back to the main road. Owen passed through the buildings ahead to see the Wrangler grinding on the dirt past them, dragging behind it a net made from bent and twisted wire fence. Inside the net, empty oil drums clank against each other roughly as they bounce off the ground.
Zeng ignored the light from Owen's flashlight as she passed the research paddocks. She continued on, stepping on the pedal to push the Wrangler harder with the added weight. The other Wrangler is up ahead, and in front of it, laid a pile of metal bars, cut roughly and of different lengths. She hopped off the jeep and heard the other party come up.
"That is a lot of oil drums…" upon closer inspection, Owen counted sixteen. He saw Zeng took a harder than usual breath as she walked over to detach the cable, her face was incredibly annoyed. Staring at her only made it worse, and Owen had a odd hunch why. Digging into his bag, he found another protein bar and handed it to her gingerly.
Zeng looked up at him, not sure whether to fume or laugh at his slightly timid face. She gave a huff, strangely similar to the ones the raptors are used to giving and snatched the bar out of his hand. She leaned against the body of the Wrangler and ripped the wrapper open as though it had wronged her in some way. Owen saw her take a huge chunk out of it, much like his raptors earlier when they finally got food. The resemblance is uncanny, and he couldn't help but raise a curious eyebrow at her slowly shedding her tough exterior, that unfortunately did not go unnoticed. Zeng frowned ominously at him, pausing in between bites.
"Why don't you take a break?" Owen said quickly and looked around before she showed anymore murderous intent. "Ten, maybe twenty minutes of shut eye. I'll unload these, you're making a raft right?"
"Don't damage the fence. I need it for-" she made a circular motion with her arm and Owen understood, taking out the blow torch she handed to him earlier. She nodded and finished up her bar before climbing into the Wrangler she was working on earlier and sprawling across the two seats. She closed her eyes, mentally repeating the same process the night before for that one hour of sleep. With both doors shut, the sound of oil drum clanking didn't seem so loud anymore.
Owen stared at the mountain of oil drums, wondering where to start. He tugged on the fence and saw it was joint together at the top where Zeng had twisted the wiring to sew it together, like a sack made from a square piece of fencing. He climbed up the net and started cutting the tied portion. The fence flexed under the weight as he released one flap. He released another, and another until the tie was severed and the oil drums tumbled free from their captivity and clanked loudly against each other. Owen hopped off the fence just in time for the top layer of drums to topple over. He jumped forward to catch one, the rust flaking off at the contact of his hand.
Blue gave a cry and the other raptors rushed forward to catch the falling drums, blocking them with their bodies. The empty drums clanked as they hit the ground and each other, waking the napping human in the other Wrangler. Owen turned to see a shadow rise in the car and the door popped open.
"Sorry! We're fine! Everything's fine!" he shouted quickly, holding out his hand, as though appeasing a beast which was unruly awoken. Blue turned to look, just in time to see the shadow flop back down. "Thanks Blue."
Slowly and gingerly, he moved each drum side by side, to make a four by four grid. He counted the rest of what Zeng had brought along earlier, there were ten. He would imagine they will surround the Wrangler to function as pontoons. He looked over at the raptors, mentally arranging them on the floating raft. Something doesn't feel right. While he had no doubt that the raft will hold, it felt like it wasn't the right solution.
He then arranged them two by two horizontally, it didn't seem to make much of a difference. Blue looked at the human, rolling the drums, frowning. She tilted her head and chirped, as though asking him, "what are you doing". Owen was sure Blue is smart, but in terms of nautical builds, she would fall far behind. His days of navy surely could be put to use somehow, but then again, they had military grade rafts, something that was conveniently not available right now.
"What, are you doing." it wasn't a question, more like a statement. He whipped his head around to see a sleepy human, rubbing her eyes.
"I'm rearranging the drums to see which design makes the best raft." he pointed.
Zeng blinked a few times to wake herself up. Owen looked at her, waiting for a reaction, half expecting a sarcastic remark, or even an insult depending on how good her nap was. But the other human merely pushed up her jacket sleeves.
"Why don't," she said calmly. "You go pack up your stuff, get what you think we'll need and keep the raptors from eating us both."
Comically, she tapped him twice on his arm and went forward to rearrange the drums. Owen watched as she turned his two by two into a three by five vertical, with an extra drum, which she rolled to the front of the line in the middle horizontally. Now the raft is wide enough and longer than his previous arrangements, with the front extra serving to break the water for a more streamlined design. She then held out her hand for her blow torch back.
Owen mused as he handed it back to her, remembering how it was quite similar to when they were back in school, except this time she left out the gloating or smug grin that usually followed when she bested him at Doc Thorne's conundrums. Oddly the atmosphere seemed vastly different now, and upon closer look, he saw that she was still incredibly tired, and she looked to be pushing herself over the limit, harder than the night before. He was surprised at himself, because somehow he knew the reason why. He walked over and placed his hands on Blue's head, and pointed to the paddocks up ahead. She understood, and gave a call and took off into the night. The other raptors followed without so much as a glance at Owen.
Zeng frowned and straightened herself from picking up a metal bar, confused as to the course of action the raptors were taking. She turned around to see Owen coming up to her.
"Zeng." he started.
"Did you send the raptors off or something?" she cut in, with a sudden realization. Owen was caught off guard, forgetting how sharp she can be.
"I did." he said. "Because I'm going to say something, and you might start shouting again."
Could be fatigue, could be speechless, Zeng didn't respond verbally, but started seething.
"But I'm still going to say it." Owen continued. "I know you never intended for any of these to happen, and I don't think it's your fault that it came to this point. I for one, don't blame you for how things turn out, because I know you, despite what you may say. I know we rarely speak, and most of the time we end up yelling at each other, but even then, I know you aren't the kind of person who will do anything to burn the world, or even watch it burn. Especially after last night."
"Not even if I told you I was the one who recommended you for IBRIS?"
Owen opened his mouth to say something and stopped. What?
"When Doc Thorne came looking for me, he also told me about you in the Navy, because we were his two last candidates for Project Shiva, just that he came to me first. At that point I didn't think much of it, until after I almost died and couldn't retract the initiative anymore that I remembered you. I pulled some strings and found out you trained dolphins, which was a good fit. In all honestly, I just thought that if Doc trusts you, I don't see why I shouldn't."
There was another awkward silence between the two. The only sounds were the trees and shrubbery rustling in the howling wind. To be frank, Owen wasn't that surprised anymore with anything that had to do with how Jurassic World came to be and happened in between. What was surprising, was the fact that she said she trusted him all along, even if it was because of their old mentor.
"Which is why I say, I won't hold it against you for getting mad at me, and I don't expect you to forgive me for everything." Zeng said, bending down to pick up a bar. "You saved my life earlier, I'll repay this favor by getting you off this island."
"Oh no, no. Not happening." Owen cut in quickly, crossing to the other side to face her. "This is another one of your crazy an-eye-for-an-eye beliefs, and I'll have none of that. You're not going to ditch me on some passing boat or some spit of land to go to Nublar with the raptors by yourself. I'm coming with you. And don't you start theorizing in your head who's responsible for what because they did or said what. It doesn't matter anymore, I'm coming."
"Uh, I am doing that, because I'm going to finish what I started and end this nightmare, it is my responsibility." Zeng retaliated slowly. She was very taken aback at how he managed to corner her by being a step ahead. Were her thoughts and actions that predictable?
"Well, I'll agree, but at the same time remind you, that I'm part of this as well." Owen saw her open her mouth to argue. "Since the beginning given I was Doc's other candidate."
Her jaws snapped shut and brows creased. Owen watched her eyes dart around.
"Did you just… wait, stop." she stammered. Owen felt a surge of achievement inside him. "Did you… Did you just use my logic and my words, to argue with me?"
"I work with raptors, we all learn fast. Besides," he stated simply, surprised at how quick the tables turned. Zeng scrunched her face as Owen took a deep breath. "You said you recommended me for IBRIS. While a part of me is thinking why the hell would you do that, but I know deep down you trust me enough for some reason to involve me."
He paused for a moment, hoping Zeng would give him an answer to an impending question he has yet to ask.
"When the first batch of IBRIS failed, I had a bad feeling that somehow this initiative will come back to bite me one day, and when it was handed over to one of Masrani's companies, even though I proposed other options, I knew something was wrong. So I recommended you because," she stopped.
Owen raised his eyebrows to nudge her.
"Of all the people I could think of, you are the least likely one to be corrupted by power." she said reluctantly. "In your own ways of stubbornness and the big issues with authority, I knew if I left IBRIS with you, it will be safe."
"But it wasn't." Owen said quietly after a while.
"Yeah, because everyone, including me, never expected Hoskins' son to be equally, if not more devious." she finished. "Heck, nobody even expected him to have a son."
The side of Owen's lips curved.
"So when I asked you yesterday, if you trust me…" he prodded.
"I know I have my issues with you in the past," she waved him away. "But I won't deny the extend of your capabilities."
"I think we worked pretty well together for a couple of quibbling kids." his grin grew wider.
"Admittedly, yes I agree." she said without missing a beat. Then her head twitched as a thought occurred to her.
"Is this one of those "are we good" conversations?"
"Something like that." Owen nodded, a little stunned at her unusual observation. "Also to get you to stop keeping score of who owes what to whom. I'm just going to say this because I know you won't. We're partners on Project Shiva, old classmates with an uncanny knack for teamwork from what I can see last night and you know it. So let's really put everything behind us, and finish this once and for all. Deal?"
He held out his hand. Zeng felt that familiar void from last night in the tree, as a huge part of her judgement turned out to be for nothing again. She looked at the hand in front of her, and suddenly it didn't feel as though there's anymore things to think about. She reached out to grab the hand in an arm wrestling shake.
"Deal."