50 Shades of Tony
By Rey
Author's note: There was a mistake in chunking out the chapters, last chapter. Thank you so much to Brievel for catching that and informing me! Well, now, if you haven't read the rightly chunked last chapter, please reread it, else you'd be confused with this one.
Chapter 18
Tony Stark and a Full Jurassic Experience, Inspection Mode
Warnings for:
Piece 431: Teens: Mild Language
Piece 441: Teens: Parental Quarreling
Isla Nublar, Costa Rica, 2nd April 2015
430. Dead Zone
Fié's getting antsy the closer they are to their destination, but Tony bets it's not because of cabin fever. Because he feels it, too: a creeping emptiness in the air, which both hems him in and tries to suck something out of him. Then, "A dead zone," Týo explains grimly.
*431. Little
The horrible sensation is compounded when, on the launch-pad atop the island's hotel, the first people who rush out to greet the contingent are 2 unsupervised little children. The midgets are then followed by an unarmed, unwary teen, and nobody else. "What the fuck?!" Tony snarls. "This a kill-zone too?"
432. Question
Pepper's the only one to come out, just on the ramp, shadowed by ready guns hidden round the door, to question the midgets. Her modified Starkwatch acts as extra-sensitive mike for the plane's passengers to listen to what they're saying. And what's heard's almost just as disheartening as what's expected….
433. Serve
The people who serve as the soon-to-be park's employees are all in a meeting with Hammond, a few floors down, and Hammon trusts drones to serve as eyes and ears round the park. Tony loves tech, he does, but he knows that today's tech can't serve this purpose optimally yet.
434. Wordy
Hammond has lots of explanation of why there's not even a skeleton crew round the island to man outposts, why the experts aren't there yet, why children are left unsupervised in a potentially hostile land. Tony can be just as wordy, usually, but today he's really not in the mood.
435. Royalty
"Whoa, you're so regal," Lex Murphy, one of the island's midgets, remarks admiringly when Fié flows down the ramp at last, blatantly escorted – with ready weapons – by Týo's team and Tony. "You could star as royalty in a movie!" – It's the first piece of amusement Tony has since before landing.
436. Costume
"No costume," Tim, apparently Lex's little brother, comments thoughtfully, critically, after her outburst. "She looks more like a mom or a teacher than a queen to me, anyway, like Miss Priggen. You're a dolt, Lexy." And, hearing that, Tony valiantly attempts to stifle his ironic mirth. `What a bold champ!`
437. Extinct
From Tony's on-site interrogation of Hammond, he finally finds that InGen's lawyers apparently interpreted "endangered animals" as somehow synonymous to "extinct animals" because, by the time of the proposal and contract for the zoo, they already had a handful of live dinosaurs, enough to be considered in the "endangered" category.
Isla Nublar, Costa Rica, 3rd April 2015
438. Chaos
It's even more upsetting to Tony that, when the "experts" at last arrive, the chaos-theory mathematician that he approved of on paper, with the assumption that the man would help design the changes to the park, turns out to be wholely ignorant of the park until now. `It's a disaster!`
439. Sieve
Tony's patience and tolerance are running out nearly as fast as his senses and vitality do, stewed too long in this place. Worse, his attempts to wrestle things back in line, both for himself and the park, feels like trying to catch running water with a sieve.
440. Clash
With how Santa-ish Hammond looks and behaves, Tony's surprised – and frustrated, and disheartened – that they seem to clash with each other at nearly every turn. It's bad for the morale of the employees, too, or so Fié claims, and Tony does try very, very hard to tamp himself down, but….
Isla Nublar, Costa Rica, 4th April 2015
*441. Syndrome
It's a syndrome of powerful people that they feel entitled to have things their way, Happy comments when, in the morning of the second day they're there, Fié actively tries to rein in Tony and ends up quarelling with him too. Then he points at how the family's scattered.
442. End
The quarrel ends, just so. Both combatants dazedly look round, noticing the empty penthouse the family stays in. Happy raises an eyebrow when Tony gives him a stunned stare, then continues, "The kids are going about with the experts. The team's with them. Me and Sasha got the short straw."
443. Judge
"Hammond, sorry, for judging you, sometimes. Let's start over?" Tony's really not good in apologising. His pride usually doesn't allow him, too. But he must reconcile with Hammond, or his family will continue fleeing him, and he finds he hates it. This was supposed to be a family sort-of holiday!
444. Fury
Fury is furious. Apparently, even though there's no avenging to do, he wants everyone back in New York where he can eyeball them to his heart's content. "We're on vacation," Tony shrugs. "Deal with it, one-eye. And on that note, go clean house. I guess your agents sent the info?"
445. Soar
Tony's heart is in his throat. Hammond, standing beside him, squeaks. There's a blur soaring up high in the flying dinos' enclosure, riding one of the dinos. To think that he's been harping about the park's safety to Hammond! His own family's breaking it themselves!
446. Crumble
It's… Voðen. Go figure. Frightened of sentient beings, but so bold with dinos. Tony's floored. He doesn't want to crumble their newfound confidence and joy, but… but…. "Fié! Go deal with your niece!" Last resort. Which may result in more problems down the way. But Tony's really stumped!
447. Missile
Tony really, really doesn't know what to do when he looks to his side and doesn't find Fié there. The milaða is instead far, far away, with a couple of ground missiles that's the Murphy children streaking out to meet them. "Oh, damn, hell, I'm not made for this!"
448. Dessert
"No dessert till we get back" is the only thing Tony can come up for an un-confidence-crumbling punishment for the scare. It's too light, he thinks, but doesn't know what else to do. Voðen seems to think so… until evening comes and Rústla brings out an apparently favourite Ýmirheimi dish.
449. Effort
It's startling, and amazing, how much effort Voðen's willing to exert for the sake of a dessert. It's a hillarious spectacle for everyone at the table, and it takes all that Tony has not to crumble against the puppy-dog eyes, the bribes, the exchange offer…. Worse, Fié's laughing at him.
450. Cliché
"Oooooh, you're a queen, Nalla? But where's your crown? Where's your gown? Do you have a sceptor? Is it magical? So cool!" Tim Murphy runs round and round Fié, grinning, eyes sparkling. And, from Fié's other side, leaning comfily against them, Lex boos at him. "That's so cliché, dork."
451. In Unison
Robert Muldoon, the park's head game keeper, said that the veloceraptors are the smartest, fiercest, cruellest and most lethal dinos cloned there. And now Voðen's intent on visiting and playing with them. Tony and Fié flinch in unison, before looking wide-eyed at each other. `Hell, no. This time's yours, buddy.`
452. Enter
"Are you sure?" Muldoon clenches the barrel of his rifle as if to break it. Well, Tony's not sure, but nobody has a defence yet against a suddenly determined Voðen. And now, they're all watching wide-eyed as Voðen enters the veloceraptor pen, armed only with Tony's malleable body armour.
453. Sport
Voðen treats actively dealing with highly dangerous animals as joyful sport, Tony determines, as the aforementioned brat ducks and dodges and weaves and vaults over and circles and fleetingly taps the large, malformed scaly bird-like things below in the enclosure, all with a bright, beaming smile on their glowing face.
454. Consider
"We're outta job, Muldoon," Owen Grady – the forever-ago tiebreaker-needing thesis writer on dolphin training, the recent expert animal behaviourist hire for the park – whistles disbelievingly as he considers the gladiatorial spectacle below. But Tony has a different thought. `Why doesn't Voðen put this joyful abandon to dealing with people?`
455. Approve Of
"Well, if Miss Votten wants to be here, then she should consider herself hired," Hammond blurts out when, down below, after however long Tony doesn't know, "Miss Votten" somehow gets the ancient turkeys to play with them as a friend instead of dinner. And then they get their twin in….
