Two trucks drove down the dirt path to the smuggler's headquarters – the first was driven by Collete, with Jack in the passenger seat Drew, Jack, Nikolai and Adrian (with Keehar) in the back, whilst whilst Cynthia, Alice, Will, Leon and Raksha commandeered the other.
Pulling up at the entrance, Jack handed Collete a pair of dark glasses and a dark wig, whilst he donned a black baseball cap, "We do this the clever way. It's too dark for him to see us properly, so we con him and sneak in." Collete rolled her eyes, donned the wig and glasses and sighed, "Worth a shot." Driving up to the gate fully, Collete turned to the large, burly guard and said, in the best American accent she could do, "Ursula Crabb, of the black-ops team. Mission's been a success – unfortunately, we lost Zander and Duncan. However, we've got the remote."
The guard briefly looked curiously at them, before saying "You're lying." Jack and Collete looked at each other, eyes widened, before the guard pointed at the second truck, "Firstly, why would you need two transport trucks? And don't give me the 'we stole other animals' excuse because that is just ridiculous…" Secondly, he pointed at Collete, "That hair is quite blatantly a wig and your American accent is obviously fake. Crabb was also Asian, which you are not. The glasses can't hide that." Smirking again, he said "And, besides, the boss told us Duncan and the black-ops team were dead – so that excuse falls through. Care to tell me the truth?" The guard lifted his gun and pointed it at them.
Jack looked at Collete nervously, "Uh, just out of curiosity, did we have a plan B?" Collete rolled her eyes, before whipping out the taser gun Nikolai had confiscated from Ed and shot the guard with it. As the guard collapsed to the ground, Jack muttered under his breath, "An intelligent guard. Did not see that coming."
The two trucks went through the entrance otherwise unnoticed, before pulling into a secluded area by a power building and getting out of the trucks. Getting out the map, Drew revealed their plan, "Right, we attack on three sides – divide and conquer if you will." He pointed to Jack, Collete, Adrian and Keehar, "You guys take out the boat – make sure it does not leave under any circumstances." The three humans and Rhamphorynchus looked at each other, before Jack said, "You got it, fearless leader." Drew then gestured to Cynthia, Nikolai and Leon, "You three are with me, we're going to get the main building, secure whatever's in there and get whoever's behind this. Leon, keep 'the surprises' in reserve – call 'em out when we've got their guard down.", before pointing at Alice, Will and Raksha and saying, "You three stay outside and keep watch – we'll be flushing a few people out, so you can restrain them." He looked at his team and smiled, "Is everyone aware of the plan?" Everyone nodded. Drew clapped his hands, "Good. Let's get started."
And, with that done, everyone got to their positions. Being as stealthy as possible, Jack, Collete, Adrian and Keehar managed to sneak onto the Venture through the cargo hold doors. The only opposition they encountered was a mercenary, who Collete had swiftly subdued with the taser – Jack had picked up the remove control he was holding.
With Adrian and Keehar taking point, the three humans and pterosaur looked around the hold. As they looked around the hold, they saw various containers of varying sizes – some had corrugated metal doors, like giant pet carriers. Looking closer, they noticed that the cage nearest to them had deep scratches in the floor and the door. Inside, they noticed the indistinct shape of some animal moving inside.
Adrian took a step back in horror and said, "They're smuggling live animals." Jack muttered, "Of course they're smuggling live animals – that's how they got the tyrannosaur. More to the point, that one has claw marks… big claw marks. It's anyone's guess what animal could be in this…"
Suddenly, a low growl interrupted him and they turned to see a Postosuchus charge at them through the bars of its cell. They jumped away just in time – however, the bars on the door were too small to allow it to stick its head or arm out. Looking closer, they could see it was desperately thin – its ribs were jutting out and they could practically count every bone on its body. Collete gave a pained look and said, "Poor thing." Grabbing her torch, Collete scanned the room to find… dozens of eyes! They walked along the hall, looking through each of the cells to find – they could recognise a Quetzalcoatlus with pinkeye, an Andrewsarchus with patches of missing fur, several baby Triceratops huddled together in fear, a Dimetrodon with peeling scales and wheezing uncontrollably, a family of Leptictidium, two desperately thin female Smilodon… Keehar flew close to Adrian as the three humans looked around, gaping in horror, and Jack muttered, "Once we've taken out the boat, we get these poor things back to the park – let Linda look at them…."
Suddenly, a voice interrupted him, "That's assuming you get out of here, mate." The three humans went rigid in horror and turned to see several Novum mercenaries, lead by a huge, burly tattooed man, pointing guns at them. Their leader said, waving his gun at the flying Keehar, "Drop the remote and call the pterodactyl back or we turn him into KFC." Adrian called Keehar back and Jack, reluctantly, put down the remote. "You win", he muttered under his breath and sighed – he only hoped Drew's team was doing better than his.
Drew, Leon, Cynthia and Nikolai snuck into the building – walking down a hall filled with animal cages, they used the shadows cast by them to keep themselves concealed. As they turned a corner, they heard a man with a rough Cockney accent, "Boss, for the last time, everything's proceeding well…" Suddenly, a walkie-talkie went off, they heard the man lift it and he answered, "How's everything on the… Wait, what? Well, keep 'em at gunpoint then!"
They were about to strike when, suddenly, another voice sneered in reply, "It seems, Frank, you've been hoist by your own petard – we have indeed been exposed and they're probably here to stop us." The four looked at each other, the other voice sounded eerily familiar… Frank said, "Look, Mr. Grimm…" The voice sighed, "Von Grimm, Frank." The realisation hit all four of them at the same time… this was Percival von Grimm, Theodore's Head of Projects!
As they processed the horror of this revelation, Cynthia muttered under her breath, "Well, I knew this all went to the very top… it went to one rung below Theodore himself…" Leon looked, horrified, "What happens now?"
Suddenly, Percival's voice said, "Now? Now, things go from bad, to much, much worse." They turned to see Percival and a bald, bearded man, who they presumed to be Frank, surrounded by mercenaries. Frank turned to Drew, Cynthia, Leon and Nikolai and smirked, "You mugs move an inch, and the lads fill you with more holes than a Swiss cheese."
