As midnight approached, Henry Wu took advantage of a moment of rest and sit in his office while awaiting for the return of the truck.
He had cleared his desk of everything that couldn't be left here, including his laptop and various important documents, and a backpack was resting near his feet.

However, looking towards the corner of the office opposite of where his laptop once was, Wu noticed that he had left a large frame with an old picture in it.

He grabbed the frame and looked at it, with his eyes suddenly glittering with nostalgia.
On the picture, there were about twenty people, most of them being men and women in lab coats, standing on the stairs before the entrance of Site B's Embryonic Administration. In the lower right corner, the year in which it was taken had been written with a black pen: 1987.
In the centre of the first row, right in the middle of the photo, John Hammond stood proudly with one hand resting on his famous bamboo cane, and to the right of InGen's CEO, Wu was shyly smiling at the camera while holding a baby Triceratops in his arms, the first dinosaurs that had survived more than six months.

One of Wu's subordinates, Dr. Preston, a quite short young man in his late twenties with light brown hairs, arrived at this moment to report about the progress of the laboratories' evacuation.

"One trip left and all what remains will be taken away. Robert left ten minutes ago to start the data deletion on the servers. He volunteered to stay and make sure that the process run smoothly. It was tight but we are on schedule."

He noticed that Wu seemed absorbed in his contemplation of the picture.

"You're alright, Henry?"

Wu looked up at him with benevolent eyes.

He had met Preston as the latter had just started his first year of degree at Stanford. Originally saw as a student among all the others of his year group, Preston had managed to draw on him the attention of the famous geneticist only by making relevant comments and raising valid points during the lectures he gave and asking him if he could do an optional summer internship at InGen's genetic division. The young man having good grades in genetics and an impeccable behaviour, Wu had seen no objection and accepted.
During his internship, Preston expressed his great interest in Wu's work and the prowess of InGen in bioengineering and both discussed lengthy about it. Over the course of their exchanges in the following years, the professor and the student started to share a complicity that gradually turned into friendship.
Preston continued his studies brilliantly, obtaining his bachelor's and then his master's degree, whose internship was made at InGen's genetic facility in San Diego, before starting his PhD at Norman Atherton Laboratories, making him move on Isla Nublar.
Since Wu had to return to the United States frequently to teach at Stanford and, as director of InGen's Genetics Division, work in Palo Alto and San Diego, he ended up entrusting the overseeing of Jurassic World laboratories to the PhD student despite the presence of older and more experienced geneticists. They soon realized that there was more than a mere friendship between Wu and Preston, having seen them before going together at evenings, whether those given in the most luxurious hotels of Nublar or the drinking parties organized in some Burroughs' bar, at the Chicxulub, or at the residence of some park executive.

"It's a whole era that ends..." Wu declared. "Twenty-three years ago, I never thought I'd return to this island and yet, time has proved me otherwise. But now, I don't see any reason that would make us return here."

Preston took a chair and sat down next to him.
He looked at the picture.

"Do you still think of them?"

Wu smiled nostalgically.

"Sometimes. I still remember the beginnings of this adventure. Hammond's coming to the lab at Stanford, Norman's visits at Lockwood's Manor, Site B... These memories seems so far away, like if they were from another life. So much happened in the meantime... Without me, these walls, this city, this park, the creatures that populate it ... none of this would exist and most of the events that happened today would never have occurred. All those people who lost their lives would still be of this world..."

"Nonsense, it's not your fault. Don't feel guilty for everything."

Preston affectionately put a hand on Wu's shoulder.

"You do not have to carry that weight alone, Henry. The team is there if you need it. I'm here for you."

Wu put his hand on Preston's and met his gaze.

"Thank you Ivan."

As he was about to put the frame in his bag, Commander Edward Torres, a fiftyish bald man with a goatee, hurried into the laboratory and ran to Wu's office.

"Professor ... We have to leave, now!"

Taken by surprise, Wu grabbed his bag but he forgot to put the frame in, leaving it on the desk.

The two scientists stood up and the three men headed for the exit while the half a dozen of mercenaries who had helped them load the equipment gathered the last geneticists to escort them out of the laboratory.

"But we haven't finished to evacuate everything," Wu pointed out to Hoskins' right-hand man.

"We don't have the time. Leave the rest here!"

They left the laboratory and joined the corridor used before by the visitors. They took it but walked at a quick pace in the opposite direction of the visitor.

"And Robert went to the servers!" Preston added.

"I asked for a J-SEC officer to join him. Nothing should happen to him..." Torres told him.

They left the area of the building in which the Norman Atherton Laboratories were located and went down in the rotunda, where four other mercenaries joined them.

Torres came closer to Wu and whispered:

"It is imperative that we evacuate you and I fear that we are no longer safe here as we speak."

Preston, walking right behind them as they passed by the giant model of Isla Nublar, heard him:

"Did some dinosaurs sneaked into the city?" He asked. "God... What are the Grey Guard's troops doing?"

As an answer, the high bronze doors of the center were pushed from the outside, revealing Brunet outside, in intervention gear and armed. He glared at Torres and his men.

Before the door was fully opened, he entered, walking briskly towards the rotunda, with Yu on his left and Drekanson on his right. Behind, a horde of guards were following them.
As they were also armoured and carrying weapons, they were a very intimidating company in the eyes of the geneticists and even those of the mercenaries, fewer and less equipped.

The latter told the scientists to stay behind them and Torres stood in front of the group.

"What are you doing here?" He asked the guards.

The guards stopped just at the rim of the rotunda.

"Torres! The Slayers are behind the attack of the Indominus on us and the murder of three of ours!" Brunet stated.

An expression of surprise appeared on Torres' face.
He couldn't believe what he just heard and the fact that the guards hated the Slayers being well known, he wondered if they hadn't accused them directly without any serious investigation.

"This is insane," he said. "What evidence do you have?"

"The witness statement of Claire Dearing's nephews," Brunet replied before playing the recording on his phone.

As Torres listened attentively to the recording of the conversation, his men heard movement in the upper galleries. Other guards.

They redoubled their vigilance and looked with great distrust at those gathered between the entrance and the rotunda.

"Kevin Leng is mentioned and two of the descriptions correspond to Gregor Sherman and Reynald Faraci," Brunet exposed.

Torres shook his head.

"They must have betrayed us, it's impossible. Our rivals must have payed them to sow discord between us... I can assure you that InGen's security division is your ally."

"An ally you say?!" Brunet said curtly, like if the word had provoked him. "What kind of ally comes into your home, share your food and drink and then spit on your hospitality by trying to rape the one you saw as your sister and striking the brother that defends her?!"

He was referring to an incident that took place in Caer Draig a dozen of years earlier when the Slayers had been invited to a reception given in the great hall to celebrate the end of a joint mission on Sorna between them and the guards.
This had been suggested by officials of the United Nations Mission in the Five Deaths Archipelago, in the aim to tell InGen that it remained an essential and privileged partner in the management of the Five Deaths' wildlife.
The evening had unfolded without any incident until that, as it reached its end, one of the Slayers assaulted a guard. A brawl had broken out between the aggressor's comrades and the victim's colleagues. Hamada, Brunet and Bellamy were among the latter.

"All of this is ancient history," Torres said, not eager to put this back on the table.

"Never the person responsible for this incident made his apologies!" Brunet said in an outburst.

"Neither those who left two of my men in coma! And why are we talking about this incident?"

The fight had escalated to a point where death threats had been proclaimed and the aggressor and one of his comrades ended up being thrown in the stairs before the great hall, leading to a prolonged hospitalization for both of them.
While the aggressor woke up, the other never did and he had his life support being turned off after several years of coma.
On both sides, many thought that without the intervention of the then marshal of the Guard Yusuf Fadlân and Hoskins, also there on this occasion along with Torres, the fight would have descended into a shooting, whose consequences would have been catastrophic.
From then on, the guards never allowed again the Slayers to step a foot in Caer Draig or even in the Five Deaths, unless if they wanted to be thrown to the wildlife.

"Because we both know that the animosity between the Slayers and the Guard that resulted from it was great enough to act as a little extra motivation for the Slayers to set up our slaughter!"

"Aside this testimony, what other proofs do you have? Hoskins told me everything the eldest had said to him and he hadn't mentioned anything about some of the Slayers. What guarantee do we have that you didn't pushed Dearing's nephews to review their story in order to further your bellicose intentions, Lieutenant Brunet?"

"Do not take me for a fool! I can see that you're trying to cover Sherman and his men," Brunet accused him.

Seeing that his colleague was losing patience, Drekanson intervened, making two steps forward and adopting a diplomatic attitude:

"There is no need for a bloody settling of scores to take place. All you have to do is order the Slayers to surrender so they can be judged."

"And allow Wu to reveal everything he knows about the Indominus," Brunet added right away.

Torres turned briefly to look at Wu.

"This last request is not of my responsibility..." he said to Brunet.

He was right on that point. Despite his position in the security division, Torres couldn't do anything about the disclosure of InGen's research.
Only Wu and the members of the board of directors could.

"And even if I could, I will never do this! After your aggression earlier, you can dream on!" The geneticist told Brunet.

"You'll spit it out, snake!" One of the guards retorted, showing him her fist.

Seeing that the guards were losing patience and that their attitude was getting more and more aggressive, the mercenaries pointed their weapons at them.

"Lower your weapons!" Brunet told them.

"You come armed in this place, a building owned by InGen, you corner us and threaten a company executive, all without the approval of your marshal or any authority... You are acting outside the law!" Torres remarked to the guards. "As a result, we will keep our weapons pointed on you as long as you stand in our way."

In response to this, the guards let their hoplites form a line in the front, opposing InGen's group a shield wall bristled with spears. They then started to advance in the rotunda, one step after the other.

"Make another step towards the Professor and I'll shoot you!" Threatened one of the mercenaries, an emaciated young man with eyes harder than granite.

Brunet, standing in front of the hoplites, glared at InGen's soldiers.

"Lower your weapons!" He repeated, his voice echoing in the whole rotunda. "I won't say this a third time..."

They did not yield at all.
The discomfort felt by the geneticists until then turned into fear as they saw the two antagonistic armed groups being at daggers drawn with one another, ready to attack at the slightest provocation, and instinctively, they huddled and retreated slowly towards the back of the rotunda.

One of them saw the shape of a sniper appear in the shadows of the second floor's gallery to point his rifle at the group.
The next moment, a red dot appeared on one of the mercenaries' torso.

The emaciated young mercenary immediately looked up and following the laser, he saw the sniper.

"Sniper!" He screamed.

He did not wait for the sniper to press his trigger and he shot first.

A gasp was heard, and the sniper fell over the railing and his lifeless body landed at his colleagues' feet.

They stared at him and then looked at Torres and the mercenaries.

Behind them, the geneticists saw the eyes of Gilbert Brunet burn with rage and his fists being clenched. It was like if a demon buried long ago in the depths of his being was waking up and assuming the control of his body.

Suddenly, within the blink of an eye, the Frenchman drew his sabre, rushed on the nearest mercenary and struck him with a mortal blow.

The other mercenaries tried to shoot him, but while using as a shield the one he had just killed, he unsheathed the dead man's handgun and fired towards his attackers.
He managed to shot one in the chest and before the others could use the model as a cover, they were fired upon from the upper galleries and the guards in the rotunda rushed in their direction, sabres drawn and spears and bayonets lowered.

"Run!" Torres shouted at his men and the scientists.

Before they could be completely surrounded in the rotunda, they rushed to the northwestern arch and reached the corridor behind. Most of the guards pursued them but Brunet ordered to some to stay with him in the rotunda.

Corned against the high-relief, only one mercenary remained, the emaciated young man who had shot down one of their snipers.

He had lost his assault rifle during the rush and was holding his pistol with shaking hands.
His eyes, turned towards Brunet, who was coming to him at a brisk pace, were full of terror.

Bullets hit the ground just at the feet of Brunet but it did not stop his advance and he grabbed the shield that was thrown to him.

"Please, don't kill me!" The mercenary whined. "I don't know what got into me. I'm so..."

Brunet silenced him by striking his face with the shield.

He then grabbed him by the collar, shook him like a dog and threw him on the ground near the top of the stairs. He came to pin him against the floor with his knee and grabbed his hairs to pull his head back.

Then he struck it against the edge of the highest step, several times, each more violent than the preceding one.

At one point, the skull broke but Brunet continued and when he finally stopped, part of the mercenary's brain was exposed and bits of brain had fallen on the steps.
Trickles of blood started to flow down the steps in cascades.

As he stood up, panting and with his right hand covered with blood, Brunet met the eyes of his subordinates: Fear could be read in his eyes and he realized that they feared him so much that they were ready to execute any of his orders in order to not suffer his wrath.

X

Shooting behind them and running at the same time, InGen's mercenaries kept the guards away from them.

Down the stairs that lead to the basement, they and the scientists rushed to the holograms' room since at its back, there was a hidden door that allowed them to enter the Depths. Torres planned to lose their pursuers in its maze of corridors and use them to reach their extraction point.

The group reached the holograms' room and Wu pointed the sought door, of the same colour as the walls and topped with the emergency evacuation green symbol. The geneticists ran to it and opened it, rushing in before being followed by the mercenaries.

Torres and two of his men covered their escape, firing towards the two entrances of the room, and prevented the guards from moving further. They finally retreated to the door of the Depths and crossing the threshold last while shooting towards the few guards that had entered the room, Torres closed the door and locked it.

They were in a tunnel, high and wide, that formed a ring around the Discovery Center's basement and from which other tunnels of similar size radiated, leading to exits at the outskirts of the northern half of Burroughs and even beyond.
Geneticists had used those to move the labs' assets to the east docks.

As the guards were pounding at the door and tried to knock it down, Torres led the group north and further, they turned right, passing another door that they also locked behind them as guards were likely to arrive by the tunnels' exits and fast since their dimensions allowed riders and even vehicles to move within.
Torres preferred to pass by the peripheral corridors that connected different key areas of the Depths, and the one they took from then on was no narrow that they were running almost in a single line.

"Where are we going?" Wu asked as they hurried down the steps of a metal staircase. "I'm afraid that we can no longer join the Anne B, they know that we were supposed to take the boat."

"We won't go to the docks," Torres answered. "We must get out of the city and quickly before they prevent us to leave the island!"

They went down two levels, following a sign that indicated the direction for the night show's bleachers, making them pass under the pond itself.


Author's notes:

Hypothetical Casting :

Erik Knudsen as Ivan Preston

Michael Papajohn as Edward Torres. The actor name might be familiar to the fans of the Jurassic World film and indeed, he played the InGen contractor that Hoskins meet on the beach and who is also seen evacuating Wu. I decided to give his character a name and expands his role a bit.