After their narrow escape, Drew, Jack and Leon hiked through the desert, keeping a watchful eye out for Tarbosaurus or any other predator. As they walked, they noticed that the desert had given way to scrubland, with herbs, large shrubs and other low-growing plants dominating the area. There were no real trees as such, but there were large shrubs, about as high as Jack was tall, which were packed closely together. As they walked through the scrub, something would move through the shrubs periodically; this increased in frequency as they went further in. On occasion, they would also hear a squawking caw, echoing through the bushes. Suddenly, they walked out of the shrubland into a large, sandy clearing. The time had passed quickly; they looked up in the sky and noticed that the sun was setting.
Jack turned to Drew and asked, "What do we do?" Drew turned to his teammates and said, "Scan the undergrowth; this is perfect habitat for desert animals. If we wait, some might-". Suddenly, the shrubs rustled all around them and a familiar barking caw echoed through the clearing. The three adventurers all turned to each other in a shock realisation; the creatures that had been following them through the shrubs had caught up with them.
The caws got louder and louder as the bushes rustled, before a theropod dinosaur emerged in the clearing in front of them. It was about six feet long and came up to the three humans' waists; its body was covered in thick, sandy-brown feathers, apart from its face. It had a long snout, a mouth full of sharp teeth and large, intelligent-looking amber eyes. It stood on two powerful hind legs, with three-toed taloned feet; the second toe was larger than the others and held aloft, tipped in a vicious-looking, sickle-shaped claw. The creature cocked its head curiously at them.
They all knew what it was immediately. "Velociraptor", Jack said, breathlessly, "In the flesh…". Drew breathed out, "These raptors have been following us for quite some time; we must have walked into their territory." Suddenly, the Velociraptor threw back its head and cawed loudly; several others cawed in reply. The three humans backed closer to each other as the undergrowth rustled all around them. Suddenly, several more burst out from different angles, surrounding them. However, the raptors were hesitating, as if wondering whether or not to attack. The three humans were utterly rigid, not wanting to risk an attack.
During the standoff, Jack turned to Drew, "If you've got a plan, fearless leader, now would be a brilliant time to implement it." Drew turned to Jack and said, "Pass me the bait bag." Jack said, quietly, "Why?" Drew turned to him and said, "There's meat in the bag; we can distract them from us." Jack quietly passed the bag to Drew, not trying to anger the Velociraptors. Once Drew had been given the bag, he grabbed a dead rat from the bag and threw it away from them. The raptors followed the dead rat and eagerly began fighting over it. Drew used the distraction to activate the portal and threw another, larger rat through it. The raptors dived after it, moving as if a unified entity. After the last one had gone through, Drew shut off the portal.
Jack turned to Drew, "So, fearless leader, what do we do now?" Drew sighed, "We make camp. And we go looking for Therizinosaurus in the morning. It's going to be dangerous out here in the dark."
Meanwhile, the plan to get the juvenile allosaurs "adopted" by Balerion was well underway. Linda, Khatin, Collete and Yolanda, who were holding the juvenile allosaurs in a pet carrier, were all standing at the allosaur paddock, by Balerion's section of the enclosure. Prior to Leon going on the mission, they had informed him of the plan, to which he had given his support and information about the territorial patterns of the allosaurs; after they'd been brought back, the adults had had a scuffle and divided the exhibit into three territories, one for each of them.
Balerion, recently fed, was napping in the sun. The plan had been very simple; the juvenile allosaurs would be released on an area of the left side of the enclosure, where Balerion had marked out as her territory. Balerion having been fed before would reduce the risk of her trying to kill the youngsters; she already had a full stomach.
Linda explained to the assembled personnel, "Balerion is larger and more aggressive than the males. If we can get the juveniles under her protection, that reduces the risk of one of the males trying to kill them." And, so the plan was in motion. Yolanda and Collete put the pet carriers down, opened it and the juvenile allosaurs gingerly walked into the enclosure, wobbling on unsteady legs. Linda turned to Collete, "If anything goes wrong, if we hear so much as a growl, we tranq Balerion and get them out of there." Collete nodded.
After the juveniles had walked a considerable distance, Balerion turned to look at them. She walked towards them and sniffed them eagerly; she could tell that they were of her kind, but not her kin. Linda, Khatin, Collete and the others waited tensely; the next few minutes were crucial. Balerion could, possibly attack, or even kill, them. However, she was more curious than aggressive, her movements quiet and measured, as if not to frighten them, as she let out quiet, reassuring vocalisations. Eventually, curiosity satisfied, Balerion walked away. The two juvenile allosaurs stayed rooted to the spot, as if uncertain as to what to do next. Balerion stood still, turned to look at them and cocked her head, as if indicating for them to follow her.
However, the juveniles were still apprehensive, as if waiting for a cue. After a few minutes, the juveniles gingerly walked towards Balerion. Once they had reached her, all three dinosaurs briefly turned to regard the humans before disappearing into the forest. The team all looked at each other, smiling at each other. The plan had worked on the first attempt; two orphaned little dinosaurs had a new family.
Back in Cretaceous Mongolia, Drew, Jack and Leon had set up camp on the edge of the scrubland, by a large, fallen log. They had made a small fire in order to keep any predators in the night away from the camp. Whilst Tarbosaurus were probably diurnal, other predators might come out during the night. Sitting by the fire, Drew yawned, "I'm headed off to bed. Leon, the watch is yours; Jack, you can stay with him if you like", as he got up and headed to his tent. Jack and Leon watched him go, before Jack turned to Leon and asked, "So… how are things?" Leon shrugged and said, "Good, good."
At this, Jack nodded thoughtfully and said, "You haven't really been on many missions, lately. Although, I guess you're busy with the allosaurs." Jack paused awkwardly and said to Leon, "So… from what Adrian told me, you and Drew go back a long time; care to tell me more about it?" There was an awkward pause, before Jack added, "If you're OK with it, of course. I don't want to force you."
Leon sighed, "Fine. I've known each other for over 10 years; we first met in 8th grade biology. The teacher put me, Drew and Adrian in a group together and we found ourselves liking each other. We formed a little trio after that; I hadn't had much friends for a long time, so Drew and Adrian's companionship really helped me. But… are you sure you want to hear this?" Jack shrugged and said, "Well, yeah." Leon exhaled, "However, Drew was always the popular one; president of the debating team, straight A's. Even after we graduated, success after success came to him; well, he's now in charge here. People always thought I was the sidekick; the follower, the hanger-on. It's not hard to be a little jealous; like I'm playing second fiddle."
Jack cocked his head and said, "Meaning?"
Leon sighed, "I'm only here because Drew put a good word for me in with Theodore; there are people who still think I'm not up to the task. Getting rammed by the Anomalocaris, dogpiled by the Megalograptus… that only strengthened everyone's convictions; someone has to be there to keep me out of trouble."
Jack smiled at him, and said, "Hey, hey, you've done great things, too. The allosaur training programme, which I'm sure is going to work, for one. What you did with the stegs whilst I was on the Microraptor mission, for another. Yeah, our fearless leader is the dude in charge, but without us, he wouldn't get anywhere. And he knows it."
It was Leon's turn to ask questions, "Jack… can I ask a question?" Jack raised his eyebrow, "Go ahead." Leon looked at him, "Nothing upsets you, does it? No matter what happens, you're always the same." Jack sighed, "The same, am I? Little you know." Leon continued, "You're always happy; you're always making jokes, always talking… How can you do that?" Jack gave Leon a pointed look, "Everyone assumes that if you're cracking jokes, you're happy. Why?"
Leon chuckled awkwardly, "Boy, you've changed since the Devonian mission." There was a brief, awkward pause; there'd almost been an unspoken agreement between the two not to mention it. However, there was no avoiding it now. "Remember the Devonian mission?" Jack sighed. Leon nodded, "You called me a hanger-on. You said I was useless and you hated me."
Jack smiled, "Hey, hey, I meant the hanger-on bit. I thought you were a walking textbook. That you were only hired because you were best mates with the boss." He sighed. "I didn't say I hated you; that I'm wrongly accused of. I never hated you; I thought you were unsuited for the job. I thought you were a 'bunny-hugger'. I thought you were only hired because you were Drew's friend. I never hated you. Not once. Did you hate me?"
For a moment, Leon was stunned at what he'd just now heard. Then his face fell, and he looked awkwardly at Jack, sighing, "A little bit". As he said this, he hung his head. "I mean, you should've told me that before. I thought you did from the way you acted". Jack smiled, "I didn't know what you thought about me. Amazing how things change."
There was a brief pause. Leon gave Jack, who was chuckling slightly, a quizzical look and said, "Thanks. For telling me that". Jack smiled, "My pleasure". As Leon got up to his tent, he turned to Jack and said, "What did you mean by amazing how things change?". Jack smiled again, "We couldn't have had this conversation before". Leon gave him a quizzical look, "Why?", to which Jack responded, "'Cause we weren't friends before."
Suddenly, there was a rustling in the bushes; it was as if several small entities were moving towards the camp. Jack and Leon's eyes widened and they looked at each other. "Get Drew", Jack whispered, "I think we have company."
