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Please find me on Tumblr - themaradaniels.

This is unbeta'd, so if anyone is available to help out, please let me know :)

Promise, the action picks up soon. The dinos will be showing up starting Chapter 8...and every chapter after that.

Not mine, posted for funsies, not making any money on this.

As always, this is crossposted with the same name to AO3.

After today I'm going to be switching updates to every Sunday.

Owen bit back on a curse. It had been twenty minutes of seemingly endless searching for a way into the area behind the massive metal door at the back of the warehouse. They had been watching some asshole with a package that had the IBRIS logo on it when he went through a large steel door that required keycard access. Without a keycard of their own, they were left scrambling to find a way in. They had been just a bit too late to ask the man to hold the door for them. Len suggested they try to find an office, maybe there would be a keycard or another way in. Because it was almost a guarantee that whatever shady shit was going on was happening down that damned hall.

And after seeing that damned IBRIS logo, he knew Blue was here. And he knew whatever they had taken her for was not good. This must have been what Hoskins used to drone on about. Made him wish he had listened more rather than just tuning out the asshole as much as possible.

Now they were regrouping in a corner of the warehouse, sipping on coffee from the machine, and pretending to be on a break.

"What if we try to sneak in with someone else?" Barry suggested.

"I've got a better idea," Len declared. Owen turned to see Len smiling in a way that made him nervous. It was a little too wide and toothy, and he could see in her eyes that he was not going to like whatever she said.

Barry arched an eyebrow at him, then looked down at her.

"I'll grab a package and fumble for my 'keycard'. Guaranteed some chivalrous jackass will open the door for me," she said. "I can get inside and open the door for you guys after I get in."

Before Owen could object, Barry said, "There will be cameras on the other side of that door."

"He's right, there's no way you'd be able to get the door open for us," Owen added. "Might need a keycard on both sides anyway."

"So what do we do?" she sighed. "Run around until we get caught?"

Scrubbing a hand across his chin, he sighed. There was no good option here. He hated the idea of Len going through that damned door on her own, but she might be their best and only shot of seeing whatever was on the other side. Glancing around at the workers nearby, it did not exactly seem like they had the most diverse hiring policies. He had only seen a handful of other women besides Len, and every time one of them passed, he caught crude comments from the men working there. One of them even made a crude comment about Len, and Barry had just barely stopped him from decking the asshole.

"What if our keycard didn't work?" Barry suggested.

"Why would we only have one keycard between the three of us?" Len asked, wrinkling her nose adorably.

Owen grinned. That might work. "You go through first," he said to Len. "Grab a box and get someone to open the door. We'll work it out."

She crossed her arms and gave him a dubious look.

"Trust me," he said, grinning.

Len rolled her eyes, but chugged back her coffee, put the cup down, and turned to find a box.

"You know," Barry said, "I hate it when you both grin like that."

"Just follow my lead," Owen said, still grinning. "I got this."

Turning back to Len, he saw her wait until she saw someone start walking toward the hall, then pick up the box. She balanced it awkwardly and headed down the hall just ahead of the guy. After a beat, he and Barry followed slowly. Up ahead he heard Len fumble with the box and heard the worker offer to get the door for her.

"Thank you so much!" he heard her say, relief flooding her voice. "Not sure I would've made it otherwise!"

"It's not a problem," the guy said. "Never seen you around here before. You new?"

Owen held his breath and bit back a curse. Not once had he mentioned what to do if she was caught. Exchanging a glance with Barry, they prepared to jump into the fray.

But it was not necessary. Len just waved the guy off with her usual charm, something he had never had the patience to learn.

By the time they rounded the corner, the door was already shut. Owen reached into his pocket and pulled out a gift card he had been planning on donating to charity, kept the logo side facing toward the door, and tried to swipe it. He tried this until someone came around the corner and saw him cursing at the keycard.

"Oh, come on, you bastard," he muttered at the card.

The worker laughed. "I swear, one day security's gonna lock even Mr. Mills outta here." The man looked a bit younger than they were, maybe around his early thirties. He had a friendly smile, almost as though he had no idea exactly how dangerous working with carnivores actually was. At least, if Owen was right about what was on the other side of that door.

Owen laughed along with the guy. "No kidding."

"Let me try mine." The guy walked forward and swiped his keycard, opening the door. "Just make sure you're not the last one out at the end of the day, or you're sleeping in there with them!"

Owen faked a cringe. At least now he was pretty damned sure Blue was somewhere in there. If he knew what was on the other side of that door, though, the guy was being weirdly casual. Maybe he really believed he was safe. "Yeah, not planning on it."

After holding the door for him and Barry, the guy waved and took off down another hall. Len popped out from around a corner down the same hall and smiled as she approached. "How'd you get in?"

Owen handed her the gift card and grinned.

"He thought his keycard wasn't working," Barry muttered, rolling his eyes.

Grinning, Owen flashed her the gift card.

Len blinked. "How did that even work?"

"You really doubt me?" he asked, smiling and putting a hand on the small of her back to guide her down the hall. "Let's see what we can find."

Nearly an hour had passed since that message with the IBRIS logo on it and not another word from anyone at the Mantah Corp warehouse. It made Claire nervous. She paced back and forth at the window next to where Lowery was working, trying not to run through every worst case scenario and failing. What if they had been caught? Worse, if there were actually dinosaurs at the facility, what if they had been eaten?

"Claire," Lowery begged, turning away from his screens. "Will you please stop pacing like that? You're making me nervous."

"It's been too long," she muttered. "We should've heard something by now, right?" She turned back to where Michael and Joan were sitting on one of the office's sofas. "Right? I mean, I'm no expert in things like this, but it's taking too long, right?"

"They'll contact us as soon as they can," Michael said. "Lowery said the facility is partially underground, maybe they just have no signal?"

She rounded to look at Lowery again and he smiled nervously, coughing lightly. "Uh, yeah, I'm sure that's it," he muttered, avoiding her eyes. No wonder he worked with computers instead of people - he was terrible at reassurance.

Claire resumed pacing as Lowery continued his research, ignoring the looks from Joan and Michael.

She had no idea how long she had been pacing when Lowery again called, "Claire?"

"What?" she sighed, stopping her pacing to face him with her hands on her hips.

"Uh…," he said, gaping like a fish before pointing to his screen. "The, uh…."

Another sigh escaped her and she crossed to the workstation. "What is it, Lowery?"

"Look," he said, spinning his chair back to the screens. "There's an invite on the dark web to some…auction going on tonight."

"And?" Michael asked.

"And they've got weaponized raptors and cloning technology on the bid." Lowery pulled up another window. "Looks like they're basically…selling Blue. Whole thing's going down at a mystery location, asking bidders to show up at a set of coordinates to be picked up and driven to the location."

"What are the odds it's not the warehouse?" Michael muttered, glancing at Claire with worry in his eyes.

Pretty damned low odds, in Claire's opinion. And Lennie, Owen, and Barry were in the middle of it. If she did not hear from them soon…. She sighed and resumed pacing.

Lennie squeezed Owen's hand as he pulled her around the corner and held her close against the wall. Barry had run the opposite way and found shelter behind a set of boxes. Owen backed her into the shadows in the corner and held her tight. Her hands fisted in the collar of his jumpsuit and she closed her eyes, trying to steady her breathing as she waited for the guard to go past. That was the third time they had nearly been caught somewhere they should not have been and they still had found no sign of Blue or the other dinosaurs.

Footsteps continued past the hall they were down and she felt herself relax a little. After a minute she opened her eyes and looked up at Owen.

It took her a minute as the adrenaline wore down to realize the wall behind her felt wrong. It felt like bars, not a wall. Owen smiled down at her, but his expression immediately turned to fear and he pulled her quickly away from the wall just as something ripped at the back of her jumpsuit. When they got far enough away, Owen stopped, holding her tightly in his arms. Lennie turned and saw…something in the shadows.

Whatever it was, it was large and black and growling. At the tip of its claw was a piece of fabric from her jumpsuit. "Owen," she breathed, clutching at the collar of his jumpsuit. "What…."

Barry came around the corner and skidded to a halt next to them. "Merde."

"They're…they can't be…," she muttered. "Are they?" It almost reminded her of the Indominus, the soulless way it looked at them. She was pretty sure she would be seeing those eyes in her nightmares, hearing that growl.

"Dunno," Owen muttered, sliding a hand to the spot on her back where the fabric was torn. "Not too keen on sticking around to find out either. Let's keep going."

As they backed slowly away, the thing kept growling low in its throat. Its eyes never left them.

Lennie did not remember to breathe until they were fully away from it, nearly gasping for breath when she did.

"You okay?" Owen asked, exchanging a look with Barry over her head.

Shaking her head, she took a deep breath and exhaled slowly to calm herself. "No. Owen, they have that thing on the mainland. What if…. I mean, on Isla Nublar…. If it gets out…."

Owen's jaw tensed.

"I got it on film, sent it to Claire," Barry said, holding up his phone.

"Great," Lennie muttered. "Now all we need is a damned nuke."

To her surprise, Owen laughed a little. "Come on. We can worry about it when we're safely out of here." His hand slid to the small of her back as they continued down the hall.

Lennie bit back on a comment about not being sure anywhere was safe and instead asked, "How much longer?"

Owen stopped in his tracks, looked at Barry, then back down at her, pursing his lips. The tense look on his face told her what he was going to say before he even opened his mouth. "I'm not leaving without Blue," he said. "Barry can -."

"No way in hell, Owen." He started to speak, but she cut him off. "If you think for one damned second I've come this far only to leave you down here with that thing, you've lost your fucking mind."

"You know, I ain't exactly thrilled with you being down here either, what with your tendency to run off," he hissed back.

Lennie opened her mouth to reply, but stopped when she noticed the armed guards at the end of the hall. Owen turned her around to run the other way, but more guards gathered behind them. They were trapped.

Barry circled behind them, his back to them, while Owen pushed out ahead slightly, keeping Lennie behind him. Her hand reached out and fisted in the back of his jumpsuit.

Some asshat in an expensive suit and hideous horn rimmed glasses stepped out from behind the guards and smiled. He looked like exactly the type of man her parents would have been thrilled for her to marry. In other words, wealthy, handsome, and more concerned with appearances than being a good person. Everything about him had her on edge.

"Not exactly how I thought we'd meet," he said, smiling a little too widely. "Eli Mills, CEO of Mantah Corp." He signalled to one of the men, who approached and took their tasers and tranquilizers.

"No?" Lennie said, ignoring the man unhooking her belt. "And how did you imagine it would go down? We'd gleefully help you exploit the dinosaurs we raised? Maybe make a new Indominus Rex?"

Mills smiled wider. "The Indoraptor," he said. "She's beautiful, isn't she? That's how we found you, you know. She's under pretty tight surveillance.""Beautiful's not exactly the word I'd use," Owen muttered, reaching behind himself to pull Lennie closer.

"No? Magnificent maybe?"

"Monstrous," Lennie grumbled.

Mills grinned again. "Also a good word. You know, she's not as obedient as the others. Had to put a chip in her brain, but she does listen. Sort of."

Others? Lennie tried not to react, but she felt Owen tense up under his clothes. That had to be what they wanted with Blue. But if they had a fully grown…whatever…Indoraptor…they had to have taken Blue a while back.

"We made her by combining DNA from the Indominus Rex and a velociraptor. One you're quite familiar with, Mr. Grady."

Owen tensed further and Lennie grabbed onto the back of his jumpsuit with her other hand to keep him from charging the man. "Where is she?" he growled.

"Safe," Mills replied. "Can't have any harm come to our greatest asset, after all."

Asset. There was that word again. They were animals, not things.

"Simon Masrani made that mistake too," Owen bit out. "They're living beings, not assets."

"We made them, Mr. Grady," Mills said, his smile not quite reaching his eyes. "We own them. We own every single thing we've made under this roof and everything we've acquired."

Lennie fought to keep her expression neutral. What the hell did that mean?

"It's been fun," Mills sighed, glancing at his watch. "But I have business to attend to." He turned to one of the guards. "She hasn't eaten in a while." And without another word he walked off back down the hall.

After that everything happened somehow both in slow motion and all at once. Owen swung her back out of the way and charged forward, knocking down the nearest guard, while Barry went for the guard nearest him. There were shouts and punches, then a loud bang and Owen dropped to the ground.

Lennie blinked then tried to charge toward him, but was held back by a pair of arms. Owen was not moving.

"LET ME GO! OWEN!" She struggled against whoever was holding her. "OWEN!"

"It will do no good for you to get shot too," Barry muttered in her ear.

Shot? She fought back tears as she looked down at Owen, her body suddenly deflating in Barry's arms. "Owen, get up!"

Nothing.

One of the guards stepped forward and picked up something off the ground, turning it over in his hands with a grin, but another man stepped forward and took it from him. "Don't be crass, Wheatley," the man said. He glanced down at his hands, then approached Lennie and Barry, holding it out. When he got close she saw a silver ring with a small piece turquoise embedded in the front. "I would assume this was for you."

Lennie tried to regulate her breathing as Barry took the ring for her. Owen still was not moving, and the tears began to prick at the corners of her eyes. Whatever the hell was being said, she missed it entirely, but felt herself being pulled away from Owen gently. "No."

"It will do no good if you get shot too," Barry repeated quietly. "Owen wouldn't want that. Allons-y."

Her whole body felt numb as Barry pulled her down the hall with the guards, away from Owen. She kept her head turned back, watching until he was out of sight, but he still did not move.