The Fortress, Mt. Watson, Isla Sorna: "Sublevel 3?" asked Lori Ruso confused. She was relaxing in the hot tub that was powered by the geothermal vents of Mt. Watson. Years ago when she'd left the Fortress for the Worker' Village, she'd had the foresight to leave one of her bathing suits behind just in case she came back. To her surprise and pleasure, it still fit her and so she was relaxing instead of being soaked in her underwear.

Sheila Matula for her part had never been in the fortress to begin with so she was sitting on the edge of the pool dangling her legs in. She was also the one who had asked the question about Sublevel 3.

"Yeah, there's a big huge set of blast doors down there with a set of dual entry pads that's way too advanced for when this place built back in late '86," said the female programmer still unable to stop thinking about those doors and what lay beyond them.

"Oh, that," said Lori dismissively with a wave of her hand, splashing the water around a little bit. "That's basically the genesis of the entire DRP project. Only Drs. Wu, Whitacre, and Graves can get in there to do whatever they need to away from prying eyes. Whether privately consulting about issues with the project, retrieving whatever genetic samples they may have stashed in there, etc. etc."

Sheila looked at here curiously. "Are you sure? Have you ever been in there?" she had to inquire curiously.

"Well, no," Lori admitted as she rubbed her arms with some of the warm spring water. "But considering how little time the three spent in there when this place was operational I can't imagine anything really important is in there. In fact they rarely went back to the place after we set up shop in the Village, then moved to the Hammond Administration Building, and then finally the Embryonics Administration Building. The only instance of them really being squirreled away in there that I can recall was shortly after the A-1 Incident. Not that I blame them; things were a mess at that time."

"I see," said Sheila as she contemplated all of this new information. She then shifted uneasily back and forth as she debated saying something before finally deciding Lori could be trusted.

"E.L.E.," she mentioned quietly while kicking her feet absently in the water. Lori turned to look at her.

"What?" she asked. Sheila pulled out her pencil rubbing and showed it to her.

"The letters E.L.E. were engraved on the blast doors," the young programmer informed her. Lori sighed and shook her head in frustration.

"Boy there sure are a lot of people interested in those letters," the Head of Production griped. She personally didn't see the big deal behind it but then again she tried not to poke her head in places it didn't belong.

"Really, who else?" asked Sheila oblivious to her internal thoughts.

"Bobbie seems gung-ho figuring out what it is. I think they were planning on telling Daniela about what it meant and, judging by her attitude towards the end there right before we all left Nublar, I'd say they told her," the other woman answered.

"And what does it mean?" came the next inevitable question.

"It's some sort of contingency plan. But for what I don't entirely know and what it entails I also don't know,"

"Aren't you the least bit curious?"

"I'm not. Because first of all I am a military brat who was raised to realize 'need to know' means 'need to know'. And when you don't 'need to know' there's a very good reason for that so you shouldn't go looking to find out whatever it is you don't 'need to know'. Later I worked logistics for the United States Armed Forces and that kind of thinking kept me out of a trouble that befell some of my other colleagues," Lori answered a little cryptically about her past. "I'm not saying you shouldn't go looking into this since it's clear you and Bobbie have a naturally predilection towards wanting to find out everything. And if you need my help I will assist as best I am able because Bobbie is my friend and I like you, Sheila, I really do.

"But believe me, kid, sometimes when you find the answers to your questions you'll realize you might have been better off not knowing," Lori Ruso concluded. Sheila nodded silently out of gratitude but said nothing more about E.L.E. LoRu for her part finally got out of the hot tub as for reasons she couldn't explain it suddenly felt like it had gotten colder.

Down in the belly of the Fortress, Jake Whitacre and Henry Wu approached the double blast doors-Laura Sorkin had known she'd never get an answer out of them about what was in there and so had retired for the night-and walked up to the twin access terminals. Up in the security room, Nicolette Stefrassa secretly watched them in silence through a security camera mounted further down the hallway.

But as soon as the two scientists powered up the terminals, the security camera automatically shut down and the screen went blank. The Head of Strategic Planning leaned back in her chair-she hadn't been entirely surprised by the failsafe-and placed her right hand against her face and softly tapped her temple deep in thought.

What she couldn't see where the blast doors creaking open and admitting the two scientists into a darkened area before closing behind them.

Pacific Pharmaceuticals Headquarters, San Diego, California: It was well past midnight as John Brown continued examining the fragmented DNA strands recovered from Nedry's embryo canister. And with every minute he spent working on it came the growing frustration that it wasn't going to entirely provide him with the answers he was looking for.

What he needed to complete the puzzle was now the real question. He knew what was required but he didn't know where to get it:

A live dinosaur.

Morning: At the campsite everyone slowly began their morning routines to try and shake out the sleepiness and get ready for the day's events. Currently groups were clustered around various smoldering campfires eating their breakfast.

Doc Thorne couldn't help but notice Richard Levine was at a campfire with the three young women they had encountered the night before after meeting Katrice Maken. If the then unconscious millionaire had any remembrance of the encounter, Levine didn't know. All he knew was that the Becky Doll owner likely had an ulterior motive for sitting with them and Thorne couldn't wait for it to inevitably blow up in his face.

"So tell me," began Levine earnestly. "Isn't a little bit scary being out here on this island full of bloodthirsty dinosaurs? I know it gives me the creeps sometime," he continued trying to sound sympathetic to what he assumed was their plight.

"Not really," said Rally Vincent dismissively as she bit into her granola bar.

"Nope," said May Hopkins holding a portable radio to her ear while trying to fiddle with the knobs to try and get a clear signal for whatever it was she was trying to listen to.

"Uh-uh," agreed Becky Farrah as she fought to straighten out the knots in her hair with her hair brush. It hurt at times but that was the problem with trying to keep up appearances out in the jungle.

"What?!" said Levine surprised. "How can you say something like that? I'm sure where you were before wasn't anything to hardships like this."

Rally shrugged. "Yeah, but it's pretty easy since we're all from Chicago. You can survive there you can survive anywhere."

The other two women nodded their heads in agreement. Saying they were from Chicago slightly threw Levine for a loop. He hadn't been to the city very much but everything he had read led him to believe it was very rough and tumble…whether the truth or otherwise.

"So you don't miss anything from your old lives?" he asked, trying a new tact.

"Not really," said Rally repeating her earlier answer.

"Well, I kind of miss Shelby," May admitted. Rally paused for a moment and then vigorously nodded her head.

"Yeah, there is that," the Indian woman acquiesced. "I miss taking her to get groceries, to go downtown, to go to the park…"

Levine leapt at this new opportunity in the conversation.

"So you must really miss your dog," he stated sympathetically. The three looked at him strangely.

"Shelby isn't my dog, she's my Cobra!" Rally said emphatically. Levine shot straight up at that.

"Your Cobra?!" he shouted drawing some attention from the others around him before they returned to their business. "I just realized I have to go do something before I leave for the day."

Levine abruptly walked off to the confusion of the three women as Levine chuckled to himself and took his seat.

"What's his problem?" asked Becky as May had begun furiously shaking her radio trying to get a signal out of it.

"He doesn't like snakes," Thorne responded. Rally raised an eyebrow at that.

"When did I say anything about a snake?" she asked perplexed. Now Thorne regarded her curiously.

"You just said Shelby was your Cobra," he reminded her is that should've been obvious.

"Yeah, my 1967 Shelby GT 500 Cobra!" she exclaimed as she reached into her wallet and pulled out a photo of May and herself smiling next to the vintage muscle car which was blue with twin white racing stripes.

"Oh," said Thorne as his expression dropped as realization hit him. He then looked over at Levine who was standing by the food table and drinking some water from a cup. The CEO then jumped briefly as he noticed Katrice standing right next to him wearing an aviator's outfit similar to Jennifer Flores. She was also wearing her aviator reflector which made her expression largely unreadable. But then she noticed his attention and gave him a mocking salute and the observer decided he'd be better off elsewhere at that moment.

Thorne briefly debated having him rejoin them with the truth about 'Shelby' but then decided against it. These women could undoubtedly handle themselves but no sense giving them more trouble than it was worth.

"So Reilly," began Thorne wanting to ask her a question.

"Rally," Rally clarified as she took out her handgun from its shoulder holster and began examining it.

"Sorry. Anyway, what is it that you used to do back in Chicago?" Thorne had to wonder.

"I own a gunsmith shop…plus on the side I dabble as a bounty hunter," responded the other woman as she did her best to examine and clean her gun despite the less than ideal scenario of being out in the wilderness.

That answer did surprise Thorne but Rally had seen it all before so it didn't surprise her.

"Then is that why you don't normally go by 'Irene'?" the inventor wondered poignantly. Rally was impressed by that observation and nodded her head.

"Not too many people would go to a gun shop knowing beforehand it was owned and run by a woman. Plus with the bounty hunting it helps as a pseudonym and again avoid sexism from target or clueless competitors," she remarked casually but Thorne could tell it slightly irked her that it was known to happen. Bobbie Carter by this point had sat down with them with her mug of piping hot coffee.

"Big fan of Remington Steele, huh?" the Doctor laughed. Rally snorted at that.

"Well, I've got nothing on Laura Holt, but the idea works," she chuckled. Thorne turned to May Hopkins.

"And what is it you do?" he asked of the short blonde-haired woman.

"I'm Rally's sole employee and bounty hunting partner with a major in explosives!" said May sweetly with a smile-seemingly in complete opposite of the words she had just uttered-before finally scowling and giving up on the radio. "So much for the finding out if the Cubs won the other day. Maybe tonight I'll get better reception for the All-Star Game."

Becky Farrah shook her head in shame at that. "Even if you do get better reception the best radio stations you could pick up this far out would be from either Costa Rica or Ecuador and you don't know Spanish."

May stuck her tongue out at the other woman.

"And you don't work for them?" Thorne asked of her. Becky laughed hard at that statement.

"Fortunately, no. I'm definitely not one of the Gunsmith Cats," she said, pleased. Rally and May glared at her for that statement.

"The what?"

"Oh, sorry," Rally apologized, her gaze broke from Becky. "That's the name of my gunsmith shop. We're a fully registered LLC in the state of Illinois."

Rally handed Thorne a photo of the front of her building with her Cobra visible to one side. The building was a standard box configuration with large windows and atop it a sign that read Gunsmith Cat with an 's' that had been riveted on to the side of the sign that made it stand out a little bit. As if the name of the company had slightly changed at one point.

"So anyway, I'm actually just an associate of theirs. My job is as one of the best informants in the Chicagoland area," said Becky clearly full of herself. "If you want to know the latest mob dealings, which politician to bribe for your cushy government contract, or even if your spouse is cheating on you; me and my network of informants are the ones to contact for your information needs. For a modest fee of course."

Thorne looked at her extremely skeptically but Rally and May didn't say anything to contradict her statement.

"Prove it. I want to see your skills of observation," he challenged as he took a drink from his cup. Becky shrugged.

"You have an uncanny interest in that tower," she stated off-hand while tipping her head at the massive steel structure. Thorne coughed heavily at that while trying to force down the liquid and avoid a spit-take. He didn't entirely succeed.

"Was it that obvious?" he asked trying to not show any emotion while wiping his mouth with his sleeve.

"I can't blame you," said Becky sympathetically as Bobbie did her best to listen in while appearing not to notice their conversation. "They've got a strange layout for weather sensing equipment. I mean we're very close to the foot of Mt. Watson on the opposite side of the jet stream so I'm not sure what good one would do here."

"So what do you make of them?" Thorne had to ask. Becky shrugged.

"Nothing, yet. But I'd be willing to find out for you," she offered with a small smile. Thorne briefly considered taking her up on it. But then something she had said earlier occurred him.

"How much?" he demanded, knowing the other shoe was about to drop.

Becky's smile growing wider as her eyes seemed to light up answered that question.

"Forget it," said Thorne rolling his eyes.

Upon seeing the man's expression, Becky laughed seemingly nervously while turning a shade of red while trying to wave the heat from her face. She then motioned Thorne to lean closer and she held up a hand to try and cover her words.

"Truth be told, I really work for the NSA but don't tell anyone," she requested. "They're actually very interested in this island and the dinosaurs."

"Like hell you work for the NSA," said Rally dismissively as she intentionally tried to get in a shot for Becky's earlier comment. That statement promptly broke out into an argument between the three women as Thorne turned to Bobbie.

"Are any of them telling the truth?" he had to ask bewildered.

"Beats me," said the Doctor noncommittally. "Although back when I was doing my initial residence in Chicago, they did warn me that nobody wants to hear there's a Code Vincent or a Code Hopkins on the way. Usually means they accidentally wrecked somebody trying to bring them in."

Thorne groaned at yet another unusual statement. "But I thought bounty hunting was illegal in Illinois."

"It is illegal. But then again, Illinois is hardly known for not being full of lawbreakers,"

"Touché," Thorne acquiesced before turning to the trio as Rally was trying to hold off May from tackling Becky. "So how did you three come to be here?" he said, interrupting their situation.

Each turned sheepish at that. "Let's just say that being a gunsmith doesn't always pay the bills hence the bounty hunting side of things. But lately the tracking jobs haven't been bringing in the money so I had to temporarily stop paying the crazy gun licensing fees to try and stay afloat," Rally admitted, embarrassed, while absently scratching the back of her head. By and by she did her best to keep things legal but things sometimes happened.

"But then the local ATF office got wind of us not having paid our dues so they sent a government worm after us," Rally grumbled. "Since it was an election year last year, it meant even bribes were at a premium for the local government officials so that wasn't an option. I figured we could hold him off long enough to work something out but then somebody decided to set off a smoke bomb in the ATF's office and there went that option," said Rally staring at May pointedly who chuckled to herself. "So we took out a loan, paid off as much of the house mortgage and the rent on the building as we could, and then bailed for here. The ATF should lose interest in us in another few months or so and since working on this island pays very well we should be able to come out ahead once we return to the Windy City."

Thorne couldn't even begin to make sense of their situation so he decided to move on and ask his next question. "But how did you even find out about InGen to begin with?"

Rally turned thoughtful at that as she tried to remember the sequence of events. "Back in late '91 they put out a feeler in all the major metropolitan areas for custom heavy weaponry."

That hit Thorne like a ton of bricks; he'd completely forgotten about that. His company didn't deal with weapons but that was how InGen had acquired the designs to several of his field vehicles and then subsequently had them militarized.

"I don't normally do much with heavy weapons but I did give them some handgun designs," the Gunsmith Cat continued. "I would've liked to have built them in my shop but we do everything handmade and I'm not really able to do mass manufacturing. Still, InGen liked what they saw, purchased all my designs, and then offered May and myself a job with them based on our knowledge with weapons and experience with handling ourselves bounty hunting. I turned them down but they said it was an open offer and so a year later here we are."

"Have you seen any of your designs on this island?" asked Thorne intensely curious about exactly what it was InGen had done with all the various weapon designs and equipment they had collected in only a few months in 1991 when they had put out that feeler. He never did find out what prompted the needed to request the heavy weapons in the first place.

"No, which is strange," Rally admitted as she held the empty gun to her ear and pulled back on the trigger to hear the sound of the firing pin. Satisfied, she put the gun back in her shoulder holster. "They've got a good selection here already of standard pieces, but based on what my fellow colleagues said they'd acquired; they got enough material to equip a small army to take on any of the third world countries around here. But what they did with it, I have no clue."

"As for me," Becky began. "One of my commissions decided to use the information I gave him for reasons which were not laid out upon initial contact and when I found out I explicitly told him not to use it for that reason. Needless to say it all went to shit when the mob found out and they were none too happy with me. With Rally and May about to head out to Costa Rica there went any deterrence and protection I would've had so I decided to bail with them. The mob will lose interest in me probably around the same time the ATF does and then I can go back and reestablish myself in the area."

Thorne found himself again shaking his head. "This island attracts the strangest people."

"Which reminds me," said Bobbie sitting up. "I've been meaning to ask; what are you three even doing here with this expedition? None of you really know how to cook or clean!"

*SNAP* *POP* *HISS*

Thorne never saw Rally pull the handgun from its concealed holster. All he knew was that one moment her hands were empty and the next they had a deadly weapon in it angled at the ground with the safety off and then hammer pulled back. Immediately he knew her story had to be true…the gunsmithing, the bounty hunting, everything.

Rally surveyed the scene silently with extreme attention to detail as she noticed the sound had come from the dying campfire. Without another word she calmly flipped the safety back on and returned the weapon to its holster.

"Can't be too careful," she remarked off-the-cuff while trying to diffuse the situation. But Becky's expression was still one of abject terror.

"What?" the Indian woman demanded. Becky lifted a shaking hand and pointed next to her as Rally looked to her left to see what it was and then her face dropped as she slapped her hand against her face.

"Rally…," said May with a nervous voice.

"Ah, dammit, May!" shouted Rally aggravated beyond belief. In May's hands was a smoke bomb of which she had inadvertently pulled out the pin.

"I got excited and thought I would be able to use it!" said May upset as she threatened to cry.

"Well put the pin back in!" shouted the bounty hunter irate.

"It's too late!" said May crying as tears streamed down her face.

"Not again…," complained Becky upset about the apparent recurrence of this seemingly unique situation.

*HISS*

Gas immediately erupted from the canister and began to fill the whole campsite as everybody scattered in random directions. Thorne for his part grabbed the night vision goggles and slapped them on while covering his mouth with a rag to try and protect himself as he realized the opportunity of this unexpected situation and made a beeline for the tower to get a better look at it.

The Fortress, Mt. Watson: From the observation deck, the workers-sans Jake and Henry-were enjoying breakfast when they noticed a strange collection of mist from a spot out in the jungle below and wondered what could be causing it since there wasn't any fog that morning.

Down in the belly of the building, inside of the classified area, the phone went off and Jake Whitacre jerked awake and fell of the chair he had been sleeping on as he fumbled about and picked it up.

"What?" he asked sleepily into it. Lori was on the other end of the line explaining what they had seen. "I'd report it back to Sam at HQ. Unless it starts to really spread there's little we can do about it up here to need to mount up an expedition since we don't currently have any vehicles and it is a long walk back down the road to the ground."

Henry had been sleeping on the floor and abruptly sat up and smacked his head on the underside of a table and cursed briefly. Jake laughed at him as he hung up the phone as the other scientist stood up and brushed off his wrinkled clothes.

"Good to see you in good spirits considering why it is we came in here," Wu remarked somewhat bitterly. Jake nodded his head all business as he joined his fellow scientist.

"Do you think she's still alive?" he had to ask. Henry looked at him dumbly.

"If she wasn't we would know because we would have been notified via the network," he remarked before noticing something in Jake's expression. "Why, are you hoping she isn't?"

"She's a mistake!" said Jake holding out his hands.

Henry shook his head. "She's a necessity!"

"Let's just open the door and get this over with," said Jake wanting to move on rather than have an argument break out between them before they even knew what they were dealing with first.

The two scientists approached a set of doors past all the genetics equipment in the room and both paused a moment before looking at each other and pushing their way in.

The next room was completely dark but tiny beeps could be heard along with the soft sounds of breathing. Henry slowly brought up the lights revealing a room that could comfortable house several creatures with medical diagnostic equipment everywhere.

At the moment, though, there was only one massive creature heavily sedated in the room. The creature was hooked up to an EKG machine which was making the beeps, a neural oscillator to measure brainwaves, and several IVs in the creature to both pump in sedatives and keep the creature alive.

"Hello, old girl, it's been a long time," said Henry as Jake sat next to the creature and ran his hand atop its back.

Below the creature's gurney were two words:

Diabolus Rex.