Taking Control
I'm sitting down with my back against a rock. Yaz was sitting in my lap as we just watch Galen run around. "It's peaceful here." I say as birds start chirping and trilling. Yaz sighs as she leans into me. "It is...but we can't stay." She says. "I know." I reply as I start tracing lines on her hip, she softly moans in pleasure. "Ryan..." She says to me in warning and I just smirk. "Sorry." I say as I hold my hand up, she laughs and gets up. "Come on, we got to meet up with the others." She says as I got up. We head to the airlock as Galen calls out to me. I turn and see him standing on the same rock that we were just resting on. "Goodbye, my friend." I wave to him as he trills and lowers his head, like a nod to me before running off into the distance. "Let's go." I say to Yaz as I turn back and head to the airlock. "He'll be alright." She tells me as I nod. "I know."
We cross through the tunnels and come out to the jungle biome. We see Sammy playing with Angel but I notice no sign of Ben or the Brach. "Oomf." I hear Yaz grunt out as I look and see her on her back, the Brach standing over her. "What a lovely sight." I quip as she smiles up at me and the Brach who runs off. I help Yaz to her feet as we meet up with Sammy. "Any idea where Kenji and Brooklynn are?" I ask to which she shakes her head. "You don't think something happened, do you?" She asks as I shake my head. "Those two are too stubborn. They'll be here, eventually." I say as Ben shows up with some sticks with berries. "Come on, we got to get them back to the cave." He says as the Brach pushes him over, knocking all his sticks all over the place. Angel and the Brach start playing tug-of-war with a stick. The Brach wins it and runs off. Sammy laughs as she cuddles Angel. "Did you see that? It's so cute when Angel and...the other one." She says weirdly as the Brach runs past. "Ben, you got to give her a name." Sammy asks which Ben refuses.
"Oh no. If I don't name her, I won't get attached. Then it won't hurt so much when I leave her behind." He says sadly. I sigh in realization, he left Bumpy behind, the pain of doing so still hurts and I know that this Brach is bringing back memories of Nublar and Bumpy. "Ben, if you wanna talk about Bumpy...?" Yaz goes to ask but Ben cuts her off. "It doesn't matter anymore. She's there and I'm here. Let's leave it at that." He says sadly. I pity him. Bumpy wasn't just a companion, she was his friend. I didn't know Galen that long, but it hurt me to leave him in the valley biome, I can't imagine what Ben is feeling with Bumpy. I curse myself for never asking him about it. Didn't seem necessary at the time, now it's coming back to bite me in the ass.
While Ben had gone off to find more berries. Myself, Sammy and Yaz had stayed with Angel. I start studying her more in depth. She's a Sinoceratops for sure but the sail is very off putting like it doesn't belong there. Her red eyes are cute and not full of malice like the Scorpios or Indominus. But her scale colour is making me wonder. The white and blue shades are making me think that she doesn't belong in this biome. She is hot to touch, and the jungle is humid, she's not as active as the other one, I'm missing something. Ben comes back as he looks around.
"Where's the other one?" He says as Yaz answers. "We thought she was with you." Sammy gasps in fear and points behind Ben. We look and see a BRAD-X scanning. We hide as more show up. "Get Angel somewhere safe." Ben says as he spots the Brach and runs towards her. "I'll stay with him." I say as I cock the rifle before chasing after Ben. The BRAD sees the baby dino and starts chasing after her, Ben lifts a rock and throws it at the BRAD which hits it on the head. The robot stands up and fires bullets in the direction the rock came. I pull Ben behind a tree before he is hit. I switch the rifle to auto and fire at the machine. The gun shoots bullets of three and tears into the machine. Seems like they can stand blunt force but not penetrating velocity. Suck it Kash, found a loophole. I shoot the leg of the machine as it crashes down to the ground. I fire again, towards the head and the bullets tear through the metal, shutting down the BRAD in the process.
We look out and see that the other BRADs have crowded the Brach and are escorting her to the compound. Ben goes to get her but I pull him back. "What...what are you doing?!" He screams. "Stopping you, that's what I'm doing. You're going to get yourself killed." I say to him. "Come on, they are heading to the compound." I say as I run off towards the compound. We arrive to see one of the BRADs holding her down as Kash fumbles with the chip gun. "Wait Kash, isn't that going to hurt?" Darius says with a scared tone. "I want to get this done, stop wasting my time!" He shouts as he aims the gun. "Stay still!" He shouts as the Brach keeps crying. I hear a puncturing sound and the Brach groaning in pain. Ben widens his eyes in terror. Kash stands up as the BRADs move back. The Brach, seeing an opportunity makes a run for it. "Stop." Kash says as he presses his tablet. The baby stops suddenly and goes completely rigged, her soft whimpers are the only thing that she can freely do. Ben watches in horror while I stare in complete loathing at Kash who is smiling sadistically.
Kash walks over to the baby and continues to smile. I aim the rifle and look through the scope to see his head. I hold my finger over the trigger, but a soft hand touches me, I look over to see Ben shaking his head, no. He backs away to a tree to get his breathing under control. He starts to run back to the cave while I stare back at Kash with absolute hate. "I promise you this Kash...one way or another...you'll pay for this." I whisper softly to myself as I swing my rifle over my shoulder and run after Ben.
I arrive back at the cave to see Kenji and Brooklynn have returned. Ben is telling them about what Kash has done. "Enough is enough." He says with anger. "Kash has to go down." I say as everyone turns back to me. "Mae, Darius, Big Eatie, Little Eatie, King Richard, the baby Brach. He has hurt too many and he needs to pay for it." I say with venom in my voice. I take the tablet and take over Darius's BRAD. "Guys, the control chip works." He says sadly as he wipes his mouth of vomit. "We know." I say to him. "Alright listen up, I have a plan, but I need your help." I say as I have an angry expression on my face.
Awhile later, after explaining the plan to Darius, Ben decided to review said plan while the others try to calm the other Spinocertops, Rebel. Kenji came up with the name, one of his better ones at least. "After we lure Kash to the forest biome, we get him to the waterfall cave. And then I hit that sucker with a surprise shot of knockout gas." Ben says as he puts his hand and fist together. "How? We can't access any of Darius's BRAD-X's weapons so how are we getting knockout gas?" I ask as he looks at me and tries to talk but...nothing. "How about...I just walk up to him and knock his ass out?" I ask which, deep down, hoping that I do get the opportunity. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." Yaz says as she and Sammy bribe Angel with berries to get her moving. I smile on the inside...she didn't technically say no. Fingers crossed.
Kenji and Brooklynn are having trouble with Rebel. He is trying to communicate with the hybrid with Spinosaurus sounds which makes me roll my eyes, he's a Sinoceratops more than a Spinosaurus, so logic being... Spinosaurus sounds? Dumbass. "Quiet. Quiet." He keeps trying and I quip to him. "Maybe try Sinoceratops, just saying." I say as he glares at me and changes the sound output. Rebel doesn't seem to want to co-operate and goes off running. "Maybe Rebel should sit this one out." Ben says but Kenji disagrees. "No way, our little Rebel gots this. Anything Angel can do, he can do." Brooklynn follows up behind him. "Rebel is just more vocal than Angel. Many say that's a sign of intelligence." She quips as Mae agrees from behind me. "Very true but I wouldn't want him to be vocal. Not with the plan and all." Mae has a point.
"Can everyone just back off. Just give him a few minutes to learn his part in Ryan's plan." Kenji says as he tries again to communicate with Rebel. And...it doesn't work...again. I shake my head, this is ridiculous, I walk away to clear my head. Mae walks up beside me. "You ok?" She asks and I shake my head softly. "No...I'm not. He tortured that poor baby. She was crying to leave and she couldn't, he stood there and smiled like he had just solved world hunger or something. That pissed me off, he has no compassion, no empathy. Only greed and a need to be better than everyone else. I thought Wu had a God complex, but Kash takes that cake." I say with disdain in my voice. I turn to Mae with anger etched on my face. "I'm going to make sure that he can't hurt anyone ever again. That I can promise you." I say to her which shocks her into silence, I walk away and sit down, preparing myself for the hours ahead. It's payback time.
Me, Ben, Kenji, Brooklynn and Rebel are waiting in the forest biome when we receive word from Darius that Kash took the bait. Yaz and Sammy should be on their way back to Mae. "Alright, Darius should be on his way with Kash. Let's move." Ben says as Brooklynn looks worried at him. "You sure you're going to be fine on your own?" She asks as Ben waves her off. "Me? I'll be fine." As he says that, a large screech echoes through the forest as we look up and see Pteranodons coming from above. "Pteranodons. Why did it have to be Pteranodons?" Ben says with fear in his voice. "Take cover!" I shout as the Pteranodons swoop down over us. I reload the rifle and fire, taking down one of them. I shot it in the wing, it doesn't deserve that harshness. In the confusion, I lost track of Ben or the other two. "Fuck me dead." I whisper to myself. A Pteranodon swoops down and grips my shoulders, I feel slight pain and swing the rifle around and hit the pterosaur on the underside of its chin, dropping me down to the ground. I roll to carry my momentum as the Pteranodon crashes into a tree on its way down.
I look around for the others and find a downed Pteranodon near the biomes border. Sucked in. I move forward and find Brooklynn and Kenji in a lovingly embrace, about fucking time. "Hey, lovebirds!" I call out to them as they turn sharply to me. "Sorry to ruin whatever you're doing but we need to go now." I say teasingly as they frown at me. We find Ben who is panicking. "What's up?" Brooklynn says as we watch Kash and Darius look. The BRAD-X is open mouthed and just standing there weirdly. "The knockout cannister didn't pop out." Ben says as I shake my head. "I told you this before!" I whisper harshly to him as he raises his hands. "Ok, I'm sorry, what are we going to do?" He asks as I eye the tablet and the cave before turning back to Kash. "I have an idea. Give me the tablet." I say as Ben hands me the tablet and I head into the cave. I head into Mae bedroom and see that the sheets are still messed up. I smile as flashes of that day come back. I shake my head clear and put Sinoceratops calls on repeat through the tablet. I give a final order through the BRAD. "Lock me in." I say as Darius's voice comes through. "What? What are you-." I don't let him finish as I cut the connection to the BRAD. I head back to the living area and make my way to the back of the kitchen.
I hear the doors open and Kash's voice sounds over. "How could that thing just wander in here?" The calls from the Sino continue as Kash makes his way in. I watch him from the corner of the kitchen. "Kash, I'll check out here. You check the back." Darius says as I spot him entering the cave with the BRAD in tow. "Already on it." Kash says as he walks to the back. I march over to Darius. "What are you thinking? I'm not leaving you in here." He says to me. "You're going too, one way or another." I say to him as he looks confused. "What are you even going to do? Kill him?" He asks as I shake my head. "I'm not a killer...but I'm not a saint either. He has to pay with what he's done. Shut the door behind me. I'll make sure that he learns that karma always comes. Always." I say as Darius reluctantly nods. "Good luck." He says to me as he turns back and walks out the room. I walk back over to kitchen and look back at him, giving him a nod of thanks as he returns it.
Darius eyes widen as he spots Kash running back, tablet in hand. "Hey!" He shouts as Darius shuts the cave door. Kash jumps over the couch and table and starts banging on the door. The lights go out as the plan takes shape. I knew that breaking the door would be stupid so I had the BRAD hack into it and program a finger scan so that it would shut down after Darius had closed it. Only I could reboot from the inside. Kash tries to reboot the door with the tablet but as nothing works, he throws it in anger. "You're going down, kid! You hear me! You're going down!" He shouts as he starts trashing the place. I slowly walk out and lean on the wall. "You done yet?" I ask in a calm tone but anyone that knew me would know that I'm mad. Kash turns and is surprised to see me but quickly hides it as he points at me. "Who the hell are you?" He asks as I shrug. "Just a guy." I quip to him as I pick up the tablet and place it on the cupboard beside me. Kash finally notices the AR hung around me as his eyes go wide. "W-w-what are you going to do to me?" He says with fear as I smile. "Not so fun now, is it?" I say as I take off the rifle and place it next to the tablet. "You have a pathological need to feel superior about yourself. You hurt, willingly to even kill to get what you want. Your superiority complex sickens me, just as your fear of me makes me smile in glee as you feel that natural feeling of...'damn, I'm fucked'." I say as I walk slowly up to him, he backs away but decides to lunge at me with a punch. I catch his fist and punch him in the stomach.
"Ooh." He collapses to the ground, holding his gut. "You hurt my friends, you hurt baby dinosaurs who can't defend themselves, you are too lazy to do anything yourself. You made a terrible mistake of pissing me off." I spit out with venom as I grab hold of his shirt and punch him across the face. A tooth is sent flying as I grab him by the scruff of his neck and bang him against the desk. I relentlessly punch him. Left. Right. Left. Right. Again. And again. And again. I pick him up and throw him across the room. "Please...stop." He moans weakly as I kick him in the gut. He groans in pain. "Stop? Like the baby Brach earlier when you forced her to stop. Keep dreaming tough guy." I say as I kick him again, the cracking of bone sends Kash to scream to the high heavens. I look at the damage done. His left eye is starting to swell shut. A cut across his right cheek has a black bruise forming around it. I roll him onto his back as I sit my foot on his chest. He groans in agony as I shift the broken rib. "Hurts, doesn't it?...Get used to it." I say coldly as I kick him again. He screams as he starts crying. "Pathetic." I spit out as I grab the rifle. He spots me and tries to crawl away. I step on his hand and break three of his fingers. "AAAHHH!" He shouts as I plant the muzzle against his temple. "The typical AR-15 is loaded with a .223 Remington bullet. Great for hunting." I cock the rifle as he starts bawling his eyes out. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." He says over and over again. I hover my finger over the trigger and narrow my eyes. I think back to what Ben did earlier, forcing me to put the gun down. I start to think about all the good times, I've had with the gang. The bad and the worse as well. When we were at each other's throats more often than not. When we came together to defeat Toro. When we fought and killed the Scorpios. The freaky dinos down in the old tunnels. Moses. Allison. The list goes on. If I do this now then all that will be for nothing, and I'll be no better than him.
I lower the gun and pull it away from him. "You are not worth the effort of pulling this trigger. Nighty night." I say coldly as I boot him in the head, knocking him out. I breathe heavily as I cock the bullet out of the chamber. I stare down at him and coldly turn around and pick up the tablet. I reboot the door as the green light comes on and I stroll out. I close it behind me without even looking back at Kash. I walk out of the cave and head to the airlock. Surprisingly, nothing bothers me on my way back. I enter the jungle biome and notice that the sun is starting to set, well the biomes sunset. I don't even know how long we've been on this island, the days seem to take forever, and the nights are stimulated. I walk up to the cave to see the others waiting, Yaz is pacing back and forth. On her way back, she spots me. "Ryan!" She screams as she breaks into a run, I smile and run towards her and wrap her in the biggest hug I can muster. "Why, you idiot?" She asks me. "Because it had to be done." I say with a little bit of shame. I should have told someone, at least Yaz but I didn't, and I should have. "Please, don't do something like that again. I don't know what I would do without you." She says as I smile. I lean in and kiss her, not giving a damn who's watching. We break apart and lean out foreheads against each other. "What would I do without you?" I say softly, repeating her words back to her. She looks up into my eyes, mirth filling within them. "Do something like that again and we'll find out, won't we?" She says jokingly as I chuckle. I lean down and kiss her again, but I mentally groan when a throat clears. "Piss off." I say as my lips are still on Yaz's.
"Guys, come on." Mae says as we break apart with a groan. "You guys are adorable, though." She says to UA's we nod thankfully at her complement. Sniffling can be heard as we see Kenji, Ben and Sammy all crying. "So...beautiful." "You guys look like a fairytale." Kenji and Sammy say respectively just as the Brach comes running over and knocks me and Yaz to the ground. "Seems like Firecracker like you." Ben says as I raise an eyebrow. "Firecracker?" Yaz asks next to me. "Yeah, I named her." He says as he pats the newly named Firecracker. "Love it." I quip as I get up from the ground. "So good to be back." Darius says as we all embrace him in a group hug, even Mae joined in. "Good to have you back, dude." "We missed you, buddy." Kenji and Yaz say respectively as we break from the hug. "Thanks guys." He says. "Welcome to the family, Firecracker. You and Bumpy would have gotten along. By now, she's probably forgotten about dear old Ben." I hear Ben say sadly as I put a hand on his shoulder. "She remembers. Wanna know how I know?" I ask as he nods. "Because you raised her. You looked out for her, and she you. I think that Bumpy could and will never forget you." I say as he smiles. We both look out the cave to the sunset as we reminisce about an old friend that defended us through thick and thin. A true defender. And the greatest friend any lone boy could ask for.
