Another one. Stay home, stay safe.

Summer of 2017...

Darius has been living in California with Brandon for a few weeks now. He got settled, and was exploring the area that was going to be his home for the next few years. He was walking and saw a sign that was advertising the Dinosaur Protection Group. They had appeared a few months after Darius and the others got back to civilization. The volcano, Mt. Sibo, had reawakened. And now it was threatening the dinosaurs and everything else alive on the island.

He, Yaz, Ben, Sammy and Brooklynn all had their opinions on it. Sammy, being the animal rights activist that she is, DESPITE her living on a cattle farm and meat ranch, thought that they should be saved. Yaz, Ben, and Brooklynn held sympathy for them. They also figured that since they were no longer extinct, they should be treated as endangered.

Darius? He offered a different perspective. He didn't think it was a good idea for them to be taken from the island. Where were they going to go? Site B? Maybe. But the problem with humans is that you never know which were good, and which were bad. Who would actually have noble intentions and who would try to take the dinosaurs for their own gain? That was why he believed that nobody should do anything about it, and let whatever happens happen. The first time they had this debate, the chat went dead for a week.

Darius sighed at the memory and how Brooklynn was pissed at him. He decided to go to the building the DPG was located, and went in. He went up the stairs three floors, and finally found a few people walking around. There were a few people sitting at computers or using their laptops. A few people were on the phones. A woman who looked to be in her mid twenties saw him, smiled, and walked towards him. "Hi." she said, with a cheerful voice. "Are you here to join the DPG?"

Darius shook his head. "No, I just saw the sign a few blocks from here. I decided to check it out."

The woman nodded. A second later, another woman with red hair came out of another room. She finished her phone call, and noticed he and her colleague. "Hi. Is he here to sign up?"

"He said he was just checking us out." the woman said. Darius nodded.

The red haired woman took a closer look at Darius. "I've seen you before, haven't I? I feel like you were on the news a few years ago."

Darius said, "Darius Bowman. Nublar Six."

She gasped, and said, "Yes. I remember now. I'm-"

"Claire!" A male voice boomed. "I've gotta go. I'll pick you up tonight, alright? We'll talk later." A man who was in decent shape walked in towards them. Noticing Darius, he said, "Who's the kid?"

"Um, Darius, this is my boyfriend, Owen." Looking back at the older man, she said, "Owen, this is Darius."

Owen immediately recognized the name. "The leader of the six kids who came back from the dead. Nice to meet you." The two men gave each other a handshake.

Looking back at the red head, Darius asked, "What did you say your name was again?"

"Claire Dearing. I was... park manager of Jurassic World when it fell." she said.

"Ahh. Well, I gotta say, was pretty impressed with the camp. Loved the gyrospheres and ziplines. Not a HUGE fan of all the running I had to do." Darius said. Claire gave a small smile and laugh. But deep down, she was uncomfortable.

Owen let out a genuine laugh. "You're pretty funny kid."

Darius gave a laugh. "So, Owen, did you work on the island?"

"Uh, I was the raptor handler." he said. "Hopefully Blue didn't give you too much trouble. How did you manage to escape her?"

"Oh, Blue's her actual name?" Darius realized. "Good to know. She was alright. She left us alone for the majority of the time. The only time we interacted was our own damn fault. It was nice meeting you guys."

As he turned to walk back to the elevator, Claire said, "Can we buy you dinner tonight? We're going to try this barbecue place. If you wanted, we could talk more about what happened."

Darius thought for a moment before saying, "Why not? What time and place?"

A few hours later, Darius was sitting with Owen and Claire and eating some ribs, and enjoying a coke while Claire enjoyed a water and Owen drank a beer. They were talking about how Owen raised the raptors, and Claire shared some of her experiences and how she worked her way up from intern to park management.

When it was Darius's turn to share, he said, "So, Park Management. This may be a little outside your pay grade, but did you ever hear of the Indominus Rex?"

Claire's eyes widened. "How do you know that name?"

Darius explained, "Two of my friends snuck into a genetics lab and saw some of Wu's research. Indominus Rex was one of the names they saw." Pointing out how Claire tensed up at the mention of the hybrid, he said, "So that name DOES mean something. Why?"

Claire hesitated for a moment, but decided that after everything he and the others had been through, he deserved to know the truth. "Our park attendance had started declining. Once again, we decided to add a new attraction. A dinosaur as you could expect. When we did some focus groups, we were surprised to learn that people were no longer excited to see living dinosaurs from the past. We decided that genetic modification would up the wow factor."

Darius shook his head. "You brought back dinosaurs from the dead. The science of it, I admit is beyond me, but, come on. They're dinosaurs. Isn't that wow enough?"

"Our investors and focus groups didn't think so." Claire explained. "The Indominus Rex was supposed to make us relevant again."

"Oh yeah. It did." Darius pointed out, "Just not in the way you wanted."

Claire continued, "Simon Masrani came up with the idea to create a genetically modified dinosaur. A hybrid. The first hybrid dinosaur ever made. Wu was immediately on board and was very quickly able to figure out how to make it."

"You mean, the second hybrid ever made." Darius interrupted. "The Indomimus was the first successfully made hybrid."

Claire gave him a look of confusion. "No, the Indominus is THE first hybrid. There was a sibling with the Indominus, but the I Rex is the first of its kind."

Darius gave her an eyebrow. "Does the name Scorpius Rex mean anything to you?" he asked her.

Claire gave her own eyebrow at him. "No. Should it?"

Scooting closer to the two older adults, because every time he thinks or talks about Scorpius he thinks someone is after him. "The Scorpius Rex is the FIRST hybrid dinosaur. It was all effed up. Ugly as hell, but it was fucking scary. It almost killed Brooklynn. Masrani found out what Wu was doing behind his back, and shut it down. You think that Masrani came up with the idea of genetic mutation? No, he looked at what Wu did in the past, and decided he should try to make a profit off of it. Clearly, that didn't work out."

Claire listened intently. "That explains why Wu was able to create a successful hybrid so quickly. We all just chalked it up as him actually being a genius. But the fact that Masrani knew about it is crazy. Wait, we would have noticed if there was an unidentified asset running loose. How did the Scorpius survive for so long undetected?"

"Because Wu disobeyed Masrani's order to destroy the Scorpius." Darius explains. "He put it in a cryofreeze chamber. But some time after the park lost power, the chamber must have stopped working."

"Is this thing still alive?" Owen asks. "Because there have been dozens of choppers watching the island ever since that volcano woke back up."

Darius shook his head. "Thankfully, we killed them before they destroyed us."

"Them?" Claire asked. "I thought you said it was one."

"It could reproduce itself." Darius told her. "There were only two that we encountered. We had to drop the Visitor's Center building of the old park on them. Even then, one of them still clung onto life." Looking around the room, checking himself, he whispered, "I have Wu's research. Everything he has ever done with dinosaurs. It's all on a flash drive we stole."

"Where?" Owen asked.

"It's safe." Darius confirmed. "But after six months of running from dinosaurs, not to mention, people are willing to kill for this information, I can't help BUT feel like dinosaurs have taken everything away from me. I lost my uncle and aunt because someone was willing to kill for Wu's research. Out of self defense, I killed him. Now, tell me Miss Dearing. If you have lived what I've been through these last two years, can you blame me for feeling like the dinosaurs she be left alone? Lets face it. If you move them from one island to another, there's still those same people who want to create their own dinosaurs, or use the dinosaurs for their selfishness. If they are simply left to die, nobody can get to them. No one except Wu."

"What do you mean Wu is the only one who can get dinosaurs?" Owen asked. "He's in hiding. He can't do anything without alerting the government."

"Unless he has people who are willing to keep him in hiding if they get something in return." Darius countered. "Good people, or innocent people like you Miss Dearing, are dead because of dinosaurs. Now, I don't blame you for what happened. I don't blame you for the Indominus, I don't blame you for the Scorpius, I don't even blame you for the six months on Nublar. It just seems to me though, that too many people look at something and think, that seems like a good idea, or they do it because they think it's a noble cause. But nobody thought through the dangers of making a hybrid dinosaur. Not even John Hammond thought of the consequences of bringing back dinosaurs from the dead and pushing for a theme park. Dinosaurs, being brought back to life in today's world? We're lucky that they have never gotten to the mainland. Well, there was that situation in Canada, but still. They have never been allowed to explore anywhere beyond the island, and I would feel better if it was kept that way."

It was silent for the next few minutes. Darius decided that it was time for him to leave. He pulled out his wallet, threw a twenty on the table, and said, "Thanks for the food."

He made it out the door, but Owen came running after him before he opened the door to his jeep. "Hey kid." Darius looked back at the older man. "How have you been holding up?"

Darius answered, "It was tough after getting back. The usual. Nightmares, constantly looking over my shoulder, paranoia like hell." Owen nodded in understanding. "But, slowly, the nightmares ended. I'm no longer looking over my shoulder, waiting for something to kill me."

"Have the noises stopped?" Owen asked. Darius raised an eyebrow. "The noises. Everything you heard there came back with you. Now, everything you hear, weather it be the wind brushing up against a bush or the sound of a motorcycle, you can't help but think they're still after you."

Darius knew exactly what he was talking about. "Did you serve?"

Owen answered, "Navy. InGen hired me after I completed my tours. I didn't see a lot of combat. But they drill into your mind to always watch for danger, be prepared, they train you to be ready for anything. When I got back, and went to Nublar, the noises followed me. I always feel like I still need to be prepared for anything. It gets exhausting, always glancing at every little noise."

Darius nodded. "It was nice meeting you guys. Sorry if Claire was hurt by my comments. I don't blame her, but at the same time, as one of the developers of the project, she should have thought the consequences."

Owen nodded as well. "I get it. Believe me, I do. And Claire understands that. She doesn't hold your opinion against you."

Darius opened the jeep door. "It was nice meeting you guys."

"See you around kid." Owen said as Darius shut the door.

July of 2019...

Over the next two years, Darius made a name for himself in the collage football community. All eyes were on him as he was taking the summer to prepare for his potentially final season of collage football. He and his brother was the duo to watch out for. They brother duo had been setting records, breaking records. To say the NFL had their eyes on them would have been an understatement. Brandon just got drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs, and was working with their QB. They seemed to be working well together. But that was in the practice ring. Everyone was curious how Brandon Bowman would handle the NFL without his brother by his side. Darius wasn't worried about him. The brothers stood at about 6'4". And he had seen his brother outrun some of the best collage linemen and corner blocks before. So, yeah. Not worried one bit.

Brooklynn had moved down here as soon as she graduated High School. Same with Ben. He got settled with Brand and Darius pretty quickly. Their old roommate had graduated and moved out. Brooklynn moved in with Sammy, who was majoring in Computer Science. Brooklynn was all set to go with her major in Journalism. In all honesty, that didn't surprise ANYONE in their group of friends. What did surprise Darius was that she and Ben joined Sammy at the DPG. That was the first time Darius and Brooklynn disagreed on anything major. This didn't cause a rift between them, but the conversation didn't end well.

Darius wasn't trying to be controlling of Brooklynn, but he didn't want her to work at a place that might trigger her PTSD. But as usual, she was just as stubborn with him about it as he was with her. Eventually, Darius decided that it wasn't like they were going back to the island to help them. He trusted Sammy to let him know if Brooklynn needed help or if she was doing okay for the most part.

That was back in June. The two teens realized that they finally disagreed on something. In all honesty, Darius was surprised that they didn't find one sooner. The twenty year old man was sitting on the couch with Brooklynn as they watched Deadpool 2 for the third time, when a sudden and sharp knock forced Brooklynn to lift her head off his shoulders.

Darius opened the door and was surprised to see a woman. "Can I help you miss?"

"Are you Darius Bowman?" she asked, getting straight to the point.

"That kind of depends on who's asking." The man said.

The woman slightly scoffed and rolled her eyes. She handed him an envelope. "You are being subpoenaed to D.C. Your flight leaves tomorrow evening. We've arranged the hotel you will be staying in."

"Um, why am I being subpoenaed?" Darius asked.

"You're going to address members of Congress. We hope that you could give US a better understanding of what the U.S. government should do regarding the situation happening on Nublar." Without another word, she said, "Have a nice day." and turned and walked away.

Darius closed the door, sighed, and looked inside the envelope. There was a plane ticket, a letter which said that a driver from the airport would take him to his hotel and in the morning would take him to Congress. Darius came back into the living room, and Brooklynn asked, "Who was that?"

"Um, some government worker." he answered. "I'm being subpoenaed to Congress. I leave tomorrow evening."

"Are they asking for your opinion about the dinosaurs?" she asked. She knew how Darius felt about the situation on Nublar. And while she does try to change his mind every once and awhile, she knows that his opinion hasn't changed.

"That's what the lady said." Darius told her. He laid back down on the couch and pulled Brooklynn closer to him. He kissed her, and said, "I'll pack later." Brooklynn smiled and pressed play.

Two days later, Darius was leaving his hotel and going to the car that the man was leading him to. The man opened the door, and Darius said thank you before getting in. "Hi." A new voice said that caused Darius to look in shock. "Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you. It's an involuntary affect of being in my vicinity." The man had gray hair and was in a black suit. Darius could have sworn he knew the face. "Oh, where are my manners. Ian Malcolm." The man gave his hand for Darius to shake as the car drove towards Congress.

Darius immediately remembered. "That's right. Darius Bowman." The younger man shook Ian's hand.

The older man smiled and nodded. "So, six months huh?"

Darius nodded. "Too long on that island."

Ian chuckled. "I don't envy you. I spent one day on the island. Half of the time, the dinosaurs were set free."

Darius, remembering reading about the incident of the first park said, "They've always denied what you saw at the first park. They claimed you had went insane."

Ian let out a half hearted laugh. "Of course they did. Why wouldn't they? They didn't want to scare their investors, stockholders. That's all anyone ever cares about anymore. Expanding their portfolios one way or another."

Darius asked, "Are you here on your own will? Or did they subpoena you as well?"

"Subpoenaed." Ian said dryly. "If it was up to me, I wouldn't say anything. I would have just watched them run out the clock with the hearings and debates until it was too late." Darius gave his own chuckle.

The ride to the Congress Building was uneventful and quick. Darius got out of the car, and walked towards the Congress building. The twenty year old man looked at all the cameras and news crews. He suddenly felt very uncomfortable in the crowd. But he figured he was gonna have to get used to it if he was going to be in the NFL and winning games.

He took his seat next to Ian in front of what would essentially be the entire world. Darius watched as the senators said, "Welcome everyone. Thank you for joining us today in what is potentially the biggest day in the history of animal rights. We ask that everyone maintain order. Thank you for being with us today Ian Malcolm and Darius Bowman. At this time, we would like to ask Dr. Malcolm his opinion on weather or not the United States Government should intervene and save the dinosaurs or let them die. Dr. Malcolm, if you please."

The doctor leaned forward in his chair and said, "Um, I think that we should allow our magnificent, glorious dinosaurs... to be taken out by the volcano." The building started to erupt in gasps and murmurs. "As deeply sad as that would be. But we have altered the course of natural history. This is a correction."

"Are you suggesting that The Almighty is... taking matters into his own hands?" one of the senators asked.

Ian shook his head. "Um, with all due respect Senator, God isn't part of this equation, no." Clearing his throat, he continued, "What I mean is, in the last century, we have amassed landmark technological power. And we have consistently proven ourselves incapable of HANDELING that power. 80 years ago, who could have predicted nuclear proliferation? But then there it was. And then, we've got GENETIC power. So, how long is it going to take for that to around the GLOBE? And, what's gonna be done with it? It ain't going to stop with the extinction of the dinosaurs."

"I'm not sure I understand what you mean." the Senator asked again.

"I'm talking about MANMADE CATACLYSMIC change." Ian clarified.

"What kind of change?"

"Well, change is like death." Ian explained. "You don't know what it looks like until you're standing at the gates."

A few more mumbles and whispers were heard around the room. "Please, quiet down. Please keep order." The senators said. "Mr. Bowman. You and your friends spent time on Nublar, living among the dinosaurs."

"Yeah, well, not by CHOICE." Darius quipped, earning a few laughs and a smirk from Ian.

"Well, how has your time on Nublar effected your opinion on this matter?"

"You can definitely be assured that six months living among the good, the bad, and the ugly, my opinion on these animals have been changed time and again." Darius thought for a moment before continuing. "What has happened, dinosaurs living in a world of humans, its a miracle. And what John Hammond aspired to do was to educate people about these animals. And he has, but I don't think this is the lesson plan he had in mind. Understand, I don't mean to discredit his legacy. I hold him with high respect. But he didn't stop and think about human error. He didn't stop and think of what genetic power on a scale like this could be used for in the wrong hands. His own men betrayed him, driven by greed. And the same goes for Masrani and Jurassic World. Again, I hold Masrani in the highest respect. I saw him die fighting the Indominus, the fruit that was born from his flawed person."

"But he didn't stop to think of the consequences of building an entirely NEW SPECIES of dinosaur. How could you possibly know how a genetic mutation would act, react in a world that they don't even belong in? Even the dinosaurs themselves are not entirely pure. Their genetic makeup is mixed with other animals and similar species from today's world. How could you possibly think you could control THEM? How could you possibly be so ignorant to think you could safely handle genetic power?"

"We're lucky. So far, it's only been animals, and currently they are stranded on an island with no way off. But, what's going to happen if someone desperate enough were to take genetic power and apply it to people? Human cloning? Thank God we are no where close to cracking THAT egg. But what if someone was to clone a dead child? Or maybe be so... warped they would try to bring back a dead mother or father? Bringing back the dead? Where does it stop? If we, the human race, wish to save ourselves as a species, we have to look at how any lines have been crossed, and say, no. We won't cross any further. Which is why we have to let the dinosaurs go extinct once more. No more human intervention."

The lead the entire building erupting into shouts of anger. The senators once again tried to calm everyone down. "We certainly would like to thank Mr. Bowman and Dr. Malcolm. We are going to take some time to discuss this, and we will come back to you with a decision."

Ian and Darius walked out of the Congress building and were met with thousands of angry people shouting and calling them killers. Darius just kept his head up as he was lead to the car once more. People kept trying to reach over the body guards and hit him with their fists or throw stuff at him. But he did his best to ignore their ridiculing and insults. He finally made it to the car, and scooted in so Ian could get in as well instead of going around.

After getting to the hotel, Ian asked, "So, when are you leaving?"

"They only needed me for the day. I leave this evening." Darius explained. "I'm gonna go back to California and get back to practice. I've got one more season of collage ball hopefully."

"Well, good luck." Ian said. "And, it was very refreshing to hear someone else reason for a change. Everyone relies too much on how something makes them feel these days. They don't stop to reason on how something could affect them in the long run."

Darius nodded. "Well, it was nice to meet you Dr. Malcolm."

Ian shook his hand and said, "Call me Ian. See you around kid."

Darius was sitting in his room, watching the news as he was about to head back to the airport. Sammy, Brooklyn, and Claire were watching as well. The Senator spoke, "After through deliberation, the committee has resolved NOT to recommend ANY legislative action regarding the de-extinct creatures on Isla Nublar." The DPG members silently gasped as the Senator continued, "This is an act of God. And while we feel deep sympathy for these animals, we cannot condone government involvement in what amounts to a priestly owned venture."

Darius nodded, and sighed. It's for the best. he thought.

Sammy had a different reaction. "All of this for nothing."

"I can't believe Darius would say that the government should allow them to let Bumpy die." Ben said, feeling tears threatening to fall. Looking at Brooklynn, he said, "You couldn't get him to change his mind? And you're okay with him feeling that way about the dinosaurs? It's not their fault they're stuck there. He thinks that there are only bad dinosaurs? What about the herbivores? The babies?"

Brooklynn defended Darius saying, "We've talked about this at length Ben. Believe me, I use Bumpy as a talking point all the time. And while I don't agree with him on this, I can't ask him to have an opinion he doesn't agree with."

"Why didn't the government ask us to stand before them?" Sammy asks. "Doesn't it make sense to get the entire opinion of the group instead of hearing one voice?"

Brooklynn shook her head. "I don't know Sammy. But if we were there, I know that we would have tried our best." A few minutes later, she stepped away, and called Darius, who was still backing to go to the airport.

"Hi. Darius answered.

"Hey." Brooklynn responded.

"How are you doing?" he asked.

"I won't lie. I'm a little disappointed." she answered. "It hurts that we fought so long and hard just to know we failed."

Darius nodded. "How's Ben? How's he taking it?"

"He feels betrayed. I can't say I blame him." Brooklynn said. "But you know I wouldn't ask you to say something you'd isn't truly believe in. It still hurts though."

"I'm sorry." Darius told her. "I wish that they had asked you or Sammy instead. Or at the very least, invited you along with me. That way, it would have been more fair."

"I don't blame you Darius." Brooklynn assured him. "I'm just a little disappointed."

Darius nodded. "Well, my flight is leaving in a few hours. I'll be in later tonight if you can still pick me up."

"Absolutely." Brooklynn said. "I love you."

"I love you too." Darius responded. "See you tonight."

Brooklyn sighed as she headed back up to Sammy and Ben. When she came into the room, Claire was on the phone, and smiling. Looking at Franklin and Zia, she asked, "What's going on?"

Zia looked at a sticky note Claire wrote on and said, "She's on the phone with someone from Lockwood Manor. They might have a solution for the dinosaurs." Brooklynn gasped in excitement.

Claire hung up, and looked at them. "I have a meeting with Mr. Lockwood and his associate tomorrow at 3:30. They said it was urgent if they wanted to help the dinosaurs on time."

"Oh my gosh, really?" Sammy exclaimed.

"Nothing has been set in stone, but they might have a way." Claire said. "But I don't know. They said more details would be told at the meeting."

"Well, you better get going." Ben said. "Make sure the gas tank is filled up. Lockwood Manor is like a six hour drive."

"The lady said someone would pick me up at my apartment tomorrow. I've got to make sure I have something to wear." Claire said.

Brooklynn looked at Ben and Sammy and smiled. There's still a little hope.

Happy one year anniversary for this story. God. It's been a year since I started this thing. Wow. Thanks so much for reading. Stay home, stay safe.