Maisie didn't have much to work with. A card was the way in and out of each room; no locks to try and pick. Dr. Inger said she'd be back in, would that be her chance? Maisie had eyed the vents, quickly realizing they were too small. And she didn't know where they'd lead anyway.
"Keep thinking." Maisie encouraged herself, running her fingers along the edge of the nearby counter. Despite the cages, she was keeping it between her and the pterodactyl, who banged its head against the side. It was possibly hungry, clawing on the side nearest the compies. Maisie wanted to admire them, but she needed all her thinking power on how to get away from here. Or how to let Owen and Claire know where she was. Her eyes trailed from the hall and the preservation room. Where Dr. Inger had placed her samples. The things that would explain who she was. Maisie worked at the tape on her bandage, thinking about how Grandpa had praised her wit and courage.
I am brave. Maisie gnawed her bottom lip. And funny... but am I like that because of Gloria or because that's how I like being?
Maisie looked around the room again, raising her chin above the doubts. She wanted Claire and Owen. She wanted the cabin and school... she wanted to find out who she was as a person. Not as a clone. She was getting out of here.
Maisie righted out of her thoughts as the men wheeled Blue into the lab. Dr. Inger rushed past Maisie, grabbed a tray, and came back to take samples of Blue's DNA. Blue was strapped down, but no longer sedated. Her eyes widened and body tensed as Dr. Inger held up a scalpel. A wide, brown-leather muzzle prevented her from lashing out, but the guns stayed on her, intent on every movement. Except for the well-dressed man, who had yet to step inside the lab. He kept himself, cool and collected just outside the doors. Maisie only glanced at him, but his eyes moved at the same instant, piercing her in an all-knowing way. He smiled at her and nodded. Maisie looked away.
The compies and pterodactyl grew more restless at the scent of Blue's blood, teeth and claws scraping the bars and hoping to get past them. The men commented as Dr. Inger made her incisions; one with amusement, the others with awe. Maisie, likewise, was taken aback with the full-grown velociraptor in front of her. It was the baby from the video, only bigger. All muscles and claws, and the wicked, wide streak fo blue trailing from head to tail. And her breathing... so calm. Maisie matched the rise and fall of Blue's rough chest; how was she so calm?
"There we are." Dr. Inger rose breathless with a filled vial and a petri dish of Blue's thick skin. "Just a few scales and we can cage her."
"Like you'll cage me." Maisie suddenly snapped. Dr. Inger turned, samples in hand. "Maisie, that's not fair."
No, it wasn't. Maisie's face burned with all the adults staring at her. Then the tallest of the Russians laughed, resting his gun on his hip. "Your science experiment's talking back, doctor. MIT teach you how to handle that?"
"Kolov." the suit man ordered from his sentry position. Dr. Inger's chin contorted. "Yours and Blue's DNA were designed with the same technology, Maisie. It's important that we monitor both of your progresses." She looked back, ordering Maisie's silence before taking the samples inside the cold room. "You're too valuable to risk. If you were to get sick again-"
She shook her head, stroking Maisie's hair behind her ears. "People worked long and hard to make you a reality. We're not going to let that go to waste."
Those words put a bad taste in Maisie's mouth as Dr. Inger turned back to Blue for the scales. She started when Blue tilted her head, distracting herself by speaking Russian with the Mr. Aldovich and the other men. It took Maisie a moment to realize that Blue's orange-gold eyes were now on her, watching, gauging her presence in the midst of this situation. Like, they were deciding what to do about her; when the time came. Did she recognize her from the manor? Maisie couldn't be sure, but she felt confidence in that gaze.
Scales procured, Dr. Inger stood up again. And Maisie saw it! Blue's outside claw pushing back and forth- fraying the leather strap that help her arms in her chest. The men backed off a few feet, watching Dr. Inger move to speak with the man at the door. "Mr. Gavrill-"
But Maisie just watched Blue saw away, her brain slowing before it sped forward. She had seen Blue sink her claws into the Indoraptor's skin like warm butter. What was a measly leather strap? Maisie stepped back, sensing the sudden urgency. She swallowed as she turned, making for the room Dr. Inger had indicated as hers.
"Maisie-" Dr. Inger started, but was cut off by a sudden thrashing.
"She's up!"
The other dinosaurs shook in their cages as voices and guns exploded. Maisie ran then, throwing herself through the door.
"Tranq her!"
Maisie only caught a glimpse as Blue leap on one of the men as she pulled the door shut. Raptor and man hit the counter, shattering beakers and binders across the floor. Thankfully the door muffled the screams that came next. The shouts of man and dinosaur folded over one another... shrieks of hunger... then screams of pain! Maisie clutched the doorknob, at a loss for anything else hearing the chaos through the door. Her heart pounded in her ears, fighting for a full breath as she tried to remember. She'll remember me... Blue'll remember me...
A few bullets fired, followed by a shout of 'Don't!' Then, it was quiet. A bump, two bumps, then quiet again. Maisie's hand slipped off the knob, covered in sweat. Was that clicking? The faint taps off the end of a raptor claw... and they were getting louder. Closer. The air vacuumed out of Maisie's throat and she couldn't remember to pull more in. Tap, tap... tap, tap...
Maisie eyed the room between the cot and the desk. What did she hope to find? But the door only locked from the outside; she couldn't just stand here!
Tap, tap...
The cot had sheets and a pillow and the desk only had a clipboard. Dr. Inger must've left it there at some point. A clipboard and a- Maisie yelped at the spring of the doorknob releasing. It was turning! And she knew... it wasn't a human on the other side. She backed up to the desk, pulling the chair in front of her. She also grabbed at the clipboard, only to still at the muzzled snout that came sniffing through the door. It was followed by Blue's proud head and arched neck. The animal panted and blood dripped daintily from her claws. Maisie became a statue as Blue put her eyes on her, turned her head, then her body. Legs shaking, Maisie somehow squeezed her right hand... and clicked the pen three times.
Blue cocked her head, body half crouched and half curious. Maisie held the pen tighter, clicked it thrice again. It was the signal for stand down.
Blue's breathing came labored through the muzzle as girl and dinosaur stared at each other. Blue then backed up a step, swaying toward the cot. An eye still on Maisie, she began to rub her muzzle against the frame. She was trying to get it off. Maisie swallowed. "She shows empathy, intelligence, compliance... empathy."
Remembering Owen's words helped her shaking to lessen, even if just a little. Was Blue empathetic right now? Was she remembering Owen's commands? Maisie eyed the muzzle, then Blue's introspective eye. "You... want it off?"
Blue raised from the cot, slight hissing sounding from her throat. Her head dipped... almost in a nod! Maisie noticed two buckles along the side of the muzzle now. Am I really thinking...
Maisie curled her free hand in, protective of her fingers. Yet, they had a common goal; they wanted out of here. Blue knew that, so why had she followed Maisie, rather then run through the doors? Maisie blew out her breath and made her legs sturdy, readying herself. She signaled stand down a third time with the pen, stepping around the chair. Blue sensed the difference in height and lowered her head. Her eyes were focused, intent on Maisie as she lifted her hand.
Maisie was shocked with the first feel of the scales. How many times had she imagined this, played it out in the display room? Her imaginings had never held terror and wonder in the same breath, which Maisie was holding as she undid the buckles. It took a minute, but the muzzle slipped off and Maisie pulled back as Blue shook her head, stepping back to the door. Their eyes met again, before Blue nudged the door open again. She paused, gave an eager chirp, then walked back into the lab. Maisie- pen clutched vitally- followed after a moment of panicked deliberation. Really, what other choice did she have?
Two of the men lay dead, their blood pooling on the floor of the lab. The compies were going crazy, clawing through and under the bars for a single scrap of the fresh meat they smelled. Maisie didn't look directly, even as Blue nudged around one of them. She looked to the hallway, findng it empty. Where was Dr. Inger and the man in the suit?
The card. Maisie's mind suddenly realized. A card for the door!
"Blue-" Maisie turned back to the raptor to see her yanked at the hip of the dead man. Maisie gulped, wondering if Blue was really going to eat- but Blue raised her head then, expelling something from her mouth. It flipped and landed by Maisie's feet. Slimy and smudged pink with blood, Maisie still recognized it as a keycard. The card that would get them out! Maisie looked up in amazement. Blue hunched her neck, teeth bared slightly. Startled, Maisie clicked the pen again. Stand down!
Blue recognized it and it clearly confused her. Nonetheless, she knew what that key was for. Maisie steeled herself, picking up the keycard. "E-Eyes on me."
Blue looked past Maisie's hand and eyeballed her; like You're kidding me, right?
"If Owen can do it, so can I." Maisie reasoned aloud. She couldn't hesitate; they were both fighting to survive! She sidestepped to the door, hand kept out between her and Blue. The raptor's eyes stayed with her, eagerness rising as she tried the card against the door. The bolts snapped and the panel slid back-
"Maisie!"
Girl and raptor started, Maisie's head jerking toward the intercom. Dr. Inger's voice came through again. "Maisie, don't move!"
Blue growled and Maisie spotted the elevator opening at the end of the hall. Her head throbbed with the onslaught of adrenaline. Someone was stepping out as Blue darted up from behind. Maisie moved into the hallway- then aside as Blue bolted through to attack.
}{}{}{}{
Dr. Wu had agreed to get them to the InGen building. The objective gave Owen focus, thus some of his waning energy back. He preferred that focus to worrying about Maisie. Where she was, what she might be going through... He simply blocked those thoughts and drove. Zia stayed on their tail with the promise to call when they were close. He had until then to make a plan. A plan that didn't get them cornered or killed.
He glimpsed at Claire again. She'd stopped shaking from when the stegosaurus had flung a guy against the car, leaving the sickening thud of flesh against metal ringing in their ears. She now watched the trees pass and the mountains rise between them, a knee tucked under her chin. Her usual cover of control was nowhere; the immoveable Claire Dearing, as people were used to seeing her, was breaking at the seams. On top of everything else, Owen wanted to help her rein it back together. But she needed to talk for that.
As though on cue, Claire swallowed. Or, made a noise that sembled a laugh. Owen raised a brow. "Something funny?"
"Yeah, life." Claire declared, pushing her foot down and her palms into her eyes. "The way it pushes and pushes..." she looked over at him, eyes and cheeks red, but dry. "I used to make sure that no one could get anything past me. And it's happened twice now, Owen. I can't accept that."
"Can't accept that you made a mistake?" Owen guessed. Claire's jaw rotated in growing anger. "That I made them so easily."
"We still don't have any clear answers about this Dr. Inger." Owen had to admit; though his gut had him convinced of it. He watched the road as it rushed them, then disappeared under the car. "And Mills... he got us both."
"I didn't make mistakes when it was all business. I towed the line." Claire compartmentalized with her hands, lying out her career in front of them. "I got it done and it was efficient... and I sacrificed way too much of myself." She dropped her hands. "I've been trying to get it back, make up for it. But I obviously don't fit into it the way I used to."
Owen heard her. She was stuck between two versions of herself. He'd been there, transitioning from solider to civilian... a raptor trainer, but still a civilian. In the end, you had to pick a side. Whats more, you needed to stick by it, otherwise you were just lost.
"Senator Sherwood wants to merge the DPG's mission with InGen." whooshed out Claire's next words. Owen adjusted his hands on the wheel. They're going to need a new HQ.
"My employees would have jobs," Claire went on. "We'd both have jobs. And I'd be the CEO."
Oh boy.Would that mean renaming the company, rebranding its mission entirely? Claire would want to be on-site, hands-on at every turn. Would that mean moving? Ugh, any more questions and his brain would start smoking. Still, any distraction from dwelling on Maisie was better then none. "Well... how's that going to work?"
"It can if we try."
Owen shook his head. "Why would we?"
Claire stared at him in disbelief. "Owen, it would be our chance to fix everything."
"We're helping 'corralling' the dinosaurs." Owen pointed out, even while their 'assistance' had been minimal. Terry's comment about Lockwood's sanctuary crossed his mind, but he shut it down. It needed to end here; and never come back. But of course, Claire wasn't seeing it that way. She was leaning intently over the console now. "And after that" Do we really want to act like this won't follow us for the rest of our lives?"
"Only if we let it." Owen stated.
She gave a heavy sigh that shifted her bangs. "Owen-"
"No, Claire," Owen stopped her, annoyed at this repetitive argument. "Is this really what we're discussing?"
"If I'm to keep my sanity in tack, yeah!" Claire's cheeks reddened again, but her tears were gone. It was just her fire now; the fire to act. He was in trouble now and he could do was sigh back. "You know how I feel."
"Well aware." Claire shrugged back into her seat. "But I can't just shrug this off as the world's problem and bury myself in nails and wood chips."
She made him sound like a chipmunk and Owen had to snort. "And we're back to that."
"Because that's where you keep running."
"Because I'm done with it!" Owen shouted without meaning to. The car fell silent, his bandage seeping with the grip he kept on the wheel. Owen released it, trying to get himself to breathe with the wound. "I joined IBRIS because I was ready to leave the Navy. You know that... I was done having my actions defined by violence. I couldn't see the reason for it anymore. I still don't, but I still find myself in the thick of it..." He eyed the rearview mirror as Zia's headlights flicked on."Every time."
They rumbled along a second more, no doubt considering the situation before them. Owen knew his resolve, knew that he would kill if it meant getting Maisie back. But he didn't look forward to it. Claire cleared her throat. "I get that. But, maybe it's because you're the right person for it."
Owen eyed her suspiciously as she watched back out the window. "You're... unshakable, Owen. You know your convictions and you stick with them. Even when people say you're wrong."
"Paying me a compliment?" Owen drew out. "How's that feel?"
Claire rolled her eyes, blowing her breath against the glass. "My head's been spinning for so long, trying to find out what my ethics are. I think I have the definition one minute- then it changes." Her head leaned back, like she wanted to fold back into herself. "As long as the park ran smoothly, made steady money, I didn't care. You at least cared."
"You care now." Owen told her, unwilling to think her head was this thick. "You think that these three years have gone unnoticed? You're wiser now and that's why Sherwood's even offering this to you. So, forgive yourself already."
Claire's eyes, glassy and green, looked him over. "I want to use an opportunity like this, Owen. And, they want us."
"So?"
"So," Claire righted herself, the vulnerability retreating again. "Maybe I don't want to do this without you."
Owen wavered at that. Where was all this reliance coming from? An alert from Claire's phone came over his contemplation, but he soon picked up on Claire's tension as she read the text. "We're ten minutes from the compound. Henry says to take a lane to the left."
Owen sharpened his eyes for it, hand reaching for Claire's. She clasped it, eyes equally alert through the windshield. He breathed out as he spotted the lane; the breath he always took before a battle. "Talk later?"
"You bet." Claire squeezed above his bandage. "You're not dodging this so easily."
Owen laughed. It was half-hearted, but it was all he could do as they turned and travelled down the rocky dirt lane.