Scars

by DarkHououmon

Ever since their formation, the Dino Squad have always managed to keep Veloci in the dark about their secret. But what would happen if he did find out? And what if he was far more capable than they initially thought? Despite what fairy tales may say, the bad guys don't always lose...

7. Glimmer

Author's Note: Oh man, I did not realize I uploaded the wrong chapter. I accidentally uploaded a chapter for my Animaniacs fanfic, Running Around In Circles. I apologize. Here's the real chapter Glimmer.

sss

The trio continued to talk for what seemed like an hour. Kista had received her food, which was nothing more than a small salad with some Caesar dressing. They started to talk about different things, such as hobbies, their current jobs, their families, and likes and dislikes. The change in conversation, avoiding anything about Victor, seemed to relax the two men as they talk about themselves freely with her. She couldn't help but smile. They were treating her as if they always knew her. The two men seemed relax enough to continue eating, and within a few minutes they had eaten the last bite of their food.

As they finished their water, the waitress that had catered them came by and asked them if they were done. They told her yes and hand over their empty plates and cups to the waitress. She grabbed them carefully and placed them on the cart she had pushed over. She glanced over at Kista, but didn't say anything. She could see that her bowl of salad was still about half full, and believed she still wasn't done eating. She must be a pretty slow eater, she thought.

After they were done eating, Donald decided to try to tell a few jokes to Kista, much to her confusion and surprise. When she laid eyes on these men, she would never have suspected any one of them to be a comedian. They didn't look like the type of men to tell jokes. And as Donald told his jokes, she clenched her teeth. His jokes were pretty bad, and even his male friend was looking at him weird. But nonetheless she pretended to enjoy them, and tried to laugh as much as she could to make him believe she really found it humorous. Donald thanked her, and began to tell a couple other jokes to pass the time, must to the dismay of her and Michael.

She didn't know entirely why she was subjecting herself to this. Her assignment was to spy on them, not endure bad jokes like this guy was telling her. She almost felt like revealing her true intentions to them right then and there, but knew she would face penalty if she did. In all of her missions, she had been forbidden to tell her victims what she was about to do. If assigned to kill, she'd do it secretly, either poisoning them or lethal injection. She had another method in mind, but it would be too drastic and would more easily draw attention to the scene of the crime, and perhaps help expose her.

She finally raised a hand as Donald finished his last joke. "I'm sorry but I had better get going." She left her salad, a portion of it still inside, on the table as she grabbed her small purse and put her pen inside one of the pockets and zipped it up. She then placed he purse inside her blouse pocket and rose up from her seat. Before she got up, she had quickly wrote down a check to pay for her meal. She turned and headed out of the door before either men could say goodbye to her.

Donald raised an eyebrow. "Now where is she off to in such a hurry?"

Michael chuckled, and elbowed his friend gently. "Maybe she is running away from your horrible jokes."

Donald growled at him. "There's nothing wrong with my jokes! She thought they were hilarious!"

Michael rolled his eyes. "Yeah. She was just pretending to make you feel better."

Donald pushed his friend roughly but softly. "Oh shut up..!" He could not believe what his friend was saying.

Kista walked outside of the restaurant and headed back towards her dark blue car that she had parked close by. She checked the parking meter. It would seem she had gotten there in the nick of time. The meter said she only had about three minutes left before the car would be towed. She quickly opened up the driver's seat, and turned the key in the ignition. The engine quickly roared to life, and the lights flickered on, further illuminating the streets of Boston. The car backed up a little, and then revved forward, gaining speed as it traveled along the road.

"Finally," Kista said to herself as Burton's Grill became smaller and smaller as she gained more and more distance from it. "I'm away from those two." She wiped her forehead and grabbed some flavored water she had kept in the car. She popped it open and placed the tip of it in her mouth. Her throat, which had gotten a little sore, seemed to feel better as the cold water splashed inside her mouth and throat.

She placed the bottle back down and focused on finding her apartment so she could get some sleep. "Just why did I agree to spy on those two anyway? They're just a couple of morons." Another thought crossed her mind. "Morons..who used to work for Victor." She could barely imagine those two men working in the army, let alone with Victor. The thought amused her to the point where she burst out laughing. If the car frame hadn't muffled the sound, her laughter would probably be heard within a few feet radius from her car.

As she turned a corner, she felt a rumble in her small purse, still resting inside her pocket. She groaned. She knew it was going to be her employer, asking her how the mission went. She quickly pulled up to the side of a street with no parking meters, and pulled out her cell phone and clicked it open. "Hello?" She asked, trying to hide her annoyance.

Sure enough she had been correct. It was her employer. He was asking her how the mission went, no surprise there. "It went fine." She said. "I really don't know why I am even spying on these guys. They're such small fry. Why are you even concerned about them?"

Much to her surprise, her employer had not only called to ask her mission, but had also called to tell her she is cleared of it. She had been given a new mission, one with higher priority than these two men. She sighed with relief, thankful she would not have to sit through another one of Donald's bad jokes. A raptor would seem less intimidating than that.

"All right then. What's my new mission?" She asked, smiling softly as she awaited instructions for her next assignment. As the information was relayed to her, her smile faded and her eyes widened a little. Then they soon narrowed into slits and her teeth were bared. This was not exactly what she had been hoping for. "You're kidding me..right?"

She groaned softly as her employer confirmed that he was being rather serious about this mission. The new assignment involved some school she's never heard of before to keep an eye on a class she didn't really want to be part of. She rolled her eyes slowly, wanting to tell her employer off. She was getting sick of these useless missions. Although her employer had claimed there was more importance in this mission, she did not see anything particularly special about spying on some brats in an educational building.

She opened up her jaws to express her disinterest and annoyance with these missions, but her employer had broken her off with another statement. He told her that she may be interested in a couple of students, telling her they were rather special and unique, and that she might be able to recognize them when she first meets them.

"Special..?" Kista asked, newfound interest growing up inside her. Maybe there would be something more to this mission than the last one after all. "What makes them special?"

Back at the lighthouse, Rodger stood outside of the building, a few feet from the lighthouse, standing close to the edge of the cliff. The waves below him were crashing against the cliff edge. One slip up and he could easily fall over. He held the tracking device, held tightly in his hand, high up in the air. He could not get a signal inside the lighthouse for some reason, and determined there was probably some sort of interference, although he couldn't figure out just what kind. Moynihan had suggested he try going outside and doing it. Not one to question his mentor, he obeyed her and took the tracker outside to try to get a signal.

Although things had started to look hopeful, Moynihan tried to convince everyone to calm down. She explained that if they got too worked up over this find, they may become even more crushed when or if the device fails them. They should not jump to any conclusions until Rodger came back with the results. She had convinced everyone to stay inside and await for Rodger's report. He shouldn't be gone too long. Perhaps just five to six minutes if Caruso happened to be within the radius. Rodger, a few days ago, had upgraded the monitoring device to cover far more ground. It was amazing what kind of power he could put into such a little device. But it wasn't the only tiny thing to have so much power, especially when it came to something like computer harddrives.

As he held it up in the air, his thumb felt around for the button to activate a scan. He pressed it, and the machine whirred to life. The screen glowed in the dark night, giving his hand a greenish illumination. The device beeped a few times, and there was a low screech sound as it started to do a scan. Rodger bit his lip and crossed his fingers, hoping the device would work. This was their last chance, and he doubted they would be able to find another chance like this before it was too late. He could only watch as the tracker continued to do its scan, leaving a message that stated the scan would be done in a couple minutes.

Rodger knew it was searching for Caruso specifically. While he was upgrading the device, he had given it the ability to track a single individual by allowing it to hone in on their communication devices, which already had a tracker inside them. Rodger was relieved that Caruso was still wearing his while he was captured. He hoped Veloci wouldn't find out about the tracker, and hadn't removed it. As long as Caruso was still wearing it, the device would find him, surely.

"Come on..." Rodger whispered to himself. "Come on, come up with something..please." He said, nearly begging the device to find his friend.

After what seemed to be the most intense few minutes of his young life, Rodger finally saw the results of the scan. He looked through the bits of information that now filled the screen. The information being relayed to him was latitude and longitude coordinates of Caruso's current position. While it wasn't going to reveal the precise, pinpoint location, it would give them a place to start. Rodger's lips curled back in a smile as the device did what he wanted it to do, and it revealed the information that they needed. If he wasn't controlling himself, he'd be jumping in the air joyfully.

"Yes!" He shouted to no one in particular. "It worked!"

He looked back at the device as he read the latitude and longitude information. The longitude was negative eighty-five point twenty-four and the latitude was forty-two point eighty-eight. He narrowed his eyes. Being a whiz in school, he knew a thing or two about geography, and he recognized those coordinates. They were Boston's location on the world map. It was not too surprising though. He suspected Victor would take Caruso in Boston. Unfortunately he could not pinpoint exactly where at the moment. But at least now they have a location and can start to formulate a rescue plan.

"Better go tell the guys." He told himself. Keeping the machine on so that he wouldn't lose the information, he turned back to the lighthouse and walked back to the door.

Inside the lighthouse, the others were waiting patiently. In Fiona's lap was Rump. The white and black dog seemed confused as to what was going on. He could sense something was wrong with Fiona and everyone else. The dinodog did his best to try to cheer everyone up with his playful antics. But to his disappointment, no one seemed to be in the mood. Whining, he had curled up on Fiona's lap in an attempt to comfort her. Fiona didn't protest. Feeling Rump's warm furry body did help relieve some of the tension she was feeling.

Max leaned back in a couch, and once again stared at the blank TV. He closed his eyes and shook his head, recalling the irony that had occurred earlier that day. He glanced over at the chair where his mentor and reptile-loving friend was. Moynihan was discussing something with Buzz. He assumed it probably had something to do with the little spat he and Rodger had earlier. Max couldn't help but sympathize with Buzz, recalling his own reprimanding from Moynihan earlier that day.

"I hope you and Rodger don't continue that attitude." Moynihan said, looking at Buzz with a serious look on her face. She didn't like scolding her students for negative behavior, but she knew if she didn't make herself clear, they would probably repeat the unwanted behavior again. She was doing this for their own good, and she was sure they knew that as well.

"We won't, I promise." Buzz said, raising up his hand to confirm his point. "You have my word."

Moynihan smiled and nodded, but she wasn't done with him yet. Before Buzz could walk away, Moynihan grabbed his arm to force him to stay. "I'm not done talking to you." She said gently, but with a tinge of authority.

Near them, Caruso's parents were still on the couch, having not moved for the past several minutes. They were waiting for Rodger to come back in with any kind of news. They were tense, nervous, almost expecting the worst. And yet in the back of their minds, they still had some hope left. Maybe, just maybe, things would go in their favor, and they would have an idea of where their son was. They could feel the tense feelings eating away at their stomachs. The wait was almost unbearable, but they would have to suffice.

To try to keep their minds off the negative feelings, they had started to discuss, a little, on some happier moments about Caruso. They talked about different things, like his first laugh, his first smile, when he first walked. They also discussed other things about Caruso, such as his early life in school, how he became obsessed with his appearance, and how he had broken his arm one year while on a field trip. But his arm healed completely and there's not even a scar left behind.

They suddenly frowned to themselves. The last memory, about his arm getting broken, wasn't actually a happy memory. It was worrisome enough when they found out about a single fracture. They started to feel upset all over again as they started to imagine just what kind of condition Caruso must be in right now. They might not deal with just one fracture, but multiple ones, perhaps even missing limbs. The worst case scenario is that they would have to plan for their son's funeral. Mrs. Caruso bit her lip as she thought about this. She did not believe she could handle having to watch her son being lowered into the dark-colored ground.

"Do you think the device will work, Jack?" Amanda asked as she glanced towards the door. She could see a dark shadow, and knew Rodger was going to come in any second. But she still felt nervous. What if he would come in only to bring bad news?

"I'm sure it will, dear." Jack assured her. "I'm positive."

The door to the lighthouse swung open, and all eyes were now on Rodger. The african-american had a big smile on his face, although they could still see some worry in his eyes. He walked into the lighthouse and shut the door behind him. Everyone waited as he walked in the room to join them. No one said anything. It was Moynihan's suggestion that everyone was to remain quiet when Rodger returned to tell them the good news or the bad news. She felt that this way, Rodger wouldn't feel as pressured, since he wouldn't be bombarded with so many questions, or be surrounded by people trying to look at the scans.

Rodger sat down on the couch where Buzz used to be before Moynihan pulled him aside to have a talk with him. He took a moment to take in a breather, trying to calm down his racing heart and pulse. He then glanced at Max. Instead of giving what kind of news he asked, Rodger asked, "Max, can you get me a pen and piece of paper?"

Max's eyes widened a little. He had a feeling of what Rodger was going to do. Without saying a word, he got up out of his seat and walked over, pulling out a pen from his pocket, and grabbed a piece of paper that was on the floor. He handed them over to Rodger, who took them without saying a word. Max watched as Rodger placed the paper on a book, used as a hard surface, and start to write something on it. Or was he drawing? Max couldn't tell, but he had a feeling it was good news. Why else would Rodger need a pen and paper? Why else would he have that big grin on his face when he walked in through the door?

Rodger wrote down the coordinates on the piece of paper as well as a crude map of the northeast of the country. He had to strain his memory to remember the general shape and size of each state, and hoped his so-called map would make enough sense to his friends. When he was done, he returned to his seat and held out the paper in front of the group, and used the pen as a pointer. He hoped that he would explain in such a way that he doesn't confuse the others.

"The scanner worked." Rodger announced. He looked around the room, seeing the look of relief and joy on everyone's faces, especially on Caruso's parents' faces. Rodger could feel his heart fill with happiness to see them looking so full of hope once more. The same thing went to the rest of his Dino Squad comrades, and Ms. Moynihan. He looked down at his map, and used the pen to circle the coordinates. "According to the scanner, Caruso's current position is forty-two point eighty-eight degrees latitude and negative eighty-five point twenty-four longitude."

Rodger looked up to see everyone's expressions. They hadn't changed. They were all still smiling. They probably had an idea of where Caruso was, but they were probably just happy to just know where he was finally. He decided to continue with his explanation. He moved the pen and started to circle an area of what looked to be Massachusetts.

"That would point Caruso around here." Rodger said, indicating one part of the state in particular. "It means he is somewhere in the region of Boston, possibly in or around Raptor Dyne."

The news did not particularly surprise anyone. It would seem like Victor to take Caruso there to perform his experiments. They all knew where Raptor Dyne was and they could easily get in, or so they believed, and get Caruso back. And even if they could not get in, they could always alert the authority and tell them of what happened, although this was a risky move. They would have to come up with some sort of lie to cover up the fact that Caruso could transform into a dinosaur, and perhaps also try to cover up Veloci's little secret too. While he was their enemy, exposing him would not make their lives any easier.

"So what are we waiting for?" Buzz said. "Let's go down there and get Caruso back!"

"Not so fast Buzz." Max said. "First we need a plan."

Despite the good news they were given, they still had to remain focused, and serious about this situation. They couldn't get too worked up over it, and they still had to approach this cautiously. They still needed a plan. Even if they got into Raptor Dyne, they would have no idea where he was. And what if he's not in Raptor Dyne at all? He could be in any building in the surrounding area. It would take days to look through them all, and surely Veloci would catch on and perhaps relocate Caruso before they got to him. What they needed now was a way to find out Caruso's exact location. Once they did that, they could go there and free him.

"Max is right, yo." Rodger explained as he set the paper and pen back down. "We now know Caruso's in Boston, but we can't make a move just yet. Without knowing his exact location, we don't know where to start. And if Victor sees us there, he could make the search even more difficult."

"Well we can't just sit here and do nothing." Fiona said, stroking Rump's fur. "We have the information we need, so we have to come up with something, don't we?"

"Yes." They heard Moynihan say. The old woman leaned forward a bit, her fingers interlocked and her chin resting on them. She listened to Rodger's information carefully. She had once lived in the Boston area, and knew how large it was, and how Caruso could be anywhere there. "It is true that we have to formulate a plan, but I suggest we wait until tomorrow morning." She knew this statement would not take too well with the children and Caruso's parents, but she felt she knew what she was doing. She was a lot more familiar with Raptor Dyne and the way it functioned than the children did.

"What are you saying?" Fiona asked angrily, making the old woman flinch. "We can't just leave him there all night!"

Max joined in. "Why would you even suggest that, Ms. Moynihan?!" He just couldn't believe that his mentor would even think about leaving Caruso in or around Raptor Dyne all night by himself. That was insane! "Whose side are you on?!"

Moynihan flinched again, and moved a bit backwards in her seat, feeling the tension of everyone glaring at her for her suggestion. She knew, herself, that leaving Caruso alone for the night would be risky, but it would just be as risky to go now to find Caruso. "I am sorry that I upset you all, but going after Caruso now would not benefit anyone. Victor's security is more secure at night. And at night, our brains sends a hormone to make us sleepy. We wouldn't be able to function well enough to get past the tight security."

"But..." Max said, raising a finger. "..we have done missions at night before, with no trouble. Why should this be any different?"

For what feels like the first time, Moynihan felt at a loss of words. She meant well, and she knew the others knew it. They had always trusted her advice, and felt they could rely on her. But now she began to question her own ability to make decisions. Max had brought up a very good point that she could not ignore. They HAD gone on missions during the late night before and were still able to succeed. If she feared it to be too risky to go after Caruso at night, she should have come up with another reason. Perhaps they could succeed in rescuing the boy if they were to hurry up... but where would they go?

Regardless of knowing that Irwin was in Boston, they still don't know what building he was in. And it wasn't like they could go searching without arousing suspicion either. What human wouldn't notice a pale yellow van wandering the neighborhoods and streets, searching every possible building? And what of Veloci and his men? Would they not grow suspicious as well? Victor has seen the pale yellow SUV for himself a few times. He could easily spot the SUV from satellites or from where he resides at night. He may recognize them and find someway to stop their advice long before they could reach their destination.

Moynihan subconsciously bit her lip as she stared at Max. The young boy was looking at her directly in the eyes, awaiting her response. Moynihan felt the pressure a leader would feel when faced with making a final decision that could mean the difference between life and death. She knew that if she chose wrong, Caruso's life might be put to an end. But which decision is the right one? Should she allow them to after Caruso now? Or should she go forward with her plan and make them wait until morning? She already knew the consequences if she chose wrong.

She knew had to choose what was best for Caruso, for his sake. Right now, saving him was the highest priority. If they didn't save him, not only could he lose his life, but Veloci could harness more of his DNA to find out what makes the DNA perfect, and if he succeeds in doing that, he could get one step closer at perfecting his experimental DNA. It could spell doom for the human race as well as modern Earth. Moynihan did admit to herself, yet not to the kids, that sometimes she did miss the Mesozoic Era and how things used to be. But she accepted the changes long ago, and she did not want anyone to suffer from Victor's ambitious ways.

She still struggled on making a decision. It's been about a minute now, and she still hasn't replied. She wondered if Max was starting to grow impatient with her. She wondered if the other children were starting to question her abilities as a leader. And she wondered if Caruso's parents were growing suspicious of her. She couldn't stand the thought of losing respect and admiration, especially from the children, with whom she'd grown close to. The last thing she wanted to do was get rejected by these people.

Joanne finally gained the courage to speak, and finally made a response to Max's question. "You are right Max." She said. "We have done night missions in the past. We have completed them with succession." She had respected Max for his leadership skills among the group. He always seemed to just take charge when no one else would. Although his leadership status was rocky at first, he's greatly improved and gained the respect of his fellow Dino Squad team mates. Perhaps she should allow him and the Dino Squad to go after Caruso now. But then..they'd need her help, and what help would she be without her equipment? "However, you won't be able to pull off the mission by yourselves. You kids have never been to Raptor Dyne. I have, and I know what kind of traps Victor sets up. I will need to guide you, however at present time I would just slow you down." She pointed at her swollen ankle.

"No sweat," Max said, sounding confident. "We can handle it. We've faced Victor before."

Joanne nodded. "Yes, but that was before he knew you were really teenagers." The Dino Squad have confronted Victor before, in dino mode, and faced off with him. But the fights were short, and there was usually no biting or clawing. Victor had thought they were real dinosaurs, and he did not want to damage them. But now that he knows they are human, things might be different. "He went easy on you before. Now that he does now the truth, I fear he may not show as much mercy against you as he had in the past."

Rodger winced as he recalled what happened earlier that day. He could still feel the stinging pain from his injuries he received from Victor in that battle. "Yeah, I noticed.." He said softly. "He was one nasty fighter."

"I'm surprised he held back on you, Rodger." Moynihan said, which caught the boy by surprise.

"You mean he could do worse?" Rodger asked.

Moynihan slowly nodded. "I have faced Victor many times, and he is a more capable fighter than what he's shown you, Rodger." She knew that Victor could have easily killed the boy from his position. He had his sickle claws in the right place and he was in a position that gave him the most advantage. Rodger was not able to see him and could not buck Victor off of his back. If it weren't for Buzz taking Victor by surprise and knocking him off, Rodger's injuries would have been a lot more severe. "If he wanted to, he could have easily ended your life."

Rodger gulped as Moynihan told them this. He felt Victor was tough enough as he tried to get him off of him, but to think he could have done a lot more damage scared him. If Victor does not hold back next time, how much of a chance would he stand? "Oh man..." It was all he could manage to say.

"So what are we supposed to do?" Amanda said, finally speaking up. "Are we supposed to allow our son to stay who-knows-where with a monster all night?" By the sound of her voice, Moynihan could tell she was getting angry. "What kind of mentor are you, to leave one of your own pupils in a dangerous situation like that?!" Amanda spat as her husband held her back. If he didn't do this, Amanda might have gripped Moynihan roughly out of frustration.

Joanne Moynihan flinched at the woman's harsh words, feeling a guilty feeling well up inside her stomach. Gritting her teeth briefly as she felt the tension rise, she attempted to reason with Mrs. Caruso. "I have no intention on abandoning your son, Mrs. Caruso. I just fear that going after him now may not work to our advantage. It might destroy any chance we have of recovering your son alive."

"And what if you're wrong?!" Amanda snapped, baring her teeth. "What if by tomorrow Victor's killed him?!"

"Honey..." Jack said, attempting to settle his wife down. "Calm down..." Jack himself was ticked off with Moynihan deciding not to go after Irwin now, but he knew that yelling at her wouldn't make the situation better. He felt he could trust her, and understood that she would only make this decision if she felt it was for the best.

"Calm down?!" Amanda snapped. "How can I calm down when she..."

Jack pulled his wife closer to him. "Amanda, dear, she is only trying to help..."

"But she does have a point." Fiona said as she took a step forward. She glared at Moynihan, although not harshly, as she spoke, "Regardless of what you say, Ms. M, I don't think there's any excuse in leaving Caruso when we have the technology know to find him."

Ms. Moynihan lowered her head and closed her eyes.. So far the only ones who seemed to agree with her were Jack Caruso and Rodger. The others were still either unhappy with her decision or looking as though they were skeptical. She was still outnumbered four to three. And hearing what Fiona said made her feel even more guilty. She let out a sigh. Maybe she should let them go after Caruso now. She slowly lifted her head back up, her eyes now open. She scanned around the room, everyone's eyes on her. She didn't want to send them out during a time she couldn't help them. But then, she did know that the children did manage to complete a mission completely on their own before. She wondered how she could have forgotten about that. She knew what she had to do.

"...all right." Moynihan said, giving in. "I'll allow you children to go to Boston now. But, Buzz, Max, and Rodger, you must call your parents and tell them you'll be spending the night with me. They're probably worried enough as it is. Fiona, you may call your parents and tell them you and the others are going to Boston." She did have the children, earlier, call their parents and tell them what happened and why they were going to be home late. But now they'd have to call them and tell them they would be gone all night and might not be back until the next day. Fiona's parents knew about their secret and thus it was not necessary to hide anything from them. But Max's parents, Rodge's parents, and Buzz's parents were still oblivious and thus could not know where they were really going.

But although her new decision was met with approval, she couldn't help but wonder about one thing. Had she made the right decision?

Caruso took another bite of the sandwich that Victor's servant had given to him. He had only eaten a couple bites, even though he was very hungry. His mouth was so cut up that it was difficult for him to eat. Every mouth full of food stung him and he could feel tears of pain flowing down his face. Just eating was torture for him now. He looked at his sandwich and felt disgusted that it was coated with bits of his blood. The sandwich had quickly gained a salty taste to it.

He set the sandwich down and picked up the glass of water he was given. He took a sip, and immediately yelped in pain. While the water did feel cold, it still stung him. Nonetheless he swallowed the water, now salty-tasking due to the blood that mixed in with it. He set the glass down and looked at it, noticing some streams of red now floating in it. He groaned. How much longer must he suffer in this place? How long was it going to take his friends to find him? He looked up at the ceiling and wondered what time it must be now. Surely he must have been in this cell several hours, or so it seemed.

He glanced over at the door. Obviously it was shut now. The man was instructed to give him the food and then close the door. Caruso had been alone ever since then in this room. He shuddered a little. He was starting to feel lonely. A human wasn't meant for solitude for very long if they were accustomed to interaction like he was. He started to whimper a little as he pulled his legs to his chest and wrapped his arms around them. For the first time he started to feel real fear when being alone.

He began to think of the day ahead. From what Victor had already described for him, he wasn't looking forward to it. The experiments must be horrific and intense if Victor wanted him to have some strength left to endure them. Before Victor left to make a phone call, he had given Caruso a few details on what he should look forward to tomorrow. Victor had planned on testing a few of his new mutantsaurs on him and also wanted him to try a few experimental plants he planned on growing for his new dinosaur reign. But it wasn't these he was most worried about. There was a third experiment he would endure later on in the day.

Victor explained how he wanted to bring Moynihan back over to his side. Despite what he said about her and how he reacts when her name is mentioned, he, in a way, misses her, or at least her cunning intellect she displayed while with him. Victor missed the old Joanne, the one he had known sixty-five million years ago. Why, not so long ago, in Earth time, Joanne would have stood by him in his quest to reclaim the planet. But now she stands on the other side.

Dr. Veloci knew full well he'd never be able to bring Joanne back willingly, especially after his failed plan involving breaking her leg. That didn't work in his favors, instead worked against him by preventing the female Velociraptor from trusting him again. So Victor started to think about another solution. He only recently decided what he was going to do after getting inspiration from a source he would not specify.

And Victor did not go into detail with Caruso on what his idea was. And not knowing is what frightened the boy the most. Horrible mental images flooded his mind, and he could not get them to go away. What if Victor planned on torturing Joanne just like he had him? What if he would threaten his very life to force Joanne into surrendering herself to him? What if Victor had some sort of device upon which he could control Moynihan? What if he actually planned on killing her in the end?

The thought of Ms. Moynihan brought about a sharp guilt in the boy's stomach as he recalled what he said about her earlier. He just flat out called her a coward and a weakling. He bit his lip softly, and lowered his head. Why had he said those things about his mentor? She'd never did anything to him except try to help him, as well as his friends, become a better team, and better people. And what did he do in return? Insulted her..blatantly insulted her, just like how Max had insulted him that morning. Caruso rubbed his stomach a little to try and rid himself of the horrible mental pain, but it would not go away. He pressed his back against the wall and tilted his head so that his eyes were looking up at the ceiling.

What would she think of him if she ever found out what he'd said? He felt only slightly relieved that Moynihan was nowhere near him when he said that. But he feared that Victor would say that, perhaps to get Moynihan to turn against the Dino Squad. He trembled slightly at the thought. And what would his friends think of him if that did happen and they found out what he said? They might reject him, kick him off the team, or even attack him. And his parents...what would they think? Caruso gulped painfully, wincing as he applied pressure on some of the cuts inside his mouth. He'd probably be forced to live as a nomad, and avoid attacks from both sides. He'd have no one to trust, and nowhere to go.

No! He shouldn't think like that! Caruso swiftly shook his head to clear his mind. He shouldn't be jumping to conclusions now. And he shouldn't be giving into the loneliness and the guilt. That would have to wait. Right now the most important thing was to find a way to escape. He could see no way out, however. Not even his Stegosaurus form would be able to break free of these walls. And the door was locked from the outside. This room was nothing more than one giant cell. And he doubted Victor would overlook any part of it if he intended on keeping him here for a good long while.

Then Caruso shuddered once more. A terrible thought swept through him. What did Victor have planned for HIM when he was done with him? Caruso had pondered this before, and now thinking about it again, he was frightened even more. Caruso tried to keep his mind of it. Perhaps Victor deemed him too valuable, and wouldn't just kill him off. But then, what if he planned something worse than death? Caruso's thoughts went back to what Victor explained earlier, about the experiments he would endure.

He soon began to worry about the other two experiments that Victor had described more in detail than his third. He's faced countless mutantsaurs in the past. There was little that could take him off guard in regards to Victor's mutated animal experiments. But old fears began to rise back up when he allowed his thoughts to trail back in time, and uncovered the memory of their short camping trip. He had gotten Buzz and Rodger, as well as himself, all worked up over nothing. He had frightened Buzz with talk of mutantsaurs so big that even in dino mode they couldn't protect themselves, of mutantsaurs so small they crawled inside the ear and took over or ate their brain, and of mutantsaurs that could turn invisible. And in his blind fear he had nearly ran over the hillside.

Irwin tried to keep his sanity. In the camping trip, when he had let his fear get the best of him, he nearly seriously hurt himself. As Max explained to him, he had let his irrational fear take control. There was nothing in sight, and yet he'd reacted as if something was actually there. The young boy had felt pretty stupid afterward when he found out Buzz had only got his wings caught in a tree; he was never captured by any kind of giant mutantsaur. He knew Buzz felt pretty silly as well. Caruso could almost kick himself for mistaking Fiona's grunts for threatening mutantsaur sounds.

While they were driving home, Caruso had explained to the others more of what happened that night and why he and Buzz had wandered off in the first place. When he explained that he and Buzz were hearing strange noises, Fiona had spoken up, stating that she'd gone out that night to work a little on the SUV. Upon hearing this, Caruso and Buzz had looked at each other, and burst out laughing. Caruso smiled weakly at the memory. That silly mistake had gotten everyone in a cheerful mood as they couldn't stop laughing about it. While it was embarrassing, he and Buzz joined in the laughter, and felt better afterwards.

But that was the past, and this was the present. He was not in some situation that he only thought was dangerous because of his imagination. He was not in the company of his friends and wasn't getting any advice from Max or anyone else. He was not having some sort of nightmare and would wake up from it, no matter how much he wished this be true. He wasn't riding home in the SUV, getting ready to go back to his house. The reality now was he was alone. As much as he admitted Victor be right, he was alone, trapped, caged, with no way out. The danger was now very real, and no amount of wishing it all away will change anything.

Caruso had always thought of Victor as not much of a threat. Sure, he had admitted he found some of his mutantsaurs to be formidable and some of his ideas dangerous. But Victor had never gone out of his way to physically hurt anyone. At least he himself had never witnessed it, or even seen anything to suggest this. He had regarded Victor has nothing more than a show-off, someone who was just all talk and no action. But Caruso had been wrong. And he had found out the hard way that Victor was not someone to piss off. Victor did not just look intimidating, he knew how to back it up as well. Those claws weren't for show...

The young boy lifted his injured arm to examine it again. The skin around the cut had turned a red shade, and the wound was still sealed up. A hard, very dark red line now snaked across his arm, and was still very tender to touch. Caruso thought back to when he was on the ground and couldn't get back up because of this wound, and how Victor was forced to help him up, if one could even call it helping. Victor had called him pathetic, and had stated he'd never last in the dinosaur world. Caruso flinched a bit as the meaning of that statement started to sink in a little. Was Victor right? Maybe he really was pathetic, and weak. Maybe he wouldn't last very long in the world if dinosaurs ruled once more.

A painful feeling started to overtake the dark-haired teenager. He started to think about all the things he's done that had put himself in danger, or the others in danger. He had almost revealed himself on national television. If there was one thing Caruso craved more than anything, it was fame. He didn't see the dinosaur transformations as something they should hide. He understood that exposing themselves would have made it easier for Victor to track them down, but at the time, Caruso only saw this as a minor setback. He hadn't given transforming into a Stegosaurus on national television a second thought and had even lied to his friends. He had eventually stopped after thinking about Max's warning about the tangled web of lies.

He had cheated in a football game using his dinosaur powers all because he thought his dad wanted him to win. Caruso could have went through with it without using his dinosaur powers. So what if he had lost? His dad would have still loved him, and only wanted him to be happy. Why had he done something so reckless? He'd almost quit the team even though they were just trying to protect him. And because of him, Veloci had almost discovered the lighthouse. Although he was able to warn the guys just in time, he had almost gotten himself caught. He was lucky that his friends were nearby, and had saved him.

He had brought a crazed and selfish news reporter to the same place the Dino Squad were for a mission and almost considered exposing Max for fame. He still couldn't believe he ever wanted to be like O'Ryan. The man was nothing but a selfish jerk. But seeing the real O'Ryan did make Caruso realize just how selfish he'd been acting. And as he thought about this today, it made him feel worse knowing that he had actually considered, briefly, telling O'Ryan the truth just so he could be famous. He had never told Max this for fear he would lose his friendship with him.

He had taken advantage of his friends and asked for help with things he could have done on his own. And when Rump got loose and he really needed help, he had refused and ended up almost getting them all captured. Caruso still couldn't believe how selfish he had acted then. He acted for help too often. Ms. Moynihan had been right. Feeling embarrassed about asking for more help, he thought he could handle Rump on his own. But instead, he caused his friends to get captured. And then when he and Buzz freed them, he once again got them captured in order to pull off a stunt to throw off Victor. But what if it hadn't worked...? Moynihan had asked him this, and Caruso had never found an answer.

And he had bought five pets to use them for an internet show. But it did very poorly, and he had blamed the animals. If it weren't for his friends, he would have just dumped them outside. But he had put them all in very real danger because the animals mutated. And it wasn't just them he had put in danger. He had threatened the very life of Fiona's grandfather by leaving his infected goldfish in the koi pond. Fiona was angry with him for quite a while after that incident. He couldn't really blame her. His irresponsible behavior had almost gotten her grandfather killed. And the infected pets had caused Veloci to visit their own neighborhood, and had nearly gotten them caught. If it weren't for those two idiots that Victor had hired, Max would have gotten hurt.

And, unfortunately, there was more...

The more Caruso thought about what he had done, the guiltier he started to feel. After all he's put the others through, perhaps..perhaps he did deserve this fate. Perhaps it was better that they never find him. Victor was right. He was pathetic and weak. Maybe he was better off just staying here and letting Victor do whatever he wanted to him. Caruso didn't think he'd be able to face the others now. Maybe they weren't looking for him after all. Maybe they were staying at the lighthouse, discussing how things were better now that he was gone.

All he had ever caused for the others was trouble. Caruso felt tears form in his eyes as he started to reflect back to the things he'd done. The others probably hated him, and had only tolerated his presence because he could transform like they could. Maybe they had let him go with Victor on purpose just to be free of him. Maybe they had never given it their all, had allowed the Troodon and Michelle defeat them so Victor could capture him.

But..if they truly didn't care about him, why had they tried so hard to keep Victor from taking him? When he was captured after the football game, Max and Fiona had showed up to pull him free. And this morning, when the claw grabbed him once more, the others, despite their injuries, had tried so hard to save him. Why would they give it their all just to save him if they hated him? The answer was obvious. As he thought about it, he started to smile a little, and wiped the tears from his eyes. Despite all he's put them through, one thing remained the same. He was their friend.

As Caruso began to calm himself down, he could hear the door opening up again. He felt a little confused. He thought Victor hadn't planned on doing anything with him tonight. He wondered if Victor had truly changed his mind. Caruso started to feel his heart race at the thought. And he was about to learn just how right that thought was. He watched the door slowly open up, and a shadowy figure stepped inside the large cell. While the darkness hid most of the figure, it didn't take him long to know it was Victor. The mad scientist stood before him, a dark grin on his face.

The young boy quickly struggled to his feet, and backed up to the wall. "Victor..." Caruso managed to say through his pain. It couldn't have been morning just yet. He hadn't completely finished his meal yet, and he hadn't even gotten any sleep. "What's going on?"

Victor's smirk grew larger as he pointed to a watch he was wearing on his hand. "It's time."

"But it can't be..." Caruso tried to protest. "It's not even morning yet."

"It's midnight." Victor said as he approached the young boy.

"It's not morning..." Caruso said as he tried to keep his distance from the Velociraptor. "You said the experiments wouldn't start until morning."

Victor chuckled. He felt quite amused at how the boy was trying to talk his way out of this. He wasn't at all surprised at the boy's confusion. Humans were surely not the brightest on this planet. Their thought process was too different from a dinosaur's. "Midnight is morning, you hairless monkey." Victor stated casually, shrugging his shoulders. In a taunting manner, he added, "Please don't tell me you're too dense to know that." It would not really surprise him if Caruso had told him he didn't know. Humans were pretty dense creatures as far as he was concerned.

As he had Caruso backed up into a corner, he moved an arm from behind and revealed the human bridle once more. Caruso's eyes widened, and he attempted to get away. Using whatever strength he still had, he pushed against Victor to knock him back a little, and attempted to bolt towards the still open door, ignoring what Victor had told him hours ago. But just as he reached the door, a blur of black and red filled his field of vision, and he felt himself knocked back by something smooth and thick.

'Foolish human.' Caruso heard in his mind. He slowly looked up from the ground to see a large red Velociraptor standing before him. In his claw, he still held the bridle with ease. The raptor's mouth was partly open in a dinosaurian smile. The fierce glare, so similar to an eagle's, bore through him like a drill, as though he was reading his mind. 'You can't run from me.'

Caruso tried to push himself up, using his arms for support, but he was pushed into the ground and held in place by Veloci's strong raptor leg. Caruso grabbed the leg with his hands and attempted to pry the leg off. But the foot was firmly planted on his chest, and his efforts to move it off of him was met with a cold dinosaurian laughter from Victor. In response to his feeble efforts, the scientist applied a lot more pressure, causing Irwin to gasp for air as it started to become difficult for him to take in air. He looked up at Victor with wide-eyes, making Victor smirk a little more at the spark of fear in them.

'Why don't you just give in?' Victor questioned the boy. He was quickly growing annoyed with how the boy was struggling underneath him. He was almost disgusted to the point of just kicking the boy with his sickle claw. But he restrained himself. He also felt satisfied, feeling even more powerful that he had the boy pinned down in a vulnerable position. He'd often force some of his less competent or rebellious workers into this position to show them who was boss.

"I...I..." Caruso started, but then gritted his teeth as the pressure on his chest made it increasingly difficult for him to even breathe, let alone speak. His arms were growing tired from pushing and pulling, and his feet weren't doing any good. None of his kicks seem to be effecting Veloci in the slightest. Instead, they seem to only amuse and annoy him. In desperation, and a last ditch effort, Caruso's eyes started to glow.

Victor's eyes widened a little, but soon narrowed as his dinosaurian smirk spread across his maw. This is the moment he had been waiting for. Caruso was finally giving in and transforming into a Stegosaurus. Victor gazed down at the bridle. In Stegosaurus form, Caruso would appear too large for it. But he need not worry. The bridle could be adjusted in size to fit the large herbivore. He would have to hurry though. The Stegosaurus's jaws were filled with sharp teeth. Though they were designed for cutting plants, they could do some serious damage if he bit him. And the Stegosaurus's tail was just as dangerous. Those spikes weren't there for show. Victor knew he must bind both the jaws and tail of Caruso's dinosaur form if he wanted any chance at dominating the boy.

Caruso's muscles in his arms and legs grew in size as he allowed some of his dinosaur form to take over. Baring his teeth, the boy gripped Victor's leg with newfound strength. He squeezed the leg tightly, causing Victor to flinch in pain. He then used his dino strength to push Victor off of him. The red raptor stumbled across the floor, and scrambled to his feet. He nearly let go of the bridle, and winced as he felt some of the metal spikes scrape across his arm, drawing a little blood. He glanced down at the small, insignificant injury, and snorted.

'You dare try to injure me?' Victor said, his eyes narrowed into slits. 'You'll have to do better than that.' Victor was a little puzzled that the boy continued to try to find some way to defy him. How could something so weak like that boy still have enough courage to fight back against a superior being like himself?

"I...will." Caruso said as his skin started to change color and his size increased dramatically as his body was overcome with a bluish glow.

Victor watched as the transformation took place. So this is how his perfect dinosaurs kept appearing seemingly out of nowhere. Victor was suddenly reminded of himself as he watched the transformation. And this only allowed his anger to eat away at him a bit more. He would never understand why these five children didn't realize the true potential of their dinosaur forms. And he'd definitely not understand why they hadn't join up with him to be part of the dominant species. Instead they waste their time defending humanity; an effort that will be all for nothing, for he will succeed.

With a bellow, Caruso's transformation was complete. He stood over Victor, like an elephant standing over a large polar bear, and bellowed again. With his large red plates, Victor would have a difficult time jumping into his back. His head was armed with his Stegosaurus teeth, and his tail had large spikes that he could easily drive into the smaller dinosaur standing in front of him.

'Impressive...' Victor smirked as he looked the Stegosaurus over, judging his strength with his calculating mind. 'But I don't think you can comprehend its power.'

'Oh really?' Caruso snarled. 'How's this for not being able to comprehend?'

Caruso lifted up his long tail and quickly turned to his side. This brought the tail closer to Victor for a strike. In a second, he leveled his tail above Victor and quickly slammed the tail down. It missed Victor, and smashed into the hard floor, dust being kicked up. Despite the stinging pain he felt in the tail, he went for another blow. Again he missed Victor and slammed his tail into the ground. The Velociraptor was moving too quickly for him. He bared his teeth in frustration as the Velociraptor chortled in his mind.

'You may have the body of a Stegosaurus.' Victor explained as he walked over, holding the bridle. 'But you do not have the mind of a Stegosaurus. You have not yet unlocked its true potential.'

'What are you talking about?' Caruso asked.

Victor shook his head slowly. 'What I'm saying is this: You and your friends may be able to transform into dinosaurs. But you do not know everything your forms can do. You don't naturally know their combat moves, all their strengths, all their weaknesses. So despite all the times you have fought against my creations, you and your pathetic friends have yet to unlock the full power of the dinosaur.' Victor now stood about a foot from Caruso's head. He lowered his own so that his eyes stared straight into the boy's. 'You're all still too weak to resist me, let alone fight me. That's how I was almost able to kill your Styracosaurus friend.'

Caruso hissed in anger. 'That was a coward's move! Striking someone from behind..'

'A coward's move?' Victor asked in a sarcastic tone. 'Only to a human. In the dinosaur world, there's no such thing as a coward's move.' He pressed his head against Caruso's, his eyes inches away from his. 'And if you continue to live by those rules, then you'll never be a match for me.' He told the boy.

Caruso arched his back, brandishing his plates threateningly. His tail was raised high up in the air, and swung it a few times. 'I'm larger than you are!' He declared as he snapped his jaws at Victor's head.

The red raptor quickly snapped his head back, avoiding the clamping jaws of the Stegosaurus. 'You are also a lot slower than I am.' Victor retorted in a raptor-like chuckle. Caruso snarled at him, but offered no comeback. Victor grinned viciously as he reached out with a clawed hand and placed it on Caruso's head, taking the chance of him nearly losing that limb. But he was confident enough in that Caruso's Stegosaurus form would be too slow for him, and he'd be able to pull his arm away to safety. He pressed his talons into the top of the kid's maw, causing him to wince in pain. 'I might be smaller, but I am more than a match for you.' To reinforce his dominance, the Velociraptor's three long fingers closed around the boy's already injured mouth and squeezed tightly, closing the jaws shut.

Caruso's eyes widened as he felt the scaly fingers of the villain keep his mouth shut. He attempted to open up his jaws, but found he could barely move them as long as Victor kept his grip on him. This was a weakness he hadn't known about. A Stegosaurus's jaws were like an alligator's. The power went into closing the jaws, not opening them. He could feel his heart start to race a little, and he shook his head violently left and right. Victor gritted his teeth as he tried to keep his grip on the dinosaur's mouth. But with another shake of the head, Caruso managed to knock Victor into the ground hard enough to force him to let go.

Caruso immediately opened up his mouth, opening and closing it a few times. Each time, he widened his jaws at different lengths, stretching out the masseter that attacked the base of his jaws to his skull. He was testing his jaws to make sure they hadn't received any new injuries. He'd suffered enough blows to that area from the bridle he had to wear for a while that day.

Victor was back on his feet now. His eyes were narrowed, and yet his mouth was slightly open, a dinosaurian laugh. He had to admit, the kid was smart enough to know how to knock him off. But then again that was probably just dumb luck. He looked like he was panicking. The red dinosaur snorted. If the boy was scared of having his mouth tied shut, then he would be petrified of one particular experiment he had planned for him, and Ms. Moynihan as well, if he is able to get close enough to her that is.

Victor wondered, to himself, if the other members of this Dino Squad were as resilient. Would they stand up to him just as this human had, and try to fight him even though they have not yet mastered their dinosaur forms? And just how well do they work as a team? He frowned slightly as he recalled how unorganized their fighting seemed to be. At least that's not any kind of organization he'd see executed by a Velociraptor pack. No wonder Michelle and Oscura were able to win so easily.

What's the matter, human?' Victor said to Caruso in thought-speak. 'Are you unable to handle a few seconds not being able to use that big mouth of yours?'

Caruso bared his teeth at the insult. 'Look who's talking, Mr. I-Am-A-Velociraptor-Who-Hates-Humans-And-Yet-Needs -Humans-To-Fulfill-My-Ultimate-Plan-Because-I-Am-W eak-Without-Them.' He retorted, taking a step forward as he spoke to reinforce his statement.

Caruso quickly regretted his remark. After he said that insult, he could see that Victor was shaking visibly. But it wasn't because he was cold. It was anger. Victor's scaly lips were pulled up to reveal his pink gums and the razor sharp teeth that lined his jaws. Saliva started to drip from the tip of his mouth, and his hands tensed up, the tips of the claws reflecting some light. The red and beige dinosaur arched his back like a cat, the tail raised high into the air. He opened his jaws and let out a horrible sound that seemed to be a cross between a gator's hiss and a bird's call.

Victor was furious this..this human would dare say such a thing to him. Just what did he know?! So what if he worked with humans? How else was he going to achieve his goal? The little urchin knew little about the real world. He was just a primate, just a hairless mammal. He couldn't being to understand his point of view. He was as closed-minded as all the other humans Victor had the unfortunate luck of getting stuck working with. If the boy continued up this attitude...Victor would have to struggle against his urge to kill the boy.

'Why you little...' Victor said as he seethed through his fangs. 'Must I teach you a lesson yet again?' He brought his dinosaur hands forward, facing one another, brandishing the talons in the air threateningly. 'If you keep this up, I may not leave anything behind for your friends to find...' Caruso's eyes widened at that statement.

As Victor uttered another low growl, Caruso took a step back, his confidence starting to wither. He was starting to feel sick to his stomach. He wondered if it was that sandwich he had to eat. He wondered if it was the fear he was feeling now. Caruso knew he shouldn't give up, and shouldn't give into this monster standing in front of him. But he also knew that if he kept acting the way he was now, he might not get out of this situation alive.

Perhaps he needn't totally give in. Maybe he could trick Victor into thinking he had given in. He thought about this idea before, but wasn't one hundred percent sure it would be wise to go through with it. If it failed, Victor could become even more vicious in..whatever he was doing, breaking his spirit perhaps. Caruso tentatively licked one of the small wounds on his lips, wincing at the slight pain that still hung there. If Victor could be this vicious when he is still more or less under control, he wasn't sure if he wanted to witness how he could be when he releases his anger all at once on him.

Caruso lowered his tail, and let out a low sigh of defeat. He took a step forward once again, but lacking the self-confidence and emphasis that it had just moments earlier. With eyes closed, but head still raised, Caruso delivered his message, hoping it would be convincing enough to soothe the savage Velociraptor. '..all right. You win.'

At once, Victor's tail lowered down, his eyes narrowing a little. But his snarl had disappeared, replaced with an eerie smile. He flashed a glowing blue and white, and soon reverted back into his human disguise. The same expression remained on his face. "There's a good lad." He said softly as he held the bridle up once more and started to walk towards the bluish purple Stegosaurus, who did nothing more but stand there and allowed the scientist to approach him.

"Just how long is it going to take us to reach Boston?" Buzz asked, starting to feel a little sleepy. It was already passed midnight, and they still hadn't arrived to Boston. They had checked the road maps and determined it would only take an hour to a couple hours to get there. And he would think that they would get there faster since not many people are driving at night.

"Relax, Buzz." Rodger said. He was the one in the lead as he was the one who looked over the directions the most, and had much of it memorized. It's days like these that it pays to be a geek, he thought to himself as he smiled softly. "Our bikes can't go the same speed as cars can. It will take us a little longer to reach Boston. But don't worry, we'll be there soon."

"I really hope you're right." Buzz said, thinking about Caruso. "If we don't get there soon..."

"I know, Buzz. I know..." Rodger said softly.

He didn't say anything after that. He knew he couldn't spend too much time worrying about whether or not they'd get there too late. He had to focus on actually getting there. The others were counting on him to guide them to their destination. But once they arrived, just what would they do? Wander around and knock on doors, asking for directions? Even when they arrived in Boston, they still had no idea where to look for their missing friend. He could be anywhere. And folks may not be entirely willing to help total strangers find someone they had never met before.

They had ultimately decided not to bring the yellow SUV. They felt it might be a little less suspicious of they took their dinosaur-like motorcycles and, once they get to Boston, part ways. Each of them would look in a different section of the large city. A single person wandering around would be less suspicious than a group, even if it was just five individuals. They hoped this would also decrease their chances of being spotted by Victor. If Moynihan was right, they would have to be careful around the entire city, especially around Raptor Dyne. They could only hope that no one would take notice to the unusual design of their bikes, and hope that no one would connect the dots, sort of speak.

Behind Rodger and Buzz were Max and Fiona. The two hadn't spoken much since they began their trip, which was a bit unusual, especially for Max. The jock was usually the one to take charge, and wasn't afraid to do so. The reason why Max was silent was because he had this feeling of guilt growing up inside of him. He was the leader. He felt he should have been able to stop all this from happening in the first place. Why hadn't he seen the warning signs as Caruso had? Why hadn't he listened to Caruso in the first place? And why did he yell at him in such a harsh manner? Max swallowed hard as he felt himself starting to feel ill due to the negative emotions wearing him down.

Fiona on the other hand wasn't feeling guilty for all the same reasons Max was. Like everyone else, she was feeling guilty that she wasn't able to stop Veloci from taking Caruso with him. Like the others, she was right there, watching as the claw dropped the Stegosaurus into the large red truck. All she could do was reach out meekly with her yellow-skinned arm, feebly trying to get close enough to grab something to save Caruso. But the poison that was coursing through her system at the time had made her too weak, and she quickly passed out. And now she was feeling a sense of dread, a foreboding of sorts. She couldn't shake off the feeling that they might arrive too late. But she dare not share this thought with the others.

As she shook those thoughts out of her mind, she noticed, on the horizon, a series of small whtie dots. "Hey I think I see lights." Fiona said, moving her head forward a little more to get a better look.

"I think you're right." Max said to her. "I see them too." The closer they got, the larger the lights seemed to get. And he eventually started to see what appeared to be tall structures, lights shining from them, and he could just slightly make out smaller, moving light that could only be from cars riding along the roads.

"Looks like we're here." Buzz said enthusiastically, grinning. "Now we can rescue Irwin..err..I mean Caruso." Buzz recalled how Caruso made him promise not to call him Irwin after he had found out.

"Yes, but remember, we have to find him first. And finding Caruso in this big city is not going to be easy." Rodger noted. In such a large city, they would have to determine which places are the best to check first, and if Caruso doesn't turn up in any of those places, they would have look elsewhere. Maybe they should check the least likely places first. If Victor wished to hide Caruso from them, he'd probably pick a place he'd never suspect them to look.

"Yeah I know." Buzz replied, his smile disappearing from his face.

"Just remember, Buzz... Things in real life aren't a fairy tale." Rodger said solemnly. "We may not even find Caruso at all..."

Buzz narrowed his eyes angrily. "What are you saying? That we should just give up?"

"No!" Rodger said quickly. "Not at all..it's just that..."

Rolf Maxwell noticed the tension between the two boys up front and decided to try to change the subject before things could escalate in a downward spiral. He revved his engine and went a little faster, just enough to get a little closer to Rodger and Buzz. He got in between them, and looked at each of them before stating, "Come on guys, we're here at least. Let's focus more on finding Caruso and less on trying to start a fight with each other."

"I know that Max...I'm sorry. " Rodger said, feeling a little guilty for acting negative seconds ago. "It's just that I can't shake off this feeling that...we may be too late."

"I..." Fiona spoke up, almost regretting doing so. But since she had already started to say
something, she might as well finish her sentence. She would feel awkward if she just left the others in silence like that. "I feel the same way. I'm sure it's just because we're just all nervous and stressed."

"Fiona's right, you guys." Max said, trying to sound like his usual, confident self, trying to be a leader once again. "We can't let ourselves be brought down by these fears." He gazed at each individual he was with before continuing. "If we continue to get dragged down by these fears, we'll never find Caruso. We must remain focused." He gestured forward, a physical urge to get the others to move on instead of slowing down to chat. "Come on. Time is of the essence."

The remaining time it took for the team to reach Boston, which was only around five to eight minutes, was spent in silence. Inside their minds they replayed the plans over and over, and all hoped they wouldn't forget any detail. Just in case, they had all agreed to stop somewhere in Boston real quick to discuss their plans one more time. It would have to be someplace secure however. They didn't know who in Boston was working for Victor. They would have to choose a place that was not accessible to the public. This of course meant breaking the law. But it's not like they hadn't done it before, for the sake of the planet.

Max however openly opposed to the idea of breaking the law. The others seemed upset with him, and wondered why he wouldn't take the risk. Max explained to them that they shouldn't be drawing attention to themselves. If they had committed any felony in this city, they would possibly reveal their position to Victor, and their efforts would have been in vain. He had also pressured the others not to transform. They needn't be told twice. They all knew Victor had tracking equipment and would spot them in a heartbeat if they were to transform. Even small changes like transforming a hand or foot would be detected, and they would have to dodge dozens of officials from Raptor Dyne, as well as Victor himself.

He suggested they go into a wooded area. There was a place like that in Boston, a park, probably the Boston Common. At this time of night there wouldn't be a lot of people there. And the foliage would provide great cover in case they needed to hide from someone. The others eventually agreed, although they seemed a little hesitant. Max felt a sharp pang at this. He wondered if his leadership qualities were diminishing. He wondered if they would decide on a new leader..no. They wouldn't do that. He was still the leader. But that means that he was experiencing the most pressure. Every decision was weighted on his shoulders. Successfully pulling off the rescue mission was now in his hands. He could only hope he wouldn't mess up.

As they drove into the city, they could see just how active it was at night. To their disappointment, even though it was past midnight now, the city was almost as active as it would be in the daytime. This would mean there might be some people in the park as well. Max frowned. If they couldn't go to the park, where else could they go where there'd be no people to spy on them? He was starting to feel pressured as a few people walking on the sidewalks stopped and stared at him and his friends briefly before moving on. And he could tell the others weren't exactly liking the attention either. He whispered to them to just keep going until they could find a safe place to talk. It was the best that they could do for now.

The group of friends tried their best to ignore the people watching them almost warily, as if they were scared of them, and also tried to ignore people honking their horns to get them to move faster. The Dino Squad were slowing down traffic a little, and it didn't help that these people were in a big hurry to get somewhere. One of them eventually got sick of waiting and swerved in front of them, and almost caused Buzz to fall off his bike and get seriously hurt. The driver never stopped, they just kept on driving by. Buzz was all right, but startled and a little shaken up. After this incident, a few other cars started to swerve by, and it quickly became a hassle to try to avoid them. Max was growing frustrated. They would never find Caruso at this rate. He and the others made a miscalculation. They had all believed that the city would be nearly empty at night. But it was still active, and he quickly realized it would become increasingly difficult to discuss the plans somewhere safe.

So he made a new decision. They wouldn't attempt to find someplace to talk in safety. They would have no choice but to discuss it out in the open. They really had no other choice. And with all this noise, what from the car engines and people chatting, who is going to hear them?

"Guys, you all remember the plan, right?" Max asked, using the helmets' transmitters to communicate with the others.

"Shhh...!" Fiona hissed, looking cautiously around. "Everyone is looking at us."

"Yeah. We can't make a scene, yo." Rodger said, feeling uncomfortable with the people still watching them. While this was only brief, it wasn't very reassuring to him. Any one of these people could be working for Veloci. "And any one person here could be one of Victor's men. If we do anything suspicious, they would alert him."

"Guys," Buzz said, "If any of these guys worked for Victor, wouldn't they have already contacted him?" He glanced slightly towards the front of his motorbike, which looked very dinosaurian in appearance. "I mean wouldn't our bikes give us away?"

"Thanks Buzz..." Fiona said in a sarcastic tone. "I feel so much better now."

"I'm sorry." Buzz responded in an apologetic tone.

Max slowly shook his head. "Look you guys, it doesn't look like we are going to find any place to discuss the plan. So we might as well do it now. It's too noisy here anyway. Who is going to hear us?"

Buzz made an attempt at a joke. "Someone who knows how to make a cross connection?"

"Buzz!" Fiona scolded again, gritting her teeth a little. "That's not funny!" But as he mentioned the cross connection, she wondered if he could be right. If anyone in this city knew how to do that, they could pick up their signal, and be listening in to everything they were saying. Suddenly she was feeling even less safe than before. She cautiously glanced around her, but couldn't see anything different than what they were experiencing the minute they set foot in the city.

Fiona knew that the reason why so many people were looking at them had probably less to do with the fact they were on motorbikes and more to do with the appearance of the bikes. People around here never seen them before. It seems to be human nature to stare at something new and unusual. She just hoped that no one here would discuss this someplace where Veloci or one of his men would hear about it. They still had to find someway to locate Caruso quickly and without being spotted. But of course she thought this may not be possible.

As Moynihan had pointed out, Victor did have security in Raptor Dyne and would most likely have security up where ever he was hiding Caruso. As soon as they got within a certain distance, the alarms could go off, or Victor would spot them, or perhaps one of his workers. They would need to find someway to bypass the security. And she believed she knew how they could do that. She had discussed this with Max briefly before they had left. They could have Buzz distract Veloci. Since he could fly, he would be the fastest. The distraction might not last long, but it may buy them precious seconds to get inside the building.

Buzz hung his head. "I'm sorry." He said, apologizing to Fiona yet again. "I'm just..."

Fiona interrupted him. "Just forget it Buzz. We'll discuss it later." Although a little hurt at getting cut off so abruptly, Buzz nodded his head and didn't say another word. Fiona gave him a brief look of sympathy, and then turned to Rodger. "Rodger, do you know where Raptor Dyne is?"

Of course, they all knew it was in Boston. But they didn't know the exact address. It was most likely going to be somewhere in the middle of the city, where most of the other companies were as well. Fiona felt that Rodger would be the most likely person, among this group, who'd know the location of the building. They had forgotten to ask Moynihan for directions and now it was far too late to go back to ask for her assistance. Rodger had known about Raptor Dyne from the start. And being a scientific geek as he is, he would probably have been very interested in Raptor Dyne, and perhaps wrote down the address somewhere. Perhaps he had even considered working for them, but surely that dream would have passed after he found out the truth of that place.

And Rodger would have known Fiona's suspicions would have been right. He had been considering working with Raptor Dyne some years ago. He had respected the company for their supposed efforts to benefit mankind. He had gotten interested in science and technology because of this company. He had once looked up to Victor, and had once wanted to be more like him. The person he saw was a man of authority, calm and assertive and persuasive, someone who cared deeply about the fate of humanity. But he was dreadfully disappointed when he had learned the truth. This was all a front, a trick, an illusion. Rodger took a long time to completely recover from the shock of learning the truth about Raptor Dyne. The feeling of sickness wouldn't go away for a long time, and he wondered if he'd ever feel better.

And Fiona bringing up the address only brought back some of these feelings once again. He had longed to forget about Raptor Dyne and Victor. But until he was stopped, there was no way he could hide from this. He couldn't blame Fiona. It wasn't her fault really. This information would be very important indeed. Once they found the building, all they would need to do was search the area around there. Perhaps they didn't need to split up after all. But Rodger knew they should still go with splitting up anyway. There was still that chance Victor hid Caruso further away from the company to throw them off. He narrowed his eyes, thinking to himself that Victor would have to do a lot more to discourage them.

"It's been a long time since I've looked at the address." Rodger admitted finally after a few seconds. "I think it was somewhere close by the Paramount Theatre." He felt bad he couldn't be any more specific. There were a lot of other buildings around Paramount Theatre.

"You think or you know?" Fiona asked. She was hoping a more positive, definite answer.

"At least it's a start." Max pointed out, trying to sound more enthusiastic. "We can focus our search around that area."

"Should we still split up?" Buzz spoke up. "Or are we all just going to search around Boston Theatre together?"

"Good question, Buzz." Max said. "I think we should still split up. Victor might have hidden Caruso somewhere else." He didn't mention this, but splitting up might be a risk as well. What if someone was caught and unable to tell them where they were taken to? He suddenly frowned. Perhaps splitting up wasn't such a good idea. Maybe it would be safer if they went in pairs. "On second thought, perhaps we should search in groups of two, just to be on the safe side. Rodger, you and Buzz look around Paramount Theatre to see if you can find Raptor Dyne or any signs of Caruso. Fiona and I will look on the other side of town to see if we can find any clues there."

The others nodded, and followed his instructions without question. As they came to an intersection, they parted ways. Buzz and Rodger took off in the direction where they believed Paramount Theatre was located and hopefully locate Raptor Dyne or useful clues. Fiona and Max headed out towards the other side of the city to see if they could find any place that was big enough to hold a Stegosaurus but inconspicuous enough to avoid wandering eyes.

Within about ten minutes later, Buzz and Rodger had arrived at Paramount Theatre. They now stood in front of a huge building with a large white board with lights shining around it. The bright white board displayed movie information. Above this structure was a tall teal-colored sign with the name PARAMOUNT written downward. The two teens stood for a few seconds, looking up and staring at the building. They had never been to Paramount Theatre before. They took note of how huge this place was, and wondered if Victor could have stationed Caruso here.

But the thought was quickly shaken from their thoughts. There was no way Victor could have hidden Caruso here. The building was huge, sure, but many people visited here everyday. There was no way a Stegosaurus would have gone unnoticed. And it didn't seem there was any entrance large enough for Caruso anyway, provided he stayed in dino mode. Buzz and Rodger knew they had to focus on the mission. They tore their gaze from Paramount Theatre and began to look at the environment surrounding the building. They started to look for anything that could help them find Caruso. They tried to find a building that had telltale signs of being Raptor Dyne. They looked carefully at the buildings next to Paramount Theatre but found nothing suspicious about them, at least in appearance.

The teens were thankful that there weren't too many in this part of town right now, so at least they won't have people staring at them so much now. There was probably some sale going on and that's why people were still up. Though a more logical explanation, Rodger thought, is simply they have to work or are going home from work. But the thought of a sale did bring back memories of not so long ago for Buzz. He had been told of how Caruso had gotten upset that he was given more time while he had to wait even longer. Buzz started to feel guilty now just thinking about it.

"Hey..Buzz? Are you listening?" He heard Rodger say. He shook his head and quickly realized where he was. He rubbed his head. He must have spaced out there for some reason. "Buzz..are you there..?"

"Oh what?" Buzz responded.

"Where were you?" Rodger asked. "I've been trying to talk to you for the past couple minutes. Did you fall asleep or something?"

"I guess I'm...a little worried." Buzz smiled sheepishly. "I'm sorry."

Buzz hadn't realized that he had been standing on the sidewalk almost perfectly still for several minutes. He had been unresponsive to Rodger's calls, and his eyes had a faraway look in them. Buzz had become lost in his thoughts and his own guilt. This wasn't like him, and it worried Rodger. Buzz just didn't seem like the type to just zone out like that. At least he doesn't recall ever seeing it himself. But then again there was that camping incident. Buzz had gotten totally freaked out there. So maybe he shouldn't be too surprised.

Rodger felt himself become a little angry at the memory of that camp trip. He could recall vividly how Caruso just stormed into camp, seemingly running away from something dangerous. He had been foolish enough to follow Caruso and run for what seemed to be hours. He nearly ran over a cliff running away from something that wasn't even there. He'd nearly gotten himself killed because of Caruso. And he had later found out that it was Caruso who started the whole thing. Buzz had explained that it was Caruso who began saying things about what could be out in the forest. So in the end it seemed to be all Caruso's fault.

But could he really put the whole blame on the boy? Caruso was just frightened. And Rodger himself would be lying if he said he wasn't scared too. Rodger had been scared, even before Caruso had panicked in the night. They were all scared, although not largely because of the mutantsaurs they had gone there to find. It was because they were literally blind. Rodger, Caruso, and Buzz had been so eager to set up camp and get everything plugged in that they had caused a short circuit and lost all their equipment that they had brought with them. And because of that, they had been completely unaware that Victor was still in the vicinity.

And they had nearly been spotted by Victor. Rodger suddenly felt a little grateful that he and Caruso nearly went over that cliff. The plan to lure Victor there had worked, and they had trapped him in his own vehicle. As they had took off, they could hear Victor's Velociraptor screeches and hisses, and eventually his bittered order for his men to free him. Rodger didn't know just how long he was stuck there, but it would have been a good long while because Max had knocked over the Raptor Dyne SUV and bit off the tail section of the helicopter, which pretty much stranded the two men where they were. And they were probably still shaken up by Max being so close to them to even notice the distress call from Victor.

Rodger started to feel a little guilty for becoming mad at Caruso. And right now wasn't a really good time to start thinking negatively about the boy. Right now Caruso was in trouble. His life was in danger, Rodger could sense that, as well as everyone else. And the camping trip had occurred a couple years ago. There was no sense in worrying about what has passed, and he should concern himself with what was going on right now. He attempted to smile at Buzz, trying to get him to cheer up a little. He didn't want him to feel bad.

"Oh, don't be sorry, Buzz." Rodger said, trying to console the punk teenager. He didn't like to see any of his friends like this. "I know you're worried about Caruso. So am I." He hoped this would provide some consolance to the green-haired teen.

Buzz sighed. "What if we arrive too late?"

"We won't." Rodger said with as much confidence in his voice as he could muster. He wasn't really sure if he would end up being right or wrong, but he couldn't show doubt in front of Buzz. He didn't want to make him feel even worse.

Buzz turned his back to Rodger as he began to walk a few steps along the sidewalk. Even though Rodger had tried his best to sound like he was so sure of them rescuing their fame-crazed friend, Buzz didn't feel so convinced. He had seen horror movies, and knew that the good guys do not always win. This was no fairy tale. It was reality. "How can you be so certain?" He asked the african-american as he stopped in his tracks, still standing in front of the Paramount Theatre. He slowly turned his head to glance over his shoulder. Rodger was coming towards him, a look of sympathy on his face. The green-haired teen narrowed his eyes slightly. "You have been wrong before. What if this is one of those times?"

"Buzz..I..." Rodger started to say before getting interrupted by Buzz.

"The worst of it has got to be the time when you had alerted us to a report of mutantsaurs that were in the football field, but when we had actually gone there, we found out it was a trap! Do you remember that?" Buzz asked Rodger insistently.

"I...yes..." Rodger said, lowering his head and closing his eyes. He had made mistakes in the past. What human wouldn't make a mistake? But this one, he would never stop feeling horrible about. They usually had Caruso to blame for such incidents. But this time..this time it was Rodger's fault. He should have seen it coming. He should have been more skeptical. But he head lead his team mates into a trap.

Rodger had been working in Moynihan's lighthouse overtime to do some make-up work he had missed because he had been sick for a few days. The others had already said goodbye to Moynihan and had already left to go home. The old woman had gone downstairs, although Rodger was not sure where she disappeared to. When he tried to continue his work, he was constantly interrupted by a loud beeping sound. He tried to ignore it at first, but the beeping was persistent and wouldn't stop. It took him a few seconds later to realize it was the mutantsaur alert. Immediately dropping what he was doing, he quickly ran over to the computer to find out what the computer had picked up.

There were several small red dots flashing in one location. Rodger moved the cursor over the zoom option and enlargened the map so that it was big enough for him to see where the dots were originating from. His eyes had widened when he realized the mutantsaurs were located in Kittery Point, right in the football field. From the look of things, it seemed there were at least five mutantsaurs in that location. He knew the others were probably relaxing in their homes after another day of training with Moynihan, but he couldn't just let this mutantsaurs get captured by Victor.

So he called up the others and informed them what was going on. Although a couple sounded a little groggy, probably because they were taking a short nap, they didn't waste much time getting over to the lighthouse to meet up with Rodger. He and the others got on their motorbikes and headed out to the school. They had arrived in the football field, and cautiously headed out. Sure enough, there were five mutantsaurs in the field. They were rather large in size, and appeared to be some type of mutant beaver. They growled and snapped at the children, but made no movement towards them.

Since they were not in one place, Max suggested they try to force the mutant beavers closer together. Rodger had suggested they all go dino and circle the beavers and force them into a small area. Usually Max would not like this idea. They had nearly lose a few mutantsaurs in the past by using this tactic. But the football field was in an enclosed area. The mutant beavers would have had a hard time getting out, despite their new size and strength. So they all transformed, and began to circle the mutated creatures. Quickly it became obvious that something was very wrong. The beavers hadn't moved, not even to look at them as they were circled. There was no eye contact, no change in position, no nothing.

Caruso had become a little agitated by the fact that they weren't moving. So he had tried a more physical approach. He charged towards one of the giant beavers in an attempt to knock them down. But when he swung at them with his spiked tail, he was shocked to see that the tail had gone straight through. He tried again to attack, but only met air. The others became confused, and they each started to attack one of the mutantsaurs. All of their attacks merely went through the beavers. They quickly realized the terrible truth. The beavers were holograms! They had walked straight into a trap!

The beavers quickly went static and faded from view, like an old television set losing power. No sooner had they disappeared, a large sticky net made of tough rope and covered in tar had been dropped onto them. They started to bellow in fright as they felt themselves being pulled onto the ground, and become entangled in the large net. They started to bite and claw at the netting that entrapped them, but no matter how hard they tried, the rope just wouldn't break. And the more they struggled, the more net became stuck to their skin, and they became even more entangled in the tar-covered trap.

They heard the sound of a helicopter approaching, and looked up to see Victor's copter heading down towards them. As the machine drew to a stop on the ground, they started to panic more, and tried desperately to get freed. But it was all in vain, it seemed. As Victor stepped out and headed toward his 'perfect dinosaurs', it seemed they had lost. The only reason they got away was because Moynihan had found out, somehow, that they were in distress and distracted Veloci by using the same technology she used before to disguise herself and telling Veloci that there were a lot more dinosaurs somewhere else.

The lie had worked, and Victor did in fact leave the 'perfect dinosaurs' where they were. He was confident that they would not escape, that they would still be there when he returned. When the coast was clear, Moynihan had rushed over from where she was hiding and freed her students from the net. She had scolded Rodger for falling for such an obvious trap, though she wasn't too harsh on him. However the others were quite upset with him, and didn't let him forget it. For a while after that, they would only go on a mission if they had received instructions directly from Moynihan.

"It was your fault we were in that mess!" Buzz said bitterly. "And if you were wrong about that mission, you could easily be wrong about this!"

"Buzz!" Rodger spoke up, getting annoyed with Buzz's accusations. "You and I both know I never intended for that to happen. And why are you even bringing this up? It happened a year ago! Let it go, will ya?" He could feel the anger inside growing, but he knew he had to suppress it or risk losing his temper with Buzz. And that was the last thing he wanted to happen. Before Buzz could think of a response, Rodger calmed himself down through long soft breaths. "Let's just..drop it okay?"

Buzz's glare softened, and he started to feel guilty. "I..I'm sorry Rodger. I don't know what came over me." Buzz was feeling so angry and upset about everything that was going on that he had just snapped. He needed an outlet, and he took it out on Rodger by bringing up the incident from a year ago. "I'm sorry." He apologized again.

Rodger smiled. "It's all right Buzz."

Wanting to change the subject, Buzz used his eyes to scan the area around the building, trying to find which place to start looking first. "So..which way should we go?"

Rodger looked around as well, and looked towards the building on the left side of Paramount Theatre. "Maybe we should start looking around that area for clues."

They still weren't sure just exactly what it is they were looking for. They weren't sure of what kind of clues they could possibly find around here that would lead them to Caruso. Perhaps they should have listened to Moynihan and stayed put until they could come up with a better plan. Why had they rushed to Boston, and especially during the night? Well perhaps night was a better option than broad daylight. They'd have the cover of darkness. But they still had no idea on where to go, and the only thing they could do was explore around. And who knows what they would find here?

They decided they would just have to look around until they found something that they think would be connected to Raptor Dyne or even to their missing friend. A footprint, a scale, anything that could help them find Caruso. But where would Raptor Dyne keep Caruso anyway? Where would Victor hide him?

Rodger took another look at Paramount Theatre and began to wonder if Victor would hide him in there. The doors would have been a problem, but if he had gotten Caruso there in human form... No. They already agreed that Caruso was most likely not in Paramount Theatre because someone would surely spotted him, with how many people visit a day. Victor would not choose such a popular location to hide Caruso. None of the buildings surrounding Paramount Theatre seemed to be empty nor abandoned. Some of the lights were still on, and there were still people coming in and out of the buildings.

Rodger stopped in his tracks, and looked up to the sky. "You know what Buzz?"

Buzz stopped walking. "What?"

Rodger gave a sigh. "I don't think Caruso is in this area...or anywhere in the city."

Buzz arched an eyebrow. "But..I thought you said..."

"Yes I know what I said." Rodger replied, rubbing his forehead with his hand. "But think about it. The buildings in the city are just too active. Victor wouldn't want to hide someone like Caruso near the city where someone was likely to find him..." He turned his head to look behind the Paramount Theatre, where Boston Common was. "He would choose a location that was away from the city, and most of the activity, a place where humans would be generally sparse and less likely to find anything he wanted to hide."

"Any idea on where such a place might be?" Buzz looked around the city, seeing building after building. "I don't see any place that looks like it's...well..sparsely populated."

"Maybe the Boston Common?" Rodger suggested. "It is a really big park, and there could be hidden buildings we don't know about somewhere in it."

"Hmm..I dunno..." Buzz thought, sounding a little skeptical.

"Think about it, Buzz. There's a lot of areas in the Boston Common that is shielded by trees. And within these wooded areas, someone could make a building, perhaps large enough to hold a Stegosaurus, and keep it hidden for a good amount of time." Rodger explained. "I don't think many people would go into these small forested areas, so it may be the perfect place for Victor to hide Caruso."

The more Buzz thought about it, the more sense it started to make. True, Boston Common is not exactly unpopulated, but who would want to go into those spooky mini-forests anyway? Well Buzz wouldn't that's for sure. They remind him too much of the camping trip. The trees did look densely populated enough in some areas to conceal a building of sorts.

Something else then started to nag at the back of the punk's mind, something he had forgotten about until now and his mind was trying to remember. There was something about Boston Common that was so familiar, something he heard about the place. He gripped his head, digging his fingernails into his scalp as he tried hard to remember. He gritted his teeth both from frustration and pain as he felt his nails scratch across the skin. Rodger saw this and placed his hand on Buzz's shoulder.

"Yo..what's wrong, Buzz?" Rodger asked, his eyes a little wide at Buzz's frustration.

"The Boston Common..there's something about it." Buzz replied, his eyes closed tightly as he tried to remember. "I heard something about it..something important."

"Well don't strain yourself, buddy." Rodger pulled one of Buzz's hands away from his head. He could have sworn he could see a little red on the tip of the green-haired boy's fingers. "It'll come back to you in time."

"Yeah..." Buzz relaxed, letting out a long exhale. "You're right."

"So shall we go to the Boston Common and look for clues there?" He asked Buzz as he made his way to the alley between Paramount Theatre and another large building standing next to it. The alley lead straight into the Boston Common. This wasn't the right way to go, and Rodger would not be surprised if it would be illegal going into the park this way. But right now he didn't care too much. It was dark anyway, so who was going to see them?

"Sure..." Buzz said slowly as he began to follow Rodger. He tried to keep his mind focused on the mission, but something continued to gnaw at the back of his mind. And he couldn't stop asking the same question in his mind over and over again: just what had he forgotten about the Boston Common...?

"Well do you see any building that you think Victor might use?" Max asked, standing next to Fiona. They were on the other side of the city, approximately parallel to where Rodger and Buzz were. They were standing near Green Dragon Tavern, a historical building just like Paramount Theatre was. They were looking out in the direction opposite of where the other two were looking. Their view was filled with rows and rows of small buildings. Behind them were the larger skyscrapers that big cities were known for. They were looking towards the outskirts of the city, however, because they believed that this would be a more likely place for Victor to hide Caruso. Not as many people around, so it would be less likely for suspicion to be aroused.

"Not really." Fiona responded, scanning the horizon. "None of these buildings look big enough." Most of the buildings before them were houses where people lived, obviously. And behind that there appeared to be a river of sorts cutting through the land. But they couldn't stop any buildings large enough to hide a Stegosaurus in.

"Hmm..." Max turned so that his left side was facing the city and his right side facing the suburban homes. He gazed over at the homes for a few seconds, and then looked over at the city. He wasn't sure now which place would be the best to look at. The city had buildings large enough for Victor to use. But most, if not all, were accessible to the public. Not a smart place to be to perform private experimentations. The suburban area, or at least areas just outside it, seemed to be a better place. They were quieter, and people were more sparse here. But he couldn't see any buildings that Victor could use for his plans with Irwin. "I..." He started to say, struggling to make a decision. But his mind just kept drawing a blank. "I'm not sure where to look..."

Fiona shared his frustration and let out a sigh of irritation. "That makes two of us." She gripped her head tightly, pulling at her hair. "Ooooh! This is so unfair! At this rate we'll never get there on time!" Fiona snapped, releasing some of the pent up anger she had inside.

"Fiona!" Max cried, gripping her arms and held her, trying to calm her down. "Settle down! Don't let your emotions gain control of you!" He said urgently, bringing his face close to hers to make her look at him in the eyes. Fiona struggled briefly in Max's grip, but she quickly settled down as he spoke to her softly, "Listen, Fiona. If we continue to believe we won't find Caruso in time, we won't. Try to be more optimist. Believe that we'll find him soon, and we will. And we will find him, that I can promise you."

Max didn't know if he was telling the truth or not, but it seemed to calm Fiona down. The young female teen settled down completely, and released the tension in her arms. She pulled a strand of hair from her face, and said in an apologetic tone of voice, "I'm sorry, Max. You're right. I shouldn't be so pessimistic."

"Come on..." Max spoke softly again. "Let's go for a ride." He made his way towards his Tyranno-Cycle. His and Fiona's motorbikes were sitting nearby.

"But..shouldn't we be looking for places where Caruso might be?" Fiona asked. "I mean this isn't the time for..."

"We are." Max said. He put on his helmet and pointed in the direction his bike was now facing. "We're going to ride down there and see if we can find anything."

"Oh..okay." Fiona responded as she got on her motorbike to follow Max.

The two set off in the direction Max had been pointing in. Buildings moved by on both their sides. Many houses went by, as well as many corporate buildings, and restaurants. The lights on many buildings were still on despite the time of night. As they road along the black-top road, they remained quiet. Their eyes were focused on the visual information being fed to them, and they tried to keep their ears on alert in case they hear something urgent, like danger approaching. It did seem unlikely that they would get in trouble out here, but while they were close to Victor's turf, they couldn't take the chances.

They quickly took notice on how quiet this part of the city was. It felt kind of odd to them. It wasn't this quiet in the other parts of the city. There were the sounds of people chatting, cars zooming by, and among other things. But this place was completely quiet. Something just didn't feel right about this place. As they continued to ride along, they began to feel an eerie sensation, as if they were being watched. But that was absurd. They had been in this area for a good amount of time already and they didn't have this sensation before nor did they actually see anybody. They quickly glanced behind them to be sure, and sure enough, they didn't see anyone.

But something about this part of town gave them the creeps. Something just felt so unnatural about this place. While the lights on the buildings remained on, it felt like this part of town was getting darker and darker the further they went through. And the atmosphere wasn't letting up with the dead silence that hung in the air around them. All they could here was the sound of their rubber tires scraping along the concrete road. Overhead, they could see dark clouds starting to roll in. It didn't look like it was going to storm though as these didn't look like rain clouds. They just looked rather dark, and spooky too.

Fiona clenched her teeth in uneasiness. She started to feel her heart beat a little faster. Her brain felt like it was working at a quicker pace. She quickly realized that this is how Caruso and Buzz must have felt while at the campsite. No wonder they had panicked so easily...

"Maybe we should go back..." Fiona spoke up, keeping her head low as she looked at their surroundings. "I don't like this place."

"Oh come on." Max said in a light-hearted tone, in an almost teasing sort of way. "Don't tell me you're scared."

But Max couldn't blame the girl. He was feeling uneasy about this place as well. It was just too quiet. There had to be something going on in this place that they didn't know about. Something terrible... Max could feel his body prepare to fight or flee, the prehistoric reaction that humans had since the Stone Age. His hands were becoming so sweaty it was becoming a challenge to keep his hands on the handle bars. Max wanted to get out of here as soon as possible.

"I know you're scared too!" Fiona yelled.

"I-I am not!" Max said, lying through his teeth. "But if it makes you feel better, let's drive our motorbikes faster so we'll be out of this part of town quicker."

Although a little irritated that Max apparently lied to her about not being scared, it didn't surprise her that much. He was the leader, and he probably felt like he shouldn't let anything bother him, and if something did, he thought he shouldn't show it and pretend that everything was all right. Just too bad he didn't follow this belief when he had lost his temper with Caruso. "That sounds like a smart idea." She said, liking the idea of leaving this foreboding place faster.

They tightened their grips on their handle bars and gave a twist, revving the engines in their bikes. Their bikes started to move at a faster rate now, going about twenty percent faster than they were before. They didn't want to waste too much energy as they had already used up a lot for the trip here. They hadn't traveled this far before on just their motorcycles. And they were starting to wonder if it was smarter to take the SUV instead. They could have packed some equipment from the trip in case they were faced with danger.

As they passed by another alleyway, movement suddenly flashed in the corner of Fiona's eyes. She quickly snapped her head in its direction, her eyes widened because the movement had startled her. The thing she saw was gone, but whatever it was, it looked a little big. It didn't feel like it was as big as her in dino mode, though, but still she didn't want to underestimate it. "Max, did you see that?"