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...

14. Damages

Back at Raptor Dyne, Victor Veloci was scolding Kista for her actions. He had asked her why she had done it and why she would risk doing such a thing. He told her that he had also thought he made it clear to her, and some other individuals, that they were never ever supposed to do that to anyone that was not on the team unless he gave them permission to do so. Kista just shrugged it off, explaining that nothing bad happened, other than Zoom freaking out. She had only intended to scare him, to show him what he was in for when he joined Raptor Dyne. She tried to justify her actions by saying that Zoom should have seen it coming. She herself did not see any problem with doing what she did.

But Victor did not accept her accuses. He told her that she should have known better herself. She was one of his most trusted henchmen, and he trusted her more than even some of his oldest members. Kista was not with him from the very beginning. She had later on after Victor found her somewhere in the city. He enjoyed having her on the team, being very useful at times. But her arrogance and her habit of looking before she leaped bothered him at times, even driving him insane. And today was one of those days. Kista would disobey a rule, albeit rarely, and when he'd confront her about it, she'd make up some sort of excuse to justify her actions.

It was not going to work this time, Victor told himself. He was going to find some sort of punishment for Kista. He'd just have to think of something, although he didn't think he had to do it now. There were more important matters at hand now. But then again, if he didn't punish her now, the punishment would not have any effect later on. Although, Kista would probably not react too well to the punishment. She'd just shrug it off. Or maybe she would just make some crude joke about it. It would be just like her to do such a thing.

Victor looked over at Zoom, wanting to get his mind off the punishment subject. Kista had told him the photographer's name. Upon laying eyes on him, he immediately recognized the man. Much to his disgust and dismay, it was the same photographer he had run into before, the same one who almost sold him that stupid CD of some stupid punk kid. Victor had snarled at him as soon as he saw him. He was almost pleased when the man cringed a little. At least he knew his place. Kista had explained to him about Zoom's idea. Victor could not help but laugh at them. The ideas seemed so ridiculous, he doubted that they would work. But as she explained further, he started to wonder if they were onto something.

He started to wonder if he could use some of the ideas to flush out the Dino Squad, make them come out of hiding. He already knew where their hideout was. But since they knew that he knew where they were, perhaps he should use a different method. He couldn't simply go to the lighthouse again. They would be more prepared, or perhaps they even relocated. What he would need to do is get them in a different location, a place where he would be waiting without them knowing. Their equipment was probably still fried, so they would not be able to detect him. And even if they did get it working, he could simply create a protective shield to avoid detection. Moynihan was not the only one who knew how to block signals.

The one question he was trying to answer himself now was what to do with Zoom. He personally believed that he did not need him. He had all this advanced technology and many followers to give the job too. What would make this photographer so special? After all, he had not even taken that photograph, as he found out recently. It had to be Buzz. He had seen him, briefly, in human form. After remembering how that punk kid tricked him with a photograph of some dog, it seemed logical that he would be the one to have taken the photograph. Victor was not sure if Zoom had even taken any photos of his own before, and how good he actually was. He did say that he was really good at editing. Photomanipulation, Victor had heard of it before, and seen it himself. But how was that supposed to help him? What was he going to do? Trick the humans into thinking the dinosaurs robbed a bank?

The idea was amusing, he admitted to himself. He had objected to the bomb idea, however. He did not want to draw any attention to himself. And he also did not really want to hurt any humans unless he saw a good reason, even though he loathed them. And he was not sure how he would set up such an elaborate scheme without raising suspicion. He might use a similar idea, but it would have to be more subtle. Victor was not sure, yet, how he was going to pull it off. He glanced at Zoom again, and started considering perhaps allowing him to join. There didn't seem much harm in letting him join, although he was worried that the photographer might take pictures of what he shouldn't, or stick his nose where it did not belong.

He sighed, turning back towards Kista. He frowned as he saw the same arrogant look on her face. Victor folded up his arms and said, "Well, is there anything else you would like to add?"

"..Yes..." Kista said, smiling darkly. "I did not do anything wrong, you pyrophoric firmament!"

Victor snapped his head back in surprise. He was not surprised that she talked back to him like that. He was expecting it, actually. What had taken him aback was her statement. He guessed he should have gotten used to it by now. She often made statements like these that made no sense. He often wondered if she even knew what she was saying. But after dealing with her for years, he learned to just ignore her statements. If he questioned her about it or tried to explain it to her, she would go on a rant on how he's just jealous that she's so smart and how his intelligence was not great enough to comprehend the statements she made.

"Well okay." Victor said, still a little surprised by the unusual statement. "Well anyway, back to the subject at hand." He turned and looked at Zoom. "I'll consider your idea, photographer. In fact, I kind of like it. But I have a question for you, and I want you to answer me truthfully. Do not try to lie, or you'll be sorry..." He smiled as he saw the man's expression turn into fear. "Tell me...what use would you be? Sure, you could take photos and edit them for me. However, I could easily get one of my men to do it. Tell me, why should I permit you to do the task?"

Zoom looked a little confused by the question. He was not sure exactly how to answer. And having Victor stare at him like that was scaring him, making it hard for him to concentrate. He was afraid that, any second, the man would go raptor on him and kill him with one swipe of that hideous sickle claw. He swallowed hard and nervously said, "W-Well..s-s-sir..I'm very good at..stealth photo-photography...a-a-and I could do..other..things...?"

Victor's eyes narrowed, leaning in closer to the blond-haired man. "If you want to join my team, you will have to do better than that. Otherwise, I'm afraid I'll have to kill you."

Zoom gulped, eyes wide with fear. His mind started to race quickly, trying to come up with something to say. But as he stared into Victor's eyes, seeing the anger and impatience in them, Zoom was starting to have second thoughts on joining this team, if he could even call it that. Did he really want to sit around and be bossed around by someone who could easily have him for lunch? Just what was he thinking when he came here? Wait, he didn't come here at all. He was dragged here by Kista.

Zoom looked to his side where Kista was standing. He frowned at her arrogant smile. She was the one to blame for all this! He just knew it. She was the one who knocked him out in the first place. He could still feel the soreness of the blow where she struck him. He had let himself fall prey to her, allowed her to get the advantage over him. He had turned his back on her and left himself vulnerable. Now she has taken him here, knowing full well of the consequences that might have risen. She probably did this on purpose just to watch him squirm. Perhaps she knew Victor would not accept him. Maybe she just wanted to feed Victor. Zoom shuddered at the thought of a Velociraptor biting into him.

Kista stared back at Zoom, her twisted smile fading into an angry frown. She didn't like how the man was staring at her. Exactly how was this all her fault? He was the one who wanted to see Victor in the first place! All she did was help him a little by taking him to the hideout. If he was still sore about her whacking him in the head, well he can just get over that. She had only done that to ensure that he does not find out the exact location of Raptor Dyne.

"Well?" Kista asked impatiently. "Aren't you going to answer him?"

Zoom growled under his breath, glaring at Kista. "I just did..." He retorted in a sarcastic attitude. "You think he did not hear me? Perhaps he is deaf, or is too busy to listen to me." He was ignoring Kista's angry expressions as he said this. He just didn't care if he upset Kista or not. He felt she deserved the sarcastic remarks to her question. "I'm not stupid okay? I know Victor had heard my answer! Didn't you? Or were you too busy wandering around in your own world to even register anything said in reality?"

"Why you..." Kista growled.

"What are you going to do about it?" Zoom taunted. "Run to Victor and ask him for help?"

However, he had seemingly forgotten that Kista was not the only one in the room. Victor narrowed his eyes. He didn't like the way the photographer was talking about him as if he was not there. He also did not like the way he talked at about Kista or himself. He did not like the man's tone of voice. He was starting to remind him of another annoying human he recently had to deal with, that Irwin Caruso kid. He wondered briefly if the two were somehow related. He leaned forward and gripped the man's shirt, forcing him to avert his eyes away from Kista and onto him. Zoom's cocky look was quickly replaced with fear and realization at what he had just done.

"You have a lot of guts to be making such remarks, especially in your current position!" Victor snapped, his face so close to Zoom's that the man could feel Victor's breath against his face. Victor had to use a large amount of his strength to keep himself from transforming. If he transformed now, he probably would not be able to convince Zoom to join him, even if he wanted to. Victor wasn't sure if he truly wanted Zoom on the team, especially after such remarks. But perhaps he could tame the man, just like how he tamed Caruso.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Zoom quickly said, his original demeanor gone. The courage he had so briefly was gone just like that. Unlike Caruso, he did not try and make another sarcastic remark just to get on his nerves. Victor was a little surprised, at the same time a little disappointed. He was hoping to have a little fun with the guy. But no matter, it would just mean less work and less time wasted. He released his grip on Zoom. The photographer looked up at him in surprise, but said nothing.

"All right then..." Victor said, turning his back to Zoom. He interlocked his fingers behind his back, looking up at his monitor in an almost absentminded way. "I'll let you join my team..."

Zoom almost jumped out of his seat in shock. And he would have done so too if he weren't tied to the chair. Kista had insisted on doing it, although she never explained way. Perhaps she was afraid he would get up and run away. "Really?!" He said excitedly. He quickly cleared his throat, and then spoke again, this time in a calmer tone of voice. "Really...?" It was hard for him to conceal his excitement at joining the team.

"Under one condition...other than the one about not telling anyone about this, that is..." Victor raised a finger to get his attention. He gave Zoom a sideways glance, giving the slightest hint of a glow in his eyes as he spoke. Zoom remained still in his seat, waiting for Victor to continue. "You must not harm the 'perfect dinosaurs', not one of them, unless I say so." Victor said. "They could be of some use to me..."

"But..." Zoom objected. "But after what they've done to you, and your experiments, after all the times they have apparently thwarted you... why would you even want them alive?" It didn't make much sense to Zoom. If he were in Victor's shoes, he would try and have the dinosaurs annihilated so they would not interfere anymore. That was the way most bad guys worked, wasn't it? It was just like the movies...except this was not the movies. It was reality.

Victor shot him a glare. "Isn't it obvious to you, Zoom O'Donnell?" He asked in an almost icy voice. Zoom did not answer, just staring at him in confusion. Victor chuckled a little to himself, a bit amused at the man's inability to answer. "Well it's quite simple really." Victor turned towards the blond man and walked towards him. He stood a couple feet in front of the chair the man was tied to, towering over him with a dark smile on his face. "Because they seem to be so clever... I mean, think about it. A bunch of teens being able to thwart some of my most ingenious plans without even being detected by me... If they could do such things while working under cover..." He leaned closer to Zoom. "..imagine what they could be like if they were to join me..."

"..but..they're your enemies! Why would they even want to join you?" Zoom asked.

"I could always find a way to force them to join me." Victor explained, turning away quickly. "And besides, even if they refuse to join me..I could always find some other use for them. I could use them for experiments, or just take their blood so I can perfect my primordial ooze." Victor still had that blood sample he had gotten from Caruso. He was keeping it in cold storage. It would prove so valuable when he starts to upgrade his primordial ooze. But to perfect the ooze, he would need more than just Stegosaurus DNA. "Whether they like it or not, whether they know it or not, they're helping me complete my plan to bring back the dinosaurs!" He laughed.

"But...are you sure it's even going to work?" Zoom spoke up again.

"I'm sure it will..." Victor said in an arrogant way. "And even if it does not, I can always come up with another way to make my dream come true..." He then looked over at Kista and began to address her. "Kista Bakar!" He said loudly, getting her attention.

Kista straightened up and stared at Victor, awaiting for her orders. "What is it, Victor?"

"Untie Zoom," Victor said, "..and then take him down to the Employee's Lounge. Tell him about how things are run here and be sure to get him a card so he can access this laboratory. But do not leave his side, understand me? I don't want him snooping around where he should not be. Only when he earns my trust will I permit him to nose around whenever he wants." That, of course, would be never, as Victor almost never lets anyone snoop around without being accompanied or without him knowing ahead of time.

"Yes, sir." Kista said respectfully, which was a little strange given her earlier behavior. That was Kista all right. One minute she would act all arrogant towards anyone, including her own leader, and then the next minute she would act a bit more respectful and not talk back. She turned to Zoom and walked behind his chair. Very quickly, she managed to untie the ropes that bound him. As Zoom rubbed his wrists, she said, "Come on you. Let's go to the Employee's Lounge. You just might meet some...very interesting people there." She chuckled.

Zoom got up without question. He brushed himself off, and started to act as if he were never bound to the chair or frightened by Victor. He started to walk towards the door, Kista standing right beside him. He looked at her, and smiled, trying his best to forget about their shaky and disturbing meeting earlier, or how she had scared him earlier, and how she knocked him out with his camera. If he was to get a chance at vengeance on that stupid little punk kid, he should at least push aside mild, less important grudges. "Oh really? Interesting? Like who?"

"You'll find out when we get there." Kista smirked as they walked through the doors and shut them, leaving Victor in the room all alone.

Victor quickly turned his head back towards his computer. The large screen was still displaying a map of the world, colored in shades of green. The scanners, although turned on, weren't picking up any dino activity, at least not anymore. While talking with Kista and Zoom, he had noticed that there was a dinosaur signature coming from the lighthouse. He wasn't sure who it was at first. He, at first, thought it was Moynihan, but realized that didn't make any sense at this point. When he checked on the signature, he realized it was Caruso. Victor wasn't sure what was going on until he realized the boy was panicking. He found it quite amusing, but was not able to investigate further. Kista would not stop talking, and he was too upset with her to bother keeping an eye on the scans.

The scans no longer picked up anything, and Victor was a little disappointed. But he didn't care too much about it at this point. He put his hands to the keyboard and typed in a few commands and words. The screen started to flicker a little, and then switched to a solid black screen. It looked like he had turned he computer off, but then a loading bar showed up with the word 'LOADING...' flashing right underneath it. The loading bar was solid white with a dark blue color filling it up. When it finished, there was a low beeping sound, and soon multiple images flashed into the screen.

Most of the stuff showing up on the screen were document files. Many of them had the name Moynihan on them. These documents were filled with information that both he and Moynihan had typed up when they were a team. A few of them were also from when she had started to have doubts of their plans, and a few more about how she had betrayed Victor and joined the humans' side. Despite how angry Victor was about the situation, he refused to delete any of these files. He knew they were going to prove useful one day, and today was that day.

But he didn't have time to read through them yet. He pressed one key, which caused the document files to be put away into a bright red folder that was at the top right corner of the screen. He then moved his cursor over towards one of the few icons on the black screen. It looked like a raptor, but colored solid green. When he clicked on it, a diagram of what appeared to be a Velociraptor and a human appeared. It was a diagram of Joanne Moynihan. The forms were solid black with the outline and a few details drawn in by gray lines. Information was displayed at a side panel beside each form. Both sides were also accompanied by an image of a DNA helix.

Right underneath the larger diagrams were miniature versions. The raptor icon was solid black and looked almost transparent against the black background. The other one, the human form, was colored a solid red and stood out like a sore thumb. Victor frowned at this, obviously angry that the human icon was red but not the raptor icon. He looked almost disgusted by it. But his frown disappeared as he started to read the signatures being given off by the diagrams. Almost immediately, there was a chance in the icons. With a quick bleep-like sound, a single line of black replaced a line of red on the human icon. At the same time, a line of red appeared at the very bottom of the raptor icon.

As he watched this, Victor couldn't help but allow a twisted smile stretch across his face. This was obviously good news for him. It meant that his plan was starting to take effect. He rubbed his hands together in an almost excited way. "You will be mine...Trust me...you will be mine soon..." He whispered, closing his eyes, and when he reopened them, they were his Velociraptor eyes, glowing brightly. And as he said this, another sliver of red and black interchanged with one another on the diagrams...

* * *

"What happened to him...?" Amanda asked as she watched what was going on. Irwin had only recently stopped hugging Fiona. He seemed so distraught and so upset with himself over what he'd done..it just hurt her inside. Fiona, as well as everyone else, had done their best to cheer him up. They tried to boost his confidence, tried to calm him down, and they tried to make him laugh even. But nothing seemed to work. They could only wait until he cried it all out before he started to settle down enough to let Fiona go. The redhead still seemed a little nervous to be around Irwin and Amanda could not really blame her that much. She'd just been bitten after all.

Jack had gone back up into the kitchen. He didn't say why he was going up there. Amanda assumed that he was just taking the rag back up there. After Irwin's episode not too long ago, they felt it would be best not to continue treatment of his injuries, even though they knew he really needed it. Amanda felt a little upset about that. She didn't want her son running around with open injuries, and she almost snapped at Moynihan because of it. But Moynihan did try to reason with her by stating that normally she would want to continue treatment, but Irwin's reaction to her touching his forehead was so shocking and so severe that she felt that, if they continue further treatment, they would only frighten Irwin more and put more stress on him. It would only hurt him more mentally. This was not good enough of an explanation for Amanda, and she let Moynihan know that.

But Moynihan was not changing her mind, although she did tell Amanda that, if she wanted to, after Irwin went home today, she should schedule an appointment with a doctor to take a look at Irwin's injuries and have them treat them. But she warned her that she will be responsible in keeping her son from panicking during the procedure. If they needed to, if it was really bad, they could knock him out with anesthesia so they could treat the wounds without incident. Amanda was a little hesitant to accept that choice, but she eventually agreed, since it would be for Irwin's own good.

Moynihan wasn't sure why Amanda was asking her that question about what happened to her son. She thought that she had already answered that. "What he had experienced at that shed must have left him so traumatized that any time he experiences something similar, even if it's not nearly the same situation or putting him in any danger, he just loses it. I have heard of this before. The victim suffering from this sort of panic attack has to settle themselves down as they are, essentially, too far gone to be reasoned with."

"So there is..nothing at all I could do...? I mean..if it happens again..nothing I could do?" Amanda asked, her apprehension increasing as she thought about her son going nuts in the house and she would be unable to do anything.

Moynihan slowly shook her head. "I'm afraid not." She understood Amanda's concern about Irwin having a panic attack while at the house. Moynihan is more familiar with this kind of symptom and understood more about it than Amanda probably did. She learned about it in Psychology class, but she did not think she'd be able to teach Amanda enough. And she couldn't help but wonder if Amanda would even remember anything she told her. She'd probably be too overwhelmed anyway. "In order to prevent Irwin from having another episode, just be careful how you approach him and how you talk to him. And try to avoid physical contact if at all possible. I know it might be hard for you to not be able to treat him like you normally would, but it's for the sake of both of you."

Amanda groaned and rubbed her forehead. She decided not to argue with Joanne about that. She was getting tired of debating with the old woman about Irwin Caruso. "So how long do you suggest we keep this up?"

"I'd say just a couple days." Moynihan suggested, hoping that it would make her feel better. "After a few days, try approaching him a little differently. Do whatever you feel is the right thing to do. If he still hasn't fully recovered, try waiting a little longer."

"And what if he still hasn't recovered?" Amanda asked, folding her arms a little. She didn't want to appear angry or frustrated, but she couldn't help but feel that way towards this old woman. Amanda did not like the idea of having someone else tell her what to do with her son.

Moynihan frowned a little. She quickly picked up on Amanda feeling frustrated with her. If the look on her face was not hint enough, the tone of her voice would have easily given her away. "I do apologize if me giving you advice frustrates you. But I assure you that I have Irwin's best interest at heart, and the same with you and your husband. Just please...understand that. Can you do that?" Amanda hesitated, but nodded slowly. Moynihan nodded as well, trying her best to smile. "Now moving on, if Irwin still shows signs of severe anxiety, still has panic attacks, the only thing that I can think of is for you to take him to a psychologist."

Amanda almost immediately objected to the idea. "No! If you think I'm going to take my kid to some..shrink, you got another think coming!" She pointed an accusing finger at Moynihan, her teeth clenched and bared. "I can't believe you actually suggested that! Do you want him to be made fun of?!"

Moynihan took great offense to that statement. She immediately gripped Amanda's hand and pushed it down and released it. She stood up from her seat. Even though Amanda was taller than she was, she still stood as if she was actually the taller person. She stared straight into Amanda's eyes, trying her best not to lose her temper. "Now you listen here! There is nothing wrong with going to a psychologist for help! You have a lot of nerve demeaning a profession that is intended to help people with psychological problems..."

"Ms. Moynihan!" Max cried out in horror. "What are you doing?!"

Moynihan shot him a glare. "What are you..." But when she looked towards Amanda once more, she soon realized the reason behind Max's horrified cry. At some point when Moynihan was yelling at Amanda, she had gripped the woman's arm as if to emphasize her words. She had gripped the arm so tightly that she could see the marks as she released the arm. That combined with the fact that she had yelled once again frightened Moynihan. She gasped and took a step back. "I-I-I..." She stammered, not sure what to say. It seemed Caruso was not the only one with a behavorial problem. She gripped her head tightly. "What's wrong with me...?" She whispered, turning away. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Caruso... I'm so sorry..."

Amanda normally would have yelled back, but for some reason she just remained frozen in fear. The woman had such a strong grip and she feared that, if she yelled back, she would get another demonstration of the woman's strength. She started to wonder if it was truly safe to be around this woman. Even though she hadn't been around her that much, she knew Irwin would hang out around her almost every day. Irwin would not hang out with Moynihan if he knew she could be dangerous. Amanda had a feeling that something was wrong and that's why she couldn't really get very mad at Moynihan. She almost felt sorry for the woman.

"It's...okay..." Amanda managed to say. She was starting to feel uncomfortable with the silence that had fell onto the room. "I'm sorry too... I should not have snapped at you like that. I know you were just trying to help... I apologize."

Moynihan smiled the best that she could. But she couldn't really feel much better about what happened. She didn't know why she was starting to lose it lately. That was the second time she had snapped at Amanda in such a short amount of time. For some reason, she just started feeling more irritable than usual. It felt like she could more easily snap at anything, no matter how trivial. And as she turned to the teenagers, their expressions didn't comfort her much either. They all stared at her in horror. They did not try to run away. They did not look like they wanted to get away from here. They just looked like they had a hard time accepting what had happened. They looked just as confused as she did.

Just what was wrong with her, anyway? She couldn't understand it herself, and she knew the kids did not either. She started to feel a little strange ever since they found Caruso at the seemingly abandoned warehouse. Did she breathe in some unsual chemical there? She shook her head at the thought. That was impossible. When she went in, she could not detect any chemicals at all other than the ether, and they had outrun that. Perhaps she was just stressed and needed some rest. Yes, that had to be it, yes. It would be understandable and would explain her unusual behavior. Maybe after a few days, when things have settled down, she'd feel a lot better and things would return to normal.

"Moynihan...what's wrong with you?" Max asked, working up the courage to move towards his mentor. Even though Moynihan had apologized, somehow, Max could sense that she could snap again anytime soon. There was something wrong with her.

"Nothing, dear boy..." Moynihan said quickly. "It's just..stress... We've all went through a hard time lately. Some of us are bound to get a little grumpy for a while."

"Yes, but..." Max started to say.

Rodger interrupted him. "I don't think it's anything to worry about, Max. As she said it's probably just stress. I'm sure she'll feel better in a few days." He explained to the jock, hoping to relieve whatever tension Max might be feeling. "Try not to concern yourself with it too much."

Max couldn't help but give Rodger a weird look. Wasn't he the least bit concerned about how Moynihan snapped within a short amount of time? "Rodger, doesn't it worry you at all that our teacher had snapped at someone twice in the same day?"

"No." Rodger shook his head. "Why should it?"

"Well..." Max said, rubbing the back of his head. "...it's just that, she's always been so..unflappable. It just seems so unusual that she would act this way..so suddenly. It just worries me, that's all."

"Even the most controlled person will snap under pressure, Max." Rodger explained, placing his hand on Max's shoulder. "I'm telling you, it's nothing to worry about. Try not to get too worked up over it. The last thing any of us need right now is more stress."

"If you say so..." Max said softly, looking away from Rodger and back towards Moynihan. Despite Rodger's reassurance, Max still couldn't help but feel uneasy. But maybe Rodger was right. Maybe he shouldn't get too worked up over this. Maybe it was just stress and that it would go away soon. How many more times the woman might snap or if anyone else would do the same, Max was not sure.

Caruso had sat back down on the couch again to rest. He was feeling a little worn out from going nuts not so long ago. He was still feeling bad about what he had done to Fiona. And it was not just that he was upset about. He had reacted harshly against practically everyone in the room, including his own parents! He couldn't explain, even to himself, what happened. He had truly believed he was seeing Victor in the room, and he only found out too late that it was just an illusion. And before he could find out, the damage was already done. He came back to his senses with his teeth in Fiona's shoulder. He wasn't sure if she'd completely trust him again, and he wouldn't blame her if she didn't. He didn't think he could trust himself with her either.

He looked up to see Fiona moving towards him. She was approaching him rather cautiously. The way she was positioned suggested that she was getting ready to dive out of the way in case he lunged at her. Caruso started to feel even more guilty now. He started to wonder if he could ever forgive himself for this, or if Fiona or the others would ever forgive him.

"Hey..Caruso..." Fiona asked as she stood directly in front of Caruso. "How are you feeling..?"

Caruso opened up his mouth to speak, but quickly covered it as he felt the stinging pain on his tongue and lips. He pulled his hand away and looked at his finger tips. There was a slight tinge of red on them where the blood soaked in. The bleeding still hadn't stopped, although it seemed to have slowed down significantly. The pain hadn't let up though. But despite the severe pain, he managed to spew out one word. "Fine."

Fiona was not so sure. She slowly sat down next to Caruso, even though she was still afraid. She knew that Caruso did not mean to bite her earlier. "Are you sure...?" Caruso simply looked away and did not answer her. Even though he was not looking at her directly, Fiona could still see the look in his eyes. He seemed almost...lost. She scooted a little closer to Caruso, despite her fear of being bitten again. "Look, if you're upset about biting me...I'm not angry with you."

Caruso refused to look at her. He inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly, his mind on many things, including the pain in his mouth and the guilty feeling rising inside of him. He wasn't sure if he wanted to be this close to Fiona, not after what happened. He could still taste Fiona's blood on his teeth. He tried to wipe it off, but the blood seemed almost glued to the hard enamel. And it was not just her blood he was tasting. He could still feel the salty blood trinkling from the wounds inside his mouth. Even though the bridle was off of them, he could still feel the sharp spikes scraping along his tongue and gums.

He tried his best to resist the temptation of pushing Fiona away. It would hurt her, both physically and mentally, but he would do it for her own good, and for his own good. But he couldn't bring himself to really want to do it. He would feel terrible if he did it. She was his best friend after all. He knew she just wanted to help him feel better. But he couldn't really enjoy her presence completely, not with his sudden snapping. He was afraid that, any second now, he was going to lose it yet again and hurt her like he did a while ago. And the memory of the fresh would on her shoulder was enough to keep him from looking at her. He couldn't bear looking at her with the horrible injury that he had caused.

Caruso could feel the couch shifting and knew that Fiona was inching even closer to him, probably in an attempt to make him feel better. But the reality was that it was making him feel worse. He was increasingly edgy and paranoid as she got closer. He dug his fingernails into the couch and he clenched his teeth tightly. He would have tried to move away from her without getting up, but he was already leaning against the arm of the chair. He couldn't move any further away from Fiona.

But even though Caruso could not move any further away, Fiona could sense his tension as she got close to him. She started to feel a little hurt. But she also started to feel a little bad too. She should have known better than to get so close to him. She thought that he would feel a little better knowing that someone he cared about was close by. Caruso probably wants to be close to someone, but he probably still feels bad about biting her. He must be very confused, and lost, unsure of what to do with himself.

Even though she knew he probably didn't want to be this close to her, she still felt the need to comfort him. She slowly lifted up her arm and placed it around Caruso's shoulders. Caruso stiffened up, jolting in shock. Fiona winced, but didn't move her arm away. She could see Caruso starting to shake and she wasn't sure if it was from anger or from fear. Still, she refused to let go of him. He wasn't struggling or trying to push her away. He just seemed a little uncomfortable. "Look, Caruso. I know you feel bad about biting me. But I'll be fine...really..." She said in a comforting tone of voice. "Anyway, I don't think we should dwell on that any longer. Right now, I think we should focus on you, and your recovery. You suffered more than any of us had."

Caruso tried to smile a little, hoping that it would lighten the mood a little bit. "Yeah..I know..." But he still couldn't feel any better. How could he feel better? "Still...I...I should not have attacked you like that... I-I-I shouldn't h-have turned on my friends..and f-family like that." He worked up the courage to face Fiona, doing his best not to look at the injury on her shoulder. "How c-c-could you stand to be near me... a-a-after what I d-did...to you...?"

Fiona's eyes widened a little at the question. But it quickly faded into a small smile. "Oh, Caruso... You're my best friend.. I could never turn my back on you.." She couldn't help but pull Caruso closer in a sort of half hug. "And besides, I know you didn't mean it. You weren't yourself. It was not you who bit me." She said. "It was your fear that bit me." She was only partially telling the truth, though. She only wanted to believe what she was saying. She knew, full well, it was Caruso who bit her, and that it was not an accident. She believed he'd done it on purpose, although it was not her he wanted to bite. Still, a case of mistaken identity does not change the fact of what he had done to her. And she was still afraid of him, but she cared too much for him. Despite her fear, it was hurting her more to see him suffer. She hoped her partial lie would help him feel a little better.

Caruso, however, could see through her lying. "H-How could you say that...?" He asked, looking at her with a bewildered expression. "Y-You saw what I did..."

Fiona smiled the best that she could. Ignoring the pain in her shoulder, she reached out towards Caruso's face and placed her hand on his cheek comfortingly. "I could say that...because you're my friend... And I care about you." As she gently caressed his cheek to try and soothe him, she accidentally brushed against a small injury. Caruso immediately shut his eyes and yelped in pain. Panicking a little, Fiona immediately withdraw her hand, looking at Caruso with a mixture of shock and fear.

"I'm so sorry!" Fiona said quickly. She reached out towards him again, but thought better of it and immediately withdraw her hand. She looked around nervously, hoping no one was watching them. Luckily for her, the others were too busy chatting amongst themselves to have noticed what was going on. She felt relieved. She didn't want to raise even more concern.

Caruso, feeling terrible for worrying Fiona, just looked away again. Fiona's arm was still across his shoulders. He thought about pushing the arm away, but then thought better of it. Despite his fear and his paranoia, he was enjoying the physical contact. It was making him feel a little better, albeit not by much. "I'm...sorry too. I shouldn't have yelped like that."

"...did it hurt?" Fiona asked cautiously, her eyes on the cuts that lacerated the boy's face.

Caruso looked back at her, his eyes wide with pain. "..only a lot..."

Fiona started to feel guilty again. She hadn't meant to cause him pain. She was only trying to make him feel better. "I'm sorry...I didn't mean to hurt you..." She whispered, wanting to comfort him but not sure how to do it. She wasn't sure if she could even cheer him up now. He needed rest and time to recover from his injuries. But it was not just his physical wounds that worried Fiona and the others. His emotional wounds might take even longer to heal. "...did the pain stop..?"

Caruso slowly nodded his head. "Yeah...it feels a little better now..."

"I'm glad to hear that..." Fiona said. She was soon at a loss of what to do next. She was afraid to try and hug him now, fearful that she would hurt him again accidentally. And she didn't feel comfortable allowing his jaws to get that close to her injured shoulder again. It took all of her courage the last time and she wasn't sure if she could bring herself to do it again. As much as she cared about Caruso, she could not shake off this newfound fear rising inside of her.

"Look..." Caruso said, looking away. "If you don't want to be around me...you could just leave..." Part of him wanted her to go. He was feeling apprehensive around her now, and he knew that she was feeling the same way.

"...no..." Fiona said sternly. "I won't leave you..."

"Fiona..please...It's too dangerous to be near me anyway." Irwin said, his eyes closed. "P-Please go...please..." He reopened them, looking at the girl straight in the eyes. "Wh-What are you waiting f-for...? Just go...please..."

Fiona stared at him in shock, at a loss of words. She understood why he wanted her to leave. He didn't want to hurt her again. But she still couldn't help but feel hurt. She still wanted to comfort him and she didn't want to just leave him there. She continued to sit down next to him, refusing to let go of him. In response to his statement, she just gripped him a little tighter, firmer, and leaned closer to him. "I already told you...I am not going to leave you. I..."

But Caruso was not going to take no for an answer. He immediately whirled around and quickly placed his hands on Fiona. Using as much strength as he could muster, he shoved her away. Fiona stumbled back, rolling off the couch and onto the ground. She wasn't hurt badly, but she was still horrified by what Caruso had done. It was not as bad as sinking his teeth into her, but still, she could not believe he had just done that. She could not hide the hurt look on her face. Caruso stared back at her, a similar expression on his face as well. He opened up his mouth to speak, but no words came. He could only look away, closing his eyes as a few tears strolled down his cheeks.

"Caruso..." Fiona whispered. Her voice was filled with hurt and she was not attempting to hide it. She slowly rose to her feet. "How could you...?"

Caruso's eyes closed even tighter and he gritted his teeth. The pain in Fiona's voice was hurting him. For some reason it was hurting him even more than any physical wound Victor had inflicted onto him. And he could not understand why. He never felt like this around her before. He had never felt this hurt by her. Why was this all happening now? "I'm sorry, Fiona..." He managed to say through his own pain and confusion. "It was for your own g-g-good..."

Fiona looked at him for a few seconds before narrowing her eyes. "If you wanted to protect me, you didn't have to shove me away like that!" Caruso stared at her in shock. Her eyes widened and she quickly took a step back. She hadn't meant to snap at him like that. She quickly apologized, "I'm sorry, Caruso. I guess...I'm just as stressed out as Moynihan."

"..perhaps..." Caruso said slowly. He flinched when he heard Moynihan's name. She had snapped at his mother twice earlier. Caruso was starting to feel rather strange about his teacher. Before he could always trust her with almost anything. But now, things seem to have changed. He was starting to fear her, starting to become afraid of her, his own mentor...and he was hating every second of it. What was upsetting him even more is that he swore there was something he knew about what was going on, but that blow to the head must of caused him to lose some memories of what happened.

He and Fiona were suddenly interrupted when someone approached them. They looked up to see that it was Irwin's father. Jack was holding the same rag in his hand, and it looked like it was soaked with water and soap. He was eyeing Fiona's wound with a concerned expression. "I went upstairs to soak the rag in warm water and soap to clean that wound." He would use it on his own son as well, but considering his condition, he thought better of it. He didn't want to drive his son insane with pain. Although he would probably do the same thing with Fiona. He hoped she wouldn't go nuts like Irwin had not so long ago. He reached out towards her with the soaked and soapy rag. "Now hold still..." He told her.

Fiona tried her best not to cry out as the man pressed the piece of cloth against her wound. But it was hard to resist screaming. The pain was extremely intense, feeling like someone was putting a hot iron against her skin. Now she understood why Irwin had snapped earlier. This kind of pain would drive anyone mad. Fiona was forced to bite her tongue to keep herself from screaming. The pain was worse than how it was when Irwin was biting into her. She kept imagining a flame burning her skin and she was trying her best not to try and put it out, even though it would be very easy. She would end up hurting Irwin's father. And that was the last thing she wanted to do.

Jack continued to press the cloth against the wound, watching the blood soak up into the cloth. He continually removed the cloth and pressed it back on, trying to clean the wound the best that he could. He was trying to be extremely careful, knowing that Fiona, just like his son, was in great pain. He was impressed with Fiona's resistance to the pain, not allowing herself to give in and attack the source of what was causing her to feel that way. This is what an animal would do and this is what he believed may have contributed to Irwin attacking. He was part dinosaur, and dinosaurs were animals. Fiona was also part dinosaur, but she did not let the instincts take over. But then again, she did not suffer under the cruelty of Victor Veloci like Irwin had.

Jack looked at Fiona's face, which was contorted into pain. He couldn't help but sympathize with her. He stopped applying as much pressure to the cloth, but still held a firm enough grip that it was soaking up the dark red blood. "Just hold on, girl..." He said calmly. "I'm almost done."

"I'm...trying...!" Fiona said through tightly clenched teeth. Just how much longer was this going to last?

Her question was quickly answered when the pain suddenly subsided. Confused, she opened up her eyes and looked at Jack. He had withdrew the cloth away from her and she could see how blood soaked it was. To her shock, it was almost entirely soaked dark red. She glanced down at her wound. There was still blood seeping through, but it looked mostly clean. Her eyes slowly traveled onto her jacket and shirt, which was stained a dark red as well where the blood seeped in. A familiar yet almost new scent filled her nostrils, the scent of blood. She'd have to get cleaned before she got home. What would her parents think of she walked in with blood soaked clothing?

"We're going to need to bandage that up..." Jack said, examining the wound with concern. He managed to clean it out a bit, but it was still open to infection. Bandaging it up was going to be tricky, but if he didn't do so soon, Fiona could get very sick.

Fiona shook her head, knowing that bandages would also catch her parents' attention. She didn't want to frighten or worry them. She especially could not allow her sister, Terri, to see the bandages either. That little sister of hers would inform their parents right away. That girl could never keep a secret, especially if she knew it would get Fiona in trouble with their parents. Fiona still loved Terri, but sometimes she got on her nerves. "Sorry, I-I can't..."

"What...? Why not?" Jack asked, frowning. "Don't you realize how infected that injury will get if you don't bandage it up?"

"Yes, I know..." Fiona said. "I just...I just don't want to worry my parents."

"Don't you think they'll be worried if they notice you moving in a strange way as a result of the injury? Don't you think they might be a little upset knowing that you did not tell them about it?" Jack asked. "I know I would feel the same way if Irwin did not tell me about his injuries."

"N-N-Not that I could hide them a-anyway..." Irwin said weakly, trying to smile. "Th-These a-a-are l-like acne... They're a-almost impossible n-not to n-notice..." He attempted a weak laugh, but it hurt too much and he had to stop. He was trying to make a joke to lighten up the mood.

Unfortunately, his father did not see anything funny about his attempted joke, especially given the current circumstances. "This is no laughing matter, Irwin." Jack said in a partially scolding voice. "This is serious."

"I-I know, dad...I was just trying to l-lighten up the mood a b-bit..." Irwin said softly, being very careful not to hurt himself more.

"And please...try not to talk." Jack said, averting his gaze away from his son. "You'll just hurt yourself even more. The more you talk, the harder it will be for your mouth to heal." Irwin opened up his mouth to respond, but, abiding by his father's wishes, quickly shut it. He could only give a small nod. Although his dad could not see it, he sensed that Irwin had understood why he had asked him to be quiet. He smiled softly. "Thanks, Irwin."

While Jack was with Fiona and Irwin, the others were sitting around the table near the spiral staircase. Moynihan, Max, Rodger, and Buzz all sat at the chairs, pulled up against the desk as far as they would go. They all looked over at Amanda with a worried expression. The dark-haired woman was pacing back and forth only a few feet away. Her mind was rather troubled and she was trying to walk it off, and trying to sort through her thoughts. She had been doing this for a few minutes now. Hearing Fiona scream hadn't exactly lightened her mood either. Moynihan had tried to get her to sit down, but Amanda refused to listen to her. Moynihan wondered if it was because of how she yelled at her twice today.

Max and Rodger glanced at each other, both thinking the same thing. The poor woman was going to stress herself out if she did not sit down somewhere and calm down. They were unnerved by the screams as well, but they tried their best not to react to it. They were afraid that they would make matters worse. When Jack went over there, they started to calm down, but just a little. While he seemed competent enough to keep things under control and to treat their wounds, they couldn't help but still worry about what could happen. They knew, and Buzz and Moynihan and everyone else knew, that they needed to get back to training soon. They needed it, especially now.

Victor Veloci knew that they were humans now. They could no longer train for a short time almost every day. That amount of training was no longer enough. They would need more time. Their training was going to need to be taken to the next level. They would need to learn how to fight Victor. They remembered their first fight with the Velociraptor. And it had gone poorly. They believed they could win. After all, how hard could it be to fight one Velociraptor? Their size and numbers should have given them the advantage. They had initially blamed his two transforming teenaged comrades on their failure. But they realized that even if those two girls weren't involved, they still would have lost.

Veloci might have been smaller than them, even in dino mode, but he was still smarter, and he was still faster and more experienced in battle. Moynihan had spent so many years fighting him, and he still won. She had failed to stop him, even though she was evenly matched and just as much of a threat as he was. How could they have thought they could have won that fight? They were fools thinking that, and now they acknowledged it. Although Moynihan had not said that she was going to train them harder, the group knew that it was the next step. They saved Caruso, but the threat was not over. To keep anything like this happening again, they were going to have to train harder and learn how to face Veloci.

To defeat him, they were going to need to become stronger and faster. They were starting to think of what kind of training they could do to improve their fighting skills. So far, Moynihan's training mostly covered ways to win a fight without physical force. They could intimidate Victor with a group roaring, but that wouldn't work for too long. What good will that do them anyway? Victor wouldn't fall for it. They were humans, not true dinosaurs. They did not have that primal savagery in them. They didn't have the prehistoric instincts to guide them in battle. This is why they think Caruso was not able to defeat Victor, even though they were in a large room and neither bound. Caruso could not summon the instincts he'd need to win. But Victor Veloci could. But he was not the only one who had primal instincts. There was another. Joanne Moynihan.

Max wondered if Joanne would be able to teach him and the others how to use not only their dinosaur strength and size, but also their dinosaur minds. Yes, he could understand that if he allowed the dinosaur mind to take over, it would potentially sabotage the battle. He would lose his judgment and attack friend and foe. But there had to be a way to control these instincts and simply let them guide him, not control him. If anyone knew how to do this, it was Joanne. She, herself, had witnessed the destructive nature of a Tyrannosaurus Rex. He felt that she should be able to help him with harnessing the dinosaur mind and using it to win fights. But not just him. He wanted everyone, including Caruso, to learn from Moynihan. That is, if she was willing to help.

But how was he going to ask her? He had discussed this idea with Rodger once before, long before Caruso was captured. Back then, none of them knew how Victor fought. Some of them even thought that Victor wasn't much of a fighter, that he was all talk and no bite. They all see how he acts when he's around them in dino mode. It felt like he was not making any real effort to fight them. Perhaps he had thought he would not win the fight because of how small he was compared to them. But Max was not so sure that Victor was as pathetic as he made himself out to be. And he had shared this opinion with Rodger.

He had also told him about the idea of using primal instincts in battle. He theorized that, since Victor Veloci was a Velociraptor, he would use his prehistoric experience in battle. He would be able to use his dinosaur form to its full potential. But while Rodger agreed that Victor was probably a more capable fighter than the others thought initially, he could not really agree with the idea of using dinosaur minds in battle. He brought up problems that Max had forgotten to take into consideration, including the possibility of losing control. He asked Max what they were going to do if any of them lost control over their dinosaur forms and went nuts and Max was not able to come up with an answer for him. He just went quiet and they hadn't discussed it since.

But perhaps he should bring it up again. Perhaps now would be a good time, especially since they have a greater motivation, which was protection, not just for Caruso, but for everyone they care about. Max had a terrible feeling that Victor might go after their families now. He knew the general area upon which they lived. With a man as smart as Victor, it would not be too hard to figure out where they lived and who their closest relatives were. Victor was already by Fiona's house before, back when she had to chill her mutated rabbit. One could argue that Victor never saw Fiona transform into a Spinosaurus, and thus would not realize that girl he saw with the rabbit was part of the Dino Squad. But Max thought better of it. There was something that he felt the others would overlook.

Victor was lurking around the lighthouse in the fight on Saturday. Max was not sure how long he was probably outside of the vehicle, but he suspected that he was out long enough to see them all transform. And even if he didn't, Michelle and Oscura saw them plain as day. After all, they were hiding, and were most likely looking their way. Those two could give a very detailed description of what they looked like in human form. Thus, Max started to believe that, if anything, Victor would be able to find Fiona's house and attack. And he could do the same to any of them. While the others would probably have their doubts, Max was not so sure. Victor wasn't stupid. He would have ways to get what he wanted.

"Lost in your thoughts?" Rodger asked in a somewhat loud voice, making Max jolt up, snapping him out of his thoughts. Rodger felt bad for startling the guy and quickly apologized. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you like that?"

"Scared..?" Max asked, a little bewildered. "I wasn't scared..."

Rodger tilted his head, wondering why Max was lying to him like that. "Oh yeah, you were scared."

"There's scared...and then there's surprised." Max explained quickly. It was clear that he did not want to look like an idiot.

But he was not fooling Rodger. The computer geek grinned mischievously. "And you were both!"

Max frowned. "Oh shut up..."

Rodger chuckled a little more, but the laughing quickly faded, getting slower and less enthusiastic until he stopped laughing altogether. He soon got a serious look on his face. "But seriously now, what were you thinking about?" He was concerned with how Max seemed to just lose himself inside his own mind like that. He was staring blankly at nothing, and did not seem to notice anyone sitting at the table. He had tried waving his hand in front of Max's face before speaking up. Max didn't seem to react, so Rodger tried a more vocal approach. And it worked. "I mean, you were completely out of it there...just staring at nothing. I was getting a little worried."

"...it's nothing..." Max said, knowing that his idea would probably not be met so enthusiastically. Perhaps it was best that he just forget all about it. When he saw that Rodger was looking at him, a little confused, Max smiled softly. "Look, Rodg, you don't need to worry about it. It's nothing..really. Just some stupid idea to..." He trailed off, catching himself almost right away. He had almost told Rodger of the idea he had in mind. He wished he caught himself sooner, though, because he had given out enough to catch Rodger's attention. And when Rodger really wanted to know something, he wouldn't back down so easily.

"Oh? A stupid idea?" Rodger asked, leaning forward with his chin resting on his interlocked hands. "Could you care to explain?"

"I'd rather not. I mean, it's just a stupid idea..." Max responded, trying to discourage Rodger from asking further questions. "Besides, it would just work against us. I mean..I thought it'd work, but it would only make things worse..I know that's what Moynihan would say..."

"I would?" Moynihan asked, tearing her gaze from Amanda and over to the young jock. She hadn't heard everything that the boy had said, partly due to her trying to think of what to do about the current situation with Caruso. She had heard only a few words, one of them being her own name, catching her attention. She looked at Max, clearly interested in what he had to say. "What would I think would make things worse, dear boy?"

Max wanted to try and say that it was nothing again, but he realized that he had gotten the attention of everyone at the table. All eyes were locked on him, waiting for him to evaluate whatever idea it is that he had in mind. Even Amanda had stopped pacing and had come back over to the table to listen. Max looked over to where Fiona, Caruso, and Jack were. They hadn't seem to have heard him as they were going about their own business. He felt a little relieved that not everyone was staring at him. He became a little frustrated, wondering why he had gotten lost in his thoughts and why he had to slip out that he had an idea, a stupid one but an idea nonetheless. And now that everyone had their eyes on him, at the table, he wouldn't be able to squeeze his way out of this.

He struggled to think of how to explain his idea to the others. He wasn't sure how they would respond to such an idea. He knew that Moynihan would think of it as being reckless. The idea was dangerous in a sense, he noted. To allow the dinosaur mind to take over was a very dangerous maneuver and could easily backfire. Even though it was just to try and access the primal instincts of the dinosaurs, something could still go very wrong. He doubted that Moynihan would even want to teach the kids even the basics. He knew that she would have to teach them fighting sooner or later, unless she wanted her students to get attacked by Victor again.

"Well...are you sure you want to know?" Max asked, looking around the table at everyone's faces. He tapped his fingers nervously against the tabletop. "I mean, it'd probably be a waste of time and..." Buzz cut him off.

"Max, this isn't like you." Buzz said, eyes narrowed slightly in confusion. "At least, I've never seen you act like this before when you had a new idea in mind."

"I..." But Max couldn't think of what to say in response. He knew Buzz was right.

"It's okay, Max. You can tell us." Moynihan said, trying to encourage him to speak up. "At this time, I'm willing to listen to any idea, no matter how ridiculous it might seem. Who knows? Whatever idea you have mind...could help us all."

"Yes..but..." Max looked around the table again, noting how all eyes were facing him and almost everyone was leaning forward, showing keen interest. The ones that weren't still appeared interested in his idea. They weren't looking away or anything. He still felt unsure about sharing his idea now, but he didn't know what else to do. They weren't going to stop until he gave them his idea anyway, and he felt it would be best not to resist. "Okay..I'll tell you. But I'll let you all know this right away, you aren't going to like the idea..."

"We aren't?" Rodger asked. He and Buzz looked at each other, as if trying to search for answers from one another. They looked back at Max.

"What makes you say that?" Buzz asked.

"Trust me...you aren't." Max replied.

"Come now..." Moynihan said in a comforting voice, hoping to encourage Max a little bit. She felt the boy was just being hard on himself, given the situation. She had doubts in her mind that the idea could be all that bad. And as she said before, it could prove very helpful, even if it sounded stupid or strange to them. During this time, Moynihan would love to hear ideas on how to prepare themselves for battle or to keep themselves safe from harm. "This 'stupid idea' of yours couldn't possibly be as bad as you say it is. And besides, how would you know what we think of it if you do not try and tell us what it it is?"

Max looked at her square in the eyes. "Trust me, Ms. M..out of everyone here, you're the one who is going to be the most objective to the idea I have."

Moynihan smirked in an almost uncharacteristic way, almost scaring everyone at the table. "Try me."

Max let out a soft sigh. "All right then...here's what I had in mind..." With that, he began to explain his idea to the group, and in the back of his mind, he hoped that they would not freak out. His idea might be insane, but if Moynihan was right, it could prove very valuable to the team...

* * *

Michelle limped along the hallway, almost pushing herself against the wall to keep herself from falling down. She was starting to feel a little weak, her head spinning a little. It was because of the blood she was losing from her shoulder. She needed desperately to stop the bleeding. She already lost a significant amount of blood. She was not sure how much more she could afford to lose. She looked straight ahead and, just ahead, she found the room she was looking for. The door had a large greenish blue plate with a carving of a Caduceus, which looked like two snakes wrapped around a giant winged pin. It was the symbol of medicine.

When she reached the door, she pressed her hand against the large wooden frame and pushed it open. It had no handle, one of the few rooms in Raptor Dyne like this. The room was bright white except for the floor, which was a light beige color. There was a waiting room with a few chairs, a place to sign in, a desk where a few workers could sit, helping the patients, and a few rooms in the back. Each room was equipped with its own medical supplies and tools, including a stethoscope, needles, aspirin, local and general anesthesia, sterile gloves, and vaccines. Inside each of these rooms were the things Michelle needed.

She went towards one of the rooms, choosing the one closest to her. The door was shut, so she gripped the dull, golden handle and turned it, then stepped inside. The smell of medicine filled her nose and she snorted, disgusted by the smell. She ignored it and went to one of the drawers. She fumbled through it, pushing aside different items until she found what she was looking for. She gripped a small bottle and a cloth and pulled them out, setting the stuff on the table. She shut the drawer and pulled a black chair over towards the desk and sat down in it. Pulling her collar over her shoulder to completely expose the wound, she picked up the bottle. She opened it and went to work.

Very carefully, she squeezed the bottle. Through the small nozzle dripped clear yet strong smelling liquid. As it hit, she winced. The liquid was stinging the skin as it hit, but despite the pain, she kept squeezing the liquid. The liquid was going to help the skin heal faster and reduce the risk of infection. When she was finished, she put the bottle back down and then picked up the cloth. Holding it in a clump tightly, she pressed it against her shoulder. Due to the pain, she couldn't hold back her scream and let it out. She pulled the cloth away and examined it. It was almost completely covered in blood. Flinching at the sight of red, she turned it over and pressed it against her shoulder. She bit her tongue to prevent herself from screaming. The cloth quickly soaked up with blood.

Once she was finished with that, she quickly disposed of the cloth and opened up another drawer. She picked up some white, surgical tape and a large white pad. She swallowed, and then pressed it against her shoulder. The pain caused her to stiffen, but she managed to ignore it long enough to apply the surgical tape to her shoulder. Once she was finished, the entire wound was covered in the white cloth, although skin around the cloth was still blood-coated. She knew it wasn't the best that could be done, but it was all she could do for now. Sewing the wound shut was the best option, but she did not know where the materials were, and she wouldn't be able to sew the wound shut from that angle. She'd need help.

She immediately got up from the chair and pushed it back to where she had gotten it from. She turned around and made her way back towards the door and pushed it open. Despite being injured, Victor would probably still expect her to perform some of her duties. She felt she could pull it off. Other than being a spy at times and being sent out for various reasons, her only other jobs at Raptor Dyne involve simple paperwork and cleaning up various rooms in Raptor Dyne. First things first, she'd have to do the paperwork. She needed to get to one of the rooms on a higher level of the building, where she would find papers for her to fill out. The paperwork would usually involve her just reporting what she had done in her assigned missions and if anything unusual happened. She suspected Victor would want her to fill out how he had punished her for what she had done. Although she started to head up towards the room, she started to feel very nervous about it.

In order to save herself, she would have to write lies on the paper. If she filled out everything that happened, Victor would find out the true reason why she went against Oscura and he would come after her for acts of treason. He would be even more harsh on her then, as if he wasn't harsh enough with the bite he had given her. Victor would most likely slice her chest or stomach open with his sickle claw or tear out her through with his jaws. She gulped, and rubbed her throat, imagining the teeth tearing into the delicate skin there. Or perhaps he would allow Oscura to bite her and let her die a slow, painful death.

But for now, Michelle would have to worry about that later. It was still a considerable amount of walking before she would reach the room. Within that amount of time, if she could think fast enough, she could think of someway out of this. She could come up with something to tell Victor that wouldn't sound too suspicious. Victor would expect her, on the paper, to explain why she turned on Oscura and if she didn't give him some reason, he might come after her and get her to explain. She began to beat herself up mentally. Why had she suggested this idea to begin with? Michelle was the one who, not long after she first joined, suggested that Victor could have his workers write down journals everyday of what they do, and if he suspected anything, he could search through the journals to find out what they did. Victor was suspicious at first, stating that any one of them could lie about their duties. Then Michelle had offered another suggestion that she regretted. She suggested that if he suspected anyone of lying, he should use a lie detector test. If anyone failed that test, he could deal with them the way he saw appropriate. And she knew that Victor was not particularly forgiving of those who deliberately lie to him.

So far, though, Victor had not found any truly suspicious activity, and hardly found a reason to punish any of his workers for lying to him. Failing to complete his orders, or failure altogether, was a more common reason for him to punish someone. She felt that she might have a chance to get away with what she did without further injury. But she would have to come up with a convincing lie, something that Victor would believe and not take any further action against her. Yet there was still that same problem lingering in the back of her mind and that was Oscura.

Oscura was there, obviously, and she knew that it was an act of treason. She knew there was no other explanation for her behavior. She had practically defended the Dino Squad. And when Victor found out about that, he was already furious. She could only imagine how more furious he would be if Oscura tried to convince him that she probably cared about that Caruso kid and that she risked it all just to save his life. Oscura probably knew that she had also been the one to have freed Caruso, thus almost ruining Victor's plan. But then again, how could Oscura have known that? She was with Victor at the time. She could always lie to Victor about seeing Michelle run around with the Dino Squad, rescuing the boy. Even if it was a lie on her part, it still had truth to it.

But speaking of Oscura, just where was she? Michelle had yet to spot her after that little run-in with her and Victor after she had led the Dino Squad to the room. She still felt a little paranoid that Oscura was going to jump her any second. She looked around nervously, trying to look at every shadow and nook and cranny, hoping that she was truly alone in the hallway. Yet she could not shake the feeling that she was being watched. She quickly turned around, prepared to face whoever she thought was behind her. But no one was there. She scratched her head, wondering if she was only imagining things. She could have sworn she heard someone behind her. Then she turned to head back towards the stairs and almost slammed into someone.

Michelle immediately backed up to take a good look at who she almost ran into. Once she saw who it was, she gritted her teeth, the muscles in her hands and jaws tightening up in fear and anger. She took another step back as the figure in front of her smirked evilly. "Oscura!"

With a twisted smile on her face, Oscura took a step forward, leaning her head towards Michelle. "Hello, Michelle." She eyed the shoulder with a look of satisfaction. "How's your shoulder?" She asked mockingly.

Michelle snapped her head back and snapped, "That's none of your business!"

"Oh really? Whatever." Oscura rolled her eyes and walked to Michelle's side, eyeing her with a sideways glance. "So you're going to fill out your paperwork eh?"

"How did you know?" Michelle asked, cocking up an eyebrow.

"Well, it's pretty obvious where you are headed. I can see that staircase just as clearly as you can, and I have been here for as long as you have." Oscura said darkly. "Don't think I don't know where those stairs go..."

Michelle groaned, gripping Oscura by the arm and pulling her out of the way. "Yes, so what if I'm going there? Now if you excuse me, I've got to write in my...journal." With that, she began to quickly walk away.

Instead of becoming irritable at being moved out of the way like that, Oscura grinned eerily. She just turned to face Michelle, walking quickly to catch up to her. "So do you plan on writing the truth in that journal, or are you going to write in some lies to save your hide?" She sneered.

"Oh hush up will you? It's none of your business what I write." Michelle barked.

"Oh really? And is it none of Victor's business too?" Oscura asked, her hands on her hips.

That remark caught Michelle's attention. She immediately stopped in her tracks and Oscura did the same. She didn't bother looking at Oscura as she offered her a question. "And what exactly...do you mean by that?"

"I thought you knew..." Oscura teased, pressing the tip of her pointer finger against the top of Michelle's arm. The tone of her voice was reminding Michelle of how a little kid who knew a big secret would sound. And she wasn't liking it, which was pleasing Oscura. "Oh wait..of course you didn't. Silly me!" She laughed and continued, "Well let me lay it out for you, hun. I can access any journal just as easily as you can...I should know, I've looked at other journals in the past."

"You what?" Michelle gasped. She had thought Victor didn't want them looking into another's journal. At least that was the assumption she had gotten in the past. Could she have been wrong? "Does Victor know?"

Oscura slowly shook her head. "No, not really...but it's not like he'd care. He trusts me."

"And he trusts me too." Michelle interjected. "So what is your point?"

Oscura chuckled when she heard Michelle's comment. It sounded almost like a joke to her. She kept asking herself if the brunette was joking, but she knew quickly that she was being serious. It surprised Oscura a little that Michelle still thinks Victor trusts her after her little stunt earlier. He might still regard her as one of his highest ranking minions, but he probably, very likely, did not trust her quite as much as he used to. "You think he still trusts you? That's a laugh! Why would he trust you after you almost ruined his little..scheme?"

Michelle growled under her breath. "I doubt he would condemn me after only one big mistake. Look, I am sorry that I did what I did..." She looked over at Oscura. "And I will promise that I will not do it again. And Victor knows that too. He gave me this to warn me to stay in line anyway." She pointed to her shoulder, where Oscura could clearly see the blood soaked clothing and a few tears in the cloth itself.

Oscura took one look at the wound and scoffed, unconvinced that it would be enough to keep Michelle in line. She folded her arms tighter against her chest, giving Michelle a scrutinizing look. "And how do I know that you still won't pull something like that again? Despite your little injury, you could still turn against me again."

Michelle growled again. Oscura was starting to push it a little. If she continued to talk like this, then she just might really turn against her. Although she was already on the brink of doing so. She hated Oscura. She truly did. But she knew she couldn't harm her without getting in trouble from Victor. But she decided not to dwell on that and try and get Oscura to explain herself a little more. "So what are you planning on doing...?"

"Simple." Oscura said, sounding confident and completely unafraid. It was like she felt that she could tell anything to Michelle without consequence. She felt Michelle would not be able to stop her, no matter what she did. "After you write in your precious journal, I'm going to take a look inside and make sure you aren't going to try and lie in it. And if you do, I'll be sure that Victor knows about it."

"What?!" Michelle snapped, looking at Oscura in shock. She stammered with her next response, feeling unsure of what to say or how to respond. She found it a little hard to believe that Oscura would go that far in trying to get her into trouble. Then again, she shouldn't have been that surprised. It suited Oscura quite well to do such a thing. Her shocked look quickly settled down, not wanting to give the black-haired girl what she wanted. She drew in a deep breath to calm her nerves and her racing heart. "Well then..aren't you the determined one... If I write anything, you would interpret it as a lie anyway. I know you Oscura." She took a step forward, pointing an accusing finger at Oscura. "You'd try and twist the journal to make me look bad so Victor would get rid of me. Well let me tell you something right now. It's not going to work."

Oscura narrowed her eyes and she also stepped forward. She held up one hand, her talons growing from the tips until they reached their normal length. "Do you want to challenge me? Is this a challenge?" Michelle looked at the claws and instinctively stepped back a little, but she did not back down. Oscura's scowl turned into a smile. "Yeah..I thought so. You know you wouldn't be able to defeat me. You know that, with one bite, you'll be on the ground, sicker than a dog with the flu."

Michelle growled, her eyes starting to glow. She got into a fighting stance, challenging Oscura to try and take her on. Her own claws popped from the tips of her fingers. "Try and fight me and I'll show you just how sick I can get..."

Oscura burst into laughter. She pointed towards Michelle's injured shoulder. "Do you really want to fight with that injury, eh? That's kind of your weak spot there, girl. Fight me now, and you'll lose."

"How can you be so sure?" Michelle said softly, casting a quick, nervous glance at her shoulder. She did realize that this injury was going to put her at a disadvantage if she chose to fight Oscura. If she transformed, the bandage might fall off. If she didn't transform, then Oscura could attack that area and make it worse. Michelle had just treated it and she needed to give it time to heal. Her dinosaur genes would help the wound heal faster, but it still would take a little while. "I could easily slash your throat with my claws before you had time to react..."

"Ooo..is that a promise?" Oscura taunted, chuckling in an almost playful way.

Michelle snarled angrily. "You're so arrogant..."

"And you're so stupid." Oscura retorted with a smug look on her face. "Stupid for thinking you can defeat me with an injury like that."

Michelle, getting annoyed with Oscura, instantly reached forward and grabbed her by the shirt collar and pulled her forward. "And you're a fool to think you can defeat me. I am stronger than you are and you know it..."

Oscura, however, was not fazed. "It doesn't matter how strong you are..." She showed her sharp, Troodon teeth. "You will still fall after one bite..." With that, she opened her mouth wide and bit down towards Michelle's hand. Immediately, Michelle pulled her hand away, allowing Oscura to only bite the empty air. Oscura smirked. She had expected Michelle to react like that. She felt that it only further proved her point. She knew Michelle would not have permitted her to bite. Michelle knew all about the poisonous bite of Troodons. "I see you understand where I'm coming from. You knew to pull your hand away because you knew I was right."

"I pulled my hand away because I..." Michelle tried to defend herself, but she quickly realized that she had no defense. Oscura was correct about why she had pulled her hand away. Michelle did not want to get bitten. She looked at Oscura, that smug smile still on her face. She almost expected Oscura to laugh and say that she told her so. "All right..so you are right about that. So what? That doesn't mean that you'll win. In dinosaur battles, isn't it usually strength that wins?"

"And that's exactly what the Dino Squad probably thought when they faced me. And they probably felt the same way about you." Oscura pointed out. "They probably saw me as a scrawny weakling and felt I wasn't worth the effort to attack. And as for you...you are, yes, larger than I am, and I admit stronger, but you were still a lot smaller than they were. And you and I both proved strength doesn't always win battles." Michelle tried to object to what Oscura was saying, but she found herself unable to. Oscura couldn't have been more correct with her statements. "I easily stopped the Tyrannosaurus Rex with a single bite to the ankle, and he wasn't the only one to suffer. I bit every member of that pathetic Dino Squad, except Caruso of course. And you saw how quickly they fell after a single, poison-filled bite."

"I..I..." Michelle stuttered, unable to think of a response.

"You know I'm right..." Oscura said, leaning forward in a mischievous, scheming sort of way. "You can't deny it, can you? You know that everything I say is true..." Michelle looked around the room, trying to figure out something to say. But her mind was drawing a blank. And this was only satisfying Oscura even more. Although younger, Oscura was proving to be a little more intelligent than she was. "So now that you have been reminded of all that...do you still think you can take me on?" She asked, holding up both of her hands, fully transformed into Troodon hands.

"Well I..." Michelle said softly, staring at the Troodon claws facing towards her. She closed her eyes briefly and reopened them, holding out her own dinosaurian hands at Oscura. They stood there, facing each other, for a few minutes. Their eyes remained locked on one another. Their feet remained firmly planted on the ground, preparing themselves in case the other decided to tackle them. Oscura just kept smiling, as if she knew she was going to win, no matter what Michelle chose. Michelle wanted to fight Oscura and put her in her place. But after listening to what she said, and remembering she was already injured, she knew she had to back down from the fight. Her hands changed back and she took a step backwards, head bowed, a sign of defeat.

Oscura laughed darkly. "I knew it! You did not have the guts to fight me in your current condition." She sneered at the brunette. "Victor was right about humans, you know... They always refrain from fighting or moving so much just because of one little injury.."

"This isn't one little injury!" Michelle snapped at Oscura. "It's a very serious wound that could have killed me!"

Oscura glared harshly at Michelle, her lips pulled back into a slight snarl. "And it should have..." Her voice was dripping with malice, having lost all playfulness, no longer sounding playful or taunting.

Michelle's eyes widened in horror when the raven-haired teenager said that to her. She had known, for some time, that Oscura had wanted her dead, and thus she wasn't too surprised that she said that. However, the way she had said it frightened her. She was almost paranoid to turn her back to Oscura, fearing that she would attack her. She took a few steps back, not able to tear her gaze away from those cold, glaring eyes. She slowly shook her head, almost in denial. Without thinking, she immediately turned around and ran towards the steps to get away from Oscura.

Oscura watched her run, not worried about her getting away. She knew where she was going. All she'd have to do is go up to that room, and there Michelle would be. And even if she wasn't in there, she knew where Michelle would head next. Her harsh snarl slowly changed into an evil smile. "That's right..run...Run as fast as you can... Because if you don't...when you least expect it..I'll kill you..." She chuckled darkly and slowly walked down the hallway in the same direction Michelle went, taking her time. Michelle was not going to leave that room for a while.

* * *

Max sat down on the couch, trying to relax himself. It was almost time to go home. He had recently finished offering an explanation of his idea and just as he had predicted, it was met with mostly negative responses, especially from Rodger. Max felt a little guilty and embarrassed for telling them. He knew that this was going to happen. They had pretty much chewed up his idea and spit it back at him. Some of the things that they had pointed out, he had already thought of before. Losing control was the main concern on everyone's minds. Moynihan had confronted him on this and asked him how he had expected them to remain in control of they let their dino minds take over. Max could not offer an explanation. And the discussion seemed to go on for hours.

But they did not dwell on the issue for too much longer. They hadn't realized what time it was. It looked to be almost eight in the morning. The kids had told their parents they were sleeping over, and they had expected them to be home sometime in the early morning. Everyone was getting ready to leave the lighthouse, except Max and Caruso that is. Max looked over at Caruso, sitting on the same couch he was, but on the other far end. The boy would usually be cracking jokes and talking about fame at least once by now. Max kept expecting him to make a witty remark, but instead all he got was silence. Caruso seemed very withdrawn and quiet now, taking little to no interest to the conversations that were going on only a few yards away from him.

Moynihan was speaking with Caruso's parents again, just reassuring them that Caruso will be safe so long as they do not let him be alone. And she was certain that, after his experience, Caruso wouldn't want to be alone for any amount of time for quite a while. Not far away, Fiona, Buzz, and Rodger were talking. Max couldn't hear what they were talking about, but with the way they sometimes glanced over at him and Caruso, he guessed they were either talking about how crazy his idea was or they were talking about Caruso. Max looked back over at Caruso, becoming concerned for him with the way he was being quiet like that. It just wasn't like him.

Max still had something he wanted to say to Caruso. He still hadn't spoken to Caruso about what he had said Saturday morning about him. Max wished he could stop thinking about what happened. Every time he did, he could feel a sharp pain in his stomach and chest. But he knew that he would have to bring it up again, nonetheless, because Moynihan wanted him to speak to Caruso about it. And perhaps talking about it could help them both feel better.

Gulping, Max said, "..Caruso...?" Caruso, wordlessly, turned around and looked at Max. The expression on his face almost lacked emotion. Max wasn't sure if it was because he was still mad at him for what he had said or if it was because he was afraid and just trying to hide that fact. "Look...about what I said Saturday morning..."

The mention of Saturday morning made Caruso cringe and grit his teeth. "Wh-Why are you b-bring that up..?"

"I just wanted to..." Max tried to explain the best that he could. He had waited for this moment for so long, or so it felt like it. He thought he had missed his chance just a couple hours ago, when they all thought that Caruso was dead. The memory of that sent chills down his spine, not wanting to remember that. But now that he has the chance to talk to Caruso, he wasn't completely sure what to say.

"Just w-wanted to..wh-wh-what?" Caruso asked, eyes narrowing a little. This suggested that he still harbored some ill feelings towards Max for what he had said about him Saturday morning.

"I just wanted to..." Max tried to say, feeling a little nervous now. He was afraid that he would say something else to offend the boy. "I just wanted to..apologize..for what I said to you on Saturday." Caruso cocked an eyebrow slightly, waiting for Max to continue on with his apology. "I was..way out of line.. and I'm so sorry that I hurt you.." Max lowered his head as he finished talking and slowly glanced over at Caruso.

Caruso listened to Max's apology with as much attentiveness as he could offer. This is what he had wanted to hear for so long. And yet, he still couldn't feel completely satisfied. This was not the first apology that he got, but this was the most sincere, most in depth apology he had received. But it still didn't feel like it was enough. But whatever it was he wanted, not even he could figure it out. What more could Max do for him? Caruso did feel bad for Max, understanding why he sounded so sad as he spoke to him. And he really wanted to accept his apology. But something was still holding him back. He sighed and looked away, not saying anything for fear he'd make Max even more upset.

But his silence had troubled Max nonetheless. Realizing that Irwin hadn't completely accepted his apology, the jock leaned a little closer, feeling a little more desperate in trying to earn Irwin's forgiveness. "Caruso...I mean it.. I'm so sorry... I didn't..I didn't mean anything that I said to you...when I lost my temper... I just..lost it... I'm sorry... I'm so very sorry..." The stress and the emotion he was feeling was causing tears to form in his eyes. He quickly wiped them away, not wanting anyone to see him crying like this. "I don't know what got over me..."

"N-N-Neither do I-I..." Caruso said almost coldly. "Wh-What did I do...t-to make y-you do that..?"

Max looked at Caruso in surprise, not at how cold he sounded, but how oblivious he sounded. He wondered if Caruso had actually forgotten the discussion that went on that day or if he was just being ignorant. "Well...you were blaming us for what happened to Moynihan..."

"S-So? I-It was the truth...I-If you guys had listened t-to me..." Caruso started to say, but was cut off by Max.

"Yes I know that." Max said a little sternly. "But you had kept blaming us..."

"N-Not that much..." Caruso said quickly.

Max said, "Yes..I know..But still, I don't know why you kept blaming us... That wasn't going to solve our problems. And with what happened to Moynihan, and the fact that Victor could find us easily... you blaming us did not exactly help the situation." He lowered his gaze again, still feeling nervous about talking to Caruso about what had happened. "I guess that's why I snapped so easily... But it wasn't just that..."

Caruso looked at him, confused. "Wh-What else..."

"Well..." Max said, trying to find the right words to say. He did want to tell Caruso about how frustrated he's been with him over the few years that he's known him. But he also didn't want to upset him. He wanted to explain in a way that wouldn't make Caruso feel so bad. But he didn't think he would be able to do that. How could he sugarcoat something like this, anyway? He drew in a deep breath and said, "All this time... I guess I just got annoyed with how you would..talk about fortune and your hair and being famous.. It was definitely frustrating when your dreams got in the way of a mission..."

Caruso slowly nodded his head. He wasn't surprised that Max had brought that up and in some ways he was almost glad that he did. Multiple times during his capture, Caruso had reflected on his behavior while on the team and had started to feel ashamed that he risked the safety and success of a mission all because of a slight chance he could become famous and rich. "I-I know... I'm...s-s-sorry about that..."

Max looked at Caruso in shock. He hadn't expected Caruso to apologize so quickly. He was expecting him to try and argue with him, or to be mad at him. But the teen seemed to be agreeing with him on this. While Max was shocked, he was also feeling a little relieved. "You...you are...?"

Caruso nodded his head again, offering a small smile to show Max that he didn't harbor ill feelings towards him anymore. "Y-Y-Yes... S-Staying with Victor f-for all that time...m-made me do a lot of thinking...a-and you're right..." It was painful for Caruso to remember the things he had done to put the mission in jeopardy. And what scared him the most is how he continued to act like that even after he had realized his mistake in a previous mission. Why he continued to act like that, he was not certain. Perhaps he was just stubborn and it took something like getting kidnapped for him to fully realize his mistakes. "I-I r-realized that...I really had b-been acting unfairly..and selfishly... A-And I a-apologize for acting that way... I-I'll try to.."

But he couldn't continue with what he was saying. One of his incisors hit the deep cut in his tongue and he stifled a scream. He immediately covered his mouth with his hands and groaned in pain as he tried to wait it out. Tears formed in his eyes as the pain was starting to become unbearable. He wanted desperately to get away from the pain and he started kick his feet and thrash a little on the couch. He was trying to control himself as best as he could. He did not want to draw attention. But he already caught the attention of Max, who looked in in shock as Caruso kept thrashing on the couch, trying desperately to get away from the pain. "M-Make it stop..." Caruso managed to say before yelping in pain. He started to taste something salty in his mouth and he realized that it was blood.

All the while, Max stared at Caruso in horror. He tried to reach out towards him to try and calm him down, but Caruso kept swatting his hands away, his eyes wide with fear. He looked almost fearful that Max was going to hurt him. This only made Max feel even more worried about the dark-haired boy. "Caruso...Caruso! Are you all right? Caruso!" Max's cries had caught the attention of the other people in the room. They looked over to see what was going on and were all in shock to see what Caruso was doing.

"Irwin!" Amanda cried out, the first one to rush over towards the scene.

"Son!" Jack followed close behind his wife as they raced towards Caruso.

The teenagers and Moynihan also made their way towards the scene, their eyes wide with fear as they moved towards the scene as quickly as they could. Something was very wrong, they knew it. Caruso's screams had caught them off guard, and they immediately reacted, knowing that Caruso was crying out for help. The scream was very similar to the one he gave out at the warehouse, and they could never forget that sound. They could see Caruso on the couch, holding his mouth with both hands, kicking his legs at the air as if he was fighting off some invisible enemy. They weren't sure just what set Caruso off. It didn't matter if they weren't too close; they could see that the only person with Irwin was Max, and Max wouldn't have done anything to deliberately hurt him, would he?

Moynihan was the first person to talk to Max while Caruso was going nuts. "Maxwell! What happened?!" She cried, unable to take her eyes off of Irwin.

"We were just talking..." Max said, looking at Fiona, Rodger, Buzz, and Joanne one by one as he spoke. "And he suddenly started acting like this..."

"Oh my...do you think he'll be all right, Ms. M?" Fiona asked.

Although he was not the one addressed, Buzz decided to give an answer. "He'll be okay...He just needs time to let the pain subside."

"But in order to do that, he's going to have to calm down." Rodger pointed out. "If he keeps moving like that, he might just make the pain worse, right, Mrs. M?" When he didn't get an answer, he looked over at Moynihan, whose eyes were now locked onto Max. Rodger's own eyes widened. There was something about that look on her face that was giving him the chills. It seemed so uncharacteristic to her.

Moynihan's eyes had a slight glow to them. It was faint and barely noticeable, but it was still there. Her pupils had changed shape, looking slightly pointed like they would be in Velociraptor form. Max's eyes widened a little, feeling a little afraid of what Moynihan was going to say to him. While her teeth remained normal, they were bared in an almost aggressive manner as she started to speak. And as she spoke, her voice was almost dripping with venom, frightening all those who heard her speak. "Why did you allow him to speak when you know how badly injured his mouth is..."

Max cringed as his teacher spoke to him in such a manner. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to..."

"Sorry isn't good enough!" Moynihan snapped, her eyes narrowing further. "You're the leader, are you not? You should have been responsible enough to make sure he didn't hurt himself!"

"I didn't force him to talk...! I was just trying to tell him that I was sorry about what happened Saturday morning!" Max couldn't hide his rising anger at Moynihan yelling at him like this. What was wrong with this woman? She was the one who told him to talk to Caruso the next time he got the chance! How can she punish him for doing something she had told him to do? "Why are you yelling at me? Caruso chose to talk! I didn't ask him to talk!"

Moynihan's own anger was rising as well and her eyes glowed a little brighter and her pupils became more pointed. "If I wasn't your teacher, I would have...!" She paused, staring at Max. He had moved back a little in shock and surprise at her change of tone. It was sounding even more threatening now. And the scary part of it was that Moynihan seemed to be enjoying it...

She felt someone grab her from behind and pull her away. The arms were large and strong, so that if she attempted to struggle, she wouldn't be able to get free. She didn't need to turn around to know who grabbed her. Only one of her students had arms this large and could possibly be strong enough to hold her back by themselves. "Moynihan! What's wrong with you?!" Rodger asked in a loud voice, hanging onto Moynihan so she couldn't advance towards Max. "Max didn't do anything wrong! Please..calm down!" It was almost scary to him to realize that he was the one who had to try and calm down the teacher. Usually it was the other way around. He never thought he'd see the day when Moynihan would be the one causing problems.

Moynihan didn't try to struggle in Rodger's grasp. Instead, her eyes slowly stopped glowing, her pupils changed back into circles, and she lowered her head, sighing softly. She took in several deep breaths to calm herself down. When she no longer felt that unusual anger inside of her, she took her time to look around the room, which had grown almost quiet. The only sound being heard was Caruso whimpering as his mother was trying to console him. Amanda and Jack were busy looking over at Caruso and didn't seem to have reacted much, if at all, to her threatening-sounding statements. Moynihan then turned her head to look at how the others were looking at her, and she didn't like it.

Max was frowning at her, looking pretty angry with her. But his expression also held another trait: confusion. He seemed unable to comprehend just why she had snapped like that. She hadn't done anything like that before, until today. Moynihan's eyes slowly drifted towards Fiona. She didn't hold a glare on her face; instead horror was plastered on her face. Her hand was to her mouth and she looked like she was starting to scream but stifled herself. And looking over at Buzz, she could see he looked shocked. He didn't look particularly horrified. His expression was more like disbelief, as if he was unable to accept what happened. But unlike Fiona, he didn't look afraid.

Moynihan slowly realized what she had done and she felt an overwhelming feeling of shame and guilt envelope her. She looked down at her hands and almost gasped when she saw that her fingernails had started to form into claws. She quickly shifted them back and hoped that the children did not see the claws. She started to tremble slightly, frightened at her current behavior. She couldn't think of what was wrong with her. She had been under stress before and she never acted quite like this. She had never threatened anyone like this before. If she hadn't stopped herself, she might have really hurt Max.

Something must have happened back at the lighthouse, but what? What could have happened that would result in her behaving like this? She would have to find out what was wrong with her before this got any worse. It was Sunday and she would probably have time after everyone left. It was probably nothing anyway, but just to be on the safe side, she figured she should do a couple of tests with her blood. If something was very wrong with her, she would catch it quickly and she wouldn't have to worry about potentially becoming a threat to herself and others around her.

"I'm sorry Max... You're right." Moynihan said apologetically, eyes downcast a bit. "I..I don't know what's coming over me lately... I never felt like this before..felt so..strange..so..angry...unprovoked.."

"Maybe you need to lie down..." Buzz suggested. "I sometimes get a little cranky when I don't get my beauty sleep." Fiona gave him a weird look and Max and Rodger chuckled at the comment. Buzz looked offended. "What? Girls aren't the only ones who have those!" That statement only made Max and Rodger laugh even harder. After a few minutes, they started to settle down.

"All kidding aside..." Rodger said, his chuckling dying down. "Buzz is right. Perhaps you do need some sleep."

"And by tomorrow, this will all just be a funny memory." Buzz said, earning a glare from Rodger.

"There's nothing funny about this." Rodger told Buzz.

"Whether or not it's funny, he's right." Max interjected, pointing his index finger towards the ceiling, a gesture that some humans make when they have an idea or is trying to explain something. As he explained, the others turned to face him, locking eyes onto his to show that they were paying attention to him. "We all should get some rest, even if it's just a couple hours. And by tomorrow, we should begin recovering from what has happened to us, especially for Caruso's sake." He gave Caruso a sympathetic look. "Especially for his sake..."

As Max spoke with Moynihan and the others, Amanda and Jack focused on trying to calm their son down. They tried hugging him, but he only pushed them away. He wasn't trying to hurt him, which was a good sign. His eyes weren't glowing and he wasn't reciting horrifying phrases to them as he had with Fiona. But he had still writhed in pain for several minutes and they felt helpless to stop it. Finally, unable to take it anymore, Jack grabbed onto Irwin and held him tightly, stopping him from struggling so that he wouldn't hurt himself. Irwin struggled in his grasp, but his father was too strong for him. He quickly gave up struggling, but his head still thrashed from side to side, his teeth bared with blood dripping from the corners of his mouth.

Amanda made her way towards Irwin's head, shaky hands slowly reaching towards him. She felt scared and unsure about touching his face. What if she accidentally hurt him and sent him into a wild, almost possessed frenzy like Moynihan had accidentally earlier? But regardless of her fear, she worked up the courage to carefully place both hands on her son's face, one on each cheek. She gently caressed them, hoping the soothing sensation would help settle him down. She was very careful not to press against any of the deep cuts that now decorated her son's face.

"Irwin..." Amanda whispered as she stared into her son's face.

"I wish I knew what's causing him so much pain..." Jack said sadly. Moynihan did explain what happened, but they hadn't seen all of Irwin's injuries for themselves. And he wasn't sure if they really wanted to see them.

"Yeah...I want to know too." Amanda said as she glanced at her son's mouth, noting how something cut the corners of his lips. This is where the blood was originating from, or at least one of the locations. There seemed to be blood coming from somewhere else as well. She moved her fingers towards the boy's lips and said, "Irwin, honey..open up your mouth." After a few seconds hesitation, Irwin, despite his horrible pain, opened up his mouth for his mother so she could have a look inside. Amanda leaned in closer, eyes narrowed to try and see inside the dark mouth. It didn't take her long to see the source of Caruso's pain. And the site was so horrifying that she immediately screamed in shock.

"Amanda?! What's wrong?" Jack asked, taken completely off guard by the cry.

"His tongue..there's a cut..so deep..almost severed...!" Amanda said, trembling. She knew her son suffered so much pain and injuries, but to see it for herself, it was unbelievable and left a terrible feeling inside her stomach. "I-I knew it was going to be bad..bu-but I didn't think it would be THAT bad..."

"What?!" Jack gasped. He was tempted to take a look for himself, but his wife's description made him uneasy about it and he decided not to. But with the injury that Amanda had just described to him, Jack was shocked that Irwin could speak at all. Moving it just slightly would have been enough to make the pain unbearable. The tongue was a very sensitive organ. Even a mild cut to it would be excruciating. For a cut to almost sever it off...that kind of pain was almost unimaginable to Jack.

"It's true..I saw it with my own eyes..." Amanda felt her tears go down her face once more. She knew she shouldn't keep crying like this. She was worried that she would upset Irwin and he wouldn't be able to recover faster. He needed to know that everything was under control now and that he was safe. Crying was not going to make him feel more secure. "Oh Jack..what are we going to do?"

Jack didn't hesitate to answer. "Once we leave this place, we should take him to the doctor. Have them look at the tongue and see if there's anything they can do to help."

While she wanted desperately to help her son, Amanda wasn't sure if taking him to the doctor was such a good idea, especially after what Moynihan had already explained to them. If they took him to the doctor, that would risk the chance of the doctors finding out about his dinosaur DNA. Moynihan had warned them that if the doctors found this unusual DNA in his body, they might run further tests or send Irwin somewhere for further study. It would only complicate things. "Are you sure that's a good idea, dear? I mean..." She glanced down at her son's pain-filled faced. "What if they found out about his..little secret?"

Jack gazed down at Irwin again, feeling a little ashamed that he had forgotten about that little detail. His wife was correct. If they took him to the doctor, they risk exposing him for the dinosaur he truly was. Now Jack's mind becomes troubled with multiple, whirling thoughts of what they should do now. If they couldn't take him to the doctor and get help there, then what could they do? "Well..yes...But what do you propose we do?" He asked his wife. "He needs to have that cut treated as soon as possible. The longer we wait, the more infected it will get. And we don't even know exactly how long he's had that wound..could have been for almost a day by now."

Amanda was at a loss of words. She glanced at Irwin again and back at her husband. She was at a loss of what to do. She knew they couldn't take Irwin to a doctor. If they did, he might end up in big trouble among both doctors and scientists, perhaps even the rest of the human race. But if they didn't take him to some kind of doctor, then they risk losing their own son. The cut on his tongue, as well as the other cuts that have not yet been treated, could and would get infected and could potentially kill the boy. "I...I don't know..I just don't know..." She finally said, eyes downcast as she thought about the predicament that they were in now.