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...

24. Punishment

"Well..we could try to play a game." Fiona suggested, hoping it would lighten up the mood a little. The others looked at her, somewhat confused and yet interested at the same time. Fiona didn't bring any board games with her, but she thought that Moynihan might have some games somewhere. While Moynihan had television and computers, the woman probably also had low-tech forms of entertainment, namely board games. "Maybe Ms. M has some board games around here."

"What about that chess board that Max and Caruso played on before?" Rodger suggested.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that." Fiona said, nodding her head. Then she frowned slightly. "Although I was hoping for a board game that would take more than just two players."

"Checkers?" Buzz asked, grinning nervously.

"That's just two players too." Fiona told him. "Maybe Moynihan has a game that could take five players."

Rodger slowly shook his head. "I doubt that, Fiona. Most board games are up to four players. If you manage to find a game like that, we could just take turns sitting out, watching the game. Although not being able to participate could make any game..well..boring." He smiled weakly, feeling slightly amused by his own statement.

Max looked over at Caruso, who hadn't tried to speak a word yet. Max motioned his hand towards Caruso and called out his name to get his attention. "Caruso?" The boy looked over at him. Max then said, "Would you want to participate in a board game, if Fiona can find one? It would at least be something we could focus our minds on other than..you know.. And who knows? It might even be relaxing." He leaned forward a little. "So..what do you say? Do you want to join in on the game?"

Caruso lowered his head a little, glancing down at this feet. He wasn't sure if he wanted to join in the game. He wasn't really in much of a mood to play anything right now. His mind was too entangled with thoughts about Fiona and of Michelle, the one who had given him the warning yesterday. But he figured he should do it anyway. After all, he didn't want to make his friends feel worse. And he didn't want them to worry so much about him all the time. He didn't want to be a burden to them. He looked back up at Max and offered the best smile he could without hurting himself. "Y-Yes..." He spoke as carefully as he could.

Max smiled back at him. "I'm glad to hear that."

Since the team seemed to have made up their minds on wanting to play a board game, Fiona got up from her seat. "I'll go find a game." Since she was the one who suggested the idea in the first place, she felt it was her duty to go find a board game. She walked away and disappeared upstairs to try and find a board game for her and her friends to play with for, hopefully, a couple hours.

* * *

Within a couple minutes, Fiona was on the top floor, entering the room where Moynihan was. Fiona couldn't see the old woman at first. But the computers, or the ones that were currently working, were up and running. The scanner was on as well, but nothing was showing up on the radar, the same as it has been doing for the past few weeks. Remembering Moynihan's condition, Fiona carefully, cautiously, walked further into the room. The fact that she couldn't see Moynihan scared her. But she tried not to let it get to her. "Ms. M? Are you in here?" She called out. There was no response. She narrowed her eyes. "Hmm..that's odd..."

Fiona looked over at the scanner that was still up. From where she was standing before, it didn't seem like anything of interest was being displayed on it. But then she got a closer look. This screen didn't seem like any others she had seen before. It was flashing and it seemed to have a slight reddish glow to it. Fiona's eyes narrowed. That was very unusual. It seemed more like a virus than anything else. A virus? On their system? That can't be good news. Fiona moved closer to the computer, reaching out towards the machine with a shaky hand. She put her hand on the mouse and tried to move it, but the computer wasn't registering the mouse. She tried the keyboard, but had no luck there. This was some virus, although not as bad as some of the others she had encountered. Fiona looked around the room, realizing that this was the only screen displaying the unusual image.

She took a closer look at it. She noticed it had a warning symbol flashing on it. What was strange is that it seemed like a symbol she could see if there was a biohazard or something. There was nothing on the screen indicating that the computer itself was in danger. Whatever was going on, it had nothing to do with the computer. She studied the screen again and then she started to notice something. It was very hard to see, but she could see two faint symbols in the background, both a different color. One was shaped like a human and the other a Velociraptor. One was mostly red and the other mostly black, almost invisible against the background. But what scared Fiona the most is that the human avatar had a cross through it, as if it was going to be rendered useless.

It took a little while for her to realize it, but Fiona suddenly understood what this screen meant. Michelle was telling the truth! And Moynihan probably realized what Michelle was trying to tell them and had hacked into Victor's system to see how much time she had left before...

GRRRRRRR...

Fiona froze where she stood, her heart racing so fast that she thought it was going to explode. The growling sent chills down her spine. She had heard a similar growl before when she got close to Victor while he was in raptor mode. But she knew that Victor wasn't here. There was only one other Velociraptor that could make such a noise. She didn't want to turn around. She was too terrified to look over to see if her suspicions were true or not. But curiosity got the better of her and she found herself turning her head to look behind her. She quickly wished that she hadn't come up in this room in the first place.

Without warning, Fiona's field of vision was filled with a flash of green, claws, teeth, and glowing eyes. Screaming in horror, Fiona dived out of the way. She heard the sound of something loud crashing on top of the desk that she was originally at. She heard the sound of a computer crashing onto the ground, but she had no time to focus on that. She dashed forward and then quickly turned around to face her attacker. Fiona's eyes widened in horror. It was Joanne Moynihan! She was in full Velociraptor form. She stood on the desk, hunched forward menacingly, drool dripping from her jaws. Her eyes were glowing not yellow or gold, but instead were a hideous red color. Fiona knew right then that something was wrong, just by the color of the eyes. She started backing away, but Moynihan's glowing red eyes tracked her every move.

"M-Ms. M...?" Fiona asked, raising up her arms in a cheap attempt to defend herself. She continued to back away. Moynihan didn't seem to answer her. She instead tilted her head from one side to the other, as if she was analyzing her. She let out a weird chirping sound, something that Fiona registered as either confusion or curiosity. Maybe there was hope yet. "Moynihan..it's me..Fiona." She motioned towards herself. "Remember me? Please...you're scaring me..." She reached out towards the raptor, hoping that she could get through to her. But she quickly pulled her hand back when Moynihan suddenly snapped her jaws forward, missing the girl's hand by a few inches. "Moynihan..."

Moynihan lowered her haunches and raised her tail into the air. It started swishing back and forth, similar to how a cat's would before it would pounce. Uttering a guttural growl, Moynihan lunged forward, her claws spread out and her jaws split wide open. Fiona screamed again and dodged out of the way. Moynihan crashed into the ground, sliding across it for a few inches before she scrambled back up to her feet. She looked at Fiona intently, lowering her body again. This time, instead of a lunge, she charged forward, letting out a loud screech. Fiona found herself pushed into the ground, letting out a cry of pain as her head hit against the hard floor. She slowly looked up at Moynihan, her eyes widened with fear. The green Velociraptor glared down at her with those horrible red eyes.

"Moynihan..." Fiona whispered, in some pain because of being slammed into the ground and having a heavy raptor standing on her with one foot pressed against her body. Moynihan just narrowed her eyes and slowly opened up her jaws. She moved her head towards Fiona's throat, showing intention on tearing it out. Fiona's eyes started to water as fear started overwhelm her. She was too frightened to think of going dino to defend herself. "Moynihan..please..." But Moynihan ignored her and clamped her jaws around Fiona's neck. As she felt the teeth starting to penetrate the skin, drawing some blood, Fiona continued to shed tears. She slowly closed her eyes and waiting for the killing blow.

But the killing blow never came.

Fearfully, Fiona slowly opened up one eye and looked straight up to see what was causing the hesitation. Moynihan was still glaring down at her and her eyes were still glowing red. But the eyes were wide as if she were in shock. Moynihan's body started to shake as if she was afraid, but she didn't move away from Fiona. Her jaws were still clamped around her neck, but she was no long applying pressure with her jaws. The pain was still there, but it wasn't intensifying anymore. Then, Moynihan's eye glow started to change color. First it went to a bright orange coloration, and then shifted to the normal yellow glow. Moynihan's jaws loosened up and she opened them and moved her head back. Fiona felt the relief of having the teeth out of her neck.

Then Moynihan stood straight up. She glanced down at Fiona, letting out a soft growl. She lifted up her foot from Fiona and took a step backward, allowing the girl to climb up to her feet. Once Fiona was standing up, she stared at the green raptor, unsure of what to do. She was excepting that, any second, Moynihan would go nuts again and lunge at her. But this time, Joanne didn't move towards her. Instead, she took another step back, her head lowering as if she felt ashamed of what she had done. She let out a few more soft growls before a glow enveloped her body and she swiftly shifted back into human form.

Ms. Moynihan's eyes were still wide in fear and shock. Her mouth hung open in horror and she was still shaking in fear and realization at what she had almost done. She tried to bring herself to step towards Fiona, to hug her and try to calm her down, but Moynihan's fears of hurting Fiona again held her back. All she could do was bring her hand forward towards Fiona, the hand trembling terribly. "F-Fiona... I'm sorry..I'm so sorry..." She winced as she could taste Fiona's blood in her mouth.

Fiona responded by instinctively moving backwards away from Moynihan, as if she was trying to make sure that the woman couldn't snatch her. Fiona continued to back away from Moynihan until she could feel herself pressing her back against a wall. Moynihan started to approach her, looking just as frightened as she did. Fiona's eyes started to glow and she bared her sharp teeth, trying to keep the professor from getting any closer to her. "Get away from me..." Her voice was laced in fear and a sense of betrayal. "Don't come any closer!"

Moynihan felt hurt by this, but despite that she continued to move forward. She was confident that Fiona wouldn't transform as she tried to get close to her. She didn't want Fiona to be afraid of her. She never wanted to hurt her. Moynihan didn't know what happened to her. One minute, she was trying to manage the scanners, and then she saw something flash on her screen. After that, it was a blur, and then she finally snapped back to reality, finding herself with her jaws around Fiona's neck, about to tear it out. That horrified Moynihan. She had almost killed one of her own students! She was standing over her, pushing her into the ground, tearing into her throat. Moynihan didn't know how that happened. She didn't know how she could have lost control long enough for her to do something like this. What was happening to her...?

"Fiona...it's all right..." Moynihan said as she got as close as she could to Fiona. The teenager tried to back up further, her eyes still glowing and teeth still bared, but she couldn't get back any further. Moynihan was only about a foot away, if not even less than that. With one more step, Moynihan almost completely closed the gap of space they had between themselves. She lifted her arm, her hand shaky, and brought it over towards Fiona. "I'm not going to hurt you."

Fiona narrowed her eyes in fear and anger. "I don't believe that! You were about to tear out my throat just minutes ago!" She gently rubbed her throat, still feeling some pain from the puncture marks where the teeth had sunk in. If Joanne had bitten a little harder, she would have cut the jugular vein and she would have bled to death.

Moynihan narrowed her eyes slightly. "I know, dear..I know.. I..I don't know what came over me. I-I didn't mean to do that..I didn't..." She continued to move her hand towards Fiona, but the girl just swatted it away fearfully. "You've got to believe me, Fiona. I would never hurt you deliberately.. It wasn't me doing those things.. It wasn't me...Not the real me..."

Fiona's eyes remained narrowed, although they softened up a little bit. Her heart started to slow down a little, but she was still on high alert. She wanted to believe Moynihan. She wanted to believe that she had calmed down now and wasn't going to attack her again. But Moynihan had gotten too unpredictable lately. How was she to know for certain whether or not the woman was not going to attack her again? Fiona could let down her guard, and then the next second Moynihan would have her claws in her again. "If it wasn't you..." Fiona said in a somewhat accusatory voice. "..then who was it? Who attacked me, if not the real you...?"

Moynihan closed her eyes briefly, letting a few tears of her own stream down her face. "It..it was a monster...A monster that took control of me..." She shook her head slowly. "And it's..gaining strength.. Oh Fiona... I'm..I'm scared..."

Fiona's eyes widened in shock. Did she just hear right? Did Moynihan actually admit that she was frightened? That was something that she thought she'd never hear from the woman. It's not everyday that Moynihan actually admits to being afraid. "You..you're afraid..?"

Moynihan nodded her head, offering a weak smile. "Yes..I am..." She then pressed a hand against Fiona's cheek, gently caressing it. "I'm afraid that I'm going to end up hurting you..or the others. I don't want to hurt you. I care about you kids." As Moynihan stroked the girl's cheek, Fiona's heart slowly stopped racing and she started to relax herself. Her teeth changed back to normal and her eyes returned to normal as well. Moynihan continued to smile, not moving her hand away. She then moved her hand up to Fiona's head and started to stroke her long, red hair. "I love you kids... You're like family to me..."

Fiona's eyes widened at this remark and felt a few tears of her own form in the back of her eyes. "Moynihan..." She then wrapped her arms around the old woman and pulled her into a hug. Moynihan was surprised at first, but then returned the hug. "I love you, too..."

* * *

Back downstairs, Max and the others were waiting in the living room for Fiona to return. She had been gone for quite some time, although they weren't sure of exactly how long it's been since she's left. The room was basically silent most of the time she was gone, probably no more than ten minutes, or fifteen minutes tops. But the silence, although unbearable to the kids, continued to hang into the air. A couple times, someone tried to start up a conversation to at least entertain themselves until Fiona got back, but it quickly spiraled back down into an uncomfortable silence. Once in a while, one of them would glance over at the stairs to see if Fiona was coming back, but when they find that she wasn't coming back that moment, they would return their attention to the group. A few times, someone would open their mouth to speak, but they would quickly shut it, not able to find anything to talk about.

Fiona being gone for as long as she did wasn't too worrying to the team. She didn't know where the board games were, or so they thought, so they weren't alarmed that she hadn't been back yet. Other thoughts were on their minds, anyway. Even though they tried as hard as they could, they couldn't get the thoughts of Victor out of their heads. They were worried about what he might do next. They tried to calm themselves down, tried to think of something else, anything else, but Michelle's warning still hung in their minds. Even Rodger and Buzz, who didn't believe that Michelle was telling the truth, were worried about the things that she had said. What if she turned out to be right?

Finally, Rodger couldn't take the silence and he couldn't handle those dark thoughts. He decided to try and get everyone's minds off of Victor the best that he could. "I wonder where Fiona is..." Rodger said softly. This was probably the second or third time he has tried to break the silence. Perhaps this would finally bring up some kind of conversation. "She has been away for some time now."

"She hasn't been away that long." Buzz said, shaking his head slowly, his eyes slightly narrowed. He knew that Rodger was trying to get them to focus on something else, but he suspected that someone, perhaps Caruso, would consider the possibility of Victor or one of his comrades having something to do with Fiona's delay in returning, despite the fact that the lighthouse shield was up and running.

"Yeah. It's been, what, a few minutes?" Max asked, shrugging his shoulders. He wasn't really concerned about Fiona. He knew that she was fine and felt it was a little silly that Rodger was worried that something happened. While Rodger didn't actually say that, the tone of his voice seemed to indicate that he felt something had happened to Fiona. She was looking for some board games and she didn't know where they were, so of course she was probably going to be away for a while. "If you're so worried, Rodger, why don't you go up and find her?"

Rodger rubbed the back of his head, feeling a little embarrassed. Maybe he was getting a little too worried. Yet, he knew Max was a little incorrect about one statement. "But it hadn't been a few minutes. It's been about fifteen minutes, hasn't it?" He wished he could see a clock or a watch, but there wasn't any in sight at the moment. But then he secretly became glad that there was no time measurement close to him. It would probably feel a little weird that he would be a little obsessive with how long someone was away. It might even make it look like he was in love with Fiona, which wasn't true. Yes, he liked her as a friend, but that's it. "I just thought that..."

"I-I...am sure..e-e-everything is fine..." Came Caruso's shaky, somewhat pained voice. The team looked over towards the bluish-haired teen. His gaze was shifted away from them, but they knew that he was directing his statement at them. He spoke again, and the pain in his voice was more clear. "She...she is just.. ow! She's just..getting some g-games... She'll be fine...ow..."

Max looked at Caruso with a concerned look on his face. "Caruso, I don't think you should be talking yet. You still haven't healed enough to speak without pain."

"Yeah." Rodger said, nodding his head, looking just as worried as Max did. "You should take it easy. Don't strain yourself by trying to talk."

Caruso spoke again, despite his pain and despite the warning from Max and Rodger. "I-I kn-know... I just..ouch..! I-I can't help it, guys... I..I want to talk...i-i-it's how I-I am..." Caruso let out a small yelp of pain and placed his hand against his mouth.

Buzz quickly moved towards Caruso and placed a hand on the boy's shoulder. He waited until Caruso looked up before he spoke to him. "Caruso, are you all right?" Caruso winced in pain again, but he still nodded his head. Buzz narrowed his eyes slightly. He had a feeling that Caruso was lying so that he wouldn't worry about him. "Caruso..tell me the truth." He gently squeezed Caruso's shoulder. "I can tell you're lying."

Fighting against the pain in his mouth, Caruso spoke again. "F-Fine.. I'm not okay... J-just..p-painful..."

"Then I suggest you stop talking." Buzz said sternly, eyes narrowed further. He couldn't help but be a little upset and angry with his friend for disobeying orders. He was specifically told not to talk and yet he continues to do it anyway. Buzz realized that Caruso did like to talk, but he still should follow orders and keep his mouth shut for a few days, or weeks, until his mouth had healed enough so that he could talk at least a little without pain. If Caruso continued trying to talk like this, he could reopen some old wounds and hurt himself even further. "Your mouth still hasn't healed from the..."

Caruso growled softly. "I know that!" He winced and covered his mouth again in pain. He then quickly withdrew his hand and placed it firmly against his side to try to reinstate his claim that he was fine. He knew Buzz meant well, but he wished he and the others would try to get off his case about his need to talk. Caruso felt bad that he kept on disobeying the order, but old habits die hard. He was the kind of person who loved to talk and even an injury such as this wasn't enough to keep him from at least trying. But if he kept on talking like this, he would indeed just hurt himself more. Caruso lowered his gaze, feeling bad for snapping at Buzz like that. "Lo-Look Buzz..I'm sorry for...s-snapping...at..."

Before he could finish, Buzz raised up a hand, silencing him. Buzz smiled a little, trying to help Caruso feel better by showing that he had no hard feelings towards him. "It's okay, Caruso. I know you didn't mean it." But deep down, Buzz was a little upset that Caruso snapped at him when he was only trying to help. Perhaps, though, Caruso was just simply frustrated because he hasn't been able to talk without pain for a few weeks. Or maybe it was just the pain itself that caused him to snap. Buzz removed his hand from Caruso's shoulder and took a step back to give the boy some room. Then Buzz decided to ask something that took Caruso off guard. "What do you want to talk about?"

Caruso looked at Buzz, a little surprised that he had asked him that question. Since he was not able to talk, Caruso was not expecting anyone to ask him what he wanted to talk about. And even if he could, he didn't think Buzz needed to ask that question because he knew what he was like. He liked talking about fashion in general, about the latest styles, clothing, make-up, hair gel, the works. Or at least, that's usually what he wanted to talk about. Lately, Caruso felt a sharp pang in his stomach whenever he's reminded of his interests, even though he does his best to hang onto them. He still liked these sort of things and he was still looking for the latest fashion trends.

And yet, almost every time that he thought about them, Caruso couldn't help but hear Victor's harsh words echo in the back of his mind. Victor had mocked him for his interest in the fashion industry. He had said horrible things to him in an attempt to completely crush his spirit, and it unfortunately had worked. Caruso had completely lost all will to fight back when Victor convinced him that his friends might not want him back anymore, that Moynihan was no different than he was, and that his dreams were pathetic and even immature to an extent. Caruso didn't want to let go of his interests, but Victor's words still haunted him and his new appearance didn't settle well with him. No celebrity in their right mind would go out in public with hideous scars on their face. No one would.

When Caruso remained silent, Buzz become slightly confused. He wondered if he had made a mistake in asking Caruso what he wanted to talk about. It was like he was contradicting his own advice. He had just told Caruso to be quiet, but then he goes around asking him, the one who is injured, what he wanted to talk about, and not even a couple minutes after he had already told him to be quiet so that his mouth doesn't hurt anymore. Buzz rubbed his head, feeling embarrassed for having asked in the first place. He was about to tell Caruso that he doesn't need to answer when Max decided to step up.

"It's okay, Caruso." Max said. "You don't need to answer that question." He then turned to Buzz, his eyes narrowed angrily. "Why would you even ask him what topic to discuss after you already told him that he shouldn't speak?"

Buzz grinned nervously. "Well..I..."

"What were you thinking, Buzz?!" Max hissed, his teeth bared.

Buzz cringed. "I'm sorry, okay? I didn't mean to..."

Max's expression quickly softened up and he started feeling bad for yelling at Buzz like that. He was starting to feel like how Moynihan has been the past couple weeks. He was becoming a little more aggressive as well, although he had always attributed it to being a little more protective of Caruso and the others after almost being torn apart by Victor's horrible scheme. He didn't mean to sound angry at Buzz. It just sort of happened. Max wondered if this is what Moynihan was going through, losing control of herself when she became angry and just snapped.

But there was a significant difference. Moynihan's behavior was more aggressive than Max's was. She was actually trying to attack people and had done so a few times already, the most notable when she had lunged onto him and tried to slash or bite him with her sharp dinosaurian weapons. If Rodger and Buzz weren't there, it was likely that Max himself would have been killed by Moynihan before the woman would come to her senses. Was this increase in aggression and viciousness truly the cause of so much stress, like they all had originally thought? Or was it because of what Michelle warned them about, that it was all a plan by Victor Veloci?

"Look, Buzz..I'm sorry I snapped at you." Max said in a soft tone of voice. "I guess I'm feeling a little... maybe a lot..." He gripped his head in frustration. "I just don't know anymore... I don't know!"

Buzz looked at him sympathetically. "I think I know what you are talking about."

Just then, they heard footsteps coming from the stairs of the lighthouse. The four teens looked over to see Fiona coming down with what looked like a large box in her hands. Following close behind her was Moynihan. The four were tense for a few seconds, wondering if Moynihan was in one of those moods again. When Moynihan made no threatening movement towards Fiona or themselves, they slowly relaxed. But they still had their guard up. They were never sure when Moynihan was going to go crazy or when she was safe to be around. Fiona walked towards them, box in hand, and set it down on the ground close to where the boys were sitting. Curious, the four boys walked up to her.

"So what game did you find?" Rodger asked, eyeing the box with curiosity. He had never seen this box in the lighthouse before. He wondered what could be inside it. Probably a board game that he never even heard of before.

Fiona paused for a second, her hands still on the locks that held the box shut. She thought about something for a few seconds before she answered Rodger. Looking up, she said, "...it's not a game, Rodge."

Rodger's eyes widened slightly in confusion. "What..? But I thought that's why you went upstairs.. To find a game for us to play."

Fiona nodded her head. "Yes..that's what I was going up there for..until..." She glanced up at Moynihan for a few seconds. She then closed her eyes and looked away, letting out a soft sigh.

Although Fiona didn't say right away what happened, the boys got a very good idea on what she was going to say. Moynihan's look of guilt and depression further confirmed their suspicions. A terrible incident must of occurred upstairs. The boys looked Fiona and Moynihan over and were relieved that neither of them were hurt. But just how bad was this occurrence? How close to Moynihan get in doing the unthinkable? Even though the two were probably not in the mood to talk about it, the boys wanted to know what happened. It was important to know what Moynihan had done, to know how more aggressive she was getting.

"What happened?" Max asked, being the first one of the four boys to work up the courage to actually ask one of the two females what had happened upstairs. Fiona gave him a glare and he winced, realizing he had touched a sore spot. But he kept on urging her to tell him. "Come on, Fi... We need to know what happened..."

Fiona narrowed her eyes further and opened her mouth to speak, but it was Moynihan who answered before she could. Placing a gentle hand on Fiona, she silenced the girl and answered for her. "Maxwell, I do not think now is a good time to be discussing that."

Max frowned a little. "Why not, Ms. M? You two look like something has upset you, frightened you even. Don't we deserve to know what happened?"

Moynihan nodded her head. "Well yes..but I don't think that you boys really want to know what happened up there.." She lowered her gaze, feeling terrible about what had happened. She didn't think the boys needed to know that she had almost killed Fiona. What would they think of her if they found this information out? They were better off not knowing. She didn't want them to be more frightened of her than they already probably were. "So let's just drop that subject, okay?"

Max shook his head. He moved towards Moynihan. "With what has been happening to us recently, Ms. M..." He said as he got as close as he could to Moynihan without invading her personal space. "..I think it's safe to say that it is more dangerous to keep this information from us than it is to keep it a secret for the sake of not wanting to frighten us."

Rodger nodded his head in agreement. "I don't think there's anything that you two can say that would scare us any more than what we've already been through." He glanced over at Caruso briefly. He wanted to say that Caruso's supposed death frightened him more than anything else, but he decided to keep his mouth shut. He knew that the others knew what he was thinking. Nothing could be scarier than losing a loved one.

But Moynihan still insisted on not saying anything. But she decided to try to negotiate a little to get the boys to stop urging her and Fiona to talk about something that they didn't feel comfortable with. "We'll talk about it later, okay Rodger?" She said in a stern, somewhat angry voice.

"But..." Rodger started to say.

"But nothing." Fiona spoke up, her hand still fumbling with the clamps that held the box shut. "We don't want to talk about how I was almost killed..." Moynihan and Fiona's eyes widened in horror when that was said. It was too late to take it back for the boys had already heard it, and they looked just as horrified as they did. Fiona covered her mouth with both hands and looked up at Moynihan. The woman was glaring down at her, looking very upset with her. Fiona quickly apologized even though it was already too late. "I'm sorry, Ms. M...It just slipped out!"

Moynihan's expression quickly softened. There wasn't much they could do now. Fiona had already spilled the beans and she knew there was no way that she could coax the boys into letting it go. She turned back to them. Their eyes were locked onto her fearfully and she understood why. She closed her eyes and looked away, not wanting to see their expressions when she confirmed what Fiona had accidentally spilled out. "Yes..it's true.. I almost killed her..."

Although frightened, Buzz took a step forward. "What..what happened...?"

Moynihan shook her head. "I..I don't know.. One minute, I was fine. I was just checking the scanners. Then...then I heard some strange sound.. and everything blacked out on me." She looked over at Fiona. "Then the next thing I knew, I was on top of Fiona, my jaws around her neck..." She glanced over at the boys, who were clearly horrified by her story. They glanced over at Fiona and for the first time since her return, they noticed bite marks on her neck and noticed that there was some bleeding. "I was able to come to my senses and released her before I could finish her off." She put her face in her hand. "I..I'm so sorry.. I don't know what's wrong with me..."

"I think it's obvious." Max said as he took a step forward. He was shaken up by the story, but it did reveal one thing. "Michelle was probably telling us the truth." He narrowed his eyes. "And if that's true, we're all in danger."

Upon hearing this, Moynihan immediately looked up at Max, her eyes narrowed in slight confusion. She thought that the kids had told her about what Michelle had said, but she couldn't remember for sure. And she wondered if she truly wanted to know what Michelle had said. Still, she was curious to know what Max was talking about, especially since he had mentioned that they were all in danger. "What are you talking about, Maxwell? Since when did you kids talk to Michelle?"

"We sort of..ran into her at the football field." Max explained. "She just...just.."

"She showed up in dino mode." Fiona said.

"Oh my..." Moynihan whispered. "Did she attack you kids?"

Fiona scratched her head, a little confused. "Well..strangely, no she didn't. She didn't even try to attack any of us. It looked like she only came to speak to us." While she was relieved that Michelle hadn't attacked them, she was still confused as to why Michelle would want to help them in the first place. Her claim that she just wanted to make sure they didn't suffer any further didn't sound very convincing to her and the others, although Max seemed willing to give her somewhat of a chance.

"And what did she want to talk to you kids about?" Moynihan asked as she moved towards the couch and sat down. It was confusing to her as well that Michelle would behave in this manner. It was unusual for any of Victor's workers to offer help to those considered their enemies. And Michelle's behavior was even more strange considering the fact that she had thrown her down the staircase without remorse. Now the same girl was supposedly trying to help, as she saw no other reason for the girl to try to talk to them, unless she was trying to lure them into a trap. That was a likely scenario, but it still didn't make total sense. This wasn't the way Victor set up traps in the past.

Buzz responded, his voice filled with anger. "She talked to us about this nonsense that she wanted to help us. I don't think it's worth our efforts to really listen to anything that she says!" Even though he considered that Michelle was telling the truth, he didn't really want to admit it, as if he felt that admitting Michelle could be right would be betraying himself, betraying his vow to never let him fall for another one of her tricks.

Rodger nodded his head. He felt the same way Buzz did, although to a lesser extent. "While it's possible she told us the truth, I don't think we should take her word for it. She could have easily manipulated the information, leaving out crucial components to stretch the truth. In other words, she could have outright lied to us. She's done so in the past."

Max shook his head, turning his head towards Buzz and Rodger. "Even so, she did sound sincere when she spoke to us, and she didn't try to hurt us."

"That doesn't mean anything! She was nice to us before and she still attacked us the following day! She sounded sincere back then and it still turned out to be a trap!" Buzz snapped, his fists shaking in rage. "How can you even think to consider that she might be telling the truth?!"

Max narrowed his eyes at Buzz. "Didn't you, yourself, consider the possibility that she might be telling the truth, Buzz?" He took a step towards him. "And now you contradict this by telling us not to believe her? How hypocritical can you get?"

Buzz's expression softened up. "Well...I..." He lowered his fists to his sides, feeling guilty about how he had acted. He hunched forward, ashamed. "I'm sorry..."

Max's expression softened a little as he realized what he was doing. He let out a frustrated sigh, not knowing exactly why he was behaving like this. The team, as a whole, hasn't been completely normal since Caruso was captured. Now none of them was in any real danger and he was still acting jumpy, as if something could happen at any moment. He ran his fingers through his hair and said, "Oh..just forget what I said, Buzz. I didn't mean to snap at you like that." Buzz nodded his head and smiled, but he didn't respond. Sighing again, Max looked over at Moynihan, who was narrowing her eyes at him. "I'm sorry, Ms. M..."

"Did you forget the talk that we had before?" Moynihan inquired. Max nodded his head. He knew that she was referring to the talk that she had with him after he had snapped at Caruso and caused him to leave the lighthouse a couple weeks ago. Moynihan was pretty upset with him back then, especially since he was supposed to be the leader and real leaders don't act like that. "Do we need to have that talk again, young man?"

Max shook his head. "No, ma'am."

Moynihan nodded her head. "Good." Her voice sounded a little cold, almost icy, chilling not only Max but the other teens as well. Moynihan was starting to talk a little more like Victor and Caruso took the most notice to this. He had spent enough time with Victor to know how he talked and he could easily say that Moynihan was starting to talk in the same manner. Shaking a little, Caruso moved a little further away from the woman, frightened of what she might do next. Moynihan, realizing the manner in which she was talking, lowered her gaze. She spoke again, this time in a softer voice. "I'm sorry, you kids." She then looked up at Max. "What did Michelle say to you?"

Max cleared his throat and said, "She came over to us to tell us about how we are all still in danger. She told us that Victor was still up to no good, that he was going to come after not only Caruso, but you, Ms. M." He paused and waited to see her reaction. Despite being afraid, Moynihan remained as calm as she could. She motioned with her hand for the boy to continue. "Well, she said that Victor wanted to...kill Caruso." He eyed Caruso, who was obviously very scared. "Victor had ordered all of his men to kill Caruso if they saw him, and he also hired an assassin to kill him. He seems determined to keep Caruso from telling us something..something to do with you, Ms. Moynihan." Again, he paused to see if Moynihan had nothing to say. She didn't say anything, prompting Max to continue. "She explained that Victor is going to..reclaim you, so-to-speak."

This time, Moynihan did say something. Straightening herself up and leaning back in shock, she said, "Reclaim me? Why, he's been trying to do that for years. What method has he thought of this time?"

"Do you remember that scent you smelled when we found Caruso?" Max asked her. Moynihan didn't like thinking about that. It brought back so many painful memories, the feelings of loss and the feelings of failure. Nonetheless, she answered by nodding her head. She didn't know why Max needed to ask her that question. He was the one who suggested that she sniff closer and that's when they discovered that it wasn't really his scent. Moynihan did find it odd that the scent wasn't Caruso's; that did mean it must have been planted there. But she hadn't really thought of it that much lately. Max then continued, "According to Michelle, that wasn't a scent of death, but a chemical designed to effect Velociraptors."

Moynihan was a little surprised. "Velociraptors? But, boy, I hadn't been in raptor form that often in thirty years. How could it effect me now?"

"I thought you would have known that." Max said, scratching his chin thoughtfully. "It is strange, but Michelle insisted that it would still have an effect on you. She said that the chemical was tested on Caruso and it made him go crazy apparently. He..he even killed a mutantsaur!"

Moynihan gasped, putting her hand to her mouth. She couldn't believe what she just heard. She didn't want to believe it. She looked over at Caruso, hoping that he would confirm that Michelle was just lying. But when he just looked at her with wide, frightened eyes and made no move to disagree, she realized that Michelle, at least in that statement, was telling the truth. Moynihan started to feel disgusted, but not with Caruso. She knew it wasn't his fault. She was angry with Victor for making Caruso do such a horrible thing. Victor often claims he's trying to help life, but he only ends up destroying it without a second's thought. He considers some lifeforms to be expendable, and mutantsaurs are one of them. That was why he is willing to subject them to vivisections, which she had found out the hard way...

Max spoke again, interrupting Moynihan from her thoughts. "And she claims the same chemical is effecting you, Ms. Moynihan." The woman's eyes widened as he said that and she looked at him straight in the eyes as if she was hoping that she had heard wrong. "Yeah, that's right... The chemical is, according to Michelle, the reason why you are acting more violent. She claims that the chemical is going to turn you back into a Velociraptor and she warned us to be wary of you for we'd never know when the transformation is complete..." He lowered his head, not able to look into Moynihan's shocked eyes anymore.

Moynihan was speechless. She couldn't think of anything to say to that. She couldn't think of anything to disprove what Michelle had said, even though she would have liked to. She had wanted to know what was going on with her. She was confused and scared that she was getting more and more aggressive and not knowing why. But now that she knows, she thinks that maybe she was better off not knowing. The truth was far more frightening than not knowing anything at all about what was happening to her. She thought of what had happened upstairs and she realized what she was doing. She was trying to kill Fiona to eat her. And back in the submarine, she was trying to kill and eat Max there. And the stalking and the preference of raw, uncooked meat...Oh why didn't she see it before? Why didn't she add all of this up and realize what was happening to her? She didn't need Michelle to tell her that she was becoming a raptor again.

Moynihan wanted to try and think of a way to stop what is happening to her. There just had to be a way. There just had to be! Maybe if she were take out a sample of her blood and look at it, she could think of an antidote to heal herself with. It worked in the past when she had to create an anti-venom to save Fiona after she was bitten. But back then, nothing was going on with her. She was her usual self, calm, unflappable, and undeterred. But now, with herself growing more aggressive by the day, even if she gets herself to take some blood out of her own body, her Velociraptor instincts would kick in and she would react in ways she never intended to, perhaps even going as far as drinking her own blood just for the taste of it. She would need help, and she looked up at the kids. They were her only chance of trying to find an antidote. They weren't as experienced as her when it came to analyzing blood, but who else was she going to turn to? There was no one else in the immediate area who could possibly help or come up with something to cure her except Victor, and she knew the chances of him to be willing to do that.

Then her thoughts were interrupted when one of the kids, Rodger, spoke up. "I'm just as worried as the rest of you, don't get me wrong. But..but I'm not sure if we should take Michelle's word for it. She could have exaggerated, or even lied, about what had happened."

Fiona said, "Yeah..but what if she is telling the truth? Do you have any other explanation for why Moynihan is acting like this, Rodger?" Fiona felt a little guilty for showing some doubt earlier. She, herself, had started to think that Michelle was being truthful after she saw that image flashing on Moynihan's computer.

Rodger said, "Oh..well there could be..I.. I don't know."

Buzz chimed in, "Maybe it's just stress, just as we originally thought before. Stress could make anyone act more aggressively than normal, and since we've all been experiencing it day after day after day, it could be possible that the continued exposure to stress is just driving some of us insane, pushing some of us, like Moynihan here, into becoming more aggressive."

"But that doesn't seem like a likely explanation." Fiona said, narrowing her eyes slightly. "Look, I'm not saying that Michelle told us everything. But her explanation, the chemical turning Moynihan into a raptor again, that seems to make more sense than anything else that we had come up with."

"But what about when Michelle threw Moynihan down the stairs?" Buzz asked, motioning towards the old woman. "Are you sure you really want to trust someone who did something like that? I mean, if someone threw me down the stairs, I wouldn't trust anything they had to say afterward."

Moynihan raised her hand to silence the kids before they could say anything else. She didn't want this to turn into some full-fledged argument. That was not what they were here for. They were originally here to just calm down and try to relax and enjoy themselves. But it seems there was no chance of that happening any time soon. There was nothing left to talk about except what Michelle had said. That was more important than trying to relax. It was more urgent. She understood Buzz's distrustfulness towards Michelle. Moynihan doesn't completely trust Michelle herself, but she was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. She wasn't going to shoot her down until she was certain that Michelle was lying. And so far, Michelle didn't seem to have said anything to give her reason to doubt her.

"I know what you might be feeling, Buzz." Moynihan said as she moved towards him and placed a hand on his shoulder. He looked up at her a little fearfully, but relaxed when he realized that she wasn't going to snap at him. "But I'm not going to knock off her claims just yet. It could very well be that she was speaking the truth. I have to admit, her claims make more sense than anything else I had considered."

Buzz narrowed his eyes and raised his arms in confusion. "But..Ms. M..she tried to kill you! How could you even think to..."

Joanne shook her head. "No..she didn't try to kill me, Buzz. She was aiming to temporarily disable me. But she didn't try to kill me. That wasn't her intention. I could tell by the tone of her voice and the way she looked at me. She didn't even want to fight me. But I am not justifying her actions, oh no. She was still wrong to have done what she did." She let out a soft sigh. "But what I am saying is this: do not let your anger towards Michelle cloud your judgment, Buzz. You could regret it someday."

Buzz let out a soft sigh. Although he didn't think he could let go of his anger towards Michelle, he knew that Moynihan was right. He shouldn't let his anger control his judgment like that. "Okay, Ms. M... I'll try."

Moyniahn smiled at him. She gently squeezed his shoulder and said, "I'm glad to hear that." Then she let go of his shoulder and turned to look at the other kids. Her eyes narrowed a little and the smile had quickly vanished, now looking more serious than she had just moments earlier. "I think I know how we can deal with what is going on, and how we can find out exactly what's happening to me..." She closed her eyes. "It won't be easy. It might even be out of you kids' league, but I..I see no other alternative..." The kids looked at each other. They were confused about what Moynihan was talking about. If it was too complicated for them, why didn't she just call one of her old friends? She did so when Max got infected with the virus and she didn't seem to hesitate to want to send images of their dinosaur organs to another friend. Didn't they know the truth? Why else would Moynihan trust them with that kind of information? "I want you kids to take a blood sample from me."

Max's eyes widened in shock. He couldn't believe what Moynihan had just asked of them. "Wh-What? Why us? We don't know anything about..." He couldn't finish his sentence. The way Moynihan was looking at him, that look of determination, caused him to freeze in mid-sentence. He knew that Moynihan probably knew what she was doing. But none of the kids had ever drawn blood from another person. They didn't know the proper technique. What if they messed up?

"I know what you are probably thinking." Moynihan said, addressing not only Max, but the other kids as well who all looked just as shocked as he did. "But I can assure you that I know what I'm doing. I can't take blood from myself, not with the way I've been acting lately. I don't know what kind of effect it will have on me. I could see the blood and I could go crazy." She lowered her gaze slightly. "It would just be counterproductive to have me do it. That's why I need you kids to do it for me so we can analyze the blood..or maybe you should analyze it. Knowing me, I'd attack the slide because of the sight and scent of blood. Even if it's my own."

Buzz stammered, "B-But..why should we do it..? Why not have of your friends..do it? You know..? The ones you contacted before? Like when Max was sick with that mutant virus?" Buzz was trembling a little at the mention of drawing out blood. It reminded him of what his father had done to him and he was not sure if he could face the same situation again, even if it wasn't him who was getting blood taken out. He hoped that Moynihan would change her mind and let someone else do it. What did a couple of teenagers know about drawing blood properly anyway? What if they hurt her? "Aren't they trained in doing something like that?"

Moynihan nodded her head. "Well that is true..I could go to them." At first, it sounded like she was serious and the others started to feel a little relieved. Perhaps Moynihan would indeed change her mind and call up some more experienced people to help her out with her situation. But then their hopes were dashed when Moynihan still refused to let anyone else but them do it. "But I cannot take the risk. I don't know how long it will take for them to get here, and they are probably too busy anyway. You kids are here and I trust you. That's why I want you to do it."

"But we don't know anything about drawing blood!" Fiona tried to explain. "What if we put the needle in the wrong place? What if we hurt you even more?"

"Yeah..." Rodger agreed. He was the smartest of the group and even he was having doubts on doing this procedure. "Wouldn't it better to just call in the professionals?"

"And besides, with your..condition.. What if you...ya know..when we..." Max said, trying to explain. But even though he couldn't think of the right way to word it, the others got the idea and understood what he meant, Moynihan included. During the drawing of blood, Moynihan could go feral again and attack them before they could finish taking out the blood. And even if they get past that part, the sight of the blood in the vial could still trigger Moynihan's primal instincts and force her to attack.

But Moynihan had considered this scenario and had already thought of a plan to counteract it. "That's why I want you kids to anesthetize me before proceeding to take out blood." She pulled out a Chiller and tossed it towards the kids. Rodger caught it in his arms and looked at it for a few seconds, then looked up at Moynihan as if he didn't understand what she wanted him to use it for. "Just as I anesthetized Caruso with that, I want you to do the same thing to do me."

Rodger glanced down at the Chiller. He didn't know how the woman expected him to knock her out with the Chiller. All he could do with it was make her feel very cold because she was warm-blooded, not cold-blooded like reptiles were. He looked up at her, confused. "How do you expect this to work, Ms. M? It only works on cold-blooded reptiles, not humans. All it's going to do is make you feel very cold; it's not going to slow you down much."

Moynihan nodded her head. "Yes..I thought about that. And I already thought of a solution." Before the kids could ask her what this solution was, she closed her eyes and reopened them, revealing glowing yellow eyes. The group took a few steps back as Moynihan glowed and grew rapidly in size, her skin taking on a green coloration. She was soon in her Velociraptor form, looking down at them. Her eyes retained the yellow glow and didn't flash into the dreaded red color that Fiona had seen them as. Moynihan let out a soft growl and took a step forward, hearing a loud thud as her foot stomped into the hard floor beneath her feet.

Rodger now understood why she had wanted him to use the Chiller on her. In dino mode, she was cold-blooded and was susceptible to the Chiller's effects. Just like with Caruso, who was in dino mode when he was shot with the Chiller and put to sleep, Moynihan wanted him to spray her with the Chiller while she was in dino mode and knock her out. That would buy them some time to get the blood sample out of her without her trying to bite them or anything. But that wasn't too much comfort. The Chiller's effects did not last very long. Moynihan herself had to speed up the surgery for Caruso because he was not going to stay knocked out long enough for her to do any of the more complicated stuff, though she managed to do what she could to help him.

'Spray me with that.' Moynihan said in an almost demanding voice. She stared straight into Rodger's eyes as she spoke, letting him know that she was now addressing him directly because he held the Chiller in his hands. 'Spray me now!'

Rodger took a step back. "I..I don't think I want to..." But he couldn't finish his sentence. Moynihan uttered a dark growl from her throat, causing him to take a step back. He didn't know if she was threatening him or if she was fighting against her instincts.

"I don't think we should use the Chiller on you.." Fiona said, stepping up next to Rodger. "I mean, to use it on young people is one thing..but you are old, Ms. M. What if it has a prolonged, even worse, effect on you? What if it..kills you..?"

But Moynihan was not about to take no for an answer. Her eyes narrowed a little and she opened up her jaws, exposing her sharp teeth to them, hoping that they would be scared into spraying her out of self defense. 'You do not have a choice in the matter, Fiona. You kids must use that on me...or I might regret what might happen next.' She could feel her instincts pulling at the back of her brain and she did her best to fight them off.

"What..what do you mean?" Fiona asked, her eyes widening in fear and apprehension. She had a feeling she knew what Moynihan was talking about, but she was hoping that she was wrong.

Moynihan lowered her body slightly, her tail starting to arch upward a little. Her mouth remained open, and the kids could see drool starting to drip from her jaws. Even though she hadn't made a move towards them, the sight of the drool dribbling down her jaws scared them enough to make them move back a little further. Moynihan took a step forward, her head remaining low as she stared at them with glowing, unblinking eyes. 'I do not want to hurt you kids again. Please...just anesthetize me before my instincts take over..please...' She begged them, her voice betraying her increasingly hostile posture. But the kids refused to do anything, probably too frightened to react or too worried that they might hurt her.

"I..I don't want to..." Rodger said, staring at Moynihan and then at the Chiller in his hands. He eventually lowered the weapon to his side. "I'm sorry, I can't do it."

"And neither can we." Max said. Fiona, Buzz, and Caruso nodded in agreement. They just couldn't bring themselves to do it. They would probably cause a lot more harm than good if they tried to knock her out. They were better off finding Michelle and demanding an antidote from her. Trying to deal with the situation themselves was probably more perilous than trying to catch one of their enemies. Even though Moynihan was standing before them in raptor mode, they just couldn't bring themselves to knock her out. "It's just...I don't know if will work or not..."

Moynihan hissed softly, growing a little irritated that the kids weren't obeying her orders. She lifted up her head, her eyes narrowed so far that they almost disappeared completely, a thin sliver of glowing light being all that was visible. 'Do as I say!' She snapped, her voice raised up to assert her authority. She took yet another step towards them. She raised up her claws to them, almost like she was purposely threatening them. 'Do it!' The kids winced as she yelled, but Rodger didn't lift up the gun, frustrating Moynihan more. 'Why aren't you kids listening to me?! Don't you realize how important this is?! When I give you an order, I expect you to follow it!' She snapped angrily.

But still, the Dino Squad remained standing where they were, trying their best not to become afraid of their teacher, who was now a green raptor, growling at them in anger. She was obviously very angry with them for not listening to her, largely because her raptor side was taking over again. But that knowledge didn't encourage them to try and shoot her with the Chiller. They just didn't feel right about it. To shoot their own mentor, they couldn't imagine doing it. Moynihan had always been there for them. She had always helped them out. She was the voice of reason and the one who encouraged them and guided them. But now she was getting reduced to a mindless monster, probably because of Victor if Michelle were correct. If they shot her with the Chiller, it would only confirm their worst fears: that the mentor has become the enemy. The one time that they needed Moynihan's guidance, she isn't going to be there to help them.

Moynihan was starting to lose her patience very quickly. At the back of her mind, her primitive brain was starting to get the better of her. It was pulling and tugging at the back of her mind, teasing her and taunting her, trying to urge her to attack the children. She could feel her dino hands trembling in anticipation, wanting to dig them deep into human flesh. Her legs were starting to shake, anticipating the lunge towards her frightened prey. And her mouth was starting to salivate, relishing in the thought of being so close to defenseless prey. But Joanne kept herself in check, keeping herself from taking another step towards the kids. She didn't know if she could get much closer without snapping at them.

But try as she might, Moynihan could feel herself starting to lose the battle. Her human mind was starting to lose out to the raptor mind. The mind of a dinosaur, at times, is stronger than the human mind, especially when it came to primal things such as hunting. She wouldn't be able to hold out much longer before attacking the kids. Perhaps she shouldn't have transformed. Perhaps it was a bad idea for her to go dino without talking to the kids first and make sure that they were willing to shoot her with the Chiller. She looked and could see that Rodger still had the weapon at his sides. If she were to lunge now, she wasn't sure if the kid would be able to react quickly enough to bring it up and shoot her with it. She might have her teeth sinking into him before he could finish the job.

'I said SHOOT ME!' Moynihan finally shouted in her mind. As she shouted to the Dino Squad, it was accompanied by a very loud, reptilian roar. It startled the Dino Squad, making them cover up their ears and looking at her in fear. But after a few seconds, it became clear to Moynihan that they weren't going to listen to her. She started becoming a little angrier and the kids took notice of the golden glow in her eyes starting to take on a more orange color.

Caruso gasped in horror. He recognized what that was going to mean for them. He took a few steps back, getting behind the other four teenagers. "Oh..Oh no..." He managed to say before he started to feel his eyes starting to glow, but this time he didn't transform in self-defense.

Fiona heard him and looked back at him. She said, "What is it, Caruso?"

"That is..th-that is..." Caruso stammered, pointing in Moynihan's direction. "..the same..that's the same color my-my-my eyes turned before I-I went f-feral..."

"What" Fiona gasped and she quickly looked over at Moynihan. Indeed, her eyes were now a bright orange with no hint of yellow in them anymore. And Moynihan's posture was getting even more hostile. She could see her sickle claws tapping against the floor in anticipation and she could thought she saw the muscles in Moyihan's leg flexing and she knew that it meant that Moynihan was getting ready to lunge at them. "Moynihan..." She whispered, remembering what had happened upstairs.

The other students noticed Moynihan's posture and started having second thought about not wanting to anesthetize her. If they didn't do something soon, she would be upon them, tearing at their flesh even if she didn't want to. If they continued standing there, stalling as much as they could, they would soon regret it. They were going to get themselves killed because of this. And what would this mean for Moynihan? They didn't want to turn their backs on her. Even after all that's happened, they still trusted her as a person. But if she were to seriously hurt any of them, they feared that they wouldn't be able to trust her completely ever again. Their relationship with her would be damaged, even shattered, even after she was treated and brought back to normal. The fear and the memory would still be there.

Moynihan growled softly. Despite her best efforts, she found herself walking a little closer to the students. They instinctively backed away, trying to make sure there was enough space between them to prevent her from closing in the gap. But when they found themselves backed up at the door, they realized they were trapped. They could not run forward because she blocked their route forward. And they couldn't open up the door they were backed up against and run away; Moynihan could get loose and that was the last thing they wanted to happen. How were they going to explain a Velociraptor running loose in the city? And what if she changed back in front of everyone? What would that do to the woman's reputation? The school's reputation? The city's reputation?

"I think you should do as she says.." Buzz said to Rodger in a soft, frightened voice. Moynihan was still getting closer. With each step she took, the gap between them was getting smaller. At any second, the woman could lunge at them and if she did, they would have nowhere to go. "..before she tries to kill us..."

"But..but I..." Rodger said. Then he noticed something odd about Moynihan's tail. It was swishing back and forth, similar to a cat's tail before it was about to pounce its prey. Rodger's heart skipped a beat. He knew what this meant.

Moynihan was getting tired of the delays. She was going to force them to shoot her whether they wanted to or not. She twitched her tail to signal her approaching attack. She didn't lose control just yet. She still had conscious control over her actions. But she knew that if she was going to get them to obey her, she would have to scare them into it. She didn't want to do it, but if she didn't, they would not try to shoot her until it was too late. She had to force them into doing it before it was too late. She let out a loud roar, coupled with a reptilian hiss. 'I warned you...' That was the only warning she gave them before she lunged towards them, her jaws split wide open as she prepared to bite into the closest human, Rodger. There as no hesitation in the attack.

The Dino Squad panicked. They screamed in fear and tried to back away. Buzz fell onto the ground, causing Max to trip over him. Max fell down and hit his head. Fiona and Caruso almost fell down as well, but they grabbed onto each other and supported each other so that they wouldn't fall. They quickly proceeded to bend down and help Max and Buzz up off the ground. Rodger had nearly stumbled as well, but he quickly regained his composure. Acting as swiftly as he could, he lifted up the Chiller and aimed it at Ms. Moynihan. He silently apologized to Moynihan and then sprayed the bluish white material at her. It hit her square on the head and chest area.

Moynihan instantly toppled to the ground, landing in the middle of the group. Her eyes were starting to take on a reddish glow and her growls were starting to sound more savage. She hissed and snapped as she struggled up to her feet. But her movements were now much slower than before. Her body was shivering from the cold and each movement took more and more effort as her body temp dropped lower and lower. Rodger took a step forward and once again aimed the gun at her. He started to spray her again, causing her to let out a shriek of surprise. She shook her head back and forth, trying to find the source of this unusual attack. But she continued to slow down and her movements became more and more delayed.

At last, Moynihan's body temp had dropped low enough for her to collapse back onto the ground. Her feet had given out from underneath her, no longer able to support her body weight. She had gotten too cold to continue shivering anymore. Her head smashed into the ground only inches away from Buzz's foot. Instantly, the punk kid took a step back. Moynihan's eyes were closed for a few minutes as her breathing started to slow down. At first, they thought she was out, but she opened up her eyes, now glowing yellow instead of red. Her eyes slowly looked up at the kids. 'I...I'm sorry, dear children...I'm so sorry..' With that, her eyes closed and her mouth hung open. Her tongue was splayed out at one side and drool began to drip onto the hard floor.

The Dino Squad fell into an awkward silence for a few moments. They were feeling guilty about what had just happened. Rodger looked at the Chiller, hands trembling as he had a hard time believing of what he did to Ms. Moynihan. The others were looking at him strangely, too, as if they couldn't believe he just did that. But Rodger had only done it out of self-defense. He didn't know what else to do. And Moynihan hadn't meant to attack them. She didn't mean to do this to them. The kids started to feel guilty about not listening to her earlier. If they had, maybe they could have avoided that nasty incident where she jumped at them without warning. But there was no use crying over spilt milk. They needed to move her body somewhere where she can be secured.

Max and Rodger, being the physically strongest of the team, bent down and grabbed one end of Moynihan. Rodger got her tail, legs, and back side while Max handled the front area, grabbing onto her head, neck, and front portions of her body. Using all their strength, they lifted her up off the ground the best that they could. But she was still too heavy for them and they almost immediately dropped her onto the ground. Instantly, Buzz, Fiona, and Caruso rushed over and offered their strength. Buzz helped out Max, Fiona helped out Rodger, and, despite his pain, Caruso helped out with the midsection. With their combined strength, they managed to pull Moynihan into the large, indoor training room where they were sometimes trained. The room was large enough for plenty of maneuvering even with a sixty-five million year old Velociraptor in the room.

Rodger and Max went to one area of the lighthouse and managed to locate some rope. They didn't know if it would hold Moynihan for very long, but it would at least slow her down in case she woke up. The two boys worked to bind the raptor's hands and feet together and then wound her jaws shut to keep her from biting them or slashing at them. They then secured several ropes around her and then attached them to a strong, sturdy railing. They hoped it was strong enough to hold a Velociraptor. They had never tied anything to the railings before. But they didn't have any other choice. They had to make sure that Moynihan was restrained to keep her from hurting herself or the team.

"So..what now?" Buzz asked after Rodger secured the final rope to keep Moynihan restrained until the procedure was done.

Rodger got up to his feet. "Now we have to find some syringes and vials. We need to take that blood sample, just like she told us to."

"But again, we don't know how to take blood from a dinosaur..or anything for that matter." Buzz said, eyes narrowed slightly. "How can she..."

Rodger growled, "Do you want us to take her to Victor Veloci then? I'm sure he would know how to take blood from a raptor. Do you think he would be willing to help?" Buzz fell silent and Rodger nodded his head. "I thought so."

"So where are the syringes?" Fiona asked. Her hands were on her hips and she was looking around the room. She didn't see any place where Moynihan might keep them. "I don't see them anywhere."

"I think she keeps them in another part of the lighthouse." Max said, pointing his thumb in one direction. "I'll go find them." With that, Max quickly left the room.

Rodger knelt down next to Moynihan. Carefully, he placed his large hands on her head and forced one of her eyes open with two fingers. He was checking to make sure that she was still completely unconscious. The eye, mostly black except for a beige pupil, the color that it is when it's not glowing, had rolled back so all Rodger could see was the blackness of the eye. Satisfied that she was indeed still unconscious, he released his hand from her, allowing the eyelids to close back together in a reptilian manner. He looked over at Buzz and said, "Buzz! When Max gets back, I'm going to need your help."

"My help? Why?" Buzz asked.

"I need someone to hold Moynihan's arm up so I can take blood from it." Rodger replied. "I can't hold the arm up and stick the needle in and keep it steady all at the same time."

Buzz shuddered at the thought of holding the teacher's arm and seeing a needle go into it. It was like reliving what he had experienced from his father. "I-I'm sorry..I don't think I should be the one to do that.. Why don't you get Max to do it?"

"Well I suppose I could..." Rodger thought. "But why can't you just..." He saw the look in Buzz's eyes and quickly realized what was bugging the boy. Rodger felt guilty about forgetting all about what happened to Buzz and even more guilty about even considering having Buzz being the one who hold the arm up while he inserted the needle. Then Rodger realized something. A Velociraptor wasn't like a human. Couldn't they just choose another area? Like her neck or thigh? He spoke again, "Never mind. I don't think we need to take blood from the arm..."

"Yeah." Fiona agreed, approaching Moynihan's sleeping form. She knelt down and placed her hand carefully on Moynihan's hind leg, on the meaty thigh. "This area would probably be a better place in getting blood. Her arms look too scrawny. You might slip up and accidentally...well..cause more harm than good."

Rodger's eyes narrowed. "Thanks for the comfort."

"Sorry." Fiona said without looking at Rodger. She traced a finger along Moynihan's thigh, trying to locate a suitable spot to insert the needle into. Feeling the pulse of a blood vessel not far underneath the skin, she looked over at Rodger and said, "I think this area would be the best choice. I can feel a blood vessel underneath."

Although shaken up by the mention of a blood vessel and despite his pain, Caruso managed to say, "H-How much blood d-do you need..?"

"Not a whole lot, Caruso." Rodger replied. He had moved over to where Fiona was and was inspected the spot she had suggested. "We just need enough to be able to analyze it and figure out if there's anyway to reverse what is going on."

"B-But...are any of us..e-even t-trained to..." Caruso started to say, but he had to immediately shut up because of the pain in his mouth. It was starting to feel a little worse now because he wouldn't stop talking. He felt guilty about that, but he just couldn't stand not being able to talk. But it did feel like something was still in his mouth, even at times still in his neck. He couldn't quite put his finger on it though. No one else seemed to notice anything still remaining behind.

"It's true that none of us were trained in the field." Rodger said, his eyes narrowed. "And none of us probably know how to check for anomalies in blood. But who else is going to do it? Moynihan is counting on us! The least we can do is try!" Caruso nodded his head and said nothing more. The room soon filled with the sounds of approaching footsteps and they looked over to see Max returning, a syringe and vial in his hands.

Max ran over to Rodger. "Here." Was the only word that he said as he handed over the syringe and vial, dropping them in Rodger's hands.

"Thanks." Rodger said. He then looked over to Moynihan's thigh. Fiona still had her hand on the area that she had suggested trying first. Rodger moved in closer, gently pushing Fiona out of the way so he could have access to the thigh. He lifted up the syringe, pushing the needle out with one thumb. He pressed the needle against Moynihan's scaly skin, narrowing his eyes in determination. He hesitated for a few seconds, and then he pushed the needle into the leg. Moynihan's body seemed to twitch and the kids braced for action. But Moynihan quickly relaxed and the kids settled down. A dark red liquid started to feel the syringe as Rodger pulled the needle out, the pressure causing the blood to draw out without much trouble.

After Rodger managed to get the tube completely filled with blood, he pulled the syringe out of the skin and got out the vial and opened it up. He stuck the end of the syringe into the open part of the vial and pushed the blood into the tube. After he was finished with that, he closed the vial as quickly as he could to avoid exposure of the blood. The blood remained dark red, indicating that he hadn't exposed it to oxygen. If he had, the blood would have turned bright red. Rodger wiped his brow, feeling grateful to have gotten this done and over with. He had a feeling he had done something wrong, but with the pressure that he was under, he couldn't think straight. But he wasn't out of the woods yet. He still needed to have the blood analyzed.

Then he took out a knife that he had with him and went to work cutting through the rope. The others were probably wondering why he was cutting the rope already, thought Rodger as his knife first cut through the rope that bound the hands together. The Chiller would probably have calmed down Moynihan's nerves and suppressed her primal instincts. Once she woke up, she would most likely shift back to her human form. So the ropes were no longer necessary. Then he cut through the ropes that bound her legs together and then moved up towards her head. He pressed the knife against the rope, hesitating briefly as he stared at the fangs that were jetting out from the top jaw. Then he swallowed hard and cut through the ropes, freeing Moynihan's jaws. As the ropes loosened up and slipped off, the lower jaw slowly parted from the top jaw, and Rodger could see part of the tongue.

Buzz walked over, eyeing the rope on the ground. He was originally going to pick up the rope pieces and throw them away, but something about them caught his attention. He bent down and sifted through the pieces. A lot of them were still long enough to be used, albeit on a smaller target. Buzz murmured to himself, thinking that perhaps he could still use this rope for something. Might as well not let the rope go to waist. He grabbed several pieces and held onto them. He didn't have any pockets, so he couldn't stuff them anywhere. The others noticed he took the pieces of rope and Buzz felt a little silly about having to hold onto them constantly. "Sorry, I just think that we might be able to use these ropes sometime. You know, so..we don't waste them?"

Max walked over to Buzz. "I'll hang onto them." He held out his hand and Buzz placed the several pieces of rope into it. Max was surprised at how much rope Buzz wanted to keep. "Are you sure you want to keep all of this? What could we possibly use them for?"

Buzz shrugged his shoulders. "You never know. They might come in handy some day."

"Perhaps..." Max continued to look at the rope. He couldn't think of anything they could possibly use them for except tying books together or even repairs, if that was at all possible. But currently, they had no need for this rope. The rope itself wasn't too thick, so it couldn't be used for any of the heavy duty stuff. And now that he thought of it, it wasn't thin enough for tying up books. "But again, what do you think we could use the rope for? Or do you plan on just taking it home and using it yourself?"

Buzz shook his head. He pointed at the rope in Max's hands. "No. I think that rope should stay here. I think that..."

"..what we could use it. You already said that." Max interrupted him, putting his hands against his hips. "But what I'd like to know is what exactly do you have in mind? Don't try to lie to me buzz." He slowly shook his head. "I know you a little better than that. There is a reason why you want us to keep the rope. There's a specific reason. You just don't want to say what it is. Now tell me, Buzz." He took a step forward. "What is the real reason you want us to keep the ropes?"

Buzz gulped nervously. He had a feeling that Max would have seen through his ruse. He was right, of course. There was another reason that he wanted to keep the ropes. In fact, there was only one reason he wanted to keep them. But he didn't want to bring it up, especially in front of Caruso. He didn't want to upset anyone and he didn't want to provoke a fight with his friends. Max continued to frown at him, arms now folded up tight against his chest. He wasn't going to leave him alone until he made some kind of confession. Buzz gulped again and slowly nodded his head. "Yes..there is a reason, Max..."

Max lifted up his head slightly. "And what reason would that be, Buzz?"

Buzz looked away, not able to look Max in the eyes. "Well...it has to do with...you know..." He couldn't bring himself to say it and he looked back at Max. "Do you understand what I'm saying"

"Um...no." Max shook his head, eyes narrowing a little further. "How can I understand anything when you're not actually telling me anything?"

Buzz said, "Well, it has to do with Michelle...and..." But he didn't get a chance to finish. Max had immediately lifted up his hand to silence him.

"Wait wait..." Max rubbed his forehead with one hand. "So you mean to tell me that you want to keep the rope so that we could kidnap Michelle?" As he continued to speak, the anger in his voice became more and more apparent. "Are you crazy, Buzz?! We're a mutantsaur hunting team! Not a bunch of criminals!"

"But it's not a criminal act to..." Buzz started to say.

"Yes it is!" Fiona suddenly snapped, walking up to the green-haired kid. Buzz turned around to see Fiona glaring at him, jabbing a finger in his direction. "You're talking about kidnapping! That's a federal offense! Do you have any idea what would happen to us if she gets away and reports us?!" Buzz opened up his mouth, but Fiona quickly interrupted him. "And don't you dare talk about not letting her go! Murder is another offense!"

Buzz lowered his head. "I'm sorry you guys. I-I didn't mean to talk about such things..." He lifted his head back up. "I didn't mean to indicate that we kidnap her or kill her..."

"Then what were you implying?" Max asked.

Buzz hesitated and then replied with one word. "Interrogation."

* * *

Victor paced back and forth, his eyes locked onto Drew who was now shackled in front of him. Victor eyed the shackles. They were tightened up to fit the human's feet. They were adjustable, although at first glance that didn't seem to be the case. Victor had used those same shackles on Moynihan. He wasn't expecting to catch her that day and he thought it would have led to his victory. He had tried to coax Moynihan into changing back, pretending to not know what she probably looked like and pretending not to know what her name was. She must have thought that he'd already forgotten. What a fool... He had a good idea of what she would look like, perhaps older than the last time he had seen her in human form. He smirked as he thought of how she resisted him, knowing full well that he would have been able to trace back to where she was hiding. He had used those same shackles that Drew was wearing to drain her energy, to force her to change back. She had, but Victor had forgotten about the shackles not tightened enough to secure her even in human form, so she got away.

Still, it was not a total loss. In the end, he had found out where she was hiding. Victor had to admit that Moynihan had done well in hiding the 'perfect dinosaurs', or as he now refers to them as, the Dino Squad. He had managed to capture one of them and they had come to save him, just as he had planned all along. Now Moynihan would not be able to resist him. She had done a great job, he admitted, in resisting him, to refuse to join up with him again. But once that chemical takes full effect and takes control of her, she will become a Velociraptor once more, whether she wants to or not. She had probably already gone raptor a few times, perhaps trying to attack those precious children of hers. Victor smirked evilly at the thought. Soon, so very soon, Moynihan would be back to her glorious dinosaur self! Finally, after multiple hibernations to keep up his energy, he would finally be one step closer to bringing back the dinosaurs!

Victor's attention returned back to the traitorous human before him, a scowl appearing on his face. He had gotten a report that this particular human had betrayed him. Victor did not tolerate treachery. He was going to deal with this human as swiftly as possible. He was originally going to kill him off. He had committed a terrible offense. He had destroyed dinosaur DNA! Victor was going to make sure that Drew didn't get away with what he had done. He had said that he would not go after his family, but that he had something else in mind. He had stopped the scientists from injected him with the serum earlier because he had another in mind. He had injected it into Drew, although the human's willpower helped him keep his sanity and his human form, but that wouldn't be so for long.

Victor had reversed the shackles. They were now programmed to pump energy into the man, stimulating the mutant DNA inside of him. It raised his body temperature slightly, not enough to kill, but enough to nurse the DNA, causing it to spread throughout his body, and causing it to become stronger and stronger as time passed. The shackles were going to keep on doing this until the man's mind would become too weak to resist, and he would be forced to transform. And once he transformed, his human mind would no longer be in control. Just as he had done with the students at Kittery High, Victor had injected a special primordial ooze into the man that would suppress the human mind. It allowed him to better control the situation. Humans, although weak, were harder to control if they were given powerful, mutantsaur forms, or dinosaur forms for that matter.

The mad scientist walked up to Drew. The man was struggling to remain standing, but Victor could see his knees wobbling, losing strength as his human side was getting weaker, losing the fight. Victor smirked. It wouldn't be long before Drew would transform. He had chosen a special mutantsaur DNA for him. One that was aggressive, very much like the dinosaurs, even in its normal mammalian form. Victor stared down at the man as Drew glared up at him. "In no time at all, you will be just like Moynihan..." His eyes glowed. "Powerful, ferocious...yet your pathetic human minds will not be in control..." Drew struggled against the shackles, but that only pushed in more energy faster, causing him to wince in pain. "Keep struggling. That's exactly what I want, Mr. Buzmati..."

Drew growled weakly at Victor. "You..you won't get away with this..."

Victor just chuckled. "Oh, but I already have, Buzmati. I already have..."

Drew wanted to struggle against his shackles again, but thought better of it. If he continued to struggle, that would only speed up the inevitable. He knew he was going to transform anyway, whether he struggled or not. He was frightened and he didn't know what to do. Once he transformed, his mind would go blank and the mutantsaur would take over completely. What if he remained like that for the rest of his life? What if he hurts his family while in that form? The Dino Squad wouldn't be able to help; Victor's serum was designed to be more resistant to the Chillers and Spillers. "I..I won't give into you.. I won't transform..." He suddenly dropped to his knees. His energy was getting weaker by the second.

Victor knelt down in front of Drew, just as he had with Caruso a few weeks ago. He reached out with a raptor hand and gently pressed a claw against Drew's chin, forcing the man to lift up his head to look at him in the eyes. "You won't be saying that for long, Drew. Within a few minutes, you'll be too exhausted to resist the transformation. You'll turn into the mutantsaur and be under my control!"

Drew jerked his head away with what little energy he had left. "No!"

Victor laughed. "You can resist all you want to, but resistance is futile. It won't be long before you will be mine. And after I am through with you, your son will be next." Drew's eyes widened in fear. "And not just him, but his precious friends as well. And soon, my dream will be fully realized!"

Despite his better judgment, Drew lashed out towards Victor, who was within reach. Drew's hand had closed into a tight fist. He tensed the muscles in his arm and struck forward, striking Victor in the jaw. Victor cried out in pain and stammered back. The fist wasn't enough to knock out any of his human teeth, but it was going to leave a nasty bruise on his cheek. Victor stood straight up and placed his hand on his cheek. He could feel a tenderness there and he started to shake in anger. He glared down at the human, disgusted that he would even think to touch him with those filthy paws! How dare that human try to strike him, a superior species! Thoughts of Caruso ran through his mind as he stared into Drew's eyes. They were showing the same kind of defiance that Caruso had for a while before he was finally broken.

Victor raised his hand up, claws extended, and slashed Drew across the face. Drew cried out in pain as he felt blood start to ooze from the cuts and down his face. He looked up at Victor in fear. "How dare you try to fight me, you pathetic human monkey!" He moved in a little closer and raised up his hand again, prepared to strike Drew again. "Maybe this will teach you a lesson!"

"I-I'm sorry...!" Drew begged. "Please..please don't...kill me..!"

Victor laughed, his hand still raised in the air, the claws flexed forward as he prepared to strike. "That's right... beg for your pathetic life, you weakling human! Your screams of fear and pain are music to my ears!" With that, he struck down again, slashing across the man's arm to force him to scream again. Victor did this simply to prove his point. After Drew stopped screaming, Victor reverted his hand back to normal. "That's what happens when you try to challenge a more advanced species, Drew..." He folded his hands behind his back as he began circling Drew like a hawk, his eyes never leaving the man. "You were lucky that I didn't kill you. But you won't have to worry about that for long..." His eyes then focused on the cord attached to the shackles. "You will soon be under my complete control."

Drew made one last attempt to get out of the shackles. But the pull he attempted pumped more energy into him and he suddenly was engulfed in an orange glow. His eyes shut tightly in pain and they quickly reopened. His eye whites were still white, but the pupils had changed to be more like Victor's; slit pupils with a yellow iris. Dark brown fur sprouted all over his body and for a brief moment, he looked like Sasquatch. He tried to stand up, but his spine had started to bend forward, preventing an upright posture. His legs changed shape, becoming more like a bear's or weasel's. Claws sprouted from where his toes were and a busy tail popped out from behind. His mouth elongated, long sharp fangs sprouting from the top and lower jaws, the canines being much bigger than the other teeth in the mouth.

Drew's ears became rounded and moved upwards. His nose broadened and darkened, becoming a pitch black color. His arms became more muscular and his hands became less nimble, becoming more suitable for walking on all fours. Long sharp claws grew from his fingertips. His body became more compact. The bushy tail grew in length, becoming more dinosaur-like. Sharp spines grew from the back. The nose remained black, but became much broader, the nostrils positioned on both sides of the muzzle rather than both being in front. Horns sprouted from the head almost like how they would on a dragon's head. Blade-like spikes also stuck out from the elbows and ankles, looking like they could do impressive damage but were most likely just for show. The rounded ears suddenly grew larger and more pointed. They faced backward and grew in length. While they remained as ears, they stiffened up and became sharp at the points, becoming useful weapons.

The last thing to go was Drew's mind. As hard as he tried to remain in control, it just wasn't enough. He screamed in pain and closed his eyes. Then the scream deepened and became more animal-like. Then he reopened his eyes and let out a loud roar that echoed through the room. The voice had lost all human quality to it, replaced completely by something primal and almost ancient. Victor smirked as he looked up at what Drew had become. The transformation was now complete. Victor didn't hesitate to approach the creature that was once Drew Buzmati. He reached out to touch the animal on the snout. The creature pulled his head away and let out a loud hiss at him. Victor's eyes narrowed, the glowing irises appearing and he stared into the mutantsaur's eyes. Drew, now driven mostly by instinct, paused. There was something about Victor that was keeping him under control. And he didn't resist when Victor reached out towards him again, placing his hand on the creature's long yet compact muzzle.

"Perfect..simply perfect." Victor said, admiring his work. The creature he had transformed Drew into was a wolverine mutant. Wolverines are well known for their ferocity and their powerful bites. They could chase away cougars, animals much bigger than it was, because of how ferocious it could act. A wolverine was the perfect candidate for Victor to try out. It was one of the few mammals he respected because it acted more like a dinosaur, unlike a lot of the weakling mammals out there, especially the humans. "Now to unleash you out into the city. That will distract the Dino Squad so that they won't see what's coming next..."

A large red blip appeared on his scanners, giving out a loud beep every time it blinked. Victor narrowed his eyes and looked over. The blip seemed to be at the lighthouse. But the signal was very weak. He didn't know how the signal was getting through from the lighthouse considering that the lighthouse shield was up and running again. He sensed that Moynihan was probably in raptor form. Perhaps her signal was strong enough to penetrate the lighthouse's shield, or perhaps the lighthouse shield was temporarily down again. Whatever the reason, Victor was sure she was in raptor mode. An evil smile spread across his face. Drew can wait. "But not now..."

* * *

Moynihan slowly opened her eyes. Her mind was jumbled and a nearly complete blur. She had some memories flowing through her, but they were shattered and jumbled up like a jig-saw puzzle. Her mind swirled as she tried to make sense of it all. She remembered saying something of urgency, and then everything went red and she blanked out. She could see a flash, a blur in her mind. She struggled to get up off the ground. She was on something soft and very comfortable. As she tried to get up, she hit her leg against something hard. She groggily turned her head over to see what looked to be a bed. She blinked a few times and her vision slowly came into focus. It was indeed her bed. She craned her neck up and looked around the room. It took a while for her to recognize that it was her room.

Moynihan couldn't remember exactly how she came into this room, but nonetheless she started to stand up. She stretched out her arms and legs because they were feeling stiff and a little sore. She could feel that her muscles felt quite sore as if they were forced to remain in one position for an extended around of time. She looked over to her dresser. She was still very sleepy and she walked over towards the dresser, she nearly stumbled on a couple of her shoes that were laying in the middle of the room. Why there there, she couldn't think of any particular reason. Once she reached the dresser, she took a look in the mirror, half expecting to see the image of a worn old woman staring back at her. But that isn't what she saw. Instead, she was greeted with the reptilian face of a green Velociraptor, eyes looking so tired that the yellow glow was not present.

Suddenly, memories flooded back to her. She recalled how she had lunged at the children, lost total control of herself. She had almost killed them! Her heart started racing and, even though she was in raptor form, managed to place her dinosaur paws on her head in despair as she thought of what might have happened to them. She couldn't scent them and she didn't hear their voices. Did she do the unthinkable? Did she murder them? She shook her head violently left to right. No, it couldn't be true! It just couldn't be! Moynihan reared her head back and let out a mournful cry, mixed in with disbelief...

RRRAAAAAAAAARRRGGGHHHH!

* * *

The Dino Squad were back in the living room. A few of them were relaxing on the couch, reading a book or a magazine to pass the time. The others were trying to play a game of Scrabble, but were being distracted by Rump, who had come downstairs and started sniffing around. He probably sensed that something had happened and he was either upset that he missed out on the action or he was curious to find out exactly what happened. Max was about to place a piece down on the game to spell out a word when he and the others were interrupted by the loud screech. They didn't know what it was at first. It sounded like either something was dying or it was some kind of monster that somehow got into the lighthouse. Then they heard the sound of rapid footsteps coming down the steps. Whatever it was, it was heading their way. They immediately got up and braced themselves for whatever was going to come.

However, they relaxed a little when they saw it was Moynihan. But their posture remained defensive. Something was wrong. What had frightened her so much? Her eyes were wide with fear and it looked like she was sweating a little. The way she was rushing down the stairs concerned them as well. It looked like she was going to trip at any moment and fall down the stairs. Her breathing was so heavy that they could hear it from where they were standing. Her hair was a little messed up as if she had just woken up from another night's rest.

When Moynihan finally reached the room where the children were, staring at them with eyes widen with fear and mouth agape as she tried to catch her breath, Max was the first one to work up the courage to say something. "Professor Moynihan? What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost. Your face..it's so pale..." Indeed, Moynihan's face had lost a lot of its color. Something must have really spooked her to cause her face to become so pale.

Moynihan continued to take in sharp, loud breaths as she looked around the room. She was looking them over, trying to see if there was any blood on them, any signs of being attacked or anything. When she realized there didn't seem anything wrong, she relaxed slightly, but she was still in a panicked state. "Are you kids all right?!" She finally said, her voice filled with worry. The kids looked at each other, a little confused by what she was talking about. They looked back at her, just as worried as she was. They didn't like seeing her like this.

Fiona took a step forward. "Moynihan, we're fine. Nothing bad happened to us." She narrowed her eyes slightly. "Why are you so scared?"

"I..I attacked you..." Moynihan murmured, clutching her head tightly. "I attacked you..and I couldn't stop myself!" She looked up at the kids, tears now visible on her face. The sight of this caused the children to gasp. Moynihan must really be scared for her to start crying all of a sudden like that. They wanted to walk over towards her and try to comfort her, but they held back, thinking that trying to get too close to her would cause her to feel even worse. "Oh dear, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you..."

The Dino Squad looked at each other, a pang of guilt rising up inside of them. They started to regret putting Moynihan back in her room all by herself. She must have thought that she had done something terrible to them because she wouldn't have seen them around, scented them, heard them, nothing at all. They had thought that putting her in the bedroom alone would help her to calm down, to help her relax. That was their intention; to simply help her. They put her in the bedroom after they had analyzed the blood the best that they could. They couldn't decipher what was going on, but they were able to understand enough to come up with something to help slow down the process. It was no cure, but it would allow Moynihan to more easily control herself for a while. That was why they weren't frightened when she approached them.

"It's all right, Ms. M." Buzz said in a soft, comforting voice. "You didn't hurt any of us. There's no need to cry..." He reached out towards her, but quickly pulled his hand back when Moynihan looked at him with fear-filled eyes. He wasn't sure what to make of it. "What's wrong? I just told you that we were all right. You didn't hurt any of us..."

"But..." Moynihan spoke in a croaked, barely audible voice. "..I could have..."

"We're all fine." Buzz insisted.

"For now..what if I..." Moynihan couldn't bring herself to finish. She tried not to cry. She had never been this frightened before in her life. She almost jumped when she felt someone put their arm around her. She looked up to see that it was Max.

"Please don't cry, Ms. Moynihan..." Max said to her in a consoling tone of voice. "You haven't hurt any of us. Rodger was able to knock you out before you did anything bad. And while you were out, we took the blood sample and were able to conjure up something to slow it down. It's no cure, but it'll stop you from going crazy for a little while..."

Moynihan wiped a tear from her eyes, feeling a little grateful that the kids managed to help her in some way. "Thank you..." But that didn't alleviate all of her fears. Whatever they had given her, it would only slow down the process. By how much she wasn't sure, but what she knew for certain is that once it wears off, she will go crazy once again, becoming a Velociraptor. It was exactly what Victor wanted. Moynihan closed her eyes. That was probably Victor's plan all along. Capturing Caruso, it was just a plan to get her to where he wanted her so he can spring his little trap. And she fell for it. Oh, how could she have been so stupid?! But then again, what choice did she have? Caruso was in danger! She couldn't have just abandoned him! If she did, he would have been killed! And Veloci knew that...

"So..what do we do now?" Buzz asked, a worried expression on his face. "What happens when that stuff wears off? Should we run? Fight back?"

Rodger shook his head and said, "I can't really imagine myself fighting you, Ms. Moynihan. I don't think I could bring myself to do it..."

Moynihan's expression softened a little. "I know, dear..." Her eyes narrowed. "But I fear that you will have no choice... I am not able to control myself in that form. Should I change into..that again...I'm afraid that you will have to fight me. Otherwise..." A pained look appeared on her face. "..I don't want to think of what might happen to you young ones."

"I don't want to think of it either..." Buzz said softly, rubbing his neck gingerly as he thought of a pair of jaws clamping down around it.

Max was so frustrated with what was going on. If he weren't trying to comfort Moynihan, he would be trying to kick at something, anything to release the tension. How could they have let something like this happen? How could they have allowed themselves to fall for that trick? They should have known something was wrong when no one was in the room! This experience was more difficult for him to handle than the time when Moynihan was captured by Victor Veloci. They were lucky that they were able to come up with a plan to save her and he recalled how proud she was of what they had done. But now, it seems that no amount of knowledge they already know is going to help them this time.

"Why is this happening to us?" Max finally asked, addressing no one in particular. The others looked at him, wondering what the jock was talking about. Max's face was furrowed in frustration and his head was in his hand. He slowly shook his head left and right. "Nothing seems to be going right for us..."

"Don't say that, Max..." Fiona said. "Something seems to be going right for us so far."

Max looked at her. "And what would that be..?"

Fiona managed a small smile. "At least we are still trying to be optimistic..at least we're still working together to figure out a way out of this." She walked over to him and grabbed onto his hand, gently squeezing it. "No matter what has happened, one thing has remained the same about us. We're still friends and we're still willing to help each other out. No matter what he does, Veloci cannot change that."

Although he wasn't completely convinced, Max was touched by what Fiona said. The others were as well. It gave them some hope. She was right, of course. They would help each other get through this. Their friendship and protectiveness of one another was stronger than anything Veloci could dish out at them. He could try as hard as he wants to; he'd never be able to break up their bond with one another. Max smiled at Fiona and said, "Thank you, Fiona."

* * *

Victor's eyes narrowed as he looked at the scanner's readings again. Something was not quite right with it. A moment ago, it indicated that Moynihan was in full raptor form. But the dot wasn't moving anywhere. He couldn't think of why. Then she started moving, but remained in the same spot. And then, just as quickly as the strange signal appeared on his scanners, it disappeared, indicating that she must have changed back. His eyes narrowed. This couldn't be right. By his calculations, Joanne should have been in full-fledged Velociraptor form, in body and in mind. How could she have changed back so quickly? How?

Victor quickly brought up the two avatars that he had up before, the one with the Velociraptor and human icons. When he brought it up last time, it was nearly full, perhaps only three or four percent left to go. He gasped and then growled in anger when he noticed that the transformation had been suppressed. It had gone down to around fifteen percent left to go, or even twenty percent. The meters were still switching colors, but it would now take a little longer before Veloci would have a chance in getting Joanne back on his side. He formed a fist with one hand and pounded it on the table where the keyboard sat. "No! No!"

How could this have happened? How could the Dino Squad have figured out a way to reverse what was happening to Moynihan? There was no way that they could have! They didn't even know what was going on with her! They only knew that she was getting more aggressive. How could they have known that her mind was being transformed? That was the only way they could have figured out how to suppress, even just temporarily, the transformation! Victor tried to think as hard as he could to figure out an explanation for this. There had to have been someway they could have figured it out. It's unlikely that they could have figured it out on their own unless they took a blood sample. But then, how could they have taken a blood sample without having any clue as to what was going on? How could they have known that a possible answer could have been found in the blood?

"No...this is all wrong!" Victor muttered to himself. "They weren't supposed to find out until it was already too late!" Victor had envisioned the Dino Squad trying to figure out what was happening, but that they wouldn't be able to figure it out until Moynihan had already transformed into a Velociraptor and started attacking them. And once she reaches that stage, it was permanent, or at least that's what Veloci had been hoping. He hadn't tested this version of the chemical before. If it works, not only would it turn Moynihan savage, but it would also allow him to control her in some way. It wasn't perfect, very crude actually, but it would at least be something to give him control over her.

The only way that the Dino Squad could have figured out what was going on without it being too late was if someone had told them. Victor's eyes widened. He recalled seeing a few blips on the scanners, indicating that Michelle was in dino mode. She was in the city. He didn't know why she was there at first, but then became convinced that she was looking for Caruso, even though he wanted his assassin to get him first. He had assigned everyone to the task, but only the assassin was allowed to actively hunt down Caruso. And he knew that Michelle must have known this. So why was she actively seeking out the Dino Squad? Could it be that she was the one who spilled the beans to the Dino Squad? Could Michelle have betrayed him just as Moynihan did?

Victor shook his head. No, that didn't seem right, he thought. Michelle wouldn't betray him, especially after the nasty wound that he had given to her on her shoulder. She was probably too scared to try and turn against him again, just like all of his other men were. They were kept in line day after day. Those who tried to betray him were punished and usually after the first punishment, they didn't dare try to betray him again. Michelle, being just a teenager, probably had a weaker mind than a lot of his minions, so she shouldn't have the courage to try and disappoint him again. But then again, Caruso was around her age and he proved to be difficult to break. Perhaps Michelle still had some fight left in her.

And if that was true, then Victor would have to do something to change that. He didn't want to just walk down and hurt her without a reason, though. Unless Michelle actually did something wrong in his eyes, he had no reason to go and confront her. But then he remembered something. There was a reason he could confront her. He could ask her why she was looking for Caruso and if she denied it, he could point to the scanners. But even if she was there, looking for Caruso, that alone would not answer his most urgent question: How did the Dino Squad figure out what was going on with Moynihan?

Again, every thought he was having was leading him back to Michelle. She was in the right area, perhaps in close proximity to the Dino Squad. He wasn't sure if she actually crossed paths or not, but it was likely that they could have interrogated her. Yes, that's probably what happened. Victor sat in his chair and leaned back, scratching his chin lightly. Michelle was probably temporarily captured by the Dino Squad and forced to give a confession. If that were the case, then he didn't need to confront her about it. Either way, one thing remained certain and that was that Moynihan was not going to change as quickly as he was hoping she would. But whatever they did, all it was going to do was delay in the inevitable. The only way to stop Moynihan is with the cure, and there was only one person who would have the slightest clue on what that would be.

"Caruso..." Victor muttered under his breath. The kid was a thorn in his side the moment that he was brought into the warehouse. The way that he turned his own weapon against him, the way that he thought he could escape, the way that he got so desperate that he actually bit him! Such a pathetic creature he was, to even think that he could inflict any real damage with those flat teeth of his. "I need to silence him for good... I should have killed him off back at the warehouse." Victor rubbed his head. Yes, that's what he should have done. If he had killed off Caruso earlier, then they would have no chance in curing Moynihan, but instead, he was foolish enough to allow the boy to live. Well he was going to correct that mistake as soon as possible. Once Caruso was dead and out of the way, then he can be certain that there'll be nothing the Dino Squad could do to get their precious mentor back...