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...

31. Escape

Before Buzz had a chance to respond, the team suddenly heard footsteps heading towards them. They didn't need to glance over to know who it was most likely going to be. They could hear Victor's chuckling as he made his way towards them. The team turned their heads away, not wanting to look at the mad scientist. They didn't want to see the smug look on his face. They didn't want to see him gloat his victory to them. They just wanted him to leave them alone. But they knew Victor wasn't going to leave them be. That wasn't way he operated. That wasn't the way he behaved. They all kept their mouths quiet as Victor positioned himself in front of them, glancing at them one at a time. They would have said something to him, but out of fear of him using the shock collars on them, they kept their mouths shut.

After a few uncomfortable minutes of silence, Victor decided to speak up. "Well I think you know what's going to happen now..." His arms are behind his back, hiding something from the children. The team just turned their heads to glare at him, except for Caruso who was trying to keep his gaze averted away from the madman. Victor chuckled as the other students tried to act so defiant against him, even Fiona whom he had shocked earlier with the collar to teach her a lesson. "The two hours are now up. I hope you little brats enjoyed your living while you can..." His eyes glowed. "Because after this, you will find out what it's like to be the prey..."

Victor decided the first one he wanted to take blood from was Fiona. He didn't need to worry about Caruso. He had already taken blood from the boy earlier. Even so, he did ponder if he should do Caruso anyway. After all, he doesn't know he already took blood from him. Yes, that's what he'd do. So with the other students, he decided to take twice as much blood from them so that he had about the same amount of blood from all five of them. Holding out the needle with one hand, he made his way towards Fiona. When he reached her, she was pushing herself as far up against the wall as she could, trying in vain to keep herself away from the needle. But it was no use. Carefully, Victor used his claw to cute a hole in the girl's sleeve. Smirking, Victor roughly seized the girl's arm to try to keep it as still as possible as he brought the needle's tip to the hook of her arm, where a vein was close to the surface. Without any preparation, Victor jammed the needle deep into the skin. Fiona yelped in pain and her body stiffened, afraid that if she moved too much, she'd end up causing more damage.

The tube, once clear, was now filling up quickly with dark red blood. Fiona turned her head away, not wanting to see this horrible sight. Within a few seconds, Victor had filled one vial up with blood. But he wasn't done yet. He removed the tube and immediately put a new, empty vial in. Between that time, some of Fiona's blood dripped from the needle down the floor. Victor completely ignored it as he hooked the new, empty vial in place and smirked as dark red blood began to fill that tube up. He continued to do this until he had eight vials of Fiona's blood. The loss of blood had a bit of an effect on Fiona. She was suddenly feeling a little tired and a little weak and she found her gaze was slightly blurred. But she was still alert enough to scowl at Victor as he walked away and placed the blood-filled tubes on the table.

Victor spent a few seconds wiping the tip of the needle with his red suit and then looked over at Fiona. "That wasn't so bad, now was it?" He asked her in a mocking tone of voice. Fiona bared her sharp teeth at him and jerked her head away. Victor just chuckled and then turned his gaze over to Caruso. He was now next. Victor smirked to himself. The boy was going to be pretty easy. Perhaps he wouldn't even need to restrain his arm like he had to with Fiona. Victor decided to use four larger tubes. It would look like he was taking as much as blood as Fiona, but really he was only taking about half. But the kids probably wouldn't know that, now would they?

Victor walked over towards Caruso. The boy cringed as far back as he could. Victor had to listen very closely, but he thought he could hear Caruso whimpering in fear. Victor reached forward and gently tilted the boy's head up slightly with two fingers. "I see your stay with me has taught you well, little one. You've learned to remain submissive towards your superiors.." Then he leaned forward, placing his mouth as close to Caruso's left ear as possible without actually touching it. In a harsh voice, Victor whispered softly, almost inaudibly, "And don't worry... After this is over, I'll make sure that your little girlfriend gets the quickest death. I can tell you care about her, so she'll be the first to die."

Caruso's eyes widened in horror. "N-No..." He shook his head. "P-Please..don't... Please..."

Tired of hearing Caruso's whining, Victor covered the boy's mouth with one hand and whispered to him again. "Say one more word and I will kill her now. I already have her blood, so I won't show any remorse in ending her life now. Do you understand me?" Caruso, eyes wide as far as they could go, managed to nod his head. "Good." Victor released him. Then he turned his attention to the boy's right arm. He gripped the boy's arm, more gently then he had with Fiona. He prodded the hook of the boy's arm a few times with his two fingers before finding a suitable spot. He got out the needle, the same one he used on Fiona, and jammed it in. Caruso his best to stifle his cry of pain. Although he tried his best not to, Caruso felt his eyes drift towards the needle embedded into his skin, and then his eyes drifted over to the tube, now filling up with his blood. He couldn't help but let out a soft whimper as he forced himself to look away and waited for it all to be over.

After a couple more minutes, Victor was done getting blood from Caruso. He gave the boy an evil smile as he turned and walked away, placing the tubes on the same table as he did with Fiona's blood. He was keeping them separated and the tubes were labeled so he knew which blood belonged to who. He cleaned the blood off the needle, making the needle look so clean that it was like he had never used it. He got a couple more tubes and turned his attention to Max. Smirking, he walked over towards the jock. Max glared at him, not trying to get away. Victor ignored the boy's expression as he made an incision in the boy's green jacket, exposing the skin underneath. Victor pushed the needle deep into the skin and began to draw blood.

Max flinched briefly, but the scowl remained on his face. "You..you won't get away with this!" Max declared, forming a fist with the hand on the arm that didn't have the needle stuck into it.

Victor smiled and looked at the boy. "I already have gotten away with it. You and your friends don't have anywhere to go. Tell me..." Victor leaned in closer. "..just who can save you now? You're far from your homes. None of your 'human accomplices' have the power to fight me. So tell me..how do you propose you stop me?"

Max growled. "You underestimate humans!"

"And you are underestimating me, boy." Victor said. He gripped the boy's arm tighter, forcing the blood to flow a bit faster into the tubes. They were filling up quickly, a bit more quickly than Fiona's did, the same with Caruso. "You and your friends thought you would be able to defeat me. You thought that you would be able to keep your identities a secret. You thought that you actually had a chance against me, a Velociraptor who has had years of experience. How did you kids get it in your head that you could actually defeat me?"

Max narrowed his eyes. "I bet the other humans you faced couldn't turn into dinosaurs like we can!" He looked at his friends briefly before turning back to Victor. "I could have easily killed you in my dinosaur form!"

Victor chuckled as he put in a new vial to the needle so he could draw more blood. "And yet you did not. That's what I would expect from a species like you. You are so weak. When you are given the opportunity to be rid of your enemies, you choke up and run away like the cowards that you truly are!"

"That's not true!" Max shouted. Victor chortled again, but decided not to respond. When a couple minutes passed by, he was finished with Max. Victor took a long look at the eight blood-filled tubes, a dark smile on his face. He cleaned the needle once again and placed the tubes on the table. He then turned back to the Dino Squad. There was only two left: Rodger and Buzz. Victor got out eight more tubes and walked over towards Rodger.

"Looks like you and your punk friend are the only two that are left." Victor said, his eyes narrowing slightly. Victor decided to do Rodger first, and then Buzz last. He stuck the needle into the large boy's arm, causing him to flinch in pain. But he didn't want to give into Victor and give him the satisfaction that he knew Victor wanted to see. Victor frowned slightly as Rodger looked at him defiantly, but didn't say anything. Rodger wasn't attempting to struggle, which made drawing the blood all the more easier. "You are wise not to struggle, my boy. This will go much faster now." Victor said in a soft voice.

Rodger just glared at him. "Oh shut up, will you? I'm tired of hearing all your lies and your deceit! You will pay for what you've been doing all these years!" He wasn't sure if he could uphold his statement, but if he ever got out of here, he would certainly try. Victor was not going to get away with all that he's done behind humanity's backs. One way or another, Victor was going to regret his actions.

"If you say so." Victor said dismissively. He just continued to draw blood from Rodger. After he was finished with Rodger and Buzz, he planned to bring out Kista and allow her to kill Caruso first. He had lied to Caruso when he said he would kill Fiona first. It was Caruso who would be the first to die. And he decided to let Rodger know first. He leaned in close to whisper into the boy's ear, "After I'm done with you and Neil over there, Caruso will be the first die."

"What?" Rodger gasped. "No! You stay away from him!"

"What are you going to do about it?" Victor asked evilly. "You're chained to the wall. I can do whatever I want to you and you can't do anything about it." To prove his point, Victor grabbed Rodger by ear and yanked on it hard. Rodger let out a cry of pain as Victor pulled the ear as far as he could without tearing it off. Victor laughed as she released the ear. Rodger tried to rub his ear, but he couldn't reach with his arms bound to the wall. All he could do was hang his head in pain and glare angrily at Victor. "See? I told you. So if I were you, boy, I would hold my tongue and watch what I say. After all, you are completely helpless here. You and your friends are lucky that I am showing mercy towards you."

"How is chaining us to the wall with spiked rings and torturing us with shock collars classify as merciful?" Rodger asked in a dark tone.

"I could have just killed you all with the Zapper earlier, electrocuting you all to death. Or perhaps find another form of killing you slowly." Victor explained, grinning evilly. Rodger looked up at him in shock, but didn't seem as shaken up as Victor had expected. Then again, this is probably due to the fact that the kids seem somewhat aware of what he's like. He chuckled. It seemed that Moynihan had taught them quite well. Too bad that she didn't teach them everything that they needed to know. After Victor was done with Rodger and had put the stuff away and prepared for the final victim, he turned to Buzz. "Now it's your turn..."

Buzz just frowned and looked away. "Oh, go ahead. Just do it and get it over with..." Buzz said in a bitter tone of voice.

Victor blinked a few times, surprised with the boy's attitude. But he quickly shook it off as false bravery. Buzz was trying to seem brave, but Victor could tell, by the look in the boy's eyes, that he was terrified, probably almost as terrified as Caruso. Victor walked over to Buzz and grabbed a hold of one of his arms. Like Rodger, Buzz didn't have any sleeves so it was easy for him to access the skin. Victor jammed the needle in quickly and began to draw blood. Buzz glared at him, but kept his mouth shut. For the next few minutes, there was nothing but silence except for the sound of everyone breathing and the occasional cough from one of the Dino Squad members. After Victor was done with Buzz, he put the needle down on the table and started to carry as many tubes of blood as he could to the back part of his laboratory to make sure they were in a safe place.

As Victor walked away, the Dino Squad looked at their arms in fear. Victor hadn't bothered to tie a cloth around their arms to make sure the bleeding would stop. What would have been the point anyway? Victor was going to kill them soon. It would have been a waste of time in Victor's eyes. From each of the kids' arms, blood rapidly dripped from it, staining the ground below them. Fiona was already feeling strange and was having a hard time keeping her eyes open. She had lost the most blood and she had no idea how much more she'd have to lose before she would completely lose consciousness. Max grunted as he tried to free one of his arms in an attempt to stop the bleeding. But it was no use. All he and the others could do was wait and hope that the bleeding would stop on its own. But if the bleeding didn't kill them first, Victor would.

"Do you kids need any help..?" Michelle asked as she slowly walked towards them. She had waited until Victor was out of sight before she came up to the team. She quickly took notice of the blood that was quickly running from the kids' arms. Eyes widening in shock, she said, "What happened to you all?" But she had a feeling of who had done this.

"Victor Veloci.." Buzz said angrily, looking away. "That's what happened."

Michelle took one look at Buzz's arm, noticing the blood pouring from it, and said, "Let me guess. He took tubes of blood from you all?"

"Yes. How did you know? You weren't even here." Buzz said, slowly turning his head towards her. "Unless...did you suggest this to him?"

"What? No." Michelle shook her head quickly. "I just took a guess from the puncture wound on your guys' arms. Anyway, hold on. I'll try to help the best that I can."

"No thank you." Buzz said bitterly. "How would you be able to help anyway? I don't see any medical equipment around here and..." Michelle pulled out a small box of band-aides from her pockets. "...oh... Why do you carry band-aides in your pocket?"

"I don't usually do this. I picked them up earlier when I was in the medical room because I had cut myself." Michelle explained. "It was a good thing I brought them along." She took out a handful of band-aides. If Victor asked her why she put band-aides on them, she'd have to think of some sort of lie. Perhaps she could tell him that they were tipped in poison, or maybe she could say that she didn't want a mess all over the floor. The first person she walked up to was Fiona. The girl's face was getting a little pale. Michelle figured that she was probably the first to have blood taken from her. Michelle gently pulled the tear in the white shirt open so she could see where the tiny hole was. Then she stood back and wondered how she was going to do this. "I wonder..."

"You wonder what?" Fiona asked, her voice sounding slightly groggy from the loss of blood.

Michelle didn't answer her. She grabbed the end of Fiona's white sleeve and began to pull it towards Fiona's body as quickly as she could. Fiona yelped in pain as the cloth slid over her small wound. Michelle quickly apologized as she continued to bunch the sleeve as far as she could go so she could have access to the small wound. Michelle looked at it briefly and got out a band-aide. She quickly placed it over the small wound and applied pressure to try to stop the bleeding. Fiona winced again. Michelle looked at her. "I need to stop the bleeding. You've already lost enough blood as it is."

"Yeah, I know." Fiona said. She didn't think that it would hurt this much just to have her arm treated. What was it about that needle that caused more pain? Was it serrated on the edge so that it would do more damage going out? She glanced down at her arm, seeing Michelle's fingers press hard against it in an attempt to make the bleeding stop. Fiona then looked away and towards the ground. She started to wonder where her family was right now. Had they noticed she'd gone missing?

About two to three minutes had gone by and Michelle had managed to finish all the students. She had moved as quickly as she could so she could stop the bleeding. She had placed a band-aide on each of the students after she applied a bit of pressure to help slow down the bleeding. She was cautious when she was putting a band-aide on Rodger and Buzz. But to her surprise, they didn't really give her a hard time. She could tell they still didn't completely trust her, but they didn't make any remarks to her as she helped to stop the bleeding. She guessed that the two had realized that she was their only hope in getting out and they didn't want to blow that chance. She assumed that they were going to go back to their usual selves after she managed to free them.

After she was done, she had walked a little bit away from the team to see if anyone was coming. Victor had been gone a decent amount of time. A few minutes might not seem much, but when there was something Victor wanted to get done as quickly as possible, he could move pretty fast, depending on the situation. And she had no idea when anyone else, such as Oscura or Kista, would show up. They could appear at any second and perhaps question her on what she was doing. She glanced back at the team. She had to fulfill part one of her plan with them. This was the only chance she was going to get, and if she blew it, the Dino Squad was going to die.

"I have to move quickly." Michelle said as she quickly approached the first student, once again starting with Fiona. She looked at the collar, inspecting it as closely as she could without making Fiona feel uncomfortable. The collar had a tiny hole near the center. That's where the key was supposed to fit in to unlock and release the collar. Michelle didn't have the key with her and she didn't think she could ask Victor without arousing suspicion. So she did the next best thing.

Lifting up one of her hands and bring it close to the shock collar, Michelle grew a long, sharp talon from the pointer finger. Carefully, she lifted the claw up to the small hole and inserted it in. Biting her lip nervously as though she thought she was going to make a mistake, Michelle started to pick at the lock, twisting her finger every which way, trying to unlock the collar. It took only a few seconds for her to hear the familiar clicking sound of something being unlocked. The collar loosened up slightly, but it would require physical strength to pull the collar off. Despite being unlocked, the collar only looked slightly open. It didn't seem very noticeable. Victor would not likely suspect that the collars had been unlocked.

Michelle continued onto the next student, performing the exact same task in Caruso. This time, she had a bit more difficulty, probably because of her being so nervous about performing this task. She hadn't told the Dino Squad this one little feature, but the shock collars were tamper proof. If she made one slip up, she could end up killing them rather than helping. She knew that she could pick the locks and free the students without making the collars go off, but she had to be precise, absolutely perfect. She fought to keep her hand steady as she unlocked Caruso's collar. She succeeded after a few extra seconds. She made sure that the collar wouldn't slip off right away and then moved over towards Max.

Michelle moved as quickly as she could while trying to be as accurate as she could. She managed to unlock the remaining collars in around two minutes. And she hadn't heard or seen anyone approaching them, so she was making good time. Again, Rodger and Buzz didn't give her a hard time and they allowed her to approach them without any sort of mean or sarcastic remark. She had the hardest trouble with Buzz's collar and she thought that she almost shocked him due to a slight slip of the claw. But he appeared fine and she managed to unlock the collar. Once they were all finished, she double checked again to see if anyone was coming this way. When she was sure that it was still clear, she went back to the Dino Squad. She had to make sure they still understood the plan and to see if they had any other ideas on how to escape. But then again, how would they know of another plan of escape? The only plan that they knew of was the one that she had told them about.

"So are you all clear on what the plan is?" Michelle asked in a hushed voice. She tried to speak as loud as she could so that the five students could hear her, but at the same time, she made sure her voice wasn't too loud for someone who might be spying on her to hear.

Max nodded his head. "Yes, I'm perfectly clear on it. You're going to wait until Victor comes in and then you're going to wait until the right moment to pull a switch. That would temporarily pull the spikes on this metal rings back in."

Fiona continued. "And then you want us to go dino right away so that we would break through our restraints before the spikes can come back in. Is that right or did we miss something?"

"No, that's pretty much it." Michelle said. She glanced over at the scanner where she knew the switch was going to be. From memory, she was certain that the button would be labeled in Latin. She didn't understand a word in Latin, but she had seen Victor use it before and she was certain she remembered what it looked like, the color, the shape, and the location of it. She had only one shot at this and she hoped that she guesses right.

"I've got a question, though." Buzz spoke up, taking Michelle by surprise. Since she started putting band-aides on them and unlocking their collars, he and Rodger had remained pretty much silent, along with Caruso. Max spoke once or twice and so did Fiona. Michelle wasn't expecting to hear anything from Buzz. "It's about this plan of yours..."

Michelle looked over at him. "Yes? What is your question?" She tried to sound as polite as she could. She was still worried that if she said something wrong, Buzz would get the wrong impression and chastise her for it.

"Wouldn't it make more sense to just..press that button or switch or whatever now...instead of waiting for Victor to come over here?" Buzz turned his head over to where Michelle was looking at earlier. "I mean, wouldn't that just save time? Why do you have to wait for him to come over before you press that button?"

Rodger blinked a few times, realizing this little loophole in Michelle's plan. There might have been a reason for why she wanted to wait, but he couldn't think of any. Buzz did make a valid point. Was waiting for Victor really necessary? She could easily just free them now with no problem. "Yeah..why don't you just do it now? And then we can escape faster."

But Michelle still insisted on waiting. She slowly shook her head. "I know why you might think that. But there is a little problem."

"Oh really?" Buzz asked, frowning slightly. "And what kind of problem could there possibly be that would prevent you, or anyone, from pressing a simple button?"

"The button itself." Michelle pointed out. She gave a sideways glance over at where the button was. "You see, Victor knows that, unless he did something about it, almost anyone could easily use his equipment, whether or not they understood Latin. So quite recently, actually not long before Victor found out that the 'perfect dinosaurs' were actually teenagers, he had installed a system, and this system allows him to lock some or all of his equipment whenever he wants to. And I'm afraid he has the keyboard locked, including the button that would release you."

Buzz's expression softened. "Oh..."

"Yeah. That's why we must wait until Victor comes to unlock the system before I can do anything." Michelle said softly. "But it won't be long now, I promise."

Caruso suddenly heard something and he turned his head. He saw something walking towards them, but at first he didn't recognize who it was. When he saw it was Victor, he quickly looked over at Michelle. "H-H-He's coming..!" He said under his breath.

Michelle looked over where Caruso had earlier and her eyes widened. She didn't think Victor saw her yet, so she immediately backed away and tried to act as if she had just come down. Giving a sideways glance at the Dino Squad, she said in a voice as calm as she could be, "Hello, Dr. Veloci. What brings you down here?"

"And what brings you down here, Michelle?" Victor said, putting his hands on his hips. "I thought I told you to stay away from the Dino Squad until later on." Michelle stammered, trying to come up with an explanation. Victor sighed and decided to cut her a break, just this once. "Oh never mind. I'll just let it slide for now. You don't need to explain anything to me." Michelle breathed a sigh of relief. Victor then walked up to the Dino Squad, giving them an evil grin. Michelle hung back, giving the team a fearful look, but wasn't able to say anything or thus risk blowing her cover. "So, are you little children ready?" He asked callously. "Your time...is up."

Max started to struggle against his binds. "You won't get away with this!" He declared. He had already made that statement earlier and Victor didn't really believe him. And just like before, Victor didn't really pay any need to it, which only annoyed Max further. "Why do you act like you know everything?!"

Victor walked up to him and grabbed him by his chin, sinking his claws deep into it to draw blood. Max winced in pain, but he continued to glare at Victor, trying to act as if he wasn't afraid of him. But Victor knew better. Maybe in dino mode, Max would feel confident around him. But bound and in human form, he stood no chance. "I'm not naive, boy. But you are...you and the rest of your.."

Max struck out at Victor, his foot hitting its mark on Victor's stomach. The blow was enough to force Victor to let go of him and move back a few steps. "Shut up!"

Victor held his hand to his stomach for a few seconds, looking down at it as a frown slowly swept over his face. When he looked up at Max, the boy's eyes widened as he noticed Victor's sharp teeth were fully exposed, his eyes glowing so bright that he almost could not see the pupils. Victor lifted up his hand, ready to strike Max, but then got a better idea. Victor looked at his controller for the shock collars and an evil smile spread across his face. He looked over at Max with an insane look on his face. "Congratulations, kid.. change of plans... You're going to be the first one to die! I was going to let you live longer, but you leave me with no choice!" He pointed the remote at the boy, the thumb poised to push the button down to deliver a fatal shock.

"NO!" The team shouted in unison. Fiona, Rodger, Caruso, and Buzz could only look in horror as Victor was getting ready to push the button. Max gasped in horror and looked away, bracing himself for the unbearable pain that he knew he was going to experience within a few seconds.

"No..." Michelle whispered softly, too soft for Victor to hear her, and she ran towards the large keyboard. She didn't know if it was unlocked or not, but she couldn't wait any longer. She had only mere seconds to spare. She looked over at Max, he was still bracing for the blow. Michelle looked at the button and quickly pressed it, and a loud clicking sound could be heard.

Almost instantly, an intense glow filled the room. Victor's eyes widened in shock and he immediately stammered back, putting an arm over his head in an attempt to protect his eyes from the bright glow. "What's going on here?!" Victor hissed. He tried to see where what was around him, but the glow was filling up most of his view, giving him a headache. He could hear the sound of shattering metal and heavy footfalls. He didn't need to see to know what was happening. When the glow finally died down, Victor looked over, opening his eyes slightly to try to see the Dino Squad. He saw a flash of green, and then something hard and scaly impacted him. Victor hit the ground hard, grunting in pain. He shook his head and, supporting himself with his two hands, glared up at Max, who had turned into a Tyrannosaurus Rex. "So you're the T-Rex..." Victor said, chuckling. "I should have killed you when I had the chance back at the Arctic..."

Max let out a huge roar close to Victor, his hot breath pushing Victor's hair back. 'And you will not get another chance like that again!' Max shouted with confidence. He lifted up his foot and tried to pin Victor down to the ground.

But Victor just smirked. "Nice try, kid." He transformed into a Velociraptor and leaped of the way. He then let out a loud hiss before lunging towards Max, his sickle claws brought forward. Max moved his head back and then suddenly lunged forward, his mouth wide open. He attempted to bite into Victor's body, but the raptor retaliated by slashing the T-Rex's head with his hand claws. 'You shouldn't underestimate a Velociraptor's capabilities, kid. You might be bigger than me...' Victor landed on the ground and immediately turned around, holding up his claws threateningly. '...but you aren't as fast as me.'

Max shook his head, trying to shake off the pain. He let out another roar. 'I don't need to be fast to defeat you!' He tried to attack again, snapping his jaws as close to Victor as he could. But the raptor had dodged yet again and Max felt his jaws slam down on nothing but air.

Victor turned his attention towards Michelle. She had just stood there, watching the scene in horror. If Victor didn't know any better, he'd think that Michelle was actually too afraid to fight. That sickened Victor. Michelle was able to take all five of the Dino Squad on before. So why was she chickening out now? But then again, there were five 'perfect dinosaurs' and Victor wasn't sure if it was wise to fight all five of them alone, even with Michelle's help. All five of the teenagers had transformed into dinosaurs, but only Max was advancing towards him. Victor deduced that this was because he was the leader. It made sense. The T-Rex was probably the most powerful dinosaur among the team. So if he were to take down the T-Rex, the rest would follow suit.

Victor barked an order at Michelle. 'Ms. Brown! Go get Oscura, Kista, and Peter! Tell them to come over here and help!' Michelle nodded her head and got ready to run down the hallway. But Victor thought of another order to give her as well. 'And bring the mutantsaurs and Moynihan as well!' Michelle didn't know why Victor wanted her to bring Moynihan. She couldn't control the green raptor. But to question Victor would mean putting herself at risk. So she carried out his orders without question and immediately left, hoping that the Dino Squad would be able to defeat Victor Veloci before the others arrived.

'We won't let you win!' Fiona shouted. As Victor was busy dodging Max, he didn't notice the Spinosaurus sneaking around him. Before he had a chance to react, he felt a long, tooth-studded mouth slam around his body. Victor roared in pain as Fiona lifted him off the ground, shaking him a few times. 'Max might be too slow for you, but I am much faster!'

'So you are..' Victor said, his eyes narrowing. He now wished he had gone through with the plan he discussed with Zoom earlier. If he had kidnapped this pesky girl, he wouldn't have had to deal with her. A Spinosaurus was going to be a problem as they had both speed and strength on their side. In retaliation, Victor managed to strike Fiona near the eye with his hand claws. Fiona shrieked in pain and released Victor. Victor fell to the ground and landed on his back. Then he quickly jumped back up and spoke to Fiona in a dark voice. 'But you still aren't fast enough to deal with me!'

'We'll just see about that!' Fiona said, quickly recovering from the attack. She charged towards Victor, her jaws wide open. Victor quickly dodged out of the way as Fiona snapped down close to him, hitting nothing but air. Then Victor quickly moved around her and sank his teeth into one of her legs. Fiona screeched loudly and lifted up her foot, desperately shaking it to get the raptor off of her. 'Let me go, you cretin! Let me go!' Fiona demanded. She tried to swipe at Victor but with the way he was positioned, she couldn't reach him with her dino hands. Instead, she placed the foot Victor was biting firmly on the ground and then lifted up the other. Moving it as close as she could, managed to strike Victor, just barely missing him. The blow was enough to make Victor let go, but did little to no damage to him.

'You cannot defeat me.' Victor declared as he lunged forward, this time hitting his mark directly on Fiona's tail. Once again, she screamed in pain and tried to get Victor off of her. She swung her tail frantically, but it was no use. Victor refused to let go.

'Fiona!' Caruso shouted. Swallowing his fear, he rushed towards her, opening his mouth, aiming for Victor. Once he was within striking distance, Caruso snapped his jaws tightly shut, sinking his teeth deep into Victor's long, flexible tail. Victor roared in agony as Caruso managed to pull him off of Fiona's tail and proceeded to through him to the side. Victor crashed into the ground and looked over. When he realized it was Caruso who had attacked him, Victor let out a horrible hiss.

'You fool!' Victor shrieked, drool dripping from his eyes. 'Do I need to reteach you some respect?!' With that, he charged towards the Stegosaurus, mouth split open as far as it could go. Caruso just stood there, shaking in fear as Victor now charged towards him. Caruso forgot about his tail, about his mouth, about any forms of defense. All he saw was his own death charging towards him. He suddenly felt helpless all over again, his legs shaking so badly he thought he was going to fall down.

Noticing Caruso's suddenly paranoia, Rodger stepped up to the plate. He charged forward towards Caruso's side. 'Caruso! Move!' He shouted. Suddenly Victor lunged towards Caruso. Thinking fast, Rodger put himself between Caruso and Veloci. Lowering his head, he caught Victor and then tossed him up into the air. Victor sailed over them and crashed into the ground several feet behind them. They quickly turned around to face him as he quickly got up and ran towards them again.

'We have to get out of here!' Max shouted as he managed to snag Victor in his jaws and toss him away. 'We have to find Moynihan and free her from this monster's control!'

'But how are we going to do that?' Fiona said, her voice filled with worry. 'We don't even know what chemical he had used to corrupt her.'

Buzz looked over at Caruso. 'But he was exposed to the same stuff. Maybe he knows how to cure it.'

Fiona shook her head. 'I seriously doubt it, Buzz. With what he's been through, I don't think he'll remember many details outside of..you know..'

'Yes, I know.' Buzz responded.

Victor managed to get back onto his feet. He knew that the Dino Squad were going to try to escape. But he couldn't allow that. He absolutely could not permit them to leave Raptor Dyne. They mustn't escape! After all this time, after finally capturing them, he was not going to let them just slip away once again! 'You humans are not going to escape! I'll be sure of that!' With that, he dashed towards them. He wasn't aiming at anyone in particular. He was just going to attack, knowing that he would strike someone if he moved quickly enough. He leaped int the air, letting out a loud screech as he brought his sharp claws forward. 'Now DIE!'

Reacting on instinct, Buzz dove down towards the Velociraptor. Using his long, sharp talons, he managed to snag Victor by the tail. Buzz almost fell to the ground due to the sudden added weight, but managed to carry Victor long enough to toss him into the ground. Fiona then rushed toward Victor as he was getting up. Once she was close enough to Victor, she struck out towards him with her massive tail. The tail struck Victor in the side with great force, knocking Victor against the wall where the shattered restraints were. His head smashed against the wall with a lot of force. After twitching slightly, Victor fell limp on the ground.

'Now's our chance to defeat him for good!' Rodger said, lowering his head so that his nose horn faced forward, out in front of him. He kicked the ground almost like it was dirt, preparing to charge towards Victor.

'No! We don't have time!' Max roared, quickly getting in front of Rodger, stopping his advance.

'What are you doing, Max?!' Rodger bellowed.

'Look, I know what you are feeling...' Max explained. '..but we don't have time to kill Victor now. We have to go grab Moynihan!'

'What do you mean we don't have time?' Buzz said as he landed on the ground next to Max, turning his head to look up at him. 'It wouldn't take very long to just...'

'Look, if we don't move now, those reinforcements are going to arrive before we can...' Max started to say, but he was too late. Suddenly he could hear rapid footsteps heading their way. Max quickly turned to face the threat. He spotted Michelle, who was now in dino mode, but hanging back as far as she could without appearing suspicious. Max could also see Oscura and Kista and they were closing the distance between themselves and the Dino Squad really fast. And then Max could also see something else, three other things to be precise. His eyes widened slightly. They were relatively large mutantsaurs! Oh that's just perfect, Max thought as he bared his teeth defensively. They had to deal with multiple opponents. Now how were they going to get out?

'Grab them!' Oscura shouted, as though she was in charge. 'Don't let them escape!'

'Don't worry. Those expeditive biennial set foot outside this facility!' Kista declared, positioning herself in front of Oscura. Immediately, Kista opened up her jaws and went for the nearest target: Rolf Maxwell. As her jaws clamped around his neck, with as much strength as she could muster, she suddenly threw him into the ground. Max hit the ground with a loud thud, Kista's jaws still clamped on the back of his neck. Max struggled to get up, but Kista just bit down harder, drawing blood. Finally, Max managed to get free by wrapping his tail around Kista's leg and pulling back as hard as he could, tossing Kista into the ground.

Buzz screeched as he hovered above Oscura. The Troodon hissed loudly back at him, swiping her claws in the air in an attempt to strike him. But Buzz managed to stay just high enough for Oscura to miss him. Then he dove down and grabbed Oscura by her body and then immediately thrust her away. Oscura hit the ground, grunting in pain. She rapidly shook her head and glared up at Buzz. She got back up to her feet and held up her claws threateningly at him. But Buzz just kept a distance from her, squawking at her is if he were mocking her. Oscura hissed angrily and then looked over at Michelle. What was she doing? She was just standing there, as if she didn't know what to do. Oscura narrowed her eyes. She would report this treason to Victor as soon as he woke up.

Suddenly, Oscura was knocked to the side with a single blow. She hit her head against the wall, but not hard enough to knock her out. She opened up her eyes and saw the frilled head of Rodger. He had charged into her, hitting her with his horn. There was a long gash in her side now. Despite the pain, Oscura managed to stand back up again, acting as if the attack hadn't even fazed her. She chuckled a few times and opened up her mouth to bite Rodger to disable him. She snapped her jaws forward. Rodger bellowed and reacted quickly. He pulled his head back, missing the bite just barely. He then reared onto his hind legs and slammed back down, knocking Oscura down onto the ground, one foot placed on her tail while the other on her side. Oscura screeched in panic as she looked up at Rodger, wide-eyed.

'So how does it feel, Oscura? How does it feel to experience fear?' Rodger said, narrowing his eyes dangerously.

'Shut up!' Oscura hissed back up at him, and started to struggle under Rodger's body. Memories started to flash through Oscura's mind, memories that she thought hat long forgotten. She could see images of her parents, the ones that she had vowed to forget a long time ago. They caused her nothing but pain and grief. It was from them that she learned to be who she was. It was because of them that she had turned into a cold-hearted monster. It was the only way to avoid getting hurt mentally. Oscura's eyes widened in genuine fear as she hallucinated about her father preparing to strike her with a broken bottle. She struggled more frantically underneath Rodger. 'No! No! Please, don't do it! Please!' Oscura shouted deliriously, eyes so wide that the veins in the eyes were visible.

Rodger cocked an eyebrow in confusion. Just what trick was Oscura trying to pull off? He'd never seen her act this way before. No one had he knew ever seen Oscura act like this. It was rather strange and suspicious. When he looked close enough, he could have sworn he saw tears streaming down the Troodon's face. But that was probably a trick, crocodile tears to get him to feel sorry for her and let her go. Well, he wasn't going to fall for it. 'Nice try, Oscura, but your lies won't work on me this time!' He declared as he lifted up one of his feet to strike Oscura. But that gave the Troodon the chance that she needed. Having come to her senses thanks to Rodger's retort, she snapped her jaws upward, nearly landing a blow on Rodger's neck. The Styracosaurus bellowed in shock and reared up to defend himself.

Oscura quickly scrambled away before Rodger could pin her down again. She smirked at him. 'You're so gullible...' She said, trying to sound as convincing as she could. She was still slightly shaken up by her sudden memory, but she was able to push it aside quickly enough to continue the battle.

Rodger narrowed his eyes, but then his attention turned to something else. He seen mutantsaurs heading their way but when he looked around, he couldn't see any of them attacking his friends, just Oscura and Kista. But why was that? Rodger scanned his eyes around the room and spotted the mutantsaurs. For some reason, they were hanging back, but why? Why would Kista and Oscura bring over the mutantsaurs if they weren't going to use them to attack them with? Then Rodger noticed Michelle was standing in front of the mutantsaurs. She wasn't looking directly at them, but her head was bowed. Just what was she doing?

Oscura also took notice to this and hissed loudly. 'Michelle! What are you doing?! Get away from those mutantsaurs and let them attack!'

Michelle couldn't allow the mutantsaurs to attack, not now. She had to buy the Dino Squad some time to get away. She was trying to emit the same kind of energy that Victor would in an attempt to fool the mutantsaurs into thinking she was Victor, and Victor was the only one who could truly control them. She was trying to get them to stay put, but she didn't know how much longer she could keep this up. She couldn't look away from the mutantsaurs but she managed to give a telepathic message, a lie in hopes of fooling Oscura and Kista. 'Victor told me to hold them off until he gave the signal! And since he's unconscious, I cannot allow the mutantsaurs to attack! Victor needs to be awake to completely control them!'

'If Victor is the only one who can control them...then how how are you controlling them?' Oscura asked in a suspicious tone of voice.

Michelle felt her heart racing. It seemed that Oscura was figuring her out, no surprise. Oscura always was a tough one to fool. Michelle searched her mind with an explanation that she could give to Oscura that would sound believable. Then she thought of something that just might work. 'Victor taught me how to do this! He taught me because of the possibility of situations such as this!'

'Oh really?' Oscura asked, baring her teeth. Who was Michelle fooling? It was going to take a lot more than that to trick her.

Kista shook her head, having recovered from the fall after Max tossed her down. She had also heard Michelle's telepathic message, but wasn't as skeptical as Oscura was. 'It makes perfect sense to me, Oscura. Victor isn't the type to take chances.'

'But...' Oscura started to say, but quickly gave up. What was the use in trying to argue with someone like Kista? Oscura shook her head. 'Oh all right..fine..I will believe you..for now...' She said to Michelle in a better tone of voice. She spoke again, her voice slightly darker. 'But let me tell you something, Michelle..if I find out that you have been lying, I will personally see to it that you die for your treachery! Do you understand me?'

'Crystal.' Michelle said. Although a bit frightened by Oscura's words, Michelle's first priority was to keep the mutantsaurs at bay. But once Victor woke up, she would have to back away and let him take over. If she tried to control the mutantsaurs while he wants to control them himself, he would get suspicious of her. And that's the last thing that she wanted.

'Max! Shouldn't we be, like, trying to get away?' Buzz asked, diving down to catch Oscura's attention once again. The female Troodon hissed angrily and tried to take a swipe at him. But just like before, she completely missed him. But Buzz knew he couldn't keep this up for very long. He needed to land on the ground sooner or later to rest his wings, and Oscura knew that. 'I don't know how much more of this I can take!'

Max tried to locate an exit, but if there was one, he didn't know where it was. They had come into Raptor Dyne before and managed to get out, but he couldn't remember just what path they had taken. Moynihan had to lead them out. Her knowledge of Raptor Dyne proved invaluable in their escape route. Sometimes, they had forgotten that they were ever at Raptor Dyne because they tried to put it behind them. But they could never completely forget what had happened. And Moynihan sometimes still blamed herself for the incident ever occurring. She said that she shouldn't have been so stupid, that she should have noticed Victor's men coming up to her and netting her while she wasn't looking. If she had only paid more attention, she wouldn't have gotten captured.

Max then thought he spotted something promising. The only way out of here seemed to be the elevator, but Fiona had said that they did not come through the elevator when they got into the laboratory. And it would make sense. Victor would need some way of transporting the mutants into his laboratory and he can't do that through an elevator. When Max tried to take a closer look, he noticed that there was a path down that way, opposite of where Victor had disappeared to briefly earlier. He suspected that it would lead them to a secret entrance of sorts. It was likely to be heavily armed, but he couldn't think of any other way to get out, not unless he and his friends were willing to change back into human and use the elevator. They were likely to be protected in someway, though. Max was certain that Victor took great measures into ensuring the absolute security of this laboratory.

'If we can just make it down there..that secret entrance we came through before when Moynihan was captured in the past..' Max said, lifting up his head as high as he could in order to try to see the exit. '..we just might be able to make it!'

'That tunnel?! But Max..that is probably crawling with traps and lasers and...' Buzz cried out.

But Max wasn't going to take 'no' for an answer. 'I'm sorry, Buzz, but we don't have any other choice. Unless you can come up with a better route of escape..'

'What about the elevator? I'm certain that is not rigged with traps...' Buzz suggested, turning his long head over towards the elevator that he was certain Victor uses to access this laboratory.

'It won't work, Buzz.' Rodger said, shaking his head. 'If I know Veloci, he probably has that protected in someway, and it would deny us access to operate it. We're better off taking the route.'

'Too bad you won't have a chance to do that.' Kista said as she snapped her jaws close to Rodger's face. The Styracosaurus immediately moved his head out of the way and then charged into her side. Kista shrieked in pain as the horns slashed her side again and she fell to the ground. Letting out a hiss of her own, Oscura leaped towards Rodger, hoping to take a bite out of him. But suddenly, a long, purplish tail with spikes struck her with tremendous force, knocking her into the ground next to Kista.

Rodger was slightly surprised to see Caruso standing next to him, glaring at Oscura. He thought the boy was still too afraid to fight back. But he didn't have time to ask questions. 'Now! While they are still down! Make a break for that tunnel!' Rodger shouted.

Max was already way ahead of him. 'Follow me, guys!' He said as he headed towards the tunnel. The other Dino Squad members made a break for it as well. They still wanted to rescue Moynihan, but right now they had to get out. They would have a better chance at fighting out in the open, and they were certain that Victor would sic Moynihan on them once he came to and found them outside the facility. But as they ran down the hallway, looking left and right to see if there were any traps, there were two questions on their minds: Would they be able to succeed? And what were the consequences if they failed?

* * *

Terri sighed, leaning back in the chair. She, her parents, and Caruso's parents hadn't left the lighthouse. They had discussed, for the past hour, on what they were going to do. They tried to figure out just how to deal with the situation. After Terri had mentioned about shutting down the human mind, she almost immediately regretted saying that because Caruso's mother went nuts after that. She had began to explain how Moynihan had snapped at her a few times for no apparent reason and then she started going ranting on how Moynihan was going to kill the children if they did not do anything to stop her. Her husband had tried to calm her down, but it took several minutes before Jack could finally get her to shut up and calm down. But Terri's statement still had a longer effect on them. It increased their apprehension and fear of what had happened in the lighthouse.

Where had the Dino Squad gone? While there was signs of blood and a fight, they couldn't really find any bodies, not even a scrap of evidence. Terri deduced that Moynihan likely hadn't killed the others, that the others had escaped before she could finish the job. She theorized that they must have ran outside and possibly even ran into town to escape her. But that didn't make figuring out the mystery any easier. She still couldn't be too sure if that was the way they went or not, and even if they did go that way, what were the odds of successfully locating where they had gone? The city was a big place and if the kids had went into human mode, that would make tracking them even more difficult. Terri sighed, unsure of what she was going to do.

Amanda was feeling a little restless. She was constantly pacing back and forth across the room. Her mind was flooding with many questions. She felt an old anger towards Moynihan slowly rise inside of her. She couldn't begin to imagine what pain she might have inflicted on the children. Moynihan claimed to have no control over herself and she did apologize, but Amanda wasn't sure just how much of that she would believe. Moynihan was still a Velociraptor, after all. She was a carnivore, and it was in a carnivore's nature to try to kill another for food. Amanda regretted letting her child go to school today. If she had known something like this was going to happen, she would have forced Irwin to just stay home.

"I should have made him stay home.." Amanda said absentmindedly to no one in particular. "I should not have allowed him to go to school today."

"Why not? You wouldn't have known that this would have happened." Jack explained.

"If we had just kept him away from the school and away from Moynihan, he'd..." Amanda started to say. But Jack got up and walked up to her, putting his hands on her shoulders.

"Dear, remember what Irwin told us? Moynihan was sick and had to stay home." Jack explained, his eyes narrowing slightly. "He also told us that Moynihan did not want them to go the lighthouse today because she didn't want to get them sick."

"So why did they come to the lighthouse?" Amanda asked, turning around to face Jack. "Why would they come here if she didn't want them to?"

Jack was at a loss of words. "I-I don't know, dear...I don't know." He said, lowering his gaze, feeling frustrated that he couldn't think of anything to say to comfort his wife.

"Well there has to be something..." Bryant spoke up. He and his wife were sitting at the nearby table, near the spiral staircase. "The children wouldn't have come here for no reason. Perhaps they got some sort of alert or something and thought Moynihan was in danger, so naturally they came to the lighthouse to try to save her...but from what I cannot say."

"But how would they have known something was wrong?" Nevina spoke up, looking a bit confused. "If Moynihan was sick, who could have told them if anything was wrong? And if Moynihan didn't want them to come over, wouldn't she have..."

"Good point, dear." Bryant said, nodding his head. "But someone must have told them to come, or else the kids wouldn't have come over at all."

Just then Terri had a thought. She remembered something they had seen upstairs, not long after she found Rump hiding underneath the bed. She had noticed that the bird cage had been knocked over and she hadn't seen Cerulean anywhere in the room, although he might have just been hiding from Rump. She had heard the two didn't get along very well. But just how did the thing get knocked over in the first place? And what if Cerulean had gotten outside? If the bird knew Moynihan as much as she thought, Cerulean might have known where the school was, perhaps even recognize Max and Fiona or any other member of the Dino Squad. It seemed far-fetched, but could it be possible that Cerulean had been the one that alerted the team that something was wrong?

It did start to make some sense to Terri. Birds were smart creatures and Cerulean was certainly not an exception, although he was no genius. She had seen birds smarter than him. But still, Cerulean's very presence in the school would have been enough to make the team suspicious. Ms. Moynihan wasn't the type to just let the bird out of his cage. She took special precautions to ensure that Cerulean never left her bedroom unless he remained perched on her shoulder. So if Cerulean had appeared at the school, the Dino Squad would have thought that something was wrong with their teacher and would have found someway to get out of school to try to help her. And if that was the case, that would explain why the students had left and came to the lighthouse in the first place. But there was still something else that Terri was trying to think of. Why was the cage on the floor?

Moynihan would never knock the cage over if she could help it. Although if her theory was right and Moynihan had indeed gone crazy, it would make sense. But from what she had seen in the room, there was no evidence of Moynihan being close enough to cage to knock it over. That didn't really mean anything, though. She could easily be wrong with her suspicions and perhaps Moynihan had gone nuts and that was why Cerulean had fled the room and why Rump was hiding underneath the bed. Still, Terri felt there had to be more to what happened than just Moynihan going nuts. Then she realized something didn't add up. If Moynihan had gone crazy when Cerulean had left, wouldn't Moynihan had already left before the team arrived? Evidence in the room indicated that Moynihan was not alone in the room, indicating that someone had to be in there with her. And what of Rump? Wouldn't Moynihan have tried to attack him? There was no signs of blood on the dog or anywhere in the room from what she can remember. Yes, there had to be something missing in this puzzle.

Then it hit her. There was one thing that might have made sense, that would explain why the cage was knocked over and why Moynihan hadn't left the lighthouse until after Cerulean returned to the lighthouse. There had to have been an intruder at the lighthouse. Terri gulped. She recalled Fiona telling her how Ms. Moynihan was assaulted by someone in the lighthouse, tossed down the stairs like a rag doll and nearly killed, although luckily she only suffered a sprained ankle. But could this have been what happened this time? Someone else could have gotten into the lighthouse and knocked over the cage. In response, Moynihan might have been forced go raptor. Then Cerulean would have gotten to the school, the Dino Squad would have gotten suspicious, and came to the light house... Yes it made sense now, Terri thought. That had to be what had happened. It just had to be!

"I..I think I know what happened.." Terri spoke up, getting up out of her seat. The adults looked over at her curiously and waited for her to speak. "There must have been an intruder at the lighthouse. You know, like how there was another intruder two weeks ago that Fiona told us about?" She asked, motioning towards her parents.

Bryant nodded his head. "Yes, I believe she told us about that."

"Maybe that same intruder, or someone else, got into the lighthouse." Terri said. "They might have somehow knew Moynihan was sick."

"And how would they have known that?" Amanda asked.

"They might have been spying on her." Terri explained. "Or perhaps spying on Fiona or one of her friends and found out from them that she was sick, so they decided to take advantage of that and invaded the lighthouse while Moynihan was still vulnerable."

Jack nodded his head. Terri was making some sense. It did sound plausible that someone got into this building and that also could be the real reason Joanne had gone dino. But it still didn't explain everything. "Well, that does make sense.. But..still, what about that scanner thing we saw up on the top floor? Didn't you say that indicated a mind switch?"

Terri nodded her head. "Well, yes, Mr. Caruso. I did. That could still fall into place with what happened at the lighthouse. Perhaps being in raptor mode triggered something in Moynihan's mind and she started to think more like a raptor. After all, she's almost never in raptor mode nowadays, so perhaps infrequent use of her dinosaur half had weakened her ability to control it." Terri wasn't sure if she was making much sense to her parents or to Mr. and Mrs. Caruso, but she had to try to explain the best that she could. She couldn't think of anything else that would make sense. "The intruder came into the lighthouse and caused some havoc. They knocked down Cerulean's cage, either accidentally or on purpose. The intruder was obviously a threat, a big enough threat to make Moynihan transform into a Velociraptor in order to defend herself. The Dino Squad came back, but perhaps Moynihan had already been corrupted by her raptor mind and attacked them. That would explain why they aren't in the lighthouse; they were running from Ms. Moynihan."

"And what of the intruder?" Jack asked.

"And what if you're wrong?" Amanda spoke up. "What if it was Moynihan and Moynihan alone that did all this?"

Terri shook her head. "No, I don't think so. Moynihan..the real Moynihan..she would never do anything like this on purpose. And if going raptor causes it, she wouldn't go raptor unless she was forced to. No, someone forced her to go raptor."

"And who is this someone?" Nevina questioned.

Terri looked towards the ground. "I..I don't know..."

* * *

Victor groaned and opened up his eyes. His tail slowly moved back and forth, slowly, weakly. He placed a dinosaurian hand on his head, being very careful not to cut himself. His eyes seemed to lack a glow as he looked around the room groggily, wondering what had just happened. The last thing he could remember was facing off against the Dino Squad, and then all went black after that. Different scents started to fill his nostrils, arousing him into awareness. He slowly shook his head and lifted it off the cold, hard floor. Nearby, he could see Oscura and Kista, and after a few seconds, Michelle, although she was off in the distance. Why, Victor could not figure out. Oh well, he would find out eventually anyway.

Groaning again, Victor shook his head again and managed to rise up to his feet, albeit on shaky legs. Oscura and Kista looked at each other, looking almost like they were confused about their leader's behavior. Or maybe they were worried he would get angry. Victor didn't know how long he had been knocked out, but he was going to find out. His eyes slowly regained their usual golden glow, and he let out a long, soft hiss, although it wasn't a threatening one. He took a wobbly step towards Oscura, who immediately took a step back as if she was afraid that she was in trouble. Kista remained where she stood, although she, too, looked a little uneasy herself.

'What happened here?' Victor asked, his eyes drooping slightly. He was addressed Oscura specifically, his eyes locked onto hers. Oscura didn't answer right away and instead just gave him a blank stare. Victor growled softly. 'I said what happened here.' He repeated, the message sounding stronger than it did the first time.

Oscura bared her teeth nervously. 'You were knocked out.'

'I kind of figured I was...' Victor said, slowly shaking his head. 'The pounding headache that I have kind of hinted me to that. But what happened here? Other than that?'

'Well..we fought the Dino Squad and...' Oscura started to say, but was cut off by Victor.

'The Dino Squad?!' Victor cried out. It just hit him. He didn't see the Dino Squad anywhere in the room. He looked back behind him where he was and noticed that the shackles were broken. Well of course they would be broken, he thought to himself. Otherwise he wouldn't have fought them. But now where were they? He didn't see their bodies anywhere, although he did see some blood on the floor. The room was a bit of a mess from the fight, and yet he couldn't see any trace of the Dino Squad still being there. And from the way Oscura and Kista were acting, he suspected that they must have failed at their jobs. Victor hissed angrily. 'Did you let them escape?! And where are the mutantsaurs?!' Victor looked around, not seeing his newly created mutantsaurs anywhere.

'Michelle held them back.' Kista said, taking a step forward. Victor shot her a confused look, which only baffled Kista more. 'Why does that surprise you? She insisted that you wanted her to hold them back or something until you gave the signal. But of course she had to keep them at bay for a long time because you were knocked out...'

'I never told her to do such a thing!' Victor hollered, lifting his tail straight into the air as if he was going to attack.

'Ah ha!' Oscura screeched, turning her head towards Michelle. 'I knew you were lying!'

'But...but I really did think that Victor gave that order..' Michelle lied, hoping to get out of this mess. But she wasn't sure if she'd be able to fool Victor for long. She gave a sideways glance to Victor, hoping to make amends to him. 'I'm sorry, sir, I..I guess I just misunerstood your orders. I thought you wanted to control the mutantsaurs, so I thought you would expect me or someone here to keep them at bay until you wanted to take control of him.'

'Only I can control the mutantsaurs. How did you manage to keep them at bay?' Veloci asked, tilting his head to one side.
'W-Well..I...' Michelle started to say, but she didn't know how to explain her method. 'I'm not sure how I can explain it to you, sir...'

'Whatever.' Victor then took notice that the mutantsaurs were there. They looked anxious, ready to fight. They seemed to be looking in one direction in particular. Victor followed their gaze until he spotted something. He saw what looked to be a few footprints, although they were hard to see; they were extremely faint. Then he picked up the Dino Squad's scent. He recognized that direction. He used the same one when he was bringing in the Spinosaurus. It didn't take long for Victor to realize what had actually happened. 'You three lost against the Dino Squad and you let them use one of our hidden routes to escape?!' He screeched in anger.

Oscura and Kista quickly backed away, not wanting to be close to the angered raptor. Oscura tried desperately to think of something to say. 'But..but sir..it was all Michelle's fault..' Oscura glared towards Michelle, who obviously couldn't see her because she was still trying to keep the mutantsaurs from running towards the exit. 'I-If she had only unleashed the mutantsaurs, we would have...'

'It doesn't matter if she unleashed them or not!' Victor hollered, stomping a foot down. 'You should have been able to handle them! You have a poisonous bite, Oscura. And what if you, Kista? I thought you told me the Dino Squad kids were easy to beat!'

'Well..they grew wise to my attack..' Oscura said. 'I wasn't able to get a bite on them. I tried, though.'

'I admit, they were stronger than I originally thought. But I won't mess up again. I promise.' Kista said, bowering her head slightly in submissiveness.

Victor bared his teeth. 'You'd better not..for your sake..' He then made his way towards Michelle. 'And as for you, young lady..' Michelle tried to look up at Victor, but was too afraid to even move. 'I could easily give you punishment for this...' Michelle closed her eyes, waiting for Victor to strike her. But for some reason, the blow never came. '..but I'll let it go for now. Just follow me. We're...' Victor realized someone was missing. 'Where's Moynihan? Didn't you bring her?'

Michelle's eyes widened. 'Yes, sir..I did...' When she took a closer look at the mutantsaurs, she realized that Moynihan was indeed missing. She felt her heart start racing. 'She must have ran off...'

* * *

The Dino Squad, still remaining in dino mode, were running through the tunnel. So far, they hadn't encountered any traps, or at least they hadn't tripped up any. They were surprised and confused. Where were all the traps? Shouldn't there be any? Victor is not the type to take chances, so surely there should be some form of traps here in the tunnels, or some sort of method upon which Victor can assure that access would be restricted. But why should they complain about that now? They took advantage of the supposedly nonexistent traps and continued to race through the tunnel. If they could just get out as quickly as possible, the less of a chance they would have to deal with any inconveniences.

The tunnel was a dark gray in color, although they could have sworn they could see a reddish hue in it as well. The pathway had a single row of lights overhead, somewhat dim but bright enough to illuminate the way. They could see pipes lining the walls as well as several cords. The gang figured that this might be part of Victor's power supply, and they considered severing it. But they couldn't take that chance. They didn't know for sure if that's what the material was for and they could end up causing more damage than they intended. Plus, they didn't know if Victor was behind them or not, or if anyone was chasing them. They had to get out of the tunnel and outside before they could continue to fight. Just then, they could see a large door that ended the tunnel. It looked rather large for human use, but just barely the right size for dinosaurs. It was probably meant for vehicle transport.

Flying overhead, Buzz noticed the door. He wanted to look behind him to see if anyone was following them, but he was too afraid to. 'Well that was really easy...' He said, although he spoke slowly in a suspicious tone. Something didn't feel right about this.

'Well at least we're out. Why complain about it?' Caruso asked, trying to sound more like his usual self. But there was a tinge of fear in his thought voice.

'Well, there could be some horrible trap waiting for us at the end of the tunnel.' Rodger explained rationally. 'There could be a hole that opens up with spikes at the bottom, some wall coming down to crush us, there could be mutantsaurs hiding, invisible barriers, lasers that could cut our limbs off...'

'That's enough!' Fiona called out, flinching slightly from disgust. 'I think we get the picture, Rodger..'

'Y-Yeah..I don't think I really needed to know all that.' Caruso said slowly, baring his teeth slightly in anxiety.

'Sorry guys.' Rodger said.

'But Rodger is right, guys.' Max said. They were getting closer and closer to the door with each passing second. Max wanted to slow down, but they've come too far now. Perhaps they would be able to escape, but on the other hand, they might just end up getting hurt, or even killed. 'There was no traps in the tunnel as we had expected. There is reason to believe that something might happen once we go through that door.'

'But what could happen?' Buzz asked, going a little lower in the air, but still high enough so that he wouldn't hit his friends.

'We'll find out!' Max announced. He ran as fast as he could, making sure that he remained in front of his team mates. He then lowered his head, preparing to smash the door that he would collide with within seconds. Suddenly, his head smashed against the hard door with full force. A searing pain swept through his head and he pulled his head back and let out a roar of pain. But the impact of his head against the door was enough to knock it from its hinges and it collapsed to the ground. Max shook his head, trying to shake off the pain. With an opening now available, he and the team rushed through the door, now entering a very familiar room.

The room was rather large in size, perhaps being even larger than Victor's actual laboratory. The walls were a teal in color, lingering more towards blue than green. The room itself was supported by large, dusty dark red arks that were positioned against, and even into, the wall. There were several rows of them on both sides. The room was mostly green in color, although there was a gray line on the edges of the room, almost like there was a giant carpet in the middle of the room. They could see large glass cages where mutantsaurs and where, they themselves, were kept at one point. It didn't take them long to recognize this as the same room where they were detained and where Caruso had to rescue them on his own.

The team never imagined they would be back in here. The site of the cages brought back unpleasant memories. The way they were kept like wild animals, locked up with no way to escape and not being able to change back into human form without exposing their true identities, it was a horrible memory for them. The worst off was Max. He wasn't in a cage like the rest of the team. He was detained with energy rings and had to hold still. The rings were very hot, he had said at the time, and if he moved, he would have burned his skin pretty badly. While Moynihan had stated, while they were trying to find Caruso, that Tyrannosaurs were more resistant to the heat, Max figured that Victor had turned up the heat on those rings so that it would hurt him.

Max looked around the room. He tilted his head upwards and could see a catwalk along the side, above where the cages that his friends were in. He then could see a rack straight ahead, and there he could see several duplicates of the costume that Victor's men were wearing. Recalling what Caruso had done, that gave him an idea, if only briefly. Should they do what Caruso did and disguise themselves as Victor's men? Max then shook the idea out of his mind. It probably wouldn't be a good idea and he had already decided that they were going to have to fight Victor. He turned his head to where he had seen the exit, but to his dismay, he spotted a problem.

The door was completely blocked. As Rodger had suggested before, large lines, red in color, covered the exit. There seemed to have been a new installation since the last time they were there. Max and the others don't recall the metallic structures, looking almost like those scanners placed in stores to keep people from stealing, being by the door. It reached all the way up to the ceiling, as if Victor had been expecting an intruder to be able to fly or something. The red lines made a buzzing sound and from experience, the team knew to be cautious of things like this. The lines seemed harmless enough, but they couldn't take that chance.

Buzz looked up at Max. 'Well now what are we going to do?'

'Maybe we can go through the lasers?' Fiona suggested. 'Maybe it's safe. Maybe that's just there to frighten people, trick them into thinking it's dangerous.'

Max shook his head. 'I don't think so, Fiona. That doesn't sound like Victor. I'm positive those lasers aren't there just for show.'

'So who is going to test them?' Buzz asked, looking at Max and Fiona. The two gave him a weird look. Buzz tiled his head. 'What? Someone has to test it to see if it's actually safe.' Buzz noted, landing on the ground and motioning towards the rings. 'And I call not it!'

'You can't call not it, Buzz!' Max shouted.

'Yes I can.' Buzz declared with a bird-like smirk. 'Not it! See? I did it again.'

'Stop it!' Max ordered him. 'This is serious, Buzz! We don't have time for your games.'

But Buzz continued on, thinking that a little fun was what they needed after being detained by Victor for so long. 'I am serious. Not it!' Max growled in frustration.

Fiona walked in between the two. 'Stop it, you two! Buzz, Max is right. We should be focusing on trying to get out of here, not bickering with each other.'

'Sorry, I was just trying to lighten up the mood a little..' Buzz said, lowering his head.

'Just forget it. Now how are we going to get out?' Max looked up at the obstacle. The lines were pretty close together. Even in human form, they would not be able to get out. There had to be another way, but what was it?

Just then, Max felt someone poking him, if he could even call it that, in his side. Max looked down and saw Caruso, looking up at him in fear. 'Hey..Max..?'

'It's okay, Caruso. We'll find a way out of here.' Max glared at the lasers in front of him and snorted. 'I'll make sure of that...'

'It's not that..' Caruso said softly.

'It's not?' Max looked surprised. 'Then what it is?'

Caruso turned his head around so that he was looking behind him, towards where they had originally came into the room. 'We've got trouble.'

'What kind of..' When Max turned to see what Caruso was looking at, he froze in position. There, standing in the now smashed doorway, was Moynihan. She was still in raptor mode and her eyes still had the horrible red glow to them. Drool dripping from her jaws, she let out a loud, horrible hiss. 'Oh no..'

'Moynihan?! Where did she come from?' Buzz called out, taking to the air immediately when he saw the green Velociraptor.

'She must have followed us!' Rodger exclaimed, lowering his head in self defense.

'Well no duh!' Fiona said, walking up next to Rodger. 'But what should we do? Should we fight her?'

Max turned his head back towards the exit. They had to find some way out of this room. But how? With Moynihan now present, it was going to be even harder trying to think of a way to get out. Max took another look at the metallic structures at each side and began to wonder something. What if they could cause some kind of explosion in this area? The blast should be powerful enough to blast open the door, hopefully. Max turned back to Moynihan. But what to do with her? He couldn't let her get too close to the door, otherwise she would be killed. Max strained to come up with a solution that could work.

Then something came to Max's mind. He quickly turned to Fiona and Buzz. 'Hey! Buzz! Fiona!' The two turned her heads toward him, although remaining alert in case Moynihan decided to charge them right then and there. 'Would you two be able to distract Ms. Moynihan for a while?'

'I think so..' Fiona said, nodding her head. 'But why? What are you going to do?'

Max looked over at the lasers. 'I'm going to try to create an opening for us.'

'Are you nuts?!' Buzz was horrified. 'You'll get massacred by those lasers!'

'That's why I'm going to try to create an explosion.' Max explained, then looked over at Rodger. 'Rodge, do you think it would be possible to overload that system enough to cause an explosion?'

'I'm not sure. I might be possible..' Rodger said, frowning deeply. 'But I don't have the right equipment with me to do so.'

Max looked over to another part of the room. He thought he could see tanks full of water. Would they work, so long as they kept a safe distance? 'What about water? Wouldn't that work?'

'It might..but we would need to be far away from the water so we don't get electrocuted.' Rodger explained. 'But I'm not sure how it would be possible to transport that water over here and then get out of the way in time.'

'Maybe Buzz could do it?' Max suggested. 'He can fly. He can remain up in the air and toss the water over and still be at a safe distance. While he does that, we just have to keep away from the water...'

'Perhaps..but..' Rodger said, trying to think about how the plan might work.

While Rodger and Max were talking about the plan, Caruso walked up to Fiona. He stared at Moynihan, his eyes wide with fear. It was like he was seeing himself from a few weeks ago, when Victor had tested a weaker version of this chemical on him. Moynihan stared at him, licking her lips. Caruso was quickly reminded of Victor now, and what he had done to him. Caruso took a step back, but forced himself to stay put. He had to be brave. He had to help his friends keep Moynihan at bay while Rodger and Max try to come up with a plan. Caruso narrowed his eyes and lifted his tail high into the air in a threatening posture, hoping that his sheer size and the spikes on his tail would be enough to deter Moynihan.

But the female raptor responded differently. Rather than running, Moynihan started to advance on the trio, hissing loudly as she took several steps toward him. Caruso's eyes widened in fear and he gave out several bellows, hoping to frighten Moynihan, but it didn't even faze her. It felt like someone was controlling her. Caruso couldn't help but think that if she were more like a natural raptor, she would have at least hesitated. But, despite his attempts and despite efforts from both Buzz and Fiona, who were screeching at Moynihan, she continued to advance towards them. There had to be a driving force behind it, but what? Then Caruso thought of something. Could Victor be mind controlling her somehow?

'How long do we have to do this?' Buzz asked, letting out another screech at Moynihan. But he was becoming more and more frightened as she got closer. She looked up at him and hissed, looking poised to jump into the air and bite into him. 'I'm not sure how long we can keep this up. Sooner or later, she is going to attack!'

'We have to wait until Max gives the signal, Buzz!' Fiona instructed him. Moynihan took another step closer. This time, in an attempt to defend herself and her friends, Fiona quickly moved forward in a mock charge. She let out a roar as she lowered her head, snapping her jaws close to Moynihan. In response, the raptor jumped back about a foot, but continued to face Fiona. Moynihan hissed back, swishing her tail excitedly from side to side.

Caruso lifted up his tail again, turning slightly to his side in an attempt to make himself appear larger and more intimidating to the smaller Velociraptor. To show Moynihan that he was not afraid to use his tail, he slammed it into the ground a few times and then started to move it slowly from side to side, threatening to swing harder if she dare get too close to him. But he wasn't sure if he would be able to strike quickly enough. He remembered his fight with Victor. He wasn't able to land a hit on the guy. The same could go for Moynihan. 'But Buzz has a good point, Fiona. How can we hold off Moynihan long enough for a plan to be..well..planned out?'

'We have to try, guys!' Fiona said. She was now positioned further in front of Caruso and Buzz. She bared her teeth at Moynihan and roared again. She didn't want to hurt their mentor, but if it came down to it, if she had no choice, she would attack her. Fiona snapped at Moynihan again, hoping to make her move away. 'If we don't try, then we'll never get out of here!'

'I know that, Fiona. But what are we supposed to do if...' Buzz started to say, but quickly stopped himself. Without warning, Moynihan head leaped into the air, opening her jaws as wide as she could. She was aiming at Fiona's throat. 'Fiona! Look out!'

Fiona reacted quickly. She opened up her own jaws. When Moynihan got close enough, she snapped her jaws around Moynihan's body and then tossed her away. But she had tossed her in the wrong direction and by the time she realized her mistake, it was too late. She watched in horror was Moynihan landed a close distance from Max and Rodger, who were apparently still discussing some idea. 'Max! Rodger! Look out!' Fiona called out, turning her body around to face them. 'Moynihan's heading your way!'

Rodger turned around just in time to see Moynihan in the air, her head very close to his with mouth split open, exposing rows of jagged teeth. Rodger bellowed in shock and wasn't able to react quickly enough. The jaws slammed shut, but luckily Moynihan had missed his mouth and instead bit down onto his horn. Rodger lifted up his head and shook it rapidly, trying to make Moynihan let go. He tried to ignore the pain as she started to dig her claws into him so she could hang onto him. Rodger finally jerked his head back as far as he could, exerting enough force to make Moynihan release him. She sailed through the air and crashed into the ground.

Quickly, Max turned his attention towards Buzz. 'Go get some water and bring it over here!'

'Why?' Buzz asked, tilting his head in curiosity.

'To short circuit the lasers!' Max responded.

'But..wouldn't that electrocute you guys?' Buzz was hesitant to follow this order.

'Just do it!' Max demanded. He looked over at Moynihan. 'We'll get Moynihan away from this area. You just do as I say and short circuit the lasers!'

Although he still was unsure whether or not it was a good idea, Buzz still trusted Max's instincts. Perhaps he had something going here. Maybe Max's plan was going to work. Buzz nodded his head. 'Okay, Max!' Buzz then flew over where the aquatic tanks were. He didn't know why Victor had them. Probably to hold water-based mutantsaurs, he thought. He knew that he wouldn't be able to lift the tanks up off the ground, so he had to think of a more clever way of transporting the water. He looked around, trying to find something that would be useful. He then tracked his eyes across the floor, slowly towards the arch-like structures on either side of the door. Then he looked back at the tanks. He started to wonder what would happen if he just simply knocked over the tank. Where would it flow and how fast? And would they be able to get away in time?

No, that idea wouldn't work, Buzz told himself. The water would be too shallow to cause any damage. He had to think of another way. Somehow, he had to pour the water directly onto the arch, but how was he going to do that? The arch attached to the wall, so there was no way he could fly over it. Buzz tried to think of a way, and then he thought of something. Thinking back to one of his video games, he recalled something similar to his in a video game. There was an arch, a bit like this, but armed. He couldn't attack too low, otherwise the arch would collapse on top of him. And he couldn't attack the top other wise the armed structure would still be in the way. He found that the best strategy involved attacking the middle, just enough to shut it down. That was where the energy source was that powered the thing in the first place. Buzz looked at this arch in particular, narrowing his eyes. He wondered something. Could the energy source for this thing be in the middle? He couldn't tell, but it was a possibility. Buzz looked over at his friends. They were doing their best to herd Moynihan as far away from the door as possible. It wasn't too difficult. All they had to do was attack Moynihan and she attacked back. Using well executed attacks and mock charges, they were able to get Moynihan into a deeper part of the room.

Once he was certain that the others were far away enough, Buzz looked down at the tank. He couldn't lift up the tank, but he did see something that he could lift, a smaller box, probably for the smaller mutantsaurs. Buzz grabbed it with both of his feet and then swooped down towards the tank. He set the box down and then used his beak to sheer through the top of the tank. He made a hole just large enough to fit the box through. He dipped it into the water, filling it up until it was nearly to the top. He pulled it out and carefully held the water in both of his legs. He flew towards the middle of the arch and hovered there for a few seconds. 'Okay, everyone. Brace yourselves!' Buzz shouted as he tossed the water onto the arch. As he heard the thing start to crackle and hiss, he quickly flew away towards where his friends were. Just seconds later, there was a loud bang and a series of crackles and pops, and then suddenly, total silence.

Buzz had his head turned away. When it suddenly became quiet, he looked over to see what damage he had caused. He was surprised there was not much of an explosion, but there was lot of damage. There was a loud of black charring on the two arcs, even a bit of slight melting and twisted metal. There were some exposed wires, ripped up so he could see the smaller wires inside, sparks flying everywhere, although thankfully were above the water. Smoke rose high up into the air, hitting the ceiling and then spreading out. There was also some charring on the door, but to Buzz's dismay, there was not much of a dent in the door. The water itself had flooded outside, although there was a couple inches of water around the arch itself, slowly draining out the door.

Buzz sighed and shook his head. He looked over to see where his friends were. Moynihan lay on the ground, unconscious. Buzz didn't see who hit her, but he suspected that either Max or Rodger had knocked her out, since they would probably be strong enough to knock Moynihan out with a single blow. But he didn't know how long Moynihan would remain knocked out. She could wake up at any moment and attack. He then looked over at Fiona and Caruso. Fiona looked like she was trying to comfort Caruso, both still in dino mode. Caruso himself looked rather frightened, but Buzz wasn't able to tell if it was from the loud bang or from Moynihan laying there, still stuck in a feral state even though she was currently out cold.

Max finally turned away from his friends and took a few cautious steps towards the door. He squinted his eyes, trying to see the extent of the damage. He was expecting a massive hole in the door and perhaps even a small fire if possible. But he wasn't prepared for what he saw. There was little damage to the door, although a lot of damage to the arcs themselves. The red lasers themselves were gone completely. The water had fried some vital part of the machinery, and with that damaged, the arch couldn't function properly. But still, the door remained mostly in tact other than a slight dent and burn marks. That wasn't what he and Rodger were hoping for. Max sighed in disappointment.

'It didn't work...' Max said softly. He looked over at Rodger. 'Do you know why the plan didn't work?'

Rodger took a look at the damage himself. After a few minutes scanning the scene with his eyes, he turned back to Max. 'Actually, I think the plan did actually work.'

'What do you mean, Rodger? There was no..' Max tried to say.

'Look, Max. Look at that scene very carefully.' Rodger ordered Max, taking a confident step towards him. 'Think about it... The arc is clearly not functional anymore..'

'What good does that..' Then it hit Max. He took another look at the destroyed metallic structures. He once again noticed there were no lasers, nothing that would hurt them if they tried to cross. And the door didn't look like it was very strong. In fact, Max thought he could destroy it as easily as he had the other door not too long ago. Max's eyes widened as he realized that the plan hadn't failed just yet. If he could only get that door open, they could get out in the open. 'Rodger, you're right... The arc isn't working anymore, which means...'

'That nothing is going to stop us from knocking open that door.' Rodger said as he lowered his head, kicking at the ground like it was dirt. Before Max could say anything, Rodger ran towards the door, confident that the sparks wouldn't hit the water. Max's eyes widened and he looked away, fearful that Rodger was going to get hurt. But then he heard the sound of sharp horns hitting the metallic door, and then a loud, scratching sound could be heard as Rodger twisted his head to one side, ripping a large chunk out of the door.

Max looked at what Rodger had done in shock. After a few seconds, he came to his senses. 'Uh..Rodger? You know we could have just opened up the door on our own..in human form, don't you?'

Rodger nodded his head. 'Yes I know that. But I thought that it would be more fun to get out this way.' He said with a smirk on his face. Well, the kind of smirk that was permitted with his beak.

'Okay guys!' Max said, craning his head to look over at the others. 'Don't worry! It's safe! Come in, let's get out before Victor and the others arrive!' With that, the team quickly fled outside of the building, out in the parking lot area. As they left, they didn't notice Moynihan's eyes snapping open, revealing a bright red glow. She noticed the team running out of the building. She growled softly and slowly climbed up to her feet. She stood there for a few seconds and then gave chase, mouth split wide open as she let out a hideous roar.

* * *

"Ahhh...Interesting.." Victor glanced up at the scanners. They indicated that Moynihan and the Dino Squad were close by. Moynihan had followed the students down the pathway and had apparently confronted them. And they somehow made an escape. Victor wasn't sure how they pulled it off, but they did anyway. The scanners indicated that Moynihan was attacking them just outside of the facility, although he could not tell who was winning. He did notice something unusual though. The team wasn't trying to escape. They were deliberately staying in the immediate area. Victor narrowed his eyes. This seemed suspicious to him. It was almost like they were expecting to fight soon, expecting him and his men to show up at any moment.

Peter had walked in a few moments ago. He wouldn't say where he had been, and if asked about it, he'd just say he was very busy. He wondered where Zoom had disappeared to and was almost immediately informed he was turned into a mutantsaur. Although horrified and guilt-ridden, he had to accept the reality and could not do a thing about it. He didn't try to protect against Victor, knowing that he could very well be next. Although his arm was still pretty much broken, he was still able to fulfill some duties, albeit slower than the uninjured workers. When he had heard that the Dino Squad was here and that they escaped, Peter was a bit angry because he wanted to have a chance at getting even with the kid who fooled him with the Chiller. When he saw that the kids were still in the immediate area, he was so tempted to go dino and attack them, but he held himself back. With a broken leg, he was not going to be of much use.

Michelle was also looking at the scanners, her eyes narrowing slightly as she hoped that the Dino Squad would leave while they can. She was growing ever more frustrated when they continued to stay in the area. She wondered if they were insane, waiting for Victor to attack them or something. Michelle kept herself a distance away from Victor. He was still a little mad at her for losing track of Moynihan and for lying to Oscura. He was starting to lose his patience with her, but her dinosaur form still made her a valuable member of Raptor Dyne and her past service more than made up for what she had done. Victor had warned her that one more slip up and she was off the team for good. This made Michelle even more nervous about the impending battle she knew was going to happen. How was she going to protect the Dino Squad and save her own skin at the same time?

Oscura was eyeing Michelle with a dark look on her face. This was all her fault and she knew that. Michelle had lied about the orders Victor had given her. Why the mad scientist would even want to give Michelle another chance is beyond her. But she did see a glimmer of hope in getting rid of Michelle. Victor had said that this was her last chance. If Michelle screwed up again, she was a goner. Oscura smirked. She was aware of the possible friendship Michelle had with the Dino Squad. If her theory proves correct and Michelle had been helping the Dino Squad, even helping them to escape their shackles earlier, then no doubt she would be trying to protect the Dino Squad in the fight she knew was going to happen. All Oscura had to do was wait until that moment comes. She would keep an eye on Michelle, and when Michelle does something that proves that she is a traitor, she can tell Victor about it and Michelle would be done for. Oscura chuckled in delight. Perhaps soon, oh so very soon, she will finally be rid of the little brat.

Kista was sitting down on a chair nearby, eyeing the scene with some interest. She was thinking back to the Dino Squad. They were just what she had hoped for. She was hoping for a challenge and she got it. Although they weren't quite as strong as she hoped they would be, they were still good fighters, despite the fact that they were humans. In some ways, they reminded her of Michelle and Oscura, who were also teenaged humans who can turn into dinosaurs. Kista didn't really believe that a human could completely master a dinosaur form. Just like Victor, she felt the only way to unlock a dino's true potential, one would have to have always been a dinosaur since they were born, and this is something that is only true with her, Victor, and Joanne. She glanced over at Victor and wondered what his next move was going to be.

Victor spoke up again. "This is rather unusual..." He said to no one in particular. He began typing away at his keyboard again, as if he were trying to find something.

"What is it, sir?" Peter asked, taking a step closer to the large screen. His eyes scanned across the screen, trying to see what Victor was doing. Many unusual words streamed across the screen, words that only Victor himself could understand. "What is all this?"

"They're just scans, Peter." Victor responded, not taking his eyes off the screen. "And as for what I was talking about, as you all probably noticed, the Dino Squad don't seem to be moving away from Raptor Dyne. They're hanging very close by actually."

"Isn't that a good thing?" Oscura asked. "It would mean that we would not have to go very far in recapturing those 'perfect dinosaurs'."

"Ah, but that's probably exactly what they want me to do. They are likely expecting me to come after them." Victor said, his eyes still glued to the huge screen before him. "I will have to come up with a more clever way of getting to them..to catch them off guard."

"Well if they are expecting you..." Peter said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. Then he held out his hand in a gesture known to humans as 'I do not know' and then said, "..how would you be able to take them by surprise?"

Victor thought about it. Peter did have a point. The Dino Squad were expecting him one way or another. Then he started to wonder something. Should he go after the Dino Squad now? Or should he let them run away? He shook his head mentally. No, likely the group of idiotic teens would remain where they were, waiting for him to attack. An attack from behind was impossible. Victor suspected that the children would be expecting that kind of attack. The only thing he could think of doing was a more frontal assault. He smirked darkly. This was the perfect opportunity to wipe them all out, though. Even if they did know that he was coming, that did not matter. They were too weak and stupid to be able to defeat him and his dinosaur and mutant minions. Even Moynihan would be fighting for his cause.

"Come on..Let's go give a warm greeting to the Dino Squad.." Victor said as he narrowed his glowing yellow eyes, a toothy smirk spreading across his face.

* * *

GRRRAAAAAWWW!

Moynihan leaped into the air, her feet pushed out in front of her, preparing to slash Caruso. The Stegosaurus reacted quickly and swatted her away with his massive tail. Moynihan crashed into the ground, but quickly recovered. She glared at Caruso, roaring loudly in frustration. She jumped at him again, but this time Fiona grabbed her with her tail, wrapping around her body. Fiona flung Moynihan away, roaring in the process. Moynihan wasn't about to give up. She faced the Spinosaurus, her tail swishing from side to side, slow, soft growls emitted from deep within her throat. They were the same sounds Caruso had nightmares about, although the nightmares he had were of Victor, not of Joanne.

The green raptor changed her target. She turned her gaze over towards the Tyrannosaurus Rex. She saw the blood on his head, where she had bitten him earlier. The smell of the red liquid was driving her insane and she snorted. She rushed towards Max at full speed and jumped at him. Max's eyes widened and he quickly ducked, letting Moynihan sail over his head. He quickly turned around and snatched the tip of Moynihan's tail with his jaws. He pulled his head back and then tossed her back into the ground, hoping that the constant tossing around would either knock Moynihan out again or make her lose interest. But she just kept on coming at them.

The Velociraptor, although now a completely wild animal, had some sense of thought process going on through her mind. And she couldn't understand what was compelling her to attack these dinosaurs. They were way out of her league, especially when they were fighting together like that. But yet something in her mind was urging her to attack, pushing her forward, and she had to obey. Roaring loudly, Moynihan ran towards the T-Rex yet again, this time going for a low attack. Aiming at the T-Rex's foot, she bit down on his ankle, sinking her teeth deep into his skin and scales.

Max roared in pain and lifted up his foot to try to shake off Moynihan. But he had moved so quickly that he had lost his footing. Max found himself fall onto his back, Moynihan still clamped down onto his foot. Noticing that the jock's stomach was now exposed, Moynihan focused her attention there. She leaped off of his foot and landed on his stomach. Without hesitation, Moynihan dug her sickle claws deep into the T-Rex's stomach. Max's eyes widened and he roared in agony as he felt blood start to ooze onto his stomach and sides. Horrified by what was happening, Buzz dove towards Moynihan. He waited until the right moment to strike and brought out his talons. At full speed, he slammed into Moynihan, knocking her into the ground and making her release Max.

Max struggled to his feet, although he limped slightly because of the pain in his stomach. Fresh blood started to drip heavily into the ground, but there wasn't much he could do about it. Max glanced down at the wound, noticing that it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Max looked up at Buzz, who was know hovering above Moynihan, taunting her with loud, bird-like screeches to keep her attention. 'Thanks, Buzz.' Max said softly, closing his eyes and wincing in pain. He wanted to hold his stomach, but his arms were too short. And he couldn't change back; he would lose blood much faster if he did.

'How long must we keep this up?' Buzz screeched again as Moynihan jumped up, snapping her jaws shut dangerously close to his wing. Buzz managed to get out of the way, knowing that if one of his wings are injured, or worse, both of them, he wouldn't be able to fly and thus not be able to defend himself efficiently against Moynihan, or anyone else for that matter. 'I don't know how many more times I can dodge her!'

'Isn't there a way to change her back?' Fiona asked, turning her head towards Caruso.

'Why are you looking at me?' Caruso asked, his eyes widening slightly.

'Well you did have a taste of that chemical..and you reverted to normal..' Fiona explained, her eyes narrowing slightly. 'Come on, Caruso. You must remember how you regained control...please.. It's the only chance we have of returning Moynihan to normal..'

Caruso glanced at the ground. He didn't want to think about what happened to him. He had been trying to push it in the back of his mind since he was rescued. But now rescuing Moynihan depends on him trying to remember how he got free. But Caruso didn't really remember how. He didn't know how he was able to break free, although maybe if he explained it to Fiona, she would be able to figure out how he had done it. 'Well..I could try to explain to you what happened..' Caruso said, gulping nervously. 'You see, I felt..I don't know.. empowered... angry... I-I wanted to attack anything that I could.. I wanted to kill that mutantsaur. Not just hurt it..kill it...' Caruso closed his eyes. 'But after I realized what I had done...It was too late... I realized in horror at what I had done... I...' Caruso lowered his head in shame.

'You stopped, didn't you?' Fiona asked.

Caruso nodded his head slowly. 'Yes, I stopped... I stopped those horrible thoughts running through my mind..after I realized what I had done...' Caruso reopened his eyes and looked back up at Fiona. 'I never been so scared in my life, Fiona. I know..I know it was just a mutantsaur..but I still killed..I still killed...'

Fiona tried to comfort Caruso by resting her long head on the back of his head, in between the first two pairs of plates. It was a strain on her body though, being a dinosaur that was supposed to stand tall, while Caruso's form required the head to be close to the ground. But she still wanted to comfort Caruso, so she kept her head on the back of his neck for a few seconds before lifting her head back up. She thought about what the boy had said. From what he had told her, he didn't really do anything special to regain control of himself. She wondered if Victor was aware of this. Could that be why he wanted to kill him? Was emotion the cure to helping Moynihan recover from this? Fiona turned her head back over to Joanne. If this were the case, would there be a way to pull it off? Would there be a way to make Joanne feel fear and shame and snap her out of this feral state?

Then it hit her. Fiona's mind went racing back to the lighthouse, when they had wanted to play a game and Fiona had went upstairs to ask Moynihan a question. Fiona recalled how vicious Moynihan was in there, her eyes glowing red just like now, snapping at her like a wild animal. Moynihan could have easily killed her, but something had stopped her. Until now, Fiona had no idea what that was. But could it be that Moynihan's sense of guilt had stopped her? Fiona had thought that Moynihan had simply heard her voice and stopped herself. But could there have been a bit more to it than that? Could the guilt of killing someone, regardless of who or what they were, have allowed the human mind to take over, even if only briefly? Fiona glanced down at Caruso, parting her mouth slightly in a dinosaurian smile.

'Caruso, you're a genius!' Fiona called out.

Caruso blinked a few times. 'I am?'

'He is?' Rodger was just as confused.

'Yes! Don't you see?' Fiona looked at Rodger and Caruso. When they just stared at her blankly, she realized that they truly didn't know what she was talking about. 'Well think about it. Caruso stopped because he felt the guilt of killing someone else. Moynihan stopped attacking me earlier because she felt the guilt of almost killing me. If someone were to allow her to pin them down and start calling out to her, maybe she'll remember. She might have an easier time recognizing us in human form..'

Rodger shook his head. 'That is the craziest, most idiotic idea I've ever heard!' He scolded her, not believing that she would make such a crazy suggestion. That plan was suicide! 'What are you trying to do? Get one of us killed?!'

'No!' Yelled Fiona, taking a step towards Rodger. 'I'm trying to save us from Moynihan's feral state!' She lowered her head, putting her long snout close to Rodger's. 'I do not care if you are a scientist, Rodger. Science is not going to save us from this!'

'And blind faith will?' Rodger narrowed his eyes. 'At least I'm not being crazy.'

'I'm not crazy! I just think that we should give this plan a try!' Fiona insisted, stomping her foot down once out of anger and frustration with Rodger.

Rodger glared at her. 'And I think that you should come up with a plan that is not going to get us killed...!'

'It could work!' Fiona said in defense.

Rodger growled softly. 'And what do you suppose we do, Fiona, when your little plan backfires and one of us gets seriously hurt?!'

'You're being unreasonable!' Fiona shouted. 'You...' Then she noticed something was missing, or rather someone. Fiona moved her head away from Rodger and looked around. She noticed that Irwin was missing. What had he gone? 'Caruso? Caruso! Where are you?'

Rodger noticed the Stegosaurus was missing too. 'Caruso? Where have you gone?' Rodger finally found Caruso and his eyes widened in horror. 'Oh no!'