The possibility of light was impossible. She had just opened her eyes from the deep slumber she was in. But when she opened them, there was nothing that she could see. It was pitch black, as if it were the nighttime sky without any stars.
Maisie Lockwood had been asleep for who knew how long. The last thing she remembered was being captured and locked inside of a madman's office. She remembered what had been done by that man's hand, all the lives lost. But after that, mostly everything was blurry. As if she were dosed with some sort of allergy medicine. She felt her head feel slightly dizzy, a sort of numbing feeling. She could slowly feel herself recuperating from said feeling, regaining much of her consciousness.
But as she tried to move herself, she felt herself being pulled back onto what felt like a metal bed. She felt her arms being held in place by something. And that's when the realization dawned on her. She was tied down. She must've been tied down when she had gone out cold. She tried to tug at the ropes that she couldn't see, but her hands were still held into place. She could feel the ropes around her torso as well.
It was as dark as night where she was, so that she could not see who or what was in this room with her. And she knew for a fact that someone was with her, for she heard a slight groan beside her. It sounded like a grown man, no doubt. But who it was, she could not tell. And if he was aware of her own presence, she could tell just as much. She grunted again as she tried to pull at the ropes.
"W-who's there?"
It was the voice of the fellow prisoner beside her. He must've been tied to a metal table just as she was. A table standing upright, like something one would find in an insane asylum to hold their patients.
"Who are you?" Maisie asked the strange voice.
"Isaac." The man replied. "Isaac Clement. You're Maisie Lockwood."
"How do you know that?"
"I know your voice. I knew your mother. Charlotte Lockwood, leading director of InGen Genetics. Right below Henry Wu. I worked with Benjamin Lockwood two years before the incident at his manor." She could almost feel the fear in his voice. It matched that of the fear within herself.
"Where are we, Isaac?"
"No idea, kid." Isaac replied. "One minute, I was at my job at the InGen bases set up in Utah, and then I woke up here. Why are you here?"
"Mantah Co-"
The footsteps that she heard was enough to stop her from finishing her sentence. Someone was coming. Just then, the lights turned on, revealing the room Maisie and Isaac were in. It was a white room, a sort of empty office of sorts. It also had the feeling as part of a laboratory. There was a man with thin facial hair and large black hair on his head who was, without a doubt, Isaac. But entering the room with them was a face that Masie was familiar with.
Dodgson.
Lewis Dodgson closed the door behind him and slowly approached the two tables. He held something in his hand. A silver briefcase. He set it down on a small desk as he faced the two restrained people. "Brilliant, you're awake. And here I thought I would be denied the honor of getting to know you." He walked towards Masie and put his hand under her chin.
"Maisie Lockwood. A real genetic human clone. Wu was right. You have the actual blood of your mother running through you. I'll be darned…"
"You're Dodgson." Maisie had nothing but hatred for this man, almost as much as Wu. Emphasis on Almost. "I saw you on the news that day. You're responsible for all those people. How could you do that?!"
Dodgson flinched a little at her tone but kept himself steady. "Casualties of an ongoing threat, miss Lockwood. Those Dinosaurs are still out there, raiding farms, leaving death and destruction in their wake."
"Don't give me that, it was you!" Masie exclaimed angrily. "You made those dinosaurs into living weapons. You staged all those attacks across the world!"
Dodgson still remained calm as he paced around the desk. "Honestly, I have o idea what you're talking about. We at Biosyn genetics aim to give the world more protection than it's ever dreamed of. The people know us as their heroes. We, as the new government, have discovered the very thing that the infected creatures are intolerant to. The effects of their disease causes them to become temporarily blind and their sense of smell to be ruptured by steam. And with this knowledge, we use the funds that the board of directors has given us and put them to good use."
Masie watched as Dodgson opened the metal case, hearing some metal clinging as he dug around. "But we have no intention of stopping at just defending these civilizations, miss Lockwood. The public sees InGen as the source of these attacks. Who are we to say that their assumptions are incorrect? And now, we receive word that the company Mantah Corp has been seen sheltering a small fraction of them."
"Mantah Corp?" Isaac questioned. "But Mantah Corp and InGen have been rivals for years. Daniel Kon's been trying to outclass Masrani since the first park fell."
"That he was, Mr. Clement." Dodgson nodded while staring at something in the case. "But good Mr. Kon had overlooked one little thing. A small object that had been placed unwittingly in the hands of his mercenaries. A small can of Barbasol shaving cream, discarded among the rubble of Jurassic Park."
"But what's so special about a can of shaving cream?"
"A mere reenactment of the Trojan Horse, Mr. Clement. One of my favorite history lessons growing up. Within that small can was the ability to create life itself. DNA of InGen's own dinosaurs, placed into several vials for safekeeping. Naturally, the plan was to deliver them to the ship I had ready. Unfortunately, things took a turn for the worst, and the can was lost."
Whatever Dodgson had pulled from the case was had stayed hidden behind the opened cover. Maisie could not make our what it was until Dodgson pulled it upward. A can of Barbasol shaving cream, but it looked old. Dented. Dirtier. Older than she was. It had to have been the one he was just talking about.
"But then, one day, opportunity knocked on Biosyn's door again. An unforeseeable incident involving a rival company, Mantah Corp by name, unintentionally brought this little beauty into our hands. The Embryo's were long since expired, but their DNA was still intact. The scientists in our facility were able to replicate the samples within and put together something John Hammond never dreamed of.
A world where Dinosaurs and humans truly co-exist."
Maisie narrowed her eyes coldly at the man. Her eyes briefly set upon the can in his hand, she still listened to him speak. "And then, one day, I watched the news report. Nublar's Dinosaurs in our world! And thus my dream was put unto effect. And now, Dinosaurs are in their rightful place. As man's mortal enemy. And I have you to thank for that, Maisie Lockwood."
That was enough to begin it. Maisie struggled in her restraints to try and lay a punch on Dodgson. But as hard as she tried, she could not break free. She grunted in anger as she struggled around to try and break loose.
Dodgson hardly took notice of her and looked at Isaac. "Isaac Clement. A former worker of InGen, and one of their chief scientists of the 21st century. As I recall., you helped work with Dr. Wu in the labs of Jurassic World."
"Uh, yeah. Kind of." Isaac said slowly. "But I quit after World fell. So I don't have any part of what they're doing now."
There was something about Isaac Clement when he said this. He seemed a little more nervous than he did when she first saw him. Maisie noticed this, and so did Dodgson.
"Is that so? You are no longer working with InGen? Or Masrani global?"
Isaac shook his head.
"Well then, this is quite embarrassing. It looks as if I have brought you here for nothing. My apologies sir."
He reached his hand to try and untie the bounds around his hands. Before he did, however, he stopped. "Oh, wait a minute. I have forgotten something. Something assigned to me by our brilliant CEO."
"What're you talking about?"
"Let me ask you something, Mr. Clement. How well do you take an I-V? Does it sit well with your bloodstream?"
"Um… well it doesn't exactly make me melt or anything. Why?"
Dodgson turned back and dug around in his metal case again. "You see, there is still much to be done, Mr. Clement. Although we have achieved more than Biosyn has ever dreamed of, Dr. Wu is not yet finished. His study on the Hurisym chemical, thanks to a friend of mine, has proven to be essential when it came to the mind of a dinosaur. We've learned that they respond to the automated signals emitted by our best facet. And the other night, as he reflected on Miss Lockwood here, Dr. Wu came across a thought.
What if it could enter a human mind?
Something about a 'higher human', I believe. I had not understood what he meant until he explained it to me. And you, sir, are the first to see this greatness. You are the first to experience it."
Isaac Clement watched as Dodgson finished his rummaging. There was an odd silence as Dodgson stood there, his back facing Isaac and Maisie. But what the two could see that he had found was beyond confusion. It was a small syringe with a purple liquid inside. Dodgson held it up as he walked over to the man strapped down before him.
"Mr. Clement, I am jealous." Dodgson said as he nodded his head, looking at the syringe. "You are the first to help continue Wu's vision of a better world. Inside this small capsule is what will give you a better life. Once the Hurisym enters your bloodstream, your past mind will be replaced by a new destiny.
Your brain will shift, your muscles will expand. You will be stronger than before. And most importantly, you won't feel a thing."
Maisie watched as Dodgson approached Isaac Clement with the needle. He lowered it towards his exposed arm. Isaac Clement himself looked at the needle with a somewhat nervous expression. No, scratch that. He was chilled to the bone. He had seen what the Dinosaurs out there were capable of. The carnage. The destruction. It made him wonder what exactly that stuff could do to a human mind.
He felt the point stab through his skin like a sewing needle. As it penetrated his arm, he immediately felt a new feeling entering him from the inside. It was a sort of numbing feeling. At the same time, tingling. Like it had been exposed to a sort of rash. He had no hope of relieving it himself since his hands were restrained, but all in all, nothing felt too out of the ordinary. He watched as the purple liquid drained as Dodgson pushed the small lever down.
Soon, the syringe was emptied of the chemical, and he removed it from his skin. A silence filled the room as the three individuals made not a sound. Maisie had expected there to be much worse happening here, so she was trying to process the feeling. Lewis Dodgson almost looked disappointed, as if he was anticipating something happening, but with more interest. Isaac Clement was in just about the same boat as Maisie. He was slightly scared. He hadn't seen how quickly the Hurisym could take effect of the mind of a 4 ton dinosaur, so he started to feel slightly relieved when nothing was happening.
"Well…" He said as he awkwardly looked at his arm, then at Dodgson. "That was… boring. Quite boring. Was something supposed to-"
The sudden jolt in his body interrupted him. He blinked as his eye twitched from the feeling inside of him. Soon. The jolt came again, even more violently. He grunted and struggled to control himself from the feeling his insides were getting. It was as if he had been hit with several bricks in the chest and stomach. To Maisie, it was painfully obvious what was happening.
It was a seizure.
She watched as he became more and more violent with each jolt and thrash. Soon his grunting was replaced by yelling. Screaming. Horrible screaming. His muscles had begun to tense up. She could see veins throbbing. Her skin turned white with fear from what she was witnessing.
But what came first made her even more chilled to the bone. The foam that started to come from his mouth. His screams were replaced by sickening gargle as his eyes rolled back into their sockets. She watched as both of them started to turn a pasty white. Sort of like a ghost.
Amidst the gurgling and thrashing, Isaac's screams seemed to change. His yells and screams were spending less human. To her, they sounded almost like some sort of animal.
Isaac slowly stopped his thrashing as his chest rose and fell slowly. His muscles seem to ease up as his nose quietly breathed in and out. Very little air was coming from his foam-covered mouth. And after a few more seconds, the sounds of breathing had faded away. The bubbles covering Isaac Clement mouth had stopped moving. His head and all of his other muscles had gone limp. His ghost white eyes had stopped rolling. There was no doubt in Maisie's mind.
She had just watched a man die.
However, Lewis Dodgson did not show as much horror as she did. In fact, he looked rather disappointed. He placed his hands on his hips before reaching into his pocket. He pulled out a small device and spoke into it. "Science log 824: Experiment 0013 has officially been labeled a failure. Test subject Isaac Jerome Clement failed to survive the injection. It appears that for success in these experiments, a stronger kind and more capable body is needed. Lewis Dodgson reporting."
Once he turned the device off, he turned back to Maisie. "You know, Ms. Lockwood. I've worked in Biosyn for a long time. Even before John Hammond even dreamed of a park of Dinosaurs. Our company was struggling because our long standing CEO, Bill Steingarten, had been ignorant enough to allow our stocks to plummet. He was Too arrogant to see that nobody wanted the kind of cures that we were creating. No matter the price change, there were always people who craved more. We were struggling to keep up with not just InGen, but every company on the Eastern Seaboard, even Mantah Corp!
But when the first park collapsed, Steingarten's leadership was questioned. And today, nobody in Biosyn even remembers the days when we were just a regular run-of-the-mill genetics company. Now, we are more than that. Now, we are the very thing keeping humanity alive. But then, at the peak of our success, you showed up. You snuck in here asking questions about things you do not understand. And when I found your walkie-talkie in the closet you hid in, I found an interesting symbol.
The Mantah Corp logo.
So Mantah Corp's gotten involved, has it?" He turned his head as he scratched his chin. "Not good. Not good at all. And they sent a child to to do their spying work? Honestly, I'm as surprised as you think. Now, I don't need to know where they are. From Isla Alten, they can do no harm."
His tone then turned from rather casual to a more dark and menacing one. "Unless they have people on the outside. If people see InGen as a threat, how exactly do you think they'll react to Mantah Corp getting all chummy?"
"You won't find anyone," Maisie said quietly as she shook her head. The tears from having witnessed a man dying were drying up. "Mantah Corp has changed since Kon. They're better than you. You'll NEVER find them. We will take down your little operation and you'll never see it coming."
Lewis Dodgson just stared at her quietly for a few seconds before lifting his speaker to his mouth. "Lab personnel. Please escort Maisie Lockwood to her quarters. Please escort Maisie Lockwood to her quarters."
With that being said, Dodgson turned off the speaker and opened the door. As the scientists appeared to cart Maisie to the room they were keeping her in, he passed by Howard King. He nodded briefly and headed down to the Biosyn lounge to grab a Budweiser.
But what he didn't notice was the shocked look on King's face. The man had just seen what the little girl had seen as well. Why did Mantah Corp have to send a child to spy on them when they had mercenaries who could do it for them? He wished he had never gotten tangled up in all this madness. As he watched Maisie get taken away, there was only one thing that came to mind.
He had to find a way to stop it all.
Wow. Just wow. That was a pretty dark chapter. And that's coming from the one who wrote it! If you haven't guessed yet, Isaac Clement is a character from the game Jurassic World: Evolution and Jurassic World: Evolution 2. I've adapted him into being an undercover agent for InGen, or what's left of it.
And we also get a hint at what Wu is going to di next. As if experimenting on the kind of Dinosaurs wasn't bad enough, he wants to twist the minds of possibly every human into becoming his own zombie-fied slaves. He intends to literally control their every move and keep them under his thumb. Yeah, pretty far from the movie's version, huh? Also, I do like Dominion. And I have no intention of stopping this story just because the movie is out now.
What is going on down at Mantah Corp? How will they be able to help stop Biosyn's next plan? Stay tuned, and Spare no Expense!
