When the final period bell rang out, The halls of Orca Point High School were transformed into a tidal wave up of over a thousand students. Some rushed as fast as they could out the doors to get home, many were going to a variety of after school clubs and still others finding their ways to friends to chill, chat or just goof around.
Amidst the chaos, five unremarkable looking students; Zephyr Gravemasker, Allison Mendoza, Ben Blacksnake, Laura Correia and Kevin Chang, took the time to meet up with one another before making their way out of the building with some haste.
It had been a week since they were exposed to a strange mutagenic ooze and mutated into a variety of prehistoric life. The day before they had finally been given a cure, allowing them to return to their human forms for a certain amount of time. And they could easily switch from human to humanoid saurian to full-on dinosaur at will.
The group made their way out of the building and into the school's parking lot and made a beeline to a large white van in the back of the lot that had probably seen better days.
"Ugh, I thought today was never gonna end…" Zephyr groaned.
"We've been off school for a week! How can you be tired already?" Allison asked.
"Yeah, but that week off was almost all training, experiments and junk like that. Not very relaxing if you ask me." Zephyr replied.
"You were the one who jumped on the opportunity to be a superhero." Ben told Zephyr, "Hard work comes with the territory."
"Yeah, but I didn't know hard work would be so… hard!" Zephyr groaned. "Let's just get home before something happens."
Earning an eye roll from Ben.
When the group reached the van, Zephyr unlocked it and everyone got in. Zephyr would take the driver's seat, as it was his vehicle. Ben hopped the passenger's seat, and Allison situated herself in the second row of seats. While Laura and Kevin flopped down on some bean bags that were laid out in the back.
But as Zephyr tried getting into the van, he realized that the car parked next to his, a heavily modified off-roader buggy with a really nice and probably new paint job, was way too close to his driver's side. It would be pretty much impossible for him to open his door without busting the neighboring vehicle up.
"Yo, Z! What's the hold-up? Everything good?" Ben called out from the passenger's window.
"I'm fine, someone just parked way too close, I'm gonna use some dino-strength to move it a little." Zephyr explained already shifting his hands and arms into that of his Plateosaurus morph, granting him extraordinary physical strength. "Keep an eye out for anyone would ya?"
Zephyr bent over and placed his hands underneath the buggy and started to lift. With his prosauropod strength, lifting the buggy was only a mild feat of strength.
But before he could reposition it an angry voice called out to him.
"Yo! What are you doing to my car bro!?" The voice, belonging to a young woman rushing towards him, demanded.
Zephyr shot a glare towards Ben, who gave him an apologetic shrug.
The woman was tall and fit, she had golden tanned skin and ginger hair that flowed down to her middle back with side bangs that reached to her chest. She wore a blank white long sleeved shirt under a brown cropped jacket, a pair of mustard yellow khakis and a pair of brown, leather mechanic's gloves.
Zephyr knew her pretty well, Fiona Flagstaff, a total gearhead and thrill seeker who seemingly had it out for him.
Though before Zephyr could even see her, he groaned. He recognized that voice.
"Oh… why her…" he whined, demorphing his arms back to human, and putting his hands away in the hopes that he could deny ever touching the vehicle.
Once she came close enough to see Zephyr's face she slowed down, a wide grin growing on her face.
"Oh, Zephi! What a surprise seeing you here. Still going round wrecking vehicles better than yours?" She taunted, hoping to elicit some form of reaction from Zephyr.
"You know that wasn't what happened." Zephyr responded coldly, knowing what she was trying to do.
Fiona seemingly thrived off of tormenting Zephyr about his past discrepancies, especially when it came to her cars.
"Am I going to have to complain about you with the school again? You remember what happened last time don't you?" Fiona said sternly, looking Zephyr down like a lion would a mouse. It gave him a weird feeling, like something instinctively told him he was in danger.
Zephyr shrank into his hoodie, to try and avoid the shame of that past experience as well as to avoid the predatory gaze of the woman.
"Hey!" Allison shouted, having crawled into the front seat to yell out the window "You parked like an idiot and blocked us in this space. Now we can't leave without wrecking your ugly car. So how about you move it, leave Zephyr alone and let us go home!"
Fiona was a little taken back by Allison's words, and annoyed with Allison calling her car ugly. But she didn't let anyone see those emotions and backed off.
"Oh, well that's all you needed to say." Fiona huffed, and she made her way to her own driver's seat and pulled away, giving Zephyr enough room to get in his van and drive away.
Allison crawled back into the back seats and Zephyr, now a little red from embarrassment, navigated out of the parking lot.
Once they were on the road, Allison decided to ask something that had been bouncing around her mind since her encounter.
"So Zephyr. Who was that girl?" She asked.
Zephyr thought if he should answer for a moment before deciding that giving the group some info might be helpful.
"That's just Fiona, she was a regular at my grandpa's garage when it was still open. She totally hates me for no reason!" He explained "she got me suspended for three weeks one time when she pulled in front of me out of nowhere and stole my parking space. I didn't have time to change directions so I completely wrecked the back of her car. She convinced Principal North that I had done it Intentionally, so now I'm on some violence list."
Zephyr tried not to get too upset about the past event but every time he was reminded of it it made his blood boil.
"I'll admit I was yelling at her about it, but she claims I threatened her and attempted to wreck her car more!"
He took a deep breath, "Anyways, she just loves antagonizing me about it, and knows she can get me in trouble whenever she wants, so I cant do a thing about it."
"Jeez," Ben stated, "That's pretty rough." He wasn't quite sure what to sit on.
"Eh, it's fine. I just wanna get back to my room so I can chill and play some games." Zephyr admitted, as he made his way to his friends' houses to drop them off.
— — — DS:TNM — — —
Kevin had just left the van and was walking into his house, his mother waving excitedly to him and his dad giving Zephyr a thankful head nod.
Laura the only person left in the car as she insisted on being dropped off last.
Suddenly Zephyr's phone began to buzz. The raptor claw icon was a dead give away.
He gave an exhausted and annoyed sigh, but picked it up.
"What's up Vic?" He greeted
"DinoSquad! Zet just detected an ooze-related issue in Feresa Park. Get yourself morphed, I'll have a carrier sent out to where you need to be headed." Victor briefed.
"Roger that, I was just dropping everyone off, send them a message to be outside waiting for me!" Zephyr said, before turning off the device and deflating, "Ugh… I knew something was gonna happen today." He said as Kevin hopped into the back seat. And once he had put on his seatbelt, Zephyr sped off.
— — — DS:TNM — — —
Despite Zephyr's exhaustion he took the report seriously and within a few minutes he had picked up both Ben and Allison and arrived at Feresa Park. He parked the car and everyone leapt out of the vehicle. In the parking lot a DeinonyCorps. Carrier sat waiting to be activated by the DinoSquad. Zephyr also took note of five tricked-out motorcycles, resting on the sidewalk.
Feresa Park was a really nice area, it was mostly grassy lawns, playgrounds and flower gardens but there were some natural wetlands and a creek surrounded by forest where a mutant could easily be created and hide-out. Thankfully, the place was nearly abandoned, and the few people who were there seemed fairly undisturbed, so it was fair to assume that any mutants were deeper in the park.
The team walked through the park unnoticed, and once they reached the unoccupied forested region they morphed into their half-dino forms. After a few minutes of walking they could all hear the sounds of several large creatures fighting. It was undoubtedly a sign of their mutant and they raced towards the sound.
But what they came across was even more shocking than even the most messed up looking mutant.
Five dinosaurs; a Tyrannosaur, a Spinosaurid, a Stegosaur, Triceratops and a Pteranodon, were circled around a freaky looking mutated salamander, who despite its frightening appearance was clearly trying to escape the confrontation. But whenever it would try to flee, the poor creature's escape route would be cut off by one of the five dinosaurs and it would be pecked, bitten, stabbed or spiked.
"I don't think this one's anything like that sea cucumber…" Laura said, clearly upset by watching the cruel treatment of the mutant. "We gotta help her!"
Before anyone could say anything Laura was already full-dino and flying towards the mystery dinosaurs.
"Ah, Laura, don't!" Zephyr cried out after her, "We still have to- oh nevermind…"
"Those guys are dinosaurs too, you think they're people who got mutated?" Kevin asked.
"They'd have to be. They're too coordinated to be animals." Allison reasoned.
"Well if that's the case let's quit talking about helping and actually do something!" Ben said, going full-dino and charging in after Laura.
"Hey! Leave that poor thing ALONE!" Laura cried out as she struck the Pteranodon from above, sending him plummeting down.
The Pteranodon fell, stunned by the attack, but caught himself only a few feet before hitting the ground. With a few wingbeats he sent up a cloud of dust from the earth and launched skywards to chase after his attacker.
The others in the Pteranodon's group saw this and their attention shifted away from the salamander and towards Laura.
Seeing a chance to escape, the salamander leapt into the creek and seemingly melted into the water. Disappearing completely.
Whilst distracted by the aerial scuffle, Ben tackled the Tyrannosaurus, sending him falling to the ground. The impact shaking the Earth below them.
"I know a bully when I see one! And I really don't like bullies." Ben said standing above the fallen . "Who are you, and how did this happen to you?"
From below him the groaned.
"That's rich… coming from you." He said, voice dripping with hatred. "Why would we listen to somebody who just came out of nowhere and attacked us."
The got up, attempting to kick Ben's legs out from under him, and snarled at Ben, "I'll give you one chance to get away and stay away from us, Blacksnake."
Ben recognized the Tyrannosaur's voice once he said his name. "Max?! Is that you?" he asked
Max laughed, "Of course it is Benny-boy, Who else could it be? We got dunked in a whole bunch of goop a few days ago."
"We must be spiritually linked or something, nothing can happen to one of us without it happening to the other. It's so unfair! When am I finally gonna get a one-up on you"
"Well I don't think you deserve 'one-ups' if you're gonna use them like this!" Allison said, running to Ben's side so she could back him up if necessary.
"Jeez! What's your problem? We're just trying to protect people from that thing, and you let it escape!" The Pteranodon said as he landed on the ground, Laura perched atop Ben, with her back arched and glaring at him.
"I'll tell you what his problem is Buzz. Ben can't stand anyone but himself getting the glory for something, no matter who gets hurt in the process."
"Let's all just calm down and figure this out. Obviously Ben and Mr. T-rex know each other." Kevin said, flapping his feathers wildly to get everyone's attention. "I'm Kevin, and this is Laura, Allison and Zephyr. I think you all know Ben."
"What are you doing!?" Zephyr hissed, "you're just gonna give out our secret identities like that!?"
"You've gotta be kidding me!" A familiar voice shouted, coming from the Spinosaurus. It was distinctly Fiona, the girl from the school parking lot. She was laughing raucously about the situation.
"Man, it took me so much restraint earlier to now go dino on you when you were messing with my car." She said, "but it looks like I get to give you some of the best down you deserve for scratching up my paint!"
And with that Fiona ran towards the group, jaws agape menacingly. She snapped her jaws wildly at Zephyr a few times, but he just barely dodged them.
Zephyr took a blind swipe at her with his claws to get her to back off. He managed to clip the tip of her snout, and knocked her snout away. Fiona shook her crocodile-like head to relieve the stinging slightly, as Zephyr's talons cut a short but deep gash into her snout.
"You're gonna regret that…" she snarled, readying another attack. But before she could, she was sent flying by a well-placed kick delivered by Kevin, and fell to the ground with an earth-shaking thud. A stray tooth flying into the grass nearby.
"Sorry Zephyr, I- I didn't know." He said.
"It's fine." Zephyr told him, "You were just trying to de-escalate."
Fiona's attack prompted the rest of her group to attack as well. Ben gritted his teeth as he pushed back against Max's tyrannosaur form after he attempted to tackle him. The theropod currently had the height and dexterity advantage against him, and his claws were digging deep into his flesh, but Ben was personally more concerned with the thunderous snapping of jaws above him. Just a single well-placed chomp would easily shatter his bones.
But Ben had the brute strength advantage against Max, he powered through the pain, and with a quick assist from Laura pecking Max on his sensitive nose, he was distracted enough for Ben to push Max back and put some space between them.
Laura then quickly flew away as she was being pursued by the Pteranodon, Neil Buzzmani, Buzz for short.
Buzz's attacks were predictable but vicious, first he would gain altitude, before swooping down and attempting to knock Laura out of the sky. He was much bigger and physically stronger than her, but Laura had the clear advantage when it came to speed and agility, as she easily dodged all attacks that he threw at her.
Currently Laura was playing a supporting role in the battle, swooping down to deliver her own sharp, toothy pecks on her opponents whenever she was clear of one of Buzz' strikes.
She finally gained an advantage on him though, when she dived into the treeline. Buzz followed but his significantly larger wingspan made sure he was hitting every single tree branch. Finally he was knocked out of the sky once Laura launched a surprise attack from above, landing on his back and sending him colliding with the trunk of a thick oak tree.
Allison was currently engrossed in a battle with the group's Stegosaur, Irwin Caruso. It was a classic battle, with Allison circling him, looking for any opening to attack, while Caruso stood, with his tail facing her, constantly pivoting so that his deadly tail could intercept her. However, Caruso didn't account for an attack that came from behind. Zephyr, spun around on his heel and whipped his spiny, barbed tail across his face. The Stegosaur roared in pain, giving Allison a chance to pounce on his back, out of the reach of his tail. She nestled herself between his twin rows of back plates in an attempt to wrangle him like an alligator.
A few yards away from Allison, Kevin was battling against the Triceratops, who was another Orca Point student named Roger Blair. Kevin danced around Roger, using his greater speed and agility to avoid the ceratopsian's charge attacks like a matador fighting a bull.
"Agh! Hold still, you big turkey!" Roger roared, as he turned after missing Kevin again.
"Ah, I don't think I will." Kevin said before he leapt into the air to avoid yet another stubborn charge attack and delivered a two-legged kick into Roger's skull. The Triceratops was pushed backwards a few feet, he shook his head to alleviate the throbbing in his skull and lowered it reading another charge.
While powerful, Kevin's kick sent him falling to the ground and leaving him prone to another attack.
The Gigantoraptor was surely about to be skewered on Roger's 6-foot horns but he was sent skidding to a stop when Max slammed into him, having been thrown by Ben.
The other dinosaurs had been beaten pretty badly, Max snorted, checking over his defeated crew. He may have hated Ben but he wasn't an idiot. He morphed back to human form, followed soon by his team-mates, their injuries still visible on their faces.
"This isn't over, you're going to get what's coming to you soon." Max snarled. "Lets head back to base." He said go to his team, as he walked away.
Fiona quickly ran to his side, "What are you doing Max!?" She hissed, "You heard what Ms. M said about these guys, we can't just leave."
"Fiona we're getting our butts kicked, we need to go back to the lighthouse and train. Besides, they already gave us the best weapons to fight back with for the time being." he said, pointing to the scratch on Fiona's nose.
Figuring out Max's plan quickly, Fiona's frustration turned into giddy excitement.
"Oh, good idea Maxie!" She cooed, "This'll be fun!"
The DinoSquad watched Max's team until they were out of the forest. Once they were gone Ben rallied the team together.
"Come on team we've gotta get that mutant before something bad happens." He said, walking off deeper into the wooded section of the park.
Laura flew after him, followed soon after by the rest of the team.
— — — DS:TNM — — —
After about 20 minutes of searching, Zephyr was starting to get tired.
"Hey Ben, this thing's obviously not going to attack anyone, so why don't we call it quits and head home." Zephyr said, peeking behind a large bush. "Besides, it'll be like our very own Nessie, and you know we could use a little more excitement around this town."
"Oh and the two gangs of mutant teenagers, a secret organization of dinosaurs and a literal sea monster destroying downtown last week aren't cutting it for you?" Allison asked, before going back to sniffing fiercely at the ground, trying to trail the mutant's scent.
Laura was flying low over the creek, certain that the mutant was still hiding as water. She landed at a muddy bank and was distracted momentarily by a pair of small fish darting between round river rocks. She thought about possibly snapping one up for a snack but quickly shook the thought away. She had to stay focused.
"Come here little salamander, we promise we won't hurt you like those other mean dinos did. We wanna take you somewhere nice and safe where nobody will hurt you" She called out softly.
The little fish in the river then suddenly faced up to look at her.
"Oh weird.." she said out loud as they came closer to her. "Well, I suppose we would have plenty of room for you little fishies as well." Laura said to the fish, who immediately darted beneath the water and swam away.
Then the water began to rise up from the streambed, and it took the shape of a salamander head.
"Wait, have you been watching us?!" Laura asked, shocked. The salamander's head nodded and Laura took a few seconds to process.
"Wait, can you understand me!?" She asked, and the salamander nodded again.
"That's amazing! You can totally understand me! Zet and Theira are totally gonna flip out about this!" she cheered. Though, the sudden loudness made the mutant wary.
"Oh, don't worry. They'll freak out in a good way!" She reassured, "Come on out of the water and follow me, my friends and I will take you to a safe place. It's got its own big, clean stream with a tall waterfall, I'm sure you'll love it!"
The salamander stood still for a moment before retreating under the water.
"Oh, I suppose that didn't sound very nice then…" she muttered. Before a cascade of water showered down upon her. The salamander's entire body was now standing above the water, and Laura could really get a good look at it.
The creature was seemingly made out of water, her transparent skin slightly rippled solidifying the illusion. Inside the watery form Laura could see many little creek creatures swimming about inside the mutant, including the little fishes from before, a swarm of tadpoles, a crayfish, lots of water plants and even another, much smaller aquatic salamander.
It stood on two legs with its long, paddle-shaped tail trailing behind it for quite a while. Going up the long torso, it possessed four large, powerful-looking arms with four-fingered, webbed hands, and above that a short and thick neck, on which the powerful jawed head, covered in small bumps and many pinprick black dot eyes. There was also a wide clump of lily pads that sat at the top of the creature's head looking almost like a floppy hat or shaggy unkempt hair.
"Come on girl, let's go!" Laura said lifting off and showing the salamander to her friends, she wasn't sure why, but she just had the gut feeling that the creature was a female. And the salamander did just that, following Laura through the underbrush.
Once she made it back with the group, Laura dropped to the ground and loudly warbled.
"Hey guys check it out!" She cried "I found her!"
All four heads turned to her, upon hearing her exclamation.
"You found the mutant!?" Kevin asked "Where is it!?"
"She's right behind me." Laura said, before turning to the bushes behind her. "Come on out, they're with me."
On cue, the foliage rustled and the 18 foot tall figure stepped out, her watery form trampling the smaller plants beneath her..
Once out in the open the transparent skin rippled and changed from transparent to a marbled pattern of dark blotches on a light brown background.
"Woah… that's incredible, and you made friends with it?" Kevin said.
"I'd really appreciate it if you stopped calling her an 'it'." Laura told Kevin. "But yes. She is very sweet."
"Wow that's incredible, but what shout we call it- er- I mean them" he commented.
"I dunno… I was kinda thinking Lily would be a good name. Y'know because of the waterlilies she's got on her head." Laura said, "but uh it can be something different if you don't like it."
"No, I think it's a great name, very fitting." Allison said, reassuring Laura a little.
"Oh yeah, do you like it?" She asked the mutant, who, much to the astonishment of everyone but Laura nodded in affirmation.
"Lily it is then!" Laura said, a smile growing wide on her face.
"Wait- Wait a minute!" Zephyr interrupted, "Lily can understand you?"
Lily nodded to him
"I think she can understand all of us, the ooze mutated her brain when it mutated the rest of her, so she got smart enough to understand things and sense the telepathic waves or whatever we use to talk." Laura theorized.
"That actually makes a lot of sense." Allison reasoned "our brains must've mutated or else we wouldn't have the ability to talk without, well, talking. But since humans are already super intelligent, we didnt notice or didn't get any intelligence boost. But Lily was a normal salamander before mutating, so her brain was affected more."
"That's just stupid enough to make perfect sense, honestly." Zephyr said. Earning him a light smack on the side from Allison's tail.
"Ow! I was complimenting you!" He whined.
"Well that's really fascinating and all but what are we going to do with her, she cant stay out here with Max and his goons roaming free." Ben asked
"Lily said she was ok with going to the biodome so she could be safe from them, she trusts me and she seems to trust you too." Laura told him.
"All we need to do is to walk her to the truck and we can drop her off at her new home!"
"Well, that's incredibly convenient, I hope all our missions go this smooth." Zephyr said, running back the way they had come. "Vámanos, let's get a move on!"
The rest of the group collectively sighed.
"That's the guy who got us all into this, what a hero." Allison groaned.
— — — DS:TNM — — —
The group had successfully gotten Lily into the back of the truck, all it took was Kevin running out in the middle of the park and distracting everyone there with a story about a monster in the woods, as the rest of the team escorted Lily into the back of the carrier truck.
Zephyr, Kevin and Allison rode in Zephyr's van while Ben and Laura took the carrier. They had made their way back to DeinonyCorps with no issues. Upon arriving in the dome Lily made a beeline for the large stream running through the middle and melted into its waters. Laura offered to stay behind and watch her, but the rest of the group had decided that they were ready to finally go home. They said their goodbyes and parted ways for the night.
— — — DS:TNM — — —
On the other side of town, just on the coast, stood an old lighthouse. It no longer worked but it was still very nice looking, with a small garage built on the side.
Five motorbikes pulled up to it and parked inside said garage, it was Max and his team. They were in human form as they removed their helmets and went inside the lighthouse itself.
Fiona was wearing the same clothes as she was earlier in the day, but they were now covered in mud from her run in with Zephyr and Kevin. Which was the main reason for the scowl plastered across her face.
Max was just as tall as Ben but far leaner, he was built like a modern day hercules and was very proud of that fact. He was a tan-skinned Asian who wore a gray tank top underneath an olive-green leather jacket and blue jeans. His jet black hair was long and shaggy and he wore the back in a small man-bun tied back with a brown leather strap.
Roger was a portly guy, very round around the midsection. He was black with hair shorn down to the skin and a fluffy, almost scraggly looking beard on his face. He wore a white and maroon hoodie and gray sweatpants as he didn't see any real value in fashion, whatever was comfiest was what Roger was going to wear.
Buzz was ghostly pale from a lifetime spent indoors, he had neon green hair that was originally brown that reached all the way down to his butt, he used to have it styled, often as a mohawk. But recently he had just been letting it grow out and hang there. He wore a mustard yellow t-shirt with some indie band's logo plastered across the chest and tight blue jeans.
Caruso was white, but only a fraction lighter than Max which gave him an Asian appearance. He had beautiful slate-blue hair that was soft, fluffy and exuded a healthy glow. He had a tiny bit of eyeliner on, which was almost unnoticeable. He wore a designer t-shirt he had found on the internet after his mutation that featured a little cartoon Stegosaurus on the right breast pocket and black slacks.
They were exposed to the ooze the same day Ben and his team were but clearly they didn't have the same level of skill.
Opening the door to the lighthouse they were met with a clean, cozy, nautically-themed home. Complete with well-maintained antique furniture and a horde of Knick-knacks wherever you looked. Several large gallery windows let plenty of light in and revealed a beautiful view of the ocean. The whole space was circular, surrounding a thick central beam that was wrapped by a spiral wooden staircase.
"Hey Ms. Moynihan! We're back and we've got some news for you." Max said as he took off his shoes and placed them on a rack near the door, Moynihan didn't allow anyone to wear shoes inside.
From the upper floors, a small woman with a pale complexion who looked to be in her sixties or seventies, made her way down the stairs.
Ms. Joan Moynihan was the team's science professor at Orca Point High, though she also spent much of her time in the woodshop and engineering lab.
She wore a lime green sweater under a lavender cardigan that fitted loosely around her, appearing almost like a robe. She had shoulder length hair that had gone entirely silver-gray, with some streaks of white running through it. A pair of horn rimmed glasses sat in front of two tired periwinkle eyes with a face that had hard, stony features, though she smiled warmly at the group.
"Yes, what is it?" The woman said, speaking with an Irish accent. "Did you find the mutant?"
"Yeah, we did. But…" Max responded, not really sure how to explain what happened.
"There are other mutant Dino people out there!" Neil blurted, earning a quick glare from Max.
"What do you mean 'other mutant Dino people'?" Moynihan asked.
"Five people, other students from Orca Point, had their own Dino forms. They came to the park after the salamander and kicked the tar out of us." Neil said, gesturing to the lump on his forehead
"Is that true?" Moynihan asked Max, concern growing in her voice.
Max nodded, "Yeah, they know me and Fiona at least, but they told us who they were, They're other students at school."
"I think they're working with DeinonyCorps. After they beat us we retreated and there was a huge truck with a livestock trailer built in. It had their company logo on the back." Roger said, putting a look of concern on Moynihan's face.
"DeinonyCorps… oh no. That's not good at all." She said.
"It wouldn't surprise me." Fiona said, "didn't you see the news last week? That CEO, Victor Valiant or whatever, probably bioengineered the ooze himself to take over the world."
"No, Veloci couldn't make a substance that advanced if he had all the technology in the world." Moynihan muttered.
"What do you mean by that?" Caruso asked, "Do you know the guy?"
Moynihan sighed. "I suppose you should know the truth."
"We already know you're a raptor. What else is there?" Fiona said.
"More than you can imagine Ms. Flagstaff." Moynihan said, shifting to her natural raptor form. "But allow me to explain and it should all make sense."
— — — DS:TNM — — —
Humanity wasn't the first species on the Earth to build civilizations. 66 million years before now, there were three dominant species. The Dakotaraptor like myself, Saurornitholestes and Troodon. Of course those weren't what we called ourselves back then, but you get the idea
Our society was much like your own, though we never developed farming, but we had sprawling cities full of all sorts of folk, going about their business and whatnot. We were just beginning to launch ourselves into space to explore the cosmos.
I was a scientist, many toted me one of the greatest minds ever known. I was working to develop a way to keep astronauts safe on long trips to other planets. A chamber that would cryogenically preserve an astronaut during their voyage, thawing them out once they had reached their destination.
Victor was the resident biologist on staff. He had done several tests using birds and mammals and very little had gone wrong, so Victor was insistent on beginning maniraptoran trials.
At first I had refused of course, I believed there were still many more tests to be done. The board of directors sided with him on beginning manitaptoran trials immediately.
Victor and I had volunteered to be the test subjects, alongside 4 other mechanical engineers. In all there was a male and female of the three species.
And so the day came when the test was conducted, we would climb inside and an intern would activate the devices and after a week they would open the chambers and free us.
We couldn't have ever predicted what would happen that day.
I remember it like it was yesterday. I was in the lab with the volunteers, just about to get in the pods to start the test. I heard a loud sound from outside, and so I looked out the window to see what happened. The sky turned red as thousands of meteorites pelted the earth like flaming hail, destroying everything that they touched. Buildings crumbled, forests burned, pterosaurs fell from the sky in crumpled heaps.
I could hear the screams of everyone, mothers calling for their nestlings, howls of pain and grief and frantic prayers to the gods. I thought it was the worst thing that could ever happen to our world.
Then time stood still for a moment, as the brightest thing I'd ever seen was illuminating everything. Then we heard it. Louder than anything I had ever heard, multiplied tenfold. I was stunned completely, my ears ringing and bleeding, but I could see the shockwave approaching. It was an impenetrable wall, moving at the speed of sound, obliterating all in it's path.
With only a few seconds until the wave of death would hit us, we all took shelter in the chambers. As the shockwave tore through the institute it carried with it a large quantity of ooze that some other scientists were researching, it coated us as we took shelter. But before it could begin to affect us the pods then activated freezing us solid and sending us all into a deep-sleep.
The next thing I remember is waking up and seeing a human. He had unearthed our chambers and opened them. I'll admit I was somewhat unnerved by him, but still grateful he had freed us. The others who had also made it were not as thankful as me. They attacked and slaughtered him, before he could even introduce himself.
But we were all shocked and extremely hungry, so we ate the body. After we were satiated, we began to think of how we would survive in this new world. The ooze reacted with the human flesh in our stomachs, giving us the ability to morph between our true and human forms.
We scavenged as much food and clothing as we could together, we even recovered the remnants of our old technology. Victor proposed that he could sell it to the humans, to help us integrate into society, but I disagreed. Alas, I was the odd one out and I left them to do what they wanted.
I became determined to learn about the world by living as a human. While Victor eventually became hellbent on restoring it to its former state, after witnessing the atrocities some humans committed. He and two others created DeinonyCorps by reselling the old technology and he allied with certain humans who shared his goal.
He's using the ooze to try and turn back the evolutionary clock and revert every living thing on the planet into what he thinks they should rightfully be…
— — — DS:TNM — — —
Victor was in half-raptor morph as he sat at his desk and tapped his toe claw rhythmically on the floor. He had seen the creature his team had brought back, it disturbed him somewhat with is exposed organs and the fact it had smaller creatures living inside of it, but he was glad it seemed friendly.
He took a deep breath before sighing loudly, The mutant wasn't what was bothering him though. The fact that there were five other mutated humans roaming about was far more concerning and the fact that someone had to be organizing them was even more worrisome. Whether it be the Troodon siblings or Joan didn't matter, both were equally bad.
But before Victor could give himself a migraine from worrying, Zet burst through his office doors.
"Vic, have you seen the news!?" he cried.
"Do I want to?" Victor asked.
"I think you will, but you won't like it." Zet said as he turned on the television.
The face of Alan Creck appeared. Holding a large tooth in his hand.
"-and we've just heard back from our paleontologist that this tooth matches that of a Spinosaurus. The largest predatory dinosaur known to science." He declared accompanied by an outdated depiction of the sailed reptile.
"I've brought CEO of the Greene Foundation, Aidan Briggs on with me tonight to question him about this find."
The screen then split in half showing a man with a mop of messy black hair, tanned complexion and muscular physique wearing a plaid flannel jacket.
"Mr. Briggs, or can I call you Aidan." Alan started. "Aidan, you would call yourself an expert on dinosaurs wouldn't you? I mean… after what happened in Oklahoma I'd assume…"
"I would rather not bring up Oklahoma if we could Mr. Creck." Aidan said in an exasperated tone.
"Ah, apologies Aidan." Creck said, obviously disingenuous. "I was wondering if you could identify this?" he questioned, holding Fiona's tooth up to his camera.
Aidan took a moment to inspect it. "It looks to me like a crocodile tooth. Could also be a whale. The feed is a little blurry on my end."
"Well this is far too large to be a crocodile Mr. Briggs. This is nearly 6 inches long."
"I'm not too sure about that we have saltwater crocs at the zoo whose teeth can get that size. Not to mention Thorbjarnarson's or Anthropophagus crocodiles."
"Ah yes, the de-extinct species… How many of those has your organization been working with?"
"About 400. But I don't see how that's relevant to the tooth."
"I think it is. We all know that the Greene Foundation has brought back many formerly extinct animals. Mammoths, Dodos, Fish, Bugs. But I think you know what I'm referring to."
Aidan visibly got uncomfortable when Alan said that.
"But we have agreed to not talk about that tonight…" he relented.
"How well do you know the company DeinonyCorps?" Creck continued, changing the subject.
"Fairly well, I suppose. DeinonyCorps often helps us at the Greene Foundation by donating money for our zoological parks and conservation programs around the world. We are quite fond of their eco-friendly practices as well." Aidan explained.
"Well, then… have you any idea what this is?!" Alan said, bringing a picture of the carrier that Victor had sent to the park earlier in the day.
"Oh, gods…" Victor groaned.
"It looks like a normal cattle trailer Mr. Creck, I do not know what you're trying to insinuate." Aidan said, clearly beginning to lose his patience with the reporter.
Alan slammed his hands on his table, and pointed a finger at the screen, "What I'm saying is that this tooth and that truck were both found in a local park, far from any crocodiles! Over the past two weeks Orca Pointers have been sending in their testimonies, and photos, and videos showing vicious prehistoric monsters roaming about our city! The Greene Foundation manages the Orca Point Zoo, and I think that you and your scientists are working with DeinonyCorps to recreate deadly Jurassic-era superpredators and they are escaping and integrating themselves into our ecosystem!" He shouted, sending small flecks of spittle onto his camera lens as several extremely blurry pictures of both the Dinosquads appeared on screen, including Victor in full raptor morph.
The two sides stayed silent for a moment, staring grimly at one another. Victor similarly honed in on his own picture. Despite it being so out of focus nobody in their right mind would believe the subject in it was a dinosaur, it filled him with rage and horror.
"Your claims are… completely and utterly unfounded Mr. Creck. The Greene Foundation and my family have been in strict compliance with the law. I thank you for having me on your show, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to leave." Aidan said, calmly holding back several negative emotions. Then he turned his camera off and left.
Alan smiled slyly. "See, he knows he's done something and I'm sure Mr. Victor Veloci knows as well… I'll be coming for you Veloci. Just you wait-"
His voice was cut off by Victor turning off the TV and standing up, his teeth were bared and a faint snarl escaped his lips.
"I'm going for a run." he told Zet.
"Y-Yes sir, just be aware Laura is staying the night in the biodome tonight." Zet replied.
"Oh, well make sure she is comfortable. I'm sure she won't mind me down there." Victor huffed, intent on doing what he wanted. "Besides it's my biodome, I can go in there whenever I'd like."
— — — DS:TNM — — —
Laura watched as Lily swam about in the stream with her aquatic passengers. She was glad to have the biodome to herself. It was calm and peaceful, she could feel safe here. But there was still something inside her that prevented her from feeling truly comfortable, though she couldn't quite place her finger on it. It was probably best to just ignore it.
She felt a sudden rush of wind behind her and immediately turned to see what it was. Laura saw a streak of maroon red, and was just leaving the grove of araucaria trees she was resting under.
Recognizing the color as Victor's feathery coat she leapt into the air flapping a few times to gain some altitude and sped forwards to catch up with him. Hopefully whatever he was doing would be interesting enough to distract her.
After a few wingbeats she was neck-and-neck with the Dakotaraptor running at his full speed of 45 miles per hour below her.
She was not used to seeing him like this, he looked truly like a predator, his expression one of deep focus as he ran across the terrain without effort, avoiding any debris strewn across the foot-trails snaking throughout the dome.
Keeping pace in the air she called down to him.
Oye Victor!" she squawked, "What're you doing?!"
Laura's call broke Victor from his concentration and almost immediately he stumbled over a moss-covered log, draped across the path he was running. Thankfully he caught himself before tumbling out of control, but he still ended up falling over.
"Ah. sorry, sorry sorry. I didn't mean for you to fall!" Laura panicked.
Victor got up quickly and shook off any soil clumps that got in his feathers.
"Heh, well of course you didn't intend for that to happen." He said, "What do you need?"
"Are you sure you aren't mad?" Laura asked.
Victor smiled "Why would I be mad at you? I'm the one who tripped." he asked, "Now what were you going to tell me?"
"Oh, uh nothing really…" Laura said, but when Victor gave her a skeptical look she came clean.
"I was just wondering what you were doing running around like that?" She admitted. Making Victor's smile come back to his face.
"I've had a rotten night. Running helps me clear my head a little and lets me think. Back home I would run through the floodplains or forests whenever I got really upset." He explained.
"You must miss that world, huh?" Laura asked.
"Well, We're still in the same world, it's just changed a lot… but yeah. I'd give anything to have it back." He said, before turning to Laura looking her over. "How are you feeling?"
The non sequitur caught Laura off-guard.
"What? I'm perfectly fine, just, I dunno. Maybe just a little stressed is all." she admitted.
Victor thought for a moment. Debating whether or not to say what he was thinking.
"Do what I do. Why don't you take the elevator up to the helipad, stretch those wings of yours and fly around the city, head out to the ocean even. It might help since you've been cooped up here for the past week. Only if you feel comfortable with it of course." he finally said.
"But, aren't you worried about someone seeing me?" Laura asked.
"It's dark, as long as you don't go strolling the streets in dino-mode I'm sure nobody will notice." he replied.
'Not to mention, that damnable reporter already showed you off to half the city already.' he thought.
Laura gave the prospect some thought herself.
"Yeah, that might be nice… When do you want me back?"
"Take as long as you need." Victor said, "Just try to get back before it's too late, sleep is important too."
Laura nodded in affirmation and galloped over to the elevator and pressed the button to get up to the top floor. The elevator stopped once at the 8th floor to let a single masked DeinonyCorps grunt get on. The two shared the elevator awkwardly for a moment before letting him out at the 15th. Breathing a sigh of relief once the soldier left, she continued her ride the rest of the way to the 24th floor.
Laura stepped out of the elevator to be greeted by raging cold winds that carried a faint taste of salt in them. It didn't feel too unpleasant to her though, her fluffy coat of fur kept her cozy and warm. She walked to the edge of the helipad and looked out over the city, the setting sun cast a golden hue across the buildings below and she could see the forested mountains still wreathed in fog all the way in the distance. She took a moment to steel herself for the jump, even though she had already gotten good at flying, it was hard to shake the feeling that a week ago if she attempted something like this she would have plummeted to her doom. She took a deep breath. And leapt from the edge. She fell for a second before opening her wings to catch a thermal created by the asphalt of the road below. She rose higher and higher into the air, but with her new improved visual capabilities could still see the road clearly.
She flapped her wings, feeling the air being displaced by the limbs and pushing herself through the weightless medium. She kept moving, gravity was trying it's hardest to pull her back to earth, but by keeping her wings outstretched she could effortlessly soar along. She looked down, seeing cars drive along the lit up streets below.
Laura remembered all the times as a little girl where she would imagine how it would feel to fly. It was always her favorite superpower. But she could never have fully imagined how amazing it truly was. Sure she had flown before but that was always close to the ground. Below her she could see all the lights from streetlamps, vehicles and stores sparkling like a miniature galaxy. She flapped again, rising higher into the sky, feeling the freezing night air rush past her skin and through her soft, fluffy pycnofibres, which helped keep her warm in the cold air.
She closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. The clean crisp air helped her clear her mind of all of the troubles that had been festering in her mind. Right now there was only herself and the endless expanse of sky. She was a pterosaur, Queen of the Air
She opened her eyes and elevated roadways crisscrossed one another, guiding the traffic like lines of ants.
There were several public parks in the downtown area. filled with people taking time out of their busy days to admire nature, ornate statues and historical architecture or play with their pets and children. Giant retail buildings sat to the side of the road, their expansive parking lots emptying out for the night. From the air it was all small though, It was ironic, she had always been petite, and she was the only one of her teammates to not grow very much from her mutation, but now she was the one looking down on everyone. She folded her wings and entered a dive, getting her much closer to the ground below where she gracefully weaved between a tangled maze of tall buildings and skyways, in her attempts to follow the trucks.
Once back in open air she breathed and let her leather wings carry her, trying not to think about what she was doing, what had happened earlier in the week or what could happen in the coming days. She just flew. She let all of her troubles drop away as she soared, and she continued to do so, flying and absorbing as much of the city as she could from this brand new perspective. But even still she couldn't quite shake the main thing that was upsetting her. The thought of what her family was doing with her gone. She knew they wouldn't care. But she had to check to make absolutely sure.
Her mother was the only one who really cared about her, but she died a long time ago.
Her father didn't like her, he was a violent, sexist and cruel man. He made it very clear that the only reason he kept her around was to do 'women's work', which consisted of all cooking, cleaning and other chores, all while he and her two older brothers acted like slobs.
But he was clever enough to make anyone think he took perfect care of her. The only thing that kept her from running away was the fact her dad was a police officer and vowed to find her if she ever tried. He'd give her a week and if she hadn't returned he vowed to arrest whomever was harboring her. Today was the deadline.
The thought of her father sent a chill down her spine, she couldn't get the thought of him out of her head throughout the past week, and what kind of fury he would unleash upon her if she ever tried to return home.
As the wind rushed past her face she hoped it would blow out all those horrid memories of her father and brothers, but no matter how hard she tried to ignore the thoughts the harder they pushed into the forefront of her mind.
He heard his yelling vividly in her mind, she was subconsciously preparing for what he was going to say or do to her when she returned.
Maneuvering through another thicket of tangled metal and concrete before coming out and looking over a suburban sprawl. This was close to where her house was! She supposed it wouldn't kill her to make sure her family was safe. Maybe seeing them would help her get those thoughts out of her head.
She soared above the houses until she reached a familiar home. She alighted upon a neighbor's house and was aghast but not surprised by what she saw.
Her dad had always told her that if she decided to run away it wouldn't be any skin off of his back, he'd just sell all of her stuff and move on.
Everything she owned had been strewn about on the front yard, all marked free. While in the living room were the rest of her family, watching a soccer game on TV, a spread of snacks in front of them, and shouting like barbarians.
She would have flown away when she noticed a faint sparkling coming from one of the boxes. She glided from the neighbors roof to the curb of her front yard. Next to a telephone pole with a missing poster with her face on it, a reminder that her dad would be coming to get her very soon. In the sparkling box was an assortment of items that she held very dearly, severel plush toys and action figures, a massive sketchbook, a handheld game console in its carrying case with a variety of cartridges, a photo album and a whole bunch of knick knacks that her mother had given her before she died. The glint was from a silver coin that featured, ironically enough, a Pteranodon flying away from a plateau rising high into the sky.
Laura's mother had told her that her Great Great Grandmother had come from a tribe of Pemón People who had lived near the base of one of the Tepuis that had inspired Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to write his novel 'The Lost World'.
When her mother was a little girl, only about eight years old, she and Laura's Grandmother had gone on a trip to Brazil to visit the tribe and learn about its culture. The story that was her favorite was that of the flying monsters who lived atop the Tepuis and so the villagers had the coins made to give to the tourists who wanted to climb the perilous cliff faces. Laura had never gotten the chance to go, but she supposed that now if she did so she'd terrify most of the tribespeople. Though on the other hand, she wouldn't have to pay for airline tickets to get there. She smiled at the thought.
Laura's mom had died when she was nine, and almost everything in the bags in front of her had been a gift from her. They were the only gifts she had ever gotten from a parent, and they were priceless to her.
So she gathered up the bag along with a few other items from the other bags. Hooking their handles in between her needle-like teeth she made sure everything was secure, and prepared to take off. But her shuffling through the trash did not go unnoticed.
Her father had come outside and he instantly spotted her.
"Damn Raccoons, get outta my-!" He shouted, before pausing once he saw what she was. "What in the hell!?" He cried as he pulled a handgun out of a holster on his waistband.
Laura was already in the air though, and soaring off into the distance before any shots could be fired.
Mr. Correia kept his gun trained on Laura until she was too far away to shoot. At which point he huffed in disappointment, but didn't dwell on it, instead going back into the house to watch his game.
Laura let out a shaky breath as she left. That was only the second time her dad had pointed his gun at her. When she first decided to run away when she was 13, she chickened-out and returned after three days. When she returned he was extremely drunk and had pressed the muzzle against her forehead. During which she had wet herself prompting him to lower the weapon to laugh at her and leading to months of humiliation by him and her brothers.
She flapped twice and flew towards the ocean, not wanting to remember that day, with her precious items safely hanging from her beak. Upon reaching the sea she placed her stuff on the rocks and sat looking out towards the horizon.
For a while she was just laying on her belly, wings stretching out, watching the sunset until it finally disappeared. Revealing the moon and stars in the sky, which reflected off the inky black waters.
She watched the waves and occasional spray from surfacing whales for what felt like an hour.
She figured she should probably head back to the biodome now, Victor was right, a midnight flight was just what she had needed. She watched the ocean for another minute before grabbing her bags and launching herself into the sky.
— — — DS:TNM — — —
Upon returning to the biodome, Laura was greeted by Victor.
"How was your flight?" he asked.
"It was… really helpful. Thanks for suggesting it." Laura replied. "I found some things I'd like to keep here. Is that alright?"
Victor laughed, "I was just about to ask. Of course you can keep those here, I can have a locker saved for you."
"Thanks. For everything. I really appreciate all the kindness you've shown me." Laura said.
"Don't mention it." He replied, "Seriously, I have a reputation as a ruthless businessman. I can't let any of my competitors know I have a soft spot."
She and Victor shared a few more words before the two of them headed off to bed, feeling a lot better than she had been before her flight.