After settling the dispute with Sal and his Family
Allison got out of Zephyr's van in front of her house. She waved goodbye to the group as Zephyr drove off.
Walking into the house, she was ready to go to her room and relax. Just as she finished taking off her shoes and hanging up her jacket she heard her mother call out.
"Allison? Is that you?" she said.
"Yeah, it's me. Do you need help with anything?" Allison responded
"No, but your father and I would like to have a chat with you," she said. Allison cringed, she knew all too well what that meant.
She walked into the dining room to find her mom and dad sitting at the table.
Her dad, Lucas, was a tall man with gentle features, he had short raven black hair that ran down into a well-trimmed beard. He was of medium build and wore a graphic tee and sweatpants. Perfect for a stay-at-home dad and software developer. He wasn't the most expressive person, but Allison thought he looked pretty upset.
Her mom, Christina, in contrast with Lucas, looked extremely annoyed. She looked a lot like Allison, having similar facial features and long blonde hair. She wore a red cardigan, and blue jeans that hugged her perfect hourglass figure.
"What's wrong Mom?" Allison asked, unsure of what they could be mad about.
"Why don't you tell me what could be wrong, Allison?" Christina asked, crossing her arms. "We could start with the fact that you've been gone for a week?"
"I told you that I got that new job. Remember I called you?" Allison said, "I got accepted into a really important project and it kinda took over for a bit. But I promise I'll never be away for that long again."
"Allison, you're still only seventeen. It's not legal for them to keep you there that long. Don't let that job take advantage of you." Christine said.
"They're not taking advantage of me, I'm totally in control. Things just got… hectic." Allison explained, obviously not able to tell them that she was stuck as a Jurassic-era killing machine.
"It's not just that." Lucas added, "You came home for one night, then immediately this morning you were rushing out the door. Then you were gone all day!"
"I saw that boy in the van, is he who you've been staying with?" Christine continued.
"Is he your boyfriend?!" Lucas interjected, concern evident in his voice.
"Ew, no!" Allison shouted, "Zephyr's just a friend from school, he got accepted into the same program as me so we've been carpooling." she explained, causing her father to calm down a little bit.
"Oh, is that the same Zephyr that you got into a fight with?" Christine questioned. "The one with the record?"
"What are you even talking about?" Allison demanded, "I haven't fought anybody!"
"I'm not stupid, Allison!" Christine shot back, "so don't lie to me! I got a phone call and an email from your school. You and 4 other kids beat the snot of five students, one girl was missing a tooth! You're so lucky you didn't get expelled, or arrested even!"
"Mom! Come on! Do you think I'm the kind of girl to beat someone up?" Allison questioned, trying to make her parents see reason. Though in the back of her mind the battle with Max and his goons rattled around, specifically Fiona's spinosaur tooth dislodging and landing on the forest floor.
"I didn't think you were!" Christine shot back, "But apparently I was wrong. You're grounded for the next month. No friends, no phone, no fish shopping, no anything. You're going to school, going to work for a reasonable amount of time, and coming back home. No exceptions, no ifs, ands or buts."
"Mom I-" she tried responding, but Christine cut her off by holding up a well-manicured figure.
"Ah-ah-ah! What did I just say?" she interrupted. "I want you butt up in your room, and if you feel like telling the truth about what happened, we'll listen, but I'm not in the market for lies or excuses."
Allison was seeing red, she wanted nothing in the world more than to tell both of them everything. If her mom wanted the truth she could just 'Go Dino' in the living room and tell her that she was really working for millionaire raptors, tracking down giant mutant animals living around the city.
But instead, she simply nodded her head and headed up to her room to sleep for the night.
— — — DS:TNM — — —
The next morning Allison was back at Orca Point High and had met up with Zephyr, Ben, Kevin, and Laura, the halls were buzzing with what had happened over the weekend, students were chatting amongst their respective friend groups theorizing who instigated the fight or who dealt which blows. Others sympathized with Max and his team, and still others discussed what they thought about Zephyr, Allison, Ben, Kevin and Laura.
"... I heard Zephyr had already beat up Fiona before…"
"... My friend saw him and her arguing in the parking lot after school that day…"
"... Bro, Ben and Max have always had it in for each other..."
"...Nah bro, they literally hate each other. No one knows why though…"
"...Isn't Laura's dad that cop who got fired. I guess violence runs in the family..."
"...Not only that, but her mom's dead too. She's gotta be totally warped in the head…."
"...That Kevin kid has two moms, I bet this is a cry for help..."
"...Nah, its cuz he's a total 'sperg. He was in the Special Ed class for a few years..."
"...Allison thinks she can do whatever she wants because her parents are loaded..."
"...She's always such a jerk about everything. A total misanthrope. Was probably trying to kill them..."
The team tried their best to ignore all of those comments as they walked down the halls.
That was until they made it into the commons where a group of students were huddled around Max and his team. Girls cooed over the boys, signing casts and giving out phone numbers while Fiona had plenty of boys offering to give her protection or to 'make it right' with Zephyr.
The downpour of sympathy quickly fell silent when the crowd realized that Allison and her friends were now in the room, and they were quickly met with about a hundred glares.
"What are YOU doing here?! Get out!" one boy said from within the crowd with others soon backing him up and telling the team to get lost.
Ben stepped toward Max and glared at him.
"I don't know what kind of stunt you're trying to pull, but I'm not gonna let you get away with it." He growled, jabbing a finger into Max's chest, who responded with a pained groan and a step back from his fellow football player.
That was enough for another player on the football team to push Ben back.
"Leave him alone, dick!" The player snarled as Ben stumbled back.
"We used to think you were cool, man." He said "but now? Let's just say I'm glad Coach kicked you off the team. Don't bother comin' to next practice. Not like you weren't already skipping."
Ben watched Max as he gave him a smarmy grin from behind the crowd as they escorted him away to his 1st Period class.
Ben just barely held himself under control as he watched Max walk away with everyone believing that he was a victim.
"Come on, Ben let's just go to class. I'm sure this will all get sorted out soon." Kevin told him,
The sound of someone clearing their throat. It was Bill Shreiden, one of the Algebra teachers. A tiny, balding man who had a stick so far up his butt it had probably lodged itself into the part of his brain that experienced joy.
"You five come with me." he commanded morosely.
Exchanging looks, they did as they were asked and followed the algebra teacher into the school's lecture room, though it usually served as the detention hall.
"Take a seat, please." Mr. Shreiden instructed. They all did so, choosing seats that, while not right next to one another, would be close enough for them to talk.
"Due to the recent brawl you instigated, several students who you share your classes with have voiced concerns over being in the same room as you. So for the time being you will be having class here until Principal Weckesser figures out what to do with you all.
"In addition to your new accommodations, Ben you're off the football team, Mr. Chang you have been kicked out of the yearbook committee, Ms. Correia the 'anime and manga club' has asked for you not to return and Ms. Mendoza will no longer be participating in the K-5 programs anymore." Mr. Schreiden rattled off before pausing.
"Oh, and Mr. Gravemasker, how could I forget… it seems that nothing has changed for you. Maybe if you applied yourself to something you'd have lost it, but I suppose that wouldn't be as conducive to ruining your life." Mr. Shreiden said. "I know you don't care about yourself but to drag promising students down with you is a new low."
With that Mr. Shreiden left and stood out in front of the door.
Zephyr let his head fall to the table with a loud 'Thunk' reverberating throughout the room.
"I'm sorry you guys… I ruined everything."
"Zephyr, remember what we talked about yesterday." Allison told him.
"Yeah, I get it, we've already helped a lot of people and all that, but it doesn't change the fact that you guys are in trouble because I convinced you all to join me."
"Bro, don't let Shreiden of all people get to you. We all were prepared for some consequences when we agreed to join the Squad, Besides. I've watched plenty of superhero movies before, and there's always a bunch of crappy stuff that happens to 'em, it's part of the job description." Ben encouraged.
"Besides, thus isn't even close to the worst thing that could've happened." he added.
"Thanks. It's just gonna suck being stuck in this crappy room all day." Zephyr groaned.
"Hey, at least there's no freaky mutants running around town." Kevin reassured chipperly.
— — — DS:TNM — — —
40 miles south of Orca Point
"Oh shut up! I don't care if I made the damn mess, you're the woman, you're supposed to clean up!" John Bailey screamed to his wife as he got on his motorcycle. He revved the engine, drowning out anything his wife said in response. He chuckled to himself knowing that she couldn't leave him, unless he'd leak some very embarrassing photos he had taken of her in high school.
He pulled out of his driveway and raced down the road, 40 miles over the speed limit. The obnoxiously loud bike roared as he did.
The roar echoed out into the nearby woods, disturbed a creature in the woods. Perched atop the trunk of a broken sitka spruce, a gigantic mutated owl. He fluttered open his golden-orange eyes and warbled unhappily about the loud sound. He silently took flight, causing the nearby trees to sway with the gusts of wind produced from his wingbeats.
John sped down the street, his knuckles white on his handlebars, he gritted his teeth as he thought about the argument he had with his wife. He'd head down to town for a little bit, drink at some of the good bars and breweries, pick up a pack of smokes and maybe hit up the gentleman's club before heading home. Hopefully he'd be too drunk to remember what he'd do once he got there, it'd make it easier to lie if he didn't remember what happened.
The owl burst out from the treeline, noiselessly gaining altitude as he made a beeline for John. Obviously noticing the massive bird, John let loose a string of curses and increased his speed.
He edged 90 mph, but the owl kept pace with him easily. He readied his talons, obsidian black daggers that reflected the sunlight, flexing them anticipatorily. John put more speed on the bike but it was no use, in a single swift movement the owl sunk his talons into his body.
John screamed as the red hot pain surged through his shoulder, and he was lifted up, off his bike. Which, without a rider, crashed into a tree on the side of the road crumpling into a heap of metal.
John flailed about wildly as he was lifted high into the air by the gargantuan bird-of-prey. He screamed the entire flight over the forest, until the wind was knocked out of him when the owl landed on his perch. Placing his entire weight on the human, pinning him down.
He looked into the mutant's wide eyes as he stared at him.
If the owl could, he'd laugh at John's attempts to break free of his grasp. In the mutant's opinion humans deserved nothing less than this, with their constant noise and bright lights, not to mention the fact they were constantly encroaching on the forest, leaving trash everywhere, taking anything they liked and building their roads and cities.
He sunk his beak into John's shoulder, and yanked separating torso from legs. He winced as another bout of screaming and cursing ensued. But it was worth it for his own satisfaction.
John was hyperventilating, he could see his freaking legs still pinned under the foot of the freak that attacked him. He looked in every possible direction, still in an adrenaline-fueled attempt to escape. He looked below and stopped seeing the small mountain of giant pellets bellow the perch, and much more alarmingly, the human bones inside and strewn around. He only then realized that there was no hope. If only his wife would have stopped being such an entitled brat. He then heard a snap and then, nothing.
The owl cooed contentedly after snapping the man's neck, the crunch was extremely satisfying. He then proceeded to swallow John's torso. As much as he hated them, he had to admit humans tasted really good. He finished the legs and took off back into the air.
After some intensive flapping to gain altitude, the owl evened out in flight and headed northwards towards the big city, Orca Point.
— — — DS:TNM — — —
Principal Sebastian Weckesser sat at a large oval table alone in the school's conference room, a laptop at his side and a large stack of paperwork in front of him, which he was straightening as he waited.
He didn't have to wait much longer as the doors soon opened, and eight people walked in.
Lucas and Christine Mendoza were first, followed by Claire and Naomi Cheng and Biyen and Nakoma Blacksnake and finally, hobbling behind the other parents were Fritz and Ilse Gravemasker.
The parents and grandparents each took a seat around the table.
"It looks like Mr. Correia is not able to attend right now, but I think it's okay if we start now."
He was about to get started when the sound of the door opening
"Sorry for being late, things have been a little crazy down at the office," Victor said, giving the group an awkward smile.
"Uh, sir, you have the wrong room. What meeting are you supposed to be attending? I can tell you where to go."
"Ah, sorry. I'm here for a meeting about the recent fight Laura Correia was involved in." he informed.
"Are you a relative of one of the participants? If so you'll have to wait, this is a meeting for the guardians of the instigating party only." Sebastien replied, being somewhat wary of the man since he knew Miguel Correia and had met with him several times before.
"No, I'm one of her guardians, the others, unfortunately, couldn't make it."
Victor handed Sebastian a few papers that confirmed what he said. Though that didn't stop him from wondering how the man knew of the meeting, as he had sent the email to Miguel Correia's address.
But without any proof aside from a bad vibe, Sebastian couldn't do anything to get rid of Victor. So he just started the meeting to avoid wasting any more time. He cleared his throat and began to speak.
"I'm sure all of you know why we're here today, your children were involved in a fight after school with five other students." he began but stopped when Victor raised a hand to speak.
"This wasn't on school grounds though? I'm not condoning the actions, but I remember being an adolescent, full of hormones and emotions. I got into my fair share of brawls after school." he asked, receiving some agreeing nods from Lucas, Claire, Naomi, and Fritz.
"Well, that's just it Mr., uh… Veloci." Sebastian replied, "The fight was on school property. One of the teachers saw it. She should be joining us shortly, just setting up her class."
Victor gave the principal a skeptical look. What teacher would lie about something like that? Though just as his mind made the connection someone walked into the room, bringing with her a scent he knew all too well.
"This is Joan Moynihan, she's the staff member who caught the fight as it was happening." Sebastian introduced, as Joan made her way into the room.
Upon entering she was immediately met by Victor's glare.
"Oh, Victor. What are you doing here?" she growled from behind a forced smile, hiding a hand behind her as it morphed into raptor claws.
Victor glared at Joan, having already figured out what happened.
"Oh, I was called in for this meeting. Because apparently, my foster daughter got into a big fight on school grounds." Victor snarled back..
"Ah, do you two already know each other?" Sebastian asked, sensing the tension and hostility between the two.
Joan cleared her throat, demorphed her hand, and took up a dignified posture.
"Oh, we're just old work colleagues." She said, waving off Victor's glare and taking a seat at the table.
"Yeah, you could say that," huffed Victor, as he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. Ready to hear the story Joan managed to come up with.
Sebastian cleared his throat and gestured to Joan.
"Well then, Ms. Moynihan, you said you'd explain what you saw," he said.
"Yes, I was going to get to that, before I was distracted by Victor," Joan nodded.
"It was the end of the day and I had just packed up my things to head home. I left the building and headed to the parking lot, where I saw Mr. Gravemasker get into a small fender bender with Ms. Flagstaff's vehicle. Just a few dings and scrapes." Joan retold the false story with a confidence that begged to be believed.
"Ms. Flagstaff got out of her car and began to yell at Mr. Gravemasker, as any teenager would. Mr. Gravemasker got out of the vehicle and argued with Ms. Flagstaff. I thought nothing of it, to be honest, I've seen thousands of disagreements like it during my time teaching. But that's when Mr. Gravemasker threw the first punch into Ms. Flagstaff's jaw, resulting in her now missing tooth. Four bystanders rushed in to help her and tried to restrain Mr. Gravemasker. But Ms. Mendoza, Mr. Blacksnake, Mr. Cheng and Ms. Correia. all exited Mr. Gravemasker's van and joined in on the brawl. I rushed over as fast as I could and called out for them to stop but I'm afraid it took me a few minutes and I'm no fighter as I'm sure Victor knows."
Victor couldn't help but snort at her last comment, knowing full well that Joan was not slow or weak, he had seen her take down Pachycephalosaurs and Ornithomimids alone, though it caused everyone to look at him with combined looks of concern, annoyance, and distaste.
The influx of disapproving stares made Victor shrink in his seat.
"Anyways, as you've heard from Ms. Moynihan's recounting, this is an incredibly serious situation, that may result in expulsion for your students," Sebastian said grimly, as he fidgeted more with his papers.
"Thankfully for them, Joan was very keen on keeping them in school. There will be a 2-week suspension however, and all extracurriculars are going to be canceled. That unfortunately means no sports, no clubs, no special classes. Additionally, due to an influx of concern from other students, they will be placed into a 'detention class' that Ms. Moynihan has offered to teach." he continued with a more optimistic tone.
Around the table, the other guardians nodded and whispered with their partners in agreement, except for Victor, of course. With a glare, he tapped his nails on the table in an ancient 'morse code' that Dakotaraptors would use to communicate while on the hunt.
'I know what you are doing.' he tapped, accompanied by a low snarl.
Joan gave him a cocky grin and tapped a response to him.
'Good, stay out of my plumage from now on.' she said before leaving the room.
— — — DS:TNM — — —
Joan breathed a sigh of annoyance as she walked to her car. She hadn't expected Victor to take an interest in any of the mutants, much less become one of their guardians.
It could cause some problems in the future, but now wasn't the time to really worry about that.
Rather, she was concerned with the young woman leaning on her car, a blue 1980s Cadillac, which now had a long scratch running down it's side.
"What did you do to my car!?" Joan cried, storming over to the woman.
"Oh what do you care, you stole it from the guy who woke us up. Just go out and take another one, Emerald Wind." The woman snarked.
Joan was alarmed by the use of her original raptor name. Only 5 other souls on the planet knew it.
"Moon Fang… do you still go by Penny? Or did your brother change it for you?" Joan spat.
Penny stood up fully, she was about 6 inches taller than Joan and looked 20 years younger. She had long blonde hair, and a curvaceous figure that drew the eye of most people who saw her. Penny lowered a pair of heavily-tinted sunglasses which revealed her pale, pupiless eyes.
"You're still mad about him leaving you? Haha, that's rich! Girl, that was literally millions of years ago, just let it go."
Joan gave Penny a skeptical look.
"Well from what I know, the only reason Antonio would send you here would be to bring me back to him. Sounds like he's the one struggling to let things go." she told her.
Penny laughed loudly, before morphing her hand into Troodontid claws.
"You're the intuitive little birdie alright. 'Ant' knows about your little team you put together. He's planning something really big, and he's offering you a place in that plan." Penny summarized, as she put another scratch in Joan's paint with her talon. "I'd suggest you graciously accept his offer, you know he gets cranky when things don't go as expected."
Joan morphed her own hands into talons in response.
"I'd love to see you try and take me down, I'm twice your size when not in this human body, twice as strong too." Joan threatened, before a sharp object pierced the back of her neck.
Immediately she became woozy, like she had downed two dozen beers in one sitting. She looked back to Penny, who smiled down at her with a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth.
"Oh, you thought I was going to try and fight you?" she laughed with fake surprise, "No, no, no. That's what we have interns for? Right Miguel?"
Joan could see through her now hazy vision, a man decked out in a high tech robotic suit of armor, retracted a syringe back into a revolver chamber on his wrist and her legs trembled as she fell to the ground.
"How do you like my venom? You've received a concentrated dose." Penny gloated as she kneeled down in front of Joan and grabbed her by the face
"Cause you see, regardless of what you say, my brother and I get what we want. See you in… Oh- eight hours?"
Joan lost consciousness immediately after.
— — — DS:TNM — — —
Laura sat in the passenger's seat of Victor's red Ford Raptor, as Victor drove down the highway back to the DeinonyCorps. HQ.
"Hmm, maybe I should just get custody of all of you?" Victor half-joked, it was the first thing either of them said, since Victor managed to convince Principal Weckesser to let Laura come home with him.
Victor cleared his throat, the lack of a reaction made him feel incredibly awkward.
"Are you… mad at me? I still don't really understand the intricacies of human emotions yet." He admitted, sincerely hoping that he didn't make her too upset.
"No, you're fine Victor." Laura replied. "I'm just tired. With everything that happened yesterday and now today…"
She sighed and rubbed her face.
"It's been a lot. Maybe once it gets darker I can go out for another flight around the city, that helped last time." she admitted.
Victor nodded and drummed at his steering wheel.
"Yeah, that'd be fine with me. Zet's kept an eye out for any ooze and the equipment isn't detecting anything. So tonight should be a safe, calm night to get out." Victor added. "I also think it's supposed to rain later, so maybe you'll enjoy that."
Laura gave Victor a questioning look.
"Are you sure it'd be safe to fly in the rain? Won't I get weighed down or something?" she asked.
Victor gave her a confused look, before a realization came to him.
"Oh no, not at all! Back in the Cretaceous I'd watch Nyctosaurus fly through the most savage storms you could imagine over the Interior Sea. I actually think they preferred to go out in those conditions, letting the storm winds carry them to parts unknown. I know you're not a Nyctosaur, but I'm sure Anhanguera were similar." Victor explained.
Laura took the information in, and nodded in understanding.
"Huh, I'll have to try going out in a big storm sometime, sounds intense." she mused.
She took a minute to think about something before turning to ask Victor something.
"Why'd you take me in anyways?" She asked, surprising Victor enough to make him nearly swerve the car.
"Woah, alright! We're going straight in with the big questions!" he announced, genuinely not expecting her to ask that.
Laura shrunk into her seat a little upon hearing Victor's surprise.
"Sorry if that's too much to ask. I was just wondering why you, a billionaire velociraptor, would want to deal with a teenage girl. I'd assume you're busy, and wouldn't have time." She inquired.
"Well first of all, I'm a Dakotaraptor." Victor corrected, "But, to answer your question. It just seemed the most logical is all, you needed a safe place to live, I need you to go out on missions with the team, so having you hang out at the HQ would be beneficial." he explained,
"I guess that makes sense, I just didn't expect that you'd actually play along. It makes sense though, you wouldn't want anybody getting suspicious." Laura concurred.
"But thanks for coming anyways, It feels good to have someone at least pretend to care. It probably doesn't make too much sense to you, but humans enjoy having someone to care for them." she mentioned with a smile before turning to look out the window.
Victor smiled back and kept driving.
— — — DS:TNM — — —
The sound of drywall shattering echoed in the office block, followed by the frustrated groan of Salvatore.
Zet groaned as another hole was punched clean through another wall. He had spent the entire day getting Sal and his family situated in the new office complex Victor had decided to turn into a mutant group home at the last minute. He was in human form, which helped him rub his temples and alleviate his on-coming headache.
As it turned out Sal wasn't quite used to drywall and how fragile it could be. This would be the eighth hole Zet would have to patch.
As he added another task to his mental to-do list, Zet noticed Vee slither down the hall and turn the corner to greet him.
"Ah Vee. How's the room set-up going? Need any help?" he greeted, so far he much preferred the snake girl over her older brother, she couldn't punch any holes in the wall without any arms.
"Well, more of an opinion." Vee admitted as she flicked her tongue absent-mindedly.
"Oh, of course! Though I'll have to be honest, I'm not much of an interior decorator." he remarked, more than willing to get a break from the mutated Bearded Dragon.
Vee 'walked' Zet a few doors down, to a door that had been covered in pencil marks.
"Sorry 'bout the marks, I was hoping I could get some paints and decorate my door sometime in the future." She explained, "Only if it's allowed of course, otherwise I can wash it off." she quickly added.
Zet took a look at the design and had to smile.
"It looks good, I like the vibe. Just tell me what colors you want and next time I come over I'll get them to you." He answered, making Vee smile.
"Let's see the rest of what you've got going on in here. May I?" Zet continued, placing a hand on the door handle, and upon Vee giving him the go ahead, swung the door open.
Vee had arranged the furniture that he and Victor had provided her very well. A bed in the corner faced the window overlooking the city skyline, a set of cubby shelves was sat next to the desk and the computer Vee had asked to keep with several knick-knacks and pieces of junk that held special importance to her were displayed. All of the furniture was on the right side of the room, giving Vee ample space to stretch out on the left.
"Oh wow, this is… very nice Vee, you have a real knack for interior decorating it seems." Zet mused. "Everything looks neat and tidy, I'm impressed, especially considering that you don't have any limbs."
"Well I suppose you'd think it'd be harder, since you use your hands and feet to do so many things, but really it's just as easy to use my tail to get stuff done." Vee answered, coiling up atop her bed.
"Oh sorry, I didn't mean to imply anything rude with my comment. It's like you said I'm just used to relying on my limbs." Zet apologized, before a loud crash from Sal's room reminded him of why he was monitoring the lizard. "Though I suppose limbs are not always the best way to manipulate objects, as your brother has demonstrated… more than once. I should probably go see what he broke this time…"
He was about to leave to check on the mutated Bearded Dragon, when a huge shape sped past the window, blotting out the sun.
"What the-!?" Zet squawked as he rushed to the window, hoping to catch a glimpse of whatever it was. It had already flown a few blocks ahead, so Zet couldn't accurately identify it, but he knew it was another mutant.
"Oh no…." he mumbled as he pulled his phone out of his pocket, he selected Victor in his contacts. He waited impatiently as the device rang a few times, until at last he picked up.
"Vic, we've got a problem downtown." he started.
— — — DS:TNM — — —
Victor and Laura were driving down the freeway into the downtown area as Zet was calling.
"Vic, we've got a problem downtown." His voice rang out from the hands-free display.
"Is it fair to assume this is about the giant mutant owl flying through downtown?" Laura asked.
"Yes, do you see it!?" Zet asked frantically, "It just passed by the new mutant home!"
"Us and everyone in the downtown area." Victor remarked sarcastically, as he watched the owl circling overhead like a colossal vulture.
"Do you think you could scout it out up there?" Victor asked, turning to Laura.
"Definitely," she replied, pull over and I'll get changed.
Victor nodded as he turned into an exit.
"Zet, the rest of the squad is unable to make it down, would the mutants be able to get down to Kogia Square?" Victor questioned.
"I'll have to ask them, give me a minute." Zet responded, hanging up the call, as Victor pulled around to the back of a gas station.
"Alright kid, do your thing. Just… try to be careful." Victor noted as Laura leapt out of the car and shifted to her full Anhanguera form. She gave him a smile before leaping into the air and flapping to gain altitude
It wasn't the ideal way to fly, judging by how her muscles screamed at her from the exertion, but it was certainly the fastest way to get to the mutant, and at the moment that was all she cared about.
Finally reaching it, she hoped that, like Lily, this mutant would respond to her voice and understand what she was saying.
"Hey! It's okay friend! I know you're probably scared, but I know somewhere safe to take you!" She squawked, as she approached the mutant.
The owl stopped, stabilizing in midair and turned his head to look at Laura, his piercing golden eyes making her pause for a moment and plummet a few feet before she caught herself.
"I am not scared of these pathetic creatures! They should fear me!" a deep, booming voice rang out inside Laura's mind.
"Woah! What the-!?" She yelped, "Was that you!? Did you just… talk to me!?"
The owl cocked his head quizzically.
"You can understand me?" he inquired.
Upon 'hearing' his voice again, she realized she wasn't actually hearing him. It wasn't like her friends where she could hear their various dinosaur calls and decipher what they meant, this was real, honest to goodness telepathic ability from this mutant.
"I can! This is incredible!" Laura chirped, as she swooped to gain speed and meet up with him, "I'm Laura, do you have a name?"
The Owl seemed to be lost in thought for a moment before answering.
"I am Skystrike. I have never seen a creature like you before 'Laura'." he replied.
Laura laughed, which in her Anhanguera form sounded like a car engine sputtering.
"Well, I would hope not. I'm what humans call an 'Anhanguera', we roamed the planet millions of years before the first owl was ever born. I was created when I fell into some bright glowing orange gunk down by the ocean." she explained, as she caught a patch of warm air in her wings and rode it.
"So Skystrike, what are you doing here in the city?" she questioned, circling around Skystrike as he hovered in place.
Skystrike's feathers bristled at the question.
"I am going to destroy this stain on the land and execute every last human living in it." Skystrike roared, "Join in the slaughter with me sister. For too long they have been destroying our homes and killing our families!"
The outburst made Laura pause for a moment, not knowing how to respond.
Skystrike hooted disapprovingly at her hesitation and broke into a dive, speeding towards the streets below. Laura noticed and folded her wings, plummeting not far behind him. She noticed a glint of light as the sun reflected off of his obsidian talons, and saw that he was headed straight for several pedestrians walking through Kogia Square.
She let out a shriek to alert the people of their presence, drawing their attention and sending them running in terror. Skystrike was forced to abandon the dive and he pulled up, using his built up momentum to take back to the air.
He flapped his wings to slow himself and perched atop one of the nearby buildings.
"What are you doing, protecting them!?" Skystrike shrieked, raising his feathers in agitation.
"I can't let you hurt innocent people Skystrike!" Laura shouted, landing on the flat part of the rooftop "They haven't done anything to hurt anyone!"
'Innocent?!" Skystrike hooted, "Look at what they've done to this land! It is destroyed, think of all the creatures who they have killed or displaced!"
"They didn't build this city!" Laura cried, "They just live here."
Skystike glared down at the Anhanguera.
"Then they are guilty by association. You may be misguidedly sympathetic to these creatures, but let it be known. Do NOT get in my way again, or I WILL eliminate you along with them." he growled.
"This guys bloodthirsty to be sure, blood-parched even… blood-dehydrated." Laura quipped, "he's hell bent on killing as many people as he can, and I seriously doubt I'll be able to dissuade him." she thought out loud. "But I don't think I'll be able to fight him all on my own, I just need a way to distract him long enough for the people down there to get to safety."
She widened her eyes, as an idea came to mind.
"It's mega-dangerous, but it'll be a solid distraction." she told herself, making a beeline towards the rooftop Skystrike was scoping out more victims from.
"Well, If that's how it's gonna be I might as well just show you," Laura pouted as she landed on the rooftop, before transforming back into her human form. "I'm a human too…"
Skystrike's pupils dilated, as he stared at Laura with a white-hot rage.
"You thought you could trick me with your human lies!" Skystrike screamed, as he lunged towards Laura, who in response dodged his talons by jumping off the building.
She shifted into her pterosaur form while in free-fall and caught the air with her wings and flew off with the owl in close pursuit.
Skystrike readied his talons as he closed in on Laura, ready to spear through her flesh. Laura looked back and saw him getting closer and closer.
He was clearly faster than her in straight flight, so she decided to drop into a dive down towards the plaza below and the owl followed suit.
She saw the ground rapidly approach as the owl got ever closer to her, his talons brushing the pycnofibres on her back.
'Oh… This is it, this is how I die isn't it? I really should've thought more about that reveal. ' she thought as she turned over to face her attacker, his golden eyes piercing into her soul.
Though, before he could grab her a tan-brown streak collided with him, sending him rolling back across the plaza, knocking over several benches, tables and trash-cans in their path.
But, before she marveled at her rescuer, she focused on adjusting her wings and slowing her descent, she felt the concrete brush across her chest as she stopped mere inches from the ground, then with a powerful flap of her wings she began to gain altitude. Looking below she saw Sal, wrestling with Skystrike in the plaza below, terrified civilians fleeing the scene or taking cover in nearby buildings.
She folded her wings and dropped into a dive until she was about 10 feet in the air, at which point she leveled out.
"Who the hell are you?!" Laura cried as she flew towards the brawling mutants.
The Mutant Bearded Dragon held the Mutant Great Horned Owl down with his immense strength while Skystrike wildly flapped his wings and slashed with his talons at him.
"I'm Sal, your buddies helped me and my sisters out the other day. You must be Laura!" Sal answered through strained breaths as he held Skystrike under him..
Laura recalled Zephyr telling her about fighting with some giant mutant lizards before becoming allies.
"Yeah I am! What are you doing here though, shouldn't you be in hiding?" She questioned.
"Well, we saw this big pigeon flying through the city, and Mr. Langston told us that the rest of your team had been detained. So my sisters and I decided to come and help!" Sal announced, as Vee, Phelma and Luna arrived in the plaza. This distracted Sal just enough to loosen his grip slightly, at which point a taloned foot burst out from under him and grabbed his head within it.
— — — DS:TNM — — —
Summer Sloan just arrived at Kogia Square with her cameraman Derek Glass, she narrowly avoided being swept away in the crowd of people running for their lives.
"I think we found where that mutant is!" she announced to Derek, who took the lens cap off of his camera.
The two ran over to the center of the plaza as fast as they could, only stopping for a moment when a metal trash-can was launched towards them, only missing knocking them over by a hair.
"Come on, we're missing out on this story, let's hurry it up." Summer told Derek as she continued running until she made it into the center of the square, just as Skystrike broke free of Sal's grasp.
— — — DS:TNM — — —
Skystrike threw Sal across the plaza, where he collided with a storefront, shattering the windows and knocking over several of the displays inside.
"Hey! Nobody gets to defenestrate my brother but me!" Vee called out as she slithered towards Skystrike, she leapt towards him and sunk her teeth into him, wrapped her fifteen feet of coils around his body and began to squeeze.
From the sidelines, Derek tracked the movements of the mutants as they brawled, while Summer narrated what was happening into her audio recorder.
Skystrike thrashed his talons in an attempt to claw the serpent off of him, but when that didn't work, he flapped his wings a few times and took to the air, Laura did the same and gave the owl several sharp pecks to his sensitive eyes and ears, while Phelma and Luna scaled the side of a nearby tall building and leapt onto Skystrike's back where they began to kick, punch and bite him.
Skystrike shrieked in pain and desperately tried to shake off his attackers by rolling
"Get off of me! You horrible little pests!" Skystrike shrieked, unable to stop the assailants.
"Not until you swear not to come back to this city or any others, and leave innocent people alone!" Laura demanded.
"Never! I won't let a pathetic little entourage like yours bully me away from my righteou purpose!" Skystrike spat.
In response Vee tightened her coils around the owl, causing him to choke and sputter.
"This can go one of two ways!" Laura shouted at him. "You can accept our deal and live, or be a stubborn jerk and die here. I really don't want to kill you so I hope you'll pick the first choice."
Vee ever so slightly tightened her grip again to remind Skystrike that they meant business.
Another bout of strained coughing erupted from his beak, and Skystrike, albeit begrudgingly began to descend towards the plaza.
"I'm glad we could settle this without having to remove a corpse afterwards." Laura said as she landed in front of Skystrike.
The owl refused to speak as Vee, Luna and Phelma all got off of him and he just glared at the pterosaur.
The two held their staring contest for a moment before Skystrike ascended back into the air and flew off back to where he came from.
"That was really cool and all, but can someone help me out here. I've got glass sticking out of me just about everywhere!" Sal called from behind the shattered store window. Vee and Phelma rushed over to help their big brother having completely forgotten about him during the battle. While Luna dropped slightly.
"Aw, I was hoping that they'd forget about him, and he'd have to walk home." She groaned.
From the sidelines Summer and Derek were still filming everything.
"This is absolutely amazing footage 'D' we're going to be getting network for this for sure! Maybe even a Pulitzer!" Summer cheered.
Derek was just about to put the camera away, when suddenly someone crashed into him from behind. Causing Derek to drop it where it broke on the concrete below.
"Oh my gosh, I am so sorry!" Victor faux-apologized to the journalists, "I hope that wasn't too expensive! Here let me give you something to buy a new one." He said as he stepped forward with a few one-hundred dollar bills, 'accidentally' stepping on the memory card as he handed the money to Derek. The crunch of the little piece of plastic rang out across the plaza. As both Derek and Summer looked down at their shattered dreams represented perfectly by the destroyed memory card on the pavement below.
"Oh, oops." Victor apologized once again.
— — — DS:TNM — — —
Laura looked over at the two reporters hurling various insults and curses at Victor and turned back to Sal and his sisters.
"Thank you so much, guys. I couldn't have done it without your help." She admitted. "Are you going to be able to get home alright?"
"Oh yeah. We're fine…" Sal said as he was clumsily hoisted to his feet.
"Zet drove us here in his van. We can get back undetected." Vee confirmed, as she led Sal somewhere private so they could slink away.
Laura looked back to Victor, Summer and Derek and noticed the reporters pulling out their phones to attempt to film her, so she quickly ducking behind a building and morphing back into her human form. Causing the reporters to curse to themselves for missing their second chance to get some footage.
Turning around she walked back into the square running back to Victor.
"Oh Laura!, I'm so glad you're alright!" Victor shouted when he spotted her running towards him.
"Yeah, I just… took cover behind some dumpsters behind that building." Laura lied, though she could tell she wasn't quite convincing the reporters.
But, seeing as it would be insane to suggest the truth, the reporters cut their losses and made their way back to their van.
"Did they get any pictures of us?" Laura asked once they were out of earshot.
"They filmed the entire thing." Victor answered, concern evident in his voice, "I 'accidentally' wrecked their camera, but I have a feeling that we're going to run into those two on a regular basis."
"Yeah… you're probably right." Laura admitted. "But I've gotta tell you about what went on up there. It's… concerning."
"Let's go back to the car then, you can tell me everything on the way back to DeinonyCorps." Victor responded.
— — — DS:TNM — — —
At the Orca Point News Network, Summer Sloan and Derek Glass sheepishly presented their blurry phone photos to their boss Alan Creck.
"What the hell are these!?" He demanded. "Where you drunk out there?! We can't publish these!"
"Sorry Mr. Creck, we caught the whole thing on camera but some guy destroyed it and the memory card." Summer apologized, "I still have this tho."
She placed her voice recorder on the table and pressed play, her narration played from the device with the sound of various shrieks in the background.
"What am I supposed to do with this!?" Alan demanded, "Make an audiobook? This is useless!"
Alan tossed the device back to Summer as he rubbed his temples in annoyance
"Mr. Creck, Ms. Bright is here like you wanted." Alan's receptionist chimed in through a cracked open door. The mention of Ms. Bright seemed to put her in a better mood.
"Well! What are you waiting for, send her in!" Alan demanded.
Soon a young, pretty, chestnut-skinned woman, with long black hair walked into the room. She was wearing a white blouse, gray jacket and black slacks. Summer bristled upon seeing her.
"Zaraa darling come in! What do you have for me today?" Alan asked, with a completely different tone of voice.
Zaraa placed her camera on the table and allowed Alan to flip through the various photos she had taken of the fight between the mutants, all high quality and dynamic in subject and composition.
"Now these are what I've been looking for!" Alan beamed, "You two could learn a thing or two from her!" He said, pointing at Summer and Derek.
"I think camera-work like this is warranting a little compensation don't you?" he asked Zaraa rhetorically, handing her a check with an extra zero or two. Zaraa smiled, flashing her perfectly white teeth and giggled.
"Thank you Mr. Creck." she said, as she made her way out of the office.
Meanwhile Summer was seeing red, she hated that woman, she was too perfect and knew just how to play any man to get whatever she wanted, it sickened her.
"What are you two still doing here!?" Alan shouted, interrupting Summer's thoughts, "Get outta here! I don't pay you two to lounge about my office all day!"
— — — DS:TNM — — —
Back at DeinonyCorps, Victor sat at the desk in his office with Theira and Laura sitting across from him. Laura had just finished regaling the story to them, causing the pair to sit in silence, contemplating.
"That is extremely troubling." Victor mused, "yet, I can't deny it's extremely fascinating."
"We've always known that the ooze enhances the intelligence of its host, I suppose telepathic intelligence is just a natural progression of that." Theira added on.
"Well personally I think the more important thing to take away from this whole thing is that out of the three mutants I've faced, two of them were hell bent on destroying either the city or humanity." Laura pointed out.
Victor nodded thoughtfully at what both of the women were saying.
"Do you really think the owl will honor his promise to not kill anyone else?" He asked. "From what you told us he has a big chip on his shoulder… er.. wing."
"I mean honestly, not really." Laura admitted, "but I think I have to give him a chance to prove himself, whether he does it out of genuine care or just to avoid getting his ass kicked again doesn't really matter to me."
"Will you follow through on what you said though?" Theira asked. "Will you kill him if he does try to go on another rampage?"
"I mean… ideally no… but if I can't reason with him, I, or someone else will have to." Laura explained.
A chime sounded from Victor's comm system.
"Hey Vic! We've been released from our cells! Can we come up there to have a chat with you?" Zephyr's voice rang out from the device.
"Ah, Zephyr! Welcome back! I thought you would've headed home by now." Victor greeted. "But, yes I'll send the elevator down to get you."
"Thanks Vic, you're a real one." Zephyr said, as he disconnected from the call.
A few minutes later Zephyr, Allison, Ben and Kevin all waked into the office.
"So what did you want to tell me?" Victor inquired, leaning back into his chair and gesturing towards the other chairs and plush looking sofa.
Zephyr took the seat closest to Victor, a serious expression plastered on his face.
"I think one of the staff at school is working with Max and his Squad, helping them out and getting us in trouble." He explained.
"Joan Moynihan." Victor snarled "I shouldn't have put it past her to go for a petty revenge scheme like this. I had just 'reunited' with her when I attended a parent-teacher conference, I shouldn't have put it past her to fabricate a tale like this to get ahead of me."
"Wait? Moynihan, as in Ms. Moynihan, the Earth Sciences teacher?" Allison remarked, "Are you saying-?"
"Yes, I am." Victor interrupted. "Joan Moynihan is a Dakotaraptor. Same as myself. And it seems she's recruited another group of mutated teenagers to do her dirty work for her."
"I honestly thought it was gonna be Schreiden…" Zephyr muttered.
"What would she want with the mutants though?" We're just taking them in or defeating them to help people." Kevin asked.
"Well, Joan has always been a little… extreme, shall I say. In the time I've known her she was not at all satisfied with either our society or yours. She's always said she wanted to 'shape the world' hence her choosing to become a teacher in the new world. But it goes far deeper than that."
"As I'm sure you can imagine, becoming human was hard on all of us. Some of us took it a little worse than others… but Joan was excited about the whole thing." Victor continued, "After getting used to our new bodies we decided to go our separate ways.
Zet found some of the remaining ooze that mutated us. And I foolishly thought that was all of it. But, Joan found some of her own and began experimenting."
"She's attempting to restart life on Earth, to create a new era of life that she alone can guide and control." He continued. "She wants the ooze still present inside the bodies of the mutants, that's why she made her own soldiers who will follow her commands and believe her lies."
"Why didn't you tell us?" Allison asked, "That would've been extremely helpful to know earlier, maybe we even could've kept our identities secret from Max and his pals."
"I didn't want to put too much on you at one time. You were all so frazzled by your initial mutation. Getting you used to us and your new abilities left very little time for explanation" Victor answered.
"She could've come after us while we were at school tho, she could have just had the principal call us into her office and she could cut us open before sucking all our ooze out!" Allison argued, "Listen, I get that you were trying to help us out, but knowledge is power, so keeping secrets from us is actively making us weaker."
Victor didn't retort, he knew Allison was right as much as it pained him to admit it. He nodded his head, in agreement and turned to look out his office window.
"Alright… what do you need to know. I'm an open book, anything you ask I'll answer to my fullest ability." He told the group, taking a seat in his chair to face them all.
"Well, first things first…" Allison started pulling her own chair forwards to meet Veloci's gaze directly. "Are there any more dinosaurs besides you, Zet, Theira and Moynihan? And where are they?"