So that took a turn.
"Dad?" Kenji asked in shock.
"Norman Osborn?" Peter asked, recognizing the man beside him.
"Kenji? You You're alive?!" Daniel Kon asked in shock, rushing ahead and hugging his son.
"No way."
"Kenji's father."
Jeff gargled in confusion.
"I never thought I'd see you again," Daniel said to his son.
"Me too," Kenji said.
"Peter?" Norman asked in surprise. "Peter Parker?"
Peter stared at Norman in shock that he actually remembered him. He barely remembered the man. He met once, years ago and it was by accident. It was back a few days after his mother passed, and Norman Osborn was talking to his father.
"Mr. Osborn," Peter greeted.
Norman chuckled as he approached, coughing along the way. Struggling to keep his balance with his cane. "What did I tell you all those years ago, boy? It's Norman." He corrected as he placed a hand on Peter's shoulder. "I can't believe it. Last I heard, you and your father were stranded on Isla Nublar."
"Yeah, we were... dad... He didn't make it," Peter said with sorrow.
"I am sorry to hear that," Norman said with sorrow, and Peter saw it looked like he meant it. "Richard was a dear friend. I was... heartbroken when he turned me down to go work for Masrani."
"It is so nice to meet you, Mr. Osborn, and uh, Mr. Kon, I'm guessing?" Sammy said. "I'd shake your hand, but, uh..." She looked at all the BRADs staring at them.
"Of course. Have the BRADs stand down." Daniel tells Kash.
"Are you kidding me?" Kash asked.
"Dad, what are you doing here?" Kenji asks.
"It's a long story," Daniel said.
"Hey, do I know you?" Kash asked, looking at Sammy.
Laura snarled as she stepped ahead of Sammy to protect her from the man. Peter waved at her, telling her not to use her claws.
"I thought you worked with Masrani," Kash said. "You run Mantah Corp now?"
"Yes, Kenji. A lot's changed." Daniel admitted. "I took over at Mantah Corp after Jurassic World went down. Norman and I fused our companies to try and keep them afloat."
"So you're the ones in charge of this island?" Darius asks.
"You're behind the dino fights?" Brooklynn asks.
"You let him keep Darius prisoner?" Yaz continued down the list.
"You made these death robots?" Ben questioned.
"And were you aware he tried to kill us?" Mae asked, gesturing to herself and Carla, who was growing weaker.
"You did what?!" Daniel and Norman asked, looking towards Kash in shock and anger.
"I did what had to be done." Kash defended.
"You were supposed to get things up and running." Norman reminded him, marching over with his cane. "Not commit murder."
"Apparently, we gave you too much freedom." Daniel scoffed.
"'Too much freedom'?" Kash asked. "You mean that you were happy to sit back while I did all the hard work. You know what? Forget this." He then reactivated the BRADs, watching them come back to life, causing the group to gasp and prepare to defend themselves. "This is my island."
Peter morphed the V252 around him. "You wanna go? Let's fucking go!" He then stretched tendrils out of his suit. "I'll gladly take you all on!"
"Is that...?" Norman was shocked to see the V252.
"Execute override nine-one-six," Daniel said in a calm manner, watching the BRADs immediately stop and obey Daniel. "You didn't really think I'd give you total control, did you?"
"There was an override code?" Peter asked in disbelief. "That could have saved us some time ripping one of them apart."
"Eh, then I wouldn't have to talk with you and Superstar," Yaz shrugged with a flirty smile.
"Were you always like this and we didn't notice or did we awaken something?" Brooklynn wonders.
"Eh, one of the two," Yaz shrugged.
Kash quickly rushed off, pushing Mae and causing her to fall over.
"Where are you going?!" Peter asked, leaping into the air and tackling Kash to the ground. He grabbed him by the neck and raised him upward, causing Kash to struggle to try and escape. "Who said you were getting away!?"
"Peter!" The group called, getting him to look and see what he was doing.
Peter just groaned as he tossed the man aside. "Be lucky I don't kill you right now for everything you've done."
"Hey, guys?" Ben called. "Mae and Carla are not doing so well. I think they reopened their wounds."
"I'll get them to the Med Bay and put Kash somewhere he can't hurt anyone," Daniel promised. "Get him." One of the BRADs walked over and grabbed Kash. "I'll be back soon,
and we can figure out how to get you home."
"I'll come with you," Kenji said.
"Later, son," Daniel said. "You go get cleaned up with your friends. Norman, bring them to the investor's suite on level two. It should be well-stocked. Feel free to use anything you need."
"I would be glad to," Norman said, starting to walk off in the direction of the compound.
"'Feel free'? Oh, my gosh." Sammy said with glee. "We can walk around like people."
"I have so much to tell you," Kenji tells Daniel.
"And I can't wait to hear all of it," Daniel said.
"I should have known not to trust you!" Kash called as he was being dragged off. "This isn't over."
"Everything's gonna be okay, guys," Kenji promised them.
Peter wished he could agree, but something wasn't right. He remembered what his dad had said when he had admitted everything. The people he worked for were making monsters. They were creating weapons. He looked over towards Laura and remembered that she was one of those weapons.
Making their way to the compound, Norman showed them into the investor suite and showed them around. They saw how large the place was and how stocked it was with food, bedrooms, bathrooms, a living area, and even a tree in the middle.
"Welcome to the investor suite." Norman introduced them.
"All that time and you didn't know this was here?" Sammy asks.
"There were a lot of locked doors," Darius admitted.
"Still no phones though," Brooklynn muttered.
"And the bedrooms are down there, should be enough for all of you," Norman promised with a chuckle.
"We get our own rooms?" Ben asked as they all rushed over to check out the rooms.
Peter hesitated at the threshold, glancing back at Norman, who was struggling to maintain his balance. "Mr. Osborn, do you need assistance?" he asked, concern etching his features.
Norman let out a raspy chuckle, a hint of warmth flickering in his weary eyes. "That would be mighty kind of you, Peter," he replied, gesturing toward a grand doorway that loomed ahead, which swung open to reveal the stark expanse of his office. "Over there."
They moved toward a peculiar machine, its metal frame glistening under the harsh fluorescent lights, connected to a large, ominous oxygen tank. Once settled into a cushioned chair, Norman placed the mask over his face and inhaled deeply, the rhythmic hiss of the machine filling the charged air. Peter, curiosity piquing within him, scrutinized the unfamiliar equipment, a myriad of tubes and gauges decorating it like an alien contraption from a sci-fi film. The names inscribed on the instruments twisted his tongue, a baffling array of syllables.
"It's an experimental gas," Norman explained, his voice slightly muffled by the mask, as he took another long breath. "Retroviral hyperplasia. A genetic affliction."
Peter's eyebrows knit together in understanding. "This is..."
"An experimental cure. It's not flawless, but it slows the relentless march of the disease." Norman's tone grew somber as he began to pace with the aid of his cane, the tapping echoing against the sterile walls. "You see, OSCORP stood on the precipice of something monumental. We sought a remedy for my condition, but as time passed, conventional medicine led us nowhere. Frustrated by our limitations, we turned to unorthodox methods."
"Bio-engineering," Peter echoed, the pieces falling into place. "Genetic splicing."
Norman nodded, his eyes gleaming with a mixture of desperation and hope. "I thought, 'If we can resurrect a dinosaur using science, why can't we solve my problem?' But my labs lacked the sophistication that Hammond's team had perfected for their theme park monstrosities."
"So, you enlisted my dad," Peter stated, realization dawning.
"Not exactly 'used,' more like required his expertise," Norman sighed heavily as he settled back into the chair. "Every day I grow weaker, like shadows encroaching on light." He turned his gaze to Peter, his expression earnest. "You've endured so much. You emerged from the island because of our experiment. The V252, it was our most advanced iteration in the pursuit of a cure. How did it come to reside within you?"
Peter's memory stirred, images of betrayal and pain flooding back. "I was injured... I felt my heart slowing. The venom from Scorpios... it was the V252 that saved me."
"But it was more intricate than that, wasn't it? You were infused with something that allowed you to harness it," Norman pressed, stepping closer, his keen gaze piercing through to Peter's guarded demeanor. "I have no intention of causing you harm. You, Peter, may very well hold the key to a cure. Your blood could unlock a treasure trove of genetic therapies, vaccines, and groundbreaking medicines. We could never command the V252, but you… you bend it to your will."
Peter's gaze dropped to his hand, tendrils of the V252 visibly thrumming with energy, wisps leaking like smoke from his fingertips. "More or less," he muttered, uncertainty lining his voice.
"Can I...?" Norman hesitated, extending a cautious hand towards Peter, longing to feel the energy of the V252. "The V252 was intended as a one-time solution. Is there any chance that I...?"
Peter's heart raced, torn between hope and doubt. He stretched out his tendrils, striving to transfer the V252 to Norman. But it resisted fiercely, almost as if it were a living entity that recoiled from separation, pulling back to Peter like a magnet grasping tightly to its source.
"I'm sorry, I really don't know how to control it," Peter admitted, a hint of frustration evident in his voice.
"Well, it's fortunate we know someone who understands its workings," Norman replied with a slight smile, a spark of enthusiasm igniting in his eyes. "Dr. Connors."
"Wait, what?" Peter exclaimed, shock washing over him. "Dr. Connors knows about the V252?"
"Of course," Norman beamed, his excitement infectious. "She and your father collaborated on it. Once she's back on her feet, we should consult her."
Peter nodded, a sense of cautious optimism beginning to bloom within him. "Sure."
"Now, go find your friends," Norman instructed, firmly placing the mask back in position. "I'll need some time here."
With a final glance back, Peter slipped out of the room and ventured into the hall, the weight of the conversation pressing on him as he set out to reunite with his friends.
Sammy was relishing having an actual bed for once while Yaz sat down in the nearby chair and relaxed. Laura was trying to get used to the comfy feeling of the bed. Used to the hardness of the jungle, it was difficult to get comfy.
"When Mr. Kon said they had everything, I did not think he meant everything," Sammy said as she hugged a pillow.
"Right?" Brooklynn said. "At least he wasn't lying about that."
"You think he's a liar?" Yaz asks.
"No. It's not that." Brooklynn said. "It just feels like he isn't 100 percent telling the truth. But Kenji was so happy to see him. I... I hate that I don't trust him, but-"
"I get it," Sammy said. "The guy runs Mantah Corp."
"And if he's in charge, it could also mean that he's responsible for everything," Yaz stated. "Peter's dad had to be working for either Mantah Corp or OSCORP. All the Cross-Species, and Laura and her siblings, the V252, it all came from them."
"And they were meant to be weapons," Brooklynn remembered what Richard told them. "Rhino, Scorpion, Vulture, imagine what a big-time company like OSCORP and Manta Corp could do if they actually got their hands on them."
"Or Peter?" Yaz asks in terror.
Brooklynn didn't even consider that one. "A sample of his blood with their tech, they could... they could make more of him."
"Or others like him," Yaz stated.
After everyone got cleaned up, they made it to the main area where they began to relax. Peter was still freshening up since he was talking to Norman and had a late start while everyone else was already relaxing.
"I like your hair," Yaz said to Brooklynn, seeing it washed.
"I like your face. So smooth." Brooklynn chuckled, seeing that Yaz was actually clean and not covered in mud anymore.
Peter walked into the room wearing clean clothes he sighed in relaxation as he looked over himself.
"Whoo, Peter Parker, actually cleaned up," Brooklynn cheered.
Peter chuckled as he blushed and approached the group. "Hey, guys."
"Whoo, look at you, Peter Parker all fancylike," Yaz joked.
"Ha-ha, finally got some normal clothes that don't look like I stole them from a dumpster, I get it," Peter laughed as he sat aside them.
As they were laughing, the doors opened and Daniel entered the room. "Everything okay?" Kenji asked his dad.
"Yeah." Daniel sighed. "Just getting rid of Kash leaves me with quite a mess to clean up. I hope you're all settling in okay."
"Why would we have to settle in?" Sammy wonders.
"We're going home, right?" Yaz questioned.
"About that..." Daniel sighed. "After the Jurassic World incident, the world turned on dinosaurs." He approached Kenji while everyone else gathered together on the other side. "If anyone learns about this island, well, these dinosaurs, and our family, all of us, could be in a lot of trouble."
"Us?" Peter asks.
"Yeah, we've got nothing to do with anything you're doing," Laura stated.
"Look, Kash's way of doing things is over, and he will pay for what he did to Mae and Carla," Daniel told them. "I know it's completely unfair to ask this of you, but if you can just give me a few days, I can arrange to get you home safely but discreetly. You know, out of the public eye. If not for me, do it for Kenji."
Peter didn't like that wording. He looked over to Kenji and almost felt annoyed when he saw Kenji seemed to agree with what he was saying. He looked to everyone else and they seemed to agree something was up, but that it was best not to stir things with Daniel publically.
"Okay."
"I guess."
"Yeah. For Kenji."
"Oh, thank you so much." Daniel sighed. "If you need anything, the BRADs can help you now. Ready to go, son?"
Kenji then walked off leaving the kids alone.
"I just think it's a little weird we can't even call our families," Sammy commented.
"I know. But if the world really did turn on dinosaurs, Mr. Kon's right." Darius said. "This place needs to be a secret for their sake."
"What about our sakes?" Yaz asks.
"And we just can't access the internet?" Peter asks. "No, something is going on. We already know that my dad said the people he worked for weren't to be trusted. And these guys just happen to have one of his experiments? And one of their scientists just happened to have information on the V252?"
Darius nodded. "Your dad did say they were dangerous."
"Exactly," Peter confirmed.
"I say we ask Mae what she thinks," Ben said.
Making their way to the medical bay, Carla was currently sleeping off the injuries while everyone missed the scales growing further up her body under the sheets. Mae on the other hand was awake, but she was...
"Spoons are weird, right?" Mae asked, looking at herself in a spoon. "You're upside down in them till you're right side up."
She wasn't going to be any help.
"Are you feeling all right?" Yaz asks her.
"Couldn't be better. All fixed." Mae said with a giggle. "They gave me some thingy-majiggy for the pain."
"Mm. Yeah, they did." Ben sad. "I think we should hold off on asking her anything."
"No." Mae grabbed his hand. "Don't leave me alone. This show is too scary."
They looked to see a computer showing Kash being kept in one of the baby dino pens.
"We'll go turn off the feed so Mae can get some rest." Brooklynn got an idea as she, Laura, and Sammy left.
"No, thanks, I'll just have a salad," Mae said with a giggle.
They looked over and saw a BRAD delivering food to Big Eatie but she refused to eat.
"Big Eatie's not eating." Darius noticed.
Making their way to the pen, Sammy and Laura watched Brooklynn turn off the cameras. Kash was confused by what was going on when he got a good look at Sammy.
"That's who you are. The ranch girl." Kash said.
"The name is Sammy Gutierrez." Sammy cried in anger as she marched over to the cell. "Don't act like you don't remember blackmailing my family. I did what you wanted,
so my family better be okay."
"Okay. Well, sorry." Kash laughed. "I have no idea about your family down on the ranch." He mocked her accent. "After you "died", Kon iced me out. I wouldn't be too hopeful though. He has a way of turning on people."
"Is he really that bad?" Brooklynn asked.
"Maybe." Kash shrugged. "Maybe I'm just messing with your head."
"You weren't messing when I nearly clawed your face off," Laura growled, showing her claws to him. "You said something that stuck out to me. 'We had all of you locked up somewhere else'. What did you mean?"
Kash seemed concerned when he saw her claws and what she might do. "You didn't think that you were the only clone we made, did you?"
"I know about my siblings," Laura stated. "I know they were killed."
Kash chuckled when he heard that. "Killed?" He then laughed and wiped some tears. "You heal!" He cried with laughter. "So did they. We just had you moved from the facilities here."
Laura froze in shock when she heard that. "What?"
"You were always here," Kash informed her. "You fought the early BRADs prototypes over and over. Becoming stronger. Faster. Once we saw you were unstable, we had you shipped to Isla Nublar to merge you with the Adamantium."
Laura shook with terror. "Where are my siblings?"
"Who knows?" Kash shrugged as he sat back down. "Like I said, I was iced out."
"If you tell us what we wanna know, I'll see if I can get you out of here," Brooklynn told him.
"If you wanna know what happened to your family, check the files in Kon's office," Kash told them, wanting to get out. "It's right next to mine but not nearly as swag. Now, are you gonna free me or what?"
"Maybe." Brooklynn shrugged. "Maybe I'm just messing with your head."
Sammy chuckles at that as Laura grins and walks off.
Making it to the office, they started to look around and tried to find anything to do with Sammy or Laura's families. Brooklynn got into one of the locked drawers and opened it.
"Hey, Sammy," Brooklynn called her over.
"There. Gutierrez Ranch." Sammy said, opening the file and gasping.
"Mr. Kon owns it." Brooklynn noticed. "Until their debt is paid."
"But the ranch has been in my family for years," Sammy said in horror.
"Oh, I knew this guy was no good." Brooklynn sighed.
"I'm sorry, who's no good?" Daniel asked, getting them to gasp and spin around to see him.
Laura wasn't used to his scent and didn't smell him approaching, never mind her mind being preoccupied with trying to find information about her family. Now that she thought about it, she didn't even necessarily know how to read, so what was her plan?
"Whoever would do this to my family!" Sammy stated.
"You mean clean up Kash's mess and help your family out?" Daniel wonders. He then showed the contract. "You are Sammy Gutierrez, aren't you?"
"An exclusive contract?" Sammy asks.
"After Jurassic World went under, your parents had no way of paying back the bank," Daniel explained. "So, yes, I bought their debt. And I made them my exclusive meat supplier here. They have no idea where the meat goes, only that I order a lot of it."
"Oh. Well, that was nice of you." Sammy said in surprise.
"Your family is fine," Daniel promises as he puts the file away. "If I knew who you were, or if you had just asked, I would have told you as much.
"Mr. Kon, you have to understand... After all that we've been through, trust does not come easily to us." Brooklynn explained
"I would have thought being Kenji's father would have earned me a bit of trust," Daniel stated.
"Ha. If anything, that makes us more skeptical," Laura informed him. "We've seen people pretend to be good only to stab us. Blood meant nothing. Including mine."
Daniel looked at her as if she was familiar, but didn't show if he recognized her or not.
"I'll be glad to keep this incident between us," Daniel promised the three. "You all seem so close. I would hate to ruin that."
If Laura didn't know any better, she would think that sounded like a threat...
Kenji just got back from talking with his dad and walked to the common area to find Darius, Yaz, Ben, and Peter.
"Hey. What's- What's wrong?" Kenji asks.
"Big Eatie won't eat," Darius explained. "She's missing her daughter."
"Maybe if we could reunite them, she'd feel better." Ben shrugged. "Can you say something to your dad?"
"About that..."
Brooklynn, Laura, and Sammy walked into the room. "Hey." Peter greeted. "Where were you two?"
"We were doing some diggin'..." Sammy said.
"Into what Kash did to Sammy's fam," Brooklynn explained, not wanting to discuss Laura's family with Kenji nearby. "Luckily, we ran into your dad, and he told us the good news."
"My family's fine, y'all," Sammy said. "In fact, all the meat here is courtesy of the Gutierrez Ranch."
"That's great, Sammy," Yaz said.
"Your dad's been helping them, Kenj," Sammy said as she hugged him. "I, I don't know how to thank him."
"Yeah. I mean, my dad's awesome." Kenji said. "Maybe that means he'll listen."
"To what?" Brooklynn asks.
"Uh, the island needs investors." Kenji sighed. "He's still doing a big dinosaur fight showcase."
"What?"
"He can't do that."
"Yeah, he thinks dinosaurs just fight all the time anyway, so why not make money on it?" Kenji said with a shrug. "But they're so much more than that. He just doesn't know them like we do."
"But if we can show him there's another side to them.."
"Maybe he'll change his mind." Someone said, looking to see Norman exiting his office. "But be warned... these are ferocious beasts."
"Ferocious beasts are our specialty," Peter stated with a grin.
Laura and Peter were currently running from Little Eatie while the others were bringing Big Eatie up.
"Did I tell you how much I hate your plans?!" Laura asks.
"Only every other five minutes!" Peter cried as they ran away.
Little Eatir roared at them, trying to chomp them down. They ran past Big Eatie who was raised up the platform and they both leaped in opposite directions. They watched the two T-Rex's reunite and stopped chasing them,
"Whew." Peter sighed.
"Dude, you did it," Kenji told Darius. "It worked. Your plan worked."
"Couldn't have done it without you," Darius said.
"You guys okay?" Brooklynn asked as she and Yaz ran to his side.
"Tired." Peter sighed.
"I admit, I never thought I'd see anything like that." Norman chuckled as he approached.
"Then don't make them fight," Kenji told them. "Please."
Daniel seemed to consider it. "I don't want to do that anymore. You believed in something. You got others to follow you, and you wouldn't take no for an answer. I couldn't be prouder of you, son."
"To Kenji!" Everyone cheered as they celebrated.
"To Kenji!"
"To Kenji."
"Yeah. So, tomorrow, I get to help Dad with the new presentation." Kenji told them. "He thinks I might have a knack for business. He's gonna teach me the ropes."
Laura shared a look with Peter, the two of them unsure if they should tell Kenji. Seems unlike the rest lf them, he hasn't put together than Richard worked for them and created these experiments for them.
"All right, guys," Yaz said as she stood up. "I'm turning in."
"Right," Sammy said. "We all have our own rooms with our own fluffy beds and pillows that are all ours."
Yaz gave Peter a kiss on the cheek as she left.
"I'm gonna turn in, too," Brooklynn agreed, giving Peter a similar kiss before leaving with Sammy following.
"Im not sitting here with you boys," Laura said as she walked off.
"So, now that we are alone... you gotta tell me... how?" Kenji asked Peter. "How did you pull that off?"
"What?" Peter asks.
"I think he's talking about Brooklynn and Yaz," Darius took a guess.
"I'll let you know when I figure it out," Peter admitted as he shaved his face. "I honestly don't know what I did. Guess it was just the talks we had over the days we spent together."
"Dude, you've really gotta teach me some of your game," Kenji said. "Like... how?"
"I know you had a thing for Brooklynn, man, I didn't really mean to step on your toes with that one. We just... have a lot in common."
"Yeah, I get it, it's cool," Kenji promised.
Peter smiled and then walked off, leaving the two of them.
"Is it cool?" Darius asks.
Kenji chuckled. "It's fine."
Carla was lying in her medical room when Mae was asked to join Daniel somewhere else. While she was lying, Carla began to wake up and groaned, pulling her hand out of the blanket. But when she did, she gasped to see her hand was cocooned in something.
"What..." Carla then reached over and tore the cocoon off, revealing a fully grown hand in its place. "How... how is this possible?"
As Carla was beginning to grow relief, she felt something was off. She felt weak as she fell over when trying to stand. She crawled up, lifting her shirt causing her to gasp. She saw reptile scales. She began to pant in fear as she felt something inside her morph.
A tail began to grow out of her back, causing Carla to groan again. Falling over, she screamed as her face turned green. Her entire body was morphing into something else...
Laura walked out of her room walked around and bumped into Sammy. "Sammy?"
"Oh, hi," Sammy said. "Couldn't sleep. After everything, I'm kind of not used to bunking alone."
"Yeah, me neither," Laura admitted. "Which is actually kinda surprising, considering I used to be alone."
Sammy smiled. "Just because you've been alone for so long doesn't mean that you have to enjoy it."
Laura smiled. "Yeah."
They walked over to the main area and opened the doors. "Wanna have a..."
That was when they looked round the room and saw that everyone else was already there. Kenji was lying on the couch, and Darius lying near the coffee table. Peter was sleeping in the Brooklynn and Yaz on his sides with him protectively holding them.
"... Sleepover?" Sammy asks.
Laura smiled as she walked over and took a place to rest with Sammy.