theraptorwhisperer | all hell has broken loose

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all hell has broken loose

Owen has never really gone along with the InGen model of business. It's one thing to bring dinosaurs back to life and quite another to never socialize them, mix species that shouldn't ever be mixed and treat them like machines when they're really living, breathing animals. He's hand-raised his raptors from eggs and as such, they respect him. Do they like him? Probably not - but they think of him as the Alpha most of the time.

When faced with a T. Rex and raptor hybrid? Not so much. New Alpha, new rules, which is why he's using a storefront as cover to try and get away from an animal he'd once considered a partner and a monster that should never have been created. InGen is still all about protecting its "asset" but Owen is interested in just one thing: getting out alive.

He backs through the broken glass storefront in a vain attempt to find something to use as a weapon. There's little chance of that amongst tumblers and t-shirts but he's going to try his best. As he does, he sees a little closet marked ELECTRICAL.

Hmm. He might be able to improvise something from that, right? Owen yanks it open and stumbles inside, hoping to find something to rig up as a weapon to teach the Indominus a lesson. What he finds, though, isn't a weapon or even an electrical closet; he can't even find so much as a fusebox.

What he does find is what looks like a hotel and he's pretty sure they're way the hell away from the resort properties right now. "Hey! You shouldn't be in here," Owen yells out at someone passing by. "We've got a containment emergency. Dinos on the loose. You're supposed to be evacuated by now."

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Sarah turns slowly on her heel, debating how crazy this guy is. She's got her pistol on her and her knife, but that's for actual threats and she hasn't heard 'dinosaurs' since the island. She wouldn't exactly mind taking one down, but she's probably a little rusty, given that the last time she'd gone out there had been with Cal.

"Are you sure?" she asks calmly, gesturing to the closed door behind him. "Because I haven't seen a dinosaur in months and I'm pretty sure you're not where you thought you were."

"There's a monstrosity fighting a raptor through that door," Owen says, hooking a thumb back toward where he came from. The door's closed now and he moves closer, wrenching it open to peer back outside; all he can see is what looks like an electrical closet with a very real back wall. Huh.

"Well, it was just there. And you shouldn't be here, it's not safe."

Well, that definitely sounds like an interesting show, but Sarah isn't in the mood for picking a losing fight right now. "Of all the places you could be in, this is possibly one of the safest," she's quick to assure with a wry tone. "Is this your first time in the Nexus?"

It has to be. He wouldn't be calling it unsafe otherwise.

"Nexus? We're on Isla Nublar," Owen says, blinking at the woman incredulously. He doesn't see blood on her forehead, or anything, but maybe she has a head injury. Years in the Navy taught him some basic field medicine and he examines her eyes, trying to see if it looks like one pupil is dilated more than the other; other than a nice set of eyes, nothing unusual there. Hmm.

"How'd I get to this Nexus or whatever?"

"We're really not," Sarah promises, speaking slowly as if she's going to suddenly be on this Isla Nublar. She's never heard of it, but it sounds like the kind of place she'd cut jungles through back when she'd fist had John and was lying low. The prospect of adding dinosaurs to that experience isn't something she's really eager to do. "Usually, you walk through a door."

"I don't know how or which ones, but there's some kind of gateway that gets you here."

"You realize that sounds insane, right?" Owen isn't the type to judge, really, and this woman doesn't seem like she's going to snap on him but he is a little wary that something is just off.

Is it him? Is everyone else sane and he's just lost it? A psychotic break in the middle of a dinosaur containment fiasco is just what everyone needs.

"You just came through a door and told me I'm not safe because a dinosaur might come and eat me," Sarah feels compelled to point out, because if they're going to go head to head about what sounds craziest, she's definitely not going down without a fight. "You go back through that door and no, I can't guarantee your safety. Here, though? You're fine. Unless you decide to bring it back as a pet."

"I'd recommend not doing that," she deadpans.

"They're animals. To be respected, yeah, but they're not pets. They definitely run the show," Owen says. It's ludicrous to think of them as pets or assets or weapons or anything other than independent creatures who are to be feared and respected for their power.

"So how did I get here? And if you say door, I'm going to turn back around and head through it. The real explanation? How crazy am I?"

Sarah arches her eyebrow and very pointedly doesn't say door, but it's the answer that he's after. "Think of it like a gateway to an alternate universe. You just found the bridge and now you've got an all-access pass to come in and out when you like," she says, taking a long look at him. "Not as crazy as you probably feel right now."

She drifts down the hall to the door he'd come in. "Nothing chasing you had opposable thumbs by chance?"

"No, but raptors are pretty smart. T rex is less so but you know, I'm taking my chances with the steel door stopping them." Owen has put his faith in lesser gods before and he thinks this is a sound thing to believe in at this point.

"How long have you been in the alternate universe, then?"

"Long enough to know that weird things like this happening aren't so weird," Sarah admits, watching him cautiously. In some strange, weird way, he reminds her of Derek Reese. The stance and the way he moves reminds her of military and she tenses up slightly for it. "If you need help taking something big down, there's probably enough firepower lurking around here to do it."

"I need to," Owen admits. He needs to get back and secure the park so the rest of the civilians aren't in danger any longer. He thinks the root of the problem lies in treating animals like products and he doesn't know that taking out "assets" is really going to help the larger problem at hand. Humans shouldn't be playing God, more or less, and it's one thing to resurrect the past and quite another to cobble together a monstrous abomination.

He crosses over to the door he came from and tugs it, revealing only a storage closet. "But the door isn't working. I just came through here, saw you, and now the door is a storage closet."

"They ... change, sometimes," Sarah admits, given that she's all too aware how insane she sounds right now. "Sometimes, you have to work with them a few times, but you'll get back there. Not that you really would want to get back to a place like that, but if you need to, then maybe you do." She gives him a wary look.

"I can help," she offers, biting back the guilt about abandoning John like she might be. Though, does John even need her anymore? He's got Cameron now. He's got his own life.

"If you want to sign up for a firefight, I'm not saying no." Owen is a big believer in taking help when it's offered and if she knows the risks, he's happy for the help.

"Just need to find the right door to get back."

Her whole life is a firefight, but it's not something she likes to readily go around advertising. So all she does is nod. "Might have to stop for some weapons," she says. "If you're willing to take a small detour, I've managed to collect a stock." There are enough worlds accessed from here that will take you anywhere you want and a lot of those places are brimming with firepower.

"Detours are fine," Owen confirms. At this point, he's empty handed so if he needs to take a detour to get to a cache, he's more than willing to do it.

"Look, you don't have to help me but...I appreciate it. I just want you to know that." Maybe it's an awkward thanks but Owen doesn't really have this situation come up terribly much in his daily life.

"It's not like my day is packed with other activity," Sarah replies. She's going to get herself set up as a waitress at some point, but right now, she's been enjoying exploring the hotel and trying to map out the worlds for her own benefit. This is just another step in that.

She gestures towards her room, giving him a curious look. "What's your name?"

"Owen," he says, offering a hand to shake. It's the least he can do and he's mad at himself for not offering it earlier. He blames the distraction of wanting to get back to the kids and to Claire.

"It's a pleasure. Wish it could have been under better circumstances."

She doesn't shake his hand, but only because she's busy getting them into her room, digging out the trunk from under her bed. She works at the locks with her keys, carefully unloading several guns onto the bed, glancing over her shoulder at Owen. "What sort of weaponry are we going to need?"

"We're going after a t-rex, need something armor piercing," Owen says. It's hard to apply traditional weaponry principles to a prehistoric monster but there you have it.

"They've got thick hides. We need to get past that so we don't just piss it off."

She's seen one before, but hasn't taken it down. Her hunts had been smaller predatory dinosaurs, and she'd had a fence to work with to ensure they didn't come after her. She digs around and pulls out a few grenades, keeping them to herself because while she might be offering her help, she still doesn't trust him completely.

"Take the ammo you need," she instructs.

Owen takes some hollow points and a rifle, thinking if he could get off one good shot from a distance it might save them the trouble. Eyes might be good, or right in the heart - though there's the chance that it'll bounce off the breastbone. Damn.

"This is why people shouldn't screw with nature. Shit like this."

Sarah gives Owen a dubious look, because as far as she's concerned, there's always something to toy with or to play with or to ruin. Whether or not it's in nature or in machines just depends on who's bored. "Even if it weren't dinosaurs, I can promise you it'd be something else," she says evenly, loading up her ammo.

"Fair enough," he agrees. "This is why people shouldn't fuck around with shit they don't fully understand," he amends. It's a pretty good thing to live by and he thinks if people meddled less, they'd have less disasters like his current life.

"You sound like you speak from experience, though. Do you?"

"Everyone's got something to fight," she replies, not looking at him as she stands in the doorway, waiting. "Maybe it's other people, or some enemy, or even themselves." In her case, lately, it's a disease, but it's still taking its toll. "Come on. I thought you said this thing was dangerous."

"It is," Owen says, following her. "Let's see if we can manage to get back in the door." He had not been successful before but maybe he needed to just suit up and get some additional firepower before it would let him back through.

"Is it common to get locked out of a door here?"

"Yes," she replies, having seen it happen to people before, but given that she'd been trapped on an island for much longer than she'd ever intended, being temporarily locked out of a single door doesn't seem that terrible to her, not really. "What happens if you don't get back?"

"A lot of people are going to die," Owen says. He's scowling because he doesn't want to think about that and doesn't want that blood on his hands. He makes his way back toward the door and wrenches it open; it's still a goddamn storage closet.

"Fuck."

"Okay, that's not good," Sarah agrees in her even tone, because she knows that there's very little she can do except back him up. "The good news is that while nobody's really proven it, it does look like time either slows a good deal or stops while we're here. There could still be time."

"If it pauses, I feel less panicked," Owen admits. But if it doesn't and he's fucking off in some hotel when people are dying on the other side of the door, there's not a lot to feel good about there. He's never been the kind of person to back down from a fight and he would rather be the one in danger than to see other people in the same position.

"Have you tested that theory yourself?"

"No," Sarah admits, because while she's been home the once to see John, she'd thought it would be too dangerous to bring Skynet's attention to this place. It kills her, but she knows she has to stay here for now. Just for now. "I should, but I haven't let myself. It's complicated."

"Sounds like," Owen admits. He has no idea what to do with himself now and he's still riled on adrenaline from the fight he didn't get to have. Shit. It's not a comfortable feeling.

"I'm going to have to try again later. I can't just give up on it."

She's somewhat disappointed, given how she's prepared herself for a battle and now she's not getting one. "You probably should mark the doors you've tried," she suggests. "If you're lucky, you get one that switches on its own and you don't have to go anywhere," she says. "Then you don't end up searching up and down."

"Yeah, good idea. I'll mark every one I go through so I have a list and I know what I've checked and what I haven't," Owen agrees. "You sound like you know your way around, maybe you can help me. With two, it'll take less time."

Then again, is she going to know what he's looking for? He just has to trust that.

She's not entirely sure she trusts him just yet, but she also knows that keeping him close at hand is better than letting him stray too far away. She nods, just barely, and figures if nothing else, it will keep her occupied. "You run the risk of ending up somewhere I know," she warns. "Keep that in mind."

"And you run the risk of ending up where I came from," Owen tosses back. "Which I wouldn't wish on anyone unless they've got some serious ordnance and some pretty big balls."

She had seemed pretty gung ho, though, so maybe it's a moot point.

"I've seen dinosaurs before," Sarah replies, without being very afraid at all. "Hunted them, too," she says. "I've figured out how to track and stay out of their way." It had taken some time, but she had been careful to always assess the situation. "Have you ever thought of something like a shock collar that incapacitates them if they go over a border?"

"The dinosaurs in the park have that kind of thing," he explained, "But they figured out how to dig out their trackers and remove their collars. They're smarter than we humans give them credit for, that's for damn sure."

"Sounds like another threat I know," she deadpans, given that it's starting to sound a bit dangerously like Skynet. She stands at attention, next to the door they're at. "Look, you can find me on the fourth floor. That room I took you to. If you ever find a way back and need a hand, you can call on me."

"Will do. You'll be my first call." Owen pauses for a beat and then adds something else, something a little spontaneous.

"And I'd like to take you out for a drink, too, if that's your thing? Just as thanks for the welcome wagon."

"Maybe," is all she says, a touch terse, but it has nothing to do with him. It's more that she's still not sure how to navigate human connection like this and not put him in danger. "How about we save it until after you make sure everyone is safe?"

"Well, obviously," Owen says, taken a little aback by that. "I'm not going to fuck off when there's people in danger. But afterward at a celebratory thing? Yes. I'd like to."

She gives a firm nod. "Sure," she agrees. "When this is all done and put to rest, we'll have a drink." She doesn't see the harm and if he is as useful in the field as she's hoping, it would be good to strike up an alliance. "Until then, good luck finding the right door."

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all hell has broken loose

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