Chapter Text
Barney Bailey attributed his success to The Three Fundamental Truths of Entertainment, as he called them. To appeal to the largest audience, a show must have three things: something cute, something dangerous, and something majestic. His hired hands called it the 'awe', 'whoa', and 'ooh' factors.
In a simpler time this was achieved easily with a handful of clowns and a few adorable penguins performing in bow ties; fire eaters and sword jugglers and a ferocious tiger; acrobats and trapeze artists and two elegant elephants. He kept people of all ages coming from near and far with his trinity of entertainment, and success came easy to Mr. Barney Bailey. But nothing lasts forever.
When men in metal suits took to the skies, super soldiers emerged from the ice, and mankind knew without a doubt they weren't alone in the universe, it became more difficult to impress people. After the attack on New York, business became nonexistent for a while. After people started to get back on their feet a few would trickle back into the stands with ghostly eyes and hollow applause. No awe, no whoa, no ooh. Shows were scheduled on Saturday only and staff reduced to free up funds for finding the next big thing. And find it he did.
Well, maybe that's not entirely accurate. Mr Bailey was not the kind of man who rolled up his sleeves and got to work, he paid others to do it for him. The newest names on his payroll were Tex Taylor, and Professor Schultz. Tex came first, a self proclaimed cowboy and jack of all trades, he looked for people who would pay him to have his idea of fun and go on adventures. Intel had led him to Antarctica where he made the most unexpected discovery. If not for all the photo and video evidence, Bailey wouldn't have believed it for a hot second. In fact, it was such a massive discovery that it was difficult to transport anything impressive back to the states, almost impossible. Almost.
That's where the Professor came in. Mr Bailey had developed a Don't Ask Don't Tell relationship with the mysterious Professor Schultz, mostly because he was honestly afraid of the answers he might get, or worse, the consequences of asking in the first place. But Schultz was more than competent when it came to DNA and had access to some very interesting materials. And as long as Schultz assured him the project would be a success, Bailey was happy enough to let the odd jars of tissue samples and the large glowing generator slide without question.
There's been some argument about whether that was his first mistake or second, but honestly, Barney Bailey made a lot of mistakes. He could have turned Tex in, he could have informed the world of his discovery and let science make it noble instead of immediately marketing it for his own gain. Then he wouldn't have had to speak to someone as morally questionable as Professor Schultz in the first place. Who knows if Bailey could even have dug up any of Schultz's past anyway, or if he would have even lived to tell the tale of what he found.
The one redeeming thing Bailey did, though, was to hire Magnolia Smith. He had hired her 6 months after the attack. She had lost both her parents in it and had been placed in one of the special rehabilitative homes Pepper Pots had set up throughout the city. She underwent therapy and learned how to live on her own from then on. She had an aptitude with animals, but not medicine or science as much, so veterinary care was not within her realm of possible careers, but she was a very good caretaker. She kept his remaining animals well fed and cared for during the week and he didn't have to pay her nearly as much as a professional. Besides, those animals would be donated to the nearest zoo the moment his new attraction was on its feet, and that would be very soon indeed. At least that's what he thought.
"Fretting again, Mags?" Schultz's assistant Olaf asked her.
She had brought the penguins out to play in a few kiddie pools full of water and ice blocks, and one of the carnivals old snow cone machines churned out a pile of slush in one empty pool. Magnolia was staring at the rectangular gray building in front of her as the dapper birds happily played around her, but turned at the sound of Olaf's voice.
"Worry is a misuse of imagination," the corner of her mouth went up ever so slightly, in a way Olaf now recognized as her form of greeting.
Olaf himself smiled more broadly as she turned back and resumed staring at the building, one of its large steel doors in particular. In a few strides he was standing beside her, being careful not to step in penguin droppings. Olaf was dressed very nicely in shiny shoes and crisp black dress pants, his Burberry trench coat blowing just right in the early autumn breeze. He always exaggerated his posture around Magnolia since she was only 3 inches shorter than him, less in her chunky, filth encrusted rain boots.
"You know, you have such a way with words, you really should have become a writer instead," he told her, chancing a glance at her profile for some kind of reaction.
Her strong brows were furrowed and remained that way.
"Mmm," she hummed, noncommittal. "Sounds nice but I had actual bills to pay."
"Right," Olaf snapped his fingers as he remembered, the penguins pausing to look at him as they recognized their cue. "You have my word we'll pay you that bonus once the animals are shipped off."
"And a word of recommendation with the zoo?" She asked without hesitation, actually turning to look at him with brows raised.
He was usually taken aback on those rare occasions when another emotion besides sadness could be seen in her dark blue eyes.
"I really wish you would reconsider staying on with us and the new attraction," he said after a sigh.
She shook her head, the stoic expression returning as she gazed back at the building, one penguin pecking at her boot.
"Oh come on Mags," he stepped into her field of vision, tired of her stubbornness. "At one time or another everyone has been obsessed with or fascinated by these things- including you! And now that they're a reality again, I'd think you of all people would be chomping at the bit to see one up close. I know we've all seen the movies where everything goes wrong and it's a 'bad idea' blah, blah, blah- but this isn't a movie. It's not as bad as you think it's going to be- let me prove it to you."
Those last words caught her attention and she actually focused on him now. Taking that as a good sign he continued.
"Yes, let me show you. At 1:15 the professor goes to lunch, meet me at that door precisely at 1:15," he instructed her, a triumphant smile on his handsome face as he turned and walked off, not even letting her respond.
That smugness stayed with Olaf the whole morning, putting an extra pep in his step that even the exceptionally grumpy professor noticed. He'd mumbled the word 'brainless' in German as he shook his head, but that was the extent of his commentary. At 1:14 he leaned by the door, fully expecting Mag's dainty yet dirty knuckles to rap on it any moment. By 1:20 all smugness was wiped from his face. Finally he glowered through the glass slit at eye level in the door and spotted her through the open paddock door.
Magnolia sat on the straw covered floor of the paddock, playing with Tom Cat as one would a normal house cat, just with a much larger cat toy. Tom Cat's large paws swiped at the mop head as she swayed it back and forth in front of the bars of his enclosure. Suddenly Tom Cat stopped his playing and looked to his left. Magnolia followed his gaze and was surprised to see Olaf stomping up to her, his ridiculous shoes echoing sharply on the wood floors, their rhythm interrupted as he skittered around a pile of elephant crap.
"You're late!" He said as he got closer, blond curls bouncing.
"For what?" She tilted her head up to stare him once he was beside her.
"I told you to meet me at- never mind, just come on. The professor will be back at 1:45 on the dot and it's already 1:25!" He cried looking at his watch.
"Look," she began as she set the mop down and stood up, brushing straw off her backside. "I don't think-"
"I agree, you're not thinking," he cut her off and gripped her shoulders. "Because if you were, you'd realize that once the attraction opens, you'd never be able to afford the ticket to see these things. I'm offering you a free behind the scenes tour! You would be one of four people to ever see the very first ones as juveniles! Mags, please! Just-" he glanced at his watch again- "17 minutes. Can you give me just 17 minutes?"
She looked at him and slowly bit her bottom lip as his words sunk in. She absolutely didn't want to stick around for when this all went horribly wrong, but she had to admit it would be a shame to miss it altogether.
"Don't stand too close to the cage," she said just as the tiger growled and made a swipe at Olaf.
He yelped and jumped away from the cage, releasing Magnolia's shoulders in the process. He'd always wondered how she was able to predict the animals behavior so accurately. Surely she would be a valuable asset to them.
"Tom Cat hates you, remember?" She said as she began walking. "You got 15 minutes."
Olaf grinned as he hurried to catch up with her, his brush with potential mauling forgotten. He knew nobody, not even the moody Mags, could resist real live dinosaurs.