Archive of Our Own

Owen groaned, trying to get his eyes open and figure out what the fuck had happened. A hiss nearby had his eyes opening fast, and his body straining to get into a position for quick movement.

His eyes cooperated. His body didn’t, and he let out a yell at the pain. “Fuck,” was about all he could say. In return Blue bark-hissed at him, nosing him with her snout, looking remarkably unhappy given her non-human face.

Owen couldn’t believe she hadn’t eaten him. Couldn’t believe they all hadn’t eaten him. Yes, he knew they liked him, obeyed him when they felt like it, accepted him as alpha, but they were still wild animals, and when an alpha grew weak, the next in line didn’t wait for an invitation. Given the way he was feeling, he sorta kinda wished they had eaten him to put him out of his misery.

Instead, they all huddled around him, as if they hadn’t known what to do with him out of commission. Taking a chance, Owen patted Blue on her nose, hoping against hope she didn’t decide to take his hand off. The noise she made was a new one on him. Sort of like her let’s-go-play noise, but sort of like her worried noise.

He took a moment to check himself out, as he couldn’t even remember what had happened. Did he fall? Did the girls knock him down? “What happened?” he asked them, not expecting an answer.

To his surprise, Delta looked up, and so he did too, doing his best to ignore the pain the movement caused shooting down his spine and legs. What he saw was a cliff, about thirty feet up, not too high, but high enough. “Ah,” he said, remembering. They’d been on top, admiring the view. Or he’d been admiring the view. They’d been on a hunting trip, Owen having discovered that letting them stretch their legs and make their own kills on occasion went a long way towards them being a tad less aggressive in their paddock. The girls hadn’t strayed too far, not yet, anyway, and then he’d heard them screaming in defiance and racing his way, being followed by what he rapidly, and very unhappily, determined was a suchomimus.

He’d known they might come across some larger dinosaurs when he decided to bring the girls here to Isla Sorna for a hunt, but they’d gotten lucky for the three days they’d been here, and he’d let his guard down. Not completely, as he always had his rifle close to hand, but the suchomimus was running full out, intent on a meal, and even though it took a couple of rounds from his rifle, that didn’t even slow it down. The closer it got, the more the ground shook from its pounding steps.

Before it got to him, the girls did their best, turning to face it with ear-splitting shrieks, willing to fight, but the suchomimus with its long crocodile snout scattered them like so many bowling pins and came right at him, deciding he was the easiest prey. Owen could have jumped off the cliff, but there wasn’t water below, only hard ground, so he headed for the trees, scrambling, practically on all fours, in hopes of finding something possible to climb or at least get a few trees between him and it, but he didn’t quite make it.

When he could smell the heat of its rancid breath on the back of his neck, furious at how this fucking thing was going to take him out when he’d been working with raptors for years, the girls tried again, getting in between the suchomimus and Owen, doing their best to hamstring it, or at least take it out at the knees. They were partially successful, in that instead of the suchomimus taking a bite out of him, he just got smacked, hard, by its long snout, feeling its teeth scrape along his side, tearing through his clothes.

As luck would have it, assuming it was luck, he’d still been running close to the cliff edge and the suchomimus swept him right off it, into the open air, and that was all Owen remembered until now. He could see some scrub right next to him that was crushed, so he must have landed there, which no doubt kept him alive, and then either rolled out, or the raptors pulled him out.

He also realized that the sun was much further down in the sky, which meant he’d been out for hours. They’d been watching the sunrise up top, so he’d been out at least eight to ten hours, if not more.

“Thanks for trying,” he told his girls. The suchomimus was much bigger than a raptor, close to 14 feet tall and 35 feet long, but they might have managed with a little head start and time to plan. “Did you at least take him down after I fell?”

That got him four huffs which made him grin despite the situation he was now in. It always amused him how the sounds they made seemed to be perfect answers for the questions he asked them. He took a good look at himself and realized his leg was broken in two places, right through the skin. “Fuck,” he said again, suddenly overwhelmed with a swell of pain he’d been holding off through sheer ignorance. His head ached and he felt nauseated, no doubt due to a significant concussion, and every patch of skin he could see was already a mass of bruises, abraded skin and clotted over cuts.

With all the blood on him, he was even more confused, albeit grateful, at why the raptors hadn’t noshed down on him, let alone any of the other meat-eaters on this island. There were wild raptors here, and several other species of carnivore, although the suchomimus was one of the largest on this island, and here he’d been, flat on his back, stinking of blood, with no ability to fight back.

He did his best to relax, relinquishing the couple of inches he’d managed. “Delta, where’s the backpack? Can you get me the pack?” They all took turns carrying their supplies, and Delta had worn the gear last and should recognize the word. They’d only been a few dozen yards from their camp site when the suchomimus had come charging out of the trees, and that meant the pack, and all the rest of their belongings were up on the plain above.

Delta took a few nervous steps away then back, but then Blue barked at her, and she ran off. Owen could only hope she was going for the pack and not for lunch. But better lunch out there, than lunch at the all-you-can-eat Grady buffet.

Blue nosed him once more, and Owen patted her again. “Please wait until I pass out again to eat me, okay?”

That got a noise of disgust, the sort they made when they got the meat with the vitamins stuffed in it.

There was a loud roar above them, followed by a raptor squeal, and Owen forced himself to sit up, knowing there was absolutely nothing he could do to help, but not willing to lose one of his girls without even trying. But then Delta was racing down a small crooked path, running like mad, the pack hanging from her mouth. She raced around a little, as if the near miss made it impossible for her to settle down, and Owen stared up at the cliff to see the suchomimus staring down. “Fabulous,” he muttered. He could only hope that the path was too small for the larger dinosaur, and that it lost interest before it found another way down.

Meanwhile, he focused on Delta. “Bring me the pack.”

She raced around him again, her sides heaving.

Blue hissed, and Charlie and Echo moved to intercept her, until she came to a stop, dropping the pack dangerously close to his injured leg. He remained hopeful until he picked the pack up and saw that it had been badly mauled, by either the pissed off suchomimus, or his girls racing around defending their and his lives. The thing was empty except for a flashlight that was tucked into one side pocket, and the keys to his motorcycle that were tucked into another. Better than nothing, but hardly the sat phone he’d been hoping for. “Fuck,” he said again. They were totally fucked. Or he was totally fucked. The raptors would likely be fine. The wild packs here would be more than happy to take in four females.

The only good news about so many hours having gone by was that someone might be looking for him, because he’d missed at least two check-ins. So what he needed to do was stay alive until someone came looking. It probably wouldn’t be until tomorrow at the earliest, so he had to get through the night, with no phone and no gun. He reached down to make sure his knife in its sheathe was still attached to his belt.

The suchomimus let out a growl from up above, and the girls all shrieked back at him in defiance.

Owen took a desperate look around to see if there was a nice stout stick he could use to bind his leg so he could attempt to walk, not that he knew where to go. The suchomimus was as comfortable in the water as it was in the jungle so the beaches wouldn’t be safe. If it found them, only the raptors could keep him alive, and though he didn’t doubt their ferociousness, if things started to go south it would make the most sense for them to abandon him and go off on their own.

Deciding he had nothing to lose, he turned to the raptors. “I need a stick. About this big,” he added, holding his hands out about four feet apart. The raptors stared at him. He flung out his hand looking for any stick and found a twig that was about six inches long. He showed it to them. “Like this, but this long.”

Delta looked up the cliff, hissing.

“No, not up there,” Owen reassured her. “Out there.” And he pointed towards the jungle all around them.

Blue and Echo let out a shriek of annoyance and disappeared into the jungle, and Owen really hoped they were off to find a stick. He also wished Blue hadn’t gone because he thought she liked him best and would keep the rest of them from eating him.

Unable to stay sitting up another second, he lay back down. Exhausted and in excruciating pain, he closed his eyes, not quite sure if he’d make it out of this alive.

*****

Tony woke up suddenly, and found he was on a small private plane, seat belt holding him steady. Next glance let him know he was with Gibbs, Clint and Phil, so he relaxed. He had a vague memory of them telling him he was needed for another search and rescue, but he’d practically been sleep-walking at that point and had mentally checked-out, trusting that Gibbs would get him where he was needed.

“How long did I sleep?”

Macavity and Justin, who had come along, were yawning, as if they had just woken up too.

“About five hours,” Gibbs told him. “Feel awake enough to move?”

Tony would have been happier with fifteen hours, but he’d take what he could get. “What happens now?”

“We get in a helicopter that takes us to Isla Sorna,” Phil told him.

Tony blinked as the name sank in. “Like from Jurassic World Isla Sorna?”

“Like in Costa Rica Isla Sorna,” Phil told him.

Shooting Phil a sideways glance, Tony frowned. “Sorry, I’m not buying that. What aren’t you telling me? And why are you not telling me stuff? That’s really not like you.”

Phil actually looked uncomfortable, which set every one of Tony’s nerves on edge.

Clint gave Phil a look, too. “Hey, what aren’t you telling me?”

Even Gibbs was starting to frown.

Phil put a hand up. “Let me finish. Yes, we are going to Isla Sorna in Costa Rica. No, we’re not going to Jurassic World, because that was a movie. There is no Jurassic World.”

Phil’s words were met with complete silence.

Phil sighed. “All four movies made everyone associated with them a lot of money, but they were also for the purposes of plausible deniability.”

Tony’s jaw dropped. “What?”

Clint’s eyes were as wide as Tony had ever seen them. “Dinosaurs? For real?”

“For research purposes only,” Phil said.

“For what type of purpose?” Tony complained. “I mean, very cool, but what are they studying?”

“And what, exactly, are we talking about, dinosaur-wise?” Clint said, with a deep worry line on his forehead. “I’m having a flashback to great white sharks wanting to eat me.”

Gibbs was scowling at Phil now, something that didn’t happen very often. “What are we talking about, Phil? I’m not crazy about the idea of Tony facing down dinosaurs, and I’m really not crazy about you keeping something from us.”

“My nephew is missing,” Phil said after a long silence. “He’s missed two check ins, and someone knew about me…” he trailed off. “Sorry, Tony. I really need your help. They just think if something got to Owen and his velociraptors that there’s not much they can do to help.”

“Velociraptors?” Tony squeaked. “Like in the movies? The ones that tried to kill everyone?”

“They won’t kill you,” Phil said. “You know they won’t.”

“How can you say that after the incident with the shark?” Gibbs said hotly. “I’m not sure at all that that shark wouldn’t have taken a lethal bite out of Tony. It sure as hell was willing to go after any of us.”

Phil’s lips tightened, but he only looked at Tony. “Please. I know I’m asking a lot. Probably too much. But we have weapons. I’ll go without you if I need to, but I’d rather have you with me.”

Tony studied Phil, knew he was serious, that he’d go tackle dinosaurs and worse to rescue his nephew, knew Phil would tackle worse for any of them. He blew out a long breath. “Sounds like fun. When do we leave?”

“Tony,” Gibbs snapped.

“Phil would do this for us, you know he would. I’m not about to let his nephew die. Although I do want to know why I didn’t know he had such a cool nephew who apparently runs with velociraptors. Was the character Owen Grady based on him?”

Phil nodded. “He’s my oldest sister’s oldest son, and his name actually is Owen Grady. He has a pack of four velociraptors, just like in the movie.”

“Blue, Charlie, Delta and Echo?” Tony asked, enthralled. “So they didn’t die? Did they go up against an indominus rex?”

“No indominus rex,” Phil said with a tight grin. “That was all movie.”

“Why did they use his actual name?” Tony asked, delighted, despite the possible dismembering coming his way, at the thought that, in real life, the four velociraptors were all still alive.

“Plausible deniability,” Phil said again. “They used everyone’s name if it was common enough. There’s nothing on line that anyone can access that links the real Owen Grady to dinosaurs. He’s listed as an active Navy Seal.”

“And how come I didn’t know this? I didn’t even know you had a nephew,” Clint demanded, looking hurt.

“Clint,” Phil said wearily. “It’s a need to know only. The only reason I know is because my sister doesn’t know how to keep secrets from me. I had to sign two inches of paperwork when they found out I knew. I was lucky they didn’t throw me in a hole, despite what I know and do. It was easier not to talk about him.”

Clint looked unhappy, but he finally nodded, too used to secrets not to understand.

“What exactly are they using the dinosaurs for?” Gibbs asked with his ‘do not argue with me if you want to live’ voice. “As far as I’m concerned, I need to know; we need to know. Why’s it such a secret?”

“They’re looking for a way to weaponize them,” Phil said, finally.

“You mean like that Vic Hoskins asshole talked about? They want to send a team of raptors into an enemy site and have them eat them?” Tony asked, feeling a little sick to his stomach.

“They haven’t had much luck,” Phil admitted. “They’re not exactly trainable. Sometimes they take to a trainer, but they’re still wild animals and do exactly what they want. There have been too many instances where trainers have been attacked and killed.”

“How does Owen do with his gang?” Clint asked.

“Better than most. There have been some instances when they got out of control, but they’ve never hurt him. I know they’re keeping a close eye on Owen and what they call The Raptor Gang.”

“If I end up with a velociraptor in my entourage, we’ll be giving them just what they want,” Tony cautioned him.

“For all I know, Owen’s on board with it; he’s been out here for years. And if he’s not okay with it, are you about to start using dinosaurs as weapons?” Phil countered. “I remember you giving this big speech about how you wouldn’t use any of your animals for assassinations. Why would this be any different?”

That was true, but somehow it didn’t make Tony feel a whole lot better. He saw battles in his future. “Sometimes the world is a truly fucked up place.”

“Amen,” Clint said.

Phil put his hand on Tony’s shoulder. “They’ve already tried to come for you, and Nick Fury sent them scurrying off with their tails between their legs. No one takes you from us unless you want to leave.”

“Not going anywhere,” Tony assured him, although he wasn’t happy at the idea that word was getting around about what he could do. He supposed it was inevitable, especially after all the search and rescues he’d done; it wasn’t like he was subtle about it. And hanging out with Tony Stark didn’t help.

“So what happens now?” Clint asked.

“You guys don’t need to go,” Tony told Clint and Gibbs.

“Right,” Clint said with deep sarcasm. “Good idea. Me and Gibbs will go have dinner and see you after, okay?”

Tony smiled at him. “Thanks, buddy.” He glanced at Gibbs.

Gibbs just smacked him in the back of the head.

After barking out a laugh, immeasurably relieved that Gibbs would be with him, never really doubting the fact, Tony said, “Let’s go then.”

As if only waiting for the words, a helicopter landed next to the plane. A black man got out and walked to their plane. Clint opened the door and pushed out the stairs, inviting the man in.

“Thanks for coming,” he said, once on the plane. “I assume one of you is Phil Coulson?”

“That would be me,” Phil said, holding his hand out.

The man shook Phil’s hand, and then said to the rest of them, “I’m Barry DuBois. I probably know Owen’s velociraptors better than anyone besides him. I’m hoping that will keep them from attacking us.”

“Awesome,” Tony said, standing and shaking his hand. “I’m Tony DiNozzo.”

“I hear you’ve got a special talent and can talk to animals,” Barry said. “Is that really true?” He looked like he wasn’t quite ready to believe it.

“They call him the Beast Master,” Clint said grandly, bowing in Tony’s direction.

Barry looked dubious. “Like the movie?”

“Better than the movie,” Gibbs said. It was one of the movies he’d watched with Tony, because the moniker Beast Master kept coming up.

“Although the ferrets were pretty cool,” Tony said, then added, “I’ve got a cat and a rat,” Tony added, gesturing at Macavity and Justin. “And it doesn’t really work until after they bite me,” Tony said with all the fake brightness to could marshal. “I can’t wait to get chomped on by a dinosaur. Although, I have to say, I’m thrilled all four raptors are still alive. It killed me to see so many of them bite the bullet in the movie, and for poor Blue to be left on her own.”

“They need to bite you?” Barry asked, eyebrows high. Then, as if deciding that was better left alone, he said, “Owen hated that movie. He’s pretty attached to his girls.” He took a step towards the stairs. “Can we go?”

“You sure you want to do this?” Gibbs asked Tony, stopping him from moving to the door. “It’s really not in your job description.”

“Maybe not, but Phil is,” Tony said. “And putting it off isn’t helping.” In fact, every second he sat there, his heart was beating faster and he was sure his blood pressure was almost through the roof. He thought he might throw up if they didn’t do something soon. Scorpions suddenly seemed like white fluffy bunnies.

“Tony,” Phil said, sounding very serious, and saying nothing else.

“Phil,” Tony said back. “You’d do anything for me, and I feel the same way. This is family, and I’m not changing my mind. Let’s go get him.” It was totally going to suck, but he meant what he said. Phil’s family was his family, as far as Tony was concerned.

Barry was already down the stairs and getting back in the helicopter. Tony followed him, opening the door to the back and getting in. He found a set of headphones to put on, and buckled himself in. He nodded toward the pilot, then was taken aback when he saw the weapons Barry had brought with him. Loaded for bear. Or maybe he should say loaded for tyrannosaurus rex. “Hey, is there a t-rex on this island?”

“No,” Barry said. “Nothing that big. Most of the dinosaurs there are herbivores, but there are raptors, and a couple baryonyx, suchomimus and metriacanthosaurus as well.”

“And when you say nothing that big, what are you talking about?” Tony asked, not sure he really wanted to know.

“One to three tons, as opposed to nine tons.”

Tony blinked at him, but had nothing to say. He either got squashed, or he got squashed harder. He felt Gibbs grab his hand and hold on tight. The only way he’d get through this without going insane was to pretend he was making the fifth Jurassic movie. With on the spot special effects. Fuck.

*****

Owen was finding it hard to stay awake. He’d already thrown up everything in his stomach with a special encore of passing out from the pain. His girls had brought him a raw compsognathus, but he didn’t have the energy to even try to make a fire, not to mention the lack of matches. He’d eaten a few uncooked bites, but it had just made him throw up again. He had a fever now, and the shakes weren’t helping with the pain.

Blue, god bless her, had come back with his sleeping bag, showing off just how freaking smart she was. And Echo, showing off an equal amount of genius, had brought him a water bottle. It had been punctured a couple of times, and half the water lost, but the other half tasted awesome.

As the hours passed, the girls fought off a metriacanthosaurus, not to mention a pack of compsognathi and, so far, he was still in the same shape he’d been in. They’d chased off the metriacanthosaurus, which made Owen think it hadn’t really been hungry. The girls had feasted on the little chicken dinosaurs, which he was glad of as it lessened the chance that they’d chow down on him.

He hadn’t done a thing to help other than wave his knife around just in case the attacking animal got past the raptors. Now though, Blue kept giving him looks, and Owen was wondering if she was thinking about challenging him for the alpha position. He wouldn’t be able to fight back other than using his knife, and he couldn’t imagine knifing her, not when he’d raised her from her egg. She was his, no matter how she was thinking about him.

He woke up from one fevered dream to find all four raptors tucked in close to him again, although he had no idea if it was to help keep him warm, or if they were protecting him as a handy meal if things got worse. It was hard to imagine they were doing it to keep him warm, but he pretended that was the reason and patted the ones he could reach, and cooed at them, telling them how wonderful they were. He passed out again with his hand on Blue’s neck.

He tried to pull himself together when Blue took off again, but his head was swimming and everything was blurry, so he closed his eyes again, drifting off in a haze of pain and fever chills.

*****

Tony kept his eyes closed, trying to meditate the way Abby kept trying to teach him, so as to keep his heart from pounding out of his chest. Macavity kept telling him that he could take on anything that went after Tony, and Justin kept promising him that there’d be a lot of rats on the island who would help, but it wasn’t really working to calm him down. He wished he’d left them on the plane, but they wouldn’t hear of it, and it’s surprisingly hard to keep a cat and a rat where they don’t want to be.

“Um,” Clint said.

Tony reluctantly opened his eyes and looked down. “Fuck,” he said, even as he couldn’t help but be excited that there were actually dinosaurs down there. Two of them, big ones, hunting for fish, but happy to take a break and look up to see the helicopter there and to let out roars Tony could hear even through the loud noise of the helicopter and his headphones.

“Let’s not land there,” Clint suggested.

“Those are the baryonyx,” Barry said. “Don’t worry, we will not land there. They will lose interest easily and go back to their fishing. And at least now we know where they are.”

Tony just managed not to roll his eyes. Some silver lining. Jesus, they were big. He kept looking out the window at them as they flew to a different part of the island.

Barry opened up his computer; there was a program running, with four single red dots and one green dot. He directed the pilot higher, to a flat elevated plain. Out the window, Tony could see a trampled tent, the remains of a campfire, and other debris scattered about. Tony caught Barry frowning deeply at the sight.

Whatever had caused the damage was nowhere to be seen and, as Barry motioned for the helicopter to land, Tony hoped that didn’t change.

Barry got out of the helicopter, leaning down to avoid the blades, computer still in hand. “Damn it,” he said.

“What is it?” Tony asked, getting out of the helicopter as well, followed by Gibbs, who was doing his best unobtrusive version of hovering. He saw that Barry was holding a crumpled satellite phone in his hand. “I’m guessing that’s where the tracker was?”

Barry nodded, turning 360, looking for signs of life anywhere. Phil and Clint were out of the helicopter by now, as well as the pilot, who was carrying something that looked like a bazooka. Whatever it was, it looked like it could take down a tank.

“Does the pilot know who I am?” Tony asked Phil.

“No,” Phil said.

“Because if a dinosaur comes looking for me, I really don’t want him to put a hole in it, unless it’s really necessary.”

Phil walked over to the pilot and started a quiet conversation with him. Tony could see it wasn’t going over well. And that was when he saw the dinosaur racing full out in their direction. It wasn’t exactly the dinosaur that was in the movies but close enough to identify it as a velociraptor. It, she--Tony somehow always knew whether any animal was male or female--was barking loudly, and Tony could pick up an avalanche of anxiety coming from her.

He saw the pilot aim the bazooka, so Tony moved in front of him, ignoring Gibbs as he furiously yelled, “Tony!”

Tony didn’t care; he’d give her a chance. Tony watched as the velociraptor took it all in: the weapon, the six of them, the helicopter, and he could see a shine of intelligence in her eyes. His heart was racing in equal parts fear and awe as he fought against the urge to run to the helicopter, or to at least let the pilot move around him to shoot her, but he held firm.

Barry joined him, saying urgently, “That’s Blue. She’s one of Owen’s raptors.”

Blue ran to Barry until she was standing in front of him, continuing to bark and shriek at him, as if he might understand her. Tony had to hand it to Barry, as the man just stood there. He looked terrified, but he didn’t move.

“Blue?” Barry said. “Do you know where the alpha is?”

“Can she understand you?” Tony asked, astonished. And alpha? Tony guessed Owen had somehow gained alpha status with his raptors and was unduly impressed.

“No,” Barry said, his voice tight, his voice and body shaky now. “But I’m hoping she’ll recognize his name.” When Barry did nothing else, her barks switched to these long growls punctuated with whistles.

“What direction did she come from?” Clint asked. “Maybe she wants us to follow her.”

“Like Lassie?” Tony asked with a grin. Girding his loins, so to speak, Tony stepped in Blue’s direction, stopping when her eyes lit on him. She was pissed, and looked about one second away from tearing someone’s arm off. “Hey,” Tony said. “I know you don’t know me, but if you’d just scratch me a little, you can tell me what’s going on.” Tony could have sworn she sneered at him, her mouth opening wide in a piercingly loud shriek that made Tony’s lizard brain want to run for the hills.

“Um,” he said. “I don’t think she can tell who or what I am.”

“They aren’t exactly natural descendants from actual dinosaurs. They were made through genetic manipulation,” Phil said. “Maybe they’re not, I don’t know, real enough to respond to you.”

“Awesome,” Tony said, caught in a muscle-scrambling fight or flight reaction. He was afraid he might wet himself. At least no one else looked any better, which was a minimal comfort, misery loving company and all of that. Finally, fairly sure she was here to get help, he took another step toward her. “Show us.” He pointed toward the direction she had come from. “Show us,” he repeated, taking a step in that direction, and then continuing to walk, even as he recognized that he was being a crazy fucker, turning his back on a velociraptor.

And that was when she moved right in front of him, giving him a long, very intense look. Macavity chose that moment to miaow very loudly to catch her attention.

Blue actually danced a step backwards, looking down at Macavity, and the cat just hissed at her. Tony couldn’t help grinning, even as he poised himself to rescue his snarly cat from becoming a dinosaur snack. Justin raced up his leg and torso until he was sitting on Tony’s shoulder, squeaking at her. Tony could hear them trying to explain what she had to do, but he had no idea how successful they were being.

Blue looked at him again and Tony, really, really, hoping he wasn’t about to lose an arm, put out his hand. “Gently. Just a scratch.”

“This is a stupid idea,” Gibbs said, knocking Tony’s arm down.

Blue growled at Gibbs, this hair-raising, chill inducing sound that spoke to Tony’s lizard brain again.

“We’re at a stand-off,” Tony said. “She wants us to help, I can tell that much, but I don’t know how to do that without bonding with her.”

Barry was back to looking around, squatting on the ground, fingers on a very large footprint. “It was a suchomimus,” he said. “They run big, about 35 feet long. It’s the biggest dinosaur on this island.”

Tony could feel the velociraptor’s anxiety growing, and she kept looking over her shoulder. “Let’s go,” he finally said, moving in the direction she kept looking. He took off at a jog, and Blue ran next to him, correcting his direction a couple of times. Tony could hear the other men following him. She led him to a cliff edge and Tony looked down. “Body down there,” he called back.

Barry ran to him and looked down, yelling, “Owen. Grady,” he yelled louder.

The velociraptors down below shrieked up at Blue, then they spun around, growling and hissing at the trees around them. A huge frigging dinosaur burst out of the jungle, looking like a giant black lizard with yellow stripes and a long snout. It lunged at one of the velociraptors, the one with green hints on its skin.

“That’s the suchomimus,” Barry yelled.

The raptors moved fast, and darted out of the way, but doing everything they could to stay between the dinosaur and the man on the ground. The pilot was suddenly with them, aiming his weapon, and the rocket launched loudly and hit the suchomimus in the neck, essentially decapitating it. Tony was sad to see it happen before he could have talked to it, but they’d been too far away.

The dinosaur collapsed on the ground, dangerously close to Owen, but clearly dead. The raptors stared at it, and Blue turned to look at the pilot, letting out a bark, but then took off down the cliff following a small windy path.

Everyone except the pilot followed her down, Phil carrying a sizeable first aid kit, because of course Phil would have a first aid kit. It didn’t take long until they were at the bottom, and Phil moved right to Owen, calling his name.

Tony was relieved when Owen moved enough to show proof of life, and he moved to Owen’s other side, ignoring the velociraptors as best he could. It was weird to be with animals that didn’t seem interested in him. He’d gotten really used to being ‘all that’ as far as animals were concerned.

All the raptors were hissing and growling, but none of them were attacking which was awesome. They also didn’t look exactly like the Jurassic World raptors. The one who had come to find them definitely had blue tinged stripes on her but the others looked largely the same, and he’d need to get to know them better to distinguish them. They also weren’t all the same size, although the bluish raptor was the largest.

“Owen,” Phil said. “Talk to me.”

Owen opened his eyes and looked at Phil, appearing very confused. “Uncle Phil?”

Tony snickered. “Uncle Phil.”

“Shut up,” Phil said, even as he opened the first aid kit up and started looking through it.

Owen still looked confused. “Am I hallucinating you?”

“You’re a mess, kid,” Phil said.

Owen grimaced in response. “Where’s Blue?”

Blue pushed her way in next to Tony and sniffed Owen.

“Hey beautiful girl,” Owen said, reaching out a hand and touching her snout. The movement made him groan and the hand slipped off, his eyes closing.

Blue shifted nervously, hissing, turning to Tony, as if he could do something, and if he didn’t, she’d be glad to eat him. “We’ll take care of him,” Tony assured her, as if she would understand him. Then he frowned, “How do we get them back?” Then he heard the helicopter coming their way. He couldn’t imagine the pilot letting the four raptors squeeze on with them.

“They’ll have to stay here for right now,” Barry said. “Once we take Owen…” he trailed off.

“They’ll eat us?” Clint offered.

“I think we need to take Blue,” Tony said, even though he couldn’t believe he was saying it.

“The pilot is not going to let a raptor on the helicopter,” Barry said, body stiff as he kept his eyes on all the raptors.

Tony kept his eyes on Blue, watching her as she watched everything Phil did, emitting a constant low rumble of growls and barks, hissing at Phil every time he did something to cause Owen pain. Phil started an IV, running fluids into the wounded man. “I’m not sure she’ll let us leave with him.”

“I can tranq her,” the pilot said, looking like he might enjoy it. “I can tranq them all.”

“And then something else can come and eat them all,” Tony argued. He needed to try again with Blue. “Blue.”

The raptor turned to him at the sound of her name. “Can you understand what I’m saying?”

There was nothing in her stance to tell him one way or the other.

“Macavity, can you explain anything to her?” Tony asked. “Try very hard not to piss her off; I don’t want you to get eaten.”

Macavity proceeded to snarl, hiss, and mwrrl at Blue, with Justin throwing in a few squeaks and chirrups at her.

Blue stood stock still, her eyes on the cat and rat, with an occasional glance back at Owen, and sneaking looks at Tony.

A loud noise distracted them all, and another huge dinosaur burst out of the jungle around them, roaring loud enough to make the ground shake. Tony, deciding this might be the only chance to convince Blue, put his hand out and yelled at the top of his lungs, “STOP!”

It was almost funny as the dinosaur tried to stop, but slid on the leaf-covered ground, knocking down Clint and the pilot, who had been trying to get his bazooka aimed again.

Tony moved in front of them, only inches from the huge dinosaur, the bazooka prodding his back.

“That is a metriacanthosaurus,” Barry whispered softly. “It is a carnivore as well.”

Tony sighed. Of course it was. “Relax, or whatever it is you guys do to calm the fuck down,” Tony told her sternly. “There will be no eating of anyone here today.”

The metriacanthosaurus stared at Tony like she’d never seen anything like him. Tony noticed that Blue was looking at him the same way, but not like it was a good thing. Tony had no idea what her problem was. Meanwhile, he needed to focus. The huge dinosaur… “What type of dinosaur is she again?” All their names were tongue twisters.

“Metriacanthosaurus,” Barry said again softly and slowly.

It was actually kind of cool, sort of brown with yellow, green and purple stripes. She looked like a child’s drawing. Tony wanted to touch her and see what she felt like.

Tony was tremendously relieved when the metriacanthosaurus sat down, looking like a dog waiting for a treat. Tony blew out a long breath. “Thanks.” He told her. Were they all females? He lost his mind for a moment and patted the thing on its side. “I’ll get right back to you.”

The dinosaur crooned at him.

“Obviously you can affect them,” Phil said, getting a syringe of morphine ready.

“Right, so why is Blue being so recalcitrant?” Tony wondered. He turned his back on the metriacanthosaurus and moved next to Blue. “Just scratch me with your talon and we’ll bond.”

Blue screeched at him, then looked at Owen, making a clearly anxious sound.

Tony studied her, trying to figure out what was going on, why she was fighting him. “Can you figure out what’s going on?” he asked Macavity and Justin.

---“I think she is afraid.”--- Justin said.

“Afraid of what?” Tony asked.

---“That you will take her away from her alpha.”--- Macavity added.

“Never,” he told Blue. “I want all of the animals who bond with me to be happy. You can stay with him if you want. I won’t stop you.”

She didn’t look convinced.

Tony moved closer and tried again. “If you want to go with your alpha on the helicopter, you have to bond with me. Otherwise they will leave you here.” He added hand movements, pointing to her, to the helicopter, to Owen, to the jungle around them, in hopes she might understand him.

She hissed loudly at that, glaring at all of them.

“Just scratch me, and you’ll see it will be all right,” he cajoled.

“What are you doing to Blue?” Owen gasped out, holding a hand out to stop Phil from giving him a shot.

Blue moved over to him, nosing him with her snout, making that same anxious noise.

Maybe Tony needed to convince Owen.

Phil was the one who took a stab at that. “I work with Tony,” he told Owen. “He’s called the Beast Master.”

Owen’s eyebrows went up at that. “I thought my mom made that up. You’re real?”

“I’m real,” Tony said. “If she bonds with me, I can talk with her and explain things to her.”

“You want to bond with her?” Owen asked sharply, looking unhappy at the thought. “Would you take her away from me? I don’t want you to take her away from me.”

“No, no,” Tony assured him. “I would never do that. But she has to really understand things before anyone will let her on the helicopter, and she won’t want to be left behind.”

“You can make her understand that?” Owen demanded.

Tony was impressed with how Owen was still talking, then he recalled that Phil had said he was a Navy Seal. Tough guy, but Tony supposed he had to be to keep these velociraptors under control. “I can. She’ll be able to talk in my head, and me to her.”

Owen’s eyes darkened, and he looked away.

Tony was starting to get the idea that Owen and Blue were an item. Not a romantic thing, but a thing none the less. “After she bonds with me, I can make her bond with you, then you can talk to her.”

“Really?” Owen paused, “Really?”

“Really. I won’t get between you, I promise. Ask your uncle. He’s bonded with a dog named Tucker I bonded with first, and that dog is all about your uncle.” He didn’t point out that if Tony needed Tucker, that the dog would come running. But with Owen and Blue living here in Costa Rica, it’s not like Tony would ever come calling for Blue.

“All true,” Phil assured Owen.

“Blue,” Owen called, “do what he wants, girl. Do what he wants.” He took Tony’s hand with a sharp grimace, even that small movement causing him pain, and mimicked scratching him with a fingernail. He took Blue’s clawed paw and looked at Tony.

Tony kept his hand out and Owen moved Blue’s claws closer to him. Blue tried to pull her arm away, but not very hard, because Owen, as hurt as he was, was still able to hang on to her. “Go ahead, Blue. I’ll be right here.”

Finally, reluctantly, Blue used a claw to scratch across Tony’s palm. Her mind erupted into his. “Hey, Blue,” he told her.

Instead of getting a greeting in return, she went ape-shit, shrieking at him, both outside his head and inside, angry, a feeling of betrayal, crippling fear. It almost brought him to his knees.

“That is one pissed off raptor,” Tony managed to gasp out.

“Why?” Owen demanded. “What the hell did you do to her?”

Tony put his hands up. He had no fucking idea. This had never happened before. “Blue, talk to me. Explain what has you so mad. Let me try to fix it.”

---“I don’t want to be yours,”---she screamed in his head. ---“I am his. He is my alpha. Not you. Not you!”--- She growled at him, her head weaving back and forth, her claws digging into the side of her face as if to try to scrape his voice out.

“Stop it, stop it,” Owen said, grabbing at Blue, no doubt doing himself harm with all the movement.

“Scratch him!” Tony yelled. “Scratch your alpha!”

She did, accidentally, and she suddenly stilled, staring down at Owen.

Owen had a face-splitting grin on his face. “Hey, girl. Come here.”

Blue sank down next to Owen, still staring at him.

“She’s in my head,” Owen said, eyes sparkling, delighted, hands running over her snout and down her neck.

She barked at Phil.

Tony snickered. “She wants you to give him some pain medicine now.” He turned his head to the metriacanthosaurus. “Your turn.” He moved over there and put his hand out. “Do not bite my hand off.” In fact, he went for the dinosaur’s claws and placed them over his palm. “Nice and easy.”

Even though this animal could bite him in half, and was three times the size of that great white shark, it couldn’t have been gentler as it scratched Tony’s palm. This girl wasn’t anywhere near as smart as Blue was, in fact her brain was pretty simple, requiring single syllable words to communicate.

---“Eat?”---

“Eat that,” Tony said, pointing to the downed suchomimus. “Protect,” he added, pointing towards the raptors. “Friends.” To the raptors, knowing they would all understand him now, he said, “Friend,” pointing to the larger dinosaur. “She’ll help protect you until we can come back for you.”

One of the raptors, Tony thought it was Charlie, hissed at him, letting him know that they didn’t need any protection.

“I know,” Tony said. “You’re tough. But it will make your alpha happier knowing you have some help.” He didn’t know that for sure, but he didn’t think Owen would contradict him. He glanced at Owen, laughing when he saw the blissed-out look on his face. He thought it was more the raptors in his head than the morphine Phil had finally managed to give him.

All the raptors were curled around him, doing their best to touch him, even pushing Phil out of the way.

“My beautiful girls,” Owen mumbled. “My girl Blue.”

Blue hummed at Owen. Tony could feel her satisfaction thrumming through her mind and body. And he could feel her bond with Owen, strong, like the one between him and Macavity and Justin. It put a stupid smile on his face, too.

“They seriously love you,” Tony told Owen. They all did, although Blue felt it the most. She was Owen’s through and through. Tony guessed that she’d already made that decision a while ago, and the bond Tony offered was actually largely redundant, only making it much easier to communicate.

There was another rumble in the jungle, and the metriacanthosaurus stood up and bellowed in its direction. The noise stopped and then they could hear the creature moving in the other direction.

“Nice,” Tony told her.

She hooted at him in pleasure, and settled back down again. He was surprised, although very glad, that no other type of dinosaur was heading his way. His body was exhausted dealing with the adrenalin highs and lows.

He caught Clint’s eye, and Clint nodded, saying, “Maybe we should go.”

Blue watched them, even as she stayed close to her alpha.

The pilot brought a stretcher out of the helicopter and placed it on the ground near the raptors, as they were between Owen and everybody else.

“Come on, we need to take him to get help,” Tony told them. All but Blue reluctantly moved, Blue being on the opposite side. “And don’t worry, Blue, you’re coming with us. The rest of you have to stay here but I’ll be back to get you, I promise.”

There was some grumbling, but they didn’t get too hostile about it, and Phil, Clint, Barry and the Tony each took a side and easily hoisted Owen to the stretcher. Blue let out an angry snarl when Owen groaned.

“I’m okay,” Owen told her, although the move and the morphine had taken a toll, and he was really struggling to keep his eyes open. She got to her hind feet, hovering over the stretcher, standing between Clint and Phil, and Tony hoped she stayed calm.

“I’ll take her over that great white shark any day,” Clint said, as if reading Tony’s mind.

“Me, too,” Tony said.

They began to move Owen to the helicopter, Blue hindering more than helping, until Tony told her to back away. “You might make us trip and they’ll drop him,” Tony explained.

She wasn’t happy, but she did move aside, and followed behind them, almost too close, but able to avoid the men’s feet. It took some doing to get him on the helicopter because this helicopter wasn’t really made for medical evac, but they managed to get him strapped in behind all the seats. Blue, after some staring and strategizing, made her way onto the helicopter and went to the back as well, settling down next to Owen, crooning again, and letting out a happy chirp when Owen roused enough to touch her.

The pilot gave her a long look, and shook his head as if he couldn’t believe he was flying a helicopter with a velociraptor on board, but then he sat down, running his checks.

“Tony,” Phil said, touching Tony’s shoulder. “Thank you.”

Tony pffted in his direction, not needing any thanks from the man who had done so much for him. He watched out the window as the helicopter lifted off, seeing the raptors all staring up at them as they flew away.

*****

Once they landed on Isla Nublar, Owen was unconscious again, and Blue was hissing angrily.

“Hey,” Tony said to her. “He’s going to be fine. Phil gave him some pain medication and it made him go to sleep. Plus, he felt safe because you were with him.”

That seemed to stop her and she started crooning again.

“So, Blue,” Tony said, sure she wasn’t going to like this part at all. “They need to take Owen into the hospital so he can have surgery and get his leg fixed, and you can’t go with him.”

Oh, yeah, that got the hissing and barking going again, along with some frightening posturing that had everyone else backing up and looking for places to hide.

“Hey, stop that!” Tony snapped. “You won’t get to be with him at all if you keep acting like that. You can come with me when I go see him, but he needs to be in a part of the hospital right now where we can’t go.”

Phil moved close enough to get maimed, but he touched Owen. “We have to go. Tell her he’s sick, he needs surgery and medication, and the longer she keeps us standing here, the sicker he’ll get.”

“She can understand you,” Tony reminded Phil. “They need to take him,” Tony told Blue firmly. “They will take care of him. I promise.”

She looked at him carefully, ruthlessly, and he hoped to God that nothing went wrong during the surgery. He turned to Phil. “Please let us know when he’s in a room. Make it private and clear the halls.”

Phil nodded at him, and then looked at Blue. “He’s my family, too. And I love him, too. I will make sure he is fine.”

She clearly didn’t want to relinquish Owen, but she finally backed away, watching what the men did very carefully. They got him moved to a rolling stretcher, and then they wheeled him into the medical building and out of sight, Phil going with them, the pilot following, probably to get away from Blue.

Blue danced around a little, as if she didn’t know what to do, letting out hisses and growls as she moved. Six armed men came around the corner, telling Tony, Clint and Gibbs to step away. “We have non-lethals,” they called. “We’ll just put her out and get her back in their paddock.

Tony stepped between them and Blue. “She’s fine.”

“She’s not fine,” the leader called, the other men spanning out, trying to get a shot. “Even Grady wouldn’t turn his back on them.”

Tony wished Phil had stayed out here. No one knew who he was, and they’d just think he was crazy as a loon if he tried to tell them. He needed time to convince people who knew him, and a hell of a lot longer than that with this crew. In the meantime, he kept shifting to keep himself between weapons and Blue.

“Keep getting in our way, and we’ll just shoot you, too,” the leader warned.

“Damn it,” Tony said. “Hey, Blue, get in the helicopter.”

Blue had some doubts, and she communicated that clearly with growls on the outside and angry words inside Tony’s head, but she did it. With one leap she was back in the helicopter, in the back where no one could see her.

That got all six men to stop.

“I told you,” Tony said. “I got this. Someone will be around to tell you who I am so you don’t need to worry about Blue.”

“He is the Beast Master,” Barry told them. “The one Owen was speaking of last week. He can communicate with animals.”

“The one even he didn’t believe was real?” the lead soldier said. His comment got a couple of snickers, a couple of dropped jaws, and no one putting down a weapon.

“Great,” Tony said, knowing this conversation wasn’t going to go anywhere useful. “I’m getting on the helicopter too. It would be nice if the pilot were still here,” he added under his breath.

“I can fly it,” Clint told him. “Just tell me where you want to go.”

Thank God for Clint, Tony thought fondly. “Let me see if Blue wants to go back to the island now to get her sisters, or if she wants to wait until Owen is available.”

“It could be hours,” Gibbs said. “Make sure she knows that. I’m not sure how safe that island is even with that larger dinosaur helping out.”

Tony nodded, and then swung himself into the helicopter, sliding the door shut behind him. He sat in one of the back seats, swiveling a little until he could see Blue.

Blue hissed at him, saying ---“I do not take orders from you!”---

Tony blew out a frustrated breath. “Are you always like this? Or is this what a velociraptor is like?”

---Confusion?---

“You know, grumpy.”

---“I am me. I am Blue.”---

“Right. Well, Blue,” and he really tried to keep his voice even, as opposed to snippy, but he wasn’t sure how well he succeeded. “I don’t expect you to take orders from me usually, but I was trying to keep you from getting shot. Sometimes, it makes sense to follow orders. Don’t you follow orders from Owen?”

---“Alpha-Owen,”--- was her explanation.

Tony remembered how blissed out Owen had been when Blue was crouched next to him, and knew the source of some of that had to have come from Blue, so either he was used to her grumpiness, or her whole attitude about she and Tony bonding was making her grouchy. Not that it really mattered, so he refocused. “We have a couple of choices,” he said. “We can stay here until Owen is in a room where you can see him, which could take a long time. Or, we can fly back to the island, pick up your sisters, and be back, probably before he’s even out.”

---“Alpha-Owen,”--- she said implacably.

“Okay, but think about this. What’s the first thing he’s going to ask you?”

---“You cannot take me away from my alpha!”---

“I thought we already went over this. I will never take you away. If we fly now, we will just get your sisters and fly back here, and then you will stay with your alpha.”

---“You are in my head!”---, and she was NOT happy about it. She was growling inside and out.

“You are in Owen’s head, too,” he said practically. “You are bonded with him, too. Being bonded with me just makes it possible to communicate with him, like you are with me. Won’t that be a good thing? Don’t you want to be able to talk with him? Tell him that he’s important to you? To let him tell you the same thing? You were able to tell him that you love him, and he was able to tell you that he loves you.”

Without a change in her expression, Tony felt her reluctant acknowledgement.

“When we are done here, I will leave and you will stay. And you probably won’t ever see me again. I have many, many animals that look to me, and I am happy with them. But, as I said before, what I want for them is to be happy. I don’t ask them to do anything they don’t want.”

Blue was communicating a clear sense of skepticism. She moved until she could stare out of the helicopter, looking at the ground; Tony looked down, too, and saw Macavity and Justin staring up at her. He opened the door a few inches and called them in. “Maybe you two can do a better job making her understand.”

Tony had to take out his phone and record the cat and rat talking to Blue, otherwise Clint would never forgive him. They would have barely been an appetizer for her, but she was listening closely as they meowed and squeaked at her, occasionally looking back at him, as if to make a point. Well, they were actually making a point, or several, about him, and Tony was blushing at all the wonderful things they were saying about him. Although Macavity, every now and then, was also sharing some of the stupid stuff Tony did. God forbid the cat not be snarky even now.

He noticed that Gibbs and Clint were at the two doors, in a posture that indicated that they weren’t giving ground to the men with guns, and Barry was doing some fast talking to the leader. Gibbs was on the phone, no doubt calling Phil, who would work his usual miracles and have those men recalled.

And, yes, there was Phil, flashing some ID at the leader, and that was all it took, although they shot a fatalistic look at the helicopter as if to say that the death toll wouldn’t be their fault, and then they were gone.

Tony relaxed a little bit, opening the door to get Gibbs’ attention. “Tell him thanks.”

Gibbs nodded. “Everything okay in there?”

“Justin and Macavity are trying to convince Blue that I’m not going to take her away if she doesn’t want to go.”

“Why is she so different?” Gibbs asked.

“No idea, except what Phil said about them not being natural descendants.”

“Except that metriacanthosaurus stopped when you told it too, and bonded with you,” Gibbs pointed out.

“Then either it’s just velociraptors, or she was already bonded to Owen in some way that takes precedence over whatever I did. Either way, I’m not taking her away. If she wants to stay here, then she stays.”

“You were right, though, and if the military think you can control them…” Gibbs began.

“No,” Tony said firmly. “Phil was right to remind me that I won’t ask any of the animals bonded to me to do that. Not without extraordinary cause. And even then, I’d ask Owen to come with them. They’d be much more likely to listen to him than to me.”

Something nudged his cheek and Tony saw Gibbs’ eyes widen in fright. He turned his head to find Blue right there, like really right there, those razor sharp teeth centimeters away. “Hi,” he said cautiously.

---“This is true? If you needed me for something, Alpha-Owen would come too?”---

“Yes,” and Tony suddenly got it. She knew, somehow, that his bond to her could take precedence over her bond to Owen, and she found that incredibly threatening. “I would never ask you to go anywhere without him. Never. You two belong together. And I understand that you don’t know me, and that it will take time for you to trust me.”

---“Why would you need me?”---

“I don’t think I will, but if I did, it would be something like this, where someone I knew was lost, or hurt, and I needed animals with me who could protect us against anything while we looked for them.” Tony already had some scary ass animals, and hoped he was never in a situation where he really needed a raptor. “Or maybe for something like this again, where Owen was in danger, and you needed a person you could speak with to help protect him.”

There was a small chink in her armor, and he could almost see her relaxing, or at least coming down from DEFCON 1, as she thought about what he was saying.

“And there’s something else. If things here ever got bad, if people wanted to use your alpha against you, or if they wanted you to do things you didn’t want to do, I can offer you a safe place to stay, sanctuary. Do you know that word?”

She nodded.

He wasn’t surprised by that; he could feel her biting intelligence. “I can offer you sanctuary. I can hide all of you, keep you safe.”

She snorted at that.

“Right, I get that not much threatens you, but you might find there’s a time when I can help. And, if I can, I will. See Justin there?” He pointed at the rat.

She nodded again.

“If you ever need me, you can talk to the rats on the island, and they will talk to rats on ships, and they will talk to rats in my country, and the message will get to me.” Tony needed to remember to find a rat to bond with on the island before he left.

“It’s true,” Clint said, having slid his door open. “They found me that way. I was very far away over an ocean, in a prison, and they found me. He found me.” He gestured at Tony. “He saves a lot of people.”

Clint saved as many people as Tony did, but Tony didn’t demur because he wanted Blue convinced. “So, let me ask you again. What’s the first thing your Alpha will ask you once he’s awake and sees that you are safe?”

She huffed at him, not liking the question.

“Exactly,” Tony said with a grin. “He’ll ask you where your sisters are, and he’ll be happier if they are here and safe. You know he will, and if they’re not here, he’ll try to get out of bed too fast to try to get to them, and he could get hurt again.” Maybe that was emotional blackmail, but he bet it was true.

She didn’t really give in, but she did move further back into the helicopter and hunkered down, staring at him, as if she was telling him to get moving.

“You got it,” Tony said, gesturing to Clint. “And we’re flying.” To Gibbs, he said, “I don’t think there’ll be room for you, not with four of them back there.”

Gibbs scowled at that, but Tony was right, and he knew it. “No funny business. No roaming around getting bit by random dinosaurs. Get them and get back,” Gibbs ordered.

“Yes, boss,” Tony said. “No funny business.”

“And that goes for you, too,” Gibbs scolded Clint. “The two of you together are as bad as a pair of toddlers.”

“I resemble that remark,” Clint said with a grin. He got in the pilot seat and started doing his checks. When the rotors started moving, the pilot came running out of the building waving his hands, looking as if someone was stealing his helicopter, which Tony supposed they were.

Gibbs stopped him before he could get to the helicopter, and by the look on the pilot’s face, it seemed he was just as happy it was them going back without him. With that, Clint got airborne, and off they went, Clint setting up the previous route.

As they took off, Blue took a moment to get Tony’s attention by honking. Tony was amazed at all the noises she made. “What?” he said.

---“I still do not like this,”---

“I got that, loud and clear,” Tony said.

---“I like your creature. What is it?”--- She pointed a claw in Macavity’s direction.

Of course she liked Macavity. They were like twins separated at birth. “He’s a cat. And I assume you don’t mean that you’d like to eat him.”

He got hisses from both directions.

---“Cat,”--- she repeated mentally. ---“Not eat,”--- she said as scornfully as possible. ---“I do not mind his thoughts.”---

Tony thought he should get a medal for not rolling his eyes. He did make eye contact with Justin, who sent him a mental eye roll, which was almost the same. Justin, Tony was sure, was far too nice for Blue. Deciding silence was the better path of valor, Tony crawled up to the seat next to Clint.

“Everything going okay?” Clint asked him.

“She doesn’t like me.”

“How is that even possible?”

That made Tony feel better. “She only wants a bond with Owen. She sees me as an intruder.”

“Her loss,” Clint said.

That got another hiss from Blue from the back.

Tony raised an eyebrow at Clint and got a grin in return.

*****

Owen struggled to open his eyes, still in pain, but nothing like what he’d been feeling. He managed to get them open to mere slits and saw his Uncle Phil sitting by his side. “Uncle Phil?” It wasn’t helping him decipher whether he was awake or not. It was very weird that his uncle was here. Had that whole thing been a dream? Was he still dreaming?

“I think you better say hello to her first,” Phil said with a point and a small smile.

Not sure what to expect, Owen carefully turned his head and his eyes opened wide when he saw Blue. “Holy shit,” he said. “Blue?” Wow. Not a dream. He was very glad to see her and know she was fine, but he couldn’t imagine anyone letting her into his hospital room. “Blue,” he said again, his voice softer, more pleased. Despite their unusual behavior of touching him on that island, he would never assume he could touch her, but her joy at him calling her name made it easy to reach out to stroke her long neck.

She preened under his touch. ---“You are better!”--- she said, her mind voice elated.

“I am,” he said. “Thanks to you. Thanks for keeping me alive.”

---“Of course! You are pack. You are alpha. You are mine.”---

He knew he was grinning stupidly, but he couldn’t help it. In his secret heart of hearts, he’d always wished to have a connection with her like this, and now he had it. It was the most wonderful thing that had ever happened to him.

Owen didn’t care how mushy he was as he said, “My beautiful, beautiful Blue.” He’d said this to her a hundred times before, but never knowing for sure if she knew exactly what he was saying.

He could hear his uncle snickering and he didn’t care. And maybe he was still high on pain meds, and making a fool out of himself, but he didn’t care about that either. She was in his head, and she loved him as much as he’d always hoped she did. He had loved her since she’d hatched into his hands, snapping at his fingers, and growling at him like she was as big as he was. His fearless lovely Blue.

She crooned at him, his head filled with her joyful emotions, her pleasure at his words and thoughts. He ran his fingers up and down her neck. “Where’s everyone else, Blue? Is everyone safe?”

---“Everyone is safe. The rest of the pack is back home.”---

“Who let you come in here?”

A surge of irritation ran through her, even as his uncle said, “Tony brought her in. They wouldn’t have let her come in otherwise. With that explained, I’ll let you have some time alone to get to know each other better. I’ll be right outside if you need me.” And with a pat on his shoulder, his uncle left the room, leaving Blue and him together.

Another surge of emotion came from Blue, this time tinged with fury.

“Shhh,” he told her. “This is a good thing. I can talk to you.”

---“I do not like him in my head,”--- she said. ---“I belong to you, and you to me. Not him!”---

If Owen were completely honest, he wasn’t thrilled about that part either, even if he would choose to keep this, regardless of the price. But if given the choice, he didn’t want to share Blue with anyone else. This time he spoke to her silently. ---“It’s worth it. He’s given us a priceless gift. He gave me you.”---

---“I wasn’t his to give,”--- she snarled. ---“I was always yours.”---

Owen just closed his eyes and basked in her affection. The part of him that had been on guard ever since his girls got old enough to do some damage relaxed. Now he knew they wouldn’t hurt him, that they’d protect him, that he could trust that they wouldn’t hurt anyone else.

---“I will hurt anyone who hurts you!”---

“No, you won’t,” Owen said, “they could take you away if you’re too dangerous.”

---“I have always been dangerous.”---

And he loved that about her, so he grinned at her. It was so amazing that he could feel her exasperation. “So, the other girls are really okay?”

---“They wish to talk to you.---

“I want to talk to them, too,” Owen began.

Blue interrupted him by shaking her head.

He was so taken aback by that, that he just stared at her.

Then she touched the side of his head, carefully, with one of her long claws. ---“Concentrate,”--- she ordered.

His eyes widened, but he did as she instructed, closing his eyes and thinking of Charlie, Delta and Echo, and as soon as he did that, there they were, talking to him, all excited babble, talking over each other, telling their side of the adventure, and amidst all of that was their worry for him, and their annoyance at being locked away when he needed them, and hadn’t they been strong at fighting the monsters, and hadn’t they been smart at getting him water, that was from Echo, and his backpack, from Delta, and Charlie was annoyed she hadn’t gotten him anything, but would get him anything he needed, and Owen laughed in delight at their affection for him, and he shot back just as much affection if not more, and this was great, better than great, and Owen would be grateful to Tony for the rest of his life.

He opened his eyes, the girls still chatting away, and he reached out a hand to touch Blue, to bring her closer, and she lay her head on his chest. Despite the pain he was still in, and having no idea what was actually wrong with him, but glad that at least he seemed to have all his appendages accounted for, it could all wait while he talked to his girls.

*****

The door opened to reveal a man in a white coat; he looked terrified. “I am not happy that she is here,” he said stridently from the doorway, gesturing toward Blue. “This is a hospital, not a zoo.”

Blue hissed at him.

“Nope,” Owen said. “Best behavior, Blue. Or they’ll make you leave.”

---“I will not leave!”--- she stated.

Okay, so maybe they’d still have to hash some things out because, clearly, even if they could talk to each other, it didn’t mean his raptors would do what Owen wanted.

That mental thought got a look from Blue that communicated loud and strong: Bitch Please.

Owen barked out a laugh, but then said quite seriously, as softly as he could, ---“They will make you leave, and if you fought them, they’d come in here and put a tranquilizer in you and put you to sleep, put you back in the paddock, and never let you come back. Now go stand on the other side of the room. Please.”---

She wasn’t happy. At all. But she did obey, pulling away from him and moving to stand near the window, keeping her distance from the doctor.

Still reluctant, the doctor came in, doing his best to ignore the dinosaur in the room. “How do you feel, Mr. Grady?”

“It’s Owen, Dr. Arlan, and thanks for patching me up.” Hopefully he could keep this doctor on his side. “I know she can’t really understand me,” he lied, “but I was just thanking Blue for keeping me alive on that island. She and the others fought off some very large dinosaurs to keep me safe.”

There was a grudging admiration on the doctor’s face. “Yes, well, good for her.”

Blue trilled from where she was standing.

“So what’s the story? How badly was I hurt?”

“You have two breaks in your left lower leg, three broken ribs, a nasty concussion, your urine is still red, so some kidney damage, and you are covered with abrasions and cuts. They didn’t hurt you at all?” he asked, his gaze flicking to Blue.

“No,” Owen said. “I fell off a cliff while they were working hard to keep a sucho off of me.”

The doctor winced at that. Everyone on this island got a crash course in dinosaurs. “Then you’re a lucky man. Your reputation precedes you, so I expect you’ll be complaining to go home by tomorrow.”

“I can’t go home today?” he whined.

That got a no from the doctor, and a hiss from Blue.

“See? Even she agrees with me,” the doctor said, looking much calmer when he found such unprecedented support.

Of course, the doctor had no way of knowing how right he was, and Owen scowled at the two of them. “I’ll sleep better at home, and I need to check on the rest of my girls.”

The doctor ignored that and started asking him questions as he adjusted the fluids running into him and checked his pain level. Owen shot out a really low number because, while he was in pain, he wasn’t ready to be sedated.

---“You will take something for pain,”--- Blue demanded.

---“I don’t want to sleep anymore,”--- he told her. ---“I want to be with you.”---

---“You will always be with me,”--- she said, and she barked at the doctor.

The doctor looked nervous but when she didn’t move, he looked at Owen with his eyebrows up.

Blue barked again.

Owen rolled his eyes and said, “I guess I could use some pain medication after all.” He didn’t tell the doctor that Blue had insisted.

She crooned at him.

“It’s like she can talk to you,” the doctor said.

“Almost,” Owen said with a grin. He was fine with lying until he had the time to give this whole thing some thought and determine the best strategy. He didn’t want this wonderful new thing in his life to be used as a way to put his girls in danger. He shifted in the bed, winced, and was quite happy to see the doctor injecting some medicine in one of the ports of his IV. “Thanks, Doc.”

“You’re welcome. Are you sure she won’t hurt anyone? What happens after you fall asleep?”

“She’ll be fine. I promise,” Owen said.

“I know she’s tried to eat a couple of your assistant trainers,” the doctor said with a frown.

“But never me,” Owen pointed out.

Phil chose that moment to come in, accompanied by Barry. “I’ll be here with him while he sleeps. I can keep an eye on Blue and wake him if something happens.”

Blue growled at him. ---“He is not my keeper!”---

---“Well, my Uncle Phil might not be your keeper, but Barry sort of is, so play along. I want you to be able to stay here with me.”---Owen told her.

She huffed, but settled down on her haunches, looking as innocent as a newborn lamb. Owen bit his lips to keep from laughing. A newborn lamb wouldn’t last one second with Blue.

After the doctor left, with one last befuddled look at Blue, Owen glanced at his uncle, studying him for a long moment. “Not that I’m ungrateful, but why are you here? How did you know I was even missing?” He’d known the man all his life, but hadn’t spent a whole lot of time with him. Plus, his job seemed as classified as Owen’s. And that didn’t even take into account Tony and his weird talent that his mom had mentioned a couple of times.

“That was me,” Barry said. “Remember, we had that conversation about your mom last week, after she called you and talked about this guy your uncle worked with who could talk to animals and excelled at search and rescue. So I called your mom to see who that was.”

Owen’s eyebrows went up. “You called my mom? How did you think somebody who did S&R was someone who could deal with dinosaurs? That was a stab in the dark.”

“I knew something bad had happened,” Barry said. “It’s not like you not to check in. I decided to assume the worst and get the best help I could. I was very relieved to find you alive.”

“And mom called you?” he asked his uncle.

“Yup,” Uncle Phil said. “And I kidnapped Tony to help.”

That got a rumbling growl from Blue.

Owen put his hand up to her, in hopes of calming her down. “Where is he?”

“He’s laying low,” his uncle said. “He knows Blue isn’t crazy about him, and he doesn’t want to make her or you unhappy.” His uncle didn’t look too pleased about that.

“Hey,” Owen said, wanting to reassure him, “this is the most wonderful thing that ever happened to me, and I can never thank him enough. Make sure he knows that, okay?”

That got a smile. “I’ll pass it along.”

“And Blue will be okay,” Owen added. “The other girls are thrilled about it, so she’s the only hold out.”

“I’m glad to hear that, too,” Phil said, “and while I’d like to stay, I actually need to get him off the island before he gets noticed too much.”

“What do you mean?” Owen asked, confused.

Another man Owen barely remembered from his painful haze on Isla Sorna came into the room. “We gotta go. And hey, I’m Clint.”

“Any animal he hasn’t bonded with comes running if he hangs around long enough. It can get problematic and, apparently, it is getting problematic.” Phil glanced up at the other man. “Is the pilot available?”

“I sort of accidentally on purpose kept the keys to the helicopter,” Clint said.

Uncle Phil got up. “Owen, I’m glad you’re all right. When I can, I’ll come back.”

“That would be great,” Owen said with feeling.

“Did you tell him about the tattoo?” Clint asked.

“What tattoo?” Owen asked, thinking that seemed an odd thing to ask.

Uncle Phil shook his head.

Clint came closer, “We really do need to go, but here’s a couple of things you ought to know. You’ll end up with a tattoo of Blue. It’s a little bit of magic. You’ll also find yourself getting a little younger, and both of you will be a little more indestructible, healing faster, etc.” He handed Owen a card. “Call with questions.”

His uncle grinned at Clint, and added, speaking to Owen, “And if you run into trouble, if they try to force you to do something you don’t want to do, or force you to have your team do things you’re not comfortable with, call me. I know you don’t know exactly what I do, and we’re keeping it that way for the time being, but I have the means to keep you safe.”

Tony stuck his head in the door. “We really have to go. I got the rats taken care of and now I’m hearing reports that some of the dinosaurs are trying to get out of their enclosures. Phil, if you need more time that’s fine, but Clint needs to get me up in the air.”

“No, we’ll go,” Phil said, “We’ve done what we came for.”

Rats? That sounded like a story. Owen didn’t want his uncle to go, but there was no doubt that the three men were anxious to leave. And the last thing they needed was the t-rex or the suchos bashing their way out of their enclosures. “Just promise you’ll come back?”

“Count on it,” his uncle said. “It was good to see you. And nice to meet you,” he added to Blue.

Blue just stared at him, her gaze moving between Owen, and the other men in the room, including Tony.

A cat ran into the room and meowed loudly at them all.

“And Macavity has spoken,” Clint said with a laugh. “Let’s go.” He took a long look between Phil and Owen and must have seen something Owen was too sedated to pick up on and said, “I think you need more time to get caught up. Let me get Tony out of here, and I’ll come back to get you.” He patted Phil on the shoulder. “See you in a couple of hours.”

Another man, another gorgeous man, Owen couldn’t help but notice, forced his way in next to Tony. “Now,” the man said fiercely.

His uncle sat back down, seemingly happy with Clint’s compromise as the three men left at a run, the cat right behind them.

“You live a weird life,” Owen commented.

Phil raised his eyebrows, glancing at Blue.

“Yeah, yeah,” Owen said with a smile. “I guess I do, too.”

Blue took that moment to cross the room to be near Owen, settling down on the far side of his hospital bed.

The door opened again and a woman in a blue set of scrubs with a tray of food came in. She took one look at Blue and stopped so fast, the tray went flying, food and drink splatting on the ground. Owen sighed. “I’m assuming the doctor didn’t bother to tell you she was here?”

The woman didn’t stay to answer. She shot Blue a terrified look and ran out of the room, yelling for security.

“Oh, boy,” Owen muttered. He looked down at Blue. “You might need to go back to the paddock. This is not going to be pretty.”

---“I do not want to leave you.”---

“My uncle is here; he’ll keep watch. Please, go before the soldiers come. I don’t want you to be hurt.” He touched his temple. “You can keep in touch. But nothing bad is going to happen to me. I’ll spend the night and be back with you tomorrow. But something bad could happen to you. Please. Go.”

She reluctantly got up, looking at the door the woman had left through.

“Can you make it out a window?” Phil asked, moving to the window and looking out. “It’s not too far down, and that way you’ll avoid the hysteria heading this way.”

Fortunately, they were on the first floor, and the windows were large and opened out. Phil pushed one open and got out of her way. Blue, with one last look at Owen, easily leaped out and was gone in a blink. Owen was sad to see her go, but knew it was better this way, and he would see her tomorrow. Nothing but trouble was coming down the hall, the sounds of marching feet and loud voices, ordering men to fan out, to cover exits.

As if any of them could contain a velociraptor who wanted to get out, or one that wanted to attack. And that reminded him of something, “You don’t seem scared of her,” Owen said to his uncle.

Phil shrugged his shoulders. “Since I’ve started working with Tony, I share a house with a bear, a wolf, a lion, and a host of other fairly deadly animals, including close to a dozen scorpions. I don’t even think about it anymore. I’m not sure I’d be that sanguine about a tyrannosaurus rex, though.”

And that was when the group of people entered the room, obviously on the hunt for Blue.

“Is there a problem?” Owen asked, as if Blue hadn’t been in his hospital room for close to an hour.

They searched the room, rapidly coming to the conclusion that there wasn’t a dinosaur present. Someone actually looked in the closet, while another looked in the bathroom. Owen was very glad Blue had left; this was like a lynching posse.

“Where’s the velociraptor?” asked Daniel, the lead security for the island.

“Back in her paddock with the rest of my team,” Owen said, which reminded him that someone was going to have to let her in.

“She was here, though,” Daniel said.

“She was being weirdly attentive,” Owen said blithely, not wanting to make a big deal of it, wanting people to be able to easily dismiss it.

Phil stood up. “She was only here while Tony DiNozzo was here because he could speak with her. Once he left, she left.”

“He can speak with animals?” someone scoffed.

“It’s classified, but yes,” Phil said. “And unless you’ve got other business here, Owen needs his rest.”

Owen could have hugged his uncle. Owen might run with raptors, but his Uncle Phil was a total badass himself. He spoke with complete authority and expected obedience. Even Daniel, a badass himself, was picking up on that. With a final shot, Daniel said to Owen, “None of them can be in common areas. All of the dinosaurs, especially the predators, are too much of a risk.”

“I got it,” Owen said. “It won’t happen again.” He’d have to be careful not to blab with his girls where anyone could listen in. Either they’d think he was crazy, or they’d guess that Owen had a lot more control over his raptors than was good for anyone to know.

There wasn’t much to do after that, so they all trickled away, until just Owen, Barry, and Phil were left.

“You know you need to be careful?” Uncle Phil said.

“Yeah, I get that.” To Barry, he said, “We can’t tell anyone. They’d have the girls on military maneuvers before we know it.”

Barry nodded.

“If you feel that way, why are you here?” Phil asked. “I thought all the studies here were for military applications. If you don’t approve, why stay?”

“He’d never leave his girls,” Barry said. “Now he stays to protect them.”

“I never thought it would happen,” Owen explained. “I thought they were crazy, but the opportunity to work with dinosaurs was too good to pass up. When they actually seemed trainable, too many people started getting excited about it. And they’re only trainable to a certain degree,” he amended, “because let’s face it, they do whatever the hell they want, so any time they obey me it’s because it pleases them to do so.”

“The problem is that if they were more trainable, it might work. They’re not that big, but they are vicious,” Barry continued. “If they were brought someplace and told to kill, they’d be in and out before anyone even knew what hit them.”

“Or ate them,” Owen countered. “No one wants to believe me when I say that they wouldn’t just kill who we wanted. How the hell are they supposed to discern between friend or foe? And once they started a killing spree, I’m not sure even I could get them to stop, or that they wouldn’t hurt me.”

“Until now,” Phil said.

Owen couldn’t help but grin. They loved him! They would never hurt him! “But that makes it messier in some ways. If they thought I was being coerced, they could be dangerous to all the idiots trying to turn them into weapons.”

“And would you need to be coerced?” Phil asked.

“Good question,” Owen said. “Don’t get me wrong, I get that we’re at war all over the planet, even if your average citizen doesn’t recognize that, and I get that we need better weapons than the ones we have, because right now it’s a level playing field with the bad guys having ready access to the same weapons as us.”

“But?” prompted Phil.

“But they’re my girls, and now that I know they’d do anything for me, I’m not crazy about sending them out where they could get hurt. Not to mention that a lot of war is fairly grey, and I wouldn’t want them just to do what I was told to do. A lot of times orders really suck.”

Phil smiled at him. “You sound like Tony. Welcome to the world where the animals in your life love you past all reason, and it’s just not that easy to send them into danger.” Phil stretched out his legs. “Have they let you take them on any field trips? To see if they’ll obey orders?”

“I was on a field trip,” Owen said with a smirk. “I’ve taken them to Sorna a few times, because I figured if they had access to food they could hunt, they wouldn’t bother me, and I was right.” He grinned, “But no one ever volunteered to come with me. Go figure.”

“Has anyone else ever tried to take them out without you?” Phil asked.

Shaking his head, Owen said, “No. Well, they tried, but the girls made a fuss and hurt some people. I think they thought they were being taken away from me. I know they want to try a mission, but I keep putting things off. I suppose one of these days, something bad enough will happen to make them try with or without me.”

“And they will all be eaten,” Barry finished up. “And now I better go so I can let Blue into the paddock.”

“Thanks, Barry,” Owen said. After Barry left, he said to Phil, “And if things go badly, they might want to put my girls down. So I’m stuck here because it’s the only way I can keep them safe.” It was harder to find a grin now. “Were you serious when you said that you could keep us safe?”

Phil nodded. “But that safety would include Tony. Blue would have to accept that.”

“And would you use them to take out enemies?” Owen found it hard to believe that Phil would do this for him without some sort of catch. Or that he had the clout to abscond with millions of dollars’ worth of research animals.

Phil sighed. “When Tony first came into this legacy, it swiftly came up that animals would be the best sort of assassins. Who questions an animal attack? Someone with a bee allergy gets stung, or someone out for a walk suddenly has to deal with a wolf, or a cougar.”

Owen could see it easily. “What did Tony say?”

“That he wouldn’t do it. That these animals looked to him, and he wouldn’t ask them to do anything he wouldn’t do. He said that if they wanted to use his animals that way, he’d need to know all the facts. He’s fortunate in that he holds all the cards because it’s not like he could get kidnapped and used against the animals; he can call any animals in the area to him, to protect him and to help him escape.”

“I hate to say it, but my girls would probably love to be assassins,” Owen said with a wry smile. “Even now, I can feel the wildness in them. They’re a bloodthirsty bunch, and they would be terrifyingly good at it before, let alone now with them able to think and communicate like humans.”

Phil looked contemplative, but not greedy, which Owen appreciated. “Have you ever thought about wet works as a career?”

“I was a Navy Seal,” Owen pointed out. “It’s not all warm fuzzy bunnies. I know there are people who need a good killing.”

“Do you know who Tony Stark is?”

“That Iron Man guy? The guy who’s on a one-man mission to eradicate terrorism?”

“He’s one of Tony’s best friend.”

“Does he have any of Tony’s animals?” Owen asked.

“A rat and a scorpion.”

“Are you saying I could work with him?” Owen wasn’t sure how he felt about that. On one hand, terrorists definitely needed a good killing, but he still had mixed feelings about signing his girls up for that.

“I don’t know, Owen, I’m just thinking out loud. I need to talk to my boss, and you need to talk to your raptors. Don’t think you have to say yes for me to keep you safe. I can do that either way. Tony has a lot of informal power, and I’m not above using it.”

Owen remembered his mom saying something about his uncle being gay. “Are you and he an item?”

Phil’s eyebrows went up. “No, he’s with that other guy, the one who was in the doorway with him. I’m with Clint,” he said, quickly, like tearing off a Band-Aid, as if he was preparing for a possible negative reaction from Owen.

Smiling, Owen waved his hand airily, “I’m hardly one to talk when my most significant relationship is with Blue.” He snickered at that. “She’s my girl.”

“How do you think they’d handle it if you did get into a relationship?”

“I have no idea. I’ve gone out on several dates, but I’ve never brought anyone home to meet them.” Owen tried to imagine that but couldn’t do it.

“I know a couple of women who work with us who are vicious enough to give Blue a run for her money. Maybe she’d approve.”

“I do love a vicious female,” Owen said with a laugh. “Well, let’s not borrow trouble. I love it here for the most part, I love all the dinosaurs, and everyone who works here is a crazy son of a bitch, and I like that too.”

“I know the feeling,” Phil said with a short laugh of his own.

*****

“Sorry, Tony, I know that could have gone better,” Phil said to him, once they were back in Tony and Gibbs’ home. “But thank you all the same. I don’t think I could have kept them all alive without you.”

Tony guessed that was probably true. Certainly they would have been in trouble when the metriacanthosaurus attacked. Then again, it was Phil, and he probably could have killed her with a paper clip.

As if reading his mind, Clint said, “I don’t know. He is Phil Coulson. He probably would have killed that metria-whatever with his utility knife.”

“I was thinking paper-clip,” Tony mused.

Phil rolled his eyes. “I did have a message to pass on to you. Owen said this was the most amazing thing anyone had ever done for him, being able to speak to the raptors, and that he’d be grateful forever.”

That went a long way to improve Tony’s mood. “Really? He said that? Because it didn’t look like he was any happier about Blue being in my head than she did.”

“He definitely said that,” Phil answered. “It was after he’d gotten to spend some time with Blue by himself, and he meant it. He was really thrilled. It does complicate his life a little, because he doesn’t want anyone to catch on that they can actually talk. He’s going to say that they could only talk to you.”

“Great,” Tony said. “Next thing you know they’ll be asking me to take over his job.”

“And we’ll say no,” Gibbs said firmly. “Let’s stick with animals from this century.”

“What?” Tony asked with a grin. “You don’t want a t-rex playing in our back yard?”

Macavity growled in Tony’s head. ---“I would eat it.”---

Tony snickered. “Macavity says he would eat the t-rex. We totally need to watch Jurassic World again, no, Jurassic Park. I don’t think we’ve watched that one. Let’s see if Macavity still feels the same way.”

Macavity glared at him, as if his honor had been besmirched.

“It weighs like nine tons,” Tony told the cat. “It’s like fifty of Blue.”

Macavity sat down on his side, stuck one leg in the air and began to lick his butt.

“Macavity has spoken,” Clint said with a victory punch. “Take that t-rex!”

“And hey, I have a question,” Tony said. “I looked up velociraptors on the way home, and they totally don’t look like the movie version, or the actual version Owen has. They’re like the size of a turkey with hollow bones and feathers. What gives with that?”

Gibbs sighed. “Do you honestly think any of us would know the answer to that?”

“No, but it’s been on my mind. I guess that type of dinosaur wouldn’t scare the bejeezus out of anyone if it jumped out of a bush at them. They probably wanted them a lot scarier.”

“I can ask Owen the next time I speak with him,” Phil said.

“I actually looked some stuff up after the movie came out, and I think they’re modeled more after the Utahraptors, which are bigger and non-feathery and totally lethal,” Clint said. “But these are smaller, so maybe they’re a combo.”

Freaky. Tony hoped there weren’t any mad scientists doing experiments like that on cats and dogs other than creating things like labradoodles. Tony turned on the television and searched Netflix for Jurassic Park. “Lots of death and dismemberment coming up, so if anyone’s not in the mood for that, leave now.”

Gibbs sat down beside him, while Baloo somehow managed to squeeze himself on the other third of the couch, eagerly anticipating the start of the movie. He might be a bear, but he rivaled Tony’s enjoyment of films. Tony could only imagine the sounds he’d be making tomorrow as he tried to imitate the dinosaurs. The mice and rats would love it; they thought anything Baloo did was a riot. Macavity curled up on Tony’s lap, and all the other animals distributed themselves around the living room, on the floor, the chairs, and on the laps and shoulders of the other three men.

Yeah, Tony mused, maybe Blue hadn’t liked him so much, but he’d never see her again, while here, in his house, were a bunch of people and animals that liked him just fine. Deciding to let the whole thing go, he settled in to watch the movie.

*****

The doctor kept Owen there almost the entire next day, but he was finally able to leave, cast and all. Fortunately, both breaks were in his lower left leg, so his cast only went up to below his knee. This wasn’t the first cast he’d had so he was no stranger to crutches, and managed to get himself into the passenger side of the jeep Barry was driving with minimal fuss.

He could not wait to see his girls. He thought he would explode if he couldn’t see them soon. Owen couldn’t help but compare this to being a teenager and finally getting a date with the prettiest girl in ninth grade. And in his mind’s eye, there was no one prettier than his girl Blue.

He’d chatted with Blue long-distance on and off all day, but he wanted some face-to-face time, and the thought that he could actually go into the paddock and know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that they’d never hurt him, felt like Christmas and New Years and his birthday, and maybe Fourth of July all wrapped up in one.

Blue had been a little snippy with him about that, saying they would never have hurt him, but he hadn’t known that. He had hoped it was true, had acted as if it was true, but he’d never felt he could completely let down his guard with them. Just in case.

As they approached the road that led to the paddock, he asked, “Who’s at the paddock?” On most days, several military men/guards were there to keep an eye on things. For safety reasons, and also to report to the general in charge of this project as to how things were progressing.

In other words, when his girls could become reliable weapons. Just the thought of it made him sick to his stomach. He wondered if this was how every parent felt when their child enlisted into the armed forces. If this was how his mother and father had felt about it. If so, he owed them a big apology.

“No one,” Barry said with a grin. “I told them you’d be going to bed and wouldn’t be working with the raptors for a few days, and that I would make sure they got fed. I knew you’d want to spend time with them without anyone seeing that things are different until you came up with a way to hide it. Right now, with that stupid grin on your face, everyone would know something was up.”

“Barry,” Owen said with feeling, very pleased he wouldn’t have to hide anything yet. “If I swung that way, I’d kiss you.”

Barry chuckled. After a while, he asked, “Are you sure you want to do this? They could still hurt you by accident. We’ve both seen them kick out if startled.”

“I know,” Owen said. And maybe it was stupid. No, it was definitely stupid. He really should sleep in his own bed with all the comforts of home, not on the ground surrounded by man-eating dinosaurs with claws that could do him serious damage, even if it was unintended. If the doctor knew what he was doing, he’d be committed. “Still gonna do it.”

Barry huffed out a laugh as they pulled into the paddock area. All four of the raptors were at the edge of the cage, waiting for him. “I thought you’d say that. Go on,” Barry said. “I have everything you need for you to sleep in there. And if your doctor finds out, I will pretend I don’t even know you.”

“Fair enough,” Owen said, as he managed to get out of the jeep without falling on his face.

---“Let me out,”--- Blue demanded. ---“I can help you.---

“Can you let them out?” Owen said to Barry, “they want to lend a hand. Or a claw. Maybe a tail.”

Rolling his eyes, and yet putting Owen’s words into action, Barry opened the cage, as if there weren’t four lethal raptors on the other side. Once he got the inner door open, the girls ran right past Barry, although Charlie took the time to honk her thanks at him, and raced to Owen.

Owen spent a panicked second thinking they might knock him over, but they all stopped and sniffed at him, being very careful. Blue sidled next to him on his good side, and he leaned on her, resting his forehead against her temple. They stayed there for a long moment, him and his girls, until he felt a tremendous need to be lying down. As if they’d heard him, and of course they had as he hadn’t tried to conceal the thought, they all started coaching him into the paddock, as if he didn’t know how to walk at all, watching each step, each moment when his crutch helped him hop and Blue kept him steady until they were in the outer cage, then in the larger paddock, and he was moved deep within where no one would see him from the outside.

Barry followed them in with a heavy duty military air mattress which gave Owen pause, as he looked at all the murderous claws surrounding him. He didn’t say anything out loud, because he didn’t want to rain on Barry’s parade, but he asked Blue, ---“How long do you think that will last?”---

---“We will be careful,”--- she promised, even as he could feel her studying the mattress, not sure exactly what it was for. It didn’t take her long to reason it out. They’d already been smart, and this bond with Owen had made them smarter.

---“I’ll bet you a dead rat that the thing is flat on the ground and out of air by morning,”--- Owen teased her.

---“I will have to kill a rat for you?”--- she asked dubiously.

---“You will have to give me one of your dead rats,”--- he stated.

---“You will eat my dead rat?”--- she asked, sounding skeptical now.

He laughed out loud.

“What is so funny?” Barry asked, moving ahead of Owen to unfold a large pad on the ground, then plopped the queen-sized air mattress on top.

“Blue is being ridiculous,” Owen said with a smirk. He eyed the mattress, not looking forward to the process of getting down, even if he couldn’t wait to get off his feet.

---“You are the one being ridiculous!”--- Blue said, following that up with a loud bark at him. ---“I will be the one to get extra rats from you!”---

Charlie started nosing him. ---“Do you have dead rats? Where are they? I am hungry.”---

“Did you bring them any food?” Owen asked Barry. “I’d hate for them to get hungry and decide I’d make a good snack.”

Blue ignored him, even as she started nosing the air mattress, making sure to keep her sickle claws clear of it.

---“I do not think this would taste good,”--- Echo said, as she flicked out her tongue to lick his cast.

Chuckling, Owen used Barry and Blue to help him get down to the mattress, until he was sitting against the cement wall. He was glad it was a sizeable mattress so it didn’t wobble too much. “Girls,” he said. “This is an air mattress. It’s like a big balloon. Remember those balloons you popped?”

He got four excited chirps from the raptors. That had been a really fun day, even though he got scolded by the vet because they might have eaten the balloons once they were popped and blocked their airways or plugged their GI tract. Owen hadn’t been too worried, firstly, because balloons don’t taste good as evidenced by how often they spit them out of their mouths and, secondly, because his girls could eat anything and survive.

“If you stick a claw or talon in this, it will pop, and I will end up on the ground, and I will not be happy.”

---“He wants all our dead rats if that happens,”--- Blue told them.

That got confused grumbles from the other three, and Owen started laughing again.

Barry, who had left, now returned with a pillow and blankets, a battery powered lantern, and a cooler. “Snacks for all of you,” Barry said with a grin. “Hopefully there’s enough in there to keep them from snacking on you.”

Blue hissed at him.

“Just joking,” Barry told her.

That got a huff.

Barry grinned at her, reaching out to touch her neck, and Owen was glad to see that Barry really understood this amazing thing that had happened, and that he didn’t need to fear them anymore either. “Sorry, Blue,” Barry said. “I know you’d never hurt him.”

She deigned to let him pat her for a few seconds, before she hunkered down closer to Owen, curling her claws under her body, away from the mattress.

Barry rattled a bottle at him. “Pain medication. Take two now.”

“That will put me to sleep,” Owen protested. He wanted to spend some quality time with his girls.

“Take two now,” Barry said implacably. “You will find it harder to sleep here than you think.” He opened the bottle and dropped two into his hand, handing them to Owen.

Owen frowned, but he opened the cooler, seeing that his food and drink was on one side, and the dead rats, in plastic bags, were on the other. Good thing he wasn’t squeamish. He pulled out a bottle of water, opened it, and swallowed the pills down. He could feel Blue’s satisfaction at his actions, and that she approved of Barry for making him take them. “She’s on your side,” he told Barry.

Barry nodded in approval at her, and then handed Owen an empty bottle. “To urinate in,” he explained.

Owen hadn’t thought about that. “Joy. And thanks.” He didn’t even want to imagine trying to get up to go pee in the corner. Barry was probably right, that this wouldn’t be the most comfortable night, and he was suddenly very glad he’d taken the pain pills. But, even knowing that, Owen had no intention of being anywhere else. The only other option was to let the girls come to his bungalow and that would cause an even bigger panic if anyone saw them there out of containment. Of course, there’d still be a panic if anyone found him in here, but Barry would figure out a way for him to get out, sight unseen.

Lastly, Barry handed over his phone. “Fresh charge. I set the alarm for six hours, when you will take two more pills.”

Owen grimaced but didn’t argue. He didn’t plan to take them, but there was no reason to tell Barry that. He caught Blue glaring at him, and he sighed. Barry might be leaving, but he was being left with a seriously lethal mother hen.

“Call me when you’re ready to get out, and I’ll make sure no one is around,” Barry said. “And call me if you change your mind.”

Blue hissed again.

“Do you really want him to stay here if it causes him pain?” Barry asked her.

Owen could tell she didn’t like that question.

“You have the rest of your lives to hang out,” Barry continued. “There’s no reason to start it out with him getting sick and infected because he’s sleeping in the dirt.”

Blue wasn’t making eye contact with anyone now.

“Hey,” Owen said sharply. “This isn’t her fault. I’m the one who wants to do this.” He reached out and patted her back. “Blue, I want to be here. And if I start feeling sick, I’ll call Barry to come and get me, okay?” She felt sad to him, and he didn’t want that. He tried again. “Blue, this will take some time to get used to. You’ve suddenly been exposed to a ton of emotions and abstract thoughts that seem really complicated and maybe even contradictory to you, but what I want you to understand more than anything is that I love you. All of you. And there is not a place I’d rather be than right here. I’d be miserable if you were here, and I was at home. So don’t feel bad about anything. I know you’ll take good care of me. You always have.”

She pressed her snout against his chest and he wrapped his arms around her, holding her close.

Barry chose that time to leave, waving his phone at Owen, reminding him to call if he needed anything. Owen nodded, reminding himself that he needed to buy Barry a bottle of his favorite whiskey, and then put all his attention on his somewhat anxious girls, suffusing his bond with them with love and affection and joy until the anxiety bled away, leaving them all united, huddled together on the mattress, allowing their thoughts and emotions to intertwine until Owen wasn’t sure where he stopped and they started. And in that peaceful place, he drifted off to sleep.

*****

It was not the most comfortable night Owen had ever spent. In fact, it was damn miserable. The only thing that made it bearable, and in fact, totally worth it, was being with his pack. And it really was his pack now, and every time he woke up in pain or disoriented, they were there, sharing their own pleasure not only with him but with each other. Whatever this thing was that Tony had done had increased their ability to talk to each other as well.

Sometimes he’d wake up and hear them talking about what they wanted for breakfast, or what they thought about Sorna, even a conversation about being in the helicopter and how noisy it had been, which had reminded Owen that he needed to get his boat back from the island. It was so surreal and delightful, that he lay there on his air mattress grinning like a loon.

Owen dozed on and off most of the night until his alarm went off, and under Blue’s watchful eye, he took two more pain pills that put him soundly asleep. The next time he woke up he could tell it was approaching dawn, and he quickly noticed that the air mattress was flat as a pancake, leaving only the pad between him and the ground.

“Who punched a hole in my air mattress?” he asked, trying to sound stern.

---“Not me,”--- said Charlie.

---“It was Echo,”---said Delta.

---“It was not,”--- Echo complained. ---“It was Charlie.”---

---“It was not!”---argued Charlie.

This went on for a while until Owen noticed that Blue wasn’t saying anything. “Blue?”

There was a long pause, and then ---“I will give you my dead rats,”--- she said forlornly.

He laughed out loud, put the lantern on, and gave her a hug. “You can keep your rats, Blue. I knew it wouldn’t survive the night. It lasted longer than I thought.”

Blue stared at him, riffling through his mind as if to ensure that Owen really didn’t care. Upon finding what she needed, she huffed a loud breath at him that ruffled his hair.

He grinned at her.

---“I might still give you one of my dead rats,”--- she offered. ---
I did not mean to pop your mattress.”---

“If it hadn’t been you, it would have been one of them,” Owen said, pointing at Echo, Delta and Charlie. “You just slept right next to me most of the night.”

The three other raptors denied it loudly, although Owen could hear the humor in their inner voices. The three of them were comedians. Blue had always taken things more seriously, at least it had seemed that way to him, always watching the rest of the pack, correcting them, corralling them, when needed. And now that he knew her better, that had been confirmed for him. She was the beta and she took her job seriously.

“Every now and then,” Owen told her, “you can still play a little. I won’t think any less of you. You’ve seen what a goofball I am.”

She readily agreed with him about that part.

Deciding to let it go for right now, but determined to figure out ways for her to have some fun, Owen decided he probably needed to get back to his bungalow, take a shower, and then sleep all day.

---“Sleep here,”--- Charlie demanded.

“Until the cast is off and I feel better,” Owen explained, “I need to spend some time in my own bed. But you know I’ll be here as often as I can.” And maybe he could sneak one of his girls at a time home with him.

All of a sudden, all four raptors, as if choreographed, all turned their heads to the right.

“What is it?” Owen whispered. Nothing big could get in here, and no person in his right mind would even think about it.

---“There is something asking us not to eat it. Something that says he must speak with us,”--- Blue said.

That was weird. “What sort of something? Is it someone human?”

---“What should I do?”--- Blue asked.

“It’s not like we can’t defend ourselves, and I guess it must be small if it’s gotten into the cage.” So his earlier question about it being human was ridiculous. No human could fit between the bars of the paddock. “Tell it to come in,” he said, reinforcing Blue’s command to the other three raptors not to eat whatever it was.

A rat came out of the bushes and presented itself to Blue and Owen. The rat was shaking, its eyes wide as it took in the four raptors, but it stayed put.

“Hey,” Owen told it, “you are one brave rat.”

The rat’s eyes glanced at him, but then they were back on Blue.

“What’s he saying?” Owen asked.

Blue hissed at the rat, and the rat ran to Owen and scrambled up his leg and torso to end up on his shoulder.

“Really?” Owen asked Blue. “What did you say to him?”

---“He is bonded to Tony,”--- Blue said with a significant amount of hostility.

“And?” Owen prompted. “Can I talk to him through you?” he asked Blue when she didn’t say anything. She wasn’t happy about it, but she nodded her head.

“So, hey, buddy,” Owen said, putting his hand out, smiling when the rat moved onto his hand. “So you’re bonded to Tony?” At least this explained what Tony had been talking about when he said he’d taken care of the rats.

The rat nodded.

“So is this just you introducing yourself?” Owen hazarded a guess.

He got a nod and a head shake for that question.

---“He says it is a law that we cannot eat him,”--- Blue said.

“Well that makes sense,” Owen said. “After all, all the animals who bond with Tony are pretty special and super smart, right?”

The rat nodded again.

“Do you have a name?” He looked at Blue after asking.

Blue said, ---“He says his name is Willard.”---

Owen barked out a laugh. “Awesome.” He really hoped he had a chance to get to know Tony better.

Blue growled-barked at him.

“Yeah, Blue, you need to get over that. He gave us something incredible. Do you wish he hadn’t done it?”

That got a reluctant, ---“No,”--- out of her.

“I don’t think being grateful will kill you,” he told her. “I believe him when he said he would never take you from me. Do you actually think he is lying?”

She looked away from him.

“Blue,” Owen said with frown, “you can’t have it both ways. If you’re glad he did this, so we can speak like this, then you can’t be angry at him for doing it. I understand that you weren’t happy about him being able to talk to you but he’s four thousand miles away.”

He got a sense of confusion from her.

“Isla Sorna, where we go hunt? Is about ten miles from end to end. You’d have to run back and forth 400 times.” He wasn’t sure if she understood 400 any better than 4000. “Take it from me, it’s really far.” He started to pat the rat, trying to calm him down, because he was still shaking. “Hey,” he told I, “I won’t let anything happen to you, I promise.”

The rat did seem to settle down, but Owen could still feel its vigilance. Not that he could blame the thing. He was in a cage with four vicious predators to whom a rat would be a mere appetizer. Owen decided to leave the Tony conversation alone right now, because they’d have lots of time to address it, and sufficient time--Owen was determined about this--to change her opinion.

“Ask Willard why he’s here,” Owen told Blue, “and let me hear his answer.”

It took a while, but Owen finally got the gist of it. “So you’re here to help us if we ever need it?” he asked Willard.

The rat nodded, which broke Owen up. He loved this shit! It was like his life was a fairy tale.

---“How does he think he can help us?”---Blue asked doubtfully.

Owen wondered about that, too. “Did you hear what Blue said?”

The rat shot a sly look at Blue that made Owen laugh again. He was beginning to understand why Tony traveled with his rat. Willard jumped off Owen’s hand and stamped his feet on the ground.

In under a minute, the paddock was full of rats. Seriously, the ground was covered, and they were still coming in, squeezing in, although keeping the area around the raptors free and clear. Soon, there had to be hundreds, thousands of rats as far as Owen could see.

Blue started to pass along Willard’s words. ---“They are everywhere. They can find us if we get lost, if one of us gets taken. They can provide a distraction if we need one. They can communicate with Tony if that is necessary. They can tell us what is happening on other parts of the island."---

Owen imagined a dozen scenarios where all of this could come in very handy.

---“And we can’t eat any of you?!”--- demanded Charlie, sounding dejected. Charlie loved to catch rats and eat them.

The rat, who had leaped back into his hand at Charlie's words, made an unusual sound and it took Owen a moment to realize he was laughing. It seemed an odd question to make him laugh, but who knew what went on inside a rat’s head.

Blue answered Charlie. ---“You may not eat this rat, or those four rats,”--- she told Charlie, Delta, and Echo.

“Why just those?” Owen asked, eying the four rats who had gathered near Owen’s leg.

---“He says the magic only works on the one who bit Tony, and it affects the ones those are with the most. Most of these rats, as they leave here, will forget the magic. Those ones we can eat.”---

At those words, all the rats, except the five protected ones, scattered. Maybe they could see the writing on the wall, that they were going to end up feeding the raptors. He got a sense of confusion from Blue, and she communicated a question about the word magic.

Owen thought about it for a moment, and then said, “Most people can’t talk to animals, like we can talk now. There can be understanding between people and animals, but what we can do, what Tony did for us, is outside of what most people think possible. Something impossible, something wonderfully impossible. Something magical.”

---“So magic is a good thing?”---

“Absolutely. I mean, I suppose magic could be bad as well, but in this instance, it’s a damn good thing. And Willard was telling us some of the laws of this particular magic.” He frowned and addressed the rat, “So, does that mean if something happened to Blue, that Charlie, Delta and Echo wouldn’t be able to talk to me anymore?”

Willard nodded at him.

Owen didn’t like that idea at all. He pointed a finger at Blue. “You are not allowed to die or to disappear.”

She communicated that idea right back at him.

Of course, as bad as it would be to lose his ability to communicate with the other three raptors, it would be horrible to lose Blue.

---“I am your beta,”--- Blue said, as if that explained their relationship, and to her it probably did, although Owen thought she was so much more than that. He sent her a pulse of affection and trust and friendship.

She moved closer and nuzzled him with her snout, returning the emotions with ferocity. Owen had to laugh at himself; he’d rarely said this sort of thing to his past girlfriends. He was being ridiculously schmaltzy; maybe it was part of the magic, too.

“Okay,” he said when he couldn’t take the emotion exchange anymore. “All you girls clear on the ‘not eating these rats’ part of the program?”

Charlie sent a pout his way. ---“They look like rats.”--- she pointed out. ---“I like to eat rats.”---

“Yeah, good point. So listen up, rats, for the time being, until we can recognize you, you’ll need to bellow out for us not to eat you when you come in. All right with you?”

All four rats, along with Willard, nodded at him, and Owen had to smile at that.

“How do we get in touch with you if we need you?” he asked them.

The rats all turned to look at Blue.

---“They say I can call them,”--- Blue said, sounding unconvinced.

“We’ll practice,” Owen told them all. “But not tonight, or today. I really need to go home to my own bed and sleep for like ten more hours.”

None of the raptors liked that idea. Blue seemed to feel that he needed looking after.

“I need more sleep,” Owen said again. “I really, really need more sleep. I needed to spend time with you girls even more than I needed sleep, but now that I was with you all night, sleep comes next.” He glanced at his phone and saw that it was six am. Knowing it was probably too early, he still called Barry.

Barry picked up right away, sounding wide awake.

“Is it too early for you to come get me?” Owen asked.

“I’m already on my way,” Barry replied. “I even have coffee for you.”

“Other than my girls,” Owen avowed, “you are my favorite person.” He could hear the motor of Barry’s jeep, and he could hear Barry laugh through the phone and outside the paddock. Owen hung up. ‘Okay, here are the rules for the day for both rats and raptors.”

He made sure he had everyone’s attention.

“No acting too smart, no making people notice you.” To his girls he said, “And no acting too nice. You can be nice to Barry, but I expect you to snap and snarl at anyone else who comes to the paddock. I don’t want anyone to even guess that anything is different from yesterday to today. Okay?”

He got nine nods from rats and raptors. He was giving Tony a hug next time he saw him, although he kept that thought to himself. He’d work Blue around, because he wanted all the safety nets he could get his hands on to keep his raptors safe, and talk to his girls about what they wanted to do when they grew up.

Barry showed up at that point and he glanced down at the rats. “Special rats?”

“Very special,” Owen said. “They can talk to my girls.”

“Nice to meet you,” Barry said solemnly, giving them a bow.

That got all five rats making that silly laughing sound, and Willard got up on his hind legs and bowed back. After that they scattered, leaving the paddock. Barry and Owen exchanged a crazed grin. It really was magic.

“You want me to leave the pad here?” Owen asked Blue.

---“Yes!”--- came from Delta who was doing her best to lie down on it, shoving the air mattress out of her way with little regard to the fact that Owen was still on it.

Blue and Barry helped Owen get up before Delta knocked him on his ass, and then Owen opened the cooler and distributed the rest of the dead rats out to his girls. He was just glad Willard and his entourage had left.

“Who popped the air mattress?” Barry asked.

“It was an accident,” Owen said. He’d fill Barry in later, but he didn’t want to embarrass Blue.

Barry took that at face value and folded the mattress up, working around Delta, who wasn’t making it easy. The blankets followed suit, and he picked up the cooler and lantern. With Barry’s hands full, Owen relied on Blue to help get him to the paddock gate.

When they got there, Owen hugged Blue. “Talk to me whenever you want. And if something happens and you’re not quite sure how to respond, check in with me.”

Blue nodded.

“And as soon as I sleep myself out, I’ll be back.” He frowned at Barry. “I’ll need one of those golf carts to get myself around in.”

“I’ll track one down for you,” Barry promised. “And I’ll look after your girls.”

Owen decided then and there that if they had to escape the island at some point, that he was taking Barry with him. “You are a true friend,” Owen said with a grin. “I owe you a lifetime supply of beer.”

“Maybe just a month’s supply,” Barry countered.

“Deal.” He hugged Blue one more time, sent a mental goodbye to the other three, smiled when he got barks back, and then he slipped out of the paddock, locking it behind him.

The End