Chapter Text
Alec snapped awake at the sound of someone — something — trying to open the door.
In his arms, Magnus stirred as well, then froze when he heard the same sound that had woken Alec. Something was throwing itself against the door in an attempt to force it open, and the table they had pushed against the door was scratching the tiled floor. Then—
"Alec? Are you in there?" Jace called out. "Fucking hell, why won't this damned door open?"
Alec let out the breath he had been holding in relief, and Magnus relaxed as well.
"I suppose we should put some clothes on," Magnus murmured.
They got dressed in their still-damp clothes as quickly as they could, then moved the table aside so Jace and the rest could get in. To Alec's immense relief, the other five from their little tour group yesterday were all unharmed except for a few minor scratches and bruises, and were mostly just tired, cold, and hungry.
"We had to wade upriver to avoid that fucking dinosaur," Jace told Alec. "Luckily we seem to have shaken it off when the storm hit."
"But why was it going after you? It's not like you attacked it or you were the only things around. She killed the Ankylosaurus herd, didn't eat them, then picked up your trail again. It doesn't make sense," Alec said.
"Yeah, well. Remember Jonathan boasting that he got that fucking thing to imprint on him?" Jace muttered darkly.
They both looked over to where Clary was trying to convince her brother to eat a chocolate bar and he was refusing because it was cheap chocolate.
"Jesus. Are you serious?" Alec replied, running a hand over his face.
"Yeah, and he kept whining the whole way here. I nearly pushed him into the deeper part of the river a couple of times, but Clary would probably have pushed me in after him," Jace said. "Anyway, the storm is passing, and now that that thing has got a wholeass raptor pack under her, I'm not going to take my chances and let her catch up with us."
"Yeah, let's get moving," Alec agreed.
They ransacked the medical centre for all the food, first aid supplies, and bottled water they could find. Alec decided to try searching the highest shelves of the supply closet, only to find that Magnus had had the same idea. Magnus' biceps were straining against the cloth of his sleeves as he attempted to bring down the heavy carton of energy drinks he had found, and it took Alec a moment to snap out of his daze and hurry forward to help Magnus.
"Thank you," Magnus said.
"No problem," Alec replied, and cleared his throat. "So um—"
"I was thinking—" Magnus said at the same time.
They looked at each other for a beat, and smiled at each other.
"You first," Magnus said.
"Um, I was thinking, maybe we could go get some drinks together when we get to the mainland? If you want to," Alec got out in a rush.
"I'd love to," Magnus replied, his eyes crinkling with a smile.
Alec was just wondering what the etiquette was for wanting to kiss someone he'd hooked up with before their first proper date when Jace called out, "We're moving out in five!"
Alec sighed. Magnus' smile grew a little wider and he leaned forward to kiss Alec lightly on the cheek before slipping out of the door, and Alec gave himself a moment, taking in a deep breath and letting it out slowly. His priority was getting everyone on a helicopter out of here, and he couldn't afford to get distracted — everything else would just have to wait.
--
There were always jeeps parked outside every enclosure for staff usage, and they were fully electric, unlocked by a tap of a staff pass. Each jeep had space for four, so they ended up taking two of the jeeps, leaving Alec's motorcycle behind.
It wasn't ideal. The jeeps were noisy and worked better if they stuck to the roads, but it was still raining and the canvas tops meant they had shelter, even if it would also obstruct their view. Alec and Magnus had managed to pick up two rifles at the raptor paddock, but that was all the weapons they had. So Simon and Izzy each took the wheel of their respective jeeps, leaving Alec and Jace to keep watch with the rifles. Meanwhile, Clary was still trying to radio the master control room with no luck.
It would take them about half an hour to get to the Visitor Centre, less if they took a shortcut through the valley with the herds of peaceful herbivores, and Jace and Alec had agreed that it was a risk they were willing to take. They were almost at the lake when Alec heard the Parasaurus sound out a warning.
"Shit, they're stampeding," Alec muttered as he saw the herd coming towards them, rapidly picking up speed.
The ground was trembling with the weight of a dozen dinosaurs the size of elephants thundering towards them, and Izzy was trying to keep the vehicle on a steady course so that the creatures wouldn't accidentally ram into them in their panic to get away from whatever had spooked them. Alec stuck his head out of the window quickly to look behind them and thought he saw the familiar shape of a raptor or two flitting between the much larger herbivores, and realised with a sick feeling that the pack was using the Parasaurus to herd them somewhere — not that there was much they could do but go with the flow.
"The pack is herding us into a kill zone!" Alec yelled at Jace. Jace nodded to show that he'd heard him, looking grim.
They managed to make it all the way to the gyrosphere ramp unscathed, but there was no way the jeeps were getting up that and it would be pure stupidity to get out of the jeeps with the raptors closing in. Then, Alec saw it emerging from the trees — the Indominus Rex, that had been lying in wait for them and somehow had managed to change the colour of its hide to match the patches of green and brown around it.
Up close and in better light, the creature looked even more disturbingly unnatural, especially when the colour of its skin started to shift as it moved, turning to a sickly greyish white that appeared to be its normal skin colour as it moved towards them.
"This way!" Clary shouted from the other jeep.
The Indominus Rex roared as it gave chase, but Clary led them to a tunnel with a solid metal door that she got open with her pass, an entrance that Alec didn't even know existed, and they all got off the jeeps and scrambled through just in time. With Alec, Magnus, and Jace putting their full weight behind the door, they managed to get the door closed before the Indominus slammed against the metal and roared with frustration.
"Where the fuck are we?" Jace asked.
"Bomb shelter under the Visitor Centre," Clary explained. "Come on."
The tunnel was dimly lit with red emergency lights, and it was airless and suffocating. They hurried through it as quickly as they dared and emerged near the kitchens of the staff cafeteria, then made their way towards the main lobby of the Visitor Centre only to find it bustling with activity, with what was left of the park's staff carefully securing portable cryogenic freezer boxes and equipment while the ACU men stood on guard. The ACU men raised their guns immediately, but quickly lowered their rifles when they saw that the intruders were human.
It looked as if someone had gutted Circle Technology's labs overnight, and honestly there was only one person with the authority to do this — even though his own children had been missing and out in the jungles full of dinosaurs, in a storm. That seemed to snap Jonathan out of his sulking, and he stomped upstairs to the lab, followed closely by Clary and the rest of them.
"Dad! Where are you?" Jonathan shouted.
Valentine appeared at the top of the stairs. "Jonathan! Clarissa! I knew I could count on Alec and Jace to bring you back safe and sound."
"You were going to leave us," Clary said in horror and anger.
"Honestly, why are we even surprised? You've always cared more about all this stuff than you did us," Jonathan snarled.
"I was just securing our assets for the move. If you hadn't come back in time, of course I would have returned for you after the storm," Valentine said. "But everything's worked out anyway, and we can all go now. The helicopters and ferries are waiting."
"And what about the dinosaurs? Are you just going to leave them running loose on the island like this?" Izzy demanded.
"The volcano on the island has been primed with explosives in case of an event like this. After we have evacuated, I will trigger it, and everything on this island will be wiped out. No harm, no foul," Valentine said.
"The ecological impact of an eruption like that won't be contained to the island, and you can't just erase all the life on this island because you screwed up," Magnus protested.
"I made them, so I get to decide what to do with them. They've gone rogue, but like I said, there's no such thing as a failed experiment. We have to get rid of them and start over, tweak their genetics until we get a more loyal bloodline," Valentine said.
Jace shook his head in disbelief. "That's not how loyalty works, you can't breed it."
That was when they heard a series of loud crashes downstairs, followed by gunfire and yells of pain and fear. The raptors had broken through the glass and were tearing through the men and equipment downstairs — while also blocking their exit. Alec couldn't help noticing that there were only three raptors and Charlie wasn't part of the pack, but he didn't have time to mourn for the possible loss. He and Jace immediately started herding the group towards the emergency fire escape staircase, but Valentine and Jonathan hesitated, probably thinking of attempting to salvage some of the embryos or something from all the work they had done.
Clary yanked her brother back, having finally lost her patience. "We're leaving," she growled. Jonathan wisely decided not to disagree, but their hesitation had cost them precious time.
Delta looked up and locked eyes with Alec.
"Go, go, go!" Jace shouted as the raptors screamed and began to claw their way up the stairs towards them.
The nearest fire escape was probably through the lab and Alec and Jace were bringing up the rear with their rifles at the ready, so Alec didn't realise they'd stopped until he almost crashed into Izzy.
"Dad! You can't lock us out!" Clary called, banging on the glass door.
"I'm sorry. I have to continue my work, for the sake of the greater good," Valentine said, his voice muffled through the glass between them. "There are other helicopters, if you can get to the helipad in time."
"Let's just move on, there's another fire escape at the end of the—" Alec began to say, then he saw something moving in the lab, right inside there with Valentine.
Valentine didn't even have time to grab the rifle slung on his back. Clary screamed as Charlie tore into Valentine's throat in an instant, and Alec knew he was dead even before he hit the floor.
"Keep moving!" Jace bellowed, shoving them ahead of him.
They ran pell-mell across the hallway, past rows of empty, gutted labs. Behind them, there was the sound of breaking glass and the sound of talons clicking rapidly on the floor, getting increasingly closer. When they got through the door to the fire escape staircase, Magnus surprised Alec by slotting a metal rod that he'd picked up along the way through the handles.
"Always be prepared," Magnus quipped with a tight smile. "They really should make me an honorary scout after this."
Alec snorted softly, gently nudging Magnus ahead of him as they followed the rest of the group down the stairs.
"Do you think the Indominus will be waiting for us where the jeeps are?" Alec heard Simon ask as they got to the ground floor.
"That isn't the way raptors think. There are jeeps everywhere in this place, they can't know that we're going to use them, so they won't be waiting there," Jace said.
Alec wasn't so sure. He wouldn't have expected the pack to use the Parasaurus herd in that way, and the Indominus Rex was clearly letting the raptors do all the grunt work. But the helipad was not meant for visitor use so it was a distance from the other visitor amenities, together with the ops centre that housed all the controls for every single thing in the park. It would be possible to walk there, but with the Indominus Rex and raptor pack at their heels, the staff jeeps parked outside were their best bet for getting to the helicopters quickly.
They ran out into the parking lot full of jeeps, and found the Indominus Rex waiting for them. Jace let out a colourful string of curses, but there was a loud bang and a screech as the door upstairs gave way to the raptors' relentless pursuit.
"Scatter and gather at the jeeps right at the end of the line behind it!" Alec called out.
As he'd expected, the Indominus Rex didn't know who to go after at first, and even though it did head after Jonathan eventually, its hesitation and the fact that agile as it was, it did take some time to turn around because of its size, bought them enough time to get onto two of the jeeps. Simon and Izzy floored the pedals and zoomed out of the parking lot, and the Indominus Rex immediately thundered after them, picking up speed.
The jeeps were still faster than the Indominus Rex, just barely, but Alec spotted the raptors coming up behind her and they were creatures built for speed. He and Jace raised their rifles as the raptors caught up and overtook the Indominus Rex, and Alec took aim at the nearest, Echo. Then, he lowered his rifle.
"Alec, what the fuck are you doing?" Jace yelled.
He couldn't do it. He knew them, and they knew him. To his surprise, Blue let out a series of chirps, and the raptor pack began to slow down, giving up the chase. But his joy was short-lived — the Indominus Rex roared as she caught up with the raptors, and slammed her tail right into Blue, sending the much smaller dinosaur flying into the trees with a sickening crack.
Alec's heart clenched painfully, and he wasn't the only one filled with sudden rage, because the pack was close despite their frequent fights amongst each other. The rest of the raptor pack turned on the Indominus Rex in an instant, screeching and leaping at it to claw at its eyes and neck.
"We can't just leave them to fight the Indominus while we get off the island," Izzy protested immediately.
"It would be a bad idea to leave the Indominus alive at all. Whatever that is, it should never have existed," Magnus agreed.
Their jeep screeched to a halt, followed by the other jeep.
"OK, how do you want to do this, because even if we could get a good shot at that thing from here, these rifles are gonna do a fat load of nothing to it," Jace said.
"Could we distract the Indominus long enough to get out of here, then regroup to discuss strategy or something?" Simon suggested.
"You want to discuss strategy with the dinosaurs?" Jonathan asked sarcastically. Everyone ignored him.
"There's a flare gun in the back," Clary said immediately, rummaging in the jeep and handing it to Jace, who handed his rifle over to Clary.
"Ready when you are," Jace told Alec, aiming the gun.
Alec whistled loudly and raised his hand. The pack dropped to the ground immediately, landing on their feet, and raced towards him at the same time that Jace fired the flare gun. The flare hit the Indominus Rex in the neck with a bright burst of red light and the creature roared, probably more out of shock and surprise. The bang also startled some movement out of Blue, and to Alec's relief, Blue got to its feet and joined the rest of its pack.
The jeeps' tyres skidded a little on the muddy roads as they zoomed off, and the raptor pack quickly caught up with them. They lost sight of the Indominus Rex, but the ground was still trembling with its footfalls.
"What now? Where do we go?" Izzy asked when they came to a fork in the road, her knuckles turning white with how hard she was gripping the steering wheel.
"We should set the Tyrannosaurus Rex loose and let them fight it out," Jonathan suggested.
"How would setting more dinosaurs loose help?" Alec snapped.
"We have a machine gun in the armoury, one of those larger ones with a rotating barrel," Clary piped up.
"There's an idea. We can put it on a chopper and smoke this thing, but I need it out in the open," Jace called over. Which meant that someone was going to have to play bait.
"Jonathan's with me. All the rest of you go with Jace to the helipad and get off the island first," Alec said.
"What? I'm not leaving you again," Izzy protested.
"Well, I'm not staying behind," Jonathan scoffed.
Jace grabbed Jonathan by the collar. "Maybe you don't give a shit about the rest of us, but your sister's life is at risk here. Maybe try to do something for her sake instead of just thinking about yourself, for once in your goddamned life," he growled.
Both jeeps stopped briefly while Jace shoved Jonathan off the jeep, and Jonathan scrambled onto Alec's jeep to avoid the snarling raptors, but Izzy remained at the wheels and they were running out of time.
"Someone needs to drive," Izzy insisted.
"And having one more target to distract the Indominus can't hurt," Magnus said, giving Alec a look that told him he wouldn't be winning this argument anytime soon.
Alec sighed. "We'll see you on main street!" he called to Jace.
"Main street? Why are we going to main street?" Jonathan demanded. Alec rolled his eyes and focused on getting the raptor pack's attention to him again.
"Hold on tight," Izzy said, and floored the pedal.
--
It had been a no-brainer to pick main street. The buildings were low and wouldn't obstruct Jace's line of sight, and the street was narrow enough that the Indominus Rex would have trouble turning around if they managed to get it trapped. The many shopfronts along main street would also provide some cover for the humans and raptors playing bait, small enough for them to duck into but not for the Indominus to get in, although there was also the risk of the Indominus wrecking the buildings and crushing them under the rubble.
"And if Jace can drive it towards the lake, that would be an additional fail-safe — provided that the Indominus can't breathe underwater," Magnus agreed.
"Can it breathe underwater?" Izzy asked Jonathan. "Considering it can apparently mask its thermal signature and change the colour of its hide for camouflage?"
Jonathan scowled, then shrugged. "It had frog genes to help it adjust to a tropical climate and cuttlefish genes so it could grow more quickly."
Alec, Izzy, and Magnus exchanged a look.
"Jace is a pretty good shot," Alec said.
Jonathan snorted. "You know she's going to know that this is a trap, right?"
"Yes, Jonathan, and since you were the one who made her, surely you can control her? Why don't we just leave you to tell her not to bother us anymore?" Magnus said snidely.
They'd turned into the parking space in front of the main street but Izzy just drove up the curb and straight onto the pavement. The raptors were close behind them, gathering in a loose circle around the jeep and watching them warily with unblinking eyes. Alec handed Magnus the rifle and opened the door, and Izzy grabbed his arm anxiously.
"It's OK. I'll be careful," Alec promised her, and walked out into the rain towards them.
Blue was the closest, and didn't move away when Alec approached it. Moving as quickly as he dared, Alec held his hands up to show that he didn't have anything in them, then reached forward to unbuckle the harness that had been attached to the raptor's head. Blue snorted softly, blinking once at Alec, then chirped at him.
"Sorry. Should never have let Valentine use you like that," Alec said.
"Darling, I know you're having a moment, but doesn't anyone else feel like it's been awfully quiet?" Magnus asked.
Alec froze, listening to the sound of the rain falling all around them. Was that the wind or something creaking under the weight of a dinosaur? Then the raptors turned as one and screeched at the roof of the row of shops to their right and the patch of grey screeched back.
Alec's initial plan had been to get closer to the Visitor Centre, but the Indominus Rex had positioned itself right in the middle of main street, blocking their way. It was perched precariously on top of the building but Alec remembered that Clary had said it was a good jumper, and even though they were currently out of its reach, that might not be true for long. Then it caught sight of the jeep, and Alec knew what it was going to do the moment it crouched low.
"Get out of there!" he shouted in horror.
Magnus, Izzy, and Jonathan wrenched the doors open and flung themselves out of the vehicle just as the Indominus Rex took a running leap and crashed on top of the jeep, completely squashing it under its weight.
"Get around to her back!" Alec instructed, pulling Izzy along and leading the rest to run in a wide circle around the Indominus Rex.
The dinosaur spun around to snap at them as quickly as it could, but Alec whistled shrilly and the raptor pack closed in, taking advantage of the Indominus Rex's blind spot to tear into its flank. While the Indominus Rex was distracted by the raptors, Alec raised his rifle and fired as many shots as he could, point blank, and although they all seemed to bounce off its thick hide, the Indominus Rex's attention was successfully divided. With a roar of frustration, the Indominus Rex shook itself hard, flinging off a two of the raptors, and swung its tail blindly in an arc, hoping to hit some of them. Magnus yanked Izzy out of the way just in time, but Alec knew they wouldn't always be that lucky.
"Where the fuck is Jace?" Jonathan yelled.
The Indominus Rex froze at the sound of his voice. Then, it turned towards Jonathan and charged straight at him, ignoring everything else.
Alec didn't like Jonathan much, but this wasn't an end he would have wished on anyone. "Hey! Over here!" he called out, trying to divert the dinosaur's attention, but it was going after Jonathan with single-minded focus. Jonathan screamed and tried to run but tripped over something and fell face-first onto the slippery pavement.
But just when the Indominus Rex was almost upon him, all the lights along main street lit up, shop signs and street lamps alike. The announcement system began blaring music and pre-recorded announcements at full volume, and the cacophony threw the dinosaur off. And even above all the noise and the sounds of the storm, Alec heard the approaching helicopter.
"Take cover!" Alec yelled. He whistled loudly for his raptors to follow his lead, and Magnus and Izzy dashed out to yank Jonathan to safety, right under the nose of the Indominus Rex.
In a moment, the searchlights of a helicopter came into view and bullets rained down onto main street, chipping the pavement and bursting lights in showers of sparks. The Indominus Rex roared and trampled blindly down the street, and that's when Alec realised that Jace had had the same idea of driving it towards the lake. Unfortunately, there was no way to communicate with Jace and anyway it was too late — the Indominus Rex fell into the lake with a massive splash.
The chopper began to leave, flying over the lake, and Alec ran out onto main street trying to signal for them to come back and make sure they'd really killed the Indominus Rex when something massive burst out of the surface of the lake to snap up what was clearly the Indominus Rex in its jaws before sinking back into the depths with a gigantic splash that would have drenched Alec if he wasn't already soaked to the bone.
"The Mosasaurus," Izzy breathed as she came out to stand next to Alec. "I'd forgotten about it."
"I guess it's finally over," Magnus said.
There was a chirp behind them. "Not quite," Alec said, turning to face his raptors.
He approached them carefully and removed all the Circle Technology harnesses, and for a moment the pack stood there looking back at him.
"Good job, Charlie. Good job, Delta. Good job, Echo," Alec said softly. "Good job, Blue."
With one last chirp at him, the raptors turned and vanished down the pavement, away from all the ruined human trappings on main street and into the jungles of the island.
Alec swallowed hard, watching them go. "Now it's over."
--
The storm had finally passed by the time they gathered all the surviving members of the staff and ACU, and there were just enough helicopters to fit them all. Jace, Clary, Jonathan, and Simon piled into one, and Alec, Magnus, and Izzy got into another, and as they flew over the ocean, Izzy glanced back at the island.
"Was it really a good idea to leave the island with the dinosaurs roaming freely like this?" she wondered.
Alec shrugged. "They might be able to free themselves from the enclosures, but they're used to being fed and all the dinosaurs are male, so there won't be any offspring. Eventually they'll die out."
"Maybe. But I think you'll find that Life often finds a way," Magnus said.
Izzy sighed and leaned her head on Alec's shoulder, yawning. "I suppose we'll just have to deal with it some other day."
"Yeah. After we get home," Alec said.
"Sounds good," Izzy murmured, already half-asleep. "But what are you going to do now that Circle Technologies is gone?"
"I guess I'll figure it out," Alec replied, catching Magnus' eye, and Magnus smiled back at him, quietly reaching out to take his other hand.
"Tomorrow is a brand new day," Magnus promised.