I am terrified when I wake up.

I'm somewhere new and bright and clean, sharp smells temporarily stunning me as I stumble around. The cell is small and cramped, vaguely reminding me of when I was born. Scientists watch me as I try to push myself through the bars, growling when I can't fit. I bare my teeth at them but they don't react.

"Owen?" I trill desperately. "Blue? Somebody?"

"Look who's awake," someone says. It's Vic and I snarl. A laugh bubbles in his throats and I think that it sounds like the clicking of spider legs. The sound settles on my bones. I can smell Vic, his smugness and stupidity thick in the air and I want him to go away. He doesn't. "They tell me that you understand me," he says. "Is that true?"

I hiss at him.

"I suggest you don't rile her up." It's the same scientist that Owen yelled at and I back away slowly, keeping my eyes on him. He smells different to Vic. His scent is sharp and different and I want to whine. I want Owen. I want my sisters. I don't want to be in this horrible room.

"She's locked up," Vic tells the scientist like it isn't obvious. I want to call him an idiot but I'm still scared of the scientist. "When will she be ready for shipment?"

The scientist shakes his head. "We have yet to determine the length of her comprehension. She can understand us, yes, but does she follow orders? Does she form thoughts of her own? She doesn't appear to be as feral as her sisters but we can't be too sure. Give us a month and we will have her ready for InGen."

"A month?" Vic repeats loudly. "No, Jamber. You promised her to us weeks ago. I wouldn't put it past Grady to come lookin' for her. The sooner we have her out of here, the sooner InGen can use her for missions."

I can smell the annoyance seep from Jamber, the scientist, but Vic doesn't seem to understand how far he is pushing. I let out a small huff of amusement, followed by a sharp whistle as both men turn to watch me. Owen will come for me, I tell myself. I have survived hatching, I have survived infancy. I can survive this too.

I will survive this too.

"You have a month then," Vic says, keeping his eyes on me. "Then InGen takes her, tests or no. She's a valuable asset."

"Owen will come for me," I tell him but Vic doesn't understand me. I wonder again if he will make me sick if I were to eat him. I think he will. "I will go back to them."

His smile is full of something predatory and it feels like a challenge. I let out an angry cry and watch with satisfaction as he jerks back slightly. His face goes red and I laugh at him, small stuttering chirps filling the silence that my screech had left. "You filthy animal," Vic sneers. I snap my teeth at him. "If you weren't so valuable to me, I'd have you put down."

He walks away and leaves me in my cage, alone. I miss my sisters and I miss Owen. I trill sadly. He told me he wouldn't let me go, but I'm here and he isn't. Owen lied to me. And what of my sisters? Do they miss me? Do they realise what's happened?

Maybe they don't miss me, I think, maybe Owen doesn't care.

A dart lands in my tail and I snarl, whipping around to find the culprit. I don't find him though, my vision is too fuzzy. The dart must be different to the others because the darkness that surrounds me isn't comforting like last time. Instead it's cold and it's harsh and it's foreign.

I fall asleep to memories of a laugh that sounds like thunder and lightning.

*

Owen Grady feels nothing but guilt as his raptors finally listen to his commands.

Barry claps him on the shoulder when it's done and says something about success and sure, maybe Owen feels a small seed of pride and relief but it's overshadowed by the bitterness. He hates that Falcon is gone, he hates that it affects his raptors as much as it affects him. They're more vicious now, quicker to snap at each other. His dark mood isn't helped when Vic waddles up the stairs.

"Owen," the vile man says. "I was starting to think I hired the wrong guy but damn, you got them eating out of your paw."

Owen wants to punch him in the face. "You came on a good day," he says instead. "It's not usually a happy ending."

Vic gives him a look that Owen doesn't care to decipher. "It wouldn't have to do with the absence of the other one, would it?"

"You son of a bitch," Owen seethes because something about Vic Hoskins is smug and dirty. It doesn't take Owen long to figure out what. "You were behind that, you bastard!"

Vic shrugs innocently. "You weren't sending in reports. I thought she was a distraction. Don't worry, she's being cared for."

"She wasn't a distraction," Owen tells him angrily.

"Then why didn't I get any reports?"

Owen grits his teeth. "We've been busy," he forces out.

Vic doesn't looks impressed. "Not too busy to cash in your pay checks."

"What do you want?" Owen snaps, angry and tired and guilty and damn it, he just wants Falcon back with her sisters.

Vic just studies him. "I want a field test. Your other one is currently having her comprehension tested and you've just proven that these guys can respond to commands. We need to take the research and get it on its feet."

Owen bites his lip hard enough to draw blood as he and Vic continue the conversation. A small voice in the back of his mind tells him to push the pudgy man into the enclosure and let the raptors eat him. He almost does. He saves the new recruit instead and hates the victorious look Vic sends him as he walks away from the enclosure.

One day, he promises himself, he's going to let his raptors to eat the man. One day.