life uh finds a way

by orphan_account

Summary:

the year is 1990, and eccentric billionaire Rip Hunter is trying to open his theme park, barring the disapproval of a team of scientist and the deaths of like, five people.
(Jurassic Park AU)

Notes:

me and my friend rebecca were talking about how Len is basically Ian Malcolm and since we're both paleontologists, this was just sort of birthed LMAO
I fixed some of the smaller inaccuracies, but with bigger stuff like the T Rex vision, I couldn't find a way to get rid of it. And I skipped a lot of the action to try and keep this one chapter and centered around Ray and Len. Hope you get as big a kick out of this as I did writing it!

JUNE 1990

 

 Everything, for once, was going well— the volunteers this season knew what they were going, the imaging people had showed up on time and given them a discount for the last two years tardiness. Zari was beginning to think that maybe the day was going to go easy— a rarity amongst the site. Ray, her right hand man, had tried for years to organize some sort of… well, organization into the dig, but it’s hard to eliminate disaster amongst a hundred moving parts.

 But they had just found a stone with a visible leg of a raptor and the possibility for more— that was room for optimism which Zari so rarely let herself indulge in— and the field student’s hadn’t broken off any bone yet, staying with in the lines. The three-d scanners that Zari’s colleague from Arizona State had lent her just finished printing out a replica of the raptor claw, and she was able to use it to scare some of the kids around the dig. It was a nearly perfect day.

 Until a chopper came down and started blowing dust around like they didn’t know what a paleontological site did.

 She allowed herself a moment of pride in how quickly everyone jumped into action, grabbing tarps or taking off jackets to cover the bones; she saw Ray whip around, the full loudness potential in his voice screeching across the site, “ Cover the site! Cover the site!!”

 He looked back, waving at her to do what she had to do, so she ran towards the chopper, just to notice a figure all in white exiting and making a beeline to the trailer— her trailer. And absolutely not. She stalked after them, feeling anger rise.

 Zari burst into the trailer, fury bubbling in her dusty stomach— a man stood in her kitchenette, head in her fridge, dressed all in white linens like a grandfather in Miami, “Who the fuck are you doing here!?”
The man didn’t respond, instead flying up and popping the cork of a bottle of champagne— it was a gift from Zari’s girlfriend, Charlie, after their funding check had cleared last quarter, “Ah hah!”

 “What the fuc— we were saving that!” she cried, dodging the stream of bubbles that shot out erratically.

 “For today, I’m sure!” the man said, eyes bright.

 “Who the ever loving hell do you think you are?” her voice was getting strained with anger.

 “Rip Hunter,” he shook Zari’s finger that she had pressed against his chest, “and it is a pleasure to finally meet you, Dr. Tomaz,”      

 Her mind went blank, totally blank. Because the last time she had heard the name Hunter was when she was balancing the funding for the last quarter.

 “Hun… Hunter?”

 “I am glad to see my fifty thousand is spent well,” Hunter was younger than she was expecting— a thin sort of attractive that was able to be upkept with a certain level of wealth.

 The trailer door shot open again to make room for a very flustered Ray, face flushed with annoyance, “Okay, who’s the jerk— !”

 “This is my right hand man, Dr. Ray Palmer— our paleobotanist—” Zari cut him off before he could say anything more, guiding him towards Hunter, “Ray, this is Mr. Hunter— Rip Hunter,”

 The annoyance remixed instantly into disbelieving, star struck as his dumbly shook Hunter’s hand, “Did I say jerk?”

 “No, no, my entrance was rather thoughtless,” he smiled handsomely, “you’ll have to excuse me— I was in a bit of a rush. Can you pause for a wee drink?”

 They really couldn’t— the fall out from Hunter’s appearance surely did a number on what work they’d got done on the skeleton and alcohol dehydrated, as Ray so often harped on the team anytime someone came in a little hungover. But instead of saying all this, Zari found herself sitting down, watching as Ray grabbed the glasses from the top shelf for Hunter, who seemed delighted by his stature. He guided Ray out of the kitchen soon after, a water bottle in his hands and he somehow ended up behind Zari, perched on the counter next to the extra screeners.

 “Now, I see no need to beat around the bush here, doctors,” his bravado was confident, assured. His voice sounded like pure money , “I like you twp— I can tell, right away, if people are good or not. It’s a gift I’ve always had,”

 Zari didn’t know what to say to that, glancing at Ray, who looked equally as lost.

 “We’ve made some discoveries in New Mexico— well..” Ray’s eyes twinkled, “I’ve invested them into a new project— I have an island, you see,  I leased it from Costa Rican government and spent the last five years setting up a kind of biological preserve down there. Really spectacular— spared no expense.  It makes the one I had in Kenya look like a petting zoo. No doubt that sooner or later our attractions will drive the kids right out of their minds.We’re opening next year, that is of course, unless the lawyers kill me first,” he paused for the first time, eyes flickered between the scientists, “I don’t care much for lawyers. You?”

 The sudden break from the monologue surprised both of them, obviously, now at the end of a brutal hyper focus. Zari spoke first, stuttering, “Uh, we don’t… we don’t know any,”

 “Hm, well I do. Unfortunately, so do my investors— there’s one that is really a thorn in my side. He’s insisting on outside opinions,”   

 “What kind of opinions?” Zari asked.

 “Well, to be blunt. Yours . You two are at the forefront of your fields— the top minds, so to speak. And to get your testimonials, you’re approval, well, it would absolutely put us back on track,”

 Zari was a little lost. She was a scientist, who dealt with the bones of what she studied. What could she possibly have to contribute to a theme park— Ray too. He knew a fair amount on plants through all centuries, sure, but he was no nursery worker. Certainly not a landscaper.

 “What… kind of park is it?”

 “Well, it's— right up your alley.” Hunter evaded the question like a businessman, pouring each of them a drink,  “Look, why don't you the pair of you come on down for the weekend? I've got a jet standing by at Choteau.”

 Zari cleared her throat, forcing herself down from the high Hunter’s presence had caused. As much gold that was in their eyes now, she couldn’t ignore her work, “Mr. Hunter, we’re flattered but… we just uncovered a huge slab with a visible leg skeleton…”

 “I would, of course, compensate your lost of work hours. Fully fund your dig…” Zari prepared herself to shut that down again, but Hunter kept going, “For the next three years.”

 Well. Fuck.

 Ray stiffened next to her, gulping audibly, “Well. Where’s the plane?”   

 

○•○•○

 

 They were the only people at the terminal— Ray supposed that’s a privilege of the one percent. Never having to deal with neighbors. Hunter met them early that morning, leading them into a small helicopter manned by two women in the helmn. Inside the body already sat an older man, looking utterly put out by the whole experience. He was clutching a trapper keeper like a life jacket, dressed in a tan suit and tie. Not a man accustomed to the field— Ray tried to think back to the last time he had worn a tie. His brothers wedding. Maybe.

 “You the archaeologists?” the man asked, voice reedy and disinterested.

 “Paleontologists,” Zari corrected, though her words didn’t seem to be registered by the man at all, who just scribbled something down on the board.

 “Meet Damien Darhk, doctors,” Hunter appeared behind them as Ray pulled Zari into the chopper, “He’s the lawyer, reviewing the park. Doctors Zari Tomaz and Ray Palmer,”

 “Charmed,” the man deadpanned, eyes drawing lewdly up Zari’s body.

 Zari scoffed under her breath, already obviously annoyed. Ray felt a tinge of sympathy, clearing his throat at the lawyer who did not react. Men were awul, he decided in his head, not even seeing what could be so impossibly appealing about Zari’s long sleeves and full pants. He was more exposed, with his shorts that Zari constantly made fun of.

 “He’s an absolute monster,” Hunter said cheerily, checking around the mouth of the chopper, “Where’s your man, Darhk? Did you not tell him departure time?”

 A voice called out from a ways away— invisible to Ray, “Don’t get excited, Hunter, I’m right here,”

 The source appeared at the opening, a wide frame man that immediately made made Ray’s breath catch in his throat, despite himself. He buried that, too wise to let anyone other than Zari notice. He broke his gaze for a second, trying to reign that in before he looked back to find the stare set back on him.

 The man’s icy eyes peered over the sunglasses perched at the end of his nose, drawing themselves slowly up Ray’s body rather shamelessly, giving a smirk after. It wasn’t unlike Darhk’s look earlier, but lacking the entitlement— most of it was asking a question, almost permission. Ray felt his cheeks flush a little at the attention, a gut reaction that was certainly not helped by how handsome the man was.  

 And he was— handsome. Tall, broad with long legs and sturdy arms— dressed head to toe in black, button up halfway done up to show a deep sliver of a tan, grey dusted chest. He held himself with a self assured cockiness that was hard to look away from, like he was made to be the center of attention.

 The man slide into the seat next to Darhk, lounging with an utter ease. Hunter barely concealed his eye roll at the action, gesturing towards him with a limp wrist that lacked all his earlier precision, “Doctors, this is—”

 “Dr. Leonard Snart,” the man chewed the line like gum, “I’d be afraid to let you introduce me, Rip, your affection for me may scare our new friends off,” he leaned forward, conspiringly to an unamused Zari, “Mr. Hunter and I have a history— he’s a big fan of my work, we’re very close,”

 “You will have to excuse Dr. Snart. He has an odd affliction wherein he believes he is charming,” Hunter replied, dryly which eased a snort out of the paleontologists.

 Ray had heard of Leonard Snart before— he was a part of a whole new generation of mathematicians who were very interested in the math of the real world , so to speak; perpetuating divergence from academia. In all honesty, Ray hadn’t kept up with the math world since his GRE so he couldn’t begin to pinpoint the meat and potatoes of his work— the only papers he’d had time to read in the last seven years had been on climates in the late Cretaceous. Yet, something about the easy slant of Snart’s mouth told him the man would easily walk him through his theories.

 He cleared his throat, turning towards him with a friendly smile, “Dr. Ray Palmer, paleobotany,”

 “Pleasure,” he drew, shaking their hands as slowly as his words. Zari snorted next to him and Ray nudged her with his elbow instead of focusing on how the back of his neck felt rather warm.

 She didn’t hide her snort, though, nor did she lean forward for her own introduction, “Dr. Zari Tomaz, paleontologist.” she jerked her head down at his outfit, “A little hot for black isn’t it?”

 That brought another smirk to his lips, “Depends on how well you know your black-body radiation. Black’s the best color for the heat— efficiency of radiation and all that. Besides, not all of use can pull off the khaki look as well as Dr. Palmer ,”

 “Shameless,” Zari muttered, only loud enough for Ray to hear and he nudged her again.

 Rip’s annoyance seemed to parallel Zari’s, though he was even less subtle in his expression. His eyes were trained on Darhk, who looked amused, “I bring scientists. You bring a rockstar,”

 “Dr. Snart is an elite mathematician, Rip —”

 “Chaotician, Mr. Darhk,” Rip snorted at Snart’s correction, who seemed emboldened by this, leaning back to the two paleontologists, “Mr. Hunter doesn’t approve of my work, mostly because it doesn’t approve of his science experiment here,”

 “Horseshit! I don’t subscribe to chaos because you’ve never been able to actually explain why you so fervently fight me on the island!” Hunter gesticulating wildly, “Crunch all the numbers you want, Snart, nothing backs you well enough,”

 Zari turned to him, eyebrows raised in interest. Ray could relate— the two of them going back and forth was like a verbal tennis match between two people who hate tennis.

 “At risk of sounding like an undergrad here,” Zari spoke up, interest teasing in her syllables, “I’m not familiar with the concept of— what what it? Chaos theory?”

 “You’ve never heard of it?”

 Zari shrugged with her usual nonchalance as Ray shook his head. It was a half truth— he had heard of it thrown around in circles, but he didn’t want to leave Zari in the lurch. Plus he liked the sound of Snart’s voice.

 “Non-linear equations? Strange attractions?” this time, Ray shook his head, “Now, Dr. Palmer, I can’t believe you’re not familiar with the concept of attraction,”

 He let out a little quiet, breathless laugh, practically feeling Zari’s eye roll next to him. Before the other doctor could get back on track, the chopper’s blades picked up, shaking the passengers a little violently. Ray felt his eyes snap to Zari for strength, who patted his arm comfortingly. He wasn’t a huge fan of flying, and this who chopper situation was not the ideal. His concern didn’t go unnoticed by Hunter, who laughed good naturedly.

 “Don’t worry, Dr. Palmer; Gideon is the best pilot on this side of the Atlantic. We’re in good hands,”

 Darhk looked a little unsure at this, “Isn’t there a storm coming?”

 “The last four have all swung south, completely missed us. Meteorology is not an exact science. Don’t be an alarmist, Damian,” Hunter cut quickly, ending the conversation concisely. The man met Hunter’s intense stare for as long as Hunter let him, before he looked off towards the scientists, gesturing with his cane, “Now, Dr. Tomaz, do tell us about your work with velociraptors,”

 

○•○•○

 

 They had a bumpy landing that Hunter barely let them digest before funneling us into two sand colored Jeeps that met them at the landing strip— they were each driven by a park worker dressed in matching khaki. The side of the impeccably clean doors had a logo printed in mint condition— a skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus Rex in black against a red background above a printed Jurassic Park.

 Ray felt his brow furrowed in curiosity— he looked over at Zari who was pinning the Jeep with the same confusion. The swampy heat was already beginning to hug itself around him, suffocatingly; he had spoiled with the dry heat of Montana and had forgotten how awful humanity was.

 But they piled into the jeeps without much more comment, Darhk and Hunter talking over each other with as sloggy of a feeling as the heat.

 “Now let me make something perfectly clear for you, Rip,” Darhk was saying, “This is not a weekend fun field trip— this is an investigation into the serious safety concerns of your investors. So, in forty-eight hours, if they —” he gestured to the group of scientist, “Don’t approve, then I am shutting this shit down,”

 Hunter rolled his eyes, pulling the door of the first Jeep open harshly, “In forty-eight hours, Damien, I’m going to be accepting your apologies,”

 Finally, sweet relief from the conflict as Zari, Dr. Snart, and himself were sectioned into the second car. The driver introduced himself as Gary with a wide, friendly smile like a chain restaurant waiter, so Ray took that interaction bullet for Zari and jumped into the front seat.

 Dirt kicked up around the wheels as Gary took off at a breakneck speed to match the first Jeep, taking the hilly terrain with the slight hand of a blindfolded poker player. Ray grabbed the bar in front of him to regain so security, hearing Dr. Snart chuckled out a yippee ki yay! Gary brought them out of the forest clearing, into the grassy knolls hidden behind skyscraping electric fences, signs indicated Electrified Fences! 10,000 Volts!

 That gnawed at the corners of his mind even more— what is Hunter even keeping here? Why were they here? What the ever love jelly beans was going on?

 Just as he was about to ask Gary, hey slowed slightly going into a dell when something else grabbed his attention— in a long, thick line next to them, thin, prickly leaves reaching across from their thick tickled at his arm but— well that couldn’t possibly be right. He leaned out the care, hearing Zari call out to him, but grabbed and ripped one of the leaves away from the bushel.

 Zari’s hands grabbed his shoulders and pulled him back into the Jeep safely, “Watch yourself, Ray, god,”

 He ignored her concerns, running his fingers along the comb like sides of the leaf pod, “This isn’t right” he muttered.

 Vaguely, he registered a call from Hunter’s Jeep as their own car stopped. Behind him, Zari and Dr. Snart muttered a few things back and forth but he was still hyper focused on the leaf. It was long, rough— it didn’t make any sense— he heard Zari stand up behind him.

 “This shouldn’t be here, Zari,” he called out, “This is Williamsonia sewardiana— this species of cycadophyta has been extinct since the Cretaceous period! This thing—”

 His voice died off, Zari’s fingers digging into the top of skull and turning his head to the left. He made a sound of protest but let his neck follow to movement, because Zari was being very weird and the usually meant some weird shit was going—

 Then he saw it. He dropped the leaf.

 About a mile away, standing as natural as the sun, tall amongst the trees and birds, a huge brachiosaurus strained its gorgeous neck up to bite at the leaves at the very top.

 His voice failed him, gaping dumbly at the creature as it moved slowly on to the next bundle, none the wiser to her new audience. Zari behind him made an odd noise— half breathless laugh, half cry of exuberance. She jumped out of the Jeep, a near scramble repeating her cry over and over. Ray followed her, his throat feeling tight with tears he was desperately holding back, eyes never leaving the sauropod.

 “That’s— that’s a dinosaur! ” she cried, voice strained with an excitement he had never heard in Zari’s voice before, but he couldn’t blame her.

 The brachiosaurus moved beautifully. Much lighter on its feet than Ray would have assumed because of its incredible mass— it crunched on another bundle of leavers, its gently eyes closing to savor the taste.

 “She’s so agile— ” Ray said, which Zari beamed at, pulling him forward, closer to the creature.

 He half registered Hunter’s sudden appearance at his side, beaming like a proud parent at the creature.

 “The structure of the muscle was more graceful— the movement I mean—” Zari rambled and Ray was with her, excitement bubbling out of them an unstoppable peace.

 “It doesn’t live in a swamp—”

 “Ray, we can forget cold bloodedness— that is a warm blooded creature if I have ever seen one—”

 “Case closed, certainly, that isn’t—”

 Zari spun around manically towards Hunter, grabbing his shoulders for support, “How big is her neck— twenty, twenty-five feet?”

 “Thirty,” Hunter smiled, voice as bright as the sun.

 “Thirty— thirty feet?” Ray asked, breathless laugh making his chest feel light as anything.

 “It has to have a four chambered heart— there’s no way you could push blood up that neck with much less—”

 “If this is how you are with the brachi, I can’t imagine how you’ll be with the T Rex…”

 That killed both them where they stood. Ray grabbed Hunter’s shoulder above Zari’s frozen hands, “A T Rex— you, you have a T Rex?”

 “Say it again?” Zari asked dreamily.

 Hunter beamed, his face younger than it had been since they met him, “We have a T Rex,”

 The change in Zari’s breathing was audible, he rubbed her back as she leaned over, “Head between your knees, Zari, breathe deep—”

 Hunter’s laugh ripped through the arm, voice loud and sure, “Dr. Tomaz, Dr. Palmer… welcome to Jurassic Park!”

 They both looked forward again, a few more creatures coming behind the largest female they had been watching. Zari’s knees gave out, her dropping to the ground and sitting with her knees to her chest— Ray was close behind, kneeling like a boy scout, tears finally springing from the corners of his eyes.

 She turned to him, eyes glistening just the same, gripping his shoulder, “They do move in herds.”

 

○•○•○

 

 Despite his better judgement and reputation, Leonard was a little star struck himself. He didn’t give himself too hard a time about it— he honestly wasn’t expecting Hunter to actually have done it, the crazy son of a bitch, so sure, yes. He was a bit taken back by the sight of a full, flesh and blood dinosaur and the promise of more. When Hunter had gathered them all back into the Jeeps and drove them back to visitor center, Leonard had expected to be shown more innovation.

 Instead, they were sitting in the dinosaur version of the Hall of Presidents and he kind of wanted to fling himself into the ocean. The animated DNA strand on the screen rambled on about strands and sequencing in its slow southern accent and Leonard looked over to see an equal amount of disinterest on the paleontologists’ faces. He wasn’t an idiot— he had kept up alright with biology and the likes throughout college and remember the basics, so he could only imagine what a review this was for his seat neighbors.

 He took the moment to evaluate the two— they were both younger than him, with Dr. Tomaz being the youngest. Her dark hair was tied up without much thought and clothes sun worn, clearly indicating the amount of time she spent in the field was nothing to underestimate. She was pretty, but her face was skewered seriously in a way that demanded respect, and constantly moving in thought. Young as she was, she was not to be overlooked and Leonard kept that in mind.

 Her companion on the other hand, really drew his attention. Ray Palmer was truly a sight to behold— unnaturally tall and built, with arms that were bursting out of his sensible pink over shirt. His strong legs looked wonderful in the horrifyingly ugly shorts he had belted around his waist, but his body was nothing compared to his sweet, understanding face. He was older than Dr. Tomaz, that was clear by the slight grey at his temples, but he wore his age like an accessory, unlike Leonard.

 He got pulled out of his thoughts by the grating accent again, “ Our fertilization department is where the dinosaur DNA takes the place of the DNA in unfertilized emu or ostrich eggs— and then it's on to the nursery, where we welcome the dinosaurs back into the world! ”

 The system they were in moved past the screen, creeping towards a window into a lab where a group of scientists in pristine white lab coats moves around. It was brightly light, every piece of chrome within the room shining like gold, almost distracting from the nest of large eggs in the center of the room. Tomaz and Palmer both perked up at the sight; Palmer hitting Tomaz’s arm like waking up a dad in a movie theater.

 “This is incredible, Rip,” Darhk was drawing behind them. Leonard barely contained an eyeroll, “Now are these people auto... auto… erotic?”

 “No, these are all the real heroes behind our efforts here, the actual scientists,” he didn’t need to have eyes on him to know Hunter was beaming dumbly.  

 Tomaz moved forward, but the ride kept moving and she cried out in anger, “Wait, no— can we go back? How do you separate the cellular mitosis?”

 “And I’d like to see the unfertilized eggs,” Palmer offered, turning as best he can in the seat.

 “Sorry, sorry, no. This is a sort of ride, so there is no stopping,” Hunter said.

 The two scientist pouted sitting back, but Leonard wasn’t that easily put out. He looked at them, bracing his palms against the bar that held them flush against their seats. The other two caught on quickly, both doing the same.

 “One, two…” he muttered, them all pushing up on his call of three , the hydraulic lock hissing as their combined strengths over rode it and it let them up. Vaguely, he heard Hunter and Darhk call out in protest, but he just chuckled and followed the two excited scientists out the ride, slipping towards the hatchery door.

 Tomaz threw her body against it, but it didn’t budge. Suddenly, Hunter appeared behind them, resigned apparently to let them go off course, and leaned forward to the keypad, punching in some numbers and letting a light cross his face.

 “It’s a retinal scan,” he told them, voice hardly betraying his annoyance. Leonard grasped his shoulder on their way into the lab, but Hunter pushed him off, grumbling. The group scurried in, not waiting for any more permission— it was sort of adorable, Palmer taking everything in with a wide eyed, childish excitement.

 Hunter led them through the lab, handing his hat off to a random lab tech, which Leonard was positive was not their job. He took it from their hands, rolling his eyes because he hates rich people and threw the hate onto the table behind him.

 “Hello, Martin,” Hunter greeted a man in his sixties who was scratching away at a clipboard.

 The man looked up, smiling kindly, “Oh, good day, sir,”

 “Doctors, this is our lead geneticist, Dr. Stein,” Stein leaned forward and shook Leonard’s hand first, moving down to get Palmer and then Tomaz.    

 “Dr. Tomaz— it’s a pleasure to finally meet you. Your work is incredibly important here,” he smiled, which brought a nice expression to Tomaz’s face for the first time since she saw the brachiosaurus. Her face shifted almost instantly though, as Leonard saw her eyes slip behind Stein’s shoulder.

 “Wait, is that—”

 Hunter cried out excitedly, directing her to the table she was looking at. Leonard followed their gaze, but stayed a step behind— in front of him Palmer leaned forward, glasses slipping down his nose adorably. The man was a little too much.

 He understood the interest however— the table held home to six, ostrich sized eggs that were all shaking, slowly in tiny circles. Tomaz leaned in as close as she could without getting hit by the robotic arm that was moving periodically around, turning the eggs for warmth, Leonard assumed. Stein caught their attention as well, beaming.

 “Oh, perfect timing!” he cried, coming between Tomaz and Hunter, “I was hoping they began to hatch before I left for the boat,”

 “Martin, why didn’t you tell me!?” he turned to group, pout disappearing, “I like to be here for all the hatchings— I want to be the first person they imprint on when they’re born,”

 The egg shook more violently, Hunter bring the shell into his now gloved hands— Leonard missed when he put them on, but he must have, since he was cradling the half broken egg with latex covered fingers. The iea was ridiculous: he wanted to be the first person to touch them, but not with his own warmth. There were limits.

 “It helps them trust me— come on little one,” he cooed, “I’ve been present at every birth at Jurassic Park,”

 Leonard frowned, adjusting his glasses, “Surely, not the ones in the wild,”

 “Actually, there have been no births in the wild. There is no unauthorized breeding in Jurassic Park— it’s a part of our population control. A major concern of ours,” Stein cut in, “along with animal tracking, that is,”

 This was enough the others, seemingly, as Tomaz and Palmer crowing Hunter’s hands as the egg shook and Darhk looked afraid to touch anything in the corner. Leonard’s brow furrowed, unsatisfied, because things weren’t adding up. And he was rather good at the whole math business.

 “Okay, but how do you assure that? Do you provide dinosaur condoms? Prehistoric sex ed?”

 Stein was not charmed by him, simply responding, “We only engineer female dinosaurs here,”

 Well, that only raises more questions than it answered, but his attempt to speak again was cut off by an excitement from the table. He leaned a little next to Palmer, as the snout of an impossibly small creature began to poke out of the shell.

 “There you are,” Hunter cooed, “come on, darling…”

 “Oh my god,” Palmer whispered, even his quiet voice dripping with clear emotion.

 The creature popped out completely now, yawing its tiny snout and jumping into Hunter’s hands, cuddling amongst the material. It nipped at the latex, spitting out and yawning again, unskilled and unfocused— easily allowing Hunter shift her into Tomaz’s palms. Her face was open, but her mind was still churning intensely.

 “The blood temp feels like… high eighties. Eighty-seven, eighty-eight?”

 “Ninety-one,” Stein answered easily.

 Palmer looked up, moving aside to let Tomaz have her moment, but evaluated the creature from afar, “Homoeothermic?  It holds that temperature?”

 Before they could dive more into that, Leonard called attention back to him, because Hunter was a king at burying the questions, “But how do you make sure they’re all women? Walk me through this process,”

 “Dr. Snart, we control the chromosomes— it’s not that complicated of a process. All vertebrate embryos are female initially, and do not turn male without an extra hormone, given at the right developmental stage. We deny them that,”

 “You deny them that,” he repeated, voice completely dead.

 His dryness was noticed by other members of the party— Hunter and Palmer most of all.

 “Is there a problem, Dr. Snart?” Hunter drew out, voice already dreading the answer.

 Leonard felt his head pound, rubbing his temples, “Rip, come on. The level of of control you’re trying to obtain is just impossible, you have to see this. If there’s one thing evolution has taught us is that life is violent— it’s like a wildfire. You can’t contain it. Life breaks free, it breaks walls, destroys limits. It expands into new territories and well… there it is.”

 It was obvious his words weren’t permeating with the group— Hunter barely looked at him for a moment before he went back to guiding Tomaz’s hands around the egg. The only person he had the attention of was Dr. Palmer, who was evaluating him, looking impressed. Which he was not upset about.

 Stein raised an eyebrow, “So, are you implying that a group entirely comprised of females will breed?”

 “No, no, now don’t put words in my mouth, Dr. Stein,” he waved a finger, hand spinning into a simple gesture to extend himself, “I’m simply saying… you know. Life, uh— finds the way.”

 Hunter was visibly annoyed now— he wasn’t surprised. The man was idealistic, blindly so, and used his unquenchable desire for profit to build a fortress around himself, blocking out all criticism. Tomaz, on the other hand, barely seemed to be processing any outside information but the infant, though the speil wasn’t really for her. He couldn’t get a read on her, but she was obviously brilliant. She’d reach the same conclusion soon enough, he was sure of it.

 “I agree,” Palmer said, voice soft and barely drawing anyone else’s attention, “ You can’t control everything. I like that, I see what you’re saying,”

 Palmer pushed himself off the table he was leaning against, making his way towards Leonard. He sat up, receptive to the attention from the other man. Palmer truly was gorgeous, in that classical American way with a jaw that could cut glass, but kind eyes. Being the soul focus of those eyes was a nice treat.

 “You can articulate really well, you know. I don’t know how to say it, but you can talk so well— you verbalize what I’m thinking,” he kept going, “But you’re right. Life is destructive.”

 He nodded, leaning back in a way that will hopefully open the chest of his shirt more, “It will break through,”

 “It’s…”

 “Exciting?”

 “And scary.”

 “Yeah.” he leaned forward, into Palmer’s space.

 “When people try to control things, things out of their control it feels…”

 “Anti-nature,” he finished, letting some of the performative draw drain out of his voice, letting Palmer. His face was too trusting. He didn’t know how, but he’d forgotten to draw a line.

 Behind them, Tomaz finally looked up— whatever she was thinking coming to a point. Her voice broke through, the conversations between dissolving instantly.

 “What species is this?” she asked, softly, intensely. Her voice was tense though, that was obvious even to Leonard.

 Stein looked up from where he was writing on the clipboard, “Uh, velociraptor.”   

 The words sat heavy in the air as soon as they left his mouth— Palmer’s attention immediately leaving him and snapping to Tomaz, dark eyes wide. Leonard looked on curiously, intrigued by the silence communication between the two of them. It reminded him of him and Lisa— that eye only talk that could only be achieved through years of familiarity.

 The tension in the air only grew the longer between the words, the vague memory of Tomaz’s raptor spiel from the plane began to claw into the back of Leonard’s mind.

 Tomaz looked away from Palmer finally, boring into Hunter, eyes dark, “You have raptors?”

 

○•○•○

 

 “Now, we had planned on showing you this, after lunch—” for the first time since the touched down, Hunter sounded nervous , trailing a few steps behind Zari who was blazing the trail. Ray was keeping peace, obviously nervous.

 She could feel the odd mix of anxiety and excitement peeling off him in layers, his eyes constantly coming back to check on her. It was sweet— they’d known each other for long enough that he knew she didn’t need him to protect her, and she knew he needed to keep an eye out on her to make himself feel better, so she let him worry but kept her trek solid.

 She ignored Hunter, climbing the steps up to the raptor cage— it was the only above ground paddock they had seen so far, about twelve feet high. She reached the top quickly, trying the best she could to see through the chicken wire they had at the top— certainly electrocuted to high hell. The rest of the group joined her quickly, Ray and Snart (who were very buddy buddy all of a sudden— in another situation she’d be giving Ray more trouble for that but she was distracted,) made their way past here, Hunter filing in to keep them from going too far. Darhk remained on the steps, eyeing the enclosure warily.

 She leaned over the best she could,. There was movement on the other side of the concrete, works rigging something up, “What are they doing?”

 Hunter followed her eyesight, “Feeding. Which we could be doing as well! Our wonderful chef is preparing a lovely sea bass option, if that entices you...?”

 She ignored his attempts to distract here— Snart and Ray were with her as well, eyes trained on the crane. It picked up, its load visible for the first time. A large cow, mooing contently at what surely was a comforting movement, unaware of what was about to happen. It made its way over the concrete, lowering back down into the enclosure, losing into the foliage. It was silent for a moment— like the jungle was holding its breath in anticipation. The group did too, every set of eyes trained on the still crane, waiting for a little movement.

 It jerked suddenly and the dam broke. And then a frenzy began— the rig creaked angrily under that attack that began, horrible, blood curdling noises and bones snapping cacophony erupted from the coverage, tree tops shaking with the motion. Crunches lead to snaps lead to growls…

 And then it was quiet again. The jungle sounds returned.

 “Sweet Moses,” Ray muttered.

 Zari whipped around, looking intensely at Hunter who looked a little more at ease after the feeding, “Can we get closer?”

 Ray grabbed her arm, brotherly, feeling a little like a child getting calmed by their dad, “Z, these aren’t bones anymore,”

 She patted his grip, ignoring him mostly.

 “Unfortunately, we haven’t figured out a way to install a safe viewing system yet. They seem to be abhorrently opposed to the setup of a theme park,”

 Zari nodded, because of course they are. They are living animals, they aren’t for the enjoyment of others.

 “They should all be destroyed,” an unfamiliar voice called from the steps, Ray jumping next to her. Zari looked over, a woman leaning against the concrete comfortably.

 The woman was about Zari’s height, though a little older maybe— dressed in white linen like Hunter, but these were obviously made for field use, and her wavy blonde hair pulled into a ponytail on the back of her head. A professional. She was quite pretty, with freckles and a dimpled chin, complimented with a wry smile she was sending the group, and Zari couldn’t help but notice the defined muscles in her wide shoulders and thick arms.

 “Ah!” Hunter called at seeing her, “Sara! This is Sara Lance, my game warden from Hindu Kush— a bit of a scaremonger, but she knows more about raptors than anyone else.”

 That got Zari’s attention automatically, as she slipped up to offer her hand, “Dr. Zari Tomaz— what kind of metabolism do they have? And growth rate— what’s the age progression?”

 To her credit, Lance didn’t seem put off by her abrasive introduction, “They’re lethal at eight months— and I am not a fan of hyperbole. I’ve seen every predator on this nature world, but these things move…”

 “Have you clocked their speeds?” She thought of the tibia ratio experiments and Richard Kool’s equations— ten miles walking speed for the Deinonychus—

 “Fifty in capacity— faster if we ever let them in open, certainly. And they jump like nothing I’ve ever seen,” the numbers seemed skewered, but Zari didn’t push it, “I take it you’re the paleontologist,”

 She ignored that, “Intelligence wise, we always assumed due to their brain cavity that they would be highly—”

 “They exhibit high levels of intelligence, probably the highest of any of the apex predators in the park. Especially the alpha— we bred eight originally, but when she came in, she took over the pride and killed all but two of the others.” her blue eyes bore holes in Zari’s own, like she could tell Zari would understand, “when she looks at you, you can see she's working things out.  She's the reason we have to feed 'em like this. She had them all attacking the fences when the feeders came.”

 “The fences are electrified, right?” Ray asked. She had sort of forgotten he was there, standing between Hunter and Snart, face trained in his thinking expression.

 “They are, but they never attacked the same place twice. She was looking for weakness, in a pattern. And she remembered,”

 A sudden whirr from behind them cause Zari to jump— as did it cause the rest of the team as well. The noises were working harder than before, like it was pulling the rig away from something fighting to keep it down. She turned towards it, the metal coming up and becoming visible inch by inch.

 The steer was torn to pieces, the fabric in bloody shreds, and off kilter. It was like looking at a site of a murder after the body had been taken out— expect this time, the body wasn’t taken by a trained team. It was eaten limb by limb.

 Hunter clapped, not reading the room, “Well! Who’s hungry?”

 

○•○•○

 

 A waiter slipped a plate in front of him— piled with white meat in a fan and carrots toppled up masterfully, but Ray just felt sick looking at it. Every glimpse of the meat just reminded him of the cow torn to shreds by the raptors not an hour before.

 Not a great pre lunch activity.

 “Let’s estimate here- being realistic, we can charge buckets ,” Darhk was exclaiming, barely pausing to breath since they sat down, “Two thousand a day, ten thousand a day— people will pay it!  And then there's the merchandising—”

 “Now, Damien, this is not the park for the rich. This is for anyone— education is our main goal. These are creatures of nature. Everyone has a right to see them,”

 “Well, we’ll have a coupon day,” Darhk waved off with his hand, “Once a year or so,”

 The stream of the two, trading numbers Ray couldn’t follow, finally got eliminated by a snort. Ray didn’t need to follow the sound— he already knew where it came from. Snart leaned forward, his plate also untouched, temple in his hands.

 “The lack of humility before nature you are displaying here,” his voice was dripping with utter contempt, very purposefully not looking at the men at the table, probably for the theater of it, “staggers me.”

 That got the attention of the rest of the table, Zari’s stare noticeably less focused than everyone else’s.

 “We can’t fault you for lack of bluntness, Dr. Snart,” Darhk responded, voice dropping from the friendly chat he and Hunter were sharing, “Thank you, but it seems things are different from what we were afraid of,”

 “Yes. Yes, it’s far worse,” he snapped, taking off his glasses briefly to pinch the inside of his nose. Ray could relate to how he was feeling.

 “Now, let’s hold on a second—”

 “No, no, Damien, let him speak. We called them here to say their opinion—  I want every point of view.” Hunter turned back to Snart, attentively waving his hand out to allow him the space to speak, “Please. Go on, doctor,”

 “Rip, how do you not see the innate danger in what you’re doing here? Playing with genetic power, like what? A god? You are sticking a fork in a light socket—” Darhk tried to cut him off, but Snart’s voice was stronger, never ceasing, “The problem— the problem , Mr. Darhk— is that the power you’ve acquired here took no discipline to discover. You didn’t earn the path to create these animals, you’ve taken what other, smarter people have done and like you did with the DNA, you’ve filled in the holes. You stand on the shoulders of geniuses to streamline your process, and now you’ve turned it into a production line— patenting it, capitalizing on the discovery you claim to understand— making lunch boxes, t shirts—”

 “Now, Dr. Snart, please. Do not take away from what my scientist have done here—”

 “Yes, yes— but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn't stop to think if they should.”

 “Condors are going extinct— if this were condors— no, Dr. Snart — if this were condors, what would you be saying? This conversation would be nothing—”

 “These are not species obliterated by deforestation, Rip; dinosaurs had their shot and evolution took them out,”

 “How can we stand in the light of discovery and not act!?”

 The heat between the men was building to a level that was becoming dangerous, so Ray cut Snart off.

 “Are you doing it for discovery? I mean, the name in and of itself,” Ray leveled, pushing his glasses up his nose, “ Jurassic Park … the majority of the species you’ve chosen are from the Cretaceous period,”

 “But that’s simply marketing, Dr. Palmer. Nobody recognizes Cretaceous— they’d think it’s a park about shrimp, or crab or— or—” Hunter’s voice stuttered out.

 “Well, that’s just my point! How much care did you take in recreating this environment honestly?”

 Darhk laughed in that cold dishonest way that made Ray feel small, “Does it matter?”

 “Not to be contradictory but… crucially. How much can you know about an extinct ecosystem, and therefore, how could you assume you can control it?  You have plants right here in this building, for example, that are poisonous. You picked them because they look good, but these are aggressive living things that have no idea what century they're living in and will defend themselves. Violently, if necessary.”

 It was obvious that Hunter was shaken— his face had gone slightly pale, eyes utterly exasperated as they jumped across the table to Zari, who was massaging her temple, “Dr. Tomaz, if there’s one person who understands what I’m trying to do here—?”

 “Do you understand what you’re trying do here?” Hunter gaped at that, but she didn’t give him a chance to respond, “Throwing man and dinosaurs together— we are two species that are separated by sixty-five million years of evolution. How can we have the faintest idea of what to expect?”

 “I expect to share this revolution— share history with the world! This is what Jurassic Park is about, education—”

 “Well, if that’s the case, then why are your creatures almost physically unrecognizable. Your raptors are the size of Deinonychus— not to mention, your scientists assumed that their skeletons were hangers for skin, no cartilage features, no feathers, no skin markings. What you’re presenting here aren’t dinosaurs,” Ray could hear the harshness in Zari’s voice, the cold realism creeping in to taint her earlier wonderment, “Mr. Hunter, you’re manufacturing theme park attractions. Except these attractions are living, breathing creatures,”  

 “I can’t believe what I’m hearing here! I expected defense from all you, but instead, the only one on my side is the demon lawyer from hell!”

 “Honestly, I’ve shocked too,” Darhk leveled. Whatever else he was about to say was loss, as a waiter came in from the side door, crouching to whisper in Hunter’s ear quickly before making his leave. To get to the boat, Ray presumed, the announcements from earlier ringing in the back of his mind.

 Whatever the waiter had said had brought a smile to Hunter’s face— one of the first honest, no-strings-attached smiles Ray had seen since he had been here, and probably the first not to be followed by I spared no expense.

 “Ah!” he cried, eyes bright, ‘They’re here!”

 The confusion around the table from all parties was palpable. Zari was the only to speak up, voice careful, “Who?”

 

○•○•○

 

 The who ended up being Ray’s children— two of them, a nine year old boy Jonas and a thirteen year old girl Miranda. Darhk mentioned their mother had died a few years back, which was not something Ray felt he was privy to. They were sweet— the boy was dressed in almost the same outfit of Zari, who’s face lit up instantly as she saw them.

 Rip was a whole different level of excitement now, with his children in view, leading them outside the visitor center to a series of horribly designed Explorers parked outside. It was a good change— he was more animated, but more human. Suddenly, he didn’t seem like Mr. Hunter, millionaire, but Rip, the dad. It was charming. He walked them through the particulars of tour, the specifics of the cars which meant little to nothing to Ray who knew shit nothing about cars.

 Snart and him moved down the steps slower than everyone else. Zari was nearly twelve feet in front of them, her arm nearly getting tugged off by Jonas Hunter, who was firing a hundred questions at her without pause. His sister trailed after, preadolescent nonchalance visible as she only plugged a question in every once in a while. It was fun, standing back and watching Zari smile so openly. She loved kids, called it the best part of the job, since nobody thought dinosaurs were cooler than a kid.

 So Ray gave her some space, keeping pace instead with Snart— Leonard as he insisted— who took his time with every step, like he did everything. His hands were in his pockets, looking effortlessly gorgeous, though Ray had a sneaking suspicion it was very thought through.

 “So what will you and Dr. Tomaz do? Now that Hunter’s slapped a price tag on the technicolor versions of your bones,” it wasn’t a great ice breaker, but he didn’t expect much more from the other man from what little he knew of him.

 “I don’t know,” Ray replied, honestly, “We’ll be out of a few jobs, probably,”

 “Think you’ll be in danger of going extinct?”

 He laughed a little, but shook his head, “No. We’ll evolve. It’s like you said— life’ll uh… finds a way,”

 “I did not take that long of a pause, Raymond,”

 “You fully did. I thought you had a stroke.”

 Leonard laughed, a deep husky sound that put a little ache in his chest. He could definitely get used to that. The reached the end of the staircase, watching as the kids run around the cars and Dahrk pester Hunter with a list of questions about the logistics, the safety, and the cost .

 “Three to a car, though I’m sure I needn’t tell you not to pack in like clowns,” Hunter was saying, prying his son off Zari’s arm, “And stay with your sister, please,”

 Jonas pouted, crying out, “Dad!”

 “It will be fun, I swear,” he said, voice in a complete fatherly I said what I said way.

 “Why do I have to ride with him!?” Miranda’s accent was just as annoyed as her brother’s but she just got a tight hug from her father as a response, him beaming at her dad!

 Ray made eye contact with Zari, who was smiling at the scene, before slipping into the back of the second Explorer as Darhk blustered into the front of the first. He certainly was not sad at avoiding spending more time with the lawyer.

 “I’ll ride with you,” Leonard smirked, crowding into Ray’s personal space. Ray laughed, leaning against the hood.

 “Yes, that is how division works, Dr. Snart. I’m comforted that you were able to work that out so quickly.” and relished the laugh that earned him.

 Hunter maneuvered his children into the car with Darhk by their shoulders, fatherly encouraging them and repeatedly telling them how much fun they were going to have together. After he closed the door behind them, his attention turned back to the men, his energy shifting back into the salesmen.

 “These are our top of the line electric cars— fully self operated, one this track here, non polluting. Our engineers worked night and day to ensure optimum safety,” he winked at them, moving backwards towards the stairs again, “We spared no expense.”

 “God help us,” Leonard muttered, holding the door open for Ray, “We’re in the hands of engineers,”

 

○•○•○

 

 For a dinosaur tour, the ride so far had been completely boring. Every paddock they passed was empty the most being a suggestion of movement behind leaves. Tomaz’s disappointment was obvious as well, her body perking at every enclosure they approached, just to settle back into a neutral waiting as their occupants were no shows.

 The voice from the speaker (Richard Attenborough , Hunter’s voice through the radio told them, we spared no expense) informed they were rolling up to T Rex paddock, the signs coming building tension as they come closer, danger signs shifting into do not leave the vehicle! The largest electric fence yet greeting them, ominously disappearing into the fog of the atmosphere.

 “ The mighty tyrannosaurus arose late in the dinosaur history. Dinosaurs ruled the earth for hundred and fifty million years, but it wasn't until the last—”

 “Can you turn that off?” Tomaz asked, voicing Leonard’s own thoughts. Ray leaned forward and did so, plunging them into silence. The only thing between them was the distant noise of bugs and birds, calling back and forth.

 Nothing moved in the paddock— Leonard didn’t know what he was expecting. Consistent, at least.

 A gruff voice they hadn’t heard before called through the radio, “We’re going to try to tempt the T Rex,”

 A low humming noise called from ground, a trap door opened behind the fence, a platform with a chained goat lifting into view, it baaing loudly. They were still for a moment, waiting for something to move but of course, nothing did.

 Leonard leaned back, throwing his legs on the console next to Ray, and began speaking to fill the disappointment.

 “God creates dinosaurs. God destroys dinosaurs. God creates man. Man destroys God. Man creates dinosaurs…”

 “Dinosaurs eat man. Women inherit the Earth,” Zari finished for him, seemly not noticing the two men sticking her with a look, “It doesn’t want to be fed. She wants to hunt … you can’t just suppress sixty-five million years of evolution.”

 Ray was looking back at his college, eyes evaluating her closely. Leonard agreed with her, but she didn’t need his approval, so he leaned forward into the camera on the dashboard “Rip, at some point, you do plan on having dinosaurs on your dinosaur tour, right?”

 Through the radio, probably without his intent, Hunter’s voice carried, annoyed, “ I really hate that man ,”

 That got a snort out of Tomaz and himself, with a smile from Ray. He sat back, pulling his legs back to himself to sit normally. The Explorer moved on, passing by the goat who was still chained to its pole, straining against its constraint. He’d feel bad for the creature, but he could only imagine the rant they’d get from Tomaz if they weren’t even live feeding the dinosaurs.

 “See,” he said, sending a look Tomaz’s way, “That’s exactly what I’m talking about. The tyrannosaur doesn’t live by Hunter’s schedule— she does whatever she pleases .The very essence of chaos.”

 The woman looked unimpressed by his monologue, but Ray’s sweet voice caught his attention, “I’m still, uh, unclear on chaos,”

 Oh, well that’s just the opportunity he was looking for. He turned towards the man, who was turned almost all the way around in the passenger seat. Leonard leaned forward, screwing his most suggestive smile, “See, it deals with unpredictability in complex system- the Butterfly effect, you know. A butterfly can flap its wings in Peking and it’ll rain in Central Park,”

 Ray’s eyebrows went up, face a little sheepish as he flew his hand over his head,

 “Oh, did I go too fast?” he smirked, enjoying Ray’s quiet laugh, “Here, I’ll do a little demonstration ,”

 He looked in Ray’s eyes, reaching towards his right hand and asking for permission. Ray nodded, letting Leonard bring it up between them. Ray looked interested, a little on edge waiting for what was going to happen, but he was smiling that wonderful grin, so Leonard went with it.

 He ran his fingers across the bones of Ray’s wrist, up against his thumb and index finger— there was a long blister running up his the outside of his index than Leonard lingered on for a second longer.

 “Trowel blister,” he supplied, nose scrunching up adorably, “I should really wear gloves but...”

 “Don’t apologize, doctor— I like it a little rough,” he smirked at the other man’s bashful blush, readjusting Ray’s fingers to be straight out, “here, keep them like that. Now watch where the water goes,”

 He leaned forward to dip his own nails into the cup next to Ray, pressing their sides together and reveling in the audible eye roll from Tomaz, who trained her eyes out the window. He sat back down, flicking the drop onto the top of his fingers both their eyes trained on the trail the drop left— over his thumb. Ray’s soft brown pupils flickered up, waiting for the next step.

 “See? Down your thumb,” he traced the wetness with the thumb that was holding Ray’s hand, “Now, I’m going to drop another from the same spot. Which way is it going to go, over which finger?”

 “Thumb— same way, same way,” he looked enticed, leaning as far around the seat as he could.

 Leonard nodded, flicking another drop on the same spot and watched as it rolled between his index and middle fingers, “It changed, you see, because the tiny variations— the orientation of your hairs, the amount of blood distending in your vessels, imperfections in the skin—”

 His pretty mouth quirked into a small smile, teeth teasing the corner of his lips, “Oh, imperfections?”

 “Microscopic, Dr. Palmer, undetectable — but these variations, can never been repeated and vastly affect the outcome. And we call that..?”

 “Unpredictability,”

 “ Exactly. My concern here is there’s so many variables here— hundreds for as many creatures that this all will fall into chaos soon. That is, if we’re not already there,”

 “So it’s built off what… the idea that we can never predict what will happen?”

 “That mathematically there are so many variations with in possibilities there’s almost no way for us to place one scenario as more likely than another, or fully understand what consequence one action has one the course of things,”

 Next to him, Tomaz shifted in her seat, shifting closer to the window. She seemed to be totally ignoring them at this point, her narrowed eyes trained on something in the field they were passing— Ray had obviously noticed this her distraction too, turned slightly towards her with his mouth slightly agape like he was about to ask something.

  That won’t do , he tutted to himself because while Leonard hadn’t been expecting to be pulling game this weekend, he certainly wasn’t going to lose the opportunity. He sat forward, drawing the other man’s attention back to Leonard’s slow smirk and their still joined hands.

 “Life is like that sometimes, isn’t it?” Leonard put a long draw on his syllables, seduction dripping off every one, “Just by chance we meet someone we might never met again and there you go. Your life completely changes just by coincidence and the power of free will. The future is dynamic,  it’s exciting ,”

 “So, how do you apply this, huh? You don’t plan anything, you just let math take its course?” his voice was sweetly receptive, his body molding around Leonard’s challenge, but not without rising to it, “A little reckless, don’t you think?”

 “I never said that, Dr. Palmer. I just expect the plan to fly out the window,”
 As if on cue, their concentration was shattered by Tomaz kicking the door of the Explorer open, jumping out of the Explorer like a woman on a mission.

 “Zari?” Ray called, but his boss didn’t even look back, instead speeding into the field.

 “There!” Leonard called out, actually sitting back in surprise, “See, out the window— who would have predicted Dr. Tomaz would suddenly jump out of a moving vehicle!”

 “Zari!” he clambered over the center console gracelessly, following her path out the car and down the grassy knoll.

 “And that you would follow her,” he said to himself and the open door, “leaving me to talk to myself. Alone. In the Explorer.”

 Leonard took just a moment to let out a heavy sigh and enjoy the view of Ray ass in those khakis, before he slid across the bucket seats and jumped out the car himself.

 

○•○•○

 

 Turned out, the entire group followed Zari in her trek into the grass, the kids and Darhk scuttleing soon after them, the squirrely man complaining the entire time. Ray decided he didn’t really like him all that much, but all criticism of anything ever flew out of his head when he was what had caught Zari’s attention.

 On the ground, slumped like it was sleeping, was a groaning triceratops, weathered, textured, and utterly beautiful.

 Ray’s breath left his entire body, an stuttering sort of laugh leaving his throat before knew what hit him. His knees crumpled without barely a thought, kneeling down to be eye level with the beautiful creature, her breathing labored, but calming as Ray began to stroke her face.

 “Hi, baby girl,” Ray felt the catch in his words, but didn’t care, “hey, hi, its okay,”

 “She’s beautiful,” Zari muttered, her entire face alive, running to lean against the chest of the animal and let the breath move her up and down. Ray laughed aloud at that, the children coming around to each put a timid hand on her body.

  He felt his eyes prickled with tears, smile so wide the corners of his face ached. Leonard spoke from behind him, “You having an allergy attack, Dr. Palmer?”

 He looked up, barely dampening his beam, “These have always been my favorite,”

 The other man smiled, honest and sweet— it was the first that saccharine that he had seen on his face, but it looked good, so Ray smiled wider and turned back to the tric. Behind the animal, a young man dressed in khakis came up, introducing himself as a vet-- Dr. Jackson-- with a kind smile. He smiled an introduction, but went back to stroking her face, gently, as she opened her jaw and something caught his eye.

 He picked at a pus sore on the creatures tongue— purple and irritated,“Microvesicles… that’s interesting.” he flicked the remains off his hands because gross.

 Dr. Jackson came around, interested, “She gets sick frequently— all the trics do,” he handed him a penlight.

 “What are her symptoms?” he shone the light in her eyes, cooing in apology at the groan she let out.

 “Imbalance, disorientation, labored breathing.  Seems to happen about every six weeks or so,”

 “Six weeks?” at Dr. Jackson's nod, he kept going, “Her pupils are dilated,”

 Jackson leaned over, looking in the eye and whistled after a moment, “Damn— I hadn’t even noticed.

 “It’s pharmacological,” he said mostly to himself but Jonas answered him.

 “From, uh, plant life?”

 He beamed at the little boy, “ Exactly, ” he pulled himself up, looking around for any immediate outliers— eyes falling on a nearby pile of berries, “is that West Indian lilac?”

 “Yeah— we know they’re toxic, but the animals don’t eat them,”

 “Only one way to be sure,” he blew some air out of his lips, “I need to look at the droppings,”

 That shocked a laugh out the vet, but he pointed down wind a little. Leonard looked shocked behind him, and Zari was still enchanted by the creature so he went down alone at first. Jonas skipped next to him, happily. Kids loved poop.

 Dr. Jackson caught up, handing him long gloves that he was thankful for. He snapped them on, going into the pile immediately. Zari appeared by his side soon enough, arms crossed, but face fond as he completely ignored her in favor of digging.

 After a moment, he heard the tell tale, thoughtful steps of Leonard approach, a low whistle and a, “That’s a big pile of shit,” following soon after.

 The scat didn’t say much— the way digestion worked in herbivores tended to leave fairly easy to rad evidence, but Ray wasn’t seeing any berries or leaves of the lilac. It didn’t make sense though— it seemed the symptoms corresponded with effects of poisoning, but without the intensity of direct contact.

 He pulled pack, snapping off his right glove in slight frustration, “No sign of the berries, you were right… but she shows all the signs of melatoxitiy.”

 He brushed past a still confused Leonard, feeling his eyes on him as he walked back towards the animal, leaning over to Zari to say, “He’s uh. Tenacious.”

 “You don’t know the half of it,” she replied dryly, fondness clear in her tone.

 “The periodicity is what’s tripping me up,” he thought aloud ripping off the other glove, catching the attention of Dr. Jackson, “Six weeks, that’s not insignificant… what would…”

 Something clicked in his brain, spinning around to grab a hold of Zari’s shirt, who looked a little surprised by his movement, “Zari! Gizzard stones!”

 Jonas, who was next to his boss, looked a little loss, but like he was searching through a mental catalog as Zari’s face caught up to what he said, “Of course — every six weeks! That explains it!”

 “And the berries are undigested because it’s completely incidental— not a part of their feeding routine—”

 Jonas still looked a little lost, “What’s a blizzard stone?”

 “Gizzard,” Ray corrected, kneeling down to his level, “Some animals like her or birds, don't have teeth. So, what happen is, they swallow these  stones and hold them in a muscular sack in their stomachs— which is called a gizzard— and it helps them mash their food like teeth would. But what happens after a while is the stones get  smooth, and every six weeks, they have to barf them up and swallows fresh ones.”

 “And what happened was when she was swallowing new stones, she was also swallowing the berries, which made her sick,” Zari finished. Behind her, Leonard was looking on completely impressed, arms crossed in disbelief.

 Before they could say anything more on the matter, the sky turned a sallow grey, winds picking up and thunder breaking in the sky. Darhk startled, reminding him he was actually there. Ray had honestly forgotten.

 “Doctors, if you’re satisfied, we should really get back to the cars…”

 “Oh,” Ray said, disappointed, “you know, you guys head back. I’m going to stay with Dr. Jackson, if that’s alright with you,”

 “I have an manual Jeep, I can take him back to the center on my way to the dock,” Dr. Jackson offered. Ray smiled at his kindness.

 “Great, then I’ll catch up with you guys a little longer. I’ll be okay, I just want to stay with her a little longer,”

 “You sure?” Zari asked, eyes evaluating the clouds rolling in.

 “Yeah, go, go,”

 His partner nodded, grabbing a hold of Jonas’s hand before turning with the rest of the group back to the Explorers. Leonard stayed behind for half a second, eyes stuck on Ray.

 “Just uh,” he blundered for a moment, “promise me you’ll wash your hands before you eat anything,”

 

○•○•○

 

 The ride back was quiet, awkward from the moment they began to move. Tomaz sat as far away from him as possible, eyes trained perfectly forward. Leonard almost didn’t want to ruin the mood, but decided to anyway, leaning towards her with a smile.

 “So, Dr. Palmer…” she blinked slowly at him like she was expecting what he was going to say, “is he available ?”

 Tomaz hit him with an unamused stare, barely lifting an eyebrow. The woman had a truly impressive disapproval— he could imagine she never had much trouble commanding a site. Now, Leonard knew when he was being tested, he’d been around the block enough to ignore the way she was carefully keeping her face neutral. So he lifted a brow right back and held his ground.

 “Meaning?” she asked, glaring eyes betraying the disinterest in her voice.

 “Meaning.” he drew, “you two aren’t…?”

 She blinked again, hardly covering an eye roll, “I’m a lesbian,”

 Her bluntness took him off guard slightly, though he couldn’t pinpoint why exactly. He had shown himself first, by flirting with Ray all day but behind closed doors, or quiet enough to play it off around Darhk. He played his queer cards as subtle as he could, and she had come and blown down his house of cards. Her intent was clear— they weren’t here to posture, or speak in metaphor. If they were gonna do this, they were gonna do this and he had to respect that.

 He made a macro change in his facial expression that he knew she could read as ride on . They stared at each other for a little longer as the sound of rain was the only thing that disturbed the silence.

 “He’s bisexual,” she put him out of his misery, “and you’re his type,”

 “Brilliant? Gorgeous?”

 “Self important.”

 He could work with that.

 “Look, Ray’s a really good guy,” for the first time, her voice wasn’t impassive, “I know people say that in a really meaningless, all encompassing way about douchebags, but it’s actually true with Ray. He’s the kindest man I’ve ever met,”

 “Is this a sales pitch?”

 “I’m just saying, don’t fuck around with him. Because he doesn’t deserve it,”

 “Does it comfort you to know I don’t plan to?” he asked, trying to bury his sincerity.

 She didn’t let that slide however, rising immediately, “Not until I see it,”

 The Explorer around them jerked forward before stopping in its tracks, smothering their tension. The sudden motion shocked them out of their toe to toe face off, instead a silent check over each other to check if they were okay. The lights outside had blown out as well, leaving them in a shadowy darkness. Tomaz brought herself up, peering the best she could out the closed window.

 “We’ve stopped,” he said, just to say it.

 “We have. They have to,” she tried to get a better angle as Leonard leaned forward to tap at the screen in the navigator. It didn’t respond.

 “Everything seems to be out. Darhk’s going to blow a casket,”

 Tomaz snorted and he felt a little pride at that. She began to get out of the car again, “I’m going to check on the kids.”

 “I’ll come with,” his words came without thinking, easy, but apparently surprised her, “What?”

 “Nothing,” she muttered, “Let’s go,”

 

○•○•○

 

 Jonas had thought it was weird when they stopped, but Darhk told him to shut up when he began to ask questions about, so he thought it maybe wasn’t that big of a deal. Miranda looked just sort of annoyed, though that was sorta the only emotion she had now our days. He didn’t begin to worry until Dr. Tomaz and Dr. Snart showed up to their car, and began checking out the Explorer with a thorough check list.

 That probably meant something was wrong.

 “Your radio’s out too,” Dr. Tomaz was saying, an odd expression on her face and continued to mutter, “I have a bad feeling about this,”

 Jonas frowned. His dad always did the same thing when something was wrong. It was like he forget there were other people around and just talked through it, seemingly saying everything he thought. Jonas didn’t want to admit it, since Miranda would just laugh at him, but it scared him a little bit.

 Dr. Snart seemed to notice this though. He leaned over and knocked his knuckle against Jonah’s chin, which made him giggle, “Aw, don’t worry, kid. Hiccups like this happen where there’s a million things to take care of. I’m sure your old man’s got whatever it is under control,”

 In the front seat, Mr. Darhk and Dr. Tomaz had a hushed conversation, barely registering anyone else. Jonas overheard Mr. Darhk say, almost annoyed, “Just stay where you are. Hunter’ll handle it,”

 “Did something break?” he asked, voice wavering even to his own ears. Dr. Snart didn’t react though, which made him feel a little better.

 “Maybe. Or someone made a mistake. It happens,”

 “Probably Thawne,” Miranda spoke up finally. She was closer to him than before, arm snaking around his back to pull him into a hug, which was weird, “You know how Dad always says he’s messes everything up,”

 “Right,” Jonas said but he still felt his chest get tight with fear. Dr. Tomaz finally looked back from the front seat, her face softening into a smile that made him feel a little better. She leaned between the front seats, Mr. Darhk now looking forward with his arms crossed.

 “Mr. Darhk is right. It’s safest to stay in the cars. Now, Dr. Snart and I will just be a few feet away in the other Explorer but,” she said, softly, reaching to pull something out of her front pocket. When her hand came back, she was holding a front claw, a few inches in length— velociraptor , his mind supplied excitedly, “just in case…”

 She handed Jonas the claw with a bright smile and he grabbed it excitedly. It felt cool in his hands, rough like the bones he saw at museums but older, “Keep an eye on that for me, buddy?”

 “Really!?” he asked, but he wasn’t letting go for anything .

 “Course. It should be with someone who knows how to use it, “ she winked and ruffled his hair, before sitting back and turning to Dr. Snart, “We should get back before the rain picks up more,”

 He nodded, but didn’t move. Instead, he looked at Miranda, who blushed under his attention, “You got things under control here?”

 She nodded, blush deepening which ew , because Dr. Snart was like, old.

 He smiled, “Good. But there’s a radio in the center console— if anything happens, call me and Dr. Tomaz, got it?” Nod. “Keep an eye on these two,”

 After yet another nod from his bright red sister, he gave kind grin and dipped out with Dr. Tomaz into the rain, disappearing amongst the dark.

 

○•○•○

 

 The building was eerily quiet by the time Ray got back, the sound of his footsteps echoing off the plastic models of dinosaurs or smattering of waxy plants. It was odd to him, that Hunter choice to decorate with models of fossils instead of the real thing. Perhaps there he spared an expense.

 Dr. Jackson (or Jax as he had asked to be called) had dropped him off at the main building before making his way to the docks and wishing Ray well and giving directions to the control room. It was tucked behind the kitchens, in the bellows of the building, a chrome glimpse into performative future. Jax had given him his access pass, letting Ray open the door without knocking.

 He can’t say he was expecting the scene he walked into.

 The tension was palpable, electric in the air and nearly shocking him as he glanced around. Hunter was glued to the small television screen by on the one desk, displaying a top view of two Explorers, not even sparing Ray a glance. Lance was near him, arms crossed almost anxiously, face furiously fixed on a broad man Ray hadn’t met yet, who was clicking away at a desktop that was taunting with a sick song, you didn’t say the magic word!, and muttering swear words like a sailor.

 And he also noticed, Zari or any of the others were nowhere to be seen.

 “What’s going?” he asked, shocking the attention of the three occupants towards him.

 “Dr. Palmer,” Hunter finally looked up, panicked for half a moment before he re schooled his face.

 “Where is Zari? Leonard— the kids?”

 “It’s probably nothing to worry about—”

 “I think I’ll be the judge of that, if you don’t mind,” he snapped, which was something he was not used to hearing his voice do, “ What is going on?”

 Hunter went to open his mouth, but Lance beat him to it, “Rip.”

 That killed whatever he was going to say and Lance kept going.

 “The systems shut down. The powers off, so the Explorers have stalled, and the fences…” she trailed off, but kept his gaze.

 His eyes went immediately to the screen behind Hunter, the tall fence in the pixelation drawing recognition in the corners of his mind/  

 “Where are they?” he asked immediately, feeling a pit in his stomach because he already knew.

 Lance grimaced, but to her credit, she answered him, “The T Rex paddock,”

 He hated being right.

 

○•○•○

 

 Leonard really hated being right.

 It had happened slowly, he was sure of it, but it all felt fast. One minute, they were back in the Explorer after checking on the kids, going back to their silence (this time, Tomaz a lot more receptive to him, which was not for nothing.) The next, the two of them were staring in slack jawed horror as the hulking mass of muscle loomed twenty five feet away from the garish green and red Explorer in front of them, the silhouette of the occupants highlighted by the lightning.

 “Tyrannous rex,” Tomaz muttered, like a reflex. Leonard already figured that, but he didn’t say that.

 In front of them, the front door of the Explorer flew open, the pale form of Damien Darhk scurrying out and into the side towards the bathroom with the grace of a scared rat.

 “What…” Tomaz muttered and Leonard jumped in.

 “When you gotta go…” because humor seemed the best way to hide his own nerves, creeping to close around his throat. He moved up, not sure where his body was leading him, but Tomaz’s hand grabbed his arm with an iron grip.

  “Don’t move,”

 “What?”

 “Keep absolutely still,” her voice was quivering but he can’t imagine his was much better, “it’s vision was based on movement,”

 “Are you sure?”

 She looked at him, face a skewered, “Mostly. It’s been a theory— I never… well, I never believed it but—”

 “You really know how to instill confidence, Dr—”

 “ But , they mixed them with frog DNA, not bird. Meaning…”

 “Meaning it’s better than nothing?” he froze all the same, because if anyone knew anything, it was Tomaz.

 Neither of them had taken their eyes off the other Explorer, the silhouettes of the children becoming more frantic as the creature moved closer, its steps shocking waves into the water cups around them. Zari muttered under her breath don’t move, don’t move, don’t move like a prayer before slipping into a language he didn’t understand— Arabic?

 The T Rex stopped, leaning down to investigate the front car— the scientists breaths caught in their throats. Leonard hadn’t prayed in a very long time, but he felt the corners of his mind supplying some Hebrew towards the children. A beam of light shot through the back window, Zari’s chants shifting to, turn it off, turn it off…

 The beam disappeared, but it was too late— the creature’s attention was caught obviously as it stood back up, neck throwing towards to the sky, a horrible, blood freezing screech tugging its way out of the creature’s throat. The sound rattled his bones, freezing his spine in a way he may never be able to forget.

 It snapped into action, nudging the Explorer with its snout before thrashing against it harshly. The muffled screams of the kids bleed through the distance and the windows, Leonard feeling his blood begin to rush in his ears. It smashed its head against the top of the Explorer— the sun roof must have gave way as the snout disappeared for half a second, Plexiglas being the only thing between the children and the dinosaur— his heart was pounding—

 The head pulled back, mercifully clean of blood— but then it moved against the vehicle and thrashed again, purposeful and under— bringing the momentum and holy shit.

 It was trying to tip it over.

 “ Fuck! ” he screamed, scuttling towards the window, stillness be damned.

 “We gotta do something,” Tomaz said, voice now stronger, looking around frantically.

 “What— what do we do?” he wasn’t criticizing, he was begging because those were kids—

 A loud screech of steel and the pop of a rubber tire sounded behind them, but he couldn’t look back, instead climbing over the seats with Tomaz, hands sorting through everything trying to find something—

 Tomaz pulled up a suitcase, popping it open and revealing three bright red flares. She grabbed one automatically, slipping back out the Explorer. Leonard grabbed another and followed her again.

 Tomaz was on the other side of the Explorer— the T Rex was pushing the Explorer towards the barrier— she yelled, “ Hey! Hey! Over here!!”

 That had gotten the attention of the animal. She waved her hands, jumping up to make her small frame taller. The Rex followed the movement of the flare with its head, like a cat looking at a laser, as it began to move away from the kids and towards Tomaz. She threw the flare as it got close, head whipping back to check on Leonard.

 “How fast is that thing?” he yelled

 “Eleven, eighteen miles an hour at the most,” Tomaz yelled back, automatically, “Snart, why the hell—”

 The rest of her statement got lost in a roar from the creature. He did the math in his head— in college, he ran a seven minute mile, so that’s a generous nine miles per hour, ignoring the fact that was twenty years ago and yeah, that’s not great but—

 He grabbed the other flare, ripped open the flame and yelled, “Get the kids!”

 “ Leonard—!” but he was already running, hearing a sick, anticipatory silence before a the crushing thuds began to follow him, peace getting closer and closer together, “Throw the flare!”

 “ Get the kids ! !”

 “Throw the flare!” her voice sounded farther away now, but the footsteps behind him were beginning to shake his chest, feeling the tremors throughout his lower body, so he took her direction, chucking the stick as far as he could.

 But the steps didn’t halt behind him, he felt his stomach drop horribly low— the Rex had locked on to him now— it was too late. He was nearing the bathroom hut, the only shelter until the trees— when he feels it.

 Cold, wet, hard as dried clay— the snout of the Rex was against his back, feeling the thick, hot breath against his back, as it vacated him for a second, before roaring forward, snapping against him— a nudge for the creature, but it sent him flying through the air. He hit the wall of the hut feeling the thing shatter under his weight and the force of the Rex— a scream sounded somewhere, a piece of the hut flying off and stabbing his leg— pain shot through him like a bullet.

 He cried out— hearing commotion from above, faintly heard his mother’s voice ripping itself from the corner of his mind, just for a second feeling himself back in temple with his sister, hearing the soft motherly tone draw out blessed are You, Lord, our G-d, King of the Universe, who makes creatures different ...

 Then he promptly passed out.

 

○•○•○

 

 He couldn’t do anything in the control room— Mick Rory, the man at the computer was already swamped with trying to crack whatever computer error was going wrong and Hunter was in near catatonic worry. Ray was useless there, just taking up air with his hyperventilation. So he insisted on running out, trying to find them— what they watched on the cam for as long as they could ate his entire stomach in worry— Sara Lance noticed this, the only person who was giving him attention.

 “Sara, would you be so kind as to take a Jeep and go get my children,” Hunter had said, barely present in his speech towards Lance, who nodded certainly and made her way to the door, stopping only to grab her gun.

 And Ray couldn’t do anything so he said, “I’m coming with.”

 So they were there, sliding on the slick mud towards the wreckage site— there was no other word for it— snapped wires hanging like awful tumble weeds and tracks left by tire and steel scarring the moldable mud. Ray jumped out the jeep before it came to a full stop, eyes surveying the horrors.

 “Where’s the other car?!” his voice was wild with panic, even to his own ears, the place where the children’s cars totally empty.

 “ Zari !” he screamed, his voice feeling hoarse, “ Leonard !”

 Behind him, Sara did the same for the children, having his back with her gun drawn at the ready. Their cries weren’t without consequence, a low roar sounding somewhere, yards, feets, miles away… he couldn’t find it in him to care, though he did flinch at the sound.

 “It’s still out there,” he said, though it seemed obvious, “It could be close,”

 “It could be anywhere,” Sara corrected, voice harsh but he appreciated it. It was grounding, “It can move in and out of the fucking paddocks as it pleases,”

 He looked around, eyes falling on a wreck of tawny wood and bamboo where the bathroom once stood. Sara came up from behind him, lifting some of the debris and face wincing.

 “I think I found… some of Darhk,”

 His eyes fell on a toilet, where half a body sat, bile churning in his stomach, “I think I found the rest of him,”

 He was about to turn away from the scene— he wasn’t a squeamish man, he dealt with bones all day, but seeing the muscle around it was just… not for him— when a low moan cut through the wreckage drawing his look to the sound, catching sight of a black form.

 “Snart?” Sara called out, moving towards there, but Ray scurried faster than she moved.

 He pulled the wood away as fast as he could, the sight before him getting worse the more and more visible it became. His shirt had been ripped open, his chest pale and sweaty as he heaving breaths in, stuttering in pain. He face was only slightly less impassive than it had been all day, which spoke volumes for Leonard. The worst of it was his leg— it was bent at an angle that was troubling to say the least, and gushing with a dark, horrible blood. The middle of his thigh was cut off with his black belt pulled tight, the skin around it white with stress.

 “You put a tourniquet, you brilliant man,” he muttered, hands coming to cradle Leonard’s face, “Leonard, Len—”

 His blue eyes fluttered open, eyelids unevenly revealing his blown out pupils— they shifted slightly, responsive to light. They glide around for a bit before finding purchase on Ray’s face, his face twinging into a very weak smile, “Remind me to thank Rip for a lovely weekend,”

 He let out a weak laugh, mostly elated he was okay, breathless in his relief. The relief was cut quick, a roar screeching again. Closer this time.

 His eyes fell, checking with Sara, who was at the ready again, “Can we chance moving him?”

 A tremor shook them all slightly. Leonard grabbed at Ray’s shirt, the blood on his hands staining the pink buttons darker, “ Please chance it,”

 Ray picked him up, one arm supporting his injured leg while the other wrapped around his back. He considered for a moment throwing him over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry— a very straight male way of transport— but he didn’t want to jostle Leonard’s leg too much. Sara was looking at him, eyebrow raised conveying a  look of do what you need .

 So he grabbed him, bridal style, and lifted him to his his chest.

 “Why, Dr. Palmer,” he slurred slightly, limp hand resting against his pec, “is there anyway in which you are not a Disney prince?”

 “Great,” Sara drew, “he’s still talking.”

 He ignored her, moving carefully towards the jeep and slipping Leonard into the back, adjusting his legs as best he could. Leonard let out a slow hiss at the movement and Ray furrowed his eyebrows in apology.

 “I’m sorry,”

 “It’s fine , Raymond,” he said in a voice that sounded very not fine, “Have you found the kids?”

 He met his eyes, searching and uncomfortable. Sara grabbed his elbow, drawing his attention, “Listen, Dr. Palmer, I have seen plenty of big animal attacks where people just disappear. No trace, no blood—”

 “Sara, I can’t—” he voice caught, but he moved through the emotion, “I— no!”

 He looked over the barrier, where the tracks marked up the ground, Leonard called after him but he didn’t look back because he found something else over the edge.

 “Holy fuck.” he whispered before he looked over his shoulder, yelling, “ The other car! ”

 

○•○•○

 

 Sara and Ray dropped him off in the back of the control room, behind the computers where Ray had resigned himself to silence, working on cleaning off his leg. The field tourniquet Leonard had tied off had done its job, but he was grateful when Ray cut it off, cleaning thoroughly. But his mind was somewhere else, even when filling Leonard with a dose of morphine.

 Leonard didn’t need to run too many scenarios. It was clear— when they’d investigated the other car, Tomaz and the kids were nowhere to be found. Boot marks surrounded the site, clearly indicating their survival at least, but an chance to follow them were dashed when they were chased by the T Rex back to the visitor center, Sara’s eradicating driving the only thing that saved them.

 Raymond was introspective, that was clear. Despite his posturing, Leonard usually was as well. But the corners of his mind felt blurry and talking  helped ground him, so he cleared the lump out of his throat and pressed.

 “What you thinking about?” he asked, his voice apparently surprising the paleobotanist.

 He just stared at him for a second, eyes bouncing across his form, down his chest that was now entirely exposed. Leonard pushed any self consciousness out of his mind at his soft stomach— easier to do when he noticed the interest in Ray’s eyes.

 “Chaos theory.” the response surprised him, “You were right. Unpredictable leads to destruction,”

 He raised an eyebrow, cutting off the path of a bead sweat, “I’m impressed. Already quoting chaos theory back at me and it’s been less than eight hours,”

 Instead of the bashful blush he was expecting, Ray rolled his eyes and gripped his shoulder, “Len, I understood chaos theory before I got here. I just want you to flirt with me,”

 “Why, Dr. Palmer,” he felt an honest smile creep onto his face, despite himself, “you little minx ,”

 “You’re very predictable, Dr. Snart. Don’t blame me for taking advantage of that,”

 They fell into silence, Mick’s typing acoustically bouncing off the walls and between them. Ray was frowning as his hands bloodied another rag by cleaning Leonard’s leg. He winced at the alcohol as it mixed with dirt and stung his wound. The drugs were beginning to kick in, so he bit back any cry, instead distracted himself by watching the man work. He wasn’t lying earlier, in the car (which felt like years ago) when he mentioned he loved Ray’s hands. They were works of art — long fingered, calloused from daily abuse, and they moved thoughtfully, every inch thought out. But the gift of watching wilted as he drew his gaze up Ray’s sallow expression.

 “You’re worried about Zari,” he said softly. Because it was obvious.

 “And the kids. I mean they're so young… and Zari. She’s… she’s my family,”
 “She’ll be okay. She’s strong. Smarter than anyone here, certainly,” The smile the other man gave him was obviously forced, but the nod that followed look honest, “You’re very pretty when you’re worried,”

 He laughed, tired “And you’re very high,”
 “If the throbbing in my leg is anything to go by, not high enough,” he leveled, “and you were pretty before I was high,”

 The doctor looked down, teeth teasing at his bottom lip enticingly. His glasses were slipping down his wonderful nose, hair fluffed from the rain and the running.

 “When all this is done— maintaining, of course, we don’t die … would you like to get dinner sometime?”

 Ray raised an eyebrow, hands brushing past his leg to rest softly on his chest, “Dinosaurs have eaten five people and you’re asking me on a date?”

 “I’m very tone deaf, Raymond.”

 Instead of an answer, Ray looked around them— Leonard did the same. Their conversation had been in quiet whispers. Not nearly enough to draw the attention of the others. Hunter had left a while ago, excusing himself to the cafeteria. Mick was solely focused on the screen in front of him, hacking away at the forest of a defense that Thawne guy had planted. Sara was very purposefully not looking at them, cleaning her gun with a far too careful precision.

 Alone, in the corner, Ray ran his hand up his chest, rest on Leonard’s jaw with a careful gentleness. Len leaned into it, propping himself as far up on his elbows as he could. Finally, Ray leaned down and sealed their mouths together, soft and warm pressure. His touch was soft, kind... real . His mouth opened, but he wasn’t asking for anything they weren’t already giving, just a closeness that felt required— an intimacy that was beyond what he’d ever given in something so simple. Nothing like what Leonard was used to, but he could certainly redefine himself to this.

 They broke off, with a quiet noise. Leonard sacrificed the support of his right arm and let his fingers dance up Ray’s face, stroking his cheek.The top half was soft, with his five-o'clock shadow beginning to grow around his jaw scratching his thumb against the grain. He pulled him close again, because he could be dead within the hour and kissing Raymond Palmer seems like a holy way to go out. This second kiss was deep and sure, but broke again after a moment. They were separated only for a second before Ray dipped again, and again, and…

 Finally, Mick’s chair squeaked and they broke apart for real, foreheads resting against each other for just a second.

 “I’m going to go find Hunter,” Ray said and Leonard knew he meant yes.

 

○•○•○

 

 He hadn’t been to the cafeteria yet, but it was the last place Hunter wasn’t. It was a big room, wider than it was long, decorated in kitschy plastic molds of fossils and the same garishly designed merchandise as the Explorers. Must have been about a hundred tables all set, but only one had an occupant— dead in the center, Hunter sat, eat ice cream from big plastic buckets. Ray moved around the column he was behind and the movement must have caught Hunter’s attention.

 “They were all melting,” he said, a response to a question Ray didn’t ask.

 Ray sat down instead of saying anything. The chairs were nice, a little small for his frame, but he stretched his legs and arms out to compensate. His knees hit the bottom of the table.

 “Snart’s okay for now. I gave him a shot of morphine for the pain.”

 Hunter nodded, but the information obviously didn’t settle as he continued, “The children are going to be fine— I mean, who better to navigate the world of Jurassic Park than a dinosaur expert?”

 His voice broke a bit at the end but Ray didn’t say anything. He shifted his head in away Hunter must have taken as a nod.

 “You know, the first attraction I ever set up when I came to America… it was a flea circus. It was… bloody wonderful. A whole little set up, with a carousel and a seesaw— all of which were run by motors, of course, but people would come by and swear on anything they could see the fleas.” he sighed, plastic spoon wilting under the weight of the dripping ice cream, but with this place… I wanted something more than the illusion. I wanted no strings attached, tangible reality of the unbelievable…”

 “But you can’t rationalize this one… you have to feel your mistakes,”

 He waved that off, “Yes, yes— hiring Thawne was a mistake , I see that know and I do not intend on repeating it— and we’re over reliant on the automatic, that can be reduced,”

 “Rip! No, don’t you see? This is still the flea circus!”

 “Once we regain control—”

 “Control!? You never had control— that’s the illusion!” he snapped. Hunter’s face fell, “Rip, I was overwhelmed by the power of this place.  So I made a mistake too— I didn't have enough respect for that power, and it's out now.  You're sitting here trying to pick up the pieces when there's nothing worth picking up.  The only thing that matters now are the people we love.  Zari, Miranda, and Jonas. Rip, they're out there where people are dying—”

 It was his turn for his voice to break off now, a much more clean sob that he pushed back into his burning chest. He glared at Hunter, but he couldn’t feel that, really. He couldn’t even be angry at this man terrified for his children, his future… so instead he leaned forward and tasted the ice cream.

 “It’s good,” he sobbed slightly.

 They were quiet for a second, a sick irony settling into the lines of Hunter’s face, wilting like a flower in the winter.

 “Spared no expense.”

 

○•○•○

 

 They’d come to the conclusion— or rather, English came to the conclusion and Mick was getting too tired to fight him on it— to shut down the systems, an option that obviously was panicking Snart who masterfully hide it. If Mick wasn’t a cold unfeeling bastard himself ,he would have missed it.

 The other guy— the haircut who had been near panic mode since the T Rex attack— was sitting close to Snart, white knuckling the side of the ramp, nervous energy coming off him in waves. It was distracting and not helping build his confidence as he looked at the final switch he had to flip, standing like a soldier at the bottom of the panel. MAIN.

 “Hold on to your asses,” he gruff and switched it off, bathing the room in darkness.

 The emergency light kicked in, washing everything ot in a sick green and red but the rest of the air was eerily still. No one breathed, Mick felt his lungs get heavy every second. Sara stood up, cocking her riffle, “Who here knows how to shoot a gun?”

 He ignored her though— in the corner of his eye he saw it.

 Blinking on Thawne’s screen, in the very bottom.  /system ready.

 “Hah!” his exclamation made everyone jump, “It’s okay! It worked!”

 English looked far too smug, as Snart readjusted himself, “What do you mean it worked? Everything’s still off!”

 “The shutdown must have tripped the circuit breakers. We’ll have to do turn them back on, reboot a few systems in here to get everything up again,” he grunted, seeing everyone else’s face fall.

 “Where are the breakers?” Sara asked.

 “Out in the maintenance shed— other side of the compound.  I'll go out there. Three minutes, and I can have the power back on in the entire park.”

 English frowned at this, moving to the leadership position again, ‘We should all go to the emergency bunker just to be safe, until Mr. Rory comes back.”

 “What about—?” Haircut said, hand gesturing out to Snart, who looked like he was also wondering that.

 “We’ll carry Mr. Snart, of course.”

 The man groaned, eyes trained on the ceiling, “I’m not high enough for this.”

 

○•○•○

 

 “Something’s not right,” Ray muttered, pacing down the steps.

 Sara couldn’t judge him for that though— she was pacing too, the inside of her mouth blood with how hard she was biting it. Rip was dealing with Snart, who was sweaty and heaving on the main table.

 “It’s just a delay,” Rip was saying like prayer, “All major theme parks have them— Disneyland when it opened, half the rides didn’t even work—”

 “Rip, if the Pirates of the Caribbean breaks down,” Snart replied, eyes glassy but unimpressed, “the pirates don't eat the tourists.”

 Sara had to appreciate the guys consistency, snorting at least at that. Ray appeared next to them, ringing his hands, “Something’s went wrong. We— I’m going to turn the power back on,”

 “You can’t stroll down the road, Ray,” she said, rubbing her eyes. She was getting tired— that was a dangerous feeling.

 “Guys, please, let’s calm down. It’s only been—” Rip checked his watch, and his face fell instantly. Sara sighed. She should have expected— she made her way over to the cabinet, pulling out a fresh gun.

 “I’m going with you,” she didn’t leave room to argue in her voice, but Ray didn’t anyway. He simply nodded and said, “Okay. Thank you,”

 Zari must have taught him well. Rip behind them, grabbed a hold of blueprints and laid them across Snart’s legs, making him hiss. Rip didn’t say anything, just searched through the prints rapidly, sweat pouring down his forehead.

 “It’s not going to be the easiest thing in the world— not a light switch or anything, but I should be able to walk you through it.”

 Ray nodded, grabbing some walkie-talkies and threw one to Rip, that was caught by Snart. Ray attached the other one to his belt. Sara grabbed a headset from the table next to her and threw it Ray’s way— it’s better for him to have both his hands free.

 “Wait, Sara,” Rip called out, knuckles white against the edge of the table, “I should go instead of you,”

 “It’s my job,” she deadpanned, “Why?”

 That stalled him for half a second, like he was buffering, “Well because I’m… well…”

 She rolled her eyes, cocking her gun without a second thought, “We can talk about sexism in survival scenarios when I get back.”

 She made her way to the door, but realized she was alone— she looked back to see Ray stalled at the side of the table, making intense eye contact with Snart, who was looking worried as hell. Something in her gut shifted— she had had a feeling about the two of them… regretfully she cleared her throat, knowing Rip would be a hypocrite to care.

 “Kiss him, or let’s go,” she said, words cold, but she meant it. This could be the last time they see each other. And she wasn’t heartless.

 The paleobotanist flushed at that, but leaned down all the same, pressing a desperate lip lock to Snart, who responded immediately hand going to his jaw. Rip looked surprised— not that Sara was shocked by his ignorance. He was a very self centered man.

 The two broke apart and Ray turned, face steeled, “Let’s go.”

 

○•○•○

 

 The air between them was stiff— Hunter was shifting every second, muttering to himself as he looked over the blueprints like they were written in sanskrit. Leonard was trying to do some math in his head— how long did morphine stay in the bloodstream? He was beginning to feel the corners of his mind get fuzzy and worse, his eyelids feel heavy. His lips still tingled were Ray had kissed him— it felt sickeningly like a goodbye and Leonard really hoped it wasn’t a self fulfilling prophecy— if the bastard got himself killed—

 The radio in Hunter’s palm crackled, finally, “ I’m in.”

 The distortion made it hard to read how he was feeling, but the sound was Ray , no doubt . Leonard felt his soul fly— it was far from over but he was inside, out from the open. Hunter let out a sigh too, a shaky sort of thing, but Leonard was hardly in a peace to judge right now either.

 “ Thank god ,” Hunter let out, “In front of you should be a metal staircase- follow it all the way down,”

 “ Alright ,” the crackle left them in silence again for a moment that felt like a year.

 “After twenty or thirty feet, you'll come to a T junction. Take a left.” Hunter’s voice was unsure, confused, like he wasn’t sure of what he was saying. Leonard didn’t like that one bit.

 “Have her follow the main cable—”

 “Snart, I swear to god—”

 “ Damn it! Dead end!”

 Hunter looked horrified at that, eyes increasing by ten fold in speed, devouring the map like a mad man, “uh, alright, just a second,”

 “Look, I pulled some jobs to get through undergrad. Banks, malls...” he gritted out, the pain coming back as the drugs ebbed.

 Hunter hit him with a confused sort of horror, “Jobs— are you admitting to be a criminal right now, Leonard? Is now the best time?!”

 “I’m not making conversation, you asshole, I’m saying I can read blueprints,” he grabbed the paper from his shaking fingers, resting it on his lap, ignoring how the blood seeped into the fibers. He grabbed the radio too, resting it with one hand, “Raymond?”

 “ Leonard?”

 “You’re talking to me now, darling,” he drew, “Look above you. There should be a bunch of cables all together— follow that,”

 “ Alright, following the piping… It goes back up the stairs and across the stairs... following the stairs. ” his voice was shaking but he was moving. He was kind of amazing.

 “Good, you’re doing great. Just look for a larger grey box, now. You could be a tour guide here, love,”

 Ray’s laugh was caught by the corner of the microphone and it made him feel a little better, “ Okay… I see the box,”

 Rip leaned into the radio now, “You can't just throw the main switch by hand, you have to pump up the primer handle to give you a charge, Ray. It's a large, flat, gray—”

 It was silence for a moment before the crack came pack— “ Okay, it’s charged,”

 “Beautiful, Raymond. Now, under the words contact position there's a round green button that says push to close ,”

 “ I see it,”

 “Push it,” Hunter finished, “Then, Dr. Palmer, you’re going to flip everyone of the switches okay? Should be five in a row.”

 The silence was back— deafening this time as both men leaned forward towards the radio like it held the secret to life. In a way it did.

 He counted down in his head— the Fibonacci sequence to keep himself calm and breathed out on every prime number. Until finally, the fluorescents flickered on above him and his eyes shone brighter.

 “ Mr. Hunter,” Ray’s voice was ecstatic even through the radio, “ We are back online!”

 He allowed himself elation for two seconds before Ray’s scream cut through the radio and it crackled out.

 “Ray!? Raymond— Ray!?” he screamed, Hunter walking backward into the cabinet, face white.

 But there was no reply.

 

○•○•○

 

 Sara crept through the forest, eyes jumping around maniacally, surveying every inch she could get eyes on. The raptor was in front of her, slithering like a lizard between leaves. She knows she’s being followed— probably knows by who too. If they didn’t know Sara’s scent by now, she’d be shocked.

 Let her know, Sara thought, silently pulling the gun into the ready. Let her feel worry for once.

 The body slithered, grey flesh hiding just out of range— denying her a decent shot just by a few inch. But she learned from these, animals, she was patient, setting her gun down on the rock and leveling her aim. She leaned the barrel forward as the creature moved just an inch, biting her lip in anticipation. The creature knew it had been caught, hissing out a low growl.

 But the growl wasn’t from in front of her. She felt the hair on the side of her face tickle her cheek, the smell suddenly hitting her like a punch.

 Despite herself, a smile wove itself onto her face, “Clever girl.”

 

○•○•○

 

 Ray felt his legs give out as he sprinted as fast he could down the stairs, the snarling snaps of the velociraptor not a beat behind him, barely kept at bay by the weak chicken wire of the half doors. His chest was tight as he heaved for breaths- fighting off panicked sobs creeping horribly close but he pushed them down as best he could, scuttling around the corner as he heard the snap of the jaw.

 His shoulder was still wet with Mick Rory’s blood, his back soaked with his own sweat— the flashlight still attached to her leg clanged the metal as he ran, bouncing every step he threw himself up— the door was so close—

 He flung himself outside, throwing the door shut as soon as he could, half sprinting, half scrambling in the dust towards the gate, he slid most the way there, hands going up to fumble with the latch, opening it and flinging himself to the other side, pulling with the last bit of his strength closed.

 He rested his body against the wire and let himself sob. It wracked his body totally, but his eyes couldn’t seem to make any more tears.

 He stayed there for he didn’t know how long, before he collected himself and pulled his body up the dell in front of him into the forest. On the way, he shrugged off his pink shirt- it was beyond repair at this point, leaving him in his blue tank top. The way back to the shelter was through the raptor enclosure and there wasn’t enough money in the world—

 Somebody had to turn the systems at the visitor center back on. He trekked that way, barely two miles in before he heard in the distance, a familiar voice screaming.

 “ Ray? Ray!”

 He looked up, gripping his knees— not fifteen feet away, Zari stood, dusty, bloody, and gloriously alive— she saw him, her face lighting up in a beautiful way.

 “ Run ,” he gritted out but couldn’t help running towards her and spinning her around in a hug.

 

○•○•○

 When the dust had settled and they let the dinosaurs take the visitor center, and the helicarriers came from InGen, everyone loaded on in flights.

 (Ray helped the kids on first— they were shell shocked at this point, both too dirty and too bloody than any child should ever have to be. They were exhausted— down to the bone, you could tell by the way the crumpled against the wall, holding onto each other for dear life.

 Leonard was next, supported by two InGen men, complaining about the help the whole way— they had had their reunion in the Jeep when Hunter and Leonard picked them up. He had nearly suffocated Ray with kiss after kiss— the kids too tired to even complain.

 Ray came up and took the place of one of the officers, hitting him with a look that said Leonard. Shut the hell up. He finally stopped, letting himself be lifted into the chopper and Ray fuss over his leg. Through the mouth of the chopper, he saw Zari come behind Hunter, who was looking over his land with something akin to heartbreak over his face. It wasn’t for Ray to look at, so he focused on tightening the new bandages InGen gave them.)

 The children were out like a light— Ray couldn’t blame them. They had been through more than any adult should ever have to be. They deserved to sleep for as long as their bodies would let them. Restful nights were not going to come easy from then out— let them savior this. Their little heads rested against their father’s chest whose eyes were closed, but he was surely awake, guilt painting every one of his features.

 Zari sat next to him, eyes trained on birds outside the chopper. Raptors, flying against the sun, away from the island of evolution and towards the real world. Ray watched their winds flap, the muscles beneath their skin and their feathers drawing memories from the last forty-eight hours, of those same bones and sinew in an ancestor they didn’t even know about.

 A hand teased the side of his thigh. He looked over, locking gaze with Leonard. His blue eyes were clearer than they had been, the pain and drugs replaced with an understanding and without words, encompassed what Ray was feeling. It’s done. But it’s not finished .

 He’d be focusing on that for months— years maybe. But for now, he threaded his fingers between Leonard’s and let a him be the cold, clammy support. The one good thing to come from the park, from all the death and disaster… they found a way.

Notes:

so honestly, I just had a lot of fun with that-- like with everything I write, its not to be taken too seriously! I just write because it helps me relax and I genuinely enjoy it. I don't think I'm Jane Austin over here lol
Honestly, not to get too deep, I feel like there's a lot of hate in the fandom, which is honestly accomplishing absolutely nothing. Criticism is helpful and encouraged! but there's really no need to be an unhelpful dick to me or any other of the way more talented writers in the fandom. I'm a full grown woman with a job-- this is a way for me to relax. You're not going to stop me from writing, or get a rise out of me-- I'm also a lesbian with huge lisp raised in the American South. I assure you I've heard worse than whatever you're gonna say. I'm not really affected by it! If you think your better than me, you probably are so go and write something for yourself!
Any kind comments are so so appreciated and cherished, even if I can't reply because I'm a slob-- thank you if you even read through this rant lol, sorry. I just feel awful because I know I can handle it but I hope these trolls don't discourage anyone else