Hybrids: An Indoraptor Story ✓

Fear

"Grady..." Click raised his hands high. "P-Put it down."

The raptor trainer didn't move. Nothing about him changed, not even the rage that flustered like a flame within his round brown eyes. The tremble in his breath and the added licks of sweat and blood made him all the more spiteful of his situation, something that made Click far more scared to face the man. Swallowing heavily, he slowly started to raise up, keeping his hands where the male could see, to show he wasn't a threat. Click couldn't afford to jeopardize himself (or Seven), not when he was this close. The best thing to do was talk.

"T-This is not what you think."

"That's an indoraptor, isn't it?" Owen pointed to Seven's body. Click's stomach lurched, his head bowing slightly in acceptance. Breaking his breath, Owen's eyes began to shake, already fighting the terrible memories that now ravished in his head. He knew what it was capable of, and how dangerous it was. But to see someone he thought he could trust actively trying to save the very thing that murdered over a dozen people in a mansion (and almost including himself), was unforgivable.

No... he couldn't let it pass this easily.

"I thought the military taught you not to lie to people," Owen growled, sucking a breath through his blood-stained teeth. "If that's even what you are."

Click inhaled sharply, shaking his head. "I didn't lie to you-" he took a step only to freeze when a subtle click sounded from the gun. Cursing himself, Click backed up again, looking away as Owen rattled his head.

"That thing out there is yours, too, isn't it?" he snarled, fighting past his tears. "The thing that killed Jake?"

"No-!"

"Why do you keep DOING this to us?!" Owen roared, flinching Click an inch away. "When will you learn to QUIT?!"

Click shuddered, fighting his own tears as the memory of Janet flooded his mind. His eyes glanced over to Seven, his breath wavering all the while, before returning to Owen's eyes. "She's not like that," he tried.

"And how do you know?"

Click said nothing. He knew Owen wouldn't understand -- an indoraptor to anyone outside of INGEN was a threat to the world. Even if he tried, even if was right, the raptor trainer would still kill her without question.

"Tom..." Owen inhaled, blinking back his tears to muster his voice back. "Just walk away. Please. You know it's the right thing to do-"

"I can't," Click rasped suddenly, narrowing his eyes at Owen. "S-She's all I have."

"She's not yours."

"Neither is Blue," Click snapped, watching a flash coil over Owen's eyes. "She's just your job, but you don't commit to her life like I do. You didn't raise her... you were only there in moments. But I was there... every step of the way, every birthday, every terrible night, trying to give her a better reason to live than the rest of them and not turn her into the devil that Henry wants!"

Owen blinked, faltering mid breath over his words, then gazed down at Seven. Click steadied his stance, his teeth still grinding over and over in pain and grief.

"You... of all people should know what it means to protect those you love," he went on. "The only real monsters here are the ones that lock them away in cages, and break them against their will."

Owen exhaled, looking down at Seven for a brief second. For a moment he started to lower his gun, searching Click's eyes for a source of truth. But in the end, memory won over voice; he knew what he saw, and he trusted his gut first.