Fight or Flight » JW / Avengers

chapter five

[ chapter five ; ]

"So we're going to see the doctor that created Indominus," Wanda said as they trekked through the crowds. 

Owen was weaving in and out of people, and Wanda was hot on his tail. "Yes. His name is Dr. Henry Wu. He was one of the scientists at the original park, and he was one of the first people  Masrani hired at this one."

"He survived Jurassic Park?" Wanda asked curiously.

"I wouldn't say 'survived,'" Owen muttered. "More like he hid out until he was evacuated. The real survivors were the consulting scientists who visited and actually ended up defending themselves from dinosaurs."

Wanda gave the back of Owen's head a curious look. She couldn't say she was surprised that he thought that way, but she was most certainly impressed. "I assume none of those people decided to return to the island."

"Nope," Owen agreed, holding up a door that read 'restricted access,' "not a one." As Wanda passed him, he nodded toward a tall, Asian gentleman with neatly combed hair. "That's him."

Wanda nodded, and walked side by side with Owen as they approached Wu. That didn't last long, though; Owen stepped ahead of her right as Wu turned toward them. "We need to speak to you in your office," Owen stated firmly. "Now."

Wu looked from the irritable dinosaur handler, over to the Avenger standing a yard behind him, before his eyes widened. He nodded slowly, and waved toward the glass office, before leading them both there. Wu watched them as they entered, quiet as Wanda shut the door after them both. "I . . . am not sure why you're here," he said slowly, studying them warily. "Does this have something to do with the raptors, Mr. Grady?"

"No," Owen stated. "It does not. It has everything to do with the dinosaur cocktail that you cooked up in the lab."

Wu regarded Owen carefully. "You're referring to the Indominus. That's classified information. It's existence was only just revealed to the sponsors today."

"Yes, well, it also only just escaped it's paddock and killed upwards of a dozen men today," Wanda replied, an icy edge to her voice. Her accent drew Wu's attention to her immediately and she watched with a clenched jaw as he cleared his throat anxiously.

"That's unfortunate news," he said.

"Unfortunate?" Owen repeated incredulously. "Your so-called dinosaur is loose in a park full over twenty thousand visitors. It's rapidly approaching them as we speak. It can camouflage, it changed it's body temperature of it's own will . . . this thing isn't a dinosaur, it's a killing machine."

"We need to know what it is composed of to better understand how to defeat it," Wanda finished for him.

It was Wu's turn to stare at them incredulously, and once Wanda understood why, it only further ramped up her anger. "You want to 'defeat' this? Not to be offensive, ma'am, I understand you're an Avenger, but that animal is worth billions. You can't just kill it."

Wanda marched herself up to Wu slowly, purposefully, her eyes beginning to glow red as he stumbled back in order to get away from her. "You call me 'ma'am,'" Wanda said lowly, her voice nearly a growl, "but I sense no respect from you. Not for me, not for the life of all of this people on this island in general. You have survived an experience such as this before, have you not?"

Wu was pale as a sheet as he stammered, "Y--yes . . ."

"And yet you have the audacity, after already witnessing so many deaths in such a circumstance, to try and deny us information that would allow us to save lives," Wanda glared up at him, her jaw set. She shook her head when he opened and closed his mouth, failing to find words. "You are not a man. You're a disgrace." She twisted and headed toward the exit of the room then, decidedly done with the conversation.

She didn't stick around to see Owen approach Wu, stopping in front of him at a much more respective distance than she had. "You're making a mistake, Wu," he said quietly, the look on his face solemn. 

"I'm sorry, but you're not going to convince me to release the information," Wu said then, clearing his throat. He nodded toward the door then. "You've got an Avenger on your side, Grady. I think you're going to manage this just fine."

Owen scoffed and shook his head before heading out of the room himself. "I hope you've got a better answer than that when someone in charge on this island comes looking for you."

::

"The people on this island are playing God, and they are doing terribly," Wanda stated, her accent thickening with her frustration. She turned fiery eyes toward Owen, not stopping in her pacing in front of the Innovation Center. Everyone else going in and out of the building was making their way around her.

Owen watched with his hands on his hips. "I could've told you that when we first met." He watched her fume quietly for a moment before finally asking, "Did you get anything out of scaring the pants off Wu? You know, with your," he wiggled his fingers around his head.

Wanda paused at that, looking over at him, sighing quietly. "A little," she agreed after a moment. She rolled her shoulders before tilting her head and looking up at Owen. "The camouflage was courtesy of cuttlefish DNA. The thermal change was tree frog. Anything else you would like to know?"

"Yeah, whatever else was in it," Owen agreed. "Did you get anything else?"

Wanda sighed and looked up at the sky, blowing stray hairs out of her face before looking back over at Owen. "You will not like it," she informed him. "At all."

"What else is new?" Owen sighed.

"All right," Wanda said. "They mixed in spinosaurus DNA, a dinosaur which . . . rings no bells to me, but ah . . ." She cleared her throat. "They also added velociraptor DNA."

Owen blinked, his face going blank. "They did what now."