As stated in the description, this story was written at the request of Core of Justice. Jake, Hailstorm and the spinosaurus siblings are ideas Core of Justice gave me to work with, along with some scenes to be included.

This story is going to be somewhat shorter than The Unseen Element, but I hope to do it justice (no pun intended).

The story starts some time before the events of the Jurassic World movie.

Enjoy!

Chapter 1

So You ... Whisper?

Claire dropped her latte as she stared at one of the surveillance screens in the control room.

There was a man in the spinosaurus siblings' paddock. Sure, the predators were not nearly as big as they would grow to be. As youngsters, they were only 4 feet tall, but that was big enough to tear the man apart.

"What is he doing?" Claire asked Lowery Cruthers, one of the control room's staff. "Get him out of there, NOW!"

"No need," Lowry declared as he leaned back in his chair.

She stared at him, appalled. "What?"

"How am I gonna get him out of there anyway?" asked Lowery. "Que sera sera – what ever will happen will happen. We can replace him, right?"

The fact that he disregarded such an urgent situation shocked her, but it was nothing compared to the shock of seeing the two spinosauruses pounce the man in their paddock and throw him to the ground. Part of her wanted to look away, but she did not. In her fright-fueled imagination, she expected to see body parts flying as the carnage began. However, the carnage never came. The spinosauruses seemed gentle, playful even. They wrestled the man like a pair of puppies.

Clare looked at Lowery, who was taking in her shocked expression with the utmost amusement. Angered by his delight in her moment of panic, she swept all of the carefully-positioned, collectable dinosaurs figures off his desk and they scattered across the room.

"Aww, man!" he exclaimed.

Good, she thought. That would teach him not to toy with her emotions.

"Who's the guy in the spinosaurus paddock?" she asked.

"Oh, you know him. That's Jake Anderson," Lowery explained.

She stared at him blankly. The name clearly didn't ring a bell.

"He's been here for, like, two years," Lowery went on.

"A lot of people have been here for a while," Claire stated. "It's not that big of a deal if I don't remember him."

"Claire, you're his mentor!" Lowery exclaimed. "How could you not remember him?"

That took her by surprise. Over time, she had mentored dozens of staff. It was her job to show them the ropes and get them settled in. However, she seldom spoke to them one-on-one. Besides, she had quite a few other jobs. In Jurassic World, there were always at least several things demanding her attention at any given moment. However, this "Jake" was the only thing demanding her attention now. She was supposed to show him the ropes, but it seemed he had learned the ropes better than she could ever imagine.

Lowery accessed an employee file on his computer and the monitor displayed an African American with curly black hair and a fit build – Jake.

"Since you have no recollection of who he is, I'll fill you in on the basics," Lowery explained. "Let's see … he has a doctorate degree in paleontology and four years' experience practicing the craft professionally. He also has expert knowledge of modern predators, especially big cats – raised a few himself. He signed up for the job spinosaurus handler, like, the second it was available (I'm exaggerating. More like in the first twenty minutes – still crazy quickly, though). Oh, not to mention he has some measure of Navy training …"

"He was in the Navy, like Owen?" asked Claire.

"Uh, no," Lowery clarified. "His uncle was in the Navy, a SEAL to be exact. He and the uncle were close. He claims that his uncle taught him a thing or two."

Claire shook her head. "I still can't believe I've been so oblivious about Jake."

"Well, to be fair, he's kind of on the shy side," Lowery acknowledged as he began to gather his dinosaur figures and position them where they belonged on his desk. "I don't see him around much. Plus, he's not too chatty, except with Owen. I've noticed them together and I think they're friends, but with the exception of Owen I think Jake prefers dinos over people."

Claire didn't seem to be listening. She was transfixed by Jake's interaction with the spinosauruses. They seemed to treat him as if her were one of them. She wondered how a human being could garner that kind of respect from ancient lizards. She saw Owen enter the paddock on the monitor. The spinosauruses regarded him with wary eyes, but it was clear that they were obedient enough to leave him alone. Either that or they were familiar with him. Perhaps it was a combination of both.

Lowery glanced at the screen, then at Claire. She noticed him grin. Knowing that he was going to tease her about her sudden interest in the spinosaurus handler, she threw her arm across his desk and scattered his dinosaurs once again.

"But I didn't even say anything this time …" he complained, staring at the mess she had made in dismay.

"Precisely, and I'd prefer to keep it that way," Claire playfully declared.

With that, she left the room. Where was she heading? The spinosaurus paddock. Yes, she was a busy workaholic, but for once in a long time she decided to take a detour. For once, the dinosaurs weren't just assets meant to draw in visitors to Jurassic World. She wanted to see firsthand how the human managed to bond with the spinosauruses to the point where the species barrier between them didn't matter.

In the spinosaurus paddock, Owen and Jake discussed the last few minutes.

"Jake?" began Owen. "What exactly did we do right this time?"

"We exercised patience? Tact?" Jake suggested.

"We've been doing that all along," Owen declared.

Jake shrugged. "Well, I guess we can chalk it up in part to an insane amount of luck."

"Yeah, I guess so," Owen agreed.

They proudly watched as their respective dinosaurs – Jake's spinosauruses and Owen's raptors – slept close to one and other under the dappled light dancing through the leaves of a tree. The creatures were completely comfortable in each other's company, but that had not always been the story. Owen and Jake had tried to introduce their dinosaur charges many times – sixteen times, to be exact. The first fifteen introductions ended in hostile hissing. Measuring only two and a half feet long, the young raptors never attacked, knowing that the spinosauruses had the advantage in size. The spinos, on the other hand, never attacked due to the raptors' advantage in numbers. With lots of threats but no actual violence, the two groups were locked in a kind of cold war. This time, seemingly by some stroke of luck, Owen's pack and Jake's sibling spinosaruses had become friends. Of course, the two humans had taken every precaution to make that happen. For starters, they allowed the different sets of dinosaurs to meet in an area that neither had claimed as territory. That meant that none had the right to be too defensive. Now, there was no need for defense. The two species had sealed their friendship by claiming this area as their territory together.

Jake glanced back. Something had caught his eye. He quickly dusted off his black shirt and red shorts in order to look more presentable. Owen noticed him, followed his gaze and saw Claire watching them from the corridor behind the glass that surrounded the paddock.

"Why did you do that?" asked Owen, eying Jake suspiciously.

"Do what?" responded Jake.

"Try to clean yourself up a bit," Owen clarified. "I mean, it's just Claire, not the President of the United States."

"When my superior wants to see me, I prefer not to look like I've been rolling on the ground wrestling dinosaurs," Jake explained.

"Yeah, especially when you want to see her too, am I right?" Owen teased with a grin.

Jake rolled his eyes and gave a sheepish smile.

"I knew it!" Owen exclaimed. "Case dismissed! Mic drop!"

Jake playfully shoved Owen, only to be shoved back.

Owen suddenly took on a more serious demeanour as he cautioned his friend. "Be warned. I tried to date her once. She brought an itinerary for our first night out and turned her nose up at tequila! Can you believe that? What kind of diet doesn't allow tequila?"

"All of them, actually," Jake stated.

Owen shook his head at Jake. "You know what? Maybe you two should get together. You seem to come from the same, weird universe."

Claire marveled at the sleeping dinosaurs. She didn't know too much about them, but she knew enough to imagine that they should not have been getting along with each other the way they were.

Her attention was drawn to Owen and Jake as they entered the corridor.

"How did you do that?" she asked, pointing at the dinosaurs. "How did you get those two species to coexist like that? I've never seen anyone control them so effectively."

"It's not about control," Owen corrected. "It's about a relationship based on mutual respect, which is why you and I never had a second date."

"Did it occur to you that I never wanted a second date?" asked Claire. "I dressed up, arrived at the restaurant on time, mind you, and who shows up half an hour late? You! Brandishing your hairy legs in a pair of board shorts!"

Owen was taken aback. "Brandishing my-? You make it sound so- You know what? Who cares! It's South America, it's hot! Besides, it's not my fault you stuffed yourself into some claustrophobic outfit! I wanted to enjoy my night in comfort, thank you very much."

Claire wasn't paying attention. Her eyes alternated between Owen and Jake. She noticed how Jake's intelligent, chocolate eyes seemed to soak in everything around him. He was studying her and Owen, and he did it in such a natural way that it seemed like breathing. Yes, he projected the air of a somewhat quiet person, but even though he said nothing she could tell that there was a lot going on in his brain.

Owen stopped talking, realizing that she wasn't listening.

"So, how do you control, I mean 'handle', the dinosaurs?" Claire asked Jake.

"In some ways, my techniques overlap with Owen's," Jake explained. "In general, we both employ calm, firm attitudes. However, when my spinosauruses get aggressive, I get calmer. If they get even more aggressive, I get calmer still. Calmness absorbs their aggression like a sponge. Sure, I'm firm with them, but it's a paradoxically flexible kind of firmness. Sometimes, all I have to do is speak under my breath, and they listen."

"So you … whisper?" asked Claire.

"Well, you know the old saying," Jake went on. "'A gentle tongue can break a bone'. As Owen said, it's not about control. If you genuinely want to understand them and take the time to do it, they'll reward you. Does ... that even make any sense?"

She smiled. "Yeah. It actually does."

Claire looked through the glass into the paddock and noticed that the spinosauruses had awoken. They knew Owen, but they didn't know her. For that reason, they were staring at her quite menacingly.

"Are they just gonna keep glaring at me like that?" asked Claire.

Jake chuckled. "Yeah. They're pretty protective."

"They're good judges of character, too," Owen added.

"Owen, do you have anything good to say about Claire?" Jake asked suddenly, yet without a hint of offense.

That took Owen off guard. Even though they were friends, Jake would always call him out on his bad behaviour if he carried it too far. Usually, friends would chicken out of challenging each other over personal issues. Not Jake. Owen respected him for that. However, it still surprised Owen at times.

Owen squinted as he thought hard. "Um … let's see … something good I can say about Claire … Well, she's relatively beautiful, I'll give her that. Aside from that, I got nothing."

"I think you've made your opinion pretty clear," Jake declared. "You don't need to drop any more put-downs. We get it."

Claire chipped in. "In other words, he's your friend, so he's taken the time to think up a shockingly polite way to tell you to shut up."

"Well, like you said, he's my friend," Jake added calmly. "He already knows that you're not a big fan of him right now, so there's no need to get in any more put-downs. So, are we all good?"

At that moment, Jake could have sounded like the most self-righteous, preachy person in the world. However, he spoke with such genuine humility and lack of aggression that they couldn't help but listen to him. They didn't feel insulted by what he had said, even though he had criticised them both.

Owen pointed a thumb at Jake. "You see that? That's the technique he uses with his dinosaurs. It works on humans too, and the worst part is I can't even get irritated about it."

Claire chuckled good-naturedly, then extended a hand to Jake.

"Uh, probably not a good idea," Jake stated, showing her his muddy hands (at least he hoped that was mud).

She laughed again, took his hand and shook it. "Nonsense! Anyway, keep up the good work. It's nice to see you again."

"Same here," Jake agreed.

Owen extended his hand to Claire, but she stared at it with disdain.

"Oh, and Owen?" she began. "Be sure to get that mud off your hands and your everything else before you leave the paddock. At least, I hope that's mud."

She turned and walked away, leaving Owen stunned.

Jake shrugged and gave Owen a half-reassuring, half-humourous pat on the back. Suddenly, he checked his watch.

"Oops! Gotta go," Jake declared.

Owen squinted at him. "Where? You just got here?"

"It's one of Henry Wu's more hush hush assignments," Jake explained. "If I told you about it, I'd have to kill you."

Owen rolled his eyes. "Yeah, right. Like you can take me. We still gotta spar sometime. Then we'll know who's the man once and for all. You still up for it?"

Jake flashed a competitive grin. "Oh, yeah. Just try to put up a good fight."

"Be careful what you wish for," Owen responded, returning a competitive grin of his own.

Jake began to jog away and spoke quickly. "Oh,-and-I'm-gonna-need-you-to-escort-the-dinosaurs-back-to-their-areas,-okay?-Okay!-Bye!"

"Hey! Your spinos still give me the stink eye!" Owen called after him.

"They only do that when I'm around! They're protective, remember?" Jake called back as his voice dimmed into the distance.

Owen tapped his foot in irritation, then looked at spinosauruses in the paddock. They were giving him the stink eye, just as he expected. He knew that they trusted him enough for him to lead them back into their enclosures, but he hoped he could get the job done without losing a finger.

There was a reason why people seldom saw Jake. He spent most of his time away from prying eyes.

Fifteen minutes after his meetup with Owen, he was in an elevator to the underground regions of the island. Isla Nublar housed many caves and caverns – the perfect place for InGen to hide its more secretive sectors.

After the elevator reached its destination, he stepped out and navigated the labyrinth of passages. Various doors stood on either side of the corridors, many leading to areas he did not have permission to enter.

Once he found the door he was looking for, he swiped his keycard through the lock. The electronic door hissed open, he entered and it quickly shut behind him. Within it was a paddock with dirt, trees and bushes like any other. Of course, unlike most paddocks, there was no sky above it – just a big, bright light serving as an artificial sun. Across the room there was a small bunker just for him, equipped with enough amenities for him to live down there for two weeks tops.

However, the paddock's occupant was nowhere to be seen.

Without warning, something leaped onto his back and pinned him to the ground. A growl rumbled into his ears, but he didn't even flinch. In fact, he laughed.

"Hi, Hailstorm," Jake greeted.

That last scene was somewhat influenced by Chapter 10 of my other story, Jurassic Park: The Unseen Element. Can you figure out why?

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Thus far, what do you think?