"Target spotted approximately 20 minutes ago, in the greater Tolland Park area. Coordinates have been provided. Over."
"Hey so- Are we really not gonna address the, uh, "nature" of the target..?"
"...What?"
"Oh don't even "What?" me. You know exactly what I'm talkin' about. A freaking Raptor? Like out of Jurassic Park or some crap?"
"Christ- Tom, listen to me, everyone is aware that it's a "Raptor." at this point. So what, even? Some rich whack job decides to play god and make a Velociraptor. That isn't exactly a headliner anymore man."
"Omnisraptor."
"Huh?"
"Omnisraptor, apparently that's what it's called. Something about being a cocktail of all sorts of extinct species to the point where it isn't even really a dino. Deinonychus, Velociraptor, Utahraptor. Well, probably most Dromaeosaurinae in general are in there somewhere."
"Oh my god, please shut the hell up with your dino nerd shit and fly the chopper, that thing is down there with freakin' civilians..."
Tolland National Park, MT...
The other prey had been gone for some time now, much to her disappointment. Her opposition out here was pitiful compared to what the masters sent her out to kill. These bear and wolves were little challenge, with their weak instincts.
Not like Calliope. Not at all.
Calliope was raised better. She knew to only sleep after the kill was secured, and her belly full. The bears never woke before she slit their throats with her claws, and the wolves couldn't comprehend this specimen's infrared vision, and how their cover was blown.
Suffering from success, one could say. She slithered through the treeline, throat clicking and croaking in the impossible hope to hear the same call back. The beast had never seen another one like herself, but her instincts held out hope.
"...!?"
Prey!? Quite possibly, but it was unlike anything she has heard before. Although, it most definitely had a human quality. Humans, Callie's favored meal...
Her speed was unmatched in these woods, and her agility to match. A scaly blur snapping down most small trees like they were toothpicks, and leaps and bounds for that extra inch of distance and traversal. Callie's feet planted in the soil, right near where that irritating noise was originating from.
Secondary eyelids flickered, switching back and forth from her two forms of vision for optimal recon on...
Small humans.
Shrieking and calling out in some sort of repetitive, shrill cackle. Calliope's entire head craned from one side to the other, trying to decipher what she was witnessing. Her only exposure to humans was far different than these ones.
Much larger, far more built for defense. It finally clicked in the Raptor's mind, though. These must be what human young looked like. They were pathetic, if that was the case. Zero instinct, no preservation to speak of. They were in the presence of HER, and they were screaming their little heads off. A very primal feeling of frustration overtook Callie, causing her to let out a harsh exhale from her large snout.
Callie froze entirely, watching as the young ones all ceased their clamoring and looked into the brush. Within a moments notice, her scales started taking on the colors of the foliage, blending her in with this forest around them.
The ruse worked well, as she was already drawing in one of the females to investigate. While the rest of Callie's skin was a proper blend, the Raptor made her eyes a lighter shade of green intentionally to draw them in out of curiosity.
Something felt... Off, however. It was like something was hunting her, or haunting her to be more specific. Examining this small human was causing distress within Calliope, as if something was familiar with the entire experience. Panic, as she realized that she didn't want to harm these children.
It proved to be a terrible distraction. Calliope had no idea that a chopper was blowing in, very suddenly kicking up a dust storm into the forest opening. The predator unleashed a violent screech upon seeing very familiar sights on this aircraft. The child, and children all panicked and fled, calling for their elders in a fit.
The symbol, the humans aboard with their guns, the things on their face that mimicked her vision. Yes, these are her handlers, or were her handlers.
"THERE! THE VELOCIRAPTOR!"
"OMNISRAPTOR."
"SHUT THE FUNK UP."
The motion was unmistakable, as one of the humans loaded their weapon and took aim at her. Luckily for her, Calliope was fully aware of their hunting tactics. She was their hunting tactic. So, instead of running back off into the brush, she charged ahead, narrowly avoided a tranq in the process. She zipped right below the helicopter, and leaped straight into the opposing thick of forest.
"Goddammit. Smart little shit. Alright, call in the ground units."
Back on the run, with these disgusting humans on her back once again. First it was the island, now this. Callie was getting SICK of fleeing. SHE was the apex, the alpha, the hunter. Not these tool using meals.
She vented her frustrations while navigating the forest, piecing together a plan to kill that thing the humans fly in once and for all. The planning would have to wait a moment, though, as MORE just showed up on those loud bikes.
Two riders, bursting out of the trees on both sides of Callie, armed with the same guns that put her to sleep before. They had to keep those machines floored to match the specimen's speed, barely able to look over at her and aim their weapons.
Callie knew this. Knew that they were distracted, and desperate for her to be their quarry. As if to taunt them, she let out a few harsh barks of a sort, intentionally trying to aggravate her pursuers.
It seemed to work well enough, as one of them readied their rifle and squeezed the trigger... Just as Callie skidded to a complete halt, causing one human to shoot the other. The dart, being designed for the likes of a beast such as Callie, incapacitated the human instantly,causing him to slump off his bike and crumple int he dirt.
Such a blunder left the other human's eyes to the side long enough, and it drove him straight into a fallen tree. His screams were music to Callie's ears, for the short moments it lasted before she closed the distance, moving in like a barreling truck and clamping her many teeth down on the man's face. It took one swift motion to take most of his face with her.
"Ground team, do you copy? Ground team, respond. Ground team, respond. Well, they're probably freaking dead... GOD. DAMMIT."
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