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In a cage similar to those that others like herself were caged up in, a small - Well, small for her kind - reptile appeared to be sleeping.
Her consciousness was not completely slipping away into a deep sleep, with all the lights and sound it was almost like a constant daytime here. Although this was part of it, this was not the main reason she did not sleep deeply - she never let her guard down completely.

The sound of the door opening alerted her to the intrusion of the room she was in. Her sharp eyes opened and her head snapped up. The person who had entered was not one of the usual ones who came to talk to her, check on her. It was a new one. She watched him, a young scientist, her eyes narrowed into slits.
She was unnerving him, she could tell. He walked slowly, trying to act calm, and at one point looked like he was going to stop and attempt to talk to her.

He soon seemed to re-consider this idea, and as soon as he was out of the room, he almost ran away from the room. The small reptile couldn't help but laugh as he collided into some senior scientists. Her laugh was strange, almost human-sounding, but more like a cackle. Satisfied, she rested her head down again. Facts ran through her head, each one being discarded as they came.

New scientists were few and far between, but the ones that were unnerved by the creatures they had previously only heard about in books amused her.
She stretched. The scientists were buzzing on in the hallway, talking about something. She silently wished she could hear them.

Soon, two scientists entered the room. One of them was the new, young one, whilst the other was senior scientist that the reptile was not so fond of.
They were whispering, arguing about something. She strained to listen.

"Do I have to?" That was the new scientist.
"If you want to stay, yes." Was the gruff reply from the older one.

Suddenly the new scientist sighed, then the door to her cage - or cell, as they called it - was opened. Both scientists entered through the door.

The reptile got up, eyeing the two suspiciously, and began to speak.

"yez? Are you in need of zomething?" She asked in a strange accent.

When neither of them spoke, the older scientist coughed pointedly.

The younger man spoke up. "H-hello, I'm the newest scientist here.... you are Min, correct?"

The reptile nodded.

"Yez, I am. Min - Chineze, meaning clever, zharp. Originally, it waz -"

"We know, Min." Said the older scientist shortly.
Min shot him a look oozing with dislike, but did not continue her sentence.

The younger scientist seemed to gain a little confidence.
"I'm replacing ..."
He began to tell her why he was here, but Min only half listened.

Soon she realized she had zoned out, and both of the scientists were staring at her waiting for an answer. She blinked at them, and nodded.
They turned to leave, but just before they left Min alone again, the older scientist turned and said "Soon you may be ready to go on your first assignment."

When they had both left, Min began muttering to herself. "Well that'z good, zomething here, for once, iz good."

In an entirely different cell, a huge sabretooth tiger paced like a tiger in the zoo.

The thick tempered glass was quite small for a beast his size, and he thought once too many about using his asironite-injected fangs to crack the glass and escape, his keepers- the humans- would only catch him and put him in a smaller one.

"I don't deserve this..." he mumbled to himself. "They don't see my potential."

He stopped pacing as three spiffed-up scientists looked in, holding their hands behind their backs, as if they were worried that he would bite them off. And he would. If he had the chance, that is.

"This one is clearly impressive." The scientist on the far right remarked. "What's his name, again?"

"Rasputin." The middle scientist replied. "He's my pride and joy, this big guy right here."

"Well I'm no trophy to be shown off." Rasputin snarled, golden and red-tipped fur standing on end. "Just keep moving, fellas."

"Incredible!" the scientist on the far left exclaimed. "How many languages can he speak?"

The middle scientist replied, "English, Spanish, Italian, French, African, Mandarin, and Feline. Italian and English are his strongest though."

The left scientist shouted, "Amazing!"

Middle scientist replied, "We know... don't we Razzy?"

"DO NOT CALL ME RAZZY!!!!!!!" Rasputin screamed. He roared so loud and hard, a crack formed in the shape of a star on his glass wall. Rasputin kept his ears pinned back, eyes blazing, teeth bared, and metallic claws out when he roared again at the men, causing the crack to run longer and the overhead lights to shake and quiver.

Lefty and Righty ran for their lives as the Middle scientist stayed, unphased. He sternly and angrily stomped up to Rasputin's confinement.

"Rasputin." he began. "How many times have I told you not to do that? Hm?"

Rasputin looked up and said, "How many times have I told you not to call me Razzy? Hm?"

The scientist turned away and yelled, "Blakeck! Hammermin!" Two buff men came to his aid. "I want you two to take this beast to the replacement confinement for the night. And fix this crack as well." He walked away, leaving Blakeck and Hammermin facing the savage animal Rasputin snarling and growling.

The next thing he knew, Rasputin was being dragged across everyone else's confinement unit, which was incredibly humiliating.

Rasputin was being dragged by both of them jabbing his esophagus with a chain around his neck. He could feel the jagged metal digging into his flesh, creating crescant-shaped marks on the underside of his throat.

His front and back paws were tied together, unabling him from fighting his way out of it. His highly sensitive ears heard other creatures giggling and whispering about him through their cages. One paticular creature yelled at him in Spanish. "Tigre stupido!" meaning 'stupid tiger'.

Rasptuin growled menacingly.

As he was thrown into his Confined Encircled Largely-built Lock-down unit, or CELL unit, Blakeck grumbled, "This behavior isn't going to help you on your first mission."

Ok, posting order is officially: Me, Suka (Dr. Rex), Wolfie123, and Wolf Paws. If anyone else joins, we'll work them in somewhere. Also, I posted a size chart I edited to show off the differences in size among all the characters we have now. I tried to re-size the images so that they were fairly accurate in comparison, at least, and it should be a decent representation. Bandit is a bit shorter than that...I was having issues getting her exact height correct.

Bandit followed the young scientist to the door of her cage, keeping close but far enough away to maintain some sort of semblance of her independence, if that truly even existed at all in this place. As they approached the door, the man reached out to grab a small, rectangular object hanging from a thin metallic-looking cord on the inside of the airlock door. He placed the string around his neck carefully, looking back at the altered Velociraptor apologetically. She sneered at it, rolling her eyes.

"You would think, by now, that they'd trusst their own creationss after practically brainwashing them sso many timess to follow orders. If they really wanted to sstop uss, all they'd have to do iss speak the word. The chip does the rest." She clicked and chirped a bit, in her own language after this just to exaggerate her annoyance. As she'd begun talking more, her accent had started to waver and fade a little. Imitating normal human sounds in words was becoming easier everyday, but the hiss was still proving difficult for her to control at times. Gradually it would fade entirely, if she continued practicing. Though for the moment it didn't seem she really felt an interest in getting the accents exactly right.

"Rules are rules. Besides, this may be the last time we even have to use them in regards to even your training sessions if all goes well." He fingered the edges of the little device, created as a last resort mechanism to retain control over all of the creatures they'd created. This particular one was personalized to Bandit, like other devices might be linked to the others. It was more than likely of a different design than the rest, for it was meant to do several things. One being, if she somehow lost control, with the punch of a button her motor functions could be stripped from her control and she'd be little more than a sentient puppet. A little blue button controlled that function. Another button, bright, fluorescent red, on the device was covered with a relatively thick glass panel. It was clear by this, that no one wanted that button being punched by accident; and for good reason. "Just stay in control of yourself and the team. Fulfill your mission objective, and they should be convinced you're ready."

"Hmph," came her reply. They passed a cage that she didn't recognize as Min's on the way to the training room and she didn't look over. Instead she started uneasily as a faint rumble reached her ears, and then an explosion of sound. Glass cracked somewhere in the complex, though more than likely down a different corridor than the one they were in. The roar was one she faintly recognized, but even so, it tossed her senses into a heightened stage of awareness. Her claws tensed on her legs and she growled savagely, even as her companion fell into the wall.

The lights flickered, then stabilized and silence resumed except for the man's panting. The strained muscles in the raptor's body relaxed gradually and after a second or two, she looked over to the man, her gaze hard. "I'm s'possed to control that?" Her tone was quite rueful, and for good reason.

He shook his head in disbelief and murmured, "Looks like someone's going to end up putting us off schedule." He steadied himself and they continued down the corridor without any more incident. Bandit was led to a white paneled room she'd seen before. It was at least 10 times larger than her own cell, but it might have been bigger. The size was deceiving, especially since different panels of the walls could move and operate to suit the mission simulation. It was impossible to tell which of the panels were solid and permanent now - the transition was seamless. But from experience, Bandit could point out a few she remembered. She would have marked more in her mind, but the man's words distracted her. "Just wait here a bit. The others will be collected gradually. You'll be briefed when most of them are here."

"Most?"

"This is NOT dignified," Graer flapped, tugging defiantly at the leash corded around his neck. Although he was free-roaming about on the floor, a towering scientist held the other end of his metallic leash in a firm grip that wouldn't lighten. "I demand you let me off this thing AT ONCE!!"

"I will shortly," the senior scientist replied, keeping his gaze focused forward. "But first I must take you to the briefing room. As a dinosaur built for both flying and running around, we can't have such a versatile creature flapping through the corridors, can we?"

Grear snorted as he hopped about. "No, I suppose not. It's bad enough you bring us back to life, now you take it a step further by making us your pets."

"You really do learn."

The little dinosaur shrieked as loud and threateningly as he could, spreading his wings to their full 3-foot span, but the scientist's unmoved countenance proved him skilless at appearing ferocious. Onward, he was tugged, down the corridor. It was no challenge keeping up with the scientist, but the collar around his neck seemed to be getting tighter and tighter by the second. Finally, Graer had to ground his talons as deep down into the concrete floor as he could to screech to a halt. "In a minute," he said. "This thing's making me itchy."

The scientist stopped and scanned over the Archeopteryx as he lifted a wing and nibbled at the ruffled feathers under the strap of his high-tech backpack. He'd finished his upgrades, adding in a remote GPS system that could easily track up to five targets, new and sleek communications devices with improved reception, and a couple other gadgets that might prove useful on this mystery simulation. The hardest part of Graer's job, he thought, was deciding which gizmos to take along, as his weight capacity was very limited. He was also wearing a headset with an attached mic and a glass eyepiece over one eye. In addition to his gear, he also packed in a few personal weapons for his convenience; flashbangs, flares, smokescreens, and miniature frag grenades. Of course, as he was tagging along the scientist, all his equipment came installed with embedded software that disabled his gear at the push of a button. He didn't dare try to get around it. Not that he could, or even knew how -- at least that much, Graer thought with a disdainful smirk, he had to credit the scientists for.

When he was finished, he lowered his wing and hopped back to the stoic scientist's side. "Will this be another simulation run?" he asked.

"I just made you," he replied. "I don't give out the orders. Although I do hear you'll deployed for something very soon. All the usual expectations apply. Nothing short of a mission well accomplished. Aaaand... you'll be working with a team."

Graer released an embarrassing chirp. "A team?" He took a few moments to straighten himself out and regain his posture. "Who are they, why do I have to work with a team? You humans are so clumsy and stupid as it is, the only one suitable enough to bark orders at them would be another human."

"Then you'll be happy to know the team YOU'LL be working with will be a little more... elite." He swiped an access card through a reader and the thick metal doors in front of them quickly slid open with a high-pitched hiss, and Graer found himself staring into a colossal glass room. Its sheer size hooked the meager-sized dinosaur every time. He'd come to expect it -- but what he DIDN'T expect to find inside was a very (VERY) large velociraptor grinning slightly down at him.

Graer chirped.

He glowered up at the huge raptor, trying his best to look like he could pick a worthy fight, but his stance was given away by the manner in which he took a few steps back to obscure himself from view behind the stoic scientist's legs.

"Here he is," the scientist said to the other that had apparently accompanied the raptor. "I'll be in the observation deck." And with that, he looked down at a device in his hand and pushed a button. Immediately, Graer's collared leash unbinded him and the scientist coiled it around his hand before turning around and the briskly walking through the door they came in, which slid shut with another loud hiss. Unfortunately, that left Graer in plain sight with the grinning raptor. Being so close to the ground, what got to Graer the most was that he was nearly at eye-level with the creature's killer claw... it made his own talons look like rosebush thorns.

It took a load of effort, but Graer inhaled as deeply as he could and puffed out his chest as he took ginger steps towards the raptor. "Some of us were better off extinct," he muttered.

It all happened so fast.

The creak of a steel door filled the confinement unit. Suddenly, light flooded into the room. Blakeck and Hammermin arrived once more into Rasputin's sight, making his skin crawl.

The next thing was a bag. Not an ordinary linen bag, but one constructed of stronger material, was thrown over his head. A chain tightened around his neck, shooting white pain through his scars that then branched through his nerves to his entire body. Something was on top of the vicious creature, which he tried to shake off while he heard someone yelp, "Whatever you do, hold on!"

As he was being pulled down the corridor, he was thrashing almost as if he was having a seizure. He could see through the bag slightly, and he noticed some creatures staring through the glass of their units. "Tigre stupido!"

Rasputin was snarling and growling until Blakeck screamed, "Stop! You're being escorted to the meetingplace for your first real assignment! Now stop moving!"

Rasputin stopped moving entirely, even stopped walking, and said a muffled, "Assignment?" Blakeck replied in an annoyed tone, "Yes, assignment. You'll be working with a team. Now keep moving!" Rasputin still didn't move. "No! No teams! I can do an entire mission by myself and you know it!" He began thrashing around again, trying to get free of the chain he was being hauled by, when Hammermin held him down again to keep him still.

Next, the prick. Rasptuin felt something thin and sharp stick into his skin, which suddenly made him very weak and sleepy...

Then, the bag was removed, he regained conciousness, and he found himself on the floor of an enormous room with whitewashed walls. He jumped up immediately and shot out his claws. The tiger's terrifying yellow eyes scanned the room, and when he laid eyes on two figures in the corner of the room, he bared his 8 inch long fangs and pinned his ears back, making him look as menacing as possible.

"Who are you two?!" Rasputin roared. One was tall and smirking at the shorter one, while the shorter one looked as if it was about to pis* its pants (if it had any on). Rasputin recognized them almost instantly: Velocrapters.

Ooc:// Dr. Rex wasn't posted on your list, Aniu, so I didn't know if I could post now, or if I had to wait. If I'm out of order though, please don't delete this post! I'm sure we'll be back on track soon.

For future reference, I call Dr. Rex "Suka". It was his old username. It's fine though, we can deal with a little difference in order for now ^.^ I wouldn't worry about deleting it.

Min barely had time to stretch when the young scientist came back. "What do you want now?" She asked in a bored tone, although she was actually interested.
"Well, I'm not sure." He began. Min's brow furrowed, and she opened her mouth, intending to make a smart remark, but soon decided better of it. "I'm here to escort you somewhere, I think it was something about that assignment, but, I'm not sure..."

If Min had had ears like a dogs, they would have pricked up at that moment. "Oh, really?" Min said, trying to sound uninterested and failing.
"Yes" Came his response "Follow me now..." He went to the door of her cell, which began to open with a small click. Min tried to hide a smirk as the new scientist walked out. He was forgetting...

"Oh, oops! I almost forgot this..." He said half to himself, gabbing the collar-like object and slipping it onto Min's neck. Min's smirk turned into a scowl. At least she was out of that boring cell now, though. The scientist she was with began to lead her to wherever they were going, but soon got lost. "Min, do you know where we are.... No, you wouldn't know...." Said the scientist in distress. Min sighed and rolled her eyes. "Azk zomeone" She suggested. He glanced at her with a look of distaste. "I'd rather not..." He began, letting his voice trail off as Min glared up at him through narrowed eyes.

"O-okay, then" He stammered. Min turnt away, trying to hide a smile. She was, after all, only just below this scientist waist. She was not a big dinosaur at all. But he was still scared of her.

When she turned back, he was thanking someone. Another scientist, who sneered at Min as he walked past. She knew he was one of those who worked with the bigger dinosaurs, and he was obviously not a fan of those smaller, like herself. She simply sneered back at him before following the younger scientist again.

Eventually they arrived at a room. Well ,the door to a room. The scientist beside her brightened up "I found it!" He exclaimed. Mi began muttering under her breath at this, gaining her some confused glances from the young scientist. Sighing again, she chirruped "Open the door, will you?!"
"Oh, yes, the door" He muttered, opening it and leading her inside.

He got one glance of the dinosaurs inside, and he was gone. Luckily for Min, he had remembered her collar-like device this time. A small grin remained on her face as she wondered what he would do if he had to care for some of these bigger dinosaurs.

He attention soon tuned to her new companions. One was a large feline, unmistakably a saber-tooth lion, while the other two looked like a Velociraptor and a... well, something smaller than Min. Min didn't think there were any dinosaurs smaller than her here. It was most likely an Archaeopteryx. Min stared down at it. How good it felt to actually stare down at someone, instead of up at them, for a change.

Trying to hide another smirk, she looked closely at them all. The smallest, the Archaeopteryx, looked scared. With good reason, thought Min, deciding that the Saber-tooth tiger did not look happy. As for the Velociraptor, those claws were definitely larger than usual. Min had claws like those herself, but she felt as if they would be like a cat's claws in comparison to the Velociraptors.

Stretching, Min wondered whether to break the silence. The Saber-tooth looked like it was about ready to eat someone, but Min decided that it was most likely the scientists he wanted to eat, not the other dinosaurs. Well, hopefully.

"Hello" She chirruped "I'm Min."

Ooc:// Ok, I'm getting back in sequence now ^^

Rasputin whipped his head around to the small creature, 'Min', and stared at her with piercing eyes, making her withdraw.

He growled, rumbling in his throat that sounded like rocks crashing down a mountain. He slowly stepped towards Min, claws making a clicking sound when they scraped the floor, leaving marks.

"So you're the teacher's pet, huh?" he began, "Well let me tell something to you. I refuse to take orders from anyone."

Rasputin turned his head to the other two creatures and added, "And if any of you have a problem with that, you can talk to the hierarchy advisors." He held a paw in front of his face and flexed his claws.

"No one tells me what to do." he continued, "That's why I loathe these fleshy humans."

Rasputin put his paw down and stood his ground. Sitting is a form of submission to the opponent for sabers, and Rasputin knew -or thought he knew- that he could overtake one of these dinosaurs in one fatal bite.

He didn't say this out loud, but he thought, "If any one of them dares to overpower me, I'll make them look like "

(Note: I'll start using this same format for now on for my posts. You don't have to use it, it's just an fyi, so no one gets confused. Italics are thoughts, reptile/raptor speech will be in blue. I may add other things as I see fit, but for now just remember that this is the way I'll do it in my posts.)

Bandit tilted her head as the smaller creature looked up at her, seemingly intimidated. Of course, she couldn't blame him for that reaction - just about everyone she'd ever met had done much the same thing the first time they saw her. What an interesting looking specimen he was...he had the feathers that she should have had and it seemed that none of his coloration patterns had been altered, either by accident or on purpose. But what interested her even more than the rest of his appearance was the metallic object situated on his head, and the pack strapped to his back. Why on earth was he carrying all that junk around, wouldn't it only hinder him more when it came time to begin the exercise? Of course, his muttered statement didn't go unnoticed among all this.

It struck the velociraptor as odd at first, especially considering just how bold of a statement it was. At first, she couldn't decide what expression she really wanted to show, but eventually she settled on amusement. "Actually, we were probably all better off that way." She gave him a wry sort of grin after that, not really sure how to interpret him yet. She'd have to wait to get a feel for him before she really evaluated him, but she was sure that at least their future interactions would be entertaining, if nothing else.

In another few minutes the next member of their team was brought in, a cover over his head. The two men who'd escorted him here removed the cover and left just as the saber was starting to come to. Of course, as soon as he was conscious enough he'd started surveying his surroundings and making a general racket, including shouting towards them. The raptor's eyes narrowed, watching him carefully, already evaluating his stance. It seemed weak and hurried; His ears were back, a common sign of aggression or unease in predatory breeds. She ignored his question, continuing simply to stare in his general direction until the door opened again, and another joined them. Another type of raptor, this one feathered like the Archeopteryx was (and like Bandit herself should have been), sauntered in.

But, unlike their other newest addition to the room, this one seemed to be in a generally all around better mood. In fact, by Bandit's reasoning, this "Min" seemed downright chipper. One of her brows raised in response to this strange attitude and she thought, 'There's something wrong with her...'. Her expression would have almost been comical if her mouth had pulled into a bemused look along with her brow, but instead it sank into a strange sort of frown. But she had to admit, the cheerful mood was more pleasant than the irritation that the tiger was radiating.

And of course, his royal pain in the arse chose that moment to again speak, going so far as to start moving in on Min, then direct his words toward them. The forceful paw placement on the ground might have been a nice touch, especially towards other sabers who would understand the meanings of such body language inherently. But to the large velociraptor, it was more like an elicited challenge than anything.

She'd been slouching a bit, somewhat relaxed. But after that little display, she drew herself up to her full height, staring down at him. The large, seven inch long claws tapped the tiled floor a few times before the tendons holding them tightened again, holding them at a wicked angle. Of course, that angle only would make it all the easier to plunge them into whatever target she chose. Her lips parted, revealing two rows of nasty teeth. Sure, they wouldn't make a shark bashful, but even without the length the saber had, they might still give him a run for his money.

"Well, issn't that nicse? But I think they might dissagree with you."

As she said it, her eyes narrowed and she gestured with a toss of her head and a wave of her hand towards two large, reinforced one-way glass panes set near the ceiling of the tall room. Surely most of the ones who'd brought them there had made it up to the observatory now, and more than likely several others whom they'd never seen before. For an instant she locked her eyes on the glass and scowled in its general direction, but then brought the scowl back down on her current irritant. She only moved one clawed foot forward to emphasize her annoyance, then spoke again.

"At any rate, she did nothing to you. Sso, I ssuggesst you leave her." She let out a bit of a growl on the last word, just to let the tiger know exactly how irritated she was. Then followed a steady stream of clicks and chirps, in which she spoke in a more reptilian and raptor-ish language that Min, and possibly Graer, might be able to understand. "Stupid overgrown house cat had better stop tap dancing on my nerves or he'll find out how generous I'm being with my patience." She snorted and then relaxed a considerable amount before turning to Min and Graer. Sure, she was still a little miffed, but her expression was a bit less hostile now. She nodded and said calmly, "Name'ss Bandit."

She might have added more to the simple statement (though probably not), but suddenly a man's voice filled the room from somewhere above, though there was no detectable speaker system it could have come from. "Hurry and get through your pleasantries and determine what each of your strengths and weaknesses are quickly. Your mission will begin in approximately 5 minutes when the bell sounds. We've already got a pretty good idea who the leader should be, but for this one mission only we'll let you figure it out." Despite the fact that the voice must have been coming from some sort of PA system, the sound was remarkably clear, though Bandit could still detect imperfections. "Your prep time begins ticking now. Get to it."

Graer felt utterly frail in a room that was already beginning to feel smaller and smaller when packed with ferocious, primeval beasts. Though he barely knew the velociraptor that greeted him in, when the other dinosaur named Min and a cocky Siberian Tiger came in roaring out threats, he skittered back, behind the giant raptor for all he felt he was worth. Min creeped him out with her optimism, as did the tiger with his pessimism. Had Graer been blessed with a bigger, stronger build, he'd have gone and taught him a little lesson on teamwork. But when the giant velociraptor took a menacing step closer at the large cat, he thought he had his work cut out for him.

But that was before the intercom reverberated out a disembodied voice. "Your prep time begins ticking now. Get to it." At the intercom's last words, the pack on Graer's back lit up, and the glass eyepiece on his headwear beeped to life. Instantly, windows appeared in front of him; his applications came pre-loaded with the information of his fellow team mates -- Bandit, Min, and Rasputin. Their icons blinked, and beside them, came their heart rates and voice recorders, the signals coming directly from the amplifying devices embedded in their bodies, which he easily received from his pack, which in turn, was connected with HQ (the scientists and generals in the observation deck) to relay any warnings and orders to the others.

In addition to his gear, the mini-bombs he'd made a point to pack were also enabled. Flares, flashbangs, frags, and smokescreens. Now that they were on, a surge of courage streaked through Graer -- technology brought them back; if he wanted to, he could make it send them back, as he was the only suited technician of the team, it suddenly made him feel a little bit more important. Let the other have their brawn, he thought, spreading his wings. And with a running leap, he bounded in the air and smacked right into the saber's face.

"Now listen here... Rasputin. You oversized bucktooth. I've completed every mission, simulation, and Rubix's Cube ever thrown at me in perfect time, perfect record, and in perfect ease. I don't know and I don't care if you want to complete this last run, because quite frankly, you're going to either way. And I am NOT going to jeopardize my one shot at a real assignment because some hot-shot, cockass feline can't find it in himself to follow simple orders. So here's your first: mess this up for me, and I WILL have you farting flares for a week. Got it!"

And with that, he leapt off the giant tiger's face and soared high out of reach, just as the white panels around them flickered and began to morph into a scene; it was dark, and the team had just been ported to a large grass field. Off in the distance was a majestic mansion, every window lit up through thin shades. Tall trees and shrubs that decorated the landscape further obscured their vision, but it was all too obvious that that was where they were supposed to be headed.

Graer flapped and perched himself on the limb of a tall tree that overlooked the scene, still in sight from the others, but inaccessible. As he got himself situated, commands and layouts were sent to his headseat from HQ. He relayed what he was supposed to tell the others:

"Alright, freaks of nature, listen up. My name's Graer, I'll be your operator for this evening. Keep in mind that what I said to Rasputin goes for all of you as well. So at least for your own sakes if not the rest of ours, don't screw this up. I have all your vital signs monitored and a layout of the site downloaded. My orders to you all come directly from HQ, so as long as you all listen and do exactly as I say, at least if you die, it won't be my fault."

The chips in his brain were hardwired into his gear; all he had to do was think of something and all the information he had on it was displayed on his headset. At his unspoken command, a small hologram projecter flashed out of his eyepiece, displaying to the others, the face of an old, stern man. Wrinkles stitched his face together, and flaps of flesh were sagging off his frowning face.

"This is our target, Adrik Ivanov. Russian of course, go figure. But not just any Russian; a senator of strong support for android and clone rights. He's scheduled to speak at a world conference in a few weeks to rally foreign government superpowers into giving him more protection -- its our job to make sure he won't need it."

The picture flipped back into Graer's headset, and out projected a 3-D blueprint of the mansion. As Graer spoke, the image turned itself over to give the dinosaurs a better view of what they were supposed to be looking at. "The mansion is divided into 4 floors and a basement. Ivanov can be in any one of them, but being the rich ******* he is, his office is situated on the top floor, and it's likely that's where he'll be camping out... But that's already assuming you freaks have the wit to get inside in the first place.

"Security is tight, but I'm sure we have enough scales, tails, claws, and ego to get through. Armed militants keep a 24-hour guard on the front gate, plus all the usual things you'd expect to come from a filthy-rich politician; attack dogs, automatons, androids, and corporate flunkies. Those who wish to enter the not-so-easy way have to provide a DNA sample at the gates, which is then cleared for entry when a guard on the other side of the gate gives their DNA sample once it's confirmed.

"Sorry to break this to you freaks, but we'll have the penetrate the outer defenses by stealth. Rasputin, since I like you the least, you're delegated the task of getting past the fence and opening the gate up for the others. Once inside, instead of just running to the top floor, the lot of you need to head to the basement, where the network consoles are kept. I'll give you further instructions on what to do there, so I can gain access to the security mainframe and keep it open long enough to disable the other security devices you're likely to come across.

"Now here's where it gets tricky," Graer continued as the hologram flickered back into his headset. "HQ allows the use of lethal force on anyone and everyone who gets in your way. Humans, automatons, and of course, Ivanov. HOWEVER!! Any and all androids must be captured, UNHARMED, at all costs. If so much as one of them is damaged beyond repair, old kitty-cat isn't the only one who's gonna be shooting fireworks from his tail-end. Since humans and androids pretty much look alike on the outside, a safe test to do is to make a light -- LIGHT, mind you -- incision on the body. Humans bleed red, obviously, but androids must be immersed in a gooey, silver-colored coolant to keep their parts from overheating.

"Lastly, I can't stress enough how important it is that you get to the basement and have me override the system. We're all in the danger-zone until I disable the security network. If any of you are detected and reported back to Ivanov before then, he can lockdown the entire facility at the push of a button, and you'll all be trapped inside with no way for me to help, since the systems will also be locked. Once I gain access to the shut down procedures, Ivanov will have no way to initiate a lockdown, and all the automated protection devices will be kaput, including (but not limited to) automatons and locks."

Graer ruffled his feathers and puffed himself up on his branch. "Any questions?"

Unawares that she had come off at all optimistic, Min was ready to snap some smart remark back to the Saber-tooth, when the raptor stepped in. Min was undecided on whether to be grateful, or whether to remind them all that she could stick up for herself. Staring back at the Saber-tooth, she decided to just keep quite.

She head the raptor mutter something in her own kinds language, but she could only make out one or two words. She stopped and listened suddenly as she head the speaker going off. "Your prep time begins ticking now. Get to it." She saw The smallest of them light up like a firefly, and her head whipped over in his direction. He was covered with gadgets, and did not hesitate to get his own back form the Saber-tooth.

"Now listen here... Rasputin. I've completed every mission, simulation ...... And I am NOT going to jeopardize my one shot at a real assignment because some hot-shot, cockass feline can't find it in himself to follow simple orders... mess this up for me, and I WILL have you farting flares for a week. Got it!"

"From that statement..." thought Min "I'd say I'd rather not get on his bad side.. sounds like he'd do more than just use his claws and teeth..."

Introducing himself as Graer, the bird-like reptile began explaining their mission. Min's attention receded to a pinpoint, and she focused utterly and completely on what she would have to do. She watched as a picture, the3n a 3-D model of the mansion they were sneaking into projected out of Graers headset. Her brain took in every detail.

Adrik Ivanov was their target. He certainly sounded like he had a lot of security. What a waste, against such creatures like themselves. A thought crossed her mind as Graer mentioned the androids had to come back unharmed. She licked her lips in thought. Graer continued on. He finished with "Any questions?".

Min peered up intently, searching her mind for anything she wanted to ask, but she found nothing. Her intent gaze now switched to the others, to see what their reaction might be. Min thought about the mission ahead. Really, everything seemed fine... She just hoped that Rasputin didn't decide to not bother checking to see whether what he was attacking was human or android.

A smile crossed Min's face as she flexed her claws, thoughts of using them ahead.
"Nope, I've got no questions." She said, eager to start.

Wonderful character, Jersey. It looks like you put a lot of thought into him, and originality, if I must say so. Thank you so much for posting him. If you had an extra post (and I think you said you did, a little tired right now, so details are sketchy for me) go ahead and post it. And, if you want, you can include a post to jump right into the story. I'll leave it up to you, but just join in whenever you're ready or we reach a smooth point (like, after the mission, if we do get started before you're ready).