Chapter 12
BUCKY AND TONY
Gyrosphere Valley
They drove through the grassy plains, the engine rumbling as the jeep rocked at each bump. Tony roughly pushed his phone in his pocket and another failed attempt at getting a hold of Peter. He had tried calling three times now, each time it went straight to voicemail. He only hoped that it was because of the gyrosphere or Peter just had his phone on silent. He didn't not let his mind over to the more horrible scenarios that was bouncing around in his head.
He look forward once more and in front of the jeep, he could see a large, greyish-blue mass laying on its side, making Bucky to slow to a stop. He gripped his rifle before looking at Tony. "Stay here."
Tony watched as Bucky got out of the jeep, rifle at the ready as he approached the animal. Once Bucky decided that it was safe, he slung the rifle on his back and crouched. his hands going to the poor thing's head to comfort her. Tony took this time to get out of the jeep and slowly made his way up the length of the Apatosaurus. He could see deep, bleeding claw marks all over her flank that was trailing over her back. As he got closer to the head, his heart dropped as soon as she saw crystal blue eyes glancing up at him. He knew those eyes on a Apatosaurus anywhere.
"Oh...Darla..." Tony muttered sadly as he got down on his knees, hands gently settling on the junction where her neck met her jaw. His fingers stroked as he watched as Bucky's hands petted the back of her head. "It's okay, big girl. It's okay."
He could feel Bucky's eyes on him but he paid the other man no mind. All he had eyes for was Darla, who had once stumbled into his legs when she had just hatched while he was visiting the incubation room and the nursery. He could remember two wide, crystal blue eyes staring up at him in wonder while her handler was rushing over, hastily apologizing. His response was to simply wave the handler off and proceed to sit down and cuddle the little hatchling.
Darla jerked her head up suddenly, letting out a pained moan that Tony could feel, reverberating in his bones, making him pull his hand away.
"It's okay." Bucky soothed, helping Darla lay her head down once more. "It's all right."
Darla let out a agonizing, labored breath that pulled on Tony's heart. He resumed stroking her gently. "You're okay, pretty girl. You're okay."
Tony watched as those crystal blue eyes slowly closed as she took one, last inhale before she breathed out, the tenseness he had felt where he had his hand went lax and her flank stilled. No breath came from her mouth or nostrils again. This time, Darla would never wake up again.
Tony could feel his eyes begin to water, but he didn't let the tears fall. He could feel guilt eat away at him now as he continued to sit there, hand still on poor Darla. He knew that he should have said something about the Indominus Rex project and yet, he didn't.
He took his hand away and carefully stood up before noticing that Bucky was already standing, walking a few steps away from Darla. Tony walked over to him before he froze at what he saw down the hill they were standing on.
Dead Apatosaurus littered the ground, deep, angry gashes all all over their bodies- as well as birds pecking at the gashes. The ground around each of them were turned up, signifying that a struggle had taken place. He could only stare, his eyes starting to shake at the sheer weight of what the hybrid could really do.
"She didn't eat them." Bucky stated. "She's killing for sport."
"Fuck..." Tony swore. "Fuck! I...this wasn't suppose to happen! She wasn't suppose to..."
Tony gritted his teeth, his hands trembling hard as he continued to take in the scene before him. "We fucked up- I fucked up!"
"Tony." he heard Bucky spoke but Tony ignored the other man.
"I knew how most of the whole imprinting works- I should have had a handler be there for them! I should have done more!"
"Tony!" Hands came down on his biceps, forcing him to turn. His eyes met Bucky's and his mouth was quick to slam shut. "Stop it. Stop blaming yourself. No one could have known this would happen before they were born. You didn't know. It is not your fault, you hear me?"
It took a moment of them just staring at each other before Tony slowly nodded. After a small, comforting squeeze, Bucky let the other's arm go.
"Now, come on. We gotta find your boys."
They were back in the jeep and driving through the forest after noting the broken gate when they came across it. Tony knew, just knew somewhere in his mind that his boys would have drove right through the gate if given the chance. When he sees the two again, they are going to be so grounded.
When Bucky stopped as they came upon the missing gyrosphere, now all broken with glass everywhere, Tony's heart dropped. Both he and Bucky climbed out of the jeep and made their way over to the sparkling and glitching sphere. Tony watched as Bucky shouldered his rifle, took out his knife and dislodged a tooth that was stuck in the blue frame. The manager began to look around, scanning the forest surrounding them before he saw a familiar cell phone on the ground. He dropped to his knees, not caring that he was getting his suit pants dirty and scooped up the phone. It was badly cracked and he held back a broken sound.
"Hey!" Bucky stated, catching his attention before pointing over to the two sets of prints. "They made it out."
Tony let out a small sound of relief before he got to his feet and followed the footprints until he and Bucky reached the top of the waterfall. "Oh thank God, they jumped."
"They're brave kids." Bucky grunted.
Tony wanted to yell out their names but he didn't He knew that it would put he and Bucky in danger. So, he slipped of his suit jacket and dropped it, his tie and vest following.
"...What are you doing?" Bucky eyed the other.
"We're gonna be taking a stroll through the jungle, right? It's going to be hot. I rather not overheat while looking for them." From the corner of his eye, he could see Bucky smiling ever so slightly at Tony's reply.
"Point taken."
Tony rolled his sleeves up and, after a deep breath, he began to walk away, Bucky following after him.