The sun was already by the horizon, Narumi's eyes were darting everywhere and her breathing was erratic. The blood around her mouth was still slick in deep red. Matabei paced back and forth, while Kohaku inspected the blood trail in the courtyard.

"Oh shit!" Narumi panicked, "Morita! Kurosawa-senpai!"

"I don't know where they are! They left us!" Matabei exclaimed, his tone hinting at bitterness. His hands were on his hips. "We were supposed to stick together, and those two just left us!"

"Uh...Uh..." Narumi stammered, "W-We got to go find them."

"How?" Matabei looked around.

"Follow the blood," Kohaku said, pointing at the small patches of red leading to the school's building. Narumi turned in Kohaku's direction, and her look of confusion slowly turned into a focused one.

"Come on." Narumi trotted onwards with Kohaku and Matabei. The three followed the blood trail, through the hallways till it brought them to the home economics classroom. Narumi entered the home economics classroom with Matabei behind her. Kohaku was about to follow when he spotted a broken mobile phone on the floor.

Narumi and Matabei saw the horrible mess in the classroom with the opened broom cabinet and the pool of blood. "What the hell happened here?"

Kohaku stepped into the room, glancing at everything. "I think they cornered Morita-senpai here. The woman you fought earlier came here. She must have met up with the other people that were after us. There was a scuffle, but they must have taken Morita-senpai."

"How the hell do you know that?" Matabei eyeballed him. To answer his question, Kohaku held up the crushed phone he had picked up.

"That's Morita's phone. Oh, God." Narumi said with worry as she took the phone from him.

"I don't know about Kurosawa-senpai but it's possible they got him as well. We haven't seen him since we got separated earlier." Kohaku added.

Matabei slapped his forehead, pacing around the room. "Aw shit! This is all going to hell! They left us! They should have stayed with us, but they left us!"

"Itou! Enough!" Narumi turned to him. "We're going to save Morita and Kurosawa-senpai. We're going to find those bastards who took them."

"How? We don't even know where they've gone!" Matabei pointed out.

"They must have gone to see Doctor Rossiter," Kohaku said with arms crossed, a frown plastered on his face.

"But where is this doctor? Back at GenaTech?"

"Maybe. But we don't know for sure." Kohaku said.

Then a frustrated growl escaped Narumi's teeth. "Dammit, I can't think with all the blood everywhere! The smell is so strong like it's in my brain!"

As if a lightbulb lit up over Narumi's head, she sniffed the air. "Wait."

The scent of iron was flowing through the classroom, towards the door, and to the hallway. The cogs in Narumi's mind were turning; if she could pick up the scent of the camouflaging woman when she fought her in the courtyard, they might be able to follow the other bleeding mercenaries.

"You guys can smell it, right? The blood?" Narumi asked the boys. Kohaku took a whiff of air, followed by Matabei.

"Yes, I can smell it," said Kohaku.

"Yeah. But so what?" Matabei added.

"We follow the blood with our noses." Narumi gave her outlandish idea to them.

"What?! Seriously?!" Matabei raised a brow. "What are we? Bloodhounds?"

"We got to try something!" Narumi urged him. "If we have to follow them like this, then that's what we're going to do!"

"What about Tachibana-sensei? Or that Doctor Song? We can't just leave them."

"We can't do anything for them now. We have to go, otherwise we'll lose Morita and Kurosawa-senpai!" Narumi raised her voice, taking the lead among the three.

After Narumi rinsed the blood off her hands and mouth by the home economics room kitchen sink, the three of them followed the scent of blood flowing through the hallways. They rushed down the hallway while sniffing out the blood in the air. The mercenaries had a very distinctive scent as if there was a foul rot in the trail. It led them to the shoe cabinets by the school building's entrance.

"Hey." Matabei pointed out another phone that was on the floor. He picked it up and inspected the phone's cracked screen. "This is Kurosawa-senpai's phone."

"Shit." Narumi gritted her teeth and took the phone from him. "They can't be far."

"I'll take to the skies," said Matabei as he removed his school uniform, revealing his navy blue outfit underneath. It took him roughly half a minute before he fully turned into the Tropeognathus. He leaped into the air and flew up, leaving Kohaku to be the one to pick up his school uniform. Tropeognathus climbed higher and higher until he was way above the school.

They continued to follow the trail, they sniffed the air and followed their noses. as they hurried down the main road from school with Tropeognathus circling over them. Narumi breathed in deep through her nose and took a moment to process the scent in the air. She turned her head, gazing through the sakura trees by the roadside.

"They went in there," said Narumi, whiffing the air a second time for confirmation. "Yeah."

He turned and peered his ears, he picked up a sound that was coming from the road in the distance. "Uchida-senpai. I can hear the sirens already."

"Then let's get out of here already," said Narumi.

She hurried through the woods with Kohaku behind her and Tropeognathus flying over them. Sakura petals were swirling all over as they dashed through until they reached the canal.

"What the hell?" Narumi said confusedly. Kohaku, standing by her side, took a sniff and narrowed his eyes. The scent was heading downstream, and since the mercenaries were not in the vicinity, Kohaku had one conclusion.

"They must have gone downstream by boat," said Kohaku.

"Boat?" Narumi gave a puzzled look,

"They must have had it docked last night. This canal connects to the main waterway."

"Where the hell are they taking Morita and Kurosawa-senpai?"

"I'm not sure. But maybe we can still catch up to them," said Kohaku.

"Let's go," said Narumi and they trudged down the riverside.

Tropeognathus watched Narumi and Kohaku from above, the blood trail was still fresh in his nose, and he picked up speed soaring over the canal. Narumi and Kohaku could see him getting far ahead to scout downstream. Narumi and Kohaku trekked down the riverside, the scent of the river water did not impede their sense of smell. They were honing on the faint smell of blood, boot leather, black powder, and that distinctive foul rot.

The sakura trees were starting to thin out, the river was getting wider as they headed further east. While they were following the trail, Narumi's mind had been running through the current events, and it was weighing her more than ever.

We were supposed to be a team and we just got wrecked. Morita and Kurosawa-senpai just left us like that, and they got captured. Tachibana-sensei is... Narumi froze and bit her lip as Yukari came into her head. What the hell am I doing?

Kohaku nearly bumped into her back when Narumi stopped in her tracks. "Uchida-senpai?"

It's a miracle no one was killed! A miracle you're not dead!

Narumi words crept into her mind. Kohaku saw Narumi shifting her body uncomfortably and she huddled her arms. She sucked in air through her teeth.

"Taiyo-san," said Narumi, there was clear uncertainty in her voice.

"Senpai?"

"W-Were you s-scared? Back at school?" Narumi stammered.

"Huh?"

"Were you scared?"

Kohaku glanced up in the sky, the Tropeognathus flying away was still in his periphery. He threw the question back at Narumi. "Were you scared, senpai?"

"I asked first," said Narumi, her brows furrowed.

"Uh..." Kohaku's voice lowered. He could not lie to her about this, "Yeah. I was."

Narumi was half-expecting his answer, but to hear it from the guy who had been anticipating GenaTech's plans. It was not encouraging to her. She had to hide her face from him.

"If you are telling me that, imagine how I am right now." Narumi rubbed her face in frustration, "This wasn't supposed to happen. None of this was supposed to happen. All that big talk about a superhero, but I was...I was scared."

Kohaku listened to her frustrations. The worried face she was pulling did not sit well with him, and he clenched a fist. Narumi continued, "How can we get Morita and Kurosawa-senpai back? How am I going to pull this off now?"

"Uchida-senpai. You can do this. Because you've done what none of us have." said Kohaku.

"What's that?"

"You brought us together."

Narumi raised her head to Kohaku. He then said, "You made this group happen. You were the one who came to me when this whole dinosaur situation happened, and then you sought out the rest. If you can seek us out the first time, you can do it again."

Narumi stood there frozen, staring at him with her lips parted. She could not help the pink tint in her cheeks. "D-Did you just come up with that in your head? Or did you have that written down yesterday?"

Kohaku frowned and his eyes drifted to the side. Narumi then quickly said, "No, I'm sorry. T-Thank you, Taiyo-san. You're right, we can do this."

Narumi let out a low growl, she was getting pumped up. Come on, Narumi! You saved that mother and son, you stopped that jewelry robbery! You got this!

"Come on, Taiyo-san! We're going to save the day!" Narumi growled through clenched teeth. She sniffed out the air once more, thankfully the scent trail was still present. She tilted her head up, Tropeognathus' figure was getting smaller as he flew downriver. They were going to have to sprint to keep up.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

"Let's go!" Narumi bellowed. She dashed ahead and Kohaku was right behind her. It did not take long till the canal connected to a wide river channel. Shortly after, they got onto the river's esplanade and continued their pursuit.

The sun had disappeared on the horizon. Thanks to his enhanced vision, Tropeognathus was able to survey the waters properly in the dark of night. He spotted a boat further down the river. Not like a yakatabune or the regular water buses. It was a sleek and black rigid inflatable boat.

One would think it was a police patrol boat, but it did not fool the Tropeognathus. Especially when he recognized four people onboard, they were the assassins that attacked the schools. Tropeognathus could not tell who was the man behind the wheel, but judging by how he looked, this was the man in charge of those assassins. In the middle of the boat's deck, Etsudo and Daichi were lying there tied and gagged.

It's them. Oh man. Tropeognathus had half a mind to swoop down and grab Etsudo and Daichi. But that would have been a bad idea. At the moment, he had to stay in the air and watch where the boat was going.

Narumi and Kohaku continued to sprint down the river esplanades, ignoring the looks they were getting from anyone enjoying their evening by the water. They could still see Matabei in the air and followed the pterosaur. The prehistoric strength in their legs enabled them to go faster and further than any other person. They traveled further east. Matabei kept watch on the boat while Narumi and Kohaku followed Matabei to the fishing port. However, Narumi and Kohaku's chase came to an end when the Tropeognathus flew past the port and the lighthouse, essentially heading out into the ocean.

"What the hell?" Narumi, panting her lungs out, squinted her eyes in confusion, "Where is he going?"

She scanned the waters, trying to pinpoint what Matabei was following, and she spotted the boat driving away from the port, towards the beach areas of the coast. She could see the boat heading for a dark shape by the waters. "Taiyo-san, you see that boat? That's what Itou is following. Morita and Kurosawa-senpai must be on it."

"Yes, I see it." Kohaku nodded. "It's heading for that island."

"An island?" Narumi took a second look at the dark shape hidden in the night. With steep slopes and a plateauing top, the island almost had a volcanic shape. "Come on, let's get to the beach."

Tropeognathus watched the boat getting further from port. It slowed down as they approached the minuscule island. From how high he was flying, Tropeognathus guessed the distance between the beach and the island was roughly two and a half kilometers.

He turned around and banked downwards, descending towards the empty beach where Narumi and Kohaku were.

"Itou!" Narumi waved her arms at him. He flew down towards Narumi and Kohaku, his beating wings soon created a cloud of sand. Controlling his descent, he landed safely at Kohaku's side. Narumi rushed to him, "Itou, you saw them?"

Shaking the sand off himself, Matabei nodded at her.

"You saw Morita and Kurosawa-senpai?" asked Narumi.

He nodded again and pointed his snout at the island. The three took a moment to process the whole notion; Etsudo and Daichi were taken to an island off the coast of the city.

"Why would they take Morita and Kurosawa-senpai there? I don't get it." Narumi shook her head.

"Maybe Doctor Rossiter is over there," Kohaku suggested. Tropeognathus looked at him with a squawk.

"Morita and Kurosawa-senpai are over there. We have to get there as well." Narumi gritted her teeth. She started looking around. "I don't know how, but we got to figure out something. Maybe we can go back to the port. See if anyone can help us. A fisherman."

"And how are we going to explain to a fisherman that we need a boat?" Kohaku asked with skepticism.

"Boat..." Narumi slowly turned and stared at Kohaku. She had an idea.

----------------------------------------

Daichi's eyes twitched and opened, only to have light piercing into them and he instantly shut them. The left side of his whole body felt sore and cold from the metal floor he had been lying down on. Wriggling his fingers and toes, he could slowly feel his limbs again. His body was quickly recovering from the sedative. Groaning and writhing, he groggily got up to his feet.

"Goddammit." He cursed and took a look around him.

The air was dank and there was the sound of water dripping somewhere. Hanging white lights shined from above. He was boxed in grimy brick walls along with a prison cell gate with steel bars.

"Mm." There was a weak moan by his side, Etsudo was lying there imprisoned just like him. She had a bruise on her temple and dried blood on her lip. Seeing her state, Daichi was quickly filled with concern.

"Morita." He crouched and shook her shoulder. "Get up."

"K-Kurosawa-senpai?" Etsudo stirred and he helped her up to her feet. "W-Where are we?"

"I don't know." said Daichi, "But I'm getting out of here."

He trudged over to the prison gate. The second he gripped the steel bars, sparks erupted all over the bar. Stabbing pains were inflicted in every part of Daichi and he started spasming. He was flung back like he had been hit by a train.

"Senpai!" Etsudo shrieked.

"Ow! Ah! Shit!" Daichi yelled, his palms were lined with burn marks.

"Don't do that again." A rough and grizzly voice boomed in the room, coming from the other side of the cell. It was the Five Deaths. Etsudo started trembling and she backed herself into a wall. Alpha's voice drew everyone's attention, "There's enough electricity in these bars to knock out an elephant. So don't bother."

Charlie stepped forward and pointed at Etsudo, "You owe me for stabbing me in the neck, girl."

"And your friend bit my hand off!" Delta screeched, revealing her bandaged stump arm, "She's going to die slowly when I find her!"

"Charlie, Delta. Enough." Alpha took command and the two begrudgingly quietened down. The shutter doors behind them hissed open, and in came Doctor Beverly Rossiter in her office slacks and lab coat. Daichi stood up and went to the prison bars to take a closer look at Beverly Rossiter with Etsudo behind him. Beverly ignored the teens and she adjusted her glasses.

Beverly and Alpha stared at each other in tense silence before the mercenary pulled out two vials of blood from his vest pocket. The irises in Daichi and Etsudo's eyes shrank once they saw the vials; they knew where the vials came from.

Beverly took them from Alpha and asked. "Only two? Where're the other three?"

"We engaged them, we got two. You will get the other three soon." Alpha answered with arms crossed.

"You let the other three get away?" Beverly raised her voice.

Alpha had no intentions of taking that tone from her, considering the series of events that transpired. He towered over her and gave a scowl, "In case you are blind, my team is wounded. One of my soldiers is missing a hand. If you had given me the proper intel about the targets, we would have taken them down and they would all have been delivered to you without any problems."

Despite being the only normal person in the room, Beverly was hardly intimidated by the mercenaries' presence. Beverly harrumphed, "Well you didn't, and now there are three assets on the loose. You were supposed to bring in all five."

"And you were supposed to deal with Doctor Song." Alpha shot back, "But he was there at school. He intercepted the targets."

"What?!" Beverly screeched, "Where is he now?!"

"He's taken care of," said Alpha. Beverly was stunned by his answer. She nearly wanted to hit him in the chest, but she resisted the urge.

"You killed him?!" Beverly screeched again. "At the school?! Do you have any idea what you've done?! GenaTech will get investigated!"

"Then you should have dealt with him like you said you would." Alpha's tone remained unmoved. "Regardless, you're in the clear. No one is going to trace this back to the clinic or you."

Beverly stared at him. She absolutely hated it when someone else got the last say. She turned to the captives in the prison cells. Daichi glared at her and Etsudo timidly stepped back.

Beverly adjusted her glasses again, "I'm sorry this has happened."

"You're Doctor Rossiter," said Daichi with glaring eyes.

"Yes, I am." she nodded.

"Where the hell are we?"

"You're home." Beverly answered, "This is the place that made your abilities possible. I'm going to get straight to it, my nanotechnology has augmented your physiologies. You and your friends are the first successful batch from the paleo intradermal-nanotech experiment. I intend to study more of your genetic make-up now."

"What?!" Daichi exclaimed angrily.

"P-Please!" Etsudo whimpered, "Just let us go, please! We're just high school students! Please!"

"That is not going to happen." Beverly shook her head, "You may not like it, but you are now the most valuable bio-pharmaceutical data on the planet. You and your friends are company property and you are all worth more than billions. One way or the other, I will get what I am after."

Alpha stepped in, "There is still the fee, Rossiter."

Beverly gave him a look before exiting the electrified cell with the Five Deaths. Once the doors closed with a hiss, Etsudo was breathing erratically and clutching her hair.

"Hey!" Daichi bellowed, "Come back! Hey!"

Etsudo dropped to her knees, tears welling in her eyes.

----------------------------------------

The breeze from the seas chilled the city's beach at night. The sound of waves washing up onto the beach was consistent. Thankfully no one was around to witness a Spinosaurus and Tropeognathus on the beach. After Narumi had hidden their school uniforms and shoes under a stone bench, she got back to the Kohaku and Matabei. All three of them were sporting their skin-tight navy-blue outfits.

"Alright. Taiyo-san. Let's go." Narumi said. She climbed onto his forearm and hopped onto his neck.

Spinosaurus snorted in reluctance. He had not learned how to swim yet, and now he was going to throw himself into the ocean as Narumi's so-called boat. As if she could read him, Narumi patted his head. "Come on, Taiyo-san. It's just swimming. You're like a crocodile dinosaur, right? So just swim like a crocodile."

Spinosaurus snarled through his conical teeth. He was not entirely convinced but there was no time. They had to get to the island already. Tropeognathus made a gallop before launching himself into the air and flying up high. Spinosaurus approached the tide. Once the freezing waters made contact with his legs, Spinosaurus made a guttural hiss. He pushed forward, adjusting himself to the cold water.

His feet shifted through the sand as he was hip-deep in water. Taking another step, however, there was no more ground to plant his feet and he nearly tripped forward. The sudden movement caused Narumi to lurch forward. To stabilize herself, she hugged Spinosaurus' neck with her thighs and leaned forward. She held the ridges above his eyes and pasted her chest onto the back of his head.

"Whoa! Taiyo-san!"

Spinosaurus quickly backed up, they were at the point where the beach sheared off into a steep slope. From that point onwards, it was open water.

"We're at the drop-off." Narumi looked back at how far they were from land, and yet so far away from the island. She patted Spinosaurus' head, pumping him up. "Come on, there's no backing out now. You got this, Taiyo-san."

Spinosaurus lunged forward into the open water. He tucked his limbs close to his body and started swaying his hips left and right, swinging his tail to generate power. It was working, until Spinosaurus started sinking. He let out a shocked bellow and splashed about as the water consumed him and Narumi.

"Taiyo-san!" Narumi exclaimed, but she did not let go of Spinosaurus and sank into the sea with him. The cold waters froze Narumi's lungs and she held onto him tight on reflex. Tropeognathus saw them getting swallowed by the sea, making a shocked squawk before flying down for them. Thinking quickly, Spinosaurus abandoned the crocodile style of swimming. Reaching out with his arms, he clawed upwards through the water. He kicked and pushed himself up with his hind legs. Careening his head and neck out of the water, Narumi coughed and gasped for air.

"Oh, my God! So cold! Taiyo-san!" She shivered and resisted the urge to chatter her teeth, she wiped her face and flipped her soaked hair. But she could feel that they were moving, and they were staying on the surface.

Spinosaurus clawed his hands through the water, followed by powerful kicks with his two hind legs. To propel himself even further, his tail paddled left and right. He cruised along the surface for a short while before he had to claw, kick, and paddle again. He repeated this process and he was swimming in a style resembling a cross between a crocodile, a polar bear, and an elephant. Kohaku did not know if this was how a Spinosaurus swam back in the Cretaceous period, but this was his own way of swimming. Relieved that Spinosaurus was pushing forward, Tropeognathus flew for the island.

"It's working! Taiyo-san, you're swimming!" Narumi animatedly said and sat back up on his neck. Setting her determined eyes to their destination, she made her declaration. "Let's get to the island!"

----------------------------------------

Beverly and the mercenaries climbed up a stairwell. Above the rundown holding cells, at the top floor, was a personal laboratory. Everything she ever needed for her nanotechnology experiments was there. A fume hood with chemical equipment, a nanotech glove box, a lab bench, a high-end computer, an incubator, an atomic-force microscope, microwave reactors, a sputtering machine, a reactive ion etcher, and more equipment that would put a university science department to shame.

Beverly leaned back against the lab bench and crossed her arms at Alpha. "You want to talk about payment? When you only got two out of five?"

"Don't trifle with me now, Rossiter. We delivered two, so we are to be paid for those two." Alpha's usual stoicism is starting to crack. "Do not forget, we're the only ones you can turn to for this op. And you already botched this op when you failed to handle Song." He loomed over Beverly with the other mercenaries at his back.

"You can patch up Delta's hand, pay us for the two targets downstairs, and pay us when we reacquire the other three. Or you can patch up Delta's hand, pay us now, and find the other three yourself. Don't forget, we can just take the data ourselves and sell it to the highest bidder."

That shut Beverly up, the tension in her laboratory was almost tangible now that her life's work was threatened. As much as she hated control taken from her, she had to concede.

"I'll wire the transfer." Beverly grumbled with gritted teeth and addressed the stump hand mercenary, "Delta, take a seat and show me your hand."

Back downstairs, the dank and filthy holding cell was a stark contrast to the sophisticated laboratory above. Etsudo squatted down and clutched her hair, she appeared as if she had shut down inside. Daichi paced around, scanning every inch of his prison to see any way out. All the while, the sting of his palms continued to agonize him.

Etsudo stared at the floor and she could hear her heart pounding in her throat. Her mind went back to the school. Benedict Song was killed. Her teacher was severely injured. She had no idea what happened to her schoolmates. On top of that, she remembered how she ran and left them behind like a coward.

"We left them."

Daichi stopped his pacing the second he heard what Etsudo said and a pang of guilt churned his guts. He did not bother to help his juniors. He turned tail and ran for the school's exit.

"We left Uchida-san, Itou-san, and Taiyo-san." said Etsudo. She raised her head to look at Daichi with bloodshot eyes.

"Yeah." Daichi defeatedly slumped down to the floor with her. "And we got taken instead."

Etsudo choked. "T-Tachibana-sensei..."

"Maybe those three have gone to the police." Daichi suggested, "But that would mean they'll be taken in for questioning. Shit."

"We left them. We should have stayed with them, but we didn't. We left them." Etsudo mumbled soullessly. Any sliver of hope she and Daichi had was dwindling by the second.

----------------------------------------

Thunder was rumbling in the far distance. Above the open waters off the eastern coast, the Tropeognathus was flying high in the sky towards the island. Below the pterosaur, a giant scaly sail cruised against the waves. Spinosaurus waved his tail left and right to paddle in the water. He kicked and clawed onwards, following the Tropeognathus above him. Narumi rode on Spinosaurus' neck with a resolved look on her face, focusing her eyes on the island.