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"ALZ-114... at last."
Miraluz's eyes gleamed with satisfaction as the notification appeared before him.
As expected, after intervening in the fall of San Francisco and witnessing the collapse of Caesar's dream, he had obtained the prize he was after: ALZ-114, a breakthrough intelligence enhancement serum.
Unlike ALZ-113 from the original timeline, which only worked on simians, ALZ-114 was an upgraded formula.
It could amplify the intelligence of almost any species, particularly reptiles.
Dinosaurs were no exception.
With this, Miraluz could usher in an era not of apes... but dinosaurs.
The thought thrilled him.
"Caesar may have failed to build his kingdom," Miraluz murmured.
"But I will build mine—greater, stronger...."
He turned toward the devastated cityscape.
Smoke curled into the overcast sky as fires raged in the ruined streets of San Francisco.
The battle between the apes and humans had left the city in chaos.
But Miraluz hadn't come to choose a side.
His objective was always singular—take the opportunity, get the serum, and leave.
"Move out," he barked.
Behind him, his squad of massive reptilian beasts—raptors enhanced by prior mutations, triceratops armored in experimental plating, and even hybridized tyrannosaurs—responded with guttural growls and stomps.
They followed their leader without hesitation, the earth trembling with every step.
It was time to vanish before the next wave of human retaliation could strike.
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Command Center – Temporary Field Base Outside Oakland
Alarms blared. Inside the chaotic mobile command post, officers scrambled between blinking monitors and static-ridden communications consoles.
Lines of data flickered and vanished in real-time.
"All forward units... down. No contact."
A tech officer looked up, his voice caught between disbelief and fear.
Major General Howard stood frozen, his clenched fists trembling.
"What did you say?" he asked through gritted teeth.
"Sir, Task Force Delta, Echo Battalion... all units engaged in the San Francisco sector have been neutralized. Zero survivors reported."
The General's eyes were bloodshot. He had led those men.
Many of them had survived the brutal war against Caesar's ape rebellion.
They were battle-hardened, armed with anti-ape combat protocols and cutting-edge equipment.
Nearly 10,000 strong—and gone. Wiped out.
But what chilled Howard to the bone was the live drone feed now freezing on screen—an image of towering reptilian monsters tearing through tanks like they were made of paper.
And at the center...
Miraluz. The Dinosaur King.
He towered above the rest, his sleek obsidian scales glinting in the fires of war.
"This... this was supposed to be after the ape tribes," Howard muttered.
"We weren't ready for him to come here. Miraluz was supposed to be cornered on Isla Nublar..."
He slammed a fist on the table.
"This is Pearl Harbor all over again! They've brought war to our home!"
The moment of fury passed quickly. The protocol took over.
"Transmit all intelligence to command HQ. Alert the Pentagon. I want full satellite lock on the dinosaurs. And get me the damn Navy—now!"
"Yes, sir!"
As the room surged with activity again, a new alarm cut through the noise.
This one was sharper—urgent.
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Back on the Outskirts
Miraluz's troops were flanking the roads, using elevated hills and forests for cover.
He had anticipated a swift retaliation from the U.S. military, so his current objective was not conquest, but his troops survival.
Time was not right to risk in a head-on confrontation.
His goal now: to retreat into the Nevada wilderness, where reinforcements from Isla Nublar were waiting.
The enemy would likely come from the air—drones, helos, stealth jets—and fast.
He needed to slow them down.
A high-pitched chirp confirmed the signal.
Moments later, a volley of electromagnetic pulses erupted from his dinosaurs.
The sky shimmered.
Several drones dropped like flies.
"Good," Miraluz muttered.
But it wasn't enough.
"Enemy birds"
The warning came from Fang, his scout.
Miraluz's eyes narrowed.
A frontal assault was unavoidable now.
"Hold positions. Time to test their strategy."
Five stealth aircraft bore down over the Sierra foothills, skimming low, their payloads locked on Miraluz's convoy.
From his vantage point, Miraluz could see the sharp glint of their wings.
"Let them come," he muttered.
At his signal, a group of pterosaurs launched from a canyon, screeching like banshees.
They tore through the air, spiraling straight into the path of the jets.
The pilots swerved, missiles launching.
Explosions lit up the sky—but the aerial reptiles were relentless.
One jet was forced into an evasive dive... straight into a trap.
From the treeline below, the Spinosaurus—unleashed a volley of projectiles laced with reactive acid.
The jet veered, hit, and exploded midair.
Another went down as a trio of flyers latched onto its fuselage and tore open the cockpit.
Miraluz, watching the skirmish unfold, stayed silent.
Calculating.
This wasn't just brute force—it was chess. The humans were playing checkers.
Still, it wasn't over.
Two more jets looped and dropped sonic disruptors that sent the dinos into a temporary frenzy.
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Command Center
"Jesus Christ," someone whispered.
Howard watched the feed. He had expected monsters.
What he hadn't expected was tactics. Discipline. Coordination.
This Miraluz wasn't just a monster. He was a commander. A general.
"They're thinking like a military unit," he said slowly.
"He's organizing them like a damn army..."
No one answered.
Then came the second alarm.
[UNIDENTIFIED ENERGY SIGNATURE DETECTED — 3KM WEST]
Another blip.
And this one wasn't a dinosaur.
Howard's lips thinned.
"Deploy the Omega protocol," he said grimly.
"We're dealing with something else now."
High above the shattered earth, the clouds broke with a sudden flash of silver.
A distant whistling scream pierced the wind.
The radar system blared again.
[WARNING: HIGH-VELOCITY MASS APPROACHING—IMPACT IMMINENT]
Howard turned, face draining of color.
The operators barely had time to look up before the sky itself seemed to split open.
A silver-white blur hurtled down from the sky—like a falling star.
Gray.
She wasn't the largest monster humanity had ever seen.
Compared to the towering bulk of Miraluz, she was sleeker, more agile.
But there was a terrible elegance in her design—four massive wings, a lean serpentine body covered in diamond-like scales, and eyes glowing with primal intelligence.
A predator born for the skies.
"Intercept it!!" Howard roared.
The command spread instantly.
Nearby support teams, already on high alert from the earlier dinosaur assault, sprang into action.
The Air defense systems locked on, turret-mounted radars whirring frantically.
"Stingers—fire!!"
FWOOOOOSH! FWOOOOOSH!
A wave of missiles screamed toward the descending dragon, trailing spirals of smoke across the sky.
Explosions lit up the sky like a fireworks display.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The night turned to flame.
A huge plume of smoke mushroomed midair, obscuring the figure completely.
For a moment, the command center held its breath.
"Did we get it...?"
Then, through the smoke—a shape emerged.
A roar shattered the silence.
"RRRRAAAAAUUUGHHHHH!"
The wind shrieked. The smoke parted.
Gray burst forth, her silver scales charred and bloodied but rapidly regenerating, glowing faintly with internal energy.
Missile wounds stitched themselves shut even as she plunged downward, her mouth curling into something disturbingly close to a sneer.
"Impossible..." someone whispered.
"She... shrugged them off...?"
Howard backed away instinctively.
Another one. Another monster that missiles couldn't kill.
Impact
In her mind, Gray replayed her brother's words:
"Strike fast. Hit hard. Leave no one standing."
Target locked.
Below her, the armored mobile command center—the beating heart of the battlefield—stood like a ripe fruit.
Dozens of soldiers, too slow to run, too stunned to act, simply stared at the death streaking toward them.
She tucked her wings, went into a spiraling dive, and struck—
KRRAAAAK-KA-BOOOOOOM!!
The impact was biblical.
The ground cracked open as Gray landed like a living meteor.
The armored command vehicle crumpled under her talons with a sound like a crushed soda can.
Howard and his staff were vaporized on impact—no screams, no last words.
Just obliteration.
The shockwave followed, rolling outward with explosive force, tossing supply trucks, radar towers, and armored jeeps like children's toys.
Soldiers were thrown dozens of feet in the air.
Sandbags and heavy crates scattered like leaves.
A second passed.
Then came the screams.
Slaughter of the Command Camp
Gray rose from the smoking crater, tail whipping behind her like a battering ram.
Her scales shimmered in the firelight, blood and steel dripping from her claws.
Soldiers scrambled in every direction.
"Fall back! Regroup at perimeter five!"
"She's too fast!"
"Evacuate the engineers! Go! GO!!"
The field turned into chaos.
But Gray wasn't done.
She took a step forward, wings flaring wide.
With a single beat, she launched herself above the base, then unleashed a massive shockwave with her roar—a focused concussive blast that shattered tents and ruptured eardrums.
Her claws shredded fleeing troops.
Her tail slammed into a fuel truck, sending a plume of fire into the air.
A brave gunner opened fire with a .50 caliber turret, rounds bouncing off Gray's silver-white armor like rain against stone.
In retaliation, she lunged, snapped the vehicle in half, and flung the wreckage into the communications tower.
One by one, the command systems fell.
Antennas bent, satellites fried, radios silent.
No reinforcements. No orders. No hope.
Total Annihilation
Within minutes, the command center had become a graveyard—flaming wrecks, broken bodies, and smoke curling into the dawn sky.
Only scattered pockets of soldiers remained, hiding beneath debris, too broken to fight.
Gray stood amidst the carnage, her chest heaving from exertion—but not fatigue.
She let out a final roar that echoed through the valley, shaking trees and mountains alike.
A signal. A warning. A message.
The skies no longer belonged to mankind.
With her mission complete, Gray crouched low and launched skyward again.
Her wings beat once, twice—and she was airborne, leaving behind only dust and ash.
She turned southwest—to catch up with her brother, Miraluz, who by now had retreated deep into the Nevada wilderness with the rest of their force.
From a rocky ridge on the state border, Miraluz paused as the wind shifted.
He turned his head slightly, sensing the distant tremor in the earth.
The echo of a mighty roar reached him moments later.
A faint smile touched his lips.
"Well done, little sister."
The command center was gone.
Satellite tracking would be scrambled for at least a few hours.
And in that window of confusion, he had a clear route.
To where the next phase of the plan would unfold.
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The Capital – Pentagon Command Room
The room was sealed off. Thick walls reinforced with steel and lead ensured not a whisper escaped the chamber that now pulsed with tension.
Within the Pentagon's central operations command room, a large digital screen displayed real-time intelligence feeds, satellite images, and one critical label in red:
[EMERGENCY COMBAT MEETING – ALL BRANCHES]
One by one, video windows lit up—senior admirals of the Navy, hardened generals of the Army, and icy-eyed commanders of the Air Force.
All appeared from remote command bunkers or airborne command posts, their expressions tight and grave.
This wasn't routine. This wasn't protocol.
This was war.
Dr. Ichiro Serizawa, veteran advisor from Monarch, joined them via a secure line from Castle Bravo.
His presence alone confirmed it: something extraordinary had just unfolded.
The presiding Defense Minister stood before them, eyes scanning every face.
"Ladies and gentlemen," he began, voice echoing with controlled fury, "America stands at its most dangerous hour since the end of World War II."
A click of a remote.
The screen flickered and switched to battlefield footage—San Francisco, just thirty minutes prior.
Explosions, fleeing soldiers, and twisted wreckage.
And amidst the chaos: dinosaurs. Mutated. Gigantic. Intelligent.
One scene showed a massive tyrannosaur crashing through a skyscraper's foundation, its hide deflecting tank fire like paper balls.
Another revealed a raptor wielding what appeared to be electrical discharges from its limbs, hunting soldiers with brutal coordination.
The camera jerked. Then stopped.
A final shot froze on the image of Miraluz—half his body shrouded in a passing storm cloud, the other half glinting in white scales under city lights.
He never attacked. He didn't need to.
He was the god leading monsters.
"We lost the entire division in under fifteen minutes," the Minister said gravely.
"Miraluz never engaged. But his presence alone was enough to turn the tide."
A long silence followed. Not even breathing could be heard.
"The White House has officially declared a Level 2 Combat Readiness," the minister continued.
"The entire armed forces—navy, army, air force—will coordinate under a unified wartime directive."
Another screen lit up.
Dozens of blinking red lights showed assets being mobilized across the country.
Ground forces in full assembly mode from coast to coast.
This was more than retaliation. This was national defense on the edge of annihilation.
Dr. Serizawa spoke next, his tone unusually hard for a man of science.
"If the dinosaurs are already displaying coordinated attacks and advanced intelligence, then this is not just a mutant outbreak. This is a threat to human supremacy."
A grim-faced Admiral nodded.
"Which is why we have begun discussing… last resorts."
The room stiffened.
The Minister looked up and delivered the line with finality:
"If necessary, we will consider authorizing the use of tactical nuclear strikes on Isla Nublar—and anywhere else these monsters appear."
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Global Flashpoints
News spread fast.
Within hours, the United Nations Security Council held a closed-door emergency session.
China, Russia, the UK, and France watched closely—not out of sympathy, but strategy.
The sudden emergence of an organized dinosaur attack in the Western hemisphere had turned the balance of power on its head.
Some suspected it was a failed American experiment.
Others feared something ancient had simply woken up.