agents of palaeo-central...

things were looking grim... REALLY grim people of the innerweb!

i'd solved the case, and figured out who was poaching fossils... the tag-team of a rogue technician named megan sauer and a PHD student gone bad called "jo" jocelyn harvager, who were after vivusly preserved dinosaur eggs.

they'd captured me when i snooped around their dig site for too long (oops...). things seemed like they were going to turn out alright when professor paradigm showed up on the scene. he was able to take out one poacher (megan), but jo proved a very capable fighter and out fought the professor. meaning it was now the eggs, me, professor paradigm who were in big trouble.

the only good news was jo being at a momentary lose right after defeating the professor. she was the only one of us at the site who could do anything (i was tied up and the other two were unconscious) and without megan to help her, it was clear jo didn't know how to proceed. who can blame her really lugging out all the fossils AND an out cold colleague was a bit much for anyone person...

however when jo picked up megan's gun off the ground, i suddenly felt a massive chill down my spine. as jo walked up towards the professor i couldn't help but get the distinct impression she intended to finish him off... sadly it made sense to me. one less thing for her to worry about, as she waited for megan to come back too.

jo pointed the gun at the professors limp body when suddenly a song could be heard from around the hill... i couldn't believe my ears, not that jo would probably have known the voice, but i sure did!

jo marched over to investigate, and came face to face with my former roommate dan!?!

a million and one questions raced through my head... most importantly what was dan doing here??? the last time i saw him, he was moving out of town!

i had a lot of other questions. even if dan had come back to town, how did he end up here? why this spot?

as jo approached she pointed the gun at dan, who just obliviously kept singing "i'm walking on sunshine".

"who the hell are you?" jo demanded. clearly all the random people showing up at her illegal dig was trying her patience... well maybe if you weren't do illegal stuff this wouldn't happen to you jo! have you thought about that?!? sorry got a little carried away for a second!

dan in a most uncharacteristic for him way, happily answered. "i'm dan," as he dumbly waved at her. what was going on i thought. in all my years living with dan i'd never seen him this silly or happy (most of the time i'd know him he was always grumpy... though i guess the might have been due to the trouble i caused him all the time!)

dan's weird behaviour was wigging jo out. "what is the matter with you?" she flailed the gun in her hand to ensure he'd noticed it.

"oh nothing," dan happily replied, as he ambled towards jo. she raised her firearm, and made it clear she'd shot dan if he got closer. he stopped but kept his goofy grin and a bizarre body posture. "i'm just out enjoying a good old fashion sing in the badlands, jo."

jo dropped her jaw at her name being mentioned, but she stiffened ready to fire.

"before you do anything rash," dan said almost unconcerned by jo's actions. "you might want to consider that no matter what you do to me, palaeo-central has you IDed now. which means there really isn't anywhere you're going to be able to run to that we can't find you."

did i just hear him right?!? as i was on the other side of the hill there was a chance i miss heard dan. if i did though, he just said he was with palaeo-central if i'm right!!! my own former roommate, one of the closest people i have to an actual family, and he has kept that secret from me?!?

before i could stew on this any further tons of things happened at once. jo now aimed the gun at a fairly lethal spot of dan. at the same moment as i turned to look away (which was silly of me as all i could see was the hill between us, but i felt i shouldn't be facing away when dan was made no more) i found i was suddenly face to face with a girl who was crouched beside me. i nearly screamed out loud, but she grabbed my snout and kept it from opening.

"be absolutely quiet," this stranger instructed me. "i'd untie you, but i have a bit of rescuing to do. excuse me." with that she shot up the hillside.

to emerge right behind jo. who was telling dan. "too bad that palaeo-central isn't here right now then isn't it!"

dan just snickered. "if you say so."

as the new girl on the scene leapt from the hill...

right onto jo!

before you knew it the new girl had jo down in an armlock. "get off me!" jo screamed in both pain and frustration.

jo still had the gun in her hand, but before she could think to use it, dan pounced on it. "i don't think so ms. harvager," he stated pulling the weapon from jo. dan then looked at the girl immobilizing the poacher. "could you have left it any closer to the last second there amanda?"

amanda responded. "sorry, i was distracted," she motioned over her shoulder with her head in my direction. "there's a miniature tyrannosaur all tied up on the other side of the hill."

she paused and then said in a slight amused voice. "oh and also the professor is lying the next hill over. i took a few seconds there to, come to think of it," dan glared at amanda. "what? like you won't have taken a moment to capture that on film?!? i'm going to legendary back at HQ when everyone sees these. though if you want in on the action and sneak a peak, i'd tread lightly. he won't be all that happy when he wakes up. especially if he found out we'd seen him laid out like that."

jo started to groan and struggle, but amanda just applied pressure to her wrist. "calm down tough girl," jo winced audibly in pain, as amanda warned her. "you might be a 3rd degree blackbelt, or so i assume based on the fact you beat up the professor back there, but i train against people at your level for my warm ups. just be a good girl and stay down... for your sake."

"i have her as my martial arts coach," dan quipped to jo. "trust me, you don't want to take her on, and i only have sparring as a reference."

amanda applied some handcuffs to jo's wrists, and hoisted the now relatively secure poacher to her feet. jo hanging her head in defeat grumbled. "we would have pulled it all off if not for that stupid tyrannosaur!"

dan overhearing that. "speaking of which, amanda think you can handle her on your own?"

"a mere 3rd degree," amanda replied sarcastically. "i think i'll just barely manage."

"good," dan replied as he started walking in my direction. "i've got a former housemate to untie."

next a secret that is as old as i am!!!