Danni's story
Chapter 1: A life turned upside down
Disclaimer: Star Trek in all its incarnations and all related characters are property of Paramount Pictures and CBS Studios. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and all related characters were created and are owned by Joss Whedon. Star Trek, and Star Trek: The Next Generation created by Gene Roddenberry. I created Danni Castro and her whole family.
Spoilers: the entire Buffy series (well, not this chapter, but the next is going to feature the Scoobies quite heavily), and elements from Star Trek continuity (again, not this chapter, but the following ones).
Note: this first chapter is here to present the main character, that's why there is barely a presence of BtVS or Trek characters. Next chapter will feature both heavily.
She was still a kid when her life was turned upside down. She had always known that her family wasn't exactly normal, what with the strip of green hair in his back that her father kept hidden always under a shirt, and the almost unnaturally bright green eyes that the whole family seemed to have, and that she couldn't talk of that, or about some things that her parents kept under lock and key, with strangers.
But one day they received a call that she took, from one of her older sisters. She barely knew her, as she had already been an adult back when she had been born.
"Danni? I'm Toni, I need to talk with Dad, it's urgent." Toni had said, clearly out of breath.
"Okay." Danni said, "DAAAAAAAD! Toni on the phone, she says is urgent!"
Dad took the phone from her and answered.
"Yes, girl? How are... What?... Are you sure?...Fuuuuuck... Listen, I know a guy in Barcelona, his name is Leandro... Toni?... Fuck, the line has cut." he hung the phone, and looked around with a bewildered look.
"Dad? Has something happened to Toni?" Danni said.
That seemed to get him out of the shock and made him look at her.
"I... don't know." he took a deep breath, "Sweetie, go to your room and start packing your backpack. We're going in a camping trip, okay?"
"Okay!" she said, brightly, going up the stairs to her room. It wasn't the first time that they had gone in some unplanned camping trip, usually because her dad had to talk with some cousin or another, so she know what to pack and what to leave behind.
She had finished packing clothes, when her brother Raul came and asked her for her phone. She gave him the phone without thinking, and she went back to finish packing.
She went down the stairs, clutching Coco, her teddy bear, and saw that Raul and Tomás, her brothers, had already packed their things, and mom was moving some things into the garage and putting them in the back of the van that they used when the family had to travel together, while dad was calling somebody that didn't answer the phone.
"Raul, can you give me back the phone?" she said to his brother in a whisper.
"I can't, Danni. Dad will explain to you."
"Daddy?" she said when her father had hung the phone.
"Sorry, kiddo. Remember how in the movies, sometimes they can track people with their phones?" he asked, and after Danni nodded in response, he continued, "There are bad people after us, that was why Toni called, and that's why we are going out, and leaving the phones behind."
"Oh." she said.
They loaded everything in the van without much additional fuss, although her father loaded a few boxes that had been on the garage for a long times, with cans and preserves, and the like, except for the last box.
"Dad, isn't this the box where you keep the stuff you don't want anybody to see?" she asked, curious.
"And how do you know that, young lady?" her father said in a serious voice, although the ghost of a smile danced in his lips.
"I... I may have heard you talking with Tomas last time you went to talk with cousin Damian." she said, not looking at his father, "I didn't mean to, honest!"
"Okay, we'll talk when we arrive to where we are going." her father said, while her mother was placing a series of curious crystals all over the cabin, "Put your backpacks on the back of the van, go to your seats and fasten your belts. Ah, and don't touch those crystals."
As soon as the garage door opened and the van started, a bit down the street, one of the men called a number in the memory of the phone.
"Base, the beasts are leaving the lair. I repeat, the beasts are leaving the lair." he said, "Awaiting instructions."
"Hound 3, follow them, you'll be joined by Hound 1 and 2 in the chase." the commander ordered, "You know the drill."
"Yes, sir." the man on the phone answered, they had been trained on how to do stealthy chases, although this was the first time they had to put that knowledge in use. Damn that beast who escaped Team 6, and warned the others.
The van went through the streets of the city, and the three Hound teams distributed themselves as one before them and two behind, changing who was where as they followed it. Soon it became routine, so when the van turned right unexpectedly to use an underground pass, they had to scramble to follow. Fortunately one of the teams managed to place itself on the other side of the pass before they had time to cross it and waited... and waited... and waited... until the other teams' cars appeared. Somehow they had lost them.
"Magic is true? Cool!" Danni said.
"Yes, but it's not all sunshine and rainbows, sweetie. There are dark mages around, and even normal magic often carries an steep prize." her father said as her mother was busy chanting the spell that was disguising the van as a SUV, and the crystal were shining, "And besides, we only can do some basic stuff, like what your mother is doing, and only for a short time. Speaking of that..." he said as he turned toward a side street in the industrial park of the city, where they would be out of everybody's eyes. "You can stop."
Her mother stopped chanting and the crystals grew dim until the light went out completely. They got out on the other side and the van stopped before a dilapidated industrial building shortly afterwards. He went out and opened the vehicle door, and parked the van inside.
"There are offices with a bathroom behind that door." he said pointing to a side door. "There is no power, but there is running water, so if you want to go to the loo, or to take a shower, go ahead, while your mother and I get the rooms prepared to sleep here tonight."
After they had all finished, their parents explained them where everything was, and then showed them a secret door disguised as a filing cabinet in a back room.
"If things get bad, go through here and don't look back. You'll get out in an old garage. The owner is an old friend who'll put you in contact with people that will take care of you if... If we can't go with you, okay?" he said, "But nothing will happen, it's just a precaution. Tomorrow we will get on the road, and in a few days this will just be an adventure."
Their parents managed to make them forget momentarily what had happened that night with games and tales, after dinner. And they were to sleep early, her father staying awake, just in case.
Danni awoke in the midst of the night, she had to pee. As she stood, taking Coco with her, she saw that her father had fallen sleep in the chair he was using to keep guard. So, she
"Daddy, wake up." she said, softly putting a hand on his arm, which awoke him instantly.
"I was just resting my eyes, sweetie." he said, "But I think it's time to wake your mother for her time on watch." her father said.
"Okay." she said, before running to the bathroom, Coco in hand, she couldn't hold it much longer.
She was washing her hands after finishing when she heard a noise like glass breaking and smoke starting to fill the room.
"Run!" she heard her parents shout as somebody kicked down the door to the office.
She ran to the back room, trying to ignore the shots and the screams behind her, but somebody grabbed her by the shoulder and threw her to the floor, before tying her legs and arms with zipties to prevent her escape. The man carried her to the corridor where another man was waiting,
"We found a cub, sir!" the man who had thrown her to the ground said. The shots and the screams had stopped now.
"Kill it and put it with the others, Sergeant." The other man, who spoke with a foreign accent, said dismissively, "And don't take your sweet time, like the other day. The Watchers are on our heels."
"Yes, sir!" the soldier said, before thumping saluting his superior officer, "For the purity of Humanity!"
"And for Earth's own survival." the same voice than before answered in a bored tone, before adding as it disappeared in the distance. "Let's go, people, we have to scramble."
The young soldier smiled and produced a big gun from inside his ballistic vest, as the other voices disappeared on the distance. He smiled before aiming it to her forehead, while she tried to crawl away, whimpering.
"Oh, no, little monster, you aren't escaaaaagh..." she heard, just before she felt the body falling with a thud.
"Fucking racist prick," a female voice said, as the man in the ground could only gurgle, due to the throwing knife embedded in his throat.
She turned around and saw a dark haired woman, maybe in her late thirties, followed by a younger Asian woman, stepping into the corridor silently; she pulled another knife and went toward her. Frightened she tried to crawl away from her, but she was over her in a moment, cutting the zipties tying her legs and arms, while the other girl went into the other room
"Come on, kid. They're probably coming back." She said, with only a trace of accent.
Danni shook her head, taking Coco and going to see her father, only to be stopped by the other girl coming back and shaking her head.
"I'm sorry, girl." She said, speaking Spanish with a South American accent.
"My..." Danni started to say, before her words got caught on her throat.
"Sorry, girl. I arrived too late, to save anyone else." the woman said, shaking her head, "What's your name, sweetie?"
"Danni, Danni Castro." she said, between sobs.
It wasn't until many years later that she understood why the woman misstepped when she told the woman her name, as well as the expression of surprise that appeared for a moment in her face.
"Okay, I'm Kennedy Silva, and this is Rosa Suzuki and I'm a friend of your sister Toni." The woman said, recovering quickly, "Take my hand, and we'll get you to a safe place."
Wordlessly, she did as the woman… as Kennedy said as they went to the back room with the file cabinets, where she could see that the secret door was opened. Together they descended into the secret passage, leaving most of Danni's old life behind.
TO BE CONTINUED...
