Disclaimer: BTVS characters belong to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. Sanctuary characters belong to SyFy. I claim no right to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission
She was running. It seemed like that was all she did these days. She could feel the people hunting her and they kept getting closer as the months passed. Over the past year she had almost been captured three times. Each time she had to fight for her life against monsters that were stronger than the demons that she normally fought but still weaker than the Master that had killed her.
The last man that she had fought was a tall man with the muscles of a professional wrestler. It had taken a lot out of her to win that fight as he possessed the power to teleport and seemed to have senses that almost rivaled her own. The fight between the two was massively bloody and long. It ended only after Buffy was able to notice a pattern in her enemy's teleportation landing and was able to stab him only seconds after he reappeared behind her.
She never thought she would be someone who believed in killing but after leaving the first two unconscious on the side of the road she noticed that whoever was hunting her found her all the quicker. It became a kill or be killed situation. Survival of the fittest and she definitely wanted to survive.
Her first kill came after she had taken refuge with a nice family. They were generous enough to offer the obviously worn out woman a hot meal and a place to stay for the night. She was not one to stay in one place for too long a time but the call of a hot shower was too tempting to pass up.
In the middle of the night she was awoken to pain filled screams. She rushed into the living room and saw a deadly look Asian man standing over the body of the man who had taken her in. From behind her she heard a grief filled yell and watched in a daze as the woman rushed towards her husband. She finally broke out of her shock when she saw the killer move towards the woman with an evil intent.
It became obvious to her that these people would do anything to get her. Even killing innocents would not stop them in their quest. She ran forward and tackled the woman to the floor just as a saber was about to slice through her stomach. She earned a nice deep cut to her side for her heroics. She was relieved however to feel her skin start to stitch itself back together. She then jumped up and went immediately on the defensive. She had to protect the grieving wife.
The man that was sent to capture or kill her was fast but she was faster and stronger and she was angry. Her punches flew through the air so quickly that the man was pushed back and couldn't attack because he was so focused on trying to deflect the attacks.
The would be killer got in one good blow and it knocked her straight through the window into the backyard. It was definitely a hard enough hit to put her down for a minute because once she was able to clear her head she looked at in horror when the wife moved forward yelling. She wasn't quick enough this time and watched in muted grief as the wife was impaled and quickly tossed aside.
The rest of the fight was a blur in her mind. She couldn't remember the details, she only knew that it ended shortly after the wife died. She came back to her sense and looked down to see the killer at her feet, his neck broken.
She broke down in sobs. She had never killed anyone before. She took another hour to collect herself and then steeled her nerves and decided that she needed to keep moving. She packed up everything she could and after a moment's hesitation grabbed the saber that the man carried and strapped it to her back, at least she would have a weapon now.
Even though she hadn't had to constantly fight she could still feel eyes on her, she was still being stalked and she wasn't stupid enough to think that they would give up. It took them two months before they sent another mercenary after her. She quickly disposed of her as well and kept moving. She never stayed in one place for more than a day and she never stayed with anyone again. She knew the guilt of that couples death would haunt her until her death.
She decided to head North towards New York. Hopefully she could lose her trackers in the vast city and hectic streets.
Helen Magnus was sitting in her lab going over the new blood samples that she had taken from a new abnormal they had rescued. She believed it was a type of fire elemental but until she conducted further testing she wouldn't know for sure.
She was startled out of her thoughts by Kate rushing into her lab yelling her name.
"What?" She hissed and turned to glare at the usually serious brunette. Helen didn't know what was making her so worked up but at this point she didn't care.
"Helen, we just received some Intel that the Cabal is actively hunting an abnormal. Its unusual since they haven't succeeded yet. This abnormal has been able to evade the Cabal for over a year and according to our source even managed to take down three of their super-abnormals."
This information gave Helen pause. She knew that the regular abnormals were not strong enough to take down the Cabals science experiments. She also knew that after Ashley had passed that the Cabal had continued their experiments and most likely was able to make them even more deadly.
"Bloody Hell" She whispered. Helen abruptly stood up and quickly divested herself of her gloves and lab coat and rushed towards Kate to take the file that she was holding.
Helen quickly flipped open the folder and saw only what appeared to be a young woman. The only picture in the file was of the back of her as she was running away from whoever took it. The woman had brunette hair and was definitely in shape. She looked at the papers. The name 'Slayer' was at the top of the file with no name listed. Obviously that was what they were classing her species as, Helen had never heard of a Slayer before but shrugged it off. They were discovering new species everyday.
Below that all the sightings of the abnormal were categorized into different sections. There was the first section which spoke about her life before the Cabal took notice and started hunting her. It looked to Helen that one of the Cabal's lower organizations titled 'The Initiative' was the first to bring her to their attention. The girl was just another college student according to the Initiative before they took her in and started running experiments. Nothing invasive to begin with, they just tested her strength, speed and agility. She excelled in all of them.
Helen flipped to another folder to find out more about this military organization and found that it had been completely dismantled after the experiments they were conducting had broken loose and terrorized the population of Sunnydale. According to the file 'Slayer' was responsible for sixty percent of the cleanup.
Helen flipped back to the original file and looked to the next section which spoke of her abilities. Summers appeared to have increased speed and strength and the Doctors were sure that she had some way of controlling shadows although without further testing they were unsure if that was true or the extent that she was able to control them.
The last section spoke of the agents that this abnormal was able to take down. Helen was surprised to see that one of the agents 'Cal Drogo' was listed as deceased. Helen herself had faced that particular abnormal and knew the strength that he had. Cal had also been given Ashley's teleportation ability and Helen knew exactly how that power could be used effectively in a fight.
Helen couldn't help but be impressed by this abnormal. She fought hard and if the Cabal was hunting her the rigorously then obviously she was continuously on the move.
"Call the others" Helen ordered Kate before abruptly turning and walking towards her room. They needed to help this woman. Nobody deserved the torture that captives of the Cabal experienced. She also didn't want to see another young woman brainwashed into doing the Cabal's bidding. If they caught this abnormal and learned to control her there was no telling the destruction that would follow.
Once the Sanctuary crew had gathered it was decided that Helen, Kate and Will would go and track this abnormal and offer them a chance to rest at the Sanctuary.
Henry had hacked into to street cameras of New York, as it was noted in the file that she was headed in that direction, and uploaded the characteristics that they knew about the woman. It took five hours but Henry soon compiled a list of possible sightings and the trio were now on there way.
As they were driving the radio crackled to life.
"Helen...I've been keeping an eye on the cameras and it seems a large number of Cabal agents are surrounding a warehouse in the downtown area"
"Got it" Helen radioed back and without her even having to say anything Will pulled a quick U-turn and they were speeding towards the warehouse district.
Before long, only ten minutes, they had pulled the van over and continued on foot towards the address of the warehouse that Henry had sent them.
Kate pointed towards a fire escape and the trio slowly climbed the ladder that led to the roof. Once there Helen led the way toward the sunroof and they peered inside. What they saw shocked them to the core and made the resolve to help this young woman even stronger.
She had just settled down for the night in a warehouse that she discovered was mostly empty. Based on the amount of dust and cobwebs nobody had used or even be inside the warehouse in quite some time.
She had just finished the meager meal that she managed to scrounge up for herself when the sounds of dozens of footsteps could be heard coming her way. She closed her eyes and focused on her hearing. The rest of the world faded away and all she could hear was the sound of, based on the sound of the steps, military men surrounding the building she was in.
She opened her eyes and sighed. She figured this was her final battle. She would not allow these men to take her alive. With that thought in mind she picked up her saber and quickly moved into the shadows. She would not make the first move.
She watched as a team of ten entered the warehouse in standard formation. She quickly moved herself into position and threw the closest operative to her into the middle of the room. She then jumped after him and moved to disarm the ones she landed by.
The man on the right was quickly knock unconscious by a well placed kick to the head and when she felt someone coming up behind her she spun around and kicked the upcoming agent in the gut then ducked to avoid a punch and swiftly took out his legs and knocked him out by slamming his head into the floor.
She slowly moved forward and grabbed the agent coming at her from the side and threw him into the agent that was standing behind her. By her count that was four. Only six more to go. She was caught off guard by a sucker punch coming at her from the left but she quickly recovered and gripped the man tightly in her arms and spun him around to use as a shield as soon as she caught sight of the operative that was aiming a large taser at her. Once the man she was holding was out she grabbed him taser and shot at the man in front of her. Once she had her hands on a taser it was much easier to take out the other four operatives.
She could still hear the other guards that surrounded the place and held her breath when three large men walked into the warehouse. By the way that they walked she could tell that these three were special. It was obvious by the amount of firepower that these people came with that whoever was in control was becoming frustrated at her ability to escape them and had decided that tonight would be the end of this merry chase that she had led them on.
The trio from the Sanctuary watched in awe as the tiny brunette effortlessly dismantled the group of trained operatives in less than 30 seconds. Once they saw the three abnormals enter the building they snapped out of their shock and moved quickly to quietly break through the glass and enter the warehouse.
By the time they reached the floor the woman had subdued one of the abnormals but the fight was taking a lot out of her and the other two were getting in a lot of hits.
With a nod to Kate a smoke bomb was quickly set off and the warehouse was filled with thick opaque white smoke. The group from the sanctuary rushed to put on their masks and ran towards the abnormal the were there to rescue.
The smoke was burning her eyes and she couldn't breathe. One of the men had managed to land a hit to her side and she could feel a couple of her ribs break. Obviously this was not a normal man. It took a lot more strength to break one of her bones so this man must be gifted with super strength.
She collapsed to her knees and struggled for breath. Suddenly a pair of hands grabbed her shoulders and she tried in vain to get free. Her face was then covered in a mask and she was able to breath easier. Well, the smoke was no longer congesting her lungs but she still had a difficult time taking a breath.
She was then led up a set of stairs onto the roof. She quickly ripped off the mask and took in the three people in front of her.
The first was a man. He was average size which led her to believe that he was not apart of the organization that just attacked her. He had short brown hair and light brown eyes. He looked like her was more book smart and street smart with his glasses.
The next was a gorgeous woman around her age, possibly a few years older, with dark brown almost black hair and dark chocolate eyes. Her skin was smooth and she had a serious look on her face.
The last woman was older than her. She had long dark hair that seemed unnaturally shiny. She couldn't help but feel a connection to the older woman. The woman had a stern aura around her but she could tell that she also was cheerful and had a fun side. It was probably the minute laugh lines that decorated the area around her eyes that gave away her less than serious side.
"Who are you?" She rasped. She could feel that she was losing consciousness and was hoping that these three were there to help her. If they weren't then she was debating flinging herself off the roof, although she was not one hundred percent sure if that would kill her.
"Who are you" the woman asked. They could tell that she had serious smoke inhalation and probably a punctured lung. They were actually surprised that she was still awake but pushed that thought to the back of their minds.
"We are from the Sanctuary" Helen began, "Come with us, we can protect you and give you a safe place to rest"
"How do I know you aren't with them? That as soon as I agree I won't be carted off and strapped to a table with my brain being cut open"
"Very good question. I guess you'll have to trust us. I mean we did just get you out of that warehouse. You were about to go down hard" Kate snarked. Helen shot her assistant a look and pleaded for him to make the situation better.
However before Will could open his mouth the young brunettes eyes rolled up into the back of her head and she crumble to the ground. Helen surged forward to try and catch her but she wasn't fast enough.
Helen sighed and looked down at the young woman. She looked so innocent. It was hard to believe it was the same woman who just took down a military tactical team less than twenty minutes ago.
"Alright… I know she didn't agree but obviously she needs medical attention so lets go" Helen decided. She knew that the girl may not be agreeable but she figured it was better to be alive and angry than dead.
It was another thirty minutes before they got to the Sanctuary and Helen had kept a close eye on the girl helping her as much as possible without her equipment.
Once they finally reached the Sanctuary the woman was quickly rushed to the medical wing with the help of the Big Guy. She was quickly stripped out of her torn and dirty clothes and gently dressed in very light jersey pants and the standard hospital robe.
After taking a look at the X-ray Helen quickly came to the conclusion they the woman needed immediate surgery. The process was quick but they had to be. Helen noticed that as soon as she cut into the woman's skin that it began to heal. That was both good new and bad news.
Good news because the woman would heal quickly after surgery. Bad news because her body was trying to heal the punctured lung but instead of her body resetting the bone it was healing around it. It caused a few complications but Helen was able to complete the surgery and the woman was resting peacefully after only a short time.
Helen took a sample of the woman's blood and ran a simple blood test and DNA profile. It was standard and the good doctor wanted to make sure that the woman wasn't infected with anything that could be harmful to the woman or the sanctuary inhabitants.
Helen decided to take a break and called Will in to sit with the mystery woman. She didn't want her waking up alone and panicking.
Will sat quietly at the woman's bedside. He was sipping his tea and reading the newest edition of Psychology Today when he heard a beep. Unsure of what the beep meant he looked towards their newest addition and saw that she was still blissfully unaware of what was going on around her.
After checking that all the machines that keep track of the woman were still functional he headed over to the computer and saw that a light was flashing on the screen. Curious, he clicked on instantly dropped his mug of tea.
He scrambled to the radio and shakily called to everyone to come to the medical bay.
Within five minutes Will heard the sounds of his coworkers approaching, they sounded like a stampede of elephants and he winced when he realized that he didn't say it wasn't an emergency.
When Helen heard Will's call go out she rushed towards the medical bay meeting up with the others outside the door. She was feeling a little frantic. She didn't think anything was wrong with the woman but with the way Will sounded she was worried. She was also feeling a little guilty at leaving poor Will alone when he wasn't a medical doctor and could do nothing to help the woman should she need it.
"What's going on Will?" Helen asked as she jogged towards the woman and started reading the woman vitals.
"I'm sorry Helen, nothing is wrong with her. It's just...well...I couldn't help but notice...and...Well" Will stammered and just finally gave up and pointed towards the computer monitor.
Helen sighed in frustration. She couldn't believe that Will would put out a call sounding like that and there was nothing wrong with the girl but then she saw Will point towards the computer and figured that something must have come up on her blood test.
She moved over to the computer and pushed her way through the others that had also crowded around the monitor.
After a few moments she finally realized what everyone else must have. On the screen was a pop up saying one hundred percent maternal match.
Helen was shocked. That mean that this girl was a daughter to someone that they had in their system. With shaking hands she reached out and double clicked on the pop up. This caused another window to pop up and inside of it was her information matched with the woman, even their pictures were up on the screen.
She felt faint. This wasn't possible, she only had one daughter and she was gone.
Everyone was silent, nobody knew what to say.
The silence however was quickly broken by Henry, "Mazel Tov! It's a Girl!"