Daria's Gate

It had been so nice to see Daria, fresh from her first year at Raft University.

Or at least it had been nice for the rest of the Morgendorffer clan, until they first heard their little girl refer to their first family meal together as 'an experiment'.

That had been a bit jarring, but easily brushed aside.

And then the next day a delivery man had arrived at the front door with several large packages that Daria signed for without a moment's thought and took to the backyard.

When Quinn went to check on her, she discovered her sister with their father's tool kit, lots of weird looking machine parts, old tires, and a tape player giving instructions on something that made Quinn dig a finger into her ear since she was pretty sure she didn't hear that right.

"...and it is important to remember that the rubber in the tires will serve as a spiritual conductor as your new space-fairing vessel traverses the stars..." the tape player droned on.

Quinn was having to accept what she was hearing as fact, but it still didn't make any sense.

Nor did it help that her parents became absorbed with work, so she was left with having to figure out what to do, if anything.

And then the doorbell rang again.

Quinn said that she'd get it and found another delivery man, but with a much smaller package.

After she signed for it, Quinn found herself unable to resist sneaking a peak.

"Ugh!" Quinn had groaned, "This track suit is almost as geeky as that ugly coat she used to wear! And what's with the Nike sneakers?! They are dated and not to mention that Daria doesn't exercise."

And then a small arm band fell out of the pile, causing Quinn to bend down and pick it up and she found that it said something.

"What's an Away Team?"

"Quinn?" Daria's voice emerged from behind her, "Could you give me that please? I need the uniform to complete my mission."

"Uh... Ok." Quinn had replied before handing everything over, "But what mission?"

Daria gave her a small smile, "The mission that I discovered during my time at Raft, the only mission that matters."

"What's that?"

Daria's smile grew, and that disturbed Quinn almost as much as what she uttered next.

"Returning to my home planet. I missed the ship that came with the Hale–Bopp comet, so I'm going to use my own. Oh, by the way, do you know where a girl can get a good deal on rocket fuel?"

At that point Quinn wasn't completely sure what was going on, but she did suspect that her sister had gone insane.

So she felt that anyone with half a wit would understand, if not sympathize with what she did next.

She told Daria that she did know where some rocket fuel could be found, and waited until Daria was nice and distracted before grabbing the nearest blunt object (a fire poker) and used it to knock her out cold.

When Daria woke up later with a splitting headache, she found herself tied to a chair, facing her parents, a non-apologetic Quinn, a worried Jane Lane, and three dour faced men in suits.

"Hello Ms. Morgendorffer," one of the suits said in a voice even more devoid of emotion than her own, "We're here because your parents and loved ones are worried about you."

"You've fallen into the tentacles of an insane cult," another added, ignoring her protests, "And we are here to fix that... no matter how long it takes."

All poor Daria could do as they began to install the electrodes was scream and scream, wanting more than anything to get to her ship and escape Earth for the other 'level of existence above human' that she had discovered through the recordings of a man who had already reached it.

"I shall join you Marshall Applewhite!" Daria had sworn on several occasions, "No matter what it takes, I swear it!"

And she continued to swear it, even as the deprogrammers began to do their damn best to make her break that oath.

For her own good of course.