Back already.

Don't own DP, I do own Noni.

-Phanny


The force at which Danny was knocked backwards felt like he was shot out of a cannon. It took him a moment to realize that he was flat on his back, and he opened his eyes, blinking spots from his vision.

"Danny!" He heard Sam's voice, but he was lifted off of the ground by the same person that had thrown him back. He opened his eyes to see a young woman staring at him, straight in his eyes, with a chilling glare.

'Who are you?' Danny wanted to ask, but the girl had his neck in her grasp, and though she wasn't choking him, it was getting difficult to breathe, and almost impossible to speak.

The girl, only a few years older than he, had pasty gray skin, and her eyes were red and heavy lidded. There were dark shadows beneath them, making her glare even more intimidating. Her clothes were simple, with a thin black long-sleeved shirt, and baggy sweatpants, and her blood red hair was wet and matted from the rain. Her figure horrified Danny - she looked sickly, almost emaciated. But what got his attention was her wings - unlike his feathery bird wings, hers were leathery, bony, and bat-like.

"Master doesn't like runaways," she hissed in a voice much deeper than Danny had expected, "I take you back to him, boy. You will be punished." There was an almost joyous gleam in her eyes.

"Get away from him!" Sam shouted, and the young woman was knocked back by a small rock to her temple. Danny was released, and he took large gulps of air, coughing and wheezing. The girl lay on the ground for a few moments before getting to her feet and glaring at Sam.

"You not interfere!" She growled, "you stay away!"

"Make me!" Sam replied, her eyes narrowed. Danny took this as a chance to deliver a kick to the mysterious woman's stomach, causing her to bend over and fall to her knees.

"Tell us who you are," Danny said levelly.

"Master sent me to find you," the woman said, seemingly ignoring his question, "master give Noni special mission, Noni not fail!"

"Noni…" Danny mused, "listen, Noni, who is your master?"

"Master Vlad, fool!" Noni spat viciously, "he wants his little bird back, so he sends Noni to find!"

Danny paled. He should've known. But how did this Noni know Vlad? He'd lived with the man as long as he could remember, he didn't remember anyone else, especially not a girl only a bit older than him.

"Well I'm not going back," Danny said to her, and her glare hardened, "so you can go back empty-handed." He felt cruel for saying that. He could only imagine the punishment she would get for not completing her 'special mission,' assuming she wasn't a liar - which he was having a hard time doubting.

"What do we do with her?" Tucker asked. Sam laid a heavy combat boot on Noni's flat stomach, and the girl, though she could certainly hit hard, found it hard to rise.

"Master angry," Noni coughed, and Danny was suddenly reminded of how sick and pale she looked, "he hurt the others, his favorite is gone. Noni must not fail, Noni and her friends in danger! Better you than Noni." She stared at Danny.

"Let her up," Sam stared at Danny in bewilderment as he said this, but did as he said. Noni rose from the ground, growling liking an untamed beast at her enemies. She bared long, sharp teeth threateningly, and she looked inhuman and feral. Danny stared her down, regretting what he had told Sam to do, but ready for her to strike.

"Noni ordered to bring you back alive," she said, "but Noni not regret this!"

She tackled Danny to the ground again, scoring her long fingernails down his arms and face, but he managed to get his feet near her stomach and push her off of him. It wasn't long before she recovered, preparing for a punch when he stopped her hand mid swing and twisted it behind her back.

"Leave us alone!" Danny said in her ear. She writhed in his grasp as he felt blood seep from the wounds on his arms and face.

"Noni can't!" She said, her voice desperate, "Noni mustn't…"

"What happens if you don't?" Danny asked. Noni looked up at him with a gaze that made his stomach churn with pity. Underneath the wild gleam in her eyes was hunger, fear, and pain, and she shut her eyes quickly.

"Noni dies."


Sam had suggested killing the girl, and Danny admitted to himself that it would be much easier on them if they did, but instead the sickly Noni lay on the ground asleep near the fire the trio had built. After she had been restrained long enough, the girl's malicious intentions seemed to have waned, being replaced by the frightened teen she obviously was before Vlad got his hands on her.

"So you're not the only one," Sam said, "Nana said that you were one of the few of his children that had escaped. Looks like you weren't his only experiment."

Danny didn't like to think of himself as an experiment, but it was likely the case. He had to have been created, he had to have been made and not born, he must have been a creation based on trial and error. As those thoughts tormented him, he looked at the sleeping Noni and realized that his situation could be a lot worse. He was Vlad's favorite - obviously he didn't care much for the others.

"How many others do you think there are?" Tucker asked, to no one really.

"She might know," Sam jerked her thumb towards Noni. Ever since the fight earlier, Sam had refused to call the girl by her name. She obviously didn't trust her.

"I can't believe he'd just kill her if he didn't get his way," Tucker muttered, "do his 'children' mean that little to him?"

"Likely," Danny nodded, "Vlad may call us children…but he's no father."

'We're his toys,' Danny though silently, looking at Noni, who shifted restlessly in her sleep. Vlad was so powerful, he struck so much fear in everyone, 'we're all his toys. The world is just a game, and he's already won.'


I hope Noni doesn't look like a Sue to you guys. To me crazy mutant sociopathic psycho bitch doesn't scream Sue but...whatever.

Even if you don't like her, she's important to the story.