Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who, Hawaii 5-0, or "1,2,3,4" by Feist.
Steve stopped the car in front of the long gray building. "This is the place," He said looking at the building.
Danny looked at the building. "This-this is the place?" He asked, somewhat in disbelief. The long building was made of dull gray cement bricks with a flat roof, and the building was surrounded by sidewalk and an asphalt parking lot. Not exactly the place one would think an illegal gambling operation that was described by the anonymous caller as "opulent," would take place. "Are you sure you heard the caller right?"
"Yep," Steve said, "Now all we do is watch and wait."
"Wait for what?" Danny asked. He hated it when Steve did this. It always freaked him out a little.
"For someone to show up," Steve said, "And then we go in."
"Wow, wow, wow, wait a second McGarret," Danny said, "Go in? We don't have anything to go in on. We don't have an arrest warrant or a search warrant, or-"
"We're not arresting anyone or searching anything," Steve said, "We're just looking to see how much of the is real."
Just then a woman in teal dress walked up, to the door, knocked on it, said something the two men couldn't make out, and walked in.
"That's our cue," Steve said, then got out of the car. Danny sighed, but got out too.
As they walked up to the door, a man in rather expensive-looking suit walked up to the door, knocked three times and when a slot opened in the door, said, "Dragon's Blood." A second after he said that, the door opened and a twenty-something man with light brown hair in a tweed sports coat usher him in.
"Dragon's Blood," Danny repeated as he watched the door shut, "That's a different codeword."
"Good thing we heard it," Steve said, walking up to the door.
"Are we still going in there?" Danny wined, walking after his at times exasperating friend, "Steve, we know something's going on here. We saw two really dressed up people go in, and have the code word, we can come back with back up."
Danny's pleads fell on deaf ears. Steve knocked on the door three times and when the slot opened said, "Dragon's Blood." The door opened, and the young man in the sports coat eyed the pair suspiciously, but let them in just the same. The duo walked down a dimly lit hall with gray walls. Danny knew why the past word was "Dragon's Blood." The whole place filled with the sweet scent by the same name. They walked out from and found, to their utter surprise, a huge space with Jockey Red carpet on the floor, ten tables filled with people gambling, a bar on the left side or the room, china incense holders high up on the walls, and even a stage, with curtains that matched the floor.
"Wow," Danny said, "Now I can see how this can be called opulent."
Steve, for once also stunned by the grand set up, said, "The whole place is insane. "
"How do you think someone could pulled off something like this without getting noticed?" Danny asked. He looked over at the bar where a gaggle of girls in very reveling, but somewhat classy dress, with faces painted in make up where fawning over the men there.
"I'm more interested in who could pull off something like this without getting noticed." Steve said.
Just than a someone typed on Danny's shoulder and a young female voice said, "Excuse me?"
Danny and Steve turned around to see a young girl in her late teens looking at them. She has tan skin, blue eyes and weirdly enough, hair that was white with gray stripes, or vice versa, they couldn't be sure, and white markings all over her face.
"Yes, miss?" Steve said, trying be polite but hoping they could slip away from her.
The girl looked around nervously before speaking again, her voice dropping several octaves. "Look, I know this is going to sound crazy, but I can-sense things. Things about people. And I'm sensing that you're not the usual type of scumbags and gambling addicts that come in here, that," She moved her eyes up to them with a gleam of hope in her them," You could help me."
Steve was about to tell her she was mistaken, when Danny said, "Well, that really depends on what you need help on, Sweetheart."
The girl opened her mouth to speak but then a mean-sounding voice called out, "Gigget! Get over here! It's almost show time! "
"I have to go," She said, a sense of urgency and nervousness in her voice, "Just please, please wait for me." There was a hint of desperation in her voice.
"Don't worry sweetheart," Danny reassured her, "We will."
"Thank you," She said gratefully, then ran off towards the sound of the voice. When she was gone Steve turned to Danny and asked, "Okay, what was that about?"
"I don't know," Danny said, looking in the direction the girl had went, "Maybe we should try to fallow her."
"I wasn't talking about that," Steve said, directing Danny's attention back to him, "I was talking about you nearly giving us away."
"Come on, Steve," Danny replied, "The kid is obviously in trouble, and not only that it could have something to do with this place, so helping could help us." Just then Danny caught sight of the girl again, being dragged by the arm by an extremely muscular man. She was obviously trying to keep a stiff upper lip and hide how she really felt, but the look on her face was perfectly clear. She was terrified and mortified, and wanted out of here. She was also trapped. "See, Steve? Look at that, does that look voluntary to you?"
"Okay," Steve admitted, "You might have a point. Let's try to follow them and see if we can get to the bottom of this." So saying, the two men followed the man towing the girl away, staying far enough away that he didn't notice them, but not so far that they lost him. He came to the door in the back of the room, and the pair went in, locking the door behind him. Danny went up to the door and tried to open it. "Great," Danny seethed, "Now what are we gonna do?"
Steve walked up to the door and Danny had a feeling he knew what his friend was about to do. "You're gonna kick down the door, aren't you?" Danny lamented, "We can't do that here, it'll draw too much attention. You were just gripping at me for giving us away, well, this is definitely gonna give us away. So please, don't-"
Before Danny could finish the sentence, a man with light brown hair that went a pit pasted his neck wearing a black pin-striped suit stepped onto the stage in the middle of the room. "Hello everyone," He said into the microphone with a Scottish accent. Fortunately everyone was focused on him, so nobody noticed Steve breaking down the door. "Now most of you are just here for the game," The man continued, "But that doesn't I shouldn't provide another form of entertainment for a little bit. May I present to you Miss Gigget Butterfly!"
The man stepped back and the girl they had just talked to stepped out on stage. Her face was beet red. She started to sing, "One, two, three, four, tell me that you love me more. Sleepless long nights, that's what my youth was for." Just then Steve tapped an Danny's shoulder. He turned around to see Steve standing in front of an open doorway with the door in the floor. "Come on," He said, the two ran into the hallway.
The two men wandered through the endless hallways looking for any clue as to what was going on here, looking for any clue that could make sense of what was going on, and dogging the odd person walking by. After several songs, they heard the final applauds and then at least two people walking down that stairs of the stage. The pair quickly hid in a large nearby closet as a broad-shouldered man lead the girl roughly by the arm. When they had pasted the two men stepped out of the closet, looked at each other, and Danny said, pointing in the direction the other two had went, "We go that way."
Meanwhile, further down the hall where the men couldn't see, the guard escorted Ahsoka to her dressing room. He unlocked the door, and tossed her into the small, florescent lit room. She walked over to her cot, and sat down on it. She looked up, at her door, held out her hand, and focused on unopening the lock, as she had done many times before. And then sirens started blaring, breaking her concentration. She covered her ears. The blaring screeching wale of the sirens hurt her eardrums, almost piercing her flesh, but she wasn't surprised. She was use to it by now. She just lied down on the cot, holding her hands over her ears, and prayed that it would stop soon. It seem to be forever but at last they were silenced and she heard an accented voice saying, "Why do you keep doing this to yourself, Ahsoka?"
She looked up at the man in the pinstriped suit standing in the doorway and said, a mixture of contempt in determination in her voice, "Because I can't give up."
"It could be worst, you know," He said, stepping closer to her, " I set you up in a nice place, I don't hurt you, well, at least not much, the food's prime-"
"The doors locked, sirens trigger if I try to unlock it, you force me look for weaknesses in you clientele and sing to hide it, that's why you don't want any marks on me, and I only get scraps." Ahsoka snapped back.
"It'd still be easier if you just accepted the situation, my dear," He said, walking back out, "So except it." The door shut and Ahsoka heard the lock behind it.
Ahsoka sighed. She walked to open rectangle that was her closet and pulled out a green dress with an orange dragon running down the side. She took off the black evening gown she was wearing, which was now soaked in sweat from the spotlight, slipped it on and sat back on the edge of her cot. All of a sudden she felt very weak, the disappear and hopelessness building up for so long, pressing against her chest. She felt tears welling up in her eyes. "No," She thought to herself, "You must not cry. What would Anakin think if you cried? He'd be ashamed of you. Because his Padawan would never break down. Never cry." Then one last though rang through her head, as the first tear ran down her cheek. "But Anakin isn't here, and even if he was, you're not his Padawan anymore." She held her head in her hands as the last month and a half spilled down her face. She barely noticed the loud bang and the male voice complaining about something that she couldn't make out, she was two wrapped up in her own misery, and just assuming it must be coming from the hall, whatever it was. As she wept Ahsoka felt a gentle hand stoking her hair and gentle voice whispering to her."It's alright, Sweetheart, it's alright. We're here to help."
Ahsoka looked up and saw a blonde man in his mid-thirties, the one from earlier ,crouching down so that her was at her level, staring at her. She back away immediately, holding out her hand with the palm facing out, as if ready to fight them off, but oddly enough she didn't. "The man stepped back a little, his hands out in front of him, and said, "Woe, Woe, it's okay, we're not gonna hurt you. Look, I'm Danny, this is my friend Steve, you talked to us earlier, remember?"
Ahsoka leaned back towards the men a little. "Yeah, I remember. But the goons dragged me back here right after the show so I couldn't get back to you."
"Alright, well, now that we have that covered, what's your name, honey?" Danny asked.
"Ahsoka," She answered, "Ahsoka Tano."
"What, like the cartoon?" Danny asked.
"What cartoon?" Ahsoka asked.
"We can get back to that latter," Danny said, "Ms. Tano, you wouldn't, by any chance, be from another planet, would you? Normally I wouldn't ask, I myself put little stock in the possibly of intelligent life from outer space but you do look rather-peculiar."
"Hum," Ahsoka responded, "Who would've ever guest I'd find an additive that I liked less than what Gold called me."
"Gold?" Steve cut in, "Who's he?"
"The guy running his place." Ahsoka answered.
"And this Gold guy, is he forcing you to do these shows?" Danny asked.
"Yes," Was all Ahsoka said.
Danny looked at Steve, who was as horrified as he was. They had both guessed that this was probably the case, but it was still a gut-wrenching thing to hear.
"Hold on there, Doctor," Quinn said, back at the bar in the here and now, "I got to stop you here for a minute to ask you something."
"Alright," The Doctor said, "But please everyone don't start interrupting every five minutes like Ted did last time."
"Hey," Ted said, "I wasn't the only one interrupting."
"Okay, now that we have the ground rules established, can I ask my question?" Quinn asked.
"No one's stopping you," The Doctor said, cheeky-like.
Quinn ignored the Doctor's smart-mouth remark and asked, "Is it just me or do most of these stories involve the misuse of children?"
"Excuse me?" The Doctor asked.
"It just seems to me that all the stories you've told tonight involve kids getting hurt in some way," Quinn observed, "First there was Struma, your accidental kidnap victim, and then there was Darla, the girl turned into a weapon by aliens, and now this poor Ahsoka kid's been forced into some bizarre con job."
The Doctor began, "Okay, first off, I did not..."
"Yeah, and not only tonight stories, Doctor," Robin cut in, "But the last time you were here with Lea, Kyra, Max, Merlin, Begonia..."
"Okay, okay, I get the point," The Doctor conceded, "If I promise that after I finish this story I'll tell you that doesn't involve the misuse of children can we go on?"
"Yes," They all agreed.
''Thank you," The Doctor said, "Now, as I was saying,..."
"And how long has this been going on?" Steve asked.
"A month and a half," Ahsoka answered, her voice almost seething.
"Okay," Danny cut in, "We can get all this stuff latter. Right now we need to get you out of here." And then to everyone surprise, Danny scooped Ahsoka up in his arms. "Now do whatever supper warrior stuff you need to do, McGarret and let's get out of here."
And without further adieu, the three sunk out of the building. They didn't even have to knock anybody out, save the door, which Steve unceremoniously kicked off its hinges. Within the hour they had got to the safety of 5-0 headquarters. Although since Doris had decided to stop in for visit, one had to wonder how safe it really was.
"Asoka," Doris mused, sitting at the table, next to her, "That's a Japanese name, actually. Means 'Morning Baby' I believe. How appropriate a name for such a lovely girl."
"Thank you, " Ahsoka said, a bit standoffish. These people seemed okay but she wasn't sure. She looked up at Steve as he sat down across from her. "Does your mother visit you very often at work?"
"Usually she only visits when she is my work." Steve replied.
"I don't understand." Ahsoka said.
"I use to be spy," Doris explained, "Then I wanted to quit to be a wife and mother, then I faked my death for a case, and Steve only found out I was alive recently."
Ahsoka stared at her for a moment, unblinking.
"It's not as bad as it sounds," Doris said.
"Now that we have that covered can we get down to business please?" Steve said, a bit disconcerted by the turn of the conversation, "Now Ahsoka, how old are you, exactly?"
"You try to guess." Ahsoka said. After a month in a half of only Gold's goons for company, she was starved for some actual conversation.
"Ten years old?" Chin-Ho said, jokingly.
She shook her head. "No, older!"
"Twenty?" Kono guessed.
"Younger." Ahsoka answered, "I'm sixteen. Exactly sixteen."
"Well, now we not only have Gold on racketeering, false impressments, but also child endangerment." Chin said.
"I'm not a child," Ahsoka protested, "I'm a Jedi. Or rather was before I left the order."
"We know, Sweetheart," Danny said, "We saw the show."
"What does that even mean?" Ahsoka asked, confused. They didn't have even have the concept of television in her galaxy and even if they did she had no way of knowing of the notoriety of her, and Adinkin and the others here.
"We'll get to that later," Steve said, "But for now Ahsoka, you don't mind being called by your first name, do you? Someone probably should've asked before now."
"You can call me Ahsoka," She replied, "Now before you got si tracked you were about to ask me something."
"Ah, yes," Steve said, "What I want to know, is how exactly did you get here?"
"It all started when I left the Jedi Order," Ahsoka began, "Actually to be more accurate, it all started when I realized I had no place to go. As if on cue, this guy walks up to me, and said he knew of a job where my skills would be useful."
"Wait a minute," Steve interrupted, "I thought you said you were forced into this."
"I was," Ahsoka replied, "The man who approached me wasn't Gold. I'm not even sure he was human. Anyway, at first I turn the guy down, but he keeps following me and talking to me so I finally decided just to hear him out. He said he'd introduce to the man who was offering the job. I sensed something was off about it, but I followed him anyway, and next thing I know somebody sneaks up behind me and shoved a cloth over my mouth and nose and I black out. I woke up in the room you found me in, and then Gold came in and laid out what was gonna happen, that I was gonna go around the club, probing his customers for weaknesses he could play to and report back to him."
"Why didn't you try to escape?" Steve asked.
"I did," Ahsoka said, "But he has this siren that goes off every time I try to unopened by any means. I tried to use the Force to open the lock, I've even tried to pick it, but that alarm always goes off and it's so loud I can't concentrate to do anything except fall to the floor and pray that it goes off soon."
"That is unbelievable," Danny said, his voice on the brink of outrage, "Can we go arrest this guy? Please tell me we have enough to arrest this guy!"
"Don't worry, after Ahsoka's testimony, we should be able to get a least a search warrant." Steve said.
"I'll give you anything you need." Ahsoka said.
"What can you tell me about the gambling operation itself?" Steve asked.
"From what I know he has four other gambling places on the island, but I don't know where they are, or how many people work in them. As for the one you found me at, " Ahsoka said, "There are 10 people working there. Five guys to run the tables, four guards and a bar tender."
Ahsoka went on to tell the team everything she knew about Gold's operation. When they were done, Steve said, "I think that's enough for tonight. We can pick up in the morning. Ahsoka, this is probably a stupid question, but ah, is there anywhere you can go tonight?"
"Honestly," Ahsoka said, "No." All of a sudden it hit her that she not only have any place to go, but no idea what she was gonna do now. Again.
"You what," Danny interjected, "You can stay at my place tonight. "
"Thank you." Ahsoka said, gratefully.
When they got home, they walked into Danny's apartment, and Danny locked the door, saying, "All right, the couch is over there, make yourself comfortable, I'll go find-hey, are you okay?"
Ahsoka was sitting on the couch, looking somewhat dazed. "Me? Yeah, I'm fine, I was just -thinking."
"About what?" Danny asked, setting down on the couch beside her.
"About my future," She wrapped her arms around herself, " Or rather the lack of one. I don't know anything about this planet, I have no place to go after tonight, and all I know how to do is fight. What am I gonna do now?"
"Well, you could go to school," Danny suggested, "That's what most kids your age do."
"I'm not a kid," Ahsoka said.
"Legally you are," Danny said, "On this planet you're legally considered a kid until you eighteen. Then you're legally considered an adult."
"Good to know." Ahsoka said, "But I don't know if I could catch up in school after being educated in a way different from here for so long." She looked down a moment, then looked up at Danny and said, "Hey, maybe I can work with you guys."
"What?" Danny responded, surprised.
"Jedi are keepers of peace, and keepers of the law, and 5-0 is keepers of peace and the law, it would work perfectly." Ahsoka explained.
"I'm not sure if that would work, but we can talk to Steve about it, see what he thinks," Danny said, "And as for a place to stay, you can stay on my couch, as long as you need."
Ahsoka smiled up at him. "Thank you."
The next day, Danny made the two of them a breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast. When Ahsoka saw the mass of food, she looked at Danny in disbelief and asked, "All this is for me?"
"Yeah," Danny said, "All this is for you." Then gesturing to his plate, added, "And this for me. Now, eat up, so we can get to work on time."
"We?" Ahsoka asked, turning to look at Danny. Had he change his mind about her joining Five-0?
"Yeah, we," Danny said, then he caught what Ahsoka meant, "Oh, no, I'm not saying you should be a part of the team, I'm just saying you need to come with me today."
Ahsoka tried to hide her disappointment and decided to just eat. After all, she was ravenous. She picked up her fork, scooped up some of the eggs, and put in for mouth. Before she knew it she was shoveling it in as fast as she could manage, not even bothering to taste the food. Danny was actually scared by how fast she was eating. "Woe, woe, Ahsoka, slow down. You're gonna make yourself sick."
"Sorry," Ahsoka breathed, "It's just been a long time since I've had this much food."
"Oh, don't tell me Gold was starving you, too," Danny said.
"Not really," Ahsoka explained, "He has this restaurant, one of his legal ventures. He would bring me scraps from it."
"Scraps?" Danny asked, "What do you mean by scraps?"
"Extra food they had cooked but didn't get eaten for some reason." Ahsoka explained, "Yesterday I only had cheese and blue grapes for dinner."
"You know what?" Danny said, setting down his fork, "I'm starting think maybe you should join 5-0 because I think you're the one who should put the cuffs on this guy."
Ahsoka felt the need to ask, "Why are you so passionate about this? Are you always this...intense?"
"Okay, I admit, I usually don't get intense, it's just-" Danny leaned in closer to her, "I look at you, and I see someone's daughter. And I keep thinking about what if this were my daughter. And if this were my daughter, I gotta tell you, I'd, I'd probably kill the guy. You understand what I'm trying to get at here?"
"I do actually," Ahsoka said, "Although, you probably should work on keeping your passion in check."
"Oh, right," Danny said, "You Jedi think passion is a bad thing."
"How do you know so much about the Jedi?" Ahsoka asked.
Danny paused for minute, then said, nervously, "You know what, let's save that one for a day when you're not going through a life crisis, okay?"
"Okay," Ahsoka replied uneasily.
When they got to Five-0 headquarters that day, the team launched itself into forming a plan to bust Gold. They had found out that since her rescue yesterday, Gold been desperately looking for Ahsoka. After much debate, and Ahsoka's insisting, it was decided that Ahsoka was to be used as bait. They place Ahsoka in a back alley way of a place Gold frequented. She made of good show of looking rather despondent, and hopeless, holding her head in her hands, literally sitting in a gutter. It wasn't long before Gold showed and when he saw her, he waltzed right over to her. She heard him before she saw him. "So, did running away work for you?"
She looked up, looking surprised, and a bit remorseful. "I slept in the gutter last night."
"And how was it?" He asked, enjoying every moment of this, as if it were some sort of victory for him.
"Hard," She said, "And cold."
"Well," He replied, "There's that cot in your room back at the club."
She looked up at him. "You'd really just take me back?"
"Well," He said, "You'll have to be punished, of course, and I'll need to know how you escaped, so it doesn't happen again, but I really don't want a scene out here, so yes, I'll take you back." He reached out to grab her arm, but before he could make contact with her, Gold was surrounded by a team of four, guns held out, ready to shoot.
"Ahsoka," Steve said, "Someone else will have to read him his rights, but, you wanna-"
"Gladly," Ahsoka said, catching a pair of cuffs that were thrown to her. As she pulled God's arms behind his back, Danny said from behind her, "Nicholas Gold, you are under arrest for racatering, false imprisonment, and child endangerment. You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney, if you cannot afford one, one will be provided for you. Do you understand these rights as they have been read to you?"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Gold said, as they lead him away. "You're gonna regret this Ahsoka."
"Somehow," Ahsoka said, walking beside Danny, "I highly doubt that."
In the weeks that followed, Ahsoka was able to get Danny and the others on board with the idea of her joining Five-0 and together in turn, they were able to get Steve on broad with the idea as well. She became a valuable member of the team, her ability to use the Force giving her an advantage over the villains they faced that the others didn't have. They helped her through the depression she sunk into after they explained that Stat Wars Saga to her. They all became very good friends. She continued to live with Danny. She became like his second daughter, and even Grace began to view her as an older sister.
This leads us back to where we began.