THANKS to Seneca & "Spooky" for proof-reading and their helpful criticism and suggestions.
DISCLAIMER: Based on the Spelling Productions television show, Charmed, created by Constance M. Burge. All Charmed characters are the property of Spelling Productions. Copyright 2001 Andrew Nevill.
TIMELINE: The story opens after the event of Season One's episode, "Love Hurts." Piper knows about Leo being a Whitelighter and Andy is still alive.
The attack was carefully planned. An ambush that couldn't fail. He sensed his prey approaching, heard the back door of the restaurant open, heard their footsteps sounding on the tarmac. Quickly he scanned the dimly lit alley, which backed onto the restaurant with the curious name of Quake, the workplace of his quarry. It was deserted. The only beings in it, himself and his three victims.
He'd planned the attack for one but no matter. All three at once would be simpler, removing the need to plan his next attempts around targets who would be alert and watchful.
They came ever nearer. He could hear their chatter and laughter. They suspected nothing. So much for their much vaunted powers. This would be too easy. With a grim smile he squeezed himself further into the space between the wall and the dumpster. Timing it perfectly he let fly a crackling bolt of green fire.
As he loosed the magical missile, a feminine voice yelled, "Down!" His victims dropped to the floor, the projectile flying over their heads to miss. He snarled and prepared to unleash another blast. Before he could, he saw his own magic turn in the air, flying unerringly towards his own hiding place.
Leaving his cover he ran off at an angle, feeling the heat of his firebolt as it just missed him, so close did it come. One of the witches, the youngest from her looks, sprang to her feet and made to intercept him. As they converged, she leaped into the air to deliver a kick.
Reacting with all the supernatural speed he possessed, the warlock threw up an arm to block the kick and swatted her out of the air like a fly, sending her tumbling to the ground.
The eldest sister's face tightened into hard lines and she gestured throwing him across the alley, to crash into the restaurant's wall. Picking himself off the ground he drew back his hand, only find himself the subject of a frozen grey-eyed stare and a chilling voice. "Oh no, you do not shoot that green crap at us."
He thought fast. If he cast another bolt, she would make it rebound as she had before, and this time she wouldn't miss. This op was blown but there was always next time. She was blocking the mouth of the alley. No escape from that route. He turned, pulled open Quake's rear door, and ran through the kitchen.
Prue saw him go, considered giving chase but then remembered her youngest sister. She ran over to Phoebe and knelt with Piper beside her sister's prone form. The implacable mask turned to a relieved smile as a conscious Phoebe groaned, "Did anyone get that truck's license plate?"
"It was a warlock, Pheebs," grinned an equally relieved Piper. Pushing one of her bangs back to join the rest of her dark brown hair, which tumbled down her back, she continued, "The one you saw trying to toast me, remember."
"Yeah good call, sis," breathed Prue.
Getting back on her feet with her sisters' help, the irrepressible Phoebe grinned, "I always said my premonitions were the coolest power." Her sisters exchanged glances, but before they could remind her of the truth, she cut in with, "So where is our warlock?"
"Headed through Quake," answered Prue.
"We'd best catch him," sighed Piper wondering how she'd explain this to Martin, the establishment's owner, and her boss.
Her siblings nodded their agreement and all three pursued their prey through the restaurant.
He was fast and the delay where they had checked up on Pheebs enabled him to build up a lead. Eyes stared at them as they ran through the kitchen and into the dining area. The warlock had made it almost to the foyer. A few more steps and he'd be out the door. Once he was out in the crowded street, he'd be safe.
The Charmed Ones burst through the doors into the foyer to see the warlock with his hand on the main doors, just about to pull them open. Two more seconds and they'd lose him forever. Piper stretched out her hands. Instantly the warlock froze.
"Nice Piper!" exclaimed Prue admiringly.
"Very," agreed Phoebe, digging into her pocket to remove a slip of paper. "Now let's finish this."
Prue nodded. The sisters stood together, and reading from the paper, chanted,
"Evil doer, have no name,
Rest you not on any plane,
Splinter, split and banish bound,
Nothing left of thee be found."Over and over they recited the words, a magical breeze stirring their hair as the power built. A vortex of energy surrounded the warlock, who was frozen in mid flight, swirling around him. The breeze grew stronger, sending their hair into disarray, the vortex becoming ever more powerful as it tore their attacker apart, scattering his atoms into oblivion.
There was a scream from behind them. The sisters turned and the grins, which had started to form at their victory, were wiped away half-done. In their eagerness to get the job done, they'd forgotten about the newly fitted glass doors between the foyer and the restaurant proper. A packed Quake, full of at least a hundred people, their faces etched with shock, fright and hysteria stared at them from the other side of the foyer doors. They'd seen everything.
The Charmed Ones were Outed!
* * * "Witches Out! Witches Out! Witches Out!"
It was two in the morning and still the crowd baying for their blood hadn't gone away. But then Piper had never expected them to. They'd been there chanting the same thing over and over for two weeks. The Manor resembled an armed siege. A circle of police officers circled the house to keep the besieging press and frightened public away. And to keep the Halliwells away from their besiegers.
No one believed it was a warlock. To the crowd he'd looked like a human and when he'd disintegrated, it had looked like murder. It wouldn't have mattered anyway. The prospect of their powers' potential was more than enough to convince the average San Franciscan that the Halliwells were trouble they didn't need.
Life was tough. They had all the power of the Charmed Ones but even that wasn't enough to return this genie to its bottle. They couldn't use it on the crowd. It'd just confirm every idea the mob had.
But it was worse for Piper. She was responsible. It was her power, her thoughtlessness that had cost them their secret. Prue and Phoebe were being wonderful. They hadn't said anything to her about it being her fault. Indeed they tried to convince her that they should have thought of the consequences. But Piper knew the truth. They were in this mess because of her.
She'd not slept properly for two weeks, because of the crowd and her feelings of guilt. Tonight was yet another of those sleepless nights. Her sisters were in bed. Prue and Phoebe could sleep through an earthquake.
Damn it, but she needed to get out of here. The insomnia was bad enough. Worse was the constant barracking from the crowd outside, the shouting, the flashbulbs going off whenever one of them appeared at the window. It was all getting to be too much. Her sisters were trying to help but didn't realize they were also part of the problem. If she saw one more of Prue's sympathetic looks and heard Phoebe say, "It's not your fault sweetie," ever again she'd explode.
Crossing to the notice board in the kitchen she took a piece of paper and a pen and wrote, "Guys, I need some air and I can't take it here anymore. Gotta bail for a while before I go crazy. Back soon. Love Piper."
She stuck the note onto the fridge with a magnet and then took her car keys from the hook. She opened the back door a crack. Instantly the volume from outside increased tenfold as the sound of their chanting invaded the house. The crowd, seeing the door open, surged forward. She poked a hand through the gap.
Silence. Blessed silence. For the first time in two weeks the shouting stopped. Piper opened the door fully, and exiting the Manor, closed it behind her, running through the unmoving throng to her Jeep. Climbing in, she turned the key and was speeding out of Prescott Street as the mob returned to life.
* * * In another realm, they watched as they always watched. For the first time in almost a year they were content. It had been a good two weeks. Although, they had lost one of their best assassins, it had resulted in the witches being revealed.
The mortals had been hysterical, braying for the Halliwells' blood, forcing the accursed Charmed Ones to stay in their home. They laughed. With the Sisters Three fettered by the crowd, there was no way they'd be doing any vanquishing in the near future. The playing field was left wide open for the Other Side to wreak havoc. Best of all, the humans would blame all of this on their now impotent protectors. Things just couldn't get any better.
Then they saw an opportunity. Maybe things could get better. The middle one, the time freezer was leaving. Separated from her siblings she would be an easy target. Her death would remove the threat of the Power of Three forever. Yet it could be more. Handled right, her death could be used against the remaining two, to twist them, turn them away from good and towards evil.
Silently they nodded to one another and started to weave a spell.
* * * She'd taken the coast road. It twisted like a snake and was demanding to drive along. There were barriers at the road's edge but they were more to help drivers see where the road ended. They wouldn't stop a car from tumbling into the ocean. But the goal that lay at its end made the torturous drive worthwhile. Piper smiled as she thought of it. The condo on the cliff that overlooked the bay where she, Prue, Phoebe and her mum and dad, during those happy years when they were still together, would spend summer weekends.
Piper drove confidently, yet sensibly along the snaking tarmac, the Jeep's 4x4 capabilities sure-footedly gluing the sports utility vehicle to the road. Piper loved her car. It had never let her down.
It was the wrong thought. As she smiled, the Jeep suddenly died for no apparent reason. There was no stalling, no indication of any fault on the dashboard. One moment the car was running fine, the engine purring under the hood and the next it had simply stopped. Piper tried to restart the car but her key turning in the ignition had no effect.
Maybe she was out of gas. Grabbing a flashlight, Piper got out of the jeep to make her way round back where she always had a spare can of fuel. As she walked around the vehicle she glanced up at the sky. It had been a beautiful moonlit night but no longer. Clouds scudded across the brightly lit sky, covering the silver disc, lengthening the shadows, as the darkness became all pervading. From nowhere the wind picked up, whipping the branches of the trees that lined the road. There was a crack of thunder. Less than minute from her jeep dying, Piper Halliwell was caught in a storm.
It was magic. Piper could almost smell it in the air. She turned back toward the Jeep. There was another roar of thunder, and a fork of lightning extended from the heavens to strike a tree, shearing off a branch. The branch crashed into the roof of the Jeep scything through its mid section.
Another lightning strike and another branch crashed to the ground. Piper leaped back and the heavy tree limb landed barely two inches from her. She turned and ran, trying to outrun the malevolence of the storm. It was a vain attempt. She'd been running for about 30 seconds when another branch fell to earth right in front of her. She had no time to stop. Her foot hit the wood, the trip sending her tumbling to the ground, her head hitting the road before Piper's world went black.
* * * In their distant realm the agents of the Other Side smiled in satisfaction. Once she was enveloped in the storm's eye she would be torn apart by the magical forces at it's heart. But magic can be as unpredictable and uncontrollable for the Other Side as it can be for anyone else. As the storm's eye closed on Piper's prone figure a sudden fork of lighting arced from the sky striking into the heart of the maelstrom. Green-blue tongues of light, like St. Elmo's Fire, licked round around her unconscious form. And Piper Halliwell instead of being destroyed, simply disappeared.
They frowned at each other, not knowing what to make of this unexpected occurrence. Then gradually they became content once more. So the witch was not dead, but elsewhere. No matter. Her sisters would believe her dead. The plan could still work.
* * * Piper awoke. Her wrecked Jeep was gone. As were all the branches and debris of the storm. All that remained was the flashlight, which had stayed in her grasp. She looked up at the sky. Clouds still covered the moon. She slowly got to her feet and with trepidation put weight on her foot. She waited for the pain only to find there was none. "All in one piece," she mused. "Well that's something."
It was no use wondering what had happened to her car and the storm. So Piper didn't bother. Something supernatural had occurred and despite being outed, her sisters and she still had a job that they had to at least make an attempt to perform. And this definitely warranted an investigation. Right now the priority was to get home and tell Prue and Pheebs about this.
It took her an hour to walk the five miles back into the city. As she traversed the deserted streets she knew something was wrong. New York might have the reputation for never sleeping but San Francisco wasn't far behind. The late night clubs and restaurants should have been doing a roaring trade but she could see nothing open. In fact the street lamps weren't even on. And where were the people? These streets were completely empty, as if the City by the Bay had suddenly become the City of the Ghosts.
Spotting a newspaper stand she crossed to it and shined the flashlight on the front page, hoping to gain some clue on what the hell was happening. Piper's jaw dropped as she read the date. "August 3rd 2013." The future. But what had happened to make San Francisco like this in just thirteen years? Quickly she read the headline. "Tyrants Celebrate 10 Glorious Years of Rule" The story read like a propaganda leaflet extolling the virtues of the "Tyrants" who'd ruled San Francisco for ten years. She was just nearing the end of the article when from behind her came the sound of a siren.
She turned to see a black car and a figure in black riot gear approaching her. "A curfew breaker!" Roughly he shoved her against the stand and frisked her. Finding nothing he demanded, "Papers!"
"I don't have them!"
In response he twisted her arm up back, "Then that's a year."
"Like hell," gritted Piper. She kicked backwards, her foot connecting sharply with his groin. He collapsed to the ground. Piper had barely started to turn around, to make a break for it when she felt a sharp pain in her back. The force of the blow rotated her, and dazedly she made out the blurry figure of another cop, seated in the back of the car. A lance of blue energy arced from the weapon is his hand, striking Piper in the chest, tumbling her to the ground.
Getting out of the vehicle, the cop who'd stunned her crossed to Piper's prone figure and grabbed her arm, pulling her painfully from the ground and dragging her towards the car. As they emerged from the shadows into the pool of light created by the vehicle's headlights, the cop got his first look at his prisoner's face, and couldn't stop his surprised words, "What the hell?"
He raised the visor of his helmet to look at her more clearly, and Piper could hardly believe her eyes as she stared into the shocked and disbelieving face of Andy Trudeau! But not the Andy she knew. His face was grim, the easy smile gone and it had a long scar running down the left cheek. But it was his eyes that were most changed. They had sparkled with kindness and generosity, but here they were dull and cruel. As he looked at her, his face shifted into an expression of suspicion.
Over his shoulder, Andy saw his companion walking back to the car and addressed him harshly, "Floored by a girl! Being the Commander's Chauffeur has made you soft! If this makes me late for my audience with the Tyrants, I will give you to their tender mercies." He turned back to Piper. His voice was soft, menacing, "In the car. You'd better come with me."
Manhandled into the car, her hands cuffed, Andy's gun constantly trained on her, she'd been offered no chance of escape during the short drive through the darkened streets. Eventually the vehicle drew to a halt and Andy with a hand firmly gripping her upper arm escorted her from the car.
Piper looked around. The surroundings were familiar. It was a tree-lined street and although they'd grown a bit, she recognized them as the ones that extended the length of Prescott Street. But all the houses were gone. Instead, an incredible mansion dominated the street, taking up the entire block, and fenced around with an ornate hedge and gigantic gate that opened at their arrival. It was late 19th Century in style just like the Manor, but on a scale her childhood home had never possessed. With Andy's pulling her roughly, she was marched up the drive. The guard at the front doors stepped aside and like the gate, they opened of their own volition. Still gripping her arm, she and Andy entered the building and found themselves in a long hallway filled with tributes to the Tyrants from the people of San Francisco. They marched down it until they came to another set of doors. Andy rapped smartly on the thick door, which was opened from within by a footman who ushered them into the presence of the Tyrants.
They stood by a window, their backs turned. One was about 5 foot 5 and had shoulder length hair, jet black in colour and wore an immaculately tailored black trouser suit. The other's hair was dark and of a similar length to Piper's own but was wavy rather than straight. She was clad in a breathtaking dress of shimmering black material that was slit all the way from her left thigh. Two-inch heels augmented her height of around 5 foot 3 to make her stand the same height as her companion.
As Andy entered with Piper, the taller woman spoke, "Commander Trudeau. What have you found this time?"
Piper had been half expecting it, but it was still a shock to hear the voice. And then the Tyrants turned and she saw their faces. They looked a little older, but in the main Fate had kind to their beauty. Or (when she thought about it later) had been magically persuaded to generosity. Piper couldn't stop the words from bursting out, "Prue! Phoebe!"
* * * Anger flashed in Prue's eyes. "How dare you!" She flung out a hand and Piper was hurled across the room, painfully hitting the floor. During the brief episode she never even glanced at Piper, but waited for Andy to report.
"We caught her breaking curfew. She had no papers. When I saw her face I figured you'd like to see her. She's probably an Underground spy."
Prue smiled, and still totally ignoring Piper, walked provocatively towards the police officer, unbuttoning her blouse "You must be rewarded, Commander," she purred. Then, cupping the back of his neck, she pulled his face to her own, kissing him deeply on the lips. She ended the kiss and stood there as Andy continued to kiss her neck, heading downwards to her shoulder. Then he started to pull aside the blouse.
"Enough!" said Prue softly and Andy stopped kissing her, stepping back, shaking his head to clear it, as if he were waking from a trance. As she re-buttoned the blouse she ordered, "Spies are all very well. But if you want more rewards, get the Underground's leader. He begins to annoy us."
Phoebe joined her sister, a lustful smile on her face as she slinked towards Andy, "Bring him in alive and I just might join in."
Prue's frowned, her eyes darkening, "You may go Commander."
Andy nodded, bowing slightly and turning on his heel. The footman opened the door and at the elder sister's commanding gesture, accompanied the Commander through it. Then Prue turned on her sibling, "How many times, Phoebe? He's mine. Or do you wish to challenge me?" Phoebe hurriedly shook her head. The catlike smile returned, but it didn't reach Prue's eyes. "If Andy brings him to us, you can have the Underground's leader as your plaything. I recall that he was … how did she describe it? Ah. Wonderful. And he'll be willing. Passion's Kiss is most effective."
Phoebe smiled, "I saw. Trudeau was all over you." Then she gave her attention to Piper, looking at her for the first time. As she did, the smile turned into a frown and her dark eyes narrowed. "Prue. Look at the girl."
For the first time Prue took a good look. "You are insolent aren't you? First you call us by our given names and now you dare to appear in front of us with that face. Who are you exactly?"
Piper stood up to face her sisters. "You know who I am. I'm Piper Halliwell. Your sister."
"Our sister is dead!" roared Phoebe.
"I didn't die," she tried to explain. "I got caught up in some magic. And next thing I knew, I was here." She paused. "What the hell happened here anyway?"
Prue laughed. "You claim sisterhood with us, yet you don't know the simplest thing! All of this is for our sister. For Piper!"
"For me?" Piper couldn't stop the disbelieving words.
"You keep the charade up. I'll grant you that," Phoebe said, her smile looking more like a sneer. "We'll play along with you for now. You want to know what happened. We'll show you."
She reached out a hand, taking Piper's arm and Prue did the same. Then together the two said a single word of power, "Transportum"
The room in the mansion faded and Piper saw they were now standing in Golden Gate Park. She turned and saw a statue mounted on a pedestal. Standing agape, she was shocked to see that it was a life-sized bronze of…herself. On the pedestal was a plaque, "In loving and eternal memory of Piper Halliwell, our sister, driven to her death by the "Good" people of San Francisco."
Piper turned back, starting to realize what had happened as Phoebe began to tell the story, "We were outed. The public found out about our powers. A mob surrounded our house baying for our blood. Piper couldn't handle it. She felt responsible for everything, so one night she left a note saying she'd be back, and then went for a drive. She never returned."
Prue took up the tale, "There was a freak storm. We found her car on the coast road, smashed in two by a fallen branch, but there was no sign of Piper. The investigation was closed under the assumption that she'd fallen over the cliff in the storm. But if it weren't for them," Prue swept her arm around in a contemptuous gesture that encompassed the city, "She'd never have been out there. They killed her as surely as if they had pushed her over the cliff themselves."
Prue paused and Phoebe continued, telling how although the police gave in, they themselves did not. Piper closed her eyes seeing it in her mind's eye. Her sisters bereft with sorrow, searching the cliffs, beach road and summer house for any sign of her, or what had happened to their middle sister. She pictured them searching the Book of Shadows fruitlessly for any clue, any spell that might help. She saw the flyers posted on street lights, ads in the paper, appeals on TV but all to no avail as the public and police simply refused to help. All that is, except for Darryl and Andy, who'd toiled on in secret. But most terrible of all, the city welcomed Piper's death as a good riddance, pronouncing judgement on their caring and gentle sibling.
Phoebe continued, and almost as if living it, Piper could see her sisters change, their treatment at the hands of their fellow citizens making them grow bitter and vengeful. "Finally we had to give up. To accept that Piper was gone. But we swore revenge. So we worked on our magic, mastered our spells, honed our powers and three years to the day that she died, we made our move. The police, the army, they all tried to stop us, just as we planned. We worked our magic, manipulating them all, turning them to our side and San Francisco fell to us. Then with the police and army as our tools, we proceeded to make its people pay for taunting us. For killing Piper. For reveling--no--celebrating her death !" There was acid in Phoebe's voice as the sentence was completed. Regaining her composure she smiled, "They called us tyrants - and in answer to their barbs we adopted it as our official title."
Prue wasn't smiling. She turned to Piper. "Alright! We've gone along with your charade long enough. Now who are you? Why have you got our sister's face?"
"And," put in Phoebe, "Why didn't the Underground bother to make you look as if you'd aged?"
"I don't know what the hell you're talking about." insisted Piper. "The only underground I ever heard of is the Limey subway system." Prue and Phoebe looked at each other in disbelief.
"You're trying our patience," her younger sister told her, with a dangerous edge to her voice,
"And we run out of *that* very easily, my dear," finished Prue, the final word sounding all the more menacing for its incongruity.
Piper's eyes blazed defiantly, "I am your sister. And if you won't believe my face or my voice, then believe this." Stooping to the ground she picked up a pebble. Throwing it high in the air, she extended her hands and gestured. "Now do you bel…"
Piper suddenly realized something was very wrong. The stone had frozen in mid air, exactly as she had intended. But so had Prue and Phoebe.
Piper cursed. She should have realized. In a way it was inevitable. Ten years of ruling by fear and magic had turned her sisters to their dark side. Turned them evil.
She had to fix this. To save the city. To save her sisters. To save herself. Angrily Piper realized that her life had been stolen from her. Her sisters' lives too. The good they could have done had been taken and corrupted into a dark shadow of what should have been. But the only way to get those lives back would be to reverse time. Stop themselves from being exposed. It would need a powerful spell. It would need the Power of Three. Somehow she had to hope that her sisters were still in there, buried deep within these Tyrants, which in name and actuality they truly had become.
Taking advantage of the frozen moment, Piper thought. She had to change things, and she needed their help. But first they had to believe she was who she said she was or she'd have no chance of convincing them. Walking past her frozen siblings, she stood by the statue that bore her likeness. Gesturing once more she broke her spell.
A confused Prue and Phoebe came out of the freeze, looking at the place Piper had been, then questioningly at each other until they heard Piper's voice, "Behind you!"
They turned to see Piper wearing her familiar smile. Phoebe accepted it first, "Piper! Is... is it really you?"
"Yeah Pheebs, it is"
"But why did we freeze?" asked Prue, still suspicious. "You could never freeze us."
There was an uncomfortable silence. Finally Piper spoke, "I froze Phoebe once before - when the Woogyman possessed her…"
"Because I succumbed to the dark side and turned evil," Phoebe concluded.
Prue realized the truth and laughed mockingly at her youngest sister, "You didn't expect us to still have our halos, did you Phoebe? All that personal gain and revenge, and you think we haven't been blackened? You poor deluded…"
Phoebe eyes flashed fire and shot it too. Two lances of fire exploded from them and raced towards Prue, missing as she darted out of the way. In retaliation, Prue gestured with a hand and sent Phoebe tumbling to the ground, "Don't you ever learn?"
Picking herself up from the floor, a furious Phoebe faced her elder sibling "One day *dear* sister, you'll mock me once too often. And on that day, I won't miss."
"Stop it!" screamed Piper. "Can't you see what you've become? Listen to me. I froze Phoebe when the Woogyman got her. But you turned good again." Passionately, almost pleadingly she continued, "Prue, Phoebe. I have to believe it's not too late. I have to believe that some part of the Prue and Phoebe I know is still in you, hating this. Help me set this right. Stop it from ever happening."
"And how would you do that?" asked Phoebe
"Send me back to my own time. To before we were exposed," answered Piper. "I'll stop our secret from getting out. Prevent this future from ever occurring."
"And destroying us in the process," pointed out Phoebe. "You want us to help you cast a spell that would end our existence.
"Not end. Change. For the better"
"Better?" laughed Prue. "How could things be better than this? We rule a city. Power, wealth, love are ours at the very whim. You would destroy that?" Then she changed her tack and continued persuadingly, "Piper. Join us. It would be as it should be. The three of us reunited. With the Power of Three, we would become even greater. Nothing could stop us. The world would be ours to rule."
Piper shook her head, "I pity you. You just don't see it either of you. The things you have are worthless, empty. Taken not given. Phoebe, power gained by fear? Prue, wealth demanded in tribute? And love?" Piper laughed, mocking both of them equally, "You mean lust, lust satisfied by a spell. Because that's the only way a man will touch you now."
Prue's face blackened with fury. "If anyone else said to me what you just have, I'd kill them." She took a deep, calming breath. "Now, because of your face, I give you a choice. Join us. Rule with us. And this will be forgotten."
"And if I don't?"
"You are either for us, or against us." answered Phoebe harshly. "If you are against us, then you will be executed for treason." Phoebe paused. Something flashed in her eyes, coming and going so fast, that Piper barely caught it. When she next spoke she sounded almost as if she were pleading with her sister, like she used to when trying to borrow a dress. "Piper, we thought you were dead. And you've just come back. Please don't force us to do this."
Prue favoured her youngest sibling with a sour look, and then addressing Piper, she demanded, "For or against? Choose!"
Piper met her sisters' eyes, glaring defiantly, "Against."
* * * Piper sat despondently on the small cramped pallet in her tiny cell. She'd not seen or spoken with anyone for three days. At the Tyrant's orders - Piper refused to think of them as her sisters - she was allowed to live for now, but with no human contact, her cell door was not even permitted to be opened lest she use her power and attempt to escape. All she could do was wait. Wait for the end. For true to their word, her sisters had summarily condemned her.
Hell, this was a god-awful mess. And it was all her fault. If only she'd been more careful using her powers. If only she hadn't bailed. If only…
Piper caught hold of herself. No. Their exposure had been a dreadful mistake but everyone made mistakes. And she hadn't bailed. She hadn't lied in the note that she'd left for her sisters. A couple of days at the beach house alone, and she'd have returned. It had been that freak magical storm that had done this.
Not that there was anything freakish about it. Someone had sent it after her, she was sure of it. An attempt by some force of evil to capitalize on the Charmed Ones' exposure. Maybe afterwards, they'd even manipulated her sisters, as Prue and Phoebe had manipulated the police and armed forces. Well, they'd hit the jackpot hadn't they, she thought miserably. Two of the Charmed Ones turned to their side and the third fated to die at their hands.
Sensing herself falling back into a depression, Piper forced herself to think positively. Maybe when they came to execute her; maybe then she'd have a chance. They'd have to open the cell door then. She frowned. But surely Prue and Phoebe would think of that. No! She had to be positive! With a sudden determination, Piper swore to herself that somehow she'd find a way to make all this right. Smiling for the first the time in three days, Piper looked up to the heavens, "I'll fix this," she promised quietly. "But I could use a little help."
There was a noise from outside. A slot in the cell door opened and a tray was pushed through. Piper got off the bed and picked up the meal. She turned her nose up in distaste at the grey sludge, a full nutritional supplement, without any flavour, identical to every other meal she'd been granted. "I hope I get my date soon, " she joked grimly. "My last request is going to be a decent meal."
"In that much of a rush to die?"
Hearing the voice behind her, Piper dropped the tray in surprise. She turned around. A myriad of blue and white lights danced before her, forming the fuzzy figure of man. The lights faded, becoming a man with sandy hair and sparkling blue eyes. Piper's jaw dropped. Her eyes registered disbelief. It was Leo!
* * * "Is it really you?"
He nodded.
"But how? What…?"
He put a finger to his lips. "We don't have the time now. Just trust me and hold on to me."
She put her arms around his neck, nestling her head into his shoulder. For the first time in days a contented sigh escaped from her lips. Leo heard it and smiled gently. Then he looked upwards.
Piper saw a flash of blue and white light. There was a sudden sense of acceleration. A brief moment where she felt like she was everywhere all at once. Piper's head went light, she was dizzy and the room spun around. Leo held her until the sensation passed.
When the dizziness had gone, Piper looked around. The grim grey walls of her cell had been replaced by another set of grey walls. But at least they were a lot further apart than the four-foot square box she'd inhabited.
A man, wearing an easy smile that went with his rugged appearance walked over to them, holding two mugs, which he handed to Piper and Leo. "Is this her?"
"Yes Dan, it is." He turned to Piper, "Piper Halliwell. Meet Dan Gordon. All around pain in the ass, co-leader of the Underground and my best friend."
Piper sipped the coffee, the first warm drink she'd had since she'd gotten here, gratefully, then asked, "Now I have a few questions."
Motioning for her to join them the two men crossed to a small alcove furnished with a number of chairs and two sofas. Piper guessed that the alcove was a makeshift discussion area. They sat in silence for a moment as Piper wondered which of the many questions to ask first. Curiosity warred with the need to know what was happening. Finally curiosity won. "What is this place, a nuclear bunker? It's grim enough."
"A disused sewer believe it or not" said Leo, smiling at Piper's look of distaste. "Don't worry, its perfectly OK. The place hasn't been used since the '30s, when the city laid a new system. If it's any consolation, these were designated as public shelters if it ever happened."
Accepting the reassurance Piper moved on to the next question, "Everyone's different here Leo. Prue and Phoebe are dictators. Andy Trudeau is a vicious police chief. I'm dead. What part do you get to play in this nightmare? I don't get it. From what you told me you're like a guardian angel for witches. Why didn't you just stop Prue and Phoebe?"
Leo frowned. He stood up and paced the room and Piper knew she'd hit a nerve. Finally he answered, "I'm a guide. I protect and advise, but I can't stop people from making the wrong choices. I tried to turn your sisters from the path they've taken, but I couldn't."
He was about to go on when suddenly he seemed to hear something, tilting his head slightly. "I have to go," he sighed apologetically. "They are calling me" He looked briefly at Dan, "Explain the rest." Looking skywards, his body transfigured once more into the blue and white lights. They sparkled briefly and disappeared.
Piper grinned wryly. "They still have really lousy timing."
Dan laughed and nodded in agreement, then as Leo had requested, he explained the Whitelighter's involvement. He told how, when they'd seized power, one of the Tyrants' first actions was to start a witch-hunt. The purpose was obvious. To dispose of the only force capable of defeating them. Leo, along with the other Whitelighters, had sought to protect the city's witches. He hid them and helped those who wanted (the majority as it turned out) to escape the city. But a few had wanted to fight back. So Leo protected them the only way he saw possible. By helping them fight.
The admiration shone on Dan's face, bringing a smile to Piper's lips, as he told of how, despite his claims to being "Only a medic," Leo had gradually and somewhat reluctantly, emerged as the leader of the movement that was christened the Underground. His grasp of strategy and tactics, picked up in World War II, along with the resources available to him as a Whitelighter, had allowed his small group to score hit after hit against the Tyrants and their totalitarian regime. His greatest accomplishment had been to get all the individual cells of resistance fighters that had sprung up all over the city, to communicate and co-ordinate their efforts. Thus turning what had amounted to a load of gnats biting a huge buffalo, into a mountain lion able to inflict major wounds.
Then after some questioning from Piper, Dan reluctantly told his own story. He'd owned a small construction business, which had been destroyed when Prue and Phoebe came to power. After that, he'd been the leader of a resistance group. When the groups had joined forces, Leo had found that leading his own cell and co-ordinating the rest was too much for one man, even one gifted with supernatural abilities. "So he asked me," Dan told Piper, unable to keep the pride from his voice. "He said my business experience should make me good at organizing stuff. That's the official line. Personally I think it's that I like to do things my way so he keeps me around to keep an eye on me." Grinning widely he finished, "But of course that makes Leo a proper leader. He tells us what to do and gets someone else to do it."
There was a laugh from behind them, "Glad to know I'm doing something right!" Leo was back. The three laughed at Dan's comment and his friend's response before Leo became serious. "They're pleased I rescued you. They say we'll never have a better chance to end this. " He locked Piper's gaze with his own. "They say that the responsibility for this does not lie with you, Piper. But that the power to end it does."
Piper was suddenly confused, "They're pleased you rescued me? They didn't tell you I was here?"
Leo shook his head. "I heard you ask for help. You're still my charge, and I can locate my charges. Usually I have to be called somehow, like you did, but it can work without a formal call if I sense a need." Leo explained seriously, then unable to help himself his emotions burst through, "I could hardly believe it when I heard your call. I had to get you out of there. I've missed you every day for 13 years. I love you Piper."
Piper was overwhelmed. Leo had held her in his heart for 13 years, but from her point of view she'd known him less than a year. She admitted to herself that Leo stirred her feelings in a way she'd never experienced, but was that love? And now suddenly he wasn't the man she'd known. He'd been changed by his experiences.
Leo stepped forward to kiss her but Piper backed away a step, "Leo, I'm sorry but all this is too much right now. You've changed but I haven't. Hell, from where I'm standing, I only found out you were a Whitelighter about a week ago. Now suddenly you're also Luke Skywalker. Maybe 13 years ago it might have worked. Maybe it still can. But I need time."
There was an uncomfortable pause. It was broken by Dan, who won both Leo and Piper's silent appreciation for changing the subject. "Back to business people. How did your bosses say we could end this? We're already hitting them harder and harder nowadays. The Tyrants want your head on a platter, Leo."
Piper suddenly recalled something. "Ahh yes…'wonderful'." Her face clouded in anger, "That's what I said about us the first time…" She stopped as the men looked at her questioningly. Piper covered fast, "It ain't your head they want Leo."
"What do they want?"
"You really don't want to know. Trust me." She turned back to Dan. "There was going to be a 'But' wasn't there?"
He nodded, "'But' we can't touch the Tyrants directly. If we could get them, this hell would be over. The problem is they're still the Charmed Ones. Even though they lost the Power of Three, individually they're still the most powerful witches ever born. And those powers have grown." He saw her inquisitive look, "You think Leo would neglect to tell us who we were fighting? The point is that now they're so powerful that anyone, witch or not, who goes up against them directly is committing suicide."
Piper saw it immediately. "I'm a Charmed One. So I'm the only one with a chance. The only one with the power to end this." She bowed her head as the enormity of the task settled upon her. Then looking again, she met Leo and Dan's gazes, "But I can't kill them…"
"Piper, I know they're your sisters…."
"That has nothing to do with it," she told Leo calmly. "There's two of them and one of me. Vanquishing spells take a lot of power. Funny as it sounds, killing a Charmed One would require a Power of Three spell."
Dan interrupted, seeing Piper's point. "The Charmed Ones are the Power of Three so the spell won't exist. But I'm guessing there could be one to take their powers?"
"Possibly," nodded Piper. "But I'd need to look in the Book of Shadows." She saw Dan about to object, "Let me guess," she said beating him to the punch. "You don't know where it is."
Despondently Piper discovered she was absolutely right. The Tyrant's Mansion may have been built on the site and in the style of Halliwell Manor but it was many times larger and the layout was a closely guarded secret. But there had to be a way to find the Book.
* * * Leo paced the room, while Piper sat in a chair. Dan took a racquetball from his pocket and started pitching it against the wall, catching it on the rebound. The three were deep in thought, silent. The only noise the soft thudding of the ball against the wall.
Suddenly Piper jumped up, her movement so quick that she sent her chair skidding backwards, startling Dan who missed his catch. The ball bounced and rolled away ignored as an exuberant Piper turned to Leo, "You can locate your charges!" Leo nodded in bafflement, which didn't fade before Piper explained; "The Charmed Ones are your charges. You could locate Prue and Phoebe like you located me in my cell"
"I'd have to be in the mansion," explained Leo. They cast a spell so that magic from the outside can't affect them inside. I can't orb in, and I can't use my locating power. Otherwise I'd have orbed in and stolen the Book of Shadows long ago. It may not have stopped them but it would have been a handicap."
"But if we could get in, you could find them." insisted Piper. "And they're sure to use the Book sometime. We just have to hide out, track their movements, and check every room they've been in after they leave. We'll find it eventually."
Leo shook his head, "Piper, It'd be too risky. Too great a chance of getting caught. Besides, they don't use it everyday like they used to. They're so powerful now that they'd probably only use it in some sort of emergency. "
"It'd take something real big for them to resort to it." Dan shook his head dismissively, "Plus getting into the Mansion. It'd need a full scale attack."
Suddenly Leo's face cleared as like pieces of a jigsaw, he started to see how things could come together. "If we did launch a full scale attack they'd use the Book for sure." Piper and Dan looked at him aghast, as if he'd gone mad, but Leo continued, his thoughts racing so fast that he was barely keeping up with himself as he spoke. "We launch a big attack on the Mansion as if we're finally trying to take the Tyrants out. If that doesn't make them use the book, nothing will. But all we actually need to do is get the doors open. Then Piper and I run in so I can locate them. When we've found them with the Book we orb in…" He paused, frowning, "Damn! No as soon as we materialized they'd kill us."
"I can freeze them Leo," said Piper quietly. "I don't know how long for. But maybe long enough to find that spell."
Leo looked at Dan, who was weighing up the odds. "It'd be risky," he said, "We'd have to do it for real. We can't fake a full on assault. We'd need everyone. We go in hard and fast. Blow down the front doors for you! And then you stop them!" He locked his gaze with the other two. "Because if you don't stop them we'll all be wiped out. There'd be no Underground left."
"That's why as soon as we get in the Mansion, you get the hell out." Leo ordered. "But as you say, we need to do this properly." An animated Leo clapped Dan on the back, "Get the cell leaders, Dan. We've got a party to organize."
* * * It was 2pm the following day. Piper had expected a dawn raid or a night attack, but Dan had explained that with curfew being in force then, there were more cops, in other words more opposition, around. An attack in the daytime was safer and more likely to come off.
Piper, with the rest of Leo's cell was in the back of a large van parked in an alley about a block from Prescott Street. The other Underground groups had done the same, and at 2:10 exactly, they'd all break from their hiding places to converge upon the Mansion. It had to happen all at once. Leo had been adamant on that when he'd refined his plan. If they arrived in dribs and drabs they'd be picked off, but an arrival en masse would overwhelm and confuse the opposition, giving the Underground the initial advantage.
Slowly the van pulled away towards Prescott Street. They joined up with the other vans, then taking the lead, they sped towards Prescott Street. Exactly as intended, all the vehicles arrived together. They squealed to halt, doors slid open, and the Underground spilled out. There was the chatter of semi-automatic weapons, and the firefight began.
And not just a firefight. The Underground had several witches among them, and they went into action using their powers. Fireballs and energy bolts flew in the air alongside bullets and grenades. Here and there, Piper could see flashes of light as bullets hit deflection fields and other defensive conjurations. There were also the casualties, which required the aid of Leo and others with healing powers.
Thankfully, the injuries were light so far, as the plan seemed to be working. The troops opposing them had been caught totally off guard by the sudden mass attack. Nor had the Underground given them a chance to recover, pressing home the advantage brought by the surprise attack, forcing their opponents to fall back before their furious assault.
Dan and Piper were crouched behind the lead vehicle watching the onslaught, then both looked over at Leo for the signal. Meeting their gaze, Leo nodded. Dan raised his arm and gestured in a circle., then pointed at the door. The fight seemed to lull for a second as the fireballs and energy bolts ceased and Piper saw defensive shields being lowered.
Then softly at first, a murmuring began as the Underground's witches, Piper included started to chant. The volume gradually increased as more voices joined in, and the chant was recited slightly louder on each repetition. It built and built until it could be heard over the defense's weapons fire, a massive incantation that roared like thunder.
The sky darkened, clouds blocked the sun. There was a crash of real thunder and a glowing sphere of ball lightning fell from the heavens, on a trajectory towards the mansion. It hit right in the centre of the massive doors, disintegrating them along with the doorframe and surrounding masonry, leaving a gaping wound in the Tyrants' impenetrable stronghold.
The fight stopped dead. Both and the Underground the Tyrant's troops stared disbelieving at the effect of the spell. Shaking it off, Leo took Piper's arm, "That spell broke the one they've put round the Mansion. I know where Prue and Phoebe are after that," he nodded towards the Mansion, "If they're not with the Book, they're crazy." Then he turned to Dan, "It's our turn. Get them out of here!"
He looked at Piper who braced herself and nodded. There was the blue white flash before the eyes, the dizzy feeling once more and then Piper stood face to face with Prue and Phoebe.
Their faces registered shock, their eyes wide, jaws almost dropping as that which they had thought impregnable was invaded by their errant sister and the Underground's leader. They opened their mouths to begin a spell, but as with the main attack, the surprise factor had given the Underground the advantage. This time, it gave Piper just long enough to recover from the orb, and make a small but crucial gesture with her hands.
The room froze. Prue, Phoebe and Leo stood motionless. Mindful of how brief a time her freezes could last, Piper walked around to the Book of Shadows and flicked through it. She was trying to read it speedily, yet not too fast that she'd miss something. Still it seemed to take forever, and Piper kept darting glances up from the pages, expecting to see her sisters moving in towards her. She was going as fast as she could, but the Book, which had been thick when they'd found it, was now thicker still (Piper dreaded to think what spells her insidious sisters had added) Piper sighed exasperatedly, knowing she was going to run out of time.
But so did someone - or something - else. As she lifted her hand from a page, they began to turn of their own accord, flicking past in a blur, coming to rest on a spell.
"To Correct That Which Should Never Have Been" It was a time travel spell. But it was a one way only ticket. Carefully Piper read the details. It would send her back to a specific point in time, where she would retain her memory of the present for five minutes, giving her a chance to change things. Then she'd forget and live out the altered future. Best of all, it didn't require the Power of Three. She breathed a silent thank you and recited the spell
"Back to the place I hold in mind
Turn back clock and time unwind
Let the pattern be erased
Weave again the cloth of Fate"* * * Piper stopped in mid-run and looked around in confusion. Quake's kitchen, her kitchen, was in disarray. Noticing their middle sibling dragging her heels, Prue and Phoebe turned their heads, calling over their shoulders, "Sis. Remember the "W" thing we're after?"
Memory burst upon her. "Yeah. Right." Picking up her feet she caught up with her sisters, and they pursued the warlock through the restaurant.
The Charmed Ones burst through the doors into the foyer to see the warlock with his hand on the main doors, just about to pull them open. Two more seconds and they'd lose him forever. Piper stretched out her hands. Instantly the warlock froze.
"Nice Piper!" exclaimed Prue admiringly.
"Very," agreed Phoebe, digging into her pocket to remove a slip of paper. "Now let's finish this."
"Yeah. But let's do it right. This time." Quickly she turned, stepping back into the dining area and froze it.
Phoebe and Prue exchanged glances as they realized, what could have happened. Neither of them of had missed the words "this time" and both darted hard looks at their sister. But the questions would have to wait.
The sisters stood together and reading from the paper, chanted,
"Evil doer, have no name,
Rest you not on any plane,
Splinter, split and banish bound,
Nothing left of thee be found."Over and over they recited the words, a magical breeze stirring their hair as the power built. A vortex of energy surrounded the warlock, who was frozen in mid flight, swirling around him. The breeze grew stronger, sending their hair into disarray, the vortex becoming ever more powerful as it tore their attacker apart, scattering his atoms into oblivion.
Piper unfroze the whole restaurant, and the Halliwells had made their excuses for the disturbance, something they were well used to doing by now. Then they'd headed for Piper's jeep to drive home.
"Pipe?" came Phoebe's voice, as they walked to the parking lot "What did you mean "this time"?"
Piper frowned. Why had she said that? She knew there was a reason. She just couldn't remember it. "I don't know."
"Good thing you froze the restaurant proper as well as the foyer." commented Prue. "They'd have seen everything."
"Yeah!" breathed Phoebe. "Who knows what might have happened?"
Piper smiled. "You're the most likely to know, Pheebs. You see the future, but I'd have to time travel." She frowned, a flash of memory rising to the surface. Mentally she tried to grasp it, but it slipped away too fast. Still, it had a left an impression. An undeniable knowledge that she gave voice to, "And I really *hate* time travel!"
* * * In another realm, they watched, as they always watched, anger creasing their features. Damn those Charmed Ones. The cost this time had been one of their best assassins. For a moment it had looked like the accursed witches being exposed would at least compensate for the loss. Vainly, they imagined the consequences of such an occurrence, the possibilities if that had happened. Potentially, it would have been even more glorious than killing them.
But it hadn't happened. The Other Side had lost once more, as they had lost countless times since the Halliwells had come into their powers. But one day, the watchers swore, the Charmed Ones would be defeated.
