Disclaimer: I do not own anything from CHARMED or SMALLVILLE, just written for fun and for the love of both shows. ;)
"Are you guys sure about this? I don't like not knowing what we're up against" Piper says, sharing her concern with her sisters.
"That is the story of our lives, Piper. We never know what were up against" Paige reminds her.
"Yes, but the Elders don't usually make house calls, or leave gifts with vague instructions" she said, indicating the flat, octagonal shaped object laying on the table in front of them.
"Look, the only other time they have given us something, the world temporarily lost all magic. They don't intervene unless absolutely necessary. Doesn't that worry the two of you?" She asked, unable to block out the uneasiness building up in the pit of her stomach.
"Sure it does" Phoebe agreed. "But we can't ignore this, Piper. Especially since the Elders came to us directly. We have to find the person this belongs to and protect them." She adds, picking up the octagon shaped mystery object to examine it again. There are strange symbols engraved on three of the eight sides. The girls looked through the Book of Shadows twice and did not find anything that even closely resembled them.
Phoebe hoped to get a premonition from the object, but that proved to be just as unsuccessful as using it to scry for its owner or casting the lost and found spell.
After a few moments, Piper let out a long, heavy sigh and reluctantly placed one of the potion vials in front of each of them. "Obviously, they knew we would have to use this. Let's get this over with."
The sisters uncork and ingest the unknown contents of the crimson colored potion. Seconds later, the attic is empty other than a faint swirl of residual smoke from their exit.
All three of them were somewhat shocked when they materialized.
"The underworld?" Phoebe asked.
"Well, that explains why scrying didn't work" Paige answered.
"...and my bad feeling" Piper adds, looking around to make sure they are alone and out of harms way, which they appear to be for now.
The underworld is enemy territory; home to all kinds of upper level demons, including the Source of all evil. A run in with him could be fatal and he could be lurking around any corner. Numerous threats exist here and it's their territory. It is difficult navigating the vast, dark, maze-like structure of demon central. It is all but impossible for outsiders to find their way around because everything looks the same.
Cleary, the innocent is not in close proximity. They will have to be extremely cautious.
The sisters do their best to move quickly but with stealth. They move in a single file line, sticking close to the rock wall to remain hidden in the shadows of what little light exists. Their best chance at finding the innocent and getting out unscathed it's to ensure no one recognizes them. An encounter with any demon would be bad news; they would surely try to kill them or at the very least alert the Source of their presence.
They searched the surrounding areas with no luck.
"Any ideas on how to find this person? I thought the potion was supposed to take us directly to them?" Phoebe whispered.
"You could try to use your empath abilities" Piper suggests. "See if you can sense anything nearby."
Phoebe takes a deep breath and closes her eyes, attempting to clear her mind. Their powers do not operate at full strength here. Another major disadvantage.
"Nothing", she tells them, disappointed.
"Let's keep moving and you keep trying" Paige says encouragingly. "It's not like we have a lot of options."
Endlessly winding around corner after corner, the sisters could have sworn they were walking in circles. They haven't seen another being good or evil since they arrived.
"You know", Paige began. "I think the Elders know more than they're sharing."
"You think?" Piper said sarcastically.
"Well, first of all, where did they get the potion? It couldn't have been made to bring us straight to the innocent if they didn't know something about what were dealing with."
"I just want to say that technically, it didn't take us straight to the innocent." Phoebe added.
Paige rolled her eyes.
"That is not the point. Seriously, think about it. The "to call a lost witch" spell calls for a drop of blood to make the pull of magic stronger and more specific, right? This has to be similar. They had to know something about the innocent in order for the potion to even theoretically work." She explained.
"It makes sense" Piper agreed.
"But what difference does it make?" Phoebe asked, looking over her shoulder to make sure no one was tailing them from behind.
"I haven't figured that out yet. I just get the feeling they left out a big chunk of information."
"If we don't find the innocent soon we should go to magic school and have another little chat with them." Piper added.
Just as the sisters were about to orb to magic school and embark on their plan B, they heard voices not too far off in the distance. The muffled conversation became more clear as they advanced futher into the depths of hell.
"I told you, I've never seen that before!" A male voice boomed.
"You're lying! This is your last chance. Where are they storing the meteor rocks?", a female voice demanded.
"I don't know! I swear!"
"Wrong answer." The female said calmly.
Piper peered around the next corner just in time to see the woman slam the man to the ground with enough force to turn solid concrete to rubble. And she only used one hand to do it.
The blow instantly took his life; he burst into flames and was nothing more than a pile of ash in less than one second. Piper wasn't sure she would have been able to freeze them if she had tried. She has never seen anyone have such strength or be able to move so quickly, which only amplified her unease.
"Friend or foe?" Piper asked quietly, taking a step back to remain out of sight.
"I don't know" Phoebe admits. "All I can sense from her is... courage. And a lot of it."
"Do you think she's our innocent?" Paige asked.
"It certainly does not look like she needs any help" Piper said.
"There's only one way to find out." Paige said before her body transformed into bright blue orbs of light. She orbed back in about ten feet away from the unknown woman. Piper and Phoebe stepped out from behind the rock foundation, positioning themselves behind Paige and the woman.
The girl stopped dead in her tracks when Paige appeared, but only for a second.
Then, the woman plowed into Paige, sending her hurling toward the rock wall. Paige managed to Orb just before slamming into it.
"Hey!" Piper shouted, putting her hands up to freeze as she made her presence known to the woman. And it's a good thing she did.
"Oh. My. God." Phoebe says, plucking the knife out of mid-air, which was less than a centimeter away from the tip of Piper's nose. The girl looked surprised. And she was not frozen.
As soon as Phoebe wrapped her fingers around the handle of the weapon, she received a premonition.
It only lasted a few seconds, but once it ended she was relieved to see that Paige had orbed in beside them and wasn't badly injured. She was also relieved to see the girl with super speed hadn't already taken off.
"What did you see?" Piper said.
Phoebe looked from her sisters, to the girl, and back again; unsure of whether or not they should be having this conversation privately.
"I saw her". She said, indicating the woman who just single handedly killed a demon. "And I saw a man. About the same age. Dark hair. Trapped in a glowing green cage." She paused for a moment and looked toward the stranger. "The cage stopped glowing and a demon threw a fireball at your back. It killed you."
The girl let zero emotion shine through to her facial features. Her hazel eyes revealed nothing as she stood there, watching them. Phoebe was frustrated that she couldn't sense much from her. You would think someone who just found out they are going to die would show or feel a little emotion, Phoebe thought.
"How do you know all of that?" The girl asked finally, tossing her long, dark hair over her shoulder.
"How did you nearly cause an earthquake with one hand?" Piper fired back.
"Fair enough". The girl replied. "But I don't have time for introductions and explanations. I'm looking for the man you saw trapped in the cage. Do you know where it is?"
Phoebe shook her head. "No. But it's down here somewhere."
Trusting her gut instinct, Phoebe took the octagon shaped object out of her back pocket and held it up for the woman to see. A combination of worry and confusion spread across her face.
"Where did you get that?"
"Does it belong to you?" Paige asked.
"No. It belongs to Clark."
"And Clark is the man you're looking for?"
She didn't speak but nodded slowly.
"Look, I don't know who you people are, why you have that, or if I should trust you but I'm running out of time", she says, desperation making itself visible in her demeanor. "The glowing green stuff will kill him."
"I think we're supposed to help each other", Phoebe concludes. "My name is Phoebe, and these are my sister's Paige and Piper. We're known as the charmed ones and--".
"Wait" the woman interrupts. "As in the Warren line of witches?" She asked in disbelief.
"Yes. And we were sent to find and protect the owner of this", Phoebe said, once again holding up the strange object with the symbols on it.
"Then we better get to it. I'll take any help I can get. My name is Lana. Lana Lang." She said, finally introducing herself.