Ch. 8.
Just as Coulson opened his mouth to respond, half a dozen demons flamed into the room behind the S.H.I.E.L.D. team. "Get down!" bellowed Piper as she flicked her wrists, causing the demon closest to her to explode. Coulson, May and Ward all drew their weapons and shot their attackers in the chest, but to no avail. Skye, Fitz and Simmons attempted to dive behind the couch, but were caught in a hail of fireballs. One managed to graze Simmons on the arm, and the biochemist cried out in pain. Another volley of fireballs was directed at the field agents, who managed to roll out of the way in time to avoid injury.
"What the hell are these things!?" growled May from her spot crouched behind the coffee table. Coulson had dived into the hallway, while Ward was still standing and firing his weapon at the demons, but to no avail. When a fireball passed dangerously closely to his head, May rolled her eyes and roughly dragged him to the floor by his collar.
"Demons!" shouted Phoebe over the din, launching herself across the room while levitating 5' from the ground. Her aim was true, and the result was knocking one particularly tall demon out with a vicious kick to the head. Enraged, another demon hurled an energy ball directly at the back of the floating witch's head.
"Energy ball!" howled Paige, redirecting the offending attack back at the demon who'd launched it. With a scream of pain, the creature burst into flames.
Phoebe sent her younger sister a fleeting grateful look. "Thanks sis!" The empath paused, her eyes flicking toward the unconscious demon beneath her "Trap him!"
Understanding her sister's intensions, Paige nodded and called out "Crystals!" When the objects began to appear, she thrust her arm in the direction of her target and called "Circle!" When the white rocks were in place, Phoebe gently reached her hand out and made sure the trap was in place. Satisfied, she whipped around an launched herself back into battle.
While her two younger sisters had managed to take out two of the five remaining demons, Piper was left to face the other three. Settling her features into a snarl, Piper positioned herself between the attacking demons and her guests from S.H.I.E.L.D.. "It's been a while since I got to do this!" She spat, flicking her wrists several times in quick succession. One was a success, as the hit demon screamed in agony as he was consumed by flames. The other two demons, however, managed to dodge her attack and fire off two of their own. Once again, Piper flicked her hands out in front of her and the two fireballs froze in midair.
By this time, all there sisters were back in action.
"Fireballs!"shouted Paige, directing the frozen attacks back at their sourced. One flew true and destroyed its mark, but the other demon managed to flame out before he was struck. The fireball instead flew across the room, exploding against the wall and leaving a large black scorch mark. Piper stared at it and sighed.
"Damn. I just had that wallpaper redone."
One by one, the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents emerged from their hiding spots. Each one was staring at the sisters with a new sense of respect. Noticing the way the young brit was favoring her arm, Paige dashed over to Simmons with a concerned look on her face. "Are you all right?" Grimacing, Simmons nodded. "I'm fine, It's just a graze…" Trailing off, Jemma removed her hand from her wound, revealing an angry red area about three inches long. Immediately, Paige's glowing hand reached up and hovered above the burn. Within seconds, it was healed. All Jemma could do was stare. It was one thing to briefly see Paige heal Skye from a distance, but it was another thing entirely to experience the sensation for herself. Once again, Simmons couldn't help but wonder at the abilities of the woman before her. Scientifically, this kind of thing was just not possible. However, Jemma was learning quickly that things she had once deemed impossible may actually be a reality.
Skye was staring at the sisters in confusion. "You're not… freaked out about this?"
Piper just shrugged. "Honestly, after all these years I've just gotten used to it." Addressing her husband she continued. "Honey, there's still some of that wallpaper left over right?" The former undercover handyman smiled and started off toward the basement.
"Yes dear."
Skye continued to eye the witches suspiciously. "But… Three demons just randomly appeared in your house and tried to kill you and you act like nothing happened!"
"Sweetie, We've been doing this for over 15 years. A little attack like that one is nothing to worry about." Phoebe smiled reassuringly at the hacker "At one point, we had attacks like that happen at least once a week."
Casting a sideways look at her sister, Paige spoke up. "Somehow, I doubt that attack was random."
Piper nodded her agreement. "Yeah. It seems like our theory about the Clairvoyant being demonic was right." Turning her attention to her guests, the oldest charmed one addressed them in a serious tone. "Make yourselves comfortable: I think it's time you told us everything you know about the Clairvoyant, for real this time."
Note: I will be using the children/child names from the comics, but I will not be using comic story lines.
