Sub-dermal governors are something from Mutant X that would "bind" the mutant's powers. They were used a government organization, so I thought it would be fitting for them to be used in this particular situation. And to avoid this question, the organization here isn't the GSA, MX fans. ;)

Ultra-Violent: Part 1

Three Months Later

Paige fell to her knees as a lightning fast foot flew into her side, breaking a few ribs instantly with a sickening crack. She barely had time to blink as a fist came flying at her face, causing her to let out a yelp of pain and sniper to the ground with a thud. A familiar metallic taste filled her mouth as blood seeped from her gums. Well, familiar during her stay here. She was sick of the constant injuries, only for them to heal within a few seconds. As if on cue, she felt her breathing beginning to get better as her cracked ribs began to heal themselves, and the blood in her mouth stopped pouring down her throat. This was starting to get tiresome.

"Get up, number three-five-seven!" The cold, heartless voice boomed above her. She heard a gun being cocked. "Now…"

She let out an inaudible sigh as she looked up at the large powerful light on the ceiling. It was hurting her eyes, but it was nothing compared to the torture she had endured over the past two months. Or was it three? In all honesty, Paige had completely lost track of time. She got approximately three hours of sleep a day, and the rest was this Hell on Earth. Taking in a deep breath, she raised her arms above her head, pressing down on the ground with her hands and flipping herself into a standing position facing her opponent.

Fight or fall. That was all that mattered here.

The man was almost twice her size, and Paige had considered herself to be rather tall. He threw out another leg, aiming to slam his foot into her abdomen. With phenomenal speed, Paige caught the man's ankle, twisting it roughly and hearing a wrenching snap as she broke the bone with her move. The large man fell to the ground with a crash, sending a vibration through her. He then used his good leg to kick her ankles out from under her, causing her to hit the floor again.

He lunged at her, but Paige was ready for him. With incredible agility, she latched her near skeletal hands around the man's neck, pressing her foot into his chest and flipping him over herself. Her heart almost exploded as she heard the snap. It was the fifth time she had heard it, but it never ceased to almost tear her insides out each time.

Her opponent hit the floor with an even louder thud than before, but Paige knew that it was because he no longer had any control over his landing. He lay motionless, a bone sticking out of his neck and nearly tearing through the skin. The sight made bile rise to the top of her throat, but she swallowed it and stood up, wanting to rip the soldier's hand from his arm as he laid it on her shoulder.

"You can all learn something from three-five-seven." He said a crowd of people that Paige couldn't see, due to the intensity of the light, but she knew they were just like her: scared, trapped, and alone. "No one is going to hold your hand through this experience, no one is going to come to save you during a fight, and thanks to these…" He roughly turned Paige around so her back was to the others, shifting her hair away from the back of her neck to reveal the sub-dermal governor that was implanted in her spine, "… you won't be relying on those abilities that landed all of you freaks in here to start with!" He turned Paige back around, her face looking completely white. She hadn't eaten in months, and her only source of energy had been nutritional injections that she was given every three days. "Three five seven relied on no one or nothing, but herself." He stared her straight in the eye, looking at her with a mixture of pride, disgust, and fear.

"She is a natural born killer."

Lauren Creighton gave a dazzling smile to the saddened businessman whose coffee cup she currently refilling. As always, the diner was busy in the morning, with waiters rushing back and forth from the main dining area to the kitchen, bellowing orders at the chefs who usually chose the worst times to rebel. Still, it was all regularly pleasant to Lauren. This place had a lot more life in it than a lot of the places she had tried to get a job. She was happy with where she had ended up.

"You okay?" She asked with a southern twang to her voice, turning to put the coffee pot down and give the man her full attention. The bar was always quiet until after nine, and this guy seemed to need someone to listen to his woes. "I've worked in a bar before, and when someone whose sitting alone orders a forth cup of coffee, it he's got some troubles." She folded her arms, frowning as the man continued to look down at his coffee cup, "I don't charge extra for the conversation if that's what you're worried about!" She said jokingly, making the man smile as he looked up.

"It's… just my wife…" He conceded, laying his forearms on the counter, "Things have been going great! We just got the kid's mid-year report cards, and the grades are up. Everything's perfect for a change! Then, all of a sudden, she turns on me overnight! I'll be surprised if she hasn't thrown my clothes out onto the lawn with the way she's been acting…" He said sadly, "What's a guy to do?"

Surprisingly, a small chuckle of laughter escaped Lauren's mouth, "Well, you should probably remember the special occasion that you've forgot! When a spouse acts like that, that's the only explanation. Let's go through them all…" She cleared her throat, "Her birthday?"

"In March."

"The kids' birthdays?"

"Last month. They're twins."

"Anniversary?"

"Nope, I… Aw, crap!" He smacked his fist off the counter, standing up and swinging his coat around his shoulders with haste, "Oh, God… I'm sorry!" He said apologetically, stuffing his hand into his pocket and producing a ten dollar bill to pay for the multiple cups of coffee he had drank. He was halted when Lauren put her fingers on the bill and pushed it back at him along the counter.

"On the house. Put every penny you have to making your wife happy tonight." She kindly explained, going back to her folded arms position before realizing that she had to start cleaning up after her most recent customer by taking his coffee cup off the bar.

"Thank you. For everything!" The man said with a beaming smile, striding towards the diner's exit with a slight skip in his step as he walked. The sounds of the busy Los Angeles street flooded the diner as he opened the swing doors to leave, rubbing his hands a little from the cold of the January morning as he headed towards his car.

"Sally!" Lauren called to the small browned hair woman at the other end of the bar, "I'm going for my break, I'll be back in five!" She shouted, smiling a little when Sally gave her a nod of understanding before going back to the customer she was currently serving.

Lauren pushed at the door, gaining access to the drop off alley behind the diner. She rubbed her arms slightly in the cold. It wasn't particularly chilly, just a little colder than what she was used to. The young women blew out a blast of air, her cheeks expanding with it as she calmed down from the morning rush of the job. Sighing, she linked her fingers behind her back and sauntered towards the wall and leant against it, running a hand through her deep auburn hair as her shoulders dropped.

White lights began to surround her and she looked towards the sky. Her eyes were the first to change, slowly transforming from a sparkling blue to an inviting brown before the rest of her body took part in the transformation. The tornados of glowing spheres shrunk as Lauren's height changed, her hair changing colour and becoming longer before the lights began to fade away, leaving Piper Halliwell standing in her place.

She couldn't sustain her glamoured form for lengthy periods of time. After around twelve hours, she would revert back to herself. Piper had found a solution to this by consciously shedding her alter ego for a couple of minutes every few hours before changing back, 'resetting' the glamour and starting fresh.

It had been three months since she had left San Francisco. She had expected the news about her sisters' exposure to have reached L.A. by now, but oddly enough, the press had been silenced. Piper was tempted to look into the matter a few times, and every time she had to remind herself that that wasn't her life anymore. Her life was to live under the mask of Lauren Creighton, a waitress in a diner who was from down south. Just a plain, normal girl… With the power to blow things up.

Piper hung her head, her soft brown hair hanging over her shoulders and catching her eyesight. She stared at the colour of hair she now only saw in the shower or at night in the privacy of her rented apartment. The rest of the time she was a redhead. She didn't know why her subconscious had picked that colour for the glamour, but Piper assumed it was some deep rooted emotion after being a mother to Lorna for two and a half years. The moment the image of the little girl's face popped into her head, Piper instantly shoved it out of her mind. Her resolve couldn't weaken on this. It was better for everyone.

Silently, she quickly reverted back into her glamoured form within a tornado of white lights. She reassumed the identity of the red haired young woman that had just helped a man with his marital issues a few minutes ago and headed back towards the door, blinking away the tears that, to Lauren Creighton, meant nothing, but to Piper Halliwell, meant everything.

Brennan Mulwray awoke abruptly to the sounds of a screaming baby echoing through the room. He sat up in his bed, rubbing his eyes slowly, having only managed to just get to sleep an hour ago. Rough stubble covered the lower half of his face, and it looked like he hadn't slept or showered in days. Wearily rising out of the luxurious Atlantian bed, he began to make his way towards the crib to where the cries where coming from. The marble floor instantly chilled his bare feet as he padded across the room, his eyes becoming wide as he tried to wake himself up.

"Shh… It's okay, baby girl…" He crooned softly as he lifted the wailing infant into his arms, gently rocking her in a robotic fashion as if he had become used to these vicious outbursts from his daughter. "Faithy, please go back to sleep. Daddy needs to get his rest so he can try and find Mommy in the morning…"

That was becoming a lie he was telling himself. That his wife was perfectly fine. Even after seeing the burnt out remains of the vehicle that she and Paige must have been in, he refused to believe that something like a car accident would take down two of the Charmed Ones, the most powerful witches to ever walk the earth. But after three months, Brennan's hope was starting to ware thin. Even with Emma's efforts to keep everyone upbeat, and Leo constantly at war with the Elders to get their help, nothing was easing his pain, and that of his children too.

The twins had it even worse. Both of their parents had vanished off the face of the earth with no warning or explanation, leaving them with only two uncles and a family friend for support while castle servants buzzed around them, acting like Aidan was long gone and that these two little girls were the ones they had to please now. Melinda had thrown many a temper tantrum while her sister suffered in silence, retreating into sitting silently with Lorna and drawing on the pieces of paper the young psionic would graciously give her.

His quiet pleading seemed to work. Faith's soft brown eyes began to droop as she drifted back off into a sleep. Gently bending down to put her back into the crib before lumbering back to his bed, he sat on the edge of the mattress, knowing that he wouldn't get back to sleep now. Deciding to make the most of this early start, Brennan headed towards the bathroom to try and clean himself up for the rest of this hellish day.

"Phoebe…"

Brennan wasn't the only one having trouble sleeping. Far down the hallway of the large castle, Emma DeLauro slaved over the bubbling potion pot that sat on the small oak table in her current bedroom. Her dark red hair, now cut to just underneath her shoulders, was swept up into a loose ponytail, style not being the objective, only to keep loose strands out of her eyes. "Through time and space this rhyme shall sail, to where the strongest spirits prevail…" She chanted softly, sprinkling an unknown dust into her concoction and watching as the potion bubbled furiously, "… to summon forth a higher being, whose world we are prevented from seeing…" The psionic scrunched up her eyes as she finished the spell, before opening them hopefully. Nothing. The room was the same. "Damnit…" She cursed softly, her head drooping to her chest in disappointment.

"You know, after all the spells you've tried over these last few months, I think that one's my favourite."

Emma jumped with fright and spun around to see Katrina standing behind her, staring at the recently demoted Higher Being with a resolute expression. "You mean you've watched me all this time as I've tried to summon you?" Emma asked angrily, rediscovering her confidence and folding her arms, "Why didn't you come before?"

"Because I wanted to see how long it would take you to realize that you don't have the power to rip people through dimensions anymore, especially something like this. It's requires the Power of Three at the least." Katrina explained calmly, "Most of your spells were barely a whisper in my mind, nowhere near powerful enough to summon me against my will."

"Then what are you doing here now?"

"I'm here by choice," The ancient being snapped, "…mainly because I got sick of hearing your voice rhyming in my head all the time." She too folded her arms, letting out a sigh, "What do you want? If it's about getting you powers back, then-,"

"No." Emma immediately replied in a firm tone, cutting her off. "You can see the future." She stated, walking towards her former mentor, "And I know you've probably been keeping a close eye on this situation, in the present and the future." She got closer, staring into Katrina's dark eyes, "So, I'm asking as a favour… Please tell me where they are. We've been going around in circles for the last three months, and Leo and Brennan have had just about enough." She stated, thinking about the two men who were near their breaking point.

"…You're right. I have been keeping a close eye on the situation, and in the future I saw, you didn't need my help." Katrina frowned a little in confusion, "And I really don't see why you thought I would help you. You went against my wishes for a second time, relinquishing most of your powers, and you let your emotions affect your rational thinking. This is your mess, Emma, not mine. Clean it up yourself." She turned to vanish into the ether, pulling her cloak around her and preparing to leave before a shout of protest stopped her.

"Wait!" Emma ordered, "… I know that you once had a mortal life… mortal connections… And surely, when you became a Higher Being, you still felt an obligation to protect them. These people may not be my family by blood, but they're the closest thing I have. So, please… help me." She pleaded, her voice just above a whisper as she looked down the shiny marble floor.

Katrina seemed to be at war with herself over whether or not to help. Biting her lip, she eventually turned back around to answer her, "Before you became a Higher Being, you were a powerful telempath in your own right. Embrace those powers once again, and you'll find the start of your solution within the walls of this very castle." She pursed her lips, not really knowing what to say, "Take care of your family." She said abruptly, turning on her heel and fading away as her outline glowed a harsh blue.

Emma smiled. It wasn't much to go on, but it was a start, "Thank you…"

There was a knock at her door before it opened to reveal Brennan poking his head in through the gap, looking around the room. "Were you just talking to someone?" He asked, frowning when he saw that Emma was still in the skirt and blouse that she had worn all day, "Have you even gone to bed yet?" He raised an eyebrow as Emma slowly moved in front of her potion pot, looking extremely uncomfortable. "What are you doing?"

Emma sighed angrily as she walked towards the doorway, frowning darkly at Brennan as she passed. "You have to knock and wait for an answer. You don't just barge in to someone's room and think its okay, even under these circumstances." She said coldly, brushing past him dismissively and heading in the direction the library was in, knowing that was where Leo would be.

Diam stomped through the fine ash that had been left from his latest demon vanquish. He had managed to copy his power of heat vision before killing him, which was just another one of the powers that he and his female counterpart had collected over the last few months. Heaving a sigh, he folded his arms and looked around with an unfulfilled expression on his face, "You know, I never thought I'd say this, but I kinda… miss the Charmed Ones, they presented a stronger challenge than any of the demons we've killed over the last three months."

"I know…" Annabelle said, deep in thought as she sat atop one of the large tables in the Great Hall, "I mean, getting all these new powers is pretty cool and all, but where's the fun if we can't test them on someone who can actually survive one fireball? I mean, that witch we fried a fortnight ago? What a screamer! And it was only her arm that got blown off! I don't see why-," She cut herself off small surges of electricity began to spark from her left hand, damaging parts of the table, "Aw, damn… This skin is starting to come apart again."

The bald man rolled his eyes, "Then just shed it! You don't need to look like the mercenary chick anymore. And in all honesty, Tyola, I'm pretty surprised you kept it for as long as you did. You usually get rid of these essence auras the moment we're done with them."

"Well, I've never had to sustain one for a year. I got comfortable." She snapped back, hopping off the large table and onto the floor, "But you're right. I'll just let magic take its course and let this façade fade away." The surges of magical lightning began to run up both her arms, "Wow, this one is coming apart a lot quicker than the last one. Mind you, this one was kinda rushed, seeing as how that fire elemental interrupted me… Oh, speaking of which, we need to personally take care of them before the Master purges the world. It's their fault that we were sealed and lost five hundred years of-," She suddenly fell to her knees, her whole body lighting up in violent blue sparks that even managed to leave scorch marks on the marble.

"Just ride it out." Diam said in a bored tone, "We've had worse afflictions put upon us in the last few millennia. Don't let a little essence aura comedown get you."

Crossing her arms over her chest, Tyola glowed with a harsh aquamarine light as she shed the form she had worn for the past year. Her form began to shift, and shining golden particles flew up from her body and burst into nothingness as they floated away. Her curly blonde hair suddenly straightened out and became shorter and bushier, taking on a light brown tint. Her face became thinner, her cheekbones protruding attractively from her pale face as her eyes changed from brown to hazy blue that was bordering on being grey. Taking a deep breath, Tyola got to her feet, smirking with delight at being in her true form once again. "That's better…" She gasped, surveying her partner. "Now, what do you say we go and find the Charmed Ones?"

"… Couldn't agree more." Diam replied with a grin, turning on his heel and beginning to walk down the corridor to the large library of magic the school contained, "Can't say I missed that face of yours though…" He chuckled, before receiving a sharp smack on the head from Tyola as she came up behind him.

"Oh, be quiet. And I hope you said your goodbyes to that face, because you won't ever see it again, thanks to where I banished the real Annabelle to…"

The cloaked woman flipped into the air and edged to the right, narrowly avoiding the troll's massive club as it slammed into the thick snow with a thud. The missed attacked caused the white powdery substance to fly upwards into the hulking creature's face as the woman landed delicately in the snow, the hood of her cloak positioned in a way that covered her face and shielded it from the never ending bitter blizzard that would rage for all of eternity in this dimension.

The troll let out a roar of anger as its slow reflexes finally caught on to the fact that he had missed his target. The nostrils of his flat nose flared as he wrenched his club from the ground and swung it around at the woman once again, only for her to dodge for a second time, bursting into a flurry of particles before rebuilding herself on the other side of the brute. Unfortunately, her timing had been off, and she reappeared just in time to be the victim of the troll's full circle swing with his club.

The tree trunk smacked her roughly, sending through the air so far that the thuggish creature nearly lost sight of her in the blizzard. The thick blanket of snow had broken her fall, but she was still injured, and she struggled to get up from the unstable ground beneath her, stumbling several times before bringing herself back to her full height as the troll advanced upon her, raising his club to make the final swing.

The women threw out her hand, a neon blue energy ball crackling into existence as she opened her palm, sending the projectile rocking towards the brutish creature's face. It connected with his left eye, sending an explosion of blue sparks and blood into the air, the crimson liquid spurting across the ground and tainting the perfect white of the snow as he stumbled around in extreme agony.

This was her chance. She raised both her arms above her head, her hands beginning to shake as she mustered all her magical energy into the space between her palms. Small, stray bolts of lightning flew out from the epicenter of the energy, striking the ground and melting any snow it came into contact with. As the lightning came together, a giant energy ball slowly grew above her head, crackling and buzzing as loudly as a swarm of wasps.

Summoning all her strength, she wrenched her limbs forward, hurling the massive ball of lightning at her enemy, the sphere melting every drop of snow it came into contact with as the white substance continued to fall from the heavens. It collided into the troll's chest, burning away a portion of his sickly green skin from his chest as it pierced his thick hide.

Once the smoke had cleared, all that was left was a smoldering hole in the creature's chest. You could see the grey sky through the gaping chasm that had once held the troll's heart. With one last mighty roar of pain, the giant being toppled to the ground with a thud, sending snow into the air while a hissing sound broke the shrill whistle of wind as the still warm fatal wound hit the frozen ground beneath.

A particularly strong gust of wind blew the woman's hood back, her long, curly blonde hair whipping back in the wind and exposing her face to the bitter elements. Annabelle Hawke's teeth chattered as she pursed her chapped lips, which –like the rest of her face– had turned a frigid shade of blue from the harsh cold of the Snow Realm. Her breathing was laboured. The last fight had taken nearly all that was left of her strength. She took comfort in knowing that she was close to her destination.

Spying a large satchel attached the to the troll's belt, Annabelle's eyes lit up at the prospect of food. She couldn't remember the last time she'd eaten, so as she trudged through the thick snow to her down opponent, she realized she didn't even care what was in the satchel, as long as it was edible.

She yanked at the frayed rope that was keeping the sack closed, finally pulling it open, her eyes dazzling with hunger and delight when her nose was instantly assaulted with the smell of raw fish. Her hands dived into the bag hungrily grabbing one of the slimy fish; looking around wildly for somewhere she could start a fire. If she started a fire, then she'd be able to amplify it to a point where she'd actually want to cool down.

Smiling, she thanked whatever force had guided her over the frozen Bay the previous night, as now she was surrounded by structures that had been built in the main realm's San Francisco. Setting her sights on a small yet sturdy looking house, she loosened the satchel from the dead troll's waist and slung it over her back, starting her journey towards the first proper shelter she'd had in a year.

Leo Wyatt was sleeping peacefully in the silence of the library in the Atlantian castle. His pillow of choice, 'Everything You Ever Needed Or Wanted To Know About Bunyips', was open at the first page to provide maximum comfort, where a picture of a Bunyip had been illustrated galloping over a knoll. It was probably the most useless book in history, which made it perfect for its current use.

A clomping began to echo through the large library, slowing getting louder as Emma made her approach with Brennan not too far behind, wearing far quieter sneakers. She saw the Elder sleeping peacefully on the book, and a pang of pity spread through her body. "Leo…" She murmured gently, shaking his shoulder, "Leo." She said a little louder, withdrawing her hand as he began to awaken.

"Piper?" Leo called out hopefully, his head flying up from the book as he looked around wildly for his wife. His eyes finally landed on Emma, and he was once again consumed with crashing disappointment. "Sorry… I thought you were-,"

"I know. It's okay…" Emma softly replied as Brennan began to look through the various books that Leo had extracted from the shelves during the night. "Look, maybe you should go to bed. You haven't moved from this library all week, and your kids need you now more than ever to be strong for them." She glanced at her former Mutant X teammate before looking back at Leo, "We need you to be strong too, and you're not going to be if you keep running yourself into the ground like this."

"… I dunno…" He groaned, rubbing his tired face slowly with his hands before they dropped to the table. He gave Emma the sternest look he could muster at this moment in time, "You promise to come and wake me if there's any news? Even the slightest thing? Even if it's just a lead?"

"Absolutely." She said firmly, hitting him lightly on the hand, "Okay, go to bed and get some rest. We'll look over this stuff since we're the ones who have had some sleep." She picked up the book Leo had been sleeping on, cringing a little, "And we'll start by putting this book away!" She said brightly, realizing that Leo wasn't even listening to her as he shuffled out of the library.

"Okay, what's on the agenda today?" Brennan asked, munching slowly on an apple as he lowered himself into a chair at the table, "Scrying? Star charts? More scrying?" He droned in sarcastic tone, staring down at his apple and heaving a sigh.

Emma thought deeply as she put the Bunyip book away. Brennan was losing hope, and she didn't blame him. She wanted to check out the lead that Katrina had given her, but she couldn't do it with him peering over her shoulder. "Actually… I want to check out a few things. Do you think you could maybe hold down the fort here while I go do that? I promise I won't leave the castle."

"Just try to stay in this life and I'll be happy." Brennan said with a hint of sarcasm, before properly thinking about what the psionic had just said, "Wait, hold it." He ordered, making Emma stop in her tracks as she headed for the exit. "Do you have a lead or something?"

She opened her mouth to reply, only to realize that she didn't really have answer for the hopeful mutant, "I don't know yet…" She said cryptically, before going back to her normal tone of voice, turning as she began to leave again, "I'll be back in a couple of hours, hopefully with some good news…"

Paige stood in a bolt right position in front of Cliff Narcom's desk. Her wrists were crossed behind her back, and she focused her sight on a spot on wall. She refused to make eye contact with the man that had enslaved her and others like her. She didn't even know why she had been called here, all she knew was that this man was the definition of filth, and she didn't want to be around him at all.

Narcom smirked slightly as he surveyed the soldier in front of him. On her black t-shirt, the thick white numbers '357' stuck out wildly against the contrasting background colour of the garment. That's all she was to him. A number. Leaning forward onto his desk, he pulled back one of the metal spheres in a row of five and dropped it, letting it swing down, hitting the other balls and making the sphere on the other end fly up. It was a never ending cycle that sent a small clicking noise throughout the room, "Does this noise bother you, number three-five-seven?"

"Sir!" Paige barked immediately, "It is not my position to comment, sir!" She shouted, having had these mottos imprinted in her mind for the last few months. She had resisted at first, but after two weeks, the endless beatings, electric shocks, and general breach of human rights had been too much. The moment she had conceded defeat, they had injected her with some sort of serum that healed all the wounds that had been inflicted on her by the various soldiers. After that, any injury she sustained in training would automatically heal itself within seconds. But it still didn't make the pain go away.

"Good answer." Narcom replied proudly, rising from his seat and smiling. "Follow me, three-five-seven, there's something I want to show you." He walked past her, Paige immediately turning and going after him. She hated the fact that she was quite curious about what he had to show her, "I think you're gonna like it…"

They walked down the vast corridor, taking so many twists and turns that Paige lost count. They went through various doors that required Narcom to swipe a keycard through a checkpoint to gain access, before they arrived at an empty room with a glass window on the far wall. It seemed that the room on the other side of the glass was bathed in darkness. "Turn on the lights." He said into an intercom next to the window, causing cold florescent lights to flick on in the room in front, causing Paige to nearly lose what remained of her self control.

Phoebe lay in a sterile white bed; a gown of the same colour covered her body. From the parts of her body that were visible, Paige tried to conceal her distress at the ghastly burns that run up her sister's arms and covered part of her face. The middle Charmed One was hook up to many machines, various needles sticking into her skin as they presumably kept her alive. It seemed she couldn't even breathe properly on her own, as her chest was rising and falling in rhythm with a machine that looked like a pump. It looked like she was on the brink of dying.

Paige's bottom lip quivered, and her whimper of sadness was clearly audible over the quiet beeps of the heart monitor in the other rooms, "I'm afraid the serum we gave to you doesn't really work on mutants with her type of ability, so this is about the best we can do for her." Narcom informed her in a tone that was anything but sympathetic. "Does number four-eight- two mean anything to you, three-five-seven?"

Looking through the glass at the frail state of her older sister, Paige had never felt more alone or afraid. Until now, she assumed that Phoebe was on another part of the compound, going through the same sort of training she was, not lying on a bed with machines being the only thing keeping her alive. She was her big sister. Big sisters were supposed to be the epitome of strength to their younger siblings. Paige wanted to smash this glass with her powers, wrench Phoebe from the bed and the machines, and take her home. Everything would be alright if they got home, she knew it. "No…" She whispered quietly, looking down at the ground to cover her tearful eyes.

"What was that?" Narcom asked sternly, his brow creasing in anger.

"No… sir." Paige added, the venom in her voice that she had concealed so well for so long was almost dripping off her tongue.

"Good." He replied coldly, continuing to look at the shadow of a life in the other room. "Go back to your training for the day, three-five-seven."

Almost instantly, Paige spun on her heel and headed for the door just as another soldier was entering. She made sure not to make any contact with him as she passed; knowing that the slightest hint of emotion would give her away. Instead, she opted for speeding past him, nearly knocking him to the floor as she left, silently vowing that she would escape, and soon.

"Have you had any luck in finding the oldest of these sisters? I want to complete my collection." Narcom informed the soldier, his gaze still set on Phoebe's barely alive form through the window.

"I'm afraid not, sir." He replied. "Shall we initiate the back up plan?"

Narcom seemed to be thinking over what the soldier had just said, before nodding his head slowly, "Where is recruit eight-one-nine? I want to check her out to make sure she's ready to go out on the field. I trust all the regular precautions have been taken in a case as rare as hers?"

"She's right outside the door, sir. And yes, multiple samples of D.N.A. have been taken to ensure that even in the unlikely chance of escape, it won't effect our testing." The soldier moved uncomfortably on the spot for a moment, "Now, we've given her the normal amount of enhancers to boost her skill in the field, but I'm afraid it's affected her appearance a little, as she was already extremely powerful to begin with."

"Bring her in and stop flapping your gums already…" The superior agent snarled, turning around to face the open door that three-five-seven had flew out of a minute ago. "As long as it doesn't compromise her in the field, I don't really care." He cleared his throat, taking a military stance, "Enter, eight-one-nine!"

Almost immediately, the person outside responded. Pamela Walker walked into the room, almost marching. She was wearing the same outfit Paige had been wearing, but with her identification number emblazoned across her chest. She looked a lot better than her younger aunt did right now, apart from her eyes, which had taken on an unearthly misty tint. The area around her eyes seemed to bulge as if she had two black eyes, with the veins in her face nearly bursting through the skin around bruised looking area. Even as she blinked, the room seemed to tremble in her presence.

"We had to create a whole new type of sub-dermal governor, and even then it barely suppresses her powers." The soldier informed his boss, "Her vocal chords were damaged during the testing, so she won't be able to speak until they properly heal, but their kind tend to recover from injuries at a quicker rate than normal people, so it won't be long."

"Well…" Narcom began, smiling a little. "… I guess we'll just have to send her after Piper Halliwell until she's ready for proper assignments. After all, if she's going up her aunt, it'll be easier for both of them if she can't speak."

Paige had been standing in the darkness next to her door for over an hour. She knew it was around this time that two guards would deliver her nutrition shots, her 'dinner'. One would administer the injection; the other would hold a gun to her face just to make sure she didn't try anything. It was imperative that she took both of them out as quickly as possible before either of them could raise the alarm. She'd rather do this with the least amount of fuss and violence if she could.

She heard a bleep outside as a keycard was swiped through the entry point to open the door. As expected, it opened in a way that covered her completely when it was fully open. "Where the hell is-?" The armed soldier was cut off when Paige suddenly pushed violently at the door, causing it to swing back into a closed position, easily breaking his nose and sending him into the corridor unconscious. The other soldier fell just as easily. Paige was careful to kick the syringe out of his hand before delivering a forceful kick to his chest. Not realizing her chemically enhanced strength, the kick broke several of the man's ribs, sending him crashing into the brick wall with such a force that it caused a part of the wall to crumble down on him as he hit the ground. Dead.

Paige would have taken the time to process what she had just done, if it wasn't for the strict time limit she was under. She quickly frisked the unconscious soldier, nearly squealing with glee when she found the controller for her sub-dermal governor. The witchlighter didn't waste any time in deactivating her governor before crushing the controller under her heavy boots, and starting her way towards where her sister was being kept.

It was when as she was about to leave the hallway when she noticed a small panel that seemed to require a manual key. Under it, there was a knob with the words 'Emergency Lockdown Override' beneath it. Squinting her eyes at the keyhole, and activated her telekinesis and smirked when she heard it click into place, before she turned the knob and pressed down firmly.

A loud series of clicks echoed through the corridor as every single cell door was unlocked and opened. Paige suspected that the switch had also shut down the sub-dermal governors, as when a young man, no older than twenty five, stuck his head out his cell, his eyes flashed with a feral amber glow that seemed to rejuvenate his life with energy and excitement. As confused prisoners stumbled out of their cells, they too seemed to feel a weight being lifted off their shoulders as their powers were set free.

"Everybody! Let's go!"

It was here.

Emma stood in the centre of the bridge that connected two different parts of the castle. The psychic emotional residue from both Paige and Aidan was so thick here that she felt like she could take a tangible bite of it out of the air. She had searched the castle up and down all day, and she hadn't felt such powerful remnants anywhere else. The only place that came close was their bedroom, but even that didn't give the psionic enough energy to work with. This bridge, however, was dripping with psychic energies. They were some of the most intense echoes she had ever felt in her life, and she knew exactly why.

Paige made a series of gestures with her hands, and slowly the latches began to creek and groan as they were lifted away from the door telekinetically from her power. Once the iron was completely clear of anything that would stop it from opening, Paige made a pulling gesture, making the doors come apart with a groan as the metal was separated. Paige was instantly met with the raging storm outside, getting pounded by rain as she ran out, making more gestures behind her and shutting the iron doors with a bang.

Her heart skipped a beat when she saw outside. He was standing in the middle of the bridge, his clothes clinging to him from standing out in the rain for so long and his slightly longer than normal hair stuck to the back of his neck and forehead. Immediately, she ran to him, narrowing her eyes so she could see him as he walked towards her. Without any words, she threw herself at him, catching the elemental in a fierce lip lock which was only intensified when Aidan pulled her as close as their physical forms would allow, putting one arm tightly around her neck and putting his free hand on her cheek. Paige moved in as close as she could the warmth his body was giving off, putting one hand on his back and trying to pull him in even closer.

They finally pulled out of the kiss, still extremely close to each other as their drenched clothes were sticking to each other Paige let out a sob as she buried her head in his chest, "I can't do this! I need you! I can't live without you! I'll die!" She babbled, pulling away and looking into his eyes, "I just can't…"

"Shh…" He soothed her, hugging her shaking frame and stroking her wet hair, "I'm not going anywhere, not this time, never again…" He assured her. Paige looked up and kissed him again as if she needed to him just to keep breathing, she felt him return the kiss, and realized that, in the pouring rain, soaking wet, she had never been happier.

Emma smiled as the psychic echoes helped her see the scene in her mind. She knew that leaving that message on her memorial plaque would get to Paige somehow and help her make the right decision in the end. And although neither Paige nor Aidan knew it, events brought on by their being together had saved their family from a lot of future heartache. The psionic would have lingered with the feelings for longer, if thoughts of her memorial plaque and lost loves hadn't made her feel empty inside.

"C'mon, Paige… You help me, I help you…" Emma whispered, clutching Paige's old clown doll, Slappy. Emma had taken it from her friend's house earlier that day, hoping that an object sentimental to the witchlighter would help her focus on strong energies that were connected to Paige. If she could get a reading from Paige from her current location, they might be able to find her; and Phoebe as well. They, after all, were two thirds of the solution to this whole mess, so they had to be found. It was all a matter of concentrating hard enough.

Taking a deep breath, Emma stepped into the very spot Paige had been standing in on that night, in the rain, within the safe embrace of her lover, closing her eyes as she reached for her friend telempathically. The psionic's eyelids flickered as images assaulted her mind. They were fuzzy, yes, but they were the first lead they had had in the last three months, and she wasn't about to throw the idea away because the connection was a little hard to sustain.

Paige stood in the darkness. Thick, iron chains constricted her entire body, nearly cutting off her air supply, but it didn't faze her in the slightest. She struggled against her confinement, her face turning red with fierce determination as she thrashed wildly, the chains clinking together and echoing in the void. Emma had learned to interpret telempathic visions like this as someone yearning for freedom, who was being suppressed by another being.

The next part, she had never seen before, but could instantly tell its meaning. Three darkened silhouettes stood just out of Paige's reach. One of them was tall, a man it seemed, and the other two were little girls, each holding a hand of the man that stood in between them. If Paige hadn't been trapped, she would be able to reach out to these people, to cast light upon their faces and be with them once more, but she couldn't.

Something then happened that Emma hadn't been expecting at all. One by one, the chains began to crumble and Paige regained freedom. The moment the last chain had dissolved in a burst of bronze-coloured rust particles, she flew towards her family in a single bound, towards her home…

Emma's eyes flashed open as the vision ended. Slappy fell from her hands and hit the stone floor with the quiet thud. Her heart pounded inside her chest, as if it was bursting to get out of her body. Turning on her heel, the psionic made a dash for the doors, running as fast as she could as she shouted, "Leo! Brennan!" She shoved at the large iron doors, ingoing the pain in her arms as she tried to move something so heavy before gaining access to the hallway and bolting towards the library.

Paige was escaping.

Now.

Paige threw her elbow into yet another guard's face as she twisted his arm violently, hearing a snap as he let out a howl of pain before dropping his gun to the floor. The lights in the corridors had shut down as a consequence to lockdown override switch, and would flash with a red light every few seconds as a screeching alarm pulsed through the entire base. The mutants had escaped.

Everywhere was complete pandemonium. Mutants were taking out their personal vendettas on guards that had caused them an exceptional amount of pain during their entrapment. Now that the sub-dermal governors had been deactivated, guns seemed to pale in comparison to the vast array of powers that they all had on the edge of their fingertips.

The witchlighter hit the deck as a pulse of violet energy passed over her head, hitting one of the many soldiers that were now trying to barricade the exit. The soldier in question glowed with the same lilac light as the magic hit him, before he fell to the floor in screams of anguish. The ferals, whose vision in the dark was so much better than everyone else's, were able to execute the most complicated of martial arts movements, giving a soldier many disabilities within a few seconds. Paige didn't care about any of this though; all she cared about was getting to Phoebe.

Three soldiers lined up at the end of the corridor, each of them preparing their multi-round guns for use. Paige, thinking fast, caused the weapons to fly out the hands of the bewildered military men with just a thought. The guns flew towards her and turned around, before she telekinetically pulled the trigger on all three. The dark corridor flashed as the guns fired off bullet after bullet, riddling the three guards with many mortal wounds that killed them within seconds. They were the last thing standing in her way.

Stopping briefly to wrench a soldier off a struggling mutant, Paige found what she had been looking for. Raising her leg, she planted her foot in the flimsy door, causing it to instantly fly off its hinges and be hurled into the next room. She stepped in, instantly seeing Phoebe lying in the bed, just as she had left her. Baring her teeth, Paige shattered the glass window with her powers and leapt through to the first piece of human contact she had had in three months. "Its gonna be okay, Pheebs… we'll get you to Leo… he'll fix you… you're gonna be alright…"

Not even caring what any of these machines were doing, Paige wrenched the wires out of her sister's body and slung Phoebe's arm over her shoulders so she could support her better as they left through the door in this room. She heard a whimper of life come from her elder sibling's mouth as they made their escape, "Phoebe… Phoebe! Stay with me, okay?"

"Pai… Paige…?" Phoebe breathed out, wincing in agony. She could now feel in the pain her burns and other vicious injuries were giving her in her conscious state, "I'm… slowing… you down… Leave me…" She breathed out, as if she had used all her remaining energy to utter those words.

Naturally, she was ignored. Paige continued to make her way along the corridor. She had no idea where she was going, but she knew that if she stopped moving, she would lose all hope, and that was something that could never happen. The floor was littered with the dead. Some of them were riddled with bullet holes, some of them had unusual injuries on them, and some had no evidence of being hurt at all. Soldiers, mutants… All of them had died due to her actions.

It wasn't over yet. One solider, seemingly unarmed, came around the corner, grinning maliciously as he advanced on Paige. Gently laying Phoebe down next to the wall, the witchlighter brought herself back up to her full height so she could fight. He kept up with her enhanced fighting rather well, dodging her kicks, blocking her punches. Paige didn't want to have to resort to killing him, but if she couldn't knock him out, there would be no other option.

Thankfully, he went down. After receiving a particularly strong punch to the gut, it knocked the wind out of him long enough for Paige to plant her forehead into the bridge of his nose, rendering him unconscious with a vicious headbutt, which left her with a slight case of double vision as she stumbled a little. She had hated trying to do that move in training.

"Hey!" She turned around, her eyes bulging when she saw Narcom standing there with a gun pointed at her face. That sick, pearly white grin spread across his face, "End of the road for-," A loud bang cut him off and his mouth became agape. Paige narrowed her eyes in the darkness, seeing a small channel of blood trickling down the side of his mouth. He had been shot in the back.

Narcom hit the floor with a loud thud, revealing that Phoebe been the one responsible for his fatal wound. She was barely standing, leaning against the wall; a gun that she was barely keeping steady in her shaky hand now fell back to the floor. Paige assumed that she must have grabbed it from one of the many dead soldiers on the floor. It was only a few moments later when she joined them, collapsing to the floor. "Phoebe!" The witchlighter screamed, bolting towards her elder sister and catching her just before she hit the hard surface.

Paige gently cradled her in the corridor, noticing large patches of blood starting to appear underneath the thin medical own she was wearing. She suspected that the ricochet from the gun had sent a strong vibration through her body, tearing whatever stitches she had. "Phoebe… come on, please… don't…"Paige's bottom lip quivered as she could see her sister's life slip through her fingers. This wasn't the way it was supposed to end. It couldn't be.

Suddenly, a bright blue glow illuminated the two of them. Paige looked up, and her heart skipped a beat when she saw a large cloud of orbs descend from the ceiling. She would have jumped for joy, if it had been under better circumstances. As three people began to form out of the blue and white light, she could immediately see that two of them were Leo and Brennan, and for a second, she thought the third was Piper, until her eyes properly focused and her heart skipped yet another beat.

"What the hell?" Paige exclaimed at the sight of her deceased friend, tightening her grip on Phoebe in fear, "What are you doing here? Why are you here? Where's-?" She didn't even know what her next question was. She just couldn't keep in control anymore.

Emma looked up, seeing another firing squad at the end of the corridor. "Leo!" She shouted, "Heal her on the way and let's go!" The three of them bent down around the two Charmed Ones, Leo held his hands out over his sister in law while Brennan gripped Phoebe's hand tightly, praying for her to pull through. Emma didn't waste any time. She latched her hands onto the shoulders of Leo and Brennan, and willed all five of them up into a cloud of rosy pink orbs just as the soldier fired their guns.

The same swathe of baby pink orbs descended onto the floor of library in the castle of Atlantis. Before they fully formed, a golden glow could be seen within the orbs as Leo put all his power into trying to heal Phoebe. The haze of pink light eventually faded away, but the five of them stayed in their positions, watching intently as the healing glow from the Elder's hands seemed to do nothing. "I can't do it…" Leo said mournfully, pulling his hands away and quietly punching the ground.

Brennan looked at him with wide hopeful eyes, "What the hell are you talking about? You have to heal her! You can't just let her die!"

"We're too late…" Leo breathed, looking down at Phoebe with tears prickling his eyes, "She's… dead."