AT THE MANOR…
"Henry, where's your dad?" asked Coop.
"He's at the station, but I'm sure he must have seen the SOS text and will be on alert" he answered. "Mom says he can help a lot more from there anyway"
"I bet mom just wants him as far away from demons as humanly possible" said his twin Patricia. Henry touched his nose in agreement.
"Where's Bianca?" asked Henry to her cousin Praline.
"No idea. We've been trying to reach her cell but get no answer. She will get such an earful from Mom when she gets a hold of her" A baby cry echoed from upstairs. "I'll go check on them"
"I'll go with you" said her cousin Penny. Both of them went to the upper floor to check on Wyatt's children and baby sister, who by now demanded in their own way to know what was going on after hearing such a racket from their end.
"I'll get some potions going, just in case" said Cooper not really knowing what to do with himself at the moment. He hated being this far away from Phoebe, but a big party coming from Samuel's office in the middle of the hospital wasn't exactly the greatest idea. They certainly had more than enough on their plate as it was. Plus, he was the only elder of the family around for the time being.
Coop started working on generic demon vanquishing potions as he had been taught by Phoebe and the sisters over the years. He prided himself on his potion skills by now having done them in numerous occasions, always happy to help the constant battle of good and evil without having to burst any demons himself; being a cupid, blowing things away, even demons, was kinda frowned upon.
Even as he set the water to boil on the stove, he couldn't shake that heartbroken feeling coming from her wife and her sister; or from his nephew Chris. Losing Piper might very well be the thing that could break this family apart beyond repair once and for all.
He didn't have much time to dwell on this anyway, for a few minutes later Paddy came into the kitchen branding her phone at him yelling. "Trouble! There's trouble again! Everywhere!"
"OK. Paddy, sweetheart, first you need to calm yourself. Where exactly are we talking?" said Coop still making the potion on automatic as he listened attentively.
"Umh…uh… Chinatown… Sunset District…" she said as she swiped through the news feed on her phone. Again, they were all major disturbances, nothing more said but to keep away at all costs. "the Marina… South Beach…Mission Bay…" she panted.
"Alright" said Coop taking the phone from her daughter's hands and placing it on the counter to hold her hands in his. "We need to call your mom and Paige back first"
"On it!" said Henry Jr. running into the kitchen, followed by his sister Patricia, clicking on his touchscreen like crazy as he sent a text to his aunt, Phoebe. "Already told Penny and Praline to come down and called Mom's name, one way or the other, they've both been called"
"Good. We need to spread, if we're going to tackle this" said Coop just before Paige and Phoebe arrived. He instinctively hugged Phoebe. "How is she?"
"Still in surgery. Wyatt's assisting Samuel (Sam's dad)" said Phoebe her voice a little raspy as she'd been crying. Paige was hugged by her children; she wasn't speaking at all. "Is Chris here?"
"I thought they orbed right behind you guys" said Henry.
"So did we, but neither him nor Sam ever made it to the hospital. Been trying to call them, phone or otherwise and get no answer. Any luck reaching your sister?" asked Phoebe to her daughter Paddy.
"No, sorry mom"
"It's OK. Just keep trying, OK?" her daughter nodded. "OK. We need to organize here, what are we talking about exactly?" Phoebe asked and they were filled in as quickly as they could. "Wow, perfect timing… uh… we need to… uh…" Phoebe felt her head going round and round without being able to land on any one thought. Paige was pretty much the same at the moment, but still managed to text Henry senior to let him know of the attacks so he could provide as much cover as he could and stay safe. Coop held onto Phoebe whose tears could no longer be contained.
"Let's take a moment… but just a moment… because these people need us right now" said Patricia, Paige's youngest daughter. "I'll go with Aunt Phoebe; Henry, go with mom; Penelope and Praline, can go together; Paddy will keep us posted on the locations and Uncle Coop will supply the potions from here.
"Where is your sister Penelope?" asked Paige also in a raspy-like voice.
"We might have a little problem?" she said walking into the kitchen with Angie (Wyatt's youngest) in her arms.
"What took you?" asked Henry to his sister.
"Well, we've been trying to come down ever since you told us there was an emergency, but…" Julian and Meghan orbed into the kitchen with them. "But they kept orbing us back into the room"
"Oh no" said Praline catching up with them all, holding baby Melinda in her arms. "I was so sure they were gonna stay up there"
"Well, guess again" said Penelope.
"They're just scared" said Phoebe going to take Melinda from her daughter's arms, feeling an overwhelming amount of fear and anxiety coming from the baby party. "Paddy, baby. Why don't you sit down here by the play pen with them as you text us all the locations and Coop you can keep an eye on them while doing the potions"
"That could work" said Penelope putting Angie down onto one of the baby loungers inside the pen.
"Better work" said Praline as Phoebe put Melinda down next to Angie herself.
They spread out, orbing away in parties of two, hoping to God they all made it back in one piece.
DOWN IN THE UNDERWORLD…
"Come on" said Chris, pulling Sam against a wall nearby as they orbed in. "We have to go back. We're not prepared for this" he said truthfully.
"I'm not leaving without him" she said turning to see him eye to eye. "If you need to go back, I'll understand" Sam said kissing his forehead before turning away.
"Wait!" Chris said holding her back by the arm. "Get behind me" she smiled appreciatively as they set off to find his future brother.
Not a minute went by when a couple of tentacled demons walked by roaring with laughter.
Sam blew them away against the dirt wall as soon as they laid eyes on them, while Chris started blowing off their tentacles. The demons came closer as they recovered from their attack and Chris started fighting one away as he kept trying to blow energy balls inside it. Sam aeroported away from the tentacle slashes going about but was soon out winded. The demon saw a window of opportunity and went straight to grab her by the neck as tentacles still flailed about. "Got you" the demon said. Sam smiled and held the demon's hand holding her, starting to freeze him whole. The demon stupidly looked around as every bit of him froze solid up to the tip of every tentacle.
"Chris!" she tried to shout, grip still on her throat, and he threw an energy ball at the frozen fiend, shattering it to pieces. She fell to the ground, softening her landing with her aerocontrol. Quickly getting back to her feet, she let water curse down her arms and started throwing icicles at the demon attacking Chris, as he kept throwing energy balls, finally making it explode. "We need to find W…" she fell to her knees bending in pain. Chris had no time to ask what was wrong as he himself felt every nerve in his body screaming in agony a second later. He kept his balance long enough to see another demon approaching from the corridor not far behind them. He fell to the ground as well, trying to at least orb away but the demon's grip was strong and the pain debilitating.
Sure that this was it, he reached for Sam's hand and so did she as tears ran down her face painfully smiling at her brother. She would accept her fate, but never meant it for Chris.
Unexpectedly, as sudden as it had started the pain stopped, leaving them sore but able to breathe again without effort. Chris saw his brother just behind the demon, Excalibur thrusted through his chest as he burnt away.
"You're alright?" Future Wyatt asked his brother as he approached them. Chris nodded flinching as he moved his left arm. He had forgotten how it was injured not long ago amongst all other pain. Wyatt picked Sam back up gently. "What the hell are you doing down here?"
"What do you think?" he kissed her forehead.
"I'm sending you back, both of you" Wyatt said staring at Chris' arm now slowly starting to bleed again into the improvised bandage around it due to their recent mishap.
"I'll just aeroport back" said Sam stubbornly. "Send Chris to dad's. He needs to take care of that arm" she added recovering, supported by Wyatt.
"Do you have any idea what you (he nodded towards his future brother) would do to me if you find out I left you (he nodded Sam's way) down here? No way" Future Wyatt smiled.
"Isn't it cute? You've all come to congratulate me? Or surrender?" said Elak evilly coming from a side corridor on the other side. Future Wyatt attacked her impulsively trying to keep her away. Sam held on to his wrist and he turned around slightly taken aback. She nodded and Wyatt prepared to resume his attack when a bunch of demons entered the cavern, stepping between them and Elak. "Separate those two and keep them apart" she whispered to the demons filing on either side of her.