Once again, apologies for the lack of updates over the weekend. I was busy
taking the dog on two-mile walks through endless mud and wind and then
lying on sofas, drinking beer and reading books.
Just to remind any watching lawyers, I don't own the copyrights, but if I
did I'd be a rich man. Bugger it, my life sucks! Thanks to Gryffindor620
for reviews, you are great!
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By the time that Paige woke up from her unanticipated nap, the Halliwell house was in a total uproar. By the time that the young witch had finished rubbing her eyes and yawning, her ears alone were telling her that something was very wrong. Then memory returned and she bolted from her chair and looked around wildly. Not seeing the red-skinned demon she relaxed very slightly. Then she stared at the activity around her.
Molly and Theresa were sitting on the floor, with maps of San Francisco, Central California, the whole of California, North America and finally the world, open around them. They were having an argument about what seemed to wrong with their crystals. Paige was tugging at her axe, which was very firmly embedded in the wall, all the time muttering what appeared to be a number of very juicy swear words.
As for Tom and Cole, they were both trying to calm down an increasingly agitated Leo, who was shouting something about not being able to feel where she was, and it was at that moment that Paige felt genuinely frightened for the first time. She'd seen many different versions of Leo in the past, she'd seen happy Leo, sad Leo, concerned Leo, determined Leo, injured Leo, patient Leo and once (disturbingly) horny Leo. An angry, bewildered Leo was something new and very unwelcome.
Which led to. "Where's Piper?" she blurted.
Paige looked around from her fruitless tugging and then came over to hug her sister. "Honey," she said soothingly, "We're not sure. Tethos turned up, he swatted the lot of us and then just as he grabbed one end of the Fist of Osiris, Piper grabbed the other and went with him when he shimmered."
"But surely Leo can..."
The older Halliwell shook her head. "He can feel that she's alive, but not where she is. Tethos must have shimmered someplace shielded. We've tried scrying as well but..." she looked back at where Theresa and Molly had given up and were looking down at the maps in twin teary rages, "We can't find her."
Behind them Tom had finally calmed Leo down to the point where he was more or less coherent.
"How much can you feel of her?" he asked the Whitelighter calmly.
With a shiver Leo shrugged. "I can only feel that she's somewhere in-" he paused and turned, before pointing to a point besides the stairs. "That direction. But she could be a mile away, or a hundred miles, or in New York for all I know!"
Tom and Cole exchanged glances. "Triangulate?" the demon asked.
"Let's try it," said the Welshman, before turning to Phoebe. "Pheebs, do you still have your father's compass?"
She gave him an odd look. "Yeah, but why do you need that for?"
Walking over he picked up the maps from the floor, bent over to kiss the top of Theresa's head and then strode back to the table. "Leo can feel roughly which direction she's in. If we take a bearing along where he thinks she is with the compass-"
"And then go to as many places as we can and take other bearings-" added Cole.
"Which we plot on a map, we should be able to pin down roughly where she might be," finished Tom. "We'll need the compass, a pencil, all the maps and a lot of luck, but we can do it."
The two Halliwells present exchanged glances, before Paige voiced their fear: "What if he's in Hell?"
Shaking his head Cole walked over to the axe, which was still stuck in the wall. "No," he said, putting a hand on its handle "He'd never go back with everything so stirred up down there. He'd have bounty hunters popping down like flies around molasses. No, Tom's right, Piper is our best shot at finding him." There was a grating noise and he grunted as he pulled the axe free. "And when we find him, we hurt him."
************************************************************************
Cold, thought Piper, groggily. Feel cold. Must get Leo to fix the air conditioning again. Then memory returned and she opened her eyes. From the sight of the dank concrete floor she obviously wasn't at home. Carefully she raised her head and sat up.
"Okay," she muttered, "I've woken up in nicer places." Frowning she prodded mentally at her scrambled memory. She remembered Tethos arriving - swiping everyone out of the way. Funny that, he hadn't killed anyone. She remembered flying through the air, to land on the washing basket and hitting her head on the side of the ironing board, somehow getting up, running on legs that felt like jello, grabbing one end of the artifact and then appearing here... and then falling asleep. She had a vague recollection of a very surprised sounding voice saying something, but that was the last thing she could recall.
There was a slight sound and she turned to see Tethos looking down at her.
"You're incredibly persistent," he said, turning the Fist of Osiris over and over in his hands. "You don't have the faintest chance of hurting me, but you still try. Oh, by the way, look down."
Unwillingly she risked a short glance and then stopped and stared. She was sitting in a ten-foot circle formed by a glowing red line that seemed to pulse on the concrete. Pulling out a quarter from her pocked she flicked it in the air. There was a sizzling noise and it bounced back. "Energy barrier?" she guessed.
The demon tilted his head. "Close enough," he said. "It won't kill you, but it will repel you. Don't worry, I'm not in the habit of imprisoning humans. I'm going to do what I need to do and then... you'll be free to go."
Pulling her hair back in place over her back Piper got to her feet. "Yeah," she sneered, "Like I believe that. I've heard the lies that demons spout... like a big..." she paused, unable to find the right metaphor, "Spouty thing," she finished lamely.
Tethos sighed. "Don't believe me then. And this place is shielded, so I wouldn't expect a rescue anytime soon. But I won't harm you."
"Like you didn't harm that security guard in London?" said Piper accusingly. "Or that archaeologist in Egypt?"
On the point of turning away, Tethos snapped his full attention back to the witch. "What are you talking about? I've never killed anyone human. Not since... I became a demon. I didn't see anyone in London, and the only person I met in Egypt was a frightened security guard whom I left scared. Explain yourself."
"There was a guard in the British Museum in the room you stole the main part from," said Piper, feeling slightly bewildered at the vehemence with which Tethos had spoken. "He was torn to pieces, I've seen the pictures. And again in Egypt with the other piece. So why the hell should I believe you?"
By now Tethos was looking even grimmer than before, if such a thing was possible. "Gorgos," he growled. "That piece of cowardly vermin. I knew he was tracking me for the Source... but he was always too late to find me. But not anyone else. That sneaking worm! I'm going to rip his ribs out one by one and eat his heart! Typical demon, taking his frustrations out on the innocent!"
By now Piper was totally confused. She had no idea if Tethos was telling the truth, and she had no idea who Gorgos was, but she could almost feel the frustration roll off the red-skinned demon. Tethos' last remark did get to her though.
"But you're a demon as well! And the reason we're being so persistent is that we know better than to leave the Hammer of Ra in the hands of a demon. I don't care what you say, we're not going to risk the world being destroyed or you blowing up this Gorgos, whoever he is, along with any nearby cities, or whatever demon-like plan you have in mind!" She folded her arms and directed her best Halliwell glare at him.
Tethos looked at her and then threw his head back and laughed, the sound echoing around the empty warehouse. "End the world! Blow up Gorgos! I know of at least three portals that could end the world by dropping it into a hell dimension, and I've closed all of them! And killing Gorgos with the Hammer? I wouldn't give him the honour! No," he stopped laughing, and a rather sad expression stole over his face. "I've got a different plan for the Hammer. I can tell you, because you're probably going to see it anyway, little as you believe me anyway.
"I'm going to kill myself with it."
By the time that Paige woke up from her unanticipated nap, the Halliwell house was in a total uproar. By the time that the young witch had finished rubbing her eyes and yawning, her ears alone were telling her that something was very wrong. Then memory returned and she bolted from her chair and looked around wildly. Not seeing the red-skinned demon she relaxed very slightly. Then she stared at the activity around her.
Molly and Theresa were sitting on the floor, with maps of San Francisco, Central California, the whole of California, North America and finally the world, open around them. They were having an argument about what seemed to wrong with their crystals. Paige was tugging at her axe, which was very firmly embedded in the wall, all the time muttering what appeared to be a number of very juicy swear words.
As for Tom and Cole, they were both trying to calm down an increasingly agitated Leo, who was shouting something about not being able to feel where she was, and it was at that moment that Paige felt genuinely frightened for the first time. She'd seen many different versions of Leo in the past, she'd seen happy Leo, sad Leo, concerned Leo, determined Leo, injured Leo, patient Leo and once (disturbingly) horny Leo. An angry, bewildered Leo was something new and very unwelcome.
Which led to. "Where's Piper?" she blurted.
Paige looked around from her fruitless tugging and then came over to hug her sister. "Honey," she said soothingly, "We're not sure. Tethos turned up, he swatted the lot of us and then just as he grabbed one end of the Fist of Osiris, Piper grabbed the other and went with him when he shimmered."
"But surely Leo can..."
The older Halliwell shook her head. "He can feel that she's alive, but not where she is. Tethos must have shimmered someplace shielded. We've tried scrying as well but..." she looked back at where Theresa and Molly had given up and were looking down at the maps in twin teary rages, "We can't find her."
Behind them Tom had finally calmed Leo down to the point where he was more or less coherent.
"How much can you feel of her?" he asked the Whitelighter calmly.
With a shiver Leo shrugged. "I can only feel that she's somewhere in-" he paused and turned, before pointing to a point besides the stairs. "That direction. But she could be a mile away, or a hundred miles, or in New York for all I know!"
Tom and Cole exchanged glances. "Triangulate?" the demon asked.
"Let's try it," said the Welshman, before turning to Phoebe. "Pheebs, do you still have your father's compass?"
She gave him an odd look. "Yeah, but why do you need that for?"
Walking over he picked up the maps from the floor, bent over to kiss the top of Theresa's head and then strode back to the table. "Leo can feel roughly which direction she's in. If we take a bearing along where he thinks she is with the compass-"
"And then go to as many places as we can and take other bearings-" added Cole.
"Which we plot on a map, we should be able to pin down roughly where she might be," finished Tom. "We'll need the compass, a pencil, all the maps and a lot of luck, but we can do it."
The two Halliwells present exchanged glances, before Paige voiced their fear: "What if he's in Hell?"
Shaking his head Cole walked over to the axe, which was still stuck in the wall. "No," he said, putting a hand on its handle "He'd never go back with everything so stirred up down there. He'd have bounty hunters popping down like flies around molasses. No, Tom's right, Piper is our best shot at finding him." There was a grating noise and he grunted as he pulled the axe free. "And when we find him, we hurt him."
************************************************************************
Cold, thought Piper, groggily. Feel cold. Must get Leo to fix the air conditioning again. Then memory returned and she opened her eyes. From the sight of the dank concrete floor she obviously wasn't at home. Carefully she raised her head and sat up.
"Okay," she muttered, "I've woken up in nicer places." Frowning she prodded mentally at her scrambled memory. She remembered Tethos arriving - swiping everyone out of the way. Funny that, he hadn't killed anyone. She remembered flying through the air, to land on the washing basket and hitting her head on the side of the ironing board, somehow getting up, running on legs that felt like jello, grabbing one end of the artifact and then appearing here... and then falling asleep. She had a vague recollection of a very surprised sounding voice saying something, but that was the last thing she could recall.
There was a slight sound and she turned to see Tethos looking down at her.
"You're incredibly persistent," he said, turning the Fist of Osiris over and over in his hands. "You don't have the faintest chance of hurting me, but you still try. Oh, by the way, look down."
Unwillingly she risked a short glance and then stopped and stared. She was sitting in a ten-foot circle formed by a glowing red line that seemed to pulse on the concrete. Pulling out a quarter from her pocked she flicked it in the air. There was a sizzling noise and it bounced back. "Energy barrier?" she guessed.
The demon tilted his head. "Close enough," he said. "It won't kill you, but it will repel you. Don't worry, I'm not in the habit of imprisoning humans. I'm going to do what I need to do and then... you'll be free to go."
Pulling her hair back in place over her back Piper got to her feet. "Yeah," she sneered, "Like I believe that. I've heard the lies that demons spout... like a big..." she paused, unable to find the right metaphor, "Spouty thing," she finished lamely.
Tethos sighed. "Don't believe me then. And this place is shielded, so I wouldn't expect a rescue anytime soon. But I won't harm you."
"Like you didn't harm that security guard in London?" said Piper accusingly. "Or that archaeologist in Egypt?"
On the point of turning away, Tethos snapped his full attention back to the witch. "What are you talking about? I've never killed anyone human. Not since... I became a demon. I didn't see anyone in London, and the only person I met in Egypt was a frightened security guard whom I left scared. Explain yourself."
"There was a guard in the British Museum in the room you stole the main part from," said Piper, feeling slightly bewildered at the vehemence with which Tethos had spoken. "He was torn to pieces, I've seen the pictures. And again in Egypt with the other piece. So why the hell should I believe you?"
By now Tethos was looking even grimmer than before, if such a thing was possible. "Gorgos," he growled. "That piece of cowardly vermin. I knew he was tracking me for the Source... but he was always too late to find me. But not anyone else. That sneaking worm! I'm going to rip his ribs out one by one and eat his heart! Typical demon, taking his frustrations out on the innocent!"
By now Piper was totally confused. She had no idea if Tethos was telling the truth, and she had no idea who Gorgos was, but she could almost feel the frustration roll off the red-skinned demon. Tethos' last remark did get to her though.
"But you're a demon as well! And the reason we're being so persistent is that we know better than to leave the Hammer of Ra in the hands of a demon. I don't care what you say, we're not going to risk the world being destroyed or you blowing up this Gorgos, whoever he is, along with any nearby cities, or whatever demon-like plan you have in mind!" She folded her arms and directed her best Halliwell glare at him.
Tethos looked at her and then threw his head back and laughed, the sound echoing around the empty warehouse. "End the world! Blow up Gorgos! I know of at least three portals that could end the world by dropping it into a hell dimension, and I've closed all of them! And killing Gorgos with the Hammer? I wouldn't give him the honour! No," he stopped laughing, and a rather sad expression stole over his face. "I've got a different plan for the Hammer. I can tell you, because you're probably going to see it anyway, little as you believe me anyway.
"I'm going to kill myself with it."
