TEN

"Mr. Worthington, we need to have a chat," said Prue as she, Piper, and Leo stepped out from behind a dumpster halfway down the alley.

"What?" questioned Worthington, glancing behind him to see Phoebe and Cole coming up the alley behind him. "What is this?"

"Jessup, please," pleaded Timothy. "Their here to help."

"Help?" questioned Worthington. "Help how?"

"Mr. Worthington," said Piper, "look, we know you're the Blue Avenger. And you're in more danger than you know. We just want to talk to you, that's all."

"Blue Avenger?" Worthington asked, feigning ignorance. "You must be mistaken."

"No, Jessup, we aren't," said Timothy. "We were able to track you down. Look, you don't know what's really going on. And Piper is right. You're in danger. Serious danger. We just want to help you, that's all."

Worthington looked at the five and then he suddenly glamoured. Instead of the forty-something, slightly overweight, partially balding innocuous man he was now the Blue Avenger. He looked just like the drawings in the comic books. He was a lean, very muscular figure, complete with mask and cape.

"So, villains," said Worthington, "you have discovered my secret. It will do you no good. I have right on my side. I fight for truth and righteousness. I protect the weak and innocent. You cannot hope to stand against me."

"Oh, for crying out loud," said Cole. "Enough all ready with the cliché rhetoric. You're not a superhero. And you have no idea the kind of danger you're putting yourself and others in. Just listen to what we have to say."

"Nay, villain," said Worthington. "I will not listen to your lies. I am the Blue Avenger and evil cannot stand against me."

"Leo," said Piper, "show our friend here that he's not the only one who can pull that little trick."

Leo hesitated for a minute. He wasn't sure the Elders would approve of this. But they were trying to protect an innocent. He'd just have to hope that if they learned about it they'd understand. Suddenly Leo glamoured and stood facing the Blue Avenger, a virtual exact copy of the superhero.

"How can this be?" Worthington asked. "There can be only one Blue Avenger."

"You're not the Blue Avenger," said Prue, holding up a potion vial. "Now this can take away your powers forever. If you don't talk with us now I'm going to use this and end your superhero days forever."

"That will not happen, villain," said Worthington. "I will not be thwarted by your evil. There are too many innocents to protect. I cannot allow you to leave them unprotected."

Before anyone could move, Worthington suddenly orbed and was gone.

"Great," said Piper. "Now we've lost him again. How are we going to find him?"

"Timothy, stay with then," said Leo. "Once he comes to rest I'll let you know where he is and you can bring them to me."

"You know where he's going?" Phoebe asked.

"No," said Leo, "but I can follow his orb trail. Especially considering he hasn't had much practice with it I should be able to follow it easily."

"Just be careful," said Cole. "He knows about us now. There's no telling what he's liable to do."

"I'll be fine," said Leo. "Just wait for my call. And this time let's try not to be so confrontational. We need to get him to listen to us and that's not going to happen if he's defensive."

Leo orbed out of the alley. The others looked around to make sure they were alone and then Cole and Timothy took them all back to the manor to wait for Leo's call.

"I just thought the direct approach would work best," said Prue. "How was I to know the guy would go all psycho on us?"

"He didn't go psycho," said Timothy. "He's a superhero. They're used to being in charge. And any confrontation causes them to switch to protective mode. The idea of a superhero is to protect those who can't protect themselves. That's why they have their super powers. Kind of like you guys. You have your powers to protect the innocent. It's not so different, really."

"You really are into this stuff, aren't you?" Phoebe asked. "That thing about your father being an executive for a big comics company was a nice touch."

"Oh, it's true," said Timothy. "Just like I told Jessup. It's why I got started collecting in the first place."

"Well, you certainly seem to know a lot about it," said Cole. "But Jessup is a forty-year-old man. Collecting comic books at his age. It just seems kind of childish to me."

"Last year," said Timothy, "a first copy of Hero Legion signed by the author was sold at auction for just over seventeen thousand dollars."

"For a comic book?" Piper asked.

"And there are some out there that are worth a great deal more," said Timothy. "Comic books are a billion dollar a year business. There are people who make quite a good living buying and selling valuable comic books. It's not just for kids. From what he told me Jessup's collection could easily be worth a quarter of a million dollars or more. And I'm sure he has more than he told me about. We really didn't have a lot of time to talk a lot until you guys showed up."

"A quarter of a million dollars?" Phoebe asked. "I never knew comics could be worth so much."

"Hero Legion is currently the most popular comic," said Timothy. "It's about a group of superheroes in the future who have banded together to protect the Earth against powerful aliens and supervillians. I think Jessup patterned the Blue Avenger after one of the members of that group. Her name is Avenging Angel. And she goes around thwarting petty crimes that most other superheroes don't have time to do because they're too busy saving the planet."

"Well, we know where his idea came from," said Cole. "The question now is how do we convince Worthington he's putting people in danger?"

"I don't know," said Prue. "But we need to think of something. He doesn't seem like a bad guy. Just misdirected. I'd like to think there was someway to redirect his passion in a way that's not so dangerous. For him or others."

"Well," said Timothy, looking into the air, "we're about to get our chance. Leo just contacted me. Jessup has stopped orbing. I know where he is. I guess we should be getting there."

"You'd better orb us there," said Cole. "I'm not sure how Worthington would react if he sees me shimmering in."

"Good idea," said Prue. "Okay, Timothy. You seem to be our taxi for the moment. Orb away."

They all linked arms and Timothy orbed them out of the manor.