CHAPTER 3: Biding Consequences of Refusal
"You have a lot of nerve showing your faces here again!" snapped Piper, her hands on her hips and her eyes flashing dangerously before she growled, "Get out. All of you. Get out."
"I would advise you to remember who you are talking to, Piper," Gideon said in a formally aloof tone as his face furrowed slightly at the disrespect, "Understand that I am still the Elder of Elders, and as such, what I say, you had better pay attention to as you would to any Whitelighter."
Leo then felt the urge to tackle Gideon and pound his face in as he groused with malice, "Not any more we do, Gideon. There's no way in hell we'd still listen to you, not after how you tried to kill Wyatt before."
Gideon's voice actually got a bit smug as he emphasized, "Keep in mind that that was your suspicions, but you could never prove it to the Council of Immortals, and as such, none of them could find any hint of truth that I had anything to do with the past demon attacks that targeted your son. And let me also remind you, Leo, that I have absolutely no motive to ever harm Wyatt, especially since he is protected by the Halliwell bloodline, but the demons, naturally, had the shortsighted goals of trying to entice a child of Whitelighter and witch blood into their ranks and evil societies. So really, I'm quite offended that you think I, a respected immortal elder, would stoop as so low as to be willing to murder an innocent child just because of his bloodline. As long as you fail to show proof of such accusations, I'd advise you to hold still and accept your exile from the Whitelighters gracefully, Leo."
Probably because of the fact that you magically hid your tracks so well so we couldn't link it directly to you, you asshole, Paige thought angrily to herself as she glared hatefully at Elder Gideon alongside Leo. She loved Wyatt as much as her own son, and Paige, like Leo and her sisters, had suspicions about Gideon being involved in the past threats against Wyatt's life. And it infuriated her that they could never find concrete evidence, physically or magically, that could tie him to it.
General Hawk was having similar dark thoughts as he stared poisonously at the Whitelighter Elder, his gaze dripping with scornful disgust. He didn't forget the incident with Justin, Blind Master, and the Dinosaucers, but he wrathfully kept quiet, for Justin's safety and for the Dinosaucers' anonymity. He was no fool in not knowing how the Charmed Ones, especially Piper and Leo, would feel about Justin's heritage, and he already decided to kept mum about that tidbit unless absolutely necessary.
Phoebe was stony as she crossed her arms over her chest in a defensive maneuver and just looked at the three men gathered in the attic. She certainly didn't know what she was feeling, but confusion, fear, worry, annoyance was definitely among them. And she could secretly admit she was concerned for Batman and General Hawk as well. Whatever it was, it must have been dire; General Hawk and Batman usually didn't come popping in unless it was extremely urgent, and this was the first time the G.I. Joe general and the Justice League member had ever shown up in their house, unannounced. In fact, Phoebe could count the number of times they both approached the Charmed Ones with one hand (due to Piper's stubbornness and unwillingness to welcome them). And like any good witch, if they were the only ones who could help, then they should at least help for the sake of virtue and goodness. And she got the feeling that this time, she would probably have to play the role of peacekeeper and the devil's advocate like the typical middle sibling should things get ugly between Piper and the guests.
And Phoebe wasn't going to be disappointed. Piper's temper wasn't going away as she repeated her earlier command more insistently.
"Fine, Gideon can stay and tells us whatever bullshit he needs to before he leaves as soon as possible," she griped bitterly before she turned her attention to General Hawk and Batman, "But you two are entirely different altogether. I thought I made it clear the last time. Whatever it is, we're not interested, so get the hell out and leave us alone."
Phoebe immediately reprimanded her older sister as she said calmly, "Piper, let them speak. We owe them that right."
"We don't owe them anything, especially after what the Batman did to all of us!" Leo snapped.
"Leo, he's still a good guy and we can trust him! Geez, what crawled up your butt? Batman and General Hawk are our allies and they've done favors for us when we needed them!" Paige broke in, obviously favoring the side of the visitors. The masked vigilante then decided to begin before this could break out into a heated argument and that could sideline Supergirl's recent troubles.
"We have a situation with the Justice League - " Batman began, but the eldest Halliwell sister cut him down ruthlessly, not even listening for the entire discussion.
"Get out," Piper repeated again even more forcefully.
General Hawk said with some simmering patience, "Piper, listen to what the Batman needs to tell you."
Yet Piper then had enough as she could see that words weren't going to get the desired effect she wanted.
"Get out, or I'll blast you," Piper said in a low voice, and she raised her left hand in a threatening manner up to her shoulder level. Paige and Phoebe looked shocked at the fact that Piper would be so willing to use her powers of molecular combustion on Batman and the general. Leo didn't say anything to object. Hawk looked a little taken aback, but Batman did not even bat an eye.
"You won't use your powers on us, Piper," Batman said simply, his body still as a foreboding statue.
"And how the hell are you so sure?" Piper snapped, her eyes narrowed. The Dark Knight of Gotham easily stared down at the woman.
"Despite your anger, you would never use your powers on an innocent, not if it can be helped. And regardless of how much you hate me, it's not enough to actually have you try to smite me into millions of pieces. What you have just said was an empty threat."
After gazing directly in Batman's stony face for several seconds, Piper's hand quivered a bit before it fell limply against her thigh. Piper's eyes were still blazing, but they were a bit misty as well, as if she was embarrassed that the Batman could look into her mind and soul with hardly any effort.
Damn, he's good, Piper thought to herself with some bitter ire.
"Oh, and I suppose you're such an expert on hate and bitterness and tragedy, aren't you?" Leo snarled mockingly. Batman stared long and hard at Piper's husband (and Paige shivered under the death glare) before he answered simply.
"I am."
General Hawk then stepped in as he explained delicately, "Piper, one of the members of the Justice League is in trouble…"
And with that, the Charmed Ones, Leo, and Elder Gideon listened to General Hawk as the G.I. Joe officer then described how Supergirl was under a magical spell and couldn't be awakened from her coma, and how Hawkgirl had determined it was a powerful curse since it managed to overcome the alien girl despite the fragment of the Phoenix Force inside the extraterrestrial's soul. Then, as some additional background information, Hawk illustrated briefly about what they knew about the Phoenix Force and the arrival of Trigon, the Demon Lord who sired the Teen Titan, Raven. Phoebe and Paige looked absolutely stricken with shock when the tale was finished, and Phoebe's face paled. Gideon frowned at Batman and Hawk as if he was inwardly debating whether or not to believe such outrageous stories, but being an Immortal Elder allowed him to take into account that there was some kernel of truth to their suspicions. Leo was conflicted. Piper just angrily huffed as she brushed out some strands of hair from her face.
"And that's it! You want us to come and help you out with your troubles after everything we've gone through thanks to you two? You want us to come running like some hired lap-dogs? Even after all the so-called magical associates you have like Dr. Fate and Etrigan? No way in hell. We're not helping you with your messes and having ourselves get dragged in to whatever enemies have a grudge against the Joes or the League, and the last thing we need are Cobra soldiers invading our home and the Joker trying to kill us. We've heard what you said, and here's our answer: no. Now get the hell out!" Piper barked.
"Piper! This is serious! Supergirl's life may be in danger!" Paige argued.
"And it's no trouble of ours, Paige! We are not obligated to save everyone, and they can handle this emergency themselves! This is hardly what I'd call life-threatening! And if they're so desperate, why the hell aren't their friends around to try to break the enchantment on Supergirl?" Piper shouted.
Batman spoke in a barbed, restrained voice, though one could tell he was close to being angry as he explained, "We cannot contact Dr. Fate and Etrigan because they left for another mystical dimension to search for any new clues that may explain an incoming end of the world that may be coming to Earth if we cannot stop it due to the Hellfire Club's interference. As such, all the mages and wizards we know who could be powerful enough to break the spell on Supergirl are gone because they're busy trying to find clues to - "
"The Gathering of Twilight?" Phoebe finished for the Batman in a small voice inadvertently, and then she let out a gasp as she placed her hands over her mouth, still disbelieving that she just blurted it out without even thinking. She didn't mean to reveal that she knew it, but after the stress of work and the toll of fear over her recent visions, it was perfectly natural. Piper and Leo whipped their heads sharply at the middle sister, glaring. Paige looked uncomfortable. Gideon looked rather perturbed. Batman, not surprisingly, showed no emotion in his face as if he already knew (and it wouldn't have been a surprise if he did), but Hawk raised an eyebrow at the sudden discovery that Phoebe knew what had been troubling the X-Men, the Misfits, and the Joes for quite a while. The Joe soldier then remembered that Phoebe's recent powers allowed her to foresee the future, like a seer.
"How long have you been having visions regarding the Gathering of Twilight, Phoebe?" Hawk asked gently, letting Phoebe know that they could handle the truth and that there was no resentment in the fact that she and the other sisters have been hiding it.
"Don't tell him," Leo ordered in a forceful voice. Phoebe looked torn between loyalty to her family and telling Hawk and Batman what they needed to know, especially since Phoebe, unlike Piper and Leo, knew deep down that the Gathering was something truly awful if her premonitions and powers were trying to warn them of it. Paige then tossed caution to the winds.
Paige bit her lip before she stepped forward and said, "For the past week, General Hawk."
Hawk and Batman felt their worry perk up a bit; that was about around the same time the Armageddon caused by Trigon's arrival blighted the world…
"Paige!" Piper and Leo exclaimed angrily with gall and betrayal, but Phoebe then temporarily sided with the youngest sister as she then opened her mouth.
"Piper, if it is the end of the world we're talking about, then I think protecting the Earth is more important that keeping up your vendettas and resentment against them!" Phoebe snapped before she then said in a calm voice, "Yes, Paige is right, General Hawk. I've had premonitions for the past week about the Gathering, but they're troubling in that they're not normal visions in which I usually have. Whatever they are, I can tell you of two things I know: the Gathering is somehow linked to something called 'Experiment 666' and that the only thing I can see in my visions is a voice in a sea of darkness telling me, quote, 'It is coming'. In fact, shortly before you arrived, I had the second vision of the experiment an hour or so ago."
"It is coming?" Batman repeated, frowning.
"Experiment 666?" Hawk repeated as well. Neither of those could be called good signs of the near future, and the term "666" was the mark of the satanic beast in the Book of Revelations in the Bible. Add that to the fact that they were linked to the Gathering of Twilight and the recent Armageddon and fiasco with the Phoenix Force, and it was enough to make the G.I. Joe general worry.
Apparently, the web of deceit from the Hellfire Club was deeper and more intricate than they ever imagined.
Gideon just took this all in, silent and inconspicuous, but Piper was now quite eager to have Batman and General Hawk leave immediately as she persistently pushed, "All right, that's enough and you both have worn out your welcomes here at the manor, so get out! Both of you. You know more than you need to, and we're not helping you with Supergirl. Whatever issues you have with whatever nutcase and psychopath you has a grudge against you, we want no part of it."
"Your sister, Prudence, wouldn't have wanted you to turn your back so heartlessly on something such as this, Piper," Batman said quite harshly. But that proved absolutely the worst thing Batman could say as Piper swelled up like a frog, her face now a dangerous mixture of scarlet and purple, her body quivering.
"Oh, you did not just say that," she hissed lowly, "That's rich, coming from a two-faced bastard like you, to lecture me about how Prue would have felt. You have absolutely no shame and guilt in what you did to us, do you? Or else you would have realized how much of a low blow that was, you cowardly - !"
"Piper, that's enough!" Phoebe said strongly, placing a restraining hand on Piper's upper arm in an attempt to soothe her sister, "I don't blame Batman for what happened!"
"But I do!" yelled Piper, now close to being overwhelmed with anger as she ripped her arm out of Phoebe's grip before whirling on Batman and Hawk as a by-victim of her pain and fury. Paige was now thoroughly lost as she witnessed this; she was the only one who had no idea what Piper and Phoebe were referring to.
"Um…can someone help me out here?" she quipped half-heatedly, "Anyone care to explain what the heck is going on between Piper and Batman?"
Leo then spoke bitterly, "Do you remember the High Lord Ascension, Paige?"
Paige gave her brother-in-law a deadpanned look of disbelief as she snorted through her nose. Of course she remembered the High Lord Ascension from several years ago. A group of immortal mutants that referred themselves as the Externals were committing a demonic and unholy ritual on Earth in the mystical planes that was sort of an initiation to become Ruler and Lord over the Earth, a chance for the demigods to fight and gain the title of the entire planet. Had it succeeded, the ruling External would have plunged the Earth in a century of darkness and death, governing it with an iron fist, and causing many to suffer and perish as the Earth would be shaped in the Chosen External's image. That was why it was named the High Lord Ascension; it was a chance for an evil immortal to become a god. And the Charmed Ones intervened because two of the Externals, Absalom and Selene, kidnapped Wyatt because they needed the blood of a newborn babe of two worlds to be prepared as a sacrifice for the ceremony, and Batman, along with the wizard, Dr. Fate, and the demon, Etrigan, led the Charmed Ones along (for the three were on a coinciding mission to stop the Ascension) and they helped vanquish the evil tyrants, nearly killing all the Externals on that fateful battle. If it wasn't for the Charmed Ones' Wicca connection to the spirit of Gaia, Earth's life force, and their spells to vanquish all sorts of terrible entities, Batman, Etrigan, and Dr. Fate would have never won that war. (See Author's Notes)
Paige nodded. So Leo continued begrudgingly while Piper and Phoebe remained respectfully silent.
"Batman lied to us and actually manipulated us to help him stop the Ascension," Leo said acidly, and Paige frowned at the apparent lie.
"Leo, how can you accuse Batman of such a thing?" she demanded, incensed, "We chose to fight the Externals at the Ascension because Selene and Absalom kidnapped Wyatt and were planning to kill him for the ritual! Batman didn't trick us to come along with him and the others! We chose to come to save Piper's baby!"
Leo then asked, "Do you remember the External named Ra's Al Ghul? The one who was also at the Ascension and who tried fighting hand-to-hand combat with Phoebe and Batman?"
Paige then remembered, the black-and-white haired man, suave and refined, yet as cunning and dangerous and intellectual as any of their foes they had ever faced before. Phoebe nearly lost her life at the hands of Ra's Al Ghul. Batman then spoke as he clarified the reason free from Leo's personal bitterness and bias.
"Ra's Al Ghul was not an External, Piper," Batman stated forlornly, "He was a madman who is centuries old due to his eternal youth and vigor he gained from being immersed into the Lazarus Pits, and as brilliant and noble as he seemed, he was bent on re-shaping the world into his vision of a earthly paradise, a balance between man and nature, if you will. That was the reason he attended the Ascension, so that he could gain the power of to be the God and Ruler over Earth and cleanse it into the perfect haven he so insanely believes in, but what he didn't know that for the Externals not chosen as the Lord, they would be killed and obliterated, and Ra's daughter, Talia, knew of this and tried to warn her father of the dangers. Yet he didn't listen and went anyway and that was why he was there when we tried to stop the ritual and save Wyatt."
"So why are we bringing this up?" Paige asked, frowning and realizing there was something queer about how everyone was acting about this, "And what does this have to do with what's going on now? You killed him at the Ascension - "
"No, I didn't kill him. I spared him and helped him escape during the confusion when the mystical planes collapsed upon itself and destroyed the temple of the High Lord. I told you and the sisters that at first until Talia let me know that Ra's was safe and in her care," Batman interrupted. Paige's mouth dropped open in shock as her eyes went wide.
"You…you helped him? But…but why? And what does Ra's has to do with us?" Paige gasped, so Batman then continued.
"Ra's Al Ghul was obsessed with maintaining a balance of earth, purifying it of the human race who he believed to be a disfigurement upon the planet and its resources, and he was infatuated with the idea of using mass genocide to achieve these plans. The thing is that in the past, he usually used biological means such as world-wide pandemics or the Lazarus Pits to try to achieve his goals, but back then, I had been able to stop him. Then one time, several years ago before you reunited with your sisters, Paige, Ra's tried using magic and powers of the mystic to try to destroy all magical forces that he believed to be leeching off the spirit of the Gaia force like parasites, so he created demons and satanic beings and abominations as assassins to kill all witches and anything remotely magical, for in his insane mind, he believed magic was not natural and had no place in his version of a new haven. And if you recall correctly, Wicca harnesses the spirit of the Earth to be channeled through witches for white magic, so many Wiccans fell victim to Ra's assassins. One of these demons was the wind spirit you vanquished on your first time as a Charmed One and the one who helped you discover that you were half-Whitelighter. It was the Shax demon, Paige."
Paige gasped as the memories came to her.
"So the Shax demon, the wind spirit that killed Prue and brought you guys to discover that I was your half-sister…?" gasped Paige, her face going paler than normal.
"It was the same demon that Ra's Al Ghul summoned as one of his insane plans to cleanse the world of magic. And Batman knew of it before he asked us to help him at the Ascension! And he didn't tell us until it was too late to do anything about it!" Piper said with final, grave accusation as she almost spat this last sentence at the masked vigilante. Batman was still displaying his game visage, and Piper wanted nothing more than to march over there and slap him hard in the face.
Batman said without the slightest indication of remorse, "If I told you beforehand, you would have been less concerned with stopping the Ascension and saving the world and more dedicated to getting revenge on Ra's for the inadvertent murder of your eldest sister, and it additionally would have been risking your son's life in the process. I couldn't afford to have your vengeance get in way of the purpose of saving the world from the Externals, and Dr. Fate and Etrigan agreed with me on this."
"We had every right to know that since Prue was our sister! That son of a bitch killed her and hundreds of other innocent witches, all in the name of cleansing the Earth from magical 'blights'! And you protected him once we stopped the Externals! You had no right to do that! That self-righteous creep killed our sister!" Piper raged.
"And keep in mind, I had to keep that promise to protect him for Talia's sake," returned Batman evenly, "If it wasn't for Talia to give me the location of the Ascension, Dr. Fate and Etrigan would have never been able to find the Externals and Wyatt would be dead."
"We know that," Leo put in coldly, "Phoebe had a premonition about Talia bargaining with you to spare her father if she helped you find out where the Externals were holding the Ascension."
"But why did you even promise to Ra's daughter in the first place?" Paige exclaimed with disbelief.
Phoebe then answered slowly, "Um…well, we learned that before in the past…Batman and Talia were…romantically involved and had feelings for one another."
It was funny how that one sentence summed it all up.
"Wait a minute," Paige butted in rather befuddled, "Okay, am I the only one confused here or something? Ra's Al Ghul is a bad guy, and yet the Batman spared him because he and Ra's daughter had a romantic past? And he's one of your most dangerous nemeses and has tried to kill you and commit worldwide genocide multiple times, and yet you spared him because this Talia requested you to?"
Batman looked at her disapprovingly for summarizing it so loosely and crudely, but he didn't contradict the youngest sister. He said, "It's complicated, Paige."
"With you, things usually are," Leo commented insultingly.
"And you call yourself a hero," accused Piper hotly, "You protected a man who committed murder and tried to doom the entire world! Your parents must be proud if they knew that their son would grow up to be some hypocritical hood!"
"Killing Ra's Al Ghul wouldn't have brought your sister back, Piper," Batman said evenly, though one could tell that he was starting to get angry. Though it was really not of Piper's fault that she said that last shot; she had no idea about Batman's childhood or his secret identity.
"And that was exactly the same thing I said, Piper!" Phoebe broke in as she scolded her sister with her hands on her hips angrily, "Yes, I understand where you're coming from, Piper! Don't forget that I lost Prue too and that I was also angry with Batman when we first found out, but Batman had good reasons to hide that from us at that time frame! I don't agree with them, certainly, but I can see why he would do it! And Prue would have wanted us to save the world and not risk it for her sake of getting retribution for her death! Besides, Batman told us in the end eventually after we stopped Selene, Ra's, and the other Externals!"
"And he manipulated you in the process to fight a battle that wasn't yours, need I remind you," Leo highlighted flatly. Paige had a myriad of emotions and thoughts running through her head, and she didn't know what to feel as she looked at Batman. She was shocked yes, but she couldn't honestly confess that she hated him like Piper did…
"So why come here? What makes you think we can do anything?" Phoebe then asked, trying to change the subject and getting back to the issue at hand.
"Because you three are one of the most powerful forces of magic known to man," General Hawk said, "In fact, we're willing to believe you just as powerful as Dr. Fate and Dr. Strange. And additionally, we began sensing a strange and abnormal build-up of magical energy in San Francisco, much more so than normally found in the city despite your numerous demonic activities. Not only could it be related to the Gathering of Twilight and the events with Trigon and the Phoenix Force, but it could mean that the Hellfire Club has their agents here in the city, and as such, you all may be in terrible danger."
"The Hellfire Club?" Phoebe asked.
"They're sort of like the Externals, except a better simile would be that they are a mutant version of the Illuminati, rich, influential in both mutant and human society, and want nothing more than the conquest of the world for mutant superiority. And Selene is a prominent member in the Inner Circle of the Hellfire Club," Hawk said.
"Selene?" gasped Paige, "The same External who kidnapped Wyatt for the Ascension?"
Batman nodded.
"Which is exactly why we won't help you with Supergirl, Batman," Piper snapped, "You think I'm stupid enough to help you heal her and somehow invoke the wrath of whatever nut-job out there that has a grudge against the Justice League? To give this Hellfire Club even more reason to come after us while you just abandon us to handle our new messes you helped cause! Thanks to assisting you out at the Ascension, we're now the targets of Selene, government officials, and God knows who else out there who knows about the Power of Three! We don't need any more megalomaniacs to view us as their next victims, and if Selene is here in the city, she'll think twice before trying to mess with us again."
General Hawk then stepped in, trying to reason with the livid brunette.
"Piper, if you're worried about the safety of your sisters and your family, the offer I made to you in the past still stands as of now. G.I. Joe would be willing to protect you and your family in any way we can," Hawk reminded Piper.
Piper whirled on Hawk before she replied, "And the problem with that offer is that there would usually be a string attached, and after what happened before with Batman, I'm not willing to risk that…or trust you and the other soldiers from G.I. Joe for that matter."
"You don't speak for all of us, Piper," Paige highlighted flatly.
Hawk then said rather sternly, "You know G.I. Joe better than that, Piper. We don't use others at their expense."
Phoebe then played the devil advocate again as she murmured with some reluctance, "General Hawk…as much as I can sympathize with your plight and that we know you are an inherently noble person, we can't risk that. We have lives now, people who depend on us. We're now mothers and aunts, we have lives outside of being the Charmed Ones, some semblance of normalcy that provides us some peace of…well, being human for a change. And you should know how much we want to try to hide the magical world as much as possible. Charles Xavier of the X-Men did the same thing to his school and mutant-kind for exactly the same causes and fears, and look what happened! If the general public ever discovered that there were such things as sorcerers, witches, Wicca, demons, warlocks, and anything magical, they would treat them with the same loathing and hate that mutants received when they were outed. Don't you understand? There have been too many close calls already with others and with Inspector Sheridan. We can't risk it now, especially since Wyatt and Chris would be caught in the battle."
Hawk frowned as he scolded slightly, "That still isn't justification for leaving Supergirl to suffer in a coma nor at least help us out with whatever information you can gather about the Gathering to come, Ms. Halliwell. As I said before, G.I. Joe can keep secrets when needed."
"Like how you kept the Charmed Ones a secret with General Bragg when he threatened to send all of us to be experimented on at the Initiative when we didn't do what he wanted?" Piper retorted, her voice now frigidly accusing and on edge, "Like how the Wolfram and Hart firm somehow mysteriously gained personal information about Wyatt and Chris after we refused Bragg's 'requests' to help us enchant demons and coerce them into the Initiative's assassins? Let me point out, Hawk, that there is a big difference between G.I. Joe keeping us secret from the general public and keep us secret from those associated indirectly with you on a much more personal level."
Hawk blinked, for once at a loss for words. Piper did have a point; Bragg wasn't the only one in the government and military who wanted to manipulate the Charmed Ones' powers for their own goals and uses. And he wouldn't have surprised if it had been Bragg who told Wolfram and Hart about the Charmed Ones (and chances are, Hawk would have been right). Batman frowned.
"General Bragg?" he asked in his deep husky voice, "The same one who was behind the isle, Moreausseau?"
General Hawk nodded wordlessly. Meanwhile, Paige was now furiously trying to argue with Piper, and it was pretty clear that despite what she was told, the witch already made her decision to support the two.
"Piper, what harm could it possibly do if we just look at Supergirl and try to help her recover?" Paige retorted crossly.
"As much as I would hate to sidetrack you three sisters," Gideon commented rather snidely and distantly (The Charmed Ones and Leo nearly forgot that he was even there), "I can tell you right now that the Elders will not allow this, and that we would have to agree with Piper in that Batman and General Hawk can get themselves out of this mess for themselves. They have absolutely no right to request your help."
"Back off, Gideon! We don't need your defense!" Leo snapped.
"I assure you, Leo, that it was entirely not for your benefit, but for the fact that the Whitelighters need the Charmed Ones here to guard the city and protect the Nexus. As much as I am loathe to admit it, I cannot risk endangering the sisters on hackneyed, superficial missions and delusional attempts of heroism," Gideon shot back.
"The…Nexus?" queried General Hawk, repeating the word with some confusion, but Gideon ignored the general. Paige, not surprisingly, was not satisfied with this act of espousal from the Elder Whitelighter.
"Gideon! That's not fair to them or Supergirl! So you're forbidding us from doing what we were meant to do, to help and protect innocents from dark magic, warlocks, and demons?" protested Paige.
Phoebe then remembered something.
The middle Halliwell sister then offered helpfully, "General Hawk, if you need help with Supergirl, then why not ask the Whitelighters to help heal her? We might not be allowed to do anything, but I'm sure some Elders like Sandra would be happy to help."
"I assure you, Phoebe, that we have no inclination of helping out a piddling group of delusional and overly violent mortals," Gideon muttered, and Batman had an inkling of emotional anger underneath his steely, stony façade of coldness. And Phoebe was just as irritated.
"Gideon, a person's life is in danger," she protested with some outrage, "If you won't let us intervene and help her, then you should at least do the honorable thing and help out Batman and the Justice League."
"Frankly, I'm with Gideon on this one, as much I hate to agree with him on anything," Piper commented coldly.
"Still, Hawk can request their help considering that he still holds the Oath of Abraham over Gideon, and the Whitelighters still owe him a debt since he hasn't used it yet," Phoebe retorted a bit put off, her hands on her hips. Hawk's face froze at this statement. The Charmed Ones didn't know that he already used the Oath of Abraham, and as such, there was no longer any leeway to convince the Elders to help out. Batman, sensing the general's slight discomfort, looked at him from the corner of his eye. Gideon threw the general a slight, surreptitious sneer; as much as he loathed Justin, he did enjoy the fact that the general had inadvertently dug himself into a hole. But there was still no way Gideon would prefer that the Charmed Ones know about the half-breed, yet he knew unfortunately that it would only be a matter of time. Piper then hurriedly rushed the conversation to a hasty and unfulfilling conclusion as she pointed a finger at Batman and Hawk.
"There, you already have our answers, you two," she snarled, "We say no, and the Whitelighters say no, and unless you're willing to use to Oath of Abraham to coerce and force the Whitelighters to help heal Supergirl, there is nothing more that needs to be said here. Now leave!"
General Hawk looked like he was going to argue, but Batman placed a gloved hand on his shoulder and shook his head. He knew better than to push it, and a bit reluctant and disappointed all the same, General Hawk activated the teleporter watch Trinity lent to him, and the two men teleported out of Halliwell Manor via the Mass Device and back to the Watchtower in Earth's orbit.
General Hawk then asked Batman with some confusion, "Why did you give up so easily? We still needed to try and make the Charmed Ones understand the dangers the Hellfire Club poses to them, and we still have no way to help Supergirl. And we may need to find out whatever this Nexus is, especially since I've got a gut feeling that might be the thing the Hellfire Club - "
"I already know exactly about the Nexus, General," Batman said quietly.
General Hawk raised an eyebrow in surprised amusement, immediately shutting up and speechless. So the Charmed Ones and Leo told Batman beforehand the meeting…
"I'm surprised the Charmed Ones and the Whitelighters were willing to tell you," he remarked.
"They didn't, and I know they wouldn't, Hawk, so I found the information on my own thanks to some of our associates beforehand," Batman emphasized brusquely.
General Hawk gave Batman a look that was exasperated, deadpanned, and favorable all at the same time. He said to the Dark Knight with some sardonic subtlety, "And yet you never wondered why Piper was especially resentful and mistrustful towards you."
"Feelings of mistrust and resentment from Piper, I can live with. It's not doing everything I can to make sure the sisters and their family are safe and that the Nexus is protected that I wouldn't be able to live with," Batman said shortly before he left down the hallway. Hawk, despite himself, felt some slight appreciation for Batman's constant vigilance and to-the-point rationale.
After all, Batman was not an emotional man.
Meanwhile, back at the house of the Halliwells, Piper just stared long and hard at the spot where Batman and General Hawk vanished from the attic, her expression blank and her mouth pursued in a thin line. Leo, sensing that Piper wasn't going to say anything, turned in a hostile manner to Gideon, his teeth and voice on edge as he griped, "Say what you need to and leave Gideon before you stay here in our house any longer than necessary."
"Trust me, Leo, that the feeling is certainly more than mutual," Gideon sneered before he continued in a grave voice, "And I'm here to warn you that the Council and the Whitelighters have been sensing huge sources of dark auras and presences in San Francisco, almost multiplying by ten-fold! No doubt that Zankou is still attempting to steal the Nexus again. I'm here to warn you of such and to keep your guards up, especially since if what General Hawk says is true about Selene being more and more prominent in her role in the recent maladies that have afflicted Earth. She will then be after the Nexus should she ever discover the possibilities it could bequeath to her."
"We can handle her and Zankou just fine, Gideon," Paige retorted dryly, but Gideon looked at Paige rather snobbishly, and it was clear that he thought of Paige even less than the other Halliwells because of the fact that she was half-Whitelighter.
"Regardless of your past…endeavors, the Whitelighters are less than hesitant to entrust the safety of the Nexus to you three, especially after your betrayals by siding with the Avatars, so I warn you sisters of this: if you fail to protect the Nexus, then you must destroy it. It's certainly better if the evil forces do not gain possession of it once it is completely banished from all our reaches."
"But if the Nexus is destroyed, the forces of good won't be able to have access to it as well!" protested Phoebe. Gideon looked at her without much remorse, and it was clear that this decision had been thoroughly discussed, debated and wrestled with among the other Immortal elders.
"It is a risk we all must take. Fight as best as you can, and if you fail, destroy the Nexus with the spell, 'To Banish The Suxen', the one found in your Book of Shadows," the goateed man said.
"Suxen?" Phoebe repeated, unfamiliar with the tern, but Leo then gracefully explained it for everyone to understand.
"The tern 'suxen' is 'nexus' spelled backwards…"
Gideon then emphasized rather harshly, "However, if you all fail and the Nexus is gained by the forces of Zankou or Selene or anything else possibly worse, then the Charmed Ones will suffer the consequences greatly for it will be on all of your heads. Of course, after your past sordid and disappointing histories, I really cannot say I would expect much else."
And with that, Elder Gideon orbed away under the four indignant glares. Paige then rounded on Piper immediately when the Elder Whitelighter left.
"Why didn't you tell me about the Shax and how it was sent by Ra's Al Ghul! Why did you keep it from me? I had to learn it from Batman of all people!" she shouted.
"Because it wasn't your concern, Paige!" snapped Piper as she whirled her head back up and went toe-to-toe with her younger sister, "And the last thing we need is you to get more involved with the Batman, especially since I don't approve of it!"
"And I want to help them! It's the right thing to do! And you know it!" Paige shouted.
"And what I say goes! I'm the eldest sister, so I have the most weight in my decision!" Piper heatedly argued.
"Oh, don't even try pulling that crap on us!" Paige snapped, "It's called Power of Three for a reason, Piper, not the Power of One! Phoebe, don't just stand there! Who's side are you on?"
Phoebe then broke in as she stepped in between the two, saying strongly, "Will you two stop? There's no sides to be taken here, and fighting isn't going to make things any better or safer for all of us! Piper…I understand where you're coming from, and I've felt those exact same feelings before. But we can't just turn our backs on Batman and General Hawk because it would lead us into more dangers if we did help them. And regardless, I agree with Paige in that the Batman and G.I. Joe are good people, and that I would trust them."
Piper then became quite ugly and beastly as she then, out of her frustration of her two younger siblings teaming up against her, said with the intention to hurt, "Oh, I'd be the last one to talk about being a good judge of character, Phoebe, especially since you fell in love with Cole and betrayed us to be his Queen! The fact that you so easily abandoned us for a demon comes to of no surprise that you'd give a rat's ass about Wyatt and Chris' safeties!"
Phoebe was absolutely stunned as she looked at Piper as if she slapped her in the face (except the slap would have been less grievous). Without a word, Phoebe stalked off, half-running, out of the attic and down the stairs, out of sight, but Paige, Piper, and Leo could hear the middle Halliwell slam her bedroom door shut as a final response. Paige gave Piper a look of blame.
"Nice one, Piper," she retorted disdainfully, sarcastic, "And I don't give a rat's ass about what you think! I'm still going to try to find a way to help Supergirl!"
"Don't start, Paige," Leo growled.
"If you go behind my back and help them, then you do it alone. And I won't come to help bail you out of trouble like you always do whenever you rush into something without thinking," Piper fumed at Paige, seething.
Paige's eyes went snowy as her red lips went into a thin line, her nostrils white. She was absolutely livid now.
"Fine," she said distantly.
And with a small, gentle noise, the youngest sister orbed away in a cloud of white and blue faint auras of angelic light. Leo then looked at his wife as she placed a trembling hand over her mouth, her strength spent as she tried to collect herself, her face flushed and her eyes pricking.
I will not cry, I will not cry, I have to be strong…
She kept thinking those thoughts over and over her head like a mantra as she felt Leo gently envelop his arms around her and squeezed gently, feeling his chin nuzzling on her scalp.
"Piper, it's okay, it's okay…" he shushed in a gentle, warm voice, trying to prevent his wife from breaking into millions of pieces.
"Why can't they see it?" Piper whispered, "Why can't they see I just don't want them to be killed, that I don't want them to risk their lives over other people's fights? That I don't want to give up whatever we have left of a normal life to go fight other people's enemies? That I want all of us to be around to raise Wyatt and Chris?"
As Piper continued being held by Leo, neither of them noticed that the building tension and resentment between the family members was starting to disentangle and unweave the centuries of magical wards on the Book of Shadows, the triquetra symbol on the leather cover tingling to disband altogether. Though it was a miniscule rift between the sisters…it was growing.
---
"Flight 882 now boarding passengers…" a cherry woman's voice rang over the intercom at the San Francisco Airport, but Jubilee took no notice of the flight attendant as she made her way off the terminal for her domestic flight and towards the center of the base, ready to check through security. Al she carried was a little knapsack over her shoulder, and thankfully, because of the crowd, no one noticed the girl nor recognized her as a student from the infamous Xavier's school of the Gifted. With her shades hiding her sleep-deprived eyes and her baseball cap covering her hair, Jubilee had absolutely no trouble as she made her way through the throngs and throngs of people minding their own business.
Which made it all the better for Jubilee to think and contemplate her revenge on Phoebe Halliwell. Oh, it was so surprisingly easy. After managing to grab a change of clothes from her school locker, she immediately ran away and out of sight of the police who immediately came investigating the scene of her burnt house and the dead corpses of her parents. She at first contemplated calling Professor Xavier, but then in the end decided against that. Not only would they dissuade her from trying to get revenge on the bitch who sent the vampire who killed her mother and father (even if they believed it), but also, Wolverine and the other X-Men would try to help her fight the Halliwells.
And that was something Jubilee did not want. When she made Phoebe pay for what she did to her family, she would do it alone and without risking the X-Men to fight her own battle. And for her own satisfaction of evening the score and to avenge her dead parents.
Yet as Jubilee passed the International terminal, she didn't see a group of odd figures coming out of the gate belonging to the flight from London…
Andrew was literally giddy with excitement as he kept jabbering endlessly in a high-pitched voice of eagerness and childlike anticipation as he danced and twittered around like a hyperactive swallow, all the meanwhile saying, "Oooh, I can't wait to go downtown and look for a good comic book shop! I think they have the next installment of the Naruto collections! Oh, and I have to see when the next collectable figurines of Mr. Spock come in! And I could see if some of the malls have the 'Grenade of the Gods' magic card I need for my Dungeons and Dragons set! And maybe after I take some pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge, we can go for a mocha frappuccino at Coffee Bean! I haven't mad one in months! Hey, do you think maybe the 'Super Smash Bros. Melee' tournament is being held here in San Fran? I could try playing as Zelda, but if the competition's tough, maybe I can use Mr. Game and Watch instead since he's got better physical attacks, even though he's really a short-range characters and pretty slow and - !"
"My God, can't he ever shut up?" hissed Caridad to herself and to the Slayers next to her as they witnessed Andrew as the boy continued to rather shamelessly act like a complete, blabbering buffoon. She, like the other girls, was starting to develop of huge migraine from the fact that the flight from London to San Francisco took about eleven hours, and throughout every tedious minute, the Watcher-in-training did not stop even for a moment. He droned on and on about the most mundane things: pets, water currents, stories of King Arthur, whether Star Trek was better than Star Wars, Japanese origami, which comic book superhero could beat up Freddy Krueger…
"Andrew…" Wood sighed, biting his tongue with extreme patience, "Please control yourself. We're not on a vacation, we're on an investigation mission."
"Remind me again why we couldn't have just 'conveniently' left him behind?" Vi asked Caridad.
Caridad replied in a tired voice, hoping that the next gift shop they came to in the airport sold aspirin, valium, a gun or duct tape (any one of those four items would have been useful), "Because Willow and Kennedy stick up for Andrew and say that if he's ever to be a future Watcher, he needs to take his training with Giles and Wood to the next level and start doing some of the practical duties. And Willow threatened that if we tried to make Andrew miserable during this trip, she and Giles will 'volunteer' us to be Andrew's playmates the next time he does a six-hour Dungeons and Dragons game."
"Suddenly, enduring his talking doesn't seem so bad after all," Vi muttered, doing an about-face in her opinion as she shivered slightly at the thought of Dungeons and Dragons with Andrew, her multicolored beret hanging haphazardly on her hair.
"Feel bad for Chao-Ahn," Rona sighed, stretching out her arms above her head while yawning, "To tell you the truth, I still fell kinda bad about 'volunteering' her to take the seat next to Andrew during the flight."
"It was either her or us, Rona," Shannon pointed out. Rona's smile grew even more impish.
"I know. That's why I said I only felt kinda bad," the African-American girl emphasized.
"I'm sure Chao-Ahn didn't mind," Wood brushed off casually as he pointed out to the Chinese Slayer, "See? She's smiling. Seems to me the girl actually enjoyed sitting next to Andrew."
The others turned to see that Wood was speaking the truth. Chao-Ahn was grinning, showing all of her teeth, but what they didn't discern was that in Cantonese, she was muttering to herself, "Oh, I am certainly going to make you all pay for sticking me on the seat next to the idiotic and loud-mouthed boy who makes my ears grate."
Rather humorously, the other Slayers, Willow, and Wood seemed quite oblivious at Chao-Ahn's plans for petty vengeance.
"I still think you should have let me eviscerate the little blond twit into pieces and stuff him in one of the suitcases as luggage," muttered Dana darkly as she gave Andrew a glare out of the corner of her eyes, her scarred face marred even more with the malicious frown. Dana then narrowed her eyes and snarled like a wild animal at two young boys who were nearby and gaping rudely at the vertical scars running down her face.
"Take a picture, it lasts longer, you little snot-nosed nincompoops! Now get lost before I gut the both of you and stuff your entrails into your eye sockets!"
The two children squealed with fright when Dana actually advanced several steps towards them menacingly, her teeth bared, and ran off towards their mother, who gave Dana a very disapproving and offended look. Dana then sneered as she flicked off the mother, and the woman's face turned beet-red, half-looking as if she wanted to give Dana a piece of her mind, but the look of deadly caginess in the Slayer's eyes and expression was enough to make the woman change her mind as she whirled around and dragged her sons away. Wood, understanding, placed a calm, warm hand on the girl's tense shoulder.
"Don't try to let others get to you for being quizzical of your scars, Dana," he murmured like a true guardian, "You'll be exposed to this every day you go out in the real world, but you need to keep in mind that most of them mean you no harm. They're just relatively nosy, like all human beings. As long as they don't attack you, try to keep your cool and not bring attention to yourself."
"I hate it, the way they make me feel like I'm a freak. I just…I just want to kill each and every person here," Dana hissed murderously, but she relaxed a bit under the comforting touch. Her healing process was slow, but promising.
"And this is better than her old self how exactly?" Rona asked Kennedy, deadpanned. She, like Vi, had reservations about having Dana along, and frankly, Dana's entire hostility and caustic demeanor did little to quell those doubts. Granted, to the other Slayers and Wood, Giles, Xander, and Willow, Dana was cordial and sometimes even social, but to Andrew, she was especially disdainful. In fact, Vi and Rona couldn't recall Dana ever calling Andrew by his first name, and every time Andrew tried to be friendly with Dana, she would respond back with a punch or a sharp insult, calling the blond teenager many varieties of "jackass", "idiot", and the much less cordial monikers that aren't really well suited in print.
Still, Giles and Wood were pleased to see that Andrew, despite the physical and verbal abuse, always remained friendly and patient with Dana (possibly due to the fact that he knew how much people needed second chances).
Then Shannon noticed that Chao-Ahn was a bit agitated as she kept pressing her legs together and hopping a bit anxiously as she looked around wildly in the terminals. Shannon then guessed why the Chinese girl was so restless.
"Um…do you need a bathroom?" Shannon asked in broken and heavily accented Cantonese. Ever since Chao-Ahn was declared to be one of the Slayers chosen for the mission to San Francisco, Shannon and Caridad took it upon themselves to somehow act as translators to the girl from Shanghai, and both Caridad and Shannon studied from Chinese-English dictionaries and listened to "Cantonese - 101" on tape with their Walkmans. This wasn't particularly easy since Shannon was a Caucasian girl from the United States and Caridad was from the Philippines, so Chinese was not something both were somewhat familiar with. Still, by the end of the flight, Shannon and Caridad, with Chao-Ahn instruction, were able to learn a few broken phrases, especially "Get ready for fighting!" and "Behind you!" and "Help me kill it!".
Chao-Ahn nodded gratefully at Shannon's question.
"Why didn't she go during the plane ride?" Willow asked as she too noticed this slight emergency.
"Because she stumbled into the bathroom where Wood and Faith we're doing the…'horizontal mambo' and immediately swore off using the other defiled restrooms on the plane until we landed in San Francisco. Apparently, Wood forgot to lock the bathroom door," Kennedy replied wryly.
"I thought I heard her screaming while I was sleeping…" mused Willow.
Shannon and Caridad made disgusted faces as they looked at Wood and Faith in horror at Kennedy's statement, incredibly repulsed. Faith just had a big, dreamy beam on her face as if she had won the lottery, unashamed, and the brawny Wood just coughed, embarrassed, as he glanced at the floor, unable to look at the Slayers in their eyes.
"Ew!" Shannon exclaimed.
"Thank you, I really needed that as a mental image right now, Kennedy," grumbled Caridad sarcastically as she winced and rubbed her temples with both hands.
"Oh God, knowing my luck, I probably used the one they did it in!" Rona groaned to herself before she pleaded to Wood and Faith, "Please tell me you didn't use the middle one in the back of the plane, or else I'm going to so seriously need a shower once we get to the hotel!"
Faith grinned in mischievous amusement as she said truthfully, "Nah, Rona, we had sex in the one in the front of the plane on the left."
Vi made a face of pure horror before she grimaced.
"Oh God, now I need the shower!" the redhead whined, nearly squealing, "I used that one!"
Meanwhile, a bit off the distance in the opposite terminal, a lone, heavily and impressively built man with dark skin looked at the arrival of Jubilee emerging through the exit of the San Francisco airport over his shades while covering his observation by pretending to read the San Francisco Chronicle paper. He nodded to himself as he surveyed the scene of the Asian mutant weaving through the crowd. Yes, Zankou would be pleased.
Then the warlock Kahn looked past his target to see a rather unwelcome sight. His heart nearly froze with horror and surprise when he recognized the humans who were quite infamous and very feared throughout the lands of Hell, the name so sinisterly frightful that it was only uttered in coarse whispers from one evil entity to the next.
Slayers…
Kahn cursed to himself. Zankou was not going to like this. Upon making sure no one was looking his way, the warlock then shimmered into thin air, the demon teleporting back to the inner sanctum of his master's headquarters in the demon realm. Willow gasped as she felt Kahn shimmer away.
"Willow? Girl, what's wrong?" Faith asked immediately, alarmed as she thought of the stake that she clandestinely hid in her backpack (and airport security never detected it due to Willow's magic).
"Someone was watching us. I could sense it, and not a human. It was a being of dark magic and evil forces," the Wiccan said in a calm manner, yet her voice was slightly rough. Immediately, the other Slayers tensed their muscles as they whirled around and surveyed the airport surroundings with sharp eyes, taking in any possible spaces where a demon or vampire could attack. Unfortunately, all they could see were people. Andrew, not surprisingly, gave a small squeal of fright before he hid behind the built figure of Wood, and the African-American Watcher didn't bother rolling his eyes as he also ushered Dana behind him for her safety. Chao-Ahn, humorously, was still ignorant of the situation.
"You guys, I really have to go!" Chao-Ahn whined in Cantonese, but then Caridad warned urgently in the same language.
"Chao-Ahn, we sense evil!"
The Chinese teenager immediately then forgot her own plight as she stopped and looked around warily in the airport, her eyes scanning as carefully as the other Slayers.
"Are you sure you sensed something Willow?" Shannon asked, "Because I don't feel anything, and you know Slayers can sense evil as well if it's close enough in the vicinity…"
"Whatever it is, it's gone now," Willow frowned, "But it's no coincidence then that I could feel it the minute we entered in the city."
"Cool, then it's a good thing that the baddies were watching us," Faith said evenly though still coiled for anything unpleasant, "If they're runnin' with their tails in between their legs and runnin' scared, then that means that they're afraid whatever big bad's happenin' here in San Fran, we might be just the thing to stop it. And girls, I dunno about you, but I'm always ready for some ass-whoopin'!"
"I get the feeling we may get that chance sooner than we'd like, Faith," Kennedy murmured.
---
"Ah, back so soon, Zankou?" Lord Imperial asked as he and the rest of the Inner Circle looked on as the warlock shimmered into view, using his demonic magic to enter the Hellfire Club's holy sanctum. There, gathered around their lush and priceless and expensive surroundings were Lord Imperial, Sebastian Shaw, Emma Frost, Selene, Slade the assassin, Lex Luthor, Leland, Pierce, General Eddington, and the demon Blackheart. All of the prestigious members of the organization listened as Zankou made his report.
"The mutant named Jubilee has found her way to San Francisco with thoughts of revenge against the Charmed Ones. My most faithful warrior, Kahn, has sensed her thoughts when he had spotted her at San Francisco Airport."
"Excellent, then everything is going according to plan," Shaw purred, but then Zankou's eyes narrowed in gall.
"No, for I also bring additional bad news of even more meddling fools who could cause troubles for our plans against the Charmed Ones," Zankou said in a simmering tone, as if he wanted nothing better than say I-told-you-so directly to Blackheart and Selene's faces, "Kahn has spotted several familiar figures who are also greatly feared within demon-kind. Vampire slayers are also in San Francisco!"
"WHAT?" roared Shaw automatically in surprised fury as the brandy tumbler in his hands cracked upon the pressure of his clenched hand, shattering into crystal fragments, dripping with expensive alcohol.
There was a dead silence as the members of the Inner Circle just stared with disbelief and dread at the king of warlocks, not sure if they heard right. Luthor was incredibly confused, and rightfully so because he was absolutely ignorant about the mythos of the Slayer. Blackheart then broke the stillness as he contemplated and mulled over what he had just heard.
"That is a strange occurrence," Blackheart rumbled, "I thought only one girl was chosen to be the vampire slayer of her generation…"
Luthor's eyes crinkled a bit as he repeated incredulously, "Girl? A vampire slayer? You're telling me a Slayer…is a girl?"
Everyone ignored the Black Rook as Shaw explained with some bitterness, "It used to be until the last battle with the First over at the Hellmouth in the city called Sunnydale. Then as a final yet risky resort, the original Slayer decided to use the essence of the Scythe of the Guardians to empower and bless every girl who has the potential to be a future vampire slayer and made them all active Slayers. We thought we would succeed in eliminating all of them when Selene sent Caleb and the Bringers to try to kill all the future Slayers before killing the last two official Slayers, the ones named Buffy Summers and Faith Lehane. Unfortunately, our sources failed when Faith and Buffy managed to gather all the girls who had the fate-chosen potential and shared their powers with them. And thanks to those two happy-go-lucky tramps, now instead of one Slayer being chosen, there are many Slayers being chosen to hold the mantle of the Guardians, and no matter how many we kill, there will always be many more to take their place! The Hellfire Club has calculated that there may be currently thousands of Slayers all over the world! Thousands!"
"So they're mutants?" Luthor tried to clarify, and this time, Selene broke in, irritated at the ignorance.
"Slayers are not mutants, Luthor," the Black Queen stated, "They are, in all technical terms, human girls who are given powers of supernatural origin and are chosen by fate to take the responsibility to hunt, kill, and slay all supernatural evil, most specifically vampires, but they have been shown incredibly dangerous against ghosts, werewolves, and witches. It was primarily the opportunity of Buffy's resurrection that prompted me on the First's orders to send Caleb to round up the Bringers to eliminate the Slayer lineage."
"So you're the one who taught Caleb about the Slayer mythos and dark magic. I had been wondering about where that misogynistic, preacher-boy reject came from," Eddington remarked.
Selene had a dark look on her face as she crossed her arms over her chest, saying with some ache, "Let's just say the First and I are quite…'familiar' with each other. You could imagine the horror and the dread I felt and imagined when Buffy gained the Scythe of the Guardians and used it to activate the Slayers from all over the world."
"And exactly how powerful is the Scythe of the Guardians? The one that is currently in possession of Buffy Summers?" Blackheart asked.
"Powerful enough to kill even me," hissed Selene worriedly.
"Let me get this straight: the Hellfire Club and its associates…are scared of human girls?" Luthor demanded in a hard voice dripping with disbelief and disdain.
"Laugh all you want, Luthor," Leland said in a cold voice, brimming with annoyance, "But I assure you that the Hellfire Club has run into the Watchers Council and the Slayers before not too long ago, and we also made the mistake of underestimating them."
"Why haven't you kept watch over their activity then? And for that matter, why didn't you try simple cloning of samples of Buffy and Faith's DNA to breed our own Slayers? Hamilton would have been willing to try," Luthor asked presumptuously, and Pierce and Leland had to seethe at the mocking tone of voice.
Leland then growled, "Don't think we haven't thought of that, Luthor. Our scientists and our associates at the former Initiative tried cloning several skin and blood samples we have been able to extract from the two main Slayers at the time, but unfortunately, we found out much to our disappointment that science and magic can only go so far. Even though many clones spawned from the DNA we collected, not a single one of them could harness the powers of the Slayer! Even now with so many being activated, none of the doppelgangers were gifted by the hand of Fate to take up the mantle additionally, despite the darkest magic Selene used on them!"
"And the Organization cannot achieve this as well even if we wished to," Blackheart grumbled, "Keep in mind Luthor that the Slayer legacy is chosen only by Fate itself, and as such, it is a common medium in all life that no one can manipulate, not even the Thirteenth Order."
"And because of so many failed experiments, we were forced to abandon our plans with trying to manipulate the Slayers," Lord Imperial finished, "Not only did our tests prove unfruitful, but we lost track of them once the Hellmouth to Sunnydale had been destroyed, and thanks to the persistence of that meddling fool, Rupert Giles, the Slayers were hidden from our best efforts, hiding away through magical spells and clandestine covers that not even Selene and Emma Frost could penetrate with magic and telepathy. So we left them alone thinking that once the Gathering came, we would no longer be troubled by them…until now, that is."
Pierce was still extremely annoyed and troubled at the news, however.
"Well this is certainly wonderful!" griped the White Bishop with bitter sarcasm, "Now not only do we have to be wary of the Joes, the Misfits, the X-Men, the Justice League, the Titans, and the Charmed Ones, we now have to be wary of the Slayers once they stumble into our little chess game with the heroes!"
"It would have been inevitable, Pierce," Slade at last muttered, his brain coming to the distinct conclusion that nothing could be done since the Slayers were not kept under careful surveillance by the Hellfire Club so their arrival was truly a wild card, "With so much activity after the arrival of Trigon and with our plans against the Charmed Ones and the Turok-Han, it would be only rational that the Slayers themselves would start snooping around. Frankly, I'm surprised that they haven't caught on to us sooner."
Still, Slade grinned to himself as he flexed his hand, feeling the muscles in his arms strain.
"However, I must confess I am quite curious to see exactly how well a vampire slayer can fight in battle…"
"I'd put a hold on your desire to expose yourself and fight for now, Slade," Lord Imperial stated, frowning at the masked assassin, "You'll have your chance soon once we succeed in bringing the Gathering to Earth. And keep in mind that General Silver and General Eddington have our little secret weapon thanks to the Cadmus' research…"
"Ah, yes, I have forgotten about that experiment," Emma said with a little comfort.
"Could it be enough to kill the Slayers?" Zankou queried.
"We shall have to wait and see," Selene replied with disappointment, "Yet I can say comfortably that she will be able to give them much trouble at the siege."
"I'll inform Generals Silver and Black about this turn of events," Eddington replied with a small, crafty smile of interest, "But Shaw, I can assure you that the Slayers and what's left of their Watchers have many enemies who would be willing for a chance to cut down those overly-violent cunts. General Silver himself expects a lot of soldiers leftover from the Initiative would have no qualms with killing Slayer girls due to their resentment and bitterness at what happened with the Adam project."
"Resentment and bitterness? To what exactly?" Emma asked, a bit curious.
"Do you know how many jealous officials in the governments all over the world would kill just to get their hands on the powers and abilities of the Slayers themselves? Girls the natural ability to fight anything supernatural and having the instinctive ability to sense any strange aura? Quick healing capabilities? Increased strength, speed, agility, and defensive stats? An entire army of Slayers would be enough to makes any high-ranking military official or any terrorist organizations like Cobra drool. And add to the fact that many of the Initiative's fellow troops are greatly offended and cynical at the fact that only girls can be Slayers who are more powerful and skilled than any of them, despite their years of training…"
Emma nodded, catching on. Eddington then continued.
"We'll be able to find a few zealous supporters on our cause for the Gathering, and don't forget, Wolfram and Hart would be most interested to hear of this development, so we will not be completely caught off-guard should the Slayers enter the Gathering of Twilight. Still, this isn't as bad as we may expect. I can assure you that the Slayers have never once dealt with the Heartless before, so having them here in San Francisco may be a good opportunity to test them out against the might of the Organization."
"For your sake and for ours, you'd better be right, Eddington," spat out Zankou.
"We shall find out soon enough…" Blackheart said calmly, as if curious to how this move on the chessboard would play out.
Author's Notes: Yes, the High Lord Ascension is not my idea! It was an actual event that happened in the X-Men comics, but I'm twisting it because I wanted to create a link to Selene and the Hellfire club to the Charmed Ones, not to mention give Batman more importance in this Misfit-universe for Batman is exactly the type of member in the Justice League to be associated with magical entities and demons! And I hope you all enjoyed this chapter because next Friday, in "Bishop Takes Pawn", thing's take a turn for the worse when Faith gets her wish when the Slayers meet with the Charmed Ones, but unfortunately, Sheridan and the X-Men, Misfits, and Joes will complicate matters soon enough! Check back next Friday but until then, read, enjoy and review! Constructive criticism welcome!