CHAPTER 6: Not Exactly An Ideal First Meeting, Is It?
"Talk about tense," murmured Low Light to Cover Girl and Spirit as they all stood side by side against the wall while watching the scene unfold on the couches and chairs in the living room of the Halliwell Manor. Still, despite the personal, homey touches in the room like Piper's dried-flowers assortments and Paige's scented candles giving off aromas of cinnamon and vanilla, it didn't do anything to decrease the suspicion, discomfort, and hostility between most of the inhabitants as they either glared hatefully with accusing and silent dislike or nervously looked at the relative strangers with meek glances. Even Leo was sitting tentatively on the arm of the couch next to his wife, sulking. He wasn't pleased when he learned who was coming to their house for an unwelcome visit. Thankfully, no one said anything offensive or accusatory as they waited for General Hawk and Batman to arrive (and Hawk ordered the Joes none too gently to do their best to prevent them from killing each other while he alerted Batman by his communicator to the Watchtower).
"Yeah, I know. And I thought things between the Misfits and the X-Men could be ugly at times," whispered Cover Girl, her eyes troubled, "Now we have two unknown groups, one is a family called the Halliwells who are Wiccans, and the other is the strangest assortment of people I've ever seen that somehow, by pure luck, Roadblock knows. And these girls are armed to the teeth with knives, stakes, and crossbows, almost like they were planning to fight in some medieval war or as a reenactment from 'Lord of the Rings'. I don't know if I'm the only one, but I have a feeling that these girls and Marvin's friend aren't here by accident. That Heartless attacked them for a reason. I'm sure of it."
"I know, Courtney, but for now, let's just concentrate on making sure that the kids don't kill the Halliwells or each other before the General gets here," Low Light said.
"Not everyone is acting distant and defensive, Cover Girl," Spirit added, a smile playing on his tanned face, "Take a look: some of the Misfits and X-Men are actually already talking with some of the teens in that group that came with Marvin's friend, the one I believe is named Wood."
And indeed, what the Native-American Joe soldier said was true. Fred and the Slayer, Chao-Ahn, were having a rather animated discussion in Cantonese, and though exactly what they were discussing about was anyone's guess, Chao-Ahn and Blob were laughing and chatting animatedly like they were old friends. Chao-Ahn now didn't seem the least bit wary of being in the presence of mutants, and likewise, Blob didn't find it strange to be in the company of a vampire slayer. In fact, their talk was probably the loudest in the room, the way they were talking quickly in foreign tongues, making hand-gestures, and guffawing at private jokes made the Misfit and the Slayer a bit out of place in the tense environment. Unbeknownst to Fred and Chao-Ahn, Lina was glaring at the Chinese girl, trying to willfully melt her with her heated staring. It was clear to several of the others sitting next to the insect-adolescent that she was jealous. Bobby, who was sitting next to her, decided to wickedly add some gasoline to the fires as he leaned over and made a seemingly casual observation.
"Wow, he looks happy," Bobby remarked, "Nice to know Fred's so nice to other people when we need it."
"A bit too nice if you ask me, Bobby," Lina hissed as her scowl deepened, her teeth clenching against each other.
Meanwhile, Caridad, Rona, Vi, Dana, and Shannon were being forced to endure another one of Andrew's tireless and enthusiastic rants, but to make matters worse for them (and more enjoyable for Andrew) was the fact that he now was amiably and excitedly discussing the most mundane subjects with Kurt, Todd, and Xi. Andrew and the three mutant teenagers immediately caught on once they arrived at the manor. Nightcrawler, Toad, and Xi were surprised to see that Andrew was a fan of the X-Men and Misfits, and Andrew was more so pleased when he found out that they were quite knowledgeable in similar interests, anywhere from science-fiction movies to video games to the weirdest debates.
In other words, none of the four would shut up.
"I'm telling you, yo, that there is no way Darth Vader would ever win in a battle against Godzilla!" Toad cried out eagerly, "I mean, hello? The Force doesn't work on huge radioactive lizards who can incinerate Darth Vader in a flash and who doesn't have a human mind for Vader to even manipulate!"
"But he doesn't need it, Toad!" Nightcrawler heatedly argued, "All Darth Vader would have to do is summon his Death Star and Star-Trooper armies to wipe out Godzilla easily! And besides, Darth Vader is half-machine, so I'd doubt that he'd get hurt very badly from Godzilla's radioactive fire! He could simply dodge it!"
"Actually, I've been wondering about that," Xi remarked, "If Darth Vader is half-machine, then does he ever go to the bathroom? Does he ever eat or drink anything in that mode?"
Andrew then chipped in, "Funny you should mention that. I have talked with everyone from the Star Wars forum on the Internet about that, and in nowhere in the plans and blueprints of the Death Star do they have restrooms, even though they have a waste disposal containment center like the time when Leia, Luke, Hans Solo and Chewbacca got caught with that mutated worm! Isn't that weird? It's like one of those oversights on why there's no bathroom in the board game, 'Clue' or why we never see Mr. Boddy's face!"
"Ich glaube, mich laust der Affe!" Kurt marveled in German, his jaw dropping.
"You too?" Toad and Xi gasped with glee, "No way! We've talked about that one for weeks!"
"And did you ever wonder what would happen if Star Wars and Star Trek ever met in some weird universe where their realities crossover and stuff? Mein Gott! I'd pay to see Yoda meet up with Dr. Spock!" Kurt exclaimed.
"Are you kidding?" Andrew argued good-naturedly, "Darth Vader versus the Borg would be the biggest, most anticipated thing to see if the Star Trek and Star Wars universes ever meet! It would be the ultimate fan-wank in the history of fandom!"
"Actually, I think Darth Maul versus the Borg would have been a better match," Xi admitted.
The Slayers, understandably, were not having a good time, considering that it was quite difficult to ignore and block out their incessant and exuberant chatter that could make the voices of Alvin and the Chipmunks seem lethargic.
"Suddenly, I miss the days when it was only Andrew who talked about this," Caridad growled, feeling another headache coming on and wondering if she could get any aspirin from the Halliwells.
"Oh God, it's true," whined Vi, "Idiots and annoying people do multiply!"
"Trust me, we like learned that one a long time ago!" Kitty grumbled, overhearing the red-haired Slayer.
Shannon sighed wearily as she grabbed Dana's wrist before she could use her knife to eviscerate the four of them in a very gruesome way that would obviously leave some very messy body parts.
"No, Dana," Shannon warned, her voice steel.
The traumatized and scarred Slayer hissed jadedly, nearly begging and hysterical, "Oh come on, please? We won't miss them! And I'm naturally psychotic, so at least I have an excuse! No one would blame me! Oh come on! Then at least let me kill our geek! I'm sure Giles and Willow would get over the blond nimrod's death after a few weeks! Please? I can't take another minute of their incessant nerd-speak! I just want to make them shut up! Is that so wrong? At least let me cut out their tongues at least! They won't be able to talk then!"
"Hmmmmm…" Caridad mused, "It is tempting…"
"Caridad, this is no time for jokes!" Shannon snapped.
"I wasn't joking," Caridad groused flatly.
"Well this is turning out well," Rona muttered sarcastically, wincing as she rubbed her temples, "We go to San Francisco to investigate a new evil and instead, we run into a bunch of mutants and soldiers from G.I. Joe, nearly get killed by some creature of darkness called a 'Heartless', and to top it all off, we're forced to sit here and listen to four boys talk who sound like Andrew O.D'd on caffeine and sugar in triplicate! It's like Andrew on his worst day times four! Oh God, could this get any more unbearable?"
"We're men!" Kurt, Todd, Xi, and Andrew sang on cue, horribly off-key as they obliviously sang and had their fun as a singing quartet of a famous Mel Brooks parody, "We're men in tights! We rob from the rich and give to the poor, that's right! We may look like sissies, but watch what you say or else we'll put out your lights! We're men, we're men in tights!"
Apparently, the answer to Rona's question was "yes".
The Slayers could hear Wanda protesting heatedly to Lance and Fred, "See? This is what happens when we rent musical videos from Blockbuster! And I do NOT want another month like the time we rented 'Newsies' and 'Moulin Rouge'! Next time, no more musicals!"
Rona made a very big grimace before she sank her head to her knees and put her hands over her head, groaning.
"I hate my life…" she murmured as she was forced to endure Andrew squeaky and horrible singing.
"You really have to learn to stop asking dumb questions like that, Rona," groaned Vi as she wondered if Andrew had any dignity left in his body considering he never minded making himself look like a fool, "And right now, I wish someone would shoot me and get it over with so that I won't have to listen to this drabble."
"Better yet, we can shoot them," Caridad murmured, a wicked and disturbingly enthusiastic gleam in her eye, as she reached for Shannon's crossbow, "We have plenty of shafts to spare…"
"Oh, not you too, Caridad!" Shannon scolded as she snatched her crossbow out of her friend's reach.
"If it makes you feel any better, we feel for you," Roberto said as he overheard the Slayers' griping, "Trust me on this. You girls never had to endure karaoke nights at the X-Mansion where we live, that is when there aren't any explosions, fights, and fires. And you should have seen how fast we torched and broke the karaoke machine when Jamie tried singing his rendition of 'I Believe I Can Fly'."
At the same time, Wood and Roadblock were engaged in a somnolent yet long-awaited and refreshing talk, catching up. Faith listened on the sidelines, not saying anything but smiling inwardly to herself. It seemed that Robin immediately became five years younger upon seeing his old childhood friend, Marvin Hinton, the Joe solider who came with the Misfits. Apparently, Wood never took the time or the energy to piece together the facts and clues that the machine-gunner from G.I. Joe Roadblock was really his old friend and neighbor when Wood and his mother used to live in Mississippi before they moved to New York.
"I know I'm not going to ask what you're doing here," Roadblock rhymed with a chuckle, "But when this is all over, I'd love to catch up with you over a beer. It's been a long time, Wood, so any chance to see you again is just as good."
"I would have never guessed that you'd be a soldier for the army, Marvin," Wood smiled, his voice soft with the flashbacks of the times they rode their bikes over at the gulley, the times they traded baseball cards and ate candy until they were sick from the convenience stores, the times they camped out in the woods during the hot summer nights, catching fireflies and looking at the stars, and the time they went out on a wild ghost-hunt to explore the infamously haunted Goat Castle (much to their parents' chagrin).
"How's your mother doing? Lord knows how hard she'd take me by the ear whenever I didn't watch my words when we were kids," laughed Roadblock, and Faith felt her heart skip a beat. Marvin didn't know that Wood's mother was a Slayer who was killed in New York when Wood was young. Wood's face froze but still maintained the friendly, carefree appearance.
"She's fine," the Watcher murmured shortly before he took Faith's hand, "And Marvin, I want you to meet my girlfriend, Faith Lehane."
Marvin smiled as he shook Faith's hand, saying, "It's a pleasure to meet you Faith."
"Likewise, Marv, and as long as you cool it down with the rhyming and stuff, we'll be cool. No offense, but all that poetry stuff's bound ta' drive anyone nuts if they listen to it all day."
Roadblock couldn't help but snort and laugh; the girl had some spunk and wasn't afraid to speak her mind, but in a way where she didn't mean anything spiteful or insulting by it. He said, "I only do it when things aren't so grim and serious, Faith."
"Then this is one of those times when things are really bad, isn't it?" Faith asked, detecting the sudden change in the tone of voice and noticing that the black soldier wasn't even using verse in his sentences anymore. The Joe nodded.
Thankfully, at that moment, Batgirl exhaled with relief when she saw Batman and General Hawk teleport directly into the living room of the Halliwells' house via the Mass Device, startling everyone as the two men appeared in thin air.
"Whoa! How'd you do that?" Kennedy exclaimed.
"G.I Joe has it's own secrets, Miss," Hawk said to the girl. Andrew, in the meantime, looked like he was going to drop dead in an orgasm of happiness as he gasped, his eyes twinkling, at Batman, another superhero who he greatly admired and fawned over.
"Oh…wow!" stammered the blond teen, "Batman! In the flesh! Oh…wow! Wow! Can I have your autograph?"
Batman did his best to wither the Watcher-in-training with a look for the thoughtless remark. Meanwhile, Piper, who was sitting with tongue-in-cheek, felt her temper rise and bubble precariously at the sight of the Gotham vigilante, and once again, she just wanted to tell him to leave and take his friends with him. Piper hissed, immediately springing up and instantly leaping at Batman and General Hawk's proverbial throats as she stood there, her fists clenched and shouting, "You two just love ruining our lives, don't you? You just can't ever leave it alone!"
Batman was stony, showing absolutely no discomfort or sentiment in his face. Hawk felt a little more sympathetic for the Wiccan, however.
Hawk exhaled wearily as he said, "We did not plan on this happening, Piper. We had no idea that the Heartless would strike so soon. We didn't plan this to happen. It occurred entirely out of coincidence."
"Forgive us if we put a lot of faith in that statement, General," Leo grumbled, frowning.
"Whoa! You guys know the Dark Knight of Gotham City?" Rona asked, her voice a mixture of surprise and admiration as she watched this banter between the witch and the G.I. Joe general. Only Vi knew that Rona was also additionally an aficionado of Batman; if fact, he was her personal favorite out of the entire Justice League (but unlike Andrew, she had enough common sense to not act like an idiot over him).
"Unfortunately," spat Leo as he glared at Batman. Batman, as usual, didn't show any emotion on his face.
"Piper, let's just let them talk!" Phoebe protested as she stood up and tried to calm down her eldest sister, "General Hawk will straighten this all out! He's not like General Bragg! I'm sure he'll get to the bottom of this whole mess and find out what on Earth is going on with all this!"
"Yeah, and maybe once and for all, he'll be able to prove that ya' murdered Jubilee's parents," Rogue retorted snidely, and Phoebe heatedly snapped at the brown-and-white haired goth.
"Look, will you just shut up and drop it?" the middle Halliwell growled intently with enough force to knock down a brick wall.
"Don't tell her to shut up, you witch!" Rina snarled as she made a move to rise from her position on the easy-chair, but Logan kept her seated by forcibly pressing down on her shoulder.
"Watch it, you," Leo growled, sizing up immediately, his blue eyes as cold as ice, "In case we need to remind you, we're older, and you and your friends are guests in this house. Unless you want to get kicked out and wait in the cold night until you learn some manners, you better remember to respect your elders. And that goes for you as well."
He added this last sentence while shooting a reprimanding look at Rogue, and the Southern mutant immediately was offended alongside Rina. And Logan looked like he wanted nothing better to do than to grab Leo by the scruff of his neck and throw the man out of his own house (and quite possibly through the front door in the process).
Ororo's voice was collected and coldly formal as she said, "With all due respect, Mr. Wyatt, you have no authority to lecture and reprimand the students. You're overstepping your boundaries."
Leo snapped back, "And maybe if you and Xavier did a better job raising the students, I wouldn't have to overstep my boundaries."
Ororo's eyes went wide with shock and anger as she inhaled sharply, her back as straight as a metal pole. And it looked like Scott, Jean, Logan and Professor Xavier were equally offended at that crack about their supervision and guardianship abilities. General Hawk then addressed the senior X-Men before another argument could break out.
"All right, first things first, despite what Spirit, Blind Master, and Roadblock informed me very briefly in our conversation over the phone, I need to hear the whole story. First from the Halliwells and their guests, and then from Professor Xavier and the Joes," General Hawk commanded, taking charge and seeing that unless this was handled delicately, nothing but a heated and ugly fight would break out.
Then for the next twenty minutes, Phoebe and Paige, despite the poisonous and hate-filled glares that have been emanating from the teenage X-Men throughout the living room, the mutants, the Joes, the Slayers, the Scoobies, Batgirl and Batman listened to the testimony as Piper, Phoebe, and Paige explained everything. Phoebe explained how she was working and ending her shift at the Bay Mirror when she ran into the warlocks and tried to help, only to stumble that it was a clever ruse by Zankou, one of their adversaries, and how the Slayers mysteriously stumbled in (though she didn't explain the folklore about the vampire slayer and many of the audience were greatly lost about it). Piper, reluctantly, then explained how Batman and General Hawk had known about them way back, and how Hawk and Batman had visited them to warn them about the Hellfire Club's sudden influence all over the Earth and how Supergirl was in a magical coma. Then Paige (much to Leo and Piper's chagrin) gave a brief yet insightful overview about their roles as the Charmed Ones, a family of Wiccans existing since the colonial times in Salem, Massachusetts, where it was prophesized that three daughters of the Halliwell matriarchs and ancestors would emerge at a focal point to fight all supernatural evil and protect the world with white magic and spellcrafts. Paige then briefly explained all their powers, how Piper had the power to freeze time and cause objects to explode and combust, how Phoebe was a martial artist and had the power to experience visions of the future and past, and how Paige had the power to orb, telekinetically orb, and glamour herself and her appearance due to her unique mixture of Whitelighter and witch blood. This especially got the Joes, Misfits and X-Men's collective attention since it wasn't lost on any of them that Paige pretty much had the same powers as their friend, Justin. Thankfully, no one said anything, though Justin looked ready to burst with curiosity, though a stern look from Althea told him to keep quiet.
When it was all done, Phoebe then told General Hawk, "And that was how it was. If it wasn't for the Leomon creature, we'd all be dead, and after he warned us that the Hellfire Club and some strange group called the Organization is planning to attack us because they want to harness the Nexus, the one we are - "
"That's enough, Phoebe!" Piper snapped, warning her sister to keep quiet about the matters of the Nexus and to not tell more than absolutely necessary. Apparently, despite it all, the witch still didn't feel that Batman, General Hawk, and their associates deserved to know about that information. Meanwhile, the others were trying to process what Paige, Phoebe, and Piper had told them.
"So you're known as the Charmed Ones, a group of Wiccans that also go by the term, 'The Power of Three'?" Shipwreck asked.
"And you are following a destiny given by your ancestral lineage to fight demons and monsters and protect the magical world and the mortal world from evil entities and warlocks and demons? That is so cool!" asked Quinn eagerly, still trying to make sense of it…and imagine all the wondrous possibilities her and her sisters could do with such potential energy to cause some well-needed havoc.
"And you know Batman because he, Dr. Fate, and Etrigan led you to fight a group of mutants called the Externals at some event called the High Lord Ascension? And this was what allowed you to become targets from the Hellfire Club because your involvement endangered Selene, the Black Queen of the Inner Circle?" Batgirl asked, repeating the facts and storing them into her memory.
"And this Zankou who sent the Heartless on you and these other girls is one of your greatest enemies from hell, a person of black magic?" Ororo asked, instantly remembering what the Hungan from her village tried to do to her when he attacked her and the other X-Men. The Slayers and the Scoobies just remained silent, looking at the three women.
"Yes," Paige said.
Iceman couldn't take it any longer as he shouted, leaping to his feet, pointing at Phoebe, "And she killed Jubilee's parents! Jubilee saw her! Jean and the Professor looked into her mind! She's nothing but an evil witch who is planning to kill all of us! She murdered Jubes' parents! She's nothing but a lying, manipulative whore!"
Piper and Leo looked ready to kill and lash back for the tactless and rude insult, but then someone else beat them to it, and who the person was actually managed to startle them.
"Iceman…" and the teen looked up to see a very, very angry Batman towering over right next to him. Though the masked hero showed no emotion on his cold face, everyone could feel the aura and heat radiating from his body, as if something very dangerous was building up. Even Logan and Faith felt a little bothered from the death-glare the member of the Justice League was giving, and Batgirl could have honestly said that she had never witnessed Batman as angry as he was right now.
Though no one knew it, Batman, deep down, was fiercely protective of the Halliwells, even though they didn't really appreciate nor acknowledge it.
"Sit down," Batman rumbled methodically with the purest form of a threat, and being no fool to retort back, Bobby paled before he weakly sank back on the couch. As reckless and foolhardy as he was, the ice-generating mutant could confess that he was actually afraid that Batman would snap his neck if he didn't obey. Paige and Phoebe both gave Batman a look of gratitude, which he coldly ignored. Piper then shot General Hawk an accusing look.
"All right," Piper hissed coldly, "Now it's your turn General Hawk. Tell us what exactly is going on specifically with this Gathering we've been hearing, and will you tell your X-Men that Phoebe had nothing to do with the murder of Jubilee's parents? I am sorry she had to go through that, but we had nothing to do with it!"
Leo then shot a look at Professor Xavier before he said with malice, "OK, you heard our story, so now we hear yours. Show us exactly what you saw in your student's mind, and let's hear why exactly you and the Misfits and the soldiers from G.I. Joe are snooping around here and disturbing our lives and are trying to get us killed. Let's hear your so-called biased view."
"Professor Xavier doesn't lie, Leo," Hawk said, surprising some of the X-Men that the general would come so quickly to the telepath's defense.
"General Hawk," Spirit murmured as he held up a hand to stop his superior from continuing further, "The Halliwells and Mr. Wyatt, you trust, but what about them?"
The G.I. Joe tracker and soldier then motioned with his head towards the Slayers and the Scoobies and Wood, causing a few scandalized and irritated glares to come his way as he continued, "We don't know anything about these people, and it's dangerous to just allow anyone who is fighting the same enemy we are to know about our plight with the Gathering. Yes, the girls and Roadblock's friend have shown some resiliency and hardiness at fighting this evil, but is it fair to entrust them with this information? We can't make them targets of the Heartless if they do not wish to. We can't bring more people into this fight."
"I'm starting to worry about this whole Heartless thing," Kennedy murmured to Willow's ear secretly, "Whatever it is, this might be the new, big evil you've been sensing for the past two weeks."
"With all due respect, Sir," Rona said rather loudly and disdainfully to Spirit, "Slayers don't run from anything. And we're already involved in this since that baddie tried to kill us and your Leomon friend-dude warned Willow that she has to fight in some future battle or die."
"Leomon is hardly what you'd call a friend," Scott muttered, and Lance shot the X-Man a look to shut up, but thankfully, he didn't say anything.
"Slayers?" whispered Jean in confusion to Logan, "What's a Slayer?"
"I've never heard anything of that term, Red. We can ask them later, but until then, be quiet," Wolverine brusquely shushed his younger student.
Roadblock turned to General Hawk, completely serious.
"General Hawk, I know Wood, and he's completely trustworthy, and from what I can tell, he's no stranger to the supernatural and knows how to deal with these kinds of situations. And Xavier, X-Men, I know you may have some reservations about this, but this might be the thing we've been hoping for. We all wished we had more allies and firepower to help us fight against the Heartless and try to stop the Gathering of Twilight. Well, I'm beginning to see that this might be the best thing we could ever ask for in this situation."
The Professor, Wolverine, and Storm turned and looked at Willow, Wood, Andrew, and the Slayers, conflicted and hesitant. But Kennedy and Wood were able to discern that Roadblock's words had a ring of truth and hope to it. After a few moments of deep thought, Hawk then turned to Wood and Faith, his mind made up.
Hawk said in a solemn tone, "I trust the judgment of most of my soldiers, and Roadblock is no exception. However, what I'm about to tell you, all of you, your girls and the Halliwells, you might not like. You say you've dealt with weird stuff before, but I'm giving you fair warning right now: this isn't pretty, and I do not want to bring you into our fight if you don't want it. If I tell you what we know about the Heartless and the Hellfire Club's plans, then this means that you and your associates will be all involved. You may be targeted, you may be even killed. I'm not going to sugarcoat this. We're dealing with the end of the world with this new development, and if you don't want to put yourselves in further danger, tell me now and I'll understand. But if you want to learn of this new threat, you'll inadvertently be involved in this war, and there will be no turning back."
"Funny how you couldn't have done that with us, Hawk," Piper muttered loudly, and Phoebe swatted her sister's arm to gracefully stop her from going any further. Wood and Faith simultaneously looked at Andrew, Willow, and the former Potentials. Andrew looked fearful, but Willow, Kennedy, Rona, Caridad, Chao-Ahn (once Fred finished translating for her), Shannon, Vi, and Dana all nodded fiercely. Their decision was unanimous. Faith turned to General Hawk.
"As Rona said, us Slayers don't run from any baddie, and if we're gonna kick some ass and save the world, then we're all up for it. Trust me, General, after fighting with the First, we doubt that there's a baddie worse than what we've been through in Sunnydale," Faith said fervently.
"The First?" Ororo asked, confused. She had no idea what the meant.
"Sunnydale?" murmured Shipwreck and Cover Girl in shock. They heard about the former city in California, and its sudden demise…
General Hawk shot them a look that he'll answer their questions and suspicions in due time, but for now, he, Batman, and Professor Xavier explained the situation while the Halliwells (even Piper) and the Slayers and Scoobies listened intently.
First, Hawk took out a strange device from the vault at the G.I. Joe Pit that Forge and Trinity recently created that the X-Men and the Joes were forced to confiscate. It was metallic disc with a strange holographic circle in the center, filled with some sort of silver gelatin, attached to some very complicated circuitry and microchips. Daria explained eagerly to the Slayers, Scoobies, and Charmed Ones.
"It's the Telepathic Projector 5000!" the Triplet sister eagerly piped up, "It takes in all thoughts from a telepathic input, and this little doohickey will use a holographic image to display those thoughts and images from any telepath, like a television screen! Think of it as a slide-projector except that it displays any thoughts, sounds and images visually as holograms, like a video camera that reads your thoughts and puts them on display!"
"Whoa! Amazing!" gasped Andrew, "How on Earth did you guys build this?"
"We had time to do it in between the nuclear warheads, the Crotch Shaver 1.1, and the My Little Pony bazooka-soldiers!" cackled Brittany. This gained a few odd looks from the other Slayers, Willow, Andrew, and Wood.
"Did she just say - ?" began Shannon.
"We didn't hear anything," Kennedy said immediately, instantly going into denial. Dana shot her comrades a dark look of accusing disdain.
"And you people call me psychotic," Dana muttered.
Then for the next hour, everyone listened and watched intently as Daria, Quinn, Brittany, Jean, and Professor Xavier placed in the images and events they remembered in their minds while General Hawk explained everything as best as he could. The Slayers, the Scoobies, and the Charmed Ones listened as they learned about the Phoenix Force and how Darkseid of the planet Apokolips tried to harness it to rule the cosmos, only to have it turn against him and how the Phoenix entity bonded with the two girls, Supergirl and Batgirl instead. They witnessed the events in Jump City with the Teen Titans and Titans East, and their first rendezvous with the strange, enigmatic Leomon and how he warned them of the Heartless threat and how the Hellfire Club and the strange group called the Organization and the Thirteenth Order were planning to destroy the world via a strange new evil created from the darkness called the Heartless. They saw the images of the massacre of H.I.V.E. Academy, and how the heroes and the teenagers banded together as a final attack against Trigon, which brought about some exclamations of horror.
"By the spirit of the Earth," Willow gasped as she stared at the Misfits and the X-Men with a mixture of awe, astonishment, and wonder, "You guys fought against Trigon the Terrible?"
"Holy shit!" Wood exclaimed as he stared at the mutant teenagers in disbelief. As a Watcher, he was trained and extremely familiar with all sorts of evil entities and demons, and Trigon, though dismissed as obscure and ancient, was a Demon Lord of the Ancients, possibly second to the First, the creation of all evil. Phoebe and Paige and Leo were also staring at the mutants with disbelief. The Book of Shadows described Trigon as a truly unstoppable force, omnipotent and omnipresent and with enough might and strength to take over entire galaxies. The kids were extremely lucky to even make it out there alive. Scott and Jean's eyes went pained with the grim reminder.
"We barely survived that battle," Jean murmured as Scott rubbed her shoulders, "Raven luckily was strong enough to banish her father back to the realm that the Hellfire Club and the Thirteenth Order released him from in the end."
"My God, what were they thinking?" Caridad gasped, "They're fools if they think that they'll be spared if this Gathering of Twilight comes to Earth! Not even the First has been able to do something this horrendous!"
"Not yet, anyway," Kennedy murmured bleakly.
Then (much to Jean's smug satisfaction), the five groups all watched as Jean and Professor X sent in the images and events they witnessed and viewed in Jubilee's mind. The Slayers gasped with recognition as they recognized that the vampire the Chinese girl fought was truly a Turok-Han, and Wood felt cold with dread upon this assertion that the ancient forms of vampires still existed. Whoever controlled the creatures would truly be powerful and damn near unstoppable. The mutants and the Joes listened as they overheard Phoebe's talk over the phone before she incinerated the entire house, burning whatever was left of Jubilee's life and the dead bodies of her parents.
There was a tense silence when it was finished. Everyone was now either staring or glaring at the Charmed Ones and Leo. Paige's eyes nearly went out of her head, her brown hair drooping limply to her shoulders, still unwilling to believe what she and her sisters just beheld moments ago. Leo looked absolutely troubled, making quick glances between the Telepathic Projector 5000 and Phoebe. Phoebe was white in the face, and horrified at what she saw. She didn't do it, but once she saw Jubilee's heartbreak and her grief, she suddenly could feel why Jubilee hated her so much. Still, it wasn't her. And Phoebe knew that whoever made Jubilee think that she was responsible for sending the Turok-Han to kill her and her family was incredibly devious. Batman and General Hawk and Leomon were right; their lives were in grave jeopardy. Piper still was fiercely adamant as she sprang up from the couch, defensive and stubbornly firm on her loyalty to her family.
"That wasn't her!" Piper yelled, staring directly in the sea of dirty looks she was getting from the other X-Men, "I don't care what you or Jubilee saw! That wasn't Phoebe! She would never kill anyone! And she can't even do what you just witnessed! Don't you remember what Paige told you? Her powers are passive! She can only view images of the past and future! She can't use fire and she can't teleport like Paige can! That wasn't her! She's being framed! She's innocent! My sister is innocent!"
"You mean you still deny this?" Wolverine growled murderously.
Kitty then spoke rather harshly, "Like, how do we know that Phoebe didn't just use some witchcraft to set Jubilee's house on fire? How do we know she just didn't use her magic to attack and kill Jubilee's parents and control that vampire? Just because she's your sister doesn't totally mean like she's innocent! She could have done it without you even knowing!"
Forge then chipped in, "Shadowcat has a point, Piper! How can you expect us to believe Phoebe didn't do it when you three can do anything with your magic! Nothing could be impossible then since it pretty much defies all logic and science! What, you mean to tell us that Phoebe never had fire powers?"
"I…I used to before - " and Phoebe stopped, her face frozen with fear and misgiving. Ororo and Logan's eyes narrowed, and Logan felt his teeth painfully clench against one another. He could sense it, the trepidation, the guilt, the uncomfortable feelings caused by her now rapid heartbeat and the way she wrenched the fabric of her skirt on her knee.
"Before what?" Nightcrawler accused harshly.
"Watch your tone, Nightcrawler! You aren't obligated to know - !" began Leo, but Phoebe then stopped her brother-in-law by raising a hand in front of Leo's face to silence his tirade before she decided to tell the truth. As Paige mentioned before, if she didn't say it, they would find out eventually, and the Charmed Ones needed to show that they had nothing to hide.
"I used to have the power to generate fire before I lost it," Phoebe explained in a tired voice, "You see, a while back, I fell in love with a half-demon named Balthazar, and in my love, I turned a blind eye and abandoned my sisters to become his Queen of Hell. Though I repented later and killed Balthazar to save my sisters…I had the fire powers when I used to be evil."
"I knew it!" Bobby yelled, springing up from the couch again, pointing an accusatory finger at Phoebe, beyond furious, "She even admitted it! She is evil! And she did kill Jubes' parents! She just admitted it!"
And Bobby wasn't the only one to jump on this bandwagon. Even Logan was among the kids and students seemed ready to attack and pounce upon the witch all at once, and it took the efforts of Storm, Hawk, Batman, and some of the Misfits to calm all of them down.
"That's enough!" Scarlet Witch snapped, "Are you all forgetting something? If they're against you, then why are the Heartless trying to kill them? Why is the Hellfire Club trying to attack them if they're evil? Look, it looks suspicious, I agree, but how do we know it wasn't a shapeshifter who tried to impersonate Phoebe or something?"
"A shapeshifter can't copy someone else's powers, Wanda!" snapped Cyclops.
"I agree with Wanda!" Avalanche said heatedly, "This smells like a set-up! And if they were evil and against us, then Leomon wouldn't have helped them and tried to warn them about the Gathering!"
"Oh will you quit going on and on about your infatuation with Leomon, Alvers?" snapped Jean, hands on hips, "It's so pathetic that you continue to stick up for that furry hood like he's suddenly your best friend! Leomon this, and Leomon that! My God, and I thought you couldn't sink to any lower of a undignified muck whenever you tried to disastrously woo Kitty!"
"You leave him alone, Jean!" Quicksilver snapped, "I'd rather have a furry hood than a little Princess Snob like you, you prissy witch! No wait, I take that back! Calling you a witch would actually be insulting to the Charmed Ones!"
"You creep!" Rogue spat, instantly coming to Jean's defense. Batgirl, Fred, Lina, Todd, and Justin then all got between the quarrelling groups before it could truly get ugly.
"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Blob bellowed.
"Please, this isn't going to help anyone!" Batgirl yelled.
"And we still don't know exactly what the Hellfire Club is planning to do once they attack the Halliwells and try to harness the power of the Nexus, so all of you, stop this foolishness! Now," Batman commanded.
"The Nexus?" Ororo asked, frowning slightly, "What is the Nexus?"
"It's none of your business!" Leo snapped at the weather-witch.
"Hey, watch your mouth, preppy-boy!" Shipwreck snarled as he instantly clenched one of his hands into fists, "She's not one of the bad guys, so you better treat the lady here with some respect unless you want me to give you a little lesson of hard-knocks, if ya' get my drift!"
Phoebe then turned to the mentor of the X-Men, still glowering from his wheelchair silently.
"Professor Xavier, you'll just have to trust us like General Hawk and the Batman does, and just keep in mind that despite the evidence, I still deny that I murdered Jubilee's parents or are working with the Turok-Han that the Slayers have encountered before! I know I can't prove it, and I can't do anything that can convince you otherwise, but I'm innocent! I'm sorry, but there's nothing you can do to change the situation!"
It was then that the telepath went for his final resort, the one tactic he could use if all else failed.
"I'm afraid then you have left me no choice, Ms. Halliwell…" Xavier said sternly, and with that, he used his power to invade directly into Phoebe's mind. There was a sharp cry from Phoebe as she suddenly stopped and held her hands to her head, taken aback from the sudden throbbing pain of his telepathy. But it only lasted for a second. Suddenly, to Professor X's surprise, an unseen and force that the mutant elder had never before sensed in his entire life surged completely towards him, engulfing his mind and being with a crushing tidal wave of something alive, something that had unspeakable power and angry might reflecting back right at him, shielding the presence and soul and mind of Phoebe. The Professor had already tried to invade Slade's mind in Jump City, and it backfired badly. But the mutant professor would have gladly traded back into that event as this event was much, much worse.
It was like a thousand angry souls and being swarming all over him at once, each one with the potential to seriously hurt him and drag him into an eternal black chasm of hell and fire, plunging downwards in free-fall…
"Yaaaaaaahhhhh!" cried out the Professor before he snapped back to consciousness, and he realized he was back in the Halliwell Manor, now free and clear from the dreadful and surely terrifying experience, an experience he would never wish to go through again.
"Chuck? Chuck? You OK?" interrogated a worried Logan. Phoebe was gasping heavily, now sitting on the floor with her sisters trying to help her relax, angry tears running down her face.
"You…you tried to read my mind, didn't you?" Phoebe gasped in outrage.
Piper, Paige, and Leo whirled angrily at Professor Xavier with insult and anger, Piper most of all, and the slight look of guilt on Xavier's face was more than enough of an admission. Piper stood up and gave the mentor of the X-Men a look of pure hate.
"If you ever try that on my sister again, I will kill you," Piper spat lowly.
"Gee, guess you really are like Phoebe then," retorted Bobby snidely.
"How did - ?" began the Professor, shaking as he wiped the sweat off his brow with a handkerchief, but Piper immediately cut him off.
"We're immune to telepathy, Xavier," spat Piper, glaring daggers at the wheelchair-bound man and incredibly offended that the leader and sage headmaster of a school would do this to her sister in her own house. Jean looked at the Charmed Ones and Leo in shock.
"I thought it was strange that I couldn't detect your mental presences in the battle," she remarked suspiciously.
"Goddess, how is that possible?" Storm gasped. But Batgirl gasped as the answer came to her.
"Your magic!" Batgirl gasped, "Of course! It makes sense now! You fought against mutants at the High Lord Ascension, and I'm guessing some of them must have been telepathic, omniscient and able to look into any beings' mind! You must have used your magic to cast a spell on everyone, yourselves, Batman, Dr. Fate, and Etrigan to protect yourselves before you fought the Externals! The Professor couldn't see into Phoebe's mind because you're all still charmed with the anti-telepathy spell you cast since the Ascension!"
Piper glared at Batgirl but gave a single nod, indicating that the female detective had correctly guessed it.
"Trying to hide your thoughts from us? Nice way of trying to convince us that you're innocent, especially since you don't give a damn about helping us stop the world! If you really were good witches, you'd try to save the world and help Batman and us fight the Hellfire Club instead of hiding like yellow-tailed lizards!" Rogue yelled harshly.
"And do what?" Piper snapped back heatedly, "You want me and my sisters to gallantly prove that we didn't kill Jubilee's parents by doing you X-Men and Misfits and Joes favors in which you all in no way in hell deserve? You think we have something to prove to all of you just because one of your own was attacked by something that appears to be my sister? To expose ourselves and our powers? To sacrifice whatever chances we have of a normal life and as a family without needing some sort of hero complex? Get over yourself, Rogue! You're mutants, and you know exactly why we've been hiding the same way you mutants hid before the Sentinel exposed all of you! We can't reveal ourselves to the world! We don't want to fight because it would be too risky to expose the existence of magic and witches and the supernatural to the public! It could mean fear, persecution, and hate, exactly like you kids deal with every day from anti-mutant legislation and the Friends of Humanity! Just because we don't want to help General Hawk and Batman doesn't mean we're evil! We just want to hide, to live without worrying about the world hating us! If you think they hated mutants, then it'll be just as bad when they discover that magic and witchcraft exist! We can't put ourselves in that position, and you have no right to ask us to do such a thing!"
"Forgive us for not being so groovy with such a bogue idea," Forge shot back rather unsympathetically, close to sneering with contempt.
"'Bogue'?" Shannon asked. Wood sighed before he explained with a roll of his eyes.
"Another seventies term, Shannon. It describes something unrealistic or offensive."
The brown-haired Slayer turned to the mutant inventor before she asked with some irritation, "Geez, what is it with you and the seventies lingo?"
Batgirl was incredibly irritated with Piper's stubbornness as she said hotly, "So that's it then? You won't help us deal with this Heartless threat and find a way to prove that your sister is innocent? You'd rather let Jubilee live thinking that you killed her parents rather than trying to help her because you want to remain under a façade of a normal family? Because you're afraid to go through what the X-Men and Misfits went through? You'd rather let Supergirl die than swallow your pride and do what your ancestors wanted you to do with your gifts?"
"We're not under an obligation to help everyone, Batgirl! Not when it comes to a great risk to ourselves and our lives and our children! Get this into your head that just because we're magical doesn't mean we can do everything! We're not gods! We can't help you! Our superiors and our guardians have forbidden us from doing anything even if we wanted to!" Leo snapped.
"Forbidden? From who?" Cover Girl asked.
"The Halliwells have limits to their powers, Cover Girl," Batman replied coolly, "Unlike the X-Men and Misfits, there is a price to pay if they ever disobey against the rules and against their superiors' collective wishes. If a Charmed Wiccan ever uses her powers for personal gain or to commit atrocious crimes, then that means that they will be severely punished by losing their powers and magical abilities. And after their debacle with the Elders and the Avatars, the Charmed Ones cannot risk any more involvement against the rules they are forced to abide by. And coincidentally, this also indicates that Phoebe could have never murdered Jubilee's parents, otherwise she would be powerless as of now."
"I'm still not convinced," Cyclops griped, "And if they're not evil, then they wouldn't just stand there and let other people try to stop the Gathering and the end of the world!"
"Cyclops, shut it!" Avalanche snapped before he turned to the Charmed Ones and asked desperately, "And there's nothing you guys can do at all? This is the end of the world we're talking about, and Supergirl is still in gave danger! Can't you do something at least? Ask a favor? Send us to some sort of magical army of elves or dragons or flying horses of some sort?"
Piper then finally admitted the conflict she felt about the Gathering of Twilight.
"You think I don't wish to, Avalanche?" Piper retorted, "I want my children to be safe and my family to be protected and have a future, but not in a way where it exposes our secrets to the world or involves us in any fight that we have no reason to be a part of! Yes, I don't want the world to end, but I don't want to be involved in any more warfare and battle, especially with Batman and General Hawk involved!"
"How frank of you," Roadblock muttered.
Paige then said, the realization dawning on her, "Wait, there still may be a way to help them and save the world! Even if we can't do anything, and even if the X-Men don't trust us, there may be a way to help out with this whole thing! To help protect the Earth!"
"Which is what exactly?" Spirit asked.
"The Elders' debt to General Hawk!"
Leo and Phoebe looked surprised before Leo nodded, saying, "Of course! I forgot about that! There's no way the Immortals could refuse the Oath of Abraham! And they could be powerful enough to stop the world from being destroyed by Selene and Zankou!"
General Hawk inwardly winced as he looked away solemnly, slightly averting his gaze.
Phoebe was a bit confused, but out of the bottom of her stomach, she had a cold feeling of icy dread as she asked again, "General Hawk, use the Oath of Abraham! If you won't use it to help Supergirl awaken from her coma, then you can use it to summon the other Immortal elders and the Council of Immortals to help us protect the Nexus and fight the Heartless and prove that I'm innocent! I'm sure that they'll keep their promise, and the Hellfire Club wouldn't be able to stand a chance against immortals!"
General Hawk didn't say anything, and Piper got even more frustrated. What was wrong with him?
"General Hawk, why are you hesitating? This is exactly what you and the other groups have been waiting for, right? Well, use it! Hawk, if you won't use it to protect yourselves and your soldiers, then at least use it to protect my family and protect the world! You said you and the Misfits and the X-Men need allies to stop the Organization, right? This is a golden opportunity to do so! And this can also coincidentally help Supergirl! Use it! Use the Oath of Abraham!" Piper raged, impatient.
There was a tense silence as the G.I. Joe general didn't answer the sister, but then Quicksilver and Toad thoughtlessly spoke out before any of their teammates or the Misfit handlers could stop them.
"The Oath of Abraham?" repeated Pietro in confusion before it dawned on the albino why the term was so familiar to him.
Todd asked to Hawk, his eyes wide, "Wait a minute! Wasn't that the promise you used to save Justin's life when - ?"
Althea nudged Toad hard in the ribs with her elbow, but unfortunately, the damage had already been done. That one fragment of a sentence informed the Charmed Ones and Leo what they did not want to hear.
"What?" chorused Leo and Piper is shock before they both whirled at General Hawk, glaring. Phoebe was frozen, her expression on her face alarmed and surprised; after all, the Oath of Abraham isn't something you would use to get a paint-job done on a car or to have someone pick up your dry cleaning. An Oath of Abraham was practically a "Get Out Of Jail Free" card via the most powerful magic and might of the Immortal Council, a binding contract that had to authority to entitle the recipient to literally alter the world and time itself if requested. Willow looked at Hawk, her jaw dropping; she too knew the importance and rarity of any human being promised an Oath of Abraham.
He gave a grave sigh before he answered, "Halliwells, Leo…I already used the Oath of Abraham."
The Charmed Ones were stunned as they felt their hearts drop, the one thing that could possibly get them out of this dangerous and volatile mess vanished in thin air, like a cruel joke or a devious twist of fate. The X-Men, Scoobies, and Slayers were puzzled to say the least as they heard this, still lost on the conversation.
"Uh…someone care to explain what the heck is an 'Oath of Abraham'?" Kurt remarked, curious.
"It's a powerful magical vow, a binding contract between gods or powerful magical beings from a higher plane!" Willow hurriedly explained, "In other words, it's a powerful promise that entitles the bearer of anything! They can be given riches and power, be made king of the world, raise the dead, or even change the past history! And it's extremely rare for a human to even be promised such an Oath! The last human being in magical history to ever gain an Oath of Abraham was Merlin, and he used it to help King Arthur Pendragon defeat his half-sister, Morganna, and send him to Avalon!"
"And General Hawk used it already?" gasped Roberto as the X-Men and Slayers just stared at the G.I Joe general.
"You…you used it?" Piper gasped.
"Yes," Hawk reluctantly confessed, "To protect the life of one of the Misfits."
"Justin? You mean the one who's named 'Whitelighter'? Then he is of magical blood!" Phoebe gasped, the recollection of the Heartless battle coming to her. Justin felt incredibly daunted and nervous at the three women and the one man turned towards him, questioning and distrustful.
"Are…are you a male witch? Or a Wiccan like us?" Paige asked, her eyes wide with disbelief (and indeed, she was still reeling from the discovery).
"Uh…no, I…I don't think so. I'm a mutant."
"But you have Whitelighter blood in you," Leo stated distantly, now starting to have his suspicions mount on General Hawk, G.I. Joe and the Misfits. There was something Hawk wasn't telling him; of this, the ex-Whitelighter was certain.
Justin (bless him) answered truthfully, albeit a bit apprehensive, "Um…yeah, I'm half-Whitelighter. My mortal side gave me the X-Gene to be a mutant, from my mother."
"Then if your father is a Whitelighter, what's his name?" Leo asked with narrowed eyes. As a former guardian angel of witches, he knew every single surviving member of the Whitelighters and the Elders, so he wasn't going to be lost if he was told who was the patron. Hawk threw Justin a look to keep quiet, but unfortunately, the teen was too oblivious to notice as he just blabbed it rather thoughtlessly, though a little resigned.
"His name is Elder Gideon. Why, do you know him?" Justin asked innocently.
There was a sharp intake of breath as Paige, Piper, Phoebe, and Leo just stared at the Misfit, their eyes wide and glassy and absolutely stunned beyond the highest form of disbelief and shock. Even Batman looked taken aback; he would have never suspected that Elder Gideon of all beings would have a son who was half-mortal.
"Oh shit," Hawk cursed under his breath, closing his eyes. This wasn't going to be good.
Piper was shaking visibly. So that was it then. Hawk requested their help because he already wasted the Oath. He further dragged the Charmed Ones in a fight that they could very well lose, that she could very well sacrifice everything, her safety, her family, her lineage, each part of her life as a woman, a wife, and a mother, all for the son of Gideon, the hypocritical bastard who unfairly persecuted Wyatt and Chris because of their mixture of Whitelighter and Wiccan blood. Now they had nothing. Now, Leomon's warning that they could very well lose came rushing back into her memory and consciousness. Now there was nothing they could do but unwillingly bear the consequences caused by people outside who unfairly laid the burden on the Halliwells' shoulders. It all came back, the fear, the anger, the stress, the accusations of Phoebe murdering Jubilee's parents…
It was too much.
It was unbearable.
Piper couldn't hold it in any more.
The pain, the hurt, the worry, the rage, the recollection of her sister, Prue, dying thanks to the damned interference of Ra's Al Ghul and the Batman.
Her sisters were now just in as much hazard and peril…all because of a boy Hawk favored more over her sisters, after everything the Whitelighters and the Charmed Ones did for him.
Piper needed to vent out, to let her anger, her frustration, her temper lash out at something, anything.
Unfortunately, the only object nearby was Justin…and all she could see was that he was that insufferable prick's son, the child of the smug, self-righteous bastard named Gideon.
Her vision clouding in red, Piper strode over briskly towards Justin before there was a swift blur…
Crack!
"Piper!" gasped Paige in disbelief and shock.
Justin's whimpered, hurt and take aback as he gingerly touched his reddening cheek where Piper just slapped him. The Misfits and Joes needed a second to register what just happened before they immediately sprang up from the couch, now absolutely livid. Hawk looked angry as well, but there was some extreme sorrow and disappointment mixed in too, as if he could understand what Piper was feeling. Piper's eyes were blazing, her lips pursued tightly, and it was obvious that she had no regret or shame about slapping the Misfit. Suddenly, she felt herself jerked back into reality as a strong force wrapped itself around her wrist and yanked her towards a furious Blind Master.
Blind Master's brow was furrowed behind his dark glasses as he growled, his fingers tightening on Piper's wrist, "Strike my son again, and you will live to regret it, you witch."
"Well, that's a blatant lie," Piper snapped rather rudely, "Considering he's not really your son to begin with!"
Pietro was actually furious and was already yelling at Justin, trying to provoke his brother into retaliating, "Chubby-cheeks, why aren't you saying anything? She punked you! I know for a fact we're not letting that one slide! Well? Say something! Give it to that witch good!"
"What the hell did you do that for?" Shipwreck yelled, outraged. Althea went for the more direct approach as she went toe to toe with the eldest Halliwell sister, her eyes now blazing and her nostrils white as she sucked in air sharply through her nose.
"Apologize to Justin," Wavedancer commanded, her voice now low and deadly.
"I am not apologizing to Gideon's bastard child!" Piper raged, seething, and Althea went for the knife in her boot before she held it up in front of the woman's face.
"You either apologize willingly, or I will make you apologize. Either way, you're going to saying that you're sorry. No one hurts one of my teammates…at least not without suffering the consequences," the Misfit leader threatened.
"There's already consequences because you used up the Oath of Abraham on him!" Piper screamed heatedly, "Gideon screwed us over so many times, and yet you're protecting his son, his child, over us, the people you've been anted to seek help from? Gideon tried to murder my own sons!"
"That's still not a good excuse, yo!" Toad snarled as he pointed at Justin, "Whitelighter's nothing like Gideon! Just because he's Gideon's son doesn't mean that you can take it out on him yo! It ain't fair to Justin!"
Piper just wrenched her hand out of Blind Master's grip before she exploded at Hawk and Batman.
"It never ends with you, does it, Hawk?" Piper raged, red in the face and her voice hoarse, "You and Batman never get it, do you? We can't ever trust you because you always ruin our lives! ALWAYS! No matter how many times you try to promise us that you'd protect us, that you'd look out for our interests, that you'd ensure that we're working for the greater good of everyone, we're the ones who pay the price for your shenanigans! Now because of you, the world will end, our lives will still be in danger, you caused us endless grief and pain, and we now have even more enemies who wish to see us dead, the X-Men included!"
Piper continued to scream shrilly as she pointed at Justin who was now so uncomfortable and scared, he looked like he wanted nothing better than to orb out and hide from everyone staring at him.
"You wasted it! You wasted a powerful oath of magic on him, Gideon's blood, Gideon's bastard child that has less usefulness and power to protect the planet than a used potion!"
Low Light then shouted rather angrily, "Last time I checked, the Oath of Abraham wasn't yours to use, and it was owed to General Hawk! You have no right to judge him on how he used the debt Gideon promised him!"
Piper ignored Low Light as she then shot a death glare at Justin who positively withered.
"I hope you're happy with yourself," she hissed poisonously, "Thanks to you, our lives are in further danger and you just get to live off recklessly while we have to endure what your father and General Hawk did to us for your sake. Thanks to you, we have to suffer after everything we've done to help General Hawk and Batman! Thanks to you, Gideon is relishing the fact that we're getting the short end of the stick just because of his dislike against us and our sons, and I have to endure the possibility that my children and family could die because of your pathetic existence! Thanks to you, our family is in danger and your world may very well die! I wish you were never born!"
"How dare you!" shouted an outraged Brittany, her voice close to shrieking.
"That's enough, Mrs. Wyatt!" growled Blind Master dangerously.
Pietro was starting to get very impatient with his teammate as he yelled directly into Whitelighter's ear, still shocked and frustrated that Justin wasn't doing anything to fight back or defend himself.
"Chubby-cheeks!" Pietro protested with protective anger, "Don't just stand there like an idiot! Tell her off! Flick her off! Insult her and her sorry fashion sense! Do something! Do anything! Don't just stand there like some mute idiot! Tell her off! Don't let her treat you like a doormat!"
Justin looked down at the floorboards, his eyes stinging and red in the face, but he didn't say anything to defend himself. He was too frozen with pain; this was exactly like when he was subjected to the hate curse.
"Piper, stop it!" Paige snapped as she roughly grabbed her older sister's shoulder, trying to shake her out of her tirade.
"My God, you are such a bitch!" Cover Girl snapped, exasperated, "You know, the more I think about it, the more I have to wonder if Jubilee is telling the truth on how your sister murdered her parents!"
"You leave Phoebe out of this, slut!" Piper snapped.
Rina, the X-Man known as X23, then had enough as she growled, leaping at Piper with her claws drawn out.
"Rina, don't!" yelled Xi and Wolverine together simultaneously, but it was too late as Rina's claws grazed Piper's arm.
Slash!
Piper just looked down in shock, too stunned to cry out in pain, as she saw that there were now two deep gashes across her arm, tearing through her clothes and causing her entire arm to bleed intensely, dripping in crimson liquid. It wasn't life-threatening, but it was certainly serious. With a dark look of retribution, Piper then flicked her hand at X23's claws.
Kaboom!
"Oh my God!" Jean gasped as she, Dragonfly, and Forge rushed to the girl's side, Rina now screaming in outrage as they saw that her claws, her beautiful and resilient adamantium claws were now disfigured and shattered into small, sharp fragments on the rug below, now useless and ruined and completely destroyed. Piper's molecular combustion was so powerful, it could crack the adamantium.
"That was for my arm, you tramp!" Piper hissed as X23, Xi, and Wolverine threw the Halliwell sister the most evil look of bloodthirsty, ravenous bloodlust. The Slayer, Faith, then had enough as she got into Piper's face.
"You leave her alone, bitch! Try picking on someone your own size!" Faith snapped.
"This isn't any of your business, so get out of her face, Slayer!" Leo snapped.
"I'm in your face now, and I don't take orders from a prude like you, so get used to it!" the brown-haired girl from Boston challenged.
"Move, or I'll curse you!" Piper threatened, holding a rag Phoebe brought to her bleeding arm.
"Try it, smart-ass," growled Faith, now starting to have a growing dislike towards Piper, "Slayers don't go down very easily."
"But you're not spell-proof," retorted Piper, her body quivering in rage and actually looking at Faith directly in the eye, not faltering in the slightest in her anger, "Now back off, or I'll use a little hex to send a piece of gutter-trash like you to a very far away place!"
"And a fist is what I'll use to knock a bitch like you to a very far away place," Faith growled as she held up said instrument in front of the Wiccan's face.
Piper had absolutely enough as she then chanted in a very harsh and powerfully booming voice, ethereal and not unlike her normal timbre, "Cast out these unwanted guests, rid me those who make me stressed! No longer welcome in my hallowed home, I say! Ban these cretins forevermore from this day!"
With a yell, all of them, the Scoobies, the Slayers, the X-Men, the Misfits, the Joes, Batman, and Batgirl felt themselves get picked up by a strange and powerful wind, almost in the strength of a tornado, before they were immediately swept off their feet and suddenly found themselves outside of the house. Apparently, Piper cast a spell to banish all of her unwelcome houseguest from the Halliwell manor. Everyone, save Batman, Blind Master, Wolverine, and Wavedancer were lying sprawled on their backs on the front lawn; the aforementioned four managed to land on their feet.
"And don't ever come back to darken our house!" Piper screamed shrilly before she slammed the front door, ending the fight with a ringing silence.
"Well, like that went well," grumbled Kitty sarcastically as she helped Dragonfly get up from her sprawled position on the concrete and grass lawn.
"And you want us to protect them and this Nexus why, exactly?" Batgirl said bitterly as she gave a hard look at Batman and General Hawk.
Meanwhile, Willow was trying her best to probe into the house before she realized that she couldn't.
"I…I can't break it!" Willow murmured, "Her magic is strong, stronger than mine!"
"I told you that the Halliwells were evil!" Jean snapped annoyingly at the Joes and Misfits, hands on her hips, "I told you! But did you listen to me? Did you listen at all? Noooooo!"
"Jean, shut up," growled Althea, "I'm not in the mood."
"Oh, you just can't stand it when we're right and you're wrong, can you?" Cyclops heatedly sneered.
"So now what do we do?" Quinn asked General Hawk, "It's pretty obvious that the Charmed Ones aren't going to help us any more from now on, and whatever the Hellfire Club wants with them, it could mean that the Gathering could appear on Earth!"
"Personally, if the Hellfire Club and Thirteenth Order want the Halliwells so badly, they can have them," Blind Master muttered darkly.
"Gabriel, that's enough," growled Hawk.
"Wait!" called out a voice, and the Slayers, Joes, X-Men, Misfits, Batgirl, Batman, and General Hawk turned around to see a breathless Paige running towards them. Out in open public, she didn't dare orb in front of any passerby or where any neighbor could see them, even though it was past one o'clock in the morning. Paige didn't stop in her mad dash until she reached the heroes, panting heavily considering that she was wearing sandals. Storm and Spirit then noticed that in one hand, the brunette held the shards of Rina's adamantium claws and in her other hand, she held several corked, glass bottles of multicolored liquids.
"What do you want?" Low Light muttered acidly. Paige shot the Joe sniper a glare, but she quietly it her tongue, realizing that it wouldn't be good for any of them if the rifts were made even further.
"To help."
"Funny, I think your sisters have done enough for tonight," Wavedancer said, her voice low and barbed with razor-sharp resentment and dislike.
Paige held out the adamantium shards before she voiced in a calm, gentle whisper, "Personal loss should not be mine, restore these claws and make them fine."
With a flash and to Wolverine and X23's amazements, Rina's claws were submerged with a soft illumination of white luster before the shards in Paige's hands disappeared and reformed back into the mutant's original claws, as good and perfect as they were before Piper caused them to combust.
Rina looked a little conflicted, trying out if the claws worked to her satisfaction and upon finding that they did, she looked at Paige and saw that she was sincere in her act. X23 nodded, murmuring, "Thank you."
Paige then handed the bottles to a startled Batgirl.
"What – what are these?" Batgirl asked.
"Potions," answered Paige breathlessly, "I've been making some to help out Supergirl to see if it could break the spell that caused her to lapse in the coma. I've been researching about brews specifically created to awaken sleeping spells, and I've been experimenting with them ever since Batman came to the manor to inform us. Trust me, the Book of Shadows says that very few magical enchantments can withstand this stuff, and I'm top-notch with making magical potions along with Phoebe. Sprinkle the potions on Supergirl's body, and see if it can wake her up. It's a long shot, but I thought you might take anything that could be of some kind of assistance to break her sleep curse."
Batgirl looked at the youngest sister before she finally smiled. This could be of great help.
"How do we know you're not trying to poison Supergirl instead?" Caridad asked suspiciously, warily eyeing the potions that Paige had handed them. Paige returned a dry look of her own before she nodded to Willow.
"Willow, if you're just as powerful in magic and Wicca as Leomon and the Slayers say you are, you can look at the potions first before Batgirl uses them, and judging from your magical strength, you're probably just as familiar with the art of potions as we are. You can look as long as you like, but I give you my word, as a Charmed One and as a Wiccan, that these potions were made with the intention to heal and help Supergirl, not harm her."
"I'm surprised Piper isn't kicking you out too," Wanda shot back.
Paige's eyes flashed in irritation as she retorted, "She's may be my sister, but I don't always agree with everything she says. But…please keep in mind that despite her shortcomings and how she acted, she's still my family. And despite the evidence, please believe me when I say that Phoebe would have never killed that girl's parents; she is not like that. If you won't believe Piper or Phoebe's words, then try believing mine. And I'm here, trying to offer some sort of good help and trying to make a bridge between our groups."
That was true, and even the Professor and Cyclops and Wolverine couldn't deny it. Paige wouldn't even be here if she didn't truly care about helping others as a Charmed One, despite her loyalty to her family.
"We'll keep in mind," Scott muttered stiffly.
"It should be fair enough," Blind Master muttered rather unsympathetically. Roberto then turned to Batman who was just observing this silently.
"Batman, what do you think? Do you believe that Phoebe is innocent despite what we witnessed from Jubilee's memories? And you've known the Charmed Ones longer than we have," Sunspot asked. Xavier bit his tongue at the resentment that his pupil turned to the Dark Knight over him for validation of the Halliwells' involvement with Jubilee and the Turok-Han, but he didn't say anything. Batman just sternly looked at the Brazilian mutant.
"You should not always depend on the thoughts and opinions of others to make your own judgment, Sunspot," Batman scolded. Roberto just stood firm, still stubborn until he guessed correctly why the Batman sidetracked his question.
"So you do think that Phoebe is being framed and that this is probably a trick by the Hellfire Club," Roberto remarked. Batman didn't answer (and that further vindicated the teen's conclusion).
"You can't be serious!" Bobby piped up, fuming, as he glared at Batman, "How can you take their side? Even after everything Piper said and did?"
Batman said, "Piper Halliwell is hot-headed, narrow-minded, curt and selfish at times due to her desire to live a normal life with her children and husband without needing to be a heroic witch of a destiny she did ask for, but she is no liar. And neither are Phoebe and Paige for that matter. If they say that they had nothing to do with it, then I believe them, especially since the Hellfire Club and the Thirteenth Order is targeting them, and I can't say that the sudden discord and this so-called crime is entirely coincidental."
"Excuse us if we can't say we agree, bub," Wolverine shot back snidely. Batman's mouth thinned, but he didn't retort back.
Paige then turned to Justin, concerned.
"And Justin, I apologize for Piper's behalf, even though I shouldn't, and she should be the one here to make amends. But I'm half-Whitelighter too, so I know what's like to be a person of Whitelighter descent. And I don't condemn you because you're Gideon's son. It's just…Gideon didn't do right to Piper and Leo in the past."
"We don't want to hear an excuse, Paige," Dragonfly shot down crossly, but Justin nodded, feeling a bit better.
"I understand. Gideon didn't do what was right to me either," Justin said, remembering the past battles with the Dinosaucers, ignoring some of the puzzled looks the X-Men were giving him. Sunspot leaned over to Blob and Dragonfly.
"Is there something we should know about this Gideon dude?" Roberto asked.
"Yeah, spill it! It's not fair that us X-Men should be left alone in the dark, especially anything concerning these witches who probably killed Jubilee's parents!" Rogue ordered none too gently.
"We'll explain later because it's a long story," Fred sighed wearily.
"Blob, it's all right. I'm over it," Justin repeated insistently, but Pietro had a fiendish and naughty look on his face as he took out a remote control from his pocket.
"Uh-uh, chubby-cheeks! You're forgetting the old Misfit adage: don't get mad, get even!"
"What did you do, Quicksilver?" Ororo asked suspiciously.
"I had a few surprises in my pockets should I ever decide to have some fun," the speedster explained as he pressed the button on the remote control, "And I hid them all over the house after that witch slapped Whitelighter here."
KABOOM!
There was a sharp, piercing shriek of rage from Piper as the guests and visitors turned back to the Halliwell Manor and they could now see the windows of the first and second story were now thickly covered with foam from the inside.
"Shaving cream! It's everywhere!" Leo was heard bellowing while upstairs, there were the evident sounds of Chris and Wyatt crying from their bedroom, awoken from their slumber by the chaos.
"My house! My house! They ruined my house!" Piper was heard screeching, and Paige grimaced as she realized that if Piper got her hands on Pietro, the Misfit probably wouldn't even live to see the sun rise. Chao-Ahn turned to Fred.
"Is your team always like this?" the Chinese Slayer asked in Cantonese. Fred tried not to grin, but failed somewhat as he snorted merrily.
"Actually, we're even worse," he clarified back in Chao-Ahn's native tongue, and Chao-Ahn winced, not sure if she was going to like being associated and working with people that could make the term "insane" seem too generous and light of a description.
Jean turned to Pietro who was busy giving high-fives to Lance and Xi and gave the albino speedster a long look.
"You know, normally, I'm sick and tired of your pranks, but I have to give you a pat on the back for this one," Jean smiled wickedly at last.
"You guys better go," Paige said as she started to walk back to the house, "But I'll help in any way I can once I calm Piper down. And I'll still see if I can convince some of the Elders to help out with Supergirl and the Gathering, Oath or no Oath."
"Be careful, then," Hawk nodded appreciatively as the Misfits and the Joes grabbed to as many X-Men and Slayers and Scoobies they could and teleported away.
Unfortunately, none of the group knew of the cameras attached to the windowsills of the Victorian house that filmed the whole thing…
Author's Notes: Sorry I was so late with this chapter, but I hope you enjoyed the drama and fights (hey, I said things would be getting ugly eventually and there was a reason I named this chapter this way)! Next Friday, check back when the Misfits, X-Men, and Joes finally learn the truth about the Slayer lore, while things get tense between the Charmed Ones, hitting new low points all around! And let's not forget the brewing trouble from Inspector Sheridan and Agent Keyes! Will things get worse for the Halliwells? You bet! Check back next Friday for the chapter, "Rook Takes Bishop", and until then, read, enjoy, and review! Constructive criticism welcome! And until then, Happy New Year!