A/N: Quick update! Peanut, you and I were totally on the same wavelength here. lol You'll see what I mean as this chapter gets going. And, once again, I must give credit where credit is due. A character will appear in this chapter (only briefly) named Maxwell, and he'll be what's known to any A Blessing Or A Curse? fan as the current Fire Elemental. Again, he is Ross' (RJF) creation, not mine. But he is critical in something that happens in this chapter. Oh, and Ross, thank you for "conspiring" with me for the crossover ideas in this chapter. The plot I described to you was by far my favorite Michelle outcome, and I'm so glad that you liked it too, and wanted to go along with it. :-D (P.S. Just in case anyone's confused, "electromancy" is something I came up with. I was doing a Google search for mind based powers several months ago, when I came across something called "pyromancy," which is the name of the ability to control and manipulate fire and its intensity, but NOT create it. So I decided that I'd just change "pyro" to "electro," and use the same concept only with electricity instead of fire. And "technopathy" is a variation of something from the movie Sky High. The villain was a "technopath," which meant she could communicate and control technology with her mind, like Michelle, so I just altered the word to make it an actual power, instead of describing the user of the power. I hope that makes sense.)
Change Happens
Chapter 39: Insane Francisco
"Are you okay?" Emma hadn't said anything up until that point, but ever since they'd orbed into the psychiatric hospital, Piper had been acting so strangely. Or, maybe it was just the fact that this Piper was different from the one in her own world. However, judging from the unease that saturated the woman beside her, she hypothesized it was something more.
Piper shivered involuntarily. Her mind kept flashing to Alaster, and how he'd nearly tricked her into thinking that she really was a mental patient…one who'd almost done away with the Power of Three, with a single spell. But the sound of the redhead's voice jolted her back to reality. "Yeah," she smiled falsely, "peachy."
Emma shook her head. Had this been her Piper, she would've mouthed off with something sarcastic, as 'peachy' was not part of the Piper vocabulary that she knew so well.
"Do you sense them?"
Emma stopped suddenly, obviously not expecting the brunette's question. "Who?"
"The patients," Piper clarified. "Do you sense them? Are any of them still here, in the hospital?"
Emma frowned. It wasn't until just now that she realized they'd been combing the deserted halls, and she hadn't even thought of using her powers to find them. Good thinking, Emma. Way to go! She placed her fingers to her temples, gently massaging them as she psychically searched for any signs of life.
The Charmed One folded her arms. "Well?"
Lines began to crease Emma's soft facial features. "No."
"No what? No, they aren't here. Or no, you just can't sense them?"
"I can't sense them. Which means Michelle must've gotten to them first. Taken away their ability for me to sense their emotional presence." Emma began to nervously rake her hands through her glossy red hair. "Which would explain your sister's vision. Mentally disturbed people are capable of the unknown. Michelle's powers can make the average mortal go insane on their own. So-"
"Coupling that girl's powers with an already mentally disturbed person is catastrophic?" Piper interjected. "Not to mention that they're already jacked up on all those drugs that they get in these places."
"So how do we get them un-Michelled?" Piper stopped at one of the white doors along the long corridor that they were walking down. She pressed her face to the glass, peaking inside. Her hand moved ever so slowly to the door handle.
"I think I might be able to reverse her effects, or at least cancel them out, with a few empathic blasts of my own."
"Emma?" She jiggled the handle, and it slowly swung open, much to her surprise. As Piper moved to step inside, she felt something on her neck. It was hot…and almost wet. "E-Emma?" And then she heard a low, raspy nose. It was barely detectable to her ear, but due to the high alert that her senses were now on, she'd picked up on it quickly. She ducked. Her left leg swung out in a half circle as soon as her right hand caught the waxy floor, and she kept balance by placing the majority of her weight on the right side of her body.
There was a thump. Piper's leg had swept into the ankle of a small man with wiry black hair, hairless bony white legs, and wild brown eyes. Literally. As he fell on his tailbone, his eyeballs rolled around their sockets in opposite directions. His mental problems clearly merged into the physical as well. He was a frighteningly bony creature, wearing only a papery white hospital-like gown. His lips were large, very Angelina Jolie, and quite parched.
Piper let out a little shriek, as she grabbed the edge of the door and attempted to hoist herself up. As her hand wrapped around the handle, she felt a skeletal hand wrap around her fleshy ankle. Through her peripheral vision, she could see that both the arm and hand were nothing but a skeleton, with an epidermal layer. It sent chills up her spine. With adrenalin pumping through her body, she viciously kicked at the hand's owner, landing her two in heel directly into the man's throat.
He screeched as he felt his Adam's apple press against the back of his throat, causing his hold on Piper to loosen enough for her to break free. He grabbed at his throat, gasping as a red shoe print began to redden across his pasty skin.
Cringing, the brunette threw up her hands, bringing the choking man to a halt. She skirted past his frozen form, which took up ninety percent of the doorway, and found herself back in the white hall. "Emma?" Her brown eyes fell to the floor, catching a clump of red hair out of the corner of her eye. "Oh no!" She knelt down, patting Emma's face with her hand. "Hey, please, you've got to wake up!"
Emma's blue eyes fluttered, as she came to. At first things seemed a little fuzzy, but before long she could see Piper's worried face staring down at her.
"Thank goodness!"
"What happened?" The empath asked groggily.
"I don't know. One minute I was talking to you, and the next you were lying on the ground and that guy," the brunette pointed to the frozen man in the doorway, "was hovering behind me."
Emma turned towards the man, squinting her eyes.
"What're you doing?"
"Scanning his mind."
"For what?"
"To find out what he…" The mutant's face suddenly fell. "Vietnam," she murmured. "He landed in here before of delusions." Emma reached her hand around her neck. "He used some type of military move on me," she explained, "he applied pressure somewhere in here to cause me to fall unconscious."
Piper's nose wrinkled. "Guess the military is full of secrets, isn't it?"
"What color were his eyes?"
"Come again?"
"What color were his eyes," Emma asked. She stumbled to her full height, and pressed her weight against the wall as she got her bounds.
"I don't know." Piper moved back into the room, ever so careful not to disturb the statue-like patient that sat on the floor. Then she frowned. "Reddish-purple."
"Burgundy?"
Piper began to nod slowly. "Yeah."
"That means Michelle already got to him."
"So, like I said before you so rudely fell to the ground, how do we fix him."
"Like this." A white globe of psionic energy appeared above Emma's head. With a nod of her head, the globe was sent on a direct path into the back of the frozen man's skull, and he unfroze with a small gasp.
Piper jumped back. Her hands flung out in front of her, just in case she needed to freeze the patient again. Thankfully, he was still too preoccupied with the damage she'd caused to his throat. Then a twang pierced her heart. She felt slightly bad for the poor guy, despite the fact that he'd scared the crap out of her at first. And then she noticed his eyes. "Hey," she grinned, "they're back to normal!"
Emma beckoned for Piper to follow her out of the room. "Good. One down, a thousand more to go."
"God, I hope not." As Piper stepped out of the room, she saw Emma turn the corner down the hall. "Wait! What are we supposed to do about him?" And she jumped as the man began to float towards the empty bed inside the room. Once he was safely there, the door promptly shut in Piper's face, followed by a click, letting the witch know that the door was locked. "Thank you!" She hollered. And then she scurried down the hall to catch up with the mutant. She didn't want to be alone in this crazy place.
----
Dirty red-purple orbs appeared far atop the rusty colored Golden Gate Bridge, forming into Michelle and the two Halliwell cousins. A wicked smile was plastered onto her dark lips. From up here, she could wreck the most havoc. She stepped forward, leaving Persia and Pearl on the center of the thick piece of dark red metal.
She peered over the side, seeing all of the unsuspecting vehicles below. They looked like tiny, colored ants. She smirked. The mutant's eyes caught one car, she couldn't tell for sure, but she thought it looked red. Either way, it was now locked into her sight. Michelle's arm rose, and she dipped her fingers towards the vehicle. Instantly, the moving dot halted on its high speed journey across the bridge. Within seconds, her smile broadened as she saw another car slam into it, causing a plume of black smoke to rise between the vehicles.
Michelle's initial power had been technopathy. It enabled her to communicate telepathically with machines, and control them. Over time, just like Emma, she'd grown far more powerful. She'd even gained a new power: electromancy. This power allowed her to control and manipulate electricity. It was by combining these extreme abilities that she was able to not only control Persia's electrical attacks, but also control the electrokinetic herself.
"Lightning!" Michelle spun to face the Child of Light, commanding the teen to summon her an electrical storm. Her hand arched towards Persia, using her powers to force the girl's compliance.
Persia's arms snapped towards the sky, and despite the mental fight she put up, Michelle was too powerful. Her fingers began to curl and flex, and her hair began to blow wildly around her head as static electricity burst from very being. The sky lit up as a single flash of lightning appeared in the blue sky. Following it, blood rushed from Persia's nostrils. And then again fork of neon lightning appeared, this time brighter, and lasting several seconds longer than the previous.
"Again!" Michelle's entire body tingled. The girl was so powerful. And this time she'd seize onto that power in order to help complete her destructive rampage.
Persia's mouth ripped so wide that it would've been possible for her to fit her entire fist into it. Her scream was almost as loud as thunder itself. And her eyes squinted into two, small slits. This time the sky ripped open for a shocking bolt to appear. It almost looked like the arm of some mighty being, dropping down towards earth to destroy it with one mighty swipe. And then blood flooded from her nose, coating the entire front of her shirt in a red veil. She might as well of had a bucket of pig's blood thrown onto her, and it wouldn't have looked any different.
Michelle curled her fist, using her electromancist powers to increase the intensity of the bolt, and hold onto it so that it couldn't flash away. And then she pounded her fist into the air as if she were banging a gavel. The lightning bolt tore out of the sky and slammed into the center of the Golden Gate Bridge, before fizzling away.
Staring down, the telecyber could see the smoke that was billowing from the gaping black hole in the center of the bridge. The sound of skidding breaks and blaring horns were music to her ears. But what she liked most was ceiling the cars pile up as they smashed into one other, forming a reverse domino effect. "This will definitely get Emma's attention," she croaked. "With all this pain, she won't be able to stand it much longer."
----
The breaks screeched. "Oooh." Glenn rubbed his shoulder, moving along down his chest in a diagonal line. "What the hell was that for?" His eyes flicked to Andy. "I can already tell I'm going to have bruise here tomorrow."
Andy lifted his hand, flipping it towards the scene in front of them. "Well, I could've rear ended the van in front of us, or I could've slammed on the breaks."
"Did you have to try and kill me in the process?"
"I figured bruising you was less expensive than totaling that van."
"It might not have been totaled," Glenn grumbled. His balanced his right elbow on the arm right, and then set his chin in his palm, so that he could look outside his side window comfortably. "What's going on out there, anyway? Why has traffic stopped?"
"Who're you talking to? The mouse in your pocket?" Andy shifted his car into park, and then pulled his foot from the break. "How am I supposed to know. Phoebe's the psychic."
Glenn reached for the radio, pressing the button for the A.M. station, and then craning the dial until he found the one he always listened to.
"We'll be back in a few moments with another update…"
Andy groaned. "It would be just our luck that it would go to commercial, just when you turn it on."
Glenn snorted. "We live a charmed life, isn't it?"
"No," Andy sighed, "only a semi-charmed life."
Glenn reached up, flipping down his visor so that he could access the small mirror on the reverse side. "Do you have a spare toothpick?"
Andy leaned back in his chair, slightly disgusted. "You're really going to pick your teeth in front of me?"
Glenn grabbed a grease spotted In-N-Out Burger bag from the floor. "They've got good burgers, but I always get little burger bits-"
"Okay, okay!" Andy leaned across Glenn, reaching into his glove box and pulled out a small bottle full of wooden toothpicks. "Take your pick. Just don't make that sucking noise that Phoebe makes when she picks her teeth."
Glenn snickered. "I won't, I promise." He popped off the lid and pulled out a toothpick. "I make more of a slopping noise." Upon his friend's disgusted grin, he tossed the bottle back into the glove compartment and turned his attention back up to the mirror. "There's a-"
Andy's neck snapped forward, with a sizable crack. His chest grazed the steering wheel, before the seatbelt slapped him back into the driver's seat, causing his neck bones to crack again. Out of his peripheral vision, he could see that Glenn had experienced the same. But it wasn't over. He was pinned to his seat as his car lurched forward, slamming into the car he'd worked so hard not to crash into, all because of the multiple car collision that had taken place behind him and Glenn.
----
Phoebe and Paige tore around a corner street in Chinatown, coming up on a small seafood restaurant. Phoebe eyes brown eyes enlarged as she smacked her sister. "Oh, Paige, the gun! The gun!"
Paige's fingers spread out as she tossed her hand out in front of her. "Gun!" And soon the heavy weight of a metal gun appeared in her hands out of a blue glow.
"What the fuck?" The man who'd previously held the gun, the only one in a black ski mask, stared confusedly down at his now empty hands. Then he swirled around to see who was behind, as the female voices he'd heard had just been talking about a gun.
Paige smiled sheepishly as she pointed the gun at the man's face. "Hands up?"
A heavy black bag, filled to the hilt with cash, dropped from his hands and landed with a splat at his feet. Dirty, fish smelling water that had drained from the floor of the restaurant during it's cleaning, splashed up onto the black cuffs of his pant legs. The burglar's hands lifted to the sky. "Wh-what are you?"
"The good guys," Paige said with a shrug. She shook the gun, waving it towards the brick wall. "Hands on the wall, buddy." She glanced at her sister. "Pheebs."
"Oh! Right." The precognitive grabbed the bag of loot, and wandered over to the entrance to the restaurant. As she stepped inside, she saw a flood of people on the ground, with her hands covering their heads. She shook her head. "This is worse than I thought," she murmured. She'd already had a flood of premonitions that she, Paige, and Prue had already taken care of over the last hour. And even as she stood there in the doorway, Prue was off somewhere taking care of another vision she'd had. "It's alright," she announced. "I'm here to help." She held up the bag of money to prove her point.
----
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Cole Turner leaned lazily against one of the brick walls that lined the alley he was currently in. In his right hand, he bounced a neon yellow energy ball.
"And just what do you think you're going to do about it, Belthazor?"
Cole's expression remained bored. And then in a swift motion, the demon he'd just been conversing with was screaming in agony as supernatural flames consumed him. The energy ball was gone from his hand. The half demon resisted the urge to laugh. He'd spent a long time trying to suppress his dark side, and he didn't want to give into the joy of killing now. Even if it had been for the right reasons.
The woman, who'd previously been held at knife point, was now cowering in the far corner of the alley. Small cuts and bruises lined her arms and face. Apparently she'd fought her demonic attacker, and she'd fought hard.
Cole took a few cautious strides towards the woman. "Are you alright?"
Shrinking to the ground, she covered her head and sobbed, "Please don't kill me!"
He froze in surprise. His heart leapt a little faster. He'd almost forgotten what it felt like to be so powerful that people stooped to beginning. Almost. "It's okay," he said softly. "The Charmed Ones sent me."
The woman poked her cowering head up from under her arms. "The Charmed Ones?" She craned her neck, and some of her dirty blonde hair fell away shoulder. It revealed a small pentacle made to look like a green rose stem, complete with a blooming red rose in the pentacle's center.
Cole offered his hand, which was taken after a long beat, and steadied the witch. "Are you okay?"
She nodded solemnly. "Thank you." Then her gaze shifted past Cole, out to the street. "The Charmed Ones," she said slowly, "do they know what's going on out there?"
Cole pursed his lips, debating on how much to tell this woman. "They have a pretty good idea," he finally settled.
"It's really bad."
"I know." Cole bowed his head. "Look, there's no time for me to stay and chat. There are-"
"Go." The blonde began to walk towards the street. "I understand."
Cole nodded. He'd done a lot of good in the years following the fateful day he'd met Phoebe. But something about this one, despite the catastrophic circumstances that were taking place all around him, felt so much more special. She'd actually thanked him, a demon, for saving her. He shimmered out, thinking about how good it felt to be praised for his actions.
----
In all the commotion, nobody seemed to notice the ruby flare that appeared at the guardrail of the Golden Gate Bridge. When Astral Prue appeared, she was immediately assaulted by the stench of charred remains, flaming wreckage, and foul black smoke. It was definitely a horrific sight to be seen, even for a Charmed One.
The astral projection stepped cautiously onto the blacktop. The traffic, as far as her blue eyes could see on either side of the road, had been ground to a halt. People were screaming, running, and dying or dead all around her.
"Help me!"
"Oh my God! She's dead!"
"Please, just stay with me a little longer…please…"
"No! No, God, no! Why?"
"The apocalypse is upon us!"
"Help!"
Astral Prue whipped her head from side to side, not sure which way she should or could go first. It was a disaster. "How could she have done all this?" Her eyes lifted to the sky, as if expecting an answer. When she received none, she returned her attention muti-car pile ups. Her attention was immediately drawn to what looked like a very pregnant woman, who was being held back from a burning car.
"My baby's in that car! I have to get to my little girl. Let me go!"
The astral bit back on her lip. She wasn't sure if the little girl could've survived a wreck like that, but she had to try and find out. So she ran past the woman and grabbed onto the side of the charred door. It seemed to be jammed, so she gave it a small telekinetic push, and it fell off its hinges.
"Wait!"
Prue's head whipped around to see one of the men who'd been holding back the mother.
"Let me." He gently pushed her aside, and climbed into the van. Within seconds, he'd disappeared into the backseats.
Astral Prue turned to the hysteric woman. She moved to her quietly, and placed a comforting arm around the woman's neck and shoulders. It was really all she could do to console her. That, and pray that her daughter would be okay.
"Maggy!" The woman shrieked, ripping away from the astral projection as soon as the man emerged from the burning car, holding a coughing and soot covered little girl.
"Is she alright?"
The man smiled at Astral Prue and held out his hand to shake hers. "Yeah, I think she'll be fine." He shook his head, disbelieving. "I don't know how you got that door off, we all tried and it was completely jammed. But thank you."
"You're a miracle worker." It was the mother. Tears were ribbing down her face as she clutched her coughing child.
"You're welcome," the astral smiled. "I'm just glad she's okay." She suddenly waved down the bridge. "I, uh, I've gotta go…"
"Yes," the mother smiled brightly, "go save someone else. I know that's what you're here to do. You're an angel."
Astral Prue turned away. It was the second time in her life that she'd been called an angel by one of the innocent people that she'd saved. And then she heard a scream. Her head whipped around, just as a man leapt off the Golden Gate. Gasping, she ran to the guardrail and leaned over as far as she could. He was just out of her grasp. Then a few more inches, followed by a few more. Her fingers flexed, and the man became suspended in the air, before reversing his descent and coming back up just enough for the astral to grab his hand.
He was a strikingly young man, with dark hair and deep blue eyes. And he gasped as he felt the projection's hand wrap around his. He honestly thought he'd been done for. His decision to jump had been a rash one. His car had been totaled in one of the wrecks, his only real possession which he couldn't afford insurance on. And so he'd ran to the edge and jumped. As soon as his feet left the side, he'd known it was a mistake. But he also knew that nobody could possibly save him now. At least, he thought nobody could.
"I'm gonna help you back over," Astral Prue called. And with one hand she grabbed onto the railing to steady herself, while the other began to pull on his arm. He was very heavy, even for the skinny young man that he was. So she squinted her eyes, giving her the helping pull that she needed, and he flew up and over the railing.
The man landed with a thump on the blacktop. His body ached, but he knew it would've hurt far worse had he landed in the water. Although it wouldn't have been for long. He placed both his hands on the ground and pushed himself up. "Thank y-" But he didn't see her anywhere. It was like, she'd saved him and just vanished into thin air. His eyes lifted skyward. "An angel."
----
A shiny silver Porsche pulled up in front of the Halliwell Manor. Alternate Pamela sat in the front, black leather seat. A look of irritation was evident on her face. It had taken her three times longer to get here than it normally should have, all because streets were closed off due to wrecks and pile ups. That, and she was a little rusty at hot wiring. Where eve Michelle had taken her friend, the keys to Persia's Porsche had gone with her.
The driver's side door flew open, and the dark haired college student jumped out. She had almost stooped to literally crossing her fingers, hoping that someone was home. If not, she'd just have to consult this world's Book of Shadows by herself. And maybe, if she was lucky, find something that could help her.
She reached the door, smacking it several times, only to receive no answer. "Oh, for crying out loud!" Alternate Pam flipped her wrist, sending both doors flying open, making way for her entrance. "Anybody home?" She cupped her hands around her mouth. "Hello!" And when no answer came, she began to trot up the stairs towards the attic. "The Book is probably in the same place in any world," she mused aloud. In fact, she was so busy talking to herself that she didn't see Prue come around the corner, and smacked right into her.
"Whoa!" Prue held up her hands. "Where did you come from?"
Alternate Pam stopped short, staring wide eyed at the older witch. She knew that this woman wasn't her mother, yet some of the same angry feelings began to well up deep inside her heart. "Prue," she said a little too harshly.
Prue cocked her head to the side, examining the girl. "I remember you," she said slowly, "Persia's friend?"
The twenty-year-old nodded. "Uh, right. Persia's friend." Just saying the words briefly cleared her mind. "Persia! Michelle took her!"
"What?" Prue was already on her way to the attic.
"I have to find Emma. She's the only one who can help. But she's not answering my calls."
Prue burst through the attic, not even waiting to get to the Book. She brought it to her. "Emma." The pages began to whir. "Emma and Piper are at the mental hospital."
"The mental hospital?"
Prue flicked her wrist towards a shelf where the map of San Francisco and their scrying crystal was kept. "It's on that map. A little passed Fisherman's Warf."
"Why are they there?"
"Because we think Michelle has used her powers on its patients. The story's all over the news. The patients have already killed four people, including two doctors, so they went down there to try and reverse Michelle's effects."
"Then I don't understand why she didn't just come when I called her…"
----
"Agh!" Emma rubbed her throbbing temples. She and Piper had been down so many hallways that she'd lost count a long time ago. And as they walked, her mind and body seemed to be getting more tired and more painful.
"Emma?"
"I can't take this!" Emma threw out her arms. "This is taking too long!" She closed her eyes and her body began to emanate a soft pink glow.
Piper pulled back. "Wh-what're you doing?"
"Piper," she said forcefully, "just please don't interrupt me right now!"
"You're scaring me."
"You should be scared. This is no time for games." The glow spread across her body, now becoming a throbbing pink; almost as bright as her empathic orbs themselves. And then the air around her began to visibly ripple and pulse as immense amounts of psychic magic pulsated from her.
Her cherry red hair began to fly around her head as psychokinetic energy picked up around them, causing the entire mental hospital to shake as if an earthquake were suddenly striking on its foundations. And then a nova-like blast of white hot energy ripped from her body. It expanded in large, circular ripples, like ripple on a pond. The energy tore through the walls, causing them to bend and move but not actually break. Her power was meant just for the hospital and all its inhabitants. She would take care of them all with one mighty psionic blast.
----
Michelle staggered backwards. All at once, emotions came emotion came flooding back to a horde of people that she'd previously taken it away from. "Emma!" She snarled. Apparently the empath was more powerful than she'd anticipated. "Well," she said slowly, "so am I."
And her arms extended towards the city that lay before her. Her eyes began to glow a blue-white color, and then a beam of cyber energy pulsated from her eyes and darted across the bridge, blowing a hole straight through one of the cables that helped to hold up the landmark. Then with a swish of her hand, every technological invention in San Francisco ceased to function. "Come on, Emma! Stop playing around. Come and find me!"
A copper-gold sheen exploded from her body, wrapping her from head to toe in the bright light. Her entire body had transformed into what appeared to be a curvatious robot. A golden-copper armor covered every surface of her body, and her eyes remained the frightening blue-white holes.
----
Piper moaned as she came too. "Emma?" The brunette blinked her eyes several times before asking, "What happened? Why am I on the floor?"
"I accidentally took you out with my psionic blast."
"You what?" The Charmed One practically screeched.
"I had no other choice! The pain across San Francisco was becoming too great for me, and I had to do something! Besides, just wandering around the hospital was taking way too long."
"So you just…"
"Took in all the pain from the city, and in a sense recycled it. I used myself as a vessel to send it right back out, and it sent a shockwave of emotion through the mental hospital, catching all of Michelle's victims in one fail swoop. So I took care of everything we've been working on for the last few hours, in a few minutes."
Piper folded her arms, glowering at the redhead. "So why didn't you do this earlier? I mean, why drag me through here when you could've taken care of it all at once?"
"On the contrary," the psionic disagreed. "I was only able to do it when the pain of the majority of the city was at its worst. And up until a little while ago, it wasn't." She offered her hand. "But I can promise you that it's slowly creeping back up." Emma lifted her hands towards the darkened halls. "Notice anything different?"
"The lights aren't on."
"Michelle's put a stop to all the electricity in the city. Everything electrical, and modernly technological like cars or cell phones won't work."
"Shit!"
"You can say that again." Emma grabbed Piper's wrist. "C'mon. We should get back to your house. Pamela's been calling me, and up until now, I couldn't come." Before she could protest, they'd vanished in a plume of bubblegum pink orbs.
----
"Where the hell have you been?" Alternate Pamela blasted. "I've been calling you for almost an hour!"
"I was saving innocents," the empath snapped. She looked to Prue and then to Piper. "Which is what I need to get back to."
"How?"
"Just trust me." Emma beckoned to the college student. "You need to come with me, Pam. I need you to open up the portal to our world."
"But-"
"Do you want to save your friend or not?"
"You know where she is?"
Emma's head bobbed up, seeing Phoebe and Paige in the doorway. "Yes."
"Then we're going with you."
"No! Michelle's too dangerous."
"She's my daughter," Phoebe growled. Her dark brown eyes bore into Emma's polished blue ones. "We're coming."
"Where is she?" Paige asked cautiously.
"At the top of the Golden Gate Bridge." Taking Alternate Pam's hand she said, "We'll meet you there then." And she pink orbed.
"The Golden Gate Bridge?" Paige repeated in disbelief.
"Well what are you waiting for?" Phoebe shook her sister's arm. "Orb!"
"Not without us!" Prue and Piper chorused.
Paige offered her hands, completing a circle with her sisters. Her orbs engulfed them, sending them towards the ceiling and beyond, following Emma's orb trail towards the top of San Francisco's most famous landmark.
----
"This ends now!" Emma curled her fist before the pink glow around her had even faded, and upon stepping out of the cloud of lights that had transported her to the top of the bridge, she sent her fist into her former friend's jaw.
Blood sprayed from Michelle's mouth and lips as the redhead's fist pounded into her flesh, instantly bruising the tender facial tissue. She smiled wickedly. "It's about time you got here, Em," she snarled as she cupped her newest wound.
"I'm taking you back home. You don't belong in this world!"
"Not even you can fix the damage I've caused here!" Michelle curled her fingers and pressed her palms outwards, shoving Emma in the chest and knocking her towards the edge of the rust colored metal beam.
"Wanna bet?" Emma teetered on the edge for a minute, before grabbing a clump of Michelle's hair and using Michelle's weight to drag herself back onto the center of the beam. In a quick movement, she had the telecyber locked in a choke hold. "Pam! Start the damn spell!" And just as she'd done in the psychiatric hospital, her body began to glow a soft pink as she absorbed the pain and suffering that still existed in San Francisco.
"Wh-what's this?" The apath choked. She could feel Emma's strong arm cutting off her oxygen supply. Not that it would kill her of course, but it could knock her out. And then Emma could do away with her. That wasn't something she was willing to let happen. Michelle curled her fist, and then slammed her hard elbow into Emma's gut, catching the empath off guard. Grinning, she broke free of Emma's gasp as the psionic stumbled towards the edge of the beam.
"Emma!" Persia, bloodied and weak, lunged for her red haired friend and grabbed her hand as the empath slipped over the top of the bridge.
Alternate Pamela broke her concentration, stopping the spell to grab ahold of Persia and hoist her and Emma back onto the beam. Her eyes flicked back to Michelle, who appeared to be ready to hit Emma with a cyber blast. Her hand flew out and the apathic mutant sailed into the side of the beam, knocking her head on the orange-red corner and drawing a bloody wound.
Emma threw open her arms, finally piquing as her body exploded in a pink glow, sending another explosive blast of psychic energy from her person. But this time it was about ten times more powerful than it had been in the mental hospital. This time the blinding glow shot across the entire Golden Gate Bridge, engulfed the bay, and tore across all of San Francisco.
Persia and Alternate Pamela joined hands and began to chant simultaneously. When the blinding glow of Emma's powers finally faded, a glowing blue Triquetra portal appeared in front of them.
Emma turned away from the apath, who was slowly coming to after having fallen unconscious from the combination of the blast and the wound that Alternate Pamela had caused to her head. Her focus was on Pearl, who up until that point had remained completely stationary during the whole set of events.
Now Pearl was lying face up on the orange beam, with her eyes frozen to the sky. Emma DeLauro's heart gave a little jump when she realized that Pearl's irises were no longer burgundy, but their normal chocolate brown. Emma looked sympathetically at Paige. "She'll be fine. You just need to watch and wait for her to wake up on her own."
"Emma!"
Emma closed her eyes. Michelle. She gave a little sigh, without turning back to face the brunette. And then she used her powers to force Michelle through the portal that Persia and Alternate Pamela had opened up. "I'm sorry," she said truthfully. Her eyes washed over the Halliwells' faces. "I couldn't fix everything, but I did what I could." She marched over to the portal and put one leg through. "I can take care of everything from here." And then she disappeared inside the pulsating Triquetra, allowing it to seal itself behind her.
Piper wandered close to the edge of the red-orange beam, gazing down at the destruction that had taken place across the city. Turning her head towards her sisters she asked, "How're we going to explain this?"
Persia staggered to her feet. She was so exhausted that she had to lean her friend for support. "I think I have an idea."
----Alternate Reality----
To her surprise, the portal had not taken Emma back to Pamela's apartment as she had thought it would. In fact, it had not even taken her to the top of the Golden Gate. It had, however, transported both her and Michelle into the kitchen of the Halliwell Manor in her world. During the few critical seconds that her mind had pondered the thought, she failed to notice that Michelle was up and flailing her arm at her.
Emma clutched her throat as one of Michelle's apathic blast passed through her. She soon found herself on her knees, with Michelle towering over her. The psionic mutant let out a small gasp. Her arm swung out, bashing into Michelle's legs and knocking her to the floor. As the redhead used the edge of the island to pull herself up, she heard the sound of the front doors creek open.
"Piper! I'm here for that meeting you were talking about."
Maxwell? The mutant swung her head towards the entrance to the kitchen. She could hear his footsteps getting louder. "Oh crap!" She didn't need anyone else getting hurt today. And then Emma felt a sharp pain in her side. Looking down, she could see white-blue cyber energy burning into her flesh. She let out a small utterance, before dropping out of the cyber path and allowing it to finish off a hole on the opposite side of the room. She heard Maxwell's feet quicken their pace, and then caught his profile from the corner of her eye as he ran into the kitchen.
"Michelle?"
"Maxwell?" The glowing white-blue eyes faded, revealing the dark irises she was born with. The copper-gold armor that seemed so impenetrable faded, revealing the soft and curvy body of a woman. A woman who, despite her magical status, still appeared to have some emotion hidden deep inside her.
The momentary shock that washed over Michelle, and her lapse in concentration, gave Emma just the opportunity she needed. The ground beneath her feet began to shake with psychokinetic pressure, literally knocking Michelle to the floor. Then the empath moved quickly to her side, hovering over her with a bright beam of psionic energy bouncing above her blue eyes.
Michelle's eyes seemed to roll back in her head and then clouded with the familiar white-blue cyber light.
"I'm sorry Michelle," Emma whispered. And then shot the beam into her friend's forehead. It filled the room with a blinding light. A single tear escaped the empath's eye as her former best friend convulsed under her power.
----
"Mommy!" The little boy was roughly three-years-old. He had thick, coal black hair and dark steely gray eyes. If his father had known about him, he would've also known that he looked just like him. His rounded face contorted into a mixture of red blotches and streaked tears. A small oil tanker dropped from his pudgy hand and hit the floor with a thump. His head whipped around, and his face caught the ghostly blue-white glow of the computer as it flickered to life.
He wiped his nose on his sleeve, leaving a small trail of snot on the checkered sleeve. "Mommy?" He mewed, staring anxiously at the screen. His little hand arched out and his fingers caressed the screen, leaving oily fingerprints behind.
'Mason.'
Mason's lip trembled. "No leave me," he begged. And as he spoke, his words appeared on the glowing screen under his name.
'Mommy loves you.'
'Mason loves mommy.'
This time the words vanished from the screen. There was only a glowing blue background. And then a rectangular box appeared in the center of the screen, and slowly a picture began to form. It was fuzzy and pixilated at first, and then within seconds, it was as clear as day: dark messy black hair, handsome gray eyes, and dark blue oil blotched overalls over a dingy white cotton t-shirt. 'Maxwell,' was typed underneath the photo.
Mason ran his dirty fingers across the pictures. He outlined it with his index finger. The picture mesmerized him. It looked exactly like him…if he was big. A few more tears squeezed from his eyes. "Daddy?" And again, as he spoke, his question wrote itself on screen.
'Find daddy.' And after several seconds, the picture faded away, only for a shady whitish, crackling outline to take its place. It was the profile of a woman's face. Although it wasn't detailed, it was clear that there was a sad smile on her face. And then it slowly changed into the outline of a hand, smack dab in the center of the screen.
Sobbing now, Mason attempted to align his hand and fingers with the slim, slender ones on the screen. His was too small, though, and too chubby. "Me loves you," he sniffled. And then the screen died. The computer shut off. His mom was gone, and despite his three-year-old status, he knew it.
The toddler stumbled clumsily over to his oil tanker toy, plucked it from the floor and held it tightly to his chest. "Daddy," he choked. He wasn't sure where he was supposed to start looking for his daddy, but his mom had told him to do so. And Mason always did what him mom asked him to do.
With a little scream of anger and pain, a wall of burgundy flames rose up around the small boy, engulfing him in a roar of heat. They were going to take him away from his home, the only place he'd ever known for al of his three years. And when they'd finally vanished, they left not even a scorch mark behind. It was as if little Mason Bigelow had never been there at all.
----
"You know her?" Emma asked incredulously.
Maxwell knelt down to the floor, staring at the waves of brown hair he'd ran his hand through so many times before. "About three and a half years ago, just a while after I became the new Fire Elemental, I met Michelle. She was one of the electricians that was sent to inspect our oil tanker before we took it to sea."
He gently stroked the bruised cheek in which Emma had bashed her fist into. "I really liked her, and we ended up having a short fling for about a month. Then she just up and broke things off. I haven't seen or heard from her until…today." Maxwell's hand cupped as he covered it above her head. Her eyes were still frozen open, and with a swift motion of his hand, he closed them. They hadn't been a very serious relation, but he had liked Michelle Bigelow very much. It hurt to see her like this. It hurt a lot.
"I think I should probably go," he said slowly. The Fire Elemental stood up, turning away from the cooling body of his ex-girlfriend. This just wasn't right. He couldn't believe that she was gone. She'd been so fun, so full of life when they'd dated. Shaking his head, he silently wondered why the world had to be so cruel. Magic, he thought bitterly. Some say it's a blessing…but I think it's more of a curse.
----Real World----
Alternate Pamela poked her head into the bedroom. "Are you almost ready?"
Persia was lying on her back, with a cold wash rag to her nose. "Yeah. I think it's all bled out." She pulled the cloth away, reveal only a few drops that had soaked into the blue material. She slowly sat up. "I wish I knew why this happened every time I summoned lightning."
The telekinetic shrugged. "You don't exactly need to be worrying about that right now."
"True."
Alternate Pam pointed her index finger towards the television at the front of the room. The 'Power' button seemed to press itself, before the T.V. flickered to life. "Your idea worked."
"We're here, live, on the Golden Gate Bridge. Behind us, ambulances are helping the hurt and stranded who fell victim to today's earlier electrical storm. It was the most powerful electrical storm ever recorded! Just hours earlier, all of San Francisco was left without electricity…"
The telekinetic lazily twisted her finger, shutting off the television. "And Emma was able to fix a lot of the mainland damage with whatever psychic mojo she pulled out of her hat."
"That's good."
Alternate Pamela offered a hand, slowly helping the Child of Light off the bed. She studied her friend for several minutes before asking, "Are you ready to go?"
Persia nodded. "Thanks again for agreeing to come with me."
"No problem," she said truthfully. "I want to." Her hand slipped to her back pocket, feeling that the court papers were still there. "Lets get this day over with, shall we?"
"Gladly." The electrokinetic followed her friend out of the room. Now all she had to do was get through this trial, and she could leave this day behind her.
TO BE CONTINUED….
