Jedi Alanna, Gideon's not dead, remember?

He's been working with Lana (the Triad daughter who everyone believed to be Christy). He's the unknown Triad member that the sisters are trying to find. I do plan on giving you guys/gals a small background that explains how Gideon is still alive, I'm just waiting to include that during the right point in the story.

PH2W: Thank you. I take your words as a very high compliment. It can be a daunting task at times trying to figure out how to make the characters sound and act just right. I'm honored that you think I portray them in a way that lives up to the wonderful actresses/actors that portrayed them.

Welcome to my new reviewers. It's really good to have you both on board.

Chapter 10: Ultimate Power Revealed

(New York City) Two Days Ago

Marie kicked her shoes off and sat down on the edge of the bed.

She felt exhausted after spending so many sleepless nights at the hospital. The good news was that her husband finally got discharged. The doctors instructed for him to take it easy over the course of the next few days and to get lots of rest.

Darryl Morris had made a quick inspection of their apartment on their behalf just to make sure everything was in order. He had insisted. She was still confused on what to make of him. How come he hadn't confronted her yet on what she was certain he must have seen? She couldn't figure out whether his silence thus far was a good thing or a bad thing.

Marie was lying on the bed now looking up at the ceiling when her cell phone rang. She reached over to grab it off her nightstand. "Hello?" she answered throwing her head back against the pillow. She hadn't bothered to pay attention to the caller ID.

"Prue? This is Darryl. Look, we really need to talk," came his urgent response. "There's an old abandoned building by the precinct. Do you think you could meet me there in about a half hour?"

Prue?

Why did people keep calling her that?

She turned her head to look at the alarm clock. It was already eight o'clock in the evening. "Why? What's this about? And my name isn't Prue."

"Listen, I don't think you realize just how much danger you're really in," he cut in.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Marie argued.

"This is serious," he stressed. "You may not remember who you are but others do. I need to talk to you. And the sooner the better."

"Yeah, well, I think you have me confused with someone else," Marie replied sternly. "And I'm hanging up now so bye," she rolled her eyes and went to end the call but not before she heard the plea coming from the other end.

"No please wait! At least hear me out first. Hear what I have to say."

Marie sighed. "I'm listening." She reluctantly brought the phone back up to her ear.

"I know who took your daughter," he announced.

Marie's breath caught. He may not have had her attention before but he did now. "Excuse me?" she sat up. "What did you just say?" her eyes narrowed.

"I said I know about your daughter. I know things," Darryl stressed. "Now are you going to meet with me or not?"

Marie felt stunned and conflicted.

Did he really know something about her daughter? How? Did he check them out? Did he look into the kidnapping? He was a cop so it was certainly possible. There was something nagging at her about this but her desire to know the truth won out.

"It's late," she relented. "Can it at least wait until morning?"

"Fine!" Darryl consented. "After sunrise. But come alone. And make sure you're not followed."

Then the line went dead.

Well that was rude. She looked at her phone and put it down. She brushed it off and prepared to settle down for the evening.

X

(UnderWorld) Two days ago

"Why have I been summoned here?" Lana demanded in her usual haughty manner. "This is ruining my plans for Billie and the Charmed Ones."

A demonic guardsman remained silent as he led her through parts of the Underworld she had never seen before. They passed by numerous chambers against the stone walls made from gravel. At the end of the narrow walkway, they encountered a hidden passage way. It's entrance was hidden because the gravel camouflaged it. As the door in the wall parted to reveal an opening, the guardsman stepped back allowing Lana room to enter.

"Aren't you coming?" she demanded.

"No," replied the guardsman. "I am allowed no further."

He turned around to guard the entrance.

Lana walked inside and the entrance sealed itself off behind her. While she continued to walk forward, she was greeted by the sight of four men in robes. Three of the men stood inside the center of a circle and were deep in trance. The fourth man in robe was no doubt Gideon and he stood off to the side. She immediately recognized the others.

The other Triad members.

Finally! We are at a complete resurrection.

Lana stopped in front of the circle and slightly bowed her head to demonstrate both a show of respect and obedience as a lower ranking member. At the sound of her voice, all three members of the Triad opened their eyes to look upon her.

"My lords," she greeted them.

"Lana!" the FIRST Triad addressed her, getting right to the point as to why they summoned her here. "There has been a change of plans where you are concerned!"

Looking to Gideon and then back to the others again, she felt confused. Gideon smirked in her direction before she rewarded him back with an evil glare.

"What is this about?" she demanded.

So help Gideon if he's trying to get rid of me, she thought.

The SECOND Triad member immediately sensed where Lana's concerns were and interjected. "Don't become testy, Lana. We have no plans to rid ourselves of you!" he replied.

"But we do intend to alter our plans," added the THIRD Triad. "It has just come to our attention that Dumain was mistaken about the Ultimate Power all along. It appears that it was never Billie at all."

The THIRD Triad threw a glare in Gideon's direction.

"Yes, and it also appears that Gideon wasn't as forthcoming with us as from the beginning as he should have been," sneered the SECOND Triad.

Gideon smirked and responded. "Ah, yes, but then what use would that have been to me. You never would have initiated me into the Triad collective if I had told you from the beginning that the other Charmed sister was still alive. And that she united with her three sisters make up the Ultimate Power."

"Yes, but now we've wasted too much time on a plan that was doomed to fail right at the start!" hollered the THIRD Triad.

"Your plan could have worked. It almost did!" Gideon shouted back. "I provided you with the child's power so you could match it up with Billie's. You had other Charmed power sitting right in the palm of your hand."

"Still, it wasn't enough," interjected the SECOND Triad. "All we managed to do was match up Charmed Power against Charmed Power in the Ultimate Battle. Even with the Hollow, it was too evenly matched."

"But by using the Charmed Ones own power base against them, you came closer to defeating them than any other demon before you has come. They didn't even see it coming because we used their next generation against them," defended Gideon.

"Close isn't good enough!" yelled the THIRD Triad.

"ENOUGH!" yelled the FIRST Triad putting an end to the whole debate.

Up until now, he had remained quiet, listening to what each member pointed out. Silence ensued before he continued.

"The point is that our focus in now in a new direction. We will now direct our energy into acquiring the Ultimate Power for ourselves before using it to destroy the Charmed Ones. With that kind of power at our disposal we will be eternally unstoppable. Then we can focus on thwarting their next generation with Pandora's Box."

"And how do we plan on doing that?" inquired Lana standing on the side lines.

"By capturing the sisters and bringing them here," explained the FIRST Triad. "And Gideon knows which sister to start with, don't you Gideon?"

"Then the rest of the sisters should just follow suit!" added the THIRD Triad.

"How?" asked Lana.

"Well, when the sisters scry, they'll think they're coming for you and the shape shifter. Like you originally planned, Lana. Only now, they won't be. The shape shifter will be assisting Gideon in his task instead, while we'll be leading them straight into a trap," offered the SECOND Triad.

"With their long lost sister as the bait!" concluded the FIRST Triad member.

X

Marie made her way down the busy side walk.

Tons of people were hustling to get to their jobs. There were college students making their way to their morning classes. She had thrown on a pair of navy blue jeans and a white t-shirt before leaving the apartment and decided to stop inside a small cafe for some breakfast. It was after sunrise and she was on her way to meet Darryl Morris.

Michael had still been sleeping when she left. She debated whether or not to tell him. In the end, she settled on leaving him a note just so he wouldn't panic when he woke up and found her gone.

She slowed down and stopped when she thought she located the dilapidated building Darryl told her to look for. The precinct was just a few blocks down.

The front entrance appeared to be blocked off with no conceivable way to get inside. However she did notice the tiny slender alleyway that ran down the side of the building. She hesitated for a moment. A creepy feeling was overwhelming her and she wasn't so sure that she wanted to walk down there.

She decided to suck it up because she needed to find out what was going on.

Marie resumed in the direction of the alleyway while attempting to locate some type of side entrance before she reached the back of the building. Near the back of the alleyway, a black dumpster was positioned against a fence.

"Hello?" she shouted, looking around. "Captain Morris? Are you here?"

At the sudden sound of approaching footsteps from behind, she bolted around only to come face to face with two men. One of them looked like Captain Morris but the other man she didn't recognize.

"Who are you?" came her immediate inquiry.

X

Michael entered the precinct just after seven in the morning.

He could have taken more time off per the doctor recommendations but he was getting restless staying around the house all day. He found he needed to be back at work doing something to keep his mind off recent events.

Michael had awoken to find his wife gone and a note explaining she was meeting with his Captain to ID a potential suspect from the attack. She went on to explain she would fill him in on the details later. She also listed the location which he found odd.

Actually, to be truthful, the information his wife relayed in the note disturbed him because that type of identification was highly irregular. A potential witness is almost always brought to a precinct to ID a suspect. They are usually never brought to a location where a suspect might be apprehended.

Michael pulled his jacket off and swung it over the back of his chair.

Captain Morris exited his own office. Noticing Michael at his desk, he took in a deep breath and walked over to him. Darryl still felt very conflicted about keeping the truth from him after what had happened but he was determined to have his conversation with one of the sisters first. He honestly didn't know how much longer he could hold out though. He walked up behind Michael patting him on the back.

"Hey, Michael. Didn't really expect to see you here today. Shouldn't you be at home resting or something?"

It felt weird to be referring to his old partner by any other name except Andy. Darryl watched a peculiar questioning look cross the other man's features.

"What's the matter, man? You alright?" Darryl asked full of concern.

"Yeah," Michael stuttered, looking to his Captain. "Weren't you supposed to be meeting my wife right about now?" he asked, glancing down at his wrist watch.

Uh oh, came Darryl's immediate thought.

"No. Where did you get that idea?" he asked shaking his head.

Michael pulled out the letter from his side pocket. Damn it. He knew something was off! He slammed the letter down on his desk for his Captain to read. "That's where I got the idea from!" he pointed.

Darryl picked up the note to read its contents while Michael grabbed for his jacket and the holster holding his gun. He headed for the exit in a hurry with Darryl hot on his trail.

"Whoa, where are you going, buddy?" The last thing he wanted was for Andy to go and get himself killed. Again.

"I'm going where the letter told me she was going," replied Michael, exiting the precinct in a hurry with Darryl still following closely behind him.

X

Marie stood in place waiting for the stranger to answer her.

"I said who are you?" she demanded a second time in a much firmer tone of voice. Then she turned to address the man who looked exactly like Darryl. "And I thought you said to come alone?" she challenged.

"I did!" the shape shifter looking like Darryl sneered. Then he laughed. "I asked YOU to come alone. Which you did by the way, so I thank you very much."

Marie took a few steps backwards. What the hell was going on?

"Well, well!" chided Gideon as he slowly approached the woman before him. "It's been quite a long time since we've last seen each other, Prue."

Marie looked between the two men advancing on her.

Dammit, she cursed to herself. Now would be a really great time to be able to send somebody flying on their ass.

Gideon's features turned dark. "And of course, I do realize that I was one of the many Elders who promised you this wonderful new life with Andy but I'm afraid I'm going to have to renege on that little deal," he explained waving his arms all around him. "Sorry. I hope there are no hard feelings."

Marie tried to concentrate really hard as she tried forcing herself to move the men standing there as far away from her as possible. She used her arm to swing. But nothing happened. Gideon, realizing what she was trying to accomplish, stopped advancing on her and let out a laugh.

"I must admit I've always admired that unwavering determination of yours. You never give up do you?" He sighed. "But unfortunately that's not going to save you this time," he informed her.

Come on, come on. Do it, Marie thought. Suddenly, she felt that all too familiar energy that burned to be released from inside of her.

"Admire this!" she directed and just as Gideon was about to reach out for her, both men were lifted off of their feet and into the air. They both landed on the ground.

Ha! It was about damn time, she thought.

Marie went to run past them but became distracted by the two men who were just turning the corner. They were beginning to make their way down the alleyway when she recognized both of them. Confusion spread over her face when she saw another Darryl running with him.

"Michael," she muttered.

"Marie!" Michael shouted. "Go." he ordered. "Move." He reached for his gun while running down the alleyway.

Unfortunately, Marie was distracted just long enough for Gideon to make his move. With her back turned towards him, he lifted his hand and released an energy ball that carried just enough voltage to knock her out but not kill her. After the energy ball hit her back, she slumped to the ground unconscious.

"No!" Michael yelled, aiming his gun and firing several rounds at the man hovering over his wife. The man instantly faded out below the ground surface.

He had seen the man generate some form of energy from the palm of his hand and throw it at his wife before she slumped to the ground. At the same time, the other man resembling Darryl, arose from the ground with a fireball in hand.

What the hell, came Michael's next thought as he witnessed the second man, a Darryl look-a-like, preparing to aim the fireball at him. Michael moved to aim the gun at him and fired multiple rounds but the man took each bullet without faltering. He released the fireball in Michael's direction.

"Andy, no! Get down!" exclaimed Darryl Morris as he pushed Michael to the ground from behind.

The fireball just passed over their heads and hit the side of the adjacent building. However, just as both of them impacted the ground, the shape shifter disintegrated into a pile of dust. Looking up, both Darryl and Michael noticed that the other man was back and had been the one responsible for killing him. In a flash, he latched onto an unconscious Prue and vanished below the surface again.

Michael was panting from the adrenaline rush and brought his hands to his head. He turned on his Captain. "What the hell just happened?"

Darryl was panting and bending over with his hands resting on his knees. "I don't know man, I really don't know."

Michael was angry. "Who the hell is Andy?" he demanded.

Darryl looked to the ground, shaking his head. All that he was left with were his own regrets for not telling them the truth sooner. Now Prue was in danger and there was only one thing left to do. Tell Andy the truth and hope that he listened. Because they needed to get to the sisters and fast.

"You, buddy!" came the answer to his former partner's question.

To Be Continued: okay, this chapter was a little bit shorter but it was meant to take you back to show you how Marie came to be in the Underworld. The next chapter will pick back up in the present.