Part 5:"Ah nuts!"

At Halliwell Manor Prue puts down the yellow pages and concludes, "It looks like we are not going to be able to get good costumes in time!"

Phoebe suddenly remembers the card she got at the estate and says, "What about this?" The card reads LAR's Costumes, Authentic Horror, Comic book and other costumes.

"Great!" Buffy interjects "Let's go!"

Piper waves her hands and says, "Wait a minute!This could be a trap!"

"Don't be silly Piper! They were after Buffy and her friends. They won't be expecting us!" Prue said confidently. Phoebe and Buffy agreed outvoting Piper whose only support was Leo.

But Piper wasn't finished, "They may still be expecting Buffy and she does stand out in a crowd!"

Shortly thereafter Phoebe finishes with Buffy and brings her back from the kitchen. "See" pointing at Buffy's now black hair, "the bad guys are looking for a blonde."

And Buffy adds "Can we go now?" Piper rolls her eyes but is dragged along. So is Cole who meets the sisters, Buffy and Leo as they leave.

At the costume shop they were helped by the owner Mr Lar himself, who informed them that only a few superheroine costumes were left. Prue quickly snapped up the Wonder Woman costume and Phoebe took the Supergirl one.

In a whisper she said, "Hey I am the one who can levitate!" Buffy was helped by Mr Lar to choose a costume of a little known heroine named Zatanna. This costume(which looked really authentic thanks to the black dye job on Buffy's hair) consisted of a white top and black bottom tights set, a blue coat with the back split into tails, a top hat, fishnet stockings and black high heeled pumps.

Having procrastinated Piper seemed stuck with an extremely scanty Vampirella outfit that needed superglue to keep on. Her reaction, "EEK!! Not on your life! Find something else!" While her sisters and Buffy laughed and Piper started to hyperventilate Mr Lar looked for another costume. Leo managed to calm her by the time Lar returned.

"It's more of a TV heroine costume from the old Isis TV show.." Lar began but seeing it actually covered her,

Piper interjected, "I'll take it!"

The Isis costume consisted of an egyptian style tiara and necklace, a short white dress with a brown belt and pleated skirt and brown high heeled boots coming up halfway to her knees. Leo whistled as she displayed it and smiling Piper said, "Glad you like it because you and Cole are getting costumes too!"

Leo and Cole look at each other and back at the four women staring at them and go "Ah nuts!"

Part 6:"Divide and conquer!"

That night arriving at the party, Leo and Cole were reluctant to go in. As Phoebe dragged him along "Cole objected, "Phoebe I feel ridiculous! Me in a Captain Marvel costume?! This isn't right!" Said costume consisted of a red aviator style jacket and pants, yellow boots and wristbands, a white cape with decorative trim and of course the famed Shazam lightning bolt on his chest.

Phoebe smirked and replied, "Think good! It's funny for you to dressed as a true blue 100 good hero isn't it?" Cole tongue tied makes strangling noises.

Piper laughs and interjects, "Hey Leo dressed as one of those kind too! And we are all costumed heroines!"

Waving her hand Prue interrupts, "No not costumed heroines, Charmed heroines!" Piper rolls her eyes at this and Phoebe and Buffy groan

!

Regaining his voice Cole gestures at Leo in a Captain America costume and says, "At least he has a mask!"

"And glad of it too!" Leo mumbles.

Piper says, "What did you say?"

Not being stupid Leo replies, "It will be sad if we don't find those two!"

Inside the estate security cameras spot the Halliwell party and the command is given, "As planned divide and conquer!"

As the group entered the house they felt a slight chill and Piper nervously whispered, "It's a trap!"

"Don't be ridiculous Piper!" Prue admonished her, but

Piper objected, "That chill!"

Buffy snickered at her and said, "Duh! Air conditioning!"

Piper was ready to argue further but one of the the greeters came up to them and passed the ladies through. He explained "Ladies with good costumes are always welcome, but before I let you two gentlemen in I have to make sure that you don't have the same costumes as anyone else."

Piper and Phoebe were about to argue but Buffy was already going into the mansion and Prue took off after her! Grumbling they hurried after them.A few minutes later Cole and Leo were passed through and began looking for the rest of the group.

"Excellent!" The man(?) said as he petted a whimpering Tara, "Let the headstrong Slayer and head witch find their way towards us! Capture them and the other witches separately! Oh keep the men confused until my minions are ready to kill them! I think it will soon be time for the Slayer and witches to learn the secret of those costumes!!" With that he cackles maniacally while the bound and gagged Willow and Tara kneel and whimper!

Questions to be answered:

Will the Buffy and the Charmed Ones be captured?

Will Cole and Leo be killed?

Just what is the secret of the costumes?

Just who is this man(?) anyway? Have we seen him before?

To Be Continued...