A New Life in San Francisco
Chapter 5; Retribution
P3; Monday evening
Paige was sitting in their private booth at her sister's club with said sister, Piper, and her eldest two nephew's Chris and Wyatt.
"You should have seem him Piper!" Paige gushed, "It was awesome. I've never seen a Judge end a hearing so quickly, especially with all the evidence going against the kid."
Piper smiled. "Is he coming tonight then? I see a few of your work friends around."
"Yeah, we're here to celebrate. Josh made quite an impression with a few of the staff. Especially Kevin there." She told her older sister pointing out the tall dark hair young man at the bar with a few others from her office. "James just saw straight through the family's lie, and I mean a lot of lies here, there were behaviour orders and police reports against Josh and he still made the Judge see what he wanted."
"So," Wyatt asked, "Where is the kid now?"
"He's staying with one of our regular foster families until a permanent place can be found for him. Until then he has a restraining order against his parents and brother." Paige explained.
"What's going to happen to the McKay's?" Chris asked.
"They'll probably be a criminal investigation." Paige sighed. "They wont get time as the only thing they can convict them of is either neglect or mistreatment which doesn't normally carry that high a punishment."
"So," Wyatt said in the same tone. "Where is this genius of Psychology?"
Chris surprised everyone by elbowing his brother harshly but still laughed.
"He took Piper's warning to heart and is waiting for his friend Sam." Paige explained, her eyes glinting at the look on Piper's face. "I dropped him home before coming here. He should be here soon."
As if on cue they heard Kevin yell James' name from the bar. They all looked around to Kevin and then followed his line of sight to the stairs and James and Sam.
"He really doesn't like crowds does he?" Wyatt muttered under his breath but the other still heard him. He was right though, James had gone pale at the attention but seemed to draw himself up and then winced as it obviously hurt his side. He walked with Sam supporting him slightly over to his new friends at the bar.
"Chris, Wyatt," Piper said, "Why don't you go and bring them other hear, tell Mike that whatever they order is on the house."
P3; slightly before.
"You are such a clutz, James!" Sam laughed even as they navigated the stairs.
"It was the curbs fault, not mine!" James protested whilst prodding his hurt side with his right hand.
"James!" Someone yelled across the room at them during a lull in the current song playing on the speakers. James felt the blood run out of his face but was determined to put on a brave face. He let his hand drop to his side carelessly and straighten up to face the crowd. He winced at the sight of so many people focused on him and also from the sharp pain that lanced up his side as he stretched his ribs.
"Who's that?" Sam asked as he led James towards the bar.
"That's Kevin." James explained, he knew that Sam just wanted to know whether to trust the man before them. "He's ok, he helped me set up my office this morning and looked after Josh for a while."
"Yeah, while you went to kick the shite out of that whale!" Kevin laughed as he caught the tail end of the conversation.
Sam turned as the barman caught his eyes. He ordered both of them a pint of coke as he was driving.
"Mum says to make that on the house, Mike!" A deep voice made James leap around, then settle with a small yelp as the sudden movement tore at his side.
"James! What did I tell you about sudden movements?" Sam teased his best friend light-heartedly.
"Shut it, you git!" James almost snarled, though it lost most of its effects as he was clutching his side. The two new comers chuckled at the argument.
"Oops." The young man said. "Sorry about that, didn't meant to make you jump. The names Wyatt." He turned to introduce his brother but was interrupted.
"Chris right?" James asked peering closely at the twenty-one year old. "I remember you both from the other night. Thanks for your help."
"No problem." Chris told him quietly though still audibly over the clubs speakers. "My mum wants you to join us and Aunt Paige."
"Yeah, I think mum wants to make sure you're not drinking alcohol in her club." The obviously older brother told them with a laugh.
Sam grabbed their drinks and he and James followed the two brothers across the floor to a quieter alcove to one side that they remembered seeing the group in the week before. James had a noticeable list by the time he reached the alcove and he gratefully collapsed around the table. He let Chris slide into the seat first so that the slightly older man was sitting on the back bench. Sam closed James off to the world by sitting on the end of the bench so that Wyatt was opposite them, with Paige and then Piper sitting opposite James. The opening to the alcove was open to the club but the space itself helped to quieten the noise from the crowd.
They chatted meaninglessly for a while, firstly about James' success that day, then about his degree but soon seeing that James was uncomfortable being the centre of attention Paige led the conversation onto Chris' degree and their own work.
Sam was talking about his own new job at the museum when James felt the trickle of a liquid running down his side. He slide his hand under his sling and shirt to touch at his bandage.
Wyatt, being the only one watching him, spoke up. "Are you alright there, James?"
"Oh I didn't tell you guys did I?" A chirpy Paige cut in on James attempt at brushing the problem off. "James was stabbed on Sunday morning on the way home."
"And you still went into work today?" Piper asked astonished.
"It was my first day. I didn't want to let Paige down." James said rather meekly at the concern in her voice.
"You know, I think Aunt Paige would have understood." Chris laughed just as James pulled his hand out of the tail of his shirt. The light was too dim for most to see what was on it but James didn't need to see it before he knew what it was. His Animagus senses still worked when he was in his human form, though not as strongly. Chris was close enough to make out the substance though as James was about to hide it. "Is that blood!?"
"What!?" Sam cried twisting in his seat.
"It's nothing." James assured them, pulling a handkerchief from his pocket and wiping the blood from his hand. "It does this if I move it too much." He tried to assure them.
"Oh god." Wyatt put in, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you jump that much."
"It wasn't you, I tripped on a curb outside the club and it must have opened up the gash." James assured the older man.
"Ma'am?" Sam said ever so politely. "Could we go somewhere private? He wont ask but I really should check his bandage and possibly change it."
"You really don't need to call me "Ma'am."" Piper chuckled though she glanced at James' sling carefully. "Boys? Why don't you take them both into my office, there is a sink and some clean towels in there he can use."
"You really don't need to go to that much trouble." James insisted even though Sam was already tugging him carefully out of his seat.
Piper just smiled as Sam pulled James along in Chris and Wyatt's wake. "I wouldn't want the person Chris has a crush on to bleed to death in my club now would I?" Piper whispered to her younger sister who laughed in return.
Halliwell Manor; Two weeks later
Two figures dressed in white stood serenely in the lush garden of the simple suburban manor house that was home to the greatest collection of magic users in the United States. If they were Evil they would probably already be dead or if not were about to be in serious trouble.
In fact they weren't Evil, they were one of the most symbolic icons of Good. Angels. Or more specifically Whitelighters.
"All we were told was that something huge is about to occur that would throw everything into disarray." One spoke in his wizened voice.
"Disarray towards Evil or Good though is the question." The younger stated simply.
"That is not for us to decide though we all wish it was for Good." The first spoke again, "We must only do our part in this and aid where we can."
"That is where I am confused," the younger pointed out. "You are here to warn the lead the Charmed Ones in the right direction, but my new charge hasn't even come into his powers yet. And even if he had they are not of their kind."
"Yet he still has a Whitelighter, which means that he must be some part their kind." The older sighed, "He is the link between the two greatest Powers here."
"To reach him?" He said, almost whispering the last part.
"His Whitelighter can not yet reveal herself without losing his trust. We have all witness part of what he has suffered. Even the Charmed Ones have not suffered loss like this one has." The older Whitelighter sighed. "They must meet and we must point them towards that meeting."
"If I am to protect the child in this, and you are to lead the Charmed Ones to my charge," the younger man stated before asking the question. "How is he going to get there? If his Whitelighter cannot reveal herself?"
"He has a Whitelighter because he has their kind of Powers, one of those Powers will lead him there."
"But only the Angels of Destiny can provoke a Seer's visions." The younger gasped.
"Then the Angels of Destiny assist us in this." The older stated bluntly.
A flurry of blue-white orbs appeared beside them, completing a triangle, before a woman wearing a pure white coloured hooded cloak emerged from them.
"It is time." She told them quietly, "He is already on the move. Remember, we can not afford to lose my charges trust by revealing his identity."
The younger laughed slightly, "That is why you are the only Whitelighter to actually know his identity."
She smiled at the young Whitelighter from under her cloak. "That is true. Now go, you know what to do."
James' flat
James flung himself up from his bed, pieces of his dream slamming together in his mind to form the whole picture, terrible as it was.
He'd had them before, dreams preceding actual events but never had he wanted to do something about it so bad. He had promised Josh that nothing would happen to him and Josh being shot in the chest with a shotgun wasn't part of the deal.
He was infinitely glad that his side had healed enough that he didn't need the sling and had almost full use of his torso again. Two weeks of forced rest courtesy of Sam and most of the team at the social centre and seen a rapid improvement. He wouldn't be dodging any bullets anytime soon but he was on the mend. He leapt out of his bed and threw his clothing on as fast as humanly possible before the crack of his departure echoed across the now empty room.
Daly City, (south west of San Francisco)
James reappeared immediately in the back garden of Josh's new foster families house. It was only a temporary placement until a more permanent placing could be found but it was still a very nice family. The couple were used to neglected or abused children and often took a few in in this sort of situation.
James instantly saw the figure of an overweight man at the back door with a crowbar. The man jumped at the sound of James' entrance and spun around but James was faster, Panther reflexes honed in even in his human form. He stepped back into the shadows even as his form rippled seamlessly into that of his Animagus shape.
The man, now clearly recognisable with Shadow's enhanced sight as Ian McKay, turned back to the door with a slight shrug, obviously not detecting James and soon wrenched the door open with the crowbar. He grabbed at an item propped against the wall and entered through the door. James recognised the object as the shotgun from his dream and leapt forwards out of the shadows.
The kitchen was empty when James entered it through the still open back door, the light wasn't on but the side door, leading to another room was just swinging closed. He nudged it open and entered what looked like a dining room. To his annoyance he watched as the hallway door swung shut. He followed Ian McKay through the house in this fashion till the man reached a bedroom on the second floor. Ian entered the room, not noticing the Panther dogging just four metres behind him.
James recognised the room straight away as Josh's room and the room from his dream. The man paused at the bottom of his son's bed and loaded two bullets into the gun.
At that point James decided to make his move, with a quiet growl he had the older man's attention. He swung around with the shotgun out in front of him.
"What the hell!?" McKay shouted causing the small eight year old to jerk awake. James growled again as he stalked forwards, not needing to glance away from the shotgun to see that Josh had curled up in his bed.
Ian was confused, never having seen a black panther before, especially in a house. James prowled around in a lazy pattern and eventually made it to a position between Ian and Josh. "Trying to protect that freak are you?" Ian laughed and levelled the gun.
They heard a scuffing from the room next door signalling that Josh's temporary foster parents had heard the commotion. James heard a group of people outside the house and hoped that somehow help had arrived. He drew in a full lungful of air. His roar shook the room. Ian stumbled backwards violently hitting up against a wardrobe. A door slammed open down the hall and a cry came from outside the house.
Even before his call had finished he saw Ian take a better grip on his weapon and James leapt aside as it went off with a loud crash. The scatter shot mainly missed but a few pellets grazed his flank throwing off his landing. He yelped as pain surged up his side, fortunately the opposite side to his previous injury.
He heard a yell from the hallway and before he could recover from his position against the side of the bed six people burst through the door. Two people who James recognised as the couple who were fostering Josh, followed by four people that James definitely recognised. His boss, her two sisters and Chris.
He didn't have time to think about how they knew that Josh was in trouble because Ian was already spinning to face the new intruders with his shotgun. A serious mistake with a Panther in the room.
James' Panther instincts screamed at him as Ian presented the back of his neck. A Panther's natural target. James leapt just as Piper cried out and two hundred pounds of predator slammed into the man from behind. Before James could realise what he was actually doing he felt his teeth tear into his targets flesh.
Ian's body fell to the ground under him and he ripped his head away from the now dead body. James growled at the fallen man as he stepped back and then looked up at the occupants of the room. He was pleased to see that Paige and the foster couple were already at Josh's side and were leading him out of the room. Piper, Phoebe and Chris were keeping a close eye on him. He twisted slightly to test the pellet wound on his side and was glad that they didn't seem serious.
He stared at them with his bright green eyes for a few seconds, looking at each carefully until his vision locked with Chris' blue eyes. James' panther instinct backed down and he almost whimpered as he realised that Ian McKay was dead. This was the first person that he had chosen to kill. At least with Quirrel it had been an accident, this time he had chosen to take the man's life to protect someone he cared about.
He settled down onto his haunches to show that he had no intentions of attacking them but never took his eyes off of Chris. In the silence he heard it before the others did, the distant sound of sirens. Someone had obviously heard either his call or the gunshot and called the police. He swung his head towards the window to listen better to the approaching sounds and then after tensing his leg muscles leapt across the room and out through the open second floor window.
His body absorbed the almost fifteen metre drop with only a small amount of pain and soon he was loping down the street. He turned into a nearby park and disappeared into the darkness where he turned back into his human form and with tears starting to form in his eyes he disappeared with a crack.
Josh's room
"Yes, Officer, like I told you." Piper repeated irritated, "A Panther killed him."
"And that Panther is where?" The officer obviously didn't believe them.
"It jumped out of the window." Paige almost yelled at the man.
"Sure." The officer sighed.
"Well, there is shotgun bullet damage to the wall here." A forensic told them all. "It suggests that the gun was fired from a height higher than the target."
"Meaning?" The officer asked.
"That it was fired at something lower to the ground than a person." The forensic told the man.
More questions were asked as McKay's body was taken out of the room. A neighbour, the one that had originally called the police, had reported sighting a large cat leaping from the window and running off down the street so the police officer was forced to believe their story.
Within an hour the group of four were back at the manor sitting in the living room with Leo and a rather irritated Wyatt who had orbed over from his own apartment.
"That was the same Panther that we saw on Alcatraz island." Chris told them all.
"How can you be sure?" Wyatt asked his little brother.
"He just seemed the same to me, he had those weird green eyes." Chris explained and got nods from the others that had been at Josh's house.
"What was he doing there?" Leo asked.
"He seemed to be protecting Josh when we arrived." Piper told them.
"He was bleeding. I think that shot we heard must have grazed him." Paige mentioned, "I collected as much of the blood on the bed as I could. Maybe we can use it to scry for him?"
"As an enemy or a friend?" Chris asked. "I think friend personally."
"Why do you say that?" Phoebe asked.
"Didn't you see him settle down after he killed McKay?" Chris muttered thinking but didn't add what he thought.
"Well I think that's enough for tonight, everyone get some rest and we'll scry for the Panther in the morning since it is Sunday tomorrow and nobody is working." Piper ordered.
People started to disperse. Wyatt grabbed Phoebe and orbed out of the room taking her home just as Paige and Chris orbed out to their respected homes.
Chris flat
Chris reappeared in his bedroom and began undressing to collapse straight into bed. He only managed to get rid of his shirt before Wyatt appeared from a cloud of orbs at the foot of his bed, falling over an open chest of draws as he did so.
"Damn it, Chris!" Wyatt grumbled, "Don't you ever tidy?"
"Don't give me that crap, Wyatt. Your room is just as bad." Chris grinned. "Why are you in my room in the first place."
"One, my powers still out." Wyatt told him. His buildings fuse had blown two days ago and had yet to be repaired. "So I aim on crashing here."
"In my bed?" Chris asked tiredly.
"Not like we haven't shared one before." Wyatt pointed out. "I'm too tired to care."
"And two?" Chris prompted.
"I want to know what's up with you and the Panther." Wyatt told his brother whilst taking off his own shirt and slipping under the covers next to Chris.
"Promise you wont tell anyone else? Not even mum?" Chris asked.
"Sure." Wyatt promised.
"The panther has these unmistakable eyes. I remembered them from somewhere else." Chris explained. "From when we were helping Sam change James' bandages. The Panther had exactly the same eyes as James does."
"So?" Wyatt prompted.
"Remember the first time we met the Panther out on the Island. We saw him get stabbed in the side, then James gets stabbed in the same place." Chris pointed out. "And I bet that James now has pellet wounds on his other side. I think James is the Panther."
"And you don't want to tell mum this, why?" Wyatt asked.
"Wyatt, I really like him." Chris blushed, "He hasn't hurt us, and you know how skittish he is. Please don't say anything."
"Don't worry little bro." Wyatt smile before switching off the bedside lamp. "I wont tell anyone that your crush is really a Panther." Chris smacked him on the shoulder before placing his head on the pillow.
Wyatt sighed, looking at his little brother in the dark. 'Don't worry, Chris, I wont let anyone harm him as long as he doesn't try to hurt you.'
