A/N Cole/Balthazar, two sides of one being, but one brain. Angel/Angelus, two sides of one being, but with one brain. Angel imprisons Angelus and Balthazar imprisons Cole. And now Cole is out, but Balthazar is still there. When Angelus is free of his prison, Angel isn't there.
The first paragraph is just some musings on the similarities and differences between them, this paragraph is in regards to Cole. In the previous chapter Cole opted not to use legal resources to gain information on the sisters, this stems from a confusion I originally had when I watched the show the first time, if Cole's a lawyer, why isn't he using those resources to help him deal with the Charmed Ones? Sure, after he came back from the Wasteland he did, but initially he didn't. In the same episode the sisters learn he's their enemy, they learn he isn't actually working as a lawyer, which makes the whole thing with the serial killer and the Guardians a set up. Because being a lawyer, an Assistant District Attorney, is all a cover. Phoebe speculates that the Triad sent him to law school before sending him after them. But that makes no sense because it would take years, but he could simply have absorbed some knowledge the way Willow did.
I mean, he's this dangerous demon with lots of kills behind him, but he knows very little about the Charmed Ones when he starts his assignment. If he'd had years to prepare, he'd have known a lot about them.
He was chosen to go after them because he was literally half human and the human half found a reason to fight to keep from being imprisoned again by the demon.
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"Troxa, been awhile." Cole addressed the demon who'd shimmered into his apartment. "Thank you for responding so quickly."
"We both know why I'm here, Balthazar and it has nothing to do with you trying to recruit help for dealing with the Charmed Ones. The Triad are disappointed with your lack of progress."
"I've only had two months and I've already learned a lot about them. More than anyone in two years has learned, they have allies."
"But you know nothing about those allies and you've failed to kill them. You've only made one attempt against them."
"And it's the one where I learned they had allies. If we are to move against them, we need information. Blindly attacking them has only led to the death of every demon that's gone up against them and not a single one survived to return with information that could be used against them. Continuing to act as we have before will just get more demons killed."
"You're thinking like a human, Balthazar." Troxa threw the insult at him. "We're not human and we can destroy these witches and their allies, regardless of how many they have."
"Two years of trying and even Tempus failed. Can you do any better?"
"How hard can it be, Balthazar? Both of us, like many demons, can go invisible. We just sneak into their house and kill them while they're asleep. No more Charmed Ones."
"Than by all means, try it and if you manage to survive, maybe you'll come out of there with some useful information. I can always hope, can't it?"
"Hope is a human emotion, Balthazar, do not forgot what you really are. Get control of your human half or it'll be your undoing."
Cole shifted into his Balthazar form. "I am still Balthazar and I have never failed. Don't try me, Troxa, you know you're no match for me."
"If you don't act soon, the Triad will certainly consider you a failure and destroy you." Troxa blustered. "But it won't matter, I'll destroy the Charmed Ones myself and the glory of having done so will be mine alone."
Balthazar returned to his human form. "Then I look forward to the entertainment your effort will afford me." Cole smirked at him.
"You don't think I can do it?"
"Better than you have tried." Cole pointed out. "And failed."
"This gathering of information was tried already, remember? Rodriguez tried it and failed and he was destroyed. We are demons, we do not need human methods to achieve our goals and in this we are united. The Charmed Ones must die before their powers can grow anymore." He shimmered out, resolute in his belief that he could not fail.
"And arrogance is very much your Achilles heel, Troxa." Cole muttered. Let Troxa try, maybe he would succeed, but neither Cole nor Balthazar believed he would.
Troxa waited until after dark and all the lights in Halliwell Manor had been turned off and shimmered passed the front door and into the Manor, confident he would be able to kill them all. Only to have the sound of an alarm make him freeze in his tracks. What was that?!
The three people currently asleep in Halliwell Manor, Phoebe, Piper and Leo were jolted awake by the sound of the demon alarm going off for the first time. They weren't the only ones, half the neighborhood was woken up by the sound, including Xander and Cordelia.
Piper was out of bed and heading for the hall, Leo right behind her, before she'd even registered what was making that god awful noise and barely managed to avoid colliding with Phoebe.
"Is that the demon alarm?" Phoebe gasped.
"Has to be, we don't have a regular alarm on the Manor." Piper reminded her. "A demon got in, let's make sure it doesn't get out." The two headed downstairs looking for whichever ever demon thought it could invade their home.
"I don't see anything." Phoebe looked around. "You don't think it's a false alarm, do you?"
"After how many months it's in been in place and hasn't gone off? I don't think so, something's here."
Troxa, still invisible, saw his chance and tried to hit one of the two witches that came down the stairs. Only to get knocked out by the Sanctuary Ward and cause Phoebe to trip over his invisible form.
Now Murphy was gigging over the demon and the witches both entertaining him.
