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crossoverficTitle: Light up the Sky
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
wild_force71
Fandoms: SGA/Charmed
Rating: PG
Warnings: Post show for both, so some spoilers.
Pairings (if applicable) N/A
Character(s) (if applicable) Main characters from both shows
Summary: In 2009 Atlantis landed in San Francisco Bay, safely shielded from view by the cloak. But not everyone in the city is normal, and some can see what's really there...
Because I've fallen behind posting here, I'm gonna post the next three chapters all at once to catch up. Enjoy.
Leo orbed back in to the living room. Paige and Chris were waiting for him.
“Where are the others?” he asked, glancing around.
“We made them go to bed. What’s going on?”
“Your witch is called Radek,” he told Chris. He frowned, thinking, but it didn’t mean anything.
“Radek. That’s, what, Russian?” Paige asked.
“Czech, I think. He’s a born witch, he had a Whitelighter who was killed during the Titan’s attack, and he stopped practicing after that. But he recognized Chris and Wyatt.”
“Wyatt’s Crown Prince of the magical community, of course he recognized him,” Chris said, mostly joking. “Where is Mini Me?”
“Playing hide and seek with them. He’s somewhere in the city, but they can’t get near him.”
“Leo, we have to go get him,” Paige protested.
“He’s fine,” Chris assured her. “Hide and seek is the one thing I could beat Wyatt at, even without orbing. He’ll stop when he’s tired, or bored.”
“Yeah, but until he stops, Radek can’t bring him home,” Leo pointed out.
Chris shrugged again. Paige swatted at him, grimacing. “Can you pretend to be concerned, please?”
“He’s obviously alright, or I wouldn’t be, remember? And it didn’t traumatize me, or anything.”
“Any idea why he’s not coming home?” Leo asked quietly.
Chris shook his head reluctantly. “No. I don’t know.”
“I might,” Paige said suddenly. “Piper told you--him—not to orb.”
“He already orbed there.”
“Maybe he thinks he’ll be in less trouble if he doesn’t orb again? His orbing’s not very accurate, anyway; he keeps getting lost.”
“Really? I don’t remember that. But then how is he avoiding their soldiers, if he’s not orbing?” Chris sat back, rubbing his head.
“Still bothering you?” Paige asked sympathetically.
“Yeah, a little.”
“What happened?” Leo asked, moving to heal him.
Chris waved him off. “That won’t help, Paige tried.”
“Chris tried a memory spell,” Paige told him. “Turns out, remembering things that haven’t happened yet? Not a good idea.”
“It didn’t work,” Chris clarified.
“Go get some rest,” Paige told him.
“Yeah, but what about...”
“’Yeah but’ you’re the one who keeps telling us he’s fine. If you wake up traumatized we’ll know he’s not.”
“It’ll be too late by then,” Chris pointed out, but he headed upstairs anyway.
Leo dropped into his chair, head in his hands. Paige rubbed his shoulder sympathetically. “We’ll get there,” she promised him.
John, Lorne, Rodney and Woolsey gathered in Woolsey’s office the next morning.
“Besides that one machine, he hasn’t done anything,” Lorne reported. “He’s just running the men around. Ronon’s started taking it as a personal insult...he’s stalking the kid.”
“Have we determined what the machine does?” Woolsey asked.
“Not yet,” Rodney admitted. “It’s doing something, but the instruction manual doesn’t exist, so...”
“Business as usual,” John agreed. “It does look like it was activated through proximity; Chris didn’t actually do anything except walk near it.”
“Which will be very comforting if it turns out it’s dangerous...he’ll have destroyed us by accident instead of on purpose.”
Woolsey looked up, alarmed. “Is that...”
“No. Not likely,” John assured him.
“Can we lock down the City?”
“Tried it. The doors open for him.”
“Without the ATA?”
“He does have telekinesis, right?” Lorne asked.
“On a sealed door?” Rodney protested.
“Apparently.”
“Alright.” Woolsey pushed to his feet. “Find out where he is, get every man in there. I want him found.”
“Right.”
John lingered in the doorway, letting the other two leave and closing the door. Lorne glanced back before heading off.
“Something on your mind, Colonel?” Woolsey asked.
“Radek,” John admitted reluctantly.
“What about him?”
John sat down, leaning forward. “He says that he knows who Chris is.”
“I see.”
“He also says he can’t tell us, and if we don’t let him take Chris away pretty soon we’ll be sorry.”
“Radek said this?”
“Well, not in so many words, but...”
“Why can’t he tell us?”
“He’s in some kind of group with Chris’s parents, and he can’t give them up to us. He keeps telling me the City’s not in danger unless we refuse to let Chris go.”
“And the other child? The brother?”
“Genuinely his brother, apparently. Radek doesn’t think we’ll see any more of them, not until it’s too late.”
“And has he given you any indication how late is too late?”
John frowned, sitting back. “You’re buying this?”
“Is Radek in the habit of lying to you?” Woolsey asked.
“No, but...”
“How long?” he repeated.
“He didn’t say. I got the impression we didn’t have much time, though. We really should track the kid down.”
“Hmm. Ask Radek to come in here, please.”
“Right.”
John headed out. Woolsey sat back, thinking carefully.
Radek was on his computer, talking on his headset, when John came in. “...and three sections down. Yes? Alright.” He clicked the headset off, laying it aside.
“Still hiding?”
“More men in that sector than whole rest of City, Ronon hunting him down, and still we cannot find him.”
“Can you find him?” John asked.
Radek looked up, frowning. “I’ve been looking for fourteen hours.”
“No. I mean, can you find him.”
Radek caught the change in tone and looked up. John gestured vaguely; Radek shook his head firmly. “No. Chris doesn’t know me.”
“You sure?”
“If I thought I could find him I’d have gone when he went missing. Chris will not trust me any more than any of you.”
Both looked up at a noise at the door. Chris stood there, watching them. He was dirty and tired looking, but he didn’t seem to have hurt himself.
“Hey there, Chris,” John said, as casually as he could. “What’cha doing?”
“Where’s Wyatt?” Chris asked.
“Wyatt’s at home, Chris, with your mama and papa,” Radek told him.
“If you wanna tell us where home is, we can call ’em,” John added.
Chris studied him, scrubbing at his eye. Out of John’s line of sight, Radek let his hand lit up again. Chris grinned, skirting John to stand beside him.
“Won’t trust you, huh?” John said pointedly.
“Because he thinks I’m here to take him home,” Radek said.
“Right now you’re here to take him to the infirmary, got it?”
“I wanna go home!” Chris protested.
Ronon appeared in the doorway, glaring at them. John waved him down and turned back to Radek.
“Very soon, Chris, home very soon,” Radek promised. “First, we make sure you haven’t hurt yourself, alright?”
“My daddy would make me better,” Chris told him.
“Hmm, but we must be sure. Come, it won’t be long.”
“You come too?”
“Yes. I will come too.”
“Woolsey wants to see you,” John told him. “When you have time.”
Radek smiled tightly, leading Chris out. Ronon took two steps back to let them pass and then followed them.
Rodney passed them in the doorway, twisting to look over his shoulder at them. “Hey, was that...”
“Yeah, the kid. He seems to like Radek.” He tapped his radio. “Lorne, stand down, we found the kid. And get some extra security to the infirmary.”
“Yessir.”
Rodney logged onto his computer, flicking rapidly between files. “The machine he started up has gone dormant again.”
“Figure it out yet?”
“It’s not Scalextric, it actually takes effort.”
“That explains that, then.”
“Oh...” He pulled a pendant on a long chain from a pocket, tossing it to John. “This was sitting on top of the machine when it powered down.”
“You checked it out, right?” John asked turning it over in his hands.
“It’s not going to hurt you. I checked it, Carson checked it...it’s fine.”
“It came from an Ancient machine, turned on by a child with powers,” he said patiently.
“He didn’t turn it on with his powers.”
“Rodney...” John tossed the pendant up in the air, catching it easily. “It’s carved,” he noted.
“Yeah, we noticed that. Throw it over to the Culture Center, maybe they can figure it out.”
“Good idea.” He pocketed it and headed out, leaving Rodney to work at the computer.
Radek was sitting by a bed in the infirmary when the sun rose the next morning. Chris was fast asleep on it, one hand tucked under his head.
Jennifer came up, checking his chart absently. “Finally asleep?” she asked softly.
“Hmm. Twenty hours in he finally decides he’s tired. Children this age should take naps, no?”
“You can’t really tie them to a schedule. He really likes you.”
“He has very bad taste.”
“Mmm, I don’t think so.”
Radek scowled, looking away.
“Where are you from, little guy?” Jennifer murmured. “Is someone waiting for you?”
Radek shifted uncomfortably but didn’t answer. Jennifer glanced at him but didn’t ask, focusing on the chart, and a moment later Woolsey came around the curtain, pausing when he saw them.
“Ah, Dr Zelenka.”
“Ssssh!” Jennifer hissed.
Woolsey grimaced, raising his hands apologetically. “Busy?”
“Chris screams every time Radek tries to leave,” she told him. “If you want to talk to him, you’ll have to do it here.”
Woolsey stared at her until she took the hint and left, hanging the chart back on the end of the bed as she went. Radek picked it up and studied it, trying to avoid looking at Woolsey.
“You know what I’m going to say, Dr Zelenka.”
“Yes, you are going to say, ’He can get through our shield, Radek, he might be dangerous, Radek, give him up for good of City, Radek.’”
“Something to that effect, yes.”
Radek lowered the chart. “Suppose for a moment I take him home. And I tell his parents, We found him. They will say, Where did you find him? What kind of place? Why does he talk about a place that sounds like nowhere on Earth?”
Woolsey nodded reluctantly. “I suppose I see your point. I still can’t just let you take him, though. We know nothing about him.”
“He is human, and an American citizen. And if you keep him here much longer, his family will come for him, and you will not be able to stop them.”
“How long?”
“Until they come? Perhaps another day. If that. More likely, before noon today...he will be here one full day by then, and they do not let their children go.”
Woolsey nodded, turning away. Radek frowned; he thought Woolsey had muttered, “I know,” under his breath, but he must have been mistaken. He looked at Chris; the child was awake and he blinked sleepily, checking Radek was still there before falling asleep again.
Chris was flipping idly through the Book of Shadows, not really reading it, taking comfort in the pages he knew so well. Piper came in carrying Melinda; she checked slightly on seeing him before pacing slowly forwards to join him. “Well, that’s déjà vu,” she murmured.
Chris laughed softly, making room for her at the podium. “Just trying to think. Hey, Mellie.”
Piper looked over his shoulder. The Book was open on the page they’d filled in after defeating Christy and the Triad, listing everything that had happened to them in the eight years before that.
“This helps you think?” she asked, rereading her own entry.
“The Book does,” Chris agreed. “Wyatt’s better at making up spells cold, but he can’t find anything in here. Book research is my job.”
“So when you were back here, and you spent all that time up here...”
Chris shrugged. “I haven’t found anything useful, though.”
“Hey, your witch is going to bring him home, right?”
Chris eyed her. “You’re very calm.” He didn’t say “All of a sudden” but she heard it anyway. Smiling, she passed Mel to him and closed the Book firmly.
“Can you get the phone, please?”
Chris glanced around; the phone was on a table near the door. He gestured and it flew into his hand.
“Thank you,” Piper said, taking it from him and wandering towards the couch as she dialed.
Chris jogged Mel lightly, watching her carefully. “Who are you calling?”
She waved him to silence. “Agent Murphy, please. Yes, I’ll hold. No, no message.”
Phoebe appeared, grinning at Mel and moving to tickle her. She glanced at Piper, frowning. “Who’s she talking to?”
“Agent Murphy,” Chris told her. “He’s Homeland Security, right? He’s retired by 2026, I never met him.”
“Yeah, he helped us out after we died.”
“Which time?” Chris asked innocently.
Phoebe swatted at him, grinning. Chris grinned, fending her off with Mel.
Piper sat up suddenly. “Agent Murphy? Piper Halliwell. We need some help.”
Phoebe and Chris quieted, watching her. Coop appeared; he was about to speak when Phoebe shushed him, so he pulled her into a kiss instead. Chris absently made a face. Coop pulled away from Phoebe, grinning and patting Chris on the shoulder.
Absently Chris noted that Coop was taking his sudden reappearance very calmly. Living with a Charmed One obviously prepared you for oddities like your nephew coming back from the future on a semi-regular basis.
“It’s about whatever you’re hiding in the Bay,” Piper told the phone. “He says he doesn’t know anything,” she added to them. “My son’s missing, Agent Murphy. I suggest you talk to whoever you need to and find out what’s out there.”
Coop started to say something; Phoebe elbowed him in the ribs, and he grimaced, stepping away from her.
“How do we know that’s where he is,” Piper repeated. “How do you think we know?”
“Ok, that’s enough.” Phoebe took the phone from Piper, who swatted angrily at her. Chris quickly stepped forward, offering Mel back to her.
“Sorry, Agent Murphy, she’s a little upset right now,” Phoebe said to the phone. “We know it’s a military base; that’s the only reason we haven’t gone in after him, but we will if you don’t help us.” She listened for a moment, smiling. “Half an hour is fine. Thank you.”
She tossed the phone onto the couch. “He’ll call us back.”
“What’s going on?” Coop asked warily.
“Mini me is missing,” Chris told him.
“And you didn’t tell me?” Coop said to Phoebe.
“You were busy.”
“Not too busy for this! Piper, is there anything I can do?”
“You know anything about the base out in the Bay?” Piper asked.
“Uh...”
“Then no, you can’t help.”
She left the attic before he could answer. Phoebe winced, patting him on the shoulder. “She’s mad at everyone right now. Don’t worry about it.”
“Yeah, so I see,” Coop agreed. Looping his arm through Phoebe’s, he led her over to the door. “Why is Chris here?” he asked softly. “I mean...” He gestured towards Chris, who was flicking idly through the Book again.
“Slight error in a summoning spell. We asked for Chris, just didn’t specify which one.”
Coop winced, glancing at Chris again. Phoebe swatted at his arm. “He doesn’t really remember this, but he says Mini Him is fine. And there’s a witch in the base who’s looking out for him.”
“A witch? Really?” Coop said in surprise.
Phoebe nodded, heading down the stairs, and he followed her. In the living room Paige was conked out on the couch; Phoebe glanced at her before answering Coop.
“Well, a lapsed witch,” she said quietly. “He says his Whitelighter died when the Titans attacked and he stopped practicing.”
“A lot of witches did,” Coop agreed. “It took the Elders a long time to track everyone back down, but I thought they had. Every witch should have a Whitelighter by now.”
Phoebe draped a blanket over Paige, only half listening to Coop. “If he stopped practicing, maybe he just didn’t show up. He knew enough to call Leo.”
“Leo’s pretty famous in the community, Phoebe. Anyone on either side could call him.”
“Everyone thinks Radek is evil! Chris doesn’t remember being hurt at all, he remembers that Radek helped him.”
“Radek,” Coop repeated thoughtfully.
“Yeah, why?”
“It’s familiar.”
“You think you, uh...helped him?” She tapped his ring.
“No, I don’t think I did, but...I’m gonna go see if I can chase it down, ok?”
“Hmm. Come back soon.”
She reached up to kiss him, leaning against him. He returned the kiss for a minute before gently pushing her back.
“Call Henry,” he said over her shoulder, “he’s worried about you.”
Phoebe twisted to follow his look and found Paige up on her elbows, clearly just woken up. When she looked around again Coop was gone.
“Wassat Coop?” Paige asked, still half asleep.
Phoebe sat beside her. “Yeah. He just came to check in.”
“Should call ’Enry,” she mumbled, trying to push away the blanket. Phoebe stopped her, tucking it back up over her shoulder.
“Go back to sleep, sweetie. I’ll call him for you.”
“Really? Wha time izit?”
“Eleven.”
“He’s at t’office. ’Anks Phoe...”
She drifted off again before she was done talking. Phoebe tucked the blanket in again, getting up and heading for the kitchen. Piper was feeding Mel, and Wyatt was coloring at the table.
“Where’s the phone?” Phoebe asked.
“On the counter. What’s up?”
“Just calling Henry for Paige. She crashed out before she could do it.”
She picked up the phone, dialing. Piper kept feeding Mel, half listening to the conversation.
“Henry? It’s Phoebe.”
“Come on, sweetie, eat up,” Piper encouraged Mel.
“No, she’s here, she’s fine,” Phoebe said. “Yeah, we’re having a little emergency.”
“’Little’?” Piper repeated indignantly. Phoebe waved irritably at her, turning her back. Piper scowled, turning back to the kids.
“No, I don’t think you can help, but we’ll let you know. Paige is asleep right now, but she’s fine. Ok. Bye.” She hung up the phone, coming to join Wyatt at the table.
“A ’little’ problem?” Piper said again.
“Oh come on, Piper, what was I supposed to do? Get him over here so he can hang around in the living room? Henry definitely has no contacts who can help us right now.”
Chris came in, pausing as he sensed the tension. “Um...Wyatt, can you come help me for a few minutes?”
“Got something?” Phoebe asked.
“Not sure. That’s why I need Wyatt. Mom, you want me to take Mel?”
“Were you this helpful the last time?” Piper asked suspiciously.
“He was older. Maybe I’ll grow out of it.” He took Mel from her, grinning, and he and Wyatt left the room.
“Why does he remember what an alternate, older version of himself did?” Phoebe asked thoughtfully.
“Why do we care?” Piper asked.
“Yeah, good point,” she admitted, helping Piper to clear up.
John tapped on the door of Woolsey’s office, leaning in without actually stepping over the threshold. “We may have a problem.”
“What problem?” Woolsey asked.
“Three of the Culture Center crew have aphasia, or something like it. Beckett wants to quarantine all of them, plus anyone who was in the infirmary, plus anyone who may have dropped by Nicole’s office today.”
“That’s likely to be a long list.”
“Yeah. He’s ready to commandeer some of the empty living quarters. He wants to close the City, too; no one in or out, for now.”
“Tell him to go ahead. Any idea what’s causing it?”
John came into the office, perching on the edge of the desk. “Chris’s pendant, far as we can tell. The first victim was the guy working on it, and the next two were his teammates.”
“I thought the pendant was checked?” Woolsey protested.
“Rodney and Carson ran every test we have and a few they made up before they sent it to Nicole. It’s just a hunk of rock on a chain.”
“Apparently not.”
John’s radio beeped, and he reached up to tap it.
“Colonel Sheppard, have you talked to Mr Woolsey yet?” Carson asked.
“Yeah, Carson, you can go ahead. We’re going to call Daedalus and the SGC, tell them not to send anyone over for now.”
Woolsey tapped his own radio. “Unless you need more help.”
“Right now they’d just be more people to get infected. One of my nurses just went down.”
John hissed, straightening up. “Carson, you need bodies?”
“Not right now, thank you.”
“I’m putting guys at the end of the infirmary corridor, alright? Let me know if you need more.”
“Aye.”
Woolsey sighed, slowly rising to his feet.
“I’ll call Daedalus if you call the SGC,” John offered.
“Deal. Let’s go.”
Chris and Radek had been moved back to the iso room to make space for the influx of new patients. Teyla came into the iso room with a tray in her hands; Radek glanced up from his computer. Chris was still sleeping.
“Thank you,” Radek murmured.
Teyla passed him the tray, glancing down at Chris. “Have you heard what is happening?”
“Yes, three linguists and a nurse.”
“Two nurses,” Teyla corrected him. “And a Marine who was in the infirmary. And two more of Nicole’s linguists.”
Radek chuckled softly. “Ironic that the linguists are falling sick more quickly. More chance that they would understand the infected.”
“Are you and Chris...?”
“Exposed, I suppose, but no symptoms yet. Although how one would tell, with Chris...”
Teyla smiled wistfully and Radek sat upright, suddenly realizing. “Is Torren...”
“Torren is safe, for now, so long as I do not go near him.”
Radek sighed, smiling sympathetically when she looked up. “He will be well.”
“Yes, I hope so.”
Chris stirred, sitting up. “Where’s Wyatt?”
Radek went back to his computer as he answered; they’d had this conversation several times before. “Wyatt is at home, Chris.”
“I want him,” Chris said.
“I am sure you’ll be home soon, Chris. Are you hungry?”
Chris thought about it before nodding firmly. Teyla began to go through the tray with him.
A little later Teyla stepped back into the infirmary proper. Carson finished up with a Marine and crossed to her.
“How’s the wee lad?” he asked.
“He seems well. He misses his brother.”
“Aye. Well, we can’t let him go home yet, I’m afraid.”
“Luckily, he shows no signs of stars.”
Carson frowned, studying her. “Say it again, love?”
“I said that he table no signs of stars.”
He sighed, rubbing a hand over his face. “Don’t go too far, Teyla.”
She frowned in realization. “It has begun.”
“Aye. I’m sorry.”
“Allow me to help. While I can.”
He nodded, leading her away.
Paige was awake when Coop appeared, scribbling in a notebook. “Hey, Coop,” she said absently. “Phoebe’s upstairs.”
“What are you working on?”
“Spell to get Chris back home when we’re done. Piper keeps destroying them when we’re done.” She put the notebook aside.
“Why’s she do that?” Coop asked.
Paige frowned, studying him. “Did you find something?”
“Where’d you say Phoebe was?” He was already heading for the stairs before she could answer.
“Come back here! Coop!”
Chris and Phoebe were working on a potion, Chris quietly guiding Phoebe. She stopped when Coop came in, crossing to kiss him. Chris shook his head, smiling, and continued with the potion.
Paige sidestepped Coop and Phoebe and joined Chris at the table. “What are you making?”
“Sleeping potion. Mom’s about to reach breaking point and storm the city.”
“Are you using it on her, or for her?”
“Not sure yet.” He grinned at her.
Paige slapped his arm, smiling. “Where is she?”
“Putting Mel to bed.”
Coop and Phoebe came to join them arm in arm. “Chris, you’re sure you don’t remember anything?”
Chris threw his hands up, frustrated. Paige rescued the bottle he’d knocked off the table, taking a discrete step away. “For the last time...”
Coop raised his hands apologetically. “I just wanted to make sure.”
“Why? What’s wrong?” Phoebe asked warily.
“Radek’s been missing for the last five years.”
“He hasn’t been practicing, sure, but...”
“No, he’s been missing. After the Titan’s attack, when the Cupids got sorted out, Radek was due a visit from one of us. But we couldn’t find him. And believe me, we looked.”
“So, what, he’s been hiding out in the Underworld for the last five years? He’s not a demon,” Paige protested.
“I don’t know where he was. But he wasn’t here.”
“He saved me,” Chris insisted.
“Someone saved you.” He frowned suddenly. “Someone will save you. Is going to save you?”
Chris waved it off. “If Radek was a demon, he had plenty of time to hurt me. He di...won’t. I came home fine.”
“Yeah, but you’re here. Things are different this time.”
“Sweetie? This isn’t encouraging,” Phoebe said quietly.
“I’m trying to be honest, Phoebe. Radek’s Cupid looked for a year. He wasn’t anywhere on the planet.”
“He wasn’t just blocking himself from you...?” Paige suggested.
“You can’t block love. It finds a way in.”
Chris absently threw the last ingredient into the pot, beginning to draw out the potion. “I really don’t remember Radek doing anything to hurt me.”
“Maybe your Radek didn’t,” Phoebe said gently.
“I don’t think we should tell Piper this,” Paige suggested.
Chris pocketed the bottle, pushing away from the table. “I’ll go.”
“What?” Phoebe said in surprise.
“I’ll go get Mini Me. I should have just gone anyway.”
“Chris, we have no idea where he is!”
“I’ll know. When I get there.”
“Chris, you can’t just...”
Chris orbed out before Paige could finish. She cut herself off, scowling.
Phoebe turned to Coop. “Go with him.”
“What?”
“Go with him!”
She smacked his arm and he vanished, still looking startled. Paige blinked. “Can he find Chris?”
“Sure. I’m sure. I think.”
She shrugged, turning back to the pot and drawing off more of the potion. Paige sighed, passing her more bottles.
In the iso room Radek was typing frantically at his pad when Chris orbed in. Little Chris, sitting miserably on the bed, perked up.
“Daddy! ... Daddy?”
Radek looked up in surprise. “You are not Leo. Oliver?”
“I’m...Perry,” Chris said after a moment. “Leo couldn’t come.”
“It’s not safe here.”
“Hence why I’m taking him away.”
He looked around, frowning. Radek stood, watching him. “You sense it, yes?”
“What is that?” Chris asked, crossing to the bed.
“Something was released. Something that’s hurting my people.”
“Something Chris did?”
“No. Or, not deliberately. He was...”
He paused when Coop appeared. Little Chris grinned and held out his arms, recognizing him. Coop scooped him up, looking around. “What the hell is that?”
“As far as I can tell, only Chris and myself are unaffected,” Radek told him.
“Unaffected by what?”
“Something Chris released,” Chris said thoughtfully.
“Only because he happened to walk past,” Radek assured them. “Anyone entering that room at any time would have done it.”
“What is it?” Coop asked.
Chris shook his head. “Take Chris home.”
“No, nonono!” Radek scrambled to his feet. “You are infected now, Perry, both of you. You cannot leave.”
Coop started to speak but Chris waved him to silence. “Phoebe and the others know where we are. If we don’t leave they’ll just come looking.”
“No. This...what was released...it began like aphasia, yes? Words all mixed up, no one to understand them? But writing, writing they could still understand, so City still worked. But then writing stopped too, and even gesturing, no one could follow. No one communicates.”
“Tell Leo to keep away,” Coop told Chris.
He nodded, wandering towards one of the walls. Coop turned back to Radek. “Where are we?”
“Military base, code name Atlantis.”
“And where’ve you been for the last five years?”
Radek looked away. “I didn’t tell them about you. I can’t tell you about them.”
“Coop. Done,” Chris said, coming back to join them.
“A Cupid?” Radek said in surprise.
“Who are you?” Chris asked him.
Radek held up a hand, letting it light up. Little Chris laughed, reaching for it, and Coop let him down to the ground. Radek hunkered so he could reach the light.
“A little witch,” he told Chris and Coop. “That is all the power I have.”
The light flickered out when Chris tugged on his arm. Radek picked him up absently, setting him on the bed.
“I knew of the Charmed Ones. I knew of Wyatt. And when I saw a child witch who could orb, I knew there must be another. But this is military base. I could not get him away.”
“What did he release?” Chris asked.
“A machine turned on, and when it turned off there was a pendant. We tested it, I tested it, and there was nothing. But when our linguists looked, the aphasia began.”
“Where’s the pendant now?”
“In the Culture Center. The linguists’ lab.”
“Stay with Chris?” Chris asked Coop.
“What? I can’t...if anyone gets in...”
“I can lock door,” Radek offered. “Keep everyone out...no one can remember how to open it any more.”
“Call me if you need me,” Chris added.
Coop wasn’t happy about it, but he nodded. Radek used his pad to unlock the door, and he and Chris left.
“So, buddy, want to play hide and seek?” Coop suggested. Little Chris laughed, kicking his legs.
Radek led the way down a corridor, Chris keeping a careful eye out around them.
“Where is everyone?”
“We went into lockdown perhaps two hours ago. Everyone was locked into whatever room they were in.”
“Anyone in the...what’d you call it, Culture Center?”
Radek shook his head. “No. The linguists were the first to fall sick. Nicole closed the Center some hours after the first case.”
“Nicole?”
“Head of the department. She was unaffected last I heard, but communications went out a little while ago.”
“Is it far?”
“No. This way.”
Piper and Paige stood in the kitchen watching Leo, who was concentrating hard. Phoebe sat at the table, waiting.
Leo shook his head. “Chris isn’t listening.”
“Well, go after him!” Piper protested.
“Piper, he told us not to go,” Paige told her. “He must have a reason.”
“He always has reasons! Our whole family is disappearing into that place!”
Leo tried to hug her, but she pushed him off and turned to the counter.
“What did Chris say, Leo?” Phoebe asked.
“They found Little Chris, and Radek, but they need to check something out and we’re not to go after them.”
“What do they need to check out?”
“I don’t know, he wouldn’t say and he’s not listening now. What about Coop?”
“He’s alright. A little worried, I think, but not hurt or anything.”
“Good. That’s good.”
Mel cried upstairs. Piper sighed, turning and leaving without speaking or even looking at the others.
Radek fiddled with his pad. Chris leaned against the wall, watching him.
“You control the whole City from that thing?”
“Not all of it. Just the important bits.”
Chris wandered away a few steps, running one hand over the engravings on the wall. “I don’t remember any of this,” he murmured to himself.
“Why should you?” Radek asked absently, not really listening.
“Nothing. Sorry. Got it yet?”
“Almost. When Nicole locks something, it’s really locked...there.”
The door hissed open, and Chris came back to join him. “And this is...”
“Culture Center. Linguistics and anthropology.”
“All your mysterious artifacts end up here?”
“Artifacts here, machinery in the labs.”
He stepped into the Culture center. The lights were on half; Radek glanced around, heading for a control panel, and after a moment they brightened.
Chris studied the room, eyeing a translation hanging on the wall. “Those look almost like runes.”
“Some languages we encountered seemed to come originally from magical sources. Corrupted through years, of course.”
“And your linguists can read them?” Chris said in surprise. Magical languages were hard enough for him, and he’d spent all his life studying them. Wyatt still couldn’t handle them.
“In places. Nicole is very good. She has an instinct for them.”
“Huh.”
Radek headed for one of the offices. Chris continued to wander around, examining the different translations, pictures and signs hanging on the walls.
“Here,” Radek said from behind him.
Chris turned just in time to catch the pendant Radek tossed to him. He immediately dropped it, backing away.
“That is...”
Shaking his head, he backed away a few more steps. Curious, Radek circled him and picked it up; whatever it had done to Chris, it didn’t affect him.
“You don’t feel that?” Chris asked.
“I don’t like holding it, but it does not hurt me.”
“It didn’t hurt me, it just...it’s very angry, and very old. Hold it up?”
Radek obliged, holding it still so Chris could study it.
“That’s the...turn it over, please.”
Radek did so, frowning as the light hit it differently, throwing the carvings on it into sharp relief.
“Cantus,” Chris murmured.
“I’m not familiar...?” Radek said apologetically.
“No, you wouldn’t be. Cantus was a demon, but he vanished centuries ago. I read something about him in Magic School, years ago.”
“They must have found how to imprison him,” Radek said thoughtfully.
“Who must?” Chris asked. Radek frowned, and he shook his head. “Never mind, then. Cantus was the demon of language, as far as I remember.”
“That fits. Can you remember how to defeat...vanquish him?”
“He wasn’t vanquished, he just vanished. Let me talk to Leo. Maybe they can find something.”
He turned away, wandering towards the window. Radek put down the pendant, absently scrubbing his hand against his leg as he watched.
Leo stopped dead as he walked through the hall. Paige, in the living room, watched him, frowning.
Leo half turned towards her, gesturing for a pad and pen. Paige scooped them off the table and carried them to him. He nodded an absent thanks, scribbling quickly; Paige leaned over his shoulder to read it.
-
After a moment he stopped writing, tilting the pad towards her.
“Mean anything to you?”
Paige read the scribbled note: Cantus, demon (language?) vanished years ago not loose but affecting
“Chris told you this?” she asked.
Leo nodded. “He says everyone else - not Radek or Little Chris, but everyone else - can’t communicate any more. There’s some kind of a pendant, Little Chris found it, and he thinks there’s something weird going on.”
“Does he want us?”
Behind Leo, Piper leaned against the door frame, out of his field of vision.
“No. They don’t seem to be infected right now, but he doesn’t want to risk any of us.”
“Why would a demon avoid witches?” Paige asked.
“Doesn’t want to be vanquished? I don’t know. Can you go look in the Book, please?”
“Yeah.” Seeing Piper, she added, “You’re busy, anyway.”
“I’m...Right.”
Paige headed for the stairs, smiling at Piper on the way. Piper came into the living room, walking into Leo’s arms for a hug. Leo wrapped his arms around her, holding on.
“Now, where are our sons?” she asked, letting go.
“Wyatt’s upstairs,” Leo said immediately. Piper smiled faintly...that wasn’t what she meant, and she knew he knew it.
“Chris and Chris are both in the city. Coop is with Little Chris, he’s fine, but Chris...the other Chris is afraid they might be carrying whatever’s affecting the city. He doesn’t want to spread it.”
“But they’re ok?” Piper asked.
“Yeah. Radek and Little Chris weren’t even affected, so they think magical beings are immune right now.”
“That doesn’t make much sense for a demon.”
“Yeah, I know. Paige is looking into it right now.”
He let go of Piper, looking towards the kitchen. “Do you want to tell Phoebe her husband’s in magical quarantine?”
“Nooo. You’re her Whitelighter, that’s your job.”
“You’re her sister,” he pointed out.
“What about my husband?” Phoebe called from the kitchen.
Leo looked beseechingly at Piper, who smiled, patting him on the cheek. “Walk with me,” she called to Phoebe.
“Oh, that sounds bad,” Phoebe muttered, coming to join her.
Little Chris had settled against Coop, not asleep but clearly getting there. Coop was playing idly with his ring, studying the window above them.
Chris stepped into view at the window, waved down at them and motioned for one minute before disappearing again.
“You know, I hope you grow up less intense,” Coop told the child. “He makes me feel lazy.” Little Chris laughed sleepily.
Radek let himself in, glancing over his shoulder as the door locked behind him.
“Hey,” Coop said.
“Hello. How is...”
“Asleep, or close to it. Where’s Ch...Perry?”
“Looking around. He will be back soon.”
“Is that safe?”
“Safer for him than for most. He at least can orb away. He is young, yes?”
Coop coughed, looking down at Little Chris to hide his smile. “He hasn’t been a Whitelighter long, no.”
“Hmm.”
“Has he talked to Leo?”
“Yes, the Charmed Ones are working on it.”
Coop nodded, sliding carefully away from Chris and coming to look over Radek’s shoulder. “So where have you been for the last five years?”
“Here in the City.”
“And the City was...?”
Radek didn’t answer, staring at his pad. Coop leaned against the table, watching him. “Perry and the witches, they’d believe you just weren’t practicing,” he said conversationally. “But I’m a Cupid. We don’t lose our charges.”
“I have no need of a Cupid,” Radek said without looking up.
“You’d be surprised how often I hear that.”
Radek snorted agreement, laying down his pad. “I can’t tell you where we were.”
“Wyatt calls this the Star City. He’s not too far off, is he.”
“If I tell you, if I even say ’that is close’ or ’not so far off’ there is big trouble. For everyone. I am witch by heritage, but I choose loyalty to these people and they have never given me cause to regret it.”
“I understand that,” Coop told him. “But your City has unleashed a demon on us, and we have to deal with that.” Radek inclined his head; Coop nodded slowly.
Chris orbed back in, looking startled. “What’s wrong?” Coop asked in surprise.
Chris crossed to the bed, lightly touching Little Chris’s head. “Nothing. Sorry. What’s...”
The lights went out; the room was plunged into darkness. Little Chris cried out, afraid.
Radek’s hand lit up. It only threw a little light around them, just enough not to bump in to each other.
“He made a light,” Chris murmured, dazed.
“Chris,” Coop said pointedly.
“He’s alright,” Radek said, crossing to the bed where Little Chris was still sitting. The child reached for the light in his hand, sniffling.
Chris shook it off, turning to Coop. “Have you heard from Phoebe?”
“No. What about Leo?”
“Not yet. Can you get the lights back, Radek?”
“No. Power supply needs attention, all the time. I can’t do it alone.”
“Even just in here?” Coop asked.
“Cloak must stay up; that’s most important. That’s all I can do.”
“There’s a time limit on that?” Chris was watching his younger self play with the ball of light.
Radek shrugged, rocking a hand back and forth. “Half a day. Ten hours, perhaps. Not more.”
Chris nodded, running a hand through his hair. “Ok. I’m going to talk to Leo. Here...”
He concentrated, creating a ball of orbs and throwing it into the air. Coop poked at it, looking impressed; Chris glared at him, taking a step back out of the light.
In the Manor attic Leo straightened up, frowning.
“What’s wrong?” Piper asked.
“Power’s gone out on the City. Their cloak goes down in a couple hours, and then this thing will spread.”
“Are...”
“Everyone’s fine. It’s just dark.”
“Lucky Radek’s a photokinetic then, isn’t it?” Phoebe said brightly. Piper smiled despite herself.
“They need to know if we’ve found anything,” Leo said.
“There’s an entry in here on Cantus, but it just says all the stuff we already know. High level demon, language is his playground, he vanished centuries ago. It sounds like no one even met him...whoever wrote this is just repeating something they heard. There’s no picture or anything.”
“So no vanquish?”
“Nothing.”
“Well, he’s an upper level demon, that’s somewhere to start,” Piper said tiredly.
“If he’s an upper level demon, we need some of his flesh for a vanquish potion,” Paige reminded them as she came in.
“He hasn’t manifested yet,” Leo said. “Or if he has, Chris can’t find him.”
“He can’t possibly know who Chris is,” Piper protested.
“He doesn’t need to know who he is, just that he’s powerful.” Paige sat down beside Phoebe, shrugging. “If I were a demon who’d broken out after centuries, I wouldn’t go near someone like him.”
“That’s encouraging, Paige, thanks,” Piper told her.
Chris stepped back into the pool of light. “They think he’s an upper level demon.”
Radek winced. Coop shrugged, clearly not sure what that meant.
“You need the flesh of an upper level demon, or the vanquish won’t work,” Chris explained.
“The demon doesn’t have flesh. He just has...” Coop gestured towards the amulet.
“Yeah, that’s the problem,” Chris agreed. “Can you track movement around the City?”
“The City is locked down,” Radek protested.
“Yeah. But Cantus isn’t in that.” He gestured to the pendant. “And if he’s manifested here, he’s probably not obeying the lockdown. Do the scanners have enough power?”
“I can run scanners, but the cloak will die sooner.”
“Cloak won’t matter if he gets out.”
Radek looked at Coop, who shrugged. “Perry was the Charmed Ones’ Whitelighter for a while. He knows what he’s talking about.”
“A disgraced witch, a Cupid, the Halliwell heir and a Whitelighter. Some team,” Radek muttered to himself.
“Disgraced?” Coop repeated sharply.
Radek waved it off, tapping at his pad.
The girls were scribbling at a notepad, quietly bickering and crossing things out, when the phone rang. Mel cried from somewhere downstairs; Leo headed for the door, tossing the phone to Phoebe as he passed it.
“Hello?”
Piper and Paige looked up at her, frowning.
“Agent Murphy,” Phoebe said pointedly. “How nice of you to finally call back.” She listened for a moment before tilting the phone away. “He says he had to call in every favor he had owed to get the information for us.”
“Does he have it?” Piper asked.
“Yeah.”
“Good.” To Paige, she added, “Go get him.”
Phoebe’s eyes widened and she lifted the phone again. “Agent Murphy, are you alone?...Good. Paige is coming to get you.”
She listened for a moment, stifling a laugh. “He’s delighted.”
“Oh, yeah, it sounds like it, too,” Paige agreed. They could all hear him cursing on the other end of the phone line.
Phoebe hung up and gestured at Paige, who vanished. Leo came back in, carrying Mel and with Wyatt trailing behind him.
“Hi, little man,” Piper said to Wyatt. He came to join her; Leo looked around, frowning.
“Where’s Paige?”
Paige orbed back in with Agent Murphy before anyone could answer. Leo automatically backed up a step to give them room, circling them to join Piper. Wyatt watched curiously.
Agent Murphy looked around, straightening his jacket. He was obviously a little taken aback. “Well, that’s some way to travel.”
“Beats carpooling,” Paige said with a shrug.
“You have something for us?” Piper demanded.
Agent Murphy nodded, offering her a folder. Phoebe intercepted it, scanning through the first couple of sheets.
“The base is under the control of a branch of Homeland called HomeWORLD, but they’re about seven clearance levels above me,” Murphy told them. “That’s everything I was able to get without getting myself arrested.”
“Why is Homeland Security running a military base?” Paige protested.
Murphy spread his hands uncertainly. “What’s going on, anyway?”
Phoebe passed the folder on to Leo, eying Murphy. “One of our kids is on the base, and some of our guys went after him, and now the base is locked down and they can’t get back off.”
“The base locked down early this morning and it’s been out of contact since. Who have you got there?”
“People,” Piper said lightly. Murphy knew who her kids were, and he knew who they’d married, but he’d never known about Chris and she had no intention of telling him.
“They’ll be sending people in, right?” Leo asked.
Murphy nodded. “The last message said there was something infectious in the City. They’re preparing a rescue mission but they have to go in prepared. You haven’t got long to get your people out. They’ll assume anyone who isn’t one of theirs is part of the problem.”
In the Iso room Chris frowned, looking away for a moment. Coop stopped playing with Little Chris, watching him.
“Radek, how long before your guys break back in?” Chris asked.
“Now that power is gone? Not long. We told them to stay away, but with no messages...”
“Can you talk to them?” Coop asked. “Tell ’em to stay away?”
“No authority. Perry, here.”
He tilted the computer pad so Chris could see it. Chris studied it for a moment, nodding. “Right. Coop, stay with Chris?”
“Oh yeah, we’re having loads of fun, huh Chris?”
Radek fiddled with the pad. “I can stay with boy, if you wish to go.” He held up a radio headset.
Chris considered it, looking at Coop. “He can’t affect a Cupid.”
“Or a Whitelighter,” Coop agreed.
“That might not matter, though.” Chris carefully didn’t look at Radek; they hadn’t suggested Chris was anything other than a Whitelighter, and they didn’t want it to occur to him. Anyway, since his younger self hadn’t been affected yet he was pretty sure he’d be alright.
“No, I suppose not,” Coop agreed. “Yeah, sure.” He took the radio from Radek, hooking it awkwardly over his ear.
“You know where we’re going?” Chris asked.
“I’m just following you.”
“Fair enough.”
He orbed out, Coop a heartbeat behind him. Radek studied his screen for a moment before tapping his earpiece.
“Coop? Can you hear me?” He absently lifted a hand as Chris crawled down the bed to sit beside him. “Right. All doors are locked shut; you’ll have to go around them your way. Signal is two sections to the left...your other left, Coop.”
Coop tapped the radio, looking slightly bemused. “Bossy little thing, isn’t he?”
“Hmm. Knows his stuff, though,” Chris said absently. They’d reached another door; this one was frozen half open. Both stopped, eyeing it warily.
“Radek, this one’s half open,” Coop told his radio. Chris edged forward, examining the door, as Coop listened. “He says systems down this far often hiccup. Can you see anything?”
“Nothing to worry about.” He slid through the gap. Coop waited, still listening to the radio; a moment later a low whistle echoed back through, and he ducked through.
“You know this isn’t a Famous Five story, right?” he asked.
“Who?” Chris said absently. Coop laughed, shaking his head. Apparently Enid Blyton would finally lose popularity over the next twenty years.
“Never mind. There’s only you and me here, you don’t need to whistle at me.”
“I wasn’t whistling at you, I was whistling at this.”
He gestured around. Coop followed the gesture and, without meaning to, whistled lowly. They’d come into a large atrium; the ceiling was two stories above their heads with a balcony running around it.
“Ok, I see what you mean,” he admitted. “Pretty impressive.”
His radio beeped and he listened for a moment, catching Chris’ eye and gesturing upwards. Chris looked up, taking a step back in an attempt to see along the balcony. He orbed out, reappearing directly over Coop’s head.
Coop appeared on the balcony opposite him, so that between them they could see the whole length of it. The dim light didn’t help, creating shadows in every doorway and bend.
Coop caught Chris’s attention, gesturing to a doorway halfway down the length of the balcony. It was recessed and in deep shadow, but something was moving in it.
Chris nodded, slipping quietly down the balcony. Coop moved so he could watch him, reporting quietly to Radek through the radio.
Chris lifted a hand, orbs swirling in his palm, and they stared into the suddenly lit up doorway.
John Shepperd glared at them, weapon in hand and pointing firmly at Chris.
Author:
wild_force71Fandoms: SGA/Charmed
Rating: PG
Warnings: Post show for both, so some spoilers.
Pairings (if applicable) N/A
Character(s) (if applicable) Main characters from both shows
Summary: In 2009 Atlantis landed in San Francisco Bay, safely shielded from view by the cloak. But not everyone in the city is normal, and some can see what's really there...
Because I've fallen behind posting here, I'm gonna post the next three chapters all at once to catch up. Enjoy.
Leo orbed back in to the living room. Paige and Chris were waiting for him.
“Where are the others?” he asked, glancing around.
“We made them go to bed. What’s going on?”
“Your witch is called Radek,” he told Chris. He frowned, thinking, but it didn’t mean anything.
“Radek. That’s, what, Russian?” Paige asked.
“Czech, I think. He’s a born witch, he had a Whitelighter who was killed during the Titan’s attack, and he stopped practicing after that. But he recognized Chris and Wyatt.”
“Wyatt’s Crown Prince of the magical community, of course he recognized him,” Chris said, mostly joking. “Where is Mini Me?”
“Playing hide and seek with them. He’s somewhere in the city, but they can’t get near him.”
“Leo, we have to go get him,” Paige protested.
“He’s fine,” Chris assured her. “Hide and seek is the one thing I could beat Wyatt at, even without orbing. He’ll stop when he’s tired, or bored.”
“Yeah, but until he stops, Radek can’t bring him home,” Leo pointed out.
Chris shrugged again. Paige swatted at him, grimacing. “Can you pretend to be concerned, please?”
“He’s obviously alright, or I wouldn’t be, remember? And it didn’t traumatize me, or anything.”
“Any idea why he’s not coming home?” Leo asked quietly.
Chris shook his head reluctantly. “No. I don’t know.”
“I might,” Paige said suddenly. “Piper told you--him—not to orb.”
“He already orbed there.”
“Maybe he thinks he’ll be in less trouble if he doesn’t orb again? His orbing’s not very accurate, anyway; he keeps getting lost.”
“Really? I don’t remember that. But then how is he avoiding their soldiers, if he’s not orbing?” Chris sat back, rubbing his head.
“Still bothering you?” Paige asked sympathetically.
“Yeah, a little.”
“What happened?” Leo asked, moving to heal him.
Chris waved him off. “That won’t help, Paige tried.”
“Chris tried a memory spell,” Paige told him. “Turns out, remembering things that haven’t happened yet? Not a good idea.”
“It didn’t work,” Chris clarified.
“Go get some rest,” Paige told him.
“Yeah, but what about...”
“’Yeah but’ you’re the one who keeps telling us he’s fine. If you wake up traumatized we’ll know he’s not.”
“It’ll be too late by then,” Chris pointed out, but he headed upstairs anyway.
Leo dropped into his chair, head in his hands. Paige rubbed his shoulder sympathetically. “We’ll get there,” she promised him.
John, Lorne, Rodney and Woolsey gathered in Woolsey’s office the next morning.
“Besides that one machine, he hasn’t done anything,” Lorne reported. “He’s just running the men around. Ronon’s started taking it as a personal insult...he’s stalking the kid.”
“Have we determined what the machine does?” Woolsey asked.
“Not yet,” Rodney admitted. “It’s doing something, but the instruction manual doesn’t exist, so...”
“Business as usual,” John agreed. “It does look like it was activated through proximity; Chris didn’t actually do anything except walk near it.”
“Which will be very comforting if it turns out it’s dangerous...he’ll have destroyed us by accident instead of on purpose.”
Woolsey looked up, alarmed. “Is that...”
“No. Not likely,” John assured him.
“Can we lock down the City?”
“Tried it. The doors open for him.”
“Without the ATA?”
“He does have telekinesis, right?” Lorne asked.
“On a sealed door?” Rodney protested.
“Apparently.”
“Alright.” Woolsey pushed to his feet. “Find out where he is, get every man in there. I want him found.”
“Right.”
John lingered in the doorway, letting the other two leave and closing the door. Lorne glanced back before heading off.
“Something on your mind, Colonel?” Woolsey asked.
“Radek,” John admitted reluctantly.
“What about him?”
John sat down, leaning forward. “He says that he knows who Chris is.”
“I see.”
“He also says he can’t tell us, and if we don’t let him take Chris away pretty soon we’ll be sorry.”
“Radek said this?”
“Well, not in so many words, but...”
“Why can’t he tell us?”
“He’s in some kind of group with Chris’s parents, and he can’t give them up to us. He keeps telling me the City’s not in danger unless we refuse to let Chris go.”
“And the other child? The brother?”
“Genuinely his brother, apparently. Radek doesn’t think we’ll see any more of them, not until it’s too late.”
“And has he given you any indication how late is too late?”
John frowned, sitting back. “You’re buying this?”
“Is Radek in the habit of lying to you?” Woolsey asked.
“No, but...”
“How long?” he repeated.
“He didn’t say. I got the impression we didn’t have much time, though. We really should track the kid down.”
“Hmm. Ask Radek to come in here, please.”
“Right.”
John headed out. Woolsey sat back, thinking carefully.
Radek was on his computer, talking on his headset, when John came in. “...and three sections down. Yes? Alright.” He clicked the headset off, laying it aside.
“Still hiding?”
“More men in that sector than whole rest of City, Ronon hunting him down, and still we cannot find him.”
“Can you find him?” John asked.
Radek looked up, frowning. “I’ve been looking for fourteen hours.”
“No. I mean, can you find him.”
Radek caught the change in tone and looked up. John gestured vaguely; Radek shook his head firmly. “No. Chris doesn’t know me.”
“You sure?”
“If I thought I could find him I’d have gone when he went missing. Chris will not trust me any more than any of you.”
Both looked up at a noise at the door. Chris stood there, watching them. He was dirty and tired looking, but he didn’t seem to have hurt himself.
“Hey there, Chris,” John said, as casually as he could. “What’cha doing?”
“Where’s Wyatt?” Chris asked.
“Wyatt’s at home, Chris, with your mama and papa,” Radek told him.
“If you wanna tell us where home is, we can call ’em,” John added.
Chris studied him, scrubbing at his eye. Out of John’s line of sight, Radek let his hand lit up again. Chris grinned, skirting John to stand beside him.
“Won’t trust you, huh?” John said pointedly.
“Because he thinks I’m here to take him home,” Radek said.
“Right now you’re here to take him to the infirmary, got it?”
“I wanna go home!” Chris protested.
Ronon appeared in the doorway, glaring at them. John waved him down and turned back to Radek.
“Very soon, Chris, home very soon,” Radek promised. “First, we make sure you haven’t hurt yourself, alright?”
“My daddy would make me better,” Chris told him.
“Hmm, but we must be sure. Come, it won’t be long.”
“You come too?”
“Yes. I will come too.”
“Woolsey wants to see you,” John told him. “When you have time.”
Radek smiled tightly, leading Chris out. Ronon took two steps back to let them pass and then followed them.
Rodney passed them in the doorway, twisting to look over his shoulder at them. “Hey, was that...”
“Yeah, the kid. He seems to like Radek.” He tapped his radio. “Lorne, stand down, we found the kid. And get some extra security to the infirmary.”
“Yessir.”
Rodney logged onto his computer, flicking rapidly between files. “The machine he started up has gone dormant again.”
“Figure it out yet?”
“It’s not Scalextric, it actually takes effort.”
“That explains that, then.”
“Oh...” He pulled a pendant on a long chain from a pocket, tossing it to John. “This was sitting on top of the machine when it powered down.”
“You checked it out, right?” John asked turning it over in his hands.
“It’s not going to hurt you. I checked it, Carson checked it...it’s fine.”
“It came from an Ancient machine, turned on by a child with powers,” he said patiently.
“He didn’t turn it on with his powers.”
“Rodney...” John tossed the pendant up in the air, catching it easily. “It’s carved,” he noted.
“Yeah, we noticed that. Throw it over to the Culture Center, maybe they can figure it out.”
“Good idea.” He pocketed it and headed out, leaving Rodney to work at the computer.
Radek was sitting by a bed in the infirmary when the sun rose the next morning. Chris was fast asleep on it, one hand tucked under his head.
Jennifer came up, checking his chart absently. “Finally asleep?” she asked softly.
“Hmm. Twenty hours in he finally decides he’s tired. Children this age should take naps, no?”
“You can’t really tie them to a schedule. He really likes you.”
“He has very bad taste.”
“Mmm, I don’t think so.”
Radek scowled, looking away.
“Where are you from, little guy?” Jennifer murmured. “Is someone waiting for you?”
Radek shifted uncomfortably but didn’t answer. Jennifer glanced at him but didn’t ask, focusing on the chart, and a moment later Woolsey came around the curtain, pausing when he saw them.
“Ah, Dr Zelenka.”
“Ssssh!” Jennifer hissed.
Woolsey grimaced, raising his hands apologetically. “Busy?”
“Chris screams every time Radek tries to leave,” she told him. “If you want to talk to him, you’ll have to do it here.”
Woolsey stared at her until she took the hint and left, hanging the chart back on the end of the bed as she went. Radek picked it up and studied it, trying to avoid looking at Woolsey.
“You know what I’m going to say, Dr Zelenka.”
“Yes, you are going to say, ’He can get through our shield, Radek, he might be dangerous, Radek, give him up for good of City, Radek.’”
“Something to that effect, yes.”
Radek lowered the chart. “Suppose for a moment I take him home. And I tell his parents, We found him. They will say, Where did you find him? What kind of place? Why does he talk about a place that sounds like nowhere on Earth?”
Woolsey nodded reluctantly. “I suppose I see your point. I still can’t just let you take him, though. We know nothing about him.”
“He is human, and an American citizen. And if you keep him here much longer, his family will come for him, and you will not be able to stop them.”
“How long?”
“Until they come? Perhaps another day. If that. More likely, before noon today...he will be here one full day by then, and they do not let their children go.”
Woolsey nodded, turning away. Radek frowned; he thought Woolsey had muttered, “I know,” under his breath, but he must have been mistaken. He looked at Chris; the child was awake and he blinked sleepily, checking Radek was still there before falling asleep again.
Chris was flipping idly through the Book of Shadows, not really reading it, taking comfort in the pages he knew so well. Piper came in carrying Melinda; she checked slightly on seeing him before pacing slowly forwards to join him. “Well, that’s déjà vu,” she murmured.
Chris laughed softly, making room for her at the podium. “Just trying to think. Hey, Mellie.”
Piper looked over his shoulder. The Book was open on the page they’d filled in after defeating Christy and the Triad, listing everything that had happened to them in the eight years before that.
“This helps you think?” she asked, rereading her own entry.
“The Book does,” Chris agreed. “Wyatt’s better at making up spells cold, but he can’t find anything in here. Book research is my job.”
“So when you were back here, and you spent all that time up here...”
Chris shrugged. “I haven’t found anything useful, though.”
“Hey, your witch is going to bring him home, right?”
Chris eyed her. “You’re very calm.” He didn’t say “All of a sudden” but she heard it anyway. Smiling, she passed Mel to him and closed the Book firmly.
“Can you get the phone, please?”
Chris glanced around; the phone was on a table near the door. He gestured and it flew into his hand.
“Thank you,” Piper said, taking it from him and wandering towards the couch as she dialed.
Chris jogged Mel lightly, watching her carefully. “Who are you calling?”
She waved him to silence. “Agent Murphy, please. Yes, I’ll hold. No, no message.”
Phoebe appeared, grinning at Mel and moving to tickle her. She glanced at Piper, frowning. “Who’s she talking to?”
“Agent Murphy,” Chris told her. “He’s Homeland Security, right? He’s retired by 2026, I never met him.”
“Yeah, he helped us out after we died.”
“Which time?” Chris asked innocently.
Phoebe swatted at him, grinning. Chris grinned, fending her off with Mel.
Piper sat up suddenly. “Agent Murphy? Piper Halliwell. We need some help.”
Phoebe and Chris quieted, watching her. Coop appeared; he was about to speak when Phoebe shushed him, so he pulled her into a kiss instead. Chris absently made a face. Coop pulled away from Phoebe, grinning and patting Chris on the shoulder.
Absently Chris noted that Coop was taking his sudden reappearance very calmly. Living with a Charmed One obviously prepared you for oddities like your nephew coming back from the future on a semi-regular basis.
“It’s about whatever you’re hiding in the Bay,” Piper told the phone. “He says he doesn’t know anything,” she added to them. “My son’s missing, Agent Murphy. I suggest you talk to whoever you need to and find out what’s out there.”
Coop started to say something; Phoebe elbowed him in the ribs, and he grimaced, stepping away from her.
“How do we know that’s where he is,” Piper repeated. “How do you think we know?”
“Ok, that’s enough.” Phoebe took the phone from Piper, who swatted angrily at her. Chris quickly stepped forward, offering Mel back to her.
“Sorry, Agent Murphy, she’s a little upset right now,” Phoebe said to the phone. “We know it’s a military base; that’s the only reason we haven’t gone in after him, but we will if you don’t help us.” She listened for a moment, smiling. “Half an hour is fine. Thank you.”
She tossed the phone onto the couch. “He’ll call us back.”
“What’s going on?” Coop asked warily.
“Mini me is missing,” Chris told him.
“And you didn’t tell me?” Coop said to Phoebe.
“You were busy.”
“Not too busy for this! Piper, is there anything I can do?”
“You know anything about the base out in the Bay?” Piper asked.
“Uh...”
“Then no, you can’t help.”
She left the attic before he could answer. Phoebe winced, patting him on the shoulder. “She’s mad at everyone right now. Don’t worry about it.”
“Yeah, so I see,” Coop agreed. Looping his arm through Phoebe’s, he led her over to the door. “Why is Chris here?” he asked softly. “I mean...” He gestured towards Chris, who was flicking idly through the Book again.
“Slight error in a summoning spell. We asked for Chris, just didn’t specify which one.”
Coop winced, glancing at Chris again. Phoebe swatted at his arm. “He doesn’t really remember this, but he says Mini Him is fine. And there’s a witch in the base who’s looking out for him.”
“A witch? Really?” Coop said in surprise.
Phoebe nodded, heading down the stairs, and he followed her. In the living room Paige was conked out on the couch; Phoebe glanced at her before answering Coop.
“Well, a lapsed witch,” she said quietly. “He says his Whitelighter died when the Titans attacked and he stopped practicing.”
“A lot of witches did,” Coop agreed. “It took the Elders a long time to track everyone back down, but I thought they had. Every witch should have a Whitelighter by now.”
Phoebe draped a blanket over Paige, only half listening to Coop. “If he stopped practicing, maybe he just didn’t show up. He knew enough to call Leo.”
“Leo’s pretty famous in the community, Phoebe. Anyone on either side could call him.”
“Everyone thinks Radek is evil! Chris doesn’t remember being hurt at all, he remembers that Radek helped him.”
“Radek,” Coop repeated thoughtfully.
“Yeah, why?”
“It’s familiar.”
“You think you, uh...helped him?” She tapped his ring.
“No, I don’t think I did, but...I’m gonna go see if I can chase it down, ok?”
“Hmm. Come back soon.”
She reached up to kiss him, leaning against him. He returned the kiss for a minute before gently pushing her back.
“Call Henry,” he said over her shoulder, “he’s worried about you.”
Phoebe twisted to follow his look and found Paige up on her elbows, clearly just woken up. When she looked around again Coop was gone.
“Wassat Coop?” Paige asked, still half asleep.
Phoebe sat beside her. “Yeah. He just came to check in.”
“Should call ’Enry,” she mumbled, trying to push away the blanket. Phoebe stopped her, tucking it back up over her shoulder.
“Go back to sleep, sweetie. I’ll call him for you.”
“Really? Wha time izit?”
“Eleven.”
“He’s at t’office. ’Anks Phoe...”
She drifted off again before she was done talking. Phoebe tucked the blanket in again, getting up and heading for the kitchen. Piper was feeding Mel, and Wyatt was coloring at the table.
“Where’s the phone?” Phoebe asked.
“On the counter. What’s up?”
“Just calling Henry for Paige. She crashed out before she could do it.”
She picked up the phone, dialing. Piper kept feeding Mel, half listening to the conversation.
“Henry? It’s Phoebe.”
“Come on, sweetie, eat up,” Piper encouraged Mel.
“No, she’s here, she’s fine,” Phoebe said. “Yeah, we’re having a little emergency.”
“’Little’?” Piper repeated indignantly. Phoebe waved irritably at her, turning her back. Piper scowled, turning back to the kids.
“No, I don’t think you can help, but we’ll let you know. Paige is asleep right now, but she’s fine. Ok. Bye.” She hung up the phone, coming to join Wyatt at the table.
“A ’little’ problem?” Piper said again.
“Oh come on, Piper, what was I supposed to do? Get him over here so he can hang around in the living room? Henry definitely has no contacts who can help us right now.”
Chris came in, pausing as he sensed the tension. “Um...Wyatt, can you come help me for a few minutes?”
“Got something?” Phoebe asked.
“Not sure. That’s why I need Wyatt. Mom, you want me to take Mel?”
“Were you this helpful the last time?” Piper asked suspiciously.
“He was older. Maybe I’ll grow out of it.” He took Mel from her, grinning, and he and Wyatt left the room.
“Why does he remember what an alternate, older version of himself did?” Phoebe asked thoughtfully.
“Why do we care?” Piper asked.
“Yeah, good point,” she admitted, helping Piper to clear up.
John tapped on the door of Woolsey’s office, leaning in without actually stepping over the threshold. “We may have a problem.”
“What problem?” Woolsey asked.
“Three of the Culture Center crew have aphasia, or something like it. Beckett wants to quarantine all of them, plus anyone who was in the infirmary, plus anyone who may have dropped by Nicole’s office today.”
“That’s likely to be a long list.”
“Yeah. He’s ready to commandeer some of the empty living quarters. He wants to close the City, too; no one in or out, for now.”
“Tell him to go ahead. Any idea what’s causing it?”
John came into the office, perching on the edge of the desk. “Chris’s pendant, far as we can tell. The first victim was the guy working on it, and the next two were his teammates.”
“I thought the pendant was checked?” Woolsey protested.
“Rodney and Carson ran every test we have and a few they made up before they sent it to Nicole. It’s just a hunk of rock on a chain.”
“Apparently not.”
John’s radio beeped, and he reached up to tap it.
“Colonel Sheppard, have you talked to Mr Woolsey yet?” Carson asked.
“Yeah, Carson, you can go ahead. We’re going to call Daedalus and the SGC, tell them not to send anyone over for now.”
Woolsey tapped his own radio. “Unless you need more help.”
“Right now they’d just be more people to get infected. One of my nurses just went down.”
John hissed, straightening up. “Carson, you need bodies?”
“Not right now, thank you.”
“I’m putting guys at the end of the infirmary corridor, alright? Let me know if you need more.”
“Aye.”
Woolsey sighed, slowly rising to his feet.
“I’ll call Daedalus if you call the SGC,” John offered.
“Deal. Let’s go.”
Chris and Radek had been moved back to the iso room to make space for the influx of new patients. Teyla came into the iso room with a tray in her hands; Radek glanced up from his computer. Chris was still sleeping.
“Thank you,” Radek murmured.
Teyla passed him the tray, glancing down at Chris. “Have you heard what is happening?”
“Yes, three linguists and a nurse.”
“Two nurses,” Teyla corrected him. “And a Marine who was in the infirmary. And two more of Nicole’s linguists.”
Radek chuckled softly. “Ironic that the linguists are falling sick more quickly. More chance that they would understand the infected.”
“Are you and Chris...?”
“Exposed, I suppose, but no symptoms yet. Although how one would tell, with Chris...”
Teyla smiled wistfully and Radek sat upright, suddenly realizing. “Is Torren...”
“Torren is safe, for now, so long as I do not go near him.”
Radek sighed, smiling sympathetically when she looked up. “He will be well.”
“Yes, I hope so.”
Chris stirred, sitting up. “Where’s Wyatt?”
Radek went back to his computer as he answered; they’d had this conversation several times before. “Wyatt is at home, Chris.”
“I want him,” Chris said.
“I am sure you’ll be home soon, Chris. Are you hungry?”
Chris thought about it before nodding firmly. Teyla began to go through the tray with him.
A little later Teyla stepped back into the infirmary proper. Carson finished up with a Marine and crossed to her.
“How’s the wee lad?” he asked.
“He seems well. He misses his brother.”
“Aye. Well, we can’t let him go home yet, I’m afraid.”
“Luckily, he shows no signs of stars.”
Carson frowned, studying her. “Say it again, love?”
“I said that he table no signs of stars.”
He sighed, rubbing a hand over his face. “Don’t go too far, Teyla.”
She frowned in realization. “It has begun.”
“Aye. I’m sorry.”
“Allow me to help. While I can.”
He nodded, leading her away.
Paige was awake when Coop appeared, scribbling in a notebook. “Hey, Coop,” she said absently. “Phoebe’s upstairs.”
“What are you working on?”
“Spell to get Chris back home when we’re done. Piper keeps destroying them when we’re done.” She put the notebook aside.
“Why’s she do that?” Coop asked.
Paige frowned, studying him. “Did you find something?”
“Where’d you say Phoebe was?” He was already heading for the stairs before she could answer.
“Come back here! Coop!”
Chris and Phoebe were working on a potion, Chris quietly guiding Phoebe. She stopped when Coop came in, crossing to kiss him. Chris shook his head, smiling, and continued with the potion.
Paige sidestepped Coop and Phoebe and joined Chris at the table. “What are you making?”
“Sleeping potion. Mom’s about to reach breaking point and storm the city.”
“Are you using it on her, or for her?”
“Not sure yet.” He grinned at her.
Paige slapped his arm, smiling. “Where is she?”
“Putting Mel to bed.”
Coop and Phoebe came to join them arm in arm. “Chris, you’re sure you don’t remember anything?”
Chris threw his hands up, frustrated. Paige rescued the bottle he’d knocked off the table, taking a discrete step away. “For the last time...”
Coop raised his hands apologetically. “I just wanted to make sure.”
“Why? What’s wrong?” Phoebe asked warily.
“Radek’s been missing for the last five years.”
“He hasn’t been practicing, sure, but...”
“No, he’s been missing. After the Titan’s attack, when the Cupids got sorted out, Radek was due a visit from one of us. But we couldn’t find him. And believe me, we looked.”
“So, what, he’s been hiding out in the Underworld for the last five years? He’s not a demon,” Paige protested.
“I don’t know where he was. But he wasn’t here.”
“He saved me,” Chris insisted.
“Someone saved you.” He frowned suddenly. “Someone will save you. Is going to save you?”
Chris waved it off. “If Radek was a demon, he had plenty of time to hurt me. He di...won’t. I came home fine.”
“Yeah, but you’re here. Things are different this time.”
“Sweetie? This isn’t encouraging,” Phoebe said quietly.
“I’m trying to be honest, Phoebe. Radek’s Cupid looked for a year. He wasn’t anywhere on the planet.”
“He wasn’t just blocking himself from you...?” Paige suggested.
“You can’t block love. It finds a way in.”
Chris absently threw the last ingredient into the pot, beginning to draw out the potion. “I really don’t remember Radek doing anything to hurt me.”
“Maybe your Radek didn’t,” Phoebe said gently.
“I don’t think we should tell Piper this,” Paige suggested.
Chris pocketed the bottle, pushing away from the table. “I’ll go.”
“What?” Phoebe said in surprise.
“I’ll go get Mini Me. I should have just gone anyway.”
“Chris, we have no idea where he is!”
“I’ll know. When I get there.”
“Chris, you can’t just...”
Chris orbed out before Paige could finish. She cut herself off, scowling.
Phoebe turned to Coop. “Go with him.”
“What?”
“Go with him!”
She smacked his arm and he vanished, still looking startled. Paige blinked. “Can he find Chris?”
“Sure. I’m sure. I think.”
She shrugged, turning back to the pot and drawing off more of the potion. Paige sighed, passing her more bottles.
In the iso room Radek was typing frantically at his pad when Chris orbed in. Little Chris, sitting miserably on the bed, perked up.
“Daddy! ... Daddy?”
Radek looked up in surprise. “You are not Leo. Oliver?”
“I’m...Perry,” Chris said after a moment. “Leo couldn’t come.”
“It’s not safe here.”
“Hence why I’m taking him away.”
He looked around, frowning. Radek stood, watching him. “You sense it, yes?”
“What is that?” Chris asked, crossing to the bed.
“Something was released. Something that’s hurting my people.”
“Something Chris did?”
“No. Or, not deliberately. He was...”
He paused when Coop appeared. Little Chris grinned and held out his arms, recognizing him. Coop scooped him up, looking around. “What the hell is that?”
“As far as I can tell, only Chris and myself are unaffected,” Radek told him.
“Unaffected by what?”
“Something Chris released,” Chris said thoughtfully.
“Only because he happened to walk past,” Radek assured them. “Anyone entering that room at any time would have done it.”
“What is it?” Coop asked.
Chris shook his head. “Take Chris home.”
“No, nonono!” Radek scrambled to his feet. “You are infected now, Perry, both of you. You cannot leave.”
Coop started to speak but Chris waved him to silence. “Phoebe and the others know where we are. If we don’t leave they’ll just come looking.”
“No. This...what was released...it began like aphasia, yes? Words all mixed up, no one to understand them? But writing, writing they could still understand, so City still worked. But then writing stopped too, and even gesturing, no one could follow. No one communicates.”
“Tell Leo to keep away,” Coop told Chris.
He nodded, wandering towards one of the walls. Coop turned back to Radek. “Where are we?”
“Military base, code name Atlantis.”
“And where’ve you been for the last five years?”
Radek looked away. “I didn’t tell them about you. I can’t tell you about them.”
“Coop. Done,” Chris said, coming back to join them.
“A Cupid?” Radek said in surprise.
“Who are you?” Chris asked him.
Radek held up a hand, letting it light up. Little Chris laughed, reaching for it, and Coop let him down to the ground. Radek hunkered so he could reach the light.
“A little witch,” he told Chris and Coop. “That is all the power I have.”
The light flickered out when Chris tugged on his arm. Radek picked him up absently, setting him on the bed.
“I knew of the Charmed Ones. I knew of Wyatt. And when I saw a child witch who could orb, I knew there must be another. But this is military base. I could not get him away.”
“What did he release?” Chris asked.
“A machine turned on, and when it turned off there was a pendant. We tested it, I tested it, and there was nothing. But when our linguists looked, the aphasia began.”
“Where’s the pendant now?”
“In the Culture Center. The linguists’ lab.”
“Stay with Chris?” Chris asked Coop.
“What? I can’t...if anyone gets in...”
“I can lock door,” Radek offered. “Keep everyone out...no one can remember how to open it any more.”
“Call me if you need me,” Chris added.
Coop wasn’t happy about it, but he nodded. Radek used his pad to unlock the door, and he and Chris left.
“So, buddy, want to play hide and seek?” Coop suggested. Little Chris laughed, kicking his legs.
Radek led the way down a corridor, Chris keeping a careful eye out around them.
“Where is everyone?”
“We went into lockdown perhaps two hours ago. Everyone was locked into whatever room they were in.”
“Anyone in the...what’d you call it, Culture Center?”
Radek shook his head. “No. The linguists were the first to fall sick. Nicole closed the Center some hours after the first case.”
“Nicole?”
“Head of the department. She was unaffected last I heard, but communications went out a little while ago.”
“Is it far?”
“No. This way.”
Piper and Paige stood in the kitchen watching Leo, who was concentrating hard. Phoebe sat at the table, waiting.
Leo shook his head. “Chris isn’t listening.”
“Well, go after him!” Piper protested.
“Piper, he told us not to go,” Paige told her. “He must have a reason.”
“He always has reasons! Our whole family is disappearing into that place!”
Leo tried to hug her, but she pushed him off and turned to the counter.
“What did Chris say, Leo?” Phoebe asked.
“They found Little Chris, and Radek, but they need to check something out and we’re not to go after them.”
“What do they need to check out?”
“I don’t know, he wouldn’t say and he’s not listening now. What about Coop?”
“He’s alright. A little worried, I think, but not hurt or anything.”
“Good. That’s good.”
Mel cried upstairs. Piper sighed, turning and leaving without speaking or even looking at the others.
Radek fiddled with his pad. Chris leaned against the wall, watching him.
“You control the whole City from that thing?”
“Not all of it. Just the important bits.”
Chris wandered away a few steps, running one hand over the engravings on the wall. “I don’t remember any of this,” he murmured to himself.
“Why should you?” Radek asked absently, not really listening.
“Nothing. Sorry. Got it yet?”
“Almost. When Nicole locks something, it’s really locked...there.”
The door hissed open, and Chris came back to join him. “And this is...”
“Culture Center. Linguistics and anthropology.”
“All your mysterious artifacts end up here?”
“Artifacts here, machinery in the labs.”
He stepped into the Culture center. The lights were on half; Radek glanced around, heading for a control panel, and after a moment they brightened.
Chris studied the room, eyeing a translation hanging on the wall. “Those look almost like runes.”
“Some languages we encountered seemed to come originally from magical sources. Corrupted through years, of course.”
“And your linguists can read them?” Chris said in surprise. Magical languages were hard enough for him, and he’d spent all his life studying them. Wyatt still couldn’t handle them.
“In places. Nicole is very good. She has an instinct for them.”
“Huh.”
Radek headed for one of the offices. Chris continued to wander around, examining the different translations, pictures and signs hanging on the walls.
“Here,” Radek said from behind him.
Chris turned just in time to catch the pendant Radek tossed to him. He immediately dropped it, backing away.
“That is...”
Shaking his head, he backed away a few more steps. Curious, Radek circled him and picked it up; whatever it had done to Chris, it didn’t affect him.
“You don’t feel that?” Chris asked.
“I don’t like holding it, but it does not hurt me.”
“It didn’t hurt me, it just...it’s very angry, and very old. Hold it up?”
Radek obliged, holding it still so Chris could study it.
“That’s the...turn it over, please.”
Radek did so, frowning as the light hit it differently, throwing the carvings on it into sharp relief.
“Cantus,” Chris murmured.
“I’m not familiar...?” Radek said apologetically.
“No, you wouldn’t be. Cantus was a demon, but he vanished centuries ago. I read something about him in Magic School, years ago.”
“They must have found how to imprison him,” Radek said thoughtfully.
“Who must?” Chris asked. Radek frowned, and he shook his head. “Never mind, then. Cantus was the demon of language, as far as I remember.”
“That fits. Can you remember how to defeat...vanquish him?”
“He wasn’t vanquished, he just vanished. Let me talk to Leo. Maybe they can find something.”
He turned away, wandering towards the window. Radek put down the pendant, absently scrubbing his hand against his leg as he watched.
Leo stopped dead as he walked through the hall. Paige, in the living room, watched him, frowning.
Leo half turned towards her, gesturing for a pad and pen. Paige scooped them off the table and carried them to him. He nodded an absent thanks, scribbling quickly; Paige leaned over his shoulder to read it.
-
After a moment he stopped writing, tilting the pad towards her.
“Mean anything to you?”
Paige read the scribbled note: Cantus, demon (language?) vanished years ago not loose but affecting
“Chris told you this?” she asked.
Leo nodded. “He says everyone else - not Radek or Little Chris, but everyone else - can’t communicate any more. There’s some kind of a pendant, Little Chris found it, and he thinks there’s something weird going on.”
“Does he want us?”
Behind Leo, Piper leaned against the door frame, out of his field of vision.
“No. They don’t seem to be infected right now, but he doesn’t want to risk any of us.”
“Why would a demon avoid witches?” Paige asked.
“Doesn’t want to be vanquished? I don’t know. Can you go look in the Book, please?”
“Yeah.” Seeing Piper, she added, “You’re busy, anyway.”
“I’m...Right.”
Paige headed for the stairs, smiling at Piper on the way. Piper came into the living room, walking into Leo’s arms for a hug. Leo wrapped his arms around her, holding on.
“Now, where are our sons?” she asked, letting go.
“Wyatt’s upstairs,” Leo said immediately. Piper smiled faintly...that wasn’t what she meant, and she knew he knew it.
“Chris and Chris are both in the city. Coop is with Little Chris, he’s fine, but Chris...the other Chris is afraid they might be carrying whatever’s affecting the city. He doesn’t want to spread it.”
“But they’re ok?” Piper asked.
“Yeah. Radek and Little Chris weren’t even affected, so they think magical beings are immune right now.”
“That doesn’t make much sense for a demon.”
“Yeah, I know. Paige is looking into it right now.”
He let go of Piper, looking towards the kitchen. “Do you want to tell Phoebe her husband’s in magical quarantine?”
“Nooo. You’re her Whitelighter, that’s your job.”
“You’re her sister,” he pointed out.
“What about my husband?” Phoebe called from the kitchen.
Leo looked beseechingly at Piper, who smiled, patting him on the cheek. “Walk with me,” she called to Phoebe.
“Oh, that sounds bad,” Phoebe muttered, coming to join her.
Little Chris had settled against Coop, not asleep but clearly getting there. Coop was playing idly with his ring, studying the window above them.
Chris stepped into view at the window, waved down at them and motioned for one minute before disappearing again.
“You know, I hope you grow up less intense,” Coop told the child. “He makes me feel lazy.” Little Chris laughed sleepily.
Radek let himself in, glancing over his shoulder as the door locked behind him.
“Hey,” Coop said.
“Hello. How is...”
“Asleep, or close to it. Where’s Ch...Perry?”
“Looking around. He will be back soon.”
“Is that safe?”
“Safer for him than for most. He at least can orb away. He is young, yes?”
Coop coughed, looking down at Little Chris to hide his smile. “He hasn’t been a Whitelighter long, no.”
“Hmm.”
“Has he talked to Leo?”
“Yes, the Charmed Ones are working on it.”
Coop nodded, sliding carefully away from Chris and coming to look over Radek’s shoulder. “So where have you been for the last five years?”
“Here in the City.”
“And the City was...?”
Radek didn’t answer, staring at his pad. Coop leaned against the table, watching him. “Perry and the witches, they’d believe you just weren’t practicing,” he said conversationally. “But I’m a Cupid. We don’t lose our charges.”
“I have no need of a Cupid,” Radek said without looking up.
“You’d be surprised how often I hear that.”
Radek snorted agreement, laying down his pad. “I can’t tell you where we were.”
“Wyatt calls this the Star City. He’s not too far off, is he.”
“If I tell you, if I even say ’that is close’ or ’not so far off’ there is big trouble. For everyone. I am witch by heritage, but I choose loyalty to these people and they have never given me cause to regret it.”
“I understand that,” Coop told him. “But your City has unleashed a demon on us, and we have to deal with that.” Radek inclined his head; Coop nodded slowly.
Chris orbed back in, looking startled. “What’s wrong?” Coop asked in surprise.
Chris crossed to the bed, lightly touching Little Chris’s head. “Nothing. Sorry. What’s...”
The lights went out; the room was plunged into darkness. Little Chris cried out, afraid.
Radek’s hand lit up. It only threw a little light around them, just enough not to bump in to each other.
“He made a light,” Chris murmured, dazed.
“Chris,” Coop said pointedly.
“He’s alright,” Radek said, crossing to the bed where Little Chris was still sitting. The child reached for the light in his hand, sniffling.
Chris shook it off, turning to Coop. “Have you heard from Phoebe?”
“No. What about Leo?”
“Not yet. Can you get the lights back, Radek?”
“No. Power supply needs attention, all the time. I can’t do it alone.”
“Even just in here?” Coop asked.
“Cloak must stay up; that’s most important. That’s all I can do.”
“There’s a time limit on that?” Chris was watching his younger self play with the ball of light.
Radek shrugged, rocking a hand back and forth. “Half a day. Ten hours, perhaps. Not more.”
Chris nodded, running a hand through his hair. “Ok. I’m going to talk to Leo. Here...”
He concentrated, creating a ball of orbs and throwing it into the air. Coop poked at it, looking impressed; Chris glared at him, taking a step back out of the light.
In the Manor attic Leo straightened up, frowning.
“What’s wrong?” Piper asked.
“Power’s gone out on the City. Their cloak goes down in a couple hours, and then this thing will spread.”
“Are...”
“Everyone’s fine. It’s just dark.”
“Lucky Radek’s a photokinetic then, isn’t it?” Phoebe said brightly. Piper smiled despite herself.
“They need to know if we’ve found anything,” Leo said.
“There’s an entry in here on Cantus, but it just says all the stuff we already know. High level demon, language is his playground, he vanished centuries ago. It sounds like no one even met him...whoever wrote this is just repeating something they heard. There’s no picture or anything.”
“So no vanquish?”
“Nothing.”
“Well, he’s an upper level demon, that’s somewhere to start,” Piper said tiredly.
“If he’s an upper level demon, we need some of his flesh for a vanquish potion,” Paige reminded them as she came in.
“He hasn’t manifested yet,” Leo said. “Or if he has, Chris can’t find him.”
“He can’t possibly know who Chris is,” Piper protested.
“He doesn’t need to know who he is, just that he’s powerful.” Paige sat down beside Phoebe, shrugging. “If I were a demon who’d broken out after centuries, I wouldn’t go near someone like him.”
“That’s encouraging, Paige, thanks,” Piper told her.
Chris stepped back into the pool of light. “They think he’s an upper level demon.”
Radek winced. Coop shrugged, clearly not sure what that meant.
“You need the flesh of an upper level demon, or the vanquish won’t work,” Chris explained.
“The demon doesn’t have flesh. He just has...” Coop gestured towards the amulet.
“Yeah, that’s the problem,” Chris agreed. “Can you track movement around the City?”
“The City is locked down,” Radek protested.
“Yeah. But Cantus isn’t in that.” He gestured to the pendant. “And if he’s manifested here, he’s probably not obeying the lockdown. Do the scanners have enough power?”
“I can run scanners, but the cloak will die sooner.”
“Cloak won’t matter if he gets out.”
Radek looked at Coop, who shrugged. “Perry was the Charmed Ones’ Whitelighter for a while. He knows what he’s talking about.”
“A disgraced witch, a Cupid, the Halliwell heir and a Whitelighter. Some team,” Radek muttered to himself.
“Disgraced?” Coop repeated sharply.
Radek waved it off, tapping at his pad.
The girls were scribbling at a notepad, quietly bickering and crossing things out, when the phone rang. Mel cried from somewhere downstairs; Leo headed for the door, tossing the phone to Phoebe as he passed it.
“Hello?”
Piper and Paige looked up at her, frowning.
“Agent Murphy,” Phoebe said pointedly. “How nice of you to finally call back.” She listened for a moment before tilting the phone away. “He says he had to call in every favor he had owed to get the information for us.”
“Does he have it?” Piper asked.
“Yeah.”
“Good.” To Paige, she added, “Go get him.”
Phoebe’s eyes widened and she lifted the phone again. “Agent Murphy, are you alone?...Good. Paige is coming to get you.”
She listened for a moment, stifling a laugh. “He’s delighted.”
“Oh, yeah, it sounds like it, too,” Paige agreed. They could all hear him cursing on the other end of the phone line.
Phoebe hung up and gestured at Paige, who vanished. Leo came back in, carrying Mel and with Wyatt trailing behind him.
“Hi, little man,” Piper said to Wyatt. He came to join her; Leo looked around, frowning.
“Where’s Paige?”
Paige orbed back in with Agent Murphy before anyone could answer. Leo automatically backed up a step to give them room, circling them to join Piper. Wyatt watched curiously.
Agent Murphy looked around, straightening his jacket. He was obviously a little taken aback. “Well, that’s some way to travel.”
“Beats carpooling,” Paige said with a shrug.
“You have something for us?” Piper demanded.
Agent Murphy nodded, offering her a folder. Phoebe intercepted it, scanning through the first couple of sheets.
“The base is under the control of a branch of Homeland called HomeWORLD, but they’re about seven clearance levels above me,” Murphy told them. “That’s everything I was able to get without getting myself arrested.”
“Why is Homeland Security running a military base?” Paige protested.
Murphy spread his hands uncertainly. “What’s going on, anyway?”
Phoebe passed the folder on to Leo, eying Murphy. “One of our kids is on the base, and some of our guys went after him, and now the base is locked down and they can’t get back off.”
“The base locked down early this morning and it’s been out of contact since. Who have you got there?”
“People,” Piper said lightly. Murphy knew who her kids were, and he knew who they’d married, but he’d never known about Chris and she had no intention of telling him.
“They’ll be sending people in, right?” Leo asked.
Murphy nodded. “The last message said there was something infectious in the City. They’re preparing a rescue mission but they have to go in prepared. You haven’t got long to get your people out. They’ll assume anyone who isn’t one of theirs is part of the problem.”
In the Iso room Chris frowned, looking away for a moment. Coop stopped playing with Little Chris, watching him.
“Radek, how long before your guys break back in?” Chris asked.
“Now that power is gone? Not long. We told them to stay away, but with no messages...”
“Can you talk to them?” Coop asked. “Tell ’em to stay away?”
“No authority. Perry, here.”
He tilted the computer pad so Chris could see it. Chris studied it for a moment, nodding. “Right. Coop, stay with Chris?”
“Oh yeah, we’re having loads of fun, huh Chris?”
Radek fiddled with the pad. “I can stay with boy, if you wish to go.” He held up a radio headset.
Chris considered it, looking at Coop. “He can’t affect a Cupid.”
“Or a Whitelighter,” Coop agreed.
“That might not matter, though.” Chris carefully didn’t look at Radek; they hadn’t suggested Chris was anything other than a Whitelighter, and they didn’t want it to occur to him. Anyway, since his younger self hadn’t been affected yet he was pretty sure he’d be alright.
“No, I suppose not,” Coop agreed. “Yeah, sure.” He took the radio from Radek, hooking it awkwardly over his ear.
“You know where we’re going?” Chris asked.
“I’m just following you.”
“Fair enough.”
He orbed out, Coop a heartbeat behind him. Radek studied his screen for a moment before tapping his earpiece.
“Coop? Can you hear me?” He absently lifted a hand as Chris crawled down the bed to sit beside him. “Right. All doors are locked shut; you’ll have to go around them your way. Signal is two sections to the left...your other left, Coop.”
Coop tapped the radio, looking slightly bemused. “Bossy little thing, isn’t he?”
“Hmm. Knows his stuff, though,” Chris said absently. They’d reached another door; this one was frozen half open. Both stopped, eyeing it warily.
“Radek, this one’s half open,” Coop told his radio. Chris edged forward, examining the door, as Coop listened. “He says systems down this far often hiccup. Can you see anything?”
“Nothing to worry about.” He slid through the gap. Coop waited, still listening to the radio; a moment later a low whistle echoed back through, and he ducked through.
“You know this isn’t a Famous Five story, right?” he asked.
“Who?” Chris said absently. Coop laughed, shaking his head. Apparently Enid Blyton would finally lose popularity over the next twenty years.
“Never mind. There’s only you and me here, you don’t need to whistle at me.”
“I wasn’t whistling at you, I was whistling at this.”
He gestured around. Coop followed the gesture and, without meaning to, whistled lowly. They’d come into a large atrium; the ceiling was two stories above their heads with a balcony running around it.
“Ok, I see what you mean,” he admitted. “Pretty impressive.”
His radio beeped and he listened for a moment, catching Chris’ eye and gesturing upwards. Chris looked up, taking a step back in an attempt to see along the balcony. He orbed out, reappearing directly over Coop’s head.
Coop appeared on the balcony opposite him, so that between them they could see the whole length of it. The dim light didn’t help, creating shadows in every doorway and bend.
Coop caught Chris’s attention, gesturing to a doorway halfway down the length of the balcony. It was recessed and in deep shadow, but something was moving in it.
Chris nodded, slipping quietly down the balcony. Coop moved so he could watch him, reporting quietly to Radek through the radio.
Chris lifted a hand, orbs swirling in his palm, and they stared into the suddenly lit up doorway.
John Shepperd glared at them, weapon in hand and pointing firmly at Chris.
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