1 ✶ video

[molecules]

[ piper's communicator clicks on with a scream. ]

— Yeah. I'm going to need a little help over here.

[ frozen — literally — in the air is a thick book piper had accidentally knocked off the table in her room. the book and a good portion of table have been affected by her power. it's ice, crystallised, and is smoking a little as ice would do. ]

Those guys who attacked the party — I got the memo that they could stop powers from working, but can they turn you evil? Because … Eh. [ she's panicking. ] This is bad. This is very, very bad.

[ she is very, very confused, and very, very concerned. the last time she had this power it was very, very bad. ]

I can't help when I'm like this!

Comments

[ video ]

[molecules]

My room.

[ yep, panicking again as she narrows her eyes. ]

Why? Does that make a difference?

[hostage]

Yeah, 'cause I'm coming to help you. Where's your room?

[molecules]

[ piper's skeptical, but she did just ask for help. back home, this means serious business, but here … there's no book of shadows to turn evil. there's no sisters. if someone with a resume for the strange at this place is coming to help her, then, honestly, piper, get over yourself. ]

Unit 704. Door's wide open — hopefully won't be frosted over by the time you get here.

[ because those hands of hers are staying on her communicator and are not making any gestures what-so-ever for the rest of her life. ]

[hostage]

[Jesse starts moving - and fast - but he keeps the communicator on to keep asking questions while he goes. It makes for a pretty blurry, bouncing picture.]

What's the deal with your power? Is it magic?

[molecules]

I'm a little on the witchy side. [ yes, piper, you're a witch. fucking admit it. ] I can stop time — but it's only ever like this when I turn into my evil self. [ she frowns. ] Which doesn't make any sense because my sisters aren't here to turn evil.

[ and because she's a self-proclaimed (if once-off) nancy drew, she's done some great (incorrect) detective work in the span of ten minutes: ] I'm betting on the party crashers having something to do with it.

[hostage]

I'll be able to tell once I get there. Just sit tight, okay. Try and stay away from anybody you think you might hurt.

[He's taking the stairs, not willing to chance the elevator getting stuck at a time like this.]

So this stuff only happens when you're evil, but like - like, what's that even mean?

[molecules]

[ yeah, it's even confusing to piper. no wonder she owns a night club back home - gotta toss back those drinks. ]

Some powerful, bad people can change your allegiance with an equally powerful bit of magic. The last time this happened, they poisoned my sister, and since our powers and magical crap are all connected together, it turned us with her, too. I turned evil, and so did my power. It's usually more pleasant than this.

[ and, honestly, this is the time where piper needs leo to come to her rescue and explain. she does such a shit job. she's evil, but not really, but there's a good chance she's evil! get it? ]

[ she rolls her neck. this is so frustrating, but she wants to keep as calm as possible because who knows what the evil version — if, you know, she is evil — of her exploding power looks like. ]

It really makes no sense. You're born good, but can be influenced by evil — and not because you choose it.

[hostage]

[Yeah, that's about the opposite of sense-making.]

I'll be there in a minute. If that's what's going on, I'll know.

[With that, he disconnects. He doesn't want the rest of this broadcast to the network. And less than a minute later, he's reached her door and he's coming in.]

[molecules]

[ and doesn't he leave that on a cliffhanger, huh? piper waits — and disconnects, too, when she hears him coming in. she appears by her doorway, but keeps her hands tucked right by her sides. ]

Something tells me you have a lot of experience with these kinds of magical disasters.

[hostage]

Sort of.

[No, not at all. What he has a lot of experience with is stealing abilities and selling them for millions of dollars because, hey, some of us come from worlds where evil is something you choose.

But, as it happens, Jesse's choosing good today. So he steps forward, one hand outstretched in a calming gesture. Be chill, lady. And not in the freeze everything in sight kind of way.]

I'm gonna take it away for a second, okay? I mean all of it.

[molecules]

[ piper cocks an eyebrow. ] You're going to take it all away? You mean defrost this place and give me my table back?

[hostage]

[He keeps moving closer, nice and easy.]

I'm gonna take your magic. Just for a second. You ready?

[molecules]

[ where were you when piper wanted to get rid of her powers, jesse? you would've had great business in san francisco, man. ]

[ but piper's just not quite sure how to process that. in all her years of being such a charmer, they've never really come across someone who can take powers. only steal them through killing … or the hollow, which hasn't happened to her yet. ] What? How —

[ but just do it, man. ]

[hostage]

[It used to be he had to touch someone for this to work, but now all he has to do is get close. And when he's close enough, and she's within his own little bubble of anti-magic, he yanks it right out of her. Not something he usually does nowadays without solid consent, but she just admitted she might be mind-controlled or evil or something, so maybe she'll thank him later.

It's not like the process hurts. Or... even feels like anything. Most people don't notice he's done it, which is why it's so easy to steal from them. By all appearances, he's just paused and now he's staring at her with a look of deep concentration.

But what he's really doing is analyzing the power he's just drawn out of her, searching it for signs of corruption and trying to understand how it should work normally.

Also, things might be defrosting right about now?]

[molecules]

[ piper's really not sure what he's doing, but he said he'd help and she needs to let him. she doesn't think it's working — since no one has been able to help in the years she's been trapped in this bubble of magic — but it's when she happens to glance over and notice that her table is, in fact, defrosting, she's kind of glad she made an idiot of herself over the network and he happened to answer the 911. ]

My stuff —

[ she doesn't understand how the hell he's doing this, or what he's even doing, but, boy, she's sure glad that he's doing it. ]

[ jesse will be happy to know that piper halliwell won't be mind-controlled or evil or something anytime soon. her power works on a molecular level, allowing her to manipulate molecules by either speeding them up or slowing them down — and what's happened here is, yes, the "evil" version of her power is now among her power-set, but she has simply slowed down the molecules to a point where they are literally frozen. ]

[hostage]

[Molecular powers. God, he hates those. For personal reasons. Nothing against her. He glances around for a moment, noting the effect on the previously frozen table, then nods to himself.]

Nobody's messing with you. Whatever's going on is all you.

[He won't give the power back just yet, though. He figures she could use a minute to calm down.]

[molecules]

That can't be. [ what's jesse going to do about it? it's not like he has a telephone line to the elders so she can bitch their ears off. ] That's not my …

[ it's not the point, even if it is, but piper's getting a headache from thinking about what this could mean. she knows, somewhere deep in herself, that she's somehow responsible for this. she just can't quite put it together that she kind of chose this when she said her molecular powers for a weapon. ]

[ but, whatever, she's looking at jesse because he's talking to her as if he's the doctor of supernatural people. ]

How the hell did you do that?

[hostage]

[Oh, she's pretty freaked out about this. This is normally where he'd give her a hug or something if they were friends, but they're pretty much strangers and he looks... well, like a drug-addicted thug. He's well aware he's not the kind of stranger people usually want touching them.]

It's, um... It's my power.

[But that's not the important part.]

Listen, it's okay. Your power - It's not evil or anything. It's just what you do. It's not... It's not usually like this for you, right, but maybe you evolved? You know? Like got stronger?

[molecules]

[ but it is the important part, jesse! he might look like a drug-addicted thug, but he's one that has a power that is actually useful and only raises more questions than he answers! ]

This usually doesn't happen when I'm kidnapped. [ or at all. her power evolution always kicks in when she's being normal and happy! thanks, elders. ] I haven't even been here that long. This place has got to be messing with me. It's the only explanation — pull people in and mess them up with all those crazy weapons and other crap.

[ yes, piper, you got the usual rant out. she looks at jesse, interested in, well, basically him. his power is beyond useful — she's a little envious, or will be, once she's stopped flipping out internally. ]

I'm not surprised they let you keep yours. It's useful.

[hostage]

[His lips twitch into a nervous little smile, but he doesn't want to talk much about his power. It's the kind of thing that tends to get him nearly killed pretty often.]

Y-Yeah, um... Anyway, you really don't gotta worry about yours. It's just gonna take practice, you know?

But if you want a break from it, I could hold onto it a while. Only if you want. I could give it back now, too. If you want.

[molecules]

[ and doesn't that sound appealing? her power being away for some time. but piper doesn't know how jesse's power works, and while she wants to be selfish — oh boy, does she want to — she knows it's not right. ]

[ so she shakes her head. ] It's my pain in the ass to bear. Though, thank you for saving my table … [ she glances at him, a little expectantly. she didn't quite catch his name, did she? ]