Third Time Charmed

Charmed Again (Part 11)

In the lowest depths of the Underworld, the only source of light in the hellish pit being the liquid magma flowing below him, Inspector Cortez was balanced precariously on a cliff ledge, crying out for salvation. "Somebody, help me! Help me!" he pleaded, but when Leo arrived in a flurry of blue-white sparkles, and Cole Shimmered in just afterward, his sentiment changed abruptly. "You! Stay away from me! Stay away!"

"We're here to save you," said Leo, trying not to let his irritation with Cole for bringing the inspector to such a place show.

"You're the one who put me here!"

"No, no. Actually, that was just me," Cole corrected, "hoping you'd change your mind about the girls. Have you?"

"Killing me is the only way to keep me from trying to stop you!" Cortez spat.

Leo attempted to reason with the man, "We're not going to kill you, Inspector. But what you don't understand is that by exposing the girls, you're not stopping evil, you're helping it."

"Oh, yeah, right!"

"You do understand that if we take him back, it's over," Cole told Leo under his breath. "You'll lose Piper. Again. Phoebe's death will have meant nothing."

Ignoring this, Leo reached out to Cortez. "Take my hand," he urged.

"No!"

"Take my hand," Leo repeated more forcefully. "Where else can I take you that's worse than this?"

Accepting that anywhere was better than here, Cortez took Leo's hand and was Orbed out with him.

With a shake of his head, Cole followed them up. He wasn't sure what was worse when they reached the surface, Leo's foolishness at selecting an empty janitor's closet as their destination, which led to them bursting out of the door due to the cramped quarters, and Cole Shimmering a foot into a mop bucket, or his naivety at letting Cortez go, escorting him straight to his workplace, the San Francisco Police Department precinct.

Cortez tore out of Leo's grip as he stumbled out of the closet and took off immediately.

"Inspector, can't we talk for a moment?" Leo called as he and Cole followed the man, but he wouldn't slow down, and soon reached his office, picking up his desk phone with a defiant expression.

"Look, we didn't have to bring you back, you know. We could have just let you rot," said Cole.

"Cole, I don't think this is helping any."

"Like your way is?"

Spotting the trio, Darryl came over and asked, "Cortez, where've you been?"

"This is Inspector Cortez," the man said into the phone. "I need a surveillance team around the clock. I'll take one shift."

"What are you doing?"

"What I said I'd do before you clipped me from behind."

"You're making a big mistake, Inspector. You have no idea what you're doing," said Cole darkly.

"You wanna bet?"

"Something's wrong," said Leo with a look to the ceiling. "Piper's calling."

Cole lowered his voice and warned, "Just so you know, whatever pain caused because of what you're doing will be nothing compared to the pain I put you through. You understand?"

"Thirteen twenty-nine Prescott Street," Cortez confirmed down the line. "Prue and Piper Halliwell. They're murder suspects."

"All right. Come on," sighed Leo, pulling an irate-looking Cole away by the elbow. "Come on."