Mist of Shadows
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Reluctant Villainy Part 10
🕑 Added 2021-05-11 06:12:05 +0000 UTCPiper stared in disbelief when she opened the door to the hallway and saw a deserted tropical beach rather than the hall like she'd been expecting. She stared blankly at the naked red haired woman sprawled on a beach towel that was reading a book. "What the hell?"
"I'm trying to catch some sun without bursting into flames," Myst's duplicate replied with amusement.
Piper closed the door then opened it again to make sure she wasn't just seeing things. "Why is my door connected to a beach?"
"Magic," Myst replied as 'she' turned to look at Piper.
Piper laughed then frowned when she realized the woman wasn't laughing. "Magic?"
"Pretty much," Myst replied with a grin.
"Can you fix it?" Piper asked, hoping she could get everything back to normal before her Grams got back from the spa.
"Of course, I just wanted to offer you a job, if you don't want it, I can close the portal and you can forget this ever happened," Myst assured her.
"What type of job?" Piper asked, not sure what the woman thought she was qualified for.
"I've recently acquired a restaurant and club, I need an accountant, a manager and a chef. Do you want the job?" Myst asked, fairly sure she'd take the job.
"How much does it pay?" Piper asked, trying not to think about the fact that magic was real for the moment.
Myst used telepathy to check how much she was making at the bank. "More than you're making at the bank and it comes with perks."
"What type of perks?" Piper asked, still not sure why the woman wanted her.
"Magic, free food and the chance to own half of the restaurant and club after a year," Myst offered.
Piper raised an eyebrow. "What's the catch?"
"The catch is that you have to accept awesome magical powers and keep Quake and the club profitable if you want fifty percent of the restaurant. If you want part of the club, you're going to have to dance on stage at least once a month while the club is open."
"Dance on stage?" Piper asked warily.
"I'm turning the club into a strip club or at least a place where we can have topless waitresses wandering around," Myst explained, trying not to laugh as he felt the conflicting emotions rolling off of the witch. "Unless you want the naked waitresses at Quake?"
"Are you insane?" Piper blurted then added, "I want the job but why me?"
Myst floated to her feet. "One of my powers involves seeing the potential in people. You're an excellent chef and you're charismatic which is what I need in a business partner."
"What happens if we can't make a profit?" Piper asked, ignoring the voice in the back of her head telling her that she was going to screw something up.
"I'd be really surprised considering I'm planning on conjuring a decent amount of the ingredients to save money," Myst replied with amusement. "Tell you what, I'll give you the first month in advance if you help me set everything up."
"What do you mean by fantastic magic powers?" Piper asked nervously.
"I mean things like Flight, Teleportation and the ability to conjure spices," Myst offered. "Imagine being able to wave your hand and clean the entire restaurant from top to bottom every week rather than hiring a crew."
"I'm starting to see how you plan on making money," Piper admitted.
"Not to mention that hiring talented and attractive girls has a way of getting people to come back," Myst said with a smile then changed back to his normal appearance, complete with cargo shorts.
"Are you a demon?" Piper asked, wanting to make sure she wasn't working for the devil or something. 'He's certainly attractive enough, of course he's a shape changer so maybe he's actually hideous.'
"Nah, I'm an unbound genie, I make wishes come true," Myst replied with a grin. "Generally at a price, thus the strip club aspect."
"I can wear a mask while I dance, right?" Piper asked, figuring she might as well ask.
"I don't see why not," Myst agreed, figuring getting her on stage was the first step. "So, do I have a new manager?"
"I'll need a contract," Piper said firmly.
Myst conjured a contract and handed it to her. "Let me know if you have a problem with any of the details."
'Just make sure you read the fine print,' Piper told herself as she accepted the contract and started reading it, trying to ignore the voice that was screaming at her that she was making a mistake. "I will."
0o0o0
"You have two hot naked girls in a hot tub and you're a thousand miles away, is there something you're not telling us?" Mione teased Myst.
"Sorry, I was drifting," Myst admitted as he pulled his attention away from his duplicate that was talking with Prue about ways to make money with magic and focused on Mione and Hermione.
"You're allowed to drift," Hermione pointed out. "What were you thinking about?"
"One of my duplicates is working on recruiting a witch and her family from a broken timeline so they can help me convince the current version that my offer of magic is better than what the elders are going to give her," Myst replied.
"Aren't the elders good?" Hermione asked as she stood up and sat down on the edge of the hot tub to cool off.
"To a degree," Myst admitted, trying not to stare at Hermione's breasts too much, despite the fact that he had permission to look thanks to trading her various magical powers. "They're also the type of people willing to let Harry suffer with his aunt and uncle because doing something might interfere with his destiny."
"Sounds like a reason to send a note to their bosses," Mione pointed out.
Myst snorted. "Their bosses are arguably worse. In various timelines, one of the champions had to talk them out of killing her husband because he was a 'distraction' for the upcoming fight."
Mione stared at Myst for a couple of seconds as her mind tried to process the 'logic' of the supposed 'good' side killing someone because they were a distraction. "Please tell me the fight was important enough to justify such drastic measures."
"The entire fight and mess could have been avoided by dropping an index card filled with notes for her. I mean, if you're going to interfere to the point that you're willing to kill people, dropping an index card filled with details isn't a big deal. So yeah, I'm not sure I'd trust some of the elders or their bosses to pour piss out of a boot with the instructions written on the heel," Myst complained.
"Harry's parents don't seem that bad," Hermione argued.
"They're not but that doesn't mean their bosses have their ducks in a row," Myst complained as he tried to figure out the best point in time to rescue the other Charmed Ones before their timeline and world collapsed.
"Which is why I'm glad we don't have any. We don't, right?" Mione asked as she stood up and sat down on the edge of the tub to cool off.
"Just our conscience," Myst replied, fairly sure the Angels of Destiny and various other forces would come up with something if they caused too much trouble. "One of the perks of being neutral."
Mione smiled at Hermione. "Speaking of perks, we should invite Harry."
Hermione laughed. "I wouldn't object but Ginny might try to kill us."
"On that note, incoming people in 3, 2, 1." Myst waited until Hermione slipped back into the water then opened a small portal into the flames that were trying to consume the alternate version of Phoebe and quickly gave her the Copycat ability so she'd get his Regeneration and Adaptation ability. 'I'm sorry, killing monsters doesn't give them the right to kill you.'
Myst dark orbed Phoebe through the portal and dropped her near the hot tub then opened another portal to their book of shadows and orbed it through at the same time he used portals to do the same to the rest of Phoebe's family. 'No point in wasting people that would just vanish.'
"Where the hell are we?" Prue demanded as she glanced around Mione's backyard, trying to figure out how they'd gotten from the prison to wherever they were. She froze when she glanced up and noticed the wooden ceiling. "Where are we?"
"We're in a spatially expanded magical chest in England but you're also in the past and a bit sideways," Myst explained as he studied the two children he'd rescued from the collapsing timeline. 'I don't recall Melinda having a younger sister in that episode but we didn't really get a decent look and I might have missed it.'
"A bit sideways?" Piper demanded after checking on her sister to make sure she'd live.
"Technically, this isn't your past which means you don't need to worry about any changes. Of course the reason I kidnapped you was because your timeline was ending," Myst explained as he riffled through their heads with telepathy, trying to figure out what type of people they were.
Prue glanced between the naked woman sitting on the edge of the tub and the other two people in the water. "Why was it ending?"
"Because the Elders sent Phoebe's younger self a Premonition of Phoebe dying then screwed with their time travel spell so they'd end up too late to save Phoebe," Myst replied.
"Why would they do that?" Piper asked.
"Beyond the fact that they're assholes that wanted to teach her a lesson about using magic for personal gain? No clue," Myst admitted. "I'm not an Elder but if I had to guess, I suspect they wanted a version of the Charmed Ones that were more willing to follow directions."
"That sucked," Phoebe groaned after waking up enough to realize she wasn't in pain or dead, distracting Piper from ranting about the Elders.
"How are you still alive?" Piper asked, surprised that Phoebe didn't have any burns despite the fact that her prison outfit was falling apart.
Myst raised his hand and waved. "That would be my fault, I let her temporarily copy my regeneration."
"Let me guess, you want something from us?" Prue asked warily, not sure if she should trust the stranger or not.
"Technically, but if you want to leave without helping you're free to jump through a portal and I'll never bother you again. However, if you're willing to help give your counterparts a boost, I'll give you a decent amount of gold and relocate your house to a demon proof magical chest so that you can take it with you," Myst offered.
"What do you need?" Piper asked, not seeing a problem with hearing him out.
"One of the abilities I can loan people allows them to give people a copy of their skills," Myst explained. "It's not quite the same as living through all of your experiences but it should give them a hell of a boost."
Prue glanced at Melinda and Heather then looked at Myst. "If you're not with the Elders, why help?"
Myst water teleported behind the hot tub then used his watch to equip a pair of shorts. "Spite mostly, the more I help, the less reliant they'll be on the Elders when demons come knocking," he explained as he walked around the hot tub. "Which means the Elders have less to brag about."
Prue glanced at Piper then focused on the athletic looking man that made her heart race. "How long does your skill copying ability take to use?"
"It's nearly instant, which means you're welcome to share skills with each other," Myst offered.
"I wouldn't mind having a copy of Piper's skill in a kitchen or Phoebe's skill with words," Prue admitted.
"Or your understanding of history," Piper mused.
Melinda spoke up, "Are you a demon?"
Mione laughed. "He's a genie."
"Like Aladdin?" Heather asked excitedly.
Myst glanced at Mione then looked at the child. "More or less."
"Does that mean we get three wishes?" Melinda asked hopefully.
"Don't make wishes," Piper cut in before her daughter could get into trouble.
Myst shook his head. "Sorry, I'm a free genie, I don't do free wishes, just trades."
"What type of trades?" Prue asked warily.
"I generally trade powers for favors," Myst replied with amusement, noticing the way the Charmed Ones tensed. 'They've obviously run into a genie or at least the entry in their family book.'
Phoebe raised her eyebrows. "What type of favors?"
"It depends on the power, who I'm making the deal with and my general mood at the time," Myst replied. "It could be anything from getting me a hot chocolate or dancing around in a cheerleading outfit for less than impressive powers to some type of changeling deal for the more interesting abilities where the person agrees to have a magical child via a spell so I can drop by in sixteen years and copy the child."
"What do you get out of copying people?" Piper asked suspiciously.
Myst half turned around and pointed at Hermione. "Hermione wants to improve the magical world which means bringing in interesting and intelligent magic users. You're from a powerful magical family which means your children should have plenty of magic, especially if the father has a lot of magic."
"Are you insane?" Piper demanded when she noticed Phoebe and Prue were considering taking the deal.
"You survived," Prue replied with a smirk. "Besides, I've spent the last decade working for a company I hate. What are you offering for the changeling deal?"
"How about Immortality, a decent amount of durability, Enchanting, some form of teleportation and Pyrokinesis?" Myst asked.
"I'll take it," Phoebe agreed, figuring it solved the issue of looking for a boyfriend for the moment.
"Can you give me Electrokinesis and a copy of Piper's power?" Prue asked with a grin, figuring she might as well get as much as she could.
"Sure," Myst replied as he held his hand out. "She just has to use the power while I'm holding her hand or use it on me and I can give it to you."
"Does that mean we get another sister?" Melinda asked hopefully.
Piper bit back her initial response and considered the benefits of taking his offer, 'It's not like Leo is coming back and I wouldn't mind another child, especially if someone else is paying for it.' She glanced at Mione then looked at Myst, wondering what his deal with the girls was. "How much gold are you going to leave us?"
"At least five million if you take the changeling deal and I'll make sure your IDs are in the system with the appropriate paperwork," Myst assured them.
"Fine," Piper said as she tried to freeze Myst with her power. "How come you aren't frozen?"
Myst laughed as he turned his copy of her Molecular Immobilization power into a power sphere and scanned it. "I'm a genie," he replied with amusement as he handed the sphere to Phoebe then swapped his Precog power for Matter Creation. 'Immunity to magic for the win.' He waited a couple of seconds for the power to charge up then duplicated the sphere seven times, figuring Mione and Hermione would want copies.
"How does it work?" Phoebe asked as she examined the white sphere.
"Just think about absorbing the power." He handed one of the spheres to Prue then stuck the rest in his inventory.
Phoebe absorbed the sphere then froze when she realized she didn't know how to control it. "Can you share your skill copying power before we blow someone up?"
"Sure," Myst replied with amusement as he created two temporary duplicates then used his Kingmaker ability to give the sisters a copy of his Power Hub ability and used his Skill Management power to give them the basics on how to use the ability to share skills. 'At least their powers and skills are solid even if their morals are a bit suspect.'
"Do we get to pick our children's bio dad?" Phoebe asked, thinking about the time she'd looked through the fertility clinic's website.
Myst conjured a foot tall image of Vincent Right along with a version of Coop and Drake Dè Mon. "First one has the powers of a witch and whitelighter, the second is a powerful empath and the third has plenty of magic and a love of history that is impressive. What do you think?"
"Hubba hubba," Phoebe said, looking at Drake's image with a lecherous grin. "I'll take the third guy."
"No problem," Myst replied with amusement, not particularly surprised by her choice.
'I'll have to ask him who the other people are after they leave,' Hermione mused as she glanced between the three images.
Piper glanced between the other two images. 'At least if I choose the whitelighter mix, the children will have similar powers.' She glanced at Prue. "What do you think?"
"I'd rather not have anything to do with the Elders, I'll take the Empath," Prue said after considering the question for a couple of seconds.
"In that case I'll take the whitelighter mix," Piper said, figuring it would make sure her children ended up with similar powers.
"Sounds good," Myst replied as he swapped his Matter Creation power for Precog so he could figure out the best way to get everything he needed for the experiment. "Feel free to trade skills while I figure out how to get everything I need." He smiled as his duplicates orbed the local Charmed Ones to the yard. "You're older and wiser counterparts have agreed to share some of their skills with you before they exit stage left."
"That would be appreciated," the younger Piper admitted. "Do you have any experience running a club or a restaurant?"
The older piper laughed. "I've ran both."
Heather stared at the woman that looked like her mother. "You look like Mom."
Piper glanced at her counterpart. "Yours?"
"Yeah," Piper replied as she patted Melinda on her head.
"Mom," Melinda complained.
"What?" Piper asked innocently. "I'm allowed to be proud of you, even if you need to cut down on your magic use in public."
"At least she'll have plenty of space," Mione pointed out as she slipped back into the water, rather amused by the discussion that broke out as the siblings compared notes.
Myst let his duplicates pay attention to the discussion as he used his Precog to figure out the best way to get everything he needed and a decent world for the future witches to grow up in.
0o0o0
"Is it just me or were they a little off?" Phoebe asked once the portal closed on their older counterparts and her nieces.
"At least Melinda and Heather were adorable," Piper mused as she turned her attention back towards Myst.
Prue scowled as she thought about her boss. "The other Prue was a bit jaded but at least she told me about Roger's issues with giving people credit before I slept with him."
"For the best," Myst agreed. "Ready to be witches?"
"I'm still trying to wrap my head around having magic," Piper admitted.
"What about the warlock that promised to kill us?" Prue asked.
"Oh right," Myst replied as he pulled his athame out of his inventory, opened a portal and stabbed Nicholas in the back, "him." He reached through the portal and grabbed the warlock's hand when he spun around. "Yoink!" he said as he pulled his hand through the portal as he let it close.
Piper stared at the severed hand Myst was holding. "What the hell?"
"He had a ring that made him immune to your powers, now he doesn't," Myst replied as he took the ruby ring off the man's hand and scanned it. He put the ring in his inventory then opened a portal under the warlock and dropped him in the cursed painting with the other warlocks. He closed the portal then tossed the hand in his inventory on the off chance he ever needed the hand of a warlock for a ritual.
"Wait, did you just kill the warlock that was after us?" Phoebe asked in surprise.
"Technically I just cut his hand off and dropped him in a cursed painting but yeah, basically. It was easier than trying to jump through time to make sure your grandmother could break the spell on the ring before he came after you," Myst explained, not seeing a point in jumping through hoops when he didn't have to.
"Thanks," Prue offered, doing her best to ignore the voice in the back of her head that was arguing that warlocks were people. "Let's cast the spell and break the bindings before Grams gets back from the spa."
"Have at it," Myst offered as he opened a portal to the attic of the Halliwell home so the sister's could do the ritual they needed in order to unbind their powers.
Mione watched the sisters walk through the portal. "Where did you send the older sisters?"
"I sent them to Hogsmeade in a world that doesn't have nearly as many demons or interfering guardian angels and where Harry has already dealt with that version of Voldemort. The Wizarding world should be peaceful for at least another ten years from their point of view which means I can open a portal and copy their children and drop them at Hogwarts as soon as the sisters finish casting their spell."
"That gives us three interesting people, only 2997 left," Mione teased.
"Yeah, know," Myst admitted. "I'm planning on opening portals to random worlds with bright muggleborns that I can copy and scouring Brittain for geniuses that I can turn into witches or wizards. It shouldn't take all that long to gather enough students."
"It's going to be weird having that many students running around," Hermione said as she stood up and sat on the edge of the tub to cool off. "Have you finished creating the summer camp?"
Myst shook his head. "No but I have a duplicate working on it and another one scouting various amusement parks and vacation resorts for interesting structures. I also have a duplicate working on lesson plans and another duplicate researching teachers from various timelines that I can clone."
"I'm a little surprised that you didn't just clone the sisters and send them to a bunch of worlds so that you could get a couple of hundred children out of them," Mione said thoughtfully.
Myst laughed. "I'd considered it but the wizarding world needs as much genetic diversity as possible. Besides, I don't need to, I can look through the various timelines and possibilities and find at least a dozen different versions of their children to copy that are smart, powerful and mostly sane."
"Mostly?" Hermione asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Everyone has quirks," Myst replied with a shrug. "Besides, I can always share my sanity power and give people magical powers which means intelligence is the only quality I can't fix."
"Makes sense," Mione agreed as she got out of the hot tub and grabbed her towel. "Have you figured out how you're going to deal with the Source yet?"
"More or less, the Source of All Evil is more than just a title, it's actually an immortal and nearly invulnerable spirit that possesses and merges with the current leader of the underworld which means I'm going to have to get creative if I want to get rid of him for any length of time," Myst explained as he watched her dry off with the towel.
Hermione pulled her attention off her counterpart and looked at Myst. "What are you planning?"
"I'd explain but it's probably for the best if I don't considering the sheer number of seers that work for him," Myst admitted as he created a duplicate to deal with the Source.
"Cheerio," Myst's duplicate said before he dark orbed to the underworld to deal with the source.
Hermione scowled as she thought about her old Divination teacher. "We should probably look into ways to protect against Divination."
"It's on the list," Myst assured her then turned his attention towards the portal that led to the Halliwell attic when he felt a burst of magic and the powers he was copying from the sisters increased in power and quality. "We should probably…" he trailed off as a familiar Elder orbed into the attic wearing an ugly white and brown robe. "Okay, that's annoying."
Odin turned and glared at the man he could see through the portal but not sense. "What did you do!"
"You'll have to be more specific," Myst replied with amusement.
"They weren't supposed to get their powers for another four years!" Odin ranted.
Myst laughed, enjoying the look of annoyance on the Elder's face. "That's the problem with Divination, there's always a chance that your visions are wrong."
"Fix it or we will!" Odin snapped.
"Is that a threat?" Myst asked coldly as he raised his hands like he was going to blast him with lightning.
"You're messing with things you don't understand," Odin argued.
"Let me guess, you're going to spew shit about some Grand Design or something, right?" Myst asked as he started walking towards the portal. "You don't own them or their powers. The truth of the matter is they got them via their bloodlines not because of a divine gift or anything."
Odin snorted as he raised his hands, ready to counter anything the stranger did. "They have a sacred duty to use their powers for good."
Myst stopped a couple of feet in front of the portal and glared at the Elder that looked like a certain meddlesome Q. "They're free to do whatever the hell they want with their gifts. I suggest you make your peace with the fact that they exercised their free will to trade for extra powers and assign a reasonable Whitelighter to help them stay on track."
"Or we bind their powers and wipe their memories," Odin replied with a sneer.
"If you're going to act like a demon, I'll treat you like one," Myst replied coldly.
"You think you can fight an Elder?" Odin asked sarcastically.
Piper raised her hands and froze the Elder in place. "None of that."
"Is that a guardian angel?" Phoebe asked warily, shocked that they weren't nicer.
"More like middle management, guardian angels are generally nicer," Myst replied then scowled as Penny appeared in the middle of the attic in a shower of orbs. "So much for keeping things," he paused as Penny hit him with a telekinetic shove that washed over him thanks to his magic immunity, "civil."
"Phoebe?" Penny asked in surprise when she noticed Phoebe. "You should be in New York."
"I wanted my magic back," Phoebe replied defensively.
Penny turned to glare at Myst. "What did you tell them?"
"I told them that you bound their powers because of a warlock and that they could use a spell to get them back," Myst replied. "He's probably dead already."
"Probably?" Penny asked suspiciously.
"I opened a portal and stabbed him in the back then dropped him into a cursed painting with a couple of other warlocks," Myst replied with a grin as he pulled the man's ring out of his inventory and tossed it to her. "Here."
Penny caught the ring and examined it, surprised that he'd willingly give up such a valuable ring. "What's with the frozen Elder?"
Myst gestured at the frozen Elder. "He objected to unlocking their powers early."
"Are you going to do the same thing if I object?" Penny asked.
Myst laughed as he raised his hands in surrender. "Not a chance, you're the head of their family and technically speaking Piper is the one that froze him."
Penny felt a wellspring of pride that her granddaughter was powerful enough to freeze an Elder then shook her head and focused on the stranger. "Why are you helping them and what are you?"
"I'm a neutral unbound genie and your daughters made a couple of deals, I'm merely finishing my side of the arrangement," Myst replied with a shrug.
Penny scowled as she glanced between her granddaughters. "What did you promise him?"
"Piper agreed to run a restaurant and club for me for a year and a day in exchange for magic, a generous salary and half of the restaurant, Prue agreed to do some work as a photographer and Phoebe agreed to steal a certain book for me," Myst explained, not seeing a point in mentioning the fact that she'd also given quite the show with her sex toys.
"Which book?" Penny asked warily.
"The one they used to unbind their powers," Myst replied with a grin.
"It's not hers to trade!" Penny snapped.
Myst shrugged. "Of course not, that's why she has to steal it."
Phoebe took a step back when Penny turned and glared at her. "He said he'd give it back."
"People lie," Penny snapped, then turned to look at Myst. "Why do you want it?"
"Because I needed the leverage," Myst admitted. "Your heart is failing, you'll be dead within three years if you don't do something about it."
"Even if I believed you, I don't exactly have access to a healer and it crosses the line for personal gain which means I can't use a spell," Penny argued.
"Tell you what, if you let me fix your heart, I'll give the book back fifteen minutes after Phoebe steals it for me," Myst offered as he scanned the Book of Shadows that was sitting on one of the trunks.
Penny studied the stranger. "Why would you want to save me?"
"Because your death would make the girls unhappy and you surviving would screw with the Grand Design which amuses me but mostly because I can," Myst explained.
"If I agree to let you heal me, will you agree to let Phoebe out of stealing the book?" Penny asked.
"Fair enough," Myst replied as he used his Precog to check on Amelia. "Amelia I summon you!" he said cheerfully as he orbed Amelia to the attic.
Amelia glanced around then focused on Myst. "What's up?"
Myst gestured towards Penny, trying not to laugh at the looks of disbelief he was getting from the sisters. "She's got a bad heart. I figured she'd rather have a witch give her a check up than a genie."
"Sure, I can take a look," Amelia replied as she held her hand out. "I need to touch you to check."
Myst smiled at Piper. "On that note, I'll check back with you tomorrow for the restaurant and club." He snickered as he stepped back and let the portal close, leaving them to sort out the family drama.
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Chichi son
"You're older and wiser counterparts have agreed to share some of their skills with you before they exit stage left." your
