Episode 2 (Season 5)

(Up on the pier, Phoebe checks out her wound. The cut is still fresh and bleeding. Phoebe looks up and sees a couple of fishermen approaching. She dives off the pier, her golden tail breaking through the surface. Cut to Phoebe swimming away under the water, a trail of blood behind her.)

(Paige is walking across the office. She's carrying a file. Mr Bob Cowan, her boss, is walking right along side her.)

Bob Cowan: So, uh, how's your sister doing after the fishing accident?
Paige: Uh, we're not sure. We haven't found her yet.
Bob Cowan: What, is she lost at sea?
Paige: Uh, you could say that.
Bob Cowan: Uh ... Paige!
Paige: Look, Mr. Cowan, I may be stubborn at times and late to work often, and I don't always know when to shut up, like right now, but, trust me, even if I told you the truth, you wouldn't believe me, so if you'll excuse me, I have an adoption to save.
Bob Cowan: You forgot insolent. You're very insolent.
Paige: You're right. Can I go now?
Bob Cowan: Don't make me regret giving you this promotion, Paige.

(Paige nods her head solemnly. She turns away from Bob Cowan and smack into Cole.)

Cole: Wait. Before you say anything...
Paige: Not say, do, because I'm about to orb your family jewels far, far away.
Cole: Yeah, that would hurt, but I'm sure you don't want to use your powers in front of all these people, do you?
Paige: What do you want?
Cole: I want to prove that I've changed, not just to Phoebe, but to you and Piper as well.

(Before she can say anything, Bob Cowan walks up to the two of them.)

Bob Cowan: Copies of the adoption application and police clearances. Fax them A.S.A.P. It might sway the agency's decision.

(Paige nods her head.)

Cole: I'm familiar with family law. Maybe I could, uh, do some good here.
Bob Cowan: Didn't we fire you?
Cole: Actually, I quit. But now I'm a partner at Jackman, Carter & Kline.
Bob Cowan: So, what are you doing here?
Cole: Came to help Paige.

(Cole puts an arm around Paige's shoulder. She shrugs it off.)

Paige: Who doesn't want or need his help.
Bob Cowan: A good social worker knows when to use outside resources. They don't get much better than Jackman, Carter & Kline.

(Bob Cowan puts the file he's carrying down on Paige's desk and leaves. Paige walks over to her desk and glares at Cole. Coe leans over the desk.)

Cole: Well, you heard him. They don't get much better than me, so let me help you. I won't be any trouble at all.
Paige: No trouble? You've been nothing but trouble. Phoebe was finally happy, and now you're back, and suddenly she's a ...
Intern: Yellowtail?

(Paige turns her head at the eerily accurate remark.)

Intern: (falters) Your usual lunch order.

(Paige swallows.)

Paige: Uhh! No fish. Not now, not ever.

(Paige leaves. She walks past the young intern who looks perplexed. Cole follows her. Just before she manages to escape, Cole asks.)

Cole: Um, Phoebe's a what?

(Paige grabs Cole and pulls him into a back room. Paige is angry.)

Paige: You know what Phoebe is? She's a mermaid, do you want to know why?
Cole: I'm sorry. Did you say mermaid?
Paige: Yeah. Gills, fins, scales, and all.
Cole: Well, you can fix that, right?
Paige: No, Cole, we can't fix that because she wants to be a mermaid because you broke her heart.
Cole: I never meant to hurt her.
Paige: You didn't mean to do lots of things, but they happened. You are a one- man death squad. Bodies, blood, and pain follow you wherever you go.
Cole: Well, there may be some truth to that, but it's in my past. I came back to make up ...
Paige: Make up for it? If you want to make up for it, go to Tibet, join a monastery, pray for absolution, but don't put your guilt on us.
Cole: You don't understand. I love...
Paige: Love Phoebe? Oh, what is it with you guys? Like it's all about you and your feelings.
Cole: What about Phoebe's feelings? She still loves me.
Paige: Wrong. She doesn't love you. She thinks you're an evil freak with superpowers from hell and battery acid for blood. She doesn't love you. She wishes you'd stayed dead.

(This stuns Cole silent.)

Cole: She told you this?

(Paige is on a roll.)

Paige: Told me? She didn't have to tell me. She's a mermaid. Her body erupted in scales. She had to turn into a fish to get away from you. Do you get it now? Listen, the only way you can help us get our sister back is for you to
disappear forever.

(Paige walks away from Cole leaving him quiet.)

(Fishermen on a trolley raises their net full of their day's catch aboard their boat. The net is full. The men pull the net loose allowing the catch to fall into the hold below. Resting above all the fish is Phoebe. The Captain of the boat reaches in and flips her over. Oh, yeah. It's definitely Phoebe. She unconscious.)

Captain: What the hell...

(The other men stand around and look at her. The camera is looking up at The Captain. He's fuzzy and out of focus. His image slowly refocuses. Phoebe lying down. The Captain uses smelling salts to revive her.
Phoebe awakens and starts to struggle, lashing out with her tail and nearly hitting the men as they stand so very close to her. The three fishermen take a step back.)

Phoebe: Uhh!
Fisherman 2: Ooh! Watch it!
Phoebe: No! Get your filthy meat hooks off me!
Fisherman 1: Check out the mouth on her.
Captain: All I care about is the tail.
Phoebe: Unh!
Fisherman 1: How much you think the tabloids would pay to see this?
Captain: I don't know about you guys, but I don't want to spend the rest of my life on that boat. Maybe we should be thinking bigger than tabloids here.
Fisherman 1: Bigger?
Captain: Yeah. We bring her in like this, sure, we'll get a small fee, but mostly we'll just get credit for finding her. Now, on the other hand, if we say we found her dead, we can sell the body for a fortune.

(From up above, a blue bolt of electricity strikes down between the Captain and Phoebe, preventing the Captain from reaching Phoebe. The blue bolt of electricity continues and materializes Necron up on the boat. The fishermen turn around.)

Necron: Sorry. Her life belongs to me.

(Fisherman 2 in the orange sweater grabs the nearby harpoon and fires it at Necron. The metal arrow pierces Necron straight through the neck and pins him to the box behind him. Necron pulls himself off of the arrow, his wound healing immediately. Necron fires bolts of electricity from his fingertips toward the Captain and
the Fisherman 2. The two humans fry into dust. Before Fisherman 1 can even begin to run, he, too, is turned into dust with another bolt of electricity. Phoebe watches all of this from her position on the wooden crate. Necron
floats down from the boat and lands directly in front of Phoebe.)

Necron: Mermaids are such poor, defenseless creatures. I almost feel pity.
Phoebe: Pity this!

(Not one to give up easily, Phoebe uses her tail and knocks Necron backward. She reaches for the rope hanging above her and pulls on it with all her strength.)

Phoebe: Unh! Uhh!

(It releases the fishhook above making it crash down into Necron.)

Necron: Oof!

(Necron falls over backwards into some barrels behind him.)

Phoebe: (screaming) Leo! I'm ready to go home now!

(Leo orbs onto the docks.)

Leo: I'm glad you finally came to your senses.

(Behind Leo, Necron stands up. Phoebe sees him and grabs Leo's arm, tugging him aside. Leo turns around and sees Necron approaching. He orbs just as Necron fires a bolt of electricity. It misses them as they vanish into thin air.)

Necron: (frustrated) No!

(Necron looks around. He holds out his arm and with his power, two large black crows appear on the pipe above. He instructs them.)

Necron: Go. Find the mermaid.

(The two crows fly away leaving Necron standing on the docks, angry.)