Chapter 11   Mirror, mirror

 A couple hours later, Shalimar tensed as she heard someone try the door at the end of the lab.  She waved Emma over to the opposite side of the entry.

"Adam, someone's coming."  She turned her head away from Lex toward Clark and let her eyes briefly turn jungle yellow.  Clark grinned at her then looked toward the opening door.

Mr. Queu walked in, humming a tune as he consulted his clipboard.  Shalimar's shoulders dropped visibly when she recognized the man.  Lex and Adam stared at the gray-haired man and exchanged amazed glances.

"Did you have enough time to complete your examination of your aircraft?"  Queu called out.  When he looked up from his clipboard, his mouth dropped open and his face grew apprehensive at the sight of Lex and Adam still pointing guns at him.

"Was it something I said?"  the grey-haired man asked almost apologetically.

"Oh, sorry Queu," Lex said with an embarrassed laugh.  He and Adam lowered their weapons.  Lex put the weapon in his belt and clapped the older man on the back.  "I received a phone threat just after you left.  We got nervous."  Lex and Mr. Queu walked away from the group as Lex filled his chief researcher in on the incident.  Adam smiled as he watched the two.  They were like father and son.  It was clear that Lex liked the older man and valued his opinions, and that Mr. Queu delighted in sharing them.

Mr. Queu's usually jovial expression had become serious.  "A phone threat?  Who?  How is it that the one who threatened you had not the courage to face you like a man?"  his British accent became choppy when he was upset. 

Lex stepped closer to his lead research scientist.  "C'mon Queu.  I'm sure with your incredible technical genius we can rig something that can help us get out of this dilemma."

The disguised Mr. Eckhart was pensive.  He had not expected active intervention from a third party.  He would find out who this meddler was and what his or her business was with the LuthorCorp case.

"Mr. Luthor, would you show me the phone you took the threat on?" Lex nodded and produced the small device from his pocket.  Mr. Queu smiled wryly and shook his head.  "You couldn't wait, could you?"

Lex looked up at the older man innocently and clapped him on the shoulder.  "It was in the finished product case and you know how I value the stuff you make.  I didn't think that a phone would need any explanation for its use."

Queu's hazel eyes were pensive as they studied Lex.  Lex had put on his innocent boy expression.  "OK," Queu relented.  "Lift the top casing and you'll see a hidden panel of 4 buttons.  The phone records each call.  Left-most is the playback switch for recorded calls.  Adjacent to it is the delete key.  You press it down while reviewing the conversation you wish to delete.  The third button activates or deactivates a GPS mechanism that you can view on the phone screen when you activate the function key.  The fourth key activates the off-line recorder so you can record conversations within the decibel range of the phone.  The play and delete buttons works for those recordings as well. "  Queu one-handed the small phone and played back the phone threat, showing Lex where to turn the volume up.

"Queu, this is really cool!"

"Survival, Mr. Luthor."

"C'mon, Queu, I told you before, just call me Lex," the younger man replied, exasperated at the formality of his chief researcher.

  "Ah… Lex."  The ruddy faced man replied deferentially.  "Survival and control is what it's all about." 

"OK, dad,"  Lex's joking carried a sting .  Queu cocked his head, half listening to the message, half studying his young boss.  He had already recognized the voice on the phone as that of Mr. Warren.  What a shame that the Tribunal had fingered Lex as accomplice in his father's crimes.  Queu smiled to himself.  The young man was much like himself at that age, highly intelligent, mother and brother died earlier in life, subject to an unscrupulous, hateful father.  Lex was intelligent, wise beyond his years, resourceful-- a worthy protege.  He would make sure that Lex came out on top.  He would teach him to survive, to beware even his best friend, Clark Kent.  Queu looked thoughtfully across the room at Adam and Clark Kent. 

Lex smiled at Queu's thoughtful stare at the others.  "Don't trust them?"  he asked pleasantly, remembering how he had noticed three months ago when he first interviewed Mr. Queu that the man was wearing a mask.

"Very astute observation, Mr. Luthor."  Queu had replied calmly.  "What gave it away?"

The younger Luthor sighed.  "something about the way the neck is supposed to crease but didn't when you turned your head suggested artificial skin.  It's really very good though, lifelike.  But it's a security risk for me.  How am I supposed to know who my employees are if they run around wearing masks?"  he had told Queu.  The man gazed back searchingly with dark hazel eyes. "And how do I know that you don't wear other masks?" Lex continued.

"Everyone wears masks, Mr. Luthor," Mr. Queu replied seriously.  "However, I would be pleased to remove mine and reveal my true identity to you," Queu replied.  "I prefer to wear a mask because it gives me a more pleasing appearance."  The man had then carefully peeled the mask away, revealing an emaciated, angular lined face.  His dark eyes stood out in dark hollows.  The man's skin was amazingly pale, almost albino under thin unruly dark hair.  Lex stared at Queu's face thoughtfully, memorizing it as he did with all his employees.  "Are you well, Mr. Queu?"

 Queu regarded his interviewer sharply, but Lex's gaze was direct, clear and sincere.

"I have an environmentally induced immune disorder, not dangerous to you, but I need to apply treatments and precautions to protect myself from an environment that most people take for granted.  While my condition is under control, it is my hope to find or develop a cure."

Lex nodded, his eyes brooding as Mr. Queue told him his story.  Everything checked out with what he had researched in advance on this man, but he sensed there was more about this valuable man than met the eye.  He would keep Mr. Queu close by his side, just like he kept Clark Kent to cultivate his confidence and loyalty in him.  Eventually his secret would unveil itself.  Lex's expression brightened.

"You came highly recommended, Mr. Queu and from what I've seen of your resume, portfolio and your work, I consider you of great potential for LexCorp."  Lex looked sharply at the pale face.  "I have a number of projects for someone of your capabilities.  I also believe in funding independent research…as long as the information is communicated to me." Mr. Queu nodded, his dark eyes burned with excitement.  Lex smiled to himself and unconsciously touched his bald head.   "Welcome to LexCorp, Mr. Queu."  He said.

Back in the present, Queu frowned in answer to Lex's question.  He looked down,  apparently struggling with being inoffensive or honest with his employer.  Finally the gray-haired man quietly replied,  "No Lex, I can't say that I do.  I don't know them.  There are too many secrets and you are in danger."  Queu turned and met the shorter man's eyes with his own concerned ones. 

"Don't worry, Queu." Lex said confidentially.  "I'm sure we can handle it." 

Queu/Eckhart nodded silently, his expressive eyes becoming calculating as he watched Lex walk back toward his would-be rescuers.  He sat down at his desk and processed the voice from Lex's phone through the database.  He wanted to be sure that Adam saw the match up before the inevitable visit from the Tribunal's drones.

"Excuse me," Emma's soft voice interrupted Queu's thoughts.  The young lady looked pale and fragile. She was shaking.

Queu immediately sprang to his feet and offered the Telempath his seat.  "Are you all right, m'am?"  he exclaimed loudly in his strong British accent.  Emma stared ahead blankly, breathing heavily.  Queu held his hand to her shoulder as if afraid she'd fall over.

"Um, excuse me, Mr. Luthor, ah, Lex?" The older man called out to Lex.  Adam and Shalimar were already running over to help Emma. 

"The young lady seems to be having some sort of seizure."  Queu said concernedly to Adam.  "Does she have these often?"

"Only since the plane crash,"  Shalimar answered.  "She has a head injury."

Emma stared wordlessly at Queu, her eyes black as night.  As Lex and Clark approached, she stared at them and grasped her head.  "I'm falling…." She cried as she lost consciousness.

Adam caught Emma as she fell forward in Queu's chair.  "I'll take care of her, sir."  He said to Queu, waving him away.  In the excitement of the moment, no one noticed the triumphant gleam in Queu's eyes.  The Psionic shield worked better than he had dreamed possible.  The field distorted then reflected the Psionic wave back to the Telempath.  She could get a hit from him whenever she liked, but she had no idea who he was.  Indeed, from what he had observed of her past episodes through the monitor, the field seemed to cause Emma's mind to quantum jump into the future, giving her precognitive powers, possibly interdimensional. 

"Fascinating," Queu/Eckhart thought, watching the red-head revive from a distance.  "If she can survive the mental strain, perhaps she will be useful to me in the future."

Queu touched a switch from where he stood, activating a hologram in the Tribunal's chambers.  He smiled to himself.  Thanks to Lex Luthor's funding, he had engineered the entire complex himself.  The holograms he created were lifelike and tangible, based on Adam's technology with some enhancements of his own.  The Tribunal would be resuming the trial shortly.  The Mr. Eckhart that would be prosecuting there would be the interactive holographic image of himself, enhanced with Adam's technology to have solid mass within those walls.  Everything that occurred in there would be recorded from hundreds of angles.  Queu/Eckhart smiled to himself.

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Meanwhile, in the Justice chambers,  the enhanced, Holographic Mr. Eckhart stood before the audience and touched a switch. 

"Here is exhibit #2 against LuthorCorp.  Here we have videotaped two of Adam Kane's New Mutants who have been given an intramuscular injection with a solution of LuthorCorp's Meteor Rock product in the upper torso.  Notice how the subjects' upper bodies assimilate the rocklike properties of the material from which it is made." 

Lionel's eyes widened and he leaned forward to see better.  Yes, that was his bodyguard, Mr Frank Rose lying on the metal table, stripped down to his briefs.  He studied the man, wondering what past connections he had with the white-haired prosecutor.  Lionel glanced quickly back at Eckhart, only to find that the white-haired man had been studying him intently while he was lost in his thoughts.  Lionel took a deep breath, raised an eyebrow and leaned back into his chair, deliberately shifting his gaze back at the video.  He felt he knew this man from somewhere, but couldn't place him.  If Frank Rose was a plant in his organization, there was no knowing how far this Eckhart character had infiltrated.  Here was a dangerous man, indeed.

The camera closed up on two men strapped into cots.  A lab assistant took a syringe containing a fluorescent green fluid and injected the contents into Brennan's arm.  He then took a second syringe and injected the contents into Thorne's arm and quickly left the room.  The camera close up scanned their arms as they turned an eerie green shade.  Rock-like ridges began to protrude from the skin.  The large puncture wound on Brennan's chest visibly shrunk in size then disappeared after the injection.  The camera backed away as they awakened.  The metallic bands that held them down auto-released and the men sprang to their feet and circled each other.

"So you and your Genomex buddies have gotten together to take me on?" Brennan snarled.  "You've got to do a little better than that."  The Elemental winced as he tried to form an electrical arc in his hands but got feedback instead.  He felt the back of his neck and found that a subdermal governor had been installed.  Still, he felt good, better than he had felt in days since the Double Helix's crash.

"Damn!" He spat.  His dark eyes flashed with anger.  "But I won't need my powers to teach you a lesson, Thorne."

Frank Thorne had likewise tried to access his telekinetic powers and found that his powers had been restricted again. The man gave a little shrug and stared at the angry Elemental.  With a smirk he replied, "I had meant to pay you a little visit in the hospital, but it seems that now I get to spend some quality time with you and rehash some old memories."

Thorne ducked as Brennan kicked high at his head.  He felt strangely energetic and grasped Brennan's foot at lightning speed.  Holding it with one hand, he drove the elbow of his free arm into the side of his opponent's knee.  He smiled malevolently as the joint cracked and gave way.  This was too easy.  Brennan groaned and collapsed in pain.

Frank Thorne lifted Brennan up by the armpits, his grey eyes mocking him.  "You're looking pretty green, son."

Furious, Brennan drove the palm of his hand up into Thorne's nose.  The man's head snapped back as he felt cartiledge break and pain explode in his brain.  Roaring with anger and pain, Frank staggered and fell backwards, holding his face.  Blood trickled thickly between his fingers.   Brennan dragged himself toward him, face contorted with hatred. 

"You're looking pretty green yourself, Thorne," Brennan retorted holding himself over the fallen man.  "You Genomex scum.  That was for all the innocent New Mutants that you betrayed to Eckhart and for my brief employment there."  He began squeezing Thorne's throat.  "And this is for arranging for our plane to go down…"

Frank Thorne grasped Brennan's throat with bloody hands and began to crush it with his hands. "I had nothing to do with your plane, but this is for ruining my escape from Genomex, you bastard.  You sold me out to Eckhart."

Brennan's expression changed from implacable rage to something like uncertainty. 

"I didn't sell you out to Eckhart."  The younger man gasped, trying to breathe.  He shifted, letting go of Frank Thorne's throat, placing a knee on Thorne's stomach then jabbed him viciously with an elbow to the shoulder.  Thorne's eyes glazed over in pain but he tightened his grasp on the Elemental's neck.  An open wound that was already beginning to heal appeared on Frank Thorne's shoulder.  Brennan stared open mouthed at his elbow.  It had grown a rock-like spur that was now covered with blood.  What was happening to his body?

"If you didn't sell me out, then who did?"  Thorne demanded sharply, staring up at his adversary.  His eyes suddenly narrowed.   "Did it occur to you that maybe I fled to start a new life without the meddling interferences of Eckhart or your precious Adam Kane?"

"I don't know."  Brennan stated, still trying to pull away.  Frank looked at his hands on Brennan's neck then raised them, letting the Elemental go.

"It appears that your neck has turned to stone."  He said flatly.

"How's the nose?"  Brennan asked, looking at the man's bloodied face oddly.

"Not feeling the pain,"  Frank's voice faded as he felt odd projections and protuberances on his face.  His upper body felt as if lumps were surfacing all over.  His skin felt tight, yet his energy levels were as high as could be and still rising.

Brennan stood up, testing his leg.  There was no sign of damage.  How could that be?  Were they hallucinating?  Were they drugged?  He felt highly energized, but uncomfortable, as if he was expanding.  Looking down at his arms and chest, he could see more rocklike protuberances beginning to break through his skin and grow.

Looking around the small room, Brennan yelled, "I'm not playing your game, Eckhart."

Frank Thorne said loudly to the air.  "I know you and how you operate, Eckhart.  I will track you down, you know I will."

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Mr. Eckhart stared at the defiant Mutants on the screen.  "So hard to get reliable employees these days isn't it, Mr. Luthor?" he mused aloud.

Lionel glanced at Mr. Warren then back at Mr. Eckhart to gauge their reactions.  Their expressions were carefully neutral.  The Tribunal members were watching the two treated subjects mutate before their very eyes with great interest.  

Lionel Luthor had no issue with lying about not knowing Adam Kane earlier.  He had met Adam over 20 years ago when the scientist was feeling his way into a market that wasn't ready for the innovations he was researching.  The man was brilliant, but didn't have the knack for publicity.  Lionel had noticed that Adam was attracted to a certain woman and arranged for her to accommodate him, in return, Adam let him in on the research he was currently working on.  Both men had benefited financially from the product.  That was years ago.  Adam had since dropped out of sight.  Lionel knew from the presence of Adam's team that the brilliant scientist had received the message that he left through Marsden, but would Adam find him in time? 

Lionel contemplated the information he was gleaning about his adversary, Mr. Eckhart through the dialogue of the two Mutant subjects.  He gathered so far that Eckhart had employed these New Mutants in the past and therefore Eckhart was also somehow connected with Adam Kane, but what hold did Mr. Eckhart have over the Tribunal, who was trying him for tampering with human genetics?  Lionel wondered what was in it for Mr. Eckhart.

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Brennan looked sideways at his old adversary.  "Looks like we're on the same side," he said to Frank Thorne, trying to smile.  He felt light-headed yet heavy as rock.  Absently, he wondered if Jesse felt like this when he was massing or phasing.  Frank, breathing heavily, started to nod but then his eyes rolled up into his head and he fell over like a board onto the floor.  Brennan tried to move but felt frozen.  Suddenly his legs gave way and he too lost consciousness.

A/N  Hope I haven't lost you.  Since no one reviewed the last chapter, I have to assume it stunk, bored or totally confused everyone and you all were too nice to say so.  This chapter hopefully clarified things.  If there are no reviews for this chapter as well, I can take a hint and will pull the story.  Thanks for reading      : )