Chapter 16 - Exit

As the elevator door closed, bedlam broke loose as everyone tried to help Clark. Lana, who was closest, was instantly at Clark's side.

"Clark, are you all right?" Lana cried. Clark smiled weakly and winced as he tried to sit up. Dr. Bryce knelt by him and Clark, struck by a wave of meteor rock-induced exhaustion, fell back.

"Give him room," Dr. Bryce ordered, waving everyone back. The dark-haired doctor quickly unbuttoned Clark's shirt and peeled back the side that was stained with blood. Lana and Chloe blinked in surprise at Clark's well muscled form. Shalimar smirked and winked at Clark when he blushed at the attention from his classmates.

"Clark, this is going to hurt, but I need to extract the bullet and there obviously are no surgical tools." Dr. Bryce said. "I'm going to apply pressure and probe to see if it's close enough to the surface." She quickly placed her hands over the injured area and pressed. Clark cried out in pain. Frowning, she palpated gently, increasing the intensity of the probing. Suddenly her hands emitted a greenish glow that spread over Clark's chest. Clark's eyes widened in pain as the greenish skin started to vein and tighten. He let out a strangled cry.

"What are you doing to him!" Chloe exclaimed.

"Stop it, you're hurting him!" Lana demanded.

The beautiful brunette immediately pulled her hands away and stepped back. Looking at her hands, Dr Bryce shook her head. "I'm not sure what just happened. I was palpating for the bullet, hoping to push it out of his body and suddenly my hands created this green force field."

"Look!" Jesse exclaimed softly. "His body is rejecting the bullet, just like yours did, Doctor." Clark lay on the floor, his eyes closed. The greenish glow had subsided and as everyone watched, the bullet worked its way to the surface then dropped onto the floor with a little clatter. The wound then healed itself.

"Nicely done," Mr. Queu said to the amazed doctor.

"Looks like you projected your self-healing abilities to Clark." Emma commented.

"Hey man, how are you feeling?" Brennan asked Clark.

"Better." The lanky youth replied, rolling onto his feet with a rueful grin. A small, circular, metallic plate with a probe extension clattered onto the floor.

"Looks like that's not all his body rejected," Shalimar looked enviously at Clark as she touched the governor that was still implanted in the back of her neck.

Clark buttoned his shirt. "Thanks, doc," he said, fingering the blood stained hole in his shirt, certain that her meteor rock induced force field had nothing to do with his body healing itself.

"OK. It's time for us to kick some Tribunal butt." Brennan said seriously. "Jesse, Lana, and the Doc are going to pool their super strength to open the elevator door. Once inside, Frank and Jesse will see what they can figure out about getting a ride to the Tribunal. Jesse will put off using his powers until the last possible minute. In the likely event that the Controllers get activated, he may only have one shot at phasing or massing. I will use my first shot to free Frank from the sub- dermal governor."

Frank half-grinned and nodded. Brennan continued. "He will also have potentially one chance to use his powers. I figure that if he and Chloe use their telekinetics together, they can create the most damage and disrupt the Tribunal defense. The rest of you will probably be seeing hand to hand fighting. Remember that those soldiers carry guns and cannons and they don't take no for an answer." Clark nodded ruefully. "Any second wave of defense or offense should be smaller. Frank will have to ride that one out in the telekinetic sense; Chloe should be able to handle it alone. Mr. Queu, do you have any thoughts on removing or disabling the Controllers?"

Mr. Queu, standing with Clark near the back of the room looked at Brennan gravely. "As you know, Dr. Kane and I discussed the possible ways of disabling these little fellows. They are imbedded in a certain part of the brain as opposed to the spinal cord and may not respond favorably to electrical pulses as do the sub-dermal governors. I would consider attempting focused heat as a possible solution. Unfortunately, I see only one source of heat that will do us no good, for using it would deprive us of light."

"The light fixture," Shalimar commented softly. "If you pulled the light fixture off to use the wires to generate the heat you need, then there would be no light with which to try the operation."

"You'd have to be able to see in the dark to even think of pulling this off." Dr. Bryce stated. Frank, Jesse, Brennan and Emma looked at Shalimar, who raised her eyebrows innocently then shrugged sweetly.

"That could change things." Shalimar said. "Brennan would have to deactivate my sub-dermal governor first. I could perform this operation in the dark and see if we can free Brennan from the controller, then he could free the rest of us from the sub-dermal governors. After all, why should the meteor rock Mutants have all the fun" the blond woman declared with a toss of her golden mane of hair.

"The question is- will the heat from the wires be hot enough and focused enough to do the job?" Mr. Queu reminded them. "It may be better strategically to stay with the first plan and hope for the best."

Brennan exchanged glances with Shalimar, Frank, Jesse and Emma. "He's got a good point, Brennan." Frank said. "What if overheated wires aren't enough to disable the Controller?"

"Then we'll be left in the dark," Chloe said.

"My dad always said you have to have faith. It'll work." Clark said, looking meaningfully at Shalimar. The golden-haired Feral smiled, knowing that under the cover of darkness, Clark would use his heat vision. Adam had been right about him after all.

"OK," Brennan said, coming to a decision. "Let's open the door first. Once we have access to the elevator, we lift the ceiling panel and climb up to the next level, unless of course someone figures a way to get the elevator to carry us all upstairs."

"The elevator has a dim light of its own. Once we open the doors, the light to the cell is all yours, Brennan." Jesse said. "From the information Mr. Queu, Clark and I gleaned from tapping walls and analyzing the layout of this cell, there's a good chance that where the Tribunal is holding Adam, Lex and his Father are close by, possibly on the floor above us. When our group was being taken to the elevator, it felt like we walked a circuitous mile in total blackness before being locked into the elevator. There was a definite feeling of descent after they were finished with us, so I would have to say that the show is on the floor above us."

"Circuitous," Lana mumbled with a deadpan expression. Chloe elbowed her gently. "Roundabout, twisty, winding, meandering, tortuous." she explained as Lana made a face at her.

"Let's get moving," Brennan told everyone.

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Dr. Bryce and Lana dug their fingers into the metal door to create a hand hold. Together they pulled as Jesse pushed. The door slid open an inch then gave way. The three exchanged smiles and sauntered into the large elevator to check out the interior. Mr. Queu and Chloe watched from the outside.

Unable to contain her natural tendency for small talk, Chloe asked, "so, Mr. Queu, how long have you been working for Lex?"

The tall, thin man looked askance at the small, short-haired blond teenager. "I'd say around 3 months. He is a good man to work for."

Chloe continued to watch the trio in the elevator. "Lana would certainly agree. Lex has a way of picking his employees and bringing out the best in them. My dad works for him too."

"Perhaps some day, everyone will work for him," Mr. Queu said lightly. Chloe's blue eyes were thoughtful. "Somehow, I wouldn't be a bit surprised." The grey-haired scientist excused himself as Jesse signaled Brennan that they had gained access. The hologram was to observe and record what was about to go on in the darkness.

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At Jesse's signal, Brennan, and Shalimar moved under the solitary light bulb. Shalimar looked up at Brennan and gazed deeply into his brown eyes. She touched his hand for a moment. The Elemental's dark eyes were resolute. There was no turning back. He gently pulled Shalimar's long golden mane away from the sub-dermal governor, subtly caressing her snowy white neck as he did so. Shalimar solemnly turned around so that her team mate could have a clear shot at the sub-dermal governor. Brennan carefully controlled the formation of a Tesla coil in his hand, the way he had done so many times before, measuring its intensity, feeling one-ness with it, knowing that this could be the last time. Brennan directed the small electrical arc into the circular device imbedded in Shalimar's neck. There was a small crackle as the electrical force disabled the small device that had restrained the Feral. Shalimar's eyes went from a warm brown to jungle gold. She smiled.

"OK, let's take the light out," Frank said, moving closer. Shalimar's eyes flashed again momentarily as she stepped aside to let the taller people work.

"Clark, can you keep these wires separate while Frank and I try to pull more of this down? Careful, they've got some juice in them." Brennan called. Soon the fixture was removed, leaving long, exposed wires and light bulb dangling at the end of them. Looking down at Shalimar, Brennan grinned. "That should low enough for you to reach, Shalimar." The short blond Feral wrinkled her nose at the Tall Elemental.

"Your turn," she said. "Keep your finger on the Controller; it'll be easier for me to key in on it." Pulling the wires apart, the light bulb went out with a pop, enveloping the captives in total darkness. Shalimar's eyes turned jungle yellow as she activated her IR vision.

Queu's voice floated in the thick darkness. "You'll need to cross the wires to generate the heat at the exposed wires, Miss Shalimar."

"Gotcha," she said, hissing as the heat singed her fingers. She placed one hand over Brennan's hand that was marking the location of the Controller. Carefully directing the crossed wires onto the small metal cylinder, she gently applied pressure. A couple moments later Brennan hissed in pain and pulled away. Tesla arcs were forming indiscriminately at his hands and fading.

"I'm not causing that," he gasped.

"Oh no! I must have activated the Controller!" Shalimar gasped as the others watched them, illuminated by Brennan's sparks in the deafening darkness.

"I'll hold him," Clark said joining them, turning his back to the group. "You've got to try again." Shalimar looked up at the lanky youth and held the makeshift heat pen in her hand over Brennan.

"Hang on Brennan. This will work." She said. Brennan closed his eyes and tilted his head forward and to the side. He could feel Shalimar's form pressed against him as she worked on the device in his head. He felt the explosion of heat in his head. Brennan willed his hands to contain the electricity that threatened to flow like life-blood out of his body. Clark activated his heat vision and directed it like a laser into the small, metal cylinder that was imbedded in Brennan's skull. The center of the small device melted suddenly, rendering it hollow and useless. Brennan felt a surge of relief as the intense heat inside his brain went away.

Brennan heaved a sigh of relief and formed an arc in his hand. "Good work, Shalimar." He nodded silently at Clark, then snapped his fingers. The arc vanished, leaving them in darkness. "Shalimar can deactivate Frank's and Jesse's controllers, and then I'll deactivate all the sub-dermal governors by the elevator." Brennan paused, silhouetted in the elevator's weak light. "Uh Clark, it would be helpful if you could hold them down while Shalimar does her operation."

"That bad, eh?" Frank muttered in the darkness. Shalimar punched him gently.

During Brennan's operation, unbeknownst to all, the holographic Queu had rematerialized in the darkness so that he could watch from a couple feet away. Queu nodded as he watched the Smallville farm boy. A Thermal Elemental, he relayed the information to the Master.

"Mr. Queu," Brennan called, "I'll be happy to deactivate your governor for you." "Works for me," Mr. Queu said dryly. "Young Mr. Kent is fortunate that his fell out on its own."

Clark felt the smooth back of his neck. "Yeah," he agreed.

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They worked quickly. Several minutes later, Brennan, Frank, and Jesse, freed from the Tribunal's Controlling devices entered the elevator. Under its solitary, dim light, Brennan proceeded to deactivate the remaining sub- dermal governors. Emma crossed her arms and took a deep breath as she closed her mind to the sudden influx of thoughts that barraged her. Frank grinned at the sudden release of his powers. The elevator filled with people. Jesse hot wired the control panel and the elevator slowly moved up. They could see the door of the next floor approaching through the gaping entrance. Jesse worked the controls and made the elevator stop. Holding a hand up, he phased his head through the closed outer door and looked around. All was clear. The blonde Molecular phased the entire door and the group of captives quietly filed into the corridor.

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As planned, the group broke up into 2 teams. Shalimar's eyes glowed like golden embers in the cold, polished corridor as she sniffed the air delicately and listened for sound. Pointing down one corridor, she nodded at Brennan. Brennan signaled Emma, Frank, Helen and Chloe to follow. Shalimar and Jesse took a different corridor that undoubted traversed the Tribunal Chambers. Jesse was going to take a peek at the proceedings. Emma would receive a message back from him as her team's signal to move.

As Brennan's team cautiously rounded a corner, they could see 2 guards posted at the door. Emma nodded at Brennan. A ball of light emanated from her head, then she projected it at the guards. The guards immediately stood slumped against the wall.

"They're in their own little world now," Emma whispered to her teammates. They opened the door and quickly slid into the darkened room. They could see the lit center, like a stage. Mr. Eckhart paced slowly as three Tribunal soldiers locked a struggling Adam into a metal chair, adjacent to the one that Lex Luthor was locked into.