A/N - Wow, it's been a while since I've said anything to you guys. I hope you're all doing well. I'd like to apologize for last week's chapter. It was supposed to be much longer, but I was pressed for time and I wanted to post something as opposed to having you guys wait two weeks. To make it up to you, I'm posting this chapter a day early. I also wanted to take this time to say that we're getting pretty close to the end here, not just of this story, but of the trilogy as well. Thank you all for staying with me this long, I really appreciate it. I hope you all enjoy!

The group followed Penelope into an elevator. It had a digital touchpad as opposed to the traditional buttons. Using her glove, she selected the bottom floor. Seconds later, the elevator slowly began its descent.

"Is that why you wear gloves?" Fetch asked, piecing things together.

She sighed.

"Everything I touch, I fry. I can't hold any sort of electronic device in my hand, and coming into contact with water sends tingles down my spine; so yes. I wear rubber gloves as a form of insulation. They've been fitted with fibers on the finger tips that allow me to use touch screen devices."

"How did you get your powers?" Delsin asked.

Penelope looked at Delsin for a brief second before turning to Bentley and smiling. He looked at the floor and sighed.

"Do you want to answer that?" she asked. There was a moment of silence before Bentley responded.

"We don't know exactly how a conduit gets their powers, but one theory is through the experience of adrenaline. If a conduit experiences an extreme emotion, that may be enough to trigger their powers. This means that a dormant conduit could react powerfully to anger, fear, or in Penelope's case… passion."

"It was one of the first nights we spent together, and sparks were literally flying," Penelope added.

"I thought it was a sign," Bentley commented.

"It was," she said coldly.

"Turns out, lightning was the power Kessler was looking for… so he could give to Cole. The second I told her father about what happened, he… experimented on her… his own daughter."

"You knew what he wanted, and you knew we didn't have the best relationship,"

"But I didn't think… it wasn't reason enough to strike at him."

"What did you want me to do Bentley? I was scared… and I didn't my father would actually—"

"Stop," Bentley interrupted.

"Why? Does it hurt you to know that I was experimented on?"

"Of course! I was scared too! Ever since… I tried to find a cure… I even went as far as to test it at Curdun Cay."

"What?" Delsin asked, anger apparent in his voice, "What do you mean by 'cure'?"

"I was trying to make it so that conduits couldn't use their powers. I was trying to make them human again," Bentley explained.

"Human?"

"That's not what I meant."

"Then what do you mean?"

"I… I just wanted to help her. I just wanted to give her a normal life again."

"But you can't change that. Changing that would be like changing nature," Fetch argued.

"In that case… we changed nature," Penelope stated proudly as the elevator reached its destination. When the doors opened, the group was greeted by a large laboratory with scientists running from station to station. However, the lab itself was all too similar to the one they found in Empire City, fitted with a cell in the center. The doors were open and everyone had a clear view of who was inside.

"Is that?" Delsin began, already knowing the answer.

"John White. After your little… escapade… I had him moved here."

"So it was you… all this time," Bentley spoke despairingly, "Did Augustine know?"

"Of course, we had a mutual agreement. You think the government funded her little organization from the start? We helped her get on her feet and she let us perform our project."

"Project Lazarus," Bentley stated blankly.

"Correct. We needed to bring John back."

"Why? Why him?" Jessica asked.

"He can use his powers to activate conduits. We needed his DNA so we could reverse that process and deactivate conduits."

"You wanna' take away their powers?" Eugene asked uneasily.

"This world isn't ready for super heroes, nor will it ever be."

"What about Ashton and Sebastian? How do they play in this?" Delsin asked.

"We were running low on supplies and funding. I needed them to give our project the much needed financial boost."

"Why?" Bentley asked, feeling betrayed, "What happened to you?"

"I only did what you promised Bentley. It's passed all the machine testing. The chemical compound is perfect."

"Machine testing? That's it?"

"We only have one sample… and I intend to use it," she explained.

"What? But you have no idea how it'll perform. It could kill you."

"I've been living with this for years. I've had to suffer for so long. It hurts to drink… to wash my hands… if this doesn't work… if it kills me… then I'm perfectly fine wit—"

"No!" Bentley interrupted, "Don't say that. I can help you. My friend is a conduit without the same increased healing rate as other conduits. I've been working with his DNA to isolate the conduit gene. Please…"

"This'll work Bentley. I know it will."

"And what if it doesn't?" Fetch asked.

"Then we leave it up to fate to decide what happens next," she stated nonchalantly.

Moments later, a scientist approached the group holding a capped syringe on a small metal tray.

"Here you are, Ms. Bertrand," he stated before she took the syringe. She uncapped the needle and Bentley stepped closer.

"Please, don't do this…"

"I'm sorry Bentley…"

Everybody in the lab immediately stopped what they were doing and turned their attention to Penelope as she injected the needle into her arm. Bentley watched as the unknown compound left the glass syringe and traveled into her body. She then removed the syringe and placed it back on the tray. The scientist then excused himself, not taking his eyes off his employer. Several moments passed and there were no notable differences. Penelope removed one of her gloves and flexed her bare hand. However, as hard as she tried to summon of bolt of lightning, she couldn't. She laughed, filled with joy.

"It… it worked?" Bentley asked.

With a smile, she extended her hand and Bentley took it, expecting some sort of static shock, but received none. He held her hand tightly and slowly pulled it up to his cheek. The sudden sensation was too much for Penelope and tears escaped her eyes.

"I… can feel you…" she whispered.

Not a second later, Bentley pulled her in for a kiss and the two embraced each other for several seconds. When they finished, she put both of her hands on either side of his face and Bentley placed his hands on either side of her face.

"This is… amazing…" Bentley whispered, "We can have a normal life again."

She smiled, the tears now more evident. She combed her hand through his hair and let it drift down his cheek. When her hand found itself in the tender area between his ear and eye, Bentley felt a violet jolt strike him. The sudden impact caused him to fall back and hold his hands to the area he was struck. Penelope's joy turned to terror as Delsin and the others kept him from falling to the ground.

"Bentley! Are you okay?" she asked, scared.

When he removed his hands, he revealed scared tissue that puffed up as if from a burn.

"What? But," she began while staring at her hands, one gloved and one ungloved. A second later, she saw a bolt of lightning snake across the bare hand, unwillingly.

"No, no no no no… No!" she shouted while removing the other glove to reveal the same scene. Seconds later, lightning dashed in between her hands, despite her not calling on her powers.

"No! Stop!" she shouted.

The lightning grew more and more pronounced as it started arcing across her whole body. Bolts snaked across her torso and each step she took left a small black puddle that was a layer of her shoes.

"Stop! STOP PLEASE!"

She was fighting a losing battle. The arcs grew longer and were firing off more quickly. They struck her skin, searing the flesh. She cried out in pain as her entire body appeared to be cloaked in electricity. She fell to her hands and knees as her crying turned into a violent wail. All the nearby workers watched anxiously, not knowing what was happening or what to do. Eventually, her hair was singed as long strands of it landed on the floor around her. Jessica looked at her. Knowing what she was brought here for, she attempted to walk up to her and pacify her. However, an arc of lightning struck her outstretched hand when she got closed enough and Jessica reeled back.

"Guys, we may have a problem."

"Everyone, leave! Now!" Fetch commanded.

Not needing to hear it twice, the staff did as they were told and evacuated. Bentley, starting to recover, looked at Penelope and panic started taking over.

"What… what's wrong with her?"

"We don't know!" Delsin shouted.

"Please Bentley! It hurts! Do something!"

"I… I can't!"

The cackling of lightning grew louder and more distinct as she struggled to stand up again. She fell back onto her knees with her hands cuddled to her chest. Her suit was singed and torn from the over-extensive use of her powers. The rest of the group slowly backed up and the arcs grew longer. Threatening to strike them as well. Using her powers, Jessica created a barrier to protect themselves from the powerful bolts. Seconds later, Penelope threw her hands away from her chest and a massive shockwave erupted from her. The blast threw the rest of the group backwards, knocking them unconscious.

It wasn't until several minutes later that they came to. Thankfully, Jessica's barrier was enough to protect them from the actual shockwave, but it wasn't enough to stop the force of the blast. Delsin was the first to come around. He stood up, his legs shaking and his ears ringing. He looked at the group on the ground, unable to comprehend the situation for a second. Once the ringing began to die out, he heard his name being called. It got louder and louder until it sounded as though it was right next to him.

"Delsin!" Sam shouted while running up to him and examining him "Are you hurt?"

"Sam?"

"Oh thank god," he whispered, out of breath. He then turned his attention to Bentley and the scars on his face.

"Oh my god! Bentley!"

He rushed over and looked at him. He then put his head to Bentley's chest. He sighed when he heard a heartbeat. At that point, Fetch and Eugene woke up as well. They slowly stood up and dusted themselves off. When Delsin's mind finally cleared, he immediately looked at Jessica, who was out cold.

"Is she…" Fetch began, thinking the same thing. Sam walked over to Jessica and checked her pulse. It was fast, but it was there."

"She's alive," Sam announced.

A collective sigh came across the whole group and Sam was able to take in his surroundings.

"What happened?" he asked.

Delsin, when looking around, pointed at the culprit. Sam looked and saw the general outline of a woman. She had no clothes, but instead a layer of charred and cracked skin. Her distinguishing features were no longer visible and the cracks were a bright blue that allowed electricity to flow like molasses… or lava.

"Is that—"

"Penelope…" Bentley muttered, causing to Sam to rush over to his partner.

"Bentley?" Sam called.

"Where's Penelope?" he asked.

She began to stir back to life. Her crumpled form began to outstretch and she slowly got back up. Once she got back onto her feet, she turned to look at the group. That's when they noticed that her hair had disappeared and her eyes were replaced by unblinking blue orbs. She examined her hands, turning them over several times. However, she remained expressionless.

"This… this wasn't supposed to happen."

Her voice was loud and demanding, and contained a considerable amount of reverb.

When Bentley looked up, he saw what Penelope had become, and every emotion in his body turned to despair.

"No," he whispered, barely audible.

"Bentley… you were right…" she stated coldly.

"Listen… I… I can fix this."

"How?" she boomed.

"Trust me," he said, uneasily.

"You can't… after all these years. You kept telling me how close you were… but you lied."

Bentley closed his eyes and breathed in deeply.

"You're right. I never found a cure, I never even got close. But I never gave up, I never gave up on you."

"You try to protect the ones you love by lying to them…" she stated.

"Well what was I supposed to do?! Am I supposed to say that it's hopeless?! Am I supposed to say that you're stuck like this forever?!"

"There was a time I trusted you, Bentley. But you turned me in as soon as you saw it profitable."

"That's NOT true and you know it!"

"I'm done being lied to," she said as she extended her hand, pointing it at the man on the ground.

"Penelope no!" he cried out.

Lightning snaked down her arm and into the palm of her hand where it shot towards her target. Before it could hit though, Sam dashed in front and took the shoot, the force pushing him into the cell behind them. Immediately, Penelope was bombarded with smoke, neon, and pixelated swords. After taking a few hits, she transformed into a cloud of static and flew out of the door. The three conduits went over to Sam who seemed relatively unphased.

"Are you okay?" Delsin asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

Delsin then looked at the door she left through. He started heading towards the door when Sam grabbed him by the wrist.

"Don't be a hero, kid."

He shook off his grip and, with a look of determination, bolted out of the door.

Fetch and Eugene helped Sam to his feet and a look of horror appeared on Bentley's face as he stood up as well. The two conduits, looking in the same direction as Bentley, had the same look.

It was the cell.

It was empty.

"What?" Sam asked, "Who was in there?"

"John," Bentley answered.