Chapter Forty-Six

Lois took in a big breath. This was it. She was seconds away from starting her mission to break into Cadmus Labs. When she had confronted Hamilton the first time, he had given her the instructions of what to get and how. As he explained, getting in and out of the lab were completely up to her.

The first step for that was to become invisible. Thanks to Zatanna, her mystical friend put a spell on a ring that would make her invisible for a few hours. And thanks to Brainwave, she was armed with an upgraded pass that would open all restricted doors. She was standing at the corner of the building, a place where Brainwave, or Molly, had assured her was a blind spot for the cameras.

Knowing there was no turning back once the ring was on, Lois waited for someone to enter the building. Two strangers were approaching. Quickly, Lois put it on her finger. A quick check in the window across from her showed her reflection was gone and the spell was effective. Lois walked behind the two people and followed them inside. Thankfully, the same two people were going to the elevator as well. Lois knew Molly was going to wipe any doors opening by themselves from the security footage, but if Lois could avoid it, she would.

Lois spent some time in the elevator. The two scientists were going up, and then more people entered that went to a higher floor. Hamilton had told her she needed to reach the basement level. Thankfully the elevator was never crowded and after four trips, Lois was left alone to hit the Basement Level button and scanned her access pass.

No one had called an elevator, so the doors opened and seemingly no one left, but there was no way around it. Lois then tried to find Hamilton's office. The safe she had to open had its combination changed daily; Hamilton was also given access. He had told her to count the M&Ms on his desk. The code would be the amount of each color and in the order found on the rainbow.

Hamilton was sitting at his desk, making it easy for Lois to find. He had even left the door open so she could just walk in. She counted four blue, six red, nine green and eight yellow. That meant the code was 6894. Lois mentally repeated it to herself several times before leaving the room and going two doors down to Lex's office. His door required a security pass, but there were too many people walking up and down the hallway for Lois to feel comfortable opening the door.

As Lois waited for the hallway to clear, she saw Julian enter the lab and head straight for Hamilton's office.

"Hi, Dr. Hamilton."

"Julian. What are you doing here?"

"I thought I had a blood donation scheduled for today."

"No. I don't have that on my calendar. I guess we could, though. I just need fifteen minutes to wrap this up."

"Ok if I wait in Lex's office?"

"Yeah."

Lois couldn't believe her luck as Julian used his key card to open the door and she slinked in after him. As soon as the door was closed, Julian walked straight over to the filing cabinets and began to pull out file drawers and look through the contents. He seemed to be looking for something in particular. But he was opening and closing the drawers so quickly Lois didn't know how he could be sure it wasn't there. She glanced to the other wall, where the safe was. Lois didn't dare open it while Julian was there.

Finally, he found what he was looking for as he took out a file and box. Lois crept closer and saw "Top Secret" in bold red letters stamped across the file labeled "Project Eurydice". It was impossible for Lois to read over Julian's shoulder since he was so tall, and if he made any sudden movements, he would bump into her if she got any closer. As Julian turned his attention towards the box, he set the opened file aside.

Julian pulled out a device that looked like a helmet. Tubes stood up on the top, all of them connected by wires, and there was a chinstrap to secure it to a person's head. As Julian continued to inspect the device, Lois turned her attention to the file. It was opened to a blueprint page that depicted the device Julian was holding.

Lois took a risk and turned the page. Julian's head snapped in her direction; Lois didn't breathe. After staring straight at her with a heated gaze, Julian turned his attention back to the helmet. Lois looked at the file.

On the page before her, the device was now in the shape of a thick bracelet. Lois leaned in to get a closer look; it looked as if an octagon was supposed to be inserted.

To her right, Julian flipped a switch on the device, and it whirred to life. The tubes began to light up and soon began to glow green. Julian made a strange noise and his head jerked up. His eyes went wide, and his face began to twitch. Within seconds, Julian fell to the floor, bumping into the desk and pushing it back loudly.

Julian laid on the floor, his body twitching. Outside the door, she saw Hamilton rush over and look inside. He drew out his phone and made a phone call.

He doesn't have access. Lois rushed to turn the device off. The green glow subsided, but Julian's body continued to twitch. Lois didn't know what she was supposed to do. He was breathing; there was no excessive drooling or foamy saliva blocking his airway. Lois bit her invisible lip as she wondered if she was supposed to hold him down. The area around him was clear, so he wasn't in danger of bumping into anything.

Outside the room, Hamilton was throwing an office chair against the glass, trying to break it. But if Lois would have to guess, the glass used for this secure room was extra strong. After only a second's hesitation, Lois opened the door from the inside, letting Hamilton in.

Hamilton sprinted towards Julian. He brought out a small flashlight and shone it in his eyes.

Not seeing how she could aid Julian, Lois ran over to the safe and entered the code. Inside was the object Hamilton wanted her to get. Resting on top of a small plastic pedestal was a flat, metallic octagonal disc. Lois picked up the item; it felt smooth and cold. There were strange symbols she'd never seen before etched on it. Closing the door to the safe, she frowned in thought and walked back over to the blueprint. The item she had in her hand was what was supposed to be inserted in the device.

There was more activity as Lex himself arrived. "What happened!"

"It looks like he turned the prototype on."

Lex grabbed the device and threw it across the room. Tubes and wires and pieces of metal went scattering through the room.

"He's going to be all right. It wasn't turned on long enough to cause any real damage. He just needs to rest."

"What is he doing here?"

"He thought he was scheduled for a blood donation. He was waiting for me to finish up. I didn't know he would start turning things on."

Lex knelt beside Julian, holding his hand as Hamilton arranged for a car. Knowing Julian was going to be taken care of, Lois left as quickly as she could without bumping into anyone.