Superman was pulling one of the emergency lighting systems from the wall of the control room. "Are you sure about this?" he asked as he floated back down to the floor. He handed the large unit to Dr. Yamamoto.
"Absolutely." Dr. Yamamoto answered. He laid the device on the floor, lights facing downward, filling the room with twice as much shadow and gloom. He pulled a small pen sized screwdriver from his breast pocket and began unscrewing the casing.
Dr. Morales was of in one far corner of the room, a small screwdriver in her hand, working feverishly to unscrew a small piece of plating in the floor.
"These emergency lights run off battery packs." Yamamoto explained. "They are wired into the main system and when they sense a loss in power, they activate. I should be able to use the battery pack to power the control systems. It would be like powering a laptop computer. But the charge won't last very long."
"How long is not very long?" Davison asked. He was pacing back and forth on the far side of the room.
"Six to eight minutes." Yamamoto answered.
"And how will that help us?"
"Besides getting the doors open so we can get the hell out of here?" this from Dr. Mullen. He was sitting on his rear, his back flat against the wall, his legs stretched out in front of him. He had removed his lab-coat and had it pillow-like behind his head.
There were two thunderous bangs, followed by the sound of steel plates crashing on top of one another.
Superman was standing in front on open archway were a moment before, two three inch thick security doors were firmly in place.
"You were saying?" He said flatly.
Everyone looked at him.
"Why didn't I think of that?" Mullen asked himself, getting to his feet.
"Thank you, Superman," Dr. Yamamoto began. "But there is another reason why we need to get the system powered. We may be able to stop the reactors."
"How?" Davison asked.
"If we can get the system online, then we may be able to do one of three things; start the cooling process, activate the control rods, or remove the fuel rods completely."
"Can any of that be done manually?" Superman asked.
"Not without power." Yamamoto answered. "The valves that control the coolant tanks are all electrical, as are the pistons that raise and lower the control rods. The fuel rods can be removed manually, but they each weigh over six-hundred pounds. The robotic arm is the only thing that can lift them."
Superman cleared his throat.
Dr. Yamamoto looked at him, blinked twice, and then slapped his hand to his forehead. "Of course! You're more than capable of removing the rods!" He got to his feet. "We need to go down to the reactor chambers and remove the fuel rods manually."
"Just tell me how to get there." Superman urged.
"I'm going with you." Dr. Yamamoto told him.
"I think it would be safer if you stayed." Superman answered firmly.
"Perhaps," Dr. Yamamoto went on. "But you have never been inside our reactors. You do not know how they work, how to remove them, were to place them once they are removed."
"You could just tell me how …"
"And I will," The small Asian man smiled. "As soon as we are inside the reactor chambers."
Superman looked at Agent Davison, who in turn, simply shrugged.
"Fine." Superman said at last.
"Well, you two get started with that." Dr. Mullen beamed, heading for the now open door. "I'm going to go upstairs and have a cigarette."
"You're not going anywhere." Dr. Morales shouted from the corner, pulling free the plate.
"Uh… yeah, I am!" Mullen shot back. "See the open door?" He gestured. "See me walking through it?" He took another step.
"She's right." Yamamoto stepped in front of him. "You still need to restore the power to the system."
"Why?" Mullen argued. "I though the plan was for the big guy here to remove the fuel rods with his bare hands!? Crisis adverted!"
"We both know that removing the fuel rods would stop a meltdown, but if the reactors are not shut down, they could still destroy the plant. The power build up could still cause catastrophic damage."
"Define 'catastrophic'." Davison said.
Yamamoto looked at him. "The explosion would be small; less than a megaton. The plant would be completely destroyed, but the blast wouldn't affect much of the city. Less than two percent, really. But, then again, we are built into the base of a dam.
Davison rolled his eyes and cursed. "So instead of all the water being flash fried and destroying the city and a steam blast, the dam will be destroyed and the water will destroy the city that way! Wonderful"
"Once I removed the fuel rods, how much time until the reactors go?" Superman asked.
"An hour, give or take five minutes."
"So were trading one problem for another." Davison sighed.
"No, Agent. We are buying time. Once the fuel rods are removed, we can focus on restoring control to the coolant systems. Once they are activated, the reactors can be cooled sufficiently, even if we can't turn off the reactors directly."
"And we're running out of time." Superman added.
"He's right." Yamamoto agreed.
Davison sighed. "Fine. You two get down to the reactors and remove those rods. You!" he pointed at Mullen. "You help her get those systems back up. Now!" he added when Mullen looked as if he was about to protest.
Dr. Yamamoto handed Mullen his screwdriver with a smile.
Mullen took it reluctantly.
Yamamoto turned to Superman. "Follow me." He said, and the others watched the two men disappear into the darkness of the corridor.
The "Scrub Room" was connected to the locker rooms, three levels directly below the control room. It was an arched room with a steel plate door leading in and clear polycarbonate door leading out into the plant access area. The arched ceiling of the room was about seven and a half feet high, and was lined with high pressure hoses and nozzles that pointed down into the area. Dr. Yamamoto had explained that whenever someone returned from a trip inside the reactor chambers, they first stopped in the room for decontamination. The nozzles sprayed a special chemical compound that neutralized any errant radiation and sanitized the radiation suits for future use.
Like the one Superman was currently wearing.
It was teal in color and looked exactly like any and every haz-mat suit Superman had ever seen, with only a few exceptions; the first being its weight.
"They are exactly sixty pounds each." Dr. Yamamoto told him. "They are made from a lead based polymer, and have a TPP (Thermal Protective Performance) rating of a hundred and ten. That means that the wearer can withstand being in a thousand degree environment for up the fifty-five seconds; exactly half the rating. The also have an internal cooling system, like the suit racecar drivers wear. Small tubes run through the suits interior, and a cooling gel is pumped through, similar to a car radiator. Unlike a firefighters' protective gear, these suits also protect from steam, and are flame retardant, as well as radiation proof. Each suit has its own power supply, which powers the short range radio, onboard computer, and Personal Sustainment System. The PSS controls the oxygen tanks that are built into the back of the suit, two tanks on each suit; each tank having a six hour supply of fresh oxygen. The O2 is also used to regulate the temperature inside the suit. The hotter it is outside, the cooler it gets inside. It also has pulse and heart monitors built into the gloves and chest. Under normal circumstances, we can monitor the health of anyone wearing a suit from inside the control room."
The second thing that was notably different was the helmets. Not as big or bulky as a normal hazmat suit, it was closer to an astronauts' helmet. It was round and doom-like, with a thick plastic substance making up the three-forth's of it.
"The helmet is composed primarily of the same special polymer the control room is made of." Yamamoto explained. "It's heat resistant up to three thousand degrees, and has a heads up display in the visor that allows the user to view their own vitals, a 3-D map overlay with range finder, and a monitoring system identical to the control room; which displays the external temperature and radiation levels of the area, as well as displays the suits remaining power levels. It also allows you to see the vitals and power levels of anyone wearing a suit inside your field of vision."
And while Superman had to admit the technology behind the suit was impressive, he had argued with Yamamoto about his need to wear one.
"Invulnerable." Superman had said plainly while Yamamoto suited up.
The older man just looked at him. "Have you ever been inside a Nuclear Reactor before?"
"Well… not exactly." Superman admitted.
"So your not one hundred percent sure you'll be able to withstand the radiation levels."
"I absorb radiation from the sun, which I'm sure has higher radiation levels than the reactor, so I'm pretty sure I'll be fine."
"Without the radios, you won't be able to hear me."
Superman tapped his ear. "Super hearing."
Dr. Yamamoto sighed. "Humor me. Please."
And reluctantly, Superman agreed.
They were now on the catwalk headed towards the reactors; Yamamoto in his protective suit, Superman in his.
Dr. Yamamoto looked at him. "Comfy?" he asked through the suits two way radios.
"Not really." Superman answered honestly.
And Dr. Yamamoto stopped nearly mid stride and stared at him. "Amazing." He gasped.
Superman stopped and looked at him. "What is it?"
"Your… Your vitals are… amazing" he repeated. Through his helmets HUD, and thanks to the sensors in Superman's protective suit, Dr. Yamamoto was looking at the Kryptonian physiology in a whole new light. "Your heart rate is at twenty-seven beats per minute. Your body temperature is one hundred and three! A normal person would both be near death and experiencing hallucinations under the same conditions!"
"Well," Superman began, looking out at the plant, thin green lines crossing his field of vision both horizontally and vertically. "I don't know about 'near death', but I am seeing things..." He looked at the one of the reactor chambers and the words "LXHNR2" hovered over the surface, the temperature next to it reading eight hundred and twenty-eight degrees. Beneath that were "CL- 000.00%" (Coolant Level) and finally, "PO- N/A". (Power Output) "Maybe we should hurry."
Dr. Yamamoto nodded. "We'll remove the fuel rod in reactor one first." Dr. Yamamoto explained as they proceeded. He reached the intersection and made a sharp right. Fifty yards later, they reached the access door the reactor chamber. Yamamoto stepped in front of Superman. There was a keypad there. It was dark and inactive. He turned and looked at the Man of Steel.
"It appears the keypad has lost power as well. Do you mind?" he said through the helmet.
Superman nodded. Yamamoto stepped to one side and Superman stepped forward, placing his hands on the door, and pushed. Hard.
With a groan of twisting metal, the four inch thick reinforced steel door swung inward, large chunks of metal falling to the floor and clattering loudly.
They stepped inside, and were immediately greeted by the immense heat. Like standing inside a blast furnace, the heat pressed in on them with actual physical weight.
Superman wasn't affected much by it, but even his invulnerable exterior registered the sensation.
The room was as he saw it on the large monitors in the control room: a large round space with a concaved floor, a platform running around the diameter of the room and another running through the center. The forest of control rods remained extended throughout the room, and the coolant was noticeably absent.
"The core is at eight hundred and forty-seven degrees." Dr. Yamamoto shouted, his heads up display relaying the information. "Radiation levels are moderate, but they're rising rapidly. We need to hurry!"
Superman nodded. He was suddenly in the center of the chamber, kneeling over the reactor core. "What do I do?"
Yamamoto was walking over towards him quickly. "First, you need to expose the core by carefully sliding the panel to the side."
Again, Superman nodded. He placed his gloved hand on the surface of the core. The metal was coarse and hard and warm to his touch, which made him place the surface temperature at nearly a thousand degrees.
He found the seam and he tightened his grip slightly. The metal warped and bent under the strength of his grip. He slid it sideways, hearing gears grind and crunch as he pushed.
He could now see the fuel rod below. It emitted a soft amber glow.
"Now…" Dr. Yamamoto shouted nervously. "Carefully, CAREFULLY, turn the rod casing counter clockwise for seven complete revolutions. Make sure you don't damage the casing; at this temperature the rod is fragile and may brake."
And carefully, Superman twisted the casing counter clockwise and soon completed seven full revolutions. The casing was free.
Superman pulled the casing out easily. The three foot rod slid free, the glow beginning to fade almost immediately.
"Excellent!" Yamamoto shouted. "The temperature is still rising, but at only fourteen percent the previous rate. Good work Superman!"
"What about the rod?" he asked.
"There." Yamamoto pointed to a large panel in the upper of the side of the dome. Superman floated up to it quickly. "Slid the panel up and there's a storage unit on the other side."
Again, reinforced steel and lead twisted under his grip. He slid the panel up and saw a cluster of fuel rods housed in some type of honeycomb like container on the other side. There was one empty slot. He slid the rod into the slot, its glow nearly completely faded. He then pulled the panel back into place, and floated back down to the floor.
"The radiation levels are lowering." Yamamoto reported as Superman neared. He looked at him through the thick plastic of his helmet. "One down." He beamed. "One to go!"
They left the reactor. Superman pulled the door closed, wedging it in the frame and securing it tightly. As they made their way toward the second reactor chamber, Superman allowed himself a small smile, and was filled with hope that this nightmare was almost. If the removing of the second core was as easy as the first, then Metropolis would be saved without bringing the power back online and he could then focus on something of equal importance. His mind turned to Lois. Somewhere, she was trapped and helpless, and waiting for him to save her. He only hoped he would get the chance to do so.