Prison Break
"You win!" Ella said, smiling happily. She touched the energy wall of her cylinder, and it parted for her.
Lois watched, eyes wide as Ella jumped through the hole created. The little girl prowled forward, curiously predatory. She kept looking around, and her movements were small and sudden. Then she ran to Lois's cylinder and started smoothing her fingers around the bottom. After a few seconds, a small panel popped open.
"No, Jimmy's. Jimmy's first," Lois said, glancing over. His lethargy was worrying her. Usually, he'd be frothing at the mouth to find a way out.
"I think he's gotten dosed," Ella muttered but still ran to Jimmy's cylinder.
A few moments later, and the glass sides silently rose, leaving Jimmy to roll out to rest on the floor. Nonplussed, Ella stared at him for a few moments before backing away.
"Do you want me to wake him up?" Ella asked, glancing at Lois.
"Just get me out and I can do it." Lois slowly stood, her eyes fixed on her old friend.
Ella shrugged. A few minutes later, Lois' cylinder was also opened.
"Why did it take so long?" she asked as she jumped down.
"They wanted to keep you, duh," Ella said, returning to her cylinder. The hole was still there. As soon as she re-entered, it closed back up.
"Aren't you coming?" Lois asked.
Ella shook her head.
"I've got a tracker. I'd only get you caught, but don't worry. My guardian will come. She always comes." Ella sat back down Indian-style. "You should hurry. The alarm will go off in a few minutes or so. The Abominators don't have the same sense of time as we do, but they're stronger than you."
With that chilling statement, Ella closed her eyes. Lois paused for a moment longer before helping Jimmy to his feet and heading to the door.
*******
"I'm telling you! There was a little girl there as well and she was a prisoner of some sort. She didn't come with us because she said she had a tracker on her." Lois let out a huff of frustration and turned to Clark. "You believe me, right?"
"I do, but there was nothing there when we went to look," Clark said, rubbing her shoulders. "I don't doubt that there was someone there who helped you, but that warehouse was clean, Lois."
"It was rented by a shell corporation," Bruce said. "I'm still trying to track down who really owns it but so far I'm on corporation number forty-three."
"You have to find her. She was just a kid and locked up by those things," Lois said, fury lighting her face. "And we have to find out just what they're up to."
"We will. I promise," Clark said with a shared glance at Bruce.
******
"So, the warehouse is a bust," Aarti said with a short scream of frustration.
"We were really close this time," Don soothed. "They can't keep running with Ella in tow. They're going to have to make a stand."
"But is this stand going to attract unwanted attention," San said.
"Like you should talk!" Dawnie retorted, stripping the wrapper off of another IWA bar.
Court leaned back against the sofa cushions. Lucy was busily chopping things in the kitchen. Aarti glanced that way and thought about actually using the abused vegetables to cook. She decided against it when Lucy picked up another innocent cucumber and chopped it in two with a vicious overhand chop.
"We will find her," Lucy finally said. "We're not going to have another Kaylen."
"Agreed," the others echoed.
"Does anyone want salad?"
*****
"I guess they really, really wanted to keep you," Ella said, her elbows balancing on her knees and her chin rested on her fisted hands.
Lois groggily lifted her head. She had a splitting headache. The last thing she remembered, she'd gotten a text from Perry telling her about a lead. The alley had been dark, but there had been weird marks on the ground and footprints that seemingly appeared midway. The whole place had a desolate air, but it had also seemed so manufactured.
She stared at Ella. The girl's familiar cylinder had a glass enclosure this time. The girl herself was also sporting thin narrow bruises on her hands and arms. Ella was watching her curiously, her hair now in a ponytail, and the collar was even more visible, nearly cutting into the flesh of the girl's neck. It made her wonder just how tight the collar was and whether it was the tracker Ella had mentioned previously.
The little half-smile on Ella's lips vanished as door opened and their captors entered.
They were tall with angular limbs. Their skin was a pale, nearly sickly yellow and the most disturbing of all was that their faces were a mishmash of features that echoed a few of the races Lois had met since her and Clark's honeymoon. The one in the lead was clearly the leader. His clothing was slightly better and had metallic accents compared with the plain embroidery of the others.
"The container has awoken," it said as it glided to a stop in front of Lois' cylinder.
"'Container?'" Lois echoed uneasily.
"We offer you a grand and glorious choice. Choose to aid us and riches beyond compare are yours. Defy us and suffer. Either way we shall complete our objective." The leader turned to one of its underlings who stepped forward with a small case. It opened it and displayed a small square with a glassine surface. "I believe information is your cachet. We will offer you vast amounts."
Lois glanced at Ella who was frowning at the aliens. The little girl looked furious and terrified all at the same time. Finally, Ella buried her head in her knees, arms firmly wrapped around them. Her actions made Lois a bit more scared. All of the little girl's bravado had vanished.
"What kind of help are you looking for?" Lois finally asked.
"The most glorious kind of course," the leader said. A disturbing smile crossed its face and she recognized the fanaticism that suddenly appeared, no matter the species. "You will aid us in perfecting the genome so that it can be spread properly."
"What?" Lois took a step back, her gut suddenly telling her she didn't really want this conversation to continue.
"You're a container. They want the eventual contents," Ella's muffled voice came from behind her.
"The product is correct. So, your choice, Lois of the Lanes?"