Swan Song (novel)/Headscratchers

The novel

 * OK, so at the end, the secret base with the world-destroying nuclear missiles is locked, and the only key is dropped into a raging river that not even The Man With The Scarlet Eye can fish it out of. Fair enough. But when he left the base just a few minutes ago, Scarlet Eye did so by turning into energy and leaving through a vent. What's stopping him from doing the same thing in reverse and setting them off again?
 * That's a case of Fridge Horror I never would have thought of. Maybe when he's pure energy he can't actually pick any physical objects up.
 * Yeah, but he can turn from energy to "human" again, back and forth. Nothing should stop him from energizing, going back through the vent, turning "human," and setting off the missiles.