Escaping Fastboot

In Fastboot screen on phone, while command window is "Waiting for device".

A YouTube tutorial suggested to just unplug and replug phone. Unfortunately, now Windows recognizes phone only as unknown USB device.

1. No charge light indicator - does this mean my battery is quickly depleting?
2. If it conks out am I bricked?
3. Of my 4 options (Fastboot, Recovery, Clear Storage, Simlock) will any get me back to my previous status without any help from computer?

 

Question 1 answered:
Good news is that 8 hours later the phone's OLED screen is still burning brightly, so apparently it is getting power through the USB cable, nevermind the lack of a charging indicator light.

Bad news is that I'm still in the Fastboot screen.

4. Is there any way that I can get the computer to recognize an already Fastbooting phone, that is apparently unresponsive and thus unrecognizable?

Or do I have to just deal with the phone by itself, which gets us back to Question 3 above?

And returning to Question 2, is there any harm in pulling the battery, or am I at the point where that is a sure-fire bricking?

Thanks.

 

Awoke this morning to a scary site - the screen was black. Then I noticed the charging indicator light was orange. I turned it on, and the phone booted as if nothing bad had ever happened. It was only 75% charged.

I'm guessing maybe the Fastboot screen may have a 24 hour timer (in which case why only 75% charged 5 hours later?), or maybe the thermostat in the wall charger turned it off and the battery power eventually died (but then what caused the wall charger to start charging again?).

So now I know I need to be sure to see the phone in both Windows Explorer and on the SDK screen before starting the Fastboot process.

But for the future reference of myself and others who may read this, I'm still wondering:

2. If I had simply pulled the battery, would there be any risk of bricking, or would it have simply returned to normal like this morning?
3. Could selecting any of the options on the phone (Fastboot, Recovery, Clear Storage, Simlock) have helped me without a functioning USB connection?