Thanksgiving had quickly given way to Christmas, and for many the holiday season is a welcomed time for rest after a full-year of intense work. However there are still many who would still have to stand by their posts, be it medical frontliners helping to keep the healthcare system ticking, or the soldiers guarding their country's borders ensuring their people remain protected from intrusion. Gregorey Varachenko happens to be one whose responsibility requires him to rotate and work during the holidays. But his post is a little unusual though.

Ever since the notorious Chernobyl incident 200 miles away, many of the aging nuclear plants running on older technology has been progressively withdrawn from service, replaced by the “safer” and “more efficient” ones. A decision he agreed wholeheartedly; some of his academy comrades were sent there during and after the incident, helping with the clean-up. Many didn’t return. For that, Gregorey had counted himself lucky for not being hauled-up to the same location thirty-plus years ago. Until two-years ago, he had stayed with the military, until boredom and the enticement of money convinced him to retire from the official military setup and instead work with the private sector instead.

This particular plant is located in one of the smaller outskirt towns on the opposite end of Belarus from Chernobyl had also gone through a lengthy decommissioning process; red tape and costs playing a major factor in the delay for most of the attention had went into Chernobyl’s concrete containment facillity for the better part of the decade. Nevertheless, the official news is that this particular plant had stopped generating power since a decade ago.

Which made his post even more odd, given that there is only a skeleton crew working the site. Similar to him, most are private contractors of various nationalities, supposedly the “expert” in their own fields, though which one he wasn’t sure. Notwithstanding that once awhile, he spied some familiar vehicles with military insignia on them coming and going through the compound. Despite being curious, he kept his thoughts within himself. He was paid to do a job, and he was going to do it.

Despite the cold, the afternoon sky was actually unnvervingly bright and blue, though that didn’t stop the cold wind blowing from the North. Pulling his coat tighter around his neck, he was about to finish-off another lap around the large compound when he seemed to notice a figure flashing past. Blinking a few times, he considered but for a moment before calling it into his walkie-talkie.

“Sasha, are you there?”

“What’up old man?” Bearing an age toward the upper-middle-age is no fun, especially when everyone else is younger than you.

“I think I saw something move towards the North side. Did you see anything there?” Sasha Imollov sits in the central monitoring room, and if anyone should see anything, it would be him.

“Nope, not a thing. It’s still afternoon, and your eyes are already playing tricks on you? Better get them checked-out soon. Medical is covered in your contract, no?”

Disregarding the insult, he spoke again. “Listen, it’s odd. I can feel it in my bones. Why don’t you pan the cameras and try to look around and see. Isn’t Dimitry supposed to be patrolling that side?”

“He had gone to the loo. You’re the closest, and no, didn’t see anything.” A dead-end, notwithstanding when one is supposed to be on duty, you can only relieve there and then, not run all the way into the building.

Sighing, he quickened his pace when suddenly a cackle came through the walkie-talkie again. “Hmmm… one of the video cameras doesn’t seem to be working right…”

As he turned the corner, he was surprised to see a scantily-clad woman standing close to the edge nonchalantly. Dressed more for the beach than for winter, with only a swimsuit like black costume paired with a simple pair of ankle-high black boots, it had the desired impact of showing off the woman’s powerful physique in the chilly but bright winter day.

Looking around and about, he thought he could see what remained of a video camera on the ground. For good measure, he suddenly had the strange feeling that she was waiting for him. Taking out his pistol and pointing at the person, he called out “Arms in the air! Who are you and why are you here?”

“I’m your security consultant. Testing this facility for weaknesses. There’s many apparently.” She replied in fluent Russian while opening her arms and gestured all around her. “Else I wouldn’t be standing in front of you, would I?”

“Bullshit. Any such tests would have been communicated early on. We would have been prepared…” the closer he moved towards the woman, the larger his eyes bulged. Gregorey couldn’t help but thought that the woman looks incredibly buff. And tall. The hour-glass shape of her body accentuated by the large chunks of muscles that seemed to be trying to leap out from her skin, each and every bulge and curve prominently displayed.

Without missing a beat, Mandi Olson took advantage of his distraction and took two quick strides forward and grabbed the pistol away from Gregory. Smiling, she then placed the metal weapon with all the bullets deep within her partially exposed cleavage, their incredible size and firmness held at bay only by her exotic Arion unitard. Pushing and squeezing her breasts inward, she was rewarded with the loud squeel of metal deforming between the fabric and her invulnerable body, the heat generated by the pressure causing the bullets to go off, firing with muffled bangs as they went off deep between her large globes. Looking directly at the ex-soldier, her smile widened when she smelled something familiar.

The smell of fear, coupled with the musk of his urine as he wet himself unconsicously.

After a few moments, Gregory tried to call out for help through the small electronic device, but instead he only shouted in pain, noticing too late that the radio communicator in his hand had already partially melted before he dropped it onto the ground. That’s when he took off.

Of at least, he tried. He barely made it past the turn when he felt a gust of wind behind him that made him…stop, and then pulling him backwards? Gregorey for his life has never experienced such a weird thing before, and inspite of his best efforts, grunting laboriously to try to take the next step forward, in moments he felt himself crashing against an unmovable object that is Mandi’s torso, the tremendous impact causing his eyes to roll up, and then collapse onto the ground.

Mandi Olson had never been a person of patience nor subtlety. But this time, she thought that a little bit more precision that the usual sledgehammer manner would be needed, despite already knowing full-well that none of the man-made structures built nor any of the defensive mechanisms will work against her superpowered body. Plus it will be fun too. A quick search of the guard revealed a set of key and swipecards, all of which worked easily enough for her to enter, a joke of a security system that is outdated by the 21st century standards. Something that a number of these old facilities have not really caught-up with.

Following the hallways, the complex maze of no inpediment to one with tachyon vision and superhearing, she walked confidently and purposedfully deeper and deeper into the building, the entire place’s alarm blaring at full blast. Whatever the team or the facility could throw at her, whomever she encountered had merely been a distraction, delaying the inevitable, as her powerful body deflected all bullets and weapons easily.

After about fifteen minutes she found herself in front of a ten-by-ten steel door, with a few dials on the side and the customary card swipe device. Despite not being able to look through the door with her Tachyon vision due to all the lead shielding, Mandi smirked, having a pretty good idea what was waiting beyond those doors.

After all, there are few reasons why a building has so much lead covering the rooms…

The two guards stationed within had armed themselves with enough armour piercing and regular rounds that could theoretically mow down a small army. Waiting on the other side and facing the main entrance/exit into the area, both of them were shocked when they heard a large “CLANG” coupled with a huge bulge appearing on surface inwards towards them as the armoured steel door seemingly stopping a powerful shell in its track. Another loud “BANG”, and both of them dove just in time to the side, barely missing the door which then flew inwards past them to slam into part a couple of railings before hitting and cracking the two-feet thick concrete wall over at the far side of the missle silo.

As they picked themselves up, both soldiers had their mouths agape as they watched the raven-haired muscular beauty strut purposedly towards them before stopping and standing with her arms under her prodigous chest.

“I’m feeling charitable today. Why don’t you just leave before I decide otherwise?”

Looking at each other, they just threw down their weapons and ran past Mandi Olson and out, who smiled and walked towards her prize. Standing majestically in front of her, where only the upper part of the 20ft tall was visible, are the dozen-or-so Ister ballistic missles that remained within the facility. Relics of the cold war, these man-made weapons were the pinnacle of technology back then that served as deterrant to both sides who were at different sides of the fence. Even though there have been close-calls, but eventually none of these weapons have been fired deliberately at their opponent because the official language is that it could actually mean mutual anhilation and the destruction of the human race. Unofficially, Mandi regarded these so called “Top Dogs” just never had the balls to pull the trigger anyway. Unlike herself and her fellow Arions who truly knew and understood what true sacrifice meant.

While the main casing remained intact, Mandi knows from the intel that she received that the weapons control systems have all been removed recently as part of the decommissioning exercise. However with all the budgetary concerns and red tape, it meant that they left the warhead to the last to be removed and taken away. Withouth any control mechanisms, these missles are now merely showpieces though still with payload. After all, those worksheet planners argued, “No one would dare to handle such potentially dangerous and radioactive materials without proper process and the right knowhow”, though they have not considered the fact that there are other beings on Earth with far greater powers and abilities than the Terrans who would be interested in them.

Floating upwards, Mandi smiled as she approached the one closest to her, observing the faded paintjob and rust on some of welding edges on them due to age. It reminded her of the initial encounter with a more substantial-sized rocket when she first ascended to her current form, gaining the full-blown ability of a Velorian-born after undergoing her metamorphosis post-ingesting the genetics-changing DNA from her donor in the other dimension. At the time, she too had a plan to use one of the rocket’s payload as a bargaining chip; a deterrent should things didn’t go her way, and she had seeked out a nuclear-powered satellite that was being sent into space. With a flex of her powerful legs, she leaped upward to fly towards, and then between the roaring rocket engines that had just begun its flight, her fingers scrabbling for a purchase on the frame that the engines were attached to. She managed to sink her fingers into the titanium and steel near the center backbone of the shuttle, and bent her legs upward to place her feet beside her hands as she tried to control the huge mechanism with nothing else but her nude, newly enhanced Supremis body.

Closing her eyes, Mandi couldn’t help but feel aroused as she recalled how using those gorgeous legs of hers, the pair of legs that were supposed to set the modeling world on its rear, were put to a very different purpose -- matching the power of the massive solid fuel rocket boosters that roared on either side and underneath her powerful body. That time, the huge shuttle had risen less than a hundred meters into the air when it eventually came to a shuddering stop, the engines roaring loud enough to be heard for fifty miles as it struggled to overcome the awesome strength and powers of a Velorian Protector. Even now, she remembered the thrill of the violent vibrations of the rocket that was shuddering mightly and causing all sorts of amazging feeling all over her body, of how her breasts glowed from channeling the energies of her flight power, as Mandi thrilled to discover the muscular-sexual power of a Velorian as she suddenly felt wickedly turned on, her juices quickly dissipating into vapour admist the heat. Startled and thrilled by the alien mixture of her physical strength reinforcing what promised to be an unrestrained orgasm, she then gave herself up to the feeling, no longer caring what happened to the Shuttle. She cared only for the blaze of heat that radiated from her center.

The result was spectacular, so to speak, for the entire rocket tore apart and the resultant explosion momentarily threw the dark-haired superwoman all the way back onto the ground. The entire experience only reinforced her wonderful conflagaration, her cries of arousal mingling with the noise of the breakup of the entire machine amidst the chaos as she merely luxuriated in it all, her Velorian-enhanced body taking the full brunt of the heatwave from the blast but feeling none the worse for wear, and indeed thirst for even more similar experiences.

But today, there’s no need to do any such an erotic display as she approched the tip of the missle. Her body already feeling very aroused now due to her recollection, her large busoms and their not-so-little nipples already tenting up her black Arion top as she saw the tip of the phallic-shaped weapon. Despite it all, she smiled wickedly thinking about what she was about to do.

Moving the one-piece dark coloured Arion-clothing at the meeting point of her legs aside to expose her wet nether regions to the open, she braced herself looking at the structure beneath her. Then a quick plunge, culminating in the very feminine squeal of pleasure mixing with the squealing of steel meeting something even stronger and indestructible that is the nether lips of a fully-powered Velorian. Given the softness of Terran material, the tip immediately folded back against itself as Mandi tried to get the entire thing to be on an initial appropriate size that could fit into her inner folds. Eventually she managed to get a few inches of it crudely crafted and squeezed small enough to finally penetrate past her gates, but only barely.

Grinning, she then tensed her southern lip muscles further to ensure that her vagina has a good lock onto the partially crushed tip. Then folding herself forward, she placed her hands on the titanium and steel casing and then pushed her torso inward slightly to create a handhold for her hands and her voluptuos chest while she adjusted her legs against the metal surface. Once she thought she had a good hold, she then tensed her body, bringing forth the fabled muscular-sexual power of a Velorian-Protector. Feeling the structure slowly being crushed within her might, Mandi exerted her flight powers and twisted herself in an anti-clockwise manner like a human screwdriver. Only this time she was trying to unscrew a portion of the missle that was actually riveted on.

The entire front portion screamed its resistance against the force piled against it, but had no choice but to be gradually, forcibly twisted open and apart, all the rivets tore apart like peas. Eventually the dark-haired superwoman was left floating and cradling a 8-foot-long part with a diameter of about half that. Removing herself from the torn structure and casually extracting out the payload, about 50 kilos of enriched plutonium that is still contained within its special casing, before allowing the mangled front to fall and slam onto the ground with a loud “CLANG”.

She then repeated the same action for the remainder of the missles one by one by one, but she kept the last two remaining frontal parts, and used it hold up all the plutonium cores before crushing the opening inwards against each other to create a sort of custom holding container made of titanium and steel.

She didn’t even bother with the doors, nor did cared enough to destroy any of the security footage that she knew would have captured everything that she did. Instead with a powerful flex of her legs she made an opening of her own, breaking through the concrete roof and flew out from the complex in a typical superwomen manner, manmade structures of no impediment for her.

But before that, she dove quickly down into the freezing cold lake and retrieved another similar package that she left at the bottom before her current adventure, before breaking surface and quickly climbed upwards into the sky. A triple sonic boom ensued as the Arion woman endowed with Velorian powers quickly broke the sound barrier as she sped back westward.

______________

“Fuck it, Lex!! You should have not let her do it!” Mercy was practically on a warpath, barging through the doubledoors into the penthouse office of LexCorp, before slamming for her hands on the large mahogany desk that is Lex’ work place. “Now her face is plastered all over the Internet, and with all her stupid powers is seems she didn’t even bother with taking care of all the security cameras at all!”

Lex just let his personal assistant vent out her anger, coolly looking at his screen as he went through the documents for his projects. Once he thought she talked enough, he finally remarked. “Did we get what we needed?”

“Yes, but…”

“And was it enough for Dr. Hamilton to test and use on the exoskeleton?”

“Yes, but…”

“Then I regard this to be a success, even though it can be handled more delicately for sure. In fact, if you were to go on behalf, I doubt that you would be able to procure so much material for our use.”

Mercy gritted her teeth as she struggled to contain her anger. “But I wouldn’t be so stupid as to reveal myself to the entire world…”

“Tell me…” Lex suddenly swiveled his chair to look directly at Mercy. “Did any of the news outlets picked up anything? Any official statements from the country, company or people of importance on said event despite it all?”

“No, not yet. However things go viral quickly on the Internet and…”

“…will be quickly forgotten once the next fresh thing comes along. We all know how this plays out. If it is not reported officially, unheeded and not picked up anywhere by mainstream news, it can always be chalked off as another made-up item until there are corroborative evidence somewhere or from someone as long as there are more newsworthy items out there. I am sure that given the sensitive nature of losing such weapons’ grade radioactive materials, those politicians and people sitting in their own towers won’t be stupid enough to acknowledge anything of that sort. If anything, knowing them they must be pulling out all the stops to smother the news and cleanup the site, trying to save face and mitigate things. I imaging this entire thing will disappear within the next 48 hours or less.”

“This is dangerous, Lex. You know that. Despite your claims of her being your lover and however much you trust her, you know that there is much at stake to ensure nothing get traced back to us. I suggest you find a way to manage her and her actions, before you truly regret it.” With that, the omni-capable woman that Lex had come to rely on for running most of his operations swept out of room, slamming the doors behind her with a loud bang and leaving a frowning criminal mastermind with another thing on his mind.

Despite knowing that she must be on slightly dangerous ground now given her outburst at both her boss and his superpowered lover, Mercy just doesn’t give a damn today.

The entire scene had unfolded under the observant eyes and ears of one Arion with Velorian Protector powers, who watched the entire scene unfolding beneath her five hundred feet from where she hovered in the sky, smirking all the way.

________________

“Did you watch the video that I sent you?” The husky voice had asked for a face-to-face on top of Gotham City Hall that very night, and it must have been important for him to invite the Man of Steel to come by his turf while he was out patrolling, which Superman obliged without another word.

“I did. I also checked along the grapevines, but I couldn’t get anything so much as a wiggle from the Eastern European side. It must be real enough that no one is talking about it.” Batman had relayed the same video of the debacle at the Belarusian missle silo to him a few hours earlier, and despite his best effort as a journalist for now, there wasn’t so much as a nibble or indication that something is amiss there. He was about to take a long and leisurely pass over that area when the Bat asked for the meetup.

“You saw the woman in the video?”

How could he not. Dark-haired, beautiful and exotic looking and every bit as muscular as any fitness goddess that exists on the Internet, she looked every bit as powerful as an Amazon that rivalled Diana's beauty and even Kal's own physique himself. From the looks of it, the way she went about her way getting through security, the hail of bullets not slowing her down in any way as she made her way towards her prize meant that she really knew what she was doing. The sliced and hastily patched together grainy video also managed to capture the muscular explosion across her entire body, bulging like liquid steel as she smashed her arms and legs against the reinforced steel door towards the missle silo, breaking through with barely a sweat. Based on the partial capture of her facial expression, one would have thought that she was having a fantastic time of her life.

The kind that would remind one of sexual pleasure.

It was as if the woman was more than aware that she was filmed throughout. That she allowed herself to be captured on film throughout could be regarded as a reflection of the person’s character - that she was naive, too cocky, or that she was doing it on purpose for whatever reason.

“First time I’ve seen that face. No idea who she is, though I can’t be sure if it isn’t any of the rogue Kryptonians that might have come through the phantom zone. You have any ideas?”

“Remember the Arion Prime or Velorian that our vampire friend mentioned? The one that fought and almost killed her? I think that’s her.”

“How can you be sure? And…why now? Why there?” That same questions hung in the air as both Dynamic Duos were at a loss to explain the reasons. After all, if one were to have such a repertoire of superpowers such as Superman, it would be easier just to use her own powers rather than to steal a nuclear bomb?

“Well…if there’s any value in knowing more things, this isn’t the first site that was broken into.” Batman remarked casually, catching Kal’s eye. “There was another break-in about an hour before that, at a small research site in Kamchatka.”

Superman was stumped. “I didn’t hear anything about that.” He replied slowly.

“That’s because during THAT incident, this Mandi Olson was even more…precise. Not only did she clean out the lab, she made sure the entire place was ‘wiped clean’, to say the least. That entire place ceased to exist anymore.“ That brought a chill down Superman’s spine as he understood how ruthless this woman can be.

“Wait, if it was thoroughly destroyed, how did you…”

“This.” He passed on an enhanced photo, which captured the extremely buff superwoman clad in black who seemed to have been bodybuilding for her entire life; her voluptuos chest larger than even Wonder Woman’s as she calmly observed the coming and going-ons of the research center from afar. Superman suspected that the sunglasses were only for show, and had no impact whatsoever in denying her the ability to see through the entire facility.

“Part of the security footage snapshots programmed to capture its external surroundings, and continuously uploads all of it onto the cloud server. She was floating about ten thousand feet ten miles out for about fifteen minutes before she struck.”

Despite himself, Kal‘s body suddenly felt…different. It was as if his body and mind suddenly recognised the woman’s physique somewhere, somehow…as if their genetics are in tune with each other. Given his own amazing strength and abilities, Superman for one appreciates the muscular physique and the power that lay beneath. He quickly followed-up with a logical track before his body took on a different path on its own.

“So…superpowerful, and smart. But why that particular lab? And whose is it anyway, located in such a remote location?”

“A research lab that is a global initiative, and was being funded by a number of private organisations, among which included The Wayne Foundation, LuthorCorp Foundation, Queen Consolidated, Kord Industries and others. So when it was wiped off the face of the Earth…”

“Wait. What? What kind of research facility is that if it’s so well-funded by so many private organisations? Including you, Ted, Oliver?” The shock on Kal’s face said it all, though it was something that Bruce anticipated when he decided to break that news.

“Everything regarding aliens.” He didn’t need to expound that when he mentioned “Aliens”, he meant ALL aliens irrespective of which side of the fence that they belong to. The apprehension was obvious on the Last Son of Krypton’s face, and Batman could see the confusion, and the slightly hurt expression on his face. Despite being the most powerful being on Earth, sometimes Kal-El can be all too human and emotional. That makes him so beloved to the people that he protects, but yet at the same time vulnerable to many other things as well.

But the more important part was still to come.

“Among those researched include alien tech and artifacts…”

“Alien artifacts…wait, what…Kryptonite? You’ve been storing Kryptonite??!!” Kal’s voice raised unconsciouly with that realization, though in hindsight it shouldn’t have been a major surprise. After all, he was talking to the World’s Greatest Detective, THE man who is feared by EVERYONE for the simple reason that he would have thoroughly prepared analysed and determined all the strength, weaknesses, risks and oppotunities to create multiple plans before he engages someone in a fight. The one who is always prepared for everything and anything.

For he is the Batman. One who not only fights to win, but also to survive. To do so means that he does not, and will not fight fair.

“Not storing. Researching. The remains from your planet are extremely rare, but yes, fragments from your home planet are one of the many topics within scope.” Kal didn’t even want to ask how Bruce managed to get such materials in the first place, but if Lex could, then surely Bruce could to.

“Back to point. Kryptonite was among those items that were removed forcibly before the entire facility was destroyed. And given that this research facility has always been out of the radar from anyone, so for her to find out about it is quite unusual. Then again, she is supposedly superpowerful, with abilities that is similar to yours, so technically for her to discover the place would be a matter of when, not if. And since she’s destroyed the place…”

“…it seems like she is planning for something. What else were lost?”

“Nth-metal samples, next-generation armours and robotics, energy and sonic-based weaponry…”

Superman made a face. “Hooray. That’s like almost everything unique and powerful that has ever been discovered or made. She’s smart, knowing that no one, not from governments, not from you nor Lex or anyone else will ever acknowledge its existence in the first place. But, given that she has been seen with Lex and is supposedly his lover, you think…”

That alarming thought had crossed Bruce’s mind earlier. The very fact that he didn’t reply was chilling response enough for the Man of Steel.

Kal tried to keep his anger in check, though it’s hard, given that he now feels betrayed. He had really given his all to help his adopted planet, but no matter how hard he tries, he just can’t seem to win them all. The very fact that they are researching Kryptonite behind his back in private only meant that they are preparing for a worst-case scenario, and are trying to weaponise one of the few things that can stop a fully-powered Kryptonian. Even the man dressed in a batsuit standing in front of him continues to view him and everyone else with reservation.

Sometimes it really felt as if it’s only a fine line of a difference between the Bat and Lex Luthor. It dawned on Kal that if ever the Bat goes bad, then despite his own array of amazing superpowers bestowed upon him by the energising yellow sun, even that might not be enough to stop Bruce Wayne.

And that is a truly scary thought. One that Superman hoped will never ever come into being.

“We need to prepare for what’s coming. That means more research, more intelligence-gathering, more reconnaisance to find out more about who or what is she, her weaknesses and all that. But more importantly, we need to become more agile and smarter. Always be on the lookout for anything and everything that is abnormal. I need you. We all do.” An olive branch.

Superman sighed at that comment. “Look, I get it, but we can’t be looking over our shoulder every minute of our lives. That would be insane.”

“Better safe than sorry.” Batman thought about it, before replying “We do need more allies though, more eyes and ears all about, but not shout out to everyone else across the League. Maybe a core group to do the ground work first. Easier to manage and control leaks too. Given the current circumstances I suggest you, me, Vampi and Kara.”

Kal-El made another face. Vampirella he could understand, but… “Kara? But she’s too young for these kinds of things…”

“No one’s too young for anything. Especially when she has the power of a goddess among men here on Earth. She’s already involved, remember, the day when she had her first encounter with Vampirella. Besides, you might be surprised what she is capable of.” That comment came back with a knowing smirk, which irked Superman further.

“That’s what I’m most concerned about. So we have a maturing young woman with the powers to destroy planets and a vampire with teeth hard enough to break steel coming into the picture. All looking for a superwoman who supposedly has comparable powerst to a Kryptonian but none of the weaknesses. What else can go wrong?”