<Gotham City>

“I am going to kill her!” Kal shouted to no one in particular. “I will tear her apart from limb to limb for what she has done!” It was all he could do to hold himself back from smashing up everything that he could see on the rooftop of Gotham PD, including its famous batsignal that stood on the side ready to bathe the night skyline of the dark city whenever it needs its Dark Knight to come forth.

But today, the light is off. Only two people are on the rooftop. Batman had also gone through the motion of hacking the security systems of the building to place the door leading to the roof under electronic lock forced lockdown, while also establishing an electronics quarantine within a ten-mile radius through some pre-placed scramblers and dampeners.

All so that they can have as much privacy as possible.

So, the Batman just stood, watching and observing Superman to go through his motions, allowing his fellow Justice Leaguer all the time in the world to vent and scream to the fullest. He had thought long and hard how to broach this unfortunate subject with Clark, but in the end his respect for the Man of Steel was too great that he decided to take the most direct route. One that he hoped the newsman in Clark would appreciate it more.

Appreciate it my ass.

Bruce thought he had seen it all from Clark. Even though he is the kindest, bravest, most selfless person he has ever met, but he has also seen certain situations that when push comes to shove, another side of Kal emerges especially people that he holds dear to are threatened. Probably due to his upbringing back home in Kansas, where they value and are especially protective of friendship and family, and detests all things that are regarded to be bad.

Seems like tonight happens to be that one extreme situation.

It took another ten minutes before Clark’s anger finally started to simmer down slightly as he moved from the anger phase into unavoidable acceptance. Bruce finally spoke up when he thought he saw an opening.

“Despite the circumstances, we must come to terms with one fact...”

“That she is DEAD? I know that already!! You told me moments ago! But...even though it’s close to impossible for us to die without Kryptonite...”

“She is not dead, Kal. Merely different now. Some would even term that as being ‘Undead’. You said it youself when we met up, that Kara called to tell you she is on her way back. That means that she is still alive and functional.”

“’Undead’...’Alive and functional’...What does it even mean? To me, this...this vampire of a woman has taken a family member. MY family member. And by god I will make her pay!” Turning to look directly at the Bat, he continued “Don’t even try to stop me.”

Bruce replied calmly “I’m not going to. I can pass you her address though; saves you all the trouble. She wants to meet you in person, by the way.” He then took out a small piece of paper, and Clark snatched it over to read the Gotham address.

“Meet me? In person? This woman must be mad. But she must be, or else she wouldn’t want to pick a fight with an angry Superman. Is she not afraid of what I might do to her the moment I see her?”

Bruce thought for a moment before replying. “I think she found out something really important that she thought was well worth the risk. What she wanted to tell us must have been obtained through risky measures somehow; but like any valuable information, it comes with a price. A trade is what she’s asking. This is supposedly larger than we even thought.”

“A price? A PRICE? IS MY COUSIN’S DEATH NOT ENOUGH?” Superman looks as if he could literally pound Batman onto the ground with that comment. “That’s between her and Kara. But what she is talking about...this is a separate thing, between you and her. While she did suggest something to me, it is not my place to agree or disagree. You will have to take it up with her.”

“And what if I disagree?”

Batman just shrugged. “I know what you’re thinking, Kal. The reason I deal with her is because I have always felt that she is reliable and consistent. While very much different from you and me, she had not been a threat to either of us, or to mankind in general. More towards keeping to herself, minding her own business. That she got involved was also due to the human trafficking case that you were reporting on, of which many of the leads were also actually shared by her, by the way. That’s why she is willing to meet us, meet YOU, even though she understands the possible implications to everything.”

Kal-El ground his teeth in frustration, and rubbed his chin in thought. His rational, journalistic mind is now back to the fore, and Batman could actually see the gears of thoughts churning within his compatriot’s brain.

For one thing is obvious – no one would dare to cross Superman, and yet still dare to face him alone with his wrath, unless they have a death wish or that he or she has something up their sleeves.

In this case, the person is question definitely belongs to the latter category. The dynamic duo have worked together to take down enough supervillains to recognise the potential.

Batman continued. “Consider it an opportunity to size up your opponent first, in case she does stand on the opposite fence on certain matters. You are Superman after all, invulnerable to most things man can throw at you. But I do have to warn you. Vampirella has never been a pushover, especially not after her transformation now. Not to mention that I suspect her own abilities might have some magical origins to it, albeit very weak.”

“What transformation?” Clark asked. After all, he doesn’t want to go in unprepared.

“Vampirella now has all the abilities of a Kryptonian under the yellow sun, thanks to Kara’s DNA when she consumed her blood. However, I have no idea if she is now at your level, but conservatively I would say that she would still give you a run of your money. She is, after all, a formidable fighter, and adept at living and working in the shadows. One doesn’t live very long in her line of work unless she is fairly capable of taking care of herself.”

Clark’s eyes opened wide. This also brought an involuntary shudder to the Man of Steel. A vampire, whose own dark powers have proven to be able to kill even a full-powered Kryptonian, is now further boosted by powers that might rival his own.

No wonder she was able to fly under her own power, and casually tear apart the radio tower back in Metropolis as if it were tissue paper. That damn woman even had to gall to dress up in Kara’s costume! It felt like she was trying to mock him. Or draw him out.

Well, she has succeeded alright.

“The main reason I want to talk to you tonight, is to consider her proposition for you. I have worked long enough with her to know how her quid pro quo works, but again, do seriously consider the proposal as I do think this information will be critical for all of us.”

After a slight pause, Clark asked the obvious. “So what exactly does she want?”

____________________________

“SHE WANTS WHAT?” Lois jumped up onto her feet as she literally blew her stack when Clark told her what the woman with the green eyes wanted. The Man of Steel grimaced slightly from his wife’s reaction; though dramatic, but thoroughly understandable coming from a married woman.

Despite his wife being a couple of inches shorter plus the fact he’s Superman, it still felt as if he was the shorter one of the couple.

When Clark returned to their apartment earlier with a mix of conflicting of emotions written on his face, Lois was concerned. After all, nothing really fazes her husband, given his wonderful record and great commaraderie with many. That he returned quite stoically and ate his dinner with barely an additional comment seemed to indicate that his mind was wandering a million miles away. Clark might say much, but no-word Clark is truly out of character even for him.

Even with some gentle coaxing on her part, Clark wasn’t really keen on saying that much over the dinner tables. He did the dishes and then retired to take a shower, while multiple thoughts simmered within Lois’ journalistic head as she waited for her turn, her mind turning over multiple possibilities while sitting on the couch not watching the news playing on the tv and considering the ways on how she could try to exploit it for her newest expose (yes, she still wants to beat Clark when it comes to breaking stories).

When he finally came out dressed in his regular checked shirt and long pants, it seemed like Clark finally gathered enough courage to tell her briefly what had transpired while he met with Batman in Gotham.

That his colleague had found the elusive superwoman who had made quite a scene in Metropolis before disappearing after briefly being seen in LuthorCorp. That the woman is looking for him is no surprise, though that the request had come through Batman is. Supposedly she has information (“big, dangerous, game-changing type”), and willing to share if Superman would agree to a personal trade.

The term? To become friends with benefits with her.

Lois was indeed livid when she heard the blatant request coming from the raven-haired , green-eyed woman, for the first thing she considered was to find that woman and try to tear her hair apart with her bare hands. But as she stood and looked at her wincing superhero husband, the rational part of her mind helped her recall that the woman in question had tore and tossed a radio tower from atop of Princeton building like paper mache.

Still, “Who the hell does she think this is?” thought Lois in her mind, as her eyes literally breathed fire despite her husband is the one with heat vision as one of his abilities.

“Lois, look. I haven’t promised anything. It was a proposal...”

“But you’re considering it.” Lois replied pointedly.

“I have to, and I don’t like it anymore than you do too. But it is one way that we can get to the bottom of what has happened to Kara, and also

“What happened to Kara? What happened to her?” She saw the colour rising from Clark’s neck up to his face, and pressed on “What did the woman do to Kara?”

“She...she took Kara’s powers somehow, and her costume. That’s why when we first saw her in the city last week, she was sporting the red and blue costume with the House of El rune seemingly with the full set of her abilities. I don’t know how or why Kara ended up on the other side of the Earth, but definitely this woman had something to do with it. But the weird thing is that if she is a potential enemy, then she wouldn’t even risk coming out and exposing herself to Batman and I. But yet...” Lois just threw her arms up and shuhshed her husband, who seemed to have started blabbering when he is feeling nervous in front of his wife.

“And so, for you to meet her, to talk to her and get the necessary information, she wants to have sex. With you. Or rather, with Superman.” Lois cross her arms under her chest, her left hand’s index finger tapping on her right elbow while her right feet also tapped on the floor in an out-of-sync rhythm, his wife’s trait when she’s seriously considering some important matters.

It was a long, uncomfortable pause, at least for the Man of Steel when Lois suddenly said “Well, I guess it’s no harm then?” Her mouth curved up on the edges as she observed the shocked reaction from her husband. “What? You think that I would actually stop you from having sex with other women? Please. Even if I wanted to stop you, I wouldn’t be able to. Me, a regular frail earth-woman vs the one and only superman? What chance do I have on this matter if you wanted to sleep around? I guess I’m just lucky that you’re every bit the Big Blue Boy Scout that your reputation suggests.”

“But...but Lois, that’s not what I meant. I mean, I love you. There’s no one else that I rather spend my entire life with. I couldn’t bear to, you know, do this, and this proposal...maybe...”

“Oh? Then what happend to your time with Lana back in Smallville? And don’t tell me those looks that Diana throws at you are merely my imagination.” Seeing Clark blushing even more, Lois wanted to laugh at the absurdity of it all. She thought Clark looks absolutely adorable when he’s feeling abashed, but at the same time she just can’t seem to quell that heat that came within her heart.

She knows she is jealous. But eventually, love won. It always does, for both of them.

Sighing slightly, she sashayed over to Clark and sat down on his lap, her right arm over and across his husband’s shoulder and placed behind his back. Looking at Clarks’ blue eyes, Lois continued.

“I love you too, Clark, and I know, our wedding vows and all. Ma and Pa sure brought you up well and proper back in Kansas. I am sure that the reason you’re telling me this now is that you don’t want to me to discover this one day unexpectedly; better for you to own up personally now. THAT is one of the things I LOVE about you Smallville. For what it’s worth, you’re so caring, sensitive about other’s feelings, and you just couldn’t bear to disappoint anyone.”

Lois’ left hand snaked up and moved all over Clark’s large chest, feeling his buldging ridges that his tight shirt keeping hidden. As he she felt all his ridges and tight bulges, she cooed. “So muscular, so powerful. Literally a GOD! And yet, I’ve been sleeping with you in me long enough to know about your nightly dreams, especially the past few months. Dry ones, but I know you’ve been itching to burst open ever since Kara landed on Earth. Don’t deny it. God knows how many times I’ve had to ease out from you as you grew to your amazing size.” Clark could only open his mouth and then closed it, feeling quite embarrassed when Lois just verbalised his fantasies out loud.

Even so, there’s one thing that she wants to re-emphasize, even as she continued to feel up her husband’s lengthening tool, knowing how good it’s making Clark feel.

“Let me be clear, Clark. I know that I have to share, eventually. You belong to the world, after all, and I know there is your intention of extending your race, with Kara or even with this...new superwoman. But,” she suddenly made a dramatic motion of cupping and holding his large bulge, as stared at Clark’s baby blues “YOU, my dear husband, even if you go around and take the rest of them, always remember this.” Coming closer, Lois whispered into Clark’s left ear. “That I am, and will ALWAYS be your QUEEN. You will ALWAYS come back to me, for you are always MINE, as I am always yours. Forever, till death do us part.”

He couldn’t help but moan as Lois’ spoke sultrily, yet sternly into his ear. Truly, this is why he had eyes only for this one superhot journalist Lois Lane. Even when facing the most powerful men on Earth, she can make all of them toe the line. Martian Manhunter once remarked that Lois might be the most fearless Terran woman that he has ever met, which was really saying something.

He felt his arousal rising even further when Lois’ hands sultrily moved all about his torso, moving and running up and down over his prominent six-pack, before sliding further down onto his crotch. Shifting slightly forward on his lap, she started stroking and palming him through his pants, both Superman and Lois could feel his erection growing bit by bit, its firmness slowly lifting Lois’ body ever so slightly upwards as it continued to lengthen and harden.

When she felt that the size is such that his pants is almost tearing, she nimbly pulled his zipper down, exposing little Clark into the open. As she stroked him harder and faster, she was pleased that Clark growing even more rapidly up to his standard 10-inch length. Standard just for her, even though both of them know he can be must bigger. But just as he thought she was about to do something she stopped suddenly, causing a frustrated groan to eminate from the Man of Steel.

Instead of continuing, Metropolis’ most desireable newswoman just stood up and slowly walked towards the bedroom, Clark’s eyes following her like a hawk. She teasingly shed her clothing articles one by one onto the floor. First the blouse, then her short pants until she only had her bra and underwear. Even those she took them off once she reached her bedroom, and reached for the laid out black camisole.

Finally, she turned around and toss the sexiest smile that almost melted Clark’s heart; he didn’t even need his x-ray vision to see the nipples sitting on her beautiful globes that are overflowing from their cups, the tight southern entrance already slick with wetness between her legs despite her dimming the night lights.

“ So, my dear Superstud. Why don’t you show me how Super you truly are, take me to heaven enough times tonight, and then maybe I will give you my permission to ruin other women, super or not.”

Superman didn’t think. He just felt. With a burst of superspeed, he appeared in front of her in the bedroom, and he grabbed hold of Lois and threw her on the bed before mounting her, his entire body oh-so-close to hitting its release after Lois’ sexy display earlier. Seeing Lois’ smiling face, he pushed forward with care, a throaty moan to the fore.

Gasping involuntarily as she adjusted to his length and hardness, Lois just about managed to calm down slightly when Clark started to cup and fondle her ass, playing and squeezing her just the way she liked as he started thrusting enthusiastically.

Soon, their loud cries of passion became audible throughout, causing another sleepless night for the residents on the same floor of their condo.

As Clark silently made his way towards the balcony, he couldn’t help but smile as he saw Lois’ prone body on the bed, thoroughly spent after coming multiple times for the past hours. Her naked body partially covered by the blankets, her head buried deep into her pillow, Lois Lane is definitely out for the count tonight.

Putting on his night robe, he made his way over to the balcony, observing the city for a while. With his superhearing and supervision, he could literally hear and detect disturbances, and be at the scene in seconds. However, it seems like everything is quiet enough. When he made the call back to Bruce telling him his agreement, his compatriot didn’t even sound surprised as if he had expected this anyway. Though Clark was initially slightly pensive, he too finally agreed to meet Vampirella at her Gotham home, with Bruce’s reassurance that there’s nothing out of the ordinary from the place.

“In fact, it’s quite secluded. So you will have all the privacy needed for anything you want to discuss. Or not.”

“Sounds like you have been there often enough to so much about her residence. So I assume that going into the sack is also part of the job of the Dark Knight?” The edges of Clark’s mouth also curved upwards as his sensitive hearing picked up the slight laugh over the line.

“Think of it as part of my detective work. Will the evening on the weekend be acceptable? Give you a few days to prepare.”

That bastard, Clark thought. One day I will wipe that smirk off his playboy face, with or without that cowl. “Yes.”

“Enjoy” and the line went dead. Clark looked out towards the city, wondering what was about to happen in a few days time. But one thing for sure, even though his mind and heart tries to deny it, the painful erection that is now threatening to burst through his pants indicates that his body is very excited, seemingly eagerly anticipating the upcoming meetup with this vampire.

Amongst all this, Clark had forgotten that he had only share one of the two major news that he got from Bruce.

“Yes?”

“He agreed. ” Curt and to the point. Just like the Batman.

“Yippee. So what does he like to eat? Red meat? Or just me? Maybe you’d like to come by a sample it first before he does?” Vampirella teased over the phone

“We’ll see. On the other aspect...” Back to business. “Don’t worry. I will hold up my end of the bargain. For you, for him, and for the little one call Kara Zor-El, if she’s willing. What I have will definitely be worth all your while.”

She could hear the gentle laugh across the line. “Don’t try to destroy the entire place. Or Gotham. Things are getting expensive, even for the top one-percent of people.”

“You seem to think that we can even make it beyond the my house.” Vampi laughed playfully, her left hand unconsciously moving along her body as she felt the underlying steely muscles hiding beneath her skin. “And I will keep that in mind.” Another smirk.

“You haven’t told me what you want yet in exchange for getting Superman to agree to meet me.”

A pause. “All in due time. How is your investigation coming along on the human trafficking?”

Vampi sighed as she lay across her couch. “Too little progress to even mention. Though I must say that there seems to be more than meets the eye. One definite thing is that they are not just trafficking humans, but creatures as well. My encounter with them at the railroad yard the other day confirms it.” She then told Batman about her being attacked the other day by a band of vampires who was playing decoy to lure her and to try and take her out, and that they failed only meant that they will try again. Vampirella also mentioned about being given an involuntary dose of a strange new drug which made her extremely groggy, something her own physiology has never had issues with, given that she is naturally immune to Earth’s toxins. With this thing playing out weeks earlier, the trail is already cold on that front as well.

“One thing’s for sure though, if there’s one there’s bound to be more such transshipments, despite their failure to take you out. Benjamin Fuchs as a person might be more up your sleeve, since he’s very elusive, you do remember that this original story came from the fact that Lex Luthor’s involvement was unexpectedly exposed due to our investigation. So even though the evidence is circumstancial...” both minds agreed without saying that the Lex and Fuchs must definitely be working on something together.

But what?

Finally bidding farewell, Vampirella stood up and walked slowly up the stairs. Even though the arranged meetup is still days away, her firming nipples tenting up her red dress meant Superman isn’t the only one looking forward to their meeting.

<Elsewhere>

Lex put down his phone, and walked over to his bar to get a drink. Alone for the night, he fixed himself a glass of whiskey before sitting back down at his workdesk. No rest for one who has multiple projects running in parallel with his legitimate ones. Given the reach and potential security issues with some of them, it pays to be directly involved in them. With his brain now working even faster thanks for his Supremis enhancement, Lex has found himself able to plan and do even more given his abilities now.

The call from the Cadmus’ bio-research division had shared the latest development on the special concoction that he had wanted to develop. Despite his broaching the subject only recently with his Arion lover, Lex had harboured the idea of building his own super-powered army for sometime, though his efforts were thwarted time and again due to bungles by his team, complexity of performing such tasks, and resources. Yes, he could replicate or even transfer powers of the some of the most powerful of them, but they can’t seem to stick with regular humans as these powers are intricately linked to each of the heroes and heroines’ physiologies.

This is also one of the reasons he had ploughed in millions into genetics research into figuring out the exact causes, and the figure out if cloning or other aspects of understanding genetics would bridge that knowledge gap. That Lena’s own startup has a substantial involvement in the biomedical field is a further boon, for it also meant possibility of him extracting even more potential benefits from anything that his dear sister might embark on.

The latest boon however was that he had managed to get hold of a few limited samples of vampire DNA, through various sources, many of whom are involved in intelligence work. With some effort they have managed to produce a batch of samples and have dispersed of them across the globe for preliminary testing. These things normally are hits and misses, and Lex was surprised that they actually had a workable sample in mix.

“Australia you say? Two stable ones?”

“Well, they are stable to a certain extent, though the male had proven to be much more aggressive as the female.”

“Which batch is this?” Could it be just luck, or is there really something to it?

“Batch ‘F’” Lex was intrigued, for that particular batch is the hardest to get hold, and the most difficult to replicate.

It was the blood sample of Benjamin Fuchs, his customer, and one of the direct descendent of one of the oldest vampire bloodlines in Europe.

Even though it is still an extremely small sample (two hits out of a hundred is akin to a margin of error) still it proves the theory that vampires can be created in the lab. With the right sample that is.

As he sat back into his luxurious swivel chair, the thoughts of Lex and Mandi eventually creating an army from scratch consisting of creatures and superhumans doesn’t seem that far-fetched at all. He smiled.