Chapter 12 by Zeebop

What surprise is waiting for Lois?

The Bitches Are Fighting With Alien Weaponry

Lois Lane descended the stairs in silence. No roar of a crowd. No hum of activity. At the bottom of the stairwell was a metal door. Her heart hammered in her breast as she pushed it open...and closed her eyes to slits against the light.

It had been a carpark at one point, just as the space above had been a warehouse. A cavernous space divided up by concrete pillars. In roughly the center had been set up an octogon. Rectangular slabs of crystal or glass that enclosed a ring where two women in their underwear circled each other. The taller one was a Black woman, skinny and athletic, only her blue bikini-top acknowledging that she had breasts. The shorter one was Asian, with a streak of blue in her hair.

Lois knew her name. Tonya Wong. One of the women who had gone missing.

Around the ring were scattered tables, chairs. Men in suits and women in expensive dresses sat as silent, half-naked waitresses dressed in little more than silver pasties, with matching bikini bottoms and high heels fetched orders and delivered drinks. Here and there, big mean in suits and sunglasses stood; security, Lois knew, based on the earpieces and the way they kept a watch on the clientele and servers. Yet all of the punters' eyes were on the ring.

Lois had expected bitchfights. Women attacking each other with fist and foot, nails and teeth. Bloodsports. Yet that wasn't it at all.

The women held rayguns in their hands. Half-organic, strange devices that looked like props from some high-end science fiction film or television show.

With a growl, the Black woman's hand shot up; a burst of green light shot out, but Tonya Wong had already dropped to the floor. The Black woman's shot hit the crystal wall and rebounded, slammed right back into her chest. Startled, the reporter expected the burning bolt of energy to burst straight through the Black woman. Instead, her tall, athletic body was engulfed for a moment in a green glow.

Which is when Lois Lane got her second surprise.