You Want To Find A Whore, Look Among Whores

Suicide Slum was not far from the club. It was the most notorious ghetto in Metropolis, the poorest part of the city, and it had been so for ages—and all the vices of the city had filtered there over the generations. Gangs, muggers, **** dealers, and above all prostitution. In Gotham, many sex workers walked the streets openly, and even spoke of unionizing and legalization, and brothels catered to rich and poor alike in their respective neighborhoods, but in Metropolis those lonely and **** souls drove slowly down poorly-repaired streets, past tenements that long ago should have been condemned...

...or, like Lois Lane and Raven, they walked fearlessly. the older woman fit in better, with her clubwear, but With Raven's cloak folded into a jacket, her long bare legs were on fuller display, and the tight-fitting one-piece emphasized the shorter, younger woman's curves. They might have been a pair of Sapphic sisters out looking for a third...or a new pimp with her first ho, out to make a sale.

The women who stood on the streets, beneath lamp posts and at corners, eyed the pair warily. Competition among the ladies of the night could be vicious; the younger and less experienced prostitutes would find themselves **** near alleys that had no escape, or out of high-traffic areas where fewer johns came; no one would help them when they screamed. The ones who survived long enough moved up into better positions, showed more skin, attracted more clients...and those who found their faces and breasts cut, who were older or just not fast enough anymore, found themselves heading downmarket once more, in a constant ebb and flow that ended either in escape or the morgue.

"How do we find Satanus?" Lois asked as she scanned the faces they walked past, searching in those painted eyes for any resemblance to Blaze. "We don't even know what she looks like. I'm headed toward where the fresh meat congregates, but that's just a guess."

Raven was silent for a moment.

"His...or I guess, her...power is cloaked from me, but I can sense something up ahead. We're going in the right direction."

They moved on, deeper into Suicide Slum, and Lois was glad for the moment to have a superhero at her back, because while this was not Gotham, there were places that weren't safe to walk in Metropolis at night, especially for a woman alone...and even the reporter didn't know how many of the rumors might be true of what went on in the Slum at night.

As they passed an alley, a high-pitched scream rang out...and was cut short, suddenly.

Lois and Raven didn't even hesitate. Their heels turned sharply as they ran into the alley.