The characters in this work are fan fiction and are the property of DC Comics, no copyright infringement is intended. Sexual material written for adult readers only.
SUPERMAN, VULNERABLE
Author: Unknown
Chapter One
Superman flew swiftly over Metropolis, performing one final scan of the city before heading home. With Lois out of town on assignment for the Daily Planet, he had more time than usual to maintain law and order in the nation’s largest city. Crime was down by a double-digit percentage while Superman was pulling this extra duty. With Lois away, Superman was able to focus on what he did best: Capturing criminals, and making sure they were handed over to the authorities.
This night seemed to be no different from any other – the occasional attempted burglary, an odd attempted mugging, nothing out of the ordinary…until Superman heard an announcement on an exceptionally high-pitched frequency that not even dogs could register.
“Hello, old friend.”
It was Lex Luthor. Superman’s eyes narrowed as he listened.
“I’m going to skip the preliminaries. I know you can hear me, I know you know I have a compelling reason for you to go where I tell you, and when. So just head to – ”
But Superman was already bursting through the doors of the waterfront warehouse, having traced the origin of the transmission. Hands on hips, he addressed his frequent nemesis.
“All right, Luthor. What’s going on here?” Superman demanded.
“How many times do I have to ask you to call me Lex? Never mind. Oh, I see you’ve noticed that room.”
Lex was referring to a door at the far end of the room the two men stood in. Indeed, Superman had been using his X-ray vision to examine the warehouse, finding nothing strange with the exception of the door in question. Apparently the room behind that door was entirely lined with lead…which meant it was obviously where Superman was intended to look.
“Luthor, this is a waste of my time. I’m not in the mood for your games.”
But just before he started to fly away, Lex grabbed his attention. “Do I really have to say it? Lois Lane is in that room, of course. And the room is rigged so that if anyone but me opens the door, or goes through any of the walls or the ceiling or floor, she’ll be killed instantly. I’d tell you all the details, but they don’t really matter, do they?”
With that, Superman was nose to nose with Lex – nose to nose because he had lifted the shorter Lex Luthor up by his lapels. As Luthor dangled, he grabbed onto Superman’s massive arms, covered in tight blue fabric, for balance. Superman couldn’t believe Luthor actually had the nerve to smile.
“You hurt Lois, and I will kill you, Luthor. It’s that simple.”
“Your loyalty is touching. Put me down. I don’t WANT to kill her, you know. I have something else in mind.”
But Superman refused to let Lex Luthor down. The two men were very close. Very, very close. On the pretense of trying to keep from slipping, Lex grabbed onto Superman’s shoulders, then around his neck. Superman made no notice, and simply growled, “What do you want?”
“Well, as nice as it is to be so near you, I’d kind of like to stand on my own two feet at the moment.” An angry Superman let Luthor down, but held him near. As Lex looked up at him, he said, “Thanks. Now, then. There’s something in that room besides Lois that concerns you. So here’s how it’s going to be played. Ready?”
“YES!” roared Superman, stepping in even closer, body to body, to intimidate Luthor. And in fact Luthor found himself shaking slightly at the nearness of this outstanding, incredible physical specimen, wrapped in body-hugging fabric that left nothing to the imagination.
“Okay, Superman. Through that door is an antechamber, leading to a larger room, which is also lined with lead. Both rooms have the same tripwire device, and Lois dies if anyone but me enters without the proper code. The code’s genetic, so you can’t beat it out of me – not that you’d do that. Your allegiance to ‘honor’ won’t let you, will it? The next thing you need to know is that the device that can kill Lois Lane is also set to trigger if you attack me. Understand?” Superman said nothing, just nodded his head almost imperceptibly. “Here’s what will happen: In the antechamber, a low level of Kryptonite radiation will bathe you – well, bathe us both, but it won’t affect me, will it?”
“You’re insane, Luthor, if you think I’m going to walk into a room with Kryptonite in it willingly.”
“Yes, but if you don’t, Lois dies. Get it?”
A moment’s silence followed. Superman stared into Lex’s eyes, trying to get a bead on the situation. Lex stood still, breathing deeply to take in as much of this incredible creature before him as he could. It was all he could do not to run his hands over that magnificent chest. Well, he thought, time enough for that soon.
“Go on.”
“We enter the antechamber, where there’s a low level of Kryptonite radiation. Understand that it is in no way my intention to kill you, Superman. But I need your powers reduced – if my calculations are correct, the Kryptonite in the antechamber will make you the equivalent of a normal human being. Once your powers are neutralized, we’ll enter the room beyond the antechamber, where Lois is being held. That room is also infused with the same low level of Kryptonite radiation. Once we’re in there…well, I’ll chain you up. But I’ll let Lois go, and I’ll let you go, too, after an hour or two, with no permanent impairment to your superpowers or to Lois or to anyone or anything you hold dear. I have a theory I want to test.”
“You think I believe your promises, you sick freak?”
“I’ve never denied being a freak. Besides, you don’t exactly have any choice, do you?”
Superman had to admit he didn’t.
“After you, Superman.”
Lex followed Superman to the door in question. The fans blowing in the warehouse kept the great red cape in motion, and Lex kept his eyes on Superman’s hard ass, clad in red speedos over the famed blue tights. Lex’s dick was swelling to the point of delicious discomfort inside his briefs. When they reached the door, Superman turned, raising an eyebrow at Lex. “Well? Let’s get this over with.”
“I love a superhero with a keen sense of anticipation. Here we go.” Luthor opened a panel of the wall, in look no different than the rest of the room, but containing a retinal scan device. “Just so you know, Superman,” Lex said as he offered his left eye to the device, “this retinal scan does more than simply identify my retina. I actually have to think a specific set of passwords. The device reads the changes in blood pressure, the sizes of my capillaries, in my retina as I think those different thoughts. So you see it’s quite sophisticated.”
“Just open the door, Luthor.”
“Done.” And it was. Lex stretched his arm out. “Here we go, Superman.” And you have no idea what you’re in for, he thought.
Chapter Two
Superman passed into a small room, with several panels set into the walls. Luthor closed the door behind them, and Superman heard the whirring of several sets of gears as the sophisticated locking system reestablished itself. He heard them only with his “regular” hearing, of course, because the lead lining in the room blocked his superhearing just as it did his X-ray vision. He eyed the panels in the walls and deduced that they would be the source of the impending Kryptonite rays. He set his feet slightly apart, and clenched his fists in preparation.
“Ready, Superman?”
“Let me see Lois, first.”
“How did I know you’d ask that? I can’t let you into that room yet, hero, but if you wait a second I’ll have the computer slightly lower the lead content in one small section of the wall so you can spot her with your X-ray vision. Understand that changing the lead content of the wall between here and there in no way changes the security measures I have in place, nor does it alter the fact that this antechamber and the room where Lois is being held are both wrapped in lead. Yes?”
“I understand, Luthor,” Superman growled, standing tall and glaring down at the bald villain.
“Look right there.” Superman directed his gaze to the spot on the wall Luthor had indicated, attempting to use his X-ray vision to pierce the lead walls. Nothing at first…but then, as he heard Luthor saying, “Computer, run program four point seven G,” he got a faint glimpse, very hazy, of a female figure bound to a chair and gagged in the next room. The shape was indeed very much like Lois’s. He added in his superhearing, now available to him in small degree thanks to the reduced lead level in the wall segment, and traced her heartbeat. He’d heard it a million times, in every variation, and he knew that indeed the figure in the next room was Lois. Then the lead content in the walls reestablished itself, and Superman was cut off. The visibility into the room had been so poor, and the window of opportunity so brief, that he had gotten no sense of what else the room might contain.
“Ready, Superman?”
“Just do it, Luthor.”
Lex smiled again, eyeing the fantastic form of the super man at his side. He said, “Computer, run program nine point nine.”
At first, Superman felt nothing. But as the Kryptonite level in the antechamber slowly increased, he began to feel some slight effects. The first thing he noticed was that the room felt rather warm – sensible, of course, since it was of limited size and held two grown men in close proximity. But Superman actually felt the warmth, instead of simply being able to calculate it by examining the sweat on Luthor’s head and upper lip and listening to Luthor’s heart rate. Superman felt his own heart rate begin to escalate very slightly, and felt his suit beginning to grow ever so slightly damp at the armpits and around the neck. To his surprise, he felt a bead of sweat pop into existence on his forehead and trickle down the side of his face.
“Fascinating,” Lex breathed beside him. Louder, he said, “Never let ’em see you sweat, isn’t that what they say, Superman? I apologize if it’s hot in here. It’s a small space. Computer, lower the temperature by five degrees.”
A fan somewhere within the lead enclosure kicked in, providing relief to the Man of Steel. By this time, he realized, his costume was darkening with sweat. It was a slightly darker shade at his armpits, and in a v-shape down the center of his chest. The whole costume clung to him in a way it never had – or perhaps it had, and he had never noticed. In the middle of this stream of thought, Luthor interrupted.
“That should do it, Superman. Are you in any pain?”
“No, Luthor.”
“Not that you’d admit it if you were, hero. But I believe you. And, more to the point, I believe in my own preparations. Time to see Lois.”
Luthor opened another eye-scan panel, and the door to the inner chamber opened. There indeed was Lois Lane, eyes wide, struggling with the ropes that bound her to a chair that was bolted to the floor. Superman got a glimpse at the rest of the room as the door shut behind him and Luthor – there were the chains Luthor had vowed to use on him, designed to hold him standing spread-eagled. No time for thoughts of that.
“Go ahead, untie her, Superman.”
Superman attempted to speed over to Lois to undo her bonds, and found himself only able to shuffle like a regular man – quickly by mortal standards, but by no means with the lightning speed he was accustomed to. He briefly noticed that he felt his toes inside his boots rubbing against the tight fabric over them and then the harder surface of the boots themselves. He’d never noticed that in his life. Something very strange was happening, but there was no time to focus on it. He had to get Lois out of this place, as soon as possible. He untied her gag first.
“Superman, thank God! He – Luthor kidnapped me – ”
“Yes, yes, I kidnapped you, which is why I’ve had you here for the last few hours, blah blah blah. Those knots are tricky, aren’t they, Superman?”
Indeed, they were tricky. The rope was rough, and though Lois was protected by the layer of silk Luthor had put between the tight rope and her wrists and ankles, Superman had no such protection. The rough texture of the rope was novel. And on top of the disorienting sensations he was experiencing, Superman had to accept the fact that even though his first-rate mind still worked fast, he didn’t have the rapid dexterity his superpowers ordinarily gave him. As a result, it took him several seconds to unknot the ropes. But at last Lois was free.
“Well done, Superman. Miss Lane, you’ll be released in just a moment. Superman, would you step over here, please?” Lex was standing by the chains and manacles Superman had noticed upon entering the room.
“Superman, what’s going on?”
“I’ll tell you later, Lois.”
“Yes, Miss Lane, he’ll tell you later. He’ll be free in just a little while, unharmed. But for now, Superman, I need you to step over here to get chained up. Otherwise I can’t release Miss Lane, and I’ll be forced to kill her. The killing device is active until I leave this building, and I’m not going anywhere yet.”
“Superman, don’t let Luthor – ”
“Lois, I’ll be all right. We need to get you out of here.” And with that, Superman stepped over to the chains, where Luthor was standing.
“Spread your arms, please, Superman. Oh, wait a moment – would you please remove your cape first?” With evident loathing for Luthor, Superman complied, folding his cape and placing it on the floor nearby. “Thank you, Superman. Now, spread your arms. And can you set your feet further apart? Excellent.” With Superman in this position, Luthor attached a metal cuff – steel, by the looks of it – to each wrist and ankle of the hero. To each cuff was attached a length of chain, connected to a series of pulleys. There was a bit of slack in the chains, so that Superman was held in place, arms and feet out but not stretched to their limits. Luthor walked over to Lois.
“Now, Miss Lane, I’m going to blindfold you, and also place earplugs to block the bulk of your hearing. I’m doing this not to be cruel, but simply to ensure you have no knowledge of where we are. My driver will proceed to take you on the road for several hours. By the time you’re released – and you will be released unharmed, I swear it – you will have no idea how many times you’ve turned left, right, what have you, nor how many miles you’ve driven. You will be let out of the car outside of Metropolis, but within the service area of your cellphone so you’ll be able to get home. Though I suspect Superman himself will track you down. By the time you’re freed, he will be, too.”
“Lex Luthor, you’re sick! Let Superman go this instant!”
“Miss Lane, don’t make me use a gag as well. Did you enjoy being gagged?” Lois looked down. “All right. Here we go. Superman, we’ll be back in a moment. Take the opportunity to test those chains. Take normality out for a spin.” Superman couldn’t believe he saw Luthor actually wink at him before he blocked Lois’s ears and eyes, and left the room.
Continue…
