Owner	Pose
Vampirella	The Georgia scenery on I-95 is nothing to write home about as you get out into the boonies, especially at night. There's lots of trees, kept appropriately back from the road but still densely packed enough that there could be houses or military bases or alien citadels made of white crystal completely concealed behind the walls of black trunks, thick leaves, and ropy runners of moldy vines that smell back enough a wise driver keeps the windows closed. Probably not a military base, though. The darkness out here is, well, darker than it is near hubs of civilization: away from the ambient mostly-orange light pollution of a nearby city, the blackness feels almost like a living thing trying to smother your high beams to death. It's enough to make a superstitious person nervous, or something. Nervous enough to see a corpse hanging from a tall tree, though? No. That's not nerves. Nerves don't provide details like the way the body has only one shoe, a huge, chonky sneaker probably swollen through with mold on the right foot; or the silvery reflection of moonlight off dead eyes occasionally obscured by long hair hanging over its face. There was probably more to it, but even a trained eye would be stretched to catch more than that while doing seventy down a rural highway at night past a body almost a football field's length away, so maybe don't give the hypothetical observer too much grief for not being able to paint a fuller picture. No doubt they're doing their best.
Lois Lane	Lois doesn't just go on jaunts far from home. Not without warning. So she sent messages to Clark. There's leftovers in the fridge, she's heading to Atlanta to follow up on a lead. And she's dragged her intrepid intern with her.     Zara is her name, and she is driving. "So you think we'll find a lead down here?" is what she asks when...     "STOP! STOP THE CAR!"     Lois does not let her pass go, does not let her collect $200.     Zara obeys orders rather quickly. And a bit roughly. She figured she was about to hit something. There are skid marks. Thank god the airbags don't deploy. "What is it?"     "Back up." And so she does. And when they are by the body, Lois pops the door open and walks right out on the shoulder of the road to try and get a better look. Flashlight? Yes, she has one. Of course she does.     "I thought I saw..." The little fence is no barrier for her. She's fearless. And wearing boots. She expected a messy night.     "Miss Lane? Lois! Where are you... oh goddamit!"
Vampirella	It's significantly warmer in Georgia than in Metropolis, not to mention wetter. Oh, sure, the grass on the far side of the metal guard rail and the ditch is kept brutally short by state mandate, but it's thick with chilly night-dew that seems to climb Lois's boots to the cuff of her pants leg and start soaking its way upward as she jogs toward the wall of blackness that marks the treeline. Approaching it drives home a prosaic but meaningful fact: the moon is at the wrong angle to see the body from anywhere but far away. The closer she gets to it, the more the trees eat the light of the silver disc that would glint off an exposed eye or (she thinks) bone, which means the closer she gets, the harder the spot is to find; especially with a flashlight destroying your nightvision. A person could probably get in a lot of trouble like that. Well, at least the flashlight's beam makes it real easy for Zara to follow Lois. That's probably good, right?
Lois Lane	Lois is pretty confident in her abilities. But the darkness is troublesome. It makes her stop for a moment and when Zara gets close, she takes charge of the flashlight. She also makes a severe motion for silence.     "I saw a dead body hanging from a tree. I think."     Zara, in the dark, goes pale. She does not blurt out what she's feeling. Mostly it's a few variations of 'And you ran TOWARDS IT?!' mixed with a touch of 'I want to go home!'     Lois, however, does not detect that plight. She's looking for the body and keeping the light up where it hopefully won't totally destroy her night vision. Regardless, she remembers where it was, and she's making for that area. But carefully now. Her attention is partially up at the body, and partially down at the ground. Granted, that thing has been there a while. The ground is damp around here. Tracks are pretty unlikely.
Vampirella	Oh. There it is. 'It' is an ugly word, but you can't really call that body a he. Not any more. You're only guessing it was male once because of the outfit: a rotten, hole-ridden hunter's jacket that was probably green once upon a time but is now mostly black with furry patches of moss. The hair is long and filthy, hanging down to the sholders in the back and hanging over the face like a rotten funereal shroud. The visible skin is more blue than white, thin and fragile as paper, clinging dustily to the bones beneath. Its hands hang free at its sides, the fingers are gnarled and curled in odd contortions, like the fingers of someone with crippling arthritis. Its head sits straight on its neck, apparently not broken in the hanging. Strangled, then? That's unpleasant to think of. It's also not real nice to see two piles of clothes on the ground twenty feet below the body's dangling toes. Kid-sized clothes. Grade schoolers.
Lois Lane	"Zara, be a dear and call the police. Tell them the mile marker and that we have found a body on the side of the road," says Lois. She sounds calm. Cause she is calm. She gives clear direction because Zara no doubt needs it.     She looks over, casually hold Zara's hair back. 3... 2... 1... there goes Zara's lunch! Lois doesn't sigh. It's the kids first body, it was bound to happen. Lois is a lot softer than she used to be, though. She takes the time to help clean Zara's face off.     Her voice is patient, even kind. "Just.. breathe. Air in for a slow three count, air out on a slow three count. You are just fine, hon. And make the call. It's important."     Meanwhile, Lois is going to move closer. To take a look at those piles of clothes. She wants to find tracks. She's crazy enough to follow them! She also has her pepper spray dug out. Oh. Oops. That's her bear spray! Well, that might be better anyway. As she's digging around she notices (amusingly) that she still has the holy water with her that she got to protect her from Satana. She'll laugh about that whole silly bit later.
Vampirella	The two missing kids were--oops, I mean are--either boys or were wearing boys' clothing. Who knows if that will be relevant. The tracks are hard to spot at night, but they do lead off into the woods, toward a marshy area where the trees grow long ropes of slimy green moss and the stagnant water is black. Is this far enough south to be gator country? Probably not, right? So, just snakes and possums to worry about? Good.
Lois Lane	Lois is, well, Lois. This whole thing just begs for investigation. Still, she has to wait for Zara to finish her work. There is also another matter to deal with. As a precaution (she's experienced) she sets out some reflectors so the police can more easily find the spot.     When Zara hangs up, Lois says, "You want to join me or wait in the car?" She also fires Clark a text message about where they are. The mile marker, the situation. The whole thing! Her GPS coordinates, too.     Zara opts to go with Lois. Cause it's scary to be alone. And so off they go. Into the marsh. Cause that's safe. Lois does bring a tire iron with her, though! It's powerful.
Vampirella	Benny Jessup and his blood brother Ambrose Hinton are very young, and have been for a lot of years. They still like to play, and to spend the night together, as boys do. The specifics are a bit different these days, though. For example, they camp out in the woods sometimes, but no longer bother with things like tents or sleeping bags. Instead, they go to the marsh to play, then bury themselves in the soft, oozy muck at the bottom of the deepest pools when daybreak approaches, and sleep the sleep of undeath with liquid mud slowly filling their sinus cavities. When they awaken the next night, covered in carrion bugs that have been busily eating away at their dead flesh, they rise to the surface and see who can collect the most interesting bugs of those feeding on them through the violent expulsion of all the liquid mud filling their breathing passages. But they do it in their skivvies, of course. Not that they care about their clothes, but because they don't want to be lectured about ruining their perfectly good outfits. That's why Lois finds them in the marsh wearing nothing but tighty-whities turned grey-green with filthy water, standing knee-deep in the water, catching and eating frogs. She probably doesn't intuit the why of it right away, though. Don't hold that against her.
Lois Lane	Lois was expecting... well she did not really have any expectations, come to think of it. Zara, however, just notes, "This is very odd, Ms. Lane."     The reporter is not quite at ease. Sure, they are children, but this is not adding up. Plus the dead body is in the back of her head. This is obviously a movie of some kind, but is it more Lost Boys or... Deliverance? Either way, she is not a fan of it.     "You kids okay?" she calls out. Oh she is wary, suspicious even. The tire iron is not held up, cause that's just rude around kids, but she has a good grip on it. She imagines it will be just as effective on toad-eating potentially evil spawn children as it was on Metallo.
Vampirella	The oddly mute boys whip around at the sound of the hail and stare at Lois for a moment as they are, hunched over, clutching partially devoured amphibians, scum caking their skin and black viscera oozing over their hands and mouths, and... ...And their eyes. Their eyes reflect the light back flatly, like a snake's, but silver. A pure silver, like... And then there's no time to search for a simile because the water around them explodes as they charge toward the two women.
Lois Lane	"Run Zara!" Lois is used to these scenarios. She also is really good at judging distance. She will make the pretense of running. But just to get things started. "Get into that car and get help! Do not look back!"     Lois can, when she needs to be, get very commanding. Downright bossy. It works in this case, though. Zara keeps running. Lois, however, turns to face her attackers. She didn't bring a gun, sadly, but she has her weapon and she's far from a helpless lamb. She keeps the iron in one hand and the other brandishes... bear spray, it seems. She will be using that once they get fairly close. Who knows if it will work, but it's worth a shot!
Vampirella	Overhead, there's a crashing sound. Leaves rattle, dropping all different kinds and temperatures of liquid down onto Lois; the darkness makes it impossible to identify them, and that's probably for the best. Wood rips and cracks. The seemingly dead boys do not seem interested in it. Their flat, silver eyes are fixed on Lois, and their mouths are gaping open wider than any human's should be able to, the edges of their mouths extending so deep into the cheeks Lois can see the gleam of the red meat on the jawbone. Jagged, uneven, pointy teeth fill every centimeter of gum, like a pair of sharks in bad need of an orthodontist. Their hands are outstretched, fingers curled into claws, eager to seize.
Lois Lane	While her intern flees, Lois fights. First is the bearspray. It may not impact them, but if they do have tastebuds, a sense of smell, or a sensitivity to chemical un-fun things, it will do a thing or two to them.     She's backing up, but not running. She doubts she can win a race out here. Lois isn't sure what's dripping on her, but she is pretty confident it's gross. Having to take an all-night shower is the least of problems right now, though.     Side-stepping to hopefully only face one of these... things at a time, she raises the tire iron. "Not sure who your parents are, but I think it's time someone taught you some manners!"     What? She's been around superheroes most of her life. She has to deliver a one-liner. It's a requirement in any fight!
Vampirella	Fun fact: bear mace's active ingredient is derived from peppers. Less fun fact: pepper is the wrong household spice to repel vampires. That said, the mace slows the boys down a crucial step: the cloud is disorienting, hard to see through, even if their dead flesh can no longer register it as an irritant. The high-speed wet plugging noise of their feet ripping out of the soupy mud beneath the swamp water and slapping back down into it, the frothing slosh of the water itself being churned up by their thighs, slows for a second, long enough for Lois to sidestep, but no longer. They're coming for her again, their fingers black from long lack of oxygen. As they close in, Lois can see in the wavering cone cast by the flashlight deep pits in their digits with white flecks showing through: bone. But above, the cracking continues, builds, and finally crescendos. Four or five big, rotten branches come crashing down into the swamp, throwing up a small geyser of putrescence when they strike the stagnant water. Following them, somehow moving slower--are those wings? spread wings?--is a woman dressed like not even a Victoria's Secret model, but a model for one of those lingerie sites you have to confirm you're 18 to even be able to browse. Her eyes are uniform red and slightly bulging; her arms are outstretched, fingers down, sharply taloned. She's screaming a battlecry so high-pitched it's almost inaudible. The boys look up with a single motion, their heads turning so uniformly it's as if they're puppets operated by a single hand, as she lands boots first on the shoulders of one. There's another explosion of water as their combined weight drives him deep, and an obscuring series of splashes as they tangle together. The other boy is a bad friend (or brother, or whatever he is). He doesn't help his mate. He still wants a taste of Lois.
Lois Lane	Lois fights dirty. And not just because they ruined her outfit with their gross swampy nonsense. It's how you stand a chance in a situation like this. If even for a moment.     The second the nearest boy looks up, tire iron comes whipping around in one rather impressive swing. Lois used to play some baseball with her dad's friends. Not to mention all the pipes, crowbars, and club she's used over the years to bludgeon super villains. A girl has to stay fit somehow!     The reporter can't be sure that the death from above is truly a friend. And for a second, Lois wonders if this is one of Satana's friends. It's the outfit. It isn't exactly practical. She can ask later. Assuming she lives that long.     She really wants to get herself a zinger here to say. That's how you are supposed to break the ice in this situation, but it's going to take all Lois has just to avoid getting bitten by that undead brat.
Vampirella	The weird thing about vampires is how selectively they obey laws of physics. For example, they move despite being dead, which is a whole-ass thing. Yet despite this, they have physical bodies which are subject to laws like gravity, conservation of motion, stuff like that. The net effect is, if you can whang a vampire in the head with a tire iron, they will be utterly required to absorb that impact; and if the vampire is half your size, it will get knocked aside. That's just how it works. Or maybe Lois only managed to swat the boy to one knee and turn him ninety degrees aside because her weapon looks like a cross. You could make that argument if you're a godbotherer. Personally, Vampirella puts it down to steel + momentum + grown woman - small boy. Meanwhile, the splashing suddenly ceases as the battle is seemingly ended. To judge by the fairly small, rotten head flying up into the air, the submerged boy was not the victor.
Lois Lane	See, if Lois were a bit more clear-headed, she'd have remembered something. She's actually carrying holy water. From her interview with Satana, as a matter of fact. Surely every reader could understand that inclination!     But right now, she's just trying to pummel the hell out of a vampire.     In a bit of poor judgment, she doesn't retreat, but presses her advantage. In the same move that completed her swing, she hefts her weapon and aims to bring it down on the vampire again. And again, if she can. She imagines if she beats his bones into a fine powder it will slow him down.     Granted, she's not sure if vampires really work that way.     This of course puts her in icky swamp water. It is so gross. She hates it. But here she is, fighting a vampire in a swamp. With... with a woman in lingerie helping her?
Vampirella	Vampirella rises from the fetid swamp like Phoebe Cates from a swimming pool. She can't help it; it's just her nature, even if the comparison is really ruined by the relative quality of water both women emerge from. Muck running down her body, she glances around to confirm the boy is where she thought he was, and now the reason for tearing through trees to get here becomes move obvious: she seizes one of the fallen branches, stalks to the kneebound and badly beaten undead child, and shoves its jagged, broken edge straight through his back and out his front. His shirt tears as the makeshift stake turns him into a gruesome shish kebab. It would be a lot gorier if he had any liquid blood in him, but no, the blood in him long since went solid. Small favors. The moment the boy dies, the mostly naked woman's eyes drain of their red. She looks, well, like any other human, albeit one with a probably unhealthy lack of body fat, perfect bone structure, and an outfit better suited to a mechanic's calendar than to fighting monsters. She regards Lois with perfectly human, green eyes, rapidly blinking some scum out of her long lashes. She doesn't say anything at first.
Lois Lane	Lois stops midswing, stepping back as the branch punches through the vampire's body. She doesn't raise it again, either. She just looks at her rescuer.     "I really hope you are a friend, because I have this great streak going with..." She has to think a moment to find the right words. "Free-spirited women who do not conform to the constraints of normal fashion. Also, I really want to get out of here and take a few showers, then a bubble bath." A pause. "I'm Lois Lane."
Vampirella	Vampirella shrugs. "I'm not an enemy, unless you're the one who desecrated this swamp. Then I'm going to have words with you." Or, well, certain onomatopoetic declarations, at any rate. "I'm kidding. I know you didn't. Good luck getting your security deposit back on the car, by the way, unless your girl has already driven off with it."
Lois Lane	"I imagine she's not raced off," says Lois. And sure enough, Zara wouldn't. She's just calling the police. What she'll say is anyone's guess. But the reporter isn't too worried about it.     "And more importantly, thank you. I don't think my odds were very good in that fight. But that does beg the question, what brought a nice girl like you to a filthy swamp like this?"     Near death experiences just inspire her. Lois is hamming things up.
Vampirella	Vampirella's lips quirk to the right. Either her lipstick is immaculate and you need to know its brand, or that's just what her lips are like. With the costume set, it's really impossible to guess. "Are you angling for an interview?"
Lois Lane	Lois grins. There, in this filthy swamp hole, off the side of a god forsaken highway, dripping with muck, the Pulitzer-prize winning reporter nods. "If you are willing. I'm not trying to push my luck. But I like to make good press for heroic acts."     She is already trying to clean her hands. She can't touch her notepad if she's filthy, after all.
Vampirella	Vampirella regards Lois seriously. "I wouldn't. They'd kill to keep this secret, but only after a campaign to ruin your credibility and possibly some mind control to make sure you only write what they want you to. Being connected to Superman only means they'd be more careful not to get caught."
Lois Lane	Lois seems nonplussed. "It's not that I don't doubt you, but I'm used to being everyone's target," she says evenly. "Who are you talking about, though? More vampires?"     She keeps the notepad away for now. Not that it really matters. When it comes to chasing a story, she doesn't forget. Contents of her bag may slip her mind, but not the facts of a story.
Vampirella	Vampirella's lips quirk in that little smirk again. "What do you mean, more vampires? There's no such thing as vampires. If there was, they'd be doing everything they can to keep themselves secret. And if that secrecy was broken, and humanity was aware of them to start hunting them, they'd suddenly have nothing to lose by starting a war with humanity for dominance of the planet. So since that hasn't happened, they must not exist."
Lois Lane	Lois arches an eyebrow. It's a classic expression from the reporter, really. Everyone she interviews encounters it sooner or later. Vampirella got there fast.     "Well, that is true. In such a hypothetical world, I imagine the vampires would have a powerful group that ensured their less... astute members are kept in check, one way or another. And whoever made such a mess, and risked their power and secrecy, would be in a lot of trouble."
Vampirella	Vampirella sounds both amused and interested (the technical term for that is probably 'condescending') as she asks, "Do you really believe in that kind of conspiracy? A secret, parallel society that can exert such total control over its members?"
Lois Lane	"Not usually. But it's generally pitched by conspiracy theorists about humans, and in over 20 years of reporting on humans, I can say this much: There's no way in hell or heaven that we can pull off anything big without letting the cat out of the bag."     Lois crosses her arms, studying Vampirella. "I don't suppose you are going to give me your name." She imagines if she can't get that far, she's likely just wasting her breath here.
Vampirella	Vampirella relents. "I'm Vampirella." Of course she is. Who else would she be?
Lois Lane	Lois blinks slowly. That just has to hang in the air for a moment. Okay, more than a moment. Somehow, reflecting on this situation, Lois realizes how wasted on her this whole moment is. Her she is, face to face with a gorgeous woman in scandalous garb, and there's not a lesbian bone in her body.     Weird thing to think about.     "It's nice to meet you, Vampirella. You know, as much as I have heard that swamp water is great for the skin, perhaps you'd like to get cleaned-up, sit down, and share a drink with me? I have so many hypothetical questions to ask you." She's not giving up.