AN: So this chapter sort of took me a while because i couldn't really decide what if i wanted Mannheim to be a random character or if i wanted him to be important to the story. I guess you guys will find out later. Thank you guys for you reviews :) I love hearing your input/thoughts.

*Btw you might have noticed that Lex is kind of alive in the last chapter. Don't worry i will explain this all in a future chapter. All you guys need to know now is that he came back and for his own reasons, didn't reveal Clark's identity. Again, i'll explain this all later. Anyway, on to the chapter.

P.S - I don't own any of the characters.

Lois skidded her brand new motorcycle to a halt a few blocks away from LuthorCorp Plaza. She got there before Oliver and Dinah did in their car. The police cars weren't far behind. They had probably just gotten the call about a group of men holding hostages in the building; and there was a big chance they had no clue Intergang was behind it.

Oliver pulled up next to her and got out of the car. He took out a map and highlighted all the routes that could lead to Lex's vault in the basement of the building. Lois was only half listening. Her main objective was not some stupid item that Lex had hidden away somewhere.

"Is everyone ready?"

The three of them nodded and split up. The plan was for Lois and Oliver to go in through the front to cause enough of a distraction for Dinah to slip into the building's basement completely unnoticed. No matter what happened tonight, they all agreed that it would be best that Luthor didn't know they had taken something from his vault.

"Stay on the ground and don't move. No one has to get hurt but we will not hesitate to pull the trigger if one of you so much as flinches" bellowed Bruno Mannheim. Hearing his voice made Lois's skin crawl.

Opening the front door making as much noise as she could make, Lois sauntered into the main Lobby. Several security guards were tied up to the pillars on the side of the room, while a few secretaries and other staff were laid down on the floor. There was an average sized man standing in the middle of the room pointing a handgun at a dainty secretary lying on the floor, shaking from fear.

The man had dark hair and a thin mustache. He wasn't tall but he radiated a confident presence that might have intimidated someone else. Not Lois. All she could see was a pathetic man trying to cheat his way in life by making others suffer. As she walked towards him, a look of recognition appeared on his face.

"Superwoman?" He paused and for some reason Lois stopped. She stood there in front of him, interested to know what he would do next.

Superwoman. That's what the people called her after she had made a very public announcement that Superman had skipped town. Oliver had introduced her as such and it stuck. Not that there was anything 'super' about her. All she had on her was training in physical combat from all those years as an army brat and all the expensive gadgets that Bruce and Ollie provided.

Mannheim studied her, recognizing her from somewhere but not being able to place where. "I can't say it is a pleasure meeting you. Under different circumstances, maybe. Not these. I can't have you spoil my plans. Now can I?" He gave her a smirk that only reminded her of a venomous snake.

As quickly as he could, Mannheim pointed his gun away from the hysterical woman on the ground and pointed it at Lois. Before he could pull the trigger, she roundhouse kicked it away. There was no hesitation in her movements, in the past half year, fighting has become as natural to her as breathing; not that she couldn't hold her own before, she was just better at it now.

Taking advantage of his hesitation at just having lost his weapon, Lois kicked him in the chest. He skidded against the marble floor until he crashed into the nearby wall. Out of the corner of her eye, Lois saw that Oliver had already entered the room and had taken on the 6 other mob members that were there.

Turning her attention back to the man that was struggling to get back on his feet, Lois closed in on him and was about to take him out of the room, giving him over to the cops that she heard arriving outside.

Mannheim suddenly gasped and then started laughing.

"The idea of going back to jail is that funny to you?" Lois asked with as much coldness as she could muster.

"I knew I recognized you from somewhere. Before you were this, you were Stiletto weren't you" Mannheim had a crazed look in his eye. He barely got out his sentence in the midst of his laughter. Lois stared at him, not really sure what to do next. "How's that pathetic hero wannabe doing? Remember? The one that jumped in front of that bullet for you? Is he dead yet?"

There was a pain in Lois's chest. She had been the reason that Clark had gotten shot. In her attempt to get a front page story and get in touch with the Blur (Clark's hero name before she came up with a better one), she dressed up and pretended to be a superhero named Stiletto. As always, her ill-considered actions got Jimmy kidnapped by Mannheim and his men. When Clark tried to save him, he unknowingly super-sped into a room filled with kryptonite. Lois had swooped down as Stiletto in an attempt to save the boys but Mannheim had pulled out a gun and shot at her when her guard was down. Clark had jumped in front of the bullet, knowing that he could have died because of the kryptonite. It was the first time she saw how much Clark really cared about her. The biggest feeling she got from the whole experience was guilt. Guilt that yet again, her reckless, inane qualities had landed other people and herself in life threatening situations.

Mannheim's maniacal laugh snapped her out of her thoughts. She leered at him as she noticed the look of pure joy on his face at the memory of shooting Clark. His gloating attitude made her livid. It was as if her blood was boiling inside of her, fueling her rage, filling her vision with a red tint. Bloodlust. She'd never experienced such fury in her entire life. Hands shaking, she grabbed Mannheim by the throat and pressed down hard, making it difficult for him to breathe. He continued to laugh.

"What? You're going to kill me now?"

He barely got the words out seeing as Lois's hand kept adding more and more pressure. She despised the man in front of her. Not only did he bring harm to people, but he took a sick and twisted enjoyment out of doing it. It disgusted her and provoked her anger even more. She wanted to rip him apart, limb from limb. In her head, she imagined stabbing him with the small knife hidden away in her boot. She imagined thrusting the blade into his stomach, twisting it to cause more pain and damage. All the anger and frustration she had from being left abandoned, as if she meant nothing, from feeling like she'd been forgotten, cast aside like some dirty rag - she wanted to take it all out on him.

It would be easy. He was evil. He caused others pain and harm. She looked at him and saw that there was a weird spark in his eyes, almost as if he wanted the sweet release of death. Even then, Lois knew that she could never do what she had just imagined. She would never be able to take a life. Even before she had met Clark, she could never imagine being that person that puts the light out in someone's eyes. Her unwavering resolution had only gotten stronger when she saw Clark's virtues and his belief that people were generally good, just often misguided. She just wouldn't do it.

Lois hadn't realized she had been holding her breath until she exhaled, having come to a decision. She took one more look into Mannheim's face and punched him hard enough to knock him out.

Slowly moving away from the unconscious body, she got up to her feet. She looked down at her hands to see that they were still trembling. To try and calm herself, she started breathing deeply.

"You okay there Superwoman?"

Lois looked up to see Oliver standing a few feet away from her, with an expression on his face showing that he had been watching her with Mannheim. Had the circumstances been different, she would have probably snorted at him calling her Superwoman. It was weird to hear those words come out of her friend's mouth. Right now though, she was too shaken. The wrath that came from her was the most emotion she had had to deal with in a while. The invulnerability she felt now was unbearable. She wanted to leave right away, she wanted to be alone. But she doubted that Oliver would let her off the hook so easy after what he had just witnessed.

She nodded and started for the door with Oliver trailing by her side. Stepping out into the crowd of police officers, Lois felt out of place. There were so many people around her, when she was feeling like she could break down at any minute. It made her anxious. She stayed silent as Oliver talked to the police officers telling them that the criminals were unconscious and waiting to be arrested.

Lois tuned almost everything and everyone around her out. She was there, by herself. And then suddenly she felt like someone was watching her. The stare was invasive and unsettling. She needed to know who it was coming from. She raised her eyes, scanning the crowd until she met a pair of eyes that were burning holes in hers. Standing but a few police cars back was Lex Luthor. His piercing gaze made the hairs on her skin stand on end. The look on his face could only mean one thing.

He knows, she thought. He knows it's me.