A/N: Okay, so I have nothing better to do, and I really need to get this story out of the way, so I can concentrate on homework and Vows (which is my other, much darker future-fic, and personally, I think it's much better.) So, yeah, anyway, two chapters in a day; don't say I'm not kind to you.
Colours danced gaily before Lois' eyes as her head swam. Slowly she felt herself brought back to consciousness. The colours faded, and suddenly everything was dark and murky. Faint moonlight seemed to be coursing down through the closed shutters and into the immense space. Lois reasoned she must be in a warehouse, the all to familiar damp smell filling her head.
Sighing at the mess she'd got herself into this time she tried to stand, only to be pulled sharply back down to the ground. Realising for the first time that her feet were bound she tried her hands. They too were lashed together, though this time around a pole that bore her up.
She struggled vainly for a while, but the steel wires only tightened, digging into her skin. Exhausted and emotional, she admitted defeat; perhaps she would do best just to sit this one out.
Typical! She heard her conscience scream. You try to help some one, and where does it get you. From now on it's all for one and one for me, you hear! "Yeah, sure, great." She muttered, leaning back against the pole. She could taste blood in her mouth, and moved to touch her lips, and then thinking on, licked them instead. The liquid that met her tongue was cold and bitter, and though unmistakably blood, it was not her own.
In the deafening silence, Lois' ears caught the unambiguous sound of footsteps. They seemed to be pacing back and forth, to and fro.
"This is all I need." Lois muttered again. Then, with an air on confidence unbefitting the situation she called. "You know, you could have picked a better spot. I mean, abandoned warehouse, great in the films, but couldn't you have come up with something a bit more original?"
The pacing stopped suddenly, and then started again, although this time, it was louder, closer. All of a sudden, Lois could feel someone else's breath on her face. In the meagre light, she could not make out a face, but the breath was rancid in its smell.
"You're going to help me." An excitable voice cried out.
"Oh goody, it's you again." She answered calmly. "Yes, I think we've already established that fact thank you."
"You are going to help me!" The voice repeated, this time closer.
"Yes! Yes I am going to help you." Lois shot back, trying to keep her cool. "I'm going to help you all the way to the mental asylum."
A strong force struck her across the cheek; drawing blood she knew this time was hers.
"Don't you say no to me!" Kevin screamed down at her.
"I didn't." Lois replied collectively. One of them had to keep their head, can it certainly wasn't going to be the boy.
"They always say no to me." Kevin started to whimper, kneeling down so that he was level with Lois.
"Oh, I wonder why?" She observed mockingly.
"You won't say no to me, will you?" He asked meekly.
"Well, that all depends on what you want." Lois said.
"I want you to hel…"
"Yes, yes, I know that." Lois reiterated. "But, just as a casual observation, how exactly am I meant to help you if you've got me tied up like this? Hum? Not very logical now is it?"
"I want you to scream for me." Kevin sniggered.
Lois looked down. In what little light there was she could just make the Dictaphone she had taken to carrying in his hand, the red light indicating it was recording.
"What kind of sick bastard are you?" She sneered.
He just giggled and held the recorder up higher. "Do you know the story of Arach'ne?" He teased. Even though Lois did, she had a feel it wouldn't matter. "You see, the story goes that Athena heard there was this woman on earth who happened to be a better spinstress than she was. Athena wasn't too happy to hear this and she came down and destroyed the woman's creations. When this mortal girl saw what had happened, that she'd insulted the Gods and that her life's work had been destroyed, she hung herself." Kevin reached up and started stroking Lois' hair off her face. "Athena took pity on the girl and touched her on the forehead with a magic liquid and said: 'You shall not die, Arach'ne. Instead you shall be transformed and weave your web forever.' And, at Athena's words, Arach'ne shrank and blackened. First her nose and ears fell off, and then her fingers turned into legs – and what was left of her became her body, out of which she spins and spins, left to spin her web."
Lois cocked her head up, wiggling out of his grasp. "So you think you're gonna turn me into a spider?" She said sternly. "That's cute. That's real cute, really. I like the novelty of it. Just one problem though, while you're obviously a very confused young man I really doubt that you're a Greek goddess, for so, so many reasons."
"I don't have to be." He chuckled, leaning closer again. "You see, I've found that the best way to get to a god, is to catch a goddess."
"Flattery won't get you anywhere." Lois said flatly. "And if you think Lex Luthor is gonna help you, just because you threaten to kill me, again you are wrong, for so, so many reasons."
"Who said anything about threaten?"
Kevin edged his way closer to Lois. Suddenly, whether by some tick of the moon or prepared calculation, his face was fully illuminated. His skin was the pale colour of rotten flesh; his wet eyes gleamed out of their black sockets, and his lips bore the stain of death.
Lois swallowed her disgust, the Dictaphone still on; she was determined not to scream. She struggled again against the wires that bound her, but it was no good. Kevin took her head in his surprisingly strong grasp, and pulled her forwards.
"Any lasts words?" He whispered into her lips.
"No." She ventured. "Not yet."
Two rank, slimy lips pressed against her own. She felt her neck go rigid. She fell forward, hoping and praying that there wasn't an afterlife; it wouldn't be pretty. Then, realizing there was a contradiction involved, merely hoped that there wasn't an afterlife.
Just as the darkness took her she was sure she heard someone scream her name.