Chapter Text
The ritual was never meant to open a door.
It was meant to create a weapon.
Standing in the center of an intricate summoning circle etched into reinforced titanium flooring, Lex Luthor watched as ancient symbols carved from forbidden texts burned with an unnatural crimson glow. Science had failed him. Alien technology had failed him. Even kryptonite, in all its forms, had proven unreliable against the persistent irritation that was Superman.
So now?
Now he would try faith.
Or rather—something far older than faith.
Demonology was, in Luthor’s opinion, simply another branch of untapped science. Energy drawn from a different dimensional plane. Conscious entities capable of warping reality to suit their will. Power that could rival a god.
And if Superman insisted on playing one—
Luthor would summon something that could kill one.
“Containment fields at maximum output,” he ordered without looking away from the circle.
Around him, the lab deep beneath Metropolis hummed to life. Experimental dimensional stabilizers thrummed against the pressure building in the air, electromagnetic restraints snapping into place in anticipation of something large… violent… obedient.
The incantation was spoken.
Once.
Twice.
A third time—
The temperature dropped.
The lights flickered violently overhead as the summoning circle began to distort, its clean geometry twisting into something… wrong. The symbols stretched and warped like ink dragged across wet paper.
Luthor frowned.
“That’s not—”
The circle split open with a sound like tearing metal.
Darkness spilled out first — thick and writhing like smoke — before something was violently thrown from the rift and slammed hard against the lab floor.
The portal snapped shut behind them with a thunderous crack.
Silence followed.
Not a towering beast.
Not a clawed monstrosity.
Not the infernal war machine he had intended to bind.
A woman... who had deer ears on her head in a tail.
Dressed in the 1930s modern housewife dress as shadows clinging unnaturally to her form as though reality itself refused to let her settle properly into this world.
For a moment, she didn’t move.
Then she inhaled sharply.
The air in the lab filled with static.
Not from the equipment—
But from her.
Somewhere, faint and distant, something crackled.
Like a radio desperately trying to find a signal that no longer existed.
Luthor straightened slowly, studying her with cold fascination.
“…Interesting.”