Chapter 2 - Luthor

Chapter 2 Luthor

Lex Luthor turned slowly, a smile on his cruel but handsome face. “Well superheroine,” he said, “it certainly took you long enough to get here. I see you are even more beautiful than I remember. You certainly have developed since the last time we met.”

The superheroine blushed becomingly. She was certainly a beauty, despite that ridiculous cheerleader outfit she wore. Why did superheroines have to wear such stupid tight-fitting outfits? Not that he really minded when he was this close to one. The girl was an absolute stunner.

His eyes swept over her from head to toe. Shoulder length golden blonde tresses framed an intelligent and amazingly beautiful face. In the last few years the superheroine had lost her little girl looks. Her full, kissable lips, straight nose, perfectly arched eyebrows, and stunning sapphire blue eyes created a vision of female perfection. But that was just the starting point. His eyes went to her large, firm breasts. They seemed to defy gravity, but he was sure that she was not wearing any support.

Moving lower his gaze took in her almost unbelievably tiny waist, flaring hips, and long athletic legs. “Yes,” the archvillain continued. “You have really filled out. This encounter is going to be much more interesting than I had dared hope.”

“Not in the way you think,” Karra replied, angrily. She was not used to criminals ogling her body with such apparent lack of fear. “I don’t know what you’re up to, but you’re going to jail.”

Luthor grinned. “That’s been tried,” replied the villain calmly. “It didn’t work out very well and I have no intention of returning.”

Karra stared at the seemingly confident criminal. She did not like the way the interview was proceeding. She had encountered the villain before when working with her cousin and knew him to be a cunning and dangerous foe. Quickly she scanned the room for anything that might be used against her. Luthor regarded her calmly from his swivel chair. He seemed completely unafraid, but Karra could see nothing in the room that would give him such confidence.

Set into the far wall was another door. From the ceiling hung the small camera that was clearly the source of the television image. A circle of some twenty ceiling lights provided illumination. On either side of the villain was an electronic console with a number of buttons. Directly in front of him was a large table made of white marble. Against each wall was a set of bookcases lined with copies of the classics. Apparently Luthor’s interest in literature tended toward the intellectual. But there was nothing in the room to indicate why Luthor seemed to consider himself in control of the situation. Nevertheless, Karra hesitated. She had learned from experience that the archvillain was dangerous in the extreme.

“Well, superheroine,” said Luthor, finally, “it’s very nice of you to drop in, but are you just going to stand there or would you like to sit down?” He gestured to a seat beside him. He grinned widely as he spoke, enjoying the superheroine’s obvious discomfort and confusion. He had her where he wanted her. She had walked into his lair like a bee drawn to nectar. Now his trap was closing around her in the same way a carnivorous plant traps an insect.

Karra swept the room again. Something was definitely wrong. Luthor could hardly expect that she would sit down and join him for tea. But her super senses could detect nothing. The fact that the room was lined with lead impeded her efforts to look for concealed weapons or traps.

“Why don’t you put that pathetic thing away?” asked Luthor, gesturing to the lead sheet Karra still held in her hands. “Surely you don’t think that it will provide any real protection against me?” He chuckled confidently, enjoying the confusion of the superheroine to the full.

His relationship with her up until now had been far from cordial. Numerous times she had disrupted his various schemes, sometimes without even knowing he was behind them. Despite that he was absolutely fascinated by her. No one knew anything about her. Where did she come from? Where did she live? What did she do with herself when she wasn’t making life miserable for criminals? What were the extent of her powers? What was her real name? It couldn’t be the moronic sobriquet laid on her by the media and the public. “Supergirl” was such a pathetic appellation. He refused to use it, always referring to her as “superheroine.” She was certainly much more than a girl. His organ stiffened a bit more just thinking about her.

Karra focused her gaze on the smug felon. He was tall, probably standing over six feet and powerfully built. He had the build of a professional wrestler. But it was his baldness that was most intriguing. She knew that his lack of hair extended to his entire body. He even lacked eyebrows. Quickly she scanned his body, looking for anything that might be used against her.

Luthor smiled broadly. “Find anything you really like? I assure you that it is much larger when fully aroused.”

Karra blushed again, turning completely crimson. The criminal’s comment had caught her off guard. She was not used to trading sexual innuendos with villains. Tensing slightly she got ready to attack. Only her instinctive sense that something was wrong and Luthor’s overconfident act held her back.

Was it possible he was bluffing? Perhaps she had him dead to rights. After all, she had helped her cousin throw him in jail on several occasions; back in the days when he and she had patrolled Metropolis together. Indecision racking her mind, she stalled for time while her gaze swept the room again and again. “What is this place,” she asked, “and why are you here?”

Luthor leaned back in his chair, his right hand near the console. “I’ve decided to go into a new area of business. As you may know I have always been interested in agriculture. I have set up this facility to accommodate an underground farm. With a little bit of scientific breeding I should be able to develop a strain of cocaine that is ten times as potent as that currently available.”

Kara had not heard of Luthor’s interest in agriculture and she certainly had no intention of letting him go ahead with his scheme. “Not if I have anything to say about it,” she said, taking a step toward him. “I think I’ve had about enough of this.” “I’m not entirely sure what you are up to, but I’m sure that the police would like to make your acquaintance again.”

“I don’t think so,” Luthor replied quietly. “This conversation is beginning to bore me. If you’re not going to do anything except threaten me, then I have work to do.” As he finished speaking he slid out of his chair and turned away from her, heading toward the door on the other side of the room.

Karra acted instantly. If Luthor had anything up his sleeve she was sure that it was connected with the electronic consoles on either side of his chair. She had noticed that throughout the encounter his fingers had never strayed more that a few millimeters from the console buttons. His movement toward the door had left him wide open and Karra took quick advantage of it.

She was three quarters of the way across the room before she was aware of the pain. It shot though her as if she was being burned by white hot irons. At the same time her strength left her. She landed at Luthor’s feet, writhing in agony.

Karra whimpered in anguish. She had felt such pain before and knew its source. “Kryptonite,” she gasped. “But where…?”

“A typical superheroine,” sneered Luthor, standing over her. “Intrepid and beautiful, but oh so stupid! Did you really think that I would let you walk into my lair and simply capture me?”

Karra’s body twisted in anguish. The pain was about as bad as anything she had ever felt. She couldn’t even lift the lead sheet to interpose it between her and the source of her torment, not that it mattered, since she had no idea where it was. Calling on everything she had, she tried to roll back toward the door, and failed. With a moan, she turned over on her back and lay helpless at the mercy of the grinning master criminal.

Luthor let her lie there, grinning down at her as wave after wave of pain swept over her. Karra’s chest heaved. Beads of perspiration stood out on her forehead and then spread over the rest of her anatomy, darkening her costume. She could hardly believe that anything could hurt so much and leave her so helpless.

Her sea blue eyes wide with pain and fear, Karra sought the source of her agony. Her gaze settled on the circle of twenty lights. Of course, it was so obvious, and she had stepped right into their glare. She whimpered again as another spasm of violent pain shot through her already pain-wracked body.

“That right, my little superheroine, Luthor gloated, “the lights. It was so easy, just a little bit of kryptonite vapour sealed in each bulb, and you are helpless as a kitten. I am afraid I was not entirely truthful about the function of this facility. Its main purpose, and one that it has already achieved was to deliver you into my hands.”

Leaning over her, he smiled. “Consider the pain an unexpected bonus. I knew that kryptonite immobilized you, but I had no idea that it could cause you such torment.” He stepped back toward the console next to his swivel chair. “What is it worth to you to have me reduce the light output?”

Karra’s only reply was a moan. She was incapable of speech, every muscle of her body knotting with pain.

“I’ll take that as a plea for mercy,” Luthor grinned. He twisted a dial on the right hand console and the lights dimmed. Immediately Karra’s pain diminished, but not her helplessness. She could still not move a muscle. Her blue eyes wide with fear and consternation, she gazed up at her captor. She was helpless and in the power of one of her most dreaded enemies. Swallowing, she awaited her fate.