As Much As Lex Luthor Wants Her To

Via the hidden cameras, Lex Luthor watched as Maria led Lois Lane deeper into the facility...where the reporter would "uncover" a small-time prostitution ring, and the missing women she had come to find.

"How much does she remember, sir?" Mercy Graves asked. The bodyguard stood at Luthor's side.

"This will be the first field trial of the implanted memory technology," Lex said. "She won't remember being impregnated here, tonight. But she will remember being artificially inseminated, and who the sperm donor is. Our hackers are currently seeding a trail...by the time she gets home, she'll find evidence in her search history that she has been researching artificial insemination for months, had scheduled an appointment, and there will be a deduction from her account for the appropriate amount. The clinic will record her visit, and the success of the procedure."

He gave a very cold smile. "That's the beauty of memory, really. It is very...elastic. Lois will start to fill in the gaps herself, will try to rationalize what happened to her, even defend her decision. She would never dream that she had been hypnotized and inseminated against her will, and that a vast conspiracy was even now making sure that she thought it had been her idea all along."

Mercy shuddered. Sometimes she realized with great clarity how much money and influence Luthor had...and the strange ways his intellect could make use of those resources.

"Do you think it will work, though? She might miscarry, or abort."

"Acceptable consequences," Luthor said. "For the opportunity to test the technology. Besides, I should like to see how Superman reacts, when he finds out his precious girlfriend is pregnant by somebody else!"

On the screen, Mercy had led Lois down to the makeshift brothel, where the inseminated reporter swiftly began to interview the LexCorp employees pretending to be kidnapped and **** into sex work.