Luthor

A familiar bald head filled the screen, and Lois shivered at the sight of Lex Luthor. He wore a grey suit, although he had loosened the tie and opened the collar of his shirt, to display a few inches of pale, hairless, muscled chest. The background of the picture was some sort of lab...she could see computer screens, chemical equipment... Instinctively, she worked to cover herself with her hands.

"Hello Miss Lane," he said...and he smiled. A smug Cheshire-cat grin that split his face. "Lights."

The sun lamps against the walls began to heat up. Lois worried for a moment, but suddenly felt...good. All the aches, nausea, and fever she'd been experiencing vanished in moments as she soaked up the rays.

"You are taking part in a very special experiment of mine. The cocktail you drank contained a genetically engineered retrovirus—as we speak, it has permeated your system, and is rewriting ever cell with a light...overlay of Kryptonian genetics."

The lights continued to intensify, and though Lois knew she should start to feel the burn from the lamps, it felt no more than being out on a summer's day...albeit naked. She wondered how well Lex could see her with the lamps on.

"No, you won't be getting any of...his...powers. But the cells do absorb yellow sunlight—as you are right now—and they do make the user **** to certain Kryptonian weaknesses...such as kryptonite."

Lois shuddered at this implication, and looked around the room as Lex continued his monologue. She no longer cared about her nudity, but moved around, but there was only the lamps and the screens, and the door was locked from the outside... The naked reporter looked back at the screen, and she could see that Luthor was visibly excited, face beginning to flush and irises wide and dark.

"...the problem with red kryptonite, of course, is that you never know what effect it is going to have until you use it...and then that particular specimen of red kryptonite can never affect that particular Kryptonian again. With this retrovirus, however, I now have an endless supply of test subjects...which is where you come in, Miss Lane."

The light was almost blinding now, even with the goggles, but Lois felt...alive, almost burning with excess energy. Even the tinge of pleasant alcoholic haze had vanished. She felt better than she ever had in her life...but also deathly afraid. Whatever else Lex was, he was a genius. If anyone could do what he claimed it was him.

"Some forms of kryptonite cause physical transformations...others cause mental changes. You might become a centaur, or devolve into a more primitive lifeform...or become homosexual, or a blonde bimbo!" Lex's chuckle echoed through the White Room.

"Is that what happened to the other women?" Lois asked out loud. She heard the tinny screech of feedback and the echo of her own voice through the speakers—the room was mic'd, and Lex was listening in.

"Yes," Luthor admitted, with a frown. "Not all of the previous test subjects reacted well to the virus or the...subsequent changes. There is a small chance that some of the kryptonite effects may be permanent." The Cheshire cat grin reappeared. "But we'll cross that bridge when we come to the end of our current experiment.'

A panel disappeared from the ceiling, and a small arm began to descend. On the end of it was a chunk of crystal. For lack of better options, Lois pressed herself into a corner, as far from it as she could get.

"Now," Luthor's voice carried over the speakers. "let's see what this does to you."