Why A Club?

It seemed like a fair question to Lois Lane. Of all the places to hold some sort of human medical trial, why underneath a grungy club in the middle of Metropolis? Why not in a nice clinic somewhere?

"This was the site where the subjects were initially exposed. The subjects are willing, but the state currently prohibits certain kinds of genetic tampering, and moving them or closing the club would draw attention. So I constructed the lab around them." Lex Luthor guided Lois to one of the pens.

The inhabitant inside seemed to be struggling to breathe, hooked up to some kind of oxygen machine. Her upper torso looked human...but the waist thickened and swelled into something like a Clydesdale horse, resting on its side, covered with patchy fur. Vaguely, Lois recognized her as Mara de la Cruz. One dark eye fixated on the reporter, as if pleading.

"Initially exposed," Lois seized on that. "What do you mean?"

"The women were in the basement as a sort of impromptu support group. They all suffered degrees of body dysmorphia. They came down here to get high and talk about their problems. Unfortunately, one night some weeks ago, they stumbled upon a...leftover from one of the innumerable alien invasions Metropolis has suffered. A fragment of Kryptonian technology."

The second pen held a nearly shapeless mass of flesh. It was held in a kind of trough mounted on two hospital beds joined side-by-side. Oozed and shifted, breasts and eyes sometimes emerging to the surface. As Lex and the reporter approached, a part of it reared up from the rest of the bulk...a face, pretty but hairless. It watched them go by for a moment and then seemed to collapse back inside itself. The face had been that of Jenny Dunlap.

"My current hypothesis is that the Kryptonian technology reacted to their psychological desires and attempted to give them the bodies they identified with. Unfortunately, it was designed for Kryptonians, not humans. The process was left...unfinished. Their genetic makeup hasn't stabilized. They are dying."

Lois Lane sensed a "but." She also had a feeling, deep inside, that she wouldn't like it.

"And you want me to volunteer because...?"

The scientist had arrived at a shiny steel door. "I believe I have repaired the device sufficiently for it to fulfill its original function. If an individual who was confident in their own body—and focused on helping those women—were to successfully be transfigured, their new Kryptonian-enhanced DNA should stabilize the other subject's genetic structures, and possibly reverse the transformation."

Lois took a deep breath. "And what's in it for you?"

"Such a DNA sample would be invaluable in understanding the Kryptonian genetic code. I needn't tell you I retain a substantial interest in that area."

The reporter sighed. Four women's lives were on the line, but if she helped Lex Luthor it would help him make some clone of Superman or something. A hell of a choice.

"Any other questions?" Lex Luthor asked.

"Just one," Lois said grimly.