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Lex nodded. "She's on board, too. Which is almost scary, because she's actually the reason Joker agreed, I think, not my offering Batman to him. They're an item, apparently. More of one than Harley ever was to the clown, from the looks of it. I find that more disturbing than Batman getting inside Joker's deranged skull."

"Good for him, or everyone else?" Lex asked. His face showed no sign of joking.

"Just one more thing, and if you miss anything because of this, that's why I chose TiVo over normal cable..." Lex said, "...Do you have evidence of Superman talking about using green K on you? Video? Audio?"

"Hm," Lex thought for a second, then asked, "Who is the source of your information?"

(( I went back and read the whole conversation, and the Blood is mentioned several times. Because the Blood let Kara speak about it, I'm going to let Lex bring it up now. Lex is going to factor that in. That shouldn't bother the Blood, though, because Luthor is NOT going to want such a powerful weapon to go to waste. He wants Kara to be crazy ))

As Supergirl related her story to him, Luthor smiled again, a more knowing smile than anything else this time. Once she finished, he said, "The man, if you can call him that, is called X. A simple name, I know, but that's what he goes by, and when you have as much power as he does, you can call yourself whatever you feel like, I guess. I've had a few run-ins with him since the merge began. I actually have a side project in the works for him, at his request. Extremely powerful, and he won't lie to you. He'll just put a spin on everything in order to tip your favor... Much like myself." A look of thought passed over him as he continued speaking. "However, I personally trust his willingness to help less than I trust the Boy Scout. At least with Superman, you can somewhat predict his next move. He likes to appear to be the epitome of the 'Good Guy', and that entails such things as holding back full strength, not killing, not using ice breath to freeze normal people solid, not using x-ray vision to be the watchdog, always choosing to save a life before stopping whoever he feels is the 'Bad Guy', such as myself, et cetera, et cetera. My point is, Superman can be prepared for. If it's left to Superman, he'd rather fail at removing the Blood from you and try again another day than kill you. The problem, the REAL problem, is that Superman leaves the real thinking to people like Batman, who has no illusions about not being the image of the 'Good Guy', someone who has seen enough grim reality to realize that sometimes, no matter how hard you try, you can't win them all, and you can't save them all. That is Superman's flaw. He trusts people he should not." Luthor turned back to the monitor. "You're right about the Bat. He's a dangerous opponent, even more so than Superman, in his own right. But while I can't think like Superman, because he, like you, no offense, is an alien, and that inability to do so is usually MY downfall when facing the Boy Scout, I CAN think like an intelligent human with a vast amount of technology at his disposal and very few rules. In a sense, I CAN think like the Batman. Right now, if he's not busy with something more immediate, he's probably decided that the 'heroes' might very well have to kill you to separate you from the Blood. And while he might actually feel sorry for Superman for knowing that, he's going to plan on following through with it, because he's NOT Superman. He's NOT the epitome of the 'Good Guy'. And for their part, the rest of the Leaguers are going to follow him, because even though most of them are individually more powerful than the Bat-freak, he holds more sway than most of the League put together, Superman included. Because they FEAR him. Just as the cattle, the people far beneath you and me, the ones who see all this from the outside looking in, FEAR the Bat. No one wants to oppose him, for fear of his wrath. And THAT, my dear Supergirl, is where we shall get them." Pride showed on Lex's already-confident face. "While my Six fight the covert war against the so-called 'heroes', I can use my public image to wage a war of the press, a war of politics. In one of the city areas merged with Metropolis, there's a newspaper called the Daily Bugle, a paper that has recently been getting very high sales in Metropolis, due to the fact that people are surprised to find a paper other than the Daily Planet on the stands. The Bugle's editor-in-chief, a Mr. Jameson, has it in for their local hero, called Spider-Man. Jameson seems to take a great delight in slinging mud at Spider-Man in a way that makes the dirt that so undeservedly gets hurled your way look like nothing at all. And I'll give you three guesses on who's helping our dear Leaguers out against the threats from the other Universe."

"Of course," Lex said, "And Jameson's always looking fresh dirt to throw, because it's hard to sell new papers that tell old news. If it were to, say, leak to the Bugle that the Justice League, Batman and Superman included, has aligned itself with a 'menace to society', as Mr. Jameson so colorfully puts it, it would drag the entire League, including Batman and Superman, down into the gutter, and bring all of their actions as the so-called 'heroes' into question. I'm sure I can obtain footage of Spider-Man with various members of the League. The Bugle can get all the stills they want from that, I'm sure. Using the press as a weapon, we can swing public favor our way, or more specifically, MY way, as your role is to be part of the covert side of this operation. I, however, am already a very public figure and am already capable of garnering media attention and the public eye. The goal will be to bring to light the failings of the 'heroes', while showing our most beneficial side. Naturally, our little team might need to make a few public appearances, and if that situation arises, we could always apprehend another so-called 'villain' to swing the press our way further. Naturally, we'll keep your involvement secret. Or, we could turn in Spider-Man, and win over that entire area. As we convince the world that the eague is wrong, we can capture them one by one, and bring them to 'justice', the same justice that they plan to bring us to." Lex then raised his hands in the air somewhat defensively. "Now, you might be thinking, 'Why Spider-Man? He's suffered through a lot of the same things that I have.'" Lex lowered his hands and continued. "Well, it must be him for two reasons. First, he's the one with the worst reputation in his Universe, and second, he's already helping the League, which means that he's probably in on their plan to kill you. And if he's working with the League, it means that he's working for Batman, because NO ONE CHALLENGES BATMAN. Not even Superman. And Batman is the one who will ultimately kill you. Spider-Man will have to go down with the League, because he has left us no choice. Him, and all the rest of the heroes that have worked with the JLA."

Lex took advantage of Supergirl's pause. "Explaining is what Batman would expect of YOU. Explaining would threaten to undo everything that we're trying to do, on both fronts. Explaining would give you away as an accomplice, and I'm not willing to do that. Keeping you a secret, keeping you Mockingbird, is how we can ensure that you will be able to get close enough to Superman once everyone else is out of the picture. It's how we will ensure you get to repay Superman for every wrong he's ever committed to you. You might very well be right about Spider-Man. But if he's working with the League... Well, you know exactly how the League works. Either do it Batman's way, or get out of Batman's way."

"Before you have a heart attack over this, think about what you just suggested," Lex said calmly, "Lex Luthor vouching for the true heroism of Spider-Man. While the public might buy it, the flip side is that it will make the Justice League suspicious of him. Extremely suspicious." Then Lex smiled. "As much as I'd like that to happen, we need the heroes to trust him."