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(( Indeed... ))

"Well," Lex said, "We were at the part where I was going to ask you had happened to you to make you so much stronger. You seem even stronger than Superman, now. You also seem angrier. Did you have a falling out with the other hero-types? Did they disapprove of your methods?" He was trying to buy himself time, get out of this alive, and maybe tilt this to his advantage.

Lex's face became one of half-seriousness, and half-humoring. "Yes, of course. My apologies." The battlesuit allowed for more air to pass through, as it protected his neck better than a suit jacket did, but he could feel the pressure from her grip. If she wanted to, she could destroy it, no problem. Of course, he had other plans. He raised his hands at her, the kryptonite in the gloves of the suit giving off its eerie green glow right next to her. "But on the other hand, your attempt to kill me is also rather insulting."

The tentacles wrapping him up weren't much of a match for the rocket boosters in the suit, lauching him up into the air. The maneuver pulled him away from her and that... strange suit, but it also took the kryptonite away from her. "Well, this is quite the stand-off we have here. You've tried to kill me, twice, and I almost killed you once. And this is just in the past five minutes. Now, how about we try talking like civilized people. No killing each other."

Lex thought carefully, and said, "No, normally you'd be almost certain to turn this down. In this case, however, you might have more interest in it. But let's also be honest here, I not trying to hide the fact that I'll be using you. I won't be hiding it, because I want this little temporary alliance to be built on a certain amount of trust. For instance, you can trust the fact that I could have killed you, but chose not to. For my part, I can trust that although you intended to kill me, a small part of you did not wish to, otherwise you'd have done it while we were still in my office. Now..." Lex came back to the ground, a small distance away from her, just far enough for her to be out of the kryptonite's reach, ad continued, "About my proposal, do you wish to hear it?"

"Oh, that's too bad. I guess I'll have to take down those hero-types that have caused us both so much grief on my own, then..." Lex feigned disappointment, as he knew the lead in his batllesuit kept her from checking his vitals for signs of lying, also knowing that her curiosity should get her to stop him from leaving. He turned as if to fly off.

Lex, just for convincingness, took off, but stopped, landing again. "Change your mind? Oh, good. I suppose you want to hear the plan, after all." A small smile played on him, glad that she had taken the bait.

The smile on Lex's face widened slightly. "Yes, I suppose there IS a certain novelty to that fact, isn't there? Ah, well, that's not very important. The plan is simple, involving tools that already have. If it works we can both gain a measure of revenge for the wrongs perpetrated on us. The majority of my green kryptonite was stolen while I was away, but no one went after my gold kryptonite, for which I am grateful. I am creating a variation of my battlesuit, fitted with the gold krptonite instead of the green that this one carries. It should be ready in a day or so. Also, I am creating specialized weapons for it, that will be designed to reduce Superman to nothing more than the equivalent of a super-sized human being. I learned that with enough exposure to gold kryptonite, the effects become permanent. My original intention was to kill him myself once that had happened, but now I figure, why keep all the fun to myself? I'm sure you'd love nothing more than to pay him back for all the years of use and abuse, of rules and restrictions, and admonishments and chastisings... wouldn't you?" His eyes narrowed, already knowing the truthful answer. Her demeanor wasn't doing a very good job of hiding it.

Kara didn't answer, but she didn't have to; her expression pretty much told the whole story. She wasn't entirely sure that she wanted her cousin dead... But she wasn't entirely sure that she didn't, either.