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Pheromone, My Lovely: Lex Luthor
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“I’m doomed.” The words resonate like bells, like a dirge to the fallen.

He’s built an empire. Crafted a legacy that Metropolis--that the world--will never forget. Ensured his name is spoken of in every circle, with fear in some, with respect in others, but always his name. And yet, here, alone in his fortress, with the flames flickering its warmth against his back, he can admit the truth.

His heart has been breached. The one thing he’s guarded above all others. The one thing he’s never allowed to stop him.

And now, thanks to perfume and Superman and a unique collection of events surrounding the woman filling his thoughts, none of it matters.

He’s doomed. Damned to lose it all, in one way or another. Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow, or next month, or even a year from now. But eventually, somehow, this will come back to haunt him.

His one consolation is that at least his heart waited to succumb to the vagaries of love until it found a woman truly worthy of him. Lois Lane is intriguing and enchanting and beautiful and a mix of the tantalizing and the dangerous, but her worth was proven irrevocably to him at the airfield earlier. Superman himself--the only foe truly worthy of Lex’s time and attention--has fixated on Lois Lane, fallen to her innocently seductive charms.

And if Lex Luthor is going to fall…well, he will make sure that he takes his enemy with him. Superman has already shown his weaknesses, already left the woman he admires open to manipulation by Lex himself. In essence, he’s already lost, his own heart much less guarded and crafty than Lex’s, and thus, victory is already assured.

No, what really worries Lex is his own behavior under the influence of the perfume. Revenge lessens inhibitions, controls the intellectual impulses that modify instinct and reaction and impulse. And yet, under its control, Lex had not simply taken Lois. Had not swept her off her feet. Had not proven to her beyond a shadow of a doubt that she was his and his alone. Had not claimed her for his own.

Instead, he had…quoted poetry. Marveled at her beauty. Admired her from afar. Spoke gently, softly, as if to woo her, to court her.

As if she were better, more worthy, more valuable than him.

And that just will not do. Lex Luthor is inferior to no one, most especially not an investigative journalist with a lack of good sense, an overgrown sense of curiosity, and a ridiculous infatuation with a flying alien.

This will not do, not at all.

He’s doomed. Yes, he’s resigned himself to that. But he is Lex Luthor, and he will not go down without a fight. What he needs is a plan, a strategy. A way to seize the high ground. And obviously, right now, the high ground is Lois Lane herself. Her heart, her hand, her entire life.

Superman won’t do it. Even with Revenge pumping through his bloodstream, he hadn’t been able to claim the woman (though he’d gotten further than Lex himself, an unpleasant fact he has to face). His inhibitions are too deeply ingrained, his morals too damaging.

And that gives Lex the edge he needs.

So, very well, his heart has been compromised. But that’s exactly what contingency plans are for, and if there’s one thing he has in abundance, it’s contingency plans.

Lex picks up another pile of crisp bills and runs them through his fingers. Tosses them slowly, one by one, into the fire. And he begins to plan.

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