The Emily Dinsmore Saga, Part V: Paranoid
As the Justice League grows stronger Lex Luthor lies awake at night, unable to sleep. His dreams become nightmares. Lex dreams about the time when he first learned of the Native American prophecy of Naman and Sageeth. In his nightmares Lex is Sageeth, and he is killed by Naman, who is Clark Kent.
Although Lex's defenses are formidable, having genetically modified Molly
Griggs and Dr. Helen Bryce to make his defenders nearly invulnerable, his
fears are renewed when he discovers that Kyle Tippet, a metahuman with the ability to overpower a person's will with a touch, is with Clark Kent and they've been working together for some time.
Lex's main concern is for his last line of defense, Mxyzptlk. Although
Lex remains confident that Mxyzptlk is more than a match for Clark,
especially now that Mxyzptlk has bionic implants that are designed to
prevent his auditory system from becoming overloaded, Lex's scientists
advise him of a possibility that Kyle's and Mxyzptlk's abilities may have
the effect of cancelling each other out. Lex fears that this might give
Clark the opportunity to finish him off.
To eliminate this weakness Lex plans a strategic attack on the Justice
League with the primary goal of eliminating Kyle Tippet. To improve his
chance of success Lex assigns Molly Griggs the task of designing a device that might counteract Kyle's abilities, and render him powerless.
In his desperation Lex even considers asking Lana Lang, now more commonly known by the alias Star Sapphire, for help.
Lex ultimately decides to offer Emily Dinsmore, Lana's childhood friend,
as a bargaining chip in return for the services of Lana's followers, a group of vigilantes known as the 'Hand of Vengeance'.