VULNERABLIDE

Someone ripped the sack off of Linda's head. She took a deep breath of fresh air through her nose. Her mouth was gagged. She looked up and let out a muffled yell of dismay at the sight of Lex Luthor staring down at her. She was lying down on a couch in what appeared to be an office. Lex removed her gag, but left the thongs holding her hands tightly behind her back in place.

"Hello there." He was smiling at her, but his voice dripped with hatred. "Aren't you going to say hi?"

Linda tried to choke back her sobs. She remembered Mr. Luthor had no patience for crying children.

"Hi," she managed to squeak out.

"That was a close one, wasn't it? Superman almost kidnapped you. You should thank me for rescuing you."

Linda was confused. Very little Mr. Luthor ever said to her made much sense.

"Mr. Luthor," she tried to speak politely. "My arms hurt. It's kinda tight. Can you…?"

"Oh, is it only kinda tight? Lemme fix that for you." He reached behind her and pulled hard on the thongs, tightening them further. Linda yelled in pain and dismay. "There, fixed."

Linda started sobbing again. Lex pulled her upright until she was sitting on the couch. "Shut up," he shouted at her.

She tried again to suppress her crying. "I want to go back to school."

"Oh, you're not going back to school."

"Why not?"

"I saw your last report card. Who do you think's been paying your tuition?"

Linda started crying again. "I'm sorry, I'll try harder…."

"Oh, shut up already! I don't care about your report card." He was still holding the cloth that had been gagging her and he hit her with it. Not that he expected a piece of cotton was going to inflict much pain. He just wanted to lash out at her.

"What do you want from me?"

Lex looked at her in disgust for a few moments. "I want to show you something." He reached over to his desk and picked up a pair of scissors. Then he reached over to Linda and grabbed several strands of her hair and gave them a hard yank.

"Ow!"

A burly man with a nasty scowl and an odor to match entered the room. Lex glanced up at him. "Ah, Jiggy. I just need a few more minutes." Jiggy leaned against a wall, pulled out a pocket knife and started cleaning his fingernails with it.

Lex turned back to Linda and showed her the hair he had just pulled out of her scalp. "Your hair is…. vulnerable. Do you know what vulnerable means?"

"Capable of being wounded or hurt."

Lex nodded his head in approval. "Good. Your hair is vulnerable," he repeated. He brought the hair and scissors close to her face and cut the hair close to the bottom, shortening it. He cut it near the bottom several more times till it got shorter and shorter. "See. I can cut it… easily."

Lex walked over to his desk and opened up a small box. "Dr. Elbe found a curious substance inside of you… all over your body. It's producing this... mixture of chemicals…." Lex twirled his hand around. "We're calling it 'vulnerblide.' You're full of these vulnerblide chemicals, in your blood stream, your lymphatic system… everywhere." Lex pulled a tuft of blonde curly hair out of the box. "They even permeate your hair as it grows out of your scalp. Dr. Elbe managed to remove the vulnerblide from this hair." Lex picked up the scissors again and returned to the couch. He again brought the hair and scissors close so Linda could see. He closed the scissors on the hair, but the hair just curved itself around the blades. Lex looped the hair in one hand and put one of the scissor blades through the loop. He held the hair taught and tried to cut it. The scissors wouldn't close all the way. Lex took a deep breath and put all his might into closing the scissors.

The scissors broke.

Linda startled.

"Invulnerable," Lex pointed out. "Like Superman. It occurs to me…." He paused for dramatic effect. "…if there are chemicals that can make you hair vulnerable… there may be chemicals that can make my hair… invulnerable."

"But… you're bald."

Lex hit Linda in the head with the half of the broken scissors still in his hand. She started crying again. Was she really so dense? No matter. Superman would understand. For now, he was done with Linda. He looked up at Jiggy and motioned for him to come forward.

Jiggy was leering at Linda. Gross! "Jiggy, she's not even human!"

"She looks human."

Lex wanted to puke. "Listen, I don't care what you and the others do to her, but I don't want to hear about it, and keep her out of my sight. And don't be so rough with her you end up like Lester."

Jiggy pulled Linda up and swung her over his shoulder. "Got it, boss." He carried the sobbing Linda out of the office.