12114/Liberation of the Press!

Liberation of the Press!
Date of Scene:	22 July 2022
Location:	New York
Synopsis:	Lois and Janet get lunch, and in that short timeframe Lois manages to see into Janet's plan and confirms her suspicions that Janet's doing something dumb -and- reckless.
Cast of Characters:	Janet van Dyne, Lois Lane

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Janet van Dyne has posed:
Perry White's in fine form today. Everything's a step too slow for his taste. Photo proofs? LATE. Layouts? WRONG. Editing Crew? DIDN'T CROSS THE "T"s! And while Lois is mostly protected from his direct wrath by virtue of being one of the top reporters in the country, there's still a lot of splash damage from him laying into everyone.

"AND WHERE THE HELL IS KENT?" Perry bellows at the room. People are moving around the edges of the room with their heads down and scurrying back and forth to get their work done without getting his attention. The lack of response only infuriates him more. "It's like none of you ungrateful monkeys even wants this job! Do you know how hard it is to get hired by Salon? Vanity Fair! Keep pushing me, and you'll find out."

"And LANE!" He turns towards Lois' cubicle. "I told you I needed a cover story today and I told you to go down and talk to the mayor's campaign office about his transport platform." An aide comes up quickly and tries to mutter something urgent in Perry's ear, only to be shoved away. "I don't care who's here, I'm busy!" he snaps at the kid, and turns back to Lois. "I promised the mayor a front page spread, and-- I don't see it on my desk!" He chews on his cigar and gives Lois a gimlet eye. "You better have something /real/ good for me! I'm trying to run a paper here!"

Lois Lane has posed:
There never seems to be a day that Perry's not at least a little bit peeved. Lois Lane, however, is used to the heat of the Perryfire. Turning in her chair so that she can face Perry, Lois chews on the end of her pencil. She's not mimicking Perry, it's clearly just a habit. "Shouldn't the mayor have something a little more exciting if it's front page? We don't want to bore people into not reading."

Janet van Dyne has posed:
Perry's brows shoot up. "You're takin' a pass on the mayor's office? You know what kinda clout he's got!" The aide tries to talk to him again and Perry all but straightarms him away. "You blow him off, he stops giving out press passes. You got no press pass, I'll put someone else on the headline beat." He squints at Lois and points two fingers at her, cigar held between them. "And don't think just because you're buddy-buddy with that rich bi--"

"Rich what?" Janet van Dyne beams a sunny smile up at Perry. It's not her nice smile. It's a Perfectly Polite smile. Vulpine. Perry chokes on his cigar and starts coughing, and Janet fans the smoke away with an irritated expression. White skirtsuit, white blouse, white purse, white platform pumps, and a white, broad-rimmed hat with a lovely monochrome fascinator atop it. Her jewelry is gleaming platnium and diamons, and the only spots of color come from the little patriotic shield worn at the hollow of her throat.

"Mis-- uh Jan-- er--- I was--van--" Janet pats his arm reassuringly and shushes him. Then pointedly pushes him with a fingertip until he takes two big steps back from Lois' desk, so she can stand in front of her favorite ace reporter and give her a brilliant smile. "I need Lois for a thing. It'll probably take all day," she tells Perry. "And I know you don't mind at all. Right?"

"Uh--er-- no, I don't-- um"

"Good!" Janet waves him off with a hand motion and walks around Lois' desk to offer her a hug and a cheek-kiss. "So good to see you," she says, and this time Lois gets the Very Sincere smile from her friend. "C'mon, let's ditch this popsicle stand," she mutters, and tilts her head to the door, and bites her lower lip to try (and fail) to hold back an impish grin. "I feel like playing hooky. My treat," she promises.

Lois Lane has posed:
Lois has a difficult time holding back a laugh as the reporter watches Janet completely blow Perry out of the water. "Don't worry Chief, I'm sure I'll have something front-page worthy for you later. You know I'm good for it!" She isn't entirely sure at all what it actually is going to be, but she's not too worried. Something usually falls in her lap. Sometimes literally.

After the very important hug and cheek-kiss of greeting, Lois slides her chair back to her desk, tosses the pencil back into the 'I <3 Metropolis' mug already containing chewed pencils, and heads towards the door following Janet's lead.

"I hope you've got something interesting for me by the end of the day, Perry seems to have something stuck up his..." She doesn't finish the sentence, instead just grinning. "Alright, where are we going?"

Janet van Dyne has posed:
Janet hooks her elbow through Lois' arm as they head out of the press room. "I am /sure/ I can come up with something juicy for you before tomorrow morning," she promises her friend, and laughs merrily as the elevator doors close. "The dirt I've got on this city-- Bid rigging, illegal dumping, superpowered throwdowns in Battery Park... I gotcha covered, girl."

The doors open on the garage level, where her blacked out Rolls-Royce limosine is idling (and ignoring the rule about parking near the elevator). Janet's assistant Allen pops up to open the door for Lois, smiling at her with a friendly expression. "Miss Lane, so good to see you," he tells her. "I took the liberty of preparing you a few outfits. I hope you've been well?" He courteously offers his forearm to Lois for balance climbing up into the vehicle, and Janet follows a step later. "And I'm up front if you need me, Janet," he tells his employer. She beams a smile at him and gives his hand a squeeze before taking her seat. "Wonderful, Allen, thank you," she tells him, and sets back in the deep leather cushions.

The vehicle smoothly accelerates and heads into the city. With the soundproofing, tinted windows and the smooth suspension, it's like riding on a cloud. "So, what sounds good? Quick lunch, little snack or something? Head to the Red Circle and get our booty on?" She lifts her hands and mimes some dance moves. "It's five o'clock somewhere, you know."

Lois Lane has posed:
"I knew you wouldn't let me down Janet," Lois says, grinning broadly. There'd be something interesting and she'd find a way to puff up the mayor in it... it was her job to do anyway. She flashes Allen a smile. "Good to see you as always, Allen, thank you." When she eases into a seat, she lets out a comfortable sigh.

"I love my job. I also hate my job. I'm just glad to be out today," she says, glancing over to Janet. "Maybe a quick lunch and some dancing? I need some energy if we're going to be dancing. If I don't have energy there's no way I'll keep up with you. So did you come just to play hooky or is there something wrong? Because both are valid options here."

Janet van Dyne has posed:
"Good, because it's both," Janet says with a sobered expression. She taps the intercom button. "Allan, we're thinking lunch. Something light. Estela?" she inquires. There's a beat and Allan's voice comes over the intercom. "I'm calling ahead to reserve you a table right now," he promises.

Janet releases the switch and sits back, crossing her legs at the knee. "I'm working a drug angle in the Boroughs. I'm looking into smuggling operations and domestic manufacturing. The whole thing, Long Island to Yonkers to Newark. I was hoping you'd have some intelligence I could tap. I've locked down the remnants of the Maggia families, I have leads on the Triads and Columbians. But I'm coming up short on some of the others-- the N'drangheta, the Mexican cartels, and that one guy in Brookyn who took the Families over a while back. What'ssisname, the, uh, uh--" fingers snap. "Kingpin? I think they call him that. I'd love to find out who he really is, but I'd settle for getting a better idea of the layout of his little criminal empire. You got any contacts that way, out in Brooklyn and on the Island?

Lois Lane has posed:
"Aha! So this is a working lunch, not just a fun visit," Lois's tone is teasing and she settles herself more comfortably on the plush leather. "I might know a few people who know a few people," she replies, mentally going through her little black book of contacts. "Would be nice to uncover who he is, that'd always be a nice story. Might make things easier in the long run too." She taps her chin lightly. "I might have a source that works out that way, could be useful information or even get you an in of some kind."

Janet van Dyne has posed:
"I knew I can count on you," Janet says with another beaming smile of gratitude. "God, thanks, though. For real," she says with a drop in her voice. "I'm doing this one pretty solo. I've got a couple of the newer kids on the team doing grunt work for me but I need someone who knows how to conduct an investigation. ...who also isn't a vigilante one-man army," she clarifies, wrinkling her pert nose.

"But for god's sake, be discreet," she adds a beat later, shifting to recross her legs. "More than usual. I can't have any of them figure out the Avengers are sniffing around or they'll roll up shop and disappear off the grid for a month. When we're ready to hit them, I want to get it done in one fell swoop."

Lois Lane has posed:
Lois doesn't hide the grin at the mention of said one-man army, then makes a mock frown. "Are you saying I'm not discreet, Janet? I'm hurt." With a chuckle, she shifts her weight so she can study Janet. "I can be discreet. I just usually prefer the dramatic story approach. Tends to make for more interesting articles. But I can poke my nose in, carefully. Nothing that'll make them pack up, I promise. I'm good at spinning things my direction anyway."

Lois seems overly thoughtful for a moment. "You almost sound a little nervous about the idea of flying solo. You doing okay?"

Janet van Dyne has posed:
Janet narrows her eyes at Lois' question. But then she realizes she's stopped drumming her nails in agitation on the armrest. She looks at her manicure, looks away, then sighs heavily with slouching shoulders and turns her face up towards the heavens.

"It's-- I've never done this sort of thing before. Military shit, that's Steve and Carol and Rhodey. That's what -they do-. Tony and Hank, they deal with the tech stuff, and Thor does the magic stuff. And Bruce, I guess, they do the whole, uh, breaking shit thing. Together." A finger makes a wiggling little gesture of inclusion.

"But I'm the only one who actually knows how to run a fucking business. And-- that's what organized crime is. It's /business/. Everyone tries to take it on as a, a, uh, moral problem, or a /civics/ issue, or /equal rights/ or whatever the fuck."

She purses her lips and leans towards Lois, hands balancing on the leather. "I don't think anyone's ever tried something like what I've got in mind, and I really don't want to fuck it up. Or worse, get in over my head and have to call someone else in to bail my ass out."

Lois Lane has posed:
"As someone who professionally gets in over my head, it's not always so bad," Lois cracks the slightest smile. "But I get it. It's frustrating because you want to be the one doing it. So, you take it carefully and you do it right. There are plenty of times I've gotten myself into something big and gotten myself right back out. You just don't /hear/ about those ones. You're good at business, take this one step at a time like a dangerous investment. You want to be absolutely sure before you jump in. It's a risk either way, but you go in knowing exactly where your chips are gonna fall."

This time, Lois smiles more broadly. "Janet, you're stronger than a lot of people I know. Don't let this overcome your confidence just because it's new. You've /got/ this."

Janet van Dyne has posed:
Janet smiles. It's almost a little bashful, eyes flickering down and then back at Lois for the praise and encouragement. "Thanks," she says, and offers Lois' fingers a squeeze. "But if you tell anyone I needed a pep talk, I'll kill you," she advises her, and laughs again.

The car pulls up and Allan steps out smartly to get the door for the two women. When they head up to the restaurant he steps into his usual position, two paces back and somehow making himself utterly unremarkable again.

"And you're one to talk about getting in over your head," she says a few beats later. "I can set a watch by how long it takes Kal to pluck you up when you fall. I kept telling Steve that when Kal was on the fence about getting back into the tights, we should have just shoved you out a window. Would have brought him *right* outta retirement."

Lois Lane has posed:
"Come on Janet, no one would believe me if I said you needed a pep talk," Lois quips before she gets out of the car. Allan gets a polite smile before she looks over to the restaurant. "You know, I hate to say it but you're probably right. But yes, I do get over my head but most of the time if I know I'm in that deep I just lean into it hard. If you're gonna get screwed, get /royally/ screwed. Besides, how many times do you think I got in a touch over my head on purpose? Sometimes it's nice to get rescued by a man in tights and a cape."

Janet van Dyne has posed:
"No capes, honey, Edna beat that into me with a Prada handbag in front of my entire MFA class," Janet tells Lois. "But yes to the rest of it." They're led into one of the most exclusive restaurants in New York and seated at the best table, in the back of the house. And the waitstaff even goes so far as to break down the *adjacent* table so they can use the space without other conversations working their way in.

"Lean into it hard when you get royally screwed by a man in tights, all that," she clarifies, and sits back while the staff swarms around them. Janet glances at the wine list. "Une bouteille Bourgogne Les Mechalots, for me, and then whatever Lois wishes," she tells the server. "And one of everything on the lunch menu, thank you."

Lois Lane has posed:
Lois shakes her head a little as it never ceases to be amazing or get tiring when Janet's clout gets her into pretty much anything. She glances at the menu briefly, then shrugs her shoulders a bit. "Gin and tonic, never hurts to start with something light," she says. Once the server's out of the way, Lois looks back to Janet.

"Wasn't the joke I was making there but I get your point. I'm just saying, sometimes a cape flapping in the wind is attractive. It makes nice framing for front page photographs. The tights are good, though."

Janet van Dyne has posed:
"Mm, counterpoint--" Janet uplifts a finger at Lois. "If I'm standing behind Steve, I get to check his ass out. No cape to get in the way there. And that is /America's/ ass," she reminds Lois with a voice that trembles with Patriotic Pride. Or something like it, maybe.

She picks up her glass of white wine, sniffs it, takes a careful sip, and deems it acceptable with a gulp and a nod. "That'll do fine," she assures the waiter. Once he's gone, Janet leans forward and starts stacking cheese and meats up from the charcuterie board brought out. "So-- here's my attack plan," Janet tells Lois. "I'm working from the outside in. And I'm not-- this isn't dicking around with college kids selling weed or junior brokers with a little nose candy. Heroin use in the outer boroughs is up another 8.2% this year. And that means the terminal cases-- the addicts, the ODs-- end up hitting the local economy even harder. The basic bitch rehab program costs taxpayers $6,000 annually-- and that's someone who responds well to treatment and doesn't have other issues. But then you've got to consider things like the lost labor productivity, childcare costs for kids without guardians, impact on housing and so on and so on. Now I can't un-fuck the justice system myself, no matter how many Senators I buy," Janet tells Lois with a complete lack of shame. "But I can at least help tackle the source of the problem, instead of arresting addicts or feeding them into an overcrowded prison system."

Lois Lane has posed:
"Pretty sure that ass is the pride of the entire nation, Janet," Lois points out. "But really, cape is good for pictures and /then/ it can come off. Best of both worlds?" She takes a sip of her G&T as she adjusts her position in her chair and focuses fully on the change of topic. While Steve's ass is important to America, the fucked up state of the justice system ranks up there too.

"Well, I agree with you there. Politics is a royal mess and when there are actual changes, it takes years for it to even help the people it should. So you're basically trying to break your way inside and dismanle it? That /is/ a lot to take on. Not that I doubt you."

Janet van Dyne has posed:
"Like I said, drugs are a business," Janet shrugs. "You've really only got two ways to wreck one. Screw with supply, screw with demand. Now the demand is relatively fixed, right?" she says. "It varies a little bit, the heroin epidemic killed off a lot of the hardcore addicts. Back west, they legalized weed, and in some states it worked great. In some states, the black market is still thriving. And in others, the cartels had to start moving higher risk items around. There's a little spike in heroin use, sure, but now we're making them take aggressive gambles. Intercept a half a billion dollars of coke off the Baja coast, you set them back months. That's what I want to do here; I want to make it so expensive to operate here that they decide to deal somewhere else where no one gives a shit. Like, Texas or something, I guess."

Lois Lane has posed:
"Texas could probably use more, honestly," Lois murmurs before she looks back over to Janet. "Alright, so it's run like a business. Demand might be fixed to a certain extent, but you're also going to want to focus on the fact that they've got folks trying to /increase/ demand. There's also the fact that if you stop that supply chain, you're also cutting off the people at the end of the line. Everyone goes cold turkey, or if they don't they sell their souls for just a little more of some overly expensive coke before the cartels give up the ghost."

Lois makes a face, thinking hard at the plan. "It's going to be tricky. I mean, you've got the business sense for it, but that's a whole power vacuum you're dealing with too. If you go in with one fell swoop to take everything out, what've you got for some kind of infrastructure to back it up?"

Janet van Dyne has posed:
Janet hesitates, then shrugs. "I don't know," she admits, fidgeting. It looks a little untruthful, and when she catches Lois looking at her, she sighs and drops the bread crumbs she's crushing between her fingernails. "OK, the truth is that I can't care. Yeah, people are gonna have withdrawal problems. But I'm not fucking with the rest of organized crime. The mobs still gonna be fixing union elections, the Triad will probably keep doing human trafficking. This will upset the apple cart, but what it's gonna do is pull a lot of money out of circulation. That shrinks the economy of the drug trade. It means they can't pay their people and can't feed their customers what they want. Yeah there will be a power vacuum, some struggles, but that means they're divvying up the remnants of a *much* smaller pie."

Lois Lane has posed:
"Janet, you can't just ignore the people at the end of the chain," Lois protests. "Crime will be crime and people will still do things, but we're talking about dismantling an entire part of the whole system and just... leaving it?" She shakes her head. "I don't buy it. You're smart. You /know/ a vacuum like that isn't just going to divvy itself out to the other branches of crime. You're going to get someone trying to swoop right in and play the new Kingpin if you don't have a plan for any of that. You need /something/ to keep the floodgate from drowning all of... well, /everyone/." She raises an eyebrow, then narrows her eyes at Janet.

"You've got something up your sleeve. You wouldn't have presented this to me if you didn't have a plan and /you/ don't do anything half-baked."

Janet van Dyne has posed:
Janet regards Lois with an impassive look, lips thinning into a line. "Fuck," she exhales, almost wordlessly. "Goddamn reporters."

She picks up her wine glass, drains it, and refills it herself to take a few more swigs.

"Fine. Yes, I have a contingency plan. And I can't tell you about it. I haven't even told St--" she pauses as a waiter drifts towards them and stays quiet until he moves away again. "I haven't even told Steve yet," she admits. "About any of this. Lois this is so delicate, a sneeze could blow it apart. They get wind the Avengers are sniffing around, they'll go underground. I do this and half-ass it, screw it up, and they'll just come back swinging harder and twice as pissed off."

"But what we have now is a bunch of mafia thugs breaking knees for anyone who isn't slinging their dope, and people who are strung out addicts or right on the verge of overdose. We get this shit off the streets, we're going to help a lot more people than will be hurt."

Lois Lane has posed:
"I wouldn't still be around if I wasn't a good reporter. /And/ a good friend, I might add," Lois takes a slow sip from her gin and tonic, a nice contrast to Janet's generous helpings of wine. She leans forward at the mention of Steve and not knowing. "You haven't told /Steve/?" The noise Lois makes is some part surprised and some part panicked, then she narrows her eyes again. "You haven't told Steve for a reason." She lets out a heavy sigh, then shakes her head. "You know what? You're my friend and it isn't my business as to--"

She stops herself.

"No, you know, it /is/ my business," she says, leaning her elbows on the table, manners be damned. "I'm not telling anyone about this obviously, but you wouldn't hold this back from Steve unless you knew there was something in it he didn't like but it wasn't something /I/ would object to. Am I right or do I need stick my head down more rabbit holes?"

Janet van Dyne has posed:
Janet's eyes smoulder with a flash of that temper of hers. "I didn't tell /Steve/ because I don't want to get people wrapped up in my shit," she hisses. "I didn't tell Nadia or Pepper or Carol, either. There is no part of this where I get to dance in there wearing the Wasp colors and take on the entire fucking New England mob head on as an Avenger. I will be putting people in danger. People who don't know the angles I'm working. The whole thing could come crashing down and the body count will get a lot higher, a *lot* quicker."

She glances around, taking a few seconds to visibly comport herself and get her breathing under control. Fingers fold around her knuckles, flexing white before she forces them to relax again. "Lois if you can't be with me on this, I get it. I understand. But that means you need to forget the conversation ever happened. I cannot do what I'm trying to pull off if I'm worried about you getting hemmed up too."

Lois Lane has posed:
Lois dips her head in an apology. "Sorry, I need to be a little less reporter and a bit more of a friend in this case." She takes a long swallow of her drink before she sets it down and looks back across the table. "I respect that you came to me with this. That's why I'm not going to bail on you now. I don't think it's going to be /easy/, what you're doing, but you're doing something which is a hell of a lot more than most people. It's tricky and it's dangerous and it's absolutely worth it, and that's why I'm in. I /know/ that shit."

Janet van Dyne has posed:
"Stop kissing my ass," Janet mutters, not quite looking at Lois. The de-escalation judo is masterfully applied and Janet's not immune to Lois deft touch with words. She glances back and there is a brief, flashing moment of gratitude in her eyes.

"Don't be sorry, I'm a cold bitch and we both know it," she tells Lois. Both hands reach across the table, palms up and offering a squeeze of fingers by way of silent apology.

"Look, if I get in over my head, I will call in the cavalry. Maybe we don't take down all the org crime in New England, but we can put the top brass and their best earners behind bars. And I'm *definitely* gonna need your help to pull together the PR campaign to make sure none of the local DAs get an idea about dropping the charges."

Lois Lane has posed:
"Pretty sure you like it when people kiss your ass, Janet," Lois quips, but she squeezes the hands and gives her friend a more compassionate look. "But I'm good. I'll be sorry if I want to be. I'm great at handling cold bitches, might even be my specialty." She listens in thought, then nods as she continues. "I mean, we can get backup if we need it, you're right, but that's a last case scenario. Mostly because it's pretty much all or nothing, by the sounds of it."

She moves to grab her glass again, plucking off the lemon garnish and sort of studying that quizzically now. "We can keep up the pressure to make sure they're actually doing what they're supposed to do,"she agrees when she looks back at Janet. "I think we can do it, I'm just worried about the after effects of all of this." After a long pause, she adds.

"But that's a future Lois problem."

Janet van Dyne has posed:
"And if she's half as much a bitch as future Janet, well--" Janet hoists her glass in salute and chimes it against the last of Lois' gin and tonic. "Fuck 'em, right?"