12317/Press The Stops and Stop The Presses

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Press The Stops and Stop The Presses
Date of Scene: 06 August 2022
Location: Bullpen - Daily Planet Building
Synopsis: Terry brings Lois some news, and there are hints of something /big/ happening involving the FBI and other, potentially unknown parties. Stop the presses!
Cast of Characters: Terry O'Neil, Lois Lane
Tinyplot: Reavers


Terry O'Neil has posed:
<<BOSS. I'M BACK FROM WONDERLAND>>

That's the text that had come from Terry's cell phone on Monday. <<Stil kna out of it need gona take week of>>

And then, over the next few days, such gems as

<<I think I have geography>>

<<I dreamt I was the wind but then I came to and was hanging from the ceiling fan>>
<<My feet are on backwards>>
<<Nevermind I was looking in a mirror>>

Throughout, Lois has been receiving updates from Gar and Kian letting her know that Terry is still a little out of things, but is progressively getting better and better. The number of texts from the loopy Cheshire decrease over the week. Or, at least, their randomness does.

Until, on Friday afternoon, Vorpal cuts a beeline from the elevator all the way to Lois' desk. He is in his feline shape- but that's nothing new, the Titan alternates now that his secret identity is public, but he usually /dresses/ for work. Today, it's different. He /is/ wearing a button-up shirt, but the buttons are matched to the wrong button-holes so that half of the shirt is dangling lower than the other. He is wearing a bright green and purple tie which does not go at all with the burgundy button-up-shirt, and which therefore must have been taken from Gar's pile of novelty joke ties for the times he has to dress up but does so under protest.

He's not wearing pants.

Well, he is, technically- he's wearing the bottoms of his uniform, which normally look just fine when it's only his uniform and the context of 'superhero spandex' is coherent all the way. With the shirt on top, it just looks like he hastily got half-dressed coming out of Yoga class.

"Lois, I'm back!" he says, his eyes looking ever so slightly unfocused, "Sorry... I got a bout of... Wonderland memory earlier but as soon as it was done I got dressed as fast as I could because I've got a scoop!"

An ice cream scoop appears in one hand.

"An amazing scoop, Lois, one you won't believe!" another one in his left hand.

Lois Lane has posed:
"Good lord Terry," Lois looks up from her desk.

She's been cleaning up a lot of things from the week, enjoying the upcoming prospect of the weekend (some of which also involved work), and so the piles of work are almost organized on her desk, though there are still sticky notes /everywhere/. She stands up, mostly as if she's afraid Terry will fall over or something, and she shakes her head. "Okay, first take a deep breath. You should probably still be resting, honestly. Does Gar know you're out here? Kian?" Out here unsupervised, that is.

He's said the word scoop, even demonstrated with the ice cream. He's said one of the magic words that never ceases to get Lois' attention. "Okay, you should fill me in on this scoop and /then/ maybe go home and, uh, redress before you go out and do anything."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Terry glances down at himself and huhs, "... you are right, I thought I put some trousers on before I left. Now I wonder where I left them..."

=================================

At that very moment, someone opens the refrigerator at the Tower in order to get one of Caitlin's snacky shakes.
"Who put a pair of trousers in here?"
==========================================

Terry sits down on a corner of Lois' desk, as if he has forgotten what chairs are for. "Well... I have to tell you about this because I did some sleuthing earlier today. So... you remember the explosion over at the Jackson building? The one that was billed as a mutant attack by that jackass Donald Pierce?*"

The Cheshire gestures, "Well... I was scrolling on my phone while sitting in the medbay and I ended up coming across video of it. And through it I ended up finding someone who was an eye-witness and victim at the scene." His voice lowers so that he is whispering. "Lois, this is super fishy. The girl had a broken ankle but the authorities' report indicated no major injuries. So I meet her at Angelo's to get the scoop, and she tells me this story of how she ends up enmeshed in the attack because she was delivering a package. She gets dragged down to the sub-level and there's a whole /laboratory/ down there. And a laboratory where mutants were being held captive... and being experimented on." He raises his eyebrows for emphasis.

*See https://heroesassemble.mushhaven.com/scene/scene.php?id=12212 , true believers! -Editor

Lois Lane has posed:
It doesn't take more than a sentence or two for Lois to have grabbed a legal pad from her desk and started scribbling a few notes down, mostly reminders of things to look at for later. "Is the witness okay?" First things first, sources need to be protected. "Also, do you know if she's told anyone else about this? The less people the better. We're going to need to know who's the one covering things up and if it's high enough up the food chain, if anyone found out she knew something that could be trouble for her."

She seems thoughtful. "I'm going to look over what the authorities said carefully, make sure that it doesn't seem as if it's the authorities themselves faking something. Likely someone who's got influence." It's not a question of if they're doing it, just how quickly.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"I'm not done yet!" Terry grins, and then he stops for a second, staring at Lois.

He is silent for a few moments, and then he suddenly comes to himself, blinking. "S-sorry. I had a moment where I thought I was the White Queen's castle. I had /parapets/ there for a second... but!" he shakes himself loose of the spell.

"The witness is fine. Bad situation, financially, she's a minor and it sounds like her father works her hard. Pulled her from school to work in the family business, but she can't really put weight on that ankle."

He leans in, conspiratorily, "Because of what I uncovered, I decided to hire her as my assistant, temporarily. That way I can keep an eye on her and she won't be going out and being a target, and further injuring herself."

He leans back, crossing his arms. "She also asked me- begged me, really- to look for this guy who was down there. At first she thought he was in on the whole thing... but it turns out he wasn't. He really thought the place was 'just' a lab and when the mutants were revealed in captivity, he was shocked. Now... the place was assaulted by a mutant rhino-man and a pig-man, and a smaller woman. That's who caused the commotion, and so far I haven't found any info on them yet. But as the reports went, something caused a self-destruct mechanism to operate and the lab was blown up to smithereens. The girl, Bunny, wanted to drag the guy out but couldn't. So he died there. He was nineteen years old or so. She asked me to help identify the body and notify the next of kin, feeling guilty and all..."

He takes a breath. "So this morning I did some digging. The casualties- seven of them- were taken to Saint Luke's. And Saint Luke's just happens to be the haunting grounds of Doctor Pooja Dharamshi. We know each other- I bring injured civilians there all the time... and, well. She treated my first gunshot wound." He rubs the back of his head, a little embarrassed. "I figured, habeas corpus- literally speaking, not legalistically- so I approached her to see if she had done any of the autopsies..." He glances at Lois "Am I doing okay so far? I'm trying to stay focused... it's a little hard."

Lois Lane has posed:
"Yeah, still think you should be in bed," Lois notes, indeed checking just in case that there are no parapets. The suggestion of his assistant gets her to crack a smile. "You're a bleeding heart, Terry, in the best way. Good on you, that's definitely a wise move. You've let her make sure she knows if anything weird goes on that she should let you know." There's more, though, so she's leaning forward and scribbling furious notes. It's not really what he's saying, it's more a list of thoughts she's having about what should and could be investigated. He's still going, though, and she nods her head before looking up.

"Yes, you're good, just keep going."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Well... check these weird apples. The FBI shows up with the bodies, eight of them. She's ordered by the hospital director to prep for surgery immediately and to cooperate with the FBI or else her contract won't be renewed." Eyebrow raise, "She was told to recover the brains from seven of the bodies and put them in equipment they brought. Well... the bodies?"

Terry digs into his shirt pocket and brings out his phone, which has the video he exported from the comm camm. "This is one of them."

The photo shows a still of a video of a morgue drawer. Inside there is a woman in black, nondescript military fatigues. She has sustained injuries that reveal that underneath the skin, there are... silver-toned muscles. Robots. The top of the skull detached cleanly, showing a brain-sized socket, not organic. The brain has already been removed.

Terry gives Lois a significant look. "There were two FBI spooks watching the morgue. Doctor D brought me in invisible. But it gets weirder. The eighth body? That was of a normal flesh and blood person. Not a robot. Our John Doe. I got his details..."

He shows her a photo of the next bit of footage- the victim's name: Joshua Foley. Age 19. An address in the Bronx.

"She said the body was in a terrible condition... but we never got to see it because..." he slides. Next photo: an empty mortuary drawer. No body.

"There is only one way in and out of that room, and it was watched by the FBI spooks. But the body is gone, Lois. The doc was badly shaken, as you can imagine. And things just got weird because we have..."

He holds up a finger, "The FBI potentially running a *lab where they're experimenting on captured mutants* and covering it up. We have this kid there... and someone, most likely /not/ the FBI, who doesn't want anyone to learn something from that body. If the FBI didn't want an autopsy to be run on him, they wouldn't have brought his body over to St. Luke's, only the seven robots. So..."

He straightens up and looks at Lois with a serious look. "Something super fucky is going on."

Lois Lane has posed:
"So, what I'm hearing is that someone is going to order pizza to Joshua Foley's residence and see who picks it up, if anyone," Lois says, tearing the page of notes off of the legal pad and folding it up a little haphazardly to stick into her purse. "But you're right, something 'super fucky' is likely going on with this. It could also be /really big/, especially if we can tie someone higher up into the whole FBI running the lab. Someone's got to bankroll it and cover it up. Who knows how high this thing goes."

She abruptly folds her arms over her chest. "Terry, why are you working when you're recovering from what I can only likely describe probably as the most psychadelic high of your life?" She can't be certain the exact details, but that seems an apt description for her. "Not that I'm complaining. You've done great, I'm really impressed."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Because," he blinks slowly, "... a reporter follows the lead no matter where it may go?" He gives her a goofy grin. "And besides... I could tell this was bad, and big. And if someone doesn't get moving, it could be too late to pick up any trail. Heeey... Pizza. Pizza is a great idea. I was thinking of sneaking into the address with my invisibility... but the pizza is a first great idea. Yes. yes." He nods slowly.

"And... it's not as bad as it was when I first got back. The bouts are happening less and less... " He scratches his chin, "I wanted to look up Joshua Foley on social media, see if he had any presence, see if there was any pictures, instagram, that sort of stuff. That way I know what he looked like. And I figured that with my powers of illusion I could orchestrate 'sightings' of him and see exactly who freaks the hell out, you know what I mean?"

He sighs, and nods, "But... you're right. I need to go rest. But I just needed to give you the update in person because... you know." He makes hand gestures, "Digital might be compromised. That sort of thing. And I wanted to make sure I was following the right instinct and not screwing things up."

Pause, and then a mischievous glint in his eyes. "... and I can't promise anything yet, but I think I might have lined you up an interview with Queen Hippolyta herself. /In/ Themyscira. I just need for Donna to see if it can happen but..." he grins.

Lois Lane has posed:
"You've got no idea what's /in/ that apartment, at least if you've got pizza showing up at the door if there's someone inside they might take the bait. If someone can get out of the morgue, we're going to need to know what we're dealing with. Did someone take him? Did he just get up and walk away?" After all, Lois has heard of stranger things. "Fair enough with the update. I want you to rest and we can follow up on this on--"

Shut the front door, did she hear...?

This would be the moment Lois would spit out her coffee if she were drinking any. She's not, though, and Terry has not brought her any. So instead she looks at him wide eyed. "You're... getting me an interview... /in/ Themyscira." Sure, he said he can't promise anything, but he's already promising in a way. "Terry, if this is some way to tell me you've done something worse and I'm going to be mad at you and you're trying to make up for it... you've done a good job of making up for it. I don't even care what sort of black hole you opened in space-time or something."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
The Cheshire cat shakes his head, "No, no, I already did that. Remember? I was lost in another universe for three months. This is--- well, look. If anyone deserves to interview a literal figure from antiquity and the queen of the Amazons, that's you in my books."

Terry stands up, "I'm going to follow your advice and have a lie-down... and tonight, I'll order pizza to Foley's address and do a stake-out, and see what might be seen. I'll keep you up to date on everything." He shrugs, "This story is /big/. And I think we'll be the ones to break it. Provided I don't break something in the process."

He yawns. "I'm... going to crash in the break room while I shoot Gar a text to see if he can come pick me up. I don't trust myself Rabbit Holing long distances just yet. But... start thinking up questions for Queen Polly!" He winks, and starts walking in the direction of the break room. He turns around. "Oh yeah, tip one- don't call her Queen Polly. She hates that. Don't ask how I know." He grins and half walks, half stumbles to the break room.

Lois Lane has posed:
"I'm flattered, Terry, you've appealed to my ego," Lois says, unable to hide the grin. Really, she's more touched than flattered, but she won't say that outloud. Not in the office. She stares at Terry, mouthing the words 'Queen Polly' in a bit of shock before she calls after Terry.

"Don't let the coffee eat you while you're in there!"