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Rolled 55 (1d100)

>>4525019


While you’re still trying to put yourself back together, stabbing at the refrigerator's touch screen to compose your message, the door to the break room is pressed open lightly. Not opening very far a figure slips in by virtue of quickness and size, Cat Grant enters the room quietly and with a concerned look on her face.

Briefly she glances back to the door and to you. You and Cat have been rivals in your time so far at the Daily Planet. Where as you sought out the important stories she chased gossip for high society, celebrity, and the lure of fashion. Somehow chasing these things often lead you to a head where those paths intersected, especially where the political scene is sometimes concerned.

“What was that?” she questions as you finish the composition of your tweet, tagging the Daily Planet in the post and hoping someone in the Social Media department will have the good sense to share and promote the notification before you march over there and tell them.

“That was,” you pause and grouse at what you suspect might be Cat trying to weasel into the gossip of your current hardships,”family,”

“Yeah, I can see that. I know what a dysfunctional one looks like,” she sighs and you curse under the building frustration and pressure, “Are you okay?”

You aren’t sure if you should trust her. And you may have left Kent to the wolves out there on the floor of the City Desk with your father and sister...or did you leave your family to the wolf? Kent has a hunger and skill. She may be a farm girl but you don’t doubt she can tear away the wool to reveal something more aggressive.


Lois Lane, what will you do about this situation with Cat?
>Confide in Cat
>Talk a bit, but try and throw her off the scent of hot gossip
>Tell Cat to get lost
>Scrutinize Cat’s intentions?
>Ignore her
>Write in

>>4525020
>>Talk a bit, but try and throw her off the scent of hot gossip
It lives! Good to see you back.

>>4525020
>>Confide in Cat
Let's face it, them blowing up as being so closely tied to the story we were digging up, this is going to get scrutinized anyway. May as well get our version out to make it clear there wasn't a family connection helping us.

>>4525020
>>4525057

I can back this

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PREVIOUS ISSUE

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/4419412/

>>4525020
>Build a relationship with Cat. Things shouldn't be so... exclusive, between the two of you.

Frankly, we could help each other when we're not in direct conflict with one another. And... a friendly ear to confide in never hurts.

>>4525020
>>Talk a bit, but try and throw her off the scent of hot gossip
keep it light, i’m more concerned about getting back to Kent and the senpai

>>4525020
>>Confide in Cat

>>4525020
>Talk a bit, but try and throw her off the scent of hot gossip

>>4525030
>>4525181
>>4525436
Talk a bit but try to throw her off

>>4525057
>>4525068
>>4525259
Confide

>>4525157
Close enough to confiding matching earlier sentiments

Confide in Cat takes it. Writing

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“Honestly, I am very not okay. I could handle being hunted by a black ops team, but learning maybe half of what I’m trying to cover just got torn away from me because of an ethical conflict sprung on me like a bad surprise party?” you grouse and slam the touch screen a few times when it doesn’t register that you’re pressing send, “Well...this isn’t the kind of conflict I thrive in,”

Cat Grant, looking a bit uncertain, closes the distance between you and tentatively puts a hand on your shoulder.

“I’m sorry,” she offers with an earnest mean that surprises you for the way she normally plots and smiles and watches events unfold, “I know a bit about being disappointed by family,”

You’re taken aback by that. It’s unexpected from Cat the way she usually behaves.

“I’m surprised you’re in here talking to me about it, isn’t this the kind of juicy gossip you live for?” you start to pull away from her but pause.

“Maybe, but honestly I’m more concerned with backing up a coworker and the reputation of our paper,” she considers, “If you’d have known about his involvement, or had any inclination what was going on you would have dropped this on someone else’s lap and been cursing all the way to the lobby days ago,”

“Well, thanks for the vote of confidence in me,” you sigh.

“And, from what I’ve gleaned so far, you’ve still got plenty of world changing material you can cover, right?”

“More or less, but I’m going to be under a microscope for this no matter what now,” you sigh, “So, you’re gonna go to bat for me in your column?”

“Absolutely,” she says with a serious face, “I know we clash and disagree, but we’re both on the same team. We’re both Planet,”

Cat Grant, though probably with some strings attached later, is now part of your Crew and can be called upon for aid with minor convincing

“So, what was the slap all about?” she questions as she disengages and sits at one of the break room tables.

With a sigh, you spend some time confiding in Cat some details about the last time you were with your family and the loose nature of the falling out between you and your father over your career path, and some misgivings over the way he was so distant when your mother passed. Cat agrees to leave out that part and sees the path parsing some of this information in support of you and your tenuous situation.

It ends with an offer from the queen of rumors to join you for a drink, if not tonight then whenever you are ready.

And it reminds you that you probably have to have a meeting with HR and Legal for punching a 3 Star General in the office.

>>4525548


When the two of you are done and you do stride back into the office, you find things seemed to have resumed with business as usual. Frantic shouts, people moving, Chief screaming into the phone. You see no sign of your Father, your Sister, Kent, or Olsen.

Cat is already returning to her cubicle to get to work.

Meanwhile you...

>Are going to get back to writing what you can write about
>Take the rest of the day to clear your head
>Find out where Kent and Jimmy got off to
>Go speak to the Chief
>Write in

>>4525549
>Are going to get back to writing what you can write about

>>4525549
>>Find out where Kent and Jimmy got off to
>>Go speak to the Chief
Message Kent and Jimmy for status, update the Chief.

>>4525549
>>Find out where Kent and Jimmy got off to
>>Go speak to the Chief

>>4525549
>>Go speak to the Chief

>>4525549
>>Go speak to the Chief

>>4525549

Yay, new thread from Artemis

>>Go speak to the Chief
Should probably talk to him about this whole mess with our family. It's the courteous thing to do.

>>4525549
>>Find out where Kent and Jimmy got off to
>>Go speak to the Chief

>>4525549
>>Find out where Kent and Jimmy got off to
Chief looks busy. Doubt he'd appreciate an interruption right now.

>>4525851
Chief is always busy.

>>4525554
Writing

>>4525570
>>4525652
>>4525829
Jimmy & Clara? Talk to Chief

>>4525674
>>4525696
Go Speak to the Chief

>>4525851
Jimmy & Clara?

Writing after my Sunday Night FFXIV story play through...so it'll be a spell. How is everyone this thread?

>>4526118
In the moment. You?

>>4526126
Not bad, sitting on some computer upgrading and learning as I go with the process of knowing half of what I should be doing there in.

Got stymied for a bit on needing a bios update to my board for my new chip.

>>4526118
Pretty good chief, just about to head off to sleep. Hope you're well.

>>4526118
Pretty good. Tired, but that's nothing new. Glad you're doing well.

>>4526118
Alright. Little worn out. It's my grandma's birthday, so we went out to dinner for the first time in months. Was a good time though.

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Taking out your phone you shoot Kent and Jimmy a group text asking after where they went while you make your way over to the Chief’s office. After leaving her with your dad and sister, after you punched your father in the face lest you forget, any number of things could have happened. There’s a chance Kent and Jimmy were scared off by your father’s stern intensity after your left? Would he be angry? He had to be expecting that from you.

He just had to...for the secrets. For treating your family as a command structure after mom died. It makes you retch a little bit that Lucy of all people fell in line behind him on his own damned...what did he call it? Command staff? Was she trying so hard for his approval that she-

You need to calm down. You’ve gotta talk to the Chief. The only command structure in your life which you give a damn about. Nothing will clear your head better than a clear bark off with your editor over what just happened and all the things you’ve sent to print.

You aren’t even at Perry's door, watching him slam down one phone while picking up another through the window wall he watches the city desk floor through, when Clara responds that your father invited her and Jimmy to attend an imminent and official DEO Press Conference after providing a few exclusive quotes and photos to them.

Well, you guess he wasn’t mad. A part of you hopes you didn’t leave a shiner for the press conference, another part of you sort of does.

Ugh, you’ll probably feel that hit across your knuckles tomorrow.

“LANE! You’ve just opened a door to misery I didn’t know could exist!?” Perry shouts leaning over his desk, a hand cupped over the receiver of one of the wired phones in front of him.

In the language of Perry White, this half confused demanding shout in the middle of phones ringing off the hook around him

“I’m sorry you had to see that chief, it was a family matter,” you offer succinctly and cross your arms, “I’ve got enough to write about with all this that I can skirt writing specifics about the DEO angle of the story beyond its existence. Kent has the research and apparently the press conference invite so-”

“What, the thing with you dad? No,” he grabs with his free hand for the empty space on his desk you remember his ashtray used to occupy before he grumbles to himself under his breath, “Caesar’s Ghost, Lane, I’ve got more calls and damn emails coming through the pipes today demanding interviews with you! I’ve got requests for punditry, day time interviews, even a few focusing on the Intergang story and not all this Alien and Metahuman stuff,”

How does Lois feel about having a public spotlight on her?
>Sarcastically thrilled
>Annoyed, you already wrote the article.
>Worried this will distract you from the articles you and Kent are working on
>Ambivalent, just another thing to do with your time
>Excited at the broader platform, closer to a Pulitzer
>Write in

>>4526469
>Sarcastically thrilled

While I do think she would be excited about all the good publicity, I do think this would be the appropriate response.

>>4526469
>>Sarcastically thrilled
>That's just great, Chief. I'm sure giving time to competitors trying to turn my byline into a headline will be a great use of time. (Scoff)

Despite constantly getting dangerously involved in stories, I feel like Lane prefers being in the byline over the headline.

>>4526469
>>Worried this will distract you from the articles you and Kent are working on

>>4526469
>>Sarcastically thrilled
>>Annoyed, you already wrote the article.

>>4526469
>>Annoyed, you already wrote the article.

>>4526590
>>4526581
Supporting these

>>4526469
>Sarcastically thrilled
Lets goooooo

>>4526491
>>4526780
Sarcastically

>>4526590
>>4526711
Sarcastically & annoyed

>>4526711
>>4526581
Sarcastically and a comment there in

>>4526705
Just annoyed

>>4526586
Worried

Alright, I have a clear view of what's what here.

We got a Sarcasm mixer.

“Why I’m absolutely thrilled, Chief,” you drawl and roll your eyes as the phones continue to ring around you as you scoff, “I'm sure giving time to competitors trying to turn my byline into a headline will be a great use of my time,”

“Good to see we’re on the same page then,” he sighs and slumps into his chair with a growling laugh, “I got GBS breathing down my neck chomping at the chance to have you on and I’m happy I can just tell em all they can read what you have to say in the papers...or on the fridge?”

“Not my finest moment, I’ll admit,” you sigh, “Want me to swing by legal over any of that?”

“Nah, I’ll draft a statement for your discovered conflict from the paper, and I doubt your old man is gonna press on what happened. You can keep on doing what you’re doing. Send me your turn ins and maybe when I say keep your head down for a few days keep your damn head down,” he smiles and sits forward before grabbing the phone again.

He pauses, listens to someone on the other end for a beat.

“Godfrey, just the man I wanted to talk to. I spoke with Lois,” he smiles broadly, “And it is my absolute pleasure to tell you she has better things to do with her time,”

Slamming the phone down, Perry fixes you with a steady look and furrows his brow.

“Take your time, get the work done, and then get back on your beat,” your boss says as more of an order than a demand, “You’re gonna run yourself ragged if you keep going hard. You’ve just broken a complete rewrite of modern history and you’ve put the Planet back on the map. Finish your current projects, take a breather, and then you’re back on the beat,”

You have just changed the world with keystrokes. You are sitting on information that will continue to change things as you portion out information over the course of the week.

As a journalist you stood for Truth and Justice, and maybe your writing will help spur on the charge of both of those….between a burgeoning age of heroes led by the Superwoman you named.

Daily Planet Quest First Mystery is Mystery is Complete
Lois Lane Marks 1 more Experience.

The Second Mystery is about to kick into gear one week later…
>Forgotten Playthings, innocent collateral
>A Study in Purple, the cryptid of Metropolis
>All Points Bulletin, Tony Zuko
>Stolen Children, Government Cheese
>Fear and Loathing and Made of Straw
>Glorious Rhetoric, Prime Time
>Her Story, the History of Krypton
>A day in the new normal, Registered Trademark of Lexcorp

>>4527652
>Her Story, the History of Krypton

>Godfrey
Are we dealing with New Gods already!?

>>4527652
>A day in the new normal, Registered Trademark of Lexcorp

>>4527652
>>Her Story, the History of Krypton

Is this what you were hinting at elsewhere?

>>4527652
>Her Story, the History of Krypton

>>4527652
>Forgotten Playthings, innocent collateral

>>4527652
>>Stolen Children, Government Cheese
The others... Toyman, Parasite(?), whoever Tony Zuko is, Scarecrow, Godfrey, and the last two are pretty obvious.

>>4527733
> whoever Tony Zuko is
The man who killed Dick Grayson's parents.

>>4527652
>All Points Bulletin, Tony Zuko

Gotta go with my boy Zuko,

How the Fire Nation, by the way?

>>4527652
>>Glorious Rhetoric, Prime Time

>>4527683
>>4527708
>>4527719
Kryptonian history, Kara Zor El's story, now incoming.

>>4527686
Lexcorp trying to capitalize on a new age of heroes financially

>>4527725
Toyman going after Manheim and kidnapping kids mixing his early 90's arc with the STAS arc...I'm happy for Cat this didn't get got for now

>>4527733
Your tax dollars at work at the newly made public Metropolis Center for Paranormal Studies

>>4529145
Police time, meeting Maggie Sawyer and Bruce Wayne comes to Metropolis

>>4530445
Galaxy Broadcasting's G. Gordon Godfrey takes the new era's concerns to the people.

So. Writing.

Rolled 3, 5 - 1 = 7 (2d6 - 1)

Daily Planet Quest: The Second Mystery. Her Story, This History of Krypton

It has been an absolute beast of a week. After your initial exposé on the hidden history of the Mystery Men and the superhuman abilities existing in the world, it was like a chain reaction happened across the world. Being in hiding made themselves known. A number of disturbing facts presented themselves; including the literal disappearance of a place called Fawcett City, which you had previously never heard of, back in 1953 that managed to have been covered up entirely.

Ted Grant, citing the notion that most of his enemies were dead, contacted Jimmy and in an expletive fashion told him to just go and publish his name openly. Under the auspices that it’ll be good for his gym.

Further sightings and instances of meta human activity has been seen world wide, or rather the activity of people whose antics, villainy, or heroics were previously repressed were now out in the open. Several garnering a small following. Though no clear catalogue has been made of many of them.

Though, so many people have come forward with remembered stories of the Justice Society of America, and Ted Grant himself has been forthright with remembering his colleagues.

For now, between rescues, you are presently on your way to a rendezvous with the Superwoman. Despite Perry’s declaration, you still found a way into trouble and again into contact with Kara Zor-El. In the aftermath of her daring defeat of a high tech rocket car perpetrated robbery, the two of you scheduled a time and place to look at her rocketship.

Lois Lane, you are currently...
>at the Star Labs secondary Metropolis Facility where Kara Zor-El wishes to show human scientists Kryptonian technology
>getting off a plane in Anchorage Alaska of all places, because Zara Zor-El promises she’ll meet you in Denali National Park
>freshly off a greyhound at a remote bus station in West Virginia, alone, waiting for your bomber jacket clad friend
>write in

Rolling Minor Celebrity at the start of this mystery

>>4530699
Lois Lane marks Hold 1 from Minor Celebrity

>>4530699
>getting off a plane in Anchorage Alaska of all places, because Zara Zor-El promises she’ll meet you in Denali National Park

>>4530699
>>getting off a plane in Anchorage Alaska of all places, because Zara Zor-El promises she’ll meet you in Denali National Park

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>>4530699
>>write in
>heading to the mountains on the outskirts of Metropolis, under the guise of a camping trip of all things, because Zara Zor-El promises she’ll meet you in the national park.

>>4530699
>>getting off a plane in Anchorage Alaska of all places, because Zara Zor-El promises she’ll meet you in Denali National Park

>>4530699
>getting off a plane in Anchorage Alaska of all places, because Zara Zor-El promises she’ll meet you in Denali National Park

>>4530699
>>freshly off a greyhound at a remote bus station in West Virginia, alone, waiting for your bomber jacket clad friend

You disembark into the South Terminal Concourse, with a comparably large backpack slung across your shoulders. When you explained to Perry where you were going and what was going on, he gave you a small reimbursement budget to cover airfare and equipment expenses. Rightly he had wondered why the strange visitor hadn’t just picked you up and flown you to Alaska herself.

“She said she needed to make sure I really wanted this,” you sigh to yourself as you repeat her explanation as you had related it to the chief, looking out over the airfield and bay over the low skyline of Anchorage, “That if she was going to share this with somebody it needed to be a journey,”

A journey you were absolutely ready to take and the chief was excited to send you on. It got you out of Intergang crosshairs for a few days. It got governmental eyes off of The Daily Planet for a while if some spook or spy group is tailing you around, heaven forbid. And it got him an exclusive story for the paper no one else in the city could conceivably scoop you guys on.

Which brings you back to the catch.

Are you alone?

Lois Lane, who has the Chief sent along with you?
>Jimmy Olsen, accompanying for his reliability and your long term working relationship
>Cat Grant, Chief hopes her presence will deter anyone following you from realizing this was a serious trip
>Richard White, a skilled reporter and Perry’s nephew, to help keep tabs on things for Perry until your rendezvous
>Clara Kent, a country girl like Smallville will be a boon in navigating the wilderness of Denali Park
>Steve Lombard, the obnoxious Sports Editor has a resume of out of doors activities and hiking adventures
>No one has been sent with you

And

Lois Lane, who is currently following you? Whether you know it or not
>Crazy random happenstance that you’ll run into Bruce Wayne who is on a globe trotting trip to Alaska with his adopted Ward, Dick Grayson
>A boy with dark hair who clearly isn’t dressed for the weather [Option only available if Clara is with you]
>You’d know that profile and disapproving glare anywhere; why is Mercy Graves, Lexcorp head of Security, waiting for you?
>Some loud Australian guy has definitely been trying to keep tabs on you since you got on the plane, with his little hat you thought he was a steward or something. [Digger Harkness, on Govt Assignment]
>...one of the stewardesses was clearly your little sister, Lucy, in a blonde wig wearing colored contacts and glasses
>The old man who was on your roof with the ASA is just sitting there, reading a newspaper
>No one is following you

As you pause in your walk through the concourse, you look over to some large TVs erected in the so named “Alaska Lounge” where back on the east coast the President is announcing his selection for Secretary of Extranormal Affairs…

>>4532053

And the scene itself takes your mind off the pressing business of your imminent scavenger hunt for the last daughter of Krypton.

Who is taking a public political appointment to oversee Extranormal Affairs in America?
>A lithe built African American woman with a genial smile [Least Amanda Waller]
>A short widely built African American woman with an extremely serious expression [Most Amanda Waller]
>An unnerving bald man with bushy beard and thick coke bottle glasses [Dr Hugo Strange]
>An athletically built woman, with dark hair and a mediteranian tan [She looks...familiar?]
>A...that is a skeleton in a business suit [Mr Bones]
>A Gruff looking balding military sort, you remember him from when you were a kid [General Wade Eiling]
>An older looking man, you recognize him from your roof during the ASA raid[Potential ??? if he's also in the lounge]

>>4532053
>>4532056
>>Clara Kent, a country girl like Smallville will be a boon in navigating the wilderness of Denali Park
>>You’d know that profile and disapproving glare anywhere; why is Mercy Graves, Lexcorp head of Security, waiting for you?
>>An athletically built woman, with dark hair and a mediteranian tan [She looks...familiar?]

>>4532053
>Clara Kent, a country girl like Smallville will be a boon in navigating the wilderness of Denali Park
>Crazy random happenstance that you’ll run into Bruce Wayne who is on a globe trotting trip to Alaska with his adopted Ward, Dick Grayson
>An athletically built woman, with dark hair and a mediteranian tan [She looks...familiar?]

>>4532053
>Clara Kent, a country girl like Smallville will be a boon in navigating the wilderness of Denali Park
>A boy with dark hair who clearly isn’t dressed for the weather [Option only available if Clara is with you]
>An athletically built woman, with dark hair and a mediteranian tan [She looks...familiar?]
>A...that is a skeleton in a business suit [Mr Bones]

>>4532053
>>Cat Grant, Chief hopes her presence will deter anyone following you from realizing this was a serious trip

>>...one of the stewardesses was clearly your little sister, Lucy, in a blonde wig wearing colored contacts and glasses

>>4532056
>>An athletically built woman, with dark hair and a mediteranian tan [She looks...familiar?]

Nothing against the fortress with the write-in earlier, just thought the Earth-2 style mountain sanctuary was neat.

>>4532053
>>No one has been sent with you
>No one is following you
>An athletically built woman, with dark hair and a mediteranian tan [She looks...familiar?]

>>4532053
>>Cat Grant, Chief hopes her presence will deter anyone following you from realizing this was a serious trip
>>Crazy random happenstance that you’ll run into Bruce Wayne who is on a globe trotting trip to Alaska with his adopted Ward, Dick Grayson
>>4532056
>>A...that is a skeleton in a business suit [Mr Bones]

Unrelated to todays thread but I am reading the livewire thread on /co/ with rapt attention for inspiration.

>>4532370
Link? I can’t seem to find it.

>>4532449
There’s some useful ideas buried in this >>>/co/118966923 thread

Test 1 2 3, I'm not seeing posts show up for some reason.

>>4532631
I'm seeing you, Artemis.

As you watch the television play by with the introduction of the athletically built woman with dark hair and a mediteranian tan, who seems oddly familiar to you somehow, Clara Kent bumps into you as she leafs through a magazine guide to Denali National Park. This publication is one of a few she holds stacked together on the subject of Alaska and Anchorage itself in general. With the small impact the bound glossy papers tumble to the ground.

“Smallville!” you raise your voice a bit in surprise to this fumble.

“Sorry about that,” she shrugs a bit and kneels down to gather her lost materials, “I was really absorbed in the history of the park,”

It had been Perry’s idea that the adamant country girl would be a boon for you to have in this wilderness expedition. Leaning into his desire for you to continue to show her how you do business at least along with his concerns for you on this outing given your robustly urbane leanings for lifestyle and experience.

“Never been to Alaska?” you question after a rather long and quiet series of flights and exchanges.

“Well, I’ve never visited Anchorage, at least for long enough to see the place,” she smiles and straightens the stack of publications, “I was a bit excited to head up here, have you ever been?”

“Briefly,” you offer her before your voice turns as cold as the weather will be at your destination, “with my dad,”

She nods, no doubt remembering the incident when he showed up at the office after the two of you had your unfortunate encounter with the ASA. If not for the Superwoman, you imagine your dad and sister would have pulled through on their bid to save you. Clara here and Jimmy might not have been so lucky…

Best not to dwell on it.

“Sorry,” she offers a bit sheepishly.

“It’s no problem,” you sigh and then turn your attention back to the TV in the lounge with a gesture, “Though if you’re gonna get lost in something I think this should be good,”

The voice over describes the announcement as the President steps aside from the podium in the Rose Garden, having welcomed his new Secretary of Extranormal Affairs to the fore that she may introduce herself. She walks with confidence and grace before warmly smiling at those assembled.

“Good afternoon, my name is Diana Prince, and I hope to serve the people of this country under my nomination as the Secretary of Extranormal Affairs. In the past these matters were grounded in secrecy, such that it drove good people either underground or out of their lives. As we enter a new era where everyone can wear their potential in the light of day, it is my sincere hope that we can foster a brighter tomorrow. Though those are platitudes, and sound bytes requested of me by the Press Secretary,” she begins while adjusting silver bracelets beneath her sleeves.

>>4533506
“Well, she isn’t here to mess around, is she?” Clara whistles, “Thats either some bold posturing or political suicide,”

“Time will tell,” you hum to yourself as you catch flashing lights out of the corner of your eye.

There’s some kind of assembly and crowd further down the concourse.

“I know many of you might not understand why someone you’ve likely never heard of is tasked with taking up this position, and though it may not belay your concerns immediately know that in the past I have served this country dutifully and honestly in numerous though classified instances of Extranormal activity,” she explains simply, “Though as Secretary it is my sincere wish to begin unraveling some of the secrecy surrounding these issues. It was because of such secrecy that I resigned a previous posting in the IADC, between the competing attractions of the ASA and the DEO,”

“She looks far too young to have been a member of the IADC,” you think to yourself as the commotion further down the terminal picks up, “How long ago did you say that outfit was mothballed?”

“Early eighties,” Clara explains, thinking to herself as well, “She could be meta?”

“Hmmmm,” you consider once more before turning to mosey along.

There are far and away enough tvs in the terminal playing this event across many channels that you’re sure to not miss much.

“Mr. Wayne! Mr. Wayne!” a few voice cry as you approach the gathering.

It’s maybe seven people, local reporters both print and television trying to get shots of a peacoated man you’ve seen enough times on TV and magazine covers to recognize without fail.

The playboy. The prince of Gotham. The poster child for what happens when a kid who can fire his caregivers grows up with an obscene inheritance. Old money, new trash. Well, at least handsome trash.

Bruce Wayne.

“...really,” Clara grouses as she catches up and sees what you do.

You haven’t seen her this frustrated with someone, at least as far as hearts on sleeves are concerned, since your run in with the Batman.

He sweeps the crowd with a smarmy smile and wave when you catch sight of something odd, his eyes. They’re a soft and icy blue that always seemed so striking on camera...but in person they seem...furtive and focused despite the rest of his expression and body language. Distracted away from your brief catching of his eyes you zero in on the figure next to him. The child who a few weeks ago was a nationally known sob story, lost in the churning sea foam of the news cycle. The orphaned acrobat, Gotham’s latest tragedy, Richard Grayson. The boy seems a bit nervous, but performatively so, under all this attention.

The TV continues within earshot.

“Ms. Prince, what can you tell us of your philosophy going forward in managing an emergent metahuman and extraterrestrial crisis in America,” a reporter of the press core asks on screen.

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>>4533508
“I assure you, we are not in a state of crisis. Merely one of transition. As for my philosophy, don’t kill if you can wound, don’t wound if you can subdue, don’t subdue if you can pacify, and don’t raise your hand at all until you’ve first extended it”

You surmise that Grayson is used to being in the spotlight having grown up in a regionally famous circus act.

Bruce Wayne has supposedly adopted the boy out of a great swell of sympathy for shared suffering, having been in the audience the night the boy got to watch his parents murdered by sabotage.

“I want to just calm everyone down, I’m not here to shut down the plant,” Bruce Wayne offers the crowd in a genial manner, “I’m just doing a small impromptu tour of Wayne Enterprises facilities outside of Gotham and maybe do a little glamping while the season is still good for it,”

Clara looks like she is about to march over to this crowd, less laid back than she normally conducts herself, and get involved in this while flexing her existing press credentials. You’re a bit tempted to join her.

Lois Lane, will you…
>Let Clara do what she will, while you scrutinize
>Try and calm Clara down and just watch this a bit
>Engage this matter as a journalist and ask a few questions why not
>Pull Clara along with you, your rental car is waiting
>Try to calm Clara down and keep your attentions on the Secretary’s QA
>Write in

>>4533520
>>Try and calm Clara down and just watch this a bit
We can always watch the press release back later. This is happening now.

>>4533520
>>Pull Clara along with you, your rental car is waiting

>>4533520
>>Let Clara do what she will, while you scrutinize

>>4533520
>Write in
Have Clara watch the press conference, while we ask Bruce a few questions. We can’t let this opportunity go by, but she’s clearly emotionally compromised

On an unrelated note, using The Batman for a picture is a pleasant surprise, given it’s pretty overlooked.

>>4533520
>>4533941

I can back this. Bruce Wayne being there at the same time IS too much of a scoop to pass up.

>>4533520
>>Try to calm Clara down and keep your attentions on the Secretary’s QA

>>4533520
>>4534150
Also: Think about why the new Secretary seems familiar..

>Apparently one member of the assembled society was dismissed from the proceedings despite ardently wishing to participate. The floor recognised her as Ambassador Diana of Paradise Island, noting as of now the committee had no questions or charges for her and thanked her for her past cooperation and service. Described in the bodice, tiara, and skirt you saw in the photo, she was apparently going to resist removal before a masked woman described as wearing a leather jacket and fishnets bid her to trust that they’d be alright.

>>4533941
It was the most appropriate public facing Bruce for what I’m going for, had folks vote on.

>>4535814
I remember the vote, was just a pleasant surprise to see the pic.

>>4535826
The more smiley and congenial the PR Bruce, the better and more obvious the mood shift to who Bruce really is.

>>4535832
Assuming you have a serious batman like we voted for, yes.

Rolled 4, 6 + 2 = 12 (2d6 + 2)

Manipulate someone

“Why that,” Clara seethes, and you’re left confused at her anger.

You know she’s well traveled, has she crossed paths with Wayne before? The man does have a reputation. She’s about to step forward when you put a hand on her shoulder. Her lean alone almost pulls you forward, like trying to hold back a locomotive leaving the platform.

As she notices, she stops.

“Clara, don’t. Whatever is going through your head right now is a bad idea,” you offer her seriously, “I know what it means to run afoul powerful and self important jerks,”

You linger back to some of the last exchanges between you and Lex during your breakup. He had decided using his power to crush you was beneath him...though he mused how easy it would be and pontificated on the hypothetical how to of each method.

Honestly, you’re sure he wasn’t trying to intimidate you. He was musing and honestly wanted your opinion. That, and his callousness…

The look on Clara’s face is shocked before you see a moment of troubled mental arithmetic flow over her face.

“That isn’t- I mean- nothing- ARGH!” she huffs in some volume of personal frustration.

“You’re clearly upset about something, and I’m not going to press about it. I think you need to cool your heels and not run off and do something actionable, yet,” you say with a smirk, “Stay here and keep some eyes on the press conference, I’ll go see what I can dig out Wayne,”

Clara has deflated as you begin to move toward the anchorage equivalence of an impromptu press conference, though she does grab the hem of your jacket sleeve.

“What I was about to flip out over,” she says with a sudden even keel, “It wasn’t like you think. Wayne isn’t a bad guy, I just don’t trust why he’s out here at the same time as us and that’s all I want to say about it right now,”

The situation begins to become slightly more clear in your mind.

“Well Smallville, here I thought you were just backing me up on this for the chief,” you smile slyly at Clarabelle Kent and snicker to yourself, “But you’re working another story entirely...connected to Wayne Enterprises?”

Her lips crease into a flat line as she seems to painfully nod.

“Yup, that’s right Lois,” they peel back to reveal a wide and embarrassed smile trying to cover for herself, “You’ve caught me on a lead for something I picked up before I started at the Planet. Who says a good reporter doesn’t multitask,”

“So that’s it. Once you got me to my rendezvous with Superwoman you’d double back into the city for your Wayne scoop?” you nod firmly, “Well since you were gonna help me help yourself, I might as well chum the waters,”

Stepping away from Clara Kent, missing the internal cringe that passes across her features after you turned away before she levels a death glare at a man you now approach, you stake your chance for a Metropolis reporter to get their hands on the Prince of Gotham.

>>4538174

Recorder out you catch the tail end of Wayne talking about the importance of rejuvenating previously failing manufacturing centers across the country, and some other platitudes about Wayne Enterprises.

The Grayson boy seems apprehensive, carefully inquisitive, and someone bored. An older gentleman, you assume the Wayne butler, leads the boy off a bit toward the lounge.

Choose your flavor of Alfred Pennyworth
>Former private security contractor turned caretaker [No Nonsense, will shoot]
>Former private security contractor turned career butler [nonsense, will shoot]
>Former British Intelligence Agent turned career butler [Dry wit, much sass, will shoot]
>Butler with a rough past on the mean street of london [Angry Cockney, will shoot]
>Former Cobblepot Butler turned Wayne Butler [Dry wit, less violence]

“Mr Wayne, Lois Lane Daily Planet,” you but into this impromptu press event with all the subtle touch of a wrecking ball in a decided power move, “You talk a big game about rejuvenating manufacturing but Wayne Enterprises is famous for struggling to prop up Gotham’s sinking ship so to speak,”

The slick haired fellow turns his attention toward you and smiles without missing a beat.

“Lois Lane? The Lois Lane,” he smiles and you catch a confused look from the Grayson boy as he is ushered into a nearby terminal lounge, “I loved your article on the JSA and the Superwoman. Wow, its amazing to meet you,”

Racking your brain on what you know about him and his company you take a blind shot in the dark.

“Flattered, but do you have anything to say about the drop in investor confidence Wayne Enterprises has experienced after you adopted a child on a whim. There are accusations of mental instability especially after the dismantling of your Arms division,”

“I can’t believe Lois Lane wants to write about me,” he smiles like a handsome idiot and turns to the local TV camera, “Can you believe it?”

“Master Wayne, your itinerary!” the butler calls from a few yards away.

“Oh, right. So, how about I just give you this and you can call me later,” he takes out a small business card and scribbles in pen on the back, “We’ll set up an interview, but for now the business calls,”

Okay. Maybe he isn’t Trash. Maybe he’s just a rich idiot. Or just really charming and good at deflection. Still, an actual sense of excitable empathy that was devoid in the last Billionaire you spent any time around.

He, and the cadre of local media follow him over to the lounge. A few quick photosnaps of you are taken idly...not that you care that much.

Still, you got a previously unlisted phone number for Bruce Wayne.

Clara comes up behind you.

“He isn’t here about the plant,” she sighs as you save the number to your contacts.

>>4538175

“I mean, that’s obvious,” you shrug, “He famously watched his parents die, now he’s adopted a kid who had the same happen to him and is whirling that kid around the world. Probably got some kind of guilt savior complex or something. Blah blah blah he’s really trying to save himself in the alley that night or something,”

Clara is quiet.

“Yeah...something like that,” she says evenly to herself as the two of you move past the lounge to get to the concourse.

Your rental car awaits, and it's a short drive to the chain hotel you’re starting your journey off from tomorrow. For the rest of the day though…

>You want to see if you can figure out what Clara’s current deal is
>You want to do some research on this Diana Prince, make a few calls
>Perhaps spend some time observing or stalking Bruce Wayne.
>Taking a map out to properly plot and plan your hike
>write in

>>4538175
>Former British Intelligence Agent turned career butler [Dry wit, much sass, will shoot]

>>4538176
>Perhaps spend some time observing or stalking Bruce Wayne.

>>4538175
>>4538176
>>Former British Intelligence Agent turned career butler [Dry wit, much sass, will shoot]
>>Taking a map out to properly plot and plan your hike
Tempted to pick holes in Clara's story, but if we're going on a hike out in the frozen boonies it's best to make sure we know what we're doing.

>>4538175
>>Former British Intelligence Agent turned career butler [Dry wit, much sass, will shoot]
>>4538176
>>Taking a map out to properly plot and plan your hike

>>4538176
>Former British Intelligence Agent turned career butler [Dry wit, much sass, will shoot]
>You want to do some research on this Diana Prince, make a few calls

>>4538176
>Former British Intelligence Agent turned career butler [Dry wit, much sass, will shoot]
>Taking a map out to properly plot and plan your hike

I'm glad we all have great taste in butlers

>>4538357
Unanimous even

>>4538175
>>Former Cobblepot Butler turned Wayne Butler [Dry wit, less violence]
>Taking a map out to properly plot and plan your hike

>>4538175
>Former British Intelligence Agent turned career butler

>>4538176
>Taking a map out to properly plot and plan your hike

>>4538357
>>4538377
It is *the* Alfred. Although I thought he was SAS, not Military Intelligence. Did he do both?

>>4538544
Well, Lion and the Unicorn fighting for the crown anon. Lion and the Unicorn fighting for the crown.

>>4538566
Damn, the DCAU was great. Gotta restart my rewatch sometime.

Rolled 6, 3 + 1 = 10 (2d6 + 1)

In passing you watch as the Butler makes sure the Grayson boy is properly bundled for the weather beyond. It isn’t winter, but it is brisk up here to be sure, there’s still some snow in the park and eternally on the mountain range, but down in the city it’s probably not worth the effort to be so coddling to someone.

You catch the barest exchange of the old man scolding his ‘Master Bruce’ for being so vapidly star struck with your presence on what he had hoped would be a sensical family building trip rather than Bruce’s usual fare.

It’s the kind of scolding a parent can give a child, even an adult one. Briefly you wonder how long that butler has worked for Wayne, or perhaps been in the service of the Wayne family.

Old money seems like a different world.

Then again, New money also occupies that kind of space. Between the two you’ve directly encountered like this you find Bruce preferable to Lex.

Still the concourse ahead waits.

“So, let’s get to the hotel and start planning ahead,” you muse and at least for the moment pay no more heed to the matter of Wayne.

That can come later.

Vehicle secure, a Jeep good for off roading in the Alaskan spring and summer, you make haste for your hotel on the north side of Anchorage. Here is where you and Clara plot out the map of the state park.

“Alright, so we need to get me into the valley at the base of Avalanche Spire,” you circle the area on the map, “Alone for the last three miles,”

“If we can plot a good path, going to be a few hours in the Jeep and at least 17 or so hour hike after,” Clara considers, “I’ve got us sorted on camping supplies, and maybe some skies to hasten things up cross country,”

“The only skiing I’ve ever done is downhill,” you concede.

“Cross Country isn’t hard, and if there’s good terrain for it we can shave a few hours off,”

“Joy,” you mumble, “I still don’t understand why I have to go on some great spiritual journey in nature just to see Superwoman’s rocket,”

“Could be she didn’t expect you to follow through?” Kent offers with a sheepish shrug.

“Heh,” you laugh, “Well the Woman of Steel has another thing coming. Once I sink my teeth into something, I don’t let go so easily,”

The words shared between the two of you are heard by another. To this point unknown to either of you the listener narrows their eyes in suspicion and curiosity. Superwoman’s rocketship?

They are intrigued, cautious, and listening closely as you plot out your course.

Lois Lane has read a bad situation, and has Hold 3. You can spend this hold to ask questions, and acting on this information gives you +1 forward to rolls while the information is relevant
>What’s my best way in?
>What’s my best way out?
>Are there any dangers we haven’t noticed?
>What’s the biggest threat?
>What haven’t you noticed here?
>Why is Clara being so evasive?

>>4539603
>Are there any dangers we haven’t noticed?
>What haven’t you noticed here?
We can deal with known unknowns. It's unknown unknowns that really fuck you up.

>>4539603
>What’s my best way out?
>Are there any dangers we haven’t noticed?

>>4539603
>>What’s the biggest threat?

>>4539603
>>What haven’t you noticed here?

>>4539603
>>What haven’t you noticed here?

Rip qm

Are there any dangers we haven’t noticed?
Pouring over the maps you realize a few things of importance along the hiking trails you intend to take through the park and mountains.

“So, this basin will serve as a good marker for the second night we have to camp, it wouldn't do us any good to push much further after reaching this point if it’s as late as the timetable suggests now,” Clara idly wonders aloud marking a few points with pen.

“No...we may need to take a longer route around,” you muse, “It's warmer climate, basin will probably be flooded out; if there’s any chance of rain it could be a flash flood,”

>Danger Avoided, swamped basin & flash floods

“We can work with that, we may have to march through that night,” Clara nods, “If you’ll be good energy wise to do your interview. I plan to sleep at that campsite until you’re back,”

“Maybe I can convince her to give me the ride back. So you don’t have to wait up,” you smile and take out a compass and press it against the map, rotating both until you’re sure of your bearings.

“You never know, I could do with a few nights of quiet away from the city,” Clara yawns.

What haven’t you noticed here?
As the two of you mark your path, over a few cups of coffee of hotel room instant coffee to sustain you into the reasonable evening for the earlier time of day you’ve jumped too across time zones, something unexpected catches your eye.

“This is bad,” Clara muses into the previously individually sealed paper cup, “absolutely bad. I guarantee that what I have packed for the trip itself is ten times better and probably a quarter of the price,”

“Well, you haven’t steered me wrong yet for coffee,” you reply into your cup, bland more than anything, you have absolutely had better and worse as you reach down for a dropped packet of sweetener for the terrible brew in your other hand, “So, how was the rest of the broadcast?”

In doing so the cuff of your jacket on the table and catch an unexpected clicking noise when the fabric hits wood. To your knowledge there are no buttons in the sleeves of the jacket acquired for this little adventure.

“Interesting, to say the least. I think everyone in the audience was too afraid to ask, but the way she answered some questions she’s definitely some kind of Meta,” Clara reasons while taking a moment to take off and clean her glasses, staring at her reflection in them perhaps a bit of uncertainty, “And a bit familiar too but I can’t place it,”

Fiddling with the sleeve you find something stuck into a cut along the seam. Pressing it out of your jacket with care you find a small black disc with a dull red diode visible and components you identify on sight as being a modified spy microphone and transmitter.

>>4550936

You see a lot of those in your work as an investigative journalist. But where did it come from. When was it slipped onto your person? How even escapes you...but it’s here. On you. Was it a stewardess? Was it Wayne? Was it Clara? Someone passing by you at the airport in Metropolis?

Lois Lane... how do you react to this
>Lose your shit about this discovery
>Wildy accuse Clara, she has been around you all day and has been acting cagey
>This mustn’t register on an emotional level, play it cool. Don’t react

Lois, what do you do with it?
>Crush it mid conversation, make it seem accidental
>Flush it while attending to the bathroom
>Bundle it in a shirt and leave it on the balcony
>Threaten whomever is on the other end
>Attempt to parlay with whomever is on the other end
>Write in

Lois Lane, what do you do with the rest of your night before tomorrow Hike
>Just, stay in the hotel room and sleep, or try to
>Stay in the hotel room and sleep with one eye open restlessly
>Try and research this Diana Prince
>Well, you have Bruce Wayne’s number…
>Try and get Clara to open up to you about the thing with Wayne earlier
>write in

>>4547765
Sorry anon, not dead, but my time is a bit eaten up. Had a few extra gigs to attend to and my current relationship is going well, not that I'd kiss and tell any further than that.

>>4550938
> Silently show Clara
>This mustn’t register on an emotional level, play it cool. Don’t react
> Bundle it in a shirt and leave it on the balcony
>Stay in the hotel room and sleep with one eye open restlessly
Don't let them know we're on to them, while giving Clara a heads up. Hopefully we can come up with an excuse for us to look through the rest of our stuff.

>>4550943
> my current relationship is going well
Great to hear, Artemis! Everyone can use some happiness nowadays.

>>4550938
>This mustn’t register on an emotional level, play it cool. Don’t react
>Bundle it in a shirt and leave it on the balcony
>Try and get Clara to open up to you about the thing with Wayne earlier

>>4550938
>>This mustn’t register on an emotional level, play it cool. Don’t react
>Bundle it in a shirt and leave it on the balcony
>Try and research this Diana Prince

>>4550938
>>This mustn’t register on an emotional level, play it cool. Don’t react
>>Bundle it in a shirt and leave it on the balcony
>>Try and research this Diana Prince

>>4550938
>This mustn’t register on an emotional level, play it cool. Don’t react
>Bundle it in a shirt and leave it on the balcony
>Try and research this Diana Prince

Rolled 4, 6 + 1 = 11 (2d6 + 1)

Lois Lane acting under Pressure.

>>4550938
>Lois Lane... how do you react to this
>>This mustn’t register on an emotional level, play it cool. Don’t react

>Lois, what do you do with it?
>>Write in
Silently show to Clara
Start saying one thing and pointing to others on the map, silently plot a different route than the one discussed so far to though off anyone trying to tag along.
Follow up with going to wash hands and 'accidentally' managing to get sleeve wet. Combine wet with 'vigorous drying' to disable the device.

>Lois Lane, what do you do with the rest of your night before tomorrow Hike
>>Try and research this Diana Prince
>>Try and get Clara to open up to you about the thing with Wayne earlier
>>write in
Mail bits of device to Jimmy to figure out, unless Clara has some ideas. Suppose she's good with tech too..

>>4553080
Too late, friend.

Rolled 6, 5 + 1 = 12 (2d6 + 1)

Rolling + sharp to investigate a mystery (Diana Prince)

This mustn’t register on an emotional level, play it cool. Don’t react: 10+, big success


“Well we’ll just have to do some research on her,” you frown to yourself looking at the device, Clara catches sight of it between your fingers and her expression matches your own, “though likewise on that weird sense of familiarity,”

Clara looks about the room, a bit suspicious and frustrated. It feels like the world slows down, and you have the oddest sensation of scrutiny. You know that feeling at least in context as you gesture toward the sliding door onto the affordable cookie cutter hotel balcony, though in this moment it feels like the discomfort of being under a dentist’s x-ray.

Slowly you pull a spare shirt out of your open bag, setting the small transponder down amid it. Carefully you wrap things up, as many layers slowly folded as you can manage while prompting with a silent mouthing for Clara to ‘keep talking’.

“Well, with everything that’s been declassified in the last few days we might be able to dig up something,” she offers slowly and turns away from the open door, which lets in the comparable cold but for Alaska temperate weather.

With slow and even hands you knot the sleeves around your tightly arranged bundle and set it out on the balcony while she speaks before closing the well insulated door and closing the curtains.

Walking slowly backwards from the wall, you sigh.

Clara pats herself down thoroughly.

Her eyes linger on a corner of the room, then to the mirror hanging above the dresser, and a slow scan of her own and your own profiles. Calculating the likelihood of any other such devices being secreted upon either of you. Slowly she turns off her phone. You follow suit and pat yourself down along suspicious potential points of attachment. Including your bags.

It takes some time before you are both satisfied.

“Awfully calm way to react to that,” Clara hums as she continues looking about the room in a start of heightened and justifiably paranoid suspicion.

“What can I say, I’m cool under the wire. So, how much do you think a bug sweeper will set either of us back?” you question over toward Clara as you catch a frustrated intensity in her eyes, “Think we can go halfsies on one? Maybe they’ll be a good tax write off,”

“Let's find some prices, but for now count me as maybe on halfsies,” she pauses to consider something, checking that the bundle remains on the balcony before heading to the door, “Leave your phone on, don’t want them thinking you’ve gone entirely off the grid yet. I’m gonna watch from outside and see if anyone suspicious comes calling to the front desk or to collect the bundle,”

There is a call to action in her voice, a decisiveness that doesn’t tell the whole story of her intentions but enough of it. She’s a bit angry for certain, and you both really need some answers on this and standing matters.

>>4553751

“Don’t be out too long. I’m gonna dig through what I can find out about Prince,” you explain as she steps outside, “We’ll need to be fresh for tomorrow,”

Sitting down with your laptop, you connect to the hotel wifi...though double checking that your tape over the built in camera and microphone remains intact and there are no unexpected devices or dongles in the ports, vents, or drives.

You begin your research on the newly appointed but not yet Senate Confirmed Secretary of Extranormal Affairs, Diana Prince…You spend a few hours on this before Clara returns and both of you get sleep against the start of tomorrow's hiking and camping. The hotel room coffee doesn’t help terribly much with the jetlag.

Investigate a Mystery: 12. Pick two questions from the list below and pose a third question not on the list within reason.
>Where/When did Diana Prince come from?
>What sort of Meta is Diana Prince if she is one?
>What are her weaknesses in her public position?
>Where has Diana Prince been since the IADC closed?
>What did Diana Prince do in the IADC?
>What is Diana Prince likely to do in the public eye?
>Where have you seen her face before?

What does Clara do when she steps out?
>She does exactly what she says she’ll do, but no one comes
>She does exactly what she says she’ll do, and someone comes for the bundle
>She does exactly what she says she’ll do, and is approached by Bruce Wayne
>She goes to speak with Bruce Wayne, who she knows was spying on you
>She goes to speak with a third party who she knows was spying on you
>She goes to speak with a third party who was spying on you at the same time as Bruce Wayne
>She goes to speak to Bruce Wayne who she knows was spying on you at the same time as a third party
>She goes to speak with a third party who was spying on you while they are being visited by the Batman who was spying on them
>She’s having second thoughts about these theatrics and takes a jaunt home to vent to her Ma
>Write in

>>4553754
>>Where has Diana Prince been since the IADC closed?
>>Where have you seen her face before?

>>She goes to speak with a third party who she knows was spying on you

>>4553754
>What did Diana Prince do in the IADC?
>Where has Diana Prince been since the IADC closed?

>She’s having second thoughts about these theatrics and takes a jaunt home to vent to her Ma

>>4553754
>Where have you seen her face before?
>Where/When did Diana Prince come from?
>What is Diana Prince likely to try and do out of the public eye?

>She goes to speak with a third party who was spying on you while they are being visited by the Batman who was spying on them
This one sounds like a hilarious clusterfuck.

>>4553754
>What are her weaknesses in her public position?
>>Where have you seen her face before?
Remembering the picture and hearing records will answer some questions and open up whole new ones, like:
>What on Earth is this country she ambassador for?

>>4554114
>>4553754
Oh and:
>She goes to speak with a third party who was spying on you while they are being visited by the Batman who was spying on them

>>4553754
>Where has Diana Prince been since the IADC closed?
>Where have you seen her face before?
>She goes to speak with a third party who was spying on you while they are being visited by the Batman who was spying on them

>>4553754
>>What did Diana Prince do in the IADC?
>>Where have you seen her face before?

>>She goes to speak with a third party who was spying on you while they are being visited by the Batman who was spying on them

Your research into Diana Prince turns up a lot of false leads, including a South African Obituary to one Diana Prince-White from the early 00’s which just seems entirely unrelated. Jimmy’s continuing correspondance with Ted Grant and your own notes from everything dug up in your initial investigation into the suppression worm prove a bit more useful mixed with what you can dig up from public records, news, and social media.

First Question: Where has Diana Prince been since the IADC closed?

Diana Prince, the one who was this morning on the white house lawn, has spent the last 30 or so years curating and restoring ancient greek art and artifacts at numerous museums throughout Europe. At least publicly. Multiple doctorates and published papers on subjects ranging over humanities, ethics, art history, mythology, psychology, and sexual studies are apparently accredited to her.

Some of her older papers seem to cover matters that weren’t popular to discuss or acknowledge until more recently on the matter of sexual studies.

So, she went from Government Agent dealing in espionage and occasional extranormal circumstances to this wondrous academic dynamo…

It's flipping through older notes that a scan of the picture you found in Ted’s garage bay really catches your eye again. Flipping between it and a .jpeg from an article on the press conference gives you several moments pause.

Second Question: Where have you seen her face before?

It’s not her face that catches you initially. It's the cuffs. The solid metal bracers beneath Diana Prince’s sleeves that during the televised angle of the conference you thought to be bangles. The bands are the same as those worn by the armor skirt clad sword and shield bearing woman pictured with Ted Grant, Alan Scott, and the as yet unnamed Keystone City Flash.

The faces are the same, it's like breaking through a wall but the woman in this picture, Wonder Woman as Ted had noted in his ramblings, was the new Secretary of Metahuman Affairs.

Then...that begs a question from the McCarthy Hearings as you read them...has a former ambassador from a foreign power been seated as a member of the President’s Cabinet?

Only floated wildcard question: What on Earth is this country she was ambassador for?

Just what kind of place is this Paradise Island, where is it and why did it require an ambassador who is apparently an unaging meta human warrior woman? As afternoon drags into evening and the coffee wears thin, you find your answers after using your credentials to enter academic and global publishing archives within one of her Mythology papers exploring the myth of Themyscira and the vanished culture the Ancient Greeks called the Amazons…

A migration, and exploration of expansions of the spotted history and legends, of the warrior women of myth sequestered and sheltered by the gods in a new home far from the reach of men in the Ancient Greco Roman Age of Heroes.

>>4558000
She refers to this safe haven as a paradise island within the paper…

You miss most of the points of her paper, a bit of sociology and anthropology based on artifacts and writings she knew specifically to reference.

Between this and your own knowledge that magic is real you are left to your frustrations. Not that it could be so readily proven…

When you get the chance though, you could just ask Secretary Prince directly. Sure, nothing wrong with that.

The worst she can say is “No Comment,”

...or is the worst she can say, “Yes,”

Because you’d be more than a little responsible for her return to public life. Wait, was she tapped for the secretary position BECAUSE she was Wonder Woman AND a Government Agent?

Flopping back into the hotel bed and dropping a pillow over your face, you groan.

Clara enters the room, carrying a pizza box as the sun sets.

“So we’ve got no takers on the bundle, but I’m pretty sure we’re safe for now,” she cleans her glasses and sets down the box, “So I got some pizza,”

As much as you have discovered this afternoon in terms of research, with information most people in the world don’t have access to, you could use a bit of a grounded moment with your coworker.

Nah, with your friend.

“I’d almost forgotten about all that,” you claim as you peel up from the bed and set your sights on the suspect box of pizza from a city that isn’t the one where you live, which means it could very well not fit into the baseline worldview of pizza, “Spent most of the afternoon reading Dr. Prince’s body of academic work,”

She sets the box down and slides you a paper plate.


“Oh, so she’s a PhD?” she questions as she cracks open the cardboard lid, “Wait, you forgot about there being a bug in the shirt you were wearing?”

The pizza is...passable by appearance. You can live with this.

“LIke I said, I was engrossed…”

This is an important point. This scoop on Diana Prince is your’s, and you can lead with it in a new batch of articles. Though if you let this slip, Clara might beat you to the punch. While you’ve worked together for a bit, in this moment you’re a bit unsure about sharing something this good.

>>4558002

>Tell Clara about your suspicions of Prince being the JSA’s Wonder Woman.
>Don’t tell Clara about your suspicions of Prince being the JSA’s Wonder Woman.
>Hint at her that you’ve got a lead you want to follow up on when back on the east coast.
>Write in

Over the course of your passable pizza repaste.

“Say, Lois...about earlier,” Clara begins, “So, the reason I was angry earlier...it was something petty. Let’s just say last time I saw him before this morning I thought he was an overly dramatic and aloof jerk…”

“Thought? That implies a change of tense,” your scrutinize her for a moment, “Oh my goodness you ran into Wayne on your stake out!”

She stares at you, expression in a moment of panic and then resigned defeat.

“You got me,” she raises her hands in surrender, “We had a whole clearing of the air...I admit to overreacting,”

“Well good then,” you think to yourself, “Then I’ll be far more congenial when I finally use his number,”

“I appreciate you were willing to be snippy with a billionaire on my behalf,” she laughs.

“Wouldn’t be the first billionaire I was snippy with,” you chuckle to yourself, “though if this one isn’t the dangerous sort than all the better for it,”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” she sputters, “I mean, I hardly know him and he could still be bad news!”

“Just not for what you were mad about?” you question.

“...yes?”

>J’accuse Clara of having made a pass at Bruce Wayne
>J’accuse Clara of having had a pass made on her by Bruce Wayne
>Just hmmm at that, unconvinced, and enjoy your pizza
>Pressure her more subtly, find out what this is about
>Is she trying to steer you off of Bruce out of...jealousy?!
>Let the matter drop for now
>write in

>>4558003
>Hint at her that you’ve got a lead you want to follow up on when back on the east coast.
Probably would want to 100% confirm before proclaiming anything.

>write in: Don't make assumptions but just tease Clara, insinuating you suspect she made a pass at Bruce Wayne and doesn't want competition. Seems like she needs a breather, and hey, Lois wouldn't be teasing her if she hadn't taken a shine to the girl.

And once she wants us to drop it.
>Just hmmm at that, unconvinced, and enjoy your pizza
(I'm guessing Lane buys into the no good pizza outside the NY/NJ area thing)

>>4558003
>Write in
Tell Clara we're calling dibs on what we suspect, but she welcome to hassle the General for comment afterward.

>Just hmmm at that, unconvinced, and enjoy your pizza
Let the hmmm carry the weight of accusation.

>>4558003
>>Tell Clara about your suspicions of Prince being the JSA’s Wonder Woman.
>Pressure her more subtly, find out what this is about

>>4558003
>>Hint at her that you’ve got a lead you want to follow up on when back on the east coast.
>>J’accuse Clara of having had a pass made on her by Bruce Wayne

>>4558000
>Only floated wildcard question: What on Earth is this country she was ambassador for?
Um...
>>4554107
>>What is Diana Prince likely to try and do out of the public eye?
Late, I know.

>>4558003
>Let’s just say last time I saw him before this morning I thought he was an overly dramatic and aloof jerk…
And now she knows he is, but he's still a good guy.
>>write in
Would it be too out of character to jokingly ask her to dish like a seen from a teen movie sleepover...no seriously, we want to know, if we we're nosy, we wouldn't be a reporter.

>>4558994
Dang, I missed it. Sorry anon.

Slowly, you draw up a slice to your paper plate and consider it. Considering her words about Wayne. Quirking an eyebrow at her, unconvinced, you take a firm and decided bite at the tip of the slice.

“Hmmmm,” you hum to yourself while poignantly nodding at her statement, the state of your not being convinced is entirely obvious to anyone watching.

Clara shakes her head and sighs. The newbie knows defeat in this instance and perhaps in turn has learned in her burgeoning time at the Daily Planet to at least be thankful that it isn’t Cat Grant on her case about this particularly juicy gossip.

So juicy, just like your lead...though until you have proof that’s all it is. Gossip and hearsay.

You don’t trade in gossip, because you’re a responsible and professional reporter. Though all told you’ll let Clara squirm about this. It amuses and pleases you in the sense of camaraderie it seems to foster, no doubt something will come along for her to tease you about in kind.

“Anyway,” you set down the not entirely terrible pizza a few bites in and lean back on your full in the room, “On the earlier matter of Secretary Prince, I’ve got some specific inquiries I’d like to make after we get back East,”

“You found a lead?” she questions after finishing a bite herself, her embarrassment under your scrutiny a moment prior forgotten.

“That, would be telling, and I’m not quite so keen as to share a byline on this one,”

“Fair,” she offers but smirks, “Just like I don’t have to share some of the things I’ve got my teeth in then either?”

It is challenging, pointed, and bears the fangs of rivalry until her expression shifts to wide eyed reflection, realization, and worry.

“It’s nothing about your family, I promise!” she stammers out, “This is an unrelated story to that and I would never try to hold something like that over you!”

“Smallville,” you chortle, “relax. I wouldn’t think you the type to go for that sort of low blow,”

You aren’t used to seeing her this riled over something. Seems her own sense of propriety can leave her a bit flustered. It’s rather cute.

Though speaking of cute, you think about the phone number burning a hole in your contacts list and pocket at this very moment.

>Call it an early night, tomorrows the start of the real adventure
>Give Bruce Wayne that Call, see if you too can have a face to face with him tonight
>Give Bruce Wayne a call, see if you can make some plans when you’re back East
>See if you can re-agitate Clara’s flustered reactions
>write in

>>4559650
>>Give Bruce Wayne a call, see if you can make some plans when you’re back East

>>4559650
>>See if you can re-agitate Clara’s flustered reactions

>>4559650
>Give Bruce Wayne a call, see if you can make some plans when you’re back East

>>4559650
>>Call it an early night, tomorrows the start of the real adventure

>>4559650
>>See if you can re-agitate Clara’s flustered reactions

>>4559650
>Call it an early night, tomorrows the start of the real adventure
If we're tied when it's called, change it to
>Give Bruce Wayne a call, see if you can make some plans when you’re back East
or
>See if you can re-agitate Clara’s flustered reactions

>>4559650
>Give Bruce Wayne a call, see if you can make some plans when you’re back East

Well, if she’s going to be flustered you can at least keep the notion of being friendly rivals going forward. Especially since something was left in your hands just this morning.

Clara does seem to calm down at your assertion that she wasn’t going to hold something about your family over you. She is well aware that remains a touchy subject after what happened on the floor of the City Desk after your collective attempted abductions. Turning away from her after having a bit more pizza, you slip out your phone and dial the newest number added to your contacts.

“Good evening Ms Lane, Master Bruce has been expecting your call,” an accented voice you can only imagine belonging to the butler you saw in his company earlier answers on the other end, “Please forgive this delay as he will just a few moments, but he is just returning from assisting Master Richard with his routine in our resort’s gymnasium,”

“Oh, well thank you...Mr…”

“Alfred Pennyworth, Ms Lane, and routine?” you question with a probing if feigned uncertainty.

“Ah, though Master Richard has been adopted into the Wayne family, Master Bruce wants to encourage and assist him toward continuing the practices related to his prior familial calling,” Pennyworth explains succinctly as the sound of his voice changes, as though he were turning away from the receiver, “Though I daresay for Master Bruce’s part this will likely lead to injury if he’s not careful, he isn’t as young as he was to keep up with a professional acrobat,”

Clara is curious about your phone call, you can practically feel her eyes on your back.

“Thank you Alfred,” a bemused voice responds, with a certain tired edge, “Good evening, Lois, is it alright if I call you Lois?”

“Eager for being on a first name basis, aren’t we Mr. Wayne?” you question him rather pointedly.

“Well, that is why I asked, though I can stay more cordial if you’d prefer,” you swear you can hear his smile.

“That will do for now. I was wondering if we could schedule a meeting after we’re both back on the east coast. I’m afraid my dance card is full on business out here for the time being,” you explain shifting to a more casual tone before punctuating with, “Mr. Wayne?”

“I can make arrangements. I’ll be back in Gotham next week. How long is your business in Alaska set to take?”

“Hopefully not that long,”

“Alright then, we can hash out the finer details later,”

“Certainly,”

“Then Ms Lane I bid you a fond goodnight,” there is something in the cheer to his voice that doesn’t quite match what you saw this morning in his eyes even at distance.

Though he is quite flirtatious all the same.

“Goodnight Mr Wayne,” you respond in turn as the phone changes hands.

>>4561138
“Ms. Lane, I will make doubtlessly sure that Master Bruce’s schedule remains flexible for your upcoming engagement. I must however precede those concerns with a simple request if you’d humor me,” Alfred Pennyworth takes over the call.

“What is the consideration, Mr Pennyworth,”

“You’ve built up a bit of reputation as of late, I ask only that whatever malady you find yourself in that you have the good graces to ensure Master Bruce returns to us in one piece,” there is laughter in the background you can only assume belongs to the recently adopted Dick Grayson.

“I’ve no control over those situations,” you offer the older british gentleman and valet, “Though I’ll try to make sure he comes back unharmed,”

With the call over you and Clara, after a few more words over dinner including her inquiry into your call with Bruce, turn in for the night.

The next day bright and early the two of you step out of your rented vehicle at the planned upon drop point for your vehicle, well into the national park.

“You ready for this, Smallville?” you question Clara as she locks up the vehicle and passes you your pack.

“Ready to get you to your rendezvous,” she smiles and pounds a fist into her palm, “let anything try and stop us!”

And the two of you set off into the Alaskan wilderness…

>You’re pushing hard, you have your route, your eagerness drives this forward
>Set a more standard pace, Clara’s warning about you arriving winded lingers in your head
>You want to take this more careful and slow, reflecting on last night you are a bit apprehensive on the two of you being out alone

>>4561144
>>You want to take this more careful and slow, reflecting on last night you are a bit apprehensive on the two of you being out alone

>>4561144
>>Set a more standard pace, Clara’s warning about you arriving winded lingers in your head

>>4561144
>>You want to take this more careful and slow, reflecting on last night you are a bit apprehensive on the two of you being out alone

>>4561144
>>Set a more standard pace, Clara’s warning about you arriving winded lingers in your head

>>4561144
>>You want to take this more careful and slow, reflecting on last night you are a bit apprehensive on the two of you being out alone
We don't have any kind of a clock that we're aware of, and this is somewhat dangerous at best. Let's take our time.

“Alright, let’s take this careful and slow. If it takes us extra time then so be it...I don’t want to risk either of us getting hurt on the way up,” you offer as you prepare for the journey.

“We’re well supplied enough for it,” Clara hums, “Well, let’s get going!”

Clara trots past you eagerly to hit the trails map in hand. The first few hours lead you through beautiful and breathtaking vistas, miles from any sign of civilization, through Denali National Park. The forest beckons as together you take your time and move with care, avoiding the flood basin and lowland paths and rising up and down through middle elevations.

It's brisk, despite the warmer season. Its lush and goes on forever. The absolute beauty of nature and near tranquility of the almost isolation is something many would find humbling.

As a city girl, through and through, you find this much open expanse a bit draining and the overwhelming.

It's not even the first quarter of the journey done and you are sore in a way you are unaccustomed to. Clara seems to smile, in a way at peace with her surroundings and occasionally pausing to check the map for directions.

Everything spreads out before you, and the two of you trade off the map to navigate in shifts. Soon enough, the sun hangs low in the sky as you and Clara begin setting up camp. You’re capable of that at least, and frankly ready to pass out once the tent is set up just off the path still below the snow line.

“Remind me, why did I agree to all of this?” you huff out laid out on your sleeping bag and a foam roll as a fire crackles outside.

“Because you asked for the opportunity to see Superwoman’s spaceship?” Clara ducks her head into the tent and hands you a metal cup full of soup, “Come on, the stars are pretty amazing out here!”

Eagerly you take the portable meal, and frustratedly you consider what to do with your night.

>just try to recover and get to bed early for tomorrow
>Stay up and chat with Clara, about what?
>Write in

>>4561659
>>just try to recover and get to bed early for tomorrow

>>4561659
>>>just try to recover and get to bed early for tomorrow

>>4561659
>>just try to recover and get to bed early for tomorrow

>>4561659
>>just try to recover and get to bed early for tomorrow

Her attempt to tempt you with the beauty and splendor of the starry night sky falls on eyes quite used to and accustomed to the ceaseless light pollution of New Troy Island. You take a decidedly long drag on her offered soup with one hand while the other conspicuously unzips your sleeping bag.

“I’m too tired to even begin to process this tonight,” you explain as you are warmed by both bag and drinkable meal, “I can marvel at it all later, I need sleep now,”

“Suit yourself, I’ll watch for a bit,” Clara offers with a shrug and zips the tent back up as she goes to the small area she had set around the fire.

You decidedly don’t need to look up and out at the black expanse right now. As exceptional as it probably is, your mind is set firmly on different stars for the moment. A different view of space. The night sky is a beautiful dance when you can see it for sure, but you dream of things beyond it, of speaking again of what was out there with someone from a fragile and empty cinder out there in the endless black.

How lonely is it, she said she was taken in by people and has a fellow survivor...but that kid doesn’t know. They don’t remember home. How lonely is the Superwoman, you ask yourself on the edge of dreams. So lonely that when a reporter reached out to her, she reached back and tried to be a friend. She saved so many people in the short time she’s been openly operating in Metropolis...and since your encounter she has definitely kept an eye on you. She even admitted to needing a friend.

Drifting into unconsciousness you muse if that’s what this is all about, setting these odd conditions for seeing her spaceship not just to prove you deserve that exclusive to her, but to prove you are willing to go some distance to get to know her?

It's all complicated. So complicated and intriguing and against the dull aches that radiate through you these thoughts are fully consumed by sleep.

Come the morning, you are awoken by…

Taking a Move against you
>The sound of heavy rain
>The sound of heavy wind
>A gunshot
>A roar
>Snowfall
>Clara gently shaking you awake and shushing you

>>4562530
>>Clara gently shaking you awake and shushing you

>>4562530
>>Snowfall

>>4562530
>>Clara gently shaking you awake and shushing you

>>4562530
>>Clara gently shaking you awake and shushing you

>>4562530
>>Clara gently shaking you awake and shushing you

>>4562530
>>A roar

>>4525019
What's delaware like?

>>4562864
>>4562864
Delaware is an East Coast American State, it shares large bay areas with New Jersey and Maryland. It is home to Cold Winters and Warm Summers, with a thriving seasonal coastal economy in the summer months as shared with parts of New Jersey and Maryland.

Culturally Delaware sits as the southern most of the Northern states of the union running up against the Mason Dixon Line, however urban and suburban expansion in both Delaware and Adjoining areas of Maryland generate towns and communities that have often been highlighted in pop culture as the theater of events for Steven Universe (Delaware Coastal Resort Town) and Craig of the Creek (Bayside Maryland & Maryland side Delaware Suburbs)

There has been a boom in the suburbs as retiring New Yorkers and New Jersians move south for lower taxes.

Those taxes and circumstances remain as such in this setting, because the District of Metropolis is its own autonomous entity much like the District of Washington a few hours drive south, so the massive city does not drive up Delaware Taxes.

>>4562864
>>4563057
Additionally, it's pretty damn tiny.

Rolled 6, 6 + 1 = 13 (2d6 + 1)

Also, rolling Lois Lane Read a Bad Situation.

A gentle but firm hand rocks you awake while the inside of the tent remains shrouded in darkness. You groan in uncertainty only to be met by a quiet but urgent shushing sound issued forth from Clara as she sits beside you.

Eyes shooting open, you turn in the dark to find the well shadowed silhouette of Clara Kent’s face slowly turning with some degree of attention to something in the quiet. As you reflexively try to sit up, you find yourself unable to sit up beneath her hand on your shoulder. It strikes you in the daze of waking that you are in a poor position and denied clear leverage as you squirm quietly within your sleeping bag and try to let the fog clear in your mind.

Clara’s hand relaxes from it’s hold on your shoulder.

“Something wrong?” you question in a whisper in the dark.

“Yeah, I heard something,” she explains, “I think we need to move,”

Rolling your bags quickly the two of you strike the tent and are on the move in the dark, pausing sporadically at Clara’s gesture and whispers, which only occasionally accompany a sweeping white flashlight flicker in the distance.

Packed and with as much sign of your camp as cleared as it could be in the predawn hours in haste, the two of you move onward when you finally hear it yourself, the whir and rumble of engines and a high electronic whine. Generators?

Rushing through the dark after Clara, she swerves off onto a branch path you recognize as being away from your plotted route and it's easy to see why. Over the ridge of that path, rising back into some hills you can see the shine of stationary lights. Your steps slow and you reach forward to grab Clara’s hand.

Something is happening that has her concerned enough for this, a lot of signs of unexpected people in the Alaskan wilderness miles and miles from roads or civilization. The kind of light thrown by lights you’d expect illuminating highway construction at night over a ridge, bright enough to proffer the kind of light pollution you’re used to in the stars are any indication…

You are reporters, and you should at least see what’s going on.

Clara looks back at you for only a moment before she understands your resolve and curiosity.

Moving off path entirely toward the rise, the two of you duck and occasionally pause behind trees as the distant beams behind you flick on and sweep through the at time opaque colonnade of tree trunks. Carefully the two of you make for the crest of the hill, moving low and slow as needed as the night beyond these lights approaches its darkest point ahead of the dawn.

File: Cult of Kobra.png (111 KB, 332x250)

111 KB PNG

>>4563122

You were right on the money about construction lights, numerous banks are arranged around a cleared area, multiple cargo helicopters at least a decade out of regular military surface are arranged around a camp in the process of being set up by men and women in green or orange cowled body suits you assume must be insulated along with distinctly serpentine theming. Some mark out an area of field that according to your maps should have been a flooded basin with stick and string techniques that suggest surveying & planning for a dig. Others roam about in groups carrying submachine guns.

On the helicopters are symbols of a Cobra rising from its coil around the earth, these people are the Cult of Kobra.

[b]Lois Lane Reads a Bad Situation: 13, Dynomite. You get three questions from this list plus one question not on the list within reason[/b]
>What’s my best way in?
>What’s my best way out?
>Are there any dangers we haven’t noticed?
>What’s the biggest threat?
>What’s most vulnerable to me?
>What’s the best way to protect ourselves?

>>4563123
>Are there any dangers we haven’t noticed?
>What’s the biggest threat?
>What’s the best way to protect ourselves?

>>4563123
>>Are there any dangers we haven’t noticed?
>>What’s the biggest threat?
>>What’s the best way to protect ourselves?
No idea for the write-in.

>>4563123
>>What’s my best way in?
>>What’s my best way out?
>>What’s most vulnerable to me?

>Why this location? A flood Basin seems like a bad place for construction.

>>4563123
>>What’s my best way out?
>>Are there any dangers we haven’t noticed?
>What’s most vulnerable to me?

We got Dangers we haven't noticed.

However, the following things are all tied at 2.

Biggest Threat
Protect Ourselves
Best Way Out
Vulnerable to me.

So...we gotta wait that out a bit for votes.

>>4563123
>>What’s my best way out?
>>Are there any dangers we haven’t noticed?
>>What’s the biggest threat?

>>4563123
>>Are there any dangers we haven’t noticed?
>>What’s the biggest threat?
>>What’s the best way to protect ourselves?

>plus one question not on the list within reason
>>4563136
>>Why this location? A flood Basin seems like a bad place for construction.
At a guess, I'd wager either looking for something (relatively) recently sunk there, or something left or revealed by glaciers scraping by in ages past.