11272/Intergang troubles

Intergang troubles
Date of Scene:	30 March 2020
Location:	Southside (Suicide Slum), New Troy
Synopsis:	Lois attempts to interview immigrants in a bad part of town. Gangstas interrupt. So does Superboy.
Cast of Characters:	Lois Lane, Superboy

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Lois Lane has posed:
It's mid afternoon and that's at least a good thing, because coming to this crime ridden area in the middle of the night would definitely be a BAD idea. But, Lois was determined to get a good story in, and so she drove down here to talk to interview some poor immigrants looking for a job, struggling to survive..Trying to put some pressure on the government to step up and provide them with the financial aid they needed..

"And today we have with us, Mr. and Mrs Chen and their four children. Mr. Chen..How long have you been searching for a job?" she hands the microphone to a middle aged man who looks too tired for his age, a bit ruffled and clearly more educated than his outward appearance might suggest. He speaks in broken English as he does his best to answer her questions.

And even out here in the open, in the middle of the day when one might think they are safe..Trouble is already brewing as a group of teenagers gather in an alleyway nearby, hanging out, playing basketball, laughing..

And from the opposite direction, a large black car screeches around the corner, the passenger winding down the window and pulling out a gun as he nears the next block..With the kids..The immigrants..Lois..

Superboy has posed:
Since Superman's death Conner has tried to come to Metropolis at least a couple times every week to do the flying patrolling thing. He knows a few other heroes are doing the same, but in truth he only coordinates with the other Outsiders. And they rarely leave Gotham.

There was an explosion of crime just after the elder Kryptonian died. But the Justice League squashed it. Now things are back to normal, and Metro is one of the safest places of America.

Well, except for the Suicide Slum. That place usually looks like a neighbor from Gotham transported to the City of Tomorrow. It is the first place Conner checks because like three quarters of all crime in the city happens there. And the cops don't seem to want to do much.

So far so good, though. Well, except for that car that is going too fast... oh, and a gun.

So Conner dives down to try to stand between the gun and the citizens.

Lois Lane has posed:
Uh oh, looks like there's more than just the one car. Another gangsta car is closing in quickly, rolling down the back windows as more guns are produced.

BLAM! BLAM! They open rapid fire on the gang of teenagers, although a few bullets are bound to go astray. Lois' eyes widen, waving at the immigrant family to duck down..And then Superboy appears..Just in the nick of time as it were.

Lois squeezes her eyes shut as she ducks behind a nearby car, but even as the bullets fly, fortunately all of them, or at least most of them hit superboy, bouncing harmlessly off his chest.

"Who izzat? Superman? Naw, he's dead! Superboy! Damn, gettim!" The gangtas yell, even as the teens flee, but now they have a new target..Superboy! They continue to fire on him even though their guns dont seem to do any good.

Then one of them has the brilliant idea of dashing towards Lois, grabbing her, taking her as a hostage.

"Back down, superboy, or the girl's had it!" he holds the gun to her head.

Superboy has posed:
Conner is not fast enough to catch bullets, so he tries to stand on the way of them to prevent the gangsters from hitting anyone else. "Wow, what are you? Are bargain Intergang? You used to have fancy energy guns. Still idiots, though."

Once they stop to reload, he slides forward and kicks the side of the back vehicle, flipping it over. Unfortunately, he misses one of them, already out of the vehicle, and able to rush Lois to try to take her hostage. "Uh oh, you really don't want to do that, dude?" He points out.

Lois Lane has posed:
Apparently these are fairly low level gangstas. Nope, they don't have energy or ray guns. They DO have machine guns though. "Back off, Superboy! Those kids stole something that belongs to us!"

Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, those teenagers have used bought time to flee the scene. "Oh great, now you've gone and done it!" they snarl, stopping the car, jumping out to continue to shoot at him. The occupants of the second car yelp as he flips it over, struggling to crawl out, grabbing their guns and reloading.

Lois' eyes widen in surprise as he wraps an arm around her neck, gun pointed at her. "Back off, Superboy, or she's had it!" he snarls. "Do you really wanna take that chance?" He grins wickedly, finger hovering over the trigger.

The Chinese immigrant family watch in wide eyed horror (as does the camera man, who is of course filming all of this). The Cameraman does motion for the Chinese family to flee into their nearby house however.

Superboy has posed:
Conner would try to get the gangster off Lois, but not while several others are shooting at him. Too many bullets. "Would stop shooting already? You are going to get hit by a ricocheting bullet." And yeah, one of the yelps as a stray bullet hits him on the leg. Not as bad as being directly shoot, but he is going to need some suture. "Okay, I am backing off, alright?" Meaning he is taking half a step back. He really doesn't have many places to go.

Lois Lane has posed:
The gangstas grin wickedly, lowering their guns as he backs off. But it looks like the teens have pretty much fled by now. "Nuts! After them!" they all scramble into the car that's not turned over, though it's a bit of a squeeze.

Lois frowns, "Seriously, don't you guys give up?" she stomps on the thug's foot with her pointy heels and elbows him in the gut at the same time. It's a risky move, with the gun pointed that way but he's distracted by Superboy and lets out an oof! HIs hand loosening on the gun, momentarily dropping it.

"Superboy!" she calls to him as they both scramble for the dropped gun. The camerman finally pauses filming to hit the thug on the head, grabbing the gun, pointing it at the thug who backs off..

"They're getting away!" she points towards the thugs starting to rush off in the one car, screeching around the corner, attempting to crash into superboy on their way out.

Superboy has posed:
Conner smiles when Lois stomps the gangster foot. A fraction of second later, he is there pushing the stunned thug hard, sending him flying into a pile of garbage bins and bags.

"Nice to meet you again, Ms. Lane," he greets.

Then there is a screetch of tires and a rushing car. He grabs Lois and spins quickly, moving them out of the way. "One sec," he offers, activating his heat vision and blowing up both rear tires of the speeding vehicle.

That should be all... but those guys re really dumb and might want to attempt to shoot him again. So he flies after the car.

Lois Lane has posed:
Lois Lane flashes a warm smile at Superboy. To be honest, she hasn't had a lot of interactions with him, but in Superman's absence, she's starting to realize how very much he resembles his elder predecessor..

"Nice to meet you too, Superboy! How about an exclusive.." and then he's off again, pulling her out of the way, blowing up the tires of the car. She holds her breath, realizing the fight's not over, but glances at her cameraman, giving him the thumbs up when she sees he's still filming this all.

As for the thugs, their car screeches and swerves this way and that as he blows up the tires. IT doesn't drive so well with the tires flat in the back. They only make it a block or two before being forced to ditch the car. Oh great, and there's superboy! They don't even bother shooting at him with their useless guns.

"Alright! We surrender!" they lift their arms up in the way, muttering amongst themselves about employing rayguns in the future.

Superboy has posed:
"Woah, now you grow a brain," comments Superboy, maybe sounding as if he wanted to punch them. He did, because they were going to shoot a few kids. But he accepts the surrendering gracefully, disarming the gangsters and then tying them to each other with chunks of metal from his own car. Not too hard, so the police can free them in a few minutes when they finally get to the Slum.

Then he waves to Lois while checking his cellphone. Not sure if he has time to give her a full interview, but definitely will take a selfie.

He looks more like Superman now than three years ago, since he has bulked and gained a few inches. But his haircut, buzzcut at the sides, the leather jacket and the attitude is nothing like Superman. At least he seems to have gotten rid of the earring.

Lois Lane has posed:
Once the immediate danger is over, Lois runs the two blocks (along with her ever loyal cameraman) to join Superboy..And the tied up gangstas. "Wow, you made quick work of them.." she beams, motionning for her camerman to take a quick shot of him.

"Thank you..Great timing too!" she smiles, and cant help but watch him intently, a little too intently. "You..Really ARE the spitting image of Superman. Like, a younger version, but still.." she sighs softly, longingly. "Just wish we could hurry up and locate him before time runs out.."

Superboy has posed:
"Hey," he greets, "smile, you are still my favorite Metropolis reporter," states Conner grinning, sliding to Lois side to take the selfie. "And yeah, I get that often. Truth is half my DNA comes from him, so it makes sense."

The comment about finding Superman makes his grin falter a bit. "I know. It has been months. Red Robin is sure he is alive, though. We are looking!"

Lois Lane has posed:
Lois Lane smirks and nods, "Good to know.." she freezes, posing briefly for the camera. "Thanks again, Superboy. It's good to know that there are still people out there keeping Metropolis safe in Superman's absence.."

She sighs, shaking her head. "I don't just think he's alive, I KNOW. I've been doing my research, I've got the inside info on him, where he's being kept, not entirely sure what ARGUS has planned for him but.." Lois shrugs.

"I've asked the Avengers for their help on this..And Supergirl and Powergirl are on the job too..Only I haven't heard back on Supergirl yet, said she was gonna scout out the area. I hope she's okay.."

Superboy has posed:
Conner nods grimly. Not sure about the Avengers, but he knows Kara is looking too. It is just chasing after a shady government agency must be pretty hard even for the batfolks. "I know. I don't know what to do. I can't exactly go to Washington and start punching politicians and army officers. Besides I am sure most of them are not involved."

He sighs. "Well, all we can do is to be ready to act the second we have a clue, right? If you find anything let the League know. I am in touch with them."

Lois Lane has posed:
Lois Lane nods and smiles, "Thank you. It's especially hard for me, you know, without super powers. Knowing that there's not much I can do except sit and wait. And hope we're not too late. I was surprised that SHIELD stepped in to offer assistance, but they're trying to remain mostly neutral on this matter..I am curious though, what do you know about the Suicide Squad? It seems Amanda Waller is involved, and she'll likely be sending this Squad out to stop anyone who gets in the way. Oh and apparently they're gonna transfer him soon too.."

Superboy has posed:
Conner hrms. "Never heard of them. Waller sounds vaguely familiar, though." Someone else to ask Robin about, sure.

Then he adds, "hey, look. You have some mad investigative skills. I am just good at punching people. If Red Robin and you join forces, I could be your bodyguard or something. Let me know if you need help for heavy lifting, okay?"

Lois Lane has posed:
Lois Lane nods, "Right. I'm looking into it as we speak, although I was hoping I might get something to work with." she grins, "So what exactly IS the deal with you and Superman? Your his clone, but only made up of half his DNA? Do you mind if I talk about it?"

She seems quite curious about it, but a bit concerned about it too. It may have been traumatic for him too, after all.

She chuckles and nods, "Well, I could always use a bodyguard. Sooner or later, someone's gonna be none too happy with me poking my nose into their business and all.."

Superboy has posed:
"Right, the other half of me is human," replies Conner. "No, before you ask, I don't know who is the other person. Also, I guess technically I am not a clone but some kind of replicant. But whatever," he shrugs. "We can't choose our relatives, right? But I can choose my friends and what I do with my life. That gotta be enough."

Maybe there is a bit of denial there, but he prefers to look forwards than backwards. Always did. "Let me know when you need help, okay. Here," he gives her a card with a phone number. A secure line set up for the Outsiders. "And take care. Supes won't like if something happens to you while looking for him."

Lois Lane has posed:
Lois Lane arches a curious brow. "Wow, that's...I'm sorry, it must be hard. I mean, not knowing who you are, who your parents are. And you don't know who..?" oh well, looks like he already answered that part.

But it clearly bothers him, maybe? She shrugs and nods taking the card. "Thanks again, Superboy! I really appreciate it.." she glances down at the card, nodding to her cameraman. "Well, I guess that's a wrap..Maybe next time we can get an exclusive interview with Superboy though?"