14408/Cults & Chaos: A New Lead

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Cults & Chaos: A New Lead
Date of Scene: 22 May 2022
Location: Lou's Meats - Metropolis
Synopsis: Lois meets up with an informant and gets a new lead on the cult.
Cast of Characters: Superman, Lois Lane




Superman has posed:
It began like so many stories do: a late night, a lot of nicotine, and a tweet. There'd been a random nobody on Twitter who messaged Lois Lane; and, by sheer chance, this tweet happened to be seen. The message was simple: @LoisLane read ur story. my uncle was part of them. nvr the same again.

This led to a few exchanged DMs, a brief email correspondence, and then a scheduled meeting at a local Metropolis diner known as Lou's Meats, known for making some of the best open-face sandwich melts in the business.

When the next day rolls around and the afternoon sun shines down merrily on the city, we come upon that timeless diner. Swing open the glass door and gaze upon a diner refurbished only a few times since it originally opened in the 1940s, with a timeclass old America look of red cushioned seats, cool stonework floors, and bright, popping floral designs on the walls. An old portrait of Lou himself hangs on the western wall above an old-fashioned jukebox, a memorial kept in his honor by the current owners -- not blood related, but family friends of the grandson.

There's always a small crowd around lunch, a dozen or so people tucked away in booths listening to smooth tunes and talking. The place has the heady smell of grease meats and melted cheese, the menu filled with sandwiches galore, drizzled in special sauce blends on bread toasted to light brown perfection.

At one of the booths is a woman, mid-twenties, nose pierced and half her head buzzed short, the other half pink-tipped black reaching her chin. It's the same woman Louis has been speaking with, a fresh college grad named Amanda. She hasn't noticed Lois' arrival and seems a bit distracted, nose buried in her phone.
Lois Lane has posed:
While Lois likes her tied off crop top Hawaiian shirts and shortie shorts in the summer, when she's meeting an informant who has to take her seriously and respect her, she can actually dress like a semi-professional human being. Therefore, in the parched heat of sudden summer, she's put on a conservatively lovely yellow sun dress and a little white bolero over top. She almost looks corporate! Her hair is down and messy, bangs getting too long, all of it held back by a pair of too-large sunglasses, so she's not perfect, but she's better than usual. Having more energy and having put a bit of weight back on helps with that as well.

She steps into the place, looking around and waiting to see who might look up at her entrance. Her face is too well known to really be hidden unless she's trying very hard to disguise herself, especially around here. But then she catches sight of the woman in the booth. She's fairly certain that's her contact. Her pale eyes narrow thoughtfully, watching her a few heartbeats as she orders a coffee from the counter. Once it's delivered, she brings herself and the coffee over to the booth, sliding in without invitation. "Amanda?"
Superman has posed:
Lois' entrance is marked by the diner's waitress (the current owner's daughter), a fresh-faced highschool senior with a large blonde ponytail. "Hiii, welcome to Lou's," she says. "Just take a seat and I'll bring your coffee in a sec, 'kay?" She smiles brightly and collects a tray off a table, gracefully escorting it back toward the kitchen. She returns a little later with the coffee and a folded menu for Lois to peruse.

In the booth, Amanda lifts her head, putting her phone down and smiling. "Wow, you're really pretty," the girl says, with a bit of blunt shock in her voice -- Lois is so often unkempt from long hours that when she cleans up, she's quite the sight. "Are we gonna be on camera? You'd blur my face out, right? Those guys are total creeps." She catches herself and offers a hand. That's what you do with professional journalist types, right? "Amanda Nguyen. Nice to meet you."
Lois Lane has posed:
"Uh... I wasn't planning on being on camera, but if you want a video interview, we can do one. Otherwise, voice is fine, and I don't even have to share your voice. I'm more of a text person, I promise." Lois gives her best, reassuringly warm smile in the young woman's direction. Just a bit of color touches her cheeks at the compliment, she's not really used to anyone noticing other than Clark, and he liked her IN SPITE of her messiness.

"Alright. We can start whenever you're ready. With permission, I am going to record your voice. It's just easier than hand written notes, but it will never be shared without your permission." Lois goes through her normal spiel, double checking that her cell phone battery is fully charged and the recording program is set up. She studies the young woman deeply, not just her face, but every inch of her body language. She also lets her eyes drop momentarily to that phone, to see if she can get a glimpse of what the girl was texting.
Superman has posed:
"Oh, no, I don't want to be," the girl quickly clarifies, shaking her head. "Like I said, they're creeps. We already got harassed by them when my uncle first joined, don't want to give them more of an excuse. Assholes. By the way, their buffalo patty melt is really good here."

Across the counter, the waitress catches wind of that snippet, and flashes a little thumbs-up to Amanda. Seems they're acquaintances, which explains why this is the location of the interview. That nice blend of familiar comfort and bringing a new customer.

"Okay. So, um, I've never given an interview before. I just.. talk? Well, okay. So my name's Amanda -- wait, cut that, sorry -- and my uncle... well, it's kind of a long story. He got involved in all this stuff. I'll just.. start from the beginning."
Lois Lane has posed:
Since that's what the girl is recommending, and Lois is starving again, she just makes a 'two' motions with her fingertips as Amanda places her order. Nice and easy, food will be on the way, and Lois can concentrate on her work. She keeps her expression gentle and reassurig, trying to look as non threatening as she possibly can. Which, in a yellow sun dress, is pretty non threatening. "Start wherever your like. I'd like your name for my records, so I can fact check some things, but I promise I won't publish it, alright?"

Lois takes a deep breath, trying to coach the young woman to mirror her, and gives another smile, "So, your full name, your uncle's, where you are from... and then yes, start from the beginning." Lois hits record on her phone, double checking the mic and then resting it between them so she can get the full of the interview.
Superman has posed:
"So, my uncle..."

Cue the shimmering screen transition that tells audiences we're moving to a flashback, for it's a far more exciting way to tell a story. We're at a small suburban house, Amanda, about five years younger and still in school, sitting on her porch steps. Two raised male voices can be heard from within, though partially muffled by the walls -- there's talk of you're crazy, dad will beat your ass, tempestuous tempers and exchanged insults. After, the door is forcefully jerked open, and a man in his early forties walks out. He's a bit scruffy, wearing a black sweatshirt and old jeans, a Caucasian-Asian blend with features similar enough to Amanda to suggest familial relation.

"Hey, Uncle Josh," she remarks, taking a puff from a cigarette. There's a moment's awkward silence she soon fills. "So.. really going through with it, huh?"

Josh's stressed expression mellows out as he looks to his niece, before he takes a seat nearby and lights a cigarette she offers. He takes a single drag and exhales.

"Yeah, you know. Your dad's upset, he doesn't get it right now. But it's gonna be good for me. I owe a lot to them."

Amanda nods quietly.

--

"That was the last time I had a real, regular conversation with him. Before he moved out to their compound or whatever the hell you call it."
Lois Lane has posed:
Lois listens well. She knows where to shut up and let the silence linger so Amanda can fill in more blanks. Her eyes are gently worried, but with an open concern that makes people want to talk to her. It's one of the reasons she's such a good reporter. Her expression pinches with a bit more sympathy as Amanda mentions that being the last time she talked to her uncle.

"Which compound was this? Do you remember anything else about their leaders? About any contact you had with him at all? What made you feel like it was... not a good place for him? Or in general?" Lois prompts quietly, trying to keep her voice even and low enough their conversation remains in the booths of the diner and no other listening ears get too curious.
Superman has posed:
"I don't know where, exactly," Amanda replies. "They were always really private. I think he said it was north, in some mountains. It was a new place being built." When the spicy patty melt is delivered, she takes a large bite, washing it down with a slurp from a straw in a tall glass of Sprite. It's a good-looking sandwich, thick with cheese and crushed beef, garnished with diced red onions, drizzled in some spicy-savory secret sauce (that's probably got a Thousand Island base, judging purely on taste and the faint reddish-pink coloration). It comes with an optional side of coleslaw, which Amanda enthusiastically digs into as she speaks. The girl's not shy about her appetite -- not that she has any reason to be, her figure's normal enough.

Damned high metabolisms.

"I mean, any time someone talks about this great new group, like, *really* talks about them, it's kind of worrying, right? That's not normal. Uncle Josh was in a bad place, and nobody knew how to help him -- he was an army man, lost his leg in the Middle East somewhere, I dunno. He didn't talk about it much. Lately he's had a lot of trouble. He worked at a garage that shut down, skeevy place, always thought they were doing something bad there... but they paid well, and he fit in."

She wobbles her hand.

"After, he started drinking his money, fighting with his wife, my aunt Julia, a lot more. They decided to take a break, and that's when he started attending these group meetings."
Lois Lane has posed:
A gentle nod is given in agreement to the new group worry. Lois might not really agree, but it's important to her that her informant is as comfortable as possible. Her stomach growls loudly when the food comes, though, and while she usually wouldn't eat during an interview, she starts scarfing the food down herself. She's still fighting against whatever curse she was under. She makes thoughtful, attentative sounds as she eats, still clearly captivated by the interview.

"When's the last contact you had with him? What do you want to get out of this interview? Is there anything more you can tell me about *them*?" Lois asks softly, after she's finished a large bite of food. She isn't certain how much more information is here, but she won't rush the girl to the end. Hopefully there are one or two more juicy things.
Superman has posed:
"Well, it was a self-help group, like one of those AA things. But not AA, I checked. Their name was, uhh... hold on, I actually have it written down."

Amanda pulls up her phone and pecks at the screen, moving through saved notes. She flicks her finger, and turns the phone around to show Lois. The screen says: meet emil @ 5 no gluten.

What does this mysterious message mean? Amanda studies Lois' face, notes the confusion when she flips the phone around, and looks back at it.

"Oh, whoops."

She flicks the screen again and turns the phone around once more. It says 'Way of the Open Mind - Positive Affirmation Group Therapy'.

"I couldn't find much more about them, but, I've been real busy with work. They had a wikipedia page but it got deleted in some big edit war for notability concerns." One of her slender shoulders lifts in a helpless shrug. "I did look at an archive link, and it was some local therapy group, it said, opened by, uhh.. ohh, I can't remember her name. But they were based here in Metropolis. Still might be."

She's quiet after a moment, then, reflecting on Lois' questions.

"So, um. Here's the thing. We haven't heard from Uncle Josh in almost a year. And that was real out of the blue, because he'd stopped calling and texting for months before that. I was.. kind of hoping, maybe, you'd interview him, and put that investigator nose to work? Maybe find him?"
Lois Lane has posed:
While Lois has been recording all of this, the therapy group name she also gets a note book out and writes down. It helps cement it in her mind as the biggest lead of this entire process. She looks up at that last plead, her eyes softening some. She's silent, thoughtful for a moment, before giving a small nod. "I can try. I'd like to find him too, help whomever this cult is... taking advantage of. I can't make promises. But I certainly can try. And the group name, even if they are gone, is a big help. Thank you, Amanda."

Lois then takes another big bit of her sandwich, almost finished with it just as the interview is wrapping. She always has good timing like that. "If there is nothing else, I won't keep you from Emil," Lois teasingly grins, giving a short wink, "But I've got this lunch. On me. For all your help. And I know how to find you if I learn anything else... same on your end. You hear ANYTHING else weird, you tell me immediately, alright?"
Superman has posed:
"Here, I've got a little bit more. Just some stuff me and my dad came up with that might help." Amanda flicks through her phone and forwards a photograph of one Joshua Nguyen, dated three years ago, with a clear view of his face and another image showing his general build, as it's him in shorts and a t-shirt at a barbeque. "His full name is Joshua Michael Nguyen. That's N-G-U-Y-E-N. Yeah. Um, here's a picture of his car, don't know if that'll help. And I'll forward his last text message."

There's a little ding on Lois' phone as all this data is transferred over.

"Uncle Josh, he's... he's a good man. I know that cult's bad news. I wish we'd stopped him from going. If you do find him... or, I mean, if he's.. if he's dead or something, please let us know. God, I know it's horrible to say that, but, like.. trying to be realistic here."

She smiles sadly.

"Sorry I didn't have more. Good luck with everything."

Later, when Lois looks to the final text message, it is as follows:

Tell everyone I'm sorry I saw Him and He looked at me and He saw me He saw me HE SAW MEHESAWMEHESAWMEHESAWMEHESAWME