16061/Midnight Under the Crescent Moon

Midnight Under the Crescent Moon
Date of Scene:	17 February 2024
Location:	Lane-Kent Brownstone, Midvale, New Troy
Synopsis:	Lois pokes her nose into an apparent kidnapping. Superman swoops in just in time to prevent disaster. But this is just the tip of an ugly iceberg.
Cast of Characters:	Lois Lane, Superman

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Lois Lane has posed:
    Lois has managed to keep things going pretty darn well over the past month. Well, sleep she's not the best at, but as for staying in touch, she's really done her very best to always let Clark know where she's at.

    Tonight, though, this may prove more than just helpful for her relationship. Lois let Clark know she is stopping on the way hope to pick up some groceries. That message comes through around 7:05pm. Then, at 7:48pm Clark is sent a message saying Lois noticed something weird going on outside the gas station across from the grocery store and she needs to check into it. She added the hasty little acronym MD to the end. Which recently has come to mean 'maybe dangerous'.

    Clark's reaction to this will obviously be up to him, but there's no further messages for at least 15 minutes... and if he waits longer, well, there still won't be more.

Superman has posed:
Clark doesn't like the codes, but understands them. Bruce's paranoia rubbing off on him. Still, he will respond back with a simple message: How? That's what he wants to know. How do they appear to be dangerous. He's not sure if there should be a reaction as a reporter or something else. It's why he hates the letters "MD" because that line between the two tends to blur with those letters. In short, he's still getting used to it.

Lois Lane has posed:
    Lois really should have thought of these kind of things. Really she should have. By dumb luck she did not just throw herself off the cliff into danger before she heard back. So now she's on the brink of the metaphorical cliff. Way better!

    "Kidnapers? Here.."

    She attaches an admittedly graining picture of a van. And of course doesn't know how many p's are in the word kidnapper. The van is sleek, black, one of those Sprinter types. The camera on her phone does a pretty good job with it. It may be grainy, but the first three digits of the plate are clear. The rest... well they aren't as clear.

    "Goin in!" is the last message Clark will get for now.

    Meanwhile, Lois has managed to pull out her pepper spray. She doesn't carry a weapon, though. Not a proper one. Which is odd, cause she's a pretty good shot.

Superman has posed:
"Famous last words, Lane," Clark sayhs, really hating that phrase from her. He loves her stubbornness. However, he can usually measure the situation. With all of the newness it's hard for him to measure.

So, Clark will be gone in a flash. There in the Superman outfit, he's watching everything from uphigh. A mixture of X-Ray vision and microscopic used here and there. He's trying to get a bead on the situation. Doing everything he can to avoid just charging in. Clark's trying to assess the situation from up high.

Lois Lane has posed:
    Clark is very, very fast, of course. But Lois only has a dozen yards or so to cover. So by the time Clark has arrived, she's... well she's almost to the van. He can see she's being relatively sneaky, coming from an angle that is a blind spot.

    She manages to get there, though, and settles right next to the van. Clark can see she's pulling something out of her bag. A microphone. She uses it to hear through walls. She's working fast.

    Inside the van, Clark can see three men and one woman. The men are talking, the woman is not moving.

    "$2,500," says one. He stands in a way that makes it clear that he has the most power of the lot. Strong for a man, no doubt, but a man nonetheless. Another of the men, who is even larger, is just sitting to the side. He doesn't speak, but Clark can tell he's holding on to a knife that is hidden in his pocket.

    The third man dry washes his face. He's pale, sweaty, older than the others. "Nooooo, noooo," he says, half-pleading, half-demanding. It's hard to tell his mood, though. He sounds... odd. "I need... $5,000. You know! You know it's worth it! I gotta have it!"

Superman has posed:
Clark can't tell the reasons, but the third man catches his attention. Just the way thte heatbeat works. That sweaty exterior. Plus the desperation in his voice. All of it just oozing with wrongness.

There are two other mena nd a woman with the swety guy. The three males are all in some kind of agreement together.

Clark will start to float down a little bit. Then he spots the knife. And that's when he focuses. Usually he saves moves like this for surgeries, shaving and the like, but it takes time. He focuses with the heat visition to make them smaller. Nearly pin pricks, but their target is that knife. Eventually it will get hot enough to burn. It'll descrouage it from being used.

Lois Lane has posed:
    Lois is simply listening. The mic is suction cupped to the car. But she's also not liking what she's heard. It makes her concerned. Since she cannot see in the vehicle, she can't even be sure if someone is going to drive away. Of course, from the driver's seat, she'd be immediately noticed, too. The only option? She goes under the van. This also gives her an exciting array of options to stop the car from running! Hmm... but what to break?

    Inside, the man with the knife doesn't react to the building heat. Not for a moment. Then he swears, yanking his hand out of his pocket and throwing the knife to the floor of the van.

    "Ow! What the hell!"

    His boss (?) gives him a searching look. "What's eatin' you, Jack?"

    "Damn knife! It felt hot as hell!"

    The sick(?) man is rocking back and forth, looking between the two men. "$5,000! I need it! She's worth at least twice that much! Looks just like her mom did!"

    Whatever Lois is doing, it seems she has avoided notice. Well, she /had/ avoided notice. Her bag has several neat little things that are quite useful in it. Including a screw driver and a knife. Unfortunately, as she moves under the van, these things make noise.

    "What the hell is that?" demands the boss. "Look outside the car!" He turns an angry gaze on the sick man. "If you brought trouble on us, old man..."

Superman has posed:
Thankfully everything is going to plan. However, Lois makes that noise and that's when Clark whooshes in. He'll just wait softly for the door to open or some kind of motion, movement.

When someone looks at him, Clark will simply speak, "Excuse me." And he's letting the presence do the talking. While Batman uses his symbol as one of fear, he uses for hope and fear. It depends on the action of others how that symbol will land.

And so he waits for everything to go sideways now.

Lois Lane has posed:
    Lois, with the mic in her ear, can detect that trouble is afoot. And here she is, under the van. Oft the best laid plans and all that! She should really make sure her bag is better padded for this kind of thing. But she was not really expecting to do this! Her big plans for the night involved making a breakfast dinner to surprise Clark. It's easy, fast, yummy!

    Now she's all messy under this stupid van with parking lot hair! Oh well. Such is life. Her alarm is brief, though, cause she sees red boots. Clark can hear her sigh out a soft, but very sincere, "Oh thank god!"

    The back of the van opens and out jumps the biggest guy. Who... immediately notices Superman is there. Now one thing that is always weird is that they always just have to find out for themselves, you know? He has to take a swing at Superman. And put his entire body into it. It'll show how charitable a mood Superman is in. Landing that punch will probably break the guy's hand.

    Inside the van, the bossman sees the door open. He sees who is there, and he darts for the driver's seat. Now granted, he's moving at human speed. It's clear he's trying to drive off. Because obviously this Sprinter can outrun Superman if that engine will just get started in time!

    They never learn...

Superman has posed:
Clark just let's the guy take the swing, but he'll move out of the way and then use the man's momentum against him. To Clark this isn't quite painfully slow, but everything does move at quite a slow pitch. To the big guy the miss will be seconds. Just seconds of sureness before it all changes.

Clark moves to the front of the vehicle and then he grabs at the inginition portion. A light pull disengages the ignition switch from the car. Yes, hot wiring the care would restart things however, the boss probably doesn't have the time or patience for that.

"We should talk." Clark will grab the boss and take him out of the car. Carrying him outside, "We may be away from police presence, but I can get to the police real quick. Going to tell me what's going on?" and he's carrying the boss like nothing.

Lois Lane has posed:
    Lois will use this chance to squirm her way out from under the car. She doesn't rush into the conversation, though. She's fixing her hair as much as she can. Superman will probably be amused with that. Even after all these years, she just can't let herself look unpresentable in front of him. Granted, she needs a shower now, but that'll have to wait.

    The bossman puts his hands up. "I... will only talk in the presence of my attorney!" he blurts out. Jack, the tough guy, has taken the hint. Superman moves so fast he can't possibly do a thing. That is, until he notices Lois.

    It's painfully predictable what he's going to try. Grab the girl, get leverage! It's Lois Lane! But he can't even make an attempt. The first step and the very angry shade of orange is spraying into his face. Lois has pepper sprayed him.

    He swears a lot, but the point is made. He staggers back, struggling to recover. Meanwhile, Lois turns to Superman, falling right into the usual kind of conversation.

    "They were making a sale, Superman," she says. "And unless I miss my guess..." She directs her attention into the van and frowns. "You were haggling for the girl?"

    Her blood pressure shoots up. Lois has been angry before. Clark has seen it before. But she's so angry, so fast, that it is different. Her eyes have a deadly glint in them when she turns to the man trying to hold out for his lawyer.

    "You filthy, rotten, piece of..."

    This is why Lois is better off not carrying a weapon. She looks ready to stab him with a pen.

Superman has posed:
Clark moves out holding the other guy. Then hearing the man scream at the Pepper Spray, he'll grab him, too. "Miss Lane, can you call the Police?" he asks and then moves to grab the man trying to sell his child. And someone will hold onto the trio. Sighing. Right now, he understands why Batman has handcuffs. Clark just can't wrap them around a car door, it would cause too many issues for the cups trying to free them.

"You will be needed for a witness statement, Miss Lane," he will add to make sure she knows the very obvious thing betweenb them.

Lois Lane has posed:
    "Oh, oh right. Of course."

    That helps snap Lois out of her little rant before it becomes something worse. Clark has a way of calming her. She dials 911 and phones it in. "Three, yes, and an ambulance."

    She clambers into the van, checking on the girl. "She has a pulse. Slow, but nothing too alarming."

    Miss Lane is all business, now that it's come to it. She has put away her microphone, and with a few taps she's backing up the audio on her phone. That'll be vital for her article! Once she's off the phone, she will take a few pictures. She's no match for Jimmy (nor any real photographer), but the work will at least be competent. Working with Mr. Olsen over the years has given her more than just the basics.

    Lois steps away from her work to stand near Superman. Clark can tell her heartbeat is a bit elevated. Not because she's alarmed, though. She really likes it when he's in costume.

    The police will be there pretty quickly. Clark can already hear them on the way. They tend to move a step faster for him and Lois these days.