2012-06-28 How many investigators...?

The press conference has ended and things are going back to normal. Lois is sitting, looking grumpy, as the police have her in a shiny silver blanket to ward off shock, while taking the same statement forty times. Finally tired of it, the Metropolis reporter finally just stands, flings off the blanket and walks away in a slight huff, while grumbling, "I'm getting some coffee...."
Likely, she didn't notice the nondescript man in the back of the room. Unless she was perceptive and looked the right way to see him calmly ushering people out of the door as the riot started. John Jones still seems pretty calm, wandering over to the reporter. "That sounds like a good idea, Ms... Might I join you?" He sounds like he's braced for a no...he's a strange man, after all.
Wha? Nondescript? HOLY COW! Lois starts at the sudden 'appearance' before sighing in resignation. "Lane. Lois Lane, Daily Planet. Sure, why not? But if anyone asks me one more question," she starts, bringing up a fist to shake threatening to no one in particular.
"The only question I was going to ask is whether you were okay...and I think you just answered that one." He offers a hand. "John Jones. Private investigator." So, he knows all about asking questions, but he's apparently going to demur from harassing the clearly still stressed out journalist.
Great. A P.I... Lois smiles her glossy sweet reporter's smile at John, reaching out to shake his hand. "Nice to meet you," she says, then turns to continue toward her destination, the smile falling again. She's pulling out her phone as she walks, not moving so fast that John can't keep up, but not so slow that it's immediately warm and inviting to conversation.
Upon reaching the coffee vendor, Lois glances up and orders quickly, "Cup of joe, three sugars, bucket of cream." Her hand goes to her purse for her wallet.
She looks over at John, violet eyes tired but still sharp. "You getting anything, Gumshoe," she asks of him, clearly inviting the man for some coffee. ('P.I. at Stark Expo. He's got to have something more interesting than phones... Especially if he was at the press conference just now. Wonder what he knows...')
"Coffee...but I'll take mine black," he notes...mostly to the vendor, pulling out his own wallet. If she is going to insist on buying, that's one thing, but he's not going to *expect* her to. Especially after she did get grabbed by that thug...although she did a good job with it.
The barista nods and moves to the get the two orders, giving the total for both. Lois pulled out a twenty and tosses it on the counter, glancing at John's wallet and shaking her head at him. "On me, detective, if you'll give me a little of what you've got. Getting jumped by some morons at a press conference has been the single most exciting thing that's happened all week," laments the danger magnet with a smirk.
"I can't stand skinheads. Fortunately, they *do* tend to be somewhat dumb." Hrm. So, she's looking for stories. John starts thinking whether there's anything he can give the bored reporter. "Just bear in mind I can't give out much information. Client confidentiality, you know."
Her coffee ready, Lois collects it, then John's. She hands it over with a chuckle and a wag of her head. "Well, sure. I understand that. Protect the source," she comments as she leads the way to a table over there, away from most people. She motions to a chair as she sets down sipping her coffee. "But you've got to have -soething- semi public, right? A half lead?"
John Jones moves to sit down. "Mostly, I was here to see the fancy tech toys," he admits. "And annoyed that those guys messed up the press conference. The Captain appears to be an...interesting...individual." Not as alienated as John himself, of course, but a little out of place in his own way.
"I'll say," lois quips, sipping her coffee and pulling out her note pad and pen. Keeping that closed for now, she sets her phone down to tap at the screen a bit. "He's so perfectly.... All-American, it's a little.. weird."
John Jones hrms. "Yes, he does come over as...he kind of comes over as grew up in nowhere, Iowa, and still believes his mom's pie is the best, doesn't he. But he seemed nice enough. If a bit out of place...but then, if he's really from World War II, he's probably very confused.
"But that's what gets me... We didn't HAVE that tech level in the forties," Lois retorts, tapping at her phone. "Hell, I doubt we have that tech level NOW. He's got to be a fake... and yet... the way he stood there, that easy smile... I don't think there's a bone in his body CAPABLE of lying." She sips her coffee again. "SOme government entities, however, I wouldn't put past them."
John Jones hrms. "Are you sure? If the government had had that level of technology, they would have gone to extreme lengths to ensure that the Axis never found out about it. I was doing some historical research. Did you know there was a factory in England where they just gave the workers directions for what they were going to make and put everyone in the place on reserved occupation so they could never be captured by the Germans...and they did not find out what they were making until years after the war."
Lois purses her lip, googling some world war two information, and waiting for her network to cue it up. UGH! She should have brought her laptop! "It just doesn't seem plausible in the slightest. It's easier to believe that he's some John Doe solider boy brainwashed to THINK he's the original Captain American..... " She grumbles at the slowness of her phone's internet. "I've GOT to land an interview with him."
John Jones tugs out his own phone, then glances at hers. "Hrm...no, I won't get faster service." For the simple reason that they appear to be on the same network. Ah well. "Maybe he is." J'onn could find out, but if he did, it would be rude to tell Lois. "There seemed something very genuine about him, though.'
"Yeah... I got that too," Lois admits, her doubts having a wrestling match with her want to believe. She eyes her phone again, sippingher drink and musing silently, ('I doubt Daddy'll let me anywhere near that project, if he's even involved with it... It'd be bad to ask him.... out right anyway.... ')
-
"Besides, really, is it any stranger than some of the other stuff out there?" the Martian asks. "Mutants, for example. The genetic possibilities...I'm no biologist, but it seems a very strange phenomenon to me."
John's question gets Lois chuckling, her mind adding what she uses the coffee to kep her from voicing aloud, ('Or aliens from another planet wanting to save the world') Setting the cup down, Lois shakes her head, "No, I suppose not. I mean, if a man can fly, right?" Her head bobs to one side at the words.
John Jones nods. "Right. I think that the world is learning there are more things under heaven and earth. I only hope there will not be too much conflict." There could easily be a war, and he knows it. Or a split...and he knows all about both things. "Not that it seems the good Captain can fly without a plane. With one, I would imagine he manages."
Lois laughs easily at that one, relaxing now that the stressfull OMG SKINHEADS ATTACK is over with. She eyes her phone again, frowning at the lack of service. "Typical. You'd think that at Stark Expo we'd have better wifi," she grumps. Ignoring her phone, she turns to her notepad and pen, and starts jots her thoughts down in her short hand that only J'onn can understand as her thoughts drift by openly. ('Interview with Cap. America. Poke Daddy? Check sphone for Stark's #. Cap and Stark appear friends.') She pauses a moment, a thought flickering across her mind. Clearly, she doesn't seem to want to believe it, for she shakes her head, but writes, the disbelief obvious, ('Tap Stark about friend, Rogers. Search US Army MIS Rosters: Steve Rogers. Rule out possibility.')
"Look around you. I count six laptops, ten tablets and I'm not going to count the phones. Stark probably provided plenty of wi-fi...it's just all being *used*." Likely very true. The disguised Martian settles back. "In any case, investigating Captain America is not something I can help much with. I was satisfying personal curiosity."
"That's fine. I can do that on my own," Lois retorts, pointing at herself with the back of her pen. "Investigative reporter, remember? Oh, hey. Speaking of, what city do you work in the most? You know anything new about the Worthingtons?" Scary how quickly she shifts subjects?
"Hrm. Worthington rumors..." he furrows his brow. "There's some kind of rumor, but the details escape me right now." Hey, he's a telepath. He doesn't have total recall...his memory's good, but not perfect. "And I get around. Doing most of my work in New York right now, though." From his accent, he's from somewhere further west.
What's so new about that? Transplants make the best investigators sometimes. She dips into her purse for a business card and offers it over. Hey! What's Kyle's card still doing in her purse? She thought she gave that to Clark... Figures the cornfed hick would forget it. She shakes her head lightly, making a mental note to tape it to his forehead at her next opportunity, while smiling at John. "Well, here. Ifyou hear anything, or if you need anything from the Planet, you call me. I'm sure we could work out a mutually agreeable arrangement."
John Jones trades the business card for one of his own. "As long as you don't pressure me to reveal things I can't. I have to protect my clients, after all." He mimes yawning. "Even if their secrets are often not very interesting anyway." Marital cases. Ugh. Boring.
Lois chuckles at it, taking the card and reading the name. "John Jones." She holds up the card, then put it in her purse. "NO worries. We're almost in the same business, Dick. Almost," she quips with a wink.
John Jones hrms. "We're both in the business of finding the truth. The difference is, you look for things everyone needs to know. I look for things one person *really* wants to know."
Lois nods, lips pursing faintly. "Both things are needed, I think," she murmurs, siping her coffeee a bit and making another note on her notepad. "Well, find any interesting toys here at hte expo?" She grins at him.
John Jones hrms. "I was looking at the new S-Phones," he admits. "But not sure I really can justify an upgrade right now. This thing is still doing me pretty good." He never did put his phone away.
Lois looks at John's phone, smiling lightly while she pulls out a new sPhone. "First day door prize," she beams, violet eyes turning to look at it. "Still haven't figured it out yet...."
"I couldn't quite make it on the first day...was still working a case." Which he is now regretting...a little. The new phones *are* pretty cool. For Earth technology. "Maybe I can help. What is giving you trouble?"
Lois hands it over so John can look at it, lips curling up in a sheepish grin. "Mostly that it doesn't een really FEEL like a phone, for one. and two... i cna't find the buttons." She chuckles. "I guess I'm a little old fashioned like that sometimes."
"OH...it's a pure touch screen phone. They do take a bit of practice." He tugs it out of the case. "Let's see here...did you work out how to unlock it yet"
Lois shakes her head, leaning forward to peer at what John is doing with interest. "Not yet. I know it's all touch screen, but that's just it...it's ALL screen...."
"Just swipe it like this...I hope I got the right angle. There." Knowing him, he's probably reading the mind of somebody who already knows how to use it. Telepaths.
Telepaths.... a bunch of cheaters! Lois watches John work the phone, mind eagerly learning the new tecnology. "Oh my god," she says, putting her forehead into the palm of a hand. "I'm an idiot. I was trying to use the BACK of the phone...."
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