2014-10-30 - I'm Big In Japan

Kryptonite and Luthor. Why? Why is it ALWAYS Kryptonite and Luthor? Well, whatever the reason, Lois wasn't about to tell Clark that she's poking the hornet's nest. Not yet, anyway. She wanted to confirm that Luthor was indeed involved and to what extent and hopefully have a strong enough story that when it's given top of the fold front page, as it's going to because this is Lois on a story and she will NOT be buried somewhere between Ron's tooly sports and Cat's noob-tastic marriage advise, it'll be more than enough for authorities to maybe run with and they'll finally... not do anything, because Lois CAN'T print about kryptonite and dammit it all, she WILL find SOMETHING to burn Luthor for, she swears!

It was that mindset that had her in New York City. Leads take you weird places.

It was that mindset that had her backed up against a wall in the Russian part of town, likely having poked her nose in the wrong place at the wrong time for a long and healthy life-style, with a pissed off group of Russian mafia hoping to off the reporter without drawing any super attention.

Which Lois is sort of helping with since she has yet to activate her one and only super power: Scream of Superman Summoning.

Which Lois is starting to consider, given the aggression being shown as the Russians pause to discuss what to do. I mean, it's Lois Lane! Maybe they can force a story out of her? (OMG, Russian Mafia are lame!)

A moment earlier, a bus passed by carrying a load of people bound for downtown. This would normally not be worth mentioning, except that a young face is looking out the window at the time and a hand grabs at the Stop cord. The air brakes pulled the bus over, and allowed a teenager to get out along with two japanese tourists who thought this was their stop. The pair ambled about taking pictures of everything while the girl dashed into a doorway.

A stream of excited japanese heralds the sight of a teenaged girl with a blonde ponytail in a black and red jumpsuit pelting toward the event in question, and the camera flashes go absolutely wild!

One of the Russians, not expecting an incoming attack, stumbles forward and turns. He swears, then picks up the teenaged girl by her shirt front, lifting her into the air. Some of them turn from Lois, laughing at the girl's outfit and how ridiculous that these Americans let their children pretend to be heroes.

Oddly, the child doesn't seem even slightly scared, dangling from the fist. The man holding her looks at her, suddenly not laughing as he realizes that something isn't the way it should be; the girl isn't reacting right. Which is when she starts to smile, and to grow.

The girl is suddenly nearly fifty feet tall, taking up most of the area, as the man dangled from his hold on her shirt front, suddenly holding more than he'd expected. And the girl, massive in stature, says, "Keep laughing. It makes me...uh..." A pause. Then she says, "Well anyway, let the lady go."

The appearance of the teenager is completely unexpected and like the mafia, Lois too turns her attention to the pipsqueak of a girl. Part of her cringes and facepalms. Another part reminds her of her cousin-in-law and the multitude of other heros out there, looking to help. Lois turns her attention to the mafia guy infront of her, hoping to be able to even the odds.

And then Lois finds herself in the middle of that movie, "Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman". Or, Teen as the case may be. Lois only gaps for a moment before she steps from the wall to sucker punch the nearest mafia. One down.

The others, eyes bugging, stagger backwards and draw guns to point at the very tall girl.

Eyes narrow as the /large/ figure notes the guns aimed at her. Covering her face with her arm, she actually squeaks as if scared when gunfire erupts, striking her all over. She's not a hard target to hit, but though she seems honestly afraid of the bullets they don't seem to be /doing/ much to her. No blood sprays, and after a moment....giggling.

"Oh god that tickles, stop it oh please stop it," the voice calls out from above, and the gigantic dirty blonde actually squirms a bit. "Seriously, stop it," she says, still giggling but more seriously. Then she stomps on the ground, sending the entire group stumbling.

"I asked you to stop. Jeez, I thought that was going to hurt." Her eyes flick over to Lois, and a massive hand picks up two of the mafia nearby, lifting them into the air. Carefully.

Lois had a moment of heart-stopping panic as the mafia began to open fire. Oh God. Some well-intentioned teen's going to splat trying to save me.

And then there was giggling. Lois stares, just like the mafia guys, and she is likewise staggered when the ground suddenly trembles. In heels, however, the reporter twists an ankle and drops to the floor so Stature's grab collects the men easily. All three men in Stature's clutches, struggle and scream and panic... in Russian. Because they are Russian mafia.

Looking down at Lois, the girl frowns. She then stands up and puts the ones she has atop a nearby building, seeming to actually be taller for a moment to do so. Then she's normal girl sized and running towards Lois, pulling up to a stop beside Ms. Lane, holding back a laugh as she asks, "Are you...all right?" She's got this gigantic grin on her face and she's apparently utterly thrilled from the fact that she's pinching her leg with her left hand and shaking. "I'm sorry I have to admit that was so fun I had no idea holy cow I have GOT to do more of that and are you okay hi." And breathe!

Stature hopes there's not more because she didn't look to see if there was or not!

Lois did. There were only four. She knocked one out, and Teen Miracle Go got the other three. They are running for a far side fire escape and are bailing.

"Whoa. Breathe," Lois says as she works to get to her feet with the teenager babbling at her.

"I'm fine. You?" asks the reporter as she pulls off the shoe from the ankle she twisted so she can roll it in preparation to walk it off.

The domino mask she wears hides her identity; apparently this superhero has a secret one. Which is not likely to surprise anyone, she looks like she might be sixteen if she's lucky. Looking slightly embarrased, the young lady says, "I've never been shot before though, it wasn't like it used to be."

With that potentially confusing statement out of her mouth, the girl asks "Do you need a hospital? I didn't see you get shot or anything," and quickly looks Lois over with normal, human eyes. Behind her the photogs are coming closer, taking pictures with their cameras, which makes the girl turn her head away. Doesn't like being photographed?

Taking off her other shoe, Lois turns to look at the photographers. A glance at the girl and the reporter understands completely.

"I think you need to grow again and then follow my lead," says Lois softly, looking pointedly at the girl. She waits for the girl to look right at her, before she quirks a brow as if to say: Follow my lead.

And then Lois melodrama llama over does how much her ankle hurts.

"Oh, thank you for saving me. But I can't walk. Please! Will you carry me away?" Lois says in her best Damsel in Distress (also another super power, thank you!) voice that should a certain Blue Suited Flyboy overhear will pick out as Lois overacting and thus is nothing to worry about, so he should continue stopping that tsunami or whatever he is doing. Lois staggers visibly to lean on the girl.

"That's your cue, Miracle Grow. Up, up, and away. let's move," she's whispering.

Miracle Girl opens her mouth to argue when she's told to follow the woman's lead, but she closes it and grins with apparent agreement quickly enough as Lois begins to act. Glancing back to make sure she's not going to step on a tourist or two, she grows up to tall enough to step over them without any threat and lifts Lois with both hands.

"Stature actually," she says as she walks /over/ the tourists, who get a shot of her crotch (yay..) as she does, and then she's around the corner and taking the block with strides that no human could keep up with. The girl looks obviously flustered, looking around for things to step on so she can avoid them, and with no obvious target in mind for where to end up.

She looks up again, then says, "...hang on a second," and reaches to put Lois down in an alley. Then she's completely, utterly gone as if she'd never been there.

But Lois, being as close as she was, saw a bit more. She saw the girl shrink, almost too fast to follow. Down by her feet, someplace.

Smart girl! Lois can't help but smile to herself as that giant teen scoops her up and carries her away. By the way the reporter curls her legs up, and helps support her own weight, she's used to being carried about. When she's set down, Lois keeps an eye out for people, noting the shrinking that the girl does. Lois kneels down to offer her her hand to crawl into before gently setting her to her shoulder where Stature can cling to her collar and her hair. Lois'll put on her shoes and head out like nothing happened.

"Thanks, Stature. I'm Lois Lane-Kent from the Daily Planet," the reporter says as she settles her bluetooth earpiece into her opposite ear to excuse the apparent talking-to-self.

"You've done this before," says the small figure hiding on Lois' shoulder. She sounds like she approves, from the tone of voice, and for a tiny figure she projects quite well. One would expect that small to be nearly inaudible. "Get attacked often?"

The girl adds, "I hesitate to mention though, I have to go back for my clothes. Didn't think this through very well." A small laugh comes out of her as they turn the corner, with people starting to gather down the block. There must have been some kind of event down there! Two japanese tourists are being photographed by papparazi and seem to be talking very quickly.

"A time or two, yeah," says Lois with a chuckle in her voice as she walks, even snickering at the attacked question.

"It's a hobby, apparently. Usually my saviors wear blue and fly, but I'll take red and forty feet tall," Lois says pausing at the sight.

"That's likely not going to happen," she adds, because she's seen that before. Papparazi is only cool when sung by Lady Gaga. Damn vultures.

"We'll go for coffee until the crowd let's up and then see if we can find your duds."

The young lady mumbles something about her mother and settles in to get comfortable, holding onto a few strands of hair. Luckily two inches tall is effectively no mass, so she's not going to do more than tickle. "Tell me about it," she says after a moment. "Seriously, tell me about it. You reacted like a pro. I should know, I've been kidnapped like a thousand times myself. I'll take a small cocoa, and I left my wallet in my jeans." She giggles as Lois takes a wide turn, swinging a bit.

"Later. It's never good to leave your ID lying around. Hang on, and stay out of sight," Lois says, taking a breath, drawing herself up, and marching into the fray. She shoves her way through, like a pro, and moves toward the alley. All while holding her phone like it's recording, which it is because that's second nature, and rapid fire giving questions about what happened. Never mind that she was there. It's a rouse so people won't connect the victim with ace reporter Lois Lane. Her eyes scan about for Stature's clothes.

Stature indicates the doorway she changed in, with the small shop inside. She says, "If you could put me down by the door, I'm pretty sure I can meet up with you in a few minutes." She tries not to attract attention or interrupt Lois' work, having a pretty good idea when it's safe to talk and when to hide and shut up.

If she's given the chance though, she'll vanish into the doorway and hopefully find her discarded garments intact, as the mob starts slowly dispersing. However, -everyone- wants to be interviewed, so there's no end of distractions.

At the reccommendation, Lois 'drops' her purse and kneels to collect it, setting Stature down by the door in the process. Leaving the girl to find her clothes and her wallet and her things intact, the reporter makes sure people aren't focused on that doorway until she feels Stature's had ample time for a normal person to chance and scoot before Lois packs herself up and heads to the diner thing she'd mentioned. She walks in and drops herself into a booth, leaning back with a groan. Her ankle is going to swell and Clark's going to fuss. Fan-freakin'-tastic.

Shortly afterward, a young lady in jeans and a t-shirt with a faded denim jacket is leaning on the back of the opposite chair. Very familiar dirty blonde ponytail, but the domino mask is missing as is the black and red jumpsuit. "Almost hopped onto the bus that just went by," the girl says, leaning on her elbows. "The hero isn't supposed to hang around afterward. Generally." She looks even younger, but her eyes are amazingly direct and firm. She has a half-grin on her face that belies the fact that she was just being shot at, and a confident posture.

"Generally," Lois agrees, sitting up. "But the crowd's gone and everyone saw that hero leave with some broad. I'm pretty sure there's nothing to worry about." Trust me, her tone and her smile seem to say as she offers her hand, but doesn't reintroduce herself. It'd be bad form.

"Nice to meet you, officially."

A nod is given to acnowledge the points being made, and the girl shakes Lois' hand. She's got a good grip, and callouses. "Do I give you a name?" she asks as she sits down in the booth. "Forgive me, for all I come across as a woman of the world," she tosses her ponytail dramatically, "I'm pretty new at this." A pause, then, "Very new at this."

"You already have," Lois replies as she nods and offers Stature a menu. "You did well, given your newness. Especially at the end. You find your stuff alright?"

Stature chuckles. "Kicked my pants into a corner. I had to change in the aisle, but everyone was outside looking for Miracle Girl Grow, so it went off fine. Might have to skip on the cocoa though, my mom's expecting me home two busses ago." She lowers her voice and whispers sotto voce 'she doesn't know' as if this were any surprise to either one of them at this point. "Which is why I'm reaaaaaly hoping you didn't get any good shots of my face on that camera." She's pleading a little, given her voice.

 Cassie Lang is totally going to have Miracle Girl Go become a thing in Japan.  Lois Lane giggles. :)

"I'm not a photographer. My phone is nearly all voice recordings," Lois replies as she digs out her phone in its suped up otterbox. "And if you want, we can call her. Let her know there was a superhero soemthing and the reporter took forever and you'l lbe on the next bus. And then walk. Catch your bus, and go." Lois holds out her phone.

Cassie Lang holds out her hands in the classical 'oh god no' pose, palms facing Lois. "Oh nono. Mom is absolutely paranoid about superheroes. I was held up in traffic, or the bus was late or I lost track of time talking to a boy twice my age. I'd be in less trouble." She grins a little, weakly. Apparently her mom worries her more than Russian mafia. "Besides, I've got my own." She pulls her phone, answers a text with the speed that only a teen raised using a celphone from birth can match, and then says, "I really hope you're okay though. Those guys are rough if they don't get what they want. They held me for a week once a couple years ago."

The smile Lois gives is one of pride. Good girl, it seems to say as she puts her phone back into her purse.

"Yes. I'm fine. Glad you came along when you did, though," she adds.

Cassie Lang pushes to her feet then, accepting the praise easily. "Nice to meet you," she says, sounding like she means it. "Ms. Lane," she adds as she starts for the door. She raises a single eyebrow amusedly and, looking back, walks right into the door frame. Laughing, she tries again and heads for the bus.