Tandy didn't take her eyes off the television as Lois Lane answered another barrage of questions without once losing her composure.
She took deep breaths between every sentence, making sure she articulated herself clearly and made claims that were backed by the evidence that had already been gathered and released to the public.
"We will continue publishing verified information as this investigation develops to further inform the public of their crimes,"
"Multiple federal agencies have confirmed they are reviewing newly obtained evidence and are investigated the locations listed in the evidence,"
"Friends and Families of the victims deserve answers to what happened to them, I am simply trying to give them those answers,"
The cameras flashed almost constantly as she finished her sentence.
Tandy watched quietly before glancing sideways at Tyrone who was sitting on the couch, "How did you know?"
Tyrone looked away from the television long enough to take another sip of his coffee, "Know what?"
"That she'd actually publish what we sent over to her," Tandy responded.
Tyrone shrugged, "I didn't."
Tandy raised an eyebrow at that answer, "You sounded pretty confident."
"I was confident, but confidence and assurance definitely aren't the same thing," Tyrone said with a small smile.
Artio rolled onto his back beside the couch, completely oblivious to the conversation, one enormous paw twitching as she dreamed.
Tyrone looked back toward the television, "I just knew what kind of person Lois Lane is from how her career has panned out,"
Tandy waited, "Throughout her career, Lois has been offered a-lot of easy and safe stories that would've made her career without putting a target on her back,"
Another reporter asked Lois whether she feared retaliation from Roxxon and she answered without hesitation, "If telling the truth makes powerful people uncomfortable, then I'm doing my job."
Tyrone gave a small nod toward the screen, "That's exactly why. She doesn't fear any of these companies, and she's so big that they can't touch her,"
Tandy followed his gaze back to the television, "You really trust her."
"I trust her integrity. I didn't need to know whether she'd believe every piece of evidence immediately."
He rested the mug on the coffee table, "I just needed to know she'd investigate, and once she started investigating, she'd follow the facts and piece everything together,"
Tandy smiled faintly, "That's a lot of faith to put into someone you've never met."
"It isn't faith," Tyrone leaned back in his chair, "It's just pattern recognition."
Tandy laughed softly, "You really do think like an engineer."
"Now we just wait for them to make a mistake and pounce," Tyrone said.
***
Meanwhile, as Tyrone and Tandy were watching the news, hundreds of miles above the Earth, the Watchtower drifted silently through orbit.
The blue curve of the planet filled nearly half the observation deck, sunlight spilling across the polished floors as satellite feeds scrolled across transparent displays.
Batman stood in front of one of them, his cape barely moved.
One monitor displayed National City, another displayed financial markets and another displayed Roxxon's global communications traffic. Every new development in the current story appeared within seconds.
Behind him, the familiar sound of footsteps echoed through the chamber, "You wanted to see me."
Batman didn't turn to see who appeared behind him, just speaking, "Lois."
Superman folded his arms as he heard her name, "What about her?"
Batman enlarged another screen, which displayed the Daily Planet's headline, which displayed the dock photographs, corporate flowcharts of Roxxon Corporation, the kind of things that would never become public usually.
"Someone supplied her this information," Batman said.
"Yeah I know that," Superman said.
Batman finally looked over his shoulder, "Who?"
Clark shook his head, "I don't know."
"You investigated?" Batman asked.
"Of course I did, I needed to make sure this wasn't some kind of trap," Superman said.
"And?" Batman asked.
"Nothing," was all Clark said.
Batman's expression didn't change, "No digital trail or intercepted communications?"
"No," Clark shook his head at that.
"No physical surveillance?"
Clark smiled slightly, "You think I didn't try everything?"
"I'm being thorough Kent, maybe you should do the same," Batman said as he looked back towards Earth.Batman looked back toward Earth.
"Interesting," was all Batman could say.
Clark recognized that tone immediately, "That's your version of saying you're impressed."
"I didn't say that."
"You were thinking it."
"I was thinking that whoever did this understands operational security," Bruce said as he zoomed further into one of the leaked photographs.
Clark walked beside him to see what Bruce was doing, "The metadata was scrubbed."
"I noticed that too," Clark responded.
"The upload bounced through enough dead servers that even Cyborg couldn't reconstruct the original route. I'm guessing they just used Roxxon's old tech. It's connected to Luther and his schemes after all, he has a way with privacy," Bruce said.
"Yeah, what I first noticed was that the evidence was authentic, and whoever leaked it removed anything that might identify innocent victims before it became public."
Bruce remained silent for a couple seconds before speaking, "I don't like unknown variables."
"You never do," Clark responded.
Bruce looked directly at him, "They contacted someone close to you."
Clark already knew where this conversation was going.
"They contacted Lois and involved her without revealing themselves, possessing intelligence capabilities that can be extremely dangerous in the wrong hands
Clark sighed, "And now you're going to tell me you want to investigate whoever they are."
"I already am."
Clark laughed quietly, "Of course you are. Do you expect it's them?"
"I have some ideas, the sidekicks said they were quite competent, though I didn't expect this level. Messing with people connected to Luther was way above their paygrade I thought, but maybe their powers goes deeper than I think,"
"So what are you gonna do? Bring them in?" Clark asked.
Bruce ignored the comment, "I don't allow unknown actors near the people I care about."
Clark leaned against one of the consoles, "I appreciate the concern."
"You should."
"Lois can handle herself," Clark said, "And I can handle keeping her safe."
Bruce's expression remained unreadable, "At least give her this,"
Batman took out a pocket drive and handed it to Superman, "If anything illegally accesses her drive, this will isolate it. It'll keep her stuff private,"
Clark took it, "Thank you,"
"About those two, you have any ideas?" Clark asked before he left.
"Their powers seem quite interesting. The Cloaked man possesses wide scale teleportation, and the lady's powers have a purifying effect. I've kept tabs on them, but I won't engage until anything major happens, though I have asked Doctor Fate and Zatara about them, I need to learn more about their powers,"
"Well just update me on it periodically, I'm quite interested in new heroes myself," Clark said as he walked out, planning to head back to Earth and talk to Lois.