River knew the name. She'd remembered seeing it on the newspaper many times. Lois Lane was a writer. That was her job.
A lot of people knew her name. River didn't know enough about Superman to have a moment of connecting that to Lois. And all things considered, that was probably a good thing. She'd called Spiderman by his real name once. He had not been pleased.
River opened her mouth to say something about lemons not being all that unusual, and that they had many good qualities that were often overlooked, but the woman behind the counter could no longer keep herself in check. Her thoughts were now running rampant, and included the serious and real fear that River might go nuts and kill everyone in the shop.
River reacted as though she'd been slapped. The brightness on her face turned to surprise, and she took a few steps backward, shaking her head.
Across town, in her understaffed office, Veronica saw her text message. Back up? Well, shit. This was too important not to send people. Three agents walked past her desk a few minutes later.
"Hey! I need your help."
One of them scoffed at her, coffee cup in hand, and said something about how they didn't have to take orders from an intern.
"There's a murder suspect at Nanette's on 4th and Main. You want me to go by myself?" She smirked. "I'm just an intern, y'know. Can't be trusted."
They were out the door immediately. Veronica could not leave; there were not enough agents around for that to be reasonable, and she was right: they'd never let her NEAR the suspect right now. Not as an intern.