Fantasy So Night Follows Day by TMaskedWriter

[Ramesh_Rocky]

Julie Equals sat at the canvas once again. She tilted her head and stared at it.

She'd put Susan to bed and helped her down into a light trance, to see if she and the other women in her head could learn more about her odd connection with Helen. Troy was still talking to the hackers, and Helen and Mander had left for their meeting. Which meant that, at nearly midnight, for the first time all day, she had time to herself to at least make that first brushstroke, so she could say "Ok, you've put something on the canvas; you have officially begun painting. Now, keep going."

The word "time" looked for something to connect with in Julie's head. Well, it was almost tomorrow before she'd been free of distractions to come in here and try to get some work done.

"Distractions" played across her mind as well. Well, it'd been a day of distractions. First the Ultimados, then Helena showing up, all this Springheel stuff, Whyte calling, the Triad hit, Susan insisting on going downtown and into the midst of an attack on the hotel, discovering that Susan might be psychic. It was a damn busy day, with lots of problems, but it seemed they were, if not yet resolved, getting better. Which meant she was free to try to stop worrying about everyone and think about the crowd scene that had been trying to get out of her head and onto the canvas.

"Time" went through her head again as she stared. She'd been listening to the Beatles, Who, and Stones blaring from across the street until it got too late for loud music. Mander had almost certainly played Time is on My Side at some point during the day. Julie began humming the song. It was then that "distraction" played across her mind again. Everyone had been so busy today...

"We missed something." Julie said, just as her brush was about to touch the canvas. She stopped and thought. Whyte had done a good job of keeping everyone on their toes. Who knew how Helen's meeting would go? When the hackers would have something for Troy? What Susan would be able to find. He didn't even know Susan, but he was keeping her busy, too. Everyone had bigger things to think about than she did.

Julie dropped her brush. Everyone DID have bigger things to think about than she did, and now that she wasn't worried to death for Troy, Susan, and Helen; her head was clear. She'd remembered it as Whyte calling, then the limo hit; but realizing now, that wasn't how things happened. It connected in her head, and she ran out of her studio and down the hall into the library, where Troy was working.

"Twenty-six minutes, Troy!"

Troy stood up from the computer and listened to her.

"Helena called Whyte, remember? It took the Ministry of Intelligence twenty-six minutes to get his personal number once we knew his name. He CONGRATULATED her for calling him back in LESS than half-an-hour!"

Troy took in Julie's words, trying to see the connection herself. He'd been too busy going over the hackers' findings to consider whatever Julie had thought of. Julie saw the look of contemplation on his face and continued.

"Whyte called her. She told him she'd call him back in half-an-hour, and did it with time to spare. And then his people attacked the limo. And Whyte let her record his confession. So, why can't she just email it to the Elders or whoever? Maybe they're Elders, but they probably have people to work their computers for them! Why isn't sending it good enough? Why couldn't she just play it over the phone for them? Or send an Ultimado to drop off a flash drive?"

Troy gave a nod, working the ideas she gave him while Julie continued.

"That hit happened WHILE Helena was on the phone with him. He obviously planned it that way! But he'd called her twenty-six minutes before, and she hung up and called him back. So, did the limo and the ambushers just circle the block for half an hour? Was Whyte planning to keep her talking that long, while they set everything up?"

"You're thinking he's made a deal with the Elders, aren't you, Julie?" Troy asked, taking her hand, and leading her out of the library to go across the street and speak to Ortega about this. "She scared them enough to murder Raymond Chen just because he had the name of someone who pissed her off."

[Ramesh_Rocky]

"That was a month ago. Whyte knew about The Elders long before then. He would have had to in order to set up the Raymond Chen thing in the first place! Last month, Helena had them scared enough to send her a severed hand. Today, they're brave enough to hit her hotel? And now they INSIST Helena come to a face-to-face meeting. Why? To listen to the recording? They need HER to work an MP3 player? Whyte had a whole month to operate while nobody knew his name; when he was just Yorkshire. Who knows what he was doing besides putting out ads for deaf mercenaries? Maybe he didn't have a deal with The Elders back when all this started, but he could've made one since."

Julie grabbed Troy by the upper arms and looked him in the eye.

"He knows he can't outbid her by himself, Master. What if he and the Elders went in on it together?"

Troy stopped and took a couple more seconds to examine the thoughts.

"The Elders needed the justification of the limo hit to attack the hotel. Helen has just as many friends as she does enemies in organized crime; friends whom she permits to operate in San Finzione, as long as they play by her rules. A straight-up hit would piss off some other old, well-established organizations with good relationships with Helen. However, a retaliation; a 'matter of honor,' would be a different story." Julie raised an eyebrow at that. "San Finzione was founded by Italians, Mistress. Helen owns casinos and resorts. You don't need your Math Boy for this one."

"Yeah, I get it, Master. We watch The Godfather movies every Thanksgiving, you know."

"Well, it IS time to be spent with The Family." Troy replied. They both gave a tiny smile at the joke that was now automatic for Troy whenever the subject of their marathon came up, before Julie continued.

"So," She remarked as they looked both ways and joined hands again before crossing the street. "Whyte sends Morgan after Helena. Morgan gets to her, but he fails to kill her. So, then he goes to the Elders and says 'Raymond Who? I'm the one who almost took down 'The Viper That Whatevers' for you. Got closer than you ever have, anyway. With your help, I can finish the job.'"

[Ramesh_Rocky]

"'And all I ask in return is one thing." Troy whispered. "You guys want Springheel too, but wouldn't getting rid of Helen be its own reward?' Certainly, worth the sacrifice of a couple dozen pawns. He gets Springheel, and they get what? San Finzione? They've still got Helen's friends to deal with."

"That's true." Julie added. "Maria's doing a good job, but she doesn't have Helena's connections, her influence; she hasn't taught her to Do What We Do yet. By the time Maria figures out how to stop a mob war like Helena could, it'd be too late. Whyte's 'keep the world teetering on the brink' philosophy probably appeals to the Elders, too. They're also making money from it."

Julie got Troy's wheels turning as he approached one of the Ultimados setting up tents and canopies on the lawn and asked for Ortega. She pointed them to the house, and they continued, Troy responding to her.

"The limo hit was meant to happen within earshot of the call. It was late for lunchtime, but not too late. A couple of blocks from the Space Needle, not near the convention center, anyway. There are enough restaurants nearby that the lawyers and accountants could have been at one. Whyte needed someone to relay his message to frame Helen, so he required at least one witness, preferably more. Hitting them there might've been Plan A, and the limo ambush could have been Plan B."

Troy rang the bell and squeezed her hand, worrying about Helen, as Ortega opened the door.

[Ramesh_Rocky]

So Night Follows Day Pt. 15

By T. MaskedWriter with special guest author Susan Bailey

*****

"Remember when you were young? You shone like the sun.
Shine on, you crazy diamond!
Now, there's a look in your eyes, like black holes in the sky.
Shine on, you crazy diamond!
You were caught in the crossfire of childhood and stardom,
blown on the steel breeze.
Come on, you target for faraway laughter.
Come on, you stranger, you legend, you martyr,
and shine!"
-Pink Floyd "Shine On You Crazy Diamond (I-V)"

Hey, Susan again. I'm not sure of a lot of things at the moment, but I'm reasonably certain that's who I am. (And again, I'll tell you when it's me.)

My eyes were closed, and through the haze of relaxation, I noticed that I no longer felt Julie's presence in the bed with me. She'd undressed me for bed, laid down with me, and told me soft, relaxing things, until I couldn't do anything but feel the relaxation wash over me. (Troy and Julie are so used to this feeling that they're able to carry on long conversations in trance. I'm not there, yet.) There were other things that she said, too, but I could ignore those. They were for my subconscious mind. And now that I was so deeply relaxed, some friends of mine who came from there were coming to help me answer some questions. I was just waiting for them to show up...

* * *

My head. Well, I can't really call it "the final frontier," can I? I mean, there are certainly other people with heads in the world. I've seen them.

Anyway, these are the voyages of the starship Equalsprize. It's Until-I-Wake-Up mission: To explore my subconscious. To seek out answers lost somewhere amongst all the crap in here. To find out how the fuck I got what, I'm calling for now, some kind of psychic connection with Helen!

I sat in my big, comfortable, swiveling chair, looking at all the buttons and lights and the intercom speaker on the right armrest. More light-up buttons and switches went down the length of the left armrest. I gave a big sigh and couldn't stop grinning.

"Oh, MYYY!" Said a familiar voice, coming from someone sitting at the Navigator's position in front of me, wearing a gold shirt and nothing else. "You're looking quite sharp today, Captain. Shall I... er... send a class I probe to the Captain's quarters?"

"No thanks, Mr. Su... zy-Ho-Lu," I told her. Let me just... be happy for a minute that I'm finally getting a Star Trek one of these, ok? TOS, even! This has got to be Julie's doing. You are SO going down on her when I wake up!"

I composed myself, still a bit giddy at all of this. I looked around the bridge.

"Ok," I said. "So, you're Sulu, and I don't see a Chekov." I turned to my left. "And there's no Uhura, so that makes Sue..."

The turbolift doors opened. Someone else who looked like me was in an outfit with a blue shirt, wearing a pinky ring.

"Dammit, Susan!" Sue barked at me. "I'm a fuckin' waitress, not a doctor!"

"Ok." I said, trying to take her seriously, but unable to resist a giggle. "So that means that Suzy-Q is..."

"The only logical choice remaining, Captain." She said from over my right shoulder. I turned to her. Yep, pointy ears, bowl-cut, everything. It took a moment for me to stop laughing.

"Sorry, ladies. You all look great. Just... If I'm ever in here for a really long time; like if I'm in a coma or something, promise me we'll come back to this one!"

"We'll certainly try, Susan." Sue replied.

"Before we get started," Suzy-Q interrupted. "Let's clear something up here and now. Sue, Suzy-Ho; are either of you spirit guides? Like, do you already know what we're looking for, but plan to make Susan go through a bunch of shit until she figures it out herself?"

"No." Sue said, then thought another moment. "Hell, no! I believe I would kick some spirit guide motherfucker's ass and beat the answer out of them, if anyone here turned out to be one of those."

"If I say yes," Suzy-Ho-Lu asked. "Would you use sexual torture to get it out of me?"

"Nope." I replied. "I'd let Sue take care of the punishment."

"In that case, no. I am not a spirit guide."

I turned to Suzy-Q, recalling her conversation with Helen on this subject.

"I didn't suspect any of you, but thanks for thinking of that." I settled in my chair. "Well, if I'm Kirk, I suppose it's up to me to get things started."

Sue stepped forward.

"Ok, yes. But I've got something to say before we get started, too. You need to come out of this eventually, Susan. So, we've got to put a limit on the Shatner college of Acting stuff here."

[Ramesh_Rocky]

"My! God! Sue... -Bones!" I replied. "You're...absolutely right." I stood up and looked at her. "Ok, it's out of my system now. And while we're getting things out of the way, I've always wanted to see this." I walked over to Spock's viewer and looked inside. Yep. Vulcan porn, just like I thought. I returned to my chair.

"Ok, Mr. Suzy-Ho-Lu. Sorry, I'm gonna stick to everyone's usual names. I'm already torn over whether Suzy-Q should be Spocky-Q or Suzyock-Q, and that's too much to deal with now. Anyway, let's go visit your home, ladies. Plot a course for my Subconscious."

"How do I do that, Captain?" Suzy-Ho asked. I had to think for a moment. We needed the answer soon, but yay, Star Trek Fantasy!

Just hit some buttons that feel Sulu-y to you." She nodded and started pressing random buttons.

"This better not be like the first movie." Sue grumbled. "Where we spend forty-seven minutes looking at special-effects before anything happens."

I heard the music that let me know we were on our way.

* * *

Contessa Helena de San Finzione tossed another cigarette out of the Mustang's passenger-side window after it crossed the intersection of 85th street and Aurora. A few blocks later, the street turned from residential to commercial property, and at the next intersection was the warehouse where they were to meet the Elders' representative. Beyond it, the street changed from houses and apartments to banks and shops for several miles before becoming a residential street again.

"Slightly more public than I'd expect." Mander said. "Right on the corner."

They pulled into the parking lot, Helen casually noting and pointing out the cameras and the men who couldn't be seen from the street, patrolling the rooftop with AK-47s. Mander doing the same for the ones he spotted.

Helen lit another cigarette and took a long drag.

"Parking lot and street in two directions. Open space; fewer approaches for any Ultimados we might've brought along if we hadn't been told not to."

"Woulda been nice, though." Mander replied, turning off the vehicle. After Helena didn't respond, he asked, "You all right?"

"Sorry, just thinking about how all this began in a warehouse full of Triad goons. It would have, yes. But the Triads are jumpy, and we have to show that we're no threat. Well, we're a threat, but not a big one. Not one they have to worry about unless they piss us off, anyway."

"So, why'm I here, then?"

"We're not a big threat." Helen replied, getting out of the car. "We're also not a stupid one."

"Least one of us ain't." Mander replied, getting out and walking behind her.

Helen approached the side door, dropped her cigarette, and knocked. A Chinese man in a black suit and tie opened the door and looked at them. He nodded and let them in. They walked inside, where three more with assault rifles watched them, fingers resting on trigger-guards. When the man who'd opened the door reached for Helen's Prada Arcade bag, she pulled it away.

"My big, scary Englishman and I are both carrying pistols." Helen told the man in Guangzhou Cantonese. "His is holstered, and mine is in my purse. You have AK-47s, unshouldered, which I would appreciate you not pointing at us. If you can't begrudge us a little paranoia, too, we can turn right around." She looked him in the eyes. "Because none of you will shoot, and you'll get to explain to The Elders why I left."

The men pointed their rifles away from them.

"This way." The man replied in the same language and dialect, as he led them through pallets of stacked crates and shelves, toward the center of the warehouse. Unlike the last Triad warehouse that Helen had been in, this one was used for moving something other than captive women. Counterfeit electronics, Helen reasoned; from the information she read off the crates they passed.

The small hedge maze of crates led to an open area in the center, containing a folding card table with three chairs around it. The one who'd done the little talking any of them had thus far motioned to a chair. Mander walked forward, looked it over, and held it out for Helena. She took her seat.

"Seems very cordial, Your Countessness." Mander whispered to her. "If not for the major 'set-up' vibe."

"Not even a pat down for a wire, or insisting on taking our phones." She whispered back. "See if you've got a signal."

"He doesn't, Contessa." Said a now familiar voice from a speaker in the darkness. "You're right. They're not worried about recording devices or signals, because I'm taking care of those."

[Ramesh_Rocky]

A Chinese man, wearing a suit and carrying a briefcase, came out of the darkness from the side and took a seat at the table next to her, regarding Helen with a nod.

"You will pardon me, Contessa." The man said in perfect West-Coast American English. "My name is Lee." Helen nodded. If he'd been American, it would have been Smith. "The Elders felt that they should hear both sides of this dispute."

Mander remained standing behind Helen as another figure entered from the far end of the room-within-the-crates. The man wore a new suit, and what looked like a motorcycle helmet with the visor closed, blacking out the wearer's head entirely. The figure walked closer and took a seat at the table. It was then that light flickered from the helmet's visor; light that made Helen think of a screen powering up. The thought was proved correct a moment later when Leonard Whyte, CBE's face appeared in the visor.

"Nice to see you face-to-face again, Contessa." He said from speakers on the sides of the helmet. "Well, not really face-to-face, but you understand."

Helen exploded into hysterical laughter. Whyte's face on the monitor indicated that he was waiting for her to finish.

"Yes, I do!" Helen got out between gasps for air. "After... all this shit... My 'arch-foe,'... my fucking 'nemesis'... in this 'deadly cat and mouse game'... I've been playing... for the last two months... turns out to be DAFTPUNK???" She wasn't finished laughing, but still tried to get the rest out. "There is... FAR more truth to that... than you could possibly know!"

"Oh, it's a bit Tron, I know. When the people who watched the warehouse video before me didn't obey your commands as well, I determined that your... unique talent... wasn't something that could be transmitted electronically, the idea just came to me. It also answered that burning question 'Why doesn't Contessa Helena de San Finzione just go on TV and conquer the world already?' So, this little baby blocks off all outside sound and light, depending on built-in cameras and internal speakers, allowing us to speak without worrying about your ability. Provided that it's me at the table, that is. Knowing me, I might've just grabbed a bum off the street and gave him a new suit and a thousand bucks to put on this helmet and sit here for an hour. Maybe he's watching Spongebob. The thing gets Netflix. He's not bored in there."

Helen composed herself and lit a cigarette. The answer that involved Whyte exploiting an innocent was likely the correct one.

"Ok, ok. It would've been cool if it was like Arrested Development, and you had Super Dave Osbourne under that helmet, but your version explains the smell. Tron didn't end too well for the English tech guy, if I recall. But, are you planning to make any more of those helmets? Because my maid would just love one! Not the one with hobo breath on the inside, though. I'd want to get her a new one. Ooh, do they come in Emerald Green?"

"There's at least one more. I was going to offer them to our Chinese friends if it became necessary to 'come get you' from where you're hiding in town."

Mr. Lee cut in.

"So, you knew that The Viper... er, the Contessa, was not at the hotel?"

"I considered it a possibility. She has a double; it was a 50-50 chance. That's the real Contessa. The double's probably on a flight back to San Finzione right now."

"He knew I wasn't there, because he sent me a text about your men 'paying her a visit.' And your little stunts have shut down the airport, Leonard." Helen replied with a long drag. "But yes, she's out of this now." Helen switched to Mandarin and turned to Mr. Lee. "I am the real Viper That Speaks All the Tongues of Man. There is another name that you know me by. I shall not be using it tonight, but I suspect you know it, and He who gave it to me." She thought a moment and turned back to Whyte or his avatar under the helmet. "And Leonard, your helmet thing, it operates via phone frequencies; and must have wi-fi if it's got Netflix, but gets through your jammer? Well, I'd suppose it would; I mean, you built both of them, right?"

"A very exclusive feature of Whyte cell phones, for our privileged clientele, like the Honorable Mr. Lee." He replied in English, bowing his head on the screen in Lee's direction. "But let's get to business, Helena. I understand you have a recording you'd like Mr. Lee to hear."

"I did," She replied in English. "But I see there's no point now. I mean, you've been pretty calm about it from the beginning. That and the fact that you're... well, your vagrant, anyway; is here, means you struck a deal with the Elders before I even got to Seattle. So, let's talk about that, instead."

She turned to Mr. Lee and switched back to Mandarin.

"What has this man offered the Elders to risk my wrath?"

* * *

[Ramesh_Rocky]

Susan's Log, Stardate: Don't feel like doing the math. One, I guess.

My... other selves and I... No, Sue, that wasn't a Shatner pause, I was just searching for a word; I'm trying to do a log entry, here, all right? Anyway, we are about to emerge from Warp at whatever coordinates Suzy-Ho put in. So far, most of the trip had been looking at stars go past on the viewscreen and watching the little lights move below it.

"Anything on long-range scans?" I asked Suzy-Q.

"We're approaching a nebula, Captain." She said, looking into the viewer. Should be coming into visual range."

"Onscreen." I said with a smile. Suzy-Q smiled back, pressing the button.

The pink, swirling mass floated in space, surging with energy, pulsing with lightning storms that danced through the pinkness.

"My subconscious is a nebula?" I asked the other Mes.

"Well, it IS a pretty nebulous place." Sue pointed out, from the helmsman's seat. Since we're not beaming down to the surface of a planet yet, and there was no one else but the other three of us on the ship, she didn't have any doctoring to do, so Sue got bored and took Chekov's spot.

"Is this the right place, Captain?" Suzy-Ho asked. "Because I've got to be honest, all we have to go on is your memories of the TV show, so I just started pushing buttons that felt right to me."

"That's why I didn't give any co-ordinates, Suzy-Ho. Something Suzy-Q said back in the living room came to mind: You all come from my subconscious. I figured that meant that you'd instinctively know the way home."

She beamed and turned to Sue.

"See? I can do something without sex being involved!"

Sue grumbled.

"I've trusted your judgment thus far." I said. "Ok, take us in."

"Roger, Captain. Taking our long, tubular ship with the big spanking paddle thing on top into the strange pink thing."

Sue smiled.

"So," I mused. "No sensors or shields in a nebula."

"Blindfolded and naked. Sounds like the route to something metaphysical." Suzy-Q observed.

"Best way I've always found to go looking for answers." Suzy-Ho added.

Enveloped in the electrified pinkness, we moved slowly forward until something beeped at Suzy-Q's station, and she peeked into her viewer.

"Sensors aren't supposed to be working, but I'm getting something, Captain. A transmission from... the nebula itself."

"I think it's safe to say that I know we're here. Can you put it on-screen?"

She pressed some buttons, and the viewscreen changed to an image of Troy grinning in the darkness. Up close, as if we were viewing it from a camebangrson who was sitting on his knee. A pounding bass guitar was playing over everything, and he yelled something that couldn't be heard over it, however, I've seen him say it enough to recognize his mouth making the words: "Fucking love you, Mistress."

"That song," Sue said. "I know it."

"We all do, Sue." Suzy-Q responded. "It is the intro to 'Bloodletting (The Vampire Song)' by Concrete Blonde, which leads me to believe that we are seeing Troy's bachelor party here. Further, the angle suggests that we're seeing it from our own perspective at the time, as Susan was sitting on Troy's knee when these events took place."

[Ramesh_Rocky]

"Ok, Suzy-Q; if I don't get to be Shatner, you don't get to be Nimoy. We're seeing my memory of Troy's bachelor party. You can just say that." I thought back to that moment. "Yeah! I remember all of us were on top of the world that night! I'd just done that strip show and more with Julie and Brenda in front of all those people! All those men and women watching us, cheering us on. And then, hurrying off-stage into Troy's arms: A man who was not only OK with this whole crazy idea for a theme that we'd come up with, but gave us loving encouragement every step of the way! A man I loved, who genuinely loved me back. OK, so he was marrying someone else in the morning; I loved her too. And nothing would change between the three of us. I would still be both of their girlfriend, they would still be with me. I felt confident, secure, sure of myself. And then..."

"Hello, Troilus. Thanks for the invitation. How've you been?"

We watched as Troy introduced me to Contessa Helena de San Finzione for the first time. The time that I would end up not remembering. The woman from the news who was apparently Troy's first girlfriend and the bitch was fucking smoking in the hotel bar! Where other waitresses have to breathe it in!

"Fuck her!" I said, remembering what was going through my head at that moment. "I just had the greatest moment of my life and now she's trying to sound all Auntie Mame, calling their decision to make Julie Best Man 'sappy.' I don't care if she comes back! I don't care that she's 'the third person out there who can Do What We Do!' I'm not gonna take this shit!"

My voice came from the screen.

"I'm pretty sure there's no smoking in here." Ok, not assertive as I'd had hoped, however, from what Troy had been trying not to say, I was in the presence of the third, and from everything they'd told me about her up til now; evil mind controller that was "out there."

"And I was really pissed off at Troy's response. That she's got Diplomatic Immunity. So, even without the mind control, nobody can tell her not to smoke in here? And that's when she said."

The screen completed the sentence for me.

"Let's all go up to the Honeymoon Suite together. I have a surprise of my own planned."

"And there's the moment she fucking took that feeling away from you!" Sue shouted, pounding on the console.

The video continued. Brenda and I got up. Troy got up. He could probably fight her, or stop her, but there were too many people in here to do anything, so he went along.

"Helen's looking us over." Suzy-Ho said, as the image continued. "You know, they say that within the first thirty seconds of meeting someone, the decision 'Do I want to fuck them or not' is already made on some level."

"How does that help anything?" Sue asked for me.

[Ramesh_Rocky]

"Because that 'yeah, I'd fuck her' look is on her face here, but watch how it changes."

The memory slowed, like someone was hitting the Frame Advance on a video, because they were showing me something that you can only see for a moment, but they felt it was worth pausing the video to point it out. Helen was still looking me up and down, but Suzy-Ho was right. The look of lust on her face was becoming something else. Something more familiar.

Pity? No. I wasn't any stranger to that one. I got plenty of it back when I was with Chad and we had neighbors he hadn't chased off who still bothered to call the cops on him. It wasn't that let-down look that cops got when all I would have had to say was the word "yes," and they would have dragged him downtown, and I'd say "no," instead. It was the look they gave me before that point.

"She's noticing the marks." Suzy-Q said. "The ones you still had from Chad." I could suddenly feel them all over me again. Old pains that I thought would never go away, but eventually did.

"The ones she remembered Wade giving her mom." I replied. "And her, too." She'd stopped at my upper arms, below my shoulders. She touched one of her own. Just as we were about to walk out into the lobby like that, she stopped us and put Troy's Dracula cape over me. She whispered something about being a good little kitten, and the image faded.

"Well, yeah." I said, as the others looked at me. "Troy & Julie told me about that part later, but what was the point of seeing it again?"

"I think it was to show us that look, Susan." Suzy-Q replied. "The one Suzy-Ho pointed out. When Helen noticed the marks we still had left from Chad."

"Right!" Suzy-Ho piped up. "Before that moment, you were just someone she wouldn't mind fucking, Susan. That's where she first made an emotional connection with you."

"Troy would never hurt you; she'd know that." Sue added. "She figured out right there that 'some guy was doing that to her before Troy and Julie stepped in.' She knew Troy well enough to see that you were special to him from that first minute, then she saw the road you took to get to him."

"And how much it was like her own." I added. "I didn't know how to do it, then; the mind control stuff. So much of it is reading people, looking for these little inroads; things to latch onto. She had me all figured out by then. She was sorry immediately; she'd started caring, but she couldn't stop things now."

The image on the screen went white, then back to the electrical pink of the nebula.

"The signal has stopped." Suzy-Q said. "You already figured that out, but they would've said on the show."

I turned in my chair to her.

"True. Then Kirk would have turned to Spock and said 'Spock, analysis?'"

"About here, Spock would say something like 'Fascinating, Captain. Once you figured out Helen's motivations, the transmission ended. It would appear that this is how your subconscious is going to communicate with us.'"

I turned back to the screen.

"And the answer should be in there somewhere. OK, Suzy-Ho, this is progress. Take us in further."

[Ramesh_Rocky]

So Night Follows Day Pt. 16

By T. MaskedWriter with special guest author Susan Bailey

*

"I had the shit till it all got smoked.
I kept the promise till the vow got broke.
I had to drink from the lovin' cup.
I stood on the banks till the river rose up.
I saw the bride in her wedding gown.
I was in the house when the house burned down."
-Warren Zevon, "I Was in the House When the House Burned Down"

"So, what's it going to be, then, eh?"

Contessa Helena de San Finzione asked the question of the two men she was seated with. Except that she wasn't asking the question of both the men at the table; rather the man at the table, and the one whose face was on a motorcycle helmet that encompassed the wearer's entire head. On a viewscreen across the visor covering the unknown man's face, Leonard Whyte's face was being projected, making him the second man she was addressing.

"Oh, I know." Helen said with mock sympathy. "You did it all wrong, though! I was supposed to come in here all 'Whyte set us both up! Listen, I've got proof!' I play the recording for Mr. Lee, who pretends to listen and nod at parts. Then you..." She said turning to Lee. "Were supposed to say something like 'That's very interesting, but I'd like to hear a different perspective.'" She turned back to Whyte. "And THAT'S when you send Larry Middleman, the Professional Surrogate out, and THAT'S your 'Dun dun DUN' moment! I have to ask at this point: Am I REALLY, like, your FIRST Mortal Enemy, Leonard? Was Morgan that good in his youth?"

"The plan WAS something like that before you spoiled it by asking your big Southern Fairy to see if he had a phone signal, Contessa. I figured my jig was up, and... Well, you're a Contessa. Making entrances is what you do. You understand."

Helena remembered saying those words to Generalissimo Ramirez after they'd raided the Triad warehouse where all of this began. Mander leaned forward to whisper in her ear.

"S'not him in there, Your Countessness. Northern Monkey like him'd never have the kind of bollocks to talk to me like that if he were in the room."

"Drop your weapons, everyone! Then don't move!" Helen shouted out in Cantonese to the warehouse around them. Weapons clattered in the darkness.

She turned to Mr. Lee and back to English.

"Well, to start, that's the kind of man you and the Elders are dealing with, Mr. Lee. He said he's got a couple more of those helmets. So, where's yours? He's figured out how to get around this thing I can do. So, why not share it with you? On that note, everyone except Mander forget about the helmet. If he didn't share with you, he hasn't shared with them, so let's prevent them getting ideas, shall we? So, now that whatever ambush you had planned isn't happening, but I suspect Whyte's will be coming soon, let's take a moment here; let me figure out your deal. It's a thing I do."

Helen crumpled up the cigarette pack on the table and tossed it aside, then took her cigarette case from her purse and lit one.

"Whyte wants Springheel." She began. "He knew that once I found out it was real, I'd want it, and he knows he can't outbid me. He could kill me, but then there's my power to consider. He gets a theory, and sets up your people with the Raymond Chen thing to test it, in a way that leaves me no choice but to reiterate an old message. A message which they didn't hesitate to acknowledge their understanding of. Hours later, a man whom you probably already know was named Frank Morgan attacks me. Morgan fails, and he dies. A lot more mercifully than he would have naturally; but no less dead, and with far more inconvenience to myself. Whyte threatens the grieving widow into giving me his message and nothing else, just in time for us to speak before the auction announcement."

Helen took a deep drag before continuing.

"I've spent the past month looking for him. I've steered clear of anything involving the Elders or Triads, both in the interest of keeping the peace; and because I figured nobody would be foolish enough to try and play The Elders, then go to them for help. But on the way here, I remembered something a friend said about the other warehouse. I DID miss Whyte's cameras, because videotaping your own slavery operation is so stupid that I never would have even thought to check for cameras. So, I guess that's one thing you've got on me, Leonard: I AM forced to down-shift to think like you."

She stood up from the table and stepped around to the unoccupied side, so she was facing Mr. Lee.

"So, he comes to you. Maybe not you personally; another Mr. Lee; another representative. His version of the story is, I'm certain, a very different one than mine, but it ends with him needing Springheel to protect himself from me and you wanting it too. But what can he offer for the Elders' assistance in getting it? For playing them in the first place? My head on a silver platter? No, he's already fucked that one up. So, what possible deal could he make? And the answer is right in front of us."

Whyte grinned on the visor's screen.

"Yes, Contessa. What can I offer them in exchange for Springheel?"

"Whyte Telecom, Whyte Electronics, Whyte Computers; you've got all the people you need to reverse-engineer the prototype. And figure out how to make more. You get the first one off the assembly line, and their pre-orders are already in for the next... five? Six? However many it takes to merge to form Mega-Springheel, anyway."

[Ramesh_Rocky]

"I'll get that quadrillion selling the later models to the right governments and organizations, but the penny has, indeed dropped, Helena. What could I offer them that was better than Springheel? More Springheels!"

"But you see, you have to GET it first." She turned to Lee. "And he's not going to do that, because I want it, so that's what's going to happen. Here, then, is my counter-proposal to the Elders. Don't worry, you'll remember every word of it: Sever all ties with this man. If the hit hasn't really been called off, do it. That human trafficking ring had to already be in place for someone to have thought it'd be a good idea to stop in San Finzione; I want that gone, too. Any operations they have in San Finzione are to cease immediately. Because once I am done with this man and the Auction, I will be stopping in China to pay a formal visit on the way home. I won't be stopping in Hong Kong to see them, though. I'll be going to visit HIM. The one whom THEY call 'Elder!' The one who gave me the very special name that had once belonged to another who was special to him, and the reason I knew that this was someone else from the moment I heard the rumor about women being moved through MY country! Because HE returns my respect! Raymond Chen was a misunderstanding. This," She gestured to Whyte. "Is an insult, and The Viper shall have satisfaction. Now, I suggest you go give the Elders the news before Whyte's hit team shows up." She turned toward the man in the helmet. "Because that's Plan B, in case Lee wasn't smart enough to shoot me before I said a fucking word, isn't it, Leonard?"

"I gave the go order while we've been speaking, yes, Helena. And Mr. Lee, she's right. This IS, in fact, a complete set-up, but for her. And unless she permits you to pick up your weapons, which she won't, then you won't do it. You and your men are now officially unarmed bystanders in all of this, so, you may wish to start running."

Lee stood up and called for the others to flee before running into the crate maze, leaving Helen and Mander alone with Whyte's surrogate. Helen leaned forward, her elbows on the table, cupping her had with her hands, like a girl on a date with a dreamy boy in a 1950s-movie soda shoppe. She sighed at him.

"Have I ever told you that I have a thing for older guys, Leonard? The saddest part of all of this is that right up until YOU dropped a name that you shouldn't have, the 'get in my pants' option was NOT off the table."

"Que sera sera. Whatever will be, will be." Whyte sang. "But I gave them fair warning per your rules, Contessa. Oh, feel free to finish the cigarette you've left burning in the ash tray. Last one and such, only fitting."

"Oh, no. That's why I got this pack out, instead." Helen said, producing a new cigarette from the case and lighting it. "The chemical we coated those ones with makes them taste nasty after the first few puffs. You know, everyone says smoking is bad for me, but this is the second time that they've come in really handy in a situation like this in the past year."

"Hmm." Whyte Hmmed. "Naughty girl. You've got a cigarette case, but you came in smoking from a pack that you threw away without finishing! Some kind of tracking powder on them? Been idly tossing dogends out the window on your way here?"

"Right up to the door. You got one, Leonard, nice work! I figured your jammers couldn't do infrared as well, so just had to leave a trail that could be followed from the air. The Ultimados were about ten minutes behind us in the helicopter. So, in case Lee wasn't scared enough before, he's probably being rounded up by my people, standing over the bodies of the people you just wasted right now. I don't know if you have any investments in adult diaper stocks in Hong Kong, Leonard, but they're about to have a good week."

"Well, I didn't waste all my people in one go. You'll get a proper meeting soon enough." On the screen, Whyte looked down at his watch. "Say, it HAS been something of a long day, hasn't it, Contessa? What's say we both get a good night's rest and pick it up in the morning? Ten-ish? Oh, but wait. There's two things. The first is the guy in the helmet here. He's a loose end, who knows what you might get out of him. And second... well, he did take my money, so he's no longer innocent, is he?"

Fizzing and whining sounds came from the helmet. Mander figured it out and grabbed a leg of the card table. He shoved Helen down to the floor, shielded her with his body, and himself with the cheap folding table, placing it between them and the man in the helmet.

"Damn, the Southern Fairy got it in time! Well, see you in the morning if you live, Helena. Ta-ta." Whyte said on the screen, before the helmet erupted into a fiery mass, taking whoever's head was inside with it.

* * *

[Ramesh_Rocky]

Susan's log, Stardate: The same one, I guess. We're somewhere within the nebula of my Subconscious, which just showed us the memory of my first meeting with Helen. The image that appeared next was from my perspective again. It was dark, but in that darkness, and from the way I was moving, I knew what I was doing: Attempting to disentangle myself from Troy & Julie and crawl out of their bed without waking them up. (Their bed was bought with the intention of having multiple occupants, however, we still tend to end up in a bit of a pile.)

"If these are all going to be about Helen," Sue remarked. "I remember what happens next."

In the memory, I picked my way through the darkened room to Julie's bathroom. I grabbed a robe in the dark, and slipped out into the living room. Julie's laptop was on the living room table. I opened it up and brought up Skype.

As I typed, the memory slowed again. It didn't pause, but it had done this before. From what we'd inferred, it was my subconscious' way of getting my attention about something.

"The sleeves." I noticed, watching my hand slowly mousing over Helen's number and clicking the phone icon. "Julie doesn't own any red velvet..."

Suzy-Q voiced the thought as I had it.

"You put it on in the dark. All of Julie's robes are fancy ones that she stole from hotels; mostly Helen's. There's only one red velvet garment in this house that ties around the waist like that, and it's not a Santa suit."

In my reflection on the screen before Maria appeared, I saw it: I'd been wearing Propappou's red velvet smoking jacket the night I called Helen to bitch her out about the gift bag.

"Wow," Sue uttered. "She is fucking amazing."

"I wouldn't expect you to say that about Helen, Sue. Based on... well, most of what you've historically said about her. I'd really like to hear more on this."

She swiveled in Chekov's seat to face me.

"You obviously didn't mean to pick it in the dark, but we all know that is no ordinary garment. That is THE fucking sacred holy relic of Byroni Medina that you 'chose' to wear for this 3 AM bitch-out call. You don't know that, of course; but that could only make it come off even harder as 'Yeah, fuck you, I'm wearing Your True Father's jacket! What do you think of that?' And she's never even brought it up. I'm admiring her restraint! Like, yeah, she's literally a diplomat and everything, but FUCK!"

We watched as Helen laughed off my threat to kick her ass by telling me what they call her in Africa. Now, though, I was seeing it with the perspective Sue had given me. Seeing, now, how much I had been pushing her before she got to those words that colored everything to me.

"Well, you don't have to worry about it happening again, Susan, dear. I AM sorry, and I promised Troy it wouldn't happen again."

"I didn't know then." I said to the other Mes. "That a promise to Troy carried more weight than a promise to anyone else for her. I should have guessed that, though."

"In that context," Suzy-Q added. "And having talked more with her since, the comment coming up about 'laying our tragedy cards out' sounds like the kind of thing she says when she's uncomfortable with where the conversation is going and trying to get it back on track. A bit more nicely than we've heard her do with Whyte, but the same idea."

I gave that one some thought. I've wondered before what might've happened if the call HAD gone that way; if Helen and I had been the kind of people who needed to turn things into a "trauma-off," and when Troy and Julie woke up hours later, they found us both in tears, still trying to one-up each other with "Who's had it worse" stories.

"But it's like she told you." Sue commented. "You were protecting your family, and she saw that. That's why she didn't take any of your bait. She handled it without taking any shit, like she does, but she didn't really give any, either. I mean, you weren't telling her to fuck off; you were just telling her that buying your friendship ain't the way to go. Probably, if we'd dialed it back a bit, she would have been willing to talk everything out right there."

I sat and thought as the rest of the conversation played out and ended.

"Julie told me that the point of the gift bag was that she was sorry and wanted to be my friend. I thought she was trying to hand-wave my feelings, but she was as deeply sorry as she was the moment she saw the marks. What I'm getting from these so far is that Helen has always, one way or another, been reaching out to me. Troy would point out that Helen doesn't make a lot of emotional connections with people, so of course, she'd go about it 'The Helen Way.'"

[Ramesh_Rocky]

The nebula on the viewscreen seemed to be clearing. We were still in a cloud of pink gas and electricity, but it seemed like the fog was clearing up. The ship began to move forward.

"I'm not doing anything." Suzy-Ho said, her hands raised away from the controls.

"It's part of me, just like you ladies." I said. "I think it's trying to help, too. Let's just go with it."

We journeyed on.

* * *

Mander shoved the flaming card table that had served as their better-than-nothing protection against the fireball away from them and stood up. The body of whomever had been wearing the helmet was now on fire, as were a number of crates around him.

Helen pulled her Ruger LC9 pistol out of her purse, Mander drew his Desert Eagle, and they made their way into the maze of crates, trying to get away from the flames and smoke. Mander checked his phone at the same time.

"Fucking prick put a firebomb on that guy's head! And his jamming thing's still goin'. Not getting anything."

Helen looked at the black smoke rising up to the warehouse ceiling.

"The fumes from the cheap plastic will probably poison us before the fire gets to us."

She ran through the stacks of crates, trying to recall the path they took to get to the center of them. The fire continued to spread, popping sounds echoing as the flames burned through the wood of the crates and the cardboard boxes inside, packing material within exploding.

Helen thought she heard more popping sounds coming from outside, but then recognized it as gunfire instead.

"Sounds like the Ultimados are here." She told Mander. "Or Whyte's ambush. Someone's shooting out there."

She found her way to the side door that they'd entered through and slammed her entire body against the bar to open it. Her shoulder reminded her that it'd only just healed recently from her attack as she staggered back.

"Thought they might lock it. Was worth a try."

The light from the flames growing closer illuminated the shadowy entrance they'd come through before, and now a set of stairs leading to an upper level could be seen against the wall, the Chinese characters for "Supervisor" painted on the wall next to them. Helen pointed to them with her pistol.

"Smoke rises, Your Countessness." Mander said, crouching; the smoke not yet making him cough, but recognizing that his height may be a disadvantage there.

"Supervisors have offices." Helena said as she made for them. "Offices have windows."

She took the stairs two-at-a-time, Mander following, until she came to a plate-glass door. She didn't bother trying to read the name stenciled on the door in the firelight before turning her head and motioning for Mander to do the same as she pointed her pistol at the door, then fired twice.

Helen heard the sound of the gunfire outside grow louder and took it as a hopeful sign. She stepped through the now-empty doorway, glass crunching beneath her shoes, and checked the room. Behind a wooden desk and chair were a series of windows that almost ran the width of the building. Helen's shots had put holes in a couple of them already. Mander motioned for Helen to get behind the desk, then picked up the wooden chair and hurled it through a pair of them.

Glass and wood rained down on the back alley below as Mander checked out the window. The alley was dark, with a chain-link fence around the parking lot of another business behind it, and muzzle flashes and gunfire could be seen and heard coming from one end of the building. The rest of the alley continued into darkness. Mander looked down below and over at the people shooting.

"There's dumpsters, I can lower ya down, but we're on the wrong side of the shooting here. Whyte's boys're between us and the Ultimados."

Helen flipped the safety on her Ruger, stuck it in her purse, and hefted it onto her shoulder. She looked down at the street below, and began climbing out the window, Mander taking hold of her arms to help her down.

She looked down the alley where the fighting was going on. Six men with assault rifles were taking turns shooting and hiding around the corner to reload. Helen figured that they wouldn't be able to hear the noise they'd been making trying to escape, but all any of the mercs would have to do is turn their heads to see them.

Helen looked down to see how far she'd have to drop to make it onto the lid of the dumpster. At least three feet, but having all of her weight supported by her arms was making her shoulder injury flare up. She nodded to Mander to let go, bending her legs as she fell, so her knees would take the impact onto the angled plastic lid. As she slid off of it, she heard her dress ripping from twisting and rolling in ways that Vera Wang never designed it to be worn for, feeling tiny cuts from the glass on the ground. She was unable to suppress a yelp of pain as her bruised thigh impacted with the ground, but if any of the mercenaries could hear, they didn't acknowledge it.

Helen crouched behind the dumpster and thought about the situation as Mander climbed down. She took out her pistol and checked her phone. Still no signal. No way to let the Ultimados know where she was.

[Ramesh_Rocky]

Right at this moment, she and Mander had the drop on Whyte's goons. They had the dumpsters for cover; and it looked like they were wearing body armor, so if she aimed for head or limb shots with her 9mm, Mander's Desert Eagle might still be effective at this range; if he managed to take a couple down before the others noticed...

Once Mander had joined her behind the dumpster, Helen concluded that any plan involving this many "ifs" was too risky. She needed to get to safety, or at least somewhere with a working phone. She nodded over to the chain-link fence. Mander nodded back.

Helen ran across the alley and started climbing. Mander followed behind, stopping to hoist her up to the top. She was already over when Mander started climbing. He'd just gotten over the fence himself when one of the mercenaries finally turned and saw them. He nudged two of the others, who turned and saw them on the other side of the fence. Helen fired blindly at them once and she and Mander ran behind a car still parked in the lot at this hour of the night.

The first man started climbing the fence immediately. That left his entire body exposed to them. Mander popped up from behind the car and four shots thundered from his Desert Eagle. He fell back off of the fence. The other two took note of this and one opened fire with his AK-47 while the other started climbing.

Mander waved to Helen, leaned around the side of the vehicle, and gave cover fire while Helen sprinted from the car that was rapidly becoming less cover to the only other car in the lot before it opened out into another alley with a row of back doors of shops on the other side.

The first mercenary made it over the fence and provided cover for the other to climb. Helen used her last two rounds to return Mander's favor and gave him covering fire as he ran to join her, both of them changing magazines once he'd reached her.

She looked over at the alley that was their next place to run. A dark-skinned man who had been taking out the garbage from one of the establishments had paused and was watching the situation in the lot across the street. She didn't think she'd be able to shout a command to the man to go back inside over the gunfire, so she simply gestured with her gun for him to do so.

He ran in, leaving the door open. When the mercenary who'd been firing reloaded, she and Mander ran into the alley they'd reached, only to find it a dead end. She bolted for the dumpsters where the man had been emptying the trash, seeing that they were the only cover available. They could run into the open doorway, but the man she'd warned off and whoever else was inside would then be in danger. They were in the same boat as a minute ago, but the odds had changed. They were still armored, but there were only two now. Maybe they could fight them off.

As the mercenaries passed the doorway that the bystander had run into, the man she'd seen before, along with four others armed with kitchen knives, emerged. They jumped on top of the mercenaries and wrestled them to the ground, stabbing through the soft spots in their armor repeatedly, until they stopped moving.

The man who'd been watching the shootout stepped forward to face Helen. The sounds of gunfire a block away had ceased, indicating that the Ultimados had taken care of the others. He looked at Helen intently for a moment; close enough for Helen to discern the African tribe from which he hailed.

"My name is Omondi." The man said in Swahili. He gestured to the men behind him. "We open our restaurant to make enough money to bring our families from the camps in Uongo. You are the witch who killed David Igazi." He spat on the ground after saying the name. The men knelt. "Our lives are yours."

[Ramesh_Rocky]

Helena breathed a deep sigh and put away her gun. She took out her cigarette case and lit one.

"It's you who have saved mine." Helena responded in the same language.

Omondi smiled, then looked over at Mander. A brief look of "oh fuck" crossed Mander's face, before he returned to stoicism.

"This man," Omondi said. "Was one of Igazi's soldiers!" He spat again.

"I could not have rid the world of Igazi..." She didn't bother to spit the name. She'd destroyed him, after all. "Or the other warlords without his aid. He saved my life and the life of someone I love. I have forgiven him for his past. If I were to give you a command this day, it would be that you find in your heart the ability to do the same."

She patted Omondi on the shoulder.

"I ask it of you, instead."

Omondi and the other four men nodded.

"Good." Helena said with another drag. "If you have a restaurant, you presumably still have a landline phone. I'd like to use it, please, and then I'll need the names of your families so that I may find and deliver them to you. Anyone else inside, while we're at it."

He nodded happily and led her in as the other four men began dragging the bodies toward the dumpsters.

"Oh, just cover them up until my people can get here, please." Helena asked, taking another drag of her cigarette before putting it out. "They'll take care of those."

"I'll stay back here with 'em til you make introductions, Your Countessness." She nodded at him.

Omondi entered the restaurant and shouted to the customers in Swahili.

"Everyone! It's The She-Demon Who Birthed All Witches!"

The crowd cheered.

[Ramesh_Rocky]

So Night Follows Day Pt. 17

By T. MaskedWriter with Special Guest Author Susan Bailey

*****

"Ice is forming on the tips of my wings.
Unheeded warnings, I thought I'd thought of everything.
No navigator to find my way home.
Unladen, empty, and turned to stone.
A soul in tension that's learning to fly.
Condition grounded, but determined to try.
Can't keep my eyes from the circling skies.
Tongue-tied and twisted, just an earthbound misfit, I."
-Pink Floyd, "Learning to Fly"

Susan's Log: Stardate... eh, fuck it. They just made them up on the show, anyway.

I've been traveling through the Nebula of my Subconscious, viewing memories of my early interactions with Helen.

On the main screen of the bridge of the original Enterprise in my head, the image changed again from the pinkness and lightning of the nebula to what I recognized as the living room downstairs. At least the old layout, before the garage expansion and stuff went in. Sounds of construction outside were drowned out by the noise coming from Julie's open laptop on the coffee table. The sound of a call coming in via Skype. The me whose perspective we were viewing all of this from went over to the laptop, saw the words "Call from lafuckingcontessa@castlefinzione"

The Me having the memory debated running outside to get Troy or Julie. She'd been studying their secret for a couple of months, and didn't know it well enough to start planning bank robberies around it yet, but knew about the agreement that they'd made with Helen years ago, and kept even after what happened between Julie and Helen in Madrid. That because being able to control everyone around you creates problems that are hard to relate to unless you're one of the three people in the world who can do it; whatever else was going on between them, if any of them "needed to talk," the others would always answer. I didn't fully grasp all of them yet, but the fact was that I was here, and if Helen needed help, and I ignored it or she hung up while I was getting Troy or Julie, then... dammit...

In the memory, I sat down at the laptop and clicked "Answer." She was seated at a big desk or meeting table in an office with the lights off.

"I know what happened here." I said to Sue, Suzy-Ho, and Suzy-Q, who were watching with me on the bridge in their uniforms. (Or half-uniform for Suzy-Ho, anyway.) "She said she needed to talk to someone who despised her, I told her I didn't, just that she wasn't going to buy my forgiveness, then she told me what was going on."

"You're missing a little bit there, Susan." Suzy-Q pointed out. "The theme so far seems to be 'Something you missed the first time.' She tried to avoid talking about it, at first, and you started giving her shit, until this next part."

"Danger isn't a word I hear you OR them use often." The Me in the memory said. "So, what's really going on right now, Helen? Don't give me any of that 'classified by the government of San Finzione' shit, you ARE the government of San Finzione!"

"She'd never given YOU that shit before, Susan." Suzy-Q reminded me. "You'd seen enough of her on TV and the internet by then to figure out that was what she was going to say next. But watch this." As it had the past two times, the memory slowed, as if my Subconscious had been showing us a video, probably the episode "The Trouble With Tribbles," in keeping with the Star Trek theme; and was hitting a slow-advance on the remote to show us one of the few shots in the entire series where they give a clear view of Scotty's right hand and you can see James Doohan's missing middle finger that got shot off at Normandy.

The image didn't show that, though. It showed a curious look on Helen's face, right before she reached for a pack of cigarettes, found it empty, and pulled out a string of what I now know are Greek Worry Beads instead.

"You knew that Contessa Helena de San Finzione was a real person on TV before you met her. But in the same way as the President or the Pope; someone powerful and famous that you knew existed, but Susan Bailey's chances of ever meeting her were zero. Chad was never going to take you to San Finzione, was he? You'd only started paying attention, reading articles, and watching interviews, after the meeting that you don't remember. She left right after the ceremony, didn't stay for the reception; so, you had no way to confront her about it there. Based on who she was then, it probably would have ended badly for you."

"So, I started looking into who this rich, powerful friend of the two people I love most was." I told them. "It's part of why my job during the revenge prank was staying home and coordinating everyone on the computer. While I was cruising the .snfnz dating sites and setting up meetups with lonely singles for them, I was also watching old interviews, read one of the biographies of her. I'd seen her drop a 'that's classified' or two on reporters before and saw it coming."

[Ramesh_Rocky]

"But that curiosity about her never stopped, did it, Susan?" Suzy-Q asked me. "Now she was someone you cared about, too. You were the first to get the news about Helen because you still get phone alerts about her. And Maria, but you and Maria got along immediately, she's just that warm of a person. You were 'keeping an eye' on Helen before, this is where you started caring BACK about her."

"So, why didn't you go to her then? She needed help then, too."

"She probably wasn't rendered unconscious during any of that. But I was somebody different back then too, you know. Still chained to the role that Chad put us in. Before you freed me of it."

"And now, you're able to visit Helen's Subconscious, and we still haven't figured out how or why."

"I think the Why that your Subconscious has been trying to tell us is that you and Helen both care for each other far deeper down than either of you wants to admit. Maybe, originally, BECAUSE Troy & Julie meant so much to the two of you that of course, you'd both automatically care about THEIR loved ones, too. But it's definitely more than that now."

"So," I replied. "Ok, I care about Helen more than I let on, and she does the same. I think we all got that. And then there's you. You changed. To what, we're not sure."

"I've been thinking about that, too." Suzy-Q said. "And, well, we're on the Enterprise, Bones... or at least Sue is here. Maybe we should scan me."

"Well, it DOES give us an excuse to look around the ship. OK, Suzy-Ho, you have the bridge. Sue, Suzy-Q; let's get you to Sickbay."

As we entered the turbolift and Suzy-Ho went over to the Captain's chair, I stopped and turned before the doors closed.

"And wipe it down before we get back."

* * *

[Ramesh_Rocky]

Contessa Helena de San Finzione slipped into the Equals house's sliding glass door from the back patio to the kitchen. She walked over to the alarm panel and started entering a code. The code came back incorrect.

"Hey, Girl. It's Julie's parents' code." Troy Equals said from the top of the landing to his and Julie's home offices. "Not Propappou's. Meant to tell you."

"Hey, Boy. I wasn't sure if anyone was still up." She told him, punching in the right alarm code. "Mander passed out when we got back, and I think I left my... excuse to come over... somewhere around here."

"Your key's in the same phony rock outside, too." Troy said, coming down the stairs. "Well, Denise uses it mostly, these days. But, ya know, it's still yours."

"Saw it." She replied with a smile. "Figured nobody'd remembered to lock the patio door. Where are the others?"

"Susan went to bed right after you left. Julie's finally getting some work done on the painting she's been trying to start all day. We got worried that you were walking into an ambush."

"Oh, I was. But I considered the possibility; so, my counter-ambush followed me and was in place by the time Whyte's ambush got there. We had some hassles at first, but Mander helped me out; then we found a little place that does great Uongoian after midnight in North Seattle, if you guys want to try it this week." She looked down at the ripped-up dress she was wearing. "There's gonna be a couple wacky pictures of me with the owners on the wall."

"We know. We followed along with Ortega at the command center they've set up in the garage across the street." He approached Helen and walked her over to the couch. "Julie couldn't sleep, and we're staying in tomorrow, so I gave her a little boost, like Susan did with Mander. I think not getting any work done today was a big part of her frustration. I was thinking of heading to bed. It's almost noon in San Finzione, so the hackers are between shifts; Carlito suggested I get some sleep too."

"I fuck your lives up in SO many ways." Helen said, taking out a cigarette and sitting down.

"Your world is a lot more complicated than ours, Helen." Troy responded, lighting it for her. "But we'll take it if it means we get you in the process."

Helen took a drag, put the cigarette into the ashtray, and leaned into Troy's shoulder.

"When you woke up yesterday morning, Troilus." She said with a sigh as he put his arm around her. "Triads were bad guys in movies and video games. Today, I've got to tell you to start looking into their stuff for Whyte's dirty shit, rather than away from them, because I thought he'd steer clear of them, but he's deeper in bed than I guessed. He says we'll 'pick things up' about ten-ish. I think he means that one. At his age, even coke can't keep him going all the time; and meth would probably make his shriveled old heart explode." Helen chuckled. "Worst of all, if I didn't know what a piece of shit Leonard was, he'd sorta be my type."

Troy patted her head with his other hand.

"I always knew my hair was never white enough for you." He smiled.

"Swarthy makes up for a lot." Helen said back in Greek, cupping his cheek. "I can just give you time to get gray to be perfect."

"It's never surprised me that you ended up ruling a country, Helen." Troy kissed her on the forehead, responding in the same language. "Only that it didn't turn out to be Greece."

"I figured you'd take Greece, Julie would take America, and we'd just play Risk from there. Not, like, real war with people's lives or anything, though. In this fantasy, we get giant playing pieces made and placed in the countries where we expand. You get to create a whole economy around it! It's not until we get to a legal Risk move that we actually start rolling for them."

"Will we roll regular dice, or drop giant d6es from helicopters? Also, WHERE would we roll the dice?"

"The giant ones." Helen responded, snuggling in closer. "And we roll them by strapping them to rockets and firing them at that big yellow thing that's usually in the sky this time of night, except for in Seattle."

"Yeah," Troy said. "We're going to pay for today's weather tomorrow. That's why I suggested Ortega and everyone put up canopies over the tents of the Ultimados who're camping on the lawn. Something that boggles me as an Alaskan in Seattle is how they always seem surprised that it's going to rain again tomorrow. And the one snowfall a year that we get... that an Alaskan would reasonably CALL a snowfall, always catches them by surprise and shuts everything down. Like, we could have been up past our knees, and they wouldn't close colleges in Anchorage. They get an inch here, and the whole city closes."

Helen sighed, remembering snow with the fondness of one who no longer lives with it five months out of the year.

"San Finzione doesn't even get the one reasonable snowfall. Just the odd light dusting that looks good on Christmas Cards. The lakes never ice over, our ice rinks are all indoor."

"The rain may never fall till after sundown..." Troy began singing before Helen punched his shoulder that she wasn't snuggled up to.

[Ramesh_Rocky]

"And we DO have cats, and our streets are NOT paved with cheese."

They looked each other in the eye and smiled. Troy kissed the tip of her nose. She returned it. She yawned. He returned it, too.

"It's late. Early. That period where either works." He said.

"Yeah. I set an alarm for eight. Got a blanket or something?" Helen asked him, with a look that said that either sleep or something else could happen about now. She glanced over to her cigarette and saw that it had burnt out. "Mander passed out on the bed in the master bedroom, and it's pretty crowded in all the other rooms."

"You going to be all right without him over here?"

"Troilus, how many of the Ultimados do you think are really sleeping on the lawn across from us right now? And how many do you think are out lurking/skulking/quietly eliminating anything that even looks at your neighborhood funny? He knows to come here if I'm not there. I'm good right here, if you want to go to bed."

Troy gently stood up and extended his hand.

"Like Contessa Helena de San Finzione, Helena Medina, OR Helen Parker is going to sleep on the couch. Come to bed, Petalouda."

She took his hand. Troy turned his head to shout down the upstairs hallway to Julie in her studio.

"Mistress, Helen's here."

"I heard Camelot, Master!" Julie shouted back. "Hey, Girl. Everyone ok?"

"Hey, Also Girl." Helen replied. "Yeah."

"We're gonna get some sleep, hon." Troy shouted. He looked over at Helen. "Say... 55% chance of just sleep. I'll know more when we're in there and naked." Helen nodded agreement and he continued. "You want in?"

"Nah, I'm going now. You get some rest... or some Helena; whichever or both. Night, Master. Night Mistress."

"Night, Also Mistress." Helen shouted back.

"Night, Mistress." Troy shouted back as well.

He led Helen into the bedroom.

* * *

Hi, Susan back. We'd gone down to Sick Bay to see if Sue could give Suzy-Q a medical scan. She laid on the bed and we listened to the "bum-bup" of the monitors while Sue ran her medical scanner over Suzy-Q, before concluding that she was still not a real fucking doctor and had no idea what to make of any of the scans' results. I hadn't expected much from trying to scan an aspect of my personality with imaginary futuristic equipment, but it was worth a try. We decided that the next place to tour should be the Ready Room, and had Suzy-Ho join us while we considered everything.

"If you can arrange for me to be Scotty next time," Suzy-Ho said upon taking her seat. "I'll see if we can get, like, Memory Porn on the Main Screen."

"I'll see what I can do." I told her. I turned to Suzy-Q. "Ok, fact: Helen and I care more about each other than we let on, that's established. Fact: The Thing We Can All Do binds us in some deeper way than we guessed. This all seems to be about you now, Suzy-Q. You changed, and now you can do this new thing."

"What I make of it all," Suzy-Q replied. "Is that when you released me from that role, the world opened up for me; the same way it opened up for you when you met Troy. Like Helen said about her husband, he reached into your heart and pulled out the person you wanted to be. I think that's what you did to me, too. And the person I've always wanted to be is the same one you have, Susan: Someone who helps people. Helen needed help, I was ready and waiting, and this Thing we all do; I think Maisson is right, it MUST alter, if not your brain, then the way you think. Then you have us in here on top of it. I think it was just that Helen needed help, I was available, and The Thing... I dunno, created a path or something. Maybe, if it happens a couple more times, I'll be able to find it on my own."

"But so far," I said. "It's only happened when Helen is unconscious and in trouble in her mind. It's going to be kind of hard to test that."

"There's one Star Trek thing we haven't tried yet." Sue spoke up. "Computer, what do you make of all this?"

The lights on the little box on the table started blinking, there was a whirring sound, and the voice of Majel Barrett-Roddenberry came out of it.

"Working." More 60s-computery noises and lights. "Both instances of connection with Contessa Helena de San Finzione have happened while she was unconscious. Perhaps under sedation, she may achieve the state which allowed Suzy-Q to reach her Subconscious."

"So, knock Helen out, and Suzy-Q can get some practice?"

More whirring.

"Affirmative."

I thought on this.

"Well, we've found something." I told the other Mes. "I think that's the best we're going to get for now."

"The Subconscious is a place for ideas." Suzy-Q commented. "Not facts. I think this is all it can give us, yeah."

"You're right." I told her. "And the others need me now, so it's time I woke up." I thought a moment. "But hey, if I've gotta leave the Enterprise, you KNOW I've gotta do it the RIGHT way."

The others all smiled as we ran to the transporter room. I stood on the pad while Suzy-Q moved the sliding controls. The transporter kicked in, I saw my arms and body turn into static, and then...

* * *

[Ramesh_Rocky]

I opened my eyes. I looked over at the clock. 8 AM. I'd slept all night. I woke up as well-rested and refreshed as Julie would have instructed me. Still, coffee sounded good, so I left my room and went downstairs to the kitchen.

Troy and Julie's bedroom door opened, and Contessa Helena de San Finzione emerged, wearing what looked like it must have been an expensive dress before whatever happened to it last night.

"Oh, hey." Helen said, somewhat sheepishly, carefully closing the door behind her. "I... uh... How're you doing?"

"Good." I told her, scooping the grounds into the filter. "Julie did something really cool and... it was fun. I got an idea from it, but it's going to sound unusual."

Helen lit a cigarette.

"Find anything out?" She asked.

"Just that Suzy-Q might be able to figure out how to do it on her own with practice, but for now, it only seems to work if you're unconscious and one of us is in danger."

"Well, I hope she doesn't get any practice today." Helen replied with a long drag. "I need to go to STRANGERS. I have to make a public appearance after the attacks, or people will start asking where I am, and that might lead to someone looking up any old friends I might have in town."

I got a couple of cups out for us.

"Are they up, too?" I asked, nodding toward Troy and Julie's door.

"No. Julie was up late working. She joined us a little bit before I had to get up."

Helen looked at me, seeming to search for a polite way to say "Oh, and Troy and I most likely had sex." I looked down at her dress again and realized that I was seeing what passed for a Walk of Shame for Helen, if she had displayed any sign of it before now.

I gave her a smile to let her know not to worry.

"Hey, it's cool. 'Our love is big enough to share' doesn't apply to just me; I get that. Hell, some days, it doesn't apply to just them, either."

We laughed at that. The coffee pot finished.

"Ooh," Helen oohed. "Julie's mom always had this hazelnut creamer..."

I reached into the fridge and pulled it out.

"And Julie still buys it." I told her with a smile. She smiled back, and I poured.

"Oh, yeah, Mander has to stay over there today. There's going to be news cameras, and he's got the whole 'wanted on three continents' thing going on."

"Do you trust him?" I asked Helen. She thought for a moment.

"Yes."

"Then I'm being paid enough to trust him too." I replied with a smile. "Tell him Troy's got all the Doctor Who they've put out on Blu-Ray and DVD so far, if he gets bored."

"I will." Helen replied, sipping her coffee. "I'll have him bring the cup back, if you don't mind. I need to go slip into something more... er... Contessa-y."

"Ok." I answered. She headed for the patio door. I had another thought. "Hey, Helen?"

She stopped halfway out the door.

"Yes?"

I set my coffee on the counter and walked up to her.

"I have it on word," I said. "From two reliable sources; one of whom, you just had sex with, the other lives in my skull; that you need to hear this once in a while."