Fantasy So Night Follows Day by TMaskedWriter

[Ramesh_Rocky]

When Helen became Contessa, she renamed many of San Finzione's hospitals and emergency services after Byroni Medina. A statue that Helen had commissioned of him, from one of the photographs she'd kept, stood outside the hospitals. Smaller versions of it stood in front of shelters, Policia, and Pompieri Stazioni throughout the country. Since Contessa Helena de San Finzione had reigned, the children of San Finzione had been taught that if they are in danger, they should "Run to Propappou, he will keep you safe."

She was smoking and using one of Propappou's ash trays while sitting on one side of Troy, watching him at the computer. Julie sat on the other side of him. She occasionally looked over at Helena, and thought she saw the glimmer of having won a tiny victory over the forces of Smoker Oppression while she did so. As the one who'd gotten her started, Julie was unable to blame her.

"Whyte Telecom's mostly clean. From there, he branched out to Whyte Electronics, Whyte Computers..." Troy stopped and looked at his monitor and down at the PC tower, making sure neither were Whyte products. He'd put the tower together himself, but still felt compelled to look. "After that, came the Whyte line of smartphones."

"Guy sure likes to put his name on things, doesn't he?" Helen asked with a puff of smoke.

"Why yes," Julie replied. "He certainly does that a lot; doesn't he, Contessa Helena de San Finzione?" She smirked at Helen. "It almost makes me want to hop on an Air Finzione jet to San Finzione, where I can stay at a Società Finzione hotel, walk across San Finzione Plaza to get to the San Finzione Marketplace, then go to a Società Finzione casino and gamble the night away, bombed on San Finzione Vineyards Wine, getting gangbanged all the while by the entire extended La Familia de San Finzione."

Helen smiled back.

"Don't forget to visit Castle Finzione, where you can lick La Clitoride Regale de San Finzione."

Julie gave her First Girlfriend a playful punch. Helen did the same. They joined hands behind Troy and went back to watching him work. They'd finished resolving the earlier matter over a bag of Hershey's Kisses, a bag of Reese's Miniatures, and the top layer of a box of Ferrero Rocher. Everyone had agreed that Susan was a grown woman who would not have settled for anything less than contributing in a meaningful way and that Helen had sent her with excellent protection.

"I can get all kinds of public stuff from here..." Troy half-muttered. "Nothing that'll give me anything serious to work with. I'm not a hacker, I don't really have any more power to go snooping than a private eye or legal assistant might."

Helen took out her phone and began texting.

"I know your Skype number, Troy. What's your IP address?"

He gave her the number. She typed a couple more words and sent the text.

"You're going to get a Skype call within the next two minutes from Howard Caldwell-Pierce, my Minister of Intelligence. Turn this way, Troy."

Troy turned to face Helen and nodded.

"Allow me to pay you a kiss." She told him.

"Helen, you know you don't have to ask..."

"I do for this. Troilus Equals, would you permit Contessa Helena de San Finzione to pay you a kiss?"

Troy nodded and smiled.

"I would be as honored as I was the very first time."

Julie smiled and watched Helen lean forward and gave Troy a long, slow kiss. Since long before the night she and Troy had discovered how deep their love ran, Julie had enjoyed the sight of her best friend and their mutual first girlfriend making each other happy. She and Helen hadn't gone to any serious effort to keep their love a secret from Troy like they did from everyone else. At that point in his and Julie's relationship, however, he regarded Julie as his sister, and so her sex life was as much of a non-topic-of-contemplation for him as if she really had been. The night Julie confessed to him that she liked girls, too, Troy thought back to how many moments where it'd been right in front of his face, and he hadn't read anything more into it than "Ok, that's just how best-girl-friends work. Sometimes, Julie and Helen just kiss the same way Helen and I do. Just enjoy it."

The kiss lasted until the Skype call came through. Troy broke off to answer.

The screen filled with the image of a gray-haired old English gentleman, in a suit and tie with a Windsor knot. Troy realized it was probably 4 AM in San Finzione, and immediately got images of Bernard Lee's original M from the James Bond films: At his desk, in a suit, at any hour of the day or night.

"Ah, Mr. & Mrs. Equals." He said, before turning his face toward Helen's on the monitor. "Contessa." He turned back to the two of them. "Now, I trust that La Contessa has explained things to you, Mr. Equals?"

"No." Troy said. "But I'm used to that."

Helena edged over a little to be closer to the center before replying.

"I'll explain while you transfer us to Division. But yes, we're ready here, Howard."

"Excellent. Er, sorry to have to put you on hold, Contessa. Connecting you now."

His image froze, and it sounded liked he was making another call on his end.

"OK, Helen." Troy said, turning to her. "What was that about?"

Helen smiled at her first boyfriend.

"Well, Troilus, you're right; you're not a hacker. But you're still the best person to lead this up. Whatever dirty shit Whyte's involved with, it's probably going to be found deep within the details of something else. So, when we find something, you'll still be the best person to look it over. You've also had a Top Security clearance since the day I found out that I can just issue one myself, if I want. And since you have accepted my payment of a kiss, that now makes you a paid consultant for San Finzione's Ministry of Intelligence."