Fantasy So Night Follows Day by TMaskedWriter

[Ramesh_Rocky]

Contessa Helena de San Finzione woke to the smelling salts, and what felt like someone had hit her in the side of her thigh with a sledgehammer.

"AAAAAAHHHHFUCK! ORTEGA!!" She screamed. Capitan Ortega was standing over her.

"Si, Contessa!" He said, standing to attention.

"Tell Ernst..." She hissed through the pain as Maisson applied lidocaine cream to her already-discoloring leg. "Triads have the exits! Ultimados... stand-off in the hallway!"

Ortega nodded and went to radio the pilot and the Ultimados flying with him. Julie came running up from the street.

"I talked to Mr. Harrison." She told Troy. "He was going too slow to make a dent, so he's just going to remember it as almost hitting her, but slamming on the brakes in time. Everything was a little tense there, but nobody pulled guns or tried to drag him out of his car. Big misunderstanding, we're all good now, the Harrisons might stop by the barbecue later."

Helen looked around for her purse, realized it was what her head was on, and sat up, taking out a cigarette and lighting it.

"Ernst is bringing backup." She said, as Maisson applied some kind of cream to her leg. "They'll flush them out of the stairwells."

"Helen," Troy said, looking her in the eyes. "I hope this isn't one of those mood-killing questions, however, it has to be asked: How did you wake up with tactical knowledge of a situation that's unfolding right now, about forty miles from here?"

She took a long, thoughtful drag of her cigarette.

"I think, Troilus, that a couple of other conversations need to happen first before we can have this one."

* * *

In my head, Suzy-Q ran down the stairs into the bar. It looked like she was Cliff in this one, mustache included. I stood up and met her at the end of the bar.

"Ok, Suzy-Q, either you tell me what's going on, or if we live through this shit, at my next therapy session, I'm asking about medication. I don't know what that'll do to any of us, but I can't have this..."

She cut me off.

"Susan, I'm sorry. The thing I've been trying to figure out how to explain, it happened again. I still don't quite get it, but I think..." She stepped forward and cupped my face in her/my hands. "I think I know how to explain it now."