Afterglow and Discussion

As we lay there in the afterglow, Skin managed to say, “Seriously, though, I can help you with the web design, popularity and some security stuff, but if you’re filming and streaming here, or out in the world, there’s no way to keep everything secure. People will eventually be able to figure out where you are.”

I winced internally at that, it hadn’t occurred to me that it might be an issue, which was embarrassing. Of course that was true, with backgrounds and streaming information, you could figure it out. Asa and Skin had a brief conversation about Asa and security firms, which was obviously about her doing the chore I’d been avoiding, getting me access to other security professionals. And, indeed, sitting in on her interviews with a couple of firms got me a lot of information over the next few weeks, but it was otherwise so boring I’m not bothering to discuss it..

Anyway, Skin looked…nervous? Which seemed insane, I’d have thought any nerves had been fucked clear out of her head. Not that I had noticed until Asa asked.

“What’s worrying you?”

Now it was obvious. “I…look…I like you guys a lot, but Frannie…it’s hard to explain, but…well…”

Asa flicked a glance at me and I nodded slightly. “She’s a psychotic ****, blackmailing lunatic, who is in fact far worse than even your most **** political caricature of a dirty cop?” Asa offered.

“Yes! Thank you! Wait, uh, how did you know that?”

“She tried that shit on me as well,” I said.

“Then…why is she still running around free?”

I cocked my head, “Unfortunately, we still need her.”

“For what? You’ve got me and Asa and we--”

“Not for that,” Asa said with a laugh.

Skin wasn’t stupid. “You said ‘we’? What’s going on here?”

I glanced at Asa, it was her turn to nod.

“If you want to know what’s going on, you can’t tell anyone who’s not already in on it.” Those last words were a command, so there was no concern.

“I won’t.”

“You promise?” Asa asked, with a smirk.

“I promise!” Skin said eagerly, honestly.

So, I explained. Not about the app, of course, but about our plan for the redevelopment of the East End. She was enthusiastic about the underlying idea, especially once she realized that the Jackson Foundation would be involved, but that wasn’t why I’d come to her. The news that I knew Diamond and Jasmine was a surprise, but it wasn’t like she was close to her half-aunts.

“Okay, that all sounds great, but what do you need that bitch for?”

“Two things. Andre can help us filter out the dirty cops IA knows about--”

“Which they should do something else about,” Skin grumbled.

“But Frannie can help us from the other side, identifying the dirty ones.”

“If she’ll be honest.”

I looked down at Skin. “Trust me, I have her entirely under control. It’s why she stopped trying to **** you and negotiated a deal. She can’t hurt anyone anymore and she’ll be honest with me. Believe me.”

She nodded slightly, because she couldn't not.

“But that’s it? Like you said, she’s the worst cop I’ve ever heard of, and I heard some crazy stories in juvie. She’s worse than the stories we made up to distract ourselves.”

“She’s also the chief of security at Arkham.”

“I know, but so--wait, she’s your boss. You work at Arkham!”

I was confused, hadn’t she known that? I thought she’d looked into me. I said as much.

“Yeah, but I didn’t actually put that together until right now. You have to quit! It’s so dangerous.”

“See, I knew I liked her,” Asa cut in.

“I will. When we’re ready. Which we aren’t yet.”

“What?”

“You’re not the only one who believes in rehabilitation. Besides good cops,” I ignored the grumbling from Skin, “our new district will need superheroes of its own, to keep things safe.”

“You could do it!”

“I really couldn’t. But someone like Lady Firefly? She’s already fully trained and was able to fight Batman. If she can be rehabilitated? Clayface? Maybe even someone like Poison Ivy. Harley’s obviously a harder sell and the Joker’s right out altogether, but some of them, we’ve got a chance with. That’s what I realized when I started at Arkham. Some of them are actually evil, but some are just ill, or messed up. If we help them, they can help us, but to do that--”

“You need to be at Arkham…” Skin’s voice trailed off. Then she smiled, confident as the child she no longer was that I could do it and live up to her ideals. “Oh, oh, when you’ve got them, they’ll need a woman in a chair, right?”

She received twin confused looks.

“Mission control! Someone who can hack and manage communications and help out with everything! A computer expert. Like Oracle for Batman, or Martian Manhunter for the Justice League!”

I looked at Asa. “Uh…how do you know that?”

“Martian Manhunter is famous for running--”

“No, about Oracle?”

“Uh…well…uh…maybe I stumbled over one of her hacks and got a visit from Batman and an explanation from her, after she literally fried my hard drive, which shouldn’t have been possible.”

I closed my eyes for a moment, then shrugged. “You’ll have a chance to prove yourself, if you can help with the electronic infrastructure design.”

“So I can build in the access I need to be able to actually see what’s happening and help! That’s brilliant.”

“Only if you can do it without getting caught, or stepping over the line. No cameras in people’s homes or anything,” I said, as if that had always been my intent.

“I can do that. And I’ll get right on the information security for all of us,” she bounced up and her legs gave way, I caught her as she fell. “When I can walk.”

I hugged her to my chest and lay there, naked, enjoying the women next to me. My idiot dick started to rise again, but I ignored that and enjoyed the moment.