Shit.

“Goddamn it…I can’t leave you two alone in this, you’ll get yourselves killed. And the only way to really trust me inside is if I’m still under.”

I’d trust her even if she wasn’t--Asa elbowed me sharply as I opened my mouth to say as much and I shut up. Diamond knew that. I finally looked at her. She knew that. She knew all of this. She could get out if she wanted. But she didn’t want. She was right where she wanted to be, who she wanted to be with.

Then she caveated it. “It’s not like this is my only chance. Right? If I change my mind later, you’ll delete me?”

“Of course.”

“Then let’s discuss what the actual plan is, in detail.”

We laid it all out, the capacities of the app, our resources, our goals. She knew most of it, but the ‘Firefly as neighborhood superhero’ and ‘Scarface as friendly neighborhood gangster’ were news to her, as, obviously, was the app. She basically liked them, though had some ideas on how to actually get Scarface’s boys paid, without putting our uniquely clean and competent police precinct (once we set it up) on the trail, or on the take. Which was an obvious problem I’d never considered.

We couldn’t just rely on Peyton’s private fortune to pay them indefinitely, she wasn’t _that _rich. But it could be part of the ‘rehab program’ theme we’d go for. In fact, she had an idea about calling the whole neighborhood Second Chances.

A new hope for Gotham. She’d practically already designed the ad campaign. She was eager to get that rolling and now that she understood the plan, she was real eager to talk to Jasmine.

We went over everyone’s role in our little group. She started focused on Kianna, who didn’t really have a role, beyond concubine and nurse. Skin had an obvious role as tech support and most of the others were criminals who could be easily slotted into a role and provide expansion opportunities.

Community leader and religious liaison was the best justification I could come up with, though once Diamond saw a picture of the woman, I doubted she didn’t know the real reason. Kat was obviously intelligence. And she didn’t bother asking about my bosses, as the utility of having them under control was obvious. That just left Jewelz.

I didn’t really have a good answer on that. The truth was she’d been added when I desperately needed SP and information within the GCPD, but between Andre, Rapetoy and Kat…I didn’t really need it.

“She’s our in with the volunteer groups and liberal orgs, as well as tied into Penguin,” Asa offered.

Diamond glanced at me, I shrugged. “We still have 4 open slots, no need to delete her at this point, and Kat’s gathering information from her. But actually that raises a good question, I’ve been recruiting based basically on random chance. Is there anyone else we should specifically target?”

“They have to have wronged you, right?” Diamond asked.

“Not if we’re maxed out, and know about the app. It can work,” Asa explained.

After some discussion, we agreed, one slot of the four for each of us and one for random chance/the plan.

Diamond’s enemies came in three flavors. Older men, who weren’t really possible, though if we could get their trophy wives…but those wives generally were inoffensive, at least to Diamond, if not each other. Rivals in business. But those had mostly been crushed now that she’d assumed the CEO position and shredded the attempt to dethrone her. Third, personal rivals. She was tempted by some of those, especially with the expansion of Partners in Everything caused by NTR Master but unfortunately, she actually got on well with Andre’s mother and though Jasmine was sort of a bitch, she hadn’t actually wronged her. She’d need to think more about who to choose. She also was getting a bit obsessed with the cosmetic options in the store, once she spotted them.

Asa had clearly been thinking about this. A lot. She had three options:

Vikki Vale:

Vikki had apparently done a report on a…complicated thing involving Asa’s days as a high school cheerleader, which I wanted to hear a lot more about, but she was focused on how Vikki had left her out of all the pictures and not included her in the story about the local squad. Asa still held a grudge. And Vikki was interviewing one of her fellow influencers, so she could get access.

Kira Noir:

Was a bitch, from her first job in retail, who was a thief and a bully and got Asa fired, then punched her when she complained. She was some sort of petty thief now, but Asa knew where to find her.

Finally, Alina Li:

Alina and Asa had been peas in a pod, called the Double As, either as a pun about them taking it up the ass, or their modest breasts, depending on who you asked, they’d had a lot of fun being ethical sluts and lovers, until Alina had decided the ‘ethical’ part was too much work and went to work seducing the local pastor, until he left his wife for her. They married and Alina promptly began using her influence to make the lives of everyone she didn’t like hell. This was the same congregation that Kianna was part of…and I was pretty sure Alina was on her list too.