The two women lay entwined on the bed, fast asleep. Finally, Sentinelle stretched and sat up, and Spidershade blinked and grumbled.

“Damn, look at the time! Sorry, I didn’t mean to keep you this late. I hope it doesn’t get you in trouble.”

“It’s Saturday morning, remember? I was going to sleep in anyway.” She looked around. “Not in such nice surroundings, though.”

“Flattery will get you... your choice of any of the half-dozen things we’ve tried tonight. Except the stand-up tribbing one. I’m getting too old for that.”

Snickering, Setinelle swatted her with a pillow.

“I’ve been thinking...” Spidershade began.

“You can still think? I must not have been doing it right,” Sentinelle mock-pouted.

That got her a retaliatory pillow attack. “We kept the masks on the whole time — which is just the way it should be, not to mention hot as hell — but you know where this place is. That’s not really a problem; I change hideouts every so often anyway. It occurs to me that I can keep this place and set up a nice little love nest — a water bed, mirrors on the ceiling, eyebolts in the beams, the works.” Putting her hand up like a witness being sworn in, she added, “All paid for with legitimate income, of course. I could still give C.O.M.E.T. Labs some tips on fixing their lousy security, but it’ll cost ’em.”

Sentinelle looked around, imagining herself in the middle of a decadent pleasure pit. The idea appealed to her greatly.

Meanwhile, Spidershade reached into the nightstand and took out a measuring tape.

Sentinelle raised an eyebrow. “You want to take my measurements?”

“Not those measurements!” She pulled the tape across the other woman’s forehead. “That supersuit of yours is fun, but next time I want you naked, and I want us in different masks so we can leave all the cop-and-robber reminders on the bedroom floor.”

“Good idea. That way you can get a mask you don’t need to roll up.”

“And you can get one that expresses your girlish innocence... maybe pink with cute-kitty stickers— ”

She ducked the incoming pillow, and pictured Sentinelle wearing the black leather hood she actually had in mind.

“Much as I hate to say it, you should probably get cleaned up and dressed. I’d join you and help spread the shower suds, but you’re gonna need to unmask so wash your hair.” She did the swearing-in gesture again. “No hidden cameras — Scout’s honor!”

“The only ‘scouting’ you ever did was looking for ways to sneak in and out!”

Spidershade’s brain came up with a half-dozen naughty puns in a split second, but she felt her companion’s mood turn serious and remained silent.

“Seriously, though, I trust you,” Sentinelle told her. “You’d break a lot of rules, but not that one.”

“What’s behind the mask stays behind the mask,” they said in unison. It was an unwritten rule respected by heroes and villains alike.

Sentinelle got out of bed and stretched. She headed toward the bathroom. Just before stepping inside, she stopped and turned to address Spidershade.

“Thanks for snapping me out of it.”

“Snapping you out of what? I thought you weren’t brainwashed.”

“Oh, I was brainwashed, all right. Not by Doctor Dynoforce — by all the people who taught me to be a nice proper vanilla-virtue girl.”

Spidershade felt a bit overwhelmed at hearing Sentinelle bare her feelings like this. It was an intimacy deeper and less comfortable than the kind they had shared last night.

“I’m glad I could help,” she finally replied. Feeling the need to shift the mood before things got too awkward, she joked, “Tell me: Did any of them actually say ‘Lie back and think of England’?”

Sentinelle snickered.

Spidershade grinned as she got a sudden inspiration. In a mock-pompous tone that would make Doctor Dynoforce look like a model of humility and restraint, she declaimed, “Liberated from the libido-leeching lethargy of Professor Prissyprude’s RepressoRay, the supremely sensuous Sluttinelle feels her luscious loins light up with queer kinky cravings as hitherto suppressed sexual stamina surges through her breathtakingly beautiful body....”

Sentinelle braced herself against the doorframe as she almost doubled over in laughter.

“You’re just lucky I don’t have any pillows handy to throw at you for that,” she giggled as she finally headed for the shower.

-----

The longer the director’s tour droned on, the more Spidershade regretted taking this job. At the very least, she ought to have charged more. Maybe she could have gotten paid by the word — the more they made her listen to, the higher the price.

She couldn’t just tune it out and focus on the physical layout of the place as she normally would. The technobabble details of neutrino computers and quantum detectors and whatever meant nothing to her, but she did need to know the basics so that she could recommend sensors and alarms that would play nicely with the various experimental devices. Otherwise, something could get ruined. She suppressed a chuckle as she remembered that witless minion who’d lifted a shipment of computers with an electromagnet.

They arrived on the third floor, and Spidershade recognized a familiar hallway. She had to suppress the urge to sneak along, reminding herself that she was allowed to be here this time.

“This is our main cyber-analysis facility,” Director Shaleton said in his usual monotone as he opened the door to the room she’s infiltrated a week earlier. The arrays of computers and equipment were more or less the same, but Spidershade’s attention was primarily focused on the alcove containing Sentinelle’s costume.

“Hello.”

She hadn’t noticed that there was someone else in the room. What the hell was wrong with her? That was just ridiculously sloppy, especially when she was supposed to be looking at everything with a security-conscious eye.

“Hello, Tonya,” the director said. “Spidershade, this is Tonya Trask, our resident mad genius.”

She was a bit surprised that he had a sense of humor, even one that lame.

“Oh, really, Gary!” She sounded like someone worth getting to know better. Maybe after this consultation was finished....

She pushed the thought aside. She had never been a one-girl sort of girl, and had always been honest about that with her girlfriends, but she hadn’t gotten around to raising the subject during either of the nights she’d spent with Sentinelle. She might be assuming that they had an exclusive relationship. It was only fair to disabuse her of the notion, or break up with her, or....

With a start, she realized that she was actually contemplating the option of not dating other girls. Even more surprisingly, she found herself thinking that it might be a better option than breaking up, if it came down to one or the other.

“I apologize. I have to be at a meeting in ten minutes, so if you don’t mind I’ll let Dr. Trask finish the tour.”

Had she just heard something? Oh, yes, it was the director’s droning voice again, excusing himself. “I don’t mind at all!” she replied, perhaps a bit too energetically. Even putting aside any fantasies of what might develop after business hours, she would certainly be a more interesting guide, if only by virtue of having a voice that changed speed and pitch occasionally.

“I see that you’re interested in Sentinelle’s supersuit.”

Putting aside the memories the suit kept drawing to the surface, she replied in a neutral professional tone. “It would be a prime target for theft or sabotage.”

“That’s true. We have taken some precautions.” She led the mercenary toward the alcove and began to describe the alcove’s dedicated security alarm. Spidershade, already familiar with it from her previous visit, simply enjoyed the sound of her voice.

“Amazing, isn’t it?”

“Well, it’s a fairly basic sensor and alarm system.” She was already thinking about improvements to suggest once the C.O.M.E.T Labs managers agreed to her price.

“I mean the suit,” Tonya chuckled. “Perfectly soft and flexible, but it gives protection from everything up to heavy rifle fire, along with flight capability and tenfold strength augmentation.”

She looked directly into Spidershade’s eyes, holding her gaze. “In this suit, Sentinelle could stand on one foot for half an hour while someone used her other leg for a balancing beam without feeling the slightest strain. As strong and athletic as you are, I’m sure you’d pull a muscle if you tried to do that.” She flashed a grin.

It did indeed. It gave her quite a few ideas as she remembered that night and realized who was standing in front of her.

“What’s behind the mask stays behind the mask.” As absolute as the unwritten rule sounded, in practice heroes and villains generally made exceptions for a few trusted confidants. Life was just too difficult otherwise. Dropping this sort of plausibly-deniable hint was a classic method of “coming out of the cape closet”.

“I see...” she replied, glancing at the suited mannequin and then at Tonya.

There was a long silence as they both wondered what to say next, and whether any of it could be safely said here and now.

“We should probably move on and come back to this,” Tonya finally said. Spidershade nodded, picking up her meaning. They stepped away from the alcove, and Tonya began to describe the lab’s computer network.

The door opened. “Oh, there you are!”

Spidershade stared. It was the guard she’d seen during her earlier visit.

“Hello, I’m Mercer Leigh. Assuming the contract goes through, I’ll be liaising with you about the development and installation of security improvements.”

She reached out a hand, and Spidershade took it. She had an impressively strong grip.

“Don’t let the uniform fool you,” Tonya remarked. “She may look like another rent-a-cop, but that’s because she hates being stuck behind a desk. She’s actually the on-site chief of security.”

“The only way to know what’s really going on is to walk the beat yourself,” Mercer said.

“I think I’m going to like working with you,” Spidershade said. “Assuming the bean-counters approve the contract, of course.”

The security chief nodded. “Contract or no contract, I think I like you. Would you be interested in dinner? My treat.”

Of course she knew that Spidershade was lesbian; her skirt-chasing ways made it impossible to hide even if she’d cared enough about other people’s opinions to try. Apparently she was also into girls, and interested.

“I’d like that... but I can’t,” she replied. “I’m seeing someone, and I don’t know what she’d think of me having dinner with another woman.”

“If you don’t know, maybe you should ask!” Tonya chimed in. “She might be okay with it.” She gave Spidershade a discreet wink. “She might even want to join in.”

Spidershade grinned. “I think I’ll do that.” Turning back to Mercer, she said, “I’ll accept, if my girlfriend doesn’t mind and if she has an invitation to come along if she wants.”

“It’s a date, then,” Mercer agreed. “I’ll make a reservation for three.” She didn’t seem at all concerned about the “three’s a crowd” issue. Either she really did just want to socialize, or the evening might get particularly interesting.

Mercer glanced at the clock. “Look, I’m sorry, but I have a lot of stupid bureaucratic paperwork to catch up with. Stop by the security office on the way out and I’ll let you know where and when to meet.”

“All right.”

As the door closed behind the security chief, Spidershade smiled at Tonya. “Well, that went a lot better than I expected!”

“Congratulations,” she replied. “We’ve pretty much finished the tour. If you like you can use the phone in my office to talk with your girlfriend.” The real meaning was clear: Let’s talk there, not here.

“Sounds like a plan.” Spidershade allowed herself to be led out of the lab and along the hallways.

As they arrived at Tonya’s office, she paused. “Out of professional curiosity, how secure and private is your office?”

“The walls have a Faraday-cage grid so that signals can’t get in or out. There are two computers, one wired for internet access that’s only turned on when it’s in use — which it isn’t right now — and one standalone for critical secrets.”

“What about plain old eavesdropping?” She edged closer. “Could we be overheard?”

“People outside the office can’t overhear conversations, especially if I use the white-noise background speakers.” They stepped into the office, and Tonya did a double take as she understood what the other woman was really getting at. “The walls aren’t entirely soundproof. If somebody made a loud noise in here, somebody standing in the hallway could probably hear it.”

She sat down behind her desk and took a key from her pocket. She unlocked a drawer, and then did something that revealed a hidden compartment within. She reached inside and held up a ballgag.

“Good thing I planned to avoid making any loud noises.”

-----

FINIS