Getting Josie on board made everything else easier. Back out east, she had been the driver, always ready with a skiff, shuttle, or even antique armored vehicles to ferry them away after a job. A getaway might be necessary, but he needed her for more than that. What did that make her now? Remy didn’t really know and didn’t much care either. She could do everything with the right Vasc and there was no one else he’d trust with his skin on the line.
After Josie, there really wasn’t anyone else to trust. Regardless, they needed a plan and Remy knew there was only one stop for a plan like this.
The Keymaker’s doorman admitted Remy and Josie without a fuss. Remy had never really been a petty man but he did not hide his smile at the doorman’s stormy features remembering the chastisement he had suffered because of Remy. They soared upwards in the lift. Revolution Plaza was beautiful through the glass exterior. Lights wrapped up each obelisk like a gritty stone tree. An ice rink filled the interior of the plaza and the skaters quickly became specks of bright red, yellow, and blue jackets as they soared into the low-hanging clouds.
Josie whistled. “The Keymaker, huh? Didn’t think he was real.” She fingered the gold inlay on the lift’s control panel, picking at a loose corner like it was a partial scab.
Remy shrugged.
“You dated a guy named ‘the Inspector.’ Can’t imagine its all that different.” No one got a “The” name without deserving it. Losing his thoughts in the clouds, Remy wondered what his “The” name might be.
The Lifter.
The Ghost.
The Guy Who Bit Off More Than He Could Chew.
He shook his head but Josie seemed to read his mind.
“I think I’d like to be ‘The Flame.’ You know, if I had a name like that.”
“The Flame?”
“Yeah, like, something that’s pretty but also dangerous and wild, you know?” Josie winked at him and laughed. The Flame was perfect for a girl like Josie. “What’s yours?”
Remy knew which one he’d earned. “The Guy Who Bit Off More Than He Could Chew. Come on, we’re here.” They stepped off the lift into the hallway and Remy led them to the end.
“Ritzy. This Keymaker has some style.”
He rapped his knuckles on the door and Franklin answered in his mech unit.
“Remy St. Claire, I was hoping you’d come see me soon. Oh, and you brought a friend this time? My, she’s a pretty one. Why is she here with you? Hello, my dear, my name is Franklin. It’s nice to meet you.” He offered a mechanical hand and Josie shook it enthusiastically.
“Franklin ? As in, Franklin Hermez?”
Remy worried that Josie might explode. The girl shook and stared at Franklin wide-eyed and slack-jawed. He hoped Franklin wouldn’t get a bad impression from it. They needed his help if they had any chance of getting the prototype.
“Well, it seems my reputation precedes me then. Yes, that’s me. Come in, come in. I just made some drinks if you’d like. Remy knows where to find them.”
Remy grabbed Josie’s hand and dragged her into the loft before she vomited from the excitement. Franklin closed the door behind them and trundled off to the kitchen to retrieve snacks. Remy picked up the pitcher of margaritas and poured out a few glasses. The view was cloudy today, but magnificent all the same. Other towers poked above the clouds throughout the city. Remy stared at the Water Lily, trying to count windows to determine which one he had hurled himself from last time.
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“Rem, you know who that is, don’t you? That’s Franklin Hermez! He and Georgia practically invented Vasculators! God, I’ve been obsessed with them since I was a girl. Don’t let me make an idiot of myself, okay?” She straightened her hair and checked her make-up in the window pane.
“I’m not qualified for that. Just let me talk, alright?” Franklin returned before Josie could reply. He set down a tray of fresh cookies and dumped the margarita into his drinking unit. He caught Josie staring at the contraption.
“I’m afraid my muscles aren’t what they used to be, dear. Georgia was the one behind it. Sick of picking up after me, I imagine. Now, this suit keeps me spry and out of what’s left of her hair and we’re both happier for it.” He turned Remy and stepped closer. “You must tell me. How did my plan work? Did you get what you needed?”
“More than you could imagine.” He jerked his head toward Josie. “First, I needed to get a few of the Vascs you suggested…”
Remy told her everything since the last time he’d sat in this room. He shared how he had found Josie and their run-in with the Inspector to retrieve her Shusher Vasc. He continued with the raid on the Sapphire Lounge and the fortunate timing of Happy Jack’s gang, and finally about the Beltrider and confirmation that his quarry was dead. It was a good story when he told it together, he thought. Franklin was a great audience, as well, interjecting at all the right times with a “My word!” or a “You don’t say!”. Josie maintained her slack-jawed reverence throughout, puffing her chest out only when Franklin heaped praise on her for piloting the Beltrider.
They drank their first margaritas and then another. Remy was in no rush to get to what he needed to ask about and general conversation with someone other than Josie was good. Franklin had asked Josie about her work and that had opened the flood gates. Josie had dreamed of being a Vascorp engineer like Georgia, she said. They shared stories of tinkering with bits of code and modifying things they probably ought not touch. Remy didn’t understand a lick of it but the peach margaritas were good and the cookies homemade. He contented himself to chuckle at what he thought were the right times and to stare out the window when he was lost.
As the sun began to set and the clouds burned a brilliant reddish-orange, Remy set down his glass and cleared his throat.
“I wanted to ask you something else, Franklin, if you’re willing. There’s an auction for a prototype Vasc next Saturday evening and I’ve been hired to get it prior to the auction during the Viceroy’s Ball. Supposed to be something really unstable or advanced. Don’t know much about the prototype itself. We need your help with a plan.”
Franklin considered him over his tiny half-moon spectacles for a long moment. Remy was used to his long silences thinking a question over, but Josie squirmed in her seat, eager for someone to speak. Or perhaps simply needing to use the bathroom. The girl had drank enough margaritas for it. Finally, Franklin spoke through his suit.
“I have two conditions. One, I’ll be the final buyer for the Vasc I’m helping you steal. If your job is just to get it, I’ll buy it. If your client is the buyer, break it off with him or I’m out.”
Remy nodded. Stefanie had just specified taking the damn thing to sell it after. As long as the pay was good enough to get them out of town after everyone taking their cut, he didn’t really care who got it. Better Franklin than someone like Happy Jack or the Inspector.
“Alright, agreed, and the second?”
“I’m going with you to the Ball.”
If it was quiet before, you could hear a heartbeat in the room now. Josie actually gasped. Remy shook his head but Franklin raised an arm.
“Wait, before you say it, just use your own little brain for a moment. I’m going to be there already. Of course, Franklin Hermez is going to the Viceroy’s Ball. I have more than a good excuse to be visibly seen and no one stops a celebrity in a mechanical suit when they stomp around. I’ll be your, what do you call it, face?”
Remy snorted, “You’re not exactly inconspicuous, Franklin.”
“I’ll be hiding in plain sight. Why would I need to steal it? I could just buy the damn thing.”
Remy hadn’t considered that point and frowned. “Wait, why are you helping us with this then if you can just buy it? Why risk this and then pay for it anyway?”
Franklin shrugged, an extremely odd gesture from a mechanical suit.
“Another two reasons. First, I’d rather my friends get paid instead of some corporate looters who got lucky on a junk dive. Second, I won’t pay you nearly as much as it would go for on open auction. I’ll pay a fair price, of course, but not an auction price. Those are my terms for my services, Mr. St. Claire.”
He considered it for a moment. He’d always dealt fairly with him before so there wasn’t much reason to suspect anything would change. Franklin certainly would be an asset, even if he didn’t do anything other than plan the thing and walk around. Remy couldn't see a downside.
“We’d love to have your help, Mr. Hermez. Have another pitcher of those things around?”