xp_logs | Log: Cain/Remy (Reply)

Cain comes by to look at the brownstone and help start the renovation process.

"Okay, this is about the worst thing I've ever seen..." Cain remarked, looking from one end of the hallway to the other. "Ernest Graham design, right? Old man would be spinning in his grave if he saw this..."

Tapping the walls with his knuckles, Cain turned to Remy. "Who the hell put these walls in? They ain't even remotely close to on-center with the load-bearing ones. What was this, a fuckin' tenement? Emma sure sprung the big bucks for you guys."

"You telling me? In de old days, I wouldn't have even stooped to killing someone in a place like dis." Remy shook his head. "I think dis is Emma's way of getting back at Wisdom. Frankly, I'm wondering what he did to deserve it."

Remy followed Cain along the hall. "But, she's right 'bout one thing. De location is perfect. It's lowkey, around the clock and filled wit' weirdos. No matter what goes on, we're not going to get questions from de neighbours."

Cain nodded, noticing that despite looking dilapidated, the floorboards weren't even creaking under his weight. "It's well-built, I'll give it that. You're gonna want hardwood floors in here, get rid of this godawful ... what the hell color is this? Taupe? Whatever they're calling it these days."

"They say taupe is very soothing." Remy said. Cain ignored him as he reached down and tugged roughly at the edge of the linoleum that layered the hallway floor, feeling the aged material crack in his hands. "Yeah, if you want a place no one's going to want to come find you, you got it."

"Sad dat it's considered a plus in our line of work." Remy stepped back as fissures ran along to cracking material Cain was pulling on. "Most of de apartments were worse. Water damage, looks like to me. Dey repaired it, but de walls are still discoloured."

"Paper it over," Cain said absently, thumping the walls every few feet with his fingers, nodding at the solidity of the structure. "Fourteen inch wood-over-steel studs for the original walls, good choice for this kind of building. Lets you hand new studs between them for renovation walls - these ones are gonna have to come down, though. Especially if you guys want office space that's bigger than a broom closet."

Walking over to the largest room where a set of blueprints were thumbtacked to a wall, Cain made marks with a construction pencil. "Here, and here, you can just knock these ones right down. Expands this area out to here, and gives you room to put up some walls for an office here. Blind corridor in case you need to make a quick exit to the fire stairs, too."

"Makes sense, although we're only going to need one office here." Cain looked blankly at him, and Remy shrugged. "Oh, you don't know yet. Part two of Emma's little gift. She's setting up some kind of foundation or think tank as a cover for us. Offices somewhere in de city. Hell, dere are even parking spaces and taxable income." Remy spoke of the last two like a desert nomad trying to describe an ocean.

"De worst thing? Betsy is supposed to be de President."

Cain paused with the cup of coffee halfway to his lips, breaking out into a chuckle. "You've got to be shitting me. You and Wisdom taking orders from Betts? Hey, I can think of worse fates."

"On paper. Far as I know it's still Pete's show." Remy grinned. "And you right. Dere's worse people to have to work under den Betts, you know?"

Remy jumped back as a large section of the floor suddenly came loose under Cain's fingers, and he peeled up a wide chunk of the lino. "I think you broke de floor, homme."

"Hm," Cain grunted. "Needs a lighter touch, then. I saw a few crowbars over by the stairs. Get Pete to loosen up his tie, and you guys can have a swing at this here."

"He made a break for Emma's office when he heard you were coming by." Remy grinned as he limped over to the stairs and picked up the crowbar. "So once you figure out what needs doing, we going to have to trick dem all into being here at de same time."

Remy inserted the crowbar into the groove and began to awkwardly pry up the material, his leg making him twist uncomfortably to do so. After a couple of minutes, he paused long enough to open a pill bottle from his jacket, and dry swallow a couple of tablets before continuing.

Watching his former housemate struggle in pain for a few moments, Cain gently nudged him aside, taking the crowbar and wedging it under the flooring. One smooth pull back and the linoleum peeled away in a larger sheet before cracking. "Either you got some allergy to
carpentry," he said flatly, "or you're more fucked up than you're letting on."

"How 'bout both?" Remy replied, and earned Cain's unimpressed glare. He sighed. "Part of de way my leg healed. De pain is pretty much constant. Moira gave me dese during my last check up at Muir. Dey dull it some."

"Could always get one of Chuck's wheelchairs for you," Cain joked. "Put in a lift, make Betsy wear a little nurse uniform and push you down the hall. She's got one, I'll bet."

"See, at least you can help me look on de bright side of a painful disability." Remy chuckled. He peered over Cain's shoulder at the floor. "Congrats, homme. It looks like you struck wood. Time to sink dat well and retire."

Cain arched an eyebrow. "Yeah, shouldn't be more than two hours work to get this place ready to be brought into the modern era of living. Bet if we got Betts and Pete in here, we could make it in, say, six?"

"Or twelve. I think Betts is boycotting dis place. However, Remy might just have a few favours to call in himself." Remy pulled out a cellphone and began dialing. "Besides, it's been at least a week since I've made someone else's life difficult."

There was a pause as Remy talked, and then finally came back to where Cain was standing. "Well, de unwilling day labourers should be here in an hour or so. You want to grab a drink while we wait?"

"If you're buying." Cain nodded, absently kicking the pile of cracked linoleum. "I got a bit of a trip to take this week, but I figure you get some folks working here who ain't on a bum leg, you'll have it livable."

"Sounds good. You point were dey can run at wit' de crowbars and let them loose." Remy fished out his keys as he reached the door, pausing to hold it open for the old man that walked in. He grunted as he passed Remy and Cain, opening his door and disappearing in the first apartment on the east. "Been living here for fifty-two years. You probably went to high school wit' him."

Cain just shook his head as they walked out to the street. "Where you off to? Leather job or something personal?" You never really stopped being a spy, Remy considered.

Cain smiled, patting the two airline tickets in his pocket. "Definitely personal."