Noel was at a meeting with Jude. A meeting Ranger should have been in. A meeting Jude would think Ranger had been in. Only, Ranger wasn’t Ranger. Noel was Ranger in the meeting and Ranger was Noel not in the meeting. One could say that Noel was the one currently wearing the pants but the previous night notwithstanding Noel wore pants about as often as Ranger did. In simplest terms, Noel was the man in the relationship. Literally. Ranger was the woman in the relationship. Literally.

The hope had been that their body swap would have ended after they slept on it. After they kissed, which had prompted the swap twice before. After banging their heads into each other. All attempts in their apartment to reverse the swap had failed and so Noel was attending the meeting in Ranger’s male body.

This left Ranger to cruise BlacTac alone. She had only been back a few days and the company had changed much in the ten years she had lost. The good thing for Ranger was that she and Noel had been together long enough that no one at BlacTac questioned her just cruising around the building and sticking her nose in everything.

It was odd. She cruised around in jeans, which were normal for her, but sneakers and a tank top under a hoodie. That wasn’t normal for her. It was the normal for Noel though and Ranger was going to try and maintain the appearance of being her. So no one would know that Ranger was her. The one oddity was that she was wearing some make up to obscure a black eye and sunglasses. The sunglasses served two purposes. First, they further hid the black eye because Noel didn’t have sufficient makeup to properly conceal it at the apartment. Second, it helped with the hangover induced photophobia. The lights were trying to kill her.

Ranger went to her own office, the lone room that looked good in the entire building. Instead of sleek and modern with glass and steel, there was wood and a red deer and its massive rack on the wall. It felt like home to Ranger. She sat on her desk and looked around the room before picking up a pen off the desk. It was hefty. Ranger had the impression that it was purchased by ten year older Ranger specifically because it looked nice, wrote well, and could be used as a weapon in a pinch.

Setting the pen down, Ranger sighed. She was worried that, following the failed attempts to swap back, that she would be stuck as Noel. Not that there was anything wrong with Noel, she was a better person to have to be than anyone, but Noel’s body was not his. Noel’s life was not his. Noel’s power was not his. Noel’s power put Ranger’s own identity at risk as long as she was in it.

Ranger leaned back, her elbows on the table and looked at the ceiling. There was no sense thinking about all of that at that particular moment. Maybe it would just take time? Ranger had been stuck as Lori for two weeks.

Evelyn was spending her Saturday at BlacTac.

For a normal seven year old, that would certainly be a punishment, but Evelyn was actually really enjoying her job. She was dressed in a pair of black slacks, a white shirt, and her hair was back in braids so she looked as professional as a child could. When she first arrived, there were staff that seemed to doubt her abilities, but that went out the window when she got to work. In the mess of the building, having someone who knew where everything was kept, could remember anything, and frankly, could even predict what they were looking for was a blessing. All they had to do was approach and magically, the file would appear. She felt like a magician. If only she could do this all the time.

It hadn't taken long for Evelyn to be put in charge of paperwork. If it needed to be tracked, filed, filled out or double checked, it was now pushed across her desk in the building, the only one that had a small makeshift booster made of books she could sit on, and a few colorful color pencils alongside the more appropriate black and blue pens.

Today Evelyn was double checking forms. There were a lot of those. When you handled weapons like they did, the proper paperwork was essential to keep the government from raining on your parade. The forms in front of her were ATF forms. [Type 10 FFL. Form 1, manufacturing. Missing signature.] This one had been halfway filled out, but the missing signature would pose issues. Evelyn, who was fairly certain she could manage a duplicate signature on her own, relented and picked up the item, wondering if there was anyone in the building who could settle this or if she would have to resort to forgery so soon in her career.

There was movement in her bosses office, which surprised her, given she had yet to meet the man. Wandering over, she poked her head around the door, and narrowed her eyes at the figure. Not-Ranger was there, looking at the ceiling. [Unhappy. Frustrated. Uncomfortable.] Whoever she was, she did not seem to be having a good day. But, she looked rather familiar in the setting. Her brain scanned through known faces, but she had not met this woman. Her eyes continued to narrow, the silver color strong as she let her powers work.

"Excuse me...Ranger? Have you seen him?" She threw the name out, letting the echoes wait for a reaction. If this was a girlfriend, would there be positive recognition. If it was an x, negative. Coworker might just laugh at the use of the name. Good test of who she was dealing with.

Ranger closed her eyes behind her sunglasses as she stared up to the ceiling. She knew she should try to do some work but her head hurt and her body felt wrong. Not in the fact it was not her own body, because there was that, but also in hangover blahness.

There was a noise, like small feet. Ranger assumed she was hearing things until there was a voice. A child’s voice asking for Ranger? Ranger leaned forward and opened her eyes to see a little girl with paperwork in hand standing at the door. Ranger cocked her head at the odd sight of a kid in BlacTac. She also had a moment of surprise that the kid had identified her before realizing the kid was asking if she knew where ‘Ranger’ was. ”I… He’s in a meetin’ with Jude an’ a newer client right now.” A half truth. Ranger’s mind was in that room but Ranger’s body was in the meeting. Ranger tasted it. Not the worst but not altogether pleasant.

Ranger scoot back onto the desk and leaned forward more. It was easier than standing. Sure, a few papers fell of the desk but that was a problem for future Ranger. Hungover Ranger took priority. ”Why’re y’ lookin’ f’r him? Why is a kid… Did y’ seperated from... “ Ranger rubbed her head and decided on a different way to go about figuring out what a child was doing in her office asking for her by callsign. ”Howdy. I’m M'Noel, what’s y’r name?” She held out a hand to the girl to shake and a smile. She had only the slightest hickup when claiming to be Noel and again tasted the half truth.

Evelyn watched the reaction, echoes tuned in carefully to the responses. [Surprise. Confusion. Calculating. Rethinking.] There was something strange about that combination. Was the surprise because of Evelyn, or because of what she had said? The girl regretted speaking first instead of letting her age register before what she actually said.

I. That lone letter seemed odd. The echoes stuck a pin on it, as if the free floating word could have another meaning. He was in a meeting with Jude. Evelyn wished Jude was here instead of the strange woman who was sitting in Ranger's office.

Why is a kid

Evelyn bristled. Her back straightened and her eyes narrowed, further disliking the stranger. She hated people who treated her like a mistake, like she shouldn't be there. She worked here, of course. How could the woman not know it? If she knew Ranger, and knew what meetings he was in, then surely she should have at least a little understanding of who was allowed in this building. "I'm looking for him because I have paperwork to process, and it cannot be completed without the proper authorization." She looked up at the woman with a tiny lift of her chin. Evelyn was here because she belonged here. The more the echoes studied, the more she was feeling this woman did not.

I'm M'Noel

[Lie.] The echoes stopped her from misbehaving further. Evelyn blinked, the sudden buzz of information like a tangle of barbed wire in her brain. Why was that a lie? [Uncertain of name. Unclear behavior. Deception. Masquerading as someone she is not.]

The young girl let her face calm, taking the situation with new interest. Someone who was pretending to be someone they weren't. Someone who knew enough about the meetings, but not about their staff. There was only one thing left to do.

Figure out who this woman actually was.

"My name is Evelyn, but I'm afraid that's as much information as I can give you without proper clearance. Ms. Noel, is it? I think the question should be less why am I here, but why are you? I know all of our staff, and you are in none of those records." Evelyn tucked the papers behind her back and looked up suspiciously.

Something Ranger had said had offended the kid. She straightened her back and narrowed her eyes. Rager wondered what she had said that had so upset the kid. Calling her a kid? That was all she could think of and that was odd, because the kid was, well, a kid. That wasn’t the weirdest thing though, the kid had paperwork that was being processed.

What was a child doing processing paperwork? Jude, you have some ‘splainin’ to do!’

Everything made some level of sense when the kid introduced herself. Evelyn. When she said her name, Ranger’s eyebrows went up from behind her sunglasses. In the whirlwind of being reintroduced to his own company, Ranger had been told by Jude of a recent hire named Evelyn. There hadn’t been time to cover any details. Details like how Evelyn was a child.

A child who already had a knack for security. Noel leaned back, drawing back her unshook hand she had offered. ”I live here. In the apartment above, with Michael.” She pointed at the ceiling. ”Y’ could ask… Who’s workin’ today… Is Tedward in? He could verify who I am, ‘r any Alpha team member. Even if sh’I do look younger, they saw me at Sideshow’s weddin’ last night.” Ranger felt a little odd proving that she was supposed to be at a company she had started. ”I’m here…” What was Ranger doing? She intended to work on some work but had been distracted. ”I’m here t’ help Michael with some of his paperwork while he’s with Jude. More hands make less work.” Tasting the veracity of statements was highly inconvenient when you couldn’t be completely true.

”Are y’ the Evelyn Jude hired? He told me he hired an Evelyn. Didn’t get a chance f’r any details.” Ranger asked.

The woman looked a bit uncomfortable being scrutinized by a child. No bother. Evelyn would not put information in the wrong hands so soon into this job. She was much smarter than that. Much smarter, to the point she was already watching Noel’s reactions and listen to the information given.

[Recognition. Thoughtful. Calculating.]

There it was again. The faint flutter of dishonesty. The echoes drew on it like moths to fire. There were facts that made sense, the names, the location, the relationship to Michael. Evelyn tapped a foot and sighed.

”I can ask one of the team about Noel, but that won’t help with this.” She was looking stern now, and wished she could see the woman’s eyes. Eyes were great for clues and the echoes could use a few more. She decided to go with her gut at the risk of being rude. Heck, she didn’t mind being rude if she was right.

”You’re not Noel. So who are you really?”

Things were going less than spectacular. Ranger’s answers were not settling the issue; they just seemed to be stirring it up more. Evelyn flat out called Ranger out. How had the kid known that she was not Noel!

Ranger ran a hand through her hair, ”I’m much too hungover f’r this.” She said to herself, then to Evelyn she said, ”I am Noel.” She tried her best to ignore the taste, ”I’d say ask me somethin’ only I would know… But we’ve never met before.”

Not used to sitting around and being given the third degree by children, Ranger slid off the desk and onto her feet. ”Why don’t we find someone who can settle this f’r us?” Ranger moved toward the door. She was used to being physically imposing enough that people would move for her. She wasn’t that anymore, but she was playing a game of chicken with a child.

Though, Ranger wasn’t about to barrel over a little girl if she didn’t move. Maybe slide around or grab by the shoulders and move her before going past in a worst case scenario. You don’t hit women or children.

If there was one thing Evelyn knew, it was everyone gave away certain signs they were lying. A twitch of the hand, a waver in the voice, a bit more emphasis on a certain fact, or a hesitation. Heck, even a hack of hesitation could give them away. Hyper awareness met her see those moments and draw her attention to them. Like little alerts, she saw the echoes ping for each moment, noting them. I AM Noel. [Over emphasis. Insistence. Resolve. Lack of humor. Determination to deter suspicion. Growing likeliness if hypothesis being correct.[/i]]

Evelyn stood her ground as the woman approached. The woman was trying to act larger than she was. Heck, her motion with her hair of frustration didn’t quite add up to the length of the actual hair itself. She was distracted by that so much that when the woman came close she didn’t think to stop her from reaching and grabbing Evelyn to move her.

The result was a sudden shared moment of echoes. Noel would have gotten the full blast. [Behavior does not match physical size. Insistence to be correct suggests hiding facts. Hair length does not add up to lotion, walking—Confusion. Surprise.] Evelyn was set down a bit suddenly, but that was to be expected. Not everyone responded well to voices in their head.

Evelyn held her ground. Ranger frowned and grabbed hold of Evelyn to move her out of the way. The moment her hands made skin to skin contact with Evelyn there were voices. They sounded like they were analyzing the situation. Analyzing Ranger!

The shock of the sudden voices had Ranger misjudge where her back was when she quickly deposited the Evelyn and took a step backwards into the door frame before stumbling into the hall. ”What was that?“ Ranger asked, catching a wall with her hand to steady herself. "I heard... Voices."

The voices had been spot on. Ranger had thought she might have been a bit better at playing Noel, but the voices she heard made it clear she wasn’t. Was it Evelyn’s thoughts? No, Noel’s power didn’t let her hear thoughts. Was it… Was Evelyn a mutant?

The woman reacted as Evelyn honestly expected. People just don’t handle sudden voices very well. The young girl straightened her outfit, and listened to the stuttered comments patiently. ”I prefer the term ‘echoes’, myself. Voices seems to insinuate insanity and a lack of reasoning. The echoes are very logical.” Logical, robotic, disjointed. She heard many descriptors for what they were.

The comment also sounded like a question, as if the woman wasn’t sure whether the echoes were Evelyn’s fault or not. Something about that pinged her interest again. She noted it for later. In the meantime she ensured her paperwork was not harmed during the exchange.

”Also, why would Jude tell you he hired an Evelyn, but not say what I did? I don’t think that would be information Jude would just randomly tell his bosses girlfriend. And what do you mean you look younger? Like, deaged younger, or plastic surgery younger? Because if you were just deaged younger and you were talking to Jude and he was talking about an Evelyn, I’m pretty sure you would have asked more questions about deaging at that time.”

Evelyn was using a cruel strategy now. The words ‘hungover’ were still on her brain and that meant a lot of things: sensitivity to light, possible headache, disorientation, general misery. Having a child throwing questions at you to have to logic your way out of would be trying at best. For someone hiding, lying, and pretending, it would be near impossible to keep up.

Soon, they would cave. Evelyn was patient.

Echoes. Evelyn was right, echoes sounded better than voices. More reflection, less insanity. Regardless of what they were called, they had Ranger’s number. She was out of the apartment for less than a half an hour and someone already suspected something. She hoped Noel was doing better in the meeting than she was in her own office. Talking to a child.

Evelyn checked her paperwork, Ranger caught just enough of a glance at it to see it was an ATF form. She couldn’t tell which but they mostly dealt in form 1 and form 3. Ranger didn’t get a chance to see or ask what it was before Evelyn was dissecting their whole exchange. It made Ranger’s head hurt. More.

Why would Jude tell Noel? Why would Jude tell Noel about Evelyn but not what she did? Ranger closed her eyes behind the sunglasses as the questions kept coming.

After she had stopped Ranger’s brain worked to cobble together a sufficient lie, while stealing herself for the foul taste she would give herself. ”Jude mentioned it at the weddin’. I was with Michael, Jude didn’ tell me direc’ly..” A foul tasting, but plausible response, ”No plastic surgery, Michael an’ I were both deaged… Why would I… or Michael… why would either of us ask about deagin’ then?” Was the kid deaged as well? Was BlacTac starting a deaged club?

Ranger needed an out, but the kid had her pinned by questions. Running off would just cause more trouble later. Someone needed to walk toward Ranger's office who could settle that Ranger was Noel. That or send the kid on her way.

Not-Noel was not backing down, but Evelyn was focused now. She was like a dog on a trail, closing in on her mark. All she needed was the right lead and she could end this game and get back to work. Sam always said she needed more fun, so this was a perfect chance. What was more fun than catching an inposter red-handed? Or in this case, bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, and very hungover.

Suddenly, the echoes started connecting dots. It was like a string of alarms in her head, pinging the final conclusion. The unexpected ‘I’, the ‘M’ before Noel, the office, even the tiny flicker of recognition when the paperwork was scene.

M for Michael. She had just met her boss. The moment made her want to laugh as she looked up at her/him. Evelyn had a somewhat mischievous look as she slowly scanned her paperwork.

"Ah, it is deaging. As I expected. Honestly, being deaged at least explains why you fumbled a Form 1, given that electronic filing is so new. With the weaponry we handle I was questioning who was in charge if they couldn’t even get a few ATF forms correct,” she let the jab linger then sighed, holding the paper to Not-Noel. "Admittedly, I didn't expect to meet my boss for the first time while he was hungover, deaged and frankly, bustier than he should be. I expect you have your reasons for secrecy, but let's not insult me any further with the lies? Plus, they seem to be causing you some discomfort on their own. Mutation?" She looked up, focused for a moment, and the echoes honed in on the random faces that had been made with every lie. Was it just their own lies? Evelyn considered and then said, "My birthday is September 4th."

Obviously, a lie. The twitch of the facial muscles drove the hypothesis home. She smirked. She was dying to know what exactly the lie did that made that face, but it was fascinating, almost as fascinating as her boss being a woman.

Ranger knew that look. As Evelyn looked over the ATF form a look crossed her face and Ranger knew it meant trouble. Nothing good ever followed looks like that. She would know, she often gave looks like that. Evelyn spoke and Ranger wondered where she was going until she commented on the form being filled out incorrectly. Ranger let jab go. She was commenting on Michael, she wasn’t Michael at the moment. Then Evelyn went for broke. She held up the form. Ranger looked at it, an ATF form 1 that Evelyn alleged Ranger had made a mistake on.

Looking at the form, Ranger was caught off guard when Evelyn correctly guessed that she was Ranger.

Somehow Evelyn had, in a very brief amount of time, puzzled out that Ranger was Ranger despite very visibly not being Ranger. Ranger’s mouth hung open for a moment before she came back to her senses and closed it. She could continue to deny it, but it was clear that Evelyn knew and any further denying it would result in her own discomfort while pissing off an employee who… Well, despite at that exact moment actively working against her boss, was clearly a master of observation and reasoning.

Ranger sighed and then as Evelyn lied, had to suffer more bad taste. She tried to quell facial reflex to not encourage the girl to continue. Then her head went back and she audibly exhaled as she decided to give in. ”Okay, okay.” Ranger looked at Evelyn, ”Y’ win, Evelyn.” Ranger looked around the hall, making sure there was no one else around. ”I’m Ranger”

Standing out in the hall was not the best place to have such a conversation. ”Follow me. Let’s head upstairs t’ discuss this… An’ bring any paperwork y’ need me t’ fix.” Ranger motioned with her head and started down the hallway.

Evelyn had won, and she was pleased. Nothing quite made her as happy as being right, and since she had the echoes on her side, and a perfect memory, she was right a lot. The students at the mansion hated that, but in the right environment, it was a good skill to have on your side.

Ranger, to his credit, had a moment of consideration before he gave in. There was no unhappy exclamation, no insulting, and no one called her a little shit this time. Honestly, that happened a lot when she acted out like this. Maybe she had been professional enough not to warrant the usual insults. But there was more under the surface she expected would need to be handled. Evelyn had shown her abilities, which was both positive and negative at the moment. Yes, she had undermined her employer, but had shown how worthwhile she could be to have on the right side. Sometimes proving yourself meant pissing someone off.

That was what she told herself, anyway.

Evelyn smiled, no longer looking at Ranger with such an intense gave. Her eyes went back to blue as she scurried to her desk, and she returned with a few papers. Some were small errors, nothing quite as bad as the one she had brought. Then she let herself be led away, finding it hard not to have a little bounce in her step.

A stop by Evelyn’s desk and then Ranger was leading her up to the apartment above BlacTac. On paper it was the ‘Barracks’, but a change in situation on Ranger and Noel’s end had led Ranger to have Jude refit the space to be an apartment for a while.

Ranger opened the door and motioned for Evelyn to go in, ”Ladies…” She stopped, sucked in her upper lip for a moment. She was now a lady and therefore she could go first. Were Evelyn a boy the statement could stand as a joke. Instead, Ranger amended, ”After y’.”

Shutting the door behind her Ranger beelined for the couch in the living room and lay across it. She had not turned on the overhead lighting so the room was illuminated only by the pair of windows on the wall. She took her off her sunglasses and lay them onto the coffee table. She gestured to the chairs in the room, ”Have a sit.”

Being horizontal for a moment felt great. Being a dimly lit room felt nice. Hangovers sucked. She would need to sit up eventually, Evelyn had paperwork to do, but Ranger wanted just a moment to feel mildly less awful.

”T’ answer y’r question. Noel can taste lies. An’ they taste… Horrible.”