The confrontation with those paramilitary men had set Sam back but also created a need to move faster. Sam needed to check in on the child, see how his spell was holding. The use of it on Iris was the first he had done. A novel use. He needed data to work to improve the spell or if it worked perfectly, mass produce.

After a relocation and a short time getting everything in order, Sam was ready to approach the mansion.

Sam had planned his infiltration for the day of a governmental inspection. Following the attack on the mansion, state and local government agencies seemed to be taking a closer look into the goings on at the mansion. CPS, DoE, and more. Once Sam was able to get wind of an inspection date he pulled public records and found the address of the inspector.

Jason Handler, Department of Education inspector. He woke up that morning expecting an easy day. Pop over to the mansion, make sure everything was doing okay with the rebuild, make sure kids were attending classes, and go home.

Things quickly got derailed as when Jason stepped out of the shower he was jumped by someone, knocked unconscious, and woke up tied up and gagged in his closet.

Sam finished dressing in a nice business casual outfit complete with nice shirt and tie then looked in the mirror. He saw Jason’s ginger face staring back at him. He quickly collected Jason’t keys and wallet before leaving the apartment with a briefcase in hand and making his way to the mansion.

Checking the watch on his arm, Sam checked it against the calendar on his phone. He would just make it in time. Wouldn’t do to make Jason late to his appointment.

The DoE car pulled onto the mansion grounds and Sam parked it. He got out of the car and straightened his tie before taking a calming breath nad walking to the main entrance where he knocked and waited.

Maya opened the door with one hand, holding a large mug of coffee in the other. She felt like she had not gotten any sleep since the battle. The crisis with Iris, the hunt for the mystic, the rebuilding of the Mansion, the cousneling sessions, all just piled on top of the baseline exhaustion of parenting a three-year-old. Who was now acting out because she didn't have powers and knew something was wrong. And then there were the inspections at the Mansion, because being leveled in a traumatic interdimensional battle meant spotlights were being shown on the school.

Frankly, Maya forgot about all the inspections.

She opened the door and blinked, trying to place the man in the suit. "Hello. Can I help you?"

While waiting, Sam reviewed what he knew about the case. Jason had been to the mansion before, but not as the primary inspector. He was one of a small group that had gone after the mansion had been destroyed. Now that everything was settling down Jason was the primary inspector. Jason may have met people but it would be acceptable for him to have forgotten a few names.

Sam had made sure to brush up on the names of the faculty and other players at the mansion. It would only help in playing the part. This was how Sam knew it was Maya who opened the door of the mansion with a large mug of coffee in hand.

”Yes, good morning. I’m Inspector Jason Handler, New York Department of Education.” Sam produced Jason’s badge and ID. ”I’m here for the scheduled inspection.” Sam placed a disarming smile on Jason’s face, ”You guys have a great track record with the one recent issue. Should only take an hour and them I’m out of your hair.”

Sam returned the ID to his pocket and asked, ”Mind if I come inside?”

Maya blinked. Scheduled inspection. "Riiiiight." Dammit. Where was Gemma and Sam when they were needed? Maya was not even sure she could keep up with the class schedule anymore, let alone anything else that didn't involve potty training and naptime. Dammit. "Yeah, sure. Come on in." She let the man in, closing the door. "The one recent issue being that an interdimensional hate cult leveled the school?" She asked, too tired to be tactful.

Maya seemed either unaware or like she had forgotten about the inspection. That worked to Sam’s advantage. She didn’t even try to fight Sam on him entering the building.

Step one: Complete.

”Thank you.” Sam said as he walked into the mansion, scanning around the interior. His head on a swivel for anything that might impede his mission or anything he might be ankle to use to his advantage.

”That’s the one. Though I have it written down officially as a ‘terrorist attack.’ Paperwork is easier that way.” Sam said, before changing the subject, ”Okay, well I’ll just jump into it. I’ll need to see the classrooms, the common facilities—kitchens, bathrooms, et cetera. The dorms, currently unoccupied is fine. And then anywhere that is still under construction that is affiliated with the school. I have been told the mansion serves as more than just a primary education boarding school. I don’t need to see what isn’t part of that. I have a map of the grounds and can do my round or you can lead the tour.” Sam pulled up a map on his tablet showing the mansion and what areas were deemed education areas. He hoped Maya would let him roam. He doubted he would have the luck, but it was worth a shot.

"Well, you are entering the student bathrooms at your own risk" Maya snorted. "But I'll give you the tour." As exhausted as she was, she was not going to let an inspector wander around unaccompanied. The school always had some shenanigans going on. And she didn't trust strangers that much, especially if they showed up in an official capacity. Especially if they came from places that had never been too friendly to the Mansion before. "So... what are you looking for, exactly? Hygiene standards? Delinquent behavior?"

Sam faked a laugh with Maya. Jason would have laughed at the joke. ”It’s okay. I’ve seen enough to know to grade them on a curve.” Sam added a joke he felt Jason would make. ”Lead the way.” Maya leading was suboptimal but Sam could make it work. He just needed a minute separate from here with a chance to slip away.

”Mostly to make sure kids are actually doing school and that you guys are doing your best to keep the kids safe. The state just wants to see that little Timmy isn’t truant, can pass state testing, and isn’t going to blow himself up… Or be blown up by another student.” Sam then narrowed down to ”Basically I’m looking to make sure education is happening and there aren’t any drugs or weapons lying around.”

"Do all of those things have to be true at the same time?" Maya deadpanned, too tired to have a filter. She soon recovered, shaking her head. "Sorry. Bad sense of humor. Ignore it. We are doing our level best here." As teachers, as parents, and as a fighting force. That had to be graded on a curve. Maya headed down to the living room. "How about we start in the common room and the kitchen? I can get you a coffee or tea if you like."

Sam raised an eyebrow to Maya. If he was the real Jason, all of those things would need to be true, or at least close enough to true for partial credit. There might have been a little grace, sometimes things just happened. ”It’s okay. I’m used to those kinds of jokes. No one particularly likes when I show up.” Sam said as he followed Maya.

”Sounds great, and a coffee sounds excellent. Thank you.” Sam pulled up an official looking checklist. It was convenient that Jason had gone digital and was using FaceID to unlock his devices. ”I’ll just take a couple minutes here.” Sam said as he started to open cabinets, drawers, and the pantry door. He made a show of checking things off as he went. Hinges were good, stuff wasn’t currently on fire, no blades were just laying about. Boring stuff.

”Do I have it right that some of the staff live here on site? I hope yous guys get overtime pay if you can’t ever leave the job.” Sam said, he was trying to make it sound like polite conversation—eep the inspection from being awkward—as he was trying to start fishing for usable information.

"A lot of the staff lives here" Maya admitted, getting started on the coffee as the guy checked whatever needed to be checked. The pantry needed some restocking, honestly. Carrick must have been around again. "I do too. Been here since I was a teen... for many of us, it's the only home we have." And now she was raising a family here too. A family of mutants and mystics. Maya poured a mug of coffee and handed it to Jason. "It's like feeding an army around here, around the clock."

Maya confirmed that she lived at the mansion. That was good. It confirmed the information Sam had collected. He just needed to find the child and get a moment away from Maya.

”It seems like a nice and fairly stable place… The recent attack notwithstanding.” Sam said accepting the coffee, ”Thank you.”

”I imagine it must be. I think this pantry is bigger than my whole apartment.” Sam closed the pantry and started pressing buttons on appliances, turning them on and off before checking boxes on the tablet. ”That’s all I need here. We can carry on, as long as you don’t mind me carrying the coffee around.” Sam gestured with the coffee then took a sip.

"Nah, feel free" Maya raised her own mug as they left the kitchen. She managed not to make a quip about the place being stable. Stability was a relative term when one had mutant kids around. And bigots at the gates. "Down this hallway are the staff offices... Dorms this way" she pointed out as they walked. "Above us are the staff apartments for those who live here. Classrooms this way, training rooms and infirmary in the basement."

”Excellecnt” Sam said before taking another sip of coffee. It was both a nice drink and something to keep a hand busy to keep him from messing up his role.

Maya indicated where everything was as they walked. Sam would occasionally lag for a moment as he checked on an outlet, a light switch, or some other mundane facet of the building. Always making notes or checking things off on the tablet he carried. He would then return to walking in step with Maya through the mansion.

Containing a smile was the hard part. Conveniently Sam had the tablet to bury his face behind for a moment. Iris was likely upstairs in the staff apartments, or near them. Sam really didn’t have a good excuse to get directions to that part of the building, but Maya had just casually given him the information.

”For the classes. I take it students can get a full education here. Math, reading, history, science. I’m assuming you maintain a well stocked science closet. Chemicals, burners, those shocky ball on stick things?”

Maya nodded. "Yeah, we have a science lab. Down this way. Reinforced it during the rebuild with some more safety protocols... when you mix science classes with supwerpowers, gotta be prepared for everything." At leas the rebuild had been a chance to fix some things no one had gotten around to in a very long time. Classes were not in session at the moment, so she showed the way to the lab. "Tools and chemicals locked up in the storage room. It works with a faculty code."

Maya affirmed that there was a science lab and led Sam to it. She explained that they had safety protocols for the superpowered kids. It made sense, the school had walking time bombs. They needed to prepare for when their powers inevitably went rogue.

Sam tested the door to the storage, nodding to himself when it didn’t budge. ”Looks good, looks good,” Sam said as he poked at the keypad randomly a few times, nodding when it didn’t let him in. Then he turned and went to a table and hunted around for equipment left out. Blades, burners, small patch of anthrax. Normal sciencey things.

Nowhere so far had offered Sam a good place to slip away and take a new form. He needed to move this along. ”Don’t even need to grade on a curve. My old high school always had burners and scalpels laying around. This place is very nicely put together. Kudos.” Sam made more notes on the tablet.

There needed to be some kind of distraction but Sam wasn’t seeing a good way to cause one. Perhaps one would present itself, or he could get into a bathroom with a window. Something would come up, he just had to be patient. He had laid some groundwork but wasn't sure it would pan out as he hoped.