Stealth or politeness?

Tag 58 hadn't moved in days. Previously, it had normal patterns. A home base and satellite points of interest. Nothing overtly suspicious. Until now.

She opted for politeness and knocked. After more than a bit of rustling, the door opened. Noel noticed several things out of place immediately. First, the smell. Something was rotting. Second, no super-young year old should be answering the door without mom running to catch up. Third, the little sliver of apartment that she could see was pretty trashed.

"Is your mom home?" Noel didn't recognize the sweet, ringleted blonde but the little girl sure recognized her.

"Mom is busy, but I do have a baby brother."

Intrigued, Noel asked to be let in. The cherubic girl allowed her in to see... well. There was a woman sitting on the couch. The rotting smell seemed to be coming from the sink, stove and refrigerator. The woman didn't blink once in the time Noel looked at her. "What happened?"

"I told her to watch TV. She likes TV." The little girl didn't seem to mind much. She smoothed her pink frock and went to pull some cereal from the shelf as Noel went in to check to woman's pulse.

Yep. She was gone. That put Noel's eyes squarely on the kid with the sugar puffs. The girl had to be the one tagged. She told her mother to watch TV and the woman didn't bother to ever get up again to do anything else. Had she died of starvation? No. Probably dehydration first.

A baby's crying came from the other room. "Your brother?" Noel flipped the television's switch off as she walked by.

"I'm adopted." The girl corrected the agent as she moved into the second room, even though she'd called him her brother first. Sure enough there was a baby. Messy with days of neglect. Sick. "I fed him. I think he likes cola." Noel picked it —him— up with as little of herself touching him as possible. He cried, shrieked his head off, but when big sister sharply told him to shut up he did. Immediately. Noel shut up too.

Yeah. She was definitely the mutant tagged here. And unfortunately this was a situation she had to clean up.

Half an hour later, the baby was clean and in clean clothes. Noel had called it in and they'd asked her to escort the kid to base. In the mean time, Noel helped big sister find some formula and a bottle. Really it was all she could think to do for the thing. CPS would be all over these kids, no doubt, but they wouldn't be equipped for the girl like RUPERT would. She could find a place for the baby later... but she just couldn't leave him. Not if all he'd had in the last few days was whatever the curly haired 8 year old deemed a fitting.

It didn't take too much convincing to get the girl to take hold of Noel's hand as they made their way out of the apartment building. But it was taking every ounce of Noel's self control to resist what the girl was shouting. "TAKE ME TO MCGREASY KING. TAKE ME TO MCGREASY KING."

Next thing she realized, they three of them were in line at the fast food restaurant and the baby was crying.

Noel was so not the right person for this job.

Gemma was not exactly big on fast food. She avoided it if she could; she preferred cooking, especially for the kids. Today, however, she had no choice. She'd spent the whole morning and a great part of the early afternoon running errands in the city, and doing shopping for herself and for many other residents of the Mansion. She was as exhausted as a mother can be after half a day spent with an endless string of small tasks that had the habit of adding up.
And now, she was starving so bad she was sure she wouldn't make it back to the Mansion alive.

Standing in line, Gemma waited patiently for her turn, pondering what she should order from the various kinds of fast food. Behind her in the line, a woman was fighting for control with a crying baby and a little girl that kept demanding... pretty much everything that was on the menu.
Mama T sighed to herself. Young mothers. The poor thing must be exhausted.
Stealing a glance at them over her shoulder, she could see the situation was a near disaster.
The baby looked lik as if he (she) had been starving for days. Whatever she was doing, bringing him to McGreasy instead of feeding him milk, Gemma had no idea. The woman was dressed well; she didn't look that poor. She lacked the form of a breast-feeding mother, and she was holding the crying baby awkwardly. Maybe she was not the mother. Maybe she was a babysitter.
A babysitter who didn't know the first thing about kids, apparently. The baby twisted and turned, and cried louder with every breath; the little girl clung to the woman's coat, listing the foods she wanted to eat, and the woman kept nodding at everything.

"I WANT THEM NOW!" she said, stomping her feet (she was wearing sandals, and a light coat, which made Gemma shiver at this time of the year). The woman didn't move, and nor did the line; the girl let go of the coat and walked ahead to Gemma, looking up at her and folding her arms.

"You buy me." she said in the voice of someone who has never been refused anything in her life "You buy me ice cream."

Mama T arched an eyebrow as she looked down at the girl.

"No."

Not unfamiliar with memory gaps, Noel wasn't totally surprised to find herself somewhere that she didn't expect to be. What surprised her was her slipping grip on a fussy baby and an intolerable urge to buy ice cream.

The best way to resist was to think about something else. Like hoisting the little sack of potatoes that kept wobbling around in her arms. Why didn't he just hold his own head still? Did she have a bottle at one point? Noel turned a full circle looking for it while the cherub went to tell someone else to buy her ice cream.

> "No."

The brunette looked up at that. There was a real short list of people that could say no. Two options presented themselves immediately. Mental mutant or Adapted. Please dear God let it be an adapted.

"My hair is purple." A known un-truth. And with absolutely zero ill effects. "Are you aware that you're a very special lady? Less than 3% of all American's have your gifts." Noel hoisted the baby again as if it weren't crying. She was first and foremost a Federal Agent. Not a mama.

>>"My hair is purple..."

Gemma raised an eyebrow as she turned around to look at the lady, ignoring the little girl's demands for junk food.

"No it's not." she said helpfully. Two neglected kids with a babysitter, and not a good one at that, and on top of everything... well, she was saying weird things.

>>"Are you aware that you're a very special lady? Less than 3% of all American's have your gifts."

"I never knew the statistics" Gemma smirked. The line moved, and she moved with it, getting a few steps closer to getting food. The little girl glared up at Gemma, fascinated and angered at the same time at being refused, and even worse, ignored. "I want ICE CREAM" she declared.

The infamous mother glare turned towards the little angel.

"That's too bad, sweetheart, because you are not getting any until you ask nicely, and apologize to the lady for being rude." she said in a firm voice. The little girl blink-blinked.
The baby wailed.

"Here is what we are going to do now" she continued "You are going to wait for your turn, and then pick one thing you want to eat."

Turning to the lady and the baby that was starting to turn purple with the effort of wailing, she extended her hands. "Let me help you." she glanced down at the girl "Hold her hand."

> "No it's not."

She would let that one go. Because she wanted to get along with this woman... rather desperately. And, well, because her hair actually wasn't purple. And she didn't want to explain her testing methods just yet. Especially not when this Adapted so firmly told the cherub no.

"She has voice thrall. Not that.... that matters to you." The woman was tall and would have been all kinds of imposing if Noel hadn't known there was a gun on her person.

It would do the cherub good to know someone like this Adapted.

"Chicken nuggets?" Golden ringlets separated Noel from seeing the girl's face. She had a feeling that she was not apologizing on purpose, but it was impossible to tell so close to this marvelous savior of a woman.

The screaming took a brief pause. Just enough to draw Noel's attention to the wriggly thing in her arms before it started hollering again. The agent sort of jiggled it. Combed its few hairs back and shifted its weight again. "You... have kids of your own?"

>>"She has voice thrall. Not that.... that matters to you."

"I can see she does." Gemma nodded, keeping her eyes on Goldilocks to make sure she was always within her range "Can be hard to manage, isn't it."

>>"Chicken nuggets?"

"You're still missing the magic words, sweetie." Gemma said before she turned her attention back to the wailing little creature in the woman's arms.

>>"You... have kids of your own?"

"Two fo them" Gemma smiled, and moved closer to to carefully coax the baby from the woman "And I've raised a couple of more that weren't mine. I'm good with kids. That's kind of my job."

Holding the baby against her shoulder, she hummed and rubbed his back; the wailing grew more feeble and quiet as the little creature relaxed. Gemma had a deep voice that babies usually felt comforting.
The line moved ahead; they were almost there.

"This one's too young for solid food" she said "Do you have something to feed him with?" she glanced at the woman "I don't suppose you breast feed."

Noel and the Adapted both looked down at the petulant child. Yes. It could be hard to manage. Thankfully she shouldn't have to manage for too much longer.

When prompted, the little blonde's mouth puckered as if she had tasted something sour. The memorymancer had the distinct urge to point and laugh. She knew that taste. Bitter defeat. But she was the bigger (wo)man and somehow triumphing over someone who hadn't yet hit double digits in age seemed a bit petty. Even for Noel.

"Pwease?" The word came out small and tight.

The magical Santa Clause of child domination offered to take the tightly wrapped pea pod from her arm. Noel was all too happy to pass it off. Even happier when he went from a 5 alarm down to a more manageable 2.

Noel was in awe. Also, slightly disgusted. Who would work with children voluntarily? For a living? But she supposed everyone had to be good at something. This monster of a lady was good at this. The line progressed naturally.

>> "This one's too young for solid food. Do you have something to feed him with?"

"There was a bottle..." She had probably left it on the subway or on a mailbox somewhere. Big Adapted Mama looked at Noel expectantly as if she might suddenly cough up some non-solid food. Even Big Moma was skeptical that Noel would succeed in that.

>>"I don't suppose you breast feed."

If she'd been eating, the adapted would now be covered in food. Noel sputtered. "These aren't... I mean, it's not bad but, I couldn't, you know?" And to sum it up. "Not my kids. Recovered from a crime scene."

"Chicken Nuggets PLEASES."

>>"There was a bottle... These aren't... I mean, it's not bad but, I couldn't, you know? Not my kids. Recovered from a crime scene."

"Oh." Gemma nodded; that explained a lot. Poor kids. The fact that they were with this woman after being recovered from a crime scene meant they... didn't have anyone else to take care of them at the moment. "You're with the police, then?" the tiniest of smirks followed the question "I'm guessing you are not CPS."

>>"Chicken Nuggets PLEASES."

"That's a good girl." Gemma smiled at Goldilocks. The line moved again. Gemma ordered herself food, and chicken nuggets, and glanced at the woman, allowing her to add her order to theirs.

"My name is Gemma, by the way." she said as they waited for the order; she didn't offer a hand since she was still holding the baby. Said baby ceased the wailing and was just kind of whimpering qietly into Mama's shoulder.

"No, I'm not with the CPS. They're not equipped to handle this kind of threat." Not that Noel was particularly adroit at resisting voice command, but just imagining the little blonde loose within child protective services made a chill run up her spine. "I work with a branch of the Federal Government that employs people like you to help in instances like this. Usually I have a partner." But she wasn't going to talk about that right now.

"We were uh- probably supposed to be back by now." Noel checked her phone as they slid up to the front of the line. Lunch wouldn't hurt and they certainly didn't have anything for the baby on Hart Island.

"Oh. Noel Gage. Thank you Gemma. Let me buy you lunch." And she was insisting. The girl up front helped Noel find the foods acceptable for an infant. Slim pickings: apple sauce, apple juice or the girl behind the counter thought they had some powdered milk. Babies just didn't eat out all that often apparently.

Noel finished up the order with something didn't look like it would kill her immediately and a tea. She shook up the milk carton that had come with little miss bossy's happy box and passed the apple juice to the woman with the baby interested to see how she might get the contents out and into the baby. "I'm not sure how much they've eaten in the last few days. Neglect case... sort of." She couldn't blame the mom since she was ordered to neglect her children.

>>"I work with a branch of the Federal Government that employs people like you to help in instances like this. Usually I have a partner."

Gemma nodded in agreement; leaving CPS with little miss bossy would have been a grave mistake if she'd ever seen one. It was also good to know that there were people ("like her") employed to deal with these situations, and these children. Even though Gemma personaly had never been part of an organization like that, it clearly made sense they had one.

Noel bought them lunch, and they found a booth where they could sit and talk in peace. Gemma held the baby on her lap as she pndered about the apple juice problem.

>>"I'm not sure how much they've eaten in the last few days. Neglect case... sort of."

"I can see that" she nodded, watching how the girl devoured her chicken nuggets, forgetting to make any more demands since her mouth was full. "Slow down, sweetie, nobody's gonna take it away. If you're finished and still hungry, you'll get some more, okay?" she said to the girl; she was nice in her own way, it was not her fault she had a mutation she couldn't deal with. "What's her name?"

In the meantime, she managed to figure a way of pouring some apple juice into the baby's mouth without spilling much. She held the boy with one arm, and did her best. After raising two kids, you can pretty much feed anything with anything anywhere under any cirucumstances. And this little was was clearly very hungry.

"So, this one is probably a mutant too?" she asked, glancing up at Noel "Do you have a place where you can take them?"

> "What's her name?"

After staring blankly for a moment with no name forthcoming (and no telltale headache to accompany an adapted-assisted remembrance) Noel shrugged. "You'd have to ask her." She sipped her tea. These people just didn't make it sweet enough up here.

The whole process with Gemma and the baby was fascinating. Noel had to break eye contact once or twice to help the little blonde with her drink. Inhaling her chicken lead inevitably to coughing and sputtering at least twice.

Noel made it at least half way through her sandwich before noticing that Gemma's was getting cold since she was caring for the baby. That was entirely not fair.

"Here. I'll take him. Why don't you eat something?" The agent offered her hands across for the baby. She didn't have like kids, she just had to bear them for a little while. And besides, Gemma was very interested in them. That made them important for her potential recruitment.

"We'll test the little guy but where they go really isn't up to me. If he's clean, he may go into the state system. If not he'll join his sister."

"STEP sister" She corrected between bites.

"Right. I think uhm..." Knowing her name would have been convenient here... "I think she'll end up at that school for the gifted. Most do since they have live-in dormitories and seem to keep kids out of trouble more than in." Or maybe it was that they taught them how to cover it up better. Either way Xaver's school made her life a whoooooole lot easier.

>>"You'd have to ask her."

Gemma arched an eyebrow. She had been carrying these kids around for God knows how long, and she didn't know their name? Well, the boy was one thing, but the little girl, she could actually talk.

"My name is Gemma" she said to the little girl "What's your name?"

"Here. I'll take him. Why don't you eat something?"

"Thank you" Gemma nodded, and handed the baby over after a mment of hesitation. She was fine holding and feeding him; but she really wanted to make sure Noel could do the same. She won't be around all the time, and Noel was the one responsible for the kids.

>>"We'll test the little guy but where they go really isn't up to me. If he's clean, he may go into the state system. If not he'll join his sister... I think she'll end up at that school for the gifted. Most do since they have live-in dormitories and seem to keep kids out of trouble more than in."

"We try" Gemma smirked, as she finally got to eat her lunch "I'm the guidance counselor there. But we don't have many kids who are this young. It's not the same as sending a teenager to a boarding school."

And Sam would have kittens.

> "My name is Gemma. What's your name?"

"Marf-hnala." Came her chicken nugget spraying reply. A little chug of milk washed the last of it down before she actually succeeded in sharing her name. "Angela." Another chicken nugget went whole past her ruby lips.

"And your brother?"

"Mefbrover!" That would be Angela insisting he was only a step-brother. This time the inside of her elbow wiped her lips clean. "His name is Andrew." She talked around what was left of a nugget. Gross.

Noel accepted Andrew and the food for him. It felt... odd. This thing was a person. He was fragile and needy. He wanted that food. And when she didn't get it to him fast enough he started shrieking as loud as he could and as fast as he could draw breath.

Noel's first instinct. Drop it and run.

Two things made this course of action improbable, 1) she was sitting 2) she was holding the source of the ruckus. So she did the next thing that came to mind... she put her finger in his mouth.

Maybe it was a little leftover ketchup or that the shape of her finger was close to the tip of a bottle... whatever it was, it worked. Noel went from entirely panic stricken down to a more moderate level of nervousness.

Gemma filled the momentary silence with a reply about her job at the Mansion. Noel juggled the food one-handed until she could get the baby what he really wanted.

"That's kind of perfect actually. Why don't you come with me? Once we get the paperwork squared away they'll likely be in your hands anyway." Plus it would give Gemma an opportunity to see how they worked and how she could help by just being herself.

"Man, I feel like he's a ticking time bomb." She tucked the blanket in closer to the baby's chin as he finished off the juice. If a baby wasn't wanting something on one end it was... oh no.

She looked at Gemma wide eyed when Noel felt it hit the diaper.

>>"That's kind of perfect actually. Why don't you come with me? Once we get the paperwork squared away they'll likely be in your hands anyway."

Gemma blinked at Noel; she didn't look like she was joking. Seriously? She just told her they didn't have small children like that. The Mansion was definitely not equipped for babies, not to mention toddler-proof.
There was probably not a place in the world less toddler-proof than the Mansion. It had death traps, for goodness' sake.
Was said toddler even a mutant?

"That's... we'd have to talk to the people who run the Mansion" she said "I'm not sure we are equipped to take in babies."
She was not even sure about the girl called Angela.

>>"Man, I feel like he's a ticking time bomb."

"All babies are" Gemma chuckled, looking at little Andrew. He was really adorable when he was focusing on the important things in life like that. It was almost as hilarious as Noel's face when she realized what was happening.

"Calm down." she grinned "I know you're probably not trained for this, but it's not as dangerous as it looks." she sighed "I don't suppose you have any clean diapers, do you."

"I want more nuggets. Pwease." Angela chimed in.

"Later, sweetie" Gemma said "You're going to get sick if you eat like that. Wait a little bit, and then you'll get some more."

"I want some now!" she declared, glaring at her. Gemma glared back. She won.

Not equipped to take in babies? But they took in Kindergarteners. Noel knew that much. How many years was it from babyhood to Kindergarten? Surely not too many. "Well if he's human he's going into foster care anyway." Noel had mostly wanted Gemma to help with the voice command girl and to convince her that her unique abilities were needed by the good ol' US of A government.

By the color that Noel's face turned, no. She did not have a fresh diaper for Andrew. "Uh-It can be dangerous?" Surely that was a joke. Noel couldn't tell through normal means though so she had to ask. "Y-you're kidding, right?" Because maybe then she needed Gemma to accompany her to help with the baby more.

Andrew gurgled up at her, happy as could be despite his diaper situation and Angela's insistance on more nuggets.

"They used to use cloth diapers didn't they?" There wasn't a stitch of cloth that wasn't covering a person in here, but across the street Noel spied a really ritzy restaurant. They would shudder at the thought of one of their cloth napkins being used in the way Noel was imagining, but she never did care much what people thought.

"Here." She all but tossed Andrew back to Gemma before she bolted out of the restaurant.

Whatever she told them worked and it wasn't too much longer before cars were honking at the Federal agent as she jogged across the street.

"I got two." She puffed and waved two large and silky maroon squares at the Adapted.