As gated communities go, this is a well-established one, landscaping flourishing, as well as at least a vestige of neighborly feeling. Beyond the gate itself trees and bushes are lush, and there's a jogger or two, on the long, long sidewalks along the huge property parcels belonging to each house. It looks rather idyllic, in fact, the guard at the gate and his German shepard as relaxed and friendly. For the moment.

"Cleaning service for the Ashlock residence," Remy announces from where he's riding shotgun. His hair is back in a neat queue to go with the neat coveralls he's stolen, and an embroidered name badge proclaims him to be Bryan. Accent muted to something vaguely from anywhere, he's gone for the look of a college kid paying his way through rather than some questionably-visa'd migrant worker. "We're emergency cover for their regulars... do you buzz us up, or what?" A look of mild bemusement touches his features: he knows his job, but the nuances of gated communities are obviously new.

Into this idyllic setting, a van with the logo of a cleaning service used by several of the homes putters quietly up to the gate, logo neat and tidy and commercially blazoned across the sides and the hood of it. "Cleaning service for the Ashlock residence," Remy announces from where he's riding shotgun as a window rolls down. His hair is back in a neat queue to go with the neat coveralls he's stolen, and an embroidered name badge proclaims him to be Bryan. Accent muted to something vaguely from anywhere, he's gone for the look of a college kid paying his way through rather than some questionably-visa'd migrant worker. "We're emergency cover for their regulars... do you buzz us up, or what?" A look of mild bemusement touches his features: he knows his job, but the nuances of gated communities are obviously new.

Luke grins in his seat behind Remy, garbed in his overalls - though he added shades for the hell of it as well. He leans against the window, looking out over the estate with seemingly idle curiosity. The name of in his uniform says 'Steve', and he has brushed back his hair and shaved his beard - the sacrifices one makes for the mission and all that. At least it doesn't itch. Now we just wait for the gate to open...

Kitty has sprawled out in one of the back seats, looking exhausted like any professional cleaner after hours of work with more to go. Her own coveralls are those of a Missy, whoever that is, but they at least fit well and her hair is up in a messy bun. She adds nothing to Remy's conversation except a flash of a smile towards the guard. She /is/ the quintessential college girl, so it's not much of a stretch for her to adopt the same role. She picks up her drink from earlier, sipping at it.

The dog lifts its head from its paws, ears pricked in canine curiousity at the human voice coming through the van's window. Large, liquid puppy eyes stare at Remy for a moment...and then the dog sneezes and tucks its head back atop its paws, tongue lolling out in a doggy grin.

As the driver, Kaci has her hair tucked neatly up into her uniform's cap. Today, she's also wearing some magnetic-clip earrings and has altered her face a slightly, adding some more maturing blemishes and makeup. While the girl still looks young, today she could pass for a college student. As Remy talks, she smiles absently and patiently keeps the vehicle stopped.

The guard doesn't even check his list--the cleaners are regulars, and he doesn't care about one set of them or another. The gate opens, and he gives them a bored wave on through. Following the address for the Ashlocks takes them up and around curved streets. The house itself is rather stately, set back at the end of a drive that curves back around, siding left to look like natural, weathered wood rather than painted. It is also huge, the three-car garage looking barely big enough.

Jess sits next to Luke, similarly dressed in boots and work coveralls. Her's bear the name of Laura. She grins back to the other man and mutters softly, "Open, /sesame/." Her hair is in its usual loose braid, a piece falling before her eyes as she peers past the seat to the gate. She too, could pass for the college student - after all, she was one that never was.

"Well, this is going to be fun," Kitty says dryly, sitting up to peer at the house. "That's.. hours of work, even split up." She frowns with a glance towards Remy as they pull up, waiting for a signal.

Kaci drives on up to the house, turning to back into the driveway near the door. She stops, put the vehicle in park, and turns off the ignition, though does not remove the key. "Party time, folks," she says while adjusting her mirrors for a better view while parked.

Luke smirks at Jess in response to the 'open sesame' and turns to watch the gate open up to let them into the estate. He peers over his sunglasses and clucks his tongue at the dog by the gate. "You can say that again," he murmurs over his shoulder to Kitty/Missy and sits back down.

There's a moment's visible unease as Remy attracts the guard dog's attention, no matter how benign. His eyes have gone wide, glimpseable in the rear view mirror, before he forces himself to give the dog a grin and a "Ooozagoodboyden?" as they're waved on through. "Thanks, man," is called back to the guard, before the window goes up and they move along. "Places like this, I bet y'get a service entrance," he directs to Kaci as she parks, before giving the rest of the team a crooked smile. "Let's make a show of cleaning for at least a solid half hour, then start making your way towards the office. Don't get too hung up on it, though -- look for other places you'd think to have a safe. Kaci, you keep your eye on the radio. If anyone asks, you're a rookie, you're tired, and we were nice enough to let you rest in the van, this last stop."

There are a couple of side doors, but one has a very well-worn, graveled over path to it, along with several pairs of muddy boots beside it. Inside, the kitchen is visible, all gleaning brushed steel on the appliances. The door, used often and on a house already behind security, is not locked.

"Yeah, a party," Kitty mutters under her breath, opening the door and slipping out before the others can. She stretches out for a moment before reaching into the back of the van for her cleaning supplies. "I'll start from the west side. See you later, boss." She gives a small salute to Remy, heading towards the kitchen door slow enough that he can call her back if he has any instructions.

When the passenger seat is vacated, Kaci moves into that seat and props her feet on the driver's seat. Her intent is to look lazy, rather than ready to drive off at a moment's notice. With the mirrors adjusted, she now has a good view of the area around the van, even while reclining relaxingly. "Will do, Remy." Kaci double-checks her bio-electric 'hearing aid' before slipping it into her left ear. "Can you hear me?"

"Hope there's a good hourly rate for this," Luke comments jokingly as the van pulls up. "Guess I'll take east?" He jumps out the van door. "No scrubbing toilets please," he murmurs to himself as he reaches into the van again to get his cleaning equipment and then follow Kitty toward the building.

"Mmmhm," comes hummed confirmation back to Kaci, as Remy rattles about in the back of the van, removing a vaccuum cleaner to trundle along with him in the wake of Kitty and Luke. "Laura," he murmurs to Jess, lip movements as minimal as possible. "If you feel like droppin' out of sight once we're in..." But up he comes on the well-worn door, and, after a hesitant glance between his coworkers as befits the cover, he raises a hand and knocks. "Hello? Cleaners."

Jess follows the others out, pushing her hair behind and ear as she also collects supplies. "I'll wash the floors I guess," she replies softly, casually eying the house. She then meets Remy's gaze and gives a minute nod, letting him know she'll do just that. She then follows him up to the house.

"Come in!" The rather harassed looking dusky-skinned young woman who opens the door doesn't even look at them, just their uniforms. "New ones. Again." She points on through the kitchen, then goes back to where she's cutting up pieces of apple. A little tousle-headed six-year-old is seated at the table, munching on a piece already. She gives everyone an open-and-close fingered wave.

Kaci settles back and pulls the bill of her cap down slightly and folds her arms over her chest. Keeping her eyes peeled for activity, the girl murmurs enough for her communicator to pick it up. "This brings back memories. Though, usually I had a book."

"They don't have the kitchen marked on here," Kitty states, a questioning lilt to the end of her sentence. "They always forget to mark it though, if the kitchen staff doesn't clean it themselves. They usually clean in here?" She sweeps her eyes over the kitchen, moving aside so the others can go past her while she talks to the woman. "What a cute girl," she comments in small talk.

Jess enters and gives a crooked smile and a small wave back to the kid, casually moving deeper into the house as if debating where to start her cleaning. Once she is out of sight of the woman and the child, she swiftly activates her powers and silently disappears from view, her equipment left against a wall.

"Sorry, ma'am," says Remy with a boyishly disarming smile, as if he can somehow be responsible for the vagaries of management. "We got called last minute... are there any areas we should focus on, or maybe pass over?" The vacuum trundles along, Remy taking a moment's care to be sure to lift it over the threshhold rather than scuff it. (Tante Mattie's training is apparently bone deep.)

"I'm Cindy!" the girl pipes up. Her nanny puts the last of the apple down in front of her. "No. Not the kitchen. Or the study or Mrs. Ashlock's office because she's working." Remy's politeness at least wrings a weary smile out of her.

Luke flashes a grin at the little girl on his way in and casts a look around the kitchen. He hefts the backpack-like vaccuum-cleaning onto his back and sighs. "I feel like a Ghostbuster for some reason, wearing this," he murmurs mostly to himself, but loud enough the communicators pick it up. "Living room," he states more loudly and then pauses. "Which way?" Please, no toilets.

"Got it. You been getting a lot of new faces coming through?" Remy wonders, as the vacuum rattles over the kitchen floor. Cindy is given a flash of a grin as he pauses briefly to wait on an answer, and to re-balance his bucket of cleaning supplies. "And I'm Bryan. You like apples, Cindy?"

"I don't want to bug you, but this house is huge. I wouldn't know where the study or office is, or why anyone would /need/ a study and an office." Kitty shrugs and gives the nanny the type of smile those working for the rich are used to, patient and just a bit incredulous. "Can you describe where they are, so we don't walk into them, please? Then I'll get out of your hair." She pauses with an impatient look at Remy, "Sorry to interrupt your social time, Bryan."

"Yep!" Crunch, crunch, goes Cindy. The nanny looks decidedly bugged. "The study door is locked," she snaps. "Mrs. Ashlock is down the hall on the left, three doors. You'll hear the music." She stands and glares at them until they'll all gone.

Jess wanders around, peering up a flight of stair as she whispers into her mic. "Anywhere in particular you want me to start lookin' boss?" she whispers to Remy.

"You make it sound like a dirty word, Missy," Remy sighs, before he drops his head, and trundles onwards towards the living room, trailing off into a mutter that sounds like it's to Kitty's address by the tone, but the content paints it as Jess's. "Take a look and a listen into the no-go room if you can."

Let's just skip over the actual cleaning and searching part, shall we? Assuming, of course, that anyone is going to stoop to actual cover-providing clearning. Inside, the house is impeccably decorated, albeit with toys here and there. In the east wing, on the ground floor is the locked door as described. In the west, there are increasing scattered Barbies and other toys, in something of a trail to a child's room on the upper floor. Music is coming from three doors down, too, occasional computer keystrokes also audible.

Kaci watches a landscaper trimming shrubs in the distance across the yard, then continues to let her eyes roam. With nobody else around, she still maintains a relaxed demeanor. "How's the work in the magic castle going?"

Jess nods her invisible head. "No worries," she replies softly. She then heads to the east wing.

"No 'fee fie fo fum' yet," Luke whispers into his communicator as he walks along a hall in the east wing. He'd been hoping to find a safe of some kind hiding in plain sight in one of the more public rooms... nothing so far. He pauses to look at a picture on the wall, making a show of vaccuuming the floor.

Kitty has already positioned herself in a room next to the study, having given up on the cleaning not a second after the thirty minute mark. She sits on a couch in the media room, reclining in such a way as any lazy college girl taking her break. Signal, she waits for it.

Remy has claimed the bedrooms for himself, and keep the jokes. He's even done some legitimate cleaning to go with his snooping, somewhat easier in the parental room without its minefield of barbie dolls. The vacuum whirs and wooshes and stops in various intervals, where the pauses signify a little rapping and tapping to look for hidden things. "Report in, Lucy," he murmurs across the comm to Jess. "Just waitin' on that intel."

Jess finds the locked door easily enough, as she wanders the halls and tries turning the handles of whatever doors she comes upon. She strains her ears but hears only the music playing, and her own steady breathing. Upon coming to the study she kneels before the knob and examines it, ever so silently trying to see if it was indeed locked. And of course it was. She then presses her ear to the door, trying to listen.

Cindy appears to have escaped her caretaker, and like a little homing pidgeon, she has sought out the cleaners. Kitty is a stationary target, so she gets the little head peeking around the door at her. "You're not working," she says. Helpful!

"I'm taking a break," Kitty says with a friendly smile. "Do you take breaks when you work?" She peers at the girl seriously, hanging on the fine balance of treating her as both a kid and as a grownup.

There is little to hear through the locked door save for the low hum of electronics. A panel set into the wall beside it gleams sedately, well above the reach of a small child and bearing numerical keys that suggest locking mechanisms more electronic than analogue.

"I used to have to all the time, because I was really really sick. Have you ever had cancer?" Cindy comes to push herself up on her elbows on the arm of a chair so her feet lift off the ground.

Luke lowers his vaccuum-cleaner and takes out a duster to do the pictures in the hallway, moving along away from the living room. In movies there's always a safe behind some picture somewhere. Pity this isn't a movie. He glances down the hallway in the direction of the locked door, as if assessing how much cleaning he still has to do.

"No, nothing as bad as that," Kitty says, sympathy smothered from the prying eyes of the girl so she doesn't offend the delicate mood the young normally have. "Are you all better now, and you don't take breaks anymore?" she asks the question as she holds out her hands to the girl, familiar in to anyone who's played extensive amounts of Patty Cake.

Clean, clean, snoop, snoop. Mrs. Ashlock's closet or jewelry case might provide a sop to prurient interest, but Remy's more interested in rapping and tapping at the walls in search of false panels. A smaller vacuum sounds this time, as he does a little detail work along the kick moulding and hums to himself. It transmits very faintly across the comm.

"Daddy took me to the fountain." Just another piece of childish babble, one might think. At that age, she could be refering to the water park for all the adult listener knows. Cindy bounces back down to her feet and runs over for Patty Cake.

The walls, alas, seem stubbornly determined to return back the sound of wall to Remy's tapping. And, here and there, of stud or pipe.

Kitty recognizes the phrase, though. There's no outward sign of it as she initiates the game, talking while playing in the way of the truely practiced. "So, the fountain cured you, like in the stories?" she grins, with a shift of her eyes before she continues. "I believe in the fairy tales, too. People think I'm silly for it."

Bother. Silly owners, knowing that everyone always checks the bedroom! Remy takes a pass along and under the mattress and a peek into light fixtures before he pronounces the room cleaned. Somewhere along the way, someone's taught him how to do hospital corners on a bed. On he trundles, angling for the office with stops along the way at adjacent rooms.

"Uh-huh!" Cindy is delighted to be understood. "I went to sleep and then I woke up and I was all better!" She wrinkles her nose. "My dreams were all weird."

"They always are, when it's real," Kitty says with a solemn nod. She leans closer to the girl, whispering confidentially. "Do you trust me enough to tell me about them? I want to know what it's like." She pauses in the Patty Cake to wrinkle her nose back at Cindy playfully.

Like many small children, Cindy is not that great at whispering. It is rather stentorian. "It tickled, in my head. And then I was all floating and I couldn't feel anything and it was scary and then it felt all different because I wasn't sick anymore but everything was really slow. Like when I moved. I guess 'cause I was tired from getting better, huh? But it got better pretty quick."

There's the hallway done. Nothing but everything you'd expect in a normal rich-person's hallway. Luke stands back, taking a breather. Where else could he check? There a library here? "Nothing so far," he says into the comm. "Awaiting further instructions." My, doesn't that sound professional? He glances down the hall again toward the door, keeping his distance for the time being.

"Did you see anyone, when you were floating?" Kitty asks while resuming the casual game of their hands. "I've heard some people do. They see the guardian of the fountain, the person who made them all better." All of the fairy tales of her childhood and those of Illyana smooth into her story, not having any hesitation in her discussion with the child.

There is a library. It contains books, in a rather eclectic assortment. There are several pulled off the shelves to sit on a broad, worn wooden desk, in a scatter of subjects suggesting research to a broad purpose rather than along a single topic thread. Down the hall, the keypad by the office door continues to gleam away.

Remy arrives on the heels of this tale, paddng down the hallway on little cat feet. "Now who's socializing?" he wonders, but with a smile, and a "Hullo, Cindy," before he and his cleaning supplies duck into the unlocked room nearest to the locked office, humming to himself and covering his murmurs in the form of potential song lyrics. "Clean some more until the youngster's moved on... check other rooms for anything interesting."

Cindy leans eeeeeven closer. "The doctor, he had a mean face, but his helper, he was really really nice. He held my hand the /whole/ time. So I didn't float away."

Kaci remains in an alert and watchful state in the van, even while by appearances she could be asleep. "This sounds interesting," Kaci remarks to the one-half conversation she hears from Kitty. "By the way," she adds softly, "I remember the cleaners taking up to a couple hours on my house, but then there were three kids."

There is a sharp rap on the glass of the rear passenger window of the van. The young man standing there looks inquisitive. And also shirtless, skin lightly tanned from what the shears in one hand suggest might be a habit of yardwork. He peers at Kaci, and mimes rolling down a window.

Very well. Luke looks the other way down the hall and starts off into the library. A Readaholic's dream... for an eccentric Readaholic. He removes the vacuum cleaner and leaves it by the entrance and whips out the feather duster again as though it were a sword. En garde! He starts moving along the shelves prodding for any 'fake' books that might indicate something hidden... Maybe even check the desk in a bit. Better hurry up.

In favor of getting more information, Kitty just waves a hand to Remy as he passes. It causes her to falter in the Patty Cake, but she picks it back up quickly. "You're very good at this. You are probably good at a lot, huh?" She tilts her head curiously, frowning. "Who was the mean doctor? Did you hear his name? He sounds like the villian, and not the guardian. The assistant must have been the guardian."

Kaci jumps in startlement, even though she saw him approaching. From the passenger seat, she rolls down the window and leans out to look his way. "Hello," she says with a sleepy yawn, "What can I do for you?" Kaci's com unit is set to auto-pickup her voice -- she's still paranoid about messing with it, thinking that like all other electronics she'll break it accidentally. The girl makes a point in looking over the young man's bare chest, and gives him a bashful smile.

Clean, clean, snoop, snoop... As Kitty's voice continues to drift from down the hall, the shiny lock on the office door grows more tempting. Remy ambles for the hallway again, eyes flicking about to check for angles of sight and approach from just in front of the office door, as he crouches and stands to try and polish the crown and base moulding. Whooooo can seeee?

"But he tells the guardian what to do!" Cindy frowns, having already accepted Kitty's labels. "He's really mean. Do this, do that. He got angry when I cried." She sniffs a little now, in memory. "But I held Joey's hand it was okay 'cause it tickled and tickling is funny, huh?"

The books remain almost depressingly booklike, though close attention might reveal one or two here and there that have scraps of notebook paper folded in to note and remark upon something of particular interest to the reader.

Jess again peers at the knob, hearing nothing from the other side of the door, and spots a keyhole. Mentally shrugging, she leans down and peers inside, attempting to get a view of insode the room.

The young man grins at Kaci in return, though there is nothing remotely bashful about it - the expression is open and friendly, with just a touch of youthful ego. He taps the side of the van, just above the company logo, and wonders, "You supposed to be napping out here?"

"Tickling is very funny. I'm used to tingling," Kitty admits to Cindy, passing along the information in exchange for hers and very carefully looking around once again. Oh, boy, would people not approve of what she does next. "The guardian is not the only part of the story, of course. There's the godmother. Tingling is appropriate for a godmother, isn't it?" She stills the younger girls hands in her own, then phases out for a moment. "You see why I need to know who the villian is, right?"

There is nothing really visible through the keyhole on the office door - it is a relic of an analogue lock no longer in use, there for aesthetic rather than utility. The low electronic hum from inside the office continues unabated. The gleam of the keypad beside the door does likewise.

Books, books books... oh and more books. At least the place is kept clean regularly. Luke casually pulls out a few tomes and puts them back, but pauses with a couple that are marked with notepaper. Trying to be quick and shielding the motion with his body, he opens each one up to their marked pages, glancing over the scraps of notepaper as well. This looks interesting.

Cindy stares at Kitty with wide, wide eyes, actually stunned speechless for a moment or two. "But the mean doctor isn't /bad/. He made me better!"

Kaci adjusts her cap a little and smiles back at the young man. Yawning again, she replies sheepishly, "Not really, but I'm the new girl and they had me doing all the hard stuff this morning. Boss took pity on me and said I could sit this one out, since I hadn't complained." The girl grins widely at the young man, "Taking a break yourself?"

Jess sees nothing in the keyhole, her brow furrowing in disappontment. "No noises in the study, can't see inside," she radios over her mic. "What do you want me to do?" she wonders softly.

What Remy doesn't know can't hurt him, right? He checks line of sight again, before moving up into the vage vicinity of unseen Jess and murmuring into the comm that "Shadowcat's occupied. If you watch for anyone coming, Chameleon, I'm going to see about that keypad." Nestled amongst his cleaning supplies there are more than just solvents: one hand dips in and comes up with a small kit of things electronic. Latex work gloves, thin but fingerprint-preventing, are slipped onto his hands.

Architecture of Venetian manors, cultural studies of Renaissance Italy, naval customs from three centuries ago - the notes certainly are interesting, and the weathering of the paper suggest some of them have been in their respective books for quite a while.

"No worries," comes Jess's seemingly bodiless voice from several feet to Remy's right. She then moves towards the end of the hall, keeping the Cajun in sight as she watches for anyone who might interrupt their snooping. "Go for it."

"He did, but he's made others worse," Kitty replies seriously, brushing back a lock of Cindy's hair. "You don't want to let people get hurt, do you? Godmothers can't do everything on their own. They need their godchild's help to be their eyes and ears." She tilts her chin down at Cindy, waiting patiently for her answer.

The keypad gleams at Remy, patiently awaiting input. Perhaps it suspects him of something.

"Nah," the young man replies to Kaci. "Just coming over to make sure you hadn't passed out and baked to death." He points up towards the gleam of the afternoon sun overhead. "Gets pretty hot around here sometimes."

Luke whistles to himself idly as the books are replaced and moves along the shelves, more swiftly pulling out tomes and dusting them. He starts at the highest and works his way down. He quickly comes to the last shelf.

"Watts, when you can spare a moment, get ready to move in on my mark," is murmured. Remy then, after artfully arranging his cleaning supplies to give himself a little more cover, sets about teasing the faceplate of the keypad away from the wall with the help of little screwdrivers with magnetic tips. Why actually punch numbers when you can just work to bypass things? The little kit of Very Illegal Things is opened and laid out on one leg.

"Daddy called him Doctor More-Oh and he laughed." Cindy grabs Kitty's hand and squeezes. "Be nice to Joey! You hafta. Promise."

"Cindy!" All of them in the vicinity of the study should hear the voice, the nanny calling from somewhere down the hall. "Come on. We were going to play your math games, remember?"

The keypad continues to gleam. It looks a little sad. Do you really want to disable it, Remy? Really? It's so cute and shiny.

"Of course. Joey is the guardian, and he's innocent," Kitty reassures, squeezing back gently. "Go back to your nanny now, Cindy. I'll be watching over you." She leans forward to kiss the girl on the cheek before slipping her hands away and standing up.

"Right, just about done here," Watts murmurs into his comlink and finally starts going over the desk, checking drawers and glancing at notes.

Jess tenses at the sound of the nanny, and she back up several steps towards Remy. "Remy..." she whispers.

Disable it? Or make it -better-? Remy freezes at the call from the nanny, and sets about carefully rescrewing just a little bit, before the kit and the screwdrivers are dropped back in his bucket beneath cleaning rags. He begins very industriously scrubbing at the baseboards until small children have gone zipping past.

There is a half-finished letter in the desk, written in the chatty, social language of old friends trying valiantly to keep in touch.

Cindy grabs Kitty in a tight embrace, and then zip she does. "Shannon, Shannon!" she calls, ignoring any other cleaners in her dash to reach her nanny. "I met my fairygodmother! She can turn into air!" A voice saying "Is that right, honey?" is fainter, and disappearing off into the house.

Kaci grins widely at the young man, "That would be why I had the driver's window open. Thank-you for the concern." She stretches again slowly, "I do like a good sunny day. You work here alot?"

Luke scans the letter briefly, and then moves back to the vacuum cleaner. "Library's clean," he snorts to himself and makes his way down the hall again. He does make a little show of dusting pictures on his way.

Kitty winces as the girl goes screaming that down the house, but walks into the room next to the office in her usual way. Her voice finally comes over the comm link with a, "What are you guys waiting for? Are we going to go into the office or what? Come in the room to the left of it."

"Turn into air...?" The question is quiet over the comm, and left open ended as Remy follows it up with a "Ready t'take us through the wall, Pryde?" and the trundle of cleaning supplies into the indicated room.

"Girls have active imaginations, Gambit. I have no idea why she'd have said that," Kitty replies, a grin spared for him as he enters.

The keypad pouts, in its keypaddish way. It is being abandoned. Woe.

Remy will send it flowers.

Jess silently slips into the room Kitty mentioned behind Remy, slowly becoming visible to 'recharge' her powers.

Kitty leans through the wall, looking around carefully despite the earlier chatter over the coms that it was clear. She squints carefully for any lasers or booby traps.

Luke glances down the hallway for any darker areas he could take advantage of if necessary, drawing closer but slowly to the locked door.

The young man rolls a shoulder in a shrug, and leans easily against the van's doorframe, apparently content to stay a while. You know, to make sure the cute cleaner girl doesn't spontaneously combust in the June sunlight. It's altruistic, really. "Pretty often. All over the neighbourhood really." There is a brief, toothy grin. "You know rich people - huge property, and no time to take care of it."

A tower and monitor sit on the modern brushed-chrome desk along one wall of the locked office, the gleam of the power buttons indicating that the machine is on, but hibernating. There is a safe set into the far wall, modern enough to bear a keypad rather than a physical combination lock. And booby traps...well, there are no razor wires, but a canny gaze might note the rounded bumps of motion detectors set up to criss-cross the room.

Kaci laughs and rolls her eyes, "What would they do without us? I bet if we all went home for a week, this place would.." She pauses long enough to glance around and make sure no Rich People are in ear-shot and finishes, "turn into the slums." Her eyes wander as she talks, keeping an eye out for any other activity. "What's your speciality?" She gestures at the shears, "Shrubs?"

"What d'you see, Shadowcat?" prompts a voice from the other side of the wall. Remy's got his hand on his electronic thiefin' tools again.

Luke remains further up the hall, visible for now, keeping an eye out while making a small show of dusting some ornaments and wall-hangings.

Kitty pulls back from the room with a muttered "Shit" after several minutes taking her time. Over the com, she snaps, "Can you get your chatter off our links, Lifeline?" She shuts off her own line of communication as she whispers to Remy out of reflex, "We have motion detectors, but I couldn't see where they were set up from. I can't bring you two in until they're shut off."

"What's yours?" the young man retaliates, though he flashes Kaci another grin to make it clear he's joking. "Mops? --I'm just doin' this to save up for college in the fall." He sets the shears down carefully on the gravel, and extends one callused, grass-stained hand towards Kaci. "I'm Adam."

"On it," says Remy, taking the bucket with him. "Watts, Chameleon, cover me again. Shadowcat, monitor f'changes." HELLO AGAIN, KEYPAD. Did you miss him?

The keypad did. It has been pining. One can see this in the way it hasn't changed at all since it was so cruelly abandoned. The tiny 'armed' light winks at Remy sassily.

Yep, sure thing. Luke nods a little as if to himself and looks down the hallway toward the kitchen again and then back to Remy. Dust, dust, dust. He will never clean again... at least never use a feather duster again. He resists the urge to sneeze - successfully.

Jess takes the other end of the hallway opposite Luke, becoming invisible once again as she passes through the doorway. Her gaze sweeps carefully for any sign of the inhabitants - or anyone else for that matter.

Kaci reaches up to rub her left ear as if it itches, and turns her com unit off. Don't break don't break don't.. "Brooms. You can swat away the ankle-biter dogs that way. Its almost a status symbol, really: Must own yap-dog and dress it in frilly clothes until its so frustrated, it bites at anything." She accepts the offered hand and gives it a shake, "Jenny." She holds the hand just long enough to read the man's body. "I was told not to talk to anyone," she admits softly, making her glancing around a little more obvious. "If boss catches me, I'll be doing toilets exclusively for the next month."

There's a sigh of impatience from Kitty as she flicks her comm unit back on. She takes a deep breath, phasing herself out and walking into the room. There's an attempt to track where the motion detectors point to, looking for a place she can stand to better observe the room without suffocating herself.

Oh, you little minx. Remy favours the keypad with a smile, and retrieves his tools from his bucket. He gets to work, motions nimble and deft and body language that of a man who's enjoying himself a great deal as old instincts and tips and tricks combine with new training. And, even cooler, new equipment. With the faceplate off again, his next move is to splice an electronic Something with a numeric LCD screen on it onto the wires. "Here's hopin' the passcode ain't that long..." he murmurs. "Keep me covered. Active redirection if anyone comes this way."

"I can do that," Luke replies quietly and moves a little further away to keep an eye on anyone who might approach the hall.

"Well, I'm pretty sure the Ashlocks don't have a yap-dog," Adam replies, though his slight grimace suggests a familiarity with the breed. "And Cindy's too old to bite ankles. --What harm is there in talking, if you're just lounging out here anyways?" He is obscenely healthy, though hints of fatigue toxins still ebb slowly away after several hours of work.

Further inside, Kitty might note the tiny blinking lights that indicate the motion detectors are active, set so that someone who is not a cheating cheater pants and has to use the door won't see them. They cover most of the room, though there are small pockets that provide blind spots, provided one is still and not terribly large. There's a rather decent-sized one behind the door, actually.

Kaci shrugs a little, "I think boss is worried that Someone might see only part of the team working and complain to dispatch." She smiles at the young man, "I like kids. Is Cindy the occupant of the 'don't step on toys in west wing' room?"

The keypad is affronted. Penetrating its casing without even buying it dinner first? The nerve! Alas, being inanimate, it does not have a chance to protest. Numbers scroll along the LCD display. Scroll, scroll, scroll.

Down the hallway, a door creaks open, and footsteps sound.

Kitty gets into the free space behind the door, making sure she's steady before making herself tangible again then taking a slow breath. She flicks her eyes around the room, not noticing those activation lights until she's less focused on finding a place to become steady. "Gambit, this is Shadowcat. I think I can see whether they're active or not." She goes about describing the lights to him before asking if those are what she's looking for. Better to confirm.

Jess hears the door creaking, as well as the footsteps. She turns to look down the hall to see who it is, her own footsteps slowly approaching. SHe holds off on a warning just yet.

Luke glances toward the opening door and moves to intercept, stopping just in front of it with the duster brandished before him a little comically as if to clean immediately around it. "Hang on," he calls out to whomever is on the other side. "Just cleaning here. Can you give me a minute?"

"Just don't trip them. Getting the door sequence now... -deal- with that," he orders in a whisper, as the footsteps sound. He opts to lean himself to screen the gutted panel, picking up a Swiffer duster from the bucket and frowning at it as if it's misbehaving. C'mon, c'mon... beep, damn you!

"I doubt it, if you don't get in the way. I mean, they're not paying any more because you're here, are they?" Adam shrugs in unconcern, though his gaze flicks towards the kitchen door, with its muddy boots. "Tell you what, I'll keep an eye out for anyone who might come out to tell on you. --And yeah, she is. She's a sweet kid."

A slim, brown-haired woman frowns bemusedly through the open door at Luke. "I'm sure you can wait until I've gone to get my coffee," she replies, waggling an empty cup at him in demonstration. She pauses a moment, brow furrowing slightly. "--The floor's not wet out there, is it?" The voice is just loud enough to be heard down at the end of the hall with the office.

The numbers continue to scroll. Defiantly. Inside the office, the activation lights continue to blink away.

"Shitshitshit," Kitty growls to herself. There's a moment before she hisses over the comlinks. "Is there anything I can do, Gambit? Want me to pull you in here with me?" She closes her eyes in frustration, waiting with held breath and feverent praying that they won't get caught.

Jess hears the woman's voice and nods at Luke as she becomes visible, waving at him as if to tell him to keep going along with it. "Yes it is ma'am," she calls from her spot. "I apologize. Just give me a few more minutes."

Oh boy. A quick glance down and back through the hallway and Luke nods. "Uh, yeah it is. It's bad enough with our feet all over it right now - and as much as I could sweep you off your feet - you may not want to risk slipping and injuring yourself. Not in heels are you?" He flashes a grin at the brown-haired woman. "Besides we'll have to clean it again if you walk on it."

Kaci grins at the young man, "Alright. She is? That's great. Some of these kids get used to the authority their parents have over others and can really make our job a pain."

Remy stays frozen in his lean, eyes darting but leaving the dealing with things to the two agents he's told to deal with them. There's a look about him that suggests that, while he's not a praying man, he's weighing the option of it versus the chances that any lawful deity would opt to do the opposite of whatever he asked. Come on, device!

The woman sighs in exasperation, then waves a hand to indicate that Luke should go back to whatever it is he's doing. "Just knock on the door when the hall's safe for habitation again, then," she says, and turns back towards the gleaming computer screen on the desk across the room, pulling the door shut behind her.

Scroll, scroll, scroll, scroll - beep beep.

Jess shakes her head at Luke, swallowing hard as she sags slightly. Close call.

Adam give Kaci an odd look. "You haven't worked for these people much before, have you, Jenny? I mean, they're not exactly inviting us all in for a party, but they're not Ebeneezer Scrooge, either." Defensive? Well, maybe just a little.

So much for sweeping her off her feet. Luke isn't too upset about that. Day saved! He glances down toward Remy and Jess again and gives the 'thumbs-up'. He remains where he is in case his anti-charms are needed again to keep the woman away. Or anyone else.

"Bon Dieu..." Remy breathes, apparently considering praises safe where prayers aren't. He turns carefully to collect the device and make a note of the keypad numbers with a careful blink to commit them to memory before he sets about unclipping it, screwing the faceplate back to the wall, and at long last greeting the keypad with a tender and loving caress. Beep beep beep, etc. He pauses, waiting to see if the Device has worked as it's meant.

Kaci raises an appeasing hand to Adam, "Hey, I'm not talking about this family. Its my first time to this house. I'm just speaking from past experience. So you like the family? Tell me a little about them?"

Kitty goes about examining the motion detectors again, describing what she sees to Remy before she offers to pull them in.

Though, come to think of it, she probably won't have to pull them in. That's what the keypad is for.

The keypad, perhaps still offended by Remy's hasty courtship, seems to consider for several seconds before uttering a low, cheery chirrup. The 'armed' light blinks off. The small, blinking indicators on the motion detectors inside the office blink off as well.

"Good girl," says Remy to the keypad, because clearly all exciting and dangerous frustrations in the world are female. He opens the door, hands still gloved, and hastily beckons the others in with hand gestures as he brings his buckets from the hall in with him. "Shadowcat, got your toy?" he wonders, hovering by the door to close it in the wake of the last person in.

Kitty has plenty of toys, but luckily only one on her that Remy could be referring to. The external drive is flipped out of her pocket as she crosses to the computer. Good thing she read the instructions, as it makes the whole process a lot faster than trying to puzzle it out.

Jess darts inside the study, glancing about the room as she does so. She then lets her only her eyes become visible so the others know she is indeed there and looks on in anticipation, awaiting the next step in their mission.

"They're nice," Adam replies. "I don't know them very well - I'm not a friend of the family or anything, but they've alway been polite. And Cindy's a total sweetheart." He straightens away from the van, wincing a little as he spots something across the yard. "Look, I've got to go. Just flag me down if you need anything - we've got some lemonade and stuff in our truck."

The computer sits waiting on the brushed chrome desk, at a diagonal to the safe with its blinking keypad, recessed into the door so that /it/, at least, cannot be pried loose. Protection for the savvy electronic lock.

Kaci smiles warmly at Adam, "Thanks, I will. Don't work too hard." She settles back in her chair to resume her nap, although she makes certain to look at what Adam spotted.

Another of the gardeners meets Adam as he crosses the yard, and the two turn to go around the other side of the house, talking together in voices too low to carry back to Kaci where she sits in the van.

"Think you can handle that lock, Gambit?" Kitty asks, all joking that would normally be there gone by the tension of the situation. She plugs the little toy into the computer, going about with the instructions to run the programs on the drive that should transfer files from the computer to it.

Ooooh, playing hard to get, are we? Remy eyes the safe with mild disfavour and notes that "We might need you there if we have time," to Kitty. "I ain't gettin' that without leavin' a sign we were here..." He gives a tip of his head to Jess and another towards the desk, suggesting that a rifle through papers is in order as he steps closer to the safe, looking for signs of a wall conduit of the power for the lock that might be tapped.

Jess immediately moves to the desk and begins searching through the papers, looking for anything interesting, out of the ordinary....

Kitty peers at the safe as she allows her programs to run, looking thoughtful. She hesitates, shaking her head. There's another moment before she finally talks, mind landing on the only option. "I don't know what's in it, or where it'd be located inside the safe. I can just phase it out. The keypad is electronic, I think, so I could scramble it." She pauses with a significant look towards Remy and a shrug that's meant to convey she has no idea what that would do.

Now that she's alone, Kaci reaches up to touch her communicator. "Sorry," she says softly, "I hate to mess with this thing. I keep thinking I'll break it. Anyway, the gardeners are heading around to the back side of the house." Just in case their window is on that side.

There are no suspicious bumps along the wall that would suggest a conduit easy to reach by normal means. The safe gleams smugly at Remy. Not going to get in /there/ quite so easy, hot stuff.

The papers on the desk are normal account records, correspondence, phone bills, a memo pad that is blank but bears indentations from things scrawled on earlier sheets - in short, banal office paperwork.

The monitor flickers to life, password prompt blinking sleepily above a desktop that is an electronic copy of some bit of abstract art.

Seeing nothing worth anything more than a brief cursory glance, Jess begins to open the drawers of the desk, continuing her search for anything.

Remy stares at the safe, which naturally must stare also into him. "Well, y'usually get three tries before a flag goes up..." he reflects. The code from the door is punched in, just to see what happens. "This does nothin', go ahead an' short it. Make it the last thing we do before pullin' out, just in case."

The safe laughs at Remy's attempt. Those sweet nothings are no use here!

The papers in the desk remain relatively banal - if there is a clue here, it is buried deep.

"Look for a name of 'More-oh' or maybe a Joey or Joseph," Kitty tosses out casually, parroting back the pronunciation of Cindy. She goes about her computer-y stuff, doing it like a computer-y person. Programs are run, information is got. Can you tell I have no idea what I'm doing? It works (hopefully) and she pulls out the external hard drive. If it doesn't work, there shall be follow up.

Jess shoots a glance at Remy as she finishes looking in the last desk drawers, shuffling the papers back into place as she shuts it. "Ain't nothing in here out of the ordinary," she reports softly.

The computer does not seem to catch fire. For a certain value of 'works', it certainly seems to have.

"Shit..." says Remy, bouncing on his heels as he stares down the safe. "Damn. If y'ain't found anything by now, Chameleon, we ain't likely to. Do it," he nods to Kitty. "And everyone get ready to get the heck out of here an' disperse back to cleanin' to wrap up an' get out o' here."

"Gotcha," Kaci says over the com as she re-adjusts the mirrors and moves into the driver's seat. Never hurts to be prepared.

"Here goes nothing," Kitty mutters to herself, under her breath. Very confidence inspiring. She steps up to the safe at Remy's nod, phasing out and reaching a hand through the keypad. She even wiggles her fingers for good measure.

The keypad "bzzrrts" unhappily as it dies. Somewhere else in the household, perhaps one of its siblings weeps for it. There is a low "clunk" as the locking mechanism disengages.

Higher up along the wall, something blinks.

Remy doesn't even need the higher up blinking to leave him edgy. "Bag the contents, let's go. Out through the wall, I re-arm from the hallway." He is, perhaps, twitching a little.

Jess reaches into the safe once it's open and collects its contents - a small black box. Not having the faintest idea what it is, she moves to the supplies cart and puts it in the empty bucket, covering it with several rags, her brows furrowed as she idly wonders what it is. "Let's blow this joint."

"No shit." says Remy. Kitty is directed to do that phasing thing she does so well, and the team disperse back out to the hallway to go look like cleaning people. The box is given a place hidden amongst the supplies on the cleaning trolley. "Casual," is his last directive.

Kaci props her feet on the dash, to relax again as she waits.

The light on the keypad beside the office door is now blinking red. As they slip out into the hall, there are hurried footsteps from the room in which the woman Luke had earlier intercepted has been working. The door to that office creaks open.

Remy, pushing the trolly, has pasted a look of puzzlement on his features as he pushes the cart out into the hall and cants his head at the hurried steps. "You folks have a power surge?" he calls ahead. "The steam sanitizer I was using on you drapes just cut out..." He doesn't stop moving, just trundles on at a steady face.

Jess steps before the door, a mop grabbed from the supplies cart in her hand as she becomes visible. "Ma'am, the floor's dry now," she says softly, her accent gone. "We're just moving our stuff of the way."

The brown-haired woman emerges from the office to step in the path of the trundling Remy, expression set in a severe frown. "What were you doing down there?" she asks sharply. She eyes both Remy and Jess suspiciously, looking unconvinced by either's excuses.

Jess shrugs causally, her tone calm. "Cleaning. That's our job," she replies, without sarcasm.

"Just cleaning the drapes, ma'am," Remy answers in puzzlement, holding up the steam sanitizer in question like some holy relic. "It's guaranteed not to harm the fabric, and I know it wasn't on the list, but I heard your little girl telling my coworker how she'd fought off cancer, and with immune systems and everything... look, if I overloaded your house circuits, I'm -so- sorry. I can..." He glances around the plush surroundings. "Um. Well. I'll try and pay for it?"

"Don't you take that tone with me," Mrs. Ashlock snaps at Jess. Apparently, she is able to mentally inject sarcasm into blandness. It is a useful power. "The alarm just..." Remy's explanation derails her, and she /frowns/ at him. "Damn it. At the north end of the house?" She hovers on the edge of unconvinced a moment longer, then turns to head back for her desk - and the phone on it - muttering something dire about backups.

Jess's eyes flash in indignant anger for the briefest of moments but she says nothing. Once the woman turns away she glances towards Remy, her gaze nervous, silently asking 'what now?'.

It's not precisely hard to muster up a pale and worried face and nod with it, all things considered. Remy gives Mrs. Ashlock a fine specimen indeed, even if his worries are somewhat, ah, expended from those of a college kid trying to make rent money. "Sorry," he mumbles. "My contact info's through the agency... I'm -really- sorry, ma'am." And then he trundles like the -wind-. Or like a guilty college student.

A head gesture and a murmur to his comm give Jess her answer. "Everyone to the van now, please."

A snippet of phone conversation drifts out into the hall: "...the circuit breaker, please..." One imagines the cleaning service will have a fair bit to answer for, what with one of their people managing an impressive short in the house's electrical system. (Not to mention the missing safe contents.)

Kaci drops her feet from the dash and straightens up. She keeps her eyes glancing around and starts the van. "I"m ready," she says."

For a group of semi-bumbling new hires, the cleaning crew get the van loaded with remarkable alacrity. Into the passenger seat slips Remy once more, buckling in and parting with an "I'm so totally getting fired," for the benefit of any listeners. "Just... get us back to the ranch?"

As the last door swings shut, Kaci lets off the break and puts it in gear. Casual as can be, she starts down the driveway to the gate. She gives a wave at the guard, hoping he'll open the gate before she gets there.

He doesn't. In a spy movie, this is where the guards would meet them at the gates with guns drawn. Thankfully for the intrepid X-Factor agents, this is not a spy movie, and the guard meets them at the gate with a friendly German shepherd, who rears up on hind legs to stick a nose through the passenger side window and snuffle at the humans while his handler punches in the code to let them out.

By the leeean back away from the friendly dog, it looks as though Remy might prefer the guns. They don't have -teeth-. "Nice doggie?" is entreated in a low mutter, before the van is mercifully away.

"Hey, thanks," Kaci says to the guard, "See ya on Thursday."

"Woof," says the dog in solemn agreement, though it does not have time to lick Remy to death before the forward motion of the van signals it to back away and let the humans escape back to the open road.

Kitty talks about stories to get information and then compromises the mission by tripping an alarm.

A disclaimer starts Kitty’s report, stating: This information was obtained from a six year old girl in the form of encouraging fairy tales. Most of this is guess work by myself based off that conversation.

- The Ashlocks are tied to the project by their little girl, Cindy Ashlock. Apparently, she had cancer but has gotten ‘all better’. When questioned, she stated that her daddy took her to the fountain.
- She said she had weird dreams, and when this was probed she described tickling in her head, and then floating. It sounded as if sometime during this floating, everything slowed down before she got better.
- While she was ‘floating’, Cindy admits that she saw the doctor and his assistant. His assistant apparently held her hand the whole time, and was the one to keep her from floating away. Possibly the telepath?
- The assistant is named ‘Joey’ and the doctor either has the last name that sounds like Moreau or would cause laughter if someone called him Doctor Moreau.
- Cindy mentioned tickling twice, in connection with holding Joey’s hand. I’m not sure how to interpret this. Should ask a telepath.