It had been a few days with Mads adjusting to her new title. The girl had torn herself away from her white leather jacket, sporting a white snug fitting tank top with dark blue jeans. Her brown curls were manageable over her left shoulder in waves with her vibrant red lips pursing as she got lost in the Wayne Manor. At some point, she swore a ghost was calling her name which had dread lying in the pit of her stomach. She needed to get some fighting time in, having the audacity to seek someone of the household out.
"Ha!" The sound of Baby grunting as she swung her foot into the air at Mads caught the brunette off guard.
Mads turned, swiftly ducking allowing the girl's foot to collide with a statue. She was able to catch it before it broken into a million pieces on the floor.
"What are you doing, girl?" Mads hisses as Baby drawls a bawled fist, aiming to give the brunette a good punch to the jaw. She shields her face, shoving the redhead back who is roughly panting from lack of oxygen.
"Fight me!" Baby growls, dancing around with both of her hands clenched into fists. She held a look of utter determination etched into her pale features.
Mads raises a brown eyebrow in question. She would usually object, but she had been looking to practice so her fighting wouldn't turn rusty. She straightens her posture as she asks a dumb question, "Are you sure you want to fight?"
Baby answers with a punch to the left eye of the other girl.
Mads feels a stinging begin as anger rises in her chest. She gets into a fighting stance as she motions for Baby to try to pop her again. She ducks when Baby throws another punch her away, allowing the red haired girl to hit air. A smirk highlights the features of the tan skinned girl.
"I always want to fight!" Baby growls, mulling over her next move as she ducks a weak punch from the brunette. She crouches down, shooting one leg out to sweep Mads from off her feet.
Mads had anticipated the move, swiftly jumping as she lands closer to the stairwell. She had been traipsing about the halls, eyeing up the paintings in admiration. Her expertise had been spent baking sweet treats, writing, reading, blaring Linkin Park, Evanescence or Nickleback in her spare time or doing research. Of course, it oversaw a time when her loved ones were still alive.
"Fighting can be healthy." Mads wheezes in a gentle whisper. She meant to being harsher in her tone, but she had trouble breathing if she did too much in one setting. She would manage to push through the pain until she grew dizzy with sweat and dots to blur her vision. She takes a careless swing at the redhead who quickwittedly slams her knuckles into the wrist of the brunette.
Baby smirks as pain trickles from the injured wrist she caused Mads up to her brain. She held her wrist for the longest, tempted to twist the bones of the girl.
Mads scowls at the look of malicious intent, lurking behind the blue eyes of the girl opposite her. This is why the Wayne girl hadn't been mentioned to her- Baby Skiles Wayne could fight dirty with no care in the world for whom she harmed.
"It's also dangerous." Baby says, releasing her hold on the brunette. Her striking blue eyes held scorn in them as a pair of curious eyes were watching them from on the landing of the stairwell. She already knew it was her brother who had come to watch the sparring session so she couldn't afford to lose control in front of him.
"Yeah, for some." Mads smirks, growing exhausted as Baby gains the upper hand. She is soon knocked to the ground, allowing her tired gaze to roam about the manor to find the raven haired boy watching intently.
Bruce was sitting on the stairs, having gotten invested in the training they did. He was also aware of how chaotic his sister could get which is why he wanted to ensure Baby brought no real harm to their new houseguest. His eyes would flicker from his sister to Mads seemingly awestruck by how good their fighting was.
"Why the color white?" Baby asks, placing her hands on her hips as she towers over Mads in a scowl.
Mads takes a few minutes to take deep breaths.
Bruce chooses the moment to get up, joining the girls as she props herself onto her elbows. He's standing by the end of the stairs as a grimace graces her lips.
"It's my favorite color...?" Mads lies, chewing on the inside of her cheek. She didn't really fancy something which could so easily get grass stains on it.
Baby scoffs, rolling her eyes as she folds her arms. "Try again, M&M."
"I didn't think white would be a favorite color for anyone. It's easy to get dirty." Bruce says, walking over to extend an arm to help her to her feet.
Mads is scowling, pushing herself up onto her feet. She wasn't about to fall for a trap of coming into skin to skin contact. She dusts herself off, eyeing the brother-sister duo. Her eyes glance about the place, searching for Alfred.
"Alright, you caught me. I dress in white for one reason. I told you it's complicated. I shall say no more." Mads gently remarks, disappearing without a second thought to the words leaving her lips.
...
Mads smirked, retrieving brownies from the oven in the sleek formerly kosher kitchen. She had been wanting to make a sweet treat for the household upon her arrival. Her eyes take in the caramel drizzle with tiny nuts spread across the gooey delicious baked good she made. She licked her lips, but scolds herself for allowing herself to drool over mouth watering goods. She had flour drenching the counters with some yellow yoke of the eggs on the floor.
She best get to cleaning the place before Alfred skinned her alive. She didn't want to add more to the man's job even if he were there for those purposes. She could look after herself even at such a younge age. It's evidently what her stupid parents had been teaching her from day one. It didn't take the brunette long to have the kitchen immaculate, leaving her to cut the brownies for whenever they wanted to eat them.
Her mind kept returning to her bosses. A lot had been tossed her way without her wanting as much.
"Brownies miss?" The quizzical voice of Alfred Pennyworth broke into her morbid thoughts.
A frown had been on her lips. She forced a smile to her features as she eagerly nods. "I thought you guys could use a homemade sweet treat."
"They are in the study." Alfred informs her, thinking it kind of her to bake for them.
There were a lot of things they would come to learn on behalf of their latest houseguest.
Mads gingerly put the brownies onto a platter, frowning as she took hold of it. She hurried off without a word to the butler. She was trying to convince herself to not get close to any of the people she was staying with in order to be doing her job. Her nerves were wracking every fiber of her being as she used her free hand to open the study. She used her foot to close the door upon entering to find the peace in the room meeting her ears.
A shiver sprung to life in her spine. It was one of those shivers of foreboding dread.
Bruce was immersed in folders, containing the investigation on behalf of his parents.
Baby was sitting reading a book with earphones, blasting loud music into her ears as her eyes scanned over the pages.
Mads purses her lips at how one was fishing for information on the death of their parents while the other could seem to careless. She could relate to the siblings since she would be doing one or the other. Sometimes, she could do multiple things at once which would oversee a lot of voices inside her tiny brain.
Bruce nor Baby looked up at the brunette who set the plate of brownies in front of them on the coffee table.
Mads glances from one to the other. Her mind comes to a conclusion as she makes a decision to look over the boy's shoulder at the file he had on his parents murder. A frown tugs at her lips at the gory images of red splattered on two people who loved their children very much. She was leaning over him soon snatching the folder from within his grasp, gaining a gasp of shock from the boy.
"Hey! What are you-?" Bruce snaps, shutting his mouth as soon as his eyes flit to Mads. He had been quick on his feet, thinking Alfred was on his case again for continuing to dig into the murder of his parents. He watches the crease in her forehead as her eyebrows knit in curious confusion.
"Look, pining over this won't do you an ounce of good. I thought your surrogate father was kidding when he said you were looking into the death of your parents. You won't find it in simple files, Bruce." Mads softly voices, closing the folder as she folds her arms over her chest without handing it over to him.
Bruce is unable to make a comeback. His speech had gotten lost once his gaze set on her. His mouth opened then closed with no sound coming from his lips. To a degree, he knew the girl was right, but he still wanted to locate the man who killed his parents. His eyes avert to the floor beside the girl with his olive cheeks becoming rosy in color.
Baby had stopped what she was doing to listen intently. She pulls an earbud from one of her ears.
"Alfred and I have been telling Bruce this all along. He can't seem to wrap his small brain around the facts." Baby pipes up, taking one of the brownies. She pops one into her mouth, munching down on the warm delicious treat. Her taste buds were satisfied as Bruce turns to shoot her a glare.
"Don't you want to find who killed mom and dad?" Bruce asks in a bit of a whine.
"Of course, I do, Brucie." Baby gingerly places a bookmarker in her book. She closes it to set it aside for the time being.
"It just doesn't do you good to read up on their deaths with no action to back it up." Mads gently voices, gaining a defeated sigh from the raven haired boy.
"Okay, but I can't just take action. Can I?" Bruce says, returning to his spot on the sofa. He places his head in between his palms.
"I have an idea." Baby chirps, gaining both of their eyes on her.
"What do you purpose?" Mads asks, walking around to sit on the arm of the sofa to which Bruce sat on so she could meet the gaze of the redhead properly. For whatever reason, she was doing the exact opposite of what she promised she wouldn't do. She was becoming close with them without trying.
"I think we should get the streets of Gotham to get answers. Someone has to know something." Baby wickedly grins at her own idea.
"What do we tell Alfred?" Bruce asks his big sister, briefly glancing to Mads who was concocting a plan of her own.
"You're going for a fresh of breath air." Baby is still smirking, casting her eyes to Mads.
"You mean, we." Bruce counters, gaining an annoyed sigh from Baby.
"Yes, I meant we. We'll have our protector to keep watch over us. Alfred doesn't have to know all the details of what we're up to." Baby announces in a hiss of a whisper.
Bruce mulls over her idea, nodding in agreement.
They were both waiting on a response from the brunette who was staring off into a distance.
"What do you say, M&M?" Bruce inquires, snapping the girl from the bad memories plaguing her.
Mads releases a deep sigh, flitting her gaze from the raven haired boy to the red haired girl. She couldn't believe she was about to agree to a situation that could go south. She still didn't believe she had the chops to pull off a job of protection for two people.
"Yeah, sure." Mads simply nods, stuffing her hands into her pants pockets. She kept wondering what disaster she agreed to.