MAIZE

She felt better after the workout she had received sparing hand-to-hand with West. A much more satisfying workout than she would have gotten simply training on her own.

She had to admit, the detective had surprised her. Contrary to what she had said about his best shot being terrible, he wasn't entirely unskilled. That being her speak for; he was actually a good sparing partner.

They had both been pulling their punches with each other, not intending to cause any real damage other that a few harsh taps and maybe a few light bruises, but there was a lot you could tell about a person when you fought with them, and Maize had not wasted the opportunity to properly study the detective's combative strategies. Any other chance she had ever had to see him truly fight, she had been distracted with her own pesky annoyances.

He knew what he was doing, she wouldn't mind admitting that much to his face if it came down to it.

She did win their little sparring match, that fact was indisputable, despite the detective's more recent ending stunt that involuntarily left her face flush warm at the memory. She had to clear the flash back from her mind instantly before she started dwelling on it.

Maize had always narrowed it down to the fact that there were two types of fighters; those who thought and those who didn't. Those who thought always analysed their opponent before combat; studying their stances, searching for weak points, and then striking where they knew it would hurt. It wasn't something that everyone could do, and took years of training and experience to be able to the point where you always secured a victory. While those opposite to this methodology, did not. The detective was in the latter, relying on instinct and reflexes. While he did watch her movements, he wasn't planning ahead to calculate his next move. While he did end up falling for a lot of her tricks, he still managed to dodge out of the way just in time.

And what he couldn't dodge he made up for by blocking with his body. Evidently, the toned muscles beneath the fabric of the shirts her wore, that Maize had been privy to seeing on more than one occasion, were not just there for nothing. And to try and hit him anywhere more often than not in the time they were sparring, had left her knuckles slightly sore. Not that she would dare give him the pleasure of having any idea of that, knowing full and well that it would just go straight to his head.

He was an adequate fighter. Not as skilled or quick as she was, but he adapted. He was more brawn than agility compared to someone like her, and he knew that, so she could see him always making sure to keep his eyes in his weak spots. He knew where he was left open, and he knew that Maize was the type of opponent to exploit that weakness.

Maize's mind flashed back to the story Alec had told her about his childhood, and now she wondered if perhaps that cop that had raised him had taught him how to properly handle his own. Much like her own mentor had.

They weren't so different. The two of them.

But at the same time we are more different that not, she thought absently.

Then she shook the thought away.

There was no point in ruining her good mood with a grating slap of reality. Not now anyway, or so she thought. Then of course without a hint of warning the embarrassing image of her falling straight on top of him just had to jump into her mainstream of thoughts. Curse him, she mentally damned. Such a stupid little last minute stunt that had been completely unnecessary in her opinion, but that didn't matter, because it had happened anyway.

If having his ass handing to him by her wasn't enough, he just had to toy around with her. Him and his damn devilish ego.

Of course, not that they hadn't been in a similar position before. Though that had been under completely different circumstances, she was saving him life, nothing more nothing less. She had tried not to let the memory of that incident distract her mind either, but her brain's sense of rationality seemed to elude her.

Maybe it stirred something, maybe it didn't. Either way, she refused to think about it. There were times when the detective's being had cause dwellings in her mind that she didn't even want to give herself the turmoil of thinking about. She would deny it. Until an image of his smirking face or the memory of some small whisper that he murmured into her ear would make itself known even in her attempts to prevent it. And she didn't like the way her body responded to it, to him. Which would more often result in her mentally kicking herself, followed by a list of all the reasons to be anything but allured by the detective.

Irritating. Stubborn. Hardheaded. Difficult. Arrogant. An intolerable, condescending tease.

He was an idiot, she concluded. A complete, utter, domineering, idiot. But he had also proven that he was willing to protect for the cost of his own safety if it came down to it.

He could be such an ass sometimes, but he was a good person willing to risk their life for others.

Maize wondered what it was like to do so.

She risked her life all the time, threw herself into reckless scenarios all the time, but it was out of a sense of duty above anything else. It was always just the job. She couldn't think any other way.

They were both so different and similar in many different ways. Maize found herself musing; maybe that was the reason they had never been able to see eye to eye before.

Working in the same place but for different reasons back in the city at the precinct, they had always been at odds, two forced unyielding to the opposite no matter when or where. She had straight up stolen his chances at making the arrests of suspects because she knew it would tick him off not have brought them in himself, though not to say in turn that she was the only one to pull petty stunts. There had been more than one occasion where Maize had been stalking her targets in preparation to strike, when West would show up out of absolutely nowhere and make their arrest before she could even move. A problem because it meant she had lost out on a pay check for weeks of work, but mostly because of the way he would catch her eyes from whatever perch she was on and send himself off with sly a wink in her direction that told her he knew exactly what he was doing. Those had always aggravated her more than she ever cared to admit.

That just went to say how opposing they were towards each other, not to mention competitive, and now they were working a single mission together. The irony of that had never eluded her since the day they took off from Brooklyn, only now they were different, it was a surprise that they didn't just discover that they could work together, but they were good at it. Or at least they were doing something right.

Maize shook her head as it dawned on her that her thoughts were becoming more fervent, set off over simply being near the detective. She sighed, maybe a calming shower might help her clear her head of whatever perplexing emotions she found herself caught in.

* * *

Her room had an attached bathroom connected, which she had taken full advantage of as she stripped and stepped inside the fizzled glass box to allow the hot water to spray over her sore worked muscles. She cleaned quickly and shook her hair free of its towel before tying the damp mess into a high ponytail out of her face. They still didn't have any spare clothes, but she did manage to find a clean sweater in one of the closets which she slide over her shoulders and zipped up over her black chest cover, before sliding on the same tight pants she had been wearing before. Her jacket and previous shirt were left on the back of a chair as she exited her room and made her way down to the main portion of the house.

Kishan and Maria weren't hard to find, moving around the kitchen counter and talking amongst themselves. Kishan seemed to be telling some old story while Maria sat and watched with a drawn smile and laughed when it was saw fit, but they were both pulled to attention when Maize walked in, acknowledging her presence.

"Hey," Kishan greeted normally, raising a hand to wave, but found the action frozen in mid air as he noticed that Maize's eyes seemed more preoccupied looking around.

"Ryder's still not back yet?" she asked, not finding a sign of him or any indication that he had returned yet. She wanted to talk to him about getting all of them some basic necessities, who knew how long they would be staying.

Kishan regarded her and shrugged, "Not that we've seen him."

Maize shook her head slightly and sighed, "Never mind then."

Kishan raised a speculating eyebrow at her. "What happened to you anyway? You were covered in dirt when you walked in and you've still got pieces of...leaves? On your pants. Did the forest do something to piss you off?" He questioned, humorously teasing.

"Nah," she replied with an amused roll of her eyes. "I was sparring outside with Alec."

"He said he was going out to find you a while ago," Maria recalled, speaking up. Maize nodded in acknowledgement, he did find her after all. "Why didn't he come back with you?" she asked afterwards as she peered behind Maize, as if expected him to have appeared out behind her.

"I have to ask," Kishan began when she didn't reply instantly. "Is he still alive?"

Maize turned her head down to give him a pointed stare. "What would you do about it if I said...no?" She questioned, trying to hide her amusement.

Kishan visibly blanched. "Hold on you didn't actually—"

"Course not," she rolled her eyes. "I was just quicker to catch my breath after our little match. He said he'd be back in soon."

Kishan sighed loudly, with something almost like relief before he looked at her with a gaze once again filled with mischievous glinting. "Call me out the next time you two decide to fight. We need some entertainment around here."

Maize raised and eyebrow. "Entertainment?"

"Yeah, like something interesting needs to happen," he mused humorously.

Little did they know yet, for better or worse, that 'something interesting' would come sooner than they thought.