And another one bites the dust
Oh why can I not conquer love?
And I might have thought that we were one
Wanted to fight this war without weapons
And I wanted it, I wanted it bad
But there were so many red flags
Now another one bites the dust
Yeah, let's be clear, I'll trust no one

~

It sparkles like the excited glint in Adelaide's lavender eyes. The diamond she so desperately needs to add to her collection sits nestled in a velvet cushion beneath the glass. How cliché of an amateur thief, she thinks; a museum diamond. 

Perfect.

The young girl rises from the ground like a ghost. She circles the pedestal and weighs her options; she can not simply reach through and grab it because the diamond won't get past the glass.

Smashing it would be so simple. Then again; it may damage the rock inside, knowing her strength. Correction; she doesn't actually know her strength, which is essentially the danger. Finally she decides to just lift the box and shift away before the guards can act on the break in.

Lean arms clad in pink and black gloves lift the cubic top, immediately setting off ear-piercing alarms. Indifferent, she takes the diamond and flicks open the compartment strapped to her thigh.

When the jewel is secured, she turns on her boot heels and begins walking towards the window. As long as the Bat isn't anywhere near, she should make away with it.

"Spice," well, "Stop right there." Speak of the devil and he may just swoop in from the rafters like a bad play haunting. The voice of the Dark Knight is like a chilling wind on a Gotham winter morning. Harsh and daunting.

"Hello, Batman," she says in an empty, soft tone, turning to see him set in a defensive stance with Batgirl behind him. Adelaide looks around the room, "I suppose Robin is close by?"

Jaw set in stone, Batman continues to glower, "You will return the diamond, or-"

"This diamond can be used for something entirely unimaginable. It will save lives. If you want it," she snaps the compartment closed and readies herself, "come and get it."

Before either Bat can stop her, Spice drops through the ground with her density shifting right into the bricks and dirt beneath. Blindly but efficiently, she flies through the rubble and emerges on the other side of the wall.

Once above ground, she dashes up and out into the air, taking flight. At least, that was her plan until something grapples onto her leg. Like her sister had taught her, she reaches around her waist for her dagger. Grasping the tail-like hit, she slashes the cord before it is taut.

Any other knife would be insufficient, but such a blade devised by her sister can do anything. When she looks at the ground below there is no one there. None that she can see, anyway. 

"Close, Boy Wonder; closer than last time at least," She states just loud enough for the invisible bird to hear.

It was all too easy, she thinks, zooming off into the night. They were trying of course, but they also seem to understand that the diamond means more than they can comprehend.

The Dark Knight is confusing.

Instead of heading home, she races in the opposite direction of her house, ending up on the worse side of town towards crime alley. The main reason for diverting her course was too lead Batman away from her home, in case he manages to follow her.

Oh darn, she forgot to check.

Landing on the street in the shadows, she looks at the ankle which had been entrapped by the cord. A small disc is stuck to her boot.

Dammit.

She only just achieves ripping it off and throwing it to the side when the low roar of the Batmobile vibrates through the streets.

And so; an idea forms in her head. A lone car, full of drunk men who have the speakers blasting pass by her shadowed-self with their windows open.

She throws the tracer into the car like it's the easiest thing in the world, before allowing herself to become entirely camouflaged as she flies back up into the night.

The Batmobile follows the car of men.

Happy, Adelaide Jackson begins her descent to her Step Father's home.

◊

◊

The next morning, the dark haired girl wakes up in her pyjamas to see her eldest sister sitting at the end of the bed. The builder of all things anti-bat and the 'one who got away'. AKA, Halo, a young scientist who was the first to leave the Jackson nest.

"What are you doing here?" Is the first thing Adelaide asks her, rolling over tiredly.

"Came to see you," Halo chirps.

"Yeah, right," Adelaide chides sarcastically, burying her face and husky voice into her pillow, "As if the genius scientist Halo Jackson took a break from her oh-so-important laboratory to visit her family."

When Halo first left her family for the life of a scientist, Adelaide had initially been upset. Her older sister had been more of a mother to her than their actual mother. Leaving meant most of the Colombian mad-woman's antics were focused on herself and Ellery.

"Wake up!" Another voice hollers. Perhaps Adelaide really does have the power to think of a person and make them appear. The sister in-between Halo and Adelaide's age, Ellery, bounds into the room and jumps on the bed.

"We have to go to hell today, remember? That thing? That awful thing called school?" She exclaims, burrowing through Adelaide's blankets like a groundhog. 

Halo laughs at her sisters. "I remember those days. But hey; school is the one thing in life you will not regret when you're done with it." The black-haired girl walks out with a smug grin on her face. 

"Why is she even back?" Ellery mumbles. 

"Who knows? Maybe to remind us of how proud she is of herself," Adelaide sighs as she reluctantly sits up in bed, "Maybe to see Lavinia."

The two are momentarily silent. Mere rooms away, their youngest sister Lavinia lays in a coma in her bed, hooked up to a number of machines with chemicals pumping through her blood.

{You did not break me // I'm still fighting for peace}

She can only be healed by one thing, traded for diamonds. 

"Did you-" Adelaide begins.

"Yeah. I'm meeting with him later tonight. It's a big diamond. Should be enough for him to give us what we want."

Silence drops over the room for a second time. The two girls glance anywhere but at each other as they await the right moment to depart. Seconds later, Ellery leaves and Adelaide takes a shower.

"Morning," the girls' step father Reece greets them when they reach the bottom of the stairs. He has his paper held up in front of his face.

Halo sits at the table, tapping away on her tablet and drinking her coffee. 

"Why are you dressed like a flight attendant?" Ellery snaps at her as she opens the fridge.

Halo rolls her eyes, "Something's happened at work. One of my serums affected the chimps badly. He's breathing fire now."

Ellery, Reece and Adelaide stare wide-eyed at the scientist. 

"Seriously?" Ellery finally asks. The two keep talking, whilst Adelaide makes a breakfast shake. Nothing too sugary, no more than four ingredients and no more than half a litre as a result. Nice, simple and healthy.

"Reece, I'm ready," she says when the shake is fully blended. Reece nods as the teen picks up her bag. "Where's Mom?"

"Out shopping for some new art for the house. You hop in the car, I just have to send this email and I'll take you to school."

As Adelaide walks towards the external door, she hears Halo call out to her. 

"That's all? A shake for breakfast?"

Instead of answering or making any motion of acknowledgement at all, the teen walks out the door. Ellery quickly shoves the rest of her croissant in her mouth, grabs a carton of ice coffee and follows her out.

On the way to school, Adelaide brushes her hair out and pulls it in to a bun. It's the perfect shape; flat all around and a shining chestnut colour. Entirely flawless made of expensive products and too many bobby pins.

As she admires it in her handheld mirror she is forced to listen to the conversation between Reece and Ellery.

"Hating class so much it burns doesn't mean you can just skip it and spend all of your time in the performing arts centre. You need no more improvement on your musicality," he tells her.

Ellery just laughs and stares out the window, "For someone who claims that I have no skills, you just gave me a pretty good compliment."

So much for a conversation.

When Ellery slips her earphones in, Adelaide studies Reece instead. His shoulders tense, as he stares forward at the road. Adelaide can practically feel the guilt flowing off of him.

He had not meant to say a lot of the things he had to Ellery. Their mother was a different story; she usually means every cruel word.

When they arrive at the school, both girls get out (only one says goodbye to their stepfather) and Reece leaves. They walk through the near-empty Gotham academy together until they reach the empty courtyard.

"I'll see you soon," Ellery says to Adelaide, who nods as they divert courses. Adelaide strides through the cold school with the ghost of her friends around her. Some mornings she'd be with them, but having breakfast (a loose term in her case) with Halo takes precedence. 

Of course, sometimes, she'd also be with him.

"Good. Change. Warm up," Madame Dubois says to her in a clipped tone when she enters the dance studio.

Adelaide nods curtly in the same manor and heads for the change rooms. 

Sometimes, she'd be with Tim.

◊

◊

"This is the reason Adelaide is our star! Our pearl among swine!" Madame Dubois announces to the six girls and four boys in the class. Adelaide stays emotionless to hide her discomfort at the statement. The other dancers, either in awe or jealous of how flawlessly she had performed the sequence nod sharply.

"Good job," her partner Cole whispers. She gives him the barest of smiles, before Dubios begins speaking again. 

"This song is one of emotion; this dance, of grace and passion! Is it not?"

"Yes Madame Dubois!" The class chime. Dubios sets her cold, black-eyed gaze on her students. Many glance away, but Adelaide's eyes do not leave her teacher, just as Halo and Ellery taught her.

"Cole, Adelaide. Show your classmates how it is done," she says, pointing her nose in the air and striding towards the sound system.

The blonde boy and brunette girl walk onto the empty space of the studio floor. Madame Dubois presses play and the euphoric piano and violin of Chopin's Nocturne in C Sharp Minor begins.

Adelaide feels herself get lost in the music. Cole takes her waist and lifts her.

In the air she moves gracefully, like a swan, or tule in water. Every move she performs is fluent, flawless, making Cole seem like nothing but a tool compared to her. He was; something to be used like a pedestal or prop.

When the class ends, everyone leaves to change into their uniforms for the school day. Adelaide watches her two best friends, Bambi and Milan leave.

As per usual, Madame Dubois wants to see her.

"Sloppier than usual today," she says with her sharp tone and accent.

Adelaide blinks silently. She is not allowed to talk back.

"Make them jealous of you. More jealous. You want to make it in this industry? Gain no friends. Your movements are only half as good as the lowest standard of perfect, Miss Jackson."

Multiple profanities and disses weigh on the edge of her tongue. She could come for Dubios' life and roast her like a stuffed chicken if she wanted to.

Instead she continues her muteness.

 "Go."

The ballerina spins on her heel into the change rooms. Milan and Bambi wait for her, Bambi impersonating Madame Dubios in a nasally voice and dramatic accent.

The girls leave, laughing at Bambi's attempt to make Adelaide feel better. As they walk through the near-empty hallways, they fall silent at the exact wrong time.

When they round the corner Adelaide bumps into a hard, uniformed chest. Looking up, she sees Tim Drake staring down at her.

Well, I've got thick skin
And an elastic heart
But your blade
It might be too sharp
I'm like a rubber band
Until you pull too hard
I may snap
And I move fast