The beginning is a tad dull but don't worry, it gets actiony later on, please don't stop reading just because there's no action.
A lone figure sat toward the back of the ornately decorated room. He sat quietly, observing the party while holding a glass of some foul tasting white liquid that he only held on to for the sake of appearances. His light blue eyes scanned the room, going from one partygoer to the next, some he recognized, and others he had yet to meet. His eyes finally fell on his friend who had managed to convince him to come along. Thoughtfully, he swirled the liquid in the glass and took a sip. He managed to suppress a grimace, the only reason he'd been drinking from the glass at all was that it would seem weird if he simply held on to a full glass the entire evening. At the head of the room sat the princesses, both regally dressed and simply observing the party from their thrones, not bothering to mingle as it would be unsightly for them to do such. His eyes met theirs momentarily; he nodded knowingly and set the glass on the tray of a passing servant before walking out onto the nearby balcony.
He passed through the red curtains, flipping them aside as though making a grand entrance. On the balcony, two others who appeared to have been drinking too much embraced each other and laughed quietly. Almost certainly they hadn't arrived together, he thought. He adjusted his black tuxedo into a more manageable position causing the ceremonial saber at his side to clink against a button on his suit. Damn the thing was itchy. As he gazed out over the edge of the balcony, he couldn't help but notice a presence beside him. He turned to face his friend, Bash, with a raised eyebrow. Bash was wearing a similar tuxedo though his was a dark shade of blue. He couldn't help but notice that it matched the color of Bash's eyes perfectly.
"It's almost as though you are consciously thinking about being antisocial." Bash snorted. He shook his head and looked out over the countryside. "Ah well, you never were one for large gatherings. You could at least say hello to more than two others. I brought you here to relax you know?"
"If you wanted me to relax, you could have brought me to a spa or something, I hear those are relaxing." Enigma replied with a slight grin. "Besides, a spa would suit you perfectly; if I didn't know you better I'd say you were growing soft. Did you even try to fight in our last mission?"
Bash snorted and halfheartedly punched Enigma. "It took you twice as long to take down your opponent, were you having a tea party or something?"
Enigma grinned broadly for the first time that evening. "He wouldn't shut up! Every other hit he went into a two minute monologue about how I was so obviously inferior and how I would be a piece of cake to defeat! If he had just shut up he may have had slightly more of a chance than when he was talking." Enigma looked over at where the other two had been earlier; they must have gone back inside as there was currently no one there. "You know, sometimes I wonder how our lives would be if we were… oh I don't know, bakers or smiths or something. Our lives would be much more uneventful I suppose, but maybe that isn't such a bad thing?" He glanced at Bash sideways.
"And you say I'm the one who's going soft, for one thing, the world would be a heck of a lot more dangerous, though I suppose our superiors would find someone else to get the job done."
They both grinned as if that was the funniest idea either of them had ever had. "You boys having a fun night up there?" Enigma suddenly heard a female voice in his head.
"Hex, is that you? I can't hear you over your jealousy." Bash said. He grinned at Enigma who simply shook his head and rolled his eyes.
"Hardy har har. I didn't want to come anyway, didn't want to make you ladies feel bad that I brought the prettier dress." Hex said. "Anyway, Headquarters asked me to tell you that they're forcing us to take a vacation. If we show up for work, they'll forcibly remove us and extend our vacation one week."
Enigma raised an eyebrow. "They want us gone that badly eh? Are they at least going to activate us if something happens?" He looked down over the balcony to see if he could find Hex somewhere below.
"Nope, said they'd let some of the younger teams handle it, though they said it halfheartedly and none of them looked sure of it." She laughed melodically. She waved at enigma from the street outside of the gates to the castle.
Enigma waved back, "I give it one day after dispatching a younger team for them to ask us for help." Enigma said. He became aware of someone standing behind them.
"I'll take that bet and lower the time to 12 hours!" Bash said with a chuckle. Enigma turned slowly, instinctively preparing himself for a fight.
"You're both being too generous. I bet you 100 bits it will take only two hours for them to go missing and or screw up." Hex giggled. Enigma saw a dark figure behind them, silhouetted by the light of the party behind them. It was carrying something that he couldn't quite make out in the darkness. He half drew the saber from its sheath as he finally turned to face the figure.