A/N: Inferno's Child and I collaborated on this one! Wrote it in kind of a rush though…
Please join us on this special evening in honor of the Mayor's 50th birthday at his mansion in Brooklyn Heights. To be celebrated on May 20, 2011.
*You may bring at least one (1) guest
Dr. Holiday looked at the printed invitation with wide, splendorous eyes. She was feeling so excited right now! She hadn't been to a party in years, not counting the one she attended while undercover. And now she had the chance to be back under the lights, with the crowd and her long-time friend, who happened to be the Mayor's wife. After all, how else did she get one of the most sought after invitations of the year? She stared at the pink piece of paper for a little more before restoring it in the envelope. However, she saw something else inside. Something she didn't really notice when she took out the invitation. It was a piece of green cardboard cut in the shape of a mask!
A masquerade ball, huh?,she assumed
She put back the green mask in the white envelope as well. That particular shade of green reminded her of the one who loved to wear that color the most. Agent Six. The first one who popped into her head to escort her to the ball was that green-clad agent. But then a thought struck her...
He'll just decline it, won't he?
But then she tried to think positively. Maybe...JUST maybe he might agree to this. She was more stubborn than he was. After making her decision, she walked out of the mail room, grasping the invite in her hands and searching for him, smirking a bit.
Six was in the training hall with Rex. The teen was still attempting to create his "Water Jet" and get it to fully function, while Six stood in the observation room. He looked disappointingly at the boy, who only tried harder and harder each time he glanced at his stoic face. Holiday came in just as Rex collapsed in exhaustion, heaving.
"What is it this time?" Holiday asked Six.
"Kid's trying to make his water jet again" he replied nonchalantly.
"Can I get a break first?" Rex pleaded, waving at the two.
Six was about to press the button on the intercom to protest, but Holiday went ahead of him and said, "Sure Rex. Come up here." and Rex did as told
Holiday faced Six and took in a deep breath. This is it! The final countdown! She let out that breath in one sigh and tapped Six's shoulder (which, in her mind, was a childish thing to do). Six tilted his head slightly so as to face the doctor
"Yes?"
She suddenly tensed up. Oh gosh, she was acting like a pathetic schoolgirl! A pathetic schoolgirl with a lovesick crush on the resident bad boy! Well, that was one way of putting it. She tried her best not to stutter so she wouldn't look like an idiot...
"Well. There's this ball coming up. I was invited and s-since I'm a-allowed to bring a g-guest...I was thinking...maybe...maybe" ...and failed.
Six raised an eyebrow. Why was the good doctor stuttering? Was it about this ball she was trying to spit out? He looked away for a moment and saved her the trouble.
"Doctor. I think I know what you're talking about." he said briefly. Holiday looked up at him, still slightly embarrassed.
"Really?"
"You're trying to invite me to the ball, aren't you?" he stated.
Holiday's eyes widened. Seriously, could this guy read minds or something? She looked down on her feet again and weakly nodded, biting her lip.
"What ball?" Rex asked. The two adults turned around and saw the teenage boy with a wide grin on his young face. Apparently, he'd been listening to them the whole time. "Well? Aren't you gonna answer my question?"
Holiday stepped up and answered him.
"It's a masquerade ball to celebrate the Mayor's 50th birthday. The invitation says I can bring at least one guest to come along with me"
"And you're asking Six? Really?" he scoffed.
Holiday turned her head to Six again. He still hadn't answered her. One way or another, he got the message.
"Even IF I wanted to go, I couldn't. I have too many missions and assignments on my hands."
The woman bowed her head a little and muttered a quiet "Oh". Rex could tell she was disappointed by the answer, so he tried to cheer her up
"Hey, Doc! If you want, I can escort you there instead!" he announced enthusiastically.
For the third time, she looked up, with a more hopeful look on her glowing face. She returned his childish smile.
"Thanks" she spoke, "Well, you might as well try and get a tux for this occasion. Oh, and a mask of course!" she added, her expression changing completely. Rex ran out of the room and ran down the halls, no doubt to try and loan a suit.
Six watched the whole scene. He found himself staring at Holiday, and started feeling...guilty? Since when did he care anyways? He placed his finger on his comm link when he heard a call.
"Excuse me, Doctor. I need to leave now" he excused himself, walking out the door. Holiday was left behind. Deep inside, she was actually still a little upset that he declined her invitation to the ball, but having Rex as an escort was the next best thing, even though he would most likely think of this as a "date".
Once Six was away from the room, he let out an unfocused sigh. There was no call on his comm link. He just needed an excuse to leave that awkward situation. He walked down the hall but tried his best to make it to his room as fast as he can. He took a shortcut to the elevator and rode it from there on. He was alone in the elevator, so he gave himself some time to think. Missions...what missions? Did he chicken out or something? He felt like an idiot. He rubbed his temples lightly and steadily maintained his composure as he reached his floor. He walked out and walked fast to his bedroom.
The door swooshed open. He entered his only sanctuary and dropped himself on the bed. He stuffed his head into a pillow. That was the only place he could do something like that. Why did he just decline her offer? Oh right, because of his stupid street cred. His "Sixth Most Dangerous Man On The Planet" reputation, including NO dates or escorts. They'd think he'd end up killing them. Holiday was different. She's not like the others. She's...special...
Ugh! Why does he feel this way? He muttered something under his pillow. He lifted his head up and gasped, taking in a huge breath. It was decided then. He got up on his feet and left the room. He's got a lot of "work" to do.
~~~~~The night of the party...~~~~
Rex and Holiday arrived at the huge mansion. Honestly, it was ravishing. To Rex, though, it was just darn too bright. The cream walls and pillars were huge and tall. The voices of all the chattering people echoed through the place. Rex was actually starting to get annoyed, but he thought as long as he was with Holiday, he was happy!
Holiday looked around in the enormous halls. Maybe she could try and look for Elizabeth, the Mayor's wife.
"Hey, Rex! I'm gonna go look for someone. Just stay here, o- Where'd you go?" she said. She wandered around looking for the teenager for a while, and then ultimately found him at the snacks table, eating the little sandwiches and other hors d'oeuvres. She just laughed. He'd be fine for the meantime, just as long as he didn't dirty up the green suit he was wearing. Gotta remember that it belonged to Six!
Holiday's blue dress flowed gracefully along with her as she tried looking for Elizabeth. Holding up her golden eye-mask to her face, she continued searching for her. The feathers were actually starting to drop and were getting in the way of her view. She just HAD to get the one with the biggest feathers, huh?
~~~A few hours later~~~~
Holiday sat alone at the table, watching the waltzing couples. Rex hadn't left the food table for a minute since they arrived (he was so into the food, he didn't noticed his shiny orange mask fall into the dip), and now she was getting gloomy. This dumb mask wasn't helping either—if a feather fell into her eye one more time, she was going to rip them off! Suddenly, the back of her neck prickled…
She was being watched.
There. Near the door. The tall man with the dashing golden suit and pale mask.
He was staring at her—why? What was his purpose? His suit looked like it could conceal plenty of weapons, maybe she shou—Holiday shook her head and nearly laughed. Okay, that settled it. She was officially spending too much time around Six…although their time together was never spent the way she wanted…
She blinked twice—a trick she had learned to break unpleasant trains of thought—and glanced up again to find the man in the golden suit.
He was gone.
Holiday stood up, and started moving toward the door. He couldn't have vanished, could he? Gosh, someone had finally seemed to take an interest in her at this party, and she had blown her chance for conversation! But wait. Glancing around, she saw a flash of gold near the opposite end of the room—it was him. She smiled and waved at him, and decided that the easiest path to him would be through the dance floor.
As she walked, she kept a firm eye on him—she wouldn't let him disappear again. One vanishing person in her life was enough. There was something strange about how he was standing, though...he was completely still, as he had been since she first waved. His posture, his stance…her mind murmured something about green, but she ignored it. Impossible. Suddenly, a feather drooped into her eye, completely obscuring her vision. She almost swore, but remembered where she was, and instead flicked it out, and dabbed her watering eye impatiently. Remembering her destination, she looked up anxiously.
He had disappeared. Again.
Darn those feathers! As soon as she got back to her seat, she was going to rip those feathers out, one by one—
The world turned golden.
Suddenly, she felt a hand slide across her waist, and another warm hand clasp hers—she was dancing.
Amazed, she slowly raised her eyes to meet the raven black eyes behind a pale silver mask. No—not all silver. She could see small green sequins twinkling around the edges.
Awestruck, she blinked and raised her eyebrows at the golden man—this was unexpected. In response, his arm tightened around her waist…but somehow, she didn't mind. His grip was firm, but tender—as if he was holding a delicate treasure. She looked back up at his face. There was something tugging on her memory—something about the paleness of his skin and the sharp angled cheekbones…but she couldn't pay attention to it. Not when he was staring at her again.
He had beautiful eyes. They were a deep black—but instead of being reflective, they seemed to absorb everything. They were infinite, as unending as the night sky, and the slight shimmer in his eyes were the stars. Holiday could feel herself relaxing, getting intoxicated by his gaze—his oddly familiar gaze. It wasn't his eyes that triggered the memory, but rather the sheer intensity of it. If only the distributor of that other gaze would hold her this way…would show her his eyes…would lean forward the way this golden man was doing now…
The song finished, and Holiday cursed it for being so short when she felt his arms leave her. His gaze hadn't left her though, and it became, if possible, even more tender at the sight of her forlorn face. She felt her face reddening and heating up, and started to turn away instead. She was not going to act like a needy teenage girl again.
She felt a hand lightly touch her shoulder. She stopped and turned around to face him, a questioning eyebrow raised to mask her sudden excitement. There seemed to be a new resolve etched around the lines of his face. What was wrong? He looked almost worr—
Her mind screeched to a halt as a pair of smooth, tender lips captured hers. His arms snaked their way up her back again, holding her securely against him. She leaned into him, arms lacing themselves behind his neck as she let her body overrule the frantic indignation of her mind about this treatment by a complete stranger.
Suddenly, it was over, and the comforting warmth of the golden stranger was ripped away from her again. Breathless, and aware of her now bright red face, she grabbed his sleeve before he vanished again, and asked him the question she had been dying to know.
"Who are you?"
His lips twitched into a small smile, and he leaned in close to her ear again, breathing out his answer.
"Just your humble escort."
Her eyes widened, and she barely registered the slight breeze that told her that he was gone.
Six.
He was Six.
Her mind was a whirl, and her body couldn't stop shaking.
Six. It had to be. She knew that voice!
Her heart thudding in her chest, she raced back to Rex.
"Come on, we're leaving now Rex!"
Rex looked at her, his mouth still stuffed with cake. "Leaving? Now? But the cake just came!"
"Rex, we're leaving! Now!"
Holiday didn't even bother with goodbyes—she dragged Rex straight out of the hall and into a cab on the street. How dare Six come incognito like that! Against all odds, she felt herself getting more and more ticked off. He cared enough to come to the ball, to dance with her, to…to kiss her, but he couldn't show his face? That was it. As soon as she got back, Six was going to have to confess. She narrowed her eyes, ignoring Rex's nervous questions. There was no way Six could reach Providence before them—his hoverboard was being fixed and he couldn't have arrived in a Providence jet. Aggro-ninja nanny or not. Today, she was going to catch him red-handed.
Holiday stormed into the hallway, followed by a now worried Rex.
"Doc, are you all right? What happened back there?"
Hmm…where would be the best place to ambush him from?
"Did someone say something? Was it the mask?"
His room would be best…but he would be expecting that…
"Did it try to eat your face?"
That's it! She would go to the briefing room, and then make White Knight tell her where Six should have been! And Six would have no alibi.
She started sprinting, leaving Rex muttering something indistinct about evil masks that try to suck your souls out.
She whipped through the doorway, a victorious smile plastered on her face.
A victorious smile that slowly dripped away at the sight in front of her.
Six—back in his green suit and shades—was standing with a grunt, handing him a sheet of orders while the grunt attached it to his clipboard. He turned around at the sound of her enraged growl, and raised an eyebrow.
"You!" Holiday accused, pointing a finger at Six. "How did you get back before we did!"
Six just stared at her "accusation finger", his eyebrow inching even higher on his face.
"You know what I am talking about! You were there, at the ball!"
"The ball"
"Yes, the ball! And you were in that golden suit and the pale mask and we—" Holiday stuttered to a stop as she felt a deep blush stain her cheeks.
"A golden suit, and a pale mask." Six repeated, his other eyebrow joining his first. He felt like he wanted to laugh. "Doctor, I don't have a golden suit. Or a mask. And I told you before, I was busy."
"Lies! I heard you at the ball, after we ki—danced, and I can't be mistaken about that!" She tossed her disheveled hair back, and crossed her arms as a lazy smile spread itself across her face. She had him now. "Unless somehow only your voice traveled to the ball?" she asked sweetly.
Six's eyebrows folded downward into a frown.
"Doctor, I have been talking with this man for an hour and a half."
The grunt stepped forward nervously. "Umm, Doctor Holiday, Agent Six is correct. He has been giving me orders." He gestured to his clipboard.
"B-but you…we…how…"
"Doctor, you are just tired. You should go to sleep."
Still blinking confusedly and lost in thought, Holiday wandered out of the room, massaging her temples.
Meanwhile, Six turned back to the grunt, and took back the paper he had handed him…across which was scrawled: I have been talking to you for the past hour and a half. – 6. He slipped it into the inside pocket of his suit, taking care that the golden fabric hidden inside didn't show.
"Any word of this leaves this room…and there will be nowhere in the world where you can hide." He lowered his voice to a deadly whisper. "In fact, I suggest you forget it right now."
The grunt's knees knocked together, and he could feel sweat forming on his forehead.
"Y-yes sir. U-un-understood." The grunt hurried out of the room, eyes still dilated with terror.
Six straightened his shades, and headed toward the door to headquarters, fingering a mask hidden up his sleeve—a pale mask with green sequins around the edge. All he needed to do now was dispose of a certain…borrowed…motorcycle.
A/N: The ending totally didn't go as expected...it just re-wrote itself over the planned ending! XD Please review!