I Am...All of Me

Mission on the Red Carpet

Disclaimer: I don't own characters or images. Who knows what I could do with such power!

Third Person POV

    "Are you ready?" Rouge asked her partner sitting across from her. The ebony hedgehog adjusted his suit cuff with a scowl, and she giggled to herself from her seat in the limo.

    "Of course, but I still don't see the point of wearing a tux," he replied, his eyes looking up to meet her turquoise orbs for the first time since they had started the ride.

   "Well, I think you look dashing in it. We should do these kind of missions more often," she grinned and winked in his direction, earning a classic eye roll in response.

    "How much longer?" he asked, quickly changing the subject.

    "Long enough," she answered and glanced down at her gold, diamond-studded watch, "About ten minutes."

    "Cars are so slow," Shadow absently commented and crossed his arms, resting his chin on his chest in an attempt to get some form of rest before the mission. Rouge smirked.

    "That's one thing you and Big Blue have in common, you know. Everything is just too slow for you two."

    "Don't compare me to that Faker," Shadow snapped without bothering to open his eyes, "Let's just get this over with."

    After a few minutes of semi-comfortable silence, the car slowed to a stop in front of a large and impressive building. The two agents shared a look before Shadow stepped out first. He quickly turned and helped his partner out of the car, and they began their walk down a long red carpet to the gala's entrance.

     Flashing lights instantly bombarded their eyes as reporters struggled to get a good picture of them. Rouge subtly linked her arm in Shadow's, silently letting the other arrivals know they were together. She couldn't help the victorious, fanged grin as she noticed the slightly deflated looks on some of the other female mobians present.

Shadow scanned the crowd and saw how many of them were looking in their direction, and how many males were eyeing his "date" for the evening. The way they looked her made something in his stomach turn, and he calmly, yet swiftly maneuvered the two of them deeper into the party and out of the others' line of sight.

    "You remember what to do, right?" he asked Rouge as they collected a pair of drinks from the food table. The white bat gingerly swirled her punch in her glass before taking a sip, pretending to decide whether or not she should answer him.

    "Naturally, just try not to get into much trouble while I'm gone," she winked.

     "Same to you," he surprisingly shot back before placing his half-empty glass on a random table, his eyes staring off into the crowd, "Good luck, Rouge. Your target is in sight."

    "Thank you, darling. See you in a bit. Mama's going fishing," she replied, placing her cup beside his, and she walked poshly into the crowd. She quickly caught sight of her target, an older male panther in a white tux apparently greeting some old friends of his.

      "Hello," she greeted as she sashayed herself into the conversation with the coyness of a cat, "I hope I'm not interrupting."

    One look at the feminine bat in her slimming red dress was all it took for the panther, "Oh no, of course not. Please, excuse me, gentlemen," he answered, and he left the group behind to speak with her. Putty in my hands, she thought, but wisely kept her true emotions to herself and continued with a charming smile.

    "I'm sorry if I stole you away from something important," she began, although if anyone had known her long enough, they would have known that it was a blatant lie.