Ch. 2.5 - Quiet Christmas?

Risa sharply exhaled as she put all her strength into a blow, which landed successfully - but didn’t do too much damage to her opponent.
Scratch that. It didn’t do ANY damage at all. She blocked the incoming attack with both her arms - it lifted her up anyway. She swiftly retreated, evaded the next blow instead of blocking and attacked with all her might, only to be thrown down on her back, hard. She rolled back and jumped up on her feet, ready for the next piece of action.
„You had enough, Osprey.“
„Nope,“ Risa answered.
„That was not a question,“ Tiger frowned. „You said you want to warm up before you set off for a mission. Can’t have you going on a mission concussed, can we?“
„Far from that,“ Risa shook her head. „But you are right. Better safe than sorry. Thanks for the workout.“
„Why to spar with Tiger anyway, when you can’t win?“ a young private asked. „Not to underestimate you, Osprey, but the difference in height, weight and strength... you can’t do anything.“
There were some dirty tricks that could work for her, but you don’t use that kind of dirty trick during sparring, even though the local medics could fix almost anything in no time.
„True, Finch. Wanna have a go, just for a change?“
She didn’t even finish the sentence when Finch leapt at her. She blocked his attack easily, took hold of his hand, stepped aside and threw him down.
„And this is why. After sparring with Tiger, everyone else seems so much easier to get down!“

She almost danced out of the gym, ready for the mission, for the moment forgetting that she hates hot and Dubai will be hot. And dry. And bright. And she will have to be there through Christmas.
It almost seemed she and Phoenix will be both off duty for Christmas, which was rare - and there she goes again.
Well, that goes with the job.
Maybe I will find him a nice Christmas present there...

The truth is, Winter Solstice was a time Big Things Could Happen... and sometimes they did. All the little precautions they take now could mean less work during the next year, so it was well worth it.
And, actually, Dubai was not that bad. And Maddie was a good companion, even though it felt weird to be working together. At least they could play sisters again - they fell in to their old roles easily, which felt quite unreal to Risa. But it was nice to rebuild the connection that started missing after they became colleagues.
At least I am not a junior agent anymore.

And then everything went wrong.
Risa tried not to think about who is dead, who is dying and how large this problem is for the Agency. But she couldn’t stop that burning feeling she - they have to do something. They should follow the orders, the protocols are here for a good reason.
But.
She could get a connection to Tiger.
Once she tried, there was no way back. She couldn’t leave her friends... die.
Alone.
And Maddie was supposed to be the voice of reason. She should be... but even though Risa was no empath, she knew Maddie didn’t want to be. If she uses her words in the right way, she could make it seem to be the only logical option.
It WAS the only logical option.
A portalist and an empath. Even though they both went through the combat training (and Risa secretly thought if she gets tired of the portalling stuff, she could maybe get a shot at the Security), they were not nearly the level that would be needed for the extraction team.
Luckily, they only went there to have a look.
Right?