Ch. 7 - Home to Roost

Maddie looked at her friend with concern. It was obvious Risa was near exhaustion. And without her the mission would probably be doomed. As she watched, the other agent almost jumped out of her skin, when Tiger crashed and crumpled the beer can against his forehead.
Yeah, she was definitely on her last legs. We better make it fast, and make sure we have a good place to rest.
"Do you have a nice 'natural' portal way in mind to Venice?" she prompted gently.
Osprey shuddered with some sort of unpleasant memory.
Wet, cold, claustrophobic.
But the notion left almost as soon as it came, and she nodded pensively.
"Yeah. A short way back there is the Church of Mary Magdalene. That should get us close to a safehouse in Venice, too."
Tiger inclined his head, obviously considering the plan.
"How far will it be from the portal those bastards used?" he growled.
"It doesn't matter," Lioness responded, tossing her head slightly in Osprey's direction as she continued. "We need to rest first anyway. And Osprey just said there's plenty of portals around there. We should be just fine."
Osprey looked like she wanted to give Tiger a further piece of her mind, but thought better of it, conserving what little energy she still had. Instead she picked up the rest of the "picnic" supplies, and set out to the gate of the palace garden and down Salita Capodimonte. The two followed close behind her. They walked for about fifteen minutes and just came down a long narrow staircase, when Osprey stopped in front of a small iron-wrought fence around a rather dingy gate-like door. Lioness noticed they were opened a crack, indicating whatever was beyond was not off limits. As soon as she focused on it, she could actually feel the energy of the place.
Definitely a religious building.
She stepped through the small gate towards the door to enter first.
"Let me know if we need distraction to open the portal," she smiled over her shoulder at her friend.
The space she came into temporarily knocked her breath out of her. It wasn't big - in fact, as far as churches - in Italy - went, it was tiny. More of a chapel. But what it lacked in size, it more than made up for in atmosphere.
The walls were painted in shades of blue, with two yellow and gold thorny vines winding their way up two pillars, to meet in heavenly, half-cloudy canopy crown. She blinked, as a pang of homesickness pierced her heart at the sight.
"This is not creepy at all," she heard Dwayne's low timber voice almost whisper next to her. She looked beyond the pillars, to see what he meant.
Faces. On banners and murals, all around the walls and even ceiling. Faces, that seemed kind, but still somehow infinitely sad. Lives cut short by a violent deed. She felt shivers dancing up and down her spine, and all of her hair standing on end.
"Yeah," she agreed, shaking the feeling off, and hugging her midsection, to avoid accidentally touching anything. At least they were the only visitors here this time of day. She forced her eyes to focus to the front, at the altar fashioned like a prow of a fishing boat. Somehow that soothed her. She walked all the way forward and bent her knees and head in a respectful bow. Then she closed her eyes, giving herself a moment to pray, and to feed off of the unique magic only the deeply spiritually charged places possessed. If it was up to her, she would stay here, praying, meditating... maybe even testing the acoustic with a song, in lieu of sleeping. This was rest, this was replenishing her power and quieting her soul. Here she could believe their mission is not a cause totally lost.
"It's ready," Tiger's whisper pulled her out of her reverie.
"Good," she replied almost inaudibly, quickly sketching a cross on her body before turning to the - more traditionally shaped but faceless - side altar, where Osprey waited impatiently.
Lioness gave the portal a hard look, focusing on the emotions beyond it. It seemed they were lucky, and the other church was equally as deserted. She nodded, and all three agents stepped through in quick succession, with Tiger once again bringing the rear.
The Church of Mary Magdalene in Venice couldn't have been more different its namesake they just left. The very traditional rotund boasted an exhibition of Bible story dioramas, opulent traditional altar and bare walls with historic stone statues. The air was filled with reverence, with just a touch of condescension born of deeply ingrained tradition.
Maddie was almost glad the exit portal was close to the door, and Osprey nor Tiger felt any inclination to linger. As they stepped out and were walking down the couple steps from the church to the piazza, Risa's legs wobbled and almost gave out from under her. Tiger's arm was around her waist before she could even register it, and despite the flair of irritation from her, neither of them made any attempt to remove it.
"Which way, Osprey?" Tiger asked gruffly, and she pointed to the left and around the church - onto the Fondamenta de la Maddalena. They made their way through Rio Terá de la Maddalena and then north, to finally end up by rio della Sensa. Risa would find the house in her sleep (which was probably just as well, as she currently wasn't far from that state), and she lead the other two to the small attic studio with a small terrace overlooking the canal.
As soon as they were inside, she shed Tiger's arm, and unceremoniously claimed the double bed. She was fast asleep before her head hit the pillow. After a quick look at her, Tiger gently covered her with a blanket.
"Couch or floor?" Lioness asked her only remaining conscious partner with a twinkle in her eye. He looked at her as if gouging whether she is means her question seriously.
"Raven tends to sleep better on the floor, in high stress situations," she shrugged in explanation. "I'm fine bunking with Osprey, although she kicks in her sleep, so both options are open for you and I don't really need to know."
She pretty much collapsed next to her friend, leaving Tiger standing in the middle of the room, his expression bemused.
"Get some rest, Tiger. We will all need everything we got..."