Ch. 1 - Mission Non-existent

"Happy New Year!"
The words sounded forcibly cheerful, even to her own ears. Yet, Maddie couldn't help it. The only upside was, this mission was now accomplished.
She glanced over at her somewhat unlikely partner - Risa. She was busy draining the rest of her - one and only - piňacolada of the evening, and belting out Auld Lang Syne, which, somewhat surreally, resonated all around the beach.
Yes, the beach. In Dubai, nonetheless.
"Living the dream," Maddie muttered under her breath (or at least thought she did).
"Look at the bright side," Risa elbowed her. "We didn't have to use a single..."
"Ssshhhhh!" Maddie tried to shush her...
"...portal!"
The empath groaned, looking around frantically, as if expecting karma to kick in instantenenously. Which, thankfully, it did not.
"You should know better, than to jinx us!" she still hissed towards her dark haired friend.
"Jinx, schminx," Risa shrugged. "Chlebíček?"
Maddie pulled a face.
"No, thanks. I still have no idea why you wanted them, when there's a smorgasbord of delicacies everywhere around..."
"It's tradition!" Risa grinned, and gulped one down in one bite, just to prove a point.
The fireworks over the ocean finished, crowds cheered one last time and started to disperse.
"We have... four hours before we need to head to the airport," Risa looked at her watch. "You wanna sleep?"
"No," Maddie shook her head. The emotions all around were still too much to allow it. "Let's take a walk. Preferably somewhere dark and quiet."
They walked in silence, looking over the eerily calm, weirdly (for January) warm water. Maddie was counting hours before she will be able to celebrate New Year's with her family. She'll miss midnight in Prague, being mid-flight. Not that Thea would stay up for that. Maybe she should call right now... well, as soon as she finishes her midnight snack and comes a bit down from the high.
Risa was munching on last of her sandwiches, and almost jumping with excitement - or just sugar and alcohol speed.
"Well, it really wasn't half bad, for a mission!" she mused. "Kind of like a holiday. Not that I would choose Dubai for holiday normally."
"Neither would I," Maddie responded almost automatically, her mind still wondering.
They continued walking and chatting, until they both lost track of time.
And just as they turned to head back to the hotel, Maddie's knees gave out under her. She fell forward, catching herself on her palms in the sand, gasping and heaving for air.
*An ambush!*
*Security detail down!*
Her mind resonated with the voice of Swan. Her emotions came just as strong. Anger. Fear. Pain. And finally...
*Nobody. Is. Coming.*
Resignation.
"NO!"
Maddie didn't realize she screamed. Risa - Osprey - was lifting her up, incomprehension and worry in her eyes. But Lioness couldn't focus on her. With all her might she was trying to reestablish the severed connection with Swan. But there was only silence and darkness.
Osprey was asking her something, Lioness realized. But before she could hear the question to even try to answer, both of their phones rang out with a warning.
The message on the screen was terse.

ZERO OMEGA PENTAGON GRAY

"Actions suspended, go to ground safely, absolutely no contact,..." Osprey interpreted, probably to better wrap her head around the meaning.
"...director down," Lioness finished, in barely a whisper. She swallowed hard before saying: "Someone took Swan."
Osprey's head snapped up.
"How do you know?"
"Telepathy. Probably unintended. But she said it was an ambush. And..." another gulp, and a steeling breath, "...they took her security team out."
The words triggered Osprey, predictably. She was close to the security guys. Her face contorted in a very focused frown. Lioness took the moment to process.
No plane out in a few hours.
They have to find a safe place to hunker down.
Until... when?
Or...?
Raven will expect her to get home. They could still do it, on the down low. Somehow.
"I can lock on Tiger," Osprey broke her train of thought.
"What?"
"I have a lock on Tiger."
"Is he... alive?" Lioness chose the kinder question.
"So far."
"But he is not... at HQ?"
"No."
"So he was..."
"Probably."
There was a moment of silence, then they both spoke at once.
"We shouldn't..."
"I can..."
Another moment of silence.
"He might be running out of time," Osprey suggested.
"We should not be losing people like this," Lioness agreed with an apparent non-sequitur. "We'd be going against direct orders, though."
"And we don't know what we'll be walking into," Osprey warned. "The portal itself will be safe, blink in and out, but..."
"Guns blazing or bust, eh?" Lioness shook her head.
She couldn't think about this too hard. There was too much pain, confusion, fear... to make sense of, or to let go. The empath hated feeling her own emotions. So she chose not to. She will turn them into a weapon instead, when the time comes.
*If* the time comes.