Thanks again Mel.

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Oasis Chp1

The echo pounded from side to side, in search of an opening to escape. It would fade and then reappear soon after, louder and bigger, hammering insistently all around.

Sydney slowly opened her eyes, but tightly shut them again, blocking out the burning light. Her mouth felt dry and her head felt like a bowling ball balancing on a toothpick.

She opened her eyes again, causing a sharp sting to shoot through them. Painfully blinking away the blur, she found herself sprawled on the kitchen floor, surrounded by evidence of last night, in case she needed to be reminded of exactly how much tequila she had consumed.

But from the puddle of melted ice-cream spilt on the floor, it was obvious that ice-cream wasn't the cause of the wave of nausea that suddenly washed over her. She quickly grabbed the kitchen bench and pulled herself up, but it came out right there, into kitchen sink, before she even had a chance to run to the bathroom.

Feeling a bit better, Sydney leaned on the kitchen bench to steady herself against the swaying room. She hadn't woken up like this since that one time in her freshman year.

This was at least better than the numbness.

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Her headache was still there and the eye drops had helped reduce the puffiness, so overall, she felt close to normal. Plus, attending a meeting at an underground branch of an international organized crime syndicate, where you're undercover as a double agent, is always a good reason to sober up quickly.

"Sydney," greeted Sark, hands in his pockets and was wearing a smirk on his face, as she made her way to her workspace.

Giving him not even the slightest acknowledgement, she placed her bag down and took off her jacket.

Undeterred Sark went on, "You seemed to have partied late last night..." and still no response, "Look, I know we haven't exactly started on the right foot, but I..."

Whirling around to face him, "Listen, get this into that large hollow head of yours. You're nothing more than a block in the toilet, something I have to put up with for now, but with the right tools I'll flush you out to where you belong. So don't talk to me. Don't even look at me," she said, making clear her distaste, and walked off to the meeting room.

Sark was left to consider her words with amusement, he had always loved challenges, 'I'm definitely going to enjoy getting to know her better', he thought to himself, and followed her to the meeting.

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"...Dixon and Sydney, you'll be traveling to Egypt in 2 hours, retrieve this bio-weapon and destroy the plant." finished Sloane.

"Sydney can I have a word."

"Are you alright?" asked Sloane.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just busy with school that's all," she lied.

"Well, you already know how I feel about you taking classes, but if it makes you happy, then I'm happy. You're like a daughter to me, so know that I'm always here if you need anything."

These words made her skin crawl with discuss, for she knew that Sloane would not hesitate to kill her, like he did his wife, if he found out she was betraying SD-6. Swallowing these thoughts, she replied, "Thanks, that means a lot to me, but really, I'm fine." Then left, leaving Sloane to his own thoughts.

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The warehouse was lowly lit and damp as Sydney came to get her counter-mission. To her surprise, her father was waiting there.

"Where's Gibbs?"

"I took care of him," was his only reply.

'What was that suppose to mean', thought Sydney, but she didn't say anything, thinking that it was best to just be glad that at least one of her problems was gone.

"There'll be no time for you to switch the material, so you're going to have to take two samples instead of one, just don't let Dixon know. And Sydney, be careful."

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"Come on Sydney, this whole place is gonna be buried in 5 minutes," coaxed Dixon, as they both ran down the dark corridor, seeking out an exit

But as they took a left turn, Sydney stopped dead in her tracks, and gasped in disbelief, "Vaughn?!"

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TBC

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