Shana O'Hara, code named Scarlett, was dying. She knew it as she felt the bullets tear into her abdomen and the femoral artery in her left leg. If they weren't enough, the one ton beam that fell on her legs, pinning and crushing her sealed her fate.
Roadblock sobbed as he tried to push it off, but even he, BeachHead and Lifeline together couldn't budge it. Scarlett knew this was it. She weakly shoved at Roadblock's arm, "Get out of here, I'll cover you." She heard her voice slurring as she started drifting away, the blood loss already taking its toll. The huge man sank to his knees, "No Red, we can't leave you!"
"Marvin, you have to get out, Rashida needs you." Using the name of his beloved fiancée made him hang his head and BeachHead put a hand on his shoulder. "We can't save her. We have to let her go!" Scarlett saw the sadness in his eyes too. He may be a hardass, but he took his responsibility to those under his command VERY seriously and it killed him to lose anyone.
Roadblock looked at BeachHead, tears in his eyes. "How am I going to tell Snake eyes I left her here?" Scarlett, for all that she was dying, puzzled over that for a moment. But a few more explosions spurred them into action. "We gotta get out!! Go!!!" All three men turned to give her one more look of regret and sadness and BeachHead gave her a salute of respect and then they were gone. Scarlett lay there, her breathing slowing, her heart beginning to falter when her peripheral vision caught movement. It took tremendous effort to turn her head to see Storm Shadow standing there, just looking at her. His onyx eyes unreadable she was wary, but knew she had no strength to defend herself from an attack. He had no such intention. Instead he slowly lowered himself on one knee. "I am sorry little one. You deserved better." At that point he gently grasped her hand and stroked her hair out of her eyes. Her eyes blurred and fluttered shut as if from far away she heard him quietly say, "Goodbye."
--
Her heart pumped once, twice, then no more. And all went black.
Suddenly a bright flash in the darkness, then another. A deep, hot pain, bone deep all over. A skin searing pain over her left breast. Then the feel of being grabbed by her arm and pulled sharply upward.
She bolted upright, screaming. Her eyes flew wide open and she immediately regretted it as the sunlight was blinding and caused her eyes to water. She slowly blinked and stared in utter bewilderment at her surroundings. She was in the middle of an open field, nothing around but grass, brush and trees. She could feel the rocks and dirt under her as she sat more fully upright. That was when she realized she was naked. She was more concerned when she looked at where her injuries were. Where she had mortal bullet wounds, the only evidence remaining were small puckered white scars, totally healed. Then she saw the tattoo and the handprint. The tattoo was a five pointed star, a pentagram surrounded by a circle of flames. And she had never seen it before. The handprint was the size of a large male hand, looking like a raised burn, in a spot she could not have possibly done it to herself. Her heart slamming in her chest she mumbled to herself. "What the Hell happened to me?!"