CHAPTER TWO: REFLECTIONS

Eleven Days Earlier – The Pit (Location Classified)

How many years had it been now since the "Battle of Chicago" took place, as the team had called it… two years? No, three. It didn't seem that long ago to Snake-Eyes, looking back on it; he'd certainly kept busy with various other dangerous missions – all for the call of duty and the service of country.

But the masked warrior couldn't help but realize that as fast as time had flown right on by, there were also parts of that very same timeline that made the last few years drag on.

Like memories. Painful memories.

Snake-Eyes stood silent with his arms crossed – silent even for him, looking up with sorrow at the Fallen Warrior Memorial through his dark visor. The memorial had once started out as a mere plaque which hung with reverence in the mission briefing room, but General Hawk had recently taken the plaque and attached it to the base of a newly commissioned memorial statue up by the entrance to The Pit – a statue that had been specially made for the unit.

It had only been in place for a few months, but it always got the attention of Snake-Eyes… every time he walked by it. This time was no exception. Very carefully, the eyes of the ninja warrior traced the outline – each subtle curve – of the large, steel soldier bending down on one knee in front of a fallen soldier battlefield cross. He slowly took in every detail of the large statue. His eyes traveled across from the soldier to the rifle planted end-down, resembling a cross sticking out of the ground. The dog tags hanging off of it looked so real that he believed they would actually start swaying if a breeze were to blow gently across it. Snake-Eyes studied the cross… the rifle, the dog tags, the helmet on top of the butt of the rifle, and the single pair of boots at the base.

Several good men had died defending the United States and its principles of freedom; and even though time in some ways had traveled fast, in other ways it felt like forever since he had last seen his comrades-in-arms.

Yes, painful memories.

Snake-Eyes read the inscribed words upon the Fallen Warrior plaque, just like he did before each mission:

THE FALLEN WARRIOR

We stop and pray in remembrance at the final march they made

We fire our rifles and render salute for the final price they paid

Even after the bugle blows and the sound of Taps rings true

We will never forget their sacrifice for the red, the white, and the blue

Short Fuze

Heavy Duty

Air-Tight

I remember you. Each and every one of you. Snake-Eyes memories didn't stop with just those three fallen warriors – but those words rang true for every soldier that Snake had served with that had fallen in battle. Stateside… the Middle East… and wherever else duty called him to go – it didn't matter where you lost a brother or sister. Not one bit.

Worse yet, it seemed like teammates of his were destined to die whenever he took the battlefield, especially when he was in the room. Short Fuze was only a few feet away from Snake-Eyes when the explosion killed him. And Air-Tight… Snake-Eyes knew there was a 50/50 chance that he could have been the target instead.

Snake-Eyes breathed in deeply, and exhaled slow and steady. It was hard to focus on such painful memories, even though he felt that he had to. He owed it to them to do that. To remember them.

Still, there were no more names on the Fallen Warrior plaque than there were three years ago, but Snake-Eyes always made a habit to check it before each mission. He didn't touch it – he never did – but he always checked it, as the names that were still upon it haunted him.

Most of the team did check it, in fact; or at least as far as he could tell. The other unit members also seemed to have a solemn reverence for it. It also didn't hurt that the Fallen Warrior Monument was strategically placed near the exit of The Pit… right next to the doors that every soldier took before embarking on their next mission. There was almost an unwritten rule of silence as each team member walked on by… whether entering The Pit, or exiting. Hawk must have known what he was doing when he had it commissioned and moved to its current location. Sometimes I don't give him enough credit, Snake thought, almost smiling despite his melancholy reflective state. The old man does know what he's doing.

"I thought I'd find you here."

Speaking of which, Snake-Eyes thought. Without so much as turning around, Snake-Eyes recognized the deep, familiar voice of Lieutenant General Hawk. Snake simply nodded his head in a deep, slow reply.

The general quietly chuckled, stepping up next to Snake-Eyes, momentarily paying his own respects in front of the Fallen Warrior Monument.

While looking upwards at the monument, Hawk still had a clear focus at what he needed to tell Snake-Eyes. "Snake, I don't blame you for being upset with me for pulling you off of this mission. And I am sorry you had to find out at the last minute," Hawk said. "I know you were only about two steps away from the door when I had Mainframe page you through the intercom system, and nothing is worse than being psyched and ready for a mission only to find out you're not going. We've all been there."

"But the fact remains that I need you elsewhere. Another last-minute mission popped up. I have your assignment instructions. Are you ready? It's another solo mission this time."

Out of the corner of Hawks eye, he saw Snake-Eyes nod his head.

General Hawk nodded in improvement, turning to face Snake-Eyes. "Good," he said, crossing his arms. "This one is a little different from what you normally do, but it should be relatively straight forward. You know I normally like to use Firewall to welcome the new recruits to The Pit; well, she's out this week on leave. And Rock n' Roll, he's great with the new recruits also, in his charismatic kind of way, but he's busy in Afghanistan." He took a deep sigh, as if he was trying to find the right words to say. "You know our manning has been tapped out with everything that's been going on in the world as of late. There's no easy way to say it, Snake…"

Is he serious? Tell me he's not going to…

"…but you're the man this time. I know there may be a communication barrier between you and the new recruits…"

You think?

"… but all you have to do is show them around The Pit; the insides and out. Firewall is scheduled to be back tomorrow and then she can take over. All you have to do is show them around tonight. I know this assignment isn't exactly taking on a clan of ninjas or jumping out of a plane without a parachute but… nonetheless, the mission's the mission." Hawk knew Snake would not take this well; in fact, Snake-Eyes did not move, did not budge, and did not so much as bat an eye (at least Hawk thought… it was always hard to read him underneath his mask).

Babysitting… really? You've got to be kidding me.

Slow and methodically, Snake-Eyes nodded his head with clear displeasure. He was far from pleased but genuinely tried to suck it up. An order was an order no matter how backwards it might be. Why he was chosen for this mission was beyond him. A list of names of much more qualified and suitable candidates that were available for this "assignment" flooded through his mind. Every time he thought that he had Hawk figured out…

"I knew I could count on you, Snake. Thanks for taking one for the team this time. I'll make it up to you… maybe throw in a few days leave for you in the near future? I believe the last time you asked for leave was three years ago… and only for a single night, if my memory serves correctly? I'm guessing you are way overdue." General Hawk smiled, turning and patting Snake on the shoulder before walking away. "The recruits are on their way and should be here within the hour. Good luck, Snake."

Something about that look on General Hawks face didn't sit well with Snake. Almost as if he was enjoying this moment and covering it up; as if he had an ace up his sleeve in the big game… and wasn't about to share.

I can't believe they pulled me off a real-world mission to walk around some brand new recruits just to show them where the chow hall and bathrooms are. Snake, no longer masking his irritation now that the boss had left… and only out of pure respect for the old Tomahawk, circled his neck in a futile attempt to relieve a bit of tension. Fine. Let's get started, and get this over with.

In one quick motion, Snake took in a deep breath and rotated his shoulders, dropping his parachute and survival vest to the ground with a singular motion. Guess I won't need it for this mission.

----

This must be them. The military vehicle approached under the cover of darkness; it was difficult to spot, at first – the blinding headlights masked the outline and type of vehicle, especially with the bright reflection off of the heavily falling snow. Still, he figured it was a safe assumption that these were the new recruits being dropped off. Snake-Eyes stood still and quiet like an alert sentry. The patient warrior seemed oblivious to the snow collecting on his broad and powerful shoulders, as if he were an old and ancient statue continually exposed to the elements winter after winter.

The transport vehicle came to a sliding stop on the slushy ground. The headlights still shone brightly, interfering with his night vision. Snake-Eyes saw two silhouettes exit the vehicle, one by one.

It wasn't surprising that there were only two new recruits; the most Snake-Eyes had ever seen arrive at any given time was four. Hundreds of applicants were selected at a time, but very few of them had what it took to qualify for the team.

Snake-Eyes carefully studied each of the two new members as best as he could given the circumstances without so much as moving his head.

The first was male, dressed up in ABUs. Tall, lanky. Standard, Snake thought. He observed carefully as Tall and Lanky grabbed his gear out of the jeep, watching him swing it over his shoulder with an awkward balance.

Snake let out a quiet moan of disappointment as tall and lanky seemed to be struggling with the weight of the over-sized gear. NOT infantry… clearly. This one must really have a special talent if he made this team. Computer specialist, no doubt.

His name tape was hard to read at this distance… started with a "D". D… Daemon. What kind of name is that? Must have misspelled his name with that misplaced "a".

Tall and lanky… Daemon, walked away from the vehicle and towards Snake-Eyes; behind them, Snake could barely see the second recruit stepping out. Let's hope this next one has more promise.

The second recruit was a bit shorter than Daemon, but slung their personal gear (of which was the same size as Daemons, Snake noted) over their shoulder with ease and marched forward without missing a step. Better, Snake thought.

Daemon was clearly nervous as he stood in front of Snake-Eyes, standing motionless at attention. He was already sweating despite the cold frigid air – most likely from nervousness and the strain of carrying the big bag; even his glasses were fogging up from his own body heat, but he dared not move so much as an inch in order to wipe them clean. Snake couldn't help but smile underneath his mask… a smile hidden to Daemon. Poor guy. First day always sucks. Well, we'll get you inside as soon as the second recruit steps up so you don't get sick when your sweat freezes to your body.

Snake could now tell that the second recruit was wearing an Army dress uniform; whoever it was walked straight and tall, with an air of confidence.

He couldn't read the name tag on this one as quickly as he read Daemons nametape since it was a little smaller and darker. Typical. Dress uniforms always had smaller writing than the ABU nametapes, and the shinier background actually made it harder to read at night.

But when she stepped up, side by side with Daemon, it became a little easier to read. He felt his neck straining forward as he did a double-take… No, I must have read it wrong.

The jeep drove off, leaving the two recruits side by side with the warrior in black. He sighed with relief; without the blinding glare of the headlights he could see them both much more clearly.

His eyes refocused on the second recruit as his eyesight adjusted, forgetting Daemon was even there. Reading her name tag for a third time, and looking up at her face, there was no mistaking who she was.

Every hair on the back of Snake-Eyes neck stood up as if struck with a serious case of déjà-vu.

Scarlett…

Snake-Eyes initial thought… when his knees regained full stability and his mind was again capable of producing thought, was, She looks amazing.

She did. Her vibrant red hair was shorter, falling just past her chin – part of the reason (along with the darkness and blinding headlights) Snake-Eyes didn't initially recognize her. But he should have... How did I miss it? She still had the same tilt to her smile, and she still held her chin high, like a little lady. She was a little taller than he remembered – she was a little leaner than he remembered, too. Her cheekbones remained high and elegant, her eyes like jewels in the beautiful frame of her face.

Snake-Eyes second thought was, What is going on?! He'd had several dreams of Shana before, but… this was simply too surreal to be one of his dreams. He could barely move. It felt like he couldn't breathe; had he not been able to see the constant cold fog that his breath generated in the chilly nighttime air, he would have truly believed that his breathing had stopped altogether.

The red-headed recruit stood before Snake-Eyes, her emerald eyes looking straight through his black visor and into his eyes.

Daemon, quite uncertain of himself and a bit uncertain of how to respond to the mysterious man in black, whipped out a sharp, crisp salute… snapping Snake-Eyes back to reality.

Snake-Eyes, seeing movement out of the corner of his eye, turned his head slowly from recruit number two to recruit number one and stared at Daemon… making absolutely no other motion – not even blinking – let alone giving a response to his salute.

Scarlett, turning to Daemon, let out a quiet laugh. Her slender hand reached up to Daemons hand, gently pushing it back downwards to his side, whispering in his ear, "he might deserve a salute, but he's enlisted, not an officer."

Looking at Scarlett, and then Snake-Eyes… and then back to Scarlett, Daemon seemed even more confused.

Judging by his body language, Scarlett could tell that he wanted to ask, "How can you tell??"

Scarlett smiled softly. Snake-Eyes didn't exactly have any rank displayed on his all-black uniform… if one could even call it a true military uniform. Answering his unasked question, she quietly told Daemon, "Trust me on this one…"

----

Snake-Eyes initial reaction was to brush the snow out of Shana's red hair now that they were inside The Pit, gradually warming up, but somehow… he kept his hand in check, as difficult as that was to do. He practically had to turn his hand into a fist and lock it against the side of his body to prevent it from popping up. After all, this woman in front of him that he once knew as a young girl now had three golden chevrons – she was an E-5 in the United States Army. He couldn't believe how quickly she had achieved the rank of Sergeant… then again, he didn't even realize she had joined the military. As if that wasn't enough, she proudly displayed a Ranger patch on her uniform.

She was just a little older, a little tougher, and a little more experienced than she once was before. In fact, judging by her name tape, she was now known as Scarlett – her unit code name. But Snake-Eyes couldn't help but remember several years back with an almost primeval pain the way she'd looked with her face turned upwards to him, soft-eyed, streaked by dust and tears: "But if there's any way I can be someone that people can count on to have their back… someone like you, or Stalker, or… or any of your team, not someone who has to be rescued and dragged around crying… that's the kind of person I want to be."

"Someone like you, or Stalker, or any of your team."

Though that moment had occurred years ago, he remembered it as if it were only yesterday. Not for a moment had Snake-Eyes thought she'd meant it literally.

Snake-Eyes should have been angry. He should have been downright furious. He had been corresponding with her over the last three years while she was supposedly taking law classes at Yale and working on her law degree. Apparently when she said she was "at class", it had a completely different meaning. Of course, he knew it was deliberate, intentional deception – no way she could write this one off as a genuine accident or miscommunication. She simply threw him an intentional curve ball he was not expecting, nor was he willing to handle. At least gracefully.

He could feel his body heat intensifying, and not because they were out of the snow and inside a warm, heated room. All traces of snow on his uniform had melted away and became nothing more than water drops – most likely, because of his boiling blood and increased body temperature.

And Hawk…! He had to have known about this as the unit Commander… which also explained why he was acting strange earlier. But why he didn't tell Snake-Eyes she was coming… He set me up.

Snake-Eyes crossed his arms, took a half-step forward, and tilted his head a degree or two down – the way a cobra might look downward at its prey the moment before it strikes. Looking down at Shana… Scarlett, his icy gaze could practically be seen through his visor. His body motion was easy to express; and, he knew, it was even easier for her to read.

Without so much as raising a finger – let alone communicating via American Sign Language – his stance, raised shoulders, tightened biceps and the steam coming off of his body all conveyed one word in unison:

EXPLAIN.

Daemon actually lost his military bearing and took a step back. If he was uncomfortable before… well, this time he was looking around for an exit and seriously contemplating whether or not he should make a run for it.

Shana, on the other hand, remained unfazed. Intimidation was the furthest thing from her mind. In fact, she stood in front of him in a pleasant manner, looking up at him with a gentle gracefulness, turning her soft pink lips into a lovable smile.

"Hi, Snake," she said, softly with her tender voice.

Her voice… now that was something that was familiar. Then her eyes flickered into just a hint of that teasing smile that still sweetened his dreams, at least sometimes. "I missed you, big man."

I missed you too. I didn't mean too – I didn't want too… but I did. His thoughts betrayed him.

She seemed to have a way of getting him to settle down, and he knew it. Almost as if it was an unconscious habit, he relaxed his shoulders, and his arms lowered to his side.

What could he say to her? What should he say? Daemon's head was snapping back and forth with the force with which he was looking between them, still subconsciously leaning away ever so slightly from Snake-Eyes. As if Tall and Lanky couldn't stop himself, he blurted, "Uh… you already know him, Sergeant?"

Shana burst out in a delighted peal of laughter. And, much to his own surprise, Snake-Eyes found himself smiling, too.

*We've… met,* he signed, to the puzzled Daemon, still looking at the redhead in front of him. *Shana…*

She stopped him by raising a hand. "First of all… I guess it's Scarlett, now."

Scarlett. This is going to take some getting used to.

She grimaced, as if she could somehow read what he was thinking. "Loooong story. Nothing to do with… um… those days. And second… I know you're going to scold and be mad, but… maybe you could do it on the trip up?"

If she was thinking that his being angry was going to stop with an elevator ride up to her quarters, she had another thing coming. Right now, he was too lost in disbelief to be truly angry, but… he knew his hands were jerky when he signed, *So other than getting oriented and moved in, how are you spending your leave before your… duties start?*

But it was so hard to keep anger wrapped properly around him when she smiled like that. He tried… he wanted to be; she deserved it, after all. Did she ever deserve it.

She'd always been so distracting, such a weakness, but there was a resolve to her that he hadn't seen before—a certain poise. "At your mountain cabin, of course," Shana replied, sweetly. "You promised me a vacation up there, remember? A little birdie told me you were overdue for some time, yourself…"

Daemon was openly gaping. Snake-Eyes stopped that with a firm look at the boy through his visor. He didn't let on, but it was the only way he was stopping himself from gaping.

It took a moment for him to realize that he'd been speaking in ASL, at his normal conversational speed, and she'd definitely understood what he was saying. Apparently, her telling him that she'd enrolled in an ASL class and started volunteering with deaf children hadn't been fiction.

Snake-Eyes stared at her. She was biting her lower lip and looking away—he remembered the way her brows had furrowed, adorably, when she'd tried to figure out that word, 'vacation.'

But her eyes were softer than that hard-edged emerald competence when she peeked up at him through her lashes. "Unless…" her voice was soft and uncertain. "…you'd rather I spend my leave elsewhere?"

Did he? Yes. Yes, she was a distraction, she'd always been a distraction, and she'd always be a distraction. But…

But suddenly, the thought of showing her his small wooden cabin, watching the wonder on her face when the sun broke over the mountains and painted the trees and the lake with red and gold… wasn't that something he'd thought of, wistfully, so many times over the years? He'd just been joking with her when he'd first mentioned it, but maybe the joke had been on him—he hadn't been able to get the idea out of his mind, since that day.

Snake-Eyes knew the honesty of it was written across his entire posture when he signed, *There's no-one I'd rather have with me.*

He'd thought that their communication by letters had gone well, but… obviously they had a lot to catch up on. He eyed her hands—the smattering of old scars there, mingled with ones he didn't remember. A lot.

Out of the corner of Snake's eyes, Daemon jumped when Shana squealed with delight. She clapped both hands over her mouth, immediately afterwards. Darn it, she thought to herself. I really thought I'd broken that habit.

It was a terrible habit—a cute one in a young girl, admittedly, but a Sergeant of the United States Army—and of course she was a Ranger, too —was not the same thing as a young girl.

Snake-Eyes frowned. *This isn't R&R,* he warned. *You're not just going to be playing up at my cabin—if you're going to stay with the team, you need a few skills that the Rangers didn't teach you.*

Her gaze was calm, and surprisingly steady. "I'm not afraid of hard work," she told him, simply, without exaggeration or emotion. She said it in a way he could believe.

Snake crossed his arms again, and eyed her up and down… sizing her up and determining the validity of her last statement.

*Don't think you're not in trouble, Shana,* he added, sternly.

This time, he got more than a flicker of emotion out of her—warmth rolled over her cheeks in that familiar annoyed flush, and a crackle of heat sparked in her gaze, like lightning. Her being angry stripped this new, serene Shana from her familiar face and replaced it with someone he knew—someone whom he'd ordered to run, and who, instead, had refused and instead pulled a crossbow off a pawnshop shelf.

Yes, this was going to be… interesting. Very, very, interesting indeed.

Shana rolled her eyes exaggeratedly—but by the time she snapped, "Yes, daddy," in that familiar, annoyed yet sarcastic growl, Snake-Eyes had finally started laughing.