Hi folks! So, I just finished watching all three Expendable movies, and I couldn't help but get this idea. This is before the third movie but after the second. It's AU of course. I always appreciate helpful reviews, but please don't jump ahead of me before I write the next chapter. This is my first fanfiction for this fandom, so please be kind! My plan is to delve deeper into the lives of each Expendable (my version of course), so I hope you enjoy! Without further ado, I present: Expendables Exposed.

The plane glided along smoothly until it hit a bit of turbulence. Barney bounced in his seat while Lee's head lolled to the left. Barney smirked to himself. Lee always fell asleep on the longer plane rides. His hand twitched, however, his fingers near the handle of his knife that was never far from him. You just never knew. The others were in the back either reading, sleeping, or doing other things to stay awake or distracted. The plane bounced again, causing the bunch of necklaces in the back to jangle again. Barney flinched inwardly. Lee always said he should take them down and put them somewhere else where he could remember the fallen, but Barney wanted them right there. He could almost feel them there with him. He tapped his fingers on the wheel. Their next mission was going to be a cakewalk as far as he was concerned. As usual, his mind started to wander.

Will you always remember me?

Always.

It was hard not to flash back to the past. Barney did his best not to. It never helped, but right now, he couldn't help it.

Just go!

I'm not leaving!

Go, Barney! GO!

"Barney?"

Barney jolted back to the present. He swiveled to see Toll Road standing there looking at him.

"Yea?"

"You all right?"

"Just fine."

"You've got that look in your eye."

"What look is that?"

"The one that says you're thinking of something painful," Toll answered. Barney just chuckled.

"I've seen a lot of painful things," he said. Toll lifted his head to look at the dangling chains. He remembered a few of the fallen from when he started. He looked over at Lee who was now snoring a little.

"For a big warrior he sure sleeps like a little kitten," Toll joked.

"He's tuckered out. Lacy kept him busy."

"Can't believe he stayed with her after all that."

"It's not our business," Barney reminded him. He did share some concern, though, but Lee was hell bent on marrying her.

"Maybe not, but he's one of our brothers, and we protect our own," Toll went on. "I don't wanna have to pull him out of a bar somewhere cos he's drinking himself to death after she leaves him."

"I will handle that then," Barney promised.

"We getting close?" Toll asked, changing the subject. He peered into the darkness.

"Yup. Saddle up," Barney said. Toll went back to alert the other two. Yin Yang had not returned to their crew after disappearing over China from their last mission. Barney missed him.

"Hey, Christmas," Barney said loudly. Lee snored on. "Yo!" Lee gave a snort and turned his head the other way. Barney just shook his head. Bombs could go off and Lee wouldn't wake up sometimes. Yet...

"I'm gonna slit your throat," Barney whispered.

"You wish," Lee answered, opening an eye and staring at him. "You'd be dead before you reached for your knife."

"How is it that you wake up to that and not me yellin' at ya?" Barney asked.

"One of God's great mysteries," Lee answered, straightening out in his seat. "We there?"

"In five."

"Perfect."

...

In and out. It was that simple. Barney crept along the shoreline carefully with the others crouched near the front of the boat. He had scoped out this island from aerial views, and he knew they had about one shot to get this right before being swarmed. Church always gave him the hard ones, or at least he thought he did. Barney had gotten out alive from Vilena and Bulgaria. He was sure he'd make it out of this one too. He slowed the boat down to a halt. He had to hand it to Church. The guy knew how to pick a quiet boat. Toll Road, Lee, and Barney hopped off onto the shoreline while Gunner and Caesar carried on in the boat. The three slunk through the bush expertly and quietly. Their subject was in the middle of the island in the basement. A hostage of course. Church always seemed to be getting his men out of trouble. Once the cabin was in sight, Lee and Toll moved to give cover if needed. Barney surged ahead alone.

...

Flashback

"Barney!" Gunfire exploded around everyone. Barney barely heard his name over it. He looked around wildly until he was able to see the source of the shout. The person was shot down, and Barney raced to their side.

"No!" he screamed. "No, no, no!" He clutched his fallen partner to his chest.

"Will you always remember me?"

"Don't say that. We'll get out of here..."

"It's too late for me."

"No, it's not."

"Barney..."

"We're going."

"You go on. I'll only drag you down."

"I'm not."

"Just go!"

"I'm not leaving!"

"Go, Barney! GO!"

"NO!"

"YES!" Hands gripped at his collar. The words were whispered in his ear again. "Promise you'll always remember me." Barney felt as though he was dying inside. Not another one. He couldn't lose another one, especially this one. The answer was on his lips, and it needed to be heard in order to give peace, so he spoke.

"Always."

...

Present

Barney quickly killed the first two guards on the outside before stepping into the cabin. Too easy. He killed another sleeping on the kitchen chair and the other leaning propped against the wall in the hallway. What were these guys, amateurs? Barney found the door leading to the basement, and he went down the stairs slowly. He expected more guards than this. Something was wrong. His arms were tingling in that way that confirmed something was definitely up. There was a lone figure sitting in a chair in the middle of the room. If this was Trench again, Barney was gonna have a few words to say to the guy. He stepped forward carefully. This was almost too easy.

"Freeze!"

There it was. Barney froze, arm outstretched and almost within reach of the victim. He turned to see five men pointing guns at him. Where the hell did they come from?

"Weapons down!"

Right. Cos he was about to do that. Things were gonna get messy after this. So much for a covert mission. Barney swung around, unleashing his gun quickly and taking down all five within seconds. Then he sliced off the ropes binding the person to the chair. It was hard to see in the dark, but Barney almost thought the victim was a woman.

"Thank you."

Yup. Definitely a woman. Strange. Was it Maggie?

"You can thank me later after we get out of here," Barney said. He tugged on the woman's arm. "Let's go."

"Wait!" she cried. She pulled from his grasp, and he could hear her picking up something. Then a gun being loaded sounded in the dark.

"You ready now?"

"Yes. I'm not one for being unarmed," she answered. They went up the stairs together. Barney's gunfire had caused a lot of unwanted attention to rain down on them. So much for easy.

...

"What the hell, Barn?" Lee muttered, watching as the men came running like ants to sugar. Why could they never just leave a mission without having to kill half a damn army?! Lee set to work. It just wouldn't be a mission either if Lee didn't save Barney's ass at least once. Toll was firing from a distance, taking down stragglers. The knives flew so easily from Lee's hands. It was effortless. Lee did his best to make these men (teenage boys almost in some places) have no faces. He imagined them as robots, not people who had family or loved ones. He wouldn't be able to do what he did if he didn't. Lee was getting annoyed. Where were all these guys coming from?

"TOLL!" he shouted. Two were shot down while trying to catch him. At least someone else was saving his ass. He spotted Barney and a woman standing by the cabin entrance firing away. To top it off, the woman was wearing a dress. Lee could tell from the silhouette from the moonlight. What was going on?! Two more men down. Then three more. Five more. Ten more. It was endless. How were they getting out of this one?

"YAAAAA!" Caesar roared, swinging his big ass gun everywhere, sending bodies flying. Lee had to admit, that gun was cool. Barney saw his opportunity, and he yanked the woman along with him and ran for it past Caesar and towards the lake. Toll was hot on their heels. Lee shoved one more knife into skin before taking off after them. Caesar unloaded his rounds before trotting after them. The gun was heavy after all. Gunner was at the wheel of the boat.

"Come on, come on, come on!" Barney was yelling. Toll, Lee, and Caesar were on board. The woman was resisting for some reason.

"What are you doing?!" Barney shouted.

"Go around! I'll catch up!" she yelled over her shoulder.

"It's her own suicide mission! Get in here!" Lee shouted at Barney, who reluctantly hopped in. Gunner shoved the lever down to full throttle, and they followed her around the island, watching as she shot down more men and grabbed a bag from one of them. Lee was impressed. The woman had gall. They were approaching a dock where the woman was now sprinting down the length of it. Lee knew what was coming next. Sure enough, she leaped, legs flailing, and crashed into the side of the boat while clinging to the rail. Toll pulled her up and in as bullets sprayed their way. Barney, Caesar, and Toll fired back. Gunner whipped them around to head back to where their plane was hiding. Barney prayed they'd make it out alive. He spun his lucky ring on his finger absently. The woman was facing away from him, staring back at where she had come from. Lee watched Barney watching her. He was sure he wasn't the only one admiring her ability to fight. Gunner crashed the boat into the shoreline, causing Toll to topple over into the water. Toll swore at him, but Gunner just ignored him, muttering something about it being hard to navigate in the dark. They set off on foot quickly. It was only a matter of time before reinforcements arrived. Sure enough, bullets went flying as the plane neared their sight.

"Hurry!" Barney shouted. As if they needed encouragement! Lee made a mental note to talk to his friend about that useless kind of speech in a time like this. Toll and Caesar fired back while Gunner helped the woman inside and hopped in himself. Lee and Barney were right behind, and Toll and Caesar brought up the rear. They shut the door before more bullets could hit them. Barney slammed into the seat and started the plane. Lee hurried to the nose where his favorite gun was waiting for him. He let it wreak havoc for a bit before Barney got them up in the air. He crawled back down and fell into his seat with a heavy sigh.

"Close call," he commented. "Thought you said this one was easy?"

"I lied," Barney replied.

"Hey, we got a bleeder over here!" Toll shouted. Barney shoved the plain on auto pilot and rushed to the back where they were huddled around the woman pressing gauze to her arm. When she lifted her head in the light, Barney froze. Their eyes met, and her mouth rounded into a small "O."

"Helena," Barney said finally. Lee's head snapped up in the front. He had heard that name before. He rushed to the back and stopped, watching.

"Hi, Barney," Helena said quietly. Barney's fists were balled, and Lee knew he was angry.

"This isn't happening," Barney said. The others looked at each other, confused. Helena grasped the gauze to her arm tightly as she stood up, facing him.

"It's happening," she confirmed.

"You're dead!" Barney shouted. Lee felt his blood run cold. This was her. This was Helena. The love of Barney's life.

"Clearly not," she disagreed. "I knew this would happen one day."

"Son of a bitch!" Barney roared, punching the wall of the plan before turning to go back to the front seat. Helena stood there looking at Lee apologetically. Lee felt anger as well. Did she have no idea the pain she'd caused Barney? What was happening right now?

"What's going on?" Caesar asked finally, voicing what was on everyone's minds.

"Fellas," Lee said, pointing. "Meet Barney's wife."

So what did you think? I'm sorry if this was done before. I tried to do a scan to see if this was a new idea and didn't see it, but you never know. Anyhow, I plan on diving into the other members' lives in each chapter, so hang on for the ride!