Hey, it's the author. Just thought you'd like to know that I will not be describing any existing ;character in The Expendables, considering that if you are reading this, you already know what they look like. I do not own anything other than my OC, Verin (a.k.a Rayne)
Gulf of Aden, Somalia.
The cage was cold and damp; the little water there was sloshed from one side to the other in time with the swaying of the boat. The dark lumps that sat in the back of the cage, shivered and huddled together, thoroughly terrified of their captors. One of them, however, stood out from the shaking men. It was a woman, and unlike the others she sat by herself in a corner, legs spread apart and arms resting on them in a position of confidence.
It was this confidence that had caused many bruises and cuts to appear on her olive-toned skin. Her long dark hair was slightly tangled, and was tied back with a few pieces of hair falling on either sides of her face. When the sound of footsteps coming down the metal stairs reached her ears, her eyes flashed up; their forest green depths filled with…anticipation and excitement.
'So they finally got bored, hmm?' I thought. I mentally grinned. 'Ross and the others had better get here soon, or they won't get any fun.' I knew that I was only supposed to prevent the pirates from killing these stupid diplomats, but there was nothing that said I couldn't kill the pirates instead.
One of the pirates grabbed my arm roughly, and pushed me down another flight of stairs into the cargo hold. One of them groped my ass, and I narrowed my eyes in anger. 'I will cheerfully gut you and decapitate you with a fucking spoon when I get untied.' I thought venomously. Unfortunately I couldn't say my lovely sentiments to his face considering I was gagged, not to mention tied at the wrists.
All of us hostages were lined up, and a video camera was set up to record our untimely deaths. At least, that's what the pirates thought. I heard a slight shuffling coming from the balcony, and grinned, not that anyone could tell because of the damned gag. The gang was here. I turned my attention to the leader of the pirates as he started speaking.
"We have had these men for too long," he said, his dark face expressing anger, and irritation, "Three months!" His expression twisted into a mocking disappointment. "Too, too long." He said shaking his head. "Someone here must pay…now!"
One of the hostages on the floor started whimpering in fear. 'What a pansy…but if I didn't know I would be saved, I would probably be depressed too. I just wouldn't whimper like a girl who just got her fucking Barbie taken away. '
"Your company had time to pay," the leader said mockingly to us, then turned back to the camera with an expression of disgust on his face. "You do not care about your people…don't want them." The man that had whimpered earlier was dragged to the leader, and he grabbed him by the hair, and raised his machete threateningly.
"We do not care!" He yelled, and his subordinates mimicked him, thinking that it made them seem scarier. To me it just seemed that they were all puppets, not able to think for themselves at all. They were rather pathetic, actually. They all become quiet once more as the leader starts to speak again.
"The blood they bleed," he raised his machete in preparation of cutting down the man cowering on the floor, "is for you!" His downward swing was halted in surprise as, simultaneously, a duffel bag hit the floor and red lasers were pointed at the leader. His underlings were shouting in confusion with their guns raised, but he quickly told them to basically shut up. I silently applauded Ross for a dramatic entrance.
In sick curiosity, the leader slowly raised his hand, and smirked appreciatively as two of the lasers steadily remained in the center of his hand. Then in a sudden movement, he brought his hand to his chest. "Don't shoot me." He said, confidently. 'Please, shoot him.' I begged in my thoughts, wanting to see that bastard blown away.
"What is that?" He said, gesturing to the bag. "There's your money, release the hostages." Ross was in what I liked to call the 'if-you-don't-do-what-I-want-I-will-blow-you-away' mode. This made his voice sound bored, yet dangerous at the same time. The combination never failed to send shivers down my spine. "How much in there?" The leader asked. I had the sudden urge to tell him that his English was fucking terrible. At least Ross wasn't that- "Three" Ross called out.
I swear, my eye was twitching with annoyance. If I wasn't in this situation, I would've slapped him over the head. "You're too late. We want five million dollars!" I resisted the urge to roll my eyes, if only to not get shot. Because of the fact I was in silence for a month, my sensitive ears could pick up Christmas's extremely sarcastic words. "What d'ya know, a greedy pirate."
I chuckled a bit, and regretted it when one of the pirate lackeys hit me on the head. Stars burst in front of my eyes, and I mentally yelled a string of curses. "Last chance, take it or leave it." Ross said. That only seemed to make the leader even angrier. "We want our money, now!" He yelled, bringing his blade dangerously close to the poor hostage's neck.
I heard a large gun being loaded, and guessed what was going to happen next. "Warning shot!" Gunner yelled. Ross protested, but Gunner had already pulled the trigger. My eyes went wide as the leader's torso hit the wall behind him, with his entrails being flung everywhere in a spray of blood behind his legs. What the hell had Gunner invented? Wait, it was probably Hale. The dark-skinned man had a passion for big guns. I wonder what this one was called. "Little low." Gunner loudly commented.
'Little low? You blew a man into two fucking pieces! I don't think it matters if the shot was a little low!' I thought to myself. The pirates panicked and shot at the balcony. Little cans dropped onto the floor and began giving off smoke. 'So they decided to steal from my cache, huh? Dammit, I'll get them for that!' I thought, my eyes burning with anger.
I had a private stash of various weapons in my apartment, and I didn't appreciate them taking anything without consulting me first. "Lights out." Ross said, and they targeted most of the light switches. The lights all went out and the shooting continued. 'I swear, if I get shot, I'm going to cheerfully murder them.'
Just as I thought that, a bullet tears into my shoulder, and my eyes widen in momentary pain. A rough hand grabs the same shoulder, and drags me towards where I assume the pirates were. The lights flash on again, and the boys were on the ground and hurriedly taking off their night vision goggles. They were in a half circle with Ross in the middle, Christmas and Toll on his left, and Hale and Yang on his right. My anger increases as I recognize the goggles as part of my private arsenal.
'Dammit, don't they hold any respect for other people's property?' I ranted to myself some more until I realized that there was a blade pressed to my neck. "I'll kill him; I swear I'll kill him!" A pirate to the left of me yelled. The boys just stared at him with their guns trained on his face.
I could tell that the new leader was getting anxious as he yelled at them to drop their guns. "Fat chance." Christmas said with a smirk. "Yeah that'll happen." Toll added. I snorted in amusement, and instantly regretted it when the pirate that had a hold of me kicked me down to the floor. None of the guys bothered to glance at me. 'It's nice to have friends who care.' I thought sarcastically.
"Last chance. Let the hostages go, or you're outta there." Ross warned. He holstered his weapon, and the pirate seemed to gain confidence. 'He didn't holster his gun because he's afraid of you, bastard. He holstered it because he doesn't think you're a threat.' I thought disdainfully. Damn I wish I didn't have this gag on. I could have a running commentary.
"Slide the money here, to me!" The pirate demanded, stomping his foot like an impetuous child. Christmas's eyes narrowed in concentration. "I'll take the four on the left." He said, just loud enough for the pirates to hear. The one holding me visibly jerked in fear. "Why don't you take the two on the right and leave the rest alone." Ross said, a hint of annoyance in his voice.
"I'll kill him, I don't care!" The pirate yelled, he was obviously scared and was trying to hide it behind bravado. 'If you didn't care that you would become a murderer, then you would've killed him a long time ago.' I thought, ranking the pirate at the bottom of my respect list.
"You should take the two on the right; you're not that fast anymore." Christmas said, completely ignoring the pirate. "The only thing faster is light." Ross bragged, unclipping his holster. "We'll see." Christmas replied, obviously not believing Ross. "Bullets go faster than blades." Ross insisted, the look of amused annoyance on his face.
"Bring the money here, now!" The pirate yelled, angered at the fact they were ignoring him. "You want the money? Go and get it." Ross said reasonably. The tension grew higher and higher until…a cellphone buzzed. What the hell? Ross turned to Christmas, with that very same thought written all over his face. "What's that?" He asked, obviously wanting to hear the answer. "Getting a text." Christmas said, his expression still serious. "Excuse me?" Ross said, probably confused as to why Christmas had a cellphone on him at this time.
The pirate had finally reached his breaking point, and yelling, brought the knife towards the hostage's neck. In less than half a second, Ross and Christmas had shot or knifed the remaining pirates. They relaxed from their tense stances and started walking towards us hostages.
"Eh, call it a tie." Christmas conceded. "Keep dreaming." Ross scoffed. "These guys are arrested development." Toll said, whatever the hell that meant. "A little compassion folks." Hale reprimanded them. Ross and Christmas turned to look at him, then finally stopped in the middle of the dead pirates.
"You know, I don't think you hit one of them." Christmas lied. There were obvious bullet holes in all of the pirates, but Christmas was too prideful to admit it. "I don't see any knives, actually." Ross commented. I had finally gotten rid of my gag and at this point I decided to put in my two cents worth.
"Bastard, that's because I caught one in my fucking shoulder!" I yelled at them. One of Christmas's blades had missed my captor and lodged itself in my already injured shoulder. They all turned to look at me, and Hale whistled. "Damn Rayne, they did a number on you." He said, probably referring to the multiple bruises, cuts, ripped clothing, and wounded shoulder.
"Yeah, yeah, now someone help me the fuck up so I can kick your asses for stealing my stuff. Do you know how long it took me to make those smoke bombs?" Ross shrugged, and untied me, pulling me up so I could stand on my feet. The moment I got my balance, I swung at Christmas with my uninjured left arm, punching him in the jaw.
"That was for hitting me with your damned knife. Practice your aim!" I scolded him. He just rolled his eyes. "How you guys doing?" Gunner called from the balcony. Wait, what the hell is he doing?
"What the hell's he doing?" Ross asked, taking the words right out of my mouth. "Hanging a pirate." Christmas said as if that explained everything. "Don't be ridiculous." Ross said. "You know, that actually makes sense, in a sick and twisted way." I commented, getting 'what the fuck' stares. I just shrugged.
"Gunner. What're you doing?" Ross asked, hoping to get a reasonable answer. "Hanging a pirate." Gunner yelled back, with a grin on his face. I just gave Ross an 'I told you so' look, and left it at that. "That is seriously demented." Toll said, an appalled look on his face. "This is no good." Yang said, I didn't even bother correcting him on his grammar. "You're on your own." Christmas said walking away too. Hale had already left, probably to go start the boat. I just sat on the ground, leaning against his legs and closed my eyes.
"Appreciate it. It's good to have friends." He commented sarcastically. I just smiled. "Gunner." He yelled, catching his attention. "Yeah?" "This isn't how we work. Let him go." Ross said, a hint of regret in his voice.
"Why? He'd do it to us. Right, Rayne?" Gunner reasoned. I just ignored him and snuggled into Ross's leg. He smelled like nothing I'd ever smelled before. It was a scent unique to him, and I liked it. All of a sudden, he was gone, and I had to catch myself from falling
"Let him go, Gunner." I heard Ross say. "Let him go?" Gunner asked, like a child that was unsure of what to do. "Let him go." Ross assured him. I heard a knife being put into its sheath and assumed that Gunner had tried to kick someone's ass again. "Who was it this time?" I yelled up to the balcony. "Yin Yang." I was told. I contemplated that for a moment.
"Dammit, Gunner! You cost me my short nap!"
On our airplane, heading back to our city, 80's rock and roll music was playing in the background. Toll was reading a book called the Survivor's Club, with glasses on the bridge of his nose. Honestly, it made him look twenty years older. Yang's texting on his phone, I wonder who he's talking to. It'd be interesting to find out.
Hale, as usual, is checking his ammunition. Who knows what he's inventing next. I was at the front, sitting on the floor in between Ross and Christmas, drinking a beer. I don't even know what kind because the label was ripped off. Ross was smoking a cigar and flying the plane, and Christmas was fidgeting in his seat, looking back at Gunner.
"If you keep fidgeting like that, I'm going to knock you off your chair. You're making me anxious, dammit!" He just ignores me and looks to Ross. "Think he's cool?" He asked. "Be careful, go." Ross affirmed. Christmas grabs Gunner's knife, and makes his way back. I take a drink, finishing my beer and put it beside me.
Ross glances down, and chuckles softly. "You gotta lay off the booze, Rayne. It's gonna kill you one day." I just scoff; eighteen beers wouldn't even make me tipsy. "If anything's going to kill me, it'll be your grammar." I remember something, and smack Ross on his abs. "What was that for?" He asked. I roll my eyes and reply. "That was for stealing my stuff without asking." I had him two beers, and he looks at me confused.
"It's for when Christmas gets back. A manly toast will do him good." I leave it at that, and leaned my head back against his leg, then drifted asleep.