Disclaimer: I don't own the Expendables or the Losers, just my OC, Sky.

The Kids Are Alright

New Orleans, Louisiana

April 25nd, 2011

"Hey Baby-Face, can you help me out here?"

Sky looked up from the story she was reading on her phone and spotted Caesar at the desk in the garage with his big ass canon of a gun spread out on the table and a set of cleaning supplies in front of him. She smiled in his direction and locked her phone and walked over to him, perching herself on the only clear edge of the table to look over the mess. "What do you need help with?"

"I gotta clean out my baby. She's been feeling neglected," Caesar replied, rubbing his large weapon lovingly. "I figured you'd want to help. "

"Yeah, I guess I don't have anything better to do," she replied, pulling over a seat and pointedly ignoring the fact that Caesar referred to his gun as a 'she'. She'd heard Jake call his laptop—well, any electronic device within his grip really—much weirder, so she just learned to stop questioning it and go with the flow.

Caesar grinned at her and tossed her an oiled up rag so she could grab one of the large pieces of the devastating weapon. She started cleaning off the gear in her hands, making sure to get the small edges before her companion started talking again. "If you want I can help you clean your guns later."

"Yeah, I could use the help. I haven't cleaned any of my stuff since the last time I went shooting."

The large man made a noise of disappointment before a look of curiosity crossed over his face. He looked over her simply tank top, jeans and boots and smiled slightly before going back to his cleaning. "How many weapons do you have on your right now?"

"Just five," she answered with a grin. "I thought I'd tone it down since we were home."

"Girl, I feel bad for the next boy that breaks your heart," he muttered, earning a laugh from the brunette.

Sky laughed before looking up at the man. "Speaking of heartbreakers how are Jenny and the twins doing?"

Caesar immediately beamed at the mention of his family. Just a year after joining the Expendables he met Jenny Winters, a personal trainer. It only took six months before the heavy weapons specialist had proposed and after they got married they found out that Jenny was pregnant with twin girls, Haley and Celia. "Oh, they're great. Jenny's busy getting things ready for swimsuit season and the girls are getting ready for Pre-K."

"Pre-K already?"

"Yeah, my baby girls are five years old already, do you believe it?" Caesar asked, looking at the wall, lost in his thoughts. He let out a contented sigh before he went back to work cleaning his guns. "And they've been practicing their soccer skills to show 'Aunt Sky' and 'Uncle Jake' when he gets back on leave."

"Aw, Jake's going to absolutely love that when he gets back."

Caesar nodded his agreement before the two lulled into a comfortable silence, quietly going about their work. It lasted around two minutes before the large man spoke up again. "So, you know anything on this mission Barney's getting us into?"

"Nope, not a thing," she shrugged. "He's meeting with the client today while dad loads up the hangar with more supplies. All I know is that Tool described it as another 'hell and back'."

Caesar groaned. "Another one of those."

"You boys can handle it," Sky encouraged as she swapped out the clean piece for a dirty one to start her task over again. She frowned slightly as her mind drifted to the blonde giant that was officially off the team and she sighed slightly. "Even with a man down." Caesar didn't say anything and for that she was glad. She knew that he was the wise-cracking member of the Expendables and that he normally liked to rib everyone, Gunnar and Yin especially. "I've been putting off calling Jake."

"What are you gonna tell him?"

"I have no idea," she sighed, letting her shoulders slump. "I've gone over this in my head more times than I can count in the past few days and I've got nothing. I've contemplated flying out to his base to tell him in person, but I hate heights and I don't think I want to see the look of disappointment in his face."

"He won't be disappointed in you Baby-Face."

"Yeah he will. I was supposed to take care of Gunnar. I was supposed to make sure that nothing happened and then this."

"None of this is your fault," Caesar assured. "Besides, we can't control what Crankenstein does."

Sky tossed an annoyed look his way and he just shrugged.

The sound of a car roared in the distance before it entered the garage and Sky looked over her shoulder briefly, peeking around a few machines in order to see that Barney's car was back in the garage. The car cut off and Sky smiled, going back to her cleaning, knowing that Barney would call an Expendable meeting soon.

"Vilena? They got any work there?"

Sky's eyes snapped up and met Caesar's that were filled with surprise and confusion. "Isn't that—" Sky jumped forward and clamped a hand on his mouth to stop him from talking and giving away the fact that they were in the garage. What was Gunnar doing back? He didn't look like he had any intention of returning after leaving nearly a week ago. She heard a car door open and shut quickly before she heard voices again.

"C'mon you know you shouldn't be here Gunnar."

"Don't replace me. I'm good. I'm still good."

"You're still using. I can't trust you anymore."

There was a pause.

"You can't trust me? You can't trust me?" Another pause. "Be careful."

"You threatening me Gunnar?"

"Nah… I'm a nice guy."

With that the garage door closed and it became silent again. Sky lowered her hand from Caesar's mouth and sat back in her chair, looking at the heavy weapons specialist. She heard footsteps but didn't bother to turn until she heard Barney's voice.

"How much did you two hear?"

Sky looked over to see that Barney was looking their way in resignation. "Enough," Caesar answered.

Barney sighed. "I'll go get Yin and Toll. Sky, call your dad and tell him to come back for the briefing."

"Going based off the info Church gave me, there are around six thousand people on the island," Barney started explaining as he used a machine to lift an engine to maneuver it over the car he'd been working on. While the others were getting ready for the briefing he'd started working on a car he was restoring, a pet project of his. They were all seated around Barney as he completed his work, all leaning against their respective vehicles, except for Sky who was seated on her dad's motorcycle while he leaned against the desk.

"How many soldiers?" Yin asked.

"Around a hundred or so."

"It wouldn't take much more than that to control a space that small," Toll added in.

Caesar paused in his eating and shrugged. "Great, so they have a small army. What do we got? Four and a half men," he joked, gesturing towards Yin who looked less than pleased while Toll bit back a chuckle and Lee laughed.

"Not so funny," the martial artist said, looking towards the knife thrower. Lee pretended to be intimidated, but Yin quickly ignored him to look at Barney. "I need a raise."

"Why?" Barney asked without hesitation, looping an arm over the edge of the chain holding up the engine so he could lean against it as he puffed at a cigar.

"I need more money for my son," he replied. All the men—and Sky—looked around in confusion and surprise, trying to gauge the reactions of the others. "I want to send him to a better school."

"When did Yin Yang get a family?" Lee asked, verbalizing the question they were all thinking.

"I have no idea," Barney muttered.

"You don't ask, I don't tell."

"Anyway, the pay share stays the same," Barney spoke up, regaining control of the conversation, even while Caesar was tossing off looks to the martial artist. "That's the way it's gonna be. Now the target on this island is a guy named General Garza."

"What's the problem?" Caesar asked.

"Who gives a shit what the problem is?" Toll said harshly. "We've got enough problems right here of our own. We don't get rid of those first, they're gonna get rid of us."

Sky frowned and looked to the man. "You okay there, Toll?"

He just grunted in response.

"Toll Road, when's the last time you saw your analyst?" Barney asked.

"This morning."

"Yeah, what did you talk about?" Lee asked, trying to hide his amusement.

"Avoidant personality disorder," he said after a while.

Yin looked over to the man. "You think too much."

"You know Toll, you're an unusual guy and you're always going to have unusual problems, right?" Barney said, trying to placate the MMA enthusiast.

"Unusual problems? You're talking about my ear."

Simultaneously all the men groaned and started arguing saying that they meant no insult to the ear and that they had heard the ear story numerous times so it wasn't necessary to repeat. Toll wasn't convinced. "Shit no, you guys started this. We all know I wrestled in college. A common injury associated with that sport is trauma to the ear," Toll explained, not at all noticing that Caesar was mouthing the words exactly at the moment that he said them, showing just how many times the heavy weapons specialist had heard that same speech from his partner. "A clot, which if left unattended, causes a contraction in the cartilage and forms cauliflower ears."

"And your point is?" Caesar asked after Toll was done ranting.

"It ain't easy being green."

The men lapsed into a silence.

"Don't worry Toll, it's a sign that you're a badass fighter," Sky piped up as sweetly as she could, which earned a small smile from the demolitions expert. "But Barney, I don't think you were done with the plan yet, were you?"

The Italian shot her a grateful look before nodding. "Thanks Baby-Face. Me and Christmas are going to head down to Vilena to scout the island to see if we should take the job."

"How much do we get paid?" Yin asked again. "I need more money for my family."

"What family?" Barney asked skeptically.

"My family."

Barney held his hands up in the air and walked away, having had too much of his team's antics for one day.

New Orleans, Louisiana

April 27th, 2011

Ducking underneath his fist, Sky rolled on the mat to evade the follow up left hook and to get behind Yin. She went to perform a roundhouse kick but Yin just ducked under it and managed to plant his boot on her butt, knocking her off balance so she tumbled forward. She ducked her neck and managed to roll before turning around only to have her legs swept out from underneath her and her back meet the mat as Yin hit her cheek again. "Better, but still no focus." Sky nodded and allowed herself to be heaved up by the martial artist so she was back on her feet.

Currently they were the only two using the training mats in the garage. Her dad and Barney had gone out that morning to fly to Vilena and Caesar was still out spending time with his family, while Toll was meeting with his analyst again to talk about his avoidant personality disorder. While everyone was out, Yin had noticed that Sky had been antsy, looking towards her phone as if it were a viper and suggested she work through whatever it was she was feeling by training. They'd been at it for around twenty minutes already and she was starting to get tired both emotionally and physically.

Sky circled up with Yin again, trying to clear her mind with no real progress. He shot forward faking a punch to her face which she fell for before he kicked at her knee, causing her to drop onto the ground. He got behind her and wrapped his arm around her throat in a chokehold before she had a chance to even yelp. "What's wrong?"

"Jake," Sky managed to sputter out as he let go of the hold. She fell back onto her but so she was sitting with one knee up and the other leg stretched out in front of her and sighed as Yin sat down in front of her, lotus style. He just waited for her to continue her explanation, completely patient. "I haven't called him yet about Gunnar and I made the decision that I would do it today."

"So do it."

"I just don't want to disappoint him."

"He would be more disappointed if he heard from someone else."

Sky bit her lip, knowing he was right and nodded before flopping down onto her back so she was staring at the ceiling. "Aren't you upset at all by any of this? I mean, Gunnar was your partner."

"Slightly," he admitted. "We may not have been the same, but I considered him a friend."

"You should tell him that sometime, he would've appreciated it," she smiled, sitting up before she raised an eyebrow at her instructor. "So, when did you get a family?"

"I didn't."

Sky laughed. "You know Barney's going to find out eventually."

Yin just shrugged.

She looked at the man in front of her for a few seconds before sighing, pushing herself to her feet. "I'm gonna go call Jake now. Wanna watch some movies afterwards?" Her mentor nodded and got to his feet easily before following her out of the garage and towards the stairs.

Sky sucked in a deep breath. She hoped that Jake would take the news well.

Seychelles, Africa

April 27th, 2011

Jensen was tapping away on his keyboard in the warehouse the Losers were using for their hideout on their latest job. They were on the small country of Seychelles off the coast of Africa, dealing with some warlord that had killed hundreds of people to make a point, including twenty Americans who had been on vacation in the spot. Their job was to take him out, clean and simple. They were all back at the warehouse, Pooch pouring over some maps of the area with Clay and Cougar—the latter pointing out the spots with the best vantage point that he would be claiming for the op—while Roque tossed in comments regarding the amount of men they saw guarding the compound during their recon earlier. Jensen's job was to hack the security feed in order to make a continuous loop of footage so Clay and Roque could sneak in and make quiet kills while Cougar sniped from his perch. Pooch was to be their backup in the off chance something went wrong and they needed a quick getaway.

So far his job was done. All he would have to do is make the security loop tomorrow and he'd just have to monitor the comms, but other than that he had nothing to do.

Jensen leaned on the back legs of his chair, looking over towards the other four men just a few feet away as they plotted. He knew that Clay would actually want him to be paying attention, but he was listening enough so he understood the plan even though his mind had started to wander. He wondered if this was what it was like for his dad and the Expendables. Did they have to sit around for hours planning and scheming, making sure to account for every possible scenario?

Boom-Lay! Boom-Lay! Boom!

Jensen jumped at the familiar ringtone coming from the front pocket of his gear and flailed as he tipped over in his chair, slamming onto the ground with a loud bang. He groaned in pain as he hit the floor and tried scrambling for the pocket he kept his phone in, hoping that no one else heard.

They did.

"What the hell is that, Jensen?" Clay demanded as he and Roque looked at the hacker sprawled out on the ground. Pooch looked curious while Cougar just looked at the blonde with a quirked eyebrow.

Jensen settled for muttering a curse instead of answering and scrambling for his phone, pulling open pockets to get to the one that he needed. As he checked one pocket in particular—only to not find his cellular device—a picture came flying out of the one he'd just searched, sliding across the ground and landing near the sniper's boot while the hacker seemed completely oblivious as he celebrated upon finding his phone in the next pocket. Jensen jumped to his feet and righted his chair before holding up his cell phone to the group. "I've got to take this! I'll be right back!"

With that he ran off and towards the door of the warehouse, answering his phone with an exuberant 'hey Sky!'

"What the hell was that all about?" Roque asked in annoyance. "Since when are we allowed to take personal calls on an assignment?"

"Who the hell is Sky?" Pooch asked with a raised eyebrow. "My man doesn't know anyone we don't."

Clay shrugged and turned back to the plans. "Not our problem. I'll chew him out for it later."

A low whistle caught the attention of the group and they turned to see their sniper looking at the worn picture that had come out of their hacker's pockets. He looked mildly impressed and intrigued as he stared at the image. Seeing Cougar take an interest in the picture automatically got the others curious.

"What have you got there?" Clay asked.

Wordlessly he placed the picture on the table for everyone to see.

"Dayum! Who is that with Jensen?"

Clay couldn't help but internally agree with Pooch's outburst as he looked at the picture in front of him. It was one of their hacker wearing another one of his gaudy shirts in some sort of tattoo shop with an absolutely gorgeous girl on his back. She had dark hair and eyes, full lashes, defined cheekbones, nice lips, glasses that made her look cute, and an absolutely beautiful smile. She had crème colored skin and from what he could see of her body it was nice. Her arms were wrapped around Jensen's neck, her face was cheek to cheek with their hacker and they were both smiling at the camera.

"Sky," Cougar said simply. When the three men looked at him in confusion he flipped over the picture and pointed to where it said 'Jake and Sky'.

"You're kidding me. That's the girl that Jake's talking to right now?" Roque asked, skeptically. "Since when does he have game like that? He can't even talk to women."

Clay shook his head. "Looks like our hacker is full of surprises."

"Hey Sky!" Jensen beamed as he slipped out of the warehouse and over towards the van that Pooch would be using tomorrow during their job. He looked up at the sky to see that it was still bright enough that he didn't have to worry about stumbling into anything in the dark so he opened up the van door and sat down on the corner. "Man it's been a while since I've heard from you! How've you been?"

"Hey Jake, I'm okay. How are you?" His sister asked in a voice that immediately told him that she was anything but okay.

"Sky what's wrong?"

"Just talk to me for a little bit, okay? I just want to know how you're doing right now."

Jensen tightened his muscles in his legs and arms slightly to keep himself calm. It was obvious that there was something wrong that she wasn't telling him and that whatever it was, was bothering her. But he complied with her request regardless. "I'm doing okay. I'm actually on an assignment right now."

"Shit, really? I didn't mean to bother you. I'll just call back—"

"No, no, you're good. Honestly, I was just waiting around in our base camp while everyone else planned so you didn't interrupt or anything. And you know you're never a bother. But get this, I'm in Africa! Well… off the coast of Africa, really. We're in Seychelles, but I can't say what we're doing. Classified and stuff. You know how it goes."

He heard her laughing slightly on her end of the line and gave a small smile. "Jake, you have no idea how much I miss you right now."

"What's the matter, Sky," Jensen said in a softer voice. He shifted his position so he was leaning with his back against the front seat and his legs in the back of the van. "C'mon, talk to me."

"Lacy cheated on my dad."

Jensen blinked in surprise. Lacy cheated on Lee? But those two were so in love. He opened his mouth to say something to his sister, to assure her that everything would turn out okay, but the second she started talking it was like the floodgates opened up.

"Dad went out with the others on a mission and I went to go see Lacy and I ran right into the douche bag. I felt sick and I didn't know what to do and I know I talked with Lacy but I can't really remember what because I was so upset and sad and I just drove off and ended up crying in some parking lot. And… and then when I thought it couldn't get any worse, it did because I'm the worst excuse for a sister on this damn planet and—"

"Whoa, whoa, wait a second," Jensen quickly cut in. "As much fun as it is to hear someone else ramble on for a change, I'm stopping you right there. You're not a bad sister. You're amazing."

"Gunnar started using again."

The hacker froze, all his muscles tightening at once at the simple statement.

"I'm so sorry Jake. The day they left on the mission I noticed his pupils were dilated and I asked him and he said he had started again. And I couldn't stop him before he went on the mission and apparently he went crazy and he wanted to hang a fucking pirate, so Yin stepped in and Gunnar pulled a knife on him and Barney pulled a gun. And… Jake, Barney let your dad go."

"Barney got rid of him?" Jensen asked with barely disguised sadness.

"I'm so sorry Jake. I couldn't keep my promise. I tried to keep him out of trouble, I really did but… I'm sorry."

Jensen closed his eyes and sucked in a deep breath. He couldn't believe his father was using again. And this time he'd gone too far. Getting high before going on a mission? That put the entire Expendable team in danger. How could his dad do that to them, to him? If something seriously bad had happened, he could've lost his father. He could've lost his family. He ground his teeth, wondering what could possess his father to be so stupid and reckless before he remembered Sky was still on the line.

"Sky I want you to listen to me very carefully, okay? None of this is your fault. My dad is an adult and he made a choice. The choice he made is what forced Barney's hand, okay? I don't blame you."

"But—"

"No 'but's'. This wasn't your fault," he assured before running a hand through his hair. "So, can you tell me where dad is now? I need to go down there and knock some sense into him the second I get stateside."

"I-I haven't seen him; not since last week anyway. I tried texting and calling him, but he hasn't been answering."

"Is it going straight to voicemail?" Jensen asked, his mind already working.

"No, it's ringing a couple times first."

"Good, so I can track him," he was on his feet within seconds already walking towards the warehouse door. "Listen, I'll find out where my dad is and I'll take care of everything when I get back alright? Stop blaming yourself."

"Thank you. I love you."

"I love you too. Now I'll call you later okay?"

"Okay, bye Jake."

"Bye Sky... hey, that rhymed!"

"I'm hanging up now."

Jensen laughed and smiled slightly at the hint of amusement in Sky's voice. She was feeling better at least. He hung up his phone and put it back into his pocket before he walked in and shut the warehouse door, walking back over to the guys. They all looked his way the second he walked in and he grinned sheepishly. "Sorry about that, there are apparently a lot of things going on back home that were really super important so I just needed to make sure everything was okay and nothing was like exploding or anything."

The guys were silent for a moment. Roque turned to Clay, a perplexed expression on his face. "How did he get that?"

"Huh?" Jensen blinked in confusion.

"Jensen, I'll let it slide this time, but no more personal calls when we're on a job, got it?" Clay ordered in his no-nonsense voice, completely ignoring Roque's comment.

"Yes sir, you got it," he agreed immediately, smiling happily.

Pooch shook his head and muttered something about the 'Twilight Zone' before he started pouring over the maps again with Clay and Roque following suit. Cougar had the faintest hints of a smile on his face as he walked over and wordlessly handed the picture back to the hacker before returning to the table.

"Oh thanks Coug! I didn't even realize I dropped that!"

Hanging up the phone, Sky felt lighter than she had in days. She could breathe easier without feeling there was a weight crushing her chest and she felt more optimistic. Jake was a stubborn genius and if he set his mind to finding his dad and making him see reason then nothing would stop him until he did. She took a deep breath, knowing that she wasn't alone in this and that Jake was on the case, before she sat up from her bed and went to Yin's room.

He was crouched down in front of his TV, looking over a stack of DVD's by his feet, trying to select one. "How'd it go?" He asked without even looking up.

"It went better than expected," she admitted, walking over to sit on the edge of Yin's bed. "Jake's in Africa right now on an assignment?"

"What assignment?"

"Don't know. He couldn't tell me." She peeked over the man's shoulder and noticed one that she actually enjoyed. "Hey, put in Jurassic Park! I love that movie."

Yin rolled his eyes but complied, popping in the DVD before he walked back over to sit at the headboard of his bed, one leg over the other as he stretched out. He motioned for Sky to move closer and rest against the headboard as well and she crawled over and propped herself up with a pillow behind her back. "You know, it's a good thing we're both small so we fit on the bed without problems."

Yin glared.

"I'm going to get murdered during my next training session, aren't I?"

"Yes."

"Aw man."

Yin let out a small chuckle as the movie started. Sky watched with a smile on her face. She absolutely loved Jurassic Park and she and Jake watched it all the time when they were kids. Whenever it came on TV they always stopped whatever they were doing to watch it and they'd rope whoever else was in the area to watch it too. It was when the power in Jurassic Park went out that the emotional exhaustion had finally hit her. Her eyes started closing against her will and she could feel herself leaning farther into Yin. She tried to cling onto consciousness, to stay awake and finish the movie, but her heavy eyelids had other plans and soon enough she was asleep.