A/N: Hey everyone! First and foremost I would like to apologize for such a long time within updates. The last few months have been full of class, exams, projects, and medical scares and while I've had time to write small chapters here and there, I haven't had time or drive to sit down and actually finish this chapter! It was only recently that I was working on a presentation for one of my classes (ironically dealing with guns) that I got inspiration to get back to writing for this one! For all of those who waited patiently, I would like to thank you for sticking with this story! This chapter is going to be the third stage of the Gauntlet, however, like the second stage, it will be broken up into two parts. This is just the first part and the second should be updated by late next week, give or take a few days (next week is finals week for me and I somehow messed up one of my eyes so again, medical issues). Afterwards, however, there will only be one to two chapters left with this story before it's complete! From there, I jump straight into my A-Team/Losers crossover and the next installment of this series. Once again, I apologize for not updating in such a long time, and thank you to all those who still keep up with this story! I appreciate it greatly! I hope you guys like this chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own the Expendables, the Losers, or any of the songs mentioned in this chapter.

Life of a Mercenary

New Orleans, Louisiana

October 25th, 2013

The Lord was testing him. He was sure of it.

After Sky and Lee had had their conversation the night before—with no one else being privy to what had been said between the father daughter duo—they had rejoined the others just in time for the pasta 'carb up' meal that Caesar and Barney had made. Cougar had watched as the Expendables all ate, talked, and laughed with one another and the rest of the Losers. Yin and Gunnar had arrived just twenty minutes into the meal, before Roque was sent to shower. There had been an interesting moment in which Sky nearly walked off to go take a shower at the same time as the demolitions specialist, but the Expendables had quickly forced her back into her seat and wait for her turn.

When Sky had finished eating and showering, she, Jensen, Toll, and Yin had moved away from the group towards where the cots were set up, talking in low voices for nearly half an hour. Upon their return, the group acted as if everything was normal, though Cougar was still curious as to what the little powwow was about. He chose not to ask anything, however, and ate his meal in relative silence.

After his encounter with Lee in the woods, Jensen had helpfully reminded him to follow Step 1 of survival and he had decided to adhere to that advice. He would be more careful about who he was around and what he said to or about Sky. And he would be more cautious around Lee and the other Expendables, especially when it came to his daughter. He had solidified his resolve and his plan just before everyone had turned in for the night. Of course this had all been just before he woke up that morning only to see that the trucks were gone, as was the tank, and in their place was a huge squared off section full of sparring mats.

And of course, Sky just had to be wearing a pair of tight grey spandex yoga pants, while bending over as she stretched her legs.

God just had to be testing his resolve.

"Morning Cougs!" Jake called out cheerfully, looking out at him from his own bent over position right next to his sister. Instead of wearing yoga pants—thankfully—he had chosen to wear a pair of basketball shorts, but he too was doing what looked like yoga on the mats. Noticing Yin and Toll off to the side of the mats, watching the exchange, Cougar chose to avert his eyes from both of the siblings and mumbled a greeting back to the blonde.

"You're up early," Toll commented, crossing his arms over his chest as he leaned against the desk behind him. He gestured vaguely to the area where the cots were set up. "Your friends are all still sleeping."

Cougar shrugged in response.

"Cougs is always up early," Jensen commented as he stood up into what the sniper assumed was a tree pose. The blonde hacker looked completely unsteady as he placed the sole of his right foot against his calf, with his palms together in front of his chest. Sky, however, looked completely at ease, with her right foot tucked up into her inner thigh, only the slightest of quivers showing anything but perfect balance. "He's normally the first one up, ya know, to make sure we're not being followed or attacked by evil bad guys. Or to make food! None of us really know how to cook so, Cougs is the only one who makes something edible and not—" Jensen cut himself off as he lost his balance and pin wheeled his arms, letting out several noises that showed his distress.

Rolling her eyes, Sky stuck out a hand to grab her brother's shoulder and steady him, while he clung onto her arm as if it were a lifeline. "We're not on a tightrope, Jake. It's not going to kill you to put your foot down," she pointed out. Still holding onto her brother, Sky looked back to their mentors after a brief glance in Cougar's direction. "When should we be getting the others up? It's already close to seven in the morning, and you guys wanted all prep to be done before noon."

"At ten," Yin answered simply.

Jensen frowned. "That only gives them two hours to prep before we start."

"Barney says we can push it to around one or two today since there's fresh meat," Toll answered, earning noises of disapproval from the blonde and brunette on the mats. He held up his hands to stop their complaints and nodded. "I know, I know, Yin and I weren't thrilled about it either, but if you ask me, Barney was just being a lazy-ass and wanted to sleep in a bit more before he gets his ass kicked today."

"But what are we gonna eat?" The hacker whined.

"We'll deal with that before we start."

Cougar raised an eyebrow, merely watching the back and forth conversation between the protégés and mentors wondering what in the hell they were talking about. After a few minutes of whining and muttering from Jensen and Sky—even as they continued through their yoga routine—he finally decided to ask what it was that they were discussing. His answers were two eye-rolls courtesy of Toll and Yin, an evil smirk from Sky, and a big grin from Jensen. It was only the blonde that bothered to accompany his expression with a verbal response.

"We're talking about the third level of the Gauntlet!" He piped up enthusiastically. He opened his mouth to say more when Sky hit his shoulder, leveling him with a look that made it apparent he shouldn't continue speaking. Instead she just smiled mysteriously and let him know that they would find out later with the others. And with that they were back to their yoga, Jensen chattering quietly about anything that didn't pertain to the Gauntlet while Sky smiled and let him speak, occasionally engaging his conversation.

For the most part, Cougar was relatively silent, watching the two siblings—since he had nothing else to do. He found the interaction between them and their mentors to be interesting to watch. In normal circumstances, Jensen and Sky would treat Toll and Yin just as they would treat any of the other Expendables. They would crack jokes and poke fun at the two men whenever they were with the others, but when it came to just the four of them in a training situation the entire dimension changed. Jensen and Sky were nothing but respectful and disciplined and Toll and Yin were laser focused on watching the actions of their pupils and making comments or corrections wherever necessary. Jensen's more childish antics would be erased and Sky's sarcasm was practically non-existent.

"Find something interesting?"

Cougar looked over his shoulder and saw Tool strolling over, scratching the back of his neck as let out a big yawn. The Spaniard nodded and gestured towards the two on the sparring mats. "They're more focused."

"Hell yeah, they are," Tool laughed, coming to lean against the table beside the sniper. "If they weren't they'd get their asses handed to them. Tool and Yin were big on discipline when Jake and Sky were kids, so they are expected to behave a certain way during any sort of training." Cougar pursed his lips in thought before nodding once again. For around half an hour, Cougar and Tool watched the training in a companionable silence before Caesar, Clay, and Aisha finally woke up. The heavy weapons specialist had quickly begun making oatmeal for breakfast while the two mentor/protégé duos finally took a break to eat. At precisely ten o'clock, Barney and the other Expendables were awake and getting the rest of the Losers up to gather them for breakfast and for a talk.

"Alright, listen up kids," Barney announced once everyone was together, eating their meals. He was standing in the center of the group with his own bowl in his hands. "Today we're going to finishing up the Gauntlet with level three. Like we told you guys before, the third level deals with hand-to-hand combat skills. And since you kids have been so eager to take part, all of you are going to be included in this level as well."

"Wait, you're going to make us fight you guys?" Pooch asked in surprise, lowering his spoon back into his bowl.

"Not us," Lee smirked, before pointing over to Jensen and Sky. They were still dressed up in their work-out clothes and were sitting on the floor, their empty bowls to their sides. Sky was sitting directly in front of Jensen as he French braided her hair, the two smirking. "You'll be fighting them."

"Seriously? All five of us are going to fight them?" Roque questioned, though Aisha was smirking at the infiltration specialist.

"I've been itching for a rematch."

Sky grinned. "That makes two of us."

"The way this works is simple," Barney cut in, gathering everyone's attention once more. "For you Losers, you will have to fight either Jake or Sky, not both. Normally we'd let the kids pick who they want to fight, but under the," Barney cast a look between Lee and Cougar and smirked, "circumstances, we felt that it would be better if we chose who fought who. Now, obviously there is an odd number, so either Jake or Sky will have to pick up an extra body. Either of you have a preference?"

Jensen looked up briefly from his work on his sister's hair and shrugged. "I'm good either way!"

"Same here," the brunette put in, tilting her head back slightly to make it easier on the blonde. "I just want a match with Aisha."

"We'll keep that in mind," Barney assured, prompting a smile to be shared by the two females in the hangar. He turned his attention back to the others and smirked. "You won't know who you're fighting until right before the actual match. We start at one, so you kids have three hours to find suitable fighting attire and prepare however you see fit."

"And I have time to set up the camera!" Caesar cheered enthusiastically.

"Seriously?" Toll rolled his eyes, looking at his partner.

"Hell yeah! This shit is gonna be hilarious!"

Gunnar snorted and tossed his empty bowl onto the desk. "It sounds like you're describing what your matches are gonna look like."

"Shut up Crankenstein!"

The mercenaries soon devolved into a series of arguments with Jensen and Sky instigating and laughing from their corner. While they were all arguing, however, the Losers were all reacting to the news of a fight in different ways. Aisha looked almost giddy, rushing to finish her oatmeal and muttering to herself about what she needed to do to prepare. Roque was reacting similarly, glad he could finally get out some pent up frustration from the past few days. In fact, the two of them were so enthused about their participation in the third level, they weren't even arguing anymore. Clay seemed to be indifferent to the entire thing, merely content to take his time eating his oatmeal and talk with Pooch who was busy making bets as to who would face whom. Cougar wasn't entirely sure how to react to the fact that he would be participating in a fight. On the one hand, he was completely up for the activity, but on the other hand the last time he'd participated he ended up being shot in the balls with a paintball gun.

He had reason to be apprehensive.

However, regardless of what he felt, he and the other Losers got changed into 'suitable fighting attire' right after breakfast. He, Clay, Roque, and Pooch all changed into sweatpants and old t-shirts, while Aisha borrowed another pair of black yoga pants from Sky and a tight fitting red tank top. For three hours the group of soldiers alternated between stretching and warming up their muscles and watching the Expendables—mainly Caesar, Tool, and Jensen—set up cameras, speakers, and a laptop around the perimeter of the mats. Why they needed five cameras at various angles—one being an overhead angle—two industrial speakers, and a laptop, Cougar didn't know, but there seemed to be a method to their madness.

It felt as if no time at all had gone by before Barney was calling the group towards the mats to allow Tool—the acting referee for the day—to begin taping up their hands and putting on their MMA style gloves. The Expendables—plus Jensen and Sky—naturally got special treatment from Tool and had their gloves put on first, before the Losers finally got their hands taped up. All of the Expendables were wearing fighting shorts without any shoes and their mouth guards hooked around their ears. Jensen and Sky, however, were the only ones who had on sweatpants and t-shirts while Toll and Yin held onto their mouth guards for them.

"Alright kids, listen up," Barney called out the second everyone was ready to go. "After careful deliberation we've decided who's going to be paired up with who. The first fight will be Sky vs. Clay." Clay looked surprised by the match-up while Sky didn't appear to be too surprised. "Second match is Jake vs. Pooch." Neither Jensen nor Pooch looked to be bothered by the decision, sending each other amused looks. "Since you two want to go at it so badly, Sky and Aisha get the third fight."

"Perfect," Aisha smirked, tossing a look towards Sky who was matching her expression.

"Jake, you're up against Roque for the fourth match."

Almost immediately Jensen started grinning broadly as opposed to the whining and complaining that everyone expected of him. "Yes! Now I can totally prove how much of a badass I am!"

"We'll see," Roque retorted with a smirk on his face.

"Cougar," Barney spoke up, catching the attention of the sniper. The Italian had a large smile on his face as he looked back and forth between Jensen and Sky. The fact that all the other Expendables were smiling behind him as well didn't help the apprehension he was feeling earlier. "You're going to be in the fifth fight clashing gloves with… Sky."

Within seconds, Cougar's eyes widened in surprise as he snapped his head around to look at the brunette while the Losers and Expendables were 'ooh-ing' obnoxiously. The Spaniard noticed Sky staring down her father and Godfather in what was obviously exasperation. "Seriously?" She asked, annoyance in her tone. "We're doing this now?"

"Hey, like I promised, it's not me hurting him," Lee smirked.

Sky didn't look amused.

"Enough whining Baby-Face, you're up first," Barney reminded as he and the others started clearing the area, taking spots just outside the mats, leaving Clay, Sky, Yin, and Tool still in the center. Jensen immediately made a bee-line for the laptop and started typing in words before cheering. "Fighting out of the blue corner, representing the best Special Forces unit around, we've got Colonel Franklin Clay!"

Clay smirked at his comms tech while all the others looked on in amusement at the role that the blonde was taking. Tool moved forward to put Vaseline on the colonel's face and hand him a new mouth guard, while Jensen clicked a button on the laptop, causing Mz. Hyde by Halestorm to start flooding through the speakers. "And fighting out of the red corner, hailing from one of the most badass mercenary teams of all time, we have Skylar 'The Baby-Face Assassin' Christmas!" The blonde introduced in his best announcer voice.

There was a large smile on Sky's face as Yin helped her out of her sweatpants and t-shirt, showing a pair of black spandex shorts and a purple racer-back sports bra. Just as Tool was doing, Yin swiped Vaseline on his protégé's face before putting in her mouth guard and backing off the mats. "Don't worry Sky," Clay smirked as he bounced around on his toes. "I'll make sure to take it easy on you."

"How generous," Sky managed to say, her sarcasm coming through strong.

"Alright, I want a good clean fight," Tool spoke up from his spot in the center of the mats, looking back and forth between the two fighters. "No hair-pulling, eye-clawing, or ball shots. This is going down like a MMA match; you two want to stand up and fight go on ahead, but if you get thrown to the ground, you better be able to handle yourself. You win by either knockout or submission. I don't get involved unless there's some cheap shots being thrown or if someone taps. Understood?"

"Understood," Clay nodded, placing his mouth guard in while Sky nodded her head and gave the tattoo artist a thumbs up. "Alright, touch gloves and get it on."

Almost immediately the song got louder and Cougar noticed Jensen grin evilly from his spot behind the laptop. The sniper raised an eyebrow in confusion for a second before he looked back at the mats and saw exactly why the blonde was grinning so maliciously. The second Clay and Sky touched gloves the colonel started bouncing around on his toes and smiling to himself as he sized up the brunette in front of him. Sky kept on the balls of her feet, her arms up and her eyes locked on her opponent. After feinting a few jabs towards Sky's face—which prompted the brunette to shuffle back only half a step—Clay aimed a power punch towards the brunette's face.

Within a split second, Sky was leaning towards her left side, using her right arm to go just underneath Clay's right arm, grabbing his forearm. She slid forward so she was next to Clay, twisting his arm around and yanking it behind his back in a chicken wing as she kicked at the back of his knee. With his sense of balance off he crashed onto the mats, sprawled out on his belly as Sky swung her leg around so that she was sitting on Clay's back with her left hand pushing down on the back of his head, keeping him stationary.

"Snap or tap, Colonel!" Jensen called out gleefully. As if to punctuate his statement, Sky used her right arm to push Clay's elbow up, straining his arm socket as she threatened to pop the joint out. Clay cursed and tried to move around for a few seconds before he was slapping his hand on the mats with his left hand.

"Winner: Baby-Face!" Tool announced, waving the brunette off.

Sky immediately let go of his arm and got off of the colonel, looking down at him with a smirk on his face as she strutted over to where her mentor and father were waiting. "Good thing you took it easy on me, huh?" She mumbled through her mouth guard.

"I wasn't prepared for that," Clay grumbled, pushing himself up to his feet.

"Not a lot of people are when they first take her on," Barney chuckled, giving Sky a fist-bump as she walked down the line of Expendables, high-fiving or fist-bumping them before she made her way to Yin who pulled the mouth guard out of her mouth. "Alright, next match, Jake and Pooch. Get on the mats."

"Looks like I'm going to be whooping your ass, Jensen," Pooch grinned as he stepped forward towards the center of the mats to get his mouth guard from Tool and the Vaseline on his face.

Jensen ignored Pooch's comment before he walked away from his laptop and onto the mats, tossing a look towards his sister while Toll moved in to assist him. "Skyyyyy!" He whined.

Rolling her eyes, Sky stepped away from Yin, hooking her mouth guard around her ear so she could go man the laptop for him. Almost immediately the song switched from Mz. Hyde to Monster by Skillet. Seeing that the blonde was still looking at her expectantly she sighed and started speaking with far less enthusiasm than Jensen had had. "Fighting out of the blue corner, representing the Losers, we have Linwood 'Pooch' Porteous! And fighting out of the red corner, representing… wait which team are you representing?" Sky cut herself off, looking at her brother in confusion.

"I'm representing whichever team wins," he responded easily as Toll started taking care of his face and his mouth guard.

Sky nodded and smirked. "Alright then, representing the Expendables, we have Jacob 'Son of the Viking' Jensen!"

The Expendables smirked at Sky's comment, while the Losers either glared or rolled their eyes.

"You all heard my spiel about a clean fight, so I'm not repeating it. Both of you front and center and touch gloves," Tool ordered waving the two men forward. Jensen practically skipped to the center while Pooch rolled his eyes and moved to meet his teammate. The second they touched gloves, both men began circling, giving each other a respectful distance. This wouldn't be the first time the two men went at it. They were forced to spar against each other for training sessions multiple times in their career as Special Forces. During sparing, however, it was always more play-fighting than anything else. Now, this was for bragging rights.

Jensen had been the first one to lash out, throwing a jab towards the heavy weapons specialist's face which Pooch easily ducked out of the way off. The blonde grinned, baring his mouthpiece as he tossed two more jabs, keeping Pooch at a fair distance. Just like the first one, the heavy weapons specialist was able to dodge both blows before he aimed a punch towards Jensen's cheek. With speed that the hacker rarely displayed in front of his team, he ducked underneath Pooch's swing and got behind his back, wrapping his arms around his waist and arched his own back, delivering a suplex to the heavy weapons specialist and slamming him against the mats.

"Ooh!" The Expendables laughed, while the Losers started cheering for Pooch, urging him to get back onto his feet. Pooch started scrambling, trying to get up, but Jensen was already on him, shifting his hips and spinning around the man, trying to gain a better position. Pooch tried to move, attempting to work his way out from underneath the larger blonde, but all the shifting by the heavy weapons specialist caused Pooch to give Jensen his back; the absolute worst thing to do against an MMA fighter. Almost immediately, Jensen had him in a rear-naked choke, prompting the new father to immediately begin tapping out on the mat.

Tool quickly moved in to separate the two while Gunnar smirked. "And the match goes to Jake!"

The proud smile that formed on the blonde's face was positively blinding as he jumped to his feet, pumping his fist in the air. Pooch, despite the fact that he had just lost, still couldn't feel upset when he saw their hacker acting like such an excitable puppy. "You're just lucky I'm still healing up," he said halfheartedly as he went to join the rest of his team (Roque noticeably shaking his head at the heavy weapons specialist).

"Looks like the Expendables have another win," Sky commented as Jensen cheered, running down the row of mercenaries to high-five them. "I guess it's going to be a clean sweep then."

"I beg to differ," Aisha spoke up, already heading towards the mats with a determined look on her face. Almost immediately, Sky's face went from amused at Jensen's antics to serious, a slight curve to her lips that almost bordered on a smirk. Without a word she walked over to Yin, opening her mouth so he could put her mouthpiece in. She moved her jaw, testing it before she walked calmly onto the mats, staring down Aisha as she put her own mouthpiece in.

"We're gonna have a cat fight!" Gunnar shouted loudly.

Girlfight by Brooke Valentine started playing through the speakers, prompting Aisha and Sky to pause and send Jensen a look. The blonde didn't look apologetic in the slightest.

"Alright ladies, I want a clean fight," Tool spoke up, catching their attention before he waved them forward.

Sky and Aisha inched towards each other, touching gloves, before Aisha immediately threw a right hook towards the brunette's face. The mercenary backed out of range of the hit and ducked underneath the roundhouse that the Bolivian followed up with immediately after. She fired back with a quick combination of her own that Aisha blocked. It was when Aisha threw another punch, Sky ducked under and delivered a right hook, connecting the first hit of the match. The Expendables all started cheering for the hit, while the Losers shouted at Aisha to pick up the pace. Aisha stumbled back as Sky continued to pressure her, throwing a barrage of punches causing the Bolivian to cover up with her arms. When Sky was pushing her to the edge of the mat, Aisha lashed out, swinging her arm, her fist uncurled.

Sky ducked back, just barely managing to miss it before she backed up a few paces, pointing at the Bolivian in a 'what gives?' gesture.

"Closed fists, Aisha! We're not clawing here!" Tool reminded, as the Bolivian held her hands up, signaling she'd heard. The two girls came back together and this time it was Aisha on the offensive, unleashing her own flurry of punches. Sky ducked and dodged most of them, but a few snuck through her defense and hit her ribs.

"Atta girl Aisha!" Clay cheered.

"Quit playing around, Sky!" Caesar shouted.

Sky ducked under another punch and Spartan kicked Aisha so she had more distance before she glared in Caesar's direction briefly. She focused her attention on Aisha again, delivering a powerful kick to her ribs, forcing her backwards before she reeled her arm back to deliver another punch. Before she could connect however, Aisha reached for her, grabbed her hair and yanked it downwards, throwing Sky off balance as Aisha punched her square in the face, knocking the infiltration specialist to the ground.

"Clean fight, Aisha!" Tool yelled.

"No hair-pulling!" Lee shouted in anger.

Aisha didn't listen to either of the voices as she punched Sky in the face again until she was flat on her stomach. The Bolivian reached for the mercenary's right arm, jerking it up as she sat on her back. She straightened the appendage and leaned back, putting pressure on her shoulder. A pained cry made it past Sky's lips as she tried to pry her arm free, still not tapping even as Aisha continued to jerk it back. Seeing how far back Aisha was pulling Sky's arm, and knowing how easy it would be for the joint to pop out, Tool intervened, pushing Aisha off of Sky and calling the fight. "The winner is Aisha!" He shouted while gently lowering Sky's arm down.

The Expendables were rightfully upset.

"Wait, so did that count?" Jensen asked in confusion. Pooch shrugged while Cougar clenched his jaw, not saying anything, merely looking at the downed brunette who looked absolutely livid.

"Of course not!" Gunnar answered his son.

Barney nodded his agreement. "She was fighting dirty!"

Roque shrugged indifferently. He and Clay were the only ones on the Losers team who didn't seem to mind the method Aisha used in order to win. "A win is a win."

"Your man was the one who stopped the fight," Aisha smirked, looking at the mercenaries in a cocky manner. "The win stands."

"Why don't we forget about the wins then," Sky spoke up for the first time, spitting her mouth guard out and pushing herself up to her feet. She stalked towards Aisha with malicious intent in her eyes. She got up in Aisha's face, her eyes locked onto the Bolivian's. Aisha didn't even flinch back, squaring her shoulders and continuing to smile cockily at the infiltration specialist. "Let's go again."

"Why, you like losing?" Aisha smirked.

"Wouldn't have lost if I had known you weren't going to follow the rules," Sky fired back.

Aisha's smirk widened as she stepped closer to Sky so there was barely an inch of space between them, both women posting up and unwilling to back down. "There aren't rules in a real fight."

The corner of Sky's lips upturned into a sadistic little smirk and her eyes grew wild. "If you wanna fight dirty, I'll get dirty."

"Sky."

Yin's voice was sharp and loud, but Sky didn't turn her head. "Don't make me call you again." This time the serious tone in her mentor's voice forced Sky to pry her eyes away from the woman she was staring down with. Her eyes were still filled with malice as she locked glances with the martial artist who had her mouth guard in his hand and was staring at her seriously. "Come here. You're done."

Sky clenched her hands tightly and exhaled loudly before she looked at Aisha and pointed a finger in her face. "We're not done here."

"Can't wait for the next rematch," Aisha replied with a smirk.

At that Sky gave her own smirk before she walked off the mats towards Yin and her father.

"I seriously don't understand if they hate each other or if they like each other," Pooch muttered to Jensen and Cougar as Tool started to get everything back on track, announcing the next fight.

Jensen shrugged. "It's kind of like Clay and Aisha's relationship… minus the sex."

Cougar didn't know whether he enjoyed or hated the mental image that popped into his head.

"Jake! Get on the mats or you forfeit!"

"Shit," the blonde muttered. He immediately rushed forward onto the mats, moving past Toll quickly so his mentor could place his mouth guard in, all the while Roque waited on the mats, looking completely at ease, moving his jaw to get accustomed to the mouth guard. While they had sparred before, Roque never held back as much as Pooch did. Jensen was well aware of who he was up against. "Hey, Roque, buddy… let's just have fun with this, okay?"

"I'm going to have fun kicking your ass," Roque retorted immediately.

"Well, it was worth a shot," Jensen muttered.

"Alright you two, I want a clean fight. None of what we saw in the last one," Tool ordered, looking back towards Aisha who was still smirking.

"Well, I don't think you have to worry about hair pulling," Barney put in sarcastically.

Jensen laughed at the joke and seemed to be about to chime in with a comment of his own, before Tool shouted for them to start and Roque surged forward. The manliest of yelps escaped his lips as he ducked underneath Roque's punch before immediately blocking the knee he followed up with. He rolled out of the way and scrambled up to his feet, only to see Roque advancing on him again. It was one of the things he hated most when sparring with Roque. The man was unrelenting and had a bull-dog mentality.

"C'mon Jake!" Gunnar cheered, as Jensen went on the offense. He threw a few different combinations of punches, thrilled when he saw most of them connected. That feeling flew out of the window, however, when he realized Roque was not nearly as affected as he should've been. He had forgotten how good the man was at taking a punch. Jensen connected a powerful kick to Roque's ribs that had the man reeling and quickly followed up with a combination, trying to wear the man down. He had been trying to throw a jab when Roque ducked and kicked him away, creating some distance before the demolitions specialist closed in once again. The blonde had to bob and weave as Roque threw his own combination, with a left-hook connecting to his ribs and a right uppercut hitting his jaw.

Jensen liked to pride himself on the fact that he had a strong jaw when it came to fights, but Roque was not pulling any force from his punches, and holy hot damn that one had him reeling. He barely had time to steady himself before Roque followed up with a left hook to his cheek, forcing him to the ground. Jensen didn't have time to roll onto his back before Roque was on top of him, getting him into a rear-naked choke. He tried to pull him off, but the more he struggled, the less oxygen he got and eventually he was forced to tap.

"Winner is Roque!" Tool announced, separating the two soldiers.

"Atta boy Roque!" Clay cheered.

"Good job not screwing up," Aisha chimed in.

Sadly enough, Roque knew that was the best he'd get out of the Bolivian so he just took the compliment. Jensen, however, was pouting and muttering curses under his breath at the fact that he'd lost his match so quickly. Gunnar had been quick to reassure him that he'd done a good job before Tool walked forward onto the mats again, this time a large grin on his face as he prepared to announce the final fight with the Losers. "Alright, for the last match of this bracket and the tie breaker we've got Sky vs. Cougar!"

Almost immediately the attention shifted, everyone now looking to both Cougar and Sky with the same intensity and morbid curiosity of someone watching a train wreck. The Expendables were loud and rowdy, shoving at Sky's shoulder to egg her on, while the Losers were telling Cougar he better not lose. The sniper looked across the mats to see that while Sky had an amused smile on her face, she was bouncing around on her toes and listening to every bit of advice Yin and the others offered her. She was taking it completely serious. And he'd seen her fight. If she was taking it seriously, he wouldn't be able to play around either.

Just as he put in his mouth guard, Just the Way You Lie by Rhianna and Eminem flooded out of the speakers.

"Seriously Jake?" Sky asked with a raised eyebrow even as the Spaniard turned to shoot his friend a look.

The blonde just shrugged. "What? It fits!"

Rolling his eyes at the blonde, Cougar faced forward, moving to the center of the mats so Tool could put Vaseline on his face. Once he was ready, his eyes landed on Sky who was getting last minute tips from Yin before he placed her mouth guard in. The second she turned to look at him, he saw a large smirk form on her face as she jogged up to the center. "Alright, now a clean fight. Protect yourselves at all times. Touch gloves and get ready to fight."

Cougar held his fists out to touch Sky's gloves, but instead she reached forward to tap his cheek with her hand, tossing him a wink. "Follow my lead," she whispered before backing off. He had no idea what she was planning but he smirked and nodded, deciding to trust her. Once Tool saw they were in position he grinned and clapped his hands.

"Begin!"

Instead of immediately starting off with a punch or a kick, Sky started to circle, keeping light on her toes. Of course, Cougar mimicked her actions, always making sure that he was facing her. When she did aim a kick at him, it was a flimsy low kick at his calf. It was obviously less of an actual attack and more playful in nature. He smirked slightly, realizing what she was doing, and mirrored her again, hitting her calf lightly with his foot, causing her to smile.

"The fuck is this?" Caesar demanded.

"This isn't a play fight!" Barney shouted as Sky tossed a pathetic punch towards Cougar. He just lifted his hand to allow her to punch his palm, before he mimicked her and she did the same.

Roque rolled his eyes. "Quit flirting and start fighting!"

When it became obvious that neither of them had taken things seriously, Yin narrowed his eyes. "Baby-Face, fight seriously now!"

At the order from her mentor Sky winced before, shifting her stance into one a bit more intimidating. She looked at the sniper and smirked. "Kid gloves are off, Cougs."

To illustrate her point, she swung her right leg around in a much more powerful kick, aiming for his ribs. He just managed to back up out of range and avoid the attack, only to see the brunette advancing, aiming forceful punches to his cheek. He bobbed and weaved, avoiding nearly all the attacks before he ducked underneath another punch and kicked at the back of her knee, forcing her to her knees. In a movement that he saw before in Miami, she hit the ground on her knees and rolled through before popping back up onto her feet. He made sure to move within range just as she got to her feet and he aimed a right hook for her ribs. It connected, but Sky quickly wrapped her left arm around his, trapping it against her torso before she reeled her arm back and got him right in the cheek with a powerful punch.

"Ooh!" Pooch and Jensen muttered at the blow.

Cougar rocked back slightly, feeling her switch her grip, moving it from his arm to his shoulders, gripping him tight before she kneed him in the ribs. She managed to get another shot into his ribs, before he caught her leg, right at the hamstring, before crouching down to scoop up her other leg, spinning around and slamming her to the ground. He quickly maneuvered his hands away from her legs so he could pin her arms by her head, while her legs instinctively wrapped around his waist, squeezing tight to keep him in place.

The positioning reminded him of that night in Miami and he couldn't help but smirk.

"Te rindes?"

Sky smirked right back up at him. "No te pongas chulo, querido."

"End it Sky!" Lee ordered.

Her smirk widened as she rotated her arms, breaking her right arm free so she could get a punch to his cheek again. While he was so focused on the blow, she pried her left arm out from his grip before holding onto his wrist tightly. Her legs suddenly disappeared from his waists, only for them to reappear in front of his face and across his chest, forcing him down to the mats so he was flat on his back. He had little chance to fight out of the arm bar Sky placed him in. Her legs were keeping him forced down and she was cranking back on his arm, shifting her hips up to get even more leverage.

"Snap or tap Cougs!"

He tried to maneuver out of it, but it was a losing battle. And one slightest movement by the brunette (putting far more pressure on his elbow) made it apparent that Sky had all the leverage and could easily dislocate his arm. Reluctantly he tapped his left hand on her thigh, before the pressure disappeared.

"Winner: Baby-Face!" Tool announced as Sky let go of Cougar's arm and moved her legs from off his torso. "And the series goes to the Expendables!"

Almost immediately the Losers started whining while the Expendables started hooting and hollering cheering about the mercenaries being the most badass. Cougar sat up on the mats, rotating his arm to alleviate some of the discomfort while Roque said that the Spaniard lost because he was thinking with the wrong head. The sniper tossed the man a glare before he noticed Sky standing above him, offering him a hand with a smile on her face. He took it, allowing the girl to help him up, before she popped her mouth guard out of her mouth and hooked it around her ear.

"Not bad Cougar," she complimented before standing on her tip toes to kiss his cheek where she had hit him. "We should do that again sometime."

Cougar smiled. "We should."

"Jake, Sky, listen up!"

Without hesitation, Sky had snapped to attention, facing the side the Expendables were on, with Jensen quickly appearing at his sister's side, his posture just as impeccable. The mercenaries were staring down the two youngest members of their family with appraising eyes as Tool gestured for Cougar to back off the mats. "I hope you both enjoyed your little warm-up, because now the real challenge starts," Barney smirked, looking down the line of men at his side. "It's time for you both to run the Gauntlet against us. You better be ready."

The matching smirks that appeared on Jensen and Sky's faces was enough of an answer.

"Alright. Then let's get started!"

Spanish Translations:

"Te rindes?" - Do you give up?

"No te pongas chulo, querido." - Don't get cocky, darling.