The guest house was large and open, void of all furniture and filled instead with a bustling crowd of people. Art was spread along the walls, filling the space with color and portraits and hand carved frames. Sammy kept close to the group for now, scanning the crowd and snapping pictures every once in a while. She kept the image of Bee at the forefront of her mind, hoping she would get a hint at where she might be sooner rather than later. The longer they were there, the greater the chance was that something bad would happen and someone would get hurt.

There was a resounding knocking sound and the crowd began to fall quiet aside from a few excited whispers. Cap glanced back at Sammy and nodded, her chin just barely dipping towards her chest.

"For the first piece, labeled number one, we will start the bidding at one million dollars," a booming voice said. A card flew up into the air somewhere near the front of the crowd. She could just barely see the tops of the heads of the people standing near the auctioneer; there were a few people beside him and she was craning her neck to try and make them out. One was a man with fluffy, greying hair brushed back and to the side of his head. His face was a blur with the crowd and distance, but he was the tallest. She caught sight of red hair entering just off to the mans right and tightened her jaw. She just needed to get closer to see-

The camera.

She fumbled with the zoom lens for a moment before she held it up over the crowd and snapped a few quick pictures. Bones glanced back at her, confused, and turned to get Caps attention. Sammy stepped back into the dense crowd as it packed in around her, her heart racing in her ears. She navigated to the camera gallery and clicked through a few blurry photos before she found one good enough to make out any faces. All she could focus on was the camera in front of her and the pressure of her teeth as she bit down on her lower lip.

He was there.

She felt a rush of disgust wash over her in that moment. Her hands started to shake and when she looked up, she realized she was surrounded by people she didn't recognize. Through a few gaps between the people, she could make out Bones trying to reach her. She looked back down and flicked to the next image.

The red head was in focus, her freckled face smiling absently towards the crowd. Beside her, gazing up with bright, tired eyes, was Bee.

—-

Barney put his binoculars down and scrambled to his feet. Lee, Luna, and Caesar had gone in without mics so they wouldn't draw any unnecessary attention. The rest of the team was geared up like usual, and Barney fiddled with his gear and felt his chest begin to swell.

"Yang! Toll!" He said, stretching out his fingers as he pulled himself from the bushes. He watched as the distant figure of Dilly made her way from the lake to a large building decorated with ivy and moss.

"What's happening?" Toll asked in Barney's ear.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Barney grunted, catching sight of the nearest patrol not far from him. He was facing away from Barney. "I knew there was a good reason for not wanting to do this."

The guard heard him then and started to turn, but Barney was too fast. He gripped the mans head and twisted it sickeningly fast, leaving the man in a puddle at his feet. He snarled, glancing around.

"A bad feeling?" Yang asked.

"Very bad," Barney went on, stepping over the body and finding cover behind a cobblestone wall that bordered a small hill.

"We're gonna need more than that, man," Toll said, clearly irritated. "What do you need us to do?"

"I'm going in," Barney said. "We gotta get them out of there."

The line went quiet in his ear and he knew Toll and Yang would be making their way inside already. He wiped the back of his hand along his mouth and felt the world begin to spin. He didn't have time for this. He had to keep his shit together.

Most people had gone inside at this point, leaving him exposed to the remaining patrols. Hopefully they were bad at their jobs. He hopped over the wall and kept himself low, inching towards the building where Dilly had gone.

—-

Lee and Caesar stayed just behind Luna as they made their way down the path in the grass. Everybody was beginning to flock to the main guest house, which looked to be one of the oldest buildings on the property from their angle. So far they didn't have any eyes on Sammy, Cap, Angel, or Bones. Luna rolled her shoulders back and huffed.

"Something wrong?" Lee asked, barely parting his lips to speak.

"I just have a weird feeling in my gut," Luna said, watching as people made their way inside.

"Nerves? Indigestion?" Caesar asked.

Luna rolled her eyes. "I don't get nervous."

Lee raised his brows and shared a glance with Caesar. The quicker they could put this mess behind them, the happier they would all be. It was messing with everybody's heads.

Caesar reached out and held the door to the guest house open for Luna. Lee followed, and Caesar went in last, checking behind him to make sure nobody was falling too closely. A voice played above them, stiff and dutiful.

"We will start the bidding at one million dollars."

Caesar shook his head to himself and found his spot back beside Luna. It would be a terror spotting anyone recognizable in this crowd.

—-

Sammy felt her mind go numb to any thoughts that weren't about Bee. She sidestepped behind the person beside her, a tall older man with his dress shirt half unbuttoned, and gripped the camera hard. She'd have to find a way to get Bee out of the building. She was small enough to squeeze through a few people, but the crowd was a lot more dense the closer she got to the front. She knew Cap had sent Bones to trail her so that they didn't cause too much of a distraction by all pushing through the crowd. If she could just slip away, then she could finish what she started alone.

She glanced back and saw Bones trying to spot her. She was close. She just had to squeeze closer to the front, where the crowd was too dense.

"One and a half million, going once-" The auctioneer said, and Sammy ducked under the arm of the man in front of her and hurried forward. She barely had enough room to turn back and see if Bones was still following. She was getting close enough now that she could make out the Major's face, his stoic expression so skilled in deceiving. She felt a rock drop into the pit of her stomach. The red head beside him leaned in and whispered something to him, and he pressed a smile onto his lips and nodded. Sammy felt her heart thumping against her ribcage, begging to be torn free from her chest. Maybe if Bee could just see that she was there, that would be enough- maybe-

She saw the top of Bee's head move back towards the door. Without another thought, she turned towards the nearest exit, squeezing past the rope-fencing in front of the paintings on the wall. When she reached the door, the humid and heavy air choked her, but she labored on and hurried to round the building where Bee had been headed. She dragged her hand along the wall, fingers shaking loose moss and dirt as she hurried. She could see Bee in her mind, young and laughing at basic training, her light-weather pants swishing as she jogged. Sammy knew she had to get to her soon. She wouldn't be too late again.

When she turned the corner, Bee was moving to head in the direction of the lake. Sammy shook her head and took off at a dead sprint towards her, the voice of the auctioneer awarding the painting to the highest bidder sounding off through the walls of the guest house.

"Bee!" She said breathlessly, camera bag bumping against her legs. "Bee, wait!"

Bee stopped. Sammy watched as her arms tensed, muscles bristled as though she were preparing for a fight.

"Bee, I'm here. I got you. I-"

Bee turned around, but she didn't seem happy to see Sammy at all.

In fact, she was holding up a pistol, the barrel aimed dead at Sammy's heart.

—-

Lee spotted Bones squeezing through the crowd before the others did. She didn't look much different than the last time he'd seen her. His body tensed and Luna looked back, alarmed. He jutted his chin out and focused hard on Bones in the crowd.

"Dog toy, two o'clock," he said, his voice a growl.

"Dog toy?" Caesar asked, brows knotted over his eyes.

Luna's face tightened and she followed Lee's glare. She drew in a breath and nodded.

"Dogs play with bones," she said, taking a few steps forward.

Caesar raised his brows but followed along and continued dragging his eyes along the crowd. Lee was dead set on getting to her. If she was there, then Sammy couldn't be far behind.

"Sold, to the high bid of two point three million dollars!"

Applause rang out and Luna used that as an opportunity to gain some ground on Bones. The crowd began to shift and mingle and Lee struggled to stay close to Luna amidst all the bodies.

"The bidding for the next work of art will begin momentarily!"

Caesar was looking around and trying to catch a glimpse of the rest of Bones's crew, but all of the sudden movement was making it difficult to tell people apart.

—-

Cap stopped and looked around her as the auctioneer called for a short break. Bones had disappeared after Sammy in the crowd, leaving Cap and Angel alone in the middle of the crowded room.

"What do we do?" Angel asked, leaning in towards Cap but not looking towards her.

"What we always do," Cap said, reaching to her side and locking arms with Angel. "We stick together. We can't afford to be running around alone. Not in a place like this."

Angel nodded and tried to catch a glimpse of the front of the room. People were beginning to shuffle out and away from the podium. She wished that she had an eye on Bones suddenly, but she knew she couldn't let herself get caught up in fear. She had to keep home and work separate; her love and her job. She swallowed hard and kept pushing through the current of people. She tried not to step on any gowns for fear that she might lose her balance on her bad leg and fall. Cap held onto her, offering her support, and she felt that it wasn't just physical support she was getting. Cap needed to know Angel was still there. She was just as afraid as Angel was that Bones and Sammy had disappeared, though she'd never let it show.

—-

"What are you doing?" Sammy asked, lifting her arms slowly towards the sky as she examined Bee's face. "It's me. It's Sammy."

"I know who you are," Bee said, and the sound of her voice brought Sammy back to the dry heat of basic. She could even feel the soreness in her muscles again. The relief of hearing that familiar sound made her want to weep, but she couldn't- not with a gun trained on her chest.

"What did he tell you?" Sammy said, taking a step closer to try and close the little bit of distance between them. Bee tightened her grasp on the gun and Sammy froze.

"He told me the truth," Bee said, looking Sammy up and down, her lips curling into a frown. "He told me what you are. What you do to people."

Sammy furrowed her brows. "What?"

"Don't play dumb," Bee said, tears welling in her eyes. "I already know you're a liar. There's no use in trying to hide it."

Sammy shook her head. Had the Major twisted the story? Had he told Bee that Sammy and the Expendables were the villains? They certainly weren't the heroes- but villains? The Major was the villain. He'd set them all up to die in that jungle. She just needed to figure out why.

"Olivia," Sammy tried, inching forward still. "I'm your friend. I'm here to help you. I'm gonna get you out of here."

"You fucked up my life enough as it is," Bee said, her voice raising slightly. It scratched and swelled in her throat. Sammy winced.

"How?" Sammy asked, desperate.

"I couldn't go home. I couldn't stay in the army. They had to fake my death-" Bee took a step forward this time, holding the gun so that it was almost touching Sammy's chest. "I lost everything because of you."

"It wasn't me, it was the Major," Sammy tried, hands still in the air.

"No," Bee said, and her face went hollow and flat. Sammy sensed her finger tighten on the trigger and she acted out of instinct. She lowered her hands and pushed the gun to the side as she slammed Bee's hand in the opposing direction. She slid her leg between both of Bees and knocked in her knee as hard as she could, sending Bee tumbling to the side.

Sammy heaved in a deep, exhausted breath. She shook her head. "He's a liar!" She yelled.

Bee caught her balance with her hands on the ground before she pulled herself back up. She looked at the gun in Sammy's hand and snarled.

"Gonna do it then? Take me out, finally?"

Sammy studied her. She didn't look tortured. She didn't look abused. She shook her head and clicked the gun so that all of the rounds fell out and scattered into the grass. Then she threw the shell of the weapon away from them both, towards the forest.

"I'm not the bad guy here," Sammy tried.

"I've seen what you did," Bee said. "Seemed pretty plain to me. And those people you'd talked about at camp? They're no better."

Sammy chewed on the inside of her cheek. She needed to deescalate the situation before somebody saw them- or worse, the Major noticed they were all there.

"Come with me, and I'll prove it-" she tried.

A shot rang out not far from where they were and they both turned quickly to see where it had come from. The bullet landed to their side and blew up the grass and dirt where it collided. They saw a figure moving towards them.

"I'm not going anywhere with you," Bee said, and she threw herself forward and tackled Sammy to the ground. Sammy fell easily, taken off guard, and landed on her back with a hard thump. She reached up and fought against Bee, who was trying desperately to pin her down.

"Stop!" Sammy cried, desperate. "Bee, please! Olivia!"

"Don't say my name!" Bee yelled back, wrapping herself around Sammy to get her into a headlock. Sammy tugged at her arms and shifted her weight forward so that Bee flipped over her shoulder. Bee held on tight, though, and Sammy ended up sprawled on her back on top of Bee, who was wrapped around her tight and cutting off her airflow. "You don't get to say my name."

Sammy kicked up dirt and struggled, her dress stained from the grass and the mud. The camera bag was still stuck around her, the strap digging into the skin of her neck. She thought back to basic, trying to think of anything that would help her get a grip on Bee.

"You sent me- a letter-" Sammy tried, trying desperately to loosen the arm around her neck.

"Liar!" Bee yelled, locking her legs around Bee's middle.

"You left- a code- your brother-"

Bee tightened herself like a snake around Sammy. She could feel the blood rushing to her face, her lips burning as she tried to keep her airway clear. She didn't want to exhaust herself by flailing, so she pushed against Bee the best she could. They were relatively evenly matched, and every time Sammy got the upper hand, Bee would match her easily.

"Hey!" A voice called, and in the haze of blood rushing to her head Sammy couldn't make out who it was. She didn't think it was Cap or any of them- maybe a guard, or somebody working behind the scenes. Bee didn't let up.

"Bee-"

Sammy squinted and tried to see who was running at them. She grunted and groaned, spit bubbling over her lips from the exertion. She could make out the familiar silhouette, the gun held in that specific way, the swagger in his walk-

She saw Barney holding up the gun to shoot, and she knew Barney never missed. He wouldn't be aiming for her, though. He'd be aiming for Bee.

Sammy mustered up all her strength and rolled to put herself between Bee and the bullet. Bee twisted and tried to keep her grip, so they both slipped out from each other on an angle. The bullet whizzed by Sammy and skidded along her arm, burning and drawing blood.

"Fuck!" Barney yelled.

"What the hell is going on?" That had to be Toll. Sammy wondered why they were there. She told them to stay away. She had a head start. She had to finish this alone.

"Don't shoot!" Sammy yelled, and Bee's grasp began to slip from the blood on her arm.

Barney kept his gun trained on them, and Toll reluctantly did the same. Yang appeared quietly not long after, confused and out of breath.

—-

When they heard the first shot, the room went quiet. Lee lunged forward to grab Luna by the arm, but she had started to run after Bones. That's when the chaos started.

Lee glanced back at Caesar and they nodded at each other, each shoving through the crowd of hysterical people in the direction Luna had gone.

Off to the side, Cap and Angel snapped their heads towards the sound, their blood running cold. They squeezed each others arms and joined the rest of the crowd in hurrying to the exit, Cap drawing her gun from under her dress as she did. Angel did the same.

Bones rushed out the side door and reached down to pull the dress up over her head. She let out a frustrated grunt and grabbed a knife before she went to go on.

"Bones!"

She stopped, confused. She turned back and caught Luna hurrying towards her, wearing a dazzling dress with her hair braided back. She was fuming.

"No time!" Bones hissed, turning to find the source of the gunshot.

"Hey!" Luna yelled, hurrying after her. Lee and Caesar weren't too far behind, pulling out their own weapons as they ran through the vivid grass.

Bones rounded the corner and stopped in her tracks. Luna knocked into her from behind and was about to yell out when she caught sight of what had stopped Bones- a group of militants had their guns trained on Barney, Toll, and Yang, while they had their own guns trained on Sammy and Bee. Luna's eyes widened. What the hell?

Cap offered Angel support as they tried to part from the rush of the crowd hurrying to the entrance.

"Goddammit!" Angel snapped, tripping and grabbing onto Cap.

"It's fine!" Cap said, yanking her back up.

"It is not fine! Go without me!"

"Absolutely not. I am not leaving you," Cap said.

Angel opened her mouth to argue but Cap tugged her on and she had no choice but to move unless she wanted to faceplant into the dirt. When they rounded the corner, the lake was glistening in the background, an unusually quaint set for the events they saw unfolding before them.

—-

Sammy felt the edges of her vision begin to darken. She knew she didn't have much time before she was knocked out. She couldn't even feel the gash in her arm the way she knew she should.

"Guns down! Hands up!"

Sammy jerked her head to the side and saw a group of armed men approaching them. She knew Barney, Toll, and Yang wouldn't move from their positions. If they were there, that meant Lee had to be too, right? She couldn't stand the thought. She tried again to pull Bee loose.

She was still fighting, however weakly, when a cold, familiar voice made her ears begin to ring.

"I'd listen to them if I were you," he said.

Bee's grip seemed to let up just slightly. It was almost like she was starting to relax. Sammy gasped in a breath.

"Like hell we will," Barney spat.

"Considering you're supposed to be the best in the business, I'd say you're pretty dumb," the Major said, and Sammy tried to twist to get a better look at the situation.

"Considering you're supposed to be running in the same business, I'd say you're not real sharp, either," Barney grumbled.

The Major choked out a laugh. He waved off Barney's words.

"C'mon, Barney. Put the guns down. You know how this ends."

"I ain't dying like a coward," Barney said. "You can try all you want, it ain't gonna happen."

"I figured as much," the Major said, shaking his head. "You should've stayed out of that mess in the jungle like you were supposed to. I needed those girls dead."

"Well, you should've thought twice about sending in one of mine, then," Barney said.

"Eh, it was a miscalculation on my part, maybe. I figured she'd get them killed quicker. Then you all showed up, ready to save the day-"

"What's your point?" Barney snapped.

Sammy tried to wriggle away from Bee but she tightened her grip again.

"My point is, you got in the way of a very, very messy situation. So now, I'm gonna clean it up, and I'm going to finish what I started."

Sammy looked up in time to see the Major lift a gun towards her. She felt her heart sink. If any of them reacted, he'd get what he wanted; he'd kill them. She hoped against her better judgement that they wouldn't react. She heard the safety click off and her eyes stung and filled with tears. She squeezed them shut.

The shot went off, but she didn't feel it. After a split second, she looked up, and the Major was collapsing forward on the ground, dead.

"Well, now that he's out of the way," a voice said, and Sammy looked up to see a different man hand off a gun to the red head, "let's really get down to business."

Barney felt as though his soul was leaving his body. The blood from the Major's head was splattered in front of his sprawled out, limp body, right in front of Sammy. And behind him, passing the gun off to Dilly, was a ghost: Conrad Stonebanks.