Hello again!

So, this is the first chapter. Don't worry, a lot is explained in the next one.

A big thank you to my best fanfiction friend FictionWriter91 for the help :)

Enjoy your reading,

Pavs.

Chapter One: The Boys are Back in Town

I was lying on the floor absolutely drained from the effort of hauling all the boxes I had to move from my car to my new apartment on the third floor. My whole body was hating me, and I wasn't anywhere near done. I heard someone knock at my door and groaned as I got up to answer. Then I sighed at the realization that I had actually forgotten to leave a clear path to the door.

The knocking became insistent, and I frowned. First, because the only person I was waiting for had a key to my apartment so as to simplify the moving in process, and second, because the very reason for me moving out still went out of his way to reach out to me.

''Who's there?'' I asked seconds before my ex forced the door open. My fight or flight kicked in instantly, and without my brain telling them to, my legs snapped into action, and I ran all the way to the back of the apartment and onto a small balcony.

I closed the door behind me and was about to run down the emergency stairs when he grabbed me by the shirt to yank me against the railing. I screamed in horror as I felt myself falling, and the last thing I saw was my ex's shocked expression as I flew off the balcony.

[Hospital]

I woke up to the sounds of a cardiac monitor and people talking around me. I blinked several times before I could actually see them properly, and when I tried to speak, I felt my throat burning and coughed instead.

''Alice!'' I heard as I tried to regain control of my lungs and saw my best friend's hand offering me a glass of water.

I could tell it was him from the Lord of the Rings tattoo on his hand. I drank my water and sighed in relief as I could finally breathe properly.

''You scared the fuck out of me, Allie,'' Clarence said, and I looked at his tired face. ''You've been out for days.''

''Well, I am here now, Clark, so there's no need to go all Kent on me,'' I said, and he chuckled.

''Fuck, it's good to see you,'' he said, and we both laughed.

Then I saw all the tubes and wires, and I frowned.

''You're ok, Allie. It's a fucking miracle, actually,'' he said, and I remembered way too clearly my ex's facial expression as I started to fall. ''He's in jail now. He won't be coming out.''

''Yeah, I hope so. Wouldn't want you to go Christmas on his arse in June,'' I replied, and it was his turn to frown.

Weird. He usually got my Expendables references. Or any references really. We'd met at a Comicon about six years earlier, and it had been friendship at first sight. He was the only person to get it. He wasn't my only friend, but he was the only one I could call at three a.m. to have a tantrum because another one of my fanfictions had made me want to throw my computer through the window.

''I am sorry, sir, but you're gonna have to leave,'' a nurse said, and he kissed me on the forehead before he went out of the room.

[Drummer]

He'd sworn the entire way back from the office in DC. That was a huge fucking mess that he hadn't been ready to deal with, that nobody was ready to deal with. But Stonebanks was apparently a fucking cockroach. He entered his assigned place to go and get the kids.

Of course, this rescue mission would be off the books. This whole fucking fiasco would have to be buried under the world's nastiest carpet, but not before he told Barney about it. He sighed in defeat. The man would go ape shit.

He'd already kill Conrad Stonebanks twice, after all.

Drummer heard the pilot give him the time before landing, and he got his weapons ready. Then the back door opened for the drop, and he swore again.

He was getting way too fucking old for this shit. Then he thought about Barney again.

''So much for retirement,'' Drummer said to himself as the final countdown began.

[Alice]

''Fuck, I love y'all,'' I said with a relived sigh as I entered my completely unpacked apartment.

There was even a note saying "With love, your favorite fuckers." I laughed before I sent them a thank you text message through the group chat. I went to sit on my couch and looked at my movie collection. Of course, Clark would have been the one to unpack that. I laughed softly to myself as I noticed that all of my fantasy/sci-fi movies were the first ones on the left, a place usually occupied by my action movies, since they were the ones that I watched the most.

I turned on the TV and went to grab the first Expendables movie to help me calm down. Even though my ex was in jail, I would be lying if I told myself that I wasn't still in shock about what had happened. I would also like to say that this was the first time, but there had been a good reason why I'd moved that far away from my hometown.

And with the pandemic...well, it hadn't been too hard to find a job that allowed me to work from home. So, I had moved to a new town, Well, a new country to be exact. And thank God I had a job with insurance because there was no way I would have paid thousands of dollars for the whee-hoo wagon.

Clarence had helped a lot with that. I was pretty sure he would've taken me in if he could've. He'd shown me around L.A. and had introduced me to all my new friends. We were all a bunch of nerds really, and if at first I'd been scared of them rejecting me because of my past, I'd been pleasantly surprised to face their open minds.

I shook myself mentally as I focused once again on playing my favorite movie. I kept looking for it as a fear build up in my heart. Had I not packed them? I looked again and accidentally dropped another movie. Tango & Cash. I was about to put it back on the shelf when I did a double take. Why was Sylvester Stallone looking so…off? Like the guy on the cover would be a very good cosplay, but that's it.

I took other movies out of the shelves and began to panic as the same phenomenon happened with other Stallone movies, then again with the other Expendables actors. I took my phone and went online, only to face blank pages at all my Google, Firefox, Bing, and even Yahoo searches for The Expendables movies and weird pictures for the cast. I then frantically searched for all my fanfictions on them on my app and saw that they were all missing. I saw Clark calling, and I answered.

''How fucking hard did I hit my head?!'' was the first thing that came out of my mouth.

''Allie, are you ok?'' Clark replied, worried.

''NO! The Expendables, they've vanished! The casting is all weird! My fictions are GONE!'' I replied on the verge of tears.

''Allie,'' Clark sighed, ''the doctor told you to get some rest. Don't start writing yet, alright? I love you, go to sleep.''

I hung up and screamed to myself. How could he not react! They were my safe place for fuck's sake. I started to cry. Everything was fucked up. My whole body felt fucked up, and my mind was in chaos.

I opened my phone again and went to close my Google search before I heard my mind telling me to wait. I began searching for Old Point and was surprised to see an existing website with the address listed as seen in the movie. I went to Google maps and saw the pictures.

My heart skipped a beat.

It couldn't be.

No.

No, things like that couldn't be possible.

I Googled Tool's tattoo shop.

Nothing.

I sighed. Clark was right. I probably just needed some sleep.

[Safe House, Albany]

''So, you're fucking telling me that Stonebanks actually went Yulaw on our arses and decided to become The One!'' Smilee exclaimed as the others were looking at Drummer with a range of facial expressions going from denial to complete shock.

''How is that even possible!?'' asked Thorn with both shock and awe, the latter causing Luna to send him a dark look.

''The how is not the matter here. Now, we need to find the guy you were after. He knows where to look for the answers,'' Drummer said, and Galgo opened his mouth to speak.

''Not now!'' they all exclaimed as they got their things ready for the new task at hand.

This was going to be a fucking mess; they all knew it.

[Alice]

I was currently facing Old Point in all its glory, holding onto my purse for dear life. I couldn't risk leaving my journal back at my hotel room, which meant bringing it with me. It contained way too much sensitive information, beginning with every single fucking detail about the Expendables. I felt the guilt rising once again as I walked to the bar. Clark still thought I had boarded a plane to Canada to reassure my family I was actually okay.

Only I was now in Louisiana and not yet sure if I was completely insane or about to face the impossible. I had waited for a week, my body still protesting against my poor attempts at relaxing, only to get a paid vacation to take care of my mental and physical health.

The body was doing great. The mental, however, was about to have a break down any second now. If the Expendables could have been me going absolutely nuts or having been the result of a concussion, the pandemic vanishing was a whole fucking other story.

Hence the journal. The Expendables weren't the only notes in there. I saw a couple of men looking me over as if asking themselves if I was insane, and I scoffed before I finally went inside. I walked straight to the bar, and the old man behind the counter smiled at me.

''What can I get ya?'' he asked, and I ordered an ice tea.

Better not mix insanity with alcohol, I thought with a sigh.

''That's a nice tattoo you got there,'' the barman commented, and I actually smiled.

It was my Supernatural tattoo: A mark of Cain.

''Thanks. I'm past due for a new one,'' I replied, and the man smiled.

''Here, you should go there. He's the best you will find in town,'' the man said while writing the address. ''Open till 2 a.m. too.''

He gave me the paper, and I completely froze as a high pitch sound started ringing in my ears.

''Thank you,'' I managed to say as I paid for my drink and left.

I could feel my heart beat in my temples as I called a cab. My whole body was shaking by the time I heard the driver saying that we were there. I paid, got out, and looked at the metal sign.

Tool's Tattoo Shop

''This can't be real,'' I said to myself as tears started to roll down my cheeks.

I was so in shock that I didn't even realize I was walking towards voices that could be heard inside. Voices that I knew way too well and that I had sorely missed since my ex attempted to murder me.

I stopped as I heard Gunnar's distinctive laugh and felt my brain finally kick in.

OH MY GOD.

I was in TOOL'S FUCKING TATTOO SHOP.

THEY WERE REAL.

They were real…

Fuck.

FUCK.

''Can we help you, love?'' Lee fucking Christmas asked me, and I turned to face them.

For real.

In the flesh.

''The brain has left the chat,'' I heard myself think as I opened my mouth to say…absolutely nothing. ''Say something, you IDIOT!''

''Are you alright?'' asked Lee again as I looked at him like a fucking moron.

''I…I…um…'' I said. I could feel my hands shaking.

''Girl, do you smell burnt toast?'' Hale Caesar asked me, and I saw Toll Road slap him on the shoulder.

''What's happening here?'' asked Barney fucking Ross while he came back from the office with Doctor Death himself.

''Holy fuck, you're real,'' I said, short of breath as I saw Doc's panicked look.

''Really?'' Was my last condescending thought to myself before I fainted.

My brain was broken.