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Chapter Thirty: Darkness

[Luna]

She was about to fucking kill someone. Well, as soon as she could. At least the guys had had the decency not to look when she'd been allowed to take a piss. Unlike Stonebanks's men. Fuckers.

Now that she thought about it, it had been a while since anyone had come to attend to them. She felt her anxiety rising. This felt so wrong. She looked at Smilee, and he frowned.

''Yeah, me too,'' John said, and Luna swore.

They had to get out.

[Gabrielle]

We'd just reached the last stop before our goal when my father stopped to take a look at the place. We were all lined up beside him, waiting for command. Something felt…off. It had been too easy.

''You all right sweetheart?'' asked Tool, and I looked at him.

''Yeah, I just want this to be over,'' I whispered, feeling tired of my anxiety.

''It may have been a while, but I still know you better than that,'' said Tool, and I sighed.

''It's too easy,'' I finally said. ''Stonebanks loves drama much more than that.'' Tool frowned. He didn't like how accurate she was. Fucking Stonebanks.

They heard Barney let out an irritated sound and turned to him.

''So, what do you think?'' he asked while passing his binoculars to Christmas.

''I think we should get this over with,'' Christmas said, not bothering to look for too long.

[Barney]

''Alright, Lee, you're with me. Gabrielle, stay close,'' Barney said before Gabrielle interrupted him.

''With all due respect, I'll have to pass. I can't risk teaming up with you,'' Gabrielle said while looking at the ground.

''I…yeah, I see what you mean,'' Barney said, and Gabrielle looked at him before turning to Yang.

''Ok. Well, I'll go with Yang and whoever he's supposed to be with,'' she said, and Barney's eyebrows shot up.

It could have just been that she was more comfortable since Yang had been with her since she got out of Stonebanks's mansion, but still…something felt wrong.

''That would be me,'' said Toll before Barney finished teaming up the rest of them. Tool would be with Booker, Gunnar with Galgo and Woodsman, and Lee was with him and Doc.

They resumed walking with only Galgo as a distraction from Gabrielle's weird attitude.

[Team]

Gabrielle's comment had put the whole team on edge. Barney had spotted the recruits, and they were making progress. They were about to enter the building when Barney saw Gabrielle frown.

''What's wrong?'' he asked through the comms.

''Nothing. Stop being distracted by me. I want you to get out of this alive,'' Gabrielle answered, and Barney sighed. She was right, though.

And yet…

He had to put the thought aside for now. They kept going until they reached the kids.

.

''What the hell?'' asked Gunnar as soon as he saw them attached to the ceiling by the hands.

They all rushed to help. As soon as everybody was on their feet, they heard a speaker making a high pitch sound. Then, Stonebanks appeared on a screen.

''Hey, Barn! I knew you couldn't stay away, but I am relieved that someone could pick up the kids, '' Stonebanks started before he took a look at the team. '' Oh shit. Tool, Doc, and Booker! That makes me feel nostalgic. What an honor. Can't say the same about you, though, Woodsman, you slimy little fucker.''

Barney felt rage building inside as he watched Stonebanks making fun of them.

''Oh shit, Stonebanks. Still an arsehole I see,'' said Gabrielle as Barney turned to face her at a neck breaking speed.

''Well, hello there beautiful,'' Stonebanks said, and her expression turned deadly.

She was looking at the small screen with such hatred Barney felt a chill running down his spine.

''I am going to find you, and then I am going to kill you so slowly and painfully you'll wish you were never, ever born you fucking sick son of a bitch. And believe me, the smile I'll make then will be fucking beautiful,'' she spat at him while Booker, Doc, and Tool exchanged a worried look. ''It'll be so poetic I swear it'll be worth more than your whole weapon empire. An expression of art, if you will.''

''Gabrielle, don't,'' pleaded Tool.

He should have been scared of Stonebanks's reaction, but the cold, empty stare Gabrielle was giving Conrad had shivers running down his spine.

The only thing worse than seeing her die would be to watch her go as dark as Stonebanks and Woodsman or even Gunnar in his days, not to mention the fact that this new version of herself was apparently scaring Jensen shitless. And Gunnar being scared shitless was not reassuring, at all.

She turned to look at him, and Tool felt his heart drop. She was there. With him. Maybe it wasn't too late, maybe her soul could still heal…

''Wow, that's almost romantic, although I am much more surprised, he didn't fuck you like one of his multiple whores. I'd ask if you went as far as to fuck him too, but I guess I should ask Mauser instead. He seemed very close to you from what I've seen since you been back, Gabrielle,'' Stonebanks mocked while playing with his watch. ''Is that why you couldn't stand kissing your old boyfriend? Well, one of them?''

''Shut the fuck up!'' screamed Gabrielle while Gunnar felt like he'd been stabbed. Lee was looking like he was about to murder Stonebanks through the screen.

What the fuck was that supposed to mean?

''Don't. He's just messing around,'' said Booker, seeing Gunnar's reaction.

Stonebanks started to laugh.

''Anyway, y'all got in there, now try to get out. Unfortunately for you, the entire complex has been wired with C-4. It'd take a regular Joe about ninety seconds to get out of there. How about I give you forty-five?'' asked Stonebanks before they heard a small, steady noise behind the screen.

Barney looked behind the device and saw a bomb timer. It took about one second before shit hit the fan. Thorn was trying to stop the timer, military men where circling the building, and everybody was screaming at each other. Barney shot in the air, and everybody became silent.

''It's not an accident that we're trapped in here! This is exactly what he knew would happen. Us, tearing at each other!'' Barney began, and Gabrielle looked at her father. ''It stops now! We can do this, but only if we do this together.''

Barney looked at his daughter, and he could see her pride. He took a deep breath.

''If we work as a team,'' Barney added, and Gabrielle smiled while the others nodded, ''we just may get out of this alive. Now, do you want to make it work?''

Barney was now facing John Smilee, and the kid was the first one to agree. They started adding kids to the smaller teams when they heard Stonebanks laugh.

''Oh, Gabrielle, I forgot,'' he said, and Gabrielle felt her heart skip a beat. ''I asked everybody to get you to me…alive. Good luck.''

Before the others even began to realise what was happening, Gabrielle disconnected the screen, threw it as far as she could before she looked at Yang. He nodded.

''What?'' asked Barney, and they both started to take their weapon as if they hadn't heard him. ''I asked a question.''

He was now blocking them both.

''You really don't want to know, Barney. We don't have time for this,'' said Woodsman.

''We'll make some time. Now what the hell is going on between you two!?'' asked Barney again.

''Neither Stonebanks or his men will take me alive ever again,'' answered Gabrielle before she passed by her father with Yang.

''Is that all? Why didn't they want to tell you that?'' asked Mars before he saw Barney's frown.

They couldn't stay there and wonder much longer; the bullets were already hitting the walls below. Thorn managed to stop the building from blowing up by snagging the fancy device from Gunnar's wrist and using it to block the signal. He chastised the big man for not charging it, dodging a smack after doing so.

They had to get the hell out of there.

.

Toll had found Gabrielle and was looking at her fighting between his own opponents. While he was impressed by how much her skills had improved, he couldn't shake the bad feeling her style of combat was giving him. She then killed three guys in a row, and he realized why. He had trained her to defend herself.

She was fighting to kill.

There was a sudden explosion, and he felt the ground disappearing under him.

.

They had just lost Galgo as he fell down below, and Christmas had barely made sure he was still breathing before he joined Barney. He heard Gabrielle and Yang above them and lost his concentration.

''Watch out!'' exclaimed Barney, snapping him out of his thoughts, and he opened his eyes wide as he saw Gabrielle tackle a man to the ground before grabbing her knives to finish him off and take out four others.

He turned to Barney, who was looking at his daughter with a bewildered expression and the same question in his eyes: what could have happened to make her like this? There was another explosion, and she had to jump down a floor to avoid it.

''Fuck!'' shouted Barney, waving Christmas over to his side.

.

Tool was getting out of breath. This was becoming as bad as his last mission with Woodsman. He shot a quick look in Booker's direction only to realise that he was nowhere to be seen.

''Fuck.'' said Tool before he saw a body drop in front of him. He looked up and saw Booker waving at him from one of the balconies above.

''You called?'' Booker replied, and Tool flipped him off with a smile.

That man was insane.

.

Toll and Gunnar were looking for a spot to shoot soldiers below when they heard Doc.

''Incoming!'' the man screamed, and they all took cover.

''For fuck's sake!'' screamed Toll as he helped Gunnar get back on his feet.

They saw Smilee going for a bike. They then changed strategy and decided to go straight for a tank.

.

Barney was running to avoid literal death when he came face to face with a chopper. He was about to say goodbye to Gabrielle when he saw it being attacked.

He looked confused for a moment before he heard Drummer in his ears.

''Relax. I told you you'd give yourself a stroke,'' Drummer mocked.

''Drummer?'' asked Barney.

''You got a tank problem, pal. Thank your daughter that I am here to help,'' Drummer answered, and Barney smiled.

''All right, do something about it,'' he suggested, referring to the tank problem.

''I'm on it,'' Drummer replied.

.

Doc was having way too much fun The fact that he got to mess with Christmas right after was just a bonus.

''I had it all under control,'' said Lee, clearly out of breath.

''Yeah, that's what it looked like,'' mocked Doc.

They both looked at each other and laughed.

.

Toll and Gunnar had met with Tool and Booker on their way up when they had to stop because of shots being fired. Gunnar took three men down before he ran out of ammo and was about to reload when he saw Gabrielle. She knocked one man to the ground before attacking a second with her victim's gun. She then turned and held the body as a temporary shield until she ran out of ammunition and finished off another with a knife. It had lasted a few seconds, a minute at most. It was impressive.

Still, Gunnar hated it.

He wasn't the only one. Tool was looking at her with a mix of pride and sadness.

''The way she fights,'' Tool said, and Toll nodded.

''She doesn't really have a choice,'' commented Booker. They all remembered Stonebanks's warning to Gabrielle. She killed two more men before making her way to them. Only then did they notice Yang behind her.

''Have you seen the others?'' Gabrielle shouted to them.

''Have you?'' retorted Toll before Doc and Lee appeared, followed quickly by Galgo, Luna, and Mars.

''The battery is at two percent! Get out!'' shouted Thorn through the coms, and they took the stairs to the roof.

[Roof]

Trench saw them coming out one by one. First were Tool and Booker, then Gunnar, Toll, Lee, Doc, Luna, Galgo, Mars, and Smilee. He felt relieved when he saw Gabrielle coming out right before Yang. The situation didn't look much better from the sky. This was a war zone. There were a million possible ways for her to get killed. He frowned. He saw Yang looking at him with a worried look.

''Where are Woodsman and Barney?'' Trench asked, and Tool felt his heart drop.

''Fuck!'' Gabrielle exclaimed before she turned around.

''Right here!'' Woodsman said while Gabrielle turned and saw him come out from the stairs. Gunnar saw someone behind them and was about to shoot when Woodsman threw Gabrielle on the ground.

She turned to her now fallen rescuer and screamed as Gunnar was killing the shooter.

''JAMES!'' she shouted again while making her way to him.

She tried to put pressure while Woodsman was coughing blood, begging him not to close his eyes.

[Gabrielle]

I couldn't let him die. I just couldn't. Not after all this. Not ever. I looked up to meet Tool's eyes as the tears were rolling down my cheeks.

''Please help!'' I managed to say while I saw him crying silently. ''Please!''

[Tool]

The pain was almost unbearable. It was like reliving his one personal hell with a twist. This time, the girl he saw as his daughter, the one he'd lost, was begging him to help. He looked at both Doc and Booker and knew that nothing could be done. Gabrielle looked at him again, and he felt something off.

She wasn't crying anymore. She was holding Woodsman's necklace. She was calm. Way too calm.

''No!'' he shouted before he even understood what he was asking.

But she had gone back inside the building while the other surrounding buildings were catching fire. She was going to kill Stonebanks and rescue Barney on her own.

He ran after her, but was stopped by Booker. Then the ground began to shake, and the kids forced them on the helicopter.

They had to wait and hope.

[Barney]

He was about to lose and he knew it. There was too much water in the gun. Stonebanks smiled at him and was about to say something when he froze, then smiled again.

Barney turned and saw Gabrielle standing behind him, covered in blood, holding tags. He felt his heart drop.

''You fucking bastard!'' she shouted.

''You know I don't go by cute names. Which one was it?'' Stonebanks mocked, nodding at the tag, and Barney felt his anger rise even more.

Gabrielle took her hand gun and shot him in the chest before she got closer. Stonebanks fell on his knees, laughing. Barney got up and went to his daughter as fast as he could.

''You're a fucking psychopath,'' Gabrielle said before she got her gun back in its holster and took a knife instead. ''Go to hell.''

''See you there,'' said Stonebanks before she felt a needle in her leg.

Gabrielle screamed while falling on her knees. Stonebanks was about to kill her with her own knife, but Barney was faster.

He killed Stonebanks, took his daughter in his arms, and ran.

[Team]

Tool was still trying to get out the chopper when the building started to collapse.

''NO!'' Tool screamed while the others were on the verge of a breakdown. Lee finally saw them on the roof and screamed for them to run. Toll threw out a rope. There was a loud, terrifying noise. Then smoke.

They all held their breath until they saw both Barney and Gabrielle. Only Barney was holding onto it. Gabrielle was unconscious. They rushed to help them to the helicopter, knowing that Barney couldn't hold them like this too long. They hauled both of them into the chopper.

''What the fuck happened?'' asked Doc while taking her vitals.

''He shot her with poison!'' Barney said, clearly panicked.

''Yang do you have another antidote?'' Doc asked, and Yang felt his heart break.

''Woodsman had them,'' he said with a shaking voice.

''Fucking hell!'' Doc screamed before he took a deep breath.

They all were on the verge of losing their shit. Now was not the time for the medic to go ape shit.

''Her pulse is getting weaker. I'm going to need you to tell me exactly what you know about bringing her back,'' Doc ordered Yang, forcing him to focus.

''They waited until her heart almost stopped, then shot her up with adrenaline,'' Yang explained. ''At least that's what I saw.''

''Barney give me the epi pen,'' Doc commanded, knowing the man had to be distracted.

Booker, the kids, and he wouldn't be enough to contain the fuckfest that would happen if half of the Expendables were losing their shit.

Doc then asked Toll to prepare the doses, Lee to check on the recruits for wounds, Trench to make sure to lead Drummer to Santa, and Gunnar to talk to Gabrielle.

Then her heart went to V-fib. He took the epi pen and pushed it in as much as he could. He waited 30 seconds, then one minute. He was about to push more epi when she finally screamed.

She was in pain, but she was alive.

It was good enough for him.