Lee POV

Lee really was not in the greatest of moods.

He had just come home from a successful mission and as always went to check up on his girlfriend Lacey. The girl who he thought he loved. WelI I guess she was his ex now since she had run off with some other man. To make matters worse she didn't even seem unhappy about it. She just didn't understand the danger that would come if he told her what he really was. That he was a killer. Lacey would probably never even look at him again.

It wasn't easy being a mercenary, similar to office jobs; life was always work work work. But dissimilar in the idea that office workers typically had a family to come home to. Lee had tried leaving the killing business a few times but always ended up coming back a month or two later.

Currently, Lee was with the closest thing he had to a friend who was a man named Barney Ross, an expert sharpshooter. He was the leader of their Mercenary team, The Expendables. The Expendables were a 6 man team first there was Lee the knife enthusiast. Yin Yang a martial arts expert. Hail Caesar a heavy weapons specialist. Toll Road, an interesting ex- wrestler with a love for demolitions, and a loose-cannon swede sniper named Gunnar.

Recently they had to let Gunnar go, he was becoming a threat to the team.

Barney and Lee walked into a large church where they were to meet up with a new CIA operative for a job offering. This would possibly be the first and last time Barney or Lee would ever even see this guy. All other transactions would most likely be over the phone.

As the pair entered the Church and walked down the aisle a bald man with a wrinkled forehead stood at the pew. His eyes were strangely predatory and almost alien. About ten yards away a smaller figure sat in the shadows of the church. Strange. " Hello Barney, Hello Lee" The man said in a false friendly way. He had the signature prickly demeanor that all CIA agents had. " Hi, let's keep things simple, we don't care where the job is as long as the money is right. Got it?" Barney asked keeping to the point. The bald man nodded " Let's get down to business, I know your real name isn't Barney and yours probably ain't Lee Christmas. And you don't need to know my name either. All you need to know is that the job is real and so is the money" Chruch explained. " And since we are in this nice place, well... just call me Mr.Church" he added.

" Ok Church, let's hear it then" Lee said ready to leave the country and go on the mission. It would be the perfect opportunity to get his mind off Lacey. " In a minute, still waiting on one more guy" Church told them. " Who?" Barney asked but before Church could replied, as if one cue the Church doors open and in walked a man named Trench. He was a tall man with a weathered face and fuzzy chestnut hair. Kind of like that guy you see on Mobile Strike advertisements.A man Barney used to work with but their relationship was a bit foggy . Lee had met him before but he didn't really like the guy. The again Lee didn't like many people.

"You know him?" Church asked reading their body language. " Yeah we used to be on the same team" Barney replied with a hint of a sour tone. " What's my oldest, worst friend doing here?" Barney asked. " All your names came to the top of the list" Church said blandly. Lee almost scoffed, to the CIA guys mercenaries were nothing more than pawns to a chess game. All replaceable and movable.

" Is there a problem?" Church asked with a tilt of his shaved head. " Yeah I should have shot him when I had the chance" Barney said back cooly.

" Well if it isn't big Barney Ross" Trench greeted with an opening of his arms as he removed the cigar from his mouth. " Bigger Trench Mouse" Barney replied with a small smirk causing Lee to scoff. " What are you two doing here? Praying for work?" Trench asked with enough sarcasm to fill a cup.

" Could be" Lee answered with a small grin. Trench stopped a foot behind Barney " You lost weight?" Trench asked. " Yeah well whatever weight I lost you found pall" Barney replied. It was like two old people bickering. Oh wait, that's exactly what it was.

" You guys aren't going to start sucking each others d**ks now are you?" Church intervened creating a joke that he only found funny. He gave a cold chuckled before the prickly aura returned. " Let's get down to the job, see who wants the work" Church ordered. " Ever heard of an Island called Vilena?" Church asked.

" No" Barney and Lee replied.

" Yes, it's a little Island in the Gulf" Trench replied glancing at Barney with a slightly smug look. " That's right" Church said.

" You two should read more" Trench advised.

" Gee thanks" Lee replied in his typically rustic English voice.

" There are resources on that island that my people are very interested in" Church continued. " But a general by the name of Garza has overthrown the half-a** government there" Trench announced. " That's right, my people are having a problem with this Garza guy" Chruch said. Lee figured when he said "His people" he was referring to the people he was working for. This guy was just another CIA dog.

" So You want Garza gone?" Barney asked with his arms crossed over his broad chest. " I want him dead" Church reiterated.

" All it takes is his little army, only an idiot would take this job" Trench claimed.

" How much?" Barney asked.

" Like I said" Trench added.

Barney and Lee both looked at Trench with a what the hell is your problem look but Trench just winked back. " Anyway I'm busy. Give this job to my friends here, they love running around in the jungle" Trench told them.

" In the meantime, say Barney maybe we should get dinner some time?" Trench asked, his Austrian accent thick. " Yeah sure when" Barney asked lazily.

" In a thousand years" Trench replied taking another hit from his cigar. " Too soon" Barney said with mock regret as Trench walked back down the aisle to the door.

" What the hell is his problem?" Church asked.

" He wants to be President" Lee told him causing Trench to glare back at them.

"We will need to recon this island first" Barney stated returning his attention to Church. " I have a contact on the Island, actually I have someone here who will be working with you two" Church continued and gestured to the figure that was sitting in the shadows. Lee rose a brow as he saw a woman stand up and walk towards the three men with almost elegant strides. There were no handshakes or hellos, such sentiments were not used by mercenaries.

She was about 5'7 or 5'8 with a sharp nose and high cheekbones. Her raven black hair was a bit past her shoulders and curled partially. She had pale skin with a few stray freckles on her face. She wore no makeup but was naturally pretty. Even with the faded under eye circles and faint wrinkles at the her corner of her eyes. She Wasn't exactly Kim Kardashian curvy but she had a nice athletic figure. She wore a black tank top, and cargo pants. Dog tags hung lowly around her neck. A lethal Bowie knife was the only visible weapon on her attire. Lee noticed she had two tattoos, one was of three words on her wrist and the other was a tattoo of a Grim Reaper on her shoulder. The mark of a Grimms.

" A woman? You're making us work with a woman? No disrespect but I think my team will be fine working just with our 6 guys" Barney argued. Lee nodded, he didn't care if she had been one of the Grimms who were a mercenary team similar to the Expendables but rumor had it one of their missions in Somalia had gone south. Although not a flicker of any sort emotion was shown on the girl's face. She stood tall.

" I believe you mean 5 guys Mr. Ross, it was brought to my attention that one of the members of your team Gunnar Jensen is no longer working with you" Church retorted. Barney looked to Lee who kept his eyes trained on the girl. Her mocha brown eyes steadily gazed into his. " You were a Grim huh?" Lee asked. Barney rose a brow and noticed her tattoo.

She nodded " I was" She replied with a silky voice that was a little lower than a normal female. " I have heard a lot about the Grimms" Lee claimed his eyes evaluating her. A small flash of something went across her eyes but it disappeared as soon as it came. " Then you know that I am the only Grim left" She added. Lee felt a little bit bad for her. Losing a teammate wasn't easy, Lee knew that but losing your entire team. That was more than just pain. But he figured she didn't want his pity.

Barney nodded in understandment but still looked skeptical of bringing her on the job. Lee was too, he hadn't met a whole bunch of female mercenaries to be honest. They could be just as good as men.

"Barney you shouldn't worry, Ferris knows how to take care of herself" Church assured but sounded bored. Ferris? Was that her name? That was a strange named but so was Lee Christmas.

"Alright fine she can come. I respect the Grimms" Barney claimed. Lee would have argued further but he decided against it." But I got a feeling everyone has been passing this job so our fee is 5 mil" Barney continued. Church's thin eyebrows rose creating more wrinkles on his forehead " 5 mil?" Church asked. It was a pricey one.

"Half upfront, the other half after the mission in an offshore account. You got a problem with that" Barney asked stoically. Church shook his head " No, but what I do have a problem with is people who try to f**k me over" Church said and took a few steps towards Barney and Lee.Church had this wierd malicious little grin on his face. " So if you take the money and don't deliver or you try to fuck me in some kind of weird cockamamie scheme of yours, me and my people are gonna come get you and your people and chop you up into little fucking dog treats. You got a problem with that?" Church threatened with an air of truthfulness. This Church guy would most likely keep to his word but so would Lee and Barney. Lee glanced at Ferris and saw she was just as stoically pretty as ever. It was almost the opposite of Lacey who was a bubbly mess of a

brunette. The again this Ferris chick lost her team not to long ago.

Barney hardly reacted to Church's words and gave him a mere shrug " Let's talk" Barney suggest.