Expendables- Devil's Ax

Chapter 17

There a slight hum in Barney's ears as he slammed the target up against the wall.
"Where are the others?!" He Yelled more forcfully at the man this time. He had been at it for nearly ten minute with no luck. The man only laughted with a bloody smile.
"We're getting nowhere," Lee said in a low voice as he spoke to Barney in his ear. "We should just take him and leave. He's the target. Let's get out before anything else happens."
"What we gonna do if more of em come?" Doc asked from the doorway.
Barney let go of the man and let his body drop to the floor. The man glared up at him and wiped the blood from his mouth.
"Let's go," Barney said. "Gunner," he called. He pointed to the man on the floor, and with a smile, Gunner came over and knocked the man out witht he butt of his gun. He then picked the man up and followed everyone out of the small dark room to the outside courtyard of the home.
The mission had taken a lot longer than the Expendables had planned on. It was running on three weeks. Everyone was getting on each others last nerves, but they somehow made it through till the end. It seemed as though the rain hadn't let up since they arrived, and had also led to some fights between the guys. Toll and Doc had gotten into a full on fight to the death that made Gunner interfere and knock the both of them out cold in the mud when his coffee was spilled during their fight. Casaer had had enough of Lee and Lee had had enough of Gunner. Barney seemed to be the only sain one left out of the group. But now, as the group was leaving, he could hear eveyone laughing and bragging about how they took down this amout of people, or that amount of people. He chuckled to himself and continued on.

Rose and Tool sat in the bar and continued to talk about old times when Tool's phone began to go off. He stood up from the table and walked outside. Rose sat in her chair and smiled. It was good to be out in the daytime and actually doing things, especially with an old friend. Only a few minutes had passed when Tool came back into the bar and sat down again.
"Those bastards are finally coming back," he said from behind his beer bottle. "Bout damn time."
Rose smiled again and looked down at her plate. It was empty. For the first time in a long time, she had eaten everything given to her. Tool smiled and chuckled when he saw her face. She was proud. He was proud.
Her face had color in it, and since that first night, she had tried to prove herself to be strong. The two of them had been training day in and day out for the past few weeks, and Rose looked much better than before. Almost like she was a different person. She put on weight and her muscles had grown. She ate three meals a day, and took the right about of medication. Although she still had trouble falling asleep and staying asleep, she looked healthy. Tool couldn't wait to see the look on Barney's face when he would see Rose.

Barney and Lee had come in through the front door of the tattoo shop and saw Tool sitting in his tattoo chair painting yet another guitar. He looked up from his cigar and smiled.
"Well if it isn't Dumb and Dumber..." He said as he began to work on his guitar again with a chuckle.
Barney shook of the comment and made his way across the shop to his chair. With a groan, he threw himself into it. Lee sat down on the couch and looked around.
"Where's Rose?" He asked.
Without looking at Lee, Tool replied, "The garage."
Lee stood up and made his way over to the garage, trying to brush off Tool. He was still upset over the last knife match that the two of them had.
Walking into the garage, Lee could hear the sound of heavy breathing and music. He pushed aside the make shift wall made out of an old blanket and saw what looked like Rose. But at the same time, it wasn't. Her back was turned to him as she did pull ups on a bar mounted to the concrete wall, wearing nothing but a black sports bra and compression shorts. Sweat dripped down her back as she continued to pull herself up and then let her body slowly fall back down. Her hair was tightly pulled back and dripped with sweat as well. Lee watched as her muscles twitched and caused her to let go of the bar. She landed on her feel and stretched out her arms when she stood up straight. She was no longer bone, but muscle.
She was blasting music through her headphones when she turned around and saw Lee standing there. She pulled out the headphones and smiled.
"Hey, Lee," she said.
"Hey..." He said looking at her a little confused and dumbfounded.
"How was the trip? Is everyone back safe?"
"Yeah. Everyone's fine. It just took us a little longer than we had planned," he scratched the back of his head. "You look good."
Rose looked back up at him as she sat her phone down on the work bench.
"Thanks," she said. "I feel better too."
"That's good," he said. The two fo them stood there in silence for a bit before Barney and Tool walked in.
"Holy shit, you arent kidding," Barney said as he looked at Rose.
"Hey," Rose said with a small wave of her hand. Barney came over to her and embraced her.
"I'm glad you're doing better now," he said in a low voice. "I'm sorry about earlier."
"It's fine. I'm over it now," she said looking over at Tool who smiled at her.

Gunner scratched the back of his head as he made his way down the hall. For some reason, he was nervoucs to see Rose. It had been a few weeks and he hadn't seen her right when he got back. It was now midnight, and he was sure that she would be asleep. But when he reached her door, he could hear music playing softly as someone moved throughout the apartment. He couldn't help but smile when he looked down at his hand. He clentched a small bundle of roses. An apology for not coming to see her soon. He was kind pissed that Lee was the first one to see her, but he brushed it off, and knocked on her door.
A few seconds later, Rose opened the door and looked up at Gunner with a smile. Held the flowers forward and looked away, embaressment written all over his face.
"Sorry I didn't come to see ya soon," he said in a low voice. But before he could say or do anything else. Rose wrapped her arms around his torso and hugged him.
"I'm glad you're back," she said. When she pulled away, Gunner was speechless. In the few weeks that he had been gone, Rose looked amazing. She was lean and had color. He looked he up and down.
"You look good," he said handing the folowers to her and following her into the apartment. She smiled at his words and thanked him.
After she placed the flowers in some water, Rose sat down on th couch with Gunner and cuddled up to him. Although the two of them were not offically together, it felt like they were. Guneer wrapped an arm around her and pulled her as he leaned back into the couch and closed his eyes.
Rose rested her head on his chest and listened to his heartbeat. Like always, it was relaxing and made her feel warm. It was nice to have everyone back. But it was calming to have Gunner by her side.