[ THIRD PERSON POV ]

All it had taken for Rebel to coerce Team Bravo into leaving the scene of the crash was a nod. He had every good faith that Risk and Gunner could handle the tails on their own — though most of his faith lay in Risk specifically.

Bravo didn't ask questions. They just ducked through the nearest alley way and continued on toward Gray's beach house. It took the trio less than ten minutes to arrive, and when they did so, they slowed.

"So what do we do, just go knock on the door?" Sergeant asked with a tinge of sarcasm. "Something tells me Gray won't be taking kindly to any visitors right now."

"Back door," was Rebel's only answer.

Neither Sergeant nor Legion argued with him. Not when he walked straight toward the fence; not when he gracefully scaled it. Instead they followed after him, for as Rebel had laid his confidence in Risk's abilities, they found it easy to trust him and his.

After all, they weren't called Team Alpha for nothing.

Rebel crept along in the sandy grass in silence, one of his guns in hand. He watched each of the windows he passed with caution; each of them was covered, either with blinds or curtains, and there was no way to see inside. That didn't surprise him — this was Gray they were about to drop in on — but it did annoy him. Mostly because he didn't like the idea of accidentally getting shot at.

Not that it would be the first time that had happened.

He slipped around the corner of the large beach house (beach mansion seemed more appropriate), and no sooner had he laid eyes on the back door than did he head for it. His every step was assured.

Rebel didn't bother knocking. He reached his free hand out, gun still half-lifted out of caution, and tested the doorknob.

He was surprised when it gave way, mostly because he hadn't needed to use his super strength.

That surprise all faded to razor sharp awareness when he heard the heavy thud of boots against tile. His mind immediately processed through the fact that the footsteps did not match up with what his memory had connected to Gray. He stepped inside and raised his gun completely, all in one fluid motion. His green eyes cut across the room, what appeared to be a large kitchen, and immediately he found himself face to face with a tall woman, dark hair slicked back into a tight pony tail, a large shot gun resting in her hands.

Her hazel eyes were wide as she watched him, though there was a certain viciousness about her face. Rebel found his lips pulling up into a devious smile as they made eye contact. "So Gray hired hitmen, huh?" he asked, his voice betraying just how unimpressed he was.

He could feel Legion and Sergeant moving into the mansion behind him. Sergeant chuckled, no doubt coming to the same conclusion Rebel had seconds earlier.

The woman looked between the three of them with visibly growing apprehension. "What makes you think I didn't come here to kill you?"

Rebel scoffed at that and slid his gun into its holster, speaking as he did so. "You would've shot at us by now, and as a result of that, you'd be dead. Given you're still alive and standing ..."

Legion snickered at that, shaking his head as he stepped further into the room. "You don't want to make enemies of us," he said, though there was no malice in his tone. Legion prided himself in being a gentleman like that.

She finally lowered her gun, just as Rebel strode past her without a second look. She watched the young man move for a long second, her hazel eyes narrowed, before she turned her look of annoyance to Legion and Sergeant. They, too, were headed further into the house. "If you're the former agents Gray spoke of, I must say, I'm disappointed."

"Disappointed you're not dead?" Rebel called over his shoulder from down the hall.

Legion and Sergeant both had a hard time suppressing laughter at that, and without further conversation they passed by the dark-haired woman down the hall.

It took Rebel approximately forty-two seconds to find Gray. The moment he crossed into what would've been a living room in any normal house, Gray got to his feet, his metallic eyes locking onto him.

Standing just a few inches shorter than Rebel, Gray had a thick head of salt-and-pepper hair, and eyes that matched his name. He was a man of considerable stature, with a presence that could fill a room, and features that many a woman had fallen for in the past. A wry smile tugged at his lips as he watched his three former agents walk into his room.

Though Rebel never broke eye contact with the man, he had already taken note of the other four individuals in the room with them. He recognized none of them, yet they were dressed similarly to the woman in the hall, in dark combat gear. He categorized them away as hitmen while Gray approached him.

"Rebel," Gray said in a thick British-English accent. "I can't say I was expecting you so soon."

Rebel cracked the barest of smiles. "I'm sure you weren't."

Gray looked past him at Sergeant and Legion, both of whom were assessing the other hitmen in the room with mild interest. "You two brought them out of their stasis?"

"Afraid so, sir," Legion answered when he looked at Gray, a slight smile to his words.

Gray nodded before looking back to Rebel. "And where is Risk?" He arched a brow, searching the younger man's face.

"On her way," Rebel said with false patience. "We got split up after a car crash in the city. She's losing a tail that followed us down here."

"Gunner's with her," Sergeant volunteered.

"Excellent," Gray said, a genuine smile lifting his lips. "I'm glad you've managed to find some of the others." He paused when the woman from the kitchen made an appearance, her irritated gaze locked onto the newcomers, even as Gray addressed her. "Charlotte," he said, "I assume you've already met Rebel," he gestured with each name, "Sergeant, and Legion."

Charlotte's smile was sour. "A pleasure," she sneered at them, before looking back to Gray. "I've secured the mansion after their entrance. No one else is on the premises."

Sergeant chuckled at that. "Not yet, you mean."

Charlotte cut him a sharp look. "What is that supposed to mean?"

Gray waved her annoyance away flippantly. "Calm yourself, Charlotte. Two more of LASAR's former agents will be joining us soon. I'd be disappointed if they didn't."

Charlotte had no further chance to voice her thoughts before Gray was turning his attention back to the trio.

"Charlotte is one of the individuals I handpicked to help with the Kinetic," he explained to the young men. "What with Team Charlie having cut down LASAR's numbers substantially, I saw no other solution but to do a bit of recruiting. Allow me to introduce you." He waved at the three men and other woman who had been seated, and they rose as though on command.

The youngest, Rebel perceived quickly, was younger than even he and Risk. If he had to guess, he'd have said sixteen or seventeen. The others all appeared to be in their late twenties, as did Charlotte.

"Here we have Elliot," he nodded at a shorter man with long blond hair, "Rashid," a tall, well-built Iranian flashed a pearly smile, "Ilga," a shorter, lithe woman with a crew-cut nodding sternly, "and Desmond."

Desmond was the youngest one that Rebel had noticed. With a head of closely cut red curls and crisp blue eyes, he looked the most out of place. He wasn't in military wear, Rebel had realized as Gray had been talking, but rather all black civilian clothes. He was also fidgeting as Gray spoke, looking between the newcomers with discomfort and wariness.

"Charlotte," Gray continued, as though he did not notice where Rebel's attention lay, "was part of the Marine Corps before she defected. Elliot is former Interpol, and has been functioning as a mercenary since he was framed by those he worked with. Rashid is former Mossad, Ilga was part of the KGB . . . and Desmond," Gray granted the younger boy an encouraging smile, "is a computer expert."

Rebel's eyes narrowed on Gray, but he decided to save his questions for when Gray's new minions were elsewhere.

"And we," Ilga spoke with a thick Russian accent, "have heard of all of you."

"Yes," Elliot agreed with a more amiable smile, "it's interesting actually meeting you after hearing Gray talk about you. He makes you sound like the stuff of legends."

Legion gave a derisive snort at that. "Hardly."

"Maybe terrors would be more accurate," Sergeant mused.

Gray rolled his eyes. "As much as I would enjoy jumping right into the thick of our situation," he said, interrupting the banter, "I believe it would be best to wait until Risk and Gunner's arrival. In the meantime, have you heard from any other survivors?"

What followed caused Rebel to realize just how much he wasn't going to like working with people who weren't a part of LASAR. Faced with all these mercenaries as supposed allies ... it wasn't easy to determine that there would be conflict. He wondered who would snap first. One of LASAR's, or one of them.