United Nations General Assembly

"How dare you refuse us! You cowardly hypocritical xenophobia war mongering fools didn't hesitate to arm terrorists when a handful of hostages were at stake!"

If that was the polite translation, the American representative to the United Nations wondered, if only for a moment, what the Indonesian Representative had really said. Not less than four hours ago, all the gold within the Federal Reserve had been stolen by Asian national terrorists with the exception of the United States and Israel. The head of the terrorists had obscenely offered to sell the gold back at the price of a few million dollars, but the majority of the administration saw that was utterly unacceptable. To bow before a terrorist on the world stage would be unthinkable from their perspective.

Joey Chapman

USAgent

Sabra

Silverclaw

Scarlet Scarab

Cybermancer

Of course, the hardliners in the administration weren't the ones who faced their local economies falling part and fearful citizens whose fear quickly changed to anger. Already there were riots in every corner of the world. Tensions in the Middle East skyrocketed and any and all attempts to broker any type of temporary agreement to broke down into petty posturing. The banking institutions were looking towards the local governments for answers. The local government was looking towards the national government for guidance and the national government was looking towards the United Nations for a solution that didn't exist. It was gridlock of international proportions.

Joey Chapman watched the American Representative defend himself to his fellow delegates for the hundredth time, literally. He'd given his assessment of the terrorist and events leading up to the gold being stolen. Luckily, no one dwelled on his orders to Excalibur to hold back when engaging the Avatars. No, that would have wasted precious time bickering and blaming the United States.

Still, Chapman wished he could have told the truth. He knew exactly where the terrorists were. Plans were already in motion to ensure they wouldn't slip away like they had every time before. But if he revealed this information too soon, it'd tip his hands and the Avatars would be gone. Chapman knew this for a fact.

Chapman signaled for Avalon Headquarters to teleport him back to base. The director of Excalibur had the perfect plan to save the day.

The United Nations just had to survive long enough to implement it.

"Does this mean no prank calls?" asked Eshu. He and the rest of Excalibur, in addition to reservists of Le Peregrine and Spitfire, sat impatiently around the main conference table. With the rise in tensions following the theft at the Federal Reserve, each and every one of them felt a large amount of pressure from their respective governments to do something, anything to resolve the situation. Some, like Le Peregrine and Union Jack, wanted vengeance against the Avatars. And since they didn't know where these monsters were based, no one had the patience to just sit around and be lectured by some asshole like Chapman. No one expected his next line, though perhaps they should have by now.

"Because I know exactly where the Avatars are."

Chapman was met with silent expressions of shock and awe.

"I recognized the pattern of their attacks," Chapman explained, "In each of their attacks; they took something that was highly valued by that society. In France, they took the people. In England, they struck out at our history…"

"Killed," Le Peregrine growled. The French hero was trembling with outrage, "they killed. They 'took' no one."

"Right, sorry mate," Chapman said apathetically, "and in America I thought they'd strike out at the finical institutions. I created and implemented several secret contingencies, one of which was placing specially designed global tracking devises."

"So what the hell are we waiting for?" Demanded Silverclaw, "Let's go kick their asses!"

"No one's going anywhere for at least eight hours," Chapman stated firmly, "I'm not going to chance these blighters slipping through our hands. As we speak Excalibur agents are littering the local area with teleporter scramblers while others gather information. We're doing this slow, careful," Chapman blew out a ring of smoke, "and final."

"Which I suppose means find some busy work until go time, right?" stated U.S. Agent.

"Correct. I'll summon you when we're ready. It'll be at least eight hours though, so get some rest, train, whatever," Chapman ordered, "Dismissed."

Excalibur filed out of the conference room, satisfied but anxious. They all wanted a piece of the Avatars, but at least for now were content to know that they had an edge over their slippery foes.

Union Jack walked a little slower than the rest, for there was someone he wanted…no, needed to talk to.

Jacqueline Falsworth, otherwise known as the Legendary World War 2 hero called Spitfire, who dabbled behind the rest, looking at Chapman with a painful longing before leaving. Once the rest of Excalibur was down the hall, Rock moved to the former Invader's side

"Ms. Falsworth, I need to, I mean, I've been meaning to…" Union Jack fumbled for the right words that said 'I want to let you know I'm doing everything I can to honor your family' without the screaming unspoken implication of 'I'm a whiney git looking for your approval'.

"I've been meaning to ask you a question, young man," Spitfire interrupted.

"Yes?"

Spitfire spun on her heel so that she was face to face with Rock, "Just who do you think you are, dressing up in that costume?"

"Excuse me? I'm Union Jack!" the leader of Excalibur answered, sounding angrier and more defensive than he was. He'd heard plenty about how he was unfit to uphold the legacy of Union Jack, a legacy he'd felt he'd honored a hundred times over.

"I think not," Spitfire snapped, "To wit, I grew up with a Union Jack. I knew a Union Jack. A Union Jack was a friend of mine. You sir, are no Union Jack."

Spitfire snorted, turned her nose upwards, and was gone in a blur before Rock could even finish digesting what she'd said.

Rock stood motionless in shock, digesting what he'd just been told by one of the most legendary heroes of his country. The flaring of a match snapped him out of his ruminations.

"Now, you can either believe a woman who's donated quarter of her family's wealth to charity is being a snobby bitch," Chapman pressed his match to the cigarette and took a drag, "or that she sees something you don't. Care for a hint?"

"Piss off."

Medical Bay

"…and it seems that Chapman's done it again," Darkstar explained, "with any luck, we'll be able to find the Avatars and finish them once and for all."

There was no response to her statements, which was hardly surprising. Darkstar sat with her legs crossed next to the metal slab that doubled as a medical bed as it pumped solar energy into the body of Excalibur's most powerful member, Hellios. Hellios was beaten into a coma during Excalibur's first battle with the Avatars, learning first hand just how vulnerable he was to magic. It was a blow to Excalibur's confidence that they'd yet to recover from, even now.

But Darkstar felt it more sharply than the others. She was there when Hellios went down and felt guilty that even considering her status as one of the team's powerhouses. She was there, and she could have helped, but didn't. But Laynia was Russian. If she couldn't save Hellios now, she'd avenge him unto her dying breath. She promised that to her friend, and left to rest.

The medical bay was all but deserted when she left. With no casualties outside Hellios, whom they really couldn't help, the doctors were in a conference room down the hall, reviewing emergency procedures for the coming battle. As such, no one saw Hellios' mighty fists clench, and then release.

"Violent riots have engulfed several Asian countries as fears worsen about the long term effects of…"

*click*

"Communist parties and Maoist rebels all over the world have stepped up attacks, viewing the theft as proof of…"

*click*

"…And then I said to him…"

Eshu tossed the remote control aside and sighed, "Finally!"

The problems of the world weren't his, as he saw it. His only concern rested inside the numerous refugee camps created when the United Nations handed Magneto blanket control of Genosha. His world in many ways couldn't get smaller, so what did he care if the larger one burned? They made this bed, after all. Win lose or draw, so long as he got what he wanted, the mutant shape shifter was happy.

Le Peregrine accessed the situation. He was outnumbered with at least a dozen semi-automatic aimed at his person. The gunmen were supported by an equal number of heavy set thugs with heavy jagged blades that were too big to be called knives but too crude to be called machetes.

The French hero wasted no time in going to work. With practiced ease, he flew over a hail of gunfire and landed in the center of the mob with no hesitation. The armed criminals hesitated for a split second, afraid of hitting their teammates. That split second was like an hour to a man of Le Peregrine's skill.

Three feather like blades embedded themselves in one man's throat, another's eye and deep into the brainpan of the final man. The superhero and part time writer was a blur of motion, landing precise blows that fractured ribs, snapped wrists and crushed throats. As he smashed the throat of one man, Le Peregrine removed a grenade from his belt and threw it over his shoulder thoughtlessly. The following explosion engulfed two gunmen who'd just drawn a bead on the flying hero.

Watching from the safety of the monitoring room, Suzi Endo watched with awe as Le Peregrine made hash of a program that Union Jack had just customized for himself. The rage that burned within him made Le Peregrine more effective Suzi observed, and crueler than he was known to be. He crippled where he could disable. Killed carelessly.

Watching the French hero, Suzi felt like she was watching herself at times. She'd let the Avatars drag her down to their level, becoming every bit as blood thirsty as they were. Was that any way to honor her countrymen, just becoming a mirror opposite of their enemy?

"You need to think about this carefully," Sabra flicked several switches from her seat in the secondary training room. Chapman's maniacal preparations mandated a second room for training, and so while Le Peregrine occupied one room, Sabra could use the second to train one of the least experienced members of Excalibur, "…because I will not go easy on you, young lady. No one learns that way."

"I got it the first three times," Silverclaw sighed.

"Good."

A row of hoops sixteen feet high shot out from the floor in a long, winding row.

"This is a joke, right?"

"Do I look like a woman who jokes?"

Silverclaw knew better than to answer that question. With a thought, she assumed her Puma form, her legs morphing like that of the hind legs of a cat and her hands became razor sharp claws. Lupe crouched, and sprang into the air with all the power her hind legs could give her. At the apex of her leap, the South American heroine commanded her body to assume that of a human/cockatoo hybrid form. Her mouth elongated into a beak, and her bones became hollow as feathers shot out from underneath her arms. Within the blink of an eye, Silverclaw was airborne, flying through the hoops with ease. Some of the hopes dipped and rose unexpectedly, but that was no challenge for the young demi-goddess.

"Good," Sabra remarked over the inter-comm. The Israeli depressed a big red button, "but let's see how you deal with a real challenge."

Silverclaw nearly had a heart attack when the hoop eight feet behind her caught fire. With an unladylike remark in her native tongue, the jungle heroine beat her wings faster and faster to outdistance the hoops as they became engulfed in flames. Maria's heart was impersonating a jackhammer, but she'd be damned if broke under the pressure. The flames were just another obstacle to overcome, something she could do with ease if she applied herself.

And for a minute or two, Lupe was successful. Up until a wall seemed to descend from nowhere, directly in her flight path and absolutely nowhere to dodge.

"Ugh! No!" Silverclaw hit the 'wall' at full speed, but thankfully, it was in fact as soft as a pillow. Her concentration broken, Maria fell to the floor where a large cushion was awaiting her.

"Not bad," Sabra congratulated as she strode into the training room, towel in hand, "not bad at all. However, you should have changed into your anaconda form when confronted with the wall. Snakes haven't bones to break. You'll need to instinctively learn the abilities of your animal forms better."

"You make it sound so easy," Silverclaw moaned as she took the towel and wiped the sweat from her face.

"Nothing about combat is easy. Still, you should take pride in your performance," Sabra motioned for Silverclaw to follow her, "when I first received my flight cloak, my superiors came me the exact same test. They explained that, despite my great strength, I needed exercises in precise application of force."

"How'd you do?"

Sabra smirked, "I tore the hoops from the floor and told my superiors it was an exercise in lateral thinking. They didn't try it again."

Silverclaw snickered softly. Sabra was a lot cooler than Maria had first figured. Tough but not butch, smart but not brainy and more than willing to make the young woman the hero she wanted to be without making her feel like some brain dead idiot.

The two women had just passed Silverclaw's room when the intercom blared, "Attention Excalibur agents. Report to Briefing Room 8 for mission planning."

"Finally!" Maria shouted, "we're going to get those Avatar bastards in their own home for a change! Be a relief to get all that pressure off Israel too, right?"

Sabra said nothing for a moment, and Silverclaw worried for a second if she erred. When the Avatars stole virtually all the gold in the Federal Reserve, they left only two nations with their deposits. The United States…and Israel. The Arab media had a field day with that, as did more than a few European nations that were fond criticizing the Jewish nation.

"My country withstands worldwide pressure every day," Sabra smiled, "I'll make sure to give the Avatars some broken bones on your behalf."

"Wha…" Maria's words trailed off as her legs became like rubber and her body refused to answer her commands. She fell backwards into Sabra's waiting arms.

"You are a young woman with an enormous amount of potential," Sabra lifted her younger heroine into her arms and opened the door to her room, "and I won't see that potential cut down before you have had a chance to reach it. You're not ready, not yet."

Sabra gently set Silverclaw down in her bed and pulled the covers over her, "The effects should wear off in several hours, but you won't be combat ready for several hours afterwards."

"You…suck…"Lupe managed to slur, which only made Sabra smile.

"That's how I know what I'm doing is right."

"Our information places the Avatars in a large estate on the edges of Mandipoor, which as we all know is under SHIELD control," Chapman explained to the gathered heroes. He noted Sabra entering the briefing alone (and late, odd for her) and paused long enough for her to pick up a manila folder marked with her name, which basically was a printed version of the briefing.

"There's no indication that the Mandarin is involved, but as of yet we don't know who the mastermind behind the Avatars is," Chapman continued, "the estate itself isn't booby trapped on the outside, but heavy albeit un-activated defenses were noted. I'd recommend against assaulting the main house until you've subdued the Avatars. Lastly, some type of secret weapon has been detected with directional mikes. We don't know what it is and can't wait to find out either, so tread carefully. Any final questions?"

Sabra raised her hand respectfully.

"Yes?"

"The level of detail of this report indicates expert infiltration, but no one on Excalibur nor the soldier support division that we were given possess the necessary skills to collect this information in such a short amount of time," Sabra explained, "so where did we get it? X-Force?"

There were a few hushed chuckles, Chapman's rivalry (at least that's what the members of Excalibur preferred to think of it as) with X-Force was well known, as was the stick up Chapman's ass. As such, no one paid much attention to his answer of 'I just did', save Union Jack and Sabra. Both knew the second they read the report that there was more to it than Chapman was telling. Spooks were naturally hard to fool.

"Where's Silverclaw?" Chapman demanded sharply, "as I understand it, she was training with you."

Sabra mentally noted the swift change of subject but said nothing. Instead, she smoothly answered, "One of my needles misfired. I'm afraid that she won't be able to join us."

"Scarab, go find Silverclaw and make sure she isn't hiding in a broom closet," Chapman snapped, "then join us in the HERMES teleporter room."

The Egyptian hero glared at Chapman, glanced towards Sabra, and left without a word.

Scarlet Scarab didn't bother knocking as he heard a long string of Spanish profanities coming from Silverclaw's room. He entered to see the young woman changing from animal form to animal form.

"Scarab, you wouldn't believe what Sabra did to me!" Silverclaw huffed as she alternated forms, "she hit me with one of her freakin' darts! I am so gonna kill her…or just yell at her."

"Are you alright?" Scarab asked with obvious concern.

"Yeah, I think I can work the stuff out of my system if I keep 'shifting," Maria answered.

"Israelis," Scarab sighed as he took Maria's hand. Maria braced herself mentally for some anti-Israel monologue and was already in the process of rolling her eyes when she felt the familiar feeling of strength fleeing her limbs. By the time she realized the Arabian hero was draining her energy, she was already unconscious, "it used to be when they did something under handed, they did it right."

Hermes Teleporter Room

Chapman gritted his teeth as he saw Scarlet Scarab return alone. One less warm body tipped the odds in their foe's favor, no matter how small.

Chapman tried to think of some inspirational words, but came up with "I presume everyone's ready to kick some arse?"

"Oh yes…" A voice boomed, brimming with confidence and strength, "…some of us have some catching up to do."

Hellios stood in the doorway, his thick, sinewy arms crossed across his broad chest. The solar powered hero almost glowed with strength and power as his cape fluttered behind him. His aura of strength was instantly infectious.

"Well, hell yeah!" U.S. Agent cheered as he pumped his fist in the air.

The members of Excalibur greeted Hellios like a star linebacker, slapping his back and shaking his hand even though they knew this man so well. The might super soldier's return was taken as a good omen by all, even the cynical Eshu.

The celebration quickly died down in action, but not spirit and the HERMES teleporter went to work moments later.

Yuriko Oyama bowed in prayer as the Avatar known as Quake read pathetic love poems to her. The programming that had assumed control of her cybernetic like a vise demanded nothing but respect for her master's lapdogs. As much as she wanted to scoop out their vital organs, she couldn't as much as look at them with a disapproving gesture.

Thankfully, her torture quickly ended. She felt a mental summons in her mind, and the entirety of the terrorist estate poured into the courtyard where they saw the assembled Excalibur lined up one by one, filled with righteous anger and impressive power. They formed a line that could only be broken with their deaths.

Union Jack sized up their opponents. Most obvious was Lady Deathstrike, the Avatars of the Mandarin alongside scores of heavily armed ninjas, most likely yet another break away faction of The Hand, judging from their uniforms.

The two sides stood still with baited breath. Neither was willing to make the first move just yet. Then, silently, the army of terrorists parted like the Red Sea as a withered old man, clad in silver armor over most of his flesh and wearing a blue silk robe hobbled forward. The respect and reverence the Avatars gave him clearly marked this man as their master, this man known as…

"Yellow Claw."

Union Jack almost felt disappointed. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he'd hoped that somehow the mastermind behind the Avatars was…someone who made sense. As much as the idea of mass murder appalled him, a small part of him somehow wished it was justified. If it was justified, than it made 'sense'. And it making sense wasn't nearly as terrifying as thinking a madman had ordered the death of thousands for no reason whatsoever.

The ancient oriental villain pointed a weathered old finger at Excalibur, "I see the decadent guardians of the West aligned before me. How polite, to display yourselves like pigs for the slaughter."

"Oh, there's gonna be a massacre here," U.S. Agent grunted, "but it ain't gonna be us."

"Is that so American?" The voice was like that of a powerful avalanche, echoing into the very bones of the collected heroes. Finding the source of a voice like that wasn't overly hard. A thin, nude man stood tall atop the main house of Yellow Claw's estate, "I must disagree."

"And what's your name scumbag?" the one time Captain America demanded.

The man chuckled as if he'd just heard a private joke, "My name? Funny you should ask that, little flea. Where I come from, we name ourselves. I chose a name that was ordinary, a name that I personally would win respect for. What is my name?"

The short and physically unimpressive man leapt to high into the air some of Excalibur thought the man had instead flown into the clouds. Suddenly, there was a blinding flash of green energy that exploded outwards, growing exponentially like an atomic blast.

"My name is Fin…"

A giant green clawed foot smashed into the ground one hundred feet away from where Excalibur was standing, dumbstruck.

"Fang!"

Another clawed foot slammed into the ground some two hundred feet from the first one.

"Foom!"

Mighty wings stretched out and swallowed Excalibur's sun as they watched with limp jaws. The mighty alien dragon was standing directly over Yellow Claw and his minions, his very shadow seeming to be all the protection in the world that they could ever need. The great beast roared towards the sky as if he was challenging the Gods themselves.

"We're gonna need a bigger boat," Eshu deadpanned, "or a whole damn fleet…"

Fin Fang Foom snorted, sending a slight puff of acidic flame into the air, "Tell me flea, do you have anything to say before I end this?"

Union Jack could feel the eyes of his team upon his back and the weight of the world upon his shoulders. But what he said next, he said with no fear, no intimidation and absolutely no hesitation.

"Lady Deathstrike, Yellow Claw, Avatars and assorted others," Union Jack nodded to indicate Yellow Claw's ninjas and personal dragon.

"You are all hereby under arrest for acts of international terrorism by the power vested in me by the United Nations of the World," Rock's eyes met each and every one of theirs. He then craned his neck up longer and farther than he ever had before to meet those of the powerful dragon, Fin Fang Foom. Union Jack pulled the hammer of his gun back as he finished, "but you most certainly are more than welcome…to resist."

Next issue: Resisting Arrest. 'Nuff said

Sword Strokes

Here's our esteemed editor's comment on the slam bam issue 7. Take it away David!

"The series continues with the avatars arc, with the villains striking at London and making short work of the UK capital. It's very well written, with Excalibur facing overwhelming odds and being beaten back, unable to prevent the destruction that's going on. The emotional impact, the action scenes and such all work well and fits together to have an exceptional chapter to the story but there are problems, the biggest of which is where are the other heroes of the UK? Surely there would have been someone - anyone - helping the team defend the city. It seemed a missed opportunity there, which is a shame because it could have been such a good showcase of other heroes, potentially for Excalibur and it would have been nice to see Brian Braddock again, especially after his last appearance in the title involved Hellios giving him a blood transfusion. I know it's a slight thing, but it would have given the premise of the series is international heroes (working for the UN true), it would have been nice, even if the heroes had been in the background."

Glad you liked the issue, David. It occurred to me to include some other heroes, but the issue was already full, and England isn't New York ;) (that was next issue *cough*).

"It's a good read and people will enjoy it. 4 out of 6."

Kick ass!