Avalon, then

Joey Chapman looked over the list of suspected criminals in the mission profile given to him, looked up at the United Nations Liaison, and said simply, “I think I may faint. So many bastards, all in one place!”

“I wouldn't be so eager, if I were you,” warned the man. Chapman didn't even know his name, nor did he care to. Excalibur liaisons changed every other week, literally. The people were vetted, shipped in, and shipped out as a precaution against infiltration.

“Abyss, Black Tarantula, A.I.M scientists and more are planning a clan destine meet on a small uninhabited island off of Mandipoor,” Chapman tapped on the printouts he'd been given eagerly, “that's one hell of a haul, mate. We'll be making law enforcement history with this break for sure. How'd we come by this intelligence, anyways?”

“A Shield agent stationed in the area got a tip from a local contact,” the Liaison explained, “in return for protection and relocation, of course.”

Chapman shook his head, “I suppose that's as close as the scumbag will ever come to winning the lottery. But I think this is more than worth the cost.”

“Look at the timestamp, director.”

Chapman picked up the file, and within seconds felt his blood run cold, “You're puttin' me on.”

“I only wish.” replied the man sympathetically.

“We only have seven hours until launch?” Chapman almost couldn't believe the words coming out of his mouth, “seven bleedin' hours!? That's not nearly enough damn time to work up a mission profile!”

“And that's what makes me glad not to be you. I’ve already taken the liberty of summoning your team. They should arrive shortly.”

“Balls to this,” Chapman spat, “I need more than just my team for something like this! X-Force…”

“Is on a mission. The heli-carrier is half way around the world. Abyss’ people would rabbit before it got within a hundred miles of them.”

“What about the Avengers? Fantastic Four? Bloody hell, I’d even take those Force Works prats!”

“There are certain members of the Security Council who doesn’t want such an operation…overly tainted by American heroes,” explained the Liaison carefully, “they already resent their high profile nature compared to their local heroes. They see this as Excalibur’s chance to prove themselves.”

"You're puttin' my people's lives on the line for the sake of politics!"

"And you're surprised, Director Chapman? Excalibur is an arm of the United Nations. As such, you're expected to represent a certain level of independence and effectiveness."

“Or die in the effattempt,” Chapman sighed, an overwhelming since of dread and defeat washing over him. As much as he wanted to, there was no way to appeal the orders. Like any other soldier, his was not to reason why. A stab of guilt reminded Chapman that he wouldn’t be the one in the field facing the threat, rather it would be the people he hand picked from dozen of other possible heroes who’d be facing this impossible challenge.

“Fine. Leave the files and get the hell out of my face. I have a suicide mission to plan.” snarled the director of Excalibur. The man shook his head, and left without another word. He knew rudeness was the best thing he could expect from a man in Joey Chapman’s position right now.

God only knew how well his team would take it.

“This is an obscene joke. End it now before I tear off your arms and feed them to dogs,” Sabra hissed.

“Sorry sweetheart, this isn’t a gag,” Chapman reassured her, “I’ve already expressed my concerns, and they brushed me off. So the more time we spend complaining, the less time we have to form an actual, solid plan. As it stands, this thing is all set to go tits’ up.”

“What about our reserves?” asked Union Jack. Of all of Excalibur, only Sabra, Chapman, Union Jack and U.S. Agent were currently meeting. Not only had most of the others still hadn’t been recalled yet, but Chapman preferred dealing with just these three rather than the entire team because they were the only ones who had real military or counter intelligence experience.

“Both are on other assignments,” Chapman sighed with a trace of both regret and relief. Not that he especially wanted to have Spitfire, a long time family friend predating all this spandex craziness involved but in an emergency like this he needed every last warm body.

“What about the soldiers that are attached to Excalibur? Any special forces in there?”

“Some, but not enough. The rest are a mixed bag. Some have seen action, a few are fresh out of boot camp, hell, who knows?” Chapman shook his head, “Walker? I’ll need you to organize some units. Talk to the soldiers, see if you can give me some balanced units. And I need you to do that now, John.”

U.S. Agent nodded, and sprinted out of the room.

“I’ll take what special forces we have,” Union Jack offered, “me, Cybermancer, Eshu and our unit will secure whatever weapons they intend to be selling or demonstrating at this conference. That’ll keep them from being turned against us, and give us something solid to hold onto.”

“What do we tell the others?” asked Sabra, “we know how dangerous this mission will be, but Scarab? Maria? None of them are prepared for something like this.”

Union Jack rubbed the back of his neck, guilt creeping up into his guilt.

“We tell them nothing,” Chapman said quickly, “our chances for success will only get smaller if the entire team thinks we’re doomed to failure.”

“As opposed to just us three,” Sabra deadpanned.

“The better we plan, the better chances we have of all coming out of this alive,” reassured Union Jack, “all of us here have faced worse odds and prevailed. This thing isn’t buggered yet, and lets stop acting like it, eh?”

“Couldn’t have said it better myself, mate,” answered Chapman, “none of us are here by chance. We do this right, and every other agency out there will be green with envy, and we’ll be laughing about how worried we were.”

Sabra and Union Jack nodded, and went back to planning. They tried their best to have hope.

Mike Rucker was an unabashed opportunist. He joined the military and quickly found ways to worm around the authority he was supposed to respect. Whether it was via blackmail, bribes or just outright lies, he steadfastly avoided the majority of hard work that went along with serving one’s country.

That wasn’t to say he never worked hard, as roughly three million in a half dozen Swiss bank accounts would attest. He ran a lucrative contraband ring, using the various contacts he’d cultivated while serving. Acting as a middle man, he helped sneak all kinds of things past military inspectors and the like for a reasonable fee. As a matter of fact, that’s why he had weaseled himself into Excalibur's military attachment, in the hopes that he would find something valuable to steal. After all, heroes didn’t fight super criminals without picking up a few trophies along the way.

To date though, all he’d managed to get was some unmentionables sought after by the freaks that always lurk on the Internet. Hardly what anyone would call a good haul, and a perfect example of the drought he felt he was suffering.

That’s why when he saw the latest liaison arrive, he immediately rushed to a supply closet and activated the listening devise he’d planted earlier in Chapman’s office. The bug was short range, and required a coded signal to even activate. Powered by background radiation and hidden in the dirt of a plant inside Chapman’s, it had survived countless security sweeps but still hadn’t yet paid off, in Rucker’s opinion.

But when he heard the words ‘Abyss’, ‘Black Tarantula’ and other high profile super criminals, Rucker felt as though his ship at finally come in. Criminals of their statue would be immensely grateful if they were warned that Excalibur were about to come down on them like a ton of bricks. Having an ‘I owe you’ from a villain equal to the likes of Red Skull or Doom was like being given a blank check…there just wasn’t anything better than that in the smuggler’s opinion.

The only question was if he could warn them in time. Without a moment to lose, he left his little hidey hole and dashed to his quarters. He had some calls to make…

Several Hours later, Devil’s Island

The international terrorist known as Abyss smiled inwardly as he greeted another representative, this one representing a European Maggia family. Like so many other things in the world, his organization was like a business. He was forced to evolve, to change, if he was to survive against organizations like the Avengers, Interpol and Shield, and one of the most important requirements for survival was networking.

There were representatives from Hydra, A.I.M, ULIMATIUM, and other competitors. However, the conference wasn’t just limited to fellow non conformists. Spaced among the gathered organizations were dozens of independent contractors, either leaders of their own small criminal empires like the Black Tarantula or superhuman mercenaries like Shockwave and Crossfire simply looking for work.

That was why, of all the impressive forces at his command, he’d only brought a strikeforce of unnamed mercenaries along with his bodyguard Fatale and his personal representative, the Indian necromancer Charon to this summit. While most of those who served him were loyal, a show of force would only put those who he hoped to sway to his cause on edge. Besides the usual swapping of intelligence, he also hoped to make more allies, sway them to his cause. Intimidating his enemies could wait for another day.

So far, the day was going swimmingly. He’d already scheduled a half dozen meetings, anyone of which would fortify his position in the criminal underworld. When his communications officer rushed over to him with a concerned expression on his face and a ‘for your ears only’ information, Abyss’ first thought was that he had arranged another meeting. The young man was terribly eager to please, after all.

Abyss excused himself, and entered his makeshift command center, a hover craft about the size of a regular city bus. He grew concerned when one of his men sealed and locked the entrance behind them.

“Wynn, what is the issue?” Abyss asked as he narrowed his eyes. He could feel the hum of the engines, and knew that the pilots were running a preflight check. He was canny enough to know that boded ill for his plans.

“We just received reliable intelligence that Excalibur is planning a raid within the next several hours, sir,” To his credit, Wynn Renfre never hesitated when he delivered the bad new, “obviously, we feel it’s best that we leave as soon as possible.”

To his minions, Abyss was the picture of calm, of utter and total control. Inwardly, in the silence of his own mind, Abyss let loose an amazingly complex string of profanities.

Charon simply shrugged casually as he process the new information, “Good, the food here is terrible, and please, do not get me started on the atmosphere! Hired killers are the worst with casual conversation. All 'I once got stabbed here, I killed that, etc'.”

Abyss grabbed Charon by his pudgy neck and lifted him into the air. Through clenched teeth, he spat “How a narcissistic fool like you ever mastered the mystic arts, I well never know. Suppose I leave now, and Excalibur comes. Can you imagine how much face I would lose? Can you imagine how many enemies that would earn me?”

“A…few?” Charon gasped.

With a sneer of disgust, Abyss dropped his henchman on his oversized rear, “If I just left now, my work could be set back by years, and have a dozen criminals, not a one caring a wit for due process, looking for my blood. No, leaving simply isn’t an option.”

“Couldn’t we simply warn everyone?” suggested Fatal.

“That would be almost as bad,” Abyss explained, his temper in check for the moment, “I would be acknowledging weakness in front of too many. No, the only real way to save face would be to actually be here when Excalibur comes. No one will be too angry if I was in the same boat as them.”

“You can’t be serious!” Charon rubbed his aching throat, “we can’t stay here simply for the sake for your reputation! What if we’re caught?”

Abyss shook his head in disbelief, “You of all people should know that the first rule of magic…is simple slight of hand. I’m always prepared for a raid by any authorities, it’s the least of what we can expect in our profession. But I don’t intend for Excalibur to cut us down so easy. Fatal?”

“Yes sir?”

“We’re going to prepare. Here’s what I need from you…”

Chapman looked over the teams one final time. For once, it wasn’t the members of Excalibur he was concerned about, but the regular soldiers that would be accompanying them on this incursion.

It didn’t take much to be in Excalibur’s support force. Service in a military, any military in the world, and fluency in English. The vast majority were volunteers, most sought the three week long assignment as a way to get out of their usual duties at home. Chapman could only imagine how those soldiers were now soiling themselves at the prospect of facing an entire mob of superhuman criminals.

“Looking good, looking good,” Chapman said unconvincingly as he inspected the squads. Union Jack, Cybermancer and Eshu were leading one team of ten, all former members of different special forces. They were the best they had at the moment, and Chapman hoped Union Jack could pull them through to accomplish their end of the mission. They were armed lightly, mostly small arms and a few sniper rifles. Stealth was what they would need to rely on, not firepower.

Team two, consisting of Sabra, U.S. Agent and Silverclaw consisted of a larger team of twenty five men, all armed with Stark made plasma casters. All of the men of this team had at least some combat experience under their belt and Chapman hoped that being led by two career military heroes would hold together well enough to do what needed to be done.

The final squad, team three was led by Scarlet Scarab alongside Darkstar and Hellios, consisted of forty men, all with infantry experience. The idea was that with them complimenting the heavy hitters, any resistance would quickly crumble.

No one really believed that, but it was better to cling to that delusion than bend over as if they were screwed already. There wasn't a man on base who didn't expect fatalities from this raid, but damn near everyone believed it wouldn't be them.

“Squad one to the HERMES platform,” Chapman ordered, “secure the landing zone and then signal back. If there are any issues, we'll pull you out and scrap the mission.”

Union Jack nodded, and led his soldiers onto the platform. Chapman knew Rock was smart enough to bullshit a reason to scrap the mission, but doubted that he would. The current Union Jack was a law enforcement man through and through, he'd see this mission finished or die trying.

Chapman couldn't believe his poor luck, to be handled a shit mission like this dealing with Abyss, of all people. Chapman had a history with the terrorist leader, and though he harbored no sympathy for stopping him (Abyss made his bed, let him burn in it), it did complicate matters terribly.

The two had been a part of the London Hellfire Club together, when Abyss still went by Vortigen Walker. They'd been, if not friends, than trustworthy allies. Chapman felt secure in turning his back to the man, then at least. Though they had both since disavowed their links to the Hellfire Club, there wasn't a single person in the higher echelons of the intelligence community who didn't know of their mutual association. Chapman had escaped major suspicion because of his complete submission to the United Nation's authority, but if there was even a whiff of doubt Chapman knew he would be dead in a ditch in some third world nation before the day was out.

And that would only be if he was lucky.

“Maybe all this negative attitude is a good thing,” Eshu commented as they lined up on the HERMES platform.

“What on earth makes you think that?” Cybermancer asked incrediously.

“Damn near everyone expects this thing to go south. What happens when that meets Murphy's Law?”

Suzi actually laughed despite herself, “I don't know, maybe an incredible mess that dwarfs all messes before it?”

Eshu shrugged, “Well, yeah, that.”

Abyss' summit, Devil’s Island

Fatal looked up from the scanners she'd been watching almost religiously and shouted to her leader, “We've picked up a HERMES teleporter signal! Excalibur's here, sir.”

“Thank you Dallas,” Abyss closed his eyes to concentrate, focusing upon the unseen mystical energy that surrounded everyone, and cast his senses out towards the intruders. Without leaving the safety of his craft, he was able to listen in to Union Jack briefing his team as if he were standing right in front of him.

“We have a little bit of luck on our side,” Union Jack began, “this island used to be a Japanese listening station, and the bad guys thought they'd use some of it to store their wares. The base is stationed on the beach, meaning that if they want to get away without a fight, they better be damn good swimmers. The closest land is five miles on the opposite end of the island.”

“I can think of a dozen super criminals capable of that feat,” Sabra interrupted.

“Well, we’ll make do with the small fish then,” Union Jack answered smoothly. He already accepted that, even if the mission went perfectly, they wouldn’t be able to catch everyone, “I’m going to take my team in. When I’m in position, I’ll radio you to begin the assault. Any questions? No? Good.”

Union Jack took a deep breath as he waved for his team to follow. The distance to the shore was equivalent to three city blocks, but thankfully the tree line helped conceal the team’s location. Cybermancer activated her armor’s cloak and hovered silently while the rest of Rock’s team crawled on their bellies, careful to make as little noise as possible.

Having such experienced and highly trained men at his back helped ease Jack’s anxiety, somewhat. He vowed that when he finished this mission, he’d join Chapman in demanding a dedicated support unit for Excalibur. These were some fine men he was leading, but they’d barely done any drills as a unit. It was as much raw nerves as experience that kept them from falling apart right now.

Sensing the first sentry before he saw saw them, Union Jack silently signaled his men to stop. A moment later, a man in a yellow uniform that resembled a stylized bee-keeper’s uniform.

“A.I.M agent. I’ll take him.”

Union Jack looked down to where he heard the whispered voice, and saw a silver puddle. Eshu, obviously.

“Wait until he reports in,” Jack whispered.

Several tense moments passed as the watchman stood there, unaware of danger lurking less than a dozen feet away, coiled and ready to strike.

It seemed to take forever for the man to tap his earpiece and report an erroneous ‘all clear’. Less than ten seconds later, a silver spike shot from the ground and into the man’s heart, and emerging out his back.

Eshu assumed his human form, still slick with the man’s blood, and looked towards his fellow soldiers, “Clear, Jacky Boy. Hide the body?”

“Don’t bother. In a few more minutes it won’t matter if they come across it,” Union Jack waved his men forward. Within three minutes, his troops had pushed through the brush and were within eye shot of the camp.

“Look at them all,” Cybermancer breathed. Union Jack removed his binoculars and scanned the gathering, slowly counting off the numbers. He counted the organizations present as one, and then began counting the super human or other extra normal criminals. He stopped at thirty, his heart just not into it anymore.

“Ours is not to reason why,” Jack mumbled under his breath.

From the comfort and safety of her personal hover craft, Abyss began weaving ancient mystical energy in a complex pattern that laymen would call a ‘spell’. It was an extraordinarily simple one, far older than any remembered civilization. When cast, it instantly alerted those who were subjected to it to the exact location of the enemy. With but a gesture, Abyss cast the spell into the air, and then sat back and smiled as it did it’s work.

Cybermancer wanted to wet herself when she saw every single man, woman and thing stop what they were doing, and turn their eyes and attention to exactly she and her team were concealed. She didn’t see who fired the first shot, but she instinctive jumped back along with Union Jack and Eshu.

The force of the explosion threw the team on their back, and while Union Jack had the presence of mind to call the rest of the team, Eshu could only laugh to himself.

Because only a smart ass like himself could appreciate the irony that the only thing that had gone right with the mission was how it had gone so wrong, so fast.

Next issue: Excalibur’s outnumbered three to one, and that’s the good news! Can they contain the chaos without losing their lives?