Excalibur #57

Issue Details

Synopsis

"For Whom the Bell Trolls!" In the shadow of Big Ben in London, Tom Jones, the mutant known as Alchemy, tries desperately to call X-Factor from a public telephone box after they previously helped them. As he reaches the answer machine for Xavier’s school, he leaves a message, telling them he is being hunted by trolls who have kidnapped his mother. Then a voice comes from behind him, ordering him to hang up. He puts the phone down. Meanwhile, in a sewer under London, Excalibur are trying to locate the entrance to Vixen’s underground base as they dismantle her criminal empire after the downfall of Sat-yr-9 and her lackey, Nigel Frobisher. As they search, they hear a scream in the distance, and they rush down the sewer, before a surprising sight appears before them. 2 policemen, transformed into gold but still alive. Kurt asks if it could be Sat-yr-9’s handiwork, but Brian disagrees; too obvious. Meggan catches a whiff of the attacker’s scent on the air, and as she transforms into a form better suited to tracking, they set off in pursuit. Rounding the corner, Excalibur rung headlong into a group of hulking figures. Trolls! They are the Troll Associates, and Excalibur attack. As Captain Britain lays into a shapeshifting, quoting troll, Kitty phases through the axe of another. As the fight continues, Excalibur succeed in dodging the trolls’ attacks and making them attack each other. Suddenly, there is a bright flash of light. As the trolls flee, Excalibur find Captain Britain turned to gold, and the same assailant, brushing past Meggan, has left a golden handprint on her arm. As Meggan cries out in grief, a group of policemen round the corner. They tell the team that there has been a spate of transformations across London today, all since 2 statues were stolen from Hyde Park. As the police stay behind to look after Captain Britain and the other victims, Nightcrawler asks Cerise to fetch Feron, believing his magical skills will be of use with trolls and alchemy in play. Meanwhile, skimming the surface of the Atlantic ocean, the X-men’s Blackbird soars towards London. Onboard, Cyclops explains that Tom Jones was previously kidnapped by trolls who sought to destroy the world economy by flooding the markets with gold. As the jet cloaks and hovers above the Jones residence, the X-men enter the house, and find a scene of chaos. As Wolverine catches a scent, he leaps from a broken window. Hotly pursued by the X-men, he ends his chase at London bridge, where he starts hacking away at the stonework. As Jubilee gets Wolverine out of harm’s way, Cyclops blasts through the bricks to find a hidden passage. Dashing down the tunnel, Nightcrawler calls after Meggan to wait. Suddenly, she stops, and her face contorts in pain as the golden handprint extends up her arm, and turns her too to gold. Enraged at the piece by piece dismantling of Excalibur, from Rachel being taken away by the Phoenix to Kylun going after his parents, Nightcrawler dashes down the tunnel in pursuit of the trolls. As shadows loom ahead of him, he dives at them, before he is grabbed by a familiar looking troll. Not a troll at all in fact. Beast, and the rest of the X-men, come out of the shadows. Kitty, overjoyed at seeing the X-men, starts hugging most of her former teammates, while Nightcrawler explains the situation to Cyclops, who admits that they too are after the trolls and Tom Jones. Suddenly, Psylocke gets a weak signal of Tom and his mum nearby… In the Trolls’ layer, the trolls threaten his mother if he can’t transform their former comrades, who he transformed in his adventure with X-factor, back to their original forms. Outside, the combined teams find a giant wooden door blocking their way. Kitty slips through the door, and reports back that the coast is clear. Beast heaves open the door, and they find another door, this time made of some other material. Wolverine knows the scent, but can’t place the name. As Gambit throws a playing card to destroy the door, Wolverine realises the scent is plastic explosive. As it touches the door, an explosion rings out through the sewer…