THE TOURNAMENT

Disclaimer:

No, I don't own these characters. They belong to Marvel Characters, Inc.

Note:

This does not take place at a particular point of time in Marvel Comics Universe and is probably somewhat AU. The info required is that:

Bullseye had already killed Elektra and she has returned to being an assassin. Midnight Sun is just a martial artist, not with all that Kree crap. Oh, and Melvin Potter had reformed at this stage!

CHAPTER 1: Abduction

Bullseye was not in a good mood, and when he was in a bad mood, people got hurt… or worse. It was raining and dark already, it was going to be damn hard to take the target down. Suddenly, he heard a familiar, and somewhat unique, voice behind him:

"Saaaay, Bulls… fancy seein' you here! Some might say this is a coincydink of cataclysmic proportion."

Bullseye turned around slowly. As if his day hadn't been bad enough before this! Deadpool, the Merc With A Mouth, was leaning on the building ventilation unit, smirking at his fellow assassin.

"What do you want, Wilson?" Spat Bullseye, pointing the rifle at his rival.

"Oh, I just stopped by, you know, to chill, sit back, have a drink… kill everyone's favourite Russian diplomat, Mr. Renski."

"He's mine, Wade," Bullseye snarled, "Piss off or I'll blow your brains to…"

Bullseye began to press down on the trigger… and a sai shot through the air, burying itself in the rifle barrel. The gun went off with a bang, knocking the blue-clad mercenary onto his back!

Elektra Natchios, Greek assassin-for-hire and rival of the ninja clan known as The Hand. Bullseye glanced at his gun's mangled remains… where was the sai? Elektra held up two of the blades, smiling cockily.

"Looking for this?"

"How…?" Bullseye's eyes were wide, "I killed ya once, bitch, an' I can do it again."

"Oh, surely so," Deadpool laughed and put his katana blade across the other man's neck dramatically, "But she was acted by red hot Jen Garner and you got screwed over by Colin Farrell, so she wins by default, me ol' Bulls."

"Deadpool…" Bullseye produced a playing card and showed it off ominously, "You know what I can do with this."

"That will not be necessary yet, my dear Lester."

The trio of mercenaries spun around. The supervillain Arcade stood before them.

"It's time for a trip to everyone's favourite theme park…" He began.

"Oh no, not…" Cut in Bullseye as everything went black for a moment, "Murderworld!"

The trio looked up. They each stood in a separate, tiny room, with no visible doors, with glass walls, ceiling and floor. Bullseye looked around. The three killers were not alone either. In identical cells were many others, notably The Rhino, Jigsaw, Typhoid Mary, Melvin Potter (formerly the Gladiator), Nuke and Midnight Sun. Arcade had somehow captured practically every infamous mercenary in the country!

"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls!" Arcade's voice came through unseen speakers. Bullseye looked down… and nearly had a heart attack. Through the somewhat thin-looking glass floor was a huge drop… down and down to a pit of what looked like lava. Trust Arcade to come up with something like this.

"Welcome to Murderworld! I am sure that many of you have enjoyed the amusements here before, but now is not the time for fun 'n' games, ladies and germs! Tonight, Murderworld shall host to the masses on live television the ultimate mercenary contest to produce a crack team of four mercs, capable of completing a lethal mission for my client. The thirty-two of you shall go through one-on-one, mano-a-mano contests to the death through my hall of amusements until we have our four champions, who are deemed worthy to serve Mr. Tristram Silver!"

"Tristram Silver? He's an urban legend!" Shouted Bullseye, "A load of crap!"

Arcade laughed:

"You shall, Bullseye… oh you shall see. Well, we have our audience. We have our cast. First round, battle one… Bullseye versus Typhoid Mary! LET THE GAMES BEGIN!"