Series Recommendation : LOADED MARCH
This series is only available to those with an AO3 account.
I put off reading this for SO LONG for no reason. It's such a brilliant series. It took me around 4-5 months to read this - once I started, I was obsessed.
Captain Arthur Pendragon has put together the best team of specialists that the SAS has ever seen, but when his superiors assign Lieutenant Merlin Emrys as his communications officer, Arthur does everything to make him feel unwelcome. Arthur's job is to protect and guide his team through dangerous missions, and he worries that he can't do that when the newest member has a mysterious background and acts suspicious when he thinks no one is looking.
As their assignments become more dangerous, Merlin can't help but to use his magic to keep his team -- even his prat of a Captain -- safe from threats they couldn't possibly understand. But when they are sent on a undercover operation against a group of zealots intent on a magical apocalypse, Merlin needs to confront his fear of discovery and derision, and to finally trust his team with his secret.
Arthur and Merlin rely on each other for more than the sake of their mission. The entire world is at stake. When they learn -- from dragons, no less -- that they are prophesied to restore the balance of magic to the world, they fight on regardless of the outcome, because duty, honour and loyalty is a far stronger driving force than destiny.
Part 1: RADIOMAN (General Audience, 34,857 words)
The reason SAS Captain Arthur Pendragon can't keep a communications specialist in Team Excalibur because none of them are good enough. And then Lieutenant Merlin Emrys gets assigned to his squad, and Arthur does everything he can to prove that Merlin isn't good enough, either. Except he is.
Part 2: WAR GAMES (Teen and Up, 36,863 words)
There's war games -- the sort that nearly get members of Team Excalibur killed, where Arthur proves his men are better than anyone else, and the ones that involve power and politics.
And then there's War Games.
Part 3: R&R (Mature, 56,881 words)
Team Excalibur's prize was two weeks of R&R, but it's not all fun and games. Arthur is determined to keep his squad ready for whatever mission the Brass will toss at them next, and that means getting in touch with old friends, learning about the impossible, and trusting Merlin.
Part 4: THE JESTER (Mature, 43,740 words)
The Jester has resurfaced, but the Directory wants to get their hands on him before the CIA does. Excalibur faces an entirely different level of danger that Arthur worries he hasn't prepared them for. Merlin is terrified -- not that he doesn't think he can't protect his team, but of what will happen if he does.
Part 5: AVALON (Teen and Up, 39,568 words)
First the CIA, now the Directory: Everyone seems keen on controlling Excalibur.
After the mission in Algiers, it seems as if the Directory thinks they can dictate when the team can eat, shit, and sleep, and none of them likes it one bit. Arthur is willing to play their game only so far, but after he learns that Mister Smith is sitting on a mission that puts people in danger, he decides that he's had enough, and now it's time to teach the Directory just who's in charge. But the matter of magic is still in question, and Merlin needs to make a choice.
Part 6: INTERMISSION (Teen and Up, 53,760 words)
Help comes from a surprising source when the team waits to hear their fate at the mercy of the Directory's agenda, but Excalibur isn't entirely at loose ends. Arthur intends to deal with a particularly pesky problem, even if it means leaving Merlin in the dark.
But leaving Merlin in the dark has its own rewards.
Part 7: FIRST CONTACT (Explicit, 65,795 words)
The Directory and The Dragon take charge of Excalibur to train them and shape them into a combat force that few others would dare go against.
Excalibur is ready for the NWO, but is the NWO ready for them?
Part 8: GROUNDWORK (Explicit, 75,839 words)
Merlin's secret is no longer a secret and Excalibur struggles with the knowledge that they had a sorcerer among them all along. But the mission against the NWO won't wait, and Merlin and Arthur must soldier on.
Part 9: THE PLAY'S THE THING (Explicit, 83,120 words)
The Directory throws a wrench in Excalibur's plans against the NWO, and it looks like their assignment has come to an end. Luckily, the NWO is eager to get their claws into Arthur and Merlin any way they can, but that's not going to happen under anyone's terms but their own.
Part 10: MEANS TO AN END (Explicit, 110,988 words)
Conspiracies. Double-dealings. Intrigue.
Arthur has had it with being manipulated, with waiting for something to happen, with not being in control. The enemy's playing games and has every intention of using them and throwing them away like a two-bit hooker past their prime, and, honestly? The team's done with this rubbish. They've been pushed around, kept in the dark, strung along.
Now it's time to push back, to take risks, and to hope it's not going to go all to Hell.
Part 11: DESPERATE MEASURES (Mature, 91,277 words)
Excalibur lost a battle, their advantage, their loved ones, their heart and their soul.
A broken Captain, a shattered team, and no one to trust. Their mission has been full of secrets, the present is the broken past, and the only thing that's left to do is to enact desperate measures.
Part 12: COLLABORATIONS (Mature, 94,821 words)
It's driving Arthur mad, not knowing where Merlin is and if he's even alive. Without his usual resources, Arthur has no other choice but to reach out to people he doesn't even know -- never mind trust -- to help him unknot the snarl of conspiracies and to find Merlin.
Part 13: BREAKWATER (Explicit, 100,814 words)
Never has the world felt more right than now, with Merlin free and once again with Arthur and Excalibur.
Except it's not over. It's only begun.
There's more to the war than they'd ever suspected. More players than they'd counted on. And no idea how to fight against it all.
Part 14: STORM ON THE HORIZON (Explicit, 120,980 words)
The world is in chaos. Civilization is menaced by a looming threat. Violence holds entire cities hostage, hapless citizens hiding in their homes. When the magic released by the NWO's bomb settles, it's only a matter of time before the war begins.
In Camelot, it's easy to forget what's coming, even if it's only for a little while. Among family and friends, broken bodies can heal, shattered hearts can mend, and betrayals stop hurting, becoming a dull ache that allows others to trust again.
The team has been kept in a heightened state of readiness while they wait for the Brass to reactivate them. They train until they're exhausted, they recruit new members, and they make sure that their new home and their loved ones are safe and protected.
It's idyllic until it isn't, not anymore.
Part 15: DO OR DIE (Mature, 196,023 words)
More than anything, it's time for the war to end.
The men of Excalibur are soldiers above all. They know every time they leave the base, every time they leave each other's line of sight, it might be the last time they see each other again.
Their lives is a sacrifice they're willing to make if it will mean peace. But it's love -- love for their families, their friends, their brothers and sisters in arms, and for each other that drives them to the end.
Part 16: AT THE END WE BEGIN AGAIN (Explicit, 56,394 words)
Absolutely nothing could make the members of Excalibur sign on for more. The war was over, the aftermath cleaned up as much as it could be, and they were happy to leave the last few loose threads to the army.
It was time to come home.
But the world isn't done with them, and all that Arthur and Merlin want do is to live their lives. So they do.
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