ICONS Issue 5

DEATH AT 30,000 FEET!!

Lord Genovasis - The father of Meta-humans
Automaton - The Mechanical Marvel
Nate Brown - Lowly janitor (AKA The Sponge)
The Scarlet Hood - The bane of organized crime and political corruption
Prophylactica - The woman wonder of rubber!
King Cobra

Col.  Francis "Popeye" Sanders

Trapped aboard a Nazi airship loaded with stolen American weaponry, Lord Genovasis, Col. Sanders and The Scarlet Hood plan their next move.  They send their new ally, Tarpit, out to beat up the Nazi soldiers who have retreated offering him $5 a head.  Tarpit gladly takes them up on that offer and slushes off.

Meanwhile back at the Vanguard 13 headquarters, General Fairway calls the remaining members together to pursue the airship and aid the team.  Prophylactica, Nate Brown (the Sponge) and a King Cobra running to catch the gyro-copter take off after their companions.

Back in the airship, Lord Genovasis along with Penolope Kirt, the reporter, work their way up to the ship's bridge.  Sliding the door open he's attacked by a blast of fire from Firebat but dodges just in time and fires back with a machine gun.

The Gyro-copter catches up with the airship.  Prophylactica stretches her arms down and lets her companions climb down onto the top of the cockpit.  They see the flaming firebat flying around and King Cobra leaps through the window, summersaulting into a readied battle stance.  The Cobra sees Blitzkrieg running towards him with fists of super-speed while the pilot of the airship, Capt. VonStubbing fries Cobra's brain with a mind blast!

Automaton leaps through the window and attacks VonStubbing with his laser vision but is deflected by Stubbing's forcefield.  Nate, the Sponge, absorbs Blitzkrieg's super speed making her helpless against King Cobra's life drain.

Firebat blasts Lord Genovasis out through the cockpit door rendering him unconscious and turns his sites to King Cobra who continues to get blasted by VonStubbing.

Automaton keeps trying to bash through VonStubbing's force field but finds that any damage that gets through to the pilot makes the ship loose altitude.  VonStubbing is controlling the ship with his mind!

The Sponge then absorbs Firebat's flaming power which lets King Cobra's skilled wrestling wrap the former fiery villain up.  Penelope revives Lord Genovasis who takes the freeze-gun found last issue and blasts the helpless Firebat.

With two villains out of commission, Vanguard 13 demands VonStubbing to surrender.  VonStubbing refuses as he sees that he has the upper-hand as the airship's flight is entirely in control of his mind.  Vanguard 13 discovers that Firebat is VonStubbing's gay-nazi lover and threatens his life unless VonStubbing surrenders.  Fearing for his lover's life and unable to face surrender, VonStubbing,  with a "Heil Hitler" lets go of control of the airship and it plummets into a deadly dive towards the Atlantic ocean!

 The gyro-copter looses connection with the airship and the force of the falling mass of metal rips Prophylactica out into space.  Sponge, thinking fast, absorbs Firebat's power of flight and flies out to seek the wonder woman of rubber.  Lord Genovasis grows to his larger height and bashes through the ceiling of the cockpit.  He then grabs Blitzkrieg and tosses her out of the plummeting airship.  Automaton calculates the probabilities of the best escape out of this situation but discovers that his circuits are running into an unknown variable that show every path leading to the same unknown conclusion.

The Sponge finds Prophylactica and flies her back to the falling airship to have save the rest of the team.  Prophylactica shapes herself into a 'balloon' and Sponge fills her with 'hot air'.  The team grabs hold of Prophylactica and they fly out of the cockpit's hole in the ceiling.  But the everyone's weight is too heavy and they continue to plummet behind the airship which strikes the water with a massive explosion!  The fireball envelopes the helpless team but suddenly they are all enveloped in a blinding white light and then blackness....

Epilogue

Vanguard 13 wakes up in a British army hospital.  Brigadier General Wentworth informs them that their bodies were discovered neatly lined up on a beach a few days ago.  But he also informs them that they have been missing since November 1942.  It is now January 1943!  Vanguard has no memory of their loss of time!

Next:  Operation Drachenhaus!

Read the Shore City Chronicle!