Chapter Three December 1944
A deserted airfield outside London
The ride to the airfield was as uneventful as Horrible Harry had promised, following the back roads he assured them would not be watched. Similarly, the airfield was a run-down affair, evidently disused apart from the government's tacit approval of Harry's illegal enterprise.
The transport plane that waited for them was not overly large-plenty of room for Cuban cigars, Lady Luger sneered to herself-but it had a loading ramp, and two undercover Luftwaffe officers were using it to roll something to the ground.
Blue Phantom and Rio Rita were lifted from the truck, and set on their feet, with the lip of the truck bed at their backs; tightly gagged, and secured as they were-arms, hands, torso, legs, feet-there was not even the hint of a chance to escape.
Wheeled down the ramp were three long objects that Laura at first took to be coffins, and even her valiant heart sank at the sight. As they moved closer, though, she realized that they lacked the distinctive shape of a coffin, and were instead simply large rectangular boxes-boxes, she could see now, which were gaily wrapped in expensive foil, with exquisite velvet ribbons trimmed in green and gold. Boxes they were, but Christmas boxes… Christmas boxes large enough to store a captive woman!
Rita came to the same realization, and whimpered into her gag, prompting their blond captor to step to her, running sharp fingernails down the gagged girl's cheek, a smug smile on her face.
"Don't worry, my pretty spy… these boxes are designed to allow you to breathe, so long as you don't struggle overmuch." She took Rita by the chin and her blue eyes gleamed with triumph. "After all, it wouldn't do to deliver a damaged present to our Fuhrer."
Rita squalled into her gag as the full horror of that sank in; if there were any fate that might truly be worse than death, it would be to fall into the hands of that madman.
A growl of rage came from beneath Laura's gag, and without thinking she hurled herself feebly towards the gloating blonde. What she might have expected to achieve in her present situation was unclear even to her, but Lady Luger simply delivered a backhanded slap that sent the helplessly-trussed Blue Phantom sprawling painfully to the ground.
"Pick up the Fuhrer's gift," the blonde sneered, and the men took the impotently wiggling Blue Phantom by shoulders and legs, and hefted her up. She was lifted over the lip of the box, then lowered down into it. The inside of the box was filled with more red velvet, and they nestled Laura down into it, arranging the folds so that only the girl's still-masked face, with its grotesque gift-bow for a gag, was showing.
Rio Rita was treated similarly, though the fact that they were handling a movie star seemed to encourage some additional roaming of fingers, and muttered lewd comments; ironically, she realized that the only thing keeping these swine from molesting her was the fact that she was being saved for even worse depredations at the hands of their despicable dictator. She, too, was placed in folds of velvet, which were draped over her body, ready to be unwrapped. She heard sounds of grunting and heavy breathing, and realized that the chain-wrapped form of Liberty Lass was being set into the third box; Rita almost envied her friend being anaesthetized, so as to be spared the claustrophobic terror of confinement in the box.
What little light there was in the night sky now vanished altogether as brightly-wrapped and beribboned lids were set into place atop the boxes, and some kind of fasteners were snapped into place, plunging the heroines into terrifying blackness.
Lady Luger's cruelly beautiful face was lit with a gloating smile as she watched the three gaily decorated parcels loaded onto the plane. She was just making the final arrangements for departure when a pair of headlights illuminated the dusty road behind them, and a dark sedan hove into view, stopping next to the airstrip. One of the soldiers drew a pistol; Lady Luger waved him to put it away.
"Wait and see. I'm not expecting anyone, but let's try not to start a firefight if we don't have to."
The woman who stepped out of the car was dressed in a black greatcoat, similar to Lady Luger's, but with a wide-brimmed black fedora pulled low over her forehead; her temples were just visible enough to see the blond hair that was tucked up under the hat. Thick-lensed wire-frame eyeglasses rested on her nose, and what appeared to be a dueling scar slashed across her left cheek. The insignia on her collar suggested intimacy with the highest levels of German military intelligence. She waved a hand in the direction of the car, which spun a quick turn, and left the way it had come.
"Captain Inga Von Schmerz?" The scar-faced blonde's manner was direct and officious.
Lady Luger nodded. "I don't believe I've had the pleasure…"
"Major Falschung, of the State Security Services. I'm here to observe this most… interesting… operation you are conducting on enemy soil. Working on your own, are you?"
Lady Luger flushed slightly, but kept her temper in check. "I wasn't aware the Security Services had officers here in England."
"We'd be doing a poor job of it if you were," the woman smirked. "Now again-are your superiors aware of this project of yours?"
For a moment, Lady Luger was at a complete loss for words-the last thing she'd have ever expected was some nosey state copper making trouble, particularly here on British soil!
"I can assure you, Major…" but her voice trailed off as her brain desperately scrambled to come up with some explanation.
"Calm yourself, Captain," the blonde smiled thinly. "Why, the Fuhrer was just asking after you the other night. No doubt he will be pleased that you have not let your previous failure deter you: as we all know, the Fuhrer prizes initiative above all else."
Lady Luger wasn't remotely convinced of that fact, but decided it was better to keep silent for the moment.
"No," the officer continued, "I think that it would be appropriate for an official observer to accompany you and the good doctor back to Germany, to see where all these cloaks and daggers are leading. Surely you can find an extra seat for me…?"
Lady Luger stared for a moment, wishing she had stopped the car from leaving, and weighing whether the more dangerous course was to dispose of the woman or bring her along, but Dr Sonderbar made the decision for her.
"An honor, Major," she smiled, and gestured to the plane. "Please join us." As the officer nodded her acceptance and stepped aboard, the doctor muttered to Lady Luger, "My work is too important to risk a confrontation. For all we know, this woman has the ear of the Fuhrer himself."
The blonde responded with a bad-tempered grunt and a shrug, then joined the doctor and the two boarded the plane, which was soon airborne with its cargo of helpless heroines.
+++
Inside the boxes, time had lost all meaning. Helpless in their bonds and gags, isolated and in the power of their enemies, with no light and little sound, any plans for escape would have to wait until they arrived at their destination. Until then, the Blue Phantom decided, their best option was to rely on the Eastern mental and breathing techniques they'd learned from the mystic heroine Princess Pazuza; she hoped that Rita kept her head enough to do the same.
Thus it was that Laura had little sense of time or place over the course of their trip, or how long it had taken them to reach their final destination-assuming it was final; all she could really be certain of was that they had stopped moving. As she began the first steps to come up out of her meditative state, she heard muffled voices, and something that might have been machinery. After a few moments, the voices dwindled away.
Now, time was starting to matter, and, as calmly as she could, Laura began to try and count the minutes. She had reached an agonizing ten minutes when she sensed, more than heard, the sound of the box's lid being unfastened, and her mind swam up out of its meditative state, preparing to cope with the influx of light and sensation.
"Jeepers! I thought they'd never leave!"
Laura wondered if she were still in some kind of trance, because it seemed odd that a scar-faced, uniformed officer of the German State Police would be peering into her box and using a word like "Jeepers."
The bafflement must have shown on her face, as the woman looking down into the box scrunched her face into a puzzled expression, then rolled her eyes and yanked off the black fedora. Waves of hair the color of fresh wheat fell around her face and over her shoulders as she pulled off the thick eyeglasses and peeled the fake scar from her cheek.
"Laura-- it's me!"
Astonishment and relief flooded through the Blue Phantom's trussed form, and she shrieked delight into her gag. Diana Dane-better known as Miss Mask, the Crimson Crimebuster-was leaning into the box, peeling aside the velvet wrappings, and going to work on the Blue Phantom's bonds. In a few moments, Laura was able to sit up and undo the bow that gagged her mouth.
"Get the others!" she gasped, taking her first full breath of air after what felt like days. "I'll do the rest." She bent to undo the straps securing her legs and feet. "But what are you doing here?"
"You know what they say-better to be lucky than good." Miss Mask was working on Rita's bonds. "My undercover operation involved links between the Nazis and some of London's top gangsters. I didn't get all the pieces into place in time to prevent their capturing you. Once I got to the airfield, she sure wasn't going to just let you all go just on my say-so; all I could think of to do was to invite myself along on the trip, and hope I'd have a moment to get you out."
The Blue Phantom, now free of her restraints, clambered out of the box, standing on shaky legs, and seeing their surroundings for the first time: a cavernous empty space, some kind of converted hangar, with a ceiling that had to be a good hundred feet high, and towering above her head, a Christmas tree! A tree, festooned with ribbon, candies, and trinkets, that stood thirty feet high at least-under which she and her friends had been laid as presents! She looked to the third box, to start releasing Liberty Lass, but it was already open and empty!
"Where's Joan?"
Miss Mask shook her head. "That crazy doctor and her female goons came and took her away a few minutes ago. This place is an old zeppelin hangar, and she's got some kind of lab set up down the way."
"What does she want with Liberty Lass?" Rio Rita had pulled the gag from her own mouth, and was massaging circulation back into her legs. "I thought that blond Valkyrie with the whip wanted us all delivered gift-wrapped to Uncle Adolph."
Miss Mask shook her head. "I have the feeling that the good Captain Von Schmerz has no idea what Dr. Sonderbar is up to. I think she's taken Joan for some kind of experiment-what's she been working on?"
"It's something to do with mind control," Rita shuddered. "They used some kind of drug on me that had only limited effects, but she's given some other kind of treatment to those women who are now just mindless slaves, under the doctor's complete control."
As one, the same thought struck all three heroines, and three heads turned to stare at the festive box that had held the super-powered Liberty Lass… and which now stood empty. Diana was the first to turn away, and her eyes widened as she looked to the entryway.
"Um… guys… I think we might be in trouble here…"
The others turned to follow her gaze, and were stunned to see Joan Justice, Liberty Lass, no longer chained and gas-masked, standing framed in the doorway, hands on hips, flanked by a triumphantly smiling Doctor Sonderbar and two of her enslaved female assistants. The blonde heroine's eyes had a glazed look to them, but her voice was strong as she addressed her teammates:
"Enemies of the Reich, prepare to be destroyed."
On to the thrilling Conclusion!