Captain America Comics #10
Spy Ambush
Steve Rogers and Bucky have been charged with transporting a secret weapon back to Camp Lehigh. On the way, a woman collapses in the middle of the road forcing them to stop. Steve sends Bucky off to get help, leaving him alone with the woman. This woman is Countess Mara, a Nazi spy who has set up an ambush to capture the secret weapon: a rapid firing grenade launcher. Blasting Steve with a grenade, the female spy and her henchmen capture the weapon and she sends one of her men to eliminate Bucky. Steve has survived the blast and changes into Captain America and goes to Bucky's rescue.
With Bucky saved, the two heroes follow after Countess Mara and her men to a nearby castle. Ramming the gates, they fight off Mara's men and attempt to take back the stolen army truck. The Countess is prepared for this and uses a gas gun to knock the two champions out. They revive shortly after to find their hands bound, and Mara explains her mission orders. To dispose of the two heroes, she has her men toss them in a room that is rigged with flame jets that will burn them alive. She decides to toy with them first, which proves to be her undoing as Captain America and Bucky manage to free themselves by escaping through a ceiling hatch in the room. As they battle, the Nazi spies again, the Countess unleashes her minion named Klaus, a seven foot tall man. Even he proves to be no match for Captain America and is easily beaten into submission.
Furious, the Countess attempts to blow up Captain America with a grenade fired from the stolen weapon. Seeing the attack, Cap deflects the launched grenade with his shield causing an explosion that kills all her men. Surviving the blast, the Countess begs Captain America not to torture and kill her. The Captain explains to her that Americans don't resort to the same tactics as the Nazis and will see her deported back to Germany with a message for Hitler himself: Americans will fight for freedom no matter what.
Recurring Characters
Captain America, Bucky, Nazis
Hotel of Horror
The mayor of Gotham City is organizing a defense drive celebration and has sent out a call to Captain America and Bucky to be the guests of honor during the festivities. Hearing the report over the radio, Steve Rogers decides to indulge Bucky by making an appearance at the celebration. Soon a response is mailed out by Captain America himself.
Riding by train, Steve and Bucky are surprised by the amount of people who have shown up to see their arrival. Changing into their costumes, the two heroes are confronted by a man named Charley Boswell who claims to be a secretary to the mayor who offers to sneak Captain America and Bucky out of the area and take them to their hotel in privacy. The two heroes are taken to Hotel Zargon where they are given a presidential suite on the 13th floor. After they are brought to their room, Boswell recalls that there are telegrams from fans waiting in the lobby. Bucky is sent down to retrieve them. The boy is shocked when the desk clerk insults Captain America and has the bellhops throw him out. When a police officer witnesses this, Bucky tries to get him to see whats going on. To Bucky's surprise, there is a different desk clerk at the counter and the guest register no longer has his or Cap's name on it. The officer thinks that Bucky is playing games and is about to arrest him when he convinces the cop to bring him to the mayor's office. When Bucky tries to explain everything to the mayor, he tells Bucky that his secretary is a woman and that Captain America never showed. Believed to be an impostor causing trouble, Bucky finds himself locked up in the city jail.
Meanwhile, Captain America is ambushed by men in cloaks; their leader turns out to be Boswell who tells him that he is really a Nazi Fifth Columnist that goes by the name Net-Man. He offers Captain America the opportunity to join their ranks. Naturally, Captain America refuses and attempts to fight himself free. He is caught up in a net and brought through a secret passage to the basement of the hotel, where he is to be executed.
While at the city jail, Bucky notices a horse carriage outside of his cell and ties one of its chains to the bars of his cell. Getting the horse to pull, it breaks the bars open setting Bucky free and allowing him to escape into the night. Rushing to the hotel, Bucky jumps one of the bellhops and learns the truth. Stealing his uniform, Bucky poses as the bellhop but is recognized by the desk clerk. Bucky attempts to fight him but the desk clerk activates a trap door that causes him to fall into the basement as well. There Net-Man forces Bucky to watch as he and his minions toss red-hot daggers at what appears to be a captive Captain America. However, it turns out that when he was left alone with a single guard to watch him, Cap overpowered the guard and took his place.
Alive and well, Cap and Bucky fight Net-Man and his minions, and during the fight one of the brazers is knocked over causing a fire. As the battle rages all of Net-Man's minions are knocked into the flames and burned alive. Cap and Bucky knock Net-Man out and drag him out as volunteer firefighters arrive on the scene. Spotting the mayor, Captain America and Bucky explain what happened and turn Net-Man over to the authorities. The following day, Cap and Bucky participate in the defense drive celebrations.
Recurring Characters
Captain America, Bucky, Nazis
A Sinister Scoop
Intelligence man Reginald Whitney has got sensitive information about Nazi Germany and has offered the Affiliated Press an exclusive interview. This assignment is given to the Headline Hunter who rushes off with the special invitation to get the interview. He is spotted by rival reporter Will Jenks who wants to see Whitney as well and tails Hunter to the hotel that Reginald is staying that. Arriving in advance of Headline, Will learns that nobody is admitted to see Reginald without the proper pass. Waiting for Headline to arrive, Jenks hits him from behind and steals his pass, granting him access to Whitney's room.
Coming around, Headline is not willing to be out scooped, and so he poses as a bellhop to get into Whitney's room to "dust". In reality, he hides in a closet and overhears the interview conducted by Jenks. However, this turns out to be much more than an interview as after it is complete Jenks pulls out a gun. Jenks reveals that he is really Wilhelm von Logor, a member of the Gestapo assigned to eliminate Whitney before he could reveal any secrets about Germany to the press. Hunter then rushes into the room and stops von Logor's attempt to assassinate Whitney. With Wilhelm turned over to the authorities, Hunter takes the recorded interview to his editor and it gets published in the paper.
Recurring Characters
Headline Hunter
The Phantom Hound of Cardiff Moor
Cardiff Moor has been plagued by a mysterious ghost hound that has been hunting down and killing the residents there each night. The following morning, Steve Rogers is given grief by Sgt. Duffy for supposedly putting pepper in his sugar. Duffy orders Steve to march until he stops; this comes back to bite Duffy as when he shows off his flower garden to Betty Ross, Steve comes marching through and knocks Duffy into the flower bed. Furious, Duffy has Private Rogers put in the Guard House as punishment. There, he and Bucky witness as a man stumbles into the camp, asking the military's help to stop the "Phantom Hound of Cardiff Moor". The man is taken to a hospital and told to contact the police, however Steve and Bucky decide to investigate things.
That night, Steve changes into Captain America and breaks out of his cell. He and Bucky go to Cardiff Moor and witness a seemingly ghostly hound run off into the distance. Calling on the property owned by a man named Murdock, Captain America and Bucky are told the curse on Cardiff Moor. Murdock explains a wealthy family used to own all the land in the Moor until difficult financial times forced them from their home. The man of the house vowed to those who threw him out that his hound would haunt all those who live in Cardiff Moor from then on. The curse, it seems, had come true as each night the hound would attack yet another person. Cap and Bucky are soon introduced to other members of the neighborhood that are frightened of the hound: Mary Scott, writer Senior Ramos, retired school teacher Miss Primm, and Doctor Amos Willard.
When the hound is heard howling outside, the lights suddenly go out. When they are turned back on, Bucky finds a note seemly written by the hound telling all those who continue to live in the Moor will die. Captain America and Bucky decide to go out and find it. Inspired by Cap's bravery, the others decide to split up and go looking for the hound themselves. One of their number however sneaks off into the darkness and changes into a costume resembling the hound that has been attacking those in the area. The person in the hound costume finds Captain America and Bucky and gets the drop on them, easily taking advantage of the element of surprise to defeat the two and run into the wilderness again. Hearing the screams of Ramon the writer, Captain America and Bucky arrive too late to save him. They then hear Mary screaming for help. Rushing to her aid they find a glowing hound attacking his dead body. The hound attacks the two heroes, and realizing that it is a living animal, Captain America is forced to snap the dogs neck in order to save himself from serious injury. Examining the dog closer, they find that it's a normal hound that has been covered in luminescent paint.
They are then attacked by the man in the hound costume again, this time Captain America beats their attacker into submission and unmasks him. They are shocked to find that the killer is really Murdock, who deduces that he was the son of the man who was thrown out of Cardiff Moor all those many years ago.
Recurring Characters
Captain America, Bucky, Sgt. Duffy
The Skyscraper Plot
Lionel van Devanter, a multimillionaire has just finished a competition between construction companies to build his new office building, awarding the contract to Star Construction, much to the chagrin of the owner of the other construction company. Bill Slade, the owner of Star Construction has promised to finish the building under three months. However, forces are conspiring against the job, when a mobster arrives on the site and throws a construction worker off a scaffold.
At that time, Hurricane and his partner Speedy Scriggles are passing by and witness the "accident" in progress. Quickly, Hurricane saves the man and decides to investigate things further. That night, a group of thugs break into the construction site and tamper with the site so that accidents will happen the following day. The next day, Hurricane and Speedy take up jobs working on the construction site. When Speedy fumbles a hot rivet that is tossed to him, Hurricane goes into action to prevent it from harming another worker. Just then a rope keeping the girder Speedy is standing on snaps and Hurricane saves him from a nasty fall.
Mobsters on the site led by a masked man then attempt to rough up both Speedy and Hurricane, however they are no match for Hurricanes lightning fast speed. While Hurricane beats on the thugs, their leader attempts to make a break for it but is stopped by Speedy. Unmasked, they are shocked to find that the leader behind the sabotage is none other than Lionel van Devanter himself. Devanter explains that he is the secret owner of the Gem Construction Company and that he had hired Bill Slade and Star Construction in order to make them default on their contract in the hopes of driving them out of business. Months after Devanter is turned over to the authorities, Star Construction finishes the job within the three months without any further incident.
Recurring Characters
Hurricane, Speedy Scriggles
Beware the Man Who Could Forecast Doom
General Peters is convinced by his wife to see fortune teller Yogi Zamor. Although Peters does not believe in fortune telling he decides to humor his wife and go anyway. When Peters has his fortune told, Yogi Zamor warns him that he will die the following night at 8 o'clock. Peters does not believe this fortune, however the following day a package is delivered to his home. Inside Peter's finds a clock which he believes is from an admirer. At 8:00, Peters suddenly drops dead just as Zamor had predicted. At this time, Father Time is out on patrol and hears the screams from Peter's widow. As he is examining the scene, a man comes out of nowhere and attempts to attack Father Time. Time bests the man in the fight, but before he can get any information an unseen gun man shoots the thug dead. Chasing after the gunman, Father Time loses him and decides to investigate the case further.
Day after day, generals, statesmen and other high ranking military and government officials are dying, the only connections being their fortunes being told by Yogi Zamor and their recently being mailed clocks. Father Time decides to investigate things further and goes to see the Yogi in his civilian guise of Larry Scott. At first the Yogi has a "good" fortune until Scott tells him he recently became an ambassador for the nation of Algoslavia. The Yogi then tells him that he too will die at midnight the next day. Sure enough, the following day Larry gets a clock delivered to him.
Now having proof, Father Time pays a visit to Zamor and reveals that he is really a Nazi operative named Kurt Hausner, who has been sent to America to eliminate ranking military and government officials with clocks rigged to release a poison at a certain time. Not wishing to be taken alive, "Zamor" drops a gas pellet to try and kill himself and Father Time. However, Father Time protects himself with his cloak and it is only the Nazi agent who meets his end by the gas.
Recurring Characters
Father Time
