Miss Fury #4
Continued from last issue….
While the Brazillian resistance fighters begin preparing for a celebration after foiling the Nazis attempt to invade the country, Marla Drake is confronted by Albino Jo. Jo, a Brazilian aboriginal, reveals that not only does he know that Marla is secretly Miss Fury, but also once lived in New York City. He explains that he was adopted by American explorers as a child who brought him to New York. There he grew up and eventually assisted local police under the alias Tiger Eyes. One of those detectives was none other than Dan Carey, a man who Marla knew. As such, Albino Jo knew all about Miss Fury and her adventures, something he was particularly interested in as he knew the origins of the leopard print outfit she wears and the curse that allegedly surrounds it.
He then reveals that Dan Carey also secretly loved Marla and when he learned that she had left to get married in Brazil, the heartbroken detective quit the police in order to enlist in the military. After this, Albino Jo returns to Brazil in order to help his own people against the potential threat of Nazi occupation. He then asks Marla how she came upon the metal eating dust that allowed them to stop the Nazi invasion force. Marla explains that she came upon it by accident in the States during an encounter with Gruen Novak and that none of the compound remains and doubts she will ever encounter Novak again.
Fate, however, is intent on proving Marla Drake wrong as — at that very moment — Gruen Novak has been sent to assist General Bruno Beitz by none other than Adolf Hitler himself. Although Beitz and Novak have a bad history together, they are forced to work together. In order to deal with the resistance fighters, Bruno has his troops gather animals that they are tagging with vials of incendiary acid that they intend to unleash on the jungle around the rebel hideout. With the rebels trapped between a raging fire and a river, Beitz intends to capture Era and her soldiers in order to learn where they obtained the metal destroying powder.
Back at the camp, Era has ordered that Marla Drake leave their camp, but is forced to change her decision when Don Chico threatens to leave to make sure she gets back to town safely. Instead, Era allows the woman to stay for their victory celebration but gives Marla a stern warning to stay away from Chico. When the party begins all the men are drawn to Marla until Era emerges from her bedroom wearing a very exotic dress. Despite this, Don Chico insists on dancing with Marla, forcing Era to dance with Fingers instead. As they dance together, Don reveals that has has fallen in love with Marla. Meanwhile, outside, Nazi troops have begun letting the animals loose and fires begin spreading through the forest around the base. Spotting one of the troops, Albino Jo ambushes him and learns what the Nazi’s plans are. The fires pose an even greater threat to the rebels since Era has had their cache of dynamite hidden by the river and they are at risk all being blown up if the flames reach the explosives. By this time, tensions over Marla’s presence have reached their boiling point, prompting the Drake woman to retire to her bedroom in order to keep the peace. Unfortunately, this does not ease tensions and soon Era storms into the room and accuses Marla of trying to steal her man. As the two women fight each other, thick smoke from the fires outside begin pouring into the room, while the men rush outside to try and tame the blazing inferno. Ultimately, Era is knocked out by smoke inhalation and Marla carries her outside where she meets with Don, Greg, and Fingers.
Not far away, General Bruno learns that the rebels also have an airfield on their property and orders his men to prepare to shoot down any planes that take off, but reminds Gruen and the others that all prisoners need to be taken alive. Back at the inferno, the rebels realize they are trapped. That’s when Greg insists that both Marla and Era save themselves by taking the plane. Although Marla protests this, the trio of men insist that this is the only way, assuring her that they will find a way out. As they escape, Era wakes up and insists they go back for Don and the others leading to a struggle over control of the plane. It’s then that Bruno orders his men to shoot the plane down. Parachuting out of the plane, both women land right into the hands of the Nazis and are taken prisoner. By this time, the Nazis learn that the rest of the rebels seemingly perished when the hidden stores of dynamite exploded trapping any potential survivors in the blazing inferno. Ignoring Bruno’s orders, Gruen goes to interrogate the women about the metal consuming dust. During his violent interrogation, he recognizes Marla Drake from their previous encounter in New York City. He is interrupted by General Bruno, who continues the interrogation. Surprisingly, neither women is willing to tell what little they actually know about the powder, prompting Bruno to warn the women that he will have them put through brutal torture in the morning if they refuse to talk.
Meanwhile, Albino Jo — having saved the others from the fire, detonating the explosives to make it look like everyone died — has led Fingers and the rest of the resistance fighters to the Nazi base on a mission to save Marla and Era from their captors. In order to alert the women, Albino Jo fires a blow dart at the window of the room where they are being held. However, General Bruno intercept the message and leaves to mobilize his troops for a counterattack. However, the situation is more serious than a group of rebel fighters as Albino Jo and the others have managed to convince a company of US Marines to join the fight. Learning this, General Bruno gathers his troops and gives them a rousing speech on serving the fatherland, asking for volunteers to form a suicide squad to hold off their attackers while the rest of the troops flee the scene. While Albino Jo brings the marines, Fingers is sent ahead to rescue the two women and bring them back. As the battle begins, General Bruno promotes Private Schwartz to the rank of general, giving the dumbfounded private his medals and hat. Shortly after his promotion Schwartz is struck and seemingly killed by a grenade. This turns out to have been Bruno’s intention so that the invading army thinks he was killed in the conflict. As the battle rages, Albino Jo pulls Marla aside and gives her the leopard skin costume she wears as Miss Fury and tells the woman that he old friend Dan Carey is on the front lines leading the fight.
At this time, tragedy strikes as General Bruno spots Captain Dan Carey leading his men via a secret peephole. He shoots Captain Carey in the back just as Miss Fury arrives on the scene. Seeing Dan wounded brings the masked hero to tears as she struggles to carry him away she is unaware that a soldier is approaching them.
Recurring Characters
Miss Fury, Era, Greg Hammond, Don Chico, Fingers Martin, Albino Jo, Captain Dan Carey, Bruno Beitz, Gruen Novak, Adolf Hitler, Hermann Goring, Private Schwartz
