Young Allies Comics #5

Aug 5

Aug 5 Young Allies Comics #5

Horror in Hollywood"

In Nazi Germany, Adolf Hitler is furious at his previous attempts to demoralize American morale in his war efforts. So he calls his agent the Owl to travel to America to see what can be done about this situation. The Owl agrees to take the task and decides to direct his efforts to taking down America from within, starting with Hollywood.

At that very moment at the headquarters of the Sentinels of Liberty Fan Club, the Young Allies get a telegram from Hollywood. A director is interested in making a film about the adventures of the Young Allies and has asked for them to come to Hollywood to appear in the movie. With no money to make the trip, the Young Allies go to ask Captain America to borrow money for the trip. They run into Cap just as he is coming to pay the boys a visit and he agrees to give them the money. Not wishing to make Bucky believe that he owes home, Toro flies off to borrow money from the Human Torch instead.

As the Young Allies buy train tickets to get to Hollywood, the Owl has already arrived and has begun plans to eliminate the boys at Colossal Studios, the studio making the Young Allies film. At the same time, Captain America meets with the Human Torch to discuss their latest mission for the government: to travel to California and attempt to stop a Japanese invasion of the United States. They leave by plane, marveling at what a coincidence it is that they will be working so close to their young charges in the Allies.

In Hollywood, the producer H.G. is stressing out over his star actor Bruce Brent not being on set. Brent arrives putting him slightly at ease. The Young Allies show up shortly after, and Tubby trips over himself and causes a bit of a kerfuffle before introductions are met all around. He tells the boys that they are to appear on set first thing in the morning and are given an invitation to explore the set. They run into the Owl, and he tricks them into thinking that he is a employee on the set. However, they realize their error when he attempts to crush them by cutting loose a sandbag. Toro saves his friends from danger, but before they can act the Owl releases a trap door that causes them to fall into a pit with an alligator. While Toro uses his flames to keep the creature at bay, the Young Allies manage to climb out of the pit while the Owl manages to escape.

Elsewhere, Steve Rogers and the Human Torch meet with military officials and receive orders to scour the Californian coast line to search for the Japanese invaders. As they leave the office, a dagger hits the wall in front of them with a note attached. The note warns them that carrying out their mission will mean death.

The next day in Hollywood, the Young Allies are on set for their first scene in the movie based on them. However, when action is called they suddenly duck when their camera begins firing bullets instead of taking film. Bucky rushes the camera man and tackles him but finds him dead with a knife in his back. Bucky find a note attached from the Owl, mocking them. The boys decide to go back to their dressing room to think things over when H.G. stops them and tells them that shooting is done for the day, and that tomorrow they will be filming on the beach where they will be doing a scene where they are stopping an invasion of America from Japanese soldiers.

The delay saves the boys lives, as when they are about to enter their dressing room a bomb inside goes off. Spotting the Owl fleeing the scene, the Young Allies chase after him into a room filled with prop torture devices. As they search for the Owl, Jeff gets distracted while examining an Iron Maiden and is caught by the Owl and placed in the trap. The Young Allies come to his rescue, and have to let the Owl get away while they free Jeff from the spring trap that is forcing the Iron Maiden closed. Trying to catch up to the Owl, they run into H.G. instead who has come to find them so that he can introduce them to the rest of the cast. After being introduced to the cast, the Young Allies come to believe that one of them is really the Owl in disguise. They have narrowed down their choices between: the producer Mr. Jeffrey, Bruce Brent, actress Miss Dawn, Beadle the cameraman, and Karns the man slated to play the villain in the picture.

That night the Owl places a crate in the truck that is supposed to move the Young Allies to their location. The next day as the film convoy is travelling to the beach, the Young Allies finds that one of the creates in their truck has been loaded with poisonous lizards. While Knuckles kicks them out of the truck, they find that their drive has bailed out. The Allies then manage to jump out of the truck before it can drive off a cliff. They are then picked up by another truck and brought the rest of the way to the location. Elsewhere along the beach, Captain America and the Human Torch's search has yielded nothing. Suspecting that the trouble might include the Young Allies, they intuitively decide to go an check out the movie set and rush off to its location.

That night as the Young Allies sleep, the Owl sneaks into their room and places a poisonous snake on Bucky's chest warning him that if he moves the snake will strike him and leaves. Jeff wakes up from the snakes hissing sound an comes to Bucky's rescue, tossing it aside and killing it. When the Young Allies examine it, they find that it has a unique clay that is found in a nearby cave. They investigate the cave and come face to face with the Owl once more. He causes an avalanche trapping them all inside and flees into the darkness. The Young Allies rush the Nazi spy and knock him off a cliff. But this is all according to plan, as the Owl survives the fall and uses a secret tunnel to get the drop on the Allies.

Splitting up into two groups they begin exploring the caves for a way out. Tubby and Knuckles overhear some men talking about an invasion of the United States and tackle what they thing are men, but turn out to be dummies. Meanwhile, Bucky, Toro, Whitewash and Jeff are tackled by some Nazi spies and tossed down the cliff in a net that they had previously dropped the Owl into. Down in the pit they are told by the Owl that there is only one way out, but he intends to burn them alive with a massive flame jet. As the other Young Allies scramble to find the secret exit, Toro uses his flame powers to try to keep the vent away from his friends. When the Owl attempts to shoot them, Toro launches some fireballs to send him fleeing. Unable to find the exit, and with Tubby and Knuckles arriving at the foot of the cliff, Bucky and the others unravel the net into a rope and use it to climb out of the pit. However, they have to leave Toro behind to continue fighting off the flame jet even though his powers are weakening.

They rush through the cave and shut off the control switch and save him in the nick of time. They manage to get out of the cave and retire for the night. The following day, they prepare for the big fight scene in the film and are surprised when one of the actors in the bunch tries to kill Bucky with a real knife. Chasing after the bogus actor they lose him in the crowd but spot him again rushing into the cave. Following after him, they find Bruce Brents watch and presume that he is the Owl. They then are once more faced with the Owl who unleashes a lion upon them. When Toro attempts to use his flames they are doused. However, the Owl becomes a target of rocks thrown by the boys and he attempts to defend himself with his gun, shooting the lion dead instead. Chasing after the Owl they lose him and run into Karns and Miss Dawn. Karns tells them that Brent has been murdered, putting the boys back at square one in determining who the Owl really is.

Before they can resume their search, H.G. calls everyone back on set for the big action scene where Japanese soldiers invade the beach. As the boys begin the scene, they are shocked to find that these "actors" are not pulling their punches and are using live rounds. They soon realize that they are real Japanese soldiers participating in a real invasion. They are soon joined by Captain America and the Human Torch who lend a hand in fighting off the Japanese fighters. Karns reveals himself to be the Owl by attempting to blow the heroes up with a bomb, however Cap fights it loose and throws it at the Japanese sub, blowing it up.

While attempting to apprehend the Owl, he runs off a cliff to his seeming death. However this hope is dashes when another knife is thrown with a note warning the Young Allies that the Owl is still alive, and may as a master of disguise could attack them at any time, in any identity. In the aftermath of the battle H.G. proclaims that this movie will be colossal.