The Human Torch
finds himself the prisoner of Battle-Axis along with Whizzer and burns his way
out of the tube he is held in and aims to take on his captors but he is drenched
in water and subdued. Torch demands that Golem, a Polish Jew, explain why he is
helping the Nazis but Golem doesn’t answer. Torch then confronts Dr. Death, who
explains he is Dr. James Bradley, former partner of Torch’s creator, Phineas
Horton. The two fought over their handling of their creation and Bradley quit
and took a second, incomplete android with him, becoming a crime fighter but
eventually joining the Nazi cause. The other Battle-Axis members chime in:
Spider Queen’s husband was killed by the Russians so she joined the Nazis to get
revenge. Strongman gained his powers and decided he would be more at home among
the Nazis who worshipped strength. Human Meteor is Irish and so naturally hates
the British so he joined the Nazis. Amnesiac Volton just feels right as a Nazi.
Dr. Death also explains their big scheme, Project Mojave. They are under the
California desert and have built an oscillotron which they will use to create a
massive earthquake, devastating the US West Coast and knocking the USA out of
the War….
The Invaders
(Captain America, Sub-Mariner) and allies (Miss America, Silver Scorpion, Blazing Skull)
head west in Namor’s airship. Silver Scorpion explains how she was a friend of
Professor Carson who created the armor for her though she is still unused to
wearing it but the Battle-Axis killed her boss/crush Dan Hurley and she needs
to avenge that. Meanwhile, Blazing Skull explains himself: he was a reporter
who found an underground race of “Skull-Men,” was given their powers, and sent
back to the surface world to fight for peace. Cap adds very brief versions of
his (Super-Soldier Serum), Namor’s (born that way), Miss America’s (electrical
accident), and Whizzer’s (transfusion of mongoose blood) so that everyone is
caught up. SS confesses that she doesn’t know the location of the baddies’ secret
lair, only that it’s under a dead lake; she lied so that they would bring her
along. Namor’s ship uses sonar to see which lake is camouflaged. A huge gun
rises from the ground and fires on them, bringing down the aircraft but Miss America
is able to fly out and enter the base through the gun’s hatch. She fights a
bunch of Nazi guards but is captured by Human Meteor. Then the rest of the team
arrives and there is a big battle. Dr. Death forces his top scientist to turn
on the Dimension Smasher which opens a gateway to another dimension and brings
through the Vision, an alien named Aarkus, Destroyer of Evil. He surprises everyone
by using his freezing powers to subdue Namor—because he knows Dr. Death
controls the machine that can send him back to his own dimension. Aarkus then
freezes Silver Scorpion and Golem bashes the distracted Captain America and Blazing
Skull, leaving all of the heroes at the villains’ mercy….