Strange Tales #38

Starring:

Fu Manchu	Dracula	Yellow Claw

In the long-forgotten underground burial vault that served as Dracula’s current abode, the Lord of Vampires was intently listening to the words being relayed to him. He stood in front of the rightful owner’s marble tombstone. This place was functioned quite well as his base of operations in the British capital.

"It’s bleeding incredible, yer lordship," the scrawny vampire Jenkins explained, his voice carrying an annoying Cockney accent. "These metal tubes have been falling all over the country." His mouth drooled as he excitedly told his tale. "I saw one meself last night, right after I had a bit of blood for supper."

"Describe these tubes," Dracula commanded. He had seen many strange things in his years walking the earth as an undead, but falling metallic tubes from the sky was unheard of.

"They’re tall, guvnor." Jenkins stretched his arm up above his head and stood on his tip-toes. "It was at least this tall above the ground. I don’t know how much of the blooming thing was buried in the ground. And it was wide, twice as wide as a carriage."

"What else?"

"Well, the military is right worried about it. They’ve sent out men to all of the landing sites. They say that these things come from Mars."

"Who says that, dolt?" Dracula found the presence of Jenkins to be most distasteful, but the rascal had a knack for finding out information.

"The scientists. I read it in the paper." He smiled broadly. "Well, actually, I heard somebody reading the Times that the scientists said that."

Dracula pondered the situation. If the military considered these things a threat, then perhaps they were a threat to his plans too. He knew that Europe teetered on the brink of war. Perhaps this was some new type of weapon. If so, Dracula would need to assess its abilities. His experience as a master tactician demanded no less. "Where did you see this cylinder?"

"Horsell Commons." Jenkins went up to kneel before Dracula. "I can show you the way."

Dracula slapped Jenkins which sent the vampire flying across the vault. "I don’t require your help with this." Once he reached the doors of the burial vault, he transformed into his bat-shape and took to the cool night air.

The boaters on the River Thames were unaware of the diabolical machinations that were going on inside of a nondescript warehouse that stood at the river’s edge. The warehouse was the headquarters of man, some called him a demon, known as Fu Manchu. He had been sent here by his masters in the land of China to bring about the ultimate victory for his people. He knew that for China to rule, Britain must fall.

Preparations were going slowly but inexorably forward. He would soon be in control of all the secret societies and gangs that populated Chinatown. Soon, all faithful Chinese would be working towards his ends, towards China’s ends. However, the time to bring the battle for world domination to Britain was not at hand. There was still much to do here in preparation. There was still much to do in places like Burma and Madripoor. These distant places, far from the central power of British might, would be the first to feel the talons of the Celestial. For now, there were the preparations.

He stopped his mental musings at returned to his experiments at hand. A beaker bubbled before him containing a virulent germ of his own making. He had been mixing strains of plague for years now, trying to develop the ultimate silent, invisible, communicable weapon. The work had been slow. His efforts had been focused upon making a disease such that only Caucasians and Negroids were susceptible. He had not been able to isolate that factor as of yet.

"Your pardon, Celestial One," a sniveling underling said nervously. "There is news from the countryside that might be of interest to you."

Fu Manchu put the beaker down and removed his operating mask, revealing his sinister smile and evil mustache. "What news do you bring?"

"There is word that objects from the heavens have fallen to Earth. These objects are said to be pure metallic cylinders of unknown composition."

"That is interesting. What have the British done in response?" came Fu Manchu’s question.

"The British have sent the army to investigate."

"Then I shall do so as well. Have a carriage made ready and have two Si Fan accompany me as escorts," Fu Manchu commanded imperiously. "Where is the nearest of these cylinders?"

The underling bowed in obeisance. "Horsell Common, Great One."

In this dilapidated section of the city, the secret base of the Yellow Claw was humming with activity. His hypnotized minions were slaving in the construction of his ‘skyfleet’ of floating dirigibles. It was his intention that these one-man craft would be able to carry explosives to be dropped from the sky. The British navy would be defenseless against such an aerial attack. He saw the vehicles at various stage of construction. Once completed, they were grey blimps of about twenty feet in length with a man-sized compartment. An array of bombs were affixed to the bottom of the compartment.

He walked among his mesmerized workers, checking their workmanship on the production line. Already a few dozen craft had been constructed. It would only be a matter of weeks before his skyfleet would be completed.

"There will be nowhere for the British navy to hide from the grasp of the Yellow Claw," the Claw announced to his non-responsive labor force. They continued to carry out their implanted tasks.

Once the Claw had gone past the entire production line, he came upon the launching bay. He had sent some of his free-willed minions out earlier in the day to test some of the model craft. The dirigibles were just returning now, as they had been ordered. He noticed that only two had returned when three had been dispatched.

He glared at one of the returning pilots. "Where is the third craft?" His voice was cold and authoritative.

"It was lost," was the meek reply.

"What happened? Was it a problem with the craft or with its pilot?" the Claw asked impatiently.

"Neither. It was struck from above. Strange things from the sky have been falling all over the countryside. One of them collided with the craft flown by Sho Han. The dirigible exploded upon impact," the nervous pilot explained

The Claw was furious. He had thought that his skyfleet was impervious; now it was proven not to be. "What sort of objects were these?"

"Once they struck the ground, we could see that they were large metallic cylinders. They are scattered all over the countryside outside of the city."

These strange objects would be have to assessed and studied, the Claw decided. Based on the description given to him, it was clear that these objects were manufactured. "Where is the closest of these landing sites?"

The pilot pulled out his map and pointed out the location to the Claw. "Here, master, at Horsell Common."

On the grounds of Horsell Common, a contingent of Horse Guards, a sharp-dressed military regiment, were busy setting up their artillery pieces in the waning light of the setting sun. The hundred or so soldiers had been dispatched by the military authorities to deal with the situation. What had happened here, like in a number of other places in the English countryside, was the landing of mysterious objects from the sky. Crowds of onlookers had gathered at this location, as many probably did at the other sites, to gawk at the crater that had been carved out.

Smoke had continued to emanate from the crater for a long time after impact. Nobody had been able to tell immediately what the object was. When the smoke had finally cleared, a strange metallic cylinder could be seen to be resting in the middle of the crater. The object was of a shiny silver hue and was perfectly shaped. There were no evident markings or openings on its surface.

Reports of these metallic objects had been made by various members of the British Crown’s secret Royal Society. Three members of that society – John Bull, Edward Raven, and Lord Godalming – had come to this landing site to investigate.

As their carriage came to a halt near the crater, Godalming was astounded by the scene that was presented before him. It was a strange public spectacle with all of the people milling around. One might dismiss the possible seriousness of the situation if it were not for the presence of the military troops.

"I say," Godalming exclaimed. "There certainly are a lot of gawkers here." He looked at his companions

"Perhaps we should term them more correctly as innocent bystanders," Raven replied dryly. There was a definite sense of foreboding in his voice.

"Good God, Raven," Bull said with consternation. "Your paranoia is positively stifling. Perhaps this is just some object that fell from the outer reaches of space. That does happen, you know." His thoughts momentarily strayed to those of his sons – Montgomery and John. His family thought that he was performing duties associated with his position as a member of Parliament. The people back at the manor had no idea that he masqueraded as "John Bull" in the service of the Royal Society.

Raven shot Bull a cold look. "Use your eyes, man. Would anything that fell from the heavens be so perfectly shaped? Are you that daft?" He got out from the carriage and secured the two-horse team. "Besides, the arrival of these objects coincides with the astronomers reports of strange occurrences on Mars. This is simply too coincidental to be not the work of some unseen intelligence."

Further conversation was interrupted by a strange grating sound. It seemed to be emanating from the metallic cylinder. The crowd had noticed it as well and had backed up from the edge of the crater. The Horse Guards were quickly finishing their final preparations with the artillery pieces.

"Look!" Godalming shouted. He pointed towards the cylinder. "It’s moving!"

Raven and John Bull fixed their attention on the metallic cylinder. The sound continued to project from the cylinder. The top of the cylinder began to rotate and twist off. Once it had finished its turning, it fell off to the side. The crowd began to become scared and backed off even further, although they were still attracted to the wonder before them.

For his part, Dracula hovered in his mist form and watched the strange spectacle from the edge of the forest. He wondered if there were occupants inside, or perhaps it was simply a mechanical device. In his mist form, he considered himself virtually invisible to man and Martian alike. He noted the British military troops and hoped to assess the strength of the men versus whatever lay inside.

Not far away from Dracula, the carriage that had brought Fu Manchu to the locale had been parked. The insidious Chinaman and his two Si Fan protectors had concealed themselves in order to observe. Fu Manchu was very curious as to find out what the cylinder contained. If it contained living beings, he would be obligated to study them and add that knowledge to his already vast knowledge of all things animal, vegetable, and mineral.

In his dirigible floating a few hundred feet above Horsell Common, the Yellow Claw peered upon the scene with a telescope of his own design. Looking straight down, he could see that there was some kind of device inside of the hollow cylinder. He attempted to focus the telescope to get a better view of the contents, but the lack of light precluded him from seeing too clearly.

Down on the ground, the trio of Royal Society members could see more clearly. A slimy red tentacle tentatively slid out of the cylinder. As to what sort of body it was attached to, they could not tell. The appendage moved rather slowly, and then withdrew. Fu Manchu decided that the creature was injured and ordered his two Si Fans to retrieve the creature.

The two merciless assassins quickly bounded through the woods and rushed past the terrified onlookers. As they came closer to the cylinder, something else protruded from the metallic shell. This time it was not something from a living being but from a machine. It was a small slender rod with a strange glow at its tip. It tilted and rotated until it pointed at the two onrushing Si Fans. A beam of searing red light enveloped the two Si Fan. They were instantly reduced to ash.

The crowd broke into a terrified panic. They rushed away from the crater as fast as they could, trampling over each other as they sought safety. The heat ray continued to spit out burning death. Anybody that it touched was instantly cremated. It took the Horse Guards a few moments to regain their composure as they saw the carnage ensuing below their positions. They loaded their cannon and took aim.

Before the first shot could be fired, the heat ray suddenly stopped. The projector rose into the air, as the object to which it was attached stepped out of the cylinder. It was a gigantic tripod walking machine. Its three legs supported a oblong disc-shaped metallic shell. To this shell the heat ray projector was attached. The tripod rose to its full height, a full thirty feet tall, and paused as if to survey the scene.

The Horse Guards overcame their shock and commenced firing. The cannon shells hurtled through the air and bounced relatively harmlessly off the tripod’s outer hull.

"Did you see that?" Godalming exclaimed. "Those cannons didn’t even dent it."

Raven was relatively calm. "Let us wait for another volley before we rush to that conclusion." After the second volley was shot and met with similar lack of effect, Raven’s demeanor began to change. "It appears that artillery will not be the answer to the walking tripods."

The Royal Society members had withdrawn back to their carriage. The tripod continued to march relentlessly forward. It cut a savage path, blasting with its heat ray and crushing everything underneath it. The surviving onlookers spread out into the countryside as they tried to escape their gigantic pursuer. The Horse Guards, for their part, continued to fire upon the Martian vehicle, but their shells could only make the slightest scratches upon the Martian armor.

"Bloody hell!" Godalming cried as he pointed to the cylinder again. There was another Tripod emerging from the metallic shell. Once it had exited, a third Tripod rose from the cylinder.

"Bloody hell, indeed!" John Bull said in sullen agreement.

The first Tripod was now out of the range of the Horse Guard artillery. They turned their weapons upon the newcomers, but their shells were worthless against the alien metal. The two new Tripods no longer had any scampering human targets to deal with, so they trained their heat rays upon the Horse Guard positions. The cannon were the first to go, melted down to useless slag. The valiant Horse Guards fired their hand weapons, but bullets were completely ineffectual. A few wide sweeping blasts of the heat ray left all of the Horse Guards dead.

The Royal Society members watched as the two later arrivals joined the original Tripod on it course. Though they were thankful that they had apparently slipped the notice of the Martian invaders, they were despondent when they realized the direction in which the Martian machines were heading.

"They’re walking straight towards London," John Bull announced somberly. His comrades nodded their heads with gloom on their faces. They continued to watch the cylinder, looking for signs of any other Tripods, but no others emerged. Leaving their place of relative security, they went towards the cylinder to investigate.

Fu Manchu was doing the same, going from his hidden carriage. He was astounded at the power that had reduced his loyal Si Fan to ash. He noticed the Royal Society trio also coming out of concealment.

From the aerial vantage point afforded by his flying dirigible, the Yellow Claw had watched the carnage perpetrated below him. Now he was surprised to see the four moving forms below him. He had thought that all had been destroyed by the Martians. Seeing the Tripods disappear into the distance, he decided to bring his craft down to ground level. He cursed vilely when the controls failed to respond correctly. A too-forceful push on a control level sent the craft plunging towards the ground. He was able to throw himself clear of the impact, but the craft was ruined and his body was bruised and battered.

John Bull saw the Claw’s descending dirigible, but Godalming had his eyes on other things. He noticed that their was a dark shape moving among the fallen spectators. A sudden chill went down his spine, a feeling that he had not felt since that fateful battle at Castle Dracula. Somehow he just knew that the dark shape was a vampire.

Dracula had watched dispassionately as the Martians had slaughtered the humans here in the Common. He lamented the fact that so much good blood had gone to waste. To drink the blood of the dead was extremely distasteful to him, a low that he only sunk to in the direst of situations. However, his keen senses told there that were still some alive among the casualties littered on the Common. There would be no thrill to feeding on an injured soul, but better to consume that liqueur of life than let it seep into the cold earth.

Edward Raven and John Bull had gone towards the crushed remains of the Yellow Claw’s dirigible. Fu Manchu had changed his approach to that location as well. Godalming felt a wave of fear and hatred rush through him. He despised the inhumanity of this vampire before him. He reached into the inner lining of his coat and pulled out a short silver blade.

"Get away from those poor souls, vampire!" Godalming proclaimed. He held the sword firmly in his right hand and advanced.

Dracula whirled around quickly. "I am Dracula, Lord of the Undead!" His cape whipped up behind him. "Do not suppose to issue me orders!"

"Dracula!" Godalming responded, his voice quivering. "Van Helsing said you were still alive, even after we destroyed you."

"Van Helsing is dead, by Dracula’s hand! You stupid fools! How could you be so foolish that ‘s simple knife would destroy me?" Dracula laughed maniacally, and stared deep into Godalming eyes. The young Lord stared right back, his mind too strong to fall under the vampire’s hypnotic power.

As Dracula and Godalming’s battle of wills continued, Fu Manchu announced himself. "I am Doctor Fu Manchu." He had seen Raven and John Bull help the Yellow Claw to his feet. The Claw had wiped the dirt from his silk outfit and walked towards the former adversaries. The two Royal Society members hurried closely behind.

The Chinaman’s name rang a bell in Raven’s head. "Ah, yes. I have heard of you," Raven smirked. "There have been reports of your activity in the eastern parts of the Empire."

Fu Manchu was astonished. He had operated under the assumption that the British had been unaware of his activities. This revelation startled him, but his cool demeanor showed no such reaction.

The Yellow Claw surveyed the others gathered here. "I have been called the Yellow Claw, in this country and in other," he proclaimed proudly.

"The Yellow Claw! My …" John Bull interrupted himself. "Union Jack fought against you years ago. How can that be?"

A small smile formed on the Claw’s face. "The memory of that titanic battle lingers in this land? I am quite surprised." Actually he was displeased. It had been one of his most disappointing defeats. He did not wish to recall it. "If you know of me, then you know of my power."

"Your power lies smoldering in ruin," Fu Manchu pointed out snidely, his eyes moving towards the smoking remains of the dirigible.

The Yellow Claw hissed back at Fu Manchu. "You arrogant swine! You are as nothing to me!"

"Gentlemen," Raven said. "It would stand to reason that the conventional forces of the Empire's Army at other locations would have also been likely routed," Raven said dispassionately "We must oppose these Martians in an unconventional manner."

He looked over the three menaces that stood there with him – Dracula, the dreaded vampire lord; Fu Manchu, the master of horrifying science; and the Yellow Claw, the megalomaniac genius. With the living symbol John Bull and the noble turned vampire fighter Lord Godalming, the sextet was as unconventional of a force as likely could have been gathered in that day and age.

"The matter is clear," Raven announced. "We must all work together in order to defeat this Martian menace. Otherwise, Britain and then the world shall fall."

Dracula, Fu Manchu, and the Yellow Claw all exchanged glances. Although the thought riled each of them of cooperating with those who had similar but incompatible goals, they each knew that this was the only way.

"Agreed." Dracula was the first to speak. "Dracula shall fight with you against these alien invaders. However, once they are repulsed, the alliance ends."

"I shall add my own humble efforts to aid in the defense of our world," Fu Manchu said with mock meekness.

The Yellow Claw was the last to agree to the compact. "Done. With my skyfleet, we shall drive these Martians back to their own Red Planet."

Raven tapped his avian-headed cane on the ground. "I doubt it will be that easy. I suggest we repair to one of your lairs and commence our work."

Dracula was unwilling to divulge the location of his lair. A vampire needed a secure place to rest. "I doubt you would find my home that accommodating, being that you are all daywalkers."

"My humble abode would not be sufficient for the needs of this assemblage," Fu Manchu said disingenuously. He had spent too much time and effort to establish his hold in Chinatown. To reveal it now to those who would likely oppose him after this affair was completed would be too great of a sacrifice.

The Yellow Claw shook his head in disgust. "It’s clear that we must use my home as our center of operations." He headed towards the carriage that had brought Bull, Raven, and Godalming here. "Come. We are now engaged in a war of the worlds. It is a war that none of us can afford to lose."

I think I've given some hints as to the real identity John Bull. If not, I'll reveal it in the next and final installment. I'll also reveal Edward Raven's connection to the Marvel Universe.