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Lady Fairplay Comics #1, September 1941
Other Earth Publishing Company
Other Earth Publishing Company
Welcome, Lady Fairplay!
Exciting Evening Commute
It was a beautiful late summer evening. Mary Lee was driving home after a satisfying day teaching 4th grade. Her red-brown hair was plaited on top her head, and she wore horn-rimmed glasses; she had the top down to enjoy the weather, and she was singing Chattanooga Choo Choo along with the Modernaires on the radio. And then, the advanced radio set in the car swapped out the commercial radio station for the local police band.
"Robbery in progress at the Crystal Bluff Bank! Watch it, boys, it's some kind of robot like outta the Flash Gordon movies, it's strong enough to smash through the vault of the bank, and bullets bounce off it."
"Sounds like Cobalt Chill!" Mary spoke to the radio. "I better get there... FAST!" She reached under the dashboard and flipped a hidden switch, then pressed her foot down on a specific spot on the floor, and watched as the dashboard changed. Some of the instruments rotated into the dash, with others rotating out of the dash to take their places. Some blank panels slid down out of sight to reveal more instruments behind them. When the changes stopped, she stepped on the brake and yanked the wheel hard to the left, and laughed with excitement as the car slid through a 180 degree turn. As soon as she was moving in the opposite direction, she threw a switch on a panel labeled 'robot pilot'. Mary disappeared in a swirling vortex which almost instantly vanished, revealing a gorgeous woman with a golden tiara in her long red brown hair, a long sleeved light green top, and a yellow cape fastened at her neck with a clasp decorated with glistening red jewel - the dynamic heroic figure of Lady Fairplay!
The heroine whooped with glee as her powerful roadster, which she called the Terrificar, reached speeds of almost 100 mph on the narrow road, skillfully swerving to avoid the slower traffic. It was only a few minutes before she had to slow down on the streets near the bank. By now, the robot had emptied the vault and just as Lady Fairplay spotted the bank, the doors of the bank exploded outward and flew across the street, shattering store windows on the other side, and then the robot strode stiffly through the shattered entrance.
It stopped as it reached the street, and one arm came up and Pointed at the police cars now parked in the street in front of the bank. A blue ray flashed from the closed fist, and the robot swept the beam across everyone and everything in the street. As the ray swept, whatever it passed over was coated in light blue ice.
'It's Cobalt Chill's robot, alright!' she thought with excitement. 'She's probably miles away - but I need to stop the robot before I worry about the villain.'
She squealed to a halt, leaped from the car in the direction of the robot, and then vanished. Everything between the Terrificar and the robot was buffeted by a sudden blast of wind, and then the superspeeding Lady Fairplay leaped and twisted so her feet slammed into the chest of the robot. It was launched backward as if shot out of a cannon, but almost instantly, it was surrounded by a blue aura and then by a block of ice, which shattered against the bank wall, somewhat cushioning the robot's body from the crushing impact. This left the robot unimpaired; It quickly aimed an arm at Lady Fairplay and the blue beam flashed out again.
Before she could be encased in blue ice, Lady Fairplay leaped high into the air. While she was still rising, she reached behind her under her cape, and came out with a something in her hand. She flicked her wrist, and with a snap, the something expanded into a steel colored half inch diameter rod, a bit over a foot long, pointed on one end and rounded on the other. On her way down, she twisted a ring around the blunt end of the rod. It made a thunking noise and jerked against her hand. When she landed, she threw the rod at the robot, using her best speed and power.
The pointed end struck the robot in an eye, and it penetrated until it stuck out the back of the head. There was an explosion like several loud electrical arcs, and streams of blue-white smoke, stinking of burning phenolic, hissed out of the puncture holes around the rod. Before the explosions ended, Lady Fairplay rushed forward and slammed her joined fists down hard on the robot's head, driving it down into the body - causing several internal explosions, which tore several holes in the robot's metal skin. Smoke started pouring out, and the robot collapsed to the sidewalk. Lady Fairplay picked it up and pitched the body to the middle of the street, where it lay smoldering.
"Better call the Fire Department," she told a cop who was just sticking his head from an ice-covered squad car. "And you better get a doctor and at least one ambulance for the frozen people - that ice coating won't last long, but some of them are sure to have frostbite, at least!"
'I didn't get a chance to trace Cobalt Chill with the Terrificar's radio locator,' she thought to herself,a bit disappointed, but already reliving the exciting battle in her mind. "But I stopped her COLD today!" She said that out loud, and the nearest cop laughed with her.
"Thanks for cleaning up the mess, boys!" she waved at the cops as she climbed back into the Terrficar. "I'll be back when you need me!"
So, Readers, just WHO is Lady Fairplay? How did she gain her awesome energetic powers? And why does she wage war on the underworld? Be sure to buy next month's copy of LADY FAIRPLAY COMICS from Other Earth Publishing Company to find out! Still only 5¢, the best deal at your newsstand!
Lady Fairplay Comics #2, November 1941
Other Earth Publishing Company
Other Earth Publishing Company
Welcome Lady Fairplay
Let's look in on the secret life of Mary Lee, the quiet, shy, mousy school teacher of a few years back, shall we?
Dangerous Mission
It would be dark in a half hour or so. From the partial cover of a recessed doorway, Mary closely watched the malt shop across the street for about fifteen minutes. 'I'm sure glad it's a school night, not Friday or Saturday, when the place would be jammed with kids!' she thought. 'And hopefully nobody here in Willow Pond even knows who I am!' Still, she continued watching until she was sure there couldn't be more than a few customers inside. She couldn't wait all night; soon it would be too late!
She hurried across the street, barely pushed the ship door open and squeezed through, ready to back out instantly if she saw anything alarming inside. But all the booths in the front parlor were empty and there were no customers at the counter. As casually as she could manage, she walked to the counter and ordered a large chocolate malt and some chips. As she waited for her order, she scanned the shop. As she had hoped, it was almost empty; the only other patrons were a single couple in the back booth, each too enchanted with the other to even look up when a new customer entered the store. She carried her order to a carefully selected booth that looked out the shop's side window, where she could see the newsstand across the adjacent street and she was at least partially hidden from anyone in the main parlor.
She'd finished her chips and had nursed her malt and still the newsstand across the street was jammed with male customers, ranging from kids the age she taught through men old enough to be her grandfather. Today was delivery day for many of the most popular monthlies and they were virtually flying out of the racks, from comics to the pulps. She was starting to fret that Teddy might have forgotten their deal, when she saw him finally shoo several customers away and close and lock the big flap that covered the stands.
He disappeared inside for an instant through the narrow door, then popped back out and locked the door with a big clasp padlock. He was carrying a slim paper bag. He began shuffling slowly along the side street, toward wherever it was that he spent nights. Mary instantly slipped from the booth and hurried to the shop's back door. Teddy was just turning down the street running behind the shop when she slipped out. She checked furtively; there was no one else visible on the street. She handed Teddy a small packet of paper sealed shut with Scotch tape; he handed her the paper bag. She dropped the paper bag into her large handbag, he dropped the packet in his pocket, and they both went their separate ways with never a word spoken between them.
She hurried back to her car and headed home, racing through the dark streets on her way back to Crystal Bluff in record time. She parked her car in the hired garage, several blocks from her boarding house, and carefully slipped out the door on the side away from the street lamp. Single women who owned their own cars had acquired a certain reputation; she couldn't afford to have that reputation associated with HER! And how much worse would it be, if anyone were to discover the contents of the bag secreted in her purse? Her life as a grammar school teacher would be destroyed! She wanted to stop... but she couldn't!
She hurried inside her tiny room, locked the doors, pulled the shades, and turned off all her lights but one, carefully covered. She had to sit directly next to it in order to see the item she pulled from the bag... a slim magazine, this month's brand new, uncensored edition of Spicy Adventure Stories! The lurid cover showed a nearly naked woman firing a belt-fed machine gun. "Who should I read first?" she wondered eagerly. "Olga Mesmer or Sally the Sleuth? I wish I could have adventures like they do!!"
Momentous Decision
'What the heck am I doing here?!?!' Mary Lee shouted in her mind. She was lying on an operating table in a small room, crowded with instruments and other scientific stuff, that took up over half the of the small, wooden building that Dr. Amazo called his ‘research center’, outside the city of Burlington, some 70 miles northeast of Crystal Bluff. But it was too late to back out now; the sedative was taking effect. As she drifted toward unconsciousness, she recalled some of the events that had led to this moment.
***
“Mary, you are MUCH too shy! You should really talk to a psychiatrist and learn to be more outgoing – you are missing all the fun in life!” her friend and fellow 4th grade teacher Becky Crutty admonished her sharply. “There’s a new doctor in town, Dr. Amazo, and he is already helping turn peoples’ lives around!” She showed Mary an article in the Crystal Bluff Daily Star in which the reporter interviewed four members of the small city’s richest and most influential families who heaped glowing praise on Dr. Amazo, his methods and his results – to hear them tell it, he’d turned their lives around!
***
“I’m sorry, Dr. Amazo, but we’ve had six sessions and I feel worse than ever!” Mary spoke softly and hesitantly. “I’m still the world’s biggest wallflower, and I feel like a total failure.” She hesitated, then spit out her next words quickly and defiantly: “This will be our last session!”
“I’m sorry, too, Mary. I agree that the normal practices haven’t helped you,” he also spoke softly and she could hear the regret in his voice. She was stunned that he didn’t disagree with her; in the past, whenever she’d complained about her lack of progress, he’d constantly reminded her that it was going to be a long process and encouraged her to continue. “But you don’t have to give up – there’s something else we could try, totally different than anything that’s ever been done before! How would you like to have super powers like the Beryl Lady?”
She’d mentioned her interest in Beryl Lady radio program in their first session, and in later sessions they had thoroughly explored her fascination with the female adventurer / hero characters in the media, radio, movie serials, pulps and the comics. Though she was skeptical, the idea appealed to her greatly. And of all her heroines, the one she admired most was the Beryl Lady! Eventually, she couldn’t resist the lure any longer… and here she was…
So, Readers, will Dr. Amazo's experimental treat be successful? Will Mary Lee gain might super powers? And what will she do next? Be sure to buy next month's copy of LADY FAIRPLAY COMICS from Other Earth Publishing Company to find out! Still only 5¢, the best deal at your newsstand!
Momentous Decision
'What the heck am I doing here?!?!' Mary Lee shouted in her mind. She was lying on an operating table in a small room, crowded with instruments and other scientific stuff, that took up over half the of the small, wooden building that Dr. Amazo called his ‘research center’, outside the city of Burlington, some 70 miles northeast of Crystal Bluff. But it was too late to back out now; the sedative was taking effect. As she drifted toward unconsciousness, she recalled some of the events that had led to this moment.
***
“Mary, you are MUCH too shy! You should really talk to a psychiatrist and learn to be more outgoing – you are missing all the fun in life!” her friend and fellow 4th grade teacher Becky Crutty admonished her sharply. “There’s a new doctor in town, Dr. Amazo, and he is already helping turn peoples’ lives around!” She showed Mary an article in the Crystal Bluff Daily Star in which the reporter interviewed four members of the small city’s richest and most influential families who heaped glowing praise on Dr. Amazo, his methods and his results – to hear them tell it, he’d turned their lives around!
***
“I’m sorry, Dr. Amazo, but we’ve had six sessions and I feel worse than ever!” Mary spoke softly and hesitantly. “I’m still the world’s biggest wallflower, and I feel like a total failure.” She hesitated, then spit out her next words quickly and defiantly: “This will be our last session!”
“I’m sorry, too, Mary. I agree that the normal practices haven’t helped you,” he also spoke softly and she could hear the regret in his voice. She was stunned that he didn’t disagree with her; in the past, whenever she’d complained about her lack of progress, he’d constantly reminded her that it was going to be a long process and encouraged her to continue. “But you don’t have to give up – there’s something else we could try, totally different than anything that’s ever been done before! How would you like to have super powers like the Beryl Lady?”
She’d mentioned her interest in Beryl Lady radio program in their first session, and in later sessions they had thoroughly explored her fascination with the female adventurer / hero characters in the media, radio, movie serials, pulps and the comics. Though she was skeptical, the idea appealed to her greatly. And of all her heroines, the one she admired most was the Beryl Lady! Eventually, she couldn’t resist the lure any longer… and here she was…
So, Readers, will Dr. Amazo's experimental treat be successful? Will Mary Lee gain might super powers? And what will she do next? Be sure to buy next month's copy of LADY FAIRPLAY COMICS from Other Earth Publishing Company to find out! Still only 5¢, the best deal at your newsstand!
Lady Fairplay Comics #3, January 1942
Other Earth Publishing Company
Other Earth Publishing Company
Welcome, Lady Fairplay!
New Day, New Life
When Mary came back to consciousness, she was alone in the crowded room, still lying on the medical table, covered by a sheet. She could hear two people whispering nearby, though she couldn't quite pick out the words.
"Hello?" she spoke loudly as she sat up so abruptly that she bounced off the table top about 2 inches in the air and then fell back. As if that wasn't disconcerting enough, when the sheet slithered off her, she realized she was wearing something other than the hospital gown she'd put on earlier. a tight green shimmery long sleeve top that fit her curves like a second skin. It was totally immodest; no proper school teacher would EVER dare to wear something like that! If any of her male students saw her, how could she dare to stand in front of them again?!
She heard footsteps and then the door started to open and she instantly wrapped herself as best she could in the sheet, terrified that Dr. Amazo would see her in such a revealing outfit - and then relaxed a bit as a woman she didn't recognize entered. She judged the woman to be around her age and height, but the visual similarities ended there. This woman was much more muscular, her skin was darker, and her hair was jet black - a combination that made Mary think instantly "Pacific Islands". She was sporting a giant smile and carrying a large tray; Mary could already smell a delicious meal and she realized that she ravenously hungry.
"Ah, Miss Lee, good to see that you are awake. I'm Hiwalani. Dr. Amazo said to tell you that the procedure was fully successful, and now you need to eat something while your body changes and recovers." She put the tray down on the medical table where Mary's head had been. "Please sit down in the chair - but be VERY careful when you move."
"Call me Mary, Hiwalani," she responded automatically. "Is Dr. Amazo around? No, DON'T call him right now! Did he change my clothes?"
"He is in the next room, ready to tell you more about your recovery and training," she answered.
"He didn't tell me about any training!" Mary Lee was getting more perturbed with Dr. Amazo every second. She pushed down against the table with both hands and shrieked in surprise when she was launched over foot into the air, with her sheet falling off entirely. She plopped back down onto the table, and barely felt the impact. She shrieked again as she noticed that her legs were almost totally bare as the very short, shiny, metallic blue skirt she was now wearing was scrunched up under her. "I need my OWN clothes - NOW!"
"Don't you worry, Mary Lee - I was the one who changed your clothes; Dr. Amazo hasn't seen you in about 12 hours, ever since the procedure was finished, and he won't be around during your training - unless you ask to see him. That bump you just took is why you need training - until you are used to the changes, every time you move, something unusual is going to happen. It may be harmless like that little bump, but you could easily smash into, and through, a wall with a single careless step, or tear a door off the hinges, or shake hands with someone and crush his hand. Or who knows what else? You're the strongest, fastest, toughest woman in the world now, but in a way, you're like a baby again, just learning to walk."
Mary shook her head violently in denial - and the table she was sitting on started to shudder back and forth, and the motion of the heavy table scraping on the wooden floor set everything in the building to quivering, like it was in a small earthquake. Mary saw and heard this with uncanny clarity, and instantly stopped moving. "I want my own clothes!"
"Good that you stopped moving, Mary Lee, but your own clothes will surely be destroyed before you learn to move correctly again. Now let me help you down from the table into the chair, and then you - cautiously, for sure! - gobble down everything on this tray!"
By moving very cautiously, Mary was indeed able to slide off the table, seat herself in the chair, and eat the whole meal that was normally at least 3 days worth of food for her: two pounds of rare, juicy, steak, the fat charred, a huge mound of boiled red skinned potatoes drenched in butter, corn, Brussels sprouts, and half of an apple pie, plus a quart of milk, There were some minor mishaps - she threw the salt-shaker through the ceiling, crushed her milk glass until it exploded, and shattered the plate and drove the knife deep into the table top the first time she tried to cut her steak. But she got better as time went by.
The new outfit proved its value after the milk explosion - it seemed more like Bakelite plastic than cloth, and wiped clean instantly without getting stained or absorbing any fluid. "If only it didn't make my bosom stand out so," she lamented. "All the men are going to stare at me and think lurid thoughts!"
"If you are going to be an comic strip adventure girl, all the men are going to do that anyway," Hiwalani reminded her of her daydreams. "Was there ever a Diana Daw adventure when she didn't end up wearing a LOT less than you have on now? Is SHE ever timid about it?" Of course, there wasn't, and she never was.
'And... that's part of what made wanting to be a 'comic strip adventure girl' so exciting,' Mary admitted reluctantly to herself. 'Olga and Diana and Sally and the Beryl Lady never worry about the men around them having lurid thoughts - and they're able to defend themselves when those same men get too handy!' If she really had powers like Amazo promised, and so far it looked like she really did, the thought of everyone seeing her in this tight, skimpy outfit no longer seemed so scary!
"Come with me," Hiwalani suggested when she'd finished eating. She held out her hand to help Mary to her feet, and quickly pulled it away with a squeal of pain when Mary grabbed it. "Never mind! Let's try this instead." She grabbed Mary by the arm and shoulder and heaved her to her feet. Hiwalani was very strong! And then guided her to the door.
Most of the rest of her training was outside, which was good - she would certainly have destroyed the shack many times over , such as when Hiwalani suggested she try running a dozen steps, and she ended up in the next county, somewhat dazzled and thanking Providence that she hadn't smashed through people or buildings on the way there. Hiwalani was an excellent trainer: "I'm a physical therapist, and I regularly teach adults who are recovering from trauma or surgery or accidents or illnesses how to move again... but I've never taught anyone like YOU before!"
After several hours, they were both satisfied that she could resume her normal activities without danger, as long as she was extra cautious for a while. Hiwalani cataloged her powers, relating them to her childhood mythology. "As strong as fierce Nafanua the warrior goddess, swift as the winds of the god Fa'atiu, with skin as hard as steel."
By now, Mary had totally overcome her earlier fears and was fully excited about becoming a 'comic strip adventure girl'. "Only I need a name..."
"May I suggest one?" Hiwalani asked diffidently. Mary nodded. "You are very powerful now. It is easy for the powerful to put aside their concerns with ethics and morality and abuse their power. I suggest a name that every time you think it, every time you hear it, every time you read it in the newspapers, it will remind you of the great responsibilities that come with your new great power: Lady Fairplay."
New Life, New Car
Dr. Amazo showed up just after Mary agreed that she would use the comic strip adventure girl name of Lady Fairplay. He exited from a small barn behind his Research Center; he was wearing mechanics overalls which showed fresh grease spots. "I have a surprise for you, Mary. 'Lani, bring out the car." He missed or ignored the expression of annoyancy that flashed across Hiwalani's face - during their training, Mary had learned that her new friend hated that diminutive nickname.
"I've only watched on and off today, as I've been busy on the car, but it looks like you've done wall. As proof, throw that rock and knock down that big tree over there!" he ordered as he pointed first to a partially buried rock that appeared to be a little bigger than a breadbox, then to a large tree in a wooded copse maybe a football field away from them.
Mary objected instantly. "But Dr. Amazo, we don't know if there's anyone in the woods behind the tree. And it doesn't seem right to kill that beautiful old tree just to prove how strong I am now!"
"I said..." he started loudly, almost shouting, then stopped, took a deep breath, and nodded. "Very good, Mary. That was a test. Now demonstrate your powers for me."
She thought for an instant, then grabbed the rock and heaved. It came free reluctantly; only about a third had been protruding above ground until she pulled it free. With two hand, she heaved it straight up, then vanished, leaving behind a stiff breeze that lasted less than a second. There was another flash of breeze and she was back, in plenty of time to easily catch the falling boulder and place it gently back in the hole she'd pulled it from. Then she put a yellow tiara into her hair, and donned a yellow cape, which fasted at the nape of her neck with a clasp which sported a large, sparkling red cameo-shaped stone. "Hiwalani" she emphasized her new friend's preferred name "...told me these were stored in the operating room. This is the full costume she designed for me as Lady Fairplay."
She stuck our her hand; after a second of staring at it, he hesitantly reached out his own. She very gently squeezed as they shook - she didn't want to hurt him, but for some reason, she felt she needed to impress on him just how powerful she was now.
Mary heard the door of the barn slide open, protesting, then she saw her car drive out and head toward them. Except... it looked brand new, recently washed and waxed, and the red body shone and sparkled like a ruby! The front end was significantly different - the vertical grill had been replaced, the arc of the hood was higher, and the headlights were much larger. "Is that _MY_ car," she asked, ominously. "Who gave you permission to touch my car?"
"It is!" he replied proudly. "I worked all night and all day today to add some new features - after all, a super woman should have a super car! Wait till you see what it can do NOW!" He waved and Hiwalani drove toward them - and Mary realized that while she could actually hear the crunching noised the tires model on the driveway gravel, there was virtually no engine noise from the car. "Don't worry, I haven't hurt it - just made it better!"
"The body, tires, top and glass are all bulletproof!" Amazo boasted. "The radio can pull in stations from hundreds of miles away, plus it's got a police radio and an ultra-powerful shortwave set. The top is now motorized, the headlights can be powered up 'till they're bright as searchlights, and there's a whole ambulance worth of medical equipment hidden in the trunk! And the motor and brakes are as powerful as a locomotive - you can burn up the road at a hundred, easy!"
Mary snatched at two facts to quell her rising anger. 'I always HATED putting the top up - if it's automatic now, isn't that worth him touching it without telling me? And A HUNDRED MILES AN HOUR! WOWEEEE!'
"There's more, more to the car, and more to you," Amazon continued, totally missing the changing expressions that swept over Mary's face. "But you should be getting home now - you've had a long day with a lot of new things getting thrown at you. Take it easy tomorrow, so you're relaxed and ready to teach on Monday! But don't worry, we'll finish up your training next Saturday."
She did, actually, need to teach Monday. And she needed to relax and absorb all these changes, and maybe try to forget all about them in her real life - at least for now. Hiwalani got out of the car, Mary got in, and she drove away - carefully and at least for now, slowly and sedately...
The First Test
Mary drove sedately until she reached the highway and was a bit disconcerted with how quiet the car was; it was difficult to know when to shift gears without the engine noise! When she reached the long southern straight on US 61, she heard the whistle of a train; behind her in the mirror she could see the train catching up to her on the track to the right of the highway.
'Time to find out two truths!' she thought eagerly. 'Can this car really do a hundred? Does the Kansas City Express really reach 120 on this stretch like the newspaper ads say?' She triggered the hidden switches and her dashboard changed; some of the instruments spun back behind the console while others spun around to replace them, and some blank panels slid down to reveal additional controls. She glanced in the mirror again; the locomotive was about to catch up to her. She shouted into the wind "Here we go!"
She touched a control on one of the revealed panels, and stomped on the accelerator. There was a tremendous roar as pure nitrous oxide was blasted into the carburetor and the car surged forward like it was shot from a cannon! 50... 60... 70... the acceleration eased as the small nitrous tank ran out, but the supercharger was up to the task, and the speedometer hand continued to sweep more slowly to the right. 90... 95... 99... 100... the train was still passing her, and her car was almost topped out. It took a few more miles to reach 110. She raced along next to the train for at least 20 miles, sometimes catching up a bit on long grades, other times losing ground, and finally the full train was past her - it might not have been doing 120, but if her speedometer was true, it was certainly doing more than 110! She kept the pedal down, urging a bit more speed from the Terrificar, until she noticed traffic far ahead, and then regretfully but carefully slowed down to normal highway speeds. 'Yes, indeed, Dr. Amazo told me the truth - and the railroad company advertisements are true, too!' She was already planning other excursions, trying to recall stretches of highways that were usually without traffic, so she could further test the capabilities of the Terrificar!
Now a bit bored, she switched on the radio. She touched a button she didn't recognize, and was startled when the station indicator swept across the panel on its own, then stopped on a station she didn't instantly recognize - until she heard the announcer calling the University of Iowa football game from Iowa City, over a hundred miles away, on WSUI, a station nobody got in Crystal Bluff. And then, the broadcast cut off and she was listening to the Crystal Bluff police: "Calling all cars! Someone set off an alarm at the First National Bank of Crystal Bluff. Calling all cars!" She quickly plotted out the best route from where she was to the bank downtown, and squealed the car through a 90 degree turn onto the next crossroad - a high speed turn that she would have been terrified to make, only yesterday, that today only added to her excitement!
She wasn't officially a cop, but the Terrificar had a siren; she flipped it on as a warning to anyone between her and the bank. She left burned rubber on some of the corners along the way, but she got to the bank in a hurry! Ahead of her she could see several police cars in the street, she turned into a side street, parked her own car, and vanished.
The cops who were cautiously approaching the bank door were surprised by a sudden brisk burst of wind, and stunned when the bank door swung open and then almost instantly slammed shut. One officer later swore that he'd seen a green and blue blur pass through the door; his fellows mocked him about seeing a ghost for several days...
There were two people in the bank, a tall, spindly man wearing a suit, holding a pistol to the head of a much shorter, heavyset man in casual clothes. They were standing in front of the safe. Lady Fairplay recognized the shorter man as the president of the bank - though she'd never seen him in anything other than a suit of his own before.
"Open it or I'll blast you!" the pistol holder was commanding his captive. Then he heard the door slam. "Whoever that is, stand still or I'll shoot!" he commanded, as he spun the captive around so he could see the front door.
When she'd initially seen the two, Lady Fairplay had determined to just zoom over to them and take the gun - surely she could move fast enough that he wouldn't have a chance to shoot! But at his command, against her will, her legs simply stopped moving! Except she'd been moving too fast to see, so she fell to the floor and slid until she crashed to a stop, her body concealed under a desk, her legs sticking out. Which didn't actually hurt her, but it startled the heck out of the bad guy!
"How did you do that?" he asked as he watched her slide under the desk. "I'll bet that hurt! Say, if you can still hear me, don't move!" He examined what he could see of her. "What are you, a showgirl? You got a showgirl's legs, anyway. Hope you're OK, you can get out from under there later and come along with me for some fun!"
He turned back to his captive. "You! Open the safe!" He walked to the door, being careful to remain to one side, pushed it open and yelled outside. "Hey, coppers! Put down your guns, walk in here, and lie on the floor!" He backed away as the first of several police officers, weaponless, pushed through the door and found a place to lie on the bank floor, followed by some of his colleagues. He either didn't realize, or didn't care, that his commands were ignored by the few civilians in earshot. But they mostly ran, and the rest were too bewildered by the strange actions of the police to actually interfere.
The bad guy then hollered out the door again. "Anyone still out there, I have hostages now. You leave me alone or all of these coppers are dead men!"
Lady Fairplay was raging mad! All her life she had been taking orders... from her parents, her grandparents, her friends' parents, the leaders at her church, her teachers, her bosses, and pretty much every other person who felt it was OK to boss around a girl. She had often questioned those orders, but never protested, as she felt she hadn't the agency to protest. But suddenly, she now had real power, the power to back up her agency! She'd felt the thrill of having that agency to refuse an order when she'd declined to recklessly toss a boulder as ordered earlier today, based on her own judgement. 'If I refuse, what's he going to do about it anyway? Fire me?' she'd thought rebelliously - and triumphantly. But now she was struggling to just think!
'What's wrong with me?' she shouted frantically in her mind. 'Even timid wallflower Mary Lee of the past wouldn't obey the orders of a CRIMINAL! If I could get out of here, I'd show him! I've got to THINK! I'm a teacher, after all, trained all my life to think - and a damned good one!' Her own use of profanity, even if only in her thoughts, shocked her and helped her to focus. 'He must have some kind of hypnotic power. He told me to stand still, and I did. He ordered the cops to come in and lie down - and they did!' She thought over what he'd told her to do, and suddenly had to suppress a laugh. It was fortunate for someone that the bad guy couldn't see the evil grin she didn't even try to suppress!
He had said: "...you can get out from under there later and come along with me for some fun!" It was later - and boy, was this going to be FUN!
Mary did her banking here; she knew the layout, and the office was empty on a Saturday evening except for the bad guy and his prisoners. She carefully moved her arms until she had a grip on the frame of the desk - and exulted mentally 'I CAN move!! This is going to work!!' And moving as fast as she could, exerting all her new strength at once, she heaved the desk away from her into the unoccupied office area, leaped to her feet and raced several steps to the side of the bad guy. He was stunned and didn't have time to speak before she reached him. She thumped him carefully on the back of his head, while wrapping her other hand over his mouth. It was an unnecessary precaution; he collapsed unconscious to the floor. She ripped his jacket into strips and bound him, tying his mouth shut and binding him securely.
One cop had sat up by now, the rest still appeared dazed. She went to him and gave him the details: "He's got some kind of hypnotic power, like an evil Mandrake; he tells people to do something and they are forced to do it, even against their wills! Make sure you keep a gag on him!"
"Wait, who are you?" he wanted to know.
"Why, I'm Lady Fairplay, a comic strip adventure girl come to real life!" she laughed, and twirled once. "Don't worry, everybody will know my name soon!" She vanished in a burst of wind.
The cop told his story. Of course, everyone laughed at him, mocking him about the green and blue clad comic strip adventure girl ghost. The bad guy escaped as soon as they took his gag off; nobody could explain how he'd gotten away. But Lady Fairplay HAD managed to stop the robbery at the First National Bank of Crystal Bluff - and she was right, pretty soon everyone knew her name!
WOW, Readers, that was SOME THRILL, wasn't it? Other Earth Publishing wants to thank you for the WONDERFUL reception you've give our new Adventure Hero Lady Fairplay. Our first two issues have sold out so fast and become so popular, that we are moving the adventures of Lady Fairplay into our most popular magazine! Be sure you look for ISSUE #1 of BANG UP Comics at your local newsstand so you can follow the further adventures of your favorite new hero, Lady Fairplay!
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