The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Read Free Page A

a fortune in the
secret Valkyrie Zeppelin Works. The graceful, yet intimidating airships would be
Germany's pride, drifting across the skies in fearsome formation. They looked
silent and peaceful, like slumbering giants of the north.
    The first gunshot rang out even before shouted orders launched the sneak
attack. A German guard screamed as he died. Others scrambled for their weapons,
taken completely by surprise. But no matter what they did, it was too late for
them.
    The Valkyrie Works were destined to fall this night.
    "Forward, men! Tallyho! For Queen Victoria!" Heavily armed men wearing
British military uniforms let out a simultaneous yell and rushed forward into
the zeppelin factory:
    Ratcheting sirens blared like prehistoric beasts in the cavernous
construction hangar. Warning shouts rang out above the din, a mixture of German
and English.
    Straight-backed and grimly satisfied with how the operation had proceeded so
far, Lieutenant Dante emerged from a workers' room. Tonight, for this second
phase of the Fantoms plan, he was dressed as a British commander, even sporting
a pencil-thin moustache. He directed squads of "British" soldiers as they
roughly herded frightened German factory workers down iron steps from the
catwalks and construction platforms above.
    The radio box at Dante's hip squawked. He grabbed it, pressed it to his ear,
and listened to the report from his scouts outside the factory perimeter. He
scowled. "Fantom! We won't have the time we expected. The Germans are already
arriving in force."
    With his gleaming silver mask affixed to his mysteriously malformed face, the
gaunt Fantom waited at the bottom of the metal stairs. "I expected the Kaiser to
respond without delay."
    Both of them spoke in richly accented English this time. The German
workers—anyone who survived, that was—would hear him and remember who had
attacked the extravagant new zeppelin factories in Hamburg. The Kaiser wasn't
likely to be very forgiving of the British Empire.
    Brandishing their modern snub-nosed weapons and shoving, the Fantom's men
drove the other prisoners away. The sounds of fighting echoed intermittently
through the hangar, screams, gunshots. Although the resistance was dwindling,
the Kaiser's troops would arrive before long.
    The Fantom turned, swirling his black cape. "But that is not relevant, Dante.
Do we have the man we came for?"
    The Fantoms lieutenant snapped his fingers, and one of the henchmen shoved a
meek academic scientist forward. "As you requested, Fantom. This is Karl Draper,
at your service, whether or not he bloody well likes it."
    The Fantom regarded the cringing man before him. The German scientist wore
spectacles and work overalls; from one pocket protruded a wad of cloth with
which he had frequently mopped beads of perspiration from his forehead. Karl
Draper looked into the bright, demonic eyes behind the silver mask; he swallowed
hard at what he saw there.
    "W-what do you want?" Draper asked in German, the tension of terror
modulating his voice to a higher pitch.
    "The
world
, Herr Draper. I want the world." Barely visible beneath
the lower curve of his mask, the Fantoms' lips curled in a sinister smile. "And
you will help give it to me."
    The scientist looked as confused as he was frightened. "But… but I have no
secret knowledge! I am just an architectural engineer."
    The Fantom looked at Draper as if he were only a mildly interesting specimen
in a very large collection. "Yes. I know."
    Dante checked his boxy radio and frowned. "The Kaiser's troops have reached
the gate, Fantom. They will be inside in a matter of moments, and they seem to
be surprisingly well armed."
    Below the mask, the Fantoms' twisted lips smiled. "Yes, the Kaiser has been
gearing up for war for many years now."
    Dante stood, waiting for more detailed orders. "Should I tell the men to
prepare for a pitched firefight?"
    "Nothing so troublesome, Lieutenant. I'll provide a distraction