A/N: Phantom Lady, Torchy, and all associated characters and settings are property of their respective owners and not of the author.

Today we present you with a basic story, about a hero and a damsel in distress. Our hero- PHANTOM LADY! The wonderful woman who uses nothing but her "black light" projector and her natural skills to fight crime both here and abroad! Our damsel- TORCHY TODD! A young woman who uses nothing but her almost supernatural charms to endure the most ridiculous of adventures. One has a keen detective's mind and, despite her high-class status, a spiky disposition against anyone who gets her way. The other is a ditz who is always in trouble- financial or otherwise- yet never approaches anything without the sunniest of dispositions. With such conflicting attributes, you'd think they wouldn't be able to function as a pair. But we think you will love seeing these lively ladies get together in

The Costume Caper

Part 1: The Perilous Party

October, 1952:

Torchy stretched out on the couch, wearing an old lace robe, trying to remain cool on the abnormally warm day. It had been years since she bought that robe, and despite silk's supposed toughness (at least, according to the salesman whom she bought it from), holes had started to form at the ends of the sleeves. Gosh, she thought as she fiddled with these holes, I really want to buy a new one, but I just can't afford it right now! Torchy was never good with money, and she always had problems hold onto a job. Not that she ever had a problem finding a job, or another opportunity, or just winning money through sheer dumb luck. Somehow, despite being a relative klutz, Torchy could always find a way to keep the lights on when she needed to. For her, fortune was as likely to lift her up to the highest of highs as it was to throw her down into the proverbial mud.

Torchy was feeling depressed, but right then, Tess Parker, Torchy's roommate, entered. "Torchy!" she said, "Do I have news for you!"

Torchy perked up. "Oh, what could it be?"

Tess walked towards her. "Well, my wonderful boyfriend Eddie was able to talk with his co-worker, and we got invited to this swell Halloween ball! And the best part for you is that he said you could come with us too!"

"Wow!" replied Torchy. "But Eddie didn't say I'd have to do anything with this friend of his, right?"

"Well, not that he told me, but you should at least show him a little gratitude for this thing," Tess said.

"Oh of course! I must always be polite!" said Torchy. "Now, this is a Halloween party, right? Will we need costumes?"

"Oh, yes," said Tess. "Do you have something in mind?"

"As a matter of fact, I do..."

Torchy had long had a sort of fascination with one person in particular: the costumed vigilante Phantom Lady. The ability to fight crime and perform heroic acts while clearly being an attractive woman made her interesting to Torchy. So, for Halloween, she decided that now would be the perfect time to show her appreciation.

That night, Tess waited for Torchy to leave her room. She was dressed as a cowgirl. "Torchy, are you ready? Eddie's already waiting for us!"

"Alright, here I come!" Torchy emerged from the room. Tess's mouth nearly hit the floor. Before her was a very beautiful woman in a very revealing costume. Torchy was able to accurately replicate Phantom Lady's yellow costume, with a high leg cut, a short cape, and a front with ample skin showing. To match, she had green boots, green gloves, and a green belt. For her visor, Torchy used a green pair of glasses, and for the blacklight projectors, she attached a small flashlight to a silver bracelet. To complete the look, Torchy wore a black wig to match the brunette superhero. To someone who would only have seen her from pictures in the paper and newsreels, she was the spitting image of the real Phantom Lady.

"Gosh," said Tess. "Is that you, Torchy?"

"Halt, criminal!" Torchy said as she shone her flashlight in her face.

"Ah! Put it down! I surrender!" laughed Tess. "You know, I had no idea you were in to this sort of thing".

"Well, I don't follow all of their exploits, but I can't help it: I really like following Phantom Lady".

"Yeah, so does Eddie," Tess retorted.

Torchy adjusted the seam along her leg. "I made it myself, but it's not perfect. I hope people will like it!"

"Oh, they'll like it alright!" said Tess, and they left the building.

The pair drove the house where the party was located. It was a large, two-story mansion on the coast built in the 20s. The entire house was lit up and filled with party goers. Tess parked on the street and the two got out. Walking up the long driveway, the pair would see other party goers drunkenly run across the lawn. Occasionally, there would be a man who would one minute be partying, and the next minute, stop and look completely entranced.

Uh oh! thought Torchy. It's happening again!

Torchy and Tess made their way to the front door, where two men were waiting for them. One was of normal size and build, dressed in a cheap looking suit of armor. The other was a short, squat man dressed as a clown, holding a large horn. Tess went up to the knight. "Eddie!" she said as she wrapped her arms around him.

"Tess! You've made it!" he replied. "And Torchy made it too I see".

"Hi Eddie," said Torchy. "Thanks for taking us to this nice party".

"Oh, don't thank me, thank Dickie here" Eddie said as he turned to the clown. The clown took one look at Torchy in her costume, and was so excited by her, he grabbed his horn on instinct and produced a sound so loud, it echoed through the entire mansion.

"Oh my!" said the clown. "Is this the friend you've been talking about?"

"Uh, yes," said Ed, "Dick, this is Tess's roommate, Torchy. Torchy, meet-"

The clown cut him off. "Please, my name is Richard," he said in a low, gravely voice. Richard extended his hand to Torchy. "And I must say, it is an absolute joy to make your acquaintance".

Torchy shook his hand. "Oh, thank you. Tell me, is Dick short?"

Richard was flabbergasted. "What! No- I mean-!"

Torchy became embarrassed by his reaction. "I mean, is Dick short for Richard then? Because I heard Ed call you Dick before".

"Well, yes," said Richard, "Dick is short for Richard. I would think someone your age would know that".

"Oh yes, but I just wanted to know: do you prefer Dick or Richard?" asked Torchy.

"Well, my dear," replied Richard, "you can call me whatever you prefer".

"Ok Dick!" Torchy exclaimed, and Richard's face turned into a scowl visible from a mile away despite his clown make-up.

"Yeah, that's just a name we like to rib him with," Ed interjected. "Anyway, are we going to spend the whole night on the porch here, or are we going to go inside?"

"Right, let's go!" said Tess. Ed grabbed her arm and the pair went on ahead. Torchy looked at Richard to see if he wanted to go.

"Oh no, ladies first. I insist," he said. Torchy went into the house as Richard followed, enjoying the view.

The group went through the foyer to the main hall, where most of the party was. Dozens of party goers were packed into the large room. To one side was a live band, and to the other was food. To the back were doors that opened to the back lawn. Across the lawn, you could see the ocean with a small dock jutting out into it. Torchy and her friends walked along the walls around the dance floor, gazing at all of the different patrons dressed up in ridiculous costumes. And every so often, one of the patrons would stop to take a look at Torchy.

Torchy played off these looks as the gang went towards the tables with food. "So, do we know whose house this even is?" asked Torchy.

"Oh, this is the home of Mr. John Burnsley. Mr. Burnsley happens to be a close personal friend of mine," said Richard.

"Wow," replied Torchy. She turned to Ed. "I didn't know you rubbed shoulders with such affluent people!"

"Yeah," added Tess smartly, "I didn't know either!"

Torchy turned back to Richard. "So, Dick, how do you get to know such a man?"

"Well, Mr. Burnsley is an important shipping magnate, and I happen to be one of his most trusted employees. He also owns many other businesses across town".

Torchy's group finally got to the food. Torchy went to help herself, but another man in a mime costume held out a plate for her. "I thought you might like this," he said.

Torchy thanked him and turned around, only to find another man in a dinosaur costume handing her a drink. "Er, thanks," she said. She put them down as several more men began to approach her. Torchy always had a strong influence on men, but by putting on her Phantom Lady costume, she became nearly irresistible.

One man, though, was immune to her charms. Across the way was a man in a gray suit, with slicked back hair and, most noticeably, a scar on his right cheek. He glowered at the woman in the skimpy costume. Another man in a suit came up next to him. The man with the scar whispered in his ear, and then suddenly, the two left the room.

Torchy continued to entertain her admirers while Tess went off with Ed.

"You know, this is nicest I have ever seen Dick behave," Tess said. "He's usually far more surly and... well... forward".

"Yeah, that's what Torchy does," Ed sighed. "She's so good at taming wild animals, she should have a job with the circus".

"So, how did Dick get into the good graces of his boss? I didn't even know Dick was capable of getting in touch with someone so high class".

"Eh, Burnsley isn't someone I'd call high class. He's got a lot of money, but it's all fairly new. Not old money at all". Ed leaned closer to Tess. "In fact, quite a number of people feel he got it through some... questionable means". He leaned out. "Anyway, he's been throwing parties like these for a while, and he invites every warm body he can to them to make them seem super important- including his own employees. I guess Ol' Dick was lucky enough to be working when one of Burnsley's men were handing invitations out".

"Really?" asked Tess. "I get wanting to make an impression, but including a working class schmo like Dick? I didn't think a tycoon would want to be seen with someone like that".

"You'd think so, but given some of the other characters around here, I think Dick fits right in," Ed replied.

Meanwhile, the crowd around Torchy continued to grow. It was getting to the point where Torchy could barely move without two men attempting to attend to some predicted need. As more and more men surrounded Torchy, Dick was found farther and farther away from her. This is ridiculous, he thought. Dick began to make his way through the throngs of men before him. He awkwardly squeezed through several gaps before stepping on the foot of a man in a skeleton costume.

"Hey, watch it!" the man yelled.

"Oh, buzz off! My date's over there!" Dick yelled back.

"Oh really?" the other man replied. "Well, it seems she's not too interested you."

"Well, maybe if you showed her and I some respect, I'd have a chance to pique her interest," Dick said.

The other man replied, "And maybe if you showed her a good time, she'd wouldn't lose interest".

"Like any of you are all that charming!" Dick screamed.

Somebody yelled back, "I'm pretty sure everyone here is more charming than a literal clown".

Dick looked around to see who said that. "How about you come over here so I can charm the pants right off of you!?" he yelled.

Someone leaped through the crowd towards Dick, who tried to engage him in the mob. Soon, the physical conflict spread through the sea of people. Everyone was pushing and shoving everyone else- and smack dab in the middle of it was poor Torchy.

Oh no! she thought. My nice little session holding court has turned into a violent brawl! I know I wished that they wouldn't focus on me for a bit, but this is worse! I've gone from having everyone's eye, to being in the eye of a hurricane! Time to go!

This was not the first time multiple men resorted to fisticuffs in their attempts to woo Torchy, though it may have set the record for most men simultaneously fighting for her. As a result of this, Torchy learned a few methods to make herself scarce in case of emergency. Torchy wormed her way through the crowd. Remarkably, most of the men there were more concerned with fighting whoever was closest to them rather than getting to who they were fighting over. Despite her ditzy nature and average athleticism, Torchy dodged punches, kicks, and takedowns as she fled the main hall.

Torchy got into a side hallway and sighed. Why is it that whenever multiple men get near me, they turn into savage animals? Don't they know I just want a nice boy to take care of me?

Torchy continued to walk down the hall when she heard something that snapped her out of her mood. "Hey! Where are you going?" someone yelled. Soon, the whole mob of men saw her and followed.

Uh-oh! she thought. In a rush, Torchy opened the nearest door she could find and went in. She locked the door behind her and waited. The men banged on the door and shook it several times, before giving up, content to wait for her, or perhaps to find another way in.

Well, now I can take a breath, she thought as she turned around to get a look at the room. It was quite tall with a window stretching from floor to ceiling across from her. In front of the window was a large desk with various papers on it. Torchy turned to her left to see a large bookcase stretching from one end of the room to the other. She turned around to see a similar sight. This must be a library, she thought. She walked forward to examine the books themselves. There were dozens of titles showing on the spines, showing all of the classics. Torchy walked along the bookcase towards the window. It looked out onto a hill next to the shoreline. The moon was big and shone through the window, giving the room a pale, soothing light.

Torchy looked again at the books. This new view, though, puzzled her a bit. She had walked along bookcase nearly the length of the room. And yet, the books she was looking at seemed familiar. Am I having déjà vu? she thought. I could have sworn I saw these books at the beginning. Torchy walked back to the back of the room and stopped halfway. She looked at the shelf again. Sure enough, it was the same set of books. Ok, this is ridiculous, thought Torchy. The lovely lady bent over to see what these books were. Torchy tried to pick one out, but it was stuck. She looked behind the book and tried to push it out that way. To her shock, the book didn't come out- at least, not on its own. When Torchy pushed it, another 6 books came attached to it on the sides. Torchy pulled the whole unit out. It was totally hollow. These were not books at all: they were all just decorations used to fill space on an empty bookshelf. Burnsley (or his decorator) bought these in bulk and just filled the entire library with them. I can't believe someone would do such a thing! Torchy thought.

She walked over to the other side, hoping that the shelves would be different. Torchy peered in again to look again. Sadly, they were exactly the same. Torchy continued to look at the decorations when she heard a low rumble. She ignored it, as she saw that some of the fake books had titles like Grate Expectations and A Christmas Carl. But before she could react to these lame puns, Torchy heard a man's voice.

"Well, isn't this a wonderful sight". Torchy straightened up and turned around in a flash. Behind her were five men who were definitely not there before. They were of varying heights and weights, but one thing they had in common was that they all had a threatening look on their faces.

Torchy was shocked. "H-H-How did you- g-get over there?!" she eked out.

"Oh, I bet you'd like to know that," said the man in the middle. He was the man with the scar who saw Torchy earlier. "But I guess you can say that we appeared out of thin air".

The men fanned out to surround her. As they did, Torchy saw that one of the bookcases disappeared, with what looked like a tunnel taking its place. A secret passage? thought Torchy. That is so interesting- or it would have been if it didn't allow these men in.

As the men closed their circle around their target, Torchy decided to act. Her feminine charm had led her into a lot of trouble in the past, but now she was hoping to it can get her out of it. "giggle Okay boys, you've worked hard to get in here, but let's slow it down now. You wouldn't want to hurt lil' ole me, right?"

"Oh, I would," said the man with the scar, "and so would all of my buddies here. In fact, hurting the Phantom Lady is all we could think about these past 5 years".

Torchy's eyes went wide. "Phantom Lady? Oh, you don't mean-" but before she could finish, she felt a blow to the back of her head. Her glasses flew off as she staggered forward, but she didn't fall, as she was caught by the man with the scar. Torchy tried to escape by flailing her arms, but all that did was fling her fake "blacklight projector" off. Two other men grabbed her by the side, while another punched her in the stomach. The man with the scar grabbed Torchy's jaw and lifted it to look at her face.

"Look at you. You think you're so high and mighty. But you only put us away because you got the drop on us. Now, the shoe is on the other foot. And baby, we got a lot worse planned for you! Now let's take her to see the boss".

The two men to the side of her lifted her up while the other two men grabbed her legs. The group carried her by appendage. Torchy squirmed as she was transported from the library through the secret passage. "Please, let me go!" she yelled, as she saw the ceiling above her twist and turn. "You've made a terrible mistake!"

"Aw, shut up!" said the man with the scar. "We're here!" The man opened a door, and Torchy felt a cool breeze. The group was now outside near a small road. Torchy tilted her head back to see that the house was quite some distance away from them. Soon, the men stopped walking and the two goons holding her legs put them down.

"Here she is, boss," said the man with the scar. Torchy saw who he was talking to. He was a large, old man wearing a plain trench coat. Like his subordinates, the boss exuded menace, with a hard stare from his beady eyes and a scowl on his jowl-laden face.

"So, you think you're a big deal? You've attacked my businesses for years, and now- now that you got nothing on me- you decide to walk right into my home and show everyone how much of a bitch you really are?"

"Hey!" Torchy exclaimed. "Don't call me that! I never did anything to you!"

"Shaddup!" the man said. "I don't want to hear anything out of your stupid mouth!"

Then why did he ask me that question before? Torchy thought. She took a deep breath before continuing. "Look, I don't want any trouble. But you've made a big mistake. You think I am Phantom Lady, but I'm not. I'm just wearing a costume".

"Oh, sure, you're not her. I'm sorry about that". The boss immediately spat in her face. "You think I'm stupid?"

Torchy cringed as the gross loogie slowly slid down her face. "I'm serious. My name is Torchy Todd. I was invited to this party at the big house back there, and I dressed up as Phantom Lady for it. I don't know her at all. I just really like what she does and the way she looks. I swear, that's all!"

"Oh, so that harpy has a little fan now?" asked the boss mockingly. "You know, maybe you should try to put in some effort into making your bull sound true".

"But it IS true!" Torchy responded. "I don't look like her THAT much. I'm even wearing a wig. See?"

The boss paused to take a look at the woman again. Suddenly, he grabbed her hair and lifted it. Under the dark wig, he saw blonde curls packed in.

"Hey Rocco," he said to the man with the scar. "What's the deal with this?"

"Whadya mean 'What's the deal with this?'" Rocco responded.

"If Phantom Lady has black hair, then why is there blonde hair underneath?"

Rocco shrugged. "It's a disguise for her," he said. "She wears it so nobody notices her on the street later".

The boss looked Torchy over. "Rocco, are you sure this is Phantom Lady?" he asked.

"Sure, I'm sure," Rocco said. "How many women you know could pull off an outfit like that?"

Torchy, sensing a possible way out, interjected. "It's just a costume I made. I'm sure there are a bunch of details wrong. And I know there are other women who look like her. It's not me! Please! Don't hurt me!"

The boss looked at her some more, trying to determine what to do. Is she Phantom Lady? Is she some random broad? Could he afford to take that chance? Then, the boss shrugged. "Eh, let's just take care of her".

In an instant, a black bag was put over Torchy's head. She panicked as the men grabbed her head over the bag, forcing her face against the cloth. Torchy tried to scream, but it was all muffled. As she breathed, she smelt an odd odor, and she became faint. Soon, she lost all feeling in her body, and all sense of the world.

Jeepers! Torchy's in a heap of trouble! All the poor thing wanted was to have a bit of fun at a party. But she's had to flee from a fracas only to get abducted by a violent gang! And it was all because of one little costume. What horrors await our fair Torchy? Will she escape from the gang's evil clutches? Why were these brutes so eager to attack her? And shouldn't Phantom Lady be showing up in this? She has top billing and it's the end of the first act! Well, all these questions and more will be answered in the next chapter, as we observe "A Duo Down Deep".