Chapter 47

Both Tarzan and Mors faced the black clad figure ushering them into the volcano. Although she was familiar to Mors, the jungle lord found her strange. He grabbed the luftpirate's arm.

"She does not smell like Irma." Warned Tarzan. "This something else."

A cape and shepherd's staff were the only unfamiliar items on this friendly usher. To Mors, it had to be Irma Vep.

"Glad you made it." Said the figure. "Come with me. I know a secret way to Totenkopf."

It was Irma's voice. When the Zinj apes observed the figure, they let out loud calls of danger and disapproval. Tarzan struggled to find common words in their language, no word could be equated to human or woman; he did make out words for demon, totem pole and there was one use of a rarely used word some apes use for machine.

Mors had already began ascending the stairs when Tarzan turned away from the apes' general concern and noticed him.

"No Captain." Yelled Tarzan."

"We must get to Totenkopf." Replied Mors.

The jungle lord and his savage retinue reluctantly followed. Sunlight shone on the entrance, making the torches purely decorative. An arch was at the top of the stairs. When both League members stepped through they found themselves on a catwalk in a vast, highly industrialised and illuminated interior. Sounds of factories, refineries and joineries filled the air along with matching smells. It was a long way down to the volcano bed. Catwalks were everywhere, not just this height but on several levels above and below. The interior perimeter was ringed with them.

"Come." Ushered the black clad figure. "Before we are seen."

She kept a good distance between herself and her followers. Mors and Tarzan took a few steps then each stopped.

Mors said. "She didn't object to, or show any concern about the Zinj apes' presence."

Tarzan replied. "She not Irma."

Irma Vep had to work fast. Her fellow League members were walking into a deadly crossfire. The machine gunners will fix their attention on their targets, this should allow the cat burglar to leave the vent; she did so without notice. Placing herself above one of the nests below she dropped the metal louvre and it hit home, knocking out the machine gunner with minimal sound. One down three to go. Irma began her swift and spritely rush down a ladder to the other nest below.

Zinj apes ambulated through the archway re-iterating their dire warnings. The black clad figure turned around to the two men who stopped following her; gave a wicked look by slowly closing one of her eyes then gave a hand signal.

"Now." She yelled.

Machine guns fired from three directions strafing the catwalk, Mors felt a bullet hit his rifle, tearing the weapon out of his hand to a fall below; both he and Tarzan ducked to the metal mesh floor as the catwalk sparkled with a multitude of bullet impacts. There were three bullet streams, all starting from the rim catwalk below; only one of these had the League members in an easy line of fire. Tarzan and Mors rolled themselves to the right edge of the catwalk, putting the mesh path between them and that machine gun. The bullets were stopped by the mesh grid though impact sparks stung the two ambushees.

This cover had its drawback, Mors realised this position brought them into another machine gun's line of fire. One Parabellum to their right fired at them and missed by an inch sending his volley into a Zinj ape.

"All that gunner had to do." Mors thought. "Was to turn his fire one degree, and we're both dead."

A look at his ambusher's nest had Mors grinning with new hope.

Irma Vep landed behind the gunner after a swift climb from above. She tried to push the surprised fusilier over the nest wall to a fall below, but he kicked back then faced the interference. Savate was called for here, Irma lashed out, sending hand strikes and kicks to the man; his nose soon bleeding and ribs bruised, he managed to deliver a backhand to her face. The cat burglar recovered instantly as the gunner reached for his pistol: Irma landed a savate kick into his crotch, impelling him to keel forward in pain; two fists closed on his head, each, with great force, impacting a temple. He had great pain and disorientation, he could not use his held pistol. Irma delivered a savate chop on his hand causing him to drop the firearm. She picked up the gun and shot her agonised and debilitated antagonist.

The machine gun was intact, Irma redirected it to the manned nest opposite her. She squeezed the trigger, the powerful kickback forced her hands back, sending her volley above the enemy gunner's head.

"Damn." She thought. "That must be what they call riding up."

Her target ceased his firing and ducked beneath his short sandbag wall. Irma cursed that throughout her criminal career she had never seen fit to get the feel of a mounted machine gun. Nevertheless, there was another target.

Biggles and Gregor had noticed the bullet streams as they descended the volcano interior. The impact sparks on the catwalk were an attention draw. What they both saw was Tarzan and Mors pinned down on the catwalk being fired upon. The image of Irma Vep was strangely upright and unafraid of the the two lethal volleys coming from two machine gun nests on the rim catwalk below. The pilot gave his instructions to the insect man who hovered above the gun still firing after the other, for some reason ceased.

Biggles was dropped into the small redoubt behind its gunner who turned to see the disturbance and find a British pilot drawing his pistol. Unbelievable surprise delayed him for a second before he reached for his own Luger. Biggles fired two bullets into him.

Gregor flew to the remaining nest and seized the ducking occupant, who froze with fear before a barbed tarsus pierced his heart.

With all machine guns silent, Tarzan lifted himself up to see the black clad figure, that had led them into an ambush, tear of the curved end of her shepherd's staff and wield the now straight stick like it was a melee weapon.

Heated battle cries bellowed from the Zinj apes. several of their tribe had been gunned down in the multiple fusilades. Tarzan commanded them to attack the black clad figure, who twirled her stick like a quarterstaff. The first ape to charge her had the staff smashed against the side of his head, turning him into lobotomised heap. Another charger pounced for an upper attack, the staff deflected his flight off the catwalk to a deathly fall downward to the volcano floor. The next ape tried the same attack, he was also deflected but during the fall he managed to grab a nearby catwalk rail and lift himself to safety. A fourth attacker did not pounce, the staff hit his side but he was up in an instant, a second strike was parried with a furry arm: he was on her, teeth bit into her arm. She showed no pain or distress; the stick was dropped, her other arm seized her assailant's mandible and forced the jaws to open. Her newly released arm clamped its hand on the simian throat and tore out the breathing organs.

Before retrieving her stick, the black clad woman grabbed the injured head of her first opponent in both hands and gave it a powerful twist. Tarzan heard the neck snap.

There was no attempt to tend her bitten arm, The black clad woman picked up her stick and approached the League members. Mors fired his pistol at her. She brought out her hand, as if to block the bullet, though she was too late. When she put her hand down, it was clear that the shot hit her in the eye. She did not drop, there was no blood at the wound, though their was damage. Electrical sparks and burning bright lights emanated from the now eyeless socket.

When Mors saw the electrical activity behind the face he realised who the black clad figure was.

"You." Mors blared out with utter disdain.

She leveled her quarterstaff as she continued her approach, it began to twirl fast, then faster and faster; its rotation speed was more than any human hand could manage and yet it twirled even faster, till it spun like an airplane propeller.

An ape slipped past Tarzan and rushed the black clad woman, the whirling staff hit him in the side and swept the simian fury off the catwalk. It was not known if the staff's impact or the fall killed him, but he made no sound on the way down.

Quarterstaff rotation speed was only mildly abated, the sparking eyed figure revved up its threatening spin until a fierce volley of machine gun fire tore into her side.

Irma Vep had seen Biggles and Gregor neutralise the other machine gun nests. That left one target for the machine gun she had. Taking care not to ride up again she aimed the Parabellum at her diabolical double.

Multiple sounds of metal against metal thundered in rapid succession as the sudden volley ripped into the black clad woman. More sparks began to spit out of her damaged side. The force of the bullets pushed her to the side; the volley was maintained until it sent her over the catwalk edge. Sparks continued to emanate from the figure as it fell to its destruction.

Tarzan and Mors saw Irma Vep waving at them from the machine gun nest; she then began the climb to rejoin them.

"I hope she's the real Irma." Whispered Mors.

Gregor landed on the catwalk ahead carrying Biggles. There were two remaining Zinj apes, they both let out a disturbing growl when they saw Gregor. Only a firm command from Tarzan stopped them from attacking the freakish giant insect.

Irma gave hugs all round when she reunited with the League. "I see you have met my evil doppleganger."

Mors answered. "That fiend who took your likeness and led us into an ambush was a wicked mechanical creation. Both her and her creator are members of the Twilight Heroes, the German equivalent of the League. They must be helping Totenkopf."

Each League member told of their adventures since separating, this was while they walked along the catwalk to the right; the two Zinj apes trailing behind. It was decided to take an elevator to the ground floor and then seek out Totenkopf.

When they got to the platform with a shaft, they noticed a lift rising to their level. It stopped in front of them and the cage doors opened, six homunculi rushed out.

Tarzan drew his knife but found himself overtaken by screeching Zinj apes. These simians might have known that these synthetic horrors shared their genes, which to the apes, meant they were all the more abominable. They did not wait for a command from their chief, they both rushed the homunculi and fought with tooth and claw. There was no familial fraternisation from either side, the freaky cousins ceased their rush to the League to deal with their parent race.

Gregor ambulated to a one on one engagement with a homunculus, it turned from the fight with the apes and growled. A barbed tarsus pierced its chest but did not kill it; while still gored it began its savage assault on the giant insect. Gregor didn't dare withdraw the stabbing tarsus, it partially kept this opponent at arm's length, though it failed to find the heart and end this fight. Both nippers cut shreds of the pale skinned torso, snipped the ugly nose and even severed fingers but the creature's fighting spirit was virtually uncompromised. It dealt furious blows against the insect man; the exoskeleton was sufficiently armoured to block these but the limbs and abdomen could not cope. Gregor eventually sent his second tarsus into the beastly eye socket. He didn't find the heart but he pierced the brain. After a little seizure, the antagonist dropped dead.

Lord Greystoke also moved on a homunculus. It turned on him, raised its arms threateningly as it growled, then rushed Tarzan, who fleetingly dodged aside. The savage creature turned for its next attack only to find his groin stabbed and misplaced heart destroyed, he slumped to the floor.

A second homunculus rushed Tarzan, who backed of as the synthetic fury stretched out its arms for for a deathly embrace. The jungle lord threw his knife at the attacker, it embedded itself in the solar plexus. This stunned the homonculus for a brief second which was all Greystoke needed to rush the target; knock him off balance, seize the embedded knife and drive it home. Again Tarzan could determine the heart's location through mere observation; this one was pierced; the malformed horror dropped to the floor, his arms still outstretched.

The last being standing from the ape homonculi fight was one of the latter, it finished off the last Zinj ape then, despite receiving multiple bites and blows resulting in many fractures and gashes; it charged the three League members who stayed out of the conflict. Biggles, Mors and Irma fired their pistols, each pumping two shots into the bloodied abomination; it slumped and, after a brief growling protest, went silent as it moved no more.

"You three are lucky." Said Tarzan. "One of you by chance hit the randomly placed heart."

"That elevator could have brought more of those fiends here." Stated Mors. "But it didn't"

Biggles added. "I think Totenkopf has run out of homunculi."

Irma spat. "Then we should be able to get him and kill him."

All League members got into the elevator and traveled to the volcano bed. Five seconds after leaving the lift, the find themselves being approached by six tall metal monstrosities. These figures marched like well disciplined soldiers, to the League they appeared to be men in highly industrialised suits of armour; their steps sounded like factory machinery, the articulating arms like hydraulic cranes. The heads looked like Easter Island statues with antennae that appeared to be radio ariels. There approach seemed very threatening.

Mors fired a pistol shot at the figures but the bullet just bounced off the metal hulks and subsequent shot were equally ineffective.

A sphere, slightly bigger than a basketball, rolled between the marching metal legs then exploded in a way that spat out electrical energy instead of destructive force. The metal figures stopped right then and there, two collapsed forward, one fell sidewards into his team members, knocking them aside like a domino effect. After many thuds of metal crashing against the ground, there was silence as the League looked at each other in mutual bafflement.

"What the hell was that ball." Asked Irma while not expecting an explanation from her equally bewildered companions.

"An electomagnetic pulse bomb." Answered an unseen yet familiar voice. "Those metal figures were mechanical men, lethal automatons sent to destroy you all, they are the product of some brilliant electrical engineering."

Tom Swift appeared around the corner carrying a remote control. "And my bomb has destroyed their electrical systems, now they are all piles of junk."