Assassins Escape! (comic story)

Assassins Escape! was a Fireball XL5 comic printed in TV Century 21 in 1965. It was the ninth instalment of a multi-series crossover "Space War" story arc in the pages of TV21 (and the eighth to belong to the Fireball XL5 series). The arc focused on a war between 2060s humanity and the inhabitants of the planet Astra, first mentioned in The Rescue.

This instalment saw the characters finishing to deal with the last traps laid by the villainous Count Lugosti, an antagonist created especially for the crossover event, and who had been killed off in an earlier "chapter" of the multi-series arc, as well as catching up to the rest of Lugosti's gang. It ended on a cliffhanger as the villains managed to make their escape in a secret submarine.

Summary
As Steve Zodiac precariously climbs down into the underground hideout of the late Count Lugosti, the Commander notices that the pipe he is clinging to is threatening to give way, which could cause Zodiac to fall right into the line of fire of the automated machine gun left behind by Lugosti. Thinking quickly, Zero orders his men to find a fire hose and direct its jet of water at full pressure at the gun, knocking it away before it can kill Zodiac.

Zero, Zodiac and a small party of soldiers are thus able to climb down in the secret room openly, whereupon they discover that it is the antechamber to an underground passageway leading all the way to a huge seaside grotto serving as a secret submarine harbour. They arrive just in time to see Lugosti's accomplices rushing into their submarine and diving, but are helpless to pursue them, having no sub of their own.

After telling the soldiers to arrest the lower-ranking criminals who didn't have time to get into the sub, Zodiac states that he wants the submarine's position tracked by spotter planes immediately. When Zero asks him what he intends to do once he has the sub's position, Zodiac replies that he will do nothing, but instead pass the torch to Troy Tempest of the Stingray.

Characters

 * Steve Zodiac
 * Commander Zero

Worldbuilding

 * X-ray units were employed to find Lugosti's hideout.
 * Zero notes that he is a Commander and outranks Zodiac, a mere Colonel; he jokes that he has his superior intelligence to thank for his position.

Story notes

 * This story did not lead directly into the next TV Century 21 issue's instalment of Fireball XL5, Zodiac Flies Out..., but rather into a two-page Stingray comic story later in the same issue as Assassins Escape! which furthered the "multi-player crossover" aspect of the Astra arc (which had already spread to Lady Penelope and The Daleks).

Continuity

 * Steve Zodiac is still investigating the booby-trapped lair of the late Count Lugosti. (COMIC: Army In House To House Search)
 * Zodiac ends up calling for the help of the Stingray, a request reported in the 19 June 2065 issue of TV 21 (PROSE: Zodiac Sends For Stingray!) and eventually granted. (COMIC: Stingray)