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The Curse of the Hellfire CrownWhile resting and recuperating in Rio, Freddy Foster had time to do a lot of thinking about his career as a costumed villain. Sure, he had some regrets. For one thing, he'd originally wanted to be a hero. But for the most part, he'd had a great time matching wits with Icestar and the rest of the League of Champions. Still, in light of that final fiasco with the Ellipsis and his Teleporting Terror, the Fox began to wonder if maybe it wasn't time to hang up the old glider wings. Maybe it was time to think seriously about getting back to the original idea. Maybe, if he dropped the bat motif, adopted a new identity, and started over somewhere else, he could actually become the hero he'd started out wanting to be. But before Freddy could reach a firm decision on the question of whether or not to give up being a costumed villain, he met a beautiful blonde named Heather, who loved the idea of having a relationship with an American supervillain. She brought him home with her and introduced him to her two girlfriends, a dusky brunette named Belen and a red-headed vixen named Josie, who insisted that Heather share her find with them. Before the night was over, the exhausted Freddy had fallen madly in love with all three of his curvaceous new playmates. As it turned out, Freddy's encounter with Heather had been no accident. She, Belen, and Josie had all been under orders to locate the Flying Fox and seduce him into agreeing to do special job for their employer. It seemed a mystic artifact known as the Hellfire Crown was currently in the possession of a certain Doctor Clinton Avery. Heather's employer wanted it, and he wanted to hire the Flying Fox to get it for him. When the proposition was presented to him, the Fox understood full well that if he did this job he would be doing it on behalf of the self-styled "Demonmaster," a high mucky-muck in the occult criminal organization known as DEMON, but the money being offered was too good to pass up. Besides, Heather, Belen, and Josie wanted him to do it. In the end, it was Freddy's inability to turn his back on the pleasures of cash, villainy, and good-looking women that led him down the path to disaster. As revealed in Chapter One of the multi-part epic, "The Curse of the Hellfire Crown," Freddy's initial effort to capture the prize the Demonmaster sought was unsuccessful. Somehow, Doctor Avery had received word that there would be an attempt to steal the Hellfire Crown, and had asked the League of Champions to help protect it. Together, Rose, Flare, and Icestar sent the Fox running off with his tail between his legs. It didn't take Freddy long after that to realize he'd made a big mistake. Although the Demonmaster seemed to like the Flying Fox, he was sadistic and irrational, and soon got the Fox involved in matters far more serious than petty theft and good-natured villainy. In Chapter Three of "The Curse of the Hellfire Crown," the Demonmaster instructed the Fox to find and kidnap Doctor Avery's granddaughter, Donnah Hannah. Though he was exactly happy about it, the Fox did the deed, rationalizing that if he didn't do it someone who wouldn't treat Miss Hannah so nicely would be assigned to the task in his place. In Chapter 6, after bringing in Donnah and her boyfriend, Richard Slifer, the Flying Fox was startled to learn that the Demonmaster was a shape-shifter. His reason for having the woman brought to him was so that he could assume her identity and go after the Hellfire Crown himself. But before embarking on this adventure, the Demonmaster took advantage of his switch into female form, indulged himself in a little fantasy he'd been entertaining, and bedded the Flying Fox. How Freddy actually felt about this remains unclear, but in light of the Demonmaster's previously erratic behavior it seemed prudent to cooperate. In Chapter 7, the Fox learned that Donnah's "boyfriend" was not what he appeared to be. Some months earlier, as part of the Demonmaster's ongoing effort to gain information about the Crown, the real Richard Slifer had been killed and replaced by the Demonmaster's mentor, Mistress Sylph. After being restored to her true form, Sylph was given the task of keeping an eye on the Fox while the Demonmaster was otherwise occupied. She was also instructed to have the Fox assist her in the abduction of Giant's wife and son. By this time, the Fox was getting extremely uncomfortable with the tasks he was being asked to perform. In Chapter 8, before departing with Sylph, he made a point of delivering some food to the real Donnah Hannah, who'd been imprisoned in a dungeon cell. While there, he offered to help get her out, but she assumed it was some kind of trick and rejected his change of heart. In a fit of pique, the Fox lashed out at her, told her there wouldn't be any other help coming, and revealed that her boyfriend was dead. After that, he hooked back up with Sylph, bade a fond farewell to Heather, Belen, and Josie, and went off to do what he had promised himself would be his last job for the Demonmaster. En route to the house where Giant's family lived, the Fox had been surprised to learn that Sylph had problems of her own with the way the Demonmaster had been acting. He saw this potential rift as an opportunity, and after delivering the targets to her told Sylph that was the end of it. The Fox wanted nothing more to do with DEMON or the Demonmaster. He wanted to cut himself loose, and for reasons of her own Sylph allowed him to do it. But that wasn't the end of it. Had the Flying Fox truly been a villain, he might have gone off and not looked back. Instead, because he felt largely responsible for setting events into motion that now posed a serious threat to the entire world, Freddy Foster decided he had to do whatever he could to put things to right. In Chapter 10, the Flying Fox presented himself as an ally to the League of Champions, and offered to assist them in their battle against the Demonmaster and the power of Dark Malice. Although Flare in particular didn't like the idea, the offer was accepted. Tragically, in Chapter 11, despite the Fox's earnest assistance, the Champions were defeated and Giant was killed. The Flying Fox became a prisoner of the Demonmaster, and was marked for a special fate. But in Chapter 12, while the Demonmaster was busy entertaining Flare, Icestar, and the Huntsman, whom he considered to be worthy of his personal attention, Rose had teamed up with Donnah Hannah to stage a breakout. After persuading Malice herself to join them, they and Doctor Avery released the Fox from his cell, rescued Giant's widow and son, and started a firefight. In the confusion of battle, when it became evident to him that the Champions were going to win, the Fox decided to slip away. Even though he was now strongly considering turning over a new leaf, he had always prided himself on the fact he'd never been captured and didn't want that record spoiled. In the unpublished conclusion to "The Curse of the Hellfire Crown," the Fox feared that despite the assistance he'd given the League of Champions in bringing about the Demonmaster's ultimate defeat, Donnah Hannah and Giant's widow would insist that the Champions arrest him so that he could be brought to trial for the role he played in the deaths of their loved ones. So he went to his "friend," the shape-shifting Mistress Sylph, and asked her if there might be something she could do to hide him. Sylph's first impulse was to tell the Fox to go to hell. With the Demonmaster presumably dead, the only thing Sylph was interested in was getting herself, Heather, Belen, and Josie out. Knowing that the Champions would be looking for the Fox, she didn't want to risk having him tag along. But on a suggestion from Heather, who reminded her that the Fox had been marked by the Demonmaster for a special fate, Sylph reconsidered. With the Fox's full cooperation, she used her shape-shifting abilities to disguise him as a pretty girl. That way, even if the Champions noticed him, he wouldn't be recognized. Heather's plan worked perfectly. Flare bumped into them, but she was so intent on finding the Flying Fox and preventing him from escaping that she disregarded these five "unimportant" women. Thus, they were able to make their way to the submarine bay, get past a distracted Donnah Hannah, take a vessel, and head toward Hawaii. But if the Flying Fox thought he was going to get away scot free, he would soon learn just how badly he was mistaken. NEXT: The Untold Tales of the Flying Fox
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The Flying Fox, Tabitha Fox, Freddy Foster, related characters, and the distinctive likenesses thereof are trademarks of Heroic Publishing, Inc. For information regarding the availability of these and other Heroic characters for media licensing, contact The Daniel Ostroff Agency, 9200 Sunset Blvd, Suite 402, Los Angeles CA 90069. For other inquiries direct E-mail to dmallonee@heroicpub.com |