Wonder Woman 10
The Greatest Feat of Daring in Human History!
Queen Hippolyta ran. This was hardly odd, but that the fact was that she was running towards the room holding the mental radio that allowed her to contact the outside world. Slipping inside, she placed the contacts on her temple as an image filled the screen.
"Etta?" The blond college student's face was grim.
"Polly? I need you here pronto!"
"Not that I'm not pleased to see you, how?"
"Oh, I saw you and that Trevor fellow, so I slipped into his office."
"You've courage of an Amazon, I'll say that. But why do you need me?"
"My brother Mint's been hurt, and I know it was spies!"
The image blanked then was filled with static before Steve Trevor's face replaced the student. "Sorry about that, Angel. Ms. Candy can be…persuasive. We do seriously need to talk to you though."
Hippolyta solemnly nodded and signed off. She then made sure the doors were firmly locked and there were no loose ears about before she broke down laughing.
As Polly Prince, Hippolyta landed near D.C. within the hour. Her invisible plane safely stored, she rode to Steve Trevor's office. Trevor was there along with Etta. The rotund student bounded from her seat and grasped the Amazon's hands. "My dear sweet brother Mint was attacked by spies, I know it!"
"Slow down, let's start from the beginning."
Steve picked up a folder and handed it to her. "Corporal Mint Candy is an Army courier. Twenty-four hours ago, he wrecked his motorcycle. His injuries were minor, but he was still taken off active duty and sent home to Texas for some R & R."
"Was anything stolen?"
"That's where things get curious. The lock on his satchel was broken, but that could have easily been done in the crash. He wasn't assigned any papers that I'm aware of, and what he was doing at the time is classified."
"Officially we have no evidence of spies, but I'm not convinced. That's why I'd like you to act as the boy's shadow for a week or so, see if anything happens."
Etta elbowed Hippolyta. "You'll like my brother! He's a bit skinny though."
Hippolyta shook her head. "I'm sure we'll get along just fine."
The train ride to Texas was uneventful. Polly, now dressed as a simple student on summer break, took in the scenery. Despite all the times she had been to the United States she had still seen so little.
Etta, on the other hand, had a slightly harder time blending in on the train. The porter nearly threw his back out hauling her bags (three of them filled with candy), but Etta made sure to tip him handsomely.
Polly glanced at the wrapped bar of chocolate Etta offered her. "I admit I fail to see the attraction."
Etta marveled at the Amazon queen. "What, they don't have candy where you live? I thought it was called Paradise Island?"
Polly laughed. "No, we have desserts, but the coco bean isn't native to our land, plus we wouldn't wrap our food in such gaudy wrapping."
"Well, don't knock it until you try it." Etta stretched out on her bunk as the train continued its journey. "Polly, you think my brother is going to be ok?"
"I'm sure he'll be just fine."
They finally disembarked a day later. Etta rushed from the car and waved her Stetson at a parked car. A man stepped out of the driver's seat and rushed towards her. Polly marveled at the man's appearance. He was as tall as she was short and as skinny as she was wide. "Etta! Come here you little trouble maker!" Mint swept his sister up and twirled her around.
"Mint, now you put me down!" Etta shrieked. Once her feet were back on the pavement, Etta pointed towards Polly. "Mint, now I'd like you to meet a good friend of mine."
"Ma'am." Mint nodded. He seemed bashful, but Polly could tell he was a good person. He helped load Etta's luggage in the rumble seat of the car and helped his sister in first. Polly allowed him to open the rear door and climbed inside.
"Where's daddy? I thought for sure he'd be here to greet us." Etta happily leaned back.
"Aw, pa's still up in Kansas City. He ain't going to cut those city slickers any kind of deal on his herd and they know it."
The talk settled into more mundane matters, but Polly paid attention to everything. Mint was still sporting a bandage on his head. He didn't talk much about his injury, but Polly made sure to notice when he deflected the question.
At last they arrived at the Candy ranch; a sprawling estate taking a few hundred arid acres of sagebrush and cattle drives.
Getting settled in took no time, but Etta was insistent that the three of them go riding. "Etta, I sure your brother would prefer to rest…" Polly tried to excuse herself, but Etta wasn't taking no for an answer.
Mint talked to the headman as Polly looked around the corral. The horses were magnificent animals, but there was something shady about the headman. Pancho looked alright, but he glared at them when he thought she wasn't looking.
Polly gave a quick once over on the saddles and kits before Etta and Mint came out. She didn't see anything out of place, but she didn't trust Pancho. She would have preferred to use the Lasso of Truth on him, but that would wait.
"Gosh, have you ever seen anything so pretty?" Etta marveled at the valley as they rode into the hills.
"Not for some time, I admit." Polly could pass her lasso off as a simple lariat, a fact she found most amusing, but she still had trouble with the way Pancho glared at Mint as they rode off. Asking about produced nothing. All she learned was that the ranch hand had been with them for some time, good references and good record. Nothing out of the ordinary.
Polly's thoughts were broken by a cry for help. Kicking her horse into a gallop, she followed Mint as the younger man raced down the trail towards a boarded-up mineshaft.
"The old silver mine! Someone's been sealed inside!" Mint gasped. He quickly dismounted and smashed the old boards with his rifle butt. A slender dark hand grasped his arm.
"Thank you, kind sir!" the voice was thickly accented. "I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't happened to come along!" The young woman stepped out into the light.
Etta took immediate offense. "Well, what you were doing on our property anyway?"
The young woman drew herself up and glared at Etta. "My name is Pepita Valdez. I was dancing in a saloon when this filthy pig kidnapped me! He wanted me to dance only for him, and when I refused he dragged me out here and sealed me up in the old mine!"
Polly grasped her hand in sympathy. "I'm sorry for your ordeal. If you'll ride back with us we can take you to the proper authorities."
Pepita blanched. "Ah, thank you! I'll ride back with this strong gentleman though." She slipped her arm around Mint's shoulders. The younger man blushed almost as red as the cactus flowers around them.
"I don't trust her!" Etta fumed as they rode ahead.
"Neither do I." Polly agreed to Etta's shock. "I felt her hand. She's acquainted with a blade, that's for sure. Her palm was calloused. A dancer wouldn't have that."
"So she's a fake! I knew it" Etta was about to turn her horse around, but Polly laid a hand on her.
"Hold, we don't know that for sure, but maybe we should keep an eye on them, just in case."
Pepita's screams interrupted them. Turning around, they saw Mint splayed across the trail. Pepita was gingerly wrapping a cloth around his head.
Etta galloped full speed to the scene and leaped from her horse. "Get away from him you bushwhacker!"
"What? We were riding and his saddle slipped off." Pepita was quick to counter. Polly looked at the frayed leather. It was perfectly fine when they left, yet now snapped? Polly had to step between Etta and Pepita and physically push them back.
"Look, Mint is obviously hurt. Etta, why don't you ride back to the ranch and get help. I'll stay here and keep an eye on things."
Etta opened her mouth to complain, but couldn't voice anything. She grumbled as she mounted her horse and took off towards the ranch.
Polly excused herself to go track Mint's horse down. Pepita offered no argument, but as soon as she was out of sight Polly doubled back and listened.
"Oh, my big strong rescuer!" Pepita fished a hand rolled cigar from her pocket. "Here, smoke this, it will clear your head."
Mint protested but she stuck the cigar in his mouth and lit it. Thick smoke poured out of it and his mouth. "Now, tell me what you know. Tell me the secrets that you carry in your head!"
"I can't!" Mint protested, but his voice and will grew weaker as the smoke grew stronger.
"Tell me!"
"Fifth Armored Division…moving to Alaska…" he rattled off dates and technical specifics. They meant little to Pepita (or Wonder Woman for that matter), but both women made mental notes of what Mint said.
When he was finished, Pepita snatched the cigar from Mint's mouth and crushed it underfoot. Polly watched it before sneaking away to return Mint's horse. "She's a spy, no doubt, but who is she working for? If she drops the information off she might not even know, so I'll have to wait and see."
Polly returned with the horse. She ignored the cigar smoke. She smiled politely, but she saw the daggers in Pepita's eyes.
Etta returned in a truck. Pancho was driving. He pointedly ignored Pepita and helped load Mint into the truck's bed. Pepita's hand lingered on Mint's chest perhaps too long for Etta's liking. "You hussy! First you try to kill my brother and now you're robbing him!"
"No, no I'm not!" Wonder Woman noticed Pancho slipping away and running down a nearby trail.
Stepping behind a cactus, Polly spun around. Her simple jeans and blouse flashed away. In their place was the familiar armor of Wonder Woman.
Pepita drew a pistol from her skirt and pointed it at Etta, who had already drawn a knife. "Stay back! I don't want to hurt anyone, but I will if I have to!"
"Go ahead you lousy killer!" Etta dared. Pepita took aim and fired, but the bullet bounced harmlessly off the golden bracelet of Wonder Woman.
"Stop this!" Wonder Woman pushed both women apart. Pepita glared at them before Pancho returned on horseback.
Pepita, several curses under her breath, leapt onto the back of the horse as Wonder Woman turned her attention to Mint. Slipping her lasso around his hand, she looked him in the eye. "Tell me, did you tell that woman Pepita anything?"
"Told her troop movements, base locations, and passwords." Mint groaned. Loosening the lasso, Wonder Woman pointed to the truck.
"Etta, I need you to get your brother back to the ranch and to a doctor as fast as possible. I'll track down those two spies."
Etta started to protest, but nodded in agreement. She hopped into the truck as Wonder Woman broke into a sprint.
"At the speed I run I should overtake those two without too much trouble." She spied the horse racing around the corner. Pepita was firing her gun in the air. "Warning shots? Or is she signaling someone?"
Multiple shots screamed around her. The dirt at her feet exploded into dust as nearly a dozen armed men sprang out from behind various boulders and other hiding places.
"Holed it pretty lady. You can dodge maybe one bullet, but I don't think you can dodge all of us." Pancho snickered.
She had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing. "I'll play along for the moment. If there are more members of his gang I might as well round all of them up at once."
"Pancho, don't play with her!" Pepita hissed. "I've seen movies of this Wonder Woman, you don't know her!"
"Bah, an American in a cheap costume? What's there to be afraid of?"
"I'm Greek" Wonder Woman interrupted. Pancho slipped off his horse and slapped her. She didn't even blink. Pancho did, however, and cradled his almost ruined hand.
"Enough!" A thickly accented voice cried out. The gang parted and a tall man stepped forward. His black suit stood out against the rough clothes of the gang. "Don't you know who this is?"
"Boss, I can handle this fool" Pancho argued. The man reached out and grasped his injured hand and twisted it. Pancho dropped to his knees, tears welling in his eyes.
"This is Wonder Woman you idiots!" The man barked. He lowered his darkened glasses and glared at her. "If she is here I'd say the mission is already a total failure."
"No, listen!" Pancho cried, but the man twisted harder, turning Pancho's cries into shrieks.
"What are you doing?" the man spat. "How many of my men did you capture?"
"None." Wonder Woman shook her head. "I let myself be captured, as I wanted to see who was behind this."
The man swore in Japanese and let Pancho go. "I have overplayed my hand." The man stepped back. "Before you tie me up, I ordered the rest of this lot to capture the American soldier and his sister. You can stay and capture us, or you can save your friends."
Wonder Woman turned and punched the spy. He crumpled into a heap. In a flash, she draped him over her shoulders and broke into a sprint, dodging bullets all the way. "I have to get back to the main road and find Etta!"
With her Amazon speed, it didn't take long to retrace her steps. The truck was in a ditch, the tires shredded by bullets. Dropping the spy to the ground, Wonder Woman tore the back bumper free from the truck and wrapped it tightly around his legs. Uncoiling her lasso, she looped around his hands. "Talk."
The man talked. She learned his name and rank and his mission, mostly to attempt to establish a Japanese spy ring in Mexico. "That Pepita woman, she's a bullfighter. Her brother Pancho dragged her into this, didn't trust her myself. Your friends would be taken to them, back across the border."
Applying pressure to his neck, she knocked him out. Steeling herself, she started running again, this time following the hoof prints in the dirt, and when those gave way to tire tracks, following them. She spied a fast-moving car with two struggling figures in the back.
Leaping, her steely muscles working like springs, she sailed through the air and landed near the car. The agents inside panicked and threw Etta out. Wonder Woman dove and caught her friend, tumbling into the dirt. "Never mind me, they have Mint!"
"Not for long!" Wonder Woman spun her golden lasso overhead and snagged the back bumper. The metal easily gave way, but it was enough to force the car into a spin. The vehicle skidded sideways before crashing into a cactus patch.
Wonder Woman rushed to the car and dragged the moaning spies out as Etta helped her brother out of the car. "When I get my hands on that polecat!" She fumed.
"I think I might know where she is. Tell me Etta, do you enjoy bullfighting?"
It took about a day, but Wonder Woman and Etta arrived in the small Mexican town. Getting off the train, they made their way towards the small arena. Posters proclaiming 'Pepita-World's Greatest Torera' were plastered over the walls. Wonder Woman, disguised once more, and Etta took two seats near the front.
"I knew that gal had some fight in her!" Etta pulled her hat down low.
"She fled with Pancho; based on what we've seen she would have to be here."
"So, are we going to charge in there and drag that polecat back with us?" Etta whispered.
"No, not yet anyway. Let's grab her after the match."
The announcer called for silence as Pepita entered the arena. The crowd was hushed as she unfurled her cape and readied her estoc. The bull charged into the arena, sending a frightened gasp throughout the crowd.
The maddened animal charged straight towards Pepita. She nimbly sidestepped the beast, her cape trailing over its eyes. The bull spun around easily, faster than she expected. It neatly caught the cape with one horn and tore it free from Pepita's hands.
The crowd was in a full panic. Cries for help mingled with general screams as Pepita tried to draw her sword. The blade snapped neatly at the base of the hilt, leaving her with no means of defense. The bull bellowed and charged, its horns aiming straight at Pepita's body.
Wonder Woman leapt into the arena. In a flash, she threw herself between the beast and Pepita. She grappled with the mighty animal, both hands on the horns. Pepita tried to move out of the way, but was knocked back as Wonder Woman was forced backwards.
Flexing her arms and tensing her back, which also served to shred the back of her dress, exposing her Amazonion armor, Wonder Woman flipped the animal over. One swift punch to the bull's skull was enough to knock it senseless.
"Come!" Wonder Woman grabbed the stunned Pepita and dashed out of the arena. Outside, away from the panicking crowd, Wonder Woman wrapped her golden lasso around Pepita's arms. "Now, tell me the truth!"
Pepita sighed. "I was forced to. My brother Pancho, he was offered a lot of money by that man you fought in Texas. We would sell the information to the Japanese and retire to Spain. When you came along, the man's friends got nervous, said they might have to relocate. I told Pancho I wasn't going to work with his gang anymore." Something clicked behind her eyes. "He readied my equipment! He sabotaged my sword! That louse!"
Wonder Woman freed her from the lasso. "You have committed many wrongs, but I think you can help. Do you know where your brother is meeting with his friends?"
Pepita smiled grimly. "I do."
Sometime later, a desperate figure ran towards a parked car in the Mexican desert. Pancho flashed a light from his lighter. A small light flicked back from the backseat of the car. Pancho staggered towards the car as the window rolled down. "Have you been followed?"
"No, I made sure of it!" Pancho bragged between gasps. "I ran, all the way, and I checked back. I saw nothing!"
The roar of an engine overhead broke through the silence. The men in the car angrily shouted at each other and Pancho. "A plane? You fool, you led them directly to us!"
As Pancho protested and backed away, Wonder Woman dropped from her invisible plane's cockpit, landing directly in front of the car. "Run her down!" one of the men in the back screamed. The car's headlights blazed across the barren field. Wonder Woman stood her ground as the car's engine screamed to life.
The car lurched forward, picking up speed by the second. Wonder Woman simply leaped over the car, the vehicle harmlessly passing under her sandaled feet. "Turn around you lazy fool!" one of the agents in the backseat screamed in fear as the car spun around. The driver lost control and crashed headlong into a large cropping of rocks. The spilled fuel ignited, the flames enveloping the metal box in its deadly embrace.
A series of explosions reduced the car and its occupants into a burned cinder in seconds. Wonder Woman watched the flaming wreck. Pancho tried to sneak off, but her lasso snagged him easily enough. "Pancho, I think you are about to have a nice long talk with several men…"
The next day, things were different at the Candy homestead. Pepita, for her help in bringing her brother in, was given parole. Wonder Woman would be overseeing it personally. A grateful Mint welcomed the newly freed bullfighter when she and the Amazon Queen stopped by.
"Well, isn't this a sight?" Etta marveled at her brother and Pepita talking quietly. "I figured her all wrong!"
Wonder Woman sighed with content. "Two nations saved, a criminal redeemed," her thoughts were interrupted as Mint sat up in his sick bed and clasped Pepita's hands.
"Pepita, will you marry me?"
Both Wonder Woman and Etta found themselves speechless as Pepita tearfully agreed. "Etta, perhaps we should leave the lovebirds be for the moment, eh?" Wonder Woman looked back at the two as they exited the room. "Aphrodite be praised!" she thought.
The end
Based on "the Greatest Feat of Daring in Human History!" which was first published in Wonder Woman I#1 (Summer 1942), with credits to Charles Moulton-William Moulton Marston (script), Harry G. Peters (inks/pencils)
Sensational Mail
From Darci
Not only another version of a classic Wonder Woman tale, but one very similar to "The Master Plan of Paula Von Gunther" episode in the Lynda Carter TV series. Hippolyta gets some help from a little boy in this one. I hope Freddy received a real lasso at the end of this adventure.
That he did! Glad you like it, and thanks for the proof reading.
Be here next time when we see Wonder Woman tackle "the Milk Swindle!"
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