Wonder Woman

Assault on the Octopus

"I have to say Steve, I am having some concerns about this matter." Colonel Darnell bit down on his pipe.

"Sir, Wonder Woman has yet to fail us. If this information is on the up and up, how can we not use her?"

Above them, the night sky was covered in a thick blanket of clouds. Steve felt the sound more than heard; a slight rumbling, followed by three large indentions in the grass. "Angel!"

Queen Hippolyta, better known as Wonder Woman, slid the canopy back and exited the invisible plane. "I received your message Steve. What is the problem?"

"We can discuss the matter in my office." Darnell ushered them towards his car. The trio drove off in silence until they reached a darkened office building. Parking inside, Darnell showed them to a private elevator.

Arriving on an unmarked floor, the trio entered a small office. Darnell was the first to break the silence. "What I am about to say doesn't leave this office."

Flipping a switch, he stepped back as a film projector rose from the table and began to play on a large screen. "This is the USS Octopus, our newest model of submarine. Less than twenty-four hours ago, we intercepted a communiqué from a known fifth columnist. The Nazis are planning to do something to the ship within the week."

"Do you know what exactly? Or how?" Wonder Woman looked at the film intently.

"We have ideas Wonder Woman, but nothing solid at the moment. " Darnell continued as the images on the screen changed. "On your left is Admiral Funston, the sub's commander. He may be a spy, but our intelligence has yet to prove anything. He was rumored to have been involved in an aborted coupe against the president some years ago, but nothing was ever proven."

"On your right is Dr. Sands, the sub's designer. He might be involved, as he has family in Europe and the Germans might be resorting to blackmail. They are the only two who have access to the sub and they both plan to be there when it undergoes its maiden voyage."

"And you want me to prevent that?" She glanced at the footage. On one side of the screen, a stern looking man in formal dress stood at attention, while on the other a weak chinned academic stared back at her. "Will it be just myself onboard?"

"I'm afraid not." Steve interrupted. "Funston's paranoid as it is, so the plan is you'll accompany me as an aide. Besides, we can't let the Axis know that we know."

"Sounds like an adventure."

~WW

Wonder Woman, or Polly Prince as her id card said, stood at attention as Funston gave his speech. She ignored the man's ramblings about the might and majesty of naval warfare and focused her attention on the crowd.

"A skeleton crew, just to work the kinks out of the ship. That narrows the suspects down at least."

She stayed in the back and clapped politely when the admiral finished. Dr. Sands stepped forward and mumbled a few words, but at once she sensed something wrong. Sands' posture was poor, his face unshaven. He smelled of old sweat and new alcohol. "Why are they letting a man in such a state onboard?"

Sands rambled for a minute before being lead off by an ensign. "Distraught, or maybe an act?"

She was brought out of her thoughts when Steve gently nudged her. "Go on!" he whispered.

She blinked and stepped forward. Funston gave her a bottle. "And now, this lovely little lady will christen the USS Octopus, thus giving us good fortunes upon the open sea."

Glancing at the champagne bottle, she gripped the neck and held it up as flashbulbs went off. As she hefted the thing, something seemed wrong. "This bottle is too heavy to be filled with just alcohol." Turning it over, she heard the liquid sloshing around. "And it moves too odd; proper champagne would be under pressure, this sounds like it's filled with something else." Feeling the top, her suspicions were confirmed. "The wax seal on this bottle has been broken and resealed! I can feel a different kind of wax. I can't hit the boat with this, I might kill us all!"

Rearing back, she took aim at the ship's bow, but as she swung she went wide, hurtling the bottle into the sea. Stepping back, she covered her eyes as she saw something before the crowd did. She saw the bottle hit the water, skip slightly, and then explode in a bright flash. "I knew it!"

The crowd turned into a mob as Funston tried to maintain order. Wonder Woman's attention was drawn to him and Sands. "The admiral gave me the bottle, but Sands being drunk; could he have consumed the champagne and replaced it with the explosive?" She said nothing as the crowd was dispersed.

~WW

The submarine was launched within the hour. Funston demanded that the entire operation be scuttled, but it was Sands who argued that they needed to get underway. "Leave my creation at the mercy of another sub? No, we must put it out to sea as soon as possible! Besides, we need to test the undersea pressure suits while the weather is optimal."

Funston relented, but Wonder Woman looked at the two. "Both could be culprits, with their demands both covering up their goals." She kept her mouth shut and headed down the steps, as benefited a 'lowly' assistant.

~Several hours later

The Octopus had been sailing out on the open sea when Funston gave the order to submerge. Wonder Woman found Steve alone in his cabin. "Any news Angel?"

"None, but I've been following Funston and Sands. Both men could easily be the one you're looking for."

"I know, and that's what has me bothered." Steve started to say something else, but Wonder Woman held up a hand. "Hear something?"

"Yes," she placed her ear to the wall. Straining her senses, she ignored the other sounds, focusing in with her Amazon trained mind to pick up one noise in particular. "Someone is sending out a code!"

"What?" Steve jumped from his cot. "Are you sure?"

"Quite." She listened for a few more seconds. "I can't tell what's being said, but a message is being tapped out."

"The spy! Can you find the source?" Steve checked his pistol.

"Does a Gorgon slither?" She opened the door and raced towards the source. Turning several corners, but going slow enough for Steve to keep sight of her, she made her way into the bowels of the ship. Rounding a series of pipes, she was annoyed to find no one.

Steve caught up to her, panting slightly. "Find anything?"

"No, but I know I heard…" her voice trailed off as she felt around the pipes. "Ah-ha!" She triumphantly removed a small transistor set carefully hidden behind a spool of wire.

Steve paled. "A radio!" His hands went to it. "Short wave, so whoever was using this has friends close by! Angel, we have to alert the brass!"

"And alert Funston or Sands? No, we'll have to take of this on our own." She carefully placed the radio back. She took care, however, to open the back and pop a few transistors with one hand. "Just so the spy doesn't get any ideas about calling for aid."

A claxon made them both jump. "Could be something major. I'll stay with the radio. You mind checking this one out?"

Wonder Woman smiled. "I think I can manage."

~WW

Getting close to the bridge, she hung back and listened. "My God, u-boats! We're surrounded admiral!" Ensign Martin's voice echoed down the hallway.

"Sands, what the blasted hell is this tug good for? Why can't we engage?" Funston stomped around.

"I told you, the torpedo tubes aren't working. If I hadn't done a final check a few minutes ago you would have fired, dooming us all!"

"So, Sands does the work and finds the weapons won't work? Convenient of him." Reaching up, she removed her left earring. Twisting it slightly, she tapped out a special code.

Many miles away, hidden from Man's World, the army of the Amazons listened intently as their queen's message came over their special radio. "Queen Hippolyta needs our aid! To arms!"

~WW

Reattaching the earring, Wonder Woman leaned back as she heard the shouting coming from the bridge. "Sir, we have multiple ships appearing on radar!"

"Back-up? What kind of subs are they?"

"I, I don't know sir! They're just blips, but look, the German subs! They're…disappearing?"

Wonder Woman grimly smiled. With her message, she summoned the full might of the Amazons. Using their special boats and divers, they easily intercepted the U-boats and sank them.

"I can rely on my sisters, but not too much. The presence of armed men was enough to convince them to help me, but I must be careful. Antiope would try to justify an attack on America if she had her way."

~WW

The rest of the day went off without any problems. Steve reported nothing. Both Funston and Sands managed to act both innocent and guilty. "I mean, I could take the way they're acting say hang them or free them. I just can't narrow down the suspect!"

Wonder Woman agreed with him, much to her annoyance. "I've never had such a problem in ferreting out a foe. Why should now be any different?"

Thinking back on the past few hours, she concentrated, hoping to find something she missed. A sudden image made her stop and gasp. "Of course, it had to be him!" She left Steve standing in his cabin, scratching his head.

"Now what did she mean by that?"

~M

A quick scan of the duty showed her what she needed. Ensign Martin was assigned to be cleaning the mess. Rushing through there she found no trace. What she did find was something though.

"Body's still warm." The chef had been knifed in the back. "Now, why would Martin kill him?" A quick look over the body showed a broken key ring. "He snapped the chain removing a key!"

Thinking back to Sands' words, she stood up. "The undersea pressure suits are kept under lock and key! The chef must have been given one to guard." Spinning around, the restrictive clothing of Polly Prince vanished, and in its' place, the blue and red armor of Wonder Woman.

Relying on what she overheard from past conversations, the Avenging Amazon made her way to the special equipment room. The door was open and one of the suits was missing. "Hold!"

Ensign Martin gasped. "How did you get here?" He quickly snapped on the helmet and stepped back into the airlock.

"I followed your trail, traitor. Now stand face justice!"

"Not so fast!" Martin held up his hand. "I figured I would get caught at some point, so I hid a rather large bomb on the sub's outer shell. If you try to stop me, I'll detonate it." He chuckled. "I knew someone was on to me when my radio was sabotaged, but I never figured it would be you!" He held up a small box for emphasis. "This is a remote detonator. One push of this button and you'll be buried at sea."

Wonder Woman froze, but her eyes narrowed. She took in all that she saw. "Tell me Martin, why this?"

He snorted inside the helmet. "Why not? The Germans will pay good money to see this tub sink. Plus I'm sure to get a nice bonus from giving them this suit. Killing you? Heck, they might even give me a commission."

"And how are you going to meet them? I made sure those subs we encountered sank."

Martin continued to move towards the back. "Let's say I have a plan. It's been fun sweet cheeks." With one smooth motion he opened the hatchway and stepped inside.

Once the door was closed Wonder Woman sprang into action. Taking a deep breath, she removed her armor and followed him out into the open water. She saw him, inside the suit, walking slowly away on the ocean floor.

Wrapping her lasso around her fist, she swam towards him. Kicking her legs, she shot through the water like a fish. Martin, by comparison, lumbered slowly away, his back to her. The faint light, provided by the sub's few portholes, grew dimmer.

Even with her superior eyes, she was having trouble making Martin out from the dark water around him. Slowing down, she planted both feet in the ocean floor. With a smooth motion, unhindered utterly by the weight and pressure of the ocean, she uncoiled the Golden Lasso.

With a supernatural grace, the golden rope shot through the murky water and ensnared Martin. Gripping the other end, she closed her eyes and concentrated. The Lasso was forged by the gods from the girdle of Gaia herself to compel anyone bound by it to tell the truth.

Another ability, one rarely seen, was the ability to make the person subjugated the willing slave of the lasso's owner. It was a power Hippolyta rarely used. The reasons were many, but the chief one was it was very difficult to completely force a person to do something contrary to their nature.

Martin, however, was a greedy and fairly amoral person. She ordered him to release the remote and let it be washed away. "Let that device go, or else you will die! You'll never see a reward if you perish here!" Tugging, she pulled him across the distance.

"A coward will sacrifice everything if he feels he's in danger, and that is the one thing that makes them predictable." She bound his arms to his side and dragged him back to the sub.

~WW

Some time later, after getting redressed (first in her armor and then back as Polly Prince), Wonder Woman emerged from the dock. Underneath her arms she carried both Martin and the bomb. Martin's suit had been torn away and locker doors used to bind him.

The bomb she was more careful with; finding it on the sub's outer shell, she carefully pried it loose, after first taking care to destroy the mechanism. Propping Martin up, she adjusted her uniform. Using her lasso, she implanted a hypnotic suggestion in his mind to forget any possible connection between a simple yeoman and Wonder Woman.

Steve burst into the room, his gun drawn. He holstered it almost instantly. "Angel! I should have known!"

Poking Martin with his foot, he could only shake his head. "This was our spy? It figures the one guy we never considered."

"Enemies come in all sizes Steve." Wonder Woman stepped back as members of the rushed in, buzzing with excitement. "And sometimes heroes know when to let others take the attention."

The end

The following tale was based on the tale first published in Sensation Comics#5 (May 1942) with credits to William Moulton Marston (script) and Harry G. Peter (pencils and inks). All characters owned by DC/Time Warner and all rights are reserved.

They Call me Bruce

This reminds me of that show with Lynda Carter. Keep up the good work!

Kind words indeed!

Wolvermbm

Great update on this series. I must say this was an interesting adventure and I do wish of you to keep up the good work upon such a great series

Darci

The only thing wrong with this story is Hippolyta is almost a guest star in it. I can't help the feeling that this is based on another story than the one in Sensation Comics#4. That one centered on female employees disappearing from the War Department. Thanks for a great visit to April 1942.

True, but then Wonder Woman has so many characters that one is almost compelled to use everyone, even if they crowd out the title character. Hopefully this issue was better. As far as the story itself, I've been using the Wonder Woman encyclopedia for story ideas, so if I goofed, sorry.

Tiffani

You did a fantastic job with the dialogue. This story really reminded me of the old comics I read as a girl. Thanks for sharing.

Be here next time when we see the return of an old foe PLUS the origin of Wonder Woman's Golden Lasso!

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