Sensation Comics 13
The Return of Diana Prince!
The night was cool and for the city unnaturally quiet. This was most annoying to Diana Prince as the pilot ran down the street and found only empty street corners. "Never a cop around you need one!"
She considered stopping and throwing something through a window, hoping to set off an alarm, but she saw no trash cans, garbage, or anything capable of breaking glass. The reason for her flight rounded the corner. The van was dark with no plates. It stopped at the intersection and several figures stepped out.
"Ms. Prince, you've caused Dr. Cue no end of stress. Please, come with us now." The leader spoke, his voice light and accent free.
"Come and get me!" Diana picked up a broken bottle and waved in front of her.
The leader sighed and pulled out a small pistol and leveled it at her. It fired with no flash and Diana felt a cold stab go through her. "No, you're not dying." The leader pocketed the pistol and approached her. "Dr. Cue's special cocktail. When you awake, you'll be more receptive to our questions."
Diana staggered back, her back against window. "Go to blazes!" She drunkenly swung the bottle in an arch, slicing the nearest figure's arm. She stumbled forward and fell face first to the street as the man cursed.
"Tie her up!" the leader hissed. "We can't take any chances, not with our plans so close to fruition!"
Three days later
"So, that's why you contacted me?" Queen Hippolyta leaned back in the booth. One mental radio conversation earlier had lead to the small roadside diner where Steve Trevor explained why he needed her.
"It's been three days and Diana hasn't called in. Officially she was on leave, and if we go in guns blazing things might get worse for her. Can you check it out?"
"For Diana? I'd walk through Tartarus barefoot for her."
Steve nodded and dropped a file to the floor before leaving. The Amazon queen picked it up, but before she could leave the booth, a man slid into it across from her. "Diana!"
"What?"
"Diana, where have you been?" the man was almost frantic. What few patrons the diner had were now looking in their direction.
"Sir, you must have me confused with someone else." She tried to leave, but the man put his hands over hers.
"So that's it? I've been driving myself crazy driving all over town, calling the police every hour, and you can't even lie decently?" the man was shouting now.
Hippolyta sighed and took her golden lasso from her waist. Before the man could protest anymore, she bound his wrists. "Sleep!"
The man dropped face first on the table. "Sorry, my friend has been celebrating too much." She dragged him from the booth and carried him outside.
It wasn't any trouble dragging him into the woods behind the diner. Fastening him to a nearby tree, she tugged the lasso. "Awake!"
"Diana?" the man's eyes snapped open. "Where is this? What did you do?" He trashed against his bonds.
She carefully gripped the man's chin. "My name isn't Diana. It's Polly. Diana is my…cousin. Who are you and what is your relationship with her?"
"Diana's my girl." He spoke calmly, thanks to the influence of the golden lasso. "We've been talking about getting hitched, but I haven't talked to her in about a week. When I saw you sitting with that other fella, I got jealous."
"Hmm, so Diana's disappearance is being noticed then." She thought to herself. "Who are you?"
"Dan White. I'm a contractor for a munitions plant, I work the floor mostly but I've got big ideas! We've been getting bothered by some nutty group I told Diana about, but I haven't" he stopped as Wonder Woman ordered him to sleep.
"So, he might be aware of Diana's mission and who took her. I think I might have to go under cover."
She untied him. Dan slowly woke up. "Where am I?"
"Sorry, you were causing a scene."
"Diana, no, Polly? I didn't think Diana had any cousins…"
"I'm from Greece, a distant relation. You were telling me about Diana's being missing. Why don't you take me to work with you tomorrow and we can look into it?"
The next day, Dan returned to work with Wonder Woman disguised as Diana. Diana had apparently been working on the line "'cause she's sweet on me" was Dan's explanation, but she noticed that was a small crowd holding picket signs outside the main gate.
"Protesters?"
"Yeah" Dan explained on their lunch break. "Some nutty group calling themselves 'the World Peace Society'. They hate anything dealing with war, and since we make shells, well..."
"I see." Wonder Woman had to thank Steve for supplying her with a copy of Diana's work ID. The work was fast but a bit tedious when she knew her suspects were no more than a few dozen yards away.
She had gone over the report Steve had given her. The World Peace Society claimed to be against war and aggression. She agreed with that, but it was odd how all their efforts seemed to be focused on the Allied Nations. There were chapters across the United States and Britain, but nowhere else. They weren't directly linked to anything illegal, but they seemed to have the luck of being around when defense plants were sabotaged, ships sunk, or military bases robbed.
Diana Prince had been working at the plant for a few months and had gotten friendly with the local chapter. She mentioned something about meeting their leader when her reports stopped. "So, I'll have to retrace her steps exactly and see what she saw…"
The protesters made a point to be polite. They were exactly far enough away from the plant's doors and made no effort to talk to the workers, but they were on hand with coffee and donuts to anyone who asked, along with plenty of literature. One of the workers, carefully monitoring the plant's main yard, gasped when she spotted Wonder Woman. "It's her!"
"What are you gabbing about?" her assistant grumbled as she refilled the coffee pot.
"Look!" She pointed to the yard where Wonder Woman sat in the open, eating a sandwich out of her lunch pail.
"So? We captured that agent and the master will deal with her."
"But she's been saying we have the wrong person, that she knows nothing. What if we grabbed the wrong worker?"
"Hmm," the woman narrowed her eyes. "You may have a point. Prince could have tricked us by using a double. We should inform Dr. Cue right away!"
Deep in the heart of the city sat a small office building. The WPS's logo was painted over the door. Thick curtains blocked the windows. If one happened to wander inside, one might find a few tables, a phone, and some posters promoting peace.
Deeper into the back one would see a printing press and more general equipment, but that would be as far as one's journey would be allowed to go. Deeper still, and through a series of secret doors leading to a secret basement, one would see Diana Prince tied to a chair.
She had a hood over her head and a series of cables ties keeping her limbs straight. She heard a familiar sound of hard soled shoes coming down the wooden steps and the door opening. The voice; a thinly accented one of a slightly older man, spoke in her ear.
"For the past few days you've insisted that we were fools; that we captured an innocent factory worker. You might be right, but regardless of our fault you now know too much to leave or live." She heard the sound of a zipper being undone and glass being placed on wood. "A small sample of the plague that bothered Europe some time ago. Slow, but effective."
"Wait!"
Dr. Cue stopped, the needle poised over her arm. "If you've any last-minute confessions, I'd suggest you hurry."
"My boyfriend, he's working on a shell!"
"He works in a munitions plant. Try something else." The needle moved closer.
"No, it's anti-aircraft, super, most effective ever made! With that, they can shoot down dozens of planes at once!"
The needle stopped. "Hmm, you might be lying, but then again we do live in an age of marvels." She heard him put the needle down. "You've bought yourself a few more days, but if you're lying to me, your suffering will be a thing of legend."
To Diana's credit, she wasn't lying. The shell did exist, but at the moment only on a few blueprints and in Dan's mind. Cue didn't know that, of course, but he ordered his agents to watch Dan's office and home carefully.
Wonder Woman, ignoring Diana's own apartment, stayed at Dan's house. Officially she was visiting, but she was keeping an eye on him since he did work in the plant's main lab. He had several diagrams spread out on the coffee table before her. "So, the idea is you fire one shell, which then breaks away and fires several smaller shells at the targets."
"Impressive. I recall a certain Greek king who used a similar device, but with arrows of course."
Dan looked at her, impressed. "Yeah, that was my inspiration. The bigwigs at the top don't see that though."
"But Diana did?"
Dan nodded, his expression glum. "Diana's always supported me, but I can't seem to catch a break."
Just then the sound of glass breaking made them silent. Wonder Woman pushed him to the floor, her finger to her lips. Reaching into her blouse, she coiled her lasso around her fist. Turning off the lights, she crept down the hall towards the back of the house.
Slowly spinning, her clothes were replaced with her armor and the familiar uniform of Wonder Woman. At the end of the hall, she heard someone opening drawers.
She listened carefully. "Where would it be?"
She kicked the door, tearing it free from the hinges and sending it flying into the room. A man cried out as the door knocked him into the wall. Another figure, clad in black, fired a pistol before jumping out the window.
Wonder Woman easily blocked the bullet with her bracelets. She dashed to the window as the figure ran towards a parked car. Unhooking her lasso, she tossed the mystic rope at the fleeing figure. With a mighty tug she yanked the person back and dragged them back inside.
Tearing the intruder's mask free, Wonder Woman saw the burglar was a woman. Her skin was pale, with her features suggesting East European. She tightened the lasso. "Talk."
The woman looked at her. "We were sent to steal White's shell plans. Dr. Cue wants them, and when he gets them he'll kill the American agent."
"And where is the agent now?"
"At our headquarters, but I don't where that is."
"Sleep now." The woman fell asleep.
Diana had been busy. Since Dr. Cue left, she had been trying to free at least one hand. Her earrings had been left alone. She was grateful, as there was small radio inside them. She had been taken too fast to use them before, but now she was desperate.
Her arms were bound to the chair with two pairs of handcuffs. "If I just had a bobby pin…" She yanked against the steel cuffs and felt nothing give. She sucked in her breath and pressed her hand against the wood, popping her thumb out of the socket.
It was still tight, but she was able to slowly pull her hand free. With the hood over her head she couldn't see anything, but her hand felt wet. "Heavens knows what I cut, no time to worry about that now!"
She painfully brought her hand up to the hood and felt for her ear. She pressed the small star shaped earring. "I hope that works. Polly never explained how these things work." She felt dizzy as her hand dropped.
Wonder Woman hung up the phone. After calling Steve and telling him of the spies, she felt a familiar buzzing in her helm. "Diana's signal!" Seeing that Dan was safe, Wonder Woman dashed outside. The star symbol of her helm glowed brighter as she ran towards the interior of the city.
"I have to follow the signal! Hera, let me not be late!"
Dashing through the city, Wonder Woman hopped onto the back of a passing truck. The signal grew stronger as she was taken into the heart of the city. She jumped off the back as the truck neared the World Peace Society headquarters.
"This must be the place!" She charged. The front door gave way with no resistance. Inside two men sat playing cards by a phone while a woman made coffee. She screamed and threw the pot as the men drew guns.
Wonder Woman easily swatted the pot aside. Grabbing the nearest man, she tossed him into his companion and lassoed the woman. "Who is your leader?"
"That would Dr. I.M. Cue, but his real name is Togo Ku. He's one of the higher ranked spies in Japan."
"Thank you, now sleep!" She let the woman drop to the countertop.
Dr. Cue heard the commotion. Slipping his mask off, he took his pistol and went down to the secret room. "I'm sorry Ms. Prince, but it seems our little hideaway has been compromised. I fear this will be our last meeting."
He noticed her hand laying limply in her lap. "What did you do?" he snarled.
"Oh, just calling an old girlfriend. You know us ladies, always chatting." Diana weekly spat.
"Indeed." He leveled the gun at her head. "I don't know how, and I don't care. You've cost me quite a bit of trouble."
"Shouldn't you be running?"
"Why?" Cue smirked. "We're underground. Even if your friends tear the upstairs apart they'll never figure how to get down here in time."
He was shaken by a tremendous crash. "What was that?"
"Sounds like someone picking up something very heavy and throwing it aside." An ear torturing scream of metal echoed down the hall. "Now it sounds like someone punching a metal door apart and tearing it from its frame."
"Impossible! This is some kind of Allied trick!" Cue started to sweat. He tried to regain his composure. "No matter. You'll still be dead!"
The wooden door behind them splintered as Wonder Woman punched her way into the room. In one movement too fast for the mortal eye to follow, she yanked her helm free and with one smooth motion sent it crashing into Cue's wrist. The man screamed in pain and dropped his gun.
Wonder Woman bound him tightly with her lasso before freeing Diana. She tore the sackcloth from her head. "Diana!"
Diana, one eye swollen shut and lips bloody, looked up at the Amazon queen. "Hey Polly. How are things?"
The members of the World Peace Society were quickly rounded up. Diana was taken to the hospital. After a few days, Wonder Woman, Dan, and Steve were allowed to see her.
"I'd say she needs another week of rest, but she was rather insistent." The doctor led the three of them to her room. "In fact, I'd think she'd probably escape if we didn't allow her visitors."
"''bout time!" Diana sat up. "I was going stir crazy in this place."
"Diana!" Dan cried and rushed to her bed. The two embraced.
"Maybe we should just give them some privacy?" Steve jerked his thumb to the door. The doctor nodded and quietly slipped out.
"I'd say she's earned it." Wonder Woman smiled. Out in the hall, she spied Dan pulling a small box of out his pocket. She closed the door before she heard the answer.
"So, back to Paradise?" Steve broke the silence.
"My people need me Steve, but if you need my assistance I'll return."
The end
Sensational mail
They Call Me Bruce
Love how this is coming along.
Thanks to the other comments too. Thanks to Darci for all the comments and everything else.
Based on "the Return of Diana Prince" which was first published in Sensation Comics I#9 (September 1942), with credits to William Marston (script) and Harry Peters (pencils/inks).
Next issue: The God of War!
Keep an eye out for the following yarns:
Action Comics#12-The War on Reckless Drivers!
Detective Comics#12-Introducing Robin the Boy Wonder!