Chapter 9: Infiltration
Phantom Lady and Wonder Woman took trains, boats, and cars until they finally reached their destination. The camp where the Nazis were looking for the mythical weapon was located in the far northern reaches of Norway, in the Artic Circle. When the pair arrived to the camp, it was the middle of the night, with a light snow falling around them. Phantom Lady and Wonder Woman trudged up a cliffside overlooking the camp. Phantom Lady wore a special green fur-lined cloak over her normal superhero outfit, while Wonder Woman wore a similar one in red and white.
Phantom Lady knelt down in the snow and took out a pair of binoculars. "Well, ain't this a production," she said as she viewed the camp. There were many different tents set up for all the people working there. Phantom Lady could tell some of the tents by their size and shapes what they were: there were the workers' quarters, the mess hall, the medical tent, and the officers' quarters. It was that last one, she figured, where all the important information would be held. Of course, it wouldn't be easy getting it. The camp was still being patrolled by guards on the ground and in watchtowers.
Phantom Lady was still observing the camp when she felt Wonder Woman tap her shoulder. "Look," she said, pointing to the distance. Beyond the camp was another cliff wall. Phantom Lady shifted her gaze to the cliff. In the wall, she saw a cave opening at the bottom of it. In front of it were a few other tents and lights. "It seems like Nazis are focused on whatever is in that cave," Wonder Woman said. "Should we head there?"
"Not yet," Phantom Lady replied. "I want to get some more information about what might be in there. For all we know, the Nazis have emptied out that cave and are looking elsewhere". Phantom Lady put away her binoculars. "Alright," she said. "What we need to do is get into the tent at the far end of the camp". Wonder Woman nodded, and the pair made their back down the cliff.
The women approached the perimeter of the camp. Phantom Lady observed a tower and pulled Wonder Woman back behind some rocks. Phantom Lady saw the guard looking out in their direction and waited until he switched sides. "Let's go this way," she said, and the two went away from the tower. They circled around to another side with a tower, but this one did not appear to have a guard. The two quickly went under the tower and into the camp itself.
There were a few guards that were walking the paths in the camp. Phantom Lady and Wonder Woman stood behind a tent wall and observed a soldier making his rounds. Phantom Lady pointed to a nearby light illuminating the path. "Watch this," she said and pointed her black light projector at it. The spotlight went dark, and the path was now shrouded in darkness. The pair ran across the path to the other side, and Phantom Lady turned off the projector. The light came back on. The guard looked at the light in confusion, shrugged, and then went back to his rounds.
The pair continued down a side path to the tent they wanted. It definitely looked bigger than the other tents, but not by much. Phantom Lady peeked inside to see what was there. There was no light in the tent, so Phantom Lady turned her projector light into a flashlight. The two women saw a man sleeping in a cot at one wall. Across from it was a table with many books and papers on it. Phantom Lady and Wonder Woman snuck over to it, taking care not to wake the sleeping man.
"Well, is there anything good here?" Wonder Woman asked.
Phantom Lady rummaged through the papers. "Sort of," she replied. There were many types of documents: work logs, maps, sketches, and some more information regarding the ins and outs of the camp. Altogether, it was a thorough picture of the camp as a whole. But trying to find information regarding the relic was like trying to find a needle in a haystack. "I don't know if anything here will get us closer," she said.
Wonder Woman looked at the sleeping man. "Do you think he knows anything?" she said.
Phantom Lady looked over at him, then back at Wonder Woman. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" she said with a smile.
Phantom Lady turned off her light and the pair quietly walked over to the sleeping man. Silently, Phantom Lady counted down three, two, one. In a flash, Wonder Woman leapt onto the man with her lasso out. Phantom Lady followed, covering the man's mouth. The man awoke and tried to lash out, but he couldn't get out of the cot. Phantom Lady shushed him as Wonder Woman wrapped the lasso around him. The man tried kicking his legs, but Wonder Woman grabbed one of them with her free hand.
"Do not yell," Phantom Lady said in a soft, yet stern voice. "You are trapped here. If you try alerting the guards, we will not hesitate to kill you. Do you understand?" The man, with his mouth still covered, nodded his head. "Alright, I will remove my hand now". Phantom Lady did so, still having her arms around his head. "What is your name?"
The man couldn't see his attackers: the ambient light from the camp wasn't very bright, and within the camp, all he could see were silhouettes. The only light seemed to come from some sort of rope in front of him. "My name is... Hugo," said the man.
"Ok Hugo, do you actually know anything about what you're doing here, or are you just some grunt?"
"I am not a grunt," he said. "I am an archeologist".
"Good," said Phantom Lady. "Now, how close are you to finding the Serpent's Tooth?"
Hugo paused. He tried to think of some way to get out of telling her the truth. Yet, the longer he paused, the worse he felt. Finally, he blurted out, "We're close!"
"Shhhhhh," said Phantom Lady. "How close are you?"
"We tracked the tooth to the cave next to us. We are going through the cave right now, and soon we will find the relic".
"So, what have you found in the cave?"
"Nothing," he admitted.
"Then how can you be sure you will find the relic there?" she asked.
"We knew of the relic's existence for years, but we had no idea where it would be. Then, a few months ago, we found records from hundreds of years ago of the cult. The documents we found described them attacking a village. The villagers followed them to a cave, but were defeated again. I am sure that this is the ground where the battle took place, and that cave was the home of the snake cult". Hugo wanted to control himself, but when he got going, he felt like he couldn't stop.
"And the relic?" said Phantom Lady.
"If it's not there, then I don't know where it could be. A weapon of that magnitude would not just lay silent in the possession of some knight or noble. It is the tool of a conqueror. If it wasn't hidden, then someone would have already used it conquer the world," Hugo said.
Phantom Lady rolled her eyes. He's really bought into this, huh? she thought. Still, she can't completely dismiss what he says. A few days ago, she would have dismissed the existence Diana and her people. "Have you found anything here that confirms your ideas?"
"Oh yes, we've found numerous artifacts proving this is the same place," Hugo continued. "We've found-"
Phantom Lady cut him off. "Okay, but what about the cave? Have you found anything there?"
"No," he said. "But we believe there is a temple in there. There are apparently many distinctive features to it, and maybe even some booby traps".
"Is there anything on that table over there that would tell us more about that?" Phantom Lady asked.
"There's my notebook over there. I've translated the records we've found, so you'll know most of what I know... provided you can read German".
"That will not be a problem," Phantom Lady said. She looked at Wonder Woman. "Get this?" she asked, motioning to Hugo's head. Wonder Woman nodded and put her hand over his mouth. Phantom Lady got up and walked back to the table. She found a small notebook bound in black leather. Opening it, she saw notes describing the temple.
Phantom Lady shut the book and walked back. "Okay Hugo, you've been very helpful, so we won't kill you. But can I trust you to keep this little conversation to yourself?" Hugo just stared at her. "Yeah, didn't think so". Phantom Lady picked up a nearby rag lying on the ground. She came up to Hugo and said, "Relax. We're just going to make sure you're tucked in nice and tight tonight so you don't get up to any trouble". Phantom Lady tied the rag around his mouth. Meanwhile, Wonder Woman got off of the man and undid the lasso. She then grabbed the blankets on the cot and tied Hugo to the wooden frame.
When she was done, the two women separated from Hugo. "Now just stay here and try not to make a fuss. You wouldn't want anyone to see you in such an embarrassing position, right?" said Phantom Lady. Hugo could only see two caped figures. "We'll be back in a few hours, so I suggest you go back to sleep and just think of this as a bad dream".
The pair left, sneaking through the camp to the field in front of the cave. There was not as much security at this part. Phantom Lady and Wonder Woman stood by a light post.
"So, we're going to get this relic now?" asked Wonder Woman.
"Well," said Phantom Lady, thumbing through the notebook, "I'm not sure. We don't have much of an idea of what we're getting into".
"Wait, we did all that, and now we're not even going to go into the cave?" Wonder Woman replied.
"Well, maybe," said Phantom Lady. "I mean, we don't even know if it's actually in there. Those guys have been toiling in there for weeks apparently and found nothing!"
"The archeologist was pretty sure of it".
Phantom Lady sighed. "I know, but, just because he thinks it's there doesn't actually mean it's there. Nazi scientists aren't usually the brightest".
"So what, we're just going to wait until they're really sure? What if they find it first?"
"That's not going to happen, okay?" Phantom Lady replied. "I just need some time to see what they know and determine our best course of action".
"Well, fine, but be quick. We cannot afford to waste time. And considering what we did back there-".
Just then, they heard a crash coming from the camp. The pair looked and saw several people running about. Phantom Lady pointed to a tent that seemed to partially fall in on itself. "There!" she said.
Wonder Woman looked too. "Was that the tent where... we were?"
"Yes, it was," Phantom Lady said.
"So did he... do that?"
"He must have knocked down a post to alert the guards".
Wonder Woman realized what was happening. "Suffering Sappho!" Alarms started ringing out across the camp.
Phantom Lady looked around. "We can't stay in the open like this!" she exclaimed. "Let's hide in the cave!" The pair started trudging through the snow, hoping they could get out of view before the soldiers started looking their way.
Approaching the cave, the pair noticed how large the entrance was. From afar, the cave itself seemed rather inconspicuous, but close up, Phantom Lady and Wonder Woman could feel a sense of doom emanating from it. The women continued forward. As they did, two guards emerged from the cave. "Halt!" said one of them as they aimed their guns. Wonder Woman and Phantom Lady put their hands up as the soldiers came to apprehend them. As one of them went around their backs, Wonder Woman lifted her cape up in a hurry. While both guards were distracted, the Amazon kicked the one in front of her down. Phantom Lady leaped onto the fallen guard as Wonder Woman threw the cape on the guard behind her. Phantom Lady grabbed the gun and hit her opponent in the face. At the same time, Wonder Woman undid her cape, wrapped it around the other guard, and sent him flying to the ground.
"Let's go!" Wonder Woman yelled. The women ran into the cave as the two guards got up and followed them. The cave had a large entryway, with several tunnels branching off from it. The ground was smooth, like ice, but was not slippery. There were some lights hung up in the front, but nothing deeper into it. "Which way do we go?" asked Wonder Woman.
Phantom Lady looked at the book. She found a sketch of what looked like a map. Phantom Lady pointed to the tunnel the farthest left of them. "That one!" she yelled.
"Alright, I have an idea," Wonder Woman replied. The Amazon grabbed Phantom Lady's arm and dragged them both into a different tunnel. The tunnel turned into a smaller room. Wonder Woman and Phantom Lady hid in a nook near the tunnel. Phantom Lady knew immediately what she should do: she turned on her projector and shrouded the both of them in darkness. The pair waited as the two guards ran past them.
"Ok, let's go," Wonder Woman whispered. The pair softly walked the other way back into the natural atrium. Seeing that there were no other guards there yet, the two hastily made their way to the correct tunnel. This tunnel was smaller than the others and had more turns in it. The superheroines made their way to another fork in the road. Phantom Lady directed them to the tunnel going right. The two ladies did so and repeated their trek.
After several more rounds of hitting an intersection, checking the book, and then going down the correct path, the two ladies came to a dead end. "Phantom Lady, what's happening?" asked Wonder Woman.
"No... no, no, this isn't right!" Phantom Lady replied. "I'm positive this is the way to the temple!" The wall in front of them had no signs of any human activity. The tunnel looked like any other part of the cave, aside from the fact that the ground felt slightly different. Phantom Lady poured over the book, trying to see if there was any error she made.
"Well, we can go back and retrace our steps," said Wonder Woman. As they turned around, two other soldiers came in. Before they could say anything, the soldiers opened fire. Wonder Woman deflected the bullets, and Phantom Lady cowered as they ricocheted around the room. The ground felt more unstable, like it was cracking. The soldiers rushed towards the woman to try and subdue them.
As they clashed, Phantom Lady felt the ground continue to shake. "Wait! Do you feel that?" she said. However, by that point, it was too late. The ground cracked and then gave way. Phantom Lady, Wonder Woman, and the rest were sent tumbling into the abyss below.