Chapter 5: Sanctuary
The boat sailed on through the night. By morning, when Sandra and Diana woke up, land was in sight. The boat made its way through a cave and landed on an enclosed beach. The two ladies disembarked, grabbing some of the supplies they would need. Among them was an ancient map, with several different markers and what looked like the shoreline of mainland Greece.
"You know, I appreciate her lending me some of these weapons and the food, but your mother could have been a little more helpful in giving me a better way to connect with civilization," Sandra said.
"Sandra," said Diana, "I believe the gods will show us the way forward".
"Can't say I've had much help from them before," Sandra replied.
The pair made their way through the cave and shortly emerged out to the other side. There was a small village just down the road. When Sandra and Diana arrived at the edge of the village, Diana noticed small symbols on the post welcoming visitors.
"Sandra, look!" she said. "These are ancient Amazonian sigils".
"Actually, these are familiar to me too," Sandra said. Hurriedly, she pulled out the old map. "I see," she said, "these sigils represent a point on the map. Looking at the shape of the shoreline here, I think we are close to Porto Kagio. There's a resistance safehouse there that we can use."
"Great!" replied Diana. "How far would is it?"
"I can't really tell, but seeing as how I have never seen this place before, I reckon we are still a good distance away".
"So, walking wouldn't be advisable," Diana said. The pair looked around for something to help with their transportation. Luckily, Sandra saw a stable down the road.
"Do you think they could help us?" Diana asked.
"Maybe, but they're not just going to do it for free," Sandra said.
"Well, maybe we could use these," said Diana. Out of one of the bags, she pulled out a collection of gold coins. "They're made of real gold. I'm sure the owner of the horses would oblige in exchange for a few of these".
The women went the stable, and were indeed able to barter for a horse using the money Diana had. The pair rode them north for a few hours before finally reaching the town of Porto Kagio. Sandra and Diana dismounted just outside of town. While the first village looked completely isolated from the rest of the world, Porto Kagio clearly showed the effects of Nazi Germany. This only manifested in a few posters and the occasional group of soldiers, but that was still enough to be unsettling.
Sandra and Diana walked briskly to an alleyway, taking care to avoid soldiers or any other suspicious looking characters. The two got to what looked like a bricked-up section of wall. Sandra went through her bag to get to her costume belt. In a secret compartment in the belt, Sandra pulled out a key. She then slipped the key into a tiny slot in between two bricks. When she did this, several mechanisms sprung to life. The bricks soon moved and opened up to a stairwell. Sandra led Diana down the stairwell, with the door closing behind them.
Sandra and Diana walked down the stairs in near total darkness. They got to another door, this time a heavy door made of lead and steel. Sandra opened it and flipped a nearby switch. The lights came on in the safehouse. The first room hand several tables, with radios, maps, and other documents. In the back was a small room with cots and another room with supplies.
It was clear that this particular house hadn't been used in quite some time. Sandra walked back to the supply room to get a general picture of how it was. Fortunately, the supply levels were still decent. Included in the room were several suitcases, clothes, fake documents, disguises, and weapons. "Well, I think we can operate with this," Sandra said.
Meanwhile, Diana walked around the front room, looking at the various maps showing the Freedom Fighters' network and the extent of the German Empire. Diana also noticed the number of artifacts concerning Americana: flags, eagles, portraits of George Washington and FDR. In addition, there were newspaper clippings of Overman and the other members of his group. Are these the people who killed my sisters? she wondered. Will I have to fight them?
Sandra walked back to the room. "Alright, we should be safe. First part of our job is done: get back to civilization. Now we need to get down to business". Sandra walked to a table with a large radio system on it. She flipped another switch and turned some dials on the board behind the mic. The speakers came to life with feedback. "Hello, hello, come in Freedom Fighters. Come in, this is Phantom Lady. Calling in from station T1-73. Come in". Phantom Lady said this several times, until she finally got an answer.
"T1-73, this is the Blue Tracer. Do you copy?"
Phantom Lady instantly recognized the voice. "Condor? Is that you?"
"Phantom Lady!" It was the voice of Richard Grey Jr., a.k.a. the Black Condor. "We read you loud and clear!" Phantom Lady could hear the joy coming from Richard's voice. "Thank God we finally heard from you!"
"It's very good to hear from you too, Black Condor," Phantom Lady replied. Sandra wanted to call him Richard and talk about how much she missed him, but she had to keep it professional while talking on the radio. You never knew if someone else was listening in, and Sandra had business to attend to.
"We didn't hear from you for four days. A lot of us really thought the worst had happened," Condor said.
"Well, four days isn't the longest anyone's been missing. Periods of silence are to be expected in this business," Phantom Lady replied, trying to sound aloof and confident.
"Yes, but you were only supposed to do a simple recon mission. Instead, you apparently get on one of those planes and crash it into the ocean?"
"Hey, I wasn't looking to try a daredevil skydiving and swimming combo event when I took the mission. I just needed to see what they were doing, and one thing led to another," she said.
"Phantom Lady," Black Condor replied, "the reason you were doing this was to get us information without the Nazis knowing you did so. I find it hard to understand how killing all of your targets is conducive to that".
"Well, you weren't there, so you can't understand," Phantom Lady snapped back. "You know, I think you've been hanging around Uncle Sam for too long. I usually get that kind of flack from him, not you".
Black Condor sighed. "Yeah, I'm sorry, I got stuck with radio duty today and... we haven't seen you in a while. I- uh... we... miss you".
Phantom Lady smiled. "Thanks, Condor. I miss you too. And you don't need to apologize. Things just got out of hand. Which seems to be more common than not, but... I can explain it later".
"Right, keep it off the air unless it's an emergency. But how are you doing? Is the safe house fine?"
"Well, all things considered, I'm incredibly lucky to say I am fine, aside from being exhausted. As for the safe house, despite it clearly not having been visited for a while, it is comfortable enough".
"Good. The rest of the team had an emergency back in America, so we won't be back to get you for about a week. A lot of our other transportation helpers are busy right now too, so the best course of action will be to do nothing. You'll have to sit still for a while until we come get you," Black Condor said.
"Uh, that's not going to work for me," Phantom Lady sheepishly said.
"I'm sorry, what?" Black Condor replied.
"Yeah, I can't explain it in detail, but I need to get back out there ASAP".
"Phantom Lady, you can't," Black Condor said. "You can't keep going out there, you're-"
"I know! I know! But this is important! Something has happened. I can't get into the specifics, but I learned something on that plane. And if what the Nazis have planned actually goes through, it may be the end for all of us".
"Phantom Lady, I know we aren't supposed to talk about it over the radio, but can you be less secretive about what happened?" Black Condor asked.
Phantom Lady turned and looked at Diana. Diana was listening intently to everything Sandra was saying. Diana knew her mother didn't want anyone to know about Themyscira, and the princess was ready to enforce that wish.
"If I were to reveal all the details about what happened," Phantom Lady said, "I would be risking the safety of my source. But what I can say is that it involves Brünnhilde". Diana's eyebrows were raised.
"Brünnhilde?" asked Black Condor.
"Yeah, do you have any information regarding her, or the activities of the other Reichsmen? She's pretty new, and unfortunately, what I have here hasn't been updated since before she joined".
"Well, we're dealing with some of the Reichsmen over here, but we haven't seen Brünnhilde. As for information, we don't have anything outside of some general knowledge, which I think you know of already".
"Well, I can't wait for you to show up just to decide our next move. Do we know anyone else who can help?"
"Well, Greece is pretty cleared out, unfortunately," said Black Condor, "and the Balkans don't have anyone who is really knowledgeable of superheroes. But we could try Matteo again".
"Matteo?" Phantom Lady asked. "Matteo Di Largo? Didn't he get burned?"
"He had to lie low for a while, but he's back. He'd probably know everything you'd need to know about Brünnhilde".
"Right, then that's my next stop. I'll check in with you once we get up there and establish contact. I'm gonna get ready for the trip now".
"Alright, but Phantom Lady," Black Condor said, "please be careful".
"Don't you worry, Black Condor," Phantom Lady said sweetly, "I will be just fine. Phantom Lady signing off". Phantom Lady turned the radio off.
"Tell me, Phantom Lady, do you always act that affectionately to others? Or is he special?" Sandra turned to a smiling Diana.
"Well, he's just a very good friend," Sandra said as she blushed. "And if you want to see me go into overdrive with the pleasantries, you should see me with some of my enemies!"
"Anyway, who is this Matteo?" Diana asked.
"Matteo Di Largo is an antiquities dealer and an information broker. He's shined a light on many of Hitler's wild plans, as well as told us numerous secrets about the New Reichsmen. If anyone can give us info on Brünnhilde, it's him".
"Brünnhilde," said Diana, "is she the one who killed the Amazons?"
"...Yes," Sandra replied. "I didn't know if you knew or not".
A feeling of fear rose up inside her. It was she who destroyed the entire battalion? she thought. This feeling though was soon consumed by anger. "I didn't," she said, "but I'm ready to do battle with her".
"Okay, first things first," Sandra said, "we need to gather all the information we can, because I can't just go into a fight with someone like her and wing it. We going to talk to Matteo and see what's the deal with her. So that means, we're going to Venice".