This basically came from my desire to write something about Black Manta and Kaldur's relationship, as well as write something SeaArrow (though it didn't really end up all that SeaArrow)
I seem to have acquired an unhealthy habit of torturing fictional characters. *smiles deviously*
Kaldur knows something's wrong when a loud pounding on his bedroom door wakes him up rather than the alarm wired into the ship's intercom. The alarm has always gone off at exactly 6:00 AM without fail, until today. The clock next to him reads 6:46, he's woken up nearly an hour late. He's expecting whoever's at the door will tell him off for oversleeping, instead it's Artemis, looking disheveled and worried.
"Kaldur, they're gone, everyone's gone." She talks so fast he can barely understand a word she says.
"Tigress, what do you mean they're gone?" He asks.
"I mean gone. All of the men are gone. I can't find them anywhere."
"They can't be. We're in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, where could they possibly be that isn't on this ship?"
"I don't know, but I've looked everywhere for them, the barracks, the mess hall, the boiler room, the gym. The only place I didn't check was Manta's private quarters, and I highly doubt they're in there." The only way anyone could enter Manta's quarters was by special invitation, and he almost never gave them out to common foot soldiers. The odds of all forty men on board being there was about the same as Manta inviting the entire Justice League in.
"Did you try the navigation room?" He suggests, thinking of more possible places they could be.
"No, but Kaldur, there's no way forty people could fit in the navigation room."
"Well, let me help you look." He says, frantically putting his armor over his pajamas. "They've got to be somewhere."
They run through the corridor down to the navigation room, to the surprise of neither of them, it's empty.
"Are you sure they aren't anywhere else?" Kaldur asks desperately.
"I'm sure." Artemis heaves a heavy sigh, ruffling her hair back with her hand, "How do you lose forty soldiers?"
"I don't know, but it's not our fault."
"Could they have left when we docked last night?" They stopped in Miami last night. Manta said he had some business to take care of, not going into much detail. He and Artemis had snuck off board to meet Nightwing for a strategy meeting, and to have M'gann apologize relentlessly for lobotomizing him.
Technically, nobody was allowed off ship when they docked, unless given orders by Manta, but that was a rule just about everyone broke. Kaldur couldn't even begin to count the number of times half the men showed up drunk or hung over to training the next day because they went out and got wasted the night before.
"Doubtful, they know the punishment for mutiny." Even the most drunken soldier knows better than to miss call. In the months he'd been aboard, Kaldur can only think of one man who ran away when the ship was docked. He was dead three days later.
"But with forty of them, maybe they thought there was strength in numbers?"
"Black Manta has thousands of soldiers at his disposal. They could easily take care of forty men. No, no, a mass mutiny would've been organized, and they couldn't have kept that a secret from us."
"Well they aren't here, what other explanation is there? Forty people just don't vanish into thin air."
"Forty people don't just commit mutiny for no reason either. They've got to be on board somewhere."
"Attention Kaldur'ahm." It's Black Manta speaking over the intercom, his voice resonates throughout the room, "report to my quarters immediately."
Artemis groans, "We are in so much trouble."
"We had nothing to do with it. I'll be sure to let him know that. In the meantime, keep looking; they have to be here somewhere."
He hears her scoff at him as he walks away, "Where else do you want me to look, the broom closet?"
Ever since Psimon woke him from his coma, he knew this meeting was coming, and honestly, he'd been wondering what was taking it so long. Psimon had surely discovered he was a double agent, and he doubted The Light would want him around much longer. He wanted to hope he was wrong, that Manta just wanted to talk strategy over breakfast, but he knew that wasn't the case.
"Thank you for coming Kaldur'ahm." Manta says as he closes the door, his face is on one of the large screens that he usually uses to talk to The Light. He's obviously not on board. Kaldur notices that much of the furniture in his father's room is missing, and he's not quite sure why.
"Father," he begins, "All of the men on board have gone missing, Tigress and I are not sure why."
"I know, I ordered them all to leave last night when we docked."
"How come?" Kaldur asks confused. If there was some sort of strategy to this, he would have heard about it.
"Because," He exhales, "The Light no longer sees any use in you and Artemis. This ship is set to self-destruct at 7 AM."
He checks his watch, 6:51. Nine minutes before the ship blows.
"You seem remarkably unfazed by this news."
"I knew this was coming sooner or later."
"That's my boy, looking danger straight in the eye."
"Thank you." He says unsurely, not sure he wants to accept the compliment.
"Kaldur'ahm, look to the left, at the hangar door." He does as he says, and sees the door lowering, "The rest of The Light may want you dead, but I don't. I'm on a small flyer outside the ship, waiting to take you away."
"Is this some sort of trap?" He asks suspiciously. It wouldn't be unlike his father to pretend to rescue him, only to arrange a more painful death somewhere else.
"No, of course it isn't."
"Then why do you want to rescue me?"
His eyes go soft, "Because you're my son. I'll never understand what it is that draws you toward heroism, but it doesn't matter. I can't just sit here and let my boy die." He sounds downright caring as he says it. Kaldur doesn't want to believe it. He wants to hate him, but he can't. Even after learning all his affections towards him were fake, his father, one of the cruelest men on the planet, still loves him unconditionally.
"Alright, I'll go with you."
He smiles broadly, "I knew you would."
"Just let me go back and get Artemis."
The smile fades, "Kaldur'ahm, I only have room for you aboard my ship."
"Father, no ship you have is that small, surely we can make room."
"I only have room for you." He repeats, slower this time.
Kaldur narrows his eyes, "I see. In that case, I appreciate your offer to rescue me, but I'm going to have to turn you down."
"What?!" He rages, "Kaldur'ahm you cannot be serious!"
"I'm not leaving Artemis behind."
"I'm not saving any daughter of Sportsmaster. If anything he deserves the death of his daughter. After all, he tried to kill me during our last confrontation. It would serve him right." He hisses coldly.
"Revenge? That's your reasoning for letting Artemis die? She is not her father, and she shouldn't be used as some pawn in your war against him."
"Your attachment to her is stupid. Do you know how much I risked coming back to save you? I could be killed for my actions."
"Well I'm afraid you risked it all for naught. I'm not going with you."
"You're going to die here then. Is that what you want? I've sealed all the exits, there's no way out except with me."
"Goodbye Father." He says coldly, almost as cold as his father sounded.
"Kaldur'ahm, get back here! Kaldur'ahm!"
"Goodbye." The door closes behind him as he leaves.
Black Manta pounds his fist on the dashboard, "Goddamn it Kaldur'ahm. You could've been amazing. You could've been a star. Goddamn it."
Kaldur hears none of this, as he's running furiously through the ship, "Artemis! Artemis!" he calls, he has to find her.
"Kaldur, what are you doing shouting my real name all over the ship?" She says, running toward him.
"It doesn't matter anymore. We're the only ones here."
"So they are gone. Did Manta say where they were? And what's wrong Kaldur?" She asks, noticing the panicked expression on his face.
There's no point keeping it from her, "Manta ordered them off. The Light's ordered our deaths. This ship is set to self-destruct in," he checks his watch, "two minutes and 37 seconds."
"Oh," Whatever she was expecting him to say it wasn't that, "I knew it was only a matter of time until the finished us off, but it still hits like a ton of bricks."
"Yeah, it does." He says, remembering the sinking feeling in his stomach when his father told him.
"Do me a favor," She says, turning around and lifting her hair, "take off my pendant."
He unties the knot keeping the necklace together, and hands it back to Artemis. She takes it and hurls it at a wall, smiling with great satisfaction as it shatters into a thousand pieces.
She removes her mask, dropping it on the floor and kicking it away. She rips off her gloves next, then her shoes and socks. Kaldur notes the emerald green nail polish on her toes, a reminder of who she is.
"Artemis, what are you doing?" He asks.
"If I'm going to die, I want to do it as myself. Not Tigress." She continues stripping down until she's wearing a sports bra and a pair of black, spandex shorts. He follows her lead, taking off his armor so he's only in his pajamas.
"What else did Manta want?" she asks, "That meeting took a lot longer than just 'this ship is gonna blow'."
"He-" Kaldur hesitates, at first not sure he wants to tell Artemis this part, but he decides there's no reason to hide it, "He offered to smuggle me off the ship, but I turned him down."
"Are you crazy? You could have saved yourself, and you turned it down."
"I spend the rest of my life in debt to my father, I couldn't live with that. And I'd be leaving you to die alone. He wasn't going to save you."
"You should've forgotten about me." She mutters quietly.
"I couldn't do that. You're my friend, and I wasn't going to leave you begind."
"Well, I guess if it were me, I would have done the same thing."
"I have no doubts you would."
"You're so brave Kaldur." She says suddenly, he's taken aback by the compliment.
"I'm no braver than you are."
"Oh that's not true, you're braver than all of us. Look at everything you've done, everything you've sacrificed."
"I've sacrificed nothing more than you have Artemis. For all of my brave deeds, you've been there right beside me. Let's not make a contest out of this."
"But if it was a contest you'd win. How much longer do we have?"
He checks his watch, "Fifteen seconds."
She smiles, "You know Kaldur, dying with you isn't so bad."
He takes her by the waist; she wraps her arms around his neck. They hold each other tightly, close enough to feel their hearts racing, waiting for it all to end.
Five
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One.