Kaldur's POV:
"Black Manta!" Kaldur grabbed his water-bearers, which instantly shifted into swords. Tula and Garth's tattoos both started glowing. The 4 guards that were formerly guarding Kaldur'ahm were now currently unconscious.
"How'd you get in here?" Kaldur demanded. "The King has guards posted everywhere!"
Black Manta scoffed. "You'd be surprised at how poorly those guards can fight. Now, as I was saying, come with me if you want to value your friend's lives." At least a dozen of Black Manta's underwater soldiers swam up and surrounded them, their guns trained on them.
"Kaldur, don't listen to him. He's just trying to bait you!" Tula hissed.
"You think I don't know that?" Kaldur whispered back. "The only thing we can do now is fight!"
The three of them instantly split up and swam in different directions. "Take out his soldiers!" Kaldur yelled at his Atlantean friends. "I'll take Black Manta!"
"Always the clear-headed and self-sacrificing leader you always were." Black Manta shot lasers out of his eyes headed directed for Kaldur's path. Kaldur performed a barrel roll and slashed at Black Manta in the face with his swords. He dodged it and kicked Kaldur in the chest. Kaldur stumbled back. "So let me rephrase about exchanging you for you friends." He held up a Titan's communicator.
Kaldur's eyes widened. "How did you-"
"Let's just say it was easy to pickpocket when you, Robin, and the speedster kid were unconscious," he interrupted.
"What are you going to do with it?" Kaldur yelled. He was expecting Black Manta to listen and pinpoint their location, and then send his henchmen or other powerful foes to go and intercept with their search like the Brain, or-
"Let's make a new deal," Black Manta said, interrupting his thoughts. His thumb stroked the button on the communicator. "You go with me, and I will tell every single member of that kiddie team of who you really are."
Kaldur froze. "You would not dare to-"
"Oh yes I would." Black Manta sounded like he was smiling sinisterly behind his helmet, satisfied that he'll get his biological kid and bloodline returned to him. "Any funny business, and I'll tell them everything I know."
"You're lying!" Kaldur, now slightly panicked, finally managed to land a hit on Black Manta. With a surprised grunt, Black Manta went rolling back several yards onto the ocean floor.
"Kaldur!" His friends swum up to him, having taken down all of Black Manta's henchmen. Garth swam up right next to him. "Where's Black Man-"
He was cut off by a pair of red lasers narrowly missing him and Tula. Startled, both of them and Kaldur stumbled back.
"I will not be defeated that easily!" Black Manta emerged from a bush of seaweed. "You will come with me, Kaldur'ahm, or suffer the consequences of losing your friends!"
"What is he talking about?" Tula asked curiously as she conjured up a glowing form of a shark and sent if charging in Black Manta's direction. Black Manta swam up and over and extinguished the magical creature with a blast of his lasers.
Kaldur angrily created a bazooka and started blasting missiles at his father. "He is trying to blackmail me into coming with him by threatening to confess my true bloodline to the Teen Titans."
"No!" Garth exclaimed as he sent a water tornado spiraling towards Black Manta. "Don't listen to him! If the Teen Titans are your true friends as you had so claimed, then they wouldn't care who your father was! There's no reason to taken prisoner!"
"Indeed," he murmured, thinking of Raven and her father issues with the demon Trigon. He knew that he had destroyed ten thousand worlds, while Black Manta had only killed dozens of Atlanteans. But still, he couldn't help but feel uneasy. He remembered how they were pressuring him and the others back at Mount Justice to spill their secrets. What if the Titans didn't trust them now because they've noticed they've kept secrets from them and starting to realize that they didn't know him and the others at all. What if they judged him to be like Black Manta, so secretive, so serious, so-
"Kaldur, look out!" he heard Tula yell. Black Manta was headed straight for him. Quick as Superboy's temper, Kaldur turned his bazooka into a pair of hammers and struck his father in the face.
Kaldur pressed his comm link. "Aqualad to anyone, we're under attack! Black Manta has ambushed us with his henchmen! More may be on the way! Please, come here as fast as possible!"
Black Manta took his distraction as an advantage and tackled him. Garth and Tula moved to intervene, but they didn't need to. A blue ray shot out and hit Black Manta on the shoulder.
"Urgh! What-" He turned and saw the guards standing up. They've all gained consciousness and aimed their rod-tipped spears at him.
"You all get out of here now!" Kaldur ordered. "Black Manta is too powerful! Go and save yourselves at once!"
"No can do, soldier. We leave no Atlantean behind. You all go and alert the king!"
"They have a point," Garth said. "They're risking their lives to protect you. Don't let their sacrifices be in vain!"
Aqualad hesitated. "Very well," he sighed, and he turned and swam away as fast as he could, with Garth and Tula trailing behind him, back to Poiseidonis.
I'll be leaving for vacation for Christmas, for about 4 nights, starting Saturday! Please bear with me if I don't start updating as much! Where we're going doesn't have a lot of Internet access. See you all later! ;)
