Chapter 22: Down Under
Poseidonis
August 27, 19:36 UTC-2
"Recognized – Kyle Rayner B04, White Canary B08."
Coming out of the zeta tube, Kyle and I step – or paddle – our way into the city of Poseidonis. Kyle's GL ring helps him not only breath underwater, but also helps him manage with so much pressure we're dealing with underwater. As for me, Kyle gave me a rebreather for oxygen, and luckily, I've been trained to handle this kind of underwater pressure. One of the benefits of my training before Dinah.
"I hope the suit isn't too tight or uncomfortable for you", he says, wearing himself a one piece green swim suit, still showing his arms and legs. Courtesy of one GL ring. What can't that ring make for him?
"No, this is fine." I look down to myself, reflecting the white swim top and shorts I bought myself before we left for under the sea. And by some chance, it's in white. I know, I know. It's not like they had many options for colors.
"You sure the pressure isn't getting to you?"
"Yeah right! I've dived just as deep as this. I'll be fine. You just hope you're ring doesn't give out while we're down here. I would hate for you to drown down here."
"Yeah, me too", he says with a warry tone as he looks to his ring.
"Where do you think Kaldur will be?", I ask him.
"I'm not sure", he answers. "But I'm sure someone will know. We can ask some—"
Kyle's sentence becomes unfinished due to the sound of a large explosion and that shaking feeling from the building. "What the hell was that?"
"I don't know. Let's go see", I say swimming at top speed to get out of the building. Kyle follows swiftly. When we get to the outside, we're horrified to see what lies before us.
Pillows of smoke flowing from buildings. Outside forces with weapons attacking royal guards. Houses destroyed. Guards and civilians injured, badly. Atlantis under attack.
"This is bad. Really bad."
"Yeah, no shit", I say. "This is a well planned, strategic attack. Whoever's doing this knew where to strike and how badly. It looks like Aqualad called you to help him stop this attack."
"Then it's a good thing I brought a good partner to back me up", he says back to me. A good partner.
"We have to find Aqualad. Where would he most likely be? Leading the charge against the enemy?"
No, that's too brazen for Kaldur. He'd do his best to protect anyone being targeted by these forces.
"The royal family!", I conclude. "Whatever these guys are here for, they'll most likely be gunning for the king and queen too."
"If Aquaman is here. Last I heard, he was on land handling League business." Attacking while Aquaman is gone from Atlantis? They definitely planned for this to happen today.
"Come on, Rayner!", I say as we start swimming top speed in search for our friend.
Not more than five minutes, we come across a squad of enemy forces firing on royal guards, along with a group of Atlantean civilians behind them. I bring out my bo staff from my side and extend it, readying it for battle. What? A girl should always be prepared for a fight.
Kyle swims ahead while I veer to my left to sneak behind them. Kyle creates a barrier construct in front of the guards, positioning himself between the royals and the rogues. "Stay behind me and get them to safety", Kyle referring to the innocents.
The firing squad keep firing their way towards Kyle, him giving them their full attention. These combatants, there's about five of them. They're all dressed in black suits, with red lining running through the suits. They're armed with fast firing blasters, probably more lethal than they look. So am I.
I make my way to the shooter at my far right and slam my staff into his right side, sending him to the shooter to his left. With a throwing star in hand, I aim it at the second's weapon. It hits it mark, the weapon frying from the short circuit. Before he can make a move, I punch him in the gut, then headbutt him and finally punch him again in the face.
By this time, the other three shooters have seen me and start to aim for me now. Kyle makes a giant hand construct and grabs for one of the shooters, squeezing him into submission.
I break my staff in two and start deflecting their shots one after another. One of them gets a shot on me, just on the shoulder. Turning, I throw my staffs at both of them. One staff hits the shooter farthest from me dead on the helmet, the other getting it in the stomach. Before he can recover, I swim up and bring my foot down on top of his head, forcing him to the sea floor.
As for the last one, I grab him by the shoulder and punch his helmet hard enough for the glass to break, showing me the face of an Atlantean. An Atlantean attacking his own people. So wrong on so many levels.
"Who's behind the attack? What's your target?" But he only replies with a headbutt of his own, sending me back a foot or two. He brings out a knife, and my staffs are floating below me. Guess I'll make do with what I have.
The Atlantean lunges towards me. I dodge his knife, moving to my right. I grab his arm before he can make another strike on me. I raise my right arm as he tries to punch me, my arm taking the blows. Getting worn out, I twist his arm a bit backwards, hearing a crunch as it moves. He groans in pain. I twist his arm again until it twists no longer.
With the Atlantean no longer a threat, I release my grip on him. I descend to my staffs, then swimming back up, with Kyle waiting for me. But he has this shocked look on his face.
"Kyle? What's wrong?" I ask him.
"That was pretty brutal, Sara."
"Sometimes brutality is necessary. Don't you think?"
"Yeah, sometimes…" Great, just when he was warming up to me. Way to go, Sara.
"Come on, we're wasting time. We still need to find Aqualad."
"I got some information from the guards. I think I know where he might be."
I knew Sara was tough as nails and intense, but seeing her break that guy's arm like a twig. That was pretty harsh, very brutal. Sometimes brutality is necessary. Sometimes, yeah. But hopefully Sara won't be that brutal too often when on missions.
We make our way to the entrance of the palace, which is in view now. From what we can see, there are multiple enemy combatants firing upon what looks like a watery-construct of a giant octopus. It seems to be picking off the soldiers and tossing them into the ocean as if they were trash.
I'm not too familiar with Atlantean magic, but from what Aqualad has told and shown me, it kind of works in the same manner as my ring. With how great of magic you mastered, you can create water based constructs of your own, like how Kaldur does with his water bearers. Only difference is he draws on water for that. With this, I'm pretty sure they draw from magic within.
Getting in closer view, I now see a woman at the center of the giant octopus. The woman is red haired and green eyed. She wears green Atlantean garments, as well as a golden tiara upon her head. That must be Queen Mera. She also has blue glowing markings on her arms and face. Guess we know who's controlling the giant octopus then.
I also see another Atlantean, firing upon the enemies. He wears red and black Atlantean wear and a gold collar, with black hair and blue eyes. I also spot a young girl lying next to the queen as well. She looks around my age, red haired, wearing a yellow and blue one piece. I hope she's not hurt too bad.
But I don't see Kaldur anywhere here. Wherever he is, no doubt he's fighting back and doing what he can to save his home.
"You ready to join the fray?"
"Born ready, Rayner!", she answers with staff in hand. Sara swims ahead, striking down a combatant.
I create myself a shark construct and grab it by the fin. I lead it into the battle, dodging the tentacles and grabbing a soldier by the teeth. The shark rattles him for a few seconds and throws him to the side. I blast him with an energy blast, knocking him several feet away. I head my way to the outskirts, letting go of the shark and having it chomp on another soldier.
I see Sara on the ground, knocking enemies back and about with her staff. I descend to the ground too, making myself a shield for defense and offense. I ram it up against another soldier. I make a spring construct right under his feet. It launches, sending him up in the air for a tentacle to grab him like a claw machine.
I spot an enemy combatant aiming a shot for the queen and the girl. "NO!" I make my way to the combatant and push him away as he fires the shot. Thankfully, it only hit the octopus and not the others. I punch the jerk right in the jaw, then blast him full on with my ring, sending him back several feet.
I swim on down to the center of the battle, landing and kneeling right next to the girl. She doesn't look injured from the blast. Thank god.
"Who are you?" I look up to find the question coming from the queen herself. "Answer me, outsider!"
I stand up with my hands in the air. "Your Majesty, I mean you no harm. My name is Kyle Rayner and I come from the surface world. I'm allies and friends with both Aquaman and Aqualad."
"Kaldur?" The young girl says my friends name. "You and Kaldur are friends?"
I kneel back down to meet her. "Yes I am." I point to Sara in the field, "My friend and I are looking for him." I look up to the queen this time. "Do you know where he is?"
"He made way for the Observatory", she says pointing to a building north of us. "Garth went after him as well."
"Do you know what they're here for?"
"No, but whatever it may be, they will not get it."
The girl groans in pain, holding her chest tight. I bring my fist to her chest. My ring glows in front of her, taking overview of her. "She's okay, just reeling from the pain. Just keep her put and she'll be fine." The queen nods in response to my request.
"Please", the girl says, "find Kaldur and Garth. Help them."
"I will. I promise you…"
"Tula." Tula.
"I promise you, Tula, I'll bring our friends back." I stand up and back away slowly. I turn around and wade my way through the battlefield.
I swim over by Sara, who's still knocking heads in. "Sara!" She looks up to me. "Kaldur's at the Observatory", I say pointing to the building north of here. "I'm gonna go help him. You good here?"
"Don't worry about me, just get to Kaldur!" I nod in response, swimming at top speed to get to my leader and friend.
As Kyle makes his way to the Observatory, I continue to beat on these Atlantean traitors. I sidekick one in the side, sending them into another. I then smack both of them on the head with my staffs.
The last few soldiers take their aim at the queen and the girl next to her. I run my way to them and jump over the soldiers. I take my fighting stance against them. "If you want to get to your highness, you'll have to go through me."
"Leave me be, surface dweller! I need no protection", the queen says.
"You don't, but what about her?", I say referring to her weakened friend. "Sometimes it's not about if we can handle fights on our own. Do your job and protect your people."
The queen moves over to the girl, but she takes her hand and moves over to me. She takes her own fighting stance as well.
"What are you doing?"
"Protecting my queen."
"No offense, but I don't think you're in the best condition to be in a fight."
"I am an Atlantean, and I will defend my home to my last breath!" Courageous and reckless. My type of girl.
The gunmen start firing at us. I deflect their blasts with my staffs, while the girl creates a water shield in front of her. She then creates a water whip and lashes it onto the gunmen, hitting several of them.
I reattach my staffs back together and twirl it like a baton, striking more gunmen across the chest and faces. I stomp one on the foot, then bring it back up to their chin. I gently tap him on the chest, and he falls flat on the ground. Classic.
The girl creates two spherical water attacks and throws them at the remaining gunmen, blowing them away like their nothing. She then sends an arc of water towards them again, making sure they stay down.
One gunmen sneaks behind the girl, placing his gun right against her back. "Any last words?"
"I got some", I say behind him. He turns my way as my fist crashes into his face. The girl sweeps his feet, knocking him off balance. I knee in him the gut, while she kicks him in the face. Finally, both of us hold our hands together and slam onto his back, making sure he doesn't get back up.
Finished with our brawl, I look to the girl, who doesn't look so weak anymore. Confident, strong, courageous, loyal. I definitely want this girl on my side in a fight.
I bring my hand out to meet hers. "Sara Lance."
She meets my hand with her own, gripping it tight. "Tula."
"I'm glad I got the chance to see what you're made of."
"And why is that?"
"Cause I think I want to spare with you myself once all this is over with."
As I get closer to the Observatory, I see a giant submarine ship above the building. It has a cable line sent below into the building. Someone's trying to take something from the Observatory. Something big.
Getting closer to the building, more enemies come swarming my way. Time to take a note from the queen. I create a giant squid construct, about the size of the building. I have it grab all the soldiers with its tentacles, squeezing them tight. I then have the squid turn upside and spin faster and faster, like a carnival ride that would make you sick. No doubt these guys are getting sick. Finally, I have the squid throw the enemies down to the sea floor, slamming them hard into the ground.
Looking up to the Observatory, the cable is almost reeled in completely. Attached to it is an iceberg, with something inside of it. I create a buzzsaw construct and send it flying to the cable. It snaps in half, dropping the iceberg back into the room.
Finally reaching the Observatory, I ready my ring to strike the sub ship above me. But before I do, someone from below distracts me for a second. "If I can't have it, no one can!" What comes next is an explosion from within the observatory, sending glass my way. Quickly, I make a wall construct to shield myself from the glass.
By the time I shake off the explosion, the ship is already speeding out of Atlantis. I'm about to shoot at it until I remember. "Kaldur!"
I dive into the Observatory to find the place trashed, shrapnel and metal all over the place. Fortunately, Kaldur and Garth are safe on the ground. I swim down to both of them. "Kaldur", I say as he sees me coming his way.
"Kyle", he says back, "you made it. I was afraid your alert system failed to work."
"Hey, my constructs never fail those who need it", I say with a cocky smile.
"I take it this is a friend from the surface world?", Garth says.
"Yes. Allow me to introduce Kyle Rayner, a Green Lantern of Earth and my teammate. Kyle, this is my oldest friend, Garth."
Garth brings his hand out to me. "It is an honor to meet you, Kyle Rayner."
"The honor is mine", I say as I grab a hold of his hand, gripping it tightly. "And thank you for having Kaldur's back when I wasn't here."
Garth looks to Kaldur, then looks back to me. "I will always stand by Kaldur'ahm." Tula and Garth. Kaldur's got great friends in Atlantis.
Poseidonis
August 28, 23:54 UTC-2
After the attack on Atlantis ended, the royal guards collected what remained of Black Manta's forces. About a dozen or so. Hopefully they can give us something on Manta himself. Black Manta ended up getting away. The guards and Kyle tried to follow his trail, but it was too cold. At least he didn't get what he was here for. Too bad he had to be a sore loser and blew it to bits.
Kyle and I decided to stay and help the city in any way we could. We both knew we couldn't leave Atlantis after Manta had caused so much damage. And we certainly weren't going leave Kaldur to deal with this without us.
Kyle's been helping the guards piece some of the buildings together, as well as clearing the rubble that couldn't be fixed. Me, I've been helping – well, more like assisting – the Atlantean healers and the queen herself tend to the wounded. There's at least twenty or more people injured, and that's from the chaos and falling debris. There are others who need healing from being attacked by Manta's men.
Right now, I'm outside the palace, taking a breather for a quick moment. As I do, more injured are being brought in by guards. Seeing these people go through this, being hurt and almost killed even at their home. And by their own people nonetheless. It makes me wish I could do more to help them. To stop it from happening. Even makes me wonder... If Kyle and I hadn't come, would the damage to the city and its citizens be worse? Would we healing more or even be burying…
"Sara!" A voice calls me as they place a hand on my shoulder, shaking my daze away. I turn around to see that the voice and hand belong to Tula.
"What're you doing? You should be resting more after all of this."
"I've rested enough, and I feel well enough to be standing. But I came over to see if you were okay. You looked as if you were in pain yourself."
"Oh no, I'm fine."
"Then how come you have tears in your eyes?"
I place my hands over my eyes, wiping them of my tears. I didn't even notice I was crying. "I guess I feel more sorrow for your people than I thought."
"From what Kaldur has told me about you, I never expected to see the White Canary in tears", Tula says to me.
"Let me guess, you think it's a sign of weakness", I say with my back turned to her.
"No", as she moves to face me. "I see it as a sign of care and compassion. I've seen you in battle, Sara. You are strong and confident. But now I can see that you are compassionate and saddened by what has happened here. It tells me that you hurt when others are hurt. Love and care can make you stronger just as much as training and combat can."
As Tula speaks, I'm left stunned by her words. The young girl, a warrior on the battlefield, is talking about kindness and love as if it's second nature to her. Not only is she a great fighter, but she is an even greater friend. Kaldur is lucky to have her in his life.
"Thank you, Tula."
And she pulls one more stunt I don't see coming. She gives me a hug. "You're most welcome, Sara." She hardly knows me and she's already hugging me. Makes me wonder what she does to close friends.
She pulls herself away from me. "Something tells me you're speaking from experience. Someone you love…"
Her face starts to turn red as I mention the 'L' word. "There is someone I care for… Very much…"
"Well spill, who is he?"
Before she can answer, we're joined by Kaldur and Garth, another childhood friend of his. Garth looks to be in good fit condition. Black hair, violet eyes, wearing a black, grey and blue-lined Atlantean outfit. Kyle told me that Garth helped Kaldur fight Black Manta. If he's got Kaldur's back in a fight, he's okay in my book.
"Tula!", Garth says, swimming over to her. "You shouldn't be out of bed. You still haven't recovered from the attack today."
"I'm fine, Garth. I'm tired of being refined to rest. I need to help our people."
"You will", Kaldur says, "but you still need to heal from your injury. Sleep for tonight, then if you're well enough, Mera can put you to work." Tula has this disdained look in her face, not wanting to do as suggested.
Tula raises her face to Garth, having his attention. "Tula, please. Do this for me." Where there was defiance in her eyes, now there is only sadness and care. I think I have my answer.
She sighs heavily, bringing her head level. "Okay, I will take more rest for the night."
"Good. I'll take you back to your room." They turn to face the palace entrance and make their way to the entrance. Soon after, Garth stops and turns back around. "Sara Lance." Calling my name gets him my full attention. "Thank you again for protecting the queen… and Tula. I don't know what I'd do if anything had happened to her."
"It was no problem, Garth. Besides, she didn't need much protecting from me", I say with a smile to Tula. And with that, they leave for the palace entrance.
I turn to Kaldur, but before I can say anything, I see the look on his face. It's filled with sadness and sorrow. But not for the attack. For something else… Someone… Tula… Oh Kaldur.
I place my hand on his shoulder, try to ease his mind if I can. "Kaldur, are you okay?"
My voice seems to shake him out of trance, him facing to me now. "Yes. I will be fine." I hope so.
"Hey guys!" We turn to our left to see Kyle swimming his way to us. He stops right in front of us. "All of the debris is cleared of the city. Should make rebuilding much easier."
"Thank you again, both of you", Kaldur says to us. "If you had not come, this attack on Atlantis could have been far worse."
"I'm just glad I gave you that alert beacon construct. Otherwise we would've never had any reason to come give you a hand."
"You might have to give me one of those too, Rayner", I say to him.
"What would you need to call me in for?"
"If I'm ever in a fight I can't get out of by myself. Or if I want you to pick me up a pizza super fast."
"Since when did I go from being a superhero to a delivery boy?"
"Hey, with how you fly so fast, you could be making loads of cash." Our bickering, apparently, is able to make Kaldur laugh at us. "Glad to see you smiling, Kaldur. Now I know how to. Just annoy Kyle in front of you", I say as he gives me an irritated look.
"Nevermind that. Do we know what Black Manta was trying to steal?"
"Yes", Kaldur answers. "The Science Center was studying a creature that had been frozen in a block of ice for millennia. We don't know why Manta would be interested in something so peculiar."
"Maybe he wanted to see it on the black market", I say.
"Perhaps. But Manta nearly destroyed the creature when he knew we were not going to let him take it."
"Nearly destroyed? When I found you and Garth in the Observatory, I didn't see anything left of what could've been in ice."
"Yes, well luckily, there was a small piece of the creature left remaining from the explosion. Dr. Vulko has informed me that it is even regenerating itself."
"You're kidding! How?" I ask.
"We do not know. We would do more extensive research on the remains, but our attention needs to remain on rebuilding the city."
"It should. Maybe S.T.A.R. Labs could take a look at it. They'd be more than happy to examine this creature if your scientists would let them", Kyle suggests.
"That is true. I will tell Dr. Vulko and Aquaman of your idea" Kaldur says. "Now, I believe it's getting late on the surface world. You two should go home."
"We don't want to leave!", I say to my leader. "We can help you rebuild the city and aid the injured."
"I appreciate the two of you staying to help this long, I do. But we will be able to manage this crisis on our own."
"We should at least wait until Aquaman gets back", Kyle suggests. "I wouldn't feel right leaving his home and people until he's here."
"Prince Orm and the guards fixed the communications as soon as Manta retreated from the city. Aquaman should be here any minute by now, if he is finished with the League by now."
"I just feel bad for leaving this amazing city and its people like this. I just want to…" I look down to the water and floor below me. But Kaldur's strong hands grabbing for my shoulders raise my head up to face him.
"Sara", Kaldur says to me, "I know how you feel, I do. But you and Kyle have already done enough. As much as we want to, we cannot fix every problem that comes our way. But what we can do is the best with what and who we have with us. And right now, you look like you're about to pass out from a lack of sleep."
As much as I don't want to admit it, he's right. It's probably midnight by now and I haven't slept since this morning before our last mission. And plus, Dinah is probably worried sick about me, if she's at home waiting. I wouldn't want to keep her up all night because of me. Same goes for Kyle. He's probably dead tired too, though he'll never admit it. And I don't want him to feel like he needs to stay too. We can't do everything, no matter how much we want to.
"Okay Kaldur, you win", I say to him. "We'll go home. Just promise that you make sure that you'll let us know if you need anything, I mean anything."
"I promise, to both of you", he says looking at us both, "you and the others will be the first to know."
I back up next to Kyle, who looks at me with a tired expression. "Come on Rayner, let's go."
We start making our way to the zeta tube, but Kyle turns around and asks Kaldur a good question. "When should we expect you back? You are still coming back right?" I look to Kyle, then back to Kaldur. Why wouldn't he be coming back?
Kaldur looks at us and stays silent, which feels like a good five minutes when, really, it's just one. He finally speaks. "It should only be a few days. Once Atlantis is safe and whole again, I will return to our friends."
"Glad to hear it, buddy", he says.
"And hey", I say to him, "you should bring Tula and Garth sometime. The others would like to meet them for sure. Plus, I want to see how I do against Tula."
He smiles at the idea of me fighting with his childhood friend. "I'll let them know what you think." He then turns and swims his way into the palace.
We swim our way too, heading for the zeta tube. "Hey, what was that about Kaldur coming back? Is he staying in Atlantis longer than he says?"
"No", Kyle says. "He thought about it, which is why he came down here. He wanted to find his answer as to where he belonged."
"I guess he found it. You're still giving me an alert construct, right?"
"And if I don't?" He says coyly.
"I'll put you in a headlock until you do."
"Just try me, Songbird." Annoying and charming at the same time. Yet somehow, he pulls it off. I'll never know how.
"I was unable to secure the objective and was forced to execute Plan B", Black Manta says.
"You did well. Everything falls into place."