Chapter 22: Dinner And A Show

As soon as we touched down in the city (all the ships went back to their spots and became buildings again), we took care of sending the monsters back to The Kraken Dimension. Apparently you had to send the monsters back exactly where you took them out, and seal the dimensional rift. So many monsters escaped the dimension due to not properly locking the door. After that was done, everyone, soldiers and civilians, flooded to the palace for some royal wining and dining. Atlantis was freakin' huge, and even Allyson, who witnessed first hand that the palace was much bigger on the inside, got worried.

"Don't worry," I told her. "The magic on the palace can expand and detract as needed. We'll be fine."

"And you know that how?" she asked me.

"Namor and I exchanged memories. I know Atlantis just as much as he does."

"Ok. Not the weirdest thing i've heard all day; I'll go with it."

I laughed at her, and we caught up with Grant (who was flirting with two Atlantean chicks). From there, it took about five minutes to swim to the palace, get through the entrance, and make our way through the Labyrinth of a castle to the dining room.

Gotta admit, this place was a legit place to eat. The room was big enough to easily seat the Atlantean population (literally 24 million people!), so nobody was left out. Everyone quickly found a seat at the hundreds of thousands of tables in this ridiculously oversized dining room (teleportation tech helped with distance troubles). As the guests of honor, me, Grant, and Allyson were offered a seat at the head table made completely of crystal. Namorita and Oroco also joined us at the table,(Namor conjured up an extra seat for them).

"Damn!" Grant thought to me and Allyson (the roar of the Atlantean public was too loud to talk over) "You could host the Super Bowl, WrestleMania, The Olympics, and FIFA in here!"

"You're telling me!" Allyson thought. "It wasn't even half this big when I….uh, nevermind."

Her face did something weird. For the first time she looked frustrated with herself. She was biting her lips, her eyebrows were furrowed, and she had a mix of guilt and anger on her face. Whether it was because of what she did here, or what she saw in the Trench, Allyson was uncharacteristically held back.

"It's because of the space-time magic," I thought to her and Grant. "Basically, the palace was designed to be both a living space, and a refuge zone if needed. The spell is tied to Namor's trident, so he can will the space in the palace to increase and decrease at will."

"And how do you know so much about the inner workings of a place you've never been to, bro?" Grant responded.

"Me and Namor magically exchanged memories with each other."

"You mean like when Roger and Stan learned everything about each other on American Dad?!"

"Yeah. But with 100% less anal probing."

That earned a good laugh outta both of them! We talked and joked for a bit; until the water in the throne room started to decrease. Yeah, there were these weird multicolored giant jell balls all across the room, whose actual purpose wasn't to look pretty. Instead, they absorbed all the water in the room with tech/magic similar to what enabled 24 million Atlanteans to be in the royal palace all at once. Hell, if you jumped into one, there would probably be enough water inside to keep several hundreds of thousands whales inside with ample room to spare. Don't worry about the Atlanteans tho. They could survive for at least a few hours without water. Besides, while the water was completely drained, the orbs were keeping the air moist enough to where they wouldn't be in danger of drying up. Of course Grant and Allyson made fun of me after I explained this to them.

"Go on, Hermione," Allyson mocked me. "You sure you're not a Ravenclaw?"

"You don't even know what house i'm in!" I shot back at her.

"You are a Slytherin if I ever saw one!"

"Show's what you know! In all the tests I take, i'm mostly Gryffindor; sometimes Hufflepuff!"

"Gryffindor pride over here, son!" Grant mentally roared."

"Of course you'd get that, Grant," Allyson thought to him. "Me on the other hand? I'm Pottermore certified Hufflepuff! And you two?"

Dead silence from me and Grant (guess He didn't get the red and gold lion from Rowling either).

"I'm sorry?" Allyson continued. "Can't hear you all that well. Lemme guess. You, Jason, are a Hufflepuff, and while I can't place you, Grant, the very thought of you not being Gryffindor shatters your soul."

Again. Dead silence.

"Ok, first off," I said after half a second of awkward table starring. "The test on Pottermore gives you bits and pieces of the full questions!"

"Yeah!" Grant spoke up. "I took the full test, and totally-"

The sound of a conch horn echoed across the room, and everyone went silent. Namor stood up, and everyone else followed suit. Not wanting to be rude, me and my friends went along with it (we were gonna handle that sorting nonsense later tho).

"Citizens of Atlantis!" Namor's voice magically resounded over the massive hall. "Today is a great day for our nation! We have crushed the Attuma's army, banished the witch, Llyra, and all who sided with her, into the depths of the Nethertrench! By Neptune's grace, may they never return. Most importantly, we have emerged not just victorious over our enemies, but have been reborn beyond our wildest dreams! By the glory of Neptune, we will charge forward into a new golden age of power and expansion! The seas will be ours again! NOTHING WILL STOP US!

The roar of 24 million Atlanteans trampled my ear drums, until Namor raised his hand for them to shut up. Chalices filled with bluish/purple liquid materialized for everyone in the room (more on that later), and Namor lifted his for a toast. Me and the team weren't exactly too keen on drinking Atlantean alcohol, but I assured them it was safe for even normal humans to drink. Besides, my metabolism was way too high for me to get drunk, Grant assured us he couldn't get drunk anymore, and Allyson could use her Sun Healing to purge it out of her system (tho she seemed giddy to try the drink). Besides, in Atlantis there was no legal drinking age; we weren't breaking any rules.

Basically, we were doing a round of pre-feast toasts. This was familiar to me, cuz I went to a NJROTC Navy ball with Hannah Willows in Sophomore year as her date (we had fun together). First we took a to honor Poseidon, then one to honor our victory, and a last one to honor those who gave their lives in the fight against Attuma and Llyra (not everyone could be resurrected, and we lost a good bit of monsters to the Nethertrench). The drink tasted like a mix of every kind of berry ever, with a strong wine/vodka after taste. It was one hell of a chaser if you ask me (yeah, Jimmy gave me a few drinks for helping out his shop as well). I'll admit I may have enjoyed it too much, cuz by the second toast, I had damn near drained the cup. After the toasts were done, it was chow time, and let me tell ya, Atlantis knew how to eat!

Most of what was available was pretty standard sea food stuff. Giant platters of lobster, all kinds of fish, shrimp, oysters, clams, calamari, etc. Allyson freaking loved seafood, so she chowed down hard on tilapia, calamari, lobsters, fried seaweed, and fried shark. I wasn't the biggest sea food fan, and Grant was a more steak and BBQ kinda guy, but the Atlanteans prepared this stuff so good, we managed to eat well too.

By the way, if you're wondering how so much food could be prepared for so many people, here's some more techno/magic jargon for ya. Basically there were about 1,000 cooks working in the fourth dimension (think Futurama) where everything multiplied almost infinitely on itself. The cooks also used temporal technology to slow time to a crawl, and cook double as much food as was needed. Then, using some kinda dimensional converter, the food was teleported into the dining hall when it was time for feasting. In other words, Atlantis was the key to solving world hunger.

Me and Grant's favorite dish by far were the whale steaks. Again, in America this would've been super illegal, but we weren't in America. The meat was tenderized with this special type of ground kelp spice, and marinated in some type of mineral water, that made the steak taste sweet and spicy. It kinda reminded me of Chinese chicken, with a hint of pork chops. This by far was the most normal thing Atlanteans ate. Everything else were either sushi (which none of us touched), and pudding-like substances that glowed all different kinds of colors. Most of the puddings were edible, but I advised against eating more than a few spoonfuls. Fast metabolism or not, this stuff was not gonna gel with our stomachs. I tried the blue pudding, which tasted like pure yogurt salt (not good). After forcing myself not to wretch, I tried the pink pudding, which tasted pleasantly like buttered bread. The green pudding tasted like salted peas (not so bad), but the yellow one, which I thought was gonna be something sweet, tasted like raw guts! In the words of Kuzco himself: yucky as ever! Hell, all it took was one bad experience with the purple pudding to spoil the entire experience for Allyson! Whatever it was, she made a sour duck face, and washed the taste out of her mouth with more Atlantean ale. Grant was the only one of us that dared to try all the flavors. Hell, I low key used him as a taste test dummy, so I could avoid all the bad puddings. The real fun tho, was all the drinking. Atlantis had an entire plethora of alcohol to try, and the citizens were literally lining up to give us a shot of something. See, in feasts like these, especially after major battles, you could send dishes and drinks to those you wanted to show your gratitude or admiration to. Me being the chosen champion of Poseidon, along with saving Atlantis with the help of my team, had me lined up for all kinds of shots! With as many drinks and food as we were being offered, me and my friends couldn't stomach all of it, so we shared and switched often. Overall, most of the drinks were excellent; I can count on one hand how many I didn't like. They ranged from tasting like fruits, some kinda cinnamon-like spice, different desserts (cinnamon rolls!), different kinds of soup, and even nothing at all. One thing they all had in common? They burned on the way down like a mother f*(#er! Hell, this stuff must've been super strong, cuz after…...twentyish shots, my head started to feel like it was vibrating. I felt looser, more relaxed, and naturally happy. I'm ashamed to say there were moments when I giggled uncontrollably to my friends.

Grant, while definitely feeling a buzz, was the most in control out of all of us, and the guy was drinking the stuff by the gallons! Allyson on the other hand was practically out of it by her 15th shot. She was giggling twice as much as I was, and her face was so red, you could mistake it for a tomato! The best thing by far was listening to her talk!

"You….you guys…...yes you two…..are my bestestest friends evurrrrrrr!" she managed to giggle and burp out.

"Really, Sunbird?" Grant played this up. "You mean that?"

"Of….of….course! You, Mr. strong guy….um…..you're…...strong….and handsome! Yes….handsome! But I like someone else…..can we still be….bestest besties?!"

"Sure. I'm cool with that. So who do you like?"

Allyson shuffled around, and pointed at me! Her head was drooping so hard, she was in danger of faceplanting into her food. She laughed for another minute, and gradually moved her head over to rest on my shoulder.

"This…..heh….this guy right here!" she giggled out. Mr. fast lightning scary guy! He's…...mean….but he's nice to me…..he's also really sweet. He shocked my tongue…..but he feels bad about it….so it's ok...I forgive him."

"Wait!" Grant almost leapt out of his seat. "He did what?!"

"Not important!" I snapped at him. "Drop it, or I drop you!"

He was so beside himself with glee, that I knew he'd bring it up sooner or later. For now, he let me escape.

"Oh….don't be embarrassed…...Storm-Boy!" Allyson continued to laugh at me. "We'll try…..again. Hey, G-Titan….i'm gonna kiss him again! Shhh! Don't tell him! It's a surprise! We…..we all do bad things sometimes. I…..I….."

She started sniffling, and after a few seconds, started crying. It wasn't like heavy sobbing, just emotional drunk crying; when everything remotely sad can draw tears.

"I didn't…...I didn't want to kill him," she continued. "He…...he was gonna…..hurt my blue friend."

Namorita looked over at us, and the sympathy in her eyes were unmistakable. Hell, Grant suddenly lost all his humor, and was staring down at his food. In the heat of the moment you never really think about it, but taking a life always stays with you. I moved Allyson's head off of my shoulder, and sat her up as straight as I could.

"Listen, Allyson," I whispered to her. "You did what you had to do to save your friend, and win a war. This isn't your fault; don't blame yourself. Everyone here has had to kill someone. Some for better reasons than others, but that's not the point. Look, I knew this from day one of the job. That not every mission ends with an arrest; that sometimes you gotta make the hard calls for the greater good. It doesn't make you a bad person. You're a hero. My hero. I promise you i've always got your back no matter what. Whatever we have to face, good or bad, we'll face it together."

She smiled a little, and I wiped the tears from her eyes. Grant looked like he wanted to say something too, but he was just as trapped in his own head as Allyson. Maybe it was because of what he did to Tyrak, or what the Nethertrench showed him, but he wasn't looking like himself all of a sudden. You know it's a cold day in Hell when I have to be the make everyone happy guy.

"Hey, Allyson?" I asked her. "You like to sing, right?"

Her face brightened even more, and she started tapping my shoulder like she was a woodpecker.

"That's….hic…...I….do that!" she managed to get out. "That's one of my powers…..one time….I did it on my cat!"

She started laughing again, and I let her go on for a few minutes.

"My songs…..heal people…..did you know...hic….that?" she continued. "They….also…..make people happy…..when I want them to."

"Will you sing something for me?" I asked her. "You need to heal yourself, and I really like it when you're happy."

She giggled at me, and felt my face….because…..because.

"O…...ok." she answered. "But…..you….have to sing…...with me! Pick something…...High School Musical!"

She was killin' me here! Sure, i've seen the movies (against my will), and knew most of the songs (cuz Mom kept playing them non-stop everyday after a new movie came out), but i'd rather do anything than sing somethin' from High School Musical. Still, Allyson was lookin' at me expectantly, and Grant was suddenly paying very close attention to us. I sucked up my pride, and hopes i'd live this down one day.

"Livin' in my own world," I started, hating myself with a passion. "Didn't understand. That anything can happen, when you take a chance."

Grant was trying so hard not to laugh at my face, but his thoughts were blaring in my head.

"DUDE! YOU….HAHAHAHA!" he thought at me. "WHAT….WHAT THE F*(#, BRO?! WHAT ARE YOU F*#!^% DOING?!"

I'd get him for that later, but I focused on Allyson, and blocked him out.

"I….hic…..never believed in...heh….what I….hic….couldn't see." she mumbled out (still better than my singing). "I…..never….o...hic….heh...pened up my eyes….oooohhhhh…..to all the possibilities."

Again, i'm almost certain i'll never outlive the shame, but it was worth it. Me and Allyson continued the song, singing together/apart as required, and her recovery was like one of those fast forward videos of a flower blooming. By the second, chorus, she was almost completely sober again. We could've stopped halfway, but she wanted to finish the duet with me. I'll admit, I had fun, and my singing wasn't terrible. And again, anything to see that million dollar smile again. She gave me a hug, whispered a thanks to me, and resumed eating. This time, she made sure to hum a song to herself after draining a cup. We had to take our fair share of flack from Grant, but he stopped after a few minutes.

"So, Namor?" I asked him. "What's the deal with this expansion plan you got goin' on?"

"Are you asking me as a friend, or a spy?" he responded.

"I'm not gonna blab to Fury, if that's what you mean. Just interested on where you and your people are going from here. I'm a sucker for this undersea kingdom stuff."

"Fair enough, and I suppose you have earned my trust. I don't plan to invade the surface, if that is what you fear. No, Atlantis and Lemuria have been the only two civilizations of our people for millennia. With our new power, and revived population, I plan to build massive expansions to the empire, and give our people more room to grow and prosper. We shall rebuild Lemuria better and stronger than before. We'll build kingdoms in every major ocean on the world, and use them to better monitor Nethertrench breaches. We also plan to reverse the pollution the surface has inflicted on our oceans with new Sea Force powered technology we are developing. It's still in the prototype stages, but our scientists are working hard to restore our oceans to their former glory. Perhaps an alliance with the surface could be possible, but I will not put a target on the backs of my people. Not until we are in a position to where it will be impossible to threaten us.

"Smart. I wish you the best."

"Thank you. You and your friends are more than welcome to visit my domain whenever you like. It would send a bad message to my subjects if I were to dishonor the heroes of Atlantis, by denying them an honorary place in our kingdom."

Me and my friends thanked Namor, and Allyson seemed to have some questions for him as well.

"King Namor?" she asked him. "Not that it's any of my business, but what do you plan to do with Attuma and Krang?"

She sounded genuinely worried for their safety, automatically making me feel smaller. I hadn't given either of them a second thought. I assumed Namor would execute them and be done with it, and that didn't bother me at all. Yet here was Allyson looking like she was about to plead for their lives, even after all they put Atlantis, and our team through. I gotta admit, she was a far better person than I was.

"Ah, yes, Ms. Allyson," Namor thought back to her, dropping his uptight king gimmick a bit. "The repeat offenders who dared to strike Atlantis, and deal with devils. I understand you are keen on showing mercy to those that would see you dead. A part of me respects that."

"I just thought, given all the deaths, as well as restored life, that you would consider showing mercy to them. Believe me, I don't sympathize with them, but just maybe-"

"They can be redeemed? Find a way to have their transgressions absolved? You truly believe there is any goodness in them? That all it will take is a little digging to turn them around?"

"I believe they deserve a chance. I imagine most heroes asked the same questions about your redemption potential as well."

"Fair enough, but in my defense, I have not changed at all. I've just learned how to play better with others. In many ways I am just as bad as those that would see me brought to ruin; I do not claim moral superiority. However, I will do what I must to protect my kingdom, and my people. As a king, that often entails wading through a river of the blood of your enemies."

"Do all Atlanteans feel that way?"

"I cannot know for certain, but what say you Oroco and Namorita?"

"I stand by your judgement unwaveringly!" Oroco responded. "I would happily give my life for the glory of Atlantis, but it gives me greater pleasure to take the lives of those who would conspire against it!"

You can tell this guy went to bed early just to wake up and fight somebody.

"I concur with that statement," Namorita spoke up. "Though perhaps without the enthusiasm dear Oroco displays. Sunbird, I know you feel guilty for Byrrah's death, but sparring Attuma and Krang will not bring him back. Hell, if we let them live, even if we threw them in a jail cell to rot for eternity, nothing would change for the better. Best case scenario, the guards slit their throats while they sleep; and that's if the guards want to end it quickly, rather than torture them for a while. Worst case, the kingdom mistakes Namor's mercy for weakness, and riot. They'll tear Krang and Attuma apart, and then depose Namor from the throne. They have to die, Sunbird. It will echo a message of strength and finality; give closure for so many of our citizens who still continue to feel the scars of Attuma's attack. This is not murder, it's justice."

Allyson looked like she was gonna vomit into her plate. Her argument was getting slammed into the mat like a rag doll.

"What about you guys?" she asked me and Grant. "What do you think, GT?"

Grant, who was uncharacteristically silent, took one last swallow of ale before responding.

"Honestly?" he somberly responded. "Their kingdom, their POWs, their call. I'm not 100% on either direction, so i'll leave it to whatever Namor and his crew wants. Attuma's gotta face the music on this one."

"I'm surprised to hear you say that," Allyson responded, her thoughts sounding guarded and testy. "Usually you would have an inspiring heroic speech ready right about now."

To be fair, she wasn't wrong.

"Yeah?" Grant thought back to her, his thoughts sounding like he was gearing up for a fight. "You think you got me all figured out. That i'm so one-note, i'm as predictable as the seasons. Well, Sunbird, up yours. NO! NO! YOU'RE GONNA LISTEN TO WHAT I HAVE TO SAY! Dude, I split Orka in half! I….you wanna know why I had such an attitude problem lately? When I left the Helicarrier, I went inside Gaea's own personal dimension to get a handle on my new powers. Training went sideways when a three way, world killing, demonic fusion invaded my safe space, and disrupted all my good vibes. Long story short, I beat him, saved the world, and all that good stuff, but I had to absorb as much of Gaea into myself as I could to do so. The thing was, she was pissed off, and the emotions of a goddess burned my tiny fragile mortal emotions out. I'm all good now, but a side effect was unstable emotional outbursts; especially anger and sadness. I had one of those rage quits on Tyrak, after he got big, and…..well, I turned his head into a splattered watermelon; let's leave it at that. Like Namor said, I didn't start the fight, but I damn sure finished it! Those guys were gonna snuff us out no problem, and you tellin' me you ain't got the guts to stomp them first?! What if the fight with Goblin had went a different way?! If he had killed me and Storm-Lord?! Would you wanna beg for mercy on his behalf?!"

Well, he certainly got another one of his speeches in. Also, daaaaamn! I'm not saying I agreed with him (I did tho, like almost on every word), but there was no denying he spit them words out machine gun style. Allyson, who was reaching over 9,000 levels of silent rage, was strangling her fork, and stabbing into her whale stake.

"And you, Storm-Lord?" she finally got to me. "What do you think about this whole execution thing?"

"Frankly," I started. "If you take a little bit of what everyone said, even Orka, you pretty much got my opinion on the matter. First off, we're just visitors; we've got no right to tell a sovereign nation how to enact their judgement on the accused. Second, no matter what way you slice it, Attuma and Krang are war criminals. They've killed and destroyed so many just for power, and I think the people of Atlantis deserve to have their revenge cake. Also, at this point, Namor may not even have a choice in the matter. Maybe this is something I understand more, because i've been in more fights than I have teeth, but reputation is everything. At least a quarter of the fights i've been in were because some dude was talkin' trash to me in front of a crowd. It's not that I couldn't walk away, but if I did, it would send a message to everyone that the mighty Jason Fuller could puss out of a fight. I'd never get my reputation as a silent badass back; at least not easily. Namor's pretty much in the same boat. If he let's Krang and Attuma get off with a timeout, he'll look weak in front of his kingdom. We're both alike enough to know that weakness is not an option when it comes to leadership and perception."

Namor nodded his head at me, and Allyson breathed a small burst of flame from her mouth.

"So that's it?" she asked me. "Are we gonna get front row seats to the execution? Maybe we'll get to keep the severed heads if we win the raffle?!"

"Why do you care so damn much?!" I snapped at her. "These guys are monsters and murderers!"

"And I don't want us to end up the same way, Jason!"

"Ok you were literally hell bent on taking Krang out after what you saw his handiwork! Why the change of heart?!"

"BECAUSE I ACTUALLY KILLED SOMEONE!"

She took a pause, trying not to get overly emotional again. Some part of me wanted to stop too, but I was too focused on winning the argument, that I didn't think about losing my kinda sorta girlfriend.

"When I killed Byrrah, even in defense of a friend, I could see what I was capable of becoming. It was so easy to kill him, scarily so, that for a split second I understood why people like The Punisher choose to go this route. It's easier, permanent, and ensures bad people can't do bad things again. But it also deprives bad people of second chances, an opportunity to learn from their mistakes, to grow and be better people. Sure, some people are bad to the core, but how can we just carelessly dismiss them for one bad action?"

"I'm 100% certain this isn't just one bad thing. Probably like the 57th. Besides, is this all coming from the same girl that wrote me off as a violent thug, not even a few days ago?

"Oh, that's gonna live forever! I admit I was wrong; I jumped to conclusions without trying to understand you further."

"You tend to do that often," Grant thought to her.

"I'm trying to work on that!" Allyson snapped at him. "And I don't appreciate you two ganging up on me!. Heck, if we wanna talk why not's, why didn't you kill Attuma, Jason? I know you could've; he was practically banging on death's door when you brought him to me. Why YOUR change of heart, Storm-Lord?"

Touché.

"Cuz it wasn't necessary. I responded. "I pride myself on practicality, and even tho I thought about slicing his head off, it wasn't overly practical to kill him."

"Confession time for me too. Every since I went Super Sunbird for the first time, i've been able to read emotions from other people. I can tell when you're happy, angry, or when you feel guilty for whatever reason. Right now, you're feeling of guilty, secretive, and purposely guarded. So i'm gonna ask you again, and please tell me the full truth, why did you spare Attuma?"

For the record, women should never have the ability to tell when a man is lying or not; it's an unfair advantage. Hell, women are already super intuitive, so this was legendary overkill.

"Fine," I said. "Attuma got in my head; taunted me outta killing him. He said I was just like him, and that i'd do anything to make sure I got the Stone of Poseidon; even if it meant fighting all of Atlantis for it. The scary truth was that he wasn't far off at the time. I didn't wanna give him the satisfaction of killing him. After pretty much failing, he wanted to die. Also, because we're all coming out about our abilities, I have this thing I call the Sea Sense."

"LAAAAAAME!" Grant thought to us. "JK, guys! Please continue, buddy."

I don't know how mad I can get at Grant; that was the proverbial knife needed to cut this tension in half.

"Uh, yeah," I continued. "My Sea Sense is basically just my ability to sense anything around me in the water. Without the stone inside me, it's not as strong as it was, but I could sense anything and everything in the sea. I sensed that you left Krang alive. Even after what he did to Janus, even after you basically wanted his head on a platter, you still found it in you to show him mercy. You…..you…..ugh, this is gonna be sappy as hell, you inspired me, ok? You made do something less me; made me do something better."

There was a brief pause, before Grant made retching sounds, and we all burst out in laughter. Allyson leaned over to give me another kiss on the cheek, and also did the same for Grant. Nobody said sorry, no crying, no muss, no fuss. It was just this beautiful silent forgiveness laughter that cleared the air almost immediately.

"You should stay together," Namor thought to us. "Never have I seen a team fracture and repair itself in such a short amount of time. You should be emotional counsel for The Avengers."

"Well," Allyson thought back to him. "I'm either gonna major in Psychology, or be a med major when I go to college. Still, I can do walk-ins for quick therapy sessions."

We all chuckled at her.

"I'm conflicted," Namor continued. "On one hand, I don't believe half of what you say, but you believe so much in your crusade for mercy, I can't help but be a little moved."

He went silent for a moment, and we all waited with bated breath (at least Allyson did).

"Alright," Namor finally spoke up. "I'll compromise. We have new prototype cells based off of the Negative Zone prisons made by Richards and Stark. These prisons both physically and mentally trap the prisoners in a prison of their own transgressions. The energy is a synthetic version of Nethertrench matter."

"So you're gonna leave them alive to be tortured?" Allyson asked him.

"Merely use their own experiences against them. With the havoc they have wrought over the years, their sins reflected back at them will leave them crippled, but alive. The Atlanteans will have their vengeance, and for the time being, they will receive mercy. I have no qualms in letting you know that I would happily decapitate them myself, and use the heads for throne room decorations, but because you have honored me and Atlantis, I will honor your request."

"Thank you, King Namor."

He nodded, and we ate and drank some more. With all the political BS outta the way, we were able to continue eating for another 20 or so minutes until another conch horn blew, which was quickly drowned out by the roar of every Atlantean in the room (including Orka and Namorita). They were banging their cups on the table, spilling alcohol everywhere. Allyson was struggling to make sense of it all, Grant looked like he wanted to join in on the fun, and I was silently excited for what was coming next. Namor eventually settled the crowd down again, and made another address to them.

"Warriors of Atlantis!" he shouted. "The time for feasting is nearly at an end. There are many recognitions of courage, bravery, and duty to be honored, but with the passing of brother Janus, the title of Poseidon's Wrath is vacant, and in need of a new champion!"

He held up the necklace with the trident head on it; Janus' necklace. Again, the crowd erupted in applause, and Namor slammed his trident on the ground, and released a small Sea Force ripple throughout the dining hall. When the ripple completed its run, small holograms of trident heads formed a few feet in front of everyone, except for Namor, including me and my team.

"You know the rules!" Namor continued. "Battle Royale style! Anything goes! Given recent developments, this should prove to be interesting! Last one standing earns the honor of being the 73rd Wrath of Poseidon! You have five minutes to accept or decline the challenge!"

Again, the roar was deafening, but I was so far into my own head to try and plug my ears. Maybe it was because I was addicted to competition, or because I felt I owed it to Janus, who literally died to try and get my help, but everything inside of me was screaming to reach out, grab the holographic trident (a form of accepting the challenge).

"Do it," Allyson thought to me. "You've been staring at that thing for over a minute now! Go ahead!"

"I don't know," I thought back to her. "It seems wrong. Winning that title isn't just for show; it's a symbol. Whoever wears that necklace represents an ideal of strength to Atlantis. They basically become the king's right hand, and the champion of Atlantis. I'd be expected to be there when Atlantis needed me to fight for them, and be the first to charge headfirst at the evils that plague their seas."

"Lemme ask you something. If Llyra came back again in the next hour, would you stay to fight her?"

"I would."

"Why?"

"Cuz after everything I went through to save this city, to give it a new lease on life, no way am I gonna let dark evil blob lady trash it."

"And if Namor ever needed your help with anything Atlantis related, barring conquest of the surface, would you help him?"

"Yeah. And before you ask, it's because I at least have respect for the guy and his people. He's nowhere close to perfect, but him and I are the same in a lot of ways. That's not to put me on a pedestal, but I can at least relate to him in ways that don't completely suck."

"Then fight for this, Jason! You've more than earned the right to at least try!

"Are you gonna compete too?"

"Na. I've had enough fighting for one day, and I don't wanna be a symbol of power. I'd rather be a symbol of hope. Besides, with Grant getting in on the action, you've got enough problems to worry about."

"Wait, what!?"

I looked over at Grant, who did indeed already grab the trident.

"Dude!" I thought to him.

"What?" he casually thought back to me.. "I got an invitation to this brawl same as you. I did just as much, if not more, in the effort to save Atlantis, and I genuinely get the importance of what happens when I win this thing. Just cuz you got your own fancy pitchfork, that don't mean you get special treatment from me."

"Huh. Good point. I can respect that, so long as you respect the fact that i'm gonna splatter you all the floor in a few minutes."

"WHAT?!" Allyson mentally screamed at me.

"Relax." I thought back to her. "When the game starts, we materialize inside the arena as more or less digital constructs. We'll still have our powers, weapons, pain receptors, and what not, but after I cut Grant's head off, he'll just reform back in his seat right here without a scratch on him."

"Oh. Well that's better. Have fun boys!"

"You know i'm stronger than everyone here, right?" Grant thought to me as I grabbed my own invitational trident.

"I'm faster," I responded.

"Wanna bet? You're adorable little static shocks ain't got squat on the Geo-Force."

"I've got lightning, wind, water, and the Sea Force. Water is literally 75% of the earth."

"Can you manipulate all that power?"

"Can you manipulate all of yours?"

"Ladies, you're both pretty!" Allyson interrupted us. "Just remember to have fun, and that whoever wins, there are no losers."

"That mindset is what keeps teams outta the playoffs." Grant thought to her.

"Gotta agree with GT on that one," I chimed in. "If everyone's a winner, what's the point of trying to be the best?"

"Exactly, that's some communist bull$#!+. I didn't get this body, two consecutive state championships, and dominate 3 Call of Duty tournaments based off of me thinking i'm a winner even if i'm not."

"Yeah, and only one of us is gonna get that necklace."

"It'll be me."

"You're right, it will be me."

"I hope you both knock each others brains out." Allyson interrupted our dick measuring again. "You're not using them anyway."

We chuckled for a while, and just chilled for a few minutes, until the conch horn blew again. The dining room shifted and changed into a coliseum big enough to put Australia in, and everyone who wanted to participate in the event (about 10 million, give or take a few hundred thousand), were transported inside. The inside of the arena itself was just a giant gold floor. The entire arena had enough water in it to where everyone was standing in a two foot deep puddle. The water was littered with swords, tridents, knives, and shields shaped like various seashells. Everyone was plopped into the arena at random positions, and I found myself alone in a sea of other Atlantean warriors; my BFF nowhere in sight. I didn't let that get to me. I was a big boy, and so was he. 20 bucks said we were the final two.

"WARRIORS!" Namor shouted. "BEGIN!"

Showtime.

Starting out, I did pretty ok. I knew every Atlantean and their mother would either use waterbending, or go for the weapons. I tapped into as much waterbending power as I could (damn, I was gonna miss that blue rock), and mixed it with my airbending and lightning. I created a shock wave strong enough to blow back one hundred meters in every direction. The mixture of water and voltage was an instant kill for at least 50 warriors, and giving me some breathing room to really f*(# $#!+ up! I created a huge 20 ft water vortex, taking another few hundred Atlanteans for a spin! I electrified the water, making sure the Atlanteans didn't spin for too long, and willed dozens of lightning bolts to fly off the vortex, adding a few dozen more to the kill count. To be fair, it wasn't like I was dominating the whole fight. Sure I had carved a small piece of the pie for myself, but the battle was way bigger than my small sphere of influence. It's like seeing a tornado trash a town 300 miles away. Devastating, but so far away, you can't really relate. There were millions of other battles going on outside my range; these guys here just got unlucky with their fight spots. I gotta give them credit tho, cuz they adapted real fast!

Like I said, without the Stone of Poseidon, my waterbending powers weren't even a third as strong as they used to be. It was almost pathetic really. So when at least 20 Atlanteans combined their powers, they wrestled control of the water vortex right from me! They changed the water into a dome with spikes on the inside, and tried to crush me with it. Rather than try and block or phase through the attack, I went into my Sea Form, and became one with the water. The surrounding Atlanteans cheered when the water went down, thinking I was really defeated, but they had another thing coming! I spread my consciousness out as far as I could, and willed as many hard water spike constructs to stab as many combatants as I could! I managed to take out a good 30 combatants in the first wave, and kept the spike beds going for a good few minutes, racking up a pretty impressive kill count if I do say so myself. The surrounding Atlanteans were manic, trying desperately to control the water, but every time I felt resistance, I just shifted my consciousness elsewhere, and terrorized some other unlucky group of warriors. Through a bit of experimentation, I realized I could still use my some of my lightning powers while in my Sea Form. I couldn't summon lightning strikes, create constructs, or anything like that, but I could still electrocute the water my consciousness was inhabiting. I had fun with that as I constructed myself into a giant electrified water octopus! I kept this routine up for a few more minutes, until I felt the strain of being in my Sea Form for a bit too long. Really wanted to stay like this, but my body was having none of it. I quickly reconstructed my body, making sure to put up a Sea Force barrier to cover my reformation, and created a huge electric field across the water that spanned the area of a football field! Yeah, that was at least 1,000 crispy blue people, leaving me so much room to work with that I felt exposed. Didn't wanna do a water vortex again, and I couldn't risk going into my Sea Form so soon, so I resorted to classic Storm-Lord, and started running.

It felt SOOOOO good to run again! I didn't realize how much I missed it! The incredible feeling of moving faster than someone can think, the rush of reaching at Mach 10 in just a few seconds! Hell, running on water?! Forget flying, this was the way to travel!

I zoomed across the water without a plan in the world. Nope, just running at a leisurely Mach 10, cutting down everyone in sight with my Storm Sword. I noticed that my lightning trail was taking down more combatants, so I fed more voltage into it as I ran. Hell, after a few minutes of straight running, I was able to break off separate bolts of my lightning trial, shooting them off in whatever direction, taking another 20-30 combatants. I kept this up for a good ten minutes, before finally catching a glimpse of Grant doing his own thing. Like me, he had carved out his own area of dominance, and it was impressive to say the least. He created an energy dome big enough to cage New York City, and was charging enemies in every direction. In addition to that, he was controlling his All-Metal, as he calls it, as hundreds of arrows zipping around, taking out combatants by the dozens at a time. I definitely made sure to keep my distance. Grant was gonna get his…...as soon as I figured out how.

The rest of the fight (excluding the final Storm-Lord vs Geo-Titan showdown) took another 40 or so minutes. While me and Grant didn't kill every single combatant ourselves, the two of us put together were at least 20% of the total eliminations; we were basically the Careers in a Hunger Games novel. I got some really good experience out of this. While sharpening my skills using speed, and lightning, I was able to get some decent use of my new airbending powers. At one point, I had two lightning charged F3 cyclones wreaking havoc on a city sized area, while also summoning the Mack Daddy of thunderstorms to strike down hundreds of combatants every second. After the thirty-five minute mark (when I took out Oroco with a casual lighting strike) only me and Namorita were left. Grant was still wrapping up his own batch of battles, about 50 miles away, leaving me and Namorita alone. On any other occasion, this fight woulda been done faster than you can sneeze. I can move fast, she can't, I win. Yeah, this is where Atlantean combat trials really bit me in the ass. Namorita drew a Sea Force circle around us, about 50 ft in every direction, and put a trident head smack dab in the middle of it. She busted out two swords, and stabbed them into the ground.

"I challenge you to single combat," she started. "No powers. Only weapons and hand to hand combat allowed. If you are pushed outside the circle, you are disqualified from the battle. If you do not accept, shame and cowardice will follow you all your life. Atlantis will never accept you as her champion."

She was right. She had invoked the Triton code of combat; one of Atlantis' most revered customs. I had every right to refuse, but i'd get shamed so hard, i'd shatter every ounce of goodwill this city had given me. Ok, you may be asking me, what's the big deal? I got my own sword, shield, trident, and some lengthy practice sessions with Nightcrawler under my belt. Well, Namorita was the Atlantean equivalent of freaking Black Widow. Hell, she was known as a Sh'vk Tah: a Mistress of the Blade. Didn't help me none that she was sporting two of em' right now. Still, she called me out in front of millions. No way in hell was I gonna let her get away with that $#!+. I summoned my sword and shield, and cautiously moved towards Namorita.

Yeah, no way was I gonna run up and let her one shot me. Still, she wasn't taking the bait. I was slowly inching towards her, and she barely even put up a defensive stance. This is the part where i'm actually glad me and Namor exchanged memories, cuz after sorting through the memories of every time he ever sparred with, or watched Namorita fight, I at least had a point of reference to go on. See, Namorita's signature move was to lure her opponent in, use her stillness to get inside their heads, and after countering their first strike, finish them with one fatal swoop. I had a counter for that. I inched forward one last time, telegraphing a swing to her feet, and took a half assed shot at crippling her. As quick as a snake, she moved her leg back, and flipped over me, trying to stab me in the back. I deflected the stab with my shield, and just managed to roll backwards, avoiding a soaring blade on a one way ticket to my forehead! Namorita didn't miss a beat, and busted out a trident to replace her missing sword. She charged at me with a roar (and I thought Goblin was terrifying) and proceed to make me look like a little baby pee pants. Seriously, this chick was insanely good! Every strike was so fast, I had barely half a second to react. When she met resistance via block or parry, she'd either redirect the momentum and strike elsewhere, or try to break my stance. Her sword and spear combo were especially frustrating, as they gave her the long and short range advantage. For almost a full minute all I could do was block and parry Namorita's ungodly flurry of attacks. I did notice how much stronger I was tho. Even without the stone, I could feel the water giving me strength. Good thing too, cuz Namorita didn't give me an inch. I managed to get a bit of momentum when I batted her trident away, and threw my shield at her. Sure, without the lightning, it wouldn't cut her, but she didn't know that. Besides, getting hit in the throat with an Adamantium/Vibranium shield had to hurt at least a little bit. Namorita arched backwards, avoiding it, but I called it back, and made the shield hit her in the back of her knees. She fell down, and I tried like hell to end the fight right then. I ran as fast as I could (as fast as you can without super speed in 2 ft of water), changed my sword to a spear, and desperately stabbed at Namorita. She rolled outta the way, grabbed her trident again, and came back for round 2.

Again, I had to play hard defense. My reflexes, limited experience, and Namor's memories helped me hold my ground, but Namorita had me beat for several reasons. First off, the trident was a much better weapon that a regular spear. She could, and often, hooked my weapon, and clocked me in the face, separating me from my spear. That would be a problem if I couldn't summon my weapons back to me at will. Nah, as soon as I got cracked in the jaw, I retreated backwards, managing to use my Thunder Sense to avoid Namorita's follow up attacks (pretty sure that wasn't cheating). I blocked her next stab by summoning my shield right before it hit me, then quickly pushed it up, and kicked Namorita in the gut. I grabbed her trident as she stumbled backwards, pulled it away from her, and threw it outside the circle. I was pretty sure her weapons didn't have boomerang function mine's did. Still, I wasn't stupid enough to think losing her trident would stop Namorita; especially when she had so many other pointy things to use. She pulled a knife from one of her arm sheathes, twirled it a few times, and charged me again.

I knew i'd get decimated if I tried defending with my sword and shield, so I dropped the sword, and stuck with the shield. Namorita came in with a soaring spin kick, easily blocked, knocking me back a few feet, and started hacking away at me. They weren't wild swings tho, she was graceful as hell. Every slash and stab was aimed around my shield, while she tried kicking me in my legs, or sweeping me entirely. She got me more than a few good times (Captain America makes this look so easy), but I was able to analyze and break down her fight pattern. She was really effective with that knife when we were fighting mostly in one spot, so I made us pack it up and take it to go. I moved backwards, to the side, reversed positions, and looped the strategy a few times. This made her strikes ineffective and sometimes desperate. I kept this dance going for another minute and a half, managing to get in some good shield strikes, kicks, and a few punches. I didn't try attacking with my sword, she'd be expecting that. Besides, I had to wait for the right time. Namorita was super fast, if I wanted any hope of winning the fight, I had to take her down quicker than she could recover. After a few minutes of getting a feel for her moves, reflexes, reaction time, etc., I made my move.

I blocked another knife slash with my shield, and dismissed it as soon as the knife was safely away from my chest. I quickly grabbed Namorita's knife hand, and twisted her wrist. I didn't mean to snap it, but that didn't make it any less broken. She screamed, but I caught her knife and stabbed her in the throat. She'd reform completely fine outside of the arena. I really did feel bad about snapping her wrist….so that makes it ok. Grant didn't seem to think so.

"Storm-Lord!" he thought to me. "Did you just snap her wrist?!"

"I did," I thought back to him. "I feel bad about it, so that makes it ok. Besides, all fairness in love and war and all that. Anyway, this is the part where we fight to the bitter end?"

"This is the part where I kick your ass into the next century."

"Gotta catch me first."

I took off running, leaving Grant to follow as best as he could.

What did you think I was gonna do? Try and hit him? Slam him with some lightning? Throw wind in his face? This guy was way outta my punching range before he got Geo-Force powers, what made you think I was gonna try straight up attacking him? Nah, I had to keep this fight on my terms if I wanted to stand any chance of winning. Hell, I wasn't even doing a good job at that. As I ran, Grant threw everything he had at me. I'm talkin' Geo-Force bolts raining from the sky, giant spikes and lobs of All-Metal raining from the sky, even Geo-Force walls, spike beds, and domes. I was able to dodge and/or blast through his attacks, but they just kept coming, and I couldn't run forever. Instead, I phased outta my suit (he could've used that against me at some point) and melted into my Sea Form. I moved my consciousness right below Grant, and distracted him via making as much water constructs as I could try and pelt him. We're talkin' giant water hands, tridents, tentacles, sharks, and some mermaid warriors. Grant blasted all my constructs apart, but he was definitely feeling the pressure. We kept our clash of water and Geo-Force up for a few minutes (this coulda lasted forever), before I tried something different. I projected myself up as a spiral blast, and reformed my body as soon as I missed. Like I knew he would, Grant tired blasting me with Geo-Force. To his credit, he was playing for keeps; the blast was probably enough to disintegrate even my molecules. Right before it hit me, I shifted into Thunder Form 2, where I was completely composed of voltage, and turned myself into a lightning bolt, narrowly avoiding the blast. I willed myself to loop around the blast, and strike Grant right under the chin. Before he could even grunt in pain, I reconstructed my form into a giant tesla sphere around him (love doin' this). I zapped him a few hundred times in two seconds, before consolidating my entire form, and flying right inside his mouth! Sorry, but if you were expecting a long drawn out clash of the titans that would inevitably end with Grant being the victor, you've got a date with disappointment. I knew I couldn't beat Grant on his terms; I probably couldn't even beat him on my own terms. So what do you do when you can't win the game? Rewrite the rules. I knew Grant's organs weren't indestructible, so the plan was to get inside, turn myself into lightning spikes, and turns his organs to jelly from the inside out. The only problem was that while his organs weren't indestructible, they were more than durable enough to hold up against my lightning spikes. Oh, it hurt Grant like hell (his screams were nothing short of bone chilling), but I could be cutting away at him all day and not make a dent. I didn't wanna risk frying his brain, and I certainly didn't wanna keep him in a state of constant agony. Neither did he, cuz I felt the inside of his body heat up with Geo-Force. By the feel of it, the energy was trying to upchuck me out like a virus. No reason to worry, I was on my way out anyway. Still, this presented a problem. I couldn't beat Grant in a straight up fight, and the only way to beat him quickly was to stab him in the heart with my sword. But if I shifted outta Thunder Form 2, Grant would have something solid to beat up a.k.a. my body. Still, I needed my body to summon the sword….and I had an idea!

I willed myself to wrap around Grant in a lightning vice similar to an anaconda. This wouldn't hold him for long (like at all), but hopefully it would give me enough time to see if I could actually do what I wanted. I willed the top half of my body to reform, while the lower half remained a lightning anaconda. Doing this was the pinnacle of hard! It was like trying to balance the light switch between on and off (you've all done it), or balancing a sword straight up without sticking it into the ground. Even I could tell I wasn't s'posed to be doin' this! My vision was constantly going in and out, I felt like my lungs were on fire, and somehow I felt like my legs were being sawed off, even tho I didn't have any. Still, I sucked up the pain, summoned my sword, and shanked my best friend in the back! He flashed away in a bright blue flare, and I immediately reformed my body completely. I hovered to the floor with a gust of wind to the sound of a beyond deafening roar of celebration from the Atlanteans! Janus' necklace materialized around my neck, and Namor roared out: ATLANTIS! I PRESENT JASON FULLER, THE 73RD WRATH OF POSEIDON!

The people went absolutely f*(#!^% nuts, and I just kinda smiled and waved as I retrieved my armor, and the arena shifted back into a dining hall. I was teleported back to my seat, and Namor gave me and encouraging clap on the shoulder. Allyson and Grant on the other hand, while definitely happy for me, had a scared look in their eyes. I didn't blame them; I had basically just tried to roast Grant from the inside out.

"I'm sorry," I thought to them both. "I didn't think i'd hurt you like that. Didn't know you had indestructible organs, bro."

"Neither did I," Grant responded. "Still, pretty creative. Scary as $#!+, but I can respect the hustle. Congrats on the win, Storm-Lord, you earned it.'

He gave me a fist bump, and gave flashed a quick glance at Allyson. I got the gist. I had to do damage control.

"Do you hate me again?" I asked her.

"Jason," she started. "You do realize that I ACTUALLY impaled Krang in multiple places from the inside out, right? Yeah, you're scary, what else is new? Like I said, i'm done rushing to conclusions with you. You're not perfect, but neither am I. Let's just not try and blow people apart from the inside out, even if they deserve it."

"I can't make that promise."

"Why did I know you'd say that?"

We laughed a little bit, before Namor banged his trident on the ground, putting everyone on hush mode.

"Alas, Atlantis, the time for celebration is drawing to a close." he started. "Our guests must be getting back to their world, and we must make preparations to expand ours into a new golden age. However, we must honor those who have gone above and beyond in the battles to defend our great nation."

For the next 30 minutes or so, Namor went through a list of those who would get promoted in military rank. It was depressing that about 6/10 of the promotions were because the previous guy died, but everyone was in good spirits regardless. After all that, Namor addressed Oroco personally. This was a big deal too. While Namorita made him a Supreme Commander for the sake of filling the position, Namor had the final say on whether or not he was able to keep his title. Hell, Oroco had to get up, move to the other side of the table, and take a knee.

"Oroco Llrymers," Namor started. "If I recall correctly, you were positioned to be Supreme Commander of our proud forces not too long ago."

"Indeed, Your Highness," Oroco humbly responded.

"Oroco…..if I were to strip you of your rank…...if I were to make Allyson the new Supreme Commander of our military, would you follow her into battle?"

"Your Highness, I would follow anyone you felt worthy of commanding our forces into battle."

Namor tapped his trident on the ground, creating another sound ripple.

"Rise, Oroco Llrymers," he said. "By my authority, I proclaim you the Supreme Commander of Atlantis' army; honor the title well."

There was another round of applause from the dining room, and Oroco stood up lookin' like he was gonna cry tears of joy. I couldn't fault him, he earned this. He was indeed up for this position a year ago, but he had his head too far up his own ass to realize that leadership was about serving with your soldiers, not ruling over them. Oroco's bother realized that, which is why he ended up getting the promotion. Oroco's brother was one of the unlucky ones that didn't get a second chance at life, so I could see why this promotion meant the universe to the battle crazy idiot. He beat his chest, bowed one last time to Namor, and sat down.

The rest of the awards were given out pretty quickly. Me and Allyson were among the many people who were awarded the shell of Amphitrite, an award for those who helped heal the wounded. It was just a bronze seashell strung on a piece of gold fiber. Yeah, the way the awards system worked was you get a bronze medal, and every time you earned the medal again, you get three diamonds added on. Basically, you had to get the same medal five times to rank it up, and the highest you could rank it up to was pure diamond. After that, the medal just glowed with multicolored lights; the brightness depending on how many more times you earned the medal. Considering that I literally raised the dead, I should've got a gold shell at the very least. Me, Grant, and Allyson also got a bronze Great White Shark tooth for exceptional bravery and courage in battle.

After all the awards were given out, Namor 'presented' the Stone of Poseidon to us as a (snigger) symbol of goodwill…...oh this is too good! And get this, he gave us his PERMISSION to leave Atlantis!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Real talk tho, I understood why he had to make a show of it. Regardless of whether or not the stone chose me, he still had an image to maintain. Besides, he conjured up a magical whirlpool portal to send us instantly too the underwater S.H.I.E.L.D bunker, taking a God knows how many miles swim off our backs.

"Wait a minute," I thought to him. "You knew that was there?"

Namor chuckled a bit.

"Tell Fury he is not as clever as he thinks he is." he responded. "You and your friends be well. By the way, your trident charm is equipped with three charges of the Triton's Rally enchantment. You get three chances to call forth the might of a legion of the army of Atlantis. Use them wisely."

"Thanks, King Namor," I thought back to him. "I'll be sure to hassle Fury for ya. Take care of yourself."

I gave him a handshake, Allyson and Grant said their goodbyes, and we walked through the portal.