127. Fear the Black Tempest part 8

"Here you go, Robin...," Cyborg whipped out a fresh utility belt from his pack and shoved it into the Boy Wonder's grasp. "Fresh from the Tower's womb."

Robin tossed off his old belt and—dripping—put on the new one. "Thanks. You guys came in the nick of time."

Cyborg smirked. "Always the one to state the obvious."

Starfire was wringing the water out of her long, red hair in ropes. "So this is the true manisfestation of Aqualad's power??"

"Yup, pretty much," Cyborg nodded and glanced over at the dark Idyllist.

Garth was slowly waving his hands about, guiding the boulder and the pocket of air up towards a pool of water gathered at the bottom of a docking bay. They were at the outer boarding ring of Atlantis. Around them, the four mammoth submarines from the Hidden Valley attached mechanically to loading clamps. Metal, undewater bridges sealed themselves to lateral airlocks and started unloading Prince Garth's people from his homeland.

"It took us nearly an entire day," Cyborg explained. "So you gotta understand if Aqualad's a little stiff-legged."

"Well I hope he's well enough to move once we surface!" Robin exclaimed.

"I am....," Aquala replied shortly. He magically guided them up...up...up towards the surface of the docking bay's pool. "It's taken far too long for us to get here. It's only a matter of an hour before the first proceedings of the Junction begins in the Senate."

"Should we find Beast Boy and Noir??" Starfire remarked.

"I seriously don't think there's enough time for that," Raven droned.

Aqualad nodded. "They've done their job. They've kept the spirits at Atlantis building. I trust they'll be fine for me to step up and take my rightful place now."

"You got ESP or something??" Cyborg asked.

The rock broke the surface. Aqualad's air pocket mixed with the interior of the shipyard. Work crews gasped and mumbled in amazement at the sight of the surfacing heroes.

"Better yet," Garth took a deep breath. "I've got a girl."

Cyborg smirked. He winked at Raven.

She rolled her eyes.

"Noir and Beast Boy can't be in any better hands than Princess Tula's," Garth said. "As for the rest of Atlantis..." He hopped onto the docking platform. Robin and Cyborg also hopped up and the two girls floated besides them. "...that's where I come in. You're right, Cyborg. I do have extra senses. The oceans are telling me that this isn't over. The demons that attacked my people and ripped Ivan's life away....," he paused in a burning sneer....then calmed down enough to say, "...they were but a taste of the true evil to venture upon this land."

Aqualad began running across the docks past awe-stricken Atlanteans.

Robin ran up alongside him. "How do you expect to get to the Senate Building on time?"

"I know my way around Atlantis," Aqualad simply replied.

"But it's so far away! Surely on foot or by flying—"

"I know my way around Atlantis...," Garth sneered in mid-sprint.

".........," Robin blinked under his eyemask at that. He lingered a bit behind Aqualad. He uttered: "We're all coming with you."

Aqualad froze in his sprint. He spun around and narrowed his specked eyes. "You're what??"

Cyborg ran up and Raven and Starfire floated around.

"I'll join you in the Senate...like a bodyguard. Starfire and Raven will circle the Building from a high vantage point. Cyborg will be our one man infantry."

Cyborg smirked and palmed his titanium fist. "Rise of the machines, baby!"

"You're surface dwellers," Garth gestured. "You won't be allowed into the heart of Atlantis!!" He paused as he glanced around at the gaping Atlanteans around him. "It's amazing that I've even let you come in this far!"

"But I am from beyond the surface," Starfire smiled pleasantly.

"And I come from Azar," Raven added.

"I'm more circuitry than you give me credit," Cyborg winked.

Robin folded his arms proudly and smiled. "We're not just 'surface dwellers', Aqualad. We're your friends. And Poseidon help you....the need for them is greatest right now."

Garth was silent. Robin's words easily struck deep. They always did.

He took a deep breath. "Fine...but you'd better keep up," he said. He pointed at Cyborg. "And you'd contact Beast Boy and Noir if you know what's good for you!"

"Don't worry, dawg," Cyborg smirked. "I'm pretty sure your girlfriend's okay..."

"........," Garth took a deep breath. "Th-Thanks...." He spun around and ran on ahead.

Robin glanced at all of the Titans. "You guys got your positions mapped out in your head?"

"Positively photographic," Raven uttered.

"Good! Titans, move!"

Raven's eyes glowed and she floated ahead.

Cyborg ran and popped open the communicator in his titanium forearm. "This is Cyborg to Beast Boy!! Beast Boy, can you read?? Cyborg to Beast Boy—"

Robin ran after Aqualad.

Just as Starfire took to the air...

"Kory!!"

She spun to look. She gasped forth a smile. "Nova'm!!!"

The redheaded boy flew in from a nearby corridor attached to a loading sight and practically plowed her in a hug. The two spun in the air two times before hovering still in an embrace.

"Are you o-okay??" Nova'm asked.

"I am undamaged," the Tamaranian girl smiled sweetly. "You need not be dismayed."

"I-I saw what you did from the sh-ship!" the boy exclaimed. "The way you nearly sacrificed yourself to help Robin....it was so brave...."

"A Tamaranian will find herself doing anything for a friend," she said. She parted the hair over his forehead and added: "Or a brother..."

Nova'm blushed.

Starfire floated up in the air. "Nova'm, I must apologize...for time is of the essence and in order for Aqualad's cause to be achieved, I need to make haste—"

"Lemme come with you!!"

"Nova'm, this is a dangerous culmination of political friction and demonic evil in a single instance!"

"I-I didn't come all this way with you and Robin just to worry my head off anymore!" he floated up to her level. "You say all of our people should be boundlessly confident, right? I have boundless confidence in you, Kory. But in myself as well! I want to fight by your side. I-I want the honor of being there for my friends too!"

"............," Starfire took a deep breath. She brightened. "Very well, little hero..."

Nova'm beamed.

She winked a green eye and shot towards the distant corridors. "Then your boundlessness had better be prepared!! For the two of us are gravely behind in the chase!!"

"I'll catch up!! You'll see!!" the prince streaked after her.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

The City of Atlantis yawned open from the side of the huge dome. Fanfare and noises and colorful exploding lights echoed throughout the submerged, urban environment. A festive spirit was jubilantly marking the beginning of Junction...the oceanic renaissance of cultural unification.

The streets were flooded with Atlantean families, ambassadors, nomads, guards, and parades.

The only quick way to make it to the Senate Building was through the alleys.

"I have the credentials to get us in...," Garth spoke. "...I only hope Tula used Noir adequately by now to break the political ice."

They headed straight for a submerged avenue.

Robin reached into his belt and whipped out a breathing mask. He fitted it on while running. "Will King Orin be there??"

"Oh dear Neptune...," Aqualad groaned. "I hope so..."

Prince Garth and the Boy Wonder dove into the water at the same time.

SPLOOOOSH!!!!

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"......and to the best of my understanding, Noir isn't needed to do his charade anymore. Aqualad's here. He and Robin are going straight to the Senate. They get to do all the boring stuff. Convincing the political parties there of the Idyllist plight. Revealing an intra-government conspiracy. Blah Blah Blah...meanwhile, Star, Raven, the flying shrimp and I get to watch the parade and hope nothing bad happens."

"............."

"B.B.???"

"Dude, I am SO happy to hear your voice, man!! Noir, check it out!! It's Cyborg—WHOAH!!"

I shoved Beast Boy aside and hammered a morse-code signal in through the communicator as the green changeling and I hurried up the hill inside the underground sanctuary. We approached the doors of the Atlantean infirmary on our way to inform Tula of the Titans' plans.

Cyborg received my morse code message and replied: "Yeah, we're all in one piece. But it's not so fun of a story, man."

I raised an eyebrow. Beast Boy leaned against my side.

"Tram......he's dead."

I gasped.

"No....," Beast Boy's pointed ears drooped.

"Along with all the other Renzukkan in Tram's vessel. Not to mention well over two dozen Idyllist soldiers and Aqualad's distant relative and compatriot—Praetor Ivan himself..."

I bit my lip as we entered the infirmary, marching.

"This has been a very black week. And the freaky part is...it ain't over yet..."

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Cyborg stood outside the gates to the Senate Building where he was gently lowered by Raven. The dark girl hovered and 'perched' on the stone corner of the gate above him. Her cloak folded around her like a stately gargoyle.

Cyborg looked off down the street at parading crowds of jubilant Atlanteans as he spoke into his arm communicator.

"You two just reunite with that Princess Tula person and see how fast you can get your butts over here! Everything looks calm and peaceful now...but you never know!" He glanced straight up and caught sight of two figures flying overhead...figures with red hair and green auras. They circled gently around the tower of the Senate Building. "I mean, we're keeping sentry....only thing is, we don't know what we're keeping sentry for exactly!"

Raven's hood fel down. An invisible wind blew at her aqua-colored hair as she gasped.

FLASH!!!

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Images of bloody scales.

Claws in the murk.

A giant, angular snout screaming wide open.

Black hairs and ghost teeth.


Red bubbles streaming to the surface.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

FLASH!!!!!

Raven's eyes twitched. She blinked.

Cyborg looked up at her, concerned. "Hey Rae....you allright?"

She folded the hood back over her head. "I'll be back...," she lifted up into the air, her cloak billowing.

"What?? No-wait! Rae?!?! Where're you going??"

"To find something!" she floated off over the building tops. "Unless I'm wrong, I may know what Garth's sensing!!' She floated due north-west.

"Rrrrgh...," Cyborg shook his head and gave up. He lifted his arm communicator. "Listen, guys...Raven just flew off against Robin's orders. If it's anything—"

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"---like normal, then she can't be picking up on something good. Y'all be prepared, all right??"

"You got it, dude!" Beast Boy hoisted the communicator in my hand towards his face. "We'll be over there PDQ! With our fists clenched!"

"Don't trip on any princesses along the way!"

"Oh shut up—"the changeling flipped the communicator off and pocketed it. He lead the way down the metal corridors towards Tula's special room. "I'm gonna miss this extra-special freedom you and I have had down here, what do you think?"

I shrugged.

"Pfft...ascetic..."

I smirked.

We reached the room.

Beast Boy's hand went to the computer console to open it.

I smacked him atop the head. Whap!!

"What?!?! Dude--!!! Oh...ahem....my bad," he simpered. He politely knocked on the door. "Your Highness??"

"Yes??"

"Titans-o-gram!"

"Come on in!"

Beast Boy stuck his tongue out at me and fingered the console.

SWOOOSH!!

The door flung open.

Beast Boy and I walked in......and froze in our path.

Our eyes were wide....blinking.

".......," Tula finished straightening the top to a new outfit. She was quite casual in the manner in which she 'fitted' herself too. Princess Tula wore a green, two piece wetsuit that clung dangerously tight to her skin. Now, it wasn't Sports Illustrated fodder by any means. The top piece was more adequately a tank top just a few inches smaller than the upper piece that Starfire wore. And, indeed, the bottom piece prudently covered some of Tula's thighs and erased 'bikini' out of our brainwashed minds. I suppose what was so surprising was that there was just so much.......skin. Atlantean princess skin...perfect for diving right into the waves, which she must have done often when we weren't there.

It's not like we really knew this person anyways...

"What???" she uttered in perfect perplexity.

"Erhm....," Beast Boy blushed and scratched the back of his head "You Sure you should have answered the door?"

Tula rolled her eyes. "Of course you know, this ordeal with the Black Tempest isn't over."

"Y-Yeah....," Beast Boy raised a finger. "Funny you should mention that. Cyborg just told us that Raven took off for—"

"There's something to tackle yet, I just know it...," Tula went on. She trodded over in her wetsuit and whipped out two blades from atop a metal table. CH-CHIIIIIING!!! She spun two golden harpoons in her grasp. They were the lengths of half her arms. "And it's about time I went on the hunt again. Cuz quite frankly...I'm getting sick of all this sitting around on my royal tush and waiting for Atlanteans to wisen up to the evil all around." SW-SW-SW-SWISH!!! She rotated the harpoons behind her and slid them both simultaneously into a leather sheathe sticking out of the small of her tanktop's back. CHIIING!! She cracked her knuckles and struck a—yes—sexy pose with her weapons hanging out from behind her. "But while we're all here...we might as well work as a team."

I nodded.

A beat.

I raised an eyebrow and slowly looked at Beast Boy.

There was the wind-up....and the pitch....

"YES!!!" Beast Boy hopped with a cheer and practically tackled me as he laughed insanely. "Haha!! Dude, I sooooo love working with you! We always get some hot girl to kick butt besides us!!"

I rolled my specked eyes.

Tula smirked. "Save the gawking for later. We gotta make haste 'upstairs' to Atlantis."

"What'll you think we'll find there?"

"What do you think your Raven will find there?"

"Gotta love a mystery," Beast Boy shrugged. He scratched his hair and drank her in. "So...um...what do we call you now, your highness? Aquachick or something?"

I ran a hand over my face.

Tula rolled her eyes. "Please...," she stuck her tongue out and marched towards the door. "If you so insist...I guess 'Aquagirl' would do..."

"Yeah...uh huh...whatever. Can we go kick butt now??"

I shoved him along into the corridor after her.

"Aack!"

I stepped out last.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Tula marched down the hallway of the infirmary.

"The Junction will begin at any minute. You say Garth and the others are at the Senate now?"

"They should be," Beast Boy glanced at the watch on his communicator. "They rushed in just moments ago with the Idyllist fleet and stuff."

"Any word on Praetor Ivan?"

I bit my lip.

Beast Boy cleared his throat. "He....H-He didn't make it, your highness..."

Tula froze in her step.

We waited behind her.

A beat.

She sighed. Built up some strength. And smiled boldly in spite of herself. "Well....sure as Hades can't waste time now. Come on."

She ran ahead and I followed suit.

Beast Boy hesitated. He was peering down a nearby hallway where two familiar figures were seated.

Fraust sat on a bench, her cold shoulders to the wall of the infirmary. Acyd lay exhausted with her lap on the ice witch's lap. Behind them, nurses could be seen quickly tending to a score of half-concealed bodies of youths behind the hospital beds....the injured lot Beast Boy and the two former essences of Slizzath had rescued from the Black Tempest's cave hideout.

Fraust's blue eyes met Beast Boy's gaze. The same old melancholy was back. Like part of her couldn't stop melting.

Beast Boy couldn't help himself. He trotted over and leaned by her ear. "H-Hey....you all right?"

She bit her lip...then murmured: "D-Don't you have somewhere to be?"

"I always have somewhere to be...man of zoological mystery, that's me!" Beast Boy struck a comical pose.

Perhaps something inside of Fraust wanted to smile....but the girl refused it.

"What's on your mind? You look as though a little bluebird has just died.............again."

"I cannot help but think...," Fraust took a deep breath and gently stroked the slumbering Acyd's green hair. "When she wakes up....will she still find herself as the new person she's become?"

"How do you mean?" Beast Boy asked. "Don't you have faith in Vera?"

"It is not an issue of faith," Fraust shook her head, sighing. "At least I do not think so."

A beat.

She looked up sorrowfully in Beast Boy's eyes. "Will she be happy that she's free? Or will she feel a new pain identical to our old one? W-Will she look back and sense nothing but the evil she was forced to do under Slizzath's heel?"

Beast Boy leaned his head to the side. "Is that what you feel, Amy? Guilt?"

The girl bit her lip. She gazed off longingly for something she couldn't mentally grasp.

"Hey...," Beast Boy smiled gently and placed a hand on her stroking wrist. "Listen to me. You have nothing to feel bad about, Amy. You were tortured...you were practically ripped to shreds. And when Chasma pried a big enough hole in you, he shoved in the dark magic of Slizzath. You didn't ask for it. You sure as heck didn't wield it happily. But the fact of the matter is—you survived long enough to resist it. And in there...in that cave...when you could have turned your back on me and your future, you instead did the just thing. Because of you...Chasma is royally screwed and Acyd has a new chance at existence. That is a very brave and noble thing, Amy. You have everything to be proud of...not guilty..."

She murmured: "I......I wish it felt as true as you made it sound......"

Beast Boy bit his lips. He couldn't solve that....

She looked deeply into him with blue embers, melting.... "I wish I could right all of my wrong..."

The changeling took a heavy breath.

An impatient voice echoed down the infirmary walls to grab his attention.

He stood up reluctantly and patted her hand before dashing away. "I gotta go save the world...again!" he exclaimed. "Just sit tight and stay safe, Amy!! I wanna talk to you more about this!! You'll see!!"

And he was gone.

She slowly let her gaze fall on the sleeping Acyd.

"I want to save the world too...."

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Tula and I stood at the mouth of a watery tunnel.

We turned around and caught sight of the green changeling catching up to us.

"What took you??" Tula asked.

"I got cold feet."

"Well, it's go-time!" Tula spoke. "Supreme go-time!"

"Where's this tunnel lead?"

"It's an underwater shortcut to the central square of downtown Atlantis," the princess replied. "By now, the streets should be full of spectators and political celebration. We shouldn't be too conspicuous."

"And...um....," Beast Boy scratched his head and glanced at me nervously. "How're we gonna get Mister Landlubber there? I mean, I'd love to do the 'whale-swallowing-college-students-trick' again, but I don't think I can squeeze through those tiny corridors."

"If we go fast enough...," Tula said, "We can get there in two breaths. There's at least four pockets of airs in dry junctions along the way."

I felt relieved at that.

"You hear that, dude?" Beast Boy leaned in and smirked at me. "Just exercise those pretty lungs of yours and hope you don't get the bends—"

THWUMP!! Tula shoved him away and grabbed my hand. "Let's just do this."

I nodded as she lead me to the underwater tunnel.

I hear Beast Boy giggled.

I glanced back at his toppled figure.

He pointed at me and the waterclad princess standing hand in hand.

"Wait till I tell Supergirl about this!"

I frowned.

Tula dove.

YANK!!

"!!!!!"

SPLASH!!!!!

And the 'intestinal' voyage began.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

There was no wind under the massive dome that was the Atlantean 'sky'. But Raven's speed of flight was fast enough to simulate currents whipping at her blue hood and violet hair. With eyes glowing bright gray and dark hands charged with blackness, she glided over spires of pearl, ivory, and coral. Beneath the skyscrapers...the city streets danced with surging crowds, glorious parades, and a continuous roar of celebration and promise.

Everything was dangerously joyful.

A possessively dark feeling pulled her forward as if with silver strings. She squinted her eyes and stretched her charged hands forward. She felt for the obtrusive aura...like a black candle in the center of chaos. It stabbed at her heart and rang through her mind with a relatively familiar feeling of pain and coldness...

Father......

Her brow furrowed. She glided under a magically arching blob of water between two skyscrapers and looped around a building's spire before perching on an Atlantean flagpole.

"What....," she murmured. "....is that??"

Her eyes stared northwestward...

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Outside the thunderously loud and celebratory dome of Atlantis, four guards parked on the ocean's floor with their aquatic bikes.

They leaned passively against the vehicles and stared in through the thick glass at the parades in the dry interior. They chuckled forth bubbles of levity as they telepathically remarked on the event happily taking place on the other side of the barrier.

They were utterly oblivious to a dark-gray figure marching slowly...menacingly towards them and the dome from the nearby hill of coral...

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Starfire and Nova'm orbitted the towering summit of the Senate building. They heard the surging crowds from all around. The gala occasion was deaffening. It took extra effort for the Titans to speak through their communicators.

Nova'm rested on the buildingtop and Starfire floated besides him.

She looked out onto the ceiling. A beat. She looked at the boy.

"I feel......uneasy," she said.

"What's wrong, Kory?"

"There is so much joy....it is so succeptable to tragedy," she spoke. She swallowed and emphasized: "Especially in this time of great deception."

Nova'm bit his lip. "But...all the bad guys have been killed.....r-right? Ivan gave his life for that..."

Starfire gazed off towards where Raven last floated. "I do not believe our antagonist in question is desiring of so little a quantity of losses...."

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Inside the spiral of the Senate...everyone had gathered. Every ambassador. Every delegate. Every representative of every major sect under the seas. Atlanteans, Neptunians, Poseidonissians, Renzukkan, Idyllists, Atrahasians, Pacificans, and scores of other oceanic nationalities were finally gathered. And with the exception of a missing individual on the Poseidonissian and Idyllist side, it was a complete whole.

And all of them were silent....until the booming voice of the Senate Speaker uttered: "And now...the most honorable...King Orin of Atlantis!!!"

All at once, everyone stood. Applause filled the air.

King Orin appeared on the high balcony. He held his hooked hand up and smiled regally...proudly.

Poseidonissians bowed.

Renzukkans let out a warbling cheer.

The commotion took a long time to die out...and the king managed to speak before the crowd in his booming voice:

"Children of Poseidon!!" he stretched his arms out. "We have found our home at last!! In the warmth of each other's honor!!!"

A roar of applause and praise. The ovation nearly shook the spiral off of its foundation.

Orin took a deep breath. His eye momentarily glanced at the Idyllist balcony.

Prince Garth was nowhere to be seen....

The former-Aquaman took a deep breath, again bore his grin and boomed: "At last! Junction is upon us! May your minds be true...your hearts be tolerant...your strength be united..."

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

SPLOOSH!!!!

SPLASH!!!

Two figures leapt out of the center pool inside the Senate's courtyard.

Four guards gasped and ran over towards the rippling waters with tridents and harpoons aimed at the strangers.

"Hey you!!!"

"That tunnel was closed off from the Senate's undercarriage!!"

"How in Neptune's name did you swim.....here........"

The guards lingered, their jaws dropping.

Aqualad stood up straight, tossing his dripping black hair. He glared at the guards while Robin whipped off his mask and breathed.

"Is the Senate in session already??" Prince Garth asked.

The guards murmured...stuttered...

"Y-Y-Yes sir......"

"K-King Orin is presiding..."

Garth took a breath and marched over with Robin towards the doors. "Good. I may not be too late."

"Y-Your honor...your voice...how are you able to—"

"Another time, soldier," Garth retorted.

"And who is this surface-dweller??"

Robin glanced over. "The new Secretary of Ass-Kicking."

The guards blinked as the two boys entered the building.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Orin's opening speech thundered through the political arena.

Underneath it, the members of Senator Chasma's party shifted in their balcony seats uneasily.

They nervously eyed the empty chair reserved for their head speaker.

The usual messenger ducked his head in and whispered to the lead delegate presiding. "Sir...about the Idyllist fleet—"

"I hope you've been suppressing information being sent in about it per Chasma's orders..."

"Yes...but sir, they're here!"

The other delegates looked over, shocked.

The one leading delegate's brow furrowed. "They're here??"

"Yes, sir..."

"But I thought Chasma said that they wouldn't possibly reach the docks—"

"And there's more, sir."

"What is it?"

"Prince Garth. He's arrived in Atlantis."

"Yes, I know," the delegate nodded as he replied under the King's echoing voice. "His injuries from the Expulsion show—"

"Sir...it's another Prince Garth..."

".........."

The delegates glanced at each other.

"A fraud," one said.

"A trick!" another hissed.

The lead delegate half stood up as he commanded hoarsely: "Intercede on the guards' behalf! Tell them....s-say that an invading doppelganger is in the Senate Building! Have him stopped at all costs!"

"B-But—"

"Do it!!!"

The messenger rushed back out.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Aqualad and Robin hurriedly marched through the halls of the upper Senate's floors.

A huddled group of desperately conversing guards appeared overhead.

Aqualad leaned down towards Robin. "This isn't good...," he murmured in mid steps.

A servant messenger looked the boys' way. He gasped and pointed in front of the guards, mouthing: "Them!!"

The guards turned. At sight of the two, they whipped out harpoons and miniature tridents. They marched forward.

Robin spoke aside: "Get to the Senate. I'll handle them."

"All of them??" Aqualad muttered.

"Yeah," Robin nodded. "It's unfair. These saps shouldn't have gotten out of bed this morning."

"Good luck."

"You'll need it," the Boy Wonder emphasized. He whipped out his combat staff and extended it.

SWOOOOSH!!!

Aqualad majestically leapt forward and over the guards' craniums.

The soldiers turned to assault him.

That's when Robin dove in.

"HI-YAAAA!!!" THWACK!!!! He struck a guard in the side, slamming him into another. He landed on his knees, swept his leg out, and tripped two more soldiers. TH-THWUMP!!!!

A guard gasped and jabbed down with his harpoon. SWOOOSH-CLANK!!!

Robin rolled along the ground, hopped up, bounced off the wall, spun, and performed a diagonally down-ward jumpkick across the soldier's shins. WH-WHAP!!!

He fell painfully to his knees.

Robin spun, twirled his staff, and slapped it hard across the kneeling soldier's back.

THWACK!! WHUMP!!!

Three soldiers with harpoons ready faced the Boy Wonder nervously.

Robin glared at them. He held his staff out with one hand and motioned the guards towards him with his other glove.

The soldiers reluctantly charged.

Robin gritted his teeth and spun—staff swinging—into the fray. "YAAAUGH!!"

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"...for millennia we have been divided not so much by wars as it has been the tolerance of war," Orin spoke majestically to the listening crowd. "My ancient forefathers believed that a world dominated by strife would be a world of honor and dignity. But I need not refer to history itself to shed light on the utterly worthless wastes our nations have made of life. For in our very own lifetimes we have seen what evil could spawn. And I am sorely regretful to have once fostered the raging fist of distrust and paranoia. Now I am happy...for I realize that I have the strength and courage to resist the barbaric urges inside of myself. And I trust that every Atlantean...every person...has that divine insight that preserves life and tranquility above all other things..."

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Orin's voice filtered through the curving hallway of the Senate building as Aqualad sprinted down it.

Two guards with spearguns ran to a stop far ahead in his way.

"Hault!!" they shouted. Their speartips glistened.

Aqualad gritted his teeth. His dark eyes spotted two elegant acquariums built into the walls on either side of them. He held his arm out while running. His eyes flickered.

CRASH!!! CRASH!!!

Both acquariums burst open. Fists of water surged into the sides of the men, collapsing them into each other. THWUMP!!!

"OOF!!!"

Aqualad jumped. "Nnngh!!" He landed with his agile feet on the colliding soldiers' necks and vaulted himself off.

SWOOOOSH!!

He flipped in mid-air and landed beyond the splashing pool on the tile floor.

The two guards fell down wetly.

Aqualad exhaled and was back on his feet

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"...the world we live in is an ever-changing one. Horizons of blue are meeting horizons of white. The dry land is no longer a hazy space of emptiness. Nations and peoples of alien sort are brushing up against us like never before. It cannot be ignored that—before long—the surface world and the ocean world will have to come to a head. And whether that meeting be beautiful or bloody depends on the great Experiment that stands before us now in Atlantis...."

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"Rrrgh!!" Robin spun and rammed the end of his staff into a collapsing guard's forhead. CONG!!!

Two guards leapt at him dramatically with tridents searing the air. SWIIII-IIIISH!!!

Robin backflipped in a reverse cartwheel, spun his staff, and deflected both blades---CL-CLANK!!! He pivoted both ends of the rods, smacking the soldiers in the ribs, then shoved hard into them with a two-armed jab.

WHUMP!!!!

A guard came up at his side, swinging a spare dagger.

Robin upended the left side of his rod, knocking the dagger out of the guard's grasp. CLANK!!! He then stuck his metal rod into the ground, bent it, and vaulted with a flip over the soldier's staggering body. He landed on the other side and reverse kicked him into the opposite wall of the corridor. THWUMP!!!

Robin found himself glaring at Chasma's messenger....who was trembling visibly and hiding behind a pillar as he regarded the Boy Wonder in fear.

Robin glared at him with a thinned eyemask.

Suddenly, a guard rushed up from behind Robin's shoulders--

WHACK!!! Robin backhanded the man in the chin without so much as turning his head to look. The soldier slumped to the floor.

"..........."

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"...the key to our future is to realize that there is no key at all. For there is no door closed to the glory before us. Unification has always been within reach. It has always been fear and paranoia that kept us under the illusion of a padlocked treasure to be had. Poseidon in all of his fearful strength inadvertently instilled within us a fear of the sky beyond the ocean's surface ever since our city of birth was swallowed by the waters and we had no choice but to bow before the awesomeness of our new domain..."

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Raven meditated on the building top. Suddenly, her eyes flew wide open and she gasped.

The breath left her mouth. It mingled with her eyesight...which shot on an invisible lightning bolt straight forward.

Raven's vision rocketed through the air, swerved around arches of water, swam over the dancing crowds of celebrating Atlanteans, and pierced through the outer glass of the city's dome...

And there a handful of bodies floated in red clouds. Limbs and heads bobbed upward. Standing in the middle of a slaughtered pool of guards was a gray figure. Lungs and gills heaving. Violet eyes thin and smile stretched to the breaking point as he practically melted his hungry vision through the protective structure of the domain.

Raven blinked. And once again...all she saw was the north end of the City of Atlantis stretched out beneath her.

She set her jaw tight and clenched her draping fists.

"There it is..."

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"...already I am hearing from critics fearful of this Junction that it will usher in an age of idealism. And I must say...they are right. But it is not right to assume that this idealism is foolish! For idealism with fervor and commitment to back it up is nothing short of a reality!! And the reality at hand is calmer seas...duller blades....healthier families..."

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

On the far side of a crowded street, a loose slab of 'concrete' lifted from the ground and slid to the side.

Princess Tula poked her dark head up. She glanced up. She leapt out in a flurry of droplets and reached a hand down. She helped me crawl up onto the solid floor behind the line of celebrating Atlantean bodies. The two of us reached down and lifted a wet green elf up.

Beast Boy shook himself dry. "So...um...which way to the Senate?" A beat. "Or the nearest Turkish Bath?"

I scratched my head. I looked over at Tula.

"I'm not sure the Senate is where we need to be going right now...," the princess uttered.

A voice from above. "Correct. You need to be up here..."

FLASH!!!

Black circles surrounded our waists.

Beast Boy gasped.

Tula struggled.

FWOOOSH!!!

We were lifted telekinetically up onto a building top where a meditating Raven with glowing eyes awaited us with flexing fingers.

"Raven!!" Beast Boy beamed. He ran towards her with open arms. "It's great to see you!!"

"Hug me and die."

"Thatta girl," he froze in his path and spun to face Tula and I. "Friend of ours."

"........," Tula glanced at me.

I smirked and gave a thumb's up.

Tula looked at Raven. "Thanks for the lift," she said. "Where're the other Titans?"

"That's not important right now...," the dark girl replied...seemingly in a trance.

Tula made a face, leaning one hand to her hip. "Excuse me...but we have a very dangerous situation here and—"

"Shhhh...," Raven raised a finger. "Your 'situation' is about to show his ugly head..."

"???" Tula made a face. She followed Raven's glowing eyesight—as did the rest of us—over and past the surging, celebrating crowds beneath us towards the far edge of the City's domed exterior...

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Inside the Senate spiral, the partners of Chasma took turns looking back uncomfortably towards the rear of their balcony.

As if looking for someone to be there.

Or not be there...

They turned back around eventually and pretended to be listening to the King's speech.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Aqualad panted. He rounded the last corridor. He saw the rear doorway to the Idyllist balcony.

He bit his lip.

Four guards were positioned there.

They immediately saw him and rushed to intercept.

Aqualad's muscles tensed. He dashed straight towards them...through them....the balcony...

GRIP!!!

"Hold it right there—"a guard grabbed him.

WHAM!!!!

Aqualad elbowed him hard in the chin.

Two other guards seized his limbs.

Prince Garth nimbly spun out of their grasps.

The last guard stabbed at the boy's torso.

Aqualad dove as the trident grazed his skin. SLIIINK!!!

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Aqualad plunged into his balcony, toppling over two of his seated compatriots as he pearced through the back curtain.

THWOP!!!

"Waaaaait!!!!!" he shouted echoingly into the spiraling chamber.

Politicians gasped and shot up from their seats.

King Orin's eyes widened.

Chasma's balcony exploded in gasps and frightened faces.

A stir of unease and shock flew up the spiral and reverberated in the Senate room's ceiling.

"Wait...hear my words!!" Prince Garth stood up, clutching his bleeding shoulder as he panted desperately. "All is not peaceful in Atlantis!! Not all have pledged their true hearts to the Junction!!"

The lead delegate from Chasma's party pointed and exclaimed loudly: "Imposter!! Guards, seize him!!"

The stumbling soldiers rushed in through the rear of the curtained balcony and seized Aqualad—

"No!!" Orin spoke boomingly.

Everyone froze at the thunder of his voice.

The King's eyes narrowed. "Let him go..."

Silence.

The guards stumbled back.

Aqualad trembled where he stood, clutching his wound.

"Prince Garth.......," Orin remarked. His eyes were all the same. "You speak??"

"I speak, my lord!!" Garth managed to utter. He took a deep breath and said more assertively. "For the first time in months, I speak! I speak on behalf of my people—the oppressed and tortured Idyllists—who have limped their way into the harbors of Atlantis after multiple, nefarious attacks on our masses!!"

Exclamations of shock and disbelief ran through the crowd.

Garth spoke above it: "I...Prince Garth...descendant of the line of King Thar...bring to you news of great treachery and deceit!! Until now, I had a mimic of myself serve in my place so that I could gather the strength to return to the seas after an illegal Expulsor cannon landed me on dry soil! During such a time...crimes of horrid magnitude were committed, ending the lives of many Idyllist men of valor including the esteemed Praetor Ivan himself! The innocent lives of Renzukkan and human populations have also paid the price for so much as crossing a hideous conspiracy that threatens to tear apart the fabric of Atlantean Junction itself!!"

Aqualad frowned. With glaring ferocity, he whipped his head over and pointed a fiery hand at one balcony in question.

"A conspiracy orchestrated by Senator Chasma himself!!!"

A huge roar of surprise and outrage filled the chamber. The delegates of Chasma's party shifted uncontrollably...looking at each other...too weak to stand up against Aqualad's accusation.

"Preposterous!!"

"Who is this impersonator??"

"Where is the real Prince Garth!!"

"I am the ill-fated prince!!!" Garth shouted. "I have suffered at the hands of Chasma. But Chasma has not been acting on his own will alone!! He has become a puppet of pure evil...beant on an evil plot to do nothing short of summon the Black Tempest!!"

The Senate silenced with a frightful cheer.

Orin's voice weakly broke the ice: "The Black Tempest......."

"The resurrection of Slizzath himself!!" Garth exclaimed. "To challenge the greatest age in Atlantean peace!!"

Murmurs. Hushed this time. Fearful.

A delegate from the Pacificans uttered across the spiral: "And how can we trust you, prince???"

"Yes!" another ambassador remarked. "How can we know that your claims are valid??"

"Because....," Garth spoke....hesitated.....shuddered. He closed his eyes—practically sobbed forth an inhalation—and reopened his optics in a bright violet fury. "Because I am touched with the essence of Slizzath himself!!"

Garth raised his arms.

Blood rose in floating red drops from his shoulder wound.

Waters in drinking cups all throughout the balconies lifted up and orbited the spiral with black magic.

The Senators gasped and muttered in utter shock...horror...

Garth panted as he stripped himself bare...the dark part of himself. A violet aura surrounded his jumpsuit as he displayed his power for everyone and all to see...

"The Black Tempest...," he managed to utter while struggling to maintain his spiral-wide meditation. "...it is as dangerous as ever!! In some fashion or another...Slizzath walks among us!! I know...I know because I am the Tempest itself!! I am one in seven of his evil graces!!" He flexed his arms and all the liquid floating in the room converged in a huge, pulsing blob in the center of the Senate while everybody gawked. "The result of an age-old curse on my bloodline!! The sons and daughters of Thar have faithfully served the Idyllists...ever-knowing the evil inside of their blood...an evil that has survived to this day through me, as it was also in Praetor Ivan before he selflessly gave his life to ensure the Idyllist pilgrims reach the Atlantean gates just an hour ago!!" He lowered his arms and the blob dropped to the center of the floor with a dramatic SPLASH!! "For my taint....I kn-know that I am unfit for the glorious kingdom of Atlantis. I warn you of this evil for the sake of the people I have grown to respect in spite of my outcast heredity! And moreso...I come here to hand over the seat of rule to my people—the Idyllists—who have been ever loyal and honorable to my cursed and vexed family for so many generations." A moistness briefly came over the boy's dark eyes as he uttered this last part with heaving lungs. "I come here to leave...so that my people may stay...and safely perform Junction for the future stability of the seas...the world...of all life."

The Senate had quieted to a dull hum of awe.

Chasma's delegates shook nervously.

Garth gazed weakly up.

He saw the eyes of King Orin. The ruler's face was half-melting in sorrow and sympathy. He looked longingly on the image of Aqualad and telepathically messaged: "Why didn't you tell me??"

Garth took a sorrowful breath. "I was afraid.........I am afraid." He hung his head. "I fear the Black Tempest.........I-I fear myself......"

Orin's lips parted. Unconsciously he stretched a hand out as if he could touch the tormented young lad from afar...

And it was then and there that half of the Senate's telepathically sensitive delegates reeled in pain as their heads practically exploded with:

"ATLANTISSSSSSSSS, THE AGE OF HATRED HASSSSSSS COME!!!!!!!"

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"Aughh!!!"

Robin froze in mid-battle as half of the guards he was fighting fell to their knees and desperately clutched their heads.

Their companions quickly lost interested in the Boy Wonder and instead rushed to the aid of their fallen comrades.

Robin panted....an eyebrow raised above his mask.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"Nnnghh!!!"

"Ughhh!!!"

"Poseidon!!!"

Hundreds of Atlanteans celebrators in the street collapsed and twitched as if struck by massive migraines.

Cyborg gasped. He spun around and watched as a more and more men, women, and children fell down randomly throughout the crowd.

"What the Hell???"

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"Look!!" Nova'm pointed.

Starfire's green eyes narrowed.

In a solid line washing westward, a literal wave of bodies in the cluttered streets fell down as if dealt with a mighty gust of wind. Screams and painful shrieks filled the thin air.

Nova'm hid—trembling—behind a floating Starfire.

The Tamaranian Titan's lips parted. "X'Hal....."

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"Rghhhh!!!!" Raven's face tightened and her teeth clenched. She gripped her head tightly and fell to her knees.

I gasped and held her up gently at the last second. I looked at her concerned.

Cries of pain and aching agony lifted up towards us. Bodies in the parading streets fell to the floor, writhing.

I looked over and saw Beast Boy similarly bracing a collapsed Tula.

"The voice....the hatred....," Tula groaned.

"It's time...," Raven managed to hiss in my arms. "The demon of the seas is springing his trap...."

I looked over through wide, specked eyes at the side of the dome.

As if pulled in by spider limbs, I suddenly caught sight of a lonely, submerged Senator Chasma standing at the glass' edge. Two specks of violet light twinked. Then a silvery pale grin. Then....

His sides opened and impossibly large reptile limbs sprung out and squirmed murderously fast towards the transparent barrier....

.....and broke it.

CRAAAAA-AAAACK!!!!

SPLOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!!!!!!

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

SWOOSH!!!

Robin landed in a crouch on the Senate Building's upper outcropping. He ran outward on the pearly extension and came to a stop at the edge. From where he perched, he saw the entire western half of the City.

His eyemask widened.

A huge tidal wave was exploding inward from a gigantic fissure and was flooding the streets full of ragdoll Atlantean bodies.

"We're too late......," the Boy Wonder murmured.