Chapter 5: The Enemy Below

Shotaro was looking at the Watchtower's computer looking for anything that resemmbled a Dopant crime. However it was hard because of all of the supervillians.

A cat's meow interupted Shotaro's thoughts as he turned to see Phillip walking up to him with his cat Mick in his arms.

"I don't know what's harder to believe, that you brought Mick up to the Watchtower or that the others actually let you bring him." Shotaro said to Phillip.

"Well with Terui wanting Aki-chan to come back to Futo for some reason I couldn't just leave him all alone at the office." Phillip said.

"Well at least it's only for a couple of weeks. What the hell...?" Shotaro said as he suddenly heard yelling coming from the monitor room.

The 2 detectives walked inside and quickly hid out of sight. While they had no qualms about revealing themselves to the League, other people might get curious as to why two young japanese men were at the Watchtower.

Superman was having an unpleasant conversation with a big wig with the title of 'admiral' while J'onn, Diana and Lantern were in the background hearing the conversation.

Lantern turned to the others with his arms crossed over his chest. "The admiral is right. We should have never let the sub. Now it's in the hands of that madman."

Diana decided to voice her opinion, she being the most a princess. "Aquaman is no madman. He is a king. He only wants to protect and preserve his own kind."

"So who's going to protect us from him?" asked the lantern again angry.

"Can someone tell us what's going on?" Shotaro asked.

J'ohn quickly relayed about an incident involving a nuclear submarine being attacked by a technologically advanced sub from apparently the lost city of Atlantis led by their king Aquaman.

"He has his reasons." Phillip said

J'onn, Lantern and Diana turned to him at this. Lantern decided to play his game. "And I suppose you know his reasons."

"Pretty much."

"Care to enlighten us?" asked John again, getting irritated.

"Aquaman is a leader; he protects his people with the same passion that any of us protects what is precious to us. He doesn't trust the people above his own because he has probably seen and felt the effects of what we the people above do. Yet he is no madman, if he were, he would have killed those sailors with his own hands, yet he let them and us go after crossing in his domain. He probably thought that you were coming to invade his home." said Phillip

Lantern was taken back by this.

"Of course the fact that he didn't identify himself or his intentions till after he sank the sub doesn't make him a madman just a rude bastard." Shotaro said

"Shotaro..." Diana said

"I'm not against you Diana, I'm just saying by attacking first without even annoucing who they were in the first place...well he's not gonna get much in the way of sympathy." Shotaro said.

"If the nuclear attacked his sub first he could have pleaded that it was in self-defense. However he fired first..." Phillip began

Lantern was turning to leave, but he was stopped before he left by Phillip's voice. "Being a leader isn't saying yes but no."

Lantern turned and left, feeling doubtful, but he knew were his answer would be. He returned to Earth and to the submarine, inspecting it, he found that all of its components had been stripped and the plutonium gone.

While this was happening, Aquaman took a water speeder from his garrison and ridden it all the way to the city of Metropolis where he had found was the world assembly. As an act of nonviolence, he decided to leave behind his weapons and armor as to not present Atlantis with threats, he is now only wearing his cape, pants, and bracers. He found his way to the world assembly and was now making his demands.

- Watchtower -

"I knew we couldn't trust that fishman! The sub's been stripped and the plutonium is gone." Voiced angrily John because his suspicions were right.

"And you think Aquaman was responsible?" asked Wonder Woman, sad that she might have been wrong.

"Who else princess? We got to go back to Atlantis and get some straight answers!" His tone was too direct.

"You seem quite certain. How do you know that there aren't other peole who live in the ocean." Phillip said making Lantern glare at him.

Meanwhile Superman and Shotaro were looking at the television. When Superman decided to help them out "if it's Aquaman you want, he is not in Atlantis."

They all turned their attention at the screen. "According to eye witness accounts, Aquaman then forced his way past the guards and into a closed session of the world assembly. But as to why he's here or what he wants, we'll have to wait for further developments. "

"Things are about to get interesting." Shotaro said

-At the World Assembly-

The representatives were outraged; Aquaman had just come in there and made a series of demands if they ever hoped for peace with Atlantis. Actually, his demands were very outrageous, starting from forbidding weapon tests on islands or seas, upgrading all ships in an expensive nontoxic material, to not allowing people to spend too much time in the ocean. All in all it would have set the world in financial chaos.

"First you sink a nuclear submarine, and then you threaten us to make peace. Who gave you the right?" asked the representative of France.

"I am the born ruler of Atlantis" he returned with his arms crossed.

"A country we do not even recognize"

Aquaman spoke again "these are my final, refuse them at your own risk…"

This time it was the leader that interrupted. "But your demands are outrageous; they would compromise our entire Defense and Economy."

"Your problem, not mine."

The outrage started again, Aquaman was ready to leave when the Justice League burst in through the doors. "Aquaman!"

"I offer them a chance for peace and this is their answer" he pointed at the angry comments of the politicians.

Double stepped forward and added "Well if someone stormed into your throne room and made demands that would cripple your home or risk war I'm sure you'd be mad too." Double then turned to Superman and asked "Are you sure he's the king and not the royal asshole?"

"Shotaro!" Phillip yelled.

Aquaman turned to him and with narrowed eyes. Superman decided to calm the king. "Please, these things take time."

"I've wasted too much time already." He turned to leave. "Wait!" Diana tried to stop him but he only moved her aside and was making his way to the exit.

Aquaman made his way outside, and was assaulted by reporters with questions but he only shoved them aside as well.

He was making his way to the sea when (TSSSZZZ!)(BOOOHHMM!) He found himself barely missing a rocket that hit just a few meters away from him.

Double instantly got to him first and looked him over, he had scorch marks on his cape, that somehow offered him protection and his skin only had bruises and first degree burns, but right now he was suffering from shell shock before he lost consciousness.

"His Atlantian phsyology managed to save him from an attack that would've instantly killed a normal person." Phillip said.

Superman and the rest had just come out of the building, when they saw the damage. They all reached him. Double who was already near him took his hand off his neck. "He's alive but weak, take him to the hospital. I'm going to look around."

"Got it." Superman and the others rushed Aquaman to the Hospital while Double was looking around.

'Where are you?' He remembered the angle of the missile and looked at the buildings to the side.

"LUNA!"

"LUNA-JOKER!"

"I'll be back meanwhile We'll need your tapes."

Double stretched his right arm to the roof of the building where he believed the misslie came from.

Double had made it to the building, he looked around and saw someone took a quick turn on the side. 'Got you…'

Double started to run after the figure. He noticed it had baggy clothes with a hat on its head covering any traces of his face.

The figure turned quickly to the stairs at a door that lead to the inside of the building.

Double was in hot pursuit and reached the door. The person was now running down the stairs with Double after him.

"Stop!" screamed the rider, but to no avail. He kept running.

Reaching the exit, Double looked around and saw that the assassin disappeared.

"Damnit."

- Atlantis -

The generals had just seen the news about how Aquaman was nearly killed and they were at a loss of words. That is until

Orm entered the room donning Aquaman's crown and armor with his trident in arms.

Orm took control of Atlantis and the generals accepted him with little resistance.

Mira, having heard of Aquaman's attack rushed to confirm it with Orm, but his responses were strange and pessimistic, already spreading rumors of his death.

- Metropolis -

Double had just finished his search and reached Metropolis Medical Center. When he reached he saw that Batman's ship above the Medical center putting a crate down on the roof. Double rushed to the crate and waited for Batman. The crate was huge, 4 meters tall.

Batman landed the ship on another section of the roof and ran to the kamen rider. "I need your help in getting this inside."

When they reached, they stripped the crate apart and Batman began to assemble it together with Double's help. 15 minutes later they were done, and both started to run to Aquaman's room.

When they reached, a doctor was talking to the league.

"But can you help him?" asked Superman.

"…I don't know" answered the doctor.

"Then, maybe I can" spoke Batman. "Put him on a table and follow me."

They took him to the room where Batman and Double assembled the tank and Aquaman was already starting to heal.

When asked how he knew, Batman only answered that Aquaman is a fish out of water.

Superman turned to Double. "Did you find anything?"

"Yeah, I saw him, would have caught him, but he used a bomb and somehow got away. I did manage to get a copy of all the cameras that were recording though, maybe we can find his face somewhere" answered the rider

- 1 hour later-

Shotaro, Phillip, and Batman were looking over the footage again in a room and finally reached a conclusion.

"He's a professional" Phillip said. "He was able to avoid detection and came prepared. He already had an escape plan thought out."

"That's right. That's why he'll try again. Guys like him have a reputation to uphold" finished Batman.

"There's just one thing that's bothering me…" Phillip spoke getting the hero's attention.

"Why did he use a missile instead of a sniper or rifle? And who could have hired him? I mean, it couldn't have been any of the representatives. That would've been awfully fast."

"So it must have been someone who knew about his abilities and contacted the hitman beforehand" concluded Batman

"We're sure he'll try again, so we will have to set a trap" finished Shotaro.

They thought out a simple plan and turned and left the room and were back in Aquaman's room. Several minutes later Aquaman was awakening.

Lantern was suspicious with the turn of events but he was still distrustful. "Now, maybe we can get some answers. What did you do with the plutonium?" he asked the still injured king.

"Plutonium?"

"From the submarine… you stole it!" he accused forceful.

"My orders were to leave that vessel where it lay."

"Then you must have a traitor in your ranks. It's either that or you're lying and I don't think you're lying." interrupted Phillip.

Lantern turned to the young detective. "You actually believe him?"

"You both can believe what you want. Someone tried to kill me, and I need to find out whom and then break their neck."

Shotaro decided to push Aquaman's buttons slightly to see if he could get him to crack. "And just how are you going to do that? Go outside and order him come out and reveal himself?"

He turned to the detective and rose "I suppose you have something better."

"Yeah, we have a plan. And the best part is all you have to do is wait and trust us."

"You expect me to do nothing after he tried to kill me!" His reply was full on anger and distaste rather then calm and collected till now.

"We suspect that he could be a hired gun. That would explain how he knew what type of weapons could affect you, so someone must have hired him. We won't know till we catch him." finished Shotaro.

"What makes you think that an Atlantian is to blame? Someone else could have hired him." Aquaman's statement held curiosity, not that he believed it to actually be true, but he just wanted to know his options.

"Who? The representives? There wasn't enough time for any of them to make a call for an assassin. Besides how would they have known you were showing up today. However we won't know really till we catch the assassin."

Aquaman thought about it for a while "All right but it better not take to long."

So they put their plan into action.

Aquaman was placed on a stretcher and to be delivered to an unnamed medical center for further medical treatment. That message was broadcasted on all networks.

Diana, Superman and Batman were on the top of two buildings studding the ground looking for the assassin. It was already night so it was hard to spot him. Shotaro had hidden himself amongst the reporters while J'onn were nowhere to be seen.

In an alley a manhole was opened and a suspicious individual came out with a bag. He ran towards the medical center and hid behind a mailbox. He pulled out a missile launcher and aimed it.

'He finally came' thought Shotaro as he stepped away from the others.

Diana spotted the assassin and Batman threw a batarang which hit the launcher as Deadshot fired it and knocked the missile off course exploding just in front of him.

Shotaro saw the explosion and ran to a nearby by alley putting on the Doiuble Driver. "Let's go partner."

"JOKER!"

-Inside the Hospital-

Phillip was with Lantern and Aquaman waiting when the Double Driver appeared and Shotaro's words reached him.

"Hai." Phillip said

"CYCLONE!"

"Henshin!"

"CYCLONE-JOKER!"

Phillip was about to fall to the floor when Lantern used his ring to place Phillip in a nearby chair.

By this time, the assassin was already making his getaway with Superman on hot pursuit. Deadshot went in the same manhole he came out of and closed the lid. Superman appeared moments later and tried to lift the lid

"AAAAAGGGHHHHHHhhh!" his result though was over 10000 volts of electricity going through his body, which knocked him out.

In the meantime, Batman had checked on 'Aquaman' who revealed himself to be J'onn using his shapeshifting. He was now pursuing Deadshot from above and was hearing J'onn of his radio.

"Diana, he's heading towards you."

Double meanwhile ran fast to Diana's position and saw the Amazon breaking the street causing the asphalt to fall on the sewers below where Deadshot had used a bike to avoid capture.

"We want him alive, we have to get down there" he looked around and pointed at an entrance.

They both jumped inside and just as the assassin was making his way to them.

They both got a good look at him, he had the height of a normal man with in a read bodysuit with gargets on his arms that looked like mini-rocket launchers. He armor covered his chest and head, leaving only a hole for the left eye, with see through cloth, and the right eye had a targeting lens used for targeting.

"End of the road!" Diana said as she and Double blocked his path.

"I'll take a detour" he returned and fired one of his rockets above their heads. Double seeing the direction of the rocket, pushed Diana out of the way after which he switched his memories.

"HEAT-METAL!"

Double then quickly swung the flaming staff at the falling rubble turning instantly to ash.

The distraction worked and now Double was chasing Deadshot on foot while Diana was flying after him.

- Back at the Hospital -

Lantern and Aquaman had been waiting from the team to respond, but Aquaman was getting more and more irritated and impatient. He walked in front of John and asked "what's taking so long? I must return to Atlantis."

John didn't pay him any heed "sit tight your 'high-ness' well tell you when it's safe to go."

"(Bbbuuttz!)"Aquaman turned faking defeat and turned in an instant and knocked Lantern' lanterns out. "You presume too much" and left to go to Atlantis.

- Back in the sewers -

Deadshot had just ran into Batman, and he was ready. The assassin was close to the exit when he drove into Batman's mine-field that was full of spiky explosives. They exploded when his wheels ran over them. Batman almost had him but the smart hitman took out a smoke bomb and threw it at the wall exploding and covering his escape.

Deadshot had entered his van, which was full of weapons from swords, to daggers, to guns to rocket launchers. He turned on the car and started to drive along the road, trying to act casual.

Superman found the van and used his heat vision to pop one of the back tires. the van spun out of control and was about to crash into some cilvilians when the RevolGerry appeared and took the impact for them.

Superman then ripped off the back door of the van and pulled out the assassin.

"Okay, okay. I give up." The assassin finally gave up.

Superman was the first to arrive to. "You tried to kill Aquaman, why?" asked Superman sternly picking him up from the ground by his flexible armor.

"That's a tough one. Why would a hired gun try to kill someone? Could it's because someone paid me to? " His answers were ironic statements, yet he had confirmed their suspicions that he was an assassin.

"Who?" asked the voice of a newly arrived Diana, followed by Batman and J'onn.

Deadshot looked at the princess shocked that she had managed to escape, but in the light she looked more appealing so he tried his luck "Oh, come on babe, you know I can't tell you that. Professional ethics… but then again if you make it worth my while." He looked at her big well shaped breasts and could help but admire them.

Smack!

Double had snuck up behind Deadshot and smacked him with the 'Green Slipper of Doom'.

"Start talking or I'll smack you again." Double said.

"You wouldn't dare." Deadshot said just before Double raised the slipper to hit him again. "Okay, okay, I'll talk. Can't believe a shoe is getting me to talk."

"Don't tell me..." Shotaro began to asked Phillip.

"Akl-chan lent me this one mostly to use on you when you try to act hardboiled." Phillip said.

"Aaarrrrggggghhhhh!" Shotaro growled.

"Who hired you?" asked the dark knight who decided to ask the questions.

"I don't know, I don't ask questions."

"Not good enough. How were you paid?"

"In gold" the assassin pointed at the broken chest on the road with gold in it and scattered all over around it. The gold was in the form of coins, crosses, even beads and swords. All had had the markings of a torso armor on them, Spanish style.

"They're Spanish doubloons." determined Batman

"Where would they get this type of coins?" asked Diana.

"Atlantis" finished J'onn.

"My theory was correct." Phillip said

"We have to warn Aquaman!" determined Superman.

"Too late" answered the voice of the newly arrived Lantern. "That royal pain in the ass already left. I couldn't stop him."

"This is not good…" Shotaro voiced.

- Atlantis -

Aquaman had entered his castle and walked to his throne room when he heard Orm's voice inside.

"My friends, now is the time for action! Now is the time for mighty Atlantis to rise up and strike terror into the hearts of its enemies! Are you with me!"

The generals and guards inside cheered, happy that they would have their revenge finally.

'What? That fool!' Aquaman could take it anymore. He forcefully opened both doors and stepped inside to confront his brother and his generals "Orm! What treason is this?"

"No treason brother, I only thought you were…"

"Dead? That's no reason to plunge Atlantis into a war! I left specific orders… "

"I am only doing what you never had the courage to do…"

"Enough! I will hear no more. Arrest the traitor! " ordered the true king but his command fell on deaf ears as the guards didn't even budge.

"You heard him…" spoke the false king smirking.

"What?"

"You are the traitor. You abandoned your people! Sold us out to the surface dwellers! Look around you brother, I'm in charge now…"

TBC