Chapter 6: The Enemy Below- The Meltdown
- Previously -
"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.
"Mira…what kind of future am I making for our son?"
"First you sink a nuclear submarine, and then you threaten us to make peace. Who gave you the right?"
"I knew we couldn't trust that fishman! The sub's been stripped and the plutonium is gone."
(TSSSZZZ!)(BOOOHHMM!)
"He's a professional" Phillip said. "He was able to avoid detection and came prepared. He already had an escape plan thought out."
"What makes you think that an Atlantian is to blame?"
"You tried to kill Aquaman, why?"
"They're Spanish doubloons." Determined Batman
"Where would they get this type of coins?" asked Diana.
"Atlantis" finished J'onn.
"This is not good…" Shotaro voiced
"Now is the time for mighty Atlantis to rise up and strike terror into the hearts of its enemies!"
"Orm! What treason is this?"
"I am only doing what you never had the courage to do…"
The guards pointed their spears at Aquaman. "I'm in charge now…"
-And now…-
-Atlantis-
"For years, I stood by and watched you bring Atlantis to the brink of ruin. I will stand no more! And neither will your generals." Spoke the false king Orm as he made his dominance obvious to Aquaman.
Brak added his two cents to make Orm's remarks evident. "This is a battle that we should have fought years ago. But you betrayed us by siding with the enemy."
'… spineless cowards!' Aquaman couldn't hold his anger any longer, he was furious that the people that he trusted the most betrayed him only at his weakest. He pushed the guards aside and punched them away. He couldn't take it; his sights were on the cause of all this conflict, Orm.
(Ahh!)(TSSSZZ!)(AAAAHHHHH)He tried to jump Orm to break his neck but his attempts were fruitless as Orm aimed the trident at his brother and a lightning based attack struck Aquaman pushing him a few feet away and injuring his abdomen.
He tried to move but the exhaustion along with the attack took too much out of him.
"Take him away…" On Orm's command guards appeared and took him to a guarded area. "General Brak, prepare your troops at once."
"Yes, my lord." Brak didn't even hesitate, betraying his king and plunging his Empire to ruin didn't even leave a mark of regret in him.
The generals left and Orm stood in his new throne getting the feel to it, but it didn't last long.
"Orm! They say that my husband has returned. Is that true?" Mira was but seconds late to see her husband's betrayal.
"I wish it were. But it is only un unfounded rumor." His voice was more caring but his intentions were greatly different.
Mira was devastated "I tried to be strong, but without him... I…"
Seeing his chance, Orm tried to comfort her. "Don't worry Mira. I'll take care of you… and your son."
"My son?" Mira was afraid and shocked at the same time.
"I've already taken the precaution of placing him under my protection." his tone became monotone again.
Mira was shocked and ran away to her son's crib. But all she found was emptiness. Her son had been taken away.
"These are dangerous times Mira… we can't be too careful…" Orm followed her and shocked her from behind.
"Where is he?"
"Your son will come to no harm, as long as you cooperate."
Mira was shocked at the man before her. No more was he the kind and respectful man that she had known, he was cold and ruthless, a monster. "How can you do this…?"
"I assure you I am only doing what is best for Atlantis!" He turned and walked away. 'Brother, you had so much that you had taken for granted. Now I have your crown, your kingdom, your people, your son and soon I will also have your wife.'
He smirked as he walked away confident in his victory.
-Somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean a few miles away-
Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Superman, Double, and the Martian Manhunter were sailing through the waters of the Atlantic towards Atlantis to get some answers.
"We're almost there. Atlantis is just beyond this reef." Diana was piloting the Javelin as she tried to break the silence.
John was tensed. "Don't expect them to open us with welcome arms."
Double meanwhile just stared out at the ocean. "This isn't a good idea…" Phillip spoke more to himself but the others heard him.
"Why? Atlantis is the only way to get answers from…" spoke the Amazon as she didn't understand the young man's worries.
"The man that hired the assassin to take out Aquaman gave him a lot of gold. That means it was someone with a lot of influence, if the social classes are similar to the ones above. This has all of the makings of a political coup."
Everyone's eyes widened at this information. Now, that risk became known, they were starting to get tensed, even if it was only a possibility.
Double saw their reactions and tried to calm the waters. "That's only a theory. It's quite possible that Aquaman came back and stop the coup from happening."
"Or" asked J'onn. He could sense something disturbing the kamen rider.
"However it's also possible that the person could have already achieved what he wanted and we won't be enjoying our visit too much." He deadpanned with a straight face.
The others were at a loss of words because of his calmness but decided to stay alert anyway.
"Set the ship down here, maybe we can slip under their defenses." suggested Superman coming up with the plan quickly.
(Booohhmm!)But his response was a projectile hitting the starboard side of the Javelin.
"Too late, they have already seen us." J'onn concluded the fastest.
"There are times I hate it when Phillip's right." Shotaro voiced, to himself more then anyone else.
The Javelin stopped and John powered his ring not able to take it any longer. "If it's a fight they want! They got it!"
"Either the pressure of the water is pressing on your brain or, somehow, you're related to Hawkgirl. Have you forgotten that we were the ones that invaded their lands, or that we have a big hand in this conflict as well, and that we proposed to Aquaman to come above, or that Aquaman almost died on our watch? This is the normal response you get from someone; I want to kick some ass too but we won't be the ones to start a war. We have to be the nice guys here. Now let's go."
John held a scorn look at the 2 in 1 detective, even though his conclusions had a lot of sense, it annoyed the hell out of him that they were the ones taking all the crap from these arrogant, pompass asses.
Double meanwhile had walked to the end of the Javelin where apparently the HardSplasher was docked and shouted "Care to give me a small push?"
They all got out of the Javelin with some wearing air-masks. Superman decided to be the representative. "We come with an urgent message for your king!"
Their responses were projectiles thrown from the underwater bikes. Lantern, however, used his ring to take out the
projectiles creating a shield. "There's your answer."
The soldiers proceeded to run them through with the bikes. However they had a hard time tackling down the heroes as they used their powers wisely and disabled the men without causing too much damage.
Superman used his strength to catch the men by their collars as they flew past him. J'onn fazed his body and the ships swam past him unharmed. Diana used her special bracelets to redirect the fire and her agility to get close enough to the soldiers to take them out. Lantern used his ring to create sections of green walls in which the Atlantian riders hit, damaging their bikes.
Double meanwhile used the weapons on the HardSplasher to deal with the underwater bikes that went after him.
The battleships moved in and began their assault bombarding the heroes with projectiles fired from the double turrets from the base of the ship.
Superman picking up a huge bolder from the sea floor and took it to the battleship using it as a rough knife on the ship. They were almost out of danger but reinforcements were grouping.
"GO! I'll hold them off while you reach Atlantis!" Double yelled as he was tightening his muscles for the riders.
"You can't hold them off alone!" screamed Diana getting behind him.
"You forget I'm never alone Everyone go NOW!" The others didn't need to be told twice, they were on their way to Atlantis.
Double took down each riders as they came at him when suddenly...(BOOOHHMM!) (BOOOHHMMM!) (BOOHHHMM!)
Sounds of explosions caught his attention and he saw that the rest of the league was in a field surrounded by depth charges that exploded taking them down.
Reinforcements could be seen.
"Shotaro I have an idea." They managed to evade the first round but they were overwhelmed when the battleship aimed their cannons at them.
(AAAHHHHH!) Two of the projectiles hit them and exploded in flame and bubbles leaving nothing behind.
The riders started looking for anything at the detonation sight. Finally one spoke "Sir, there is nothing left of him or his vehicle, I think we killed him."
A voice responded in his radio. "Understood. Return to Atlantis after a second search. We want to be sure when we report to lord Orm."
Not one of them noticed a black and yellow vehicle hiding in the shadows.
-Atlantis- palace-
Superman was the first to wake up from his the attack. He, Lantern, Diana, and J'onn were on their knees with their hands behind their backs held in restraints. They also had devices placed on their heads that shined red back and forth. They were in a room surrounded by other people, with some that wore armors and others that didn't.
"Worthless, surface scum..." Orm stood in front of them with a distasteful look on his face.
Superman was weak but he was still able to speak. "(Arggh)…where are our friend?"
"I'll be asking the questions here intruder." Orm returned.
"Where is Aquaman?" Superman tried again.
"I thought that your kind already took care of him." the traitor returned with a straight face.
"No, he came back here." Responded J'onn weakly.
Mira appeared on the balcony above to see the prisoners believing that they might know something. When she heard the conversation down bellow.
"We came here to warn him about a plot against his life. An atlantian plot. " completed Superman.
"Lies! And deceptions! (TRRIITTZZZ!)" Orm returned before he fired his trident at Superman hurting the hero but not badly. "I consider this latest incursion nothing less then an act of war. You will be executed as enemies of the crown. Then I will wipe out the surface world… forever." He turned and left while the heroes were taken to the execution chamber, all of them suspecting he was the one that hired the assassin. "Oh, and about your friend. My men are searching for his remains as we speak. His death is the first victory in many to come for Atlantis. Don't worry, you'll be joining him pretty soon…"
Superman, Diana ,Lantern, and J'onn were shocked. Double was died. It was horrible and their anger couldn't be contained. All three tried harder to break free from the guards. But their effort held little success.
The were taken in a cylinder type chamber 6 meters tall that held three stone dragon heads 3 meters above them and special restraints for their arms. A huge glass window lifted up from the underneath the entrance in the cylinder separating the heroes form the three guards outside. And water started to leak out of the stone dragons' mouths until it became a torrent of water filling the chamber. They would drown in a few minutes.
- In the docking chamber several minutes earlier -
Two guards were watching over the area when having a small chat when they looked at the clear water. "Hey! someone is coming. By ready!"
A few seconds Double on the HardSplasher appeared throwing the Spider Shock at one of them while attacking the other one. The Spider Shock attached to the face of the guard and as he tried to get it off he couldn't help his comrade as Double quickly knocked him out. The Spider Shock finally removed itself and the guard turned to see a black fist smash into his face.
"That was a smart move to fire our torpedoes at their shells. It made them think we were completely destroyed." Shotaro said.
"Also riding near their engines allowed us to hide in their wake." Phillip said.
The kamen rider tied the two men and locked them in a storage room. Then he hid the HardSplasher in a safe place. Now he sneaking around in the city trying to find the rest of the league.
"Shotaro look!" Phillip whispered and pointed. He pointed to a red haired woman that had a big mace in her hand. She had a gold tiara on her head that looked like a crown, a short green top that looked more like a bra held her breasts while a green, thin, pants that seamed to hang on her hips held up in a golden belt, she only wore a green see through silk on her backside that covered her back but her shaped body could still be seen clearly.
"Let's follow her. She might know where the others are." Phillip said as Double began to follow the woman.
Double continued to follow her until they reached a room with three guards looking at a huge chamber of water and inside the chamber were the league. Double prepared to jump the three guards to take them out when the red haired woman took the initiative and knocked one of the guards out with the mace making a loud metallic sound as she hit the helmet.
"What? Arrrggaahh!" Both guards turned around and one got another mace to the side of his face.
The last one got out of his shock and faced the woman with his weapon ready. "My queen! What are you…?"
"Aaahhhh." The guard couldn't finish as Double appeared and did a jumpkick to his head and even with the helmet, it still knocked him out. "The queen huh? Okay your Highness how do we open the chamber?" His voice was held panic but was determined and forceful time was short.
Mira stared at him with shock until she realized what he asked her. "…the lever. Pull it!" she pointed at the lever in front of the chamber.
Double pulled it quickly and water started to escape the chamber fast through a drain that opened in the middle. The heroes were freed quickly and were now catching their breath.
Superman was the first to catch his breath. "Thanks (cough) but they told us (cough) that you died."
Shotaro answered for him. "They may have advanced technology but they're no match for Phillip's brain." Smiles and laughs spread around and feelings of gratitude that everyone was alright.
Superman turned to the one that helped them. "Thank you for helping us, but why?"
"You believe that someone in Atlantis has betrayed my husband. I also fear for his life, but I need your help."
"You've got it." John answered firmly to the woman.
Everyone else nodded and smiled at the woman agreeing.
-Not very far from Atlantis- above a lava shaft at the bottom of the ocean-
Aquaman was shackled with chains to a section of the rock on the edge of the cliff to the shaft below. He tried to free his hands but his efforts were in vein as the chains held tight.
"Enjoying the view?" Orm slid from above on a water bike.
"Killing me won't make the people of Atlantis serve you." Aquaman wasn't pleased at all and held back his anger to stall for time so that he could find a way to escape.
"I know. That whole lineage thing could get messy. Fortunately, I have a solution." The betrayer returned confidently walking to the front of the ship.
"What do you mean?" the king was genuinely curious this time. His answer was Orm opening a hatch and lifting up a bundle in a red blanket. Sounds of cries could be heard from it.
"No!" To Aquaman's horror the bundle was his only infant son.
-Back to Atlantis-
The queen was sneaking them across Atlantis to the palace avoiding the guards.
Diana was looking around while walking on a platform. "Your kingdom is truly magnificent. I see why Aquaman wants to protect it so passionately." Spoke the princess, comparing the city to what she had seen.
"Unfortunately, there are those whose ambitions would destroy it."
"Well we can't let that happen. It's better to have someone like Aquaman on the throne than some genocidal lunatic." Double said.
"That's right. My husband is a good king."
"I can see that."
They were suddenly surrounded from both sides with Diana and Double protecting the queen while Superman J'ohn and Lantern protected covered them from the back.
"We don't have time for this." The rider spoke as he removed the the Cyclone and Joker Memories and pulled out the Luna and Metal Memories.
"LUNA!"
"METAL!"
"LUNA-METAL!"
Mira was in awe as Double changed from green and black to yellow and silver. Double grabbed the Metal Shaft and swung it at the guards who were shocked at seeing the metal staff bend like a whip and knock each guard down.
Superman and Lantern finished with the three guards that attacked from behind. Superman looked around turned to the others. "We can't keep avoiding them. We have to hurry back to the palace!" He looked at Double "Need a hand?"
"Of course."
They started to fly to the palace with Diana holding the queen and Superman holding Double.
-Back to Aquaman-
Orm looked at the crying child in his hands and had seconds thoughts for a moment but they quickly passed. "Such a pity.
The young prince will be another innocent victim to the surface dweller's aggression."
Aquaman couldn't hold it any longer. He tried desperately to get free, bending the chains, but they still held tight.
"Sadly, that will also make me the rightful heir to the throne." He swam to the side of his brother and implanted his knife in
the side of the rock leaving the handle out and placed the child on it.
"Well, I'm off to avenge your deaths." He said before firing an energy beam at the rock with the trident making it slip more and more in the lava shaft. He left soon after on the water bike smirking.
"OORRMMM!"
The rock started to slide on the side of the cliff slowly approaching the lava vent. Aquaman tried desperately to get free, more determined then ever to get free and save his son. He pulled with all his might until the plate that held the chain of his right arm broke. He tried desperately to free his other hand but the distance between him and the lava was getting shorter and shorter.
His child's cries never ceased and he tried again this time with a sharp object that was an accessory of his belt. He tried to break the rock surrounding the plate but it was useless, he simply didn't have time.
He looked once more at his son and then held the sharp object above his head and aimed it at his hand.
"AAAAAGGGGAAAAAHHH!"
-Atlantis- The palace – 10 minutes later -
The heroes had reached the palace fast but it was empty. Most if not all of the guards were gone and there was almost no resistance. They decided to search the palace, Superman, J'onn and Lantern were looking everywhere for him.
Double who was now green and black again and Wonder Woman had stayed to guard the queen with Diana comforting her.
"Excuse me, your highness, but do you have any suspects as to who might want to kill your husband'?" Shotaro asked.
"There is just one person who I believe is responsible for this. His brother Orm. He had taken the crown after my husband's presumed death, declared war on your world and took my son while I wasn't around." She finished placing her hands on her face to hold back the tears and try to stay strong.
"Where was the last time you saw him?" Shotaro asked.
"Just before freeing you. He was in the docks and left on a water bike and the army soon followed."
The detective turned to Diana. "There maybe clues or a witness who knows where he went. I'll go there while you finish up here."
"Alright, but don't be too long."
Double nodded and left at full speed to the docks. He had to sneak around to avoid some people but he reached it quickly.
Looking around the docks, they were huge and empty this time. The only thing left was the HardSplasher right where Double left it. He guessed that every ship must have left. "Nothing. If they left Atlantis so unprotected they must be planning something very big."
Double was about to leave when he noticed water moving back and forth. 'Someone is coming to the surface.' He leaped back a few good meters and took a stance, preparing himself for battle. His eyes caught sight of something in the water; a red liquid was flowing in the water and dissolving quickly. 'Is that blood?'
A splash was his answer, as someone came out weakly out of the water and landed on their knees. It was Aquaman and he was holding his son in his right hand and a red cloth was tied around his left wrist. "Aggghhh!"
"Aquaman! Are you alright?" asked the blond as he rushed to his side.
"…y-you. What are you doing here?" His voice was weak.
"When you disappeared. We decided to come here. Here let me help you." Double said as he grabbed a cloth that was hanging on the wall and held it like a blanket in his hands in front of Aquaman, showing that he wanted to hold the child while he helped him.
Aquaman was untrusting and didn't want to give his son up yet, holding him closer.
"Don't worry. I promise I will protect him with my life." Said the rider.
Aquaman hesitantly gave up the child and placed him in the cloth with Double wrapping it around him securely and hold him with his right arm. Double proceeded to swing Aquaman's right arm over his shoulder and proceeded to the palace fast.
Double decided to fill in the blanks. "We were right. Someone hired that hitman to kill you using Spanish doubloons; we concluded that it must have come from Atlantis. We wanted to come here and warn you that someone, in your kingdom, wanted you dead. When we got here we were attacked, I managed to escape, the rest were captured."
"How did you manage to get in if you were out?" asked Aquaman often stealing glances at his son, or the clone holding him.
"Thankfully the search party wasn't as smart as my other half." He answered with a smirk trying to improve the atmosphere. "But it was your wife that really saved the day."
"How?"
"She believed us and helped us find the others and save them. She's quite the woman. Heh."
Aquman smirked slightly amused. "That's why I married her."
They reached the court room shortly after where the team was assembled and Mira was starting to cry.
"Look who I found." Double said letting go of Aquaman who was now walking on his own, and gave his son back to him.
Mira looked up and was overjoyed to see her two most precious people alive. She ran to Aquaman and hugged him lovingly. "My love! You're safe."
"And so is our son." He said before he put their child into her loving arms.
She looked back at him and saw his pain stricken face and looked at his left arm. "Uhah! Your hand…".
"Where… is… Orm?" he asked with malice.
"Before you go after him. We better do something with that hand or you might die." Double said.
"There's a surgeon here. He will help me."
-Half an hour later-
Aquaman had regained his strength and the surgeon worked on his left wrist with a scalpel and a torch. He was putting the finishing touches to it. The Justice League and the queen were looking from behind him.
"His own hand… I can't believe it…" said Superman watching from behind.
"I told you he was a mad man…" said Lantern looking as well.
"What you do if you were put in that position and it was your son's life in danger? I know that I would do what it took to save mine if I ever have a child. That fact that Aquaman was willing to sacrafice his hand to save his son...well that makes him a hardboiled man in my eyes." Shotaro said.
"Shotaro..." Phillip whispered.
No one knew it but Aquaman's respect for the rider as he could hear their conversation
Aquaman turned to the surgeon that was still operating on his wrist. "Can't you work any faster?"
"This is a delicate operation my lord. It can't be rushed."
"(Beep)" A beep broke the silence and Batman's voice came from it. "A situation has developed at the North Pole. Thermal reading shows temperatures increasing rapidly."
"If that continues. The ecologic effects could be catastrophic." Responded J'onn.
"Then let's check it out." Voiced John.
"But what about the crisis here?" asked Diana.
"There may be a connection." Responded Aquaman.
"What do you mean?" asked Superman.
"It's the Doomsday thermal reactor. We designed it to create a polar meltdown."
"What?"
"I had it built as weapon of last resort, should the surface world ever attack."
Smack!
Aquaman rubbed the top of his head where Double had smacked with a green shoe.
"You idiot! Did you take into account what a drastic change in climate a polar meltdown could do. Not only would the surface world be underwater but also the change would destroy Atlantis as well." Phillip yelled while waving the green slipper threateningly at Aquaman.
Aquaman lowered his head in regret at his huge mistake. "But I never armed it."
"Then Orm must have. Using the plutonium from the submarine." Responded Lantern anxiously.
"If the polar cap melts, the world will sink beneath the waves, everything will be destroyed. Orm must be stopped!" Superman responded before turning to leave.
"And he will be!" Aquaman's operation had ended and he got off the seat. The results were his wound was closed and in its place was a sharp harpoon in the shape of half an ellipse that extended to his knees. "I'll see to it personally!" He finished threateningly.
Everyone hardened their eyes. They knew the next course of action: End Orm's reign.
-Close to the North Pole-
Aquman swam at very fast speed through the water. Actually it looked like he glided through it. He jumped on the ice and was walking firmly to the mountain where the reactor would be.
"Aquaman, wait!" Superman called from behind. The rest of the league followed him with Double on the HardSplasher and the rest flying.
"Why do you follow?" asked Aquaman.
"We want to help." Responded Diana.
"This is my battle. No one asked you to fight it." He returned coldly.
Double was getting really pissed at him. "Are you really that stupid?" he said as he drove the HardSplasher right next to him. "Our world is in danger and do you think we're just going to walk away? King or no king, maybe after this is over I should give you a royal ass-kicking." He returned with narrowed eyes.
Aquaman raised an eyebrow at the young man in front of him. 'He's got some guts.' "Stay if you want but don't get in my way." He walked past him but was interrupted when a projectile almost hit him from below the ice, it was lucky that he jumped away in time.
Atlantis' armies soon made themselves known as they surfaced through the ice and started firing their cannons and releasing their riders.
The heroes closed the distance between them and engaged with Aquaman jumping in the water, Double landing on the surface of the water and the others attacking from the skies.
Soldiers approached as Double switched one of his memories.
"TRIGGER!"
"CYCLONE-TRIGGER!"
Double shot compressed air bullets at each soldier sending them flying away from him and into the water.
Double turned to the others and saw a group of riders attacking another, except that the bike was commandeered by Aquaman himself. The kamen rider watched as the king swiftly avoided all the firepower, and jumped of the bike catching a small whale by its thin and hitting the men dead center knocking them away. "Okay, I'm impressed."
Several soldiers charged him again and Double once again sent them flying. "This isn't good Shotaro. These guys are only distracting us." Phillip said
"I know that partner." Shoatro said as he shot another air bullet at a approaching soldier.
"Double. Aquaman is heading to the generator. Meet me there" He heard on his radio.
"About time you showed up Bats. What took you so long? I'm on my way." He turned to the ice and started racing after Aquaman.
-With Aquaman-
After ridding the whale for a while, he released it and emerged out of the water through the ice and close to the cave that held the generator. He walked inside looking for his brother, water was dripping everywhere from the melted ice. He reached the generator and walked to the keyboard. He was going to shut it down when he was attacked from behind by an energy beam from Orm, trident in hand and all. "AARRGGaaaeeeahh!"
"Apparently I underestimated you brother. A mistake I won't repeat again." He pulled back the trident and aimed the sharp edges at the hero to stab him.
Aquaman, however, faked defeat and avoided the trident. He punched Orm hard in the face and sent him back a few meters.
Meanwhile Batman had landed the batjet he was flying in. Lantern landed close to him and Double running up to them.
Aquaman and Orm engaged in battle again but Orm's fighting skills were no match for his brother's.
"It's over." Concluded Aquaman.
"You're right… and you lost!" He lifted the trident again and aimed it at the keyboard and destroyed it preventing any attempt to stop the generator.
Aquaman was caught off guard by these turn of events and was too distracted to avoid another energy blast to his abdomen. "The tide is against you. The reactor can't be shut down."
Batman Double, and John reached the reactor and Batman started working on the reactor. "It's no good. I'll have to go inside and manually shut it down.
"Inside?" asked Lantern knowing the risks of radiation
"Your ring. Can it protect me?"
"We'll soon find out." Lantern made a cloak of energy around Batman who then proceeded to enter the reactor through a hatch.
"I'll make sure you aren't disturbed while you're doing this." Double said as he kept his eyes on the battle between the brothers.
While fighting Aquaman fell in a huge hole in the ice. But he stabbed the ice with the harpoon and it stopped his decent
Double meanwhile did a jumpkick to Orm's back knocking him down. As Orm got up he was met with a kick to the face.
"So, you're the one to blame for this mess."
"How dare you?" Orm was angry and was now holding a bruised cheek.
"Easy, you made a little baby cry. Now count up your crimes." He attacked again but the trident was already aimed at him and fired hitting the rider in the abdomen. "AAAAGGGAAHHHH!"
"Huh, that's it bow to my feet. All of you surface scums are weak like my brother. And I'm going to end you!" He fired the trident again and again at Double who was pinned in the wall.
Lantern heard the painful scream but could do nothing as he had the reactor to focus on.
Aquaman was jumping from ledge to ledge trying to reach the cave where the reactor and the rest were.
Finally Orm ceased his attack "… the only one weak here is you. You're so paranoid that you would destroy everything just to prove your superiority over your brother." Double said as he shot an air bullet at Orm sending flying away long enough for Double to switch memories again.
"METAL!
"CYCLONE-METAL!"
"I'm not weak! " He tried to plunge his weapon into Double only to be stopped by the Metal Shaft. "I'm nothing like my spineless brother!AAAGgghhh"
"AAAGHHH. You're the one who's spineless. He sacrificed so much for his family and kingdom, things that you could never do! You're right, you are nothing like him, you're just an arrogant coward!" Both pushed each other hard trying to gain dominance.
Orm was infuriated and pushed on. "You sure talk much! I hope you saved some good last words!"
"I hope you saved yours." Double said as he pulled out the Metal Memory to use a Maximum Drive..
"Orm! Your fight is with me!" Aquaman screamed as he jumped to the cave.
"That's right!" Both engaged in battle again.
"Little bastard ignored me." Double said.
"It's better this way." Phillip said.
But soon after it was over as both feel an ice bridge and Orm pulled out a knife and cut Aquaman but the bridge started to crumble due to the impact and the heat. Both were starting to fall. "AAAHHH"
'LUNA-METAL!".
A long yellow arm grabbed Aquaman and saved him from falling. Aquaman watched as his brother fell into the abyss below.
The arm pulled Aquaman up to safety. Aquaman walked towards Double as he pulled the Metal Shaft from the ground as he jabbed it in to hold on to so he wouldn't fall in rescuing Aquaman. "You all right?"
Aquaman nodded and said "I'd never thought I'd say this to a surface dweller but thanks."
"No problem. Come on let's check on the others." Double said as he and Aquaman ran towards the reactor.
"Hurry Batman!" John called out.
"(TZZSSHH!)" Batman succeeded and the reactor was shut down.
"You did it."
"No. WE did it."
Aquaman turned to them. "Then the threat is over."
Batman, Aquaman, Lantern, and Double returned to the battle although it was nothing much to see. The others had already defeated the army.
Following that they returned to Atlantis and order was started to be made as the soldiers obeyed their king and arrested the generals. There were diggings at the cave but Orm was no where to be found and everyone dismissed him as being dead. The generals were put on trail and all of them crumbled in excuses with Brak the ringleader. "… and surely you must know my lord that our loyalties belong to you and you alone. We never believed in Orm's plans but your brother forced us.
The truth is: we were only following orders."
Aquaman and the league heard enough. They were nothing but cowards. "Get them out of my sight…" The guards proceeded and took the former generals in cells where they will spend a long time.
"(Heavy sign) I can only blame myself. My fear of the surface dwellers blinded me to those I should have feared most. And it cost me dearly."
"Don't be too hard on yourself, maybe we've all misjudged." John tried to comfort the king with words, admitting even to himself, as well, that he was wrong.
"Perhaps… All I want… all I've ever wanted is peace and security in Atlantis."
"After what's happened it won't be easy." Superman commented.
"I know. But some sacrifices are worth it." Aquaman concluded looking at his wife and child.
- Unknown location-
A man in a trenchcoat looked through a window at a city down below. "Sonozaki was a fool. Gaia Memories should be reserved for the strong while everyone else is meant to serve the strong." The man said as he pulled out a Gaia Memory of his own. It was dark purple with a white V printed on it. The V had what looked like a scorpion's stinger on the bottom.
"Soon my dreams will become reality."
"VENOM!"
-End of chapter
- Next time-
The other Justice league members get a taste of what Double has faced before as Dopants appear in Metropolis, Gotham, and Central City.
Wow that took a long time to do. I sorry I took so long with this. Next up and original chapter not based on the show.
Readers if you want any Justice League Villain to be a dopant please review or send me a message.
Include the Villain's name, Gaia Memory, what the dopant looks like and what it's abilities are.