The Aquaman
Aquaman stoically watched Oliver and Chloe, expecting some sort of an explanation, finally he said: "The problem is that the oil rig is spewing crude oil petroleum waste into the environment. It's been pooling along the sea floor, getting into the food supply, and killing and sickening our sisters and brethren." AC began officially, as Mira hung on every word, watching for some reaction from the over-dwellers.
Mira still waved the trident menacingly at them. Clark assumed that the trident was some type of weapon, and not just ceremonial. AC had a similar one, though much bigger, strapped across his broad, tanned back. "That's exactly why we're here, AC." Oliver explained coolly.
"You lie!" Mira's sudden outburst startled everyone. "Please my lord, let me gut them like they do to our sisters and brethren! Let our young feast on their rotting entrails!" Chloe's eyes widened, and Lois clung tightly to Clark. "Mira! Enough! These are my friends!" AC defended angrily.
"That is one mean woman!" Chloe commented, shaking her head. "Mira! Go and check on the readiness of our fleet!" Aquaman ordered. "Yes, my lord!" Mira bowed her head and cast one more hateful glance at everyone aboard the Queen's Gambit.
She quickly departed as her whale swam east and then disappeared beneath the surface. "Oh! She's just lovely!" Lois remarked as her voice dripped with sarcasm. "My lord?" Oliver playfully teased. "AC, you've obviously moved up in the world." He added to the quip.
"I must apologize for Mira's behavior." AC began in a much softer tone. "We just lost her mother, Queen Adele of Pacifica. Mira must now fill the role as leader." Clark nodded. "Pacifica?" Lois picked up on the strange name. "Hey Lois!" AC finally smiled. "Atlantis is the home of my people." He explained. "The kingdom is divided into six countries, to use your term."
"The six subkingdoms are called Atlantea, Pacifica, Amphipolis, Thermapolis, Arthrocia, and Antipodea. Each is located below the sea floor of the corresponding known, human named, oceans." Aquaman added. "I have been called upon to rule Atlantea, which is our biggest kingdom."
"Called on by whom?" Lois's inherent journalistic instincts began to kick in. "The original four kingdoms date back about 10,000 years." AC answered. "King Triton, King Poseiden, King Neptune, and Queen Atalanta formed the island countries about the time the Egyptian pyramids were built. Wars, famines, and devastating climate changes eventually forced the Atlanteans underwater."
"The truth be told, the Atlanteans and the humans never did get along well." Aquaman admitted. He sighed. "Permission to come aboard?" AC asked contritely. "Granted." Oliver quipped, trying to sound official. AC waved his trident in front of the whale's eye, pointing it downward.
The whale responded by dropping about three quarters of the way below the surface. AC leapt off impressively, and land near the center of the boat between Lois and Clark and Oliver and Chloe. The whale quietly slipped beneath the surface, its tail flipped high above them.
"So, Prince Arthur…?" Lois needled. AC glanced over at her and Clark. "It's good to see you all again!" He finally flashed a bright smile. "Now, that's my bro'." Chloe praised. "Boy Scout, Why are you so quiet?" AC noted Clark's lethargic expression. "Just a little out of sorts today." Clark defended weakly.
"Perhaps you're seasick?" Aquaman teased as he slapped Clark's broad back. "More likely homesick!" Lois speculated playfully. Oliver had restarted the Queen's Gambit and resumed his heading towards the QII Oil Rig. "As I was saying…" Oliver began above the whining din of the yacht's twin engines. "We are in fact, here to investigate the accident claims made about the oil rig."
"I'm here on a surprise inspection, so I can see for myself any damages that could be involved." Oliver added. "It is true, Ollie." AC said as he returned his attention to the bow of the boat. "My subjects are growing gravely ill. Many have died from the poisoning of our food supply."
"Subjects?" Chloe parroted as her eyes widened. "Yes Chloe, I am now considered the Aquaman, a sort of king, actually." AC sounded uncomfortable talking about himself. "It's an honorable title of nobility. I am a direct descendant of King Triton's bloodline, and as the eldest male, I must assume the throne." AC explained patiently. "In fact, I represent the first in a line of Atlantean hybrids."
"Hybrids?" Clark echoed. "Yes. Atlantis has been my home all this time." Aquaman continued. "I'm a new species entirely. I can exist for long periods of time on land with the over-dwellers. That's the name we call your people. According to legend, my father, King Triton, had an illicit affair with an over-dweller female, named Denala. I was born as this hybrid, similar to your meteor freaks, or meta humans."
Clark couldn't recall ever encountering Atlanteans in previous timelines, yet here was their friend, AC. He mentally grumbled 'great! Now we have an entirely new species to deal with!' "You mentioned 'a fleet?'" Lois picked up on the earlier command given to Mira. "Unfortunately, the Six Kingdoms do not see eye to eye. Bickering has gone on for years, but now all of Atlantis is in jeopardy." AC replied.
"The Six Kingdoms disagree profoundly on how to deal with each other, and worse yet, how to deal with the over-dwellers. Each kingdom has amassed a fleet ready for war." Aquaman let that statement hang in the air. "This sounds just like politics in the good old US of A." Chloe remarked.
"It's gotten far beyond political squabbling, Chlo'." AC admitted. "The Atlanteans hold the over-dwellers responsible for any deaths of the denizens of the depths." Clark scowled. "That's not fair!" He snapped. "Humans may not be the only cause of the Atlanteans' deaths."
"Humans?" Lois echoed, and cast a puzzled glance at Superman. Chloe bit her lip. The conversation had gotten close to going bad for Clark as well as for everyone else. "Just out of curiosity, what kind of weapons do the Atlanteans use?" Oliver grilled, swiftly deflecting the discussion from Clark.
"There are many sources of energy below the sea floor." AC began vaguely. "Humans can't survive at those depths, even with all of the advanced technology. The water itself carries untapped energy that we Atlanteans have harnessed for use. We can cook, build, and communicate just as easily below the sea floor as you all can above sea level. Yes, we have weaponized some of this energy as well."
"AC, you can't let this get out of hand." Clark warned. "I know, Clark. The heads of all the kingdoms have forbidden any contact with the human world." Aquaman continued. "You know as well as I that we can't control or stop everyone. At some point, we will have a major conflict between the Over Dwellers and the Under Dwellers." This depressing fact silenced the super friends.
"I hope that you don't mind if we keep the details of our technologies secret." Aquaman hedged. "Sounds fair." Oliver responded. "Lord knows if any of our people got hold of Atlantean secrets. Imagine someone like Lex Luthor with a brand new weapon that no one else on Earth would have."
Oliver edged the Queen's Gambit near the docks below the oil rig's mighty pylons. He slowed his pleasure yacht to a stall and drifted into one launch bay. "Hey! You can't park here!" A guard yelled down from an upper ladder platform. "This is private property! You are docking in a potentially dangerous, restricted bay." The guard continued to bellow. Oliver ignored him at first.
"Hi!" Oliver smiled and yelled back up to the guard. He and Chloe anchored the yacht next to a delivery platform. "What's your name?" Ollie shouted far too sweetly. "What difference does that make?" The guard bellowed angrily. "Sergeant Timmons, why?" He answered.
"Because I'm Oliver Queen, and you've got five minutes to notify your superiors that I'm here, or you're fired!" He yelled loud enough for more workers to hear. Chloe snickered as the guard scrambled to locate his shift supervisor. By now, Clark felt more alert, and he guessed that he was assimilating to this new time shard. Lois reluctantly climbed out of Superman's lap and threw on some clothes.
The others followed suit, except for AC, who decidedly hadn't anything to put on, not that he cared. Oliver led the group off the boat and deftly climbed up the ladder leading to the first level. By the time they reached the access point, a number of workers had gathered to gawk at the scene.
A heavy set man in an off white shirt, old blue jeans, brown work boots, and a yellow work helmet rapidly approached the group of young people. "What is the meaning of this disruption?" He angrily addressed no one in particular. Oliver cautiously made his way around the rigging and stood toe to toe with the supervisor. Timmons stood sheepishly behind them.
"Oliver Queen." He extended a hand. "And you are?" The supervisor began to cool his temper. He'd recognized Ollie from some company photos. "Day shift supervisor, Joe Dale." Oliver nodded as Dale shook his hand. "Mr. Dale, pardon our disruption." Ollie began diplomatically. "My friends and I were out on a weekend cruise, when I decided to have a look at your rig." He explained his cover story.
"We'd like a full tour." Oliver smiled cynically as Chloe glanced away, afraid that she'd crack up laughing at Ollie's playful tone. He'd immediately adopted his nosy rich kid persona, and used the tour as a cover for their inspection. Clark, Lois, and AC followed in step, pretending to be interested in the rig.
"Now?" Joe Dale gulped. "Sure, if it's not too much trouble." Ollie grinned broadly. Dale looked around at the shift workers who were still milling about, and Timmons who was trying desperately to edge away. "Certainly Mr. Queen. Timmons can show you…" Dale began. Oliver shook his head." No, I think that you should personally escort us through the rig. How does that sound?" Ollie asked bluntly.
This way, Dale wouldn't have a chance to warn anybody else that Oliver was coming, and possibly hide evidence of the oil rig leak. "Of course, Mr. Queen." Dale squirmed. "I must insist that you and your friends wear the protective safety gear. Insurance reasons and all that."
"I wouldn't have it any other way, Supervisor Dale." Oliver said as he slapped the bureaucrat on the back. "Okay everybody! Show's over! Back to work!" Another supervisor ordered as the crowd began to disperse. Dale led the group into the rig office, and grabbed a set of safety items, including the ubiquitous yellow hardhats, eye protection goggles, and some ear protection.
"I also can't allow your guests to go barefoot, exposed metal and such." Dale added. "Sure." Oliver agreed. "These work shoes will do." Ollie said as he walked over to a safety locker and grabbed a variety of safety shoes. Lois groaned as she tried on the heavy, clumsy shoes. "You're the adventurous young reporter, cuz, suck it up!" Chloe teased as she donned her work shoes.
Clark played along silently, but still felt uneasy about spending so much time on one aspect of this timeline. He wondered if this was yet another distraction that dragged him away from his overall mission. His friends' personalities seemed very similar to the original timeline, with the possible exception of AC. It still got on his nerves that AC had never explained to them what and who he was.
The group filed out of the office and followed Dale up some gunmetal gray stairs to the next level. Lois noted that as huge as the oil rig was, she still seemed to feel the surf buffeting the massive pylons. The ocean was rough and getting rougher, but no storms were forecast for the area.
Below the surface, a nefarious plan was being devised that would bring chaos to all of Atlantis. Mira rode the whale as far down in the sea as it would dare go. Three Atlanteans suddenly appeared riding some type of underwater turbo subs. They quickly overpowered Mira, stealing her trident, and spiriting her away, in the exact opposite direction from the kingdom's capital: Atlantis City.