Ch 5

After they escaped from the Deserters, Aquaman piloted his ship and he was getting more and more frustrated by the second as Orm annoyed him.

"You know, if the pressures of leadership are too stressful, perhaps you should leave and let someone who knows what they're doing be king." Orm taunted.

"You know what, I can't wait to throw your ass back in prison when this is all over." Arthur snapped. He was so done with this guy.

"You won't have to." Orm replied. "Once I stop David Kane, I'll surrender myself to the Fishermen. That is my honor to Atlantis."

"So dramatic." Arthur said with a roll of his eyes. "What happened to him?" Orm asked. When he first met Manta, he knew Manta was out for revenge but he didn't think that Manta would just destroy the entire world to get it.

"The David Kane I knew was ruthless but he wasn't insane. This guy just put a gun to the world's head and pulled the trigger. Without even making any demands."

Meanwhile, in the Orichalcum refinery, a towering machine with spinning pumps was spewing out tons of green Orichalcum smoke. Gigantic Octobots were grabbing Orichalcum canisters and putting them onto a conveyor belt that led to a boiling hot furnace.

"Congratulations, Dr. Shin." David said. "That cannon of yours worked exactly how you said it would."

"Well, you found it." Shin replied. "All I did was figure out how it worked. I didn't think we'd ever have to actually use it on anyone." David just stared back at him. "Yeah, well, what can I say? Things don't always go as planned."

"That's what I'm afraid of." Shin replied. Couldn't he see that they were literally poisoning the planet?

"David, this stuff could reshape the entire planet."

"Hey, Doc. We are this close to unlocking the greatest power in human history. Are you really telling me you wanna walk away now?"

Honestly, he kind of did. "If I said yes, would you let me?" Shin asked nervously.

"Sure." David said. Then he looked at the jungle with the mutated creatures. "You wanna see how long you last in that jungle? Be my guest." Then Shin looked back and saw a massive bug with pincers. "Yeah, I'll stick around." Shin said. He didn't have a choice much.

Meanwhile, Arthur and Orm had reached the Sunken Citadel which was where all of Atlantis' criminals lived. There were tons of wrecked ships from all across history as Atlanteans played loud music with strange instruments and one Atlantean spun a wheel with rocks.

Then Arthur and Orm reached the guy running the place who was a very massive Atlantean with spiky hair surrounded by a handful of female Atlanteans. He was Kingfish, the Atlantean crime boss.

Kingfish had got Orm in contact with Manta before and they just needed to hope Kingfish knew where Manta was. Okay, an underwater Jabba the Hutt. Arthur thought. When they asked for David Kane, they got a bad answer.

"David Kane is no longer on the market." Kingfish said in a booming voice. "Not for sale at any price. He's fully running as an independent operator."

"Where is he holed up now?" Orm asked. Kingfish gave a questioning growl.

"In exchange I offer a favor." Orm said diplomatically. "From the king of Atlantis."

Arthur scoffed. This was ridiculous. "You seriously expect me to play footsie with someone with that kind of blood on their hands?"

"I don't have hands." Kingfish said. "Or feet!" Then he laughed at his own joke as Arthur sighed.

"Listen, if the information checks out good, I promise you that I won't immediately come back here and tear this place apart."

Well, Kingfish did say that he wanted an offer and this was a place that seemed like it needed cleaning up.

"That's too bad." Kingfish said in a mocking voice. "Traditionally, the kings of Atlantis have turned a blind eye to the Sunken Citadel. Now we have to blind it for you." Then the Hammerhead guards stepped an inch closer. "Fine." Orm said. "Flex your muscles."

Arthur zoomed up and uppercut one charging guard but another slammed into him but Arthur used the guard's own momentum to spin him around and throw him into the second guard, knocking them both away.

Then another guard turned on his hover chair and its hook wrapped around Arthur and Orm, dragging them off screaming while they did the worst water-skiing impressions ever. "Smash his stupid head in!" Kingfish ordered.

The guards fired but Arthur wrenched himself free of the hook and used it to whack the guards away. Then the vehicle came crashing down and Orm flipped through the air before landing flat on his back.

Arthur then wrenched off a helmet from another guard and slammed the helmet onto Kingfish before using the tank to fill the helmet up with water.

"Okay, okay! We can work this out!" Kingfish said desperately. "We can." "Talk." Arthur said in a gruff voice. "I don't know where he is, but there have been rumors. A dormant volcano in the South Pacific called Devil's Deep." Kingfish gasped out. "Talk faster." Arthur ordered as he twisted the tank's wheel just a little so that the water was one inch higher. "It's been barren for years but travelers say there's a jungle there now." Kingfish said. "Navigation gets scrambled as soon as you start to get close, and if you get too close, you don't come back! If I was a betting man, and believe me, I am, I'd say that's where Kane's hiding out."

Suddenly, there was an explosion as more guards swarmed in. "We got what we needed." Orm said. "Let's go."

Arthur punched open the helmet on Kingfish, then they swam out and dodged the blaster bolts the guards fired after them as Topo blinded the guards with his black ink clouds.

Meanwhile, Manta's submarine was in a huge cave and Manta himself was talking to the dark spirit in a mirror. Soon you'll be more powerful than he is but you're not ready yet. And you involved him far too soon. I sense they're closing in on us. "Do I seem concerned?" David asked. He wouldn't let some ghost boss him around. "If anything, it's even easier now-"

Then the dark spirit disappeared and Manta looked at Shin who was standing there. "I just wanted to tell you that the Oricahclum furnace is now running at peak output." Shin said. Manta just stared back, then closed the door.