Reactor Clash

The orange of the scaled armor gleamed over his torso as Orin prepared himself for a fight. He was not going to command from the rear; no, Black Manta had brought their war to his home, and now he was going to bring that war right to Manta's face. Even if this was a means to draw him out, he would not let any of those…those…

He wasn't going to let these invaders into the city he called home.

His grip tightened on his trident, its golden metal glowing with power. The destruction this weapon could do was phenomenal, but his preference was not to use it in that way. He wanted something to still be standing when all was said and done and the trident tended to be indiscriminate. Still, the temptation was strong.

In minutes, he would be leading the way to the gates to play his part in this fight. Orm would be joining him along with the best his personal guard had to offer. There was no question and some of them might not see this fight to its end, but every warrior accepted that as a possible outcome.

One outcome stopped them all in their tracks. It was loud, almost like a crash, close and distant at the same time. Orin had never heard of anything like that before. He would have dismissed it as a random noise, except he noticed something in the corner of his eye.

That something was a crack, a very big crack and one that seemed to be spreading upwards through the dome. His eyes were wide in disbelief, and that was mostly because he didn't think such a thing was possible.

Disbelief transformed into concern because a crack like that? Something had to have hit the dome hard. If it had breached…

The first reports came in, and any uncertainty vanished. A large object had penetrated the dome, one of the enemy ships had been responsible. The damage to the dome would grow over time, victim to its very intense environment. That damage needed to be addressed now. Atlantis did not need the entirety of the ocean itself crashing down on it.

Naturally, if the dome was penetrated, there was going to be flooding. Rushing water would only worsen the damage.

"Send some students from the Conservatory to the crash site and halt any water coming through. I will need a damage report immediately." Turning to his brother, "I will try to follow as soon as I can, but I need you to keep our warriors in line and fighting. Will you do this?"

Orm stood taller. "You need but ask, brother."

Orin gave a sharp nod then turned his gaze back in the direction of the damaged dome. He could almost see it, the submarine that had made it through their lines on some suicidal run. Could it be the fighting was not going Manta's way and that he was growing desperate?

He paused.

Since when had Manta ever been desperate?

A thought occurred to him and his grip on his trident tightened.

Pushing himself up, Black Manta did a quick check of himself and deemed there was no serious injury. The crash had been violent and many of Scavenger's men were unconscious. He could count two that were still in the land of the living, also checking over themselves for any harm done to their bodies.

Black Manta fixed that with a knife to the throat.

Wiping the blood off the blade, he tucked it back onto his person. He was not going to risk any interference, not even from Scavenger's men. What he was about to do was not going to be interrupted.

Picking up the tube-shaped container off the floor where it had rolled up against a console, Black Manta affixed it on his person, wearing the strap over a shoulder. He could feel the weight in it; the rod should still be in one piece.

Glancing around, he noted some of the terminals were sparking, the order that had once reigned in here was now chaos. Thankfully there were no fires, though there might have been smoke. The tank he wore on his back provided oxygen so he didn't need to smell any of it.

Knowing his way around, Black Manta took his leave of the command center, entering a hallway that would lead him to the submarine's reactor. His booted feet clomped against the floor and for a moment, he was reminded of another hallway in another life.

In that life, his father had still been alive, and it was just the two of them surviving on what treasures they could dredge up from the bottom of the ocean. He was perhaps the only man who knew where the final resting places of the Santa Maria and the USS Indianapolis were. He knew secrets lost to time and kept to himself for no reason than because he wanted to.

It may not have been the best life, but it had been his life. Aquaman had stolen it the same way he had stolen his father. So now the time to repay that favor was at hand. He was so close, so close to achieving the vengeance he sought.

It had been down a hallway much like this one where his life had changed forever. This time, he would change Aquaman's. If that bastard thought the death of that little whelp was painful, he didn't know pain. Not yet.

Finally, he arrived at a hatch door, one that looked like every other one in this place. Unlike those other doors, this one held the heart of this submarine. It's nuclear heart. Opening the door, he stepped through, never looking back.

The Atlanteans had responded to the breach in the dome. There were certainly first responders who did little more than usher civilians away. Eventually, a contingency of Atlanteans arrived that seemed to know what they were doing.

Batman watched as there were a number of them that wore solid colors of yellow, blue, and purple gathered around the breach. The amount of water that was pouring in came to a stop, something unnatural keeping it at bay.

As he watched, the vigilante spotted a color not like the others. There was someone in solid green, skintight, their red hair a cascade of curls. There was something in the hair too, some sort of crown if he wasn't mistaken.

Through a pair of binoculars, he stared and eventually recognized the Atlantean Queen. She had demonstrated some sort of control over water when he had encountered her at the palace. She must have been using that power to keep more water from spewing into the city. Perhaps the other people with her were doing the same.

Batman turned his attention away from the queen and onto the submarine. It was clearly not of Atlantean origin, so definitely from the surface. It had some unique curvature and angles to the hull, even if the nose of the vessel was properly smashed.

Yet, he had a feeling as if he had seen this submarine before. It was then that he realized that the sub looked a lot like the one he had encountered in Gotham. In fact, he was going to go out on a limb and say it was indeed the same submarine. There was no need to speculate how it had ended up in Atlantis; someone had clearly stolen it again.

He only knew of one person that was trying to find the fabled lost city…

There wasn't anyone coming out of the sub, not that he could see. It wasn't like the weapons a submarine normally carried would be effective since they usually required water for movement. With the sub effectively beached, there wasn't much more damage it could do…

Something occurred to Batman then. When they had investigated the sub after apprehending Black Manta, one of the uranium rods had gone missing. Last he heard, it had yet to be found. What were the chances that Black Manta had that uranium rod altered? If one of the rods was corrupted, it could start a chain reaction that would inevitably…

"I'm going to destroy it."

Black Manta's words rang without the Dark Knight's head. Causing a meltdown in the submarine's reactor would essentially create a nuclear bomb. That's what Black Manta wanted the sub for; he wanted to turn it into a nuclear bomb and blow Atlantis sky high. He was in position already, so that meant the pirate was no doubt in the reactor itself.

"Keep an eye on things," Batman ordered Batgirl, who looked at him from their vantage point. "I'm going inside of the sub. If any of Black Manta's men come out, you take them down hard and fast, got it?"

"Got it," the girl replied.

That was one less thing for him to worry about. Now he just had to get into the submarine itself and stop Black Manta from causing a meltdown in the reactor. Simple, right?

The helmet he wore did not have the best fit on his head, and don't get started with the hoses or where the tank could be placed on his back. This was something designed for kids, and here was Green Lantern charging into battle while wearing it.

There was even a cute doodle of a starfish on the side.

But he needed air this deep in the ocean and this was what Atlantis could allow him to have. So be it. As for the rest of his body, that was being protected by the power of his ring. The aura that wrapped around him had allowed him to go into various hostile places, like outer space, and come out unscathed.

There was this hum in the back of his mind, a reminder that the pressure all around him was trying to crush him. A big enough lapse in concentration, and that would come true. For a brief moment, he thought about seeing if there was a suit that Atlantis could provide, extra protection and insurance that a lapse in concentration wouldn't doom him.

He had come too far already. There was nothing for it. Racing into the violence like he had in Iraq, the Lantern began making use of his power. The first thing he did was form a brick wall to shield against some incoming torpedoes. When these torpedoes shed their heads and revealed saw blades, he changed tactics.

A single wall quickly became a swarm of blocks, and each one punched forth with enough force to wreck these odd weapons. The blades were caved in, the torpedoes' bodies crumpled, and the explosions were masked in plumes of disturbed water. Sometimes a flame might be spotted before it was snuffed out.

Next were the men with the S.U.V.s. Those were some pricey items there; SEALS were known to use them when they were making incursions via water, keeping out of sight for as long as possible. These were some well-funded attackers.

A barrier stopped harpoons from hitting him, and a hand construct plucked a man away from his S.U.V., trapping him in its grip so that he couldn't attack. Flicking his arm back, he pulled the captured man over to the Atlantean forces, depositing the guy so that he could be grabbed by a couple of Atlantean fighters.

He did this several more times before these invaders began pulling away to try and fight elsewhere. That was good enough for the Lantern as that meant their battle plan had been upended. That kind of disruption would mean they would need to adapt and adapt fast to try and counterattack, and the Atlanteans weren't keen to give them that time.

Pressure was reversed, those on the offensive driven to the defensive.

He pressed on, gliding through the water like it was space itself. Flashes about reminded him of the explosives going off, whether they were energy based or chemically induced.

His path through the fighting had him block more torpedo strikes and any of the invading men who tried to get a potshot at him. This was different, far different from fighting on land or in space. For one, all your movement was slowed down; you really needed to think your actions through. However, that also meant the enemy was slowed down too.

Eventually, he reached the enemy subs, and his attention was drawn to the largest one around. It had a peculiar protrusion on its back, one that curved. Why was that? Well, maybe the man that was standing on it could answer that question.

He pushed through the salt water, making his way to that large sub and soon enough floated there, above this man. Blues and faded purples colored the deep sea suit, one that looked like it was made of armor. The helmet had an odd pattern around the window of glass that allowed the man wearing it to see through. Reminded him of a leech or one of that pucker-mouthed fish.

"Who might you be?" he called out.

The man tilted back to get a better look at him. "I go by the name Scavenger. You must be the Green Lantern from the Justice League."

So this guy had heard of him. Good, made further introductions meaningless.

"I don't know what you're trying to accomplish here, but this is your one and only chance to pull back and leave. You're not going to be destroying Atlantis on my watch," he issued his warning.

"I've spent too much time trying to find this city, and I am not going to leave empty-handed," Scavenger retorted.

A fight then. Should have figured. But this Scavenger was helping Black Manta, though if his words were any indication, he might have a different reason to do it. It didn't matter what that reason was, he was helping out a very dangerous man who wanted to destroy an entire city's worth of people.

That's all the reason he needed to stand in Scavenger's way.

"Prepare to be disappointed," Green Lantern quipped back as he rushed himself at Black Manta's ally.

The reactor's core raised up from the floor, Black Manta's finger pulling away from the console that lined this small room's walls. Below him was the actual reactor, the place where the energy output for the submarine was produced.

The tall cylinder raised up into the ceiling, exposing several uranium rods from its exposed bottom. Directly below, a number of holes matched with the number of uranium rods attached to the reactor's core, sans one. It seemed that his removal of that one rod had gone undetected.

Slipping the strap over his shoulder, he held the tube-shaped container and opened it up. He withdrew the bronze-colored rod that Scavenger had been able to produce with the weapons-grade uranium he had been able to recover. Tossing the container to a side, Black Manta stepped up to the bottom of the reactor's core.

Where he had once removed a rod, he now inserted this new one, taking the time to make sure that it was attached. Once it was connected and not about to drop out, he took a step back and observed his work.

Everything was set up. Months of planning were finally about to come into fruition.

Once he lowered the core, the nuclear reactions that would occur within the reactor would set up a chain reaction, one that would lead to a meltdown. Weapons-grade, enriched uranium should never be placed in such a reactor for that very reason. Naturally, it was his key to making a nuclear bomb in seconds.

Black Manta knew he would be a dead man should he do this. There was no way he was going to outrun the detonation. He would be killed in an instant, body vaporized. So would everyone in Atlantis, including Aquaman. Would there be enough time for that man to realize what was happening?

Would he know the deepest of despair, realizing that he had once again failed? First his son, and now his city?

If there was ever a time he may have even recalled feeling happy, then this moment had him close to that emotion.

Moving back to the console, he raised his hand up to the core controls. One was a red button, the other green, color coordinated so that the crewmen of this ship would not confuse the two's functions. He pressed the red button and watched as the reactor core began to lower.

The rods drew closer and closer to their respective holes, and all simultaneously began to enter. Nearby, one of the gauges began to show an increase in activity within the reactor. A small needle vibrated its way up and right, passing by small markings to indicate the level of activity within the reactor. On the far right of that gauge, the lines were a red color, denoting a dangerously high level of activity.

That needle was creeping ever closer to that red section of the gauge, and Black Manta watched it, content in the knowledge that he had won.

A submarine was slowly turning downward. It wasn't because it was attempting a dive, but because Superman was at its rudder, forcing it upwards, which caused the nose of the submarine to go down. The propeller kept spinning, which caused the underwater vessel to move down towards the ocean floor, where it plowed into it. A cloud of dirt and seaweed erupted at the crash site, hiding much of the naval vehicle.

Further away, J'onn was in that odd, monstrous form of his, his tentacles whipping around and slapping the smaller ships that were attacking him. It seemed the Atlanteans weren't keen on other underwater life existing outside of their control, and were now trying to subdue him. Yet, J'onn's massive form kept hidden just how fast he was. Though the Atlantean ships were firing at him, their beams piercing his body, the Martian would seemingly heal the damage as quickly as it was made, and then lash out, striking any nearby seacraft with his tentacles.

Which left Diana seeking her own entertainment, so to speak.

For instance, there were these little crab-shaped objects. They marched across the sea floor, heading right for Atlantis. A submarine that J'onn had attacked earlier in the battle had released them, so there were only so many reasons for their use.

Dropping down from above, Diana used her gift of flight to speed herself up until she crashed down on top of one of the crabs. It shattered beneath her feet, kicking up a cloud of mud around her.

Quickly, she moved out of the cloud, not wanting any of the mud to cover up the little screen that allowed her to see. The last thing she needed was impaired viewing. As she emerged, she found another crab robot, which immediately attacked her, swinging one of its pincer arms.

Moving to one side, she avoided a direct hit. She moved her arms to latch onto the robot's appendage, then used her strength to pull on it. This lifted the crab off of the sea floor. Spinning, Diana began to swing the robot through the water, always keeping her eyes on a nearby crab robot. Each spin brought her closer and closer to it, until she was able to slam the crab she held onto the other one. The force that they hit each other caused their metal frames to crumple.

For a moment, both crabs just sat there, a pile of metal. But then it began to move, its crab legs still working to take both of them towards Atlantis.

You certainly didn't see a sight like that every day.

There was a beam of light then, one that struck the moving pile of crab robots, which caused it to explode an instant later. Turning her head, the Amazon saw a couple of Atlantean ships, each one firing their energy-based weapons as the various crab robots. It seemed they had realized there was a threat here.

Turning away, Diana then spotted another crab robot. Throwing herself towards it, she closed in quickly and wrapped her arms around one of its thin legs. Shooting upwards, the dark-haired woman kept pulling on the leg until she ripped it right out of the robot's body. Continuing going upward, she then slowed herself to a stop, arranged the large crab leg she held in her arms, and then darted back down. She forced one end of the leg into the body of the robot, piercing it through.

Immediately, the robot stopped, its body twitching left and right. Diana made certain to put some distance between her and the crab robot before it finally exploded.

That was another one down. Only a hundred more to go.

Metal warped under his grip, but Superman took care not to exert too much strength. The deep sea suit he wore limited some of the dexterity he was used to, though the environment he was in helped to even that out.

Holding tight, he began rotating the submarine he was gripping, turning it onto its side. The crew inside would slide into or fall against a former wall turned floor. That would take them out of their battle stations, and keep them from adding to the warfare around them.

More than once, he had to keep from using his heat vision. Using it now would penetrate his helmet, and that would bring its own problems with it. There had been a few times he had ventured into the atmosphere and held his breath; the bottom of the ocean was a different matter altogether.

Flashes of light alerted him that the Atlanteans were still on the defense, firing their weapons in the direction of their attackers. He understood this, but it was not his intent to expose and risk the lives of the undersea invaders while trying to take them out of the fight.

To address this, he began pushing upwards, forcing the submarine to reduce its depth. He couldn't push it too fast; while pressurized in there, there was a risk of the bends on the men in there. Decompression was not a comfortable experience.

Once high enough, he released his grip on the submarine and made his way back down to the fighting. The light gleaming from within the dome surrounding the mythical city helped him navigate his way back, and for a second, he found himself in awe of it. Legend was reality.

Enough of that. He needed to handle those submarines before any of them took enough damage to kill the men inside. His ability to fly was letting him glide through the waters with ease and in no time, the Kryptonian was back in the fray.

As he was zeroing in on the next sub; more torpedoes were fired and they drew his attention. His eyes began to light up, and the red reflecting off the reinforced glass of his helmet reminded him that he was not in the air. Heat vision was not an option.

Speed was, and even though the underwater environment was slowing his movements down, he still was fast enough to catch up with the recently launched torpedoes. Unlike with the submarines, he didn't need to be gentle here. A fist clad in thick padding clenched and he marshaled enough strength to punch the side of the nearest torpedo.

The metal of the submerged projectile dented and bent, damaging the interior of the underwater rocket enough that detonation was imminent. Not wanting to be caught up in it due to trying not to damage his suit, Superman moved to the next torpedo and repeated the action. Leaving behind two plumes of disturbed water, the Man of Steel made quick work of other approaching torpedoes, either hitting them hard enough to cause them to detonate or forcefully changing their trajectories so that they ran into one another.

Below him, several Atlanteans were noticing his efforts; a few even pointed up at him. It was a familiar sight, one he had seen many times in Metropolis. Such reactions seemed to be universal.

Taking the end of an approaching torpedo, he swung it around, spinning until throwing it into the path of another, this one having blown off its head to reveal sawblades. The blades tore into the intercepted missile, and then both were detonating into a massive plume.

Again, the temptation to use his heat vision arose and he had to hold himself back. He relied on that power enough that it was second nature to switch from close quarter, hand-to-hand to long-distance. It still wasn't the right place for it.

Below, Wonder Woman was handling a small army of crab-shaped drones. Distantly, he could see the dark shape that was the sea creature J'onn had taken the form of attacking the fleet of enemy submarines, knocking them aside and out of formation. Below and beneath him were the Atlantean forces fighting to save their city, and more than willing to chance friendly fire if the few beams of energy that sizzled in the water close to him were any indication.

They were scared, but this was making this hard fight all the more harder. Yet, he wasn't about to give up. He was here to save lives and protect this city of legend from those trying to destroy it.

More torpedoes were fired, and Superman would be the first to intercept them.

There was a dull hum that filled the room. Intricately positioned metal rods were being lowered into corresponding insert ports, the nuclear reactor itself. At the controls was Black Manta, watching as the rods were lowered.

It hadn't been difficult to find this place. There had been hardly any resistance as the crew was largely incapacitated. It was hard to tell if they had been injured or killed in the crash, but either way, none offered much of a fight if at all.

Which brought Batman here. He had arrived as Black Manta had inserted a uranium rod into the open slot. There was a different look to it when compared to the other uranium rods, like it was a different shade. That made it stand out.

The vigilante knew he had been onto something when he recalled the pirate's words and this was his proof. The man was trying to turn the reactor into a bomb, one that would begin melting down the moment the two sides closed.

He fully intended on not letting that happen.

Silently he crept up on Black Manta. He seemed completely absorbed in watching the reactor close. This allowed Batman to stomp his foot on the back of the man's knee, causing him to cry out as his knee buckled. Drawing his foot back, the vigilante leapt into the air, spinning around as he did so, so he could land a spinning kick to the pirate's bulky helmet. The kick sent the man flying away from the console, landing in a heap on the floor.

Ignoring the throbbing he felt in his leg from the kick, the moment Batman landed back on his feet, he got to work on the console. It wasn't that hard to figure out what he needed to do; a pair of buttons, one red and one green, drew his attention. The green button was pressed, practically being jabbed.

This stopped the reactor from lowering the rods, the machine reversing its descent as the rods began to rise up. Satisfied with his work, the Dark Knight turned to face the infamous pirate.

By then, Black Manta was getting back onto his hands and knees. "You," he responded the moment he caught sight of the dark-clad man. There was no hint of malice or anger; just a recognition, nothing more.

"You," Batman replied back, standing his ground.

"You're interfering where you're not wanted," Black Manta said as he stood up to his full height. "Don't make me vaporize you."

"You can try," the vigilante retorted. "But I wouldn't if I were you. That blast of yours is potent, but it can damage the reactor. The moment that happens, this entire room is sealed, and your plan to blow Atlantis sky high ends. So go ahead, get it a shot, assuming I let you hit me."

That caused the man to pause. It was clear he was considering his words. "Why are you interfering with my work?" he demanded. "This doesn't concern you at all."

"Aside from stopping you from killing millions of innocent people?" Batman rhetorically challenged. "Then it's because you owe me a new boat."

That seemed to leave the pirate speechless, right until he held up his hands and his long, sharp blades shot up from their sheathes built into his gauntlets. His hands gripped onto the knife hilts. "This time I will carve you up. You'll be an example to all who get in my way."

Immediately, Black Manta lunged at him, slashing a knife. Batman immediately held a arm up, blocking the blade. Suddenly, his foe pivoted one foot on the ground, turning his profile towards the vigilante. He then drew up his other leg and kicked it out, landing a kick to Batman's guts. A grunt came from his mouth as he took the blow, his body flinching backwards.

This had the effect of pushing Batman away from the console. Immediately straightening out his posture, Black Manta quickly punched the red button, the reactor responding and the uranium rods beginning to lower once more. Turning back to the vigilante, Black Manta came out at him, slashing both long knives at him.

In response, Batman held his arms up much like a boxer taking blow after blow. He weathered the onslaught of slashes from Black Manta, backing away one step at a time as the pirate was clearly trying to drive him away from the reactor console.

And then he countered. After blocking yet another knife cut, he then swung a foot up, kicking the side of Black Manta's knee, once again causing it to buckle. Black Manta grunted from the blow as he fell to one knee. Lunging forward, Batman shoved his hands onto the man's large helmet, using his momentum to push the man over onto his back. The pirate landed on his back, one leg pinned beneath his body at an awkward angle.

Going into a roll, Batman ended up back on his feet, and—more importantly—right next to the console. He reversed Black Manta's work, pressing the green button and stopping the reactor, causing the rods to begin raising back up.

As he turned to face the pirate again, the dark-clad man had to jerk his head to one side, avoiding as a knife came flying at him, clearly aimed at his face. By jerking his head out of the knife's path, it passed by harmlessly.

However, that left him wide open as Black Manta rushed him, ramming a shoulder into the Dark Knight's stomach. The two dark-clad men went across the room until Black Manta slammed Batman against the wall, conveniently where a knife was sticking out of it. However, the pirate hadn't pinned his arms to his sides.

This allowed Batman to raise both of his arms up, clasping his hands together above his head. He then swung a jackhammer blow down onto Black Manta's back, causing the man to grunt. Over and over, Batman raised his entwined hands and then slammed them down on his foe's back again.

That ended the moment Black Manta's head jerked upwards. Batman's chin was struck by the helmet, which caused his head to snap back from the force of the blow. This left the vigilante stunned long enough for Black Manta to drive his other knife right into his shoulder, the blade piercing right through the Dark Knight's body and into the wall behind it.

"Stay there," Black Manta grunted as he pulled away before he began walking back to the console, blatantly turning his back on the vigilante.

Batman stared at his retreating enemy for a second before he gritted his teeth and raised his uninjured arm. He grabbed the hilt of the knife and then yanked it out, the blade pulling out of the wall and his body, blood staining it. Tossing the knife away, he began charging after Black Manta, leaping up into the air he began to perform a flying kick.

Only for Black Manta to suddenly twist his body to one side, dodging the kick aimed at his back. Both of his arms shot up and wrapped around the dark-clad man's leg and latched down on it. Then in one smooth move, he swung the vigilante through the air until he slammed into a wall. Batman grunted as he bounced off of the wall and then crashed down onto the floor.

Black Manta didn't press his attack though. Instead, he turned his attention back to the console and once again activated the lowering of the uranium rods. Only then did he look back at the Dark Knight. "Struggle all you want," he warned him, "but this reactor is going up in flames."

"Then you're going to be highly disappointed," Batman grunted back as he stood back onto his feet. "Because I'm going to be dragging your unconscious body out of this sub when I'm done with you."

"Only in your dreams," Black Manta growled as he took a threatening step towards him.

Thrusting his arm out, Green Lantern fired a construct off, one that took the form of a column. Sue him, the ancient architecture behind him was inspiring. However, forward thrust was slowed down by the water around them.

This meant Scavenger was slowed down too. However, this Scavenger seemed to have more experience fighting in an underwater environment because he almost seamlessly moved out of the way of the column construct. The column construct banged against the hull of the ship the two men were squaring off over.

The dark-skinned Lantern was close enough that he could make out a face through thatwindow in the helmet. It distracted him slightly, though he figured that with his movements slowed as well as Scavenger's would require time to do anything.

As if to prove him wrong, Scavenger had raised an arm up, cocked back, and was swinging it when a jet of water shot out of the man's gauntlet and sped his movement up. The Lantern took the hit cracking against the side of his head, and he was sent a couple feet away where his momentum died quickly and his body hovered there in the water.

Forcing both his head and upper torso up, it was just in time to have a jet-powered fist smash into his helmet, right where his face would have been, sending him several feet away until he slowed to a stop. The glass panel that allowed him to see wasn't cracked, but for a second he thought it had been.

He had to spin his body around to get himself right side up. This time, he fired a beam from his ring, and Scavenger held both of his arms up to block it. The salt water was even slowing the beam down and it took a little bit of concentration to keep it moving. Against Scavenger's gauntlets it struck, pushing the man back along the hull of the sub, but doing no noticeable damage.

He had to keep pressing this. Ending the beam, he charged after Scavenger, creating a construct of a wall in front of himself. The effort needed to keep pushing was greater as water resistance slowed his speed down, but the Lantern reached his opponent with his green, transparent battering ram.

The construct slammed into Scavenger, forcing him back. Booted feet dug into the submarine's hull, the deep sea suited man resisting the push back. Green Lantern pulled his arm back, and subsequently his wall construct, only to jab it out and the construct with it. Again, Scavenger was hit and pushed back.

As he drew his arm back for another ram, Scavenger held an arm up where the tip of a very sharp harpoon had appeared. Eyes widening, he changed from offense to defense as the harpoon was fired, striking into the barrier he now had around him. The projectile would have pierced anything: stone, metal, flesh, but a construct of the ring was not one of those.

His will would not be broken that easily.

Alright, was this how this bastard wanted to play? Fine. The light of his ring flared, and four harpoon constructs took shape. Arm aimed at Scavenger, it took the barest flicker of will to fire one harpoon construct after another. He noted how these constructs, more sharp and less blunt, had an easier time moving through the water around them.

Water jetted around Scavenger's feet, launching him up and above two of the constructs. Lantern was able to redirect the other two, but the man in underwater armor used whatever jet mechanism he had in his gauntlets to swat the constructs aside.

He allowed those constructs to deconstruct, preferring to use his power for other uses. As he began to picture in his mind what he was about to create next, an unexpected distraction got in his way.

That distraction happened to be the multitude of fish that had been swarming about. Apparently, they were making the rounds around this battlefield and it was their turn. He could feel so many small yet fast moving bodies running into him, then slipping around him without fail. His concentration was disrupted, enough that he began to feel the pressure from the ocean start crushing in.

Reorient, concentrate, and the aura around his body strengthened. There, that was close. Now he needed—

And Scavenger was suddenly there. It was by the thinnest of margins that Green Lantern was able to pull back from the downward punch. A gloved hand latched down on the tightly-fitted helmet he wore and he was abruptly raised up then thrown down onto the hull of the submerged ship.

The swarm of fish moved him about, some of which were easing him back onto his feet incidentally. What he needed to do now was turn around—and immediately block another jet-propelled fist with his lower arms. He could feel the force reverberate up and down his arms.

The blow rammed into his stomach, and his body jackknifed. Inside his helmet, he wheezed air out of his lungs. He barely felt the hand that grabbed the side of his helmet, but he did feel the sudden movement that had him forced down onto the hull of the ship beneath them.

Green Lantern tried to push himself back up, but that only gave an opening to the jet-propelled kick that sent him up into the moving, swarming school of fish.

Shaking his head, the Lantern quickly formed a barrier, and just in time too as Scavenger once more emerged through the interfering school of fish, another punch jet propelled to strike his defense.

It was becoming bothersome being a y'wath. Due to his size, J'onn was drawing in all sorts of attention, be it the attacking submarines to the Atlanteans themselves. One side he understood as they were being attacked by the Martian. The Atlanteans, however, he sensed were more keen on trying to take down an unknown underwater beast.

So he changed forms. Sucking in his tentacles and serpentine tail, J'onn turned himself into an ooze, which he directed down towards the ocean floor. Due to his skin turning the same hue as the water around him, it was as if he had vanished from sight from his attackers. He could sense the confusion from both the submarines and Atlanteans.

As he settled into the mud, J'onn soaked in beneath it, burrowing deeper and deeper into it. The further he went, the more viscous the soil became. Due to the amount of water over it, there wasn't a true solid point for him to reach as the earth just soaked the water in, releasing it at other places to maintain the planet's oceanic water level.

This, however, did give the Martian plenty of cover for his next transformation. First he grew larger, though not taking any sort of solid form yet. He stretched himself upward and downward, forcing the soggy earth around him to move. Eventually, he began to make himself round and conical. The larger, rounder side was closer to the surface while the thinner end was buried further into the earth.

The top part split right down the middle, forming a gaping maw for a mouth. Tendrils grew out at random parts of his body and spread out as far as they could, acting very much like the roots of plants.

That was where J'onn stopped. Even within his own people, this creature he had become was mysterious due to its preference for living in the dark depths just like he was now. Perhaps a third of its body had ever been seen before, so it was guesswork as to what the rest of it was.

This was a pa'rast'i, and J'onn was going to show just how it liked to hunt its prey.

Slowly, his body began to spin. The mud around him allowed to do this, even being dragged by the circular motions. Picking up speed, this continuous movement began to affect everything above him.

Slowly, the soggy dirt pulled away from his mouth, the wetness of water washing over him. The water too began to pull into the spinning vortex he was creating. A whirlpool was being created, the accelerating circular momentum spreading out in all directions.

A powerful current formed there, pulling in anything unfortunate to be caught in it. The various sea vehicles, be it the Atlanteans or the invading submarines were caught up in the whirlpool, rushing around and around, unable to free themselves. There was a sharp increase in fear from these vessels as the various crews tried to figure out what was going on and why.

Perhaps finding one's self being dragged downwards in a whirlpool, where a wide open mouth resided was cause for concern.

Of course, J'onn didn't mean to eat or harm any of them. He was simply tired of fighting this pointless battle, this war of vengeance. If he had to take on all sides to cease the fighting, then so be it.

The fear he felt left man minds wide open for a quick intrusion. J'onn shut down the minds of each crewmember on the submarines and Atlanteans forces. The number of minds he sensed decreased dramatically as he shut them all down.

And then he felt a rather odd feeling: silence. He hadn't felt that feeling since…Mars. Being on a planet of no- telepaths had taught the Martian to be on his guard for intrusive thoughts, but perhaps for the first time coming to this world, he knew mental silence.

It was as startling as it was welcomed.

Altering his body, he changed it so that he could widen his whirlpool more. Other underwater ships felt the pull of the whirlpool. A few managed to react in time and pulled away, but others were swept into the current, the rise in terror filling J'onn's head again.

And just like before, he took advantage of that opening, and silenced them all.

The reactor's core was lowering again. Batman spat out a wad of blood from his mouth, which stained the floor. There was a cut on the inside of his cheek that was bleeding, which caused blood to gather in his mouth. He had forgotten when that had happened, but it surely had to have been from one of Black Manta's punches.

Hauling himself up, he rushed at the pirate, who was just turning around from the reactor's console. Leaping at an angle towards the wall, Batman planted a foot against it and used it as a springboard to leap over Black Manta, the man tilting his head back as he watched the vigilante go into a flip over him.

This allowed the Dark Knight to pull out his grapple gun. Once he was at his apex, feet over head, his head over Black Manta's, his world began to rotate as his legs began to swing down. Pointing the grapple gun at the man's back, he fired it, the grapple claw attaching itself to its target's back.

Completing the flip, Batman landed on his feet, and immediately crouched down. With one hand on the grapple and one on the line, he pulled down hard, which pulled Black Manta right off of the floor. The man flew over his head, crashing against the wall further down. Black Manta collapsed to the floor, landing on his head first before slumping into a heap of limbs.

Immediately, the Dark Knight was back on his feet and at the console. He quickly went through the process of reversing the core, seeing his efforts rewarded as the core began to rise back up.

As he turned around to face his foe again, he found Black Manta on his feet, lunging at him. The pirate rammed right into the dark-clad man, his arms wrapping around the vigilante's waist. The force the man hit him pushed the two of them away from the console, up until Batman got his feet underneath him and stopped.

Black Manta then rammed a fist into Batman's side, causing him to grunt. Then came another and then another, kidney shot after kidney shot. Clenching his teeth, Batman pressed a forearm down on the small of Black Manta's back, a brace to keep the pirate down. He then raised up his own fist and slammed it into his opponent's flank, the same kidney shot that he had been taking.

There was a flinch from the pirate, but he responded with another shot at the flank. Batman responded in kind, each man landing their blows.

Suddenly, Black Manta reared back, the eyes of his helmet radiating red. For an instant, Batman was stunned by it; was this man actually going to fire his heat beam? In the core? Then he realized it would be point blank, and the vigilante didn't have the core behind him as a deterrent.

Immediately, the vigilante swung his hand up, landing a palm strike to the side of Black Manta's head. This forced the man's head to turn, putting the core right in his sights. In an instant, the red light dimmed from his helmet, meaning he had stopped the pending blast.

Over and over, Batman landed palm strike after palm strike against the helmeted man, each blow causing him to lean over further and further. He would have kept this up until Black Manta was on the floor had the man suddenly collapsed down.

That was a defensive fall, he was completely certain. An instant later, Black Manta's leg collided with his head and neck, his foot hooking around the back of the vigilante's head.

Batman found himself crashing against the reactor's wall again—how many times had he hit it during this fight? The reactor wasn't that big of a room, rounded, with the core itself taking up the center of the room. Not much room to be fighting in, to be frank. Collapsing down to the floor, he was aware of Black Manta scrambling onto his feet and rushing back to the console.

Alright, this was getting old fast.

Shoving himself up, Batman pulled out a shuriken and threw it, the bat-shaped projectile striking the pirate's forearm as he began to reach for that damn red button again. The man yelped as his arm jerked from the blow, stopping him from his work.

The dark-clad man then rushed at his opponent who began leaning further to his opposite side. It became apparent what he was up to as Black Manta brought a leg up, coiling it, then launching it at the vigilante. Batman skidded to a stop, bringing both arms up and caught the kick, his forearms pinning the foot on either side.

And then Black Manta lashed out with his other leg, his arms pressed down on the console for support as he did so. His second kick landed against Batman's stomach, knocking the wind out of him, stunning him.

Dropping his foot down, Black Manta yanked his other foot out of the Dark Knight's hold, then kicked back with it, this time his blow landing successfully. He struck the dark-clad man's chest, once, then twice, the second kick knocking him backwards.

As Batman collapsed to the floor, the pirate spun around and pressed the red button again. Once more, the core began to lower.

Slow to pick himself up, Batman was getting up onto his feet when Black Manta turned to face him. "If you keep interfering, I will kill you," the pirate told him.

"You and every punk in Gotham," the vigilante grunted back as he rose onto his feet.

"I am not some incompetent fool, some insane psychiatric patient that you usually go up against," Black Manta shot back.

"And how is it going for you? I'm still standing."

The man went quiet. "Yes, you are." He took a step towards him, and then another. "Just know, this is nothing personal between us. This is only business."

"But it's personal with Atlantis," he pointed out. "You're willing to nuke an entire city for your personal grudge with Aquaman. There are some lines that shouldn't be crossed, and this is one of them. Stop this before it's too late."

"It's been too late for years," Black Manta replied. "It was too late the moment Aquaman killed my father!"

Suddenly, there was an explosion right behind the pirate. Flames and sparks erupted out of the reactor's console, creating a large smokescreen. The core immediately stopped lowering, stuck in place as the uranium rods dangled over their opposite holes.

Both Batman and Black Manta flinched from the sudden eruption, each man throwing an arm up to shield their faces, the latter taking the extra precaution of jumping away from the explosion, twisting his body to face it.

As the smoke cleared, it revealed a long staffed weapon. The three prongs that were buried into the console indicated it was a trident. There were heavy footsteps made until a man in orange scale armor and green pants appeared.

The man wearing this armor was Aquaman, who was staring murderously at Black Manta. Without looking, he raised a hand up and grabbed the trident, wrenching it out effortlessly. He turned the weapon until he slammed the butt end down on the floor. "Manta," he growled lowly.

"Aquaman," the pirate returned with the same amount of venom in his voice.

Batman just glanced between the two men. He was clearly forgotten as the tension in the room was increasing exponentially. On the one hand, Aquaman had ensured the core could not be used to blow up Atlantis. On the other hand, it looked as if the two of them were going to throw down with little mind for consequence as to the collateral damage.

So it was up to him to contain the violence—again. He was getting too old for this.