In less than a minute I had already arrived at the Watchtower. Just as I arrived in the hangar, I found Superman, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern inside the Justice League jet.
Usually, we would gather in front of the computer where the emergency message would be playing to let everyone know what was going on, but with rescue missions, every second counted. So, in that case, the others would have already sorted out the details while they waited for any members that could arrive shortly.
Apparently, they were contacted by an admiral who reported that a submarine called USS Defiant was attacked.
As far as they had told me it was a nuclear submarine, which was attacked by an unknown assailant. The submarine had requested help and the military had quickly turned to the Justice League who could arrive there in a matter of minutes to successfully rescue them.
They didn't talk much after seeing me enter the jet and just started the engine before opening the entrance. They had only gotten a message from me that I would arrive.
The others were either occupied or in Martian Manhunter's case, he stayed at the Watchtower to observe for any other emergencies and to make sure that our communication would keep functioning.
It had barely been 2 minutes from flying off at home to sitting inside the jet, heading towards the middle of the ocean. Green Lantern was piloting the jet since he had the most experience.
"Can someone tell me why we are heading there by plane again?" I asked as we flew off towards our destination. The jet wasn't slow for an aircraft, but it wasn't quite as fast as the four of us. In fact, if they had just told me the coordinates, I could have met up with them there.
"The jet is capable of flying into outer space and into the deep ocean. We will be able to reach our destination shortly." Green Lantern answered as he pressed several buttons that I honestly had no idea what they did. We were all briefed on how to fly it, but I kind of dozed off during that particular lesson. Maybe I would skim over the manual sometime else.
"No, I don't question this aircraft's capability-"
"Oh, don't you? The last time I remembered was you sleeping during my lesson!" The Green Lantern interrupted me quite rudely and for a petty reason at that. Did he really have to be upset that I was sleeping? I was quite tired!
"Not to mention that you interrupted my lesson by calling it boring and then proceeded to insult being able to pilot an aircraft as a useless skill and that I wasted my time for even learning it in the first place."
Oh, right that did happen, but what was wrong with my statement? After all, he now did have a Green Lantern Ring with which any aircraft or spacecraft for that matter is basically useless except perhaps for saving some battery. Maybe he was just upset because I was right?
Either way, I completely ignored his attempt to rile me up, "I get that. A great aircraft and all that, but we are all faster and more mobile than it could ever be. Not to mention when we inevitably get attacked we are stronger too."
"And what are we going to do with detecting the submarine? We can't just use our eyes to look around for it in hopes of finding it!"
"Don't we have the coordinates-"
"What if they moved?! We would be screwed if we had no way to contact or detect them!" Geez, Green Lantern had a temper today. Was it the day of the month already?
"Doesn't our earpiece have some basic communication abilities and because of the Watchtower's high-power amplifier that is powerful enough to make up for the loss of route, reach and spread of the signal as well as the coverage we could communicate in the deep ocean as well?
Besides I remember telling you that my scouter could detect lifeforces, right? It wouldn't be hard to detect a bunch of humans deep down in the ocean near the accident."
"You listened during the satellite antenna lesson? It was rather technical..." Wonder Woman asked astounded.
"Well, yeah. What if someone needed backup? We also need to coordinate as a team if we want to fight effectively, so communication is key."
"..." She only raised an eyebrow at that in surprise.
"As far as I remembered that your scouter wasn't waterproof!" Green Lantern said as he steered into the water.
Because I was sensible enough I stopped arguing with this seemingly stoic man-child, so I rested my elbow on the armrest and my chin on my fist as I slouched into the chair.
"Whatever."
Green Lantern snorted when I decided to end the conversation, which made me want to speak up again. I was about to retort that this dumbass could just use his ring to keep it dry, but Superman put a hand on my shoulder and smiled at me wryly.
I rolled my eyes and looked outside the window to watch the ocean. I pressed on my scouter detecting several lifeforces surrounding us. They were stronger than humans and were moving quicker as well.
After telling them about this, Superman soon noticed a comparatively giant ship ahead of us. It didn't look like a normal submarine, but more something out of a sci-fi movie. Were they Atlanteans?
I wasn't quite sure and I didn't really care, they weren't much of a threat as far as I sensed. They might have weapons that were capable of scratching me as I remembered that they were quite technologically advanced, but if they didn't have the reflexes to take advantage of that it was quite useless.
It didn't really matter how much power their weapons packed if they couldn't hit their enemies.
Of course, I vaguely remembered from the first season of Young Justice that they also had something that could be considered their magic corp, I thought. It had been too long since I had watched the show.
Considering all these things, the only thing I looked out for was their magicians and avoiding their muzzles. They sent some torpedoes at us which Green Lantern outmaneuvered. He then led the Atlantean ship that followed us into a narrowing underwater ravine, causing the giant ship behind us to get stuck. Afterward, we left them behind stuck in the ravine.
"Lost them!" Green Lantern said proudly.
I noticed that Green Lantern smugly looked at me using the window as a mirror. His expression quickly turned into something resembling a snarl though. Maybe it was that I was still slouching on the chair or that I snorted at his 'impressive' stunt...
It didn't take long until we were approached by several other ships, making Green Lantern put some effort into his maneuvers in an attempt to dodge their attacks.
"You were saying?" Superman asked mockingly.
"Nice one." I muttered amusedly.
"These sailors will have to pray if we keep playing cat and mouse." Superman said as he pulled out an oxygen mask.
I put my scouter back inside its case and then into the inside of my armor before I accepted the mask he offered to me.
The mask wasn't connected to an oxygen tank. It was transparent and apparently filtered the water for oxygen. I didn't understand the science behind it, but I didn't need to since I would just use it.
I put it on and exited the ship with the others. I shot a look at Green Lantern who frowned and answered with a, "Don't."
With a shrug, we exited our ship that was enveloped by an explosion after it was hit by some missiles. Though, the ship would be fine from what I could see.
The opponents' ships positioned themselves near us and extended their weapons to fire at us. I just accelerated and flew right through the ship tearing anything apart on my way through it. Several explosions devastated the ship from the inside. Destruction followed behind me while the Atlanteans jumped out of my way.
After I exited the ship I saw how Green Lantern tore through the ship with a beam, essentially cutting the ship into several pieces. The Atlantean's ships could hold several dozen of men, so when the ships were cut one could see several of them escape the debris.
Atlanteans now exposed to the water to the water quickly swam away from the exploding ship. Superman and Wonder Woman pushed two giant ships against each other causing massive damage, which in turn resulted in more explosions. Now unable to operate any longer they sunk to the ground.
I tossed out several casual ki blasts, targeting the areas where I sensed no lifeforces. The explosions tore through the metal of the ships and turned them into scraps. The bedrock of the ocean probably had never seen such bright days until now.
After leaving behind the devastated ship, we were approached by more ships and squadrons of warriors that rode underwater bike-like vehicles. With tridents in hand and their ships' weapons system looked on us, they surrounded us and I was about to turn the battle a notch up before I heard a commanding voice, calling out for us to stop.
"You violated the sovereign borders of Atlantis." A man with long blonde hair in a green-golden armor and a golden trident in hand told us as he approached us.
"Leave at once or you will be destroyed!" He said as he pointed his trident at us. I wanted to laugh if the atmosphere wasn't so tense. I mean he did have an army, but didn't he see how we made scrap with his initial troupe?
I had to give it to him. He appeared to be quite strong, but not battling four of the Justice League strong. In my mind, I was already going through our battle.
"We apologize for the intrusion." Superman answered calmly while rising his arms in a placating manner, "We were responding to a call for help." Superman pointed at the near submarine behind what I assumed to be Aquaman with an open palm.
I myself looked at the submarine, internally being a bit surprised. I hadn't even noticed that it was near our battle. I really should keep track of my surroundings more.
"They should have stayed at the surface where they belong."
"Please, the men on board, they will drown!" Wonder Woman pleaded to his conscience and it seemed to work as Aquaman hesitated for a moment before allowing us to take the crew. The submarine though was to belong to Atlantis, he decided.
The moment he said that Green Lantern protested because of the nuclear material the submarine carried.
"That's a nuclear sub! If you think we are just going to walk away and leave it-"
"What makes you think you have a choice?" Aquaman interjected with a threatening tone which provoked the Green Lantern enough that he looked like he wanted to fight right then and there. The soldiers around us tensed as well and I could see a nervous twitch or two from around us.
I wasn't quite against a good fight, but I knew that Atlantis wasn't quite the pushover. It would start a world war and it wouldn't be pretty, at least the animated movie I had watched depicted as much. I would have to slaughter them all to prevent that and that wasn't something I was willing to do over this little incident.
"He is right. Time is running out." Superman stopped Green Lantern from charging the foreign king.
Afterward, we carried the sailors out of the submarine and into a sphere made by the Green Lantern. Now that I had to carry them out one by one. I too was for carrying just the entire submarine out of the water, alas we were being watched. During the entire procedure, the Atlanteans were surrounding us while pointing their weapons at us.
Green Lantern then carried the humans out of the water. We three followed him up while also being escorted by some of Atlantis' soldiers. Superman was out in the water while Wonder Woman and I sat inside the ship that we arrived in.
After being out of the water we left immediately while I saw Superman remain behind as he talked with Aquaman. I decided to just relax in the chair as we escorted the sailors to the nearest military camp.
As I relaxed inside the jet/spacecraft/submarine I thought about what had happened. A distant memory from the Justice League cartoon, but I just couldn't put my finger on it.
The only events I remembered best with Aquaman being the main focus were when he was captured by Lex Luthor and when he was attacked by Deadshot and it almost triggered a war. Of course, there were the movies with the Aquaman and Wonder Woman situation, but that was obviously not happening here.
The first event was unlikely to be related to what was happening now, but the assassination attempt though. I had to talk with Superman about what he had talked to Aquaman about.
...
"The World Assembly? What's that?" I asked Superman who told me that he had advised Aquaman to negotiate for peace with the World Assembly.
He patiently explained, "A gathering of politicians. They are the various leaders of countries all around the world-" Before he could explain in more detail, he received the next call he had been waiting for, so I just left Superman to his talk with the higher-ups of the military that had asked for our help.
I walked over to the other three. Green Lantern was holding a conversation with Wonder Woman while Martian Manhunter stood to the side as he listened in on it. I joined the Martian on the side.
"The admiral is right. We should have never left the sub down there! Now it is in the hand of that madman!"
"Aquaman is no madman. He is a king. He only wants to preserve and protect his own kind." I had first presumed that they weren't known to the public, but apparently, I was wrong. It seemed like even though it wasn't completely common knowledge yet, many people knew of Atlanteans and Aquaman being a thing.
Green Lantern didn't like her answer as he responded snippily, "And who is going to protect us from him?" He then proceeded to storm off. No doubt, going to retrieve the submarine.
I ignored him and turned to the Martian Manhunter, "Hey, do you know where the World Assembly is located at?"
...
I arrived above the building where the members of the World Assembly... well assembled. I hovered above the highest building and just waited.
Since Superman mentioned that he told Aquaman to negotiate with the world leaders at the assembly and as decisive as this version of Aquaman seemed to be, he would surely show up soon. Besides my excellent read of people's character, his lifeforce was moving here as well and he was close-by.
It didn't take him long to finally arrive. He completely disregarded the traffic laws and even assaulted a police officer who, as smart as he was, just told him everything after seeing Aquaman dent a car's hood with a casual strike.
He made his way through the security and entered the assembly as if he owned the place. It attracted the attention of the people and coincidentally was captured by some present media that were reporting on the assembly today.
I waited outside for him to come out. There was no way he had the patience to talk things out with politicians of all people. They were the masters of saying a lot while saying nothing at all.
After the ruckus, the Justice League, meaning Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and Martian Manhunter, unexpectedly arrived shortly afterward and flew straight into the building.
I looked around and found a person in highly suspicious garb. He pulled out, what looked like an RPG with a scope. It was pretty clear what he was going to do.
As expected Aquaman stepped out of the building, looking royalty pissed, and made his way through the media. The assassin didn't wait for long and fired at the first clear sight.
The rocket-propelled grenade flew through the air and was about to hit Aquaman, who turned around in shock as he saw the RPG fly right at him. The explosive was stopped in the air and exploded harmlessly.
A 'What the fuck?' sounded out from the assassin before I attempted to pick him up by the neck. He twisted around in an impressive display of acrobatics while shooting at me with bullets coming out of his wrist on the back of his hand.
Although a unique weapon, it was just a gun mounted to his forearm. It wasn't something I couldn't dodge. Not to mention the fastest speed a human could react to and move his muscles was limited compared to what I could do.
The assassin was someone skilled and I assumed was Deadshot with the glowing red sight as an eye and all that, but he was still just a human. As if he moved in slow-motion I dodged his aim and approached him.
It was impressive that he predicted my movements, but there was only so much he could do against me. I easily dodged the salve of shots as I went for his wrist. I grabbed his wrist and with a quick pull and a distinctive pop, his wrist was dislocated.
It was not to be dismissed that even though he should be in intense pain, he just grunted while he reached behind his back with his other hand. I grabbed that arm as well and dislocated that at the shoulder.
He dropped to his knees and threw out some curse words. I didn't let that distract me and crushed his wrist gun and then pulled off his coat. I proceeded to just crush any weapon on him.
I went for his belt and for every bump inside or container it carried and crushed them in my hands. Some fizzed as smoke was released, others exploded, but they were all neutralized by me. I completely destroyed everything on him before I grabbed him by the neck.
With the assassin in hand, I flew down to meet the surprised and now angry Aquaman, as well as the members of the Justice League, who were equally shocked.
To be honest, it was rather obvious that something like this would happen, because if something could result in some serious consequences it would happen, but looking at it from their perspective it must have been a surprise that someone would try to assassinate the king of a different nation. No one knew that he would come, after all, apart from the Justice League and the people of Atlantis.
Given that the Justice League didn't know that he would arrive today already, there were only a few options left for the identity of the perpetrator of this assassination. It had to be a traitor from Atlantis.
Well, let's see if Aquaman would come to the same conclusion. I threw the assassin on the ground.
"Seemed like some people want to see you dead." I told him while he only scowled. I shrugged before speaking to the other members of the League, "Should we take this somewhere less public?" Hinting at the reporters that were now surrounding us after the danger seemed to have been neutralized.
"Let's go inside." Superman decided.
I looked at Aquaman, "Perhaps you want to be present when we get the information about whoever hired him out of him." He didn't say anything but followed us all the same.
We sat Deadshot down at a table inside the infirmary of the building and I was about to start interrogating him. It seemed like they gave me the honor since the others were trying to prevent Aquaman from going inside and torturing the man. It didn't help that Green Lantern kept agonizing the king.
"So, are you going to tell me who hired you or can I- Cough. I mean, or do I have to cut off your hands?"
Deadshot looked at me shocked, "That's not how you do that! You are a hero! I want a lawyer!"
"What? Don't be so hasty, hear me out first. I have this new skill with which I can create an energy blade that vibrates at a high frequency. Isn't that awesome, don't you want to see it in action?" I was practically exuding enthusiasm and Deadshot could apparently tell as he was too vibrating with excitement.
"Look. I don't ask any questions. I don't know who hired me, so I can't tell you anything even if I wanted to." He said while trying to spread his arms, but winced because nobody had popped in his dislocated shoulder or wrist yet.
"Not good enough. How are you being paid?" A voice came out from behind a curtain in the darkness. The curtain was already drawn when we had entered and nobody had bothered to check behind it.
It wasn't surprising that he waited to make an interesting entrance, but it was funny all the same since I knew that he had been here.
I wasn't going to lie, showing up in mid-conversation while being inside a closed-off door that was currently warded by some superheroes was not bad of an entrance. At least, if one didn't know that he had been there the entire time, which now that I thought about it was a flex as well.
"I am being paid in gold, but you can forget if you think I am going to tell you where I hid it." Batman narrowed his eyes at that response.
"I know where you live, Floyd Lawton." Batman said calmly like he was talking about the weather.
Deadshot's eyes widened in shock, "Okay! I tell I tell! It's not far away, inside a van. I hadn't enough time to hide it yet..." He proceeded to tell us where to find his van and how to disable the security measures.
That was pretty cold. I raised an eyebrow at Batman, who proceed to tell me that there is work to do and just went towards the street that Deadshot's van was parked at.
When I exited the room I stood at the entrance and blocked Aquaman from entering. He had that murderous look on his face as he looked at Deadshot sitting inside the room.
"Do you want to know who hired him? Then follow the bat." He glanced at me after I spoke out before giving me a nod and quietly followed the others.
I stayed behind and waited for the police to pick up the assassin.
...
"Shallot. Aquaman headed back to Atlantis. We are heading there now. We will send you the coordinates." I heard Superman say over the earbud.
As soon as I got the information I needed I blasted through the air in that direction. It barely took me a few minutes before I arrived underwater at the border of the city. The city was surrounded by a giant sphere and several aquatic animals, though it seemed that the city's interior wasn't filled with water.
There weren't many access points where I could enter the city from and the few that existed were guarded by soldiers holding familiar trident weapons that would shoot out laser beams.
Should I take the sneaky approach or just force my way in...? I asked myself though the decision was already made. I was already blasting through the defense mechanism that the Atlanteans had built up.
Most of the attacks were easily dismissed with my telekinesis. They even shot hyper-focused energy spheres that reminded me of ki blast. I slapped them out of my way, letting them explode in the distance. The guards saw me from a mile away and immediately rushed towards me when they saw that their defense system failed to stop me.
Were they brave or just plain stupid? I considered it only for a moment before I declared it foolhardy to fight against someone that dismissed their entire defense that should surely be designed to be able to fight off the few soldiers that came to confront me.
With a Kiai, I forcefully pushed an Atlantean into their wall. My attack created a slipstream, sucking away the other soldiers with it. I blasted right through the entrance and entered the sphere. I pulled out my scouter before I tore through the air as I headed for the palace.
I entered it quickly and headed for the League members as they seemed to have been captured. At least, that was the conclusion I came to when I saw them bunched closely together and their lifeforce noticeably lower than usual.
After entering the hallway I saw two guards that were promptly sent flying before I turned towards the giant tube that was rapidly filled with water while the Leaguers were tied up to the wall.
"The lever!" A voice called out from behind me. I turned around and saw a woman with red hair before I turned to the giant lever on the ground and just pulled it. Honestly, the placement of the lever was ruining the room's aesthetic.
The now freed Leaguers were coughing hard as they had inhaled quite a lot of water. I broke apart their weirdly looking cuffs that enveloped their entire arms, while the women opened them up with a key.
They took off the weirdly blinking devices on their head which resulted in their lifeforce climbing back up. I wanted to ask them how they were able to get captured but someone else talked before I could.
The red-haired woman then addressed the other heroes, "You believe someone in Atlantis betrayed my husband. I also fear for his life, but I need your help."
"You got it." Green Lantern declared to the woman and we were apparently trusting her, why exactly?
Superman turned to me and asked after seeing my scouter over my eye, "Shallot, can you figure out where Aquaman is right now?"
"Sure thing." I pressed a button that made some symbols on the scouter appear. Good thing that no one could read the language on it or they would know that I hadn't actually scanned for anything. With them around my scouter would just explode.
Meanwhile, I proceeded to lock onto Aquaman's lifeforce with my senses. After having found him I was about to head off when we were suddenly approached by some guards who immediately fired at us.
"Seems like there is a rebellion to quell. I will go get the king." I said before flying through the hostile crowd pushing them aside by the air pressure following my flight.
I headed for the outside of the barrier apparently Aquaman decided to relax somewhere away from the city while his city was plunged into chaos. Oh, wait. Wasn't there a scene where he had to cut his hand off?
With that thought in mind, I accelerated, unintentionally dividing the water as I headed towards the near King of Atlantis.