Batman had just taken exactly ten minutes to decipher the mystery of the chains entwined on the iceberg and used Bat Equipment to project a pattern in mid-air.
"Hal, channel your Green Lantern energy into the chain," Batman instructed. "Then, follow the sequence of this pattern. Start here, converge the energy into this node, don't turn when you move this way, and make sure the energy input is stable throughout..."
Batman thought Hal would ask a few more questions, but to his surprise, Hal said nothing and directly began to operate as instructed. While doing so, he looked at Batman and said, "You must want to ask why I'm so obedient, but from what I've seen of you, you are even sicker than the Bruce of our universe."
"And the most important thing I've learned from him and his professor is that when a super genius and madman tells you to do something, you'd best just do it because it's effective and it prevents him from going insane," Hal added.
Batman started to ponder just what kind of madness the mentor and disciple had exhibited in front of them.
Once they began working together, Batman found that the young members of the Justice League in this universe were way too easy to communicate with and too compliant.
The prepared excuses for the Justice League members that he usually had ready were completely unnecessary. Not one person here demanded an explanation; they all just agreed, echoing "yes, yes, yes," "okay, okay, okay," "we'll do it right away."
It was obvious that someone held sway, having clearly demonstrated that the whims of a genius require no explanation.
Unusually, Batman didn't probe into the reasons, which left Hal slightly disappointed. Shrugging, he said, "I was all ready to tell you their outrageous stories. It's always Clark who ends up telling them, and I thought it was my turn."
"Now's not the time for stories," Batman said in a low tone. "This isn't as simple as it seems. Don't forget, we still don't know what Shiller's countermeasures are."
Hal fell silent too; indeed, it was a worry worth pondering. Truth be told, he still wasn't very worried about Atlanna or Orm, or even Atlantis for that matter. The pair of mad mentor and disciple in this universe were always the greatest concern.
"Did they ever tell you anything before?" asked Batman assertively, which roughly translated to "Spill everything they've told you before, now."
Hal really did think back carefully and then said, "A long time ago, when I talked to Bruce about the Green Lantern Headquarters, he seemed very interested and said if there was a chance, he'd like his kids to visit the Green Lantern Headquarters."
"Either he's too distrustful of the Green Lantern Headquarters or he's too trusting of his kids," Batman opined.
Hal looked embarrassed, as he realized Batman was sarcastically commenting on the destructive powers of Bruce's unruly children, but he still said, "Recently, he brought it up again, asking if I could arrange for the kids to join a cosmos field trip, to have me show them around the more famous planets in the universe."
"Actually, I'm quite willing. During my time as Green Lantern, I've really seen a lot of interesting planets. There's one planet, for instance, that's entirely made of..."
Under Batman's Death Stare, Hal had no choice but to steer the conversation back and added, "I asked if he wanted to come with us. He said he's going away for a trip soon and wouldn't be able to make it. When I asked where he was going, he wouldn't say, but I figured that going to another planet couldn't really be considered going far away."
"Maybe he wants to go to another universe," Batman suggested.
"Probably," said Hal, referring to the previous incident when Bruce, Clark, and Diana had visited the Marvel Universe.
Batman didn't think the matter was that simple, but he didn't express this, focusing solely on whether Hal was following his instructions to untangle the magic structure of the chain.
About a minute and a half passed, and the first chain was unlocked. At this rate, all nine chains could be unlocked in just over ten minutes.
But at that moment, Hal's communicator suddenly rang, with Clark's voice coming through.
"Hey, Hal, how's it going over there? I just had an earthquake here, and I'm not sure if it's a natural phenomenon or something more sinister."
"Did you see Atlanna?" Batman inquired.
"No, of course not. If I did, I would have punched him, but I faintly heard some screams. I don't know if they were from him."
"Have you noticed any other phenomena?"
"The seawater here seems a bit darkened, and there's an apparent flow in one direction. The weakening of my powers is lessening, which led me to believe something was up and why I called you."
Making a quick decision, Batman said, "Hal, take me back. Something big might be happening."
When Batman awoke, the ground was violently trembling. Clark hurriedly supported the staggering Batman, adding, "Don't worry, if there's any danger, I'll fly you out of here in a second. It only takes a second to get from here to the surface of the sea."
Batman seemed not quite used to this nanny-like concern; he withdrew his arm from Clark's grasp and said, "I'm fine, look over there and see what's happening. The tremor came from that direction."
There's actually nothing mysterious at the bottom of the Mariana Trench; it is just an abyss that is deep enough and has sufficient water pressure. However, there indeed are underwater volcanoes in this area, and upon their arrival, Batman and Hal speculated that the resting place of Atlantis might just be beneath one of these volcanoes.
Clark carried Batman out of the trench and discovered that the seafloor in the distance was cracking, and what was very unusual was that the completely dark seafloor was faintly emitting a golden light.
"Is he coming out?" Clark appeared somewhat nervous.
At this moment, Hal and Orm both woke up. Batman looked at Hal with a bit of surprise, and Hal, while looking at Orm, said, "This guy's willpower is very strong, I had just opened three chains, and he managed to break free on his own."
"Listen, no matter who you are," Orm immediately realized that Batman was their leader, so he walked up to him, grabbed his arm, and said, "You must have already been attacked by Atlanna. That mad king has an evil plan; we have to stop him."
Before Batman could say anything, Clark patted Orm on the back and said, "How do you feel, buddy? Having someone invade your mind must not be pleasant. Do you need to rest?"
Orm was clearly moved, but he still insisted strongly, "Atlanteans are not such wimps, and the current situation doesn't allow us to rest anyway."
"First, tell us what's going on," Batman said.
"Atlanna possessed an extremely powerful force, one that could sink Atlantis in one blow. But don't think of Atlantis at that time as just a typical classical kingdom; we have always been a magic civilization. Otherwise, we wouldn't have been able to become sea people after sinking to the ocean floor."
"Atlanna was the most powerful Atlantean king and, in the process of ruling Atlantis, he accumulated a lot of power. After the fall of Atlantis, he fell asleep, but that didn't mean he lost his power."
"When he invaded my brain and controlled my spirit, I realized his power was unimaginably strong, but he also had weaknesses. It happened around a few decades ago; I'm not sure about the exact time because his thoughts were too vague."
"Anyway, not long ago for Atlanteans, my mother, the Queen of Atlantis, Atlanna, took effective restrictive measures against him, preventing him from frequently harassing the Atlantean citizens."
"As far as I know, a land dweller was involved in this plan. The content was roughly that the Queen managed to steal half of Atlanna's power and had this land dweller take it away."
"But the Queen had reservations about this plan; what she did not tell the land dweller was that Atlanna's control over his power was entirely different from that of human mages, and even from many magical creatures. His power could undergo several transformations, reconstructions, and refinements, and still retain its own properties, which made a curse possible."
"After Atlanna discovered his power had been stolen, he would most certainly use his power to curse this land dweller. It seems this was also part of the Queen's plan; she might have thought this land dweller was too powerful and needed to be weakened, so she came up with this plan to kill two birds with one stone."
"However, there was a loophole. The Queen didn't expect Atlanna to wake up early. He discovered his power had been stolen and, as not much time had passed, Atlanna quickly figured out what had happened."
"This completely enraged him, making him uncontrollable with anger. Considering us to be the descendants of traitors, he couldn't bear the thought of us stealing even more from him, so he launched his own revenge."
"Before I was born, he controlled my father, repeatedly assaulting and attempting to kill the Queen, but unfortunately, he didn't succeed. After I was born, he gradually tried to control me and finally found the opportunity to use my body to stab the Queen of Atlantis."
Orm showed a sad expression and said, "But that was not the end. He has been investigating who the land dweller who took away half his power is."
"For a long time, he found nothing, because his power did not extend to the land, until one day I got an idea—he's here."
"The curse that Atlanna placed on this land dweller took effect, implying that this land dweller had come within the range of the ocean. But it seems the curse could not kill him immediately; it could only make him feel uncomfortable within the ocean's range."
"Atlanna observed this land dweller for a long time through the ocean and the power of the curse. He believed this land dweller was not simple; if he wanted revenge, he needed a meticulous plan."
"I don't know much about his specific plan. I do know that after he found the target of his revenge, Atlanna created a ship, and he began attracting land dwellers aboard to gamble."
"Wait a minute," Hal interrupted Orm's narrative, recalling as he spoke, "When did the Dakotazo become famous?"
As a reporter, Clark had a deep impression. He said, "Seven or eight years ago, perhaps even nine, was the first time this ship was sighted. Initially, the rumor was that it was a ghost ship, then it became known as the mysterious casino ship of a secretive tycoon."
"But later, what was talked about most was that the ship couldn't be caught by the American law enforcement, its ability to appear and disappear without a trace made it infamous."
"Of course, they couldn't catch it." Orm had not a shred of pride in his expression, only solemnity, as he said, "He made me stay on the ship, and like the Queen, I could control the ocean—a magic power beyond human comprehension. No matter how powerful your weapons are, they are of no use; you cannot detect us, and naturally, you can't catch anything."