chapter 38: Recovery

In the end, several days after the attack on Atlantis, David was judged, condemned, and then executed, his body sent to his remaining relatives. During his trial, he never pleaded, never screamed, merely stared forward as the courts sentenced him to the gas chamber. With some luck, he may have ended in Purgatory.

With some luck.

His followers' remains, on the other hand, were dumped by the Atlantean army into a trench, not just out of callousness but because me and Grundy were savage enough in our slaughter that the identities of most of them just couldn't be identified.

But while many of those that followed him did so because of bigotry or greed, even more did so because of fear of a repeat of the Voyager, fear that if Atlantis and its people weren't destroyed humanity would drown, and a feeling that was too familiar to me: rage, hatred and pain, all combined and festering for months until they unleashed it on those who had nothing to do with the Red Trident.

I could have done more, I should have done more, should have been more attentive. But I hadn't, and that costed the lives of thousands, David himself included. Worse still, not that many people sans me, Arthur and a few others truly cared for his reasons for the attack, so the world at large saw him as another man turned villain I had to put down, even having a name for him: Black Manta, the Terror of of the Seas.

Things above the ocean only became more hectic when I revealed the involvement of several high-ranked officers of the Navy that smuggled both materiel and decommissioned submarines to David's cause, one of them even being a rear admiral of all people. I didn't bother to take care of them, the government did: most were sentenced to death for aiding a genocide, the rest thrown to prison to rot for the rest of their lives.

They all should have been killed to the last for what they did, but that decision wasn't up to me. I DID something about the political clusterfuck it caused, however.

Grundy and I decided to visit in the city several times, both to help repair the damage alongside volunteers from the surface, Clark and several workers from Wayne Enterprises included, and to continue our mission. While my help wasn't really needed, and Grundy actually helped more by tearing down those buildings too damaged to be safely repaired, the people were nonetheless grateful of our aid and that of the 'surface dwellers'.

Well, most of them were. Unfortunately, of those who weren't, there was one who was not scared of mine and Grundy's presence.

Orm, that stupid imbecile, refused to listen to reason and outright threatened to overthrow Arthur if he didn't attack the surface, ignoring the fact that the U.S Navy had sent three submarines carrying a hundred frogmen each, and trained in underwater combat, to both assist the Atlantean guard in the fight and evacuate civilians. If this response seems excessive, remember that Arthur had done his damnest to better the Kingdom's relationships with the surface, plus the fact that David could (from their POV) have just attacked a coastal town. He wouldn't have, but at the same time everything was possible from their point of view.

Unfortunately for him, his increasingly bloodthirsty attitude in the span of mere minutes and only a couple days after the attack, his callousness towards the relatives and friends of those killed by David's henchmen, and the fact he didn't even care about the Red Trident's own invasion, made both me and Arthur wonder... and by now you already know that making the Doom Slayer wonder about things doesn't end well.

That, and the fact that he always ended up becoming Ocean Master due to his hatred for the surface.

So, uncaring that he was his own half brother, Arthur asked me to, in his own words, 'probe his brain; I know you can'. I grabbed Orm, took both of them to the Fortress ignoring Orm's protests, and made VEGA enter his memories.

Guess who supplied the Red Trident, so secretly that not even his own brother realized it until it was too late.

There were images from Orm's own eyes where he gave military-grade weapons to atlanteans, overseeing the tortures of Fishermen, Brine and even atlanteans (a xebelian by his accent) before killing them himself, and finally giving a speech in a hall full of armored individuals about flooding the world above for their sisn, his vision inpaired by colored lenses.

He didn't just help the Trident, the bastard was its founder.

Arthur didn't scream at Orm, he didn't beat the hell out of him. He just glared at him for five seconds beforer plunging his new hook on his 'brother's' belly, then asked me me to patch the wound before throwing the bastard into a dungeon in Atlantis. There would be no Ocean Master in this universe.

He was still furious. And frankly, how couldn't he? His own half brother wasn't just the reason and catalyst Atlantis was assaulted, he was also an hypocrite. Soon, however, the fury gave way to depression. If even his own half brother, the one who he shared blood with, hated him for having been born in the surface, and by extension was the reason he lost is arm... He'd recover, but nonetheless even mentioning Orm soured his mood.

And yes, I said hook, just like in the cartoon, only this time it was me who forged it and grafted it on his arm, if with atlantean help and material. I actually told him I could regrow his arm, but he refused.

"It'll be a reminder of my failure." He said before giving another glance at his new weapon. "Besides, it'll make clearer to others that I'm not to be pissed off. Like you."

Months before it'd have been a snide remark, but now it was a genuine compliment.

And no, no one commented that it made him look like a pirate.

Then came the moment in which I told them about my mission, about the other reason I stayed on Atlantis, and which I found out just one day after the attack.

The baby. Yes, his son was the one linked with the Blue. Some of you might have found that obvious, and in hindsight it was, but I had to make sure it was the boy given fact Arella made the ritual sixty years prior."

Naturally, Arthur didn't belive me, not out of a genuine lack of understanding though; he just didn't want me near his son. He understood me, he respected me, and even kinda liked me, but also didn't want me near his son. That, and the fact he never, ever heard of Arella.

"You mean that a witch came here years ago and turned my son, a baby, into the avatar or whatever of the sea?" Arthur said as we (me and Clark) sat in front of him and Mera in a room on ins castle.

"All water actually, if Slayer's right about that, but otherwise you summed it up." Clark affirmed. Grundy was not with us, being as he was in the Fortress looking after Garfield; besides, his help was no longer needed.

Arthur looked between us before snorting. "Do you realize the fact Junior is only several months old, right?"

"Junior?"

"His name's Arthur too. Mera suggested it, right honey?" He said to her.

Mera, as previously stated, was with us, what with our business involving her child. She didn't take well that Arthur had lost his hand, even though she feared me, but other than that she was not exactly scared of me. Indeed, she actually fought several Red Trident infiltrators. Makes sense, given that Xebel was a bit more militaristic than Atlantis given its past.

That bravery was one of the reasons Arthur married her, the only being politics. However, it didn't surface when I decided to talk with her and Arthurr, or rather it did, but not because of her being scared of me, per se.

Her deliberately doing her damnest to not look directly at me gave it away.

"Mera?"

"Your majesty" I decided to ask. " , do you know about this?" Yes, my question was, as always blunt and straight to the point

Mera simply stared at me with a frown for several seconds, before sighing in defeat and looking down at Junior, who was asleep.

"My mother." She said. Seeing our confused stares, she clarified. "The woman, Arella, visited her when she was young and told her the same thing you told us about her daughter. As for why Junior and not me, I think it's hereditary."

Son, that explained why Garfield had the link with the Red, but not either of his parents.

"Why didn't you tell me of that?"

"She made her promise she wouldn't reveal it to anyone, my mother in turn made me promise, and besides it never came up until now. She never expected whatever she did to her to pass down to someone else, much less me." She admitted sheepishly. "Plus, you know how my people are when it comes to magic." She clarified again. For those who don't know, Xebel was the most technologically advanced of the Seven Kingdoms, and naturally did not like magic, not even the atlantean one.

"And you're afraid that I'll take your son away to my fortress, right?"

She nodded. "Will you?" She asked, unconsciously tightening her hold on her son. Arthur simply gave me a look between alarmed and wary, while Clark simply waited for my response.

I shook my head. "Not with someone so young, I won't. I took Grundy because people were scared of him and needed a better place to be than Slaughter Swamp, and Garfield had been alone for most of his life. The power to turn into large animals, combined with a lack of social skills, would make it impossible for him to be with normal people, at least until he's a few years older."

Arthur arched an eyebrow at that. "Garfield?"

"The boy I adopted several weeks before. He's the one linked with animal life. Solomon Grundy is one too." And so I explained Arella's ritual and how it worked, and my plan to dispel it."

After I finished explaining, Arthur grunted. "So, does that mean Junior will have to be prodded by some crappy wizard from England?"

"Oh, no, the process is very simple." True, originally that came from John's mouth, but the couple didn't know he was a drunkard. Or John Constantine. "The hard part, if it could be called that, is that Rachel's father is a creature so evil he's practically a demon in all but name, Hell inhabiting including, who wants Rachel to open a gate for him. And no, it wouldn't just be a threat for you or Junior, but for all of the universe."

Arthur stood up, angry, but not at me. "Count me in."

"Arthur?"

"He saved the city, wants to save the universe, showed me the traitors that nearly got all of us killed... and apologized for humilliating me when he really didn't have to, all things given." He then turned to me. "I don't care if I have to literally follow you to Hell itself and fight Satan. I owe you too much."

"I don't plan on fighting the demon, only to keep him in Hell and keep his filthy claws away from his daughter." I assured him. I would, but not before preparing. "All I need is to find the others and get John to disable the magic keeping Rachel hidden."

"John?"

"The wizard I've told you about."

Thing was, I hadn't seen John for several days. At first I didn't care, he had his own life and job, but after finding out about the Blue I decided to go directly to the House of Mystery (John could come to my home, I could go to his) to tell him about it, and if he had some luck himself... but found nothing. At first I thought he merely was away on a job, but then I asked Black Orchid. Her answer?

"John went to a job involving vampires in Las Vegas six days ago, and even though I can feel he's in peril, I've yet to find him."

So, John had been missing for some time, may or may have not been in dangerr, and not even his own house/landlord couldn't locate him.

VEGA only needed a physical description to find someone.

Later that day, back on the Fortress, I found John. He was bloodied, and his left eye blackened, but otherwise unscathed; not the first time he ended up like that, mostly after pissing off someone and not being quick enough to dodge. It was where he was and what he was doing what took me by surprise: a small, darkneded room full of computer monitors, and firring a submachine gun at something outside of the screen, respectively. A closer inspection revealed some kind of bracelet attached to his left arm. What the hell did the wizard get himself into?

"Wizard in trouble." Grundy grunted out.

"VEGA, hijack the closest computer to John." Yes, I did not think of rescuing him outright.

John didn't even seem to be surprised when VEGA's voice came from a screen next to him.

"Slayer, get me the fuck out of here!" He said before shooting at someone offscreen. "Can't explain now, just do it!"

Not bothering to speak to me, VEGA opened a portal to John's location. John promptly jumped through.

"Are you alright?"

He was too busy recovering his breath to call me out for not helping him sooner. "First, let me take a breather... Okay, breath recovered. It's going to be a very, very long story, and guess what? It involves a certain nob."

First chapter of the year. How do you think was it, too fast or generic in certain parts, like (I think, had to finish writing it) the ending? Also, do you want the next chapter to explain what happened from John's POV, or him telling it to Slayer?