Justice League: Into the Atlantic Ocean

Aquaman was called the King of the Seven Seas. He was the King of Atlantis. People assumed the latter was the real title, and the former was just hyperbole.

Aquaman never bothered to explain. Most people wouldn't care. Most people thought he talked to fish and forgot he was one of the four strongest beings on the planet. But if you wanted to know the truth... if you wanted to understand... then the truth was simple. Being the 'King of Atlantis' was a responsibility. A position. A burden. And sometimes a joy. But it was external. The crown was given to him.

Being King of the Seven Seas was innate. Every time Aquaman slid into the water -- be it ocean or lake, river or pond, even a swimming pool, Aquaman was surrounding himself with his kingdom -- with his inherent being.

Most of the Justice League assumed that whatever had happened to Superman in the Atlantic, he was almost certainly fine. Why wouldn't he be? He was Superman. Those few who weren't so sure were at best nervous -- after all, if something could waylay Superman, then what could anyone else possibly do? Only a few people -- Wonder Woman, J'Onn, and as always Batman -- simply accepted that sometimes Superman needed help and they were the ones who could give it to him.

Arthur Curry, King of the Seven Seas, called Aquaman? Didn't think any of those things. If Superman had disappeared in the Atlantic, then it was Aquaman's responsibility to render aid. Obviously there were things that could overwhelm Superman in the depths. Just as obviously Aquaman could lay them low. Superman was just another visitor to Aquaman's domain, after all.

He sliced through the water like light slicing through vacuum. If someone were to measure his speed, they'd find he was going several times the speed of sound in atmosphere -- and then decide their instruments were broken, because no one could go that fast under water. In Aquaman's case, he didn't just rocket through the water at that speed -- he did so without disturbing the water around him. There was no surge, no sudden rogue waves, no wake. The water itself obeyed Aquaman and sped his passage. His eyes peered in the murk, but they were far from the only perception he had in the depths -- he had a three hundred and sixty degree spherical understanding of the waters he was moving through. It was a majestic waterscape of color and sound, sonar and light and psionics and magic, spirit and flesh and molecules and mysticism. It was his.

And right now, he had business to attend to.

He slid to a stop, shifting slightly upwards and floating in the water, his hair drifting crownlike around his head, his orange aurichalcum scale armor glinting though almost no light made it down this far. This was where Zatanna's spell had been cut off. It was only a few hundred nautical miles away from the ship Superman had rescued before he'd disappeared.

He was deep in the waters -- the ocean floor was smooth here, a deep basin averaging over two thousand fathoms down. But, like he had told the other Justice League members, it was a deep basin here -- nowhere near the ridges or fractures or escarpments that typified the regions close to where Atlantis had been bordered by the sea before it sank those countless years before. There had been no settlements out here, and certainly no survivors, and absolutely no reason for the God of the Seas, called Poseidon by the Amazons and that was close enough for these purposes, to have a sacred temple built out here before the disaster.

He could feel something... a shifting. Pressure changes, almost.

He touched his ear, activating the subdermal comm. It had a psionic receptor that made its use possible even in the waters. «Aquaman to Watchtower,» he sent.

"Yes, Aquaman? What have you found?" J'onn answered.

«I'm at the edge of where Zatanna's spell failed. I can sense a disturbance -- there is something here, without a doubt.»

"Is it a danger?"

«What isn't a danger? It's... not entirely out of place -- it feels like certain paramystical fields generated by some of the surviving colonies of Atlantis... but even that adds to the mystery.»

"In what way, Arthur?" That was Diana. Concerned but professional. Aquaman liked working with her.

«There is usually a... quality, to these fields -- a nature, depending on the traditions, mysticism, and technology that created them. I told you before that this region was desert before the continent sank -- but even if it weren't, the closest Atlantian region is Thierna Na Oge.» Aquaman furrowed his brow. «Their consecrated places sacred to the God of the Seas wouldn't have a Poseidon representation. They'd represent Manannán, more or less. The temple style we saw was closer to the style of the Poseidonis region -- the one I come from. But the field-nature feels Tritonic.»

"Tritonic? Meaning Tritonis? The land of the Mer-people?" That was Batman. Naturally.

«Exactly. I wouldn't expect merfolk or their ancient powers to be in this sea, much less in this basin. And if there were something Tritonic out here, with this much power behind it... we would have detected it and charted it generations ago. But the fields feel ancient, not recent.» Aquaman frowned. «I don't like this.»

"Should we contact Doctor Fate?" J'onn asked.

«Mm. No. This isn't actually in his field. Not yet, anyhow. I would ask one or more Green Lanterns be ready to assist. If you can contact Garth, Tula, or Kaldur'ahm, that would also be prudent. I'm going to call for backup of my own.» He shifted his mental frequencies, aligning them to a very different psionic receptor -- this one aurichalcum and embedded within his armor. «Mera?»

«You would call,» his wife sent back, amused. «I'm just settled into the restorative mud and I've just enjoyed a libation.»

«Are you still capable of swimming in a straight line?» Aquaman sounded amused. «I could use a hand but if you're going to just blunder into things--»

«No no, far be it for me to tell my most noble king to stuff his trident where no one could see.» She chuckled telepathically. «I sense your location -- what in the world is out there?»

«Nothing much. A Poseidonis style consecration to the God of the Sea in the middle of a specifically Thiernan nowhere with a Tritonic investure. Oh, and Superman may have disappeared into it.»

There was a long delay in answering.

«...maybe I have imbibed too much. I can't possibly have parsed that correctly.»

«If so, bring some with you. I expect I'll need a hit or three after this.»

«All right. Eight minutes. Love everlasting.»

«Love eternal.» Aquaman peered, sending perceptive telepathy down into the fields...

Nothing but psionic static. He couldn't even feel the life essence of fish or plants down in there, though it didn't have the stink of **** or a null zone.

Well. He could correct that, at least. He reached out, feeling for his subjects. A few manta rays, some species of shark, a few eels -- useful, if predictable. Plus a few more... chthonic species. Good enough. He sent out the demand, and they responded. Always good to have some teeth behind you.

«You called sharks, didn't you?»

Aquaman turned. Mera was coming up alongside him, beautiful and shimmering green in the waters, her hair like a corona of lava. «What's wrong with sharks?»

«You always call sharks.»

«Sharks are useful. What, should I call swordfish? Tuna? Cod?»

«No no. I'm sure sharks are just fine, love.» She peered into the water. «That feels old. That can't actually be old, can it?»

«Not unless every cartographer from four Atalantian regions were struck blind or psi-null passing through this area. We're not that far off the coast, really -- someone should have noticed this.»

«Well then. Shall we swim headlong into adventure, love?»

«Unless you've got a more fun idea?» Aquaman smiled a bit more.

«Don't hand me straight lines. Come on.» The red haired siren of the seas arced through the water, sweeping forward, greenish energy playing over her hands. With a thought, Aquaman swept after her, diving towards the odd mount, and the temple that shouldn't exist.