Orin arrives, horrified at the scene before him. The great dome is no longer there. He hears the countless cries of sadness, echoing in his mind, and tries to shut it all out; but he cannot. He tries to come up with how this could've come to pass, for the city has never been breached before like this in all Atlantean history. He swims in closer, trying to keep a low profile as he plans his attack.
Black Manta stands atop one of his underwater battle cruisers, as he watches from above. All the screams and all the devastation is not enough for him, however. He wants Orin's head on a pedastal, to forever look at every time he wishes to remind himself of this glorious day. Black Manta is about to find out just how unlucky he actually is, however. One of his men inside of the ship he stands on, contacts him through their ship's radio.
"Sir!"
"What is it now?"
"We think we've spotted Aquaman, sir! One of our men radioed the information to us as soon as he saw him. But the problem is...we don't know where he is now. Some of the men think it could've been anything--some Atlantean...but he swears he knows what he saw."
"Keep an eye out."
Black Manta changes his frequency.
"Damnit! This isn't like Arthur; hiding like this. Are the rumors true then? Could he be dead? I should've been the one two--"
"Sir! There he is! He's right behind--"
Black Manta turns, and he sees Orin coming right at him from the distance. It isn't exactly clear, for there is so much blood and smoke rising from the great battle; let alone the natural darkness of the deep.
Orin planned on making a more surprising entrance. But once he noticed the shape of the ships attacking his beloved city, he immediately knew who lead them. The same villainous madman that killed his young son was commanding them, rallying them to tear down his fair city. The moment he saw Black Manta, standing upon one of the ships, he lost all rational thought, tossing aside his previous plans of strategy.
"Arthur! Ha! It's about damn time. I was--"
Black Manta stops boasting when he realizes that Orin is not stopping. If anything, his speed is increasing as he swims closer to Manta's location.
"What the devil? Oh shi--"
Black Manta swims away, just as Orin smashes through the battle cruiser, causing a great explosion to occur; all surrounding ships near the explosion get knocked back, losing control for a moment. The smoke clearing, Black Manta frantically looks around, focusing his attention on one way, only to find himself changing his focus to another.
The force of the explosion causes ripples of sonic booms to travel throughout the city. As Koryak and Triton continue their struggle, they are knocked backward by the sheer force of the sonic boom. Both look their sides, towards the direction of the explosion. All they can see are men trying to swim away, and large black smoke.
Realizing that he had lowered his guard, Triton tries to strike at Koryak, managing to blast him in the back with the trident's massive power. This only causes Koryak to turn and tackle Triton with all of his might and rage, and the battle continues.
"Orders are too eliminate the target."
"Take him out!"
"For Black Manta!"
All of Black Manta's ships chase Orin around the dead city. He manages to outsmart them, swimming past a large building, only to turn around swiftly, and then attack them from behind. A few of Black Manta's men ride smaller types of battle cruisers designed to carry one. They are even more easily fooled by Orin.
Their quickness becomes their disadvantage, for he uses it against them. Swimming one way, and making rapid and quick turns, he eventually manages to grab one of the soldiers and throwing him into the other one, causing their cruisers to collide. But they are not the one he seeks. The great explosion Orin caused seperate himself from Manta. But now he sees him again.
"MANTA!"
The sound of Orin's voice does exactly what a battle cry should; scare the enemy and take them aback. Not the most typical battle cry, but it indeed works. Black Manta is struck with fear, unsure of where the sound comes from, when Orin tackles him from the side, colliding into one of the Atlantean buildings. Recovering from the impact, Black Manta manages to swim away, but finds himself being pursued by Aquaman. It proves useless, for Orin is the fastest creature to ever roam the sea; he catches Manta with much ease and stops him in a hold.
But he is shocked, when Manta is able to break out of his hold, elbowing him in the stomach. It actually faded him a bit. Little does Orin know, Manta has some improvements.
"Didn't you notice the new threads? No? Same old Arthur, not looking before he leaps. Wasn't the first time it cost you dearly..."
Black Manta starts shooting Orin with his poisoned tipped darts, but the results are not what he expected. Coated with a metal strong enough to penetrate Orin's thick skin, it is not enough to stop him. There is one thing that Manta does notice, however. The paralysis darts are having some kind of an effect on Orin; he seems to be slowing down.
Wasting no time, Manta shoots more and more of the darts. Orin evades some, but each time one manages to puncture him, he slows down more and more. Black Manta then activates the boosters on his boots, and starts swimming rapidly around Orin, punching and kicking at him as he passes him constantly. Every now and then Orin is able to dodge, but all the time that the poison has slowly entered his blood, he finds himself lagging behind. Orin becomes Manta's new punching bag.
"I'm real glad you came Arthur. I was beginning to worry that you were actually dead as some said. Triton promised me many things...but your death topples all of that."
As Black Manta turns around, about to make another strike, Orin grabs him just in the nick of time, grabbing him by the throat with his mystical hand. With the force of the impact and change of motion, it causes Black Manta stop abruptly. Orin pulls Manta face to face with him.
"You endangered my kingdom! You attacked my people! You ended countless lives! Why is it that every time I even think about killing you, I hold myself back and think something can change in you? Like before?"
"Because you were a fool being tricked by good acting. By the way, how's the chest? I never got a good chance to exactly applaud and admire my most devious backstab."
Orin knees Black Manta in the stomach. He loosens his grip, turning Manta backward, then tightens his grip once more as he twists Manta's arm back, pulling it upward.
"AAHHH!!"
"You abused my trust! Made me think you changed! I even cured your sickness for you! I should kill you right now for all you've done!"
Black Manta is silent for a moment, but then he begins to chuckle. And when Orin pulls harder on his twisted arm, he only laughs more and more. Managing to turn his head towards Aquaman the best he can, he speaks back.
"...Hey, Arthur...how's your dead son?"
While Orin cannot see it, Black Manta smiles beneath his helmet. His smile doesn't last long, however, even though Orin releases Manta, he doesn't continue to smile. As Orin lets go, immediately he rips out the tubing feeding Manta's mask oxygen. And before Manta has a chance to swim back up to the surface, Orin grabs him, turning him to face him. With one swift motion, like ripping a sticker off of paper, Orin rips off Manta's mask. Immediately Manta starts to frantically scream, trying to get Orin to let him go; but he doesn't. For a moment, Orin just watches him, making his cold expression never change.
His words to the human ear, would sound like mumbling, or 'gibberish'...but not to Orin. With his enhanced hearing, he knows exactly what Manta is saying. He's telling Orin, over and over again the same thing. He begs Orin for forgiveness, just like he has so many other times. And of course, Orin is insulted at the gesture.
Suddenly, all kinds of sharks appear from the dark abyss that is the ocean, from all sides, surrounding both Manta and Orin. Manta, now trying to hold his breath, tries to get out of Orin's firm grip; but he can't. Surrounded by some of the greatest predators of the sea, that doesn't mean he does not show Manta mercy; even though he doesn't deserve it. He lets him go, and instantly Black Manta starts swimming upward. As Manta swims, inside of his head, he hears Orin's threat.
~I'm doing a pretty good job keeping these sharks at bay, especially with all of this blood and death in the water. I'm going to give you 10 more seconds to swim to the surface. After that, my link to these creature's mind will cease. Now, for me that would be more than enough time...but consider yourself lucky that I cannot willfully kill you. You're going to swim for your life Manta. And as you do, you're going to look back, and know that the sea you hate so much, hates you back. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a kingdom to save.~
