Chapter 1

A freezing rain storm presented a cold and very unnerving atmosphere. At the L-Corp main headquarters, the mood of Lena Luthor echoed the storm. She exited the elevator. Harry followed close behind and right behind her, Emma Frost walked a few steps behind. The revelations of today had been fresh in Lena's mind.

Namely, Selene Gallio, the feared Black Queen, was really her biological mother. It was just another in the line of dark family secrets which plagued Lena. Lena had a very turbulent relationship with her stepmother. But Lena never thought that her biological mother would be the one link in the chain.

She was wrong.

"Lena?" Emma asked. "I swear, I didn't know anything. Selene plays her cards close to her chest."

"I believe you," Lena said. "I believe she wouldn't have told you, shared this with you, any more than she would have shared anything to me."

"Yes, it came out of left field for me as well."

Still, things were awkward. Harry moved in to Lena and Emma.

"So, now what?" Harry asked.

"We have to work together against the incoming threat," Lena said. "If you want to, that is."

"I'm considering my options," Harry calmly said.

To be honest, if there was a great evil coming, then Harry and the Team would need all of the help to face it head on. Especially considering that six prime members of the Justice League had been taken off of the chess board. Harry contemplated all of my options.

They would have to work with the Inner Circle. Every resource mattered.

A crackling over Harry's earpiece caught his attention.

"Harry?"

"Yes, Mareena?" Harry asked.

"It's….I'm heading back home...there's news of my father, he was killed," Mareena said. "By Black Manta. It's...I think my aunt was involved in it as...a-as well."

It had been quite the shock to hear Mareena's normally firm voice shaken. And rightfully so. Well, this was a bad night for members of the League.

"I'll be with you as soon as I can," Harry said.

"Thank you."

Harry could barely turn his head before Lena spoke.

"Go."

Lena offered him the go ahead. Harry looked towards her for a good long second to contemplate what he was going to do and Lena solemnly responded with a nod when she put a hand on Harry's shoulder. Despite receiving Lena's blessing, and the need to be there for his teammates, Harry hesitated.

"Are you going to be okay?" Harry asked.

"I'll be fine," Lena said. "Trust me. Go with Mareena, she needs you."

Harry acknowledged Emma with a passing glance. Harry almost bumped into Gwen and Sam when they came up from the elevator. The two looked at Harry.

"What's wrong?" Sam asked.

A whole lot, but Harry figured he would give them the short of it.

"Lena just found out something about her mother tonight," Harry said. "And the King of Atlantis has been killed."

"Damn," Gwen murmured. "Busy night."

"No kidding," Sam said.

"I've got to deal with Mareena, and, I have a feeling things could get ugly," Harry said. "Look after Mom. Tonight's been a long night."

"We'll do it, don't worry," Sam said.

"Anytime," Gwen gently told him.

Sam and Gwen both leaned forward to kiss Harry and wish him well. Once the two parted ways, Harry stepped into the elevator. They both had a feeling, Gwen more so, that there's something else to tonight's events, but they let Harry go respectfully without any further word.

Harry joined Mareena, and they were not alone. Zatanna and Donna turned up to offer their condolences and pay their respects. They all made at the Atlantean Conservatory of Magic, while everyone was abuzz about the death of their King.

"The last time I saw an upheaval like this, it was the night we found out what Aresia did," Donna murmured to Harry in an undertone.

It was a night Donna would never forget. The disbelief, the anger, and the sadness all came rapidly. Donna's head still spun when she thought about it.

Harry nodded and walked over to wrap his arm around Mareena. She had been in numb shock, but there was also a glint of something else flashing through her eyes. A glint which Harry saw when someone was not thinking clearly.

The same glint when a person was about ready to do something very distracting.

"I'm going to kill him."

This statement had only been heard by Harry. Tula made her way up to the stage. She cleared her throat.

"Thank you, thank you, this has been a tough night by all. I don't know what's happening. You've all heard the rumors. Our King has caught up to Black Manta and they had one final battle which ended badly. King Arthur's body is being preserved and well guarded. Queen Mera will be coming here to address you all in a short while."

A few seconds of intense conversation passed. Mera walked forward. She had to take control of the situation. The last thing she wanted to do was this to get further out of hand.

"Tonight, my husband, your king, was murdered. This is a grave injustice and I can assure you the people behind it will be punished. It was Black Manta, the feared enemy of this great nation. And I will gravely confirm the rumors. My imprisoned sister, Hila, has escaped from her confinement and has joined forces with Black Manta. There may be other parties involved, but they are not confirmed. We hope to find more evidence to verify. Tonight though, I need to tell you one thing. And that is not to panic, for panic leads to….."

A loud explosion outside of the walls of the school startled all of the students. Tula and Mera locked eyes, and Mareena tensed a little bit. A spear made of pure magical energy appeared in her hand. Donna looked at her worriedly.

"Mareena, this is not the time."

"And if someone killed your mother, what would you do, Princess?"

Zatanna and Harry locked eyes for a second and they both realized that Mareena was right. Donna would do anything. Tula had been rounding up the students, and Mareena, under most normal circumstances, would do what she could as a leader of this school to round them up.

Normal circumstances and conventional behavior flew out the window when someone grieved. Mareena only had one thing on her mind. To bring them all to justice.

"We should go and back them up," Zatanna said. "See what they have. If they're working with the Light…."

"Trust me, they will be," Mareena said.

The fact her father was killed tonight, it was no accident. After six charter members of the League had been sent off to space to stand trial with the Kree, a seventh key member of the Justice League being murdered was not coincidental. She knew it."

"Let's go," Harry said.

"Make them pay! All for the glory of Black Manta!"

"Long live the King!"

The Black Manta troopers and the royal guard of Atlantis popped off at a battle. The students of the Conservator of Magic were close by. They had been protected from aggression.

Magical air bubbles allowed Zatanna, Donna, and Harry to move. Mareena, obviously being in her element, moved with swift brutality. One of the troopers blasted a high impact energy weapon. Harry recognized it as technology which Intergang used, which had been retrofitted to work with the rest of the Black Manta guard's tech.

Thankfully, that also made Harry's attempts to negate it be that much easier.

"Hold the line!" the guard bellowed. "None shall pass!"

The Black Manta trooper nailed the guard in the chest with an energy blast. Mareena flew through the water and two large spiked balls of magical energy manifested in her hands. She hurled them like fast balls and took them completely down.

Donna deflected the blast with her bracelets and knocked the man in the chest. She took out three of the troopers with one violent shot. She cracked them down onto the back of the head.

"Oh, a little Amazon for our trouble. Well, your mother will be used to loss by now. First your sister, and now….argh!"

The man who grabbed Donna did not hold her for long. Donna nailed the man down across the back of the head. Another violent blow knocked him down to the ground and took him out of the fight.

The water heated up around a small pocket of the Black Manta troopers from the heat vision launched by Harry. Harry deflected the attacks and sent them crashing down to the ground with an intense attack. Harry propelled his enemies back with another attack.

"Get him!"

"This is getting us nowhere!" Mareena yelled. "Watch my back!"

Mareena nailed one of the troopers in the back of the head and sent him down to the ground. The man struggled as Mareena's hand clasped his neck. She yanked him up and slammed him into the wall with an intense force with rattled his body.

"Where's Black Manta?"

"What, looking to meet Daddy again?" the trooper asked.

The trooper screamed as runes burned through his armor into his skin. Mareena was not to be trifled tonight. One of them almost blasted her until Harry grabbed his arm and snapped it back. The man with the broken arm was not going to be firing any more weapons.

"They're retreating!" Zatanna yelled. "We should….."

Mareena dropped the troop she had been torturing. His body shook, and then deflated. They had no information.

"What was the point of that?" Zatanna asked.

"To show us that we aren't safe," Mareena said. "Black Manta is rubbing the fact that he can just send his people down here. Well, I'm going to prove that he can't."

Another explosion nearby echoed and Harry, Zatanna, and Donna turned to help the royal guard deal with another line of troops which came into the picture. Mareena, however, she had other ideas. Especially considering she had a good idea where Black Manta went.

Black Manta kneeled down before a memorial on the outskirts of a great reef. A sound of a woman swimming right behind him only caused Black Manta to chuckle. A magical energy barrier rose up and caused Princess Mareena to have to put the breaks on. She narrowly avoided smashing into the barrier.

"Are you going to kill me, Princess?" Black Manta asked. "Because, today, justice was served. And today, I've finally avenged the one that the King caused to die."

"I'm going to cut your head off for your crimes against the country."

"Yes, do it."

A woman dressed in green appeared. She resembled Mera in some ways, but her eyes were more haunting. Purplish, to match her hair, and her lips curled into a sadistic smile. Hila, or Siryn, as she was called, approached Mareena with a big smile on her face. It grew even more prominent when she approached.

"You want to do it. You want to tear Black Manta apart."

"You were part of this as well," Mareena said.

"True, I never thought he was worthy of Mera, and Mera was supposed to lead to his death. Mera is soft! She forgot the mission, she forgot what the Atlanteans did to our people, what Aquaman's family did to them," Hila said with a certain distain in her voice. "My alliance with Black Manta, it was one of….

Mareena slammed Hila down onto the ground. The violent attack of her aunt brought the woman down to a kneeling position. Blood dripped down from the side of her mouth. Hila blasted Mareena off and she went skidding back several feet. She landed with a stop, on the outskirts of the same reef which Black Manta kneeled down before.

"You're just like me. You'll see. You have the same blood flowing through your veins."

"I'm going to make sure you aren't going to do anything again," Mareena said. "I'm going to bring you to your knees and I'm going to make you suffer."

"You're going to kill your own aunt?" Hila asked. "OOOOH, murdering a family member makes you just like me and that means….."

Black Manta blasted Mareena in the back when Hila was in mid-speil. Mareena laid on the ground, breathing heavily as Black Manta stood above her. The energy staff heated up.

"You should have struck," Black Manta said. "You only get one free shot and now….."

A blur of light blasted through the magical barrier which Hila had put up to protect Black Manta. The backlash sent Hila flying off of the ground and smashing down to it. More than a few bones broke from the impact.

Mareena rubbed the top of her head. A figure appeared out of the shadows. Superman extended his hand to Mareena to help her up.

"I thought you'd be here," Harry said. "Ready to end this?"

"So, you are the legendary Superman?" Hila asked. "I'm going to bring you down."

"No!" Black Manta yelled. "He's needed for….."

Mareena took the opportunity strike against Black Manta. Hila's eyes locked onto Harry and the two circled each other. Magical beams interlocked with each other. A runic shield appeared around Hila which Harry disabled. A ring of fire made Hila step back a few inches.

"Mera's been teaching you tricks," Hila said. "Oh, certain things should be kept to the family. Pity I'm going to have to kill her for this."

A shark made of pure raw magical energy appeared. Harry twisted his hand and sent the shark exploding into balls of light which rained down onto the ground and forced Mareena and Black Manta to struggle.

"Do you tire of this game?" Mareena asked. "What has your vengeance accomplished? What will we do now that you've killed my father?"

"You're right, there's nothing left to do," Black Manta said. "Not even putting his daughter into the cold hard earth would satisfy me."

A beam from Black Manta's suit met with a beam of energy coming from Mareena's hand. The two pushed back and forth on each other. The beams crossed each other and shook between them both. Black Manta grunted and Mareena responded with more of the same as they pushed back and forth with each other.

Hila created an army of six magical constructs which charged at Harry. Harry scanned for the right one. The constructs were almost as deadly as the real thing. Harry swooped to the right and turned two of the constructs against each other. The beams of light struck and rebounded against each other.

"Not bad! Still won't stop me from killing you! But not bad!"

Harry slammed his hand into what he believed was the main construct. The slaves burned out to a crisp. Then the main Hila screamed before she burned into a crisp as well. Harry realized the Hila he had been fighting for this time, had been constructed.

Black Manta swooped into the air and sent a beam of light out of his helmet. A wave of magical energy slammed down to the ground. Black Manta's Helmet exploded from Harry's well constructed attack. It splintered and dropped.

The Guards, along with Zatanna and Donna, scrambled into position. A loud thunderous sound echoed throughout the ocean as Black Manta dropped to one knee.

"It's over," Mareena said.

"No," Black Manta said.

Black Manta pressed a button on his suit which caused it to begin to beep. Manta edged back a little bit.

"You grab me, you go with me," Black Manta said. "I'm not giving you the satisfaction."

"Everyone clear!" Harry yelled.

Mareena, Zatanna, and Harry all put up a magical barrier which blocked the explosion as Black Manta hurled himself down a bottomless pit just as he exploded.

Blood oozed up from the pit as they looked down to him. Black Manta not only killed Aquaman, but did everything he could to avoid justice.

"That coward!" Mareena yelled.

Manta took his own life, to avoid justice. It was a stomach turning experience to save the very least. Harry clutched his finger and grabbed Mareena's hand who was shaking.

"Hila wasn't here," Harry murmured.

Mareena nodded in response. She was not here. Where was she? The Princess had a bad feeling about this, and the concerned looks of her fellow team mates indicated they shared similar bad vibes.

"So, he's dead."

"Yes, we're looking for his other followers."

"Keep me posted."

Mera stepped up. Black Manta refused to yield and instead committed suicide. It was just one final slap in the face from one of the most deadly enemies of Atlantis. Mera stepped over and could hear something outside. The protection runes in the room flickered. Mera tensed up and realized she had company.

"Hello, sister."

With great care, Mera turned around and faced the woman who stood a couple of steps behind her. Hila, her sister, in the flesh.

"You shouldn't be here," Mera said.

"I'm sure you want me in a prison cell," Hila said. "I'm going to put you in a box."

The two beams of light connected to each other. Hila and Mera locked eyes and circled each other. Evenly matched, but unlike Mera, Hila had a blood lust which would not be contained.

"It was a mistake for you to leave me alive."