"It's unbelievable, how did you convince her?"
Hal followed behind Batman and asked, but Batman did not answer, he rely said, "Stick to the original plan, Clark will hold off Atlanna, and the two of us will stir up so trouble in the sea to make the Queen of the Sea realize her real enemies are not on land."
Hal didn't press further. He nodded, used the green lantern energy to carry Batman to the spot where they had encountered the Atlanteans before, knowing it wasn't far from the main city of Atlantis.
Soon, the familiar massive city appeared before them, and Hal quickly located the Palace. At the top of the Palace, there was a huge energy core that seed to power the entire city's functions.
Batman began to search for traces of energy pipelines near the energy core, and both of them followed the pipelines to the heart of the energy center.
"I was thinking of sabotaging so pipes supplying energy to the Palace, but now it seems there's a sophisticated alert system here, find a way to trigger it."
Hal thought for a mont, considering punching the ceiling, but there might be vital lines there. Other items that looked like crystal or glass screens were too fragile, so in the end, he punched the control panel that was inscribed with mysterious text.
With a bang, shrapnel flew and sparks erged from a large hole, a piercing alarm blared, the lights kept blinking, and the noise ca from outside the door, but it wasn't loud.
Indeed, as they had anticipated, most of the Royal Palace Guard had been deployed to the front lines, and Atlantis city was left vulnerable, and the Queen of the Sea would understand that better than anyone.
In the Hall of Tides, where countless Atlanteans stood, the water grew more turbulent with their presence. Strong and brave warriors of the Royal Palace Guard protected the massive coral throne, upon which sat a blonde woman. Her body was covered in armor that resembled fish scales and her sturdy arms held the Trident, the symbol of the ocean's will.
When she waved her weapon, all Atlantean warriors roared with her, yet beneath her resolute expression, thick concern was evident.
Suddenly, her expression stiffened, her fingers clenched, and she turned to roar at the captain of the Royal Palace Guard, "The alert in the Hall of Tides has been triggered! Who's there?"
With a wave of the captain's arm, an image appeared before the Queen of the Sea, but Hal and Batman had hidden well in advance—all that could be seen was the deliberately created ss and the large crater on the control panel.
"Damn it," cursed the Queen of the Sea. She knew that with her on guard here, Batwoman couldn't have infiltrated the sea so quietly. Could there be other enemies apart from this nearly insane Batman?
At that mont, a warrior brought fragnts of a downed drone and a letter attached to it. The Queen of the Sea opened the letter to see a ssage from Batwoman, requesting a postponent of the negotiations.
The Queen of the Sea was even more perplexed. Could this be a plot by Batwoman, in league with a mysterious enemy, to overthrow Atlantis?
It seed pointless to continue waiting here. She sighed, waved her weapon, and ordered a handful of warriors to stay behind while the rest were to return to defend.
On the other side, Clark pretended not to notice the light flickering in Atlanna's eyes as he nodded and said, "Okay, we really can't just stay here and do nothing, and since you're more familiar with the Atlanteans, let's try to talk to the Queen of the Sea."
"Good, it seems this strong, tall guy isn't completely immune to ntal influence." Atlanna then intensified the ntal influence, going further, "No, not us, I'm afraid I'll have to go alone. I understand how xenophobic the Atlanteans can be; your presence would only add unnecessary complications."
Clark, feigning a slight daze, nodded but still said, "I will take you there, but I won't go into the sea."
With her sche succeeding, Atlanna suppressed the joy in her heart. They quickly reached the seashore, and Atlanna, feigning calm, walked toward the sea, searching for the Queen's forces.
They should be around here, Atlanna thought, clearly aware of what the Queen was worried about. With just a little provocation using the ntal influence, the Queen would not wait for the negotiation day; she would strike imdiately.
But Atlantis, in its current decayed state, was no match for the land dwellers. When the ti ca, both sides would be exhausted from the battle, and she would naturally reap the benefits.
However, after lingering for a while, Atlanna saw no sign of a large force, although she did spot a small troop. The Atlanteans couldn't possibly have weakened so much; the main troops must be deeper in the sea.
Even after searching the entire sea area, Atlanna found no trace of the Queen of the Sea, which caused a hint of unease.
Atlanna had complex feelings toward Atlantis; she wanted it destroyed but also believed it had to be by her own hands.
Realizing sothing was amiss, Atlanna could no longer care about caution; she chased toward the depths of the ocean, not knowing that Clark, who had promised not to enter the sea, was already leading a small troop, tracking her movents, and rushing toward the main city of Atlantis with her.
While Atlanna moved slowly as she searched, the Atlantean warriors, eager to report to the Queen of the Sea about the mysterious tracks, ended up arriving first.
Thus, what Atlanna thought was a covert operation was quickly caught by the Queen's scouts.
Now all the Atlanteans were excited, in a state of high alert. The mysterious signs of sabotage at the energy core had made the Queen even more irritable. So upon discovering the invaders, she did not think twice before ordering an attack.
Amidst the surging tides, Atlanna quickly realized she was being attacked.
She did not want to engage the Atlanteans head-on, but the frenzied warriors wouldn't listen to her explanations; they charged at her as if mad.
If it were soone else, they would have chosen to run away and find another opportunity, but Atlanna, once the Emperor of Atlantis, and the greatest in history at that, couldn't tolerate what she saw as despicable thieves provoking her this way.
After a roar of rage, a golden light burst forth from Atlanna's body, shredding the surrounding Atlantean warriors with the furious currents in almost an instant.
A great underwater battle erupted.
The Queen of the Sea quickly took notice as the scent of Atlantean warrior blood wafted through the currents. She stood up, clutching her Trident, and with a roar signaling a full military assault, countless Atlantean warriors rushed toward the center of the unfolding battle.
As the drone's fragnts fell, a nanocara left on the Queen's arm transmitted everything back to Batwoman's Batcave.
"Now you can tell what this is all about," Batman's tone suggested it wasn't a question but rather a part of their deal.
Turning around, Batwoman replied, "Atlantis is on the brink of destruction."
"Although I don't understand the specifics, their energy source has been severely polluted." Batwoman walked up to the console and tapped it lightly, bringing up a stream of data before Batman's eyes.
In fact, when Batman had previously checked the energy hub, he had found anomalies as well. The filtering system was completely nonfunctional, and a mysterious energy that was continuously polluting the seawater was relentlessly attacking the clean energy source, decreasing the city's energy efficiency and driving the Atlanteans mad.
"It looks familiar," Batman comnted.
This assessnt obviously surprised Batwoman, who narrowed her eyes at Batman. After a mont's hesitation, he decided to unveil so information, "Have you ever wondered why Gotham is such a ss?"
"Because it's filled with terrible criminals," Batwoman's response wasn't unexpected. Batman had learned from Gordon that this world's Batwoman had crossed the line, channeling her boundless hatred against criminals.
"I know, but why are there so many criminals here?"
That was a question even Batwoman couldn't answer, much like the chicken-and-egg conundrum. If the place was a ss because of the criminals, why were there so many of them here and only here? If there were so many criminals because the place was a ss, then why exactly was it such a ss?
"It looks like you know sothing," she said.
"Of course, but what I know is still not enough, which is why I need your help."
"What do you want to do?"
"Help find Constantine; he can connect to a PhD who might know the answers. Both are English and belong to the mystic world."
"Occult?" A trace of confusion revealed itself between Batwoman's furrowed brows. She shook her head slightly and said to Batman, "I don't think we're the kind of people who put our faith in the occult."
"Of course, we're not, unless there's concrete evidence," replied Batman.
"Have you seen such evidence?"
"In another cosmos, one that is very... special."
After a silence of several dozen seconds, Batwoman nodded gravely and said, "Regardless, you averted a potential crisis, so I'm willing to help you, but I must accompany you. I have the right to know the truth about this cosmos."
"Of course."
As expected, Batman and Batwoman caught up with Constantine, who was passed out, blind drunk after having just dealt with a demon invasion in a New Zealand bar.
In this cosmos, Constantine was a decadent blonde woman still clad in her long coat, with cigarette butts she tossed about carelessly.
Batman lifted her directly from the chair and punched her with a thud, causing Batwoman to frown.
"Tell how I can find Dr. Naog Sokhup."
"What? Who?"
"Naog Sokhup."
"Bloody hell, who's that?"
"If you don't know, then go find him and then co tell us," said Batman.
Batwoman frowned slightly. She wasn't familiar with dealing with Constantine and nudged Batman with her elbow, asking, "You seem to dislike her."
"Trust , she's no better than the criminals," Batman replied as he dumped Constantine back into her seat and added, "If you knew what she's done, you'd be more violent than ."
"Let's hear it."
Before Batman could speak, the still-drunk Constantine, seeing two figures blur into one and then split again, let out a dopey chuckle, threw herself at them, and collapsed into Batwoman's arms, mumbling, "Beauty... two beauties, burp, beauties..."
Bang!
Batwoman shook off her fist and turned to Batman, "Looks like you were right."
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