The Man:
"Don't touch that," I say, slapping Harleen's hand.
"Ouch!"
Harleen cries and pulls her hand back. Rubbing it, Harleen looks around the Rogue Shadow's controls.
"Ohh, what does this do?"
She reaches and almost pushes the emergency storage ejection button. Again, my hand moves like a blur as I slap Harleen's hand again.
"Don't touch."
Harleen cries and pulls her hand back again.
"Hey, what does this lever do?"
This time, Harleen reaches and almost pulls the lever to shut down all power to the Shadow. Slapping Harleen's hand for the third time, Harleen sticks her tongue out as she rubs her red hand.
"Hmm, what about this!"
Before I can stop her, Harleen grabs the Shadow's steering wheel and turns it. Tilting the whole spaceship, Harleen and I almost fall out of our seats, but I grab the steering wheel and straighten her out again, even catching Harleen in time.
"That was fun," Harleen yells. "Can we do that again?"
"Nnooo," I shout. I push Harleen out of the co-pilot's seat and point at the table behind me, where Aquaman is still napping. "Go. Away. Please!"
Harleen rolls her eyes and shakes her head.
"Fine then, Mr. Grumpy in Sunglasses."
Harleen gets up and walks over to the table, dropping like a rock onto one of the empty seats. I shake my head, too.
"There's a reason Mr. Grumpy is always so grumpy, Clowny."
As I check the map, Proxy-2 comes online.
"Sir," Proxy-2 starts, "We are approaching Atlantis, right on schedule, but I am picking up a unique energy reading."
"Unique," I repeat. "Proxy-2, please take control of the Shadow."
"Understood, sir."
I let go of the wheel and watch as Proxy-2 takes control, moving it back and forth and adjusting the flight. While Proxy-2 steers, I get up and walk over to the holographic display table. Tapping at the control, I watch as a holographic blue Earth shoots into the air. Hovering, I see a small blue dot, symbolizing the Rouge Shadow, flying over the Atlantic Ocean, quickly approaching a secondary blue dot, Atlantis. A few seconds later, an even smaller red dot appears on the transparent Earth.
"What is that?"
As the red dot approaches the Shadow, I sense a strong, familiar energy coming from it. It shoots through my head and into my brain, spiking and triggering my senses.
"Proxy-2. Are you still there?"
"Yes, sir. I am. How can I help you?"
"Please open the top side window."
"Sir?"
"We're about to receive an incoming transmission."
"A transmission? Are you sure, sir? I am not detecting anything."
"It's a different kind of message," I answer. Turning off the display table, I walk down one of the hallways and toward the top window. Already opened when I arrive, I jump and flip through the air, landing back on the Shadow's rooftop. Looking at the blue sky, I turn and see a bird made of bright red energy flying toward me. Flapping its wings, little bits of energy falling off it, the red bird almost flies right into me. However, I shoot out my hand and catch the bird. The red bird lets out a soft screech before disappearing. The red energy that made the bird vanish, and all that is left behind is an arrow with a message tied to it.
Jumping back into the Shadow and walking back into the cockpit, I throw the arrow onto the table.
"What the--", Harleen says, grabbing the arrow. "Where did this come from?"
"Ares," I answer. "I think, because as far as I know, Constantine and Zatanna can't shoot bows or arrows. Speaking of those three--"
I bring up the message. Unrolling it, I read it quickly.
"Oh no. This is bad."
Harleen must have heard me. When I lower the message and see her face, Harleen isn't smiling.
"What is it?" Harleen asks. "What is 'bad'? How bad is 'bad'?"
"It's really bad," I answer. I look up at the ceiling. "Proxy-2, how much longer until we're at Atlantic?"
"We have just arrived," Proxy-2 replies. "Opening the ramp door now."
"Thank you, friend."
I lower my head and look at Harleen.
"Come on. Grab 'King of the Fishes' and follow me."
Harleen grabs the still unconscious Aquaman. Together, we carry him to the lowered ramp door. Stopping at the ledge, Harleen looks over it.
"Uhhh, are we supposed to jump off?"
"Yes. Let's go."
Taking Aquaman from Harleen, I jump off the ledge and dive toward the freezing ocean water. Falling faster and faster, like a meteoroid diving toward the Earth, I reach into my pocket and throw out a teleporter disc. My disc hits the water, and a beam shoots up from it. A portal opens, connecting the ocean to the infirmary back in Atlantis. Falling through the portal and into the infirmary, I land with a thud.
"Aahhh!"
The Doc screams as I shake the infirmary with my landing. He jumps and almost falls over a cot, but I shoot my hand out and grab him.
"Hey, Doc," I say. "Did I miss much?"
Patting his chest, trying not to choke on his breath, the Doc looks at me again after I pull him back up and onto his feet.
"The Man," someone shouts. I turn and see the rest of the Insurgency. They all stop what they're doing and run over to see me.
"Here," I say, giving them the Doc Aquaman, but the sudden weight almost knocks him over. Iris appears and helps the Doc carry Aquaman to a nearby empty cot. Turning and waiting for a bit, I watch as Harleen falls through the portal a few seconds later, landing on her butt.
"Ouch. That hurts."
"Now that everyone is here," I say, holding up the message Ares sent me. "We need to have a meeting. As much as I hate to say this, today, I am the bearer of bad news."
I nudge my head and start leading everyone back into the Junker. Traveling through the narrow hallways and into the Junker's meeting room, I place the message on the center table.
"So what's this bad news you're bringing us?" Slade asks this as he crosses his arms. "In case you forgot, we're still dealing with a bunch of sick Atlanteans."
"And whatever Scarecrow and Iris are doing to this isn't helping," Oliver adds, "At the most, they're helping with the pain and rashes, but aren't curing the Atlanteans."
"They're not? That's weird."
I stop for a moment.
"It should only be smallpox. The medicine the Doc and Iris are using should be doing more than just easing the Atlanteans. It should be treating them. Unless it's more."
Pulling out my cell phone, I tap the screen and bring up the infirmary's computer.
"What are you doing?" Flash asks.
"I'm checking the data on the infirmary's computer. Before I left to rescue Aquaman and Harleen, I took a sample of the virus Black Manta unleashed and brought it to the Junker's infirmary. The computer is still rendering the sample, but it should be done in a few minutes. For now, we should focus on this."
I pocket my phone and unroll the message.
"According to this, Themyscira was invaded by Superman and his One Earth forces. They forced back the Amazon warriors. If it weren't for Constantine, Ares, and Zantanna, the Amazon would have either been slain or imprisoned."
"Oh no," someone says. Stepping up from behind Dinah and Ivy, Kara appears, sweating and shaking.
"I know," Beetle says. "That really is bad news."
"Kara isn't referring to that," I say. "When Wonder Woman was imprisoned on Themyscira, it was Kara who broke her out."
"Are you kidding me," Cold screams. "You're the one who let that bitc--"
"Amen, amen," I say, coughing loudly. Cold looks at me and bites his tongue.
"You're the one who let that woman out," Cold whispers.
"I didn't know at the time," Kara replies. "When Black Adam and Damian told me to rescue her, I was just--"
"Don't," Cold yells, putting up his hand. "Just don't."
Cold takes a step away from Kara.
"Anyway," I go on, "Themyscira is now under Superman's control. His soldiers, along with many Yellow Lanterns, occupy Paradise Island now."
"So what does that mean for us?" Professor Stein asks. "Clearly, we cannot leave Atlantis the way it is, but we can't split up either. Even if all of us go, we can't just face hundreds of soldiers and Yellow Lanterns head-on, let alone a small team."
Rubbing my chin, thinking of a possible plan, I stop when my phone dings. Reaching into my pocket and checking it, I smile a little when I see the render is done.
"Finally, some not-so-bad news. The render is done. I can finally know what Manta did to the smallpox virus to make it so hard to treat."
I tap my phone, and a long file appears. As I read it, I feel my smile turns into a frown.
"Oh no. Oh no, oh no! This is bad. This is worse."
"What?" Flash asks. "What is it? What did Black Manta do to the virus?"
"Somehow, Black Manta found and added traces of orichalcum, a dangerous element, to the smallpox virus."