With Cyborg plugged into the internet running a brute-force data sweep—and Batman feeding in satellite coordinates—the League located Black Manta's hideout fast.
Indian Ocean. Some unnamed island.
The afternoon sky hung low and heavy. Gray-white clouds drifted like slow-moving ash, and only at their thinnest edges did the sinking sun briefly gild them with a flash of gold. The dark reefs had been carved into honeycomb holes by countless years of waves; salty wind threaded through them, moaning with an ancient, ocarina-like whistle. On the pale beach, retreating surf left damp brown streaks—like a skirt hem dragged across the sand and never quite smoothed out.
A Boom Tube opened.
They stepped through.
And the instant their boots hit the island, Flash was already gone—circling the entire place in a blink and finding the entrance to the hideout.
Inside, Black Manta was tuning new gear.
He couldn't forget it—Aquaman standing there, watching his father die.
He knew what he was. A pirate. An enemy of heroes. And sure—every clash they'd ever had could be called self-inflicted.
But if Aquaman had saved his father that day… Black Manta could've walked away. He could've quit.
Instead, the moment his father died, he understood something cold and absolute:
People like them never really had a choice.
After that, he began reaching for forces even his father had been too afraid to touch—mysterious powers, dangerous patrons, anything. If they wanted to wipe out surface humanity, fine. Black Manta didn't care.
As long as they gave him the strength to defeat Aquaman—
He would do anything.
The breach
Wonder Woman smashed the door open with a single punch, and the League surged into the hideout.
This wasn't some crude cave den.
It looked like a weapons workshop—tools arranged neatly, components stacked like inventory, an operation with discipline and routine.
Black Manta reacted instantly.
He sealed the helmet. Locked in the rig. Cranked the prototype weapon output to maximum—
And twin beams of searing light blasted from the helmet's eyes.
"ZZZZ—"
Cyborg was faster.
His right arm unfolded and transformed into a cannon, firing back. The two beams collided in the cramped space. As Cyborg's rear-stage energy converged and finished charging, the intersection point detonated, bursting into smoke and shrapnel-light.
Green Lantern snapped his ring-hand up, forming a fan taller than a person. The construct spun hard, shredding the smoke into the corners.
And in that moment of visibility—
Flash was already at Black Manta's side, stripping weapons off him in a blur.
Black Manta froze, staring at the heroes in front of him like reality had glitched.
"Justice League?!" he barked. "I didn't mess with any of you!"
Ben stepped forward like he'd been waiting for this exact line.
"Your deal with Orm to stir up war is already exposed," Ben said. "Surrender. We promise we won't even torture you."
Black Manta's confusion sharpened into disbelief. He didn't understand how his agreement with Orm had reached these monsters—how it had reached them.
"Let me handle this," Wonder Woman cut in.
She stepped up, unfurled the Lasso of Truth, and snapped it tight around him. The golden rope cinched, and with it went any possibility of lying.
Her voice turned iron.
"Talk. Where are the missiles and torpedoes from that submarine?"
Black Manta's mouth opened—against his will.
"The missiles are with King Orm of Atlantis. The torpedoes have already been launched. We hit the negotiation site between Atlantis and Xebel. After that, Orm sank the submarine and successfully brought the King of Xebel to his side."
Hal's brow furrowed hard.
"Atlantis I get," he said. "But now there's Xebel? What is that?"
Bound by truth, Black Manta kept talking.
"Ancient Atlantis was divided into seven city-states. Two are gone completely. Of the remaining ones, the largest two are Atlantis and Xebel."
Ben rubbed his forehead.
Because that meant the plot was no longer cleanly matching the animated movie he remembered.
And it meant something worse:
If Orm could consolidate multiple undersea kingdoms, his eventual assault would be far bigger than the original story.
"This is getting ugly," Ben said. "Once Orm has Xebel, taking the remaining cities is only a matter of time. We need Aquaman to kick his brother off the throne—fast."
Wonder Woman tightened the lasso again.
"Can you take us to Atlantis?"
Black Manta shook his head.
Even he couldn't walk freely inside Atlantis—let alone bring outsiders with him.
"Without a pass, anyone entering Atlantis gets hit—hard. They're sealed off. Ever since they sank, they've closed themselves to the world."
"How do we get a pass?" Wonder Woman pressed.
Black Manta's answer didn't improve.
"I don't know. Every trade happened on the surface. Each time, Orm's confidant delivered gold."
No clean infiltration route. No easy door.
So they shifted to the next question.
"Besides Orm," someone asked, "do you have any other partners?"
"Don't know," Black Manta said plainly. "My crew doesn't ask clients for details. We execute the plan. Anything outside the plan, we don't touch."
Ben sighed, half impressed and half annoyed.
"See? That's what you call professional."
A real bounty hunter didn't ask questions that weren't part of the contract.
Ben looked at Cyborg.
"You recorded everything he said, right? Bag the loot, hand this guy over to the military to close the loop."
Cyborg checked his systems and nodded.
"All done. I'm contacting Batman and Superman now."
And with Black Manta secured and his confession locked in, the League finally had hard intel:
the missiles are in Orm's hands
the torpedoes were used to strike an undersea diplomatic site
Orm is already unifying the ocean—starting with Xebel
Which meant the window to stop the war had just gotten a lot smaller.
(The author note at the end is non-story content, so I'm leaving it out per your usual standard.)
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 80)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 80)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League (Chapter 80)
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter35)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter35)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter35)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter35)
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