Inside the royal hall of Talokan, the room was submerged in dim light, broken only by the greenish glow of the holographic projection emanating from Legion's helmet.
Before T'Challa, Okoye, Shuri, and Legion himself, five elders of the Atlantean council observed with hardened faces the final footage of the disaster at the military station.
To one side, Namor stood upright with his arms crossed and a sharp gaze. At the opposite end, Byrrah held himself firm, though his posture was rigid with pain — his arms, wrapped in thick bandages after the fractures sustained in combat, betrayed the severity of what had occurred.
When the last file finished playing and silence took hold of the room, it was T'Challa who spoke first.
"We had no knowledge of Hunter and his men being in Atlantis. My father, King T'Chaka, issued an arrest warrant against them immediately after the attack that took the life of Princess Fen, but we could not locate them. They simply vanished."
"Until now," replied one of the elders, fixing his eyes on the Prince of Wakanda. "As you will understand, this complicates matters considerably between our nations."
"I understand," T'Challa insisted. "But as I have already said, Wakanda—"
"Wakanda has crossed every limit!" another elder cut him off, striking the table. "Because of you, Princess Fen was murdered. Because of your incompetence, the monster prison was reduced to rubble. Hundreds of dangerous creatures are loose in the abyss, and 1,429 Atlantean soldiers have died at the hands of two titans that YOU set free. This—"
"I was under the impression this assembly was for dialogue, not for sentencing and monologues," Byrrah said in a hoarse voice.
Namor then intervened.
"You cannot blame us when all our problems originated from the same place. Is your nation incapable of controlling its own people?"
T'Challa crossed his arms over his chest.
"I have already said it," he declared. "Hunter and his people are hunted in Wakanda — they are renegades acting under their own agenda. They in no way represent the interests of our nation, and I will not allow us to be judged by the actions of criminals whom we ourselves are hunting down."
One of the elders let out a dry laugh, devoid of any humor. He leaned forward, watching T'Challa with suspicion.
"Do you seriously expect us to believe that after everything that has happened? You expect us to accept the coincidence of your arrival in Atlantis, followed immediately by the attack on the prison? The timeline of events is far too convenient to be mere chance."
T'Challa furrowed his brow behind the vibranium mask.
He realized, with a bitter recognition, that at this point diplomacy had ceased to be an option. They were not there to dialogue, not even to seek the truth — the council had simply decided to pour all blame onto Wakanda, seeking a scapegoat for the tragedy that had just devastated their defenses, regardless of how much the prince tried to reason with them.
Legion, who had remained a silent observer until that moment, shifted slowly, drifting just a few centimeters upward to draw attention.
"If we're going to talk about incompetence and the inability to control one's own subjects, then Atlantis is just as guilty of those failures as any other nation."
Namor furrowed his brow, his eyes gleaming with a dangerous warning.
"My people have done nothing but respect them."
Shuri let out a laugh loaded with sarcasm.
"Oh, really? Is respect in Atlantis insulting people, throwing garbage at them, and trying to lynch those who arrive seeking diplomacy? Because that is exactly what happened when our submarine got here."
Namor fixed his gaze on the princess, but the weight of her words — and perhaps the truth implicit in them — prevented him from formulating an immediate reply.
Legion took the opportunity to pick up his point.
"As I was saying," he continued, making a gesture with his hand to activate his helmet's projectors, "Atlantis has not kept its people under control either, as they proclaim with such confidence."
A series of holographic projections flooded the center of the hall — raw, sharp images of attacks on vessels and coastal settlements. The elders watched the footage, each image more violent than the last.
"These are the attacks your people have perpetrated against surface dwellers."
"That is absurd! The Council has never ordered attacks against the surface. Those accusations are baseless!" shouted one of the elders, red with indignation.
Legion didn't flinch. He zoomed in on the images, focusing on the details of the light armor worn by the attackers in the recordings. The symbol of Atlantis, engraved on the breastplates, gleamed with clarity.
"Does this seal look familiar? I believe I've seen it before... Ah, yes — everywhere since I arrived here."
Another elder intervened, his voice trembling.
"That proves nothing. You cannot assert that those are Atlantean soldiers. And even if they were, a group of renegades does not represent the intentions of our great nation."
Legion brought a hand to his chin, stroking the lower edge of his helmet in a theatrical gesture of reflection.
"How curious..." he said, letting the silence stretch before continuing. "Doesn't that defense sound familiar?"
With one motion, the hero replayed a fragment of the earlier recording — the one where T'Challa, just minutes before, had declared that Hunter and his group did not represent the interests of Wakanda. The prince's voice resonated through the hall, an ironic echo of the same excuse they had just given.
The two elders who had been vociferating went silent, their words stuck in their throats at the evidence of their own hypocrisy. Finding no way to defend the indefensible, they sank into their seats.
Namor clenched his jaw until the muscles of his face stood out.
"Don't you dare compare the murder of my mother to those insignificant attacks."
"They may be insignificant to you, Prince Namor. But I assure you that for those who were attacked, the perception is very different. Nor do I believe the people of that coastal village that you and your men flooded and destroyed consider their tragedy a minor matter. They even went so far as to threaten and attack a member of Wakanda's royalty," Legion said, pointing directly at T'Challa. "Had it not been for my intervention, who knows whether that attack on the Prince might have ended with his death. In that case, yes — they would have been comparable, don't you think?"
The silence that followed was absolute. Namor advanced slightly, his presence filling the space with suffocating authority.
"Do not test my patience," he warned. "Your presence here is tolerated solely because of your actions in cleaning the contaminated zones of our waters. But you have no standing to address me. You do not understand the problems of the Atlanteans, nor the burdens we must face day by day."
Legion rose a few more centimeters.
"Actually, I do."
In the blink of an eye, a blinding light enveloped Legion, transforming his structure until, before the astonished eyes of the elders, Namor, and Byrrah, his human form faded away — replaced by the anatomy of an Atlantean: his Sea-Quake form.
The impact was total. Even Namor showed genuine surprise, while the elders began to murmur anxiously.
"There is no one more capable than I of understanding you," Legion proclaimed in the distinctive voice of his new form. "I understand the difficulties and the perspective of ALL races. I am the bearer of the Omnitrix, and it is my mission and responsibility to watch over the peace and well-being of every intelligent form of life — including Atlanteans and humans."
With one motion, Legion returned to his human form.
"As such, I ask for dialogue. Sincere dialogue, as it should be. Only in this way will we be able to reach an agreement."
"How is this possible?" Byrrah asked, recovering from the shock.
"One of the reasons for the Omnitrix's creation," Legion replied, pointing to the device's symbol, "is precisely the ability to see all perspectives and function as a mediator. After all, what better way to understand an entire race than to become one? This symbol represents peace — that is my responsibility and my duty. I understand you, but you need to calm down and think with clear heads."
The hall sank into a heavy silence. The elders exchanged glances, evaluating whether the stranger before them — capable of transforming into one of their own — was truly a mediator or a threat. Finally, the one who appeared to hold the highest rank made a gesture of resignation and began to speak in a deep voice, broken by age.
"Very well," the elder said, looking at Legion. "If you ask for dialogue, you shall have it. But you must understand that we are faced with a shadow of concern we have been unable to dispel."
"We speak of the Titans," another elder continued, taking the floor. "Creatures that have existed since the kingdom of Atlantis settled on the ocean floor. But there is one in particular that keeps us awake at night... Giganto."
"Giganto?" T'Challa asked.
"He is the first of them all," the elder replied, with an almost imperceptible shudder. "He was the one who spent the most time exposed to the Sacred Crystal."
"The Crystal?" Shuri questioned, furrowing her brow. "What does a crystal have to do with them?"
It was Byrrah who answered.
"The Sacred Crystal emits a peculiar mist that is extremely dangerous. Everything it touches — if it doesn't die, which is the most likely outcome — changes. It becomes more resistant, more powerful, it acquires impressive abilities. The Titans weren't born the monsters they are today — they were shaped by the radiation of that object. We tried to seal it, but we couldn't find a material capable of containing it."
"Then why don't you just destroy it and be done with the problem?" Shuri pressed, crossing her arms.
"It's not that simple, Princess," Namor intervened. "The mist is compressed inside the crystal. If we destroy it, the blast would release such an amount of energy that it wouldn't just devastate the surrounding area — it would likely create a wave of mutations."
"King Kamuu, our first ruler, understood this from the very beginning," the first elder added. "He managed to take the crystal and hid it in a cave near the surface, where the Titans — who inhabit the deep — could not feel its influence. It remained safe there for centuries, until the miners of Wakanda arrived."
"And you massacred them!" Shuri exclaimed, indignant.
Byrrah shook his head slowly.
"We warned them of the danger. We told them the cave was dangerous. They didn't listen. They approached the crystal and died before we could do anything. After that, since the prince had already defeated the Titans decades earlier, we decided to move it somewhere we could secure it."
T'Challa furrowed his brow behind the helmet.
The report said it was the Atlanteans who attacked and killed the miners... Either they're lying to us, or someone orchestrated all of this to make us look like enemies.
"As I was saying, Giganto is special among the Titans," Namor said, returning to the thread. "When I faced him, it was nothing like fighting the others. His strength was overwhelming. We were evenly matched — perhaps he had the advantage. I nearly lost my life that time. I could only defeat him by retreating, reformulating my strategy, and returning with my army's elite."
"And if he was so dangerous, why the hell didn't you kill him?" Shuri asked, incredulous.
Byrrah smiled — a grimace that didn't reach his eyes.
"Because Emperor Thakorr decreed that they were weapons too valuable to destroy. With Namor's talents, we might even manage to domesticate them."
Shuri let out a dry, sarcastic laugh.
"Domesticate them? Those things could qualify as natural disasters. It's like trying to teach tricks to an earthquake."
"Perhaps," Byrrah admitted. "But we managed it, partially. Although we couldn't fully subdue them, we could direct them against our enemies. Thanks to them, we repelled two invasions by Attuma the Barbarian without spilling a single drop of our soldiers' blood. For the Empire, that risk has always been worth it."
Legion put his hands on his hips, looking up at the ceiling of the hall as the name Attuma resonated in his mind. After a brief moment, he raised one finger, as if an idea had just come to him.
"I might have something," he said, and with a movement of his hands, projected the video of the massacre at the prison once more.
"You yourselves mentioned that this Attuma has tried to invade Atlantis a couple of times, and that on both occasions you used these Titans to stop him," the hero explained, pulling up other files of previous attacks on Wakanda carried out by Atlanteans. "What if this time the 'big guy' thought outside the bubble?" He paused, looking at those present. "Bubble? Get it?"
No one reacted.
Byrrah cleared his throat uncomfortably at the failed joke. Legion, ignoring the lack of response, continued with his theory.
"Ahem — well, maybe Attuma devised a plan to pit Wakanda against Atlantis. If he can keep them distracted fighting each other, he can get rid of the Titans that were used to defeat him."
Legion zoomed in on the faces of the Atlantean guards in the prison recording.
"You must have a record of your personnel, right? Why not check whether these soldiers appear in your ranks?"
One of the elders nodded and began manipulating a holographic console. After a few seconds of searching, comparing the soldier's image against official files, his face went pale.
"No... I don't know who this soldier is. He's not in our records."
"What about this one?" Legion pressed, focusing on a second individual. The elder's response was the same — there was no trace of him in Atlantis's army.
Finally, Legion focused the image on the colossal Atlantean warrior who had been fighting Hunter. Byrrah stepped closer, narrowing his eyes at the projection.
"Him I do know. That is Orka. He is a distinguished warrior of Atlantis. In fact, when the commander's post became vacant, he and I were the candidates. The King chose, and Orka was passed over."
"Classic," Shuri cut in with a touch of sarcasm. "He suffered the humiliation of defeat, felt the position he deserved had been stolen from him, and consumed by the thirst for revenge, he betrayed his people to seize by force the glory he believes is his."
Byrrah furrowed his brow.
"I don't understand it. Orka has always been loyal to Atlantis — a principled man, devoted to the rules..."
"It appears Orka is a traitor and has collaborated with Attuma against us," Namor declared.
However, the Atlantean sovereign kept his gaze on Legion.
"Even so, this does not explain what Hunter and his men were doing there, nor the death of my mother, Princess Fen, at the hands of Wakandans."
Legion shrugged.
"Hey, one step at a time. At least now we know there are others involved in this."
The prince observed Legion steadily for several seconds, weighing the evidence, until he finally nodded slowly.
"This assembly has been far more productive than I initially anticipated. As the hero has pointed out, it seems there is someone else targeting Atlantis from the shadows. Therefore, cooperation will be maintained as originally planned."
Namor signaled to the guards posted at the entrance.
"Prince T'Challa and his entourage will be taken to the dungeon. There they will be able to speak with the Wakandan prisoners. Atlantis, on the other hand, will manage the remaining threats."
Byrrah straightened his posture, still somewhat rigid from his injuries.
"I will reinforce the borders immediately. I will ask the labor sector to prioritize the reconstruction of the walls, and we will issue an arrest warrant for Orka."
One of the elders looked at the commander's bandages with concern.
"You're injured, Byrrah. You should rest — your body is in no condition for this."
The military man cut the elder off with a wave of his hand.
"I cannot afford the luxury of rest when Atlantis is in danger. I will have time to recover when all of this is over."
He then sought out Namor's gaze. The prince nodded in silence. Byrrah returned the gesture and swam toward where T'Challa and his group were waiting.
"Follow me. I will assign a guide to take you to the cells."
T'Challa nodded, bowing his head slightly toward Namor and the council in a gesture of diplomatic respect. The elders, with renewed composure after the new understanding that had been reached, returned the gesture with equal formality.
Without another word, the group left the hall, closely followed by the Atlantean escort.
==
Namor kept his gaze fixed on an indeterminate point after the surface dwellers' departure.
"There is still a loose end. We must find out who deactivated the prison alarm and cut our communications."
"Could it not have been Orka?" one of the elders ventured to ask, his voice slightly trembling. "He had access and authority, and now we know of his betrayal."
Namor turned his head slightly, observing them with intensity.
"It may be. But I will not make the mistake of assuming anything. It is imperative to review every suspicious point, and this will be the first." He paused, scanning each of those present. "Everyone who holds a high position must be investigated. At this moment, no one is to be trusted."
The elders nodded in silence, some uncomfortable under their prince's scrutiny. One of them, feeling out of place under Namor's intense presence, tried to rise to leave.
"Sit down," the prince ordered. The word was not a suggestion but a command.
The elder stopped dead, raising an eyebrow with a mix of indignation and surprise.
"You dare speak to me this way, boy? Do you think that because you are the prince, you can treat the Council's elders as though they were suspects?"
Namor's response was physical.
In an almost imperceptible movement of his hands, he exerted force on the water surrounding the Council members.
The pressure increased in an instant, causing the elders to hunch under the crushing weight they felt on their bodies — as if the ocean itself were trying to compress them into their seats.
Namor approached slowly, stopping in front of them.
"As I said: no one is to be trusted. As prince and protector, my duty is to eradicate any threat that puts Atlantis and its inhabitants in danger. Therefore, you will be interrogated. Personally."
"This is madness!" one of the elders managed to articulate, struggling against the pressure crushing his body. "Who do you think you are?"
Namor didn't flinch.
"My grandfather, King Thakorr, may be weak, but he had enough strength to give me one last order before being bedridden: protect Atlantis above all else. And that is exactly what I intend to do." The prince of the deep gave them a smile devoid of any warmth. "So you shouldn't worry so much. If you are truly innocent, you will have nothing to fear."
====
The group continued its descent through the tunnels of coral and basalt.
The distance between the leaders — T'Challa and Byrrah — and themselves allowed for a private conversation, cushioned by the constant murmur of currents striking against the fortress walls.
Shuri moved several feet behind T'Challa and Byrrah, her gaze drifting across the rough texture of the walls.
"Hey," she said, breaking the silence without looking at Legion. "How did you get rid of the other two Titans? Don't tell me you have a giant alien hidden in there that you haven't shown us."
Legion laughed lightly.
"I wish it were that simple. Unfortunately, I had to improvise something in the moment. It was a mess."
Shuri narrowed her eyes, detecting the evasion.
"Improvise? Is that why you didn't go into detail when they asked how you finished them off?"
He took a moment before responding.
"It's just that... I didn't like the method. I'd rather not dwell on it, honestly. Not right now."
To his surprise, she shrugged and simply kept moving, her gaze fixed straight ahead.
"Fine. If you don't want to talk about it, that's okay."
Legion tilted his head beneath the helmet, genuinely thrown off.
"That's it? Not even one attempt to get the truth out of me? Based on past experience I'd have thought you'd get very intense until you had your answers."
Shuri let out a tired sigh.
"I don't have the energy for that right now, hero. Trust me."
He glanced at her sideways.
"You're still thinking about what happened at the walls, aren't you?"
Shuri felt a chill. For an instant, the image came back to her with painful clarity — the giant eel vomiting that black liquid that dissolved stone like wax, the wet sound of soldiers being consumed, and that sensation of an alien presence whispering directly into her mind.
She shook her head sharply, trying to drive those images from her memory.
"That's behind us now," she said, trying to make her voice sound steadier than she felt. "I just want to finish all of this and get home."
Legion nodded in silence.
What she saw seems to have affected her considerably more than she admits, he thought to himself, noticing that although she was trying to appear strong, what she had lived through had left a mark.
As they continued swimming through the corridor, an icy whisper — a grim, lugubrious voice — grazed his ear.
"Hey..."
Legion startled, stopping dead as his heart began to pound.
He snapped his head around, scanning his surroundings. Shuri paused for an instant, turning toward him with a furrowed brow.
"What did you say?"
He shook his head.
"Nothing. I thought I heard something."
Shuri nodded without giving it much thought and kept going. Legion followed, but a chill ran down his spine.
This is bad. Before it was only dreams... now I'm hearing it clearly.
As he moved forward, his shadow was projected against the lateral wall, dancing to the rhythm of his movement under the light of the crystals.
Then it happened — a flash. Out of the corner of his eye, just in his peripheral vision, he saw his human silhouette distort for a fraction of a second, briefly showing an elongated, ghostly figure before becoming simply him again. It was so fast and subtle that he had to grip a column to keep from losing his footing.
He froze, staring sideways at that point on the wall. Now, his shadow looked normal. As it always had.
"What's wrong?" SID's voice startled him. "I detect that your blood pressure has shifted and your stress levels have spiked suddenly."
"I've started seeing it," Legion replied while still watching his shadow. "And I've heard it too."
"Are you referring to Ghostfreak?"
"Yes... My shadow changed. It projected his silhouette, SID."
"Understood. I will remain alert to any signals in your body. According to your reports, his capabilities increase as the environment becomes darker. Perhaps being exposed to the absolute darkness of the ocean abyss has caused his influence to strengthen in your mind."
Legion nodded slowly.
"I think the same," he replied in a whisper. "I hope all of this ends quickly. I need to find a way to focus on blocking his DNA."
He forced himself to resume his pace, trying to recover his composure while doubts devoured him.
Why did I spend months avoiding focusing on him?
A lash of pain split through his forehead, forcing him to squeeze one eye shut as he pressed his temple.
The signs weren't subtle... I ignored obvious warnings. Why did I let this progress so far?
Another sharp stab, this time more intense, forced him to shake his head.
"Your stress levels are too high, sir," SID's voice sounded concerned. "You must calm down. Focus on your breathing. I am going to administer a minimal dose of a mild sedative to relax you."
Legion nodded, focusing on inhaling and exhaling slowly, feeling the pressure in his head diminish slightly thanks to SID's sedative.
Out of the corner of his eye, he looked down at the Omnitrix and activated the dial.
Ghostfreak's figure appeared there.
Legion furrowed his brow and turned the dial to switch aliens. However, as he moved to the next one, the image was the same — Ghostfreak. He turned the dial harder, frustrated, trying to jump to any other alien, but the result was the same.
It refused to disappear.
"Oh, for the love of — maybe spending too much time around the spider rubbed off the Parker luck on me."
============
HEYYYY, HOW'S EVERYONE DOING? HOPE YOU'RE ALL WELL — IT'S BEEN A WHILE, HASN'T IT?
SORRY ABOUT THE SLOW UPDATES — BETWEEN GETTING SICK AND THIS CHAPTER GIVING ME TROUBLE, IT TOOK WAY TOO LONG. SORRY!
AS YOU CAN SEE, THE ELDERS AND NAMOR WEREN'T VERY HAPPY, BUT SOMEHOW LEGION MANAGED TO TEMPORARILY DISSUADE THEM INTO MAINTAINING COOPERATION.
WE LEARNED MORE ABOUT THE CRYSTAL, THE ORIGINS OF THE TITANS, AND ABOUT ONE VERY SPECIAL TITAN WHO NEVER QUITE SHOWED UP — GIGANTO.
ON THE OTHER HAND, IT SEEMS OUR GHOSTLY FRIEND HAS BEEN MORE ACTIVE — EVEN APPEARING TO REFUSE TO LET THE OMNITRIX SELECT ANOTHER ALIEN, MUCH TO OUR HERO'S MISFORTUNE.
SHURI SEEMS AFFECTED BY WHAT HAPPENED WITH THE EEL, BYRRAH HAS A LOT OF WORK AHEAD OF HIM, AND NAMOR IS RUNNING OUT OF PATIENCE MORE AND MORE.
I WONDER WHAT WILL HAPPEN IN THE COMING CHAPTERS.
(BY THE WAY, SOMEONE ALREADY FIGURED OUT WHAT THE RELIC OF ATLANTIS IS ABOUT — YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE. HOW DID YOU CRACK IT SO FAST? STAY QUIET, DON'T RUIN MY SURPRISE HAHAHA)
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THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR COMMENTS AND ALL YOUR SUPPORT.
TAKE CARE OF YOURSELVES, A KISS 😘
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