Lost City, Lost Kingdom, Lost Soul - Orm (Aquaman)

XXIX - Setbacks

Following a night full of confessions and even less sleep, the trio snuck and punched their way into the volcano lair - literally, taking down guards the whole way.

When the finally arrived in the heart of the lair - no sign of Manta himself yet - and after taking down a few more guards each, they were met by a frightening sight. 

"It's an orichalcum furnace. All that stolen orichalcum - they're just burning it up," Orm cried.

"So then he's heating the atmosphere on purpose," Arthur reasoned.

"But why would he do that?" Tatiana asked aloud what they were all wondering. No one had the answer - not yet. 

"This is catastrophic," Orm continued.  "This whole place must be heat shielded to protect it from the Surface's thermal satellites."

"But how do we stop them?" Tatiana sked.

"To take out the reactor we would have to crater the entire island-"

"Get away from there - now!"

They had been caught.  They turned to see a man holding a gun - a gun pointed directly at them. "This blaster may be ancient but it was built for killing Atlanteans." Their captor pressed the keypad on the door which slid closed, sealing them inside. 

They were trapped.

"Okay, I am so sorry, I didn't mean that!" the man then cried. "I just didn't want you to break me in half before I could surrender." He tossed down the blaster and raised his hands in said surrender. "Please take me with you."

"Hey," Tatiana cried, realization dawning on her. "It's you!"

It was Dr. Stephen Shin,  fellow Atlantis-obsessed scientist.  The one who had led Manta to her that day four years ago when he had attacked while looking for Aquaman, which Orm's lie had totally messed up.

Arthur blinked back at him.  "Knock him out then help me move these bodies."

"No, no, wait, please!" Dr. Shin cried, backing away.  "I didn't want any of this! All I wanted was to see Atlantis with my own eyes. I thought I could share its wonders with the world. I'm a scientist and I just wanted to be taken seriously."

Okay, Tatiana could identify with this. But that didn't change the fact that he had led her attacker right to her which had very nearly resulted in her death. 

"David Kane said he could help me," he continued. "But now he won't let me leave."

Sounded about right. 

"You expect us to believe you have nothing to do with this?" Orm demanded, also recalling this man's involvement in leading Manta to Tatiana.

"I know," the doctor admitted. "I've done things I'm not proud of. But he would have killed me if I hadn't."

Also sounded about right. 

But Arthur scoffed, his stance clearly unchanged. "Knock him out."

There was a pause, then, "No,"  Orm decided.

"Okay, I'll knock him out."

"No!" Orm cried. "No."

She was honestly impressed by his sudden change of heart. He had certainly looked ready to break Dr. Shin in half moments before upon recognizing him himself. 

"Fine," growled Arthur, defeated. "You can come with us."

 Dr. Shin lit up. "Oh, thank you-"

"But you'd better start talking, or I'm going to give you one sasa." Arthur held up his hand in a backhand gesture for added emphasis.