Arthur swims up above the crowd, very subtly using the Hand of the Waterbearer to allow sound to filter just a bit better through the water as he speaks.
All right. Manta has said his piece. Now it's time for me to say mine.
Manta talks a lot about what he can do for you. He can give you the medicine you need. He can give you construction supplies. He can give you workers. And in return, all he asks is to be put in charge. He won't say he wants to be king, because the idea of being a king is something he can't wrap his mind around, and he wouldn't want to try that in any case.
He's not offering his goods free of charge, which belies the claim of wanting nothing. Manta wants power. He craves it, hungers for it, because he's never really had it - he's had his cults, to be sure, but never a country.
That's how I know Manta can't give you what you really need. He sees taking command of a people as a glorious opportunity. That's idiotic. Taking care of a people is a heavy load to bear - it's a job where there are no vacations and no
Arthur knows Manta is scowling at him but doesn't look back.
Manta says he's prepared to give us emergency aid. Where did he get it? He's not independently wealthy, not on that scale. Being able to afford a couple of sub-aquatic cruisers doesn't mean you have the cash to feed fifty thousand people for the next two years, much less clothe them, shelter them, keep them healthy.
I'll tell you where he plans to get all these supplies, then. It's obvious, isn't it? If you can't buy, you steal. I'm not going to accuse Manta of stealing the supply shipments Atlantis sent to us in secret. I can't prove that. But if you think allowing a notorious international criminal is going to make the American government, or any other, more likely to give us the hand up we need as we rebuild this city for a new way of life?
He shakes his head.
And if you think Manta didn't know that already, think again. He's many things, but he's not stupid.
He takes in the eyes of his audience - they're listening to him now. Not his, but that's as it should be. Time to make the real case.
Manta's offer is to take care of you. He wants you deaf, dumb, and blind, because if you weren't there's no way you'd tolerate the things he will have to do to take care of you.
I think you're better than that, every last one of you. I think you possess the greatest of all human traits: potential. Sub Diego has the drive and innovation of the surface world brought down to the sea floor. We have the opportunity to start recreating the human race - right here. And I want to see you achieve your potential.
Manta says he knows how to live underwater? I guarantee he doesn't know how better to live beneath the sea than I do, and it won't just be me teaching you - we'll reach out to our neighbours beneath the sea, in Poseidonis, Tritonis, Shayeris, Hy-Brasil, and everywhere else, and we'll start exchange programs to teach you everything you need to know to survive on your own.
Manta's eyes widen in anger now. Hammond has FAILED him.
"Don't listen to this! He's an exiled king looking for a new kingdom! How is Aquaman giving free money any different from me giving free SUPPLIES, without the meaningless currency middleman?"
"Look, there are a lot of rumors about my past, but you can check with the FBI - I'm not a wanted criminal. He can't prove any of this slander!"
Why don't you crack open a couple of those crates, Manta? Why don't we find out where those supplies came from? Atlantean goods are conspicuously stamped, you know. Indelibly, in the case of the medical and construction equipment - and I doubt you rewrapped the food supplies.
His voice grows darker.
Or how about the bombings, Manta? You did well to make Killer Croc and the Shark think that they were being paid by the American military, but the American military doesn't issue soldiers emergency breakable poison teeth - they're too unreliable and can break accidentally. No, compartmentalized false teeth is something for cult leaders - say, didn't two or three of your followers at various times use breakable poison teeth? How did that work out for you?
"MotherFUCKER!" he blurts out, that burning rage that he has to fight hard to control managing to ecape.
And that doesn't go over well with the crowd, either. Even some of his supporters are looking at him suspiciously now. One of the barge operators turns to look into one of the crates, and the noise brings Manta out of his furious glare at Aquaman and snaps him back into reality... where he takes stock of the situation.
He sweeps an arm towards the barge operator, and out of the arm of his suit springs a telescoping trident that shoots a warning blast threateningly. "PUT THAT DOWN. Those aren't for YOU."
Arthur doesn't miss it, and waves at the destroyer irritatedly. Hope they caught it.
Manta, if you shoot that laborer you're not going to leave here alive, and you know it. You're outnumbered and outgunned.
And it's clear now, the crowd is on his side.
But we believe in the rule of law here in Sub Diego, and we don't have any proof that you stole supplies out of the hands of starving people, so we reasonably couldn't come up with a warrant. So you can take it. All of it. I know for a fact Garth keeps a very close eye on where Atlantean goods end up, so if those are Atlantean ration bars in the food crates, you'll never be able to sell them.
All right. Manta has said his piece. Now it's time for me to say mine.
Manta talks a lot about what he can do for you. He can give you the medicine you need. He can give you construction supplies. He can give you workers. And in return, all he asks is to be put in charge. He won't say he wants to be king, because the idea of being a king is something he can't wrap his mind around, and he wouldn't want to try that in any case.
He's not offering his goods free of charge, which belies the claim of wanting nothing. Manta wants power. He craves it, hungers for it, because he's never really had it - he's had his cults, to be sure, but never a country.
That's how I know Manta can't give you what you really need. He sees taking command of a people as a glorious opportunity. That's idiotic. Taking care of a people is a heavy load to bear - it's a job where there are no vacations and no
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Manta says he's prepared to give us emergency aid. Where did he get it? He's not independently wealthy, not on that scale. Being able to afford a couple of sub-aquatic cruisers doesn't mean you have the cash to feed fifty thousand people for the next two years, much less clothe them, shelter them, keep them healthy.
I'll tell you where he plans to get all these supplies, then. It's obvious, isn't it? If you can't buy, you steal. I'm not going to accuse Manta of stealing the supply shipments Atlantis sent to us in secret. I can't prove that. But if you think allowing a notorious international criminal is going to make the American government, or any other, more likely to give us the hand up we need as we rebuild this city for a new way of life?
He shakes his head.
And if you think Manta didn't know that already, think again. He's many things, but he's not stupid.
Reply
Reply
Manta's offer is to take care of you. He wants you deaf, dumb, and blind, because if you weren't there's no way you'd tolerate the things he will have to do to take care of you.
I think you're better than that, every last one of you. I think you possess the greatest of all human traits: potential. Sub Diego has the drive and innovation of the surface world brought down to the sea floor. We have the opportunity to start recreating the human race - right here. And I want to see you achieve your potential.
Manta says he knows how to live underwater? I guarantee he doesn't know how better to live beneath the sea than I do, and it won't just be me teaching you - we'll reach out to our neighbours beneath the sea, in Poseidonis, Tritonis, Shayeris, Hy-Brasil, and everywhere else, and we'll start exchange programs to teach you everything you need to know to survive on your own.
A tiny smile.The sea means ( ... )
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"Don't listen to this! He's an exiled king looking for a new kingdom! How is Aquaman giving free money any different from me giving free SUPPLIES, without the meaningless currency middleman?"
"Look, there are a lot of rumors about my past, but you can check with the FBI - I'm not a wanted criminal. He can't prove any of this slander!"
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Why don't you crack open a couple of those crates, Manta? Why don't we find out where those supplies came from? Atlantean goods are conspicuously stamped, you know. Indelibly, in the case of the medical and construction equipment - and I doubt you rewrapped the food supplies.
His voice grows darker.
Or how about the bombings, Manta? You did well to make Killer Croc and the Shark think that they were being paid by the American military, but the American military doesn't issue soldiers emergency breakable poison teeth - they're too unreliable and can break accidentally. No, compartmentalized false teeth is something for cult leaders - say, didn't two or three of your followers at various times use breakable poison teeth? How did that work out for you?
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And that doesn't go over well with the crowd, either. Even some of his supporters are looking at him suspiciously now. One of the barge operators turns to look into one of the crates, and the noise brings Manta out of his furious glare at Aquaman and snaps him back into reality... where he takes stock of the situation.
He sweeps an arm towards the barge operator, and out of the arm of his suit springs a telescoping trident that shoots a warning blast threateningly. "PUT THAT DOWN. Those aren't for YOU."
Dammit. He's losing it.
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Manta, if you shoot that laborer you're not going to leave here alive, and you know it. You're outnumbered and outgunned.
And it's clear now, the crowd is on his side.
But we believe in the rule of law here in Sub Diego, and we don't have any proof that you stole supplies out of the hands of starving people, so we reasonably couldn't come up with a warrant. So you can take it. All of it. I know for a fact Garth keeps a very close eye on where Atlantean goods end up, so if those are Atlantean ration bars in the food crates, you'll never be able to sell them.
Consider it... a going-away present.
Emphasis on "away."
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Then... the helmet comes back.
"You're determined to keep me down, AquaMAN. I tried to help, but you still hold me down."
"You'll regret this. All of you. You could have had greatness. Equality. Triumph. But you choose to be ruled like slaves."
The gear in his backpack engages, and he starts to swim away.
"Enjoy your new kingdom, Your Highness."
His red eyes glow for the cameras.
"But the revolution will NOT be televised."
Black Manta leaves, stone silent, waving the supporters he has left along with him, which are still at least a fourth of the number he came in with.
And they take the supplies with them. Save for the bargeman that was just shot at.
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