Chapter Text
Arthur groggily blinked his eyes open, disoriented by the feeling of water pressing in from all sides. The dim blue-green glow of bioluminescent panels cast eerie shadows across the metal walls of the sub.
He wasn’t alone.
The others were still there, though in bad shape.
Hal was still slumped in the corner, unconscious. Barry looked disoriented, shivering as he clung to the wall, his breaths too quick. Ollie and Bruce sat close together, both glaring daggers at the Atlantean guards outside the reinforced glass. Bruce's lip was split, and Ollie’s arm had fresh, raw scratches—probably from fighting until the last second.
Arthur pushed himself up, muscles screaming, and immediately realized something was wrong.
The water felt off around him.
He reached out, trying to feel the currents, the sea life outside, anything. But there was a weight, a pressure, something muffling his senses.
“What the hell did they do to me?” he rasped.
“They shackled you,” Bruce said, his voice hoarse but steady. He gestured to Arthur’s wrists. Arthur looked down and froze.
Metal cuffs.
They glowed faintly with unfamiliar runes, pulsing in time with his heartbeat.
Magic. Atlantean magic.
Arthur’s stomach dropped.
He could still feel the ocean but not call it.
And couldn’t talk to the sea creatures outside without the guards noticing either…..
His powers were dulled .
“Arthur?” Barry’s voice was small, uncertain. “Where are they taking us?”
Arthur clenched his jaw. He already knew.
“Atlantis.”
-
They were suddenly grabbed and tossed out into an underwater cave (With oxygen, thank god) in front of.... Arthur was sure that it was the king Orvax and father of his half-brother, Orm, that he'd heard about.
Technically his... step-father?
Yeeesh.
He could feel the other scramble behind him and gulped.
He knew Atlanteans had an honor code. They wouldn't kill a bunch of kids, right? Then why were they here? Arthur knew he was probably either seen as wayward or a threat, but his brothers? They had only been seen with him so…..
What did they want? Didn't they already know he was avoiding them? Sure, he was half-Atlantean but he was a half-blood.
And his friends, (AS FAR AS THE ATLANTEANS KNEW) were kid humans.
Kids, yeah, that suspiciously were seen everywhere and never with an adult, and were suspiciously thin and feral and all, and maybe Atlantean intelligence had gotten the memo that Arthur's human father was gone but….
Arthur didn’t trust Atlantean honor codes.
He had grown up on the surface, seen what “honor” meant in the hands of powerful men. It was just another way to justify doing whatever the hell they wanted.
King Orvax stood before them, his expression unreadable, arms folded as he studied them like they were things to be categorized.
Arthur instinctively widened his stance, placing himself between Orvax and his brothers. He could feel Hal (now awake) shifting behind him, heard Barry shift closer to Ollie and Bruce, felt the tension in their breathing.
Orvax’s gaze swept over them, lingering on Arthur before flicking to the others. His lip curled slightly.
“These are the ones?” His voice was deep, cold, and dismissive.
“Yes, Your Majesty,” the captain who had taken them answered. “The half-blood and his… pack. ”
Arthur bristled.
Bruce hissed.
Arthur swallowed and was wondering how to get out of this when he felt one of the guards grab him by the scruff and yank him away from his brothers. Ollie snarled and Bruce hissed, Hal froze and Barry went still, but in a second Arthur was plopped down right at his.... step-father(?)'s feet.