| Poseidonis - September 23
Orin, known on the surface as Arthur Curry, was the half-brother of Orm. They shared the same mother but grew up apart—Orin in a lighthouse, Orm in Atlantis. When Orin eventually returned to the sea, their mother tried to unite them as a family.
For a long time, Arthur believed they had. Which is why, when the Justice League informed him that his brother was secretly the villain Ocean-Master, he refused to accept it at first. But as High King of Atlantis, Poseidonis, and the Seven Seas, he had a duty to confront the truth.
Ocean-Master was no mere dissenter. He led the Atlantean purists, extremists who believed themselves the sole descendants of "true" Atlanteans. To them, any citizen with inhuman traits was impure—"fish-heads" to be purged. Under Orm's leadership, they had grown militant.
Back in 2008, Ocean-Master had led an army against Poseidonis. In single combat, he actually defeated Aquaman—until two young students from the Conservatory of Sorcery, Kaldur'ahm and Garth, intervened. Their aid bought Aquaman enough time to recover and strike Orm down.
Arthur had always wondered how Ocean-Master managed to disappear so completely after defeats. It all made sense now. If his own brother had been the mastermind all along, Orm could use his royal role and his mask of loyalty to further his goals, hiding in plain sight.
This was the brother Arthur had trusted to protect Mera and their unborn child while he served with the League.
But on September 7, Ocean-Master revealed himself. With his trident, he began draining the very life from Mera, ignoring her pleas for mercy—for her sake and the baby's. His true aim, he declared, was not merely to cleanse Poseidonis of "impure" influence, but to plunge Atlantis into civil war between the capital and the city-states.
Only Aqualad's intervention—and Garth's summoning of the Tempest's power—saved them. The spell forced Orm to loosen his grip on the trident, restoring Mera's life force and driving Ocean-Master into retreat.
Arthur rarely allowed himself to think about what might have happened had they been too late. He knew only that if he had lost Mera or the child, he would not have endured it.
And suspicion had grown further. On August 27, Black Manta launched an attack on the capital, inflicting heavy structural damage. Their true target, however, had been a rare echinoderm in the Science Center—an ingredient in mind-control technology that could be used on the Justice League itself. Few knew Aquaman had been absent that day. The timing had been… troubling.
If Ocean-Master truly was his brother, the question lingered: how long had Orm harbored this hatred, and why?
Arthur needed certainty.
"Recognized: Martian Manhunter 07," the Zeta-tube computer intoned. A yellow glow faded, revealing the green-skinned telepath before he shifted into the familiar form of Kaldur.
[I will link with you, so you may hear his thoughts as I do,] J'onn said, getting directly to business.
There was still the possibility that Brain had been wrong. Aquaman wanted to be sure.
[All right. Let's go,] Arthur replied, leading J'onn—still disguised as Kaldur—out of the hidden chamber.
They swam together through the palace corridors until they encountered an attendant, a male Atlantean with amphibious adaptations.
"Please summon my brother," Aquaman said. "Kaldur wishes to consult him about sorcery."
"As you will, Your Highness," the servant replied before swimming off.
Arthur's expression was somber. If Orm truly was Ocean-Master, then as king he would do what must be done.
| Subspace - September 23
The Thanagarian spacecraft Javelin cut through subspace, piloted by Icon with Green Lantern Hal Jordan in the co-pilot's seat.
The Javelin was versatile—capable of planetary flight, deep-space travel, and faster-than-light speeds through subspace. It could cross the galaxy in days; Earth to New Genesis, their destination, would take only two.
Hal had already shared the League's intelligence with the Corps. The revelations were grim: the Light had reached out to the Kroloteans and the Reach, while the Citadel continued abducting humans for metagene experiments despite repeated warnings. With this data, the Corps could better monitor the empires and apply diplomatic pressure.
Now Icon and Hal traveled as joint ambassadors of the Justice League and the Corps, bound for New Genesis to propose an alliance with the New Gods.
Led by Highfather, the New Gods embodied life, freedom, and the Source itself. In stark contrast were their eternal foes: Apokolips.
For ages the two sides had maintained a costly truce, neither daring to break it outright, though both watched each other closely. Apokolips remained a looming, monstrous threat. Surely, Icon reasoned, the New Gods would not turn away a chance to hinder their enemies.
Earth could not afford to let Apokolips operate unchecked from the shadows.
| Washington D.C. - September 23
Not even a day had passed before the Team was sent on another mission.
First, their mentor Red Tornado had betrayed them. Then, in Northern India, they had investigated reports of unusual animal attacks—an assignment that ended with them capturing a member of the Light and Joseph uncovering key intel from the Brain.
On top of that, Joseph had dropped a bombshell regarding the real Speedy and Red Arrow. Batman followed it later with new revelations: the existence of another Kryptonian clone called Match hidden in Cadmus, and the fact that Superboy had code words planted in his mind.
When Batman tested this, uttering "Red Sun," Superboy collapsed into a trance—motionless until Miss Martian snapped him out of his hypnotic trance.
Trusting his girlfriend, Superboy allowed Miss Martian to enter his mind. She psychically excised the programming and confirmed that no other code words had been implanted.
Afterward, the Team's attention turned fully to Cadmus. Thᴇ link to the origɪn of this information rᴇsts ɪn 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝·𝘧𝙞𝙧𝙚·𝔫𝔢𝔱
Robin, Aqualad, and Kid Flash had been restless ever since learning the truth about Red Arrow. So when Batman finally gave the go-ahead, they were more than ready. Starfire made the call to split the Team.
Aqualad would lead Robin, Kid Flash, and Artemis in confronting Red Arrow. Once subdued, they could remove the code words from his mind before revealing the devastating truth—that his life and goals had been nothing more than the manipulations of those he thought he was fighting against.
Meanwhile, Starfire took charge of the rest: Superboy, Miss Martian, and Raven. Their task was to retrieve the real Roy Harper—and Match.
That was how they now stood before Cadmus Labs, the genetics research facility in Washington, D.C., founded by Lex Luthor to create a countermeasure to Superman.
"Miss Martian," Starfire said.
[On it,] Miss Martian replied, establishing a psychic link with the Team.
The mission was simple: break in—and break people out.