"What's wrong?"
"Did something happen?"
Inside a hotel room in Kansas, Diana looked at Mera's suddenly changed expression and asked.
The group, led by Bruce Wayne, had found a temporary stop to discuss their next moves when Mera's face unexpectedly changed after receiving a message via water current.
Remembering Steppenwolf, who had been driven away earlier, Diana was worried.
"My fiancé is dead."
"...I'm sorry, Mera, I—"
"No, there's no need to apologize, Diana. There was no such feeling between us; I didn't love him. It was just an engagement my father forced upon me." Mera waved her hand, signaling Diana not to apologize.
"Was it Steppenwolf's accomplice?" Bruce Wayne, extremely sensitive to anomalies, stroked his stubble, quickly connecting this event to the retreating Steppenwolf.
"I don't know."
Mera was also puzzled. "My father said the place where Orm's body was found was very secluded, and there were no traces of battle at the scene. It felt as if, as if Orm and his royal guards were instantly killed by a single strike."
"Wait, royal guards?" Bruce Wayne caught a keyword.
"Yes, Orm was the King of Atlantis." Mera nodded.
"My father also said that several human bodies were found at the crime scene. Atlantis is now in chaos, with a large number of radicals claiming Orm must have been killed by humans and demanding an attack on the surface to avenge Orm." Mera relayed all the information she had just received.
Bruce Wayne's eyes instantly sharpened.
The perceptive Bruce Wayne immediately envisioned a scenario where Atlantis was playing the victim to justify an invasion.
Using the king's supposed death and a few human corpses to declare war on the long-coveted surface world.
With Superman gone, they no longer feared this world.
"So, what are your plans?" Bruce Wayne reined in his thoughts, asking subtly.
"I don't know. I suppose I'll have to go back first." Mera also had a headache.
Orm was the King of Atlantis; his unclear death would undoubtedly cause a huge stir among the seven undersea kingdoms.
As his fiancée, she would certainly have to attend Orm's funeral. Even if she didn't want to go, her father, Nereus, would forcibly drag her back. It was a matter of protocol. The relationship among the seven undersea kingdoms was at stake.
"So, what about you, Lothar?" Diana turned her gaze to the figure still leaning by the bed, looking at the ruins on the beach.
His aloof expression was the best evidence of his disinterest in the discussion. After all, Lothar was entirely preoccupied with getting the Mother Boxes, going home, and destroying Asgard to bury Hela with it.
"What?"
"Mera is returning to the sea. What about you? Will you stay on land? Or go back with her?"
After hearing Mera tell Lothar's love story on the observation balcony, Diana was somewhat concerned for this man who had lost the love of his life.
It reminded her of herself.
The death of her boyfriend, Steve, had left her isolated for over half a century.
Mera, hearing Diana's question, also looked at Lothar, curious about his answer.
"I have somewhere to go. Remember to leave the money for me." Lothar glanced at Mera, repeating the reason Woz had found for him without a blush or a stutter.
He was certain Mera knew the location of one Mother Box, and he still needed to find the other two.
"...Come with me." Seeing that Lothar was sticking to his stubborn excuse, Mera suppressed a hidden smile, stood up, and motioned for Lothar to follow.
The spacious presidential suite was suddenly left with only Diana, Bruce Wayne, and Barry Allen.
"Diana, do your records on Themyscira mention a place called the Chitauri Star?" Bruce Wayne asked after watching Lothar leave. He remembered clearly that the book in Woz's hand, besides "Son of Titan," also mentioned "Lord of the Chitauri Star."
"Chitauri? I don't know, but I can check for you when I go back."
"And information on the Titans." Bruce Wayne raised his glass to Diana.
"Titans?"
"I'll tell you the specifics later." Walls have ears, and the cautious Bruce Wayne wouldn't discuss such things in this place.
...
"Here, this is the money I'm giving you."
Mera, after leading Lothar back to her room, conjured a palm-sized conch shell from somewhere. She wrapped a hundred-dollar bill around it, walked to the balcony, and handed it to Lothar.
"This is a conch that allows you to call me. If you and Woz get lost on your way to England, you can call me with this, and perhaps I can help you with your navigation troubles." Before Lothar could speak, Mera herself explained the conch's function.
"I don't need it." Lothar didn't bother to reach for it. Why would he need such a thing? With Woz, how could he get lost? Unless Woz's core components burned out.
"Then consider it a gift from me, a gift from a friend." Mera reached out and placed the conch on Lothar's shoulder.
"I don't need friends."
"Then consider it my thanks to you." The more Lothar refused, the more Mera persisted.
"Thank you for saving me, twice." From the monsters she encountered on the drive to the library to Steppenwolf, who almost cleaved her with an axe.
Mera admitted that Lothar had indeed left a very good impression on her. Especially after he saved her from Steppenwolf's clutches. There's a reason why the hero-saves-damsel story remains timeless.
Moreover, Lothar had an even greater advantage, one Mera learned from Woz.
A story about Lothar.
A poignant epic of love.
A man who, for his fiancée, dared to assault Asgard, dared to kill Heimdall, and even nearly killed Odin.
Woz's skillful art of downplaying and embellishing had already given Mera a preconceived impression of Lothar.
In Mera's mind, after Woz's beautification, Lothar's image was already that of a pitiful, homeless wanderer in a foreign land.
A pitiful man, powerful as he was, who couldn't save his fiancée.
As for his being a mass murderer, or slaughtering half a planet's population at a whim, Woz obviously wouldn't mention that.
At that time, Lothar was in a healing phase, and Woz, needing to protect Lothar's safety, naturally couldn't speak of such things.
And thus, the poignant love epic with Hela was born.
"Can you tell me about Hela?" Mera was very curious about Hela. She had a good impression of Lothar, but as for romance, it was too early. She was simply curious, eager to learn about the male and female protagonists of that love epic.
"Get lost." Lothar's reply was equally simple.
Mera didn't mind, smiling as she bid Lothar farewell. She still had to attend Orm's funeral.
"Woz." After Mera left, Lothar called out to Woz, his expression displeased.
"Cough, cough... just a little, really just a little bit." Woz shrunk its large head, grinning sheepishly and gesturing with a small part of its fingertip. It could swear!
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