Orm was not happy as he swam through his war room in his palace in Poseidonis Atlantis. He should be happy at the victory he'd just landed in this war, sinking Themyscira, the ancient enemy of Atlantis, but the reason he was angry was that that was the only victory his forces had managed to gain in the war. And the fact that he was even calling it a war. He and his forces should've already sunk the surface by now in one battle. But instead, a small group of surface champions had already repelled two of his attacks, not to mention the betrayals of both Kaldur'ahm and more importantly, his betrothed, Mera, both of whom had rejected him in favor of the surface, or more importantly, for his bastard of a half brother.

Yes, Orm was well aware of his mother's treachery, how she'd betrayed his father for a lowly lighthouse keeper from the surface world. Of all the people his mother could've cheated on his father with, she'd chosen a relatively pathetic one.

But anyways, that was a part of why he was launching this campaign against the surface war. He needed to cleanse the royal bloodline and more importantly, get rid of his brother before the rest of Atlantis discovered his existence, since then his claim to the throne, no matter how much he deserved it, would become weak, if not nonexistent, since both his people and the other kingdoms would never take him seriously as anything beyond a regent, a placeholder for the true king, despite the fact that his bastard brother was illegitimate, a half-breed from the surface who'd never even been to Atlantis. He had no right to the throne, but the technicality that he was born first made him the rightful king and Orm couldn't take the risk that Atlantis might see that as enough to put him on the throne in Orm's place. A throne that was rightfully Orm's and a throne that he would keep.

Which was one of the reasons he was leading this attack on the surface. He claimed that it was retaliation for all the damage the surface world had done to the oceans over the years and it partially was and it was also partially due to his belief that Atlantis was superior to the surface, but he knew that a big part of the reason was really just damage control, to remove his brother from the equation. Though that seemed to have backfired, since instead it had brought his brother into the fight, since he knew that Mera and Kaldur had sought him out and he was now helping the Justice League.

Still, now that they had their first real victory against the surface, Orm knew that he needed to capitalize on it. Which was why he was currently planning an attack on the capital of the United States, where most of the surface heroes seemed to be from, the city they called Washington DC. Once that city fell, the rest would fall like dominoes. Which is why he needed to be sure he took every precaution to ensure that attack didn't fail, since he was planning on this attack being an all or nothing kind of thing.

"Sire, are you sure this is a good idea?" his vizier, Vulko, asked him.

"It's too late to turn back now. We've already started this war, we need to see it through to the end." Orm said.

"And aren't you concerned about the number of Atlanteans that will die in this war?" Vulko said, concerned.

"Sacrifices are a part of war. And no price is too big to pay to ensure that the surface never plagues us again." Orm said.

"Sire." Vulko tried to insist, but it was clear that Orm was spiraling, he would not be stopped.

"I see. I understand your highness." Vulko said as he swam away from Orm, knowing what he had to do.

Vulko swam into the Atlantean prisons and headed to the solitary confinement cells to find the prisoner who was being guarded by Orm's most trusted and loyal commandos.

"Vizier Vulko, what do you want?" one of the guards asked.

"I need to speak with the prisoner and you've been summoned to King Orm's war council. He's planning the final assault on the surface and he wants all commandos in attendance." Vulko said, showing them an order he'd forged and by forged, he meant a document that he'd hidden in Orm's paperwork, since even during a war, Orm was the kind of person who never truly read what he signed beyond a quick scan, making it easy for Vulko to occasionally slip documents into his paperwork to sign, including the document he was now holding.

"Yes sir. We'll leave you to guard the prisoner." one of the soldiers said as they both swam away towards the palace.

Vulko sighed as he hoped that Orm wouldn't notice their presence until after he'd done what he'd needed to do as she swam up to the cell and pulled out the passkey he'd swiped from Orm and used it to open the cell, thankfully, to no alarms.

"It's time to go." Vulko said to the inmate as she reluctantly swam out of the cell.

"Why now?" former Queen Atlanna asked as she squinted at the sight of so much light after being kept in her cell for too long.

"Because Orm is too far gone to be reigned in. He will no longer listen to me, which means that neither of us are safe here anymore. I'm still amazed he kept you alive at all. We must flee to join Mera and Kaldur on the surface. Hopefully they've found Arthur and are preparing him to take his rightful place on the throne." Vulko said and Atlanna nodded.

"Then let's get going." Atlanna said, eager to see both her older son and the love of her life again after so many years apart.

"We must act quickly before Orm realizes what's happened." Vulko said and Atlanna nodded as she let Vulko lead her to freedom and safety.