Second Chances: Artemis

Chapter 31

"This is where Arthur hangs out?" Garth asked when he and Thea arrived at a bar in Amnesty Bay and Thea shrugged.

"It's where I met him a few years ago." Thea said.

"Does Roy know about that little trip?" Garth asked.

"Why do you think he's not here? I don't want him to get into a muscle flexing competition with Arthur." Thea said, since Roy knew about her past fling with Arthur and while he was okay with it, since it was in the past and they hadn't been together at the time, that didn't mean he wanted to be around her exes, even if Arthur had just been the first man she'd spent time with after spending years on Themyscira.

"And he's okay with us going to your ex for help?" Garth asked.

"It helps that Arthur and I never had anything more than a physical relationship and it wasn't even that. It was just a quick fling that I had when I couldn't control myself after spending two years away from men. But now can we please focus on why we're here. Don't make me regret bringing you along." Thea said to him, annoyed.

"Sorry. Didn't mean to touch a nerve." Garth said.

"Sure you didn't. Now let's focus on why we're here and if you bring that topic up again, I'll send you back to Atlantis in a body bag." Thea promised as she found the man they were looking for, up at the bar, just as she'd thought.

"Arthur." Thea said as her former fling turned to face her.

"Well, well, if it isn't one of my favorite memories." Arthur said with a smirk, causing Thea to roll her eyes at him.

"Don't flatter yourself. That's not why we're here." Thea said as Arthur noticed the other person there.

"Garth, it's good to see you again." Arthur said as he and his old friend shook hands.

"You too Arthur, though I see that you're still wasting the skills Vulko and I taught you." Garth said, a little bitterly.

"I didn't ask you to teach me anything. That was your call and you knew the consequences if you got caught." Arthur reminded him.

"I didn't bring you here to start a fight." Thea reminded him.

"Then why are you here?" Arthur asked.

"To ask you to do something that I know you won't want to do." Thea said and Arthur actually put his beer down.

"And that would be?" Arthur asked.

"I need you to recover the lost trident of Atlan." Thea said and Arthur glared at her.

"I thought I made it clear that I don't want anything to do with Atlantis." Arthur said.

"I'm not asking you to take the throne, I'm asking you to get a weapon that's rightfully yours. And more importantly, I need you to get it so that I can find something even more important. Once I do that, I don't care what you do with it. As long as your brother doesn't attack the surface, you don't need to take the throne from him. I just need you to retrieve that trident. Especially since you can't deny that a weapon that would allow you to control the seas would be useful." Thea said.

"You really don't care about Atlantis?" Arthur asked.

"All I care about is getting a piece of a stone that will allow me to stop an even more powerful threat than anything you can imagine or have ever faced. Something that threatens both the land and the sea. And I need you to recover the trident to help me do it. After that, you can go back to ignoring Atlantis until Orm attacks for all I care." Thea said.

"Actually, if Arthur does claim the trident and word gets back to Atlantis, then Orm's claim to throne would become even weaker than it already is. None of the other kingdoms would take him seriously enough to support him in a war." Garth said.

"All the more reason to get the trident. It ensures that you'll never have a reason to take the throne from Orm." Thea said.

"Fine. But how do I find the trident when it's lost?" Arthur asked, since he knew Thea was right.

"I already know where it is, but only the rightful king of Atlantis can free it. Otherwise I would've gotten it myself." Thea said.

"Okay then. Let's do this." Arthur said.

"Head back to San Francisco. You know this is not a mission for you." Thea said.

"Then why did you bring me along?" Garth asked.

"Because I thought you could be helpful in convincing Arthur if he was too stubborn. But now he and I need to get going." Thea said and Garth nodded.