Road Trip (a Young Justice fanfiction)

Chapter 15: Broken

Kaldur's POV

Pain shot through me once more as electricity shocked my body from my wrists and my ankles. I shut my eyes tight but didn't make a sound so that they wouldn't think that they were starting to get to me.

"Let's try this again," Black Manta snarled. "What was your mission? What were you doing so far from the League?"

I sighed in defeat. "I told you before, we had no mission. We were on a recreational vacation."

Black Manta chuckled menacingly. "You seriously expect me to believe that stupid lie? I guess if you're gonna have a story, you might as well stick to it." I could tell he was rolling his eyes under his bulky mask. He nodded to one of the two henchmen to press the button again.

I was electrified yet another time. I clamped my teeth together, a deep growl forming in the bottom of my throat.

"Oh, not so high and mighty anymore, huh? We're starting to get to you? I'm starting to get to you?"

I laughed painfully, trying desperately now to hide just how much I was suffering. "Hardly."

"Oh, Aqualad," the villain sighed. "I've owed you a talk for a while now." A spark of curiosity formed in my stomach, but quickly was erased. I realized this was probably one of his tactics to torture me.

"About what?" I chuckled. "How to become a villain?" My body was slumping in my chains, which were holding me up by my wrists and were tied to my ankles.

He waved to his cronies. "You two can leave."

"Are you sure, sir?" one of them asked.

"You two can leave," he growled angrily, turning his head slightly to look over at them. They both backed slowly out of the room, closing the door quietly after them.

Black Manta grabbed his helmet and slowly removed it from his head, it making a steam-like sound as it released.

Hearing his actual voice was strange. I was used to it having a filter on it. "My dear Kaldur," he said in a quiet voice, too nice.

"What. Do. You. Want." I whispered, my whole body riddled with rage, my pain forgotten in a second.

"I believe your mentor owes you an important piece of information." What did he mean? "Everyone you've ever trusted, has lied to you. Your entire life." His voice was menacingly kind, making it more threatening than it would normally be.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, my teeth stuck together like glue.

"You see, your parents, your beloved parents, the ones you thought loved you unconditionally until the end, the ones you thought would be one hundred percent honest with you at all times, have been lying to you all this time." Fury burned in the pit of my stomach, and my cheeks became hot.

"What are you saying?" I raised my voice.

He continued, as if he hadn't even heard my comment. "And of course, the one person to blame for this whole lie, is your mentor, the heroic, brave Aquaman. The protector. The one who taught everything about himself, but wouldn't even let you know who you really are."

Ice dropped heavy as a rock and I felt dizzy. "Are you... are you saying..." I was trying not to let my feebleness show, but now it was inevitable.

A smile cracked its way onto Black Manta's face. "Oh, yes, that's exactly what I'm saying."

The pain began overwhelming me, taking over my whole body. I tried struggling to get into a comfortable position but winced as the electrical current ran through my veins again. Black Manta only laughed and began backing out of the room.

I screamed, doing everything to get his attention so he wouldn't leave but it was too late. He was gone.

I hung my head in shame as the electricity stopped. I failed, I thought.

I've been broken...

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Intense stuff, am I right? This is definitely a topic that will come up again later, but until then, continue to vote, comment and follow!

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Stay traught❤️