After Aquaman finished speaking, he found The Operative looking thoughtful. "What, is she famous among humans too? ...I don't really know her."
The Operative shot him a look, speechless at his friend's dullness. Thea had long since taken off her mask. How could The Operative, who was perennially active in intelligence gathering, not recognize her?
"She's one of the richest women on the planet. I've collected quite a bit of data on her. If you hadn't told me, I really wouldn't have expected her to be a metahuman... How is her combat ability?"
Hearing this question, Aquaman felt extremely awkward. Just now, he had faced the fear shock directly. If not for Mera using large blocks of ice to keep him awake, he would have been talking gibberish by now.
At this moment, in front of his old partner, he couldn't exactly admit he'd nearly been pounded flat. He could only say vaguely, "About the same as me..."
The Operative couldn't help but give him a long, measuring look, making Aquaman nervous, before skipping the topic. "Arthur, if you want surface dwellers and sea dwellers to live in harmony, she can provide you with some help. In recent years, her major moves have been frequent, often with the government and military pushing from behind the scenes..."
Aquaman nodded. It was still too early to say anything. Neither surface dwellers nor sea dwellers were ready to accept each other. He needed to observe more before making a decision.
Not far away, Thea also completed the handover with Amanda Waller. Several fully armed soldiers carried Cheetah, hogtied and trussed up, onto the plane. Whatever happened afterward had nothing to do with Thea. If Waller wanted her to do anything else, she would need to pay a new price.
After Waller left, Aquaman gave everyone a simple introduction. Next was the issue of studying how to deal with Black Manta.
"It's too humid here. Can we talk on my plane? I never feel quite safe on the ground." The Operative interrupted Aquaman, and everyone looked around.
Originally a sparsely populated tropical rainforest, it was now a mess after the lightning clash between Thea and Aquaman. Ditches covered the ground, many trees were smoking, and large flocks of birds and swarms of insects were evacuating the area. No matter how you looked at it, this was a chaotic place.
Their small team's gathering place had always been The Operative's plane, named "The Living Room."
Ya'Wara used her artifact, the Globe of Transportation, to open a long-distance portal. Several people teleported to the plane at an altitude of ten thousand meters.
This was Thea's first time passing through someone else's portal. She had to admit, it was worthy of being called an artifact: convenient, fast, stable, and efficient. As long as one remembered a certain location, they could teleport there regardless of distance. The only regret was that this thing could be used by anyone who got their hands on it.
Thea and Diana, being outsiders after all, didn't participate in their discussion. Strangely, their small team imperceptibly excluded Mera, Aquaman's wife, as well. Aquaman, a bit out of it, didn't notice anything wrong.
The frustration in Mera's heart at this moment was indescribable. Originally, she and Aquaman were living a nice little life at the Amnesty Bay Lighthouse. Suddenly, Ya'Wara teleported over saying Kahina was in danger. Her husband hurriedly took her to save people. Heaven knows, Mera didn't know Ya'Wara or Kahina at all before this!
Immediately following that was being bewitched by the Cheetah God, brawling with Thea and Diana in a confused mess for a long time, and finally running to this plane to discuss countermeasures. Heaven pity her, she didn't even know who the enemy was!
In her own clan (Xebel), because of her hydrokinesis, Mera was the symbol of royal power and was raised as a Queen in Atlantis. Now, being vaguely excluded by Aquaman's small team, she felt extremely sad. She couldn't show it on her face, so she could only stand on the periphery watching them discuss.
Thea listened for a while and knew why they couldn't beat Black Manta.
Kahina was known as the Seer, but her ability was actually very limited. Similar to Lyssa Drak under Sinestro, she could only predict things a few seconds into the future.
Ya'Wara was a wild child who grew up in the jungle. Being able to stumble through English was already a sign of her talent for languages. Asking her to come up with ideas was a pipe dream.
Prisoner of War was constantly wrapped in the ghosts of his comrades. Fifty-nine minutes out of sixty, he was immersed in his own inner world.
Vostok-X was intensely withdrawn. He would rather wear his helmet (which removed the need for food) and hide alone for two years than say a word to anyone.
In their team, the only two who could come up with ideas were The Operative and Aquaman.
Unfortunately, The Operative was a seventy-year-old grandpa with an extremely conservative style. His idea for Aquaman was actually for them to split up again, lure Black Manta to steal three artifacts, and then ambush him at the end.
Aquaman naturally wouldn't let his companions take risks. His idea was to find the opponent and start fighting directly! The Operative flatly refused. The two argued about this for half an hour.
In the end, Aquaman was actually preparing to jump off the plane alone to chase Black Manta. Thea hurriedly stopped him. Black Manta was just an ordinary person; did they really have to act like the whole team was about to fall apart over him?
"Arthur, my satellite has found traces of Black Manta. He is purchasing some equipment at a black market in Germany."
Actually, the "satellite" part was nonsense; it was entirely reported by Deathstroke's eyes and ears in the global black market.
"Let's wait for a situation with no people and take him down in one fell swoop!"
Thea generally supported Aquaman's idea. Doing it the old man's way would be a lot of trouble just to launch a surprise attack. Actually, it was completely unnecessary. Now, adding Thea, Diana, Mera, and their small team—nine people! Could more than ten divine artifacts not take down one Black Manta? Thea didn't believe in that nonsense.
Aquaman received unexpected support and gave the old Operative a provocative look. The old man had good self-restraint and didn't bother with the brat's smugness. He asked for the coordinates Thea mentioned and piloted the plane straight to Germany.
Thea redirected two more satellites over Europe, transmitting the signal directly to The Operative's plane. Facial recognition made finding Black Manta's eccentric diving helmet not difficult. Black Manta's figure soon appeared on the plane's display screen.
How to go down and catch him?
They all scratched their heads. Thea asked carefully and learned that Ya'Wara's teleportation artifact required a place she had been to personally or a person she was very familiar with. She had only met Black Manta once, far from being familiar.
Looks like they still need me to step in. Thea felt quite smug inside. "You guys put on your gear. I can teleport you there!"
"You can teleport too?"
Thanks to the two jaguars as a bridge, Ya'Wara was now the one in Aquaman's team who got along best with Thea. This girl who grew up in the jungle asked with some disbelief.
What do you mean "too"? Thea curled her lips. Yours is an artifact's function; mine is knowledge I mastered myself. It's not the same thing at all!
Nodding casually to indicate she "could also" teleport, Thea opened the Eye of Horus, observing Black Manta ten thousand meters below, looking for the best opportunity to strike.