During the battle in the Prime Multiverse, Bryce had used this very technique to critically wound Mera. If Thea hadn't been there to treat her, Mera would have died—or at least been gravely wounded.
Now, faced with this near-impossible-to-counter technique, the group could only fall back and wait it out. Bryce could only produce a limited amount of ink in a short window. With proper preparation, it wasn't hard to deal with.
"Huh? She ran!" Only Green Arrow's armor had detection equipment. After the group waited in pitch-black water for what felt like ages, this was the bad news they got.
No point discussing it. Chase her down.
The dense ink had blotted out all visibility. Even natural-born aquatic beings like Aquaman and Mera couldn't see which way to go.
This was where Green Arrow's armor proved its worth. He took point and led them in pursuit.
When they reached an underwater rock cavern, Oliver hesitated. The magnetic field inside was unstable, constantly interfering with his armor. Black Manta, who also relied on tech gear, was similarly affected.
After a quick discussion with Aquaman, they made the call—don't go in.
Knowing the enemy had set traps inside and charging in anyway? That would be monumentally stupid.
Aquaman and Oliver both had impulsive streaks, but years of getting beaten down by reality had knocked that out of them.
"I don't believe she'll hide down there forever. Let's head for the surface," Aquaman said, then sent Oliver and Black Manta ahead while he and Mera covered the rear.
Their caution paid off. When Bryce realized they hadn't taken the bait, she was forced to go on the offensive. She concealed herself among a school of fish, slipping past Green Arrow's thermal imaging, but as she crept closer, Aquaman—who regularly commanded sea creatures—detected her.
A living human hidden among a school of fish. Aquaman didn't even look before launching his attack.
Green Arrow and Black Manta flanked from both sides.
Trident, water-splitting spikes, and straight blades whirled in every direction. Bryce couldn't cover all angles, and Black Manta punched a hole clean through her shoulder near the collarbone.
Pale blue blood oozed from the wound. She didn't seem to care in the slightest, simply controlling the current to plug the hole before throwing herself back into the fight.
"You've modified yourself to this extent!" Oliver found her both terrifying and pitiable. Forcibly rewriting your own genetics—just imagining the agony she must have endured, the suffering she'd been through.
"This is the price of power!" she roared. Her left hand seized control of the current to hold off Aquaman and Black Manta while her right hand gripped the trident one-handed, thrusting at Oliver with lightning speed.
On land, Oliver would have dodged this effortlessly. His eyesight and reflexes were top-tier even among superheroes. But underwater, his eyes could track it—the armor couldn't match his reflexes.
His only option was to channel energy into the suit's defensive barrier.
This armor was one of Thea's earlier designs. It wasn't outstanding in either performance or offensive capability—its only real advantage was the bones from a shark god worked into its frame, which gave it exceptional underwater speed.
Against Bryce's charged strike, the energy shield shattered instantly. The trident carved a massive gash across his chestplate.
The armor was mediocre in most respects, but thanks to Thea's well-documented fear of dying, she'd over-engineered the defensive plating. It held.
The blow didn't pierce through.
Bryce found this mildly surprising but didn't dwell on it. The crushing pressure of the deep sea would finish the job for her.
Oliver shot Aquaman a subtle look. Aquaman caught his tactical intent immediately, surging forward with feigned urgency—making it look like he was rushing to let Oliver disengage and surface to repair his armor.
An enemy trying to flee? Bryce wasn't about to let that opportunity pass. She launched a frenzied assault on Oliver, determined to cut him down.
Meanwhile, Aquaman threw everything into covering him, shouting things like "Run!" for good measure.
To press her attack, Bryce naturally loosened her grip on the water. Mera seized the opening, reclaiming control. Seawater converged from all directions, flooding toward the battlefield.
Bryce accepted a spike through the neck from Black Manta as the cost of landing another trident slash across Oliver's armor. Just as her eyes glinted with cruelty—waiting to watch the sea pressure crush him flat—a flash of white light rippled across his body, and he vanished.
What? Her intelligence had a gap. She didn't know Thea had planted teleportation gems on each of her closest family members. Oliver had served as bait, drawing every ounce of her aggression.
By the time Bryce realized she'd been played, she'd traded one enemy for serious injuries of her own.
Control of the water: lost. The wound on her neck: devastating. Whatever technology Black Manta had cooked up, the surface layer of his water-splitting spikes could slow the healing of Atlantean bodies—and carried a vicious toxin.
Aquaman wasn't immune. A bootleg Atlantean like Bryce stood even less chance.
"Hkkh... hkkh..." Blood kept seeping from her neck. Her stamina was draining fast.
"Give up! You can't beat us." Mera's forehead veins stood out as she pushed her abilities to their absolute limit. The weakening Bryce could no longer control the water and was crushed into an impossibly tight space, completely immobilized.
The pressure difference between the inside and outside of the compressed space sent her blood spraying in every direction.
"Stop resisting. You still have a chance to atone." Aquaman stood outside the water prison, making one final attempt.
Black Manta curled his lip, still maintaining full combat readiness.
Trapped within layers of pressurized current, Bryce smiled silently. Her smile was all cruelty and bloodlust.
Her body began to swell violently. Ink erupted from every pore, completely beyond her control.
The pressure on Mera spiked. She could only pour more psychic energy into holding the barrier.
Inside the compressed space, tormented souls packed in layer upon layer. The last thing Aquaman heard was Bryce's manic, exhilarated scream—and then the water prison detonated from the inside out.
Mera took the full brunt. She coughed up a mouthful of blood and collapsed unconscious.
Aquaman didn't have time to check on his wife. He grabbed her and swam as fast as he could.
Black Manta was no slouch in the water either. The black ink spread rapidly through the ocean. Countless fish were engulfed, their natural instincts overridden as they began feeding energy into the expanding darkness.
Aquaman and Black Manta swam for hundreds of miles before they finally outran Bryce's suicidal detonation.
They rested briefly, then used the magical amulets Daniel had prepared beforehand to verify the Drowned's death. Confirmed. Only then did they withdraw to the Batman Who Laughs' world.
The source of the nightmare had been eliminated. But the cost to this world's Earth was enormous—the black ink had contaminated a full third of the ocean. The few surviving lifeforms faced yet another extinction-level disaster. The water might eventually clear, but that was a very long time away.
Mera received treatment from the Indigo Tribe and the Blue Lantern Corps. She regained consciousness after a while, though she was still weak.
As the first team to finish their fight, Aquaman watched his wife's breathing stabilize, then finally asked about the other battlefields.