Bane. Strong, tough, surprisingly fast, cunning, cruel and, while pumped up on his Venom derivative, impervious to pain. Now with supercharged Telekinesis, a gift of another Venom variant, not a person to piss off. His brain had been surgically altered to accept the original Venom derivative so the Mind-Venom worked quickly and efficiently on him, and his built up chemical resistance allowed him to take incredible doses and live.

Aquaman braced himself for the hurt as he was knocked spinning through the air by a telekinetic blast from across the large room. It felt like being hit by a whole lot of rock hard nothing. Force slammed into him at the speed of a racecar. The sea king slammed hard into the far brick wall and felt the stone cracking beneath him. He slammed hard into the concrete floor below, as all the breath was driven from his lungs. His head was swimming and his vision blurred. Too much too soon. The past several days had held too much pain. Bullets, burning oil, jagged rocks, electric shocks, fists and more. He had pushed himself too long without recovery time.

Bane was hurting too, but with two forms of Venom mingling in his blood he felt nothing. Nothing but rage and power. His hand waved and across the room he saw the limp body of Aquaman fling across the warehouse like a puppet being yanked by its strings.

Aquaman struggled to his feet; he felt blood in his mouth. Bane strode towards him, tired of remote damage. He wanted to inflict pain hands on. Bulky arms shot forward with their speed and power enhanced by his twisted mind. Any normal human would have had their arms torn from their sockets, but not Bane. The Venom dulled the pain in his joints and he lashed out again and again.

The remaining workers scattered for their lives. They no longer cared about their jobs or appearances, just their lives. The Manager stood to the side, his pear white teeth showing as he grinned. It had been worth the trouble getting Bane. Everything was coming up aces.

Aquaman swore bitterly in Atlantean as he collided hard with a table. Refining chemicals covered him and white powder clung to his damp form. Coughing, he saw Bane striding towards him, small objects vibrating and blowing away from his mental presence. The mist of fine powder swirled around Bane like a mini tornado. Aquaman raised his arm and fired his harpoon. Bane's hand shot up and grabbed the golden projectile inches from his face. He yanked on the cord that connected it to Aquaman's forearm and began to swing the helpless hero around the room before letting go and watching him sail through the air again.

Aquaman slammed into the wall high above the ground; he was almost at the rafters that filled the ceiling. He fell to the ground; the floor seemed to rush towards him in slow motion. The impact jarred him from his stunned stupor. "I have to use my brain," he thought as he coughed up blood. The last blow had cracked a rib or two. "He's not giving me time to recover, keeping me on the ropes. He knows I'm still stronger and faster but he's not giving me the chance to use that."

Bane was there again. Aquaman rolled over to avoid the blow; Bane's fist buried itself into the concrete. Aquaman's eyes flashed about the room as he searched for something, barely rolling out of Bane's grasp.

The sea king flipped onto his feet and bolted across the room, diving behind some machinery just in time to avoid a TK blast. The thick steel machine warped and bent about like tinfoil as Bane's mind lashed out. Steel shards and loosened screws filled the air. Bane hit it again and again; shredding the machine like it was being hammered by an invisible wrecking ball.

"Running away, Aquaman?" the Manager called from across the warehouse. "It's only a matter of time."

Aquaman continued to look about the building. He couldn't risk running out into the open again, he had barely gotten away this time. "Bane is powerful, even more powerful than Bisbet had been," Aquaman thought, "And he had the drug fuelled rage to amplify his powers and ignore the pain in his head. Any other person would have collapsed from the stress on the mind, or would have had an aneurysm. His surgically enhanced brain was built to withstand the stress from the Venom. It will not give out anytime soon."

"But he's still only human, unlike Bisbet; he had one weakness all humans share." Aquaman's eyes locked onto his target. He ran out from behind the his cover, dodging left and right as Bane's psychic power flashed out like lightning. Aquaman rolled to the right and raised his left hand firing his harpoon again, only this time not at Bane. The yellow spear shot out and into the steel gray fuse box. Sparks exploded as the weapon smashed it's way inward, the lights in the warehouse flickered and went out, starved for energy.

"Delay and run all you want, Seaman, I will break you like I broke the Bat," Bane called, lashing out at where Aquaman had been.

Aquaman frowned…he loathed being called that. He ducked to the side and a blast grazed him and sent him spinning around. His arm ached where it had been winged, felt like it had almost been wrenched out of its socket.

"A valiant attempt, Sea King, but Bane will still find you," the Manager said smugly, "You are both blind as *ahem* bats, and Bane can strike faster and from a distance at the slightest sound."

Aquaman ducked about using the echo of the building, "But we are both not blinded. My eyes were designed to see at 40,000 fathoms. I have no problems seeing."

Bane swung around to the sound and let loose, Aquaman dodged easily.

"Impossible!" Bane snarled, "This is MY battlefield. I wrote the rules! You are out of the water and hurt. You are nothing here. An ocean superhero away from the ocean."

Aquaman almost laughed, "You're making the same mistake other people make, Bane. I'm not a water superhero; I'm a superhero from the water. Dump Flash in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico and see how well he does, but stick me in Keystone and I'll do just fine."

Bane lashed out at random. Blasts firing in almost all directions, left, right, front and back. The Manager ducked and barely avoided a blast. Tables shattered and machinery exploded. Veins throbbed in Bane's head, his brain strained under the new pressure. Blood trickled from his ears but was ignored. Walls cracked from blow after blow.

"Where are you!?!" Bane howled, "Damn you, where?!"

Aquaman grinned, "The Sea has given me everything. Strong legs and body, fast reflexes, great eyes. It's also been the best teacher I ever had. You learn different strategies fighting underwater than you do in land. Like how to take advantage of three dimensions." He said as he dove from the rafters and landed on Bane's back.

The giant howled reaching for the smaller man clinging onto him. Aquaman reached over and put Bane into a chokehold. Shaking with rage, Bane grabbed Aquaman by the head and yanked him off, flipping the sea king across the room. Pain suddenly blossomed in Bane's head, stabbing sensation filled his brain.

Aquaman twisted in mid-air landing as graceful as a cat. He smiled. Bane roared with rage. He had made a huge mistake. When Aquaman had landed on his back the sea king had wrapped the Venom feed tubes around his harpoon. When he had been yanked off so had the tubes. Bane's vision filled red, "You'll pay for that, Seaman. I still have enough Venom in me to last all day."

"That may be but you're not getting any more, not getting stronger. In fact you're just getting weaker and weaker. It may take all day for the power to disappear but you won't be able to hurt a puppy soon enough."

Bane snarled and tried to wipe the smile of Aquaman's face with a blast of TK. The blast barely waved Aquaman's hair. A cloud of dust and debris scattered away from the enraged giant.

"What's the matter, Bane, having trouble focusing through the rage? You really shouldn't have gotten so angry. You still have power but you're so angry you can't aim it at one man sized target."

Bane rushed forward, Aquaman crouched down and easily flipped over the charging monster. "Constant swimming has given me amazing strength in my legs, remember. There's something else you've forgotten. I had so much trouble with Bisbet because he was a university professor. He had mental discipline and training, unlike you. The first thing he did when he took the drug was to build up mental blocks. Keep me out of his mind. Something you're not capable of doing."

Bane raged silently, his brain was on fire, he couldn't even see straight. Aquaman blurred and spun around him.

Aquaman walked slowly towards Bane as the colossus wavered and staggered about dizzily. He fell onto one knee, barely holding himself off the floor. "You're smart, Bane. Cunning and evil, but not trained. Your mind is an open book, even more so because of your drug use and anger. I've been in your head for long time now, making you madder, knocking down your concentration, affecting your equilibrium." Aquaman said grabbing Bane's head and lifting him up straight, "I won't dominate you. I'm not going down that path. But I can do other things. Turn off the parts of your brain affected by Venom. Reverse the effects of the drugs you've taken. Even cripple the psychic area of your brain."

Bane tried to fight but his arms felt like lead and his head swam. Aquaman probed deeper.

"I can also access your pain center. It's been shrunk from use of Venom, your sense dulled. I can amplify it, increase you're sensation of pain to twice that of a normal man, if not more. Torture for someone like you who is not used to pain." Aquaman continued his mind twisting Bane's modified cerebrum.

Aquaman lifted Bane up higher, holding him by the chin. Shakily Bane stood on his own two feet, Aquaman held him steady, "Welcome to agony," he said driving his knee into Bane's crotch.

Bane let out a high pitched squeak and stood there for a second, his eyes rolled back into his head and he crumpled to the ground in the fetal position.

Aquaman strode across the destroyed warehouse to a large vat. The Manager was working furiously to free his trapped leg. His once spotless suit was covered in dirt and shredded in several places. Aquaman kicked the wreckage off the Manager's foot and grabbed the smaller man by the lapels.

"Oh hello Aquaman…" the small man stammered, "I see you defeated Bane after all… good for you…"

Aquaman lifted the tanned senior to his eye level. "I assume that someone of your status on the island has the ear of the 'President'."

"Yes… we… we do business sometimes."

"Little economic lesson. Island nations like this tend to use their few fertile fields to grow cash crops. Tobacco, coffee, drugs, etc. They sell those to other countries and then use the money to buy food. Not a very effective system because they're buying food at a higher rate from a middleman. But it allows for greater profit for the upper class and government who can afford the high priced food. Meanwhile the working class starves. That about right?"

"..Yes. I believe so…" The Manager stammered.

"This is an official proclamation from the King of Atlantis. Tell your President. Effective immediately Santa Prisca is banned from ocean and sea travel."

"WHAT?!"

"Any use of the water, other than rivers or streams, will be considered an invasion of Atlantean territory and an act of war. Several patrols of Atlantean submersibles should already be surrounding the island to protect our borders."

"But you can't!! You couldn't!!"

Aquaman smiled, "As you pointed out so many times already I am the Sea King. Defending my borders from unwanted travel is well within my authority. As a grace we usually let people cross the seas unmolested, but that is a privilege. One I have now revoked for you."

"But... but what about food? You just reminded me that we have little crops!"

"Well if you hurry and bulldoze all the drugs and tobacco fields and plant vegetables you might have a manageable crop in a few months. As for the poorer regions I believe you'll find most people have small gardens already, how else would they survive? And the Justice League is always willing to bring food to starving people worldwide. So the poor here have nothing to fear. You on the other hand…" Aquaman dropped him and walked out.

"You can't do this!! It's inhuman! Immoral!" the Manager called out after him.

Aquaman stopped and turned, "I think you'll find several of Bane's mental blasts took out the support columns for the building." He called out, "It looks ready to collapse any minute now."

The Manager looked about and franticly ran out of the building. The roof sagged inward like it was made of wet cardboard and the entire building groaned and creaked.

Aquaman dove into the nearby river and quickly shot downstream. His chest hurt from the poundings and his ribs felt like they were on fire. He swam up to the Royal Cruiser and pulled himself inside.

"Well done, Vulko. Are our troops positioned?"

The round royal advisor turned to his monarch and friend, "We have the Island surrounded. Several ships have already been turned back. I also took the liberty of notifying the UN and the United States. And if I may say so, you look horrible."

"I feel horrible. I need a break. Tell General Perl he's in charge here."

"If anyone asks, where should I say you are?"

"On vacation. If it's an emergency, call Tempest. If it's really serious call me. I'll be in the Aqua-cave." Aquaman said swimming out.

The trip to the cave was long, so he used the JLA teleporters to bounce himself there. Finally was home, or rather his home away from home. The Aquacave was where he kept all his treasures and mementos, stuff that just wouldn't fit in at the royal palace. He entered the dry relaxation area, bandaged his wounds, and collapsed for a few days. A loud buzzer eventually roused him: the motion detector had picked someone up. The cave had been damaged a little while ago; when it was repaired he had added a couple extras.

He walked to the pool leading to the hidden underwater entrance to the cave, he knew who it was. A single figure exited the water carrying a large waterproof case.

"I see you brought it." Aquaman said.

"Do you have the rest?"

"Of course." Aquaman said holding out a large box.

"Lets begin then." The other man said opening the case and pulling out several large packages of Oreos.

"Alright J'onn, standard rules." Aquaman said shuffling a pack of cards, "Five card stud, nothing is wild. Crack open a box and ante up."

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The End...

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