33 Chapter 32

-[Mount Justice]-

The human sized purple crystal stood in the medical bay, various members of the league surrounding it and using their different methods to find out something new.

Green Lantern shook his head as he turned to Batman. "I don't know. I've never dealt with something like this before."

He and Captain Atom were of the same mindset, they performed different kinds of tests and it gave them more questions than answers.

With a frown, the dark knight turned to the final person who would be able to give answers. Decked out in the golden helmet and lord of order attire, Dr Fate let out a vibrating hum.

Kent Nelson had decided to put the helmet back on, relinquishing his body to Nabu.

"How is he?" Batman asked.

"He is alive, that is certain." Dr Fate answered, his voice reverberating through the helmet.

"I mean, what is happening to him?" Batman clarified.

Dinah who stood closeby looked worse for wear. Her beautiful face had signs of eye bags, signifying the lack of sleep.

It had been a week since the incident and they were nowhere closer to figuring out what was happening. The only person who was able to help had only just decided to help.

"He is undergoing a change. It is not dissimilar to the growth of a caterpillar to a butterfly. His body is being broken down and reconstructed as we speak." Fate said as they turned their gazes to the crystal.

Dante's humanoid shape could still be seen if one focused hard enough.

"What will happen after this…change? How long will it take?" The dark knight questioned.

"At the very least, his powers will grow. As for how long it will take…even I am unaware of that." With that, a golden ankh appeared in front of him. "If that is all, I have other matters to attend to."

Under Batman's scrutinizing gaze, the lord of order walked through the ankh, disappearing to his destination.

'He's hiding something.' Batman thought with narrow eyes.

At that moment, an archer dressed in green walked into the medical bay, sparing a look at the crystal before turning to the obviously distraught Black Canary.

Green Arrow walked up to the tired woman. "Dinah, we need to talk."

-[Keystone City]-

Robin, Kaldur and Wally lounged around in the living room of Wally's home.

"Come on, Kaldur. You gotta do it. I've been so bored around here." Wally begged the atlantean.

"I apologize my friend, but I don't believe it is that simple." Kaldur said in a truly apologetic tone.

"But you're the leader now that Dante isn't around. You can bring me back to the team." Wally argued but Kaldur shook his head.

Though Dante was out of commission for the moment, the team hadn't stopped functioning. With Kaldur being the literal second in command, he was made the leader for the moment.

"As much as I would like to have you return to the team, it would be unbecoming of me to simply rescind Dante's order in his absence." Kaldur explained, causing Wally to scoff audibly.

"I believe Dante wished for you to reflect on your actions." Kaldur added.

"I've reflected enough, haven't I? Flash won't even let me go on patrol until this 'probation' is over." The speedster complained.

Kaldur could only sigh at the turn of events. A whole week had passed and they had little to no answers.

Artemis has been consoling M'gann, though it was unclear who needed more consoling between the two of them. Superboy had been far more grumpier than usual and Robin had just gone quiet.

Kaldur had to be the one to pull them all together and Wally was…Wally. Kaldur understood why Dante had put him on probation so he couldn't just undo it.

He held back another sigh as he leaned back into the chair.

-[Unknown Location]-

Blue eyes cracked open as Dante found himself in a familiar place. 'This is my own mind.' He thought, looking at the mansion before him.

'But what am I doing here?' His mind was a bit hazy.

A frown made its way to his lips as he made his way into the mansion. He felt…something… calling out to him.

Carefully focusing on the connection, he followed it to find the source. Before long, he found himself in front of the familiar door that had always been locked.

The only difference was that this time, it was wide open. Dante's eyes widened as he peered through the doorway, his memories quickly returning to him.

Inside the room that housed nothing but a void, the glowing purple orb he remembered seeing when he was in the medical bay with Artemis floated ominously.

Though he didn't recall walking into the room, he found himself inside nonetheless. 'What is this thing?' He wondered as he inched closer to it.

[Hello] he froze as a female voice reverberated through the room.

There was no one else here except him. His eyes then turned to the…thing. "Was that you?" He asked aloud.

Suddenly, the orb glowed brighter. [Yes] It said, giving him a straight answer.

"What are you?" He asked cautiously.

There was silence before the orb began pulsing with light once more.

[I am the result of a foolish mortal attempting to play god.] Upon hearing that, a sliver of fear crawled in Dante's mind.

Seemingly sensing it, the voice continued speaking. [Do not be afraid. I will not harm you.]

"Are you reading my thoughts?" Dante questioned in a careful manner.

He had no idea what was happening here.

[Incorrect. I am reading our thoughts. You are me and I have become you.]

Dante's eyes narrowed at its vague yet descriptive answer. "You still haven't answered the question. What are you?"

He could feel something akin to exasperation from the unseen being, causing him to frown.

[There are seven major forces in the universe. Speed, Still, Strength, sage and some others. Each of these forces grants their wielder a myriad of abilities. I am an artificial force created through the machinations of man. I exist outside the natural order yet I am connected to the source.]

It paused as if to let him assimilate what he had just heard.

[Just like the mortal your kind refers to as 'The reverse flash' made his own velocity conduit, the immortal mortal Savage attempted to do the same.]

"How do you know all this?"

[Like I said, I am connected to the source. And as such, I have gained insight into my fellow cosmic forces. I laid dormant until you made contact with a catalyst.]

"A catalyst?" His mind immediately traveled back to the spark that occurred when he was about to grab the helmet of fate.

[Indeed. That spark was what I required to start the process.]

"I'm sorry, what process?" This was all moving too fast.

[The reconstruction process. Whereas the conduits of the other forces simply channel the power to their body, you are not simply channeling me. You are me. Your body would barely be able to handle the strain of housing a cosmic force. You will be reborn anew and much stronger than you previously were.]