48 Chapter 47

-[Dante]-

Sitting in the driver's seat of a cab, he waited patiently, disguised as a middle aged driver.

As he sat there, he pondered on the new applications of his powers that he had discovered. He'd borrowed some magic books from Zatanna who was happy to help and he was getting the hang of it.

If he wasn't already learning fast, the knowledge that kept filtering into his head at nights forced him to learn even faster.

While he mused internally, the passenger door was opened as a bespectacled African-American woman entered.

The woman didn't give a destination but he started moving as soon as she closed the door. There were no words exchanged as she pulled out something from her purse.

He barely looked back as his telekinesis grabbed it for him, bringing it to float in front of him. He let go of the steering wheel, physically taking hold of it to examine what he realized to be a syringe containing a pale red liquid.

Reaching into the mind of his passenger, he easily got the details.

With all the knowledge he had 'gifted' Amanda Spence, it wasn't hard for her to figure out and implement the solution he needed to fix Superboy's power problem.

The pale red liquid wasn't actually liquid but a batch of synthetic cells that stabilize and emulate Kryptonian DNA while consuming human DNA.

Superboy only had half the powers of Superman because human DNA was used to fill up the gaps in his DNA sequence. This would eliminate the human DNA, keep him stabilized while giving him the full Kryptonian powers…hopefully.

It had been tested on the tiny amount of Kryptonian DNA that Cadmus had left and it did exactly that.

The only downside would be the pain that would come with it but what was a little pain to Superboy with the reward at hand.

It didn't take long for the car to reach its destination, stopping as Amanda silently got out. He had carefully edited her memories to remove anything related to the task she had just completed.

Carefully tossing the batch of synthetic cells into his pocket dimension, he allowed the car to drive into the darker parts of the city.

After making sure that no one was around or watching, the car morphed, changing back to its original shape, activating camouflage mode as it flew off into the sky.

A blue portal opened briefly, allowing him to fly into it as he and his bioship arrived in the bay area of Mount Justice.

Setting the bioship into 'rest mode' as they landed, he moved into the cave to find Superboy. It barely took a minute as he walked into the lounge area, finding Conner and M'gann sitting rather close to each other.

"Okay, play time's over." Dante said as he telekinetically separated them to either ends of the couch.

"Dante?" M'gann asked, looking rather surprised at his sudden entry. "Is there a mission?"

To his credit, Superboy only looked mildly annoyed.

"Actually, no. I need to borrow Conner for a bit." Dante said, watching M'gann try and fail to hide her pout.

Smirking in amusement, he ruffled her hair. "Don't worry, I'll bring him back soon..hopefully."

"Hopefully?" She asked in confusion.

"Nothing to worry about." He deflected as Connor realized what was going on, or at least, he thought he did as he got off the couch.

"It won't take long." Connor defended as the two left the lounge, Dante leading him through the cave.

When they were sure that they weren't in M'gann's range of sight or hearing, Connor tried to speak but Dante raised his hand, stopping him.

Snapping his fingers, the scenery around them changed. They were no longer in the cave, but now in a cold region with ice all around them.

"Now you can speak." Dante said.

After a moment of looking around, Connor turned to him. "You've got some new tricks. Did you just teleport us to the North Pole?"

"Yeah. There are too many ears at the cave so I figured we'd have a little privacy to chat and to give you this." Dante said, going straight to the point as he pulled out the syringe.

"What's that?" Connor asked.

"This is what should give you your full Kryptonian powers." Dante said before explaining the process to Connor.

"How'd you get this?" He obviously left out the part about how he got it.

"Don't bother yourself with that. The question is, are you sure you want to take it?" Dante shot back.

The synthetic cells had worked on a sample of Kryptonian DNA but Connor was a living being rather than a small portion of blood.

"If there's a chance that it'll work, I'll take it. I trust you." Connor said firmly.

Dante would be lying if he said that he didn't feel touched by the sentiment. "So how do we do this?" Conner asked.

"Since the syringe can't break Kryptonian skin, I'll have to make the entry point myself." Dante explained, getting a confused look from his fellow clone.

"And how will you do that?"

He didn't have a Kryptonite scalpel so he'd settle for the next best thing. Magical energy seeped out from Dante's palm, coming together to form a scalpel construct.

'Practice makes perfect.' He thought, taking hold of it.

"Though not weakening like Kryptonite, Kryptonians are vulnerable to magic." Dante explained, taking Connor's arm and making a cut with the scalpel.

Not wasting any time, he stuck the needle into the hole, releasing the artificial cells into Connor before the cut could begin healing.

For a moment, nothing happened, confusing them both, Connor especially. "I still fe-!"

His words were interrupted as he suddenly gritted his teeth in pain. Dante took a step back, giving him space as he gripped his chest and felt the mental waves of the pain Connor was emitting.

To his credit, Connor didn't allow himself to scream.

The artificial cells were reproducing until they completely eliminated the human cells and bonded and stabilized the Kryptonian cells. The process was no doubt painful.

After what felt like half an hour, the pain seemed to stop as Connor pushed himself up to his feet.

He still looked the same but he could 'see' the difference. The energy coursing through Connor's body was stronger and it was only growing, no doubt powering up from the sunlight.

"How do you feel?" Dante asked.

Connor looked at his hands in confusion as his focus settled before turning to Dante. "I feel…stronger."

The next moment, Connor was floating awkwardly a few meters above the ground. "Woah."

Dante whistled in appreciation. "You could say it worked well."

Despite the fact that he wasn't in control of his flight, the excited look on Connor's face couldn't be missed.

"What about in your mind? Any anger or overwhelming emotions?" Dante asked, sending the clone in thought.

That was the main reason for his mental training. In the scenario that the solution affected his mind, he would be able to somewhat counter it.

"Not really." Before he could say anymore, laser beams shot from his eyes toward Dante, stopping as they hit his barrier.

Superboy quickly covered his eyes, stopping the unintentional attack. As he carefully squinted his eyes, he saw Dante with a dry look on his face.

"We'll be starting with the basics." Dante said, despite himself as his feet left the ground. "Lesson One; Flight."

With that, he shot into the air. Superboy looked stunned for a moment before quickly following along with shaky flight control.