Chapter 35

-[Dante]-

His eyes darted between his team, an interested grin appearing on his face at what he was seeing.

He could see what looked like paths throughout Zatanna's body with…something…flowing through it. There was also a cluster where they converged around the gut area.

It looked far different from what he observed from Batman. 'I see. So that's magic and those are the paths she uses to channel it.' He could see where the cluster of magic was tethered to someone existing yet non existent.

His eyes flickered to Kaldur, noting the similarities yet the subtle differences. Robin and Artemis were similar to Batman in that their life energy had no special properties.

He was brought out of his musing as another figure crashed into him. Looking down he saw M'gann holding on to his torso.

"You're awake!"

He let out a chuckle as Robin, Kaldur and Superboy snapped out of their stupor. M'gann was an emotional person by nature so it wasn't surprising that she'd react this way. He was practically her brother.

"Yeah. I'm awake and I'm feeling better than ever." He said, ruffling her hair.

Kaldur's sigh of relief was heard. "I am glad that you're alright. The team has not been the same since your absence."

"Yeah! We have a lot to catch you up on." Robin chimed in.

Superboy simply folded his arms. "Whatever. I knew he'd be fine."

Though he said that, everyone present knew that the clone was actually relieved. Dante turned to the person who had been silent so far.

"Glad to have you back." Artemis said with a smile, as if sensing his gaze.

"Good to be back." He replied, causing her smile to turn a bit softer.

"Not to alarm you guys but we're surrounded." Robin announced, tearing through the jolly mood.

Everyone tensed as they looked around, excluding Dante who still looked carefree as ever. Large vines surrounded them from all sides, circling them menacingly.

"Why aren't they attacking again?" Artemis wondered out loud.

Robin let out a cackle. "Good job Dante. You scared the plants."

There was a shriek from above them as giant vultures swooped down from the sky only to be stopped by an invisible barrier.

"Huh? What is that?" Kaldur muttered.

"That would be my doing." Dante's childish grin hadn't left his face. "I placed a barrier around us when I got here."

"Dante? Are you okay?" Zatanna asked with a touch of concern.

"Hm? What do you mean?"

"You're acting…strange. You're like a kid high on sugar." She said, causing Dante's grin to drop ever so slightly.

"Then there's the glowing eyes. I don't think that's normal, even for you." Robin added, causing a frown to finally appear on Dante's face.

He knew he felt excited to finally be able to move but this prolonged and exaggerated giddiness felt strange. His mental barriers were still up and stronger than ever so he knew it wasn't an outside influence.

His eyes widened ever so slightly as he realized it. 'Outside influences, not inside influence.'

The force…his inner him(?)…was affecting his mind. Though not in a bad way, it still didn't feel comfortable.

[You could give me a name instead of struggling to find the proper terminology.] The inner cosmic force suggested.

'I'm not naming you. I'm not a ten year old. You're me and I'm you. Simple enough.' He retorted.

[I see. Your refusal stems from a lack of creativity. I understand.] It said in an understanding tone.

'Are you going through my memories?'

[These are our memories.] It defended. He held back a scowl, filing that issue for another time.

"Dante?" Artemis' voice snapped him back to the present.

"Hm?"

"Are you sure you are alright?" Kaldur asked. "We understand if you are not feeling well."

Dante shook his head. "I'm fine. Just got a little distracted there." He frowned for a moment as he focused on the vultures that were still attempting to break through the telekinetic barrier.

"What's up with them?" He asked.

"Turns out the mission is more complicated than we thought. There aren't just monsters in the forest, the forest itself is a monster." Robin explained.

Dante allowed one particular vine to pass through the barrier. Barely a moment after it passed, the vine was cut cleanly, the barrier closing back up.

Pulling the piece of the vine he cut off to himself, he handed it to Robin. "We'll need to analyze it back at the cave to figure out what caused this. For now, we complete the mission."

"Taking back the helm already?" Superboy threw at his fellow clone.

"My break's over." Dante retorted as he surveyed his surroundings.

He had noticed the energy flowing through the vines from the moment he arrived. Even plants had life in them, no matter how little. If his theory was right, what he was seeing was what passed as 'life energy' of the plants.

'Though I don't think they're supposed to be that much.' He thought as his eyes followed the trail of vines.

His sight extended, going deeper into the forest until he found what he was looking for. "This way. I think I found what's causing all this." He said as he took a direction and started moving.

"Really? How?" Zatanna asked, arching a brow as they followed him.

The team minus Zatanna had learned long ago to trust his decision during missions. Zatanna's reason for following…it need not be said.

"I'm following the trail of the plant's life energy to where it's the strongest. There's something that seems to function as a heart of some kind." He explained.

A look of realization emerged on Robin's face. "Meaning the closer we get to it, the stronger the vines will be." His deduction caused Dante to nod.

"Wait, back up a bit. You can see life energy now?" Zatanna asked in slight astonishment, earning a nod from him.

"Yep."

"I don't see anything." Superboy grumbled.

Dante smirked as he turned to his fellow clone. "Don't worry. We'll get you some glasses when we get back."

Superboy gave him a dry look, not saying anymore as they continued walking.

-[Louisiana]-

A short man with auburn hair stood in a warehouse fully equipped with advanced machinery.

The wrinkles and streak of grey that showed his age didn't impede him from his work. "Since Morrow's such a failure, it's up to me to once again prove my superiority."

A diabolical laugh escaped him as he looked at the two figures in front of him. "As much as I don't like hand-me -downs, orders are orders. By the time I'm done, I'll have a whole army of you."

In front of him was a tall red male robot with a yellow inverted trident symbol on its head and chest. Beside that robot was a red female robot similar to the first one, a yellow stripe going down the middle.

"Let's get started, shall we?" Ivo asked rhetorically.

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Author rant: Before I say anything else, I blame daoist_764, Carnic_321 and Yogg_Sothoth. Yes I blame you three for putting the idea in my head and costing me my precious sleep by putting ideas into my head.

In totally related news, I started a Ben 10/Generator rex crossover fanfic. Check it out in my bio. Blame those three…I'm innocent.

I planned to just write down the basic idea of the plot to use at a later date (I started jotting things down after what happened with my food wars fanfic) and before I knew it I ended up writing a full plot.

As in beginning to the end full plot. Couldn't get it off my mind so I wrote the first chapter.

Don't worry, I'm not dropping this or the avatar fic or the AOT one. I'll manage it…somehow…I think I have a problem…