Chapter 7

-[Caribbean Sea]-

-[Dante]-

The six of them sat in the bioship as they flew to the location of their mission, Santa Prisca. Anyone who was knowledgeable about the DC universe immediately associated the island with Bane to which they would be correct.

The mission was simple: observe and report. In his opinion, sending in a few teens who hadn't been taught even the first thing about stealth was a recipe for disaster.

Robin was the exception but his immaturity sometimes led to irrational decisions. Dante could only shake his head.

There were a few things he wanted to change that would cause a large diversion to the original timeline but he couldn't help himself. His presence alone had already derailed it quite a bit and he had accepted that.

To make those big changes, he'd have to start with the small changes.

"Is there something on your mind?" Kaldur asked, bringing him out of his thoughts. Seeing his window of opportunity, he took it.

"Well there are a few things to be honest." Dante said, the attention of his teammates shifting to him.

"This is supposed to be a recon mission but with the exception of Robin, we don't exactly have a lot of experience in that." He continued, causing Robin to silently smirk in victory. "None of us have been to Santa Prisca before, neither do we know what to expect upon landing. We don't know nearly enough to simply wing it."

"Who died and made you the boss?" Wally complained but Kaldur shook his head.

"Your words are accurate. I sense that is not all you wanted to speak about." Kaldur said, gesturing for Dante to continue.

A small frown came on Robin's face as Dante spoke. "M'gann and I would be able to blend in with the island's fauna due to our shapeshifting and camouflage. Superboy's senses are sharp enough that they'd be useful in minding our surroundings. Robin is more experienced in moving silently so he could move ahead of the group to make sure we don't get seen and warn us of anything we need to know. In short, there are many ways to go about this."

"I see you have put a lot of thought into this." Kaldur said as he digested everything that was just said.

Wally simply scoffed. "Please. We don't need to do all of that. I can just run in and get our info before they even know what happened."

"And risk revealing our presence. As of now, the terrain isn't solid or spacious enough for you to effectively move around like that." Dante countered, referring to the rain.

It was exactly how their presence was exposed originally. Wally opened his mouth to argue but closed it a moment later. This repeated itself a few times with the boy doing a good impression of a gaping fish.

"You know, I preferred you when you were silent and scary." Wally complained after a moment, drawing a small smirk from Dante.

"One more thing, to function properly as a team, there has to be effective communication. No sudden disappearing acts or solo action." He added, turning to look at Robin whose frown turned to a light glare.

"Why are you looking at me?" He asked.

"Because you're the one who has the most probability of doing that." Dante said with slight exasperation. "You guys may have a certain method of working with your mentors but this is different."

The bioship was silent as his words sunk in. M'gann and Superboy had been content with staying silent throughout the conversation.

"What happened to what you said about not giving motivational speeches?" Wally asked, referring to what he said when they first made their pitch to Batman.

"This isn't a motivational speech. I'm just pointing out facts that will help the mission run more smoothly." Dante said.

"We've reached the first drop zone." M'gann announced, causing Aqualad to stand to his feet, switching his normal costume to stealth mode with the tap of a button.

He nodded to M'gann who put the bioship in camouflage mode. As they drew closer to the island, a hole opened up at the bottom of the ship, allowing Kaldur to slip out and into the water below.

Dante could feel the conflicting emotions from Robin who stayed silent. The boy didn't want to admit that Dante had a point; specifically, he didn't want to agree because it would make Dante seem like the leader.

Not long after, Kaldur's voice came through the communicators. "Heat and motion sensors are patched. Data's now on a continuous loop, move in."

They continued flying until they reached a certain point on the island. "Drop zone B." M'gann announced as they came to a stop.

As they all got to their feet, the chairs sunk back into the ship as a zip line dropped from above.

Changing his own suit to stealth mode, Wally turned to M'gann. "How cool is this?" He asked, trying to impress her.

The girl only had a light smile, only slightly impressed. "Very impressive."

Her clothes began to change, shifting from her white and blue color scheme to darker colors while also lacking the skirt.

"Well that works too." Wally said in a flirty tone after a short stunned silence, turning to Superboy. "Hey, Supey! Not too late for some stealth tech."

The clone was quick to voice his displeasure with a small frown.

"It totally worked for you." M'gann said in a dreamy tone, drawing Superboy's attention to her. Her embarrassment at being caught only increased as she stuttered to cover it up.

"What about you, Dante? What are you going with?" She asked in an attempt to shift the attention from herself.

Dante didn't see the appeal in spandex or over the top costumes. In response, his clothes shifted to a simple black hoodie and black pants.

"Seriously? That's what you're going to wear?" Wally questioned in amazement at the simplicity. "Kinda plain, don't you think?"

"There's nothing wrong with plain and simple." He retorted as he and M'gann silently lowered themselves through the opening in the bioship.

As they reached the floor, they were followed by Robin and Kid Flash who landed moments later. They looked up to see Superboy jumping down without a zip line.

As they leaped away to dodge, Superboy's body suddenly froze in the air just before he touched the ground. "Why'd you do that?!"

"Like I said, covert. Your landing strategy doesn't exactly scream subtle. We just talked about this." Dante said dryly, the clone looking away as he was released back to the ground.

Reaching out to Aqualad's distant location, Dante formed a mental link, adding the rest of the team as well.

[Aqualad, drop B is a go.] He reported, Superboy's face immediately turning angry before settling.

[Hey, what gives!?] Wally complained at the suddenness of the connection.

[There's no telling whether they have technology that can intercept our communications. We can't risk exposing ourselves.] Dante explained.

[Good idea. Head for the factory. I'll track your GPS and rendezvous as soon as possible.] Aqualad responded from where he was, not complaining about the link.

[This just feels weird.] Robin commented as he closed the map on his holocomputer.

[Focus. M'gann, switch to camouflage mode. Kid Flash, at the risk of sounding redundant, don't run off.] Dante said, giving the boy a look as he and M'gann turned transparent. [Robin, you'll go ahead an-]

[Who made you the leader? If anything, I'm the leader. You said it yourself, I've got the most experience.] Robin argued, cutting him off.

[We can argue that after the mission is done. For now, just humor me.] Though Dante said that so casually, none of them could refute any of what he'd said so far.

Swallowing his dissatisfaction, Robin nodded as they moved out to continue the mission.