Chapter 48

-[Dante]-

"What happened?" Batman asked Dante, eyes burrowing into the boy.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Dante responded with intentional cluelessness.

A holographic image displaying video footage of Superboy and Miss Martian flying around the mission room, enjoying themselves.

"Superboy can fly now? Who knew…" Dante commented, easily spotting the frown on the dark knight's face. "What makes you think I have a hand in this?"

"A hunch. You're the leader of this team, I doubt you were unaware of the growth in his powers." Batman said, his eyes narrowing further.

Dante fought the urge to roll his eyes. "Just like you wouldn't divulge the secrets of the members of the league, Conner's secrets are his own to keep. It is not my place to say anything." He said, unflinching despite the dark knight's stare.

He could feel Batman actively trying to hide his thoughts. It was something he had noted as common among people who knew they were up against mind readers and had some mental resistance.

It would be laughably easy to tear through that 'resistance' but he digressed. He still had more than a few hidden cards to play in the event that something…unpleasant happened.

Seeing his attempt at grilling information from Dante had failed, Batman exited the secure room that had hidden them from Conner's super hearing.

Dante was very aware that Batman had been trying to put together plans to neutralize him should he go rogue and was aware of his lack of great progress.

Even the few measures that the man had come up with wouldn't work but there was no need to reveal that.

Making his way to the mission room, he found M'gann and Conner flying around, the girl giggling every few moments.

He'd ended up leaving the duty of teaching Conner how to fly to M'gann, letting them have their 'moments'. From what he could see, Conner was a natural.

In the corner of the mission room stood Artemis who watched the two fly. "They've been at it for a while." She said.

"You can't exactly blame him. He's been wanting to be able to do this for so long." Dante said with a small laugh.

A cackle echoed behind them as Robin lurked around. "That's kind of understating it. I don't think I've ever seen him this happy." Robin said with a knowing tone.

"Don't get smug." Dante retorted, a wave of telekinesis blowing Robin's hair back a bit.

"Hey!"

Superboy's growth in power happened after he took him out of the cave so there was no doubt that Dante was somehow the cause of it.

As for how they knew about their trip out of the cave, they hacked the cameras. He wasn't exactly subtle with that.

"Okay that's enough. Don't the both of you have school today?" Dante asked the flying couple.

An alarmed look formed on M'gann's face as she quickly descended to the ground, Conner following next.

"That's right, I completely forgot! Come on, we'll be late!" She panicked, pulling Conner with her as she rushed off to…somewhere.

"Wait a minute." Artemis muttered as Conner and M'gann left. "You don't go to school?" She asked.

"Nope."

"Then what do you do most of the day?" She asked in confusion.

Dante whistled innocently as he looked away. For some reason Robin and Artemis pictured a bored Dante painting on the walls of the cave, a childish expression on his face.

Before he could defend himself, a beep came from his phone, getting his attention. His eyes narrowed as he read a text that just popped in.

"I'll answer that another time. We have a mission." Dante said, his tone firm as he turned to face them.

At that moment, Robin received an alert on his watch, causing him to frown. "There's something going on in the Happy Harbor bowling alley. Reports say they're being attacked by-"

"Ogres." Dante completed, surprising them.

"Yeah. How did you know?" Robin asked.

Dante let out a sigh. "Let's say I have my own sources."

His 'source' was Queen Bee. He had rewritten her mind to see him as her one and only master, to do his bidding.

For now, she was to act normal, while also discreetly informing him of the Light's plans. The puppeteer had finally been turned to a puppet.

He made a note to pay Psimon a visit to make sure that his mental coma became permanent.

"Suit up quickly." He told Artemis and Robin.

It didn't take time for them to change into their uniforms while Dante simply morphed into his.

Forming a portal, the three of them walked through it, emerging from the other side at the bowling alley.

They paused as they took in their surroundings, seeing the destruction around them.

"Not these things again." Artemis muttered in frustration.

"I take it these are just like the ones you, M'gann and Zatanna fought." Robin inquired as he took out his explosive disks.

Around them were multiple ogres that looked just like you would expect the fantasy beast to look like, with the exception of being more monstrous.

"Yep." Artemis affirmed.

Dante's supernatural perception swept over the entire compound, his lips forming a small frown.

"This place is crawling with them. It's only a matter of time before they leak out of here." Dante noted.

"Shouldn't we call Miss Martian and Superboy? They can help. Zatanna too." Artemis proposed, drawing her bow as the Ogres took notice of them.

Zatanna was at her own school just like Conner and M'gann which was why she was absent at the moment.

Dante took a deep breath, pulling on the energy within him. "That won't be necessary."

At that moment, his already glowing blue eyes shone even more as he clasped his palms. "Besides, I need to make sure none of these creatures get out."

-[Artemis]-

She wasn't magically inclined like Zatanna but she could swear that she felt an unnatural power wash over her.

Looking outside through the destroyed parts of the building, she saw a purple barrier form around the entire building.

"I put up a barrier, stopping anything from coming in or going out. It's invisible from the outside. Anyone looking at it will only see the bowling alley closed." Dante explained as if sensing her question.

"Doesn't that mean that we're trapped in her with them?" Robin asked as the Ogres surrounded them.

Dante's usual confident smile formed on his lips in a way that always made her feel tingly. "It's actually the other way around. They're trapped here with us." Dante said, floating into the air.

The glow in his eyes became more apparent as some of the ogres stepped back in what appeared to be fear or apprehension.

"Now, let's get started."

She was a relatively normal girl compared to the rest of the team, maybe that was why she felt so hesitant to make a move.

Maybe he would find her boring.

She would never find out because the person of her dreams was currently unavailable and she was doing her very best not to do something stupid so that she wouldn't ruin their friendship.

Unknowingly, Dante's presence had instilled a calming effect on her, diluting her fear even while surrounded.

Despite being surrounded by creatures she was once sure were imaginary, she was calm as she notched an arrow.

Dante was happy the way he was and she didn't want to ruin that, despite the voice in her head telling her to do the opposite and make a move.

Pushing down those thoughts, she came to a decision that she had finally settled on after a very long time of deliberation.

She would just have to settle with being his friend…no matter how painful it was.