Chapter 28

-[Dante]-

Standing in front of Batman, many thoughts popped up in his head at the man's question. On one hand, he could lie about it but then there was no lie he could give that would hold up to scrutiny.

On the other hand, he could tell the truth and risk Zatanna getting into trouble with her dad and getting her already restricted freedom even more restricted.

"I got help from a friend." Dante answered.

"Who is this friend?" Batman followed up instantly.

In the end, it would only be a matter of time before Batman found out. It wasn't like he committed a crime so he wasn't too bothered.

He could only answer with the truth. "A possible recruit."

"Zatara's daughter." Batman uncovered, causing Dante's eye to twitch.

'If you already knew then what's with the interrogation?' He gave the man a dry stare.

"Zatara is currently on a mission and judging from the Zeta Tube records and gps records…" the dark knight trailed off, though, nothing more needed to be said.

Both of them knew that Batman would find out either way. Him telling Dante how he found out was only to see his reaction to his movements being monitored, it only drew an exasperated look from the boy as he nodded.

"I see." With that, the dark knight took his leave, the Zeta Tubes announcing his exit.

'If Batman tells Zatara, he's going to blow a gasket.' Sighing, he made his way through the cave to the medical bay.

Upon getting there, he saw Artemis laying on one of the beds, her lower torso wrapped in bandages.

He frowned in thought before his eyes turned to Artemis. "You're awake." He said in a knowing manner as the girl's eyes flickered open.

"How'd you know?" She asked.

"You conveniently forgot that your leader is a telepath." He answered, eliciting a chuckle from her along with a pained groan. "You need to rest."

"It's not that bad. I'm alive, aren't I?" She asked rhetorically.

"Yeah but what if we didn't make it?" Dante wondered, mostly to himself as he ran a hand through his hair.

The med bay was silent for a moment before Artemis broke that silence. "Thanks."

"Hmm?"

"I was…unconscious for most of it but I remember what happened." She clarified.

'We were lucky.' Dante had arrived on time to carefully pull out the bullets from her torso for Robin to perform first aid. He had then rushed back to Mount Justice, flying at max speed.

He was only a step away from going to a random hospital and mind controlling a random doctor to fix her up.

"You shouldn't be thanking me. I'm the one who put you and Wally in the same group." He was the leader and despite how unhappy he was about the speedster's actions, it was the leader's job to take responsibility.

"You're a telepath, not a fortune teller." She countered.

With a sigh, Dante stepped forward only to freeze in shock as he found himself no longer in the med bay.

'What?'

He was surrounded by darkness with the only source of light being a purple orb glowing ominously above him.

'What is this?' He thought in confusion and slight panic.

Suddenly, the scene flashed and his environment changed as he found himself on the streets in an unknown city.

The people around him walked around him with uneasy expressions on their faces that were hard to miss.

A man walked towards him only to walk right through him as if he wasn't there. 'What the hell is going on?' He thought with wide eyes.

He turned around, his eyes widening further as he saw a billboard presenting a bald man in a green and purple mech suit. Under it was written 'All Hail President Luthor'.

Suddenly his environment flashed and he was back in the medical bay, his eyes still wide in shock and confusion.

"…ante? Dante?" His head snapped to Artemis who had a confused and concerned expression on her face.

"Are you okay? You kind of froze there." She asked.

Quickly composing himself, he waved it off. "I'm fine. Just tired is all." He lied, running his hand through his hair. "Get some rest. I'll be back tomorrow to check on you."

Getting an appreciative smile from Artemis, he exited the medical bay as a serious look formed on his face. 'What the hell was that?!'

He inspected his mental defenses and everything was intact. There were no holes or breaches which meant that it wasn't a mental attack.

'Then what was that?' His mind went back to the purple orb he initially saw. 'President Luthor? I don't recall ever seeing anything like that. It looked like Metropolis but very…very different.'

'Was it a vision…' he wondered as he made his way to the Zeta Tube. 'or am I going crazy?'

-[Artemis]-

She didn't know how to feel.

For so long, she had lived inside the shadow of being born to two supervillains. She had seen a lot of cruel things due to her parents.

Though she loved her mother and the fact that she had given up the life of crime, it didn't change the fact that she was once a criminal.

It didn't help that her sister and father were as active as ever, at least Jade was.

She had already resigned herself to the fate of being a prisoner of her own life, preparing for a battle that was never going to come. No sane person would want to associate with the daughter of super criminals.

At least that was what she thought previously.

Watching the blond leader of the team walk out of the medical bay with a troubled look on his face that he tried to hide, she couldn't help but feel bad.

He recruited her to the team despite her family ties. Though the team put her father in prison, there was no love lost between the two of them.

Having someone who knew about her background but didn't care about it lifted a large weight off her shoulders. She only wished that she could help him sort out what was troubling him.

'And yet I'm stuck in this bed. Stupid Wally!' She complained with a frown.

-[Unknown Location]-

-[Dante]-

He found himself once again in the void, the purple glowing orb once again above him.

"What is this?" Dante wondered with a hint of irritation leaking into his tone.

One of the things he disliked the most was being caught unawares. This situation was exactly that.

"Interesting." An echoed amalgamation of voices said as the orb began to shine brightly, temporarily blinding him.

As the light stopped, he found his surroundings had changed, to one that he instantly recognized.

No longer was he in the void. Around him were millions if not an uncountable number of stars and celestial bodies of different sizes. Despite the wondrous sight, what caught his attention was the silhouette of a giant balance scale in the center of it all.

On the left pan of the scale were eight red glowing diamonds with a flamelike aura surrounding them. On the right pan were eight golden glowing diamonds, not having the flamelike appearance of the former.

"Most interesting indeed." A disembodied echoed voice said as Dante's eyes widened.

'You've got to be kidding me. What am I doing here?!'