Chapter 3

-[Dante]-

He and Superboy had left most of the explanation to the three sidekicks who went into detail about the events that had transpired in the previous hours.

He watched as the two green lanterns, the hawks and Captain Atom flew off with a contained Blockbuster in tow. The rest of the league stood in groups as they discussed what to do.

While the sidekicks plus Superboy stood huddled together, Dante stood a few meters to the side with Black Canary and Martian Manhunter in front of him.

"How are you feeling?" Black Canary asked gently. "I'll admit I'm still trying to wrap my head around this entire thing."

"I agree. I was not aware that it was possible to successfully clone Martian DNA, much less with human DNA mixed into it. Do you feel any discomfort?" Martian Manhunter said in an empathetic tone.

"I feel fine. I'm just glad to be out of that place. So what happens now?" Dante couldn't help but ask.

The two Leaguers looked at each other for a moment before turning to him. Canary took charge in speaking. "Though it is…unexpected, it doesn't change the fact that you're our responsibility. You're technically our son, that might be hard to explain but we'll manage." She said, raising her hand to lightly ruffle his blond hair.

"Indeed. I'm sure M'gann would be delighted to meet you." Manhunter added positively.

"M'gann?" Dante asked, feigning ignorance.

"My niece. She was to be introduced to the others today but there was a change of plans. I'm sure you two will get along well." The Martian assured.

"First thing's first." Canary said, drawing their attention. "Project Mars is just what Cadmus used to label you, you need a real name. Got any ideas?" She said, asking for his input.

"Actually, I do." He said, surprising her a bit but she gestured for him to continue. "Dante. It just feels right."

"Dante it is." Canary agreed easily with a small smile, Manhunter approving as well.

From the corner of his eyes, he saw Superman fly off, leaving a slightly irate Superboy to stare at him. Canary let out a soft sigh before turning to Batman who walked towards the teens.

Flash and Aquaman trailed behind him as they walked towards the sidekicks and clone. "Cadmus will be investigated, all 53 levels. But let's make one thing clea-"

"You should've called." Flash interrupted, getting a light glare from the dark knight.

"End results aside, we are not happy. You hacked Justice League systems and disobeyed direct orders. You will not be doing this again." Batman said firmly.

"I am sorry, but we will." Aqualad refuted as the slightly nervous look on the faces of Kid Flash and Robin disappeared, replaced with somber ones.

"Aqualad, stand down." Aquaman ordered sternly.

"Apologies my king, but no." Aqualad said, causing the king of Atlantis to raise a brow. "We did good work here tonight. The work you trained us to do. Together on our own, we forged something powerful, important."

Flash stepped forward to speak. "If this is about your treatment at the Hall, the three of you-"

"The five of us and it's not." Kid Flash countered, interrupting the man.

From where he stood not far away, Dante raised an eyebrow in mild confusion. Though they had somewhat built some camaraderie with Superboy due to freeing him and helping him escape, they had only met Dante at the tail end of the whole event.

He watched as they made their pitch to the dark knight who simply listened to it all, not even commenting as Superboy made his rather aggressive stance known.

"What do you have to say about that?" Canary asked, apparently noting his earlier confusion.

He noticed that the others had their attention on him as well, waiting for him to speak.

"I'm not going to give some motivational speech if that's what you're expecting." He said, slightly surprising them. "Though, I will say that it's only logical that we stick together."

He'd already considered his options beforehand. Batman wouldn't let a clone of one of the strongest members of the league roam around unsupervised.

For now, he needed the team in order to further grow his abilities. At least until he was strong enough that he wouldn't need support and stand on his own.

The three teens and clone stood proud and defiantly in front of their mentors, Batman's eyes narrowing.

"Oh you're going to be fun." Canary joked lightly, placing a hand on Dante's shoulder but Batman's expression didn't change.

After a while of silence, the man finally spoke. "Give me three days."

The teens looked between each other, Kid Flash shrugging. "Three days isn't so long."

That was when they realized the problem with that statement, turning to Superboy. Robin couldn't take Superboy back home with him due to Batman's secrecy policy and they didn't want to test how long Superboy could survive underwater.

That only left Kid Flash. "Hey Supey, how about you come with me?" The ginger haired speedster suggested before turning to Dante. "What about-"

"Leave that to me." Canary assured, interrupting him.

-[Later]-

-[Star City]-

Unlike what most would assume, though she lived in Star City, Black Canary didn't live with Green Arrow despite their relationship status.

"It's not much but feel free to make yourself at home." She said as she led him to the guest room in her apartment.

Though the room didn't have any personalized furniture, it had enough design to not look too plain.

"Thank you Black Canary." He said sincerely.

"Call me Dinah. I'm sure you must be tired after everything that's happened tonight." She said considerately. "Get some sleep, we'll talk more in the morning."

With that, she left the room, closing the door softly behind her. Dante took a good look around the room, nodding in acceptance before moving to sit on the bed.

He couldn't sleep just yet. He had a few important things to sort out. Adjusting himself to sit in a meditative position, he delved into his own mind.

Barely a moment later, he found himself in a dark space. Around him and in the air were large ethereal looking shards, floating around.

He looked down at his 'body'. It was simply his physical manifestation in his mind, an ability available to telepaths.

Each ethereal shard showed a different scene, all of which Dante recognized as memories of different points in his life.

He focused on what he wanted to do, willing his mental space to obey his commands as his surroundings immediately changed, morphing into something else.

The dark space was replaced with a grassy landscape that stretched as far as he could see. It looked so serene and peaceful.

In the middle of the comfortable environment was a large luxurious mansion. With deliberate steps, he walked into the mansion which was scattered and unorganized with broken furniture and miscellaneous items everywhere.

Telepaths had large but untapped potential, something he wasn't going to waste. One of the keys to success was an organized mind. The trashed state of the mansion represented just how 'organized' his mind and memory was.

With a thought, the larger pieces of furniture came together, fixing themselves up and moving to their natural positions. He spent the next few moments moving around the mansion and putting as many things as he could in order.

He'd also realized that the more delicate and precise work couldn't be done by simply willing it to be done or it would have been discovered long ago.

Focusing his mental power for a moment, he watched as a replica of himself faded into existence in front of him. After inspecting it for any flaws, he allowed it to silently get to work, organizing the more delicate things by hand.

It would take a while to finish up but it would be worth it in the end. He then moved to the rather large library area in the mansion.

Though the walls were clean and the environment without a speck of dust, the books which were supposed to be on the shelf were scattered all over the large room.

He almost cringed, knowing what the books were. They were memories from both his past life and new life, short as it was so far. Like he didn't before, he focused his mind, this time, making two replicas of himself.

He felt a light strain on his mind before it quickly disappeared. 'I guess I have to be careful with how many I make.' He thought as he gave them their instructions.

With obedient nods, they were around, starting their job of organizing the ridiculously large number of books. He almost felt sorry for them. The library itself was the size of a decent house so one could only imagine how many books they'd have to sort through.

Martians as well as all telepaths have the potential to possess a method of eidetic memory and the ability to instantly recall information but it was barely if ever explored to his knowledge.

With that done, he moved to his final destination in the house, the master bedroom. It didn't take him time to get there, opening the door to find a slender, dark-skinned woman with dark blue eyes and long black hair, which she sported pulled back with a golden diadem on her forehead.

She wore golden stinger-shaped earrings and an armband on her right forearm. Dante frowned as he recognized his target.

Sitting confidently and comfortably on the bed in the center of the room was Queen Bee, a member of the Light and his supposed handler.

Upon noticing him, the woman turned to face him, opening her mouth to speak. "Well what do w-Aaahhhh!"

Dante wasted no time, a beam of mental energy shooting from his eyes and disintegrating the apparition of the woman before she could speak further.

He inspected the room carefully to check for anything else Cadmus programmed into his mind. He was only slightly satisfied after finding nothing.

He then exited the room, moving past all his apparitions at work and leaving the mansion. He stood on the grass just outside the mansion, focusing his mind to will what he needed into existence.

He felt the ground shake as a large iron gate rose from the ground, surrounding the mansion from all sides. He wasn't done as a translucent dome slowly formed around the gate, adding a second layer to its defense.

In front of that dome, another barrier rose, making the third layer. He could feel the mental strain from the sudden changes but it would be worth it in the long run.

Letting out a tired sigh, he moved back into the mansion to join the apparitions in organizing the state of his mind.