Chapter 45

-[Star City]-

In Dinah's apartment, Dante lay on the bed, beads of sweat pouring visible on his face which showed a strange expression.

He turned and shifted in his sleep, his face scrunching up before he shot awake with a gasp.

His eyes were unfocused for a few moments after he woke up before focusing as he took note of his environment.

Raising a hand to his head, his eyes wide open as he recalled what he just witnessed. Images and information that he previously had no knowledge on filtered into his head.

'Nexus, what was that?' He asked.

[I'm not sure. There are no breaches in our defense nor are there internal leaks that could possibly cause this effect.] It said as he focused on the pack of information that had been forced into his head.

[Though the source is unknown, it does not seem to be a malicious attack.] It analyzed as a book shot towards Dante's waiting hand.

Gripping it, he concentrated as if trying to manifest/will something to happen. A few seconds later, there was a distortion around his hand as the book disappeared into it.

His eyes shook as his entire being froze. He had simply followed the instructions in the packet of information that seemed tailored to him. No matter how much he tried to peruse it to find the source, it only pointed to one direction; himself.

That gave him more questions than answers seeing as how he was obviously not the one to send it.

[It appears that the knowledge was meant to help you master your powers.] Nexus so helpfully noted.

'Could it be from the source or from one of the other forces?' He asked.

[Negative.]

What he had just done was apparently a simple application of dimensional energy. He had used said dimensional energy to form a miniature pocket dimension or in gamer terms, an inventory.

'Whoever sent this knows more about my powers than even me…' he realized, frowning in suspicion.

There wasn't anyone that fit that category at the moment, raising only more questions. The images that were filtered along with the knowledge were even more confusing.

'Just what is going on?'

-[Mount Justice]-

He sat in the secured room in Mount Justice with only Batman present.

"What happened?" The dark knight asked, regarding the details of the mission.

Batman had been the one to give him the mission but the only ones aware of it were the both of them. He had opted not to give a written report on the off chance that Red Arrow or anyone else could access it and unknowingly inform the clone.

That would, in turn, inform the Light that Dante was responsible for what happened to Strange and that he was connected to 'Sukuna'.

"You were right about them having a plan. They made it seem that they intended to free the convicts from Belle Reve but that wasn't the main objective. Their main objective was to have Waller ousted and Strange installed as the new warden." Dante reported.

"Who is 'they'?" Batman asked.

"Icicle Senior, Hugo Strange and the shadow organization they work for, the Light." The last name got Batman's attention.

"I suspected that there were forces manipulating events. What else did you find?" The dark knight asked.

"Strange was the most knowledgeable about them but it appears they have a telepath on their side. When I tried to read his mind, some kind of failsafe defense mechanism kicked in, shutting down his mind." He lied smoothly.

The dark knight's frown became more visible. "So nothing?"

"The opposite. I was able to glean a lot before it happened. For example, Sportsmaster isn't in Belle Reve and neither is Professor Ivo. Those are androids created by Ivo to take attention off them. The Light have orchestrated most if not all of the events we have faced so far."

"Cadmus, Mister Twister, Santa Prisca, Amazo, the fog, Titan, Black Manta's attack in Atlantis and the mission in Bialya. They are responsible and Sportsmaster is one of their agents." During his 'nap', the team had gone to Bialya where they found the new genisphere.

From the mission report, they hadn't encountered Psimon, but a titan induced soldier instead.

He could practically see the gears turning in Batman's head as he made the connections. "Who are the members of this secret organization?"

"Lex Luthor, Queen Bee, Ra's al Ghul, Ocean Master, the Brain, a lord of chaos and Vandal Savage. They are also secretly the board of directors of Cadmus who were responsible for the creation of myself and Superboy as well as other clones." He said, picking his words carefully to stoke the man's curiosity.

Obviously, he didn't get most of this from Strange's mind but it was a convenient alibi.

"Other clones?" Batman asked, taking the bait.

"There was an earlier attempt at creating Superboy which is still hidden in Cadmus as well as the original Roy Harper." He revealed, causing Batman's eyes to widen as he explained it to him.

How Roy was cloned and Sportsmaster being his handler. Safe to say, he'd never seen Batman so shocked.

'This is going to be a long talk.'

-[Later]-

His meeting with Batman had stretched on for quite a bit. It was agreed that the team and Green Arrow wouldn't be notified until they got everything ready to move.

They couldn't risk any of them accidentally tipping the clone off.

The mission he sent Zatanna, Artemis and M'gann on had been a success. Though he had nowhere to detain the monsters formed from the spores, he didn't need to worry about that as they both decimated each other into the very spores that they were formed from.

"You know, one day your dad is going to catch us." Dante said as they floated above the city.

It was currently night time and the cars and street lights below them created a beautiful view of the city.

"Like I said, that's if. I didn't take you for the scared type." Zatanna joked as Dante's telekinesis twirled her in the air.

"I'm not scared but he tends to overreact. Forget that I'm a Martian, he'll kill me just for getting near you." He said, lounging in the air beside her.

"Well if he finds out then he'll just have to get used to it." She said, doing a graceful spin and letting out a giggle as they settled into a comfortable silence.

They soared through the sky, enjoying each other's company. With all the things that were going on, he honestly needed this.

"Hey Dante." He turned to Zatanna whose voice seemed unusually quiet. "What are we?"

It was a question that they hadn't talked about so far. He could sense her anxiety growing along with a bit of fear as he stayed silent.

She was afraid of rejection despite everything that had happened between them so far, it was something he realized.

Deciding to give a more decisive answer, he flew in front of her, gently caressing her face as he pulled her in for a kiss.

He felt her shake in surprise before leaning into the kiss and reciprocating it. He could feel the anxiety and fear quickly dissipate as the kiss went on.

Soon, they separated, passionately staring into each other's eyes.

"Does that answer your question?" He teased as Zatanna let out a beaming smile.

Instead of giving an answer, she took after Dante's earlier action, choosing action instead of words as she moved in for a kiss.