As the spacecraft and station models began falling, people all throughout the convention hall screamed in terror. Then the superheroes reacted.

Green Lantern got up a safety net construct over the entirety of the massive room, which he held in place as the Kryptonians, Thanagarians and lone Martian began grabbing the damaged models and moving them away from directly over the crowds. Meanwhile, civilians began fleeing for the exits, helped in part by the incognito heroes among them.

Barry speeded away and back in a split second, having changed into his Flash uniform in order to help with the evacuation. Bruce remained in his civilian guise, directing people to the side exits with Helena Bertinelli helping him. Ollie was caught trying to get four uncooperative youths out, all of whom wanted to break away either to help or else find their own parent figures.

"Good day, boys and girls!" Eyes turned skywards with the ringing out of a male voice, and screams gave way to confused murmurs when trio of people saw the group poised in the rafters. They wore blue, grey and pink full-body suits with suction cups spread across the shiny material, as well as utility harnesses bearing a multitude of devices and weapons.

"We are the Squids! And as long as none of you fine people attempt to interfere with this robbery, we won't have to open fire on undeserving individuals." Around the boundaries of the hall, others in identical outfits appeared, each grabbing a nearby hostage to press their guns to. At the same time, the superheroes were forced to pause, as the suddenness and multitude of the bad guys took them by surprise.

Still crouched behind the stage where he'd been talking with members of the League, Kyle gripped his messenger bag close and contemplated how he'd be able to help. Side by side behind another exhibit, both Bruce and Helena were thinking furiously on how to slip away from the other billionaire in order to begin silently taking out the hostage-holders. Ollie had one hand gripping Roy's hoodie, another on Dick's shoulder, and by the force of his desperate glare alone kept Wally pinned in place. Behind him, Artemis was ready to disappear the instant she had a moment where no one was paying attention to her.

And high above, descending out of the cloud cover towards the damaged roof of the convention center, was a very oddly shaped aircraft.

Satisfied that no one was openly resisting them, the Squids positioned on the rafters swiftly moved and began climbing down, heading towards an interactive display contributed by Kord Industries. Hovering at the far end of the hall, Supergirl twitched as though she were going to try ducking out of sight in order to charge them, only for her cousin to give a warning shake of his head. Lantern, on the other hand, was able to extend an extra tendril from his net construct, sending it down the most unobtrusive route possible to reach Kyle. The youth nearly jumped out of his skin when the green light appeared in front of him, forming into a screen with words imprinted upon it.

If you can get to the Wayne Tech display, Batman stored some emergency materials underneath the stand. Input the code 20-1411-29 to get the case to open, and start throwing the things marked 'smoke pellets' as far as you can through the hall.

Gulping, Kyle tentatively tapped the construct as an attempt at conveying his acceptance of the mission, and then snuck off down the row of exhibits.

On the opposite side of the center, Helena noticed something odd. "Bruce. Is it my imagination or is there a man in a blue suit coming in through the ceiling?" The other billionaire blinked and looked upward, eyes widening as he saw the same thing as Helena: a man in a specialized suit was indeed lowering himself through a hole in the roof, the yellow goggles on his cowl directed toward the main body of the Squids attackers. The group were attempting to open the Kord prototype hologram emitter, probably to get the state of the art crystalline laser focuser inside.

"Something tells me he isn't a late-arriving member of the gang," Bruce murmured, scanning along the route that the newcomer was likely to take. The hall had continued to empty, with more people anxious to escape than to stay put for the sake of the hostages. Fortunately, the majority of the Squids seemed happy to ignore fleeing civilians, keeping their attention on the visible League members.

Which was why the sudden eruption of smoke clouds up and down the length of the exhibit rows took them by such surprise.

Bruce took the opportunity to nudge Helena in the direction of the nearest exit. "Go. Make sure the police know what's going on-"

"I'm not leaving without Artemis." The woman snarled back. Bruce frowned tightly, but nodded.

"And I'm not leaving without Dick." Recognizing something in one another, the pair exchanged nods, before moving stealthily towards the nearest confused Squid. There was a small boy held tightly in his grip, concerned family members crouched nearby.

As Bruce delivered a high kick to the back of the villain's head, Helena caught his right arm and yanked both it and the pistol away from the hostage's head.

"Jaime!" The mother cried out once her son was released. He ran back to the arms of his parents, but paused in the act in order to send an awed look back over his shoulder at the two billionaires. Helena smiled, Bruce nodded, and then they were swiftly moving off towards the next Squid and hostage pair.

Elsewhere, the unknown hero had engaged the main group of attackers, utilizing some basic combat skills with a collection of odd tools from his belt to take them down. As this was going on, Flash set about freeing more of the hostages, while the pair of Supers were stirring all the individual smoke clouds into a widespread screen across the hall floor.

Wally sent a pleading look to Ollie, who sighed and gestured helplessly towards Artemis - only to realize that the girl was no longer behind him. "Oh, fine, dang it, just go!" In an instant, the redhead had disappeared, while a few moments later a second speedster joined the first.

"I'll find Bruce." Before Ollie had a chance to protest, Dick had vanished into the smoke. Roy favored his foster father with a 'what did you expect?' look.

"C'mon, Ollie, this fight's pretty much over. Let's see if we can find a security office and remove any incriminating footage, okay?" Reluctantly agreeing with his partner, Oliver followed the teen as he headed for the boundaries of the room.

Artemis crept through the smoke, coming closer to where one of the Squids had abandoned his hostage in favor taking a defensive position between two exhibit stands. The fourteen year old had almost reached him when another, smaller figure in the smoke beat her to it by dropping down from above.

She watched with startled amazement as Dick Grayson didn't take more than fifteen seconds to disarm the guy, knock him out and tie him up. Then the kid disappeared back off into the pale grey smokescreen.

"Dang," Artemis murmured. "Get that kid a candy bar."