They had just left the factory when the alarm went off. A klaxon echoed down the hallway, each shrill mechanical scream making Red Robin's heart pound in agonizing horror.

Immediately, he turned around and faced the resident shape-shifter. "Beast Boy, what the hell did you do?"

"Hey! I didn't do anything this time! Honest!" Beast Boy exclaimed, waving his hands frantically. "I didn't touch anything I wasn't suppose to—this time!"

Through the alarm, the teen vigilante managed to make out the words "intruders" and "Research Wing." Based on what they had seen recently, he wondered if it could even be considered research. Factory, manufacturing, those qualified, but research? Perhaps this time Beast Boy was innocent of the charge.

Even though he had a nasty habit of pressing buttons that had signs that said, "Do Not Press."

It was Rachel who pointed out, "It must be the other group. I'm only guessing here, but perhaps they found something and were caught."

"Hopefully they found the archives first before they did...whatever they did," Red Robin grumbled, checking the hallway as he spoke.

"Ha! Now I can rip on Cyborg for being the one to trigger the alarm this time!" Beast Boy cheered.

And him with Wonder Girl. If they got out of this alive.

"Okay, we need to find a way out of here before—"

"¡Allí están! ¡Mátalos antes de que lleguen demasiado lejos!"

He...had no idea what was said, but it couldn't be good. Having just come around a corner, there was a prison guard with a gun in hand, aiming at them while gesturing for others to back him up. Immediately, Red Robin threw a—grumble—birdarang and disarmed the man, knocking the gun into the air as the guard gripped his hand in pain.

While one threat was temporarily dealt with, his buddies had shown up and were taking aim. Good thing that Beast Boy was already charging forward, taking the form of an elephant. A black glow covered him so that when the guard began firing, the bullets bounced off the glow harmlessly.

Realizing too late that their guns were having no effect on the charging pachyderm, the uniformed men tried going back the way they came. Beast Boy decided to help them with that by raising his trunk, trumpeting an elephant war cry before swinging it from one side to the other, knocking the guards back into the hallway they had come from. That left the present corridor clear and the other teens plus a Tamaranian were quickly following the magic-encased elephant.

"How long do you think you can keep that shield up?" Red Robin hollered at Raven.

The disappointing "Not long" really dampened his mood even further.

Maybe it wouldn't be needed. Beast Boy was skidding to a stop before reverting to his human form, his thin arm reaching for the door handle to the stairs. Nice and quick actions, that's what the masked teen liked to see.

No sooner had the door been pushed open that Beast Boy came to an abrupt stop, Red Robin almost running into him. Fortunately, before a demand to know why the younger teen was stopping could come out of his throat, he saw what was on the other side. A bunch of the sex-starved, sociopathic convicts were on the other side, holding their homemade shivs and any other blunt or sharp object they could get their hands onto.

And no, none of them looked nice at all.

"Um, wrong door?" Beast Boy squeaked.

Suddenly, said door was slammed shut and a hand covered in green energy was welding one side of it shut. "We must needs find another way," Starfire stated even as meaty fists began banging on the other side.

"Right," Red Robin nodded his head, "back the…"

It was a shame that the entrance to the stairs was at the end of a hallway since another grip of convicts suddenly appeared out of another intersecting hall. That meant they were cornered by the inmates. all of whom looked really happy to see them, a few actually licking their lips in anticipation. Of course, all of them were armed with some kind of weapon made specifically for hitting people.

And it looked like there were more of them than were in the stairwell.

"Fine," Red Robin sighed as he rolled his shoulders. "Time to get rough."

There were prisoners everywhere.

Ever since Dr. Porter had sounded the alarm, it was pandemonium throughout the Research Wing. Not only had the guards come in force, but so had the prisoners. In fact, it seemed like both sides were working with each other.

That was not a discovery Black Canary relished in.

The hall she was in was covered with the unconscious bodies of the first wave of attackers. A second wave was closing in on the three of them from both sides. That was alright; while they had the advantage in numbers, the hallways limited how many of them could attack at any given time.

Cyborg had transformed one of his arms into a beam cannon, one he was using more for precision than flat out destroying everything. It had been decided early on that he would target the guards, ya know, since they had the guns. Fighting and dodging bullets was not a fun time. So the mechanical man took aim, seemed to wait an eternity, and then a beam of yellow energy fired from his cannon, racing through the air until it hit a guard head on. While the beam didn't roast the guard alive, it did knock him backwards, conveniently crashing into a prisoner that was standing behind him.

Apparently Cyborg could set his phaser to stun.

That just left the prisoners to try and attack up close and personal. One such man with a scar running from his forehead and down across his eye was one such attacker. Flying through the air, Black Canary swung a leg, her kick slamming into the side of the man's head and sent him careening the short distance into the wall, where he promptly dropped to the floor in an unconscious heap. The moment she landed back on the floor, Canary raised her arms up, bending her right arm at the elbow and making a fist with her hand. Her other hand cupped her fist, steadying it as she lunged forward, ramming her elbow right into the throat of a burly Hispanic man. The convict gagged from the blow as he shot his hands up to his neck, his body cringing.

Not one to let ethics or morals get the best of her in a fight, Black Canary turned her body to face the much larger man, all so she could draw her leg back and then swinging it forward, her foot nailing the man against his private parts. Immediately, he dropped to his knees, hands now grabbing his injured man parts before he collapsed to the floor, mostly from a lack of air in his lungs. Two blows to very sensitive areas made a man lose air he didn't have to begin with.

That left just two on her side. Both were armed with clubs and had every intent on using them. Canary backed off a step, causing one of them to come swinging at her with his club. She jumped backwards to avoid the attack, then shot forward just in time to get her hands on the prisoner's arm as he tried a backswing. Successfully stopping the counterattack, she kept a firm grip with one hand on the arm even as she raised a foot up and then stomped it down on the man's foot. Her opponent shouted as he unconsciously flinched back, though his hurt foot stayed where it was thanks to Canary's boot pinning it down. With her closest arm, she lashed out with it, the bottom of her fist colliding with the man's nose, giving him something else to cry about.

Canary then put all of her focus on the blunt weapon. Moving both of her hands, she grabbed ahold of it and wrenched it out of the prisoner's hand, pulling it to her far shoulder before she swung it back. The club slammed into the man's face and knocked him out cold even before he collapsed to the floor.

By then, his last remaining friend decided to attack. As Canary finished her initial swing, she then performed a backswing, timing it just right to block her last foe's own swing. The clubs collided with each other, stopping them in midair.

Immediately, Canary dropped to a knee even as she pulled her weapon back and arced it downward. She then struck the prisoner on the side of his knee, causing it jerk to one side at an awkward angle, causing an intense scream to rip out of the man's mouth. She then arced the club out and upwards, slamming it against the side of the man's face and causing his head to snap to a side. One last backswing ended him a moment later, leaving him lying in a heap of pain and unconsciousness.

Looking down the hallway, Canary saw no more prisoners coming towards her, at least for the moment. Turning around, she checked out how Tim's friends were doing. Cyborg seemed to be holding himself at the ready, watching for the next guard mingled with the remaining prisoners. Wonder Girl, on the other hand, was in the middle of the the guards, having somehow put too much distance between her and her allies.

That was a tactical blunder. Fortunately, the girl seemed to have the strength to keep her upright. Even now she was swinging a backhand, one that nailed a nearby prisoner and sent him flying through the air, crashing into a wall barely a second later. Of course, that's when another prisoner leaped at her, swinging a fist at her face, which she jerked back to avoid at the last second.

It looked like she could use some help.

Black Canary brushed by Cyborg, ordering, "Cover us," as she passed by. Picking up her pace as she headed towards the crowd surrounding Wonder Girl, she then leaped up into the air, leaning back as she extended a leg out in front of her. Her flying kick collided with the side of a prisoner's head, knocking him off his feet and into a friend of his next to him. As she began to drop back to the floor, her momentum carried her right to the next convict. Leaning forward as her feet touched the ground, Canary rushed behind the man and once again jumped into the air. Simultaneously, she drew her arm across her chest before lashing out with it, delivering a chop to the prisoner next to her against his neck, all the while, swinging another kick, that connected with the face of the prisoner next to him.

Both men dropped to the floor, making that three men Canary dispatched as she made her way around the circle the convicts formed around Wonder Girl. The next prisoner had turned to face her and was even swinging a crowbar at her head. In response, the blonde vigilante immediately closed the distance, shooting an arm up to block the attack, her forearm coming into contact with her opponent's, stopping the swing. Immediately, her hands shot forward, grabbing onto the sides of the man's head and pulling him down. At the same time, she brought a leg up, keeping it bent at the knee. Her knee rammed into the man's face, stunning him. Shoving his head away, she then forced it back down, this time jumping up so that her knee destroyed whatever was left of his nose.

The two of them landed on the floor a moment later, Canary on her feet and the convict on his back. By then, another prisoner was lunging at her, throwing a fist for her face. Spinning to a side until she had her back facing her foe, Canary dodge the blow as it sailed over her shoulder next to her head. With one hand, she grabbed the man by the wrist and kept pulling on his arm, forcing him forward while her other hand went to the waistband of his pants. Shoving her shoulder into the man's armpit, she used it as leverage as she bent forward, simultaneously pulling on the prisoner's arm and waistband. The man was lifted up into the air before he fell face first into the floor, a sickening crack! being made. For a moment, the prisoner seemed to stand there, legs in the air, face on the floor, but then gravity caused him to fall over into a heap.

Snapping her torso back up, Canary pivoted on her feet again, swinging out a fist as she did so. Her timing was perfect as she delivered a backhand to the next prisoner, stunning him as his head snapped to a side. Continuing her spin, Canary swung her other fist, ramming it right into the man's solar plexus, forcing the air out of his lungs and leaving him breathless. She drew the same arm back before throwing another punch, landing an uppercut that sent the man flying backwards until he landed on the floor.

Which left one more prisoner. A look of terror was on his face, which caused him to spin around and take off running down the hallway. He didn't get too far as Cyborg was suddenly there, one arm raised up at shoulder height. He clotheslined the man, sending him flipping feet over head until he landed on the ground, his body slumping into a pile of arms and legs.

Black Canary searched the hall for anymore prisoners, soon finding herself looking at Wonder Girl. The blonde girl was staring at her with wide eyes, arms limply at her sides. "You okay?" the vigilante questioned, her eyes probing for any injuries on the girl, seeing none.

"Wow," was all she responded. This caused Black Canary to raise an eyebrow, but not probe the situation further. There weren't any other threats visible, so it was time to move on.

"Cyborg, which way do we go now?" she asked as she looked to the teen.

Cyborg seemed to look dazed for a moment, but that was because he was sorting through his files. "This Research Wing isn't on any of the schematics," he said after awhile. "We're kind of blind here."

"Then we're going to have to find something familiar." At this, Canary began walking down the hallway. There was a moment before she heard the rapid footsteps of the two teens trying to keep up with her. "We'll need to find the others too."

Of course, that's when more of the prisoners appeared, rounding a corner at the end of the hallway. Canary clenched her hands into fists as she began to pick up her pace. "A little cover fire," she ordered over her shoulder.

Immediately, an energy shot passed her, striking the front-most prisoner and blasting him off his feet. By then, Black Canary was at full speed, closing the distance between her and the men rapidly.

It was time to get her hands dirty again.

There were more uses to a starbolt than one would readily see. Usually, Starfire would fire them much how a plasma rifle would, with consequences being damned. However, the life energy she found herself using was also a source of life and it did not require much to increase its brightness.

This was something these odd, human prisoners were finding out, having to shield their eyes as the Tamaranian blinded them. Such a tactic would generate hesitation, enough for her comrades to take advantage and subdue.

It was a strategy she used more often since she had begun joining Red Robin out on his forays into the city that was Jump City. Like back in that home away from home, the caped human male was moving past her and using his much improved hand-to-hand combat skills. From ramming a foot into one man's face, twisting in the air to kick the side of another's head, and then crouching down on the ground to trip the third, there was constant movement that she approved of.

Those sparring sessions he had been engaging in with Wonder Girl were showing its results.

Of course, you never left a fellow fighter by themselves. Firing the two starbolts she had formed, her blast burned through the air until they detonated on two prisoners, incapacitating them, she then joined in the combat. She took a measured approach, restraining her monumental strength so as to not cause serious, or fatal, harm to these human aggressors. Bones could be mended, as they would be learning shortly, but life could never be restored.

One of the larger attackers had regained his eyesight and was wielding a homemade club, or at least that was what she believed it was. It mattered not what it was, only what it was being used to do, which was to visit grievous bodily harm on herself. To her combat-trained eyes, she picked up that the human was a brute who relied more on his strength to fight than a technique that required precision and skill.

It was simple to block him with her lower arm, taking advantage of his surprise—if his facial expression truly reflected that—to deliver a blow to the stomach. Most complex organisms were vulnerable if you hit them in that particular area and this human was no different as he slumped forwards, arms cradling his lower torso. With a spin, she swung a leg and struck the incapacitated male, throwing him into his fellow prisoners and causing them to collapse onto the floor.

Two of Red Robin's throwing projectiles flew by her head, the orange-skinned female barely batting an eye. From the sounds of metal colliding with flesh and skull, she knew that her fellow teammate hadn't been aiming at her. In fact, she had been part of such a maneuver before, not only on Earth but in the last coup she had been involved with. Always close, but if done right, the ally was never harmed.

She returned the favor, nonetheless, firing a starbolt to knock away a large man with facial piercings who happened to be trying to sneak up on the smaller, costumed male. With almost practiced ease, the pair of them slid together, back-to-back, to reevaluate the battlefield and renew an assault if necessary.

Directly ahead of her, she could see a hallway that was filled with more enemies, all of them aggressive, but holding back as they eyed her warily. As for Red Robin, he was probably seeing how their other teammates were doing. She had confidence that the pair of Raven and Beast Boy were holding their own, but without visual contact she could not be certain.

"We need to make a break for it," Red Robin spoke up, his voice barely audible over the sounds of violence and shouting, yet she still heard him.

"How do you wish to break?" Starfire found herself asking.

"I mean, we need to leave. I know I didn't come all this way looking for a fight with an army's worth of criminals," the smaller male corrected.

Why had he not said that from the first?

"I see an intersecting hallway up ahead," the Tamarian warrior said instead. "I will need to push our enemies back if we are to reach it."

"Sounds like something Wonder Girl would like to do," Red Robin muttered. "Alright, do what you can. Hurt them if you need to, but try not to kill. I know we also didn't come all the way here to do that."

"Understood," Starfire nodded, her hands filling with her life energy. The enemies ahead of her took a step back, uncertain what to do. Their suspicion may prove to be useful.

Making an attempt to take advantage of it, she fired a bolt at their front-most feet she could see, the prisoners in the front shoving back against those behind them to try and avoid it. Hmm, very promising. She fired a second, watching acutely as the previous action was repeated.

It was successful thus far. Best to go all in before the prisoners regained their courage.

Rapidly, she began firing starbolt after starbolt, and now the prisoners were making no attempt at hiding their retreat. Their fear of what her attack may do to them outweighed their confidence in their own strength.

"With me!" she called over her shoulder, moving forward to continue the momentum. It was very easy for her to continue firing her starbolts and gaining ground until the hallway she had spied earlier was now accessible. She moved past it enough to allow the others to slip into it before she covered their retreat.

"This is starting to look familiar," Raven remarked. "I think we're heading back the way we came."

"That's how it'll have to be. We can try to get off this floor in there," Red Robin decided. "Let's go before we get swarmed."

They had no choice by then as the prison's inhabitants had gained enough willpower to block the intersecting hallway off. Starfire would keep them at bay, even as she retreated from them.

Pulling harder on the door handle than necessary, Red Robin held it open for Raven and Beast Boy to pass through, waiting for Starfire to join them before entering himself and shutting it closed. Already, Starfire was creating a patchwork welding job on the door frame so as to block access and buy them some time.

They were back on that catwalk in the factory they had found earlier, still noisy but with a lot less people in it. That wouldn't last long and they would be sitting ducks if anyone caught them up here. There was only so much space to move around in.

"Okay, what's the plan?" Beast Boy asked.

What was the plan? So far, he was making it up as he went along. Looking out into the multiple conveyor belts and the machine that hung over them all, an idea occurred to him.

"Since they're not going to be nice and let us walk out, I say we start wrecking their stuff. Beast Boy, think you can get over all that?" He gestured to the machine that continued to pour that green liquid, though there weren't any canisters to be filled right now. Someone wasn't thinking by leaving it on.

"Yeah, why?" the green shape-shifter asked.

"I want you to do that thing you tried to do with Blood," the masked teen explained.

All he got was a blank look. "What thing?"

"You know." Red Robin suddenly discovered he didn't recall exactly what Beast Boy had down. So okay, it had been a while. Oh wait...oh yeah, there it was. "The whale thing," he prompted.

Green eyes blinked before there was any recognition. "Oh yeah! I'm on it!"

"And what about the rest of us?" Raven asked wryly.

"¡Allí están!" There was movement below and guns were being aimed up at them.

"Shield!" Red Robin exclaimed, ignoring how shrill his voice became. The instant he registered the sounds of gunfire, a black barrier formed in front of them, bullets bouncing off it.

With his heart hammering in his chest, he continued, "You can hold them off. Starfire, make sure no one comes at us from up here."

"Understood," Starfire said, turning her attention down the length of the catwalk.

Without a word, surprisingly, Beast Boy shifted into a green hummingbird, wings flapping rapidly as he took off and went out of sight. The shots from below didn't stop and Red Robin could see how Raven's brow began to furrow. From what she had said earlier, she wasn't in peak condition thanks to all the inmates here and their negative emotions. Hopefully, this wouldn't take too long.

There was a loud, shrill groan as a humpback whale suddenly appeared over the pouring machinery, and there were shouts of surprise from the men below. Pulling out a couple throwing projectiles, Red Robin threw them both out and succeeded in disarming at least two of them. By then, unable to handle Beast Boy's sudden increase in weight, the overhead machine collapsed underneath the whale and down onto the conveyor belts below. From the pipes that emerged from the wall, that mysterious green liquid continued to pour out, only now finding its home on the floor.

There were screams and yells as the men below ran for their lives, trying not to get crushed by the collapsing machinary. Their flight would be stopped when Red Robin led the charge below, leaping off the catwalk and and using his glider cape to angle himself just enough to ram his feet into the face of one inmate. Bolts of green energy fired from above and detonated against any guns that were out. Good ol, Starfire, doing a damn good job at disarming these people.

Attacking a fleeing prison guard, Red Robin rammed his back into the running man, his hands grabbing onto the guard's arm. Leveraging the arm against hsi shoulder, he flipped the larger man over his shoulder, where he landed on the ground hard. The teen vigilante then called out, "To the other room! Quick!"

The humpback whale was now a bull, charging about and scaring away a few of the disarmed guards. "How'd you like this running of the bulls!" the shape-shifter crowed as he ran about.

Of the machinery that was currently a pile of scraps, a black glow wrapped around the larger pieces and picked them up. They flew overhead and were slammed none too gently against the lower entrance to this large room, blocking the way and making sure no one would be entering that way. Nice job, Raven.

Floating up above, Starfire held both of her hands over her head forming a large ball of green energy. With a cry, she fired it at the fall wall, where the other half of this manufacturing process took place. The energy detonated, causing an explosion. The wall, though, held; at least it had caved in a bit where a spider's web of cracks formed all around and in the large dent.

"Coming through!" Beast Boy yelled, now a rhino that was charging at that portion of the wall. Weakened by Starfire's attack, the centuries' old bricks gave way and formed a very big hole as the green rhino broke through it.

Already running, Red Robin was following after, throwing a projectile at a nearby guard that had taken cover behind some debris. The guy was popping out of his hiding spot, aiming his gun at what would be Beast Boy's rear, but would never take the shot as he was nailed in the forehead by the birdarang.

And then Red Robin was passing through the hole, bringing up his cape as a shield. There were still people in here and a few of them were armed. His arms shuddered as bullets pelted his cape and he took a step back even as he crouched low to the floor. Belatedly, he wondered where Beast Boy went because he couldn't remember for the life of him if the changeling had remained a rhino, or shifted into something else. Probably something else because he would have been the first to see the guns.

On either side of him, two of Starfire's bolts tore through the air and struck two of the gun-wielding men. Immediately, he felt the hits from the bullets against his cape lessen, but he remained defensive. He couldn't afford to peek his head out when there was still a danger of getting hit in the head.

There were more blast flying all around, and then those were accompanied by the trumpeting of an elephant to the vigilante's right. With his trunk swinging from left to right, Beast Boy was taking out the resistance to that side of the room easily.

That left those to his left. Many of them were dispatched when one of the large pipes up above was torn from its place connecting the large mixing machines and the wall to the room behind him. As the mixer continued to spill out more of that green stuff, the pipe was swung, with a black glow of course, and knocked away anybody who happened to be standing or not smart enough to get out of the way.

Now was the time Red Robin emerged from behind his cape, throwing two explosive projectiles to either side of him. As fiery flares stopped the remained gunmen, the masked teen was moving to his left, striking one of the men who had ducked under the pipe first in his chest and then to the throat, followed by grabbing the schmuck's arm and throwing him over his shoulder to slam onto the floor.

Taking a second to land a sharp kick to the fallen man's face, Red Robin spun around to take down a second...inmate. The guy wasn't wearing a guard's uniform so it had to be an inmate. Having also ducked under the pipe, but was holding a large wrench, the incarcerated criminal took a swing with the tool at the teen vigilante.

Red Robin pulled back and evaded the first swing, ducked under the second, then jumped to the side as the wrench was swung down from above. As the wrench's head struck the floor, Red Robin leaped high into the air, placing his hands on the inmate's head and forcing it down into his knee. Literally rolling across the larger man's back, the masked teen extended a leg out and swung it to land a second hit to the face and take this one down too.

Arms wrapped around him from behind, forcing his own arms against his sides. Narrowing his eyes, Red Robin activated the rockets in his boots for a second, allowing the propulsion to hurl him up into the air while simultaneously breaking his captor's hold.

As quickly as he had activated the rockets, he had shut them down and allowed himself to flip over while in midair, similar to how he had seen Nightwing do it countless times. And thanks to the spars he had found himself in with Cassie, and a few with Kori, he was already bring his legs up and swinging his knees into the back of asshole here's head. A little jarring for his joints, but it was still effective in bringing this guy down.

Landing on his feet, Red Robin did a quick scan of the room and found that the others were making quick work of the goons here. Now to continue with the wrecking.

Spotting what looked like a panel on the side of the large mixing machine, the masked teen came to the conclusion that that was what turned the thing on, or off. Now would have been a good time to have something on him that was electric in nature, you know, to short it out, but he didn't have anything like that. Oh well, best go with tried and true then. Pulling out one of his explosive birdarangs, he threw the projectile and watched as it blew that panel back to the freaking Stone Age.

Casually, he ducked under one of the prison's inmates who was sent flying by insert whoever you think was responsible for it. He barely batted an eye when another of these mixing machines took on a black glow and then crumpled in on itself like it was an empty soda can. He observed as he saw Starfire hovering over another machine and firing a continuous blast of green energy into an opening, the same one where they had seen these inmates pouring materials into. As this machine had its pipeline to the other manufacturing room torn off it, he could see and smell the machine's contents frying within.

Lastly, he spied out another entrance to this room, and figured that that was their exit from this place. At least they could see about finding the other group then getting the hell out of here.

Hopefully, for their sakes, no one would try to get in the group of teens' way.

Raven found that it was getting easier to concentrate and think in this place. Perhaps it was because they were rendering everyone they found unconscious so that their natural negative affect wasn't being detected.

Nevertheless, the empathic girl would love nothing more than to leave Peña Duro. Red Robin seriously owed her for putting her through this.

Their group of four had finally left that unforeseen manufacturing plant and were moving quickly away from it. It was fortunate that they hadn't come across any of the guards or prisoners here. However, that meant more running than taking a rest from all this excitement.

Which was why she was choosing to levitate. With the decrease in negative emotions, that too was easier to accomplish.

"Any ideas on where we're going?" she spoke up with the blandest tone she could muster.

"Trying to see where the others are," Red Robin responded. "Those three are still somewhere in this place. Hopefully they found what we were looking for so we can get out of here."

"They better," Beast Boy grumbled.

Hmm, sounded like someone was tired and expressing how cranky he was. How very not charming.

Taking a left—because this hallway came to an end and only allowed a left turn—the group of four barely slowed their pace. Further down, there was a flash of light followed by a boom that seemed far off, more than likely muffled by the thick walls. If Raven didn't know any better, she would have believed that was one of the energy blasts that she knew Cyborg was capable of making.

Which meant they were closer to the other three than she had thought.

"I believe we have found our teammates," Starfire voiced for them all.

"Beast Boy!" Red Robin spoke in a commanding tone, not giving anything further but it seemed the changeling understood.

"On it!" And there he went as a cheetah, quickly pulling away from them and turning abruptly down an intersecting hallway. The cloak-wearing teen could hear another boom, this one louder as they reached the turn-off.

"Get ready," their caped leader warned as he made the turn, a couple of his throwing projectiles in hand. The flying Tamaranian beside him was readying two starbolts, so the empath thought she best focus herself for whatever spells she needed to cast. Up ahead was a broken down door and no sign of any green animal.

And then a body of a screaming man came flying through doorway, faceplanting on the floor and skidding to a stop. As his legs flopped to the floor and he picked his head up, his face was then greeted by Red Robin's booted foot and his consciousness robbed as a result.

That was probably Wonder Girl. Most likely a throw as her punches never had such a comedic effect.

Entering the room ahead, Red Robin skidded to a stop while Starfire shot ahead of him before coming to a halt herself. Raven hung back, taking the position of watching their backs. The room was a mess, difficult to name what it used to be as most of its contents had been destroyed in one way or another, the unconscious bodies of both prison guards and prisoners strewn all about. Standing close to the other side were Cyborg and Wonder Girls, both poised and ready to strike. Off to the side, a green cheetah was crouched down, prepared to pounce. Black Canary was busy jabbing a fist into one guard's face before allowing him to drop to the floor, unmoving.

Whipping her head about, blonde hair swinging about, the Gotham vigilante spotted them and stated, "So what took you so long?"

"And hello to you too," the cheetah spoke up first. "You got some moves."

"Sorry, we got caught up," Red Robin said quickly before any offensive, or more likely frustration, could occur. He lowered his arms, still holding on to his throwing projectiles. "I don't suppose any of you three would know why everybody in this place is trying to kill us?"

Cyborg and Wonder Girl were sharing a look, but Black Canary didn't seem to have any hesitation. "We found a guy who shouldn't be in a place like this and when he didn't like what we had to say, he narked on us—and from what it sounds like, you guys too."

"Ha! Told you it wasn't me this time!" Beast Boy bragged.

Black Canary gave the green cheetah a look before turning back to Red Robin. "I'm betting you didn't have a good time either."

"Well, we found something big. A factory, you know, something that shouldn't be in a prison," Red Robin remarked. "We trashed it when the alarm was raised. Whatever they were making, I have no idea and I don't think it was good."

Strangely, the older vigilante and their two teammates shared a look between each other. "You don't think it's that Venom stuff Porter was talking about?" Cyborg asked.

Venom?

"Bane uses it to make himself superhuman and if it's as addictive as he claimed, of course he would want a way to make the stuff. A lot of it," Black Canary stated. "Especially if he didn't want any withdrawals. But how did he get it set up in this place?"

"What if this place is home base?" Cyborg suggested. "When this Bane guy isn't doing what he does for a living, or what he's doing in Gotham, this is where he comes back to chill?"

"Chilling in a prison? I can think of a million other places," Wonder Girl deadpanned.

That depended on how you relaxed. From her experience, while Peña Duro wasn't on her list of top ten places to vacation, she knew of much worse places. In comparison, this prison was much more relaxing.

"Well, the guards and inmates seem to be working together," Red Robin pointed out. "Maybe Bane's operation is way bigger than we thought."

Before they could continue, there was noise coming from one of the doorways. There was another rush of residents heading for them.

"I am so tired of this," Black Canary growled as she turned to face the doorway. "Cover your ears."

Now, Raven barely caught sight of him, but she noticed how big Red Robin's eyes were behind his domino mask before he instantly dropped to one knee and clamped his hands over his ears. The rest of them could only share looks of confusion as Black Canary took up post in front of their group, facing the emerging, charging crowd of prisoners, all of whom were filled to the brim with malicious intent.

And then Black Canary screamed.

By Azar!

The most piercing scream she had ever heard ripped forth from the blonde woman's mouth. With no effort, that scream destroyed any and all focus and concentration the cloak-wearing teen had spent years building up as her brain cried out in agony. Too late were her hands covering her ears, and she could still hear the remnants of that scream echoing in her head.

Other than Red Robin, the rest fared no better. Starfire had fallen out of the air and was crouched on her knees. Wonder Girl was still on her feet, her face contorted in pain. Beast Boy had returned to his human form, hands clutching the sides of his head. Cyborg was also on his feet, but his human eye looked like it was rolling up into his socket.

To save time, they all had their hands pressed against their ears.

But there was more to this scream than just it's inhuman pitch. Some unseen force slammed into the far wall, which caused the doorway to buckled. The prisoners had all come to a stop, and somehow, impossibly, were thrown back the way they came like some invisible force had hit them with all the power of a freight train.

It was...difficult to know how long it lasted as by then, Raven had closed her eyes shut. It took a hand on her shoulder to anchor herself, and eventually, she forced her eyelids open to find a concerned Black Canary looming over her.

Now, Raven didn't exactly hear her, but she had developed a talent for lipreading. Not that she had a lot of opportunity to use but it came in handy now as the blonde woman spoke.

"Told you to cover your ears."

A shame that she could not argue that she hadn't had advance warning.

Suddenly, all of the threatsthe blonde woman had made to raise her voice made a lot of sense.

It took some time—a lot of time—but it was a period where no one sprung a surprise attack on them. Perhaps that scream had scared anyone else intending to harm them away. Naturally, it was taken advantage of to regain some hearing and...recover.

"I think everyone's ready. Right, Beastie?"

"What?"

Most of them.

"Okay, so you mentioned you destroyed the factory?" Black Canary asked, directing her attention to Red Robin.

"Didn't leave an inch of it unscathed," the teen confirmed. "Even if they can repair it, it'll take a long time to do it. Hopefully it'll be enough time for us to take Bane down."

"Uh, question?" And Cyborg was raising a hand too. "We're guessing they were mass producing this Venom crap? If they are, uh, where are they keeping it all?"

Not a bad question, actually, and it was an alarming one. Based on what she had seen, they were making a large amount of this Venom. You couldn't stack it in a corner and forget about it. You needed to keep it somewhere until it was needed.

Wonder Girl sighed. "We're going to have to find where they're keeping it, aren't we?"

"What?!"

With a groan, the door opened. Light fell over the stockpile of canisters, all filled to the brim with Venom. Whatever the intentions for all this was, it couldn't be good.

It hadn't taken as long of a time to find this stockpile and the resistance the prison had was damn near non-existent. That made searching for the Venom easier than expected.

Impassively, Red Robin stared at it all, too tired to give any kind of over exaggerated response to it. Trudging through this hell hole, fighting guards and inmates alike, had drained him of energy. As impressive as the multitude of canisters would have been, Red Robin didn't have a care left to give. Instead, he looked over to Starfire and asked. "Care to nuke all this?"

"Commencing with the nuking," Starfire agreed as she held her hands close together, creating a larger than normal starbolt.

Without another word, the masked teen took a step back while the Tamaranian fired a large blast of green energy, consuming all the canisters in its green light.