Still tied up inside of the poachers' burlap sack, Flash frantically struggled and shouted to be released. Rocking and sliding around as the pickup chaotically sped through the forest terrain, heading back to the warehouse. Anxiously, he shouted for Green Lantern and Batman, making sure that they were following behind the truck. "Hey, Bats, GL!" he shouted as the truck slid to an abrupt stop, "You guys still there?" He asked apprehensively.
"We're right here Wally," Lantern replied as he landed on the roof of the warehouse and Batman hid in the bushes nearby.
"Good, because I think this sack is about to become a motion sickness bag..." Flash groaned, as he was lifted from the back of the truck by one of the poachers to be brought inside.
"I tell ya," one of the men laughed as he carelessly swung the sack in his fist, "it may not be lion, but at least we got one of Luthor's hairballs back."
"Yeah," his comrade agreed. "After the way Franky let that mutt escape, with the leopard," he said grudgingly, "and then the other three got loose!... This guy is a welcome return!" He joked as he mockingly poked at Flash inside the bag. Ignoring Flash's shouts and orders to let him out, the men continued to joke and congratulate one another on the lucky catch as they entered the warehouse through the garage. Watching as the garage doors of the building were slowly opened, Batman and Green Lantern stealthily crept closer to the building, watching intently as Flash was helplessly carried inside.
As the doors to the garage were slowly closed, Bruce and John began to formulate a plan to get inside. Surveying the building's perimeter, the two attempted to open several doors and windows leading into the building, but were unsuccessful. "There's gotta be some way to get inside," John sighed as he watched Bruce fail to open another locked door. "How did you get through the doors inside?" he asked, trying to determine if Bruce could apply his escape from his cage to their attempts to reenter the facility.
"It's not going to be that simple," Bruce replied bluntly, his focus still on the door in front of them. "This door is meant to be pushed open; the hinges are on the opposite side- inside the building." He explained as he stood up on his hind legs and tried to push the steel door open. With no luck, he moved on to the next door around the corner. When they discovered that this door was locked too, the duo began to reevaluate their means of entrance; but then, Batman discovered a single, large window, cracked opened near the top of the warehouse. Finally, the two had their opening, and expertly formulated a plan entry: John swiftly flew up to the window and- after confirming that the coast was clear- squeezed through its partial opening, gaining entry to the warehouse. Still outside, Bruce waited patiently as John sneakily navigated back to one of the doors and managed to help Bruce open it from the inside. Sneaking into what appeared to be the washroom, the two looked around at the various animal skins and pelts hanging on the ceiling and walls to dry and being prepared for sale.
"Let's hurry up and find Wally so we can get out of here," John said as he looked around, uncomfortable, at the various furs and stuffed game on display. Silently, Bruce turned toward the nearest door in agreement, and led the way out of the barbaric trophy room and began tracking Flash. Silently stalking the hallways, cautiously listening for even the slightest sounds of any approaching poachers, Bruce and John continued their search. After scanning nearly every room on the first floor of the warehouse, Batman proceeded towards the basement; having finally caught a lock on Flash's scent, he led the way toward the stairs, stopping short at the last door in the hall. "What is it?" Lantern asked as he watched Bruce pry the door open with his claws and switch on the light upon entering. Immediately, the entire room roared with the chatter of startled animals, frantically bustling and trying to break free of their confines as Bruce made his way through the room. "Is Wally in here?" John asked as he skeptically followed behind Bruce.
"No," Bruce replied while approaching a caged raccoon. "He's not far, but those poachers are just as close." He continued, opening a raccoon's cage and proceeding to that of a black bear cub. "We'll need to draw them away long enough to get Flash and find the warehouse's computer."
"So, in order to bust Wally out, we've got to set these guys free first?" John asked as he helped release a whitetail deer from its kennel, waiting for Bruce to elaborate.
"With these other animals running loose in the building, we'll be able to move without drawing attention to ourselves." he explained as the deer fearfully ran away from the brooding black wolf, standing beside the kennel's opening. Once the deer was far enough away, Bruce then proceeded to calmly approach the large cage in the corner, containing a young grey wolf. Standing outside of the pen, he studied the anxious canine a moment longer. Threatened by his presence, the trapped wolf snarled at Bruce, aggressively crouched, ears forward, teeth bared; the grey and white wolf maintained its apprehensive stance- its eyes locked with those of the dominant black wolf that continued to look sternly, through the steel bars, staring down as if it were scolding a child. The two continued to stare down as Bruce stepped closer to the cage, silent and stern, and watched patiently as the apprehensive wolf finally began to calm down and, submissively, back away from the cage's opening, allowing Bruce to open the cage and set it free. Gratefully, the subordinate wolf exchanged a thankful glance with Bruce before dashing out of the room and off towards freedom. Ignoring John's perplexed looks, Bruce proceeded to release several more animals before leading the way out and down to the hall to the next room where, locked up- with a torn open, burlap sack at his side- Wally anxiously paced back and forth, his head down and eyes focused on his paws before his ears perked and lead him to look up, as he picked up John and Bruce's scents.
"Ah, finally!" he sighed, watching gratefully as he friends entered the room. "Took you guys long enough! You got a way out of this thing?" he asked Bruce. "I've already tried your little hinge trick; might've worked if this thing actually had hinges." He continued as he looked up at the cage's slide-down door and heavy steel lock.
Examining the cage for himself, John flew around the sturdy steel cage before landing on its top and voicing his observation, "Looks like we're gonna need the key this time. As if they're gonna give us that." Studying the lock again, Bruce placed his paw over the keyhole for a moment before leaving the cage and studying the contents of the room. "You got something?"
Not answering John's question, Bruce opened a nearby utility cabinet and sifted through the various hammers, saws, and tools piled up inside. Finally, he backed out of the third cabinet, clenching two small needle-nosed files in his teeth. "We're gonna pick the lock?" Flash asked, his face pressed against the cage's wall, his muzzle poking through the bars. Acknowledging Flash's assumptions as he approached the cage, Batman slipped one file into the lower half of the keyhole before advising Lantern to do the same with the upper portion of the lock. Clumsily, the two worked in unison for several minutes as Flash watched, anxiously, from inside the cage. Finally there was a sudden snapping sound as the lock gave way; dropping the file, Bruce stepped back from the cage for a moment before directing Wally to help him push the cage's door upward. Once it was high enough, Bruce held up the heavy door alone, while Wally agilely slipped through from underneath. Once free, he looked to his liberators, and diligently waited for a game plan. "So, what are we doing?" He paused and look to Batman, "Any sign of a computer in this dump?"
"Not yet," Lantern replied, as he and Flash followed Batman out of the room, cautiously making their way back down the hall and up to the main floor.
"So we've gotta scan this place from top to bottom?" Flash asked impatiently. "Well then we better find it fast; the last thing we need is to get caught-" he was cut short by the perplexing sight of several wild animals stampeding through the halls. Confused, he watched the pack of raccoons, deer, and birds dash down the halls; naturally, he looked to Batman and cracked a sly smile. "Well this should make things easier." He joked as he followed Bruce into a nearby utility closet. Watching as he made his way towards the circuit breaker on the back wall, Wally quickly ran to Bruce's side and inquired about the plan. "I thought we were trying to find the computer so we can get out of here," he asked, as he watched Bruce study the various switches in the wall, "why are we turning the power off... again?"
"We're not," Bruce replied bluntly, his eyes still focused on the circuit breaker as he read the various labels above each switch. After several minutes, he led the way back out of the closet and through a corridor of the building. "The main computer is on the second floor," he said calmly. "We have to get upstairs. Once there, I can access the Watchtower and send the League our coordinates. You and John will go back and tell Superman and Diana."
"So you want us to leave you?" John replied skeptically. "I think you're taking this 'lone wolf' thing a bit too seriously."
"Yeah, man," Flash agreed. "I think you've already made these guys mad enough," he joked as he and the others watched two poachers chase the rogue wolverine down the hall. "I doubt they'll be happy to see you here again."
"We have to get Superman and Diana so that we all can get back to the Watchtower. I have to stay and work the computer, so you're the only other one who can track and lead John back to them and get them back here-"
"-Then I'll stay and help," John interjected.
"No, they'll need you, to help them get back inside. You can get out, the same way we got it," he said to John, before turning and checking to make sure the coast was clear, before running down the hall in search of the computer room, leaving John and Wally to go back and retrieve Clark and Diana.