Author's Notes
To JP-Ryder, the next few chapters are going to be very big in scale - there's going to be plenty of action that begins with this chapter and will continue on for at least two more.
To shadowyshadow, everything from chapter one to now connects and there are definitely a few minute things you may not have noticed in the early chapters that will pay off to come.
Okay, readers. We're in the last fifth of The Caged Bird Sings and things are winding down quickly. And before we begin, the ending of this chapter definitely may cause some of you to yell in anger; before you flame, remember I do have a plan! JP-Ryder can attest to that.
Now, let's continue the story.
The Titans were getting ready for their attempt to break Raven out of Belle Reve, of which they only had one shot. If they failed, they would most certainly be dead and Cadmus would effectively have Raven to use as their weapon. It was more than just their lives on the line, it was those of almost every single hero (and villain) on the planet, as Amanda Waller's operatives have proved that they can get to anyone anywhere, such as they proved with heroes such as Plastic Man, Black Lightning, and Atom, as well as villains such as Toyman, Riddler, and Cheshire.
Each of the four already had their assigned roles - Nightwing would infiltrate the prison to get Ravager, Starfire would secure the coroner's van (and Raven), Cyborg would disable some of the inhibitor collars to cause a riot, while Animal Man would download all of Waller's files to prove that she was the mastermind of the entire Cadmus operation.
With this came a lot of risks - they weren't even sure whose collars they would be unlocking. Because of the modifications of Raven's collar (which was being used to inject her with the Demon's Hand), her collar wasn't on the Belle Reve network, which meant they couldn't disable her collar - they'd need to directly get into Amanda Waller's office and locate the device that controlled Raven's collar directly. Of course, they could just remove her collar directly, but they weren't quite sure where she was, and they weren't certain of her reaction towards them, considering how she was still imprisoned for four years.
There was a lot they needed to figure out, but they didn't have the time. Down in the main operations room, Nightwing was finishing the touches on Cyborg's portable computer, which would enable him to get into Belle Reve's inhibitor collar system without too much difficulty. Of course, he couldn't access anything else as they were on different servers, the most secure of which being the server that housed Waller's files. They had to be accessed directly.
In the garage, Cyborg was working on their ride - a modified version of the T-Jet modified for stealth. Not only did they not want Belle Reve to know that they were coming, they also didn't want the League to find out - they decided that if the League didn't know about the attempted breakout, then they wouldn't face any of the charges. The Titans were in a very shitty position now, stuck between a rock and a hard place - if they succeeded, they would very likely face charges for assisting in the breakout of known criminals and hacking into a government prison; if they fail, then they would die. But weren't their lives already hanging in the balance?
Starfire and Animal Man were looking through the blueprints of Belle Reve, examining their parts in the breakout. Starfire located the garage and was working out a rough way to get inside in order to secure the coroner's van. Animal Man, meanwhile, examined the vents and was thinking of how to get inside of the ventilation system and then to Amanda Waller's office. He needed to get in and get out as fast as he could, because if Waller caught him, he would most likely be killed almost immediately.
Nightwing had already gotten a roll call of every prisoner in Belle Reve, so he knew who was in what cell, specifically which cell block Ravager and Raven were in, as well as the other prisoners that they didn't want to have to encounter, such as Killer Frost, Madame Rouge, Killer Croc, and so many others.
As he continued working, Nightwing suddenly heard knocking on the Tower door. Walking over to the door, he opened it to see a package, which was tightly bound in the black wrap. Opening it up, Nightwing saw a dark blue spandex suit with both a shirt and pants, plus orange gloves and boots, as well as a belt and two-tone bandanna, which much like Slade's, was half orange, half black. In there, he also saw what appeared to be two sword hilts and a note. Reading the note, he saw it read, 'For my daughter.'
Realizing that it was Ravager's equipment, he resealed the package and brought it down to the garage for the journey - they were likely going to need Ravager if Waller was going to come after them. Which she would. Waller wasn't an idiot - she was very intelligent, very savvy; it was only a matter of time before she knew they had Raven, and by know she had figured they were on to her. Therefore, they couldn't allow Waller to know they were even here. The only question was whether or not they could get in without her knowing.
She had already sent Cassandra Cain to kill them; actually, she had made two attempts on their lives - the first being Kardiak and Overload, both of whom were blown up in an attempt to destroy them. Much like with Madame Rouge, Waller must have acquired them from the Brotherhood's base in Paris and then fitted them with explosives.
Already by now, close to eighty percent of the Demon's Hand concentrate had gone into Raven's bloodstream - once that hit 100 percent, Waller would be able to permanently control her at will. Even though not all of the concentrate had gone into her bloodstream, enough had so that Waller could remotely control her, just like the Joker and Harley Quinn did four years earlier. If Waller knew they had escaped, the most likely way she would go after them would be using Raven, and that meant it was going to be an incredibly difficult fight ahead, one the Titans knew they couldn't win.
It seemed as if everything was out to kill them - that there was nothing they could do that wouldn't result in Waller getting their heads. But, if death was a seeming certainty by doing nothing, then they wouldn't have much to lose by doing something to stop it.
Once Nightwing had finished working on Cyborg's laptop, he went down to the garage, where Cyborg was finishing the touches on their stealth T-Jet. He asked the half-robot, "Are we ready to go?"
"Just about ready. Are you sure about this? I mean, we're going to trigger a break-out attempt slash riot in the world's most secure prison filled with some of the deadliest inmates. It's a near certainty that there will be death, probably a lot of innocent deaths on our hands. Even if we free Raven, it's going to come at an extremely high cost. This may be our final op as Titans."
"Maybe, but we haven't been whole in so long. We won't truly be Titans again until we get Raven back. We're just going to have to get lucky and hope that no guards die."
Then, Animal Man and Starfire came down to the garage, ready to go to Belle Reve. Nightwing asked them, "Are you sure you want to do this?"
Animal Man answered, "Bring it, dude. We've been ready for years now."
"Okay then. Titans Go!" With that, the four Titans boarded the T-Jet and it then proceeded to take off, now on what may be a one-way trip to Belle Reve.
At the Watchtower, Superman stood at the data computer looking over one of the files of his deceased cousin. After his talk with the now deceased Emil Hamilton, Superman has been updating her profile while thinking over what Hamilton said. The man of steel looks at the profile picture of his cousin with a sadden look. The thought of Kara's body being used for sinister purposes disturbs him. He then starts updating the file, editing the status of the cause of death to "Murdered by Amanda Waller" from the previous "Murdered by Dr. Emil Hamilton".
"Looking over Kara's profiles?" spoke a gruff voice as Superman knew who was behind him.
"I miss her too, Bruce." Superman respond as Batman walks towards his best friend.
"Care to tell me what happened?" Batman inquired as he can tell from the Kryptonian's body language that something came up.
"I've met Dr. Hamilton at the Blue Mesa Dam. He explained to me some things related to the Waller Conspiracy."
"Hamilton? How can you be sure to trust him? Especially after finding out he worked for Cadmus. I thought your relationship fell apart after the whole Darkseid incident." The dark knight asked.
"Hamilton and I may have our differences, but even he knew Waller went too far." Superman states as he began to tell the detective what Hamilton explained to him. Batman's expression was still neutral, but after hearing the details about what happened to Supergirl and of course what made the dark knight almost chill running down through his spine, Brainiac has made an alliance with Amanda Waller and eventually Hamilton's suicide and prevention of being saved from Superman.
After hearing the explanation, Batman then spoke "Brainiac...I should've realized it. Someone that calculating along with Waller are the most dangerous forces to be recognized. But I thought Brainiac was destroyed."
"You can't kill something that isn't alive." Superman states. "And from what I can tell, you're looking more agitated than I was."
"I was confronted by Ra's Al Ghul." he said as Superman's eyes widen. "He said to me that the League of Assassins were attacked by Cadmus and the result was Talia's death."
"I'm sorry about Talia, Bruce." Superman said to him.
"I am. But Ra's also told me that she has a son."
"A son? Don't tell her son's-"
"Mine. Of course, from what I heard, he wasn't trained to kill."
"Well hopefully he doesn't turn out to be you."
"Highly doubtful."
Superman sighs as he said "Man, I don't know who's going to be mad at you, Catwoman or Diana..." the powerful boy scout then made a realization, a thought came into mind. "Ra's, of course!"
"What?" Batman asked.
"Brainiac by this point knew that he was compromised. Right now eliminating the Titans will be the top priority in the Cadmus scheme. The Titans are in danger."
"This is not good." Batman said as he looks out at the window as he steps forward to it. "Waller has her opportunity in doing so."
"What are you aware of, Bruce?" Superman asked him with a stern but worried voice.
"Right now, the Titans are planning to break Raven out of Belle Reve." Batman explained, knowing full well of what his former protege is going to do given the circumstances.
Meanwhile, deep in the Andes Mountains of Peru stood a massive fortress among the cliffs. The locals had assumed it abandoned for years, but that was far from the truth. It was still running, and still operating for Cadmus, the very organization responsible for the entire plot against metas and vigilantes. It was here that Cadmus held their most valuable asset - Brainiac, a rogue Kryptonian computer that was solely interested in collecting knowledge, but as it did so, it destroyed the worlds from which his knowledge came, thereby increasing its value. And no matter how many times Superman had stopped him from destroying the Earth (or in one instance, preventing him from destroying Apokolips), the computer still remained.
Brainiac had been around for far too long and now it was time for its existence to end once and for all. Staring at the base from the bottom of the mountains, Slade knew he had found his target. Once he took out the base (and Brainiac), Waller would have nowhere to run, nobody to advise her, and nothing to continue her plans for domination. Already, the woman had destroyed his family solely out of spite for his retiring, and now it was time for vengeance.
Armed with two high-caliber handguns, his sword, a USB drive containing a computer virus, and a collapsible blaster-staff, Slade grabbed his ice picks and lodged them into the mountain. It was going to be a long trek up to the top, but this was the best way to get inside without being noticed as the base had so many fortifications, it could withstand sieges and take out opposing aircraft.
With Slade's enhanced strength and reflexes, he was able to make a faster ascent to the top than most people, but it was still a long trek considering the height of the mountains. At least they didn't set up shop on Mt. Everest. Compared to that, this was easier, but not much so, as the base was atop Chumpi, one of the many peaks of the Andes Mountain ranges that was a staggering 20,000 feet high (or 3.8 miles in the air).
Continuing his trek, Slade had to make sure he didn't lose his grip on the ice picks nor that he lost his footing, for then it would be a very long way down to the ground, not that he wanted to think about that at the moment. His primary concern now was making it into the base, then it would be taking down Brainiac, and lastly, he would need an escape route. It was a 20,000 foot summit and he didn't have any room for a parachute.
That wasn't anything he wanted to think about right about now as he continued his trek up to the top of the mountain. Keeping his footing steady on the mountain, Slade made sure to remain balanced and to move carefully. One wrong move...and splat.
Making sure not to lose his grip on the mountain, Slade had now gotten around a fourth of the way there after about two hours. Noticing what may be a path, he then edged towards it, soon managing to get himself on it. Keeping one of his ice picks out for stability towards the mountain, Slade took the rounding mountain path as far as he could go, hoping to cut down the distance he needed to climb.
As he continued his journey to the top of the mountain, he started to realize that the air was beginning to thin, so he grabbed a breathing apparatus from his belt and attached it to his metal mask, thereby ensuring his ability to breathe normally as the air continued to thin. Of course, his body, strengthened by the serum, could breathe fine in thinner air, although this was now beyond the maximum altitude that he could manage.
Continuing to climb up, he had now ascended more than twelve thousand feet in just over four hours. The temperature continued to plummet, going from around 60 degrees Fahrenheit at the bottom to about fifteen degrees Fahrenheit where he currently was, and it was going to keep dropping.
He was fortunate that he had brought a jacket and earmuffs (which were under his mask), so he was able to mostly resist the bitter cold as he continued his trek upwards.
It had now been five hours since Slade first began heading up Chumpi, and he was roughly fifteen thousand feet above ground, but the path he had been using for the past three hours had now ended, leaving him with around another five thousand feet to take before he reached the base at the top.
Grabbing his ice picks, Slade lodged them in the mountainside as he hoisted himself up the increasingly steep mountain. His movements had to be even more careful than before or else it would be particularly brutal. Keeping his balance steady as he climbed, the temperature had now gotten below zero degrees Fahrenheit. He actually gave a shiver as the brutality of the cold started getting to him. Though he had been in worse, it was still very damn cold.
It took him a good three more hours before he finally got within a hundred feet of the base. Staring up at the fortress with his eye, Slade realized that he needed to move elsewhere in order to actually infiltrate it. He was currently right under the major security hub, so he began moving towards the side, seeking the entrance to the base.
Climbing up a couple dozen feet, Slade saw a nearby pipe, which was presumably for ventilation, and grabbed onto it, using the pipe to hoist himself up towards the bottom of the base. Of course, he had to make sure that he didn't lose his grip on the pipe, or else he'd be in trouble for he couldn't reach the mountain to regain his grip.
After several minutes of moving on the pipe, Slade's hands finally touched the base. Grabbing one of his ice picks, he stuck it into the base before letting the other join it. Now, he used the ice picks to move across the side of the base towards the entrance, and there he would make his attack on Cadmus and Brainiac.
As he continued his careful movement across the base, he soon found himself nearing a corner. Stopping just before the corner, Slade dislodged the right ice pick and moved it to the other side of the corner before grabbing the other ice pick and repeating. With his passing the corner, he saw the entrance in sight, and apparently unguarded. Using his ice picks to continue moving towards the entrance, Slade soon noticed that the door had in fact been locked. It could never be too easy, could it?
Finding a window near the entrance, Slade climbed up towards it before using one of his ice picks to smash it open. Peering inside, Slade saw the controls to the door. Taking aim with the ice pick, Slade tossed it right at the controls. With that, the door opened up for him.
Then, he leaped from his current position near the window onto the ground of the base near the entrance. He walked inside of the base and grabbed the ice pick he threw before heading over towards the window to pick up the other ice pick and redeposited it on his person.
Closing the door, Slade deactivated the breathing apparatus before ducking into a corridor to remove his mask in order to take off the earmuffs. Putting his mask back on and discarding the jacket, Slade pulled out one of his handguns as he would then begin infiltrating the base to reach and destroy Brainiac. While the computer has had many brushes with destruction, he has always escaped it. But not this time, Slade had a computer virus ready that would eradicate his presence on all computers on Earth. As to how he acquired it, he constructed the virus after taking a piece of the Brainiac/Luthor fusion following its defeat at Flash's hands. He figured having a piece of the 12th-level intelligent being would be useful; of course, he also figured that was part of the reason Waller went after him.
Heading to the door, Slade walked out into one of the hallways before ducking into a corridor upon hearing footsteps. As they grew louder, Slade prepared to silence the guard as they came closer.
Once the guard passed by the corridor, Slade attacked, snapping the guard's neck in one clean movement. Gently depositing the guard on the floor, Slade picked up his assault rifle, checking it to see it was fully loaded.
Continuing to move through the base, Slade prepared to reach the central data bank, where Brainiac should be located. When he opened the door, however...
Nothing was there. It was one massive, empty room. Slade, though, had figured that there only being one guard in the hallway suggested either there was more security located ahead or that this building was a decoy.
Aiming the assault rifle at the door on the other side, Slade yelled, "Come on out, whoever you are!"
A familiar voice insisted, "If you insist." With that, a man wearing a predominantly red suit dressed with blue on the arms and a red mask came out, armed with two swords. Slade muttered, "Wade LaFarge. You murdered Adeline, my Adeline. You killed my wife! You killed your own sister! Why?"
"Because they paid me to. I really regret not being able to slit young Joe's throat. You were too fucking fast, but at least Waller repaid me with the serum."
"I'll rip your throat out, Wade!"
Another voice then called out, "I think not!" Turning around, Slade saw Colonel Rick Flagg, suited in an exo-skeleton that enhanced his muscular figure with a large sword on his back and a massive machine gun on his side.
"Flagg. Waller send her errand boy to guard Brainiac?"
"She figured you would come here. Now, it ends here. So why don't you do what all old men do and keel over?"
Aiming the rifle at Flagg's head, Slade remarked, "In your dreams." He soon realized the two were closing in, making this the most brutal fight he has ever partaken in, far more brutal in fact than his fight with the Guardian.
As Slade is in Peru dealing with Brainiac, the four Titans are now in Louisiana where they head down to Belle Reve using a black windowless van. To cover up this mission the Titans told the public of Jump City that they'll be tracking down a wanted criminal, as they let the honorary Titans (and Kyle Rayner) to be in charge of Jump as they're gone. This was a secret mission the Titans will go where it will be decided: rescue Raven and Ravager from Belle Reve, expose Waller for the devil in human skin that she is, and take down Brainiac once and for all.
The van stops at the swampy area where Belle Reve takes place. The van was closer to on the back of the large, high security building where the van is at the forest, cloaked from the radius of the prison so the security cameras and high thermal cameras wouldn't detect them.
Inside the van, the titans were ready for their part of the plan. Animal Man is wearing a black version of his costume including a mask so he can blend in the dark. Cyborg is on the driver's seat holding a computer so he can hack into the building, and Nightwing and Starfire are in black as Nightwing holds the gym bag containing what he needs to infiltrate.
"Well Titans, this is it." Nightwing said as he looks at the state of the art prison that puts Arkham to shame.
"Man, who knew this is how we're going out." Animal Man said as he sigh "Dealing with psychopaths, brain washing teachers, arch demons and all of our enemies trying to put us down. I've always thought of settling down, find a girlfriend, but unless Waller is still killing us off, we're toast."
"We'll get Raven out, alive." Nightwing assured. "How's the specs, Cyborg?"
"Well I've been going over the security systems, like a lot." Cyborg answered. "I'm now going through a final check up on the security as well as the plans. Right now I'm deciding on which collar to disable, that is its very difficult."
"How so, Friend Cyborg?" Starfire asked.
"Its like trying to find the correct herbs for making hot wings. I'm trying to look for which metahuman collars of the prisoners should I disable. I can't make any mistake on choosing the wrong prisoner cause if I disable one collar of a dangerous metahuman, there's going to be blood in our hands."
"That does sound difficult." Animal Man comments.
"Alright, let's move out." Nightwing said as he and Starfire gets ready for their parts of the plans as Animal Man shifts into a salamander.
"We're gonna go Hogan's Heroes on this shit." Cyborg muttered as he watch his friends take their part of the mission as Nightwing and Starfire cloak themselves to head down towards the prison with Animal Man on her shoulder while Star carries them both towards the other side of the prison.
While invisible, Star drops the cloaked Nightwing off on top of the wall of the prison. As soon as Star left, Nightwing while in stealth mode, jumps onto the wall as his fingers and feet attach to the walls of the prison as if he's Spider-Man. He crawled up the walls as he already figures out the way in.
As for Animal Man, the green changeling jumps off of Starfire's shoulder as he sticks to the wall as well. He crawled around the wall like a common lizard as he looks for an air vent to crawl into. Surprisingly when he finds one air vent, it was heavily guarded with infrared lines across the entrance to the vent.
'How secure is this prison?!' he thought as he change into something small, something minimum to get in.
As Starfire returns to the van for her role as to secure the coroner's van, Cyborg hears Nightwing's voice from his ear piece. "Do it."
"Understood." Cyborg respond as he immediately deactivates some of the inhibitor collars, unleashing the chaos that will transpire.
Meanwhile, inside of Belle Reve, Raven and Ravager were just about to return to their cell following dinner, not knowing that the Titans had arrived. Ravager, however, was aware that the Titans were coming to break Raven out. However, she did decide that it was best that Raven did not know - the way the breakout attempt would be best is if she wasn't in on it.
The big issue, though, was how they intended to get Raven out - Belle Reve was inescapable, which meant they would have to fake her death. And to add to the issues, the only other inmate that would be able to help them was Livewire, who was in the other women's wing. Massive corridors, walls, and machine gun-armed guards separated the two wings, meaning it'd be a suicide run to link up with her.
They could only hope that the attempt would be made when they would be able to link up with Livewire. As they continued on their way back, they were met with the sight of multiple clones of Riot holding up a guard. Shocked at the sight, the two both looked at his inhibitor collar and saw that it had been deactivated. While Raven did not know the truth, Ravager knew that the Titans were beginning their breakout attempt. Then, Riot threw both guards towards Raven and Ravager, but the two females caught the guards before gently setting them down.
Examining the guards' belts, Ravager took the two billy clubs and both handguns. Raven asked, "Are you planning on killing anyone?"
Ravager then proceeded to strip the two handguns by removing the slide and firing pin, taking the bullet already loaded in the chamber from each weapon. Slipping the firing pins into her pants pocket, Ravager handed Raven one of the clubs and explained, "It's better this way. Guards don't have guns and the criminals can't use 'em."
As the Riot clones proceeded to run towards them, Ravager swung the club at the clones, knocking them down onto the ground with ease. Once they got up, the clones fled, leaving Raven and Ravager alone in the corridor.
"Won't be quiet for long." Then, they heard massive yelling in the distance as well as the sounds of fisticuffs and gunfire. Raven prepared to head down and enter the fight, but Ravager stopped her, saying, "We won't last if we jump into the fray. We'll have a better chance making them come to us."
The two then ran back towards the unconscious guards and then took the magazines from their guns, as well as the spare magazines. Moving over towards their cell, the two hoped that they could set up shop and try to figure out some strategy for surviving the riot. Of course, Ravager knew that they wouldn't hold out forever - they just had to hold out long enough so they could successfully escape.
Before they could reach their cell, they found themselves facing a wave of prisoners, most of whom still had their inhibitor collars active, but many of them now armed with handguns or bludgeoning weapons.
Meanwhile, in her office, Amanda Waller was waiting for the riot to come alongside the deputy warden Steve Economos. One of the things that may have encouraged inmates to go this far was the absence of Rick Flagg, the head of security who was currently in Peru guarding Brainiac.
Soon after, Mist burst in by phasing through the cracks in the door, yelling, "Okay, Warden Waller, now it's time for you to let us go! We've already served our sentences and now you will disable the remaining inhibitor collars and allow us to leave or we're going to make things a living hell for you..." As Mist continued to ramble on and on, Waller simply took the sawed-off ten gauge shotgun she hid underneath her desk, opened the hidden hatch, and blasted both shots directly into Mist's chest, ending her life. Grabbing the shotgun from underneath her desk, Waller proceeded to reload it as she commented to Economos, "Activate lockdown. Nobody's getting out...or in."
Doing as her boss requested, Economos proceeded to activate the lockdown, shutting down all entryways into (and out of) Belle Reve.
Shortly afterwards, Cyborg called to Nightwing, Starfire, and Animal Man (all of whom had already entered Belle Reve) and informed them, "Waller's activated the lockdown."
Starfire then asked, "What exactly is the lockdown?"
"All entrances have been locked. There's no way in or out of Belle Reve. It won't end until the riot has been put down. That's part of the reason it's the most secure prison in the world."
Nightwing noted, "Keep us posted. Have you located Raven and Ravager?"
"Not yet, but from what I can tell, there are a hell of a lot of inmates heading their way, including Killer Frost and Madame Rouge."
Heading back to their cell, Raven and Ravager continued to evade the dozens of inmates headed their way. As Key headed towards Ravager, she delivered a kick to his crotch before whacking his head with the billy club and knocking him unconscious. Raven, though, was pitted against a wrench-equipped Amygdala. Dodging his wrench as it banged against the bars, Raven pushed her club against his throat, forcing him to drop the wrench as she then jabbed the club into his gut, forcing him to keel over.
Elsewhere, Animal Man finally reached Waller's office through the vents, watching as the Warden of Belle Reve and head of the Cadmus plot headed out with her shotgun alongside Deputy Warden Economos, who was now armed with an assault rifle.
Once the door closed, signaling that they had left, Animal Man exited the vent and returned to human form. Going over to Waller's computer, Animal Man plugged in the USB drive and searched for the Cadmus files. Typing into the computer, Cyborg signaled Animal Man, "The password is monarchbee, all one word."
"Got it." After typing in the password, the files began to transfer to the USB drive, a process that would take a few moments. Meanwhile, the changeling asked, "Was Mist one of the inmates you activated the powers of?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"She's dead. Looks like a shotgun from what I can see."
"Shit! And I doubt she's going to be the only one."
Indeed, Cyborg's prophetic prediction proved to be disturbingly true as Waller and Economos proceeded to stroll through the locked-down Belle Reve, shooting many of the rioting inmates. Coming across Peek-a-Boo and Firefly, the arsonist villain charged with a makeshift torch, only to get blasted down with two shots from Waller, while Peek-a-Boo was mowed down by Economos.
As Raven and Ravager continued fleeing from the other inmates, they soon encountered a Bang Baby whose inhibitor collar had been disabled - this one could project invisible barriers. Before he could create a barrier that trapped Raven and Ravager, Raven flipped him onto the ground as Ravager picked him up and used him to create a barrier on the other inmates, buying themselves more time.
Moving away, the two now saw another wave of inmates heading from the left, so they opted to move right. As they ran, Raven asked, "Aren't we headed towards a massive wall of security?"
"It'll be much clearer now as the guards are fighting the other inmates. Plus, we'll be able to link up with Livewire, who is one of the few inmates that would support me, regardless of her disposition about you. You still have the two magazines you took off the guard?"
"Yep. You too?"
"Unload the bullets." As they moved, Raven began removing bullets from each magazine until she had extracted all twenty-four bullets from both magazines. Once that was done, Ravager then tossed the bullets onto the floor and Raven did the same as they headed towards the other female wing. As the other inmates ran towards them (none of whom noticed the bullets on the floor), they found themselves slipping and falling onto the floor, many of them dropping their weapons and groaning in pain.
Smirking, Raven and Ravager finally arrived at the other wing, where Livewire was currently fighting off two guards and another inmate. Also present in the wing were Cheetah, Anarky, Magpie, Lady Vic, and Goldface, fighting other inmates and each other.
The two were then charged at by Magpie and Anarky, the former wielding a pipe while the latter, whose inhibitor collar was deactivated, had a shotgun acquired from a riot guard. Raven swung at Magpie with her club only for her to grab the club and attempt to wrest it from Raven's hands as Raven tried to get the pipe from Magpie. As the two engaged in their battle of strength, Magpie swung her leg towards Raven's midsection; however, Raven dodged the kick before delivering a side kick of her own that enabled her to knock back Magpie and acquire her pipe.
As Ravager fought Anarky, who kept trying to aim his shotgun at her, Raven knocked him unconscious with the pipe she took from Magpie. Once that was done, though, most of the other inmates had arrived at their location, including Killer Frost and Madame Rouge.
Backing up towards Livewire, Ravager opened fire with the shotgun, dispensing buckshot towards the ceiling in order to push back the inmates, firing four shells before the shotgun ran out of ammunition.
Ravager then swung the shotgun at the other inmates, knocking several down onto the ground before Killer Frost wrested the shotgun from her hands and moved to punch her with her bare fist.
Back in Waller's office, Animal Man finished downloading all of the files relating to Cadmus, meaning he now had the team's insurance policy ready. Removing the USB drive from the computer, he made sure to leave no trace that there had been any files copied.
Once that was done, he radioed in, "Finished the download."
Nightwing replied, "Good. The riot is subsiding and once it is done, the lockdown will be lifted. Get out of there before Waller returns."
"Have you located Raven and Ravager yet?"
"I think so. Once the riot is done, I'll be able to reach them. I've got a coroner's uniform and Star is ready to acquire the coroner's van once it pulls in to Belle Reve."
Then, Animal Man changed into a fly, entered the vent, and flew out of the Warden's office, leaving no trace that he was ever there.
Elsewhere in the prison, Waller and Economos had led guards to secure most of the prison - most of the prisoners had surrendered after Waller utilized her shotgun. However, not all of them would go down so easily. Damien Darhk kicked away Steve Economos, who was then restrained by several other inmates as he then disarmed Waller before pointing the gun at her. Then, Darhk commanded, "Lift the lockdown and let us out or I will murder you."
Waller coolly remarked, "At which point you will still be in Belle Reve." Regardless, she then proceeded to one of the emergency panels from where she could affect the current state of the prison.
Raven, Ravager, and Livewire were now back-to-back-to-back fighting off the horde of inmates coming at them. Killer Frost, Shiv, and Puppeteer were tangled up with Ravager, Madame Rouge and Lady Vic were fighting Livewire, while Raven was squared off with Cheetah. It took very little effort for Ravager to bat off Shiv and Puppeteer, leaving herself with Killer Frost and the inmates who flooded to replace Shiv and Puppeteer. Livewire was able to fight off Madame Rouge (helped by the fact she was powerless), forcing her then into a vicious fight with Lady Vic.
Raven, though, was having the toughest time as Cheetah had her powers and was a considerably more skilled martial artist than Raven. She was now on the defensive from the human/cat hybrid, barely able to get a hit in. However, Cheetah then managed to land a brutal uppercut, her fist curving through the air into Raven's chin, flipping her head backwards as she then collapsed onto the ground.
Ravager then screamed, "Raven" and went to check her pulse to see if her crush was still alive.
Waller then reached the panel before pressing a black button. Instantly, all of the inmates who had on inhibitor collars (that would be all of them) were shocked in furious pain, with the curious exceptions of Ravager and the now-floored Raven.
With that, the guards proceeded to secure the other inmates, who were laying on the ground in pain from the electricity. Within a few minutes, most of the inmates were rounded up and returned to their cells; with that, Waller shut off the electric shocks and ended the lockdown.
Down on the floor where the riot had just occurred, Ravager checked Raven's pulse, but to no avail. She silently uttered to herself, "She's gone."
Okay, that was one massive riot scene. I know that it seemed so frantic and all-over-the-place, but that was the point to show just how much was going on around Belle Reve.