Bruce strides for the doorway. As Bruce nears the still-open door, Tim tenses up in his arms. Bruce pauses right before the doorway and looks down, checking that the four children are still with him.
They're right there, clustered as closely as possible around his legs, so Bruce steps into and through the doorway.
Tim goes statue-still in his arms.
"Tim?" Bruce asks urgently, stopping a few steps into the hall.
"I'm out," Tim says, and he goes limp. "And there's no pain. No pain, and I'm out."
Bruce can't take the time to analyze that beyond the immediate rush of anger at the implications. He turns to check on the kids.
They're still hovering behind the doorway.
"Come," Bruce urges.
The four kids exchange glances.
"We don't have much time," Bruce adds, not completely sure how to impress on them the urgency of the situation. They have maybe fifteen minutes maximum to get everybody on the Batjet and achieve lift-off before all the alarms are set off and escaping becomes much more difficult.
"Come on," Tim says. He wiggles his way out of Bruce's arms cautiously, waving the kids onward. "It's time."
With that, the four kids hurry through the doorway and join Tim and Bruce.
The six of them hurry down the long hallway, making it to the split at its end. Bruce takes a right and keeps going, Tim directly beside him, taking only the slightest time to slow down for the four sets of small legs that are accompanying them. They take several more turns, Bruce leading the way, right again, then left, then right, then up a long flight of stairs, and Bruce is already halfway up the stairs when Tim calls out.
"Hold up!" Tim says loudly.
Bruce is just turning to try to quiet him, knowing it's a mix of luck and interference from his other children that they haven't run into any assassins yet, when he sees what's happening.
Tim is two steps up the flight of stairs, reaching back to the kids, all of whom are still on the ground in front of the stairs and don't look like they plan on moving any time soon.
"What-" Bruce begins with suspicion.
"What's that?" The medium-sized boy asks, pointing at something.
Retreating a few steps back down the stairs, Bruce turns quickly side to side, trying to tell what the medium-sized boy is indicating.
"What is it?" The medium-sized boy says. He's pointing at the stairs themselves.
"They're stairs," Tim says, apparently figuring something out and stepping back down to join the children on the ground. "You have to climb them."
Despite himself, Bruce frowns. Why would that-
"Stairs," the tallest boy repeats. He bends forward and looks more closely at the first step.
"Yes, stairs," Bruce says, confused and concerned but pressed for time above all. "We need to go up. Come on!"
The three boys don't move, while the girl nudges the bottom step with one foot.
"B, they've never done stairs before. They've never even seen them," Tim says.
Bruce pauses. He evaluates that statement. "Oh."
"Oh," Tim agrees.
Bruce retreats down the stairs. "Okay. Tim, can you carry the littlest one?"
Tim nods, already scooping up the littlest boy.
"I need one of you to grab onto my back," Bruce tells the three biggest kids. "I'll carry the other two, but I need one of you to go behind me and get on as I bend down."
"Like a piggyback ride?" The medium-sized boy says.
A hint of relief sneaks its way into Bruce. He has to explain what the stairs are, but at least he doesn't have to explain what a piggyback ride is. "Yes."
"On it," the tallest boy says, stepping back a little.
Bruce kneels and tucks the medium-sized boy and girl under each of his arms, while the tallest boy loops his own arms around Bruce's neck and shoulders. Bruce stands, tests his balance with the weight for a brief moment, and then begins hurrying up the stairs, Tim right beside him with the littlest boy.
When they make it to the top of the stairs, Bruce just keeps going, the three biggest kids clinging to him. Tim keeps carrying the littlest kid, and they make several more turns before Bruce skids to a halt before one corner.
Around the corner, Bruce can just barely hear a sound, something like a soft rustle. He puts a finger to his lips, motioning to Tim and the kids to be quiet.
"Why's he doing that?" The littlest boy asks loudly from Tim's arms.
Bruce cringes at the noise. He drops to his knees, carefully but quickly dislodging the three kids from his sides and back, then he leaps up and around the corner.
"B!" Dick says in surprise and relief, dropping the fighting stance he'd taken before Bruce had even appeared around the corner. "We're getting close on-"
"Dick," Tim says in realization from behind the corner.
Dick cuts himself off mid-sentence. He stares at Bruce for a split sentence, completely still, then Dick sprints past Bruce and around the corner.
Bruce turns back around the corner just in time to see Dick skid to a stop right in front of Tim and throw his arms around him.
"Tim," Dick says, his voice wobbling.
"Dick," Tim says back.
"Dick?" Four voices ask in shocked unison.
Dick detaches from Tim with slow reluctance and looks around at the children.
The children are looking back and forth between Bruce and Dick with clear uncertainty.
"Tim?" Dick says questioningly, spreading his hands to indicate the kids.
Tim hesitates.
"No time," Bruce says. "We need to keep moving. There are more stairs, too."
"Dick, take Char," Tim says, pointing at the tallest boy.
The tallest boy's eyes go wide.
Now it's Dick's turn to look back and forth with some uncertainty.
"Pick up the kid, we need to move fast and none of the kids are able to do stairs," Bruce sums up the situation.
Dick nods and steps forward, arms out.
The tallest boy takes a step back and says firmly, "Piggyback."
Dick nods and spins mid-step, crouching.
The tallest boy climbs on.
Picking up the two medium-sized kids again, Bruce checks for a split second that each child has been picked up. With Tim and Dick carrying their respective loads, they start off again at a rapid pace, and they don't stop until they burst out of the base into daylight.