"Bang!"
A blast, not quite deafening but loud enough, came from behind the metal door. Gray smoke quickly filled the corridors of Doom Manor.
"Go!"
Dick Grayson leaped out of the smoke, the bag holding Cliff's head bouncing against his backside. The instant his toes touched the ground, he flung two Batarangs behind him.
Two silver robots shaped like spiders with long, slender legs were flanking them from the side of the main house. One Batarang lodged precisely in the first robot's sensor array, sending sparks bursting from its shorted circuits. The other severed the second robot's balance system, making it stagger into a wall.
"Cool!"
Garfield had already returned to human form. He waved his hands, watching with shining eyes. "It's just like the movies."
"No time to watch," Dick said, grabbing Dorothy's hand. "Run!"
They had barely dashed through a gap in the iron fence around the manor's backyard when a furious shout came from the main house.
"Stop! You ungrate... children who've forgotten how dangerous the world is!"
Niles Caulder came speeding out of the main entrance in his specially built hover wheelchair, with more bipedal robots following behind him.
"Oh, oh, C-3PO! That's very rude!"
Dick clumsily used a Universal Roll to dodge an incoming stun dart, shouting, "Got any R2-D2 models working for you?"
He glanced to the side. Garfield had already turned into a squirrel monkey and climbed a tree trunk, racing beneath the branches while Dorothy stumbled along behind him.
"Fine, I'll play with you for a bit. Whoa!"
Dick abruptly ducked, and a tranquilizer dart skimmed over his scalp.
"...Just a little bit."
"But could you bounce around a little less?" Cliff shouted from behind him. "If I had a stomach, I'd have thrown up by now."
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