"[beeping]" "Not just the lid." "The entire can." "[beeping] Uhh!" "Doc, we've been at this for 5 hours straight." "How about a lunch break?" "!" "[sighs]" "Take 20 minutes." "You heard me!" "I'm sick and tired of the testing!" " We all are!" " M'ijo, we must continue." " They're at it again." " Why?" "!" "Just to prove your theory?" "Si, Eduardo." "I spent two decades working on my Zeta beam technology and now my son has teleportation powers?" "This cannot be a coincidence." "[sighs]" "The meta gene that Reach activated inside you must be opportunistic, taking advantage of whatever is present in the subject's system." "Only the subject doesn't care!" "I want a cure, not an explanation!" "You have only yourself to blame." "None of this would have happened if you hadn't run away from your abuelo's home in Argentina." "I thought I wanted to be with my father." "What a mistake that turned out to be." "Uh, hey, Ed, we were just passing by." "Didn't hear a thing." "Doesn't matter." "Same old, same old." "Come on." "Only have about 12 minutes left for lunch, and you know how Doc Wilcox get when we're late." "This is so messed up." "STAR's as bad as the Reach and worse than home." "Tye, there's no way this is as bad as the Reach." "Whatever, Newt." "I just know I can't take much more of this place." "You won't have to." "'Cause we're bustin' out tonight." "Season 2:" "Invasion Episode 14: "Runaways"" "The crates from the League have arrived for temporary storage in our vault." "Amazo body parts, salvaged from the Hall of Justice after it was destroyed." "[beeping]" "That's enough for today." "We'll begin again promptly at 06.00 hours tomorrow." "[all groaning] [speaking Japanese]" "Domo." "Please, tell me you're not serious about running." "Running, escaping, whatever you want to call it, we're gone." "This is serious." "I nearly blew up Central City." "My powers may be gone now, but what if they come back, you know, escalate out of control all over again?" "What if your powers escalate?" "Dude, you can't control them now." "Look, I know Wilcox is a pain." "STAR is a pain, but they're trying to keep us safe." "Or at least keep the world safe from us." "I'm outta here." " Oh, yeah." " Adios." " Are you coming, Sam?" " [speaking Japanese]" "That might mean "yes"." "[alarm buzzing]" "Sorry." "But I can't let you do this." "[alarm continues]" "Let's go." "The alarm's put the whole place on lockdown." " Great!" "Now, what?" " No idea." "Well, what was your escape plan?" "I..." "I didn't actually have a chance to come up with a plan, but..." " Hey, Ed can teleport us out." " Haven't you been paying attention?" "I can only teleport myself and only along sight lines." "Which makes escaping from a windowless, locked hallway somewhat difficult!" "No problem." "Tye will do his thing." "He'll take the roof off the building and pull us all out, right?" "Wrong." "I don't know how to activate "my thing"." "It just happens." "[speaking Japanese]" "You kids need to come with us." "Don't think so." "Behind you...!" " Listen!" "This is for your own good!" " Heard that before." "Uhh!" " OK, now what?" " No idea." "[powering down]" "What if it's a power outage?" "Hey, maybe I blew the circuit." "Yeah, I don't think so." "[speaking Japanese]" "Hey, no power, no lockdown." "Sam, you're a genius." "[speaking Japanese]" "Never mind." "Let's go." "Look, Nightwing, I'm not too comfortable with this." " One of those STAR kids is my buddy Tye." " Actually, I'm counting on that." "You can talk to him, convince him that right now, until we kick the Reach off world, STAR is the safest place for them." "[sighs]" "OK." "I'm on it." "Dude, I can't believe you called your family." "No way I'm going back to mine." "Look, I know that Reach was abducting runaways, but with me, they got it wrong." "I was grabbed while waiting at a train station to meet my sister." "My folks and I, we're good, and they must be worried sick." "So, yeah, I called them." "I left a voicemail asking them to wire money so the 4 of us can buy bus tickets to Dakota City." " It's my hometown." " That's your plan?" "How are we supposed to find a cure in Dakota City?" "No idea." "Except I don't really want a cure." "I like my powers." " Dude, don't drink that!" "It's Reach!" " Ptoo!" "Ah, man...!" "Just wake me when it's time to go." "[speaking Japanese]" "I have no idea." "Uhh!" " Companero, Wilcox is here." " Oh, great." "Tye, Tye!" "Wake up, man." "We're in trouble." "[rumbling]" "This was not in the briefing." "He... he's never manifested in astral form this large." "Wait!" "Hold your fire!" "We're here to protect them, remember?" "Ah, OK." "Not what I expected, but..." "Everyone stay calm." "The situation is under control." " Uh!" "Tye!" " I don't think he can hear you." "Wait!" "Tye, stop!" "[groans]" "Go back to STAR." "I'll handle this." " Come on, man, wake up." " Tye!" "[groans] How'd I get..." "Ohh, it happened again." "I thought I was dreaming." "No dream." "Trust me." "I'm not here to hurt you." "But you 4 need to go back to STAR." "Look, I recognize you." "I know you're one of the good guys, one of the heroes that saved us all from the Reach." " But, dude, you just don't get it." " No, Tye, I really do." " Jaime?" " Yeah, it's me." " But how?" " It's a long story." "But it started with this scarab." "It was created by the Reach to both give me powers and control me." "So believe me, ese, I get it." "Fine." "You're one of us." "Except you're flying around free as a..." "Beetle, and you still expect us to be lab rats for STAR." "No more, hermano." "Not for the Reach or STAR." "He's right, bro." "You can't take us back there." "[sighs]" "Tye, what's the alternative?" "I let you run loose until the Reach snatches you up again?" "No." "We're headed to my parents' place, so they can..." "Get hurt or killed trying to protect you?" "That's your plan?" "[speaking Japanese]" "Hai." "I'll help you." " Dude, you speak Japanese?" " The scarab translates." "Don't ask." "All right, new plan." "I have this buddy, Green Beetle." "He helped me." "I think he can help you, too." "He's not far from here." "I'll take you." "You abandoned the search for my son and expect me not to worry?" "!" "Rrr!" "Why did I let you talk me out of going?" "Because, Doctor, you know Eduardo Jr. has a history of running away from family." "Blue Beetle will find the children and bring them back." "[rumbling]" "Ah!" "Greetings, meat bags." "First things first." "Didn't want any Leaguers arriving via Zeta tube, now, did we?" "Where's Amazo?" "[cell phone rings]" " Nightwing. ¿Que pasa?" " Blue, your radio's down." "Kind of incognito at the moment, ese." "Well, armor up." "The robot Red Volcano is attacking STAR to steal the body parts of an android called Amazo, probably to incorporate its tech." "And since Amazo was capable of duplicating the powers of the Justice League, we can't let Volcano succeed." "But I'm on the runaway teen thing." "I've, uh, almost tracked them down." "That can wait." "Zeta tube's offline, so only Flash and Impulse could get there fast enough." "And they're both rescuing tsunami victims in Rulaysia." "You're the only one close." "Nightwing out." " Minor setback." " We heard." " The volume on your phone's maxed out." " Oh." "OK." "Look, stay put and stay out of sight." "I'll be back soon." " My dad could be in trouble." " Dude, you hate your dad." " O-only sometimes." " Hey, it's cool." "If it were my dad, nothing would keep me away." "I'm with you." "So you two want to go back to the exact place we just escaped from." "Whatever." "I'm in, too." "Sam?" "[speaking Japanese]" "Um..." "It doesn't look like an evil robot's attacking." "[rumbling]" " Aah!" " Aah!" "Jaime..." "We have to save Blue Beetle!" "How?" "I can't teleport where I can't see, and your powers wouldn't be of any use either." "I'll save Jaime." "You guys just follow the robot." "Make sure no one else gets hurt." "Go!" "OK, I can do this." "Grandpa's been trying to teach me focus since I was 8." "Breathe..." "He'd say..." "Breathe..." "And be." "No head." "Where's Amazo's head?" "!" "No se." "The Justice League sent the head to another location as insurance." "Then I'll take your head as compensation." "[groans]" "You teleported..." "With another person?" "I was..." "Motivated." "[groans] It hurts." " We'll run interference." " Will you, now?" "Aah!" "[groans]" "My turn, meat bags." "That's it, Tye!" "Now pull!" "Burning plasma." "Really." "You don't seem to have grasped whom you're dealing with." "The name is Volcano!" "Aah!" "You don't seem to have grasped what you're dealing with either." "Didn't like that?" "How about we up the decibels?" "Beetle, stop!" "Volume's still maxed out and there are people in there." "First things first." "Just how well do you know this guy?" "Hey, Jaime's fighting an evil robot, cut him some." "OK?" "Whatever." "We got bystanders to save." "Wait, Asami." "Mi hijo." "My son." "[speaking Japanese]" "This way!" " Thanks." "Glad you came back." " It's temporary." "Virgil." "Asami-san." "Domo." "Thank you." "I think we got everyone out." " Aah!" " Uhh!" " Uhh!" "Time to sacrifice your victory and save the meat bags like a good hero." "You shouldn't stereotype." "Your friend was going to sacrifice us." "You'll have to do better than that, meat bag." "I'm really more of a meat box." "And you..." "You're just scrap." "[tires screeching]" "Done." "Now we need to get you to Green Beetle." " Jaime, I'm not sure..." " Tye, this is not up for debate." "We need to go now!" " Excuse me!" " A question..." "What happened here?" " How about a few words?" " Who are you?" " What's your nom de guerre?" " I'm..." "Blue Beetle." " You're Blue Beetle?" " Haven't see you around lately." "Loving the new look." "[sirens]" "I was happy to help, of course." "That's why I'm here." "I was still hot from battle and overplayed my hand." "Really, I should've summoned you to pick them up the moment I made contact." "You were attempting to win their trust and increase their dependence." "It was a sensible tactic." "We will find them again in time." "Of course the timing of the robot's attack didn't help." "On the contrary, It helped establish your public profile as a true hero." "Which is easily as important as Green rebooted your scarab to control the meat inside." "So you must control the natives of this world, enlarging the Reach's foothold in the Galaxy." "Don't worry, my brothers." "The meat will soon be eating out of your hands, or else they will not eat at all." "Is it really a good idea to come back here?" "It's brilliant." "It's the one place they'd never think to look." " I mean, not a second time." " I'm done running." "Yo tambien." "So now what?" " [All:] No idea." " Sumimasen." "Sumimasen." "That means "trouble", doesn't it?" "No idea." "It seems that sending Red Volcano to attack STAR worked out marvelously..." "Now, to seal the deal..." " Hey, you're Lex Luthor." " In the flesh." "And you would be Virgil Hawkins, Asami Koizumi," "Eduardo Dorado, and Tye Longshadow." " You know us?" " Know you?" "Heh." "My boy, I've been watching over you for weeks." "Even arranged the power outage that facilitated your escape from STAR." "Not to mention the timely arrival of the press, which enabled you to evade Blue Beetle, who, as you may have guessed, has become an agent of the Reach." "But..." "You work with the Reach." "You make their refresco, their beverage." "True." "But I've come to suspect they've been using me for their own ends." "And I think you know what that feels like." "[sighs] It's a dangerous world." "Fortunately, I have the resources to protect you." "Yeah, I heard that before." "What do you want?" "To empower you." "Not meta powers." "You're doing just fine on that front." "Instead, I want to help the 4 of you finally take control of your own destinies." "[speaking Japanese]" " Ah." "Domo...?" " There is no pressure, my friends." "I'm not going to make you do anything you don't want to do." "But I'm hoping you can trust me." "What do you say?"