"Still, it's better to find out now," Aqualad points out.

Alarms start going off; Desmond has presumably discovered their escape. The translucent sacs embedded in the cavern walls begin to glow an ominous red as the Genomorphs inside them are woken. 

"Yeah," he agrees, turning another corner to reach the door to the stairs. Luckily for all of them, the stairwell's predominantly a metal construction; no sacs filled with Genomorphs in here. He barricades the door with his ability to twist metal with his bare hands.

"Okay, uh. Ascension tactics? I don't think I could carry three of you while landing safely from a jump."

Robin is already shooting a grappling hook up into the darkness. "You don't have to."

Kid Flash starts running up the stairs, moving fast enough to blur.

That just leaves Aqualad and Superboy to find a way up. 

"I like you," he declares brightly to Robin. So prepared!!

Then he carefully picks Aqualad up, and demonstrates their way up; Kryptonian strength makes for some impressively high jumps. He leaps several flights of stairs at a time through the central empty portion of the stairwell, leaving a small dent in the floor every time he launches himself. It's great fun.

At one point, they hit a landing at the same time as Kid Flash, who is ascending at a more constant pace compared to Superboy's pattern of jumping and recovering.

"Hey, maybe you can't fly, but looks like you can leap tall buildings in a single bound! Still cool."

"Yeah!" he agrees, enthusiastically.

He might have barricaded one door, but the other levels of the stairwell weren't so lucky. They are no longer alone in here - Genomorphs swarm behind them. They're significantly slower than the quartet, but he doesn't really think he wants to just leave it at that.

Hey, Dubbilex, what levels are the Genomorphs made on?

  Depending on the sub-type, levels fifty-two through forty. There are more kept stored above, or patrolling the higher levels.

But the main force of Genomorphs comes from below them?

  Yes.

Okay, then.

"I'm doing a thing, run ahead for a bit?" he says, putting Aqualad down carefully. "I'll catch up."

Aqualad nods, and starts running.

His legs are long enough that he can take the stairs two at a time without stretching. He's not moving anywhere near as fast as Kid Flash or even Robin, but he's making progress. 

And meanwhile, his clone companion can rip the set of stairs below them off of the landing it's attached to, bending it backwards to make it impassible. He's not too worried about this compromising the structural integrity of the stairs; they're thin and made of metal, clearly it's the landings that are bear the brunt of the weight. The stairs don't immediately collapse after he's done, so he's pretty sure he calculated correctly. ... Maybe he should have checked before enacting his plan, in retrospect. Oh well! It worked, and now things from below can't follow them up the stairs.

He catches up to Aqualad with a well-aimed leap, scoops him up again, and resumes ascension. They are making really good time.

"Oof!" Aqualad isn't really used to being picked up like that. 

They might be making good time, but they were a long way underground when they started. The top is still a way off. 

"Sorry!" Hop. "I wasn't trained to work with other field agents at all, I'm kind of new at this! ... Well, newer at this."

"You will learn." 

Aqualad looks back down the stairs to see if they're still being pursued. Superboy's trick with the stairs seems to have stopped all the Genomorphs they can see, but there are likely to be others waiting for them higher up.

"Yeah, probably!"

  Doctor Desmond has departed to acquire something from a project 'Blockbuster.'

Uh, okay. What does that mean?

  I don't know. It was not a project I assisted with.

Well, that's - great. No microphones in the stairwell?

  None.

Just checking.

"Hey, do you guys know what a 'project Blockbuster' is?"

"Nnnope," Robin calls from above them. 

"I hacked the system, but we didn't have time to get everything. Why, is it important?" 

"Probably! Desmond's apparently going to get it to help deal with us, so, uh. Heads up I guess."

"Noted! It'd be more useful if we knew what it was, though." 

They're nearing ground level. 

Kid Flash, dashing ahead, sees the big doors that should be their exit - and reaches them just in time to collide with solid metal as they slam shut in front of him. 

The others arrive in time to see him bounce off and fall to the ground, rubbing his head.

"We are cut off from the street," Aqualad growls. 

Kid Flash rolls his eyes.

"Thanks. My head hadn't noticed." 

He snorts, then helps Kid Flash up, because that looks like it hurt.

Unfortunately for him, the obvious solution of 'force open the doors' doesn't work. Apparently the doors were built to handle someone of his strength, which... considering he was made here, makes sense.

"Well," he observes, "can you call for help from here? We're not so far underground now."

"Sure, but not here. We've got company!" 

Robin, looking behind them, has noticed the G-Trolls lumbering out from the stairwell. 

"This way!" He darts off down a side passage.

Yeah, sure, he'll follow the little smart one, that sounds like the thing to do here.

The others follow suit, only to be brought up short as their path is blocked by a large and varied squad of Genomorphs, ranging from the small, light G-Elves to hulking G-Trolls. Each of them has one of the little G-Gnomes perched on its shoulder, presumably for the sake of efficient telepathic coordination. 

They are all staring directly at the four would-be escapees with glowing red eyes. 

Guardian stands in the centre, likewise glaring blankly.  

The other G-Trolls come up behind our heroes, cutting off all escape routes. 

Well. They can maybe fight their way out of this, but he doesn't particularly want to. Might have to anyway, but there it is.

Is there anything Dubbilex can do?