The simultaneous attack hit the green monster with surprising force. Aqualad's concentrated water blast, while short-lived, served as a physical shock, shattering the creature's balance. Zatanna's focused magical power, attacking the center of the chaotic energy within its chest, brought a shudder along its scaled body, the green light dancing unsteadily as the internal energy flow was temporarily interrupted. The cacophonous symphony that had supported the beast suffered, a dissonant note of weakness breaking through its normally unbreakable aura.
Wally and Robin's distractionary tactics, although seemingly futile against the brute power of the beast, were effective. The green beast, briefly disoriented and reeling, redirected its furious attention towards the two quicker, smaller prey darting about it. Its green eyes clenched with a savage intensity, it lurched at them, its massive body smashing through the last of the wreckage.
This fleeting change in attention was all Michael required. His heightened awareness of the structural flaws in their entombment, heightened by his subtle manipulation of the story of their entrapment, had come to a peak. The creaking of the rubble overhead grew louder, the very ground seeming to exhale under tremendous pressure. Spiders of cracks spread across the remaining parts of the warehouse ceiling, and a low, guttural grumble sounded from above.
"Everyone, hold on!" Michael shouted, his voice fatigued from the strain of his mental effort. "The exit is opening… but it won't be easy!"
As the emerald beast charged at Wally, its claws extended out in front of it, a portion of the warehouse ceiling overhead collapsed with a tremendous crash. Tons of concrete, crumpled metal, and loose rubble plummeted downwards, causing a disordered cascade of destruction. The violent and unexpected collapse acted as both a shield between the beast and the younger heroes and, more significantly, as an escape route.
Zatanna, frail but determined, released a second flurry of defensive magic, forming a glittering shield above them as the debris fell, protecting them from the most direct and lethal of the blows. Aqualad, even as the danger of their predicament was absolute, harnessed strong streams of water upwards, trying to cut through the collapsing matter.
Michael, concentrating his will with every last shred of his existence, gently directed the fall, causing the descent of larger stones of debris to form a crudely vertical shaft up towards the distant glimmer of light that now cut through the entrance of the newly opened opening. It was a wild risk, a manipulation of powers well out of his normal control, and the pressure on his mind was tremendous, the periphery of his vision blurring.
Amidst the turmoil of crashing debris, Wally, in his phenomenal speed, was able to scoop up Robin, dragging him along as he zoomed toward the newly created shaft. Aqualad, shooting upward using tremendous spurts of water, kept close behind, shoving smaller bits of rubble out of the way as they threatened to clog their way upward.
Michael and Zatanna, their shield magic buckling under the constant battering of descending rubble, ascended more slowly, using Zatanna's faltering shield and Michael's gentle pushes of the bigger, more harmful pieces.
The emerald monstrosity, furious at being temporarily foiled and feeling its quarry slipping away, let out a deafening snarl of rage and tried to pursue, its huge body battering against the crumbling ruins. But the dense amount of the crashing rocks, along with the unpredictable nature of its disordered energy, slowed it down. It was briefly pinned, its massive legs thrashing at the press of the crushing weight.
As the remaining member of the team crawled frantically through the rickety, exposed shaft and out into the comparative safety of the night air, the warehouse behind them creaked one final time before its total collapse buried the emerald monster inside its tomb of rock and deformed metal.
They burst into a landscape of ruin. The factory quarter was left marred by the explosive collapse of the warehouse, the air filled with dust and the stench of wreckage. Umbra was amidst the rubble, motionless, the jade sparkle in her eyes gone out.
The team stood there for a moment, gasping for air, the adrenaline gradually abating, giving way to an overwhelming sense of fatigue and the acrid taste of their inability to rescue Conner. The triumph of survival was tainted by the forging of a more sinister foe and the weighty price of their desperate risk. The broken tomb they had fled was now the hold of their tainted friend, and the sacrifice symphony had only gained them a moment of respite. The unexpected way out had been paid for in the loss of an incredible, unstable force, a powder keg laid beneath mountains of debris, ready to unleash its wrath upon the world. The calculation of their entrapment had not brought redemption, but a ghostly reminder of the capricious and frequently disastrous price of their emerging heroism.