The dilapidated nature of the factory grounds worked to Bruce's advantage as he and Zatanna crept toward the old building. They were attired in matching ski masks, black pants, and long sleeved sweaters to maximize their ability to blend with the darkness and remain unseen. The broken lights in the parking lot added to the gloom of night, concealing them from anyone inside the derelict factory. 

Alfred was positioned in a van parked down the road, seated in front of a host of TV monitors. The screens displayed the thermal and night vision capabilities of the WayneTech satellite Bruce had "borrowed" for tonight's rescue mission.

Sindella was also waiting with Alfred in the van. Her magical powers would be needed if Bruce and Zatanna got into trouble they couldn't handle, but since two teenagers sneaking in would draw less notice, she'd been forced to wait in reserve.

"Hold a moment, Master Bruce," Alfred instructed through the earpieces Bruce and Zatanna wore. Alfred waited until the guard had moved away on patrol before giving Bruce new orders. "The guard is heading to your right, stay left, and you'll be able to avoid his notice."

Bruce didn't respond, not wanting his voice to give away his position. The guards might not see him, but hearing his voice would certainly alert them to someone else being on the property. Leading Zatanna around the left side of the car in the parking lot, Bruce headed toward the chain link fence encompassing the factory. The parking lot resided outside the fence, so to enter the interior, Bruce and Zatanna would have to get past the metal barrier without being seen or heard.

Zatanna held up her hands near the fence, whispering quietly. A violet mist of energy surrounded her hands, and a diminutive ring of the same color appeared within one of the openings in the chain links. As Zatanna continued to whisper, the ring expanded to six feet in diameter. The fence ceased to exist within the confines of the ring, opening a circular doorway for the two of them to cross. Bruce entered first, followed immediately by Zatanna. When they were both inside the fence, Zatanna ceased to whisper and dropped her hands. The glow of magical energy faded away from her hands, and the ring shrank away to nothing, restoring the fence in the process as if nothing had happened.

Moving with as much speed as they could without being detected, Bruce and Zatanna departed from the fence and hurried closer to the structure. They skirted the perimeter until they found the side door. Bruce, using the escape training he'd learned from Giovanni, deftly picked the lock and held the door open for Zatanna. The pair darted inside the building.

The interior of the factory was very well lit for a supposedly abandoned building. The numerous rows of industrial lights overhead were almost excessively bright; the intensity of the lights made the shadows much darker, perfect hiding places for Bruce and Zatanna. Originally used in the production of aircraft parts, the factory had massive work tables for assembling everything up to the size of an airplane wing.  Bulky machinery for cutting and polishing precision parts left very little room for anyone to walk. The floors were bare concrete, and the high ceilings had exposed beams of gray steel since the work being done here had been more important to the designers of the factory than aesthetics.

Bruce took the lead, heading for the unoccupied portion of the factory in the rear of the building. Housed in the back of the structure was a workshop for repairing or making new parts for the machines on the production floor. Rather than having to call in repairmen and halt work while the broken equipment was fixed, the owners of the factory had built their own workshop to craft anything they needed, ensuring repairs would be swift and cost effective. Located beside the machine shop was an electrical room where all the power cables were connected to the circuit breakers. Slipping inside the room, Bruce opened the panels for the circuit breakers and wired in a small, remote controlled amplifier before closing the panels again. At the press of a button, he could overload the circuit breakers, tripping them all at once and plunging the factory into darkness and confusion. He would've preferred a more permanent solution, but he lacked experience with explosives. He mentally added it to his training schedule as he realized demolition skills might come in useful.

"What's the situation, Alfred?" Bruce whispered.

"There are two roving patrols of five people each at the opposing end of the building," Alfred's voice said in Bruce's ear. "Thermal imaging is also picking up a cluster of four signals behind the patrols in the northern part of the building. I'm also detecting a single reading in the room next to them."

Zatanna tapped Bruce on the arm, letting him know her belief they'd found her father, but it was unnecessary as Bruce had already reached the same conclusion.

"Is there any way to reach the signal by itself?" Bruce questioned.

"The schematics show no access points other than through the break room where the four people are clustered," Alfred reported regretfully after checking the images on the other screens.  "It appears to be a supply closet."

"We'll deal with the four," Bruce stated.

Nodding in his intended direction, Bruce silently informed Zatanna of which way he was headed before moving away from the electrical room and toward a set of stairs. Zatanna stayed close at his heels.

The stairs were made of a solid metal framework, but the individual steps were composed of gratings. The metal of the gratings was thin and old, flexing slightly when Bruce put his weight on it. His mind was filled with distracting thoughts of the stairs collapsing and sending him plummeting to the concrete below. Forcefully pushing the worries aside, Bruce stepped near the edges of the gratings where the steel bars of the framework were located, resting his weight on the more substantial metal. Carefully, Bruce and Zatanna climbed up to the second floor of the factory.

Running the length of the building from one end to the other were several industrial sized pulleys mounted on a railing system. Used for lifting large and heavy pieces of aircraft, the pulleys served Bruce and Zatanna as a way to bypass security.

Bruce pulled out a grappling hook from his belt and dropped the attached rope at his feet. The three outward curving hooks were wrapped in black rubber to minimize sound when they latched onto their intended target. Spinning the hook around to build momentum, Bruce flung it like a cowboy tossing a lasso. The hook sailed upward and over the I-beam the pulleys hung down from, catching on the edge with a dull thump. Bruce held motionless, straining his senses to detect if the slight noise had attracted unwanted attention. He didn't hear anything, and Alfred watching in the van didn't alert him to incoming guards, so he assumed they were safe for the moment.

The rope had knots tied in it every few feet, and Bruce used them to climb up to the beam. Once he pulled himself onto the dust and spider web covered beam, he waved to Zatanna, and she began her climb. It took her a few minutes longer than Bruce to reach the top as she'd spent more time learning magic than climbing ropes.

When Zatanna was perched on the beam beside him, Bruce picked up the grappling hook and reeled in the attached rope, hooking them on his belt again before he started toward the heat signatures Alfred had detected in the north end of the building.

The years of accumulated dust on the top of the I-beam only added to the problem of finding traction on the smooth metal. Bruce and Zatanna were forced to move very slowly, hanging on to the metal struts of the ceiling supports and keeping proper balance at all times to avoid slipping off. The one advantage working in their favor was being above the massive lights illuminating the factory interior. The brightness of the lights would prevent anyone from being able to see them in the darkness above, making them essentially invisible as they closed in on their objective.

Bruce kept an occasional eye on the patrolling guards below. They wore suits and carried their guns uncomfortably, telling him they weren't highly trained troops but civilians tasked with the job. It made Bruce relax, but only slightly. If a fight broke out, it would be easier to defend himself against civilian personnel of the company than it would've been taking on experienced guards who were trained in the proper use of the weapons they carried.

At the far end of the factory, Bruce paused over the break room and attached supply closet. He saw a pair of windows on one side and briefly entertained the idea of using the grappling hook and rope to swing down and through one of the windows to take the four men inside by surprise. It didn't take him long to reject the idea as even a slight miscalculation in his approach would cause him to hit the wall instead of the window. Furthermore, his black clothing was very good at keeping him from being seen, but it was a poor defense against the razor edges of glass shards.

Securing the grappling hook to the beam, Bruce slowly uncoiled the rope and let it down until it was near the ground. Climbing down quietly, Bruce and Zatanna dropped softly out of sight of both those inside the room and the patrolling guards in the main factory area.

Bruce looked toward Zatanna where they crouched by the door leading into the break room, and she gave a quick nod to signal her readiness. Flinging the door open, the two of them rushed inside.