Pinch Hitter

[run_barry]

Opening the door from Milliways Barry leads Yamato through and into S.T.A.R. Labs.

"And here we are, welcome to Central City and S.T.A.R. Labs."

They step out into a medical lab space, complete with fancy equipment and an exam table. The place looks pretty high-tech, but it's also currently a shambles. Things are knocked over on the countertops, several drawers have been pulled open and rifled through, there's an IV stand laying on the ground, and the red Flash suit is discarded on the floor beside the exam table.

It's the sort of scene that happens when a speedster on his last legs storms through an infirmary trying to help himself and not pass out in the process.

Glancing around, Barry frowns and rubs the back of his neck.

"Sorry about the mess."

Comments

[run_barry]

"Thanks," he says, then shakes his head. "And yeah, no. As far as anyone else knows this place has been shut down since the explosion. It's still fenced off and everything."

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"Good, you don't want every enterprising criminal in the city deciding they're going to attack you here," Yamato replies. "Especially since this doesn't look like it'd be an easy place to fortify, if it came to that."

[run_barry]

"I'm not sure how easy it is to get into the place, but I can tell you it's a hard job getting out," Barry replies. "When we had that electric meta running around in here we were pretty much trapped."

[angry_friendship_wolf]

Dryly: "Let's hope Nimbus doesn't get out of the Pipeline, then."

Yamato's not keen on thinking too hard about what would happen if a poison gas meta was able to run loose around an enclosed space with no easy exits.

"It is a really well-equipped hideout, though, from the sounds of it. You kinda lucked out here, with it being shut down anyway, and Wells and co being on side to give you access to it. I know the circumstances weren't great, but it's better than the explosion giving you your powers and then you having to use your apartment as a headquarters."

[run_barry]

"Definitely don't want that, but the danger of it happening is pretty low. Cisco did a good job when he designed the pipeline cells and securing them."

Even the one incident they had turned out to not be a system failure.

"I did, with the Labs and my team," he agrees. "We've got a lot at our disposal here, and what we don't have we generally have the capability to make."

Making a turn and then stepping through an open doorway, he gestures at the large room they enter.

"And here's the Cortex, our version of mission control."

It's a very high-tech space, with consoles and monitors and of course the communication equipment set up. And on the far wall of the room stands a mannequin, empty now and waiting to display the suit.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"This is especially cool," Yamato says when he sees the Cortex, giving Barry a wide, if also only momentary, grin.

He crosses to what seems to be the main console, taking a few moments to familiarise himself with the system. For all that it's relatively unfamiliar to him -- even the computers in Koushiro's office aren't this high-tech -- he seems to pick it up pretty quickly, methodically working through each of its functions and getting a handle on how they work.

[run_barry]

"I know, right?" Barry grins back.

He walks with Yamato over to the main console, pointing things out to help Yamato learn the equipment.

The lab with windows and glass doors off of the Cortex is darkened, but as Barry is talking to Yamato a door slides open and Cisco comes shambling out.

[makes_the_toys]

Wrapped up head to toe in a blanket he's clutching tight around himself, a sniffling and obviously very miserable Cisco crosses over to the the pair at the console.

He gives Yamato a nod of greeting, then looks at Barry. "Hey Yams. Barryyyyy, we're out of orange juice."

A beat, and then belated shock hits Cisco's features.

"Yamato? What're you-- Barry, why is he-- are you both crazy?"

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"I'm not actually here, Cisco, you're just delirious," Yamato deadpans, without looking up. "You can't blame Barry for that."

[makes_the_toys]

"No I'm not you're-- " Cisco pauses, brow squinching as he tries to decide if Yamato really is here or not.

"Don't do that. You're here!" he declares. Then, less sure in an aside to Barry he asks, "Right? He's here in the Cortex?"

[run_barry]

"Dude, it's cool," Barry assures Cisco. "He's just here to help me out while everyone else is down."

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"If you'd prefer it, I can go, kid," Yamato says to Cisco, glancing over at him. He pauses for a moment, then approaches, tucking the blanket a little tighter around Cisco's shoulders with an irritable growl. "But if not, you should find somewhere to sit or lie down. And take a decongestant if you haven't in the last few hours."

[makes_the_toys]

"I didn't say that," Cisco sniffles. "I'm just wondering what we're going to do if-- "

"Barry, please go get some more orange juice," comes a voice from the door that's sliding open once more. Caitlin slips through, wrapped up in her own blanket.

"-- that happens," Cisco continues, gesturing in Caitlin's direction.

"He's been whining all day and I'm this close to smothering him-- with-- a... " Caitlin notices the other person in the room and trails off, looking at the stranger then throwing Barry a 'who is this and what are you doing?!' look.

[run_barry]

Barry is ready to interject between Cisco and Yamato, but before he can Caitlin arrives and he's caught between all of them.

"Heyyy, Caitlin," Barry greets sunnily, smiling an oh-so-innocent smile.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

... Okay. Okay, Yamato was maybe not as prepared for this particular awkward situation as he thought he was. Maybe this isn't the best way to be introduced to Caitlin. Maybe he's nervous enough that he immediately drops into Commander-Of-The-Chosen mode, standing up straight and tipping his chin up and generally projecting an aura of authority, which totally isn't just a defensive mechanism in this instance. Not at all.

"Doctor Snow," he says, in a tone that's maybe slightly clipped. "I'm Yamato Ishida, I'm a friend of Barry's. And Cisco's. I'm sure Barry's just dying to explain to everything to you."

[makes_the_toys]

Cisco and Barry exchange odd looks on Yamato's reaction, and then Cisco moves to get in behind Caitlin.

"Yep, Barry will totally explain everything," Cisco says, gently sliding the lab door closed again.

"Yamato," Caitlin greets uncertainly. She looks over at Barry and gives him her most pointed of expressions. "Barry?"

[run_barry]

Barry shakes his head at Cisco's lack of help.

"Right. Okay. About Yamato... " he says, focusing on Caitlin. "Yamato is from Odaiba, Japan, here by way of a door that leads to a magical bar that sits at the end of the universe where Cisco and I hang out sometimes."

His tone is very reasonable as he explains, and when he goes on to theorize, "Well, most people say it's magic, I'm pretty sure the doorway is some extra-dimensional wormhole that serves as a portal through space time and allows visitation by individuals from throughout the multiverse and separate points in time to congregate in a fixed place within the time stream that physically manifests as an asteroid in space."

[angry_friendship_wolf]

Yamato is more of a ball of nerves than he expected, and his nervousness isn't easing up at all, but he's at least managing to cover it up with a combination of gruffness and military-grade formality.

Barry getting derailed by the science of Milliways is something he didn't account for, at all.

"It's either magic or very high-tech, but the point is that these two have been visiting a kind of interdimensional nexus," he says to Caitlin. "I'm not from this reality. Barry and I met a while ago, and Cisco and I a little after that. Since everyone's sick here, I offered to help out until this epidemic had passed."

He's just not going to mention Barry's whole nearly-passing-out thing. Nobody needs to know that right now.

"I'm sure they both would've told you earlier, but it's a ... strange thing to have to explain," he adds, tone still rather clipped and formal. "It's nice to meet you, though. They both speak very highly of you."

He'd offer a hand to shake, but that's probably a health hazard right now, so he just inclines his head a little instead.

[makes_the_toys]

As Barry goes off on tangents Cisco grips his blanket with one hand so he can use his other to snap his fingers in the air, trying to bring Barry back.

"Barry, focus!" Looking at Caitlin, Cisco throws her a sheepish smile. "It's really not half as crazy as it sounds once you get used to it."

Caitlin looks at all three of them like there's madness in the air and all of them have caught it.

"I'm sorry, what?" Holding up a hand to forestall any answers to that, she shakes her head then focuses on Barry.

"Can I talk to you? Out in the hall." She doesn't wait for an answer, she just starts walking.

Watching the two leave, Cisco sneezes a few times, covering up with his blanket. Fishing around inside his fuzzy cocoon, he pulls out a tissue and blows his nose loudly then gives Yamato a wane look.

"Boy, I'm sure glad I'm not Barry right now."

[angry_friendship_wolf]

Some of the tension goes out of Yamato's shoulders once they're both gone, and he gives Cisco a slightly helpless smile.

"I'm ... I'm sure she'll understand," he says, sounding like he doesn't entirely believe it. "It's just a lot to take in. Maybe I should've brought Gabumon, that might have helped."

He does throw a nervous glance in the direction they went in, just for a few moments, before glancing back at Cisco.

[makes_the_toys]

Seeing Yamato's nerves, Cisco starts to reach out to pat the guy's shoulder, then realizes that's a good way to try and get Yamato sick, so he keeps his hand to himself.

"She totally will," he assures Yamato, sniffling loudly when his voice comes out stuffy from congestion. "She's like, the queen of rolling with it. After she reams him out she'll be back in full-on understanding mode."

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"Don't misunderstand," Yamato says, gruffly. "It's just going to make this whole helping-you-guys-out thing awkward if we trip at the first stumbling block."

He's definitely not worried about Barry and Cisco getting in trouble, you understand. He's equally definitely not worried about making a good impression on their team. So you see.

"I'm glad to see you're on your feet, though. This virus sounds pretty bad, I was worried that you'd be half-dead," he says. "I'd hug you, but you're full of snot and I don't want to."

[makes_the_toys]

"Oh, I'm definitely dying," Cisco says, huddling down into his blanket. "Caitlin and Barry won't tell me, but I know I'm done for."

At least he feels done for. The only reason he's upright right now is the desperate need for juice and trying to catch Barry before he sped off again.

"But what about you?" he asks, then pauses to cough long and hard into his blanket. It's bound to sound as gross as it feels, and when he's finally able to stop, Cisco looks ten times more miserable.

"Pretty sure I just hacked up a piece of lung," he grumbles, then continues with Yamato. "What's with the straight-back attitude? You join the military or something while I've been down?"

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"I might be a little nervous. Maybe more than I thought I'd be," Yamato admits.

He peers at Cisco for a few seconds before dragging over a swivel-chair, because if Cisco's here he may as well sit down and try to rest a little.

"Besides, I've always been like that. I'm just not usually like that with you."

[makes_the_toys]

"Isn't like, hopping back and forth between worlds your everyday?" he asks, collapsing into the chair Yamato brings over. "Or is it because you're here, working with the S.T.A.R. Labs elite?"

Shuffling around inside his blanket again, he finds his tissue and blows his nose loudly, making a face at what comes out and then tossing it into a nearby wastebasket.

"It's good you haven't done it with me. I'd have suspected brainwashing or robot right from the start. In fact, I'm not entirely convinced right now that you aren't. You should let me stick you in our MRI scanner."