run_barry | The Great Escapes

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The Great Escapes

Since Yamato offered to come to Central City and help with the epidemic crisis, things have been crazy, but handling them has been a whole lot easier now that Barry isn't operating alone.

He even got some rest in, on Yamato's orders, and they've got a bit of down time as far as emergencies in the city go so they're using it to work on other problems.

While Yamato recalibrates the S.T.A.R. Labs satellite to track the new meta they suspect is behind a whole bunch of the crime, and a death-trap or two set for Barry, Barry is getting his science nerd-amateur virologist on, trying to find a cure to the bug that has so much of the City down; including his team.

Sitting at a desk in the Cortex, Barry works away with a microscope taking notes on a tablet. Beside him are several boxes of chicken nuggets which he's working through, with a few empty ones already in the waste bin nearby.

In the middle of the space on the floor GP the porg is munching on shrimp treats while bopping around an inflatable S.T.A.R. Labs beach ball.

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"Nothing wrong with a good pair of surgical pliers," Yamato replies, shaking his head as he packs up the surgical kit again. "Although if I'd known you had something better than that, I would've used it instead."

He hums a few bars, and his armoured jacket -- a rather unassuming thing that looks more or less like a bottle-green motorbike jacket with a hood -- appears. He slides it on quickly.

"Ready."

Barry is bemused, but rather than harp on it he lets it go and says, "I guess I'm just glad you were able to take care of it for me."

Doing it himself would've been difficult, and probably wouldn't have turned out so well.

Seeing the jacket, Barry's gone, and then he's back again now wearing the suit with a new undamaged jacket.

Juice bottle in hand, he asks, "Where does that stuff come from, anyways?"

He gives a nod at Yamato, indicating the jacket and the surgical kit that seems to be gone now.

"It's some kind of inventory system built into the wrist computer, so another thing I can thank Milliways for. We don't have anything like this in my world or anything," Yamato says. "It's kind of awkward, though. Every time I put something new in it, it spits out a melody that I have to learn and then repeat if I want to get that item out again. If you ever met Autor, the same dude gave him something similar, except his worked on Shakespearian couplets."

"Huh," Barry replies, a little baffled. "Who was this guy?"

"Loud, yell-y kid with grey skin, horns, possibly a compulsive need to help people out. Set up the T-Minus network, too. I haven't seen him around for a while, though."

That description raises more questions than it answers, but Barry decides now isn't the time.

"Right."

Raising the bottle of juice, he drains it quickly then give Yamato a nod.

"I guess we're set then, let's go." Without anymore preamble than that, Barry throws an arm around Yamato's shoulders and they're off; speeding from the Labs in a whoosh.

A short while later they drop out of running and come to a neat stop a hopefully safe distance away from Camera Commander's hideout.

Yamato has a second to brace himself for that sudden jolt of speed, but he still doesn't much enjoy it. Being sped around with no control over where he's going and no way of getting his bearings is exactly his idea of a bad time. He doesn't complain, though, because -- well, how else would they get there, when using Barry's speed is the quickest option and the one least likely to get them noticed.

"Okay," he says, bringing up a holographic display from his wrist computer. "If we approach from the east side, you can run us up to the roof without any of the external cameras seeing us. From there, we head down the maintenance shaft to the top floor. No cameras there, so we can get to the computer room easily enough."

Running is still exhilarating for Barry. Every time he gets to pour out speed it's awesome, and while he's tried to temper the showing off recently, it's still impossible not to get excited, especially because Yamato is here and this totally counts as a team-up.

While Yamato brings up the display and goes over things, Barry studies Yamato intently.

"What about the Green Hood?" he asks, because of the jacket, obviously.

"Not unless you want me to start calling you Red Mask," Yamato replies, his tone turning a little wry even as his expression remains serious.

"Yeah, no," he replies, dismissing that notion quickly.

Focusing up, he glances over the map and nods.

"Okay, got it." And they're moving again, the circle around the building they take totally not because Barry momentarily got east and west mixed up.

When he finally does cut in towards the building it's from the right direction and they run a straight line for it, no speed lost at all in changing from a horizontal heading into a vertical one up the wall.

When they reach the roof they come to another stop.

Yamato tenses up a little as they move, but he relaxes pretty quickly once they stop.

"The whole running up walls thing is pretty cool," he says, conversationally, switching the map to a blueprint of the building.

"Okay, the maintenance shaft is near the centre of the rooftop. It's narrow, but we won't be in it for long," he says, crossing the roof until they eventually reach a slightly raised section with a trapdoor set into it. It's locked, but it doesn't look that sturdy. "If you'd like to do the honours."

"Right?" Barry grins, so pleased to have Yamato see him in action.

Kneeling down, Barry sets his hand on the lock and vibrates until the inner components shake apart and the lock comes undone. Pulling the trapdoor open he peers inside the hole.

"Wow. This isn't creeptastic at all."

Barry's not thrilled to go down there, but it's their only option.

"I'll go first?" That seems like probably the safest course.

Yamato grins back, just for a few moments, before his expression turns serious again.

"Probably our best bet. There shouldn't be any security down on the top floor, more likely the Commander just sealed it off, but be careful anyway."

"Yeah."

Barry most definitely does gulp before he starts descending into the extremely narrow space.

When his foot taps down on solid ground he's in a more open space and has a quick look around before calling up just loud enough to be heard, "Okay, we're cool."

Yamato pulls up his hood and follows Barry down, brushing himself down as reaches the top floor. It definitely doesn't look to his eyes like anyone's been up here in a while.

"All right, computer room's this way."

He heads down one of the corridors, moving carefully until they reach what looks like a medium-sized room of computer banks next to what seems to be the only active elevator. Yamato makes a mental note of that: They can't use it without drawing attention, that's for sure, but if there's trouble, that's where it will come from.

"Give me a few minutes to get everything up and running," he says, heading towards one of the consoles and starting it up.

Trying to knock a cobweb off of his own shoulder, Barry follows after Yamato.

While Yamato works, Barry meanders around checking things out.

"Are gonna be able to secure this space for you?"

"Don't think so, no," Yamato says, booting up the console. "If I get company up here and have to go quiet for a while, you should either find somewhere without any cameras to take cover, or get yourself to an open space where you can use your speed."

"Was worried more about what you're gonna do, if you get stuck in here with the bad guys," Barry admits, looking over at Yamato.

"That depends on a whole lot of different factors, but I'll think of something," Yamato says. "I handled Robo-Girder, didn't I?"

He pauses, giving Barry a quick glance. "Try not to worry about me. Of the two of us, you're the one with the more dangerous job here, after all."

"True that," he replies, thinking about the robot and the shape it was in when Yamato was done with it.

He holds up a hand to ward off that worry from Yamato. "Don't worry, my head's still in it. I've got this."

"I know you do," Yamato says, giving Barry a quick smile. "Let's just hope those old bones of yours don't give out before we're done here."

With a flick of a few keys, he starts bringing up camera feeds and a map, frowning as he looks them over, tapping three points on the map of the floor directly beneath them, just mentally marking them.

"Okay. I think we're good to go."

Barry shakes his head at Yamato's crack.

"Still got a long time before I'll need a walker."

Giving Yamato a nod when he announces he's ready, Barry says, "Alright. Tell me where to go."

Time to bring the Camera Commander down.

"Alright. First off is getting you to the next floor down. There's a stairwell on the northern side of this floor with drones monitoring it," Yamato says. "I can open the security doors and make a false alert to draw the drones away, so when I do, you'll have around seven seconds to get from here to the stairs, down to the next floor, and through the door there to this office here."

He taps an office next to the stairs. "Door will be locked, so you'll need to spare some time to vibrate it open. Then duck inside, keep yourself low to the ground, and wait."

As Yamato goes over things Barry looks it all over, taking the time to orient himself to make sure he knows which way he's going.

"Got it. Just give me a go."

Getting into a ready position, Barry revved up, ready to run through this first phase.

"Three, two, one ..." Yamato says, and presses a few keys. "Go."

The alert he sets off is a small one -- one that could easily be a glitch, or something rustling just the right way, or a mouse. He's still acutely aware that there's only so many of those he can set off before the Commander realises what's happening.

He opens two security doors at the same time, one at the top of the stairs, and one at the bottom.

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