run_barry | 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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Barry lets go of the stool as soon as the collision starts, and leaves the shattering drone behind as he keeps moving.

He baits another drone with a saw into following him closely and leads it around into one of the drones shooting at him, getting them to take out each other in a collision.

Taking these things out one and two at a time is not going to keep on working though, especially with more about to join in.

Working out a plan, Barry lights on a strategy that's going to be risky to do, but will hopefully take care of a bunch of the drones.

Cutting down on his full use of the space and instead sticking to one half of the factory, Barry zips around, zig-zagging and turning to keep out of the path of bullets, but also trying to collect a following of drones behind him.

Yamato is fast, and the man's head snaps around twice as each of those blows land. Short on speed, the thing the man does seem to have working in his favor is a pretty solid jaw, because although those blows land and rock him a little, he shakes them off pretty quick and goes back to fighting.

Trying to take advantage of the corridor, the man looks to crowd in on Yamato and keep the young man in front of him. Choking up on the bat, allows for shorter and hopefully faster swings and he takes a couple of those at Yamato.

With Barry zipping around too quickly for them to get in front of him, the drones start to huddle in behind him, spraying bullets and gathering in greater and greater numbers: Two, then four, then five.

Meanwhile, the security doors finish opening and several drones come zipping out, swooping towards Barry and trying to get a good angle to shoot him down.

Without much room to dodge left or right, and with the man crowding in on forward space, Yamato is rapidly finding his speed to be almost useless here. He raises his arms to block instead, grimacing as the jacket's sleeves absorb some but nowhere close to all of the force.

He's hyper-aware that he can't just defend, though, that he needs to take this man down as quickly as possible, so he drops his guard to try throwing a haymaker -- wild, slower than his usual punches, and slow enough that before it has a chance to come anywhere close to landing, the baseball bat slams into the side of his head.

There's a blinding flash of pain, and he staggers sideways to collide with the wall, dazed and dizzy, his vision swimming.

Staying ahead of the drones and their assault isn't an easy task, and Barry definitely feels a near miss or two with bullets as he races around gathering a small fleet.

When it feels like he has quite a few on his tail, and that trying to pick up any more would be a risk, he makes one more loop around the half of the factory floor he's been running, then streaks off for the other side.

The feat he's attempting is a hard one. He has to move side to side and erratically enough to dodge all of the bullets flying his way, but slow enough to keep the drones in close on his heels, while also building up enough speed for the next part.

The other end of the factory floor comes up quickly, and Barry bides his time until the last few feet. It's then he runs a straight line for the wall, punching in speed and heedless of the bullets coming while hoping this works.

Up until now Barry's kept it to one level with the drones. When he reaches the wall he plants his foot and runs up, counting on the drones to not be able to react quick enough to change course or follow.

Seeing Yamato stagger, the man grins.

"Not as fast as your friend is, huh?" he gloats. "Or was, I should say."

There's an air of grimly pleased finality in his voice, because surely the speedster is dead by now or will be soon enough.

He loosens his hand to let the bat slide through, gripping it again by the handle, then raises it up and brings it down to finish the job on Yamato.

Moving on a horizontal axis is easy enough for the drones, and moving downwards isn't that much more difficult, but moving upwards is a rather more difficult task. As Barry suddenly starts moving upwards, the drones tilt to start following him, far too slow, and there's the sound of some crestfallen beeping and whirring before they collide at top speed with the wall and explode.

The few drones that weren't following Barry start to swerve about to follow Barry, trying to catch him with bullets but keeping their distance, at least for now. But another door hisses open on one side of the catwalk, admitting a half dozen drones -- a few with guns, a few with circular saws, and a few that are emitting thick clouds of white smoke from their sides, breathable but difficult to see through. The room's large enough that it will take a while for it to fill up completely, but they certainly seem committed to the task of covering everything in smoke.

Yamato is pretty sure he's bleeding from his head. Extremely sure, even, because the blood's starting to pour down over his eye and cut off his vision on one side. He can't quite see the man's face, but he can hear him speak, even if it does sound like he's hearing it through a pool of water, and the sound of him so certainly talking about Barry dying is infuriating.

He sees the blurry shape that he thinks is the bat shift in the man's hand, thinks he sees it move upwards, and he's fairly sure this blow will split his skull open. He blinks rapidly, trying to clear his vision, pushing woozily off the wall just before he hears the rush of air as the bat swings down.

One hand goes up on instinct, and he feels the bat slam against it, hard enough that the pain reverberates down his arm. He closes his hand around it, gripping it tight and holding it still.

He straightens up, taking a step forward, still gripping the bat in his hand. "Say that again."

Edited Date: Feb. 18th, 2019 04:54 am (UTC)

Barry runs up and then makes a loop, coming back down to the factory floor. For a moment he feels pretty good about that working, and then he hears another door opening and sees whats coming in.

"Oh, c'mon."

The thought crosses Barry's mind that Camera Commander can't have many more of the machines left, and then Barry remembers he's literally in a factory built to produce the things.

Kept on the run by the drones that didn't bite it before, and watching as smoke starts to cloud the room from some of the new ones, Barry mutters to himself, "Yamato, I could really use some strategizing about now."

Changing course just in time to avoid bullets, and ducking right underneath a whirling saw blade, Barry feels it's just a matter of time before one of the deadly drones gets a hit on him. Which means he needs to do something before that happens.

Racing past one of the smoke drones he sees it rock a little in his wake and the smoke whip along in his trail and that gives him an idea.

"The basement... "

This space is much larger, so it's going to take quite a bit more effort to get the winds whipping in here but... what's worked once before...

Digging deep, Barry starts to run faster. A lot faster.

The man blinks in stunned surprise when Yamato catches the bat.

"What the-- "

For a moment he just stands there, uncertain, and then his expression darkens and he jerks on the bat, trying to yank it free of Yamato's grasp.

"You think either one of you makes it out of here alive? No chance," he says, before swinging a left hook at Yamato.

The immediate benefit of the winds that Barry's whipping up is that the drones start getting nudged off course, having to try that much harder to keep up with Barry. They're solidly built, made to operate outside, but as the winds start to churn harder, their aim starts being that little bit less accurate, their speed just a touch slower.

But the same principle they used in the boutique's basement, the use of wind turbulence to amplify electromagnetic interference from lightning, that is still also clearly holding true: As the winds pick up, the electromagnetic discharge in the air becomes strong enough to be palpable. The drones aren't suffering the ill effects yet, but if the slightly panicked way they're spraying bullets everywhere they can is anything to go by, the Commander has some idea what Barry's doing.

Yamato can't dodge while holding the bat (which he keeps gripping tight, ignoring the man's attempts to yank it away), so he takes the hook, his face snapping to one side with the force of it. It'll leave an unpleasant looking bruise later, but for the moment, he seems largely unconcerned.

With a low growl, he gives the bat a yank of his own, moving to drag the man towards him with it. He snaps his head forward at the same time, in a powerful headbutt aimed at the man's nose.

Coursing back and forth across the factory floor, Barry starts first with the grid pattern he used in the basement. The winds begin to whip, and he can feel the charge building up in the air.

This is probably a move that Camera Commander is expecting, though, and given that Yamato still isn't back online to jump in and take over once Barry breaks the connection between the drones and their operator, Barry has a different strategy and endgame in mind.

Running entirely too fast for any of them to actually chase him now, Barry's aim is to get the drones into a fixed position; using his movements, the wake behind him and the winds to begin maneuvering the drones towards the middle of the factory floor.

Once he clears the edge of the floor Barry gives up the grid pattern and starts racing in circles. He also leaves the ground and starts running along the walls, using the obstacle free path in lieu of a straightaway as he continues to build speed.

Arcing in rising and falling curves up and down the walls to avoid gunfire, he speeds round and around. The winds he's generating beginning to swirl and funnel in down on the factory floor.

Stumbling forward and straight into the strike, bone crunches and blood sprays with the headbutt as the man's nose breaks.

Barking in pain, he releases the bat to grab his nose, staggering backwards a step.

"You little-- " he curses, trying to reorient as his eyes water and blood gushes out. Dazed, he hauls back to throw a clumsy swing.

The drones do their best to resist, they really do, but slowly, surely, they start getting dragged towards the middle of the factory floor.

They keep pushing against it, though, turning about to try spraying bullets in every direction they can, letting a series of furious beeps.

While the man is staggering backwards, Yamato snaps the bat over his knee, dropping the pieces on the floor.

He still can't see clearly, not really, but he can see the rough shape of that swing, and he ducks in under it, ramming his elbow towards the man's jaw, before following up with a hard swings at his ribs -- right, left, right, again and again.

Electricity crackling all around him and in his wake, Barry pours out more and more. The air is starting to fight him now, which is what he's been waiting for.

When air can't get out of his way fast enough he knows he's approaching an invisible barrier. The moment he feels it beginning to break he cuts down off of the wall and makes a beeline for the drones.

Generating a sonic boom inside an enclosed space is probably not the safest thing to do, but it's Barry's shot to try and take out all of the drones at once.

Bursting past the sound barrier, the resulting BOOM goes off loudly and reverberates around in waves, compounding upon itself in the enclosed area as does the pressurized shock wave Barry carries along behind him as he rips past the huddle of drones.

The last time he did this Barry shattered windows and rocked cars in his wake, hopefully the drones fair even worse.

The man's head snaps up with that elbow and he's definitely seeing stars now. He tries another wild swing, then folds sideways under that shot to the ribs.

Arms going up to try to shield himself, it's all he can do to defend against the onslaught. Another attempt at a punch leaves his face open for another blow, a jab gets him hit in the rib cage again, and his final resort haymaker earns him a shot to the gut that finally doubles him over.

Staggered and and trying to bring Yamato into focus, the man sways on his feet like a heavyweight one blow away from kissing the mat.

When the sonic boom hits the drones, they all summarily shatter, bursting apart into tiny pieces. So does a lot of the factory equipment. The heavy security doors remain intact and shut, although a few of the shutters over the vents crumple a little.

From one of the drone's remains, there's a voice-synthesised yell of -- well, it's probably frustration, but the voice synthesiser means that it just comes out as a wholly monotone "Aaaaaaaaa." He gives a long pause, then adds. "Wait. There."

The doors all seem sealed tight anyway.

"Sorry," Yamato says, reaching over with one fist to tip the man's chin up a little, just delicately positioning it in the right spot. "If I wasn't in a hurry, I'd give you a chance to get your breath back and we could go a few more rounds, but, you know."

He gives a helpless shrug, before his entire body rotates to drive his fist up against the man's chin in a pretty savage uppercut that is absolutely meant to break his jaw and knock him out in one fell swoop.

Barry comes to a stumbling stop, legs wobbly and breathing hard. His ears are ringing and he wonders if he hasn't just blown out his own eardrums.

He's almost glad when hears that angry voice coming from one of the downed drones, warbled and foreboding as it is.

Pounding his palm against the outside of the cowl to try and get the rest of his hearing back, Barry looks around to verify all of the drones are down while working on catching his breath.

Looking up at Yamato, the man's retort is undecipherable thanks to his slurred speech.

Blood and spit fly from the blow and the man's eyes roll back in his head before he hits the deck, all the lights out.

Yamato drops to a crouch, quickly adjusting the man into the recovery position, then taking one of his shoelaces to tie his hands with, just in case he wakes up.

With that done, he starts heading back to the computer room, opening up comms with Barry again.

"Hey, Gramps. Sorry I had to leave you on your own there. How're you doing?"

His voice is calm, if also just terse enough that it's obvious that he's worried about Barry.

It's a relief to hear Yamato come back on at last, even if Barry has a little trouble making out all that's being said.

Laying a hand over the earpiece, Barry replies, "Eh? Yamato, you have to speak up."

Belated Barry realizes what an old man response that is and he shakes his head at himself, turning around and heading towards the shaft he's supposed to use to drop in on Camera Commander.

"I mean-- never mind. Just talk louder. I'm fine, took out the drone army for now." He's hoping they're all done, but isn't quite counting on that just yet. "Are you alright?"

"-- Wow, the jokes I could make right now."

Yamato is pitching his voice louder, though.

"I'm fine. Just," he pauses to catch a glance at himself in the reflective surface of the elevator door, just to see how badly he's going to have to bend the truth here.

He looks pretty bad: Where the bat hit him, there's a wide cut arcing around from just above his temple and across one side of his forehead, mottled with deep bruising around the edges, and while it's shallow and already healing, it was messy enough that that half of his face is covered in blood, with one eye tinged red where blood's seeped into it, and blood matting his hair; his split lip is open again, and there's a vivid bruise forming on the cheekbone on the non-bloody side of his face; and his knuckles are badly bruised, as are his forearms.

"Just a few scrapes and bruises," he says, telling himself he's being diplomatic and not just a lying liar who lies. "Nothing to worry about, I just got sloppy. I'm going to get on the computers now and see about getting those doors open."

Edited Date: Feb. 18th, 2019 09:18 pm (UTC)

"Shut up," he says, his pout practically audible. "I had to do a thing down here."

And he's still puffing hard from it.

He keeps moving, walking the space, trying to keep his legs from turning to jelly. Recovery is happening though, and he should be good to go in a moment or two.

Yamato's pause doesn't go unnoticed, and Barry is a little dubious, but won't call him out just yet.

"Alright. Soon would be good. I'm pretty sure CC is super ticked-off now and may or may not want me to stay right here and wait for him."

"Yeah, I can hear you nearly hacking up a lung like the geria -- wow, that's a whole lot of drone parts," Yamato says, as he gets to the console and brings up camera feeds. When he next speaks, he sounds like he's practically glowing with pride in Barry: "Good going, Gramps, guess I had nothing to worry about. You doing fine apart from that? No injuries?"

He starts working, bringing up a few windows and making an irritable noise.

"He's burnt out the locking mechanism on the ventilation shaft shutters, there's no way to get them open. I'm going to try to open the elevator down to the sublevel instead."

Barry toes one of the downed robots, going a little 'aw shucks' on Yamato's reaction.

"He kept them coming pretty good." But yeah, Barry totally handled them.

"I could go for a hamburger," he jokes, then shakes his head. "But no, I'm fine. Couple close calls with bullets and a buzzsaw or two, but I'm alright."

He frowns upon hearing about the vent shaft. True they've pretty much lost any element of surprise by now, but taking the elevator is like walking in through the front door.

"Any chance you can see where he's at or what he's doing?" Barry asks.

"There aren't any cameras in the control room he's in, but the elevator where he is has just activated," Yamato says, frowning. "And it's hauling something heavy up. Find a good spot to take cover, we don't know what it is he's got up his sleeve for his last hurrah."

There's a good few minutes for Barry to get his breath back and find some cover, as the number above the elevator slowly changes from 'B1' to '1,' then hisses open.

The thing beyond it is -- technically a drone? It's definitely made with drone parts, but it doesn't resemble the others much. There are four spider-like legs protruding from the bottom, and a roughly humanoid torso rising out of them, with four arms tipped in some sort of long, nozzle-like gun, a large glowing disk-shape set on its back, and a camera in place of a head. The air around it is faintly shimmering, almost unnoticeably except when a shaft of light hits it just so.

"I didn't want to use this until it was complete, but you've forced my hand. This is the Kinetic Inversion Laser-equipped Legionnaire For Liquidating Aggravating Speed Heroes," the synthesised voice says. "Or K.I.L.L.F.L.A.S.H."

From Yamato's end of the line, there's a muttered: "We were premature in not naming him Dark Cisco. I see that now."

Taking cover behind a piece of downed machinery, Barry is ready and already amping up to run from another horde of drones again when the elevator opens.

When he sees what steps out all he can do for a long moment is gape.

"Whaaaaaat the hell?"

Stumped and staring, he calls back to Yamato with a calmness he definitely does not feel, "So. Ideas?"

"I'm working on it, but it's not like I have blueprints for -- whatever it is that is," Yamato replies, pretty calmly. "That thing on its back looks like some kind of generator, it might be a weak spot. Whatever you do, don't get close to that thing, though."

He can see that faint shimmer on his camera feeds, after all. He doesn't know what it is yet, but he can see it.

K.I.L.L.F.L.A.S.H. meanwhile, takes several steps forward and raises all of its arms, which start emitting a faint hum.

"Barry, run to the catwalk, now," Yamato barks.

A second later, four brilliantly red laser beams in four different directions come bursting out from those guns, and the torso rotates to start sweeping them about in an arc around the lower level of the factory floor. They're powerful, too: Where they hit metal or brickwork, the result is explosions, dust, and a trail of molten slag.

Edited Date: Feb. 18th, 2019 10:38 pm (UTC)

Barry tilts his head in a couple different directions, trying to look the monstrosity over and also work out what the weird haze is coming off of it.

"What do you think-- " he cuts off whatever he was about to ask when the robot moves forward, taking a reflexively backing up.

He doesn't dawdle, on Yamato's command Barry runs, racing up the stairs to avoid the stream of laser fire.

"What the HELL?!" he repeats, looking down from the catwalk at the robot and all the damage it just caused.

Quickly he starts trying to look around for options on dealing with this thing.

"It looks pretty bulky. Maybe it won't be able to climb up here."

"It doesn't look like it can climb. I don't think it can even use stairs. But it does look like it can aim upwards," Yamato says, frowning, as the robot stops firing and seems to take a moment to recharge, scuttling across the factory floor and keeping Barry in its sights.

"Try throwing something at it. I have a suspicion about what that thing around it is," he says. "You know, just based on how it's built to kill specifically you."

"Great, so I'll just spend the rest of my life up here," Barry sighs, glancing around at all of the locked steel doors.

With the firing stopped for the moment Barry races back down, picking up a hefty piece of downed drone and throwing it.

K.I.L.L.F.L.A.S.H. is a lot larger and slower than the drones that had been zipping around earlier, so Barry has no trouble making this throw on target.

"It's fine, old age is coming for you soon anyway. 'Eh? Speak up, Yama-chan, my hearing's not what it once was. I remember back when I was your age. It was the Meiji Era ...'"

That last is said in the wheeziest, most strained old man voice.

As the piece of downed drone flies towards K.I.L.L.F.L.A.S.H., the haze around it turns into a sphere of brilliant lightning, and it rebounds with exactly the same force it hit the haze with, crashing into a wall.

"... Well, score one for my theory," Yamato says. "It's some kind of forcefield that redirects momentum. If you run into it at superspeed, you'll definitely die."

Just after he says that, the robot turns towards Barry, its guns whining again, and Yamato barks a quick "Move!" before it fires four quick laser blasts in rapid succession.

"Seriously, you're the worst," Barry replies, flinching and ducking when that drone piece hits and goes flying off.

"WOAH!"

Looking back at the robot with wide eyes, Barry's expression grows even more alarmed when the robot gears up to fire again and he runs, racing back up to the catwalk.

"How the heck am I supposed to stop something specifically designed to kill me?" he asks Yamato urgently.

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Barry Allen

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