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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Date: Feb. 18th, 2019 04:52 am (UTC)From: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."
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Date: Feb. 18th, 2019 06:00 am (UTC)From:"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.
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Date: Feb. 18th, 2019 06:16 am (UTC)From: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.
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Date: Feb. 18th, 2019 05:02 pm (UTC)From: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.
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Date: Feb. 18th, 2019 06:10 pm (UTC)From: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.
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Date: Feb. 18th, 2019 07:06 pm (UTC)From: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.
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Date: Feb. 18th, 2019 07:13 pm (UTC)From: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.
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Date: Feb. 18th, 2019 08:15 pm (UTC)From: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.
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Date: Feb. 18th, 2019 08:19 pm (UTC)From: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.
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Date: Feb. 18th, 2019 08:30 pm (UTC)From: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?"
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Date: Feb. 18th, 2019 09:16 pm (UTC)From: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."
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Date: Feb. 18th, 2019 09:32 pm (UTC)From: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."
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Date: Feb. 18th, 2019 09:36 pm (UTC)From: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."
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Date: Feb. 18th, 2019 09:50 pm (UTC)From:"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.
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Date: Feb. 18th, 2019 09:59 pm (UTC)From: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."
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Date: Feb. 18th, 2019 10:13 pm (UTC)From: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?"
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Date: Feb. 18th, 2019 10:23 pm (UTC)From: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.
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Date: Feb. 18th, 2019 10:39 pm (UTC)From:"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."
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Date: Feb. 18th, 2019 10:46 pm (UTC)From:"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."
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Date: Feb. 18th, 2019 10:51 pm (UTC)From: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.
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Date: Feb. 18th, 2019 10:58 pm (UTC)From: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.
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Date: Feb. 18th, 2019 11:17 pm (UTC)From:"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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Date: Feb. 18th, 2019 11:23 pm (UTC)From:Ex-Chosen. Whatever.
He's relieved to see Barry avoid the lasers, although it doesn't let on in his voice at all.
"Look on the bright side, this is apparently the incomplete version," he says, dryly. A moment later, he adds: "Keep dodging for now. Don't stop moving. Give me a few minutes and I'll -- think of something. Everything has a weakness somewhere."
Apparently those short bursts don't require as much recharging, as the robot swings up to point at the catwalk (prompting another barked command from Yamato) and fires four more volleys, spread out over a twenty metre line.
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Date: Feb. 18th, 2019 11:32 pm (UTC)From:That recharge is indeed quick, and catches Barry by surprise.
"Oh, geez!" Barry runs again, dodging one blast by racing along the catwalk and then stopping in his tracks just in time to avoid running straight into another.
His arms go up to shield from the bright flare of the blast and he backs up a few quick steps to avoid flying slag.
"Think fast!" he shouts at Yamato, starting to run again before the robot can fire more.
Barry is just going to keep on avoiding laser fire and hurling things at K.I.L.L.F.L.A.S.H., hoping to turn up a weak spot or something.
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Date: Feb. 18th, 2019 11:40 pm (UTC)From:The things Barry hurls at K.I.L.L.F.L.A.S.H. rebound off its shield with great force, and while it responds by firing another concentrated laser blast, it's slow enough that it misses Barry by a fair margin.
"Okay," Yamato says, after that blast. "I think I've got something. Just when it fires its lasers, that shield it has powers down for just over half a second. If you can use that time to get behind it, you can hit that generator on its back."
Beat.
"But if you're even just a little too slow, you'll run straight into the shield and be pulverised."
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