The Great Escapes

[run_barry]

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.

Comments

[angry_friendship_wolf]

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.

[run_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?"

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"-- 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."

[run_barry]

"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."

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"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."

[run_barry]

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.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"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."

[run_barry]

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?"

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"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.

[run_barry]

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."

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"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."

[run_barry]

"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.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"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.

[run_barry]

"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.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"You're so cruel," Yamato replies, reasonably. "I thought I was your very favourite Chosen."

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.

[run_barry]

"Nope, it's definitely one of the others now," Barry replies.

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.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"Well, now you've just hurt my feelings, you mean old man, you."

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."

[run_barry]

"If I'm crotchety it's because of you," he replies.

Hearing out Yamato's plan while frisbeeing a saw blade at K.I.L.L.F.L.A.S.H. and watching it ricochet off to stick into the side of a conveyor belt, Barry frowns.

"That's a really tight window, man," Barry says, ducking low to let a laser blast go by over his head. "Are you sure?"

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"I guess it's only natural for you to be grumpy and resentful of younger guys like me," Yamato says, very gravely. "Jealousy's a completely normal emotion to feel in your twilight years."

He frowns a little, and runs the numbers in his head again, just to make sure.

"Yeah, I'm sure," he says. "Think you can do it?"

[run_barry]

Barry would love to throw a retort back to that, but he's suddenly busy running for his life.

"WHOA!"

Outrunning a new stream of lasers, he takes cover behind a large piece of machinery, considering this new crazy plan.

"I guess being pulverized would beat being fried by lasers so, yeah... yeah I can do it."

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"I have faith that you can do this. You've not let me down yet, after all," Yamato says. "Tell me when you're ready, I'll keep an eye on when that robot is going to fire and tell you when to move."

[run_barry]

Barry crouches low and peers out from his spot, trying to catch a glimpse of the generator on the scary robot's back.

Just past K.I.L.L.F.L.A.S.H.'s feet Barry spies something on the ground, and he nods to himself.

"Okay, I'm ready." Pulling in a deep breath, he holds his position; drawing together the energy and speed he needs for the burst necessary to make this work.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

K.I.L.L.F.L.A.S.H. turns towards him, angling all of its guns in his direction, and there's a whine as it charges them up, low at first, then louder and shriller.

"Hold," Yamato murmurs, as it charges. "Hold."

At the moment the whining stops, he barks a quick: "Now!"

Just as he's finishing the word, the robot fires off its guns in one massive, bright red beam.

[run_barry]

Barry's tensed, practically vibrating with it as he holds; listening to the sound of the charge building.

He launches into motion on Yamato's order, streaking out from behind cover and racing in a loop around to the backside of the robot.

The red glow of laser fire is just starting to brighten the air around the robot's guns when Barry leans down to scoop up the wrench he'd tried to use earlier.

That glow grows brighter as all of the beams merge into one and start streaming forward as one massive blast while Barry closes the distance.

The beam strikes the hunk of machinery Barry had been behind while Barry jumps into the air and comes down hard on the generator on the back of K.I.L.L.F.L.A.S.H. with the wrench, swinging down with both arms to deliver a speed-backed blow.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

The generator is heavy looking, sturdy even, but a superspeed blow with a heavy wrench is enough to cleave a line halfway through it, leaving a jagged, sparking gash. K.I.L.L.F.L.A.S.H. stumbles forward with a loud, infuriated beep, its laser fizzling out as it struggles to keep itself upright on its spidery legs.

It stumbles forward several meters, nearly falls, but as it rights itself, there's a shimmer in the air around it as the shield around it goes back up. For a few seconds, it seems almost like it was unharmed, or at least that it can go on fighting. Then the shield crackles bright blue-green, shifts colours to reddish-violet, and finally, with an explosion of sparks from the generator, collapses in on itself with enough force that, when the flash of light fades, most of what's left of the robot is just twisted, burnt metal, separated into several different pieces.

Yamato actually does breathe an audible sigh of relief this time.

"Good job, Gramps."