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]

"No, no, this was a guy. A human guy. With a baseball bat," Yamato says, and while he doesn't pull away from Cisco poking him, he does hold very still. "One of CC's henchpeople. He wasn't bad, either, it was a fun fight, even if he did kind of piss me off towards the end."

The fight was good, the comments about how he thought Barry was going to get killed weren't.

[makes_the_toys]

Cisco leans in close to inspect Yamato, poking the spot just to the side of the cut.

"You've got a seriously whack scale for fun," he notes. "Gross. You should get that looked at."

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"Barry's going to look at it, but it's fine. It's not even deep, it's just messy."

Head wounds are the worst, in that regard.

"You're looking better, kiddo," he notes, reaching over to ruffle one side of Cisco's hair. "Well. A little better."

[makes_the_toys]

"Five dollars says you need stitches," he says, drawing back. Turning his head, he sneezes a couple of times and then nods.

"Yeah, I'm getting there. Caitlin stuck me with something she whipped up from the data Barry put together and now I'm producing antibodies for the rest of Central City."

He holds his arm out to show Yamato the band-aid on the inside of his elbow.

"Pretty sure this makes me some kind of hero."

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"I'm not going to need stitches. Look, the wound's not even bleeding that much anymore," Yamato says.

He glances at the band-aid, smiling a little. "I guess it does. Should I start calling you the Amazing Antibody Guy? I can do that if you really want."

[makes_the_toys]

"Nope, if I ever get a code name I'm definitely the one who's going to come up with it, and it's totally going to be something awesome. Also, I'm thinking it'll only be one word."

Pulling a chair for himself to sit in, Cisco nods past Yamato.

"As for the stitches, she's the one you'll have to convince."

Walking in now is Caitlin, with Barry right behind her.

[run_barry]

"Yamato? Barry says you have a head injury," Caitlin says, calm but also concerned.

"Oh, he's going by Clobberman now, Caitlin," Barry pipes in, grinning at Yamato from behind her.

"Okay, that's... " her expression says 'terrible name', but diplomatically she finishes with, "interesting. Tell me what happened."

Still wearing her scarf and a face mask, she's pulling on gloves as she speaks.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"I am not going by 'Clobberman,'" Yamato growls, rising to his feet and jabbing a finger at Barry. "That's the worst one you've come up with so far. Cisco, make Barry stop trying to give me shitty superhero names."

Save him, Cisco. You are his only hope now.

He gives Caitlin a slightly wary look, because he really doesn't want to have to make his case for no stitches, and also because from what he's seen, Caitlin is a harsher medic than Jyou.

"It's nothing. Some guy with a baseball bat got in a good hit, that's all," he says, tapping his wound to indicate where it landed.

[run_barry]

Barry takes a step back and holds his hands up in innocence.

"Oh c'mon, that one's not bad at all. It's fitting."

[makes_the_toys]

Cisco's disagreement is all over his features.

"That's a horrible name. I'm officially extending the name-ban to heroes, too."

Cisco makes a cutting-chop motion with his hand, indicating the madness stops now.

Startled by Yamato's jumping up at first, Caitlin now rolls her eyes at the three of them.

"Barry. Stop riling up my patient. Cisco. I told you I need you drinking water. Where is it? Yamato, sit down, please. A bat to the head is not 'nothing'." Clipped with the first two, she comes back somewhat kinder to Yamato, gesturing nicely towards the chair he abandoned.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"Thank you," Yamato says to Cisco. "He's been trying to saddle me with a superhero name for the past hour."

His gaze flicks over to Caitlin, and he gives a slightly nervous: "Ah, sorry," and sits down again, rubbing one hand over his forehead. "But I'm fine, really."

Actually, it still hurts, but Yamato's pretty sure that's to be expected! And he can see clearly again now! So it must be fine.

[run_barry]

"Hey, c'mon, there were some good ones," Barry starts to argue, then a look off Caitlin makes him drop his case.

"Sorry."

[makes_the_toys]

"I was getting some more water," Cisco replies, hopping off of his chair.

"Thank you," Caitlin says when Yamato sits, ignoring the other two now. Stepping in close, she places a hand on Yamato's chin to direct the tilt of his head, while she brushes back his hair to look at the cut.

Making a 'hmm' sound and frowning, she then reaches into her coat and pulls out a pen light, which gets directed at Yamato's eyes.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

Yamato gives Barry an arched eyebrow, as if to silently ask exactly which of the names he came up with were at all good.

He holds still for Caitlin, and is mostly stoically impassive (apart from a momentary frown at that 'hmm' noise), even when the light gets shone in his eyes.

[run_barry]

"Digi-Dude wasn't bad," Barry says in his defense. "And don't pretend like you totally hated Sailor Yams."

[makes_the_toys]

"Barry... " Caitlin warns, tightening her hold on Yamato's chin just a little to make sure he doesn't jump up again.

Turning off the light, she nods.

"You definitely need stitches. You've also got at least a mild concussion, I'd like to get a scan to make sure it's not any worse than that. You'll need some ice for that bump, and I'll need to clean out the other abrasions. There's no telling where this bad guy you were fighting has been."

[angry_friendship_wolf]

Yamato glowers at Barry. Or glowers at Barry as much as he can without moving his head, at least. "I definitely hated both of those, Sailor Speedy."

He frowns a little more at the idea of getting stitches, and a little more than that when he hears he has a concussion.

"Guess I owe Cisco five-hundred yen," he mutters to himself. To Caitlin: "I -- guess that's fine. Worse things than a scan. How long will I need to recover?"

[run_barry]

Hearing Caitlin go over everything, Barry frowns.

"Man, I'm sorry," he says.

[makes_the_toys]

Letting Yamato go, Caitlin gives his shoulder a soft pat.

"The good news is, pain killers will work on you so I'll give you some of those and make sure the area around the wound is numb so the stitches won't hurt at all," she promises.

"Recovery is going to depend on what we find with the scan. If it is only mild then... about a week? The stitches should come out in about that time, as well."

Sipping on a bottle of water, Cisco winces.

"Ouch, dude. Caitlin, want me to get the machine ready?"

"If you could," she says with a nod.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

Yamato peers at Barry for a moment. "Hey, Gramps. If you start blaming yourself for this, I actually will fight you on it. And I'll win, because you won't hit a man with a concussion," he says. "You were busy with your own stuff, and five or six steel doors away from me, there's nothing you could've done. Besides, the fight was pretty fun."

He's sure the man would agree! Probably! Maybe!

He gives Cisco a slightly wry look, then adds: "My wallet's at the bottom of the ocean, so you're going to have to wait on that wager until I get back to Earth. Sorry about that."

[makes_the_toys]

"Fun he says," Cisco says, shaking his head. "Also, the wallet? A totally likely excuse."

Giving Yamato an 'I'm watching you' gesture, Cisco heads out to go get the scanner warming up.

"Barry, have you eaten?" Caitlin asks, much more gently than anything else said so far.

[run_barry]

"No, I know," Barry replies to Yamato, the words coming out not really helping the guilty feelings much. "Couldn't be helped. But hey, you handled that guy."

That last part said still comes with pride. Barry knew Yamato was a fighter, but now he's really impressed.

Running a hand down the back of his head, Barry nods, then shakes his head, then nods again before finally saying to Caitlin, "Not yet. I will. I loaded up before we headed out so... "

To quote Yamato, 'he's fine.'

[angry_friendship_wolf]

Yamato sticks his tongue out at Cisco in response, watching him go. He does catch that note of pride in Barry's voice, though, and ducks his head a little, throwing Barry a smile.

"I'll be back up to a hundred percent in a week, that's no time at all," he says. "Besides, we caught CC. I'd say it was worth it."

The injury to his pride from CC and those two henchmen escaping was way worse than an actual physical injury.

"Here, we still have meal bars," he says, scooting over to where he left his backpack. A meal bar gets tossed at Barry's head, followed by a bottle of digi-juice. "You must've spent a lot of energy back there."

[run_barry]

Barry bobbles the meal bar, but does better at catching the bottle.

"Yeah. And all the prisoners," Barry acknowledges, brightening on that.

Caitlin looks between the two of them.

"Who's CC? And prisoners? What on Earth went on today?"

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"Oh, er. Meta with tech controlling powers, or some kind of super-hacking skill," he says. "He's been causing trouble all day."

Beat.

"Actually, Barry, you should probably fill Caitlin -- and Cisco, when he's back here -- on everything that's happened."

Or put another way: It's a long story and Yamato doesn't want to say that many words in one go.