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]

"Nice to meet you, too," Yamato says, inclining his head.

Once Wells is gone, Yamato settles into a seat again, unwrapping his burger and rather eagerly gnawing on it. There may be a few almost imperceptibly quiet, happy grumbling noises.

[run_barry]

"Working on it," he calls back to Dr. Wells.

Handing over fries and one of the drinks to Yamato, Barry takes the rest back to his desk to dig in on.

"So... you got to meet Dr. Wells," he notes casually but so-not-casual and in fact a little awkward and nervous about how it went and Yamato's opinion of the man.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"I did get to meet Dr. Wells, that is true," Yamato says, between a few bites of his burger.

He pauses for a moment, peering at Barry. Then: "It went better than meeting Caitlin. I think. We talked a little about my world, about the stungun Cisco made for me, about how long I've known you. I told him I was pretty impressed with how far you've come. He said he appreciated me helping you today."

He shrugs a shoulder. "He reminds me of Gennai, a little," he says, fairly neutrally. "Couldn't tell you what he thinks of me, though."

[run_barry]

Barry bobs his head as he listens, munching on his own burger. "Cool, cool."

Still completely and totally casual. Yep.

"Gennai in like... a good way?" And not in the showing up with crazy missions and then unhelpfully disappearing for no reason sort of way.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"Jeez, Gramps, you might actually be more nervous about this than me," Yamato says, just a tiny bit wryly. "What're you worried about? You'll still be both his and my favourite speedster either way."

He is, actually, fairly curious about why this meeting is the one that's getting to Barry's nerves.

"Don't read too much into it. I'm not saying he abducts kids to make them fight interdimensional wars," he says. "More that he and Gennai are both difficult to read."

[run_barry]

"I'm not nervous," Barry denies before coming back with, "Well, just-- kind of. But not really, I mean... "

For a moment he studies his hamburger rather intently, trying to work out what to say.

"I don't get to introduce many people to Dr. Wells, even though he's become like this huge part of my life," he says finally, setting the burger aside to focus on Yamato. "And I know he's a great man, but because of what happened with the explosion most people out there don't see him that way. And he and Joe only sort of get along, and Iris hasn't been by here since I woke up from the coma so... yeah, I guess I just really wanted you two to like each other."

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"Why don't he and Joe get along? Or why do they only sort of get along, I guess."

He gives Barry a sidelong look, then throws him a smile. "To be honest, I'm always a little on edge around people I can't get a good read on," he says. "But other than that, I'd say we got along. We didn't talk for long, but I don't think we got off to a bad start."

There is something gnawing at his bones, though. An uneasiness he can't quite get rid of, but which he's doing his best to ignore, because it probably is just that he can't read Dr. Wells very well.

[run_barry]

Barry shrugs, "I dunno. They are two pretty different people. Joe's a cop, Dr. Wells is a scientist, if it weren't for me their paths probably never would have crossed, and that meeting wasn't really under the best of circumstances."

Meeting in a hospital because one man's foster-son was in a coma after the other man's experiment blew a hole in the city isn't the best starting point.

"At the very least they've worked past the disagreement about me being a superhero so... " Progress?

"I know Dr. Wells isn't the easiest to get to know, and he admits that, so I'm glad it was a good start between you two."

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"Wouldn't that also be the case for Joe and Cisco? Or Joe and Caitlin?" Yamato asks, tilting his head. "They're both scientists too, and Joe met them in -- maybe not exactly the same but definitely similar circumstances."

He cracks a quick grin, shaking his head.

"I just said I thought it was a good start. There's still time for him to tell you that he actually hates me and never wants you to bring me here again."

Although, even with his difficulty with figuring Wells out, Yamato doesn't think the man dislikes him, and he seemed genuine with his appreciation for Yamato helping out.

[run_barry]

Barry considers that for a moment, then offers another shrug.

"I guess he sees it different with them. Caitlin probably won points by agreeing with him in the beginning and I wouldn't quite say Joe and Cisco get along so much as Joe tolerates Cisco as a friend of mine."

A friend that Joe is glad Barry has, but maybe doesn't want to see hang around too much.

"I doubt Dr. Wells is going turn around and say that," Barry says, shaking his own head. "As hard as he seems to be to read, it's generally pretty obvious when he's upset about something."

To the point that it can be a little scary.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"I doubt it too, but you never know," Yamato says, cracking another grin. "But no, I think we got along just fine. And if you and I bring in Camera Commander, he'll probably like me even more."

He gives the console a glance, tracking how the program's compiling. It's over halfway done, but it's still a slow process.

"Which is going to be more difficult than it seems. Even with the recalibrated satellite, we'll need them to use their powers, and keep using them," he says. "It's a unifier-and-canary problem."

[run_barry]

"It's a what?" Barry asks, taking up his burger again and walking with it over to Yamato's console to have a look.

GP, who had made himself scarce beneath the desk while Dr. Wells was around, reemerges and tries to help himself to one of Yamato's fries.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"Canary. So, when people talk about Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Ieyasu, the three big warlords who unified Japan, what they usually do is talk about how each of them dealt with something they couldn't control on the battlefield," Yamato says, working at the console. "So, there's a bird -- sometimes a cuckoo, sometimes a canary -- that they need to sing. Nobunaga kills the bird, because he'd rather remove any elements he can't control in a battle. Hideyoshi coaxes the bird into singing for him. Ieyasu just waits until the bird feels like singing."

He brings up some predictive models of the satellite's efficacy in locating Camera Commander's signal, and most of them show that, without prolonged use of it, the satellite would struggle to pick it out of the dense background radio noise of the city even with its calibrations.

"We can't pull an Ieyasu wait them out, because by now they've got to be running low on manpower and they know you can counter their power, and just from how they've acted so far, I don't think they're going to be making a move that they know will fail," Yamato continues. "So we have to pull a Hideyoshi and bait them out. Make them throw a haymaker so that we can hit them with a counterpunch."

Hooray for mixed metaphors. Yamato's too busy picking up a fry to feed to GP to notice he's doing that.

[run_barry]

GP trills and happily munches on the fry.

Barry's head cants and his brow furrows as he follows along; mixed metaphors or not, Barry works out the gist of what Yamato is saying.

"Okay, so... how do we coax them into singing?"

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"A few hours ago, I would've said that sending you out into the field would make them sing. They seem to have their heart set on killing you, after all," Yamato says. "But I don't think they'll make a move against you after you got the better of them at the boutique, they're more likely to just go underground and look for another opportunity, and that could take months."

He makes a slightly frustrated noise. "But we do have something else they want. I don't think you're going to like this, though," he says. "The CCPD has got to have, what, a dozen of Camera Commander's accomplices, maybe more, that you've taken down? If they were all set to be moved somewhere more secure, I'm not sure Camera Commander would be able to resist trying to get them back. With a narrow window of opportunity and not much time to think about it, I don't think they'd pass up an opportunity to get all their missing pieces back on the board."

[run_barry]

"I still don't get why, I mean this is definitely a person we haven't run into before," he says shaking his head. Of course it would probably take an ID of their opponent to figure out their motivations.

As far as the plan goes, Barry definitely doesn't like it, and it shows in his expression.

"You wanna use a bunch of bad guys as live bait?" Barry's apprehension is clear, although it's also clear he's mulling the idea over.

"We would definitely have to stop them, because if all those criminals got loose... " It could start up the cycle of this whole long week all over again.

"I'm also not sure how we could get CCPD to make that move. Unless... can you get onto CCPD's server? They're so understaffed right now they may have a transport already scheduled to a more equipped precinct or even Iron Heights. If they do all we'd have to do is change the roster being put onto that bus."

[angry_friendship_wolf]

Yamato watches Barry for a moment. Then: "Barry, you're the biggest obstacle to metahuman crime in the city, and a pretty nasty thorn in the side of regular crime, too. People are going to want you dead," he says. "Maybe they have some kind of personal motivation we don't know about, but it might just be that you're an obstacle that they want removed. That's just how things are, sometimes."

He reaches over to pat Barry's shoulder, just lightly. Barry might be apprehensive, but Yamato at least appreciates that he's not dismissing the idea out of hand.

"We have to stop them anyway. Think how much better at using your powers you've become since you started out, and apply that to the power to take control of computer systems, and a few months of practice down the line they could be unstoppable," he says. "But I wouldn't be suggesting this plan if I didn't think you could pull it off."

At the query about getting into the CCPD's server, he cracks a bit of a helpless grin. "Usually I leave committing cybercrimes to Koushiro, but yeah, I can do it."

[run_barry]

Barry frowns, the idea of a total stranger wanting him dead kind of sucks. Of course, the idea of someone he knows wanting him dead isn't much better.

"Yeah, I guess I just didn't realize I had that kind of rep." And didn't really think about that being one of the consequences of that rep.

He nods to Yamato's assessment of the situation, agreeing that Yamato is right. "They're making a lot of trouble now with just holding up banks and jewelry stores, but if they get into other things like the city's infrastructure that could be really bad."

And bad turns to worse if they set their sights on more dangerous targets, like weapons.

"I mean, if you can think of another way to do it... " he says, apologetic and feeling a touch guilty, because even though Yamato is smiling Barry is asking him to do things that are technically illegal.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"This is the quickest way, that's fine by me," Yamato laughs, squeezing Barry's shoulder. "Besides, this isn't the first time I've done something slightly crime-y for the greater good."

[run_barry]

"Alright then," Barry relents, giving Yamato a nod.

"So what's the plan? We get the Commander's guys into one transport and then what?"

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"If I know the route it'll take, I might be able to pick out what the most vulnerable part of its journey will be. If we expect an ambush there, then when it happens, we can send you in to stop it."

He thinks for a moment, running a hand through his hair. "They'll be watching what's going on and giving orders, which means they'll have to be using their powers -- and depending on where it is they strike, they might have some other tricks up their sleeve," he says. "I'll be in your ear the whole time, you just need to hold out long enough for me to get a lock on their signal. Once I have it, you can find them and take them down."

He grimaces a little. "It's not going to be easy. Apart from however many people they decide to throw at the problem, we should probably expect anything computerised to be used against us. But once we start, it won't take long for me to get a lock on them."

[run_barry]

Folding his hands together, Barry braces his knuckles underneath his chin, listening to Yamato and nodding along.

"I know CCPD procedures pretty well, so if we find out where they plan to take the transport I can lay out the route for you on the map."

Dropping his hands, Barry activates one of the large monitors, bringing up a map of Central City.

"I'm worried about the transport guards, though. If our meta comes in guns blazing like at the bank the officers could get caught in the crossfire. I'll have to get the cops out of there before I can handle whoever they send or the guys they're trying to break out."

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"Good. I'm counting on you for that route, then," Yamato says, flashing a quick smile and nudging Barry's shoulder with his fist.

He gives a quick nod at what Barry says next. "That's true, we don't want anyone else getting hurt. Think you're fast enough to get them all to a safe distance before Camera Commander gets their guys out? I can track anyone making a run for it, but if they all get out and scatter, then it's going to be difficult to catch them all."

[run_barry]

"Yeah, I mean, I think so," he says, scratching the back of his head.

Studying the map and imagining where the transport might be, he nods and comes back more confident, "Yeah, no, I can do it. Two guys... three tops if they put an officer in the back, I can do it."

He would have to, if they wanted everyone out of there safe.

"The thing we have working for us is only some of them will be armed and coordinated. The guys on the transport won't be coming off with weapons or able to communicate with the leader right away."

[angry_friendship_wolf]

Yamato gives Barry a quick nod, nudging his shoulder again. "Good. That's our first priority, then."

He turns in his chair slightly, opening up the display on his wrist computer and starting the process of breaking into CCPD's servers as he talks. There is a little, brightly coloured cartoon image of a red and black ladybug Digimon hacking at coloured blocks with its legs in the corner of the display.

"Right. We have a window of opportunity when the ambush first starts where disrupting it will be a lot easier," Yamato says. "Even better, Commander won't be able to control the terrain this time around. Every other time you've faced them, they've drawn you into a place that's advantageous for them -- somewhere with security systems, plenty of cameras, easy hiding spots. This time, they don't get to control the when and where. We're the ones baiting them instead."