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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"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.

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."

"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.

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.

"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."

"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.

"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.

Edited Date: Jan. 28th, 2019 10:36 pm (UTC)

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?"

"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."

Edited Date: Jan. 28th, 2019 11:06 pm (UTC)

"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."

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."

Edited Date: Jan. 28th, 2019 11:36 pm (UTC)

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.

"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."

"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?"

"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."

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."

"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."

"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."

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."

Edited Date: Jan. 29th, 2019 05:44 am (UTC)

Barry rocks a little with the nudge, smiling a bit now, glad for Yamato's confidence in him.

"Okay."

Turning to eating another burger, because fueling up before all of this is probably a good idea, he watches Yamato working on his computer.

"You got that hooked up here?" he asks, nodding at the device, impressed.

"And hey, that's a good point, out on the streets they can't trap me anywhere." Not when Barry can course every road and run up buildings when one gets in the way. "If we can track where they're at we totally have them this time."

"Yeah, I got it connected up to the Cortex just before that first bank heist you dealt with. It's just a little easier for me to work with," Yamato says, typing at the holographic keyboard beneath the display. "And, you know, Alternan processing power comes in handy."

He smiles, arching an eyebrow. "You'll be in your element. Free movement, while their manoeuvrability is way more limited. Obviously that doesn't mean you can relax, this still won't be easy, but it gives you an edge."

"Awesome," he says. "You know if Cisco finds out he's going to want to dig into your tech and see what makes it work."

The idea of having the upper-hand on the meta and their cronies is a big boost, and Barry is suddenly eager to take them on.

"Alright, well let's do this. Once you get in we'll see if they do have a transport scheduled and then go from there."

"I got this at Milliways anyway, and I have barely any idea how it works. If I ever run into another Alternan there, I'll send them Cisco's way." With, you know, the proviso that he'll probably want to see all of their tech. "I guess I could let him take a look at my digivice, if he promises not to actually try to take it apart. Might be a good way of paying him back for the stungun."

He keeps working, and eventually the lines of code and the cartoon insect vanish, replaced with what is definitely the CCPD's computer system.

"They actually do have a transport scheduled. Six in the morning tomorrow, to Iron Heights," Yamato says. A few minutes of typing later, and a bunch of extra names have been added. "And now Camera Commander's goons are all on it."

"Wait so this is what like, alien tech?" he asks, grinning. "That's so awesome."

While Yamato works on getting them into CCPD, Barry gets back to the microscope. He's just wrapping up the last of the observation notes he can make when Yamato announces there's a transport set.

"Great. Alright, so check it." Stepping up to the large monitor with the pulled-up map of Central City showing, Barry uses the touchscreen to lay in the route the transport is likely to take.

"That early they won't be worrying about rush hour traffic, but they'll still avoid going straight through downtown so they don't get any calls from ticked off rich guys or politicians."

Drawing it out on the map, Barry shows the route all way out to Iron Heights.

"All right, let's take a look," Yamato says, skimming his eyes over the route. "We need somewhere where there's good enough sightlines to see the transport coming, but where it'll be easy to corner them and block off their escape, preferably while still allowing people on foot to get away."

After a few moments of concentration, he picks out about four spots on the route, bringing up aerial photographs of them. One gets dismissed immediately, another one shortly afterwards.

"How's the virus treatment going? Made any breakthroughs?" He asks as he goes through the images. One last one gets dismissed, and he brings up the one remaining photograph: A stretch of narrow road with several even narrower alleyways connected to it, with a T-junction at the end. "There. They'll probably use a vehicle to block off the road on the west end, and then have people waiting in the alleyways."

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