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]

"We're tracking him now, at least," Yamato says. "I don't know if he's figured out that we are, but it's safe to say he knows it's a possibility. But the satellite's got enough of a good look at the signal he gives off and the dark matter signature that goes with it that it can track him even through the ambient radio noise of the city now."

He pauses, rubbing a hand through his hair. "I can look over the place he's in and come up with a plan of attack," he says. "I mean, if you trust me to."

[run_barry]

Barry's chin lifts, and he's ready to go again, trying to convince Yamato again that it wasn't his fault and that Barry is glad to have his help.

Rather than run that path again, Barry gives Yamato a serious look and says simply, "Do it."

[angry_friendship_wolf]

Yamato grins at that, taking a few steps forward and reaching to grasp Barry's shoulder, and then pausing just before he does, because that's the shoulder attached to Barry's injured arm, and very carefully squeezing his other shoulder instead.

"Well, you're in charge. If you trust me with this, guess I have no choice but to defer to your judgement, right?" He remarks, wryly. "It'll take a while, but I'll figure out a plan. And, er. Thanks."

[run_barry]

Feeling like he's finally said the right thing, Barry's serious expression breaks slightly for a smile.

"Of course I do," he says about trusting Yamato. "You work on that, I'm gonna cram some calories and then check in and make sure CCPD picked up the guys we left for them."

Barry did sort of leave all the escapees scattered around the place.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"Make sure you get an actual meal," Yamato says, and the grin is completely gone and he's back to gruffness, but it is at least his usual brand of vaguely amicable, somewhat overprotective gruffness. "And if a supervillain turns up and you have to punch them, use the arm that doesn't have a hole in it."

[run_barry]

"I will," he promises, bemused by the shift in demeanor but glad that they're back on track again.

"And I won't," he adds about his arm, letting out a chuckle before he makes a speedy exit.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

Yamato settles back at the console, starting work bringing up aerial photographs, blueprints, and camera footage of the area the satellite has tracked the Commander to. His head still feels a little bit like it's got a swarm of enraged bees rattling around it, but focusing his attention on work helps ease that some.

[run_barry]

When Barry returns awhile later he comes toting a large mug of coffee for Yamato, which gets set on the desk where Yamato is working.

"Joe is doing alright. He's still feeling pretty lousy, but he ate something," Barry says. "Iris was asleep, but Joe said she's doing okay."

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"Thank you," Yamato says, giving Barry a quick smile and taking a sip of his coffee. There are a few soft 'ow, ow, hot' noises, followed by him immediately taking a second sip and making the exact same noises.

He turns in his chair, settling back in it a little. "That's good. They might be getting better. Or if they're not, at least they're weathering it okay. How're you feeling? Not coming down with the sniffles or anything?"

[run_barry]

"Yeah, it's hot," Barry says, shaking his head as Yamato goes in for another try.

Barry digs himself out another of the juice bottles, leaning back against a desk as he opens it.

"I'm okay. I have felt it, trying to take hold, but my system has fought it back pretty well." More when he gets really run down.

"It's good though. Last time Milliways had an illness going around I did catch it, and it was awful."

Sneezing buckets of glitter was no fun at all.

"What about you? Doing okay?"

[angry_friendship_wolf]

Yamato takes another sip at Barry's remark, making the same pained noises, wrinkling his nose a little.

"I'm not showing any symptoms that I've noticed. No fever, no congestion, nothing like that yet. And besides, I promised I wouldn't catch it."

He says that in a tone that suggests less 'told you so, didn't I say I'd be fine' and more 'my immune system better honour that promise or else it'll pay the price.'

[run_barry]

Watching Yamato, Barry gives a chuckle while taking a swig of juice.

"If I had known you were jonesing for coffee this bad I would've brought you some sooner. Or gone with an iced coffee."

Glad that Yamato feels alright, Barry gives a nod.

"Good. I hadn't considered until just now that I might be a carrier, but it looks like Cisco is definitely our patient zero."

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"You were busy, and I'm grateful you brought me one at all. I should probably pay you back, but, er, my wallet's at the bottom of the Net Ocean."

Also, he's not sure the cash in it will be fit for purpose anymore.

"I'll pay you back somehow, though, even if it's just waiting until I get back to Earth and repaying you then."

At the mention of Cisco being patient zero, he cocks his head a little.

"He and Meicoomon can be the founding members of the I Brought A Disease Between Worlds Club," Yamato adds. "It's very exclusive."

[run_barry]

"It's fine," he assures Yamato, "cup of coffee is the least I can do."

And Barry still has it in mind to take Yamato out to Jitters when all of this is done.

"I hope you put all that stuff from my glucose crash onto my tab in Milliways," he says, suddenly thinking of that. It was quite a bit of stuff, and Barry wouldn't want Yamato footing the bill for Barry running himself down.

Frowning a little, Barry shakes his head, "I've thought about the possibility of pathogen transfer between worlds before, but from a scientific standpoint. I never really considered it actually happening."

[angry_friendship_wolf]

Yamato opens his mouth to protest, and say that he definitely should pay Barry back for the coffee, then shuts it again, forcing himself to just accept it in the spirit it was given instead of tallying it up as a debt to pay back. "Well, thanks."

After a moment, he gives a slight chuckle, shaking his head. "I put it on my tab. After all, it's not like I asked you if you even wanted all that food," he says. "If you want it all put on yours, I'm sure Bar'll oblige, but don't feel like you have to."

The idea of pathogen transfer between worlds is an interesting one, even if Yamato's never actually heard of it happening before. "Doesn't seem like it happens often. Cisco was just unlucky, I guess."

[run_barry]

"You're welcome," he says cheerfully, sure that Yamato just suppressed the urge to argue there.

As for all the food from before, Barry didn't ask, but it was certainly needed and appreciated so he gives a nod. "I'll take care of it when we get back."

Finishing his juice, he gives a slight sigh. "Yeah, that or Wilford's world is just that nuts."

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"Also possible, I suppose," Yamato says. "Unrelated, but remember that you need to rest at some point. Give that wound some time to heal, get back some of your energy reserves. Camera Commander doesn't seem to be moving, and he's presumably got no idea that you have accelerated healing, so we've got time."

Besides, if he does move, that'll be the perfect time to grab him.

[run_barry]

"It's doing alright," he says, looking down at his arm and lightly touching it. "If I ever get brave enough to tell Caitlin what happened she's going to be disappointed she didn't get to monitor me while it healed."

She has data on other injuries like broken bones and poisoning, gunshot is a new one.

"I put away some meal bars and ate at Joe's, I should be good. I'd like to move on this guy as soon as you have a plan laid out."

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"How quick do you heal, anyway? I don't want to risk making it any worse," Yamato says, frowning.

He pauses for a moment, then brings up a few images on the main display -- aerial photographs, blueprints.

"For what I've got so far, though: It looks like he's holed up in this factory. It used to build drones -- the scientific, research-y kind for flying around and taking photos and stuff, but I'm sure if he's built anymore he's decided to attach guns. It got shut down a few months back, so I guess he moved in and made it his hideout," he says, and gestures at a room in the basement level. "Chances are he'll be hiding out down here, in the control room, and I'd guess he'll have some heavy security in these areas."

He fiddles about on his wrist computer, and lights up a few sections of the blueprint in bright red blotches, covering every entrance on the ground floor, every elevator, and most of the major corridors.

"Luckily, there's a disused maintenance shaft up at the top of the building, just barely big enough for a person. You get in through there, make your way to this room here," he taps a room on the top floor, "and use the computers there to give me access to the cameras and security systems. I can't seem to get in from the outside, but with someone on the inside, it should be pretty easy."

[run_barry]

"Still working that out," he says, moving in closer to get a better look at the images Yamato brings up.

"Nine months in a coma was a pretty long time to recover from the lightning, but right after that I broke my arm and it healed in three hours." He rubs his wrist, remembering that particular episode of pain. "But I'm getting faster all the time, and that seems to correlate with how my body functions. Caitlin has noted differences in efficiency within my system, including faster healing. And believe it or not, I'm actually needing to eat less than I had to in the beginning."

The science on Barry is all new, and changing every day as well.

"That said, you might be right. I guess I should at least wait until the ache in my arm goes away. Especially if you want me to pull a Santa Clause to get into this guy's place."

A maintenance shaft, for real?

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"... Wow, you really do heal fast."

Three hours for a broken arm? That's just unfair.

Yamato shakes his head, turning back to the monitors. "Well, this way is a little awkward, but at least you don't get riddled with bullets going in, and it puts you right near the computer room. Giving me access is important -- it means I can see what's going on, open security doors for you, and set up fake security alerts to draw any drones he's got guarding corridors to other parts of the factory."

He takes another sip of his coffee, and just barely fails to stifle the betrayed puppy noise he makes at it still being hot.

"There's risk involved. He might try to get back into our systems, and if he cuts me off this time, you're screwed," he adds. "But the only way to get around that would be for me to personally be in that top floor room, doing all this stuff in person, and that carries risks of its own."

After all, Barry isn't any less screwed if Yamato ends up unable to open doors and set off false alerts by way of being killed.

[run_barry]

Barry cracks a grin and shrugs one shoulder.

"Well, faster than most." He still wouldn't mind having X's healing abilities which kind of put his to shame.

Listening to Yamato talk, and looking over the diagrams and all the danger spots Yamato has marked out, Barry frowns.

"Not getting riddled with bullets would be great," he says. "But it's only good so long as it last. This place looks like another maze."

And if Camera Commander has been holed up here for awhile chances are he's got plenty more traps than he had set up at the other locations before.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"Apart from the wide open factory floor, it is basically one huge maze of cramped corridors," Yamato says. "And between that and the various security doors, it's kind of the perfect place to stop you building up momentum. Which I guess is part of the point."

He shuts his eyes for a moment, taking a sip of his coffee. "Our big advantage is that I'm guessing he can't monitor the entire place on his own. He's probably relying on sensors, traps and drones to alert him if someone's inside," he says. "Once I'm in the system, I can distract the drones and get them to move out of your way, at least, maybe even pick up on some of the other security measures before you run into them. Then I guide you down to the factory floor, and there's a ventilation shaft that'll take you straight down to the control room."

More shafts!

"So, that leads us to the other problem: The more doors I open and fake security alerts I set off, the more likely he is to figure out someone's in his system and retaliate. And as soon as he figures that out, he's going to know you're there, too."

[run_barry]

Barry keeps looking at the layout, and his brows knit with worry.

"Full disclosure Iiii'm not really the sneakiest guy there ever was. I mean, I've done zero spy guy... special ops... infiltrator type training." Hell, he didn't even know what to call it.

"If he cuts us off again I am definitely toast. I might be toast anyways trying to creep around this place. I don't know if I can do this alone."

For all Barry's tendencies to run headlong into a situation, seeing it laid out beforehand is lending itself to some honesty here.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"Pragmatic thing to do, then, is take the riskier option and bring me on-site," Yamato says, cocking his head. "That way, at least we know he's not going to be able to cut us off from each other, and I can respond quicker to open or close doors for you."

He gestures at the computer room on the top floor again. "I can coordinate you from here. The risk involved is that he might send someone up there to interrupt me, but I'll deal with that if it happens," he says. "And as for you and sneaking -- I'll handle the security, so most of it is going to be moving fast and being precise, taking advantage of whatever windows of opportunity you get. I know you can do that."