"Barry! They've entered the building!" Astrid exclaimed, "we need to get out of here and fast!"
"We are only after Barry!" Jefferson said with a chilling tone that sounded much like Gorilla Grodd. Jefferson and Martin both launched themselves at Barry, but he was too fast for them. He dodged out of the way.
"Jefferson! Martin, you guys need to fight this! Grodd is in your head!" Astrid told them. She tried to manipulate their minds but Grodd's compulsion was much too strong for her.
"We need to push something up against the doors," Barry said as he pushed two large shelves up against the stairwell door and a large cabinet in front of the elevator doors. "It's not going to hold!" Barry exclaimed.
They could hear the elevator approaching to their floor and footsteps pattering up the stairs.
"We can take them!" Francisco told them.
"How is Grodd not able to get in to your head, like he was able to with Cisco?" Astrid questioned him. She was still trying to reverse the manipulation from Jefferson and Martin's minds. The two of them were in a frozen state of trance.
"I'm much stronger than the Cisco on your earth. This is not the first time that I have dealt with mind compulsion." Francisco told her, he ran alongside Barry and helped him to hold back the cabinet at the stairwell.
Astrid was failing with her attempt to Grodd's compulsion, and then it was as if the Gorilla had used this link to get into her mind too. A shrill pain rang through her head, crippling her to the floor and making her scream out.
"Astrid! Are you ok?" Barry asked her, stricken with panic.
"I'm fine! It's just my head." she told him, struggling to get to her feet. Blood began to trickle out from her ears. Due to the distraction, Martin and Jefferson merged and became Firestorm in front of them. He shot a ball of fire into Barry and Francisco's direction. The two of them dodged out of the way, just in time for the cabinet and the shelves to shift aside, letting in a sea of people charging for Barry, Astrid and Francisco.
At the front of the line was Detective West, Iris and the rest of CCPD. they were followed by what must have been the entire city.
"I thought you said that we could take them!" Barry snarled at Francisco, as he helped Astrid to her feet.
Francisco shot a vibrational blast at the crowd, it injured a few people.
"What are you doing? We can't hurt them! They're under compulsion!" Barry told him.
"Do you have a better idea?" Francisco asked as he glanced out the window, "They are lining up from the streets!"
Astrid could feel Grodd trying to get into her head, she was working hard to fight him from entering her mind.
Her mind was weak so she knew that she was useless to help her friends, but she could fight with all her strength to keep the large ape from manipulating her thoughts.
"Barry! I can't keep fighting him." Astrid groaned. She was growing weak and was having trouble standing up on her own.
Joe West pulled out a weapon and aimed it at the three of them. Iris was holding a baseball bat above her head and ready to strike. Neither one of them had any control over their actions.
Francisco knew that he needed to do something. His cover had already been blown, but his plan was not entirely over yet. He opened up a portal and took Astrid from Barry, pushing them both through the gate. "Get a move on! We don't have much time! Vamos!" He said, and as they went through, he followed and then closed it behind them.