"Freeze, Cold!"

The parker-wearing villain had snapped out of his seat and stood fingering at the tips of his cold-guns.

Angry shouts and the violent sound of pint glasses being knocked over and bottles smashing on the floor filled the room to bursting as the lower echelon thugs and crooks of Central City barreled out of the tavern's fire escape, as if the pressure of The Flash entering the establishment had physically expelled them from the premises. Barry didn't bother to stop them.

Cold and the rogues remained firmly in place.

The snarl on Len's face was echoed by the aggressive stances of Captain Boomerang and Mirror Master. Trickster (who Len had noticed had been strangely forlorn since yesterday) sank only further into the booth the rogues occupied, while Piper looked on with a sort of vague interest, his fingers nevertheless inching towards his silver flute.

"That goes for the rest of you too" The Flash added, apparently not missing the tiny gesture as the white lenses of his cowl began narrowing.

"You've got 5 seconds to haul your ass out of here" Cold growled with menace.

The Flash barging into Harry's wasn't completely unheard of, but was rare; usually a last resort for the 'hero' when desperate for information and enraged enough to go head hunting for it. As such, his presence usually preceded a particularly vicious smack-down…

Though it did nothing to quell the rogue's hostility, The Flash raised his hands as if in surrender (though then again, it wasn't usually The Flash's hands that presented the major problem).

"I'm – " He faltered curiously, the scarlet speedsters shoulders slumping the smallest fraction as a little bit of strength seemed to leech out of his body. "I'm not here to bust you."

"How nice" Cold's eyes thinned to slits at the unfamiliar situation.

"I'm here on behalf of the Kid" he continued, a trite more unsure than normal. His words immediately galvanized the Trickster into an abrupt angry outburst, an unusual amount of venom spiking his voice:

"Which one! Baby Flash or Fakey Baby Flash!?"

Barry cringed behind his cowl.

He and Bart had tangled with the Trickster yesterday; it had been his grandson's first day as… Well, even The Trickster off his meds could recognize the difference between a stranger and his friend in Kid Flash's morosely sunny uniform. The surprise caused him to drop the loot from the store he'd been knocking over, the accusation in his following words - the betrayal in them – stopped Barry dead in his tracks and let James get away.

"That's not Kid Flash! What did you do with Baby Flash!?"

Bart had cried the whole way home.

'Fakey Baby Flash'

Was that how Wally had seen it when Bart had made his grand appearance? Barry hadn't even thought about it back then; hadn't seen it that way. What if Wally had? Had he felt blood was thicker than water? He retreated from their lives around that time; they had thought to be with Artemis… but perhaps it was to avoid watching his place at Barry's side be filled by a younger, faster, blood-related replacement. Barry scolded himself. He should that thought of this before. Should have talked to him about it. Should have told him Wally was as much a son to him as his soon-to-be twins. Now he'd never get the chance.

"He's Kid Flash now, James" Barry murmured.

It wasn't Bart's fault after all.

The Flash was distracted, and battling speedsters for a living had made the rogues nothing if not opportunists. Captain Boomerang had managed to slip one of his weapons of choice into his hand, shooting Cold a meaningful look from the corners of his eyes; which Len answered with a frosty glare of his own. Not yet.

Flash was too preoccupied by his own thoughts to notice.

"The hells this about, Flash?" Len demanded shortly, knowing full well eventually Boomerang would throw his namesake if Len liked it or not.

The Flash seemed to abruptly steal himself, his posture hardening as he checked back in. It was now or never and he cleared his throat of the building roughness.

"4 days ago, Kid Flash –" His voice cracked "Your Kid Flash- " He made sure to emphasize for James, clarity was important as he only wanted to say this once

" He… died… saving the world."

A pause.

A few droplets of spilt beer splashing onto the floor,

A deafening silence, as if waiting for a punch-line that wouldn't never come…

Then finally,

A gasp from Piper (Barry guessed),

An appropriately-accented "Bloody Hell" from Captain Boomerang.

A snapping "What!?" from Mirror Master.

Cold remained frigid as ever.

A long speedsters moment elapsed in eerier silence from Trickster before he suddenly began to wail loudly like a child.

Barry didn't think this was a good idea; but Wally hadn't shared his own no-nonsense policy towards the rogues, and would certainly want to return the favor if the tables where reversed. Barry wanted to be selfish, but as Iris had told him "an eye for an eye makes the world blind, Barry. They need to know, just like everyone else"

"Personally, I don't like the idea of this – " His voice wavered uncontrollably " but it's what he'd want, so your invited to attend the service next Sunday" A sudden aggression blazed though The Flash's frame like fire, his muscles literally sparking in warning " And if any of you even think of doing anything to interrupt it – "

"We get it" Cold growled

"I don't like you _" Barry continued, charging forward like a bull, fierceness coloring his voice as red as his suit "But W- Kid did, so the League's extending temporary amnesty during the service for any of you that want to attend."

The whirlwind of emotion was now easily recognizable as grief, and tricks really weren't the speedster's strong points. This was the real deal. Not some sick trap. Len almost wished it had been.

"That's it."

Cold nodded curtly, acknowledging the message received and in a fluster of red wind the Flash was gone again, leaving only the tavern door to flap squeakily buffeted by his wake.

Digger slumped bonelessly back into his seat while Hartley moved to unsuccessfully console James. "The look on Flasher's face" someone muttered too quietly to be identified, another responding with a guttural grunt of agreement.

It wasn't a grand display of emotion by any means, or even the gruff acknowledgment of a worthy adversary downed like The Flash might have gotten. For the most part, Len coolly observed a sort of stunned reticence, disbelief that someone as bright, as vibrant as the shock of freakishly red hair on his head could have been snuffed out so young.

"Calm down, James" Len consigned himself to barking, The Tricksters unabashed weeping interspersed with wails of who'd play darts with him in hospital now seeming endless even in the face of Piper's valiant struggle.

He wasn't a religious man. It would be a cold day in hell before he offered up a prayer or repented some invisible rap sheet of sins, but James needed to hear it and maybe on some small level so did the rest of them.

"He's in a better place."


AN:

The prologue is set in the Young Justice universe for anyone who's confused, but the rest will be set in the JLU cartoon-verse prior to the start of the series. You don't need to have seen or liked Young Justice to enjoy this hopefully. The rogue's bar is named after the wonderful Rogue fic "Everybody Comes to Harry's" so may not be the name of the place in cannon.