Most of the Rogues history is of my own making- just like Wally's abusive family is of my own making. Try not to be too furious that I'm taking creative liberties. ;)

The second thing you should know is that Rogues are very difficult to stop when they work as a team. They each have their own gifts that would qualify them as experts, even geniuses, in their area of proficiency. But their ability to strategize and put those gifts into action is often subpar- the effort to maintain minions even less. They never seem to have the same view points, or even similar heist preferences. In fact, the Rogues only tend to interact when they are out of costume or escaping prison. Because of this, they come off as incompetent dolts who- according to villains from other cities- are a laughing stock to their profession.

Cold is the one who started the Rogues, although he wasn't always the 'leader' of the group, and he certainly didn't choose the name. It all started because he had been sent to jail one too many times without a successful heist, and was sick of it. So, he called on Mirror Master, who grudgingly worked with the frigid man. They plotted their next target for weeks, making sure everything was in place and the necessary security measures taken.

And of course, Flash thwarted them- like always- in seconds.

Captain Cold had been furious when Mirror Master had dodged out of the fight through his portal with a chunk of the goods before the crimson hero had a chance to apprehend him. Len hadn't had the luxury of an alternate dimension escape, and he had fumed from the police car to his cell in silent wrath at how stupid the entire situation was. He should have known better than to call on another crook- double crossing was a standard in their world. He should have bloody figured out how to do this on his own, he should have double crossed the jerk before the reflective freak beat him to it. Rule number one: a villain only looks out for themselves.

But then, in the middle of his mental tirade and about five hours into his incarceration, he had heard a tentative knock. Looking up, he saw nobody near his solitary confinement door, at least nothing he could see through the window. The tap happened again though, and the ice criminal ended up cautiously approaching the door.

He was ready, expecting a lot of things, but the last thing he was expecting was to see his freeze gun come from inside of the glass and be held out to him. He was so shocked that he just stared, eyes taking in the green glove connected to the orange jumpsuit but not sure what to make of it.

"Hurry the bloody hell up and take it. If you freeze the wall or ground, I can pull you through, but we have about twenty seconds before the guards get here after seeing the footage."

The man's warning about the guards broke whatever spell was on Freeze- as well as the blaring alarm. He wasn't quite sure what Mirror Master was playing at, but a get-out-of-jail-free card was just handed to him, and he wasn't about to lose out on it. Deftly taking his weapon of choice, he faced the opposing wall and fired his gun; taking out the camera snuggled in the corner just for extra cover should they need it. In moments he had a lovely glaze of ice glittering with his own reflection. He turned towards the door and iced that as well, hearing the guards approaching and knowing any amount of delay is good. By the time he turned around, Mirror Master was half-way through the portal making hurried gestures for him to move it.

The crazy physics bending thief grasped his arm and yanked him through without any warning- and Cold stiffened to repress the groan as he was hit with the dizzy spell that he later found out always came with entering the pocket dimension. With them both now safely in the alternate world, Mirror Master let Captain Cold regain his balance.

Wordlessly, Len got his act together and stood straight. That was the signal the other Central crook needed to walk them back home. They exited the mirror world a few minutes later, Cold finding himself in a rather homey kitchen with the sack of their stolen goods in the far corner.

"It took awhile to navigate the prison and find your weapon, otherwise you woulda been out sooner." Cold didn't reply, instead choosing to keep his gaze on their spoils. "It's not what we planned on, but we can still split it fifty-fifty." The man in orange grumbled.

Cold narrowed his eyes, hiding his confusion as he turned to face the unorthodox rescuer. "Fifty is more than I was expecting to get out of this partnership, seeing as you ditched the scene."

Mirror Master didn't even pretend to look abashed. "You would have bolted and left me to rot too, chump. Besides, I got you out, didn't I?"

"Yeah you did." Casually, he raised his gun so it wasn't exactly pointing at the criminal, but would be ready to fight if it came to it. "So why did you, Mirror Master?"

Again, the masked man frowned, glancing down at the weapon in Cold's hand. With a gruff sigh, the villain raised his hand to his head.

And took off his mask.

Shit- Len could feel the drama building.

"The name's Sam." He looked at the prison garbed villain with an air of annoyance. "And I figured that your idea about the partnership was a good one- even if it still failed. And there's no way I want to make this a full-time gig, but you owe me a solid now. Guess I'm thinking we can look after each other's backs."

"Villains don't look out for one another." Cold grated out, slightly alarmed at Sam's thinking. Because really, they couldn't do this. Central villains didn't interact, they just kept to themselves and prayed whatever they did wouldn't step on each other's toes. His plan was born of one too many drinks, and worked about as well.

"Yeah, well most villains don't make it 'cause they don't work together. I'm not looking for a partnership for taking over the world, just another rogue to have my back if I ever needed it, and I'd have theirs."

"Bit old fashioned, aren't you? Calling a criminal a rogue?"

The master of warping dimensions grit his teeth, clearly losing what patience he had with Cold. "Whatever, I got ya out, and I'm giving you your share. If you're so offended about getting help, then feel free to just leave your half with me and prance right back to Iron Heights."

Cold continued to glare at the man, thinking. This really was too much drama for him, the whole situation was just shy of actually feeling vulnerable, and Central's most frosty character did not do sharing emotion. Just no.

But surprising even himself, he let out a sigh and lowered his gun to the table, heading towards the stash. "The name's Len." He called over his shoulder, opening the bag to view the goods. "And this is a terrible idea."


But terrible or not, it was the start of Central's most notorious group. They kept up contact, throwing out the occasional favor for one another until Weather Wizard and The Top found out, and head butted their way in. After one too many of the group having a boy's night and being too drunk to get home, Len decided since they all lived in dumps, they might as well share a dump together so it wasn't hell making sure they all didn't end up walking into a police station- or being walked into a police station by a perfectly good well meaning citizen. (It was the most demeaning moment of his life and he swore everyone who knew on pain of death to never speak of it again.)

It wasn't easy, but he pulled some old contacts to get a hold of an abandoned building that they refurbished with… some acquired items. Plus a few renovations.

And to be fair, the contractor that put in the new floor and windows did it for free, if you ignored the black mail.

From there it kept growing, either villains breaking the code and getting kicked out, or entirely new ones joining in while some just faded from the group, not keeping up with the Rogues. The name itself was Sam's fault, of course. Early on Captain Boomerang had heard about their little set up, and had gone out with the criminal for drinks until they were both tipsy.

"Pig's arse! You mean that ain't no rumor? You and Cold are shacking up in some villainy partnership? Or is it for a good root?"

"Shut the hell up, Captain Boomerang." Sam jerked his head up, trying to focus his eyes on the equally bleary criminal. "Its… its like some mock club of bad guys. We just keep each other from feeling too much heat from the coppers, you know? Occasionally help in a heist, point out when someone's plan is total bull crap."

Boomerang snorted, still disbelieving. "And whatta ya call this group; a band-o-thieves?"

Mirror Master burst into drunken giggles. "No, no, what do you think we call ourselves? We're-" he leaned in conspiringly, and Boomerang obliged, "we're the Rogues!"

Hours later they were still howling, calling out for everybody to 'fear the Rogues!' and 'the Flash can't beat the Rogues!'. Needless to say, the hangover was terrible, but both managed to remember that bit. Even though Cold was adamant that it was a terrible title, every other con artist and cat burglar soon knew the super villain group by that name, and by the time it hit the papers, Len had just shook his head and grabbed a beer in resignation.

As stated, though the Rogues were a team, they generally didn't work together. But when they did… it was a force Central shuddered to see. Only certain things could ever bond the group enough to have them put aside their many differences to fight under one banner, like the alien invasion that was attempted a year or so before Kid Flash joined the hero gig. Other than world crisis and other super villain's trying to get in to their territory, not much qualified as something to bring them together.

Kidnapping Kid Flash was the exception.


The moment Len decided they needed to take action for the baby hero, the group worked for three days to get the plan together. Len firmly talked with the group that now knew the speedster's civilian name, and threatened under pain of getting them sent to Arkham for them to keep their damn traps shut and not rescue the kid while he was out of costume.

"It's just another head ache we don't need to deal with- he'll flip that we know, and the League will probably send in the bloody Martians to wipe our minds of the knowledge. I am not getting altered mentally by extra-terrestrials just because you guys didn't know how to shut your traps." Thus coerced into silence, they also agreed not to follow him home, in case daddy Flash happened to recognize them and the same situation occurred.

So they had to wait until Kid Flash was available to fight- which was also postponed due to him apparently being out on one of those 'covert mission's he had mentioned in the past (if the 5 o'clock news on a meta crisis in North Dakota was anything to go by). Rogues in on the plan were forced to lay low for the three days, because suddenly everyone wanted to rip Flash a new one- and weren't likely to be able to hold back from shouting things along the lines of 'we know you're beating your kid and we want to know how you like it!'. Even Cold had been tempted, but surprisingly it was the Pied Piper who was the voice of reason with that one.

"I'm not entirely convinced Flash is our guy."

"Are you kidding?" Digger looked at the red head incredulously. "The bloody hero can't act any less like a smothering parent."

"Exactly," Piper threw his hands in the air in frustration. "I don't know why, but it wouldn't make sense for him to act that way in costume then beat Kid Flash when they're home. And Wally still treats Flash like he's a great guy. All I'm saying is he could have a normal civvie parent."

"So who is Flash then? Eager teacher? Random joe?"

"Either way," Cold butted in. "We'll find out for sure who the kid's beater is, and teach them a lesson."

Which they didn't get to do, but had their plan worked out regardless.


It was all thanks to James that things went smoothly. 'Wally' was getting ready to go visit his pseudo friend at the mental institution for darts, and instead received a report that Trickster is was seen throwing water balloons from the highest city buildings while belting out the song 'We are Young'.

"Dang it James, I thought Len and Hartley were checking in on your meds." Sighing, he tugged his mask over his face, mentally mapping out the quickest run to his pseudo friend as the radio continued to drone on.

"Do you want me to tag along?" Barry called from the kitchen, his voice just a tinge concerned.

"Nah, it'll be fine, Uncle Barry."Wally peeked in to grab one of the sandwiches off the elder speedster's plate, snickering at the man's squawk of indignity. "Be'shi'dshs," he added, mouth full of his prize. "Tw'ixer probabfy j'sht- em, bored. The Rouges have been pretty quiet recently, and I'll bet he didn't get in on the plan, or something."

"Hmm, I've noticed that too. We'll have to keep an eye out then in the future." Standing, the hero walked over and gave Wally a solid clap on the shoulder. "Just remember you can't play too nice with him. He's a villain, not a-" his expression changed to surprise at Wally's wince, "is that shoulder still not fully healed?"

"It's almost, I'm guessing it'll be fully gone by tomorrow." Wally brusquely hurried on. "And don't worry; I can handle the occasional bully."

"This isn't occasional anymore Wally, your classmates are getting out of hand." Barry narrowed his eyes. "I'm glad your parents are letting you stay for the weekend, I think on Monday I should go in with you and speak to one of your teachers."

"No!" Wally turned and glared. "You promised, remember? It's not bad, and I've handled worse. Having my uncle come save me won't improve matters either- mom and dad already talked with the teachers, remember?"

Barry sighed, having this conversation with Wally before. "I know kid, and I don't want to make things harder for you. I just… worry."

"Wha? About little ol' me?" Wally grinned ridiculously, pushing away the brief bout of unease. "I bet a night out at Tony's Parlor would improve the universe, let's have a pizza night and see if that fixes my school woes!"

"Not the way we eat." Barry laughed out before listening in to the radio again, which had picked up in volume. "We'll talk later, for now you go handle our wayward criminal. I think I hear him starting on the third verse."

"Right, right." Wally brought the goggles down over his eyes, smirking and shouting one last "Later!" before taking off.

Naturally, the speedster was there within a minute, just in time to hear the bellowing of 'the angel's never arrived~' and grabbing the next balloon out of the kid of mayhem's hands so nobody else got the misfortune of a high speed balloon careening at them.

"James, we talked about this!" He carelessly let the balloon drop to explode near his feet on the ground, which was surprisingly already hugely wet. Trickster must have been either dumping balloons on the roof too, or was somehow filling them from a spot the hero couldn't see. Wally ignored the watery explosion to fix the grinning teen with a stern look. "How am I supposed to play darts if you're not at our appointed spot?"

"You came!" Trickster vaulted from his position and glomped Kid Flash, who let out a grunt from the impact but managed to stay standing.

Sighing like a parent dealing with a hyper-active child, he shrugged and patted the masked villain reassuringly. "Doi, of course I came. I promised, didn't I? Even though you are so breaking the rules right now." Carefully, minding his shoulder, he broke the hold. "If you stop right now and come with me back to the clinic, we can probably still play darts and you won't get charged with this."

Normally at this point Trickster would capitulate with a crazy grin and literally float his way back to their meeting spot. Instead, while the grin was there, the slightly older teen shook his head. "Nope nope! I had to come here because you have to come with me!"

Wally frowned. Crazy doctors must be fixing up new meds again- "Er, no James, I mean yeah- I come with you back to-"

"Not quite what he means, Kid."

Instantly Kid Flash tensed, turning to see cold rounding the corner on the rooftop. How long had he been there? "Captain Cold?"

"You have some explaining to do." The costumed villain stalked forward, eyes narrowed as he scrutinized the youngest speedster.

Wally cocked his head to the side, wondering if this was going to be an interrogation, or a battle. "And what exactly am I explaining?"

"For starters- why you've been lying."

His heart race picked up a little, but Wally ignored it. That wasn't what he meant, it couldn't be. "Sorry Captain, you'll have to elaborate, because I'm pretty sure I've been an honest Kid with you guys- recently."

"Sure, baby Flash." Cold let out a freeze ray, and Kid Flash zoomed to the side, nabbing James with him, but realized a second later that Cold hadn't even been aiming at him, and had instead coated the rooftop. A warning shot? Was he trying to make him slip up- literally? "James, show me that head wound."

Wally squawked as the recovered Trickster grabbed his arm and vaulted towards Cold, but he quickly broke away, careful not to slip on the ice he was on. He looked between the two and felt a stupid wave of panic. There was no reason to freak, because they didn't know anything. Nobody had found out this far in, and if Wally could help it, they never would. "Head wound? From when I," drat, what excuse was it he gave James? Not bullies, not running accident- oh right, "fell? That's long healed, perks of being a speedster- fast healing!" He tried to throw a stupid grin on, but felt like he was failing.

Trickster frowned, looking a bit hurt. "You're lying again! To me!" He clutched at his heart dramatically. "Why don't you trust us? We can help!"

No, they don't know, no, stay calm. "Th-there's nothing to help, James." Really. He wasn't a weakling, he wasn't a baby, he could take it. "Like I said, I fell." After dad shoved me and then smacked into the coffee table. "Not a lot you can do to my living room table."

"And what about the other injuries, are those from falling too?"

Crap, oh crap- how can they know about the others? "Others?" But the second he saw Cold's glare get even frostier, he realized he'd better change tactics. Playing dumb wouldn't get him anywhere- fibbing then. "I have missions outside of here you know. I just, well, got hurt fighting- I mean I'm still pretty fast, but you can't always get away scot free, and-" Rambling, totally rambling. Hatehatehate coming up with lies on the spot.

"You're a terrible actor, Kid. Don't look for a career in it."

Psh, my acting is great! Nobody else figured it out, anyhow. "Okay, fine, whatever." He knew he wasn't going to get anywhere trying to keep this up. "It doesn't matter though; it's none of your business."

"Is it Flasher? Has he started bashing his own kid?"

The statement made Wally's heart thump faster, hating how close to the truth it was reaching. "Wha- no! No, he wouldn't-"

"Doesn't matter, we're taking over from this point."

Wally felt himself breaking into a cold sweat. "What do you mean?"

"I mean you ain't playing fucking darts with James, you're sitting in time out until you feel like talking." Cold nodded firmly, towards the ground.

Wally felt anger rise at the villain treating him like a child (time out? What does he mean by that?!)- but whatever verbal lash back he was about to deliver was lost in a surprised shout as he was suddenly dragged down and through the roof by two familiar gloved hands. He briefly watched Trickster wave a perky good-bye before suddenly feeling a bout of wooziness that came from being pulled into the Mirror dimension.

Groaning, his speedster form recovered quicker than the average person. Mirror dimension. Crap. Crapcrapdoublecrap. He didn't know what was going on, but this wasn't going to end well if the Rogues were working together. His slumped form realized he was being held up- probably by Mirror Master, and promptly shook himself out of the grasp, staggering a few steps away. Still trying to focus his vision, he got into a defensive stance and heard Sam's distinct voice mutter. "I'm not dealing with a fussy baby. Take care of it Piper."

Piper- wait, oh triplecrap!- His hands were only half way to covering his ears when the first soft notes hit him. Instantly his mind calmed, the sweet melody lilting and diving into a gentle pattern that- before he realized it- had him slowly falling to the ground. His mind blacked out with the final image of Hartley coming over to him, a weirdly sympathetic expression on his face.


Of course, Wally did not go unmissed.

However, as stated before, because of James the kidnapping was not discovered until three hours later, when Kid Flash should have finished his play date with the wayward young adult.

Instead, Barry turns on the news to find his partner's disappearance one of the night's top stories.

"Witnesses claim that Kid Flash had appeared and was handling the situation with our city's notorious villain, The Trickster. However, it appears the clown of mischief was not alone, and Captain Cold joined the battle soon after Kid Flash arrived. Then, though here reports become unclear, Kid Flash fell through the rooftop, with Captain Cold and The Trickster soon following. Authorities were notified, but save for a puddle on the roof; there are no signs of where the hero and his attackers would have gone through."

She continued on, speculating on the reasons for the attack and how soon they would hear further news, but Barry had already changed and blasted out the door. He wished Iris wasn't out of town with friends- he would have found out about this sooner. And if Captain Cold had showed up and been aggressive, why hadn't Wally called for backup? And three hours- a lot can happen in that time. They'd never really done anything dangerous towards his nephew, but with villains, you just couldn't trust that they wouldn't change their while his frantic thoughts tried to piece together the occurrence, he already knew where to start looking.

In minutes, Flash was in the more run down part of the city, continuing until he hit the rooftop of an old YMCA. He paused, scanning the area and paying special attention to the glassy window surfaces. "Rogues! Don't even try to play dumb with me. We need to talk."

He only had to wait a few moments, and then immediately ducked as a mirror shard sliced through the air where he had been standing. Several more followed it, and Barry became unusually pressed to avoid being cut to ribbons. Even more surprising, the attack was joined by several freeze ray blasts. Turning, he managed to see that Mirror Master was half-way through one glass view with Trickster next to him, while Cold was on the offensive nearby with Captain Boomerang getting ready to join the fray. What is with these guys?! All at once- they never coordinate attacks!

Still, he was the Flash, and while they surprised him, and were definitely giving him a run for his money (pun intended), he wasn't about to go down anytime soon. He kicked into a higher drive, watching as the world slowed. Carefully, still having to dodge painfully close attacks, the speedster wove his way through the threats until he was semi protected by a protruding brick shed. The world sped up and he paused where he was, not willing to dish out justice to the Rogues until he found out what was important. "Where is Kid Flash. I want answers!"

"Doesn't matter where he is, he ain't going near you." Cold growled out, aiming his gun square at Flash's chest, but holding fire. "He won't go anywhere until we say."

Barry grit his teeth, bashing down the instinctual protectiveness, knowing it would only leave him open if he blindly raged in, trying to beat the answers out of them. "Let him go, Cold. If you so much as hurt him, I'll-"

"Us hurt him?" Trickster piped up, his voice escalating in an uncharacteristic anger while Sam tried to shush him. "We're keeping him safe from you, ya phony!"

Like a lot of things that came from the crook's mouth, Barry was thrown for a loop. "What?"

"The game's up, mate." Digger didn't feel inclined to hold back any longer, and started in earnest to throw some recently sharpened weapons towards the crimson hero. "You may be playing your city up to thinking you're some dinky-di hero, but we've figured you out, ya fucking scum-bag!"

Barry dodged and quickly formed wind tunnels to redirect their returning bodies, stumbling as Mirror Master appeared out of a nearby reflection and slugged him across the jaw. He moved to do the same, but the figure had become a hologram.

"You're about to be ousted by your whole group of bleeding hearts." Sam came back out of the reflection next to Trickster, his face a tight expression of vehemence. "There's no way to stop it. Piper found the kid's communicator and converted our evidence to sound waves- your stupid League will be receiving the information any minute."

"Information on what?" Barry could feel his frustration growing, surprised by their unusually high animosity towards him. "You're not making sense!"

"We figured it out." Trickster puffed out his chest with some pride, and Barry couldn't help wondering if Trickster had come to do anything accept gloat. "And don't bother denying! We have proof Kid Flash's dad is beating him."

This time Flash was not only baffled, but froze on the spot, which gave Cold just enough time to ice his legs over, stopping him in place. He didn't even bother addressing the immediate danger. "Wa- Kid Flash's dad- what?"

"We know you've been abusing your stupid hero title- taking it out on the ankle biter- and you can be damn sure we aren't going to just sit here and let ya keep hurtin' him." Digger approached cautiously, a boomerang held threateningly, but not coming down.

"Your one lucky bastard, Flash. Lotta the Rogues wanted to come and help tear you apart for this, but a villain taking down a hero isn't going to help him. So we're going to settle on giving you a taste of your own medicine, before your precious League comes and 'saves the day'."

Barry finally got over his shock, and felt a boiling pile of outrage take its place. "You think I hurt Kid Flash?" The Rogues stopped advancing at his tone, looking at him carefully. "Are you serious?"

"We know it was you." Sam glared behind his mask. "Heard the kid confess to the abuse and everything. What, taking out villains isn't enough for you? Now you have to wipe the floor with your own kid?"

His words were ringing in Barry's head. This must be some sick, twisted joke. Or their 'proof' was way off. Maybe this was a ploy to break apart him and Wally? They had always had a strange attachment to his nephew.

But even as he thought of ways around the incredulity of what they said, his brain also thought up Wally's earlier complaint about his shoulder. The bullies in his school, the constant barrage of negative treatment. And now, now after the Rogues stated something so horrid did he realize he didn't start to see Wally's injuries until after Rudolph had lost his job. But who could hurt Wally? This couldn't be true, it couldn't.

"Whatever you think you know, you must be wrong." Barry looked up at them, his voice still dangerously low. "Rud- Kid Flash's father is not like that."

"Wait, aren't you his dad?" Trickster piped up.

"It's none of your business James who I am to Kid Flash." He glowered towards Cold. "All you need to know is that I care about Kid Flash, my partner, and he might as well be my son. Now," he turned and looked them each squarely in the eye. "You've made a mistake, because if anything was going on, the last people he would tell is his city's criminal group." He didn't verbalize the words he really wanted to say. He would have trusted me with that, he would have told someone, asked for help.

Cold scrutinized him for a long time, searching for something. Finally he turned away, setting his gun back on his holster. "Tough luck Flash, because it doesn't look like your Kid trusted anyone, including you, with that information." He started walking towards the reflection closest to Mirror Master. "We're done here, boys. Looks like our villain still isn't caught."

"Wait!" Barry tugged uselessly at the ice surrounding his legs. If he started vibrating, he might make it out in time, but once he started moving, they'd be gone before he was even half-way through. "Give back Kid Flash, Cold!"

"You can have him after you take care of the bigger problem." Cold turned and glared from behind his mask. "Even then, don't know if I want to hand him over to someone who doesn't even know his partner's in danger."

Barry broke through the ice and made a mad dash for the mirror, but he was only half-way before cold went completely through, and slammed into the reflective surface with only a bruised forehead to show for his efforts. Groaning, he gingerly sat down, knowing there wasn't going to be any further action from the Rogues at this point.

"don't know if I want to hand him over to someone who doesn't even know his partner's in danger."

That couldn't be true, it couldn't. Right?

His communicator beeped, telling him that the League was trying to contact him. He quickly opened the channel. "Flash here- I'm a little busy though."

"With the Rogues, we know." Came Batman's gravelly voice. "Put it on hold- we've received some data that concerns Kid Flash."

"Piper found the kid's communicator and converted our evidence to sound waves- "

Barry felt his heart pounding, and not in the usual way a speedster experiences it. "Batman, please tell me there's not some truth to what these guys just told me."

The line remained quiet for a few beats, but Barry knew his answer the moment Batman replied.

"I'm sorry, Flash."

Soooo installment number two. Thank you to everyone who has already reviewed! I didn't expect to get so many for just the first round, but I love it all the same! Tune in next time for the final chapter! (I know, its short- right?!)