Hartley had been silent for almost an entire minute. Trying to process everything that Roy had told him. How Digger was still a Rogue. How he had a kid. How Axel Walker, one of the people who attacked them, who put Shawna in the hospital, was sleeping in Digger's room while the mercenary was gone.

Roy wouldn't be surprised if Hartley didn't believe any of it. If his anger towards the mercenary was still simmering. If the kid still wanted revenge. They had only gotten him out of the hospital yesterday. Bandages still completely covered his chest. He was still hooked up to a heart monitor that Shawna had stolen. Cold had given orders that if Hartley's heart rate didn't look right they were to take him back to the hospital.

Roy might have actually heard Cold mention something about sending Shawna back to nursing school. It would pay for itself at the rate they were going.

Finally the young genius turned to Roy.

"So…you're telling me….that, someone had sex with Digger Harkness? Willingly?"

Roy let out a surprised laugh. The kid was looking at Roy with an expression of pure doubt. That…that would be the part the kid would find the most improbable.

"We don't actually know who the mother is…"

"So it could be anyone. Or the kid could have been created in a lab, though why someone would use Digger's DNA as a template for anything completely flies in the face of whatever scientific procedures were used to create this child….Are we certain it is a child, maybe a highly advanced robotics…"

"You would go to humanoid android child before you would believe a woman would have sex with Digger."

"Can you blame me? I mean, she didn't just have sex with him. She then proceeded to carry his child to term? What kind of monster would do that to the world? Bringing another Digger into it…If I had believed in God before this, I sure as hell don't now."

Roy couldn't help the smile on his face. The kid was looking down at his hands. No doubt calculating some ridiculous odds in his head. Roy's smile dimmed slightly.

"You're really ok with this?"

"Not going to lie, getting stabbed by that Neanderthal wasn't pleasant…but I am aware of how easy it would have been for him to kill me instantly. I've seen how accurate he is with those idiotic weapons of his. He didn't have to miss, especially knowing that his son's life depended on doing what the Reverse Flash told him. Where is he now?"

"Took the kid back to New York where its parents are."

"He went alone?"

"Outright refused to let anyone else go with him."

"Smart…well, as smart as any decision Digger makes can be. Be easier for him to get in unnoticed."

"We don't know when he will be back. If the kid's parents don't want him anymore, he will have to find somewhere else for Owen to go."

"Hm."

The two lapsed into silence.

There was something still bothering the kid. Roy could see it in the way Hartley was looking around. Avoiding Roy's gaze. Hartley Rathaway was a lot of things, but timid wasn't one of them. It wasn't like him to avoid eye contact, to not go into greater detail than was necessary. There was something off in Hartley's tone. In the way he was responding to the questions, like it was what was expected of him. Not what he really wanted to say.

Roy knew what it was like to hide your distrust, your annoyance, with the other Rogues. Knew how hard it had been for him to let go of the destruction of his paintings.

"Hartley, if having Digger still be…"

"I don't have a problem with that. Well, no more so than I ever did. I can continue to tolerate his presence with the same disdain as I did prior to this."

"So what's…"

Hartley hesitated for a moment. No doubt trying to decide whether or not Roy was someone he could open up to. Eventually the young genius began to speak.

"It's…it's the fact that we went there in the first place…"

Hartley trailed off. His eyes staring up at the ceiling. Roy was confused.

"You're mad at Cold for leading us into that trap? You think we shouldn't have gotten involved?"

"No…that's…it's not that we got involved. It's why we got involved. If Grodd hadn't been there, if Cold hadn't thought the Reverse Flash was behind it, do you think we would have tried to save any of those people? The cops, the Flash, anyone?"

Roy looked at Hartley for a moment.

"No. Wasn't our fight. No reason to risk our lives for them."

Hartley sighed.

"And when we were there, when we were helping them…it didn't feel like we…you know what, I'm tired, that's all. I should…"

"You're not pissed we got involved, you're pissed because there was a chance we wouldn't have?"

Hartley refused to move his head. He kept his eyes firmly on the ceiling.

"Like I said…I'm tired. I should just, get some rest."

Roy didn't understand Hartley's dilemma. They did get involved. They did save those people, even though they didn't have any reason to. Saving people wasn't their jobs. Hell, they did those people a favor by saving their asses and look what it had almost cost them.

Digger had almost lost his son, Mardon had almost lost his mind, Hartley could have died…

If anything, it was only proof that the Rogues shouldn't try to help out in those scenarios. Let the cops and the capes take the chances. The Rogues didn't need to be risking their lives.

The kid was just tired. He was smart, he would figure out that not getting involved was usually the right play. The Rogues just needed to look out for each other. No one else.

It was because the kid had almost died. That was all it was. Something like that happens and you start thinking about every part of your life. Telling yourself you're going to make changes. A couple weeks and Hartley would be back to normal, he would forget all about this ridiculous idea of helping out.

The kid just needed more rest. That was all it was.

Roy stood up.

"Alright kid. Get some sleep. Shawna will be in later to check your bandages."

Hartley closed his eyes and turned his head.

Roy walked out of the room. Cold was waiting outside.

"Everything good with Rathaway?"

Roy looked back towards where the kid was sleeping. Thought about the hesitation in his voice, the strange conflicted feelings he was having.

"He's fine. Just needs to rest. He took the news about Digger rather well."

"Good. Have you spoken to Shawna?"

"No."

"Go find her."

"Why?"

Cold walked away without another word. Roy rolled his eyes. Cold was the most dramatic person he had ever met. Shawna probably just wanted to know what was for dinner. But Cold had to turn everything into a spectacle.

Roy found Shawna sitting on the hood of a cop car in the garage. Roy walked over and stood near her.

"Cold send you out here to talk to me?"

"He did. Although he was ridiculously obtuse about the reason why."

"I told him I wanted to leave."

Roy stared at Shawna for a moment. She…she wasn't serious.

"You're serious?"

"Not like…forever. I don't want to leave the Rogues. I just…want to get away for awhile. Clear my head, you know. See what else is out there. I mean, you bailed for a few months and…"
"That was…"

"I know…I know it's not the same, I just thought you would understand I guess. I mean…it's not like any of us signed up for this right? Almost getting killed because a time traveler has a boner for the Flash. I mean, I love the rush from a job and coming back here and being a part of this but…I don't want to die having never been outside of Central."

Roy was silent at that. He didn't know she had never left Central. It sounded like she just wanted to take a trip. A vacation away from all the insanity.

And yet there was this...tone. This small sound that underlaid her words. That made Roy think Shawna might just disappear and never come back.

That she would find something better out there than she would ever find here.

"I'll check in. Text you guys all the time. Make sure there's still a…place to come back to. People do it all the time Roy. Move around for a bit, see what else the world has to offer."

Roy leaned against the car, his shoulder brushing slightly against her knee.

"What did Cold say?"

"Said he understood. That the Rogues could use a break. We're all tired…I mean you have to be tired too right?"

Roy sighed.

He was tired.

Not of the Rogues, or the heists, or the game they played with the Flash. But of the constant movement. The constant use of his powers. Even when there were weeks in between jobs, it still wasn't enough time to get back to center.

Maybe it would be good for all of them to separate for a little bit. Breathe in the air outside of their little bubble.

Cold, Lisa, and Mick would probably stick around Central. Although, Lisa had been talking about going to a museum in Italy. About a particularly beautiful collection of gold artifacts they had. And Mick was starting to get that look in his eyes. Like the next fire had to be big. More than what Cold would let him burn in Central.

This thing with the Reverse Flash had been too close. They all wanted to regain some semblance of control on their lives. And for most of them, that meant going back to what they knew. Going back to what they were best at.

"Where are you going to go?"

"I don't know. Maybe Australia? Or Japan. I've always wanted to go to Japan."

"ARGUS…"

"Cold already gave me that speech. I'm going to keep him updated. Said if I don't check in once a week, he would come and find me. Which was both creepy and sweet."

Roy smirked.

"What about you Roy? Think you'll stick around?"

Roy thought about Hartley laying in that bed. The boy would start to go stir crazy here pretty soon without something to focus on. He thought about Mardon, who was still having trouble using his powers. They would both be terrible if left alone. God knows the havoc a bored Hartley Rathaway could wreck.

"I'll stick around for now."

Shawna slid off of the car, and put a hand on his shoulder. She placed a quick kiss on his cheek.

"Well if you get bored, let me know. Maybe we can meet up in Prague or something. Steal a couple paintings."

"Sounds like a plan."

"I'm going to go say goodbye to the others…take care of yourself Roy."

"You too Shawna."

She started to walk away, then hesitated and turned around.

"I will be back."

Roy didn't say anything to that. He just let her walk away.

He wasn't sure even she believed it.

Roy leaned back against the car.

Shawna was right. Families did this kind of thing all the time. People moved away or left. Didn't mean they were gone forever. Just meant things would be…different for awhile.

First Digger, now Shawna. Roy thought briefly about the look in Hartley's eyes. Although if he was honest with himself, that look had always been there. Hartley had always seemed to be…slightly removed from the rest of them. They all knew the Rogues were temporary, that it couldn't last forever. No criminal organization ever did. Eventually someone would get lucky, take one of them out. But with Hartley, it had always felt different to Roy. Like there was another reason Hartley thought he wouldn't be here for very long.

And now there was this Axel kid. Roy wouldn't say that any of the Rogues were particularly stable. But they knew the rules and they stuck to them as best they could. Axel had spent the last year or two with James Jesse, working with a man who didn't just ignore rules, but deliberately tried to blow them out of existence.

Roy couldn't be certain that Axel would be a good fit for the Rogues.

Which was why he wasn't surprised when a few days later Cold asked him to be in the room when he and Mick had a talk with the younger man.

Roy knew that there wasn't much of an age difference between Axel Walker and Hartley. That there was no reason to see the young man as anything other than a potential enemy, one who had been under the tutelage of a bonafide psychopath for several years. But when he was laying in the bed, with Mick and Cold towering over him, bandages encasing his head and chest, Roy couldn't help but think that Axel looked so damn…small.

So damn young.

Without the mask and the ridiculous clothes, without the manic grin and stupid jokes, or weapons disguised as children's toys, he looked just like any other kid. Abandoned by his family, surrounded by people who might hurt him. Roy idly wondered if the boy's mother was still alive. Was she waiting for her son to remember who he was before Jesse got his claws in him? To snap out of this super villain phase and come home?

Or was she relieved to be rid of him? Glad she could finally write him off as just another lost cause. It couldn't have been a very stable childhood if Axel had been willing to follow someone as deranged as Jesse so blindly.

Although…Roy supposed he could understand it in a way. Sometimes the need to escape from your past, from what everyone always said you would be, overwhelmed your instincts for danger. You didn't always look too closely at the first hand that reached out to you, willing to pull you out of the mud. Didn't question where it might be dragging you off to.

Roy brushed off the thought and rubbed his eyes. He needed to focus on what was in front of him, not behind.

Cold was lounging in a chair beside Walker's bed. Mick stood off to the side, arms crossed, looking like he might reach forward and strike at any moment. Walker had blearily woken up a few minutes ago, the boy was still clearly out of it. The pain meds they gave him making him groggy. Although he was doing his best to appear nonchalant. Like he didn't care about what was happening or why he was here.

Like he wasn't afraid.

"Axel." Cold spoke softly, but with a tone that demanded attention. Walker turned his head towards Cold. The Rogue's leader examined the young man for a few moments before speaking again.

"We have a few questions we need to ask. And if you answer correctly, there won't be any issues. You can go your own way and continue to terrorize the citizens of Central City with acid cream pies and exploding yo-yo's. But…I don't appreciate being lied to. And neither does Mick so…"

"What about Rainbow Warrior there? He like being lied to or something?"

The kid was cocky. Roy smirked but kept his mouth shut.

"Roy is here for…insurance. Now let's start with something simple, do you have any other weapons or explosives on you?"

"Seeing as you guys strip searched me while I was unconscious, total creeper move by the way, that would be pretty impressive. Although I guess I am rather impressive."

This time, Len and Mick both smirked at the kid's attitude. Axel just kept talking.

"Oh and can we cut out the whole, 'insurance' thing? I know he can't read emotions or detect lies or whatever other BS you were going to say. Even before the banana man showed up and gave us files on each of you guys, I knew all about you. I hacked ARGUS when I was 16 to get my…Jesse's information and schedule. So it was no problem to find all of your info and stats in less than two seconds. So how about this, you let me walk out of here right now, and I'll give you all the files. Both the ones I have and the ones the Reverse Flash gave me. Then we can stop with this hilarious game of good cop, bad cop, and weird cop who just stands there and does nothing because his powers don't work like that."

Walker had turned his attention towards Mick. Taking his eyes off of Cold, practically turning his back on him. Mick actually smiled.

"Boy, if you think I'm the bad cop here, you really didn't read those files you got."

Walker was able to mask his confusion fairly quickly and turned to Roy. Roy raised an eyebrow. He wasn't the bad cop in the scenario either.

Axel slowly turned back towards Cold. The older man's posture hadn't changed, Snart was still lounging in the chair like he couldn't care less about what was happening in the room.

But Snart's eyes were no longer amused. They were hard. Cold. Cruel.

"I had hoped you were smarter than this Axel." Walker could tell something had changed, but he hadn't been around any of them long enough to realize exactly what it was.

Captain Cold was no longer in the room. Leonard Snart, the criminal who had murdered members of his own crew for not following orders. Who had endangered the lives of innocent civilians if it was necessary for the job. Who never once thought about the people he had killed.

That was the man sitting in the chair now.

Snart was looking at a potential threat, the only variable he couldn't predict. Calculating if it was worth letting Axel live, considering he was the only one outside of the Rogues who knew that Owen was alive.

It didn't matter to Leonard Snart that Axel had saved Owen. The Rogues had repaid that debt by not killing Walker instantly. The young man owed them now.

Axel shrunk back slightly, though Roy was impressed by the boy's ability to hold Snart's gaze.

"Now. Mick here seems to think that you could be useful to us. That your arrogance and instability can be attributed to your youth. I'm not entirely sure I agree, but I've known Mick a long time and I'm willing to trust his judgment. Which is why you and I are having this conversation. I wasn't bargaining earlier, I wasn't attempting to get you to open up or to trust us. I was offering you the chance to explain why I shouldn't just kill you and dump your body where no one will ever find it. We don't need files on ourselves, we know who we are. We know what we are capable of. Do you, Axel?"

The Trickster still hadn't looked away. There was fear in the boy's eyes but something else as well. Something that looked suspiciously like awe. Roy glanced over and shared a look with Mick. Mick just shook his head, he could see it too.

Axel Walker was never going to go back to that hypothetical mother of his. Whoever he used to be, was gone.

Maybe Mick was right, the best thing to do would be to keep the kid close. Keep an eye on him while they learned everything they needed to know.

That didn't mean that Snart was going to give Walker a chance to betray them. A chance to hurt a member of his family. Leonard Snart had no intention of being caught unawares ever again.

"I'm going to ask you a question Axel. And if you answer incorrectly I am going to kill you. Do you understand?"

Walker nodded his head. The boy almost looked excited. But it was more than just getting the chance to live through the next few minutes. Walker wanted to prove himself to Snart.

Probably not the healthiest thing for the kid, but Rogues weren't exactly known for their mental stability.

"Good. Now, why should I let you join the Rogues?"

It was a simple question. One with a thousand different answers. But Roy knew that Snart was looking for only one.

There was only one right answer in his mind.

And if Axel didn't provide it, Snart was going to put a bullet between his eyes.

Axel opened his mouth and closed it a few times. His eyes darted back towards Mick and Roy. But he wasn't looking for encouragement or reassurance. Axel was looking at them like they were intruding on a personal conversation. Like they had just barged into the room at the exact wrong moment.

Eventually Axel closed his eyes and leaned back in the bed.

"I need to be here."

Cold smirked. Then put a hand on Axel's shoulder.

"You will have to earn your spot."

Axel opened one bleary eye. Roy could tell the Trickster was trying to contain his excitement.

"Dude, I can…"

"Later. Get some rest. Mick." Cold nodded towards the door and Mick followed him out.

Roy sat down in a chair and kept an eye on Axel.

"It's super weird that you are going to watch me sleep."

"Not the first time I've been accused of being weird."

Roy had no doubts that Cold would be keeping a close eye on Axel. Looking for any signs that the kid was part of some greater plan. That the Reverse Flash or James Jesse hadn't sent the kid here as some sort of fail safe. As another way to get to and destroy the Rogues.

Roy watched Axel fake falling asleep.

After half an hour, the pain meds kicked in and the kid actually fell asleep. Mick came in not too long after that and took over watching Axel.

Roy headed to the kitchen. Mardon was standing at the fridge. He looked up when Roy entered.

"Asshole still won didn't he?"

Roy raised an eyebrow at Mark's tone, the man had come around the side and was now leaning against the table. He handed Roy a beer.

"Shawna told you."

"Yea, said it was just for a little bit. I don't know. Maybe she's right. Maybe it's time we all got a little breathing room." Mardon was silent for a few moments. "I think Hartley's going to bail too."

Roy sighed and nodded slightly. The past few days had only enforced the idea in Roy. Hartley continued to respond to questions like he was supposed to, but it just wasn't…right.

"I thought that as well."

"Saw a text on his phone from that Ramon kid. Asking if he was ok. Guess they used to know each other."

"Used to work together I believe."

There wasn't really much else to say on the matter. Either Hartley would stay or he would leave. The choice wasn't up to them.

"How's the new kid?"

"Unhinged. But Cold might be able to reign him in."

"Like he did with the rest of us?"

Roy smirked.

"I'm not sure Cold was ever able to reign you in."

Mark gave a small laugh.

"You're probably right about that."

Roy could feel this strange sort of sadness underlying their conversation.

An odd finality to it all.

"Things ain't going to be the same."

"No. I suppose they aren't. But it's hardly the largest change either of us have ever gone through."

Mark snorted.

"You got that right."

They sat there in silence for awhile. Neither willing to admit what they were both now certain of.

Digger might never come back.

Shawna might disappear.

Mick was getting restless. Looking for a release he wouldn't be able to find as long as he was tethered to the Rogues.

Lisa…Roy hadn't really spoken to Lisa very much since their return. But if what Shawna said was true, then even she was looking for something more low key. Just a simple heist or two, with no psychopaths or gorillas in the mix.

Hartley, now that he had an olive branch extended to the STAR Labs kids, might go back. Might return to his life before he had fallen in with a bunch of criminals. Kid could probably expunge his records, end up with a clean slate.

Start over.

One day the Rogues might end up fighting against Hartley. Roy didn't know how to feel about that. He filed that away as something to consider if it ever came to it.

Cold, well Roy couldn't ever get a read on him, but even he had to be looking for something new. The man thrived on a challenge. Now that he had been able to go up against the Reverse Flash and so many other formidable enemies, would robbing a bank still hold his interest? Or would he start looking for something more?

The Rogues, as they had known them, as they had been for close to two years now, were done.

It was time to either move forward.

Or move on.

Roy wasn't sure which he wanted. He looked at Mardon.

"You going to stick around?"

"At least til my powers are back to normal. You?"

"Same."

"No reason to decide now."

"True."

And yet it felt like it was already decided.

Roy pushed away from the table. It would be nice to be able to walk down the street, to eat in a restaurant, to be somewhere where no one knew him. Even just for a little while.

He could always come back.

The bond that the Rogues had forged left no doubt in his mind that there would always be a place for him here.

For all of them.

Regardless of where they went next.

A/N: Just an epilogue to deal with everything that happened to them. This turned out a bit more melancholy than I had originally intended. I might have an idea for another one, but I don't know if I will have the time. Thanks for reading.