Rogue Rehabilitation

by AliceFalls

Summary:

It's a universal truth. No one actually seems to want to hurt Barry Allen. Not even known criminals.

Warning: Short chapters, slow updates, and an author with the attention span of a goldfish

Notes:

A/N Way too many plot bunnies right now I swear to God.
I’m trying to write an actual original novel right now too.
However, this was the one that actually wanted to be written at this time.
Probably because I found someone who debates headcanons with me.

Criminal names (and respective crimes) are taken from the wanted list Barry ID’s Snart from in Going Rogue
(it is very hard to read those names and crimes, even if you pause)

Chapter 1: Doc's Kid

When particularly violent criminals needed to get their fingerprints taken, they called in Barry Allen. It wasn’t even really his job. He just had a way with criminals that the officers weren’t above taking advantage of. It was universally accepted.

No one wants to hurt Barry Allen.

The first time it happens it’s only because the officer in charge of fingerprinting is sick. Allen wasn’t particularly busy, having gotten all the major bits of evidence processed, so it only made sense to ask the young CSI. The criminal was Bob Levesque, arrested for assault. He was drunk, and angry, and fighting anyone trying to question him. But then, suddenly Barry walked in (late, obviously), introduced himself, laughed lightly, and suddenly Levesque sat down and let his fingerprints be taken. Perplexed, Officer Chyre let Barry continue to chatter with the criminal. Levesque was absolutely placid. He admitted that they guy he’d attacked had been the man his wife had cheated on him with and that he didn’t regret it at all. Barry just nodded agreeably and let him know that it was still a crime, even if he had what he considered justified motives. Levesque nodded solemnly and started telling Barry about his wife and all the horrible thing she had done, and Barry just listened. It was bizarre. He was like a therapist that didn’t do anything but listen, and yet the criminal was soothed and didn’t fight his processing anymore. When Chyre finally had to pull the man out, Levesque smiled at Barry, then at him, and happily went along to prison. Chyre pulled the man away dumbfounded, and by lunchtime the entire precinct knew.

They all would have thought it was a one time thing, but not two weeks later, a prisoner recently released from Iron Heights drove up to the precinct in a stolen Maserati and asked to speak to Barry Allen. His name was Lorenzo Furlan, and his last arrest was for the theft of an automobile as well. Barry came down from his lab to eerie silence, and walked into the questioning room.

“I was told you’re a good listener, kid.”

Barry spent two hours talking to Furlan, who told Barry his whole life story and asked him to check on his kids for him (apparently they wanted nothing to do with their father anymore, but he did legitimately care and want to know what they were doing). After they were done talking, Barry called in an officer to arrest Furlan and Furlan went back to prison, with promises that Barry would visit every once in awhile and give him updates any time his children hit major milestones. (As it turned out, two months later Furlan’s oldest daughter got engaged, and Barry sent her a letter that her father wrote for her. Barry never looked at the contents, but whatever Furlan said caused his daughter to start visiting him again, for the first time in years.)

Suddenly, just about every criminal who turned themselves in wanted to talk to Barry. Officers started calling Barry in to fingerprint suspects who were being difficult. He was an instant sedative. On one rather spectacular occasion a criminal being dragged through the station saw him and shouted at him.

“Hey! Hey! It’s Doc’s kid! Bart or somethin’. Can I talk ta’ him?”

Tom O’Leary (arrested for possession of an illegal firearm) had apparently been fixed up by Henry Allen a couple times in Iron Heights, and recognized Barry immediately from a picture Henry had with him at all times. Once he was taken away - much calmer, and with a joke about how “you’re just like Doc, except not that kinda doctor,” being dragged out as Barry tried to explain that, no he really wasn’t, he didn’t have a doctorate of any kind - O’Leary spread word through the prison that the CSI with the great listening skills was Doc’s kid.

It continued for months. Barry knew a couple of the small time criminals by name, whose crimes had smaller sentences, and repeated offenses. Some of the reformed criminals would come in when they knew the crime rate was lower just to see if they could talk with Barry for a bit. He became the CCPD’s mascot in the eyes of the criminal community.

Then, Barry got struck by lightning.

Chapter 2: The First of Many

Summary:

Barry wakes up and the police are relieved for multiple reasons. The Flash shows up.

Notes:

I promised someone I'd have this chapter up by the weekend. It has been done.

The police had forgotten how much harder their jobs were when criminals didn’t just turn themselves in, or when they actively fought arrest. The lack of Barry’s presence was felt keenly by both the police and the criminal community for the entirety of the nine months Barry was in his coma. Crimes started getting more confusing, with no possible leads. Cold cases went up, arrests went down, and even in the prison the criminals were getting restless. More fights, more violence, at least 6 attempted riots.

Then, Barry woke up.

Within two weeks of his return to the station, everyone knew that Barry Allen had woken up, and criminals started turning themselves in again, greeting him and giving him updates.

“Brooks went out and stole a bike! Well, borrowed. He returned it.”

“Your dad stitched me up after the second riot. He’s been busy, but everyone is making sure he’s safe.”

“The folks in the can want you to visit again. Your pa’s really worried.”

“You look good kid.”

While the arrests went back up, the cold cases stayed the same. More and more cases were just disappearing. A whole troop of thieves disappeared, and only one body was found. A series of murders in the local gangs mysteriously stopped with no arrests and no suspects. A bomber, a robber capable of ripping ATMs out of the ground, and more, all disappearing without a trace, no one knowing how or when. Petty thieves started being dropped at the station with no knowledge of how they got there. Rumors spread of a red streak speeding through the streets.

The rumors stopped when Leonard Snart returned to Central City with a partner and publicly challenged “The Flash”. All of a sudden, the guy was everywhere. He brought down Captain Cold and Heatwave, for the first time, allowing them to be brought into the station by the police. Apparently these were the first of his enemies he’d done so for. No one was sure where the others had gone, but no one was willing to ask the superhuman what he’d done with them.

Barry Allen was watching from Detective West’s desk when the two villains got dragged through the station, a small smile on his face. The smile fell when Singh called out.

“Where’s Allen? We need him to print the hot-head.” Barry looked at his foster father in alarm.

“Go on. It’s not like they know.”

“But- Snart? Rory? Why am I in charge of supervillains?” He whined out quietly.

“ALLEN?”

“Just do it, Barr.”

Barry, looking intensely betrayed and more than mildly perturbed, grabbed his kit and walked toward the hallway the arresting officers had led Cold and Heatwave down.

 

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“So you’re the badge they chose to sacrifice. How does that work? Do you have a lottery?” The kid laughed awkwardly and gestured with his bag.

“Actually, I’m just a CSI. I don’t have a badge.” Sensing that they really didn’t give a damn, the CSI continued. “Um, my name is Barry Allen. I’m just here to take your fingerprints.”

“And you just came willingly? That takes nerve.” Mick muttered, calmer and almost impressed.

“Yeah, well it’s not like I had much choice. I’m put in charge of most fingerprinting these days. Especially with particularly aggressive criminals.” Len raised an eyebrow.

“That’s a bit cold for the police, isn’t it. Letting a defenseless kid fend for himself with psychopaths and murderers?” Barry shook his head, visibly bristling.

“I’m 26, not 12, and I can defend myself fine. Besides, none of the regulars hurt me. A lot of them are indebted to my dad.”

“Your dad? How would murderers know your dad?” Len straightened, intrigued.

“He’s in Iron Heights right now. For murder, actually.”

“Allen… Henry Allen? The Doctor?” Mick finally decided to contribute to the conversation, calmer now and finally permitting Barry to start fingerprinting him.

“That would be the one. Everyone around here seems to know him. The criminals, I mean.” Barry laughed lightly. “I know it’s weird for someone working with the police to have friendly conversations with criminals, but a lot of them visit after getting out so we can talk. They tell stories about my dad. I don’t get to spend much time with him anymore, so I take what I can get.”

“Huh. Pity.” Mick muttered. Barry was visibly taken aback.

“What?”

“What Mick means is that it’s sad, for lack of a better word, that Doc’s still in there. It’s not like he’d actually hurt anyone.”

“Wait, you mean you think he’s innocent?”

“And you don’t, kid? Isn’t that a little harsh?”

“No- I do, but no one ever believes me.” Barry managed to get out quietly. Len rolled his eyes.

“Kid, you don’t spend time in jail without learning about people. A lot of times, you can tell what crime a person committed just by watching them. Doctor Allen can be stubborn, but he’s not a murderer, and definitely not his wife’s murderer. Not with the way he talks about his family.” Barry brightened as Len continued, happy that someone else saw his father’s innocence. Mick and Len stared at him.

“You’re awful cheerful considering the topic, kid.” Mick finally piped in as Barry finished his last finger.

“Oh, um. It’s no big deal… Thank you, though. For having faith in my father. I don’t get… this. Often. The criminals I talk to love my dad, but don’t ever make comments as to whether they think he’s guilty or not. They just accept that he’s there. It’s nice to hear someone believes he’s innocent.”

“Huh” Len appraised the young CSI cautiously.

Barry smiled. “Well, we’re all done here. I’ll send someone in to escort you back to your holding cells.” He stood up and started walking out.

“See you around, kid.” Len called out, just before the door closed. “Very soon,” he hummed out quietly.

Notes:

Len's voice fights me like no other. Barry is a good actor, but also is genuinely enjoying this conversation. Bless him. I ship Coldflash, but I can't write actual romance for shit. So, this.

As always, not beta'd, please let me know if anything seems off.

Chapter 3: Cute

Summary:

The Flash's Identity comes into question.

Notes:

I'm so sorry this took so long, just... here have it, I'll explain some stuff later:

The situation was directly proportional. As the Flash collected more enemies, Leonard Snart collected Rogues. Obviously Mick was the first, immediately followed by Lisa. Lisa’s first mission with Mick and Len was planned to a T.

The plan, however, strayed. Mick and Len abducted Cisco Ramon’s brother quickly, and with no issue. Lisa was told to get Ramon to the Santini family’s old mansion, and she did so - by flirting and making out with the scientist. Len was furious.

Already frustrated by his sister’s flirting, it shouldn’t have been a surprise when he started asking for the Flash’s identity. It was never his plan originally. He really was going to let them both go after Cisco remade their guns, but with Cisco’s comments and Lisa - well, he was probably going to hell anyway, if it existed, what was torture on top of everything else he’d done? The choice was easy to make. He needed to know who was under that damned mask.

He wasn’t expecting the answer he got.

There was no way that- no. It made perfect sense, actually. He was optimistic, positive, and had strong moral codes. Barry Allen, the smiling, unassuming CSI was the Flash. He wasn’t scared to face hardened criminals because that was what he did.

The pieces were falling into place and Len was furious. So of course, when Barry inevitably confronted him “We have to talk.” - and left him in the woods, the punk - he acted like he was going to reveal everything. He wasn’t really, that would have been too obvious, and why give away an advantage while you have it? But somehow, Barry managed to talk him back, make a deal, and suddenly he was promising not to hurt anyone.

This kid had magic. It was the only explanation, he lets his guard down for a split second and suddenly he’s promising to be good - or as close to it as he can get. Len was mildly shocked by Barry’s admission of a private prison, his threats. He didn’t really expect Barry to have such a backbone behind his nerdy exterior. And there was one other thing -

“The Rogues… cute.”

Notes:

This chapter... Yeah. I dug myself into a hole here, so it's really short, but for real, this chapter kicked my ass. Hey, but after this, we run further away from canon and I can get back to some of the weird dialogue my brain created that inspired this whole fic. These chapters have been an intro really...

Chapter 4: Mistakes were made

Summary:

“He forgot that the Rogues were sometimes, occasionally, batshit crazy.“

A small filler chapter to fill the void. Sorry it’s taken forever, I have a really short attention span, but hey, plot divergence has started.

Life with the Rogues had been its own form of hell. Barry didn’t realize that he was accumulating his own pet villains until it was too late, until he had suddenly discovered a growing collection of recurring and aggressively possessive thieves and murderers.

Every time a new petty threat appeared, it disappeared almost faster than STAR labs could notice it. Cold was dead serious about Central City being his playground. Apparently, he wasn’t good at sharing.

It wasn’t all terrible. The Rogues had all joined Snart at some point, and since Barry had threatened Snart everyone had seemed content (well, not content) to follow the rules (sort of. Every once in a while a violent, or just particularly awful criminal or rapist turned up dead in a garbage bin, but Barry tried his best not to think about it).

No, it wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t good either, and that was his fault, because he had let his guard down. Barry had thought, foolish as it was, that if he were to get attacked by the rogues, it would only be as the Flash. He had thought that Barry Allen was safe, because Cold wasn’t going to give up his identity.

He forgot that the Rogues were sometimes, occasionally, batshit crazy.

Which was how he got here.

Abducted.

By Axel Walker.

“God dammit, Axel. What did we say about kidnappings?”

Chapter 5: How, not why.

Summary:

Axel has arrived and Barry and Lisa are equally frustrated

Notes:

SO it's been like 2 days, and this is so far out of my MO but I was waiting for 30 minutes in the audience for a theatre production and I didn't want to look like the asshole who's on their phone so I wrote out the skeleton of the dialogue for this (and it's pretty dialogue heavy for one of my works) but the characters were doing what they want (and if I'm perfectly honest this was mildly influenced by the show I'm fixated on at the moment and some characters in that but motivation came and I'm not gonna look a gift horse in the mouth)- ANYWAY! Axel is a precious puppy and no one can convince me otherwise, Lisa has no real reason to act seductive right now so she's just an exasperated older sister and I'm a mess who wrote this at 2am because she couldn't sleep, so enjoy the SUPER IRREGULARLY FAST UPDATE and I apologize in advance for spelling or grammar issues because it's 2am and I'm even more of a chaotic mess than usual.

When Barry came to, Axel was sitting, criss-cross applesauce, smiling at a disapproving Lisa Snart like a small puppy with a dead bird in its mouth. He supposed that made him the dead bird, which wasn’t particularly comforting, but it was the closest experience Barry had to compare it to. Lisa glared down at Axel until he caved.

“Dad said-” he began, but was immediately cut off by Lisa’s shriek

“No! No, Axel, we had an agreement. You are not supposed to be listening to your dad. You don’t want to go to jail with him again, right? You’re with us now. And -God help me- that means no kidnapping.” Lisa sounded like a chiding older sister who had lost her patience, and it made Barry wonder how many times this had happened. Not that he could ask, with his mouth duct-taped.

“But-”

“No. No more of this. Where is Mick?”

Barry began weighing his options. He was tied to a chair, his mouth was duct-taped shut, and he was likely in the Rogues’ main center of operations at the moment. The Rogues moved fairly often though, so he had no clue where that would be. To his knowledge, the only Rogue who had actually seen his face was Cold, so he couldn’t risk running out as the Flash without putting his identity on the line. He couldn’t talk his way out, and he didn’t have his suit on him, so no tracker there. Where was his phone? God, he didn’t even know when he had been kidnapped, maybe… leaving Jitters? But that was such a public place, there was no way Axel would have gotten away without both of them being seen. He was still trying to figure it out when Lisa actually started paying attention to him.

“-and who is this poor innocent soul anyway?” She stared into his eyes, noting that he was conscious but not fighting.

“That,” came a vaguely amused voice from the corner, “is Barry Allen.” Lisa lit up in recognition of his name, and a satisfied smirk -clearly a family trait- appeared on her face. Smug bitch. “Mick and I mentioned him, if you may recall? The CSI who got stuck printing us?”

“Oh yes, the one who’s friends with my dear Cisco?”

“Yeah! And Dad said the guards said-” Barry nearly jumped at the sudden outburst from Axel. Nearly. He didn’t, because that would be showing weakness, and the Snarts were sharks. Blood in the water and all that. Lisa released another exasperated sigh.

“Axel, honey, not right now, Lenny and I are trying-” a thought seemed to occur to her. “Actually… how exactly did you manage to get Barry here?” Axel seemed delighted at Lisa’s sudden interest in how he got his beloved dead bird.

“Weeeeelllll, I sent a letter to my dad again, and he mentioned that the guards at Iron Heights mentioned Henry Allen and his son and some recent escapees and basic crooks and I-” Lisa cut him off.

“My question Axel. How did you get him? Not why.”

“Oh. I hit him really hard on the head. I would’ve used an explosive but Mickey took them away again. Do you think Barry will forgive me?” Given that Barry was rather aggressively glaring at Axel, the answer was pretty clear. Len decided to cut back in regardless.

“I’d say that’s a no.”

Notes:

Okay and now I'm just gonna leave this here. Bonus points if you can guess the other fandom I was subconsciously basing the dynamic off of. (There are no points, just wild respect)

Notes:

If you notice any problems with grammar, or just anything confusing, please comment and let me know. This hasn't been beta'd (yet).