Oh well, he probably deserved it. He hadn't meant to be so mean-spirited when he started, it just...happened. He should probably be more careful; lording his 'goodness' over a reformed supervillain is pretty shitty behavior, the kind Barry's warned him about before.
Also, the kind that'll get your ass whooped. Also Barry's advice.
Wally's the second to arrive at the library, as expected, and when he screeches to a halt he heads over to the water fountain first to gulp down a mouthful.]
Hey. [He straightens and wipes his mouth, suddenly nervous. If Hal finds out about this...]
Why're you so stuck on turning me into the Flash? [Okay, not what he was going to ask, but he's got to know.] It's like you're invested. Is it really so you're not bored anymore? So you've got someone decent to fight?
[ Shade had simply cleaned up his writing, finished his glass, and dropped such things off in the kitchen before disappearing, and reappearing at the library in Nonah. He'd, of course, found a comfortable chair, and an older looking tome to peruse. Something he read before -- something from a good friend.
When Wally was close, he closed it, and set it aside, and leaned back in his chair, hands folded to rest on his stomach.
That? Was an interesting question, and not at all where he expected this to go so readily. Curiouser and curiouser, as Carroll had said. ]
Well, of course I'm invested. It's a legacy, and one I had a hand in aiding to create. Jay would never have been as good without the villains he fought, you know. [ And really, the world needed heroes like the Flash. ] What you symbolize is more than just a hero, but wisdom and heart, that a man can move like the wind -- but still rely on more than simply speed is something people could use more of.
And besides, you are the Flash where I come from. Jay is retired, Barry is dead, and so that falls to you, now. And you've been remarkable at it, I wish we'd had a chance to work together.
[ But nobody liked him enough. They sent the Dibneys instead. ]
[Wally takes it slow. He looks at Shade, really only half-seeing him as he draws in a deep breath, until his chest hurts, and then lets it out through his nose as he really, really works through that. Barry being dead...hurts, but he comes back. They told him he comes back.
Does Shade know that? ...would anyone have told him?]
Power Girl told me that Barry comes back. I don't know if you know.
[But it's not a protest to his title. Because honestly, isn't that what he's been fighting for the whole time he's been here? Recognition as an actual hero, as someone serious about this, someone to be depended on? He's been struggling to get Superman, Power Girl, Green Lantern- all the "big" ones to look at him and see an equal, but hasn't Shade basically done that from day one?
He calls him Flash. Not Kid. Not a sidekick or an addition or a hero-in-training.
Flash.
And Wally's never going to get a chance to use that name back home. He'll be dead before he gets there. Or if not dead, close enough to fool everyone, like Barry.]
We can get it here.
I'm not...at the caliber you're probably used to, [he gives up grudgingly, because it's weird to be jealous of himself,] but I'm getting better. Faster. I'm trying to get smarter about this, too. And I don't want you to sit here feeling like there's no point to being here. [Calling it boredom almost sounds like an insult; if having no purpose gives Shade the itch to commit crimes, then the same could be said for Wally. No purpose gives him the itch to stop them. At least he sees some progress then, even if it's just in a circle.] We're all stuck here, out of our elements.
I don't want to be that asshole who can't understand that about someone else. [It's something he's understanding as he goes along, ever since Artemis, since Annie. "Bad guys" and "good guys" are labels for people with opposing viewpoints. And there might be a definite right and a definite wrong, but there isn't anybody who does all one or the other.
What makes the League members better than the Shade? Their opinions more valuable to him? Why does he keep clawing for their approval when Shade's been around since Jay's time, and has been telling him all along that he's already a Flash? If there's anybody here who can actually get what it means to be in the Flash legacy, it's this guy.
[ Shade almost straightened, just enough to be obvious about it. He was in his usual refinery -- what was casual to a victorian man was downright formal for the modern, and Shade often looked out of place, but at ease with that status. He took a moment, and in that moment he looked...perhaps not out of place but surprised.
More than surprised, really. If Wally was saying what he thought he was saying. Which honestly surprised him. The boy had not...seemed to have the same self confidence that West showed back home. Those fleet feet didn't seem quite as sure, or maybe it was simply told him that his feet knew where they were going.
Nobody had given him the confidence, perhaps? Had he recently been inspired? Shade doubted it was anything to do with him, after all. ]
I think that's quite wise, and something many forget. There are -- forgive the pun -- shades in every work, isn't there? I may have sticky fingers, but I'm hardly aiming for world domination, you know. [ But this wasn't about him, and he waved a hand. ]
I think that... perhaps finding the inspiration to step forward is all you needed, to be the hero you can be. Making the most of a situation likke this is all you can do, sometimes, but that's all you must do.
After all, you are still the Flash -- whether Barry returns or not. You are still you.
[ Shade mostly knew Barry. And Jay. He didn't know Wally quite so well, he'd long-retired to Opal by that point, and really, nobody bothered with him unless something happened in Opal. You didn't step into the city without words to it's protector, after all. And as much as Shade refused to admit it, he had his own foe -- in the Spider -- he often kept such things hush hush.
After all, Opal was not often seen by others. They didn't know that the man made of shadows was perhaps not as dark as others suggested. ]
[If Wally had any doubts before, Shade sitting up and saying that chases them off. It's like he's looking back on this almost-year with a new set of glasses; what he thought was one shape is another, things unclear are coming into focus. The Barry that's here, mentoring Bart (because he is, isn't he, that's what Wally's doing) and everyone from the League. Seeing them as figures. Cursing them when they failed. Listening to Jaime tell him haltingly about being forgotten, slipping through the cracks.
Nobody telling Shade that Barry comes back because honestly, that's his duty. Wally's. He wants to be a hero, wants to be taken seriously. Maybe if he wants the respect of other people, he should start respecting himself. All of it.]
I die, [he says slowly, almost thoughtfully. He expected it to hurt coming out of his mouth like that. It does, but like a bruise instead of a knife. His hands hang loose at his sides and he watches Shade's face like he's looking for something, maybe he is, he doesn't know. But he's saying it out loud. Simply. Facing the possibility that maybe it's true.] Back home. I die when I'm twenty-one. Before I get the Flash title.
All I have is what's here.
[Is it pity he's looking for? Concern? No, not from the Shade. Not like this. Maybe he just wants to impress just how serious he is, because it's looking more and more like whatever life he builds for himself here is what he'll have. All he has back home is five years.
Maybe here, maybe he can have something more. Maybe he can fix things that always end up wrong because he didn't listen closely enough, or didn't care enough or didn't think enough. Trickster and Piper are here too; he's hardly said a word to either of them, even though they made it pretty clear they were in the same boat as the Shade. Maybe there's something he can do here, and even if nobody remembers it when they go home it's still got to count for something, right?]
So yeah. Sure. I'll take the name. I'll grow into it. [Big shoes to fill, but he's got time. As long as he isn't Ported out, he's got all the time in the world.]
Just for you, though. Don't think that other-universe Barry would be happy about me trying to steal his title. He probably fought hard for it too.
[ Shade had funny ideas about dying, of course. To him, it was something so distant, that he merely forgot about it all too often. And when people died, they died. Shade mourned, and he moved on. But that seemed such a waste at so young, and the Wally he knew hadn't gone that way, so where was the difference?
And if Barry could come back... ]
You think there's no chance for you to come back just like Barry?
[ He asked, his voice still held that usual relaxed distance, but there was something else in there. A quality, that old knowledge that humans died and there was nothing one could do about it but just sit back, and accept it. That people would die, sometime and someplace, mostly before their time, and it was -- it was often tragic.
To see a bright light like Wally West dimmed before his time? That was yet another one, wasn't it? ]
I think you will fill those shoes fast enough, you know. [ Especially with an attitude like that. Instead of falling apart about it, or falling to despair, he simply... he grew. That was all one could ask for from a mortal, wasn't it? ]
I'm sorry, that it happens. I don't know what seeing what that side is like, but I've seen it from the living's perspective often enough to know that you will be...truly missed when it does happen.
Yeah, [Wally says, but his voice catches on the sudden lump in his throat and he swallows, looking away and wishing a little that he'd never said anything at all.
After a second of chewing on the inside of his lip to get that under control, he takes a deep breath and faces the Shade again.]
Look, just so you know- I'm trying to put together something like a League here. You've been around since the Society's age, and I don't know if you've got any advice for how I can do this but if you do...I'd really appreciate it. [Also not what he came here to ask but hey, priorities change.]
[ Asking for advice too? Shade wasn't quite sure what to make of it, but he'd certainly take it. He smiled, just slightly, and tapped at his chin. The change in topics was good. He wasn't the most emotional of sorts, but he felt them just as well as any other human -- perhaps moreso since Ted Knight's death. It reminded him how important people could be. ]
Remember who you're working with -- And consider... your limits. As much as I'm afraid to say it, people like you shouldn't have to walk the darker path -- conscript or ask for help.
There are people like me who are amenable to...lending the occasional hand.
[ Actually he did, but not quite. He had done the things, the investigations, outside of Jack's knowledge, when something dark was starting to hover over Opal, when he'd been hunting Merritt, and then Culp.
He'd also stopped Donna Troy when she'd nearly beat a man for planting bombs, when even he wanted to see him suffer for even daring to threaten Opal. Or even the time he'd trapped a man in the shadowlands for trying to do so.
Shade was a dark, dark man, but that didn't mean Wally had to be. ]
But accepting help from those who are amenable may...facilitate a positive relationship. For both your group, and others.
As would others. The league can be quite...isolated, from time to time. When my Opal was threatened, we looked everywhere for someone to help, and eventually the Dibneys came to our assistance, but that was thanks to Ted's influence, not mine.
[ Then again, he'd been orchestrating the problem. Well. Culp in his body had. It was complicated. ]
I suggest...facilitating relationships differently.
I can't tell if you're being sarcastic, so I'm gonna operate on the assumption you aren't.
But like- I mean, what would be the point of establishing a League of superheroes here when the only members are ones who could disappear without warning? I dunno how that'd go over though; military absolutely wouldn't like it. That's the whole reason the system's in place, right, 'cause they didn't want to let their own superheroes working without their say-so?
I agree, actually. [ He nodded. ] Make it something that's separate from the people who come in and out, and you build a legacy, rather than something that dies with you.
In my humble experience, that's the difference, you know. Between something short-lived, and something that lasts forever.
See, that's what I thought! It's why I don't get this whole- I mean, it was cool for each of the heroes to have a sidekick, even if Barry dragged his feet about me for a while, but like when we wanted to make our own team and do stuff we got shut down!
I mean like yeah, obviously, train people and make sure they hold themselves accountable, but you can't just tell people they can't be superheroes. It makes it sound like some kind of exclusive club! I hate it.
Okay well, that settles it. You're my consultant. [Wally folds his arms and shrugs a shoulder.] I mean, you kind of were before, but now it's official. You've been in the super business longer than anybody else here, so.
It's quite true, although I was often on the other side of such things. [ He waved a hand, smile on his face. Shade was feeling quite pleased with himself, after all. He liked Wally, and Wally needed someone to help guide him. Shade was willing to do that -- yet again -- just like Jack. ]
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library in nonah
ill be there in five
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[ He calls him Flash just to get a rise out of him tbh }
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Oh well, he probably deserved it. He hadn't meant to be so mean-spirited when he started, it just...happened. He should probably be more careful; lording his 'goodness' over a reformed supervillain is pretty shitty behavior, the kind Barry's warned him about before.
Also, the kind that'll get your ass whooped. Also Barry's advice.
Wally's the second to arrive at the library, as expected, and when he screeches to a halt he heads over to the water fountain first to gulp down a mouthful.]
Hey. [He straightens and wipes his mouth, suddenly nervous. If Hal finds out about this...]
Why're you so stuck on turning me into the Flash? [Okay, not what he was going to ask, but he's got to know.] It's like you're invested. Is it really so you're not bored anymore? So you've got someone decent to fight?
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When Wally was close, he closed it, and set it aside, and leaned back in his chair, hands folded to rest on his stomach.
That? Was an interesting question, and not at all where he expected this to go so readily. Curiouser and curiouser, as Carroll had said. ]
Well, of course I'm invested. It's a legacy, and one I had a hand in aiding to create. Jay would never have been as good without the villains he fought, you know. [ And really, the world needed heroes like the Flash. ] What you symbolize is more than just a hero, but wisdom and heart, that a man can move like the wind -- but still rely on more than simply speed is something people could use more of.
And besides, you are the Flash where I come from. Jay is retired, Barry is dead, and so that falls to you, now. And you've been remarkable at it, I wish we'd had a chance to work together.
[ But nobody liked him enough. They sent the Dibneys instead. ]
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Does Shade know that? ...would anyone have told him?]
Power Girl told me that Barry comes back. I don't know if you know.
[But it's not a protest to his title. Because honestly, isn't that what he's been fighting for the whole time he's been here? Recognition as an actual hero, as someone serious about this, someone to be depended on? He's been struggling to get Superman, Power Girl, Green Lantern- all the "big" ones to look at him and see an equal, but hasn't Shade basically done that from day one?
He calls him Flash. Not Kid. Not a sidekick or an addition or a hero-in-training.
Flash.
And Wally's never going to get a chance to use that name back home. He'll be dead before he gets there. Or if not dead, close enough to fool everyone, like Barry.]
We can get it here.
I'm not...at the caliber you're probably used to, [he gives up grudgingly, because it's weird to be jealous of himself,] but I'm getting better. Faster. I'm trying to get smarter about this, too. And I don't want you to sit here feeling like there's no point to being here. [Calling it boredom almost sounds like an insult; if having no purpose gives Shade the itch to commit crimes, then the same could be said for Wally. No purpose gives him the itch to stop them. At least he sees some progress then, even if it's just in a circle.] We're all stuck here, out of our elements.
I don't want to be that asshole who can't understand that about someone else. [It's something he's understanding as he goes along, ever since Artemis, since Annie. "Bad guys" and "good guys" are labels for people with opposing viewpoints. And there might be a definite right and a definite wrong, but there isn't anybody who does all one or the other.
What makes the League members better than the Shade? Their opinions more valuable to him? Why does he keep clawing for their approval when Shade's been around since Jay's time, and has been telling him all along that he's already a Flash? If there's anybody here who can actually get what it means to be in the Flash legacy, it's this guy.
And it's about time Wally admitted it.]
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More than surprised, really. If Wally was saying what he thought he was saying. Which honestly surprised him. The boy had not...seemed to have the same self confidence that West showed back home. Those fleet feet didn't seem quite as sure, or maybe it was simply told him that his feet knew where they were going.
Nobody had given him the confidence, perhaps? Had he recently been inspired? Shade doubted it was anything to do with him, after all. ]
I think that's quite wise, and something many forget. There are -- forgive the pun -- shades in every work, isn't there? I may have sticky fingers, but I'm hardly aiming for world domination, you know. [ But this wasn't about him, and he waved a hand. ]
I think that... perhaps finding the inspiration to step forward is all you needed, to be the hero you can be. Making the most of a situation likke this is all you can do, sometimes, but that's all you must do.
After all, you are still the Flash -- whether Barry returns or not. You are still you.
[ Shade mostly knew Barry. And Jay. He didn't know Wally quite so well, he'd long-retired to Opal by that point, and really, nobody bothered with him unless something happened in Opal. You didn't step into the city without words to it's protector, after all. And as much as Shade refused to admit it, he had his own foe -- in the Spider -- he often kept such things hush hush.
After all, Opal was not often seen by others. They didn't know that the man made of shadows was perhaps not as dark as others suggested. ]
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Nobody telling Shade that Barry comes back because honestly, that's his duty. Wally's. He wants to be a hero, wants to be taken seriously. Maybe if he wants the respect of other people, he should start respecting himself. All of it.]
I die, [he says slowly, almost thoughtfully. He expected it to hurt coming out of his mouth like that. It does, but like a bruise instead of a knife. His hands hang loose at his sides and he watches Shade's face like he's looking for something, maybe he is, he doesn't know. But he's saying it out loud. Simply. Facing the possibility that maybe it's true.] Back home. I die when I'm twenty-one. Before I get the Flash title.
All I have is what's here.
[Is it pity he's looking for? Concern? No, not from the Shade. Not like this. Maybe he just wants to impress just how serious he is, because it's looking more and more like whatever life he builds for himself here is what he'll have. All he has back home is five years.
Maybe here, maybe he can have something more. Maybe he can fix things that always end up wrong because he didn't listen closely enough, or didn't care enough or didn't think enough. Trickster and Piper are here too; he's hardly said a word to either of them, even though they made it pretty clear they were in the same boat as the Shade. Maybe there's something he can do here, and even if nobody remembers it when they go home it's still got to count for something, right?]
So yeah. Sure. I'll take the name. I'll grow into it. [Big shoes to fill, but he's got time. As long as he isn't Ported out, he's got all the time in the world.]
Just for you, though. Don't think that other-universe Barry would be happy about me trying to steal his title. He probably fought hard for it too.
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And if Barry could come back... ]
You think there's no chance for you to come back just like Barry?
[ He asked, his voice still held that usual relaxed distance, but there was something else in there. A quality, that old knowledge that humans died and there was nothing one could do about it but just sit back, and accept it. That people would die, sometime and someplace, mostly before their time, and it was -- it was often tragic.
To see a bright light like Wally West dimmed before his time? That was yet another one, wasn't it? ]
I think you will fill those shoes fast enough, you know. [ Especially with an attitude like that. Instead of falling apart about it, or falling to despair, he simply... he grew. That was all one could ask for from a mortal, wasn't it? ]
I'm sorry, that it happens. I don't know what seeing what that side is like, but I've seen it from the living's perspective often enough to know that you will be...truly missed when it does happen.
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After a second of chewing on the inside of his lip to get that under control, he takes a deep breath and faces the Shade again.]
Look, just so you know- I'm trying to put together something like a League here. You've been around since the Society's age, and I don't know if you've got any advice for how I can do this but if you do...I'd really appreciate it. [Also not what he came here to ask but hey, priorities change.]
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Remember who you're working with -- And consider... your limits. As much as I'm afraid to say it, people like you shouldn't have to walk the darker path -- conscript or ask for help.
There are people like me who are amenable to...lending the occasional hand.
If we're bored enough.
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[ Actually he did, but not quite. He had done the things, the investigations, outside of Jack's knowledge, when something dark was starting to hover over Opal, when he'd been hunting Merritt, and then Culp.
He'd also stopped Donna Troy when she'd nearly beat a man for planting bombs, when even he wanted to see him suffer for even daring to threaten Opal. Or even the time he'd trapped a man in the shadowlands for trying to do so.
Shade was a dark, dark man, but that didn't mean Wally had to be. ]
But accepting help from those who are amenable may...facilitate a positive relationship. For both your group, and others.
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Wally shifts his weight, still frowning.] I'm not following you. You mean ask people outside the League for help, or you specifically?
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As would others. The league can be quite...isolated, from time to time. When my Opal was threatened, we looked everywhere for someone to help, and eventually the Dibneys came to our assistance, but that was thanks to Ted's influence, not mine.
[ Then again, he'd been orchestrating the problem. Well. Culp in his body had. It was complicated. ]
I suggest...facilitating relationships differently.
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Really?
I'm certain they would feel nearly honored.
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But like- I mean, what would be the point of establishing a League of superheroes here when the only members are ones who could disappear without warning? I dunno how that'd go over though; military absolutely wouldn't like it. That's the whole reason the system's in place, right, 'cause they didn't want to let their own superheroes working without their say-so?
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In my humble experience, that's the difference, you know. Between something short-lived, and something that lasts forever.
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I mean like yeah, obviously, train people and make sure they hold themselves accountable, but you can't just tell people they can't be superheroes. It makes it sound like some kind of exclusive club! I hate it.
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The old guard are rather...hesitant, aren't they?
I've always found the more...removed heroes to be quite a bit more....willing to play.
Hence why I moved to Opal, and why I trained Starman. They were open to such an idea.
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If you have need of me, consulting I shall do.
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