Fanfic / Funeral for a Flash

Wally West: I— look, Do, I know what you're trying to say. I appreciate it. Really, I do. But. When I go out there, in the red suit, everybody's going to be comparing me to Barry. That's one hell of a legacy. I don't know if I can measure up. It scares me.
Doralla: Then why did you put on zee suit in front of zee entire crowd?
Wally West: Because I wanted people to know that, well, there was still a Flash around.

Funeral for a Flash is a The Flash fanfiction by DarkMark starring Wally West.

The Crisis on Infinite Earths has come and gone, and Earth-One has survived. Unfortunately, not all heroes did. The death of Barry Allen, the Flash of Earth-One, has been confirmed. Now heroes must mourn, and none more than Wally West, who must take up his uncle and mentor's mantle and begin his first mission as the new Flash. But is he up to his first challenge?

It can be read at Dark Mark's homepage

This story is set in the same Fan Verse as Hellsister Trilogy, Dance with the Demons, With this Ring... (Green Lantern), A Very Kara Christmas, Kara of Rokyn, A Force of Four, Superman of 2499: The Great Confrontation and Superman and Man. Dark Mark has also written The Vampire of Steel, The Unfantastic Adventures of Bizarro No. 1, Here There Be Monsters, A Prize for Three Empires, X-Men 1970, FIRE!, Devil's Diary, Everybody's Gotta Leave Sometime and Maybe the Last Archie Story.

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Tropes:

• Alliterative Name: In addition to Wally West, you have Mark Madon, the Weather Wizard.
• Alliterative Title: Funeral for a Flash
• Antagonist in Mourning: The Weather Wizard expresses regret when he confirms the original Flash is dead.
  The Flash: "Stop calling me that, Whiz. I'm just the Flash now."
  Weather Wizard: "So the rumor's true? The first one...passed on?"
  The Flash: "Yeah."
  Weather Wizard: "I'm sorry, Kid. You may not believe that, but I'm sorry."
  The Flash: "For the moment, I'll choose to believe it."
• Arc Words: Wally repeats "Don't call me kid" every so often to stress he isn't a child anymore, and now his mentor is dead, he isn't Kid Flash either.
• Bad Boss: After being out-gambitted by The Flash, Col. Karshov vents his anger by shooting one of his own soldiers (who wasn't responsible in any manner whatsoever for his commander's failure, mind you).
• Broken Tears: After being told Barry was dead, Wally remembers how he met the Flash and later became Kid Flash. Then he bursts into tears.
  After a little more talk, they had left Wally to himself. That night, he remembered how it had been the day Iris had gotten Uncle Barry, who wasn't his uncle back then, to set up an interview for him with the Flash, his hero. He remembered how the Flash had looked, tall, slim, in control, but reassuringly human. He remembered how Flash had taken him into Barry's laboratory, which the Flash had said was not unlike his own, and how he described the lightning strike that had struck the rack of chemicals behind him, energized them, and spilled certain ones on his body, giving him super-speed.
  Mere seconds after that, a thunderbolt had struck the rack of chemicals behind Wally and spilled certain ones on his own body.
  That night, Wally West cried again, and there was no Wonder Girl to hear him.
• Bullying a Dragon: After Barry was sentenced to prison and left to go the the 30th Century, the Rogues were in tears. Who was going to fight them and put them behind bars now? Captain Boomerang and Mirror Master decided to go and pester Batman, despite Weather Wizard warning them to not antagonize him. Unfortunately, they did not listen, and Batman needed to beat them down -several times- to get his point across.
  That was the biggest bummer Mark Mardon had seen in all his days, outside of those trips to the joint. Who was going to take up where Flash left off?
  Boomerang and Mirror Master had tried their luck with Batman. He'd warned them against it. Did they listen? Hell, no! They got their butts handed to them, Boomy more than once. Served 'em right.
• The Bus Came Back: Doralla Kon, an old friend and ally from Barry Allen who had not been seen since The Flash Vol 1 #157 (1965) returns to counsel Wally.
• Continuity Nod: This story fits between With this Ring... (Green Lantern) and ''"The Apokolips Agenda"
• Due to the Dead: The funeral for Barry Allen is televised and held outside of the Flash Museum in Central City. It is attended by two thousand people, including Barry's family, the Justice League, the Flash of Earth-Two, and even some reformed Rogues.
• The '80s: The story is set in the mid 80's.
• Even Evil Has Standards: The Rogues have a rule: To not killing (unless it is The Flash). Although it stems mainly from pragmatism rather than base decency.
• Fix Fic: Averted, which is unusual for an author who went out of his way to fix-fic the deaths of Supergirl and the original DC Multiverse in Kara of Rokyn. Most of the heroes survive the Crisis, but Barry remains killed in action.
• Friendly Enemy:
  • Barry Allen and his Rogues developed a very close relationship throughout the years. He was genuinely fond of them, and they kind of liked him and mourned his passing.
    There was that thing about the Flash: deep down, despite all the aggravation the guy caused them, busting up their surefire crime-plans and sending them back to the joint...
    ...they all kind of liked him.
    It wasn't really talked about in that way, of course. They still all tried to kill him. After all, he was the freakin' competition. But it was like the affection that builds between cops and petty crooks. Once you get to know the guy that well, if he's a decent sort, it's hard to hate him so much.
    And the Flash was a decent sort.
    He seemed to feel the same way about them, too. More than once, he said, "I'm glad I have guys like you to tangle with, and not the Gotham mobs or some megalomaniac like Luthor."
  • Wally West is also glad to have them around. After taking the Weather Wizard to Earth-Two for his own protection, Wally ponders he will miss him, but luckily, he still has a lot of the old gang left.
    On top of that, Wally had gone and lost one of the Rogue's Gallery to another Earth, and to reformation. Another of the old gang gone.
    But that still left a lot of others. Guys like Captain Cold, Mirror Master, Captain Boomerang, the Rainbow Raider, and all the rest. He'd be glad to have them around.
    And he figured out they'd be glad to have him around, as well.
• Funetik Aksent: Doralla Kon, a woman from a parallel dimension, has a very noticeable lisp.
  "You are all zee Flash zis world has now, Wallee."
• Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: After being told Barry did not survive the Crisis after all, Wally is panicking and babbling incoherently until Hal Jordan shouts his name loudly to calm him down and get him to listen.
• Good Is Not Soft: The Rogues don't murder people because they really don't want to find out what would happen if Flash got mad.
  More than once, he said, "I'm glad I have guys like you to tangle with, and not the Gotham mobs or some megalomaniac like Luthor." But he also let them know that if they killed anybody, the gloves and good feelings would be off. So they didn't.
• Good Morning, Crono: The story opens with Wally West being awakened from sleep by someone knocking on his door.
• Heroic BSoD: After Barry's death has been confirmed, Wally spends a long time lying on his bed and staring at the ceiling silently.
• Joker Immunity: The Flash and his Rogues have become so accustomed to -and indifferent towards- the "Rogues commit new crimes after serving their sentence/breaking out of jail, and Flash inevitably catch them once again" cycle that the latter have developed tricks such like hiding their loot after every crime in anticipation of their eventual and assured capture.
  One of the tips was: always stash a good portion of your loot where it won't be found when you get sent back to the joint. Because, fighting the Flash, you were inevitably going to be sent back to the joint. But you'd also get out, and it paid to have a nest egg.
• Mundane Utility: Super-Speed has a lot of uses, including getting dressed for the day instantly.
  Wally opened his eyes. It was barely morning. He was still in his room. Still in his bed, in only his boxer shorts. [...] Within a second, he was shaved, deodorized, combed, and clad in casual dress.
• Mythology Gag:
  • The events which led to the The Trial of the Flash are recapped.
  • Wally reminds himself that Barry's first super-villain was the Turtle Man in Showcase #4 (1956)
• Noodle Incident: From Wally's point of view, a second Supergirl appearing out of nowhere during the Crisis and vanishing right after helping killing the Anti-Monitor without giving an explanation was a "What on Earth was that about?" moment.
• Nothing Personal: The Rogues could get away with attempting to kill the Flash because nobody holds it against them, not even the Flash himself.
• Period Piece: The story is set in the mid 80's.
• Pragmatic Villainy: The Rogues do not kill people because murder will get you a life sentence, and because Flash would stop treating you as a friendly foe.
  Another tip was: don't kill anybody. Except maybe try and kill the Flash, because nobody seemed to hold that against you. But if you committed murder, you could expect to go up for the rest of your life, or maybe face Old Sparky. Central City was not Gotham and they didn't pack you away to Arkham there.
• Retcon: Initially, Barry's fate had been deliberately left ambiguous, but Dark Mark changed his mind and confirmed his demise.
• Rogues Gallery: Flash's enemies have kind of formed a group, called Flash's "Rogues' Gallery".
  The heists did improve, and he was able to avoid the cops by blasting them with hailstones and lightning or causing ice to form under the wheels of their prowl cars. But being a super-villain brings you to the attention of super-heroes, and since he chose to work near Central City, that brought him into the purview of the Flash.
  The Weather Wizard had made a good showing against him during their first fight, but he eventually lost and went back to the joint. Once inside, he learned the tricks of the trade from some of the other elite who had gone up with him. That group, which welcomed him as a brother, included good old Sam Scudder, Henry Darrow, Lenny Snart, and Al Desmond. In their suits, they were known as Mirror Master, Pied Piper, Captain Cold, and Mr. Element or Dr. Alchemy. They'd started an informal group they called the "Rogue's Gallery" and traded tips and information. There were others later on—Captain Boomerang, Heat Wave, the sadly-departed Top, the Rainbow Raider, and a couple whom Mark forgot—but he was the fifth, almost in on the ground floor of it.
• Save the Villain: Wally must save the Weather Wizard, who has been kidnapped by someone who is willing to kill him if he doesn't give up his secrets of weather control.
• Shout-Out: During Barry's funeral, Dexter Myles, "an old Shakespearean actor who had been curator of the Flash Museum for ages, read the oration of Mark Antony for Brutus from Julius Caesar.
• Superhero Paradox: Villains in the Midwest flock to Central City because that's the Flash's hometown (and because he is friendlier and nicer than other heroes).
• Tempting Fate: Before stabbing an unconscious Flash, Sickle gleefully states he is easier than his predecessor. Abruptly and quickly, the not-so-unconscious-after-all Flash kicks her chest and sends her flying backwards.
  "Karshov was right," she said in Russian. "This Flash is so much easier than the other one."
  A yellow boot kicked her in the chest and she went spinning backwards, and didn't stop until she bashed into Molotov.
• Underestimating Badassery: Col. Karshov and his men believe the new Flash will be easier to deal with than the original.
  "Karshov was right," she said in Russian. "This Flash is so much easier than the other one."
  A yellow boot kicked her in the chest and she went spinning backwards, and didn't stop until she bashed into Molotov.
  The Flash dragged himself to his feet. "I don't know any Russian," he said, "but I don't care for your tone of voice, lady."
• Would Hit a Girl: Wally has absolutely no qualms with kicking Sickle, who was about to stab him.
• You Can't Go Home Again: Wally takes the Weather Wizard to Earth-Two. He cannot go back to his home dimension without triggering Karshov's kill switch, so he is stuck there.

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