The Flash (Volume 5) #16 is an issue of the series The Flash (Volume 5) with a cover date of April, 2017. It was published on February 8, 2017.
Synopsis for "Rogues Reloaded, Part Three"
Flash returns from failing to stop a robbery in Corto Maltese to discover that the Rogues have committed five different crimes while he was gone. Running from crimescene to crimescene, the Flash is struck by the scale of the crimes: Golden Glider stole every diamond in the diamond exchange, Trickster taking an entire museum exhibit of amethysts. Flash struggles to find the motive for this, until it hits him: the Speed Force Storm occurred just before the Rogues went missing, which would theoretically create more speedster heroes and make crime more difficult. Crimes on this scale would allow the Rogues to permanently retire from crime.
Thinking of where he would go if he could not return to Central City, Flash finds Heat Wave to the house where his family died, in the fire Heat Wave set as a child. Heat Wave is strangely emotional, then sets a nearby building on fire, and finally turns his guns on the Flash. The Flash stumbles and falls, his skin smoking, and Heat Wave departs, smug in his victory.
Later that day, Captain Cold returns from his crime to the meeting-place, a boat in the river, where he finds the Rogues. They are all ready to depart, and are exultant in their victory. Heat Wave adds that he was able to overpower Flash and get away, which immediately makes Captain Cold angry: the plan was for anyone who fought the Flash to stay behind to save the others. By running, Heat Wave could have led the Flash here... and a sudden human wind in red and lightning proves his fear true, as the Rogues are suddenly incapacitated.
Captain Cold is the last man standing. The Flash stops to try to talk him into surrendering. Captain Cold explains that the plan was good: after almost seven years of fighting the Flash, he finally realised that the key to defeating him wasn't to outrun him, but to slow him down and deny him a trail. If Heat Wave had taken a dive, the Flash would have had nothing, and the rest of them would have escaped. Flash points out that the only thing that would make such a thing possible would be familial love, which the Rogues have.
Captain Cold reaches into his bag. As the head of the gang, he had to anticipate a failure like this. It was why he used his last score to raid S.T.A.R. Labs. Though he lacked a formal education, he had an engineer's understanding of his cold gun, and had been following the current literature about new advancements in its physics. It was why he stole the parts he did. It was why he incorporated them into his new cold gun - the gun he calls "Black Ice"!
Appearing in "Rogues Reloaded, Part Three"
Featured Characters:
- The Flash (Flashback and main story)
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Rogues
- Captain Cold (Flashback and main story)
- Golden Glider (Flashback and main story)
- Heat Wave (Flashback and main story)
- Mirror Master (Flashback and main story)
- Mirror duplicates (Flashback only) (Cameo)
- Mirror Rogues (Flashback only) (Cameo)
- Captain Cold (Flashback only) (Cameo)
- Golden Glider (Flashback only) (Cameo)
- Heat Wave (Flashback only) (Cameo)
- Trickster (Flashback only) (Cameo)
- Weather Wizard (Flashback only) (Cameo)
- Mirror Rogues (Flashback only) (Cameo)
- Mirror duplicates (Flashback only) (Cameo)
- Trickster (Flashback and main story)
- Weather Wizard (Flashback and main story)
Other Characters:
- Central City Fire Department
- Central City Police Department
- Mercury (Statue only) (Flashback only) (Cameo)
- Black Hole (Mentioned only)
- Mardon Crime Family (Mentioned only)
- Mick Rory's father (Unnamed) (Deceased) (Mentioned only)
- Mick Rory's mother (Unnamed) (Deceased) (Mentioned only)
Locations:
- Earth 0
- Corto Maltese
- Corto Maltese Museum of Art (Flashback only) (Cameo)
- United States of America
- Central City (Flashback and main story)
- Central City Bank (Destroyed)
- Kanigher Art Gallery (Flashback only) (Cameo)
- LexCorp (Flashback only) (Cameo)
- Central City Citizen (Mentioned only)
- S.T.A.R. Labs (Mentioned only)
- Keystone City
- Iron Heights (Mentioned only)
- Central City (Flashback and main story)
- Corto Maltese
- Speed Force (Behind the scenes)
Items:
- Black Ice Gun (First appearance) (Cameo)
- Captain Cold's Cold Gun
- Golden Statue of Mercury
- Heat Wave's Heat Gun
Vehicles:
- Polar Ice Yacht
Concepts:
- Speed Force Storm (Mentioned only)
See Also