The Flash (Volume 4) #38 is an issue of the series The Flash (Volume 4) with a cover date of March, 2015. It was published on January 28, 2015.
Synopsis for "Skeletons in the Closet"
In Central City, Barry Allen has been tasked with processing hundreds of bodies that were put on ice following the attack by the Crime Syndicate. Despite his super-speed, he has Patty Spivot to help him - who has only agreed to do so because she worries their relationship will suffer if she doesn't spend time with him on this.
Speedily, Barry begins performing preliminary examinations, assigning victims to their cause of death and likely murderer. Eventually, though, he discovers a victim whose injuries are consistent with someone whom this time's Barry Allen hasn't encountered yet. He is from twenty years in the future, though, and he has just found Overload's first kill. He is interrupted from his work, though, by Iris West, who is not exactly a welcome sight, since it was her article that required the forensics team to investigate all of these bodies, preventing them from closing their other cases.
It's about time someone other than Lois-freaking-Lane won one."
Iris explains that she was going to write a follow-up article to the one that she believes may get her a Pulitzer. Angrily, Barry complains that these victims were people, and they matter more than Iris' winning any awards. Before she can sputter an apology, her police scanner announces that the Mirror Master has been spotted in the financial district. She excuses herself to cover what will likely become front-page material, and Barry coldly responds that she might even be lucky enough to see a body count.
Meanwhile, within the Speed Force, Selkirk explains to Barry that he's been studying the wildlife of the strange place for some time. He explains that everyone in the Speed Force right now was plucked from their home time and dragged into it. Unlike the others, though, he was searching for the Speed Force. He had dedicated his life to the theory of Speedsters. He had begun by studying the myths of indigenous cultures. He invested much of his family's fortune in travelling the globe and discovered recurring references to revered figures who possessed an ability to run at inhuman speeds. These runes, carvings, and sculptures were shared by cultures who could never possibly have interacted. When he published his findings, he was derided as an amateur, and the commonalities were disregarded as coincidences.
So, he joined native tribes to learn their myths firsthand. His travels brought him to the Utah Salt Flats, where he earned the trust of a Goshute Shaman, who pointed him to a place where he discovered an energy like nothing he'd seen before. It was the cave paintings he'd seen, made real. Upon his first encounter with it, he was too eager, and it drew him right in. Because of his knowledge, those who had already been pulled through chose him as their leader. He promises that his knowledge can help restore Barry's powers to him, but it will mean taking a journey that he won't come back from - so he'd best say his goodbyes. Afterwards, he introduces Barry to the party who will accompany him on his journey, and warns that there will be many creatures waiting for them outside the walls of their fort.
Back in Central City, meanwhile, Mirror Master and Napalm are attacking a bank, and the latter's actions are more lethal than Mirror Master is willing to put up with, as a Rogue. He warns that Napalm is the third fire-themed replacement for Heat Wave the Rogues have had, and he won't hesitate to hire a fourth if Napalm kills anyone. When Sam turns his attention back to having a bank teller fill a bag with cash, he is surprised to catch Napalm burning money. Things get worse when the Flash arrives criticizing him for returning to crime after being such a help during the Syndicate's attack. Annoyed, Mirror Master reminds that the Flash was gone during the attack, and the Rogues stepped up to save the day in his place. Robbing this bank is merely taking what he's owed. His justification is cut short when Napalm attacks the Flash with his flames.
As the fire rises, Mirror Master attempts to protect innocents by using mirrors to deflect the flames. Still, the Flash blames him for putting these people in danger. Sam manages to escape into the Mirror World dragging Napalm behind him and warning that he's fired. Sam, though, is unaware that this is not his Flash. And when Barry smashes the mirror before Napalm is through, the thug loses an arm in a most violent way. From the mirror shard, Sam expresses his horror, and the Flash responds that he saw how many people Napalm put in danger today - and that danger needs to be put to an end before any innocents suffer on his account. He prepares to kill Napalm when he realizes that Iris West has arrived with the police, and is watching him. Disgusted, the Flash tosses Napalm to them instead before speeding off. Iris is shaken by what she's seen, and decides that her story shouldn't be the Rogues, but the Flash, and how he's become a killer.
Patty, meanwhile, is studying a sample she found from the boy whose heart was scrambled under her microscope when James Forrest pops his head in. She muses that the fibres she discovered are made of a technology that is ten years away from being developed for commercial use. James warns that she'll have to wait on figuring out that mystery, because they have to investigate what the Flash did to Napalm at the bank. Patty is naturally horrified, because she knows that Barry is the Flash, and can't imagine that he'd do such a thing. As she is about to leave, Barry speeds back into the office, and aks her what she'd been looking at. She pockets the slide, and insists that it's just part of a case she's trying to crack, concerned that he might be the killer she was looking for after all.
Appearing in "Skeletons in the Closet"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Patty Spivot
- James Forrest
- Iris West
- William Selkirk (Flashback and main story)
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
- Spotter
- Taylor Singer (First appearance)
- Johnny Singer (First appearance)
- Dave (Mentioned only)
Locations:
- Australia (Flashback only)
- Bolivia (Flashback only)
- England (Flashback only)
- United States of America
- Central City
- CCPD Headquarters
- Financial District
- Utah (Flashback only)
- Central City
Concepts:
Items:
Vehicles:
Notes
- This issue is reprinted in The Flash: Savage World.