History has once again repeated itself.

Several days earlier, the most familiar Flash, Wally West, disappeared after a fight against a villain named Cobalt Blue. Yesterday, a new hero was sighted, mainly in Central City, also calling himself Flash. He appears to be older than Wally West and to bear a lightning-bolt-shaped scar, but no other information about him is known.

Jay Garrick, the first Flash, convened a press conference to assure Keystone and Central of the new Flash's good intentions. While Garrick knows who the new Flash is, he is refusing to reveal it publicly. "Many super-heroes, including myself in my younger days and Barry Allen before his death, prefer to keep their private lives separate from their super- heroic occupations," Garrick noted. "This Flash has made the same choice, and I hope that you will respect it."

While it is of course unknown what sort of private life this Flash has, it is almost certainly an odd one. One of his first acts upon appearing was to construct a lightning-bolt-shaped obelisk in front of the Flash Museum, which he seems to use as a headquarters.

Despite his penchant for secrecy, this Flash has been accepted by the former Flash's colleagues in both the Justice League and the Titans. He has also been accepted by the Central City Police Department, especially after having captured Doctor Alchemy, who had been wanted on suspicion of murder. A few observers have noted that this Flash's contact with the C. C. P. D. appears to be stronger than that of his immediate predecessor, and that Barry Allen, who was posthumously revealed to be the second Flash, had worked for it in his civilian identity. Sources within the department, however, insist that Barry Allen could not possibly return from apparent death, and that this Flash's closeness is more likely related to a romantic interest in an unnamed forensic scientist who works there.

Like Jay Garrick, spokespeople for both the Justice League and the Titans have refused to reveal the new Flash's identity. "Flash showed me his face in confidence," said Superman, who was given the task of vouching for Flash to the rest of the League. Troia, speaking for the Titans, echoed Superman's statement, adding, "There is no, I repeat, no connection between Flash and Velocity-10."

This is not the first time that Wally West has disappeared, leaving another Flash in his place. A number of months ago, Wally was lost in time after a battle with a speedster named Savitar. The Flash who replaced him then, though, acted much less mysterious. He told everyone that he was a Flash from the future, named John Fox. There are conflicting reports of exactly what future time-period John Fox was from; he had claimed to be from the 27th century, but he was more recently seen in the company of several superbeings who had claimed to come from the 853rd century. With them, he participated in the fight against the Hourman virus, one of the effects of which was the destruction of Montevideo, Uruguay.

Many of the super-villains who are incarcerated in Belle Reve have powers to manipulate minds and emotions, and it is uncertain whether one of them had instigated the riot or caused its intensity to increase, or whether the villains acted independently of any organized hierarchy. Some clues point to former Green Lantern foe Hector Hammond as the responsible party, but this is in dispute. What is known is that a number of villains with light- control powers, including Crazy Quilt, Doctor Spectro and the Rainbow Raider, did use the emotion-manipulating properties of the lights they control to fan the flames, but sources within the super-hero community consider it unlikely that they were the original organizers of the riot.

The riot was stopped thanks to the timely intervention of Green Lantern, Aquaman and Plastic Man. Although Green Lantern's power ring was missing for a while during the fight, he managed to retrieve it. Steel, the official Justice League spokesman, insists that there was never a danger that any of the incarcerated super-criminals could have used the ring against the League, as it was specially attuned to Green Lantern's genetic structure.

Although the heroes took some lumps, the villains went back to their cells cooperatively after seeing Orion arrive with what observers have described as "a very, very scary dog." While the breed and nature of said dog is uncertain, the pile of refuse it left behind was certainly ponderously large and pungent.

Belle Reve housed the government-sponsored Suicide Squad before that team was disbanded. It is now used solely as a prison for super-powered villains.