Absolute Flash #6 (2025)

Six months before the Fort Fox lab accident in a small town in Oklahoma, former military drone pilot Digger Harkness gets physically thrown out of a bar for hitting on the wrong guy's sister. Outside, he finds his former commanding officer Colonel Rudy West waiting for him. Rudy says that he has come to offer Harkness, who was dishonourably discharged after a mission in Syria went wrong, a chance to expunge his record in exchange for him taking on a dangerous secret mission. After a moment's thought Harkness agrees and Rudy says that they need to make some more stops. They spend the night in a motel, where Rudy calls his son but Wally does not pick up. Rudy leaves a message asking Wally to respond to his texts so he knows that he's okay. He starts to tell Wally that he loves him, but can't get the words out and simply says that they'll talk when he gets back. He sets up a photograph of Mary and Wally and says good-night to them before turning out the light. The next day on a ranch in Kansas, Leonard Snart finds his sister Lisa passed out on the floor. Lisa lost both her legs below the knee in the Syria mission and has been spiralling down into depression and drug use ever since. Leonard tells Lisa that he won't let her destroy herself like this, but she yells at him to leave, saying she doesn't want him there. There's a knock on the door and Leonard goes to answer it, believing that it is Lisa's dealer, but to his surprise it is Rudy. The two of them talk and Leonard complains that Lisa has been getting worse since they moved back to their parent's farm, and that their dishonourable discharge meant that she was unable to access any of the support usually provided to wounded veterans. Rudy says that if they take his offer, he can ensure Lisa gets the help she needs. That night, Rudy is about to go to bed in the Snarts' spare room. He once again calls Wally, who does not pick up, and leaves a message asking his son to call him back and assure him he's okay. Leonard knocks on his door and tells him he needs to see something. Rudy goes outside with Leonard and sees to his surprise that the fourth member of the team, Jesse James, is there. She reveals that she planted subcutaneous trackers on all of them when they parted ways and has been keeping tabs on them ever since. Jesse assumes he has come to arrest them and take them to a black site prison for their actions in Syria, but Leonard tells her the colonel has a mission for them. Jesse asks what kind of mission the army would give to a unit of disgraced soldiers who went rogue and took a bribe from a foreign government. Rudy replies that it's an extremely secret and dangerous one, and if they die nobody will ever know, but if they don't the real fun will begin. Rudy takes the four, known as the Rogues, to Fort Fox and they are astonished by the advanced technology on display. Rudy tells them that they have been brought in to deal with reports of strange creatures appearing in South America. Digger and the Snarts believe that footage of the creatures that has been showing up on the internet is faked, but Jesse tells them that it is real. The Rogues meet Barry Allen and Elenore Thawne, who welcome them to Project Olympus. Barry tells them that Olympus is at the cutting edge of physics and engineering, pushing the very limits of human potential. He explains their work to develop teleportation, telepathic communication and advanced medicines; but the Rogues are dismissive and Leonard tells him to just show them the weapons. Thawne and Barry reply that they haven't made weapons for them, they are going to make them into weapons. They unveil the Rogues' new gear, including a set of prosthetic legs for Lisa. Jesse recognises that the technology is like nothing on Earth and asks where it came from. Barry gives an odd smile, and after a moment says that's classified. Rudy objects to his secrecy, saying that his people have the right to know if they're going to use the equipment. However Barry cuts him off and says that the Rogues have no choice, and that is why they were chosen. He and Thawne tell the Rogues that their only choice is to get on board or go to prison for the rest of their lives, and the Rogues sign on. In 1944, in the Mojave desert, a male scientist named Thawne and his assistant Garrick are working on an experiment similar to the one that gave Wally his powers. Garrick says that the machine is about to blow and runs to shut it down, but Thawne refuses to let him do it, yelling that he's some too far. He throws Garrick into the reactor and Garrick's body is destroyed, but his voice still calls Thawne's name from the energy field. In the present, Rudy is shocked to find what appears to be an alien spacecraft and the bodies of multiple extra-terrestrials in Barry Allen's lab. Realising that there is far more going on than he understands, Rudy calls Wally again to leave him what could be a final message, even though he understands his son will probably never hear it. He tells wally that he's in trouble and whatever happens next he wants him to know that what happened to his mother was not his fault. Rudy tells Wally that Mary loved him, and so does he. To Rudy's shock, Wally picks up the call. He tells Rudy that he is sacred and Rudy asks Wally to tell him where he is, promising he will come and get him. Suddenly, a black bag is thrown over Rudy's head and he is wrestled to the ground by two security guards. Thawne enters and, with a sadistic smirk on her face, crushes Rudy's phone with her cane as Wally calls for his father.