The Flash walks in on young collegian, Stacy Conwell, in the midst of conjuring demons in her bedroom. The Flash rushes Conwell to safety, then tackles the demons. After the threat is vanquished, the Flash resumes his civilian identity, that of Barry Allen, a police forensics scientist. Allen tends to Conwell, who finds Allen's behavior towards her puzzling. Conwell was not, in fact, practicing black magic in her bedroom. In actuality, she was practicing a baton routine. Conwell proves it to Allen by showing him photographs of her routine. The photographic evidence shakes Allen from his delusion.
Mazdan appears before Allen. Once again, the felon from the future is merely an illusion in Allen's mind. Mazdan gloats over his triumph of Allen, having completely broken down Allen's ability to tell truth from fiction. Allen decides to turn to the one person in all the world he implicitly trusts, his wife, Picture News reporter, Iris West. Allen catches up with West at the Picture News building. West is going over the footage from the previous nights gala film opening. An event crashed by the notorious Mirror Master.
After divesting all the patrons of their jewelry, the Mirror Master's special weapons liquified the gemstones, then absorbed them. The Mirror Master fled by riding the spotlight into the sky. The Flash, however, rapidly caught up with the Mirror Master, and knocked him out of the beam. After dropping the Mirror Master into a lake, the Flash violently whipped up the waters. By the time the Mirror Master reached the shore, all of his hidden mirror weapons have been removed from his person. The Flash, however, hasn't counted on the Mirror Master's secret weapon.
A blazing insignia appeared on the Mirror Master's chest, one that resembled the Roscoe Award, bestowed upon the Flash by his Rogues' Gallery. Upon seeing the insignia, the Flash was compelled to backtrack his actions, in reverse, all the way back to his car. The Flash resumed his civilian identity, just as an officer was preparing to tow his car away. Allen confides all these details to West, then rushes her home. Allen shows West the Roscoe Award. West had been unable to perceive the Roscoe Award prior, leading Allen to believe it to be another of Mazdan's illusions.
After discovering the Mirror Master's cloaking technology on the award, Allen was able to disable it, and prove it's existence to West. Allen now knows that the Roscoe Award serves as a post hypnotic trigger, forcing him to reverse all actions whenever one of the Rogues flashes the insignia at him. Allen has already come up with a counter against the Rogue's new failsafe against him. Aware of the Mirror Master's modus operandi, Allen, as the Flash, catches up with him, as he tries to fence the stolen jewels. The Flash hurls the Mirror Master to the ground.
As soon as the Mirror Master flashes the insignia, the Flash finds himself racing, backwards, back out of the room. Out on the street, the Flash once again attacks the Mirror Master, elevating him in a super-speed generated whirlwind. The MIrror Master, once again, flashes the insignia, this time to no effect. Wearing special mirrored contact lenses, the Flash perceives the world backwards. Seeing the reverse image of the insignia did not trigger the Rogues' post-hypnotic spell. After beating the living daylights out of the Mirror Master, the Flash dons the MIrror Master's costume. The Flash intends to infiltrate the Rogues' Gallery's secret headquarters and settle the score with his old enemies.
Notes:
- This issue contains the Hostess Superhero Ad, Wonder Woman in "Cooky La Moo on Broadway"
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