The Flash Vol. 2 #232

This is issue #232 of The Flash Vol. 2, the second part of the "The Wild Wests" storyline, with the chapter title translated as "The Abyss." It is written by Mark Waid, with Daniel Acuña handling art and colors. The story picks up directly from the previous issue: Wally West's twin children, Jai and Iris, escape from the invaders' grasp but lose their way in the streets of Keystone City, frightened and desperate to find their mother, Linda Park. They burst into a police station only to find the alien invaders have arrived first, leaving several officers drained of their body water and dead. At the critical moment, Wally arrives and speeds the children home. Later, through a kiss with Linda, Wally passes on a chemical substance he obtained from the aliens for communication, letting her see for herself what he experienced underwater: the invaders use the river as a portal to Earth, and this attack is retaliation for some past assault. To hold off the battle, Wally borrows the cold gun once used by Captain Cold from the Flash Museum and rigs it into the giant cyclotron being built at S.T.A.R. Labs, unleashing a brief absolute-zero pulse that freezes all liquid matter in the city. Yet at the moment of apparent victory, he collapses from severe dehydration, and the aliens continue advancing toward him. This volume ends on an unresolved crisis, setting up the next issue.