Story: "Crossfire Prologue: Tricked!" (22 Pages)

Credits:

Geoff Johns (plot, scripts)
Scott Kolins (pencils)
Doug Hazelwood (inks)
Gaspar Saladino (letters)
James Sinclair (colors)
Digital Chameleon (separations)
Joey Cavalieri (edits)

Feature Character:

Flash III (last in issue #181; next in Impulse #84)

Supporting Characters:

Fred Chyre
Keith Kenyon (last in issue #178)
Jesse Quick (behind the scenes; last in Titans #39; next in JSA #34)
Linda Park-West
Iris Allen
Josh Jackam
Jay Garrick
Joan Garrick
Impulse (behind the scenes)
Helen Claiborne (behind the scenes; all seven next in Impulse #84)
Cyborg (in flashback; last in Titans #39)
Hunter Zolomon (next in DC First: Flash/Superman #1)
James Jesse (behind the scenes; next in issue #189)
Morillo's wife (behind the scenes; last in issue #181)

Villains:

Trickster II (Axel Walker; first appearance)
Plunder (as Morillo)
Mirror Master III
Magenta (last in issue #178)
Murmur
Girder (both last in Flash Secret Files #3)
Weather Wizard (last in JSA #30)
Peek-a-Boo (between #180 and #192)
Turtle
Tobias Whale (last in Black Lightning Vol. 2 #9)
Captain Boomerang (between #179 and #213)
Captain Cold
Kobra's minions
Folded Man (last in Sins of Youth: Kid Flash/Impulse #1; next in issue #208)
Rainbow Raider (last in JSA #28; dies)
Blacksmith
Atlas (last in ??)
Penguin (last in Batman #593)
Calculator (last in JSA #30; next in Young Justice #51)
Rag Doll (last in Starman Vol. 2 #71)
Black Hand (last in Starman: The Mist #1)

Synopsis:

A new Trickster steals files on the Network from Kenyon's office. Wally West later hears from Jesse, whose company has just lost five million dollars without a trace and wonders if he's paranoid: it seems as if all his allies have disappeared or are being kept busy in some other way. He then encounters the new Trickster at Hunter Zolomon's office - the villain destroys Zolomon's computer files on the Rogues before making good his escape with a number of new tricks never previously in the Trickster's arsenal. He makes his way with the documents from Kenyon to the Network, a criminal underground lead by Blacksmith and her Rogues; Rainbow Raider is causing trouble and is killed for it by Blacksmith. At police headquarters, Chyre realises that Morillo is not, in fact, Morillo. It is Plunder (Morillo's mirror universe double), and with Mirror Master's help, Chyre is trapped in a reflective surface and will soon be heading for a grave alongside his partner.

Later at the Garrick residence, Jay and Joan reveal that they're leaving Keystone for a short while, because Joan has acute luekemia and without treatment she'll soon die.