Batman #22: King really dives to the heart of the matter here, as Barry and Bruce find themselves in the "Flashpoint" Batcave and face-to-face with Thomas Wayne. While Bruce and Thomas try to find a way to make sense of the reality in front of them, Flash struggles to rebuild the Cosmic Treadmill. Based on his reading of the vibrational energy (just go with it), Flash realizes this "Flashpoint" isn't an alternate reality but an alternate history. Someone (*cough*Dr. Manhattan*cough*) has kept this history in existence, essentially like a ghost haunting our world. However, this mysterious person (*cough*Dr. Manhattan*cough*) suddenly stops doing so. Flash realizes this history is crumbling and scrambles to fix the Treadmill, which starts fixing itself (I think). Bruce tries to convince Thomas to come with him, but he declines: he tells Bruce to give up being Batman and be happy. As the "Flashpoint" history dissolves behind them, Barry and Bruce are again racing through the timestream. A distraught Bruce wonders why someone would set up this scenario, placing the Button in the Batcave to lead Bruce to his father just in time to lose him. Barry reminds us Wally said someone (*cough...OK, you get it) stole time from the DCnU to hurt them; it's possible he sent the Button simply to hurt Bruce. Before they can ponder why he'd do that, they encounter Thawne on his way to confront the mysterious person. This scene takes place before Thawne is killed, and Flash wonders aloud why the timestream brought them to that moment. (Again, I'm just going to ignore the physics of the timestream consciously sending Barry and Bruce to that moment.) It seems like Barry and Bruce might get a glimpse of Dr. Manhattan in "Flash" #22, which raises all sorts of questions about where we go from here.
Nightwing #20: ALL THE FEELS. I had no idea how Seeley was going to wrap up this arc in an issue, but he really did it. The "Hell of Hells" is revealed to be a telepathic reality Hurt created for Dick where he has become Deathwing. But, Damian appears as Nightwing and reminds Dick what he told Damian when they first started working together: unlike Batman, tragedy doesn't define Robin. Dick breaks from Hurt's influence and rushes to Damian's side. (Damian calmly explaining that he used his abdominal muscles to move his liver so Hurt's blade didn't damage it is classic Damian.) Before Hurt can get revenge, Deathwing himself attacks, inspired by a conversation he had with Shawn about righting wrongs. The two stab each other repeatedly as the temple collapses around them and our team flees. But, the bestest part is the epilogue. Damian is forced to admit he returned to Blüdhaven because he missed Dick. Even more interestingly, Dick tells Damian he considered keeping him when Bruce returned, since he knew he'd be a better influence, but he didn't think he was ready to be a dad. Seeley really nails this conversation, as not only are the boys honest with each other but they can't bring themselves to say the key words, like "I miss you" and "son." They also are relieved when a bank robbery happens, leading to the perfect ending: they leap into the night with Damian saying, "We're still the greatest." Truer words, Damian, truer words.
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