River City History is just that: peaks into the past of the setting of Walking Shadows. Bits and pieces from this feature may very well come to play in future installments of the tale, as the long dark history of River City slowly comes into light.
But Nita Dell wasn’t finished with her attempts to remove Captain Flash as a potential adversary. But she wasn’t yet willing to expose herself or Hannigan to the public yet. She knew River City wasn’t ready to accept a female crime boss, nor that Hannigan could serve as a strong enough figurehead to secure the city.
She turned to dark magic to unleash a threat strong enough to stop Captain Flash. She connected with an interdimensional monster with a name unpronounceable by any human tongue. The monster was dubbed Mirror Man and started a rampage across both River City and Atom City.
Captain Flash had no choice but to confront the weird being, which only vaguely resembled a human in appearance. The monster’s shifting frame and ability to travel from one mirror to the next made him a formidable challenge.
Ultimately the Mirror Man’s own powers backfired against him though. Captain Flash lured the creature into a house of mirrors. The thousand frames overwhelmed Mirror Man’s shifting abilities, fragmenting him into a million pieces.
Captain Flash had saved the city and in the process foiled Nita Dell’s plans again. The city’s secret crime boss now knew she would have to deal with Flash in a more direct manner.
Nita Dell instantly recognized the dangers of a super-powered crimefighter again making River City home. The history of Yankee Doodle Jones still weighed heavily on the minds of the citizenry as well. Nita knew that with the right amount of push she could make them fear Captain Flash in the same way.
She turned to the same thing that created her: magic. Konrad Krueger was a former Atom City scientist that turned to the dark arts in order to get revenge on the men that fired him. With the resources of Dell and Hannigan’s criminal empire behind him, he set out to destroy Atom City’s greatest hero Captain Flash.
Along with a group of thugs, he became the Black Knight. On a rocket-steed and wielding energy blasting lances, they managed to damage Atom City’s fourth reactor before Captain Flash challenged them. But the melding of science and magic was more than a match for the young hero.
Unfortunately for the Black Knight he was less of a match for the wit of Ricky Davis, Captain Flash’s teenage ally. Ricky lead the Atom City scientists in creating a massive electromagnet. The magnet drew in the Black Knight and his men’s armor, capturing them. Still the seeds of doubt were now planted in Captain Flash’s ability to defend Atom City.
As Dell and Hannigan took control of the city’s mobs, River City started down a new financial path. New mayor Paul O’Halloran worked with the federal government to set up the installation of two atomic power plants near the city. While the project started in late 1951, it wasn’t until nearly three years later that the structures, dubbed “Atom City” were completed.
Keith Spencer was a professor in the area that taught the young college students being brought on site for the new facility. During one test, Spencer was exposed to deadly amounts of radiation, but miraculously survived.
It wasn’t until Spencer returned home from an extensive physical that he discovered he might be alive, but he was changed. With a clap of his hands, he became faster, stronger and tougher. A fan of the mystery men of the 1940s, Spencer made the decision to use his powers for good. He donned a garish red-and-blue costume and named himself Captain Flash. In his very first mission as a costumed crimefighter, he would save the entire city from an atomic bomb dropped by a former Nazi scientist at Atom City. It would instantly make him hugely popular citywide.
