The story arc consists of four issues from DC's Batman and Flash publications, functioning in part as a larger buildup towards the "Doomsday Clock" event.

At the end of the DC Rebirth Special, Wally West was pulled out of the Speed Force by Barry Allen and, in turn, became part of the New 52 universe.

Meanwhile, Batman finds the Comedian's bloody button from Watchmen (embedded in a spot where Wally's speed force lightning had struck earlier in the book).

In The Flash #19, a mysterious blue lightning bolt hits Eobard Thawne while he is in Iron Heights, restoring him to his Pre-New 52 incarnation with memories of Thomas Wayne killing him during Flashpoint.

After knocking Batman out, Thawne picks up the button and is briefly teleported away, returning with his entire body mutilated by an "impending threat" that he describes as "God" before he seemingly dies.

Barry makes his way through the satellite, as he contemplates using the cosmic treadmill to find out who killed Thawne and is manipulating the reality of their universe.

Once the duo enters the time-stream (also known as Hypertime), they are caught in a sort of "Time Storm" where they see moments from the Pre-Flashpoint DC Universe.

Left to ponder in the Batcave, Thomas waited for the joint Atlantean and Amazonian hit squad to arrive so he may sacrifice himself and them with explosives until he encounters the Flash and Batman.

As the Flash and Batman disappear into the time-stream, Thomas is satisfied with seeing his son alive and accepts his fate; he hopes that Bruce would move on from the past.

And with a bolt of lightning, Jay Garrick bursts from the Speed Force taking Barry and Bruce back safely to the Batcave.

The duo visits the graves of Thomas and Martha Wayne to discuss their adventure and how they lost the button as well as having even more unanswered questions than before.

I'm just a puppet who can see the strings.Jesse Schedeen from IGN gave Flash #22 a 7.6/10 stating that he found the closure of "The Button" storyline to be a bit underwhelming due to the lack of answers it provided towards the overarching story within the current DC Rebirth arc, but praised the characterization and artwork.