2016
Things were finally getting back to normal after the alien invasion. Central City was peaceful apart from the usual robbers, it looked like even the trouble makers had a festive side. But the team couldn't afford to relax with Savitar still out there.
Barry decided to pay a visit to Jay Garrick on Earth-3 to find out about Savitar.
"I had that, kid." Jay scoffed at Barry for disarming the bomb on the Trickster and arresting him. "That's what I always say, especially when I don't." Barry smiled, happy to see someone who looked like father.
"I'm assuming you didn't run all the way here to stop my Trickster."
"I have something I need to talk to you about." Barry told his dad's doppelgänger.
Back at Star Labs
"So you have grown strong enough to challenge him. You're the first speedster I've heard of who has heard of him. I'll fill you in over some coffee." Jay offered as he got into regular clothes.
Barry didn't learn much about Savitar from Jay, except that he was the first man granted speed, and became the god of motion over time, the fastest. He sends a predecessor to prepare for his arrival; Alchemy.
Barry read through hundreds of books and not a single mention of Savitar. The only thing they knew was that he was connected to the philosopher's stone and Julian wrote a paper about it. So, Barry went to pay him a visit.
2066
Bart came back with Daniel in his hands and a fight they couldn't even see started. But it looked like Bart was winning from the looks of it. They suddenly stopped, both panting heavily. "How did you get so fast in such a short time?!" Daniel yelled, as he started losing his cool. Some of his suit/armour was damaged, revealing bruised skin. Bart had managed to hurt this demon, but at what cost?
"That's for me to know and you to find out." Bart smirked preparing his next attack. 'I need more time' Bart sent to Adrian, as he got down seemingly out of breath, clutching his chest. 'So, I should get beat up again?' Adrian sent back jokingly, preparing to stall. Barry, sensing what was going on decided to aid his grandson against his nephew to buy time for his other grandson.
He thought his life was weird, but this was on another level. "How did you know what Earth he went to? Or did you search one by one until you found him?" Barry asked genuinely curious. "I followed his energy signature." Bart replied. Barry dashed forward with Adrian right behind him siphoning some of his excess energy. Barry created a diversion by phasing right in front of Daniel, then moved out the way when Adrian threw a lightning bolt which hit Daniel head on, which sent him flying into one of the unstable buildings that collapsed on him.
The smile on Adrian's face faded as the rubble that covered Daniel exploded with red lightning being discharged everywhere rendering our heroes immobile. Daniel was pissed. He shaped the armour on his right hand to look like a sword with jagged edges. "You're gonna wish you hadn't done that, kid!" Daniel said as he dashed towards Adrian and stabbed him with his makeshift weapon. Barry tried to intervene but got kicked in the chest sending him backward.
"Let's give you a nice scar. That is, if it heals." Daniel mocked, making a lightning bolt shaped cut on Adrian's torso making him scream in agony. Daniel then picked him up and started draining him and threw him to the side, shifting his attention to the glowing speedster.
'Sorry Bro.' Bart sent to his brother who managed to sit up, struggling to stay conscious. Adrian knew this was Bart's last attack, he was going to bring himself down with Daniel. Bart got up and walked towards Daniel, avoiding all his attacks. Bart appeared behind Daniel and got him in a nelson hold. "See you the speed force hell. Final Explosion!" Bart yelled as he started transferring his life force into energy.
"What are you doing?! You'll kill us both!" Daniel yelled realizing what Bart was planning to do as he struggled to break free. Barry got Adrian to a safe place and watched as Bart carried out his Kamikaze attack. There was a huge explosion of speed force energy which collapsed on itself, taking both Daniel and Bart. "Impulse takes out Reverse Flash." Adrian said sadly before he passed out.
Barry took Adrian to Dr Elias to see if he could help. "I would like to punch you in the face, but my grandson needs help, now!" Barry yelled. Dr Elias was still stunned from when Bart took out Daniel. He acted quickly and gave Adrian a shot from a syringe. "There's not much I can do here, but that should slow the bleeding down." Elias informed.
"You have enough energy to restore the city, I suggest you put it to good use or I'll come back for you." Barry said as he prepared to go back to the present with Adrian and Artemis.
2016
"I think that Julian is connected to Dr Alchemy." Barry said after he sped into the cortex after having a conversation with Julian. As if on que, Cisco informed them that the philosopher's stone had been located. Both Barry and Jay suited up, but Jay asked if his grandson was coming.
"He's been through a lot these past few weeks. Besides, we can handle this." Barry informed. "We'll be here if you need us." Cisco told the duo as he got back on his computer as the speedsters left.
"Where is Adrian anyway?" Cisco asked noticing the teenage speedster was nowhere to be seen. "He's been preoccupied with his Xbox ever since Oliver got him one. Sometimes he goes to Joe's and keeps Wally company since his foot is broken." Caitlyn answered Cisco's question. "Kids will be kids." Cisco joked, noting to go over to Caitlyn's to play on the Xbox.
"With the energy from this stone and this building as a refractor, I shall restore the powers of all the metas from Flashpoint. They will become the servants of Savitar." Dr Alchemy said out loud. "It's over Alchemy." Barry yelled but in doing so, caused Savitar to appear.
"Please tell me you're seeing him." Barry said to Jay, looking at the towering metal figure. "Oh, I see him alright. I'll cover Savitar, you get the stone." Jay said. As if he was agreeing with Jay, Savitar grabbed him and began running, leaving Barry with Dr Alchemy.
Barry started running around the dome Alchemy was blasting with the stone and threw a bolt of lightning at the hooded villain and knocked him out with a punch. Meanwhile, Jay couldn't get a single hit on Savitar, who was about to deliver the final blow when Savitar suddenly disappeared.
Back at Star Labs, Barry was interrogating Julian who turned out to be Alchemy. Barry went into the med bay to check on Jay who seemed pretty beat up from his encounter with Savitar. He was injured but it wasn't life threatening. He wouldn't be able to help if Savitar returned.
In the cortex, Cisco was analysing the box that the philosopher's stone was in, but it didn't give out any readings. "What do you think about what Julian was saying?" Barry asked when he entered. "I think that if he's lying, he believes the hell out of his own lie." Cisco replied with Caitlyn nodding in agreement. "This box gives off no reading at all." Cisco informed pointing at the box.
With Julian, Barry revealed himself in order to gain his trust. So, Julian told Barry everything he knew about the philosopher's stone. Barry deduced that Julian becomes Alchemy every time he blacks out. Their conversation was interrupted when Cisco called him telling him that Savitar was in Star Labs before calling Adrian.
"Bow to your god!" Savitar told Barry before he started beating him. All everyone saw on the monitors was Barry being tossed around. "What's going on?" Adrian asked as he entered. Then he saw the screen and ran to his grandfather's aid. Cisco, noticing the box and Caitlyn were nowhere to be seen. He found Caitlyn in the next room staring the open box in her hands.
"Caitlyn! You have to close the box, Barry and Adrian are in trouble!" Cisco yelled when he entered. "It's Ronnie! He's back!" Caitlyn beamed. "It's not Ronnie, it's Savitar using your memories against you." Cisco said getting closer.
"Guys I see a… um… I have no idea what to call this guy." Adrian said through the comms. Savitar then turned his attention to Adrian. 'Oh shit' Adrian thought to himself as Savitar dashed towards him and began his assault. Soon, he tossed Adrian on Barry knocking both of them down. Suddenly, two spikes came out his armour at his hands, threatening to stab both.
"Cait, listen to me, Ronnie is gone but you can still save Barry and Adrian!" Cisco coaxed. He seemed to finally get through to her because she closed the box shortly after. Savitar disappeared when he was a few feet from the speedsters. "Thanks" Barry said. "I think I've had enough of evil speedsters trying to kill me." Adrian joked as he got himself up.
They figured out a way to link Julian's brain to the philosopher's stone and were in the process of setting it up. Julian agreed to this because he wanted to be free of Savitar's grip. He sat on a modified chair and a device was placed on his head. He was unconscious shortly after with Savitar taking control.
"Hello Barry. It's been a while." Savitar greeted. "None of you are on your knees." Savitar said as he looked around in disgust. "I have the power of life and death over all of you. I know you Caitlyn, Cisco, the fake Wells, Wally, Joe, Adrian. I know you better than you know yourselves, I know your weaknesses, your strengths, I know your destinies." Savitar informed the team with a smirk on his face. "Two shall betray you, one shall fall, one will suffer a fate far worse than death. This is the knowledge I have for you." Savitar concluded.
"Who are you?" Barry asked, ignoring his previous statement. "I am the future, Flash!" Savitar beamed. "What do you want from us?" a confused Barry asked. "Everything! Everything you took from me I want it back! And I'm gonna take it back. Then I'm going to destroy you once I get out of my prison, the prison that the future Barry out me in! But when I get out, you will feel the wrath of Savitar!" Savitar concluded just before Barry disconnected the device.
"Did it work?" Julian asked as Savitar faded. "Yeah, next time you guys plan to do that, leave me out of it." Adrian said as he caressed his bruised arm. Caitlyn had a worried look on her face. "Do you think the things he said about two of us betraying him and one of us dying could be true?" Caitlyn asked out loud. "Maybe, this is the future we're talking about." Cisco answered. But Barry was quick to deny his theory.
They decided that they would get rid of the philosopher's stone by throwing it into the speed force since that's how Savitar got into this world. Barry needed both Jay and Adrian's help to reach the necessary speed to throw the box into the speed force. They all entered the speed lab, with Adrian taking the lead because he was holding the box. They started running with Barry siphoning off their speed. Adrian tossed the box to Barry when he reached the necessary speed and threw it into the blue wormhole up ahead which sucked Barry and Adrian in.
Barry ended up in an alley and went to see what was going on when he heard a news announcement. The screen showed the date and what happened recently, but he got distracted when they heard another Barry yell. "Don't! Please I'm begging you don't do it!" The other Barry yelled as Savitar picked Iris up. "Now I am finally free of you!" Savitar said as he unsheathed his blade. "You lose Barry!" Savitar yelled as he stabbed Iris.
As the event transpired, Jay pulled Barry back into the present. It took Barry a while to process what he saw and was physically shaken. "I just watched Savitar kill Iris. And future me wasn't fast enough to save her." Barry said out loud. "What you saw was just one possibility, the future is always changing. Just as there are infinite Earths in the multiverse there are infinite possibilities to the future. It's always bending and changing, every decision you make creates another alternative. You need to focus on the here and now." Jay advised as he noticed Adrian wasn't there.
He then followed his energy signature and brought him back. When Jay came back with Adrian, he seemed a bit dazed. "I was sent five months into the future. Where did you end up?" Barry asked his grandson. "I have no idea, I just saw a lot of blue lightning. What does that mean?" Adrian asked with confusion. Barry and Jay looked at each other but decided to not say anything.
Barry and Jay decided that they would not tell the team about what happened earlier and just enjoy the present. Barry invited Jay to stay over for Christmas at Joe's house and he happily accepted. The whole team was at Joe's in about 2 hours, including Cecile and Julian, who was invited by Barry to help him forget about what happened recently.
When Cecile had to take a phone call, the team took the chance to give out presents. Barry gave a box to Adrian which had a suit inside, while Joe gave Wally a box of his own. "Merry Christmas, Impulse and Kid Flash" Barry said as he gave him a hug. Adrian was both shocked and excited as he opened his present. His suit was white on the side and red in the middle with red boots and red gloves. Cisco then gave him the visor he made for him, it had a yellow screen with red wings on the side and went perfectly with the suit. Wally was just as shocked that he received a suit. "How come he gets the cool name though." Wally whined.
"Barry got the idea from your brother's suit." Caitlyn said. But Adrian's smile started to fade, and Barry knew why. "Don't think of it like you're replacing him. Think of it as honoring him." Barry told him. Adrian cheered up and thanked the whole team. 'I'm taking your mantle now. Watch as I make you proud, Bart.' Adrian thought to himself.
That wraps up the future arc. Adrian is taking his brother's mantle! Feel free to add any suggestions and reviews.