I'm back with the chapter I'm sure a lot of you have been waiting for. The revealing of Alchemy's identity.
I got some good guesses. Fury and Pepper seemed to be the most common guess. But, let's find out who, if anyone, was right.
This chapter is dedicated to Stand with Ward and Queen, one of my favorite fanfiction authors, and the reader who guessed closest.
Chapter 11- A Doctor Unmasked
"You're not gonna believe who it is."
The statement from Steve makes Barry nervous. "Cap, who is it?" Barry asks.
There's a moment of silence before Steve says, "The Secretary of State," as he looks down at the unconscious face of Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross.
Barry, Rhodey, and Sam all look shocked. "ROSS?" Sam says with shock. "The former general who had it in for Banner?" Barry asks for clarification.
"The very same," Steve says.
Barry, Rhodey, Sam, and Vision all look at each other. Barry is especially surprised, never thinking that Savitar would use a high ranking government official as Alchemy.
Finally, Barry says, "Alright, stay there." A second later, he's standing beside Steve, gazing down at Secretary Ross. The two are soon joined by the three fliers.
After a few moments, Barry says, "Put the mask back on him. We need to get video evidence of this, or Ross will never believe us. It took us forever to convince Julian, and Ross will be even harder."
Steve nods and replaces the mask on Ross' face. Rhodey then uses his suit to record a video of Steve pulling the mask off again, revealing the face of Ross.
"Alright. Let's get him back to the facility and figure out our next move," Barry says.
Steve nods, and he and Sam pick up Ross. The team then returns to the Quinjet and heads back to the facility.
Ross stirs, then opens his eyes. His vision is a little blurred. Then, as it starts to clear, he realizes he's wearing handcuffs. Stunned, he quickly shoots to his feet.
Looking around, he sees he is in some sort of cell, with the Avengers standing on the other side of the bars.
"What the h*** are you doing? Why am I in a cell and in cuffs?" Ross asks indignantly.
Steve sighs, knowing this probably isn't going to be pretty.
"Mr. Secretary, this may be difficult to believe. But hear us out. You are familiar with our teammate, the Flash. Well, it turns out an evil speedster who calls himself Savitar has followed the Flash here. He found you and put you under some sort of mind control, forcing you to assume this identity as Dr. Alchemy, his lieutenant. We caught Dr. Alchemy with two men with superpowers, and in the process discovered you were Dr. Alchemy," Steve explains.
Ross just stares at them for a moment. Then, he glares at them and says, "You have a creative imagination, Rogers. I'll give you that. But there's no way such a story will fly with anyone else."
"Then what about if we had proof?" Tony says. He then holds up a tablet, and the video of Savitar kidnapping Pepper comes up. "That's Savitar," Tony says.
Ross' attention is focused on the tablet as it switches to a picture of Alchemy with the two metahumans in the warehouse. "That man in the mask is Dr. Alchemy," Tony explains.
Then, it switches to the video of Steve kneeling down next to an unconscious Alchemy, and removing his mask to reveal Ross.
Ross just stands there, not sure what to say. Then, Barry asks, "Mr. Secretary, let me ask you. Have there been periods in the last week, long periods, where you can't remember anything?"
Ross stands there, his brow furrowed in concentration. After a few moments, he says, "Yes. There are. But that doesn't prove that I'm this Dr. Alchemy. How do I know this isn't you all trying to set me up?"
Steve sighs, then looks at Barry. "Is there any way we can do something that will convince him beyond any doubt?" he whispers to Barry.
Barry nods. "Yes. On my Earth, we figured out a way to activate the connection between Julian and Savitar, and speak to Savitar through Julian. If Tony will help me, I can build the device we need to do the same thing. It shouldn't take long, and if we can get it on video, it'll convince Ross beyond any doubt," he responds.
Tony nods and adds, "Give me and Allen a few hours, Cap. And we'll get this done."
Steve nods, then turns back to Ross. "Alright, Mr. Secretary. We're going to let you out of the cell. But we need you to stay here for at least a few hours. We have a way to prove this to you. We just need some time to get it ready."
Ross narrows his eyes. After several moments of silence, he finally says, "Alright, Rogers. You have 6 hours. If, by the time those 6 hours are up, you haven't given me better proof, I'm leaving this facility, and you'll be under arrest for wrongfully imprisoning me until you can come up with better proof."
Steve nods, then goes to let Ross out of his cell. Barry races Tony off to the lab, knowing they don't have very much time.
(5 hours later)
"And, done," Tony says, putting the final touch on the device.
Barry nods. "Exactly like the one we made on my Earth. Hopefully it works. This could be our best chance to devise a plan to stop Savitar," Barry says.
"What makes you say that?" Tony asks.
"Because. This will allow us to speak directly to Savitar through Ross, and hopefully we can get Savitar to let slip what he's planning, and what he took Pepper for," Barry says.
Tony looks excited at that. "Alright. Let's go do this," he says.
He and Barry hurry out of the lab and go to the room where the rest of the team is gathered with Ross.
When they arrive, Ross is in a surly attitude. Well, still in a surly mood. As the two walk in, he looks at them, and the device Barry is holding.
"What's that supposed to do?" Ross demands.
"This device will help us to activate the connection between you and Savitar. It should allow us to talk to him through you," Barry replies.
Ross narrows his eyes. Tony speaks up and says, "Mr. Secretary, you told us you would give us the chance to prove to you that our claim is true. This is the only way we know of to do so."
Ross looks Tony square in the eyes. Then, he gives in and says, "Alright. What do I need to do?"
"Sit in this chair," Tony says as he starts calibrating the tech. Ross complies and sits down. After a few more moments, Barry fits the device onto Ross' head.
Once Tony finishes his job, and gives Barry the thumbs up, Barry nods at Rhodey to start filming with his camera, then says, "Alright, Mr. Secretary, I'm gonna need you to count back from 10."
Ross raises his eyebrow, then sighs before he starts, "Te-" He doesn't even finish the first word before falling unconscious.
Barry snaps in front of his face a few times before saying, "Wow. Almost faster than Julian." He then presses a few keys on the computer hooked up to the device.
"So, how long until this works and activates the connection?" Sam asks curiously.
Tony is about to answer, but Ross' eyes suddenly fly open, he leans forward, and shouts loudly. Several members of the team jump a little bit.
Then, Ross suddenly straightens up, then looks right at Barry, a cold look in his eyes. For a second, he's silent. Then, he says, "Hello, Barry. Long time no see." But it's not the voice of General Ross. It's the voice of Savitar.
For the rest of the Avengers, the sound of Savitar's voice sends a chill down their spine. Something about his voice is just extremely unnerving.
"How did you get here, Savitar?" Barry demands.
"You can't hide from me, Barry. I will always find you. Once I got out of the Speed Force, it was a simple matter to jump between worlds," Savitar responds through Ross.
"Why did you kidnap Pepper?" Tony demands. Ross turns to Tony and smiles a sadistic grin that further unnerves most of the team.
"Ah. Tony Stark. The man who nearly destroyed the world. Don't worry. Your girlfriend is safe, for the moment. She has yet to fulfill her purpose," Savitar says through Ross.
"We have your Philosopher's Stone. You can't create any more metahumans. Your plan is over," Steve says, knowing that's not true, but hoping that saying it will get Savitar to reveal part of his plans.
"Oh, Captain America. The man out of time. You may have held your own against the God of Thunder. But you are sorely mistaken if you think you could defeat the God of Speed. My plan was never to create metahumans. They were merely meant to keep you all occupied. My true plan will continue. My ascension is at hand," Savitar-Ross says.
"What do you want?" Barry demands.
"To see you burn in hell!" Savitar-Ross yells, "You took everything from me. You trapped me in the Speed Force for an eternity! I will see you suffer a far worse fate! Your friends here will die! Then, I will return you to Earth-1, where you can watch Iris die! You can never defeat me! For I am the future, Flash! You will face the wrath of Savitar!"
Feeling he's heard enough, Barry steps forward and removes the device from Ross' head. Ross shudders and gasps several times, then looks around at the team.
"Well? Did anything happen?" Ross asks.
Barry looks at Rhodey and nods. Rhodey, who stopped recording when Barry removed the device, steps forward, shows Ross the camera, and replays the entire video for him.
Ross just sits there in stunned silence, watching as Savitar speaks through him. After the video is over, he looks up at the team, then finally asks, "And is this Savitar is threatening the United States?"
"No. He's after me. But he won't hesitate to eliminate anyone who gets in his way. So, please, Mr. Secretary, for the sake of the lives of any soldiers you may want to involve, please just get yourself someplace safe, don't let yourself out of observation, and leave Savitar to us," Barry pleads.
Ross stares at Barry, weighing his options. Finally, he says, "Fine. I'll leave this to you. I'll give you two months. After that, the US military will be coming after Savitar, and you'll be the one held responsible for all this." Ross then turns and walks out of the room.
The team stares after Ross. After a moment, Wanda asks, "Do you really think it's just a good idea to let him go? I might be able to free him from Savitar given time."
"No, Wanda. There's just something about him. I don't want him arou d the facility. And, now that we know who Alchemy is, and we have the Stone, I doubt Savitar will try and use Ross again anytime soon," Barry says.
"So, what do we do now?" Sam asks.
Barry stares defiantly at the rest of the team. Then, he says, "We find Pepper, and we free her. Then, we find Savitar, and bring him down."
And, I'll end there. I hope that wasn't a bad place to end.
I'm sure all of you are surprised by who Alchemy was. At first, it was actually going to be Clint. But, as I thought about some ideas I wanted to include in the story later, I wasn't sure how to make them work, until I thought of making Ross be Alchemy.
You'll see this affect the rest of the story. But, you won't see it affect the story much until the Civil War.
Well, I hope you're all excited to see what happens next. I promise to try and update soon.
Until next time. Keep sending me those reviews!