New Earth: Flash

Chapter 43

"Hello Mr. Dibny." DeVoe said as he approached the Elongated Man in his cell.

"Mind if I ask you a question?" Ralph asked.

"By all means, though I think I know what it is." DeVoe said.

"Why haven't you possessed my body, since you made it clear that you're the same thinker who killed me once before." Ralph asked.

"A fair question. I've learned from my mistakes. Taking over your body proved to be a crucial error, since it was that action that led to my downfall. However, your powers are still useful to me, though I've found a much more productive method of acquiring them." DeVoe said.

"What, with Melting point?" Ralph asked, confused, since he still had his powers.

"I considered it, but no. First off, you are the only one of the bus metas who's already acquired their powers and even if you hadn't, Mr. Kim's powers are too unpredictable, since he could end up switching our powers. An outcome that is not desirable to me. No, I have found a more effective solution. Though it does require me to keep you alive, for now anyways." DeVoe said.

"And what do you need me for?" Ralph asked.

"You'll know soon enough. But you also have other uses, since right now, I can use you to keep the Flash and his compatriots at bay, since they won't risk anything happening to you." DeVoe said.

"You know they're going to find a way to get to me right?" Ralph asked.

"Of course they will, but by the time their feeble minds manage to find a way to do it, it will be too late." DeVoe said and Ralph pounded on the forcefield keeping him locked in his cell.

"Don't bother trying to stretch yourself. This energy field is designed to not only keep you contained, but also dampen your powers. An oversight I made while attempting to confine Barry Allen here." DeVoe said.

"Except we both know that you wanted him to escape. Had you really wanted to keep him prisoner, you'd have kept him in something similar to this." Ralph said.

"You're smarter than most people give you credit for." DeVoe said.

"I didn't think the almighty Thinker complimented other people, especially on their intelligence." Ralph said.

"Oh, your intellect is still nothing compared to mine, but you're still a bit smarter than I thought you were, since I always took you for the dumbest member of Team Flash." DeVoe said and Ralph glared at him.

"If you're so smart, then you should know that whatever you're planning, Barry will stop you. Again." Ralph said.

"No, not this time." DeVoe said confidently as he walked away from the prison center and towards the laboratory he'd set up, where he was working on the formulas for a meta boost serum that would allow him to take on other metahuman abilities without having to possess them. However, he was still working to find the component that would make the serum permanent and allow him to absorb as many powers as he wanted, since he now saw that would be a far more practical way to acquire the powers he needed for the Enlightenment than his old method, since this way, there was no chance of the Flash being able to defeat him the same way he had before.

He supposed that he'd have to reach out to one his many contacts to help locate the component, whatever it was. That was why he was now turning to the mirror he had in his lab. The same mirror he'd had relocated from McCulloch Technologies after the accelerator explosion.