Barry, Sara, and Ralph fight DeVoe inside his mind, DeVoe faces off with the rest of the heroes in the outside world, and it turns out the bastard still thinks of everything.


Oliver Queen

The percentage had passed 82 when an alarm started blaring throughout the lair. "What's that?" Terrill looked around in concern.

"My husband," Marlize said grimly, moving around the percentage projection to check on another screen. "He's getting close."

She tapped something on her tablet, and Oliver saw the air warp before the ground seemed to shift under his feet. He grunted in annoyance, holding out an arm to steady himself. He could see everyone else in the room attempt to do the same thing. "OK," Leo winced. "Tell me I'm not the only one who felt that."

"Nope," Wally shook out his head, wincing and tapping the side of his head.

"Don't worry," Brainy shook it off casually, looking unperturbed, compared to Mon-El and Imra, who appeared a little nauseous. "It was just another shift to another pocket dimension. Slightly unnerving, nothing too harmful."

"Slightly unnerving, he says," Malcolm griped, his hand tighter around his bow. "Nothing too harmful, he says."

"Nerving, serving, swerving, curving," Harry mumbled, eyes flitting about.

"Hey," Lena held out a hand to steady him. "It's OK, Harry. It's OK."

Cecille suddenly shrieked in pain, shooting upright, eyes wide. "What's wrong?" Joe asked in concern.

Caitlin gulped, checking the bag Cecille's line ran to. "No more labor suppression," she answered.

Alex sighed, putting a hand on Cecille's arm. "How are you feeling, Cecille?" shea sked.

"Like I don't know if I can do this," she gasped, breathing heavily.

"You shouldn't have to," Joe shook his head bitterly. "You should be able to have our baby just like any other parent, in a hospital, in a regular bed, not with all this." He whirled on Marlize, who took a step back at the anger in his eyes. "Hey, look at what you've done! To our friend, my son, my daughter, the love of my life . . . everybody in this damn city!"

"Joe!" Kara ran up to him, putting a hand on his arm.

"How could you ever think that this would be better for humanity?" Joe roared.

"Dad," Iris joined Kara, narrowing her eyes. "What did you say to me when Barry came out of the Speed Force?" Joe narrowed his eyes, and Iris continued. "You said 'strength without faith means nothing.' We need to have faith that we can get through this together."

"El mayarah," Kara nodded in agreement.

Joe silently seethed, but he walked back to Cecille, Alex, and Caitlin. Oliver sighed, turning to Marlize. "How long until he finds us?" he asked.

"Minutes," Marlize answered. "Maybe less."

Oliver turned back around. "Weapons at the ready."

Jax and Lily bumped fists, merging into Firestorm as Leo powered up his gun.


Sara Lance/Barry Allen

Sara watched in stunned amazement as one of the DeVoes not only avoided Ralph's punches, but also as the other blocked the ones Barry attempted while utilizing his super speed. She twirled one of her batons and rushed a third DeVoe as quickly as she could, using every feint and trick she could think of to try and gain the upper hand. DeVoe gracefully weaved between her attacks, even blocking her batons with his forearm when he could. He finally grabbed one of her batons, then her wrist with his other hand, and flung her over his shoulder, right into the wall Barry and Ralph were already collapsed by.

She landed on top of them in a heap, wincing when her head struck the wall. "Oh, my God."

"Crap in a hat," Ralph groaned. "I can't hit him."

Barry groaned, closing his eyes when he realized what was happening. "They can read our minds."

"That would have been helpful to know," Sara huffed.

"I'm sorry!"

"Then we do this Dibny-style," Ralph decided.

"Dibny-style?" Sara asked dubiously.

"We don't think," Ralph nodded. "Just fill your mind with something else. Something you love." He ran out from behind cover, ballooning his hand into a fist, and with a cry of "Shrimp buffet!" he hit one of the DeVoes with a hard right hook.

Sara's jaw dropped in disbelief, and Barry let out a small laugh of relief. "It's you and me, Iris!" he declared, then ran at another DeVoe and threw him into the air, head over heels.

Sara took a deep breath, focusing on who she loved. Her father. Laurel. Ava. Her team. Gritting her teeth, she launched off the ground and ran for another DeVoe, spinning her batons into her staff. DeVoe's eyes widened as she whipped into action, her figure blurred as she moved the fastest she had thus far. She delivered blow after blow to DeVoe, watching him buckle under the smacks of her staff. She twirled her staff and rammed one end into the back of his head, and she watched in satisfaction as DeVoe crumbled to the ground.

"Shrimp platter!" Ralph continued to pummel his DeVoe. "Shrimp cocktail! Um . . . beignets de crevettes!"

He finally hit DeVoe hard enough that he collapsed on the ground unconscious, and Barry skidded over to join them. "OK, that works," Sara nodded, looking around.

"Not quite, Ms. Lance." DeVoe's voice echoed, and they looked around to see many more DeVoes walk out of alleyways towards them. "Once again, Mr. Allen, your best will not be good enough."

Ralph gulped. "What's the plan, Rookie? I'm running out of shrimp entrées."

"I could try and remember the ones I know around the world," Sara offered.

"Really?" Ralph looked intrigued.

"Well," Barry looked down the road, past where the DeVoes lined up. "You're only gonna need one."


Cisco Ramon

Joe winced as Cecille squeezed his hand tightly, and Alex checked her watch. "They're coming every five minutes," she reported.

"The stars are raining," Harry mumbled nearby.

"Cecille, please just focus on not having a baby," Caitlin rubbed her back.

"Stars are raining, draining, painting," Harry paced back and forth.

Cisco frowned suddenly, looking at Harry curiously. "He sounds just like Barry when he came out of the Speed Force."

"Does he?" Lena looked at Harry in surprise.

"Yeah, Barry spoke nonsense before he snapped out of it," Iris nodded.

"Well, yeah, but that's not what I meant," Cisco said. "He's saying the exact same words."

"We're getting closer," Martin warned, looking at the percentage reading 94%.

Brainy suddenly looked up. "Imra!"

She spun around just as the air appeared to splinter, an alarm simultaneously blasting in the room. She flung her hands up and summoned a forcefield around Cecille, Joe, Wally, Alex, and Caitlin as DeVoe stepped out of the splinters and threw out his hands, a wave of energy slamming everyone else into the walls. Nate turned to steel just before he hit the wall, and he, Kara, and Mon-El hit with enough impact to dent the metal. They were on their feet the quickest, but DeVoe held up his hand, teal energy shimmering over his skin and everyone else. Imra gasped as she felt herself forced to the ground, her concentration wavering and shorting out as she landed with a thud, trying to make herself move. Nothing worked, and Mon-El groaned. "Gravity manipulation? Really?"

"A list of his powers would have been nice!" Oliver ground out.

"Noted," Cisco said weakly.

DeVoe batted Alex, Caitlin, Wally, and Joe away as if they were nothing, and he sauntered up to where Barry and Sara were still in his mind, Sara leaning against the chair. A gun cocking stopped him in his tracks, and he turned to where Joe had managed to get to his feet, gun pointed at him. "You should mind where you point your weapon, Detective West," he said coldly, narrowing his eyes.

Cecille gasped, eyes widening as with shaking hands, Joe started to point his gun towards his head. "Dad!" Wally called hoarsely.

Joe blinked, then sneered, resisting DeVoe's mind control and pointing back at him. "Stay away from my family!"

DeVoe's face twisted in an ugly sneer, and with a wave of his hand, he pushed Joe up against the wall. "Joe!" Cecille screamed.

"Gravitokinesis," a voice behind him suddenly said, and DeVoe looked behind him sharply to see Brainy walking around the room, peering at his struggling comrades. "That is an unusual one. Let's see . . . there was the dimensional manipulation. That explains how you jumped into this pocket dimension. Clever." DeVoe slowly walked away from Joe, looking at Brainy in something resembling confusion. Mon-El decided he liked that look on the bastard's face. "Technopathy," Brainy continued to list as if he was discussing the weather. "DNA manipulation. Effigy animation. Probability manipulation – or should I say jinxing? Size alteration, rather similar to Dr. Palmer's suit. The psychoactive fluid production, which kept your wife under your control. Sound manipulation, telepathy . . . and from Ralph Dibny, shapeshifting, superhuman durability, and elasticity." He stopped in his tracks. "Oh. And your superhuman intellect, but that was not one you stole." He put his hands together in their classic triangle steeple, turning to face DeVoe. "Did I miss any of your powers?"

Team Flash was treated to the exceedingly rare sight of a speechless DeVoe as he stared at the one person in the room . . . who was completely unaffected by his powers.


Sara Lance

The march of the DeVoes was halted when Ralph's head poked out from behind a pillar. "Hey, attack of the clones!" he called tauntingly. "Come and get me!"

As the DeVoes marched towards them, his arm extended to grab Barry's, the speedster peeking out on the other side. Sara looked out from behind a potted plant, narrowing her eyes. When the DeVoes were close enough, she hissed, "Now!"

Barry sped out into the center of the clones, whipping Ralph around like he was preparing to throw a ball and chain. Ralph's scream would have been comical if Sara hadn't been focused on watching the team bowl the clones over with every spin. When no clone was left standing, Barry set Ralph down on his feet, and the metahuman grinned. "That was awesome!"

Sara ran out to join them, watching for more clones, and she groaned in annoyance. "Seriously?"

They turned to see more DeVoes walk down the stairs towards them, and Barry gritted his teeth. "Come on," he said, grabbing Ralph and Sara, then he plowed through all of the DeVoes as he ran for the nexus.


Querl Dox

"You," DeVoe looked Brainy up and down, turning his back on Cecille as he tried to use his gravity powers on Brainy again, only for the energy to warp over the Coluan. "How are you – ?"

"I am a twelfth-level intellect, Mr. DeVoe," Brainy answered primly. "For every calculation you make, I am thirteen ahead of you."

"There is no human smarter than me," DeVoe growled.

Brainy snorted. "You are a 4.162 level intellect. Impressive, yes, but you are not a Brainiac. Being more intelligent than every other race in the multiverse is in our DNA. Additionally, I am an alien. I am absolutely smarter than you. As for this?" he gestured to where he stood among his collapsed comrades. "Well, it was quite easy to determine what powers you absorbed. In addition to being extremely intelligent, I am quite proficient at multitasking. So, while I was helping your wife, I was creating a program on the spot that would shield me from your powers."

"And you couldn't tell us what those powers were?" Oliver growled.

Brainy paused. "Apologies. I wasn't aware I was meant to."

Oliver groaned and let his head drop back to the floor. DeVoe sneered and narrowed his eyes at Brainy, but the Coluan tilted his head. DeVoe stumbled back as if physically hit, rubbing his temples as if he had a migraine. "And the benefit of basically being a computer," Brainy said cheerfully. "I can run meaningless codes you will get lost in, and you will have no idea what I'm truly thinking."

"I will not lose!" DeVoe screamed.

Brainy grinned. "Oh, I know you will."


Barry Allen

With Ralph wrapped around Barry and Sara, keeping all of them huddled together, Barry charged through the line of DeVoes, one fist punching while Sara's batons hit the DeVoes he couldn't hit. With the two of them working in tandem, Barry leapt onto the bus and into the nexus.


Querl Dox/Barry Allen/Sara Lance/Kara Danvers

As DeVoe started to thrash, Brainy saw Sara twitch where she was slumped. He smirked victoriously. "I believe the words I'm looking for are . . . wakey wakey!"

Barry's eyes snapped open, eyes crackling with gold electricity. As Sara blinked her eyes open, Barry removed the cap from his head and stood from the chair. DeVoe whipped around to see Barry step down from the chair and hold out his hand for Sara, the woman accepting his aid up as she removed the crown from her forehead. Together, the two walked towards DeVoe, determined glints in their eyes.

The closer they got, the more DeVoe appeared to spasm and gurgle. "No!" he roared, collapsing on the ground. His control over his powers were lost, and Oliver, Malcolm, and Slade instantly got to their feet, weapons aimed at DeVoe. Sara held up her hand to stop them, letting Barry smugly walk after DeVoe as the man scrambled up against the chair. Something whirred, and as Barry rounded the chair, DeVoe fell back against the wall. "How did you beat me?" he demanded.

"I didn't," Barry winked at Sara. "We did."

"Their emotional attachment to Mr. Dibny has made them stronger than you will ever be, Clifford," Marlize glowered. "But then . . . you wouldn't understand."

"Some decisions cannot be made with a math equation," Brainy agreed, nodding to Mon-El.

The leader of the Legion grinned, remembering their conversation about Pestilence. "No!" DeVoe screamed. "This is not my will!"

His face suddenly relaxed into a cocky one. "Not anymore," Ralph's voice came from his mouth. "It's mine."

Before their eyes, DeVoe's head shook back and forth rapidly until it was a blur. When the motion stopped, it was Ralph's face again, the man blinking rapidly. "Whoa."

"Took the word right out of my mouth," Zari said faintly.

Barry laughed in delight, helping Ralph up from the ground. "Uh, guys?" Winn squeaked. "Marlize? 99 percent!"

Marlize ran for the computers. "Clifford's meta-abilities are no longer controlling each satellite," she said, typing quickly. "If I can just override their last command . . . come on . . . "

When the percentage hit 99.8, it froze, then rapidly declined. In seconds, it hit 0%, ending the Enlightenment. "Oh, thank God," Felicity sighed in relief.

"That's it?" Palmer looked around, wobbling slightly as Marlize teleported them out of the pocket dimension and back into S.T.A.R. Labs. "No more DeVoe?"

"No more DeVoe," Barry smiled happily at Ralph, giving him a hug.

"If I wasn't happy you held off DeVoe, I would punch you so hard right now," Kara pointed threateningly at Brainy.

"Do it anyway," Slade growled. "That way, I won't."

"Please do," Alex gestured to Cecille. "I'm busy here."

"There's no more dark energy anywhere in the city," Iris reported, checking one of the computers with a smile. "We did it!"

Sara smiled, watching Cisco hug Ralph next, then a wildly grinning speedster in red was hugging her and lifting her off her feet. "Whoa!" she clung tightly to Barry, though she laughed as he spun her around. "Easy, Barry! Easy!"

"Sorry," he set her down again, his smile reaching from ear to ear. "But Sara . . . thank you."

"Of course," she beamed at him. "Anything for my friends."

"Uh . . . guys?" Everyone looked around when Cecille spoke, and the woman looked up at them with wide eyes. "My water just broke."

"Oh, dear," Brainy blinked.

"OK, we're going to the med lab," Alex grabbed Caitlin's equipment.

"Quickly," Caitlin agreed, helping Cecille off the bed.

"Baby's coming," Cecille gulped. "Oh, boy, baby's coming!"

"Careful," Alex warned as Joe and Wally helped Cecille walk towards the exit, Terrill, Leo, Nate, and Winn running to clear the way. "Carefully."

"Come on, Harry," Lena took the confused man's arm.

"Is it just me, or did you feel useless during that?" Kara asked Oliver as the rest of them followed.

"More like powerless," Oliver corrected.

"I don't know what I was expecting, but I don't think it was for that fight to be so . . . " Malcolm trailed off.

"Anti-climactic?" Laurel suggested.

"Exactly."

Slade sighed. "Don't jinx it, wizard."

"Magician!"

Imra shook her head, giggling as the bickering started once more. "To think, I sort of missed that while I was in the future." Mon-El snorted as they walked out of the lab.

Kara was the only one who looked back when she heard the whine of electronics behind them.


Joe West

"Please, tell me you've done this before," Joe begged Caitlin as she and Alex finished getting ready.

"A few times," she nodded. "In med school."

"Med – " Joe balked.

"Med school?" Cecille squeaked.

"Let's just focus here, OK?" Alex cleared her throat.

"OK," Cecille gulped. "OK . . . med school. OK."

"Now, just relax," Alex said as Caitlin shifted to the end of the bed. "Let's just relax."

"Right," Cecille swallowed. "We got this. Right?"

"Exactly," Caitlin nodded. "Just breathe out. Just breathe out."

Joe nodded awkwardly, pinching the bridge of his nose as Cecille winced.


Kara Danvers

"Power's back on everywhere," Cisco grinned happily as he checked all the monitors in the cortex.

"Now the world can finally get back to normal," Iris sighed in relief.

"I don't think the world's been normal for a while," Felicity quipped.

"Standing, tossing, turning, falling, falling," Harry rattled off, absently drawing with a marker on one of the boards.

Ralph frowned, pointing at the man. "What happened to him?"

A warping sound came from the front of the cortex, then DeVoe's voice answered, "He is Enlightened." Felicity yelped in shock, and before anyone could react, Mick fired his heat gun, Palmer shot a blast from his suit, Firestorm let loose a fireball, Malcolm and Oliver shot arrows, and Slade fired a bullet at the chair that materialized in the center of the cortex. Everything went through the flickering purple hologram projected. "Another use of Mr. Deacon's powers," the hologram said, and Winn backed away from the monitors as the screens fizzled purple. "Technological reincarnation."

"Brainy?" Kara asked.

"He's taking over," Brainy checked everything over.

Marlize walked towards the chair, scowling. "I told you that The Enlightenment will come for you, Marlize," the hologram said as she approached. "And it will. Remember . . . I thought of everything. Even this moment."

Marlize shivered, then set her jaw. "Goodbye . . . my love," she spat, storming around the back of the chair.

She gripped something, then yanked out what appeared to be a power core. The hologram sizzled out of existence, and Brainy nodded as the screens returned to normal. "We're back online."

Felicity squeaked. "Guys? The satellite's in a decaying orbit!"

"What does that mean?" Nora frowned.

"We have a satellite plummeting to Earth," Winn answered.

"So Marlize deactivating him triggered a literal dead man's switch?" Laurel asked.

Amaya frowned, looking at the image. "It's falling fast."

"Clifford must've increased its mass by a thousand-fold," Marlize gulped.

"The impact of something that heavy and that fast," Sara's eyes widened. "How much time does that give us?"

"Three minutes, if we're lucky," Lena checked.

"OK, how do we stop something that's going to send us back into the Stone Age?" Ralph asked.

"Together," Oliver answered. "Everyone with powers, work on clearing the impact zone. Those of you without, get word out that we need downtown evacuated. Barry, Wally, destroy that satellite."

The speedsters were gone immediately. "See what happens, wizard?" Slade scowled as Cisco opened a breach.

"Magician!" the man ground out as he jumped through, the rest of the heroes pouring through the breach.

"Will you guys – ?" Kara turned around to check on Winn, Felicity, Lena, and Brainy.

"We've got this," Winn nodded.

"Go!" Lena waved her through.

Kara nodded, and she was the last through the breach to downtown before it closed.


A/N: Like I said . . . hopefully next chapter is the last of the Flash, but if it isn't, that one will certainly be next to last, and then it'll be on to Supergirl!