CW Flash: I Copy Attributes

"A deal? Did you not hear what I said? This is not a mutual relationship. You belong to me." Thawne glared at Derek, in his wheelchair his both hands crossed.

"Watch what you say, Thawne. I can just as easily send you off a cliff and watch you fall. This way, we both have something to gain and neither of us has to ever deal with the other once we're done."

Derek, despite his shaking hands and rapidly beating heart, didn't back down, confident in the advantages he held.

He didn't think it was too outrageous of an idea to initiate a deal with Thawne. 

After all, he has worked with others as seen in the Legion of Doom, albeit briefly.

'I'm still getting in bed with the devil. But it'll at least buy me some time and potentially benefit me too.'

"Hahaha, the more you speak the more you surprise me, boy. Go on, tell me about this deal."

Derek's straight and stoic expression didn't change as he raised a single finger.

"I'll tell you the single most important reason why you don't return home."

Derek could see Thawne's eyes narrow in interest.

"It's something even you haven't foreseen." 

Silence descended for a few seconds. 

Derek didn't know if his statement was only proving his usefulness or simply hurting Thawne's pride.

"Just one? A single reason is why I don't return home? A simple…hiccup?" 

Thawne, his words laced with an undertone of rage and annoyance, held himself back from hitting something as he spoke.

"I didn't say it was the only reason." 

Thawne turned back to Derek as the boy spoke.

"I said it was the most important. There are less significant factors that come into play, but I believe if you fix this one problem, things will work out."

Thawne stared at the boy with messy black hair, his green emerald eyes focused without a hint of submission or dishonesty.

The former stared for a second, his lips soon curling upwards as he inwardly chuckled.

"And you plan to use these smaller factors as your insurance, just in case I decide to kill you."

Derek neither confirmed nor denied as he continued.

"I'll only reveal these smaller factors if they arise as a problem in the future."

'This way, he always needs me overseeing things to make sure his plan doesn't go awry.'

"I see. And what exactly is it that you want?" Thawne finally asked what it was that was bugging him.

"Simple. I want Gideon."

Thawne's eyebrow twitched as Derek nonchalantly spoke this name.

His smile growing wider and body growing more restless were only small signs to Derek that indicated his annoyance.

Thawne was an extremely petty and righteous individual.

To be put in a corner like this by a child who appeared out of nowhere as far as he was concerned, did nothing but aggravate him.

"No."

"Relax. I'm not talking about the Gideon in your time chamber. I know you still need her. I'm talking about the portable Gideon you had when arriving at this timeline."

"You know, the one you could carry in the palm of your hand and you first sought for help when you trapped yourself in this timeline."

Derek made sure to speak with eerily accurate details he remembered from the show. 

Whether it helped his cause as a "Know it all Seer" or put him higher on Thawne's caution list, both were beneficial…kinda.

"I guess I shouldn't be so surprised anymore. But why?" He asked, knowing Derek knew what he meant.

"None of your business."

"It is my business."

"No, it's not."

"I need to know I'm not giving dangerous tech that could potentially ruin the timeline to an idiot…"

"Do you want to return home or not?"

Soon, they started speaking over each other as Derek put a stop to it with his question, making a vein in Thawne's neck bulge.

But after a few moments of silence, he turned.

"Fine. We'll meet tomorrow morning."

Before he rolled away, he turned back once more.

"If the information doesn't prove sufficient or you lie to me and trust me, I'll know if you do, I'll…you get the point." He smiled, rolling away and raising his hand to wave.

"It's a pleasure to have you amongst us, Mr Bond. We look forward to what you might achieve." 

Thawne, reverting to his Wells persona as evidenced by the wise tone and disappearance of the suffocating aura that kept Derek on edge, finally left.

Derek stared, silent.

Everything he had said was true.

There was one single reason Thawne hadn't succeeded.

'And it's not that he didn't foresee Eddie Thawne killing himself and erasing him from existence, though that is up there.'

He thought, reminding himself it was always a last-ditch attempt at keeping things under his control if they spiralled.

But the words Thawne last said loomed in Derek's mind.

'No, I'm not amongst you.'

Though Cisco and Caitlin might have accepted him, Barry was still in a phase where Joe was his only true ally, as he was the first to know from Barry that Wells wasn't who he said he was.

And the deal he had with Thawne meant little.

All it did was buy him time.

On the surface, they had come to an understanding, but both knew they each held their own advantages.

And the second they could outclass or outplay the other, it was over.

'That's probably the main reason for this…'

[Congratulations!]

[You have completed the quest "Spread the name Derek Bond"]

'I knew it.'

The quest didn't want him to spread his name amongst the masses but rather spread it to important people.

His name carried no substance if it was spoken by an Extra nobody.

But Derek had his eye glued on a specific screen that had appeared.

[Your Character Status has upgraded!]

[Character Status: Side Character (Low-Tier)]

'Makes sense.'

As it was right now, Derek's role in the big picture of the story was non-existent.

His only significant actions were saving Cisco, Caitlin and Ray and even that was a scenario he had forced.

'If I were to suddenly disappear from the story, Thawne would still lose and everything would play out as it did. I still haven't made any significant impact.'

Other than the fact that he meddled with Savitar, of course. 

But the repercussions of that were in the distant future and still fully unknown.

'But I have no doubt it'll change soon. Let's see what else has changed.'

[You have levelled up]

[You have levelled up]

[You have 6 unallocated Stat points]

[You have earned 10 Sp points]

'Nice, the usual.'

[You have unlocked "Daily Quests"]

'Oh?'

[As the name implies, you will be allocated Daily Quests. You will choose which stat you wish to increase and you will have to complete a quest to do so. Stats include Strength, Speed and Stamina]

'No intelligence or Charm? Disappointing.'

[Your Eclipse has levelled up]

Derek didn't need an explanation for this.

Ever since he revealed his identity to Team Flash, he's felt his clothes become thicker, more like kevlar rather than its previous common wool.

'Interesting. I previously thought Eclipse could only adopt the properties of whatever I conjured…'

For example, making a wall would result in it being hard like brick, while creating a mattress would see it being soft and soothing.

'However, it seems the more I level it up, the more I can blend properties into different constructs, truly making it adaptable to anything.'

With this, his regular clothes could withstand most of the force of a bullet.

'It seems I might have underestimated how overpowered this weapon might be.'

He placed his palm on his shirt, watching Eclipse turn to slime where his hand was, dancing on his skin almost as if it were excited, matching his energy.

'Maybe I can increase my other skills and abilities also by using them more.'

He thought, seeing his Martial Arts still hadn't improved since the first time he got it.

'Hm, is that all for the rewards? Well, I can't always expect S-rank quest rewards for every…'

[Choose a Name]

'Huh…'

Derek paused upon seeing this, taken aback slightly.

'What is this?'

[You have attained Level 6 and have unlocked a new feature in the system]

Though it took him a second, Derek widened his eyes as the realisation dawned on him.

'That's right. There was a feature that was locked in the system till I became Level 6.'

[You have Unlocked Narrative Viewpoint]

'Narrative Viewpoint?'

Derek tilted his head in confusion.

[To create a perfect story, one must have constant attention on the Narrative, to assure small and hidden things do not ruin the story.]

'Hmm, I guess.'

He knew CW liked to drown their shows in drama and emotions, and result in another Savitar.

[Would you like to use?]

'Not right now...'

"Derek!"

Derek, so deep in thought he hadn't even noticed Ray and Felicity standing at the door, raised his head as he soon smiled to greet them.

"We were just about to leave back to Starling City and wanted to say goodbye."

Though Felicity said this, Derek didn't show any change in his expression as he stared into blank air.

However, he soon turned to Ray, still smiling but for a different reason.

'Maybe this is what I need to "Understand" these characters.'