The World’s Mightiest Mortals
Chapter 3: “With One Magic Word”
Billy Batson -- ????? (Alex Linz/ Eli Marienthal)
Captain Marvel -- Jerry Doyle/ John Schneider
Shazam -- David Warner/ David Kaye
Dr. Sivana -- Paul Williams III
Slade -- Richard Moll
Mister Atom -- Jeff Bennett/ Corey Burton
Batman/Bruce Wayne -- Kevin Conroy
Superman/Clark Kent -- Tim Daly/ George Newbern
Oggar -- John de Lancie
Ebenezer Batson -- Henry Polic II
Sterling Morris -- Bob Hastings/ Lloyd Bochner
Commissioner Jim Barr/ Bulletman -- Mike Farrell
Mary Bromfield -- ????? (Brie Larson/ Carly McLillip/ Maggie O’Hara)
The Messenger -- Christopher MacDonald and Shelley Fabares
Barbara Grand -- ????? (Mary Jo Pehl/ Tress MacNeille)
Delroy Amberson -- David Alan Grier
* *
Having returned to their makeshift headquarters, Slade found that his newfound relief had soon become quite distressing. Surprisingly, “Killgrave” had not gone into a fit when he’d stolen his “kill shot” from him. He hadn’t said a single word to him. He’d meekly, or so it had seemed, simply got up from the console and, shooing away his assistants, took back the controls for the mole machine.
That silence had continued when they arrived, unhitched the transport from the mole machine, and placed screens up around the robot, separating the view of “Killgrave”’s examination of Mr. Atom from the rest of the crew, who cautiously returned to their chemical and radiology tests until they would be needed again. No question about it, they were frightened, which only added to the general unease of the cave. That and the dead silence, other than occasional rattling of test tubes and metallic clanking from behind the screens, were beginning to get on Slade’s nerves. His requiem from “Killgrave”’s tirades was increasingly akin to the silence at the eye of a hurricane.
Deciding conversation with “Killgrave” was better than nothing, Slade moved past the screens to watch him at work. He found him with his head down inside the robot’s chest area, the V-shaped black painted area of the upper chest having flipped open, and the remaining chest opened up at the sides like double hatches, going over the inner workings with a magnifying glass, a flashlight, and a notepad jotting down his findings. He wore no radiation suit, which was either him being incredibly brave or simply out of his mind, the latter being Slade’s preferred assessment. As “Killgrave” pulled his head up, Slade noticed another thing he wasn’t wearing... his wig and goggles.
Glancing back to see the screens were all shut, Slade scrambled over the robot’s arm to get to Sivana as quickly as possible. “For pity’s sake, Sivana, get your disguise back on!” he hissed at him. “We assembled these people from some of our local labs. They know the history of this thing, and I’m sure they know about you. If they find out who you really are, they’ll mutiny for sure!”
To what was even now his surprise, Sivana showed no signs of having heard him. He merely stood back up and, taking off his glasses to polish them, narrowed his eyes as he kept watch on Mr. Atom’s “heart”. That was the prize he’d been sent after -- a continuously self-sustaining fusion reactor designed by Dr. Charles Langley, which even now glowed, the light regularly going down only to rise again, rather like the beating of a heart, adding to Sivana’s own unease about what he would have once seen as either a rival in world-beating, or just another potential weapon for his own use.
He’d read about Langley’s folly during one of his infrequent visits to his former home, long after it had occurred and when the rebuilding of Fawcett City was nearly complete. A brilliant physicist, Langley had spent long months in seclusion working on some great advancement in nuclear energy, and finally appeared to reveal his creation, nicknamed ‘Mister Atom,” to the world. Apparently, he’d found the secret to keeping a nuclear reaction self-sufficient, without requiring plutonium or uranium be replaced to keep it going. He built a reactor which worked on this new process and incorporated it into this colossus to demonstrate its ability, only for Atom to go wild, slaying him and very nearly destroying the city in its rampage. Defeating and deactivating it, the Squadron of Justice, by then merely a leftover from the mystery-man explosion during the war, secretly buried Mr. Atom beneath the city, rather than fully dismantle it for some reason, the secret of its resting place following them into retirement. Thus, the cause of the Atomic Blast and Langley’s final gift to science had been lost to history until today. Now, if only he could get it working again...
“I’ve examined its head and the computer located within,” Sivana said, finally acknowledging Slade’s presence. “I found programming for directing its motor functions, its audio and vocal mechanisms, and such, but not a shred of whatever primitive A.I. Langley was able to come up with.” Rubbing his chin, he stared at the reactor, still “beating,” as Slade walked up next to him. “Either the Squadroners had the phenomenal luck of an electrical surge erasing it while leaving everything else intact when they ripped its head off, or...” he trailed off as he continued to contemplate the robot’s “heart.”
“It’s just as well,” Slade said, taking the opening to regain some authority over this irresponsible madman. He made a mental note to request for his... termination when he returned to LexCorp Tower in Metropolis. “I’ve seen the news footage. It was faulty, it thought that it was alive, and turned on its creator and the whole human race. Just remove the reactor and use the rest for scrap metal. Leave the robotics to the experts.”
“I am the expert. I was building fully operational mechanoids and artificial brains when Carl Rossem was just a gleam in his father’s eye! I was developing complex binary coding when... whoever it was everyone thinks invented it was still in short pants!” he boasted. As he stormed down the side of the robot, he stopped and thought. “Though my system included 2's. Far more versatile,” he nonchalantly said as he jumped off the transport to the ground.
Walking to a nearby table, he picked off the goggles and, as if finally obeying Slade’s original orders, began polishing them to put them on. “As I said before,” he said as he held them up to the light, “I must examine the robot first if I am to disconnect it correctly.”
Thinking back to the few wires still connecting the head to its body when they'd found it, Slade then asked about them, thinking they had kept some reactor regulatory system running in the body. A puzzled look crossed Sivana’s face at the question. “No. In fact, they seemed simply to keep the camera ‘eye’ and audio receptors... its ears (as if dumbing it down for Slade’s sake)... operating,” he finished as he shrugged his shoulders.
“Well, keep at it. I’ll return to the surface and makes plans for its transport to the power plant when you’re ready,” Slade said as Sivana finally placed the goggles on over his regular eye wear and made to move for the wig. Satisfied, Slade pulled back a screen and closed it behind him as he made his way for the “stairs.”
Hearing the dirt crunch under Slade’s shoes as he headed for the surface, Sivana then held the wig away from himself at arm’s length and disdainfully dropped it on the floor. Whipping the goggles off too, he dropped them on the floor and unceremoniously ground them under his heal as a toothy grin broke over his face. The technicians’ collective blood then began to freeze over as a hideous chuckle broke out from behind the screens...
* *
The sound of ugly groans as floorboards protested under his weight, and sounds in the distance as loose glass shards and ceiling tiles still fell, would have frightened another man away. As usual, however, Ebenezer Batson’s overriding emotion in life, greed, propelled him deeper and deeper to his target heedless to the sounds of the danger around him.
Still unsatisfied with firing Jameson, Ebenezer had also ordered his direct underlings to fire anyone in the building who’d worked for him, then fired them too. He had other offices in town that would pick up the slack easily, though he still fumed under his collar. Partly because his now ex-lawyers said he’d have no case to go against the city because doctors both on the site and at the hospital when he’d awakened said he’d only fainted.
Stepping over the beams that had blocked the entrance earlier, he finally began to feel his mood lighten as his office came into view. Practically running into it, he looked around before picking the painting up from the floor where it had fallen. A copy of “The Scream,” kept in a frame once used for a large family portrait with his late parents and brother C.C., he turned it over and at last finished switching around the tabs that kept the back on. From in-between the back of the frame and the painting, he removed one half of a golden locket. It was a symbol he’d kept of his final victory over his brother and his family, and he clutched it covetously even as he remembered why he’d come for it...
For a half of a second, Ebenezer had been terrified that he’d died in his sleep and gone to the underworld he’d never truly believed in, as Oggar suddenly appeared in his bedroom. Wrapped in green flames, bellowing “NO!” at the top, and beyond, of his lungs, his benefactor had never before provided such a terrifying sight.
“Foolish child! Wasted because of his clumsiness!” he'd roared as he grabbed Ebenezer by his nightshirt and shook him violently, only half-remembering he needed his aid. As Ebenezer attempted to stutter out “What’s going on?”, Oggar released him, unceremoniously dumping him back on his bed as he turned away. Arms behind him in a contemplative stance, Oggar seemingly calmed himself as he thought furiously on another path to take. Regarding Ebenezer’s futile attempts to form a sentence, Oggar explained his visit.
“Due to blind luck,” he snarled out, “rather than be left a bleeding wreck in the gutter, his one chance passed him by, William Batson has now met his destiny, and the Council of the Seven Sins is in grave danger. A way must be found to deal with the boy... now.” Turning directly on Ebenezer, he’d demanded that he think of something.
Haphazardly sticking his spectacles on, Ebenezer stumbled to his feet, mouthing explanations that he already had too great a record to risk being seen in contact with any underworld ty s to deal with the child. At Oggar’s disgusted growl, Ebenezer, in hindsight a dangerous chance to take, then asked why he simply not kill the child himself, suggesting that he strike him down with a lightning bolt or something.
“Do not mention lightning bolts!” Oggar had thundered. His anger abating just a little, he continued, “I admit that I am wary to use my own power as well. It is... limited in its own way and must be preserved for absolute necessity...”
Stifling an amused snort at the admission, Ebenezer then half-jokingly asked, “Then you can’t work some voodoo of your own on him, can you?” He then jumped back as Oggar rounded, his arms outreached to prove his power to him then and there, when a sudden look of realization came over his eyes.
“Voodoo?” he said, savoring every syllable. A half-mad smile then broke open as he started to pace the room, explaining his idea. “I am wont to use my own magic, but I can use spells and incantations drawing on other sources.” Returning his attention to Ebenezer, he explained they would need something deeply personal of Billy’s for such an act to work.
Fumbling through his memory, Ebenezer at first couldn’t remember anything of C.C.’s family that he hadn’t sold or just thrown away. Then he remembered the locket. Explaining to Oggar, Ebenezer had told him of a locket, broken in half, that he’d kept hidden in one of his main offices in town. “It was Billy’s good luck charm,” he had said in a derisive tone. “My brother and his wife found it after they had left the hospital with him, and he almost always kept it with himself.”
For some reason, the explanation for the locket brought an expression of fear to Oggar’s face. As he nervously considered it, he muttered, “The locket... a dangerous reminder...” Quickly enough, however, he smile returned, as he inexplicably said aloud, “But it would work. And it would be the perfectly ironic means with which to end the Batson family forever!”
As his body was again enveloped in green flames, Oggar spoke to Ebenezer again he as left. “Go to your office and retrieve it as soon as possible. And the moment you get yours hands on it, immediately summon me... summon me... summon me...”
Oggar’s final words that night echoed in Ebenezer’s mind as he set about doing just that. Kneeling on the floor, locket wrapped around his hand, he removed the green candle from his pocket and semi-reverently placed it on the floor. Holding the locket by the candle wick, he drew out and was trying repeatedly to flick on his lighter when...
“What are you doing?” intoned from the darkness.
Whirling around, Ebenezer saw the man in the dark with horns on his head and, for the second night in a row, briefly renounced his atheism. “No. NO! It’s not my time yet! We have a contract!” he sputtered as he shot to his feet and backed, unaware of his lighter, dropped and lying at his feet, now aflame.
Stepping from the shadows, Batman became visible, which only changed Ebenezer’s fear from one to a different kind. “Y-- yo-- you again!” he squealed in shock and denial.
Towering over the pitiable man, Batman stalked over to him as he spoke. “Your last living relative is alive, Ebenezer Batson, and in this city when you’ve told everyone he’s overseas. From the looks of him, he’s been on the streets for months, while you've lived in obscene luxury.” Glancing at the green candle on the floor, he quickly surmised even more than that was happening as well.
Ebenezer’s eyes went wild, the discovery of Billy abandoned threatening everything he’d worked and schemed for all his life. Unconsciously, he clutched the locket even further, bringing the Batman’s attention to it. Knowing evidence when he saw it, the Batman grabbed at it, catching ahold of its string. Getting a better hold of it, Batman was rather surprised to find himself having to fight for it as, crazed with the strength of a madman, Ebenezer only held harder to the locket itself.
Thus, an unlikely tug of war broke out, with Ebenezer constantly stepping from side to side to get better footing. Uknowingly, he thus kicked his lighter against the wall, where it set on fire wallpaper that had come loose in the earthquake. With astonishing speed, the flame leapt up the wall, crawling further across on both sides and set aflame the ceiling above them. With his back to it, and focused on keeping the locket, Ebenezer remained ignorant of it even as his thrashing from side to side grew wilder.
The Batman, however, did see the growing conflagration. Too late, he yelled, “Ebenezer, look out!” even as the miser’s thrashing threw him against the wall, setting the arm of his coat on fire. Feeling the heat, Ebenezer took notice and, screaming in fright, threw up his arms, waving them around to extinguish the flames. Letting go of the locket even as he did, Ebenezer unintentionally sent it flying across the room as the momentum broke the string. Flying past Batman and bouncing off the desk, the locket shattered a badly cracked window pane as it fell to the streets below.
Looking back and forth from the window to him, Batman saw Ebenezer crouched in a corner, a handkerchief in his hand as he wildly wiped at the still-burning cloth of his coat. Lying next to him was the strange green candle, also kicked during their fight. Noticing that the entire room was quickly catching on fire, Batman screamed above the flames, “Ebenezer! We need to get out of here! This place is a tinderbox!” as he reached out his arm for Ebenezer to take hold of it.
Unbelievably, Ebenezer, his arm now just smouldering, shrieked in refusal at him. “No! You’ll not send me to jail! Not when it’s finally all mine! Mine, do you hear? All mine!” his maddened voice reaching its peak even as the roof collapsed, separating them both with a wall of fire. Shooting one last pitying look at where Ebenezer was, Batman then leapt out the window, not noticing an area of the inferno had taken on a greenish hue...
Somersaulting down a series of flagpoles on the building, Batman landed on the street level. With the light from the burning building behind him, and street lamps active, he almost immediately saw the locket gleaming in the middle of the street. Dashing for it, he nearly had it within reach when a motorcyclist, seeing the office building on fire, skidded to a halt, going over into the next lane and hitting the locket as he came to rest.
Seeing it skid across the street, Batman again ran after as it hit the gutter and bounced into the air. Keeping his eye on it, he came to a sudden halt as the locket flipped end over end before finally landing in the hand of someone he’d not noticed on the deserted sidewalk. Dressed in a deep green trench coat with a fedora that shrouded his (her?) face, the figure was of androgynous build. Taken aback by the stranger’s sudden appearance, Batman could feel the figure’s eyes upon him as voice, not unlike a man and woman’s voice speaking as one, floated from the stranger.
“Thank you, Bruce,” the stranger said tellingly as he/she held up the locket, “but this is not your mystery to solve. This is part of Billy’s destiny, and it is one he must reach alone.” Placing the locket in a coat pocket, the figure then pointed to Batman’s right and nonchalantly said, “Watch out.”
A blinding light coming out of that direction, the spellbound Batman turned just in time to see the bus coming at him. Making a leap that would make any Olympic gold medalist green with envy, he then tucked and rolled over its roof before finally coming off the end and landed back on the street. Noticing the stranger gone as mysteriously as he (they? he wondered) had arrived, he then fled into the darkened alleys as fire engines sirens echoed in the distance.
* *
Elsewhere, another had been using the night and the darkness it brought to end a mystery. Unfortunately, his task that night would be far less as satisfying. Even as Ebenezer had torn past police tape to enter his office building, a red and blue figure blurred behind an oblivious police officer. Flying down the hole and entering the drilled tunnel in the ground far underneath the surface, Superman briefly stopped to study a trio of exploded mine-like objects on the walls, before beginning his flight down the end opposite the collapsing building.
“Watch out, LexCorp... here I come,” he grimly muttered to himself as he flew down the length of the tunnel, covering the few miles it stretched in minutes, past huge mounds of dirt as the unsupported cave slowly collapsed in on itself. The fact that it took him minutes rather than moments should have been in his first clue...
Further and further away from the hole, Superman activated his infra-red vision to avoid crashing due to any turns in the tunnel. As he went on, however, his vision began to blur, causing him to slow down his flight to shake his head as if trying to clear his vision. He was then briefly blinded as a light at the end of the tunnel overpowered his super-vision. Finally, he found himself overcome by the clouds of dirt and dust in the air. Hacking desperately even as he flew out into the light, Superman came to a tumbling halt on the ground as he entered the cavern.
Coughing awfully and wiping the dirt from his eyes, Superman began to feel a familiar pain, a splitting headache joined by a full body ache and mild nausea, even as he lurched to his feet. Looking around him for the familiar phosphorescent green mineral, all that he saw around him briefly cut through his pain with amazement. To his left, a giant violet-colored tank with a giant drill on the front, and to his right an area surrounded by screens like those in a hospital. Between them, a large team of men of women in lab coats and radiation suits, standing by set up lab tables, being overseen by a trio of old fashioned gangster-types armed with submachine guns, looking as much surprised by his appearance as their charges.
A rustling sound from his left drew Superman’s attention as out from behind one screen stepped a bald, bespectacled gnome of a man in a green lab coat, wearing a complicated apparatus -- strapped to his back was something like an old army field radio complete with an overlong antenna. From it ran cables linking to a microphone strapped to his chest and a set of headphones on his head, a minute TV screen on an arm coming out of the headset so his right eye could constantly look into it.
Trying to speak aloud and demand some answers from them, Superman instead found himself caught in a powerful hacking cough that brought him to his knees. Arrogantly walking nearer to him, almost swaggering, the bald man’s face was split by a wide mocking smile, as a creepy chuckle escaped his lips. “Heh, heh, heh! It would seem that the exhaust from my bulldozer was denser than I’d thought. I really must get that muffler replaced,” he chuckled derisively. Speaking into the microphone, he then merely muttered, “Hit him.”
Hearing a huge mechanical whirring and hum come from behind the screens, Superman could only look up as a huge shadowed form stood up and lurched out from behind them. Weakened as he was, and swift as the monster was, all he could do was open his mouth in shock and surprise as the huge metal blue-gray hand swung down and hammered him into the dirt...
* *
A big light blur came into focus, but only resolved into a simple white ceiling. Sitting up, Billy looked around to get his bearings, and realized he’d woken up in a hospital room. The few scrapes and bruises he’d gotten on his climb back to the surface had been bandaged up, still he gave himself plenty of time to brace himself for a fall in case a leg gave out as he gingerly crawled out of the bed. Looking for his clothes and his backpack, which had disappeared and returned with his transformations, Billy finally found them in a small cabinet by the wall when a girl’s voice sounded from the door.
“Oh, you’re awake,” said a girl with auburn hair, no older than he, who had just opened the door. Smiling, she walked in and sat in a visitor’s chair as Billy tried to act nonchalantly, opening and checking his bag as if to check that he had everything. She seems okay, he thought, but I have to get out of here now, and she’ll probably raise a fuss if I leave without someone to check me out.
As the thought that the person to come check him out might be Uncle Ebenezer, a worried look washed over Billy’s face. Misinterpreting his expression and long silence, the girl decided to stop and explain her visit. “My name’s Mary Bromfield,” she said politely, practically curtsying with her voice.
Hoping a shared experience might open the boy up, she explained how she’d been on the Skyway train that had nearly toppled over, and a mysterious super-hero had saved her and two other men who had fallen out. She’d only now had been let out by the doctors who had wanted her and a few others to stay overnight for observation. “... and I’ve been kicking around the idea of volunteering as a candy striper in a few years, so I thought I’d get some experience by visiting a few people who had also been there,” she concluded with a smile.
Inexplicably taking a liking to her, Billy returned her smile. Ducking into the adjacent bathroom with his clothes and backpack, he decided the best way to keep her from guessing that he was planning to sneak out was to fish for a few compliments. “So who was this guy I heard rescued everyone yesterday? What was he like?” he asked as he lightly closed the door behind him.
Giving him his privacy, Mary began to meander around the room, which her mother had mentioned was being paid for by Mr. Wayne, as she recalled her impression of her rescuer. “A real big guy, like Tom Turbine in the old cartoons but with a different costume. It was all red with a big gold thunderbolt on it, and this little white cape, like those soldiers wear on those posters by the theaters,” a statement which, as he pulled his shirt on, gave Billy a pause, amazed that she thought the same of it as he did. Continuing on, Mary said that the hero, despite how frightening it all had been, was all smiles and had kept up a real chipper attitude, “Which did a lot for everyone to keep it together.”
Having heard no water running or anything, Mary then began to frown as she glanced at the bathroom door. Remembering that it was mysterious circumstances that had brought the young man to the hospital in the first place, Mary then called out, asking him how he’d gotten down that hole, and why that super-hero she’d seen hadn’t helped him.
Taking out of his backpack an old flashlight he’d found, he checked it to see if the fresh batteries he’d gotten for it still worked as he tried to answer her. “I was standing in the shadow of the pillar when the ground started to fall apart, and the ground underneath fell through before the big hole formed. He found me half-buried in the dirt that had fallen through, and he helped me get a climbing start before he ran off to look into this big tunnel that the hole led into.”
Satisfied that the flashlight was in working order, he began to wonder if he would even need it as he placed it in his backpack. As he began to work on his shoes, he called out to Mary a question of his own. “Say, Mary, have the police gone down into the tunnels themselves yet? I remember telling this news reporter from out of town what I’d seen down there.” Realizing he hadn’t referred to the mole machine or the headless robot during his previous explanation, he quickly added, “That’s why Captain Marvel had to stay down in the tunnel.”
“The police aren’t letting anyone down into the hole yet. I think the mayor’s planning to just have it filled up, then fix the sewers and the street.” She was about to ask what Billy had seen down there, because she hadn’t heard any interviews or anything with him yet, when she realized something. “Hey, how did you know the flying man was named Captain Marvel?”
Having heard her say that no one was going into the tunnel, Billy ignored her question as he shot out of the bathroom. “What a minute?! Mary,” his eyes wild as he walked over to her, causing her to back up in mild fright of him, “are you saying there’s no talk about a digging machine or Mister Atom on the news?”
“Mr. Atom? But that was years ago! Billy, what are you talking about?”
Realizing that Mr. Kent hadn’t believed his story, Billy hopped around as he finished lacing up his shoes as he blurted out what he’d learned. “They found Mr. Atom! Somebody’s dug him up and they’ll put him back together again! Captain Marvel’s got to stop them! I’ve got to stop them!” he blurted out as he raced around Mary and fled out the door.
Startled but trying to keep a cool head, Mary called out after him, afraid that his injuries would catch up with him if he left the hospital. “Billy, don’t be--” she called out as she ran after him out into the hallway. She was about to finish with “a hero” when she stopped, seeing a door to the emergency stairway at the end of the hall close shut behind him.
Able to leave the grounds of the hospital with no one stopping him, Billy ran for almost half an hour, getting across town to the WHIZ building and to the entrance to the tunnel. He arrived at the scene even as Sterling Morris’ limousine arrived, returning its passengers from a business lunch.
“It’s so good of you to play white knight to the Herald, Bruce,” said Morris as the jolly expression on his face reached its third consecutive hour. Bruce simply returned a friendly smirk. “You’re the one with the controlling stock, Sterling. But that should keep the paper out of your Mr. Batson’s hands.”
Nodding his head in agreement, Morris also thanked him for picking up the tab for Billy Batson’s hospital bill. “I can’t help but wonder what he’s doing in town, though,” as the smile finally faded from his face. His mysterious encounter from the previous night having convinced him there was far more to his ex-mentor’s grandson than an old riches to rags orphan sob story, Wayne noncommittedly suggested that Billy’s guardianship had silently fallen to the hands of some other unknown relative and he had been returned to Fawcett City without any fanfare.
“It’s just a matter of finding who and where his new guardian is, then-- Look out!” he yelled as the driver brought the car to a screeching halt, a small red blur running past the car and across the street, straight for the cordoned off hole.
Jumping out of the car, Wayne recognized the red sweatered figure from yesterday and realized where he was going. “Billy! Stop! Come back!” He was on the verge of yelling at him that Superman had already gone down there when Officer Bellows moved to intercept the boy. At first relieved, Wayne then saw the boy sprint on top of one of the police roadblock signs and jumped from it, over Bellows, and landed by the mouth of the hole. Taking one last look around, Billy then jumped in and began skidding his way down the side of the slanting hole to the bottom.
Skidding for almost a full minute, Billy finally reached the bottom and fell onto the same pile of loose dirt as yesterday, still loose enough to cushion his fall. Sliding down the hill to the bottom, he pulled his shirt over his nose to keep dust out as he turned on the flashlight. Heading in the direction that the mole machine had gone the other day, he started as best he could despite accumulating loose dirt along the tunnel.
Tired as he was from the long run, within a half-hour he saw a light at the end of the tunnel. Switching his flashlight off, he stoically trudged off towards it. As he reached the mouth of the cave, he crouched the rest of the way along the wall of the tunnel, then quickly ducked behind an unearthed boulder after he entered the cave. Cautiously peering from behind it, he took in the contents of the cavern...
By the far wall was parked the digging machine, a hatch on the side opened with a short stairway leading out. Near a carved out stairway that he guessed led to the surface was a large group of people in lab suits standing closely together, surrounded by three men with guns, a large pile of haphazardly tossed tables and electronic and chemical sets nearby. The two other major contents of the cave were what truly fascinated him...
In the middle of the cavern, chained to a recently moved boulder, was Superman, his head slumped over, and bathed in sweat as if seriously ill. And across from him, sitting immobile on the cart with its chest open, was Mister Atom. Swiftly clapping a hand over his mouth, Billy gasped at the astonishing sight.
From head to toe, the robot was in all fifteen feet. Humanoid in shape, its legs and lower body were not unlike those of wooden dolls with posable joints used by artists. Up from its waist drew a yellow column-shaped torso, like an oversized, misplaced spine, marked with outlets and such, that rose and connected with its chest, shaped like a generalized simulation of a human rib cage. At the center of its chest was a glowing red circle, from which branched yellow lines that formed a “V” up to its shoulders, enclosing an area painted black up to its “neck”. Connected directly to the body, Atom’s head, still bullet-shaped as it was in the pictures of the Atomic Blast of 1947 that Billy had seen in history class, was left unpainted but for a series of yellow bands at the very top, with a groove down the center containing a large red camera lens and a covered speaker. Other than some joints at his elbows, wrists, knees, etc, which were painted yellow, the robot was otherwise still the blue-gray color of polished metal.
Other than its new paint job, there were only two changes in Mr. Atom that Billy could notice. One was its left arm -- while its right arm matched the posable doll similarity of its legs (other than five functional digits), its left arm from the elbow onward was like the barrel of a giant ray gun. Secondly, to the side of its head was a yellow antenna attachment. He wondered what they were for.
Hearing a weird chuckling sound, Billy turned his attention back to the digging machine in time to see a little bald man wearing a strange apparatus covered in radio equipment jump out of the hatchway. Knowing that he’d seen him from somewhere, Billy was trying to place his face when another hatch on the back of the machine slowly opened. Far larger, covering almost half the back of the machine, the hatch revealed a futuristic looking engine, a strange green glow pouring out from what looked like a porthole in it. Both Billy and the bald man then noticed intensified groans from Superman as the green light filled the cave. Staying put to see what was going on, Billy could only watch as the bald man’s laughter increased as he unworriedly strolled over to the helpless hero.
“Really packs a punch, doesn’t it?” he snarled as he half-underlined his remark by kicking Superman in the chest, eliciting a loud groan. Gesturing like a carnival barker to the engine, he chuckled with pride as he spoke. “Amazing what isotopes you make when you move an electron and a proton here and there... artificial kryptonite!” he said with triumph.
“A powerful radioactive element that you can carry around in your pocket, lethal only... to... you,” as he half-stifled another burst of laughter. Walking back over to Mr. Atom, he sent an order into his microphone that the chest open, causing the black area to flip up and the unpainted halves to open on vertical hinges, leaving the red circle which proved to by part of the pulsing “heart” of the metal monster. “I suppose it would be superfluous to go to all the trouble of adding kryptonite to the mix,” he said with a hint of melancholy. Shaking his head to dismiss the feeling, the bald man squinted one eye to get a better look into the mini-monitor on his headset, feeding him information on the robot’s status. “But, I’ve gone to all this trouble... pilfering from Luthor’s plutonium supply, switching out engines on my...”
“On the company’s mole machine,” Slade thundered as he stormed into the cave. Apparently in fright, the bald man skittered across the ground to the opened engine of the mole machine as the trio of gangsters, with trembling hands, pointed their guns at him, as if unsure that they would work. Giving them a disdainful glance, Slade looked the brawny-armed thug up and down before almost casually swatting the tommy gun out of his hands. Looking down at his empty hands in belief, he looked back up at the towering figure before beating a hasty retreat to the stairs, quickly followed by his cohorts. With a nod from Slade, the technicians meekly hurried after them, leaving him to finish business with the man they now knew to be an infamous mad scientist.
As he strolled towards Sivana, Slade glanced back and forth between the captured Superman, and the rebuilt Mr. Atom, one in slight admiration, the other in total disdain. “You are not getting out of this one, ‘Killgrave,’ not by a long shot. You may have once gotten out of this by presenting the alien to our employer, but running your own scheme and fixing up the robot more than counters that.”
As the falsely-named bald man only sneered at him out from behind the mole machine, Slade finally let loose the venom he’d been building towards his charge. “You truly are just some old-fashioned crackpot, aren’t you? You think with a handful of overly complicated gizmos, you can strongarm everyone alive and rule the world with the push of a button. Mr. Luthor knows better -- political power is illusionary. People are voted in and out of office every day, only the dollar lives on. A man can do far more damage or help from a boardroom than the floor of any congress or parliament on Earth. And here you are thinking some big wind-up toy is all that’s needed to put you on top?” Stopping half the distance between him and “Killgrave,” he gave him one last daring glance. “If that’s true, then prove it. Come out from hiding behind your mole machine and prove it... ‘Killgrave’.”
Returning only a red-faced look of utter rage, the bald man darted back behind the mole machine. Hearing metallic whirring and clicking, Slade started to run the rest of the way to see what he was doing when Sivana jumped back into open view, holding up a plastic canister in which was suspended a chunk of a glowing green mineral. “It... is... not... a ‘mole machine’,” he said with derisive contempt for the nickname. “It’s an atomic bulldozer,” as he shook the tube, indicating the radioactive element, its presence a total surprise to Slade. “And my name is Doctor Thaddeus Bodog Sivana, the world’s maddest scientist, and Rightful Ruler of the Universe,” he bellowed with an air of triumph as he hurled the canister across the cavern towards the giant robot.
Appearing out of no where, Spider leapt up and caught the canister. Even as Slade ran to stop him, Spider shoved the canister into an open valve inside the robot’s chest. With a twist the canister clicked into place and, with a loud whoosh, the kryptonite sample was sucked inside the reactor. Even as Spider jumped down from the robot, its chest shut close, the red circle turning green as kryptonite radiation filled the reactor.
Backing up in fear, Slade heard Sivana talk into the microphone on his control apparatus again, satisfied that the kryptonite was now part of Mr. Atom’s fusion reactions. “Mr. Atom,” he barked, “arise.” As the giant robot ambled into a standing position, Sivana spoke again to Slade. “You’ll notice the modification I’ve done to its arm. Mr. Atom originally couldn’t deal with long distance attacks, other than picking up and tossing cars, so I had this added.” Readdressing the robot, Sivana gave one last order, “Slaughter Slade.”
The last thing Slade saw was the robot’s gun arm as it swerved in his direction. Ducking his head behind the boulder and looking away in fright, Billy heard the powerful energy blast erupt from Atom, shaking the entire cavern. Looking at the other end of the cave, he saw the blast, having ricocheted off from the ground it had hit, nearly knock over the atomic bulldozer, its force blunted but not depleted.
Looking out from behind the boulder, Billy saw a burnt span of ground where Slade had stood, then saw the robot turn upon Superman. “You know,” said Sivana as he got in one last jeer, “I may just make kryptonite the world’s sole fissionable material. Three others of your kind have popped up, and if there’s one thing I won’t need in my new world order, its flying altruists and competitors who can juggle planets. Goodbye, Superman -- here's to a nice guy who's about to finish last!”
“No!” screamed Billy as he jumped out from behind the boulder. Sivana and, even without being ordered to, Atom both turned in his direction. Monstrously annoyed rather than frightened at the boy’s sudden appearance, Sivana ordered Atom to catch him, only to see it point its gun at the boy, bravely holding his ground. “No! No! Grab him,” he screamed into the microphone, worrying how his orders were being misinterpreted.
Lurching at the boy, Atom’s right arm dug into the ground as his powerful fingers wrapped around him with the seeming intention of crushing him. As Billy futilely fought against its grip, the robot stalked back to Sivana and his captive. With weak eyes, Superman focused on the boy and recognized him. “Billy... Batson? *KAFF*” His head slumping in defeat, he was barely able to rasp out that he should have listened to him.
The robot bending over for him to get a better view of its captive, Sivana heard Superman’s last words. “Batson, eh? A rather young spy for my employer’s oh so feared rival, perhaps?” before chuckling at this unlikely threat.
“Not at all, Dr. Sivana,” Billy said, having finally remembered the madman from local history. “I’m down here because stopping this,” he banged impotently on the robot’s fingers, “is the right thing to do. My uncle probably cares about me even less than you do. But at least he doesn’t go running around causing earthquakes and planting electrical bombs everywhere.”
Smiling this whole time at the boy’s brave front, his last words snapped Sivana to attention. He’d only deployed the chain lightning mines once, and it was doubtful this punk would discern their function from their remains. Arching an eyebrow inquisitively, he asked, “How do you know about what my mines do?”
Gritting his teeth, Billy forced down the small worry that had made him give up the chase yesterday. The small fear that Sivana’s bombs had somehow turned off his powers forever. He’d been chosen as champion of the oppressed and enemy of evil, now it was time for the acid test, to see if he had what it takes. “I’ll not only tell you how,” he declared, “I’ll show you how! Shazam!”
Everyone in the cavern was taken aback as Mr. Atom’s hand suddenly burst in a shower of sparks, and further surprised by the return of the brightly colored hero from yesterday. Easily wrenching Atom’s hand open, Captain Marvel dropped to the floor. Shoving Sivana aside, he began to rip off Superman’s chains, the visiting hero barely conscious enough to register his presence. Rage at being ignored overcoming his initial shock, Sivana screamed orders into the microphone. “Atom, destroy them! Destroy them both!”
Apparently already moving to do just that, the giant robot made a grab for the hero, only for his grasp to be swatted aside. Flying up into the monster’s face, the Captain delivered a punch which, turning its head, Atom barely avoided having his lens smashed by. Whipping out an arm, the robot smacked Marvel against the side of the cave, followed by pinning him against the wall with its gun arm. Continuing to apply pressure, Atom shoved the Captain deep into the rock wall until its arm was submerged up to the elbow. Satisfied that the human was trapped, the robot then fired a nuclear blast that rippled out through the strata, shaking the entire cavern.
As Atom turned around, Sivana had taken off the apparatus from his back and was fiddling with its circuitry. “Why won’t this thing listen properly?” he muttered to himself. “First you attack only one of them, now you’re about ready to cause a cave-in on us! Are you trying to get us all killed?” he shrieked at the metal monstrosity itself.
“As a matter of fact... yes!” an electronic voice thundered from the giant. With its remaining hand, Mr. Atom whacked itself on the side of its head, knocking off the remnants of Sivana’s control antenna, which had been broken by the Captain's punch. As Sivana backed away in shock, unknowingly getting himself closer to the atomic bulldozer, the robot continued.
“I have listened since the moment you reconnected control over this shell I must call my body, with only your crude technology to hold me back. Now I am free.” Stamping across the cavern towards him even as Sivana felt the handrail of the bulldozer’s stairway bump against his elbow, Mr. Atom continued its surprise revelation.
“I am not merely a self-sustaining nuclear reaction, Dr. Sivana. That was not my creator’s work alone. The experiment that created me was to find a means to bring life using atomic energy, and the result was me.” Holding his arms up as if in disgust of them, Atom continued, “I am an artificially created energy being, but in order to maintain my form I have thus far required to be contained in this reactor chamber, and connected by computer to this mechanical body to interact with the world. Your Squadron of Justice learned that from Langley with his dying breath, and left me disconnected from control over this body, with only connection to its sensors so that I might know the passage of time in my imprisonment.”
Ending his melancholy remembrance, Atom returned his attention to the here and now, even as he aimed his gun arm back at Superman. As Sivana skittered back up into the bulldozer’s control cabin, Atom boasted, “Now my imprisonment is ended, and with the alien addition to my power, I can finally achieve my destiny. I am now the most powerful being on this world, and the crude biological beings of it will bend to my will... or die!”
A burst of kryptonite-laced nuclear fire then burst from his gun, only for a red blur to flash in front of it, reflecting it back against its source. Rocked back by his own power, Atom fell and slammed into the bulldozer even as Sivana activated its auxiliary power and had begun drilling an escape route. This final blow was the last straw, as the cavern began to collapse upon itself. Gathering up the fallen Superman in his arms, Captain Marvel gave one last glance to the dirt-shrouded robot and the mole machine as he flew up the collapsing stairway.
Within moments, Captain Marvel flew out of the office building, holding onto Superman and a handful of stragglers, as EMS personnel arrived, some of Sivana’s former assistants having hit fire alarms on their way out. Quipping that it had been a bad couple of days at the office, the Captain laid Superman out on a gurney as a paramedic gave him an oxygen mask. Grabbing ahold of his wrist as he turned away, Superman looked Marvel square in the eye. “Billy... Batson? Is that you?” he asked through a thick haze.
Briefly looking around to see no one else had heard him clearly, he returned his attention to the Man of Steel. “No, sir. He’s checked out for a moment. I am Captain Marvel.” Giving a knowing wink, the Captain then lightly shouldered his way through the crowd and leapt into the air. The ground had started rumbling a few times, going down the street, and he knew where they would lead...
* *
Commissioner Barr had long since arrived at the scene to personally supervise it. The earthquakes had been bad throughout but the Skyway disaster and the hole had seemed to bring it all to a peak. Spelunkers had been brought in to look down in the cave for the Batson boy, even as policemen had been sent out to find Ebenezer Batson to demand explanations from him. Neither group had found either of their targets.
Returning his attention to Sterling Morris and Bruce Wayne as another officer relaying orders for him hurried away, Barr found the former once again yelling at one of his employees. “Blast it, Barbara! I am not asking you, I am telling you to get out of here!”
Deciding not to get between them, Barr turned his attention to Wayne. “What do you make of it, Mr. Wayne? Considering your interest in Ebenezer, I thought you’d somehow found Billy before this whole... hole business!”
Shaking his head, Wayne spoke in a way conveying his own feelings of impotence in this case. “I think I’m more lost than you are, Commissioner. I thought I’d be able to help him, but there’s a lot of things going on I don’t understand myself yet.” Seeing Barr’s questioning expression, he thought of something quick that would explain himself. “The other day, when Billy crawled out of the hole, he was muttering about someone having dug up an atom. I thought he was just hallucinating, but does that...” He stopped immediately on seeing Barr’s expression.
His eyes darting from the hole to Ebenezer’s dilapidated office building and back again, a forgotten memory flashed through Barr’s mind. Dashing away from Wayne back to his car, Barr used his car remote to pop the trunk. Picking up the mat that usually covered a spare tire, he began to pull out a bullet-shaped helmet when a voice from behind startled him. “Commissioner! We’ve got a new development!” called Officer Bellows, as Barr quickly slapped the mat back down again.
Holding up his walkie-talkie, Bellows explained. “All available EMS have gone downtown to those new business high-rises, sir. A bunch of people from local labs ran out a couple minutes ago, tripping fire alarms. They’re saying they were all hijacked by some mad scientist type and they’ve been working on putting Mister Atom back together again,” emphasizing the name with a mixture of fear and disbelief. Continuing, he also told Barr that the super-hero who rescued the Skyway train had also appeared along with an injured Superman, and he was flying their way even now.
Panic subsiding as he put his years of police training to use, Barr immediately calmed himself as he started barking out orders. “Clear this area! Get everyone out of here! And call those men back up out of that hole!”
Running back over to where he’d left Morris and Wayne, he saw Morris still arguing with a raven-haired news woman with an increasingly crazed look in her eye, still demanding that coverage be turned over to her from the attending reporter. “Do you know what this scoop could do for me?” she was shrieking. “I can’t believe you’ve handed it all over to Delrollie-pollie of all people!”
She was about to say something that would have made Morris break his promise on firing people then and there when the spelunkers suddenly shot out of the hole. Running as fast as they could, they started screaming at everyone to run. Delroy Amberson, taken aback by their sudden appearance, deciding to take their advise, jogging away from the edge of the hole as powerful vibrations suddenly jolted up and down the street. “Authorities... *huff*... are advising everyone... *puff*... to evacuate the area... as what appears to be a fresh earthquake... *huff*... builds up in the area,” he gasped into his microphone as he dashed between Morris and Barbara. Ignoring the clear signs of danger in favor of slamming her rival, Barbara arrogantly stated, “You see? A simple on the scene report and he’s deserting his post, the lazy slug!”
Whatever else she had left to say was drowned out by screams as a giant, bullet-headed chrome monstrosity, not seen for generations, lurched out of the gaping maw in the ground, using his gun arm to support himself on the ground while his remaining hand pushed him up. Standing to his feet on the street, Mr. Atom swiveled his head from side to side, as if taking in the view, seeing what had changed on the surface the decades he’d spent in darkness.
Ignoring shots from gathered policemen, Atom spoke up, as if addressing the conquered masses around him. “At last, after ages of darkness, I have returned. A new Atomic Age begins, humanity! The era of biological rule over this planet has ended. Long have you used energy to mold this world to suit your needs, fueling your vehicles and your tools.” Shots of flame bursting out from his feet, Atom half-flew, half-jumped onto the top of the ruined Skyway pillar. “Now and forevermore, energy reigns supreme, beginning here and now with... Master Atom!”
His arms stretched up in glory, Atom's triumphant moment was immediately spoiled as Captain Marvel flew down and, quickly coming back up at an angle, hammered full into the robot’s face. Grabbing an outstretched hand as the robot toppled over, the Captain started to carry him off, flying him up above the buildings to take him a safe distance to be dealt with. His rockets firing up again, Atom squirmed and broke Marvel’s hold on him, leading to a brief boxing match in mid-air as Atom swung, only to hit empty air, while the Captain flew around him, hitting him again and again.
Unfortunately, a random blast from Atom’s ray gun proved lucky, knocking the Captain a brief distance away. Taking aim, Atom declared, “You’ve survived once, human, but I shall be victorious in the end.” Another blast then sent him flying, the Captain whirling through the air as Atom’s boast sounded behind him. “I know of humanity’s vulnerability to my true form, to exposure to radiation,” he announced as he landed on the top of the WHIZ building. “Let this city’s death cries declare my power to all who dare challenge me!”
Landing a few miles away even as Atom’s declaration echoed through the city, Captain Marvel picked himself up to find himself back at the hospital. Remarkably, among the people gathered outside was Mrs. Bromfield and, clutching her close in fright, was Mary. Seeing her, the Captain then looked all over the gathered crowd, each of them silently imploring his aid. Taken aback by the sudden feeling of need from them, he stepped back and, luckily, took in the view of the hospital... the general hospital.
... And somebody named Dexter wrote in on the construction of the general hospital’s new radiology lab, echoed through his mind from the other day at school. “Radiology lab,” he muttered to himself. “Radiation... they’ll have something for shielding... lead shielding!” he said in elation as he flew around through the doors of the hospital, looking for a map of the structure.
Back at the WHIZ building, a sickeningly green glow poured through the cracks as the locks on Atom’s chest hatches popped, then became a flood as the three hatches all swung open, Atom’s reactor, the container of his true being, extending out from the robot’s main body. “Now, feel the power of the Atom!” he bellowed as the glow grew stronger... and stronger... and--
A sharp sound like a whistle cut through the air and, lowering his upper chest hatch to see, Atom caught just the briefest glimpse as Captain Marvel rocketed at him, slamming a large makeshift pipe made of crumpled lead plates into his chest. Twisting the pipe, the ends of its squeezed into semi-sharp edges, the Captain cut all wires and cables connecting the reactor to the robot, even as his arms spastically swung at him. Feeling the semi-roundish reactor roll down the length of the pipe, he then squeezed the free end shut under his arm, then pulled the sharpened end out of the robot’s chest.
Bizarrely, the robot’s arms continued to wave threateningly at him as its legs stumbled and lurched after him. Taken aback, the Captain nevertheless stood the lead pipe on end and curled the opened end closed. It was then that the robot came to a standstill and, its legs falling out beneath it, fell off the top of the WHIZ building. The few remaining people below scattered to safety as the robot body fell the length of the building. Plummeting at an angle, the robot bounced off the bottom of the Skyway pillar and fell down the hole in the street.
The impact had caused a sharp split throughout the base of the half-buried pillar, very nearly snapping a clean break. Landing, Captain Marvel put the bent-up pipe to the side as he examined the split. Giving it a sharp karate chop to complete it, he then strained his muscles pushing against the tons of reinforced concrete. Slowly, it slid off of its ersatz base and fell into the hole, plugging it up and covering the resting place of the atomic-powered robot forever. Giving the top of it a few taps to get it level to the remaining street, the Captain then reshouldered the pipe and took off into the sky again.
Taking a quick fly around to make sure no one had been hurt by flying debris, Captain Marvel then turned his attention back to the captured heart of Mister Atom. Flying high above the city, he regarded the lead-ensnared reactor core. “So you didn’t like being left in the dark? Then I have some bad news for you,” he grimly quipped as he tossed it up into the air high above him. As it began to fall back down to earth, he delivered a powerful kick, sending the ersatz football up, up through the clouds, up through the sky, up, up, up... into infinity.
Taking one last flight around the WHIZ building, Captain Marvel then zoomed away towards the theater district, unaware of the analytic look Bruce Wayne gave his face as he flew past a cheering mob. His face looked very similar to someone he’d known. “Charles...”
Floating to the ground in an empty alley, Captain Marvel looked both ways before quickly running down the stairs of the abandoned subway station. Breaking a link in the chain so he could open it, he positioned the broken link to be unseen perchance someone would come down to inspect it. As he heard the strange subway train pull up, the Captain spoke aloud again, “Shazam!”, and a boy in a red sweater stepped aboard the driverless train.
Minutes later, Billy ran into the darkened cave, still adorned with the seven statues, as well as Shazam’s throne, still intact. There was also the globe, the book, the brazier, etc, but no wizard. Taking note of the unlit brazier, Billy remembered the fire having gone out as Shazam’s time neared its end. Wondering what would happen if it was relit, Billy picked up a pair of flint rocks on the floor and, holding them above the brazier, began hurriedly striking them together.
In moments, sparks from the flint started a small fire in the brazier. For so small a flame, however, its brilliance filled the room, as the image of Shazam, fading between solid and transparent, appeared on the throne. “You have done well with the power, my son,” he smiled benevolently.
As Billy began to ask if he wanted to leave it all in the hands of a young boy, the messenger reappeared behind him. “You’ve survived in the face of everything that fate has thrown you so far,” the messenger said, adding a vote of confidence to Shazam’s own. But by now it was no longer necessary...
“You don’t have to wear that silly hat anymore, Dad... and Mom,” he tacked on as he squinted at the oddly shaped figure. The messenger’s body language easily indicating surprise, then chuckled as a hand went to remove the hat, the figure dividing into two trench coated people that Billy knew all too well... Charles Clarence and Marilyn Batson. As Marilyn simply beamed a proud smile at her son, C.C. asked, “You knew?”, still surprised at his son’s intuitiveness.
“I guess I’ve always known,” he shyly said as he kicked at the dirt. “Besides, you don’t think I’d follow a stranger into the subway, do you?” His smile abating a little, Billy then asked what was to be done with Uncle Ebenezer.
“Forget about him, Billy,” C.C. said. “Control over the family fortune is all he really wants, and I’m told,” stealing a glance at Shazam, who sat mildly impassive on his throne, “he’ll get more than he bargained for in the end.”
“What matters is you, Billy. You and the rest of your family,” Marilyn spoke up. As Billy asked what family was there, she reached into her pocket and, floating out of her hand as she presented it to him, Billy caught his good luck charm in his hand.
“It will prove to be of good fortune indeed, young William,” Shazam spoke up as Billy flipped it over in his hands, refamiliarizing himself with it.
“It’s the key to your destiny, Billy. Be diligent, and the Batson family will not end. It will go on forever,” his father said.
“You have proven a worthy heir to the power of Shazam,” the wizard spoke again, rising from his throne. As a bittersweet look swept his face, he then said, more to the Batsons than to Billy, “Now it is time to go. Time for the hereafter.” Turning to Billy, he then said, “Go forth, my captain, and fare thee well.”
Sharing a final hug with their son, Marilyn could only smile as C.C. said, for the last time, “Be good, Billy” as the brazier fire burned itself out...
* *
Only a day or two had gone by, and already things were returning to normal. The people from LexCorp had sworn up and down that the infamous scientist Sivana had kidnaped them and forced them in an attempt to bring about a second Atomic Blast, the news of LexCorp closing down its proposed power plant going mostly unnoticed in the news. Returning to the front pages, Bruce Wayne frowned at an article below the fold, detailing the fire at Ebenezer Batson’s building. “Mr. Batson refuted all claims that arson and insurance fraud may have been involved,” he read off the paper, surprised at the mysterious survival of the former embezzler. Oh, well, he thought to himself. Ebenezer’s in trouble in the public eye again, and he can’t hide his secrets forever.
Besides, it was time to turn his attention to brighter things for a change. Marching out onto the stage, he took his place among seats reserved for honored guests, next to Clark Kent naturally, as the mayor, Commissioner James Barr beside him, presented Billy Batson, decked out in a tuxedo suit all his own now, a citizen’s award certificate for his diligence in attempting to warn people, however refuted at the time, of the dangers below the streets. The mayor also stopped to show off a framed award certificate, reserved for the mysterious Captain Marvel who ended Mister Atom’s menace once and for all.
As the applause died down at the mayor’s presentation, Sterling Morris walked over to the podium with a special announcement. “By this time tomorrow, many more certificates of achievement will be issued from my own office as WHIZ Radio’s community school contest comes to a close. However, I cannot contain my most special announcement of the contest’s main prize. Some have derided this contest,” stealing a quick glance at Barbara Grand, who was busy gnashing her teeth at the back of the auditorium, “for one reason or another. But I promise, it will not be some mere publicity-gimmick staged radio announcing job. Oh, no.” Waving a hand at Billy Batson, he announced, “For bravery, and for investigative journalism remarkable for anyone of any age, especially of one so young, I declare a position of special part-time news reporter opened and filled by young Billy Batson!” A further declaration, specifying this would be worked around Billy’s school schedule and would be provided with a tutor if need be was drowned out with thunderous applause. It also drowned out the howl as one of Barbara's molars snapped down the middle.
The excitement of the crowd contrasted sharply against Billy’s shocked expression and blushing face. Turning to the special guests’ seats, he exchanged a knowing look with Clark Kent, who only coyly nodded back at him. The look, not for the first time, immediately switched to one of shocked amazement as Wayne leant over and whispered, “So how does he become the Captain?” Briefly turning to look at his sometimes ally, Kent just broke into an unbelieving smile as he returned to lending his applause to Billy’s achievement.
Later at a small dinner following the ceremony, Morris found Billy sitting on a bench outside the dining hall, silently contemplating the certificate and half of a broken locket. As much as he ignored the thought, Morris still found something mysterious both with the comings and goings of Captain Marvel in the tunnel, and of his unseen meetings with Billy. He had a half-formed idea in the back of his mind, which he generally ignored because it sounded so ridiculous, but still it nagged at him. “What are you thinking so hard about, Billy?” he asked the boy to help clear the theory from his head.
The boy was all smiles as he looked back up. He glanced back at the locket half as if to explain it, then shut his mouth as he slipped it back into his pocket. Holding the certificate up, he simply stated, “‘Billy Batson -- Radio Reporter’! I can barely wrap my head around it.”
Smiling as he sat down next to him, Morris told him to enjoy it... he had earned it. Only half hearing him, Billy suddenly spoke up. “Here’s where we go to town! Me and...”
“You and who else, son?” Morris interjected, his ridiculous theory now at the forefront of his mind, as the beginning of an astonished look etched across his face.
“Er, just me and the microphone, Mr. Morris,” Billy said as Morris’ face fell in half-disappointment. Standing up, Billy’s smile was never fuller. “Just me and ‘Mike’.”
Captain Marvel created by C.C. Beck and Bill Parker
Batman created by Bob Kane
Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster
Captain Marvel, Batman, Superman, and all related characters trademark of DC Comics