The call comes in while Billy is cleaning.
It sounds like the JSA communicator but in all honesty he has a hard time differentiating that one from the one given him by the JLA and he thinks to himself again that he really should have the big guy adjusted the sound of one to something unique. Either way, the incessant tone indicates a matter of urgency and that leaves Billy in a bind. Answering that call means he'll be online with Wonder Woman, Jay Garrick, or another of Earth's most legendary heroes. Imagine their shock if when attempting to contact the person they know as Captain Marvel their call is answered by some random boy.
Obviously it is time for a bit of lightning but where? Even the most self-absorbed citizens of Fawcett City would quickly grow curious as to why lightening regularly struck one particular high-rise apartment with no discernible repercussions. Fortunately Billy's building – one of an incredibly few skyscrapers in Fawcett City – had become the new home of WayneCorps' Northern Midwest Storm Data Collection Array shortly after Billy moved in. Thus his frequent need to be Captain Marvel can be reasonably well hidden by a quick trip to the roof (followed by the Captain's departure at speeds too fast for the eye to see) with the only consequence being badly skewed meteorological data. Even so, Marvel's response is often slow (at best) or not in time (at worst), a fact that Billy knows grates on the nerves of the big guy's teammates. Still, a quick call back seems to pacify any lingering anger - at least enough to avoid a confrontation.
Billy sprints to the rooftop in what he considers record time, making his way to the one spot on the roof safe from the prying eyes of security cameras, and voicing the name of the wizard who had bestowed upon him the power of Earth's mightiest mortal. The communicator had stopped chiming about the time Billy had grabbed it off his bedroom bookshelf but now the communicator, held in the hands of a physical juggernaut, dials the appropriate buttons and awaits answer. The face that appears on the communicator's screen is that of Alan Scott, the original Green Lantern. "So this is a JSA issue." thinks Captain Marvel. His affiliation with the various superhero organizations remains constant but his involvement in their activities varies greatly. Marvel is quite happy to contribute in any way needed but his foremost concern has always been Fawcett City. This, along with the duplication of powers amongst Superman, Powergirl, Wonder Woman, and himself presents a fluctuating degree of need for Captain Marvel – an arrangement Marvel is certainly comfortable with. Generally speaking these emergency calls come when one of the other three Alpha-class heroes is unavailable or, as is disturbingly common, part of the threat.
This is one of those times.
It must be remembered that an environment which can produce men who can fly and women who can create ice from thin air will produce these powers in both just and evil members of human society. Not only must the human population and superhero community worry about the powerfully wicked but they must also contend with enemies that co-opt heroes for evil purposes. Starro, Eclipso, Mr. Mind – those are only a few of the repeat offenders capable of hijacking a powerful force for good in order to wreak incalculable damage. The ability to take over the bodies, minds, or both of a being as powerful as Wonder Woman gives this particular type of villain a unique threat profile. There also remained the possibility of a similar type of attack from a foe heretofore unknown. It is these unknown threats which possess the greatest degree of destructive potential and both the JLA and JSA exist expressly to deal with such crises.
Alan's face is marked by the concern evident in his voice as he relays to Captain Marvel news of frightening importance. Superman, normally considered the most powerful amongst the superhero ranks, has gone rogue. Details remain sketchy but Scott does possess Superman's last-known location which he relays to Marvel before asking for his help in corralling the renegade Kryptonian.
It has become something of a joke amongst the hero community - even with Superman himself - that Captain Marvel's primary role in the big scheme of all things is to act as the last son of Krypton's cooler. Each time that Superman has gone rogue it is Marvel who is sent to restrain the legendary hero until his sanity or self-control can be restored. Marvel, his power granted through magic means, is uniquely suited to combat Superman who is considerably vulnerable to magic. As such it is Marvel's burden to reign in perhaps the greatest superhero of them all.
Leaving to his task Marvel formulates a plan. According to Alan the last son of Krypton had already flattened a government installation outside of Spokane. The team known as Suicide Squad had been the first to respond and Superman tore through them like so much Papier-mâché. Thankfully there were no casualties but the operative known as Plastique was listed in critical condition. What surveillance footage survived indicated that Superman had taken a different costume for himself, one featuring a partial crystalline helmet and breastplate over his normal blue and red garb.
"Crystal armor, huh?" mused Captain Marvel. All the Kryptonian tech Marvel had encountered, including that at Superman's Fortress of Solitude, came in crystal form. After noting this irregularity Marvel considered that any conflict between the two of them would best be conducted in an area far from human population. Marvel thus orients himself in midair toward a circuitous route which will allow him to reach sufficient speed in flight to employ his body as a projectile which will drive the Man of Steel into the Mojave Desert southeast of California. This will only work if Superman is distracted as his hearing is sufficient to have picked up on Marvel's conversation with Alan on the rooftop; it is hard to catch such a target unawares.
As Marvel accelerated through the air on a heading designed to put him in Superman's general vicinity he considered that while never having calculated his top speed he could not remember a time that he wanted or needed to move faster and was unable to do so. This speed was, of course, a product of his allegedly being bestowed with the speed of Mercury. Moving at such great speed caused Marvel to perceive the world as moving by incredibly slow and he took in the features of the terrain he covered in intense detail, his superhuman senses allowing him to note features that would be lost to even another superhuman. Relying on his supernatural sense of hearing Marvel zeroed in on Superman's location and decided it best to accelerate even further.
Interestingly enough it was another of Marvel's granted powers – the Wisdom of Solomon - that revealed to Marvel long ago his swiftness of leg and flight actually did not originate with the ancient pseudo-deity Mercury. Unlike the rest of his supposed beneficiaries the Wisdom of Solomon originated not in mythology but in a real, historical human personality. Solomon was reportedly the wisest of all humans in history and Marvel was suspicious that he did indeed have access to the wisdom of this king of old in that he often detected a distinctively Jewish motif in his thinking (for instance, although Marvel had no need of eating he sometimes did at celebratory banquets and the like. Often, when presented a non-kosher meal he instinctively recoiled before partaking of the food). The Wisdom, which Marvel considered perhaps his greatest asset, not only assured Marvel that his powers did not in reality originate from the source that his mentor and benefactor Shazam had indicated but also gave Marvel a deep curiosity about just why the aged Wizard had attempted to deceive him about the source of his great might. However, because of his great respect and appreciation for the wizard Marvel had chose to give Shazam room to reveal his motivations in his own time.
It appeared to Marvel that fortune was on his side as his eyes locked in on Superman, still a great distance away but easily in view of the World's Mightiest Mortal. Superman was indeed outfitted with a crystalline breastplate but the reported "helmet" was only a crystalline structure growing up Superman's neck from the breastplate and covering about one quarter of the back of the Kryptonian's head. Superman, hovering miles above a small mountain village, had his hands pressed to the side of his head yet remained unmoving. Thinking it best to ignore this curiosity for the time being and press his advantage while he had it Marvel accelerated yet again and struck the Kryptonian from behind with enough force to loosen snow in the mountains below as well as shatter windows in the homes of those residing below the two meta humans.
Marvel's plan came to fruition as the combatants were safely over the desert dunes before Superman wriggled free from Marvel's driving onslaught. "Oh goodie, it's Captain Marvel," said Superman, scorn dripping from his voice. "Still, I would have thought a shot in the back would be beneath even you." As the two circled one another warily Marvel observed that Superman was not only dressed differently but was also very pale and sweating, two things Marvel had never before seen from the Kryptonian.
Marvel chose not to respond to Superman's comments, instead cautiously hanging back awaiting Superman's opening move.
"Now, correct me if I'm wrong," asked Superman in a mocking tone, "but isn't your nickname The Big Red Cheese?"
In response Marvel merely raised his eyebrows.
"Ah yes," continued the Man of Steel, "well then, please grant me a follow up question: what is it like to have all that power and yet know deep down that everyone you consider a peer thinks you are the biggest joke in tights?" "Or," Superman continued, "to see your reflection and realize that on your absolute best day you're just an inferior copy of me?"
Marvel responded only with more silence, marveling at the icy tone and barely-concealed hatred saturating Superman's voice. Not only was the dialog strange but Superman was quite simply never one to engage in much banter. Something was certainly off here and Marvel was beginning to suspect that perhaps the crystals draped on Superman's upper body might have something to do with the change in his behavior.
Superman spoke again, interrupting Marvel's speculation. "Ok. Fair enough. You're deaf and dumb. Well, let's see if this garners a reaction from you…" and with that unleashed his heat vision full in Marvel's face.
Captain Marvel is, of course, invulnerable to almost all forms of attack. This does not mean, however, that he is incapable of feeling pain. Perhaps more than anyone else – at least as far as Marvel knew – Superman was capable of inflicting pain on Captain Marvel and this attack was no exception. A startled cry of pain escaped Marvel's lips and he instinctively turned his face away from Superman's gaze but the Man of Steel pressed his attack. Driven back and unable to escape the assault Marvel summoned to his hand energy in the form of a lightning bolt, a gift from what the wizard called the Power of Zeus and hurled it blindly at where he thought Superman stood. The bolt struck its target (thankfully) but no sooner had the heat stopped than Superman was upon Marvel, moving at a speed that astonished even Captain Marvel. There was a succession of fists to the solar plexus that inverted Marvel's stomach followed by a left hand across the bridge of his nose that he managed to roll his head away from, lessening the impact of the blow. Superman, however, had been anticipating this reaction and brought his right hand to the side of Marvel's face with a hook that numbed Marvels face even as he felt his jawbone go soft. Dazed, Marvel felt Superman seize his right arm and pull while twisting the arm, hoping to dislocate the shoulder and render Marvel's arm useless. Superman would have succeeded if Marvel hadn't realized what he was attempting to do and moved along with the motion of his arm. Even with this defensive maneuver his arm exploded with pain from the wrenching motion and, being carried along the course of Superman's pull, Marvel was left exposed to a right knee to the rib cage that turned his vision white.
It was at this point in the conflict that a curiosity of Captain Marvel's existence came in to play. As far as Captain Marvel understood it he was not in fact a different entity from his alter ego Billy Batson; rather, when Batson spoke the name of the wizard he was imbued with the attributes that gave Captain Marvel his powers. Thus Captain Marvel was Billy Batson – an alternate version, as it were; one with incredible power and the wisdom of a mind matured through a lifetime of study along with a body aged beyond Billy's teenaged years. And when Captain Marvel likewise called the name Shazam and was struck by the transforming bolt Marvel was stripped of these alien characteristics and left a generally average teenage boy. Yet both Marvel and Batson thought of themselves as quite separate; the Captain thinking of his alter ego as a distinct person name Billy and, for his part, Billy thinking of his empowered persona as the big guy. This too Marvel attributed to the Wisdom of Solomon, considering that any personality imbued with all the learning, wisdom, and experience of another individual would necessarily produce a greatly altered personality from the one they started with.
Despite these great differences there was yet overlap between the two. Batson remembered the events of Marvel's exploits and so too could Marvel draw on Batson's memories. Sometime in the past Billy had grown infatuated, as so many his age do, with the sport of Mixed Martial Arts. Wisdom carries with it a certain degree of humility that rightly places oneself in a proper context and thus, when MMA enchanted Billy next became Captain Marvel the super powered persona considered that perhaps he too should seek some type of training in hand to hand combat, reasoning that as one of numerous beings at the height of individualized power proper technique might give Marvel an edge he could someday need. Thus, with some degree of secrecy, Marvel had sought tutelage at the hand of the greatest hand-to-hand combat specialist in the known world, Batman. Training with Batman had presented some difficulties but with time Marvel had become fairly competent at systematized fighting. Over the course of his time with Batman Marvel had come to realize that his teacher, although merely a man, had developed a commitment to preparation that bordered on the superhuman and which enabled Batman to operate effectively in a world of flying men. Thus with great respect did Marvel take to his studies, one of the earliest of which had been this: "In a disadvantaged state it is vital to limit your opponent's options of attack."
Calling upon this lesson now Marvel seized the knee that struck his ribcage and spun around behind Superman, locking the Kryptonian in a clumsy version of what is popularly known as the full-nelson hold. Superman countered by lifting both men into flight and driving Marvel backwards at incredible speed, hurtling toward a sheer rock face. As the two drew near to the wall Marvel, who had been up to this point merely hanging on to Superman, feigning surprise and a more weakened state, took over control of their flight, increasing their speed and, at the last possible moment whipping around to reverse their positions, driving Superman into the rock face with enough force to bring the face of the stone collapsing down. Superman, stunned by the blow, fell victim to Marvel's fists which worked with rapid speed on the crystal breastplate, eventually cracking the apparatus even as Marvel's own hands began to blister and bleed. The link between the breast plate and the portion attached to the back of Superman's head would not give and Marvel sensed that Superman was beginning to marshal resistance. Seeing a closing window of opportunity Marvel grabbed upward at Superman's arms and launched him skyward while moving directly underneath Superman's path and whispering "Shazam."
The bolt of magical lightning came streaking down from the heavens toward Captain Marvel but instead of reaching Marvel met first the Last Son of Krypton, delivering a payload of a pure power for which Superman had no defense. No sound left Superman's mouth as he was slammed violently back to the earth where he lay still in a smoking crater. Marvel, risking no delay, leapt to Superman's side and dug his fingers in between the crystal breastplate and Superman's flesh then pulled with all his might, shattering the apparatus into gleaming fragments that fell haphazardly to the sand.
Superman groaned weakly as Captain Marvel lifted his body from the sand and took flight, elevating higher and higher into the clear desert sky on a course aimed for the sun. Once aloft Marvel merely levitated, allowing the body of Superman to soak in the rays of sunlight. Before Marvel's eyes Superman's flesh, only moments ago sickly pallid, took on healthy color. The bruises and breaks in the Kryptonian's flesh began to heal rapidly before Superman took a coughing breath. Releasing Superman, Marvel saw that his vanquished foe had grown strong again in the light of the yellow sun that granted his amazing abilities in a way not unlike Marvel's own magical lightning bolt.
For a moment the two men remained silent before Superman directed his eyes to Marvel's, layed his hand upon the other man's shoulder and said "Thank you. Again." With this Superman turned and departed, leaving Captain Marvel to do the same."
Landing and summoning the bolt twice would restore Marvel, eliminating the sore ribs and bleeding wounds. Even so, Marvel decided he would just press on back to Fawcett City and consider the wounds marks of a good day's work. Billy had cleaning to finish.
Over the course of the next week Marvel would receive official thanks from the various superhero groups and listen in as, during a press conference, Superman thanked an unnamed friend for coming to his aid during an attack from banished Kryptonian general Zodd designed to destabilize Superman's mental state using arcane Kryptonian technology. There was also a fresh round of promises that never again would the Man of Steel be overcome in such a manner due to such-and-such safeguard that would eliminate the possibility of something like this happening again. All these expressions were appreciated but ultimately unimportant to Captain Marvel. Despite all the new (and repetitive) promises that never again would this potential devastating scenario repeat itself Marvel knew in a cosmos as big as ours there would always be evil innovators and unknown enemies who would manage to bend Superman's might to evil purposes. Of this he was confident.
He was similarly confident that as long as the threat remained he would be there to fix the problem. Just as there must always be another time where Superman is compromised there must also be Captain Marvel there to fix the issue.
In Superman the people of the world have more than a hero; they have an Ideal. He represents their greatest ambitions not in the sense of attaining power but rather exemplary character. As long as Superman is around there is reason to believe that good really will triumph over evil, even within ourselves.
And so Captain Marvel is content to be the local yokel super man from the Midwest, an afterthought in the ranks of the mighty.
Until something threatens the ideal that is Superman.