AN: Welcome to another Shazam story! Okay so this really should have been the last story of First Year, but that is just crawling along at snail pace, and I kind want to get this out to set up some pet projects I really want to work on. So here it is. This is post-Sons by a couple months, still generally New 52 compliant and actually plays into Batgirl #34 and the entire Superman: Dommed arc. Should be fairly short, four or five parts. Enjoy, and please review, thanks!
#1 Birthday
Villains always have a way of picking the most inconvenient date for the ultimate showdown.
Batgirl did not remember at first, she was too busy hacking databases, making calls, meeting allies, planning attack routes and escape routes. She was, after all, organizing an all-out war over the fate of Gotham's less valiant against Knightfall; the enemies would number in the hundred, but so would her allies. She dialed Batman on the family communication channel dead last, mostly because she did not think Batman needed any convincing to help in a job like this.
The communicator rang for only a few seconds before Batman answered.
"What do you need?"
"Your help. I need you to…" Batgirl spoke those words, then somehow in a sudden flash of thought, she remembered.
Today was January 24th; Billy just turned eleven. It would be the first birthday Billy celebrated in Gotham, and the boy gave her a proper invitation card a few days ago. She even bought and wrapped the present. Of course she forgot all about it, because of course Knightfall had to choose this day to send in mercenaries against teenage potheads and petty thieves. Did she interrupt the party too?
"I need to borrow your boat," At the last moment Batgirl changed the nature of her request, "The good one with radar camouflage. And I might have trouble returning it."
"Yes, you can have the boat," Batman said.
And then Robin's voice rang over the line, and Batgirl could swear she heard a smirk in that voice. "Only a boat? Come on, woman, you know we can do better than that. Say, where do you need air support?"
Batgirl fell silent for a few seconds, before saying weakly, "I am sorry about this."
Robin made that habitual "tt" sound, while Batman spoke in a perfectly level voice that was not unkind, "You didn't answer a single call all day long; we knew something is up. You should have come to me a long time ago, but now is still better than never. I assume you have this worked out. Where do you need us?"
Batgirl took a silent deep breath to still her thoughts and then answered, "Canary and I and another partner will go after Knightfall herself, once I get the boat from you, that is. The streets will be a total mess tonight, so anywhere you can be would help. Is Captain Marvel with you two? If he is around, I need him to be on the lookout for signs of dark magic. When I was hacking through Knightfall's files, I found an email exchange about magical artifacts and a curse in Gotham. I didn't have time to read those emails thoroughly, and I really wouldn't know what's going by just reading emails either. Zatanna promised she would come help as well. Perhaps Captain and Zatanna can each survey half the city and just make sure nothing sinister is going on?"
She paused to breathe again, before adding in a very small voice, "And I am sorry, Captain, especially considering what day it is. I will bring you what I promised tomorrow"
She heard a quick laugh from the other end of the line, a serious but confident sort of laugh. "The last thing you should be is sorry, and the chance to fight the good fight by your side is the perfect gift." Indeed, what a gift—the only birthday present she could give to her ten-year old little brother was war.
Eleven, Batgirl reminded herself, the kid is eleven now.
"Thank you, Captain, for liking this awful present," Batgirl straightened with a smile, "I will see you all when the battle is won."
When the eastern sky was turning white, the chaos was finally dying down. Knightfall has surrendered and she was taken away by the police, the mercenaries in the streets were all dealt with, and even the heroes dispersed after cleaning up. Batgirl found Captain Marvel standing on the roof of an old building, strangely somber and silent. Zatanna stood there with him, wearing a worried frown on her face.
"Captain, Zee," Batgirl greeted as she swung down, "Is there a problem? What happened?"
Zatanna answered with a grim wince, "Captain Marvel was hit by a powerful curse."
"Curse? How was he hit?" –The idea that someone with the speed of light should be hit by anything sounded ludicrous, but perhaps magic works differently.
Zatanna's frown deepened and she said in a low voice, "It is my fault; I shouldn't have approached it without making sure I can handle it. Captain was trying to shield me."
Captain Marvel gave the dark-haired woman a stern look and shook his head firmly. He extended a hand, and they saw he was holding an arrow in his hand.
No one can handle this, Captain Marvel traced glowing letters in the air, better me than you.
"What do you mean? What is this curse? And what is that arrow anyway?" Batgirl asked.
Shot Achilles in the heel. And then with bigger and brighter letters in the air, as if putting on more emphasis. This arrow. Make the strongest curse.
"Achilles's heel," Batgirl murmured, "Does that mean… Is that why you…?"
Zatanna nodded. "Yes, he lost his voice."
Just then another deep and gravelly voice sounded, "And how do we break the curse?"
With that Batman dropped onto the roof, trailed by Robin. Both of them were glaring at Captain Marvel, who almost seemed to wilt under the burning looks from Gotham's Dynamic Duo. Batman turned to Zatanna, "Any idea, Zee?"
Zatanna shook her head mournfully and said, "Curses can't be broken, especially not a powerful one like this. We have tried the usual tricks to evict a curse from the body; nothing worked. I… I really don't know."
"It is irreversible in every way? It cannot be. Nothing is irreversible" Batman said.
"Curses can only be undone through unwinding the original conditions," Zatanna explained, "If one day Captain's greatest weakness is no longer a great weakness, then curse will simply wither away, but for now Captain and I can think of nothing. Captain… Let's go see Madame Xanadu and Deadman; they might know something we don't. Why don't…"
"No," Batman cut in before Captain Marvel could even make a gesture, "Come with me, Captain, we will sort it out."
He turned and raised his grapple gun, then as if finally remembering some common courtesy, he turned his head slightly and said, "Thanks, Zee, another time. Let's go."
Batman disappeared into the night, trailed closely by Robin and Batgirl. Captain Marvel gave Zatanna an apologetic look and a half-shrug, before flying off in Batman's general direction. The magician cocked her head.
"Since when did Marvel become a bat?" She muttered to herself.
For the whole night Captain Marvel shrank into a corner of the Batcave, sneaking furtive glances at Batman and Robin and looking like he would rather disappear. Batman and Robin each occupied a set of computer screens, digging through old legends, occult texts, Internet rumors, looking for anything and everything that might help. If Captain Marvel could still speak, he would have told them that it was rather futile. He knew the nature of his affliction well. This was an age old, well-known curse that augments one's weakness, turning a small chink in the armor to a gaping, lethal wound. For most ordinary people the one way to undo the curse would be to conquer one's own weakness, be it overcoming a fear, learning a new skill, or letting go of an old obsession. But Captain Marvel could not. His voice was a condition to his power, and it simply could not be overcome. Perhaps the only solution would be to stay as Captain Marvel forever, and eventually the need of the word would die away, just like his alternative identity of Billy Batson. Perhaps when that happens he would regain his voice…
Just a few months ago Captain Marvel would not have minded terribly. Being locked away permanently in this divine body would be no good, but not utterly unacceptable. Right now? No, he would do no such thing. He want to be Billy Batson, to be Bruce Wayne's son and Damian Wayne's brother, more than anything in the world. He could change back to Billy too; Batman certainly has prepared at least one way to drain Captain Marvel's power and change him back to a vulnerable child without the magic word. But it didn't seem right either, to betray his responsibility as Captain Marvel.
Just then Robin turned and gave him an immensely frustrated look.
"Aren't you supposed to be the Champion of Magic?" Robin growled, "Come on, you have got to know something! Give us some help, something to get us started…"
"Don't bother asking him," Batman snapped.
Robin never got a chance to make sense of that strange comment. Captain Marvel stood up and straightened. He traced glowing letters in the air, row upon row of calm desperation.
Curse can't be broken. Only way is to conquer weakness. I can't. My voice is the power.
Robin gave Captain Marvel another withering glare, while Batman said, "That is why I said don't bother asking. Magic users have a one-track mind. They are so entrapped by the magic they know, they can't fathom there being any other solution."
After these words Batman suddenly turned away from his workstation and swept deep into the Batcave. Was Batman upset? Captain Marvel wondered to himself. A few moments later Batman returned, holding a box with the lightning bolt symbol on it.
"You should change back and get some sleep," Batman said, opening the box and taking out a small gadget, "We will fix this, eventually, I promise."
Captain Marvel seemed hesitant, so Batman asked, "Do you not trust me?"
That was all it took. Captain Marvel nodded and walked forward. Yet at that moment another screen flashed in the Batcave, and then Cyborg's face appeared. "Batman, I need you in the League emergency bunker right now. Doomsday has been popping up all over the world and it looks much worse than before."
Batman paused for a fraction of a second. He turned back and looked towards Captain Marvel, who stood very straight and gave him a determined expression that cut short all arguments. So Batman answered Cyborg, "Of course, we will be right there."
Batman said "we", but he actually entered the Justice League bunker alone. Before they reached the bunker every Justice League member had received the emergency communication from Steel asking for help against Doomsday, and those select few on Earth capable of throwing a punch against that death machine, Captain Marvel among them, converged on Steel's location at top speed. So Batman marched into the League bunker alone, dark cape flying like a sweep of storm clouds.
"You got a visual, Cyborg?" Batman growled.
"Barely. Only a couple military satellites cover that area, and currently all I can see is a mess of dust and fume."
Batman's lips pursed into a very thin line.
"It will turn out fine," Cyborg murmured consolingly, "Superman is there by now. We have all of this planet's powerhouses at the scene; they will beat Doomsday back."
"Of course," Batman said curtly, "What alternative is there to consider?"