Title: Regrets.
Characters: Billy/Captain Marvel, Superman/Clark Kent, slight mention of Batman, Hawkgirl and an Original villain.
For: An Anon on the YJ Anonymous Meme.
Genre: Angst, Drama, Hurt/Comfort, and Friendship later on.
Rating: PG.
Pairing: There will be no pairings throughout the whole story at all. This is a Billy-Centric, other than Dinah/Ollie which were already a pair before the YJ team was initiated, and Flash/Iris. There will be no Supermartian, Chalant, or Spitfire, maybe their usual closeness and behavior, but no romance at all.
Prompt: At some point past the end of "Auld Acquaintance," Captain Marvel has a major failure of some kind - not managing to save a group of civilians, inadvertently causing innocent deaths while fighting a super villain, something like that. It haunts him constantly, to the point where he feels he has to be on superhero alert all the time as penance, forgoing his personal life to try and safe more lives and fight evil.
Flash-forward five years; the situation has gotten much worse. Thanks to the stamina of Atlas, Captain Marvel can be a superhero more or less full time, without having to stop to eat or sleep, and that's exactly what he does. He's completely given up on being Billy (leaving his Uncle Dudley heartbroken) and hasn't even changed back in the better part of five years.
Cue someone from the League/Team (or everyone) having longheld suspicions and then finally finding out the truth and staging an intervention for his workaholism.
I mean there must be SOME reason we haven't seen 15-year-old Billy Batson yet on Invasion am I right?
Author's Note: This is in no way related to episode 26 'Auld Acquaintance' because I couldn't see the prompt working if another major story was going on as well. And despite the slight changes from the original prompt, this story will stay accurate to the prompt with what went on with Billy during the years.
I loved the idea very much, since Billy has grown on me. I hope this doesn't fail to please. This will be a chaptered series.
******AND YES! I'VE RE-EDITED THIS STORY, AS I DIDN'T LIKE HOW I WROTE THE BEGINNING, OR ANYTHING ELSE REALLY, & I WILL BE DOING THE SAME THING TO OTHER CHAPTERS, ALONG WITH FUTURE, UNWRITTEN CHAPTERS TOO~*******
Regrets – How it Began...
It was an easy mission, fight the bad guy, rescue the hostages, and save the day.
Except this time, Billy or rather Captain Marvel was unprepared, the villain had set up a bomb, and until Captain Marvel would defeat him, the villain refused to tell Billy where the whereabouts of the detonator was, and when Captain Marvel tried to remove the bomb physically, he was electrified.
The villain only cackled and told Billy "Na uh uh~ Captain. You have to fight me first. And maybe then, I'll consider giving you the detonator." a wicked smile on filling the middle-aged villain's face.
A little blonde girl gave him a smile and said "You can do it Captain Marvel, I believe in you~" and Billy felt confident after hearing her words. He promised himself he'd make sure they'd all make it back alive.
'If it weren't for the fancy suit, the villain would have definitely fit the role of a mad scientist' Captain Marvel thought for a moment, almost distracting himself from his current situation.
Captain Marvel did not want to see the women, children, and sorry looking men die under his watch, especially the little girl who believed in him. He made sure to call for League Back-up though, just in case something went wrong.
The more Captain Marvel kept fighting with the villain, the more the criminal began leading him away from the civilians, and Captain Marvel began to worry. There was only 3 minutes he had to get the fight over with, or the civilians would die, and Billy-no, Captain Marvel couldn't let civilians die under his watch. Not after he promised Shazam that he'd do all he could to protect the innocent and defenseless.
But as the villain kept avoiding his blows, Captain Marvel began to worry more, and more. Because the villain was trained well, and kept blocking Captain Marvel's blows perfectly, as if Captain Marvel's strength didn't affect him at all.
Billy's worry increased double-fold, as the timer announced 1 minute remaining left.
He flew back to the civilians to try, and help get rid of the bomb. But just before he reached them, the villain pressed the detonator, causing the room to blast, explode into a giant flame, and rubble.
And despite how the effect of the blast slightly hurt him, Billy tried to look for any survivors, and found nothing. His eyes widened when he noticed an almost burned green ribbon that the little blonde girl had been wearing, and Billy wanted to cry. He failed those people, he let them die...
He turned his angry eyes to the villain who smiled and told him "I told you to defeat me Marvel. I don't like being ignored~" and before the villain could say anything, Captain Marvel had instantly flown towards him and punched the villain hard enough to break the man's jaw, the villain flew back, and rubbed his jaw, muttering "Man that's gonna bruise..." but Captain Marvel didn't stop hitting the man, he began using all of his strength for each & every punch, aiming to kill not stop. Ignoring the pained yells coming from the villain, and how some of the bones had cracked underneath the pressure of his punches.
Captain Marvel didn't stop hitting the villain, even when the man had began to cough up blood, only until Superman -who had arrived a few moments ago- had placed his hand on Captain Marvel's shoulder and told him. "Captain Marvel, stop!"
Despite how Captain Marvel's hands trembled with rage, and despair, Billy did not want to stop, even at the cost of angering one of his favorite Superheroes. But Billy did, because he didn't want to become a murderer, not like this villain.
Superman asked kindly "What happened?" eyes tense and glancing at the fire, and rubble surrounding them. And Billy wanted to break down crying, but he was a hero, and heroes never cried, well, not in public that is, Billy was sure of that.
He uttered disgusted, but not sure if it was with himself of the villain "He-I failed this mission. I let the civilians die" his eyes glassy, and full of shame.
Superman frowned and told him "Explain." and Captain Marvel did. He explained everything, despite the tightness in his chest and how it hurt his throat to speak. He explained it all.
Superman's expression and whole demeanor softened as he told Billy "It's not your fault Captain Marvel. You had no choice. You tried your best" but he shook his head and told Superman "No...I had a choice, I should have let myself die with them. That little girl believed in me Superman, and all I did was fail her."
Captain Marvel paused, a grave look filling his youthful features, as he let out a snort "My best? If that's my best, I do NOT want to see my worst."
"Billy-" Superman began softly, not noticing his slip up of using Captain Marvel's civilian name, and was cut off by Billy continuing darkly. "And now she's dead. Nothing can fix that Superman...nothing." before lifting upwards into the air.
Billy didn't watch either Batman or Hawkgirl detain the villain, -who was trembling in fear, hands tightly clutched to a cane, and the other to a detonator- he was already giving the heroes his back, as he glided away.
Superman called out to the flying figure "Captain Marvel!" but the latter ignored him, as he continued flying.
Because Billy didn't want Superman to feel sorry for him. He didn't want pity, nor empathy, he just-he wanted to be alone. And Captain Marvel, well, he failed. And failure was unacceptable.
Superman hoped the boy wouldn't take to heart, but he knew Billy, and it would be a long time before Billy would get over this mission.
Batman asked him "Where's Marvel? Shouldn't he be here to finish briefing up the mission?"
"Yes Clark, where is Captain Marvel, wasn't this his mission?" Hawkgirl asked, with raised eyebrows, her mace dangling in her hands in a loose grip.
The Kryptonian answered, "I'll explain, but not now, later on. For now...let's leave him alone for a while..." trailing off his words, not sure how long Billy needed, and ignored Batman's quirk of the lips that stated 'You will tell me everything now or else'.
Superman sighed, and began talking.
While Captain Marvel could now, no longer be seen, Hawkgirl still watched the skies with sad eyes, looking for any traces of red & gold.
End of the Beginning.
