"I'll be right back," Captain Marvel said when he heard the gunshots.

"What do you mean?" demanded Mary, who was still in her superpowered form. "I'm coming with you."

They both took off into the sky, flying towards the sound of the gunshots.

"They wouldn't expect us to be here, in New York City, so far from the scene of the crime," Steve said to Mikhail and Nikolai as the three mobsters sat around a card table that had been crammed into the small garage of their safehouse. All three of them had agreed to testify against Ishmael Gregor, although Mikhail and Steve had been reluctant to testify, until Nikolai had touched their minds. They would be safe here, or so they thought.

As Mikhail laid a full house on the table, the sound of gunfire suddenly filled the air, followed by the screams of wounded police officers. The three witnesses quickly ran to the car that was parked in the garage. Steve pressed a button on the wall that activated the garage door, and Mikhail quickly got into the passenger seat. The garage door had been designed to open faster than an ordinary garage door, but it still was agonizingly slow.

Nikolai and Steve got inside the car as they heard footsteps approaching from inside the house. As Mikhail backed out of the garage, two men burst into the garage and started shooting, but the three witnesses escaped before any of them were hit.

As he drove away from the safehouse, Mikhail saw two cars moving closer in the rear-view mirror. He slammed his foot on the accelerator as a man in one of the approaching cars opened fire with a submachine gun. Bullets slammed into the rear of the witnesses' car as Mikhail desperately swerved to avoid the gunfire.

With the Speed of Mercury, Billy and Mary flew towards the scene. They saw a Buick with several bullet holes fleeing from two identical black Hondas. One of the Hondas cut into the oncoming lane, and swerved around a taxi, speeding up to pass the Buick, while the other Honda stayed behind it. Seeing the second Honda about to pass by them on the left, the witnesses quickly swerved to make a right turn. But they did not need to. Billy swooped down from the sky like a meteor and lifted the second Honda off the ground, holding it in the air. Mary grabbed the first Honda, tossing it through the windows of a closed shop.

Unbeknownst to the two superheroes, there was a third Honda. As the witnesses swerved right and skidded onto a street that was at a right angle to the street they had been driving on, Mikhail regained control of their car just long enough to see headlights blazing through the darkness in front of him. Despite the blinding glare, he swerved to the right just as bullets tore through the space where he would have been if he had kept going.

Mikhail's car plowed into a newspaper stand, and its occupants were thrown back against their seats. The third Honda came to a stop on the other side of the street, and two men with submachine guns rushed out of it, aiming their weapons at the Buick.

As Billy held his Honda off the ground, a gun barrel poked out of a window. He punched it, causing it to bend, while still holding onto the car with one hand. Suddenly, the car felt heavy, which was unusual for Captain Marvel, who was normally able to easily lift up cars with one hand. Just then, he heard the sound of gunfire as the occupants of the third Honda opened fire on the witnesses. Startled by the gunfire and his sudden lack of strength, and needing to get to the witnesses, Billy dropped the car, which landed on the street with a loud crash. Its suspension collapsed and one tire was crushed, so it could not drive, even though it had landed upright.

"Don't go anywhere," Billy said to the assassins who were inside the car. He hoped they would be scared enough not to disobey someone who had just dropped a car that they were inside of.

Mary glided through the air, approaching the little gift shop that she had just thrown the second Honda into. "I hope they have insurance," she whispered to herself when she saw the damage she had inflicted on the windows and the displays at the front of the store.

She heard the shooting, and then flew towards it, shouting at the criminals trapped in the overturned car. "STAY HERE!"

As Billy zoomed towards the two gunmen, he knew that he didn't have time to reach them before they fired. He wasn't faster than a speeding bullet, and if they fired at the Buick, no one inside it would survive. Without thinking, he pointed his hands at the two gunmen, and a yellow lightning bolt burst from each of his hands. The lightning bolts struck the two men, knocking them unconscious before they could shoot. The driver of the third vehicle, who remained inside, threw up his hands in a terrified gesture of surrender.

Billy looked down at his hands in surprise. "I never knew I could do that," he muttered.

As Billy waited for the police to arrive, he was eager to return to Tamara, but he was also afraid. He was afraid to break her heart, but he was also afraid that he would make a decision that could put her in danger. Thinking about this was easier when he was Captain Marvel, but his powers did not really change the emotions that he felt as Billy Batson.

When the police finally arrived, they arrested the hitmen and took the three witnesses back into protective custody. A police captain said to Billy and Mary, "The targets agreed to testify against a mob kingpin named Ishmael Gregor. He sent these assassins after them."

"Ishmael Gregor," Billy said. "I've heard of him. Tell me more."

"He's the biggest Russian Mafia kingpin in New York," the cop said. "He controls half of all crime in the city. We have a warrant for his arrest, but he got on a plane, and he's probably halfway to Moscow by now."

"Do you need anything from the North Pole, Captain?" Billy asked cheerfully.

"Uh, no. Why?" the policeman said in confusion.

"I'm taking a shortcut."

Mary opened her mouth to speak, but then shook her head in frustration as Billy shot up into the sky.

After changing back into her own body, Mary rang the Freemans' doorbell. Tamara let Mary in, and listened attentively as Mary explained everything that had happened. Tamara seemed to agree with and understand what Billy had to do, but she still looked disappointed.

"What is it like, being two people at once?" Tamara asked.

"I'm kind of new to that," Mary answered. "You should try talking to Billy."

"He always seems so distant. He won't let me in, because he thinks he's protecting me. He always talks to Fred, but he rarely comes to me, even though I also know his secret. Oh, I wish I could understand him," Tamara said with a sigh.

"I've been apart from him for ten years," Mary answered. "But he's my twin brother. I feel like I've known him all my life. And if I know anything about Billy, it's that whatever his reasons are for pushing you away, he believes he's doing the right thing."

"If only he understood what's it's like-" Tamara said in a dreamy whisper, looking away from Mary and speaking more to herself.

The doorbell rang, and a male voice said, "It's me, Fred. Am I interrupting anything?"

"Oh no, of course not," Tamara said, noticing that Mary was trying to stop herself from smiling. "You can let yourself in."

Fred came through the door. He was not surprised to see Tamara, and he said, "Hi, Tamara. Where's- Mary?" His eyes widened in surprise when he saw that Mary was in the living room.

"Billy went to Russia," Mary said, as casually as she might announce that he had gone to the 7-11 to pick up an evening snack.

It was an ordinary Wednesday morning at an ordinary New York City police station, with people reporting crimes, suspects getting arrested or released – and Captain Marvel dropping out of the sky, dragging a screaming Russian mob boss with him.

When Captain Marvel deposited Ishmael Gregor on the steps of the police station, uniformed officers swarmed around the crime boss, quickly putting him in handcuffs and dragging him inside.

"Even you must have a weakness!" Ishmael screamed at Captain Marvel as he was dragged into the police station. "One day, somebody will break you!"

"Have a nice day," Captain Marvel called out to the police officers as he left.

Billy flew to the Freemans' house and turned back into himself at a quiet spot in the neighborhood, and then walked over to the house, and realized that he had been ignoring the time when he was Captain Marvel. Fred had already left for school. Billy took public transportation, and arrived at school in time for third period.

After fourth period, Billy was on his way to the cafeteria to eat lunch, when Tamara ran into him in a corridor. She grabbed in his arm as discreetly as she could, and dragged him out of earshot of the other students. "What are you doing here?" she said in a loud, angry whisper.

"I go to school here," Billy said. He could tell that Tamara was angry with him for not coming back last night, and he braced himself for what was coming. This was one of many moments in his mundane life when he wished that he had the Courage of Achilles.

"That's not what I mean!" Tamara said fiercely, fighting to keep her voice down. "You go flying halfway around the world to chase after a Russian crime boss without even letting me know where you are, Fred asks me to help cover for you, and then you have the nerve to come back to school?"

"What do you mean?" Billy asked, although he thought that he knew what Tamara was getting at. He'd figured it out himself during a particularly boring lecture on the Cuban Missile Crisis.

"People are already talking about what you did to that crime boss. You could hardly have chosen a more public way to bring him in. And now they will know that Billy Batson missed the beginning of the school day, at the same time that Captain Marvel was showing off how he could catch any criminal he wanted!"

"I'm sorry, Tamara," Billy said. "I know this isn't easy for you."

While he had been flying across the world, Billy had plenty of time to think about how difficult it could be for Tamara to fulfill the role of Captain Marvel's not-girlfriend. But, Ishmael Gregor's terrified screams had prevented Billy from deciding on a definite course of action. So he said, "I'll make it up to you. When do you want to work on the essay?"

Tamara said, as they walked in the general direction of the cafeteria, no longer talking about Billy's secret identity, "You know that charity I volunteered for? The one that helps poor and disadvantaged orphans?"

"You mean the one that emphasizes helping them learn to eventually support themselves and become productive members of society?"

"Yes," Tamara said with a nod. "They're having a big fundraiser on Friday, because it's 11-11-11. I didn't find out until this morning, because they didn't have my current contact information. I have to help them prepare for the fundraiser, so I can't work on the paper until the weekend."

"I'm sorry," Billy said. "I promised Fred and his grandfather that I'd go fishing with them this weekend unless the weather is bad. The essay is due on Monday, so we'll have to communicate by email."

Tamara nodded in agreement, but Billy could see that she was still upset with him, so he said, in increasing desperation. "I'm sorry. I know I shouldn't have just left you there. I'll do something to make up for this, I promise."

"Like what?" Tamara asked.

"A movie?" Billy suggested.

"You're going to make a movie?" Tamara said, pretending to mock what Billy had said. But he could see by her expression that she was pleased. He knew he had made a mistake, but it was too late to change his mind.

Right after sunset on Thursday, Billy and Mary were standing on top of the Hearst Building, where Billy's battle with Black Adam had ended.

"Do you know what they're saying about me?" Mary exclaimed in exasperation as she and Billy looked out at the lights of New York City. "They're saying that I'm your sidekick. They're talking about my costume more than my powers. It seems that everyone is either saying that my costume covers too much or too little. They didn't say that about your costume when you started flying around the city. And they have no idea that we're siblings. They're even saying – Oh, I feel like flying in front of those stupid reporters and telling them-"

"Ok, Mary, slow down," Billy said frantically. "Have they come up with a name for you yet?"

"Yes, they've come up with several," Mary said angrily. "Miss Marvel. Lady Marvel. Thunder Girl. The Flying Woman. Hardly any of these names are gender-neutral, and it seems that half of them are about you as much as they are about me. Because you came first, and you're, you know, male, the media just doesn't seem to recognize that Shazam-"

A flash of lightning lit up the night sky, changing Mary back into her own form. "Don't say his name," Billy said calmly, which seemed to irritate Mary even more. She spoke the magic word again, with much anger and frustration, but it still worked.

"Nobody seems to understand that the wizard split his power equally between us," Mary finished after she was back in her superpowered form. "He did, didn't he?"

"He did give us the same powers," Billy confirmed. "But I think we should go talk to him now, like we were planning to do on Tuesday."

Mary agreed, and Billy reached out to help her teleport to the Rock of Eternity, but she pushed his arm away, insisting on learning to do it herself.

"Welcome back," Shazam said after Billy and Mary had arrived. "Keep away from the Sins," he reminded Mary as she looked too closely at the statues on the left, unconsciously moving closer to them.

"Sorry," Mary said, turning to face Shazam. "What do you know about where I come from?"

"It was not easy to find out," Shazam answered, as Billy remained in the background. "When Black Adam invaded this place, he programmed the Historama not to find out where you were. Once I knew, I was able to use the Historama to learn how you came to North Haledon."

"The Historama?" Mary asked.

Shazam picked up the large bluish crystal ball that was on a pedestal next to his throne. "This is the Historama. It can see into the present and the past. It can even catch glimpses of possible futures, if the user is skilled enough."

"Tell me," Mary said.

"Long ago, my daughter corrupted Teth-Adam, the previous champion of the gods, who was a prince of Kahndaq, a country that is now ruled by a dictator named Muzzaf Amadin."

"Wait a minute," Mary said. "You have a daughter?"

It was clearly surprising for Mary to learn that someone as mysterious and otherworldly as Shazam could actually have something as ordinary as a biological child, but Shazam did not seem to care about her reaction. He said, "Long ago, the gods were engaged in a great war with the forces of Hell, a war which devastated much of the world, including the twin cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. When neither side could claim victory, they decided to negotiate peace. This peace treaty would establish the laws that prevent gods and demons from interfering directly in the mortal world."

"Neither side wished to negotiate directly, so the gods sent me as an emissary. The demons said that they would do the same, but they lied. They sent a demon in human form – Lilith, who was older than humanity itself. I did not object, because without a peace treaty, the war would continue, and thousands of innocent human beings would get caught in the middle. So Lilith and I negotiated the treaty. To seal the agreement, I suggested a magically binding blood oath, but Lilith wanted something a little more – personal."

For the first time since Billy had met him, Shazam actually seemed embarrassed. There had been times when he had appeared regretful, but now, he was actually embarrassed, despite the fact that he was five thousand years old, and probably the most powerful man in the entire world.

Shazam continued, saying, "I did not want to agree, but I knew that it would be selfish to put my own personal preferences above the needs of countless human beings who would suffer and die if the war was to continue. That was how my daughter was born. Her name is Blaze, although, if I am not mistaken, she prefers to be called Lady Blaze, at least when she is in Hell. She is half-demon, but her human side enables her to cross into this world."

"She corrupted my previous champion, Teth-Adam, who became a vicious tyrant in Kahndaq, committing horrific acts of cruelty and murder in the name of a misguided love for his people. I was forced to imprison his soul and his powers in a golden scarab, but he was reincarnated in the body of Theo Templeton, who killed your birth parents to take the scarab for himself. He became Black Adam, and he is now in a hospital, stuck in his mortal form and unable to speak. He wants to kill Captain Marvel and retake control of Kahndaq, but he is no longer a threat."

"Mary, you were right to go back to the Bromfields last Tuesday night, despite your anger towards them. They wanted a child of their own, but they could not conceive one naturally. They tried to adopt, but Nick had a misdemeanor conviction for battery when he was in college, and although he had reformed, and the fight he participated in was a spontaneous mistake, the adoption agencies still feared that he could be potentially abusive."

"My dad?" Mary interrupted. "He would never-"

"You know that, Mary, and so do I," Shazam said soothingly. "But the adoption agencies did not know that. So your father arranged an illegal adoption, knowing that a child was the one thing that would truly make your mother happy. You must not judge the Nick and Nora Bromfield too harshly. They genuinely loved you, and still do. If they tried to stop you from learning who your birth parents were, it was because they were afraid of losing you."

"You're right," Mary said. Her voice sounded unusually subdued, and tears glimmered in her eyes. "Is it all right if I leave now?"

"It is," Shazam said, and Mary disappeared.

Billy considered going with Mary, but the Wisdom of Solomon told him that she needed some time to herself, and he wanted to talk to Shazam about something.

"When Mary and I stopped the hitmen last Tuesday, something happened with my powers. For a moment, the Strength of Hercules didn't completely work."

"Even the gods are not infinitely powerful," Shazam said. "And they gave me a finite amount of power to share with my champions. Once Mary accessed her powers, your own powers became half as strong as they were before. Unless I take Mary's powers away, the power passed down to you by the gods will continue to be split evenly between you, even if only one of you is currently transformed. And speaking of your powers, Billy, it has come to my attention that you have been using hypnosis. That power is part of the Wisdom of Solomon, but it is one that you must be very careful with. The ability to influence other people's minds should not be used lightly, and it is often tempting to solve problems with hypnosis. However, I do not disapprove of what you have already done with it."

"I'll be careful," Billy promised. "And there's one more thing I wanted to talk about."

"What is it?" asked Shazam.

"In Teth-Adam's tomb, they found a scroll with your name written on it. Is that really yours?"

"In a way, it is," Shazam answered. "When Teth-Adam was my champion, I cast a spell to channel prophecies through pure writing. The subject enters a trancelike state and writes down whatever comes to them, but I cannot cast it on myself, and the minds of ordinary mortals rarely recover from such an experience. So I had Teth-Adam write down the prophecies, in the ancient language of the Atlanteans, which cannot be read without the Wisdom of Solomon."

"There's a prophecy in there that says, on the day of the six ones, the Chosen of Hell shall rise. I think the day of the six ones is tomorrow, 11-11-11."

"I have been aware for some time that my daughter is gathering her power," Shazam said. "Perhaps she intends to strike tomorrow."

Billy skipped school on 11-11-11, so he could patrol the city as Captain Marvel all day. He saved a few people and prevented numerous crimes, but there was no demonic attack.

What he did not know was that late that night, at 11:11 P.M, the door to Ishmael Gregor's jail cell opened, and an exotically beautiful red-haired woman who was wearing dark sunglasses stepped inside. The door closed behind her, and Ishmael asked, "Who are you? How did you get in?"

"The police officer outside the door does not know what is happening," she said mysteriously. "You can call me Angelica. I can get you out of here, and give you the revenge that I know you desire in your heart."

She leaned closer to Ishmael, who thought, Well, there aren't going to be many women where I'm going, and we are alone-

He doubled over, and cried out in pain as an invisible knife seemed to bore into his mind, ripping into his very soul and causing unspeakable agony.

"Understand that I am in charge," Angelica said in a terrifying, furious tone. "Everything you do, from now on, you do for me. If you follow my instructions, you will gain power greater than Captain Marvel. You will no longer have to live in the shadow of those who have magic. Will you accept my offer?"

Ishmael nodded, not trusting himself to speak. Angelica then ripped Ishmael's prison jumpsuit open, exposing his bare chest. The fingers of her right hand lengthened into talons, and Ishmael screamed in agony as they cut into his bare skin.