Billy was standing in a world of infinite white, with the six gods who had once empowered him. They stood in front of him in a semicircle, but he was no longer Captain Marvel. He was Billy Batson. Nothing more, nothing less.
"The wizard is dead," Zeus proclaimed with terrible finality. "The Rock of Eternity needs a new keeper."
"We have chosen you," Solomon said, stepping forward to face Billy. The other gods nodded their assent – all except Atlas, who gave a weary thumbs up.
"But I'm not ready," Billy protested, feeling insignificant, and unsuited for the task, after his previous failure.
"You are right, Billy," said a familiar voice behind him.
Billy turned and saw Shazam, clad in robes of brilliant white. "You- you're dead," Billy stammered.
"Yes," Shazam answered calmly. "But my spirit lives on with the gods. I can no longer hold the Rock of Eternity together. I would be lying if I said I believed that you were ready, but then, I was not ready when I took up the golden throne. I hoped that you would never have to do this, but I also knew that you could. If you choose to accept my place as the Keeper of the Rock of Eternity, you will have to leave behind everything you once knew. Your life in the mortal world will be but a memory that will slowly fade away. You will have to give everything to the cause of defending this world. But you will have your powers back, and so will Mary. Will you accept this fate?"
"I can't," Billy said. "In case you haven't noticed, the Rock of Eternity is gone."
"The Rock of Eternity lives on in your heart," Shazam said. "It can never be truly destroyed, as long as there is any good left in this world. You can rebuild it, and capture the Seven Deadly Sins. But first, you must defeat Sabbac. It will be a desperate and terrible battle, but victory is not impossible."
"I accept," Billy answered.
He regained consciousness, and then he was lying on the floor of the restaurant. He slowly and painfully opened his eyes, and saw Mary hovering over him. A couple of feet away, Deputy Waldorf lay unconscious on the floor.
"Are you alright?" Mary asked.
"I'm fine. How did you-"
"I took some martial arts classes," Mary said. "But we can talk about this later. Are you able to stand? We need to get out of here."
Billy rose to his feet, and said, "I think we can our powers back."
He stepped away from Mary, and she said, "We tried saying Shazam-"
The ceiling was blasted open by a lightning bolt, and Mary Bromfield turned into Mary Marvel. "Your turn," she said as a hint of a smile appeared on her face.
"Come on," Mary urged Billy when he did not say the magic word.
"I think it works differently for me," Billy said, as he focused on the power that he knew was within him. The lightning bolt came down from the sky, and turned him into Captain Marvel. He felt different now, as if he had powers that he did not understand, which he had never possessed before.
"Let's go kick some demon butt," Billy said, with the impossible cheerfulness that Captain Marvel somehow possessed in perilous situations.
Tamara peered around the edge of a massive sculpture that was in front of a large department store. She saw the three gunmen looking around the sculpture where she and her friends had taken shelter. The men started taking positions around the sculpture, ready to shoot anyone who came out from behind it. Cars were being easily stolen from a nearby parking lot, as their locks inexplicably ceased to function.
"We can't stay here forever," Tamara whispered, her voice shaky but controlled.
"Maybe – a distraction," Jessica said desperately. "If we could draw their attention for a moment-"
"It has to be me," Tamara said firmly.
"What?" Jessica demanded.
"They're after me," Tamara explained, feeling more and more frightened with every word she spoke. "It's because of – Captain Marvel. You know that. They don't care about you. They'll chase me anyway, but if I go to the left, and you go to the right, you'll be okay."
"We can't leave you," Jessica said in a terrified whisper.
"'I'll still have a chance," Tamara argued, wishing she believed that statement herself, but knowing that she could not keep putting her best friends in danger. "At least they won't try to hurt you if I'm going in the opposite direction."
"But we promised that we'd always be there for each other," Jessica protested.
Lauren, who had been oddly silent through the whole exchange, took Jessica aside and whispered something to her. Then, she turned to Tamara and said in a hollow voice, "We'll do it. We'll do as you asked."
Even though this was what she wanted, Tamara felt frightened and abandoned. She'd believed that she and her friends were inseparable, and would never abandon each other, even in the worst of times. Now, it felt like that was a lie. As much as Tamara wanted her friends to be safe, there was still a part of her that wanted them to stay until the end. And, she knew that she probably would not survive facing the gunmen alone, but it was too late to change her mind.
She surveyed the scene around the sculpture one last time, and then rushed out, running straight for a narrow alley. Bullets whizzed past her, and she barely made it inside the alley. She ran as the men continued shooting at her, and then she felt a sudden sense of panic when she saw that end of the alley was blocked off. She ran inside a small shed, and slammed the door shut behind her. With trembling fingers, she rapidly closed the bolt on the door.
A single dim lightbulb was on in the shed, and provided very little illumination. As the first bullet hit the door, and flew above her head, Tamara knew that she had only a few minutes left before they reached her. She wished that Billy could come and save her, like he had when Black Adam attacked her, but somehow, she knew that this time, she was on her own. She was certain that she would die soon, but at least, she had saved Jessica and Lauren. Finally, she understood something of what is must be like for Billy to be Captain Marvel, and she began to understand why he had tried to stay away from her.
"Chris – don't do this," Mike pleaded as Chris stood over him, pointing a gun at his head. Through the agony of his leg wound, Mike said, "You're not a murderer."
"You don't know me anymore," Chris said with a demonic glare, as his finger tightened on the trigger.
In one last, desperate attempt to save himself, Mike swung his good leg at Chris, striking both of the other boy's legs and tripping him. Chris fell over, and Mike grabbed his gun, forcing it out of his hands. The gun slid across the floor, and the two boys savagely pounded on each other. But Chris easily gained the upper hand, because Mike was hampered by the wound in his leg.
Fred was knocked from the sky, and landed on the nearly-unoccupied Brooklyn Bridge, throwing up a cloud of asphalt with his impact. His jaw throbbed with pain, and he felt weak and dizzy despite all of his powers. He had taken too many blows, and he knew that he was losing. Sabbac hovered over the bridge, and roared as he hurled a string of fireballs. Explosions shook the famous bridge, blasting it until a yawning chasm divided it in two. Fred rolled behind an abandoned car as a fireball exploded in front of him. He'd done his best, but he just couldn't defeat Sabbac. He wasn't strong enough.
Billy and Mary flew out of the icy clouds, and slammed into Sabbac. They both punched him, hurling him over the railing of the bridge. Sabbac nearly fell into the water, but he shot upwards, rising into the sky.
Finding a new reserve of strength, Fred rose into the air, following Billy and Mary as they chased Sabbac.
"Let's take him down," Billy said confidently.
"Billy – you've changed," Fred said.
"We can talk about that later," Billy said as he swerved to avoid a fireball while Mary dodged another fireball.
They chased Sabbac into the sky, following him as you flew higher.
"The Keeper is dead!" Sabbac exclaimed in disbelief. "How is this possible?"
"I am the Keeper," Billy said, sounding somewhat different now, as he spoke with new confidence and maturity.
Billy flew straight at Sabbac, and punched him in the ribs. Sabbac went flying away from Billy, and then oriented himself like a missile, attempting to head-butt Billy, who dodged at just the right moment, and Sabbac's demonic horns only struck him a trivial glancing blow. As Sabbac and Billy passed each other, Mary grabbed Sabbac from beneath, and then started pushing him upward while pummeling him in midair.
In their aerial duel, Sabbac grabbed Mary by the throat, but he was forced to let go when Fred gave him a superpowered punch in the side of the head. Blood flew from Sabbac's mouth. He roared with pain and disengaged himself from Mary, and flew upwards, flying above the layer of icy clouds he had created.
The three Marvels followed Sabbac, taking positions all around him. Beneath them, they saw the ring of fire that hung in the air around Manhattan and parts of the Bronx, Brooklyn, and New Jersey.
Sabbac conjured fire in his hands, constantly turning to keep track of all three Marvels. He was surrounded, and while he might be more powerful individually than any of them were, it was hard for him to fight all three of them at once.
The Marvel Family flew at Sabbac from all directions. He flung a ring of infernal flames around him, but they flew right through it, and grabbed him together, pushing him towards the ground. They pushed him downwards, and then, acting in perfect harmony, all understanding what to do, the Marvels let go of Sabbac for a moment, and punched him simultaneously with all their strength.
Sabbac plummeted like a rock, and was hurled from the sky. He crashed through the roof of a factory, causing a rain of debris to fall all around him. He landed awkwardly on a large catwalk, and stood there as the Marvels shot through the gaping hole in the roof. They had become overconfident, and now they were easy prey.
Sabbac hurled two fireballs at the Marvels. Billy and Mary tumbled past his catwalk as fire clung to them, like downed fighter planes in a World War II battle. Fred flew through the flames, and punched Sabbac brutally, sending the demon staggering backwards.
Sabbac stayed on his feet, and did not fall off the catwalk. He and Fred faced each other, and then flew straight at one another. Their collision seemed anticlimactic. Rather than flying across the room, they fell away from each other, and landed on the catwalk, standing a few feet away from one another.
Fred slowly fell off the catwalk, the railing splintering as he passed through it. The Dagger of Ares, the weapon that could kill any living creature, protruded from Fred's chest.
Tamara lay on the floor of the shed. So far, all of the bullets that got through the door had flown above her. But when she heard a loud clang of an impact and saw the bolt on the door break, she realized that the thugs had finally shot the lock.
The door slowly swung inward, and Tamara saw the three men aiming their guns inside. A blindingly bright light filled her vision, and for a moment, she thought that she had died and gone to whatever existed after death. But then, she heard frantic gunshots, and the thuds of a car slamming into people. She heard a car door open, and a familiar voice said, "Stop! Put your hands where I can see them!"
When her eyes adjusted to the light, Tamara saw a stolen Lexus in the alleyway. The three gunmen were on the ground, and Jessica had picked up a gun from one of them. The gun discharged, and the three men put their hands up, thinking that Jessica could shoot them at any moment, and assuming that the gunshot was a threat. Tamara, who knew that Jessica had never fired a gun in her life until today, assumed that it was an accident, but either way, it worked, and the attackers surrendered as the light of madness started to leave their eyes. Tamara slowly stepped out of the shed, and saw Lauren sitting behind the wheel of the Lexus.
"We promised that we'd always be there for each other," Lauren said with a smile.
On the cavernous floor of the factory, Billy flew straight at Sabbac, who blasted him against a wall with another fireball. He slammed into a container of liquid coolant, which spilled out onto the floor. He felt the icy coolant flow over him, and then, as he saw other containers of coolant, an idea occurred to him.
"You are weak," Sabbac said. "You never did have a chance against me."
Mary was bending over Fred. The Dagger of Ares protruded from Fred's chest, and Mary tried to pull it out, but it would not move.
"Fred, please don't leave me," she begged. She'd seen Sarah Primm die, and she'd seen Fred get crippled by Sabbac. She couldn't let him die. But there was nothing she could do. The Dagger would not budge, no matter how hard she tried to pull it out.
"Better to die like this," Fred said weakly as blood started to trickle from his mouth, "than to live as a cripple. At least I have done something good for this world."
"Don't say that," Mary pleaded. "You're going to be okay. Just hold on."
"Mary," Billy said in a voice heavy with sadness, as he knew that his oldest friend was about to die, but he also knew that there was something that he had to. He knew that it was what Fred wanted. "I need your help."
"I can't leave him," Mary said, as tears ran down her face. Now, she knew more than ever before how much she cared for Fred. It felt horrible that he would be taken away from her after such a short time. She couldn't leave him.
Fred looked into Mary's eyes. "Please. Help… him. This is … what we were meant to do."
Fred seemed to have some idea of what Billy was planning to do. With great reluctance, Mary left Fred's side, and Billy whispered in her ear what they needed to do.
"He was so weak," Sabbac said. "So easy to kill. Just like his grandfather. I killed his grandfather with greed. The doctors were convinced they could save a little money by taking him off life support."
Mary rose into the air, and Sabbac glided over Fred's prone form to attack her. Sabbac formed fireballs in both of his hands, and hurled them at Mary. She dodged, and the fireballs exploded behind her, turning a machine to dust. Mary flew towards Sabbac, dodging more fireballs as Billy broke more containers of coolant.
Mary ducked beneath another fireball, and then she held out both of her arms, and Sabbac was struck by the strongest blast of lightning that Mary could conjure. Billy flung his arms forward, and a white pulse of light struck Sabbac. The ice spell was empowered by Ixitor's essence, and by the liquid coolant that Billy had released. In the moment that he was stunned by Mary's lightning, Sabbac was suddenly vulnerable to the ice spell. It enveloped him, freezing him solid.
Billy flew towards Sabbac and stood near him, arm poised to strike. The ice was starting to crack, and Sabbac was beginning to stir. Billy needed to kill him. This was his best chance. He wanted Sabbac dead, as he desired revenge for what happened to Fred, to Jacob Freeman, and to everyone else. But something made Billy hesitate for a second. It felt wrong to kill out of anger and revenge, even though Sabbac unquestionably deserved it.
A sudden crash echoed through the desolate interior of the factory. Cracks spread through Sabbac's frozen form, and he shattered into a thousand white fragments.
And then, Billy heard a voice that he had feared he would never hear again, saying, "That was for my grandfather." Fred Freeman, as Captain Marvel Jr., stood behind where Sabbac had been. He had pulled the Dagger of Ares out of his own chest and hurled it through the wall of the factory, making a small hole in the metal and concrete. The blood on his costume was already flowing back into his body, as the Stamina of Atlas healed him.
The world started to warm up noticeably, and Billy could already feel the demonic ice fading as the city returned to its normal temperature. He could sense that the Seven Deadly Sins were fleeing, and the madness that had gripped New York was over. A grin broke out across his face once he fully understood that the battle with Sabbac was over, and Fred was alive and well.
Mike was on the floor, groaning in pain, as Chris aimed a gun at him from above. Lucas was slowly bleeding to death from the wound in his stomach, and Chris remained in the grip of the strange madness.
"Goodbye," Chris said.
Before Chris could pull the trigger, he suddenly flinched. His eyes returned to normal for a moment, and then widened in shock. "What have I done?" he said as a horrified expression appeared on his face.
Chris dropped the gun, and pressed his hands over the bullet would in Lucas's stomach, trying to save the young man's life.
"Sabbac, Seven Deadly Sins," Chris blurted. "They were controlling me. I'm free now. Captain Marvel-"
He said nothing more, but even with the agony of his bruises and the bullet hole in his leg, Mike felt a sense of gratitude to Captain Marvel for having stopped Sabbac in time. When an evil force was this strong, it had to be destroyed, and Marvel was only doing what needed to be done. Finally, Mike understood that Captain Marvel was only trying to do his best to help people. Marvel never wanted Mike's uncle, or any other innocent person, to be hurt.
"It's over," Mary said happily as the three flew above New York City, which was now returning to normal. "We did it."
"We beat Sabbac," Billy said, sounding like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. "But Blaze is still out there, Black Adam has regained his powers, and the Seven Deadly Sins are still free. For now, we must recapture the Sins, and I must rebuild the Rock of Eternity. But it may not be long before Blaze strikes back. We must be ready when that happens."
"We will be," Fred promised. "So, are you going to whatever is left of the Rock of Eternity now?"
"Not yet," Billy said. "There's something I have to do first."
When Billy landed near Tamara, Jessica, and Lauren, a block away from the alley where Tamara had almost died, all three of them understood why he had come. Jessica and Lauren left, so Billy could be alone with Tamara.
"I had to take Shazam's place," Billy said. "That means I'll have to take a rain check on that movie. I have a war to fight, and I can't afford to be Billy Batson anymore, now that I am the Keeper of the Rock of Eternity."
"I understand," Tamara said sadly. "Really, I understand. When Lauren and Jessica and I were attacked, I was willing to die so they could live. When I saw them in danger, I understood why you always tried to stay away from me. I know that your mission is more important than anything we might have had."
"I'm sorry," Billy told her. "I wish he could have been together." He understood how she felt about him, and knew what needed to be done. This had to end, with no misunderstandings.
"I want to know what it's like," Tamara said suddenly. "Just one kiss?"
"You want to kiss Captain Marvel?"
"No, silly. I want to kiss you."
Billy summoned the lightning bolt without speaking, and then turned back into himself. The kiss lasted for a few seconds, and in that time, Billy was able to forget about everything that had just happened. He could forget about the Rock of Eternity, and the Seven Deadly Sins – well, all except one.
When they pulled away, Billy slowly stepped away from Tamara, and summoned the lightning bolt again.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I imagined this story as a movie, and if it was a movie, I think it would have the following songs played in the end credits:
30 Seconds to Mars – The Kill
Two Steps From Hell – Captain Universe
Katie Herzig – Way to the Future
Also, if it was a movie, it would have a post-credits scene, which is in the next chapter.
