Wonder Woman exhibited her rope. "If you please."

Despite the lasso of truth's powers rendered completely useless under the abilities Shazam bestowed, the rope itself still had a back-up trick—it remained physically unbreakable. Freddy had a trading card that said that somewhere, probably. That information had to have come from somewhere for Billy to know it. He could recite secondhand superhero stats in his sleep these days.

Billy held out his hands, touching his fists together in cooperation. Wonder Woman circled the rope a few laps over his wrists, cinching them together tight. Aquaman and Superman stood sentry behind her, like guards as back-up, while her eyes were off her target. Superman seemed relaxed, but he was watching Billy's hands with unblinking precision. These guys really didn't mess around, did they? It was as though Billy were a crate of highly unstable nitroglycerin being prepped for transport. He didn't bother flexing to test if the rope was truly immune to snapping. He already built up a solid introduction and would do well to just go ahead with whatever the Justice League proposed.

While Wonder Woman tested her knot to make sure it was inflexible and secure, Billy could not help but be distracted by the way her hair fell, how it shined, how it seemed to capture the moonlight...

Batman landed with booted thump beside them, having stepped off his streetlight perch. Billy forced his expression into one as rigid as a soldier's.

Batman rose from his crouch as a black mass as if he had shaped himself from solid ink and emerged from the ground itself. The mask's white, pupiless eyes glowed a bit more intimidatingly than Billy wished to admit. Pupils were not necessary, though, to conclude with crystal clarity that Batman was directing his eyes straight into Billy's soul.

Batman's lips were set grimly in what small peak his mask offered. "There's much to discuss," he said in a rumbling voice that seemed to have a layer of voice modulation underlying it, just enough to give it an almost inhuman depth. An identity protecting feature no doubt—and an effective one at that. "It will be better if we brought you somewhere more remote. For all of us."

What, like a wooded area in the mountains? wondered Billy as Wonder Woman stepped back, the knot completed to her liking. Top-secret ocean lair? The sewers? Less mass city damage that way if negotiations got dicey, he supposed. Or maybe they didn't like staying in one exposed place too long to avoid detection. Maintaining incognito status was a lot harder these days when the majority of the population carried, at minimum, three different gadgets on their person that were capable of video recording.

Bruce, ultimately, chose to forego blindfolding The Man In Red. Going ahead with that decision would have been prudent, given how they were about to transport their suspect to The Hall (Barry, on a whim, suggested naming their new headquarters The Hall of Justice, and somehow that rather corny, on-the-nose title stuck.) However, Bruce had to consider x-ray vision, which would make a blindfold nothing more than an amusing sideshow. Given how the lasso of truth couldn't even work, Bruce did not have enough trust to take this stranger's word for it whether x-ray vision was a possibility or not. It was risky to allow The Man In Red his sight, but Bruce was prepared if ever The Hall should become compromised.

Hey, aren't I supposed to be blindfolded by this point? mused Billy, looking between them all. He would have preferred not to narc on himself, though, so he stayed silent.

Batman held up a thumb-sized bit of indiscernible tech and pressed a button on it. It looked like a car fob—if you sort of tilted your head in one direction. Was the Batmobile about to beep to reveal it's location? Now that Billy thought about it, what kind of keychain would Batman put on his own car keys?

Nothing happened.

Oh, no, wait. Something clearly did, because Batman put away the...whatever it was...back into his utility belt. He brought his gauntlet up to his face and an orange, holographic interface buzzed to life.

"We'll meet you three back at headquarters," said Batman, air-tapping a few keys. "We'll be in touch should anything not go to plan."

Billy felt the collective burn of their suspicion.

Clearly they had all discussed their strategy prior, given that Wonder Woman, The Flash, and Superman nodded their okay. So that just left Aquaman, Cyborg and Batman to escort him to...wherever.

So it's either go with the ones who don't like me, or the ones who really don't like me, thought Billy. He sighed through his nose, resigning to his fate. This is going to be the most awkward car ride of my life...

Right now, this wasn't a matter of whose powers were better than whose, who could beat who, and other statistical things like that. This was a matter of seniority, and though Billy as a matter of principle still sometimes fell into his old habits of automatic rebellion against authority, The Justice League's reputation had captured his respect so resolutely that he could not feel the burn of his containment.

True, he was about to allow a group of strangers to tie him down, practically serving himself up on a platter to be led to any destination they wanted. On paper those weren't just red flags, those weren't even alarm bells, those were tornado sirens. A lifetime of stranger danger was telling Billy to bail and get an adult, but in an incredibly rare twist in this once-in-a-lifetime situation, this instance was different. These were superheroes who proved time and again how they truly believed in good. They were capable of kicking Billy's ass into oblivion and the cherry on top would be Superman eye-lasering the remaining ashes into ashes, no problem. But that result would come only if they had a reason.

And Billy was more than willing to not give them one.

He would be safe if he simply complied and didn't fight it. He could protest their interrogation and claim good intentions all he wanted, but words were just words, and anybody could fake their intentions behind bouquets of pretty words—he'd gone through plenty in the foster system to learn that deflating lesson first-hand. He would have to prove himself by being an example. This is what heroes did. They were just trying to shield the world from a potential catastrophe.

Unfortunately in this instance, that potential catastrophe's name was Billy Batson, and it was a school night. Hopefully this little interview wouldn't take too long...

"So, what do we call you?" asked Superman.

Billy almost felt grateful to be given the opportunity. He felt a lot more substantial and acknowledged if they referred to him by name rather than nothing at all. The only problem was...

"I'm still trying to figure that one out. Just call me...umm..." He squeezed his eyes shut in thought. What did Shazam call him?

'Billy Batson. I choose you as Champion.'

"For now, just call me The Champion."

Aquaman at the rear tried to disguise a snicker behind a throat clearing cough. Well, if that wasn't a confidence booster...

Billy found that he had done a surprising amount of growing in the past month. 'Actions Speak Louder Than Words' was a saying that held no meaning to him before. The overused phrase was empty and held discount wisdom that never meant anything practical, nothing applicable. Yet after his experiences, that tired old wisdom's value seemed to gradually start making a whole lot more sense these days.

Or maybe that was the wisdom of Solomon kicking in.

He even forgot for a moment that he was a physically strong, muscled man in The Justice League's eyes. Yet despite the big body that was nigh inpenetrable, it always sheltered a scared little fourteen year old boy on the inside, and all the inflated, self-assured ego in the world could not make the toddler who lost his mother poke his head out from the small place hidden away in his heart. Despite standing just as tall as most of the Justice League members in this form, and even more buff than half of them, he could not shake how safe, shielded, and secure he felt in the escort cocoon they provided.

"See you soon," said Wonder Woman to the remaining three—or four, if Billy counted himself, but he was pretty sure he was just 'the cargo' at this point.

Exiting the alley like a normal person was clearly too much to ask for superheroes. The Flash two-finger saluted and suddenly a red blur replaced the space he had just occupied. Superman popped into the air like a rocket, creating a whooshing breeze through everybody's hair. Wonder Woman crouched and leaped like she was spring-loaded, reaching the heights of Superman, except more succeptible to gravity, and she landed on the apartment rooftop above them, disappearing from view. The streak of light in the nightsky that was Superman soon curled, redirecting course, and was gone.

Billy continued to stare up into the stars. God, they were all so...organized. He suddenly felt like a flopping salmon trying to get in good with a school of sharks. He'd done okay so far by mostly winging it—hey, no one really taught him any better, Shazam kind of...expired before he could volunteer to be Billy's mentor, leaving Freddy to fill in a gap in the spectacular way that only Freddy Freeman could—but the Justice League totally just made their operation look like finger-painting at the Louvre.

There was something else he couldn't help but notice. Something more about the League than just another day at the office. They banded together when times got tough. Really tough, in their case. Like, trying to keep the literal world in one piece kind of tough. But a special brand of togetherness all the same.

Like a family...

Billy brought himself back to Earth. He could not allow himself to get attached to that feeling. Nothing was a given. Joining the League was a child's dream, their ranks were already well-represented. He needed to get used to defaulting to a solo act.

The Vasquez's were different. They were proving to be a mainstay. They chose Billy. Shazam's powers were also proving to be a mainstay. Billy was chosen. The Justice League, however, had no personal commitment in him. They had responsibility to his powers, yes, from the world's point of view, but not to regular old Billy. They were too busy and too needed in the world to worry about the microscopic stuff like jaywalking, not picking up after your dog, and some kid barely out of middle school.

That is, if they ever discovered he was just some kid barely out of middle school. That would cancel his Justice League membership for sure! Best that little detail stay Billy's little secret.

And Freddy's.

And also Darla's.

Oh, and Mary's.

And Eugene's. And Pedro's.

How many people actually knew Billy's real identity again?

A/N: So, so sorry for the long delay! Forgive my absence! I got a new job and it's quite physically demanding. It's kicking my ass. I usually come home bone tired and mentally put out, so I haven't been able to be as busy writing-wise as I wish I can be, but I have every intention of finishing this. Thank you all very much for your patience! The outpouring of Favorites and Follows has been absolutely astounding! Thank you all! Just...WOW! It's insane, my Favorites/Follows notifications are blowing up! It's wonderful!

Guest - Oh thank you! Totally aware of the Flashpoint Paradox scene you're talking about, yep! That did happen. But if I really think about it...should it have happened? I truly think the power of Zeus would very likely nullify the lasso's effects, and I felt comfortable going with that here since the DCEU also deviates or reworks established stories a little bit from time to time. So I didn't feel like too much of a bad writer to play with lore, but only in ways that totally make sense with the information in the stories I've been given. If that makes sense.
Plus, you're totally right, Billy is one of the most powerful DC heroes (even though he doesn't really know it yet) we gotta give him a little bit of an edge, right? ;) I very much love the dynamic of all this immense power given to someone who is pretty much unequipped to wield said immense power. Makes for a BIG learning curve.
I'm gonna take a chance and say that Diana does not know about the whole Shazam business.

Denz-El - Oh wow! Thank you, thank you for those lovely words! I really do hope I'm able to keep up the entertainment value for you.