INT. DOCTOR FATE'S LABYRINTH
From a height above the interminable labyrinth, a streak of light can be seen zipping through the varying twists and turns, doubling back on itself more often than not.
Meeting with one dead end too many for his patience, Clark vents his frustration by slamming his fist into the latest blank wall that blocks his path. Despite the awesome power behind the punch, the wall stares vacantly back at him, mocking his supposed strength, leaving not even a hint of submission.
Pacing, throwing his arms into the air, Clark looks to the tops of the walls that surround him.
CLARK
That's it. I'm tired of playing games.
Bending down, Clark hurls his body into the air. Unfortunately, his leap proves a little too strong. He throws out his arms half a second too late as he soars infinitely higher over the labyrinth. Finally, piercing through a thin white mist, he becomes lodged in a pure white cloud several hundred feet above the massive maze.
HENRY CLOWN Well, wuh-oh, El-woy. What are you doing all the way up here, Clark-o?
Clark holds his arms out at either side, as if balancing himself on an imaginary tight rope. He is surprised to see Henry, dressed up as a classic circus clown right down to the red nose, meditating comfortably on a cloud only a few feet away.
CLARK
I... I'm flying!
Henry squeezes the nose on his face. HONK! HONK!
HENRY CLOWN
No no no, you're not, silly face!
Picking himself up, Henry gets to his feet.
HENRY CLOWN
You just stuck-o, boy-o.
Henry bends down and, out of the mist, picks up a large, silver-spiked, mace. The end of the mace glows with an electric shimmer.
HENRY CLOWN
Here... Henry help!
CLARK
No, wait!
Henry pulls the mace over his head and hurls it down onto Clark's head, slamming him through the layer of clouds and sending the future Man of Steel plummeting back down toward the maze below.
SPLAT!
CLARK
::groans:: Ow.
Peeling himself off the ground, Clark notices a long golden staff, with an almost cosmic quality to it, lying next to him. It is broken mid-shaft, a tattered blue and white mask draped over it.
Beyond the staff, a young teenaged boy, well under six feet tall and scrawny (130 pounds soaking wet), wipes his own tears from the face of a young blonde girl lying prone across his lap. She isn't moving. A small droplet of blood trickles down the side of her face from her nose. Her patriotically partisan costume has been reduced to little more than ribbons strewn atop her. She is badly beaten.
Behind them, a broad shouldered man stands knee deep in a four foot by six foot hole, excavating heaps of dirt from it with a golden shovel. His expression almost as square as his jaw, the man stops only momentarily to wipe a bead of sweat from his brow on his sleeve. A single, thick, yellow lightning bolt is emblazoned on his chest between a pair of vertical rows of golden buttons on his one piece, blood red uniform. A white cape with gold trim completes the familiar trademark ensemble of one of Earth's greatest heroes; Captain Marvel.
A blank granite tombstone at the foot of the hole clears up any questions as to its purpose.
BILLY BATSON ... Oh, say does that Star-Spangled banner yet wave...
Clark gets to his feet and walks over to Billy, who looks up at Clark as he approaches.
BILLY BATSON She wanted to see the other side of the mountain.
Billy looks back down at the girl across his lap, brushing a stray strand of hair from across her face.
BILLY BATSON Everything's okay now, Court. I've got you. You rest.
Billy rocks her back and forth in his arms, but it's clear the girl is no sleeping babe.
HENRY GOTH
A torridly feeble scene, don't you think? Poor Billy Batson... His little girlfriend's all broken.
Clark turns his attention to the far corner of this section of the labyrinth where Henry, this time dressed in all black with pale white skin, stands alone in the corner surrounded by several stacks of old hard-bound books. Clark walks over to him, but keeps his attention on Billy.
CLARK
What happened to her?
HENRY GOTH
She died. Bizarre, I would have thought that simple verity rather obvious, and yet the two of you find it a quandary. Well, I suppose that goes to the point.
CLARK
How did she die?
HENRY GOTH
What's the difference? Everyone dies at some point or another. Does it really matter how?
CLARK
Did Fate kill her?
Henry smiles at him, coldly.
HENRY GOTH No... I did.
Clark steps back, eyes wide.
CLARK
You killed her?!
HENRY GOTH
Or maybe you did it. Then again, maybe he did it.
Henry motions toward Billy.
HENRY GOTH
Or maybe no one did it. It was her fate, all the pun intended. It was her end. Death is, after all, the only inescapable, unavoidable, sure thing. We are all sentenced to die the day we are born. The important thing is the way she lived, and she lived the way she wanted too; the only true and proper way. Some day some destitute author will probably write a nice book about it, make themselves famous off of it... well, maybe a comic book anyway.
CLARK
Comic book? You think this is funny?
HENRY GOTH
No, I don't... but it does make for interesting reading material.
Henry sits down, his legs crossed Indian-style, and picks a book from one of the shorter stacks to his right and begins reading from it. It has a red and blue cover with golden yellow binding.
HENRY GOTH
I can't help it if he's incapable of moving passed what's happened any more than I can change the words on the page. Everything has a beginning.
He shows Clark page one of the book, then flips through to the end.
HENRY GOTH
Everything has an end.
Henry motions toward Billy.
HENRY GOTH
He seems perfectly content sitting there, wallowing in his own cesspool of self-pity. Besides, misery loves company. I like him where he is. I get to read my books in peace and I don't have anyone looking over my shoulder, waiting for me to finish. I can take my time. I can read all the books that I want. I can read all of them or I can read just the one, over and over again.
CLARK
What book are you reading now?
HENRY GOTH
This? Oh, this is a very special book. It's one of my favorites. Of course, when I say that, I really mean that I don't despise it quite so much as I do the others. Most of these are written by talent less hacks taking advantage of the mindless category drug addicts who whore their souls out to anything with a label and fantasy colors.
Clark ignores the literary commentary.
CLARK
What's it about?
HENRY GOTH
It's about the greatest hero who ever lived. I've been waiting for it for a very long time, you know. You see, for a while, it didn't have any ending.
CLARK No ending?
HENRY GOTH
Would you like me to read you some of it?
He doesn't wait for Clark to answer.
HENRY GOTH And all the skies and the heavens became like a boiling ocean, with the creatures from the dark side of the Fire Gate raining their pestilence down on the land. The people raised up their swords in the names of their homes, but were swiftly crushed by the Evil One, and his minions, and resolved to servitude. They could do nothing as their paradise became like the fierce desert and all that was theirs was taken from them.
Clark kneels down, paying very close attention as Henry narrates to him.
HENRY GOTH
The people prayed to their Gods for a savior, someone to deliver them from the Evil One's oppressive hand. But they were punished for their faith as the Evil One destroyed the sun and the darkness came.
The story reads remarkably similar to the one Lana read to Jonathan, but where she hesitated, Henry reads on.
HENRY GOTH The Gods of the people became enraged by the Evil One's actions and the God of Life and Death was summoned forth to grant the people's request. A deliverer, El, was born. Bequeathed to a humble family of slaves, he would live among the mortals, as one of them.
The name El in particular sparks Clark's interests.
HENRY GOTH Fearing the God's wrath, the Evil One sought out to destroy the deliverer before his time of ascension. Knowing he could never hope to defeat the savior himself, the protection of Godly powers bestowed upon him, the Evil One waited to strike against El's heart. Blackening the heavens, blinding the Gods' sight, the Evil One would wait for the hero El to save the one who fell from the sky for the moment to strike. The burden of a hero is a heart for all, and the Evil One knew this.
Henry looks up at Clark and smiles, again coldly.
HENRY GOTH
Thoroughly fascinating stuff, don't you think?
CLARK Where did you get that book?
HENRY GOTH
::sarcastic:: From the library.
Clark grabs the book out of Henry's hands.
CLARK
Let me see it.
Clark quickly turns the page, but finds nothing but blank pages after the part at which Henry stopped reading.
CLARK
They're all blank.
HENRY GOTH
What did you expect?
CLARK
You told me the story had an ending.
HENRY GOTH
It does...
Henry takes the book back out of Clark's hands and closes it.
HENRY GOTH
But only those of us who have reached that end can read it.
CLARK You can read it?
HENRY GOTH
I can. I have.
CLARK
I have to know what happens.
HENRY GOTH
I can't... any more than I can change the words on the page. I didn't write it. There's nothing I can do to change it. All I can do is sit back and enjoy.
CLARK I have to know. The Evil One, does he have a name? Is his name Kalib?
Henry simply laughs at him.
Clark gets to his feet, looking around frantically. He looks over at Billy.
CLARK
What about him? Can he read it?
HENRY GOTH
Oh, I'd say decidedly so, though he won't be any good to you. He won't read the end. He refuses. I keep telling him, all good stories must come to an end some time. Plus, who knows? If we're lucky... maybe we'll get a sequel.
CAPTAIN MARVEL
It is finished.
Captain Marvel steps up out of the hole, thrusting the shovel into the pile of dirt that's accumulated next to it. Nodding, Billy dries his tears and gets to his feet. Clark watches in silence as Billy slowly carries the girl over to the hole and steps inside, gently laying her down. What happens next, though, takes Clark aback as Billy lies down next to her in the grave.
CLARK
What's going on?
HENRY GOTH
The end of misery is self-destruction.
Reclaiming the shovel, Captain Marvel lifts a heap of dirt from the pile and throws it into the hole.
CLARK
What are you doing?!
As Marvel goes to dump a second heap of dirt into the hole, Clark races over to stop him. He reaches for the shovel, attempting to yank it from Marvel's hands.
CLARK
Are you crazy?!
BILLY BATSON
Stay out of this, Clark!
Marvel tugs at the shovel, effortlessly swinging Clark into the air and hurling him backwards. Clark's back slams violently against the unforgiving far wall of the labyrinth.
Picking himself up, Clark watches as Marvel dumps another pile of dirt into the hole.
CLARK
I'm not going to let you do this!
Bending down like a football nose tackle, Clark leans forward and super speeds toward Marvel, driving his shoulder into the man's side. Dropping the shovel, Marvel turns while being driven back, catching Clark in a bear hug while simultaneously grinding his feet against the ground to counteract Clark's push. All at once, Marvel uses what's left of Clark's momentum against him, twisting at the shoulders and kneeling to pile-drive Clark, head first, into the ground.
Billy sits up in the hole and gets to his feet.
BILLY BATSON You don't understand!
Clark turns over and hurriedly tries to crawl out from under Captain Marvel.
CLARK
Why do people keep saying that?
Not fast enough. Marvel grabs Clark by the neck, picks him up over his head, and drives him back down into the ground. Before Clark can recover, Marvel finishes the brief onslaught with a quick jab, slamming his fist into Clark's jaw.
Marvel stands up over a more than slightly dazed Clark. Turning his back on him, he goes to pick up the shovel.
BILLY BATSON I want this.
Holding his head, Clark looks over at Billy from the ground.
CLARK
I'm not going to let you kill yourself.
BILLY BATSON Why not? Look at me, Clark, I'm nothing. I'm not strong. I'm not fast. I'm not smart. Maybe if I were more like him...
Captain Marvel, the golden shovel back in his hands, steps up next to the pile.
BILLY BATSON
I could make a difference. Maybe, if I were more like him, or you, I could have saved her. But I'm not, I'm nothing like him, and never will be.
CLARK
That's not true.
BILLY BATSON
It is true! No matter what I do, he'll always be stronger, he'll always be the hero and I'll always be nothing! All she ever wanted was to see the other side of the mountain. So, we went and we climbed that mountain, together. It was a stupid idea, I never should have gone. It should have been him. He could have saved her!
Clark manages to turn himself over and prop himself up on his knees.
BILLY BATSON I tried. I tried so hard... until every part of my body ached... but when that ledge gave out, I couldn't hold on. I couldn't lift her up.
He flexes his hands in front of him.
BILLY BATSON
::crying:: My hand... and hers... I was sweating... She just slipped. I couldn't even watch. I heard her scream, and then... it was just silent. That's not the way it should have happened. That's not the way people like her are meant to...
He points up at Captain Marvel.
BILLY BATSON
He wouldn't have let her fall! Don't you understand, Clark?! If he had been there, she would still be alive. That's why it doesn't matter what happens to me. He's the one the world needs, now more than ever. The world doesn't need Billy Batson, it never did. The world needs him. He's the greater half. He's the hero.
Clark dusts himself off and stands tall.
CLARK
But she went with you.
BILLY BATSON But I'm not the hero. I'm not the special one.
CLARK
She cared about you. You were special to her.
BILLY BATSON
And now she's gone.
CAPTAIN MARVEL
But I'm not, Billy.
Billy looks up at Captain Marvel.
CAPTAIN MARVEL
And you're special to me.
Clark walks over to Billy and offers him his hand, keeping a watchful eye on Captain Marvel in the process... just in case.
CLARK
What happened to...
Clark remembers he doesn't even know the girl's name.
BILLY BATSON
Courtney...
CLARK
What happened to Courtney was a terrible thing, Billy... but it was an accident. It wasn't your fault. You can't blame yourself.
BILLY BATSON
It just hurts so much, Clark.
CLARK
But you can't bury it, Billy. You may wish you had been able to hold on to her up on that ledge... but now it's time to let her go.
Reluctantly, Billy takes Clark's hand.
Clark Kent, Billy Batson, and Captain Marvel stand in front of the covered gravesite, heads bowed in a moment of silence before the granite stone reading "Courtney Whitmore: The Star-Spangled Kid".
Henry steps up next to Clark, paying his respects.
CLARK
I thought misery loves company?
HENRY GOTH
It's a funeral.
Billy kneels in front of the grave.
BILLY BATSON I'm going to miss you, Court.
CAPTAIN MARVEL
As will I.
Captain Marvel turns and steps behind the kneeling Billy Batson. Laying his hands on Billy's shoulders, Marvel very literally falls into the younger boy, merging with him, the two of them becoming one person.
CLARK
What...?
HENRY GOTH
You didn't know?
CLARK
How did...?
HENRY GOTH
They're the same person, Billy Batson and Captain Marvel.
CLARK
How is that be?
HENRY GOTH
Magic, of course. Everything in here is magic.
CLARK
Then, that's what he meant... That's what he meant when he said...
HENRY GOTH
In here, he can exist as both, but out in the real world he is either or.
CLARK
I don't...
Clark is interrupted when, out of the displaced dirt of the grave erupts an incredible beam of golden light in the shape of an ankh. All at once, it envelops Billy.
CLARK
Billy!
Clark reaches out, but is too late. Billy has disappeared, as has the grave, and the stone. There is only Henry... and the labyrinth.
HENRY GOTH
A shame... I rather enjoyed the company. Hmm... How 'bout that? I actually did.
Henry turns, leaving Clark to stare blankly at the ground. He walks back over to his pile of books and sits down, picking up the same book from before off the top.
CLARK Where did he go? What was that light?
HENRY GOTH
Fate.
CLARK
What did he do to him?!
HENRY GOTH
You helped Billy turn the page, so Fate no longer had any use for him.
CLARK
He killed him?!
HENRY GOTH
Fate finds it amusing to send people here to suffer. You've gone and ruined it for him; helping these troubled souls to move passed their pain. Once they're able to do that, what good are they to him anymore? He is a madman after all. I've got to say, though, I've finally started to get his sense of humor. I actually find it kind of amusing.
CLARK
Well, I don't! I've had enough of Fate and I've had enough of this labyrinth!
HENRY GOTH
Have you now? Then, why are you still in it?
CLARK
It's not like I have a choice.
HENRY GOTH
Don't you?
CLARK
::confused:: Well, it'd be easy if I could just click my heels together, but it's a little more complicated than that.
HENRY GOTH
Is it?
Clark hesitates.
CLARK Isn't it?
HENRY GOTH ::smiles:: You know, this really is one of my favorite stories of all time.
Henry shows Clark the book.
HENRY GOTH
I've enjoyed it so very much. I enjoyed the beginning... and the path... and the end. I especially enjoyed the end.
Henry stands up, a new fire behind his eyes.
HENRY GOTH
I enjoyed so much watching you hurt, Clark... watching you seize in place as the realization that you would never see your father alive again slowly settled into that thick skull of yours. No matter how hard you tried, no matter how valiantly you strove forward, I could always see the pain in your eyes as you struggled to maintain your grasp on that last shred of hope. You're outmatched and the truth is, you have no idea what's ahead of you, but I do. I know the pain in your life, Clark, and I take great pleasure in it.
Henry steps closer, coming face to face with Clark.
HENRY GOTH But the truth is, there is one man's sorrow who I take an even greater pleasure in. It is his anguish, the chance to torment him, that fuels my existence, that keeps me alive. That's why, as much fun as this has been, I'm tired of it. It's time for me to feast on something... a little juicier, something with a little more meat. You want Fate, Clark? I can give him to you.
CLARK
How?
HENRY GOTH
I can show you the way out.
CLARK ::hesitant:: What do I have to do?
HENRY GOTH All you have to do is promise me one little thing...
Clark waits for the terms.
HENRY GOTH
Promise me you'll make him suffer.
From a height above the interminable labyrinth, a streak of light can be seen zipping through the varying twists and turns, doubling back on itself more often than not.
Meeting with one dead end too many for his patience, Clark vents his frustration by slamming his fist into the latest blank wall that blocks his path. Despite the awesome power behind the punch, the wall stares vacantly back at him, mocking his supposed strength, leaving not even a hint of submission.
Pacing, throwing his arms into the air, Clark looks to the tops of the walls that surround him.
CLARK
That's it. I'm tired of playing games.
Bending down, Clark hurls his body into the air. Unfortunately, his leap proves a little too strong. He throws out his arms half a second too late as he soars infinitely higher over the labyrinth. Finally, piercing through a thin white mist, he becomes lodged in a pure white cloud several hundred feet above the massive maze.
HENRY CLOWN Well, wuh-oh, El-woy. What are you doing all the way up here, Clark-o?
Clark holds his arms out at either side, as if balancing himself on an imaginary tight rope. He is surprised to see Henry, dressed up as a classic circus clown right down to the red nose, meditating comfortably on a cloud only a few feet away.
CLARK
I... I'm flying!
Henry squeezes the nose on his face. HONK! HONK!
HENRY CLOWN
No no no, you're not, silly face!
Picking himself up, Henry gets to his feet.
HENRY CLOWN
You just stuck-o, boy-o.
Henry bends down and, out of the mist, picks up a large, silver-spiked, mace. The end of the mace glows with an electric shimmer.
HENRY CLOWN
Here... Henry help!
CLARK
No, wait!
Henry pulls the mace over his head and hurls it down onto Clark's head, slamming him through the layer of clouds and sending the future Man of Steel plummeting back down toward the maze below.
SPLAT!
CLARK
::groans:: Ow.
Peeling himself off the ground, Clark notices a long golden staff, with an almost cosmic quality to it, lying next to him. It is broken mid-shaft, a tattered blue and white mask draped over it.
Beyond the staff, a young teenaged boy, well under six feet tall and scrawny (130 pounds soaking wet), wipes his own tears from the face of a young blonde girl lying prone across his lap. She isn't moving. A small droplet of blood trickles down the side of her face from her nose. Her patriotically partisan costume has been reduced to little more than ribbons strewn atop her. She is badly beaten.
Behind them, a broad shouldered man stands knee deep in a four foot by six foot hole, excavating heaps of dirt from it with a golden shovel. His expression almost as square as his jaw, the man stops only momentarily to wipe a bead of sweat from his brow on his sleeve. A single, thick, yellow lightning bolt is emblazoned on his chest between a pair of vertical rows of golden buttons on his one piece, blood red uniform. A white cape with gold trim completes the familiar trademark ensemble of one of Earth's greatest heroes; Captain Marvel.
A blank granite tombstone at the foot of the hole clears up any questions as to its purpose.
BILLY BATSON ... Oh, say does that Star-Spangled banner yet wave...
Clark gets to his feet and walks over to Billy, who looks up at Clark as he approaches.
BILLY BATSON She wanted to see the other side of the mountain.
Billy looks back down at the girl across his lap, brushing a stray strand of hair from across her face.
BILLY BATSON Everything's okay now, Court. I've got you. You rest.
Billy rocks her back and forth in his arms, but it's clear the girl is no sleeping babe.
HENRY GOTH
A torridly feeble scene, don't you think? Poor Billy Batson... His little girlfriend's all broken.
Clark turns his attention to the far corner of this section of the labyrinth where Henry, this time dressed in all black with pale white skin, stands alone in the corner surrounded by several stacks of old hard-bound books. Clark walks over to him, but keeps his attention on Billy.
CLARK
What happened to her?
HENRY GOTH
She died. Bizarre, I would have thought that simple verity rather obvious, and yet the two of you find it a quandary. Well, I suppose that goes to the point.
CLARK
How did she die?
HENRY GOTH
What's the difference? Everyone dies at some point or another. Does it really matter how?
CLARK
Did Fate kill her?
Henry smiles at him, coldly.
HENRY GOTH No... I did.
Clark steps back, eyes wide.
CLARK
You killed her?!
HENRY GOTH
Or maybe you did it. Then again, maybe he did it.
Henry motions toward Billy.
HENRY GOTH
Or maybe no one did it. It was her fate, all the pun intended. It was her end. Death is, after all, the only inescapable, unavoidable, sure thing. We are all sentenced to die the day we are born. The important thing is the way she lived, and she lived the way she wanted too; the only true and proper way. Some day some destitute author will probably write a nice book about it, make themselves famous off of it... well, maybe a comic book anyway.
CLARK
Comic book? You think this is funny?
HENRY GOTH
No, I don't... but it does make for interesting reading material.
Henry sits down, his legs crossed Indian-style, and picks a book from one of the shorter stacks to his right and begins reading from it. It has a red and blue cover with golden yellow binding.
HENRY GOTH
I can't help it if he's incapable of moving passed what's happened any more than I can change the words on the page. Everything has a beginning.
He shows Clark page one of the book, then flips through to the end.
HENRY GOTH
Everything has an end.
Henry motions toward Billy.
HENRY GOTH
He seems perfectly content sitting there, wallowing in his own cesspool of self-pity. Besides, misery loves company. I like him where he is. I get to read my books in peace and I don't have anyone looking over my shoulder, waiting for me to finish. I can take my time. I can read all the books that I want. I can read all of them or I can read just the one, over and over again.
CLARK
What book are you reading now?
HENRY GOTH
This? Oh, this is a very special book. It's one of my favorites. Of course, when I say that, I really mean that I don't despise it quite so much as I do the others. Most of these are written by talent less hacks taking advantage of the mindless category drug addicts who whore their souls out to anything with a label and fantasy colors.
Clark ignores the literary commentary.
CLARK
What's it about?
HENRY GOTH
It's about the greatest hero who ever lived. I've been waiting for it for a very long time, you know. You see, for a while, it didn't have any ending.
CLARK No ending?
HENRY GOTH
Would you like me to read you some of it?
He doesn't wait for Clark to answer.
HENRY GOTH And all the skies and the heavens became like a boiling ocean, with the creatures from the dark side of the Fire Gate raining their pestilence down on the land. The people raised up their swords in the names of their homes, but were swiftly crushed by the Evil One, and his minions, and resolved to servitude. They could do nothing as their paradise became like the fierce desert and all that was theirs was taken from them.
Clark kneels down, paying very close attention as Henry narrates to him.
HENRY GOTH
The people prayed to their Gods for a savior, someone to deliver them from the Evil One's oppressive hand. But they were punished for their faith as the Evil One destroyed the sun and the darkness came.
The story reads remarkably similar to the one Lana read to Jonathan, but where she hesitated, Henry reads on.
HENRY GOTH The Gods of the people became enraged by the Evil One's actions and the God of Life and Death was summoned forth to grant the people's request. A deliverer, El, was born. Bequeathed to a humble family of slaves, he would live among the mortals, as one of them.
The name El in particular sparks Clark's interests.
HENRY GOTH Fearing the God's wrath, the Evil One sought out to destroy the deliverer before his time of ascension. Knowing he could never hope to defeat the savior himself, the protection of Godly powers bestowed upon him, the Evil One waited to strike against El's heart. Blackening the heavens, blinding the Gods' sight, the Evil One would wait for the hero El to save the one who fell from the sky for the moment to strike. The burden of a hero is a heart for all, and the Evil One knew this.
Henry looks up at Clark and smiles, again coldly.
HENRY GOTH
Thoroughly fascinating stuff, don't you think?
CLARK Where did you get that book?
HENRY GOTH
::sarcastic:: From the library.
Clark grabs the book out of Henry's hands.
CLARK
Let me see it.
Clark quickly turns the page, but finds nothing but blank pages after the part at which Henry stopped reading.
CLARK
They're all blank.
HENRY GOTH
What did you expect?
CLARK
You told me the story had an ending.
HENRY GOTH
It does...
Henry takes the book back out of Clark's hands and closes it.
HENRY GOTH
But only those of us who have reached that end can read it.
CLARK You can read it?
HENRY GOTH
I can. I have.
CLARK
I have to know what happens.
HENRY GOTH
I can't... any more than I can change the words on the page. I didn't write it. There's nothing I can do to change it. All I can do is sit back and enjoy.
CLARK I have to know. The Evil One, does he have a name? Is his name Kalib?
Henry simply laughs at him.
Clark gets to his feet, looking around frantically. He looks over at Billy.
CLARK
What about him? Can he read it?
HENRY GOTH
Oh, I'd say decidedly so, though he won't be any good to you. He won't read the end. He refuses. I keep telling him, all good stories must come to an end some time. Plus, who knows? If we're lucky... maybe we'll get a sequel.
CAPTAIN MARVEL
It is finished.
Captain Marvel steps up out of the hole, thrusting the shovel into the pile of dirt that's accumulated next to it. Nodding, Billy dries his tears and gets to his feet. Clark watches in silence as Billy slowly carries the girl over to the hole and steps inside, gently laying her down. What happens next, though, takes Clark aback as Billy lies down next to her in the grave.
CLARK
What's going on?
HENRY GOTH
The end of misery is self-destruction.
Reclaiming the shovel, Captain Marvel lifts a heap of dirt from the pile and throws it into the hole.
CLARK
What are you doing?!
As Marvel goes to dump a second heap of dirt into the hole, Clark races over to stop him. He reaches for the shovel, attempting to yank it from Marvel's hands.
CLARK
Are you crazy?!
BILLY BATSON
Stay out of this, Clark!
Marvel tugs at the shovel, effortlessly swinging Clark into the air and hurling him backwards. Clark's back slams violently against the unforgiving far wall of the labyrinth.
Picking himself up, Clark watches as Marvel dumps another pile of dirt into the hole.
CLARK
I'm not going to let you do this!
Bending down like a football nose tackle, Clark leans forward and super speeds toward Marvel, driving his shoulder into the man's side. Dropping the shovel, Marvel turns while being driven back, catching Clark in a bear hug while simultaneously grinding his feet against the ground to counteract Clark's push. All at once, Marvel uses what's left of Clark's momentum against him, twisting at the shoulders and kneeling to pile-drive Clark, head first, into the ground.
Billy sits up in the hole and gets to his feet.
BILLY BATSON You don't understand!
Clark turns over and hurriedly tries to crawl out from under Captain Marvel.
CLARK
Why do people keep saying that?
Not fast enough. Marvel grabs Clark by the neck, picks him up over his head, and drives him back down into the ground. Before Clark can recover, Marvel finishes the brief onslaught with a quick jab, slamming his fist into Clark's jaw.
Marvel stands up over a more than slightly dazed Clark. Turning his back on him, he goes to pick up the shovel.
BILLY BATSON I want this.
Holding his head, Clark looks over at Billy from the ground.
CLARK
I'm not going to let you kill yourself.
BILLY BATSON Why not? Look at me, Clark, I'm nothing. I'm not strong. I'm not fast. I'm not smart. Maybe if I were more like him...
Captain Marvel, the golden shovel back in his hands, steps up next to the pile.
BILLY BATSON
I could make a difference. Maybe, if I were more like him, or you, I could have saved her. But I'm not, I'm nothing like him, and never will be.
CLARK
That's not true.
BILLY BATSON
It is true! No matter what I do, he'll always be stronger, he'll always be the hero and I'll always be nothing! All she ever wanted was to see the other side of the mountain. So, we went and we climbed that mountain, together. It was a stupid idea, I never should have gone. It should have been him. He could have saved her!
Clark manages to turn himself over and prop himself up on his knees.
BILLY BATSON I tried. I tried so hard... until every part of my body ached... but when that ledge gave out, I couldn't hold on. I couldn't lift her up.
He flexes his hands in front of him.
BILLY BATSON
::crying:: My hand... and hers... I was sweating... She just slipped. I couldn't even watch. I heard her scream, and then... it was just silent. That's not the way it should have happened. That's not the way people like her are meant to...
He points up at Captain Marvel.
BILLY BATSON
He wouldn't have let her fall! Don't you understand, Clark?! If he had been there, she would still be alive. That's why it doesn't matter what happens to me. He's the one the world needs, now more than ever. The world doesn't need Billy Batson, it never did. The world needs him. He's the greater half. He's the hero.
Clark dusts himself off and stands tall.
CLARK
But she went with you.
BILLY BATSON But I'm not the hero. I'm not the special one.
CLARK
She cared about you. You were special to her.
BILLY BATSON
And now she's gone.
CAPTAIN MARVEL
But I'm not, Billy.
Billy looks up at Captain Marvel.
CAPTAIN MARVEL
And you're special to me.
Clark walks over to Billy and offers him his hand, keeping a watchful eye on Captain Marvel in the process... just in case.
CLARK
What happened to...
Clark remembers he doesn't even know the girl's name.
BILLY BATSON
Courtney...
CLARK
What happened to Courtney was a terrible thing, Billy... but it was an accident. It wasn't your fault. You can't blame yourself.
BILLY BATSON
It just hurts so much, Clark.
CLARK
But you can't bury it, Billy. You may wish you had been able to hold on to her up on that ledge... but now it's time to let her go.
Reluctantly, Billy takes Clark's hand.
Clark Kent, Billy Batson, and Captain Marvel stand in front of the covered gravesite, heads bowed in a moment of silence before the granite stone reading "Courtney Whitmore: The Star-Spangled Kid".
Henry steps up next to Clark, paying his respects.
CLARK
I thought misery loves company?
HENRY GOTH
It's a funeral.
Billy kneels in front of the grave.
BILLY BATSON I'm going to miss you, Court.
CAPTAIN MARVEL
As will I.
Captain Marvel turns and steps behind the kneeling Billy Batson. Laying his hands on Billy's shoulders, Marvel very literally falls into the younger boy, merging with him, the two of them becoming one person.
CLARK
What...?
HENRY GOTH
You didn't know?
CLARK
How did...?
HENRY GOTH
They're the same person, Billy Batson and Captain Marvel.
CLARK
How is that be?
HENRY GOTH
Magic, of course. Everything in here is magic.
CLARK
Then, that's what he meant... That's what he meant when he said...
HENRY GOTH
In here, he can exist as both, but out in the real world he is either or.
CLARK
I don't...
Clark is interrupted when, out of the displaced dirt of the grave erupts an incredible beam of golden light in the shape of an ankh. All at once, it envelops Billy.
CLARK
Billy!
Clark reaches out, but is too late. Billy has disappeared, as has the grave, and the stone. There is only Henry... and the labyrinth.
HENRY GOTH
A shame... I rather enjoyed the company. Hmm... How 'bout that? I actually did.
Henry turns, leaving Clark to stare blankly at the ground. He walks back over to his pile of books and sits down, picking up the same book from before off the top.
CLARK Where did he go? What was that light?
HENRY GOTH
Fate.
CLARK
What did he do to him?!
HENRY GOTH
You helped Billy turn the page, so Fate no longer had any use for him.
CLARK
He killed him?!
HENRY GOTH
Fate finds it amusing to send people here to suffer. You've gone and ruined it for him; helping these troubled souls to move passed their pain. Once they're able to do that, what good are they to him anymore? He is a madman after all. I've got to say, though, I've finally started to get his sense of humor. I actually find it kind of amusing.
CLARK
Well, I don't! I've had enough of Fate and I've had enough of this labyrinth!
HENRY GOTH
Have you now? Then, why are you still in it?
CLARK
It's not like I have a choice.
HENRY GOTH
Don't you?
CLARK
::confused:: Well, it'd be easy if I could just click my heels together, but it's a little more complicated than that.
HENRY GOTH
Is it?
Clark hesitates.
CLARK Isn't it?
HENRY GOTH ::smiles:: You know, this really is one of my favorite stories of all time.
Henry shows Clark the book.
HENRY GOTH
I've enjoyed it so very much. I enjoyed the beginning... and the path... and the end. I especially enjoyed the end.
Henry stands up, a new fire behind his eyes.
HENRY GOTH
I enjoyed so much watching you hurt, Clark... watching you seize in place as the realization that you would never see your father alive again slowly settled into that thick skull of yours. No matter how hard you tried, no matter how valiantly you strove forward, I could always see the pain in your eyes as you struggled to maintain your grasp on that last shred of hope. You're outmatched and the truth is, you have no idea what's ahead of you, but I do. I know the pain in your life, Clark, and I take great pleasure in it.
Henry steps closer, coming face to face with Clark.
HENRY GOTH But the truth is, there is one man's sorrow who I take an even greater pleasure in. It is his anguish, the chance to torment him, that fuels my existence, that keeps me alive. That's why, as much fun as this has been, I'm tired of it. It's time for me to feast on something... a little juicier, something with a little more meat. You want Fate, Clark? I can give him to you.
CLARK
How?
HENRY GOTH
I can show you the way out.
CLARK ::hesitant:: What do I have to do?
HENRY GOTH All you have to do is promise me one little thing...
Clark waits for the terms.
HENRY GOTH
Promise me you'll make him suffer.