Soon after, the car arrived at a large house in a suburban neighborhood. There were colorful lights as well as some decorations as the Vasquez couple brought Billy to their home.

"We know how overwhelming it can all be," Mr. Vasquez advised as they were on their way to the front door. "New house, new faces. All up in your face. Just... Take it at your own speed."

"Hello? We're home!" Mrs. Vasquez called out as she came in through the door to alert the other kids.

"That's what happens when you suck!" A boy on the couch, watching his laptop screen, called out with a fiendish look on his face.

"So much for the welcome party." Mr. Vasquez muttered thickly.

"Yeah, that thing growing out of the couch would be Eugene." Mrs. Vasquez introduced Billy.

"Is that him?" A young girl beamed as she soon came out meet the new boy. "Oh, my gosh! Billy!" She then ran over and hugged Billy instantly.

"Welcome home!" The girl gushed.

"And that's Darla." Mr. Vasquez then said.

"I'm Darla," The young girl beamed. "Big hugger. "

"I noticed." Billy muttered.

"Die! Die! Die!" Eugene soon called out while playing his game.

"He doesn't mean that," Darla said softly to Billy. "It's the game."

"Hey. No sodas after dark, remember?" Mr. Vasquez said to Eugene as he removed the headphones to get the boy's attention as three bottles were shown to be next to him.

"...Whoa. When did it get dark?" Eugene suddenly asked.

"Oh, the poster. I made you one. Come look" Darla beamed as she grabbed Billy's hand and pulled him over before seeing a couple of weights on top of a colorful piece of paper. "Oh, no! Sorry, Pedro must've been working out. His goal is to be swole," she then took out a piece and winced as it ruined the colorful poster before she gave it to Billy bashfully. "Oh. Here."

"Yes. Exactly why your Math Department is so uniquely suited for me," A teenage girl said on her cell phone before she put it down briefly. "I can't, I can't even... With Eugene right now. Sorry. Mary. Hi. College interview." she then said to the new boy.

"I'm Billy." Billy introduced himself.

"What am I most excited about? Oh. What a great question," Mary smiled on the phone before looking nervous and faced Mr. Vasquez to ask for some advice to pull off her interview. "I was hoping you'd ask... What am I most excited about?"

"Mention you're a foster kid," Mr. Vasquez smirked. "Colleges eat that up."

"What I'm most excited about is the campus experience," Mary then said on the phone, feeling confident and secure now. "As a foster child, I'm a big believer in finding family and friends in the most unlikely of places."

"Oh, I'm gonna miss that girl so much!" Mrs. Vasquez gushed before looking at Billy. "It's Caltech, it's a very prestigious school."

"And also all the way in California." Mr. Vasquez added.

"But we don't have to talk about that right now," Darla smiled bashfully. "It's a tough subject for me. Do you like vegan food?"

"Mm-mm." Mr. Vasquez shook his head quickly.

"'Cuz, see, I love animals." Darla continued out of excitement.

"Well, she's very talkative." Lionel noted.

Just then, a smoke detector started beeping.

"Oh, no, the tofurkey!" Darla exclaimed as she ran into the kitchen.

"Oh, no, we may hafta eat a real turkey!" Mr. Vasquez added as he ran in after her.

Billy looked uneasy. "Is that...?"

"It's okay, c'mon," said Mrs. Vasquez, leading Billy to the stairs. "I'll show you your room."

Cherry, Lionel, and Thor continued to watch.

"...So what should we do?" Cherry asked. "When do we interact with Billy? I feel like I'm just watching a movie right now."

"We'll get our chance," Lionel urged.


AND SO, THE NEXT DAY...

Billy and his new siblings were standing outside Fawcett High School, along with Lionel, Cherry, and Thor, who were disguised as 10th-graders.

"Big school; 2,000 students; you might think, 'wow, so many strangers'," explained Darla as the group crossed the street. "But not if you think of them as possible friends; then, 'Oh, so many friends.' The principal, her name's Shirley. She's the best."

"Next." A man called as they came to the door which had a metal detector as well as any contraband that wouldn't be allowed in school doors.

Several kids unloaded their backpacks and went through the scanner to make it through since certain things weren't allowed in school.

"This is our security scanner," Darla informed Billy. "Like in an airport. It's totally safe."

"I know what it is," Billy reassured her before whispering to his new foster brothers. "Does she always do this?"

"Mm-hmm." Pedro nodded.

"Silence makes me uncomfortable." Darla pouted.

"She's almost never uncomfortable." Eugene scoffed as he played with another video game.

"Have a good first day, big brother~" Darla beamed as she then suddenly hugged Billy after they got past security.

"Look, you don't have to hug me all the time," Billy said to her. "We're not actually brother and sister, so..."

Darla began to look sad at that fact. "I'm sorry..." she said lowly as she went down the hallway.

The adventure trio winced as that looked a little heartbreaking, even to Cherry, though of course, she had feelings and wasn't made out of solid stone like others would believe her to be.

Freddy put his arm around his little sister's shoulder. "Hey..." he said, trying to lift her spirits.

"Hey..." Darla replied sadly, as Freddy guided her down the hall.

Billy tried to speak up. "I didn't mean to make her-" he began.

Freddy just put up his hand in response, as he led his sister.

"Aw... Poor kid." Lionel sighed.

"She's eccentric and exuberant..." Cherry commented.

"Like a little puppy." Thor smiled.

Billy sighed as he went to walk off before stepping back. "Oh, uh, excuse me," he said to the trio. "You go to this school?"

"You could say that," Cherry replied thickly as that should've been obvious. "Erm... I'm Christina..." she then quickly said. "And these are my good friends: Leon and Thompson."

"Hi." said Lionel/Leon.

"Cool to meet you." added Thor/Thompson.

"Yeah... Same," Billy replied. "We should probably get going. We could be late."

"Oh, yeah!" Thor/Thompson grinned. "Gotta get to class and all that good stuff!"

"Right... Calm down a little..." Cherry/Christina told him, trying to calm him down.

Billy glanced at them before he soon followed his three new friends onto class and to get started and settled into their new school.

"Too much?" Thor/Thompson whispered to the girl.

"Maybe just a little bit." Cherry/Christina whispered back in warning.

"Next time, dial it down, okay?" Lionel/Leon asked.

"Okay..." Thor/Thompson replied.

The trio soon went about their school day like normal and luckily, no one suspected a thing. Cherry sat behind a tree as she brought out a compact mirror that was ringing, cleverly disguised as it was actually a communicator.


"How's it going?" Drell asked Cherry.

"Well, we found Billy and saw his new family, we're just trying to be his friend," Cherry replied. "So far, no one suspects anything different from us and we used codenames in order to blend in."

"Impressive work, Cherry," Drell approved. "I might call again in case you need to do something in specific, but you're doing really great so far."

"I'm flattered, sir!" Cherry beamed at his approval. "Well, I better get back to work."

"Yeah, good idea," Drell replied. "Over and out."

Cherry nodded as she closed the compact mirror and poked her head out and soon snuck back inside the campus. Luckily, no one saw her or anything she was up to. It was almost the perfect plan in helping out Billy Batson.


And now, it was lunchtime.

"And I thought Mrs. Crudup made unedible food," Cherry grimaced at the sight of the cafeteria food shown on a tray. "Luckily for me, Thor's almost a gourmet chef."

"Who wants to try a pinwheel?" Thor smiled at Lionel as they found a table to sit at.

"Pinwheel?" asked Lionel.

"Pinwheel sandwiches are small sandwiches that are curled up into a roll," Thor explained before he showed Lionel one that was mostly chicken-based and shoved it into his mouth to let him try it out. "I made this one for you~"

Lionel clapped his hands, gave a couple thumbs-ups, and swallowed his sandwich. "So... GOOD!~"

Thor laughed happily before looking over to Cherry. "Hey, you want one?" he then asked. "I made plenty for everyone."

"Yeah, I'll take some." Cherry nodded.

Billy was soon looking around for a place to sit.

"Okay, guys, act natural," Cherry whispered to Lionel and Thor. "Remember your assignments."

Soon, Christina, Leon, and Thompson nodded as they acted in-character and blended in with the other high school students for just in case Billy would sit with them since they were the only ones friendly with him.

Freddy soon sat with them. "If you could have one superpower, flight or invisibility, what would you pick?" he asked. "Everybody chooses flight, you know why?"

Billy looked at him, disinterested. "...So they can fly away from this conversation?" he asked.

"No, 'cuz heroes fly," said Freddy, as Billy got up and walked away from the table. "Who doesn't want people to think they're a hero, right? But-but invisibility, no way! I mean, that's perfect! Spying around on people who don't even know you're there, sneaking around everywhere; it's a total villain power, right?" Seeing that Billy had left, Freddy got up with his crutch, grabbed his tray, and after throwing it away, followed the others. "Then they did this study, and this is a real thing," he continued as Leon listened intently. "They asked people the same question; y'know, what power do you want, but this time, they made it so the answers were anonymous! And-and most people, since they knew that it was secret, said invisibility."

Christina blinked. "...And we thought that Darla kid was the chatty one..." she muttered.

"I dunno, this Freddy kid seems pretty smart." Leon replied.

"And I think that's 'cuz most people don't feel like heroes on the inside, deep down," Freddy finished. "...You're gonna run away."

Billy turned to face him.

"I mean, you stole my Superman bullet," Freddy continued. "Dude, I get it, I get it; you've been screwed over way too many times. You don't trust anyone. But that's the thing about invisibility: you handle it by yourself."

Billy scoffed. "I didn't steal your dumb bullet." he remarked before he went into the restroom.

Christina stepped aside before Thompson and Leon followed him.

"Well, that guy seems like a handful." Thompson said to Billy.

"Boy, I'll say," Billy rolled his eyes. "Uh, are you guys following me?"

"No, no... Just hanging out..." Thompson reassured. "We all had an adventurous first day of school."

The group soon walked outside later as it kept on snowing, with Mary waiting outside for them. "Hey, how was it today?" she asked.

Billy said nothing, just continuing to walk on.

"That good, huh?" asked Mary.

"I guess I made some new friends." Billy shrugged.

"Oh, good," Mary smiled. "Maybe I could meet them."

"Be my guest." Billy glanced at her slightly.

Before anything else could be said, a black truck jumped the pavement and nearly ran Freddy down.

"Oh, my God!" Mary exclaimed, helping her foster brother up. "Freddy, are you okay?"

Out of the truck came a pair of older boys.

"What the hell is wrong with you two?" Mary snapped as the boys slammed Freddy against the truck's surface.

"Ohoho, no way that's gonna buff out." said one of them.

"You gonna pay for that?" asked his brother.

"...For the dent you made almost hitting me?" Freddy replied. "Yeah, sure. You guys accept these?" he asked, flipping the bird at them.

The bully boys soon slammed Freddy down to the ground as a crowd formed. Freddy groaned as he was due for a world of hurt as Billy frowned at his foster brother.

"Brett, stop!" Mary cried out before one of the boys kicked Freddy in the stomach.

"Don't touch my brother!" Darla pouted from the fighting.

"What, do you need your fake family to stand up for you?" One boy huffed as he grabbed Freddy's crutch. "Stand up for yourself, Freeman."

"Yeah, huh?" The other added. "Hey, Freeman. Freeman, here, stand up. Stand up for yourself."

Billy soon hiked up his hood and decided to walk away from the situation.

"What are you gonna do, go home and cry to Mommy?" The boys continued to hassle poor Freddy. "Oh, yeah. You don't have a mommy."

That was what set Billy off. So he went back, and smacked the jerks with Freddy's crutch.

"I just realized something," said Lionel. "WHAT THE HELL ARE WE DOING?! WE SHOULD BE GETTING INVOLVED, NOT JUST STANDING AROUND WATCHING!"

Thor was shown to be breathing heavily.

"I think the bull's ready to charge." Cherry said to Lionel.

"RAAAWR!" Thor soon roared before he ran right over and began to attack the bullies.

"BACK OFF, ASS-BAGS!" Eugene declared, swinging a pair of nunchaku. "I know how to use these!" But he accidentally hit himself in the head.

"Well, when in Rome." Leon shrugged as he joined Thor in beating up the two boys.

Just then, Billy got to his feet and made a run for it, with the boys coming after him.

Christina suddenly slid in and glared at the bully boys. "Going somewhere, monkeys?" she then glared at them.

"Pfft! You don't scare us!" One of the boys scoffed.

"Yeah, move it!" The other boy added before shoving Cherry back a bit.

"I don't think so..." Christina glared.

"Time for the bowling alley smackdown!" Thompson shouted, holding Leon like a ball before he rolled him. Said smaller boy knocked both bullies into the air, and they landed in a tree's branches.

"We better go after Billy," Leon told the other Vasquez kids. "See if he's okay."

"Alright," said Mary as she was with her siblings. "We'll see you back at the house."

Billy seemed to be running away.

"Hey, get back here!" Christina called out to Billy and ran after him.

"Sure, Chris, just chase him away." Thompson rolled his eyes.

"Billy, you don't have to run from us!" Christina told Billy.

"Get away from me!" Billy complained as he tried to run farther away. "You guys are nuts!"

The trio just ran after Billy, going into a subway station and following him onto a subway train; said train soon took off.

"Next stop, 30th Street Station," said a voice as Billy and the others sat down. "Change for the Regional Rail Line."

"You didn't have to run from me." Cherry said to Billy.

"It's not you," Billy sighed. "It's just being a foster kid in a school even though my mom's alive."

"Do you know she's alive or do you just think she's alive?" Thor asked.

"I know she is," Billy insisted. "It's not a gut feeling or whatever, I just know for a fact that my mom's out there somewhere."

Suddenly the lights flickered and something strange began to happen.

"What's... Going on...?" Thor blinked in concern. "...That's not normal."

"H-Hello?" Billy called out, not seeing anyone else there. "What's going on?"

Strange symbols appeared in the LED signs, as a layer of ice crackled over the windows, and the train began to go much, much faster than it had before. And then... Suddenly, it all stopped. Cherry swallowed deeply, trying to hide her fear, though she wasn't sure what to expect, so she disguised her nerves with a deadpan and stoic look on her face that she was probably best known for. Billy blinked before he and the others soon stood up with him as they walked around since the train wasn't moving anymore. The ice still covered the windows and they had no idea where they were or what had just happened. The doors soon crackled open in front of them and they stumbled out into a dark, new, gloomy location.

"Whoa..." Billy whispered as he came outside to take a closer look with the new friends beside him. "Hello?"

"We might as well go out and explore," Cherry said to Billy. "I've been through stuff like this before."

With curiosity reigning supreme, the four adolescents ventured out into the strange new location.

While Billy eyed a caterpillar in a jar nearby, he suddenly heard a gust of wind sweep by. "What the hell?" he asked, his voice echoing through the place. "...Who's doing this?" Still, he received no answers.

"No point just hanging around," Cherry stated. "We should at least move it if we wanna find some answers."

"You sure that's a good idea?" Billy asked her.

"Why?" Cherry smirked as she put her hands on her hips. "Ya scared?"

"Pfft! No!" Billy snorted and rolled his eyes. "I'm not scared."

"Then come on, Billy Willy," Cherry chuckled as she walked on ahead. "I'm gonna check this out for myself."

"This girl's impossible..." Billy grumbled.

"We know." Lionel smiled.

"Ain't she great?~" Thor gushed, as he trotted along while carrying Lionel on his back.

Billy shrugged and followed behind.


Venturing through a tunnel, Billy and the others came into a room full of podiums that looked like they once housed statues. At the far end of the room were seven massive chairs, and upon the center chair, which was emblazoned with a massive lightning bolt, there sat a man with a long white beard, a red cloak, and holding a wooden staff with a glowing crystal on top.

"All right, Drell, this better not be the intro to a new horror movie or something." Cherry muttered to herself at what they had found.

The man soon stood up once he saw that he had an audience.

"Hi, um... I was supposed to get off at 30th." Billy spoke up, a bit feebly.

"Billy Batson." The man greeted the boy knowingly.

Billy was blown away and wide-eyed. "...How'd you know my name?"

"I am the last of The Consul of Wizards," The man informed as he stepped down to meet the children. "Keeper of the Rock of Eternity."

"Oh. You're that guy," Billy said, still stunned, but had a hint of disbelief in his voice. "Listen, I don't have any money."

"So, what's going on here, Rip Van Winkle?" Cherry added flatly.

"DO NOT PATRONIZE ME, CHILDREN!" The man suddenly snapped and stamped down his staff, emitting magical energy all around.

"Yah!" Cherry gasped as she suddenly stumbled backwards and fell on her butt.

"You are standing in the source of all magic," The man informed as he explained everything and displayed images all around with his magic to tell a story. "The Rock of Eternity. Seven foes, seven wizards, but long ago, we chose a champion, and we chose recklessly. He used his power for revenge. Releasing the Seven Deadly Sins into the world," he continued as the kids watched all around in wide wonder. "Millions of lives were lost. Entire civilizations erased from existence. That is why I vowed never to pass on my magic until I find one truly good person. Strong in spirit. Pure in heart."

"You ever hear of a guy named Drell?" Thor smiled innocently.

"No." The man replied firmly.

"Look, man... Maybe this is magic..." Billy said. "I dunno, but the people you're looking for good, pure people; I'm not one of them. I dunno if anyone is, really..."

The man stepped closer. "You and your friends, Billy Batson, are all I have," he said. "All the world has. So place your hands on the staff."

"Gross." winced Billy.

"And say my name so my powers may flow through you," The man continued. "I open my heart to you, children. And in so doing, choose you as champions."

Cherry, Lionel, and Thor listened closely.

"Do they get powers too then?" Billy shrugged as he gestured for the trio.

"They do not need my help, they are already provided." The man replied.

"Whoa! Hey! No one needs to know that!" Thor said nervously.

"Doesn't he though?" The man replied.

"Yeah, I guess he could," Cherry said to Thor. "We'll tell him more about us later if it's safe enough."

"Uh... Yeah... Whatever..." Billy shrugged at them before looking at the strange man. "Don't scream at me, Mister, but I really gotta get going."

"My brothers and sisters were slain by the sins," The man replied firmly. "Their thrones lie empty! My magic must be passed on. Now... Speak my name!"

"I-I don't know your name, sir." Billy shrugged.

"We just met," The man replied ominously. "My name is... Shazam."

Billy blinked before chuckling at the name as it sounded unbelievable. "Wait, for real?" he then asked.

"SAY IT!" The man's voice boomed, startling the boy.

"Okay. Jeez!" Billy flinched before hesitating as he took a hold of the man's staff. "Should I say it? Like, Shazam?"

"Yes! Carry my name and with it, you carry all of my powers!" The man soon said as suddenly, Billy was engulfed in a bright white light as Cherry, Lionel, and Thor watched this, though Cherry seemed to be filming this on her phone. "The wisdom of Solomon! The strength of Hercules! The stamina of Atlas! The power of Zeus! The courage of Achilles! And speed of Mercury!"

"Awesome..." Thor whispered like an easily impressed young boy.

After the transformation, the smoke cleared and there was shown to be a young adult man in a superhero uniform stylized by the wizard's outfit design in Billy's place. "What happened to me? Why am I...?" he then asked, panicking, having a deepened adult male voice. "W-W-What did you do to me? What did you do to my voice?"

"You have been transformed to your full potential, Billy Batson," Shazam told the boy as he seemed to be dissolving. "With your heart, unlock your greatest power. The thrones of our brothers and sisters await!"

"Are you dying?!" Thor asked in concern.

"I'm afraid my time has come, young one," The mysterious man replied before he withered away into nothingness. "Goodbye."

Billy yelped as he dropped the staff. "...Get me outta here!" he shouted, as everyone was surrounded by a flash of bright light.


When the light faded, Billy and the others found themselves sitting inside the subway train.

A man chuckled. "My brother, I applaud your choices today," he remarked. "Gold shoes, gold belt, white cape! It shouldn't work, but hot damn, it does!" he laughed.

Billy got up and grabbed his backpack, but when he was leaving, he bumped his head on the roof of the train.

"Oof." Cherry, Lionel, and Thor winced as that looked painful.

Billy waved at the other passengers and civilians who stared at him as he was as out of place as a long-tailed cat in a rocking chair factory.

"Hmm... I should fix this somehow..." Thor said as he brought out his spellbook, leafing through the pages.

"This is so awkward..." Cherry groaned. "Everybody's looking at us like we have lobsters crawling out of our ears."

"No!" Lionel replied. "He needs to figure out how this works for himself. Although I'll admit we could use some help... We need to find Freddy."

Thor soon put his spellbook away. "No use anyway, I can't find anything," he then said. "Now... To find Freddy."

"Can you do a locator spell?" Cherry asked him.

"Sure, but I'll need something of his for reference." Thor nodded.

Lionel handed Thor Freddy's prized Superman bullet collectible from Billy's bag.

"Hey!" Billy exclaimed.

"Ah-bap-bup!" Lionel stopped him. "Gotta find 'im somehow!"

"You're no fun." Billy pouted.

"We don't have to be fun, we have jobs." Thor replied.

"...What?" Billy asked, feeling confused.

"Just trust us," Cherry told Billy. "Calm down and we'll find a way for you to deal with this."

"Trust you? I don't even know you!" Billy exclaimed.

"Well, we're the best there is," Lionel replied. "Now Thor, get on that tracking spell."

"This shouldn't be too difficult..." Thor smiled as he used the bullet as part of his spell as he held his wand in his other hand.

"What is that?" Billy asked. "A fairy godmother wand?"

"Psh! Please..." Thor rolled his eyes. "All right, now we gotta wait a few moments."

"This is too weird," Billy groaned. "What are you guys even supposed to be?"

"You could just call us your Guardian Angels," Cherry said as she put her hand on his shoulder. "We're going to help you and with these powers from Shazam. Trust us, kid."

Billy rolled his eyes with a groan.

"Hmm..." Thor paused until his wand began to blink at the star tip. "Ooh! I think I got a reading! He seems to be at the house."

"Then that is where we shall go!" Lionel declared, teleporting the group to near the house.