Freddy would be the first to admit that it was a cheap shot. Superpowers or not, he was no karate kid. If getting pushed against lockers and punched in the gut on a biweekly basis counted as getting into fights, then he had never initiated one himself, let alone won one.

Mortal Kombat made this look so easy.

Still, it was the first thing that had come to mind and the only move he'd ever perfected in his real body. Sure, Burke had almost given him a concussion for what he'd done to Brett, but it wasn't as if the guy hadn't more than earned it. And with Freddy's legs, could the pressure have really been that hard?

Brett had screamed like a little girl, a sound that Freddy would thankfully never forget because Eugene had recorded the entire thing. Dr. Sivana? He'd only let out a grunt and reached his hands towards his middle.

The wizard's staff had slipped from between Dr. Sivana's fingers when Freddy had kicked him with his one good knee. From the corner of his eye, Freddy watched it topple into the river below. Sivana hurried after it, his hands still cupping the area below his his mid-section.

Freddy let out a long sigh. Well, that had been something. He'd probably have to apologize to Billy later, but he'd gladly take the momentary embarrassment over another right jab from Sivana.

He rubbed at his chin. The pain from earlier was gone. Had he been less of a stranger to nose bleeds than he was then he might have missed the distinctive pain earlier. Even that had vanished. His face was dry and smooth as ever.

Nothing made sense. Certainly not the whole fighting his best friend's dad thing, but he doubted he'd get an answer for that any time within the foreseeable future. Not that it really mattered. Billy's dad or not, he wasn't just going to stand there and take hits.

No, it was the pain that stuck out to him. Bullets, he'd discovered, were metal mosquitoes - biting annoyances that he could easily flick away. Hell, he'd been hit by a pickup truck when trying to catch an escaped convict and that had only stung momentarily. While the pain itself was gone now, Freddy could still distinctly remember the way his nerves screamed when Sivana's fists reached his face. Hell, it was a miracle that he still had any teeth left.

How the hell was Dr. Sivana able to do any of this?

Freddy didn't have time to give the question much thought. Whatever the answer, it wouldn't do him much good now. Pushing forward, he hurried towards the bridge. Holding his arms out, he pushed a hulking thing away from a support beam that it had been hungrily gnawing at. Not only was it huge, but its grey-green skin was sticky and covered in a light green coating of slime. It clung to his fingers and had much the same consistency as dried syrup.

Freddy forced back bile. There was always time for a nice dip in the Arctic Ocean before he headed home.

While there were a number of vehicles left on the bridge, as far as he could tell they were all empty. The police had formed a wall of squad cars around the entrance to Gilliland, while the opposite end was blocked by a small cluster of cars. At their edges, he could faintly make out bystanders.

Why weren't they running? Wanting to be Superman and actually being him were two different things. If he were in their positions, he would have put his foot down on the gas and driven down the highway until the road eventually dumped him into the ocean. Did they want to die?

Freddy only had time to spare them a quick glance, though. As long as they didn't start running up the bridge, they should have been fine.

Right then, his biggest problem were six very ugly creatures that seemed hellbent on causing as much property damage as they could. With their ferocity, he doubted they were only going to rip up concrete.

The winged one came for him first, its jagged claws extended. Freddy was able to push it away, but his sleeve was ripped for the effort. Dots of blood decorated his arm that quickly turned to trickles.

The pain! Sivana's punches were nothing to scoff at, but a jolting electric surge had passed through him when the thing touched him. He imagined that he would get much the same feeling from sticking a fork in a light socket. Worse, his insides were burning now. The sensation was strongest in the tips of his fingers and head.

He grit his teeth. While there were no people on it, sending a bridge crashing probably wouldn't help him get into the Justice League.

Four of them were all racing towards him. While none had wings, some of them seemed able to float. No, it was more as if they could walk across the air. So going upward wouldn't mean only having to deal with the winged monster.

The burning sensation was stronger now. He half expected it to rip through his skin. Freddy bit his tongue, focusing on the pain. Then he flew forward, pummeling one with a very long tongue.

The problem was how easily they could get up after taking hits. The thing got up almost immediately after Freddy knocked it to the ground, its tongue twirling in the wind.

Freddy's heart was slamming against his rib cage. Where the hell was Billy? For that matter, where was the Justice League? This definitely seemed within their jurisdiction.

Okay, Freddy reminded himself. It's not over yet.

He'd made one cheap move already. Why not try another? With lives potentially on the line, codes of honor weren't exactly his biggest priority.

What if he died? Freddy had always made a point not to think about that. Life was weird and wild enough without worrying about its grand post-credits scene. And if he died, what body would be left behind? Would any body be left behind?

As far as Victor and Rosa were concerned, he'd just vanish into thin air. Maybe they'd think he was kidnapped. Part of him was sure that they'd think of him as just another runaway. They'd had more than their fair share of them. And nobody knew he was Tremblor. But at least there was always the chance that Darla or Eugene could put two and two together.

No, thinking about death was not particularly pleasant. But what else was he supposed to do when these things were the real deal? Hell, Billy's dad wasn't anyone to scoff at either.

Billy's dad! He was a scientist, right? Maybe he'd made these things. The theory didn't do him much good, but it gave him something to focus on besides the heat tearing away at his insides.

He clenched his fists. There was no point in dying without first putting up a hell of a fight. It was time to bring the pain.


Thaddeus would never admit it, but in his own way he respected the champion. He had a lot of chutzpah to attempt to take on six sins at once. The wizard hadn't skimped on choosing a champion.

Then again, maybe he had. What kind of an idiot took on seven enemies alone?

Not that it really mattered. Only having to deal with one champion was a relief. Once he was through with this one, there would be only one left. Perhaps the other would be a bit more pliable.

"My bargain still stands." Thaddeus ran his fingers along the edge of the staff.

"I'm telling you, I never met this wizard guy!"

He looked so pathetic with Lust holding down his legs.

In the end, all it had taken to topple him was a blow to the back of the knees. The sins had gone for him then, arms outstretched and mouths agape. Really, Thaddeus didn't have much of a choice in finishing him off quickly. The sins had never been ones for patience.

"You expect me to believe that?"

I've found him I've found him I've found him found found him found him found-

"Tell me his name." He raised the staff skyward. There was no telling just what doors he could open with a champion's blood. It was magic made solid, pure and powerful.

"Dr. Sivana, please stop!"

There was something fun about watching people beg. They had the strangest idea that Thaddeus might actually bother to listen to whatever they said.

"You can't kill me. William wouldn't want you to!"

He froze. His heart jumped from twenty to ninety-five miles per hour. It was beating as much against the side of his head as it was his chest.

"Why did you say that name?" He dropped the staff to the ground. Enough with the sins. No more magic. The champion would die by his own hands. "What the hell did the wizard tell you about him?"

"I've got name guessing superpowers."

The quips stopped when the champion saw Thaddeus reach for his throat. His face paled, and he leaned back as far as he could. Not that he could do much. Champion or not, his flesh was so very soft and weak.

"What the hell do you know about my son? Be truthful or I'll crush your windpipe."

"I..."

The rage was sudden, like a small spark that set dry kindling aflame and tore whole forests apart. Thaddeus would gladly let it burn.

"Tell me!"


WWWWD: The phrase decorated a rubber bracelet he owned. What would Wonder Woman do? Most definitely not this. But it wasn't like he had any better ideas. There was a thing crushing his legs and another thing holding back his arms, its rancid breath hovering close to his ear. Worse, Dr. Sivana's hands were close to his neck. So very, very close.

The question had just slipped out. It had seemed like a good idea at the time. Super villains had weaknesses, right? That those vulnerabilities often happened to be living, breathing people wasn't his fault.

Would Superman have said it? That was anybody's guess. And he wouldn't have done what Freddy did next, either. Superman wasn't a weenie.

But hey, Freddy reminded himself as he opened his eyes, at least he wasn't dead yet.

"Freddy?"

He was on his knees in Billy's bedroom. It looked the same as when he last saw it save for bits of a broken glass on the floor.

"Hey, Billy. I've got some bad news for you." He coughed. The burning sensation was more intense than ever. He had to place his hands down on the floor and push back against it to keep from toppling over. While his suit was still ripped, at least the blood was gone. Someday he'd be able to make sense of that.

"Freddy, what the fuck happened to you?"

"Shazam."

He was still on his knees when the transformation ended. The pain was gone. In its place was a tightness in his chest and a lump in his throat.

"Please, Billy, you have to believe me when I say this. I'm not trying to fuck with you." He took in a deep breath before releasing it, looking Billy dead in the eyes. "Your dad is a super villain."


Thaddeus hit the water back first. He let out a choked gasp of pain which was immediately met with a mouthful of dirty water. He frantically paddled towards the surface. The water around him was filled with debris. More and more was falling from the sky with every passing second.

The staff was still clutched in his hand. He half considered letting it go but stopped himself. The sins were angry enough at him already.

It wasn't as if he'd meant for the champion to get away. Even the sins had been shocked when, in the space of a single heartbeat, the champion had simply vanished. There had been no earth shattering explosion or a final quip before he left. He was simply gone.

For a moment, all Thaddeus had been able to do was blink.

Everything else afterwards was a blur. Envy had appeared before him, its claws clutched tightly together and its back stooped to where it could easily meet his gaze with those dagger like green eyes. They had been glowing. The other sins had quickly surrounded him. They had seemed even taller than before, their features more pronounced.

He's gone.

Again you wait too long!

What a pathetic excuse for a champion you are!

They were wrong, of course. He was worthy. They'd chosen him themselves, after all. Stood by him for decades when no one else would. This was just trial and error. All he had to do was find the champion again and finish what he started. If he was quick, the champion might not even realize what was happening until blood was spurting from his neck.

He could only pay attention to the sins for so long. The bridge had chosen that time to collapse beneath his feet. The sins had watched with beady eyes as he fell.

Wrath was the first to break through the water, pushing Thaddeus back down with him. Thaddeus' chest was tightening, his arms frantically pinwheeling even as the water got deeper and darker around him.

The other sins quickly followed. Gluttony could have caused a tsunami with the way it cannonballed into the water.

Your father was correct. You are a feeble man who can't do anything right!

Did we wait for nothing?

Kill him! Kill him! Kill him!

He could only hope that Pride was still talking about the wizard's champion.

Had they still been in the air then Thaddeus might have been able to explain himself. Opening his mouth now would only fill his burning lungs with more water. He barely had any air left already.

It wasn't just his chest that was tight now. The vice around his head would crush him if they went any deeper. He couldn't die like this. Not now, not when he was so close.

They couldn't let him die like this.

Could they?

Idiotic weakling!

Failure!

Everything was so dark and cold. As much as he hated the sins clawing at him while they pushed him further and further downward, he would have sooner taken their rage than the water's greedy embrace.

But take him it did.


"I know I sound crazy." Freddy clutched at Billy's shoulder. His whole body was shaking so hard that Billy feared what might happen if he let go of him. "But Billy, I saw him! He had this weird thing stuck in his eye and lightning coming out of his hands. And there were these monsters with him!"

"Freddy..." Billy bit his lip. The truth was, part of him wanted to believe what he was saying. Freddy had never lied to him before. And he practically had a Ph.D. in superheroics. Hell, just a few weeks prior he'd been given superpowers by a literal wizard in a cave located in who knows where.

But... Freddy was talking about his dad. Wouldn't Billy of all people have known if he was evil?

"Look, my dad's been at the doctor's office all day-"

"Please believe me!" Freddy was on the verge of crying now. "Jesus, Billy, one of those things scratched me. It was the worst feeling in the world. I felt like I was being cooked from the inside out!" He was panting now, his breath coming in and out so quickly that Billy feared that he would pass out.

"Freddy, I do!" And if he didn't really... Well, Freddy just needed to hear this. "I don't think you've gone bananas."

It took him a few moments for Freddy to start to relax. "Shit, I wish had my crutches."

"Look, we'll deal with that, okay? The same way we'll..."

Suppose for a moment that his dad was a super villain. Which, Billy reminded himself, was unlikely. But if he was, they had superpowers. If need be, they could deal with him.

"Billy, you told me once that your dad used to tell stories about a little boy meeting a wizard. You said they were like what happened to you."

"Yeah?"

"Did your dad ever do anything else like that? Or maybe just discuss something like this?"

"No, not that I'm aware of. I mean, how do you bring that up?"

Billy's throat tightened. A memory flashed through his mind but he quickly forced it away. It was hazy, anyway.

"Are you sure?"

He could barely remember what the rocks looked like. Maybe they had to do with something else entirely. Or maybe they didn't mean anything at all.

They couldn't.

"Freddy, I don't want my dad to be evil."

"Did I say that I wanted him to be?"

Billy took in a deep breath, held it, and then let it out. At this point, would it hurt to check?

Yes.

After the incident, he'd been scared to even look at the door of his father's study. His dad had been so mad. While the little statues he'd clutched at had long since become a blur in his brain, the rage etched across his dad's face would never leave him. He could still remember the way his heart had pounded against his chest.

He'd been so sure that his dad would throw him out. Give him up the way Ms. Glover claimed his mother had. Forget him.

He hadn't, of course. His dad had stuck by him through everything. Getting lost, running away, trying to find his mom, actually finding his mom... Hell, his dad been there for him after what Uncle Sid did, and Billy had probably needed the help a lot less than his own dad had.

It would be so easy to tell Freddy to shut up. To close his eyes and cover his ears, to worry about the way more probable reasons that his dad was being weird.

"I know someplace we can check." Billy closed his eyes. This was all a mistake. It had to be.

"Shazam."

Once the transformation was complete, Billy let Freddy hold onto his shoulders. He left his bedroom and walked down the hall, trying not to notice how close the top of his head was to the the ceiling.

When they reached the study door, Billy paused. Maybe if they didn't touch anything then his dad would never find out.

His throat was so very dry.

"Are you gonna open it or what?"

Billy forced back a curse. There was no point in starting a fight with Freddy considering how wild things were already.

He tried the door just to see if it was unlocked. Not that it opened - he'd seen his dad lock it that morning.

If he were a girl, he could have pulled out a hairpin and tried jingling at the lock until it opened. Instead, he just twisted the knob harder.

Surely the neighbors had heard the ensuing crash. Billy had only meant to break the lock, not rip the door off its hinges. Either way, it was in a heap on the floor and the small study was spead out before them.

So much for his dad not finding out about this.

"Billy," Freddy spoke. "Are you seeing what I'm seeing?"

There were what looked like hundreds of drawings taped to the wall. Most were made of ink, but a few were just faint pencil markings. Some of the drawings were on yellowed paper while others looked fresh. On his father's desk was a pile of books, a laptop, and that same set of statues that he vaguely remembered. Just looking at them brought him back to the first time that he stepped into the wizard's lair.

He shook his head. No way. No fucking way!

Billy stepped forward all the same. Oh yes, he remembered those statues now. They'd been so big as a kid. Now, they could easily fit within his palm. Hell, he could probably crush one if he clutched it too hard.

"Oh my..." Freddy squeaked. He turned, pointing towards a set of drawings made with what looked like professional markers. "It's them. Those were the things with your dad."

"What even are they?" Billy couldn't bring himself to look at the pictures for too long. Turning, he saw that the whole wall next to the now empty door frame that he had first come into was covered in a floor to ceiling white board. Etched on it were symbols. Were they some kind of cypher? Or maybe a foreign language? Some parts had been sloppily erased. Others had lost their color or seemed stuck to the board's surface.

Freddy held something up to Billy's face. He tore it from his hand and held it up.

It was that same picture from earlier. It was a group of monsters. Written beneath each was a name.

"Lust," Freddy read aloud. "Pride, Gluttony, Wrath, Envy-"

Billy crumbled the piece of paper in his hand and dropped it to the floor.

No way, no way, no way! This wasn't happening.

"Billy! Look! Hey, listen!" Freddy pointed towards the row of drawings again. "Is that the wizard guy?"

This was one of the few drawings done in color rather than grey scale. It was all deep brown and sharp red and eye achingly yellow and oh so very, very blue. It was most definitely him.

"Shazam."

It had come without warning or even a second thought. The sudden change in his center of gravity sent both boys toppling to the ground, with Freddy practically crushing him. But he couldn't just stand there any longer in a place that didn't make sense at all in a body that he now still barely understood.

Freddy crawled off of him while Billy rubbed at his forehead. Surely there was another explanation for this. There had to be!

"William?"

With a groan, Billy looked back up towards the door.


Thaddeus had come back to his senses in what he had first thought was a coffin. Everything was so tight and dark and wet-

Wet!

Everything came back to him in a rush. Pushing himself upwards, his lungs hard and heavy as bricks, he forced himself back up to the surface. His right hand was still clutching the staff. He couldn't feel his fingers any longer.

The sky was dark and night chilly. A heavy wind greeted him as he gasped for air. The bridge was gone from sight and he didn't recognize the surrounding embankment. With weak legs, he somehow forced himself to a small beach. The pebble filled sand dug into his skin. Thaddeus' teeth were chattering so hard that he half expected them to chip.

He couldn't have lain there curled up in a ball for more than ten minutes before his clothes were completely dry. The cold was still there but it wasn't as noticeable. He flexed his fingers. Using the staff as leverage, he got back on his feet.

"What happened?"

Though he could feel them squirming inside of him, the sins said nothing.

Thaddeus sighed. It figured. No doubt they would continue to stew over his failures for as long as they saw fit.

"Now what?"

Thaddeus couldn't be sure who he was asking. Envy had always been the closest approximation to friendly - though it was a pale caricature of the word. Yet it was silent as its brothers.

Was he asking himself? Any other night he would trust his own judgement wholeheartedly. Now? He couldn't be sure if he was all there.

Whatever happened next was a blur. Maybe he'd flown back. Perhaps he'd simply blinked and found himself in front of his apartment door, his key outstretched in his shaking hand. Either way, the time between was lost to some great black pit without a bottom in a far off corner of his mind.

The door locked behind him with a soft click. The kitchen clock said that it was only ten minutes past eight. With how dark it was outside, he just as easily would have believed it to be midnight.

He rubbed at his eye and then froze. Jesus, what if William saw him? With nowhere else to put it, he leaned the staff against the fridge. Should his son see it, he could always say it was... What? His mind was drawing up blanks.

Not that it mattered, he supposed. The sins had a way of making others more pliable towards him. All William would need was just the teensiest, tiniest push to look away and mind his own business...

Thaddeus shook his head. He grabbed an extra box of bandages that he'd left on the top of the refrigerator and haphazardly applied them to his eye. He could straighten them when he changed them later that night. Grabbing the staff, he hurried from the kitchen.

There was no light coming out from under William's bedroom door. Was he out?

It was only when he got further down the hallway that he noticed the light pouring out from his study door. Or, rather, where his study door should have been. Picking up his pace, he hurried into the room, practically tripping over the fallen door.

He wasn't sure exactly what he'd expected to see, but it most certainly wasn't William and his friend (Franklin, was it?) collapsed on the floor, surrounded by ripped up pieces of paper.

For a moment, no one said anything.

Then, William's friend pointed towards the staff. "I told you he was a super villain!"

Thaddeus' heart was racing. William met his gaze before quickly breaking it away. He stood, leaning an arm against the wall, his gaze locked on his feet.

"What are you two doing?" He gestured towards the door. "How did you get in here?"

Oh, he had a sneaking suspicion, but he momentarily forced it back.

Of course, that moment had to end much more quickly than he liked.

"Shuh-"

Thaddeus never heard the boy finish. An explosion rocked through his head, his ears ringing and vision suddenly lost in a blanket of white. He blinked. When his vision returned, the boy was gone. In his place was the champion floating above the floor.

Thaddeus barely got the chance to take him in before the champion flew forward, his hands outstretched. The force of him hitting his chest was enough to send the staff flying from his hand and Thaddeus through the hallway wall and into his own bedroom. He barely had time to register the momentary flash of pain before an even sharper sensation hit him. The champion reached out and ripped the bandage away from his eyes with such force that he wondered if he'd taken his eyebrow with it.

"I told you!" The champion yelled.

William, standing at the door frame of his study, flinched. Thaddeus reached a hand towards his eye, covering it with his palm.

The sins were screaming at him to get up and start back from where he had left off that afternoon. Yet it he couldn't even imagine getting back on his feet, let alone fighting the champion.

"Dad, what happened to your eye?"

"I... I can explain."

Somehow, he'd have to.

He tried meeting his son's gaze, but the boy wouldn't look at him. His lips moved, mouthing something that Thaddeus never caught. The sound was lost in the explosion that followed.

When his vision cleared, the second champion stared back at him. He pushed past the other, grabbed the staff from the floor, and held it up.

"What are you-" The first champion began. The rest of his question was lost to Thaddeus.

Wordlessly, the man who might once have been William pushed the edge of the staff into one of the hands that Thaddeus had sprawled against his sides. On reflex, he tightened his grip around the gnarled wood.


I'm going to try to post an update for this later this week. Depends on how busy I get with life. Thank you to everyone who has left reviews! 3