Monsters

Chapter 2: Lies & Misdirection

"Well I do have some good news," J'onn had finally managed to get all of Captain Marvel's blood off of himself and most of it from Cap.

"He stopped bleeding?" Superman asked hopefully.

"Is he awake?" the past two hours had seemed unusually long to Batman.

J'onn shook his head. "Not yet," he admitted, "but his arm is almost fully regenerated. By my estimate it should be fully back within the next hour at which point I suspect he will wake up. I believe he's in a magical healing coma."

"That's good," Superman exhaled a sigh of relief. They had all been worried about how Captain Marvel would react to only having one arm but now it seemed that they wouldn't have to. Plus they didn't know of any disabled heroes or villains so they had understandably worried about his future with the Justice League.

"And then we can find out what kind of threat we're facing," Batman had already been coming up with possible attack and defensive strategies. Once he found out the exact kind of threat he could easily tailor the plans better.

J'onn gave him an exasperated look then froze. "The Captain is awake."

When he came to, the first thing Captain Marvel became aware of was that he was staring at a ceiling, an oddly familiar gray ceiling. He blinked then blinked again just to make sure he wasn't seeing things. Nope the ceiling was still there. In fact it looked a lot like the ceiling in the Watchtower. But why would he be there? He didn't think he had teleported there before passing out but maybe he had. If that was the case then he should probably start looking for a good excuse as he highly they would like the truth even though a voice (Solomon) encouraged him to tell them some of the truth (not all of it, never all of it).

"Captain Marvel?" J'onn appeared in his field of vision, Superman and Batman next to him. "Are you alright?"

Instead of answering Captain Marvel lifted his right arm and flexed his fingers. "I'm back in one piece," he wasn't very proud of the slight shake in his voice.

Clearly the others had heard it as well for they exchanged worried glances. "Captain?" Batman was the first to speak. "Can you tell us who did this to you?"

"It was a demon," Captain Marvel said after a moment, having decided to go with a half-truth.

"A demon?" one of Superman's eyebrows rose. "Since when do you fight demons?"

Captain Marvel pushed himself to his elbows and scowled. "I fight demons all the time, thank you. I am the Champion of Magic after all. I take on stuff like that all the time."

"You do?" Superman wondered why he was so surprised. Perhaps it was the Captain's goofy nature of his eternal optimism but he always seemed to forget that the other hero was magical most likely because he rarely (if ever) used magic, choosing instead to rely on his fists.

Captain Marvel rolled his eyes. "And people call me oblivious," he muttered.

"Where is the demon now?" Batman decided to simply focus on the topic at hand and not get sidetracked like Clark was doing.

Marvel didn't even since as he sat all the way up and swung his legs off the side of the bed. "In its home dimension. I have to check every so often and make sure that they don't because and come here."' Seeing the skeptical look on their faces he sighed and said, "This isn't the first time something like this has happened and I doubled it'll be the last. It's just part of the job. I've got to head back to Fawcett now, anyways."

The three heroes exchanged glances again then Batman spoke up. "Alright but we would appreciate it if you came her if this happens again."

"And call if you need help," Superman added. "Just because you can regenerate doesn't mean you should get eaten if you don't have to."

"It's not fun," Cap admitted, ruefully rubbing his shoulder.

"I would think not," J'onn said somberly.

"Bye."

They watched in silence as Cap walked out of the med-bay, his cape and costume still stained with his blood. "I have a bad feeling about this," Superman said at last.

"As do I," J'onn added.

"He's not telling us something," Batman agreed.

It was late that night when Captain Marvel finally arrived at the abandoned subway station that Billy called home. It was damp and smelled like a sewer but he wouldn't trade if for the fanciest mansion in the world. It was his and it was safe, far safer than any foster home could ever be.

His bed was actually an old mattress that was missing most of the stuffing with an old trench coat that served as a blanket. Eleven identical red shirts were neatly stacked underneath two schoolbooks he had gotten from the library. An extra pair of white sneakers and two worn pairs of jeans completed his meager wardrobe and the threadbare tiger plush was the only real personal belonging that he possessed.

He opened his mouth to say the magic word when something occurred to him and he frowned. "It's probably not a good idea," he decided. "If it happens while I'm Billy there's no way I could survive it let alone regenerate. Plus it'll save on food" he looked ruefully at the empty chip bag. "It's logical that's all. Perfectly logical. I'm not scared or anything like that, that'd be silly since I have the Courage of Achilles after all," Captain Marvel continued to ramble much to the confusion of the rats and insects that lived there.

"So what should I do now?" he wondered then brightened. "I know – I'll work on my grimoire and then I can go gather some magical ingredients later for some of my potions."

Happy that he had come up with a plan (of sorts – not needing to sleep did have the occasional drawback) he crossed his legs and began to float as a thick red book with his symbol appeared in front of him. A pen appeared in his right hand and he began working, content to ignore his problems for as long as he could.