LXXIII
Mister Miracle vs. Black Adam, Round 2

In a fair fight, Scott knew that Black Adam would smear him across the Earth. The new god had avoided physical confrontation whenever he could, relying instead on his wits and technology in the war-world of Apokolips. As such, he had formulated a plan… but first he needed to give Clark some time to escape, to get closer to the sun and away from the poisoned air of Kahndaq.

But he had forgotten how fast Adam was…

In the blink of an eye, Scott was hurtling above the Earth with the champion of lightning. The dark warrior took the new god to the edge of space where the air was thin before Scott even had a chance to exhale.

"Do you enjoy the view from here, false god? Does it suit you?"

"…As good a place as any for our battle."

"Too conceited by far, little god. Not a battle, a burial!"

Before Scott could reply, Adam seized Mister Miracle with both of his mighty hands and carried him back to the Earth at speeds incomprehensible. Scott's thoughts of escape were blotted out by the agony of impact when Adam slammed his body a mile into the hard ground. Adam flew back up through the rock and sand to the surface, leaving the new god entombed beneath tons of the earth's mantle. Adam kicked dirt over the mile-long tunnel he had created using Scott as a battering ram.

"What words did you wish on your tombstone, coward? Your answer failed to reach my ears."

"Don't count your chickens before they hatch... Ptooey!" From behind Adam, Scott Free spit dirt from his mouth.

"A strange request, but so be it... You do not accept your demise so easily."

"So I've been told."

Scott had prepared this time. His mother box circuitry had been long ago woven into his Mister Miracle suit and he had made some beneficial calibrations this time. Even though the reverse kinetic energy field transformer recharge system was woefully inefficient, Adam hit him with such force that his mother box was now fully charged. It also had the added benefit of absorbing most of Adam's impact, but the champion's awesome level of physical power was beyond even mother box's ability to tame.

Scott barely had time to blink before Adam slammed a fist at lightning speed into his gut. The new god felt it… but the reverse kinetic field had saved his midsection from being aerated. He just needed to stall for time. A full powered Clark could even the odds.

"You are a man of cunning, methinks. Does your wife value such convictions?" Adam held him now, speaking only inches away from his ear. The reverse kinetic field was doing its job… He was still alive.

"Apokolips has demonstrated many times that all is fair in war… Barda will never love you."

"Women can be made to love if a man is bold. A strong hand will create what is desired."

"She would rather die than be your slave, Adam."

"She may, but only then will the taint you have inflicted upon her mind cease to exist. Her will to live shall create a new life for her as my queen! She will be broken down, all feelings for you cast aside as wasted folly and the heavens themselves rejoice."

"Your love is tyranny. We know this affection far too well upon the dark coils of Apokolips. Is this the will of the gods whom you champion?"

"Let me reveal the true will of the gods … SHAZAM!"

Adam's release of Scott was instantaneous. Why had he…?

Five million volts of lightning struck Scott directly as the clap of thunder deafened him, while his muscles contracted to the lightning's will, involuntarily bringing him to his knees. He felt his heart stop and willed it back to life as every muscle in his body strained… His damage was only superficial - the damage to the circuitry of his mother box more substantial… Adam's true target.

"Is the will of the gods clearer to you now? Has their touch enlightened your soul?" Adam was laughing mockingly.

The champion had dodged the lightning he had called down. Did this mean he was vulnerable to it? It was an idea Scott was willing to try. Mother box was desperately repairing the damage the strike had caused to its wiring, but the New Genesis technology was still able to build a sizable electrical charge in his suit as Scott flew as fast as aero disks would propel him towards Adam.

It was like running full-force into a mountainside, but Scott was able to release something close to a lightning strike into Adam, amperage that would have dropped (or killed) an ordinary man. But Adam was no ordinary man. The champion of the gods of ancient Egypt only smiled.

"Perhaps you like the taste of pain… or was it that my lesson was unclear… SHAZAM!"

Mercifully, mother box had re-wired a direct channel to the soles of his boots, acting as a lightning rod to its more delicate circuits… even so, the strike had taken its toll. Circuits had fried where the bolt had connected and parts of him were now smoldering. Again Adam had fled the lightning, letting Scott bear the brunt.

"Come… Share the lesson with me Adam." Scott's voice was raspy, he had lost his saliva from the two strikes.

"You are clever… if nothing else. As the magic lightning changed the mortal to the immortal champion you see before you, so too will it reduce this champion to long-dead mortal bones."

"Shazam..." Scott waited… nothing happened.

"But only if the champion speaks the word, false god."

"What word?"

"Too clever by far. Are you ready to die now?..."

He was not, but then…Scott's lungs felt like they had caught on fire. His breathing increased as the blood coursing through his veins seemed to carry shards of broken glass back to his heart. And then he could not breathe.

Convulsions wracked his battered body leading to the paralysis of his limbs. His injured mother box diverted all energy to healing while Scott willed his body to keep working, even as it tumbled to the sand… Fallen.

Even the mighty Adam crumpled over for an instant, before drawing a deep breath and releasing a small hurricane from his own lungs, causing a sand storm before him.

"…What trickery is this?! You poison the air itself!" Thunder clouds began to gather overhead, echoing black rage.

Teth Adam seized a prone Scott Free from the desert sands, lifting him off the ground with incredible force to gaze eye to eye with the champion - a Scott Free struggling for life, his will alone allowing him to survive the sarin destroying his respiratory system if nothing else. It was all he could do to stare into eyes as black as the storm clouds above.

"Time to die, little god."