"Did your research I see. I don't recall telling you my name then."
"I did some digging. Found out about what happened to your daughter."
"So you know then? About how those who are supposed to heal are only interested in profit? Will you help me now?" His face bears a sinister smirk, but his eyes tell a different story. I can still see the same mixture of anger and grief.
"I... don't know how."
"Help me avenge my daughter. Bring the vile scum that play God with our lives to justice!" His hands are clenched so tight that I'm sure if Wonder Woman's sword wasn't magic, it would have turned to dust.
"Mr. Printwhistle... Sarah halted her treatment on her own. She wanted to a year ago, but you refused and she was still 17." My wound is fully closed now, and I'm beside myself in what must be the most delusional take on events I've seen in my life. Granted, I'm young, so there is plenty of time to see worse.
"LIAR!" Stanley leaps forward, wielding the sword with his right hand reared back, while his left was pointed at me. I'm pretty sure he's aiming to grab me and then ram me through. That isn't happening.
I've had enough of this sword, and it was time to stop messing around. Moving to his right, he adjusts his grip and swings wildly in a wide arc. The inaccuracy that he now had was anticipated when I decided to bring that deep seeded hatred and rage to the surface. Now that his arm is sticking out, I aim to attack the limb to hopefully make him drop the sword.
Ducking under the blade, I use my superior speed to get around him, grab his wrist, and attempt to apply pressure while wrenching his arm. Surprisingly, he is matching my strength. I use both hands to try and gain the advantage, but he mule kicks me in the chest, and it sends me hurtling through an evacuated office building, and out the other side, colliding with a parked van. The van rolls over with the impact and I follow it, flipping myself into a position where I grab the vehicle, land on my feet and hold it above my head.
I immediately hurl it at Stanley as he comes barrelling through the building, sword raised high. I'm hoping he will use the sword to cut through it, but instead he swats it to the side with his arm.
Should have flown over him. Hercules criticizing my strategy in the middle of battle is annoying, but he is the seasoned warrior between the two of us.
'Point taken, Herc.' I lift myself off the ground and raise my hands, channelling lightning into them. If he's extremely dangerous up close with the sword, than I should keep my distance.
Flying along the ground away from Stanley, I fire bolts of lightning in an attempt to wear him down. He hasn't shown any signs of tiring so far, so I have this uneasy feeling that he and I could do this all day. I manage to hit him a few times, but he begins to take the hint to avoid being hit by my ranged blasts. I fire another and he effortlessly scoops a car off the ground and throws it in the line of fire. The fuel in the car is ignited by the heat of my power and it explodes, causing vehicular debris to spread across the street and some of it even heading for the buildings some people are hiding in. Switching my focus I begin targeting the pieces likely to injure somebody and blast them out of the air with lightning.
Unfortunately, this leaves me open for attack. Stanley leaps through the smoke of the explosion, attempting to swing in a diagonal pattern. I evade just in time, and land a punch to his ribs. He grunts, but reacts with a headbutt, hitting me square in the nose. It stuns me, but I retreat backwards as he attempts another back swing. I can feel the familiar burning sting the magical blade that can split atoms leaves across my chest and I'm getting frustrated that I'm losing to the drunkard that tried blowing up a hospital in his daughters name. Something I know she would be ashamed of.
"I'm not lying! She knew the insurance was gone, and that you couldn't afford to keep taking care of her! She wanted you to live your life Stanley!"
"What good is a Father's life if he can't save his child! She had so much to live for! A bright future, a family if she wanted it! I bet these fuckers have already found the cure for cancer, and decide to just make it as painful and costly as possible so they can keep getting rich!" He goes to swing at me again, but I counter with a leg kick. He lifts his leg and blocks it with his shin. He then adjusts his weight to leap at me with a lunge. I spin around him and deliver an elbow to the back of his head, sending him into an intersection, totalling a few abandoned cars.
"I'm not denying that there is corruption Stanley, there is, but Sarah made her call. Do you think she'd want you to be doing this? Causing this level of destruction? Killing? In her name? Would she want you to be consumed by hatred and fury? Would your late wife, Molly? I say nay! They would not! They loved you! How could somebody wish such a thing on somebody they love!" Stanley roars in response to my words. He's losing complete control over himself as he started slashing at the cars, Wonder Woman's blade cutting through them like butter.
"SHUT UP! SHUT UP!"
'He knows the truth.'
He can't accept it. I don't know that you can talk him down Billy.
'I don't want to kill him, Achilles. What he's doing is wrong, but in a way, I understand his grief.'
You might not have a choice Billy. I consider his words as I watch the mystically powered madman in front of me. The grieved father. Will I have to kill him to stop this? Maybe it's unavoidable. He's powerful enough to cause immense harm. Controlled by his rage, and hatred. Driven by his grief. Just like Timothy back then. Like me.
I channel a continuous lightning attack at Stanley. He sees it coming, and having no more vehicles to use as cover, he unexpectedly lifts the sword and uses it to absorb the attack. He could have just avoided it, but he seems intent on meeting me head on. Annoying, but the blade doesn't seem to be empowered by this action, more just acting as a conductive material, and the handle keeping him safe from the weapon feeding the attack into his body. The sheer force, however, is forcing him back,. Digging his feet into the pavement, he leaves parallel trails as he slides backwards. Now that he's locked down, I can move in.
Racing forward I reach Stanley and intend on delivering a flying kick to his face, but the lunatic lifts the sword to swing down at me again. I stop my attack, switch positions, lifting my left hand, grabbing his wrist, and throwing a right straight punch, which he catches with his left.
"Enough." As I speak the word, I dump plenty of Zeus's power into Stanley. I refuse to go all out in fear of killing him, but his ability to show a mild resistance urges me to up the ante. It works, and he screams in pain as he relinquishes his hold on the sword. Before it has a chance to hit the ground I scoop it up with my right and maintain my grip with my left, yanking him to the side while slicing the sword horizontally, leaving a similar gash the he gave me, across his chest. He seems shocked, and is definitely stunned by what just happened. I use that opening to wrap my hand around his throat and point the sword towards his heart.
I see fear in his eyes for the first time. Not even when he was facing me down with a bomb at the hospital last week did he have an ounce of terror in his eyes. He was resigned to his fate, and scared for his life. Why it would be any different now I have no clue, but I have the feeling something is wrong.
Drive the blade through and be done with this nonsense already. You've won. Congratulations. Hercules sounds more annoyed than anything. Probably frustrated because he could likely have won this fight with out all the other powers the other five give me in a shorter and more efficient time.
Give him a good death. He fought well, for a drunken fool Achilles even advising me to kill him gives me some resolve to see it through... but looking at Stanley's transformed face... all I can see is echoing loneliness. It doesn't sit right with me anymore than this feeling that something is lurking behind his eyes, that isn't him. Why does he feel terror over his death today, where he only felt grief and rage trying to blow me up before? Was it that he thought he had a chance of taking me with him, and this time he clearly would die alone?
'No.'
I toss the blade to the ground, a few feet away and let go of Stanley's neck.
'Something else is going on here. I want to know where he got these powers, and I can't do that if he's dead.'
The now confused Stanley Printwhistle looks between the blade and me, and can't seem to form words for a minute or two before finally anger returns to him and he strikes me across the face.
"Why?! You'll never get that chance again!" I take the hit, and it makes me stumble backwards. He hits me again, and I just take it.
"I'm done fighting you." He laughs hysterically as he grabs my face with one hand and my neck with the other.
"You idiot! I'm going to kill you Marvel!"
"I get like this when I'm angry. I'm just a normal guy under all this power, just like you. Sometimes, I need to scream, and a lot of the time I want to hurt the ones that hurt me or my loved ones. But it never changes anything." He lifts me off my feet and slams me into a car, before beginning to pummel me. It hurts, but it's not the blade, so I can take it.
"You think you understand?! What are you really under all that power? Are you a father?! Have you ever lost a chlid?!" Knuckles slam into cartilage, and scrape against cheekbones. The frame of the car under me caves in more and more as he continues his assault.
"Do you know what it's like to lose loved ones, one after another?!" Tears fall from the sky, as my left eye socket is swollen shut. He moves to inflict damage on my ribs, and it still hurts, but I endure.
"Yes -HMM- I didn't lose a child -Ugh- I'm an orphan." He has his fist raised, but hesitates a moment, before shaking his head and delivering another blow.
"After- I was taken in by my aunt. She was- a vile- woman-OOF!" He stops his assault for a moment. "She abused me, stole my inheritance and lost it all before driving me into the streets. Then foster care. Abuse after abuse. Until me and this other kid had enough." Stanley is just staring at me in disbelief now.
"That's... that's..."
"We were angry. Hell, I'm still angry. Almost all the time. Back then, we did something stupid. We wanted to make them all pay. We let our hatred and rage rule our actions. It fuelled us on our quest for vengeance. It worked. We succeeded. But it cost me a piece of my soul. The other kid... it might have cost him more. In the end, I didn't feel better. I was just more angry, and more hateful. I was lucky though. Before they died, my parents raised me to be a good kid. To care about others. To accept my flaws and try to improve where I can. They died for no reason, and I never understood why I survived. Now I do."
"What? To save people? Please. Don't try to sell me on that altruistic garbage. It's too late for me to do that! You may have only lost a piece of yours, but I sold my soul for this chance at your life." Not what I was expecting to hear, but I suppose it makes enough sense.
"That's the source of your power?" He nods.
"Once you're dead, my soul belongs to... to... ugh, right. I can't say it. Part of the deal."
Well that's not a good sign. Also is a nuisance that there are too many beings in creation capable of such deals. That is irritating.
'Did he just say he has to kill me to lose his soul?'
I like the way you're thinking Billy.
'Wisdom of Solomon after all.'
I'm not taking credit for that one, young one. That was all you. Internally I smile at the praise of Solomon. If I'm capable of getting ideas that make even him impressed, I must be pretty smart.
"Stanley. Your life, your soul, is worth more than vengeance. Don't throw it away. We can work this out, for the memory of your family." He growls and swings on me, connecting with my chest and I go hurtling through vehicles, signs and garbage cans.
"Spare me your speeches, and stop using my family as a means to dissuade me!" I flip through the air and float above the road as he stands in the intersection. I look into his eyes, and see that his madness is gaining more and more control over him. "My soul is forfeit either way. No escaping my fate. No redemption. You thought connecting with me would be enough, but it's meaningless. This can end only one way Marvel. Either you die, or I do!"
With that said he comes barrelling down the road. Seeing no other options at the moment, I fly in his direction, intending to meet him half way. As much as I don't want to anymore, I'll fight him, for now, if only to keep his focus on me and away from others.
His every step is so forceful that it causes potholes in the pavement, What he lacks in movement speed he makes up for in the sheer strength to bound forward and cover great distances. We reach each other. He tries to clobber me, but I swoop down a bit and tackle him. The collision causes a shock wave to erupt, and it blows out any remaining glass in the surrounding buildings, as well as disturbing the vehicles on the road. I hear people scream in terror, and I fly Stanley up into the sky and attempt to get him away from the city. He makes it difficult however, delivering hammer fists to my back. Looking to the sky I get an idea as to how I can slow him down. Adjusting my grip, I deliver a left hook to his ribs and change my positioning so I can catch his next fist with my right hand and hold him by his throat with my left. As his right grabs the wrist of the hand around his neck, I say the magic word.
"SHAZAM!" golden-yellow lightning, streaks across the sky and descends on us as the angry roar of thunder echoes from the heavens. The bolt hits Stanley square in the back, and his agonizing scream tells me how painful this attack really is. If he didn't want to feel this pain, he should have opted to work this out without violence.
"SHAZAM!" With every bolt of lightning, I can see his resolve diminish. His grip around my wrist loosens, and his fist in my other hand relaxes. I let it go limp to his side, and I am confident that I can do at least one more bolt before killing him.
"SHA-" His grip changes, his hand going to my elbow, and the other going to my throat as I finish the word "-ZAM!OOUH" His knee lifts into my groin, loosening my grip on his neck. At the same time his fingers jam into my throat before grabbing me. He spins his body, using his strength and chucks me into the lightning bolt just as it reaches us, releasing me, for whatever reason, and descends to the ground. I barely have enough time to register the mistake I just made before I'm Billy Batson again, also descending to the ground. I can no longer read his facial expressions due to the distance and disorientation.
Oddly enough, none of the damage Marvel received is evident on my body. Not sure if that's because most of it, save for the gash across my chest, had healed fully, or if because his body is completely separate from mine. Either way, I'm now falling to my death, and that needs to change.
"SHA-" Before I can get the words out, Stanley appears to clap his hands together and an immense shock wave hits me. I feel it in my teeth... and I'm... gods I think my eardrums just popped. I can't breathe. Shi-shit. I can't speak...
I feel another vibration through my body, though this time it didn't seem targeted at me. As I'm tumbling through the air, I see Stanley soaring in my direction, ready to strike. I remember briefly my dad telling me that when I'm winded, I should relax my body, go into the fetal position, and try to breathe deeply through the nose. Something about the panic induced attempts to breathe consciously when getting the wind knocked out of you keeps your body tense and makes the process take a bit longer. Well, it'll kill me either way if I can't say the damn word so may as well try.
I curl my body into a ball and think about my first experience flying. That after getting into the upper atmosphere, I was immensely relaxed. Printwhistle is almost on me. I can see him as I'm rolling through the sky. My heart threatening to burst from the stress and terror. He's closer and closer and suddenly I have that familiar sensation of air in my lungs, his fist reaching for my face. The immense fear of knowing that he would turn me to paste with one strike nearly freezes me, but I have to live through this. I have to win.
"Shazam." As I finally inhale I quickly release what little air I have to say the word. Lightning and Stanley are neck and neck in a race to reach me.
My right arm comes up and I deflect Stanley's left fist as my left hand grabs his throat once more. The lightning was faster, and now as Captain Marvel I raise my free hand to channel lightning through both appendages, electrocuting Stanley. While he's somewhat stunned from my attack, I angle him skyward, and close my right fist. I don't hold back this time as I deliver the blow to his face. The sound made is almost akin to a canon, or something louder, and a shock wave disperses the clouds in the sky, letting the sun shine through. His body goes tumbling up and up, and I race after him, delivering another massive blow to his back with my left to keep his trajectory.
As he tumbles he tries to reorient himself by clapping his hands together again, but I catch both arms and slam my forehead into his nose, producing a sickening crunch, and blood is now trickling from his nose, and mouth. He's stunned, disoriented, and I can take advantage of this. We've flown high enough in the sky that the atmosphere is thinning, and I can almost see the void of space behind the thin veil of blue. I think for a second, and look back over to Stanley before grabbing him by the throat.
"Can you survive the vacuum of space Stanley?" He groans in pain, as I take off at break neck speeds, flying over the curvature of the Earth to reach the moon. Despite my hand clasped around his throat, he manages to inhale a large amount of air.
I watch him intently as we go higher and higher, and eventually we are definitely in space, or at least we can see the infinite darkness of space with distant stars peppering it's black sea. His body seems to be able to withstand the uninhabitable environment, but he must not be able to sustain himself without gulping in that air. Fine by me.
He starts to put up a fight, trying to get me to let go, so I send enough power through him that it should cause him to scream, but he doesn't. He grits his teeth and bears it so he can survive. Unfortunate for him I don't need to breathe, so I can stay up here all day.
"I haven't been to the moon yet. Only floated just above the Earth. I'm excited to see what it's like though. How about you?" I increase my speed, flying straight towards the lunar body. The anger of nearly getting killed over a stupid mistake, and the frustration over his short sighted decisions is getting the better of me. Luna is getting bigger and bigger as we approach, and I'm not intending on slowing down. Instead, I bend my arm, adjust my orientation, and throw Stanley forward like a baseball.
He rockets into the moons surface, leaving a large cloud of kicked up moon dust and debris as he is barrelling through the inside of the lunar body. I increase my speed again, catching up to him, barely acknowledging the fact that we are going through caverns as the golden-yellow lightning of a god sparks across my body and wraps itself around my limbs and fists. I deliver a right haymaker, and then a left uppercut, a right side kick, another haymaker, an overhand, front kick, knee, elbow, hook, right, left, kick, punch, punch, kick, kick, kick, kick, punch,punchpunchpunch
I lose myself in the power. Delivering blow after devastating blow. The various caves, caverns, and what have you are caving in from my destructive assault. Stanley can no longer put up a defence, much less an offence. I have to admit, the power to dominate him like this after that annoying fight, feels pretty damn good. My feeling of enjoyment however is interrupted by the apparent struggle of a man suffocating in space. I groan in annoyance as I fly ahead of him, and deliver a roundhouse kick to his head that sends him out of the moon. I follow him out and take position much further below him, and as he reaches me, I strike him in the face, which again, sends him careening through the void, back in the direction we initially came from. I'm going to show Fawcett City that they have nothing to fear from him anymore.
When we eventually come to the spot in orbit above Fawcett City, I fly over to Stanley and blast him in the chest with a continuous bolt of lightning, sending him down into the atmosphere again. I follow closely behind him, pushing him further and further, the two of us moving fast enough that we are burning up. Stanley is struggling, only alive due to his magic powers, and I'm feeling this sudden drip of guilt as I watch him squirm. Though I enjoyed being able to put a beating on him for what he's done, I still see him as a wounded and broken man. The terrified and pained expression twisted me up, and I couldn't bare to hurt him anymore. I end the assault, and wait till we get close enough to Fawcett City to grab him by his vest and begin to slow us down so that we don't cause a massive Earthquake and collapse buildings by hitting the ground as hard as we were about to.
"HEY! It's Cap and that maniac!"
"Who's winning?"
"Looks like Cap! Look at the other guy. He's barely moving!"
"Ha ha! That's our hero for you!"
People cheering for me was something I didn't expect to like so much this past week, but now it felt... bitter and unearned. I let that familiar unyielding rage take over. He hurt so many, and he basically spat on the memory of his wife and daughter by choosing to sell his soul to kill somebody that tried to keep him from making the worst mistake of his life. His foolishness, even now, is aggravating me... but I shouldn't have lost my cool like that. I can't afford to with this power.
Oh good. He's calmed down.
'Mercury?'
You were kind of out of it there Billy. Somehow, you seemed to be tuning us out completely. Achilles' words worry me. If the gods who are supposed to guide me can't even reach me when I'm that blinded by my rage, then how can I be sure I was the right choice for this role? Is the good that Shazam mentioned in me really enough to over come my demons?
You could have destroyed the moon. Do you have any idea the devastation that would have wrought upon the Earth? Solomon's lecturing casts a shadow of doubt over my mind and heart. Should I be Captain Marvel?
'I'm Sorry.'
Don't be sorry. Hercules grunts. Be better.
I look down to the quickly recovering Stanley Printwhistle. He is looking at me with a mix of fear and rage. Just as Solomon and Achilles seem to help my mind and heart quickly realign when faced with illogical thoughts, terror, and heartache, his likely adds coal to the raging inferno. Even still, I just rag dolled him for enough time that taking me lightly and pissing me off doesn't seem to be his priority, regardless of his hate.
"This isn't FAIR!" Stanley shouts as we descend to the ground. His words set me off.
"Oh woe is me, my family's dead." Printwhistle seems to be uncertain of whether to fly into another rage or just be absolutely shocked by my words. Probably not expecting that kind of response from a super-hero. I hear equally mortified gasps from the crowd, no doubt in response to my mocking tone. I address them directly, turning away from Stanley for a moment. "Oh by the gods! Don't give me that! I'm an orphan. I've known plenty of orphans, but this will always be true regardless if you are an orphan or not..." I turn back to Stanley, still holding him by the collar of his vest. "...Everybody's got dead people! It is not an excuse to get everybody else dead along the way!"
Billy. I wouldn't advise this course of action. Show more tact, and compassion. The crowd was on your side. They don't seem to be fully comfort-
'I don't care! I don't do this to be liked. I'm a protector, not a king or politician. Whether they love me or hate me I'll do my job.' An amused, deep, chuckle, vibrates through my mind and I'm certain that it is Atlas. Not sure what he finds amusing. I also don't care.
"How dare you!" Stanley's shock finally subsides and his enraged madness returns. He tries to struggle against me and I'm starting to lose my cool again, when all of the sudden this golden rope slides over his form, binding his arms to his sides, before beginning to glow. "What is this?!"
"The lasso of truth." I follow the length of the obviously magical material and watch as Wonder Woman descends to the ground next to us. Her sword is back in it's scabbard, and she does not appear to be injured. The only signs of battle is the wear on her outfit.
"Get it off!" Stanley tries to struggle, but with the combined strength of the Warrior Princess and her apparent half-brother, we are capable of holding him down.
"No more rampage for you, Stanley."
"Fuck you Marvel! I'll kill you one day!" I ignore his threats and turn to Diana.
"This man's name is Stanley Printwhistle, or at least I'm pretty sure it is. He referenced events from the week prior and seems to have the same motivations. The only troubling thing is I watched him explode, and now he has magical powers. He also doesn't look anything like his old self." She nods her head before looking back to Stanley.
"What is your name?" I can see a pained expression on Stanley's face as the lasso grows brighter and Wonder Woman pulls it tighter. "The magic of the lasso compels you to speak the truth!"
"Which one? Oh fuck you!"
"What do you mean which one?" I ask, but Stanley spits at me in response. The glob of what had to be magical phlegm landing on my chest, due to his lowered position. "Really? I thought he was compelled?" I wipe the spit off of myself, annoyed by his apparent resistance.
"Only the one holding the lasso may compel the bound for the truth." I nod my head in understanding as the Amazon turns back to Stanley. "What is the name your parents gave you?"
"Stanley Printwhistle."
"And what is this other name you speak of." He struggles with this one. Groaning and writhing as he does. "Better, more powerful beings than you have been bound by the lasso, Stanley. None of them have defied it's compulsion." Good to know.
"I-i... aagh...! IBAC!" As he says his other name, a green flame rapidly engulfs his body and the smell of brimstone is potent. The gathered crowd gasps as they see the shaved muscle head-biker, turn into a haggard, middle-age man.
Stanley Printwhistle looks to be on his death bed.
"Stanley... you... what happened to you?" The man that stands before us is not the same man I tried to stop at the hospital. Same height, and general appearance yes, definitely Stanley Printwhistle... but he looks sickly. Withering away. Pallid skin. He looks like he's about to die at any moment.
"IB-mmf!" I place my hand firmly over Stanley's mouth, more gentle now that he is in this form. Tears form in his eyes as he tries to struggle against me. Even though I was angry with him before, I... I don't know. I feel bad for him. Feeling bad for him makes me feel guilty. He hurt people. Why do I feel sorry for the bastard?
"It appears his magic takes a heavy toll on him." I snapped out of my inner conflict as Wonder Woman addresses me.
"He claims that he sold his soul for the power to kill me." Diana frowns as she looks to the man.
"To carelessly throw away something so precious, the most precious thing a mortal has, is extremely foolish." Taking in Stanley's frail state, I'd agree. I shove my feelings aside and turn towards Wonder Woman.
"I don't really plan on holding his mouth for the rest of his life. What should we do?"
"Is this your first?"
"First super-villain? Yeah. Kind of new to the hero gig." She gives me an impressed smile and it's only now that I'm dumbstruck by just how gorgeous this woman is. Her looks matching her bad ass skills and air of authority when directing the local FCPD to muzzle and restrain Stanley. Wonder woman has the confidence associated with one as accomplished as her. Earned through years of trials. I hope I can be that confident one day.
Without the Courage of Achilles.