What a weird series of events I've had these past couple of months. After the attack of Ibac on City Hall, this asshole, Dr. Thaddeus Sivana, unleashed robots to attack some research lab that's looking into renewable energy. There was no way to prove that he did it, but I know it was him. He's the only guy capable of it, given his expertise, and the fact that he is definitely making money from oil companies.

The guy is about 64, but he looks older. Probably why he's a grumpy prick. I looked into his corporation, Sivana Industries, and didn't like what I found. So, I asked Mr. Morris what the chances were that he would let me report negatively on the mogul. He told me I could, but it would do one of two things. Get me in the crossfire of a billionaire that probably doesn't have any qualms about finding a way to ruin my life, which he's done to others that have come after him, or absolutely fuck all. As in, I'm nothing but a pest that will burn out on my own and he and his bottom line will be unfazed by anything I try to publish. So for now, I'm waiting on something big that Captain Marvel can foil, and then Billy will do an interview.

Outside of my job at WHIZ Radio, I picked up a part time job at Otto's as a busser to make extra cash. Besides the obvious reason of wanting to support myself and become autonomous from... well everything that I can, it's also so I can pitch in for dates with Cissie. Two weeks after our first impromptu date at Otto's, where I won the Dessert War, we went to a metal concert together. It doubled as a work review, since she covers the music section with her mom at the studio, and a date with me.

I've only ever been to one concert, and it was a Fleetwood Mac reunion tour type deal. So, needless to say, she taught me the rules of being in the Mosh Pit. I got knocked down at one point and this big dude with a beard and no shirt hoisted me up and yelled "TO VALHALLA!" and disappeared into the see of flesh immediately after. Which is pretty funny considering the band's name, was Hand of Tyr. Likely a reference to the story of how the Norse Gods were attempting to bind the God Wolf Fenrir, and failed over and over. The last attempt they made, they enchanted a ribbon, and he refused the challenge if they were using magic. The gods promised the ribbon wasn't enchanted, and Tyr, the God of Justice, offered his hand to Fenrir if they were lying. The Wolf of Ragnarok agreed, and Tyr placed his right hand in Fenrir's mouth. When they placed the ribbon around the giant Wolf, he tries to break free. However, the ribbon becomes tighter and tighter with each attempt. Realizing he had been lied to, he closes his jaw, and takes Tyr's hand in revenge. When asked why Tyr offered his hand without complaint, he stated that "Even Fenrir deserved justice." The story has always inspired me.

Anyway, I had a good time, and so did she. We've been on a good number of dates since then, but nothing major has happened. We are mostly just hanging out and calling it a 'date' but there is no kissing or... more intimate things going on. I'm too nervous to initiate any of that stuff, and right now, I'm just enjoying her company. She seems to feel the same way. So, we are settling for holding each other's hands more often than not. We have hugged a bunch, and recently we cuddled a bit, but I got really nervous after a few minutes and left. Not entirely sure why. I just blamed it on food poisoning. Something I should look into. All in all, she's smart, has a quick wit, seems practical, yet still optimistic, enjoys dancing, music, games, reading, riding her bike, gardening, working with her uncle... but I'm rambling now. I just like her a lot. She's really cool.

I've also recently had some run ins with a few magical entities. Very weird people, if they can be called that. I suppose the first one I ran into six weeks ago can be... sorta. Dummy, is his name. At first I thought he was just a short guy dressed as a ventriloquist dummy, but apparently he's a long dead gangster. His soul was bound to the actual body of a puppet. Yes, you heard that right. He is a living puppet. Other than that, he isn't really that bad to deal with. 1940's wise-guy edition of Chucky has annoying gadgets, but I didn't give him time to get his footing in our era, or to get accustomed to dealing with my powers. Although, to be fair, he had just been taken out of his box after a few decades, so I'm really wondering how old the guy is, let alone who. I'm thinking maybe Al Capone, but his slang didn't fit the era. Either way, he's locked up in Belle Reve.

Evil Eye. Now that guy was a real jerk. He managed to catch me off guard as Billy Batson and hypnotized me. He was going to send me into the Monsterlands to free his master, but when I said the word to become Captain Marvel to fulfill his task, Shazam's magic broke the spell and I pummelled the guy, kicking his ass back to where he came from. Which... oddly enough was the Monsterlands. Solomon advised I not travel to any of the Magiclands until I'm better prepared. There is apparently a prison in the Monsterlands, according to Solomon, and if whoever sent Evil Eye needed me to free them, then it's reasonable to presume that they couldn't escape with what was available to them. This put me at ease, but I still wanted to hustle my ass into high gear when it came to learning magic, so I'm going to be actively looking for Doctor Fate, or anybody else that may have some magical ability, soon.

Last, but certainly not least, was King Kull. It makes me laugh just thinking about how he laughs. It's so weird. The guy is a prehistoric dude that is somehow very smart, and was intent on making me his servant. He was the biggest problem of the three, being more akin to Ibac in his destruction. However, like Dummy, he was a guy out of time. He didn't know anything about our world and when he showed up, he was dumb struck. He didn't manage to cause as much damage as Ibac did, not even managing to kill anybody before I got involved, and for that fight, I took him out of the city sooner to deal with him. Using the same entry to the Monsterlands that I used to banish Evil Eye, I sent King Kull packing. He swore vengeance, and I basically just dared him to try.

After that, I was hoping things would quiet down, and thankfully they have. I've enjoyed almost two weeks of simple superhero responsibilities, going on a couple dates with Cissie, and finally getting emancipated.

Moving into my new place is nothing short of relieving. I mean yeah, it's in the worst part of town, the apartment and the building it resides in is pretty rundown, and my landlord is definitely a shady bastard, but we have an understanding. He keeps my name off record, I don't mention that he's illegally renting rooms that are barely up to code to people under the table so that he can avoid taxes... or something like that. I don't really understand it fully, but I know that I'm not the only one in this building paying in cold hard cash without any real legal documents signed.

Sure, that might put me in a position where I could get kicked out with no recourse, but he knows that would just bring trouble on his head, because if he screwed anybody like that, he'd go down with them. Besides, despite his shady demeanour, I can see that he's housing some people who otherwise wouldn't have a chance of getting affordable living. Not saying he's a good guy, or the hero of Beckville, but he's definitely not some vile bastard praying on people... well, at least not ruthlessly. At least it doesn't appear that way. He seems to be very neutral about things. I'll get a better read on him as time goes on.

Moving into the building wasn't too bad. I don't have much, and luckily the last guy to live in my apartment left a bit of furniture. A mattress and box spring was a relief, because the bed I used to have belonged to The Lost and Found and would be given to the next kid to stay in that room. There is no bed frame, but that's okay. I can probably build one... at some point. Other than that I have a dresser, and a working fridge. Needed to be cleaned... in fact the whole place did, including the bed. Suppose that's the downside to keeping everything off record. Still, it's better than the street. Funny enough though, I haven't spent the night yet.

I moved what I could carry the first trip all into my apartment, leaving them packed so they didn't get filthy, and went to the store to some cleaning supplies. I got back in time to see that one of the residents in the building was none other than Ms. Bambi. She was smoking on the stairwell, just minding her business when I came up to her and almost called her by name. She gave me a curious look at first before asking who my parents were and I told her I was emancipated and lived on my own. She told me she didn't do kids and I didn't understand what she meant by that for second before feeling the embarrassment rise to my cheeks. We sorted out the misunderstanding pretty quickly and she gave me some help cleaning my apartment. I offered her cash, but she declined, saying "The first one's on the house." and winked at me before giving me her number and leaving. After that I was content with working on a script for work, but of course, this is the lower East-side of Fawcett. Something is always bound to happen here.

So I'm sitting here, not five minutes has gone by since Ms. Bambi left and I sat down on my bed with my notepad and pen, before I hear weird noises outside, followed by gunshots and panicked yelling. I nearly drop my writing tools from the harsh change in vibes, still taking at least a second or two to process what I'm hearing before throwing my stuff on the bed and running over to one of my windows. Sure enough, down below is a shoot out. The weird noises belonging to weird futuristic weapons that look to be straight out of a sci-fi film. Only they look kind of strange. Actually, they look like weird high-tech rods, and they are firing a magenta... I dunno, lasers, or energy blasts of some kind, at a group of gangster's wielding man made ballistic weapons, standing on the opposite side of the street. The guys carrying the rods are wearing strange light-purple and black armour covered head-to-toe, with hot pink visors over the eyes. Their weapons are similarly coloured.

I pinch my nose as I back away from the window. This is such poor timing. I have so much to do today, but now I have to figure out what the hell these guys are up to and why they are attacking people in Beckville.

"Shazam!" I can feel it now, the lightning, descending on me from the sky. I can feel the path it's taking, coming straight down onto my building, phasing through all of the floors down to where I am, on the 4th floor, before striking me. The subtle sting and heat of the power as it courses through my veins, and transforms me into Captain Marvel is nothing new. The first time I transformed, the adrenaline and fear I had as the lightning crashed into me kept me from even recognizing the sensation, but ever since my second transformation, I've been aware of it. Luckily, it doesn't seem to do much other than signal that the bolt and I have become one, making me into the Champion of Magic.

As I head for the window I grab my razr flip phone I bought at a pawn shop and open it up to take some super speed pictures for my job, before placing it back down on my dresser and flying out the window. Heading down, I can see that these energy weapons pack a real punch. Luckily, the Bryer Gang isn't as stupid as I think they are, and they begin to retreat down the street, keeping low. The heavy fire from teh six armoured men hits cars, buildings, and street signs, causing more destruction than any weapon I've seen a street thug carry. You'd think that would have me thinking they are professionals, but with the mess they are making, I'd assume these guys were just another low-level gang that managed to get their hands on weapons that belong above their paygrade.

Either way, I can't let this go on. Flying down and landing behind two men standing next to each other, I clear my throat, which makes them jump a bit as they turn around and back away from me, levelling their weird weapons my way.

"You guys must be from out of town, because normally when lightning strikes on a beautifully sunny day like today, the locals know that Captain Marvel is about to make an entrance. Oh, and in case you jerks were wondering, I'm Captain Marvel." As I'm giving my lecture, which is meant to be a distraction, I'm intensley studying their weapons and armour, trying to see if Solomon knows anything about this tech.

It's Apokoliptian Tech.

'Apoko-wha-'

"Waste this bitch!" My internal dialogue with Solomon is interrupted by a memory of the first night I turned into Captain Marvel. Those thugs attacking Ms. Bambi said the same thing to me, right before opening fire. My invulnerability essentially made me bulletproof, so their enthusiastic attempt to end my life was met with disappointment. I stand there with the confidence of a god, my hands on my hips, fully expecting to tank this hit no problem. The two men fire their weapons at the same time, both ends of their rods flash a magenta hue as they release a beam each, hitting me scare in the chest.

And it sorta hurts.

'What the hell? That isn't magic, but I could kind of feel tha-'

The technology in front of you Billy comes from a place where magic and technology have been merged into one. Apokolips is the planet, and realm, of a New God.

'Why didn't you just say it's celestial then?'

Because that isn't exactly accurate, and I only know what it looks like, thanks to Shazam. I never knew exactly how powerful it was until today. For all my knowledge and wisdom, I know very little about the New Gods.

'A mystery for us to discover together than. Sounds fun. Luckily their weird rods didn't really pack that much of a punch. Don't want these clowns hitting anybody that can't withstand such an-'

Another barrage is fired at me, but this time, it's all six beams, and they seem to be firing at a higher intensity. This time, I can feel it burn me. Not only that, it's concussive force is so powerful that it knocks me off my feet and sends me into a parked car.

'FUCK! That REALLY fuckin'- mmm that's it!' Looking down at my body, I can see smoke steaming off my chest, but no structural damage has been done to Cap's physical form.

Correction. Now I know how powerful they are.

'I'm going to beat them up now.'

"Go to max level! Keep hitting him before he-" It's power output goes higher?

"Nope." Sticking one palm out after the other, quick draw fire two lightning bolts at the armoured men, putting a bit more juice into the attack to compensate for their defences. It stands to reason that if their weapons can pack that much of a punch to me, then their armour can probably take decent hit as well.

Of course, sometimes being right all of the damn time is a curse. Jokes aside, the bolts hit the two men, managing to only cause them to stagger a bit, before regaining their composure and opening fire. Well, that's annoying. Of course, I don't know if these guys are even human under the armour, but I was firing at them as if they were. Maybe they aren't, considering their gear. On the other hand, maybe I require even more juice than I thought to cause significant damage and end the fight quickly. I'll go take a closer look.

Using the Speed of Mercury, I weave around the assault and quickly reach both men, tearing their weapons from their hands and bunching them together in a metal ball. Both of them raise their hands to defend themselves, but I infuse the piece of scrap with arcane lightning before hucking it at another guy, hitting him square in the chest. He's sent flying through the air and crashing through a street lamp, which hilariously causes it tumble over and land on another guy, although he doesn't seem to bothered by the hit. Both men seem to be okay, but I'm distracted from trying to check on them when both of the other men start throwing punches at me. Though they are definitely a bit stronger and more durable than most humans, likely because of the armour, their punches have no effect on me.

"Boys, let's talk about this." They don't head my suggestion, their frantic attacks giving me the feeling that they are probably human, or at least similar to humans, under all that plating.

"Idiots! You're not wearing Bio-Armour, get the fuck out of the way so we can sho-!" I've had just about enough of this.

Grabbing both men by their heads, I give them a stronger shock than I did before, shorting out whatever their armour is doing for them, and disrupting their nervous system, giving them temporary paralysis. Been practising that one recently. After dropping them, I aim my one hand at the two men to my left, and my right at the two men that I had created that domino effect with on my right, just as they got back to their feet and take aim. Before their assault, I unload some chain-lightning on their asses. It's like a supercharged magical taser, projected from my finger tips. They convulse and writhe, no longer capable of moving, before I release them, and they all drop to the ground. From their groans, I can tell most of them are still conscious, but weak and unable to fight.

"Good talk." My chipper delivery seems to annoy one of the more conscious thugs, earning me a response.

"No it wasn't." I snicker to myself as I hear sirens approaching from the distance.

Deciding to prevent any further use of these dangerous weapons crafted from a New God, I gather them up and place them in a pile, most destroyed, but leaving one untouched so evidence photos can be taken. I will destroy the weapon after the fact however. On top of that, I want to know just who these guys are, so I gather all of them up and place them back to back in a circle, and bend that fallen street lamp around them. Not sure if their suits give them the strength to bend metal, but for now, they are weakened and can't move. I reach for their helmets and yank them off, luckily capable of doing so without taking their heads with them. One by one I reveal a new face, a diverse group of thugs, but none are recognizable. To be fair, I've only been Captain Marvel for a few months now, and I don't have every single person in this city committed to memory, but these guys are definitely tourists. Something about them seems familiar.

"You guys wanna tell me where you're from?" Neither of them look at me as they squirm fruitlessly from their binds, still too weakened to do anything. No verbal responses to fuck off or anything like that. Maybe they were professionals, and their job was just to cause a problem.

"Well done Cap! Can always count on you to keep us safe!" Looking around, I see people are now gathering around, to see what the commotion was about, and to catch a glimpse of their local hero. I give a smile and nod, waving to some of them, seeing that some of them are recording this scenario. There goes my lead for WHIZ.

"Come on guys, give me something here. I'll tell the police you are cooperating."

"Fuck you, cape." One mumbles.

"Damn, and here I thought you were more than just common street thugs." One of them gets angry, growling under his breath, the others look to be somewhat annoyed, but I can't tell if it's at me, their partner, or themselves. "Suppose you just found this shit lying around and thought you cou-"

"Fuck you cape! You have no idea who-"

"No, he doesn't. We should keep it that way." The angry one I baited is interrupted by his comrade, bringing him back down to level. He sneers at me before putting his head down, and any other attempt I make at communicating falls on deaf ears. Until...

"I-I can't go to jail! I never wanted this. I just wanted to-!" Looking over the six men, one of them, upon further inspection looking less like a fully grown man, and more like a boy, older than me by only a few years, is trembling. He has slightly bronze skin and darker curly hair. Probably mixed ethnicity. His eyes are green, and his face is soft. His eyes look tired, but he looks too young to be getting mixed up in this crap. Of course, that's the response of your common civilian. Those living this life know better.

"Shut up, Jason!" The same guy that interrupted the angry dude hisses at the young man, and I growl under my breath at the older thug. He tightens his lip real quick, and appears to be suddenly nervous. Turning away from him and focusing on the kid, he looks up to me with tears in his eyes.

"I fucked up, Cap. I'm so sorry. I-I needed the money and- and- and I just... I thought... Oh God! I'm sorry!" He starts quietly sobbing, and I realize pretty quickly this kid is likely new to all of this. Probably from a broken home, or homeless, and likely having trouble in almost every aspect of his life. Feeling lost, and needing a place to belong, running into the wrong people, and getting roped into something he thought was a brotherhood worth killing and dying for. It looks like he has a softer heart than he bargained for.

"You actually expect me to believe that?" I need to test him.

"I swear!"

"Shut up you fucking crybaby!"

"This little bitch is going to rat on us."

"If he does, he's dead." The kid identified as Jason earlier, seems to shut up after that, and I take a knee next to him.

"Why are you so scared?" He turns his head, the other men are trying to move, but they still don't have the strength to do so, and I don't think their armour increases their strength enough to free themselves from predicaments like this. "What did you need the money for?"

"My mom." Great. Family and parents are a soft spot for me.

"What about her?"

"She's trying so hard to keep the roof over our heads, but three kids, a fuck up son, and two daughters just getting into their teens, she's got so much on her plate. On top of that I'm pretty sure she's sick, and hiding it from us."

He doesn't appear to be lying. He seems earnest. Solomon's guidance is a blessing. I can't really tell if he's telling the truth, and I by default want to help people protect their families. It's good that I have Solomon in my ear for situations where my bias may fuck up my decision making.

"You actually from Fawcett?" He nods. "Then go get a real job." Unbending the bar a bit, I pull Jason out of the pole, and reform it around the men before they can get lose.

"Seriously?" Jason's look of disbelief shows me that he's still young and hasn't had very much kindness shown to him. Maybe his family is the only source of joy and kindness he has, and he's trying to keep them together. "I didn't even tell you everything. I haven't even said anything about Int-" I place my hand over his mouth, cutting him off before he says something stupid.

"A story like yours has been told since the dawn of time. The son, becoming the man. Wishing to provide for the ones that have taken care of him, and to continue protecting his family until he can't any longer. Willing to go to any extreme to do so. Except, you know now there are consequences for your actions. I can respect why you did it, but what you were doing was wrong. So many people, with families just like yours, could have been hurt, or worse. What if your sisters were in an attack like this? Your mom? What if you died here?" Tears well up in his eyes again and his lip trembles. He chokes out a sob, and places a hand over his mouth, as if to keep himself from puking.

"I'm so sorry." I shake my head.

"Don't be sorry. Be better. Not just for your family, but for yourself. You need to be true to yourself and who you are. If you can't stomach this line of work, then you need to do something else. I'd prefer you be a good lad, grow into a good man, so that your family can be proud of you. So you can be proud of you. Be good, Jason, and good will follow." Leaning in close to the boy, I whisper in his ear. "Go to Otto's Diner. Tell him everything. Your story, and what I said to you today. He's a good man. He'll give you a job. It won't be much, but it'll be honest work, and maybe it can relieve some of the pressure, so that you can help your mom and you guys can figure out a new plan."

He looks at me bewildered, completely incapable of believing what I'm doing. His shaky fear doesn't leave him, but a semblance of hope twinkles in his eye, and I believe he will get it right. I can't really take all the credit for that speech either. I mean, I paraphrased what Solomon was telling me to say, but I think it did it's job.

He nods, somewhat more determined. Looking down at himself, grimaces and starts stripping off his armour. Boots kicked off and gauntlets pulled away, tossed with the boots, revealing sleeves to a skin tight suit underneath. He starts pulling every piece off, one by one, and throwing it to the ground. He begins to pull at the body suit underneath, but I put my hand up.

"Find yourself some clothes first so you aren't running naked through the streets, and then get rid of it. With how high-tech this stuff is, I'd imagine they can track it." He doesn't respond, simply standing their now in his suit. He's skinny, like Tim, just as tall too, if not taller, but he's scared, and unsure of himself.

Before anything else can be said, a man walks out from my building, I recognize him to be my landlord, Elijah Wilson. He's carrying a grey hoodie and a pair of shorts.

"Here, kid. Come into the building and get changed in the corner while I cover you." He turns to me after Jason takes the clothes. "I'll bring the suit out to you after he's done." I nod, intending on making sure I get it to the police anyway, so if he's lying to me I'll just go get it. I doubt he is though.

"You're dead Jason. You hear me! De-OOF!" I swiftly punch the asshole in the mouth to just him up, and glower at the rest of them as they strain to look up at me.

"Let's be clear here. Jason, isn't running away with any of the equipment you brought here today. Can't imagine he owned his own set, so that means it belongs to you, or your boss, whoever that is. So, property will be taken by the cops instead, which was going to happen anyway. Secondly, he isn't ratting on you. He hasn't given any information, and he will never do so, will he." I say this with emphasis while looking at Jason, and he nods vigorously. "Which means, he isn't a loose end. I'm sure these fine people, will kindly keep his face and name out of the recordings they are taking, if for no other reason than to give a kid another chance at life. He understood his mistake, and luckily, nobody was hurt or killed." Turning to the crowd, I can see that most people have already put their phones down, with the few youngsters still recording looking around to see what everybody else was doing, and following suit. It amazed even me that all of them had stopped recording. Now let's hope they edit anything with Jason's face in it out if they decide to still upload their videos.

"Doesn't matter. He's leaving us here to-"

"To live to die another day. Whether he stays or goes you're still going to jail. He has a family that needs him, and he understands where his priorities should be. Considering he's a kid, and you're a fully grown asshole, you should know better. So let's recap this. He's not stealing anything from you, he's not spilling his guts about you, your operation, or anything like that, and the police will not pursue him, nor will I. On top of all that, what do you expect him to do? Pick up that rod and shoot me? It took all six of you to make me feel anything and that's only because I played chicken with you guys. Once I took things seriously, you couldn't land a single hit. Him staying doesn't change anything for you. Him going doesn't change anything for you. You're attitude about him leaving however, is exactly why I'm not letting you go free either. So shut the hell up, and lay in the bed you made for yourself." The men grumble as I lecture them on why exactly they shouldn't pursue any kind of retribution on Jason, but I know it's likely they'd still attempt to anyway. I'll have to check in with him and his family, maybe move them or something. It really depends on who is behind all of this.

"Um... what now?" I turn to Jason with a soft smile, and a firm hand on his shoulder.

"Go home, hug your family, discard this thing and leave an anonymous tip for the cops as to where it was left. Use a burner phone to do so. And live your life." He nods, wiping the fresh tears from his eyes.

"I'll never forget this, Cap. Thank you. Thank you so much. I promise I'll be better. You won't regret this."

"I believe you." He gives me a smile, a calmness finally coming over him, as he turns to Mr. Wilson, and is lead into the apartment building. I wait a half a minute, listening with my super hearing to make sure nothing devious is going on, and I'm pleasantly relieved that everybody is keeping their word. I turn to everybody present, watching me, and I give them a big grin.

"Thanks for being great people Beckville!" I shout.

"Damn straight! You mess with one of us, you mess with all of us!"

"We take care of our own here assholes! Don't come back!"

"You're the great people Cap!"

"Cap really spanked those guys! They needed it!"

I laugh at the enthusiasm the crowd displays after my outings. At first I felt weird about it, like I was being celebrated a little too much. I didn't do this so I can be cheered or revered. Still, it was a good feeling, to know the community had, for the most part, a common ground when it came to me getting involved in situations like this. Not to mention that they seem to be inspired and more confident in standing up for what they believe is right. I hope that means that eventually, all of Fawcett will feel more linked to each other than ever. That when the chips are down, despite their hurt feelings and grievances, they'll stand up for each other and lend a hand when it really matters. There are a few people that are already doing that today, and have been for years. Otto Benson, Elijah Wilson, Monica, Mary, Mr. Morris, and Officer Mark Durant. Just to name the few personal links I have in this city that have shown me kindness and compassion. That being said, I can't stop the adoration. That will only change if I change for the worse, or if they change and want something else. Even then, there will always be that universal truth.

Everybody loves a good hero.