Part XVI
"Hey guys, that's gotta be it!" Freddy called to Billy and Mary. "The Las Vegas Strip!"
The three superheroes dramatically slowed their flight to peer down at the flat grid of streets overlaying the broad, brown swath of desert below. Not far from what could only be an airport, a literal strip of tall buildings cut a sort of diagonal curve across the landscape, standing out against the backdrop of a rocky ridge of mountains in the far distance.
"It all seems so…bare… Almost like a different world!" Mary commented as they flew past the main highway over miles of rugged rocks and sand. "I mean, back home it's all new flowers and spring leaves. But out here…" She turned her gaze over the sprawling city, squinting against the sun's mirage-like shimmer. "Apart from a few golf courses and palms, there's hardly any green in this whole area."
"I know," Billy said, flying between and a little ahead of his siblings to make a bird-like V-formation. "I always expected Las Vegas to be way more colorful. I mean, when you see it in movies and stuff it always seems so big and lively."
"That's just because we're here in the daytime," Freddy said. "The strip won't really wake up until the sun goes down and the lights go on!"
"Dude! That would be so cool to see from up here," Billy said, and pointed. "Hey look, there's that pyramid building."
"The Luxor," Freddy provided. "It's got, like, thirty stories and a giant sky beam that shines out the top at night."
"A sky beam? Seriously?" Billy snorted a laugh.
"I'm not kidding. I read about it on a top-rated tourism site. They had photos too," Freddy said, and pointed excitedly. "Billy, look! The fake Statue of Liberty and Eiffel Tower!"
"Yeah," Billy said. "And there's those fancy fountains, and the Stratosphere Tower with the rides on top! And…holy moley! There's so many rides down there! It's like, half the strip is covered in roller coasters!"
"Oh ho ho, sweet!" Freddy cheered as he and Billy shared a gleeful high-five. "You know, I read they've even got ones indoors. Like at Circus Circus, there's this whole Adventure Dome thing with arcades and games and they have, like, two crazy indoor coasters: the Canyon Blaster and El Loco."
"OK, we gotta check that out," Billy said.
Freddy nodded wholeheartedly.
"Oh yeah, absolutely! Man!" he cried. "This whole place looks so awesome! They ought to rename it the Funlands."
"What happens in Funland stays in Funland," Billy joked. "Yeah...doesn't quite have the same ring."
Freddy snickered. Mary shook her head.
"It's so weird you guys are getting this excited about roller coasters when we can literally fly, like, a million times faster." She loop-de-loped in the air as if to demonstrate.
"Yeah….kinda missing the point," Freddy said and Billy chuckled in agreement, his nose wrinkling a little. "Hey Billy, how long do we have here before we have to find Zatanna?"
"Her matinee show gets out at three-thirty," Billy said. "That's when we're supposed to meet her backstage. But I thought we could meet up with Superman around three and catch the end of her act. You know – get an idea of the kind of magic she can do."
"Yes! Awesome," Freddy cheered. "That means we've got almost a whole hour before the mission starts! Thanks to Mary so grossly overestimating our travel time." He snickered.
"Freddy, you were there when we looked up the map," Mary protested, stopping their progress to hover in the air. "It's practically two thousand five hundred miles from Philly to Las Vegas. That's more than a two-day trip by car! Almost six hours by plane – eight with stop-overs! Plus, you know, the time difference!"
"Yeah, but it only took us a few minutes to get here, and we weren't even flying at top speed," Freddy pointed out. "Seriously though, Mary, this isn't a dig. I'm glad you overestimated! Because now we've got all this extra time to explore Las Vegas – as grown-ups! Do you guys even get what that means!" he enthused, waving his arms. "We can go wherever we want, do whatever we want, and no one will ask for our IDs!"
Billy's eyes widened dramatically. "Holy moley, that's right," he realized. "We can play the slots in the casinos. Sit at the card tables!"
"Poker!" Freddy exclaimed. "Blackjack! Roulette!"
"So dope!" Billy beamed. "But first—"
"Roller coasters!" they chorused, cheering and whooping in the air.
Mary watched her brothers spin and twirl with her hands on her hips. "Roller coasters and gambling. Great plan, guys," she said. "So, did either of you think to bring any money along?"
"Ever hear of an ATM?" Freddy teased. "Besides, the Cap here is flush!"
Billy blinked in confusion. "What? No, I'm not!"
"Yeah," Freddy countered. "You know you've still got a stash from that 'selfie with a superhero' business you used to run out of the park. Before you had that 'change of heart' and started signing people's crap for free."
"Dude, you were the one who said real superheroes don't make people pay," Billy protested. "You said that's why you don't see Superman selling deodorant, or Flash hawking energy drinks on TV!"
"Yeah, well," Freddy pretended to wince, "there was that one time the Flash tried to do a commercial for—"
"Whatever, man! I don't care!" Billy exclaimed. "Anyway, we're wasting time talking up here. First thing we've got to do, before we even hit the Strip, is find ourselves some street clothes so we can blend in."
"Now that sounds like a good idea," Mary said, glancing at their billowing white-gold capes and the lightning bolt emblems that glowed even in the bright desert sun. "We don't want the people down there to know who we are, especially if you two plan to go casino hopping."
"What, are you worried about our public image?" Freddy teased. "Afraid we're gonna end up on the cover of 'Superheroes Gone Wild?'"
Billy snickered but acknowledged Mary's point.
"Well, maybe not that," he said. "But, we are kind of recognizable now, you know? Superman told me, as long as we wear these uniforms everything we do or say reflects back, not only on us and our team, but on the Justice League too. Best to stay incognito if we don't want to get mobbed, or see videos of us posted all over the internet."
Freddy's eyebrows twitched and he frowned a little.
"Way to suck the fun out of things," he muttered, and pulled at the layered fabric of his cape. "So, what the heck kind of disguise can fit over these capes?"
"Superman suggested trench coats," Billy said, and his siblings groaned.
"Coats? In this heat?" Freddy protested.
"Billy, it's like eighty degrees out here," Mary said. "We'd stick out worse than if we just walked around in our uniforms!"
"Hey, people wear coats in Westerns, don't they?" Billy said. "And the desert does get cold at night. Let's look around. Maybe we'll find something better. Plus, I've got my debit card so if we spot an ATM we can pick up some cash for the tables and slots!"
"Do these casinos take cash?" Mary asked. "Or, is it like at an arcade where you buy a special card and top it up at a machine?"
"I don't know," Billy said. "Have I been here before? We'll just have to find out how it all works as we go!"
"Sounds good to me!" Freddy said and cheerily led their dive toward the gridded streets, on a search for the nearest discount clothing store.
"Just pick the blue one. I can tell that's the one you want," Mary said, pulling a long cranberry-red duster over the vest she'd found to cover her glowing lightning bolt and cinch in the bulk of her cape. Turning in front of the mirror, she said, "I should totally get a cowgirl hat to go with this. What do you think, Freddy? Do I look like I stepped out of a Western or what?"
"With those boots? Maybe Back to the Future III," he joked, then raised his hands. "No, I'm kidding. You look cool. Like, Vegas-cool. Honest."
Mary made a face. "Maybe I should find something else."
"No don't. It's good, really," Freddy assured her, then groaned and shoved the blue trench coat back onto the rack.
"This sucks," he said. "If I pick the blue one, it'll just feed into the whole cheesy 'Sky' thing, and I seriously do not like that name."
"OK, then pick the dark blue one," Mary said.
"And look like a stormy sky…" Freddy grumbled.
Mary laughed and pulled the lighter blue coat off its hanger. She held it up against Freddy's shoulders and smiled.
"Looks fine to me. And it's long enough to cover your boots. Here, try it on and see for yourself."
Freddy blew out a long-suffering sigh but slipped the coat on over his sky-blue uniform, tying the sash like a karate belt.
"Well?" he asked, holding out his arms.
Mary stared at him for a long moment. Long enough to make him twitch.
"What?" he said. "Do I look like a dork?"
"No," she said. "You look… You look like a grown up man."
"Well, so do you!" Freddy shot back, then realized, "Look grown up, I mean. You know what I mean!"
"I know, Freddy. It's just… When we're in costume, it's easy to think it's all a costume, you know?" she said. "Like we're wearing masks. Playing a role. But the transformation… It's a lot deeper than that, isn't it. It's really…"
She narrowed her eyes, looking closely at her brother's face. The angles of his jaw and cheekbones, the faint shadow of beard on his chin, the fine lines near his eyes…
"It's really real. Like…this is us. This is who we're going to be. And I…"
She trailed off, breathing hard, and Freddy offered her his arm, leading her to the neighboring shoe section where they could sit together on a try-on bench.
"Mary, what is this? What's wrong?" he said. "You know you can talk to me."
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't be feeling like this. Not now, not here…" She sniffled, her face buried behind her long, brown hair. "It just feels like…everything in my life is ending, you know? Everything familiar. High school and…" She sniffled again and pushed her hair back behind her ears. "I'm going away to college at the end of the summer. I'll be eighteen, living on my own in California and you… The rest of you are going to grow up. Really grow up. And I'm not gonna be there. I'm not gonna be a part of it except from a distance and on holidays and… I've been thinking about that, too much probably…how we're all bound to change and grow apart… And it doesn't feel great, you know?"
Freddy frowned at her, his expression drawn and somber.
"We'll always be family, Mary. All of us," he said. "No matter how far we go or how old we get. That's not going to go away."
"You say that now. Just wait until the end of August, when everything starts to change," Mary said, roughly wiping at her eyes.
"No, sis. I mean it," Freddy said firmly. "Plus, you know, you're forgetting one very important thing."
"What's that?"
Freddy smiled at her. "You can fly," he said. "Way faster than any jet. Just say the magic word, and you could come home every weekend if you wanted to. Or we could visit you. Then there's all the times we'll be calling on you to help us fight monsters and demons and various other creeps. Seriously, it'll be like you never left. You'll see."
"Freddy..." Mary laughed and leaned her head against her brother's strong shoulder. "You always know the right thing to say. Even when we were little…and we talked about our nightmares."
She looked up at him then, her eyes full of concern.
"I heard you," she said quietly. "When we got hit by that that psychic attack or whatever it was. You were talking in your sleep when we found you on the floor of your room. But I was the only one who picked up on what you were saying."
Freddy turned away. "I told you, I don't remember anything about that. I don't even know if it was a psychic attack! Just that, whatever happened, it brought back a lot of old feelings. Like, bad feelings."
"I know, Freddy. It was the same for all of us. But…" She sighed. "I saw you hide your old cookie box under your bed."
"Mary! You promised we would never speak of—!"
"I never told anyone about the box, I swear," she said. "And I wouldn't bring it up now, except… If what you felt is anything like what happened to me…" She took his hands in hers and squeezed. "Freddy… You can't blame yourself for what happened that day. You have to understand it wasn't your fault."
Freddy's jaw tightened and he pulled away.
"I understand, OK?"
"No, Freddy, I need you to listen," she said, reaching for his hands again. "I told you about…about how I used to wish I'd died with my parents. I wished that harder than I'd ever wished anything. But I know now… I understand, in my heart, they would have wanted me to live."
"It's not the same," Freddy mumbled. "You weren't with them in that car. You didn't freeze up when…when they needed you to be strong…"
"Freddy, you didn't freeze up! That monster half paralyzed you! The fact that you survived an attack like that only proves how strong you really are."
Freddy snorted. "Tell that to the creeps at school. They only laid off me because they think Superman will kick their ass if they don't."
"You never deserved their abuse," Mary said firmly. "No matter how much you may have thought you did, you didn't. You're one of the toughest kids I've ever known. And that includes Billy. You've earned your place as a hero, Freddy. And I really mean that."
Freddy quirked an eyebrow at her.
"Yeah?" he said. "Then how come that wizard guy chose Billy as his Champion and heir when I was right there in the bunk below?"
Mary stood and pulled her taller brother toward the mirror on the wall, positioning him until he had no choice but to look his adult frame straight in the eye.
"Looks to me like we've been chosen too," she said. "That's what we have to remember, Freddy. That's what we have to cling to when the nightmares hit hardest. We're here because we deserve to be here. We deserve to be part of this team. This Family. As long as we hold on to that…"
"Yeah," Freddy said, blinking a little as he faced their reflections. "Yeah, thanks."
He took in a sharp breath and turned to her.
"So, you feeling better?"
She shrugged and gave him a little smirk. "I guess. For now. You?"
He snorted a little and smiled. "Same. So, where's Billy? We gotta head to the register before we run out of game time."
"Last I saw, he was heading for the dressing rooms," Mary said, rising a few subtle inches off the floor to peer around the store. "Oh my god…"
"What?" Freddy said, rising up to join her. "…the hell?" He giggled. "Don't tell me that's—"
"Guys, guys, check this out!" Billy exclaimed, rushing over to strike a dramatic pose right in front of them. His broad shoulders and thick mucles bulged beneath a long white coat festooned with sequins and fringes, and his hairstyle looked like a throwback to the '50s. "The lady at the check-out says I look just like Elvis!"
"Wait, you've been talking to—" Mary started, but Billy waved her off.
"No, it's cool," he said. "She thinks we're acrobats. So?" He turned a full circle, the sequins reflecting little dots of light all around the walls and floor. "How do I look?"
Freddy gave a loud involuntary snort, covering his mouth with both hands.
"Dude!" he giggled. "Turn the muscles to flab, and she might have something there."
Mary just stared, slowly shaking her head.
"I can't…I just… That had better be a wig," she said. "Oh my god… Please tell me you didn't already buy that thing!"
"No, not yet," Billy said, trying out a few more poses.
"Good, because we are not walking around Vegas with you glittering like a disco ball," Mary said. "Good grief, Billy, weren't you the one who said we should be incognito!"
"What's more incognito than an Elvis impersonator in Vegas?" Billy teased. "No one would ever guess it was me under all these sequins!"
"No," Mary said, her expression almost desperate. "Just, no. You can't—!"
Billy burst out laughing and pulled off the twinkling white coat, revealing a tan and red outfit not too different from Mary's vest and duster underneath.
"Better?" he said, still laughing. "Man, I totally got you with that! Of course I'm not going to wear that stuff! I just saw this Elvis coat in the window and I had to try it on. Who knew these things came in, like triple extra-large!" He laughed again.
"Hey Billy, I want to try it next," Freddy said, taking the glittery coat and pulling it on over his own clothes. Curling his lip and putting on a fake Elvis-like drawl, he said, "What do you think?"
"Dude, it doesn't work without the hair," Billy said, taking off his wig and plopping it on Freddy's head.
"Uh huh. Thank you very much," Freddy drawled, wearing the off-center wig like a crooked crown. Thrusting his fringed and sequined arms in the air, he cried, "I am the king!"
Mary laughed and hugged Billy's arm, her eyes shining with relief.
"Yeah, I don't think I have to worry about you guys growing up any time soon," she said. "Come on, let's buy this stuff and get moving. Where do you want to head first?"
"Circus Circus!" Freddy exclaimed, taking off the Elvis gear and draping it over a rack nearby. "If the line for the roller coaster's too long, we'll check out the casino at Zatanna's place."
"Mandalay Bay," Billy said, re-checking his shimmery backstage pass. "Any idea where that is?"
"We'll find it," Freddy said, leading the way toward the check-out. "Hey, Cap… Thanks for taking me along on this one."
"Dude, you're my best friend," Billy said. "I couldn't head to Vegas without you!"
Freddy nodded, then smiled, then clapped his larger brother on the shoulder. "Yeah," he said. "By the way, you're the one paying for these clothes, right?"
Billy smirked. "Yeah, whatever," he said, pulling out his card as the group held their price tags out for the lady at the register to scan. "Looks like this whole trip is on me."
"If that's the way you feel, point me to the poker tables," Freddy said.
"And let you lose what money we have?" Billy teased. "Fat chance."
Freddy shot him a cocky smile.
"Dude, I bet you my batarang we come out ahead," he said. "We on?"
"We're on," Billy agreed and shook his brother's hand. "That batarang will look really cool on my sports shelf."
"In your dreams," Freddy said. "Mary, you're behind me, right?"
"As long as you don't take it too seriously," she said as the trio strode out of the shop and into the blinding sun of the alley leading to the main Strip. "This is supposed to be fun, remember. And we are here for a reason."
Freddy smirked and rolled his eyes. "Who's the grown-up now?"
"Guys, look," Billy said, pointing toward a massive black billboard. It shimmered and morphed like a hologram, revealing the face of a dark haired woman with a black top hat and a mysterious smile. Another shimmer, and image was replaced by the logo for her show. "That's Zatanna! She's the magician we came here to meet."
"Dude, you didn't say she was so hot!" Freddy exclaimed.
Mary elbowed her brother in the side.
"What, she is," Freddy said. "In an eerie, mystical sort of way."
"Yeah," Billy agreed. "And she's even more intense in person."
"OK, how about this," Freddy said. "We head to Mandalay Bay now and save the roller coasters for after we hit the jackpot. Like my folks used to say, might as well grow it before we blow it!"
"Hey, it's your batarang," Billy teased and stepped out onto the main sidewalk to peer down the hot, busy street. "What do you say, left or right?"
"How about up and over," Mary said, indicating with her chin toward a huge, mirror-like building looming in the distance. Across the top, a row of gleaming letters spelled out 'MANDALAY BAY'.
"Holy moley," Billy gasped.
"Whoa, is that it?" Freddy said, his eyes wide.
"Looks like," Billy said, and straightened his shoulders. "You guys ready?"
"For what?" Freddy said. "Taking on the Strip as grown-ups? Our first real mission with the Justice League?" He snorted. "Dude, I've lived my whole life for this!"
Turning his face to the pale desert sky, the blue-clad superhero broke out with an enormous grin, spreading his arms wide.
"Hear that, Las Vegas!" he called. "Bring it on!"
To Be Continued…
References Include: Justice League/Justice League Unlimited: Eclipsed, Clash; Shazam! (movie); Shazam! #8: Welcome to His Nightmare!; Shazam! Volume 1, by Geoff Johns; Shazam! The Deluxe Junior Novel, by Calliope Glass; Superman/Shazam: First Thunder by Judd Winick and Joshua Middleton; my trip to Las Vegas; Teen Titans Go!: Little Elvis. Because, why not. LOL!
Next Time: Billy, Mary and Freddy catch a glimpse of Zatanna's act before news from Batman prompts the baddies to up their game. Stay Tuned! Please let me know what you think! :D
