Part XXXI
"But what exactly are the Magic Lands?" Rosa demanded, pressing her hands flat against the conference room's polished table to stop herself from beating it with her fists.
The Justice League leaders who had welcomed Shazam to the team only days ago – Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Martian Manhunter, Green Lantern – stared back at her as she spoke. Next to them sat Dr. Fate, Zatanna, Constantine and Jason Blood, their expressions uniformly stoic as the machines monitoring Billy's Suspendium bubble bleeped softly, but persistently, at the front of the room.
"Why did that wizard person seal them off?" she continued, her desperate frustration spilling out with every word. "Why does it matter that they've been unsealed, and what has happened to our kids!"
Beside her, Victor reached for her hand. With the other, he gripped the arm of his chair.
"Darla's only seven," he said, peering at the gathered Leaguers, his brow deeply furrowed. "Billy is fourteen. What made any of you think it was OK to let them to take on these responsibilities on their own? Sending that…that Nightwish—"
"Nightwing," Rosa corrected.
"Nightwing to our house with those lies about a fitness scholarship…!" Victor shook his head, his nostrils flaring as he bit back hard on his roiling emotions.
"Does Mr. Wayne know you've been using his name and facilities to cover up your super-secret superhero recruitment scheme," Rosa said angrily. "Because, right now, I wouldn't be surprised to find you've all been lying to that man the same way you've been lying to us!"
Superman swiveled his chair to face Batman, his arms crossed and his eyes like blue ice in a face set like stone. Far from showing any sign of acknowledgement or regret, Batman met the Kryptonian's seething glower with a steady stare of his own.
Superman bared his teeth and turned his head away, his gaze falling on the motionless figure inside the Suspendium bubble.
"Mr. and Mrs. Vasquez, you have my apologies," he said and sat forward, clearing the roughness from his voice. "You're not the only ones who've been lied to. I know how my parents would feel if I'd kept the truth about myself a secret from them, and I'm sorry we couldn't be as upfront with you."
Rosa squeezed her eyes shut, tightening her grip on her husband's hand.
"You superheroes," she said coldly. "You give all those interviews – all that talk about responsibility and duty. Well, we parents have duties too. We have the responsibility of guiding our children. Protecting and supporting them as they grow, helping them develop emotionally and mentally to a point where they can take on responsibilities of their own. Could you – any of you – have effectively done the jobs you do now at the age of seven? Ten? Sixteen? Would you honestly have chosen to take on that pressure, that danger, at such a young age?"
"It is rarely a matter of a choice, as you put it, Mrs. Vasquez," Wonder Woman said sternly. "Many of us spent our developmental years training to meet our obligations. It is important to remember: your children were chosen champions. Chosen from among all others. They had the right to decline and did not. Instead, they stood tall and accepted the Wizard's mantle. Whatever the cost, the decision they made should be viewed honorably, and with pride."
"I'm not saying we're not proud of them!" Rosa protested, her face reddening. "It's just—"
"What's done is done," Fate spoke, his resonant voice emanating from his gleaming helmet like a tolling bell. "Billy Batson and his siblings are Magic's Champions and heirs of the Wizard S.H.A.Z.A.M.!, bound by the Living Lightning and imbued with the primordial powers of the Elders. These powers cannot be taken from them even if they should fall, as the Wizard's first Champion fell."
"Fall?" Rosa repeated, sharing a horrified look with her husband. "First Champion? What do you—"
"It's part of the lore," Zatanna said, speaking quickly to head off Rosa and Victor's anxious questions.
"By all accounts, the Wizard's first Champion was a strong leader - a man who used his powers to elevate himself over others," Constantine added, his heavily accented words slogging their way through a mouthful of chewing gum. His leg jiggled agitatedly under the table and he rapidly tapped his fingers on its polished surface. "Basically, the whole Champion thing went straight to 'is head. Seems he fancied, as he wielded the powers of gods and heroes, he ought to be treated as a god as well, yeah? An', as usual in such cases, not everyone agreed and things soon got violent."
"Eventually, the Wizard banished him for his cruelty and arrogance," Zatanna continued. "Convinced adults were too easily corrupted by power, old S.H.A.Z.A.M.! swore he'd choose a child next time. A child with a pure and trusting heart. He found your son, Billy."
"Shades of Willy Wonka in that, d'you think?" Constantine smirked around his gum, grinning when Zatanna made a creeped-out noise and slapped his arm, though his pale eyes remained bleak. "In any case," he said, "the ol' Wiz was too late. That Sivana bastard helped hasten the old guy's end before he had a chance to train the kid – never mind stealing the Eye of Sin an' freeing that monster Hyperfly your lot let loose on the multiverse."
"Thanks a lot," Zatanna said, her cold glare only deepening his grim, smirky smile.
"The truth is, we weren't prepared," Superman admitted, his gaze drifting again to the figure frozen inside the Suspendium bubble. "Mind and his Monster Society held the advantage only because we approached their threat essentially blind. None of us knew the real nature or extent of the powers we were up against. We still don't."
"Which is why we called you here," Martian Manhunter pronounced from the head of the table, gesturing broadly to Constantine, Dr. Fate, Zatanna, and Jason Blood. "The purpose of this meeting is two-fold," he said. "First: to help fill any remaining gaps in our knowledge and devise a strategy to stop Mr. Mind and his Monster Society from carrying out…whatever they plan to do. Second: to find a way to free young Billy from this strange stasis bubble."
"Suspendium," Blood rumbled, his eyes fixed on the bubble and his long chin cupped in his palm. "It's a substance impossible to crack or penetrate, even by means of magic."
"What about non-magical means?" Batman asked, running a finger over his utility belt.
Blood seemed to sink into himself, the strength and depth of his concentration felt all around the table.
"There may be a way to melt the substance," he suggested slowly. "But it would be exceedingly dangerous."
"Without doubt," Dr. Fate said. "In his Champion's guise, the hero Shazam is protected by the invulnerability of Achilles and the immortality of Zeus. But, in his mortal form, it is likely the child, Billy, would not survive the intense heat required."
"So, what do you suggest we do?" Flash said, his voice tinged with frustrated sarcasm. "Drop the Suspendium bubble in a volcano like the One Ring and pray we're fast enough to pull the kid out before he fries?"
"A volcano would not be hot enough," Dr. Fate stated flatly, clearly not amused. "Not by far."
"Then, what would?" Flash pressed. "The only thing hotter than a volcano would be, like, a star or something and…!"
He trailed off when he saw the look Blood and Constantine shared with Fate.
"Wait. You don't mean we should, like, toss it into the sun?" Flash blinked. "Seriously?"
The silence that stretched between the magic experts was answer enough.
Superman pursed his lips and rose to his feet, striding the few meters from the conference table to the bleeping machines monitoring the plastic-like sphere holding Billy prisoner.
Rosa and Victor stared in disbelief from one grim Justice League face to another.
"No," Rosa said. "No, you can't be serious! What are you thinking!"
"I'm thinking it might just be possible," Superman said, turning his gaze to Green Lantern. "If you're willing to help me try."
"Anything I can do," Lantern said. "Besides, I like this kid. He's shown real brass. Gotta respect that."
"Then you go," Manhunter said, watching Green Lantern disconnect and lift the Suspendium bubble from the antigrav sled using the power of his ring. "And quickly."
"Shazam is the Guardian of the Earthlands," Fate's voice tolled, catching Superman and Green Lantern just before they reached the sliding doors. "If we're to stand a chance against Mind and his minions, we will need his powers. And his direct access to the Rock of Eternity. In other words… If this boy does not survive, our reality – all realities – are doomed."
"No pressure," Flash quipped, causing Wonder Woman to pinch her nose.
"Good luck," Batman said.
Superman set his jaw. "We'll talk when I get back," he replied, his tone more like a threat than a promise. Turning on his heel, he marched from the room, followed closely by Green Lantern and Billy's Suspendium bubble, firmly secured in a glowing green energy net projected by Lantern's power ring.
"You still didn't answer my questions," Rosa said to the remaining Leaguers through a tight throat and jaw, trying to cover her strong flinch as the doors slid shut, cutting off her view of Billy. "Where exactly are the rest of our children? And what the hell are the Magic Lands?"
"The Magic Lands are seven magic realms born of imagination and found within the Sphere of the Gods." Fate's expressionless, yet powerful voice sent an odd chill through the group. "They serve as conduit and repository of the deepest and oldest of magics. Long ago, they were guarded by the Council of Wizards, of which the Wizard S.H.A.Z.A.M.! was one. Now, that charge has passed to the Wizard's heirs."
"What exactly does that mean, though?" Victor pressed.
"Each of your kids is responsible for guarding one of the Magic Lands," Zatanna tried to clarify, speaking far more gently than her father. "Without the protection afforded by the Wizard's seal, they'll have summoned their Guardians to help defend them against Mind and his Monsters. That's where they've gone, and that's where Billy will have to join them if they're to stand a chance of preventing Mind from draining the Magic Lands dry."
"You can think of Mind sort of like a big moth feeding on the fabric of reality," Constantine said around his gum. "The more magic he sucks in, the bigger he gets. An' the bigger he gets, the farther he can exert his powers – chief one bein' mind control. Get enough minds under his control, and what's to stop 'im munchin' holes all through the tapestry of the multiverse? Peoples, worlds, whole realities could fall. An' don't think I'm exaggerating. It's happened before. Only, ol' S.H.A.Z.A.M.! was there then to thump a glass over that oversized fly and set things to rights."
"And you've got our kids up against…that!" Victor exclaimed.
"Not us," Blood said grimly. "They were chosen for this duty. If anything, our role will be to support them."
Rosa and Victor shared a thoroughly overwhelmed glance, their faces wrought with worry.
"Now," Fate tolled. "We must wait to learn if our friends are successful in freeing your son from his Suspendium prison. Once we know his fate, we can start building our plans to thwart this Mind and bring him and his monstrous followers to justice."
To Be Continued...
References Include - Shazam! The World's Mightiest Mortal Vol. 1-3; The Multiversity, by Grant Morrison; Justice League: Action; Batman: The Brave and the Bold; Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory; The Lord of the Rings; Shazam! (movie); Shazam! Vol.1, by Geoff Johns; Shazam! #1-15.
Sorry for taking so long - tons going on - but there's a lot more in store for this story and I hope you'll stay tuned! :)
Next time: we'll catch up on what (if anything) Billy's been going through inside the Suspendium Bubble. Can a mortal boy survive Superman and Green Lantern's attempts to melt him out of that nasty substance unscathed?
Thanks so much for reading, for your patience with me, and for your reviews! Your thoughts and comments are always welcome! :D
