Bobby stood there in just his boxers, but he was different. He had a glowing aura around him, and his eyes were all white and luminous. Bobby's skinny frame was replaced with a bodybuilder frame. The most shocking change was that his hair was on fire but didn't seem to burn.
"Bobby, what happened to you!?" Lori asked.
"Lori, what are you talking about?"
Bobby was still confused until he noticed shards of glass, allowing him to see what had happened to him. Bobby immediately freaked out.
"What happened to me!?"
Bobby continued checking himself out, confused and intrigued by his new appearance.
"Woah, I'm jacked, and my hair is on fire, but it's not burning me; wait, where is Tio Carlos? He was right next to me right before you guys dug me out," Bobby replied, becoming worried. "Tio Carlos, where are you?"
"I'm right here,"
Bobby jumped, confusing Lori and Lisa, who were watching.
"What's wrong?" Lisa asked.
"I hear him, but I can't see him,"
"I don't hear him!"
"Bobby, look above you,"
Bobby looked up, and to his shock, he found his uncle as nothing more than a floating head. Bobby immediately screamed as he fell back onto his hands. However, before either girl could ask what was wrong, his hands fired off a powerful blast, strong enough to propel him into the sky at rocket speed.
"Bobby!" Lori yelled, chasing after him while Lisa followed.
Bobby continued flying higher in the sky, his hands propelling him like two rocket engines.
"What are you doing!?" Carlos yelled.
"I don't know, why are you a floating head!?"
"I don't know, but do something before we end up in outer space!"
"I don't know how to stop,"
Suddenly, Bobby's hands stopped firing, relieving him, until he saw how high he was.
"Uh-oh!"
Bobby immediately started plummeting back to the ground, but Lori and Lisa swooped in, grabbing him with their arms.
"Boo-boo bear, what the heck was that?!"
"I don't know; I saw my Tio Carlos's head floating, and the next thing I knew I was halfway to space,"
"Bobby, I don't see your uncle anywhere, nor do I hear him,"
"I think…I think only I can see him and hear him; I can hear him in my head like a voice or your conscience speaking to you,"
"Fascinating, it seems that explosion has done more than just change your appearance," Lisa noted.
"Tio Carlos just said we need to get to a lab to run some tests,"
"We'll use my lab at the University,"
Later.
After hours of testing, Lisa found herself closer to figuring out what was happening to Bobby and Carlos. During that time, Mary managed to contact the others. Just as Lisa finished another test, everyone came running in.
"Roberto…Carlos!!" Yelled Rosa.
"Hey, fam!"
"Bobby, what happened to you? Where is Carlos?" Hector.
"He's here, he sort of now a voice in my head,"
Everyone was confused when Lisa walked in with Lori, who wore an oversized lab coat. Both were in their normal forms or Lori's case, what now counts as her 'normal' form.
"Lori, what's with the lab coat?" Lincoln asked.
"I don't want to talk about it," Lori replied, blushing.
"Excellent, everyone is here now. I can give out the results,"
"What happened to my son and brother?" Maria asked.
"Based on the tests, their bodies are saturated with that new energy Sivanna created; every cell is supercharged with it!"
"Their bodies?" Arturo asked.
"Based on my tests, when the explosion went off, Bobby and Carlos absorbed so much of that energy, then it caused their bodies to fuse into one,"
"Wait, does this technically mean I'm married to my nephew?" Frida asked.
"Does this mean I'm technically dating Bobby's uncle?" Lori asked.
"Well, if you two feel like putting a dark spin on this, then yes!" Lisa replied.
"Uh, Lisa, Tio Carlos just asked if it's both our bodies, then why am I in complete control while he's Jiminy Cricket?
"Theoretically, I think because when you two absorbed all that energy, Bobby was still conscious, so he was able to have more control,"
"How do we unfuse them?" Ronnie Anne asked.
"That I don't know yet,"
"So we're stuck like this?"
"For now, in the meantime, put this on," Lisa said, handing them a red and black suit.
"What is this?"
"It's a new hazmat suit I was working on for better mobility but better protection,"
"Are we radioactive?"
"So far, no, but just to be safe,"
Bobby quickly wore the suit; unfortunately, their flaming hair went through the top.
"How do we look?"
"Cool, you guys look like a superhero," CJ and Carl said.
"I gotta admit, very heroic," Carlota adds.
"Heroic," Carlitos said.
"Hold on, are we all just going to ignore that Carlos and Bobby were caught up in an explosion, and now they're this?" Maria said.
"Mom, we're just trying to make the best of it, Ronnie Anne has powers, and look how great she's doing,"
"Leave me out of this,"
"Bobby, Ronnie Anne got her powers because she was chosen; this resulted from an explosion that could've killed you both. Did you ever think of that?" Maria asked.
"How are we supposed to adjust to this," Frida asked.
"What other choice do we have? It's not like we can just undo it."
"Can't magic do something?" Maria asked.
Lisa rolled her eyes. "Ma'am, multiple people in this room have access to the greatest source of knowledge in the world. We have tried to 'abra kadabra' a solution into being, but you can clearly see it hasn't worked. So unless this so-called Dr. Fate person shows up with something we don't have, I'm afraid this isn't a problem. We can just make it go away. If we could, we would."
"Does anyone have some food? I'm starving." Bobby asked.
"Well, you are eating for two. Heh, funny, I always thought that would be said to Lori instead of you." Carlota jokes.
"very funny, but Tio Carlos and I think we should put more time into figuring out how to separate,"
Suddenly, their bodies started glowing, putting everyone on guard. In a flash, Bobby and Carlos separated, and everything was back to normal—no burning hair or anything.
"Hey, we're back to normal," Bobby said happily.
"Thank goodness,"
"How… convenient." Lisa managed to say, unsure how else to describe what she just witnessed.
Lori and Frida happily hugged their significant others. While everyone believed it was over, Bobby and Carlos revealed that although they're separated, they still feel the link.
"Fascinating, it seems you two can separate but maintain a psychic link through the energy you absorbed, which must allow you to merge back together," Lisa theorized. "I'd like to run more tests,"
"After I find Sivanna, give him a piece of my mind," Carlos said.
"I don't think that's a good idea; if people find out that you two were caught up in the blast and let alone the transformation that caused, they may try to dissect you or worse, try to find a way to weaponize this transformation,"
"She's right. I can see the US Army treating us like guinea pigs so they can make soldiers that can rocket themselves like we did." Carlos claimed.
"I guess that means we both have secret identities now," Bobby said, looking at Lori.
"I'm still hungry, and for some reason, I'm craving pizza," Carlos added.
"It might be a side effect of the link. Or maybe it's a side effect of being bonded with a teenager." Lisa noted. "Meet me at Tall Timbers Park tomorrow,"
The Next Day.
Lisa had taken some equipment from her home lab to set up a testing area in Tall Timbers Park; she wanted to test the full extent of this transformation. Suddenly, Bobby and Carlos arrived in their merged form, landing in front of Lisa, who just finished setting up with Todd.
"I see you two have done some practicing, and it also appears whatever your merged form wears become part of it; what's wrong?
Carlos and Bobby both looked a little tired as they separated, concerning Lisa.
"We kinda got into an argument with mom and aunt Frida,"
"Bobby and I were discussing how to use our new powers to help, but they heard us and forbade it, then Mom and Ronnie Anne got in the mix defending us; Frida didn't even bother saying anything this morning; she left with Maria to do drawing for children in the hospital today,"
"Perhaps, mastering you abilities will change their minds,"
"I tried making the same arguments that were made so that your brother and my sister could be heroes, but I guess they don't work as well a second time." Bobby added.
"What abilities do you think we have?" Carlos asked.
"Right now it's hard to tell. This energy your body, separate and combined, is unlike any other I've seen. The closest I can compare it to is, in laymen's terms, nuclear energy. Yet you don't seem to be genuinely radioactive. But nuclear energy has massive atomic effects and outputs, so my initial theory is that you can influence things on an atomic level."
"But what good would that do?" Bobby asked.
"Okay, let's start with something simple. See this rock?" Lisa asked, gesturing to a stone about the size of a football in the grass.
"Yeah."
"Apply some energy to it, but imagine it changing into something else instead of destroying it. Let's see if your atomic energy can influence molecular structure."
Bobby and Carlos nodded, grabbing each other's hands. Fusing instantly, sticking out their hand, it began glowing. Their target also began glowing as it began floating in the air.
"Okay, we're off to a good start; now trying to turn it into something small, like a baseball,"
The pair nodded and began concentrating until the rock transformed into a baseball before dropping to the ground.
Lisa inspected the newly transformed rock; to her fascination, the rock was now 100% baseball, leather and all.
"Amazing! Transmogrification,"
"Wait Lisa, I think we figured out something else,"
They then began making both their hands glow before Lisa noticed particles in the air begin glowing, too, before forming into statues, one of Lori and one of Frida.
"Particle Manipulation!? This opens a whole new world of possibilities!" Lisa said excitedly. "More tests are definitely needed,"
Despite being a genius and a superhero, Lisa, at her core, was still a 5-year-old little girl and could get super excited like one. Carlos and Bobby discovered their other abilities using Lisa's equipment, such as superhuman strength, endurance, speed, durability, senses and self-sustenance, nucleokinesis, nuclear pyrokinesis, and intangibility. By the early afternoon, almost all of Lisa's tests had been finished except for one. However, Lisa considered this to be the most important.
"Okay, now we're going to test if you have the ability to absorb energy,"
"Why would we have an ability like that?" Bobby asked.
"When Sivanna's machine malfunctioned the energy was producing was absorbing energy from the grid becoming stronger, the same energy you to absorb, so I theorized that you two may also have the ability to absorb other forms of energy to boost your powers,"
"That sounds logical, but we'll need a controlled environment in which the test the forms of energy we might be able to absorb and much we can take," Carlos said.
Suddenly, Mary appeared in her glasses, informing her of something important.
"Uh-oh! I have to go now!"
"What's wrong?!" Bobby asked.
"Someone claiming to have the power of Shazam is threatening to unleash the Nightmare King, and we do not want that happening again."
"Wait, how? Lincoln and Ronnie Anne sealed the door, and you guys are the only ones with the powers of Shazam,"
"I often wondered if there were ways to get around it, and whoever this person is might have figured it out; regardless, we need to investigate. Everyone else is already heading to Slumberland, and I need to catch up,"
"Maybe we can come along and help,"
"I'm not sure if that's a good idea; in case the threat is real, I'm not sure how effective your powers will be against magic,"
Bobby is disappointed, knowing that he might be a liability rather than an asset.
"However, give us a few hours. If we're not back by then, remember the gateway to Slumberland is above New York City inside the silver cloud," Lisa instructed, getting a nod.
Shazam!
Powered up, Lisa flew off while Bobby and Carlos watched. The two continued practicing for another hour until they defused for a break.
"This is awesome; just think of the good we can do, Tio Carlos,"
"Hold on, Bobby, we need to assess how we're going to use these powers properly,"
"We could be superheroes,"
"I know, and I'd be lying if I said there was never a childhood fantasy of mine, but maybe your mom and Tia Frida are right,"
"We just need the right opportunity to prove it to them and ourselves,"
"We'll have to discuss this later,"
Suddenly, Bobby received an alert on his phone from Carlota. The notification made Bobby's eyes widen.
"Tio Carlos, we have a big problem back home. Some armed gunmen took over the hospital and are demanding that Lady Shazam surrender to them, or they're going to set off a bomb,"
"We need to call Ronnie Anne and the others,"
"We can't. Remember why Lisa left? Ronnie Anne is likely in another world right now."
"Then what do we do!?"
"We can save everyone,"
"Bobby, this isn't a game; if we mess up, people can get hurt; Maria and Frida could get hurt,"
"Then we don't mess up!"
Carlos raised an eyebrow. "That's it? We don't mess up? That's your big plan?"
"Do you have a better one?" Bobby asked back.
Carlos sighed. "I hope you know what you're doing,"
"Partners?" Bobby asked, sticking out his hand.
"Partners," Carlos replied, grabbing Bobby's hand.
The two instantly refused and blasted into the sky.
Earlier At
Great Lake City Hospital.
After a very awkward and disgusting emergency, Maria was finally on her lunch break. A man had accidentally superglued himself to his girlfriend in a very uncomfortable place, mistaking it for lube. After the couple separated, the girlfriend couldn't hold it anymore. The situation was so disgusting that the doctor gave Maria an extra hour.
"I need a large coffee…actually make that 20," Maria moaned, heading to the hospital cafeteria.
When she entered, she saw Frida, who was also on her lunch break; after getting her coffee, she joined her sister-in-law.
"So, how was your day so far, Maria?"
"Trust me, you don't wanna know,"
The two began enjoying their peace; however, there was obviously an awkward feeling between them, and one was waiting for the other to break it.
"Maria, do you think we were too harsh with Bobby and Carlos?"
"Maybe. It's just crazy that both my kids have powers now; I felt like I was being protective when I told Bobby I didn't want him becoming a superhero, but now I feel like a hypocrite. I mean, I let Ronnie Anne be a superhero and she's only 12 years old, granted she turns into an adult; Bobby is 18 he is an adult and has the right to make his own choice, what about you?"
"I'm not sure if Carlos is 100% on board with this whole superhero idea, but I do know he wouldn't shy away from helping, but if I'm being honest, this feels like I'm banning him from skateboarding all over again,"
"You had a good reason back then, Carlota was just born, you couldn't risk him getting hurt when you had a newborn baby to look after,"
"I know, but I always felt like I should have at least tried to compromise a little, I mean he didn't get back into skating until after you all moved in and he was so happy, despite breaking his leg, he finally settled for being a skate coach, which made us both happy,"
"Part of me wonders if Bobby is really up for it, I know we can be a little sensitive, and what he wants to do does not sound like a job for sensitive people, but he's told me multiple times now helpless he feels watching Ronnie Anne fight monsters and it's only gotten worse since Lori gained powers,"
"You think he's going to deal with something he can't handle. You worry about what he'll do if he can't save someone or if he ever has to hurt someone else, don't you?" Frida asked.
"He could barely handle going a few hours without being able to talk to his girlfriend. I don't know if he can handle this kind of pressure,"
"Well he's with Lisa, so maybe after they find out if they can do this, we can sit down and have a better conversation,"
"Yeah, I'll call Arturo and Ronnie Anne, so we can have a proper discussion tonight,"
Maria pulled out her phone, however she immediately noticed something was wrong.
"I have no bars, that's weird,"
"Well hospitals are a huge dead zone,"
"Not the cafeteria, it's the only place where you can get a proper signal,"
Maria noticed that other doctors and nurses were complaining about the same thing.
"Something is wrong,"
"Relax Maria, just go outside and make your call," Frida assured.
Suddenly the door was kicked with multiple men dressed in black combat gear screaming "get down!" Everyone immediately complied as the men swarmed the cafeteria. Within 30 minutes the whole hospital was taken over, placed in lockdown to prevent anyone from getting in or out. Communications were jammed, thanks to a jammer they brought with them. Frida and Maria were relocated to the conference hall with the rest of the staff.
"What are we going to do? We need to call for help," Frida whispered.
"There's nothing we can do right now except wait and hope Ronnie Anne and the others learn about this,"
Suddenly they heard one of the men radioing to another that the landing pad was clear. On the roof a black helicopter had just landed on the hospital's landing pad. Stepping out was none other than Percival C. McLeach, carrying a large briefcase.
"Any sign of her!?"
"No sir, we made our takeover as loud as possible but there appears to be no sign of Lady Shazam,"
"Then let's flush her out," McLeach instructed. "The rest of you get to work setting up,"
McLeach and his men headed to the conference hall, leaving everyone shocked as he walked in.
"McLeach?"
"I see you've heard of me,"
"What I heard is you got busted by Lady Shazam after trying to steal some ligers,"
"Well, now I'm back for a rematch, and thanks to a new friend, not only was I sprung, I was given the tools to level the playing field,"
McLeach opened his briefcase, revealing a custom-made high-powered gun.
"Do you want us to believe that little peashooter can stop Lady Shazam?" A nurse said.
"And are you aware that there are actually 10 more Shazams now?" Another doctor mocked.
"Thanks to my new friend, I am very aware of that, which is why he supplied my men and I with a nearly endless supply of wrought iron bullets,"
Maria and Frida instantly became nervous. When Ronnie Anne first got her powers, she and Lincoln discovered that they could be hurt by anything made of wrought iron. Lincoln wanted the sisters to avoid it, too, after they got their powers.
"How does he know that?!" Maria thought.
"We're about ready to broadcast," a henchman said, holding a camera.
"Good evening, Great Lake City. Percival C. McLeach is once again here to grace your city with his presence, with a personal challenge to that coward who put me away, Lady Shazam, come and face me on the roof; if you refuse to accept my challenge, then I will set off the nuclear bomb set up on the roof,"
"A nuclear bomb!?" The crowd responded.
"That's right, with enough nuclear energy to blow up half of this city and poison the other half with radiation,"
"You're crazy; if you set off that bomb, you will either be blown to bits with the rest of us or die of radiation poisoning."
"I doubt that. Thanks to this force field generator on my belt, not only will I survive the blast, but I'll be able to walk out of here radiation-free,"
Knowing the situation, the crowd began to panic, which played into McLeach's hand.
"You see that, Lady Shazam; your people need you; don't disappoint them. You've got an hour to respond, or else it's bye-bye, Great Lake City!!"
30 Minutes Later
The police were outside the hospital trying to maintain the situation while watching for any of the Shazams.
"Any sign of them?" asked the commanding officer.
"No sir,"
"Damn it, we got less than 30 minutes to disarm that bomb,"
Suddenly, everyone heard what appeared to be a rocket flying in. Dropping in front of the police were Bobby and Carlos in their fused form.
"Sorry, gentlemen, the Shazams are busy with another crisis, so I'm here to take over,"
"Who the heck are you?" The commanding officer asked.
"You can call….me……Firestorm!!" Bobby replied. "Good thinking, Tio Carlos."
"I don't know who you are, but we need heroes, not some flashy-"
"Fire!!"
Suddenly, the men began firing at Firestorm and the police; however, he quickly summoned a fire shield to protect everyone. The first was so strong that any bullets that passed through turned to ash. The onslaught continued until the man ran out of bullets and pulled back away from the windows to reload.
"You were saying?"
"Get in there and take 'em down, Firestorm!!"
"Okay, do we fly up and take the roof automatically?"
"No, they might be expecting that. They might have some heavy artillery waiting for us; remember, they were expecting Ronnie Anne, not us, and I'm not sure just how invulnerable we are,"
"Then what do we do?"
"We go in through the main floor, take out the gunman, secure the hostages, and work our way to the roof,"
"Good thinking, Tio Carlos,"
Firestorm then blasted the door, melting it and granting him access to the hospital.
"Give me 15 minutes to clear a path and secure the hostages, then have the bomb squad make their way up to the roof to deal with the bomb,"
The police nodded, and Firestorm proceeded deeper into the hospital.
Bobby asked, "Do we have any way of knowing how many gunmen there are or where to find them?"
"I'm in the dark on that too. But I believe most of them are around the perimeter or the hostages. Let's sweep the edges of the building first.
Heading inside, Firestorm began sweeping the floor, looking for any gunmen; soon, a few appeared with their guns aimed; without a second thought, they opened fire; however, Firestorm created a shield of fire, blocking all the shots until they ran out of bullets.
"Impossible, these weapons were designed to hurt The Shazams and resist their magic!"
"Do I look like one of the Shazams?" Bobby asked. "And does this look like magic to you!" Bobby asked again, igniting Firestorm's fists.
The men quickly reloaded and fired again. However, Carlos's quick thinking allowed him to tell Bobby to transform the guns into toy versions. Following Carlos's advice, Bobby transformed the guns into toy versions.
"What the? How did he? Forget it; let's get him!!"
The men pulled out knives, but Firestorm quickly turned them into toys. With no weapons, they attacked with their fists. However, to Bobby's shock, he began using martial arts, laying them out individually until one was left conscious.
"I don't remember knowing karate," thought Bobby.
"It's actually kung fu, and I took classes in high school; I just never had a reason to use it. It's fascinating; it seems you can tap into my knowledge like a physical reflex," Carlos said.
"Awesome, it's like that one scene in the Matrix. 'I know kung fu'." Bobby referenced.
"Focus on the job, save the memes for later." Carlos advised.
Seeing one man was left conscious, Firestorm picked him up for information, trying his hand at interrogating.
"Talk! How many of you are still in the building?"
"You don't scare me, hero!"
"Oh really? I'll let you in on a little secret: I have the power to break down objects to their molecular level and rebuild them into something else; wanna be the first person I test it on?"
"Okay, please don't! There are 31 of us left, five on each floor except where our boss is; there are six there on the roof; the staff is being held on the top floor,"
"Thank you for your cooperation," Bobby said before Firestorm knocked out the gunman.
"Wow Bobby, you really know how to interrogate,"
"I learned it from those old spy movies Ronnie Anne and I used to watch when we were younger,"
"And here I thought that boy Lincoln would be the one who imitated those movies the most." Carlos remarked.
Firestorm went through each floor as fast as he could, finding and knocking out each criminal as quickly as he could. They of course tried fighting back, but their weapons weren't that effective. They had come here prepared for the Shazams, not for someone with different powers. Wrought iron didn't matter to someone who could turn it into cotton or sand. Then he got to the roof.
"I bet all that would have looked cool if someone had been filming it and had a song playing over it." Bobby thought, imagining the previous fight scenes as if they were in an action movie.
"Don't lose focus now." Carlos warned and Bobby nodded.
The two knew the last two floors would be the most dangerous, they had to disarm the remaining guards and rescue the doctors and nurses, along with making sure the bomb doesn't go off before the bomb squad can disarm it.
"Mr Hero." A voice called over the intercom. "Rather than have you go through even more of my men, how about we settle this face-to-face?"
"What do you think, Tio Carlos?" Bobby asked.
"We've had the advantage this entire time; it wouldn't make sense for us to lose it now. Either he's trying to mislead us so he can escape, or he's scared and wants to use some sort of secret weapon before he loses more control than he already has."
"So we should chance it?"
"What do we have to lose that we weren't already risking?"
"If that's what you want, then tell us where you are!" Firestorm called out.
"Very well. Meet me in the conference hall," The voice over the intercom claimed before going silent.
Firestorm headed towards the conference hall, guided by some maps of the hospital on the wall for patients to use. He wasn't sure if he needed to get there fast or wait a little, there was no telling which one would be more beneficial right now. Odds are whatever these criminals had deemed important enough to be saved for last had to be something that would have been extra important, but they had it with the intention of using it against the Shazams. He had to chance it that this 'secret weapon' was something he could handle.
Firestorm found the hall, and for a moment, he was surprised that it was unlocked and unguarded. He went inside, and right away, everything looked normal—empty but normal.
"Where is everyone?"
Suddenly, multiple turrets appeared and began firing at him, attempting to fill him with iron bullets, but Firestorm was quick, dodging and firing back. Percival C. McLeach watched with glee, confident his trap would work from his tablet, having moved his personal hostages to the roof.
"I got him-I got him, did you people see that!? Perfect shot!!"
Everyone was horrified, believing their savior was just killed, especially Maria and Frida. However McLeach's victory dance was cut short by the sound of rumbling, followed by Firestorm bursting through the roof contained in a sphere of energy.
"What!!? No!! How did you survive!?"
"I can create force fields strong enough to melt anything that passes through it. Did you really think bullets could stop me!?"
"Maybe not, but this will!!" McLeach said, pressing a button.
"What have you done?!"
"I just activated the bomb, in 1 minute and 30 seconds, half of this city will be blown to pieces and the other half will die of radiation poisoning!!"
"Are you crazy? You'll kill yourself too!"
"I don't think so! You're not the only one who can make a force field!" McLeach mocked, pressing a button on his belt creating an energy field around him.
"This force field will protect me from not just a blast but the radiation, I'm going to walk out of here unharmed,"
McLeach laughed believing he won, however to his shock, he was literally shocked by his belt before the force field around him shut down.
"What!? What's happening!?"
"It looks like you're as expendable as your men,"
"That worm and that bitch! They promised me!!"
Suddenly the bomb indicated that it only had 40 seconds left before detonation, McLeach tried to stop the counter but there was nothing he could do.
"There has to be something we can do! The bomb squad won't make it in time to disarm it!!" Carlos said.
"Wait, Tio Carlos. Remember when Lisa said we might be able to absorb energy? What if we absorb the blast?"
"It might be too much for us,"
"If someone has to die today, it's better us than them!!"
Carlos nodded in agreement before Firestorm rushed to the bomb, creating a force field around them and the bomb.
"Everybody get back!!"
Everyone complied and gave him space, then Firestorm put both hands on the bomb and began to draw the energy out of it and into himself. It hurt, like trying to swallow something before chewing it, but he didn't stop. He couldn't stop, not until this bomb was as dangerous as a cardboard box. He did try to convert it into something harmless, but he couldn't absorb the energy, create the force field, and convert energy all at the same time. Even Firestorm could only do so much. So he continued to absorb and contain what he could.
'It hurts. It's like there's so much pressure inside us.' Bobby groaned as he pushed through the pain.
'Keep going! We can't stop now!' Carlos insisted, though he felt just as stressed as his nephew.
Finally, they managed to absorb all the energy, dropping the force field. Their flaming hair shot up like a volcano, expressing the extra energy they took in. The only reason the fire sprinklers didn't go off was because the entire network had been deactivated.
"We need to get rid of this excess energy, i feel like i'm going to explode!"
"Go high! Like a rocket and then release into space!" Carlos suggested.
The need to go along with it was greater than the need to capture the culprit, and so Firestorm thrust himself through the roof, and the next roof, and so on until he was out of the hospital. Beneath him flames pushed him upward with great force, exactly like a rocket being launched. This alone helped with the stress, but only a little. He went higher and higher, thankfully there were no planes in the way, and as he rose the air got thinner. Soon enough he reached a point where he could barely breathe and it felt like gravity was losing its grip on it. In fact, the only reason he wasn't beginning to freeze was because of all the heat he was generating.
"Now!" Carlos ordered.
Firestorm held his arms outward like he was on a cross, and then expelled all the energy he had absorbed. So much so that it was hard to control, like one man holding a firefighter hose at full blast. He wobbled and spun in the air, losing all sense of up and down and began plummeting back to the ground. But he continued to eject the energy upward, which only pushed him back down faster.
"Bobby you have to pace it. Otherwise we're going to hit the ground like a lead meteor." Carlos warned.
Bobby agreed and so Firestorm redirected some of the energy down, slowing him a little but he was still falling. That meant that he was beginning to run out. Finally, they landed a few miles outside of Great Lake City un-fusing in the process as they recovered from the drain.
"I guess we unfuse when we run out of power," Carlos said, catching his breath.
"Yeah, but i still feel the connection,"
"We probably have to wait a bit before we can form Firestorm again, we should tell Lisa too, maybe she can make a device to warn us if we get low,"
"Wait Tio Carlos, are you saying you want to keep doing this?"
"I think today proved that the Shazams can't do this all on their own. A Firestorm around so far has been a good thing for this town."
The newly established duo decided to walk back home. After an hour, their power level returned, and they refused to return to Firestorm and flew the rest of the way. Landing on the roof of their building, they unfused and headed inside, where their family happily greeted them, except for Ronnie Anne. However, despite the praise they learned, McLeach managed to escape, causing them to slap their foreheads, realizing they had forgotten him in the chaos. The good news was everyone else was safe, and all the other criminals had been arrested. Suddenly, everyone heard 12 cracks of lighting followed by multiple footsteps rushing downstairs as Ronnie Anne and the Louds came running in.
"Mom, Dad, is everything okay? We found out about a bomb at-"
"Relax, Ni-Ni, Tio Carlos, and I took care of that?" Bobby assured.
"You did?"
"Say hello to Great Lake City's newest hero, Firestorm!" Carlos said.
"That would've sounded cooler if you two were fused," Carl commented.
"Boo-boo bear, we're sorry we left you with such a responsibility,"
"It's okay, babe, so what happened in Slumberland,"
Lincoln and Ronnie Anne looked at each other, blushing, clearly embarrassed about something that everyone else picked up on.
"Did something happen?" Bobby asked.
"Well, Boo-Boo bear, have a seat because it's a long story,"
End Of Ch. 5