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It had been about four months since he decided to stay with the Ducards, and Damian was currently in the bathroom as he got ready for the morning. While washing his face, he noticed how his hair was at shoulder length. It reminded him of how much has changed since he ran away from his parents. Even if he wasn't one hundred percent trusting of Maya and Elanore, he was starting to warm up to them. There was a knock on the door that interrupted his train of thought. "Come in!" He called out to the girl who knocked.
Maya opened the door with one hand while brushing her hair with another. "Hurry up. Mom is making Chorizo, and I will eat yours if you take too long." She joked as she finished using the brush, and leaned over to give the brush to the other teen.
Damian scoffed a little as he grabbed the brush and began to work on his hair. "Alright alright, I'll hurry." He said as he got to finish washing his face for the morning.
After the two quickly ate breakfast once the Arabic teen got done in the bathroom, Maya quickly ran over to the basement. She and Shadowbird had gotten into the habit of going around places, and doing some superhero work in their alter egos. Whether it was helping cats out of trees, or stopping bank robberies, they would go around places about one hour away from her house and help people in need.
Damian walked down where the Afro Latina headed off to once he finished his breakfast. He waved hello to her before opening the closet which held his costume. It was with his creative input made not too long after Maya met him in Gotham. The Shadowbird outfit that was on a mannequin had a dark grey cape with a hood, a black plague doctor mask similar to the white one he had back then, a grey jumpsuit with a stylized logo of a black bird, a built in placed to hold his katana, black boots, and a dull brown belt with a bunch of pouches. He was quite proud of how the outfit looked. Also helped it had some neat perks like being immune to electricity. "So, where are we heading off to today?" Damian asked before he grabbed the outfit, and walked over to the changing room.
"Not sure to be honest. You think we should head to Philadelphia? It's only a little over an hour away from here." Maya asked as she put on her mask, and waited for him to get finished changing.
After a few seconds, Damian got out of the changing room, wearing the costume. "Sure. Why not? Not like it's a lot farther than Gotham" He remarked, still feeling a sense of unease at the mere name of the city.
Maya nodded as she got a bag from the worktable, and headed to the kitchen. She opened the fridge to look for some food they might need in case they get hungry. The teen girl soon packed some apple slices in a zip lock bag, a sandwich wrapped in foil, a pack of cookies, and a bottle of water in the bag for both of them.
While the teens were at the door, Elanore walked from the living room towards the door and hugged her daughter. "Please stay safe you two." She told the two as she opened her arms for a hug to Damian, but put them down when he didn't seem to want a hug. She could tell he didn't quite trust the two just yet to be comfortable with things like hugs.
Maya hugged back before quickly letting go when her mom did so. "Gotcha mom." She said before Damian opened the door for her, and the two dashed away from the house. With the teen turning on her invisibility, the two stealthily hopped onto a car. She would've just asked her mom to drive them there, but that wouldn't have happened due to them not getting a replacement car yet and because of how uncomfortable she feels about being inside vehicles after the incident.
The two thought today was going to be like every other day, but turns out Philadelphia would bring something unique to their attention.
.
What felt like two weeks felt like two days to Colin because of how so many things have been happening. He was still getting used to being a part of a family with Oliver and Emiko. Even though he considered the bearded blonde a neat dad for giving him space, there was always a part in the back of his mind that kept telling him that it was because he messed up even though Emiko said otherwise. Colin usually had these thoughts when he was either restless at night or bored. While all that was already a lot of new stuff the teen had to deal with, having to stop petty criminals as Shazam and getting power lessons from his "neighbors" was even more to deal with.
Colin looked over at the alarm clock on his dresser and saw that it was about one o'clock in the afternoon. It was time for some lessons about the powers of Shazam taught by Billy. As he got dressed for the day, he wondered what the next lesson was going to be since he was starting to get the hang of his strength. When he rushed down the stairs, he noticed that both his dad and aunt were on the couch watching television.
Oliver heard the boy run down the stairs and turned his head away from the screen. He held on tightly to a box on his lap. "Are you going to the mall with the neighbors again?" He asked as he looked over at his half sister.
Emiko just kept looking at the movie she was watching. She didn't like Oliver letting Colin visit the neighbors so much since they didn't know them that well, even though she knew he just wanted to be nice to his new son. "It's like he's hanging out with what are basically strangers. My brother should be smarter than this." She thought to herself.
Colin nodded eagerly. "Of course. I'll make sure to get home as soon as I can." He assured before he zipped up his hoodie. Before he went over to turn around to head to the door, he noticed something. "You got something important to tell me?" He asked the adoptive dad.
Oliver nodded as he got up, and handed the teen a black box. "Me and Emiko decided to give you a new phone to communicate with us. Besides, you deserve it." He explained as he let the ginger open the box.
When Colin opened the box, he was surprised to see a smartphone with a black phone case already on it. He was honestly surprised by this. He looked up at the dad and smiled at him. "Wow. Thanks. I'll try my best to repay you for this." He said before placing the phone in the pocket, and walking out of the door. "Perhaps the Queens might be different."
"You don't have to." Oliver told his son, even though he had already left the door by the time he finished telling him that. He walked back to the couch, and sat down as he smiled at the fact his son loved the gift.
About a few minutes later, Colin's question about what he was going to be taught today when Billy led him to the rooftop of a tall building. He was just thankful the streets below weren't that busy. "You sure we should move onto flying so quickly?" He asked as he turned to the other teen.
"Of course! The sooner you learn how to fly, the less problems you'll face later on." Billy explained as got out his staff just in case he had to levitate the transformed hero fell to the ground. "Promise that you'll thank me later for this." He remarked as motioned him to step back farther from the edges of the building.
Colin stepped back with Billy, and decided it would be best to learn how to do this now. After a little bit of stretching, he got ready to transform. "Shazam!" He yelled out, and transformed into the hero. "So, how does this flying thing work?" He asked after the smoke cleared from the lightning,
"All you gotta do to fly is having your body in the stereotypical flying position, and focusing your mind on flying. The more you do it, the less you'll have to focus." Billy explained while fiddling around with his staff. "You think you wanna try it out now?"
Colin nodded eagerly, imagining how cool it would be to fly like the heroes in the newspapers. After a little while of jumping and falling on the roof a couple times to get the flying position correct, he felt like he was ready for the real deal. He took a running start towards the ledge, and jumped. As he got into position, he made sure to focus his mind about flying the best he could, but his mind started to wander.
Billy soon noticed how Shazam only flew for about two or three seconds before starting to fall. He quickly used his staff, and used it to stop the ginger using a magic aura that surrounded him.
Colin was confused when he felt that he wasn't moving anymore only to be surprised when he opened his eyes, and saw that he was mere inches away from landing face first on the pavement. When he got teleported back onto the roof by Billy, he dusted himself off after landing. "Sorry. My thoughts must have wandered." He apologized, feeling like his excitement about flying distracted him.
Billy sighed a little, knowing that this might be a longer lesson then usual.
For about fifteen minutes, Colin tried his best to fly, but he just couldn't focus for long enough to succeed. He thought he was so close at times, yet those hopes would be dashed by the quick reality of Billy teleporting him onto the roof everytime he failed. It had been about the eighth or ninth time he had failed. He landed on the roof with an oof, and didn't bother to get up immediately. "Is our lesson done for today? I don't think I can get the hang of this right now." He asked as he sat up.
Billy sighed impatiently and teleported his staff back to the house. "Fine. Look, don't blame yourself for this. Not everyone is a fast learner." He assured Colin as he helped him up. Even though he wanted the ginger to be a fast learner, there was nothing he could do and he just had to accept it.
Once Colin transformed back into the regular teen with a mighty shout, he quickly followed Billy back down the building using the latter they used before. Once they got down, the other teen walked back to their house as he followed behind.
Eugene was in the living room with Freddy and Pedro, and was reading a geology book on the couch while the two boys were on the smaller couch playing video games. He turned his head when he heard his brother and the other teen walk into the room. "How was your lesson?" The boy in glasses asked curiously as he moved to make room for the ginger.
Colin stretched his arms as he looked over at Eugene. "Let's just say we focused on a difficult topic today." He explained as he sat down next to the boy, and got out his new phone.
"You tried to teach him flying? Didn't ya?" Pedro chimed in, and asked Billy as he turned away from the video game he was playing with Freddy.
Billy nodded, knowing that he'll get scolded by both his fellow blue and white oracles. "Yeah."
Freddy rolled his eyes as he paused the game, and got help from Pedro to stand up with his walking stick. "Are you crazy? He barely learned how to control his own strength? Can't you just move onto showing him how to control his electric powers or super speed?" He asked while facepalming.
"Look, I would rather have him learn how to fly as soon as possible in case something comes up where flying is a requirement." Billy dismissed his brother's complaints, knowing that he usually worries too much.
As the two teens argued, Colin started to get sick of it. He simply got up, and walked out of the house to get some fresh air since he wasn't ready to head back to the Queen household yet.
Eugene noticed the teen leave, but didn't want to say anything because his two brothers were currently heated at each other. He was rather thankful they seemed to calm down in the bickering. "You guys do realize Colin just straight up walked out of here right?" Eugene asked with a hint of snark.
Billy immediately stopped what he was saying to the brunette, and quickly looked over at the empty spot in the couch where Colin was. "Fine, you win for now. Gotta go check on Mar's champion." He said before quickly rushing out of the door to check on Colin.
Even though Freddy knew that the raven head only told him that he won the argument just because of the ginger leaving so suddenly, he still smirked a little. "A small victory is still a victory I guess. As long as it makes Billy more wise with his lesson choices." He said as Pedro helped him down back onto the floor, and sat down to unpause the game.
Billy made his way outside, and was surprised to see Colin was leaning on the outside of the house. He walked over to the teen, and leaned next to him. "Sorry that you got overwhelmed by the bickering." He apologized, thinking that was the reason the ginger left.
Colin didn't notice Billy coming towards him, and was a little startled when he suddenly heard his voice. "It's not that I was overwhelmed, I just got tired of the bickering. Gets annoying after a while." He explained to the other teen as he scrolled on a social media site on his phone, wondering if he should make an account of his own.
Billy sighed a little in embarrassment. He couldn't help it. It was normal for him to refuse to stand down in an argument with Freddy and vice versa. "Sorry. That happens a lot." He apologized.
"It's fine." Colin assured Billy as he continued to scroll the social media site. "Do you two argue often or does it only happen occasionally?" He asked, unsure if this was normal for siblings to do.
Billy looked over at Colin when he asked that question. "Happens a lot. It's by law to have siblings love and adore each other while also getting on each other's nerves." He explained to the other teen as he wondered if the same applied to siblings on Earth.
Colin rolled his eyes as he knew he had to deal with more bickering in the long run, yet had to suck it up. As he was exploring the social media site, he decided to see what was going on in Philadelphia since it was somewhat close to the town they were in, Norristown. When he typed the name into the search bar, he noticed the most recent posts talking about an in progress bank robbery. "Billy! Come look at this!" He exclaimed as he continued to scroll down, wondering if anyone has posted a video of it yet.
"What? What is it?" Billy asked as he quickly looked over the phone, wondering what important things Colin was looking at. He was shocked to see a bunch of posts about a supposed bank robbery going on right now nearby. "Are you sure these posts aren't making stuff up?" He asked, a little skeptical about the posts.
Colin nodded at the other teen's question. He quickly clicked on a video that was just posted. The video was of some buff blonde guy with a German accent who was wearing a cybernetic eyepatch thing standing in front of the National Bank of Philadelphia.He seemed to be holding a bag of money in his left hand, and a weird gold laser gun in his right hand. The person who was filming this seemed to be behind some barrier the police probably set up to protect nearby civilians.
"I ahm Albrecht Krieger, the unstoppable mountain! no one shall stop me from being the richest man alife!" The blonde haired man in the video shouted arrogantly as he shot some lasers the direction of what was presumably the cops.
Colin got excited when he saw that the posts weren't just a bunch of hot air. This was an opportunity for him. He had never taken on criminals on such a big scale like this. "I have to go over there and stop the robbery! It'll be a perfect way to put my skills to the test!" He excitedly exclaimed as he put his phone away, and ran over to where the other teen took him earlier.
Billy quickly ran after the excited boy. He soon realized that maybe Freddy had a point about trying to teach Colin how to way too soon. "You can't even fly properly!" He yelled as he ran after the ginger.
Colin soon arrived at the building he did his flying lessons on, and quickly climbed the ladder as he ignored Billy's complaints. When he got to the top of the flat roof, he hesitated for a second. He was still unsure if his mind was ready to properly fly yet, but he knew it was better to jump in and go for it.
Billy climbed his way up onto the roof. He realized that he couldn't stop Colin from being the hero, all that he could do was hope to Mamaragan that he would be alright. "You sure you want to fly over there?" He concerningly asked the hesitant teen.
Colin looked over at Billy, and nodded softly at the question. "I'm sure." He said as he stepped back a few steps, and began to focus his mind on flying. He then sprinted towards the edge, and jumped off. And with a deep breath and a focused mind, he said the magic words.
"SHAZAM!"
With that, Colin transformed into the beefy hero in mid air, and zoomed off into the distance. He was actually flying, but he made sure to keep his mind off his excitement, and focused on flying so he wouldn't go crashing down.
Billy watched what happened in surprise. He was kind of proud to see Shazam quickly fly off. "Perhaps I made the right decision after all." He said to himself as he let the wind blow. He wished Colin the best of luck.
.
Damian and Maya had arrived in Philadelphia at about one o'clock. They had spent a few minutes doing menial tasks that helped citizens like helping an old lady across the street and fixing a car for a married couple. The duo were currently on the roof of a tall building, looking out for any problems they get to help out in.
Damian got his binoculars out as he looked around. He actually liked the change of scenery of Philadelphia compared to Gotham City. Everything was more bright, and a lot less Gothic. There was also a lot less advertising for Wayne Industries, which was a really good thing for him. "See anything Maya?" He asked the cyborg girl, since he couldn't really see anything of interest with his binoculars.
Maya was on the opposite of where Damian was. Instead of binoculars, she used the lenses in her helmet to see things from a far. As the lenses zoomed in, she got a more up close look at what was happening below. When she started to wonder if they should call it a day and head back home, she saw police cars zooming past her vision. She zoomed the lenses out and kept track of the cop cars. "Cop cars to the left! Something important is going on." He told the other teen as she turned her invisibility on.
Damian put his binoculars away in one of his belts pouches before jumping from rooftop to rooftop. He made sure to keep a close eye on where the police cars were heading off to. He felt like it was a little more hard to be stealthy here due to the weather being sunny, and the buildings being a little more vibrant. Despite these, he was still relatively stealthy. He soon saw them stop at the National Bank of Philadelphia, and hopped onto a building that was close enough to the bank where they could see it in the distance. "Nobody, zoom in to see what's going on." He said while making sure to lay low so no one sees him. He kind of wished he was able to become invisible sometimes.
Maya nodded and zoomed in to see what was going on at the bank. She saw some super strong German guy throwing a bunch of armed guards out of the door like they weighed nothing. He was currently hiding from the side of the bank door with some bags of money in his hand, occasionally getting out of the cover to shoot lasers at the police with his golden ray gun. Said lasers were seen being able to leave small holes in the concrete near the surrounding buildings. "Looks like we might be outclassed. He's stronger than the average person. He just threw those guards like they were just potatoes." She whispered to the raven haired teen as she kept watching the seemingly unstoppable man to see if he had any weak points.
Damian was shocked by this information. Even though he could most likely beat him by outsmarting and out speeding him, he began to worry if Maya would be able to take him on. "One good grip from him could crush her arms like tin foil." He thought to himself. He began to worry more about the girl's wellbeing if she was up against someone like him. He didn't want to lose someone who gave him a better life. Someone he might even have considered a friend, or a sister.
Maya turned over to look at Damian. She got concerned when she saw how quiet he was. "You okay?" She asked him before looking back to the front of the bank. The cyborg hero decided to get a closer look at the blonde haired man, so she zoomed her vision closer. She was surprised to see what appeared to be small bullet wounds on him. They seemed more like dents than real bullet wounds, but there was still some blood coming out of them. She seemed excited knowing that the robber wasn't invincible. "We have a chance! I see that he's affected by bullets! We can totally take him head on!" She exclaimed as she looked back at Shadowbird.
Damian snapped out of his thoughts when he heard Maya tell him the new piece of information. While he was happy to hear that the criminal wasn't made or steel or something, he was hesitant to let her get up close to him. "Too risky. We need a more stealthy and subtle approach. Have any ideas?" He asked as he peeked his head up to see what was going on from afar.
"Maybe we can sneak to the back of the building, and I can distract him with my sonic blasts. While he's distracted, you rush over there and strike him in his weak spot! If he has any that is." Maya remarked before thinking about any possible weak spots the man might have. "I noticed that he has a cyber eyepatch thing on his left eye. Perhaps that's his weak spot." She suggested as she zoomed out to get a better look at what else was going on around the bank.
Damian thought about it for a second. Even if he wasn't sure if it was a possible weak spot, he still had to go for it soon. "We need to get over there quickly before any civilians get hurt. I'll lead the way Maya." He told her as he started to hop from rooftop to rooftop in order to get closer to behind the bank.
Maya quickly followed Damian's lead, making sure to check up on how much time her invisibility has left before needing to reset. As they continued to move, she was thankful when she saw that no one was at the back of the building, which made this a lot more easy for them. "Should we just head straight for the front once we get to the back, or should we try to enter the building from the back?" She asked as she turned over to look at the bird masked vigilante.
Before he could say anything else, Damian stopped in his tracks when he heard something zoom past them. "What was that?" He asked as he felt a gust of wind when whatever that was flew past the duo. When he looked up, he was shocked to see that a buff orange haired man with a red suit and white cape flew towards the front of the building, and was currently floating right in front of the bank. "Weird. I could've sworn Philadelphia didn't have their own hero yet." He thought to himself, hoping that this mysterious guy was on the side of good or not.
"I am Shazam! The Champion of Earth, and finisher of evil! Come out peacefully, and turn yourself in!" Colin bombastically exclaimed as he floated down, and landed right in front of the bank entrance. He honestly had no clue what "Champion of Earth" even meant, he just thought to say it because it sounded cool to him. Once he landed on the ground, the buff hero slowly walked closer to the entrance.
Albrecht was in shock as he stepped out of his cover. He never expected he had to deal with a superhero, let alone a flying one. Yet he felt a little confident he could annihilate this so-called "Shazam'' hero as he held onto his ray gun. "Oh, you expect me to turn myself in peacefully? Vell I'm not going down vithout a fight you buffoon!" He yelled out as he pulled the golden ray gun up, and shot multiple lasers at the hero.
The lasers hit Shazam directly, yet instead of being in pain, the ginger simply started laughing when the lasers hit my body. "Oh my gods! Stop! That tickles!" He said in between the laughter as he continued to step closer to the German criminal.
Albrecht was absolutely confused, afraid, and angered by this. The ray gun he had built himself to be able to damage concrete and even steel was basically nothing to Shazam. "Stupid veapon! I don't need it anymore!" He yelled out as he crushed the weapon in his hand. He dropped the money bag on the floor before running up to punch the hero.
Colin noticed this, and grabbed the fist with his hand. "Come on. You've gotta try harder than this." He taunted the criminal, thinking this will be a piece of cake.
Albrecht was filled with rage at this point. He felt like a bull getting mocked by a luchador. But like a bull, the mocking would lead to one hell of a consequence to the luchador. He quickly pulled his left fist away, and punched the hero in the gut with his right fist, making sure to use more of his power than before.
The punch sent him Colin flying, but he managed to stop himself by floating before he would have hit the ground where the crowd was. He knelt down and held his gut with one of his arms. "Impressive. That actually hurt." He smirked as he slowly got up. "Looks like I actually have to try with you." He snarling remarked as he stretched a little before flying over to the German criminal, ready for a fight.
Albrecht held his arms up, and blocked the speeding punch. His feet dragging a little across the concrete. "You are going to regret efer challenging me you foolish American man." He confidently said as he slowly put his arms down from blocking and began to fight Shazam.
As the fight was going on, Damian and Maya silently watched on the roof of a building nearby, making sure to stay as hidden as they could. They were amazed by the strength shown by Shazam.
Maya soon realized that the fight could be the thing she and Damian need to defeat the criminal. "This will be a perfect distraction for our plan to work! Let's go Shadowbird!" She exclaimed as she quickly made her way down the building. She knew she didn't have too much time to attempt this due to her having about over a minute left before her invisibility wears off.
"Maya wait! Ugh forget it." Damian sighed after calling out to the cyborg girl. He was of course worried about her getting hurt, yet realized there was no stopping her. He climbed down the building, and followed the other teen to the back of the bank building.
Maya looked over at Damian when they arrived at the back. "Okay, I head over to the front from the right, you head over to the front from the left." She quickly explained to him before rushing out of the back of the bank.
Damian nodded at the plan, and sneakily made his way to the left side of the bank. "I hope she knows what she's doing." He thought to himself as he held onto the handle of his katana in case the plan was about to head south.
Once Maya got closer to the front of the bank, he stayed close to the wall and peaked over to see what was going on. She saw how distracted with the fight the German man was, and transformed her left arm into her arm cannon. With the power setting put on two, she steadily took aim, and fired it.
Albrecht was fighting tooth and nail with Shazam, trying to best the hero in battle. He was desperate to win after he succeeded in his robbery. He was so close to success and he didn't want some over confident spandex hero ruining it all. When he was ready to strike another sucker punch to the hero's face, he was suddenly blown off a few inches away from a sudden sonic blast. When he slowly got up, he was absolutely confused about where that blast came from. "Is ziss one of your tricks hero man?!" He yelled out as he looked back at Shazam.
Colin had absolutely no clue where that sonic blast came from. It wasn't from him, and it definitely wasn't from the criminal. "I'm about as clueless as you to be honest." He said while shrugging softly.
Maya used this distraction to scale up the bank, and shot three more sonic blasts that were aimed at the German man. "I hope Damian gets here quickly." She thought to herself as she only had thirty seconds of invisibility left.
Albrecht was tempted to yell at Shazam that he was lying, but his attention was diverted from the hero as he was hit in the back with one of the sonic blasts and quickly dodged the other two. "Show yourself coward!" He yelled out, not knowing where these mysterious blasts were coming from.
Colin took this moment of distraction to knee Albrecht in the gut. Of course he knew it wouldn't take him down, but it was best to do as much damage to the criminal as he could.
Maya turned the power of the sonic blast all the way up to five, and took aim at the robber. It would take a few seconds for it to charge up, but it would definitely be powerful. She started to see the German man slowly get from the punch to the gut. "If Damian isn't going to finish this, I will." She thought to herself as she continued to charge the blast. After what felt like forever to her, the blast was fully charged, and it fired off. The cyborg teen's invisibility wore off right at the moment the blast was fired.
Albrecht was slowly getting up from the gut punch. When he was about to give another punch or kick to the hero, he saw him fly away a few feet back. He was confused by this before he turned around when he heard a loud sound coming towards him. He was only able to look at the blast for a millisecond before getting hit by the powerful sonic attack. Said blast caused a crater in the concrete ground.
Maya fist pumped the air when the blast hit the criminal directly. She was for sure that the man was incapacitated the him, which was what made what happened next to shocking. She saw the criminal slowly crawl out of the crater, and shakily stood back up. Maya was absolutely speechless. She was for sure that something like that would at least knock him out, but it wasn't enough.
Albrecht dusted himself off and shakily stood next to the crater. He slowly looked up, and saw the robotic hero on the roof of the bank. Looks like he finally found the source of those blasts. He couldn't believe that someone so short had gotten the best of him. "You'fe just made a grafe mistake messing vith me small child!" He angrily yelled out as he jumped up high to the height of the roof, and prepared to punch the robotic hero.
Colin swiftly flew up to Albrecht, and elbowed him in the jaw away from the pint sized hero, which sent him flying. He then flew over, and punched the german back onto the ground.
Albrecht grunted as he quickly got up from the ground after Shazam punched him down again. Before he could try another attempt at attacking the younger hero on the top of the bank, he saw the ginger hero getting ready to strike yet again and quickly went on the attack. The blonde haired man was desperate to win. His attacks were a lot more sloppy in their execution, and he kept missing more often. Yet despite the odds being against him, he refused the reality of defeat.
Maya was still reeling from the shock from almost getting hit by the criminal, and took a moment to watch him and Shazam fight. She soon snapped out of her shock and looked over at her arm cannon to dial back the power of the blasts back to two, but was a little panicked when she saw that the cannon had been overheated. "Crap. Not now." She thought to herself, not sure how to help in the fight now. Thankfully, she turned around to the left, and saw the bird masked vigilante rush over to the front. "Took ya long enough." She remarked to herself as she sighed in relief.
Damian zoomed over to the front of the bank and got out his katana. He ran past Shazam and started to slash at the German robber. He could tell the sonic blast had weakened him, so it would make tiring him out way easier.
Albrecht was confused when he saw yet another short hero come out of nowhere to attack him. "How many small ahnd stupid children hafe to ahttempt to fight me?!" He yelled out as he began dodging the sword swipes. He was sick of this fight and wanted to end it quickly so after some dodging he backed up, and aggressively charged at the bird themed hero.
"Perfect." Damian thought to himself as he rushed towards the criminal while holding onto the katana tightly. When he got close enough, he rolled so he would avoid the arms of the criminal, and stopped himself before jabbing his katana upwards which stabbed the center of the cyber eyepatch. He held onto the handle as the German man got electrocuted. After a few seconds of this, the man fell on the ground, unconscious. Damian sighed in relief as he pulled the blade out of the robotic eyepatch. The fight was finally over.
Colin had watched all of this in amazement. He was too busy reeling back in amazement from this weird teen hero with a bird mask suddenly arriving to take on the super strength robber and succeeding in defeating him. Once Albrecht fell unconscious, the hero picked the criminal up by the back, and held him up for the crowd to see. "The robber has been defeated!" He exclaimed righteously, smiling as he watched the crowd cheer for him. When he turned back to try and give the pint sized heroes a thanks for helping him, he was shocked to see the two no longer near the bank. It was like they both disappeared suddenly. The ginger decided to think about this later as he turned back to the crowd, and just appreciated the cheering and attention. This is it. He's on his way to being part of the big leagues now.
.
The hero had spent about a half hour or so talking to a news team that rushed into the scene not too long after the fight ended, and answered a lot of questions the crew asked him. Shazam was confident of course, yet made sure to avoid any personal questions that might jeopardize his or his family's lives. Once the interview had ended, he jumped up, and flew away from the scene. Even though Colin felt satisfied about the situation, he still had plenty of questions about the two mysterious heroes that seemed to come out of nowhere to help in the fight. He wondered where they could've disappeared to so he decided to fly around the outskirts of Pennsylvania. He spotted two figures from above, and lowered himself to one of the rooftops. He looked over to see if the figures were the teens from before and to his surprise they were.
Damian was sitting in an alleyway with Nobody, taking a little break before the duo were ready to leave Philadelphia. He was currently concerned about if Maya had gotten hurt since he saw that she wasn't able to use the arm cannon after the powerful sonic blast. "Are you sure you didn't get hurt?" He asked, thinking that the blonde German might have hurt her a little when he jumped toward the roof.
Maya rolled her eyes, kind of sick of Damian's over protectiveness. Even if she appreciated it, she felt like he was underestimating her. "I promise I'm fine. My cannons just got overheated because of the blast, and that Shazam guy jumped in to stop the robber from smacking me." She explained as she transformed her arm cannon arm back into a regular arm since she didn't really need it now.
Damian was still hesitant about this, and took a closer look at the girl to see if there were any injuries. He soon realized that Maya wasn't lying when he saw no injuries on the body. "Promise to inform me of a plan way before that plan gets into action." He sternly told his teammate as he got up and dusted himself off, ready to leave back to the Ducard household.
Colin decided that he was tired of just listening to the duo talking, and floated down from the roof to talk to them. "Okay if they try to attack me, defuse the situation. I'm not looking for a fight. Remember that." He thought to himself as he landed in the alleyway.
Damian heard a small noise that sounded like feet touching the ground. "Someone's sneaking up on us." He said to himself before quickly turning around and pointing his katana at the direction of Shazam.
Colin flinched softly when he saw the sharp blade pointed in his direction, and raised his hands up in their air. Even though he was a decent few inches away from the duo, he still got intimidated by the bird hero and how quickly he pulled his katana out. "Hey hey hey, it's okay. I promise I'm not here for a fight." He nervously explained as he stepped back a little from the hooded teen.
Damian got in front of Maya and glared at the adult hero as he took one step closer to him, not really trusting what he told him. "What are here for?" He coldly asked as he continued to point his katana at Shazam.
Maya grabbed Damian's arm that was holding the weapon. "Please put down the katana. Let him explain himself. There's no need to threaten him like that. Besides, I doubt he'll fight us." She told her partner as she lowered the arm, trying to defuse the situation. She let go of the arm, and sighed in relief when Shadowbird put his weapon back into its holder.
Colin was relieved when the robotic teen convinced her associate to put away the sword. "I just wanted to know what you guys even are. How can I not have questions about a duo that just suddenly appeared to help me with a fight?" He rhetorically asked the two.
"Well, we were just helping out people when we arrived here, and we just so happened to see the robbery going on before you stepped in. And if you're asking, no we didn't jump in to steal your thunder." Damian sternly explained to the ginger, still hesitant about him.
Maya nodded at Damian's explanation to the adult hero. "Yeah. Sorry if we stole your spotlight. We just wanted to help out." She added on before looking over at the bird masked hero. "Oh, and the name's Nobody, and the plague doctor looking guy is Shadowbird." She said, feeling like an introduction would be polite.
Damian flinched when Maya told the ginger man their hero names. He looked over at his heroic teammate, not really happy about her giving an introductory without asking him.
"Neat names." Colin remarked to the two. He would ask more questions, but he had a feeling they would cross paths again so he'd rather head back home than spend more time prodding the duo for more answers. "We should team up again." He said to Shadowbird and Nobody before turning around, and flying out of the alleyway. He couldn't wait to tell Mar and The Oracles about what happened today.
Damian simply watched Shazam fly away, and turned over to the other teen besides him. "Are you sure we should let him work with us when we visit here? I'm still worried he might turn on us." He asked as he started to climb up one of the buildings to get ready to head back home.
Maya followed Damian up the rooftop. "All we can do is hope. On the bright side, he'll be a massive help to us if he does turn out to be on our side." She assured her friend before she turned her invisibility on, and followed Shadowbird as they both made their way back home.
.
Colin soon arrived at Norristown, and landed behind an abandoned building. He transformed back into the orange haired teenager he is, and excitedly ran his way to his block. He quickly arrived on the doorstep of The Wizard's house, and ringed the doorbell.
Billy had told all his siblings about Colin heading to Philadelphia earlier, and they had been crowding around the television as they excitedly watched Shazam and some costumed strangers defeat the robber. They were currently flipping through channels with The Wizard, impressed by all the local news channels talking about the story.
Mary heard the doorbell ring, and looked over at the door. "Hey Mar, can you get the door for us?" She asked the old man, probably thinking it was the mailman at the door.
The Wizard nodded softly as he got up, and floated to the door. When he opened the door, he was pleasantly surprised to see the ginger boy at the doorway. "Come in. Everyone has many questions for you." He politely told him as he moved out of the way for the teen.
Colin quickly thanked the elder before quickly strolling to the living room. "Did you guys see what I did? It was awesome!" He exclaimed as he hopped onto the couch where a couple of the oracles were at.
After turning off the TV, the siblings began to eagerly ask Colin about how his experience went. They asked stuff like how it was like to face off a villain for the first time, and if he enjoyed the attention the news reporters gave him.
Colin started to feel a little overwhelmed as he answered the questions. Having six people try to ask you things at the same time would make anyone a little overwhelmed. After answering a couple questions, he put his hand up as a way to have them quiet down. "I'll answer one more question. I have to head back home soon, and I don't wanna worry Oliver and Emiko." He stated as he lowered his hand.
Darla looked around to see if the older oracles wanted to ask the teen something. "Who was that robot blasting hero and that creepy bird guy?" She curiously asked.
Colin prepared himself to do a lot of explaining when the purple wearing girl asked him that question. "Don't worry. They're heroes named Nobody and Shadowbird. I actually want to team up with the duo again since they seem pretty nice." He explained to the siblings before getting up from the couch, and making his way to the door.
The Wizard looked over at the teen, and smiled at him. "You did well Colin. I'm proud of you." The elderly man told the ginger before he opened the door.
Colin looked back at the group when he heard the elder talk to him. "Thanks. Wouldn't have been able to do it though without him." He said while pointing his thumb over to Billy before he turned around to open the door. He soon walked out of the house and closed the door behind him.
Billy felt a little pride and joy in himself for trying to teach the teen how to fly. He turned over and looked at Freddy. "And you said it was a bad idea to teach him as soon as possible." He remarked to the blue wearing teen in a snarky manner.
Colin quickly made his way to his own house. Once he got in, he quickly told Emiko and Oliver what he did. He just made up something about playing video games with Billy and his siblings. Once he got upstairs, he walked into his room, and flopped down on the bed face first. Today was exhausting, and it hadn't even ended yet. What still amazed him was that he still had so much to learn. He had barely scratched the surface of his powers according to Mamaragan, and that excited him.
He didn't know what would be in store for the future, but he was ready for it.