Archive of Our Own ^beta

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Captain Marvel was an enigma, to most of the justice league. Showing up one day out of the blue- no origin story he would speak of, no civilian life to be uncovered, wise and yet incredibly, incredibly unwise. In all the strangest ways, too. Not sensible things- it could be excused to not know some pop trivia here and there. Or even a lot of modern culture- being a 'champion of magic' certainly seemed to make him eccentric enough. It was... The obvious things. Like the way his face furrowed a little when passing by conversations about cars, or about tax forms, or how painfully long the commute in civilian form could be. How he seemed puzzled by the way everyone drank coffee on morning shifts and late night shifts alike.

So of course, Barry had to poke the enigma. Well- not literally. The crackles of lightning around him idly at all times were a pretty effective deterrent after the first surprise back slap and how profusely the man had apologised, how embarrassed he'd been. But poking his nose where it wasn't wanted was superhero 101, as he slid next to him at the watchtower's cafeteria, startling the man out of his thoughts. Marvel reached for the small bag at the side of him, going to stand- no! Barry had him cornered, not this time. "Hey, man, what's the hurry?"

"Ah- I thought you'd want this seat. Since it's got the best view- and I really should be going back to Fawcett-" The overgrown puppydog of a man fumbled, gesturing, trying to weasel his way out of it with those wide eyes.

"Oh, it does have a good view- but that's not it, Cap. Can we talk?" Man, the way Marvel stiffened at that had Barry almost cringing. "It's not about you tripping me when that robot threw you through a wall today, don't look at me like that!"

The man sat back down, hesitantly, still perched on the edge of his seat. Ready to book it like a kid at the principal’s office. "Then what is it?"

Barry smiled reassuringly, but inside his mind went blank for a solid several microseconds, trying to figure out a way to ask something, ANYTHING, he had the guy and if he didn't follow up now it'd be beyond awkward. "I just wanted to ask- can you even turn off that lightshow, dude? It must be super awkward in civvies, finding explanations-”

“Oh, um. No, I can’t- well- I can but its not really-“ Marvel rubbed the back of his neck, sheepish,  “It’s not really a problem, and I get to be my own power outlet at home!”  The big grin and bright eyes were almost suffocatingly bright, and Barry wondered for a moment if he was putting magic into it, before the expression broke and he looked mildly alarmed.  “Ah- shoot, sorry, the magical tiger at the zoo escaped again- I have to go seeyouaroundbye!”

“Wait-“ Barry was half stood up, going to offer his help with the roundup- and the Cap was already out the door, cape flicking behind him. Dang, pretty snappy for a non speedster. He sighed, sitting back down. A little disappointed. Ok, maybe alot.

As he mulled things over, Barry stretched his legs under the table- and kicked a bag. Oh. That was Marvel’s- what did he even have in there? He looked around. No one watching. He cracked it open, and whatever he expected it wasn’t this. A bolt bag- or a food stash? It had the dry ends of bread no one except speedsters like himself went for that had been sentenced to the bin,  some dented apples, a lot of chocolate, some instant rice… Nothing high quality, but it was stuffed to the brim with it. Well, who was he to question dietary choices? He’d been hungry enough to almost eat the fork with the food more than once since getting super metabolism, it was smart to keep extras. He didn’t think the Captain ate, but he was always skittish. Probably ate at home. Hah. Bold enough to save the world but not enough to eat a sandwich in public? What a guy.

The Flash closed the bag, putting it where he found it, and contemplated his mysterious colleague. Eh, he had reports to write. And the big guy had a tiger to catch. He’d come back for his food later, when he realised he forgot it. No one had to know the dude kept a secret stash of scraps from the kitchen.

When Marvel returned hours later, hunger in the back of Marvel’s mind, a reminder of the state of Billy even if he was bright and peppy as ever- he could only just hide the relief of his food stash going unpinched. He grabbed it, checking it nervously, and saw a note tucked into the top, a lightning bolt scribbled with a circle on the folded scrap indicating the author. Barry. ‘Speedster emergency snack locker key code is 8731 if you ever need it, just don’t pinch the brownies’. The Flash- saw his stash. And… he was going to share such crucial information. Oh. Oh wow.

He wouldn’t abuse this knowledge, but it was something that made his heart do a little backflip. He took the bag, muttering a glamour spell (he can’t BELIEVE he forgot to apply that in his rush to deal with Tawny’s keepers-) and hurried to the Zeta tube, the beam washing over him and taking him to Fawcett a very, very welcome relief. He stepped outside, calling the lightning, and Billy shrugged the invisible backpack onto his back, walking to the entrance of the alley to peek past the crowds to spy the clocktower. Oh man, he was DEFINITELY late to work- Mr. Morris wasn’t gonna be happy! At least it wasn’t a live broadcast shift today.

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“Hi, sorry I’m late, I-“ Marvel’s words died in his throat, sheepish smile turning to guilt instantly at his feet at the neutral (but still terrifying!) stare Batman levelled with him. He shuffled his feet, slinking into his seat and paying attention. Mmhmm. Robot invasion on the west coast for a moment, suspicious science companies, interstellar politics… Just the usual, he nodded and listened, propping his head up against his curled up fist, waiting for anything that actually required his attention. Unless he needed to sock someone, or grab an artifact, these meetings didn’t do much but make him miss sleeping spot windows at the good shelter so he couldn’t help but be a bit resentful of the problems of Adulthood^tm. Sue him if he wanted out asap!

“…with that issue resolved, the meeting is over. Marvel, stay behind for a moment.”   The Captain jolted, ambient static buzzing around him twisting into proper sparks of alarm as he hesitated by the door he’d been first to, reluctantly slinking back to the meeting table. Clearly, he had something to rush off for. Bruce met his gaze levelly, and the red and gold man’s lightning flickering about gave away his emotions almost as much as his overly expressive face. “You have been late three times in the last month. All to meetings scheduled approximately 8pm CST.” He let the silence hang, the man’s nerves would prompt an explanation soon enough. He wasn’t exactly a difficult person to read- but to interpret was a different matter entirely.

Yeah, maybe 3 times in a month to be late was a bit much. But he couldn’t bring himself to threaten his friends as Marvel so he had to wait till everyone was inside and slink past as freaking Captain Marvel- who is absolutely not stealthy!  “I’m sorry, it’s just- well, it’s not- mn…”  Batman’s gaze boring holes into him did not help his nerves. He felt a whisper from Achilles, and gratefully accepted the courage boost like a warm jacket. Man he wished he had a warm jacket now it was winter. “The queue for the homeless shelters has been stretching into the area around the Zeta tube, sir. It’s getting cold in Fawcett City-”

Batman’s gaze narrowed. “And why did you not bring this up sooner?”

Captain Marvel shifted on his feet, looking at the ground. “It’s a seasonal issue, sir, the Zeta tube isn’t compromised. I just have trouble getting by without the kids noticing-.”

“Kids.” Batman sounded angry. Was that his angry flat tone or his usual flat tone?! It really sounded like his angry tone. Oh gods. Did he hate homeless kids!?

“Y-yes?”

“You have enough homeless children in your city to block your Zeta Tube?”

“Enough ones smart enough to try to get into the one place with good heating.” Marvel snapped- and then look absolutely mortified. He just snapped at Batman.  Who was looking at him with a long, long calculating stare. Gods, if he just doxed himself to batman like this he wanted to sink into the steel tiles beneath their feet like so much mud. “…They open for the night at 8, and it’s just around the corner from the alley.”

“Hm.” The caped crusader looked him up and down. Interesting. Marvel rarely showed actual anger, even in fights. This would be going in the file later. “I’ll see what I can do about your problem.”

Captain Marvel’s heart dropped out of his chest- or it would’ve. Living Lightning doesn’t have organs after all. The ever present sparks curled around his body in small little arcs and loops, tight and worried and close. Batman was going to show up and see Billy Batson trying to get into the shelter and he knew the man had facial profiling software and he was going to see him and know he was just a ‘kid’ and treat him different and he wouldn’t be able to help anymore. Gods, and what did Batman even mean by that? Get some cop friends to beat him and the others black and blue for loitering?!

“Marvel, you can leave.”  Did he scurry out? Absolutely not. He left efficiently with a reasonable pace.

…

He didn’t get a spot at any shelter that night, but the subway tunnel was dry enough even if he couldn’t quite feel his toes or fingers. So he couldn’t complain, really.

“Hey Billy, guess what!”

Billy jumped, looking up at his boss, homework on the table barely touched, pencil half chewed through. “Huh? What?” 

“We just got a great story for you to break for the broadcast that’ll go out tomorrow, here- just- read this email-” The ever enthusiastic Mr. Morris handed him a printout of it (because why would an email be sent digitally? Gotta print it-) and Billy scanned it, curious. And then read it properly. And read it again because Solomon was saying something and he kept missing the words on the page with the old man’s commentary in his head. Paragraph start, paragraph end- where’s the bolded text- goddamn corporate speak- Solomon please I’m trying to read this first-

“…There’s gonna be a donation to the shelters?” Billy looked up, baffled. “I mean, its good, but rich people do that a lot, what’s the news bit about it-?”

“The sender, Billy!” Mr. Morris was practically giddy. What had he missed there-

“Holy moly, is that Bruce Wayne’s actual email?! The guy who owns the dang Wayne Foundation?”

And his boss just nodded, beaming, and scampered into the next room to chatter to the lady who writes scripts, and as Billy pondered the stupid algebra on his sheet waiting for his turn at the recording booth, he could hear Mr. Morris dashing about the halls, stopping anyone who he could to proclaim of Bruce Wayne, Bruce Wayne, good golly, sending a donation to little old Fawcett!

…

Huh. Was that what he meant by ‘solving the problem’? Throwing money at it- did seem a very Batman approach too, in retrospect.

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“Some days, I really wish I never met that Wizard” Captain Marvel muttered, peeling alien viscera out of the crevices of his bracers as the dust settled. That’d be inside his jacket when he went back to normal, in the fabric, and even if Solomon informed him a simple washing trick would remove it he didn’t have any other jacket like it and like hell was he willing to spoil his favourite-

Green Lantern had been watching him real funny for awhile now, but he didn’t exactly notice until he got tapped on the nose by a glowing green question mark. Captain Marvel looked up, grouchy at the construct disrupting his grumblings. “Hey, didn’t fancy being tazed- but seriously. Wizard?”

“Oh. A wizard gave me this form. So he made it possible to get- whatever this gunk is stuck in these- actually stuck.”

“A wizard.”

“Yeah, dude! A magic wizard called shaaa-mthing. Something. Name’s a total secret!” The man almost fell out of the sky with his flailing hands trying to deescalate the almost revelation.

“Uh huh.”  Like hell it was. Shamus? Sham? Shauna? Was the Cap’s secret name something simple like Shawn? Hal couldn’t help the lazy grin on his face as they flew towards the epicentre of damage together. So easy to tease, he’d have a laugh telling Barry and the others about this once it was all over.

“Look, it was a pretty convincing spell and I was literally electricity, dude” He pulled a face, and maybe he was lying a bit but Marvel was Living Lightning and Billy definitely did have to get electrocuted. So he was electricity for a bit. They were. Hm that made his head chatter a bit too loud with thoughts. And some laughter. Geeze- at least they were interested in his strength. He shook his hands clean of the gunk he’d been so distracted by, and swooped down to help grab some more rubble off of the road, holding a several lane wide chunk one handed and gesturing exasperatedly in the sky. “Have you tried saying no when you’re just a bolt of lightning, chilling in the air? It’s tougher than you’d think! Especially to Zeus!”

The boy knows who’s really in charge round here! Zeus crowed, pleased, and thunder rumbled in the sky, a storm coming out of the blue. Billy wanted to put earplugs in as the deities in his head started hollering and bickering. Marvel didn’t bat an eyelid.

Hal looked at him under that green mask in that funny way again, real closely. “Neat party trick, but like- Zeus? Really gonna pull Diana’s dad into this?” A giant green broom appeared to sweep the rubble clean so Marvel could plop it back into place.

Marvel groaned, putting down the chunk of road and electrocuting the asphalt into melting back together with some bolts from his hands. “What part of ‘I’m literally made of magic’  did you manage to not get, dude? And it’s more like cursed, really- can’t even get a job since apparently ‘born yesterday through a magic spell’ doesn’t work as a birth certificate, and that’s not to mention the year problem-”

The Lantern grinned- the guy could give teenagers a run for their money when it came to complaining! And probably lying, none of the things he said made sense when you looked at him as a whole but he sure did put his all into it! He kept the man chatting as they levitated this and that together and arc welded the ruined city back into a whole enough piece to heal without the place going into crippling debt. Justice League favour- or taking out the post attempted apocalypse trash. Same difference. Captain Marvel beamed at the progress they’d made in only a few short hours, itching his bracers idly before they went their separate ways.

…Maybe Hal would give the guy some cleaning stuff. Poor guy knew everything and nothing- maybe he didn’t get the memo on how to clean uniforms well or something. Yeah. Couldn’t hurt!

Ok- first the Flash giving him access to the emergency snack cupboard, then Batman twisting the Wayne Foundation into doing charity in Fawcett, and now Green Lantern had given him some- some clothes washing stuff. He had to look it up on a library computer to figure out what in the heck he was supposed to do with it, and even then he was waiting carefully for the working washing machine to be free, but- the point was! Something was definitely up!

Solomon murmured in his head, trying to quell his anxieties, but unfortunately for the old man Billy Batson did not listen nearly as well as Marvel. “Yeah yeah, ‘its fine’ ‘they just care’ blah blah, stupid old man-” The neon haired librarian was giving him side eye from their desk, and he sheepishly hunched down in the spinny chair (at maximum height and STILL barely enough to use the keyboard properly), going scarlet. Oops. Talking out loud again, geeze, he wasn’t some beginner at telepathy. Nope. He was Captain Marvel, champion of magic- part time. But still.

Billy grumbled under his breath, pushed the keyboard away, head thunking on the desk space in front of him. They’re gonna find me out! Achilles laughed, some whispers that amounted to ‘so what?’, a phantom slap on the back. You know they won’t keep me around, maybe they already know and they’re just making it a slow break, planning when to kick me out- the voices chattered in rebuttal, a headache inducing hum of no and Billy, that’s not likely, and we’re gods, what can THEY do?! In not quite his own voice, and he looked out of the library window. Snowflakes?

And it was only the afternoon- what did the forecast say? …Oh, a bunch of news stories on icy villains across the USA, WHIZ news tweeting about the park fountains freezing over due to a villain- photos wanted! Dangit. Mr. Mind must’ve got his mitts on a ice meta, or maybe it was Sivanna with stolen freeze ray tech, or something. Not bad enough for a communicator call, yet, but could definitely get rough if he didn’t nip it in the bud. Billy took a look around at the library- the nice space heater, the beanbags, the punk librarian who only worked weekends who let him sleep without calling anyone on him- and reluctantly, very reluctantly- left the warmth of the place to head for the street. Captain Marvel was needed (as was a photographer!), and Billy Batson would have to suck it up later once the villain was pummelled.

“Shazam!” He called as he ran through the winding security camera free alleys, and Marvel leapt into action.

The poor meta didn’t stand much of a chance, but the darned caterpillar put up much more of a fight with some robots he commandeered from somewhere or other. Irritating!  The worm of a villain even managed to lose the Captain amongst the chaos- quite an achievement! Though he idly hoped that Mr. Mind would turn up under the heel of his boot with a ‘splat’, Marvel had priorities once he’d sorted out the imminent danger! He turned his attention back to helping the young lady who’d been coerced into the attacks to clean up, and even bought her a meal at the end of it after assuring the police she was quite alright, and it was mind control, you see, and don’t hassle her officer Bob, you either Jim- she’s a good lady, you hear?

…

it was his last $5 note, but she didn’t need to know a hero could barely afford the pick-me-up snack. Stupid villain attacks… Maybe he could pick up some more work at the docks as Marvel, but less people were paying in cash as time crept closer to being roughly matched with the outside world and things like ‘digital banking’ and ‘id verification' and even darned ‘Osha’ had become the hot new thing for employers. Billy shuffled into the queue for the heated shelter, nice and early. They had chicken soup on the menu tonight and he was definitely looking forward to the grub!

Chapter Text

It was raining in Fawcett, a proper summer thunderstorm, and Billy had just about had enough of it. It wasn’t that he disliked the lightning- it was that it liked him a bit too much. He had been struck 4 times (not that it made a dent in him) on the way to the Whiz Radio tower from his current ‘home’, and as he shrugged his soaked jacket off in the cloakroom next to bowler hats and trench coats, he couldn’t help but feel grumpy. He was soaked! And tingling!

The tower’s lightning rod was probably redirecting bolts now as he went straight for the coffee machine in their little breakroom, eyeing up the covered tub of Ham and Bananas Hollandaise by the microwave. Was he hungry? Yes. Hungry enough for that? Not quite.

“Hey, what’s the long face for?” Morris clapped a hand on his shoulder, jolly as ever, and Billy nearly jumped out of his skin. “We’ve got a really special guest for you to interview, so get your voice all warmed up with that bevvy, Whiz Kid! Not long to prepare, I’m afraid, but it was rather last minute that we got the memo.”

“What is it Mr. Morris- do we got Batman? Superman?” He raised an eyebrow, holding his mug and blowing at the surface of it to go cooler-

“Not quite, little one.”  Diana’s voice came from overhead, and Billy nearly had a heart attack as he whipped around. Mr. Morris laughed, and Billy was so tempted to kick him. Wonder Woman smiled down at them both.

“W-W-Wonder Woman?” He stammered, looking up at her.  Mr. Morris pressed a page of interview notes into his hand and gave him a few words of advice, heading out to corral the other people responsible for supporting the upcoming broadcast but he barely registered it, too distracted by his coworker right next to him.

“You can call me Diana for now, if you’d like.” She winked, crouching to be eyelevel with him. Oh god she was so tall in a normal person sized room. He could hear Zeus bragging about how finely crafted his daughter was, distantly.  Daughter?! “Are you alright?”

“Y-yep! Fine!” Billy chugged a gulp of the coffee and grinned to hide the misery of sugarless coffee. He forgot to add anything. “I- um- so what brings you to Fawcett?”

“Well, I am a princess with diplomatic responsibilities.” She looked mildly annoyed, glancing behind her momentarily to the troop of male bodyguards who weren’t really able to crowd into the little break room, but smoothed it out with a child friendly smile. “I am doing what’s called a ‘Press Tour’ to help inform the people of America of Themyscira. But we have time until that business, so let us socialise, little one!” She held her fist out to him and it took a second longer than Billy wanted to realise that she was wanting a fist bump. He did so hesitantly. Her eyes crinkled into a smile immediately. Some of the tension bled out.

They sat down on the sofa, each holding a drink. “I’m Billy Batson, I’m the host of Whiz Kid… It’s- um- it’s nice to meet you! Golly it’s really an honour.”

“It is my honour, young Billy. It takes a brave soul to navigate the press, especially at such a young age.”  She sipped her coffee and the mug was practically a teacup in her hands. “Tell me, what brought you to this esteemed position? Communicating to the masses is a large responsibility for one so young.”

Money enough to eat? Wanting to tell the truth? “Well, awhile ago I heard wind of a plot by Marvel’s total yo-yo of a nemesis, Dr. Sivanna, to take down the radio-”

They talked, and talked, and he felt himself relaxing. In no time at all, the interview was happening, and it was over and she was in the car with her guards, zooming away along the roads, hopefully out of Fawcett. He’d had conversations with her on the watchtower and on missions more times than he could count and apart from the size difference it was pretty similar. He could only hope that he didn’t let incriminating anything slip in his friendly state!

Captain Marvel was always a busy hero. Crime wouldn’t stop in his city even if it was pouring it down, and frankly, the lightning crashing around him was a tad hazardous for civilians! Being an incarnation of lightning was sometimes a little inconvenient. The current crook in his grasp was cursing up a storm, and he chucked the lad a good twenty feet over their escape truck, past the barrier, and into the police’s waiting arms. That only left… the boss. He strode towards the boss hiding behind the counters, who was frantically reloading his automatic machine gun after popping the whole round on the Captain when he first walked into the bank robbery. A lasso got there first, dragging the masked criminal to the floor.

“Marvel! How joyous it is to cross paths.” She nodded, a warriors acknowledgement, and turned to the man. “Speak, thief, tell us your reasons.”

“Me and my pals here just needed enough money to buy a new place, you darned superheroes wrecked blocks of buildings in that ‘apocalypse’ framing stunt and it still hasn’t been fixed!” He spat on her boot. Diana looked mildly disgusted.

Captain Marvel stepped into the fray, helping restrain him by bending the weapon into a tight jacket so the lasso could be returned to the Amazon’s side. The gunpowder sounded like popping candy as the mechanisms protested the twisting. “Be that as it may, young man, robbery won’t provide steady money and it most certainly won’t solve the issue -”

“Oh shaddap you big red gilded cheese! I bet you live in the rich end o’ town, huh?” Marvel didn’t have an immediate response to that. And that voice was really familiar- where did he know him?! “Never had to do shift work dragging boxes till your back kills and you’re begging to sleep. Pah! Prancing around as a superhero, what a joke!”

“Even if you are down on your luck, it’s just no good to steal.” Marvel managed to reprimand, a little subdued as it finally hit him who this was. Grin a little smaller than it should be as he walked the masked crook to the cops. As he walked Kyle who always helped out at the shipping port on Thursdays and made the best snacks for the group and who had a sweet daughter at home to the cops. Marvel felt a little sick. “And- it’s especially no good to do so in a way that hurts others.”

The look on his face at Marvel, stone cold hatred, sent chills through his spine even as the cops took him and loaded him up for jail time. He stood there, rain soaking his white cloak into a soft grey, lost in thoughts- and a gentle touch against his arm had him looking down. Diana.  “I’m sorry, Diana. I should be going-”

“No, stay. Come with me for a meal, Captain?” She looked worried.

“…Are you sure?” He looked worriedly at the legion of guards skulking angrily at the edge of the police barrier, giving Wonder Woman side eye for leaving their protection.

“My escorts will not complain. The hotel provides fine food, and there is privacy amongst its gardens.” A gentle squeeze on his arm. “You are Zeus’ chosen, are you not? You are as a brother to me. Indulge, for a moment?”

“Alright. I suppose I can’t say no to that.” He managed, surprised at the comment, and the two walked to the little car (so little! But it wasn’t little, he was just big, he had to remind himself), ducking into it. He felt absolutely crammed in like a Sardine amongst all the guards. This dinner talk could be more difficult to navigate than their interview!

The gardens were empty apart from them, soft orange light from the lamps keeping the place cozy and ambient despite the time and plastic roofing turning the rolling storm into a relaxing drum of raindrops. The lightning crashed upon the plastic sheeting right above Marvel’s head, dispersing quickly enough, and Diana laughed at the sheepish jump it earned from the man over his plate of food. “It comes to you like a puppy, Captain.”

“It comes with being blessed by Zeus,” He mumbled, considering pulling his hood up, “How did you know about that, anyway? I try not to make this stuff- you know- obvious.”

“I had my suspicions for a long time, but Hal is- well- he can’t keep anything to himself unless it’s actually life and death. You know how he is.” Diana smiled, and took a forkful of her own salad. “Why hide it, I must ask?”

The Captain looked thoughtful, goofy cartoonishness shifting to an expression resembling being serious. Like he was listening to the raindrops or the wind for an answer. “It’s easier to dodge the question than say I’m just a bunch of magic in a man shaped trench-coat held together by a whole lotta gods blessings. I really shouldn’t have let that slip to Hal.”

“So, you weren’t having a joke with him?” She pried, not thinking it was but best to double check. 

“What? No! Of course not, I wouldn’t joke about what I am!” He looked offended, panicked almost. Nearly choking on his bite of potato wedges at the question, in fact.

Diana took a sip of her wine. Hm. Definitely poked a nerve there, she wondered what exactly had the secretive giant so nervous. “I didn’t think you were, Champion, but it’s best to confirm such things.” And that was enough to have him shrink in discomfort at the recognition, like a scolded pup, “You may be lightning given human form but you certainly act boyish. How old are you?”

Marvel hesitated. 

“I won’t tell the League, if it’s not essential. Unlike some, I can keep my mouth shut… But it’d be nice to know just how little my little brother is...”

“12…” He mumbled, and the grown man before her picking at his food and having a glass of coca cola instead of wine suddenly made a lot more sense.

“12 years?” She questioned, just to clarify (because it felt like he was lying, somehow, the lasso itched to tighten around him but she didn’t indulge the magic’s temptation), and the question earned even more of a hunched embarrassed posture from him. “No wonder you are so at a loss for words in meetings! All the wisdom in the world does not allow understanding of such things as politics and relationships.”  His head snapped up, startled, and she smiled across at him. “You are much my junior, but it is not a bad thing to have family, little bolt.”

“…Family?”

“Family.” Diana confirmed, placing a hand over his. The static of Zeus’ magic wrapping him (and how long had she wondered at the familiarity of those sparks? Of course it was her father’s touch- it made so much sense-) hummed proudly underneath her hand. Marvel managed a little smile, daring to trust.

“Do you have another name, may I ask? You hold such things close to your chest, but now I wonder if you even have another name to hide.”

“I do- but-” He looked around hesitantly, eyes lingering on the shadow of the waiter in the far off window “Fae rules.”

She nodded in understanding.  They ate, they talked of nothing and everything, of pets and magic and gods and colleagues- and as he made to depart late into the evening, he stopped at the stairs out of the fancy mansion of a hotel, hesitating one last time.

“If you- if you really want… You could- you could call me Keraunos. Or- or Thavma.” The Captain looked so nervous, wringing his hands, stammering. “They’re names of the past I’ve been given. But- Captain Marvel is who I am at work.”  And Marvel bolted. Diana didn't mind, though.

Little brother Keraunos. It would do to learn when exactly he was made from her father when next they crossed paths, as the thirteenth is an auspicious date amongst young mortals in this era. She had a little brother.

Chapter Text

Bruce was aware of Fawcett City, in the vague unsatisfying way that most people were. The place that Captain Marvel protects, and that was as much as was known. No internet presence, no tourist pamphlets published after the 1950s, no recent maps- it was even a useless blur on google maps and entirely absent of street view options. Security camera feeds that he could hack into were grainy and with the amount of fedora wearing cigar smoking men in trenchcoats he saw, frankly, he was convinced they were set to a loop of footage sourced decades ago.

And so, the Wayne Foundation had sent some donations for improving homeless shelters and similar infrastructure, and months later he’d finally gotten some photos mailed back from the construction crew for promotional materials. Not emailed, mailed. Taken on polaroids, and sent with a stamp from the 80s (that Alfred was sure to be delighted to add to his collection), and written on modern paper with a calligraphy pen. Anachronistic didn’t cover it.

A few beaming men by the scaffolding with thermoses of drink. The shining newly built extensions with ‘Wayne Wing’ slapped above the entrance in silvery lettering. Happy young children sat down listening to a story in their little suits and petticoats, and animal onesies, and youtuber branded hoodies. One tall man built like a truck whose face was hidden by his sunny yellow cap lifting a steel beam over his shoulder in the background of a shot drew his eye- that looked far too casual. Superman treated heavy items like that, but that should take 3 men to even begin to lift it.

He tapped his pen against his chin. Hm. This would be going into Marvel’s file, under the possible identities section. But in the meantime… Clark did owe him a favour. And the man was a reporter.

Billy Batson was pretty sure he was being followed. It wasn’t an instinct he could really verify, but there was a tall guy in the crowds who’d been staying close to him since he snagged that bag of leftovers from a picnic bench. It wasn’t unusual per say for him to get followed, but most of Muscles’ men were more direct about it and he’d passed their active hideouts a few times- if it was one of the underground crowd he’d pissed off they’d have said something by now.

Which left one option: hired kidnapper. Yay.

So he took 3 left turns through some winding side streets in the bit of town where Miss Bambi worked and that guy was STILL there in the corner of his eye. A looming shadow a head or two above most people, standing out much more in the quiet side streets. His heart was racing. Why wouldn’t he leave him alone? Petty theft wasn’t that big a crime, he just wanted to eat something decent tonight!

Billy didn’t really have a choice but to confront the guy, because like hell was he going to lead this guy to Freddy or Dudley or his school or the subway where his things stayed. So he slipped himself into a crevice between two buildings halfway down an alley, where he could escape- agh! The bolt hole of a smashed in window had been repaired. Dang it! But- the man would have no choice but to come within punching range. He could manage!

The shadow of the giant approached. Billy crouched a little, heart racing. Closer. Closer…. The big guy turned the corner.

“Kid-?” Too late! Billy kicked him in the shins hard when he stepped into  Billy’s space- and promptly howled silently in pain, hopping back and clutching his foot. That felt like kicking a reinforced robot! What the HELL? “Oh- oh no, are you ok? Here, let me see that-“

Billy had gotten himself cornered with the intent of slipping away into the streets and leaving the guy with a hurt ego- but now HE was the one hurt! He glowered like a soggy cat, stepping back but he had nowhere to go. Stupid Billy. Wasn’t this how you got caught last time by kidnappers, too?! “Don’t you touch me!” Billy swatted the guy’s hand away, glaring up at him with venom and holding the wounded leg in an awkward crouch. Fuck it didn’t have hurt.

“Ok, ok- I’m just, it looks like your foot is broken. Please, let me help-” The man seemed genuinely shaken, and Billy looked down, taking in the wound past the adrenaline. Oh. It was a good thing it was sunset or it’d be hard to explain the golden-red of the ichor and blood that filled his veins.

“I’ve had worse, you- you Metalman! Now back off or I’ll bite your fingers off. I’ll really do it, sir!” He said, puffing up his chest and the man reluctantly retreated, shoulders hunched in worry, hands wringing.  Billy swore he recognised that voice... But that didn’t matter. He knew lotsa folks. So he sat down against the boarded up window’s ledge awkwardly, pushing the twisted foot into the right position with grit teeth, and murmured a spell to help the process, a small flash of lightning from his hands cupped around the wound.  

“Magic-?” The man gasped.

“You’re new in town huh, mister.” Billy grumbled, rolling the ankle cautiously. Yeah- it wasn’t done by a long shot- but the energy cost was settling in and he wanted to pass out. You don’t practice enough outside of the Rock, Solomon chided, and he rolled his eyes. “I’ll give you a tip, sir. Shouldn’t follow the homeless- we bite round here.”

“I was going to offer to buy you a meal,” Metalman mumbled. Billy stared. The bespectacled man shrunk into himself even more.

“…Di’nt have to be so creepy about it.” Billy squinted, getting back to his feet. He stumbled as his body protested being upright without support, and he braced himself against the wall woozily.

“I’m sorry. Can we start this on a better foot? Let’s give our names.”

“I’ll tell you what you can call me but I ain’t giving you my name, mister Metalman.” Man this super strong guy was totally out of touch! Fae would have him out of all his possessions in a few sentences. No street smarts. Honestly, didn’t he get any of the pamphlets?

“…Right. Well, I’m Clark Kent, Reporter. Nice to meet you, Mr….?”

Oh. Oh fuck that was Clark Kent. Billy opened his mouth to reply, but the world was really spinning, and suddenly he was dropping down to the ground. He tried to make a run for it when he felt hands on his arms, grabbing, pulling him up- but… Too much magic use… He couldn’t keep his eyes open… “’m Bat… son…”

 “-uce, just get in contact with one of them before I bring this kid to you!” Superman was talking, right? That sounded like him, but he was angry… Like at a villain… Some tinny voice came distantly to Marvel, the phone too far away to hear. Ah- no, that was the comms tinniness. Must’ve been a helluva fight to knock his comm out of his ear in the fight? It’d be in his cape, it fell there sometimes… He reached up, groggily, patting at his head and his shoulders for it, squinting against the wind. Huh. He was on his back, someone was holding him.

“Supes?” Marvel slurred, out of it.

“You’ll be alright, kid.” Superman said, and ruffled Marvel’s hair one handed.  “Promise.”

Marvel didn’t like feeling like shit. That was Billy’s domain usually, and he didn’t remember the wizard’s name coming out of their mouth. They squinted up, and vaguely came to the realisation that Superman was big. Tall. Man of steel. Man of… metal…

“Oh fiddlesticks” Billy whispered, as the pieces slotted into place. This was bad. This was REALLY bad. Superman gave him a comforting smile, and he struggled to sit up, trying to get him to let go. The kryptonian’s grip tightened, and he cringed, (Hands holding tightly, bruising, not letting him leave-). “Let me go!”

“You’ll fall!” Superman tried to keep him restrained, hearing the panic. “I’m taking you to help, you can trust me. Please.”

 Billy looked down. The dark abyss of a water body at night looked up. The moon’s reflection blinked as a cloud passed by. He closed his eyes and counted and tried not to feel panicked. Not his first rodeo being kidnapped. Usually he could at least sleep it away with the rhythm of a car. The wind was taking his breath away, it never took the Captain’s away. It felt wrong to be in the air without the gift of Mercury’s flight and swiftness. It felt wrong. He wanted to be on the ground. He wanted to be at home on solid ground. He wanted-

He wanted Superman to let go. He couldn’t take it. Billy curled into himself, shivering from the wind, and mumbled the Wizards name.

The first lightning strike sent Superman plunging down, grip on Billy only tightening. A grunt of pain. Again, he tried, panic reaching a crescendo. Let me go, let me GO! The second strike had the Kryptonian diving for the rapidly approaching shore, trying to (crush break bruise hurt hurt HURT-) protect Billy with his body from the incoming fall. The duo left a huge track mark in the ground, superman taking down a few trees in the crash. “You’re alright, son-“  Kal-el gasped, but Billy wasn’t alright. He wouldn’t be alright until he was away.

Billy writhed free and shouted an apology, chest still tight with panic, running into the tree line- and with a call of the Wizard’s Name the third strike brought Marvel into the forest, knocked Billy out of the shared seat to fly- and Billy was safe he would always be safe, Marvel was safety, they were safety they were one he was SAFE.

Captain Marvel took to the skies, flying until the force of magic forced open the thin veil of reality and he left the plane entirely. The Rock was safe. The Rock was safe.

Chapter Text

Captain Marvel had stayed in the Rock for awhile. Recovering. Gathering spent energy in the magic rich area. Diffusing old magic issues that he’d been avoiding starting on, reading tomes… But Billy was still human. Still a human with the appetite of a growing boy (not that he’d been doing much growing in years) and magic didn’t fill ones stomach even it soothed that exhausted ache to the soul of burnout so smoothly.

The watchtower always had food. And he should check in, he wasn’t sure of the time dilation exactly but it had been… awhile. Long enough for their body to want food. Marvel had no reason to fear Superman, the Kryptonian didn’t have any issues with him. It was with Billy.

He stepped through the fabric of reality, almost holding his breath, and into his room at the watch tower. Exhaled. Checked himself in the mirror. Standard self. Taller than the doorframes. Strong. Big. Unhurt. (Dad’s face, a Hero’s face-). He should face the music.

16 Missed League Calls on the Comms. 12 from Superman yesterday night, four from Batman spaced evenly throughout the day, and looking at that pattern, he’d be calling right about- now! Ack! He fumbled the small button, zapping it’s insulated coating- and accepted the call. Batman took a moment to start talking- probably didn’t expect him to pick up.

“Marvel.”

“Sorry, sir. I was off-reality for the last day or so deali-”

“I’ll read about it in your report later.” Which he would have to write. That was a threat if ever Billy heard one. “There was an incident in Fawcett. A young magic user with golden blood- injured himself fighting Superman in civilian clothes and did serious damage when Kal-El was transporting him. We’re assembling a task force to deal with the threat.”

“Oh. Ohhhh crap.” They were going to hunt him for sport and put him in belle reve and he’d have to stop being a hero!

“Marvel.” Batman’s serious tone was never fun to be on the receiving end of. “What do you know.”

“That- that’s ah. Hm. Well- he’s not dangerous- this is probably just a misunderstanding-”

With all the flatness a compressed sound wave next to his ear could manage, Batman growled. “He injured Superman enough to bench him. Explain before I put you on the bench too.”

Could Batman even do that?! He probably could. Solomon agreed. Uh oh. But… What could he even say?!

“…So. Thatttt was probably Billy Batson. He’s a-”  Too many gods talking, trying to take centre stage. Ow. They all had so many words to say and most of them weren’t in modern languages and it was a lot to have them so loud and all actively fighting for control. They didn’t usually try to take over. He spat the first thing that came to mind out in a rush. “-Champion of Magic? Kind of- look- kid’s complicated.”

“Elaborate.”

“He’s incredibly magically potent. But he doesn’t leave Fawcett, doesn’t know the world outside of the Suspendium bomb’s impacts.” Deep breath, don’t make it complicated-  “I’ve been teaching Billy ever since he took up that mantle and he’s got good control by now, but he must’ve been panicked by something Superman did. He’s a street kid through and through, too independent to let any adult look out for him and set rules, you know?”

The silence on the other end of the line was painful. But- “I do know. But action still needs to be taken to ensure he doesn’t c-”

“Billy is not a threat.” Captain Marvel snapped, cutting off the Batman. “He’s been my responsibility for decades now, and this is the first and only time he’s gotten into any major trouble outside of Fawcett. Perhaps Kal-El should get some sensitivity training refreshers, and I’ll see to my ward’s safety. Send me the co-ordinates he lost Billy at.”

The Captain hung up. Put his head in his hands and breathed, static crackling with each inhale and exhale. Calm down. Calm down. It’s fine, you only just verbally strangled fucking Batman! Normal Tuesday afternoon! Yep!

Batman sent the co-ordinates. He took the Zeta Tube to Earth to get closer to where he’d been lost, wandering. He had to pretend, right? Had to... figure out how the hell he was going to make this look like he was himself and- himself. Oh gods. This was going to be difficult.

When I say cut the baby in half, it is not meant like this. Solomon murmured as he paced. The Captain groaned aloud.

Captain Marvel returned to Fawcett, and Billy walked from Boltstrike Alley to Mr. Dudley’s house for dinner. It was a Tuesday, and that meant it was time for him to get fed by the coolest janitor in Fawcett! He might not let him take control of his life- they’d both tried, awhile back, but being housemates had lasted all of a month before the man was driven mad by his odd hours of activity being Marvel and Billy was driven mad by the worrying. But he was happy with the compromise of free food and company once a week. Dudley would worry worse if he didn’t check in, and Billy- even if he hated to admit it- was happy to have an actual adult in his camp. Even if calling him ‘Uncle’ was still never gonna happen.

He didn’t tell him about knocking Superman out of the sky. Dudley pried a little on why he was so quiet, but he managed to avoid it blowing up into anything.  Billy was glad. Talking about his day job never ended up well. He diverted the conversation, between bites of greasy pepperoni pizza, telling him about good things.

He had found a place to stay, not that many weeks ago. That helped the old man lay off a lot. They took cash without many questions about ‘Mr. Batson’- only saying how it was haunted. Getting him to sign a contract for a whole year of monthly rent. (It’d be tough but he could make it. And the place had villain insurance this time! Neat!) The man had insisted that the last dozen residents had been unable to stay for terror from the ghosts haunting them, likely a scare tactic to pressure him into coughing up hundreds in rent in one payment. Mr. Batson, of course, didn’t pay any mind to the warnings. Cheap rent was cheap rent. And he was happy doing it monthly but it was monthly or not at all, and the man had eventually agreed.

The place was, in fact, genuinely haunted. A poltergeist, not a very strong one- he and Dudley laughed over the pranks it had pulled, the janitor balking at the messes it had made more than once- it was great!

And there was another great thing about the poltergeist, a pretty small thing. One Billy didn’t talk about so much to Dudley, but they were talking now, and the man was 4 beers in and wouldn’t remember much so long as he kept it light. He joked about how the ghost didn’t ask him when he last ate, or ask what he was doing coming home at 2am, or ask what Billy was doing tuning the radio when he could just google for the news. (Phones didn’t work well when struck by lightning. He didn’t like them anyway.) Dudley chortled about how silly it was to worry about ol’ Cap, and Billy grinned.

Other kids at foster homes- when he got caught, which wasn’t often these days- had always laughed at him. Said he should try things like ‘smart’ phones. Or flatscreen TVs. Said he was old fashioned and retro and vintage like some stuffy old man. Billy was perfectly happy with just a JL issued communicator and Motherbox and his travelling radio equipment! And a lot of salt lines everywhere. And rune circles carved into every door. And magic herbs strung up at every entrance. Overkill? Maybe. But the ghost had once replaced the water in the shower with actual blood which was REALLY inconvenient. Dudley agreed it was a good boundary to set, waving him off into the night from the front of the rough apartment block and telling him to message when he was home.

Billy messaged him right on the dot as soon as he’d locked his front door,  flopping onto his bed as soon as he’d kicked his trainers off. He looked up at his ceiling in his bed, the spirit clattering around in the empty apartment above his, he wondered if he’d be able to pull off being his own carer to Batman. It was a bit more high stakes than school or rent…. But he’d managed pretty well so far, hadn’t he? With school and everything. Ugh.

…He should contact Mary about this. She hadn’t got so much of the Suspendium Bomb’s impact as he did, she actually looked like an adult…  Barely. She could back him up in the lie. But she might be mistaken as their mom which would be gross. Ugh! Maybe he could call Freddy. But Freddy was pretty busy doing accessibility testing work and activism- would his friend have time to come back to Fawcett for this bluff? He needed to sleep. Badly…

It was with great reluctance that Billy had ended up contacting his sister. She wasn’t picking up her normal phone number… What was her day job again? He flipped through the yellow pages, uncomfortable, and hoped she would answer that one. 

“Bromfield Family Tree Services, Mary speaking!”  She didn’t sound the same as him now. Her voice had finished growing up. It’d been a few years, but it still caught him every time. The accent difference since she’d moved away didn’t help, either.

“Hey, Mary!“ He chirped back, not letting a single drip of those silly feelings through.

“Oh, hey Billy!” She sounded happy to hear from him, as ever. “What’s up? Is it an emergency? I’m kind of in the middle of a meeting with a client-”

“Um… Not exactly?” He winced, preparing himself for rejection. For being told off for daring to ask for help. “Can you come over to Fawcett sometime? I got in a bit of a situation. With, um. The JL. Haha…”

“Course I can, little bro.” No hesitation. “I’ll be over after this meeting, ok?”

He could cry. She was going to come by and she was going to help. It could’ve gone so much worse. “Ok, thanks sis. Meet you at Boltstrike Alley soon.”

The phone line went to static. Billy stared at the dials,  chest tight, and forced himself to breathe. In-2-3. Out-2-3. He just had to hold that pattern. It was going to be ok. Nothing would go wrong. This’d happened before plenty of times- they’d always gotten out of it ok.  

[---]

A bolt of lightning struck an alleyway, right in the scorched patch that had been struck so many times it made a landing pad people had graffitied patterns around, and Mary Bromfield looked around for her brother. Frowning. He wasn’t usually late to meetings he arranged, so where was he hiding?  Hmmmm.

“Billy?” A familiar black mop of hair popped up from the other side of a dumpster, Billy barely able to be seen over it. She snorted, walking around to pick him up in a hug. “You’re still so small! What’s it been, 5 years?”

“I know,” He whined, and Mary ruffled his hair and laughed at the playful shoves, putting him back down. Her brother puffed up to his maximum height, proud. “I grew half a centimetre on the wall marker!”

“Hey, progress is progress! Maybe you’ll get a growth spurt like Freddy did one day.” She grinned. Billy didn’t seem reassured, slumping a little, and she shook her head. “Anyway, let’s walk and talk. What’s the business?”

Billy stuffed his hands in his jeans, and they walked together. Mary had to look down to see his face properly, now… When did that happen? “I accidentally nuked Superman last night. Or maybe a few days ago, I kinda hid out in the rock…”

“Superman?” She whispered, surprised. “You mean, the Superman?!”

“What- like there’s another Superman?” Billy hunched his shoulders. “I totally screwed up! Now the big guys know I exist and Cap is totally under scrutiny and-“

A deep, gravelly voice that sounded like it gargled aquarium pebbles for mouthwash interrupted them. “William Ba-.”

Billy stiffened. Mary stiffened. Batman stepped into the light. He looked so out of place in the daylight, coming closer- a crocodile lady swore at him for getting in the way, and the Gotham hero looked vaguely angry as he was shoved past, going to retaliate- but stopped. A little crocodile kid scampered after the lady, holding a soccer ball and in a school uniform and chattering about how awesome the game was and ‘did you see that goal I scored’. The gothamite… Looked confused.

Mary snickered.  Batman cleared his throat.

“I am here to discuss important matters with William Batson. Private matters.”

“I don’t want to talk with you, sir.” Billy said, hands in fists. Get him with a left hook Hercules whispered. Billy was tempted.

Mary put a hand on his shoulder. A reassuring squeeze. “Whatever you have to say, you should be able to say it in front of me as well.”

The Bat didn’t look pleased with this suggestion. Well, Mary wasn’t pleased with him. The staredown continued.

Batman made a move that could’ve been to grab Billy, or to lean down- but Mary didn’t hesitate. She went to clock him in the jaw. She even made contact and everything, eyes blazing, before he grabbed her wrist and they were in a stalemate. Eventually, Batman let her go. Good choice.

“Don’t touch my brother.” She warned, sharp. Dangerous.

“William has attacked a member of the Justice League. I’m here to bring him in for questioning.”

“Well, you can stick a sock in it, sir!” Billy growled, before Mary and Batman could continue talking over his heads like stupid adults. “I’m not going anywhere with you, and if I need to clean up some fella who’s mighty rude and carrying me off, that’s my business. And my name is Billy!”

With softness, child friendly softness, Batman looked down at him. “We aren’t going to hurt you. We just want to talk”

“Heard that one before.” Billy wasn’t unfolding his arms for nothing. “I ain’t in the business of fooling around-“

Mary groaned. This was going to go on forever. “Billy.”

“What?!” He looked up at her, interrupted in his burgeoning rant. A rant in a way he had long perfected as the perfect Fawcetteer dialect to bamboozle and scare outsiders off.

“Did you call me to avoid talking with Batman.” She was a little incredulous, was she seriously the middleman for work drama? Not on! “Captain Marvel handles him all the time!”

“And that’s the Cap!” Billy squawked. “He’s got the courage-”

Mary flicked him on the nose. “Billy Batson has the courage too. You can deal with this.”

She was right, Billy knew. He looked at his feet, “I know, but- don’t go. Please, sis?”

“I won’t.” She took his hand and squeezed it. (It was bony thin and smaller than she remembered.) “Now, Batman, you’re going to take us to a good restaurant and pay for a good meal, if you want to interview Billy.”

Billy held her hand back tightly. Shaking a little. She could never get him to say why he was so afraid of adults when he was one half the time, when he was older than so many of them. She wasn’t sure she could stand knowing. But she knew how to be there for her brother and if he needed backup for an interview with a superhero? Well, Mary Bromfield didn’t need a Wizard’s Blessing to be a hero.

Batman had been hesitant to follow the directions of the young lady, Batson’s sister, at first. She was insistent. And so, that was how he ended up here. In a diner, in full costume, sat across from two siblings eating stacks of pancakes. One of whom had put Superman in the Medbay. The waiter had been entirely unphased by his appearance, and merely warned him to not scare off the customers in a low tone that likely promised violence as the group was lead to a private booth.

“So, William.” He started, sipping his coffee. Staring him down seriously. “Can I get your side of the incident?”

The boy shrank into himself. His sister sat straight, professional, undeterred. He took a long time to finish his bite of pancake, thinking. “Well, sir, I was getting a meal for myself and this stranger started following me. Real suspicious, like. I tried to lose him in  the alleyways, and I kicked him- and then my ankle. Um.”

“Your ankle broke.” Batman stated. Billy nodded, and Mary looked peeved. Ah, sibling rage. He’d seen it in the robin flock, occasionally. “Superman’s report indicated that your blood was an unusual colour?”

“…It comes with being the champion.” The kid mumbled, and stuffed another few bites of pancake in his mouth. Mary picked at hers, looking over at her brother with concern. “Magic stuff, sir. Nothing to worry about.”

“Hm.”

“…So anyway, I fixed up my ankle and used a bit too much magic and passed out trying to run. And then I woke up with some fella holding me up over the ocean!” Billy almost shouted, barely levelling himself out to an angry whisper-shout, waving his fork about. “That ain’t no good when you can’t fly, sir, you understand my reaction, right? I wasn’t meaning to hurt him none!”

“Be that as it may, you still did serious damage.” Batman acknowledged the seething tween, calm as ever. “We want to invite you to a team of heroes your age.”

“…Huh?”

“The group is composed of heroes under 18,” He elaborated. “We can arrange transport, food, healthcare-“

“I don’t wanna join a superpowered daycare.” Billy grumbled.

Mary snorted. “Yeah, cause you’re so mature. Would it kill you to socialise with people your own age?”

Billy gaped, “You’re my age!”

“Nah, I’m the older one.” Mary grinned, and Billy shoved at her in playful retribution. Briefly forgetting that this was in front of Batman. Mary held her own, stopping him with a hand to the forehead after nearly being shoved off the chair.  “Come on, what’s the harm? You know it’ll do you good to practice away from Marvel-”

“They- they’re kids!” Billy waved his fork around.

Mary looked at him. Billy looked at Mary.  Mary raised an eyebrow. “Right, they’re kids. But how old are you, Billy?”

All the vigor, the bickering, the petty drama- it just melted out of the kid at that question. “Twelve.” He mumbled, and looked glumly at his nearly finished plate of pancakes. Odd.

“The Team’s current members are only a small amount older than you.” Batman informed Billy, gently. He looked younger than 12, he ate like he was starving. Something wasn’t right in this kid's home life, he'd have to have a talk with Marvel about it. “You will be in safe hands.”

“…I wanna talk to the Captain about this.” Billy said, looking at his sister for reassurance. “I’ll- consider it though.”

Mary smiled. Batman smiled. Billy picked at his pancakes.

Captain Marvel grabbed the monster currently attacking the city centre by the tail and threw it into the sky, counting mentally as it started to come back down, containment spell ready to trigger- there! It tumbled into the magic net, struggling to get out- but Marvel yanked the cord and with a faint 'pop' it vanished to the Rock's holding area, entangled and sedated. It was a damn tough fighter, summoned by some teens with an actual occult book (confiscated now, of course). Heck, he’d almost lost a few civilians to it!  As he touched down, looking around at the damage it had done for any casualties, a rustle besides him informed him of a certain someone still in his town. “Batman.”

“Marvel.”

“You contacted Billy.” Captain Marvel stated, not turning to face him.

“I did. I think he could be a good addition to the Team, they are in need of a magic user.” A pause. “Even one born in 1928. Time travel?”

“Suspendium bomb. Fawcett’s still recovering from the impacts- he’s still 12. Lots of people don’t age right here. It’s normal.” Marvel said, short and clipped. Annoyed. A rare state to find the man in. “Won’t change anytime soon.”

“Unfortunate.” Batman said, a little sympathy in his voice. "How did you meet?"

"He was appointed as Champion of Magic with the wizards dying breath." Marvel sighed. "The living lightning and the champion are two halves of a whole. We moved on, together."

"He was young." Batman noted, filing away the topic of the wizard for another time. He had crumbs of information on this 'wizard', Marvel spoke of him on occasion. "How young?"

"Young enough to be on the streets." Marvel's expression was tight. Solomon's voice murmured in his head, of calm and diplomacy and treading carefully. Marvel kept it in mind. "Billy doesn't need help, but I teach him when I can. He doesn't need any outside assistance, and frankly, to offer it is an offense he doesn't take lightly. He's not happy with these intrusions."

The Bat wondered “…If he joins the team, he can see the outside world. He can experience life and security outside of this time locked city with safe mentors.” Gentle, not forceful or threatening. “It will help him. It’ll take some responsibility off your shoulders to share the burden of care.”

“Like you share Robin with anyone?”

“I have a butler. He is in a highly esteemed school in Gotham off duty, and his every need is seen to.”

“Right.” A touch of frustration. “Look- we manage fine, Batman. Setting him up onto a team… It's not a good plan. We can’t train just anywhere. Magic isn’t like going to the gym. He needs Fawcett. It’s at the centre of leylines, and it’s everything he’s ever known. Ripping him from here wouldn’t be a good idea.”

“The offer is there.” Batman said simply, and turned away. “Oh- and the Team needs a Den Mother to supervise. Given Red Tornado’s recent… unplanned absence. Your Monitor Duty is available to be swapped out for this.”

“That’s not an offer, is it?” Captain Marvel sighed. Batman didn’t reply. “I’ll be there. Billy won’t- not until I see if it’s fit.”

Chapter Text

He had wanted to find an excuse to not do it. He really had! But his schedule was already cleared. Adam was occupied at some event in Khandaq- he’d extended an offer of invitation, weird friendship that they had despite their battles and all, but Billy had managed to avoid that and wasn’t going to change his mind for Adam. Mr. Mind had been politely behaving in his jar- even Sivanna and his goons had been off the grid!

So, here he was. Slightly reluctantly. Landing in front of the team (they did not look pleased to see him), and listening to Batman’s briefing.

“…Is this some kind of joke?!” Robin cried in offense, gesturing at the screen displaying in bold news headings the issue at hand- Guerilla Gorrila. Billy frowned slightly. That sounded fairly standard to him, what were these kids used to?

“I never joke about the mission.” Batman snapped. Robin shrunk into himself a little, straightening into a façade of strength. A mask beyond the domino. “I’ve verified the claims in these articles. This incident is one in a string of incidents- it just happens to be high profile enough to get the media’s eyes. Aqualad- you and your team are to investigate.”

When the Bat turned away to leave, striding off into the cave- the teens huffed and muttered amongst themselves, Aqualad looking serious and holding his tongue. Captain Marvel’s arms were crossed, observing them with a critical eye. Thinking on how Billy would fit in here. It was a pointless exercise, really, but it interrupted his mind like a insect bite’s itch.

 He followed them to the Zeta tubes without comment, lost in thought somewhat, and Kid Flash gave him a weird look. “You’re coming with?”

“Sure, why not?” He was as chipper as ever,. They didn’t try to stop him from following further, though they didn’t look happy about the ‘chaperone’. (Would they be happy if it was ‘Whiz Kid’ with them? He doubted it.)

“Did I miss the part where you said what the plan was?” Captain Marvel questioned hesitantly, looking at the now very empty clearing. Aqualad hung his head and sighed, going to give an explanation- and then a supersized elephant trunk came out of nowhere to aim to bowl the Atlantean over. Cap threw himself in between them, bracing against it- but he hadn’t got the momentum or the preparation to really stand his ground and found himself getting thrown through several trees. Ugh...

 He sat up, dazed- and saw Aqualad barely fending off the elephant with his water magic. Marvel was there in a moment, wrestling it back, but there were two! TWO!? He would have to knock one of them out, but every time he got close enough to punch, lightning crackling at his fists, another blow would come from an awkward to dodge angle and he really didn’t feel like killing Aqualad using him as a crashpad. He couldn’t let himself get knocked out of the air-

“-the collar!”

-Collar?

Collar!

It was so obvious, of course they were under control! He made a beeline for the slightly smaller ones collar, sending a blow roaring with electricity through it. The collar crackled and popped and snapped and melted as its fuses short circuited, elephant lilting to one side as it was knocked out from the literal shock. He grabbed the beast and flew up, tossing it down with force onto the other one that was targeting Aqualad- and came down to slice that collar off with a second punch. Both threats unconscious in a heap. Wow! What a difference that made, he should’ve spotted them sooner.

Billy patted the elephants a little guiltily. Mind control sucked, he hoped he didn’t break anything on the super elephants… But looking to the only member of the Team he was left with, he couldn’t help the respect building in his chest. “Good call on the collars, Khaldur. That could’ve really dragged out.”

“Thank you, Captain.” Khaldur replied. Subdued, distracted.

“Your heads not in the game, is it?” Marvel observed, not unkindly.

And Khaldur told him. About the mole tip off’s source, about the team’s reaction to learning he’d hidden it, about how inadequate he felt his actions as a leader were at present.  Most of it he already knew from the briefing he’d read over before he agreed to be Den Mother- but Marvel listened. And Solomon guided his replies, words flowing off his tongue in a slight haze. Truthful but not harsh. Honest.

Khaldur reestablished a telepathic link. Took command again, distributing the Team to where they needed to go. The Captain felt proud of the guy- it was nice to see someone being a real leader! Reigning in everyone and getting them to listen without being mean. (Without grabbing hands and yelling and lies and-)

Was that- Tawny’s snarl? Not quite a tiger’s snarl, too many cigars in other forms, vocal chords too close to human, too much shifting about. His head snapped to the tree line. A blur of orange bolting into the shady undergrowth, a dim light of a collar.

“You go touch base with your team- I’m going to get the collar off that tiger and I’ll catch up!” Captain Marvel grinned, and flew after the fleeing tiger.

(Please don’t be Tawny. Please-)

He landed in the clearing in front of the collared tiger, hands up, gentle voice saying soothing words as he approached. Easy, slow movements. Scanning the tiger with growing dread. The white patch taking up most of the face, almost clear of markings except comical 'eyebrow' stripes, lingering from the plushes stitching. The almost lightning bolt markings on the side of the back legs. It was Tawny. It was Tawny.

Captain Marvel took a step forwards. And suddenly, dizzyingly, the world was on it’s side. He couldn’t move… Something was coming closer, but he couldn’t keep his eyes open. 

The ceiling was bright. Painfully bright, like being sat in a dentist's chair. Everything was numb. Like he’d been drugged. No lightning danced lazily around him, righteous sparks of his very life force muted to a heavy static buzz. He tried to lift a finger- he couldn’t. Move his foot. No dice. Turn his head- resistance, vague and unpleasantly cold- but so distant. His eyes refused to focus.

Captain Marvel… Might be scared. Where was he? What had they done to sedate him? It was nearly impossible to get through his magically enhanced skin. Was it in the metal restraints? Why couldn’t he feel anything?  A familiar growl drew his gaze to the left- a vague orange blur in the corner of his eye.

“Ah, the control of this tigre was worth the- shall we say- resistance, non?” The Brain’s contraption wheeled around, squeaking on metal tiles. The synthetic voice’s monologue scratched at his ears in a way that would probably have given him a headache if he could feel much, Billy was sure. “It has brought a most glorious prize to us- with your assistance, of course, my dear Mallah.”

Billy’s head felt like cotton. His tongue didn’t want to move, throat dry. He forced it to, croaking out a question. “…Why can’t I move?” 

“That would be le collar, mon ami.” The Brain sounded like he would be laughing if he had a diaphragm. “It is set to prohibit movement below zhe neck.”  Oh. Oh gods. “Your reactions to la procedure may be…. Instructive, so I have allowed you to retain speech. Generous, mais non?”

The whirr of machinery, the sloshing of vials being decanted and bags of liquid prepared.  What the hell was he planning? “La procedure? What procedure?” Billy managed to spit out, lightning thrumming in his chest where a heart would be.

“I often ponder… How does le wisdom of Solomon affect zhe Cerebral Cortext?” Billy’s breath hitched. Brain surgery? Captain Marvel’s skin couldn’t be broken. But he’d thought that he couldn’t be paralysed either, but the collar was doing a damn good job of that. “Monsieur Mallah, prepare for surgery.”

A gorilla's face leaned over his own, blocking the light. A surgical mask in place over its snout, scalpel in its hands. The thing’s breath was horrendous even behind the mask. Captain Marvel tensed as it leaned in, metal touching his forehead-

BANG! A wall was broken down, alarms started blaring. The scalpel slipped and stabbed against his closed eyelid, snapping in two and clattering to the floor. Too close.

“Intruders!” The Brain hissed. “Go, Mallah- I shall perform la procedure myself.”

The ape ran off with a grunt, and Billy laughed weakly. “You will? You’ve not got any arms!”

“Well… My technology will.” The villain all but purred, and a drill descended carefully down on the end of a mechanical arm. Spinning. Diamond tipped. 

“It won’t get through my skin.” Captain Marvel said, voice carefully controlled.

“Ah, but it is worth a try.” And the drill was spinning against his head and it wasn’t getting anywhere but it was uncomfortable and it was shaking his whole head with the movement and he couldn’t push it away. He grit his teeth. Just bear it. The Team will come and undo the restraints, he’ll be out of here in no time. It wouldn't get through. (It won’t. It can’t.)

Kid Flash’s voice cried out. “The Brain!”

“Uh duh it’s a brain-” Artemis snapped, and Wally frantically tried to reel it back and explain what he meant-

The Brain didn’t let the youngsters get far in their banter, wheeling over to flick a switch, muttering about the underdeveloped prefrontal cortexes and interruptions. Captain Marvel cringed as the collar started to shock him, electricity not harming him but it was so synthetic- it felt like having a gloved hand inside his throat holding his trachea (Hold on Solomon what the hell is a trachea-) from the inside. He bit his tongue and didn’t make a sound.

“Tigre!” The Brain said, and Tawny snarled, tensed from the shocks being delivered. “A distraction, if you will? Mallah, this is not to be our waterloo…”

The Tiger staggered to its feet, snarling, and past the rising crackle of electricity around Billy’s head he could hear Aqualad yelling orders, Tawny yowling in pain, thuds-

“Get down!” Kid Flash called, and instinctively Captain Marvel closed his eyes. Only to open them cautiously when he felt no blast, heard no bang. Only the buzz-crackle-buzz of electricity shorting out.  The silence hanged. “That weapon… was a light switch?”

“I don’t think so.” Captain Marvel said, staring a bit cross eyed at the drill that was still dipping into his skin that had finally finally stopped. Everything was so quiet. Gods, he hated the quiet normally. Quiet meant no one was left. Meant the gods had forsaken him (and that hurt every time they’d had reason to. Every time.) But- quiet today meant the enemy had lost. He breathed in, breathed out. “Circuits broke just in time. Can I get a hand with this collar? And Tawky Tawny, too.”

His familiar growled-coughed in a heap on the ground, and as Miss Martian snapped the collars with telekinesis they both sat up. Oh thank the gods, I can breathe again. Marvel reached up and crushed the drill bit into crumbs with his hand, sitting up groggily. The electricity jolted and jittered and circled him, and Captain Marvel took a moment to reign in the sparks. Calm themselves down. And stand, with a big smile, scooping up Tawky Tawny like the plush kitty cat he was. They gave the little teddy a head scratch, holding it to their chest as much for their comfort as the Tiger’s.

“You know that Ti-woah!”

“Oh, this is my buddy Tawky Tawny! We go way back-” He started to reply, only for the whole group to jump at him, pointing and yelling their questions with righteous indignation and curiosity.

“Did you just turn him into a teddy bear?!” “What kind of name is Tawky Tawny-” “How did the Brain catch you-”

Captain Marvel held a hand up. The group went quiet. “I’ll answer your questions tomorrow. Tawny needs to recover-” (We need to recover.) “-and we need to wrap up this situation.”

“…Wrap it up?” Superboy frowned. He looked genuinely uncertain about that statement. Most of them did, actually.

He sighed. “Cleanup. Heroes don’t litter, and we also don’t leave useful evidence sitting around.”

“Translation? Loot the place and hide all traces we were here.” Robin snickered, seemingly on board. He hoped. That little bird could be such a wild card.

Marvel beamed. Wally groaned. The cleanup and evidence gathering didn’t take that long, with such a well trained bird and a speedster about, with many helping hands under Aqualad’s careful guidance. Marvel was- proud.

(Would they get along so well with Billy in their mix? They were so much older than Billy. So much more powerful.)

Chapter Text

“Mr. Morris ?” Billy asked, nervously, poking his head into the man’s office. It was closing time at Whiz and he’d long since wrapped up his recording batch for the day. But the man had been busy all day and this was the first time Ms. Dalshaw had given him the Nod when he looked at the door hopefully, so-

“Billy, my boy!” Mr. Morris  sounded tired, but he perked up for Billy, getting up to sweep him into a hug and plopping him down into the Swivel Chair, beaming. “What’s on your mind?”

“It’s… Uh… It’s the justice league!” He said, spitting it out in a panic. “I kinda accidentally shot down Superman.”

Mr. Morris  whistled, impressed. “That’s my sparkplug, atta boy! Are they after you? I can call Jenny- the solicitor girl- we can’t have the voice of Whiz going to prison.”

Billy flailed his hands. “No, no! They want to recruit me. Like. As a- hero?”

“Do you want to be a Hero?”

“Well- not really… I like being Whiz Kid a lot more. But they’re really powerful.” Billy slumped, “I don’t know how to say no to Batman.”

Mr. Morris  nodded,  and went to the window. Fetching a cigar out to puff, looking at the sunset with his hands deep in suede pockets.

“…Mr. Morris?” Billy said, meekly, slinking up to look out and coughing a little on the smoke plumes.

The large man looked down at him, and smiled. A devious smile. The sort of smile usually reserved for when he had somehow gotten his mitts on a truly terrific story and needed feet on the ground. “Billy, my boy, we’re going to have you say yes.”

“What?!”

“But!” He held a finger up to the skyline, turning back to the gold and pink clouds, silencing Billy with a gesture. “But, it will be for Whiz Kid.”

Wait. Was. Was HE the terrific story?! “…You want me to take it on as an undercover mission?”

Mr. Morris  chortled, “Yes! It’ll come with the usual package. Room and board in the area, all the protective kit money can buy… Free plane repairs. It’s been what, a few months since your last field trip? Let’s get you out and about past Fawcett limits with these outside ‘League’ types this time, waddyasay my boy?”

Billy gaped. “But Mr. Morris, I can’t- I- my plane’s been downed since that last attack from Captain Nazi’s crooks when- uh- when Cap saved me! They peppered it right good full of holes-”

“Pfah, she’s good as new. We don’t hire no scab mechanics, only the good sort for the best voice in town. Go check her out in the airport strip, lad.” Mr. Morris  ruffled his hair. “You need anything fixing in your recon clothes? Helmet not lookin like a cracked egg?”

Billy thought about it. “Not really…?”

“Then you’re all set.” And then, a little quieter, a little more fatherly- “And have fun playing them like fiddles, you hear?”

That got a little smile out of him.

“Team, you have a new member joining on a probationary basis.” Batman announced, drowning out the chatter of mission? New mission? Please can we have a mission! A buzz in his ear had him pause his explanation, radio coming through with a chipper Transatlantic accent. On the private channel.

“Mount Justice, this is B-40-Thunder, requesting hangar access.”

Batman sighed, and turned away from the murmuring Team to mutter into the Comm. “Circle the area and state identity authorisation and intent.” 

“Billy Batson, scheduled meeting inside facility.”

“Mn. Who’s the pilot?”

A moment of silence, and then, slightly confused. “Billy Batson is piloting, sir.”

A scan was sent out. It returned only one body in the craft, only room for one, and the proportions were right, but why the fuck-

“Hangar access approved. Approach from northerly direction, dock using runway 120.”

“Received, over.”

Batman expected a lot of methods of travel. He expected car. Foot. Zeta tube. Teleportation. Superhuman flight. He did not anticipate what looked like a vintage bomber being the method of transit. But he was dealing with a kid from a town stuck in 1940 who had an orbital laser spell on speed dial, so why did he expect sense. Honestly. More fool him.

The Team was watching, like piranhas eager for a scrap of carcass to be thrown into the water. “He’s travelled in by plane.”

“Cool!” Wally whispered.

Artemis rolled her eyes. “Showboat, more like, I bet he’s a total jock type.”

Batman didn’t inform them of who they were walking up to, the silhouette a distant shape in aviator clothes taking off the heavier gear and grabbing a backpack, slinging it over his shoulder with a merry little hum. He turned around, and near enough jumped out of his skin, sparks flying a little as he took in the crowd in the chilly hangar air. More confirmation of his stated connection with Marvel, as if it was needed.

Batman eyed up the plane. Yes, a working bomber from the era Fawcett was supposedly stuck in. Brand new coat of paint, a few mended and welded over bullet holes. Panes of glass more sun-exposure orange than others. This was a well used combat device, and he’d landed it with experience. Innocent street kid his ass. Not to mention the shapes of body armour hiding under those clothes.

Regardless, he had to get the situation under control. He used his stern, rough Batdad voice to give the first warning. “You didn’t clear this as a transportation method.”

“You didn’t specify the vehicle type, sir.” Billy chirped, smiley as can be. “I wanted to bring my things with me for the stay. It’d be rather a long commute, you see, and I don’t have a driving license mister Batman.”

Batman stared. Billy stared back. Batman glowered. He was being played, he knew well enough how that was done and it was ringing those bells, ground rules definitely needed to be established. Before this got out of hand. “We’ll discuss procedures later. For now, Team, this is Billy Batson. You requested a Magic User, and Captain Marvel’s ward. The Captain has agreed that he can join on a trial basis.”

“One week, to be exact.” The kid beamed. “So I won’t be in your hair for too long, folks!”

“One week.” The Batman acknowledged, and turned to swoop away into the dark recesses of mount justice… He had a camera system to snoop on them from afar with. Better let the children socialise in peace.

The Team was watching this like a tennis match, absolutely enraptured.  Wally broke the silence, going up to the plane with a wolf whistle. “Soooooo where’d you learn to fly a plane?”

“Oh, I learnt it for work.” Billy shrugged. Marvel had exposure to outside of Fawcett- lots of it! But Billy? Billy wasn’t supposed to know much of anything outside the time bubble and he had to start that not-quite-lie strong early.

“You’ve been in aerial dogfights?!” Wally was almost vibrating- no, scratch that, he was vibrating with excitement! “That’s so cool! I mean, not as cool as magic but-”

“Oh put a sock in it!” Artemis snapped, M’gann and Kaldur looking away uncomfortably. “Wally here is a total douche. He thinks magic isn’t real but plays it up to impress the ladies. So, you’ll have to put up with that.” Billy laughed, something he never could have done as Marvel on hearing such a thing.

“Magic is totally real!” Wally squawked, lying like a liar lies. Lyingly. “Except when like, most people who do it are using tech and alien powers and future stuff to do it instead. Real magic is super cool though. And DEFINITELY real. Stop laughing-”

“It’s ok, I don’t mind.” Billy replied, mildly. Smiling pleasantly. Wally looked confused at the response, out of words for once- Robin and Artemis exchanged bemused grins. “Oh, and at work I go by Whiz Kid. So I guess that’s my hero name! Let’s all introduce ourselves, and uh, maybe move outta here? It’s getting a touch nippy-”

Introductions had gone smoothly, they’d all done some light sparring to get to know each other and he’d even shown off some minor spells in the training area, very careful to pray under his breath before each spell to the relevant gods because fuck if he had enough control of magic to do this on his own without blessings. It was going really smoothly! Connor grunted and didn’t say much. Wally kept trying to get him to talk about his plane, to Billy’s delight as he avoided the questions. Robin and Artemis, at some point, had taken up residence on the couch with a bowl of popcorn. Kaldur’ahm seemed to think of him the most fondly, recognising the crutch habit of a young magic student worried about standing alone from their patrons. They’d had a pretty good discussion on Atlantean and Surface magics, talking about the similarities and differences and comparing runic scripts with delight.

But there was one person who he just couldn’t make eye contact with without her finding an excuse to flee within moments! M’gann.  No matter what he tried, how nicely he looked, the Martian couldn’t bear to be within the same room as him for more than 5 minutes. He was starting to feel pretty bummed out about it, honestly… Was he doing something wrong? He was trying to fit in. He was!

He had to keep stopping himself staring at the modern things around. Without the size of Marvel, and the magic steeped into his very bones in that form, he felt like he was in a movie set somewhat. He tried not to make a big deal of anything. But when they started to mess with some fancy controller to use the giant flatscreen tv- it just wrankled him enough that he had to excuse himself early. It’d been rather a long day already, after all.

Billy took to his room in swift silence, following the winding halls and counting the turns, and closed the door behind him. Took his bag off of the bed and made the sheets up so it was ready for sleep. Unpacked the two changes of good condition clothes he’d brought with him into the spacious wardrobe. The books and radio equipment and Communicator. He didn’t need those modern things they were flaunting out there. He didn’t!

So he paced and he set up his things for listening to the radio because radio was everywhere and he tuned into Whiz. Static.

Static?

He knew the Hz off the back of his hand, but he double checked it in his reference book he always brought along. Definitely right- so why…? Billy sat down with a huff and tuned the radio to the local station. Tried the dial at every one- a few reedy words here and there… And it clicked. The mountain was radioproofed. It had been back in the day, he’d BEEN there- or at least Marvel had, and that was the same thing, surely? Why hadn’t he remembered?!

He groaned and put his head in his hands. “Stupid cave…”

A familiar warm head of fluffy orange fur pressed into his side, and he looked down. Tawky Tawny (who shouldn't technically be here) grinned that lazy fanged grin of his, and Billy smiled weakly in return. He went to the bed and Tawky Tawny hopped up and he cuddled the great big tiger and stuffed his face in the warm fur that smelled of cigars and the outdoors and magic and he complained and he grumbled and he held as tight as he could. The familiar grumbled in reassurance, whispering kind things, and Billy eventually went to sleep with his friend as a pillow, still wearing his shoes.

….

Until the communicator in his pocket woke them both up, buzzing with a code that actually needed attention from the Captain. He groaned. How many hours had he gotten-? Not even two? Ugh! He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, and shook his familiar who rolled over in protest. “Tawny, can you take us to the Rock? ‘mergency…”

“Sure can, Billy.” The tiger sighed, getting up and letting Billy sit atop him with fistfuls of loose scruff for the journey. At the rock he let lightning strike him without even bracing with only a mumble of the wizard’s name. Marvel took the step between dimensions with ease, heading off to deal with the impending radioactive asteroid field alongside the lanterns, Superman, J’onn- and most anyone who could fly and handle space combat, really. There were a lot. Wowzers he was definitely not getting back to bed tonight.

Tawky Tawny stayed behind to finish the nap. Lucky bastard.

Chapter Text

Billy felt exhausted when the alarm went off a mere hour and a half after he had returned to the rock, switched back, and made a portal to his temporary quarters at the Cave. But, he was a professional. And so he got up, reluctantly, picked a slightly different combination of clothes to give the illusion of having not slept in them, and slinked out to the communal kitchen to get something to eat. Some plain cornflakes and a glass of orange juice later, he was doing warmups with Black Canary leading the group, preparing for a day of training, while wind lashed at the outside windows.

A news segment on the ‘television’ always running quietly high up on the wall caught his ear, Solomon helping him to understand the Khandaqi Arabic newscaster, and he stopped the stretches in surprise. Black Adam’s recent temple unveiling- dedicated to Osiris- had been defaced by a anti-khandaqi militant group. Billy’s heart sank, staring at the screen. Fuck. That could break the truce…

“Billy?” Canary was next to him, and he jumped, lightning around his fists for an instant- and slumped. Before he could make an explanation, however- the zeta tubes whirred to life and cut off his start of an explanation.  Batman was here, and Batman meant mission assignments. He needed to go to Khandaq not some stupid kid babysitting mission, this was SERIOUS-

“-your mission is to go to Khandaq, investigate the militant group, and avoid confrontation.”

Oh. Oh, good!

“We’ve taken on stronger than that.” Superboy frowned, looking at Black Adam looming over the temple, dark lightning crackling around. Artemis made a small choked noise- gods, he was glad he wasn’t the only one thinking this was insane.

“Superboy.” Batman snapped, and the Kryptonian stiffened a little at the tone. “This is not a matter of strength. To be caught investigating could lead to an international incident. You are to keep a low profile. Understood?”

“Understood.” He replied, stoic and bitter.

Billy couldn’t be more ready for this. He wanted to be excited for his first mission with the Team, but- how could he be when it was so much at stake?

“You speak Arabic?” Superboy said, surprised, after Billy stopped a local to ask for directions, sparks of the loose magic numbing his tongue but the words flowing seamlessly between them.

Billy stuck his tongue out and pointed at the sparks, shaking his head. “<It’s magic.>”

Superboy didn’t understand, of course, but it wasn’t like the spell could be turned off easily. He gestured for him to follow, and they went together through some main streets. Eventually joining a somber procession of varied people milling in the direction of the temple. Superboy, with his pale skin, plain T-Shirt, and tall stature, felt like he was sticking out a lot more than Whiz Kid who’d donned a heavy grey cloak as his ‘disguise’. He moved like he belonged in these almost slums, like Superboy moved through the halls of Cadmus. It was odd.

“<What are you here for?>” The guard sighed, looking at the children before him at the holy grounds.

“<I’m here to visit Adam. Can you tell him Keranos is here and ask for an audience?>” He said, politely, eyes wide, and the guard raised an eyebrow.

“<Our king is busy.>”

“<Can you ask him all the same?>” Billy said, pleadingly, and the guard couldn’t say no to the urchin before him for much longer.

“<Fine. But you and the foreigner wait in this room, no funny moves.>” Billy nodded earnestly, and nudged Superboy. Superboy dipped his head and grunted, not sure what he was agreeing to- and they moved into the waiting area.

“What were you saying?” Superboy asked, and Billy pointed at his tongue again. “I know- fucking gesture it or something?”

Billy tried the very limited amounts of ASL he had to communicate, to little progress. Superboy just couldn’t speak that either, and the magic was almost over- “Any minute now- oh! Was that English again?”

“Yes.” Superboy said, “Finally. Do you want to explain mr. telepathy proof? We’re here to investigate the temple and your language party trick was good at getting us here, but-”

“Keranos.” A booming voice snarled, and a hulking form stepped into the sandstone holding chamber, dark lightning crackling. He grabbed Whiz Kid by the throat, picking him up. “You come to rub salt into the wound of my nation, false champion? Your troop of fools-”

Superboy leap to punch the villain damn hard in the throat, roaring a yell- and was scruffed just the same. Black Adam looked him over with disgust, and threw him into the ground. Superboy gasped for air, winded somehow by that blow. Black Adam scoffed. “You keep company with infants.”

“L-let me explain!” Billy breathed, frantically. “Please- it’s not what it… looks…”

Oh, right. Mortals needed to breathe, didn’t they? He placed the young Champion onto the ground and steadied him with a gentle hand, while crushing the struggling Kryptonian’s legs lightly with his boot. “Then what is it.” He hissed.

“We came… to investigate.” Billy sucked in gasps of air. “To offer support.”

“You can support by bringing those heathenous bastards from outside Khandaq’s borders here for their just punishment.”

“You know Heroes don’t kill.”

“And yet Kings do.”

“In the name of Osiris?” The silence that fell was heavy. “We want to help you. Please, Adam…”

Superboy was tense, trying to breathe despite the heavy air of magic around him. Black Adam didn’t seem to care. “You or your master the Wizard?”

“Myself. Keranos. Thavma. I am making this choice.” The tension lay so thick and heavy it muffled the traffic and the construction work not so far outside. “I want to understand and to help you.

“…Very well.” Black Adam let both of them stand, arms crossed, and looked them both other. Raggedy little children, the both of them, and both fully able to kill if they desired. Osiris’ face looked at him from small features,  abruptly alive, looking hopefully up at him as the champion, as his brother- Black Adam turned away. “Tell me your plan, little Keranos.”

“Why does he keep calling you that?” Superboy whispered sharply, and Billy muttered that he’d explain later. Superboy was not satisfied.

“We don’t want any… international incidents. The truce keeps our wellsprings safe. Would you mind coming back with us? We have a ship. The League wants to talk. Actually talk- not with our fists.”

“A ship? I thought you preferred Subways.” Adam said, and Billy snorted. “I shall make arrangements with my court for this outing to go forth, your League may have one night of my time. At first starlight, I will meet you. Mark the place with the lightning of your gods.”

“So what’s the deal with ‘Keranos’ as your name?” Superboy questioned as they waited for the group to reconvene for the situation rundown. They’d set up camp by a campfire spot in the woods given the convenience of logs that acted great as seats, the openness making a great area to park the Bioship, and Billy had gotten the pit roaring with flame with a few sparks and a bit of Superboy’s strength to bring firewood over.  It wasn’t exactly cold on an autumn day in north Africa, but it wasn’t exactly warm either.

“Ah, that?” Billy shrugged sheepishly, jittery heart skipping a few odd beats. “It’s a name I have as the champion of magic. Mr. Adam has to listen to me on that authority at least- I’m his replacement.”

“The… champion of magic.” Superboy repeated, slowly. And then, the last bit caught up “Replacement?”

“I was chosen by the wizard to pick up the role since he was kinda busy being stuck at the furthest star in the sky. For murdering a lot of important magic people.”

“He was a champion that… went bad?” Like Superman might. Like he was supposed to be the backup to stop him if so.

Billy nodded, arms deep in his little bag looking for food he could warm up over the fire. Hmmm… Granola bars? Tinned beans? “Yeah, real bad. He’s still got his connection to his gods, though, which is nice. It would suck to be forsaken by gods and stuck in space for five thousand years!”

Jesus christ that was a long time to be banished. “Hm.”

“What? What is it?” Billy tilted his head, not sure what to make of the stern but thoughtful Kryptonian ahead of him.

“It’s just- don’t you ever think… You won’t be able to beat him in a fight? If he wanted to do evil again?”  He wouldn’t be able to beat Superman in a fight. He wasn’t grown in his pod long enough. Didn’t get enough time to be ‘trained’. How the hell did Whiz Kid manage to be so smily?

“Oh, I’ve beaten him before! But he’s practically family, even though he did try to kill me a few times, so I don’t worry much. He wouldn’t break the Truce though.” Whiz Kid, Keranos, Billy, whatever his name should be, didn’t seem perturbed in the slightest as he pierced the can and placed it in the fire. Warming his hands by it. “It’s better to stop fights before they happen, that way no one has to spend lots of time fixing all the damage. Uh- Cap told me that. Since he’s often late home when he’s on cleanup crews.”

“It’s better to stop them from fighting back again.” Superboy snapped. And immediately regretted it, because what the fuck, Superboy, that sounds like Cadmus shit-

“I don’t think so. Everyone deserves a chance to be better.”

God, why couldn’t Billy just be angry at him? That calm happy go lucky outlook pissed him off! He wanted to break his face and- ah. This was what Canary told him about- triggers and outbursts and other stupid bullshit. He took a few breaths. “…I’m going to get more firewood. Yell if you need me.”

And Superboy went and broke several trees into chunks, because he needed to break something and he couldn’t tell what was making him so angry!

“Hey, Kid Flash?”

Wally looked up from his phone, pausing the newsfeed he’d been watching. “Yeah, Whiz Kid?”

“Can you run faster than lightning?”

Leading question. “Uh… Probably? Whyyyy?”

Billy shifted about on his feet nervously. “Because Black Adam wanted me to use a certain lightning spell which hits the user directly to get him to come here and uh. It’d be real nice if I could avoid the fallout tonight?”

“Dude!” Wally gaped. “Why do you know a spell to summon lightning to attack yourself!”

“It… comes in handy? Look, can you do it or not?” Billy crossed his arms, huffing, and then pulled up a sleeve to reveal faint Lichtenberg scars, raised paths from repeated strikes. KF nearly choked at the sight, yikes. “Cause otherwise I get struck by lightning. Magic lightning, but still.”

“Uhhhh, yeah! I can definitely do it. Just tell me when!” He said, getting up and dusting himself off.

“Great, thanks! Shazam!” Billy cried, and thunder boomed overhead. A huge strike of lightning started barreling down and even knowing it was coming, being tapped into the speedforce, it still was a close call.

Billy beamed and held his fist up for a fist bump as KF stared at the smoking crater with shocked silence. It took a good moment for him to return it. The others seemed similarly shocked, and then- the person the strike was for came soaring from the horizon, landing heavily in the crater.

“<You dodged it?!>” Black Adam said, staring intently at the little kid that was their newest member. He shrugged in reply, a nervous smile on his face, and Black Adam shook his head, impressed. “I’m impressed he called the lightning. Impressed enough to travel to your base of operations on peaceful terms, children.”

“Holy shit.” Whispered Robin. Artemis nodded.

Kaldur cleared his throat, “M’gann, uncloak the bioship and prepare her for takeoff. Black Adam, stay close to a member of the Team at all times.”

The warning was unnecessary. He was holding Whiz Kid’s hand and being lead to the ship, smiling faintly down at the scrawny cloaked hero. Kaldur wondered what the relationship between the two was… It was advantageous, if nothing else.

“Black Adam.” Batman acknowledged as the foreign king stepped into the soundproofed room they’d set aside for explanations. The Team had debriefed him, and he had insisted- almost violently- on keeping young Billy Batson at his side for some reason. The smallest and most vulnerable, perhaps. “It is no longer necessary to be escorted by a member of the Team in these premises, it would be preferable if you would allow Whiz Kid to leave.”

“The Champion has heard and seen worse than those mongrels that defaced my lands.” Black Adam scoffed. “He will not be harmed, in fact, it is perhaps I who is in more danger of the two of us. Speak your piece, I have a nation to return to.”

Billy Batson looked terribly tiny next to the 8 foot something hulking figure of muscle and magic. And yet, he sat calmly, politely, hands clasped on his chest and a serious expression that- in the set of his brow and the blue of his eyes- really resembled the Captain. “As the Champion of Magic, Mr. Adam is part of my responsibility to protect.”

“You are still young, little Champion. Do not get ahead of yourself.”

“And you’re retired, big ex-champion.” Billy stuck his tongue out, and the man laughed.

Batman was going to get a headache listening to the recordings later, he knew it. These two played off each other dangerously well. “…Very well. The intelligence we have gathered so far indicates that a group referred to tentatively as the Injustice League has been running an ongoing recruitment drive.”

“No association with your group?” Adam questioned. Billy had a notebook in hand, writing down the happenings. Well prepared, good.

“None. In fact, the members we have been able to confirm via contacts in the criminal world are known enemies of many of our members.” Black Adam looked interested. “For the safety of contacts, I cannot disclose further.”

“Of course.” The man tapped his fingers against his knee. “What relation does this intelligence have to the attack on my land?”

“It was a fake attack by this group, intended to sway your perception of heroes. Khandaq is a politically neutral entity, which proves problematic with such a powerful leader.”

“They wished to trick me?”

“Likely so. You are considered the villain of choice to oppose Marvel by many in the public eye.”  Billy almost dropped his pen. Batman spared a glance.

“The villain?” Black Adam seemed immensely displeased with this, standing up. The child next to him looked a little spooked, and Batman stiffened. Preparing to defend, if necessary. The  man lunged, grabbing Batman by the chest and hoisting him with just one hand feet above the ground. “That is an offense! We are as alike as family, born of the gods and chosen to walk this realm with our forms! How dare you-”

“Mr. Adam.” A small, soft voice stopped him in his tracks. “He doesn’t mean he thinks it. Please let him go.”

“We must remedy this perception immediately, child.” Black Adam dropped Batman, like one might drop a rag. “Villain- honestly. Come, we shall return to Khandaq. You will-”

“Black Adam.” Batman said sharply, standing like nothing had happened because the Batman doesn’t lose composure. The man stopped, turning back. Still seething with rage, by the looks of him. “I have a proposal.”

“Go on.” The man said, and Batman felt very aware of the danger he was in.

“If they reach out to you, would you be willing to act as our eyes on the inside?”

Black Adam loomed over him. Arms crossed. Listening, but not pleased in the slightest. “And how, pray tell, will you make it worth my while to not destroy these insolent rats where they stand for their crimes?”

“The Justice League can offer great military assistance, and political protection, in the event of war. We can offer support. You cannot fight every battle alone.” Batman knew he was promising something he really hoped wouldn’t come to be needed, but to a King what else mattered?

The nod took tension that Batman refused to show off his shoulders. The man turned to leave- “Mr. Adam, can you let go of my hand, please? I would like to still have bones, sir.”

“Hm? Oh, of course, little Champion. Farewell.”

And the two were left alone once the doors closed. Billy flopped back onto the chair, breathing a sigh of relief. “Wowzers, that sure was a lot! I’m glad Mr. Adam will co-operate.”

“Indeed. Now-I have some things to discuss with you.” And Billy sat up like he’d cracked a whip in the air, looking startled. “Starting with your title as ‘Champion of Magic’. Marvel has been unwilling to disclose further information, and resources on it are limited and archaic.”

“That’s because it’s a secret, sir.” He looked scared. God, why did he look scared?

“Secrets need to be kept from enemies.” Batman said, gently, and sat down besides Billy. “But we need to know what this role entails for you. To be able to support you, and to offer advice.”

“Well, I don’t like telling these things. They ain’t safe for all to hear, magic’s dangerous like that mister… But what I can tell you is that I have it under control.”

Batman didn't look happy with that, clearly wanting to prod more, but Billy glared up at him with until he was allowed to leave. He wouldn't be cowed by a man who was dressed one step away from a gothic fast food place mascot.

Chapter Text

Billy Batson was integrating well with the Team, he thought, they didn’t seem too suspicious of him- and they definitely weren’t coddling him! KF kept bothering him to fly in the plane but he didn’t mind. Really, it was- nice. Weird but nice. They didn’t treat him like a bit of glass and he’d been on surprisingly even footing for a few matches and they were open and curious about him. He’d made so many notes for the broadcast he’d make of this when he returned to Fawcett!

But… Billy Batson didn’t have convenient excuses to escape so often when he was living in a highly secure cave. And Marvel had things to do. He'd just gotten back from the monthly catchup with the other interdimensional prison wardens that he was late to and was currently in the watchtower, filling out some forms and writing things up. He hated paperwork. But paperwork was needed to alert the league formally that an unusual amount of attempted demonic summonings, ritual sacrifices, and the like had been tried in the last month. Since, clearly, someone was practicing for dangerous things!

“-yoooo, Cap!” Barry said way too loudly for the crack of dawn, sitting down besides him with a mug of coffee. Marvel nearly snapped the pencil in his hand, jumping out of his skin. The speedster laughed. “You’ve been really quiet this week, what’s up? Got a lady keeping you tied up?”

Hal sat down in the other chair, grinning. “Nah, I bet he’s got a lucky guy, have you seen his reaction to lady’s going in for a kiss?”

“I don’t have anyone-” Marvel cried, sure that he was going scarlet. “I’ve just been busy.”

“Busy?” Barry raised an eyebrow. “Without someone new?”

“Wait, Barry-” Hal said, leaning forward and putting his chin in his hands. “Haven’t you heard the rumour? Word is he’s got a kid!”

Barry balked, looking the captain up and down. “What, really? And you haven’t told us?”

“I-” Marvel said, a little overwhelmed. He looked down at the paperwork for help. The neatly scratched (Ancient) Greek looking up at him didn’t help. He’d meant to do it in English… he got distracted, and the deities had filled in. It was technically finished, he’d submit it this way. Ugh. “I don’t have a kid, guys.”

Hal wasn’t paying attention, tapping a finger on his cheek and looking away with a shit eating grin. “What was the supposed kid’s name… Bethany? Bella?-”

“Billy.” Marvel snapped, and then winced. He walked into that trap, huh. Hal held his hands up defensively. “…His name is Billy and he’s just a kid. He’s not my son.” Because that would be really weird, being his own dad. He pretended to be his own carer for filling out rent but his own dad? He wouldn’t be able to face being called C.C. if they connected the dots- those were some big boots to fill.                 

“…So you do have a kid?” Barry queried, hesitantly.

“Kind of- not really- blame the Wizard. Billy is not my son.” He stood up. Hal reached out to stop him, Barry took the lantern’s arm and shook his head. “I’m going to go. Sorry.”

“Marvel.” Batman said, creeping up on him from behind like a freaking ghost as he just about finished up the cleanup after Sivanna’s robots- Mary had called suddenly for support and he’d barely escaped the Team! He just about jumped out of his skin, whirling around, and the Bat gave him a moment to get his bearings. “Do you have a moment?”

“Not many.” He said, thinking about M’gann’s movie night plans and how excited they were to show him all the fancy colour technology that wasn’t the holographic alien tech most of the watchtower ran on. “Is it important?”

“It’s about your-” don’t say child Do NOT say child- “ward.”

Marvel relaxed a little. “Ah, Billy. How has he been taking the outside world?”

“Mn.” A so-so response from the bat… Uh oh. That meant bad, he thought Billy was never going to fit in! “He’s been acclimatising at an acceptable rate. The plane was- not what I expected when you stated he’d be flying in.”

“What did you think I meant?”  Marvel said, confused, floating a foot above the ground with a hunk of robot cpu in his hands.

The batman sighed. Wait, was he seriously not going to tell him what he thought? “It is in need of repair.”

“The repair shop did a plenty good job on it.” Marvel said, offended. He’d never fly in something unsafe! “All the damage from the last nazi dogfight he was in got completely fixed.”

To Batman’s credit, he didn’t even flinch at that statement, which Marvel only belatedly realised was probably not something he should’ve let slip. “They fixed what was broken, and not the parts that survived. It’ll suffer uneven stresses, and the older parts left will eventually fail and that will cause injury to your ward.” The Batman growled, arms crossed. Marvel shrunk back into himself. “I want to personally fund it getting a full repair- Hal’s qualified to-“

He couldn’t help but blurt out a protest, frustration at the lack of respect for Fawcett’s engineers bringing out a touch of anger. “I just said it doesn’t need more fixes-!”

“Do not interrupt me, Marvel.” Batman thundered. His voice didn’t raise, no, it lowered into a harsh whisper. Billy’s throat dropped into his stomach, but Batman continued. “I do not want to see that child get injured because of safety standards from the 1940s.”

What.

 “…Safety standards?”

“Yes.” Batman seemed to be showing a immense amount of self-control by not reacting more than he already had. “Safety standards. Planes have changed significantly since the era this town is stuck in. For example- not using unshielded radioactive materials in the flight instruments.”

“Uh.” Marvel said, brow furrowed, consulting the gods. Mostly Solomon. They were absolutely no help. “I thought just a lick of radium was good for mortals? It’s in everything round here.”

“…Marvel, do you know what radiation sickness is?” With all the confidence of someone throwing a dart blindfolded, the giant of a man mumbled that he did, shuffling his feet. “You don’t, do you.”

Marvel hung his head. Batman made a frustrated sigh-groan noise of a longsuffering parent. “I will have Hal come down to the cave tomorrow to do the repairs and teach some modern flight essentials to Billy, some simple training exercises to confirm he’s safe to use that- contraption... And while that happens, you will be attending a training session on workplace safety- In casual clothes. It’s already booked and paid for. Do not be late.”

Marvel wanted to protest- but the Bat was already leaving. Slinking away through the alleyways towards the zeta tube. How was he gonna manage this?

“This is never going to work.” Billy said, looking at the illusion of Marvel he’d made. Carefully, Marvel raised his- woops, Billy’s- hand. They groaned and dug their hands into their hair, a perfectly synced up mirror. “I’ve got to skip one- Bats will know! And I don’t wanna make Hal sad, he looked so excited about meeting- meeting me!”

Marvel had no reply, awkwardly puppeting the illusion to shrug. It felt as stilted as it looked. They were both as lost as each other. He was as lost as himself. Gods this was confusing. They weren’t meant to ever be separate and Batman’s stupid concern for him was ruining everything! Aghhh! The illusion spell faded with a swipe of his hands.

“You can always call in a favour.” Murmured Mercury, a grin in his tone. “You know my blessed on earth have run so fast that time-.”

“I am not time travelling.” Billy said, folding his arms petulantly at the blank wall. Mercury’s disappointed had him shuddering. “Look- you’re all gods! Mostly! Come on, haven’t you ever had to be two places at once?”

“It is child’s play for us.” Zeus scoffed. “You think it impossible to split an arrow?”

“Split a…. that’s it!”

Solomon’s warnings and scoldings were ignored as Billy flipped through a magic tome he’d pilfered from the rock, looking through it for just the right spell. He could do it, there WAS a spell in here! He’d just need a little bit of practice with the incantation, a storm at the top of a mountain over 10,000 feet, and- 5 to 10 gallons of fresh human blood?! “…Why does it have to be human?”

“Hecate may take a substitution of red wine, but make it twenty gallons to be safe.”  Mercury advised. Not answering the weirdness of it being human!

“That’s not much easier-”

“It’s a sacrifice, it’s not supposed to be cheap!” Zeus roared, thunder descending over the Rock, and Billy flinched. Right, best not push his luck… His Patrons were being very accommodating so far. He’d have to get them something after all this, wouldn’t he? It’d been awhile since he’d found time to make a ‘proper’ sacrifice for them and that was probably why Zeus was so petty… Ugh.

Chapter Text

Billy sat on the couch eating his breakfast, pointedly ignoring the really annoying headache. That spell had worked- thankfully- but being two instead of one was like double vision in the worst way. Marvel was far away, in gotham, and he could just about make out what he was doing without losing focus on what was in front of him. Just 24 hours- and they can end it whenever they by calling the lightning. Just 24 hours…

“Morning, Billy!” M’gann said, and Billy gave her a distracted nod. She looked at him with concern. “Are you feeling alright?”

“Just a headache, it’ll be fine.” Billy waved her off. “Slept badly.”

“Oh, sorry…” She said, and that seemed to use up her nerves as she floated over to the  kitchen area to make herself something. When she turned back, Billy was gone.

Marvel had not experienced pain before in its- his?-  life. And honestly, the memories from Billy had not been able to prepare the former lightning bolt for the actual experience. Of course, it didn’t let any of the pain from what Solomon called a ‘headache’ show but it was… distracting. Very much so.

Not to mention how constraining the simple button up shirt and bland suit he’d borrowed from Muscles McGinnis was. The garment fit fine, but it was not enchanted cloth and it itched and scratched and moved in strange ways and made noises-

“Welcome to health and safety for super workplaces.” Began the instructor in a droning voice worse than Mr. Binder’s from Billy’s classes. It was going to struggle as he blathered on, it realised. “We’ll be starting with…”

Marvel looked up at the clock. Just… 6 hours… It could survive that long.

“Yo! You’re cap’s kid, right?” Green Lantern beamed as he finally found him in the hangar, flying over and touching down next to Billy, hand out for a shake, all sunbeams and smiles.

“No.” Billy replied, shaking his hand. “But I’m probably the guy you’re looking for.”

“…Oookay?” The Lantern looked a bit disappointed, looking the… scrawny preteen in front of him up and down. He had Cap’s eyes but he was built like a freaking twig. “Billy, he said your name was? That short for anything?”

“Just Billy, please.” He said, calm and polite. Like no kid ever was without a plot stirring in their head. This was gonna be a tough one to wrangle.

“Right, Billy! Billy it shall be.” Green Lantern grinned, putting his hands on his hips. “Can you show me to your plane? Bats had some choice words but I really wanna see her for myself, you know.”

“…It’s over here.” And the kid lead him quietly past some storage crates, and to the most beautiful vintage bomber he’d ever seen. A patchwork of repairs, for sure- but wow it was loved.

“What’s her name?” Hal said, reaching a hand out to trace the metal welding job on the closest repair. Was that paint covering up a freaking tank’s old name?! “And how many fights has she been in? She looks scarred.”

“…She’s called Thunder.” Billy said, a little nervously, expecting to be scolded. “She sounds like thunder when the wind hits right. And, um. We stopped counting after the 20^th fix...”

“Cool.” Hal was half in the cockpit, nosying at the instruments and making sure they were calibrated right.  “Any of this original still? Or is it all fixes?”

“Just the frame, and the wheels, sir.” The kid was watching him like one watches a vet poke at a sick dog, wringing his hands. Literally wringing his hands. God that was adorable. “All of the sheeting and glass and seat and everything has been shot through at some point or another. Heck, Cap’s had to fish her out of the sea after attacks a few times.”

Don’t let the fact the kid regularly gets shot at distract you, Hal, do not- “You get shot at? How come Caps's letting you into situations like that?”

“I’m old enough to rent, sir. I’m old enough to be shot at.” Billy folded his arms. Green Lantern still looked concerned- or was that anger for a second?- but Billy didn’t back down. “…Are you going to take my plane away, Mr. Lantern?”

The Lantern made an uncertain noise, sitting in the cockpit seat and looking down at him. “Look… She’s not exactly fitting modern regulations for flight safety. Batman’s points all stand- and looking closely, with the eye of a flyer- a few more issues are showing to me.” The kid looked devastated. “But- I think we might be able to work out an exception? Can you catch yourself if you fall?”

Billy looked offended. “Of course I can! The gods won’t just let me die.”

“Be serious, Billy.”  Lantern frowned that protective adult frown and Billy wanted to throw him out of HIS plane.

“I am being serious! And I do have magic for when I get fallen out. Me and Cap have an agreement and everything.”

“Right. Can you show me it?” The kid’s glare only intensified. Yikes. “…Let’s just take her for a test spin.”

Billy motioned for him to leave the cockpit and Hal felt like he was supervising a grouchy first year at flight school, watching him get all kitted up and grumbling away. The earpiece buzzed as a private communication channel was established for the two of them, and Billy looked as unhappy as was humanly possible while being only able to express through tight lips, goggles and helmet and thick glass hiding a lot.

“Heyyyy, Kerry.” One of the men at the workplace was leaning against the wall next to Marvel, and it was frankly tired of moving away. It levelled a look at him, but he was undeterred. “What’s the deal with your name, it really stands out on the list! You a foreigner? One of those- uh- newfangled gender types.”

“I am a construct of magic.” It replied, annoyed, drinking it’s coffee and eating some of the freely available snacks to attempt to alleviate the headache that had turned into a bone deep misery as the hours crawled along. “Keranos is the name I was given.”

The man laughed, a full belly laugh, actually doubling over and slapping his knees. Marvel didn’t change it’s grouchy expression, as he started talking about what a comedian Marvel was and he could drop the crazy act.

Marvel wasn’t sure if Solomon’s wisdom to not throw him out the window was worth listening to much longer.

The test flight went well. At first. Hal had him do a few loops around the mountain within the visually shielded range he’d had activated for the day, and those went well. Thunder flew like a bird in the wind, despite a small amount of turbulence, and Hal kept a watchful eye as he flew with the Ring’s power alongside him. “Alright, Billy, ready for some combat practice?”

“Uh- she isn’t loaded with bullets today.” Billy buzzed in his ear, and what the fuck THE BOMBER HAS FUNCTIONAL WEAPONRY-?

“That’s fine! Just some obstacles. Do your best, kid.” Green Lantern set up some easy ring targets for Billy to fly into and he nailed every one. Then, he added some swooping pteradactyls and tighter rings, a flying dragon trying to snap him up- everything he threw at Billy was going great. Suspiciously so. “Wow! You didn’t actually go to flight school, did you? You're pretty good!”

“No, sir! Learnt it to help out for the war!” Billy’s voice was chipper. That roughly translated to ‘go fuck yourself’ in 1940s kidspeak, Hal was pretty sure. Damn- this weird time travelling brat was growing on him. “Say, I thought I had my bearings right... But where’s the hangar from here? She’s getting a bit low on fuel and the terrain looks mighty different all of a sudden. ”

Hal looked down. They were- over a jungle? What? “Should be below at 12 o' clock. Co-ordinates?” Billy rattled off the co-ordinates, and they should reasonably be able to see the mountain. That portside city they were by, at least. But nothing. Hal's voice picked up again. “Uhhh- head 310◦ North-North-West to check on the city. I’ll check the state on the ground at Mt. Just...” The voice crackled into static, but Billy had gotten most of the message before the interference started.

“Roger that.” The sunshine tone was gone as Billy’s plane steered confidently over. “…Plants actively growing, it looks like there’s-”

Billy didn’t the chance get to finish, as a tangled beast made of plants reared up and dragged his plane down, constricting and dark and thick enough to block the radio line entirely. Shit. Something broke the glass, and his head was already spinning- he blacked out still trying to push away whatever was grabbing at him.

Chapter Text

Billy Batson’s head was killing him. He knew he needed to end the spell soon, he felt stretched thin- Solomon had told him this might happen, but he thought he’d be able to cut it off whenever. Just a single word, and he’d be whole again! So he tried, but there was something in his mouth stopping those precious syllables. Horrible tasting cotton fabric, tied around the back of his head securely. Seriously? A kidnapping?

“Finally awake, hm?” A voice he recognised from somewhere drawled, and Billy turned his head as much as the stupid rope would allow. A tall, strangely dressed (though what else was new) villain was sat across the room from him, a projection of a globe littered with glyphs occupying most of his attention. “I’m glad Ivy’s pets brought you relatively unharmed. You’re a very difficult man to find, Champion.”

“W’t’n…!” He spat out, glaring. The man didn’t even glance over at him, and Billy struggled against his restraints. Not much use, they were pretty solid and his head wasn’t in it enough to think of a way out quickly.

“I have always wondered, over the centuries, why you choose the forms you do.” Wotan continued, spinning and casting a spell over a leyline in Kenya, the magic humming and pulsing powerfully underfoot as it travelled away. Billy shivered as it rolled over them, the magic giving him serious deja vu. A few moments later, crazy laughter burst out in the next room over. The Joker’s- what were Wotan and the Joker doing near each other?!  “We both have a habit of body hopping, hm?”

Billy managed to get his hands up to the gag and he pulled it down. Gods, it tasted horrible! “Shazam!”

But the lightning bolt only struck the glass ceiling above, melting into a magic shield. No- powering it. Damn it. Wotan looked amused. “Really, you think I wouldn’t prevent your favourite spell from helping you out?”

“It was worth a shot.” He said, bitterly. Wotan laughed. “Why am I here?”

“Well, Ivy’s pets were pleased to have caught a young hero in our masterful plan. But you? You’re a much better find. Take a look around you, Champion, you’re a smart one.”

Billy did so, as best he could while tied to a chair. That was a sygil for positive charge, and negative, and… some power redirection glyphs… Hold on a second. “Are you using me as a darn battery?”

“Well, what else is electricity good for?” Wotan shrugged. “I’ll work on a spell to extract the living lightning properly later. It’s so dormant in your mortal disguise- very effective defense, I must admit. I might take it on in the future.”

“Screw you old man!”

“You’re older than me-” Wotan snapped in return, aghast. “By at least 2 centuries! Just because you look like a child doesn’t mean you should act like one, Keranos. You’ve noone to fool here-”

Billy stuck his tongue out and made a stupid face. Wotan stood, visibly offended- and then something crashed outside. The general maniacal background noise of the villainous base settled for an instant, and Wotan glowered at him. “This is not over, Champion.”

 Marvel was not happy. It was, in fact, very unhappy right now. Batman was briefing the team on the disaster at hand- worldwide giant plant attack, etc etc. It had come back with haste to meet with Billy, catch up on things- undo that damned spell- but Lantern was looking guilty. Billy was nowhere to be seen amongst the children huddled like ducklings near Zatarra, the den mother of the day.

This didn’t bode well.

“-and so, the team will go to deal with the ‘Injustice League.” Batman gave Marvel a unreadable gaze. “For this plan to work, they need to be completely convinced the entire Justice League is dealing with their attack. We must be visible.”

The Team responded affirmatively, varying degrees of annoyance and enthusiasm in their voices. Marvel felt the missing voice keenly. Zatarra stepped forward, one hand effortlessly drawing the globe hologram up and the other brimming with magic, starting the spell, and Lantern shifted about quietly in place.

Marvel met his gaze. Lantern held it for only a moment before ducking his head, and walking away from the main group quietly. They didn’t need to hear about the Team’s briefing- Marvel had only one question on its mind, voice stone cold despite the quietness necessitated for the conversation. “Where is Billy?”

“About that… He- is currently in Happy Harbour?”

Marvel’s expression darkened. “The harbour full of plant monsters.”

“The plants-” Hal was normally so lively, Marvel almost wished for him to break the tension with a joke. “They managed to take down his plane. We were on the training flight exercise when he went down.”

“And you didn’t follow?”

“I did, I did! Shit, man, what do you take me for-!” Hal defended, a little spooked by the usually friendly giant looming over him. “He was gone from the wreck- and it was too dangerous to keep looking.”

Marvel regarded him with a look of absolute distaste, turning around so as not to do something Billy would regret. Batman was watching, of course he was watching. The man always watched. “Captain Marvel. Green Lantern. Are you ready to do your parts in the operation?”

Marvel took in a  breath. Let it out again, lightning crackling around him settling to a measured static hum. “Yes. I’m ready.”

“The control room for the Injustice League!” Robin grinned as it finally came into view as they approached it. “I bet that golden spot at the centre is the power source. Take that out- and we’re golden!”

“Yeah. I think it’s-” Miss Martian agreed, flying forwards with haste to look for a weak spot from above to enter at- only to stop and abruptly take shelter behind the nearest large tree. “Robin! Get down!”

Robin didn’t hesitate, despite the sudden request- years of working alongside batman meant he understood well how vital it was to follow orders like that the second they processed. Good thing he did- because the whole building went up in flames- a dark figure swooping out from the inferno clutching a small whitish form in its arms. Robin squinted against the glare of the flames behind the pair- that wasn’t Whiz Kid, was it?!

Black Adam threw Whiz Kid down like a bomb about to go off, and the young Hero- still smoking slightly- was barely caught by Miss Martian. Surprisingly untouched, apart from the singing. He was running so hot. “Thanks for the save, Teth!”

“Whiz Kid! What are you doing here?” She cried, trying not to drop him too fast as they lowered to the ground. In the distance, a dishevelled Joker and some other figures were staggering out of the ruins. Black Adam had disappeared- to god knows where.

“Uh- Mr. Wotan was using me as a battery. Mr. Adam found out when I broke out, we took the place down!” Billy chirped, still a little dazed.

“Your ‘Mr. Adam’ is with the bad guys, dude!” Robin gestured frantically, “And speaking of- the Joker is getting way too close! We need to move.”

Billy kept pace with the two, golden leg wraps a soft glow in the dark of the thick forest that never seemed to fail to find good purchase. “I don’t think we need to hold out much longer- Cap’s getting close! The League must be coming to give backup-”

A series of small vines rose from the ground, attempting to trap all of them, as Poison Ivy stepped into the light. Miss Martian tore them apart with telekinesis, and the woman simply tutted. “Well, until then, we’ve got plenty of time to play!”

“Actually.” A familiar voice said, thunder rolling in those tones. “You don’t.”

Marvel landed imposingly close, looming over everyone. The angry arcs of electricity singing her precious plants, Ivy snatched the closest heroling with her plants, dragging Billy up and constricting him. “I wouldn’t try anything funny, Captain.”

“Oh, I don’t need to.” It smiled. “Billy, if you would?”

“I’ve been waiting all day for this!”

Ivy glowered at the brat she had a strangle hold on, a warning on her lips- only to have to close her eyes and let go as lightning exploded from the brat with a word lost in the roaring thunder that left her ears ringing.  “Where’d the kid go?!”

“Somewhere you can’t hurt him.” Marvel said simply, taking a step closer. The remaining herolings had wriggled free and were standing loosely behind him while cautiously catching their breath.

Ivy backed up- only to come across the others in their little troupe. They were being herded like sheep!  Black Adam didn’t seem to have the brains to even struggle, just following the crowd of heroes directions like a meek puppet. Geeze- he might be powerful but he was a horrible villain. Who even scouted that guy? As she turned her head away from cataloguing the group Batman’s familiar scowl at the helm of the group of overpowered heroes he was commanding like sheepdogs caught her eyes with the usual annoyance and disappointment. Great. Always giving her that ‘I’m not mad I’m just disappointed’ stare down through those goddamn white lenses.

“Fine.” Someone muttered. “There will be another day.”

Ivy couldn’t help but agree- although the Joker’s upset caterwauling was not going to be pleasant on their way to Arkham. She resigned herself to asking for earplugs.

Chapter Text

After the debrief with the League over the plants, the Captain was more than ready to go on a patrol and go to sleep in his own bed. But unfortunately, he had to return to Mount Justice. As Billy. For three more days! 

He stood in the Rock of Eternity, facing the Door which would open into Mount Justice, feeling incredibly reluctant to leave the safety of the magic drenched cavern outside of time. 

But all good things must come to an end eventually, and he was tired and there was a bed there. Better than his current apartments bed, that's for sure! 

So he steeled his nerve, traced the sygils with Solomons whispers guiding his hand as much as his own memory, and the door opened. Quickly, he slipped through and closed it, heart racing. 

Wally was staring at him, handful of popcorn halfway to his mouth. “Were you hiding in the closet?”

Billy stiffened- only to turn around slightly and yes, that's the door the Rock chose. “Um. No, I was hiding in another dimension. That ended up being inside the closet.”

“Ohhhh… Sure .” Wally nodded. “I believe you, Marvel Junior!”

“I'm telling the truth,” Billy grumbled,  “And I'm not Junior!”

“Geeze, touchy much? My bad.” Wally held his hands out placatingly. “Anyway. Uh… You want in on the spooky movie night? We're doing allll the horror classics! For Connor, mostly, but we've got plenty of popcorn!”

“Oh.” Billy managed, caught off guard by the friendly deflection. KF really was just like Barry. “Sure?”

“Great! The other guys will be here soon-”

Halfway through a training session, abruptly, Billy's communicator rang. Well, Marvel’s- same difference. He quietly excused himself and found a place with a decent signal relay and picked up. It wasn't a emergency for Marvel by the colour code, but it had to be important, right? 

“Heyyyyy!” Freddy's voice sang through the Comm, anxious. “Can I ask a favour?”

“Um… Depends?” Billy glanced back at the group. Connor could probably hear this conversation, he'd have to play it safe. “What's the favour?”

“I might need to be bailed out.” His brother said, sheepishly. “...As Junior.”

“ What? ” Billy wanted to reach through and strangle him over the device. “What did you do-? ”

“Just the usual?”

“I swear-” 

“Please?” Freddy did actually sound a bit guilty. “Look man, the guy was sabotaging a wheelchair factory he had it coming .”

“I. Uh. It'll have to be just me, Marvel is. Busy…?” Billy tried, well aware of Connors sharp gaze and the way he was whispering and glancing his direction. “Where is it?”

“They're keeping me at Strykers- hey, don't take the phone, I know my times  up you-! See you soon bye!”

Billy put his head in his hands and counted to ten. Do not scream. 

“... So. Prison break?” Connor was standing right freaking next to him. Looking down, a quiet slightly mischievous smile on his unexpressive face. Miss Martian’s grin was way less subtle.

“We can take the bioship!”

“I just need to go there and Bail him out with Marvel’s emergency money-” Billy looked over at the remainder of the gang still sparring under the watchful eye of Hal. “... But it could be grand as a group? I suppose I'd have to go by Zeta anyway since Thunder’s out of commission.”

“Great!” Miss Martian seemed really excited for some reason, looking at Connor. “You've wanted to go to Metropolis again soon so this is perfect! ”

Connor made a neutral noise and looked away. Ah. So this was what they were up to. A date with him as the excuse! It could be worse. 

“You guys have words with the babysitter, I'll get the things I need from my room. See you in a tic!”

The prison receptionist looked over the trio before her, very unimpressed. One skinny kid clearly under 10 who didn't reach the counter, and his two teenage friends. “You say you're here to see… Captain Marvel Junior?”

“To bail him out, miss.” Billy said, very polite. “We know each other and I have his- dads card.”

“Rightttt. You have Captain Marvel's card?”

“Yes miss.” The tiny brat said, standing on his tippy toes to offer it. One of the teens with him- a pretty young ginger girl, took it and handed it over properly with a nervous smile. 

She inspected it. Hummed. It looked legitimate. “Alright. The bail is 3 thousand dollars.”

“Th-three thousand?!” 

“I mean, he did send multiple civilians to hospital in the name of ‘justice’ kid.” The teens looked very interested all of a sudden, nudging each other with on. “His daddy got enough in his bank account?”

“I hope so.” Billy muttered. She swiped the card…

It went through. Dang. She was hoping it'd decline. “Alright. You can go through… Robert! Take this group to visit Junior, he's got lucky this time.”

“So, what's this Junior guy look like?” M’gann prodded, curious. “Is he as big as Captain Marvel?”

“Huh?” Billy almost laughed. “No way! He's really- lean. And totally dependable.”

Connor made a hum of disagreement. M’gann laughed a little, hand holding his. 

“He is!” Billy defended. “He's like my older brother-”

The guard escorting them held a hand out and cleared his throat, unlocking the cell once they moved out of the way of the door. 

Inside… M’gann wasn't sure what she'd been expecting, but a skinny teen (however cute) in a blue take on Marvels outfit sat in a chair with a power collar on wasn't it. He didn't even get up to say hello! That same static fog crackling ancient words like the oldest mages on Mars stopped her from skimming his mind. 

But she had definitely seen him somewhere before, but where?! 

“Billy! Am I glad to see you!” He beamed as Billy rushed over. “Give me a hand, will ya? I've been stuck on this stupid chair for like, hours.”

But he didn't even need to ask because Billy was already under his arm, supporting him as they walked up to the guard who was flipping through keys for the right one to get the collar off, the two moving like a unit despite the contrast in appearances. 

“Are you hurt, Junior?” M’gann blurted out before she could stop herself. “We could help once you're out-”

“Huh? Oh, don't worry babe, I got it allll under control.” He grinned. Billy huffed, elbowing him, and the Hero squawked. “What? It's normal!”

“She's worried.” Billy hissed. Junior huffed. 

Connor cleared his throat. “And taken.”

Junior went white as a sheet for a moment, and then the collar was off and he started floating, and the nerves left him immediately . Billy let him go once he was in the air, and the guard grunted for them to follow him out. 

“... And then, I found out the guy was in cahoots with Captain Nazi! And bam , me and Cap totally kicked his ass-” Junior gestured with his milkshake, grinning, and M’gann couldn't hold it back anymore. 

“Hey, are you really Captain Marvels son?” She said in a hurry. Junior exchanged a glance with Billy, unreadable. Why? “It’s just, I thought humans looked more similar to their parents…”

“Oh, humans do!” He never lost that grin, those faint sparks of emotion crackling. “But it's not like beings of magic follow human rules, right? Don't think about it too hard. He made me, that's close enough.”

“Yeah, I guess so…” She sighed, disappointed. “But you know, you really remind me of someone.”

“Oh yeah? Who?” Billy kicked Junior in the leg under the table and the hero looked a little abashed. 

“Promise not to laugh?”

“I would never!”

“This really vintage baseball player… I think he was called Freeman? He has a few cameo appearances on a show called Hello Megan-”

Junior moved to stand up all of a sudden. Or float up, really- one hand on Billy's arm. 

“Did I say something wrong?” She managed. Oh god she fucked up so bad . “I'm sorry, it was just a lookalike comparison, I mean he had legs that work in all the videos I've seen, so you definitely aren't alike in every way-”

“M’gann-” Connor said, worried. 

“-and he was doing show interviews ages ago so he's probably like a washed up weird 60 year old now and you're like, pretty cute, not that I'm interested -”

“ M’gann.” Connor hissed, a little more insistent. 

“-I mean, you seem like a really good hero! You've told so many fun stories and anyone like that wouldn't do things like crimes like that guy-”

“M’gann!” Connor at last just covered her mouth, lifting her head a little to stop looking at her feet and up at the Hero. 

Junior looked like a dark storm cloud. Or a ocean about to break flood defenses. He took a deep breath… And breathed out. Fist clenched, trying to hold something back. 

“Thanks for the help you two but I'm taking Billy back to Fawcett now. Early. Goodbye.”

Oh no. 

Chapter Text

Freddy finally sat Billy down in his apartment after a quick (but very windy) flight, grabbed his crutch, and muttered his magic word. Billy stood awkwardly as Freddy paced, all but tearing his hair out, before eventually collapsing into an armchair and covering his face with a long suffering sigh. “Why did you tell them I was your kid !?”

“I… may have panicked a little.” Billy admitted, sheepish. “I wasn't thinking straight after the last week all out of Fawcett.”

“I get it, I do.” Freddy groaned. “That's still a hell of a lie to keep up… not that we're strangers to that though.”

Billy perched on the coffee table, since the only other seat in the room had a bunch of medical looking stuff on it he didn't want to break moving. “I'm really sorry. But at least it's over? And you didn't have to stay in prison for that long, either!”

“It's over? Dude, they were crazy when they realised you exist-- and you covered that up as an apprentice thing!” Freddy gestured wildly. “I don't think they're gonna let Cap ignore the information of having a son .”

Billy was quiet for awhile. “Do you think we can say I lied?”

“What, goody two shoes Billy Batson, pure hearted champion of magic? A liar?”

“Yeah. Point.” Billy frowned. “I should've thought of a better hero name to give you…”

“Hey, I don't mind.” Freddy shrugged. “I tried others but CM3 didn't roll off the tongue, and Lieutenant was too military. Junior fits. And we were kids when we met, still kinda are. Haha.”

Billy managed a weak little smile at his brother's humour. 

“So… We're gonna have to think of a proper backstory. And since you're the one with the gods on speed dial, that's your job.”

“Mine?!”

“You dug this can of worms, time to lie in it.” Freddy had a mischievous grin to his eyes despite the ‘threat’. 

Billy flopped backwards, making a noise of despair, and his brother laughed.

“Marvel.” Batman's voice came in, gruff. “Are you available for Den Mother duty? Canary has had to leave suddenly. It's urgent.”

Marvel looked longingly at the festival in the park he had been planning to make a surprise appearance at to cheer up some of his friends. Technically, he was busy but… “I'm free. I'll Zeta over.”

… 

Once he finally arrived, he could see why he in particular was called. The place was filled with moving boxes, and Zatarra was here- along with his rarely seen daughter. Batman gave him a curt nod. 

“You didn't call me just to help move boxes, did you?” Captain Marvel asked, half joking. He'd be happy to help but he did have other plans if this was everything.

“No.” Batman shot him down curtly. “As I stated, Dinah has had to leave to respond to an incident in Star city. And Zatarra is… Occupied.”

“With his daughter moving in?” 

“Mn. Another trial of a magic user, for now.” Marvel winced. “We can discuss Billy's performance over his stay later. For now…”

“Yeah, I'll help with the boxes. No problem!” He grinned, shaking off the anxiety, and the Bat nodded. Yes! Approval! 

He was always a pretty Jolly and respected figure, so Zatarra didn't much mind him helping out and with armfuls of her things, it didn't take too much time- but one thing kept nagging at him. M’gann kept avoiding him, unable to meet his eyes and sticking to the edges of the group. Embarrassed, guilty, worried… He didn't need Solomon’s instincts to tell him that much. 

“M’gann,” Marvel said, quietly, not hardly. “Can I talk to you a moment?” 

Oh gods the poor Martian looked like she wanted to burst into tears. Still, she nodded and the two found a quiet corner. As soon as she felt no one could hear, it almost burst out. “I'm really sorry I made Junior uncomfortable, I-”

“Hey,” Marvel stopped her softly. “I'm not upset, and I don't blame you for whatever happened. I just want to hear your side of it, Junior wasn't the most clear.”

M’gann fiddled with her hair, skin rippling to Caucasian white with nerves. “I thought he looked alot like a character from… An earth show I knew. And I think I phrased that really badly. And i didn't think he was your son at first- I'm so sorry.”

“I've kept my family pretty close to my chest to keep them safe, Junior included… We're both made of magic, but we're formed off of mortals shapes. He ended up using Freddy Freeman as his base, which is the resemblance.”

“He's…Based off of Freddy?” M’gann looked surprised. 

“Pretty much! And… Don't make a fuss about it, but it helps that they're both disabled too.” How to phrase it so she'd understand… “I hear on Mars there's white Martians, who aren't accepted? Disabled people who can't hide their struggles get similar treatment in alot of places here on Earth.”

“ Oh.” She said, clasping her hands over her mouth in horror. “I didn't… I’m so sorry!”

“I can't accept that apology for him, but I don't think he's upset now he's slept on it. He's fierce about rights for the vulnerable, that's why he got into such trouble the other day. The law and morality don't always align for him.” Marvel gave her a big grin. “Oh- and before I forget! Billy wanted to say that you look awesome but he wasn't brave enough while he was visiting.”

M’gann blinked, on the other foot all of a sudden. “Oh- um- tell him thanks?”

“Sure thing! Oh- your friends are waving for you. I'll let you get back to- whatever you kids are up to?” He could never get his head around teenagers, somehow… but she flew over with a big smile and didn't look nearly as uncomfortable, so he'd count that as a win! 

Marvel let her get ahead, watching the group chatter and letting them wander off before the smile dropped a touch to a more serious expression as he rejoined Batman and Zatarra. 

“Captain, is it true that you have children?” Zatarra asked, brows furrowed. “All of this has come rather out of nowhere…”

“Mn. For safety purposes, I am requesting at least the minimum details of your immediate family.” Batman didn't sound pleased. “And any other… Associates, such as Billy.”

“I don't want to get them involved in League business.” Marvel protested, trying to cling to what defense he had. "I know how you are with planning defenses for Leaguers. I don't want that for my family."

“I understand, Captain, I truly do…” Zatarra put a hand on his, looking up. “I wish to protect Zatanna from the dangers of this life also. But you have to understand... these things must come out. You've been working with us long enough, do you- not trust us?”

“I do, it's just…” He hesitated. “I've been so used to the time differences between Fawcett and the outside world that now that things are matching up it's difficult to adjust.” Batman and Zatarra kept staring at him with those quiet, worried, concerned gazes. He folded. “We're… not a big family. Myself, my twin Mary, and Junior. Adam is like a brother to me but we were made millennia apart, so there's something of a gap there. Our creator is dead. There's Billy and Tawny too, but they're not formed of lightning- just magic.”

“Thank you.” Batman said. It wasn't a sharp snap, or a patronising exaggeration. Just quiet and genuine. “This Junior… He's the one you bailed out last week with your league card?”

Marvel stiffened, knowing who usually paid most of the bills for the Leaguers. Uh oh. Batman was probably in the doghouse with Mr. Wayne! “... Yes?”

“He's a difficult one to contact, but he was the original choice for a magic member of the team. I want him brought in.”

Zatarra squinted at Batman, and Marvel felt equally suspicious as the magician grumbled. “Are you aiming to recruit the boy even now? Zatanna will have enough to deal with settling in without a competing magic user-”

“He won't compete on that ground, Zatarra. We're made of magic, unlike the Champion-” Who he also is, but they don't need to know that,  “so it comes more naturally to use it by thought than Billy who has to work fairly hard. Spellwork and rituals are your thing, don't worry!”

“You know so much and so little, you-” Zatarra hissed. 

Batman cleared his throat and the two magic users straightened up guiltily.  “The team needs redundancy in roles, if magic becomes a regular component of their missions. Just as we have Justice League Dark, they need more methods than they currently have to deal with magical threats. We can't bring Nabu out with his current temperament for anything less than apocalyptic dangers."

"And Billy? Where will he fit?" Marvel asked hesitantly.

"From observing his time here Billy is certainly… powerful. However, he seems to struggle with the modern world and did not find purchase in such a tight knit team dynamic during his time.”

Ouch!? “ That's… Not sounding great, Bats.”

Batman sighed, looking genuinely a little guilt stricken. “Don't break it to the kid harshly, he's- sweet. But he's not going to fit in here as he is now. He's…. Too sweet.”

“I'll pass it on.” Marvel said, not sure how to process that. Batman looked about ready to adopt him for a second there. Yikes. “But are you sure you want Junior as an option? Given how slowly we age…”

“Miss Martian is chronologically 48 earth years old, but she's not coming to league meetings.” Batman said flatly. “A child is a child. The league operates on species specific age ranges.”

Zatarra was nodding, traitorous bastard. The Captain grumbled, “Right, right. He's not been doing as much since the Nuremburg trials ended, but I'll see if I can't drag him out.”

Batman's smile made him feel like he was looking at a smug CPS worker for a moment. He needed the boundary he'd managed to keep up for so long and this recent intrusion was ruining his work life balance! 

Chapter Text

Jr. steeled himself as he watched Captain Marvel fly away from the Cave, going to confront the active threat of invaders to earth space with the League while he was left to do training excercises with the team. He wanted to go kick alien butt, but team building was something important. And as Zatanna had a performance, he was the magic fill in for the day. 

Big shoes to fill, frankly, since his magic consisted of what instincts the form of Captain Marvel Junior gave him. But he could do it and he would. Besides, it was just going to be some stupid training bonding shit. He could handle that no problem. 

The straightness to his shoulders never went away as Red Tornado briefed them on the plans for the day- only for an emergency transmission from Zatarra to interrupt the robot with a request for backup. Shit. There wasn't supposed to be any actual problems, the League was supposed to handle all this shit. The Team were just kids! 

“-but should we fail…”

“Yes.” Aqualad nodded, voice cold with seriousness. “We will take on the roles needed to keep Earth safe.”

“Good.” Red Tornado intoned in that metallic ringing voice of its, and it left. Support of all its heavy hitters was needed. 

A news feed flickered on, a few more, then a lot more. Multiple languages and frantic newscasters all triggering the red alert systems to start displaying their feeds with the disasters. Carnage. 

“We need to go out there and destroy them.” Jr. said, fists clenching. Connor made a noise of agreement, his own face similarly stony. 

“What we need,” Aqualad corrected, “ is a plan.”

“ Already isolating the signals, tracing… here's the spread!” A hologram sprung to life, bold red dots indicating the range of the invasions forces. 

Worldwide. Not great. The death toll would be damn high already, they had to act! 

“This one get lost?” Connor remarked, reaching over to the arctic. The hologram pulsed, zooming in… Just the one. That's usually a trap. Unless they made the invading Russia in winter mistake… But it's always winter in the arctic. 

“It's alone. Could be a mothership!” Wally grinned. “It's in a perfect place for communications. Let's take it down!”

The team made noises of agreement and looked to Aqualad. He inclined his head. “it's as good a plan as any. Let us depart.”

As they left, he couldn't help but catch a newsreader reeling off confirmed and suspected hero casualties. Captain Marvel wasn't among the list… Yet.

“ Wow .” Breathed Wally, looking at the lone ship they were approaching. “Sleek design.”

“Don't get distracted.” Artemis snapped, checking her quiver and arrows were ready for the situation. “That things tech took down multiple  Leaguers. Doesn't matter how ‘sleek’ it is.”

Freddy was keeping one ear tuned into the comm and the other on the conversation. He wanted to say that Billy was probably OK because of course Billy would be OK! But he could hardly say that without blowing his identity. Given his magic word, and all. 

The three of them- Artemis, Kid Flash, and Captain Marvel Junior- were going to be part of the last group to deploy. Miss Martian was currently approaching in stealth to disable the ships weapons, and then the heavy hitters would go out. They just had to sit and wait. 

“ -weapons offline. Team B deploy, team C drop and be ready to provide backup.”

“ Roger.” Junior replied, and as soon as the archer and speedster were within grabbing range painfully slowly he flew them down to the icy ground, using them as covers to help conceal their descent until they got to their predetermined cover locations.

Royal Blue was a great uniform colour for announcing your presence, but not so great for stealth. Junior cursed the inability to adjust the uniform sometimes.

The camo tech of the Team brought a spark of envy in him as their white silhouettes blended in near seamlessly with the snow drifting about in the bright arctic sun. Stay on task. 

“Transfusing weapon to ship as planned, she needs to uncloak for this. Keep us covered for the next few minutes!” Miss Martian commanded, eyes glowing

“You might not have a few minutes, we've got company!” Artemis yelled, and Junior started to look her way before a movement caught his eye. Shit. More! 

“Double trouble! I'll run distraction for this one-” He called, rocketing to the sky in plain site of it to force the weapon to go vertical to follow him, firing blasts into the air that carried on to nowhere and letting Robin and Aqualad rush into action to disable and destroy it. Just as planned! 

He shouldn't have gotten comfortable. He shouldn't have . None of them should have, not with such a dangerous weapon. 

A blood curdling scream of one of his new teammates name’s almost distracted him. It almost costed him his life, the burning heat of the blast almost clipping his cheek a harsh reminder of his role to play. 

When they finally boarded the Bioship two heads short, the expressions were grim on everyone as the. Robin and Aqualad seemed to be handling it best, stern faced and tight jawed. Kid Flash, Miss Martian… Even Connor looked upset. Grit teeth, eyes red with held back tears. 

Someone mentioned the Cave, a weak attempt to break the silence, a feeble suggestion to try to control the groups emotions long enough to get home. Aqualad shook his head, his voice coming out stony serious. “No, we can't return to Mount Justice. We need to return to the Hall of Justice.”

The upset expressions stared at the Atlantean like he had said that the sky was green. He took a breath, gills moving with the careful exhale and continued. “We need to show humanity that there is still hope. We may be the only heroes left, and we cannot let Earth be lost.”

The throat shredding quiet sobs and the clattering of shaking hands packing away weapons and numbly changing uniforms was all the small talk the group could manage. Freddy packed Artemis’ spare weapons away into the cargo hold securely and sat with clenched fists staring out the window as Arctic hills became Canadian islands pockmarked with craters, became mountain ranges, became smoking seaboards and burning cities. 

There was a barricade lined with tanks as they descended, thankfully in stealth. He hadn't seen this many tanks since… It had to be since World War 2. They were doing a damn good job keeping the line, but the enemy were encroaching. 

“Connor, don't-!” Miss Martian called, as the Kryptonian stood. He turned away and walked to the hatch, leaping out with a roar and landing with a clang and a crunch as he started to pummel the shit out of one of the enemies below. 

Miss Martian looked horrified, and by the gods Freddy couldn't blame her after everything they'd just seen. In an instant, his mind was made up. “I'll back him up. We need a clear landing zone.” 

She hesitated, but after a glance to the others… Miss Martian dipped her head in quiet agreement. They needed a landing zone, and of the two heaviest hitters this one was agile enough to dodge the weapons. 

Freddy only hoped her trust in him wasn't misplaced as he joined Connor in beating the ever loving fuck out of the alien ships and redirecting their weapons to become friendly fire, disintegrating swathes of the horde. 

When they could see past the dust and the fire, the ship had landed. A military group was approaching, weapons drawn. 

“ Shit. ” Connor said, leaping over rubble to intercept. “Don't shoot, you-!”

“Is that Superman ?” Someone cried, and then another, and the weapons were lowered but Connor was being penned in as well and looking like a caged animal ready to bite himself the closer they got. 

“It's Superboy! ” He roared, “Give me some damn space!”

The crowd of soldiers twittered in confusion, but didn't approach any closer. The others were disembarking from the ship, Aqualad going smoothly to the front of the group to the General. Who looked… Familiar. He tuned out the conversation, taking in the area from within the uncomfortable huddle. He needed to find something to lean on if they were going to be standing around. 

“-Eiling. You can tell that to the enemy, your group can go on ahead.”

“Dave Ealing?” Freddy couldn't help but question under his breath, and the General twisted his head a little, eyes widening. 

“Close. That was my Pa, Lieutenant Marvel. Didn't know you were still alive!”

“Lieutenant?” Questioned Robin, sharp as ever. 

“Aye. Your team is damn lucky to have this fella with you, Robin, he's an old hat at war. My father served with him in the battle of Stalingrad.”

“I've been going by Marvel Junior since the War ended.” Freddy managed, a little shocked by the man's memory. Or rather, his father's. 

“Mn. I'd say it's worth taking that old hat back up, Junior.” The General looked him over with a critical eye, “You and the Captain kept our men going when all felt lost, and with how it is now? We’ll need symbols as much as we need fighters. That goes for all of you kids, you hear?”

“We understand.” Aqualad confirmed, and with a purposeful step the crowd parted like water might have with a flick of his whips. Single file, the Team approached the ruins of the city. The ruins of the Hall of Justice.