Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Hal Jordan walked through the halls of the watchtower—and for the first time in awhile, he was early! (He is totally going to rub this in Barry's face later!)

Hal strolled up to the meeting room doors, opening them with a hiss and walked in, but stopped in the doorway noticing a certain captain who stood leaning against the large windows of the meeting room; Captain Marvel seemed to be studying a small glass jar in his hands, turning it around and watching a small glow move.

Hal stood in the doorway observing Captain Marvel, the hero always seemed to be so aware of his surroundings, so it was weird to see him so.. Distracted.

Hal stepped into the room expecting him to immediately look up like he usually did, and– nothing.

Captain Marvel stood still as a statue as he leaned against the window, the only movement coming from him being the almost robotic turn of the glass held in his hands.

Hal hummed to himself before slowly walking up to Captain Marvel, he stood beside him and looked up at the hero's face, Marvel's face was blank, barely a twitch in his eyebrows as he shifted the jar again, Hal had never seen him so lost in thought.

Hal grinned to himself.

Hal reached over and placed his hand on Captain Marvel's shoulder, "Hey cap! Looking at something?" He asked, grinning.

"ACk!" Captain Marvel shrieked, fumbling to catch the glass jar that had just slipped from his grasp, "Green lantern! I uh, I didn't see you there!" He looked over at Hal, giving him one of his boy-scout smiles.

Hal smirked at the taller hero's antics, but paused to inspect the bottle held tightly in Marvel's grasp, noticing the small storm cloud that seemed to spark against the walls of the glass, Marvel noticed his stare, quickly attempting to hide the jar behind himself.

"Oh- um, this is nothing, just a boring magic thing," Marvel spluttered "you, you need something? Your uh-" *cough* "early?" He squeaked.

"Yeah.. I set my alarm a little earlier today,” Hal said, studying Marvel's face before seemingly deciding to ignore his behavior, "Batman got on me last week for arriving late so I'm 'putting my hero duties first'," Hal mocked, putting up his fingers in quotation marks.

Captain Marvel chuckled, “Yeah he scolded me too a month ago for missing that meeting,” he lifted the jar above his head, catching the horizon in the glass, "It's just how he shows he cares,” Marvel looked back at him with a grin.

Hal rolled his eyes, “Yeah cares.” He scoffed, “Marvel I know you might not get it because he goes easy on you, but I swear he purposely picks me to yell at!” Hal waved his hand dramatically.

Marvel smiled slightly. But his attention was grabbed once more by the glass in his hands, his eyes glossing over as he stared at its reflections.

Hal noticed his science and looked over at Marvel, following his gaze to the jar and sighed “Man, what is up with you today? You've been distracted,”

Captain Marvel's eyes quickly shot back down at him, an apologetic look on his face, “Sorry, I've been busy.. Uh working on some stuff,” Marvel fell back into silence, this time looking at the other hero.

Hal hummed at his answer and nodded “Yeah, I get that,” he gave Marvel a sympathetic look before his eyes traveled back to the jar, “Anyways.. I know you said it was nothing but, what's up with the jar?” Hal asked.

Marvel's eyes got wide, he looked back and forth at the jar and Hal before coughing and pulling the jar back down behind himself.

Ignoring Hal's question, Marvel side-stepped Hal, "I, um.. I just realized I should not have this here" Marvel said holding the jar up, "I'm gonna go, uh, put it back at the rock.."

Hal opened his mouth but was cut off by a wave of Captain Marvel's hand.

“I'm so sorry but I really need to put this away,” Marvel said quickly before stumbling out of the meeting room, forehead hitting the doorframe on his way out.

Hal stared at the door Marvel had run out of, listening to the sound of his zeta code being called out, "Weird guy.." Hal mumbled to himself before sliding into his seat to wait for the league to arrive.

Very loosely based off the movie Song Of The Sea, and I mean VERY loose

Captain Marvel is known among the league as being as big of a boy scout as Superman, very few have seen him angry before, let alone sad. Most people ignore it and just chalk it up to him being just an upbeat guy.
Maybe there's more to it?

Chapter Text

A dark cloud of smoke alerted Captain Marvel as he flew through the sky, he abruptly stopped to stare down at it, sighing he mumbled to himself "I just wanted to see superman.."

Marvel sent himself flying down to the cloud, using a little superspeed when he noticed the burning building at its base. The captain's boots landed on the ground, he looked up at the burning skyscraper for a moment before flying inside.

The window broke upon impact as he threw himself inside, he listened for the sounds of breathing, he caught the sounds of small tears instead. Captain Marvel pulled himself in a crouch then launched himself up through the floors above him.

As he broke through the floors feeling the heat beat against his body, he heard the sobs get louder and louder before he finally reached them.

"Hel-" a small cough echoed through the burning building, "Hello?" A small voice said from behind a flipped table.

Captain Marvel nudged the table to the side before looking down at the girl who sat behind it, he knelt down, the floor creaking as his knee hit it.

"Hello, I'm gonna pick you up, okay?" Marvel said, clipping his cape off.

"Okay," the little girl said before she was swiftly enveloped in Captain Marvel's cape and picked up.

Marvel stared down at her for a moment, she must have been eight or nine, Billy was only a year older than her! He didn't know how to feel about that.

After wrapping her in his cape, he flew out the top of the building, his large form shielding her from the bricks that scattered, landing a few feet away, he heard the sound of boots hitting the ground behind himself.

"Got her?" Captain Marvel turned around to face a smiling Superman, nodding in his direction.

Captain Marvel eased the girl to the floor, making sure she could stand before looking up at Superman.

"Yup, got her out," Marvel smiled back at him, "where have you been?" He asked with a smirk.

Superman crossed his arms, "Well, I was going to go back in and grab her, but I heard you coming and, well, you seemed like you had it?" He snarked back.

"Ugh. You know sometimes I really dislik-" Marvel was cut off by the sound of footsteps racing toward them.

A reporter dressed in a tan suit rushed forward, notepad in hand. The reporter looked down at the girl standing next to the captain with a spark in his eyes.

"Hello miss, did you see what happened here? Who caused this attac-" the reporter rambled off questions to the startled kid before being cut off.

"Hey man, back off." Captain Marvel said, stepping in front of the girl, "If you have questions you should wait for one of us to come to you," Marvel attempted to speak lightly.

"Sir, if you could go back behind the line? That would be great," Superman pointed to the line of officers that were stationed a block away, "you really shouldn't be ov-"

The reporter's voice spoke over him, "I'm not waiting to hear the regurgitation of you heros, the people deserve to hear what actually happened." The reporter glared at the two heroes before turning to the girl again and resuming his questions.

Superman's eye twitched but before he could respond he watched as Captain Marvel's hand shot out towards the man, responding quickly he grabbed his wrist and pulled it back tightly.

The reporter jumped back, "What, what the hell!" He yelled, "I've never, in a million years, been . . ."

Billy's mind went foggy as he stared at his hand in Superman's grasp, he looked up at the reporter he had almost harmed and sucked in a shaky breath, the world seemed blocked out as he took a step back before the sound of Superman's voice shook him out of it.

"Cap! Cap!" Superman was staring into his eyes now, both the reporter and the girl must have left when he zoned out, Marvel nodded slowly and Superman's brows furrowed, "what was that man? I was trying to get your attention for a full minute, and you were trying to hit that reporter?! What's going on?" He asked.

He waited for marvel to speak for a minute before sighing, stare turned stern, "I mean you can't just react like that!" He released his wrist, "Marvel, say something."

Captain Marvel's eyes focused slowly before speaking, "I need to go." He flew off, leaving Superman in a cloud of smoke, Superman yelled from below but he ignored it.

—

Clark didn't know what to think of Captain Marvel's behavior, the man had always been a more allusive member of the JL, but even so he still felt he could trust him.

Watching him fly away he felt slightly sick, afterall Marvel is known among heroes as being kind and compassionate, getting mad enough to physically hurt someone, especially a civilian, felt out of the ordinary.

Superman looked back at the girl being treated by parametrics before jumping into the air, attempting to follow his coworker.

He flew through the clouds, raindrops showered over him as the weather got tougher as he flew higher, Clark Keened his listening for the captain's specific buzzing sound—hes never heard a heart beat come from the man only a static buzz—catching a slight buzz come from his left he threw himself towards it.

Superman blew past a stray lighting bolt before finally catching sight of Captain Marvel, he went to open his mouth but paused when he saw the hero pull out a small jar.

Captain Marvel slowly released the cork from the jar and dark clouds flowed from him into the cup, the hero made a small choking sound as the lighting bolt in his chest flickered, the clouds around them crashed with thunder before Marvel carefully placed the cork back over the jar.

Superman floated still as he watched the formerly distressed hero look up with a dead expression on his face, his expression morphing into horror as he made eye contact with Superman.

Marvel's voice cracked as he tried to speak, he stared at Superman with an open mouth before flying away.

Clark thinks he should tell Batman about this.

Chapter Text

Captain Marvel stumbled through the doors of Fawcett train station, his boots dragged across the floor as he made his way towards the sound of an oncoming train.

The Train sped forward, skidding to a halt in front of him, Captain Marvel placed his palm against the doors just as they opened, pausing for a moment before stepping in.

He heaved a sigh of relief as he slouched onto one of the seats, his eyes blinking slowly before shutting, mind fading to black as the lights flickered.

—

Captain Marvel opened his eyes to see the stone floor of the cave stare back at him, he blinked away the fog that seeped into his vision and slowly got up, his cheek feeling cold as it lost contact with the floor. Marvel shook his head and turned, making his way towards the thrones.

He stepped into the throne room sluggishly, his hand supporting himself against the wall, he slowly looked up at where his throne sat, sighing, he let go of the wall and made his way forward.

He reached his throne and fell knees first in front of it, his fingers grasping the edge of the seat as he attempted to catch his non-existent breath

. Billy slowly opened his eyes, staring down at the lighting bolt on his chest as it blinked back at him like a broken lightbulb.

"SH-" *cough* "SHAZAM!" Captain Marvel yelled, lightning slammed over him, red suit melting away, leaving Billy's shaking form in his place.

Billy sucked in a heavy breath before attempting to pull himself onto the throne, his now small hand pushing against the floor.

His hands slipped, his body had felt weaker ever since he started using the bottles, he attempted to use the edge of the seat to pull himself up, but his hands felt clammy and his body just hurt.

"Mamargan!" Billy called out, his voice echoed against the walls, "Hello?" Billy weakly attempted to pull himself up again before thin hands appeared on his wrists, Billy attempted to remove his hands to no result.

"Billy, stay still." Mamargan mumbled, waiting for him to stop thrashing before releasing Billy's wrists and picking Billy up, Mamargan placed Billy onto the throne, his eyes grazing over his pale face.

Billy sat, breath weakly coming, The wizard's eyes traveled down to Billy's legs, brows pinching at the sight of the stone stump that had replaced them. Mamargan huffed at the sight and looked up into Billy's eyes.

"..Billy," Mamargan said softly, Billy slowly looked down, attempting to focus on the wizard's face, "This needs to stop." He said softly.

Billy twitched abruptly, focusing onto the kneeling wizard in front of him, "No!" He yelled "I, I can't." Billy said, staring down Mamargan.

Billy shifted in his seat attempting to sit up straight, his legs scraped the floor as he pushed himself up.

"We both know I can't." Billy begged.

The wizard was silent for a moment before speaking, "But you can."

"No." Billy spoke with conviction, meeting his eyes.

Mamargan spoke gently, "Yes you can, you don't need to lock your feelings away," He said with earnest, taking Billy's hands into his, "Pleas-"

"NO!" Billy cut him off "I can't," Billy pulled his hands away, wrapping them around himself like a shield, "I'm meant to be better than this! I'm meant to be good." Billy's voice shook as he spoke.

Mamargan attempted to retake Billy's hands but was pushed away, Billy stared him down, tears pooling at the corners of his eyes.

"You're the one who said I needed to be 'Pure of heart', if, if I end up hurting someone because I couldn't contain my emotions that-" Billy took a deep breath, "That means you picked wrong, and that, I wasn't meant to be chosen."

"Billy you know I spent a long time looking for someone suitable," the wizard said slowly, "Before I, died, I had little time to pick, but even with that time limit, choosing you wasn't a mistake-"

Billy scoffed

Mamargan pressed on, "You are one of, if not the most, pure hearted person I looked over throughout my search." The sides of his eyes crinkled as he spoke, "I picked right Billy."

Billy was silent, staring past Mamargan's head, "Please leave," he said quietly, "Please."

"Billy you can't just-" Mamargan was cut off

"Leave!" Billy screamed, eyes locking onto Mamargans.

". . . Fine." The wizard said before getting up and walking away, disappearing into a cloud.

Billy sat alone, his breath coming out uneven before his tears broke through, Billy sobbed as tears streamed down his face, his hands coming down to scrape down his stone legs.

A loud beeping noise broke Billy out of his sobs, he looked around before digging through his pockets and pulling out his communicator, sighing at the blinking light.

"SHAZAM! " Billy's voice cracked with the lightning, Captain Marvel stared at the communicator before placing it in his ear.

"Hello?" Marvel said cheerily.

"Captain Marvel," Batman's voice growled through the com "Come to the watchtower."

"Oh jeez, did I do something?" Marvel joked "you sound real mad Batman?"

". . . Just hurry." Batman said before a click echoed through the room.

Pulling the com from his ear, Marvel sighed for a moment before pulling out a jar from behind the throne.

He stared at the jar for what felt like ages, the clear glass reflected ‘his’ face in what almost felt mocking.

Marvel popped the jar open "you can open it later." He whispered just as another storm cloud was pulled from him.

Chapter Text

Captain Marvel stepped out of the Zeta tube doors and into the long hallway that led to the meeting room, he stood outside the door for a moment, pretending to take breaths and counting how many blinks he needed to do per minute to seem "normal" before he made his way toward the meeting room doors. 

Marvel began to him softly, the sound echoing against the walls as he walked toward the door. 

The doors slowly opened with a small hiss, Marvel waited until they were fully open before stepping inside. 

"Captain Marvel."

"Batman, uh, sir?" Marvel stopped in his tracks and looked down to meet the cold eyes of the cowl. 

"Come, sit." Another voice said kindly. 

Marvel's head swiveled to look at Superman's grim smile. Noticing more figures, his head kept turning; he noticed more and more members of the justice league. 

Flash

Green lantern

Wonderwoman

Batman

Superman

Green Arrow

Black Canary

And—

John Constantine

Oh gods. 

"Wow, you're all here, Great.." Captain Marvel said with a tight smile, "I, um... Okay now I'm actually wondering if I did do something wrong?" His eyes darted from Constantine to Batman. 

Black Canary spoke up first, "You're not in trouble Captain, so plea—" She was cut off by a British accent. 

"Oh Christ. just sit already!" John Constantine complained. 

Captain Marvel looked between them all before making his way to his seat, Billy felt pinpricks on the back of his neck as he walked to his chair. 

Captain Marvel coughed "So." He attempted to avoid eye contact with Batman, "What's this about..?" He asked. 

"Captain Marvel, you recently helped Superman with a fire in Metropolis, correct?" Batman said slowly. 

"Okay so we're just getting into it," Marvel said under his breath, "Yes I did,"

"And it went, well?" Canary had a comforting smile on her face as she spoke. 

 "I think s—" . . . "Is this about that reporter?.. Because I swear that was an accident!" He raised his hands defensively. 

"What reporter?" the justice league (minus superman) asked, before looking over to a flustered looking Superman. 

Superman coughed, "I uh, meant to get into that, but—" He quieted down at Batman's look. 

Batman glared at Superman, "We’ll get back to that, Superman. But no, I wasn't talking about a reporter," Billy internally heaved a sigh of relief "Superman said you left the fire quickly and that he followed you—" Billy internally screamed "—and that he saw something, 'worrying'." Batman said the last part of the sentence slowly. 

"I, dont know what you could mean," Marvel attempted to look Batman in the eyes, "I went right back to the rock after I helped him out." The captain rubbed the back of his neck. 

"Really?" Batman squinted at him. 

"Really." Marvel said with a smile. 

The league, plus Constantine, looked at him with matching disapproving glares, Marvel felt his hands dig into his leg under the table as he attempted to ground himself. 

"Well, when he brought it up, Green Lantern also had something to say." Batman raised an expectant eyebrow at Green lantern. 

Hal stepped forward, "Yeah man, uh, you were acting strange a week ago.. And then Superman came to us and brought up a jar," Marvel smiled tightened, "And then I remembered that you also had a jar when I saw you! So we went through the camera feed and" Hal turned to Batman. 

Batman pulled a small remote out of his pocket and turned the TV on.

The tv went fuzzy for a moment before a video of the meeting room began playing. 

* * *

The meeting room was silent, only the faint sound of captain marvels Zeta code could be heard before the doors opened and said man stumbled into the room, his face obscured from the camera's view. 

He slammed into the table and fell to the floor, the Captain stayed knelt in front of the table for a moment before using the edge to pick himself up, he stared at the floor, seemingly attempting to breath before attempting to walk towards the tall windows.

Captain Marvel braced himself against the glass before slowly turning so his back was against the window. As he leaned against the glass his face came into view and it became apparent that he's crying. 

Captain Marvel attempted to gather himself a few times before his hands came up to press into his eyes. He stood frozen for a few moments before his hands left his face and he looked coldly down at them. 

Captain Marvel clenched and unclenched his hands a few times before he mumbled something incomprehensible and a small portal appeared from them.

He slowly reached into the portal and after fumbling around for a bit, he pulled out a small glass jar, he stared blankly at the jar and popped the cork off. 

The camera began to shutter as a storm cloud is slowly ripped from Captain Marvel sparks jump off his red suit and into the jar, he buckles slightly over as a large black cloud slid into the jar

The last of the cloud left his body, the lights in the room began to flicker and the lightning bolt on his chest slowly dimmed. 

Captain Marvel slammed the cork back onto the now full jar, the lights in the room returned to normal along with the bolt in his chest. He stared blankly at the jar in his hands, the wetness on his face dried and puffiness in his eyes already gone, the only sign he was ever in distress is the white-nuckle grip he has on the jar as he methodically begins to turn it in his palms. 

The sound of the Zeta tubes announcing Green Lanterns arrival are heard but The man showed no reaction, the doors opened smoothly and Green Lan—

* * *

The room was silent as Marvel stared blankly at the frozen frame of Hal stepping inside the room. 

Constantine spoke up first "Where did you get the jars?" He questioned. 

"Thats none of your business." Constantine scoffed. 

"Of course it's my bloody business! If those jars are in circulation, that'll mean I'll have to deal with them." He glared at Captain Marvel, "So. where did you get them?"

"Nobody else will be able to get them." Captain Marvel said quietly, Constantine gave a loud groan in return. 

"Mate, I just need to know where you got them." He tiredly begged before rubbing a hand down his face. 

"They were just," *sigh* "I found them in my.. Home." Captain Marvel said slowly, "They were just lying around."

"Uh uh.. And where exactly is your 'home'?" Constantine asked with a raise of his eyebrow. 

"We both know I can't answer that." Marvel glared. 

The man sighed, "Well, I'm going to need you to hand them over," 

"No."

"No?"

"No. I'm not going to just give them to yo—"

"Hey guys" Constantine and Marvel looked over to the Flash "You haven't exactly explained what these 'jars' are?" He asked. 

"They're nothi—"

"They're the Jars of Macha, they used to belong to an old Irish sea goddess, before she was slain," Constantine cut him off, "They pull the emotions from any being, mortal or god." Black Canary looked at Marvel with concern etched in her features. 

"So..why does Captain Marvel have them now?" Barry asked. 

"Thats what I want to know, they were supposedly lost to the seas when she died, but now I'm hearing that not only are they back, but our dear Captain over here, has multiple of them."

"Captain Marvel, if they are really as dangerous as Constantine is saying, then you need to hand them over." Batman said sternly. 

Captain Marvel's jaw tightened for a moment, he glanced at Batman for a moment before looking away and getting up from his chair, he turned toward the door and attempted to walk to it, but his arm was suddenly tugged back by a worried looking superman. 

"Marvel, you can't leave just yet," he said with a gentle smile, one he probably used on civilians; his grip on Marvel's forearm tightening slightly. 

"Sit down." Batman spoke from behind superman. 

Marvel seemed to mull it around in his head for a moment before he turned around and sat back down. 

"Thank you," 

"You need to give them to me." Constantine said coolly. 

"The jars need to be handed over to the justice league to be properly handled by one of our magic users." Batman said ignoring Constantine's previous statement. 

"As much as I would love to hand these off to your club, Batsy, you aren't exactly equipped to handle this," Constantine said, turning to Batman. 

"The magic users of the Justice League are more than prepared to deal with magic items of all kinds,"

"Obviously not if you had to call me in,"

"They’re—"

"I can't give you the jars.." Captain marvel said with a grimace. 

Batman turned back to him, "What do you mean 'you can't'?"  

"I.. I just can't, okay? I need them." Marvel said softly. 

"Cap, I don't know if you realize this but if the jars fall into the wrong hands they will cause catastrophic damage." John Constantine glared at the taller man.

"What damage? I thought they only got rid of emotions?" Hal asked. 

Constantine huffed through his nose, "While the emotional part of the jars isn't, technically, that big of an issue, they still have the adverse effect of causing the user to turn to stone."

The room went dead silent after Constantine stopped speaking, what few eyes weren't on captain marvel shot towards him. 

"He doesn't.. look like he's turning to stone?" Wonder woman questioned. 

"Yes I was confused about that too, but we can discuss that later, after I get the jars." Constantine said. 

Batman's eye twitched. 

"Captain Marvel, if the jars can cause people to turn to stone, we need to contain them safely." Wonder Woman spoke after a pause. 

"I have them contained.."

Constantin groaned, "Bloody hell! Just give up the jars already!" He yelled. 

"I can't!" Marvel slammed his hands onto the table and stood up, the lights in the room flickered as he screamed, "I need them! I don't want to, to hurt anyone!"

"Captain Marvel, I need you to calm down." Batman stood up too, hand itching towards a batarang on his belt. 

“I am calm!” He yelled. 

“Captain Marvel, please, calm down,” Canary cautioned, hands raised in a soothing gesture.

Captain Marvel froze and looked around at his coworkers, now noticing how they were standing stiff, ready to lunge, "I- I'm sorry," Marvel's voice cracked and he backed up, bumping into his chair. 

Canary spoke with a professional calm, "Marvel, if you need help regulating your emotions we can get you hel—"

"I don't need help. I just need the jars." Marvel said with a shakily. 

Batman slowly walked around the table, stepping forward so he stood only a few feet away from Marvel. 

"Captain Marvel, as Constantine has said, if these jars get out to the public they could injure people."

"I know that." Marvel groaned in frustration. 

"Do you?" The captain opened his mouth but Batman continued speaking, "We don't know how you're containing the jars, you refuse to tell us where you're keeping them. How can we be sure they're being kept out of a villain's hands when you yourself are using them? Can you promise they'll never end up there?" Batman said sternly. 

He walked closer to marvel so he stood directly in front of the taller hero. 

" . . . " 

“Well?”

"I'm leaving." Marvel's voice was hoarse as he stepped around Batman and headed for the door. 

he heard Batman call his name and the footsteps of his fellow heroes hurry behind him, but he really couldn't care at that moment. 

Pulling his arm away from where Superman's hand had stretched out to grab him, he made his last few strides to the door before Wonder Woman marched past him. 

Wonder woman stepped in front of the door, "Marvel. I understand that you may have relied on these jars for a while now, but the Justice League has an obligation to make sure objects like the jars of Macha are secured, away from people who may use them." Her eyes sharpened. 

"Please move," Captain Marvel said with a pained look in his eyes. 

"Captain Marvel, we are still talking," Batman said from behind them. "Please, sit back down."

"Diana, I really need you to move," He asked, his voice almost a begged. 

Wonder Woman's eyes softened slightly at the use of her name, but she gripped her lasso tighter and continued to stare the other hero down, silently daring him to try and move her. 

Captain Marvel pressed his palms to his eyes and let out a small groan. 

Bringing his hands down slowly, he lunged forward. 

Wonder woman reacted immediately, pulling her hands up in preparation to block, Marvel sent a punch in her direction, she feigned and pushed his arm over just as Superman slammed into captain Marvel's side. 

The force of both their attacks sent him a few feet away from the door, but he readied himself. 

he lunged forward again, Superman and Wonder Woman both prepared to attack but he flew around them, going straight for the door, his hands pressed against the door just as a hand gripped the back of his cape. 

He turned to face the person but instead came face to face with a hard fist. 

Wonder Woman's fist slammed into his nose, pushing him into the door, he picked himself up just as he heard the sound of a small hiss behind him, and before anyone could react, he flew out the meeting room. 

—

'Oh gods.'

‘Billy why did you attack your coworkers’ He thought to himself as he ran out the doors

—

Captain Marvel flew down the hallway, pushing his speed slightly faster than normal, he almost hit the Zeta tube face first had stopped just before he did. 

He slammed his hand into the machine and heard it begin to fire up. 

He stood in front of the it, silently praying to whatever gods were listening at that moment (probably just the six) for it to hurry up. 

He heard the robotic voice say *Faucett* above him and scrambled inside, he stepped in just time to hear frantic yelling behind him. 

"Marvel! Wait!" He turned to see the Flash's hand going for him just as the Zeta tube activated.