Captain Marvel and the Shadowpact #4

[The Wonderful Wachter]

Ultimate Captain Marvel and The Shadowpact #4
Wayward Son Pt 2
Don’t Cry No more

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The tomb of Ramses II did not stand empty on this eve. This eve that would forever change the magical world. Their champion, The Champion, Earth’s Mightiest Mortal would make a choice today and it would not be a simple choice. Nothing as inane as “I choose evil!!!” or “From now I, I shall forever be virtuous!!!” This moment in time would be defined by how William Batson choose to act. Not if he wanted to be good or bad, that path had been chosen the first instance he uttered the word SHAZAM! And it had been more complicated than just black and white.

Trinity.

A Trinity.

The Trinity of the Magical World.

Teth-Adam, William Batson, and Vlarem.

If the tension had not been so thick then Will was positive he would laugh himself silly. They were three of the most powerful humans that had ever lived and yet here they stood at an impasse; torn about what to do next. Not a simple situation he found himself in. Not that he expected it to be solved with a simple request for his predecessor to teach him.

Teth-Adam, clad in a black body stocking older than everything Will owned combined and in better condition, had his arms crossed, portraying an imposing presence as he looked down on the boy and beyond him, ever searching the world with his mind to see what had changed. A vein popped out of his brow and stretched back across his smooth head. It seemed to pulse in conjunction with the flickering of his eyes. Every glare at Will brought with it a clenching of his fist in frustration.

He had not moved since the revelation that Shazam had kept him imprisoned far past his time. Not to take a single step. Not to stretch. He glowered before the throne that had been his prison, a throne wonderfully crafted as only the ancient Egyptians could craft. Black and gold it was with veins of rubies telling the story of his life and the tale of his demise. The old Kings of England had nothing on this chair.

Probably wasn’t that comfy now that Will took the time to consider it had no padding whatsoever. How Teth-Adam could have sat there for centuries, unmoving, sealed behind a prophecy was beyond him. Shazam’s sense of justice was even more confusing. It was he who had trapped his Champion there, alive and aware yet unable to act. A prisoner of his own mind as much as he was prisoner in the tomb.

“He is here, is he not? Vlarem.” The last word, the name, came out dripping with condescending venom and a hint of bitter sorrow.

Will did not turn his head to confirm that the great wizard Shazam was indeed there. He had no need to. On the edge of his perception, he could feel the spirit of the being once known as Jebediah of Canaan. The Wizard had moved beyond the mortal plane although he maintained his own appearance on Earth in an image that Will had yet to figure out was if how Shazam saw himself or how Will believed the Wizard should look. The flowing robes. The white hair as long as his beard. That hooked nose. Will knew if he had to look, Shazam would always be there.

“Yes.”

“He has taken away my right to perceive him. Fitting in a sense, I suppose.”

“If it makes you feel better, he doesn’t even let the Stranger or Fate see him nowadays. Just me.”

“Fate?”

“You knew him as Nabu,” Will explained calmly and evenly. He possessed the wisdom to know this revelation would be a powder keg to Teth-Adam. “Lord of Order. Pompous. Thinks he’s always right but never takes a step without considering it for an eternity.” The flaring of the man’s eyes made Will rethink his choice of words. “He’s taken a page out of The Wizard’s book. Sealed himself away and made others his champions known as Fate. Corny really. Last one calls himself Doctor Fate despite never earning his M.D..”

Teth-Adam frowned and it was a frown to be jealous of. Will could feel the displeasure washing over him. He wanted to be able to do that too.

“M.D.. You know, for a Magical Degree. Not medical.”

“Humorous.”

“I thought it was…” Will retorted in challenging tone.

A magnificent arched eyebrow was Teth-Adam’s response to his insolence. He finally took a step forward, towards Will, and the boy did not back down. Will stood with his fingers in his jacket pockets ready to react in a nanosecond of notice.

Teth-Adam raised his hand and with blinding speed swept it down across Will’s face. Or rather, that’s what it appeared to be for those with unknowing eyes. The boy didn’t so much as flinch in reaction when the back of the hand stopped a hairsbreadth from his cherubic cheek. In return, the corner of the man’s lip twitched upwards for a moment before settling back into a frown.

“How did you know I would stop?”

“I didn’t.”

“Yet you did nothing to prevent me from hitting you.”

Shoulders rose up in a shrug as if to say it was obvious and Teth-Adam was a fool for not noticing. “I trusted you wouldn’t harm your savior even if I am protected by the man you hate. If you had hit me then so what? I’m used to being hit. I’d just pick myself up and let you inflate your own ego with the knowledge you beat up a child.”

“You would not have attacked afterwards?”

“What would I have to gain by proving I am The Champion and you’re just a champion? You weren’t going to kill me. The bruise would have faded. And you’d have lost yourself an ally.”

“So you knew this was a test?”

“Yes,” Will arched his own brow, trying to mimic Teth-Adam’s gesture, “for you.”

The frown slowly faded into an arrogant smirk. Teth-Adam removed his hand from Will’s cheek, patting the boy on the shoulder, before return to his default stance of arms crossed. Except there was a difference this time. His glare was approving.

Without waiting for the boy to react, Teth-Adam pushed past Will with a giant step. Then another. The ancient warrior’s long strides carried him farther away from his savior and up the tunnel. He tried not to look it, tried not to appear frantic, but there was a purpose in each step. This was not a flight from his tomb. This was a man in need to see the open sky after years of being buried beneath sand and stone.

It was also a man who was testing a potential student once again.

Will refused to play into that game. There was no way he could keep up short of jogging. Nor was there any sense in being offended that he was expected to follow. When Adam’s steps became echoes, he turned on his heel and followed at his own pace. He could have used magic to beat his predecessor to the surface yet he felt that would have been the wrong move. Much better to make Teth-Adam wait on him.

Unbeknownst to him, Shazam nodded his head with his own approval.

The sky had turned dark by the time Will reached Teth-Adam’s side. The man stared at the stars overhead, his face masked of emotion. His standing was stoic. His bearing near volatile. There was nothing as far as the eye could see. It was a far cry from what he could remember. A far cry of what it would have been had he been able to finish his reign.

“The stars are dimmer.”

“Technology and pollution,” explained Will in a hushed tone. He matched Teth-Adam’s stance. Side by side the pair stood, scanning the empty Egyptian sky.

The third man in their party remained apart, outside of the vision of the only boy who could see him. He had no need to look at the sky in this form. He had watched their movements for what had seemed like an eternity. He knew every death and every birth. He knew every name the stars and constellations had in every culture. A few had even been named by him and in honor of him. Yet he looked up with the same awe the other two felt. Underneath a night sky, in the middle of a desert, he felt alone and at peace. Memories threatened to reawaken from when he had once walked these grounds himself.

Out of the corner of his eye, Teth-Adam glanced down at the boy… His replacement. His successor. So different than him. “My daughter, she…”

“She had a small boy after two still births. She named him after you.”

“Were they… did they have happy lives?”

A slight tilt of the head and a look of concentration crossed Will’s face. “I don’t know. She fled across the Medierranean. Hid from the Shadowpact’s protection. Even learned spells to keep her son from assuming his place as the next Champion. So my memories are fuzzy on the whole time period.”

The silence of the desert was different than any other Will had ever experienced. It was so encompassing here in the dead zone surrounding Ramses II’s pyramid. If he was any other child, he would have broken it. But he was more than just a child, a boy not yet in the thrall of puberty. Teth-Adam needed the quiet. Needed to sort things out.

“Would you truly not have retaliated had I hit you?” the man finally said; his tone grim and determined to hear a different answer.

“Did you really want to hit me?”

“Yes.”

Will took the honesty for what it was worth. “Then I could ask you why you didn’t but I won’t. Just like I wouldn’t have attacked you. I had nothing to gain from it like I said.”

“Hmph. That is where you are wrong,” Teth-Adam turned to face him, his voice solemn. “We will have to break you of that weakness.”

“Break me?”

The Wizard stepped into Will’s field of vision, his face clouded with restrained fury. His eyes glowed with the power of the gods. Will could see him start to show the same antsy tells whenever he was ignored long enough. Not a good sign.

Probably shouldn’t let Teth-Adam know.

“You came to me for answers, correct? For me to teach you how to be the Champion this world needs. Not the one Vlarem is grooming you to be.” Teth-Adam spread his arms wide, slowly stepping in a circle to indicate everything around them. “Soon enough, all those stars you see shall fall from the heavens. The sky will turn black. Darkness will cover the world and you will be the one to—“

”ENOUGH!” roared Shazam through a voice not his own.

It happened in a flash. Lightning fell from the sky, the bolt striking Will in the center of the chest. His body flew into the air, his body flung like a ragdoll. The ghost that was Shazam faded into a cloudy mist of energy. Will tried to fight it. He knew what was coming. Knew he could not stop it. Hated every single time it happened but there was nothing he could do. The mist slammed into him, encompassing his very being in a power not his own.

He was the Hand of the Wizard and sometimes Shazam preferred to control it himself.

Blinded by the lightning, propelled deeper into the sand by the force of the blast, Teth-Adam crouched at the ready. He could remember the few times it had happened to him ever so long ago. . . How it had taken him years and years before he could expel the spirit who always, always, always thought he knew what was best for his Champions and the magical world. The bastard who would sacrifice his children and his children’s children to do his duty.

The light faded.

Sand heated to glass.

Hovering ten feet in the air, floated Vlarem in William Batson’s body. The two had fused into one. Will had aged over a decade in that instant. His black hair was slicked black, his face severe. His clothing harkened back to another age entirely. A fantastic red tunic, elaborate in its design, was lined with gold; most notably the bolt of lightning across his chest. Expensive looking boots protected his feet while a white mantle covered his broad shoulders.

This was the Champion of Magic.

The World’s Mightiest Mortal.

He was Captain Marvel.

“I will not have you teach the boy your arrogance, your poor choice in loyalties!” growled Marvel.

“Lying even now, Great Wizard?” Teth-Adam rose in the air to face his former mentor. “He deserves to know the truth. And you forget, I was once in his place. I know he can still hear me, locked away screaming in his own skull, no one to listen to his cries for freedom other than you.”

“I ask you, please, for your own good… Say not one more word.” Electricity flowed across Marvel’s body. A tell for attack Teth-Adam remembered. “He is special! He hasn’t been cor—“

“I WAS SPECIAL!” screamed the less ancient warrior. He tensed, ready for the blows to come. “Fight it, William. I know you can. Do not let the old fool control you! He will only—“ The haymaker from nowhere crafted a man-shaped crater deep into the earth before Teth-Adam could finish his encouragement.

Captain Marvel rained down blows on the former champion, burying him in sand, roaring up storm about them. Each strike brought with it the peal of clamoring thunder. Every impact blasted sound waves around them; ripples crossing the desert as if it was an ocean. It was a furious assault. Shazam refused to let Teth-Adam gain his bearings. His once greatest ally was a fierce warrior… one that had brought the likes of Shadowpact’s greatest members to their knees.

One who had once pierced the veil to the Rock of Eternity.

Shazam could not let him stand, to fight. He had to end this now before the boy heard more.

Stop! cried Will to no avail. He fought against the cage inside his own mind. His metaphysical hands pried at the bars. His feet kicked at the walls. No one could free him. Nothing he could do could stop it.

He hated being Captain Marvel.

It wasn’t just the power it brought. That mountain shattering strength… But when Shazam possessed him, he felt he lost a part of his being. Every time there was a little less Will and a little more Vlarem left behind when he was finally freed.

“Fight it, William!” Teth-Adam croaked between broken teeth.

I’m trying!

Teth-Adam brought in his knees and positioned his legs to launch Marvel off him. Tumbling in the sky, he steadied himself, preparing for an attacking that never came. Teth-Adam rose slowly to match him in air. One of his arms hung limp. He wasn’t drawing on his power to keep himself strong. He wasn’t fighting back. Both Will and Shazam noticed this key fact but that didn’t stop the latter from rocketing forward to attack once more.

The beaten man blocked the first punch. He took the next kick on his numb arm. He ducked beneath a superspeed closeline only to miss Marvel reversing almost instantaneously to slam the back of his elbow in Teth-Adam’s head. The warrior fell a few feet to the ground. He spun even quicker, readying himself for what he would have done and what he knew Marvel was about to.

WHUUUWHUMPH!!!

The crash of their collision thundered all the way to Bialya across the sea. Marvel’s tackle carried Teth-Adam straight through the stone of his tomb, the pyramid crumbling beneath them. The rock turned to dust. Dust to powder. Powder to vapor. Marvel summoned a wind to free them of the loose objects. He was atop his greatest student, hands together, ready to smash the face in even more.

“Fight…”

Slam!

“…William.” More blood than sound came with Teth-Adam’s speech.

Slam! Slam! Slam!

Teth-Adam’s nose had turned to mush. His face was practically unrecognizable. And still Marvel would not stop. The Strength of Hercules was more than a match for Amon’s power. More so when the other man refused to fight back. Especially with the greater power of Vlarem making Marvel ever stronger.

“I shall seal you away again and no more will –“

This is my body! William’s knuckles bled as he tore through the veil inside his mind. He clawed his way out, more and more of him filling his body and pushing Shazam out. Through the fog, he saw Marvel’s fists stop before they could hit Teth-Adam again.

Gasps. Heavy breathing. Yet Teth-Adam managed a smirk through distorted features. “That is right… Show… Show the wizard you will not…bend.”

Marvel’s arms twitched. They tried to move but with two minds controlling them, they remained frozen.

Get out!

A bolt of lightning exploded out from Marvel’s center, expelling the Wizard from Will’s body. Gasping just as much as Teth-Adam, mentally exhausted instead of physically, Will fell to the side, his head colliding with remnants of the pyramid. A weak laugh vibrated his body. All the work he spent rebuilding the tomb… all for a waste.

Stupid old man.

“Good… job.”

“Sorry,” Will stumbled to his feet, searching for the Wizard. “He must really hold a grudge.”

Teth-Adam grimaced as his body began to glow with healing magic. A weary Will joined in, lending his power to the former Champion to draw on. It was slow going. Bones settled back into place. Teth-Adam’s face started to resemble something more than pulverized meat. His teeth grew back. Yet the bruises remained.

“He has reason to, William.” Teth-Adam accepted the boy’s aid in helping him up despite Will not having the physical strength to truly do anything. “Just as I and many other Champions, yourself included, have justification in questioning his destinies for us.”

Will nodded in understanding. As more of his memories surfaced, he noticed a pattern in the Champions growing disillusioned with the Wizard yet Teth-Adam was the only one ever to take action. His failure and sealing had been a warning to them all.

That was exactly what the boy had been waiting for. An opening to ask without seemingly like he was prying. “Do you know my destiny?”

“Hmph,” Teth-Adam gave him an appraising look, seeing through the act to the truth of the matter. “Yes. I do. Had I not rebelled…well… I shall tell you that potential future some other time.”

“Okay. Cool. But will you tell me what mine is? Zatara, Fate, Stranger… The Wizard. They’re all training me, and at breakneck speed, but they won’t tell me what for. What’s expected of me other than each one saying by rote,” he took on a cheesy adult voice, “You are the greatest wizard ever born, you are the Champion of the Magical World. What does that mean?”

Teth-Adam was silent for long time. He stared at the rubble of his tomb, avoiding the boy’s gaze, then inexplicably he focused on a point just beyond Will’s shoulder. Turning, Will was surprised to find Vlarem standing there in more than mere spiritual form. He had physically left the Rock of Eternity to have his say.

“I shall tell you one day soon,” Teth-Adam placed his battered hand over his heart, “I swear this on the graves of my wives and children. But you are not yet ready to know. Even under my mentorship, I find you lacking in the one thing you need in order to prepare for it.”

“WHAT?!” Will’s outburst showed his age for both men to see. His face twisted in fury. His voice took on a high pitch squeak. Even his lips quivered in unsaid words. “I did this for you. I freed you. I took your side against him! I believed in you! I WANT you as my teacher and you refuse to tell me?”

“William…” Vlarem began.

“I don’t care what you have to say, old man. You know I hate when you do that.” Turning on his heel, tears flung from Will’s eyes as he faced his eldest ancestor. “I do what you tell me. I did what Teth-Adam begged me to do. I listen. But no one ever listens to me. I’m too young. I’m not ready. I don’t know what I’m talking about! But I can feel it… I have no choice but to be ready!”

Teth-Adam put a restraining hand on the boy’s quivering shoulder again, steadying him. “You are right which is why I shall have no secrets from you.”

“Then tell me!”

“I will,” the ancient warrior glared at the bearded wizard as if to dare him to step in once more. “But not today. You are right. They do not listen. You are… cursed. You are a boy with the magical world resting atop your shoulders and you have no one to turn to. I am here now… And for all his puppeteering, Vlarem is here for us both,” Teth-Adam paused to give the old man a chance to deny it. “Yet… we are not your true family.”

Will twisted his tear and sand covered cheeks, questioning him.

“You were born to us, William.” Shazam added in his soft tone, “yet who has been born to you? You have no one to call your friend, your family. Yes, you have allies in the Zataras, Stranger, Fate, and countless others however you do not see them as yours to have. You feel like they have been forced on you and you on them. It has not been your choice.”

“It is time that it is,” finished Teth-Adam, a curious look on his face as he scanned the great Wizard, wondering what had changed. “It is your time to choose. Your time to find your own family.”

Will shook his head, exhaustion overtaking him. All the memories of his time with his uncle broke through the steel door he locked them behind. The beatings. The screamings. He hated it. Hated having a family. “I. . . I don’t need one.”

“Yes, yes you do.” Though his words were directed at Will, Teth-Adam spoke to himself. He too remembered the pain of a family, of its loss. “You have no reason to fight. No one to fight for. You simply act because you are told. A family, a true family, changes that.”

Suddenly, Shazam was on the other side of Will, his hand on the opposite shoulder. “Rest now, William. And dream. You shall find the answers we cannot give you.”

Will’s legs collapsed beneath him. His eyes rolled back into his head. Sleep overtook him in an instant. And in that instant, Teth-Adam gently caught him before he could fall. It would not be the first time, he knew.

Glowering at Vlarem, he did not speak. He would not give the Wizard that benefit.

“You win… this time,” the eternally old voice of Shazam echoed about the empty desert as he slowly faded from existence. “You had much time to plan this revenge. To surpass my teachings.” The eyes filled with lighting gazed down on the sleeping boy. “He has chosen you.

Teth-Adam inclined his head in acceptance. “I learned from you, Grandfather,” the Wizard was all but gone now. “There are times when the best course of action is to do nothing at all.”

Vlarem vanished completely, leaving the past and future Keepers of the Rock alone.

---

Black hair waving in the wind. She clings tightly against my chest as we soar across the sky. She screams in joy and I laugh. . . Happy for the first time in I don’t know how long. She’s my age. Maybe a bit older. Cute button nose. Glasses rest on its bridge making it even cuter. We dash between two skyscrapers and she holds me ever tighter.

Fun. So fun.

But there could be more.

I soar straight up, higher and higher. The city becomes a speck below us. Her cheek brushes across my beard and I laugh at how it tickles. She looks at me strangely when we stop. Blue eyes question me.

Then I drop her.

She screams in complete terror now. Not joy.

In a flash, I dive after her, the smile never leaving my face. I swoop and catch her long before she could go splat. She hits me. I laugh. She hits me again and I laugh even harder.

“You idiot, you could have killed me!”

“Never,” I chuckle in Solo’s voice. “I’ll always be there to catch you.”

“Dummy…” she mutters yet nevertheless wraps her arms around my neck once more.

I’m happy and with the sun setting behind us, I fly off in search of more adventure. More fun for us to have. More marvelous times…

The sun wasn’t beating in Will’s eyes when he woke up. In fact, he was in pitch blackness. His eyes tried to adjust to no avail when a figure carrying a torch blinded him with its approach. It took a second for him to recognize Teth-Adam. Gone was the ruined black body stocking. He had replaced it with modern clothes. Clothes one would wear in the desert. An ivory scarf was wrapped across his neck. Goggles wrested on his bald head.

He looked… smaller.

“You are awake.”

“Where are we?”

Teth-Adam smiled sincerely. “My tomb.”

“Your tomb?” Will jumped to his feet, only now realizing Teth-Adam had found a blanket to cover him with. “How long was I out?”

“Long enough for me to rebuild the pyramid, William,” a wry arch of his brow caught Will’s eye. “And I do not quite have your imagination.”

“Wow.”

Will stretched, feeling the circulation return to his limbs. Because of Atlas, he did not need substance like normal people yet still his stomach growled with hunger. He wanted food. Needed the calories to burn.

Reading his mind, Teth-Adam offered him a bowl of a soup-like substance. Not caring what might be inside, Will dug into it with eagerness.

“Did you see what you needed to see?”

“I think so,” mumbled the boy between mouthfuls of food. “It was about a girl. Around my age. I recognize the city.”

“Good. When you are finished eating, you can start your journey.”

The boy cocked his head in disbelief. “What’s the rush? Trying to get rid of me?”

“Yes.”

“Oh… why?”

“I have my own family to find.” Sorrow filled Teth-Adam’s tone. He had experienced so much loss in his time. Nearly everyone he once knew was dead. His kingdom was still under the domination of his wife’s and son’s murderer. He was in a new age. . . He had to find his place.

---

After Will teleported away, Teth-Adam slowly walked up the long slope to the exit of his tomb. There was still much for him to do. Still much for him to learn. And he could feel the coming of an old friend who always had perfect timing.

The sun glared down overhead. Teth-Adam protected his eyes, saving his power, with the goggles he had scavenged from nearby communities. He did the same with his bare head by covering it. Waiting he scanned the horizon.

A billow of dust and sand soon approached off in the distance. A modern vehicle. A jeep he thought they called it. Nearly ten minutes he waited as it got ever closer. He prepared himself for what was to come, not knowing if he would still find loyalty after all those long years imprisoned.

A figure garbed much like him stepped out of the jeep. Curly black hair peaked over a scarf covered face. Leathery skin that had seen many suns masked ancient eyes. The figure took to both knees before the champion, bowing. “Milord Adam.”

“Rise, Sobek,” Teth-Adam sneered though inwardly he kept his joy hidden. “What would the other gods think of you bowing to a mere mortal?”

Sobek pulled the scarf from his face and Teth-Adam thought he caught a glance of razor sharp teeth glistening in the sun before he noticed that they were simply normal. “I go by Tamir now, Great One.”

“Tamir. How… mundane.”

“I am anything but.”

Once more, Teth-Adam thought he saw razor sharp teeth and he knew it to be more than a trick of the eye. “Are they ready?”

“The Khem-Yurrd are forever ready to serve you, Great One.” That filed smile. “We have waited centuries for this moment.”

“Come then,” Teth-Adam eyed the vehicle warily then walked around as he had seen people do while William was asleep to the passenger side. He eyed it again but nevertheless jumped inside. “We have much work to do.”

“Not as much as you think…” started his immortal follower.

The engine of the jeep roared. A billow of sand blew from beneath the tires. Teth-Adam’s journey to take back his homeland was finally underway.