Issue #8: "Goddess Found, Part Two: Unleashed"

Adrianna and Caesar unearth a large sand-colored rock door. The door has what appears to be a scarab on the door, or at least half of a scarab. He brushes sand away from what he is hoping is the other door and finds the other half of the scarab for the door.

Adrianna runs her hand across the doors with the embedded scarab on them and smiles. “We have found it. I can’t believe it, and it appears that no one has entered or even seen this tomb,” she says out loud to Caesar.

Julio Caesar Rodriguez looks at the door with the scarab relief on it, and then reaches out to touch the door and pulls back rather quickly as he feels the faint touch of ancient magic. Caesar smiles as he knows that this means that the tomb has remained untouched since it was first sealed over four thousand years ago. He turns to Adrianna and smiles. “You are right; no one has entered this tomb for quite some time, the ancient magical barrier is still up,” he says as he thinks of how to break the ancient barrier down. “Permissum is simplex vir penetro is tumbus of dea ISIS,” he says and a quick flash of light signals that the barrier has fallen. Now I feel like we’re about to walk into a scene from the movie The Mummy Returns.

Caesar then walks into the tomb. He looks around and he can see torches here and there along the walls. “Permissum lampas lux lucis,” he says and then, one by one, the torches light. On the walls of the tomb are paintings of ancient Egypt.

Caesar then walks into the tomb and looks at the painted images on the walls. He smiles as he comes to a wall that has what looks to be text. At first he can’t read what is written on the walls. “Permissum is simplex vir reddo ut quod est non readable Adrianna,” he calls out and then, before his eyes, the text seems to move and change. Once the text stops moving, Caesar smiles as he is able to read the text on the walls.

The translation reads: “To any whom enter this tomb: within lies the queen, the great mother and protector of the Pharaoh, the great Goddess Isis.” Adrianna smiles at their lucky find and she continues on into the tomb.

However, unbeknown to Adrianna and Caesar, a magical pulse is sent out across the Earth seeking out protectors. Three protectors are summoned to the ancient tomb.

Captain Marvel and Kid Marvel are using the speed of Mercury to fly across the globe to arrive at the tomb. They touch down at almost the same time as Black Adam. “HOLY MOLEY! BLACK ADAM!” Captain Marvel states as he stares with cautious eyes at his nemesis. “The last thing we heard, you were in prison. How did you get out?” Captain Marvel asks.

“Come on now, Captain Marvel, you of all people should know that simple restraints can’t hold ones such as us,” he says and then looks at the two interlopers from under slightly-closed eyelids. “This is Egypt my ancient home, not yours; neither of you belong here. Now leave,” Black Adam says as he starts for the door and sees that it has been opened, and he grows angry that someone would dare to try and trespass on the resting place of his dear love.

Captain Marvel places his hand on Black Adam’s arm and stops him from going anywhere. “No, Black Adam, I won’t let you go in without us,” he says as he turns Adam to face him.

Kid Marvel takes a few steps back and slowly inches his way towards the door of the tomb.

“I am not taking you in there with me, so leave. You can’t understand who or what awaits within; only I know and I will not tell you, so leave now, while you can,” Adam says as he pries Marvel’s hand off of his arm, his anger rising at the audacity of Captain Marvel for having put his hand on him, and for thinking that he would allow these two, who are so very inferior to him, to enter and desecrate his love’s resting place.

“Well then, I guess you aren’t going in either then,” Captain Marvel says as he interposes himself between Black Adam and the open door to the tomb.

“If you lay a hand on me again, we will no longer be talking,” Adam says and he looks at Captain Marvel out of the corner of his eyes.

Cap moves closer to Adam and then takes the final step so that he is now in front of Black Adam and barring his entrance into the tomb. “I guess that means that we will no longer be talking then,” he says as he crosses his arms over his chest.

“That is fine with me, I would rather not anyway,” he says as he pulls his hand back and, with the speed of Anpu and the power of Amon, Black Adam delivers a mighty blow to Captain Marvel’s stomach right below his rib cage.

Captain Marvel goes down coughing, trying to catch his breath. Kid Marvel uses the speed of Mercury and is able to leap onto Black Adam’s back, and he starts to punch Black Adam between his shoulder blades. Black Adam grunts from the impacts, but, due to the power of Amon, he is able to withstand the jabbing blows.

Now completely enraged he reaches up and grabs Kid by the cape, and pulls him off and with a devastating back handed blow to Kid Marvel’s face, he is sent flying out into the desert with a thunderous boom. Captain Marvel is now up and charges Black Adam. He punches Black Adam in the stomach. After seeing what he did to Kid Marvel, Captain Marvel continues his assault on Black Adam. Each fist that connects with Black Adam pushes him back more. He drops to the ground as Captain Marvel says, “Give up now…” Before Captain Marvel can finish his sentence, Black Adam uses the speed of Anpu and the strength of Hersef to knock Captain Marvel off his feet with a powerful uppercut to the underside of his jaw. He falls, and Black Adam is seriously annoyed, so he picks up Captain Marvel and holds him over his head. Then he calls out, “SHAZAM!” The lightning bolt comes down and strikes Captain Marvel and changes him back into Billy Batson. Black Adam then brings Billy Batson down and looks him in the face and smiles. “Turnabout is only fair, eh, good Captain?” He then tosses him into the air as he laughs at his defeated adversary. “Even one as old as me, can still learn new tricks.” Adam stands there for a moment not caring where Billy Batson lands.

Black Adam laughs and then heads into the tomb, some of his anger of the defilement of his love’s tomb worked off, thanks to the fight with Captain Marvel and Kid Marvel. He heads straight for the burial room where Isis is entombed. Black Adam arrives in the room where Isis’s sarcophagus is, and he sees that it has yet to be disturbed. He then moves the cover and sees the mummy of Hatshepsut laying there with the amulet of Isis. He reaches in and pulls out the amulet. Once he makes contact with the amulet a magical energy pulse radiates out of it.

Kid Marvel helps Billy Batson up to his feet, helping to dust off the sand on Billy’s clothing. Billy calls out, “Shazam,” and transforms into Captain Marvel. Captain Marvel looks at Kid Marvel and says, “Where is Black Adam?”

Before Kid Marvel can answer the Big Red Cheese, the magical energy hits both of them and sends them instantly back to Fawcett City High School. They are both in the gym locker room and are no longer in their alternate forms. They look at each other and say in unison, “Whoa!”

Black Adam is sitting in the ruined temple where he was first awakened in 1937. He is holding the amulet of Isis in his hands. The amulet is shining from some light that manages to enter the temple. “I will find a way to bring you back to me, my love. I promised you then, and I promise you now,” he says as he sits there staring at the amulet and, as he stares at the amulet, he keeps trying to come up with the image of his love, Queen Pharaoh Hatshepsut, but the image that comes to his mind is that of Adrianna Thomas. “My dear love, why is it that I try to think of you and another comes to my mind? Is it that you are trying to tell me something?” he asks the amulet and a subtle glow races across the surface of the main gem in the amulet.

Black Adam looks at the amulet wondering if this is just a coincidence or if it is a sign that perhaps he has found what it is he was looking for. Black Adam walks towards the opening and basks in the sunlight. Black Adam floats off the ground for a moment before flying in the blue sky. He goes in search of the woman who seemed to glimpse into his soul while in the tomb of his lost love.

Caesar moves Adrianna against the tomb wall. Adrianna shakes her head trying to get the cobwebs out of her head. She looks at Caesar with concern in her eyes. “What happened to me, Caesar?”

Caesar takes a few steps back, looking around the tomb at the Egyptian writings on the walls, looking for answers to Adrianna’s question. He fails to smile to hide the fact that he is clueless at the moment. He finally slumps his head and says, “Sorry, I-I just don’t know, Adrianna…” Caesar quickly grabs her hand and pulls her toward him and points to the Egyptian writings, “…but I think if we go over these writings, we should be able to figure what just happened to you.”

Billy Batson and Freddy Freeman are sitting in Billy’s room working on studying for a social sciences test the following day. Billy says to Freddy, “I wonder what we are going to do about Black Adam? He is still out there somewhere.”

“Well, maybe we can go to the Wizard and ask him.” Before Billy can respond to Freddy’s suggestion, they both hear the police scanner go off and both Billy’s and Freddy’s heads snap up as they listen to what the scanner reports. Instantly they both run out of the house and into the backyard, which is surrounded by an eight-foot-high stockade fence. They say their magical words and then two bolts of lightning come down out of the sky and transform the two boys into Captain Marvel and Kid Marvel.

The two heroes launch themselves into the air and take off in the direction of the unused subway tunnel. They get there as the police captain is just talking to his detectives. “It is wonderful to see you, Captain Marvel, and you too, Kid Marvel. I only wish it was under different circumstances though,” Major Sheppard says to the two.

“We kind of heard some of what was going on over the scanner that we have. So, Major, can you fill us in with what you know so far?” Captain Marvel asks.

“Well, gentlemen, what we know is that Sister Marcia came here today, like she and Father Patrice do every day, to bring food to the homeless here. She was in the tunnel, when all of a sudden the father and nurse there heard Sister Marcia screaming and they went running into the tunnel. They found her lying in a pool of her own blood. From what we can tell, she received a knife wound to the left side of her chest,” he says to the two.

“Were there any of the homeless in the tunnel with her who saw what happened?” Kid Marvel asks.

“No unfortunately they were all out here in line to get their food. For most of them this is the only meal that they get to eat in a day so they hurry to it.” Major Sheppard says.

Captain Marvel looks at the homeless around the tables, eating rather hungrily, and shakes his head, sorry to see several children there under the age of ten. “Major, do you mind if we ask some questions?” he asks the police major.

“Please do. Perhaps they will talk to you rather than us considering they are probably more afraid of us than they would be of you,” Major Sheppard says and moves away from the two heroes.

Captain Marvel looks over at Kid Marvel and the two nod, and they end up going to separate tables and sit down and start to talk to the people at the tables.

“It is rather sad what happened to Sister Marcia, don’t you all think?” Captain Marvel asks and he sees the people nod their heads and a few of the women start to cry.

“She was a wonderful woman. She and Father Patrice really cared about us. They were some of the only ones that did care,” one of the ladies says as she pulls her young son closer to her and again starts to cry.

“Do any of you know what happened to Sister Marcia?” he asks them, hoping that, since the people seemed to be so upset over the murder, perhaps they will actually say something.

The man known as Michael looks up, and then one of the men next to him elbows him. Despite that, he continues to look up at Captain Marvel. “It got her. The beast, I tried to warn her not to get too close to the area where it was, but she didn’t listen and instead she continued on and it got her,” Michael says to them.

Captain Marvel looks at Michael and shrugs. “What is the beast? Have you seen it, and can you tell me what it, is so perhaps I can find it?” he asks Michael.

Michael shakes his head. “No, I have never seen it. We only know that it was there and that it killed her.”

“Thank you, Michael,” Captain Marvel says as he turns and heads for Kid Marvel. “Come, there is no more that we can find out here today.”

Kid Marvel nods his head. “Alright. I’ll see you tomorrow, I got to head back.”

“See you in the morning,” Captain Marvel replies to his partner and then he flies home.

Kid Marvel just floats over the scene and stares down at it. Seeing the coroner’s vehicle leave the scene, Kid Marvel’s eyes are blank, as if he were in a trance. He feels compelled to follow the van as it heads toward the Fawcett City Coroner Office. But before he starts his pursuit, Kid Marvel shakes his head as he stops and heads for his current home, the Wormwood Orphanage.