Issue #9: "Goddess Found, Part Three: I...AM"

It was Monday morning at 8:00 A.M. and Mary Bromfield was in the middle of the morning announcements. Billy Batson was sitting next to Freddy Freeman talking about something that was going on down in the slums. Billy was also listening to a radio broadcast via his Lex-Pod FM receiver, his attention no longer on what Freddy was saying to him.

‘The slums murders are now up to eight dead bodies. Authorities say that all but two of the eight bodies are those of bums and, of the other two, one was a nurse and the other was a sister of St. Michael’s Parish over on Radeon Street. The authorities are so stumped that they have called in super hero help in the form of Fawcett City’s own Captain Marvel, and his sidekick, Kid Marvel. The police advise that anyone out walking in the evening or after dark stay in well-lit well-populated areas to lessen the chances of becoming a target for these maniacs. Police also say that if you see anything strange, don’t hesitate to contact them immediately.’

Billy quickly pulled the earphone out of his left ear just before his home room teacher could spot him again with it. Billy glanced over at Freddy and handed him the FM receiver. As Freddy placed the receiver into his backpack, both Billy and he returned their attention to the morning announcements.

‘…Anyone who wants to sign up for the PSAT, should do so this week. There will be preparatory classes available to students during study periods on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Next Monday, we will have the ballots counted and announce the winners of the elections for all class student bodies. This is Mary Bromfield and these have been your morning announcements.’

Billy looked at Freddy and leaned over to him. “So, according to the radio broadcast, you’re my sidekick. That’s funny, I would have thought that you’d be mentioned as my partner not a sidekick,” Billy said to Freddy as they were called to attention and back to class by their homeroom teacher. Freddy looked at Billy out the corner of his eye and thought about the comment that he had made to him. Sidekick.

During the school day, Billy and Freddy had met to talk for a few moments between classes, about what or who it could be behind the slum murders but neither of them had any ideas so they both decided that they would take a short trip to the Rock of Eternity after school let out, hoping that they might find some answers there.





Captain Marvel and Kid Marvel were walking through the Rock of Eternity to go and see the wizard. The good captain was talking to his partner about something: some small object that had been left at one of the crime scenes. Captain Marvel turned around only to find Kid Marvel staring at a statue of Satanus and not knowing why he was being distracted by this particular statue. “Um, Cap?” Freddy called out rather nervously.

Billy looked up from looking at the statue of Blaze. “Yes, Kid Marvel?”

“Um, Cap, this thing just winked at me,” Freddy said and started to take a few steps backwards.

“That is ridiculous. It is a statue and statues can’t wink at you. Now stop playing and come on,” Captain Marvel said as he started to walk away from the two statues and headed towards the other room where the Wizard Shazam liked to sit.

“Yo, Cap. Look, it is! It’s staring at me and look, it just winked again,” Kid Marvel said again, this time a bit more frantic.

“Fine, Kid, I’ll take a look at it,” Captain Marvel said as he turned and walked over to the giant statue of Satanus. When he got there, he moved up to the statue to look at it closely and then, sure enough, the statue remained still. “Well, I guess the statue likes you and not me,” Captain Marvel said as he turned around and looked at Kid Marvel.

“Maybe it was my imagination. This place seems to get stranger and stranger each and every time we come here,” Kid Marvel replied to Captain Marvel.

They continued their journey into the Rock of Eternity.

“I agree with you,” Captain Marvel said as he turned again to take a second glace back at the two statues and then shrugged. The two entered the room where the wizard was sitting.

“Ah my champions come with questions of great importance,” the ancient wizard said as he looked from one item to another.

“Yes, we have questions, Wizard. There have been some killings in Fawcett City and we have no idea what or even who is causing them,” Captain Marvel said to the ancient one.

The Wizard Shazam looked up and smiled. “Ah, but for that question I ask another: Who would gain from such killings?” the wizard asked in a nonchalant way.

Kid Marvel turned to the Big Red Cheese. “Why does he do that? We ask him a question and he turned around and asks us another question that is even more confusing than the one that we just asked him.”

Captain Marvel shrugged his shoulders. “I have no idea, Kid,” he said and then looked at the wizard. “There could be many that could gain from such killings,” Captain Marvel said and then he looked down at the ground. He turned to leave when he saw the wizard turn to look back at a clouded orb and then he shrugged again and started to leave the great room which was filled with many different things that the wizard had collected over a long time.

Kid Marvel turned to follow Captain Marvel and took a quick look at the wizard. “Wizard, those two statues in the fore-room; one was looking at us and blinking at me. Is it alive?” Kid Marvel asked.

The wizard looked up and gave a slight smile. “It is as much alive as a piece of stone can be and yet it isn’t,” he said and then looked back down at the orb for a second.

Captain Marvel and Kid Marvel were at the entryway into the room as the wizard looked up again. “The amulet of Isis needs to be found first,” the long-white-bearded wizard said as he turned once again to look at the clouded orb.

The two champions walked out to the fore-room where the two statues were and looked at each other. Captain Marvel spoke up. “He said the Amulet of Isis…I wonder what that is…maybe that is something to do with…” He stopped Kid Marvel. “You’re going to handle this one by yourself, and I’ve got to find out more about this Amulet of Isis.”

Kid Marvel looked at Captain Marvel with a bit of concern, which quickly faded away from his thoughts. “You got it, Cap. I’ll see if I can find out who is killing all of those people from the police department. Finally, the Kid goes solo.”

Captain Marvel just smiled at Kid Marvel’s comment and replied, “Well, remember to trust in the powers.”

“The powers are the reason I’m walking again,” Kid Marvel said to Captain Marvel.

“I will search for the Amulet of Isis while you go help the Fawcett City PD and try to figure out who has the most to gain from all of those killings, and see if the coroner has anything on the bodies.” They high-fived each other and went their separate ways as they flew out of the Rock of Eternity and back to normal space and time.



The Wizard Shazam shook his head knowing that his champions had no idea what they were getting into, and he couldn’t say anything to them. “Satanus, this is your doing,” he said as he heard a sound of laughter coming from a disembodied voice.

“And what of it?” the voice said, as it again laughed.

“They are not ready yet,” the wizard said to the voice.

“I do not care if they are ready. If they are not then they will kneel before me,” the voice said and the laughter faded away slowly.

Again the wizard shook his head with a look of concern across his face. He knew that his champions would soon face a tough challenge. He returned his attention to the clouded orb. His eyes narrowed as the orb revealed something to him. His eyebrows arched as his eyes gazed upon a figure that only he could see.





Billy Batson and Freddy Freeman were walking down the street, heading towards Billy’s house. They saw Mary Bromfield and Jeremy Brown walking towards them from the other side of the street. They stopped to see if there were any cars before crossing the street. “Hey, Billy, we’ve been looking for the two of you. Where have you been? We were supposed to study together, remember?” Mary asked as Freddy all but stumbled over himself to get to Mary.

Freddy hugged Mary and picked her up in his arms. Billy and Jeremy both shook their heads. “Yeah, sorry, Coach held Freddy up for a bit to talk about tomorrow’s practice game with the varsity team,” Billy said to both of them in the hope that they would believe him.

“So, I guess you two didn’t hear then?” Jeremy asked.

“Hear what exactly?” Freddy said as he put down Mary and smiled happily.

“Two more homeless people were found dead last night. The news reports say that it was a case where the two killed each other. They also say that there was something odd about the bodies, but that the police weren’t revealing any details,” Jeremy said as Billy and Freddy looked at each other.

They both wanted to go see what was odd, but didn’t dare to run off right in front of them. Billy nodded to Freddy.

“Hey, Mary, I just remembered that I am on curfew at the home since I stayed out too late last night. I will see you tomorrow in school,” Freddy said and took off back down the street before Mary or Jeremy could say anything.

“Hey, Freddy, what about the PSAT?” Mary called after Freddy and she saw him wave.

“He is never going to pass the PSAT if he keeps putting off studying for it,” Mary said to Billy.

“Oh, I think he will be fine. You know Freddy; he has always slacked off till the test then somehow he passes it with no problems. Plus I know that he said he was going to sign up for those whatchamacallits,” Billy said as he turned and started down the street, with Mary and Jeremy next to him, heading for his house.

“Well I hope so. Billy, does it seem that Freddy seems distracted?” Mary asked with a serious look of concern on her face.

Billy smiled and said to her, “Well, you know that he is on the Junior Varsity Football Team this year and he is trying hard to make it on the varsity team and to keep up with his school work and…” Billy stopped himself.

Mary stopped and turned Billy around to look intently into his eyes. “And what?”

Billy turned away from Mary, trying not to say anything else to her. He turned and looked at Jeremy. “So, Jeremy, you going to be president of any other clubs at school?”

Jeremy looked at Mary. He threw his hands up and turned away from Billy with a smirk on his face. “You better answer her Billy or else.”

Before Billy could turn back to Mary, he was brutally tickled by her. He tried to back away from her, but backed up against a wall as she continued her tickling assault. Billy couldn’t stop her tickling attack and was forced to complete his earlier sentence, “OKAY, OKAY, I’LL TALK…I’LL TALK.” Billy stopped to catch his breath. “Freddy has a major league crush on you, Mary.”

The news stunned her as she stopped tickling Billy. She looked at Billy and then at Jeremy. “What? You didn’t know?” Jeremy said as he smacked his forehead with own hand.





Homeless Alley was one of the worst parts of Fawcett City. It was a relatively small part of the city that was hidden in the shadows of everything that was good. This was the small corner where despair lived and was home to the homeless and the forgotten of Fawcett City. The few buildings were all boarded up, with condemned signs on the wooden boards that crisscrossed the front doors.

Some of the more desperate of the homeless had taken to living in them. It was one of these buildings that the police had gathered outside of. There were several cruisers that had been parked outside on the street since the night before. The police had been working relentlessly to track any leads. The latest one led them not too far from the first scene.

Kid Marvel landed in the street right next to the small group of officers. One officer detached himself from the group and walked over to Kid Marvel. “Kid Marvel, it’s good to see you again. We found two more bodies, or what we believe to be bodies, and there have been some rather odd things that we have found out about this, that we need you to look at, but we don’t want this information to get out at the moment so, please, if you would follow me,” Major Sheppard said as the two started to walk into the building.

“Be careful, Kid Marvel, this building really isn’t that stable. That is why it’s condemned,” Sheppard informed the super hero.

“Well, if anything happens, I’ll be here to get you out of a jam,” Kid Marvel said to the police major.

“Well, it’s good to have at least one of you Marvels here to help out,” he said as the two walked up the stairs carefully and entered what appeared to be an old bedroom. There on the floor Kid Marvel saw something that he wasn’t too sure about. There were two bodies there but they barely looked human.

“Oh my gosh, what are these?” Kid Marvel asked the major.

“We aren’t sure what they are, but they are at least partly human. Here, look.” Major Sheppard pulled out a rubber glove and put it on his hand and then he grabbed one of the bodies and lifted one of its hands and showed it to Kid Marvel. “This hand is a human hand,” the major said to Kid Marvel.

Kid Marvel looked at the hand and he was in a bit of shock at seeing the human hand was connected to what appeared to be a grotesque arm. He moved a bit closer to see if the hand had been grafted on to the arm but it was fully a part of the arm. The hand and the arm appeared to be amalgamated with each other. He looked up at the major.

“Yes, that is why we waited; you needed to see this. We are unsure what to make of it.”

“Well, if I had to guess…” Kid Marvel paused for a moment as he listened to the guidance of Solomon, “this one was on the verge of transforming when he was killed by the other one.” Kid Marvel pointed to the other body that had blood on its left ‘claw’. He paused again and looked around the immediate area and then at the Major. “Where is its head?”

“Well, the head was found in the dumpster outside and it looks more human than the rest of the body,” Major Sheppard informed Kid Marvel.

“So, the headless guy rips at the one claw guy and the one claw guy cuts that guy’s head off. This is totally gross.”

“Well if something made these two transform into this, we hope the medical examiner will be able to tell us what.”

“Okay, sir, I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” Just after they left the building, Kid Marvel flew off, heading towards the group home where he was living.






Black Adam was flying across the Mediterranean Sea. He’d left Khandaq after letting the souls of his family finally rest^*. Clutched in his powerful left hand was the Amulet of Isis. His thoughts focused on finding the woman he had first seen a few days ago in the Tomb of Hatshepsut.

I will have the answers that I seek soon enough. And the Amulet of Isis will show me the way.

“Why do images of this woman haunt me? My love, are you trying to tell me something?” he asked the amulet and it flared again and Black Adam looked at it in shock and confusion.

Black Adam suddenly stopped as he floated over the Atlantic Ocean. He looked at the amulet in his hand and started to see a vision. The vision was of the Fawcett City Museum. He continued his journey. His destination was now Fawcett City; the home of Captain Marvel.



^* See Rogues Gallery #9 for details





A few days ago, Adrianna Thomas and Julio Caesar Rodriguez had returned from the desert with the sarcophagus of the Queen Pharaoh Hatshepsut. While reviewing her notes, she had come across some information about a Tablet of Ma’at. Caesar thought it would be a great idea to take Adrianna out to a nice fancy restaurant to celebrate.

Prior to leaving Adrianna’s office, he’d placed a circular pendant on her office door. This small emerald pendant had the Eye of Ra carved into it. Caesar thought to himself, Now this little charm will prevent anyone other than me or Adrianna from getting into her office.

One hour later, Adrianna walked out of the museum and saw Caesar standing next to a carriage that was pulled by two horses. Her eyes widened with shock and awe. “Wow, you did this for me?”

“I said that we were going to celebrate and I thought that we should do it with some style,” Caesar stated as he opened the topless carriage with his casted arm and took Adrianna’s hand with his other hand. “Your carriage awaits you.”

After eating at Aaron’s Finest, they took a ride through a park in Fawcett City. The beautiful night was accompanied by a slight chill. Caesar pulled out a thick red blanket from a compartment in front of them. He placed it over their laps. Caesar pulled out a non-alcoholic grape champagne from the same compartment as the blanket. He conjured up two glasses so that they could drink the champagne. Caesar asked, “So, Adrianna tell me something about you that I don’t know.”

“Well, you first, Mr. Entertainer.”

“Okay, what do you wanna know?”

“Tell me about your family.”

Caesar took a slip from his glass before he spoke. “Well, first of all, my mom is Sandra Lopez…”

“The famous singer…Wow…I got all of her albums. Oh my god, I’ve been working with Sandra Lopez’s li’l boy.”

Caesar quickly arched his right eyebrow. “Li’l boy…I’m going to be 19 in a few months.”

“Oh, I’m sorry…It’s just that I remember one of her album covers had a picture of you and your sister with her on it. You were such an adorable li’l boy, what happened to you?”

Caesar mockingly put his hands over his heart. “Oh, she has mortally wounded my ego…How can I go on?”

“So that is why you are an entertainer? Because of your mom?”

“Well I love to entertain because of my mom…but the magic is because of my Abuelito; my grandfather is why I do magic.” Caesar got choked up a bit as he stared out into the clear night. Caesar saw an image of his Abuelito in the night sky. Adrianna placed her hands over his right hand and said, “When did he pass away?”

Caesar looked at Adrianna with a bewildered look. “A few months ago. And how did you know?”

“I lost my mother after I was born and I lost my father after I graduated from college. So I know what it’s like to lose people you care about.”

“So, you never got to know your mother?”

“No; in fact my mother wrote journals specifically for me. She wrote to me about how she and my father first met. Granted my father told me the story a dozen times, but to read them in my mother’s own words meant so much to me.” She turned away from Caesar and looked towards the stars.

“My mother was an Egyptian woman, who first met my father in Cairo. You see, my father was Adrian Thomas. He was a part of an American team that was in some sort of race. I think it was called the Camel Trophy or something like that. My father’s team won the trophy and they celebrated at some local eatery where he was mesmerized by my mother’s beauty. Their courtship was a short one, for he brought her to America and married her soon after. He became a national instructor for Land Rover North America. They lived in Maryland for many years. Before my birth, my mother wrote me a note and gave it to my father. She told him, that if she died before my eighteenth birthday, to give me that note. The note said, ‘Redemption is always possible and rejoice in new life.’ I know it sounds stupid…”

“No…it doesn’t. You mother must have been a very wise person, to have written that to you. I have a feeling that those words hold more meaning than you know.”





The tall man, who was unloading the artifacts for Adrianna and Caesar, was standing in front of Adrianna’s office. Longshadow removed his disguise as he reached for the doorknob to her office. He was surprised when the doorknob didn’t turn. He tilted his head slightly to the right and looked down at the knob. He balled his right fist and cracked his knuckles with his left hand. His physical size increased slightly as he pulled back his right fist and slammed it against the door. His fist and arm bounced back from the door. He rubbed his right knuckles quickly before trying to knock down the door with his shoulder. Once again there was no damage to the door and now a red bruise was forming on his left shoulder. Longshadow’s eyes narrowed, frustrated that he was unable to knock down what appeared to be a ordinary door.

Upon their return to the museum, Adrianna and Caesar continued to talk as they walked towards her office. “You got to admit that Stealth was not Jamie Foxx’s best movie,” Caesar said to Adrianna.

“Okay, I’ll give you that one. What about the Bourne Trilogy?”

“Loved it. But I love Matt Damon and Ben Affleck in all of those Kevin Smith movies.”

“Now those were hilarious movies.”

They were both in her office. Adrianna looked at all the work that she had in front of her. Caesar looked at Adrianna and asked, “Do you need some help?”

Adrianna looked at Caesar and smiled. “Yeah I could use a little help. I know that we are going to be here all night long.” They sat down and started translating some of the writings from the tomb that they’d unearthed. She was fascinated by what she was finding in the writings. All of a sudden she had the odd feeling that she was being watched. She turned around but there was nothing there. Caesar was sitting across from her with a floating cup of tea. Caesar took a sip from the tea cup and noticed that she was looking over her shoulder at nothing. Caesar’s eyes narrowed as they glowed an unnoticeable red, trying to see if there was some kind of spiritual energy in the room. She stood up to stretch. Caesar stood up too and said, “I think that we need a break…You wanna grab a cup of coffee from across the street?”

They walked out of the office and headed down a hallway to exit the building. They heard a noise. This time it was someone walking behind them. When they turned, standing there behind them was Captain Marvel. It startled her in such a way that she had to put her hand to her chest. Caesar instinctively pointed his wand at Captain Marvel.

“You know, next time you really should say something before you get a face full of arcane magic. Plus you scared Adrianna half to death,” Caesar said to Captain Marvel.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you, Dr. Thomas. From what I understand, you are the leading researcher on Egyptian history,” Captain Marvel said as he stood there looking at Adrianna.

Caesar made his wand disappear in a puff of green smoke with an embarrassed look on his face. “Ummm…sorry…about that, Big Cheese… or is it Big Red…or should I call you Cap…Captain Marvel…Should I just salute or…” Caesar stammered and fumbled with his words, trying not to appear as if he was star-struck at being in the presence of Captain Marvel. “I’ve been on edge since I breached the tomb and nearly, um…when I first saw Black Adam.”

Captain Marvel extended his hand to shake Caesar’s hand. “You can call me Cap if that is easier for you, and when did you first see Black Adam?”

Caesar shook the hand of the Earth’s Mightiest Mortal. “We met him a few days ago at the tomb of Queen Pharaoh Hatshepsut in the sarcophagus chamber room.”

Captain Marvel paused for a moment to ponder the information that the young mage had just told him. The wisdom of Solomon spoke to Captain Marvel. “Did Black Adam take anything out of the sarcophagus?”

Adrianna looked at Captain Marvel and told him, “We noticed that the sarcophagus was opened, but we didn’t think anything of it at the time.”

“Well, if you want, I was just on my way to get a cup of coffee, then we can go back to my office and we can talk more about it there if you want,” Adrianna said to Captain Marvel.

“Well, got any apple juice?” Captain Marvel awkwardly asked Adrianna as he looked at the floor, trying not to make eye contact with Dr. Adrianna Thomas.

Caesar raised his left eyebrow as he heard the nervousness in the voice of Captain Marvel. Caesar patted Captain Marvel on the shoulder and said to him and Adrianna, “Why don’t you two head back to the office and I’ll get the coffee and apple juice from the break room.”

“Thanks, Caesar,” Adrianna said to the charming young magician as she led Captain Marvel back to her office.



High above the Atlantic Ocean an individual flew peacefully, enjoying that wind flowing past his body. It had been ages since he had flown freely through the skies. Now his flying through the skies had but one purpose. His purpose for flying now was finding the one person that might be the key to his lost lover, Hatshepsut. Black Adam knew that reincarnation was possible among the ancient pharaohs. This could be what the amulet was trying to tell him.





In a dark room with a little light coming from the bottom of the walls, sat a man with a dark-green hooded robe. In front of him was an ancient tablet that had been retrieved for him. The robed figure caressed the tablet gently. “Yessss, ssssssssoon…chaosss ssshall run rampant and you will help me. I ssshall unlock the sssecretsss of the tablet of Ma’at.”



“So, Captain Marvel, what is it that you need from me?” she asked him.

“Well, first off, can you tell me about the tomb?” he asked.

“Well, it was the tomb of Queen Pharaoh Hatshepsut. She was a queen in ancient Egypt. It was during her reign that Egypt prospered for close to three hundred years and, according to legend, the queen had a consort who was her equal in almost every way, except he wasn’t of royal blood so the two could never marry,” Adrianna said to Captain Marvel.

“Was there anything else that was supposedly in that tomb like any magical items or anything else?” Captain Marvel asked.

“Well, reportedly the queen had an amulet of some great power. It granted her the power of the goddess Isis,” Adrianna said.

“Do you know what that meant?” he asked, a bit worried. A goddess was a very strong being and the amulet could cause some great damage if it were to fall into the wrong hands.

“Well, from what we know of the goddess Isis, she was reportedly very fast, could fly, had control over various aspects of nature, endurance, great wisdom, was very strong and had telekinesis. It was also reported that she was able to heal injuries,” Adrianna said and looked at Captain Marvel. “Why? Is something wrong, Captain Marvel?” she asked.

“Did you find this amulet in the tomb?” Captain Marvel asked.

“Actually, we didn’t, and we thought it might have been buried elsewhere,” Adrianna said, then looked up at Captain Marvel. “Could that Black Adam guy have taken the amulet?” she asked.

“You saw Black Adam in the tomb?”

She hesitated for a moment, thinking back to the very moment she locked eyes with Black Adam. “Yes.”

“When Kid Marvel and I arrived, Black Adam didn’t want us to enter the tomb,” Captain Marvel said.

“What does Black Adam have to do with a pharaoh from Egypt’s 18^th dynasty?”

Caesar interrupted the conversation holding two Styrofoam cups and a bottle of apple juice. “The queen’s consort was a man named Teth-Adam, better known as Black Adam after he was exiled back in the 15^th dynasty or so.”

“Wait a minute. Are you saying that this Black Adam guy is several thousand years old?” Adrianna asked.

“Oh no. I doubt that he is that old, but something certainly isn’t right, and I need to get to the bottom of it,” Captain Marvel said and looked at Adrianna. “Thank you for your help. If I need further help I shall seek you out,” he said, and stood up and headed out of the door and out of the museum.

Captain Marvel walked towards the exit of the museum. He was walking past a group of museum visitors as they were leaving. The visitors were in awe of seeing Fawcett City’s protector exiting the museum.

Behind the museum in the loading dock bays were two U-Haul rental trucks. Longshadow stood inside the loading dock area, waiting for the last visitor to leave the museum. He calmly walked over to the truck rear doors and smiled a bit.





Adrianna Thomas was locking up her office as she and Caesar, who was on her right side, were walking by the Egyptian Exhibit. They walked by a security guard who was closing the gates to the exhibit. They continued towards the main lobby, when they were stopped by three men dressed in security uniforms. “Ms. Thomas, we need you to come with us.

“Can this wait till tomorrow, I’m beat?” Adrianna asked one of the guards.

The guards just remained silent as one of them grabbed her right arm.

“Hey, get off me.”

Caesar quickly grabbed the guard’s hand off her right arm and snapped it to his right with a painful grunt from the guard. “That is not…” Caesar swept the guard’s legs out from underneath him, “…how you treat…” he kicked the guard in the face and knocked him out, “…a lady!” Caesar backed up and pulled Adrianna behind him.

“So, who’s next?” Caesar asked as he gestured with his right hand for them to come forward. “Who’s next to get the smackdown on their candy ass?”

“I guess this kid’s been watching too much wrestling,” said one of the guards, who had a goatee, to the other guard, who had red hair.

“Hey kid, don’t you know that wrestlin’ is fake?” said the red-haired guard.

“Well, they refer to it as sports-entertainment and I’m going to beat you like a redheaded stepchild.”

Caesar turned to his left to look at Adrianna and winked at her. Now I’ve got to send Guardian and the rest of Captain Sawyer’s crew a really big thank you card for all that hand-to-hand training they gave me. It’s really going to pay off now. Caesar caught the red-haired guard with a heel kick to his jaw. The impact of the blow dislocated his jaw and sent him spiraling onto the floor.

The goateed guard pulled out a collapsible baton and struck overhead at Caesar. Caesar instinctively raised his left arm to block the incoming blow. The baton made a crackling noise as it smacked against Caesar’s arm cast. “DAMN,” Caesar yelled in pain and he fell to his knees.

The last guard struck Caesar’s cast two more times before Caesar finally countered his assault with a fist of fury to his attacker’s groin area. The guard doubled over in serious pain. Caesar just pushed him over. Caesar turned and saw that Adrianna had a bewildered look on her face. “Why didn’t you just use your magic on them?”

Caesar shrugged his shoulders. “Well, I was trying to impress you and everything, plus I don’t always have to depend on my magic to beat three wanna-be rent-a-cops. Are you alright?”

Adrianna rubbed her neck and replied, “I think so. What about your cast?” as she reached out to Caesar’s left arm with the now-broken cast.

“It’ll be okay. Hold on.” Caesar looked down at all three guard impersonators and said, “May your clothing keep you tied up till you are in a holding cell.”

As they turned away from the fake guards, they bumped into the massive chest of Longshadow. Caesar looked up at the giant that was standing in front of him. Adrianna took a few steps back just to get a full view of this hulking individual. She could see, behind the large stranger, a group of at least fifteen men wearing green dragon masks and flat black jumpsuits.

This can’t any good. First I beat three guys and now I’ve got to deal with King Kong’s little brother. I’ve got to get a better travel agent. I thought I was done with this type of thing when I left Metropolis. But first things first, I got to heal my broke arm. “Remove my damaged cast and heal my broken bone.”

In a flash of red arcane energy, Caesar’s cast disappeared and his forearm was healed. His evening-wear also changed into his trademark black suit with red lapels and red tie, which was finished off by his blood red cape. Caesar’s eyes glowed bright red as he looked directly into Longshadow’s dark brown eyes. Some say that the eyes are window into our souls…but for this guy…the curtains are closed.

“I DON’T KNOW WHO THE HELL YOU ARE, BUT YOU BEST RECOGNIZE THAT YOU’RE ABOUT TO MESS WITH CAESAR THE GREAT!!! LEAVE NOW OR SUFFER MY WRATH!!!”

Longshadow stared at Caesar, giving away nothing to his prey. Longshadow raised his right hand and gestured to his minions. The masked men began to surround Caesar and Adrianna. Caesar, with his right hand, positioned Adrianna behind him and, with his wand in his left hand, waved it in the direction of the masked men and yelled, “AWAY!” .

A wave of red arcane magical energy knocked the masked men on their rears. Longshadow was the only one that was still standing. Caesar slightly tilted his head to the left. He realized that Longshadow was not only still standing, but appeared to have gotten taller.

“This is not good, right?” observed Adrianna.

Caesar replied, “Not good at all.”

Suddenly, crashing through the skylight of the lobby, was a blur of black and gold. Caesar instinctively used his cape to cover both Adrianna and himself. Longshadow just continued to walk toward his prey with no concern for the falling shards of glass. Longshadow only stopped when suddenly Black Adam appeared in front of him, blocking his path to Caesar and Adrianna.

Black Adam stood gallantly in front of Longshadow with his fists on his hips. “Cease your transgression or you will face a painful...”

Longshadow cut off Black Adam by grabbing his throat and shoving him in the direction of Caesar and Adrianna. Caesar removed his cape from Adrianna and himself only to see a black mass hurtling towards them. He shoved Adrianna aside as Black Adam’s body collided with his, the collision creating a small flash of magical energy. Black Adam’s left hand opened up and a small golden object is released from its grasp. The flash blinded Longshadow for a moment. Adrianna looked around and saw Longshadow staggering around. Suddenly she heard a whispering voice. She looked around, trying to find where the whisper was coming from. The whisper turned into a voice. Her eyes were fixated on the amulet that was on the ground within arm’s reach. Adrianna’s eyes glowed white as she reached out for it. She saw spiritual images of her mother. She whispered, “Mom, is that you?”

“Time for you to fulfill your destiny, my child, and the amulet has at last found its goddess.”

Caesar was still on the floor, trying to recover from the impact of Black Adam’s body and from the painful magical discharge that came from it. He grabbed a hold of his ribs and felt the pain as he tried to breathe. Come to Fawcett City. We’ll get together, have a few laughs “AARGH!”

Black Adam slowly got off the young mage that he’d been tossed at and walked towards Longshadow as he menacingly cracked his knuckles. Black Adam stopped when he heard a voice that he had not heard for so long. He saw on the floor the amulet of Isis glowing. Adrianna’s hand finally touched the amulet. A brilliant light washed over Adrianna’s body.

Longshadow turned and saw Adrianna’s body being engulfed in a brilliant light, just as his minions were regrouping around him. “No, this is not what he wanted.”

Caesar walked and stood next to Black Adam and noticed a female form, radiating a bright light, standing between them and Longshadow and his minions. Caesar snapped his fingers and sunglasses magically appeared on his face. They all heard a thunderous voice: “THE GODDESS HAS BEEN FOUND. I...AM...ISIS!”

Standing before them all, where Adrianna Thomas had once stood, was the Goddess Isis. She wore golden sandals that had golden strings that wrapped around her toned calves. Her skin tone was that of radiant golden bronze. She had a metallic gold carapace with a ruby gem in the center. It wrapped around his curvy hips, attached to a short pure-white skirt. Her slender waist was flawless with slight muscular definition. Her forearms were wrapped in gold bracelets. Her supple breasts were wrapped tightly with pure-white cloth material that was connected to a golden neck carapace. Dark black straight hair flowed freely about. A simple thin piping adorned her forehead with a large ruby gem in the center.

Black Adam stared at Isis with a joyous look on this face. Caesar’s eyes quickly glanced over at the masked men and saw that they were now holding machine guns. Isis glanced over at Black Adam as she floated above the ground, smiling at him. “Teth-Adam...my love...I have returned to you...just as I promised.”

Longshadow’s mass and height increased greatly as he grabbed a hold of Isis and slapped Black Adam away. The masked men pointed their guns at Caesar. Caesar pointed his wand at the masked men while still holding his ribs. “From metal to flesh, playing with snakes is the best.”

Their guns were transformed into snakes that attacked them. Black Adam charged at Longshadow’s face with a double-fisted smash. The impact of Black Adam’s blow caused Longshadow to stagger a bit. Black Adam flew down, grabbed a hold of Longshadow’s wrist and started squeezing it. Longshadow grunted in pain as Black Adam broke his wrist. Longshadow grabbed Black Adam by one of his legs and swung him against the floor. Next, he swung him into the wall and then the ceiling and then once again into the floor, this time smashing a hole in it. “Give it up, you can’t beat me. The goddess doesn’t belong here.”

“I do not belong to anyone. I am free,” Isis said as she got out of Longshadow’s grip. Longshadow looked down at his hand that was holding Isis and clearly saw that he was struggling to close his fingers around her again.

Isis glanced over to a small potted plant next to the information desk. She waved her left hand out to the side of her and moved her hand towards Longshadow’s face. The small potted plant grew to an extraordinary size and seemed to come alive, wrapping itself around Longshadow’s neck and starting to strangle him until he finally released Black Adam’s leg.

A few of the masked men freed themselves from the snakes and charged at Caesar. Caesar clenched his teeth together as he tried to expel the pain from his mind. He whispered to them, “You want some, then come and get some.”

Caesar clenched his wand in his left hand, the wand magically transforming into a quarterstaff with red energy crackling from either end. Caesar began twirling it around in front of himself before swinging it to his left. The quarterstaff connected with the first henchmen’s neck, instantly paralyzing his first adversary from the neck down. The second henchman caught the other tip of the staff in the center of his chest, sending the red magical energy around him until he passed out unconscious.

Black Adam got himself out of the hole in the ground and saw the remaining masked man finally wrestling free of the snakes. Black Adam raced towards them with bloodlust and fury. He flew towards two of them and grabbed them by the neck. He smashed their heads together, causing their skulls to explode with brain matter scattered all over the place. He continued his rampage by thrusting his right hand through one henchman and grabbing the face of the henchman behind the first one. Black Adam squeezed the fourth henchman’s face, crushing it as easy as a soda can. Six other henchmen piled onto Black Adam’s back. They were punching and kicking, doing whatever they could do to subdue Black Adam. Black Adam grabbed two masked men off his back by the throats and squeezed until their heads literally popped off their shoulders. He started floating in the air and spun around like a top. The four masked men were sent flying in all different directions. Black Adam managesdto grab one of the masked men by the throat and ripped off the guy’s left arm. Black Adam smashed the guy’s face in with the dismembered limb. He released the lifeless body, then quickly surveyed the area and saw that the three other henchmen were pretty much mashed against the lobby walls.

Caesar looked around in disgust as he struggled to walk and breathe at the same time. Caesar’s eyes could barely take in all the chaos and senseless bloodshed that Black Adam had caused. I thought that I was done seeing this kind of horror, seeing so much carnage, after leaving Metropolis. I guess it even follows me to friendly Fawcett City.





Billy was on the phone to Freddy, who was calling him from a phone booth at the Wormwood Orphanage. “Well, Billy, I went to the scene of the crime and you wouldn’t believe what I saw. The creatures were at least part human, or at least were, at one time, human any way,” Freddy was saying to Billy as they sat talking about what was going on around Fawcett City.

“Hmm. Do you have any ideas as to what is going on then?” Billy asked.

“Not really. So far all I know is that someone is changing humans into some sort of creatures and it is in the creature forms that the killings are done. I am not sure how the people are being changed yet. I was hoping that the coroner would have something but the toxicology reports aren’t back yet, “ Freddy said as he took a sip from the soda that he was drinking.

“So, you’re thinking that it might be some kind of chemical that is causing these humans to change into these creatures? Perhaps, if it isn’t a chemical, someone might be changing them genetically or even mystically. Have you considered that?” Billy asked.

“Yes, that’s what I was going to suggest if the toxicology reports came back negative for anything other than normal street drugs,” Freddy said, then he looked down to his can of soda. “So how’s your investigation going?” Freddy asked.

“Well I found out quite a bit about the tomb that we were at, and I have a better idea of why Black Adam was also at the tomb. The tomb belonged to some queen during ancient Egypt and supposedly she was his lover,” Billy said as he looked out of the window with a very worried look on his face.

“There’s more, isn’t there? Something that could be very bad for us and everyone else, isn’t there?” Freddy asked.

“Yes, Freddy, your instincts are just as sharp as ever. There was an amulet that was supposed to be buried in the tomb with the queen’s body, but Dr. Thomas told me that when they got to the burial chamber it had been disturbed and the amulet had been removed, and the good doctor insisted that she and that magician Caesar were the first ones in the tomb, so it leads me to believe that Black Adam took this amulet and the amulet has tremendous powers. Maybe more power than that of the wizard himself,” Billy said as Freddy’s mouth almost dropped to the floor.

“What are you going to do then? You just can’t go walking up to Black Adam and demand him give you that amulet, especially if we don’t know if he can access the powers of the amulet,” Freddy stated as he shrugged his shoulders.

“Black Adam hasn’t been seen since we tangled with him in the desert. I’ve got this feeling that he’s close by.” Suddenly Billy heard on his police scanner that there was a disturbance at the Fawcett City Museum. “I think I have an idea where he is now. I’ll talk to you at school in the morning; I’m going to check out the disturbance at the museum.” Billy hung up the phone and ran to his backyard. Billy shouted out, ‘SHAZAM!’ and with a flash of lightning, the teenage Billy Batson was transformed into the World’s Mightiest Mortal, Captain Marvel.





Caesar looked over to where he thought Adrianna was standing and all he saw was a smoking hot chick that was barely clothed. Behind her, Caesar saw Longshadow struggling as he’d been picked up and wrapped up by plant life. Just as Caesar was about to collapse, he felt his body go limp but he was still standing. His eyes locked onto the woman who was waving him towards her.

“Thank you so much, Caesar, for all your help. I have found my destiny,” Isis said, and then, sensing that Caesar was not well, she placed a hand onto Caesar’s shoulder. Caesar felt the pain in his ribs subside and then he felt the pain no more. Caesar felt his strength returning to him as he felt whatever force that was holding him up fade away and he was able to stand under his own power.

Black Adam walked over to Isis and bowed before her as he wiped some brain matter off his shoulder. “My goddess, you have returned as you promised me so long ago.”

“Do not bow before me, Mighty Adam...for you are my equal, my love.”

“So, where is Adrianna?” Caesar asked as he stood closer to Isis, much to Black Adam’s chagrin.

“Well, my young mage, Adrianna and Hatshepsut have always been one and the same. It is the cycle of reincarnation. And the power of Isis has also been connected to my bloodline. It was you who broke the magical barrier that has set into motion these events that led to our reunion.” Isis held out her hand for Black Adam to take.

Black Adam extended out a hand to Caesar. “Thank you, Caesar.” Caesar looked at Black Adam’s hand and then at Isis.

Caesar finally shook Black Adam’s hand as Captain Marvel walked into the front lobby doors. Caesar saw the Big Red Cheese and also saw the police lights flashing outside the museum.

“This doesn’t look good.”

“Black Adam...I need to speak with you about a certain amulet that you stole out of that...” Captain Marvel’s words were interrupted by the sight of Isis before him. Captain Marvel seemed to be entranced by her beauty.

Caesar saw Fawcett City’s SWAT team rushing in behind Captain Marvel. “Time to reveal my plan and take us to Isis’s deserted land.” As soon as Caesar finished the short spell, he swung his cape over Black Adam, Isis and himself. They disappeared in a cloud of red smoke.






The Wizard Shazam watched what was happening in Fawcett City, and the killings that had taken place, when he felt a stirring of an ancient and very incredible power welling up and changed his vision from Captain Marvel to the sudden source of power, and a smile crossed his face. “It is about time,” he said and again smiled broadly as he watched the image of two people, one wearing all white and the other wearing all black, and felt the pride of a father well up within him as he watched a reunion that had been centuries in the making. It was a pairing that was meant to happen. The wizard smiled as he watched the two disappear from the museum lobby.

He changed the image in the clouded crystal ball to a time in the near future and again smiled at what he saw there.

“They will do well again and it will be brought back,” the wizard said.

“It will be a peace that will not last. He will ruin it and I don’t think that there is anything that you can do to stop him,” a disembodied voice commented to the wizard.

“It will last long enough, and it will not be he who destroys it. She will temper him. She will make him a better man, just as she did when they first met,” the wizard said as the image in the clouded crystal ball again shifted and changed. “See, even several years into the future they will still be happy and with a good prosperous kingdom that will be sanctuary to any and all,” the wizard said.

“It is all an illusion. It will fall, that I promise you,” the voice said and started to laugh.

“It will last and you will not do anything, or risk my wrath,” the wizard said and the voice again laughed and then faded away to nothing. The wizard shook his head and looked into the crystal ball again and smiled as the image again changed to show him what was happening in Fawcett City.




Thanks to all that read and left feedback on our first DC2 storyline: Goddess Found. We hope you all stick around for our next storyline that kicks off in May 2008, entitled The Evil Within.


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