Issue #11: "The Evil Within, Part Two"

The field was filled with a Ferris wheel and other amusement park rides, and was being used by the city to help raise funds to fix the damages to the Fawcett City Museum. Booths were set up to sell homemade cuisine from the citizens of Fawcett City, and many of the city’s businesses had donated funds and resources for this event, as had Captain Marvel, who had volunteered his time for this worthy cause.

Jeremy and Mary were working one of the booths that had games for stuffed animal prizes. “Step right up, people… Land three rings on the inner set of bottles and win a prize. Only five tickets to play,” Jeremy said to anyone in range of his voice.

Mary handed customers three rings after receiving five tickets. She smiled as adults and children alike tried their luck at tossing the rings onto the glass bottles. She handed out some small stuffed animals to some winners. Mary walked over to Jeremy and asked him, “Hey, Jeremy, do you see Freddy or Billy?”

“I know that Billy is home working on a class project and I believe Freddy is still under house arrest at Wormwood for blowing curfew again.”

Mary turned away from Jeremy to take care of the next customer and was surprised to see Captain Marvel standing before her. “Hello, Miss Bromfield, here are my five tickets,” the Big Red Cheese said to Mary.

Behind the good Captain were Major Sheppard and some members of the media that were covering this event for the city and national news outlets. Mary finally snapped out of her trance and handed Captain Marvel three rings. Photographers flanked all sides of the booth, and Captain Marvel looked at all the attention that he had brought to Fawcett City. He could see movie and television celebrities from all over the nation donating money and their time for one of the nation’s famous museums. With this many eyes focused on him, he might have felt nervous, but Captain Marvel needed only draw upon the courage of Achilles to calm himself. Captain Marvel bent at the waist, his tongue licking his lips, as he focused on not accidentally tossing the plastic rings across the field with the strength of Hercules. His concentration paid off as he tossed the rings perfectly on the empty glass bottle in the center of other empty bottles.

“AND WE HAVE A WINNER HERE, THE BIG RED CHEESE!!!” yelled Jeremy to the media crowd.

Several of the photographers took pictures of Mary handing Captain Marvel a stuffed bear with a costume that resembled Kid Marvel’s. Captain Marvel gave a big smile as the many cameras flashed, handed the stuffed animal back to Mary, and said with a bright smile, “Here for you, Ms. Bromfield, a gift from Kid Marvel, who regrettably could not make it.”

Captain Marvel and Major Sheppard walked together around the field with media all around them; Captain Marvel had drawn a lot of people together for a great cause. They stopped for a moment at the cotton candy vendor, and Captain Marvel grabbed himself and Major Sheppard some cotton candy. A little boy and girl looking to be about five years old approached them and The Big Red Cheese knelt down as the two kids hugged him tightly. “Tank qu, Cap Mervell fer pur-tec’n us from da bad pee-bull.”

The crowd, in unison, let out a load audible, “AAWWWWWWWWW!”

Captain Marvel handed the two kids his cotton candy as photographers snapped more pictures, the kids smiling ear to ear as they received the gift from Fawcett City’s protector. Captain Marvel stood up and patted the kids on their heads and they went running off with smiles on their face. Major Sheppard put his hand on one of Captain Marvel’s broad shoulders and said, “You were right, the people of this great city have rallied together.”

Captain Marvel and Major Sheppard walked away from the prying eyes and ears of the media.
“This was a really great idea, Major Sheppard…this fund-raising carnival and all.”

Major Sheppard finished eating his chilidog before he responded to Captain Marvel’s comments, “Well, thanks, it was really inspired by you and all of the good that you do for the city. Plus the city got a call from that so-called magician, Caesar…”

With youthful enthusiasm, Captain Marvel interrupted Major Sheppard, “Caesar… Really? …Caesar contacted the city?”

Major Sheppard just continued, “…Well, his agent wanted to prevent the negative press of his client being linked to that nefarious Black Adam, so the city agreed to not file any charges against him and he agreed to donate a hundred grand to the repairs of the museum.”

Captain Marvel asked, “Does that include a performance by him?”

“Well, he might be performing later on.”

“Now, Major Sheppard,” Captain Marvel’s voice took on a serious tone, “can I ask you if you have any suspects or leads in the murder of that high school football player? I’d like to know if I could help out.”

“Well we have a few leads and so far only one suspect. I wish I could tell you more, but the investigation is still ongoing,” Sheppard said as they headed back towards the media group to pose for more pictures and talk to more reporters.





It had been two months since the power of Isis found its intended host, Adrianna Thomas. Since that time, both Black Adam and Isis had had a vision of a new kingdom, and that new kingdom would be in the home of Black Adam: Kahndaq. This region of the world had been plagued by sadistic dictators, making false promises to the people in order to pacify them and control their lives for no other reason than to feed their own egos. Since then, the once glorious city of Kahndaq, the birthplace of Teth-Adam, had been under the ruthless rule of a self imposed King. King Amon Syrd cared nothing for the people’s lives or well-being; King Syrd cared only that his military was the largest in the region. Other cities and countries feared him and his chemical weapons, but there were two people that did not fear this self-imposed king, and those two were currently providing aid to those who had been neglected by King Syrd.

Isis had been working hard with the people of Kahndaq to restore it to its former glory of so long ago, working with the children of this once proud nation to plant new plants in gardens throughout the country; the land had been torn by war and uncaring dictators for far too long. Wherever she went, she was adored by the children who ran towards her. To them, she was a beacon of hope in their lives. She wanted to make changes with the people of Kahndaq, hand in hand, not hover over them like the malevolent dictator that Amon Sayd was. But before Isis and her ancient lover, Black Adam, could overthrow the current regime, they would need the support of the people of Kahndaq; for the will of the people would be done.

She then stood up amidst the children that surrounded her and stared at the sky with a look of determination on her face. She looked over her shoulder and saw Caesar once again on his cell phone. He was wearing khaki shorts with a white sleeveless shirt, and talking on his cell to his agent, “What do you mean, I have a performance today in Fawcett City!? You sent me an e-mail and left me how many messages on my cell phone? But I thought I had to pay a fine and that was it. How about I get Captain Sawyer to contact them to get me off this community service performance…What? You mean she gave them the idea for the performance… Okay… fine… what time do I have to be there for?” Caesar looked at his expensive watch. “WHAT?!?”

Isis walked over to Caesar with a puzzled look on her face. “I’ve got to go back to Fawcett City for some community service,” he told her.

“Good, for that is where I must go too.” She glanced over and saw in the distance her ancient lover, Black Adam, who was putting his vast strength to good use. He had been working on helping to rebuild some buildings that had been neglected and destroyed due to the many wars that the dictator of Kahndaq had created.

Isis flew to where Black Adam was. She sneaked up behind Black Adam and covered his eyes, her action startling him. He quickly turned, smiling, towards the most beautiful person his eyes had seen in three millennia. And his smile was genuine when he was in her presence; his vulnerable side was rarely ever seen except in the presence of Isis. “I must leave you for a time, my beloved,” she told him.

“Wherever the winds take you, I will be by your side,” Black Adam replied to her.

“This is something that I, as Isis, must do alone. I will return soon to build our new kingdom,” she said as she kissed the back of his right hand.

Black Adam nodded and rubbed his hand across Isis’s cheek and smiled. “I shall wait till the end of the world for you, my love. Hurry back to me,” he said as he watched Isis and Caesar vanish in a flash of brilliant red light.





A man dressed in deep dark green robes was holding the tablet of Ma’at. Two months ago, this tablet had been in the care of EnviroSystems for testing at the request of Fawcett City Museum. Now it was in the possession of a man who was staring at the glyphs that were on the stone. He had been staring at the stone for several days now. If anyone were to see what this man was doing they would think that the stone held the man in a trance, however, that was not the case. The stone tablet was actually sending the information that it held into the man’s brain. The information was so complex that it was actually causing an odd side effect.

The man placed the tablet down on a wooden table, and, as he did, the tablet gave off a slight red glow for a brief moment. The man was mumbling incoherent babble as he walked up over to the other side of the room and sat down at a desk that had two separate piles of papers. One pile had papers that had been scribbled on with what would look like nonsense on them; the other pile was a neat stack of blank paper. He grabbed a pen from one of the drawers of the desk and a piece of blank paper. He started to write things on the paper with a blank stare in his eyes, not knowing exactly what it was that he was writing or even how he knew the information. Suddenly his mumbling ceased and he spoke, “To the North…North to the dark hole…and then enter without fear in your heart.”

He paused for a moment before uttering, “As long as you have no fear in your heart dessscend to the heart of the Earth. There you will find the way to the godsss.”





Isis and Caesar magically appeared in the center of town. They both looked around and saw that the stores were closed and the streets were almost deserted. Caesar looked over at Isis with an arched right eyebrow and said, “I think you should transform back into Adrianna. She would be less likely to draw attention to yourself.”

“Oh yes, good idea…I…AM…ISIS,” with those words uttered from her lips she was magically transformed back into Adrianna Thomas.

Caesar looked around, “I guess everyone is at that community thing that I’ve got to perform at.” Caesar grabbed a hold of her right hand and kissed the back of it.

Adrianna smiled at his gesture of chivalry as she watched him magically pull his sports car out of his left sleeve. Always the magician, eh, Caesar?

Caesar opened the driver’s-side door, looked over at Adrianna one more time and said, “Well you know that you are always invited to see my performance?”

Adrianna waved and turned away as she said, “No time for pleasure now; I have a task to accomplish first.”

And so, Caesar entered his expensive European sports car and sped away from the host of Isis. She went off the find what was hers to protect. And he was off to service the greater good…once again.





Caesar arrived at the Parker Field in his beautiful white Lamborghini. The sound of the throaty exhaust immediately caught the attention of all the media that were in attendance. Photographers quickly surrounded Caesar’s highly polished and shiny car. Caesar exited the vehicle with his trademarked black suit with red lapels and red tie as the flashes of light danced off his designer sunglasses. He smiled widely and waved his right hand towards all the media. Caesar was able to make it past the main gates and was greeted by Major Sheppard and Captain Marvel. Major Sheppard extended his right hand out to Caesar as he said for all the reporters to hear, “Welcome to The William Parker Memorial Field…here in the great city of FAWCETT CITY.”

The crowd of people that surrounded them all cheered after Major Sheppard finished speaking. Caesar replied to Major Sheppard while he also addressed the media crowd, “It is a pleasure to be here in Fawcett City, home of Captain Marvel himself and his sidekick…Kid Marvel.” Caesar paused for a moment looking around to see if he could see where Kid Marvel was. “…Okay, I guess that Kid Marvel isn’t here, but that matters not, for Fawcett City is in for a special treat later tonight.”

Caesar continued walking towards Captain Marvel and shook his hand to give all the photographers an opportunity to take their pictures. Captain Marvel whispered to Caesar, “So where did you take Black Adam and Isis?”

Caesar just smiled and replied in a whisper to Captain Marvel, “I took them home, but Isis is back in Fawcett City looking for something and I know it’s out of my league. But besides, Isis sure is a good influence on him too. And you may think of Black Adam as a villain but things are not always black and white, my good captain.”

Caesar and the media walked away from Captain Marvel as another figure walked behind him. Captain Marvel turned around and saw a dark, tanned, thin man standing before him. He wore a black suit with a black tie and a white turban on his head. Captain Marvel immediately recognized the man as the curator of the Fawcett City Museum: Mr. Ibis, also known as Ibis the Invincible. Captain Marvel’s grin extended from ear to ear at the sight of the man that had saved him and Mary not too long ago from a Mad Mummy. “I leave Fawcett City for a time and you let my museum be turned into a fight club for Black Adam,” Ibis said to the World’s Mightiest Mortal with a smile on his face.

Captain Marvel had a look of shock on his face after hearing Ibis’s comment and then quickly realized that he was joking. They shook hands and continued to talk.

Ibis said, “We must speak in private, Champion of Shazam.”

Captain Marvel smiled and nodded his head. Captain Marvel and Ibis faded out of the physical plane of existence into a point in between reality. To Captain Marvel, the space around was empty and void of colors or anything else. Captain Marvel turned around and saw nothing but Ibis standing in front him. Ibis finally spoke to Captain Marvel, “I fear we may all be in grave danger. Someone has found an item called the tablet of Ma’at.”

“The table of Ma’at…,” Captain Marvel started but then was filled with the wisdom and knowledge of Solomon, “…Oh yes, the tablet of Ma’at is basically a map of sorts. It gives the exact location of four sacred and magical items. If and when the four items are brought together they form a special key that will bring about the never-ending chaos that originally ruled the universe. Queen Pharaoh Hatshepsut was the last guardian of the tablet and before her death she had hidden it away some place that she had hoped it would be safe, but it appears that someone has found its location and is now trying to read the tablet.”

“And here I thought that it was I that was bringing you this information. Two months ago I found out that my Ibistick might be linked to the tablet somehow. I don’t really know how or why, but it is. I am guessing that my Ibistick detected when one of the items was awakened recently. I hope that the tablet has not fallen into evil hands.”

“Since you’ve been gone, Ibis, the Goddess Isis had been found and walks with Black Adam…”

“The Goddess Isis is with Black Adam?” asked Ibis, but he already knew the answer.

“She is searching for the tablet herself.”

“Good, then I shall find her and assist her in her glorious task,” and with that finished statement, Captain Marvel and Ibis left the place in between reality and returned to Parker Field. Ibis shook Captain Marvel’s hand and parted ways with the Big Red Cheese.

Caesar walked up some steps that led to a stage that was actually a flatbed trailer. The crowd quickly gathered around the makeshift stage.

“GOOD EVENING, FAWCETT CITY! GET READY TO BE ENTERTAINED THIS EVENING! I HAVE A SPECIAL ADDITION TO THIS PERFORMANCE!”

Caesar extended his arms out on both sides of his body. He wiggled his fingers and two large red curtains appeared on the trailer and were magically pulled up to cover the whole stage area, and then, with a puff of red smoke, the curtains dropped and standing around Caesar were members of the band from Chicago, Illinois, FALL OUT BOY. The teenagers in the crowd went crazy when they saw Fall Out Boy on stage with Caesar.





The walls of the room were painted a very deep navy blue, trimmed with silver glyphs painted in pure silver along the walls and on the floor was a circle with more silver glyphs. An image flared into being in the room upon a raised platform where a pure silver throne sat. There were jewels inlaid into the chair for decoration. The creature that sat upon the throne looked around the room and didn’t see who he was looking for so he sat down on the chair and growled. Then he clicked his fingers and the man in the deep green robe stood up from what he was doing and wandered into the deep navy blue room and knelt down in the circle on the floor.

“Why do you try my patience? I should punish you for not being here when I arrived. It is because of me that you are alive and that you are here to do what you are doing,” the creature said.

The man in the green robe continued to mutter to himself, not realizing that he wasn’t in the dark room still.

“What do you mumble, servant?” the creature asked as he raised his red-skinned hand and moved it in an arc and then the several candles around the room flickered into life. Their red flames danced on the wicks of the burning candles.

The man in the green robe continued to mumble, unaware of what he was mumbling and unaware that his master was in front of him demanding to know what he was babbling.

“Servant, do you seek to anger me? I wish to know what it is that you are babbling or I shall turn your body to ash,” the creature said to the man that was mumbling incoherently.

The creature stood up and walked closer to his servant and listened to him rambling on. “Oh how wonderful that you have found the tablet of Ma’at. I have long searched for that delicious tablet. Its powers could be exactly what I need to make my dream come true. Where my servant, where are the items located?” the creature all but purred out as he rubbed his red-skinned hands together in anticipation of what he would learn.





Meanwhile, evening had fallen across Fawcett City, and Adrianna Thomas was inside her office. She was gathering all of her notes and shredding them when Mr. Ibis knocked on her office door. Adrianna jumped at the surprising knock that rattled her out of her deep thought. “I wonder what important information you’re destroying there?” Mr. Ibis asked.

“Information that I gathered without the help of the museum, hence they are property of mine to do with as I please,” Adrianna snapped at the curator of the Fawcett City Museum.

Mr. Ibis just smiled in amusement at her defensive reply. “I don’t suppose that those notes have anything to do with information on the tablet of Ma’at?”

“What do you know of the tablet, Mr. Ibis?”

Mr. Ibis raised his Ibistick towards Adrianna Thomas. “Enough to know that it must not fall into the hands of evil.”





On the other side of Fawcett City, two teenagers were wandering through abandoned buildings. These two were looking for clues about the death of one of their schoolmates. Jeremy Brown and Mary Bromfield were two of Fawcett City High School’s brightest students and they were interested in seeing if there was a connection between the death of the Riz and the murders of the homeless people.

A few buildings down was Kid Marvel, looking a bit darker in the tone of his costume, the lightning bolt on his chest seeming to have lost its shine and the blue no longer as bright as it was before. Kid Marvel had snuck out of Wormwood and was continuing his investigation into the homeless murders. He was hoping to find out what these creatures were and where they were coming from. Sneaking out of Wormwood is getting easier at night, but dang I had to miss out on all that fun at Parker Field. But I’ll show them all once I solve these weird murders of the homeless…Dang, I miss Mary.

As Kid Marvel wandered through the second floor of the abandoned house, he had the oddest feeling that he was being watched but he was chalking it up to the fact that he was alone in an abandoned house and that it was rather dark in what was left of the house. Each time the wind blew, the tattered house would creak and sway slightly, and Kid Marvel did everything he could to keep from slipping and falling.

Then, as he was walking across the floor, one of the boards broke and Kid Marvel’s leg went down through it and got caught between what was remaining of the broken board. “Dag nab it, can this get any worse?” he asked himself out loud as if the darkness around him would give him an answer.

The creature that had been watching Kid Marvel decided that now would be the best time to attack its prey. It slowly stalked out of the darkness, its black eyes almost glowing as its mouth opened and green gooey slime dripped out. Some hit the creature’s body and some actually hit the ground with a slight hiss as the acid burnt through the rotten wood.

Kid Marvel heard the slight hiss and he turned his head and saw the creature. “Well, that’s not good,” he said as he pulled his leg out using the strength of Hercules.

The creature didn’t hesitate as it charged at Kid Marvel, who braced himself as the creature slammed into his chest. The creature bounced back off his chest as if he’d slammed into a brick wall, and Kid Marvel nonchalantly kicked the creature in its gross face. The creature was knocked back a few feet, while Kid Marvel felt some pain on the leg that he’d kicked the creature with. The creature hit Kid Marvel and the force of the blow actually knocked Kid Marvel over, and the creature was quickly turning its body to again face its prey. It stalked over and climbed up onto Kid Marvel’s chest. It then lowered its mouth to an inch from Kid Marvel’s face and it growled at him, its mouth then turning into what Kid Marvel could only guess was a smile. He balled his fist even tighter and with the strength of Hercules he punched the creature in the side of the head. A loud cracking sound was heard as Kid Marvel shattered the creature’s skull. Kid Marvel then pushed the creature’s body off of his own body.

The green slimy drool puddled and mixed with its reddish-colored blood, and Kid Marvel was relieved that he had been able to get the creature’s body off of him before its drool hit another part of him.

He sat there for a minute, breathing heavily, as he looked at the creature’s body and listened to the hissing sound of the creature’s drool burning through the wood of the floor, and it occurred to Kid Marvel that the acid would eat through the already weak and rotten floor and that he better get out of the building before the floor collapsed and he fell with the floor and the creature’s body to the wooden floor below.

Kid stood up and took off out of the already broken window and, with a quick look around, he landed on the street, sitting down to rest when he saw Mary and Jeremy riding on a scooter towards him. He knew that they had already seen him so taking off would be, well, rude. He stood up and waved back at Mary when he saw her waving at him. “Hello Miss Bromfield, what are you doing in this part of town. It’s dangerous around here,” he said as he looked at the two teenagers.

“Well, we were working on trying to figure out who killed Riz. We’re bothered by the fact that no one has been arrested for his brutal murder yet,” Mary said as she turned to Jeremy who nodded.

“You’re what? Miss Bromfield, you really should leave things like this to the police. It is their job and they are paid to deal with the danger whereas you are not. What would you do if someone came along and tried to hurt you? How would you and your friend defend yourselves if a few homeless men came at you?” Kid Marvel asked the two of them.

Suddenly, from between two of the abandoned buildings, another creature charged at Kid Marvel, catching him off guard as the creature connected with its claws to his chest. Kid Marvel staggered back as he covered his chest with his arms. The creature was relentless in its attack on Kid Marvel. Once Kid Marvel was knocked off his feet, the creature turned its attention to Mary and Jeremy. Both of the teenagers were frozen with fear. The grotesque creature’s mouth opened as it sprayed its green acid salivas at Jeremy. Mary managed to pull Jeremy out of the way, but Jeremy tripped over his own feet. He fell and Mary fell to the ground with him. The creature slowly moved towards the teenagers. Kid Marvel stood up and saw that Mary was in trouble. With the speed of Mercury, he flew behind the creature. His eyes were burning red in an unforeseen rage with his fists glowed a bright red. Kid Marvel pulled back his right tightly-clenched fist, and rammed it into the creature’s head, sending it flying towards one of the empty buildings. The sheer force of the creature’s impact on the building caused it to splatter like a bug on a car windshield. Mary was shocked and surprised at the sight of the creature’s demise. Kid Marvel turned to see how Mary and Jeremy were doing. Mary saw a familiar rage in his eyes that she’d seen somewhere before as she helped Jeremy get to his feet. Jeremy shook his head and asked, “Where is that ugly thing?”

Mary pointed to the building that the creature was caked on. Kid Marvel looked Mary in her eyes, his own eyes calm and concerned. “Are you two alright?”

“Well, thanks to you, that is one creature that won’t be hurting anyone else, that’s for sure,” Jeremy said trying to lighten the mood.

“Let me take you two aspiring detectives to your respective homes before you get in trouble with your folks for being out so late.”

Both Jeremy and Mary jumped on Jeremy’s scooter as Kid Marvel lifted them over his head and flew up into the night sky. Kid Marvel looked up towards Jeremy as he pointed out directions to his home. Not log afterwards, Kid Marvel was dropping off Jeremy Brown with his scooter at his house.

Just as Kid Marvel walked over to Mary Bromfield was standing, he felt awkward as he tried to grab a hold of Mary, but he didn’t know where to put his hands. Mary spoke to him as his hands shot back to his sides. “I’m so happy that you were close enough to save us from that creature. I knew that you wouldn’t let that creature hurt me…I mean us,” she said as she put one of her hands on Kid Marvel’s arm.

Kid Marvel saw Jeremy with his scooter entering his family garage. Kid Marvel was feeling a bit odd that Mary was clinging to his arm. He then looked at Mary and smiled weakly. “Alright, Miss Bromfield, I will escort you. Now, just point me in the right direction.”

“Well, don’t you know where it is?… Captain Marvel knew where I lived.”

Well, the Big Red Cheese knows a lot of things; that’s why I’m just the sidekick,” he said with a hint of resentment towards Billy’s alter ego.

Mary took the initiative and grabbed a hold of Kid Marvel’s arm, wrapped it around her waist and said to him, “This way I know you won’t drop me when you fly me home.”

Mary turned away from the gaze of Kid Marvel with her puppy dog eyes and warm smile. They flew into the sky together in the direction of Mary’s home. “Kid Marvel, you are so kind to offer to make sure that we get back home alright. I appreciate it a great deal,” she said to Kid Marvel as she looked out towards the beautiful star-filled night sky.

“Um… well, golly geez, it really isn’t anything special, Miss Bromfield. I just would hate myself if anything were to happen to you is all. I would be... um… sad and I am sure that there would be plenty of other boys that would be sad if you were to be hurt in any way,” Kid Marvel said as he flew closer to her home.

“That is mighty nice of you, sir. I appreciate it nonetheless,” Mary said, enjoying the flight that she was taking with Kid Marvel.

Kid Marvel landed in the backyard of Mary’s home. “Okay, Miss Bromfield, please, from now on, let the police handle things like dangerous investigations. I would hate to find out that something like what happened to your football star happened to you or your boyfriend.”

Mary interrupted Kid Marvel, “Jeremy Brown isn’t my boyfriend…he is just a friend.”

“Well, a pretty girl like you must have a boyfriend, right?”

“Not really…”

“What does that mean?” Kid Marvel asked, fishing for the right answer.

“I like this boy, but I barely see him outside of school lately, and I hope that he likes me like I like him,” she said with a heavy sadness in her voice.

Kid Marvel felt his insides turn inside and out as he wanted to tell the girl that he had had the longest crush on, that he was in fact Freddy Freeman, the boy that liked her back in the same way. Kid Marvel quickly snapped out of his schoolboy crush trance and started to fly away from her backyard.

Mary fought back tears that were collecting in the corners of her eyes as she whispered to herself, “I miss you, Freddy”







Kid Marvel landed on a hilltop and sighed. “Dang, that was close. I’m amazed that she didn’t recognize me. If she had I would be in trouble. Billy is not going to like this, not one bit,” Kid Marvel said as he sat there with his head in his hands looking down at Fawcett City.

“God, what is wrong with me and why do I keep having these impulses to kill and destroy things?” Kid Marvel asked no one in particular since no one else was on the hill.

“That is because you are only second best, but you should, and could, be the best. You shouldn’t be Kid Marvel; you should be more than Captain Marvel. You are the better one; you are the one who has nothing and deserves it. You should take your chance and take that which is yours and belongs to you,” a voice said from out of nowhere. “Nothing is going to just come to you; you have to take it.”





The fund-raising event had finished and the citizens of Fawcett City had rallied together and raised more than enough to repair the damages to the museum. The amusement rides were being disassembled as the booths were being emptied of their various games and grills. Captain Marvel and Major Sheppard were walking at the end of the field and talking. “So, this event was a major success, Major Sheppard.”

“Yes it was. Caesar even donated his Lamborghini to be auctioned off too.”

“So, Major Sheppard, can you fill me in on any leads in the killings of the homeless people?” Captain Marvel asked.

“Well, to tell you the truth, Captain, it’s a big mystery to us. The fingerprints that were on the dagger are not in the police or even FBI data banks so whoever killed him has never been in trouble with the law for the slightest thing. Which is baffling to me and my detectives since when someone kills like this it usually means that they must have some serious grudge against the victim in some way to drive them to kill him out of nowhere.” Major Sheppard says as he turned and looked up at Captain Marvel and sighed. “It’s times like this that I just wish that I had superpowers like you and the others so that it would make solving this case easier,” he said.

Major Sheppard sighed and looked around him, then, once he was satisfied that no one was around, he put his hand on Captain Marvel’s arm. “Well, we did get the toxicology reports back on the first few victims, and what the reports show is something… well, rather odd, and honestly we don’t know what in creation it is,” he said as he looked up at Captain Marvel and shrugged.

“Jiminy willikers, what do you mean, you don’t know what it is? Is there some sort of creature or something alien that the reports show?” Captain Marvel asked, as he looked a bit shocked at the fact that the scientists couldn’t figure out what the toxicology reports were showing.

“Um, well honestly, Captain Marvel. it seems that the victims’ blood showed signs of some sort of odd chemical that no one recognizes. We sent the reports out to the world’s top chemists and no one can figure out what it is. It’s a completely unknown substance,” Major Sheppard said; still, he had a rather worried look on his face. “Some are beginning to believe that the tales of aliens coming to the planet and kidnapping people and doing weird tests on them are sounding more and more plausible each day. I mean it would explain why we haven’t found out who is killing the homeless people. Do you think they are using the homeless people as food?” Major Sheppard asked.


“I don’t know. Perhaps I could swing by the forensic lab and take a look. Perhaps I might be able to figure it out if your people can’t, and, if not, then perhaps some of the people that I know might be able to figure it out,” Captain Marvel said to the Major, which brought a smile to the Major’s face.

“I would appreciate that a great deal, Captain Marvel,” Major Sheppard said.





The great Wizard Shazam sat with a sad expression on his face. The Wizard once again heard the disembodied voice. “Your champion may figure one piece of the puzzle, but he is blind to the one close to him. As time passes, he is closer to being in my thrall and your time will be over. I SHALL BE FREE. DO YOU HEAR ME, OLD MAN…I WILL BE FREED”

To Be Continued


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