Billy Batson

Sometimes, Billy Batson wishes there was a magic word to escape from his troubles. Oh, he can say "SHAZAM!" to stop being Billy for awhile, but eventually, he has to go back to being Billy and living Billy's life. As he flies across the state lines, wandering from place to place, he can't help dwell on several  Take, for example:

-He has a geometry test on Monday that he cannot fail, or it will pretty much sink his grade in that class for the semester, and make him ineligible to participate on the school paper.

-There's a school dance coming up, and he doesn't have a date. A few months ago,  he might have been overheard talking about how cool and pretty Courtney is by Peter "Bolt" Thompson, all-star school jock...and Billy's tormentor. Bolt challenged him to bring Courtney to the dance "to prove she isn't a blow-up doll or a figment of your imagination". This was met with raucous laughter by the other students in the cafeteria.

-Mr. Morris doesn't know if the station is being bought out by a competitor, and there's talk of eliminating Billy's segment.

-Shazam himself keeps mentioning an oncoming darkness that world will face in the coming year, but can't give him any details when pressed. He just keeps telling Billy to "be vigilant and be ready". Of course, Cryptic Wizard-Speak should be considered a foreign language in itself.


So is the state of affairs as Billy finally snaps back to reality in a city he knows well, seeing the old JSA Brownstone beneath him. A part of him would like to stop in and see Courtney, but with how he left the team, he isn't sure he'd be welcome. He thinks for a moment and gets an idea. Pulling his cell-phone from is pocket (he has yet to figure out how the lightning bolt knows not blow up his phone), he dials Courtney's number and hopes she'll speak to him, even though they've been out of touch. He gets her voice-mail and sighs, figuring this would happen.

"Courtney, it's--" he says, his lips tripping over his actual name. Shazam's STILL got that rule in place that he can't tell anyone who he is, Darn. Okay...

"Courtney, it's...me. Captain Marvel. Look, I'd like to talk to you if you've got a minute. Give me a call and I can meet you anywhere you like. I hope to hear from you soon." he says, hanging up.

Yeah...life sucks, even if you're the World's Mightiest Mortal. Billy flies on, slowly, hoping she'll call back soon.