15 Chapter 15: Shazam.

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(Billy's P.O.V)

I clicked on the notification instantly.

I needed to see it.

~~~~~~

(Mission Accomplished)

(Save New York from Iron Skull and his cabal)

(Rewards:- Complete renovation of your apartment) - Receive?

~~~~~~

I breathed out a sigh of relief, good.

It wasn't easy, I hadn't thought it would be but...it had been much harder than I had expected.

I'd gone up against 3 Supervillains who by themselves were like a small army.

M.O.D.O.K was a genius scientist, Iron Skull was a supersoldier inside an Iron Man Armor and the less said about Atuma the better.

That's why I couldn't stay on the ground, no matter how much I wanted to rest my head a little. That finishing move had left me feeling lethargic.

The good thing was that my body was now free of the Gamma Virus.

The headache and the pain on my ribs would take time to heal but atleast I wasn't going to explode soon.

The only downside was that I couldn't exactly train while injured. A normal concussion took 7 to 14 days to heal. That meant at least an entire week of inactivity.

Maybe I could use that time as I healed, to complete the next level of the Mind - Palace.

Maybe I could even explore the ideas I had about coming up with a new psionic ability.

Now that school wasn't necessary, after all I had completed the mission, there was time to work on my powers.

Something like regeneration would have have healed my injuries. Not to mention, I could think of a few ways Magnetism would have come in handy during the fight with the Cabal.

Coincidentally, coming up with an original psionic ability was the only mission I was yet to complete.

Accomplishing it would reward me with the ring of Solomon. Something that was equal parts useful as well as dangerous.

An artefact that gave the user control over the 72 demon pillars.

I was still...undecided if I even wanted something like that.

That's a lie. I wanted it, I just didn't think it was smart to use it.

Messing with the forces of hell dared to bring Mephisto's gaze and attention to me. I WAS NOT ready for something like that.

Even at Shazam's full power he wouldn't survive half the shit someone like Johnny Blaze went through because of Mephisto.

Demons aside, I covered my body with a psionic aura and raised myself from the ground.

I was shirtless and the pants I had worn before were now strips of fabric hanging off my legs.

Clothes were the furthest thing in my mind however.

******

I floated towards the fallen Cabal lying on the edges of the crater created by the discharge of the gamma energy.

The area around us was devastated. The crater being close to 300 yards in size. (270 meters across)

Iron Skull was propped up against a broken tree trunk, the arc reactor core on his chest looked dim and the armor itself was dented in places. A trail of blood fell down his forehead.

Atuma was lying on his back, groaning. The entire front of his armor was melted.

The chest plate going down to cover his belly and the guards along his thighs and limbs seemed to have melded into his blue skin.

That looked painful. I was cautious with him. Out of the three of them, he seemed to be responsive.

I turned to the Super-Adaptoid next. M.O.D.O.K had gotten the worst of it.

The Super-Adaptoid's left side was entirely missing. M.O.D.O.K's atrophied left hand, ended in an injury a little past the elbow.

The injury didn't seem to be bleeding normally, the wound was glowing red, his flesh bubbling and then before my eyes...it started healing.

What the...

The only thing that I knew could that was...

Extremis.

But How? How did M.O.D.O.K have access to Extremis?

The good thing was that none of them seem to be dead. I knew Marvel heroes were not as dead set on letting some villains live like DC, but I still didn't want them thinking I was a killer.

Not sure how long the Cabal was going to stay knocked out though, but I hoped Shield or the Avengers would arrive and cart them away before they woke up.

On the bright side, I could use Atuma's blue cape to create something I could temporarily wear.

A crude mask was especially necessary, taking into account that I was still in a public place.

Didn't matter that a small part of it looked like the sight of a massive bomb explosion.

I estimate there wouldn't be any picnics in the park for the foreseeable future.

The authorities would need to ensure that all traces of the Gamma Virus were gone and that meant cordoning it off from the public.

I lifted Atuma off his back, using Telekinesis to detach him from his cape.

Then I dropped his body back to the ground roughly. I was still salty about him ruining the lake.

I studied the cape closely.

It was obviously something of high quality. Which wasn't surprising really.

Atuma was a Warlord, one who could claim dominion over the most resource heavy place in the world, the ocean.

'Could' being the key word as Namor would sooner eat his own liver than allow something like that.

He and Atuma were bitter enemies in the comics, I'm guessing it was still the same here as well.

That aside, the cape was sufficient for what I would need. Covering my nudity.

My grandma was amazing at stitching. The fact that her only daughter only had 1 kid, and it wasn't a girl, was a point of contention for her.

The old woman wanted to pass on her skills.

So she decided to teach me instead.

The blue cape underwent changes as I used telekinesis to sever and twine the threads into a simple Dhoti, which was basically baggy pants that were comfy.

Then I cut the cape into a long plain strip of cloth. An Angavastra which I hang over my shoulder.

It was a simplistic solution that didn't take long. I didn't have time to create pants and a t-shirt.

The rest of the material was used for a ski mask that completely covered my face.

There were two holes cut into it to form eye holes for me to see through.

I looked like Aladdin if he wore a face mask, the only thing missing being his signature vest and hat.

With my identity safe and dignity restored, I turned to my enemies.

The rest of the material was twisted into strong and tight ropes that Solomon's Wisdom informed me had been strung and weaved to possess the the tensile strength of a metal cable.

Atlantean fabric for the win. Yay.

Oh and telekinesis for the win too!

The ropes swam through the air like snakes under my power. They crept up the Cabal's forms and ensnared them fully.

It would be nothing more than a minor inconvenience for them to break apart the ropes. But that was alright, I could already feel someone enter my range.

They swung through the trees.

Spiderman.

Before the friendly neighborhood superhero and what I was guessing was Shield could arrive, I decided to see if there was anything else cooler I could...heh...borrow from the Cabal.

My eyes immediately landed on the Golden Trident lying next to Atuma. I smiled. Mine.

The trident flew to my hands and immediately...I could feel my mind tap into a boundless well of power. The ocean!

This was the Trident of Neptune! I immediately threw it into my hammer space which was just barely big enough to accommodate the weapon.

'That surely won't cause problems for me in the long run.' I mused sarcastically.

Then turned around to face the blue and red clad superhero watching from the branch of a tree.

He had just arrived.

Spiderman tilted his head to the side and I stopped myself from diving into his mind to find out what he was thinking.

I could feel his surprise though. Whether it was due to the fact that I had just soloed the Cabal or my weird costume or the crater, I had no idea.

"Hi there. Hope they didn't give you too much trouble. Tried to punch Atuma on the face once...bad idea."

Spider man started off cautiously.

"Yeah, tell me about it."

I intentionally vibrated the air infront of my lips with telekinesis, causing my voice to be distorted but still audible.

Spiderman tapped his ear and mumbled something that was too low for me to hear, before jumping down onto the crater.

He looked around at the destruction and whistled.

"Looks like that one time the Rhino fought the Hulk."

He had no idea how close he was to the actual truth. I wasn't the Hulk but I'd been a 'Hulk.'

Spiderman stopped a few places away from my floating form and held out a hand.

"Hi there. Spiderman. And you are?"

I floated to the ground and shook it, noticing that I was still a little taller than him.

"Call me..."

At that, I stopped. I could go with any other superhero name. A few cool ones even existed like Paragon or Fortitude, maybe even simply Champion to allude to my connection with the Gods.

But... nothing seemed to feel as right as what I knew, was always going to be my Superhero identity.

"Shazam. The Marvelous Shazam."