Chapter 34: Outgrown You.

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(General P.O.V)

The fight had begun in earnest. And Fury was mad.

A few stray attacks even came close to reaching the massive form of the Hellicarrier floating above the Raft.

"Deploy the shields! Cloak us and take us higher."

Fury ordered, watching the Satellite feed and spotting the ensuing chaos happening on the surface of raft.

"Hill, get me eyes on the ground!"

Fury yelled into his comms.

"On it sir!"

Hill answered as she and a squad of agents ran towards the quinjets.

"Engage lethal measures?"

She asked.

Fury breathed out.

"Negative. We have guards on the courtyard. Only take out those trying to escape by jumping off the Raft. Also coordinate with the coast guard and set up a perimeter along the shore. Anyone who reaches it should find a nice pair of cuffs waiting for them."

"Yes sir."

Hill responded.

Fury sighed, rubbing his eye patch. It wasn't that it irritated him or anything but it was a force of habit.

The other reason he was wary of allowing lethal measures was actually pretty simple. He wanted to see whether Shazam could deliver.

The kid had something special. He'd seen it in Parker as well. It wasn't about the fame for the two of them. Which meant they would time and time again go rogue if they decided they didn't agree with his orders.

Still, he couldn't let it go. Fury's hand went to his hip where a pager was placed. Such a primitive way of communicating but it was effective.

Maybe this was something the original needed to know.

******

No one knew how M.O.D.O.K had been taken out in a single blow.

Even he didn't understand it. He'd been flying right behind the boy, his thrusters blazing under his feet to push him faster, higher.

It was easy to track his target even under the cover of night. All he had to do was follow the golden trail left behind as he moved.

Up until the second they had breached the cloud cover.

That's when things had started going terribly for him.

Immediately, clouds had converged upon him from all sides, obscuring his vision. So he switched to infrared, surveying the surroundings.

That's when he'd felt it. One second he had an arm, then the next, something sharp had severed it.

"What?! Where?"

The Android had looked around, only for his other arm to fall off.

"Show yourself pest!!"

M.O.D.O.K had snarled, commanding the nanites in the Super Adaptoid to heal the damage.

Only for a field of energy to continously break down the bonds between the machines easily.

Which was scientifically impossible! He had control over the electrostatic component bonding the tiny machines together.

Paired up with the Super Adaptoid's Techno organic composition, the nanites were further enhanced. His systems had registered a 150% increase in productivity.

"I can sense your confusion. So I'll make it easy for you. Give up before this gets messy."

Shazam's voice was projected from everywhere at the same time.

Yet no matter what M.O.D.O.K did, he couldn't sense the elusive boy.

Along with his growing terror, M.O.D.O.K's anger was palpable.

"Never! I'll do anything to make you pay for what you did! Yaaarhhgh!"

Knowing he was in a lose-lose situation, the supervillain had decided to unleash everything he could.

His large eyes had begun to glow from the power contained within the miniature Arc Reactors dotted across the Super Adaptoid's body.

Then he released the attack into his surroundings, burning and blowing away the clouds around.

******

Down on the ground, the mood had been getting restless. Light occasionally flashed across the sky.

Then a second later, M.O.D.O.K was digging a groove across the courtyard. The Super Adaptoid devoid of all it's limbs.

That wasn't all.

*******

Attuma knew he had to get the hell out of dodge. Anyone in possession of Neptune's Trident in the ocean was immediately someone labeled as undefeatable.

So he hadn wasted time sailing over the edge of the Raft, not paying mind to his teammates or the rest of the inmates.

The water was so close, he could touch it. Just a few more inches. Then he felt a force grip his body and unceremoniously pull him back onto the Raft.

(You're not escaping that easily)

Shazam's voice spoke into his mind.

No...he couldn't escape. It was too late.

Attuma's body landed next to Skull who sneered down at him.

"Coward."

Attuma's anger surged to the forefront.

"You have no idea, what it is we're facing Skull!"

The Warlord of the sea shot back.

Before Skull could respond, he was interrupted.

Something else tore down from the heavens following after M.O.D.O.K . It blazed a path, spinning on itself before burying it's prongs through the Super Adaptoid's head, only barely missing M.O.D.O.K's real body.

The trident vibrated from the force of the impact. Like a shadow, Shazam appeared on it. One foot hooked on the shaft while the other was stepping on the pommel of the Trident.

He leaned forward, placing a hand on his knee while cocking his head, studying the prisoners.

A collective hush went through the crowd.

Trish felt Mary grab her hand, pulling her away towards the edge of the Raft. She seemed to instinctively fear the new addition more than the vampires.

And Trish couldn't blame her. The red and black costume, the sash around his hip, the lightning bolt on his chest and the shroud of rainbow around him only enhanced the waves of energy wafting off him.

He felt like Jessica did. A small field of buzzing energy around him.

And when he begun to speak, that effect only seemed to increase.

"I do not know what the Skull has promised you."

Shazam begun, voice booming out across the entire courtyard.

"However, I'll tell you this, there is another option. Surrender, put down your weapons, let go of any hostages you have and walk back into your cells without being forced. The alternative is what you see remaining of M.O.D.O.K."

All of their eyes were pulled back to the wrecked Super Adaptoid that was now sparking. Then to the Iron Skull who was now openly laughing.

His tone lacked any humor however.

"A good speech."

Iron Skull responded.

"But... here's the thing. Everyone behind me is a rebel. They would sooner die than listen to your offer to surrender."

Shazam's lips turned up at the corners.

"You sure about that?"

A clattering of weapons from his back made Skull blink and look back. More than half of the inmates had complied to Shazam's orders.

The lightning batons and assault rifles they had gotten their hands on were lying on the ground.

"What?!"

The Skull growled, fully turning around to face them.

"You would rather live in oppression than stand up to him?! Are you this weak?!"

"The way I see it, this is your fight metal man. You handle it."

The Rhino said.

A sentiment that was shared by almost everyone else.

"Fine. Cabal, form up!"

Skull ordered, turning his hateful glare at Shazam.

"No mercy. We will kill this fool and parade his head around his precious city. Then we'll see who has the final laugh."

His gaze swept across the inmates.

"Anyone who's willing to lend assistance to the Cabal shall receive 10 million dollars upon leaving this chunk of floating metal."

Of course just as there were villains who had decided not to engage in the fight, there were those who had no choice. One of them being the Sandman.

Shazam looked around at the force that has gathered around him. Over 10 villains including the Cabal.

"Alright. Now to finish this before Fury gets here."

(Billy's P.O.V)

The first one to come at me was Attuma.

"That Trident does not belong to you! It's mine!"

I probed his field.

(Race: Atlantean.)

Power: Superhuman.

Age: 542 years.

His parameters besides his age and race seemed to be shared by the most of the other inmates.

The Raft was a Super max for superpowered criminals, so it made sense.

There were a few standouts like M.O.D.O.K, who's field had read weirdly.

Probing him had wielded a few strange details.

(Race: Techno-Organism)

(Power: Superhuman)

(Age: 42 ~5 months~)

42 was probably M.O.D.O.K's true age and 5 months was probably the age of the Super Adaptoid he wore as his suit of armor.

Still, I hadn't seen anyone I couldn't get a read on. Unlike Fury. It only showed me that he was a special case. That something else was going on with him.

Attuma reached the apex of his leap, one hand pulled back in a punch. Unfortunately for him, I'd fought the Cabal before so I knew all their moves.

One of the water pillars hanging above us swung out, swatting him and a few c-list and d-list villains like Tombstone, Tigershark, Vermin and a few other inmates away.

Their backs met a curtain of more water constructed around the Raft, stopping them from falling overboard.

Iron Skull flew in with his repulser beams actively glowing.

"Die!!"

I waved a hand, sending a massive blast of telekinesis that caused an energy surge within the armor. The Arc Reactor was shielded from breaking down and exploding. But the Armor's energy channels were not.

Spaces in between the titanium alloy plates glowed menacingly, before the armor burst apart into smaller sections hanging in the air.

Skull's real body fell to the floor, a water tentacle scooping him up and holding him within a sphere of water.

All the attackers ground to a halt, eyes wide in disbelief as they watched Iron- now back to- Red Skull struggle to breathe within the water prison.

I dove into his mind, feeling the terror in his psyche.

(Spoiler alert, Skull. I have outgrown you and your little fanclub. I have no time for petty revenge or a vendetta. So here's my warning. Come after me in any shape or form, direct or indirect and you shall live to regret it.)

A pinch on his neck sent him to sleep.

On the outside world, a massive sandy fist fell on top of my head. My right hand instinctively rose up to block the blow and I felt something briefly take over.

Solomon's legacy was pushed away for a split second by a different power. One that felt relentless in its momentum.

A shockwave was produced when Sandman's fist collided with my forearm.

I didn't move a single inch. I stood immovable.

I flexed the hand, throwing him off me. He stumbled back a few steps, his body growing larger in size.

I frowned. Why would he attack me after seeing what I'd done to Skull and his Cabal.

I looked into his mind and understood his motive. Flint Marko was just a father trying to save his daughter.

With a determined huff, he wound back his hand a second time, moving in for another punch when I threw a single palm out.

There was a rush of air caused simply by pure physical strength that hit his 15 feet tall body, blowing most of the sand making up his body away.

An instant later, Marko fell from the sky in his humanoid form. I slowed his descent down to the floor towards two female inmates, one of whom looked really familiar.

A look into her mind told me who exactly she was. Hellcat, Trish Walker or rather Jessica Jone's sister.

Now with all of the immediate threats taken care off, I flew off the Trident and sent it flying towards the final and most dangerous foe around.

The trident dug itself in between Dracula and a fallen Attuma.

"Nah huh. I can't let you escape with any of them, king Of Wallachia."

I addressed him.

"So you know me. I'm flattered."

Dracula replied, cloak flaring around as turned around to regard me.

I floated towards him gently.

"We both know how this fight will end. You have no hope of beating me alone, Vlad."

Dracula sneered.

"You forget, blood bag. I am king. And a king never goes anywhere without his loyal subjects."

Mist seeped out of his cloak, reforming into numerous vampires that immediately went after the inmates.

"What's more important, ensuring my capture or protecting the lives of these pitiful mortals?"

Dracula asked.

I looked around at the Vampires advancing towards the prisoners.

"I'll admit, you have me in a tough spot. Try to capture you and you kill them or I save them and let you go...so why not do both?"

The vampires advancing on the prisoners stiffened, their bodies going rimrod stiff. Then they jerked unnaturally, turning towards Dracula with snarling faces.

Their creator's face blanched, turning even paper than he initially was.

"What have you done?!"

Vlad demanded, immediately noticing that something was wrong.

The vampires, subjects of his nation had turned on their master. They rushed towards him in a crazed frenzy.

"No! Stop! I command you to cease this- Argh!! Ahhhaa!!!"

Dracula was mobbed and buried under his own vampires.

Or so he thought. In reality, everything that was happening was happening in his mind.

I left his psyche, leaving him standing in place with his eyes unfocused as he muttered one word under his breath over and over again.

"No."

"No."

"No."

*******

(General P.O.V)

The waves from the ocean gently rocked the sides of the Raft. The sun was already peeking in from the horizon when the authorities finally arrived.

Only to find that the Raft was back in operation and with a new inmate to boot. The whole break out had been quelled by one person.

In less than 10 minutes.