Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The Watchtower seemed a bit tense. All Justice League members received a ping for a meeting, with most if not the majority having no idea what the meeting was even about. Everyone was simply sat at the table, waiting for the arrival of the big 3 in order to finally commence the meeting they were all called there for. While waiting, one of the Flashes bounced his leg and tapped his fingers on the table at a rapid speed much to everyone’s annoyance, Captain Marvel was lightly humming to himself not really taking the entire thing as seriously as everyone else, and Plastic man had fallen asleep while waiting. Then, just as some idle chit-chat between some members had begun, the doors swung open and in walked Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman.

“Let us commence our meeting,” The Bat stated while taking his seat at the head of the table, Superman and Wonder Woman both sitting at his sides. “We called everyone here because of a precendent issue we've been made aware of. I'm sure most of you have already heard reports of creature sightings all across the United States.”

Just then holograms of pictures, some blurred and some more clear, popped up and many league members took a look.

“A large red figure spotted in Coast City, an orange beast running wild in Keystone, a fish man lurking around the harbors of Gotham, a walking mummy seen on rooftops in Metropolis, and many more.” Wonder Woman stated to the room.

“At first we were unsure if these appearances and creatures were even connected to one another, but then we noticed that all the creatures in question have the same device located somewhere on their bodies,” Superman stated to the room as a blurred picture of the device in question popped up for all to see. The image showed what looked like a disk of some kind with an hourglass like symbol on it. “We’d like to ask that everyone please keep an eye out for anything strange that you might notice within your own respective cities. We don’t know if these creatures are dangerous or hostile at the moment, and we’re unsure where they even came from.”

With that, the initial briefing of the meeting was over. A couple members trickled out immediately after the meeting was over to head back to their respective cities through the zeta tubes, while others stayed in the meeting hall still looking over the photos discussing possibilities.

“You think these creatures might be Cadmus experiments that got out into the world?” asked one of the Green Lanterns.

“Not sure, if they were from Cadmus then how’d some end up all the way on the other side of the states in Star City,” stated Black Lightning.

“Do you think there’s a possibility that these sightings are just meta kids running rampant?” proposed Black Canary.

“It’s a possibility, but we won’t know anything for sure until we can apprehend one and see for ourselves,” stated Aquaman.

“In any case, if these sightings are happening all over the United States, then everyone must be made aware and be on the lookout for these creatures, including other teams not present here,” Stated the Martian Manhunter as he looked at the photos.

“Perhaps they might be some type of magical monsters summoned by someone to cause havoc?” Hawkgirl suggested.

“I’m not so sure, they don’t look mystical in origin at all, and they’re unlike any creatures I’ve ever seen before,” Stated Zatanna.

After a couple more minutes of discussions, speculations, and debates between members, most everyone decided to call it a day and went home. However it would not be long before more sightings of mysterious creatures would reach the League.

-

Over in Jump City near Titans Tower, Garfield and Raven were taking a break from their patrol and decided to get some pizza at the nearest spot available.

“Hey I need to use the bathroom real quick, can you order a vegan pizza for me please,” the green teen stated to raven while tossing her a 20 and making his way to the toilets.

“Fine, but don’t take too long,” The girl responded while making her way to get in line.

After a couple minutes of waiting, Raven placed Garfield’s order like he had asked while also getting herself a small personal pepperoni. She then went out to the restaurant's deck to wait until her name was called for their order.

She proceeded to brush off a seat and sit down at a nice table. “How long is he gonna take? I feel like I’m always waiting forever for him,” Raven stated to herself as she began to pull a book out of her robe to read.

However, just as she began her resting and reading, she soon noticed a shadow pass over her where she was sitting. Upon looking up she saw a giant blur of green fly by in the sky.

“Beast Boy?” The girl stated as she put down her book and quickly flew up from her seat, following after the blur.

She chased the green teen for a couple blocks before she was finally able to catch up to him and ask him what was going on, “Beast Boy what happened, did we get a distress call-”

However once Raven finally caught up and was actually face to face with the green blur though, she soon saw for herself that this wasn’t Garfield at all. The creature then looked at her with what appeared to be confusion, “Sorry, but I think you got the wrong person,” the bug-like creature said to her in a horrible raspy voice.

Without hesitation Raven immediately got ready for battle, “Azarath Metrion Zinthos!”

“Woah! You’re really one to shoot first and ask questions later huh?” the bug had yelled out as it proceeded to dodge the magic blast she shot out.

Raven continued on with her assault, shooting out beams and blasts of magic one after the other trying to hit the flying bug. All the while the insect in question dodged each blast as gracefully as it could. Dodging was almost second nature to the creature, probably helped by its four eyes which allowed for 360 vision and better maneuvering.

Seeing no fruitful results however, Raven shifted her attack method and instead attempted to trap the monster, “Azarath Metrion Zinthos!”

Soon Raven was now summoning magically constructed walls in an attempt to now capture the creature. This change of tactics was definitely more effective as now the bug was having to dodge tons of newly forming constructs.

This went on for a couple more minutes before the bug stated, “Alright, this started out fun, but now this is just getting tiring.” The creature continued to dodge and weave then spoke again, “luckily for me too, I think I know the perfect way to get you to leave me alone.”

Within an instant the insect changed its trajectory and immediately started flying straight towards Raven herself. Raven responded by placing a wall in front of her to try and counter whatever plan the monster came up with, however the bug quickly flew around the wall predicting her to cast one. It then proceeded to shoot out a weird green gunk from its eye sockets which flew forwards and stuck to Raven's mouth. Immediately Raven tried to rip and peel the gunk off of her face, but it seemed to be stuck on tight like glue.

“I’ve dealt with my fair share of magic users before, and so long as you can’t say your spells you can’t do anything to chase me right?” said the bug as it then started to make its retreat, “See you later loser!”

Raven wanted to follow in order to continue the fight and capture the creature, however in her current state she would be unable to do anything until she removed the thing blocking her mouth.

She proceeded to instead fly back down to the pizza shop she and Beast Boy were initially at to reconvene. Upon landing she then ran into Garfield standing around outside waiting for her.

“Raven, where’d you run off to? I come back from the bathroom to you nowhere in sight,” Beast Boy stated while holding their two freshly hot pizzas, “also what happened to your face?”

Raven didn’t answer, but just gave Beast Boy a glare that basically read, “I don’t want to talk about it.”

-

The next day, over in Dakota city a similar thing happened to Static while he was out on a patrol of his own. However, instead of a giant flying green bug, he was now in battle with a humanoid crystal being.

“You know, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you around these parts before,” Virgil questioned the Diamond body as he shot out electrical currents at it.

“Yeah, well you know just passing through and doing a bit of touring,” the creature responded as it punched into the ground and created a diamond shield for itself.

“Well mind not messing with the infrastructure? Don’t think the city’s gonna be too happy about having to repave these roads and remove those crystals of yours.”

“Hey, you’re the one who’s shooting out electricity towards me.”

“Sorry about that man, but this would just be a whole lot easier if you came in quietly.”

“Yeah, well that ain’t happening,” the creature stated as it punched its fist into the ground once more causing more crystal-like spikes to emerge from the ground, creating a dangerous battlefield.

“Hey watch it man.”

“Sorry, but you’re being really persistent and I’ve got places I need to be.”

“Let me try and end this quickly for you then,” Static then used his electro-kinesis to try and grab multiple metallic objects around him in order to throw at the creature before him.

At first Static only threw small metal objects at the creature, along the lines of small metal cans that were just lying in the street. However once he noticed they were only causing a slight annoyance to the crystal man, Static then tried throwing a nearby sewer cover at the man. With all his force he launched the manhole cover at the creature standing before him and it actually seemed to stun him a bit and crack some of thr crystals on his forearms.

“Yes! Looks like you’re not as indestructible as you thought.”

“That’s what you think,” the man of crystal stated as it regenerated over the cracked crystals with brand new rock, “the only thing you accomplished is making me more ticked off.”

Just then the creature punched into the ground one more time and the crystal-like spikes quickly and suddenly emerged from the ground and entrapped Static Shock in a crystalline prison.

“That should hold you for a while,” the crystal being stated while leaving Static trapped. Static then tried for a couple minutes to attempt to break through the solid crystal prison he was trapped in, but quickly gave up after his fists and powers seemed to do nothing.

“Man, Jaime’s really not gonna let me live this one down if he hears about it.”

-

Some days later, Star City had its own strange encounter. What looked like a flaming meteor soaring through the skies like a plane above the city had immediately called the attention of the local heroes there.

“How the hell are we supposed to stop a flying ball of fire in the sky?” Questioned Red Arrow.

“You ask as if the answer’s gonna be different from what we usually do,” Green Arrow retorted back as he searched for the right tool in his quiver.

“Why do I even bother with the questions?” Red said to himself in a semi-defeated tone.

When Oliver finally found the right arrow for the job, he pulled his bow string taught and steadied his aim. With a single exhale he freed the arrow from his bow and shot it at the ball of fire making direct contact. Upon doing so the arrow released a compound that proceeded to quickly extinguish the fire and send the now cooled rock falling.

“Yes!”

The duo then ran over to where the giant rock had just landed, finding instead an igneous man wiping off extinguisher agent from his body.

“Dude, that is so not cool,” The being stated to the two heroes as it reignited its entire body with a burst of fire, turning the igneous rock into molten magma.

“Looks like we got a fight on our hands Ollie,” Roy stated, getting an arrow from his quiver and shooting it at the man.

“Nice try, but I’m not here to fight,” stated the man of magma as he caught the arrow and melted it in his arms.

“Well, then you wouldn’t mind answering a couple questions” Oliver stated as he readied an arrow alongside Roy.

“Sorry, but I’m not trying to stay around for long either,” The molten man said as he proceeded to create a mini solar flare and use it almost like a flashbang in order to get away.

When the two heroes eyes had recovered, all they saw were burn marks on the ground and looking up, a trail of fire as the man of molten rock left their city

-

The next night over in Gotham, while on a lookout for The Mad Hatter, the duo Batgirls instead spotted a large figure slinking around in the alleyways.

“You think it might be Grundy or Killer Croc?” Stephanie questioned her partner. However when she turned to get an answer, Cass was already gone and descending upon their suspect.

The all Black Batgirl landed a clean kick to the back of the large creature's head causing it to recoil, but as he turned around it was neither Grundy nor Killer Croc. Instead it was some Frankenstein like monster with tesla coils on its back and electricity buzzing around it.

“Hey, what’s the big idea here,” the Large figure stated, turning around to see the two vigilante girls as Steph descended as well to stand beside her fellow Batgirl.

“I take the legs you go for the head,” Steph whispered to her partner. Within a second the purple Batgirl threw a smoke pellet at the creature, immediately cutting off its vision. Steph then tried to go for the creature's legs like had she planned, but he was much too heavy and strong to be thrown off balance. Cass in return tried going for the head again with another kick, but was caught this time and tossed away by the man.

Then, as Steph quickly helped her teammate up, both the Batgirls suddenly heard the crackling of electricity start. Both Cassandra and Stephanie dodged out of the way of the lighting bolt, and Steph proceeded to climb up on a nearby fire escape in order to try and ping the cave. However when Stephanie tried to reach the cave, all she heard in her ear was static.

“Batgirl I can’t reach Oracle or the cave, I think this guy’s mucking up our comms somehow,” Steph called out as she was getting ready to jump back into action.

“You know, I think the two of you ladies missed the cosplay convention,” The monster stated while shooting out electricity from the two tesla coils on its back to keep the two vigilantes away.

“Says the guy who looks exactly like Frankenstein,” Steph retorted back.

Just then Cass threw a batarang that sliced the monster’s arm, leaving a pretty decently sized gash and causing the creature to let out a small scream of pain. The monster quickly shot electricity back at Cass who dodged the electric volley and got up on some high ground herself. The creature proceeded to cover his wound, and you could hear the sound of his flesh working to mend itself back together, leaving a new scar in its place.

“That hurt,” the monster let out as he proceeded to toss a garbage lid at Cass, hitting her in the side and making her collide into the wall.

Stephanie immediately went to help her up, but the creature took its opportunity to shoot a small bolt of electricity at her, knocking her down as well.

“Sorry to rough you both up so much, but just remember that you started it first,” The Monster said to the two vigilantes as he made his escape.

Stephanie was the first to get up despite being in some pain and went over to her partner.

“Come on, we can’t stay here for too long, let’s get back to the cave and report this to Batman,” Steph stated as she helped Cass up from the ground.

Cass didn’t say a word and instead just gave Steph a look, a look that Steph was all too familiar with.

“Come on, don’t give me puppy dog eyes.” Despite wearing a mask, Stephanie could always tell whenever Cass was making that face. “I know you don’t like letting them get away, but hey how about when we get back, we can play some video games together to cheer you up!” The purple Batgirl stated as she wrapped her arm around the other Batgirl’s shoulder and they walked out of the alleyway.

-

Over in Central City, Barry was grabbing a chilli dog at a nearby hot dog cart. with all the running around the city he does, his metabolism burns through calories way too fast, so snacking on the job was something he had basically worked into his schedule. He was about to dig in when he suddenly heard the sound of screeching tires not too far away, so he quickly engulfed his snack and ran off to see the source of the noise

Barry only had to run a few blocks until he saw what looked like a heavily modded out car speeding down the streets of Central City. He quickly gave chase and within seconds he was right alongside the driver side window hoping to talk to whoever was recklessly driving this vehicle, but instead found no one at the wheel. However, just as Barry thought the car was probably empty and must be just out of control, he noticed that the wheel was turning on its own, and soon a voice made its way from the car's speaker.

“Sorry buddy, I’m not in the mood for a race right now, but if it’s a race you want it’s a race you’ll get,” The vehicle spoke as the exhaust pipes blared and burst out flames. Within a second the car had sped up tremendously and flew down the street.

Unlucky for whoever was controlling the vehicle though, they just picked a race with one of the fastest men alive. Barry took a deep breath and sped up after the vehicle keeping perfect pace. Barry chased the car for miles and minutes, and no matter how much the vehicle tried its best to shake him, the Flash was always close behind. However in the middle of the chase, a strange beeping noise started coming from the car and Barry immediately feared a bomb. Within an instant the car sped up insanely fast, so much so that The Flash had to actually catch up for a slight second as he was caught off guard now thinking about needing to get that bomb out and away from the city. The car then made a quick sudden turn down an alleyway that Barry had ran past, thinking the car still planned to go straight. Then, just as Flash was about to immediately turn back, there was then a sudden big green flash and a loud sound.

“No!” Barry yelled out as he immediately ran back and into the alleyway to see the damage, but there was none. That green flash and sound wasn’t a bomb, and not only that, but the car was abandoned and no longer had all its modifications. However, despite the car being abandoned, the alleyway was not and soon Flash took notice of a little kid sitting upside down and dazed in a pile of trash bags

“Hey kid, are you alright? What happened?” the Flash asked as he helped the kid up and straightened out his clothes.

“Yeah… I-I was just walking through when all of a sudden this car came speeding down to a halt. It scared me so much I jumped back and landed in those trash bags.”

“Well I’m just glad you're alright kid, you don’t have any scrapes or cuts on you, right?”

“No, I’m fine.”

“Well that’s good to hear, do you need me to walk you home? It’s getting pretty late and your parents are probably worried sick about you.”

The kid paused for a second, “No, it’s ok. My parents live really close by, I couldn’t bother you for that.”

“Are you sure?” The Flash asked once more, wanting to make sure the kid stayed alright as despite not being hurt, the kid still looked in pretty bad shape.

“Yeah, it’s fine. Thank you for the help though, Mister.”

-

With that the kid walked out of the alleyway on his own, leaving The Flash still inside as he wondered where the thing he was chasing suddenly vanished off to. However once the kid had walked away a couple blocks and he knew he was by himself, he relaxed and let out a sigh of relief.

“That was way too close this time, and he was way faster than I thought he'd be. I’ll need to wait for the recharge to finish before I can move again,” The kid spoke to himself while looking at the glowing red device on his wrist.

Chapter Text

About a week after the initial briefing, the members of the Justice League gathered once more in the Watchtower to discuss the precedent threat of these alien entities. All the members were now taking the meeting much more seriously due to the new reports that came in. Green Arrow was especially a bit peeved during the meeting since he was still upset he couldn’t bag the alien when he had the chance.

“Almost an entire week has passed and not only have we had more encounters with these creatures, but we’re still no closer to figuring out the story behind them,” Stated Batman as he looked over the reports from this week’s patrols.

“Looking at the situation objectively, there might be precedent in dedicating a full team to try and apprehend at least one of these creatures. That way, if they succeed we can guarantee some answers,” suggested Red Tornado.

“We can’t afford to dedicate multiple heroes to a task force solely made for the purpose of apprehending one of these creatures.” Stated Superman, “It’d be a waste of resources, and we’d still have no idea where they would even pop up. There’s no pattern to their occurrences so we have no way to properly prepare for their arrival.”

“I say we need to make sure that all patrols work in teams of two. That way it gives us an advantage when needing to deal with capturing one of these things,” Stated Captain Atom.

“A solid plan, make it a two on one in our favor,” responded one of the Green Lanterns.

“Hey, Where’s Captain Marvel? Shouldn’t all league members be here for a meeting like this?” Questioned one of the Flashes.

“Captain Marvel said he had business that he needed to attend to which held greater importance than our current meeting. Batman, Superman, and I all trust his judgement and so he was excused from this meeting,” Stated Wonder Woman.

-

Meanwhile, over in Fawcett City a young Billy Batson was waiting in line to buy a baseball ticket. Billy didn’t have a job, he was a twelve year old foster kid who lived with his foster siblings, but he did have an allowance that he got paid for doing chores around the house. He usually spent his allowance on personal items like new clothes, games, and collectibles, but this time he saved up all his allowance to go to a baseball game. The Fawcett City Patriots were playing against the Gotham Goliaths and Billy wanted to watch the game in person, rather than on the small TV at his home.

Billy was waiting in line ready to buy his ticket and watch the game, when something in the corner of his eye caught his attention. He saw what looked like some little kid scoping out his surroundings before doing his best to climb the fence into the stadium while no one was looking. Billy, being the only one to notice this kid, chose to follow his curiosity and decided to leave the line and make his way over to the miscreant. Billy reached the kid just as he had finished climbing over top of the fence and was on the other side patting his clothes down from scuff marks and dirt.

Billy then cleared his throat, “Wow, Breaking and entering. A bit daring to do so right out in the open don’t you think,” he said to the kid.

The child was startled by the sudden voice and looked almost ready to bolt, but was surprised when he turned around to see another kid being the one talking to him instead of an adult. The kid was calmed by that fact, but was still pretty on edge due to being caught in the act. The child in question also only looked to be a couple years younger than Billy himself due to his smaller figure.

“Oh no… I was just-” The kid stammered.

“Relax kid, you don’t gotta explain yourself. I’ve been in your position before, I’m a foster care kid myself. I’m guessing you didn’t have enough money to buy a ticket for yourself?”

“No, all I have is a 20,” the child stated as he pulled the bill from his pocket to show.

“Well then, it’s your lucky day,” Billy stated as he proceeded to hop the fence and join the kid on the other side, “cause now, you don’t have to watch the game alone.”

“Wait, you’re not gonna tell on me?” The kid asked in surprise.

“Not at all, I’ve done my fair share of stealing and breaking into places too. Come on, let’s head over and buy some snacks before looking for some seats. Since I didn’t buy a ticket either, I can cover the expenses for you.”

“Thanks, that means a lot,” The kid said to Billy, calming down and feeling at ease with him.

“How old are you, kid?” Billy asked as they started walking into the stadium, doing their best to blend in with the crowd and not be caught by the security guards.

“I’m ten,” the kid answered.

“I’m Twelve. My name is Billy, what’s yours?”

“Thanks Billy, my name is Ben.”

“Nice to meet you Ben.”

As they kept walking, Billy made a bit of small talk to try and break ice with the young kid. Just small simple things like his interests and stuff like that, but then Billy noticed something about Ben’s person and asked about that instead.

“Hey, what’s that thing on your wrist,” Billy asked as he pointed to a device on Ben’s left arm.

“Oh, you mean my watch?” Ben responded.

“Yeah I guess, I’ve never seen a watch like that before.”

“Yeah, it’s like one of a kind. It’s cool isn’t it?”

“Yeah, super unique. I feel like I’ve seen it before though, are you sure it’s one of a kind?” Billy asked.

“Definitely!”

“Alright then,” Billy responded as the two boys finally made their way to the food stands.

Billy first bought himself a hot dog and soda, while Ben was going to buy himself a burger and drink as well when Billy instead offered to pay for his meal. After buying their overpriced stadium food, Billy and Ben then made their way looking for some empty seats they could use. After a couple minutes of searching, the two young boys eventually found some pretty good seats with a nice view and sat down to watch as the game began. The Patriots started off the game and while not much happened within the first two innings, it was the third inning where things really heated up. The Patriots had the bases filled and hit a massive home run scoring them 4 points and giving them the lead. The second the ball had left the stadium Ben immediately started cheering.

“Wow, you a big Patriots fan?” Billy asked, a bit started from Ben’s over enthusiasm.

“Oh, I don’t actually really know either of the teams, but I just love baseball. I would’ve played over the summer, but my Grandpa decided to take me and my cousin on a road trip instead. I thought it’d be mega boring, but it actually turned out to be pretty fun,” Ben said with a genuine smile on his face.

“Oh cool, are you visiting the city with them?”

“Huh?” Ben responded, “Oh yeah, we made a stop here and I wanted to watch the game since we were in town.”

“Why didn’t you ask your Grandpa to take you then? Surely he’d be nice enough to buy tickets for you and your cousin.”

“Well… he’s a bit under the weather at the moment, and he’s been so preoccupied with planning on where to take us for the trip and looking after us that I didn’t wanna bother him. So I ended up sneaking out after both him and my cousin went to sleep.”

“Ah, I see.” Billy responded. He noticed the kid stumbled a bit when answering and assumed Ben held out on giving him the full story, but decided not to ask him about it too much.

The conversation between the boys died down for a bit after that as they went back to watching the game and eating their overpriced food. However Ben would soon cheer loudly once again when the Patriots scored another homerun, hitting the ball out of the park once more. As Billy started to take a bite out of his hot dog, Ben suddenly stood up stating he was gonna go to the bathroom and he’d be back soon. Billy wished him a safe trip then went back to his snack and continued watching the game.

About seven minutes passed since Ben left, and the game was now in its seventh inning with the Patriots now tied up with the Goliaths after a bad couple innings. Ben had still not returned from the bathroom, and Billy was starting to get a bit worried. However, just as Billy was starting to consider going looking for him, the Patriots proceeded to hit their third home run of the game and knock another ball out of the park. However while watching the ball leave the park like everyone else, Billy noticed that the ball suddenly just disappeared into thin air. At first he thought he might be seeing things incorrectly, but when the jumbotron showed the replay he saw it again as the ball was there one second then gone the next. Some other patrons noticed this fact as well, but passed it off as just seeing things incorrectly or something being wrong with the camera feed.

While Billy was still a bit confused and wondering where the ball went, Ben had finally returned from the bathroom. Billy broke away from the theories in his head to greet Ben back, but noticed something. Ben was now holding and playing with a baseball that he didn’t have before, turning it around in his hand and tossing it from palm to palm.

“Hey man, where’d you get the ball?”

“Oh, I ended up buying it from one of the little shops. Since you were nice enough to buy me food, I thought I’d use my money to buy a souvenir instead in order to remember the night. Sorry if I took a bit too long because of that.”

“It’s all good,” Billy responded as Ben sat back down.

However, this action sparked Billy’s curiosity and caution regarding Ben. Billy was already kind of suspicious of him when they first met. At first, he assumed Ben was possibly homeless or a runaway kid, but then he mentioned his grandpa and cousin. He very well could’ve just been lying about them, but his smile was so genuine when he talked about them that he wasn’t sure. He was unsure what the true story behind Ben was, but was hoping he could figure some parts of it out while they watched the game together. As the game went on, Billy kept stealing glances over at Ben every now and then, doing his best to try and be discreet so as to not get caught. While examining Ben, he then noticed something that immediately caught his eye.

“Hey, your watch thing. It changed colors, it’s red now,” Billy questioned.

“Oh yeah, it does that. It’s got special lights that change its color every now and then,” Ben answered.

Billy didn’t respond however, as he instead kept staring at Ben’s watch much more intently than last time. He didn’t know why, but Billy felt like he had seen this watch before. It looked so familiar, and yet he couldn’t figure out where he remembered it from.

“Hey Billy, you good?” Ben asked, looking a little confused and concerned.

“Huh, oh yeah,” Billy stated as he snapped out of it, “Sorry Ben, I just got a little lost in thought. Let’s get back to watching the game, that’s what we came here for right?”

“Yeah!”

-

The game ended not too long afterwards. The Fawcett City Patriots won the game with a score of nine to seven. Ben and Billy both made their way out of the stadium and were greeted by the cold nighttime air.

“Wow, it’s cold. Make sure you get back to your grandpa and cousin soon, you don’t wanna stay in this cold too long without a jacket,” Billy Told Ben.

“You got it,” Ben responded as he clutched himself, trying to stave off his shivering from the cold. “Thanks for hanging out with me and buying me food.”

“No Problem Ben, get home safe.”

As Ben waved his goodbye and turned around to make his leave, Billy stayed in place for a bit watching him as he went off. Then, after Ben was a good distance away, Billy started to tail him to see if he was really doing alright, and to hopefully learn more about him. He wasn’t what Ben’s arrangements really were, but he had a large suspicion that they weren’t good. Ben very well could have been telling the truth and could be heading off to get back to his grandpa and cousin like he said, but he could have also been lying and so Billy needed to confirm. Plus, if Billy did find out that Ben was homeless or a runaway child, then he’d just do a quick transformation into Captain Marvel and bring him somewhere safe. He followed Ben for about a mile, before he watched as the kid slinked into a random alleyway. Billy followed him and immediately hid behind an industrial dumpster so as to not get caught.

After walking deep enough into the alley, Ben looked around scanning to see if anyone was looking at him, not noticing Billy who had just hid behind the dumpster. When he assumed the coast was clear he brought his forearm close to his body and looked at his watch. He pressed the interface on his watch, and watched as it proceeded to lift and light up. Ben then proceeded to twist the dial that arose, before stopping and looking at his watch again.

“Cannonbolt should do the trick,” Ben said to himself as he slammed his hand down onto the device causing a bright green flash and a loud sound to blare out.

Billy, was still watching from behind the dumpster, but had to shield his eyes a bit as the bright light caught him off guard. However, when he focused his eyes, he was shocked at what he was seeing. He watched as after Ben slammed down the dial on his watch, his body grew and inflated, morphing and changing until there was no longer a little ten year old boy where Ben once stood. Instead there was a giant black, yellow, and white pudgy monster looking thing. The Creature was over six feet tall with sharp teeth and claws, yellow eyes, and what looked like some type of shell armor around its body. While examining the creature that Ben transformed into, he then noticed the same symbol from Ben’s watch now displayed on a device located on the creature's forehead.

Suddenly Billy finally remembered where he saw Ben's watch before, as it had the same symbol of the device he was shown during the last meeting at the Watchtower. The very same device that was on all the previous alien creatures that were popping up all over the United States. The revelation made Billy’s eyes go wide and he was absolutely stunned.

‘If that device that Ben has can turn him into a creature like this, then do other people have those types of devices as well.’ Billy thought to himself, possibly thinking that the ‘watch’ that Ben had could be some new type of weapon being developed or possibly even an alien device. Then, Billy remembered something that Ben had said earlier, about how he was proclaiming that his watch was one of a kind. If that piece of information was true, then all the alien sightings across the United States weren’t a random group of people or monsters, they were all just this one kid. As Billy was lost in thought, unsure how to wrap his head around and deal with this news, Ben then started talking to himself.

“Well, this city sure was fun,” Ben said to himself while stretching, thinking he was alone, “but I still couldn’t find them. They gotta be out there somewhere, they just have to be.”

‘Ben’s looking for someone?’ Billy thought to himself

Afterwards, Ben proceeded to roll up his body into a ball similar to that of a pillbug, then rolled his way out of the alleyway and down the street, leaving Fawcett City and going elsewhere. Billy was left alone in the alleyway, still tucked away behind the dumpster trying his best to process everything he just witnessed.

“I need to tell the League about this.”

Chapter Text

Billy stayed standing in the alleyway, still shocked at what he saw. However, his shock was soon overtaken by the realization that with everything he learned today, he’d need to notify the League immediately. As he thought about notifying the League though, he hesitated for a second. The only reason Billy found out about Ben was because of his secret identity. The secret Identity that he also kept secret from the League as he didn’t want them to know he was really only twelve years old. Billy could risk the League figuring out about his true identity and age, however he also needed to tell them about everything.

After a bit of worrying how to properly bring it up, he decided to talk to the Trinity first for help. Billy was comfortable with the three of them, the most out of the entire league. The reason being is that they were the only members who knew of Captain Marvel’s secret. He remembers the day vividly as it only took 3 days of his membership on the League before Batman already figured it out. After some preparation for his talk with the big three, Billy did his best to quickly compose himself, and said the magic words.

“Shazam!”

Within an instant Lightning struck down, hitting Billy and transforming him from his twelve year old self, into the Champion of Magic, Captain Marvel. As Captain Marvel he flew up, out of the alleyway he was in when Ben transformed and left, and made his way over to an out of order photo booth. Captain Marvel climbed his way inside the cramped machine and activated the zeta tube hidden within. Lights and technological noises whirred to life and soon he was transported directly into the main lobby of the Watchtower.

As he walked in, he was immediately greeted by Black canary and Green Arrow as they were both on Watchtower duty keeping guard for extraterrestrial threats.

“Captain Marvel, what are you doing here?” Black Canary questioned, “You’re not on Watchtower duty until this friday.”

“Oh, I was hoping I could have a talk with Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. There was something I needed to discuss with them. I forgot the Watchtower schedule and thought I might run into one of them here.”

“You know you could just try and send them a message for a meeting if it’s that important. It shouldn’t be too late in each of their cities for them to be off the clock yet.”

“Oh, ok. I'll do that then.” Captain Marvel paused for a second, “How would I go about doing that again?”

“Seriously Man, you’ve been on the team for almost 2 years now and still don’t know how to use the computer?” stated Green Arrow.

“It’s a bit too complicated for me to remember how to properly work it.”

“I’ll do it for you Captain,” Black Canary said as she walked up to the large computer in the Watchtower’s lobby and sent a message to each of the Trinity members, “They shouldn’t take too long to respond and get here, just wait a bit and you’ll be able to discuss what you need to with them. Me and Ollie are gonna head to the cafeteria and get some coffee for the night, see you later Captain Marvel.”

“Thank you, and see you later,” Captain Marvel responded, waving at the two as they made their exit.

-

Captain Marvel stood in the main lobby and was pacing around impatiently waiting for the arrival of the trinity. He was considering checking the computer to see if there were any other messages from the three, when he finally heard the sounds of the zeta tubes activating and saw the silhouette of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman all walking out of the zeta tubes.

“Captain Marvel, what was it that you wanted to speak with us about?” Wonder Woman questioned, “Surely if this is important enough that you needed to speak with us three as soon as possible, then it should be shared with the whole league, no?”

“Well, it’s not something I can really share with the rest of the League. Only you three,” Captain Marvel Responded.

“And why’s that?” Asked Superman.

“Well it has something to do with my secret identity.”

“You mean your secret identity as Billy?” Questioned Batman.

“Yeah. I needed to discuss something with you three, but the story is also tied to my secret identity so I can’t really discuss it with other members besides you three since you already know about my secret.”

“We understand Captain Marvel, let’s talk in the briefing room for privacy,” Batman stated as the four of them all made their way into the meeting room. They all took their seat, and when Captain Marvel seemed comfortable enough, Batman continued. “So, what is it that you needed to tell us about?”

“Well, remember how I was excused from the group meeting earlier today cause I said I had some important business that needed my attention?”

“Yes, we remember Billy.” Wonder Woman stated.

“Well, I was actually at a baseball game that day since there was a game happening in my town and-.”

“Billy…”

“I know, I’m sorry. I won’t do it again, but I also promise that there’s a point to this. While I was at the game, I ended up finding a huge lead on our alien problem that we’ve been worrying about for the past week.”

When Billy brought up the alien occurrences, this immediately caught the Trinity’s attention as they were still no closer to figuring out the deal behind the situation.

“While I was at the game, I ran into this kid named Ben. He had this weird ‘watch’ looking thing on his wrist, and it had the same symbol and look as that device thing on all the other alien monsters. I ended up following him after the game, and found out that the watch thing he was wearing allows him to transform into any one of those alien creatures whenever he wants.”

“A device that allows the user to physically transform into other creatures. I don’t believe we’ve ever dealt with something similar before. What else do you know about the device he used?” Questioned Wonder Woman.

“Not much, but I remember him saying it was one of a kind when I asked him. So I assume that all of the different alien sightings across the states are just him.”

“You talked to him directly? What other information were you able to get on this kid, did you happen to get his age?” Asked Batman.

“When I asked, he said he was only ten.”

“What? Hold up, what do you mean he’s only ten years old? A kid that young is out there causing mayhem, what about his parents and family?” Superman asked.

“That’s actually another thing I needed to discuss with you. When we were talking he didn’t really bring up his parents, but he did talk about his grandfather and cousin. He claimed that he was visiting with them, but when I followed him I heard him talking to himself, and it seemed like he was looking for someone.”

“There’s a possibility this child could have been kidnapped and separated from his family. He could have been given that watch by someone, and is now trying to find his family again after escaping with it,” suggested Wonder Woman.

“Either way, we need to find him as soon as possible. A child that young all on their own, it’s dangerous out there,” Batman stated. “You said his name was Ben, did the kid mention his last name or the names of his cousin and grandpa?” He questioned.

“No, I wasn’t able to catch that. I had a feeling that there was more he wasn’t telling me, I should’ve pushed him a bit more when I had the chance.”

“Hey, you did well taking care of him and watching over him for the time being Billy. If you had asked him too many questions he might not have felt as safe and shared as much with you as he did,” Superman stated.

“Remember Billy, You mustn't blame yourself for things you could’ve done differently. You’re a child as well, and you did your best despite that,” Wonder Woman said to Billy, trying to comfort him as he was clearly upset he couldn’t figure out that Ben was their culprit earlier on to provide help.

“Get some rest Billy, you’ve probably had a long day. We’ll talk a little bit more on this subject amongst ourselves and have a group meeting with the league as soon as possible to discuss everything you’ve shared with us.”

With that, Captain Marvel exited the meeting room, made his way into the watchtower’s lobby, through the zeta tubes back to Fawcett City, and walked back out of the same out of order photo booth he walked into hours ago. He proceeded to fly over to his foster home and made a discreet landing in the backyard, saying the magic words once more.

“Shazam.”

He tried to whisper the words as to not try and wake anyone, however whatever attempt at being quiet was always thwarted by the boom of lightning right after. As soon as Billy returned back into his child form, a wave of exhaustion washed over him. He had been awake for hours now and desperately needed to get some sleep after everything from today. He made his way inside to his room, and proceeded to collapse on his bed.

-

The next day after their discussion with Captain Marvel and a bit of talking between themselves, the Trinity assembled all league members for another group meeting.

“Welcome everyone, we understand that three sudden meetings this close together feels a little much, especially with our gathering just yesterday,” stated Wonder Woman.

“Some of us have lives outside of just the League, I assume there is a good reason for this?” Asked Aquaman.

“We believe there is,” stated Batman. “As we understand it currently, we think we’ve uncovered a massive breakthrough on our monster roaming problem. We found out that it is not a case of multiple roaming creatures, but instead one person transforming into all of these separate alien entities moving from city to city.”

“If this is true, how did you stumble upon this information?” Asked Hawkgirl.

“Last night, Captain Marvel was able to make contact with a child who was wearing a similar device to the one present on all of the creatures that have been popping up all over the states. After some scouting, he stated that he witnessed the child using the device to transform into one of the alien creatures before running off.”

The mention of Captain Marvel, helping in the breakthrough on the case, surprised some of the League members to hear. Sure he was always a massive help during big fights, especially with strength comparable to Superman, but he was always super aloof and childish. A lot of the league members wrote him off as just a powerhouse who was super naive, so hearing how he helped in making this discovery was a bit of a shock. Meanwhile, Captain Marvel himself was sighing to himself a bit in relief. He always appreciated how the trinity looked out for him regarding him and his secret identity and was glad they were able to embellish the story a bit to keep it hidden.

“Captain Marvel stated that the person in question was a child correct, how old were they?” asked one of the Flashes, a bit concerned.

“The child seemed to be about ten years old from what we gather, going by the name of Ben.” Batman stated to the room.

“What,” an audible uproar was heard at the mention of the child's age. Many league members became visibly upset at the idea of this young of a kid to be all on their own and causing all of this mayhem.

“Are you sure the kid was ten?” asked Zattanna.

Batman nodded. “We’re not a hundred percent certain, but we can assume based on the description given by Captain Marvel that he’s around that age.”

“What of the child’s parents? A kid that young shouldn’t be out there all alone.”

Captain Marvel subconsciously slinked in his chair a bit, feeling a little nervous once the league began discussing the morality of a child this young out there with powers. However, a quick glance towards Wonder Woman and he saw that she looked at him with a look of reassurance which helped to calm and recompose him. Billy really respected the Trinity, but especially looked up to Wonder Woman a lot. Due to their origins, Billy kinda thought of her as kinda like a big sister or older cousin.

“From what we can tell, there’s a high probability the child is homeless. His clothes were ragged and dirty from what Captain Marvel stated in his report. We also scoured missing children reports and found no child matching the description,” said Superman, now taking over reading the report. “If he has a family, they either haven’t noticed he’s missing, or don’t care.”

“If Captain Marvel was able to gather this much intel, how come he didn’t help bring the boy in immediately?” asked Black Lightning.

“Captain Marvel was only following on a suspicion at first, and upon confirmation that this was our suspect, the child got away before he could intervene.”

“Given this new information, perhaps there could be merit in checking local homeless shelters and checking if he’s staying there?“ suggested Black Canary.

“I doubt it,” Captain Marvel spoke up, stunning some league members again with his participation. “A kid that young would never think of going to a homeless shelter all by themselves. I’d assume they’d probably rather risk just sleeping underneath an underpass or something. It’s a dangerous world out there, but when you’re a kid with abilities like this one, you take the risk of thinking you can protect yourself at all times.”

“Either way, we ask that all of you to look for this child while on your searches as well, from what we can gauge he’s most likely alone and in need of help,” stated Superman as he handed out descriptions of what Ben looked like to all league members as the meeting was coming to a close.

-

After the meeting Billy returned home and was now back in his younger child form again, still wondering about Ben. He seemed like a kid who really needed help and something stable in his life based on the state of his clothes, as well as what else he could assume about him. Billy knew from experience that a life like that is hard for a kid, especially one so young and one who’s also living a double life. Billy knows that he himself got chosen to be the Champion of Magic at the age of eight, but at least when he became Captain Marvel he gained the attributes of the Gods and his body was near invulnerable. He was unsure of the specifics behind Ben’s transformations and how it all worked, but he was still worried.

However Billy wasn't even sure if he’d even run into Ben ever again. It was already pure luck that he met him at the baseball game the other day, and with how fast he seemed to travel and move from city to city, it would be near impossible to see him again. He then thought back on the day that they spent together watching the baseball game. Billy enjoyed his time with Ben, and Ben looked as though he was the happiest he could be in the moment. He would have never thought that he would be behind all these alien occurrences or be all by himself without a family.

Billy didn’t have much time to think on the matter though, as while he was sitting down on the couch watching tv, the news suddenly interrupted and showed that there was a giant kaiju attacking Washington DC. At first Billy maybe thought the kaiju could be Ben, but the monster showed no similar device to the one Ben had, as well as it was actually being destructive and attacking without provocation. Billy didn’t need to help as there were many heroes already on the scene as shown from the live footage, but his afternoon was free so he quickly snuck his way outside and transformed into Captain Marvel, flying over towards the danger.

A flight from Keystone to DC never takes too long, especially with the speed of Mercury, and so after only a couple minutes of flying Captain Marvel arrived on the scene. Wonder Woman and Superman were both keeping the Kaiju occupied while others helped as well, occasionally slipping an attack in to keep the Kaiju occupied. Many other heroes worked on damage control, doing their best to keep the destruction of the city to a minimum, as well as helping civilians out of the way of the monster and so that’s what Captain Marvel decided to do as well.

Captain Marvel flew from building to building, helping the other heroes in making sure that each building in the vicinity of the kaiju’s path was safely evacuated. Captain Marvel helped elderly citizens, families, and others all safely get out of the way of danger. As he was helping though, he soon noticed a woman stuck under some debris and flew over to help her. However as he was doing so, part of the kaiju’s tail slammed into the building just above them causing it to start crumbling and send debris flying all around. Captain Marvel did his best to shield the woman and protect her, but while doing so he was horrified to notice another civilian in the collision path of a falling piece of rubble. Captain Marvel was already doing his best to protect the one person he was carrying, but with no heroes directly next to him that he could see, he’d have to risk trying to save the other civilian as well.

However before he could get ready to move, he was surprised to see the falling pieces of debris be caught by fauna and plant vines. At first Captain Marvel thought that Swamp Thing might be on the scene too, he occasionally did pop up every now and then to help, but never really in situations like this. However he saw that these vines weren’t being controlled by Swamp Thing, and instead were being manipulated by a different creature also seeming to be made up of plants. As Captain Marvel gazed at the creature, he noticed that it also had the same device on its chest as all the other aliens and monsters appearing across the United States, meaning that this creature who was helping out was Ben.

After catching the falling debris with some growing vines, the plant creature then grew and used its arms to help get the bystander out of the way, bringing them to safety. After making sure the civilian was fine, Ben then grappled onto a nearby building looking for other areas he could help, swinging off into the distance once he saw something that needed his attention. Captain Marvel the entire time was a bit stunned to see Ben again and to also see him helping out, but he soon had to get his head back into the situation and continued helping out again as well.

As Captain Marvel continued doing his best to help out and save people, he would notice Ben every now and then doing the same thing. He watched as Ben used his vines to help get people out of the way of danger, and grew nearby plants and fauna to a substantial size, enough to help support collapsing buildings from buckling any further. Other heroes also took notice of Ben as he was helping out, but couldn’t do much about it due to them having to focus on the task at hand as well.

The whole ordeal went on for roughly about 7 minutes, before Superman and Wonder Woman were finally able to properly take out the Kaiju and stop it from causing anymore destruction. Then, once the monster was defeated both Superman and Wonder Woman picked up the unconscious behemoth, and began to fly it somewhere where they could better figure out what to do with it.

-

As the battle came to an end and everyone now fully focused on reconstruction and rescue relief, Captain Marvel stayed floating above the city looking around and scanning for Ben. Some other heroes were doing the same as they noticed Ben as well while helping, yet no one was able to find where he had run off too. However, once Captain Marvel heard some beeping followed by a loud flash, he had an idea of where to look.

As he flew down into a nearby alleyway, he saw a familiar 10 year old boy cleaning his clothes off. When Ben looked up and noticed the figure floating before him, he stared up at the superhero with awe, taking in the sight of Captain Marvel right in front of him. He looked to be a bit stunlocked, and so Captain Marvel took it to say the first words.

“Hello there, my name is Captain Marvel. Can I ask for yours?”

“Um, I’m Ben.”

“Ben! If I could ask, where are your parents? It’s quite dangerous for a kid like you to be all on your own in the city, especially with the monster that was just attacking.”

“Oh, um they’re at work right now.”

“I see, what are you doing out all by yourself? You seem to be quite young”

“I was out at the park when that monster thing showed up. I ran into this alleyway to hide, but now that things have died down I’m gonna head back.

“Where do you live? I could escort you back to your house if you’d like to make sure you get there safely. It’s still a bit dangerous out there with all the nearby buildings so destroyed and ready to collapse at any second.”

“It’s fine sir, I live just a couple blocks away so I can get there on my own and you don’t have to worry,” Ben stated, doing his best to feign a smile. It was clear he was lying in order to sneak off after he’d be let go.

Captain Marvel, wanting to help the kid out, but not also not wanting to expose himself for knowing too much, tried his best to lead Ben into accepting his help.

“Ben, are you homeless?” The question clearly caught Ben off guard, but before he could respond Captain Marvel continued. “Your clothes are dirty and you’re covered in scuff marks, they also don’t seem to be caused by what happened today due to how weathered and aged the stains seem.”

Discussing this topic seemed to make Ben uneasy, he didn’t respond or say a word to refute or verify the claim. Seeing the discomfort that Ben felt, Captain Marvel descended on to the ground, getting down on one knee, and outstretching his palm to the child.

“It’s ok, I have lots of friends who can help you if you’ll let us. You don’t have to go through whatever you're facing all on your own.”

Ben stood there for a second staring at Captain Marvel’s outstretched hand, before hesitantly reaching for it.

“Ok”