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To Fly Again - The Director's Cut	By : CJFinnegan Category: DC Verse Comics > Marvel Family Views: 1629 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: Disclaimer: I do not own The Marvel Family, and I do not make any money from these writings.

Chapter List
- 1-Prologue
- 2-Chapter One: Broken Wings
- 1
- 2
Chapter One: Broken Wings...
Marvel Family & related characters © 2010, DC Comics, Inc.
Caitlin & Robyn O’Riordan © 2010, Cynthia Finnegan. All rights reserved.
    Mary Batson stared at herself in the bathroom mirror, an angry expression marring her lovely face. She had been regretting every decision that had been forced upon her over the past few weeks, especially her foster parent’s sudden decision for her to “disassociate” herself from Freddy Freeman and her alter-ego, Mary Marvel, the World’s Mightiest Girl. Against her better judgment, Mary decided to play along with her for a while, going into a “forced retirement” for the past few weeks while she attempted to adapt to her new situation.
    Little did the Mrs. Bromfield realize that her adopted daughter could no more “disassociate” herself from her friends or her heroic identity than she could stop breathing.
    What on Earth’s the matter with me? she thought. I just meekly went along with Mom’s idea of sending me to this place without even giving her an argument. I guess I thought I could change her mind about sending me to Rosemont and go home and letting me attend Binder Prep with Freddy. I should’ve pushed harder ... fought her over this ... but that’s not the way I was raised. I was raised to be a good girl who doesn’t argue with her parents, even when they’re wrong.
    Ever since she arrived at the school there had been nothing but trouble, which came in the form of the demoness known as Brimstone. Brimstone had been after Mary, her twin brother Billy and Freddy Freeman for several months, ever since they entered Hell to rescue Mr. Bromfield, Mary’s adoptive father.
    Brimstone had been holding the soul of Mary’s foster father, Mr. Bromfield, hostage for decades, ever since she was a young child. He had been killed when the demon tried to lure the girl off a cliff and into the sea, and had been trapped in her little corner of the Netherworld up until a few months ago. Brimstone had even transformed him into a giant slug-monster and used him to attack the Marvel Family, but when he failed, the heroic trio flew down into Hell to save him and let his soul go to its rightful place. She’d been trying to get her hooks into one of them ever since that day, without much success until now.
    Once again, Mary felt the vague, uneasy feeling that her twin brother, Billy Batson, was in some sort of danger; it was the same feeling she’d had for the past four months. At first, she dismissed it because Billy had been gravely ill with pneumonia, but they didn’t abate even after he recovered; in fact, they’d been worsening by the day.
    Pushing her feelings to the back of her mind, Mary looked at herself critically one more time. Her puzzled bush of dark red curls, made even bushier by a bad relaxer she’d been talked into getting because curls were supposedly out, according to her roommate, was finally laying halfway right, and her new outfit, or rather school uniform, would surely make Freddy’s eyes pop because it looked so much like cosplay. She cared for the crippled newsboy, possibly even loved him, and she wanted to look her best for him.
    I have to tell Freddy about what been happening since our last run-in with Brimstone, Mary couldn’t help thinking with a look of grim determination. I can’t talk to Billy about it because if I’m right, I can’t trust him, and if I’m wrong and he really is okay, he’ll want to march straight down to Hell and confront her, and I don’t want him to get hurt.
    If Brimstone wants a fight, she’ll have a big one on her claws, and I’m just the girl to give it to her.
    “Hey, Mary!” Mary’s roommate, 15-year old Lara Mitchell, called out from the Common Room. Lara was an über-mallrat who’s main hobbies were shopping and boys, not necessarily in that order, and the age of the boy didn’t seem to make a difference to her, either. Shortly after Mary got to Rosemont, Lara bragged that she had snagged three UCLA sophomores on her line. Lara’s pale blonde hair was cut in a close cropped, trendy style and streaked with a temporary dye in the wildest shade of magenta Mary had ever seen.
    “Wow, you look awesome!” Lara continued. “Got a hot date?”
    Mary gave a forced grin and replied, “Something like that. A friend of mine’s visiting from New York today, and I wanted to look nice.”
    Lara made a decidedly un-ladylike snort. “They have a brother?”
    “Yeah, but I don’t think Kit would be your type.”
    A tall, statuesque girl with dark hair entered and asked, “Who’s this “Kit,” and why wouldn’t he be Mitchell’s type? He’s breathing, isn’t he?”
    Mary tried to remember the two newcomers’ names. The taller one, who could almost match Captain Marvel for height, was a student named Jessica ... Jessica ... Carlin, that was it. The other, a tiny, pretty Asian girl, was named Tamryn Wu.
    “Kit wouldn’t be Lara’s type because he’s ... uh ... hardly ever around. Plus, I think he might be a little too young for her.”
    Jessie applied her dark-red lipstick in the mirror. “How young?” she asked after blotting her lips with a tissue.
    “Thirteen, why do you ask?” Mary asked.
    “Thirteen’s young,” Lara said with a lascivious grin, “but not that young. I can certainly show him a good time.”
    “You know, I really like living in a dorm in an all-girls school,” Jessie quipped, changing the subject. “No guys hogging all the hot water!”
    “You mean like those jerks from Mansfield?” Tamryn chimed in. “Well, at least it’s not like the restroom at my sister’s law firm back in Boston.”
    “How’s that?” Mary asked innocently enough.
    “Unisex; ladies and gents use the same john.”
    Linda, Jessica and Mary all cried out “Eeewww!” in unison, with Linda adding, “That is so gross!”
    Mary lingered long enough to apply some blush and a bit of lipstick in the prettiest shade of pink she could find at the cosmetics counter. She had looked a little wan of late, and the blush gave her a bit of color. She checked her blue and white uniform once again when a clap of thunder struck, seemingly from across the quad.
    “Well, I’d better get going,” she said. “My friend’s here, and I don’t want to keep him waiting!”
    Mary ran out of the bathroom with the jeers of “Oooh, HIM!!!” ringing in her ears. She practically flew down the stairs and out the door, her step growing lighter by the second, then she slowed to a brisk walk when she reached the quad. She scanned the crowd, searching for a familiar face among the throng of unfamiliar ones. She found who she was searching for, waved her arm over her head and called out his name.
    “Freddy! You’re here!” Mary cried out happily as she waved.
    “Hello, gorgeous,” the almost pretty boy called out, his face splitting into a warm grin as Mary’s arms wrapped around his chest.
    “Hi yourself, handsome! Oh, Freddy, I’ve missed you so much!”
    “I’ve missed you too, Mary. Now ease up, or you’ll burst my spleen!”
    “Oh! Sorry,” she said contritely, releasing her hold on him.
    Amazing, he thought, noticing the new haircut, from what Uncle Dudley told me, I was half-expecting Mary to look like the Wildwoman of Borneo, but she looks absolutely beautiful.
    “Don’t be. If it weren’t for this,” he held up his crutch for a moment, “I would’ve squashed you, too.” As Freddy put his arm around her, he felt Mary tense for an instant, then relax. “So, what’s been going on with you since you left New York?”
    “Not much. Major bout of homesickness, was nearly sexually assaulted ...”
    “Who tried to rape you?!” Freddy interrupted. “I'll ...!”
    “Hang on a minute, and I’ll tell you! Now where was I ... oh, yeah, I had another run-in with Brimstone. You know, the usual.”
    “Brimstone?! What the heck did she want?!?”
    With that prompting, Mary blurted out all the trouble she’d gotten into since she arrived in Northern California, including nearly being sexually assaulted by a young man named Cameron Jeffries from the nearby Mansfield Military Academy, and until she got to the part where she’d both head-butted him and kneed him in the groin, Freddy looked as though he was going to change into Junior, fly down to Mansfield and beat the living tar out of Cam.
    As she promised herself earlier, she even told Freddy all about her most recent confrontation with Brimstone, leaving out not even the smallest detail. As he listened to Mary’s monologue, an earthquake chose that moment to strike. The tremor was strong enough to knock the pair off their feet.
    “Whoa!” Freddy exclaimed. “Was that what I think it was?!?”
    “Yup, afraid so. I don’t know how anyone ever gets used to them.”
    “Maybe you have to be born here,” he said, retrieving his crutch. “So what do you want to do about Brimstone?”
    “You believe me?!?” Mary exclaimed as she helped him to his feet.
    “Of course I believe you, Mary. Your story’s too fantastic not to be true.”
    “There’s something else,” she continued, “For months now, I’ve had this feeling the guy we’ve been calling Billy isn’t really Billy, and that my real brother is in danger somewhere. I’ve been having nightmares about him being trapped in her little acre of Hell, and he’s being tortured there ... I want to go to her realm, confront her and see if she really is holding my brother hostage or if she’s just messing with my head again. Who knows, maybe we can finally get her to leave us alone. We have to try something!”
    She took a deep breath to steady her nerves.
    Freddy’s response to Mary’s impassioned answer surprised them both; he kissed her. Granted, it was only a lingering brush of his lips to hers, but a kiss is still a kiss, right? After they parted, he said, “All you ever have to do is ask.”
    Shortly, they began to look for a semi-secluded area to say their magick words. Even though the lightning’s flash was so sudden most folks didn’t notice, the last thing either teen needed was to reveal their secrets to a campus full of junior high and high school girls. Mary was worried about summoning the lightning. It had been several long weeks since she used her powers. When they found a good location, they faced each other and cried:
    “Shazam!”
    “Captain Marvel!”
    The two were answered by a twin blast of magic lightning, instantly transforming them into Mary Marvel and Captain Marvel Jr. This feels so right, Mary thought. I never should’ve given this up.
    “You ready?” Junior asked.
    “Yep. Let’s go,” she replied with her famous smile. “I’d like to stop at the Rock of Eternity first and talk to the old wizard. Then our next stop will be Brimstone’s corner of Hell.”
    Mary Marvel and Captain Marvel Jr. leapt into the bright blue California sky, rocketing away from the private school’s campus. The World’s Mightiest Teens flew up faster and faster until they winked out of sight of the normal human eye.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
    On an Abyssal plain, a pair of bright blue eyes peer into a ball of flames, watching as the pair rocketed into the sky, and laughed. The demoness’ laughter began to change from a harsh raven’s caw to a much softer, almost familiar tone.
    “Oh, this is too perfect,” Brimstone said, laughter still bubbling in her throat. “Instead of just you, I’ll have your sweet sister Mary and Freddy Freeman as well! I couldn’t have planned this better if I tried!”
    As the demoness’ changed laughter rang out, the lesser demons cowered, trying to hide from their mistress. Her young captive, bound and gagged in the shadows, struggled in vain to break free.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
    Hours earlier, in Billy Batson’s office at Station WHIZ-TV, Joan Jameson worked on her personal computer, processing several documents. She was finally getting the hang of using this piece of new technology, and wondered if Sivana might have thought of it years ago, before he became hopelessly soured on helping humanity.
    Knowing his ego, the attractive blonde thought with a chuckle, Sivana would not only say he invented the PC decades ago, but that he also created the internet to connect all of them together!
    A moment later, the phone rang. She picked up the receiver and asked “Hello, Billy Batson and Captain Marvel’s office. How may I help you?”
    On the other end of the line was Billy’s “uncle”, Dudley, who also worked at the station as a kids’ show host. The elder gentleman sounded extremely upset, which was unusual for him.
    “Miss Jameson, thank goodness I got a hold of you!” Dudley exclaimed, “Is my nephew there, by any chance?”
    “No. He hasn’t been here since Tuesday night. He told me he wasn’t feeling well and left early. I thought he was over that bout of pneumonia.”
    “He was, and I don’t believe he was relapsing.”
    “Have you tried calling him at home?” Joan tried to sound optimistic, but failed miserably. She hoped her boss was safe at home, but knowing Billy for as long as she did, she doubted it.
    “I have, m’dear, but he’s not there, either. The Potters informed me that he hasn’t been there in three days. Miss Jameson ... I - I’m worried about him.”
    “What about Freddy? Has he seen Billy at all?”
    “Freddy hied himself off to Monterey this morning to visit with Mary at Rosemont. I don’t expect him back until late this evening. Besides, he informed me that he and Billy had some sort of a row a few nights ago. He wouldn’t tell me what it was about, but he mentioned that they haven’t spoken to each other since.” Dudley paused for a moment, as a look of horror flitted across his features. Finally, he added “I think he’s been kidnapped and replaced with an imposter.”
    “Are you sure?”
    “Not entirely, but it would explain a few things, like the fight he had with Freddy last week and their not speaking since then.”
    “Look, Dudley, I’ll keep a eye out for him, but if Billy doesn’t show up in one of his usual haunts, I’ll call the police.”
    “I doubt the police will be of much help, Joan,” Dudley said. “If he’s truly in trouble, it may be something not even Captain Marvel can get him out of.”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
    As they left Earth’s orbit, the youthful heroes flew faster and faster until they exceeded the speed of light which flung them out of the normal space-time continuum and into Eternity. As they approached the fabled Rock of Eternity, the young heroes saw that the old wizard, Shazam, and he wasn’t alone. One was Prince Ibis, an old friend of theirs, and the other was Dudley, the Marvel Family’s“adopted” uncle.
    “Greetings, my children. I know why you’ve come, and there’s something urgent that we must speak to you about ...”
    “Uncle Dudley? Ibis? How did you get here?” Mary interrupted as she landed beside the elder gentleman and the former Egyptian prince.
    “Mary! Junior, m’lad! Thank goodness you’re both safe!” Dudley shouted, almost frantic.
    “I brought your “uncle” here because he was worried about your twin brother’s increasingly odd behavior of late,” the turbaned Magicker replied, “so I commanded the Ibistick to transport both of us here to confer with Shazam. Have either of you seen him at all lately?”
    “I sure haven’t,” Captain Marvel Jr. replied sheepishly. “In fact, I haven’t seen Billy since we got into that fight a couple of days ago.”
    Mary was stunned. She caught Junior’s attention for a moment, mouthing the word “Fight?!”. He nodded his head in response.
    “Yep. He was acting like a jerk towards Cissie. I called him on it and he tried to tear into me with both fists flying. Why? What’s wrong?”
    Dudley faced the pair, a note of dread creeping into his voice as he spoke. “Billy’s disappeared. His secretary said that no one at WHIZ has seen him since Tuesday. I’ve also checked with the Potters; they hadn’t seen hide nor hair of him in that time, either.”
    “Oh, no ... please, don’t let her have him,” Mary whispered fervently. The old wizard got a word in, and it wasn’t good. He had no wish to hurt his young heirs, especially Mary, but there was no way for him to soften the answers to her questions.
    “I’m afraid so, my daughter,” Shazam finally said, looking the girl right in the eye. “Brimstone is holding your twin brother hostage in her realm. She means to use him as bait for you.”
    “But why?” she asked, on the verge of tears. “Why take Billy? It’s me she’s after ...!”
    “So she can finish what she started months ago,” Shazam replied. “So she can finish stealing your souls.”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
    On the Abyssal plane, Brimstone “interrogated” her captive again. She felt a perverse sense of pleasure in this one’s torment, slowing the boy’s sense of time so his torture would raise more power. What remained of his garments were little more than filthy rags hanging from his wrists and waist, and his rangy-thin body, from his shoulders to his knees, was a crisscross map of whip marks, bites, cuts and gouges made by demonic teeth and claws, all still very raw-looking and all very infected, and bruises from various kicks and blows.
    “Sha ... shaz ... uuuh ...” he moaned, trying to get the magic word out, his voice a hoarse whisper from screaming, but he couldn’t say it. All he felt was a searing, intense pain in his body from the torture, and in his mind from the spells that kept him from uttering or even thinking the old wizard’s name.
    “Ssshh,” the demoness answered, wiping away the blood from the fresh gash she had just put on his cheek. “When will you start realizing that your precious magic word is absolutely useless to you here? I’ve prevented you from ever becoming Captain Marvel again!”
    She was right; thanks to the curse Brimstone put on him, sealed to his soul with his own blood, Billy Batson couldn’t even think the old wizard’s name without wanting to howl in agony. There were other spells on him, too; one that fouled up his sense of time, one that made him weaker than a newborn baby, and one that kept the muscles of his body from wasting away to nothing.
    While he was starving and dehydrated, he hadn’t lost much weight, in spite of the fact that he hadn’t eaten anything, hadn’t dared to eat anything, since his abduction and imprisonment here. Though they still managed to force foul-tasting water down his throat once a day, he would vomit most of it right back up the moment they left him alone. He knew it was poisoned from the way it burned his down his esophagus.
    Billy Batson, ace boy reporter for WHIZ-TV, raised his head and glowered contemptuously at his captor. “Why are you doing this?” he demanded.
    “Oh, let me think ... It could be because you’re old Shazam’s “children”, and I actually hate that doddering old fool far more than I despise the three of you. Or it could be because I felt like it.”
    “Or maybe you’re just trippin’, as my peers like to say nowadays,” Billy croaked sarcastically, grinning in spite of the pain he was in. That bit of cheek earned the fourteen-year-old another crack of Brimstone’s whip across his lower back, buttocks and thighs. Billy squeezed his eyes shut and sank his teeth into his lower lip until it bled, just to keep from crying out in pain.
    “Or it could be because the three of you snuck into my realm ... my realm! ... to steal her foster father’s soul from me! And then you release him into the Ethereal Plains! That isn’t done, precious; not without a forfeit. I don’t forgive and I never forget. That’s the reason why you’re here, Billy boy. All three of you owe me my due, a soul, and all I want to is to take my time in choosing who's gets ripped out of them first.”
    “NO! I won’t let you ...!” the boy cried angrily.
    Billy fought against his bonds with all his might, once again trying to get his hands free so he could wrap his fingers around the grinning demon’s throat. His efforts were rewarded with another series of vicious blows, the final one from Brimstone’s fist striking him hard on his dimpled chin. Billy wavered in and out of consciousness for several seconds, then slumped against his bonds as sweet oblivion reached out to claim him once again. As his head sagged to his chest and his mind fled into the painless peace of unconsciousness, Billy heard the demoness’ next words hiss in his ears.
    “Yes, my “pet”,” she said. “Your sister and your best friend are coming for you, I promise you. They’ll be here any time now, so I’d better put you where they can find you easily. Then the trap will be set.”
    Brimstone looked at the smudge of blood she wiped from Billy’s face with a fanged smile, then licked it off her finger, savoring the taste.
    The blood of an innocent always tastes the sweetest, she thought.
Four months earlier ...
    Captain Marvel’s fight with Black Adam went from Midtown to the banks of the Hudson River in a matter of moments. Thanks to his stamina, he was far from tired, but the nonstop battle was getting monotonous, and they had somehow managed to lose Mary and Junior a while ago. To top things off, Adam seemed to be herding the Captain towards the Hudson River, not to mention keeping him on the defensive.
    But why???
    Great, Captain Marvel thought as the hours (or was it only a few minutes?) of fighting Black Adam began to blur together. I let Adam lure me right to the river! How long have we been at this scrap, anyway? Something’s screwy
about all this ...
    “All right, Adam, I’ve definitely had enough of this malarkey. Why don’t you just say the magic word, change back to Teth-Adam, let the police take you back to your nice, cozy jail cell and make everyone’s lives a whole lot easier?” he said, swinging a haymaker at Adam’s pointed chin.
    “And why don’t you be silent!” The villain retorted as he did the impossible; he dodged the oncoming blow with unnerving ease. Before Cap could regain his bearings, Adam snaked his hand out and grabbed the lower half of the hero’s face in a vise-like grip.
    “MMMMPPPHH!”
    Adam’s fingers dug into his foe’s cheekbones and lower jaw, while the palm of his hand was pressed tightly over Cap’s mouth to keep him quiet. Captain Marvel even tried opening his mouth to bite him, but Adam positioned his hand in such a way as to prevent the hero from moving his jaw at all. As the World’s Mightiest Villain held his struggling enemy, he shot the World’s Mightiest Mortal a look of venomous triumph. Adam knew he had the younger man at a disadvantage as he uttered a single word: “SHAZAM!”
    Adam watched with a savage grin as the magic lightning arced towards them. At the last possible instant, he twisted them both around so that the mystic bolt struck Captain Marvel instead, changing him back into his mortal form of Billy Batson. Realizing that they were hovering only an inch or two above the bay, the look of shock on Billy’s face was quickly replaced by terror as the black-clad villain began to plunge the teenager into the icy waters of the bay in an attempt to drown him ...
In the present ...
    Billy awoke with a start, shivering as if fevered, which he was, and his arms nearly numb from bearing his weight. He was gagged again, and his arms were still bound to the stone framework where Brimstone had given him his most recent beating. He didn’t know exactly how long he had been trapped in this corner of the Netherworld, but as day after torturous day wore on, his hopes of rescue had begun to fade.
    That was, until today. Mary and Freddy now had full knowledge of what had happened to him four months earlier. But the demoness told him that he was now bait in her trap for them before he’d passed out after his most recent beating.
    If Mary and Freddy wind up trapped here, too ... he shuddered. There was a sudden sick churning in the boy broadcaster’s stomach at that thought. Like he, they would be tortured and forced to live out their worst nightmares for all eternity. Given time, Brimstone’s plans would drive all three of them stark, raving mad, and only the thought of freedom allowed Billy to keep a tenuous hold on his sanity.
    In the distance, he heard his captor arguing with her male counterpart, a demon named Beelzebub, who, oddly enough, had been on Earth disguised as Billy. As far as the real Billy knew, Beelzebub might still be wearing his face, even here. He certainly had a good time screwing up Billy’s life for him, if Brimstone’s taunts were to be taken as fact.
    “Very bloody funny, Brimstone! It was bad enough being banished to the earthly plane, but to be given the face and form of Billy Batson, and the disgusting memories and feelings that go with them ...”
    “... Was sheer genius, Beelzebub,” Brimstone replied smoothly. “Think about it for a moment; if I hadn’t bespelled you into a perfect double of Billy Batson, one that would even fool our old enemy Shazam into bestowing his powers to you, the brat would have been missed by now, wouldn’t he?”
    “You’re right. It was brilliant. But why haven’t you broken the spell yet? And why have you made yourself look like Mary Batson?”
    “That, my dear, is my secret.”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Blanket disclaimer for this fanfic: this story is an out-of-continuity parody based on the SHAZAM! Comics written by E. Nelson Bridwell and illustrated by Don Newton. It is neither steeped in nor is it connected with the current continuity of DC Comics. DC’s current continuity lacks imagination. And guts.
I do not claim any rights to the Marvel Family or the characters associated with them. Those rights belong to DC Comics (damn it all). The only characters I own in this work of fiction are Brimstone, Caitlin and Robyn O’Riordan (© Cynthia Finnegan, 2009) and all the rights to them are reserved. I offer my thanks to C.C. Beck, Bill Parker, Otto Binder, Mac Raboy and Marc Swayze for creating such “marvelous” characters for me to terrorize.
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To Fly Again - The Director's Cut