Rustyverse:

SHAZAM! Vol. 1
Chapter One: First day

A shrill screech echoes throughout the bedroom as the alarm on a nightstand stationed
clock goes off, its rapid beeping and ear piercing commotion signaling for the small child
laying in bed to awaken. His bare torso moves erratically on the bed as a sign of
annoyance towards the alarm, he swings his head over to the source and slowly but
gradually opens his eyes showcasing his emerald hued irises as he blankly stares at the
crimson numbers flashing on the face of the alarm clock. He outstretches his arm and
presses a small silver button on the top silencing the clock almost immediately. A couple
of exaggerated grunts and moans escape the child, he props himself up into a seated
position and slides the bottom half of his body to the left allowing his legs dangle off the
side. He looked around the room and scanned the countless amounts of comic book
and hero memorabilia that lined the shelves, his head cocked to the left and saw an
aged oak door with a golden knob erected on the mid-right of the door. He then looked
back towards the nightstand in which the clock stood and settled his eyesight on a
picture set within a rectangular stainless steel frame. A portly man with auburn skin,
ebony hair, thick rimmed glasses and closed lip smile stood on the left of the photo, a
woman with long vibrant red hair, green eyes and a cheshire like smile going cheek to
cheek presenting a large amount of white teeth in doing so. However, in the middle of
both adults stood two adolescents a small boy and a small girl both looking as just the
miniature genetic counterparts of the adults. The boy on the bed grazed his index finger
over the picture.
Love you mom. Love you dad. Wish me luck.first day of high school. Yay. He
said towards the photo a hint of sarcasticness laced on the word yay. His thought
process was soon interrupted as a husky and deep voice emerged from outside his
door.
Billy! You ready for school? The voice said.
Almost, Uncle Dudley! Just got to get a shirt on! Billy said his sentence filled with
falsehood as he hopped off the bed and with a spring in his step launched himself
towards his dual-doored closet.
Yeah, uh-huh! Just hurry up! Mary is outside in the car waiting for you.. and so is
Cissie. Uncle Dudley said with a chuckle as he retreated from the door.
Billys eyes widened as heard the name Cissie, his best friend but also. the girl that
hes loved since the start of middle school. Cissie was the most beautiful thing that had
ever walked the halls of any school that hes ever been. His nervousness around the
opposite gender and the fact that she has a jock boyfriend have both been the
obstacles that have kept Billy from professing his love to her. The only two people that
know of his feelings for her are his sister Mary and his Uncle Dudley. Billy began to

focus on putting on his clothes and placed a graphic t-shirt of a orange man with a cape
and antennae with the words Martian Man placed under the picture, he then placed on
blue jeans, black tennis shoes with small red spots and a small orange and red cap on
his head with the same hero as his shirt on the front of it. He rushed out of his room and
was met with an aged face looking down upon him, due to the older man squinting the
wrinkles became immediately noticeable throughout the mans olive skin, his arms and
face covered to the brim with small brown freckles and his eyes covered with thick
rimmed glasses similar to Billys dad in the picture before.
H-hey Uncle Dudley. Billy said with a smile on his face.
Mm-hmm. Arent you forgetting something important, Billy? Before Billy could respond
the man pointed with his index finger at a small black and white satchel that lay beside
Billys bedroom door.
Oh! Thanks! Billy said as he rushed back grabbing the satchel and placing it
diagonally over his body.
No problem, bud. Have a good first day of school and.. Uncle Dudley made a sly
smirk towards Billy .... Go get her tiger. Dudley made a small chuckle as he headed
towards the living room and sat himself on beige leather couch, propping his feet up and
turning on the television. Billy rolled his eyes at his uncle and proceeded out the door
where he was met with the sight of his sister at the steering wheel of her convertible red
1995 Ford Mustang Cobra with two black racing stripes going down the middle. He then
saw Cissie in the passenger seat, the two women began to hysterically laugh with one
another. Seeing this Billy proceeded with caution as a list of displeasing thoughts ran
through his head about what they were laughing about.. especially if it was about him.
He proceeded towards the car and as the girls began to notice him their laughter
dispersed almost in unison, causing his mind to become more distressed. Cissie got out
of the car and set the top half of the seat down and moved it forward allowing room for
Billy to sit in the backseat, he got in and set himself along with his satchel on the black
and red leather seats of the car.
Hey Billy, ready for our first day? Cissie had asked as she placed the top half back up
and sat down onto the passenger seat.
Ye-Yeah, I-i guess so. Billy responded his sentence a jumbled mess of stuttered
words.
Oh, its nothing to be worried about. Josh told me that if you have any problems with
anybody at the school, hed be happy to take care of it for you. She said with a smile.
Yeah ok, tell him I said thanks. Billy responded with a roll of the eyes at the word Josh,
his eyes then settled itself on the rearview mirror of the car meeting eyes with his sister,
who was slyly grinning towards him.

Alright then lets get this show on the road! Mary said as she pressed a small white
triangle button on the dashboard embedded radio and suddenly the song Back In
Black from AC-DC began to emerge from the speakers embedded around the car.
Back in black
I hit the sack
I've been too long I'm glad to be back
Yes, I'm let loose
From the noose
That's kept me hanging about
I've been looking at the sky
'Cause it's gettin' me high
Forget the hearse 'cause I never die
I got nine lives
Cat's eyes

His sister and Cissie bobbing their heads to the beat as Billy props his head on the
window and watches as the colors of the environment begin to mix.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After several minutes, the car eventually turns and ends at the direct front of the school,
Billy looks left and right and sees large amounts of students dressed in different attire
flood through the doors of the school. Each individual bringing their own flavor to the
campus. Billy groans as he notices the mass amounts and sees the large amounts of
buses letting even more children out from them. Cissie exits the car and pulls the top
half down and pushes the seat forward allowing Billy to exit.
Thanks for the ride, sis. Billy said looking at his sister.
No problem, Billy. I will pick you up after work, Okay? Mary asked.
Okay, bye. Billy said as he proceeded out of the car door but mary pulled him back
with her hand.
And, Billy.. Go get her tiger. She said with a chuckle.
You and Uncle Dudley have been talking again havent you?
She laughed Yup kinda hard not to when we all live under the same roof.
Billy rolled his eyes Well, stop that.
Mary chuckled and motioned with her hand as a signal for him to go. He got out of the
car feeling the brisk wind prick his face and noticed a tall, muscled african american
male approach them. He wore a lavender vest complete with golden trim, a team name

was emblazoned on the chest with yellow letters stating Fawcett City TIgers, the back
of it showed the mascot a tiger standing upright on its hind legs, baring its fangs and
wearing a similar vest. He walked up to Cissie and swung his arm around her, cradling
her hip in his bicep, he swung her body towards him and began to lock lips with Cissie.
Billy surveyed the unpalatable action take place, his face contorting into an expression
of disgust. Eventually, they had stopped and she backhanded his arm, which he made
an exaggerated expression of pain. Cissie pointed towards Billy in which the black male
chuckled but because of the seriousness that was conveyed within Cissies expression,
he immediately stopped laughing and turned his head towards Billy.
Hey, Billy you okay with this? Joshua asked.
Several sentences ran through Billys mind as he hear the question, sentences ranging
from the downright malicious to something more positive.
Yeah.whatever, Its fine. he said as he began to walk towards the entrance doors.
his expression seemingly happy but deep down inside he had a fiendish hatred for
Joshua, especially if he was ever around Cissie.
Cissie smacked Joshuas arm harder and watched with saddened eyes as Billy left their
presence.
~~~~~~~~~~
Billy studied a piece of paper within his hands, telling him which classes he had and
when they were. His first block happened to be biology with Mr. Sivana, a teacher in
which he heard could be slightly kooky at times. He read the room number and
proceeded himself down numerous halls until he had found the correct room. His eyes
darted left and right as he saw many seats filled, he surveyed the area trying to find an
empty one when suddenly his line of sight was interrupted by two dark erratic arms
waving at him, he looked up and met eyes with Joshua who had the last empty seat
next to him.
Oh great. Billy mumbled under his breath. He dragged his feet across the tiled floor
and tried to move at a snails pace before taking a seated position on a teal plastic seat.
Hey, bud. Saw that you were in here and saved you a seat. Joshua said a smile
spread across his face.
Billy had cringed at the word bud and hated when Joshua called him that as Billy had
never considered Josh as a friend nor a buddy but in order to be polite he said a
mumbled thank you and listened as the bell rang. The students sat within the room for
several minutes, some drawing within notebooks, some talking with one another and
others just blankly staring towards the door or green chalkboard embedded within the

wall, Billy was the latter. He stared intently towards the door hoping to get the first
glimpse of his new science teacher, suddenly, a frail, bald and skinny caucasian man
makes his way through the door. His back was hunched over as he walked with a
scraggly looking cane and a painful gait. His eyes were covered with round blackrimmed glasses and he wore a lab coat along with jeans and black dress shoes. Billy
watched as the man slowly made his way towards his wooden desk and with a final
painful sounding grunt, he plopped himself onto an cushioned ultramarine colored seat
and laid his head back on the headrest for a few moments before he began to shuffle
through large amounts of paper that lay on his desk.
O-okay ladies and gentlemen, its time for roll call. Mr. Sivana squinted his eyes
towards the small font on the paper When I say your name please say here.
Jonathan Abbey?
Here!
Carly Abbott
Here!
Hmmm. A mister. William Batson? The old man rose an eyebrow and looked up
towards the class.
Here! Please call me Billy though. Billy responded, hating the name William as it was
derived from a deeply hated grandfather.
Billy Batson it is then. The old man chuckled Nice alliteration.
Joshua tapped Billy with his elbow, causing Billy to look at him.
Told you he was crazy Josh chuckled.
Billy gave a smile but could care less for anything Joshua had to say. Suddenly, a
massive headache began to take place. A pain unlike anything he had ever
experienced, his stomach began to twist and turn as well initiating a feel of nausea and
then a deep voice appeared within his head.
William Joseph Batson,
Head to the closest restroom.
Billy turned his head left and right thinking someone was screwing with him but couldnt
see anybody initiating a feeling such as this. The pain within his head began to grow
and his stomach more nauseated and it made him feel as if he was at the brink of

vomiting. Suddenly, his hand shot up causing Mr. Sivana to abruptly stop his roll call
and look towards him.
Yes, Billy? Sivana asked slightly annoyed.
I-I need to go to the restroom Billy responded his voice strained from the pain.
Can it wait? Sivana asked his attitude becoming slightly more irritated.
No sir. Billy responded.
Fine.fine. Go, but dont let this become an everyday occurence.
Billy nodded in agreement and hurried himself out the door at a swift-footed pace. He
remembered that their was a restroom just to the left of the class, he ran and propelled
himself into one of the stalls, his head staring down towards the clear water within the
porcelain throne. The feelings of nausea and the headache began to dissipate as Billy
sat there in wonderment at what had just occurred. The voice then came again.
William Joseph Batson,
Please do not be alarmed.
You will not feel any pain.
Who are y- before he could finish his question his skin began to glow a bright golden
color. Everywhere on his body was enveloped by some sort of yellow light.
The power of Shazam consumes you.
SHAZAM!
The last words caused a silent eruption as Billy exploded into thousands of bright
particles of light, leaving an emptiness to where his kneeling body was.
~~~~~~~~~~
BOOM! with a crash of a bright yellow lightning bolt, Billys body began to reconstruct
back into the small boy, Billys first feeling after he had reconstructed was a sickening
feeling of nausea as he threw up a large amount of tan mixture to the left of him. He
then looked at where he was and saw that he was residing in some part of the distant
galaxy, his eyes widened in awe as he looked around towards the sky seeing an
armada of stars along with black, blue and dark purple space looking down upon him.
Wow, what is this place. He said as he continued to look up towards the stars.
I personally like to call it Coeli, latin for heaven. Billys eyes widened at the voice as it
came from behind him, he slowly began to turn and noticed a caucasian muscular

gentleman in his 30s sitting upon a stone throne. He was wearing something that
resembled a white toga from the ancient greek times. His head was completely bare of
any hair, His face showcased a small black scruffy beard, two ocean blue eyes and
black eyebrows that seemed to look sinister no matter what expression he had. The
man held a staff within his right hand, covered with lightning bolt markings around the
base.
Billys eyes kept wide at the sight of the formidable man. So, who are you?
Me? Im an ancient wizard who survived countless wars, many ones that your..earth
has not even heard of. Ive been everything from a tailor to an artillery combatant to a
swordsman in the 16th century. I gained my gifts or magic as your kind would call it
from a dying magician known as Merlin. He gifted me these powers before he released
his final breath.. Many people believed that since Merlin gave me his powers that I
was supposed to take the mantle and become the next Merlin. I however chose an
alternate route and coined myself the mightiest of them all and I became.. Shazam.
Now, I am dying and I am in need of someone to take my powers and use them for the
good of mankind.. I have already gifted half of my magical strength to a man.. a
slave but he turned against my wishes and became overrun with power causing
destruction in his wake, He has now been imprisoned and I need a new champion to
take my place, through relentless searches through different timelines and alternate
universes. You William Joseph Batson are the champion that I need. I need you to
become earths champion..Earths mightiest mortal. I need you to become,
Shazam.
Billys eyes widened at everything the wizard had said. His mind attempting to process
everything. His mind stuck on the statement that the wizard was dying, even though he
looked in his mid-30s.
How are you dying?!?! youre like 30 years old! Billy shouted confused.
The wizard laughed William, what you are seeing is a magic trick and illusion of
sorts. well, not really. When saying the word Shazam I become a younger, stronger,
smarter, faster version of myself. However, internally I have the body of someone over
four-hundred years old.
Billy processed the information, his eyebrows contorted into a confused state but
accepted the information as a fact.
Im only fourteen. why pick me? Billy asked.
So, you can grow into the hero role, William. You dont have to start out in your 30s like
how I had too. Shazam responded.

If I were to take this title.. You would die instantly, correct? Billy asked his voice
containing a small amount of nervous speech.
The man nodded in agreement.
Then who will teach me how to use these new gifts? Billy asked his expression
confused.
It will come naturally but you will need to teach yourself how to utilize these powers for
the good of mankind, avoiding as many casualties as possible and in times of grave
danger then the gods will help you with your gifts. Shazam is an acronym, the powers
you obtain within the acronym the gods can help strengthen. S stands for solomon this
gives you great wisdom and intelligence allowing you to solve even the most difficult of
problems, H stands for Hercules this will grant you increased levels of strength allowing
you to defend yourself from the strongest of combatants, A stands for Atlas this gives
you increased dexterity and durability allowing you to last longer in combat situations
and to survive even the vacuum of space, Z stands for Zeus this allows you to control
bolts of Zeus lightning for a variety of effects as a weapon or as means to fuel your
magical properties, A stands for Achilles this allows you to withstand telepathic attacks
and last but by no means least M stands for Mercury, this will increase your speed to
unimaginable lengths giving you the power to fly, run miles in mere seconds and the
ability to fly to this very spot in minutes. Shazam responded.
Billy smiled at all the information, he finally got to become all the superheroes hes ever
dreamed about, always wished to become. He outstretched his arm into a handshakelike state.
I will take the mantle. I will become Shazam. Billy smiled as he said this.
Shazam stuck his arm out as well and shook Billys hand. During this a golden energy
flowed throughout the wizards veins as energy shaped like lightning bolts began to
transfer from Shazam to within Billys skin. The wizard screamed in pain and shouted as
his skin slowly began to grow paler and paler and seemingly disintegrate from his
bones. Suddenly, the painful screaming had dissipated as the wizard left only yellow
aged bones on the ground. Billy looked at the bones and for some strange reason was
desensitized by the sight he then stared at his arms and saw the once yellow lights in
his veins die down to his normal skin tone. Suddenly, a large golden portal opened up to
the left of him, showing a present view of the stall he was in before he was transported.
Billy stepped in and found himself kneeled on the tiled floor next to the porcelain throne.
He rushed out of the stall and headed back to the class, Sivana eyeing him almost
sinisterly. Billy had sat down next to Joshua, Billys head covered with sweat droplets.
Sorry, what did I miss. Billy asked Joshua

Joshua chuckled. Like almost nothing, you were gone for like a total of five minutes.
you okay?
Billys looked at Joshua strangely at the statement five minutes but brushed it off
Yeah, im fine. Billy chuckled nervously false alarm. He said as he stared at a clock
towards the ceiling, waiting for the school day to be over.