SHAZAM!: The Word of Power #10

"I have a big aptitude!" Her energy level is consistently comparable to nuclear fusion.

"Darla, aptitude doesn't refer to size, you know how you are so good at drawing?" Mary was probably a big sister way before she ended up here.

"I'm okay I guess…"

"Shut up, silly. You have an aptitude for illustration, but saying you have a large aptitude is functionally meaningless."

"You are a aptitude for judgey-ness."

"'Have an', not 'are a', but grammar aside, I think you got it."

Eugene and Pedro stroll into the dining room, "So then, the guy crashed a big spaceship into another spaceship!"

"Cool."

"This a book or a game, Eugene?" Rosa sets plates of French toast and eggs in front of the girls.

"A trailer for a new game next year, Pedro won't get freaking excited!"

She shoots back, “Pedro, get excited! If Eugene gets straight A’s, he might get a cool game.”

"It's not the same dev team from the first game, the publisher is usually cruel to their fanbase, and the graphics actually look worse than the first one."

"The first one was in 2010!" Eugene feels a disrespectful jab to the new consoles.

"Yeah," Pedro slides a chair out and sits.

Mary lifts her head from her sister's assignment, "What kind of business strategy is 'make fans hate me'? Like, just do stuff you know your customers are into, and you get more customers. Simple."

Victor and Freddy show up with a couple more plates. The huge bro of a man mumbles, "The stupid kind."

Fred sets himself down and starts eating, "Pedro is right, what's cheap isn't always popular, and it's cheaper to dissolve a small development company, cut everyone's pay and scatter them to larger teams to work on a bunch of games. In that environment, passion can't thrive and you're a cog in a money printing press."

Eugene seems to remember a beautiful thing, "Indie all the way."

They all yell, "Indie all the way!"

"Chicanery!" Darla likes some of these new words.

"I'll check that off too," Mary's smirk has the power to fill the home with satisfaction.

Billy shuffles to his chair, where Victor has already set a plate. He's pale, and his eyes are half closed. Victor places a cup of steamy, tan, sweet joe next to Billy's plate.

"Baby, he's half your size, he's not drinking the same kind of coffee as you," Rosa lifts her eyebrow to her hairline, "¡No puede soportarlo!"

"He had some trouble sleeping last night, hun, trust me."

"Thanks, I'm a coffee fan already," he takes a gulp that nearly chokes him to death. Then, a second that was just too hot. His poker face, in his mind, impenetrable.

Everyone else disagrees.

"Marvelous!"

"That one needs work, it's just coffee."

"Y'all hear about that red lightning dude, last night?" Freddy chimes between chews.

"Precocious!"

"What?" Victor with an air of genuine confusion.

"Don't worry, this context doesn't fit," she goes back to Darla's vocabulary sheet.

Eugene grabs his phone, "He stopped a car from getting flattened."

"He killed a guy last night," Rosa seems sad with her tea raised, ready for refreshment.

Billy shrinks into his breakfast. They all begin, laughing and telling rumors and stories the internet has conjured in only a few hours. Apparently, he was witnessed fighting Hal Jordan over the city last night. Not to mention his super secret one on one with Superman. Apparently Shazam did a ton of things he doesn't remember, like punching a meteor out of the sky, riding a dinosaur, and eating dinner with the 'president'.

Freddy finally, "I honestly don't think most of that stuff is true though."

"He still killed a guy," Rosa says plainly. She sections off her remaining toast.

"Accidents happen, people die in those situations. It isn't one person's fault," Pedro remains empathetic at the worst of times.

"The super people need to be held to a higher standard, man. Normal firefighters have to consider their own safety," Victor's mouth is full.

“God, Victor. You sound like Victoria Cale on the debate last night,” Freddy rolls his eyes.

Billy looks up from his plate for the first time during this meal, "He's just a guy. People make mistakes."

"He's a super guy. If you possess the physical capability to do better, I expect you to do better," Mary always thinks she knows best.

"He's pretty new as far as anyone can tell, the guy doesn't even have a name to give," Freddy is a persuasive guy, maybe he can sway the consensus.

"Manslaughter is a crime. He is not an official civil servant, he’s not Justice Legion, so he either can't intervene, or can't let anyone get hurt," Mary shifts her focus to a book of her own.

Billy quietly leaves the table and sits in the living room. The family exchanges worried glances. Freddy pulls himself along to sit with Billy, and he turns the television on.

"Last thing I remember was choking on smoke, then suddenly my whole family was outside. I don't know your name, but whoever you are, thank you so much!" she smiles and waves as the camera cuts back to the anchors.

"Just another touching account from another Fawcett citizen helped by our local hero. Mayor Morris has called a press conference early this morning, addressing a high speed pursuit in the dead of the night. I'll let him speak on the matter further."

A thumb of a man with a snow capped scalp, pencil thin white mustache, and round frames addresses the public, "Last night at approximately 1:30 a.m. our finest were in pursuit with a small group of criminals through a residential neighborhood. This new, powerful face of this great Fawcett City decided our men and women in blue need not risk their lives to stop this high speed vehicle, and he intervened himself.

“He ran them down on foot and was witnessed attempting to calmly persuade them to comply, when they popped a tire and rammed him. They rebounded off of him and into a local deli, the repairs of which will be covered by the city. He pulled them from the wreck but unfortunately, one culprit did not survive. Unfortunate because he can never see justice for his crimes, as he had chosen to spend last night robbing the people of this city."

He turned into a stern man in his early thirties. His uniform is adorned in medals, and his left arm is missing.

"My advisor here, Lance Corporal Reid holds the belief that this man is an unknown element. He thinks, regardless of his recent efforts, we should prosecute him for vigilante justice and manslaughter, despite his apprehension of the Fiend, George Tweedle. I personally believe this incident is heavily overshadowed by the lives he's saved. If he is willing to meet with me on this stage at noon tomorrow, he will be pardoned of all potential charges, and he'll receive my seal of approval to administer fair justice so that the people of this city can feel safer than ever!"

The crowd cheers as reporters shout questions and don't get answers. The camera cuts back.

"A marvelous move from the mayor shows he's willing to give his position as the most powerful man in the city up for the sake of our safety, I'm Kelly Lang with Whiz News, and up next is weathe-"

The picture goes dark as Freddy turns to Billy, "Someone just became the new face of Morris' reelection campaign next year."

"Let me think, dude."

"Aye aye, Captain!" Freddy's eyes go wide, "I just thought of the best name for you."

"I swear if it's something lame like 'Shockwave' or 'Crackler' I'm gonna hide your crutches while you sleep."

"It's lame in a good way. Let’s say your brand is hope and inspiration-"

"What are you, my PR manager?"

"Yes. I just thought of something cheesy, yet strong and inspiring."

"Spit it out."

"Captain Marvel."

"That's gonna be a fresh no from me, chief.”