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“So you're the new guy huh?”
Malik spun around quick as lightning. He was still getting used to that–the speed, the strength, the power–but even more so the fact that someone could sneak up on him when he was flying.
One look at his visitor had whatever choice words he was going to say dying on his tongue before he could ever think them.
In front of him, hovering a few feet from where he himself was flying just outside of his sister's balcony--five stories up–was Captain Marvel.
Malik knew him from the news, grinning from his spot in the Justice League line up, visiting sick kids in local hospitals, saving the world on a regular basis. But mostly he knew him from his fights with Black Adam.
How could he not? Ever since he'd been chosen to be the man's successor he'd thrown himself into learning all he could about him--and to be honest he wasn't a fan of most of the things he saw.
Fighting the Captain was probably what most people knew him for. He terrorized the guy relentlessly until they seemingly woke up one day and decided to form some kind of truce. Maybe Black Adam had pitched his desire to turn over a new leaf to the Captain just as he had for Malik, maybe something happened far from the watchful eyes of the press that convinced Captain Marvel to give the guy another chance, maybe he just stopped attacking and the Captain decided not to question his good luck.
Whatever the case may be, he should have known it was only a matter of time before he came looking for Malik.
Malik realized belatedly that he'd been asked a question--he’d blame it on the sleep deprivation of being in med school but he'd never felt more awake. Something about his powers made it impossible to feel tired.
“Yeah,” he said. He cleared his throat and tried again, more confident despite being very aware of the matching lightning bolts of their chests and all this history that came with that. “Yes, that's me.”
The Captain grinned. “Well it's nice to officially meet you,” he said. He thrust out his hand for him to shake. Malik didn't consider himself small by any means, not since he hit his first growth spurt in his freshman year of high school, but somehow the other man dwarfed him in comparison. Malik slowly sank down onto the balcony, which did nothing to improve his feeling small.
“Nice to meet you too Captain.”
“You know I've been meaning to catch up with you for a while now,” he said dropping onto the balcony beside Malik. “But things have been crazy the past couple of months. If I hadn't seen the lightning, I probably wouldn't have even found you.”
Malik tensed up. It was never a good thing when a superhero came looking for you–especially if you were weirdly related to their arch enemy.
“Well you found me,” he said as nonchalantly as he could. His mouth was going dry, but his voice never wavered. If he remembered right he had supernatural courage as one of his powers, so he's sure that helped. “What can I do for you?”
The Captain rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, like he was embarrassed. “Well I figured, since Black Adam shared his powers with you, that makes us…connected.”
“Connected?”
“Yeah, I mean we get our powers from the same place.”
Malik furrowed his brow. “You got your powers from Black Adam?”
“What? No, I got them from the Wizard. That's Where Adam got his powers too. So in a roundabout way you also got them from the Wizard.”
“What?”
Captain Marvel shook his head. “Look that's not important. Or well, it is important, but not right now.”
Malik's head was spinning. He didn't know what to ask to understand what he'd just said, so instead he settled for, “Then what do you want?”
“Do you want to have dinner?” he blurted out. “Tawny Is making chicken of some kind and there's always room for one more at our table.”
“I'd love to, but I'm babysitting my niece.” He glanced back into the apartment. Lay-Lay was still curled up on the couch where he left her, completely engrossed in her latest obsession–the Little Mermaid.
The Captain followed his gaze. “She can come too. We're pretty big on family.”
Malik wondered if his sister would kill him for taking Lay-Lay god knows where, but the idea of having dinner with a superhero–one with the same powers as him no less–was a dream come true. He felt like a little kid again, daydreaming about meeting Wonder Woman or Superman.
She probably wouldn't be that mad–as long as he got Lay-Lay to bed on time.
“Okay, let me just grab her. Then I'll follow you.”
The Captain smiled, patiently waiting on the balcony.
Malik slipped into the apartment. He squatted down next to his niece and cleared his throat to get her attention. “Hey Lay-Lay, you want to go for a little trip?”
She whipped her little head around to look at him. Her confused face lit up like a Christmas tree when she saw who was hovering behind him. She scrambled to her feet with a squeal of joy, launching herself past Malik and straight at the Captain's legs.
“Lay-Lay!” Malik scolded, rushing to scoop her up. She got a good fistful of the Captain's cape that she refused to let go of. “Sorry about her. She's just excitable. You know how kids are at this age.”
The Captain just laughed, completely unbothered. “Don't sweat It. I don't mind.” He held out his hand again, this time offering it to the little girl in Malik's arms. “Hello there, I'm Captain Marvel.”
Lay-Lay furrowed her brow in concentration before very seriously wrapping her tiny hand around one large finger and giving it a firm shake.
“Her name's Lay-Lay.”
“Its a pleasure to meet you Lay-Lay,” he said. Then he turned his gaze to Malik. “And what should i call you? I hear some people call you…White Adam?”
Mailk groaned loudly. “Definitely not.” He ducked his head, suddenly embarrassed. “I've actually been trying to get Bolt to catch on, but we'll see.”
“That's a good one! Way better than some of the names I almost got saddled with at the start.”
The Captain's laughter had a way of putting Malik at ease. It was warm, kind, and came easily. There was no judgment there which was a relief after the intense scrutiny he'd been under ever since he got his powers.
“Ready to go?”
“Lead the way.”
The two of them flew to their destination, Lay-Lay carefully tucked into Mailk's jacket and letting out peels of laughter every time the captain did a trick for her–which was often.
Eventually they found themselves flying over a suburban neighborhood just outside of Philly. The Captain grew a bit quieter. He glanced side-long at Malik every couple of minutes, like he was getting nervous about following through with his decision to have Malik over for dinner–were they going to his house? Did he have family there? A wife? Kids? A roommate? Another hero even?
Malik was just about to tell him that it was okay if they took a rain check on dinner, that flying together was more than enough, when the Captain pointed to one unassuming house in particular.
“We should land in the backyard.”
As they landed, Malik took stock of the house. It was two stories with a decent sized yard which was littered with toys, a kid's bicycle, and what looked like gardening equipment. It was clearly a house for a family–a family with kids. Malik saw a boy's face peek out from one of the upstairs windows before ducking back out of sight.
“Well here we are,” the Captain said, gently gesturing to the house. “Do you want to change?”
“Huh?”
“Out of your uniform,“ he clarified. “You don't have to, but I just thought – well I'm going to change, so if you want you could too. I mean I don't know how you feel about secret identities or whatever, but Black Adam knows who i am so there isn't much reason to hide it from you. He’d probably tell you if you asked.”
“Wait, Black Adam knows who you are? Even when you're not–you know?” Malik gestured vaguely at his bright red suit.
It was the first time it had occurred to Malik that the Captain probably could turn his powers on and off just like he could–maybe even with the same magic word. Which meant he probably had a life outside of being a superhero. And wasn’t that crazy to think about?
Making a decision, he held out his niece for Captain Marvel to hold. “Here, hold Lay-Lay for a second.”
The Captain awkwardly took her in his arms, looking mildly concerned as she climbed all over him.
“Shazam!”
With a flash of light, Malik was back in his scrubs, the rush of power fading away to a soft hum just under his skin, just waiting to be called on again.
The Captain stared at him, mouth agape and completely bewildered.
“What?" Malik asked, suddenly very nervous that he'd misread the situation. "Do you not–?”
“No, no I do. I just…well I was surprised that you look the same.”
It was Malik's turn to be bewildered. “Why wouldn't I?”
“Oh well the rest of us…we all look a lot different when we power up. I just assumed it'd be the same for you.”
Malik remembered hearing about others, the ones that sometimes worked alongside the Captain with the same powers. They weren't as prominent and didn't work with a lot of other heroes, but they were clearly connected. The all wore the same symbol and possessed the same powers. Malik had even entertained the idea that they were other descendants of Black Adam getting their shot at using his powers, but he'd never been able to find out one way or the other.
“So…what do you look like?” he asked. It hadn't even occurred to him that his powers could change what he looked like. Why would he want that? What would the point be? Should he be changing his appearance?
The Captain ducked his head, handing Lay-Lay back. “This is kind of embarrassing,” he said.
Malik shrugged, even if he was suddenly very curious. “Hey don't worry about it. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to.”
“Shazam!”
With another flash of light and clap of thunder he was gone. And in his place was a teenage boy with dark, messy hair. Malik was nearly a head taller than him.
“I'm Billy,” the kid said simply.
Malik gaped at him, sputtering uncertainly. “H-how old are you?”
“Fourteen,” he admitted, shoving his hands into the pockets of his too large hoodie.
“Fourteen,” he echoed.
“Yep,” he said popping the p loudly. He rocked back on his heels. “So are you coming in or what?”
A kid. Captain Marvel was a kid. A teenager. A teenager was on the freaking justice league. That had to be some sort of ethics issue considering the things they had to deal with.
Oh god, he was meeting the kid’s parents.
Billy jogged up to the back porch and yanked open the door. He held it open as Malik gathered himself enough to follow.
Malik held Lay-Lay closer and stepped inside.
“Victor!” Billy called out. “Rosa, I'm home!”
A woman came bustling down the stairs, a basket full of laundry balanced on her hip. She didn't look anything like Billy, but she smiled at him like he was her baby. “Billy, you're home! I thought I heard thunder.” She stopped short when she caught sight of Malik and Lay-Lay, probably trying to figure out why a grown man and a toddler were in her house. “And I see you've brought a friend.”
“Malik,” he blurted out. “Malik White. And this is my niece Lay-Lay.”
“Malik's a superhero,” Billy said breezily. “I told him he could stay for dinner.”
“Oh,” the woman smiled wider, taking that fact in stride. “Okay, Just make sure to tell Tawny and set a couple extra plates.” She gently nudged Billy towards what Malik assumed was the kitchen. “I'm Rosa,” she said. “Dinner's almost ready so why don't you take a seat? The rest of the kids should be down soon.”
“The rest–?”
Rosa set her basket of laundry down and steered him towards the dining room. Billy was there with a teenage girl that looked vaguely familiar, the two of them placing plates and silverware around a large wooden table. By the looks of things, family dinner was a big affair. Or at least it was a crowded one.
“Oh hi,” the girl said. “I'm Mary.” She plopped into the seat next to him and offered her hand. She had a firm handshake for a girl her size.
“Mary…Marvel?” Malik hazarded a guess, despite never feeling this unsure about anything in his life.
Billy snorted as he slid into the open seat on Malik's other side. “I told you it was silly to have your superhero name be your real name.”
Mary reached around behind Malik to whack Billy upside the head. “I happen to like my name,” she huffed. “And it’s only obvious because you already told him who you are.”
As the two of them bickered, Malik couldn’t help but think of his sister and how the two of them used to do the same thing, chucking half hearted, teasing insults and needling each other about things that didn’t matter. Even nowadays they fell into old habits whenever he visited, though their comments had less bite to them than they had when they were teenagers.
Huh. They must be siblings.
A stampede of footsteps came down the stairs, accompanied by more children’s voices. A few minutes later a little girl raced into the room, her hair pulled into two little puff balls on the sides of her head that reminded him a lot of how his sister used to wear her hair.
“I knew it!” she squealed, pulling a larger boy in behind her, despite the fact that he was balancing a bowl of mashed potatoes in his hands. She unceremoniously deposited her own bowl of mixed veggie onto the table and squeezed in between Mary and Malik. “I told you Billy brought someone home!”
“He brought a grown man and a baby home,” a boy with dark curly hair teased. He was walking with a crutch under one arm that thudded loudly on the hardwood floors. “That’s kind of weird dude.”
“It’s not weird,” Billy defended.
“It’s kind of weird,” the kid said, settling into his own seat.
“He’s hardly the weirdest person Billy's ever brought home,” another boy cut in, pushing his glasses up his nose. He was younger, Asian, and clearly amused. His dark eyes flicked up from his game just long enough to confirm his statement. “I mean he brought home Tawny didn’t he?”
“Did I hear my name?” came a deep rumbling voice from the kitchen.
Malik spun around, reflexively gripping Lay-Lay tighter to his chest. Standing in the archway leading from the kitchen…was a tiger. A freaking tiger. Except it was standing on it’s hind legs like a person and was wearing a well pressed tweed suit and an apron with the words Kiss the Cook on it in curly red letters.
“Kitty!” Lay-Lay giggled brightly, reaching her chubby little fist towards the tiger.
“I should think not, young lady,” the tiger said. Because the tiger could talk. Like a person. Even though he was a tiger. “Though I do admit I share a few features with fellow felines.”
“We’re just trying to catch Malik up on whose who,” Billy lied, clapping him on the shoulder.
“Oh, very well,” the tiger said. “Dinner should be ready in just a few moments.”
As Malik watched him go back into the kitchen, Billy leaned forward and stage whispered in his ear. “That’s Tawny, he’s a friend of ours. He’s totally friendly I promise.”
The kid with the crutch leaned over and cut in. “Yeah it’s the talking bunny you gotta watch out for.”
“The what?”
“You leave Hoppy alone!”
“Hoppy’s fine Darla,” Mary sighed. “But he is more likely to bite someone than Tawny is.”
“Yeah, cause Tawny’s civilized.”
“Shut up Freddy," Billy huffed.
“You’re the one that gave magic powers to a bunny," the boy with the crutch countered.
Billy flushed and sank lower in his chair while Malik was left to grapple with the fact that there was a magical bunny running around somewhere that might bite him while the talking tiger made him dinner.
He’s pretty sure this whole conversation could get someone institutionalized because it was just so crazy—but since he wasn’t the only one with magical superpowers currently sitting at the table, he figured he should just keep his mouth shut. Which reminded him to actually close his mouth before his open mouthed gaping offended somebody. Like the tiger. He really didn’t want to offend the tiger.
Tawny reappeared in the archway a few minutes later carrying a large casserole dish in his paws. Behind him came Rosa with a plate of bread rolls and behind her was a man with a jug of lemonade in one hand and a stack of cups in the other.
“Alright kids,” the man said. “Who’s hungry?”
A chorus of excitement rippled through the crowded dining room as the kids all scrambled for their seats, talking over each other and reaching for the plates of food. Lay-Lay eagerly jumped in too, babbling at the other kids who seemed happy enough to entertain her while Malik tried to wrap his head around what was happening.
Billy eventually took pity on him when Lay-Lay somehow managed to get a hold of the bunny—which could also talk for the record—by actually telling him everyone’s names so he could try to keep them all straight.
“So Malik,” Victor said over the general hubub of the dining table. “How are you adjusting to having powers?”
“Oh,” Malik carefully set his fork down. “It’s been…tough. I mean Black Adam just came out of nowhere to give them to me. There’s definitely a learning curve.” It was weird, talking about this with people who were basically strangers. And they were just so...casual about it.
“Trust me, I’ve been there,” Billy said, the comforting effect of his words undercut by the fact that he wasn’t even old enough to drive. “When the Wizard first gave me my powers, I had no idea what I was doing. But you’re doing pretty good work so far! You’re already getting the hang of being a superhero even without any help!”
“Why weren’t you this encouraging when I first got my powers?” Freddy asked, flicking a bit of mashed potatoes at him.
“Because you were being cocky,” Billy shot back. “And considering the amount of flack you gave me when I got my powers, I thought it was only fair.”
“Wait,” Malik cut in before the two of them could jump into what was clearly a frequent source of bickering. He pointed his fork at Freddy. “You have powers too?”
Silence fell over the table as they all looked at each other. Then Darla piped up. “All of us have superpowers—Billy just uses his the most because the Wizard said that was his job.”
Malik stared at them, his brain completely shutting down at the news. But looking at them now, all gathered together around the table, he could see it. Those other heroes with the colorful suits and vibrant personalities. But they were all kids. Darla and Eugene weren’t even teenagers yet. And yet they were superheroes? How was that okay? How was it fair? And god, Billy had been doing this for years—
Sensing his mental spiral—or maybe just reading it on his face—Billy jumped back in. “So what do you do when you’re not Bolt?” he asked. “Like do you have a job or go to school or something?”
“I’m in medical school,” Malik said automatically. He was happy for the easy distraction. “I just started my third year rotations when this whole…Black Adam thing happened.”
“Congratulations,” Rosa said sounding genuinely happy for him. “Just getting into medical is impressive enough, but juggling that and new superpowers is amazing.”
“Thank you ma’am,” he said. It had been a while since anyone had appreciated the work that had gone into going to medical school. These days all anyone wanted to talk about was what it was like becoming the Prince of Kahndaq or being Bolt.
“What kind of doctor are you going to be?” Eugene asked.
“I haven’t committed yet, it kind of depends on what residency I can get into. But I wanted to do Emergency Medicine.”
“Won’t it be hard being a doctor and a superhero?” Darla pressed.
“Yeah, but I’m sure I’ll figure it out.” He had honestly been forcing himself not to think about it too much.
“Man I can hardly juggle high school and superheroing,” Billy laughed. “I can’t imagine working a million hours a week as a doctor on top of that.”
“Says the guy on multiple hero teams who goes to school and has a full time job,” Freddy butted in.
“Two if you count his Rock of Eternity duties,” Pedro added.
“I don’t think that counts as a job,” Eugene shook his head. “That’s just more hero stuff.”
“But it is full time,” Mary countered. “That’s why I’ve had to spend more time in uniform.”
“It’s not a job,” Billy huffed. “It’s my destiny.”
“Your destiny better not get in the way of you passing the ninth grade,” Rosa warned. “Same with your job at WHIZ.”
“Hold up, you have a job? You're fourteen.”
Billy perked up. “I’m a reporter,” he said. “Or at least I’m trying to be. I’m still pretty new at it, but my podcast has been picking up a lot of attention lately, since I got Mary on there. I could interview you too if you wanted! Make sure people know you want to go by Bolt and not White Adam.”
“Who’s calling him White Adam?” Freddy scoffed, his face twisting at the name. “That’s terrible."
“I don’t go by White Adam, that was just a dumb name Black Adam came up with.”
“That’s why we don’t let him name things when we see him,” Darla said seriously.
“Now, now children,” Tawny cut in, his deep, growly voice drawing everyone’s attention. “No need to spoil dinner with talk of Black Adam, no offense my friend.” He directed the last bit to Malik, his deep green eyes locking onto Malik for the first time. “Choosing you to inherit his powers is one of the first decent things he’s done in a long time.”
“Oh yeah, no problem,” he said. “I’m not exactly his biggest fan either.”
Before they could be lulled into an awkward silence, Lay-Lay slammed her hands into his plate and sent mashed potatoes and bits of chicken flying everywhere, Hoppy the magical talking bunny following her lead and diving into Mary’s food.
Soon the whole table dissolved into laughter and token shouts of protests at the growing chaos.
After that, Malik began to relax into the presence of the Vasquez family. Before he knew it, they were clearing the table and packing him up tupperware full of leftovers to take home. The kids all lined up at the door to give him and Lay-Lay hugs goodbye—Darla discreetly slipping a small toy unicorn into Lay-Lay’s hands as she did so. They'd wriggled a promise of a superhero team up out of him, which he tried not to think too hard about. Being the responsible adult and also the least experienced superhero of the bunch was certainly going to be a strange mix.
Soon it was just Billy, walking him out the back door and away from the others.
“Thanks for coming,” Billy said. “It was really nice getting to know you. Sorry we're all so…much. I'd say we aren't usually this chaotic, but that'd be a lie.”
“Thanks for Inviting me. It was actually a lot of fun.”
“You're always welcome here,” Billy said softly. He had Lay-Lay in his arms, gently rocking her, looking much more comfortable with her now that he wasn't imbued with godlike strength. “You're kinda part of the family now.”
“Is that how this works?” Malik joked. “I mean Black Adam said he was giving me his powers because I was his descendant. But you…” He left the thought hang in the air, not quite sure how to say it.
“I guess Adam and I have very different ideas of what makes someone family,” he said. “He’s old fashioned and thinks only blood relatives count, but I know that as long as I consider someone family—or even just particularly trustworthy—I can share my powers with them. I mean, these guys, they’re not just my foster family anymore, you know? They’re just family.”
“I guess there’s a lot I still need to learn about all of this huh?
“You’ll catch on,” Billy said. “But it figures Adam didn’t explain this stuff to you—he’s always been so bad at that. It really shouldn’t surprise me that he threw you headfirst into all of this without bothering to catch you up to speed. He probably didn’t even explain the Wizard to you huh? I’ll have to have talk with him about that.”
Malik laughed. Billy sounded so much older than he was, like a stern parent about to march into a parent-teacher conference, but he also sounded like the petulant teenager he was. He wasn’t sure how the kid managed it, but it was kind of impressive that he could be both at the same time.
“Guess it’s a good thing I have you in my corner huh?”
“You bet,” he said, his scowl morphing back into a grin. “You can always come to me if need help. Or even just some advice.”
“Yeah…” Malik groaned. “I feel like I’m supposed to be the one saying that to you.”
“You know, I get that a lot from other heroes,” Billy shrugged. “But hey, as long as we have each other’s backs, we’ll be alright.”
“Yeah, I think so too,” Malik said. “I should probably get Lay-Lay home. Her mom’s gonna kill me if she finds out I took her all this way and kept her up past her bedtime.”
There was a mischievous glint in Billy's eyes. “Don't worry, I won’t tell.”
Malik laughed. Then, with a shout of “Shazam!” he scooped Lay-Lay into his arms and took to the skies. He waved down at the small crowd below before shooting off in the direction of home.
As Lay-Lay snuggled deeper into his jacket, falling asleep high above the city lights, Malik knew he’d be eagerly awaiting his next trip to the Vasquez household. He’d even bring his sister next time—after all, their family had just gotten a lot bigger.