Chapter 244: Shazam’s power, you, the villain, can steal it, but I, Batman, can’t?
Fawcett High School.
This high school is the school where "Shazam" Billy Batson is currently studying.
It was just after ten o'clock in the morning. In the psychological counseling room, the Gotham City villain "Scarecrow" disguised as the school doctor "Dr. Phil" was packing up.
A few months ago, a mysterious man who claimed to be an "outsider" rescued him from prison and gave him the task of constantly using his professional knowledge to seduce Billy Batson.
But now... the mission is over.
Under his repeated psychological suggestion that "power will only cause disasters for people without abilities", Billy Batson shared his power with his father, that is, his biological father [CC Batson] yesterday.
The "outsider" has achieved his goal.
So now? It's none of Scarecrow's business--
Scarecrow knows very well that from the beginning when he gave Bane a nuclear bomb to try to murder Batman, to now he secretly hired him, used his knowledge of phobia to guide Billy Batson's fear, and then let the other party share his power, the man who called himself "Outsider" in front of him has always been the ultimate black hand hidden behind the scenes.
No matter what he wants to do this time, it must be a big conspiracy.
But what does this have to do with Scarecrow? Scarecrow doesn't care what they want to do, it's just a deal.
"Since you are here, come in early."
Scarecrow said without looking back.
With a squeak.
The door of the psychological counseling room was opened. A pale man with a round hat, holding a civilized stick, walked in first, it was the "Outsider".
And behind him, Dr. Sivana, whose eyes were filled with lightning, followed closely.
The outsider did not speak first. Instead, Dr. Sivana, with a fake smile on his face, walked to Dr. Klein in a familiar manner: "Dr. Klein! (The original name of the Gotham villain Scarecrow) Long time no see!" As he walked over, balls of colorful mist sprayed out of his ears, condensing the image of the meditation mite. He looked very familiar with the Scarecrow, but before he could greet the Scarecrow, the outsider spoke first: "Dr. Klein, where is the thing I want?" "Here." The Scarecrow ignored Dr. Sivana, who seemed much friendlier than the outsider. He turned around and took out a bucket filled with yellow liquid from the cabinet behind him: "Strong fear gas, 30 times more powerful than the regular version on the market." Dr. Sivana snapped his fingers, and the lid of the bucket opened. He sniffed from a distance, and then immediately closed the lid. "Good stuff. You are worthy of being a scarecrow."
"Of course." Scarecrow turned around slowly, looking defenseless, and continued to pack his luggage: "Then, my mission is also completed, I will..."
However, when he turned his head, he saw the black muzzle of the outsider's gun.
He showed a mocking look on his face.
"Are you going to silence me? From a few days ago when you finally told me your plan without any scruples, I knew you didn't intend to let me leave alive."
"Goodbye." The outsider's answer was concise.
Bang!
However, the bullet missed the target. The outsider turned his head and looked at Dr. Shivana who stretched out his hand. The other party had just used magic to deflect his arm, which affected the trajectory.
Puff!
The bullet hit the ceiling, but it did not penetrate. Instead, it slowly stopped as if it hit something sticky. The invisible thing not only absorbed the kinetic energy, but also the sound waves emitted by the gun. The meditation mite had already set up a magic barrier in this room, and no matter what it was, it could not get out.
Squeak!
The scarecrow rolled over and put on his scarecrow mask, and then the corner of the room also sprayed out fear gas. He rushed towards the window, as if he wanted to jump out of the window and escape.
Bang!
However, he hit the magic barrier like a bullet, and the scarecrow immediately realized the current situation, and there was despair in his eyes.
"Fear gas? It's the same old trick, Dr. Klein." The outsider said.
His face did not change at all in the increasingly dense fear gas: "Do you really think this thing will work on me?"
He turned his head to look at the meditation mite and Dr. Shivana: "Stop this damn gas."
The spray head of the fear gas was quickly blocked by Dr. Shivana using magic. A lightning bolt shot out of his eyes, mercilessly electrocuting the scarecrow and making him twitch all over.
But his face was ugly.
"You are wrong, Mr. Outsider."
Facing the outsider's confused eyes, Dr. Shivana stepped forward and picked up the scarecrow who had been electrocuted and unconscious.
He took off the scarecrow hood on the other person's face, revealing the thin face underneath.
Then he reached out and rubbed the face for a while, wiping off all the makeup on the face.
The outsider's face also became extremely ugly in an instant.
"It seems that the famous scarecrow, Dr. Klein, has fooled us all." Dr. Sivana said, "He had long been aware of our intention to silence him, and hypnotized a teacher in the school in advance, using psychological suggestion to distort the other person's thinking, making this poor guy think that he is a scarecrow, and stayed in the psychological counseling room to wait for our arrival instead of him, while he himself escaped early."
"Where is the magic tracking method I asked you to set on the scarecrow, Meditation Mite?" The outsider turned his head and looked at the Meditation Mite, which existed at the scene in the form of an image made of colored smoke: "Can you find Dr. Klein's location now?" Meditation Mite was silent for a while. "I can't do it."
"What?"
"Surprisingly, Scarecrow seems to have mastered some magic tricks. He used the magic of the wizard Shazam to eliminate my tracking. The wizard Shazam I mentioned is the member of the Wizard Council, the old wizard [Shazam] who gave Billy Batson the power of thunder. His power is unquestionable, so much so that his name has become a spell to summon the power of thunder. Only his spell can resist my magic."
The meditation mite said: "But where did Scarecrow learn the magic of the wizard Shazam... Wait, Billy Batson's magic book, Scarecrow must have peeked at that book as Billy's psychiatrist."
The magic worm exclaimed from the bottom of his heart: "What an amazing magic talent, people in Gotham City can often surprise me."
"So now that Scarecrow has run away, he may leak our plan." The outsider said.
"Don't worry, my friend."
The meditation mite said: "Dr. Klein knows a limited amount of information, and everything is too late."
"And our cooperation is about to end, meditation mite." The outsider said. He pointed to the barrel of fear gas left by Scarecrow: "I also brought you what you want."
"Now it's time for me to go back behind the scenes."
He turned around: "Bring me Pandora's Box, Meditation Mite, and we will have no relationship from now on."
"Of course, of course." Meditation Mite said: "My ally, don't worry, everything is going according to plan."
"We have mastered the power of Thunder Shazam, and we have mastered the key."
"What else can stop us?"
...
...
...
"Your experience is too much, it can't be Mud Face pretending."
Chen Tao said.
"..." Billy's biological father, Old Batson, froze in place.
This is the Justice Hall of the Justice League. While Chen Tao was busy with other matters, under Alfred's management, the entire Justice League has been roughly built.
"Aba?"
Mud Face, who was wearing a Robin uniform and lying there like a real pile of mud, heard Chen Tao calling his name and immediately triggered the keyword.
He turned his head blankly and pointed what looked like his head at Chen Tao, then his eyes gradually regained clarity, like a puppeteer who manipulated many dolls and focused his attention on a certain clone.
"Batman, what do you want from me?"
"Nothing, dear Mudface Robin."
"Oh. Aba Aba Aba Aba Aba..."
Seeing Mudface's clone switch back to the happy little cerebral palsy mode, Chen Tao turned his head and focused his attention on the old Batson in front of him.
He crossed his legs.
"You are the only one who wants to join the Justice League?"
This question, which was like a gangster membership test, confused Billy's father, Old Batson.
He turned to look at Billy with a pleading look, so Billy hurriedly said: "Batman, he is..."
"Your biological father, I know." Chen Tao looked at old Batson with a scrutinizing look: "But I am obviously asking your father himself."
It is very strange that although he preconceived that Billy, the "biological father" who suddenly appeared from a corner, must have problems, Chen Tao had already used a lot of means to identify the other party after the other party came in, but he got nothing.
However, this made Chen Tao more convinced of his judgment.
"Ah, I don't want to join the Justice League, but Billy said..."
He suddenly smiled sunny.
"Oh, hehe, I'm not kidding you." He laughed and patted old Batson's back, and then his face suddenly calmed: "You are now a member of the Justice League, welcome to become a superhero, Mr. Batson."
He stood up and patted the mud face beside him, and the other party suddenly turned into a half-naked beauty with blond hair and blue eyes.
"..."
Chen Tao's face suddenly turned black: "You changed wrong, try again."
Mud Face turned into an oversized dog with another swish. Chen Tao took his reins and led the confused dog towards the Hall of Justice.
"Let's go, Billy, and Mr. Batson." He said like a tour guide: "I will register you first. The first meeting of the Justice League will be held tomorrow afternoon."
He turned to them and said: "We need to discuss how to encircle and suppress Steppenwolf and a magical worm called Meditation Mite."
He looked at old Batson: "Things are so busy, and people are not allowed to rest, right?"
……
……
……
After the Outsider and Meditation Mite separated, they arrived at a place where no one was.
The pale man turned on the projector on the stick.
The person who appeared on the image was the Cyborg Superman.
The voice of the Cyborg Superman rang out.
"Well done, Outsider. Everything is as planned. The Meditation Mite has done most of the things we couldn't do. The bug thought that [helping me open the passage to Apokolips and summoning Darkseid's arrival] was just a trick to trick me into joining the group, just like he tricked the alien blood mage Atrocitus into joining the group."
"He was stupid enough to think that he was the one who pulled me into our alliance, instead of us two deliberately designing all this."
"He was stupid enough to think that Pandora's Box could open the passage to Apokolips but it was just a lie."
He said: "In the end, only Darkseid controls everything!"
"Of course, of course, my ally." The Outsider bent down a little exaggeratedly: "Everything belongs to Darkseid!"
In a corner that the Cyborg Superman couldn't see, the Outsider's mouth curled up a smile.
"Stupid guy..."
...
...
...
"Batman... uh... what do you want to talk to me about alone?"
In the room, Billy was a little flattered and took the tea that Batman poured for him.
This is a training room. Chen Tao called Billy in under the pretext of individual combat training, and then used the magic of the Bat Mage to completely seal the room where they were talking.
Then he said:
"Although I have heard from Alfred, I still want to ask - Black Adam and the Seven Deadly Sins are still at large, right?"
"Ah, right, right, right." Billy nodded like a chicken pecking at rice.
"Oh, I'm just asking." He heard Batman say, "Hey, Billy, I have a question for you. Sometimes... have you ever thought about being an ordinary person?"
Billy was startled, then said honestly, "Ah, of course. I'm not a superhero."
He complained, "I'm not a hero, Batman, I mean, I lack the talent to be a hero."
"In such a short time as a superhero, I have killed a lot of civilians. Even though I have acquired the ability for so long, I am still a novice. My dad did much better than me, you know? He just got the power of Shazam and beat Black Adam to the ground!"
"Maybe it was a mistake for the wizard to choose me, I should..."
Billy was talking incessantly. He was embarrassed to tell these things in front of his biological father who he had just met, and he couldn't tell these things to his adoptive parents who didn't know anything about his superhero career.
Phil, the psychologist who likes to play with scarecrows in school, might be a good target, but the other party also doesn't know his superhero identity.
So looking around, in daily life, he didn't have a target to tell the truth to.
Therefore, when facing Batman, he was actually a little self-pitying and uncontrollable.
But what he didn't notice was that Chen Tao's eyes were getting colder and colder.
It was almost certain that someone was instilling his ideas into Billy. It was so simple to instill his ideas into a teenager. It was easy as pie.
"I want to comfort you, Billy, but I'm sorry, sometimes it's true. Due to your age, you sometimes can't afford the power given to you by the wizard Shazam." Chen Tao said slowly:
"The situation facing our planet is extremely serious, and every bit of power is very precious. So, Billy, have you ever thought about..."
"Share the power with me, just like you shared it with your father?"