A Natural Progression | Shazam

Chapter 27

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"Atta lad, kid- Lemme finish this and we'll head off. You can tell me why you're avoidin' Zee on the way," he said, smacking the demigod on the arm and walking further into the House of Mystery.

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"I don't know where he went. But I know that he was there, at Belle Reve, talking to the head guard. The place has footage of him going through the place and checking out the cell. I caught sight of him when I got there but he vanished before I could talk to him," Zatanna said, standing at the end of the meeting table.

"The cell held Morgaine Le Fay, a strong sorceress," Zatanna continued, folding her arms over her chest. "I only know so much about her, and I'm sure Cap knows more." he shifted her weight to her other foot. 

"Cap's a good guy, I don't understand why he's avoiding us like this. He could be a huge asset to us in this."

"How did he vanish?" Superman asked, meeting her gaze.

"Uh- a portal. I tried to follow him but I was blocked for some reason," the magician replied, brow furrowing in confusion.

"Cyborg, Captain Marvel contacted you. What did he say when he got in touch with you? You said something about hisi magic, but you weren't clear," he asked, all attention turning towards one of the youngest members of the League. The former football star swallowed thickly, rubbing the back of his neck.

"He uh- well, Cap had uh- he's been dealing with some major major stuff in his home life. Life-changing stuff," he said, casting his gaze down when Superman gave him an unimpressed look. 

"He- uh- I told him about the Belle Reve stuff, so that's probably why he was there," he said, glancing around the room at the other heroes sitting around the large table. "But- but he called to check-in, with- with a personal phone. Like I said, he's got some major stuff happening, a lot of paperwork and moving around-"

"Moving around? Cyborg, this doesn't make sense," Superman pushed, shaking his head slightly.

"Well, well, I uh- there's uh- a lot of living changes he's going through, with his uh- house and stuff- family troubles and adoption and-"

"Did you just say adoption?"

Cyborg tensed, eyes widening slightly. "What?! NO! No! adoption? No! heh- I mean, uh- yeah, well, dog...adoption... that is. Not like- like child adoption, cause Cap doesn't have kids, but he's got a dog now! Heh..."

"Ok, but why would he just contact you? Wouldn't it make way more sense to talk to Supes or Batman?" Flash asked, raising a brow at the younger man.

"Dude, Cap obviously trusts Cyborg the most, don't be bitter," Green Lantern retorted.

"Regardless," Superman said with a pointed look at the pair before running a hand over his face, "We at least know that he's still active, or at least somewhat active, and alive," he glanced around the table. "We have to establish contact with him so next time he gets in touch with you, Cyborg, so tell us immediately."

The younger of the two nodded, shoulders still tense.

"Come on, Zee- we should tell Batman what you found."

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"For your first time, that went pretty well," John said as he scraped ectoplasm off his trenchcoat sleeve and slopped it onto the ground with a face. "Revolting and scarring for that poor girl, but pretty well."