Heroic Cognizance | Shazam

Chapter 5

"We're coming for you, Billy. I swear to it."

- - -

Barry and Diana helped to get Zatanna back in her feet while Victor attempted to calm his nerves. Billy had looked so scared, so defeated-- it wasn't something he'd ever thought he'd live to see. 

He knew that Cap was supposed to have the Courage of Achilles, Billy had told him so, but he'd seen pure, unadulterated terror on the man's face. 

No amount of courage could make up for whatever the kid was having to live through.

Batman walked over to him, looking at him before crossing his arms over his chest. "We'll find him, Cyborg," he said, keeping his eyes on Victor. 

He simply nodded, finally pulling his eyes away from where Cap had been to find another image materializing around them.

Billy was sitting against the wall, tossing an old baseball in the air and catching it repeatedly in what looked like an old office if the rusting file cabinets haphazardly shoved into one corner and arranged to resemble a throne were anything to go by. 

There were vines covering the thick and cracked glass of the solitary window, still allowing light to come in the room. There were holes that looked like they had been punched through in the drywall, along with cracks in the wooden floor and dust covering some of the shelves that were still standing.

A worn, yellowing mattress was sat in one corner, covered in faded blankets and lumpy, coverless pillows. Amongst them sat a familiar, if faded and stained stuffed tiger. 

Beside it sat cardboard boxes with various food items in them-- half a bag of chips, a couple of bottles of water, various half-eaten snacks or bruised and close to rotting fruit. 

Freddy, the blonde-headed child, was currently rummaging through one of the cardboard boxes, pulling out a hubcap and giving it a weird look, glancing at Billy questioningly before putting it back.

He lit up at the sight of something, pulling out a small pad of paper that looked like it was missing most of its pages, and a pair of pens that had definitely seen better days. 

"We need duct tape," he said absently, beginning to scribble on the small page in his hands.

"Crutches falling apart again?" Billy asked, throwing the ball up again before glancing at the blonde. The last remnants of a black eye, namely the yellow skin combined with red in the kid's eye were all that remained as evidence of his beating in the rain. 

"You really shouldn't have taken those things into the rain, Freddy," he said, glancing at the blonde with a small, mischevious smile.