Devil's Consultancy 47

The immediate reaction of Billy and Freddy was… interesting. They immediately looked at each other, silently conferring on how to handle things. Making a decision immediately, Freddy looked at Tanya and stood up, grabbing her arm and dragging her towards the back, and incredibly awkward but not impossible thing to do when you had a bum leg and a crutch. “Come on, let’s run!” He said. 

Seeing a good opportunity, Tanya waved her hand. “Rhine. Berechnung. Mahou.” with a crackle of magic, Freddy’s eyes glazed over momentarily before he released her arm, closed his fingers over mid-air, and continued his leaving, under the impression that he was being a gallant hero rather than a duped rube. 

Billy, on the other hand, went towards the explosion, which was theoretically consistent with her thinking of him as a fanboy… but it also put an ugly thought into her mind, which automatically superimposed Bruce’s face onto the child’s,  that she didn’t have the time to fully examine. File it away for later.

“Where are you, Captain Marvel?” Shouted a demon, muscular, wearing just a pair of pants. He had a pentagram-shaped ritual scar on his chest, and his skin tone, while accurately described as red, was more the red of a man flush with anger rather than the rich red she was used to thinking of as demonic. Power emanated from him in waves. Uh oh… with this level of power, and without rhyming? That meant this was likely an Archdemon, or a low-end one anyway. Tanya had never sensed one before, so she couldn’t be certain. “The World’s Mightiest Mortal is no match for me, the World’s Worst Demon!”

…Sometimes, Tanya forgets just how the villains are even more dramatic than the heroes are. Even by those standards, though, if this was a typical example of Captain Marvel’s enemies, he was playing the hero game on easy mode. Wait, where did Billy go? Shit, she lost him. At least he was hiding…

A lightning bolt impacted a place nearby, one that was clearly magical instead of natural, and within two seconds, Captain Marvel was there. Ah, was that him using some kind of teleport spell? It would make sense… “Who are you?” Captain Marvel shouted, “And what’s your problem?”

The demon grinned. “Me? You know as well as I why I cannot tell you, Shazam.” He spat. 

Captain Marvel flinched. “That’s not my name…” He said tiredly. “So what, is this like Ibac? Bunch of history’s villains empowering you?”

The demon laughed. “Ibac wishes he could handle the power I wield!” He boasted, before rushing to attack Captain Marvel. “The Strength of Satan!” He shouted, launching the Captain skyward with a punch.

Tanya glanced around. Everyone else seemed to have left in a panic, and the subtle illusion she was maintaining making people overlook her had stopped anyone from seeing a ten year old girl and dragging her away. 

Still… “Rhine. Berechnung. Mahou. By the dark powers vested within, I’ll need the fit and drip to win!” Tanya incanted, and a sheath of magic turned her skin coal-black as her clothes exploded off of her into her pocket dimension, and with a small dance and some poses, the Witch Girl outfit folded out, piece by piece, of the portal she coated her skin in before the energy vanished, a magical girl transformation that she had spent an excessive amount of time perfecting. If she just so happened to be caught… well, she was already in disguise. 

Witch Girl floated up to where the two brutes were fighting in mid-air. “-and the Flight of Craetis!” The demon finished. “Six Archdemons empower the Bagdan line, and I am its sole heir, receiving every drop! Fear the power of the Underworld!” Ah, so he was a mortal merely holding some tiny fraction of an Archdemon’s power, times six. 

“Is that going to be on the test?” Captain Marvel quipped, sending the demon flying with one of the sloppiest punches Tanya had ever seen that, somehow, managed to have proper form in what looked like an accident. “Sabbac, huh? Sounds like a boy band.”

Sabbac growled in indignation and the two brutes continued their brawl in the skies. Unfortunately, she couldn’t carry around anti-demon munitions, so Tanya had trouble figuring out how she could help without resorting to more power than she had self-imposed as a limit on Witch Girl’s output. Unless… Ah. Tanya pulled out a thick grimoire. 

Whistling, Tanya started using a wand to carve a magic circle in the ground, referencing the tome as she went. Originally, she had these demonology notes, various ways to alter a demon summoning circle to various ends, in a little notebook that she had stolen from Richard’s school supplies back when he was in middle school. Amusingly, John Constantine knew a warlock that had his magic notes in such a journal, and it apparently contained enough “fucked up unethical bullshite” inside that even seeing one in the context of magic made him shiver at the reminder. 

So she re-wrote it in a book that was penned on pigskin parchment in ink that was mixed with her own blood and powdered midnight, and as a result the book tended to respond to her will, floating around and allowing her to peruse the pages as easily as she could pick something out of her dimensional pocket. Surprisingly useful. She had a secondary cover put over the original one for the Witch Girl identity, one with white lace accents instead of silver ones. 

Still, she needed the reference to adjust things to what she wanted to do; project her soul across the connection instead of a proper summoning, use a catalyst so she doesn’t look too powerful, channel the power thus gathered into the resulting demon for a powerup… And a half-dozen other optimizations. 

Captain Marvel and Sabbac were still duking it out when she finished, although they had graduated into a bit more of tossing fire and lightning at each other, which was causing an unfortunately massive amount of collateral damage… at least for the fire part. Captain Marvel’s aim was pretty good. 

Tanya was beginning to understand why the locals who were gawking were doing so at a much larger distance than what she saw in Metropolis, Jump City, or Central City. 

Sabbac roared in frustration at his inability to crush Captain Marvel as he had been boasting, and pulled every single fire from below him into a sphere above him, which he then squeezed into a bright ball of hellfire plasma. 

“Hey!” Tanya shouted from her position next to her completed magic circle, magically augmenting her voice. “I’ve seen cooler fireballs in the circus!” 

Captain Marvel looked down in a panic, before pausing and mouthing something to himself in confusion. Sabbac, on the other hand, scowled and doubled the power of his fireball with a scream, before tossing it right towards Tanya. 

“Visha!” Captain Marvel shouted, looking at the fireball and visibly realizing that he couldn’t simply tank it. Wait, how did he know her fake name already? “Run!” He shouted as he tried to fly down, but Sabbac intercepted him with a savage grin. 

Manifesting a tennis racket out of hellfire, Tanya simply batted the thing into her prepared magic circle, which soaked in the hellish magic and glowed ominously. “You may carry drops of Archdemon ichor in your veins,” Tanya shouted upwards tauntingly. “-but that’s not going to do anything to a real demon! I beckon the Flame-scarred, Faith-scorned Fallen, offer you this power and my own blood in return for one service! I beg for the wrath of the Devil of the Rhine!”

Her magic circle latched onto her, draining a tiny but visually impressive amount of blood, and Tanya immediately split off the largest chunk of her soul that she could without serious consequences, which was about a third of it. With the power of the hellfire augmenting that fraction, it should be enough to defeat this guy with Captain Marvel’s help. 

The center of the circle exploded in power, shattering the street and ruining the magic circle irrevocably, by design. “I told you, young witch.” Rhine’s voice was irritated, so her split off soul was fortunately able to stay on script. “I am not someone you can tag in to switch.”

“Help Captain Marvel!” Tanya shouted at her own soul. “This Sabbac guy’s got power from six Archdemons!”

“Impossible, not possible.” Rhine said back, acting offended. 

“Quite possible!” Sabbac shouted down, clearly annoyed at the dismissal. “My family line’s contracted this power for millennia!”

Rhine looked up, somehow managing to look annoyed without a face. “Hello Captain, we meet again.” 

“Little busy!” Captain Marvel shouted. 

“I have new business with you anyway.” Rhine said offhandedly. “So I’ll put this poser on his merry way.” They pointed at Tanya. “This offense will be forgiven, count your blessings as they’re written.”

Surprisingly, Sabbac had a rather sizable amount of durability against Tanya’s usual methods of attack, not just invincibility but also a sizable amount of regeneration. All the while, he boasted about the indestructible body of Aym, but Sabbac was eventually wrestled down and was forced, in a gambit that reminded Tanya a lot of Clark’s stories about that multidimensional imp that occasionally bothers him, to say his name. “What the heck is Mensa Bach?” He said, confused at Captain Marvel’s nonsense. 

In a move that defied Tanya’s understanding of the relationship between linguistics and magic, this somehow worked, with black lightning ripping out of the ground and striking the demon-man… turning him into a ten year old boy. Specifically, Timothy Karnes. Fortunately, he was unconscious. 

“Timmy?” Captain Marvel asked, shocked. He looked around, panicked. “Uh… Hey, Rhine. Maybe we should get him somewhere there isn’t going to be cops swarming?”

Tanya walked, still feeling a bit fatigued from the blood drain she did for real as an exercise of authenticity, into the parking lot that they had ended the fight in. “You did it!” Tanya cheered tiredly. “Awesome job, Rhine!” Idly, she cast some magic to keep Timmy peacefully asleep. While she was at it, she put a little taboo spell on his transformation phrase. It wasn’t anything that a competent occultist couldn’t get rid of, but hopefully Timmy merely has some access to one of those rather than being one himself. 

Rhine tutted, looking to the side like a gigantic tsundere. “I did not fight because of you.” They insisted, “This lunkhead’s elusive, is what is true.”

“Hey, give her a break.” Captain Marvel said, stepping in to moderate. “She just wanted to help.”

Rhine huffed in disgust. “That sentiment is silly. Still, we must speak about Billy.”

Captain Marvel’s eyes widened in fear. “W-who?” He asked, as poor of a liar as ever. “By the way, you should probably find your friends.” Captain Marvel said to Tanya. “Let us grownups talk about this.”

“What makes you think I can possibly find two people I met today?” Tanya retorted back. “Besides, if you’re gonna talk about Billy, shouldn’t he be here?”

“You’re absolutely right.” Captain Marvel said, seizing on that. “Rhine, maybe we could go find this Billy person you’re talking about?”

“Your wizard friend conceals, him I cannot reveal.” Rhine said simply. “It is a sign your connection’s real.”

Captain Marvel jerked at the words, as if they physically slapped him. “Visha, please-” He began.

“How do you know my name, anyway?” Tanya asked. 

“You’re a ten year old minority metahuman, you’re not exactly difficult to recognize.” Captain Marvel said, confused. 

“I meant, only two people in the world know me by that name.” Tanya said instead, “Because that is not my name.” She said, grinning at her own cleverness. She gets it now! Just like how Sabbac is an empowered ten year old… So is Captain Marvel! “Isn’t that right, Billy Batson?” Now that she had a moment to think about it, everything started falling into place. 

Captain Marvel flinched. “...Shucks.” He said, looking around. A police officer had come out. “Hey, Timmy’s just a kid, and he probably wasn’t in control of himself with all that demon magic he had on him.” He explained, “Go easy?”

“Sure thing, Captain.” The officer said aimiably, taking the unconscious boy and carrying him away. That seemed… excessively relaxed. Was this what Captain Marvel’s experience with being a hero was like? 

“Our conversation should be occluded.” Rhine said, dark energies pooling beneath them. “We must away to someplace secluded.” The teleportation spell wrapped around the group, and fortunately the Captain was too cowed by his ‘secret’ being known to do something unwise, like try to leave. 

By the looks of things, the spell that her split off soul constructed brought them to the roof of the water tower, the same place they had that other discussion. “Now, we have to talk.” Tanya said firmly. Rhine nodded firmly in agreement, settling behind her. 

“I don’t owe you anything.” Captain Marvel insisted, “You didn’t even tell me your real name.” He paused, “So can you send her away, Rhine?” He asked. “Or at least turn into your human form?”

“I’ll peel back an illusion, if you lower our confusion.” Rhine counteroffered. 

Captain Marvel sighed. “All right… Shazam!” A lightning bolt came from the sky and struck him… and suddenly Billy Batson was standing on the sloped water tower’s roof instead. “Now start talking normal.” He said, crossing his arms in a pout. “Go ahead and start yelling at me.”

Tanya sighed. “Billy, you’re not even the youngest superhero in this conversation, much less attached to the Justice League.” She checked: Billy Batson was older than her by two months. 

“You’re not a member of the Justice League.” Billy threw back at her. 

“Because I’m ten.” Tanya said, snapping her fingers and letting the Rhine puppet turn into shadow and re-absorb into her body. Billy’s eyes widened, as if he wasn’t sure what the hell he just said. “When I said that being a member of the Justice League’s primary benefit was to be able to say that you’re a member of the Justice League, I was being literal.” She gestured to herself. “I’ve been working with the League for years, all because I’m not a member, I just work for Batman.” She snapped her fingers, letting the ring of her magical clothes changing spell descend down and swap her outfit to one of her high fashion yet casual dresses that constituted the majority of her wardrobe. It also removed all the makeup she put on for her ‘Visha’ disguise. “If you just, say, became someone else’s sidekick, you’d be able to do the same.” She glared at him. “And you wouldn’t have had to make yourself homeless for the last however long it was. How long ago did Ebenezer kick you out?”

“I’m not homeless!” Billy objected, “I have an apartment. I turned into an adult and got it set up all by myself.” Ugh, she’s going to be kicking herself for not noticing Captain Marvel’s childish speech patterns for a while, isn’t she? 

“How are you paying for it?” Tanya asked idly. 

“The wizard has some money.” Billy explained, “It’s in gold coins, but I got it turned into dollars. I just need to be careful with it.”

“So how long?” Tanya asked. 

“Uh…” Billy blushed. “Since the start of the summer?” He said. “It was on the first day of summer vacation.”

“Hm, yeah that’d make investigations more difficult to get started…” Tanya muttered to herself. “My point is, do you have any idea how many underage homeless metahumans there are that I’ve helped find homes, schools, and sometimes jobs?” She asked. 

“I dunno, five?” He guessed flippantly. 

“Dozens.” Tanya said, taking out her phone. “I have a folder in my contacts for them…” She spent a moment counting them. “Thirty-seven.” She said confidently, because pausing. “...Thirty-nine.” She corrected, putting Starfire and Raven’s contacts into that folder. “Billy, this is exactly why we want to know people’s identities. Most heroes are the type to hide their own problems from everyone and want to handle things themselves when that’s just unnecessary. Let me help you. Be number forty.” That’s as many as four tens. And that’s wonderful. 

“What kind of hero would I be if I couldn’t handle simple stuff like that?” Billy said, clearly frustrated at Tanya’s attempts to get him to understand. “How can I save the world if I can’t do anything?”

“Billy, you don’t need to save the world-”

“Yes I do!” He shouted back. “I’m the one with the power, it’s my job to make sure Black Adam doesn’t steal the power and destroy the world!”

Of all the stupid… “Billy, I think I’m going to need some context on that. Let’s talk to this wizard character.” Tanya said, huffing in frustration. 

“…Okay.”

-----------------------

Apparently, there was an interdimensional portal to the Rock of Eternity in the Fawcett City subway tunnels. Okay, sure. Why not? 

The place was steeped in magic, both heavenly and hellish. They kept each other in perfect balance, and just being there was putting a pep in Tanya’s step, despite her not even being in demon form. This was a place of great power. 

As they walked, Billy continually tried to justify himself. “One of my powers is the Wisdom of Solomon. I don’t need to be a sidekick.”

“You think I don’t have supernatural knowledge for my age?” Tanya asked rhetorically. “If I can’t get in without Batman taking full responsibility for my actions, neither can you. I get as much latitude as I do because Batman trusts me to know what I’m doing, and if I do screw up, he takes the flak for it. Your wisdom would perform a similar role, and again: If your wizard friend had joined, he could have done the same thing for you.”

“That’s dumb.” Billy said.

“Rules matter, Billy.” Tanya said insistently. “Do you have any idea how much of a heel Superman would feel like if he found out that, if you did join the League, that one of his fellow heroes was a destitute ten year old and he did nothing about that?”

“Superman’s got bigger things to worry about.” Billy said easily. 

“Superman asked me if I brushed my teeth before bed once. He literally watched me to make sure I did it.” Tanya deadpanned. It was when she was visiting the Kent farm, mind you, but he did. “He worries about everyone and everything. He’d have been heartbroken if he found out.”

“Wait, they know?” Billy asked, shocked. 

“Not at first.” Tanya allowed, “But yes, all the founders know now that I’m really ten years old.” She chuckled. “I didn’t even hide it that well, I kept taking naps in the Hall of Justice, and none of them thought I was a kid for doing so.”

“Hall of Justice?” Billy asked, confused. 

“Oh, right.” Tanya said, remembering how young Billy was. “When the League was first founded, we had a building on Earth instead of the Watchtower. That only came in after another year and a half. You probably don’t remember, you were still in diapers back then.” At least, it was a safe assumption. 

“I thought you were younger than me…” Billy said, even more confused.

“I was also still in diapers back then, keep up.” Tanya said, and they finally made it to where an old man was. 

Billy’s wizard friend was ancient, hair white and with a beard that went down to his stomach. More than that, though, Tanya could, through straining her senses, feel the magic that radiated from this man, keeping his body going far beyond what mortal flesh would normally be capable of. He was napping, and startled awake when they entered. “Young Billy…” The old man said, “I see you’ve brought a girlfriend over.” He gave a grandfatherly smile. “I am known as Shazam, young lady.”

Tanya let the assumption pass without comment. She put even odds that his doddering old man act was just that, an act. “Tanya.” She said to introduce herself, which was the first time Billy heard her real name. “So, to get straight to the point. I’m not sure how much of this whole situation I understand, but I have questions. First, why did you give a nine year old-” Billy had confirmed the date of his selection was a few months before his tenth birthday. He had been Captain Marvel for mere weeks when he attempted to join the Justice League the first time, early in the year. “-such incredible magic powers? Why him?”

“He is worthy.” Shazam said simply, “While he was able to lead you here, one cannot find this place on one’s own without passing my test.”

“Some test.” Tanya scoffed, giving Billy a side-eye. 

“It is not a test of mind, nor a test of body, but instead a test of heart, of soul.” Shazam explained, “Worthy heroes don’t grow on trees, young lady.”

“Why now?” Tanya continued, “Why not wait to give him the power until he’s old enough to understand what he’s getting into?”

“Hey!” Billy said, offended. 

“In the past,” Shazam explained, “I tried to give this power, that of my old friends, to people older. It always ended in tragedy. It corrupted each and every one. When Billy came across my haunt,” Haunt? …Oh. She sees it now. Shazam’s a ghost, a human soul tethered to this place rather than a mortal. She probably would have noticed sooner if she was in demon form. Maybe he didn’t have a choice… “-he was untainted by the world, innocent. I was sure he would not misuse this godly power for evil, as his predecessors have.” Tanya’s sympathy for the ghost vanished. 

“Like this ‘Black Adam’ that he mentioned?” Tanya asked, tone laced with danger. 

“It is true.” Shazam said, “Teth-Adam is an old friend, a champion that I empowered using a different set of gods than the ones who empower Billy, but he was wicked in his goals.” He sighed in regret. “I had no choice but to banish him to the furthest star, and it is soon that he will return to Earth, I have foreseen it.”

Tanya gave an annoyed glance to Billy. “When, exactly, were you planning on telling the League about this?” She asked. 

“Black Adam’s my responsibility!” Billy insisted. 

“NO IT IS NOT!” Tanya shouted, her temper finally snapping. Furious, she stormed up to the wizard’s ghost, and sent her shadow, a projection of her demon form, to drag the ghost to her. “You listen to me, you senile fool.” She said, voice even but quiet. Behind him, the Rhine shadow’s upside down wings flared and wrapped around them, muffling their conversation from Billy. “Did you consider, for one solitary moment, that Earth might have its own heroes? Ones separate from the ones you’ve empowered? Are you that arrogant? Billy may be powerful, but there are half a dozen people stronger than him that have sworn oaths to protect the Earth.”

“What would a child know of such things?” Shazam argued. 

The ghost was then slammed into Tanya’s extended fist. “PLENTY!” Tanya shouted at him. “Billy idolizes Superman. I’ve known him for less than a day, and I can already tell you that if you had asked him literally anything about the state of the world before shoving more responsibility than any one man should shoulder, much less a child, you would have had to remind the boy to breathe before he’d stop talking about the Justice League.” This was true. Billy knew trivia about the League that Tanya only knew because one of her assumed responsibilities was to stay on top of public dissemination of personal information about the League’s members. “If you had, instead of putting the weight of the planet on him, instead asked him to go ask Superman to speak with you, Billy not only would have done it, it’d have been a dream come true, to have a good reason to meet his idol.”

“How could some child find the world’s greatest champion?” The wizard argued. 

“Easily.” Tanya shot back. “Metropolis is less than a day away on the interstate. Billy could have literally shouted from a rooftop that he needed Superman’s help because a wizard ghost asked him to, and within the hour Superman would be right here, asking you to tell him of the threat.” Assuming Billy did so when Clark wasn’t asleep or in the Fortress or whatever. 

“How was I supposed to know that?” Shazam said, indignant. 

“Billy would have known.” Tanya spat. “If you had asked him. But no. You assumed that only you and your chosen patsy could save the world, and didn’t even consider an alternative.” Rhine’s grip on the wizard started to burn with fire. Not hellfire, not yet. The ghost stoically refused to scream. “But sure, let’s give the job to a nine year old boy. He’ll do what you say without asking any inconvenient questions.”

“He will be a great hero.” Shazam managed to say through gritted teeth as his ectoplasm boiled. “I have foreseen it.”

Tanya laughed. “Then you wait-” Tanya punched him. “until-” She punched him again. “-he’s-” Once more. “-older!” With a burst of intent, all the damage Tanya inflicted on his ectoplasmic form faded away, so that she could hurt him more. “You did not even create a warrior, much less a hero.” She said coldly. “You made a weapon, pointed at your so-called old friend.”

Shazam’s composure actually looked shaken after his injuries vanished, actually concerned about what she planned to do next. “Do you think I did not try to teach the boy?” He asked, “He doesn’t care about the broader history behind the conflict, nor about learning anything about the ones he inherited his power from, my old friends.”

“Because he’s a child!” Tanya reiterated. “He had other concerns! Like how he’d find a roof over his head, or eat, or convert your damn gold coins into legitimate currency without getting police called on him!” She shook the ghost at that. “Was help available? Yes. Did he reach out for them? No. Why did he not reach out? Because you put stupid ideas in his head that he had to save the world all on his own, you irresponsible goat-fucker!”

“W-who are you?” Shazam finally asked. 

“I’m the one whose time you wasted with your nonsense.” Tanya replied simply. “It took me days of effort to get past your cult brainwashing of Billy,” Assurance that he was worthy and special? Check. Isolation of other perspectives? Check. Dependence on his support? Check. Yep, cult.  “-and even that much required bullying the boy until he brought me here. I haven’t even started on actually helping Billy with his living situation, so I’m already behind. So I’m going to tell you what I told Nabu.”

“Nabu!?” Shazam exclaimed, eyes widening in recognition. 

“You fucked up.” Tanya said, pointing her razor-sharp obsidian fingernail in his face. Her anger had deepened her demonic traits, so they extended a whole centimeter past her fingertips now Idly, she ran her tongue over her teeth. Razor sharp... Reversing this is going to take hours… The good news is that from his grimace, Shazam was still apparently capable of smelling the brimstone that was undoubtedly being blown into his face with every word. “You have fucked up so severely, that you no longer get to make decisions. You will be kept where we can find you, and you will answer our questions, when you are consulted, as completely as you possibly can. We will then use that knowledge to make decisions, in the interests of preserving this planet and preventing chaos and destruction. After ten years of this, we will revisit the possibility of you taking a more active role in the defense of Earth. If you’ve been cooperative. Do I make myself clear?”

The wizard looked exactly as terrified at the look on her face that Kent Nelson did, the very last time he wore the helmet of Nabu. She didn’t even have half a dozen superheroes backing her up this time! “Crystal.” He said. 

“Good.” Tanya said, bringing out a soul prison she had on hand for ghost emergencies. The wizard didn’t resist, and the Rhine projection went back into her shadow. 

When Tanya looked back around and smiled at Billy, he flinched back, which probably meant she had a new mutation to look forward to. Glowing eyes? Animal nose? Horns? “Now, show me where you live.” Tanya commanded. 

“Y-yes ma’am.”