Mightiest Mortals #4

[Lissilambe]

[Lissilambe]

Mightiest Mortals
#4: Wielding Fists of Virtue

Written by Don Walsh
Art by Roy Flinchum

[Lissilambe]

The Plaza
The world exploded in a black and red of terrible pain as Kit Freeman soared across the room and crashed into the wall-mounted television. He sank bonelessly to the floor as his blood-rimmed eyes looked up at the fearsome powerhouse.

“So, Kit, where is your bravado now?” Sabbac chuckled as he grabbed Kit by the neck and lifted him into the air. He then landed a powerful blow into his stomach. Organs burst as the teen spit up black bile and blood before he streaked across the room to crash back into the chair he started from. It crumbled beneath him and he lay there, struggling to move, to even think.

“It didn’t have to go like this, Kit,” Sabbac said as he calmly stepped over to the battered young man. “Really it didn’t. But I can’t say I’m upset.” Sabbac then stepped over the broken man and snapped up his phone. “Boys? Clean-up in aisle five.” He replaced the receiver and walked over to the window. “Bye, boy,” he sneered and then flew off.

[Lissilambe]

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the Plaza
“Two weeks and you seem to be settling in nicely, William,” Sterling Morris said as he approached the desk of Billy Batson. It was early evening and the young man was furiously typing away at his computer.

“Mr. Morris!” Billy said as he looked up quickly. “Yeah. I’d like to think so. Everyone’s been pretty good to me.”

“Excellent, excellent! Glad to hear it, William,” Sterling said with a broad grin. “You’ve put in a pretty fair amount of work here, and I must say, it’s been pretty good.”

“Thanks, Mr. Morris.”

“But remember the rest of our deal, William,” Sterling cautioned. “You mustn’t neglect your schoolwork if you want to stay here.”

“Of course not, sir,” Billy replied. “Work’s just so much more interesting, you know? Guess I just lose track of time.”

“Here, Billy,” Came a much softer voice. A young blond girl only a year or so older than Billy walked up with a paper in her hand. “Aunt Betty asked me to hand this to you.” She gave him a warm smile and a wink of her bright green eyes as she handed him the bulletin. She gave a flip of her long blond braid back over her shoulder.

“Thanks, Cissie,” Billy answered as he took the page from her. He scanned it quickly and his eyes went wide.

“Is Betty still here?” Sterling asked Cissie Sommersly with mock consternation. “Honestly, don’t any of my employees ever go home?”

“Oh, Aunt Betty’s packing up, sir,” Cissie answered with a giggle. “She just sent me down with the bulletin for Billy, then I’m meeting her in the lobby.”

“Good. What is that, William?” Sterling asked when he noticed Billy’s alarm.

“Ibac is challenging Captain Marvel to a duel,” Billy summed up. “I guess the Captain’s been more effective than anyone knew. If he doesn’t show up, Ibac is going to level the Bromworks construction site.”

“That makes sense,” Sterling muttered angrily. “Everyone knows that Nicholas Bromfield refused to back down to Boss Ibac’s demands. It figures that he’d choose there for such a battle. Win or lose, the damage alone will be a serious setback for Nicholas.”

“Can we give you a ride home, Billy?” Cissie asked with that interested smile of a girl with a crush. Her tone made Sterling chuckle nostalgically.

“I can’t, Cissie,” the clueless Billy replied. “I’ve got to write this up for tonight’s news updates and then…er, I’ve got homework.” He looked up at Sterling and added, “At the library. Thanks though.” He looked at Cissie and smiled politely.

Cissie shrugged and walked off down the hall with a “you’re loss”. Sterling shook his head with a bemused grin and then told Billy to finish up and get going before he departed as well.

Billy typed up the report, then raced up the stairs to the roof. As he ran towards the ledge, he cried out “Shazam!”

And then the crimson comet streaked across the skyline.

[Lissilambe]

Parker Flats
“Repeating tonight’s top story,” said the voice over the radio. “Notorious gangster Ibac has challenged Captain Marvel to a duel at the unfinished Bromworks Corporation building. If he doesn’t respond, Ibac has promised that the project will never be completed. Elsewhere in the news…”

“Enough, Beautia!” Sivana snapped with joy in his voice. “I don’t need to hear anymore. This is perfect!” he clapped his hands with glee.

“Is it, Father? How is it perfect?”

“If Ibac is challenging the Big Red Cheese, it’s because he thinks he can kill him. Which means he can hurt him. And what he can hurt, I can kill!”

“But if Ibac is planning to kill him, and can kill him, why are you interested?”

“Because I’ve got to be the one who kills Marvel,” Sivana explained curtly. He put the finishing touches on his remote and then kicked his stool over to the makeshift, but advanced computer array. “I can’t have anyone thinking they’re superior to me. So now, I will kill the oaf and if Ibac happens to get in the way…” He let his words trail off with a shrug.

“And if Ibac is wrong, Father?”

“Hmm. If he is, then I can at least cause the Big Red Cheese as much pain as possible. Instead of him, I will just have to turn the city against its people.” He laughed loudly, with Beautia noticing how she wished she could cringe from the cold harsh sound. “Who cares if you’re invulnerable when you’re left to look at the people dying around you?”

“That seems to make a certain kind of sense, Father,” Beautia replied.

Sivana flipped on switches and typed in commands, and soon a dozen screens flickered with black and white images of various areas around the city. Adjustments to dials and knobs moved the images around until they centered around and on the shell of a plant.

“Now to wait,” Sivana chuckled as he slipped the remote into a small recess on the panel. He then hunched over the control panels like a musician at his organ, while Beautia watched from her remote sensors.

[Lissilambe]

Brick Town
Captain Marvel flew into the blue collar factory section of Fawcett City commonly referred to as Brick Town. He soared straight to the construction site that was his target, mind racing with what could be coming.

As the incomplete building came into view, several large-caliber weapons opened fire. Military assault rifles normally used to target armored vehicles sprayed the skies and rained metal over the scarlet hero. Captain Marvel seemed unimpressed however, and he swept the rooftops, leaving broken piles of metal behind him.

He stood in mid-air and wiped his hands while he shouted, “Okay, Ibac. Show yourself. Your toys aren’t going to do the job.”

Two rockets streaked out from opposite corners of the open third floor and smashed into the Captain’s body as they released their explosive fury. Captain Marvel was thrown back by the surprise strike, but quickly followed the contrails and left unconscious men and torn metal tubes in his wake.

“Still have to do better than that, Ibac,” Marvel called out as he grinned. He walked across the wooden platform of the third floor, now within the half-formed outer skin of the iron works. “This can’t be everything you have in mind.”

“Of course not, Captain Marvel,” came Ibac’s gruff voice from off to the side. A huge maul was in his two-fisted grip and though the weapon shattered against Marvel on impact, it had the desired effect. The Captain was forced off his feet and hurled to the ground below. With a thick, heavy splash, Marvel found himself sunk into liquid cement. “Ahh, good ole Sivana,” Ibac murmured in praise as he clicked a button on his watch and a heavy voltage coursed through the large vat of cement, hardening it in moments.

“All the strength in the world doesn’t help without the leverage to use it,” Ibac said to no on in particular. He reached into a coat pocket and pulled out his cell phone. Before he could call in his boys though, Captain Marvel floated up behind Ibac, his arms crossed over his chest.

The Captain reached out and tapped Ibac on the shoulder to get his attention. When the gangster turned around, his eyes glared in shock. “How?” Marvel then pointed down below, to the hole in the ground that Ibac quickly gathered led to the bottom of the vat, burrowed out by the hero.

He never got a chance to gather more thoughts though, for Captain Marvel backhanded Ibac and the criminal hurled across the third floor and powered into a steel beam. It bent and he groaned and Marvel grinned.

“Let’s just put you away now,” Marvel said in a calm, patronizing voice. He started to fly towards Ibac, who struggled to clear his head fast.

Before Marvel could reach his target though, a slender, metallic rod dropped out from a nearby power line, and a tremendous surge of electricity poured out from it. It crashed into the crimson hero and the force sent Marvel hurling out of the building and to the ground below.

Ibac looked up at the source of the attack in surprise, but swiftly gathered his wits. He quickly removed his suit coat and silk shirt, his hairy, thick chest and torso now bared for battle. He then reached out and snatched up another hidden maul before leaping down towards his foe.

Captain Marvel pulled himself out of the ground and shook his head. “Holy Moley! I actually felt that. Ibac’s got this place rigged better than I thought.”

The shadow from above made Captain Marvel look up in time to have Ibac break the weapon over his face, and bringing Marvel down to one knee. With a spinning kick, Ibac’s powerful body sent the Captain rolling across the dirt construction yard. Ibac meanwhile, stepped to a nearby shack and pulled out a stowed away two-handed sword.

Marvel quickly righted himself and ran back to his foe, when the light of a street lamp cohered to a single lance of energy. The lamp shattered and the beam struck the hero dead in the chest, just narrowly missing the top of Ibac’s head. This stopped Marvel for a moment, but then he began to take another step. A second lamp repeated the process and slammed into the Captain’s right side, but still he pressed on. A third lamp fired, and struck his left thigh.

Ibac watched the three lasers work over his opponent and drive him to the ground. Weaving around the one that had nearly struck him, Ibac swung the heavy blade with all his power and it snapped into Marvel’s shoulder. It cut the costume and bruised his skin as the metal cracked apart.

“All right!” Captain Marvel declared as he stood in defiance of the energy beams. “Enough is enough!” The weapons burned out as Ibac had already retreated to a pile of bricks and began to hurl them with deadly force and accuracy. Marvel’s speed however, was able to swat them aside with the flat of his hand while continuing his walk towards Ibac.

“You took your shot, and it was good,” Marvel said with a fierce smile. “But not good enough.” The hero launched his own punch, but Ibac deftly blocked it and stepped to the side.

“Your gifts give you power, Marvel,” Ibac said as he continued to skillfully block or avoid his opponent’s attacks. “But I come with the tactical knowledge of Ivan the Terrible and the battle prowess of Attila the Hun. And I’ll take brain over brawn every day.”

As the pair passed a small part in the wall, a mailbox dropped two missiles from below and fired them into the Captain, taking him off his feet again.

“You mean like the wisdom to know that those aren’t yours, Ibac?” Marvel said as he streaked over to the mailbox and dismantled it. “I’d guess Sivana. You may be bright, but you’re crude.”

Ibac had pulled away from the explosion and used Marvel’s distraction to turn and run. Instead, he crashed into the sudden reappearance of the scarlet champion.

“Sivana? He could be killing me too, the bastard!” Ibac said as he rubbed his nose. “Fine, time to demonstrate another gift.” He pressed a button on his watch. “The cruelty of Caligula.” With a wicked grin creasing his blocky face, Ibac watched as Marvel realized the construction vehicles started up. “I just don’t care if the little folks get hurt, Captain. After all, that’s why we have little folks!” He laughed as the vehicles began to crash out of the area.

“Holy Moley! That’s twisted!” Captain Marvel said as he streaked after the bulldozer first.

Ibac merely watched Marvel depart and then retreated to his waiting limousine. “Let’s go, and fast!”

[Lissilambe]

Parker Flats
Sivana watched with a cackling smile as Captain Marvel swiftly dismantled the bulldozer engine before racing to the crane next.

“Ibac and I have so much in common, it was almost a shame to endanger him,” Sivana chuckled as he played his instrument of death. Bolts of electricity, beams of intense light and jets of plasma crashed into Marvel from all sides as he struggled to destroy the vehicles at super-speed.

“See, Beautia? Look at that face!” Sivana roared with delight. “You can see that dim-witted musclehead figure out that he has to let every single blast hit him or some random slob gets iced instead!”

“I can see, Father,” Beautia replied quietly. “But the cumulative effects on Captain Marvel are not happening as you intended. Perhaps it is time to stop?”

“Are you crazy, dear daughter?” Sivana snapped. “Ah, the last of the vehicles. Very well, I can’t stop the Big Red Cheese but I can destroy his city!” The weapons started lashing out in all directions.

Captain Marvel was marked and singed by the assault, but the vehicles were at last stopped. He took a moment to collect his thoughts but then noticed that Sivana’s weapons were going after new targets.

“Oh no you don’t!” Captain Marvel swore as he sped before the first few attacks and blocked them with that broad chest. He grunted in pain but didn’t stop, though his mind was racing with his body.

“Can’t do this forever, and some shots are getting by because I’m one man and he can at multiple targets,” He thought hard. “So let’s go with those instincts of mine…of course!”

Sivana watched Captain Marvel fly straight up and out of the camera view.

“Did he retreat? Run away? I’ve won?” He jumped up and shouted loudly. “I won! I made the big oaf run away! No one is more intelligent than Thaddeus Bodog Sivana!”

Just then, the ceiling burst open as Captain Marvel dropped in. Without a moment’s hesitation this time, the Captain had torn Sivana’s belt from him, and crumpled it up in his mighty hands.

“Hello, Dr. Sivana. Hope you have time for a visitor.”

“How?” Sivana’s voice cracked.

“Your warehouse was the only part of the city with no destruction and no loss of power,” Captain Marvel answered as he sped throughout the lab, pulling apart wires, power supplies and ruining weapons and devices. “From high enough up, it was pretty obvious really. Nice of you to live where you work.”

As he gripped very large cable bundle, Sivana cried out no, but it was the other plea, a much more polite one, that stopped Marvel.

“Please do not do that, Captain Marvel,” came the soft voice.

“Who?” Marvel looked around.

“I am Beautia, Dr. Sivana’s masterpiece,” came the answer. “A fully-functional artificial intelligence derived from the encephalographic recordings of Beautia Sivana.”

“And if I pull the plug?”

“I can’t be sure she’ll survive,” Sivana admitted. He looked almost scared for a moment, then said, “Let her live, please. And I’ll go quietly, you…you…big blockhead!”

Captain Marvel looked unsure for a moment, but let the cable go. “I’m not sure I understand all of this, but I’m not wiping out a person.”

“All you need to know, Captain Marvel,” Beautia informed him, “is that I currently contain all of the records of my Father’s activities. If you shut me down, they’ll all be lost. That would be a shame to your efforts.”

He grabbed Sivana by the collar, and shook his head with disbelief. “It’s off to the police for you, Sivana. That much is certain. That and it’s the end of your criminal career.”

Sivana was lifted into the air and muttered, “That’s what you think!”

[Lissilambe]

The Plaza
“Tim!” Freddy Freeman called out as he banged on Tim Karnes’s door. “Hey Tim, it’s Freddy. Open up!” He tried the doorknob and realized it was unlocked.

“Tim, c’mon, I have to talk to you,” Freddy called out again as he slowly opened the door. “I need to tell you that Kit’s pretty teed off with you for some reason, and he’s coming…over…” His voice trailed off as he saw the carnage inside.

There was the body of Kit Freeman, blood pooled around him. Freddy ran to the phone first, grabbing the receiver as he then moved to his cousin. He dialed 911 for help as he cradled his cousin’s head.

“Kit! God, Kit talk to me!” He cried. “What happened? Where’s Tim? Who did this to you? Don’t die!” He screamed instructions to the operator and then hugged Kit tight.

“Talk to me, cuz!”

Kit could merely give a soft gurgle, small bloody bubbles forming at the corner of his cracked lips. Freddy felt his whole body lurch, grief bottled up from a year before now causing his world to swirl and crash as he felt his cousin growing cold.

[Lissilambe]

To be continued...