Planetary Offices – Dubai

[planetaryguide]

 It's been a long time since I've been to Dubai. I was here in the '30s, while the British were chasing pirates. I was searching for other treasures entirely ... chasing rumors of a lost city, of mighty heroes that defended Kahndaq and Egypt in antiquity. Investigating names like "Shazam" and "Nabu." I never learned as much as I wanted, but I've heard the names resound since. 

I look out at the skyline while the local bureau chief, Shirazeh Nasser, explains to us some of what's been happening in parts of Syria and Iraq, the stories of a ghost who hunts and kills terrorists. Drums is unconvinced ... doesn't see how some anti-terror vigilante is our sort of mystery. I listen to them talk, but I'm captivated by the skyline, the way it stretches out into the desert, the way it reaches far into the sky. It's hard to imagine this was the same place I saw all those decades ago. It's almost unrecognizable.  

Shirazeh is a veteran bureau chief, and she doesn't flinch at having the field team in the office ... I hired her myself, after all, almost a decade ago. She's had a series of keywords to look for, a series of mysteries I've wanted to dig into for decades, but had to put on hold.

"You told me you wanted to look out for ghost stories, Mr. Snow," she says, and there's something almost mischievous in her voice, a sense that she knows I'm going to be interested in what she has to say. "You told me to look out for ghost stories, lost cities and teenagers with inexplicable abilities. You told me when I began to see those elements emerge, that I should hit the alarm. Well, they have, and now you are here."

 

Comments

[sixgodstories]

Plenty of questions had been raised in the past few months, after the Crisis, but very few answers were to be found. Especially when one of the drawbacks of having the "Wisdom of Solomon" was an insatiable curiosity to find said answers. His own age wasn't the most conductive to patience either.

So King Shazam(his self-given moniker. Still a work in progress he'd admit if pressed) found himself en route to one person who's own power shone like a beacon. The Shazam family could track one another without even realizing "how" if necessary. All of which makes Billy and Mary's disappearance that more disconcerting. Either way, he was en route to Kahndaq, courage of Achilles leading the way.

And its a good thing it was, because he found the conflict he had been hoping against. But in dealing with Black Adam, he expected the possibility. Armed gunfire, the founder of the Flash dynasty, Kahndaq's sovereign himself, and three...unclassifieds were close up. Time to make an entrance.

Arcing himself in midair, Shazam lands hard onto the surface, full of sound and fury signifying...hopefully a change in hostilities.

"Adam. Can I help?"

[first_shazam]

Adam was impressed at the fact that Jakita's head was still attached to her shoulders. That still made her the immediate threat...a threat he was so focused on that he either didn't hear King...or simply didn't acknowledge him. It was hard to tell.

He flies directly at Jakita with the swiftness of Heru...and many bad intentions.

[planetaryguide]

This has gone from "out of hand" to "complete &*#$ show, thinks Elijah, even as part of him wonders about the improbability of this confluence of individuals. This isn't random. No time for that, though.

"Shazam!" shouts Elijah, eyes on the newcomer. "Stop Adam from murdering my associate, and I'll explain everything!"

[jakita_wagner]

"Shit, Drummer, how soon is this going to happen?" While parts of that little adventure with Batman had been weird and ultimately amusing, there were others that involved a lot of pain for everyone.

She's not sure if she cares if the bruiser heading at her again ends up getting messed up by the rotation, and maybe he'll end up less powerful once it complete.

As he gets close, she leaps to meet him, wrapping her arms around him and twisting in mid-air, using her full strength to toss him as far from her as possible.

[first_shazam]

Adam actually allows the maneuver, but just as she begins the release...

"SHAZAM!"

He then flies backward as the last breath escapes his mouth.

[planetaryguide]

"JACQUIE! SNOW!" shouts Drummer, over coms. I don't know what's happening, but everything for a 1,200 x 800 metre are is starting to shift. It's bleed energy, but it's not like any other time I've felt it. The signal's messy, like magic, but ..."

Drums' voice trails off ... distracted? Interrupted?

[sixgodstories]

Everything was frozen for an instant, and then it wasn't. The Earth reconfigured itself in the midst of a truly titanic battle. Black Adam and Jakita Wagner, two Omega-level Metahumans were locked in combat and the former's magical strike was oncoming.

Freddy knew all so well what this meant, and was in midair to shoulder the bolt's properties. The Marvel family's legacy of lightning was not only powerful, but quite variable. Marvel's leap, combined with the magical discharge jolted him rigid for an airborne second.

Crashing to the Earth was a teenage boy, a few waning sparks escaping from his clothing.

[first_shazam]

The lightning struck, and Adam saw Freddy Freeman falling to the earth. He paused a second, then flew to retrieve him, catching him roughly three stories from the ground.

And it was at that moment that the world turned.