Regarding Batman sending Shazam to recruit magic heroes into the Justice League, Viktor actually felt Batman likely made a bad move.
Could Shazam really handle this job?
But then again, maybe there was no better choice.
They were short on manpower, and aside from being reckless, impulsive, and a bit less mature than an adult, Shazam was not actually that unreliable.
He was good and righteous, took responsibility at critical moments, possessed combat strength, and had some influence in the magical world.
That was probably thanks to the former wizard of the Circle of Eternity, who had bestowed the powers of six gods on the current Shazam.
The Circle of Eternity's reputation and achievements should carry some weight in Earth's magical world.
...
Before setting off, Shazam carried a Justice League communicator.
When Viktor had supposedly asked Batman for Shazam's contact information earlier, Bruce actually remotely had Cyborg install a program into Viktor's phone.
Through the program, Viktor could connect to the special channels of all current Justice League members who had not left the team.
It was very easy to use, just like directly calling those members who officially worked for or were affiliated with the Justice League.
He clicked on Shazam's profile picture, and after a moment, Shazam's goofy voice came from the phone's speaker.
"Who is it?"
"It's Viktor."
"Oh! This is Shazam's voicemail. He's busy right now. You can leave a message, and he'll get back to you~"
He frowned and pulled the phone away from his ear.
"…Are you joking?"
"Who is it?"
"Oh! This is Shazam's voicemail—"
He hung up with a dark expression, barely resisting the urge to smash the phone.
He took back every word he'd thought about Shazam earlier. This guy was clearly just an annoying little brat with nothing better to do.
What kind of Justice League member would set up voicemail on their emergency communicator?!
Instead of doing anything useful, Shazam sure had plenty of ideas for messing around with the communicator.
He glanced back at Rachel, who was crouching by the fish tank, playing with the fish.
After thinking for a moment, he called Cyborg instead.
Cyborg answered immediately.
Viktor felt somewhat embarrassed asking if Cyborg could help contact Shazam.
Cyborg gave a short and clear reply.
As a cybernetic being who could control global networks, Cyborg could easily bypass the voicemail do-not-disturb function Shazam had set on his emergency communicator.
But just over ten seconds later, Cyborg sent back an unexpected message.
"Shazam appears to be missing."
Viktor's temples began to throb faintly.
He rubbed his face, feeling somewhat numb, his tone filled with helplessness.
"What do you mean by 'appears to be missing'?"
"Even though we haven't detected anything unusual and haven't received any distress signal, the tracking signal on Shazam's shows that he hasn't moved from the same location for seventeen hours."
This definitely meant something had happened.
As for why Cyborg didn't detect anything, it was probably due to magic again.
Cyborg's voice carried a hint of pleading.
"Viktor, the Justice League currently can't spare any more people right now."
Viktor's jaw muscles twitched twice.
Even though he felt that getting involved would only bring more trouble, Viktor also knew that Rachel's magic seal might need help in the future from magical heroes who could join the Justice League.
Taking a deep breath, Viktor looked at Rachel, who had come to stand beside him at some point, and calmly asked Cyborg:
"Where was the tracker's last recorded location?"
"The edge of Egypt, a country called Kahndaq."
Cyborg was quite quick. He even sent the geographical location of Kahndaq to Viktor's phone.
Kahndaq… the territory of Shazam's enemy, Black Adam?
After ending the call, Viktor could not figure it out.
Why would Shazam go there?
Among the magicians on the list Batman provided Shazam, Black Adam was obviously not the kind of person who would be chosen to join the Justice League.
Moreover, Shazam was the one doing the recruiting.
He looked at Rachel with a questioning expression.
Would she refuse to help again because it was too troublesome?
But clearly, Rachel wasn't going to be polite with him now.
"Just like when you originally sought my help, if you need something from others, you have to give something in return—or maybe help others first."
Good.
Rachel not being polite with him actually made him happier. It meant that, in her heart, she at least saw him as one of her own.
"Actually, no matter what, I have to go anyway. Come to think of it, I still owe Shazam a favor."
Rachel placed her small hand in Viktor's outstretched palm and blinked at him.
"When did you owe him a favor?"
"That time in the Batcave, right before we left for the world where the Flash was imprisoned."
Viktor tried to act mysterious in front of Rachel. He just smiled and blinked without explaining.
But Rachel simply gave him a cold glance, then turned her head in another direction.
"You're really no fun."
After failing to tease her again, Viktor felt a bit discouraged.
In fact, this so-called favor wasn't particularly mysterious.
Back then, after Viktor had been equipped with gear worth hundreds of millions from the Batcave, Shazam came over, pretending to be curious.
Taking advantage of Nightwing stepping away for a moment, Shazam nervously approached him.
The two of them talked for a short while.
Basically, Shazam felt guilty and embarrassed about his initial intentions when first arriving at the Batcave and being scared off by Flashpoint Wonder Woman.
He didn't dare go back there again, leaving Viktor to handle everything alone.
Viktor actually didn't really care at the time.
He'd never expected help from Shazam anyway, and having a real kid face the cruelty of the Flashpoint world wasn't necessary.
But watching this awkward, fidgety big guy, Viktor jokingly teased him at the time.
"What could you possibly help me with? You can't just give me a blessing, right?"
To his surprise, Shazam's eyes lit up, and he actually had Viktor place his hand forward, softly reciting an incantation to grant him the ability to transform into Shazam once.
Even though he didn't end up using it later in the Flashpoint world, Shazam really had done him a favor.
At the very least, Shazam gave Viktor one more hidden trump card that no one knew about.
This was also why, after leaving the Flashpoint world, Viktor instinctively looked around the Batcave for Shazam.
But by then, Shazam had already left on Batman's orders.
...
After pulling Rachel away from the villa, the two instantly broke through twenty times the speed of sound and flew toward Egypt.
The straight-line distance between Metropolis and Kahndaq was about six thousand miles.
In just over twenty minutes, Viktor descended from the sky with Rachel, arriving precisely at the last recorded location of Shazam's signal.
The wind pressure and force field blew away the thin layer of sand on the ground.
Looking down, Viktor could see a Justice League communicator half-buried in the dirt.
It was the communicator engraved with Shazam's famous magical lightning symbol from his chest.
Rachel waved her hand, and the communicator flew out of the sand, falling into her palm.
After closing her eyes to sense the area, Rachel spoke a number that didn't surprise Viktor much.
"At least four different sorcerers fought here."
"…I can pretty much guess what happened."
Viktor sighed.
Most likely, after recruiting some of the sorcerers on the list, Shazam learned about a crisis related to the magic world through one of them.
This big idiot likely considered that the Justice League was currently overwhelmed and couldn't spare anyone, so he just went along with the sorcerers who had just agreed to join the Justice League.
In the end, they encountered danger in Kahndaq, Egypt. It's just unclear whether this danger has anything to do with Black Adam.
Of course, investigating it wouldn't be difficult. After all, he was already standing on Kahndaq's territory.
He only needed to make a little noise.
Viktor quickly extended his hand, pulled Rachel into his arms by the waist, then lightly lifted his left foot and stomped down hard.
A strong earthquake quickly swept across Kahndaq.
In the distant sky, after a flash of lightning, a figure rushed down from above through the swirling sand, heading straight toward Viktor.
...
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