Prologue

December 1999

The Hall of Justice, Headquarters of the Squadron of Justice

The SoJ had just finished a mission. Everyone has returned home except Minute Man (Jack Weston), who was on monitor duty, and Captain Lightning (Fred Freeman), Minute Man's best friend. They were discussing this past mission, in which they had once again saved the world, when Jack sprang a major bombshell.

"You know, Fred, I've been thinking about this a lot, and I think it's time for Minute Man to retire."

"What?!?!" Fred was astounded. ""Why would you do that?"

"Minute Man is getting old, Fred. Remember, I first donned this costume in 1940. It's been 60 years."

"Only 40 if you count the Suspendium! And besides, you aren't old! I don't know how you do it, but you look exactly the same age as when I first met you, back during the second World War. Heck, you are 10 years older than I am, but these days you look 10 years younger! And Minute Man does so much good in the world - how could you ever consider retiring?"

Jack smiled, quite amused that Fred was totally missing his point. He wondered if the Wisdom of Solomon would help him figure it out first, or if Jack would have to spell it out for him. He mentally bet on Solomon.

"You're right about the physical thing, Fred. I feel as young as I did back then, and I'm even stronger and faster. It's other things..." Jack's face clouded as he remembered some of those 'other things'...

"Many members of my generation have died already, and the rest are old. Of course, most of the ones who are still alive never expected to reach their 80s, but even so, they can't help but look at me, an 80 year old man who is still physically in his early 20s, without resentment and suspicion."

"Some people think the government performed secret experiments on me which are keeping me young, and the government has the knowledge and power to provide eternal youth to everyone, but is keeping it for only a select few. My generation, which used to look at me for hope and inspiration, resents me, some even hate and fear me. I can't deal with that any longer..."

"To later generations, I represent a relic of the past. Patriotism isn't in style any longer, and to the youngsters I represent the militaristic United States that dropped the atomic bomb on Japan and fought a war of oppression in Vietnam. In fact, some of them think I fought in Vietnam! My values are out of sync with the majority values of today."

Captain Lightning interrupted. He was agitated at what he was hearing. "Jack, you know that's not true! The people of the United States are just as patriotic as they ever were."

"Sorry, Cap, but that just ain't so. I'm not saying they aren't patriotic, but they express their patriotism differently than I ever did - differently than I do and always will do. They want the US to be sort of a 'big brother' to the world, rather than one state among a community of equals. Take care of everyone, don't tread on anyone's values, moral relativism - it's just not for me. I can't change - I continue to see right and wrong in the world, where people today say 'That's their way, and just because our way is different, doesn't make it better.' Our way _is_ better! If I didn't believe that, I couldn't fight for it."

"But, because I'm a relic of the patriotic, militaristic, imperialistic past, the younger generations no longer trust me either. Heaven forbid, I might tread on some bad guy's rights!" His voice was loaded with angry sarcasm as he said that. He paused a moment, and then went on, in a much quieter tone. "Even when they agree with something I've done, because of my association with the ways of the past, they figure I just have some ulterior motive, and the next time out I'll revert to type - or what they see is 'type'."

"So my generation doesn't like or trust me, and younger generations don't either. So it seems to me, it's time for Minute Man to retire."

Fred had been listening closely, and there was the start of a smile on his face. "Ah, I think I'm starting to see. You said, 'It's time for Minute Man to retire.' but you didn't say anything about Jack Weston retiring!"

Jack had won the bet with himself - trust the Wisdom of Solomon to figure it out, every time!

"Right. Minute Man is going to retire, but a new costumed hero will take his place. But people can never suspect that this new hero is Minute Man, or it will just make them more suspicion, and it will make their hatred and fears even worse. I haven't quite figured that out yet." Actually, he did have a plan, but he wanted Captain Lightning to look it over and apply the Wisdom of Solomon once again. He couldn't afford to go wrong on this one...

Minute Man and Captain Lightning, two 'relics' of the 40s, talked late into the night.

Chapter 1

John 'Jack' Westfall, Professor of American History at Minuteman College in Concord, Massachusetts, finished grading the last final exam for the Fall 1999 freshman course, 20th Century History. He stretched, wincing at the cracks coming from his stiff joints. He should learn to break up his grading sessions, but no matter what he promised himself when he started, he always worked straight through.

As usual, he was amused at some of the answers to essay questions - students today often had no real knowledge of history, and they often didn't really care, either. Jack's enthusiasm for his subject had rubbed off on many of them, however, and he was in general satisfied with the results. There didn't appear to be any budding history majors among them, but that wasn't surprising - everybody these days seemed to want to major in some computer-related field or other.

Westfall was a mystery to many of his colleagues. He had a distance learning undergraduate degree in History from University of Phoenix, and he had received both his Masters and his Ph.D. from Minuteman College. But very little was known about his earlier life. Jack's official records showed that he had been adopted at 6, and lived with missionary parents in various countries in Central America until his parents died at 16. He had lied about his age and joined a mercenary band, and begun his mail-order education. When he had the undergraduate degree, he quit the mercenaries and began going to Minuteman College full time for his advanced degrees.

Although the ink on his Ph.D. was barely dry, Jack had extensive knowledge of World War II, often lecturing about it as if he had actually been there.

Of course, by now you recognize John Westfall as an alter-ego of Jack Weston, a.k.a. Minute Man. Jack Weston was born in 1920, and he looked no older than 25. Jim Barr, a.k.a. Bulletman, had helped him set up the John Westfall identity several years ago, to conceal from people the fact that Jack Weston wasn't aging. Jim's enhanced intellect made it easy for him to figure out ways to insert 'official' documents where they needed to be to confirm John Westfall's identity, and his background was deliberately vague to make it hard to track down anything about him.

Jack had actually completed the necessary course work for his advanced degrees in recent history, which wasn't difficult, as he had lived through much of it. And when he graduated, teaching history seemed to be a logical step. He got a good deal of satisfaction out of helping people, or he wouldn't have been in the hero business in the first place. He was unhappy with what he saw as a shifting of American values away from the traditional, towards... what? If he could teach some of these kids to appreciate American history, he saw that as a very valuable contribution to society, indeed.

Suddenly, without warning, Jack found himself instantly elsewhere! As he recovered, he realized he was in costume. "Damn him!" he though to himself, although he wasn't nearly as upset as his words indicated. "I've told him time and again that I don't like this teleportation crap!" But Ibis could be pig-headed - when he wanted help, he wanted it now! and the Ibistick gave him the power to have help, now. Jack quickly looked around and sized up the situation. He didn't know where he was, but it was a good approximation of hell!

Chapter 2

Jack was in a tremendous open room, certainly the largest single room he had ever seen. It was some kind of factory - or it had been, he thought, because now it was a disaster scene. There were scattered fires burning throughout the room, and massive machinery everywhere, some of it trashed. A haze of stinging smoke filled the room, bringing tears to Jack's eyes, and causing him pain as he breathed.

Panicked white-clad workers were stampeding towards doors in several of the walls, many of them assisting others who were injured. Still more were lying unconscious, or crawling away from a raging battle. A giant man, over 7 feet tall and seemingly as massive as a mountain, wearing only tattered clothes, with light blue skin and black hair was smashing everything around him. He was opposed by Ibis the Invincible. The most shocking thing, to Jack, was to see Captain Marvel sprawled unconscious on the factory floor at Ibis' feet.

The blue man-monster was easily tearing some of the massive machines from the floor and launching them at Ibis. Ibis was using the Ibistick to protect himself and Captain Marvel, and he also had to keep flying metal from killing the workers who still hadn't managed to get out of range. While Ibis was occupied with flying machinery, the blue villain would turn to a 'quiet' corner of the building and beams of flame would flare from his eyes, causing more fires and chaos throughout the massive building. Jack saw him gesture, and a blast of shimmering red energy flew from his hand, forming a glowing red globe about yet another massive machine. The globe shrank to the size of a soccer ball and then vanished, leaving behind a 'soccer ball' composed of incredibly dense metal.

A streamer of blue energy flew from his other hand, firing this globe of metal like a cannon ball at Ibis. The embattled magician was barely able to deflect this missile, but the impact of cannon ball with his magical energy staggered him. The ball itself crashed through everything in its path and eventually tore open a big hole in the outside wall. Jack lost sight of it by this time.

Of course, while he observed all this, Minute Man wasn't just looking around. Somebody needed to distract that monster long enough for Ibis to get the civilians out of danger! He ran towards the monster at full speed, trying to plan a strategy. He didn't realize it, but he was talking to himself as he ran. "Damn, I wish Ibis had managed to get a couple of the other big guns!" He was mainly thinking of Captain Lightning and his wife Mary Marvel, but the Bullets could be helpful now, too. Still, anyone who could knock Cap out could probably deal with the other Marvels as well. "I guess I'll have to do the best I can on my own!"

"Not alone, young fella!" Minute Man was moving faster than any Olympic runner, yet he was passed as if he were standing still by a figure in yellow and black. "This here's my factory, and I'll be damned if I'll let some monster destroy everything I've built!" With that, the mysterious figure launched himself into the air with both fists in front of him and struck the monster like a missile, driving him backwards and knocking him from his feet. They crashed into yet another giant piece of machinery and fell to the floor, wrestling and trying to exchange blows.

Ibis took advantage of the short breather. He held the Ibistick high. "Ibistick, gently clear the workers from this charnel building!" All the remaining workers were lifted, gently but quickly, and carried through various doors and breeches in the wall, then gently deposited outside the building. This took several seconds, during which time, Minute Man reached the duo battling on the floor. Jack took a split second to yell at Ibis "Clear the air in here!" and then he joined the battle!

Chapter 3

The air cleared quickly following the words "Ibistick, purify this tainted cloud." Ibis spared a second to check Captain Marvel's condition, a second he shouldn't have spared. The blue giant suddenly threw the yellow and black costumed man off of him, directly at Ibis, and the two collided violently. Both men fell to the ground but both climbed slowly to their feet. Everyone was surprised when the giant spoke.

"You doddering old fool! You've doomed yourself. Even if you manage to protect your precious factory, you'll be dead in less than an hour!"

"Doddering, eh?" The mysterious hero hoisted a massive production machine into the air and hurled it at the blue giant. "I think you picked the wrong old fool!" The giant was staggered by the impact, but though he reeled backwards, he did not fall.

"Fool again, I say! You don't know who you face! You've never known. I've heard you laugh at me when you thought I couldn't hear! Telling your rich industrialist buddies 'He's just an old stoner - used to be a brilliant bio-chemist, but he wiped out his mind with acid in a commune in the 60s.' Well, old man, we'll see who's lost his mind now!" He stomped on the floor, and a jagged section of floor collapsed into the basement. The blue man hit the basement floor and bounded easily back to the factory floor. "The time has come for you and the other polluters and despoilers, and the Fantastic Man is bringing your doom!" The mystery man was shocked when he realized who the blue giant must be. "Larry? You're Larry Finklestein? Larry, you're wrong. Some idiot said that once, but I busted him out of here so damn fast he bled."

The giant roared! "BAH! You've lied to me for years. Well, it ends NOW!" He raised both hands over his head and started to slam them against a large acetylene tank, used for some of the instrumentation.

"No! You'll kill..." yelled the mysterious hero, but he never finished.

"Oh, sh..." came from Minute Man, but he never finished either.

Fortunately for both of them, Ibis was speaking, too. "Ibistick, protect us 4!"

The giant struck the tank, which exploded like a bomb, demolishing more of the building. Minute Man had never before seen an explosion from the inside, as violent chaos flared around the heroes as they stood protected inside an invisible magic dome. The collision of explosion and magic was so violent that Ibis was rendered unconscious. The mystery man stood above his body , protecting him from falling debris. Minute Man, who had been furthest from the blast, circled around the perimeter of the most damaged area, looking for traces of the blue giant. He didn't have to look far!

The giant burst from a mound of debris, blasting dangerous shrapnel-like scraps in every direction. Minute Man ducked behind a wrecked press of some kind. The giant started towards the hole in the wall, ignoring the heroes. Leaving the mystery man to look after Captain Marvel and Ibis, Minute Man darted after the bad guy. He wasn't sure what he was going to do, but he couldn't let this monster loose among a crowd of civilians!

Minute Man caught up with the bad guy just outside the factory. He could see a stream of emergency vehicles heading towards the scene, and a wave of employees running away. He ran around in front of the giant and threw a handful of dirt in his face, hoping to blind him. Instead, the Fantastic Man blasted beams of flame from both eyes, igniting some of the cars in the plant parking lot. People ran screaming away from the lot, and only a few seconds later, gas tanks started to explode. Some of the approaching emergency vehicles diverted to the parking lot.

"You fool! NOTHING can stop me!" the giant bellowed at the top of his lungs. "Despoilers of the natural, beware! Polluters, I'm coming for you! Miners, your holes will be your graves as I bury you alive!"

"Spastic Man? What a great name!" Minute Man dodged close to the giant, hit him quickly, and dodged away again. He didn't make a practice of taunting his opponents, but he wanted this one's attention on him for as long as possible. "You blew up a factory. Does that make you an environmental hero? You picked the wrong place, too, smart guy! Tyler and Tyler is the most environmental-friendly company on the planet!" The Fantastic Man continued to swing at Minute Man, who easily dodged each wild swing.

"Like that fool Tyler, you underestimate me, hero! Now, you, too, will pay!" The giant pointed at Minute Man, and he was instantly surrounded in a sphere of red energy - which started to shrink. "I have powers other than mere strength - the power to crush you like the pitiful pest you are!"

Speaking of Tyler, for that is who the mystery man was, he came crashing through the side of the building at tremendous speed, and before anyone could react, collided with Fantastic Man. Once again Fantastic Man was knocked sprawling, and the red sphere around Minute Man vanished. But the results weren't so good for Tyler, as he staggered backwards and then fell to the ground, seemingly unconscious. Once again, Minute Man faced Fantastic Man alone.

And once again, he was not alone for long. Over the horizon, at fantastic speed, flew a strange-looking red and yellow vehicle. As fast as it moved, the missiles it fired were even faster, and the Fantastic Man was simultaneously slammed with 4 exploding missiles. The explosion drove him backward, but once again he stayed on his feet. This was probably the toughest opponent he had ever fought, Minute Man thought.

The Fantastic Man was shaking his head. He was unhurt, but he was confused by the chaos around him. While he was trying to regain his composure, the red and yellow vehicle landed and an athletic figure costumed in red, white and blue leapt out, immediately throwing an 18 inch staff at the behemoth. It struck him in the solar plexus, and actually seemed to affect him as he immediately bent double.

Encouraged, Minute Man attacked again, stepping in quickly and driving his elbow into the back of the giant's head. The other man was carrying a long red and white staff, and he swept it viciously up from the ground, catching the giant under the chin and straightening him up. As he staggered backwards, Minute Man leaped and kicked him in the chest with both feet, and the other hero swept his staff around behind, catching the giant in the back of the knees. The force of Minute Man's kick knocked him down, and the staff-wielder reversed the staff and brought the butt down on the Fantastic Man's forehead, bouncing his head off the ground. To the giant, however, it was mostly sound and fury, signifying nothing.

There was nothing either of these two could do to hurt him, and as soon as he realized this, the Fantastic Man simply ignored them and stood up. He turned his back on the two, squatted, and leaped into the air, a tremendous jump that would carry him for miles. The force of his leap, transmitted through his legs to the ground, blasted a tremendous crater, and the flying debris smashed into Minute Man, knocking him unconscious. Fortunately for the decimated heroes, the Fantastic Man had abandoned the fight. The second unknown hero, the latest arrival, was the only one left standing.

Chapter 4

The lithe red, white and blue-clad hero rushed through a hole in the wall of the burning building. Minute Man and the man in yellow and black were still unconscious, but they were relatively safe for now. If there were still people inside they might need his help.

He was in the single largest pharmaceutical plant in the world, the main manufacturing facility of Tyler and Tyler Pharmaceuticals. Most of the building was a single huge room, two stories tall and filled with equipment. A big section of one wall had been glass, letting the people in the offices on the other side look out at the plant floor. The window on the second floor has recently been shattered from the other side, as something (or someone) had burst out of the laboratory on that floor into the manufacturing area. He hoped that the glass had been safety glass, otherwise anyone under that window would have been cut to shreds by falling glass.

The air inside the plant was amazingly clear, considering how many fires he could see. Not far from where he came in, he saw two familiar figures crumpled on the floor.

"Cap..." he yelled, and sprinted towards the two. He quickly examined the unconscious men, but there were no obvious external injuries to either one. Ibis was starting to come around. The unknown helped him sit up against a cabinet. "Ibis, what happened to you and Cap?"

Ibis seemed to be in shock. He shook his head, and instantly regretted it. He quickly raised the Ibistick. "Ibistick, restore me!" The magic wand flared with yellow magical energy, which then flowed around his body and vanished, and he instantly looked much better.

"Wow! Can you do that for Cap .. er .. him" the mystery man pointed at Captain Marvel.

"I do not think that is wise, young sir. Normally my magic would not affect him, but today something went drastically wrong. I cast a spell at the blue beast - you certainly saw him?" When the other nodded, Ibis continued. "A spell precisely shaped by my will to render the beast instantly unconscious. A spell most powerful, most carefully crafted, a spell which would normally sweep unheeded past Captain Marvel, leaving him untouched."

He frowned, and once again shook his head. The Ibistick had restored his body, but he was obviously still shaken by the recent events. "A spell that felled the mighty Marvel and was totally useless against its intended target. A foul manifestation, indeed. No, young sir, I have no idea what effect my magic may have on my friend, and I dare not take the risk of another such accident. I fear he must recover on his own." He looked again at the other man. "Your manner is familiar but your garb is strange. Who are you? And what is your purpose here?"

"I'm called Icon of Freedom, Ibis, and I tried to help defeat the blue giant, but he got away. I came inside to see if there was anyone here who might need help in getting out."

"A worthy answer! However, you need not worry. I can set much aright and insure the safety of any remaining workers." He raised the Ibistick again. "Ibistick, extinguish the flames". He watched for a few seconds, and when the flames were out, he swept the wand in a complete circle. "Ibistick, reveal any within who need our aid!" Two golden arrows formed in the air, one pointing to the second floor lab and one towards a building within the building. A building the size of a 2 bedroom ranch house, totally dwarfed by this majestic room. Ibis quickly took action. "Ibistick, carry me upwards!" and he followed the arrow towards the second floor laboratory.

Icon of Freedom ran to the building and discovered it was a clean room. He burst through both doors, and discovered a dozen people, huddled together between some cabinets and shelves. Several of them were talking on cell phones, and none of them appeared to be hurt. They were fearful when they saw Icon, who was unknown to them, but when one of the ones on the phone said "It's OK - they say he's on our side!" they all started cheering.

"Thanks, folks! You can come out now, it's safe and there are authorities and ambulances outside for anyone who needs them." He led them out of the smaller building, and they immediately hurried towards the door. He saw Ibis fly out through the hole he had used to enter, carrying a man. Once again, he sprinted to the side of Captain Marvel. This time he picked the still-unconscious hero up and carried him out of the building. As he exited, police and firefighters were entering. He spotted Ibis and the other heroes and the man Ibis had been carrying, clustered with some doctors and ambulance attendants, and carried Marvel over to join them. He carefully laid Cap on a stretcher. As he did so, Marvel stirred, then quickly sat up.

Before anyone could say anything or react, Cap said his magic word. "Shazam!" The magic lightning struck, thunder roared, and suddenly, Captain Marvel was replaced by Bill Batson. As quickly as he could, Bill said the magic word again, "Shazam!" and once more, thunder boomed as magic lightning facilitated the most awesome transformation known to man!

Marvel stood up. "Ah, much better!"

Ibis walked up to him. "I am sorry, my friend. I don't know what went wrong. It was my magic which laid you low, though I know not why. I'm glad to see you well and hale!"

"It wasn't your fault. Something interfered with the magic lightning. I knew something was wrong from the moment it struck. I haven't figured it out quite yet." He closed his eyes in deep thought.

He applied the Wisdom of Solomon to Bill's memories of that morning, and played those memories over and over again with the Speed of Mercury. On the fifth or sixth go through, it started to make sense.