A dozen kids mysteriously disappeared in Fawcett. Investigative reporter Billy Batson has gone undercover to crack the case.
As Whiz Network's boy reporter, Billy Batson was easily recognizable.
So the little boy put on horn rimmed glasses to hide his brilliant blue eyes and slicked his hair back for his mission.
Instead of his usual red sweater, he wore a grey sweat shirt and sweat pants to blend in with the other kids in camp.
As Captain Marvel, he tracked the child trafficking ring to this innocent looking children's education camp. He knew who the culprits were but couldn't do anything without hard evidence.
The culprits covered their tracks well. Everything seemed to disappear whenever The Captain was within a hundred yards of this place.
So Billy enrolled in the camp under a fake identity Mr Morris arranged for him.
Skulking inside the building he had tracked the culprits to as Captain Marvel, tiny little Billy slipped into a vent and closed the grating to cover his tracks.
"Experiment.. new kid..." a heavily accented voice wafted from one of the rooms.
Crawling through the vent, Billy recorded the conversation that the Captain could later use as evidence.
Peeking through the vent, he saw vials of glowing green liquid and various strange equipment.
There was a large metal box in the room.
He took photos and videos of everything he could through the vent.
"Do you hear something?" A woman in a lab coat hushed her companions as she looked in his direction.
Billy's heart pounded as he retreated, trying to make himself even smaller as he hid deeper in the vent.
A burly man strode up to the vent and ripped away the grating. He shone a torchlight peering through it.
"Just rats," he dismissed with a wave of his hand.
Crawling through the vent, he heard muffled cries. Around a dozen kids were gagged and tied up. Quickly, he snapped photos which uploaded automatically to Whiz network's server for backup.
All that's left was for him to transform and round up the crooks.
Slipping out of the vent into an empty room he dropped into the waiting hands of a big man.
Busted!
-------
Superman's hands were tied.
Underground labs were experimenting on unwitting subjects, trying to create the metagene to give them powers.
Everything he found was above the board. They hid all traces of any incriminating evidence thoroughly.
They were wary of Superman but Clark had better luck.
His sources led him to this education camp in Fawcett. Perry arranged for him to teach the creative writing module here.
Scanning the building with x-ray vision yielded no results. The walls, floors and ceilings were lined with lead.
His super hearing picked up scurrying sounds from the roof above him. Whatever that was, it was too big to be a rat.
The vent grating opened and a tiny boy dropped out from it like a baby chick from its nest.
Carefully, he caught the scrawny little boy.
Two pairs of brilliant blue eyes behind horn rimmed glasses met as the geeky little raven haired boy looked up at the geeky big raven haired man.
"Sh.." the boy started
Clark covered the child's mouth. "Shhhh.. not safe here," he whispered.
If the syndicate catches him, his cover would be blown. He wouldn't have the evidence he needed to lock them up.
His ears picked up footsteps approaching.
"Bad guys will try to hurt you. Stay." With one hand, he popped little boy back into the vent. With the other, he closed the grating and raised his finger to his mouth as if shushing a toddler.
-------
Billy was livid. The gall of that man - treating him like a kitten.
Two guys in lab coats walked into the room.
"This place is out of bounds," said the smaller guy as he walked up to the big geeky raven.
"Sorry, I'm new here. I got lost." The big geek raised his hands. "I'm the new English teacher looking for the boss to check in before starting work."
"Lady M never meets the teaching staff," said the smaller guy.
"Say, I know you. You are Clark Kent of the Daily Planet. Nosy reporter, friend of Superman," he grabbed Clark's arm and led him through the door.
Billy face palmed. Some investigative reporter? Going undercover without disguising himself?
The pair tied up the reporter to a chair and left him in the corner. Then they left the room.
As soon as they dropped out of sight, Billy popped out of the vent and began to untie Clark.
"Don't bother," grinned Clark. "I want to see where they take me. I need evidence to stop the bad guys."
Footsteps.
"Go hide, or get out of this building," urged Clark.
Billy slipped into the broom closet, peeking through the slits in the door
"See this?" The guy opened the box. In it was a huge glowing green rock.
"When your pal Superman comes to rescue you，we'll hit him with this kryptonite."
The guy grinned at his friend. "Luthor's gonna give us a raise for this."
Clark started to sweat profusely. He looked really sick. At first glance one might think it's because he's held hostage and used as bait against his friend.
But Billy knew there was more to it.
Kryptonite was making Clark very sick.
Holy Moley! It dawned on him that the big guy who tried to baby him - Clark Kent is Superman.
Billy's jaw dropped at that realisation.
He's going to have so much fun with this, but that can wait.
Kryptonite kills Superman.
Billy had to save Superman without blowing his cover. They needed to put down this trafficking ring for good.
One guy sat in a chair beside Clark to watch him while the other left the room.
With that guy's attention on Clark, Billy slipped out of the closet, grabbed the Kryptonite, and ran for his life.
"Brat's got the rock!" Yelled the guard, abandoning Clark to chase Billy.
One guard led to two, to three, to a dozen guards chasing after a tiny little boy through the maze of corridors within the building.
Billy's lungs were bursting. He was tempted to blow his cover, transform, and nab all of them.
He had enough evidence to put them away, but there was bigger fish to catch. Lady M was involved with this child trafficking ring. Lex Luthor too.
Finally, he ducked into another vent and closed the grating just in time. Then he sat and watched all fifteen guards run past him.
-------
Clark could have kicked himself for his stupidity.
The little boy saved Clark's life at the risk of his own. He knew that rock was killing him. That child knew his secret.
Now he had to save the boy before he became another casualty in the war against in syndicate.
The effects of Kryptonite were wearing off. He snapped his ropes and changed to his uniform.
As he emerged from the building searching for the little boy, he felt kryptonite poisoning briefly as Captain Marvel streaked past him with the kryptonite and up towards the sun.
With telescopic vision, he saw the Captain plunge into the heart of the sun with the rock, destroying it completely.
Seconds later, Captain Marvel landed in front of him.
Superman's used to being the tallest, most muscular man in the room, but up close, Captain Marvel stood as tall as him, and even more muscular.
The big man gave him an even bigger dimpled smile that seemed strangely childlike.
"I got rid of it. You're safe now, Clark."
"You know?" Superman's jaw fell open. How could this man he had never met before know his best kept secret?
"Yep. I believe we're working two opposite ends of the same case. Let's crack this together," grinned the Captain.