Capítulo 21: How Bizarre
In a vast warehouse full the brim with relics and pieces of technology both recognisable and some completely alien two men walked side by side, their footsteps echoed in the vast space around them.
"As you can see Mr Luthor this is going to be the biggest auction yet, our sponsor is very keen on it working out well." The first man said.
"It is indeed impressive Mr Mannheim, but we both know I did not come all the way here to peruse your goods," Lex stated as he was eager to cut to the chase.
"Indeed, you wish to purchase one of the products before it has even gone to auction," Bruno said with a grin on his face.
A frown formed on Lex's face as he inspected Bruno's facial expression "Mr Mannheim that stone which you acquired was already mine, you should be glad that I am willing to negotiate rather than use more unscrupulous tactics." Lex stated in a calm but rather threatening manner.
However it didn't seem effective as Bruno sounded out a deep rumbling laugh "And they say you're the smartest man on the planet, you should know threats will do you no good Mr Luthor, you should also know that I am well aware of what this 'Stone' really is." He stated as he reached into our suit pocket and pulled out the shiny seemingly platinum stone.
Lex grits his teeth at the audacious behaviour of Bruno as he dares to openly flaunt the very thing he'd come here for "Your obsession with Superman is quite unhealthy Mr Luthor, though I honestly can't say I care much. But what I will tell you is what I tell everyone who comes seeking to buy before the auction has started."
"Fuck off and wait till the auction starts."
Lex found his blood boiling at the disrespect he was being shown "You'll regret crossing me..." he said before turning on his heels and walking out of the warehouse leaving Bruno alone with a wide grin on his face.
———————————————————-
Mark sped across the sky leaving Gotham in only a few seconds, he knew he was in trouble. Harley would definitely give him grief over leaving her at a bus station, he would need to make it up to her or risk her being a nightmare for the next few months. Luckily Batman was true to his word and when he checked his balance in his legal account he saw that over two million had been deposited into his account, which seemed a little low considering his Dad was about to take over the planet.
He'd just need to buy her some expensive liquor and maybe some food from her favourite takeout and he'd be good, Harley was easy like that. The trip from Gotham
To New York didn't take long and Mark found himself landing at the bus station they had both stayed at, while it did cause quite a scene he still had his makeshift mask on. However, as expected Harley wasn't there, Mark didn't expect her to be as it would be quite strange for her to spend two weeks at a bus station but when he thought about it he honestly couldn't say there wasn't a possibility that she would do something like that.
Mark guessed the only other place she'd go back to was her apartment building to maybe try to get some cash or belongings, though he didn't put it past her to occupy one of her tenant's apartments. Mark sighed before flying up into the air again and shooting off towards Harley's apartment building, though he figured he should probably make a stop on the way so he scanned the streets of New York till he found a bodega at the corner of 140th street.
Mark landed on the street in front of the bodega, he didn't like causing such a commotion but he was in a rush so he didn't feel like landing somewhere with no people. The bell rang as the door opened and Mark stepped inside, he immediately headed down the aisle and inspected the selection of alcohol they had.
However what he hadn't realised was that the bodega was being robbed, a man with a gun pointed at the cashier moved his finger to his lips giving him the universal sign to shush "She probably won't notice if I give her the cheapest bottle, she gulps down vodka like it's water anyway," Mark said to himself with a chuckle as he picked up a bottle of vodka from the bottom shelf.
He opened the lid and sniffed it before holding it back in slight disgust "That's rough, pretty much just gasoline." He said before putting the cap on. He wasn't going to drink it so might as well just get it anyway "Don't fucking move!" Someone behind him said in a calm but threatening tone.
Mark turned around to see a balding man with a grey beard and too few teeth. He was homeless or a junkie or both, Mark sighed "Dude just leave me alone I don't care who you are or what you're doing," he said, though this seemed like it wasn't the right thing to say as the junkie just got angrier and put the gun to Mark's head "Empty your fuckin pockets now!" He shouted.
"I just don't get a break," Mark breathed out as he grabbed the gun and crushed it along with the man's hand "AHHHHHH." The man screamed before Mark chopped the side of his neck knocking him out cold. He then walked past the body and straight to the door of the bodega "I'm just gonna take this for free since I just saved your ass." Mark said and the cashier just nodded rapidly.
The bell rang out as Mark stepped through the door and he shot into the sky making his way to the apartment building, it wasn't too difficult to find as it was the building without a roof. Mark landed in front of it before opening the door and walking inside, he walked up to the elevator and pressed the button, he couldn't help but be surprised that the elevator was still working. He walked inside and pressed the button for the 4th floor, he remembered Harley saying that those were the only rooms she could rent out as the rest were in bad condition.
As Mark stepped out of the elevator he was greeted by a dark hallway, the only light being that from the elevator. While Mark couldn't see in the dark his vision was a league above humans, something he guessed most races who evolved to fly would have. So he was able to see and smell the large amount of blood that had soaked into the carpet 'What the hell happened here,' he thought to himself as he stepped out of the elevator looking down each side of the hallway he saw an open door on the left-hand side with light coming from inside the room 'I hope Harley didn't go on a rampage or something,' he thought to himself as he stalked towards the open door.
As he opened the door he felt himself walk through a trip wire and then a knife attached to a metal pole dropped from above, however it shattered against Mark's skin "Listen Harley I get you're mad but there's no need for that," Mark said as he continued walking inside. It seemed that the lights that he'd seen from outside were coming from candles that were littered all across the ground, Mark stepped into the living room and what he saw almost made him sick. A man was pinned to the wall and was missing most of his skin but he was hooked up to an IV drip "P-P-Please." The man struggled to say as his lips had been removed, his eyes had started to look Shrivelled from the lack of moisture and the only thing keeping his innards in his body was the layer of skin that had been left on his stomach.
"Shit!" Mark said to himself as he rushed around looking for a phone as he didn't have one on him at the moment when he found the landline he picked it up but there wasn't a dial tone, someone had cut the wire.
"HAHahHahHahAHAhAhH."
Mark heard laughter from somewhere else in the apartment and frowned, he heard slow footsteps echo from where he just was coming towards him slowly until they abruptly stopped. A pale face with green hair and red lipstick peered around the corner and looked at Mark with a wide manic smile "Is this the young man you mentioned ol Sport?" he asked.
Mark was confused for a moment as he didn't understand what he was talking about "Y-Y-Yes, P-Please l-let m-me go," the man pinned to the wall behind him said. Mark looked back to the man peering around the corner like a child and after taking a second look he recognised him, after all there probably wasn't anyone in Gotham who wouldn't recognise the Joker.
"What are you doing here," Mark said in a serious tone.
Joker stepped out from the hallway revealing his body to Mark. His white shirt was stained red and his purple pants seemed to be dyed with blood as well making them seem like a different colour "I didn't expect my dear Harley's rebound to be such a handsome lad, truly you know how to make an old man feel self-conscious hehehehehahahahahahahah." The Joker said dramatically as he sat down on a chair by the dining room table.
"Where is she," Mark asked bluntly as he crossed his arms.
"HaHaAhhAhahAhAh," The Joker laughed at the question banging his hand on the table. Mark had enough and he zoomed in front of the Joker grabbing him by the neck and slamming him against the wall "What's so funny? Cause from the way I'm seeing things it doesn't look very amusing for you," Mark said as he tightened his grip around Joker's throat.
"Hehehhehe it's just that I came here seeking Harley and then when I didn't find her I wanted to find you because I thought you might know, but now you're here asking me if I know..." he explained and but then stopped and the Joker sighed.
"It's not funny when you have to explain the joke..." he said almost solemnly, but then he regained his manic grin.
"I'm going to kill you now," Mark said bluntly, while he didn't much like killing people the world would be a whole lot better off with men like him. Might get him into trouble with Batman and the league but he didn't care, plus it's not like they'd find out.
"Hehehehhe do I get to say any last words," he asked with the manic grin still on his face.
"Make them quick," Mark said as his fingers itched to crush his throat.
"Would you like to see something truly Bizarre?" The Joker simply said.
"What a waste of your-"
*BOOM*
Mark was grabbed and flown out of the building, he struggled as whoever had grabbed him was slamming him through multiple buildings before skidding across the ground and into Central Park.
"You is good friend, Me take you alive to Joker,"
Mark pushed himself up from the ground to see a grey man wearing a Superman outfit though the S was backwards. Mark did recall seeing on the news a few years ago that Superman had fought a clone of him or something "Listen I don't want to hurt you just let me get back to Joker... and hurt him," Mark said in what he thought was a reasonable way.
"You can trick Bizzaro, me am not smart," he said with a grin on his face as he floated closer to Mark.
Mark sighed "Alright let's go!" He said before shooting towards Bizarro slamming his fist into his face and sending the fake Superman careening across the ground and breaking through multiple trees. People started to scream and run which caused a chain effect of mass hysteria, Mark seemingly only noticed the people for the first time now as he was focused on Bizarro and he couldn't help the annoyance that rose in his chest 'Why are there so many of them they're always getting in the way!' He thought to himself though right after he had the thought he couldn't help but feel slightly concerned. However, he couldn't dwell on it much longer as Bizzaro had flown straight at him throwing his fist straight into Mark's jaw and knocking him to the ground.
"You make Bizarro feel good!!!" He said before slamming down on Mark with both fists like some sort of gorilla. Mark brought his legs up and kicked Bizzaro off of him before following up with an uppercut to the chin, he then spun around slamming his elbow to the side of his head which sent him hurtling across the ground. Bizarro didn't seem much affected by Mark's blows but each attack seemed to make him more and more frustrated as he kept on grunting and screaming.
Mark ducked under a punch that Bizarro threw at him it was pretty sloppy but it was fast and he could tell there was quite a bit of power behind it. Mark slammed his fist into Bizarro's gut causing a shockwave but it seemed to have no effect as Bizzaro grinned showing a mouth full of teeth before he brought his fist up and slammed it down on Mark at a speed faster than before.
Mark crossed his arms together and managed to block the strike but he was still sent hurtling across the ground, Mark flipped over midair and slammed his feet to the ground pushing him up into the air only to end up being tackled by Bizzaro again. Mark brought his elbow down on his back multiple times but he couldn't prevent Bizzaro from flying him through multiple buildings again 'I didn't want to have to use this power again...' Mark thought to himself. When he had found out that Billy who turned out to be Shazam died to give him his powers it made him feel a bit sick. These powers belonged to a hero and that's something he wasn't and would never be so he wanted to try to avoid using them though it seemed fate had other ideas.
Mark summoned a red sphere in his hand and slammed it into Bizarro's back making the clone scream as he let go of Mark and was sent shooting down to the earth.
"SHAZAM!!!"
A lightning bolt struck struck Mark and he felt the familiar intoxicating power running through his body. His makeshift mask had been ripped off during the fight so with a quick thought lightning danced around his body and formed a proper one. He'd almost forgotten how good this power had felt "Me make you feel better!!!!!" Bizzaro shouted as he flew straight towards Mark.
Mark caught him by the arms and threw him over his shoulder before shooting a stream of lightning at him right in the gut, though surprisingly the lightning bolt hit him and seemed to do nothing. This power had managed to hurt Omni-Man, someone who was on par with Superman and yet this defective clone just shook it off.
"What the fu-"
Bizarro shot two rays of cold ice from his eyes which caught Mark in the chest and started to freeze him and push him back. Mark blocked it with his hand as he flared lightning to dance and burn hot around his body melting the ice off him "I guess it's the old-fashioned way then," Mark said as he zoomed towards Bizzaro, they both punched at each other clashing their fists and causing a shockwave. Mark dodged and avoided each of Bizzaro's swings, it was a lot easier now that he was in this form as he was about the same speed if not a bit faster than Bizzaro.
Mark returned punch after punch at Bizzaro giving him a merciless beat down, throwing his elbow into his jaw before grabbing him behind the neck and slamming his knee into his face multiple times. Each time Bizzaro would be flung away Mark would reach out with his power and pull him right back and continue pummelling him. Mark had to cover himself as Bizarro spewed a roaring inferno from his mouth that managed to singe him a little, he then flew over a punch that Bizzaro aimed at him and grabbed the offending arm before dragging and spinning him around before launching him at the ground luckily they were over Central Park which was now mostly abandoned.
Mark conjured another red sphere in his hand but before he threw it at the still-falling Bizzaro he ran his power through it making it grow nearly ten times bigger, it was now the size of a person in height, length and width. He shot it down straight at Bizzaro a massive shockwave occurring as he did. Bizarro looked dumbfounded as he saw the large red sphere coming towards him, it was as if he was a dear caught in the headlights. Because of this, he wasn't defending himself when it hit him and so he was hit by the full force and sent careening to the ground under its power.
"THIS GOOD!"
"ME LIKE!"
He shouted as he hit the ground though he was being pushed further and further into the ground as he tried to push the sphere away. He started laughing joyfully as he felt it slowly stop and dissipate though this was short-lived as Mark burst through feet first causing the earth to tremble as he slammed into Bizarro he felt some of the monster's ribs give out and snap as he did making him smile.
"I don't know how you were ever even a threat to Superman..." Mark said with a grin as he grabbed Bizzaro by the throat and dragged him out of the crater that he'd formed "You are a disgusting creature a mistake and one that I'll correct," Mark growled out.
Bizzaro punched Mark in the stomach making him grunt but his grip didn't loosen instead he brought Bizzaro up and headbutted him over and over again until his nose was a deformed mess. Bizzaro grabbed Mark's arm with both hands and managed to loosen his grip before shouting and shooting him full blast with his artic vision freezing the area around them, he then punched Mark shattering the ice and launching him to the ground where he then mounted him and started pummelling him desperately "You keep making me feel good more!!!!" He shouted as he tried to cave Mark's face in with his fists.
Mark then caught both his fists one after the other and hovered out of the newly created crater with Bizzaro in tow. He then slammed his knee into his gut making him drop to his knees, Mark then brought both his fists up clasped them together and slammed them down on Bizzaro's back while also using his power to amplify the weight in his hands.
*BOOM*
It sounded as if a bomb had gone off and Bizzaro was left in a crater though he was still getting up to fight Mark "Me not help Joker..." he said in a markedly lower tone than before.
Mark brushed off the lazy punch that Bizzaro threw and grabbed him by the neck with one hand while he formed a large blue sphere with the other. He sent the sphere a few metres in front of himself where it stopped, Mark pushed off the ground and floated away from the sphere with Bizarro in his grasp "You won't get in my way again..." Mark said with disdain as he threw Bizarro at the sphere. The Grey man screamed as his back was sucked in against the sphere.
Mark then created a red sphere of around the same size and with a callous look on his face, he sent it towards Bizzaro who screamed even louder as both spheres ground against his skin and crushed him. As both orbs dissipated Bizzaro fell to the ground with his costume mostly destroyed. Mark approached him before grabbing his head with both hands "Mark stop!" He heard a voice call out, Mark looked up and saw Wonder Woman with what he guessed was her sister as she looked remarkably similar to her.
Mark gave them a bored look "He's all power with no brain, he'll just get taken advantage of again what I'm doing is mercy." Mark stated as he started to twist the creature's neck. He wouldn't listen to them, why did he have to, they couldn't stop him, the lightning flowing through his body felt amazing and he felt his muscles bulge and empower him as he twisted Bizarro's neck even further.
All of a sudden he was kicked off Bizarro by Wonder Woman "Mark he's a creature of low intelligence, killing him when he's being taken advantage of is wrong." She stated as she and Wonder Girl stood in front of Bizarro.
Mark stood up with anger on his face rage was boiling up inside him and he shot in front of Wonder Woman and threw a punch at her, one that she managed to block with her arm though she was lifted off her feet and thrown back. Wonder Girl spun around and tried to kick him but Mark leaned back avoiding it and then he grabbed her leg and slammed her on the ground before kicking her in the stomach and sending her through multiple trees.
Though for the moment he was distracted Wonder Woman was able to get her lasso around him "Tell me the words you speak to transform!" She said loudly.
"Shazam!"
Mark felt the intoxicating power melt away as he returned to his normal form, however with that loss in power came a drastic difference in how he felt 'Why was I so mad?' He thought to himself. The way he had felt was slightly worrying to himself as it mirrored the way his father was.
"I'm sorry Wonder Woman, I seem to have let myself get worked up." He said to her, Wonder Woman felt herself relax as she now knew she didn't have to fight him. She let him out of her also and he stood up "The Joker was here, though he will probably be long gone by now." Mark said with some annoyance.
*CRACK*
Mark didn't even need to look to know that Bizarro had just shot off into the sky. While he did admit he was out of control for a moment he still gave Wonder Woman a look of annoyance which she responded to by smiling sheepishly.
He pinched the bridge of his nose before walking off "Leave it alone Mark you've got shit to do." He said before he sped off.
(AN: So Joker has a pet Bizzaro which honestly isn't too out of the question I mean he's pretty good at manipulation and Bizzaro is good at being manipulated. Anyway, when it comes to Shazam's powers I'm taking a different approach, Billy was a good kid and pretty pure as people go. Mark is not and he's much more similar to Black Adam and when he was gifted Shazam's powers he was corrupted and overwhelmed by them, this will go doubly for Mark as a Viltrumite who are one of the most power drunk races out there. It's not really gonna be a main plot point but I feel like it wouldn't be logical to ignore the psychological effects Shazam's powers would have on a Viltrumite. Also for anyone wondering why he wasn't like this in his fight with Nolan, he just got his powers and Nolan was still a challenge)
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