"So this is your new place?" Vic Stone raised an eyebrow as he looked around skeptically.

"I know, isn't it great?" Billy Batson grinned excitedly as he carefully hung a framed copy of the newspaper article with the Justice League's first appearance after the invasion on the wall near his mattress.

Vic looked carefully at the faded mattress in the corner, stained covers thin enough that he could almost see through them. "Tell me again why you decided to leave the Vasquez's and move into this dump."

"I was taking up to much space," while the tone was casual the way he violently threw his schoolbooks on the ground said otherwise.

Vic raised his eyebrow again. While he hadn't actually met the Vasquez's in person he had done enough research on them to know that they were good people and not the type to say such horrible things.

Billy flushed and mumbled something.

"I'm sorry but you're going to have to repeat that." Vic crossed his arms and waited.

"Fine," Billy sighed. "They wanted to take in a little girl with autism and ms but they didn't have enough room so I figured if I ran away that they could take her in."

Vic smiled sadly. That was classic Billy. He acted like an immature jerk at times but, deep down there was a good person that shone through occasionally. "I'm sorry," his voice was sincere and he would have offered a hug but Billy was doing that thing where his body emitted random jolts of electricity that hurt plus he wasn't really a touching person no matter the form he was in.

"It's fine," Billy shrugged, muttering underneath his breath, small sparks flying from his hands as his things began rearranging themselves.

"I will never get used to that," Vic shook his head, just barely hiding a wince when he saw Billy carefully slide a picture of the Vasquez's under the flat pillow.

"I like magic," Billy smiled. "I'm going to use it to fix this place up a bit. I found a ton of magic books in the ruins of the Rock of Eternity and they had a lot of cool spells in them. Shazam's going to check them out later and make sure they're safe."

"That's a good idea," Vic nodded in agreement. He hadn't met Shazam often as he was a much older, much more serious version of his friend who preferred peace and solitude to the noise of the world.

"If it makes you feel any better he's not happy about me running away either but he did help set it up so that it looked like a mix up in paperwork and I was getting moved somewhere else."

"You are welcome to stay at the watchtower: there's plenty of room for everybody to stay there if they wanted," Vic checked the support column he was standing next to. It wasn't perfect by any means but it would suffice until someone accidentally flew into it. Vic gave it three days tops before it would have to be replaced.

Billy sighed and rolled his eyes, not even looking in Vic's direction. "Sooner or later they would find out about me. If my age isn't enough to freak them out then the fact that I've got two other people living in my head would."

No matter how much he wanted to Vic couldn't exactly argue against that logic. Batman was overly paranoid and the fact that most of his villains were insane didn't help any. There was a 75% chance that he would simply treat Shazam the way he did the Joker and the others…they would be uneasy and what trust Shazam had earned would be long gone.

"See even you agree," Billy took Vic's silence for what it was: an agreement.

"So are you going to keep going to school?" Vic changed the subject.

"Yes," Billy sighed as he pulled off his sneakers. "Shazam said I had to."

Vic nodded in approval. "I know you don't see the point since you can use magic but it'll come in handy one day when you're older."

"Don't you start," Billy whined, taking a step back. "Shazam!" Almost instantly he changed into his super powered form, the restless energy becoming more visible. "Time to fix this place up."

"So have you picked a name yet?" Vic sat down cautiously in the only chair, expecting it to break at any second.

"I like Captain Marvel but Marvel Comics has a trademark on it so you can just stick with Shazam," he flew to one of the holes in the roof and began chanting.

"I still think you should consider telling at least one of them and then tell Batman later after you've proved you can be trusted."

"No way, man," the hole in the ceiling began fixing itself. "Maybe one day," he conceded. "But for now I'm perfectly happy with the way things are."

"Okay," Vic nodded, knowing it was the best he was going to get. "Don't forget we have a meeting in an hour."

"Another one?" Shazam groaned as he flew to a different hole.

"Apparently," Vic wasn't any happier. Batman took great pleasure in holding meetings almost every single day where everyone reported on how things were going in their individual cities. No one else liked them either; Wonder Woman didn't see the point and even Superman looked bored after the first few minutes. It was pure torture for Flash, Green Lantern, Shazam and Cyborg.

"I swear he's trying to brainwash us," Shazam grumbled as he flew over to Vic, just narrowly missing the unstable support column.

"What are you doing?" Vic asked in amusement as Shazam touched him, a warm spark flowing through his circuits.

"Memorizing your DNA structure so I can add you to the magic wards I'll be placing around the place so it doesn't treat you like an intruder," came the reply.

"Thank you," Vic was truly appreciative. It meant a lot that they trusted him enough to do this.

"Not a problem," Shazam pulled back and turned his attention to the walls. A mixture of Latin and Greek and some other unidentifiable languages flowed out of his mouth and magic from his fingers. The entire building was glowing as magic seeped into it.

"So what wards did you put in place?" Vic was genuinely curious.

"One for concealment and another one for defense against intruders. I'll add more later but it'll be enough to keep out any low-key intruders for now and you will be allowed to see and enter the building."

"Awesome," Vic reluctantly stood up. "We should get going; I don't feel like getting another lecture on responsibility from Batman."

"Me neither," Shazam muttered.

"You do have money for food and clothes right?" Vic was mentally going over his old clothes to see if he had anything that might fit Billy as he no longer needed clothes.

"Yes, mom," Shazam rolled his eyes. "I got a job working down at the docks whenever they get a shipment in and Billy does odd jobs whenever he can."

A/N: This is a work in progress that I abandoned a few months ago but decided to revive while I work on plotting out my first series. Hope you enjoy!