The next morning, Clark Kent watched the old man and the young boy get ready to leave. Billy still had a look of sadness on his face over the death of Black Adam, but he was also happy that the old man was up and around again.

"Glad to be heading home?" Clark asked the boy. He was going to miss Billy; in a strange way, the boy felt like a little brother. Though his powers came from magic, Billy Batson was the closest thing to someone like himself—someone who wanted to use those powers to do the right thing—that Clark had ever met.

"Yeah. Don't get me wrong. Smallville is pretty special, but I'm just a Fawcett City boy at heart."

Chloe had joined them as well. "Lana's okay. She'll be hobbling around until her ankle heals, but she's fine, and so's the baby."

"What about Lex?" He wasn't sure of which answer he wanted; that Lex would be fine or that he had suffered from dealing with Black Adam. He misses Lex sometimes—misses the friendship, the feeling of having one person who would always be on your side—but that Lex is gone now, and the man who took his place wasn't someone Clark wanted in his life.

Or Lana's, but he had no say about that.

"You know Lex. He's like an old Timex watch. Takes a licking and keeps on ticking. He's fine."

"I'm glad." And to his surprise, Clark found that he was.

Maybe I haven't given up on Lex yet. Maybe I never will.

"And the scarab?" Billy asked. "What about it?"

Chloe shrugged. "As far as I could find out, Lex sent it off to be analyzed by a Ted Kord of Kord Industries. If he manages to figure out how to make it work …"

"He won't." The old man smiled at them. "The scarab will choose its owner, and Lex Luthor will not be that person. Even if Adam had gained the scarab, he would never have been able to conquer it."

"Adam …" Billy sighed. "Why did he do it? Why wouldn't he let me help him?"

"Some people can't be saved," Chloe said, and Clark knew she was thinking of Lex.

"Not unless they want to be," the old man told them. "Adam … Adam had lost a great deal. A very great deal. I'm afraid I was not the father to him I should have been."

"He was your son?" Billy stared at him in shock.

"Not by blood—but in the same way you are, Billy Batson. I shared my power with him as I shared it with you. Both of you will always be a part of me."

"What if I turn out like him? Like Adam?" Billy looked at him. "The power changed him; it could change me too…"

"The power didn't change him, Billy. Adam changed himself." Clark smiled at the boy. "The power lets us do things—good and bad. Adam chose to do the wrong thing with his power. That's not who you are."

"How can you be so sure?" Billy asked him, looking away.

"For two reasons. Adam would never feel as badly as you do right over an enemy dying." Clark knelt down and took the younger boy's hands. "And the other reason is that you have something he never had: a friend."

Billy smiled. "Wizard … could I ask Clark for a favor before we go?"

The old man smiled. "You may, my son."

"What kind of favor do you want, Billy?" Clark was curious, and saw Chloe was as well.

"Shazam!" And after the lightning flash faded … "A race? First one to Metropolis wins?"

Chloe blinked. "I saw that but I don't believe it…"

"After everything else you've seen you doubt that?" Clark asked her with a grin. He turned back to Billy. "Okay. On the count of three. One, two …"

"Three!" the transformed Billy said and vanished in a blur of speed.

Clark laughed. "Be back soon, Chloe." And he too was gone.

"They're two overgrown boys," Chloe said to the old man with a smile.

Shazam shook his head. "No, Chloe Sullivan. Neither Clark Kent or Billy Batson are boys. In their own way, both of them are Champions …" He smiled. "Both of them are Marvels …"