Absolute DC Part 10: Code of the Monster League

It was a dark night in the city of Pittsburg, PA. In an office building somewhere there, you can find a door with the words “E. Nygma: Private Consultant” on it. It was the office of one Edward Nygma, born Edward Naston, who had previously used his remarkable intellect in the life of a costumed career criminal known as The Riddler. Edward was about the close shop for the night when a knock on his door happened. Edward beckoned this potential new client to enter, and he did… it was a tall, imposing, red-clothed figure who had to crouch to get through the door. Edward welcomed in the magically-attuned superhero known as The Marvel, whom Edward already deduced is one Bill Batson in his civilian life. Bill was not here to apprehend Edward for his previous crimes, as he had given up that life after being kidnapped by Lex Luthor, escaping in the madness of a battle between the Justice League and Luthor’s team, the Doomed, and, later, nearly dying at the hands of a seemingly-resurrected Joker. Instead, Bill was in need of Edward’s intelligence, as a mystery had cropped up for The Marvel and his closest allies that not even his Wisdom of Solomon, the “S” in the Marvel’s magic word “SHAZAM!”, could deduce. Bill gave Edward what he knew, first…     

About a week ago, there was a disturbance at the Rock of Eternity, and the Pandoran Cask, a subdimensional prison contained therein, was broken out of. The Marvel managed to defeat the escaping demons and evils and returned them to the Cask, but one villain was unaccounted for: King Kull, a monstrous prehistoric tyrant. But left behind was a piece of papyrus paper inscribed with an unknown language. Bill brought this to his mentor in Egypt, the former wizard known as Khem-Adam, who gave Bill his powers as The Marvel in the first place. Bill, along with his sister Mary Batson and their foster brother Fred Freeman, went to Egypt from the Rock in Lebanon, to find the elderly Adam and his wife Adrianna. They presented the parchment to Adam, and he recognized the language as a code. He did not know how to translate it, but he knew of its author. Adam explained that he once had a student, long before Bill, whom he entrusted with the power of the crystalline matrix that grants the power of SHAZAM when the magic word is spoken. His name is Oggar, and, like Bill, he is another descendant of the wizard Solomon himself. Oggar was from a distant land, enslaved by the Roman Empire. A clever youth, Oggar escaped his captivity with others with the use of a cipher he himself created, and his travels led him to Adam, who took him under his wing and gave him the power of SHAZAM. However, Oggar was bedeviled by the power and soon returned to Rome and tried to destroy it. So Adam intervened, stripped him of the power, and locked him within the Pandoran Cask. But if this scroll is any indication, Oggar has escaped the Cask with King Kull, and they seek revenge.

After telling Edward of this, Bill handed him the scroll containing the coded message from Oggar. Edward examined it and said he’ll begin running it through every possible cipher to decode it. Meanwhile, The Marvel and his allies will keep vigil for any sighting for King Kull, as he could lead them to Oggar. Edward gave Bill a one-way burner phone so he can contact him once he decodes the message.

A day later, The Marvel was out on patrol in his home city of St. Louis, Missouri, when he saw an explosion erupt from a building owned by STAR Labs. The Marvel intervened to protect the civilians nearby and get them to safety, only for a presence to tackle him from midair. He realized that it was King Kull himself, but this time, he’s not alone. Doctor Sivana, a mad scientist, held an energy pistol up to Bill as King Kull, along with Sabaac, a demon possessing a new mortal body, and Atomos, an android originally designed and rebuilt by Sivana, now with new intelligence protocols that would keep it from betraying Sivana like last time, all surrounded The Marvel. Then, a voice called forth and a new presence made itself known: Oggar himself. Calling their team “The Monster League”, as a satire of Marvel’s allies The Justice League, whom Sivana once told Oggar about, Oggar proclaimed that he will not be stopped from accomplishing their goal: destroying the Marvel and anyone else associated with the wizard Adam. Marvel fought valiantly against King Kull, Atomos, and Sabaac, but could not get past them to prevent Oggar and Sivana, along with the mercenaries Sivana hired, from pilfering the STAR Labs technology. When Marvel finally did get past them, the energy pistol that Sivana fired at him triggered the crystalline matrix that is embedded in Marvel, forcing him to change back to Bill. Now a normal human and too weak from fighting to say the magic word again, Bill was beaten senseless by Oggar, and the Monster League left Bill to die on the pavement so that they can enact their master plan somewhere else.

Bill was rescued by Mary and Fred, who managed to return him to the Rock of Eternity. Using a recording of Bill’s voice saying “SHAZAM!”, Bill was brought back to consciousness when he changed back into The Marvel. Marvel told his siblings what he knew about Oggar, the Monster League, and the heist, but then the burner phone provided to Bill by Edward began ringing. It was Edward on the other line, saying that he had cracked the code written by Oggar in his threat. The translated message details that they are building a machine that will imbue Oggar with “the power of 247 stars” and that they will activate it somewhere in Rome, Italy. Edward proclaimed that Oggar was “so conceited that his code language was unbreakable that he detailed his master plan in it, but he did not account for The Riddler’s mighty intellect!”

But Bill told Edward that it’s not over yet. They still have to defeat Oggar and the Monster League and destroy the machine to prevent it from falling into any other evil hands. He also said that the controls to the machine may be written in the same code language, so…

Edward nearly barfed in his Riddler mask as The Marvel carried him from the USA to Italy overseas and at “significant” speeds. They landed outside the city of Rome, and Edward threw up right there on the grass. The Marvel told him to regain his composure soon, cause he’s needed to decode the device so they can safely shut it down so, when Bill smashes it, it won’t explode and evaporate the whole city (presumably). Marvel flew himself and Riddler over the city until they saw police activity right outside the ruins of the Colosseum, a national landmark. Marvel dropped off the Riddler right in an alley way, and then spoke to the police, who say that they are responding to a bomb threat called in by a tourist who saw mysterious machinery in the catacombs of the landmark. Riddler heard this with a remote listening device and snuck past the police barricade after the Marvel got past the police to help quell the threat (he and Edward are certain that the Monster League is inside with their device).

In the bowels of the Colosseum, The Marvel flew through, searching for the device and the Monster League, but then was clotheslined by King Kull. Joined by Atomos and Sabaac, Kull attacked Marvel, and our hero fought back valiantly. Meanwhile, the Riddler, with the other villains distracted, snuck through the catacombs and managed to find the chamber containing a large device that would grant Oggar the power he desires. Unseen by Oggar and Dr. Sivana, Riddler studied the computer’s controls, written in the same code that Oggar created, so he can shut down the device when it comes time to. The fight between Marvel and the other villains eventually spilled into the chamber as Oggar stepped inside the chamber of the device, ready to be imbued with the power of “247 stars”. Kull, Sabaac, and Atomos held down Marvel as the device powered up, but the Riddler snuck around to a code panel on the other side and, while no one was looking, deactivated the machine!

However, Oggar and Sivana had no idea what was happening and thought it fully worked. So when the Marvel freed himself from the grip of the other villains, he flew at Oggar and smashed himself and Oggar through the device. Oggar realized he had power, but not the power he was expecting. Sivana pulled up a remote tablet and realized that the device was prematurely deactivated, and that Oggar only has the power of… one star. Oggar and the other members of the Monster League were soon defeated by The Marvel, and Oggar’s power soon faded after. Sivana tried to fire his energy pistol at Marvel, but the Riddler appeared and punched him out.

The European defense agency Argus then arrived to arrest Dr. Sivana and take custody of the device and Atomos, while The Marvel managed to dispossess Sabaac’s host body from him and then imprison Oggar and Kull within the Pandoran Cask once more. Riddler then returned to Pittsburg after giving the Marvel a means to decode the Monster League’s codes, should Oggar ever escape again…