(General P.O.V)

Trish Walker otherwise known as Hellcat, knew this was her only chance. She'd partnered up with another inmate, a brunette with long hair called Typhoid Mary.

And boy was she vicious.

The escape from their section had been a joint effort. Them being two of the only female inmates, had been instantly attacked by a few assholes who thought them weak.

The two of them tore the group apart.

And then they were free!

Outside at last. She could breathe fresh air again. No longer having only one hour to do so.

But there wasn't time to waste.

"We should jump."

Trish yelled above the pandemonium happening around them. Inmates fighting against guards and against each other.

Mary nodded.

She didn't say much. But Trish was fine with that.

So the two begun running towards the edge of the raft. Hopefully the tides wouldn't wash them further away into the ocean.

All they had to do was get to the far away lights shining from the coastline, before the coastguard and other authorities came to quell the escape.

A few feet away from the edge, mist gathered before forming into pale creatures with fangs.

Vampires.

Trish and Mary looked around, the entire Raft was surrounded by them, stopping any inmate from escaping.

Slowly the inmates backed away, wary of the snarling monsters.

"Friends. Please stay."

A condescending voice tinted with a German accent said.

"Skull."

Trish muttered in fear. This guy was on a whole other different level.

It wasn't that he was the strongest. It wasn't that he was the smartest. No, what made the Iron Skull truly menacing was his cruelty and persuasion skills.

She hadn't seen people like that too often, even in her line of work.

******

Dripping with charm despite his uncanny appearance, the Iron Skull walked forward, hands spread out.

All eyes were on him, the Iron Skull. None could deny his presence. His power.

He understood power.

He had power.

He knew it was the right of those who had it to exercise it. To take control of the fate of the world and shape it according to One's own whims.

Those with power were gods. And of those gods, Iron Skull believed only he could stand above them all.

Which is why they listened to him. The Cabal and the villains. Only he could command such attention.

They respected him. Adored him. And he wouldn't fail these unfortunate souls that society had deemed too volatile to keep on the outside world. No, he would give them a purpose then unleash them onto the world.

"For too long, your free spirits have been oppressed by common man ideology."

He begun, surrounded on all sides by his Cabal.

Not for protection but as a show of cooperation. A team as powerful as his would only elevate his position as their leader.

And so he used that.

"Oppressed under rules to either conform to what they say is right or become a social Pariah. However, what does the wolf care of the Sheep's disregard? They should fear you. And you, my friends should show them to never lose that fear. For we are gods among men!"

He spread out his hands.

The villains cheered, staring at him with reverence.

But not all were taken by his brilliance. Trish took a step closer to Mary.

"I don't have a good feeling about this. The second we see an opening, we're outta here."

She whispered.

Mary gave a nod.

The Iron Skull raised a hand, everything quieted down.

"Now some of you would like nothing more to jump off this accursed symbol of oppression and swim off to salvation but, I urge you to listen to me."

He paused.

"I have ensured that each of you will receive a certain amount of compensation for your assistance in a simple matter. Killing a certain wannabe hero."

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Murmurs sprang out across the entire group of villains.

"Silence!"

M.O.D.O.K cut in, his voice projecting loudly across entire courtyard.

"Listen to him."

"Why should we?"

Flint Marko, the Sandman asked, his voice rumbling out across the courtyard.

"The Sandman right?"

Iron Skull smiled.

"You have a sick daughter."

Sandman's jaw clenched, his hand bunching up into a massive fist.

"Careful now Skull, you'd hate for me to cave your head in."

The Iron Skull frowned.

"Threats are not needed. You misunderstand me, Flint Marko. I offer salvation. Help me and I shall ensure your daughter's recovery."

The Sandman blinked, seeming to war with himself before a determined look appeared on his face.

"I'm in."

"Excellent."

Iron Skull smiled, looking at the other villains.

"Do not be mistaken, I do not hold you here due to some grudge. I want to help you. And that coincides with a personal matter I have to settle... The hero I want dead...is Shazam."

The clouds rumbled with far off lightning.

"That the guy who helped take down King-pin right?"

Tombstone asked, coming forward while punching his fist into his other hand.

"I might have a few words to say to him."

"The Cabal as well. He is a thief. A coward and I will have first blood."

Attuma snarled, walking up to stand next to Iron Skull.

******

In the back, Trish looked at Mary.

"Do you know who this Shazam guy is?"

Mary shook her head.

******

"Patience Attuma. Soon we shall have our revenge and obtain the Trident of Neptune."

Skull smiled, curling his fingers into fists.

"Had you been forthcoming with the kind of power the Trident commands Attuma, we could have used it to our benefit."

M.O.D.O.K butted in with a growl.

"Perhaps I decided it would be foolish to trust you Earth dwellers with such delicate information."

Attuma loomed over the Super Adaptoid.

"After all, your species is know for stealing, scheming and lying."

The both of them glared at one another.

"Cease this paltry argument! Do not forget who the enemy is!"

Iron Skull interrupted the two.

Skull turned his head to the sky.

"Our plan worked. The Avengers are too far away to stop us. So are the other Superhero teams. That only leaves him."

Lightning farther flashed across the cloudy sky.

"He's here Skull."

The Super Adaptoid informed him, using it's superior scanning capabilities to read the environ.

Iron Skull clasped his hands behind his back.

"Listen to me."

He addressed the inmates.

"For the next 20 minutes, all of you are temporary members of the Cabal. Which means, you do what I say."

Looking at the kind of force Skull had at his disposal, no one said anything.

"Good. Long range fighters, I need you to give our dear friend the very best welcome you can."

(Billy's P.O.V)

The air ripped around me as I reached the edge of the Helicarrier and immediately swooped down towards the earth.

Clouds passed by.

I readied myself to face what would amount to all the Supervillains locked in the Raft.

Some of those guys couldn't be allowed to leave. The Cabal being chief among them. I had known that sooner or later, they would escape but not this soon.

It brought questions to my mind. Was locking them away really even effective? Any battle I had been involved in, luckily hadn't had any civilian casualties but...how far away from that reality was I?

I mean, someone eventually had to get hurt when you have guys like the Juggernaut trading earthshaking blows with Collosus. That particular thing happened over 2 weeks ago.

They had torn apart an entire city block.

Funny thing was that the whole thing had only been on T.V for a day then, no one had seemed to overly care.

I don't know why that particular memory rose to the forefront of my mind. Despite only thinking of it as strange, maybe there was more to the whole Heroes vs Villains dynamic I was missing.

Or maybe I was just grasping at straws because I suspected Nick Fury wasn't really Nick Fury.

All these thoughts went through me as I finally neared my target. The Raft.

My hair whipped behind my head as I broke though the cloud cover and appeared hundreds of feet above the Supermax prison.

Whoa, the submersible complex was even bigger than I had expected.

The villains seemed to have been waiting for me as instantly I was attacked.

Hundreds; I mean that quite literally, of different colored Laser beams, lightning strikes, elemental attacks, dimensional ripping slashes, physical projectiles (metallic pieces torn from the Raft most likely by Supervillains with super-strength).

There was no hesitation.

'I guess that means I was right. It's me they wanted.'

"Skull! You wanted me, here I am!"

I declared, releasing a burst of Telekinesis that dispersed most of the attacks.

The physical projectiles thrown at me were seized, falling under my control. I sent them falling back onto the Raft, mostly aiming for targets I knew I needed to take out first.

That meant villains with durability.

A particularly big chunk of metal, slammed into the Sandman whose form had increased in size. He had tried to use his hand to snatch me out of the air.

His back slammed onto the railing of the Raft and he fell over.

I dodged what I couldn't send back, streaks of lightning from the Super Adaptoid's Mjolnir construct and a few attacks from the Living Laser.

I strafed and leaned in the air, my figure a rainbow colored streak as I dove down towards the Raft, flying close to their heads.

Once they were in my telepathy range, I sent out a wave of telepathy that instantly shut the minds of any villains close to me.

Everywhere I passed, the inmates would fall down like puppets with cut strings.

The Lizard, Tombstone, The Shocker (though he was missing his suit) and a dozen more villains I didn't know.

Just like that 20% of the rioting Inmates were out of the fight. I felt a few minds take to the air towards me, following after me closely.

I chanced a look behind me and locked eyes with M.O.D.O.K who was leading them. Behind him was few villains who could fly.

"Cone back here! I have a bone to pick with you!"

M.O.D.O.K's voice cut through the distance between us.

A wide streak of lightning passed by my shoulder, causing the smell of ozone to fill the air.

I reoriented my body to face them while still flying.

"You guys should have stayed in your cells!"

The air before my palms begun to spin as I folded psionic energy into a vortex that I then released, impacting the Super Adaptoid and a few other villains with a massive pressure wave.

M.O.D.O.K's hate must have been too strong as he plowed through the attack with a snarl.

We broke through the cloud cover and disappeared from view.

Perfect. Now I can take the Adaptoid out without having to worry about a stray shot from the rest of the villains.

M.O.D.O.K was dangerous because like Fury or Stark, he was shielded from my telepathy. Ergo, he had to go.

(General P.O.V)

The Skull watched as flashes of lightning and other attacks wreaked havoc across the heavens.

The boy had come. Just like expected. Now all they had to do was best him and prove to the World that the Iron Skull was not someone to be trifled with.

They would...

The entire Raft shook. The ocean churned. The wind howled.

"What is happening?!"

Skull demanded, looking around at the others.

"Oh no..."

Attuma said. Then without warning, he leaped off the Raft and into the sea.

"Attuma!! Cone back here, you coward!"

Iron Skull called out.

The villains started getting distressed as the Raft shook once more. Something heavy landed on the surface, shredding metal and carving a groove across the courtyard.

The thing turned out to be the Super-Adaptoid, missing it's limbs.

Shadows immediately loomed over them.

Huge glowing tentacles of water, rising out of the ocean and waving in the air. Skull felt his body shiver in fear.

No...he could control the trident?!

Standing on a massive wave was Shazam with the trident of Neptune in his hands.

"Any final words Skull?"

Shazam asked.

******

Had to split the chapter in two once it got a bit too long