(Billy's P.O.V)

"Refill?"

A voice broke through my heavy thoughts.

I looked up at the redhead standing before me. She was beautiful. Comic Book pretty.

I blinked, realizing I was staring.

"Oh."

I placed my phone face down, the screen going dark on the Charles Xavier tab I had opened.

"Umm yeah. I wouldn't mind."

She smiled and poured me more of the black nectar worshipped by workaholics around the globe.

"Haven't seen you here before."

She said in a conversational tone.

"First time in the city." 'world', I replied, adding the last bit in my mind. I hoped I wasn't being awkward on account of this being the very first person I had talked to in this universe.

"I never introduced myself, I'm...Billy. Billy Batson."

I quickly caight myself before I gave my real name, Vijay.

She reached out and shook my hand with a giggle.

"Nice to meet you Billy Batson. My name is..."

"MJ?!"

Someone called out from the counter, a bearded man of Latin descent.

"We have a few customers coming in."

He added, glaring at me. Probably for taking up too much of the beautiful Barista's time.

"Coming Pedro." She responded before turning to me.

"Sorry, duty calls."

MJ said, hurrying off and leaving me with my thoughts.

Red hair, beautiful face and her name...could she be 'that' MJ? Spiderman's Mary Jan Watson?

I finished my drink quickly, spending a few more minutes on the phone looking over the specs. The Stark Smartphone was much more advanced than anything I had used before. This bad boy had no lags whatsoever.

I couldn't say the same about it's encryption though. Something told me not to search for sensitive information that a civilian was not supposed to know about.

"Thanks."

I paid the bill.

The manager at the counter, Pedro, grunted my way as I left while Mj waved at me with a smile.

I felt my face light up with a blush, cursing my hormonal teenage body as I walked out into the cold New York air.

Looking at the time, it was already 8.

The streets were crowded with people going out or going home. My apartment was a few blocks from here, so I settled into a casual walk, simply allowing my mind to wander as I tried to come to terms with my situation.

Everything was different yet not.

One thing I noted was the branding. Most of the billboards had something to do with superheroes. One of them showed an image of Tony Stark, chilling outside of KFC with a bucket of chicken and in his armor.

I snorted. I wonder what they did to actually have Iron Man in that ad.

Then again, I wouldn't be surprised if in this world, Stark owned the food chain company. Guy was loaded as fuck. Stark Tower was huge from the pictures online and I couldn't wait to see it up close and personal for myself.

My stomach growled and I realized that apart from the coffee, I hadn't had anything else to eat. The pastries inside Pedro's coffee shop had looked delicious but also too expensive for me.

I seriously needed to find a way to make money. That line of thought brought me to the interface minimized at the corner of my eyes. Maybe the missions would reward me with money if I completed them?

It wouldn't make sense for anyone who brought me here to go to so much trouble, only for them to sit back and watch as I died of starvation.

What I needed to do was find an all you can eat restaurant. I brought out my phone, scrolling through to search when I heard it.

A scream.

Specifically a girl's scream, coming from the alley to my side.

What are the fucking odds? Someone up there must be laughing at my expense.

The people on the sidewalk seemed to all speed up, not wanting to get involved in whatever was happening. I stood there for what felt like hours but was only a few seconds, battling with indecision.

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Maybe I should leave. I'm not a hero...

"Help me!!"

The scream came again, this time more desperate and I realized the decision was stolen from me. I couldn't stay away from this.

Despite my better judgement, I pocketed my phone and run into the darkened alley, grabbing a trash can lid on the way.

The buildings on either side were tall, shooting up to the sky, blocking most of the lights from the city.

A dog barked as I stepped on a puddle of dark water, splashing the bottom of my pants.

I frowned. There was a shuffle from up ahead. The trash can lid was held infront of me as I advanced slowly.

"Hey! I called the police!..."

I yelled into the darkness.

Fuck. I actually didn't, which I now realize was a mistake. I was out of my depth here.

The statement from the text box earlier replayed in my mind.

'Are you worthy?'

Something stirred within me. I jumped back as a sound rang out on the railing of the fire escape on the left side building.

A cat hissed at another, both felines jumping into the alleyway before disappearing off into the darkness.

I exhaled the breath I was holding in. It was just cats. But...what about the scream?

A shiver went up my spine.

"I told you we could trick one." A soft and melodic voice said from my back.

"Just takes screaming like a damsel in distress and wannabe Knights will come running in to save you."

The female voice ended in a sing-songy tone.

I was scared to turn around. My heart pumped within my chest. Goddamnit! goddamnit! It was a trap and I fell for it.

'Get it together Billy.'

I forced a calm look onto my face, slowly turning around.

3 of them. Women. Too close. I blinked and the one on the left was leaning on my shoulder, almost instantly. She held onto my bicep in a tight grip. She had bleached white hair, red cherry lips and a subtle scent of blood.

"Hey there handsome."

She crooned.

"You smell...different."

They all had pale skins in the little light I could see. The girl in the middle was dressed in a short leather skirt and high heels. Her black hair was cut short. Her eye color was black. A black that seemed to pull at my mind.

I felt light headed and weak.

"Who?..."

My words were cut off by a nail sliding down my jugular.

"Shh. It's alright, we don't bite."

Bleached hair cooed.

The one on the right snorted.

Her long wavy chestnut hair fell to the middle of her back. She had on a sleeveless top and perhaps the most noticeable thing about her was her nails. They glinted even in the almost darkened alley. Sharp and deadly.

What the fuck had I gotten myself into?

"Oh would you look at that, he's already wetting himself."

Short hair stated with a giggle. I looked down.

"That's not piss..."

I muttered in an unnervingly calm tone, watching my own blood flow from my belly.

The first girl that had been hanging off my shoulder had her nails sticking into me. The pain only registered a second afterwards.

Breathing became hard as my knees weakened.

Their faces morphed before me, teeth lengthening into sharp fangs. The beauty, the subtle scent of blood, it all makes sense now. They were Vampires. I was a regular teenage boy cornered in an alley by Marvel vampires.

Oh shit.

With a panicked jerk, my hand weakly came up to protect myself just as the right one jumped at me. An impact rang out and I felt something snap.

Then agony rippled through my elbow, even more apparent than the wound in my stomach. I rolled on the rough ground, thrown away by the force, scraping my back and spraining my ankle.

They all started laughing. I couldn't see well due to a cut on my forehead but I knew I had to do something to survive.

"Shazam!"

I cried out. Nothing happened. There was no sudden blast of lightning or power coursing through me. Dammit!!

My left arm dangled uselessly. I scrambled to my feet by leaning on the wall. 'Oh god... I'm... I'm gonna die here. I'm gonna die here and nobody will even care. Nobody knows me in this world...'

"Get Up."

A voice said at the back of my head.

I shook my head to get rid of the sudden hallucination. And now I was hearing voices. Oh goodie, I think I might have lost too much blood.

"You hit him too hard Anisa. His hand is broken."

Short hair said.

"That's the point, Alice."

The long nailed one argued back.

"But I wanted to play with him a little longer."

"Both of you, shut up."

The one who had stabbed me, the one with the bleached hair ordered, striding towards me with an hungry look on her face.

Without the trash can, I blindly lashed out with a fist. My hand was easily stopped by a vice grip.

"Looks like he still has some fight in him."

I was grabbed roughly by the hair, head wrenched back to expose my neck.

"No no no!! Stop! Please..."

My futile struggles earned me a slap to my cheek. A tooth dislodged, my tongue tasting blood.

"Helghht!"

My mouth was sealed with a palm.

"Shush,"

Bleached hair leaned into my ears.

"You don't want someone else coming to save you and meeting the same fate now, do you?"

Fuck...she was right.

"I demand you fight back."

The same voice from earlier intoned. Like an echo ringing out across the caverns of my mind.

'Who?'

"Now stop struggling."

Bleached hair added as the other two closed in.

Their eyes glowed.

"You want this. You're going to enjoy this."

The one holding me whispered.

A snort rang out.

"Weak and ineffectual compulsions like these have no effect on a God of Wisdom!"

The vampire blinked in surprise, whilst staring into my eyes. Then something rippled out, slamming everything away.

My mind expanded to feel it all. I could feel the thousands of minds surrounding me.

I could feel them. These things...

The glamour around them fell away as I saw the truth of their minds.

They were nothing but creatures of the dark who had given themselves over to the addiction of life force. Dark oily presences that used these beautiful forms to lure in prey and hunt.

The three of them sprang up to their feet, cautious.

"Sisters what was that?!"

"I'm tired of waiting! Give me your blood human!"

Long nails snarled, using the walls of the building, she lunged at me with a speed I couldn't react to. I flinched, only to feel a dull thunk ring out as the Vampire landed on a blue dome around my kneeling form.

"Mutant!"

One of them hissed. The Short haired one

All of them sprang towards me, impatient, all the playing around gone.

Claws gleamed, slashing out at the blue energy dome but failing to penetrate. I blinked in surprise.

"Fight back child!"

The same voice from earlier commanded. Before I could do or say anything, a trash compartment flew into the air to land on the shield. A headache assaulted my brain at the impact.

"Fight? Fight how?!"

I groaned back. my right hand cradled the left in pain, my mouth was swollen and I was steadily bleeding out. It was a miracle I hadn't passed out.

"The Wisdom of Solomon is not just about having my quality of experience, decision making or knowledge. I was a king blessed with massive amounts of psionic potential. Use your mind to attack just as you have defended."

Wisdom of Solomon?

Solomon...as in the first of the letters in Shazam. The god of Wisdom. Only he was a king right?

"King or god, what does it matter? My sovereign station is still above mewling pups like these blood parasites."

The trash compartment was lifted up by Long nails but before she could slam it back down onto the shield around me, I thought of the spell Bombarda from Harry Potter.

I pictured it as a shockwave spreading out through the entire alley.

There was a loud bang with my mind feeling like it was being squeezed from all sides.

The concrete quads on the ground rose up in a wave of stones and dust speeding outwards with me at the center.

The impact shredded the trash compartment into metal shrapnel that burst out just as I was thrown back, slamming my head onto the wall behind me.

Darkness swiftly claimed me. My last sight was of something blue and red landing in between the femme fatales and I.

So far it hadn't even been 24 hours and trouble had found me.