sayshazam | For Alec and Isabelle

For Alec and Isabelle

Billy was a lot less nervous about letting Isabelle in on his secret than he was Alec. Maybe because Alec hadn't given him any reason to regret it and it had turned out so well. Well, as well as he could expect it to he supposed. He didn't know how he had expected it to go but Alec had been cool about it and had even told Billy he wouldn't have even told Isabelle about it. Still, Billy thought it was kind of shitty to expect someone to keep a secret from their sister when they were so close to them.

It was late in the evening with the sun just setting when he got to the park. Freddy, Seymour, and Naga were with him. Two dogs and a polar bear dog were a pretty good excuse to be at the park any hour. Earlier he'd realized how dumb it was to make the only door to the cave here in the park and had added one at his apartment too.

Whistling to the animals they bounded over to where he was standing and he gave them all a scratch behind the ears and treats from his pocket. Glancing around he wondered how much longer Alec would be and what his friend would have told his sister to convince her to come with him. One thing for sure was that Isabelle was probably going to give Billy the biggest "I told you so" when he proved he wasn't actually a normal kid. Was it too late to change his mind?

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"Not exactly," Billy said, walking forward into lightning bolt shaped doorway that stood in the middle of the park. At least, it stood there for him, not so much for anyone else. Once he was sure that Alec and Isabelle were with him he stepped through it, taking them into the cave.

Poseidon's trident and crown were off to one side on display and Jack Frost's staff next to them. He had small library of magical books along with the pool, a nice couch, and a sort of kitchen as well.

"So, this is, um, I guess it's like my secret base or something. I don't have a name for it yet."

Wow he sounded lame. He needed to think of a cool name for the place really soon. Fortress of Solitude? No, that was dumb. Shazam Cave? Even dumber. Damn this was hard.

The journey from the park to Billy's cave was still jarring in that they hadn't used a portal, there hadn't been any visible door, and yet they were somewhere else. Somewhere hidden. Billy had done to his cave what Shadowhunters did to their Institute and hide them in plain sight.

He let go of Isabelle's hand and looked around. Even having been here once before, it was still something to behold. The Institute was filled with old antiques, weapons that were priceless and trophies from hunts but Billy's items were like nothing he'd seen before.

"I don't know, Secret Base sounds like it'd work for me," Alec quipped, glancing over at his sister to see how she was reacting. She'd been wry and sarcastic since he'd led them to the park but now that she knew that Billy wasn't a mundane, that he was something much more, he wondered what she thought.

One minute she's standing in the park holding hands and looking like an idiot, and the next she's in a cave. There's been no sucking pull like there is with a portal, like it's trying to drag you through from your insides, but somehow she's here anyway. She blinks, looks around, and promptly swears. "I knew you were lying to me!" She shouts, pointing her finger at Billy. "Mundane, what a load of rubbish." She's less angry than she is surprised at the lengths to what she's been shown so far. She'd expected him to maybe be some kind of new Downworlder, something she maybe hadn't seen before but familiar all the same. Instead he's like a boy out of one of Simon's comic books, secret goddamn base and all.

Curious, she does a quick lap of the cave, inspecting the various trophies and odd objects. It's like walking through Hodge's office, before he had gone and ruined all their lives. "So how do you make the glamour work then?" she demands when she turns back to face him. "Mine clearly don't. Spill."

"I'm not going to tell some random girl I just met that I'm not normal!" Billy said, throwing his hands up. Really though, he had expected as much from her and he supposed she deserved it. "It's not like you told me your secret. Besides, you thought I wasn't normal because I was running and jumping on buildings. That's not why I'm different."

Billy watched her look around and wondered if it was too much. Was the pool in the cave overdoing it? He told himself it was for the animals but it totally wasn't just for the animals.

"Oh, it's a magical spell? I could make it so you two can see the entrance and come in if you need to."

"You two must have had some kind of first meeting," Alec said, looking between the two of them and sounding vaguely amused. He knew how his sister could be especially when it came to men and with the way Billy had immediately gone on the offensive, he knew that Isabelle must have twisted him up somewhat too.

"That's up to you," Alec said, nodding at Billy. "It's your place. We've got a place like this back home. Mundanes walk right by it without knowing what's inside or what it really looks like. Hiding something like this in plain sight's a good idea."

"You didn't ask my secret," Isabelle argues, and then whirls on Alec. "Actually, what secret? I don't have any secrets, do I Alec?" It's a later cover up and a flimsy one at that, but she doesn't know where she stands. Alec is talking about the Institute and mundanes like Billy is in the know, but he can't be. It's against the Law. She'd been willing to deal with Reid; he's Luke's boyfriend and Luke himself has never really listened to the Clave, but that doesn't mean they can go telling everyone.

On the other hand, it's a little freeing. Isabelle is used to moving in the shadows but she'd be lying if she said she wasn't enjoying people being able to see her just a tiny bit. She likes the attention, liked kissing a werewolf without him knowing what she was and having to move past the whole trust thing. She's always liked Downworlders, she can't help it, and if Darrow is going to make that a little easier she's okay with it.

Forcing herself to focus, Isabelle frowns. "You can do magic and jump around buildings. What else?"

Alec made a face at Isabelle, wondering why she was trying to keep up appearances when even he'd dropped them for the moment. It was impossible to keep everything about their people secret when their Marks could be seen by Downworlders and Sighted mundanes.

"You've got plenty of secrets, Iz," he said, shaking his head. They were the only two Shadowhunters in this city and if they were going to keep doing what they were born to do, he figured they'd need some allies, some people who knew what they were. Billy wasn't a typical Downworlder and Alec trusted him.

"And I haven't told anyone any of them," he continued, glancing over at Billy. "Relax."

He didn't laugh at the absurdity of him being the one to tell her to relax. Usually, it was the other way around.

"The only thing he really told me was that you were the fun sibling," Billy said, not wanting Alec to get in too much trouble for what he'd told Billy. Not that Alec couldn't defend himself but he'd seen these sort of sibling fights before. Generally they were way older than just the argument they were currently having.

"And I can do lots of stuff. Like this... Shazam!"

The lightning flashed and there was the booming of thunder as Billy transformed into Shazam. Lightning crackled around him as he managed to look a little sheepish, despite the fact that he was now over six feet tall and with a ridiculous amount of muscles. He hadn't realized how... over the top his transformation could be until he'd done it for a few people.

"Well," Isabelle huffs, crossing her arms. It's hard to stay mad when Billy is trying to be nice to her and her brother is admitting that she's way more fun than him. It's a fact that Isabelle knows well, even if she wishes Alec would join in sometimes.

There's a flash of lightning before Isabelle can think about what to expect, and then suddenly Billy changes. The first thing she does is look him over head to toe appreciatively. It's almost too much, too over the top to be all that attractive, but Isabelle is open to suggestions. "So you yell shazam and turn into a hunk?" She can guess what goes along with the transformation easily enough. He looks like he could step on just about anything and crush it, but she's confident that her whip would give him a run for his money regardless.

"Okay fine," she says to Alec. "He's some kind of super hunk and as well as being the fun sibling, I'm a Shadowhunter." She says the last in Billy's direction, half expecting him to ask what it means and half expecting Alec to have already explained.

"Stop telling me that he's a hunk," Alec said, holding up his hands and shaking his head. He didn't necessarily disagree but it was so weird to hear that coming from his sister's mouth while Billy was standing right there.

"We're both Shadowhunters," Alec said, glancing over at Billy. "Demon hunters but I've told you that before. And yes, she is the fun sibling. If you wanna find a party or a club, take her and not me."

If anyone asked Alec to find them some fun, he'd stare at them blankly before either offering to spar or making a face and walking away. Fun wasn't really a big thing in his genes. Isabelle was carrying everything exciting.

"Uh, yeah, stop saying that," Billy said, flushing at the compliment. It wasn't like he hadn't heard people say nice stuff before, and it's not like this is really what he looked like, but Isabelle's said it so easily and- and while looking like Isabelle looked it was hard not to feel at least a little bit flustered.

"I don't want to go to a party or club," Billy said, half under his breath. He'd done that and ended up just standing around awkwardly. "Some old wizard gave me the powers and the job to protect the world from evil magic and then died. Soooo... kind of making it up as I go along."

Isabelle stops admiring the view if only because Alec will chastise her for making Billy uncomfortable later and she can't be bothered with that conversation. Instead, she focuses in on the whole wizard thing because what.

"Some old wizard." She shrugs. She's learning that Darrow houses more of the Shadow World than she knee existed, more things that Hodge never told them about. This is another new one, but how far off from a warlock can a wizard be? She's heard mundanes refer to them in much the same way.

"It sucks that he died." She doesn't know if they were close, but she's guessing not from the way he's talking. "It must be hard to go it alone." It's sympathy that Isabelle wouldn't normally dole out, but despite herself she does like Billy, and she can't imagine being alone. She's always had Alec and Jace and their parents and Hodge. Even after Hodge betrayed them she still had an Institute full of people to train with.

"I told Billy I'd spar against him sometime," Alec said before adding, "but not while he's like this. Might be good practice for a Greater Demon but I've put enough iratzes on myself lately that I don't need more after a training session."

That was Alec's way of saying he didn't think he'd be able to beat Billy when he was like this. The last time he'd gone against a Greater Demon, even with Jace and Isabelle and Clary there, he'd almost died. It still rankled that Simon had saved the day while he'd been pathetically dying on the ground.

"I bet you could show him something with your whip," Alec joked, glancing over at Isabelle and the bracelet that adorned her wrist.

"Eh, it's no different than normal," Billy said with a shrug before Alec's comment about Isabelle's whip threw him off guard a bit. Alec had made it pretty clear that he didn't feel the need to spar with Billy when Billy was like this but apparently Isabelle might not feel the same way.

Billy still had a hard time fighting against girls sometimes. The dumb thing was he'd had his ass kicked by girls plenty of times to know that they weren't delicate, fragile flowers. But fighting them, even sparring them, was especially uncomfortable when he was Shazam and knew he could hurt or incapacitate them without much effort.

"Wait, what whip?"

Isabelle doesn't answer straight away, just lets go of the glamour and lets the whip uncurl from her wrist, shining and deadly. It can cut almost anything, and she's never had any problems with it slicing off a body part of two before.

"This whip," she says once she has it in her hand, giving it a snap against the ground for emphasis. "Weapon of choice and all that." Her whip is part of her, and extension of her arm almost, hardly ever free from her wrist. It's her safety net, and it's gotten her out of more scrapes than she can count. She eyes Billy - Shazam - off, sizing him up. He's big and strong and the muscles are thick, but she's pretty sure the whip is an even match.

"Electrum," Alec explained, watching the whip uncurl and grow to its full length. When they'd been younger, he'd tried to handle the whip and had done all right but he didn't come close to the level of skill Isabelle had. It was truly at home in her hands and it was lethal when she wanted it to be.

"It can take off limbs if you're not careful," he went on, glancing over at Billy. "I'm not sure how different you are in this form in terms of bone and skin but I've seen her whip go through Greater Demons before and slice them like they're butter."

He paused and added, "Not that I want her to cut off your arms or anything. It might be a good test for you for flexibility and agility if anything."

"I don't know. I haven't really found much that can hurt me. Werewolf and vampire claws and bites can sometimes scratch my skin but that's it," Billy said, although it was half-mumbled as he watched the whip. It looked pretty awesome and Isabelle was totally comfortable with it. It didn't even seem like a weapon in her hands, more like just an extension of her arm.

"It looks... beautiful? Is that weird to say? I mean, it looks like it could take someone's head off too..."

"It has taken someone's head off," she says with a wicked grin, half to mess with him and half because it's the truth. She's never tested it on someone like Billy, but how different could he be, really? She's sliced a Greater Demon with this thing and not much is tougher than that.

Isabelle curls the whip again, lets it settle against her skin and glamour into a bracelet again. "Easy to hide, too. Just like your magic cave."

Billy's words combined with the knowledge he had of what Isabelle's whip could do actually made him curious as to if her whip could actually have any kind of affect on him. He didn't necessarily want to put it to practical use because no one needed to lose limbs but he was still curious.

"Greater Demons can take a lot of abuse but if she uses that whip or we get a seraph blade in them, they're pretty much done," Alec said, shrugging. "Seraph blades are in short supply here, though. I've got one that I haven't used yet."

"Except my magic cave has a pool," Billy murmured, although he was kind of interested to know if her whip could cut him. Unfortunately he didn't want to know so bad that he would risk getting his hand cut off. It was probably just best to avoid getting whipped by Isabelle.

"What's a Seraph blade? Is that a magical knife?"

At the question, Isabelle pulls the seraph blade out of her belt to show him. "It's a sword that's been blessed with the name of an Angel," she tells him. All of a sudden she feels like Hodge, like she's teaching a class on Shadowhunter weapons and she resists the urge to roll her eyes. This is just Billy being curious, not Shadowhunter show and tell, and besides, she'd like to think that she's much prettier than Hodge. Also way less prone to betrayal.

Like Alec, she's yet to name this blade, keeping it in case of a tougher demon. It's certainly not active now, so the blade she's showing him is dull, lifeless, not particularly impressive, but she knows the way it looks when she calls its name, knows how powerful it is. "This one hasn't been called on, obviously."

"Best weapon to kill demons," Alec filled in, giving Isabelle's blade a quick look. He was pleased to see that she had the same idea that he had, that they couldn't use these unless really needed since it wasn't like the Iron Sisters could resupply them here.

"It looks a lot better when it's named," Alec went on, nodding. "We give it the name of an angel and use it to cut through any type of demon that wants to stand in our way. They don't stand too long."

"And you just have a list of angel names you can call your weapons? Like... you decide its name is Noah or something and suddenly it's super powerful?" he asked, trying not to sound like he thought they were full of it. He knew they weren't. Isabelle seemed like the sort to make up something ridiculous to see if someone would believe it but Billy didn't think Alec would let her get away with it while he was here.

Isabelle shrugs. It sounds stupid when he puts it that way but it is, more or less, the gist of it. "Yes, I suppose." She rolls her eyes, tempted to name the damn blade just to show it off. "But it does have to be an Angel's name. I can't just call it... Barry or something and have it light up." She should have taken this and run with it. She can see the disbelief on his face, like he thinks he's being taken for a ride, and it makes Isabelle want to make things up.

Alec can almost hear Isabelle holding herself back from toying with Billy. He can tell that she wanted to mess with him, tease him, and she admirably stopped herself. Impressive.

"Anyway, once we name them and use them, that's it especially here," Alec sighed, shaking his head. "We'd need the Iron Sisters to recharge them and unless I've been looking in all the wrong spots, we have no Iron Sisters or adamas so we have to be careful with what we use them on."

"So it's a magical sword that you only get to use once? Does it last very long?"

He knew it was a lot of questions and it was probably super annoying for them to answer them all. It was super basic stuff to them and he had no clue at all. But these were his friends and they did a really dangerous job. A dangerous job that he wanted to help with and the more he knew the better he could help if they asked.

"And why do you need them if your whip can cut of a demons hand? You should just use that. Which is why cooler than Alec's bow," he said before turning to Alec. "Sorry dude, but it is. It's all camouflaged and stuff and your bow is super obvious."

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For Alec and Isabelle

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