Faced with Brainiac's call, Shiller directly silenced his phone and then went to the door of Victor's office, knocking on it.
"Ah, Shiller, you're here. I must explain, it's not my intention to wake you today..."
"It's all right, I just wanted to ask if you had ti this afternoon. Hans and Madeline invited to play cards."
"Sorry, I don't have ti this afternoon. Little Billy has a specialist consultation. Besides the doctor, we also called Zatanna and John, we're going to jointly study his skeletal developnt issues..."
"Oh, right." Victor stood up from his desk and said, "Billy seems to be a bit anxious lately. You can see he doesn't want to go to the hospital but doesn't dare to say it. When do you have ti recently? Can you give him so psychological counseling?"
"This afternoon. Can I participate in the consultation?"
"Of course you can, but haven't you made an appointnt to play cards with soone?"
"Forget it, I've never won even a single hand against them." Shiller shook his head and said, "Besides, our newly appointed leader of the human race is urging to do so serious work. Compared to attending group etings and reading papers, I'd rather go to the consultation."
"Then it's settled." Victor rubbed his hands together, smiled, and said, "See you at the Central Hospital at 4:30."
"No problem." Shiller nodded and said.
After leaving Victor's office, Shiller didn't plan to go to the activity building. He picked up his phone and sent a group email to the students, canceling the afternoon's group eting.
The emails were all edited but couldn't be sent out. Shiller had to tap on the phone screen and said, "Don't play these little tricks on , Brainiac. I'm going to do serious work."
"Professor Bu, holding a group eting this afternoon would be very beneficial in advancing their thesis progress..."
"Forget it." Shiller gave up sending the emails.
"Professor, if you don't go, you might leave your students waiting there in vain. Do you really not care?"
"Ha." After a cold laugh, Shiller said, "Believe it or not, if I went, the one waiting in vain would be ."
Brainiac remained silent, evidently still not agreeing with Shiller's actions. However, Shiller's previous "reverse thinking" logic clearly had an impact on him. To avoid provoking Shiller further, he gave up trying to persuade him.
Shiller also knew, Brainiac probably wanted to wait until the students were all there, and then morally coerce himself.
But he wouldn't think that the students will never all be there. To be precise, probably none will go this afternoon.
Shiller stayed in the office for a bit, writing his paper, then finished a news draft for a magazine interview, and took a look at Gotham University's football team's promotional information.
It was about ti, so he went out again and drove to Gotham Central Hospital.
The hospital is not far from the Tomorrow Alliance's activity base, both near the Gotham River. Heading east is the city center, and further east is Diamond Street and Shiller's shop.
Shiller asked the receptionist about the consultation room, then was taken to the conference room by the reception staff. People were already there, but Shiller only took a glance inside and then waited at the door.
Soon, Victor and Nora ca over, holding Billy's hand.
"Oh, you're here. We were thinking of going to greet you later."
"No need. Give five minutes, I'll conduct an ergency psychological counseling first, this should help him better answer the doctors' questions..."
Shiller took Billy to the adjacent room. Billy sat on the chair, Shiller crouched down, looked into Billy's eyes, and said, "Did the person who gave you Shazam's power say sothing to you?"
Billy's slightly tense expression collapsed instantly. He beca terrified and kept retreating. Shiller held his knee and said, "Don't be afraid, he can't do anything to you. Now tell , what did he say to you?"
"He... he said this power is harmless and won't damage my body. He said not to listen to Professor Fries..."
Billy stamred. Shiller continued to stare into his eyes, "I'm afraid that's not all?"
Billy clenched both hands tightly, twitched his nose forcefully, and his arm muscles trembled a bit. Shiller sighed, pulled a chair beside him, turned his head to look at him, and said:
"You shouldn't call him Professor Fries. You used to call him Victor, and you even longed to call him Dad. Why have you changed so much after talking to Old Shazan?"
"I don't know." Billy's eyes reddened as he said, "The Wizard told they don't want to be Shazam because if I don't have superpower, they can control . So I should use my power to free myself from them."
"What did he tell you to do? Kill them?"
"Of course not!" Billy looked terrified, "He said I've never thought that way! Not even a bit! I will never use this power to do bad things!"
"Haven't you really noticed any impact of this power on your body at all, Billy? Or do you just love this special feeling, this sense of superiority over peers of the sa age?"
Billy's face turned red, mumbling without speaking.
"I'm not saying it's wrong. Everyone wants to be special. Not just children, adults too. What the human race has always pursued is not equality, but privilege."
"You enjoy this—the joy of having a secret identity even though you're all at the sa school learning the sa courses. But what you truly enjoy, is it the psychological superiority of 'I'm different,' or the sense of achievent you get by helping others as Shazam?"
Billy was stunned by this question. Before he could answer, Shiller said, "Old Shazam always emphasizes the first point to you, emphasizing that you are different and that you should do everything to maintain that difference. This makes you feel that the joy of maintaining the Shazam identity is because of being different."
"But is it really so? Are you happiest imagining transforming into Shazam while playing gas with classmates, basking in their admiring gazes? Or when you use that power to help others, receiving their gratitude? Which makes you happier?"
Billy sat there blankly, thinking for a long ti, then said, "Sotis I do fantasize about how much they would admire if they found out I'm the great hero Shazam. But I just think about it, I don't want them to know."
"Why?"
"Being an adult isn't cool at all." Billy shook his head. "If I turned into an adult, I couldn't play with them anymore. They'd definitely laugh at ."
After hesitating a bit, he added, "But I have helped a lot of people, even saved so of my classmates' parents. When they look at with grateful eyes, I feel proud, but sotis I get a bit depressed."
"Depressed about what?"
"Shazam is a great hero, but I'm not." Billy pursed his lips. "They're praising Shazam, not . It makes feel a bit lost."
"Your grades aren't very good," Shiller suddenly changed the topic, "you might even say you're lagging behind in your courses. You're average in sports and your personality is ordinary, not particularly popular."
"You want to beco popular, so you wish the praise Shazam receives could be directed at you. That way, you'd certainly be popular. But it's not possible because everyone knows Shazam is an adult, they would never associate it with you. That makes you feel very lost, doesn't it?"
Billy nodded vigorously, turning to look at Shiller with a look of surprise and a bit of admiration.
"I'm afraid to tell Victor, afraid he'll think I'm too vain. Is vain the word? My foster mom used to say that about . She said I was a vain kid."
"My classmates do speculate about Shazam's true identity during their free ti. They say he could be a police officer, a dockworker, or even soone's dad. But they'd never guess it's ."
"At tis like that, I'm both happy and sad. If they don't know, then they won't exclude . But if they don't know, I'm always the unnoticed one."
"I completely understand," Shiller nodded and said, "Adults feel that way too. When they have an amazing pasti, they're worried about being labeled as eccentric and kicked out of the group. But they also want others to know how great they are at it. It's always a struggle."
"So how do adults solve it?"
"That's not the point, Billy. I can't say if there's truly a solution. Whether you can solve it or not is your own matter, do you understand my point?"
Billy turned his head back, gently lowering his head, and said, "The Wizard said Victor didn't want to be Shazam. Is that what he thinks?"
"He knows you're Shazam. He hasn't stopped you from helping others. What do you think?"
"But they want to cure my illness. That would make lose this power, right?"
"If they only wanted you to lose this power, they wouldn't need to go to such lengths," Shiller shook his head, "Since the last ti your power failed, you should understand this power is not omnipotent. It cos from the gods of Mount Olympus, and those gods are not always effective."
"So I can keep this power and still cure my illness?"
"That's Victor's plan, but whether it can be done depends on this consultation. So you need to answer the doctor's questions seriously, cooperate with the examinations and treatnt. Okay?"
Billy nodded but still seed a bit indecisive. Shiller knew that just this conversation would not be enough to shake the place old Shazam held in his heart.
When Shiller could directly analyze the despicableness of old Shazam to Xi Wana, it was because old Shazam had facilitated Xi Wana's tragic life. Xi Wana himself knew who his enemy was. Emotionally, the two of them were aligned.
But for Billy, when he was unhappy in previous foster families, he relied on using the power of Shazam to release pressure. Old Shazam may have had ulterior motives, but he did teach him a lot.
Compared to newcors like Shiller and Victor, old Shazam was the elder who had always been with him. The status of old Shazam in Billy's mind was not so easily shaken, it could only be done slowly.
However, since old Shazam sought out Billy at this ti, it showed that Billy was indeed wavering. He liked this new family and his new life in Gotham.
The power of Shazam was no longer his only spiritual pillar, turning from a necessity to a non-essential. That naturally made the supplier anxious.
Old Shazam knew that as long as Billy could return to that isolated and helpless state, he would remain the only person he could trust, and thus could manipulate and control him at will.
And his cunning lies in the fact that Billy is still a child, easily manipulated and instigated, but because of his young age, everything he did seed to stem from the heart.
All the doubts and rebellion he displayed would beco daggers aid at his new family. Perhaps his unhappiness in previous foster hos was not just about the family. So vile people schemingly aid to monopolize his affections was the key factor.
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