Black Adam was first and foremost an adult, which meant verbal deception wouldn't work. Though he also shouted "Shazam" to gain his power, unlike Billy Batson—whose power came from the Greek gods—his power derived from the Egyptian pantheon.
Just as Thea pursued balanced development of six magical forces, the Shazam ritual also granted the power of six deities to maintain the bearer's physical equilibrium: the stamina of Shu, the swiftness of Horus, the strength of Amon, and so on.
Yes, among Black Adam's six divine powers was Thea's old friend Horus...
This was the main reason she felt confident targeting him. After all, she didn't need to kill him outright—she needed to capture him, then slowly absorb his divine power.
That raised the difficulty by two full levels.
Deathstroke returned quickly, bringing Papa Midnite with him. As Thea's only magic specialist, he would play a crucial role in the upcoming battle.
Thea instructed Deathstroke to mobilize personnel from various locations. There were too many satellites over Iraq, and many of her subordinates couldn't be exposed to public view. The Earth side would only handle the initial unsealing. As soon as they summoned Black Adam, they'd package him up and teleport him away. The actual battlefield would be on an alien planet where her numerous subordinates waited to gang up on him.
With careful planning against an unprepared opponent, Black Adam—sealed for a thousand years—would probably leave Earth before he even understood what was happening.
The rest was self-evident. Thea's side had this in the bag.
Black Adam could be dragged away forcibly, but Dr. Sivana's archaeological team wasn't suitable for such treatment. The expedition had also hired quite a few mercenaries. To avoid exposing her involvement, Thea planned to deal with these people using firearms. In war-torn Baghdad, who could say who killed them?
Soon after, having gathered Deathstroke's subordinates, Thea—whose teleportation magic had reached new heights—directly transported dozens of people via long-range teleportation.
...
In a valley forty-five miles northwest of Baghdad.
Dr. Sivana, a man in his fifties, wandered excitedly around the camp. Like Luthor, he was a bald billionaire, but his focus was completely different.
Investigating mysterious forces had been his lifelong aspiration. For this dream, he could endure public ridicule and mockery from within his own family, because he firmly believed a mysterious power remained in this world. To that end, he'd taught himself hundreds of ancient languages and constantly ventured to dangerous places around the globe, seeking truth in ancient texts.
Three years ago, through some obscure channel, he'd learned of Black Adam's legend and discovered the story of this powerful wizard's journey from slave to king. Unaware that Thea had deliberately leaked this information to him, Dr. Sivana had devoted himself to studying ancient texts, searching for evidence in fragments and countless tombs. Finally, today, he'd achieved a major breakthrough.
He'd led his team through months of labor in this distant land, moving heaven and earth, all to prove his judgment was correct.
"Doctor! You were right! We've found something." Dr. Sivana could still recall his subordinate's shock and admiration—rising from the depths of the subordinate's heart—after finally seeing results from his stubborn persistence.
He didn't order immediate excavation. Instead, he returned to camp to retrieve the various clues he'd collected over the years—like a student about to enter an examination hall, he kept reviewing these parchments and rubbings he could recite backwards.
Finally, having steadied his emotions and realizing his life's goal lay before him, he excitedly left the camp and entered a nearby cave.
He climbed down the ladder swiftly. Though already in his fifties, years of traversing mountains had kept his body robust.
"Gregory, how's it going?" he asked his prized student.
Even this prized student was already in his thirties, weathered and sporting an impressive beard. Gregory replied joyfully, "Doctor, we accidentally uncovered this door while digging. It's incredible—the infrasound completely failed to detect this structure."
Dr. Sivana suppressed his wildly beating heart. He felt his life's aspiration was right before him. Pushing his assistant aside, he personally took a small brush and began clearing dust from the door.
As the world's foremost archaeologist, he'd chosen his position accurately. He quickly cleared away a symbol.
A simplified yet dignified symbol appeared on the door. "An eye?" The bald doctor carefully compared it against everything he knew and had learned. The symbol was abstract. Many cultures worshiped eyes, so he couldn't immediately determine its meaning.
His personal involvement encouraged everyone, and the clearing work accelerated.
Soon, half the stone door appeared before them. One side depicted an eye, the other showed a lightning bolt symbol, facing each other. At the top were some blurred characters.
"This ancient script—I only recognize a few letters. This must be Black Adam's tomb. It has to be!" At this moment, Dr. Sivana was so excited he could barely contain himself, seemingly addressing others while also talking to himself.
Everyone who knew his habits didn't interrupt. He knew they wouldn't respond either, but at this moment, he couldn't express his joy without saying something.
Just as he thought no one would answer, something unexpected happened. A clear female voice said, "You're right, Doctor. This must be Black Adam's tomb."
With Deathstroke's subordinates pointing the way, Thea opened a sky-blue teleportation portal and descended directly to this location.
Nowadays, not only was Deathstroke developing his massive mercenary force under Thea's command, but Papa Midnite—equally ambitious—was no longer satisfied running a bar as a middleman. Realizing he needed assistance, he'd approached Mister E of the Cult of the Cold Flame. He'd told Mister E that outer space was full of resources—precious magical materials piled up like garbage.
Attracted by the enticing scenario Papa Midnite described, the two immediately buried the hatchet. Mister E brought the entire cult to become subordinates under Thea's command. Papa Midnite hadn't lied to him, though—many magical materials that were incredibly rare on Earth were truly ubiquitous on alien planets.
Like a kid in a candy store, Mister E—previously limited by scarce resources—was so delighted he couldn't sleep. Hearing that Thea had a major operation underway, he'd volunteered to help.
Considering they were also magic practitioners, Thea had brought them along as well, which was why they'd arrived slightly later than expected.
"Dr. Queen, you're here to...?" Bald Sivana naturally recognized Thea. He'd even watched the Metropolis videos over ten times. He could hear some high-level information too—many people had rationalized the magic Thea had cast against Doomsday as some kind of technological ray.
Magic itself was in decline and deliberately stayed hidden. Many people in power—even Dr. Sivana, this fervent supernatural enthusiast—hadn't realized magic was right beside them.
Perhaps in Dr. Sivana's subconscious, magic should be supremely noble and had long since vanished into the river of time. How could such legendary things still exist in the world? How could they be right beside him?