by Libbylawrence
Days later, at the Armstrong estate in Virginia, a refreshed Eve Armstrong stood arm in arm with her husband beside their car.
Alan Armstrong smiled at Jack Armstrong, the former Jack Smith, and said, “I am looking forward to meeting my nieces when Eve and I return from our vacation. I know you’ll do a fine job looking after the place, Jack!”
“I’ll do my best,” said Jack. “It’s a bit shocking to go from a small humble island home to a mansion!”
“You’ll be fine,” said Alan reassuringly. “Remember, our scans showed that neither you nor Eve have any lingering effects from the Brain-O-Graph. Plus, the Mask is in a prison hospital, and his Gyrosub is secure in our workshop.”
“I can’t wait to study it in detail!” said Jack.
“Son, you’ll be welcome to do so,” said Alan. “In fact, I wanted to wait until our return to broach this topic, but this may be a better time, since it will give you time to mull over my offer.”
“What offer?” asked Jack.
Alan exchanged a glance with Eve, who nodded eagerly. “Jack, I want to spend the rest of my life with Eve, and I want that life to be a normal one. I want to enjoy a normal life. With that in mind, I’d like to ask you to become my heir. I’d like you to take on the role of Spy Smasher after an appropriate period of training. You’d have plenty of help from me and other non-retired heroes, since I also want to finance a central headquarters for Shazam’s Squadron of Justice, where any hero could come to exchange news and ideas, and help one another out.”
Jack gasped, then said, “Yes! I want to do it. It would be like a dream come true.”
“It would be the culmination of what should have happened years ago, had Jack and I not separated,” said Alan.
With those words and the promise of a new beginning for all, the Armstrongs literally drove off into the sunset.
The End