It has been over a year now since Valor first began intervening in the affairs of the crooked denizens of the greater Dallas-Fort Worth area, yet it seems no one outside the metroplex even knew he existed. This notion didn't bother him. The way he saw it, this kept him a vigilante and not official law enforcement. The local police don't mind, in fact, most of them love having the kid around occasionally making their jobs easier. This just meant he could spend most of his days playing games with his friends instead of patrolling the city, which is the very last thing he wanted to do on the last day of Summer Vacation.
He was in play clothes: sneakers; black shorts, a red tee-shirt, and a black mesh jersey on top. When Valor wasn't flying around he spent his time at the park near his house like a normal boy. He, his brothers, and his two closest friends ran up and down the wooden playground equipment playing tag and pretending it was a ship flying through the sky. For some reason, it was really easy for him to act like he was powerless to make it fair for his buddies. They were having the best day to close out Summer they could think of, up until Valor's attention was taken away from what he was doing, just as he ran headfirst into an iron gymnastics bar.
"Tommy," as he was called in his civilian life, "are you okay!?"
"Yeah, yeah. I'm cool. Just heard something downtown. No grown-ups are around, right?"
"Aww… you have to leave?"
"Sorry. There was a loud boom and it just doesn't -feel- right. Make sure my brothers get home okay if I'm not back before my dad gets there. If not, he'll be really mad."
He flipped his jersey inside out as it was attached to the shoulders of his cardinal red tee-shirt, revealing that he was wearing his cape, if you can call it that, all along. Valor made one last scouting of his surroundings so that no one he knew could see him and then crouched down like a runner ready to kick off from the starting line at a race. Becoming nothing but a blur to his compatriots, he was off northward leaving behind a mighty gust of wind that knocked his youngest brother off his feet. In just ten minutes of running between the traffic on Highway 67, he had arrived at Turtle Creek Park, the scene of the commotion, and what, or more so who he saw left Valor in a state of bewilderment.
"Mack!?"
In the center of the street was a man of average height and lean build with slicked back, spikey, platinum blonde hair and bright blue eyes, like an older version of Valor almost, tossing cars around with his bare hands and laughing psychotically at the chaos and destruction. He work boots and blue jeans but left his upper half indecent with just a crimson red vest hanging from his shoulders. Amid the panic, he noticed the one who called out his name and was overjoyed. In fact, he was so pleased to see Valor that he callously chucked a truck into a nearby residence without aiming and skipped over to greet him.
"Ah, well if it isn't the guest of honor himself," the man he called Mack zealously said leaning in with his hands on his hips, but quickly shifted back waving his figure like a scolding mother, "It took you long enough to get here. I almost thought you weren't going to come entertain me."
"What are you doing here Mack, and why do you look so different?"
"I don't look that different, do I? I mean this is close enough to count, right? Anyway, right, what was the other question? It didn't seem important so I forgot."
"Why are you here," Valor asked with a face so serious it could kill a bureaucrat.
"Oh yes, yes, that. To be honest, it was just getting boring in Limbo. You know how slow time goes by there. With a millennial to every annual, I just couldn't let you have all the fun for another ten thousand years."
"And the havoc?"
"I told you, I want to have fun."
"You can't just do whatever you want Mack, there are rules here."
"Ah, and who is going to enforce those codes, you," Mack cried sarcastically.
He lifted his arm up and a small nova grew in front of his palm as he looked for a satisfying target. He caught his eyes on a mother pushing a carriage while dragging along a few more children and grinned maliciously. Just as he was about to fire, Mack lost concentration and dissipated the nova after feeling a tiny hand wrenching his wrist hard enough to crack a copper pipe. He turned and stared at Valor, very displeased.
"Fine. If you wish to be that way, then you'll be my plaything."
Mack balled his fist and struck the boy in his right eye. He was immediately sent soaring backward through the city like a missile drilling into each building without losing much momentum for a good mile and a half. Valor got up out of the surrounding rubble, having a black eye slowly heal after that brutal wallop.
"I guess I'll just sit here and tune this while you take your sweet time getting back," Mack taunted while twisting the tuning knobs on a crimson and gold guitar he seemingly pulled out of nowhere.
The child charged straight back through the holes his body created in all the walls between Mack and him. Though his vision was well enough to see the boy at a mile away, Mack still tuned his guitar nonchalantly. Reaching speeds that only made the apertures wider simply by passing back through them, Valor returned to the baleful being with his tiny fists clenched and ready to strike.
"Ah, there's the pitch!" Mack gleefully rejoiced as he finished tuning his guitar and struck a powerful chord. Waves of energy that would be invisible to all but the two combatants pulsated from the strings of his musical axe that tore at the ground and sent him hurtling back through most of the same edifices he had just returned from. Local law enforcement had the block isolated from incoming traffic since before Valor showed up, but it was only now that Mack realized the local S.W.A.T. units were closing in. Completely surrounding the devious agent of destruction, their orders were to silence the threat immediately. They opened fire without hesitating, unloading hundreds of rounds from various assault rifles and submachine guns at him. It was to no avail. Mack let out a maniacal fit of laughter while their bullets simply ricocheted off him at all angles and damaged many nearby objects and even a couple of officers. After the first friendly fire was spotted everyone ceased activity and took a defensive stance while treating the wounded.
"You call those guns? Ha! Welcome to the gun show!"
The guitar that had been hanging from his torso energized into two crimson and gold machine rifles that were each large enough to require two large men to carry and should otherwise be mounted upon the top of a vehicle, but of course, he held them effortlessly tucked under his armpits. Mack let loose his canons which would annihilate everyone in their paths, but he only heard the bolts of energy collide with heavy metal. In his line of fire stood an empty armored S.W.A.T. truck being propped up by none other than Valor.
"You know, this hero complex of yours is really getting-"
With his speech being interrupted by an armored truck batting him into the sky, this time it was Mack who was sent rocketing into the distance. Valor glanced over and noticed the hurt officers and even recognized one of them. He rushed over to help them knowing there was no way medical attention would be readily available the way things were. Leaning over the men, a shimmering white glow spread over their wounds. Slowly the bullets sifted up and out of their bodies like an air pocket in water and the wounds closed up almost like they hadn't been there at all.
"What is that you are doing," asked Officer Anderson.
"I call it reversion. It takes quite some time for your soul to catch up with changes to your body, so as long as I act fast I can fix most things. I can't fix anything though. It takes a lot of energy for something this small and recent, but the longer and greater the damage the harder it is to fix."
"Well good thing you showed up, that dirtbag would have likely wasted all of us."
"I don't get it though, Mack used to be so nice and playful."
"You know that guy? He is a monster!"
"I've known Mack for as long as I can remember, but I guess -he- is no longer the way -he- was. In fact, I remember this one time-"
Valor vanished from Officer Anderson's sight in a flash before he could finish what he was saying. Mack held the boy by his cape as he ran dragging Valor face down across the city streets. Not appreciating this very much, Valor drove his fingers into the ground pulling them both to a grinding halt and flinging Mack back in the opposite direction. They both got up and stared the other down for about a minute. Mack once again summoned his crimson guitar, but this chord he played transformed it into a weapon of seemingly minimal devastation: a pair of metallic knuckles of the same design.
"Come on Mack, we don't have to do this."
"What, and ruin all the fun we're having!?"
Energy as bright as the sun gleamed around Valor's fists and both combatants wound up in a battle stance. In the time it takes to blink, the two jolted at each other with their predominant left fists impacting. The explosive force from the collision destroyed the overpass they stood upon in its entirety. The two took little time after to continue exchanging blows knocking each other around the city. Valor tried his best to direct the battle away from heavily populated parts of the city, but he could only manage to control that factor so much against an opponent just as strong as himself inside a town as large as Dallas. Finally, however, Mack's excitement got the better of him and he missed a very wide punch at a very small target. Valor seized the opportunity and drove his knee into his opponent's stomach. In the flinching moment, he flipped around Mack, popped him in the lower back, and sent him flying into the Trinity River. Valor wouldn't let him get the upper hand again, so he ran to the landing zone prepared to continue the fight.
"Ech! Ew! Gross!" Mack shrieked like a little girl. "This river tastes and smells like poop! You know how much I hate icky stuff!"
Mack was regressing in behavior and letting his true demeanor out. Valor had known Mack for a long time and though he always preferred to take different forms as the shape-shifting demon he claims to be, he always lost his poise when he got too emotional. Mack slunk out of the waste-ridden mess that is the Trinity River wiping goop off his brow with a very indignant look on his face.
"You're mean, Tommy. I just wanted to help you today, but I'm not having fun anymore. I'm going home!"
Valor let out a heavy sigh of relief at hearing this. Mack only ever left after he grew bored or frustrated and though he was hurt to see his friend leave so upset, Valor was glad that his plan prevented the full extent of his possible rampage. Just before leaving, however, Mack turned and said one last thing to the boy.
"But I'll be back real soon. And trust me, everything is gonna get a lot more interesting. I guarantee it."
He reached his hand to the sky, letting off a blinding explosion. And with a bang and a cloud of smoke Mack was gone, most likely back to limbo where he lived. With the chaos settling, Valor ran back home and let out a weighted sigh on the way.
"I hope it's not too soon, I've got school tomorrow…"