Intermission 3 - Tag, You're It!

"Okay class, today we're about to get a bit radical. That's right, we're going to be diving a bit deeper into division and learn how to deal with those pesky remainders."

Class always seemed boring compared to the vigilante life, but that is exactly the way Valor preferred things to stay. Even though he often finds it fun and exciting to help people and ward off danger, he does it for the sake of those weaker than him. If having to sit in class as plain old Tommy and wait for everyone else to catch up learning concepts that came more naturally to him meant that people were already safe that day, then so be it. Besides, division isn't so bad, right? What would be truly awful would be if…

"Frick," Valor muttered under his breath.

"Is there a problem?" asked his close friend Aaron.

"Yeah, downtown. A fire in the industrial area. I'd get there about the same time as the firemen, but it didn't feel like a blast from a normal accident."

"Mack?" asked his other friend Rhys.

"No, no. It is definitely natural, but it was caused by something weird. I better check it out."

Valor sat still and focused really hard on what he wanted to happen. Within moments blood dripped slowly from his nostrils and he raised his hand. His teacher noticed him and sighed.

"Another nosebleed, Tommy?"

"I'm sorry. It's not like I want this to happen," he said believably. Valor was a really good actor when he needed to get out of class.

"Okay, it looks like a bad one. Go to the nurse's office and have them call your mom to come to get you. Even if it stops you'll need a clean shirt."

Luckily for him, the fourth-grade classes took place in a portable classroom set up just outside the main elementary school building. He used this excuse so often that Ms. P didn't even follow up with the nurse anymore to see if he went home or not since he always did, which just made it easier for Valor to start his run for the inner city. In a flash, his clothes shifted to his heroics attire and he was off. Meanwhile, things in Dallas were already heating up.

"Target is evading pursuit!"

"At what speed?"

"Well over five hundred miles per hour, sir."

"Continue pursuit. Keep the choppers high and don't lose sight of him."

Black helicopters flooded the sky like a murder of crows swarming around. These weren't the sort Valor was used to the local law enforcement using. These had to be issued by the federal government and that worried him. He was still too far off the scene to focus on what they were vulturing for. All he could make out was a slender figure in black dive out of one of the warbirds.

"Sir, I can't keep track of where he is moving. This is like trying to read the sponsors on a NASCAR as it drives by," calmly stated a young woman in a skin-tight, black jumpsuit. For some reason, she had black arm and leg warmers over the suit even though they would serve no purpose. She had a decent build to her at around five foot nine and had to be about a hundred percent lean muscle.

"I didn't know you fancied the races, Carol," spoke a man of her age over her earpiece.

"It's Agent Rivers on the job, sir… and yes, a girl can have hobbies, can't she?"

"Of course, she can. You know Texas Motor Speedway is just a bit away. Since we'll be stationed here for a while, you and I could…"

"Sir, I'd rather not discuss these matters at work," she explained as she pulled her shoot and drifted to street level.

"Fair enough. Can you give me a report on his actions? Is he dangerous?"

"More like perverse."

"What?"

"I still can't make anything out due to his velocity, but it appears that he is just running around flipping up women's skirts to grab a quick peek at their undergarments."

"Really? Shame we didn't send you in your street clothes. Might have caught this guy easy that way."

"Hah hah. Funny, sir," she said sarcastically as she landed on the sidewalk and her voluptuous, dark blonde hair settled back into place like in an old 80's action flick.

"I'm going to attempt to lead him to the extraction point. Have the team ready. I'll turn the feed back on when I get there."

Agent Rivers took the earpiece out and funneled the wire back into the collar of her jumpsuit. Sprawling back like an Olympic athlete before the dash, she took off as quick as a cheetah while following the trail of screaming ladies.

"I don't know what's going on," Valor thought to himself, "but Mack and I aren't the only superhumans in the metroplex anymore." The fire department could handle the burning building, but this conflict was likely the reason he felt so uneasy. So instead of heading into the more industrialized area out of town, he shifted direction to follow the blonde G.I. into the uptown district. For the lad wanted to find out exactly what he was getting into, he slowed down to the pace of the cars on the road and kept out of sight of the one he tailed. He could very easily follow the trail of this other guy since the way he was traveling at such high speeds was distorting the flow of energy around his path, but it was not only because he was moving faster than Valor or anything he'd ever seen. At this point, Valor wasn't sure who was a bigger threat to the people around him: the ultra-fast prankster pervertedly flipping up skirts or the highly trained government agent who was only running a few times faster than any normal human but was also armed up to the nines.

Just as those thoughts ran through Valor's mind, he noticed that Rivers knocked a man off his motorcycle and commandeered it to gain more ground. That despicable act would be a waste if it weren't for the fact that the target covered little ground despite his overall speed. It doesn't matter how fast you are going if you keep zig-zagging around for free peep shows. Caroline drove up and pulled an automatic pistol out from a holster strapped to her leg. Valor had never even seen a pistol that could fire automatically before. Even most militarized criminals and terrorists always carried automatic rifles and such. She unloaded an entire magazine into the air to scare off civilians and to alert the target of her presence. After reloading she began firing at the ground where the quickster was running, but it was a wasted effort. As soon as the first bullet hit the pavement he took off faster than her shots could even travel. Caroline was knocked off her stolen vehicle by the sonic boom left behind. Hitting the pavement rolling, she swiftly returned to her feet and set her communication link back in her ear.

"Sir, I think we have a problem."

"What is it? Did you read a local report canceling the upcoming races, cause I can find us something else to do?"

"Sir, this is serious. He outran my gunfire."

"You are using the pistols we made for you, right?"

"Yes, sir, the ones from the lab."

"Shit! Okay, how fast do you think he is going?"

"It's hard to tell since my eyes had trouble tracking him, but I'd estimate at least thirty-five hundred."

"That's troubling. I'm not sure we have anything that can catch that. I'll phone the local law enforcement to get everyone off the streets so we can use the choppers to lead him from all possible angles. Just meet at the rendezvous point."

"What if we can't contain him there?"

"It's fine, Plan B shows up shortly after you do."

"Roger, sir!"

Agent Rivers sprinted toward the West End and Valor continued to tail behind her. Regardless of how she received her physical enhancements, Valor was still perplexed by how she could run seventy-five miles per hour in manmade high heels. He could probably do it even faster, but he and his clothes aren't exactly bound to the same stipulations. Even from the great distance he slacked behind to keep cover, he could see her sweating and hear her heartbeat. She was without a doubt faster and stronger than any normal human, but if he had to guess she was at just about her physical limits already. Agent Rivers honestly had no business running alongside this other guy. Frankly, Valor wasn't really sure he did either.

They were coming to an underpass, a long tunnel that let the highway cross beneath many local roads. On the other end, the near-hypersonic man entered to escape the barrage of bullets hailing down from the helicopters above. Valor could empathize with the man since not too long ago he was in a similar predicament. Then, as Caroline ran in, two humongous steel grates were flipped up to seal the entrances to the tunnels. They must have been flown in via helicopter amongst the chaos since even Valor didn't notice them being set up. He didn't want to compromise their trap, so Valor split to go locate a different way in.

"You're trapped in here now. Nowhere to go so you might as well come in peacefully. We don't need to make this rough," Agent Rivers coldly stated pulling single-edged short swords from behind her back with each hand.

"Woo, this is a pretty tight spot," he said nervously.

"Maybe we got off on the wrong foot. Let's take a few thousand steps back and start over. Hi, I'm Robert. And you are…"

He disappeared from sight and became visible again as he knocked out one of the many government agents trapped in the tunnel with him.

"Oh, that's right, Unconscious. Such a bizarre name, I can't believe I forgot it."

"That's it. Terminate him!"

Every agent reached for their guns, but Robert whizzed around incapacitating everyone except for Miss Rivers. Next to the unconscious agents also sat their guns, the magazines from said guns, and each bullet placed side by side pointing to the sky. The man just stood there and gave Caroline an expression that read "What're you gonna do?" Rivers was not the type to give up on a mission, so she rushed him with her swords in hand. Of course, as she approached he just moved to the side and tripped her at a speed even she couldn't react. She slid for a bit before coming to an abrupt stop at a wall.

"You know, I don't think I could take any of you trained soldiers in a hand-to-hand fight otherwise, but lucky for me you're too slow," he exclaimed while strolling over to her.

Agent Rivers didn't like his taunt and attempted to slice his leg off, but he merely leaped over her sword and landed square on her chest. With all the wind pumped out of her, Caroline passed out. Just as the conflict subsided, a heavy plasma blast drilled a hole straight down into the tunnel from the upper level. Robert vanished from sight as Valor plopped down the hole. He saw Rivers on the ground and rushed over to revive her.

"Hey, lady! Get up!"

"Hmm… Oh, hey. You're that boy that's been following me around all day. You go by Valor, right?"

"You knew I was behind you this whole time and didn't try to take me out?"

"We were told you weren't a threat. You've got quite the reputation around here. In fact, my superior has been watching you. Him being stationed here is the only reason we were on the scene so fast after the incident."

"I'm… flattered?"

"Well, don't get too worked up about it. You were our backup plan, but we really should have let you handle it from the start. We let him get away and likely set you back a bit. I don't get how he broke out of here before you came in."

"What do you mean, he is sitting right over there?"

"Great, this kid's a wacko."

"Hey, I might be crazy, but I've got perfect eyesight and a better grasp on reality than any human. You're just blind because he is in the street right across from us."

"Hey, you can see me? Remarkable."

"Wait, I could hear that! Is he moving too fast to see or something?"

"Not even close. He is perfectly still. I can explain it though."

"Oh please, share with the class. It'll save me some breath."

"You see, the reason he can move so fast is the same reason he is able to cloak himself from your vision. He has the ability to distort energy up to an inch around the surface of his body, so even if you had heat vision tech you'd still miss him. Of course, if he did get away it wouldn't be hard for me to follow with the trail he leaves behind."

"You hit it right on the mark, but why is it that you can still see me? Can you run in the same way? This was an experiment gone awry, but I'd love to study someone born like this."

"Trust me, my powers are a bit more complicated than that. For example, my vision is not limited to just the spectrum of matter and energy."

"Fascinating! Then I have a proposal for you, young man."

"Hmm?"

"Tag, you're it!"

Robert tapped Valor lightly on the head and then took off jumping upward through the same hole the boy came in through. Valor ignored the challenge and scurried over to resuscitate the other agents. Before he could finish reverting all of their injuries, the gates dropped and an armored truck drove in. Several more agents stormed out with odd medical kits as well as a rather suave man with hay colored hair wearing completely black business attire.

"Carol!" he hollered with his arms sprawled wide. "What happened, baby, did he hurt ya?"

The man ran in and glomped onto Agent Rivers with what looked to be an unwelcome hug. She tried to shake him off for a second but then soon gave in.

"Sir…"

"I'm not responding to that."

"Ferris," she spoke changing tones and finally being allowed some breathing room. "Is this really an appropriate way to relate while at work?"

"There she goes again," the man said turning his head to Valor, "always getting all hissy when I give her special treatment on the job. Don't you think a guy has a right to get worried when his fiancé gets knocked out by some deranged hooligan?"

"Umm… I guess?"

"Oh sorry, how rude of me." He reached out to shake the boy's hand. "My name is Commander Ferris Thompson, but you can call me Ferris."

"Oh… um… I'm…"

"Don't worry, I don't need your name, Valor. You're lucky I was assigned to you. Anyone else would have tried to round you up by now, but I've actually become quite a fan of your deeds."

"Thanks."

"I want to talk with you more, but I need you to catch that man. Robert Duran was one of our researchers working on possibly recreating the process for making super soldiers like Carol here. I guess he had plans of his own. Could you bring him in for us? Do you think you can catch him?"

"Maybe, I don't know. Fastest I've gone is seven-fifty, not even supersonic. I've never had to go faster, so I couldn't tell you."

"It's okay, just go out there and try your best."

Valor leaped up through the hole in the street and hit the trail after the fastest person he'd ever seen. As he stated before, following Robert would be easy since his powers left a trail of distorted entropy that only Valor could see. Valor wasn't sure if taking him in was the right thing to do or not. Duran hasn't done anything lethal. Sure he knocked all those agents, but at three thousand miles per hour, he could have easily thrown his fist through any of their chests and killed them. He had to do something regardless. Even if Robert wasn't a threat to public safety, he was harassing people and abusing their privacy. If women wanted people to look at their panties, then why would they even bother wearing skirts that you had to flip up? They'd just walk around half-naked.

The trail led all the way to the other side of Fort Worth, which took no time at all to reach even at just Valor's previous record. Luckily the guy had resorted back to his habit of the day and was slowed down significantly by all the ladies dressing appropriately for the Texas weather. Valor failed to get the jump on the man and he took off immediately. Desperate, Valor shot out a plasma blast at the ground many yards in front of him. The blast got there before Robert did and the destruction of the terrain tripped him up. The boy sped over before Robert could get up and held a ball of plasma in his hand pointed directly at the man's back.

"Wow, superheated plasma. Fascinating! You had to have launched that a few hundred thousand miles per hour to hit that spot first from all the way back there. And with such precision! I have to admire the tactic. I'd be able to divert the heat and radiation off such a shot, but if the mass were to hit me... I wouldn't even want to think about it."

"Praises aside, I really don't want to have to arrest you."

"You don't say?"

"To be honest, I don't think what you did was worthy of being shot at for. You didn't even touch anyone before that. But, still, you can't continue doing that."

"So you'd let me go as long as I stop pestering the ladies?"

"As long as you stop harassing just about everyone, why not."

"Okay, then I got a deal for you. If you can beat me in a race I'll vanish and never flip a skirt ever again."

"Yeah, and what if you win?"

"Well, then I'm going to split and go pull pranks on people somewhere else since you clearly can't keep up anyway."

"Fine, where to?"

"I'll let you pick."

"Okay, from here, back through the tunnel from earlier, and to… do you know where Virginia Weaver Park is?"

"Yeah, my folks live around there."

"Okay then. I'll throw this piece of debris up in the air. When it lands we'll take off and the person sitting in the tire on the swingset wins."

Valor lobbed the chunk of pavement, possibly a little too high up but it gave them time to ready up. A couple of seconds later it hit the ground and they were off. Valor was keeping up so well he would have been surprised if he wasn't concentrating so hard on it. They both took to Highway 30 like bullets dodging raindrops. It was packed this time of day with all the business and airport traffic from the surrounding area. DFW is a central hub after all. They took different paths while snaking in and out of traffic, but made sure not to lose sight of the other for too long. Within no time, they hit Uptown and ran their way onto Highway 75. When they made it to the tunnel, they cleared it with such speed that the shockwave knocked all the agents still cleaning up off their feet.

"Sir, did you see that?"

"Not really, but I have an idea of what it was."

It wasn't much longer until they were sprinting down Highway 65 and moving through Duncanville. They were moving so fast they couldn't even tell when they transitioned into Cedar Hill, but they saw the Tidwell crossing coming up and started running against traffic to get up the right ramp. A rig split them up and after it passed Robert lost sight of Valor.

"Eh, guess I was too much for him. Can't let up now."

Within the second he made it to the park after cutting through a field behind a local school. Duran went to sit in the tire swing and claim his victory, but once there he stopped dead in his tracks flinging gravel everywhere. Lounging in the swing was Valor eating a bomb pop.

"Took you long enough," Valor joked before taking a lick. "You left me enough time to snag a popsicle from the ice cream man over there. Though I had to just leave the money on the counter with a note or else I would have lost."

"Wow, kid. Really showed me up. Guess I'll have to practice with these powers more and beat you next time."

"Really, you tried your hardest!? Does that mean I was able to break thirty-five hundred?"

"Kid, you really weren't paying attention to how fast we were going, were you? Try multiplying that number by ten."

Valor dropped his popsicle out of shock. If what Robert said was true, which he would have every reason to believe a man of science, then they had to have broken Mach 20. If they didn't leave off on such bad terms he'd love to tell Mack, but his friends will just have to do. Not like his younger brothers could even fathom such a speed yet to tell them.

"Well, I'm a man of my word, Valor. No more free peep shows for me."

"Guess you'll be leaving then."

"Yeah, but I won't go too far," Robert said while tossing Valor a small object.

"What's this?"

"It's a phone so you can get in touch with me. I figure someone ought to help the little boy scout running around here all by himself."

"There is no way this tiny thing is a phone, it looks like a stopwatch. Where are the keys?"

"It flips open. Only the government is using these, so I swiped me a few on the way out… Among other things. Don't worry about the service either, they've got so many there'll never know to shut this one-off. Just hit 2 then dial and I'll answer."

"Thanks, but why?"

"I don't know, man. You're kind of cool for such a scrub. Besides, if I can't call you, how will I get my rematch?"

"Okay, Robert. Guess I'll see you around."

"Meh, that's a boring name. From now on, call me Diaphanes."

Valor stood there giving him a blank look.

"It means transparent; like the wind."

Racing back at his newfound speed, Valor reunited with Commander Thompson and Agent Rivers still positioned under the empty bridge.

"...and make sure that replacement molding dries before we leave. I don't need other bureaus getting on to me. Oh Valor, you're back. Was he too fast for you after all?"

"Astonishingly, no."

"Ah, then you left him tied up somewhere?"

"Nope."

"Okay, you're going to have to work with me, otherwise I'll be guessing all day."

"He let him go, you sarcastic doofus."

"Hey, no need to be rude, Carol. Clearly, I realized that when he came back alone. I have to cover my own ass, too."

"Are you mad at me?"

"Not at all. As I said, I'm a fan. I trust your decisions. This just means more paperwork for me."

"Good, you love paperwork."

"Sarcasm isn't pretty on either of us, missy."

"I'd like to keep in touch, do you have a phone? No, I guess that's a dumb question to ask someone of your age."

"Actually, I do."

"Good, then take my card and leave me a message so I can get your number later. Would you like us to drop you off at home or at school?"

"Are you kidding me? I've been moving around so fast today that if I hurry I could still make it back by lunch. I'm on my own, see ya!"