PARISTWO YEARS EARLIERA blue-gloved fist smashed against the beetle’s red armor.
While Mar-Vell and Red Beetle traded blows in the sky, Reach soldiers had taken position in the streets below. A line of footsoldiers dropped to one knee, leveling their polearms upward as the sound of some kind of energy spinning up began to hum.
“BLUE PUNCH BUGGY!”
A small, blue Volkswagen arced through the air, slamming into the line of soldiers and careening through the ranks of the Reach like a perverse game of bowling.
Blame it on someone showing Teth the animated film Lilo and Stitch.
Before the aliens could recover, the boy popped into the air and shouted, “SHAZAM!” as he extended a fist outward.
Lighting struck from above, connecting with the boy and exploding from out of his fist in multiple arcs that shot through those that were getting to their feet in an explosion of electricity that ripped up the road and sent dust and debris flying.
As the youth landed, the gauntlets around his wrist seemed to become liquid, flowing up into his hands as they shaped themselves into scimitars. Blood, limbs, and inhuman screams pierced the night, as the green-eyed child plowed through the ranks of the Reach like some kind of elemental demon, sparks shooting off his small frame as he weaved a dance of swords and cut a swath right down the avenue.
Blasted back through the air, Mar-Vell took advantage of the momentary gap between himself and the beetle to gauge how Teth was faring.
The boy’s lightning was arcing all around him, and the boy was utterly oblivious to the fires and sparks he was setting off. “KID, bring it down a notch!” the man managed to shout, before his attention was re-directed to an incoming pincer.
The head of a Reach soldier tumbled through the air, its former body falling while the boy clashed with four more at once.
Haughtily, the boy tossed back, “WHAT!? I’m kicking their as–”
An arc of lightning shot out from the child’s back, connecting with the fuel tank of a truck that had been overturned for use as a makeshift barricade.
The explosion sent the boy careening through the air.
“Fffffffuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuccccccc...”
The small hero's cry was silenced as he slammed, unceremoniously, into the side of the fabled Arc d’Triumph. As much as becoming one with the masonry ought to be a goal for all tourists visiting Paris, it seemed as though gravity wanted its turn as the dazed and confused child fell backward and slipped back toward the ground’s waiting embrace.
“Gravity’s a biiiiiiiitch!”
He had his eyes closed.
The last thing he’d seen, the street had been coming right at him. Well, honestly, it had probably been the reverse, but either way Teth had expected to meet the pavement.
But he should have hit by now.
Warily, he opened one green eye. The street was several feet below him still, the boy’s arms thrown up to protect himself, but he was standing perfectly still.
In mid air.
Blinking, the boy started to look around to orient himself to what had happened. Had something stopped him?
Which was when he realized he was hovering off the ground. Like, way off the ground.
Panic took hold. “shit shit shit sh–” the boy repeated, over and over, as he tried running and then swimming as he fought to get close enough to a street lamp that he could grab hold, hugging it with both arms and legs as he clung for dear life.
Just another thing that had happened to him since Shazam had died. Flying.
He hated flying.
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
I AM NOTHING MORE THAN
a little boy inside
WHO CRIES OUT FOR ATTENTION, THOUGH I ALWAYS TRY TO HIDE
- staind, “fade”
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MOUNT CATHERINECURRENT DAYThe two lay on their backs, staring up at a cloudless night sky that stretched across the heavens.
It was the highest peak among Egypt’s mountains, a spot that they’d discovered two years prior, while investigating the Reach’s interest in the meteorological station on the side of the mountain. The ensuing fight had destroyed the small chapel that had been built at the summit.
Teth had helped to rebuild it after the Reach had departed, a fact which the media had buried in the reporting.
It was supposed to be a sacred place. The last thing anyone in this part of the world wanted was for it to become associated with the name Teth-Adam. Global views of so-called superheroes or metahumans aside, the longstanding cultural association with the name made it doubly damned.
“Are– are there really other planets up there?”
Mar-Vell turned his head, the surprise apparent for how remarkable it was. The boy went out of his way to keep everything at arm’s reach, so it was surprising to hear the naked curiosity in his voice and get a glimpse through that sour armor of the little boy inside.
“As many as there are grains of sands,” the soldier answered finally, turning his gaze back to the sky overhead.
Silence returned. After a moment, the Kree gestured with one hand, “You see the stars? Each is home to a system like yours. And that’s not even all of them by far,”
“I wish...”
The boy’s voice was unusually soft, stopped abruptly.
Turning his head, the man asked, “What?”
“Nothing,” the boy quipped sharply, turning his head so he was looking away.
Perhaps it was a trick of the light, but Mar-Vell thought for a moment that Teth had been crying.
“It was stupid,” the boy uttered dismissively, his typical abrasiveness returned as he tried to weaponize the conversation and turn it back on the Kree. ”The fuck are you doing here? You’re ‘sposed to be punching the Reach in the nuts or whatever.”
Cocking a brow, the man let the question hang in the air before he finally answered, simply, ”I wanted to check on you.”
The comment seemed to pass right through Teth’s armor for a moment. An innocent glint in otherwise jaded emerald eyes, as if what the man had said was what the boy had been hoping to hear.
But somewhere, once upon a time, the boy had learned that it was the hope that kills you.
Those jaded irises flicked away. ”-tch-”, the boy spat, sitting up before blurting out, “I don’t need you.”
He didn’t need anyone.
“Fair,” the man replied in a deliberately neutral tone as he sat up. “That doesn’t mean I can’t be concerned.”
He reached out a hand toward the boy’s shoulder.
...and recoiled back as a bolt of lightning snapped violently between them, Teth looking away, hugging his knees against his chest.
Awkwardly trying to find something to do with his outstretched hand – cross his arms? Fold them in his lap? – Mar-Vell tried to smooth over things by elaborating. “I came across a bounty hunter on Cestus III. He was looking for an escaped criminal. Quite nasty, if he was being honest by any of it. He was headed for Tamaran, but thought your Sol System could be another likely hiding spot.”
“heh” the boy huffed, a sarcastic bite to his words as he snapped, “Just what we need. More aliens.”
Then the boy seemed to pause. His eyes wide as embarrassment seemed to take hold. Glancing at Mar-Vell, only to look away again, the child stammered, “I... I didn’t...”
“No offense?” the man offered in jest. “From you? The kid who tries to offend everyone?”
The child’s dusky tone had turned a bright red, his face practically glowing, though the boy’s embarrassment quickly turned to irritation as he turned on the man again. “Okay, fuck you and the Martians you flew in with, or whatever.”
“You know I’m Kree, right?”
“Whatever!” Teth blurted aloud, popping to his feet and throwing his arms up into the air.
The boy made his way over to the edge of the outcropping that the two had been stargazing upon, one foot shifting anxiously as he peered off the edge.
Getting to his feet, the soldier asked, “What’s the matter?”
Digging into the earth with one toe, the boy turned back. Once again, Mar-Vell was struck at the vivid reminder that Teth was a child. “Can you fly me back? I kinda want to find something to eat,” he asked, fidgeting with his arms.
The impression of need brought a quiet laugh from the Kree. “Still afraid to fly on your own?”
Teth felt his face burn even hotter, his hair standing on end as goosebumps crawled up his spine. “I am not afraid,” the boy snapped, with a sudden burst of thunder echoing through the mountains to punctuate the child’s plea.
Bristling, the child turned away as he explained, “I just want to conserve my energy.”
“Isn’t your energy source the planet itself?”
“Shut up!” 
mattmanganon,
Eddie Brock,
Captain Uni,
Lord Wraith,
Cyberlad,
Candy Cane Elf,
Love Dove,
Oso,
Azure Bubbles,
Agunimon
