A Most Unlikely Hero, Vol. 1 Read online

  Volume 1

  Written by Brandon Varnell

  Illustrations by XuaHanNin

  Copyright © 2016 Brandon Varnell

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  ISBN: 9780997802849

  Prologue

  Being a Hero is Hard Work

  Strobe lights flashed, overwhelming Alex’s visual perceptions. The repugnant odor from dozens of unwashed bodies invaded his olfactory senses, making him want to gag. Meanwhile, the booth that he sat in was covered in grime, which he could feel even through his cloak.

  The dive that he found himself in was located in the lower part of Mars City, which, like most bars of the lower city, contained humanity’s filth. Decadent slobs that didn’t know the words “common decency” covered every nook and cranny. He didn’t know what was worse: The shadiness of the people present, or how those people gawked at the half-naked women dancing around poles on a stage in the center of the room.

  Glancing at one of those women out of the corner of his eye, Alex cringed with guilt. Every time he saw those women, dancing there half-naked, with their breasts jiggling around, he felt ashamed of himself. The problem, he concluded, was because the sight aroused him. He hated himself for feeling that way.

  To get his mind off of the sight, Alex tapped a few buttons on his wristband. A holographic image appeared in the air. It was of a man with pale skin, red eyes, spiky hair, pointy ears, and a large scar running down the left side of his face. His name was Andre Killick. He was the leader of a gang that called themselves the Black Panthers.

  Who names their gang after a mammalian animal from Earth? And aren’t jaguars the ones that are supposed to be black?

  Regardless of how dumb the name was, this man and his gang were not to be underestimated. A group that was as violent as they came, rumor had it that they were involved in all manner of illicit activities. This included drug smuggling, slave trading, and even assassination…

  … Of course, these were all rumors that had been spread by the gang members themselves, who were, according to reports, boisterous and idiotic. Intelligence claimed that they were nothing but petty crooks who liked to vandalize other people’s property.

  Alex, as a cadet training to become a member of the Interstellar Police Force, had been dispatched to ascertain the location of this criminal. Andre’s last sighting had been at this bar.

  I can’t believe they’re making me do this. Everyone knows I’m no good at stakeouts.

  That hadn’t stopped them from giving him this assignment. He would’ve liked to have something else, like busting up a criminal organization or rescuing a bunch of hostages from a terrorist cell. It was too bad that cadets like him weren’t given anything more dangerous than this.

  I guess it can’t be helped.

  He turned off the hologram and looked up, searching the bar again—and doing his best to ignore the half-naked women. Was the man they sought still here? If Andre was smart, then he would’ve already left. Surely even a petty gang leader was intelligent enough to realize that the IPF wouldn’t put up with his criminal activities forever.

  Yet even as the thought crossed his mind, a figure emerged from the stairwell on the opposite side of the room. Pale skin. Spiky black hair. A scar running down his cheek. Pointy ears. Red eyes. He wore red leather pants and a jacket of the same color. It was Andre.

  … This man is an idiot.

  Putting a finger to his ear, Alex activated his headset. “This is Alexander S. Ryker, ID 22B614V, reporting. I’ve spotted the target.”

  “Roger that,” a female voice said from the other end. “Remember, your job is only to watch him. Don’t try to apprehend him on your own—and for the love of Mars, don’t do something that’ll blow your cover!”

  “I know that,” Alex groused. “I’m not new to this, Commander. I know how to do my job.”

  “Your track record says otherwise,” came the dry response.

  Alex winced. “That was a low blow.”

  “If it keeps you from acting out of line… Anyway, several officers are on the way. Keep an eye on the target and make sure he doesn’t go anywhere.”

  “I understand,” Alex said. “I’ll keep an—uh-oh.”

  “‘Uh-oh?’ What ‘uh-oh?’ Alex, I don’t like the sound of your ‘uh-oh.’”

  Alex and Andre stared at each other. The other man’s eyes were wide, practically bulging from their sockets, as if he’d witnessed a supernatural phenomenon. Could he see through Alex’s cloak? Impossible. Even if he could, there should have been no way for him to know who Alex was. Despite that, Andre was looking at him like he’d seen a destroyer-class cruiser heading on a collision course with him.

  “I think he spotted me,” Alex said, seconds before Andre bolted for the door. “Damn it, he’s running!”

  “I can’t believe this! All right. Alex, you stay there! We’ll send a squadron to your location ASAP!”

  “Screw that! He’s going to get away if I don’t do something!”

  “Alex, I don’t want you doing anything reckless! Do you hear me? Don’t—”

  Alex shut off his communicator and leapt to his feet. He had been planning to bolt for the door, but just as he was about to break into a sprint, the music stopped, and several people who’d looked like regular patrons suddenly blocked his path. There were many that he didn’t recognize, but there were also quite a few that he did. They were members of Andre’s Black Panther gang.

  “Heh, if it ain’t the po-lice!” a man with swept back blond hair exclaimed. His shades glinted in the low lighting. Alex wondered why this idiot was wearing shades indoors. “I bet you’ve come to arrest us, amma right? Didja really think you could just swoop in here like some kind of hero and—grrggglbl!!”

  Alex grinned as he felt the man’s face cave underneath his knuckles. His punch sent the blond male sprawling into a table, knocking it over and sending the drinks on it flying into the faces of two other patrons.

  “Correction!” Alex boomed. “I am not a police officer. I’m just a cadet. But that’s not gonna stop me from kicking your ass!”

  A moment of silence. Then…

  “You little shit!” one of the men roared.

  Grabbing the blond by the throat and lifting him into the air, the giant man tossed him at Alex. He ducked, and the man sailed into a crowd of bystanders behind him. Like a set of dominos that had been stacked together, more and more people became embroiled in combat, until there wasn’t a single person who wasn’t fighting.

  Alex ducked underneath a punch, feeling the fist ruffle his hair. At the same time, he pressed his hands to the ground, fingers splayed, and mule-kicked one of his attackers who’d come up behind him. His feet hit their chest with a wham! As that person flew through the air, he skipped up and unleashed an uppercut at the person that had attempted to punch him. Pain shot through his knuckles, but that was secondary to the satisfaction he felt at taking down another thug.

  He heard movement behind him. Alex spun around, redirecting a fist that was sailing toward his head. He grabbed the forearm of the man that the fist belonged to, and then pulled the man into his knee. The man doubled over. Spittle flew from his mouth. Alex then yanked him up by his hair, twisted him around, and kicked him into someone that was trying to sneak up behind him.

  D
uck. Twist. Punch. Kick.

  The world around him was a chaotic throng of combat. Pandemonium rang out like gambling addicts were prone to when they won the lottery. Alex kicked someone in the stomach, and then used their doubled over posture to play leapfrog on their backs. He extended his legs and kicked two more people in the face while still in mid-air.

  Someone else tried to hit him as he landed on the ground, but he sidestepped, feeling the wind rush past him. Then he gripped their forearm and slammed his elbow into their elbow joint. A loud crunch! echoed around him as the man screamed. His elbow joint was bent at an angle that human joints shouldn’t be able to bend.

  I need to do something about this.

  He hadn’t come here to fight gangs. He’d come here to arrest Andre. Valuable time was being wasted playing with these idiots.

  Reaching into his cloak, Alex dug around as he dodged several punches coming in from multiple directions. He finally found what he was looking for and pulled it out. It was a small device, circular, with a little button on top. Pressing the button while knuckle-punching some poor sap in the throat, Alex tossed the object into the air and ran like hell. He burst out of the building just as a concussive shockwave from inside blew the doors off their hinges. Looking back, he felt a drop of sweat trail down his face as he realized something.

  I don’t think my concussion grenade was supposed to be that powerful… He pondered that for a second before coming to a conclusion. Maybe using a miniature version of my pulse generator was a bad idea.

  Shrugging, Alex decided to think on that later. He had a crook to catch.

  The lower city was a bizarre place. It was referred to as such because another city had been built on top of it. Since it was technically the “middle” section of Mars City, the lower city consisted of numerous crosswalks and subsections. Walkways branched out into even more walkways, which merged and twisted with no sense of aesthetics, as if they’d been built randomly. It was easy to get lost in a place like this.

  Despite that, finding Andre wasn’t hard. The man hadn’t gone far from the bar. Alex thought it was because Andre had assumed that his gang would be enough to defeat him. He felt smug satisfaction when the man’s eyes bulged like a pair of dishboard pucks. They stared at each other for a second longer before Andre spun around and ran away.

  That’s right, you’d better run.

  Alex chased after the man as they ran through the lower city, weaving through people, banking around corners, and hopping over objects. It didn’t matter how far Andre ran. Like circuits on a board, Alex remained glued to his tail.

  His headset crackled to life. “Alexander S. Ryker! I’ve just received several reports of a massive explosion happening at your location! What the hell are you doing?!”

  Groaning, Alex answered. “Can we talk later?” He jumped over a fallen trash collector. “I’m chasing after a criminal right now.”

  “No! We will not talk about this later! Cease chasing the target and return to base! This mission has gone FUBAR!”

  Alex swerved around a vagabond, ducked underneath a shuttle that came too close, and then wall ran to avoid several pedestrians. “You know I can’t do that. If I let this man get away, he’s going to hurt more people.”

  “The police will handle him!”

  “The police aren’t here. I am. I’m going to catch him.”

  “No, you’re not! Return to—”

  Alex hung up. “Geez, Commander. Have a little more faith in me.”

  Seeing how Andre had pulled ahead because he’d been busy talking, Alex reached into his cloak and pulled out a cylindrical object that was a quarter of a meter in length. Flicking a switch with his thumb activated the device. Luminescent electron particles extended from the tube-like end with, lengthening and becoming flexible. This was one of Alex’s inventions. He called it the electro-whip.

  Lashing out, the whip extended far more than it would have if it had been composed of physical materials. It struck the ground next to Andre’s feet. The man that he was chasing squealed and ran faster. Alex clicked his tongue.

  Don’t think you can get away from me!

  Andre had turned around another corner. Alex followed him—and then skidded to a halt. Andre was gone.

  After scanning the vicinity, he found Andre flying away on a transport shuttle. The man must have had it waiting for him in case he was caught. Growling when Andre looked back and blew him a raspberry, Alex turned off his electro-whip and attached it to his belt. He rushed to the edge of the walkway and leapt off just as another vehicle was passing by underneath him.

  “IIYAAAAAA!” the woman sitting in the pilot seat screamed as Alex landed on her windshield.

  “Whoa!” Alex shouted as the vehicle swerved. He almost slid off, but he jammed his fingers into a crease in the framework and held on for dear life.

  Alex’s hair was whipped into a frenzy, flying everywhere and getting in his eyes. Inside of the vehicle, the woman continued to shriek, which he could hear over the howling wind. Holding onto the shuttle with one hand, he reached into a holster strapped to his thigh and pulled out his cadet identification badge. He flashed the woman a grin as he showed her the badge.

  “Excuse me!” he called out to the woman. “I’m sorry to drop in on you unannounced, but would you mind if I temporarily commandeered your shuttle?! I’m chasing after a criminal!”

  The woman must not have heard him.

  She continued to scream.

  Chapter 1

  The Girl from Outer Space

  Alex stood in his commander’s office. The spartan room contained little in the ways of creature comforts, though that was not to say it was barren.

  Situated in the middle of the room, immediately behind him, were two couches centered around a table. Sitting against the wall to his left, a bookshelf was filled with numerous old-fashioned discs. Beside it, safely locked within a glass case, an ancient record of something called The Beatles hung like a prized possession. On the other side, hanging from frames and sitting on displays, were the various awards that his commander had won.

  His commander, a woman with blonde hair that descended from her head in drill-like curls and icy blue eyes, sat behind a desk. The look on her face, which could have melted durasteel, reminded Alex of a carnivorous predator that he’d once read about on Earth. What was it called again? A lion? Truly, Karen Kanzaki was a beast—a badass in every sense of the word.

  Capital on the B.

  “Alexander S. Ryker,” the woman said, hissing out the S as if it was a poison. “In all my years of being an officer, I have never met a single soul who was as recklessly destructive as you.”

  “I don’t think I’m that ba—”

  “Silence!”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Alex stood stock still. Sweat poured down his neck, thick rivulets that stained his shirt, making it cling to his skin. He wanted to fidget, but he dared not. Doing so might anger the deceptively pretty monster before him.

  W-what a frightening expression…

  “Do you know how much damage you’ve caused this time?” Karen asked. She didn’t give him time to answer. “Aside from demolishing an entire bar, over six dozen people were injured in the process, ten private shuttles were destroyed, four buildings now have holes in them, and one of the smaller buildings will need to be completely renovated. You are the single most disaster-prone fool that I have ever met! And for what?! So you could try to play the hero?! If your father could see you now, he’d—”

  “My father would have never let a criminal like that get away!” Alex shouted, silencing Karen, whose round eyes looked quite shocked. “He wouldn’t have sat back while a criminal escaped. He wouldn’t have let them go on to cause more suffering! He was a hero!”

  Sighing as she leaned back in her chair, Karen regained her composure. “Look, I understand that your father meant a lot to you. He truly was a hero, just as you say.” Her eyes hardened. “However, your father was also an office
r of the law. He understood what it means to follow orders. You, on the other hand, can’t follow a single one of my orders.”

  Alex didn’t show it, but her words cut deep. Was he truly that bad? Surely that wasn’t the case. He always did his best, training hard, studying hard, working hard, all so he could become a hero like his father. That had to count for something.

  “I don’t know what to do with you,” Karen confessed. “When you graduated from primary and requested to join the police force instead of going to a prestigious university, I was pleased. You were a genius who only came once in a generation, and your athletics scores were abnormally high. Top grades. Excellent pedigree. Impressive physical conditioning. I had high hopes for you.”

  I sense a “but” hanging in the air…

  “But,” Karen continued, “All of my hopes appear to have been dashed by the very person I placed them on. I’m at my wit’s end, Alex. The GDF is breathing down my neck. They’ve heard of you, and they’re demanding to know why I let such a reckless idiot into the police academy.”

  GDF stood for the Galactic Defence Force. The Interstellar Police Force was a branch office of the GDF. Every planet within the solar system had at least several IPF offices, and all of them answered to the GDF’s top brass. Alex had never met them himself, but he’d heard that the board was made up of heroes from the Secession War that happened 20 years ago.

  “What did you tell them?” Silence met Alex’s question. “Commander?”

  Karen blew out a deep breath, as if expelling her anxiety. “There wasn’t much that I could tell them, and after the ultimatum they gave me, the choice was taken out of my hands.”

  Alex felt like someone had stuck a taser down his throat. “Ultimatum?”

  “If I keep you, they’re not going to fund this office anymore,” Karen stated bluntly.

  The taser was turned on high. “Y-you don’t mean…?”

  “I do.” Straightening in her seat, Karen gave him a stern yet wavering expression. For what it was worth, she did look genuinely remorseful. “Alexander S. Ryker, as of this moment, you have been officially expelled from the cadet academy. I expect you to return all of your gear to the administration bureau before leaving.”