A Most Unlikely Hero, Vol. 1 Page 6

5

  The tour continued.

  Alex took Gabrielle to several shops, they played games at arcades, and saw a holodrama at the theater. Throughout the numerous attractions they visited, Gabrielle’s smile never waned.

  “This has been so much fun,” Gabrielle said as they walked toward the nearest shuttle station. They were pretty far from the one they’d arrived on. Alex, knowing the area they were in from his cadet patrols, led her by the hand so they wouldn’t get separated.

  Her hands are soft…

  It was something that he’d noticed before, but hadn’t commented on. Gabrielle’s hands were like velvet wrapped in soothing aloe. He’d never felt anything so soft and smooth.

  Don’t think about that, Alex. Stop thinking about it.

  “It was fun,” Alex agreed. “I think… I probably needed this.”

  “Needed this? Why? Did something happen?”

  “Ah—no, it’s just…” Alex trailed off. Coughing into his hand, he began again. “I was kicked out of the cadet academy yesterday.”

  “Ah! This is that thing that Alice was talking about at school!” Gabrielle, in a moment of perfect innocence, smiled at him. “By the way, what’s a cadet academy? Is that like school, too?”

  Alex almost tripped over his own two feet. Stumbling, he recovered and said, “It’s like an academy, yes. However, it’s different from Alice’s school.”

  “How so?”

  “Well, we train to become police officers.”

  “Oh…” Gabrielle, her expression still inquisitive, asked, “What’s a police officer?”

  “Uh…”

  This girl…

  “Police officers are the ones who are charged with keeping the peace,” Alex said. “They’re a branch of the Galactic Defense Force. However, unlike the GDF, the Interstellar Police Force is only in charge of peacekeeping and catching criminals.”

  Gabrielle seemed to have an epiphany. “Oh, so they’re like the Seraphim!”

  “Sera-what?”

  “The Seraphim are the guardians of Angelisia. They’re the ones in charge of making sure that everyone upholds the law.”

  “Gotcha.”

  So, these Seraphim were like the police of Gabrielle’s planet, but they were called something different. Well, he supposed there had to be differences between their cultures. He’d honestly been surprised to discover that Gabrielle could speak the same language as him. Not only that, but aside from her ears, she could’ve easily passed for a human. Alex hadn’t thought about extraterrestrial life or what they might have looked like, but a humanoid like Gabrielle had been the last thing that he’d expected.

  A shift in the atmosphere caused Alex to stop walking. Two people had stepped in front of them. Both were tall, nearly twice his size, wore dark cloaks that hid their bodies, and didn’t seem like pleasant individuals. They stood hunched, or maybe they were carrying large weapons on their backs. The cloaks they wore had bulges behind them. Their faces, what he could see of them through the darkness of their hoods, were set in expressionless masks, reminding him of a pair of robots.

  “You two!” Gabrielle shouted in surprise.

  “We’ve been looking for you,” one of them said, and it took Alex a moment to realize that they were talking to Gabrielle.

  “You’ve led us on quite the chase,” the other began, “but it’s all over now.”

  These must be the people who are after her!

  Alex didn’t know of Gabrielle’s circumstances. He still hadn’t asked. How do you bring up a potentially traumatic question without hurting someone?

  “I thought I told you two to get lost! I’m not going back!”

  “You’ll be coming with us, whether you like it or not.”

  In the end, Alex had decided that it didn’t matter. Heroes didn’t ask the people they saved about their circumstances, so he wouldn’t ask about hers. She was in trouble, she needed help, and he had the power to help her. That was all it came down to.

  “Close your eyes, Gabby.”

  “Gabby?”

  Despite the questioning tone in her voice, Gabrielle closed her eyes. Alex reached into his pocket and pulled out a device, which he tossed onto the ground. An explosion of light blinded everyone within fifty meters. Alex had closed his eyes, thus protecting himself. The two men had not. Their screams echoed across the plaza.

  Alex was glad that he’d already been holding Gabrielle’s hand. It meant he could run without worrying. He pulled her along with him as he turned around and ran in the opposite direction.

  He opened his eyes. There was a corner up ahead. He turned and ran down it. Gabrielle yelped as she stumbled, her foot catching a grate. Spinning around, Alex pulled her to him, scooped her into his arms, finished his spin, and continued running.

  “Where are we going?!” Gabrielle asked as she clung to his neck.

  “There’s a warp point just ahead!” Alex shouted. “We’re going to use multiple warp points to lose them.”

  A warp point was teleportation technology based on bio-molecular theory. It broke down people and objects into their base molecules, scattered them, and then reconstructed them in another place. It wasn’t as advanced as Gabrielle’s dimensional teleportation, but within a confined zone like Mars City, it worked fine.

  The warp point was a circular platform that was slightly elevated off the ground. As he and Gabrielle stepped onto it, the circuits inside of it glowed a light blue. Alex typed on the keyboard, selecting a destination. He and Gabrielle soon began to glow blue as well. Then their bodies dispersed, bursting apart like sparklers.

  An instant later, he and Gabrielle were standing in a different location, on a different warp point. Alex didn’t hesitate to type in another random destination. They burst apart again. Reappeared again. Then again. And again. And again. He didn’t stop warping until he was 100% positive that the two goons after Gabrielle couldn’t track them down.

  “Where are we?” Gabrielle asked as Alex led her through another part of the city. Warp points couldn’t take people everywhere in the city. Most connected to specific points, such as the ones here, which could only take them to other warp points within the entertainment district.

  “I’m not sure,” Alex confessed. “But anywhere is better than remaining where we were.”

  “I guess…”

  Gabrielle moved a little closer to him as they walked. She must have been frightened by those people chasing her. He wanted to ask about them, but he dared not. The last thing that he wanted to do was bring back frightening memories.

  Still, he couldn’t help but wonder about those cloaked figures. Who were they? Why were they after Gabrielle? Alex thought that they might have been slavers. In fact, he was sure that was what they were. Gabrielle was an alien, gorgeous, and amazing. Anyone who wanted a female slave would likely pay billions to get their hands on her.

  The very thought made his heart clench.

  Slavery was illegal, but that didn’t stop people from having slaves. There’d even been a mining corporation that’d had their assets seized a while back because they’d used slaves for their operations.

  Alex looked up at the dome over their heads. The semi-transparent bubble that kept Mars’ corrosive atmosphere from killing them was stained with darker hues. How long had he and Gabrielle stayed out? It was getting late.

  I guess we should head home…

  Before Alex could search for a holomap, two familiar cloaked figures appeared out of his peripheral vision. Tugging on Gabrielle’s hand, he pulled the girl into an alley, hiding from the pair.

  “Alex?”

  Alex put a finger to his lips. Gabrielle understood. She nodded. He then turned back to the two men, peering out from behind the wall. Neither seemed to have noticed them yet. That was good. However…

  “How did those two find us?” he wondered out loud.

  “Maybe they placed a tracking device on me,” Gabrielle suggested. “I can’t believe them… putting a tracking device on
me…”

  A tracking device? Well, if she was going to be sold off as a slave, then they’d need a device to ensure that they could find her if she ever ran away.

  Alex turned to face Gabrielle. “In that case, we need to find that tracking device before—what the hell are you doing?!” he hissed, his face burning with the vibrancy of a thousand suns.

  “I’m trying to find the tracking device, of course!” Gabrielle chirped.

  “You don’t have to take your clothes off to do that!”

  Gabrielle had unzipped the top half of her suit, leaving her chest bare. She wasn’t wearing a brazier. Alex had a perfect view of her large, perky breasts.

  Realizing that he was staring, Alex covered his eyes with his hands. “L-look, just zip your clothes back up! We’ll check for that tracking device later. For now, we need to do something about those two men before they find us.”

  “Okay.” The sound of zipping was oddly loud inside of the alley. “What should we do now?”

  Alex peeked through his fingers to see that Gabrielle had zipped her suit back up. Lowering his hands, he peered out from behind the wall again. The two goons didn’t seem to have noticed him yet. Was their tracking device limited to showing just the general location of the target? He supposed it didn’t matter.

  “If we could force them to cause some kind of scene, we could probably have them arrested. But I don’t have any of my inventions with me…”

  “Leave that to me.” Grinning, Gabrielle swiped her hand in the air, opening her holographic menu. She selected an item, which caused a dimensional rift to appear. An item came out.

  “Mr. Recycle Doggy.”

  Indeed, it was the dog that he and Gabrielle had been working on this morning. Gabrielle set it on the ground and pressed a button. The dog’s eyes glowed to life. It started moving, tilting its head this way and that, its robotic ears flapping up and down. Then, as if sensing her presence, it looked up at Gabrielle.

  “Arf!” it barked in a mechanical voice.

  “Mr. Recycle Doggy. Go eat those people’s clothes,” Gabrielle ordered.

  “What?” Alex didn’t think he’d heard her right.

  Mr. Recycle Doggy barked again, then leapt out of the alley and bounded over to the cloaked individuals. Alex stuck his head out and was just in time to witness the dog robot attacking the two men. Clothes were shredded within seconds. The two men released unmanly squeals.

  Of course, the act of two men getting stripped naked by a mechanical dog caused the other people to panic. Screams and shouts echoed across the plaza. And, as if the unfolding chaos had summoned them, several police officers appeared on the scene, arriving in shuttles that targeted the two individuals with their turrets.

  Those things on their backs…

  “Freeze, you two! Put your hands in the air!”

  “What?! Why?!”

  “You two are under arrest for public indecency! Come quietly and you won’t get hurt!”

  “You can’t arrest us! We’re here on an important mission!”

  “That’s right! We have to—”

  “I don’t care why you’re here! You can tell it to the jury when you’re put on public trial!”

  “Come on,” Alex said, grabbing Gabrielle’s hand and running off.

  They reached the nearest shuttle stop and hopped onto the next transport. As they sat down, Gabrielle kept shooting him glances.

  “Something wrong?”

  She shook her head. “No. I was just wondering, why are you going so far to protect me?”

  Alex paused. “You mean, why am I going so far to protect someone I only met yesterday?”

  “Yes.”

  He didn’t answer right away, but rather, he took a moment to put his thoughts in order. “Since you’re not from this planet, you probably don’t know about my father, Farone S. Ryker. That’s my father. He was a member of the police force and one of Mars’ greatest heroes. I wasn’t alive at the time, so I’ve only heard stories of his heroic deeds. However, every story I was told inspired me. I decided years ago that I wanted to become like my dad. I want to become a hero, the kind that my father could be proud of.”

  “Is that why you want to protect me? To make your father proud?” Gabrielle asked.

  Alex shook his head. “That’s only part of the reason. It’s why I let you stay with me when I first heard of your plight.”

  “What’s the other reason?”

  “Because you’re a fun person.” Alex grinned at Gabrielle. “It’s only been a little over a day since we met, but I’ve already had so much fun being with you. You’re bright and cheerful and fun to spend time with. You have amazing inventions, and I love talking shop with you. I don’t know what’s going on with those men chasing you, but I know that you don’t deserve to be taken somewhere against your will.”

  Gabrielle looked stunned. Her eyes were wide, her face was red, and her mouth was agape. It was the first time he’d ever seen her look so surprised. It was rather fetching.

  “That’s why, from now on, for as long as you need me, I promise that I’ll protect you,” Alex said.

  Gabrielle’s face remained shocked for some time, long enough for Alex to become worried. However, after another minute, her expression changed. Her eyes lit up, her lips curved, her entire being seemed to radiate joy the likes of which he’d never seen.

  “Thank you, Alex.”

  Alex gave her a half-smile. “Anytime.”

  The shuttle flew through the atmosphere as the sun slowly hid behind the planet.

  6

  Because it was getting late, Alex decided to get some groceries for dinner.

  After getting off the shuttle, he and Gabrielle headed to a small convenience store, which sold a variety of groceries imported from Delta Five—an agriculture dome located some 65 kilometers from Mars City.

  “What is this place, Alex?” Gabrielle asked.

  “It’s called a convenience store. It’s where people go to buy groceries or quick fix dinners.”

  “Oh. So this is where people buy their food. So cool!”

  “Do they not have convenience stores on Angelisia?”

  “I don’t know. Papa never let me leave the palace.”

  As they walked down a small isle filled with various food products, Alex winced. Not allowed to go outside? That was harsh. He hadn’t known that she’d been that isolated, but then, maybe that’s why she was being chased by those men. It sounded like her father was a big shot noble. He’d heard from a holodocumentary that the daughters of nobles fetched a high price on the slave market.

  The thought of someone like Gabrielle, someone who was happy and outgoing, cheerful and naive, being sold off as a slave, made Alex clench his hands into fists. Even if she’d been some random person on the street, he would have protected her. However, now that he knew more about her, his desire to protect Gabrielle had grown.

  Alex wanted to keep Gabrielle safe. He wanted to protect her smile. Even if he was just a failed genius who caused ruin everywhere he went, he wanted to become a bastion of strength that Gabrielle could rely on.

  “You mentioned sisters a while back,” Alex changed topics.

  The way Gabrielle’s eyes shimmered like high focus lasers made Alex realize that this was a favorite subject of hers. “I have two sisters! They’re both younger than me, and they’re always arguing, but I love them very much. Michelle and Ariel are two years younger than me.”

  “That would make them the same age as my sister.”

  “Yes!” Gabrielle beamed at him. “Maybe some time, they can come over and meet your sister. I bet they’d all become great friends.”

  Alex smiled. “That would be nice.”

  They finished shopping, filling the small basket in Alex’s hand with ingredients for dinner that night. He’d decided to make spiced chicken with grilled vegetables and miso soup.

  As they walked up to the register, the old lady who stood behind it took one look at them and smil
ed. “You two are so cute together.”

  Alex blushed while Gabrielle smiled. “Thank you!” she said.

  They checked out quickly. As Alex paid for the food, he found himself glad that his inventions were still giving him royalty checks. If he didn’t have that money, he would’ve had to rely on his grandfather, and Alex didn’t want to rely on that man for anything.

  “Hey, Alex,” Gabrielle said suddenly. “What did that lady mean when she said we looked cute together?”

  Alex felt like someone had stuck his head into a convection oven set on high. “T-that’s… she meant that we, um, well… it’s kinda…”

  Gabrielle stared at him, her head tilted, her eyes curious. She wasn’t really going to make him say it, was she? Surely, not even she could be that naive.

  But she was, apparently. She patiently waited for him to explain that the woman was saying they made a cute couple. However, Alex couldn’t tell her that. Not only was it embarrassing, but he didn’t want to admit that the idea was appealing.

  They had only known each other for over a day—not enough time for him to say that he loved her, but that didn’t mean that he didn’t find her attractive. He did.

  It wasn’t just her outside beauty that Alex appreciated. Gabrielle was physically the most beautiful girl that he knew, but he enjoyed her personality even more. He enjoyed how outgoing he was, he loved how friendly she acted, her optimism was infectious, and her passion for inventing matched his perfectly. He got along well with Selene and Jasmine, and he’d always admired how pretty they were, but Gabrielle was the first person who he’d truly clicked with.

  However, just because they “clicked” didn’t mean he loved her. There was no such thing as a one true pairing in real life.

  “I-I’m not really sure what she meant,” Alex lied—and tried not to feel guilty about it. “Maybe she just thought we made great friends.”

  “Friends?”

  “Right! Friends!”

  “F-friends…”

  Uh-oh.

  Alex panicked when tears leaked from Gabrielle’s eyes. “T-there’s no need to cry… I-I mean, I just thought… but if you don’t want to be friends, then I—”

  “That’s not it.” Gabrielle sniffled as she rubbed the tears from her eyes. “I’m just… really happy, but I can’t stop crying for some reason.”