A Most Unlikely Hero, Vol 5, page 16
You! How are you still talking? I thought you and the other voice had been suppressed!
Voice Number One giggled. “That sad device can’t suppress me. It was only meant to suppress Angelisians, and I am not an Angelisian.”
Then… what are you?
“Now that would be telling. Perhaps if you use my powers…”
No thanks.
Alex did his best to ignore the voice. First, he needed to get this device off his neck. He couldn’t use his Aura of Creation, which meant he couldn’t create a weapon. Shoot. If only his crisis suit hadn’t been removed, then he could… have…
His thoughts trailed off. His eyes slowly widened. Raising a hand to his face, Alex studied his fingers. Something was covering his fingers like a thin film. He swiped his index finger in the air and a tear appeared before him, miniscule, tiny, a small rip within the fabrics of this dimension.
They didn’t remove my D-glove…
The D-glove was an invention of Gabrielle’s. Similar to her D-space, the D-glove was modified to be transparent and barely noticeable—a more discreet version of the D-space. Alex hadn’t used it much because he was still getting into the habit of using it, but he had stored some of his inventions inside. His electro-whip was also in there.
A plan began to form in Alex’s mind. He would escape from this place, rescue Gabrielle, and then…
Then I’m going to make the jerk who kidnapped her pay.
7
Kazekiri didn’t know what was happening. School had been closed for the day, the police were crawling all over it, and no one was telling her a thing. She’d tried asking around, but they’d rebuffed her. According to what one of the officer’s said, Commander Karen had made everything on a need-to-know-basis, and she apparently didn’t need to know.
Is it because I’m only a part-time employee in the filing office?
It was true that she only worked part time, and it was also true that she hadn’t gone through basic training yet or completed any cadet courses, but did that make her ineligible to receive information when something important was happening at her school?
She had thought about asking the other students what they knew. There must have been some kids who knew what was happening, but she’d decided not to. Laws were put in place to protect people. Officers upheld the laws. If she went against the police like that, then it would have made her a criminal.
Alex went against the police…
Kazekiri had heard about how Alex had deliberately obstructed the police’s attempts against an assassin a while ago. She hadn’t been able to ask him about it, but according to the officers who’d been on that case, Alex had fought against them and rescued the assassin.
When she’d been a young child, Kazekiri had learned the value of following the law. Her father was not a good man. He stole from people, abused others, and her brother, mother, and herself had suffered for it. Likewise, her mother had been a terrible person with a Redline addiction. Both of them were now in jail because they hadn’t followed the law.
This was why she believed that following the law was so important. However, seeing Alex’s actions sometimes made her wonder if her way of thinking wasn’t too black and white.
Alex was not a bad person. In fact, he was an insanely good person. He helped people without a second’s thought, he had a strong sense of justice, and his heart was in the right place. She knew this. But he was also destructive, impulsive, and wasn’t afraid to go up against the police when his ideals contradicted theirs. That was what it seemed like to her, at any rate.
Sitting on the couch in her living room, Kazekiri watched the news and contemplated her current dilemma. She’d drawn her knees up to her chest. She was barefoot, and her toes unconsciously grasped at the fabric of the couch as she thought.
“… and in other news, the police still have not issued a response about why Atreyu Academy has been closed down. However, they have said that the school will re-open tomorrow.”
Kazekiri’s frown deepened. She hated knowing that something was happening and not knowing what that something was.
The door to the kitchen opened, and her brother walked out. He was wearing boxer shorts… and that was it.
She felt a vein throb on her forehead. “Why are you walking around the house like that? Put some clothes on!”
“Relax, Sis. Nobody else is around.” Keiichi stretched his arms and yawned.
“I’m around,” she said with a scowl. “And I don’t want to see my brother walking around half-naked, so go put some clothes on already!”
“All right. Sheesh!” Keiichi wrinkled his nose at her. “You know, if you keep acting like you’ve got a stick up your butt, that Alex guy you like so much is never gonna look at you.”
“Alex actually respects my opinion and isn’t a slovenly pig like you!” Kazekiri snapped. She didn’t realize that was the wrong thing to say until she saw the gleam in her brother’s eye.
“So now you’re defending him, huh?” He grinned. “You used to complain about him all the time. Every day, all you ever had to say about him was how destructive he is, or how much trouble he causes. For you to defend him so much… I guess you really do love him.”
“S-s-s-shut up! I do not!”
Shouting at her brother, Kazekiri threw the remote at his head. It missed when her brother ducked. As it smacked the wall, falling to the ground with a clatter, Keiichi ran out of the living room. With her scowl fiercer than ever, Kazekiri went back to the news, her entire mood ruined.
Several minutes passed when the doorbell rang.
“I’ll get it!” Keiichi called out.
“Not unless you’re dressed you won’t!” Kazekiri shouted, standing up.
“Don’t worry! I put some clothes on!”
Kazekiri sat back down and returned to watching the news, which was reporting a shuttle accident in the entertainment district. Someone had gotten drunk and crashed into an arcade. She kept an ear on her brother, listening to his conversation.
“Oh… hello. What can I do for you lovely young ladies tonight?”
The scowl returned. Keiichi had recently gotten a girlfriend, or so he kept saying, yet he was hitting on several women like this? He really was a shameless jerk. She was going to dig around his room, find that Melanie girl’s commlink channel, and let her know that Keiichi was two-timing her with other women.
“Get a load of this loser,” one of the women said. “Does he really think making his voice deeper makes it sound smooth? Ugh, I’d hate to be the girl who goes on a date with this dweeb.”
“D-dweeb?” Keiichi stuttered as if he’d been zapped by lightning.
Kazekiri snickered. Before getting a girlfriend, Keiichi used to pick up a different girl each weak. For someone to call him out on trying to make his voice sound smooth, call him a dweeb, and make fun of him… it must have been a huge blow to his pride.
“Listen,” a familiar voice said. “Stop wasting our time and let us talk to Kazekiri. This is important.”
They want to talk to me?
“What do you want with my sister?”
“That’s none of your business… dweeb. (P_P)”
“Gyaaa! Stop calling me that!”
Kazekiri stood up, deciding to see what these people wanted with her. Also, maybe it had been her imagination, but she could’ve sworn she heard an emote in that last voice. What was up with that?
Four women and one man stood in the doorway. She recognized three of them. Gideon Fletcher, the school’s nurse, Caridna Tepes, Atreyu Academy’s principal, and Yumi, the vice commander of the police. She didn’t know the other women, who had long green hair and…
Are those bunny ears?
“Vice Commander.” Kazekiri saluted. In a situation like this, Yumi took precedence. “What are you doing here?”
“Vice Commander?” Keiichi looked like someone had socked him in the face. “This lady is a vice commander?”
Everyone ignored him.
“We don’t have much time to explain,” Yumi said. “Just get dressed in your uniform and come with us. We’ll debrief you on the way to our destination.”
Kazekiri didn’t question the vice commander. She went upstairs, stripped out of her pajamas, and ruffled through her dresser. It didn’t take long to find a spare uniform, which she quickly donned. Then she rushed back down stairs and saluted again.
“We don’t have time for formalities,” said the woman with long, bunny-like ears and green hair that went all the way down to her ankles. Like Gideon she was wearing a lab coat. Unlike Gideon, she was wearing a dress that revealed obscene amounts of cleavage and her flat belly button.
How shameless!
“You’re right,” Vice Commander Yumi said. “Come on, Kazekiri. Let’s go.”
Kazekiri followed the others out of her house, leaving her confused brother behind.
A vehicle waited for them outside. It wasn’t a police shuttle, just a regular M9-15 space shuttle. It looked like an isosceles triangle with wings.
She entered the back with a dark-haired girl and Dr. Fletcher. Kazekiri recognized Nyx from the time she’d gone shopping with Alex and the others; she noticed that Nyx sat as far from the school nurse as possible. The woman whose name she didn’t know and Vice Commander Yumi sat in the front. The vice commander was flying.
“Where are we going?” Kazekiri asked.
“First, we’re going to the police station,” Vice Commander Yumi said as she turned on the shuttle and pulled on the controls. Vroom! Propulsion jets fired off as the shuttle lifted off the ground. “Then we’re going to rescue Alexander S. Ryker.”
What? Kazekiri thought as the shuttle took off.
It took five minutes for them to explain the situation to her, though she still had trouble wrapping her mind around everything. They told her that Commander Karen was being controlled by someone, that Alex had been unlawfully arrested, and that if they didn’t rescue him, the solar system was doomed. The reason for all this was Gabrielle.
“So, you’re telling me that Gabrielle is the princess of a galaxy spanning empire?”
“Yes,” Vice Commander Yumi said.
“And Alex has to marry her, or the entire solar system is doomed?”
“Yep,” Principal Tepes said.
“However, Alex has currently been arrested on trumped up charges because Commander Karen is being controlled by one of Gabrielle’s potential suitors, who just happens to be an alien from another part of this galaxy?”
“Pretty much! (^_^)” was the green-haired woman’s, Ēostre’s, perky reply.
“Oh. Okay,” Kazekiri said—right before her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she passed out.
8
Nyx grunted when Kazekiri’s weight landed on top of her. She would have pushed the girl off, but then she saw the look in Gideon Fletcher’s eyes and thought better of it. Wrapping her hair around the girl, she pulled Kazekiri even closer, causing the doctor to click his tongue in irritation.
“I told you we should have eased her into it,” Vice Commander Yumi muttered as she piloted the shuttle.
“You think so?” Caridna asked. “I think she took that rather well.”
“I concur. X3” Ēostre nodded in agreement.
Nyx could only sigh.
She was beginning to wonder if having these people help her rescue Alex was really such a good idea, after all.
INTERLUDE
THE MESSAGE
Lucifer was sitting on his throne when Azazel’s communication reached him.
A large screen appeared in front of him, showing the Angelisian commander’s face. Azazel looked like he’d seen better days. Not only was his hair in disarray, but his face was scuffed up and bruised.
“What happened to you?” Lucifer asked. “You looked like you challenged a torren to a fist fight.”
Torrens were primitive life forms found on Angelisia. They were bipedal creatures with long, thick arms and powerful bodies, similar to apes, but they had scales instead fur and their feet were clawed. While a torren wasn’t very intelligent, they were well-known for their incredible strength and hardy constitution. Only a few sentient beings could fight them on even footing.
“I wish that had been the case, your majesty,” Azazel said. “These wounds are actually from when Ariel sicced Kong on me.”
“Ah.” Lucifer nodded. “Does that mean you’ve managed to capture my wayward daughters?”
Azazel winced. “Unfortunately, it seems that they wish to stay here on Mars.”
Raising an eyebrow, Lucifer asked the obvious question. “What makes you think I care about what they want?”
“W-what I mean is: they want to stay on Mars, and Princess Gabrielle’s groom-to-be, Alexander S. Ryker, has decided to take their side.”
“Ho?” Lucifer murmured as he rested his cheek against the knuckles of his left hand. This was an interesting but not unexpected development, though Azazel did not know that. “So, Gabrielle’s top suitor has decided to protect them. Is he planning on building a harem with my daughters?”
“I… do not think that is his intention,” Azazel said hesitantly. “Alexander S. Ryker is too innocent for such thoughts. Also, it seems as if polygamy is not an accepted practice in this solar system.”
Lucifer clicked his tongue. “How boring. Anyway, what did the boy say?”
“Actually, he gave me a message to deliver to you.” Azazel fiddled with something out of Lucifer’s sight. “I’m sending it to you now.”
The dimensional transportation technology that Gabrielle invented had been adopted by Lucifer’s army. They used it for just about everything; this included delivering supplies and munitions, pin-point tactical jumps during combat, and mundane teleportation of people. Of course, there were limitations. People could not be teleported a certain distance, which was why he couldn’t just send a legion of troops to Mars and apprehend his daughters. Objects also tended to get scrambled if the teleportation device was not specifically calibrated for them. Still, it was incredibly useful technology nonetheless.
A small tear appeared in the space before him. Lucifer placed a hand underneath it just as a small box with blinking lights fell onto his palm.
“Now that you’ve delivered this, you may go,” Lucifer ordered his subordinate.
“Your Majesty.” Azazel saluted before the screen disappeared.
Lucifer studied the device sitting on his palm, which didn’t look like much. Despite this, the irony was not lost on him. No doubt Alex remembered how he had delivered a message to him via something just like this.
He pressed the button on top of the box. All of the lights lit up, and then an image appeared over the box. It was a small 1/100th scale holographic replica of a young boy who could only be Alexander S. Ryker.
Hm… he looks a lot like Zephie.
“I’m not one to mince words, so I’ll get right to the point,” the image of Alex said. “Your two daughters, Ariel and Michelle, wish to stay here on Mars, and I’ve decided to grant that wish. Those two will be staying with me until they decide to leave. If you send people after them, I’ll kick their asses and send them back to you. That is all.”
The holograph fizzled out. Lucifer stared at where Alex’s image had been seconds ago, and then he started to laugh. He laughed long and hard. His laughter echoed around the throne room. The two soldiers that stood by the entrance, guarding the door, looked at each other with uncertainty, but he ignored them.
“Ah… that boy… he is just like Zephie… even their attitudes are the same.”
This was a truly interesting development, and he knew of a way to make things even more interesting. Yes, he could use this young man’s hero complex to his amusement and benefit. He’d be killing two birds with one stone, solving a problem that had been digging into his side for some time now, while also amusing himself.
It looks like Alex is going to have more company soon…
Lucifer grinned.
CHAPTER 5
THE OPERATION BEGINS!
Darrick didn’t know what was going on, but for whatever reason, he’d been relegated to standby. Commander Karen had ordered him not to leave the police headquarters. Then she had left to go who knew where.
Perhaps it was because he was still a newly graduated recruit. As an ensign, he was technically the lowest ranked officer there, which meant that he wasn’t always at liberty to know what was happening. The only person whose rank was lower than his own was Kazekiri. She didn’t even have a title because she was a part-time employee and had yet to take any cadet training courses.
Sitting in a small cubicle where officers like himself typed up their reports, Darrick sighed and leaned back in his chair.
He was so bored. Everyone else was out doing something, and here he was, stuck inside, unable to do anything. Man, he wished something exciting would happen.
Just as this thought crossed his mind, something hard pressed into his back.
“D-don’t move,” Kazekiri stuttered.
Darrick straightened in his seat. “What the—? Kazekiri? What are you—”
“Just get up, follow me, and don’t ask any questions, got it?” Kazekiri’s hair tickled his skin as she leaned over. “Alex is in trouble. He needs help.”
“Alex-senpai?” Alex was in danger? “There’s no way that can be true. Alex is the strongest person I know.”
“It’s true. Alex is in trouble and needs help, so hurry up and get moving. We need to reach your shuttle before anyone realizes what’s happening. Vice Commander Yumi and the others are probably already on board.”
Vice Commander Yumi was involved in this as well? If that was so, then perhaps there was some validity to Kazekiri’s words. Whatever the case was, he couldn’t not go now, especially if the vice commander was involved. Besides, Alex might no longer be part of the police forces, but Darrick still considered the younger man to be his senpai.
“All right. I’ll go with you.”
“Good.”
“By the way… what is this thing that’s poking my back?”
There was a delayed pause. If Darrick didn’t know any better, he’d have said what was poking him was the barrel of a gun--except Kazekiri, as a cadet, wasn’t actually allowed to hold a gun, so it couldn’t be that.
