Overlord Brawl: Book 1 of the Neon Octopus Ally Series

by L. A. Johnson

  "Sorry, boss. That's why I got the super sensitive tracking device. The suspect is in that room right now."

  Ari sighed. "Alright. Let's do this." She spoke into her communicator to the team. "Okay everybody, Chip and I are going to have a look around. The rest of you hang back until I call you, okay?" She sent a quick text to Harry to let him know what was going on. Then she turned the handle and walked in.

  The Tinker room was spectacular in every way. This room held the most expensive pieces of art in the casino. A chef was on call for any requests. Even the water glasses were made of sparkling crystal.

  All the heads in the room swiveled to see the newcomers, wondering which table they were going to join. A quick glance in their direction, though, and they went back to playing cards. Ari knew full well from those glances that they were quickly identified as employees and not rich and famous players here on holiday.

  Once inside, Ari and Chip made their way quietly to the back of the room to get a better look at the place. There were eight or nine large tables spread out across the room. None of the tables were at capacity, it must have been a slow morning. Ari looked the players over, but nothing seemed amiss.

  "Alright, Chip. Which one is it?" Ari whispered.

  "Hold on," he said, "I'm adjusting to our changed perspective. Okay. The subject appears to be the tall, purple being at the table on the far left."

  "What? That looks like a garden variety Helganought species to me. Are you sure that is the subject? And exactly which banned organics are we talking about here?"

  "Well, that information is back at the lab," Chip said. "I'm just tracking, remember? And you're the one who input the list of banned substances for the sensors to even look for." He looked up at her. "That's him, boss. What do you want to do?"

  Ari tried to watch him discreetly for a moment. "I don't like it. Call the pit boss. Tell him to light up that table with surveillance. We're going to observe and report."

  "We found him and now we're just going to leave him there?"

  "Yes, for now. There's only one way out of this room. Let's go. We'll set up a stakeout outside. The surveillance cameras will alert us if anything happens inside of the room." She led Chip back out of the Tinker room into the lobby where they found two oversize chairs with a small table in between them and a good view of the door. They sat down.

  Chip looked up at her. "I was sure we were going to go all cop show on him. You know, like hot pursuit and everything."

  "Not on one of Harry's whales. At least not yet," Ari said. She texted security with the subject's picture and location and requested more information. "Look," she said at last, looking at Chip. "You've got his location pinpointed, surveillance has lit him up like a Christmas tree, and I've just requested all of the information we've ever had on him. He's not going anywhere, and if he starts any trouble we'll be all over it. But right now, he's sitting quietly playing blackjack and we're not going to disturb him."

  Chip slumped in his seat. Ari sat quietly for a few minutes. She people-watched calmly and occasionally heard Chip swearing quietly at whatever video game he was playing on his phone. Soon Ari started thinking about life and everything. The everything part was a really bad idea. Alone with her thoughts was something she avoided nowadays. She shifted in her seat.

  There had to be something productive she could do while she was waiting. She looked up the specifics on the Helganought species. Tall and purple. Yeah, I figured that out for myself. What else? Intuitive, sticky fingers, above average intelligence, below average speed.

  The ‘sticky fingers’ part would have caught her eye if she were still working regular casino security, but these were high rollers. They didn't need to steal to win and most of them wouldn't steal anyway on principal. It was just something fun to do on vacation, it wasn't life or death.

  That's when her cell buzzed and the information she had requested came through. Okay, so the subject's name was Roghwell. He's a Helganought, yes, I thought so. He's been here half a dozen times, very high roller. He has a comped suite, always comes alone. Ladies’ man. From a well-to-do planet on the warm side of the galaxy.

  Ari felt a growing feeling of unease. None of this was adding up. She frowned at Chip, who felt it somehow and looked up from his phone.

  "What?" he asked.

  "None of this makes sense. It feels like a setup. Did I really just set myself up? How would that even work? How do you set yourself up?"

  Chip shook his head at her. "Don't do this to yourself, boss. The equipment works. Maybe we just never knew that he was in disguise or whatever because we didn't have the tools to see it."

  "That's not the question," Ari answered. "The question is, does his identity really matter if he isn't doing anything wrong?"

  Suddenly there was a commotion within the Tinker room. Which seemed crazy with the amount of security they currently had in there. Chip sat up at attention, tapping madly at his phone to bring the tracking system back up again. "Hold on," he said.

  Ari pulled out her communicator. "Security, what's going on in the Tinker room? And what is the status of our subject?"

  "Rampaging, ma'am," the communicator squawked.

  "What was that?" Ari asked.

  "Your suspect just started freaking out. He's waving a weapon around and ranting about something."

  Ari looked at Chip, who was looking down at his phone. "Looks like they're right. He's still in there, but he's moving around."

  Ari got up and tiptoed over to the closed door, pressing her ear in and listening to the commotion. "That does it, I'm going in."

  "That's a bad idea, boss." Chip looked scared. "You should wait for security."

  Ari frowned. "There are more than enough security guards already in there." She gently turned the handle and pulled the door open a crack. Maybe she could peek in and get an idea of what was going on without putting herself in danger.

  Just as she did, though, the door flew open at her. Ari hit the floor and looked up as the first of the high-stakes poker players came streaming out. Then, a few seconds later, out came Mr. Roghwell. He ran out of the door and stopped, looking around wild-eyed.

  He looked extra purple to Ari, and he was sweating profusely. He looked off, for sure. But Ari still had her doubts as to whether he was a serious suspect.

  "Mr. Roghwell?" she asked, crawling to her feet. He swung around in her direction and pointed a weapon at her. She put her hands up and tried to stay calm.

  "Is there anything wrong, sir?" Ari asked gently. "Are you alright? A few minutes ago, you were calmly playing blackjack. What happened?"

  Roghwell pointed the gun down, or at least his hand slumped and that was the end result. "Did something happen? Is this humanoid slug actually asking me if anything happened?" he said loudly as he looked around.

  "Hey," Chip said. "There's no reason for name calling."

  "Oh yeah? Well, somebody scanned me." He raised his bushy eyebrows. "Biologically scanned me. Can you believe it? That might not be a big deal in this backwater galaxy, but let me tell you, it's a very uncool practice in most of the civilized universe."

  Oh crap. This is all my fault. "Maybe somebody felt like they had a good reason to scan you. Sort of an extra layer of security. You know what I mean? We have all kinds of weirdos sneaking in here and trying to be Overlord."

  "Overlord?" he asked and broke into laughter, bending over. "You think I want to be in charge of this place? Don't make me laugh."

  Too late, Ari thought.

  That's when extra hordes of heavily armed security showed up. Day late and forty credits short, Ari thought. She waved them away.

  "But we were told to-"

  Ari gave them all a savage look and pointed at her ID badge hanging on the lanyard around her neck. They looked at each other and muttered for a moment before stomping off. Ari knew it was only a matter of time before they found their leader, regrouped, and came back though.

  Ari turned her attention back to Mr. Roghwell, w
ho was jumpy again. "Alright now, I got rid of them. It's just us. Easy." She gathered her thoughts. "Hey, but here's a thought. What if you were sneaking in here under false pretenses. Because whoever might or might not have set up the scanning mechanism was only scanning for high amounts of banned organic compounds."

  The purple creature pointed the gun back at her. "You're kidding, right? Please tell me you're kidding. Those rules are eons old, and they mostly predated the carbon-based life forms in your galaxy. And trust me, sweetie, they will NOT protect you from the slimy beings flocking to this crazy corner of space."

  Ari opened and then shut her mouth. "What exactly did you mean by that? The flocking thing, I mean."

  That's when the rest of security showed up. With their fearless leader in tow. Of course, he wasn't in the front of the pack when confronting an armed suspect.

  "Show's over, you purple freak," he said from the back. "You're coming with us."

  "No he's not," Ari said. "Mr. Roghwell here was just showing me his new blaster." She held out her hand.

  Roghwell fixed narrow purple eyes on her for a moment, thinking. Then he walked calmly over and placed the weapon in her hand. "It is a fun new toy," he said, "and you can't pick one up just anywhere. Not in this galaxy anyway."

  "Gorgeous," Ari said. "Every bit as cool as you said."

  "But the Tinker room," he objected from behind his guards.

  "Is fine," Ari said. "Taking a break. And as to your next question. Were any injuries reported?"

  "Um-"

  "Well?" Ari demanded. "Were there?"

  "No. Not exactly."

  "Okay. Now go away and take your minions with you before somebody gets hurt. Or do you want me letting Harry know that you're harassing one of his favorite gamblers?"

  They turned and walked away.

  Everything went back to normal around them. After a few minutes, the three of them slumped into the comfy chairs that Ari and Chip had used during the stakeout.

  After a few minutes, Mr. Roghwell spoke.

  "You did it, then. Scanned me, I mean?"

  "Yes," Ari said. "I'm sorry. I thought I was helping, but I guess it's back to the drawing board."

  "Well, thanks for sending all of the security back. It could have gone down way worse than it did. Just for the sake of asking, what made you go in that direction, security wise?"

  "Well, I know of at least two banned species here that are vying for power. One is some sort of diabolical space Kracken, and the other is a Preying Mantis species."

  He shook his purple head and whistled. "You've got a lot more than that here, miss. They're already among you. And more are coming. If I were you, I'd stop focusing on the newly arrived and start looking at who's already here."

  "Great," said Ari. "Hey look, I'd like to take this opportunity to double your daily food comp and upgrade your suite to Conqueror package, just to show you how sorry I am."

  "That'll work," he said with a wink. "Tell Harry there's no hard feelings. Oh, yeah. And give me back my gun, please."

  Ari handed it over.

  8

  Fleek was giddy. He had been waiting weeks to get those guys off his ship. Now he could finally put his plan into motion. The spaceship itself was one of his last ties to Fractal, the hacker identity he had used to gain vast fortune and fame screwing around with the galaxy. His instincts told him that the Galactic authorities were closing in, so he found it best to once again blow up the past and look to the future. Especially since he was a famous rock star now.

  Back when Kirian was in Celestial, the minute she'd leave for a mission and he had the place to himself, the first thing he'd do was watch the Fractals. There were new fractals waiting for him. They were still technically and deliciously illegal and had been piling up on his playlist just waiting for him to experience them. It had been too long since he had indulged, really binged on his favorite vice. And he may as well do it now. It would be a fitting tribute to the end of his time on this spaceship. He looked at his watch. He had time. He sat down at the console and typed in the instructions to have the ship demolished tomorrow. That done, he could return his attention to the Fractals.

  After all, the Fractals were the source of all the best things in his life. The music, the Oracle, the rock stardom, the confidence, the very meaning of life. That's what the Fractals meant to him. And those two had been keeping him from them. He needed privacy for the Fractals. And now the ship was his. Gloriously empty except for himself and the snacks he had packed in the refrigerator.

  He grabbed a sandwich and a soda out of the fridge and walked happily to his room, pausing only on the main bridge to look around one more time and make absolutely certain that he was alone. Soda was known to teleport, so he had to be sure. Satisfied, he continued, humming a happy tune. One of his own, as it turned out.

  He threw open the door to his room and left it open. There's nobody here to bother me. He kicked off his shoes and set his food and drink down on the nightstand by his bed. Then he laid down and turned on the console which held the Fractals. He cued up the first one. For full potency they must be watched in order. He hit play.

  The Fractal appeared. It held jagged colors and emotions and promised entry to another world. He focused on joining into the stream of consciousness.

  And then the power went out. Completely. He lay in his bed in the dark. The Fractal was gone. Everything was gone. He wondered what to do. Usually when things went wrong there were other people around to help.

  He took several rapid breaths. He was pretty sure that's what you were supposed to do in a frightening situation on a spaceship with no power. Suck up all the oxygen in the room using shallow breaths until you can figure out what to do next. In this case, the next step would be to call Marco, who had illegally wired the power on the spaceship. Luckily, his phone still had some charge. The phone light allowed him to see while he keyed in Marco's number. It went straight to voicemail. He tried again. Same result.

  He pouted. Then he sent a text message: The power is out on my spaceship, Marco. You set the whole thing up. Tell me what to do.

  There was a notifications sound. Swish. You should light a candle.

  Phew, Fleek thought. At least now Marco was communicating. He texted back: I don't want to light a candle. As I am not a woman. And my spaceship smells just fine. What I need is electricity for my Fractals. He thought about it for a second. And also, for light, heat, breathable air and Netflix. What I don't want is what is happening right now. Which is me, floating around in space. In the dark.

  Swish. That sounds like the Fractals talking. Are you sure you're not on Fractals right now? Maybe you just think you're floating around in space.

  Fleek ran his hand through his mohawk. You've gotta be kidding me. Look, Marco. The problem isn't that I'm on Fractals, it's that I'm not on them, and I'd really like to be. And for that to happen I need to be alive and have power on my spaceship. I need very few things to be truly happy in this world, and power is one of them. You fixed it last time, so help me fix it now. You have two options. One, tell me how to fix it or two teleport yourself over here right now so you can fix it. Or you're out of the band.

  Swish. Ok, cranky genius. How am I supposed to teleport over there if your power is out?

  Fleek screamed. GAH! He texted back. I'm serious. I need help here.

  Swish. Hi, Fleek.

  Fleek just blinked at the text message.

  Swish. That's my girlfriend, Tara. She's right here. Says she's a big fan. By the way, in case you were wondering, yes, you interrupted us.

  Fleek texted manically. Hi, Tara. I'm sorry that me having light and heat and air and Fractals is cutting into your love life. Can Marco please tell me what he did to get the power back the last time this happened?

  Swish. I don't remember. If I were you, though, I'd start by checking the circuit breakers. They are located on the main console.

  Fleek texted back. Ok. Good idea. Then he used his phone flashlight to navig
ate back from his room to the main console area of the ship. When he got there, dozens of people were waiting for him. In the dark. Powerful flashlights all trained on his face at the same time, blinding him.

  "Okay," a gruff voice said. "We got him. Turn the power back on."

  "It was you guys who turned the power off? Okay. You had me going there for a few minutes. I didn't know what to do. By the way, who are you guys, anyway?" His eyesight was patchy, but it was starting to come back after the whole flashlight-right-in-the-eye-trick they had pulled. He had half a mind to kick them right out of his fan club.

  As he looked around, though, he could see that the guys surrounding him didn't look like fans. For one, they were heavily armed and wearing tactical armor. And secondly, they had the capital letters G.E.U. on the outside of their shirts. G.E.U. was the designation of the feared Galactic Enforcement Unit.

  Uh-oh, that's not good. Fleek looked at them wide-eyed. "Sorry, guys, but my fan club meets on the fourteenth of the month." They obviously weren't just fans, but he wanted to start the conversation from a position of strength. He glanced at his phone calendar. "You're like, two weeks late. You're not going to get any autographs that way. And if you're not fans, then this whole thing sort of feels like an abuse of power. Storming a rock star's spaceship-home and turning off the power just as they were about to-um," he remembered just in time that finishing the sentence was admitting to illegal activity. "Um, just as I was about to watch Netflix. Uncool. I thought you guys were above all of that."

  "We are above nothing," the Officer in the front that Fleek guessed was in charge said gruffly. He held out a sheet of paper. "Now sign, here, please. For my daughter. Her name is Amanda."

  Fleek glanced at the document carefully before he complied. Sometimes they acted like they wanted your autograph and it’s just a pre-written confession. You can't be too careful. True story.

  "And now," gruff guy continued, "Fleek, lead singer of the band Chemical Zombies, you are under arrest for being the famous hacker known as Fractal."