A Most Unlikely Hero, Vol. 2

by Brandon Varnell

  … Becoming a hero is a lot harder than I thought.

  As he walked home, Alex looked at the passing scenery. The outer district really was pretty, and he didn’t just mean aesthetically pleasing either. Everything there had a purpose: the grass, the trees, the water, even the buildings. They all served a function that kept Mars City running.

  So… what’s my purpose?

  Zzzzzzzppppttt!

  A loud noise to his left, the sound of sparking ozone, alerted Alex to danger. His body moved before his mind could catch up. He leapt back and was just in time to avoid a beam of condensed heat. Even from a distance, Alex could feel the heat singing the hair on his arms.

  What is that? It looks almost like a particle cannon, but there’s too much heat.

  Particle cannons were high energy beams of condensed subatomic particles. They didn’t burn things. They disrupted targets at the subatomic level, reducing everything that they touched to their molecular components.

  Zzzzpppttt!

  More beams came at him, from different angles this time. Alex rolled along the ground, and then skipped back up and used his moment to flip through the air.

  Zzzppptt! Zzzppptt! Zpt! Zzpppt!

  Four more beams came at him from four different directions. Alex gritted his teeth as he dropped his grocery bags and pulled out his electro-whip. A loud crackle! echoed through the clearing as light particles erupted from the handle. He swept his whip around him as he spun. The energy beams broke apart as his whip slashed through them.

  There was resistance when his weapon of choice met each attack.

  These beams have physical substance! What sort of projectile is this?!

  “Who the hell are you?!” Alex shouted, looking around. “Show yourself!”

  “Ha!” A voice echoed all around him. “A puppeteer never reveals himself to his enemy! Now die!”

  Enemy?

  Alex didn’t have any more time to think.

  For in that moment, four mechanical bipeds burst out from what appeared to be a wormhole and attacked him.

  CHAPTER 4

  THE PUPPETEER

  Gabrielle had been invited to stay over at Selene’s house, but she had declined. While she thought it would be fun, and she planned on spending the night sometime soon, she wanted to stay with Alex and work on their next projects together.

  She had hit a dead end with her crisis suit research. Unlike Ariel, who knew a lot about ancient Angelisian glyphs and seals, Gabrielle knew nothing. She was an inventor, not a scholar. Unfortunately, without that knowledge, she couldn’t possibly begin to uncover what the seals inside of Alex meant.

  That was why she and Alex planned on building hoverboards using anti-gravity repulsor technology instead.

  She was excited.

  Arriving home, Gabrielle wandered into the living room where Alice and Jasmine were watching Titan Girls.

  “Hello!” she greeted the two.

  “Yo.” Alice didn’t even look away from the holovid as she spoke.

  Jasmine did, however, presenting Gabrielle with a look that reminded her of Loki, Thor’s sort-of-but-not-quite twin sister. “Oh ho ho ho! Well, if it isn’t the trollop!”

  “Trollop?” Gabrielle tilted her head.

  “Oh ho ho ho!”

  Gabrielle wasn’t sure what a trollop was, but Jasmine sounded happy, so she didn’t let it bother her. “Where’s Alex?”

  “Oh ho ho ho! If you are asking about Alexander, then I am afraid that I, Jasmine de Truante, the Queen of Secrets, am disinclined to—”

  “Bro went shopping,” Alice said.

  “A-Alice! You were not supposed to tell her that!”

  “Oh, okay,” Gabrielle murmured.

  If Alex was shopping, then it meant he was probably buying food. Well, she could wait for him to return and make dinner before they went down to the lab.

  Moving over to the couch, Gabrielle sat next to Alice and looked at the holoscreen. She was just in time to see a young woman smash her fist into some evil villain’s face, sending the bad guy flying nearly 100 meters back before he crashed into a wall, which blew apart.

  “Ha! Don’t underestimate the power of my fist!” Titan Girl declared.

  The villain, holding a hand to his face, snarled. “Damn you, Titan Girl! I’ll remember this!”

  “Ah! You two are watching Titan Girl!” She exclaimed excitedly.

  “Yep,” Alice said.

  “Oh ho ho ho! Although this form of entertainment is rather blasé, I, who am known as the Queen of Media, can appreciate this base form of low-brow entertainment.”

  “Meaning you actually really like Titan Girl but won’t admit it out loud.”

  “Oh ho! Alice, there is no need for you to say something so unnecessary.”

  “Yeah, yeah.”

  The three girls settled down again. The only sound in the house was that of Titan Girl, the screams of her enemies as she beat them to a pulp, and Gabrielle’s enthusiastic cheers.

  1

  Alex’s ragged breathing sounded abnormally loud to his own ears. His heart pounded in his chest. Adrenaline coursed through his veins, enhancing his perceptions, pushing his body beyond its limits, which was the only thing that had kept him alive thus far.

  Of all the times for me to forget my crisis suit! Maybe I should start wearing it all the time!

  Ducking low, Alex’s hair rustled as a fist sailed over his head. The scent of oil and sand filled his nose as he shuffled around, getting behind the strange machine and attempting to cut it apart with his electro-whip. He clicked his tongue when one of the other three machines ran in front of the attack, blocking it with its forearm.

  Its wrist is glowing…

  Indeed, it was only for a split instant, but during the time his whip had hit it, the machine’s forearm had definitely been glowing a light orange. Alex could tell that whatever that arm was made of, it wasn’t metal. It reminded him of lava, almost. What did that mean?

  Is this a strange ability that this thing has, or is this machine made out of some kind of composite material?

  Alex had no more time to think on it. The two other machines attacked him from either side in a pincer maneuver. He leapt back, hoping that the two would crash into each other. But of course, there was no way he’d be that lucky, and, just as he expected, the two turned on the spot just before slamming into each other and rushed him like speeding shuttles.

  The machines that he was fighting did not look human. They were bipedal, but that was where the similarities ended. Bullet-shaped heads that made him think of glassed sand glowed in the filtered sunlight. Diamond-patterned eyes the color of molten lava burned with energy. Reverse joints and multiple arms gave them an insectoid appearance. Their hands ended in sharp claws, and there were holes in their palms, from which they shot those heat beams.

  Alex struck the one on the left with his whip. It stumbled but didn’t stop. There was a scorch mark on its breastplate, but he couldn’t see any further damage.

  What are these things made of?

  The one on the right reached him first. Alex twisted away from its thrust claw. At the same time, he changed the settings on his electro-whip, making it less powerful, and wrapped it around that robot’s outstretched arm. He tugged. The robot stumbled—right into the other one, sending them both crashing to the ground.

  Zzzpppt!

  Alex had no time to celebrate. He leapt backward. The spot in front of him became scorched. Heat wafted from the ground. His face broke out in a sweat. Alex grimaced when the durasteel street melted, turning a molten orange and bubbling like magma.

  What sort of attack is that? It’s not energy. What is it?

  Seconds later, a machine dropped from the sky, landing right in front of him. Alex lashed at it automatically, but he’d forgotten to change the settings on his whip. As his particle cord wrapped around its forearm, the robot yanked on it, and Alex was lifted off the ground.

  Oh, crap!

  In despe
ration, he twisted around in the hopes of avoiding what might have been a fatal blow. The machine swung its arm at him, missing him by a hair. He flinched as his shirt was torn. Hitting the ground seconds later, he rolled along the street, ignoring the pain in his joints, and used his own momentum to land back on his feet—

  —only to find himself staring down a barrel, from which a glowing sphere of something molten and orange bubbled. The air in front of his nose fizzled as if the very atmosphere was being vaporized. The scent of burning ozone overwhelmed his nose, which had grown unbearably hot, as though the heat from within the barrel was lashing at him.

  Alex saw his life flash before his eyes. Time seemed to slow down. He couldn’t think, he could barely breathe, even his ability to comprehend and process sensory data had stalled. All he could do was stare into the barrel as it glowed with unrepressed energy and heat.

  Adrenaline forced him to move. He acted unconsciously, reached into his pocket and pulled out a small cylindrical device, and then shoved it into the hole where those beams were being fired from. He then leapt back.

  The hand exploded, the force of which was enough to push him back. Alex cried out as he held his arms protectively in front of his face. Searing heat rolled over him like the slow burning of a space cruiser. His skin blistered. Loud crackles and pops hit his ears, which only made the pain coursing through his body more intense.

  Alex barely felt it when he landed on his back. The pain in his arms overwhelmed everything else. He gritted his teeth and blinked back tears. Alex couldn’t afford to just lie there, because he understood that now was not the time. He needed to get up, to keep moving.

  Struggling, he stumbled to his feet and looked at the remains of the robot. Its torso was gone, leaving only a pair of legs, which remained standing, though they tilted precariously in one direction before tilting in the other direction. The other robots were standing still. He wondered why.

  “You… you bastard!” A voice rang out, the same one that had answered him when the fight first started. “How dare you destroy one of my puppets!”

  Alex wanted to answer back, to reply with a snarky comment about how it was his enemy’s fault for picking a fight, but he was too tired. His limbs felt like durasteel bars. His head was swimming. Spots and darkness intermingled before his eyes. He wanted to vomit.

  “I’ll kill you!”

  The three remaining machines charged all at once.

  Is this… the end?

  They continued to close the distance.

  Am I going to die like this?

  Ten meters. Five meters.

  What will happen to Gabrielle? To this planet? To my sister?

  Two.

  I still have to prepare dinner…

  Alex couldn’t allow himself to die here, for if he died, then it meant his little sister would be left on her own. If he died now, then Gabrielle would go back to Angelisia, where her father would try to force her into a loveless marriage. If he didn’t cook dinner, then Jasmine and Alice would starve, which was what would happen if he died.

  But he was tired. So tired. And he was pain. He didn’t have any strength left.

  Please…

  One meter.

  I need more strength…

  They were upon him. All three of them. Two were prepared to fire those strange beams. One had its hand pulled back, as if it was ready to ram its claws down his throat.

  I need strength now!

  “Very well,” a voice said, feminine and devilish, the first voice he remembered hearing inside of his head, the one filled with arrogance and lust. It answered his call, cackling away. “Since it seems you are unable to use your own power, I suppose I could lend you a bit of mine. Use it wisely, Boy.”

  Power filled him. It felt like his body was being infused with fire. The energy burned him. It hurt. But it also felt good. He could feel his limbs strengthening, his muscles recovering, and the darkness that had been encroaching upon his vision, clouding his mind, vanished. Alex raised his hands.

  “What?!” the voice shouted in surprise.

  The beams slammed into his hands, but he couldn’t feel anything, no heat, nothing, as though they were no hotter than the pavement beneath his feet. He held the attack at bay as though it was water from a hose.

  He was right. It was not an energy attack. These beams had physical substance. It felt like millions of tiny grains of molten steel pelting his skin.

  Alex skidded backwards across the ground. The street was torn apart as he dug in his heels, snarling as he pushed back. The heat seared his palms, but it didn’t reach him, didn’t harm him, and he eventually found purchase with the ground.

  The third machine, the one directly in front of him, lunged forward, thrusting its arm at his face. With his hands currently being occupied, he couldn’t use a standard attack.

  So he bit it.

  Sand filled his mouth as he bit down on the robot’s fingers, crunching down past the metal casing. The sand soon turned to mud. It tasted awful, and it got in his throat, making him gag. However, it also made the robot stumble backwards, which gave him some breathing room. The beam attacks also stopped. Alex spit out the sand and brought his hands to his face. They were blistered and red, but as he watched, they slowly healed, until not even a scar remained.

  What is this?

  “Damn it! What the hell was that?! Who bites someone’s fingers, huh?!” the voice shouted.

  “I do!” Alex shouted back. “Now stop being a coward and show yourself!”

  “Why don’t you stop being stubborn and just die?!”

  “Tch!”

  Once more, the three robots prepared to attack. The power that he’d felt a few seconds’ prior was already gone, leaving him exhausted and at the mercy of his enemy. He was at a complete disadvantage.

  Get ahold of yourself and think about this logically, Alex. The person who’s attacking you is hiding out here somewhere. He mentioned being a puppeteer. That means these things aren’t robots, but puppets, which also means they’re being controlled from a distance.

  If they were being controlled, then it meant that they didn’t have the insane reflexes normally found within a standard automaton. That said, whoever was controlling them clearly had reflexes that exceeded human limits. Controlling four puppets at once couldn’t have been easy.

  I need to retreat and regroup for now.

  Grabbing a sunbang grenade, Alex charged the primer and threw it into the air, as high as he could. If this person truly was a puppeteer, then he had to be around here somewhere, watching the battle. The three puppets didn’t even look at the object. The one missing a hand charged its other three weapons. The other two darted forward.

  “I don’t know what you’re planning, but that’s not going to—GYAA! MY EYES!”

  Alex had closed his eyes when the sunbang went off. Sunbang grenades were another invention of his. They were built on the same concept of particle beams, only instead of breaking apart subatomic particles, they scattered solar particles, creating an effect that was akin to having a supernova go off in your face. It was the best weapon to use when someone wanted to blind their enemies, similar to those archaic yet still effective flashbang grenades.

  Turning around, Alex ran away. It didn’t matter where he ran to, so long as he could put some distance between himself and his attacker. He was tired, hurt, and didn’t have a plan that would guarantee his victory. If he didn’t get out of there, he would die.

  Alex wanted to scream.

  And this day had started off so well, too.

  2

  Gabrielle, Alice, and Jasmine sat on the couch. An old holodocumentary on the Succession War played on the holovid.

  The Succession War was called such because it was the failed attempt that the various colonized planets had made in an effort to break away from the Earth’s government. The failure of which had resulted in the government gaining even more power, though this power had eventually been split between the nine plan
ets in this solar system.

  It wasn’t that interesting, but it wasn’t like there was anything on right then anyway—just a bunch of reruns. They weren’t paying attention to the holovid in either case.

  “Alex is late,” Alice said.

  “Really late,” Gabrielle agreed, her stomach rumbling.

  “Oh ho ho… ho…” Jasmine could barely even laugh. Her stomach was also growling.

  Silence reigned between the three. It was only broken by the sounds coming from the holovid and their own rumbling stomachs.

  Gabrielle wondered what was taking Alex so long. It normally didn’t take them more than half an hour to reach the convenience store, buy their food, and get back. Yet two hours had already passed, and he still hadn’t returned. This was just like that time with Shii-rya.

  Did something happen?

  She didn’t think that Alex had gotten lost. That didn’t seem like him. Maybe he’d been distracted and lost track of time? What if he found someone who needed help and decided to give them a hand, and that was why he hadn’t come back yet? That definitely sounded like something he would do.

  I should go find him.

  Gabrielle stood up, alerting the other two, who turned their heads to her.

  “I’m going to find Alex,” she declared.

  Jasmine stood up as well. “Oh ho ho ho! I shall accompany you, trollop. After all, I, who am known as the Queen of Tracking, would be most suited to finding Alexander.”

  “Are you really the Queen of Tracking?” Gabrielle asked, amazed.

  “Oh ho ho ho! Of course I am!”

  “So cool!” Gabrielle hadn’t realized that Jasmine had been given such an amazing title. If this girl went with her, then they were sure to find Alex! “Okay, you can come with me. We’ll go find Alex together.”

  “I’ll stay here.” Alice raised her hand. “Someone has to hold down the fort.”

  “Good idea. All right, Jasmine, let’s go!”

  “Oh ho ho—wait! Why are you dragging me?! And why are we going to the backyard?”

  Gabrielle dragged Jasmine to the backyard through the sliding glasteel door. While it was small, the backyard had a porch, some grass, and several plants dotting the landscape. There was also a big tree off to the side. Before Jasmine could say anything else, the blonde girl squealed when Gabrielle wrapped her in a hug and lifted her off the ground.