Red Light Hero

by Kory Shen

  Oh well. He had already cummed inside her twice. She was just playing around, as usual. He seemed to have that effect on her, at least in private.

  Violet shrugged and dropped the matter, literally. The tube fell from her hand and vanished before it hit the ground.

  Alan's shoulders seemed to relax. He reached for his phone and laid back on the bed, still naked. "Hand me a bottle from the fridge, will you?"

  Violet opened the nearby mini-fridge and rooted around inside. "No beer or anything? Nothing but water?" She took two bottles, one for Alan and one for herself.

  Alan reached for his bottle without looking up from his phone. "Nah. Got to keep in shape."

  "Why don't you take a break from checking the news?" Violet asked. "Godmother or one of us will tell you if something happens."

  Alan had been obsessing over his red alert status, anxiously waiting for new developments. It didn't help that Alan was currently the number one trending topic online. You couldn't go to any site without running into speculation and discussion about the heroic alpha on the government's wanted list.

  Even though public support for him had grown daily, PIERCR hadn't retracted their position. Violet was worried too, but she had done what she could to distract him.

  Alan grunted. "Godmother said the next few days will be key. She said once things reach a tipping point, I should make a public statement. Aren't we there already?" His thumb flicked across the phone.

  "Stop reading that," Violet said. "Here, we haven't tried this yet."

  A large purple ring appeared in her hand. Instead of a gem, it had a round bulbous shape on one end.

  "You put this on and…"

  Alan wasn't even looking at her. Figured. Give men a little dopamine and suddenly they didn't need you anymore. No, that wasn't fair. Alan had a lot on his mind.

  "Oh my god." Alan was staring at his phone.

  Violet sighed. "Fine, if you're not interested in me anymore," she joked. "But you better not be browsing porn instead." She leaned over to peek at his screen.

  A naked woman was on his screen. A very hot naked woman.

  Violet began rolling her eyes, then stopped herself. She looked more closely at the picture.

  "Wait, isn't that—"

  CHAPTER 41

  Page Glory sat in front of the computer, her hand on the mouse, a finger poised to click.

  This was it. There would be no going back.

  Cover Girl was dead. She had used the last of her alpha powers to escape from the fight at The Strip. Now, she had nothing, not a single trace of that gift from Maiden long ago. The gift that had become a curse.

  She could go to Alan. He could restore Cover Girl.

  No, she had made her decision. Her old life was over. Cover Girl had disappeared, forever, and she intended to keep it that way. It was terrifying, being unable to run away in the blink of an eye. Being exposed, vulnerable. She had broken down once in the street already on a simple grocery trip, the mass of people watching her becoming too much. She had dropped her bags and run home, crying for an hour before calming down.

  She would beat her fears, her addiction to invisibility. That's why she had to do this.

  Her finger twitched, but she didn't press the mouse button yet.

  This wasn't just about her. She owed him. Alan had come to the Institute for her. Now, he needed her. Not as an invisible woman, but as someone that everyone would see.

  Godmother had sent her a message this morning. Two words. It's time.

  She knew what she had to do. She wasn't a clueless bimbo. She was a media superstar. She knew exactly what buttons to push, to drive the public into a furor, to sway them one way or the other.

  And Page Glory? Today, the old Page Glory would die, as Cover Girl had. Page Glory was a carefully crafted image, a costume, and wasn't a costume just another way to hide? No more hiding. No more turning invisible. Today, she would tear the costume off.

  The woman who had been Page Glory moments before took a deep breath. She clicked the mouse.

  CHAPTER 42

  SHOCKING SECRETS REVEALED! Hero or Gigolo? The latest RED LIGHT scoop!

  11:49 AM EST

  58.6K Likes 1880 Comments

  Those who knew him paint a picture of a humble, hardworking man from the streets of The Strip.

  John Wallace, a manager at VPX Services, claims that the alpha now known to the public as Red Light is a former employee named Alan. "Alan was an exemplary employee during his brief time with VPX Services," says Wallace.

  While his recent heroism [WATCH NOW: Footage of Red Light in action] is the first on public record, others offered earlier stories of this good samaritan's character.

  Tony Rourke, Chief Financial Officer of Feathertech Aerospace, says the man saved him from a mugging incident after a business meeting in The Strip. "I'd recognize that face anywhere. It was definitely him. I didn't get a chance to show my appreciation for what he did back then. I'd love to see him again to thank him properly."

  A local university student, Daisy Lian, confirmed that the man's first name is Alan. "I was working late one night, and my boss started making me uncomfortable, getting handsy. Alan saw what was happening and spoke up. He's a real gentleman."

  However, a screenshot from a popular website began circulating yesterday that shows a man in The Strip offering illicit services with an alpha for $2000. An anonymous source claims the man named Alan is responsible for the personal advertisement. The veracity of the screenshot is unknown, but the date and location would match what little is known of the mysterious Red Light's history. While prostitution was legalized in Washington D.C. by the Grosso Act of 2017, national sentiment has been more conservative. Radio personality Taylor Reagan questioned whether "anything good can come out of The Strip." Commenting on the circulating screenshot, news columnist Megan Polk said she "would not be surprised by the dirty affairs of a terrorist" and that Red Light failed to meet "the high moral standards set by heroes like Electrophile."

  Government alpha watchdog agency, PIERCR, continues to maintain that Red Light is a national threat. Anyone with information about the individual called Red Light should contact the authorities.

  No current alpha hero has spoken publicly on the issue. Some have pointed to their silence as damning. Others have suggested that they are being censored.

  One voice has clearly stated where her allegiances are. In a shocking move, America's darling Page Glory announced her support of Red Light in the most unlikely fashion: a nude photo posted on her social media account.

  Glory surprised many as the kingmaker in the last presidential election, mobilizing the under-thirty vote to record turnout. Now, Glory has thrown her considerable influence behind Red Light in a rather provocative manner. Will she be a heromaker, too?

  The buzz generated by Glory's unconventional tactic hasn't been ignored. The White House announced that it would make a statement about the Red Light issue this afternoon…

  * * *

  Alan closed the article. He smiled. Red Light, that was what they were calling him now, mostly because of her. He pulled up the photo on his phone again.

  It was a selfie taken with the aid of a mirror, the kind of picture that was sent when sexting. Except Cover Girl…no, Page Glory, had posted it publicly for everyone to see. Her sleek body and full breasts were on full display, but that's not what held Alan's attention. He reread the words she had scrawled across her stomach.

  For my hero, Red Light.

  He had supposed that she was dead. Discovering that she was alive had brought him to tears. But soon, she was gone again, leaving a bittersweet aftertaste.

  He couldn't get in touch with her. Either Godmother didn't know where she was, or she wouldn't tell him. After posting that picture, Page Glory had stopped posting online as well.

  Why didn't she come back to him? He could make her Cover Girl again. They clearly cared for each other, too. Without her help, he doubted the White House would make a decisive m
ove.

  Alan shook his head. That first night they had met, he had thought she was the one. She was the one — the one that got away. He chuckled. It was a taste of his own medicine, wasn't it?

  "Mr. Star?" A stiff man in a black suit beckoned to him. He had a strange expression on his face.

  Alan turned the phone off and put it into his pocket. Whoops. He'd think Alan was browsing indecent photos, here of all places. "I was just checking something," Alan said.

  The man held out his hand. "No phones allowed inside."

  Alan pulled out his phone and deposited it into the outstretched hand. "Fine. Happy?"

  The man opened the door and indicated that he should enter. Inside, the oval room was empty except for a single seated woman. Alan glanced around.

  "Shouldn't there be more people here?" The place should be brimming with security, considering he was a wanted terrorist.

  The woman smiled. "So PIERCR's right? You are a villain?"

  Alan had seen the pictures of the woman before, but this was the first time he had met her in person. She wasn't bad for her age. What was she? Forty-one? Around the same as Godmother.

  He realized she was still waiting for an answer to his question.

  "No, of course not. But you already knew that, or you wouldn't be meeting me alone."

  The woman shrugged. "Well, we're never quite alone here, but alone enough. In any case, I know you're a good man. Page put in a good word for you, didn't she?" The older woman's eyes twinkled mischievously.

  "Um, I guess." Alan shifted awkwardly. He had thought he had come here to plead his case. "If you already made up your mind, why did you ask to see me?"

  The woman licked her lips. Her eyes crept along his body, pausing near his waist.

  Oh.

  At first, Alan didn't know what to think. Then, the tingle of excitement whispered to him once more. Holy fucking Christ. First an alpha. Now this?

  He broke into a wide grin as he stepped forward.

  "How can I help you, Madame President?"

  End of Red Light Hero, book one of the Dark Genome series.

  Thank you for reading my second published novel. If you haven't read it, you may want to check out my first novel, Beastmasters: Symbiosis, by going here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07J686ZDH. Do note that Beastmasters is a very different style of storytelling, emphasizing a faster pace, lighter tone, and heavier LitRPG elements.

  If you want to know when the sequel to Red Light Hero comes out, please sign up for my mailing list at my website https://www.koryshen.com

  If you liked this story, I would greatly appreciate if you could leave a review on Amazon. Reviews from readers like you make a huge difference for authors. Your kind support will help me focus full-time on writing so I can bring you even better entertainment.

  I wrote Red Light Hero for several reasons, other than the obvious fact that superpowers are awesome. One, I wanted to write a Western-comics inspired story. Two, I wanted to explore a less serious side of superheroes. There's a joke that you can improve any fortune cookie by adding the words "in bed" to the end. Well, superpowers…in bed. Enough said. Three, as something of a nerd, I wanted to provide a modern update to the classic trope that mutant genes gives rise to superpowers. While I took fantastical liberties with the concept, the basic claim that your genome is littered with viruses is true. There's more viral DNA in your genome than actual human genes.

  A final reason I wrote Red Light Hero is that I wanted to keep pushing my development as a storyteller. My aim was to practice working with multiple viewpoints and intertwined plotlines. It was harder than I thought! But I will keep challenging myself and experimenting.

  Once again, thank you for reading!

  About the author

  I'm a long-time fan of fantasy, anime, and video games with a special interest in the growing genres of LitRPG and GameLit. In 2018, I left an unsatisfying industry and started writing fiction novels to see if I could reach people in my own way. Whether you're tired, hurting, or just searching for the next good tale, I hope my stories can make you smile and forget your worries for a little while longer. Thanks for reading my work, and I sincerely hope that you had fun!