A Most Unlikely Hero

Volume 1

Brandon Varnell

Illustrated by Xua Han Nin

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

A Most Unlikely Hero, Vol. 1

Copyright © 2017 Brandon Varnell & Kitsune Incorporated

Illustration Copyright © 2017 Mykel Furgeson

All rights reserved.

Brandon Varnell and Kitsune Incorporated supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce creative works that enrich our culture.

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ISBN: 978-0-997802-84-9 (paperback)

978-1-951904-99-9 (ebook)

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Dedication

This page is made in dedication to my amazing patrons. Without them, my characters would never get lewded by so many wonderful artists:

Aaron Harris, Abraham Madsen, Adam, Alarinnise, Armando Pastrana, Arron Cortrighr, Benjamin Morgan, Brendan Smiley, Bruce Johnson, Bryce McClay, C.L. Holgrahm, Casey G. May, Catcrazy9, Chace Corso, Christopher Gross, Cody Woodard, CosmicOrange, Daniel Glasson, David Bell, Dhivael, Dirheim, Dmc1234, Edward Grindle, Edward Lamar Stephenson, Edward P Warmouth, Emery Moore, Feitochan, Forrest Hansen, Forrest Hansen, Grant, Green and Magenta Beast, Ine Airlcana, IronKing, Jacob Floores, Jacob Wojno, Jeremy Schultz, John Torres, John Patton, Johnathon Jay, Joseph Thibodeau, Larc85, Lucid Fayt, Mark Frabotta, Masta Matna, Matthew Wallace, Max A Kramer, Michael Erwin, Michael Moneymaker, NA, Nathan S, Nathrielos, Phillip Hedgepeth, Rafael, Raymond T, Red Phoenix, Reent Dopychai, Repooc Ilahsram, Richard Garrett, Rob Mcdagg, Rooser45, Roy Cales, Samuel Donaldson, Sean Gray, Seismic Wolf, Sho_36, Smudi Corp, Starwarscout Jon, T, Thomas Jackson, Thomas Lindsay, Tim Nielson, ToraLinkley, Travis Cox, William Crew, xy172, Yuriy Snyadanko, Zach Miller, Zak Whitaker, Zenn Barger

Contents

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Interlude

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Epilogue

Thank you for reading!

Afterword

Sneak Peak

Manga Page 1

Manga Page 2

Manga Page 3

Manga Page 4

Manga Page 5

Hey, did you know?

Brandon’s LNs

American Kitsune

WIEDERGEBURT

MMG

Catgirl Doctor

Incubus

A Most Unlikely Hero

Arcadia’s Knight

Journey of a Betrayed Hero

Rift

Executioner

Follow me!

Prologue

Being a Hero is Hard Work

Strobe lights flashed, overwhelming Alex’s visual perceptions. The repugnant odor from dozens of unwashed bodies invaded his olfactory senses, making him want to gag. Meanwhile, the booth that he sat in was covered in grime, which he could feel even through his cloak.

The dive he found himself in was in the lower part of Mars City, which, like most bars of the lower city, contained humanity’s filth. Decadent slobs that didn’t know the words “common decency” covered every nook and cranny. He didn’t know what was worse—the shadiness of the people present, or how they gawked at the half-naked women dancing around poles on a stage in the center of the room.

Glancing at one of those women out of the corner of his eye, Alex cringed with guilt. Every time he saw them, dancing there half-naked, with their breasts jiggling around, he felt ashamed of himself. The problem, he concluded, was because the sight aroused him. He hated himself for feeling that way.

To get his mind off the sight, Alex tapped a few buttons on his wristband. A holographic image appeared in the air. It was of a man with pale skin, red eyes, spiky hair, pointy ears, and a large scar running down the left side of his face. His name was Andre Killick. He was the leader of a gang that called themselves the Black Panthers.

Who names their gang after a mammalian animal from Earth? And aren’t jaguars the ones that are supposed to be black?

Regardless of how dumb the name was, the man and his gang were not to be underestimated. A group that was as violent as they came, rumor had it that they were involved in all manner of illicit activities, including drug smuggling, slave trading, and even assassination…

… Of course, these were all rumors spread by the gang members themselves, who were, according to reports, boisterous and idiotic. Intelligence claimed that they were nothing but petty crooks who liked to vandalize other people’s property.

Alex, as a cadet training to become a member of the Interstellar Police Force, had been dispatched to ascertain the location of this criminal. Andre’s last sighting had been at this bar.

I can’t believe they’re making me do this. Everyone knows I’m no good at stakeouts.

That hadn’t stopped them from giving him this assignment. He would’ve liked to have something else, like busting up a criminal organization or rescuing hostages from a terrorist cell. It was too bad that cadets like him weren’t given anything more dangerous than this.

I guess it can’t be helped.

He turned off the hologram and looked up, searching the bar again—and doing his best to ignore the half-naked women. Was the man they sought still here? If Andre were smart, he would have already left. Surely even a petty gang leader was intelligent enough to realize that the IPF wouldn’t put up with his criminal activities forever.

As the thought crossed his mind, a figure emerged from the stairwell on the opposite side of the room. Pale skin. Spiky black hair. A scar running down his cheek. Pointy ears. Red eyes. He wore red leather pants and a jacket of the same color. It was Andre.

… This man is an idiot.

Putting a finger to his ear, Alex activated his headset. “This is Alexander S. Ryker, ID 22B614V, reporting. I’ve spotted the target.”

“Roger that,” a female voice said from the other end. “Remember, your job is only to watch him. Don’t try to apprehend him on your own—and for the love of Mars, don’t do something that’ll blow your cover!”

“I know that,” Alex groused. “I’m not new to this, Commander. I know how to do my job.”

“Your track record says otherwise,” came the dry response.

Alex winced. “That was a low blow.”

“If it keeps you from acting out of line… Anyway, several officers are on the way. Keep an eye on the target and make sure he doesn’t go anywhere.”

“I understand,” Alex said. “I’ll keep an—uh-oh.”

“‘Uh-oh’? What ‘uh-oh’? Alex, I don’t like the sound of your ‘uh-oh.’”

Alex and Andre stared at each other. The other man’s eyes were wide, practically bulging from their sockets as if he had witnessed a supernatural phenomenon. Could he see through Alex’s cloak? Impossible. Even if he could, there should have been no way for him to know who Alex was. Despite that, Andre was looking at him like he’d seen a destroyer-class cruiser heading on a collision course with him.

“I think he spotted me,” Alex said, seconds before Andre bolted for the door. “Damn it, he’s running!”

“I can’t believe this! All right. Alex, you stay there! We’ll send a squadron to your location ASAP!”

“Screw that! He’s going to get away if I don’t do something!”

“Alex, I don’t want you doing anything reckless! Do you hear me? Don’t—”

Alex shut off his communicator and leaped to his feet. He had been planning to bolt for the door, but just as he was about to break into a sprint, the music stopped, and several people who’d looked like regular patrons suddenly blocked his path. There were many he didn’t recognize, but there were also quite a few that he did. They were members of Andre’s Black Panther gang.

“Heh, if it ain’t the po-lice!” a man with swept-back blond hair exclaimed. His shades glinted in the low lighting. Alex wondered why this idiot was wearing shades indoors. “I bet you’ve come to arrest us, amma right? Didja really think you could just swoop in here like some kind of hero and—grrggglbl!!”

Alex grinned as he felt the man’s face cave underneath his knuckles. His punch sent the blond male sprawling into a table, knocking it over and sending the drinks on it flying into the faces of two other patrons.

“Correction!” Alex boomed. “I am not a police officer. I’m just a cadet. But that’s not gonna stop me from kicking your ass!”

A moment of silence. Then…

“You little shit!” one of the men roared.

Grabbing the blond by the throat and lifting him into the air, the giant man tossed him at Alex. He ducked, and the man sailed into a crowd of bystanders behind him. Like a set of dominos stacked together, more and more people became embroiled in combat, until there wasn’t a single person who wasn’t fighting.

Alex ducked underneath a punch, feeling the fist ruffle his hair. At the same time, he pressed his hands to the ground, fingers splayed, and mule-kicked one of his attackers who’d come up behind him. His feet hit their chest with a wham! As that person flew through the air, he skipped up and unleashed an uppercut at the person that had attempted to punch him. Pain shot through his knuckles, but that was secondary to the satisfaction he felt at taking down another thug.

He heard movement behind him. Alex spun around, redirecting a fist that was sailing toward his head. He grabbed the forearm of the man that the fist belonged to, then pulled the man into his knee. The man doubled over. Spittle flew from his mouth. Alex yanked him up by his hair, twisted him around, and kicked him into someone that was trying to sneak up behind him.

Duck. Twist. Punch. Kick.

The world around him was a chaotic throng of combat. Pandemonium rang out like gambling addicts were prone to when they won the lottery. Alex kicked someone in the stomach, using their doubled-over posture to play leapfrog on their backs. He extended his legs and kicked two more people in the face while still in mid-air.

Someone else tried to hit him as he landed on the ground, but he sidestepped, feeling the wind rush past him. Then he gripped their forearm and slammed his elbow into their elbow joint. A loud crunch! echoed as the man screamed; his elbow was bent at an angle that human joints shouldn’t be able to bend.

I need to do something about this.

He hadn’t come here to fight gangs. He’d come here to arrest Andre. Valuable time was being wasted playing with these idiots.

Reaching into his cloak, Alex dug around as he dodged several punches coming in from multiple directions. He finally found what he was looking for and pulled it out. It was a small device, circular, with a little button on top. Pressing the button while knuckle-punching some poor sap in the throat, Alex tossed the object into the air and ran like hell. He burst out of the building just as a concussive shockwave from inside blew the doors off their hinges. Looking back, he felt a drop of sweat trail down his face as he realized something.

I don’t think my concussion grenade was supposed to be that powerful… He pondered that for a second before coming to a conclusion. Maybe using a miniature version of my pulse generator was a bad idea.

Shrugging, Alex decided to think on that later. He had a crook to catch.

The lower city was a bizarre place. It was referred to as such because another city had been built on top of it. Since it was technically the “middle” section of Mars City, the lower city consisted of numerous crosswalks and subsections. Walkways branched out into even more walkways, which merged and twisted with no sense of aesthetics as if they’d been built randomly. It was easy to get lost in a place like this.

Despite that, finding Andre wasn’t hard. The man hadn’t gone far from the bar. Alex thought it was because Andre had assumed that his gang would be enough to defeat him. He felt smug satisfaction when the man’s eyes bulged like a pair of dishboard pucks. They stared at each other for a second longer before Andre spun and ran away.

That’s right, you’d better run.

Alex chased after the man through the lower city, weaving through people, banking around corners, and hopping over objects. It didn’t matter how far Andre ran. Like circuits on a board, Alex remained glued to his tail.

His headset crackled to life. “Alexander S. Ryker! I’ve just received several reports of a massive explosion happening at your location! What the hell are you doing?!”

Groaning, Alex answered. “Can we talk later?” He jumped over a fallen trash collector. “I’m chasing after a criminal right now.”

“No! We will not talk about this later! Cease chasing the target and return to base! This mission has gone FUBAR!”

Alex swerved around a vagabond, ducked underneath a shuttle that came too close, then wall-ran to avoid several pedestrians. “You know I can’t do that. If I let this man get away, he’s going to hurt more people.”

“The police will handle him!”

“The police aren’t here. I am. I’m going to catch him.”

“No, you’re not! Return to—”

Alex hung up. “Geez, Commander. Have a little more faith in me.”

Seeing how Andre had pulled ahead because he’d been busy talking, Alex reached into his cloak and pulled out a cylindrical object that was a quarter of a meter in length. Flicking a switch with his thumb activated the device. Luminescent electron particles extended from the tube-like end, lengthening and becoming flexible. This was one of Alex’s inventions. He called it the electro-whip.

Lashing out, the whip extended far more than it would have if it had been composed of physical materials. It struck the ground next to Andre’s feet. The man he was chasing squealed and ran faster. Alex clicked his tongue.

Don’t think you can get away from me!

Andre had turned around another corner. Alex followed him—then skidded to a halt. Andre was gone.

After scanning the vicinity, he found Andre flying away on a transport shuttle. The man must have had it waiting for him in case he was caught. Growling when Andre looked back and blew him a raspberry, Alex turned off his electro-whip and attached it to his belt. He rushed to the edge of the walkway and leaped off just as another vehicle passed by underneath him.

“IIYAAAAAA!” the woman sitting in the pilot seat screamed as Alex landed on her windshield.

“Whoa!” Alex shouted as the vehicle swerved. He almost slid off, but he jammed his fingers into a crease in the framework and held on for dear life.

Alex’s hair was whipped into a frenzy, flying everywhere and getting in his eyes. Inside the vehicle, the woman continued to shriek, which he could hear over the howling wind. Holding onto the shuttle with one hand, he reached into a holster strapped to his thigh and pulled out his cadet identification badge. He flashed the woman a grin as he showed her the badge.

“Excuse me!” he called out to the woman. “I’m sorry to drop in on you unannounced, but would you mind if I temporarily commandeered your shuttle?! I’m chasing after a criminal!”

The woman must not have heard him.

She continued to scream.

1

The Girl from Outer Space

Alex stood in his commander’s office. The spartan room contained little in the ways of creature comforts, though that was not to say it was barren.

Situated in the middle of the room, immediately behind him, were two couches centered around a table. Sitting against the wall to his left, a bookshelf was filled with numerous old-fashioned discs. Beside it, safely locked within a glass case, an ancient record of something called “The Beatles” hung like a prized possession. On the other side, hanging from frames and sitting on displays, were the various awards his commander had won.

His commander, a woman with blonde hair that descended from her head in drill-like curls and icy blue eyes, sat behind a desk. The look on her face, which could have melted durasteel, reminded Alex of a carnivorous predator that he’d once read about on Earth. What was it called again? A lion? Truly, Karen Kanzaki was a beast—a badass in every sense of the word.

Capital on the B.

“Alexander S. Ryker,” the woman said, hissing out the S as if it was a poison. “In all my years of being an officer, I have never met a single soul who was as recklessly destructive as you.”

“I don’t think I’m that ba—”

“Silence!”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Alex stood stock still. Sweat poured down his neck, thick rivulets that stained his shirt, making it cling to his skin. He wanted to fidget, but he dared not. Doing so might anger the deceptively pretty monster before him.

W-what a frightening expression…

“Do you know how much damage you’ve caused this time?” Karen asked. She didn’t give him time to answer. “Aside from demolishing an entire bar, over six dozen people were injured in the process, ten private shuttles were destroyed, four buildings now have holes in them, and one of the smaller buildings will need to be completely renovated. You are the single most disaster-prone fool that I have ever met! And for what?! So you could try to play the hero?! If your father could see you now, he’d—”

“My father would have never let a criminal like that get away!” Alex shouted, silencing Karen, whose round eyes looked quite shocked. “He wouldn’t have sat back while a criminal escaped. He wouldn’t have let them go on to cause more suffering! He was a hero!”

Sighing as she leaned back in her chair, Karen regained her composure. “Look, I understand that your father meant a lot to you. He truly was a hero, just as you say.” Her eyes hardened. “However, your father was also an officer of the law. He understood what it means to follow orders. You, on the other hand, can’t follow a single one of my orders.”

Alex didn’t show it, but her words cut deep. Was he truly that bad? Surely that wasn’t the case. He always did his best, training hard, studying hard, working hard, all so he could become a hero like his father. That had to count for something.

“I don’t know what to do with you,” Karen confessed. “When you graduated from primary and requested to join the police force instead of going to a prestigious university, I was pleased. You were a genius who only came once in a generation, and your athletics scores were abnormally high. Top grades. Excellent pedigree. Impressive physical conditioning. I had high hopes for you.”

I sense a “but” hanging in the air…

“But,” Karen continued, “all of my hopes appear to have been dashed by the very person I placed them on. I’m at my wit’s end, Alex. The GDF is breathing down my neck. They’ve heard of you, and they’re demanding to know why I let such a reckless idiot into the police academy.”

GDF stood for the Galactic Defense Force. The Interstellar Police Force was a branch office of the GDF. Every planet within the solar system had at least several IPF offices, and all of them answered to the GDF’s top brass. Alex had never met them himself, but he’d heard that the board was made up of heroes from the Secession War that happened twenty years ago.

“What did you tell them?” Silence met Alex’s question. “Commander?”

Karen blew out a deep breath as if expelling her anxiety. “There wasn’t much that I could tell them, and after the ultimatum they gave me, the choice was taken out of my hands.”

Alex felt like someone had stuck a taser down his throat. “Ultimatum?”

“If I keep you, they’re not going to fund this office anymore,” Karen stated bluntly.

The taser was turned on high. “Y-you don’t mean…?”

“I do.” Straightening in her seat, Karen gave him a stern yet wavering expression. For what it was worth, she did look genuinely remorseful. “Alexander S. Ryker, as of this moment, you have been officially expelled from the cadet academy. I expect you to return all of your gear to the administration bureau before leaving.”

At that moment, at that time, and with those words, Alex’s world came to an abrupt end.

* * *

Alex stared dejectedly at the inside of his locker, which contained his weapons, munitions, civilian clothing, several of his inventions, and a picture of his family. This was the last time he would ever see this locker. He felt empty inside.

It didn’t take long to change back into his civvies. After getting dressed, he gathered up his uniform, weapons, and munitions. He needed to return them to the administration bureau, though he was keeping the inventions. Those were his to begin with.

It’s not like anyone else is going to use them.

The last thing that he grabbed was the picture. Looking at it, he felt as if the pieces of his broken heart were slowly being ground into dust. There were five people in the picture—himself, his mom, his younger sister Alice, his grandmother, and his father, though his father’s, mother’s, and grandmother’s faces were burnt to the point of unrecognition. His grandfather was conspicuously absent and good riddance. While he could not see his parents’ faces, he and his sister looked so happy standing together.

Perhaps it’s a good thing Mom and Dad aren’t around to see how I’ve turned out.

With a hiss of hydraulics, the locker room door slid open, and he walked out. There were only a few people in the hallway. A pair of girls dressed in the standard uniform of police cadets whispered as they walked past him.

“Isn’t that Alexander? I heard he just got expelled from the academy.”

“Good riddance, I say. That boy was a nuisance.”

“They shouldn’t have let someone so young join the academy anyway.”

News sure does travel fast, Alex thought as he began his march of shame.

While one side of the hallway was nothing but a thick durasteel wall with several doors, the other was composed entirely of glass, revealing the splendor of Mars City.

Mars City was a massive community of towering skyscrapers that sprawled out for miles. With 1.2 million people living there, it was the largest city on Mars. Like every city situated on this inhospitable planet, it was protected by a giant, transparent dome, a bubble shielding them from Mars’ harmful atmosphere.

Alex stared at his reflection. Blue eyes. Black hair that looked like he’d been flying a speeder shuttle with the top down. Tan skin. Were it not for the single lock of silver hair that ran down his forehead, he would have been utterly unremarkable.

As he continued to walk down the hallway, his feet pounding abnormally loudly in his ears, a voice shouted out from behind him. “Alex-senpai!”

Turning around, Alex faced the source of the voice, a young man who was three years older than himself. Shoulder-length black hair, dark eyes, and even darker skin. He wore the black and white unitard of a police cadet, along with the shoulder pads, chest plate, and shin guards that all cadets wore when out in the field.

“Darrick,” he greeted as the other man stopped in front of him.

“Is it true?” Darrick asked, getting straight to the point. “I heard that you’ve been expelled from the police academy. Is it true?”

“It’s true,” Alex admitted quietly.

Alex had known Darrick for two years now, having met the older man a little after his first year at the academy. They’d met during a bank robbery, of all things. Alex had been depositing a royalty payment for one of his inventions when several people in masks had tried to rob the bank. Darrick had been there as well. Thus, he’d witnessed Alex’s fighting prowess, wherein Alex had single-handedly beaten down every robber using one of his inventions.

Consequently, that invention had turned out to be a failure—it had taken out two-thirds of the bank, along with knocking out the robbers, patrons, and bank employees.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Darrick said, sounding genuinely disheartened.

Alex sighed as he ran his fingers through his hair. “Yeah… me too.” A moment of silence ensued. Alex shook his head. “Anyway, I need to return these. I’ll see you later.”

“Right. See you, Alex-senpai.”

“Please don’t call me that ever again.”

They parted ways, with Darrick heading to the elevator while Alex entered the administration bureau. It wasn’t much to look at. The interior was large and contained a series of seats that lined up along the east and west walls and a long counter that sat in front of the back room, which he knew was where all the police equipment was stored.

The administration bureau was where police officers and cadets went to either turn in assignments and after-action reports, receive their patrol routes and jobs, or requisition munitions. It was usually manned by several workers, though only one person was there now.

A girl with long, flaxen hair that shimmered in the light sat behind the counter. She wore the same unitard as a cadet, which conformed to her feminine figure like a second layer of skin, though hers was slightly different from the standard attire. The colors weren’t black and white, but blue with purple edgings.

“Alexander S. Ryker,” Kazekiri said in her usual stern tone. “I see they’ve finally decided to kick you out of the academy. I can’t say I’m surprised. I’m personally shocked they didn’t do it sooner.”

Kazekiri was the only person at this academy who was the same age as him. They were both sixteen. Unlike Alex, who’d graduated from primary two years early, Kazekiri still attended school. She worked in the administration bureau part-time. Doing so apparently meant that she would be let into the cadet academy with high honors after graduating.

“Hello, Kirikiri,” Alex greeted with a sullen expression. “It seems like everyone knows about what happened to me, huh?”

“It’s Kazekiri,” she corrected, glaring at him as if he’d personally insulted her. “Don’t speak to me so casually.”

“Yeah… sorry, Kirikiri.”

“Tch! Look, just hand over your identification badge, gun, and uniform so I can get this over with.”

“Right. Here you go.”

Kazekiri took his effects, checking them into her database by typing on the holographic keyboard that hovered above the desk. “There. Everything has been checked back in. You’re free to leave. I’d wish you luck, but someone who doesn’t know how to follow the rules doesn’t deserve to be lucky.”

“All right. Thanks, Kirikiri.”

“It’s Kazekiri, dang it! Ka-ze-ki-ri! Get it right!”

* * *

After leaving the police station, Alex took a shuttle to the west district, a mostly residential district within the middle level of Mars City.

Because Mars City was one of those “one section built on top of another” type of cities, it consisted of four levels: upper, middle, lower, and under. Of course, this wasn’t including the outer district, which technically was not part of Mars City, but a suburban area that was considered outside of the city limits. Alex lived in the outer district along with his sister.

The middle level was where the normal citizens worked and lived. There were apartment blocks, shopping and entertainment districts, and various offices where blue-collar workers spent hours sitting behind a desk. The various civil service departments also had offices within the middle district.

Vacating the shuttle, Alex stepped onto a walkway--one of several hundred--and merged into the flow of traffic.

Mars City was composed mostly of durasteel and plasteel. The buildings gleamed dully in the light, which was filtered through the dome overhead. Walkways were built at various levels, connected via elevators and escalators, further enhancing the artificiality of the durasteel city.

To soften the image of a metallic city, flora of all manner had been introduced. Vines hung from buildings. Flower gardens sat on rooftops. Trees lined the walkways. This wasn’t just for aesthetic purposes, however; as was the case with all things in Mars City, the flora served a much greater purpose.

Being a city contained within a bubble on an inhospitable planet, Mars City could not produce its own atmosphere. To that end, several thousand plants had been genetically engineered, modified, and strategically placed throughout the city. These plants helped keep the air breathable, taking in carbon monoxide and various pollutants, and then releasing it back out as oxygen. Without them, Mars City would have become unlivable decades ago.

Alex’s destination soon came into sight. The Metronome Sweet Shop was a small venue made of plasteel. With a glowing sign over the door and windows that allowed a glimpse inside, it looked a lot like the retro diners on Earth.

The door jingled as he opened it, alerting whoever was manning the shop today that they had a customer. His shoes squeaked against the checkered floor—another design from ages past.

A young woman was cleaning a glass display. She turned when the jingle sounded, her expression morphing into one of pleasant surprise when she saw him.

“Alex!” she exclaimed in greeting.

“Selene.”

Selene Metronome was a childhood friend he had known since they were four years old. Her dark skin, alluring eyes, and pleasant smile made her quite popular with the young men at Atreyu Academy, the primary school she went to. It was too bad for those boys that his friend didn’t seem interested in dating. He couldn’t remember her ever having a boyfriend.

Then again, I’m not much better, am I?

“What’s wrong?” Selene asked, her joyful countenance leaving.

Alex feigned a smile. “Nothing’s wrong.”

Selene placed her hands on her hips. “Don’t give me that. You only come to visit me for two reasons: you’re buying something to reward your sister, or you’re buying yourself something because you’re depressed. I don’t see a proud smile on your face, which means that you’re not here for your sister.”

Wincing, Alex confessed. “I was kicked out of the cadet academy for… reasons that I’d rather not discuss right now.”

Selene’s eyes softened. “Oh, Alex. I’m sorry. I know how much becoming a police officer meant to you.”

“It’s fine.” Alex tried to laugh it off, even though just thinking about it felt like a precision laser was slicing his chest open. “I guess I just wasn’t cut out for police work. Don’t worry, though. I haven’t given up on following in my father’s footsteps. It just means I need to find another way to become a hero.”

“You’re still going on about that? Don’t you think it’s about time you stop trying to be a hero?”

“Of course not. I can’t stop now. I’d never forgive myself if I did.”

Selene appeared consternated, like a woman who’d asked her child to stop putting their hand on the heating pad only to be ignored. She gave a resigned sigh and changed the subject. “I’m guessing you want the usual?”

“Yes, please.”

Moving behind the booth, Selene reached into the display and pulled out one of the Metronome’s special sweets. It wasn’t a strawberry cheesecake parfait, which was their most popular item and Alice’s favorite, but it was what he liked to eat when he was depressed: a brown sugar croissant with frosting.

“I swear, you’re a glutton for these things,” Selene said as she rang Alex up.

“It’s not like I eat these all the time, you know.”

“Only when you’re depressed,” Selene teased.

Alex snorted, but he didn’t deny her words. “Parents not in today?”

“No. They’re out visiting a relative in Northdome. I would’ve gone with them, but, well, someone has to man the shop, right?”

“I guess.”

“You really should come around more often. My parents miss having you here, and I, um… I kind of, like, miss seeing you more often too, so…” Selene trailed off into incomprehensible mumbling.

“Did you say something?”

“Not a thing.”

Alex frowned at Selene, but she looked down and rang up his order. The total cost came to twenty-three credits. He pulled out his wallet to pay her.

“You want it to go, right?”

“Yes, please.”

“… I wish you’d stick around for a while…”

“What was that?”

“Nothing! Here’s your order! Thanks for your business!”

Croissant in hand, Alex bid his friend farewell, left the sweet shop, and hopped onto the nearest shuttle that would take him home.

He ate the croissant on the shuttle.

He didn’t want his sister to find out that he’d been to The Metronome Sweet Shop and hadn’t bought her a strawberry cheesecake parfait.

* * *

The outer district, called such because it was situated far from Mars City.

Mars City had been built within a large crater. Formerly known as the Dollfus Crater, it spanned 363.1 kilometers. Because it was so small, the city had been built upwards, and as a result, the dome that protected the city had expanded both upwards and outwards to maintain its structural integrity.

The outer district looked nothing like Mars City, which possessed an artificial appearance save for the massive amounts of plant life. Sidewalks meandered along roads, grass covered the ground, and trees dotted a landscape of gently rolling hills. Several large canals ran through the outer district. These canals traveled through several processing plants, which used an advanced recycling and sanitation process to clean the water of impurities, then distributed it to the residents of Mars City.

Water was Mars’ most precious resource. Unlike Earth, which was made up of roughly 71% water, the only water produced on Mars came from the polar ice caps. Water mining was an important operation there, which was why Northdome and Southdome—mining cities at the north and south poles—had been created some fifty years ago.

Houses and convenience stores made up most of the buildings in the outer district. There were a few power plants as well, but they were further out, away from the main areas. This place was a residential district. While the power plants were necessary to give the outer district power, nobody wanted them to destroy the scenery.

As he walked along the sidewalk, Alex tried to think about what he should tell Alice. He couldn’t keep his sister in the dark about how he’d been kicked out of the cadet academy, nor did he want to. At the same time, telling his sister that he was no longer a police cadet because he’d caused several million credits’ worth of property damage wasn’t appealing either.

It was during this time, as Alex attempted to come up with a suitable explanation, that something out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. It was a lump lying inside of a back alley between two sectioned off houses. Frowning, he moved closer, wondering what it was. He soon realized the lump was not an object, but a person—a girl lying face-down.

“Oh, crap! Are you okay?!”

Rushing over to the girl and kneeling, Alex placed a hand on her shoulder and shook her body gently.

“Hey, are you okay? Hello? Damn it!”

Alex almost panicked when she didn’t respond, but he quickly remembered his training, which included basic first aid. First thing, he needed to check her pulse.

Rolling the girl onto her back, which was harder than it looked because of the strange wing-like objects protruding from her clothing, Alex moved to place two fingers against her throat.

He froze.

She was beautiful.

Long silver hair splayed out like a halo, reflecting light to create a multitude of colors. Her bodysuit, a pink and white one-piece, did nothing to hide her curvaceous figure, as if reveling in the enchanting slope of her bosom, the thinness of her waist, and the amazing flare of her hips. She had fair skin, which made her glossy pink lips stand out. Her ears were long and pointed.

Snap out of it, Alex!

Shaking himself from his stupor, Alex felt for a pulse. She had one, and it was going strong. She was also breathing, which he noticed now that he wasn’t gawking at her. It appeared she had simply fallen unconscious. That was odd. He couldn’t find any signs of what had knocked her out—no abrasions, contusions, or any form of injury. So, then, why was she…

GRGGLE!

Alex blinked as a loud rumbling echoed all around him. What was this? A seismic quake?

GRRGGLLEE!

He eventually pinpointed the source. It wasn’t a seismic quake. It was the girl.

GGRRRLLE!

You can’t be serious. Alex felt a drop of sweat roll down his face.

“So… hungry…” the girl muttered in her sleep.

* * *

Alex was sure that his jaw had hit the floor. He sat in a booth, within a family restaurant, gawking at the girl that had been previously passed out in an alley as she ate like the act of eating was going out of style.

After realizing the reason she had collapsed was due to hunger, he had taken her to the nearest restaurant. Once she’d smelled the food, she had regained full cognizance, and when Alex had told her that she could have whatever she wanted, the girl had ordered enough to feed an armada.

It’s a good thing I’m still making royalties off my old inventions…

Several plates had already been stacked high. The girl continued to eat, scarfing down food as if her stomach was a black hole. Alex’s eyes were practically bulging from their sockets.

Science be damned! Where is she putting all that food!?

The girl slowed down after consuming several more dishes and released a loud belch that caused the other patrons to stare at her.

“Do you feel better?” Alex asked, trying—and failing—to hide his shock.

“Mm!” The girl nodded. “I feel much better! Thank you for feeding me!”

Her smile, so bright and vibrant, brought a smile to his face. “You’re welcome. Now that you’re feeling better, do you mind if I ask what you were doing collapsed in that alley?”

“It’s because of this!”

The girl jingled her wrist. Alex leaned in to study the object attached to it, which appeared to be a simple bracelet at first glance. He knew better. Circuits were running through it, visible due to their soft blue glow.

“This is Mr. Teleport! With it, I can jump to any location I want regardless of obstacles, though I can’t determine where I show up.”

“Regardless of obstacles…” Alex murmured. “That means you’re not being broken down into particles and transported to another location, right? If you were, you still wouldn’t be able to teleport through objects.”

Teleportation technology relied on particle theory, which was breaking down an object of a certain mass into microscopic elementary particles, and transporting those particles somewhere else. Because particles still had mass, even if it was around 1/1,000,000,000 the mass of a regular human, they couldn’t move through solid objects. Energy shields of any kind were also a problem.

“That’s right! This uses dimensional technology. By tearing a rift in this dimension, I ascend to another dimension, which lets me pass through objects located in this dimension.”

“Th-that’s incredible!” Alex exclaimed. “What kind of theory is that based on?”

“It’s based on the theory of multi-dimensionality.”

Dimensional Theory, known as the theory that hypothesized the existence of hundreds of thousands of other dimensions. It wasn’t a new theory, but it was considered a stagnant one. The reason was that there was no way to prove it since no one knew how to hop dimensions—or so he’d thought.

“Whoever made that must be an incredible inventor.”

“Thank you!”

Alex paused. Why would she…?

It can’t be…

“Did you make this?” he asked, a tremor in his voice.

The girl beamed. “Yes! Mr. Teleport is my own invention. I made him in my free time.”

This girl knows dimensional theory? How? Who is she?

He studied her again. Long silver tresses. It wasn’t a natural hair color, though his father’s hair had been a similar shade, if not containing the same glossy sheen. Her eyes were green, a vibrant emerald color, which appeared to be unusually bright. It was the ears that he found truly odd, however. Human ears weren’t long and pointy.

A mutation of some kind?

“So, were you testing your invention or something?”

“Oh, no.” The girl shook her head, her smile suddenly shifting. The sadness now radiating from her threw him off guard. “I was being chased.”

What?

“Chased?”

“Yes. My ship was disabled by the people chasing me. I didn’t have any other choice. I had to use Mr. Teleport or they would have captured me.”

Someone was chasing her. Slave traders?

Alex had heard there was a big market for slaves. According to the commander—to Karen—the slave market had boomed since humanity expanded their territory across the solar system. With her beautiful and exotic features, it was easy to imagine slavers chasing her to the ends of the galaxy.

“What about your parents?”

The girl tilted her head, inquisitive eyes gazing thoughtfully into the distance. “I imagine that Papa is still on Angelisia, though I don’t know where Mama is.”

“Angelisia?” Alex blinked. “Is that a city on another planet?”

“No, silly,” the girl said, smiling as if he’d said something funny. “Angelisia isn’t a city. It’s a planet.”

“A planet?” Alex’s eyes widened. He understood the implication of her words, and they caused him to stand and point a quivering finger at the girl. “Th-that means you’re an alien!”

Several people looked his way, though they stopped paying attention when nothing else happened. The girl tilted her head. Seemingly in thought, she nodded after a moment.

“Yeah, I guess that by your terms, I am an alien, aren’t I? Tee-hee. I’ve never been called an alien before.”

Alex was in shock. Sitting before him was a real-life alien. It had been theorized that there was life in other solar systems, but because galactic travel was still out of humanity’s reach, no one had proven this theory… but now. Now he had proof that aliens really did exist. He didn’t doubt her words about being an extraterrestrial. No human could have created a device that allowed someone to travel through dimensions.

I’m in front of a real-life alien.

“What’s your name?” Alex asked.

“Oh! I never introduced myself, did I?” The girl placed a hand against her chest. Alex felt guilty when he caught himself staring at her chest. “My name is Gabrielle Angelise. It’s really nice to meet you!”

“My name is Alex. Alex Ryker.” He returned her smile. “It’s a pleasure.”

* * *

When Gabrielle had eaten her fill, Alex decided to let her stay with him. Since she was being chased—and was an alien from a planet that he’d never heard of to boot—she didn’t have anywhere to stay, and he was loath to leave an innocent girl to fend for herself.

“Thank you for letting me stay with you,” Gabrielle said as they walked up to his house.

“It’s no big deal.” Alex shrugged off her thanks. He’d never been comfortable when people thanked him, perhaps because he was so used to Commander Karen berating him. “You don’t know the first thing about Mars City, right? There’s no way I could let you go off on your own.”

Gabrielle’s lips curled delightfully as if he’d just said the nicest thing she’d ever heard.

Alex’s house was a basic two-story structure with a flat roof. It had been designed like the older model homes found on Earth. White plasteel walls, a single sliding door, and a small backyard with a porch were its most prominent features.

“I’m home!” Alex called out as he entered through the front door.

Gabrielle followed behind him. The sound of bare feet padding along the tiled floor echoed down the hall. Gabrielle’s long ears twitched, making him wonder if they were more sensitive than human ears.

“Hey, Bro,” a young voice said seconds before someone walked into the entry hall.

Alice Ryker was a young girl of fourteen. Brown hair, doe-like eyes, and a cherubic face made her look completely different from Alex. She was much shorter than him. Currently adorning her figure were pajama bottoms and a white t-shirt several sizes too big.

Despite calling Alice his sister, they were only siblings in name. Alice’s mother had married his father when he was three and Alice two. Regardless, he’d always treated her like his little sister. She was, and always would be, one of the people he treasured the most.

“Bro, I’m hungry,” Alice continued. “Can you make me… some… some…” She trailed off, expression turning flat. “Who is this?”

Alex looked at Gabrielle, who had caught his sister’s attention. Coughing into his hand, he turned back to his sister and said, “Alice, this is Gabrielle Angelise. Gabrielle, this is my little sister, Alice.”

“Hello!” Gabrielle greeted in a cheerful voice.

“Hi,” Alice said, her own voice emotionless.

Alex sensed tension coming from his sister, and, being a good older brother, sought to defuse it before something happened—even if he didn’t know what that something was. “So, Gabrielle is going to be staying with us for a while.”

“Uh-huh… why?”

“Um, because right now she has nowhere to go?”

Alex and Alice stared at each other, the tension somehow rising. He would have wondered about this unusual pressure, which felt like a sudden increase in Mars’ gravitational pull, but, after another second had passed, Alice shrugged and the tension dissipated.

“Whatever. It’s not like I can tell you that someone can’t stay over. Just try to keep anything you two do down to a 14+ rating.”

While Gabrielle’s expression properly conveyed her bemusement, Alex’s cheeks felt like a fusion engine set on high. “Nothing like that is going to happen! I-I’m just letting her stay here because she doesn’t have anywhere else to live!”

Alice shrugged. “If you say so. Anyway, I’m hungry. Bro, make me some dinner.”

“You’re so bossy.” Alex sighed. When Alice gave him an almost imperceptible frown, he waved dismissively. “Fine, fine. I’ll make you some dinner. Is curry okay?”

Judging from the smile on her face, which was wide enough to reach her ears, curry was exactly what she wanted. It made sense. Curry was her favorite meal.

“I’m just going to show Gabrielle around first.”

Alice didn’t seem to care. She waved her hand as she turned around and made for the living room. “Sure. Fine. But, curry comes after you show her around.”

“Come on.” Alex gestured to Gabrielle. “I’ll give you a tour of the house.”

“Kay!”

“By the way,” Alice called out suddenly. “Grandpa called. He said something about wanting to talk with you.”

Freezing, Alex clenched his fists as he thought about his grandfather. “Is that so? Well, I’m not too keen on talking to him.”

Alice shrugged. “I figured. I just thought I’d let you know he called.”

“Thanks.”

While Alice wandered back into the living room, no doubt to watch the holovid, Alex took Gabrielle on the promised tour.

Their house consisted of two floors and one basement. The first place that Alex showed her was the second floor, which had three bedrooms—his, his sister’s, and the master bedroom.

“This is going to be your room,” Alex said as he opened the door to the master bedroom.

The master was twice the size of his and Alice’s rooms. With soft beige carpet, white walls, and basic furnishings, it didn’t have any personal touches anymore. Alex had removed his parents’ stuff and stored it in a closet.

“It’s kind of small, isn’t it?” Gabrielle asked.

Alex furrowed his brow. “Small?”

“Yeah. Aren’t bedrooms supposed to be bigger?” Gabrielle observed the room a second longer, then nodded to herself. “Well, I don’t think that will be a problem.”

Alex had no clue what she was talking about, but he didn’t question her. He was sure that he didn’t want to know.

The tour continued. Alex didn’t show her Alice’s room since it belonged to his sister, and she was touchy about letting people into her room. However, he did let Gabrielle see his room.

“Wow! This is even smaller than the first room!” was the first thing that she said.

Alex twitched. “I’m sorry that it’s so small.”

“Why would you be sorry?” Gabrielle asked. “I like it. It seems cozy, somehow… less lonely, I think.”

“O-oh… well, thank you.”

Alex’s room wasn’t that big, and because it was filled with some of his more… harmless inventions, there wasn’t much space. It had a bed, a desk, and a closet. Several shelves lined the walls, upon which some of his inventions sat. Posters also lined one of his walls. All of them dealt with mechanics and engineering.

“What is this?” Gabrielle asked, grabbing a small bipedal object. It looked somewhat human. It had arms and legs and a head, though its body was much blockier and inorganic—a robot.

“That was one of my first inventions. It’s an automaton that uses a basic solar engine to power itself.” Grabbing a small controller from the shelf, he held it out to Gabrielle. “You use this to control it. Go on. Give it a try.”

Gabrielle set the automaton on the ground, grabbed the controller, and fiddled with it. The automaton started up. Its eyes glowed bright green. Gabrielle laughed delightedly as she used the controller to move it around.

“So cool! What sort of mechanical system does this run on? It doesn’t look like an artificial nervous system or even a basic exo-system.”

Alex had no idea what an “artificial nervous system” was, never mind an “exo-system.” Those must have been advanced alien technology or something.

“It runs on a basic robotics operating system that I designed myself. I made it with linear actuators, which normally requires a pneumatic or hydraulics system, but I created this one to use solar power.”

“So it doesn’t run on universal energy?”

“What’s universal energy?”

“It’s the energy that permeates the universe, of course!”

That doesn’t tell me anything…

For the sake of not appearing stupid, Alex didn’t ask her to elucidate, even though he really wanted to know the specifics of this “universal energy.”

“Well, let’s continue the tour, shall we?”

After his bedroom, Alex showed her the kitchen and the living room.

“You almost done with your tour?” Alice asked.

She wasn’t facing him. She was watching the holovid—a large holographic screen that was projected in the air. The show that she was watching was Titan Girl, which was about a teenage girl who had the strength of a hundred men. She fought evil and rescued people. His sister loved it.

He could see the appeal. A part of him wished that he could be a hero like Titan Girl—well, a male version of Titan Girl.

“Almost,” Alex said. “I just have to show her the lab.”

“Are you sure you should take a girl down there?” Alice’s tone suggested that she thought it was a bad idea.

“It’s fine. I don’t have anything dangerous down there.” When Alice finally turned around and gave him a flat look, he looked away. “… Right now.”

“… Right,” his sister’s dry response made Alex break out in a cold sweat.

I don’t have anything dangerous in my lab…

… Do I?

* * *

Alex’s lab was less of a lab and more of a workshop. Advanced machinery used for building was arrayed haphazardly around the room. A precision laser, which he used primarily for fusing circuits, welding, and cutting, sat in the center of the room. To the left, a rack hung from the wall. Tools of all sorts, from fusion cutters to hydro-spanners, were attached to it. Even more mechanical contraptions sat on the right.

“Ah!” Gabrielle’s face glowed as she spun around like a child in the middle of the Mars Day festival. If Alex didn’t know any better, he would have said that she was physically glowing—and were those strange wing-like contraptions attached to her suit flapping? “This is so cool! Is that a molecular scanner?!”

Alex looked at the object that she was pointing to. “Oh, yeah. It is.”

“It’s so much bigger than the one I have!”

“You have a molecular scanner?”

“Um!” Gabrielle’s index finger glowed as she swiped her hand through the air. A hologram appeared before her, some kind of menu, it looked like. She pressed a button and, appearing out of nowhere, was a small square device that he vaguely recognized—only about ten times smaller than what he was used to.

“That’s a molecular scanner,” Alex stated in disbelief.

“Yep! I made it myself! I call him Mr. Scanner.”

She made her own molecular scanner, and it’s so small!

Molecular scanners were some of the most advanced technology that humanity possessed. They were large because they needed to be. After all, there were so many necessary components that they couldn’t fit into a smaller container. Apparently that wasn’t the case with alien technology.

How much more advanced are her people compared to humans?

The urge to inundated her with a barrage of questions about her people, her culture, her technology, everything, nearly overwhelmed him. He held himself back, but only because he didn’t want to be rude. He could ask questions after she settled in.

“Anyway, I’m going to make dinner now. Alice is probably starving.”

“Kay!” Gabrielle wasn’t even paying attention to him. She was looking around the lab, her eyes sparkling like glowing emeralds.

“Um, do you want to head back up and watch the holovid with Alice?”

“I think I’ll stay here,” Gabrielle said absently.

“Oh… okay…”

“Do you mind if I make a few modifications to your lab?”

Alex didn’t know what she meant by “modifications,” but he shrugged. “Sure, why not?” he said.

After all, it wasn’t like someone who didn’t have any large-scale equipment could make any serious modifications to his lab.

* * *

The kitchen. It was probably the third most important place in the house—the first being his lab and the second being his bedroom. It was also the place where Alex spent around a third of his time when he was home. For the past five years, since they had started living alone, Alex had done all the cooking. He was damn good at it, too.

Alice couldn’t cook to save her life.

Though it required the use of a complex combination of herbs and spices, curry was a relatively simple dish to make. After gathering the ingredients, pots, pans, and utensils he fired up the fusion-powered convection oven. Then he added and mixed the ingredients.

Curry took thirty-five minutes to cook. Alex used that time to set the table, remembering to add one more plate for Gabrielle. He hoped she would like his cooking. Alice always said that his food tasted great, but she’d been living with him since he started. Her opinion was biased, likely because she remembered a time when his cooking hadn’t been so great.

“Alice?” Alex called out as he entered the living room. “Curry’s almost ready. Could you please get Gabrielle? She’s still in the lab.”

“Kay,” Alice said, her eyes not leaving the screen.

Alex frowned, but he went back into the kitchen and finished preparing dinner. Then he waited for Alice and Gabrielle to arrive.

And he waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Glancing at the clock, Alex frowned. It was 1800 hours. It had been 1750 when he’d asked Alice to get Gabrielle.

Don’t tell me she’s still watching the holovid.

Entering the living room, Alex prepared to lecture his sister—only to pause when he realized she wasn’t there. The holovid had been turned off. The room was empty.

Are she and Gabrielle still in the lab?

Alex went down to the lab. He paused at the door when several strange noises came from inside. With a strange pit settling in his stomach, he took several slow, deep breaths, and then opened the door and walked inside.

“Alice, Gabrielle, it’s time for din… ner…” he trailed off, his eyes slowly widening.

His laboratory, which had been exactly fifteen square meters, now appeared to be much bigger—much, much bigger. Just from seeing how far the walls were from the entry point, Alex judged the room to be at least the same size as his house, if not a little larger. What’s more, several new and sleek devices that he couldn’t identify had replaced many of his original machines. With their streamlined and slightly organic appearance, they looked exactly like what he imagined advanced alien technology would.

His sister stood several feet to his left. Her eyes were wide, and he suspected his were as well. What sort of insane modifications were these? How had this happened? Expanding a room like this should not have been possible, never mind the new tech. He didn’t even want to consider what sort of laws that Gabrielle was breaking!

Is this more of her dimensional technology?

In the center of the room, wearing goggles and a pair of gloves, Gabrielle wore an expression of supreme satisfaction. She looked awfully proud of herself.

“G-Gabrielle?”

“Hm? Oh! Alex!” Gabrielle bounded over to him. Her brightly grinning face was like looking directly into a binary star. “What do you think of the modifications? Now it will be much easier to build stuff. Oh, and I took the liberty of updating all of your equipment.”

“I… can see that.” Alex felt a headache coming on. “How did you do all this? How did the room get bigger? Is this more of that dimensional theory stuff?”

“Yes! I used Mr. Dimensional Distortion to separate the lab from our dimension, creating a pocket dimension, which I then expanded using my universal dimension tool!”

The “universal dimension tool” that Gabrielle held up for him to see looked a lot like a magical wand. It was long and pink. There was a gem embedded on one end and wings sprouted from either side of the multi-faceted jewel, which seemed to cause light refractions as Gabrielle waved it about.

Unable to withstand it, Alex finally allowed his curiosity to get the better of him. “By ‘universal dimension tool,’ do you mean to say that it not only serves multiple purposes but it breaks the boundaries between dimensions?”

“Yes!” Gabrielle seemed quite proud as she talked about the device. “It can do a lot of things. I use it to help me build, and it’s great for on-the-spot repairs or creating small-scale devices. It’s also really good at welding circuits. And it can break dimensional boundaries, though not to the same extent as Mr. Dimension Changer.”

“That’s incredible!” Alex was overcome. “How does it work? What sort of programming does it use?”

Gabrielle’s wing-like device, still attached to her hips, flapped as she explained how the tool worked, speaking in terms that Alex both knew and didn’t know. It seemed that technology from Angelisia was far superior to that of humans. Many of the technical aspects that she talked about, he had little to no knowledge of. However, that just made him even more excited. It had been so long since he’d learned something new.

“Uh… I hate to interrupt your nerd conversation,” Alice said, seemingly recovered from her shock. “But do you think we can eat now?”

Alex needed a second to comprehend what she was talking about. “Oh. Right. Dinner.”

Gabrielle also didn’t seem to know what Alice was talking about, but then her eyes lit up. “That’s right! We’re going to have dinner. I almost forgot about dinner!”

As Alex and Gabrielle rubbed the back of their heads, Alice sighed.

She seemed depressed for some reason.

Alex thought it better not to ask.

* * *

“Delicious!” Gabrielle mumbled around a mouthful of food. “This is so delicious!”

They were sitting at the dinner table. Gabrielle sat next to him, while Alice sat on the other side. His sister was quietly eating her meal, taking her time chewing, as if she was savoring each bite while trying not to let him know. Unlike Alice, Gabrielle had no such compunctions. She gobbled up everything in sight with haste.

Maybe she’s afraid it’ll disappear if she doesn’t eat it quickly.

Alex grinned. “I’m glad you like it. I’m not the best chef around, but I’m pretty good in the kitchen.”

“I’m always surprised to see how well you can cook,” Alice said. “Especially since you suck at chemistry.”

“Urk!”

“You’re also really destructive.”

“Gurk!”

“I half expect you to blow up the kitchen every time you start cooking.”

“Can we please not talk about my destructive tendencies now?” Alex asked. Given that it was those same tendencies that had gotten him kicked out of the cadet academy, they were the last thing he wanted to think about.

“Absolutely amazing!” Gabrielle’s ears wiggled and the wing-like devices on her hips flapped. He wondered what sort of technology had been used to create them. “I love it!”

“It’s not that good,” Alice mumbled.

“Say that when you haven’t finished licking the plate clean,” Alex rebutted.

Alice didn’t say anything, but the blush on her face as she set down the plate, which had been thoroughly licked clean, told Alex all he needed to know.

After dinner, Alex washed the dishes while his sister went to the living room and turned on the holovid. Gabrielle had disappeared. He assumed that she’d gone back to the lab. She seemed to like it there.

Speaking of, I really want to talk to her about all of her modifications.

Alex wasn’t upset that she’d modified his lab, but he did need to know exactly what she had done. All of his equipment looked different now. That meant it probably worked differently, too. He couldn’t use equipment that he wasn’t familiar with.

Finishing the dishes, Alex decided to take a quick shower. He wandered up the stairs and entered the restroom—and then he stopped.

Gabrielle was standing in the bathroom. Her unitard had been discarded and lay folded up in one of the clothing bins, allowing her voluptuous figure to be displayed. Alex blinked rapidly as he took in the sight. Her large breasts stood out proudly, complimenting her thin waist, while her shapely hips sensually curved into a pair of beautiful thighs. Slender arms. Delicate fingers. Cute little toes. Alex was mesmerized.

“Oh, Alex. Have you come to take a bath, too?” Gabrielle’s bright smile gained several levels of vibrancy as she turned around. Alex felt his face burn as her breasts bounced. Light pink nipples poked out from between strands of silver hair.

“Uh…”

“That’s great! We can take a bath together!” Gabrielle cheered as she grabbed him by the arm and attempted to tug him into the shower room.

Alex felt his arm become smooshed between two soft hills. He jolted as if he’d been shocked. “A-ah! I’m sorry! I hadn’t realized you were in here!”

“It’s fine! Anyway, let’s take a bath! I can scrub your back for you.”

“Ack!” Alex choked on his own spit. “I-I don’t think it’s appropriate for us to bathe together!”

Gabrielle laughed as if he’d said something silly. “What are you talking about? Baths are always more fun when you take them with someone else.”

“I-I’m sorry! But I really can’t do this!”

Before Gabrielle could say anything else, Alex yanked his arm from her surprisingly strong grip, then rushed out of the bathroom. He slammed the door behind him and leaned against the wall, breathing heavy and face flushed.

Wh-what was that all about?

Alex tried to regain control of his breathing and think about what had just happened logically. Unfortunately, his brain seemed incapable of computing logic, or anything else. Gabrielle… she had completely taken him by surprise back there. Who the heck asked someone that they’d just met to take a bath with them?

But… she really is beautiful…

Even now, Alex’s mind conjured an image of Gabrielle, of her breasts, capped with lovely pink nipples, of her small, shapely butt and amazing hips. Her legs, her arms, even her feet enhanced her allure beyond anything that Alex had ever seen. Just thinking about her made him hard enough to cut durasteel.

“Alex?” Gabrielle’s voice came from beyond the door.

Alex stiffened, in more ways than one. “Y-yes?”

“Are you sure you don’t want to take a bath with me?”

“I-I’m sure.”

“Oh…” For reasons that he couldn’t fathom, Gabrielle sounded depressed. “Okay.”

Alex listened as bare feet padded along behind the door. The sound was followed by a sliding door opening and closing, and then by running water.

Without meaning to, Alex imagined Gabrielle standing under the water, droplets cascading down her body, matting her hair erotically to her skin. It was enough to make his face feel like it had been burnt on a stove.

What am I thinking?! Damn it, Alex! Stop thinking about this!

To get his mind out of the gutter, Alex slammed his face against the wall. Repeatedly. Bang! Bang! Bang! Over and over, he smashed himself face-first into the wall, hoping that maybe if he rendered himself unconscious, he would stop picturing Gabrielle taking a shower.

“What are you doing, Bro?”

Alex almost jumped out of his skin when Alice spoke up behind him. He turned around to find his sister standing about a meter away, her expression blank.

Coughing into his hand, Alex pretended that he hadn’t been caught slamming his face into a wall. “I’m not sure what you mean. I’m not doing anything.”

“Uh-huh… so, you weren’t just banging your head against a wall for no apparent reason?”

“Ugh…”

“Whatever. It’s not like I care. Anyway, Bro, you might want to fix your pants. You seem to be having a problem.”

“Problem?”

Alex didn’t know what his sister meant, not until he realized that his pants felt abnormally tight. He looked down. His pants looked like someone had used them to set up an old-school pitch tent. Looking back up, he stared at Alice, who was staring at his pants, the barest hint of red on her cheeks.

“Iyahn!” Alex’s unmanly cry echoed throughout the house.

2

The Danger of Taking in Strays

I woke up feeling different than normal. For one thing, I was warmer than usual. For another, I felt surprisingly comfortable—not that I had ever felt uncomfortable, but I felt really amazing right then.

I think it had something to do with the pillow on top of me, which I’d been hugging in my sleep. It didn’t feel like any pillow I’ve ever slept with before. It was soft but firm, light yet carrying more substance than most pillows, and it was so warm. Shifting to get more comfortable, I held the pillow tighter and was just about to fall back asleep again—

“Mmm…”

—when the pillow moaned.

I froze. Something raced through my body, a bioelectric shock that woke me right up. As my mind went into overdrive, something long and lean shifted against my legs and rubbed my crotch, forcing me to stifle a groan.

Opening my eyes, I looked down to see silver hair and a gorgeous face. It was Gabrielle. She was sleeping in my bed. Gabrielle was in my bed. My bed. She was in it. There was a girl in my bed, and, from the way her nipples were rubbing against my chest as she moved, she was bereft of clothes.

Oh. My. Mars.

There was a naked girl in my bed!

“Mmm.”

Gabrielle moaned again. It was such a sexy sound that my already stiff lower region became hard enough that I could’ve probably wielded it like a precision laser sword.

“Alex?” she murmured, placing her soft hands on my chest and lifting herself until she was straddling my waist. My eyes bulged as I stared at her breasts, which were so close that I could have leaned up and taken her nipples in my mouth.

“W-w-what are you—why are you in my bed?!”

“I wanted to sleep with you, silly.”

Gabrielle’s sleepy smile was somehow even sexier than her normal vibrant beam. My arousal skyrocketed, as did my surging panic.

“Now, how about a good morning kiss?”

As Gabrielle leaned in, her lips pursed and ready for a kiss, I tried to scramble out from underneath her. Unfortunately, doing so not only caused my erection to become firmly stuck between her butt cheeks—it also caused us to lose our balance.

Gabrielle screamed as we both tumbled over the side of the bed. My arms windmilled as I attempted to keep from falling, but it was too late. The world around me spiraled. Everything was spinning! I was going to—

Alex cried out in pain as his head smacked against the floor. Even if it was carpet, it still hurt. Blinking the bleariness from his eyes, he looked at the ceiling. White. Familiar. It was the ceiling of his bedroom.

“W-what was… was that a dream?”

Alex blushed as he realized what had happened. Yesterday’s changing room incident must have affected him even more than he’d realized, invoking a sexual dream brought about by teenage hormones.

Being sixteen sucks.

As a normal, healthy, teenage male, Alex had already experienced more than his fair share of erotic dreams. Most of them had featured Selene. A few had even featured Alice’s best friend.

This was the first time that his dream had felt so real. He wondered if the reason for that was due to having seen Gabrielle naked. Perhaps having finally caught a glimpse of a naked girl’s body had stimulated his mind? It was a sound theory, but because biology and human psychology weren’t his strong points, Alex didn’t know if it was true or not.

With a deep sigh, Alex clambered to his feet and started his day. Even though he was no longer a cadet, he still dreamed of being a hero like his father, and so, like any good hero, his day started with one hundred push-ups, one hundred sit-ups, one hundred squats, one hundred lunges, one hundred pull-ups, and a ten-kilometer run. After his exercise, he took a shower. Thankfully, Gabrielle was not present this time.

After getting dressed in pants and a plain T-shirt, Alex went down to the kitchen so he could make breakfast. It was nothing fancy, just scrambled eggs, toast, and orange juice. He left the eggs to warm up on the stove, then went up to his sister’s bedroom to wake up Alice.

“Five more minutes…”

Well, he tried to wake Alice up. She was being uncooperative.

“Alice, if you don’t get up right now, I’m going to dump ice water on your head.”

“I’m up! I’m up!”

That got her going.

Alice climbed out of bed. Her pajamas were wrinkled, and her hair was a complete mess as if she’d received a static shock. She was glaring at him.

He met her glare with a brilliant smile. “Breakfast is ready.”

“Yeah, yeah… troublesome brother…” Alice yawned as she left her bedroom.

With his sister awake, Alex stepped into Gabrielle’s room. The bed was empty. He wondered where she was, then realized that she must have been in the lab.

As he got closer to the lab, loud sounds reached his ears. The whirring and buzzing of machinery echoed to him. It sounded like Gabrielle was working on something.

She’s clearly already made herself at home.

Entering the now-massive space, Alex found Gabrielle standing by a large, translucent sphere. There was an object floating inside. It looked like a mechanical dog with big teeth.

Gabrielle’s hands were shoved into a pair of gloves that had been stuck inside of the sphere, and she was using an advanced welding tool to affect what he assumed were repairs.

Entranced by the sight, Alex walked up to Gabrielle and watched her work. She was wearing her unitard again. The tight outfit easily showcased her curvaceous figure.

That morning, Alex wasn’t as bothered by the sensuality that her outfit lent her. He was more focused on what she was doing than how the outfit conformed to her butt, breasts, and legs.

“Oh, Alex! Morning!” Gabrielle said when she finally noticed him.

“Morning. What are you working on?”

“This is Mr. Recycle Doggy.”

“From that name, can I infer that it recycles waste?”

“Yes! Mr. Recycle Doggy can eat any type of waste and transform it into energy! I usually use a remote control to make him work, but I’m currently modifying him to have more autonomous actions. That way he can clean up without me telling him to.”

“Nice. What parts did you use in his creation?”

Gabrielle happily listed all of the parts that she’d used, some of which he knew, others that he didn’t but could infer what they did. As he listened, Alex became engrossed in their conversation. He asked more questions to clarify certain points, made suggestions when he thought there was room for improvement, and added comments detailing his own experiences. During their conversation, Gabrielle wrote down suggestions on a holographic pad.

“So, you’re saying that the OS that lists all of the materials Mr. Recycle Doggy can consume would work better if I changed it from standard symbol code to binary code?”

“Yes. Binary code is easier for machines to comprehend because it’s just a series of 1s and 0s. Using a symbolic system not only consumes more memory space, but it requires more fine-tuning. I can help you install the new code since your people don’t know binary.”

“That would be great!”

As he and Gabrielle continued to enthusiastically converse, the lab door swung open and Alice walked inside. “You two do realize what time it is, don’t you?”

Alex and Gabrielle, wearing matching baffled expressions, looked at Alice.

“Time?” they asked in unison.

Alice twitched. “It’s zero eight-hundred hours.”

Alex’s eyes widened. “Oh, crap! It’s time for you to go to school!”

“School?” Gabrielle asked. “You go to school, Alice?”

“Uh, yeah?”

Her eyes sparkling, Gabrielle clasped her hands together in delight. “I’ve never been to school before! What’s it like? Is it fun?”

“Uh, no. It’s not fun. It’s boring.”

“Oh…” Gabrielle’s ears drooped, and even her wing-like constructs seemed to fall in depression.

“You’re just saying that because you don’t like putting effort into anything,” Alex said. “Don’t listen to her, Gabrielle. Alice is just really lazy when it comes to her education.”

“Whatever.”

“Of course, if she tried harder, I might be more inclined to buy her a strawberry cheesecake parfait from Metronome’s, but…”

“Really?!” Alice’s normally bland expression shifted into an intense stare.

Too easy.

“Sure, but only if you do well in all of your classes.”

“Deal!” Alice clapped Alex’s hand. “Anyway, I’m gonna get ready for school. You should eat before your food burns.”

GGRRGGLLLEEE!

At that exact moment, Gabrielle’s stomach rumbled like a shuttle engine. Rubbing her head and laughing, she said, “Wow! I guess I was so caught up in what we were talking about that I forgot all about breakfast!”

Alex and Gabrielle were forced to eat breakfast very quickly, lest they be left behind by Alice, who was eager to get to school.

Strawberry cheesecake parfaits really were one of the best motivators for lazy children.

* * *

They were walking down the sidewalk, on their way to Atreyu Academy, the top primary school in Mars City.

Other students walked along the pavement as well. The younger students were accompanied by their parents, but many of the older students walked on their own or with friends. Alice, being fourteen years of age, could’ve gone alone, but Alex felt it was his duty as her older brother to walk her to school.

“Hey, Alex?” Gabrielle grabbed his attention.

“Yes?”

“I was wondering: what’s a strawberry cheesecake parfait?” she asked.

Alice looked at Gabrielle like the alien girl had just told them that she was a robot. “Are you telling me that you don’t know what a strawberry cheesecake parfait is?”

Gabrielle shook her head. “Uh-uh. What is it?”

“It’s only the most delicious dessert in the history of deserts everywhere. It’s a perfect blend of yogurt with strawberries and cheesecake bites! It’s sweet and thick and creamy and perfect…” Alice stared off into the distance as if imagining her favorite dessert right then. She also began drooling.

“I don’t know what any of that is, but it sounds really good!” Gabrielle cheered as she turned to Alex. “Can I have one, too?”

“Uh, I don’t see why not…”

“Yay!” Gabrielle threw a fist in the air.

Alice didn’t appear to enjoy that idea. “Hey! Why is it that I can only get one if I do well in school, but she gets one just because? That’s not fair!”

“Gabrielle isn’t a student. You are. Ergo, if you want a strawberry cheesecake parfait, you’ll do well in school.”

In response to his words, Alice pulled down her eyelid, stuck her tongue out, and blew Alex a raspberry.

Atreyu Academy was a massive building with a streamlined design. While it was shaped like a rectangle, numerous moving walkways trailed around the outer walls, along with elevators and jump points. Since the academy was so large, nearly two hundred square acres, these transportation methods were necessary for students to reach their classes on time.

If one were to look at the academy from a bird’s-eye view, they would have also noticed the many gardens that dotted the interior. Alex had done just that once while testing out an anti-gravity invention. He’d almost been expelled, which might have been because he’d destroyed part of the roof when his invention malfunctioned.

A girl was waiting by the gate. Her blond hair was tied into twin pony-tails, and her blue eyes carried the slight arrogance of a rich young lady. Like Alice, she wore a knee-length, dark blue skirt, a white-collared shirt, and a dark blue vest—the Atreyu Academy female uniform.

“Oh ho ho ho! It is good to see you, Alice.” She waved at them as they walked up.

“Jasmine,” Alice greeted in a bland voice.

“Morning, Jasmine,” Alex also greeted.

Jasmine gasped as her cheeks turned red. “O-oh ho ho ho! A-Alexander! Good morning!”

Jasmine de Truante was a member of the nobility—the elite members of society, who lived primarily in the upper city. All nobles sent their children to Atreyu Academy, though nobles weren’t the only group who went there. Her brother also attended the academy, along with Selene and her two friends, Serah and Ryoko. Alex would have been with them, but he’d graduated two years early.

“It’s been awhile since we’ve seen each other. How have you been?” Alex asked, curious.

Blushing, Jasmine planted one hand on her hip and raised the other to her mouth. “Oh ho ho ho! I’ve been good. And how are you? Has your training at the cadet academy been going well?”

Alex winced; Alice spoke before he could say anything. “Bro was kicked out of the academy for destruction of public property.”

“W-what?” Jasmine looked aghast. “That’s horrible!”

“I’m just surprised it took them so long to expel him,” Alice admitted.

“That is not something that you should be saying, Alice!” Jasmine’s expression became even more horrified. Her eyes were like saucers and her mouth had become a gaping maw. “Don’t they know that joining the police force has been Alexander’s lifelong dream? For them to expel him is a travesty!”

His little sister shrugged. “If you say so.”

“Oh ho ho ho! Do not worry, Alexander. I shall speak with my mother and convince her to force the police into letting you rejoin the academy. We might not talk much these days, but I’m sure that if I just appeal to her, then—”

Before the girl could go any farther, Alex placed a hand on her shoulder. Because she was shorter than him by at least a head, it was easy. “Thank you for caring so much, but I can’t have you do that.”

Jasmine and her family were somewhat estranged. They lived together, but her parents were seldom home. Even her older brother rarely spent time with her anymore. Only Madison, her android maid, was there to keep her company at home.

Despite the redness staining her cheeks, Jasmine tried to argue. “But, Alexander—”

“I’ll figure something out on my own. Have a little more confidence in me, okay?”

That silenced any argument she might have given. “O-okay, I’ll believe in you.” She squirmed and looked up at him with earnest eyes. “Um, but if you need some help, then please, do not hesitate to call upon my services. I, the Queen of Compassion, would be more than happy to help you.”

Alex gave the girl a grin. “Thanks!”

Jasmine smiled back—until her eyes strayed and she looked behind him. Then she frowned. “Alexander, who is this?”

Upon finally being addressed, Gabrielle gave the girl her brightest smile. “I’m Gabrielle! It’s very nice to meet you!”

“Oh, my. It is nice to meet you as well. Are you a student here?” Jasmine asked with a polite expression.

Alex’s danger senses, which usually only acted up when he was in combat, suddenly went haywire.

“Oh, no. I’m not a student,” Gabrielle corrected. “I’m living with Alex.”

Jasmine nodded. “I see. So, you’re living—wait. What? I am sorry, but, could you repeat that?”

“I said that I’m living with Alex,” Gabrielle repeated.

“Th-this cannot be…” Jasmine mumbled, stumbling backward. “Alexander, are you really living with this… strange girl?”

“Strange?” Gabrielle tilted her head.

Alex nodded. “Yeah, I am.”

“U-ugh…” Jasmine dropped to her hands and knees. “W-what kind of cruel fate has befallen me, the Queen of Love, that someone else has become a part of Alexander’s home before me? Has the universe tilted on its axis? Have the stars aligned against me? Oh, cruel world! Why would you betray me so?”

Appearing uncertain, Gabrielle leaned over to Alex and cupped a hand to her mouth. “What’s wrong with her?”

“I have no idea,” Alex replied succinctly.

* * *

Gabrielle and Alex left Alice and Jasmine. Jasmine seemed to have mentally shut down, as she’d kept muttering gibberish under her breath. The last he’d seen of his sister and her friend, Alice had been dragging a semi-lucid Jasmine through the gate.

“That girl was funny,” Gabrielle said.

“Who? Jasmine?”

“Hm!” Nodding, Gabrielle adopted a quizzical expression. “How do you know her?”

Alex rubbed his chin. “I met Jasmine through her brother, James—an arrogant jerk who thinks that sunshine shoots from his ass because he’s rich. Anyway, Jasmine didn’t really like me at first, but we became friends over time. She’s actually really nice once you get to know her.”

“She sounds really nice,” Gabrielle said. “I hope we can become friends.”

“I’m sure you can. We’ll invite her over for dinner sometime.”

“Really? Yay! I’m gonna make a new friend!”

“You sound like you don’t have many friends back home,” Alex joked.

“I don’t have many friends back home,” Gabrielle admitted easily. “The only friends I have are my two sisters and my robots.”

Alex winced. He’d meant that in jest, but it was true? He felt like a jerk for bringing it up.

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

“Why would you be sorry?”

As Gabrielle gazed at him with a genuinely curious expression, Alex turned away. “N-no reason, I guess.”

She stared at him for another moment longer, and then shrugged. “All right, then.”

So, Gabrielle doesn’t have any friends back home…

It shocked Alex to learn this. While he’d only just met her today, Gabrielle was easily the most cheerful and friendly person he knew. She had a bright and bubbly personality. Her smile was infectious. She was like a gleaming particle ray blasting through one of Mars’ ion storms. The very idea that she didn’t have any friends was unfathomable.

Unless she can’t make friends for other reasons.

Hadn’t Gabrielle told him that she was being chased? That meant that she was on the run. While he didn’t know how long she’d been running, perhaps it had been such a long time that she no longer had any friends.

But who’s chasing her?

There were an infinite number of possibilities, from slave traders to debt collectors and everything in-between. There was no way for him to know until he met one of those people and asked them directly. It was unlikely that Gabrielle would know, given her innocent personality.

“Are we not going home?” Gabrielle’s question knocked Alex out of his thoughts.

Grinning, Alex said, “Not yet. Since you’re new here, I thought I would show you around Mars City.”

* * *

Alex wore the largest grin ever as Gabrielle, her eyes shining like a pair of twilight beacons, rushed to and fro across the walkway. She looked like a child being taken to her first candy store.

True to his words, he’d decided to show her around Mars City. He’d first thought about going to the Metronome’s Sweet Shop, but there wasn’t a whole lot to see there. That was why Alex had taken her to the western shopping district instead.

Mars City’s middle level was roughly divided into four districts: north, south, east, and west.

The north district was where over 75% of the middle-level residents worked. Filled to the brim with offices that ascended into the sky, anyone who went there would see nothing but people in business suits. While there were a few places to eat, there wasn’t anything truly entertaining.

If the north district was for business, then the south district was for law enforcement and public aid. The police station was there, along with the fire department, and the health department’s main branch. Naturally, those departments didn’t fill up the north district, but the only thing there were a few smaller malls and several schools that people who didn’t meet Atreyu’s stringent academic standards attended.

To the east lay the universities. Students who advanced from primary usually went to one of several hundred universities, which specialized in teaching a specific skillset; mechanics, mathematics, advanced quantum physics, etc.

Alexander had once been offered a scholarship at several universities, but he’d turned them down. He couldn’t become a hero like his dad if he spent all of his time stuck in a classroom.

The west district, known as the entertainment district, was where Alexander had decided to take Gabrielle. While all the other districts looked industrious, truly what people from ancient times must have imagined an advanced civilization might look like, the west district looked almost like it had been transplanted from Earth. Rather than multiple walkways, it was made up of several large plates, which could be accessed via escalators and warp points. Shops, restaurants, arcades, theaters… everything that a person could imagine to entertain themselves was available.

“Alex! Alex, look! There are musicians playing in the street!” Gabrielle excitedly exclaimed as she dragged him over to them.

Alex didn’t recognize the song they were playing, but they were using relatively recent digitized instruments—gloves that allowed them to simulate sounds. The music didn’t interest him as much, but the devices had a complex OS that relied on pressure-sensitive vibration technology. They were fascinating.

“Whoa!” Alex nearly crashed into Gabrielle as she yanked him toward her. “What are you—”

Gabrielle’s laughter cut him off. “Come on, Alex! Let’s dance!”

Alex did not know how to dance. It wasn’t something that he’d ever studied since it wouldn’t help him become a hero. Unfortunately, Gabrielle wasn’t giving him a choice in the matter.

She held his hand, twirling them around, moving to the rhythm of the music. Alex tried to keep pace. He might not have known how to dance, but for that smile, he’d at least make an attempt.

“What are you doing, Alex?!” Gabrielle laughed as she grabbed his hands and led him along. “Like this! Come on! Like this!”

Gabrielle spun, and Alex spun with her. Laughing like a child, she moved without rhyme or reason, but Alex was beginning to grow accustomed to it. He picked up on how she moved by pretending that she was an opponent. Dancing… it was a lot like fighting, it seemed. So long as he could predict what she would do next, he could match her movements.

As the dance became more chaotic, as sweat appeared along their foreheads, Alex became bolder. He lifted Gabrielle by the waist and twirled her around. Gabrielle’s joyous laughter accompanied him as he set her down. Still holding each other, they continued to dance until the song ended, and they were holding onto each other.

“G-Gabrielle…” Alex was breathing heavily.

Despite also having lost her breath, Gabrielle was wearing a large, beaming smile. “Wasn’t that fun?”

“Yeah…” he chuckled. “It was.”

It wasn’t until after Alex had caught his breath that he realized how close he and Gabrielle were. Their noses were practically touching!

Jerking away from the girl, Alex tried to play it off—but then he noticed the ring of people that had formed around them. There must have been dozens of people. Many were clapping, but just as many were taking holophotos. He even thought he saw a few holocorders. He hoped to Mars that they didn’t plan on posting them to the holonet. That would be embarrassing.

Grabbing Gabrielle by the hand, he pulled her through the crowd. Several guys tried to touch her; Alex promptly broke their fingers. As pained screams were drowned out by cheering, they burst out of the crowd and ran down the street.

“Ha… ha… okay. I did not anticipate that happening when I woke up this morning,” he admitted.

“What were you expecting?” Gabrielle asked. Unlike him, she seemed to have already gained her second wind.

“I’m not sure.” Straightening up, Alex offered the girl a grin. “Come on. Let’s continue the tour.”

“Okay!” Gabrielle cheered. “Tour! Here we come!”

Alex snorted to hide his laughter.

Truly, this girl was a riot.

* * *

James de Truante was beginning to rethink traveling home with his sister. He had done it on a whim because they were going to the same place. She was normally quiet, too, so he often wasn’t bothered. So, then…

Why won’t she shut up?

“… And she’s living with him! Can you believe it?! I’m sure that tramp is trying to steal Alexander away from me! Oh ho! Oh ho ho ho, it makes me so mad!”

His sister had been ranting about Alexander S. Ryker’s new roommate, a supposedly really pretty girl, according to Jasmine. He didn’t know what female would ever live with the likes of Ryker. However, if she had decided to live with him, she couldn’t have been very pretty.

“If you’re so against allowing her to stay with him, then why don’t you do something about it?” James finally suggested, hoping that she would shut up.

Jasmine huffed. “What can I do about it? Alexander has already given her permission to live with him.”

“Then find some dirt on her that you can use as blackmail to force her out of his house. That’s what I’d do.”

Jasmine opened her mouth to snap at him… and then she paused. James could see the precision lasers firing off in her head. Eventually, slowly, her lips twitched into a smile.

“That’s a great idea, Brother. Oh ho ho ho! Just you wait, Gabrielle Angelise! I, the Queen of Extortion, shall expose you for what you really are—a money-grabbing tramp! Then I’ll force you out of Alexander’s house! Oh ho ho ho ho!”

James sighed as his sister raised a hand to her mouth and laughed. She’d been hung up on Ryker for nearly two years now, though he couldn’t fathom why. One day, she’d been a good little girl who hated everyone that James did. The next, all she could talk about was “Alexander this” and “Alexander that” or “Alexander is so cool!” It was annoying.

I suppose I should just be glad that Ryker rarely ever shows his face anymore.

It wasn’t much of a consolation.

* * *

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 had 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, 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, 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, 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 brassiere. 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 leaped 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 had 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.

* * *

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 smiled. “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 had always admired how pretty they were, but Gabrielle was the first person with whom he’d truly clicked.

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. “Th-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.”

Is… is she so touched that I called her my friend that it brought her to tears?

What had this girl gone through that she would cry over someone calling her a friend?

At that moment, Alex made a promise to himself: He would protect this girl, not just because that was what heroes did, but because he wanted to protect her.

However, for now, he needed to make dinner.

* * *

Jasmine had left her brother before they reached the shuttle stop that would take them home. Her destination: Alexander’s house.

Unlike her, Alexander lived in the outer district, the so-called outlying residential sector outside of Mars City. The outlier district was the largest of the districts; it surrounded the entire crater—a district in the shape of a donut. Because of this, there were a lot of warp points here, which allowed children to reach Atreyu Academy without walking, should they choose to use them.

Alexander’s house was not near a warp point, and she was close enough that using one would have been pointless anyway. She walked along the canal. It was one of several dozen. She’d been told by her teachers that the canals were used to recycle water, though she didn’t know the specifics. As she was walking, she caught sight of something that made her blood boil.

It’s that trollop! And she’s with Alexander!

Indeed, walking several feet away was Gabrielle and Alexander. Jasmine couldn’t keep from gritting her teeth as she saw them both laugh at something that Alexander had said. She was too far away to hear, but whatever Gabrielle said in return made Alexander’s smile grow even wider.

That thieving little trull… she is clearly deceiving Alexander!

“Don’t worry, Alexander! I, the Queen of Justice, shall rescue you from that foul woman’s machinations! Oh ho ho ho ho!”

As Jasmine laughed, she never noticed the group of people walking near her, who, upon hearing her laughter, quickly took several steps back.

* * *

Alex suddenly stopped walking and turned around. He frowned when, upon looking behind him, he saw no one there.

“Is something wrong, Alex?” Gabrielle asked.

“No…” Alex said after several seconds. “There’s nothing wrong.”

Alex turned around and started walking again. Their conversation picked up where it had left off. They were discussing the finer points of wormhole theory.

“Wormhole theory is fine for basic computation and short distance travel, but it’s a very outdated concept.”

“I’m not sure how I feel about you calling humanity’s second greatest discovery outdated, though I won’t deny that you’re correct. Half the reason humans haven’t left this solar system is because the next one over is too far for our ships to reach.”

“Every Angelise vessel relies on dimensional travel. It’s great because we don’t need to have exact calculations. Because we travel through a gateway set between dimensions, we’re out of phase with the rest of the universe, so we don’t need to worry about accidentally traveling through a star or into a planet.”

“And now I feel like you’re bragging,” Alex joked. He actually loved hearing her talk about the scientific theories that her people had come up with.

Suddenly feeling a pair of eyes on him again, Alex turned. He frowned. There was no one there.

“Strange,” Alex murmured. “I could have sworn someone was following us…”

“Alex?” Gabrielle called out to him.

Shaking his head, Alex caught up to Gabrielle and continued their conversation.

* * *

Jasmine sighed in relief when Alexander turned around and hurried to catch up with the tramp. That had been too close. Had she been any slower, he would’ve discovered her for sure.

I’d forgotten how perceptive he is of his surroundings.

She should probably tail him from further away, and she needed to make sure that she was always behind something. It wouldn’t be good if she was caught. She didn’t want to explain what she was doing to Alexander, not until she’d gotten dirt on the trollop who was extorting his kindness.

Don’t worry, Alexander. I’ll free you from her vile clutches!

Jasmine followed them, constantly keeping herself hidden behind something—a pole, a wall, other people. Alexander and Gabrielle eventually reached the Ryker residence. Alexander’s house, like the other houses, was surrounded by a wall, and the only way in was through the gate. Jasmine waited for several seconds before crouching down and sneaking up to the gate. She then peered through it just as Alex and Gabrielle went inside.

One. Two. Three.

Opening the gate, Jasmine slipped inside and walked up to the front door. She didn’t go through the door, which would have been foolish. Instead, she remained pressed against the wall and slipped around the back.

She would find some dirt on that Gabrielle if it was the last thing she did!

* * *

“I’m home!” Alex called out as he walked into the house.

“I’m home, too!” Gabrielle said cheerily.

“Welcome back,” a call came from inside the living room. Alice. She hadn’t even come out to greet him, and, knowing her, she was probably watching Titan Girls.

Alex shook his head at his sister’s laziness before turning to Gabrielle. “Would you like to take a shower before dinner?”

“Sure!” Gabrielle cheered. “Would you like to take a shower with me?”

Alex was prepared for the question, and he managed to adequately mask his blush. “I’ll pass, thanks. I need to make dinner, remember?”

“Oh… okay.” Gabrielle looked depressed. He still couldn’t fathom why.

“Why don’t you ask Alice if she wants to take a shower?” he suggested if only to keep her from looking so sad.

Gabrielle perked up. “That’s a great idea. Alice! Would you like to take a shower with me?”

“No!” came the immediate response.

Gabrielle’s shoulders slumped as an aura of depression exuded from her. Alex could practically see it, a dark miasma that reminded him of fog drifting off her like a physical manifestation of her sadness.

“Why doesn’t anyone want to take a bath with me?” Gabrielle whined.

“Common decency?” Alex suggested, not sure whether to be amused or disturbed.

“I don’t know what that is,” Gabrielle confessed. “But, isn’t it more fun to take a bath with others than it is to take one alone? My sisters and I always took baths together.”

“Those are your sisters,” Alex pointed out. “It’s not weird since it’s family.”

“Does that mean you and your sister take baths together?” Gabrielle asked.

“Hell no, we don’t!” Alice shouted from the living room.

“We used to when we were younger,” Alex said. “I had to bathe her until about six years ago, but we haven’t taken a bath together in a long time.”

They’d been on hard times back then. Alex had been too young to properly take care of his sister, though he’d done his best. Honestly, if it wasn’t for Selene’s parents, they would have been in real trouble. Mr. and Mrs. Metronome had been lifesavers. Comman—Karen had as well, now that he thought about it.

“Don’t tell her that!” Alice screamed.

“Why did you stop?” Gabrielle asked.

Alex stared oddly at the alien girl, who’d tilted her head, her lips set in a confused frown. “Uh, because we outgrew it? Seriously. Brothers and sisters should not be taking baths together at this age… even if we’re not related by blood—especially since we’re not related by blood.”

“Not related by blood?”

“Yeah… Alice and I aren’t actually related. My dad married her mom about… I wanna say… was it… twelve… no, thirteen years ago?” Alex rubbed his head, which began pounding the longer he tried to remember when his father had gotten married.

“Alex?”

“It’s nothing…” Alex said after a moment. “Anyway, when my dad married Alice’s mom, we’d both already been born.”

“Oh.”

“Anyway, why don’t you take a shower? I’m going to prepare dinner.”

“Kay!”

Her previous depression forgotten, Gabrielle bounded up the stairs with seemingly limitless energy. Shaking his head, Alex walked into the living room, where his sister was watching Titan Girls.

“Shouldn’t you be doing homework?”

“I’m already done.”

“So if I went upstairs and looked through your desk, I’d find your homework finished.”

“Yep.”

Alex paused. If she’d been lying, there would’ve been a second of hesitation in her response. “All right, but I want to look over your homework after dinner.”

Alice released an exasperated groan but nodded. “Fine.”

Ruffling Alice’s hair as he passed her, Alex headed into the kitchen. It was time to start cooking.

* * *

Alexander’s house was set up like a normal house from Earth. It had a backyard and a porch with a sliding plasteel door.

Jasmine needed to crawl on her belly to hide the fact that she was there. It was humiliating, but she didn’t want Alice, who was sitting on the couch watching the holovid, to see her. She soon passed the porch and reached a window, from which the clanging of pots and pans echoed.

Peering into the window, Jasmine almost sighed when she laid eyes on Alexander. He was dressed in normal civilian clothes. His pants fit him nicely, and his T-shirt showed off his broad shoulders.

He looked like he was preparing ingredients. She didn’t know what he was cooking, but it didn’t really matter. A cooking Alexander was an attractive Alexander.

“Hm?”

Jasmine squeaked and ducked when Alexander turned his head in her direction. She quickly crawled to the other side of the house and hid just as he poked his head outside. Peeking out from around the corner, she watched as he looked at the yard.

“Strange,” he muttered, “I could have sworn I saw someone out here.”

After another second had passed, Alexander retracted his head and went back inside. Jasmine scrambled over to the window. She didn’t look inside. Alexander had proven that he could sense her presence when she was looking at him.

What should I do? I want to find some dirt on that trollop, but Alexander is right before me. I may never get another chance!

Jasmine had never felt so conflicted in her life. She wanted to sneak into the house, find out where that trollop was staying, and search her room for evidence of wrongdoing. However, she also wanted to peek through the window and watch Alexander while he cooked.

W-why am I being forced to make such a difficult choice?!

“Alex!”

Fortunately, the choice was taken out of her hands when Gabrielle’s cheerful voice rang out from inside. Jasmine forgot all about how he’d almost seen her and raised her head to peek through the window again.

* * *

Alex felt like someone was watching him. There was no evidence to suggest that he was, in fact, being watched. However, several times within the past few minutes, ever since he and Gabrielle had walked home, he’d felt like there were eyes on him. It was disconcerting.

He’d checked the window once already when he’d felt the eyes on him again. No one had been there, so he’d gone back to setting up ingredients.

He placed the pan on the stove, heated it, added oil, then let it sit. While he waited for the oil to start sizzling, he sliced up the chicken and added it into a bowl filled with seasonings. He’d just added the chicken into the pan when Gabrielle burst into the room with her usual zeal.

“Alex!”

“What is it—gurk!”

Gabrielle was wearing nothing—almost nothing. She wore a towel, which did an adequate job of covering her naughty bits, but it still didn’t leave much to the imagination. It conformed around her body, revealing nothing but showing everything.

Alex turned around, squeaking as he covered his crotch with his hands. He didn’t want her to see what she had done to him. “W-what are you doing down here in nothing but a towel?!”

“We’re all out of shampoo,” Gabrielle stated, either ignoring or not paying attention to his words. “Do you know where I can find some more?”

“Th-there should be some on the top shelf in the changing room.”

“Top shelf. Got it. Are you sure I can’t convince you to take a bath with me? We could wash each other’s backs.”

For just a moment, Alex allowed his imagination to run wild.

I sat on the stool, nothing but a towel covering my modesty. I could feel Gabrielle as she used her breasts to wash my back. Her nipples rubbing against my body created goosebumps on my skin and sent shivers down my spine. Her soft hands caressing my abdominals and chest drove me wild. I couldn’t take this anymore!

“See, Alex? Isn’t it better to take a bath together?” Gabrielle asked.

“It is,” Alex admitted. “But, I think there’s something missing.”

“What’s that?”

Quicker than Gabrielle could comprehend, Alex spun around, wrapped his arms around her waist, and pulled her onto his lap.

“I haven’t washed you yet,” Alex said, his voice smooth and articulate.

Gabrielle’s cheeks lit up in a blush, but she smiled and gave him a coy look. “Be sure to wash me thoroughly.”

“Oh, I will. Every nook and cranny.”

“Alex?”

“...”

“Are you listening?”

“...”

“I think the food is burning.”

“What? —Oh, crap!”

Alex snapped out of his daydream and rushed over to the stove. The scent of burnt chicken invaded his nose, causing it to wrinkle even as he fought the miniature inferno to save his food. In the end, he did manage to save a bit of it, but the vast majority was blackened, burnt, and beyond recognition.

“Ugh… this is just great,” Alex sighed. How could he have let himself get so caught up in a delusion that he’d let his food get burnt? “Now I’ve got to throw this all away.”

“Can I help you get rid of that?” Gabrielle offered.

Alex looked at Gabrielle—until he remembered that she was essentially naked and turned away. “How?”

“With this!” Gabrielle once more activated her floating menu and selected something. There was a flash of light, which died down to reveal…

“Mr. Recycle Doggy?” Alex asked.

“Mr. Recycle Doggy 2.0,” Gabrielle corrected. “I’ve made some modifications so he can now eat food.”

“When did you have time to do this?”

“I did it before we left this morning.”

“Oh…”

Alex’s curiosity overrode the fact that a beautiful and naked girl was standing in front of him. He knelt next to her, studying the recycling AI device with eyes that… saw nothing different than the last time he looked at it.

“Can this really recycle food?” he asked.

“Yep! Just put the food on the ground, and he’ll get rid of it.”

The idea of seeing this thing in action was too tempting for Alex to pass up, so he set the pan of burnt food in front of Mr. Recycle Doggy. Gabrielle, meanwhile, pushed a button on its head.

“All right, Mr. Recycle Doggy! Eat that food!”

Mr. Recycle Doggy’s eyes lit up. It looked at the food. Then it looked at Gabrielle. Back to the food. Back to Gabrielle. The food one more time. Gabrielle. Then, it jumped.

“Kya!”

On Gabrielle.

Alex felt a moment of panic as Mr. Recycle Doggy ate Gabrielle’s towel, leaving her stark naked.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?! Get off her!” he shouted at the creature, while simultaneously trying not to stare at the now naked and befuddled Gabrielle.

Unfortunately, his shouting made him the unwilling recipient of Mr. Recycle Doggy’s attention.

“Uh-oh.”

“Arf! Arf!”

“W-wait a minute! What are—my clothes!!”

It didn’t take long before Alex was also bereft of clothes. Left with no other option, he covered his crotch as if doing so would somehow protect his modesty.

It didn’t.

* * *

Jasmine stared in shock as Alexander’s clothing was eaten. She’d always had trouble taking her eyes off him, but now, bare as the day he’d been born, she couldn’t tear her gaze away.

Oh…

Her cheeks flushed. She’d completely forgotten about Gabrielle. Her breathing became heavy. She dropped her gaze from Alexander’s broad shoulders to below his back. A strange heat pooled between her thighs.

That’s, um…

She was sure there was a word to describe how Alexander looked right now, but for some reason, the word escaped her. Actually, she wasn’t thinking about much of anything, aside from how nice Alexander’s ass was.

“Arf! Arf!”

However, Jasmine had forgotten all about the strange dog-shaped machine, which was now staring at her with its maliciously glowing eyes.

“Arf! Arf!”

The machine dog leaped at her!

“KYA!”

Jasmine stumbled back just as the wall exploded and the strange dog machine jumped out.

* * *

Alex and Gabrielle stared at the wall—what was left of the wall. Neither one of them spoke for the longest time. Alex didn’t know what to say, and Gabrielle seemed despondent that Mr. Recycle Doggy had run off.

“Did someone just scream ‘kya’?” he asked.

Gabrielle didn’t answer.

Seconds later, the door to the living room opened, and Alice rushed in. “Hey, Bro. What’s with all the noise? Are you almost ready with din… ner…?”

She stared at Alex and Gabrielle, who stared back without blinking. Alex wondered why his sister looked so disgusted, but then he felt a sudden draft and remembered something important.

Mr. Recycle Doggy had eaten his clothes.

“Ah,” he started, “I can explain this.”

“Sorry to bother you two!” Alice said, slamming the door closed before he could explain why he and Gabrielle were naked.

Alex’s despairing cry was like that of a child told he couldn’t watch late-night cartoons.

* * *

Azazel was sitting in the command chamber, in an elevated chair that sat above the rest of the cockpit. Several Angelisians were stationed at the communication console and detection system. However, they were currently docked inside of Mars City. Thanks to that fact, there was no need to have the entire crew at their stations, so most of his soldiers were off duty.

“Commander! We have an incoming transmission!” his communication aide said.

“Is it from Angelisia?”

“No, sir. It’s coming from inside of Mars City.”

“Hm. Very well. Put it on screen.”

A large holograph appeared before him, displaying a blonde woman with hair in drill-like curls, ice-blue eyes, and the most infuriated of frowns.

“Karen Kanzaki,” Azazel greeted. “To what do I owe the pleasure of your call?”

Karen Kanzaki was the commander of the Mars police forces. He didn’t know much more about the woman. They’d never met in person.

When he’d first made contact with the humans of this quadrant, Karen was the person they placed in charge of communicating with him. Her job was to aid him until his mission was complete by providing support and tactical knowledge.

“This isn’t a pleasure call,” Karen snapped. “Do you know what your subordinates did?”

Azazel frowned. “Are you referring to Kane and Abel?”

“Yes.”

“Then no, I do not. What did they do?”

“They got themselves arrested for public nudity.”

Azazel frowned. That did not sound like Kane and Abel. Both of them were quite serious, not just when it came to doing their duty, but in their general disposition.

“That does not sound like something they would do.”

“Are you doubting me?”

“Not at all. I am merely saying that there must have been extenuating circumstances.”

“They claim they were locating your runaway princess when a mechanical dog suddenly attacked them.”

“That sounds a lot like one of Lady Gabrielle’s inventions,” Azazel informed her. “I hope that you will let my subordinates go so they can continue their search. I promise to personally chastise them for not being careful enough. They should have known better than to underestimate Princess Gabrielle.”

“See to it that you do,” Karen said before the screen cut off.

Azazel remained silent for several seconds, then smiled ruefully. “What an interesting woman.”

* * *

It took an extra two hours, but Alex traveled to another convenience store, bought some more food, and cooked it. Alice had complained about how she was starving by the time he’d finished, but there hadn’t been any other choice. It wasn’t like he could’ve fed her burnt food.

After dinner, he, Alice, and Gabrielle wandered into the living room, where they watched the holovid.

“Go, Titan Girl! Go, go!” Gabrielle cheered as the girl who had the strength of a hundred men beat the crap out of several villains.

While Alice stared blankly at the screen and Gabrielle alternated between waving and cheering like a maniac, Alex frowned. Something was tickling at the edge of his awareness. He tried to think of what that something might be, but it slipped from his grasp like a greased traction cable.

“Is something wrong, Bro?” Alice asked, having noticed his silence.

“Not really.” Alex shook his head. “I just can’t help but feel like I’m forgetting something.”

* * *

Jasmine ran through the streets.

The sun had long since gone down, meaning that only the streetlights were available to light her way. No stars were visible. Because the dome was designed to block out harmful rays, light from anything aside from the sun couldn’t penetrate it.

She didn’t know how long she’d been running. Her shoes were long gone. She’d been forced to abandon them when that strange metal dog had chomped down on one of her laces. Now she ran barefoot, which felt like sandpaper against her feet, though she dared not stop. Behind her, a strange dog, a mechanical monstrosity, chased her, its eyes glowing a malicious green.

“Arf! Arf!”

“Why won’t this thing stop chasing me?!” Jasmine cried into the night.

Unfortunately, there was no one around to hear her.

3

Learning the Truth

The morning after his and Gabrielle’s close encounter of the shady alien kind started off the same way that every morning did. After waking up, Alex went on his run, completed his exercise, took a shower, and made his way down to the lab.

Gabrielle was already there. His newest housemate was standing in front of Mr. Designer, which was Gabrielle’s name for the massive holographic console that was used to create invention concepts. From the look of things, she was currently designing what appeared to be some kind of suit.

Is that an environment suit? It looks so… thin.

“What are you making?” Alex asked as he walked up to her.

“Oh! Alex, good morning.” Gabrielle smiled at him before returning to the holographic suit floating in the air. “I’m trying to create a modified version of an Angelisian crisis suit for human use.”

“Human use?”

“Yes, I thought you could use a suit like this. Angelisian crisis suits are powerful. They increase the wearer's strength, protect them from various elements, and it even has an anti-gravity propulsion field.”

“You mean people wearing this can fly?”

“Well, it might be hard for a human to fly,” Gabrielle confided, “but you should at least be able to jump really high.”

“That’s good enough for me.”

Alex had always wanted to be able to leap over buildings. There had been rumors that his father had been capable of jumping far, of him bounding over skyscrapers while chasing criminals. While Alex had an impressive jump length and height, he couldn’t do that without using a vehicle of some kind.

He looked at the suit as Gabrielle manipulated the holographic image. The first layer appeared to be a unitard. It had strange glowing lines running over the fabric, which reminded Alex of circuits. Over the unitard was armor—a chest plate that only covered the pectorals, shoulder pads, greaves, and vambraces. After studying the suit, he looked at the information detailing the composite material that it would be created with.

“I don’t know any of these substances,” he murmured.

“That’s because these are made from materials found only on Angelisia,” Gabrielle answered his unspoken question. “The unitard is made from strands of a plant called Venus Fibra, which are stronger than most alloys but are also flexible and elastic. The armor is made of adamantine—an ore found on asteroids that surround Angelisia.”

Does that mean Angelisia is a planet with an asteroid ring like Saturn?

“Cool.”

Alex was fascinated by the knowledge that he was learning. In his younger years, he’d been considered a genius inventor. At the age of four, he’d created his first robot. At five, he’d built a fusion engine. His many inventions had earned him a good deal of fame when he was younger. He was even still receiving royalties for some of his older inventions.

After the death of his dad, Alex’s inventions had stopped being useful and instead became failures. Most of them exploded in his face. The few that did work were useless.

However, Alex still loved inventing, and he’d created many other inventions since. Hearing about new inventions, seeing new scientific methods in action, was wonderful. Alex could have listened to Gabrielle talk all day, if only to learn more about her thoughts and ideas when it came to building mechanical devices.

“But wait,” Alex said. “Do you have the materials necessary to make this?”

“Of course I do!” Gabrielle exclaimed with a broad grin. “Everything I need is stored in my D-space.”

“D-space?” Alex blinked. “Is that where you pulled out… Mr. Recycle Doggy the other day?”

“Uh-huh!” Nodding several times, Gabrielle explained, “The D-space is an empty void that I separated from this dimension. It’s connected through my gloves.” She held up her hand to show off her gloves. Alex noticed the glowing circuits on her fingers. “By accessing my menu with these gloves, I can retrieve things from the D-space.”

“That’s amazing!” Alex exclaimed. “That’s, like, the most awesome thing I’ve ever heard of! You’re incredible!”

“Thanks!” Gabrielle beamed as her ears wiggled up and down and her wings flapped. She seemed inordinately pleased by his praise.

They spoke for what must have been several more hours, discussing the specifics for the suit. How long it would take to complete, what sort of enhancements it would have, etc.

“It will probably take about a day or two to finish,” Gabrielle admitted reluctantly as if two days was a long time. “I need to calibrate the Synthetic Nerve Synapse system for human use.”

All Angelisian crisis suits ran on a Synthetic Nerve Synapse, which was an enhancement system. It increased a person’s physical attributes by synchronizing with and pumping energy directly into their nerve synapses.

When a nerve impulse reaches the synapse at the end of a neuron, it’s unable to pass directly to the next one. Instead, it triggers the neuron to release a chemical neurotransmitter. The neurotransmitter then drifts across the gap between the two neurons. Upon reaching the other side, it fits into a tailor-made receptor on the surface of the target neuron, like a key in a lock. This docking process converts the chemical signal back into an electrical nerve impulse.

The Synthetic Nerve Synapse filled the neurons with energy, thereby increasing the speed at which the process was completed. The overall effect was an increase in all physical attributes: strength, endurance, speed, reflexes, hand-to-eye coordination. Everything was increased by a factor of five—or so Gabrielle said.

“Wouldn’t having all that energy running through the body be harmful?” Alex asked as Gabrielle finished explaining the concept behind the system.

Gabrielle gained a thoughtful look. “It isn’t for Angelisians, but it might be for humans. The crisis suit runs on the energy found within our own bodies, but since you’re a human, your body doesn’t produce energy like mine does. We’ll have to create an artificial energy source, like a quantum core or something, but having that sort of energy running through you could cause damage…”

There was a moment of silence. Gabrielle’s face became deeper and more thoughtful as she raised a hand to her mouth and bit her index finger. Despite himself, Alex thought the gesture was unbearably cute.

“I hadn’t thought of that,” she said finally. “That… might extend how long it’ll take me to make this. We’ll have to experiment to see what forms of energy your body can and can’t accept. Do you mind if I take genetic samples and scan your body?”

He assumed she was asking him for skin cells and a blood sample. “Sure. I don’t mind.”

“Great. Step inside of Mr. Scanner.” Gabrielle gestured to a large, tube-shaped object. “This will take genetic samples, scan your biorhythms and create a detailed map of your body.”

She typed on a console built into Mr. Scanner. Hissing echoed throughout the lab and steam shot out from exhaust vents along the device’s sides as the front suddenly cracked open. The bottom lifted like the lid of a box about to reveal its contents.

Inside was what appeared to be an advanced scanning system. Lights and lenses marked the inside like polka dots. Scanners, mapping nodes, and several devices that he couldn’t name were situated along the interior.

Alex stepped inside, and then Gabrielle typed some more. The lid closed around him. It wasn’t an uncomfortably tight fit, but Alex did feel a moment of claustrophobia. Bright lights emitted as several red beams moved up and down, scanning him. A strange fog shot out from several vents. It had a cloying scent that made Alex reflexively gag. Ten seconds passed. The lights died down, the fog dispersed, then the lid opened with a hiss.

“All done!” Gabrielle announced as Alex stepped outside. “It will take a day for Mr. Scanner to create a thorough map of your body, but this should tell us what sort of energy is and isn’t harmful to humans. Then I can create a generator and calibrate your suit for you.”

“Nice. Thank you.”

“Tee-hee, you’re welcome.”

Alex and Gabrielle smiled at each other.

“Ahem.”

A cough made them turn. Alice stood in the doorway.

“If you two are done making googly eyes at each other, how about making me breakfast?”

Alex and Gabrielle looked at each other and turned back to Alice.

“Yeah… I’ll make some breakfast. Sorry about that, Alice. Guess we got caught up talking.”

“Whatever. Just hurry up. I’m starving.”

As Alice walked back upstairs, Gabrielle and Alex followed her. While he thought about what he should make for breakfast, a larger part of him was thinking about the crisis suit that Gabrielle was making for him. He couldn’t wait to see how it turned out.

* * *

Alex and Gabrielle walked Alice to school again. Since he was no longer a cadet, it wasn’t like he had anything better to do, and Gabrielle couldn’t work on the crisis suit until the scans were complete. Besides that, she seemed to enjoy walking. He assumed it was because of her deplorable lack of freedom before running from those slavers.

Jasmine was, again, waiting by the gate. She didn’t look good that morning. Bags hung under her bloodshot eyes, and she stood with a noticeable slump.

“Good morning, Jasmine!” Gabrielle greeted with a cheerful smile and a wave.

Jasmine’s expression, which could have been defined as “irritated” at best and “do you want to die?” at worst, made even Alex pause.

“Morning,” she grunted.

“Are you okay, Jasmine?” Alex asked.

“I’m fine,” she ground out.

“It looks like you didn’t get much sleep last night.” Alex leaned over and studied Jasmine with keen eyes. “Maybe you should go home and rest?”

“Oh! Oh ho ho ho!” Jasmine took several steps back and, holding a hand up to her face, she laughed. “Though I thank you for your concern, I assure you that I am… just… fine…”

Jasmine swooned, tilting over. She would have fallen, had Alex not moved forward and caught her. Jasmine tried feebly to stand up, but her legs no longer seemed capable of holding her weight.

“You really are exhausted.” With a grunt, Alex hooked an arm under Jasmine’s legs and lifted her. She tried to protest, but he silenced her. “There’s no way I can just let you go to school. Look at you. Even your face is turning red. You might have a fever.”

“I-I really am all right,” Jasmine mumbled, but Alex didn’t believe that for a second. Her face was steadily growing redder. She was clearly sick.

“You’re not all right,” Alex told her. He then turned to Alice. “Do you think it would be okay if I took her to the nurse’s office?”

Alice shrugged. “I don’t see why not.”

“Cool. I’ll see you later. Come on, Gabby. Let’s find the nurse’s office.”

“Kay!”

He and Gabrielle split off from Alice, who went off to her first class, and headed deeper into the school. It had been a long time since Alex had walked through Atreyu Academy, but as he traveled its vast interior, his feet seemed to remember where everything was.

This is nostalgic. How long has it been since I’ve been here?

Technically, it had only been two years. Children graduated from primary when they turned eighteen, then could either go to a university, get a job that didn’t require a degree, or learn the ins and outs of their family’s business, as was the case with most nobles. Still, two years or not, it felt like much longer.

“Whoa… who’s the babe?”

“Check out the ass on her.”

“Forget the ass. Check out dat rack!”

“Hey, doesn’t that guy look familiar?”

As they used a combination of warp points and escalators to reach the nurse’s office, students who were on their way to class tended to stop and stare. Alex frowned as he listened to their conversations. It sounded like most of them were talking about Gabrielle. They were saying lewd things about her, which he didn’t approve of, even if he understood why they were talking like that.

Hormones really are the bane of every teenager’s existence.

They eventually reached the nurse’s office. The scent of antiseptics hit Alex like a container of oil to the face. His shoes made a staccato rhythm as he walked along the white tiled floor, accompanied by Gabrielle’s softer footsteps. A series of beds sat along one wall while several cabinets and a desk were situated against another. The nurse was absent.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Gabrielle asked as Kevin walked over to a bed and set Jasmine down. She appeared to have fallen asleep while they’d been walking.

“Um, if you could get me a thermometer, that would be nice.”

“Kay!”

Several seconds later, Gabrielle handed Alex the oddest looking device he’d ever seen. It was long and cylindrical. There was no screen, just a large bulb on one end and a tip on the other.

“What is this?”

“A thermometer, silly.”

“I’ve never seen a thermometer like this. Do I stick it in her mouth or…?”

“You’re supposed to stick it up her butt,” Gabrielle answered.

… Silence.

“E-excuse me?” Alex asked. “Could you please repeat that? I could have sworn you said that I needed to stick this up her butt.”

“Yes, the best way to get an accurate reading is to stick that up her butt,” Gabrielle said, still smiling. She didn’t seem to understand why Alex was gawking at her.

“I can’t do that!”

“Why not? It’s easy. Just pull down her underwear and—”

“That would be a violation of her rights as a human!”

“I don’t know what that means, but if you want to take her temperature, this is the only way to do it.”

Alex stared uncomprehendingly at the girl. She couldn’t be serious, right? She didn’t seriously think that he would—or even could—pull down a girl’s panties and shove a long cylinder up her butt, did she?

“What’s going on here?” a voice asked from the doorway.

A man was standing in front of the entrance. Stringy gray hair hung down his head like squiggly wires. Despite the grayness of his hair, there was a youthfulness about his face. Alex couldn’t tell how old he was. He wore a white lab coat over black pants and a dark pink shirt.

“Are you the school nurse?” Alex asked. This man hadn’t been the nurse when Alex was going here, but a lot could change in two years.

“That’s right. The name’s Gideon Fletcher. Nice to meet ya.”

The man grinned at them, though Alex immediately noticed that his eyes were on Gabrielle. He did not appreciate the way that the man’s lecherous gaze roamed over Gabrielle’s body. The girl in question seemed oblivious to the attention.

“Nice to meet you!” Gabrielle responded cheerfully.

Gideon chuckled. “I don’t think I’ve seen you around before. Are you two new students?”

“No,” Alex said. “We’re just here because Jasmine collapsed while I was walking my sister to school.”

“Jasmine?” Gideon looked at the bed. “Ah, the pretty rich blonde girl.”

Alex twitched at the word “pretty.” He didn’t like how this man had purred that word out.

“You said that she collapsed?”

“Yeah… I think she has a fever.”

“Hm, in that case, just leave her with me. I’ll take care of the princess.”

Alex was not comfortable leaving his friend with this man. The way he had looked at Gabrielle as if she were a piece of genetically-modified-to-perfection beef made Alex want to punch him. Still, this man was the school nurse. That meant he was qualified to look after students. There was also a camera in the room, which meant that Jasmine should be safe if he left.

“All right. We’ll head out now. We’re not students anyway, so we should be leaving.”

“Bye!” Gabrielle waved as she and Alex headed out the door.

“See ya later.” Gideon waved them off.

* * *

Alex and Gabrielle walked back home.

The day was mild, but that wasn’t surprising. The weather inside the dome was controlled by several forecasting towers, arrayed around the outer district and inside Mars City itself. Using sensor nodes built into the dome, the forecasting towers determined the temperature, then adjusted it accordingly. Right now it was spring, April 23rd, so the temperature was mild.

“Do you think Jasmine is going to be okay?” Gabrielle asked.

“I think she’ll be fine,” Alex reassured her.

Provided the school nurse doesn’t try anything.

Alex frowned. There was something off about that nurse—something he didn’t like. Alex couldn’t put his finger on it… well, he believed that part of the reason was because of the man’s clearly lecherous intent. The way he’d ogled Gabrielle had set Alex’s teeth on edge. However, that was only one part of the problem. Though they had just met, Alex couldn’t help but feel like Gideon Fletcher was hiding something.

I just wish I knew what he was hiding.

“We should buy her a strawberry cheese-thingy from that Metro place,” Gabrielle said.

“You mean Metronome’s, and it’s a strawberry cheesecake parfait,” Alex corrected. “Jasmine does like those. Maybe we can buy her one later. I don’t want to get something for Jasmine and not Alice, so we’ll have to wait before giving one to her.”

“That’s a good idea.”

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. So, I was thinking about making some modifications to Mr. Recycle Doggy…”

He and Gabrielle spoke of the adjustments for Mr. Recycle Doggy. Gabrielle wanted to give it even more autonomous functions. Alex didn’t think that was such a good idea considering what it had done last night, but he believed that part of the reason for the glitch in its system was due to bugs that could be hammered out during the modifications.

Alex was so caught up in their conversation that he almost missed his danger senses screaming at him. Loud whistling from above made his ears twitch. He turned to scoop Gabrielle into his arms, but she had already grabbed his hand and was leaping backward.

They jumped several meters back—a decidedly good move. Seconds later, the ground in front of them cratered, kicking up dust and pavement fragments everywhere.

Alex reached behind him and pulled out his whip, which he’d brought with him in case a situation like this occurred. Thumbing the switch, crackling electricity erupted from the whip, which flared to life like a vibrant laser blade. Using it, he destroyed the fragments with ease.

Unlike him, Gabrielle defended herself by shooting out lasers from her wingtips. Alex almost got hit in the face by debris, he was so surprised.

I didn’t know her wings could do that. I’m gonna have to ask her if she can help me build similar wings.

“Hmph! I should have known you’d dodge that,” a voice said from inside the dust cloud.

Two figures stepped out of the crater, the dust parting for them. They were wearing black cloaks, and their heads were covered by hoods. Alex hadn’t gotten a good look at them last time, since he hadn’t stuck around when their clothes had been eaten, which meant he didn’t know what they looked like. He imagined they were quite ugly, though.

Gabrielle’s cheeks swelled like balloons. “You two again! I thought we had ditched you.”

“Sorry, Princess,” one of them said, “but you’re not getting rid of us that easily.”

Alex stepped in front of Gabrielle and glared at the two men, who didn’t seem the least bit phased. Considering they were nearly three heads larger than him, they probably thought he’d be easy to defeat.

“I don’t know who you people are, or why you’re after Gabrielle, but I’m not going to let you lay a finger on her.”

The cloaked figures looked at each other.

“Kid,” the one on the left started, “it’s clear to me that you don’t understand what’s going on. Let me give you some advice—leave. Now. I don’t know how you got caught up in all this, but it’s not worth risking your life—urk!”

The man’s words were cut off when Alex, quicker than a robot firing a pistol, wrapped his whip around the man’s neck. Because his whip was made from electron particles, the man received the shock of his life. He lit up like a Mars Day fireworks display.

“Abel!”

The other man grabbed the whip, but all that meant was that he got electrocuted as well.

Alex would’ve liked to keep up the heat a little while longer. However, he knew that he couldn’t afford to do that. His whip only lasted for five minutes before it needed to recharge for another ten. That was the weakness in an electro whip that was made purely from particles.

Deactivating the whip, Alex placed it back in his pocket, and then pulled out several explosives and tossed them. Unlike most of his newer inventions, which relied on molecular technology, these were fission-based. They were like those old nuclear missiles that had been used in the 1900s back on Earth—except these had been made to incapacitate and not kill. They generally detonated in a fashion comparable to concussion grenades.

Alex didn’t stick around to see the fallout. He grabbed Gabrielle’s hand and ran down the road.

Blood pounded in his ears as the explosions went off. The concussive shockwave that followed would have knocked him down had he not prepared for it. Wind slammed into them like energy generated from a high-powered turbine. Gabrielle screamed in surprise, but her sense of balance seemed to be even better than his; she barely stumbled as they ran.

They didn’t get far. Two figures appeared before them. Their cloaks had been burnt away, revealing bright silver armor and black unitards. Pinions jutted from their back, bright white wings with an array of beautiful feathers. Helmets, golden and luminescent, sat proudly on their heads, framing faces that were too handsome, too perfect, to be human.

Alex was in shock. Those outfits, that armor, they were…

Seraphim…

That was his first thought, but upon a deeper glance, Alex noticed the differences between the suit that Gabrielle had shown him and the ones these two were wearing.

Seraphim suits were bulkier. Their armor was thicker. The shoulder pauldrons and chest plate were less streamlined. These suits were sleek and thin, lacking the bulky armor of a Seraphim crisis suit. They looked like they were designed for high-speed movement, while Seraphims reminded him of tanks.

Their armor didn’t have a scratch.

These two… they’re Angelisians…

“Gabrielle,” Alex whispered. “Get ready to run.”

“R-right,” Gabrielle said. She seemed as shocked as him.

Alex took several deep breaths, preparing himself mentally. He’d only get one shot at this. Once he did, they would need to—

“Did you think we would let you run away again?” one of them asked.

The two Angelisians were suddenly standing directly in front of them. They were so close that Alex could reach out and touch them.

What—?!

Alex only had enough time to gawk before, without warning, every cell in his body screamed at him. He felt his feet leave the ground, heard the air whistling around him. His mouth opened in a scream, but no sound came out. The world around him was a blur. Then, suddenly and violently, Alex’s world went black as he slammed into something hard and unyielding.

* * *

Jasmine woke to a white ceiling over her head.

She didn’t know where she was, nor could she remember how she’d gotten there. A strong scent hit her nose—alcohol.

W-what? Where am I?

“Looks like you’re finally awake, Princess,” a rough voice said from beyond her field of vision.

Sitting up in bed, Jasmine looked around—until her eyes landed on Dr. Gideon Fletcher, a man whom she disliked out of principle.

“What have you done to me, pervert?” Jasmine asked, gathering the blanket and covering herself. She was fully dressed, but even so, she felt naked before this man’s eyes. It was an unpleasant feeling for one of her stature.

“That’s a mean thing to say. I haven’t done anything.” When Jasmine just glowered at him, he sighed and scratched the back of his head. “I’m being honest here. The person who brought you to the nurse’s office was some kid with black hair.”

Black hair?

Jasmine blushed. “D-did he have a silver streak running through his bangs?”

Dr. Gideon looked thoughtful. “Come to think of it, I believe he did.”

Jasmine’s blush deepened, but she quickly regained her bluster. “W-well, of course he did! After all, I am one of the most important people in Alexander’s life. Oh ho ho ho ho!”

Standing up on the bed, a hand raised to her mouth, Jasmine’s laughter echoed down the hall.

Dr. Gideon shook his head.

“… Right…”

* * *

“Alex!” Gabrielle screamed as Abel slammed into Alex, sending her new friend flying backward.

Alex’s flight took him nearly fifteen meters before he crashed into a wall. The wall, unable to withstand the power and speed of Alex’s impromptu flight, crumbled around him, burying her friend in a pile of rubble.

Gabrielle turned, about to run over to her friend to see if he was okay when a hand grabbed onto her arm—Kane’s hand.

“Let go of me!” She struggled against him.

“You know I can’t do that,” Kane said, his fingers clenched around her like an adamantine vice. “Look, just stop struggling and come back with us.”

“No! I won’t go back! Now let go of me! Let! Go!”

Gabrielle knew that she was in a pickle. Her friend was down, and while she was pretty strong herself, most of her strength was tied to her powers, which she couldn’t use on these two. Rather, Gabrielle refused to use it on these two. She didn’t want to kill them.

Abel clicked his tongue while Kane pulled her into a bear hug. “You really are a troublesome girl, but it’s all over now. Your friend is down, and I’m not going to let you bring out one of your inventions. You’re—GURK!”

“Kane!”

Kane was forced to let go of Gabrielle as something powerful smashed into the underside of his jaw. Gabrielle stumbled forward as Kane’s feet left the ground. Spinning, she came face to face with Alex, bleeding from a head wound, slouched over, but still very much alive.

“A-Alex!”

“Are you all right?” Alex asked. Gabrielle nodded. “Good. Just leave this to me.”

“W-wait!” Gabrielle grabbed Alex’s hand. “D-don’t be reckless. You’re injured.”

Turning his head, Alex grinned at her. “Don’t worry about me. These injuries are nothing.”

Several meters away, Kane clambered to his feet, rubbing his sore jaw, which had a large bruise where Alex had kicked him. Abel stood next to him. His fierce blue eyes were locked onto Alex.

“I’m surprised you’re still alive, boy,” Abel said. “A hit like that should have crushed your internal organs.”

“They do feel kind of squishy,” Alex admitted. “But it will take a lot more than that to kill me.”

A standoff occurred between Alex, Abel, and Kane. The two Angelisians glared at Alex like they were trying to melt him with their eyes. While they were busy staring down Alex, Gabrielle discreetly opened the menu to access her D-space.

“While I’m surprised a brat like you managed to survive a punch like that, it doesn’t matter. You’re still human, the weakest of all sixteen hundred races. You have no powers, no abilities. Against us, the strongest race in the universe, what can you do?”

Alex gritted his teeth. “Don’t underestimate me just because I’m human! I might be reckless, but I’m not some weak fool who’d let himself get defeated by a couple of kidnappers.”

“K-kidnappers?!” Kane stumbled back as if someone had slapped him.

Alex pointed at them. “I don’t know what nefarious plans you have for Gabrielle, but I’ll die before I let you harm a single hair on her head!”

Abel and Kane looked at each other. Even Gabrielle was confused by Alex’s words, though she was also touched. Yet even while the conversation continued, she was preparing to retaliate. If these two thought they could take her back, then they had another thing coming!

“You… you really don’t know what’s going on here, do you?” Kane asked.

“He’s clearly in the dark,” Abel added.

Alex’s cheeks grew red. “Sh-shut up! I don’t need to know what’s going on to know that you two are clearly trying to take Gabrielle somewhere against her will! That’s all I need to know.”

“Lady Gabrielle,” Abel started, “why don’t we put an end to this farce? Stop running away and just come home.”

“I won’t!” Gabrielle declared. “I don’t want to go home!”

“That’s right!” Alex shouted. “She doesn’t want to—wait. Home?”

Alex looked at her, but Gabrielle was already pulling out her weapon of choice. “Go, Mr. Elephant Vacuum!”

What appeared before them was massive. It stood on four trunk-like legs, each of which was about as big around as Kane and Abel combined. Two large, floppy ears flapped up and down on its head, and a long snout protruded from its face. This creature, a mechanical monster composed of gleaming metal, towered over everyone—even the two Angelisians. It was a giant elephant with brightly glowing eyes.

“Go, Mr. Elephant Vacuum! Suck them up!” Gabrielle ordered.

The elephant raised its snout in response. Kane and Abel’s eyes bulged in horror as if they were facing a creature born from terror rather than a surprisingly cute—if massive—mechanical elephant.

“Oh, no! It’s one of Lady Gabrielle’s inventions!” Kane shouted.

“Run for it!” Abel screamed.

Before they could even turn around, the air in front of them was suddenly sucked toward the elephant. Chunks from the pavement were torn off the ground. Leaves and twigs were ripped off trees. Everything in front of the elephant was sucked into the trunk, which had suddenly expanded to become twenty times larger than before.

Kane and Abel tried to escape from the force pulling them in. They crouched low, digging their hands and feet into the ground. Gabrielle could only shake her head. Did they really think that would work with her invention?

Barely seconds after they’d dug themselves into the ground, the very ground that they were holding onto was ripped out from underneath them. Both the ground and the Angelisians were then sucked into the massive trunk, which swallowed them whole.

Despite Kane and Abel already being consumed, the elephant continued to suck up more and more of the land in front of it. The pavement was ripped away. Chunks of dirt and bedrock followed. A massive trench three meters wide appeared in front of the elephant.

“Gabrielle! Shut that thing off!” Alex shouted, but Gabrielle barely heard him over the roar of Mr. Elephant Vacuum’s quantum engine.

“Hm…”

Gabrielle cupped her chin and furrowed her brow.

“What are you waiting for?! Turn that thing off!”

“Hmm… how do I turn this thing off? I can’t remember.”

“WHAT?!”

By this point in time, the elephant had turned and was now sucking up even more of the surrounding area. Alex, who’d been unfortunate enough to be in its line of fire, was now hanging onto a metal pole for dear life—too bad for him, the metal pole was creaking and groaning ominously. It shuddered as if it would be ripped from the ground at any second.

Which it was.

Seconds later.

Alex screamed as he was sucked straight into the elephant’s trunk.

Then, as if the elephant was filled past its capacity, the entire thing sparked. Arcs of crackling energy rushed over it. Light emitted from cracks that had appeared along its once seamless body. With little in the way of warning, the entire thing exploded, sending plumes of fire and smoke sky high.

Kane and Abel were flung into the air, disappearing until they were nothing but a twinkle in the sky. Alex was lucky. He didn’t get launched very far. He flew through the air before landing stomach first on a branch, and there he hung, unconscious and groaning.

Gabrielle, still standing on the ground, frowned.

“I think I need to make some modifications to my next Mr. Elephant Vacuum,” she determined. “Maybe I should add a D-space inside of it so it can contain more stuff?”

No one answered her.

* * *

They were standing by a canal.

Alex watched the water flow, slowly moving toward one of several plants, whose sole purpose was cleansing the water so that it could be re-used. His mind, which should have been like a tumultuous ion storm, was a lot like this river—calm. Tranquil. Placid.

“Those people who were after you, they weren’t kidnappers, were they?” Alex asked.

Gabrielle was sitting next to him. She seemed oblivious to his feelings. “Kidnappers? Abel and Kane aren’t kidnappers. Why would you think that?”

Her words made Alex feel strangely empty. “Then who were they?”

“They’re my bodyguards.”

“Bodyguards…”

“Yes!” Nodding, Gabrielle tucked a strand of hair behind her long left ear. “Kane and Abel have been my bodyguards for about ten years. They’re part of Azazel’s group. Oh! Azazel is the head of my bodyguards. He’s also a commander in the Angelisian army.”

He didn’t know who “Azazel” was, but he was beginning to understand something. This girl had never been in danger. The people after her weren’t kidnappers who wanted to sell her as a slave, but concerned bodyguards who wanted to bring their wayward charge back home. What’s more, Alex now understood that Gabrielle had run away from home. She’d run away from her parents.

Turning around, Alex began to walk home. Gabrielle climbed to her feet and followed him.

“Are we going back home now?” she asked.

Alex didn’t stop walking. “We are not doing anything. I am going home. You’re going to wait for Kane and Abel and go back home with them.”

“W-what?” Gabrielle’s eyes became wide and round. “What do you mean?”

“I mean that you should go back home,” Alex said. “I’m sure your family is worried sick about you.”

“But I thought you were gonna let me stay with you.”

“Yeah, well, that was before I found out that you weren’t in any danger.” Alex brushed her off. “Go home, Gabrielle.”

“But I—”

“Go home!”

Gabrielle stumbled backward in shock. Alex felt a moment of guilt, an unsettling ball in the pit of his stomach, but he squashed the feeling quickly by reminding himself that Gabrielle wasn’t in danger. She was no damsel in distress. She was just a girl who’d run away from her parents.

Gabrielle made no move to follow him.

On that day, Alex left Gabrielle to fend for herself.

On that day, Alex broke a promise.

Interlude

Commander Meets Commander

Azazel was a commander in the Angelisian army. Known throughout the galaxy as one of the best swordsmen ever seen, his skills with a blade were often spoken of in hushed tones of reverence and fear. For this reason, he had been charged with protecting the first princess of Angelisia, Gabrielle Angelise.

Most regrettably, Azazel had met his match in the precocious young princess. Gabrielle might have acted like a naive girl, and she might even fit the part, but she was also headstrong and intelligent—not to mention devious. Already, she had managed to fool him and the other guards under his charge many times in her efforts to escape the palace.

They usually caught her fairly quickly, but this last time, the girl had been more cunning than usual, convincing her younger sisters to run away, too. With all three sisters running off, they’d been unable to prioritize who to chase after until it was nearly too late.

In the end, they had chased down and captured Princesses Ariel and Michelle, since they were younger and therefore more likely to get hurt without someone protecting them.

Gabrielle had taken full advantage of the opportunity, hijacking a space shuttle and leaving the planet before they could catch her. She’d even taken steps to ensure that they couldn’t follow her for several hours, locking down the shuttle bay doors, and using a complex algorithmic program that changed the password every .25 seconds.

They had managed to open the doors by decoding the pattern used in the program’s algorithm, but by that point, it had already been too late. Gabrielle had made her first warp.

They had chased after her, of course, jumping through warp points and following the trail that she left behind. They tracked her from one side of the galaxy to the other, but the princess had used that invention of hers to teleport onto Mars, a planet inhabited by humans.

Humans were new to the galactic community. They were an odd race. There were numerous humans in various parts of the galaxy. Despite coming from different systems entirely, all humans were born more or less the same.

That said, this solar system’s technology had yet to reach the level where these humans could travel beyond its rim. They were, in a word, primitive compared to the other humans.

Necessity had dictated that Azazel contact their leaders, the so-called Galactic Defense Force, and strong-arm them into cooperating with them. It had been easy. Humans were easily cowed when faced by someone stronger than them. A small display of power, the eradication of a nova-class star, and they had bent over backward to accommodate him.

Of course, there are a few that aren’t so accommodating, he thought wryly.

Azazel stood in front of a desk inside of an office with white walls and gray carpet. One wall contained several plaques, trophies of some kind, Azazel assumed. The plaques were made of gold and had the words Best Sharpshooter on Mars embossed on them, followed by a series of dates going from 2210 to 2217, showing that the owner of this office had consecutively proven herself to be the best shooter on Mars for several years.

The owner, who currently sat behind a desk, gave him a look that could have melted steel.

Karen Kanzaki appeared to be a very no-nonsense woman. The moment he had made contact with the humans to ascertain Princess Gabrielle’s location, this was the woman that had been charged with helping him accomplish his goals. She seemed to be a well-respected member of this planet’s security, though Azazel thought he’d sensed some ridicule from several of her seniors when they’d ordered her to aid him.

Right now, the woman looked a little frazzled. “Ugh, this is a disaster. An absolute, unmitigated disaster.”

“I do not think the situation is as dire as you say. It is true that my men were unable to make Princess Gabrielle return with us, and that the outer district has sustained some damage, but overall, I feel that—”

“Quiet!”

“Yes, ma’am!”

Azazel’s spine straightened from the glare that she tossed him. What a frightening look! It was giving him, the best swordsman in the Angelisian army, chills.

“The damage done to Mars City is definitely a cause for concern, and I’m pretty damn annoyed that your men played a part in it—you’ll be paying for repairs, by the way. However, the biggest issue isn’t the destruction your people caused, but the person they ran into.”

“You mean that boy?” Azazel had received a report from his men. Lady Gabrielle had apparently been taken in by a human boy, and he had helped her fend off Kane and Abel’s attack. It was impressive, to be sure, but nothing particularly alarming. “Surely, this one human boy couldn’t possibly be a cause for concern—”

“Shut up!”

“Eek!”

“You know absolutely nothing about that boy. He’s quite possibly the most troublesome individual I’ve ever met. He’s a bonafide genius whose inventions cause destruction wherever he goes. If that wasn’t enough, then he’s also a topnotch athlete whose reckless idiocy causes his already destructive tendencies to increase severalfold.”

Karen paused, but only long enough to regain control of her breathing. Her face had become awfully red as if she had been exerting herself more than someone who was yelling as she sat behind a desk.

“He also has this stupid notion in his head that in order to follow in his father’s footsteps, he needs to become some kind of hero. He jumps headlong into every dangerous situation without thinking, helps anybody who needs it without a care for his own safety, and is so stubborn that once he decides to do something, nothing short of dropping a nuclear warhead on him will get him to stop whatever self-appointed mission he’s set for himself.”

Karen seemed to realize that she was losing control of her emotions and calmed down. Azazel wondered about what had caused such a reaction. It sounded like she was personally acquainted with this boy.

“It is this boy that your princess is now residing with. Do you understand what that means? Do you realize what kind of trouble this will cause? Look at the damage that’s already been done as a result of your people duking it out with him and tell me that this isn’t a problem.”

Azazel looked into Karen’s eyes for a moment, and then looked away when her gaze made him feel like she was piercing his armor.

Truly, he had never met a more frightening woman before.

“I cannot. He does sound like quite the troublesome opponent.”

“Troublesome doesn’t begin to describe Alexander S. Ryker.”

As Karen rubbed her head, Azazel studied her. She was one of the few humans that he’d interacted with for any length of time, and if she was the standard for the humans of this solar system, then it may prove beneficial to act with caution around them—at least for now.

“If this boy really is such a problematic foe, then I shall deal with him myself.”

Karen narrowed her eyes at him. “And what do you mean by ‘deal with him’?”

“I mean that I shall defeat him in combat, or even slay him if I—”

Karen stood up and slammed a fist on the table. “You will do no such thing!”

“Urk!”

Needles. Her eyes were like needles! They pierced straight through his skin with enough force to cause an almost physical pain! How could a human have such a frightening gaze?

Karen’s glare did not lessen as she sat back down. “I am going to warn you right now that I won’t stand for you trying to harm him in any way. That boy may be a problem child, and he may be destructive, and he may even be an idiot who acts before he thinks, but he’s also the son of someone that the police venerate as a hero. Not to mention his father was someone that I personally admired. Harm one hair on his head and I will see to it that you’re jettisoned into space before you can say ‘Angelisia.’”

Azazel gulped. So, the boy’s father was some kind of hero, but the boy himself was a troublesome young man who caused problems for everyone around him? For some reason, that felt very familiar to him, though he couldn’t fathom why.

“If that is what your wish, then I shall be careful not to harm him.” Azazel held an enclosed fist to his heart. “You have my word as a commander of the Angelisian empire.”

4

A History of Hardship

“Achoo!”

Alex’s sneeze resounded throughout the Metronome Sweet Shop. Several patrons looked at him, but when he ignored everything and continued to listlessly stare at the table, they went back to their conversations.

One day. Only a single day had passed since Alex had abandoned Gabrielle. He already felt awful, like the solar system’s biggest douchenozzle.

The problem was that he couldn’t fathom why. He hadn’t done anything wrong. Gabrielle had run away from home, and he would have been a jerk to impede her bodyguards’ desire to return the girl to her family. He’d done the right thing, but…

If it really was the right thing to do, why do I feel so bad?

“You know,” a voice said to his left, “seeing you sit around my family’s shop like some kind of vegetable is depressing. Can you stop?”

“Selene,” Alex said, sighing. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to depress you.”

“Okay. Now I know something is wrong. Even when you’re depressed, you have more life than this. Whatever happened must have really hit you hard.” Sliding into the seat opposite him, Selene leaned forward and placed a hand over one of his. “Want to talk about it?”

Alex sighed and, seeing no harm in telling her—provided he didn’t tell her the whole story—started explaining. “I made a promise to someone… a friend. I thought they were in danger and needed help. However, the other day, I found out that my friend’s been lying to me.”

“Are you angry at your friend?” Selene inquired.

“Of course I’m angry at my friend,” Alex snapped, then he sighed and slumped back onto the table. “But I think the person I’m angrier at is myself. I didn’t even listen to her side of the story. I just left her.”

“That does sound like a problem.” Selene nodded… then paused. “Wait. Her?”

“What do you think I should do?” Alex asked.

Selene frowned at him, but then she adopted a thoughtful expression. “Well, if my friend lied to me, then I’d probably be angry, too. But, I think that after a while, my anger would cool down, and I’d listen to what my friend had to say. Maybe they had a good reason for doing whatever it was they did.”

“So, you’re saying I overreacted?”

“Well, maybe not overreacted, but I think you should get your friend’s side of the story now that you’ve cooled down.”

Alex knew that Selene was right. At the time, he’d been so angry at Gabrielle that he hadn’t been thinking logically. However, now that he was thinking about it, Gabrielle didn’t strike him as the type to run off on a whim. She was whimsical, sure, but she was also a good person. Something must have happened, and she’d decided that running away was her only option. He was sure of it.

I should have listened to her.

“You’re right, Selene.” Alex leaped to his feet and clenched his left hand into a fist. “I should find Gabrielle and ask her to tell me her side of the story.”

“Gabrielle?” Selene looked gobsmacked. “Is this person a girl?”

“Thanks, Selene!”

“Don’t ignore me! Alex!”

But Alex wasn’t listening anymore. He needed to find Gabrielle.

* * *

Azazel was in a jam.

He’d been trying to find the whereabouts of Princess Gabrielle and that Alexander boy, but instead he’d gotten lost. He didn’t know where. It wasn’t like he’d ever been in this city before, and all of the buildings looked the same.

They were so uniform, only differing in height and overall size. While Azazel was all for uniformity, he wished the buildings at least had some distinctive features. Maybe then he wouldn’t have gotten lost.

He wandered along a walkway, towering over everyone else. He was glad humans were so short, as it meant he could see over them more easily. He did wonder about their expressions, though. Why were they gaping at him like that? Why were their faces so pale? Was it the armor? The ears? The wings? Some of them were even running away. Now that was just rude.

“E-excuse me, sir.”

Azazel stopped walking. He looked down to address the person who was obviously speaking to him; it was a middle-aged man in a black uniform with shoulder pads and a chestplate. Having already met several law enforcement officers, he knew that this was the standard uniform they wore.

The man seemed a touch pale. Sweat gathered on his forehead, which he wiped away with his sleeve. Was he sick? He must have been. How admirable of him to work while under physical duress. Azazel almost cried in admiration for this man, whose dedication refused to let him stay home while sick.

“Yes, can I help you?” Azazel asked.

The man took several deep, panting breaths. He must have been really ill. He was even starting to shake. “I-I, t-that weapon you are carrying…”

“Weapon? Ah, you mean my energy sword.” Azazel held out his energy sword. A green blade shot from its hilt, humming and crackling with life.

The police officer backed up a step. “Y-yes, that weapon.”

“What about it?”

“Um, well, I-I don’t know how to tell you this, ah, sir, but civilians are not allowed to carry weapons of any kind, so, um, I’m afraid I must confiscate that.”

“W-what?” Azazel looked down at the much smaller man in shock. “Did you just tell me that you are going to confiscate my sword?”

The officer gulped. His legs started shaking. “I-I did. I am not sure how you acquired that strange weapon of yours, sir, but weapons of any kind, be they firearms or melee weapons, are strictly forbidden for all citizens to possess.”

Azazel frowned at the man, who thought he was some kind of civilian. This would not do, not at all. He needed to correct this person of their erroneous assumption.

“I am afraid you are mistaken, good officer of the law. I am not a civilian but a knight.”

“A knight?”

“That is correct. I am Azazel, a knight in the service of his majesty, King Lucifer, and one of his top commanders. This weapon was bestowed upon me by none other than his majesty after I earned my title. So, you see, I am not a civilian.”

The officer scratched his cheek. “L-look, I don’t know anything about any of that. However, you’re not with the Galactic Defense Force, right?”

“Well, no, I’m not.”

“L-listen, the only people allowed to carry weapons on Mars are members of the Galactic Defense Force or the Interstellar Police Force, so even if you are a knight, I’m still going to have to confiscate that.”

Azazel was beginning to get somewhat annoyed by this man. He understood why they had this law, but a person of his status should have been exempt from it. Did this man not know who he was speaking to? Surely, Ms. Karen had told all of her people about him, and that he was allowed to carry his weapon.

“I am afraid that I cannot let you confiscate my weapon, good officer of the law.”

A tense standoff grew between him and the law enforcement officer. Azazel leaped several feet back, his energy sword humming as if knowing that a battle would come.

He made sure to lower the blade’s intensity, however, so it would only give a nonlethal discharge of energy. There was no need to start a war by killing someone. The law enforcement officer pulled out his firearm, some kind of handgun. He was also placing something against his ear and speaking into it.

“Officer Tristin to HQ. Tristin to HQ. We have a potentially hostile situation near Mars Memorial Mall. I need backup, over.”

“This is HQ. Roger that, Officer Tristin. Please do what you can to keep the situation from degrading further. Help is on the way. I repeat, help is on the way.”

Azazel’s ears twitched. This was not good. He couldn’t afford to get himself arrested here. That would disgrace his title as a commander of Angelisia. Therefore, he, Azazel, did the only thing that he could think of to avoid this potentially hostile situation.

He turned around and ran away.

“The perpetrator is getting away! I’m going to need backup now!”

“Roger that! Reinforcements are coming in hot! Don’t let that man escape!”

* * *

Gabrielle stood outside of Alex’s home, staring apprehensively at the door.

She wanted to knock on it, of course, but she was afraid of what Alex would say when he answered. Would he even listen to her after what happened yesterday? Gabrielle didn’t know, and part of her was afraid to find out.

However, standing around doing nothing never solved anything. Of that, she was sure, and so, taking a deep breath, she knocked on the door and waited.

The person who answered was not Alex.

“Alice,” Gabrielle greeted uncertainly. “Um, is your brother inside?”

“No.” Alex shook her head. “He’s out right now.”

“O-oh…”

Alice stared at Gabrielle for a while longer with those bored, half-lidded eyes. She tried to not squirm under the girl’s intense stare. Finally, Alice sighed.

“I don’t know what happened between you and my brother, so why don’t you come in and explain all this to me?”

“O-okay.”

Gabrielle walked inside, following Alice into the living room, where she sat down at the younger girl’s beckoning.

“Hold on for a moment,” Alice said. “I’ll make us some tea.”

“Thank you.”

As Alice wandered into the kitchen, Gabrielle studied the living room.

Light spilled in through the sliding door that led to the porch. From where she sat, Gabrielle could see clearly into the backyard, just a regular yard full of green grass, plants, and a single tree. Picture frames hung on the far wall. Each showed two young children who could only be Alex and Alice. She hadn’t noticed until now, but there wasn’t a single picture of their parents anywhere.

Alice came back a few minutes later with two steaming cups of tea in hand. She gave one to Gabrielle and sat down.

“Thank you.” Gabrielle took a sip of the tea; she really enjoyed the way it warmed her insides. They didn’t have warm drinks on Angelisia.

“Sure.” Alice took a sip from her own cup, sighed, and set it down before she focused on Gabrielle. “Now then, even though it sounds really troublesome, why don’t you tell me what happened between you and my bro?”

Not knowing what else to do, Gabrielle revealed the circumstances behind her arrival on Mars and how she met Alex. She told the girl about their first meeting, and how he promised to protect her after hearing that she was being chased. Then she talked about what happened when they toured the city, including the attack and the conversation afterward.

When Gabrielle finished sharing her tale, Alice remained silent for a few seconds, and then whistled. “So, you’re a real-life princess, huh?”

“Um.” Gabrielle nodded.

“And you’re an alien?”

“Yep.”

“Well, that explains the ears and those wings,” Alice sighed as she rubbed her face. “Anyway, I know why Bro got upset at you.”

“Really? Why?”

“Because you ran away from home.” Gabrielle didn’t understand. Alice seemed to realize this. “Gabrielle, do you know why we don’t live with our parents?”

“Isn’t it because your parents aren’t here anymore?”

“Yes.”

Alice stared at Gabrielle for several more seconds. When it became apparent to her that Gabrielle still wasn’t getting it, she pinched the bridge of her nose in annoyance.

“You really don’t understand anything, do you?”

Gabrielle’s cheeks swelled like balloons as she pouted. “That’s not a nice thing to say.”

“Yeah, well, you’re being troublesome.”

“How mean…”

“Gabrielle, the reason Bro is upset at you is because you ran away from your family.” Gabrielle stopped pouting to look at Alice, who stared at her cup. “Our parents died when I was really little… I think.”

“You think?”

Alice blinked rapidly several times and then grimaced. “I… yes, they died when I was little… five? No, six? I… no, it must have been four…”

“A-Alice?!” Gabrielle became concerned when the girl put a hand to her head. “A-are you okay?”

“M’fine,” Alice mumbled, shaking her head. She then returned to the topic at hand. “A-anyway, our parents died when Alex and I were really young. After they died, we had to live with our grandfather for a while, but he wasn’t a responsible adult, so Alex and I left after only a few days there. Honestly, if it wasn’t for Selene’s family, Karen, and Grams, we would’ve been living on the street.”

“Oh…”

Gabrielle felt an acute pain in her chest. She had no idea that Alex and Alice’s parents were dead. She didn’t enjoy what Papa was doing, but she wouldn’t have known what to do if he was dead.

“Alex has always looked up to our dad. He grew up listening to stories about how our dad was a hero. That’s why he’s always trying to rescue people,” Alice continued. “The fact that you, a girl whose parents are still alive, ran away from home, upsets him, because he would give anything to bring our parents back.”

And just like that, Gabrielle felt like a planet had been dropped on top of her, crushing her. It wasn’t a planet, though—only guilt.

Now she understood why Alex had been so upset. He was an orphan who didn’t have parents. She still had her parents, but she ran away for selfish reasons. For someone who had no parents, the idea of running away for any reason was inconceivable. For her to do such a thing was like spitting in the face of people like Alex, who wished their parents were still alive and with them.

“I should talk to him,” Gabrielle decided. “I need to explain why I ran away. Maybe then he’ll understand.”

“You can try, I guess.” Alice shrugged. “Just to warn you, my brother can be really stubborn when he sets his mind on something. He’s troublesome like that.”

“That’s okay.” Gabrielle stood up and gave the girl a thumbs up. “I’m sure I can make him understand. I can be really persuasive when I want to be.”

* * *

Alex was on his way to the nearest shuttle station when he ran into trouble—or rather when he saw trouble happening and decided to intervene.

“Hey there, cutie. You wanna come with us? I promise we’ll show you a good time.”

“Heh-heh, yeah, a real good time.”

A couple of low-lifes were surrounding a woman with bright silvery-green hair, pale skin, and an unusually bright smile considering the situation she was in. Alex recognized one of the people surrounding her. Spiky hair. Red eyes. Pointed ears. It was Andre of the Black Panthers, the gang leader who he’d been chasing the day he was kicked out of the cadet academy.

None of the people around them were paying attention—they went out of their way not to look as the young woman was harassed. Alex scowled. Were they really so content with their lives that they would willfully ignore a person who was in trouble?

Well, not me!

Stomping up to the group, Alex put on a smile and stopped behind the man who’d gotten away from him. “Hello, Andre. I’m surprised to see you in the middle levels like this. You must be feeling bold.”

Andre stiffened. Turning around, his face turned a unique shade of ghost-white. He recovered quickly, however, and put on a brave face.

“H-heh, well, if it isn’t the little shit who tried to apprehend me the other day. You’ve got some balls coming up to me and ma boys while we’re talking to this little lady here.”

Alex wrinkled his nose. This man talks like he’s from the days before space travel was invented.

“Balls nothing. For a couple of losers like you, I don’t need courage. Now, since I’m not a cadet anymore, I can’t arrest you. That being said, I can and will kick your ass if you don’t leave the young woman alone. She doesn’t look like she wants you crowding around her.”

“Hey!” One of the men shouted. “Don’t think you can talk to da boss like that!”

“Yeah,” another said. “Little boys who haven’t even gone through puberty yet should butt out of our business.”

“I’ll cut you up!” The last of the three screamed.

All four men moved away from the woman and surrounded him. Two pulled out turbo-blades—small switchblades made of energy particles. They weren’t very big, but they could cut through just about anything. They were also illegal. The other two simply readied their fists.

Alex clicked his tongue. “I guess these idiots don’t know their place yet.”

All four thugs attacked him at the same time. Rather than let himself be hemmed in, Alex attacked first, launching himself at the one in front of him. He swatted the thug’s knife away, stepped into his opponent’s guard, grabbed the man’s head between his hands, and slammed his knee into his opponent’s face. He felt a twinge in his knee as cartilage crunched under his assault. The man screamed as he stumbled back, blood pouring from his broken nose.

Alex raced through the hole that had opened in their formation. He sensed movement behind him, and, spinning around, launched a kick that knocked a turbo-blade out of someone’s hand. Grabbing the thug’s flailing wrist, Alex yanked them into his fist. He winced as he struck the person’s jaw with his knuckles, but, ignoring the pain in his hand, he grabbed the man by his shirt and used him as a shield.

Crack! The sound of someone’s head being rung like a synthetic cymbal echoed across the walkway. Alex dropped his makeshift shield. The thug dropped like a broken automaton.

The last two, Andre and someone else, took several steps back.

“What’s wrong? Are you ready to turn yourselves in?” asked Alex.

“Like hell we are! Get him!” Andre shouted.

The other guy rushed forward and tried to punch him. Alex’s hair rustled as the attack blew past his head. This person must have had a fair bit of muscle on him to be capable of throwing such a powerful punch. Alex ducked under the blow, and then came in with a powerful uppercut. The man’s head snapped back. Stumbling backward two steps, three steps, the man remained standing for about two more seconds—then fell onto his back with a loud thud.

“It looks like you’re the only one left,” Alex said to Andre.

The pointy-eared man took a step back, but he quickly braced himself and sent Alex a steely glare. “So what if I’m the only one left. I’m more than enough to kick your ass!”

“That doesn’t sound very promising, considering you ran away from me the first time we met.”

“Shut up! I only ran away because I thought you had backup with you! This time, you’re going down!”

Andre came at him with feet instead of fists. Backpedaling, Alex avoided the kicks and launched one of his own. It was blocked when Andre kicked back. His joints groaning, Alex retracted his leg and leaped back, gritting his teeth as a stinging jolt traveled up his shin. What were Andre’s shins made of? Durasteel?

“Okay. You’re not half-bad,” Alex admitted reluctantly.

“Heh… there’s a reason I’m the leader of the Black Panthers,” Andre said as he rushed in.

Rather than retreat, Alex moved forward. Duck. Sidestep. A kick was avoided. Swerve. Jump. Alex dodged another kick. Andre, frustrated by his lack of progress, spun around and threw a reverse heel kick. Alex sidestepped, took a step forward, and then slammed his fist into Andre’s jaw.

Andre’s head would have snapped back, but Alex grabbed it between his hands and headbutted his opponent. Hard. Stumbling backward, Andre blinked several times, his eyes glazing over. He didn’t even seem to notice Alex’s foot soaring toward his face until it was too late. The snap-kick hit and Andre was spun around like a top before he crumpled into an unconscious heap on the walkway.

“Phew.” Alex wiped the sweat from his forehead. “That was harder than I thought it would be. Are you okay, Ms.—?”

Trailing off, Alex looked around for the young woman who those goons had been harassing. She wasn’t there anymore.

“Did she run away?”

He frowned. It was kind of rude to run away like that, but he couldn’t really blame her. If he’d been in her shoes, he would’ve wanted to get as far away from those Black Panther goons as possible.

“At least she’s safe.” Alex took a step forward, but something crinkled underneath his foot, causing him to look down. “What’s this?”

He picked up the object, which appeared to be a note written on paper. That was weird. No one used paper to write on anymore. Everything was digitized these days. The note was written in neat cursive:

Thank you for the help, Alex. Love you! ~ C :-)

“This looks like a thank you letter. Is it from that woman?”

Alex pondered this for a moment. It couldn’t have been anyone but that woman.

Pocketing the note, he began his walk to the nearest shuttle station.

He paused again.

“How did that girl know my name?”

* * *

Alex arrived home to discover a surprise waiting for him.

“Gabrielle…”

She was sitting on the couch, watching Titan Girl with Alice, cheering for the show’s titular hero. Upon hearing his voice, however, she froze. Turning her head ever so slowly, she looked at him with her large green eyes.

“A-Alex!” Shooting to her feet, Gabrielle stammered. “Um… hello!”

So many emotions ran through Alex when he saw Gabrielle standing there. The anger he felt at being lied to had returned, but it was nothing compared to the guilt that he felt. What should he say? How should he act? He didn’t know anymore.

“Would it be all right if we talked?” Gabrielle asked. Her eyes made him think of a frightened child who was staring down the barrel of a navigation-class cruiser’s main cannon.

“Yeah…” Alex agreed. “Let’s go up to my room and talk.”

The expression of relief that came over Gabrielle’s face made his heart twinge. Gesturing to her, he had Gabrielle follow him to his room, where he took a seat on the bed and bade her sit down as well.

Silence. Something stifling came over them, keeping them from talking. He didn’t know what it was, but he knew that one of them would need to say something, otherwise this choking atmosphere would continue.

“I’m sorry!” they said at the same time.

They both blinked.

“I wanted to—!” Again, at the same time.

“Why don’t you go first.” Alex gestured to Gabrielle.

“I wanted to apologize,” Gabrielle said slowly, looking at her hands. “I didn’t know about your parents. After Alice told me about what happened, I realized why you had gotten so angry at me.”

“I’m sorry, too,” Alex said. “I don’t know what circumstances led to you running away and jumped to conclusions without hearing your side of the story. That’s why… could you please tell me why you ran away?”

“Um.” Gabrielle agreed, and Alex waited patiently as she gathered herself. “Papa is a very important person where I come from. In fact, Papa is probably the most important person in the entire galaxy.”

“When you say he’s the most important person, you mean…?”

“Papa’s the emperor of the galaxy.”

“Uh…”

Alex wondered if this was what it felt like to be smacked in the face with a dead fish. Shock didn’t quite cover how he felt. This girl was quite possibly one of the most powerful individuals in the entire galaxy. What the fuck?

“Wait. How come this is my first time hearing about someone controlling the entire galaxy?”

“Because your solar system is at the very edge of the galaxy,” Gabrielle said with a shrug. “Your people live in the most remote section of the galaxy. To top it off, your people are underdeveloped. Even the humans in other sectors of the galaxy have a higher level of technology than you do. I doubt Papa even knows that your people exist.”

“Wow. You don’t pull your punches, do you?” When Gabrielle looked at him strangely, he shook his head and waved her off. “Never mind. Please continue.”

Nodding, Gabrielle continued. “I told you this before, but I have two sisters. I don’t have any brothers, which is a problem for the empire. Because our moms have only produced girls, there’s no one who can take over Papa’s throne and become Emperor of the Galaxy.”

Did I just hear her say that in caps?

“Why not just have you or one of your sisters become empress?” Alex asked.

“Because a lot of planetary governments are patriarchal in nature,” Gabrielle informed him. “Papa told me that most races wouldn’t respect a female ruler. There are a few races that are matriarchal, but they all live in remote quadrants of the galaxy.”

Alex didn’t really understand. Maybe it was because his former commander was a woman, but he didn’t get why a woman couldn’t be empress. It sounded like the galaxy as a whole was backward.

“So, your dad needs a male heir?” Alex asked.

“Yes. He needs a male heir, and since our moms aren’t producing any more children, he decided to marry off his oldest child to get that heir.”

“Which is you,” Alex stated.

“Yes.”

Alex closed his eyes. He didn’t know how to feel. As someone whose parents had died years ago, he believed family should come before everything else. Gabrielle running away from her family was like spitting in his face. But, if she was running away because her father, who should have been caring for and supporting her, was trying to marry her off so that he could abdicate the throne…

“I think… I understand why you ran away,” Alex said softly. “While family is important, your family is also supposed to be the people who selflessly support you. They shouldn’t be trying to force you into marrying someone that you don’t love.”

Gabrielle’s smile was unlike her usual smiles. This one was soft and warm, gentle. He rather liked it.

“Thank you,” she said.

“So…” Alex expelled a breath. “Your old man wants to marry you off?”

“Mhm. The whole reason I ran away is because Papa kept arranging marriage ceremonies for me. When I wasn’t studying with my tutors, he was putting me in front of marriage candidates. I never got any time to myself, or to spend with my sisters after that. I eventually got sick of it and ran away.”

That made sense. If their positions had been reversed, and Alex was the one being married off, then he could easily see himself doing something like that.

“Okay!” Alex stood up and clapped his hands together. “I’ve decided to help you out!”

Gabrielle’s eyes glistened like twin stars. “Alex… thank you!”

“Woah!”

Completely overcome with emotion, Gabrielle lunged at Alex, bowling him over and landing on top of him, before squeezing him in a hug of Angelisian proportions.

“What the—! G-Gabrielle, get off me!”

“Hahaha! Thank you so much, Alex!”

“Mars above! I think I just felt my ribs crack!”

“I’m so glad I met you! You’re such an amazing person!”

“Urk… can’t breathe…”

And that was how Alex discovered that Angelisians were a thousand times stronger than humans.

* * *

Karen sat in the shuttle’s passenger seat, watching as buildings passed by underneath her.

While the airways in Mars City were normally congested, there was little traffic high above the city itself. There simply weren’t that many reasons for shuttles to travel this high—not unless they were performing maintenance on the dome, checking the barrier’s integrity…

… or traveling out of Mars City altogether.

Currently serving as her pilot—the person that she normally shuttled with was taking a leave of absence—was Darrick. She would have preferred traveling in her own shuttle, but protocol dictated that trips made to the penitentiary be done in specifically designed craft that couldn’t be stolen by the inmates.

Despite being the commander of all the police forces in Mars City, she wasn’t registered to fly such a craft. It was one of the safeguards to prevent her from becoming too powerful, she supposed.

The Mars Penitentiary was an underground fortress built several kliks outside of Mars City. People who committed infractions against the city and its populace were taken there, from minor crimes of indecency and drunken bar room brawling to more serious crimes like manslaughter and grand theft auto.

The deepest levels contained those who had committed the most heinous of offenses, while those whose only crime was being a rowdy drunk stayed in the first basement cells for a single day before being released.

“Ma’am, I was wondering…”

“You can stop wondering, Darrick. I’ve told you a thousand times, I’m not going on a date with you. Get your mind out of the gutter.”

Darrick’s face turned lobster-red. Karen wondered if it was shame or anger he felt, but she honestly didn’t care. She knew that Darrick had done nothing wrong, but she was angry, pissed, and woe to the fool who dared speak with her while she was in such a foul mood.

“That wasn’t what I was going to ask…”

“Oh? Then what were you going to ask?”

“I just wanted to know why you asked me to be your pilot? Icarus is normally the one who does flights to the penitentiary.”

“Are you saying that you don’t want to fly me to the penitentiary?”

“Th-that isn’t what I was saying!”

Karen, amused by Darrick’s stuttering, chuckled mildly. “Then what were you saying?”

“I just wanted to know why you asked me. Don’t you normally have Vice Commander Yumi shuttle you everywhere?”

“Vice Commander Yumi is currently away on a personal leave of absence, so I needed to find someone else. You were the first person I ran into while trying to find someone, which is why I didn’t ask Icarus.”

“Ah.”

Silence permeated the small shuttle. Mars City had become nothing but a tiny dot on the horizon as they reached one of six exit points that police shuttles used to leave the dome.

“Exit Control 116, this is Commander Karen of the Galactic Police Force, traveling to the Mars Penitentiary. Please respond, over,” Karen said after opening a communication line via the small console on the dashboard.

Static came over the shuttle’s speakers, but it quickly cleared up. “Copy that, Commander Karen. This is Exit Control 116. We have received your request and you have been granted permission to exit the dome. We’re opening the portal now. Over.”

The dome consisted of two layers. The first layer was a sixteen-meter-thick glasteel dome. The second was an energy field called a lightwave barrier. While the dome protected Mars City from Mars’ thin and poisonous atmosphere, the lightwave barrier protected the dome from debris. Anything that touched the lightwave barrier, regardless of the material’s mass or composition, was vaporized instantly.

“First exit point is opening, Commander. You’re clear to travel through. Over.”

“Thanks for that. We’re traveling through now. Over and out.”

Darrick flew the shuttle through a small gap that had opened in the dome. They entered a tunnel, brightly lit by several power lines that ran parallel through it. Behind them, the exit point closed, sealing them off from Mars City. The shuttle stopped when it reached the next exit point, the one that would take them into the planet’s atmosphere.

“Exit Control 226, this Commander Karen. We have arrived at the second exit point. Over.”

“Roger that, Commander. We have you on our visuals. Please stand by. Over.”

As the comlink shut off, loud hissing was emitted all around them. Karen knew that the people working the dome’s controls were depressurizing the tunnel to match the atmosphere of Mars. It was an important process as, even though she and James were in a shuttle, not adjusting the pressure could cause undue duress to the barrier itself by subjecting it to intense atmospheric shifting. It could create fractures in the dome if they didn’t take those necessary precautions.

“All pressure gauges check out. No signs of cracking. Back entrance is sealed tightly. Lightwave barrier is open. Commander, you’re free to leave. Over.”

“Thank you.”

The exit hatch before them opened, two thick durasteel plates peeled apart to create a gap several meters wide. Darrick pushed on the accelerator and the ship flew out of the tunnel into Mars’ atmosphere. A glance out of the rear camera revealed that the small gap in the lightwave barrier was quickly closing, as the emitters that powered the barrier turned back on.

Because Mars had a very thin atmosphere, space was a lot more visible than on Earth. The blue skyline generated by the Rayleigh effect did not exist here. It was just a massive black void with a single spot of light, the sun, which blocked out their view of the stars.

Karen looked at the pockmarked ground below as they traveled several klicks above the planet’s surface at Mach five speed. It didn’t take long before they reached the Mars Penitentiary, built into a large crater that scientists theorized had been an ocean at one point.

As they hovered above the crater, Karen opened another communication line.

“Mars Penitentiary control, this is Commander Karen of the Interstellar Police Force, requesting permission to enter. Over.”

“Roger that, Commander Karen. We’ve been expecting you. We’re opening the docking bay now. Over.”

Like the mouth of a giant, subterranean worm, the doors to the penitentiary docking bay slid apart, revealing a cavernous hangar. Several ships already sat in the hanger’s docking bays. Most of them were transport shuttles that ferried civilians who were arrested back to Mars City. Karen had never been in one, but she’d heard they were not pleasant to ride.

“Take us down.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Darrick eased up on the thrusters keeping them aloft. The shuttle lurched as it descended past the docking bay doors, which resealed with a resounding clang! that echoed with an ominous finality.

“Airlocks engaged. Atmospheric pressurization… complete. Gravitational calibration… complete. All systems check out.”

The shuttle set down and Darrick began the cooldown process, shutting off the turbines and propulsion systems. Karen peered out the window. Several dock workers were running around the shuttle, connecting fuel lines and power cables to the hull. The whine of the turbines soon drizzled off.

“All systems have been shut down,” Darrick announced, “We can now leave the shuttle, ma’am.”

The doors opened and the two stepped out. Karen studied the young man as he pressed a button on the pilot’s side and both doors sealed shut. She smirked.

“You didn’t ask me out on a date once during the entire trip here. I’m almost surprised.”

Darrick shuddered. “After what you did to me the last time, I felt it was prudent to refrain from making further attempts.”

Karen chuckled condescendingly. “That’s right. If I recall correctly, the last time you asked me on a date, I knocked you unconscious and tied you to a pole in the middle of the city’s most popular gay bar, didn’t I?”

Darrick shuddered again, clearly remembering that traumatizing experience. Darrick was not homophobic, but no straight male would find being tossed into a gay bar pleasant. Seeing the reaction her words caused was enough to put a smile on her face.

Karen decided that she was definitely turning into a sadist. “Remain on standby until my business here is concluded.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“And don’t hit on any of the female employees while I’m gone. I’ll be checking the security cameras to make sure that you don’t. Got it?”

“… Yes, ma’am.”

Karen walked up to a small office located near the entrance into the prison. Relaxing behind a control panel was a man dressed in the garb of a warden.

Coughing to get the man’s attention, Karen said, “I’m here because I was recently informed that a particularly unusual prisoner has found himself in our custody.”

“C-Commander Karen!” The man hurriedly stood up and snapped off a salute. “That is correct, ma’am! Just the other day, a prisoner wearing strange armor and carrying a bladed weapon of unknown origin was taken in after putting up a struggle. He only just quieted down about an hour ago. He was causing quite the racket before then.”

“I would like to see this prisoner.”

“Ma’am!”

The warden exited his office and moved over to a door with a powerful locking mechanism. Burnished steel gleamed brightly in the low lights of the hanger. Ten bolts ran parallel to the ground, while five ran perpendicular. They spanned the entire door and beyond, spearing the walls and sealing the triple-layered durasteel door shut.

The warden typed an access code into the locking panel embedded into the wall near the door. The grinding of gears creaked before the bolts slid away from the door one by one, retracting into the walls. Then the door slid up to reveal a well-lit corridor of concrete floors and barred cells. As she walked through the entrance, her footsteps echoed along the hall, mistimed to the footsteps of the warden following a few steps behind her.

“Where did you find this troublemaker?”

“We found him near Memorial Hall, however, we captured him in the red-light district, ma’am.”

Karen twitched. “You captured him in the red-light district?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“I see. Did he say anything while resisting arrest? Like what he was doing there?”

“No, ma’am. He didn’t say anything about what he was doing when we arrested him. He just kept shouting on about how he was a commander of Angelisia.”

“… Angelisia, huh?”

“Um, a-are you okay, ma’am? You look… a tad annoyed, if you don’t mind my saying so.”

“Oh, yes, I’m fine.” Karen barely noticed how the warden slowly stepped away from her. “Never been better. Now then, let’s go see that prisoner.”

“Uh… okay.”

The prisoner in question was sitting on a small cot. His feet were planted firmly on the ground as he leaned forward, elbows on his knees, and his hair cast shadows over his eyes. He made quite the pitiful sight.

“Azazel.” Karen planted her hands on her hips and sighed. “It seems you can’t keep from causing trouble for me.”

Azazel looked up at her. “Ah, Ms. Karen. It’s you.”

“What kind of response is that? And what are you doing in here? I thought I told you to hurry up, find that princess of yours, and stay out of trouble. Honestly, you’re a commander, aren’t you? How hard is it to follow orders?”

“You have my utmost apologies, ma’am.”

“I don’t wanna hear your excuses!”

“EEK!”

Karen glowered as Azazel shot to his feet. “I-I am terribly sorry, ma’am! It won’t happen again!”

“Tch. Could you just tell me how you landed yourself in this mess after I gave you clear instructions to stay out of trouble?”

Azazel straightened up and pounded his right fist into his left breastplate. “Of course, ma’am. I did exactly as you said and took a shuttle the moment I left your office. I disembarked to begin my search for Princess Gabrielle. Most unfortunately, my charge did not appear to be within the district I found myself in. I ended up taking more and more shuttles until I eventually found myself being accosted by a law enforcement officer, who ended up taking me into custody because I refused to relinquish my weapon.”

“Yes… your weapon, that high-powered energy sword of yours. If I am not mistaken, when you tried gaining entrance into Mars City, you initially threatened my men with that weapon.”

“Urk.”

Azazel made strange choking noises as he folded over, as if a spacecraft traveling at lightspeed had slammed into his gut. He tried to straighten and pretend nothing happened, but there was a faint blush on his cheeks.

“Y-you are indeed correct. I did attack your men.” Karen’s glower intensified. Azazel squeaked. “B-but in my defense, they attacked me first upon forcibly boarding my ship.”

“They boarded your ship because you were trying to destroy our space fleet, in case you forgot.”

“I-I was only trying to get your attention by firing near your fleet, notー”

“I don’t want to hear your excuses!”

“My apologies, ma’am!”

“Considering what happened after you fired on our fleet when the GDF tried opening a line of communication to you, and you responded by attempting to shoot them down, you have absolutely no right to defend yourself. I get that you’re a high and mighty commander of the Angelisian army, however, Mars isn’t a part of your empire; your status means nothing here. Here, you are a civilian just like anybody else, and that is how it shall remain until official negotiations between our two nations open up. Do you understand?”

“… Yes, ma’am.”

“Good.” Karen nodded. “And now that we have settled this matter, this is how we’re going to be doing things from here on out. I am going to let you out of this cell and give you a map. Then you and you alone are going to find your princess, pick her up, and leave. Your men will stay on your ship.”

She thought about just calling Alexander and telling him to bring the princess to police HQ. It could certainly make things easier. Then again, knowing that reckless inventor as well as she did, it could also have significant consequences. If he had already agreed to protect this Gabrielle, then nothing short of divine intervention—and even that was not guaranteed—would stop him from doing what he felt was right.

She also thought about assigning Azazel an escort, but she’d written that idea off as impractical. They were short-handed as it was. She couldn’t afford to have one of her men babysitting the Angelisian commander while he searched for his princess.

“Of course, ma’am. I am very grateful for your kindness, ma’am.”

“However, because of how much trouble you and your men have already caused, and to avoid you causing any more damage, I’ll be keeping your weapon in storage until you’ve acquired your princess and are ready to leave this planet.”

“What?! But that’s—”

“I am going to keep your weapon in storage and you will not see it until you’re ready to leave. Is. That. Clear?”

Under the weight of her intense stare, Azazel cowered.

“Crystal, ma’am.”

5

A Princess’s Knight

Alex and Gabrielle were in the lab, working on building the crisis suit that Gabrielle had designed for him. Being the curious person that he was, Alex had offered to help, both as a means to learn more about the girl, and also to learn more about her people’s technology.

It was the morning after Gabrielle had started living with him again. It almost felt like nothing had happened, as if their fight had been a really bad dream. While Alex still felt a little guilty, he’d done his best to not let those negative feelings interfere with his daily life.

“The key to the crisis suit’s design is in how the fibers are woven together,” Gabrielle explained as she manipulated Mr. Designer. “The Venus Fibre is a plant with the same durability as your durasteel. However, a single strand, or even thousands of strands, can’t do anything on their own. The interlocking method of weaving strands to build the suit is what gives it its durability.”

“What about the synthetic synapses that you were talking about?” Alex asked.

“That comes after the suit is made, and it’s important in syncing your body to the suit. The way the synapse system works is almost like how certain plants form a symbiotic relationship with other plants and animals. The system feeds off your bioelectric energy to power itself. Unfortunately, because you’re a human, the suit will likely only remain powered for ten or so minutes at a time. We’ll eventually have to find an outside power source to install into the suit so it can last longer.”

He and Gabrielle had already made the unitard, which was the most important component of the suit. Alex had no idea where Gabrielle had gotten the raw material to build it. He assumed that her D-space contained all the needed components, though he hadn’t seen her take them out. Gabrielle had finished making the unitard before he’d even woken up. Currently, she was designing the armor with Alex’s help.

“What does the armor do?” Alex asked. “Is it just for extra protection, or does it serve a specific function outside of defense?”

“It’s mostly for aesthetic purposes,” Gabrielle admitted. “But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t serve a greater purpose. While the fibers of a Venus Fibre are strong, they’re still fibrous in nature. They are vulnerable to piercing and cutting attacks, as well as blunt force trauma.”

“And that’s what the armor is for?”

“Right. The armor protects you from the things that the unitard can’t. Angelisian armor is particularly strong. It’s made from an alloy found only on a certain meteor that orbits Angelisia, and it’s not only twice as strong as the durasteel that you humans use, it’s also a lot lighter.”

The armor designs they’d come up with barely had any similarities to Angelisian designs. Alex had taken inspiration from various ancient history holobooks. The chest plate wasn’t as bulky as the kevlar vests that old S.W.A.T. members had used, but it covered more than a regular Angelisian’s breastplate. The vambraces and greaves were done more in the traditional Angelisian style. Alex felt those were light enough that he wouldn’t be slowed down by them.

“Phew!” Gabrielle wiped some of the sweat from her forehead. “I think we’re about done with the design, don’t you?”

“Yeah,” Alex said after studying it for a moment longer. “I think it looks good.”

“Then we’ll work on building the armor later. For right now, why don’t we finish the unitard? We’re almost done with it anyway.”

“Right.”

The unitard for the crisis suit was inside a glass container, Mr. Calibration, which was what Gabrielle would use to calibrate the suit’s specs for his use. Dozens of lights flashed along the container. They didn’t seem to serve any function that he could see, but given Gabrielle’s personality, he wouldn’t have been surprised to discover that they were just for decoration.

Gabrielle walked up to a console jutting up from the ground in front of Mr. Calibration. As she began typing on it, she said, “Your bio-data was analyzed a while ago, so I’m going to input it into the crisis suit. We can even begin the testing phase once the calibration is done.”

“That sounds good. You mind if I watch while you calibrate the suit?”

“Not at all.” Gabrielle’s brilliant smile told him that she thought it was a fabulous idea.

Alex moved up behind Gabrielle as she typed away on the console. Angelisian keyboards were a lot different from human ones. For one, the symbols were different, though Gabrielle had changed them to the human alphabet for his sake. He was still learning the Angelisian writing system, while she’d already learned human writing.

As he stood behind her, Gabrielle’s scent invaded his nose, a combination of his sister’s shampoo and her own natural scent, which was sweet but unidentifiable. Alex stepped back, out of her range. He gritted his teeth, struggling with the overwhelming desire that he’d only felt a few times before.

Why?

Alex didn’t know why Gabrielle aroused him so much. Though perhaps it wasn’t Gabrielle herself, but simply his own lack of experience. Alex had never had a girlfriend. The girl that he was closest to was Selene, and their relationship was unlikely to progress beyond friends.

There was also Jasmine, who Alex would admit was attractive. He would even admit that several of his erotic dreams had featured her, though he’d never admit that out loud. She was his sister’s friend. Thinking about her like that bothered him, so he tried not to.

“Alex, aren’t you going to watch me work? I thought you were interested in seeing how this equipment functions.” Gabrielle was looking at him curiously, and Alex forced himself to calm down.

“Yes, I did. Sorry, my mind was wandering for a second there.”

Alex steeled himself as he stepped into Gabrielle’s personal space again. Her overpowering scent made his knees buckle. She was still wearing that unitard of hers, which didn’t help in the slightest. Her small, shapely butt was right next to him. He’d be able to touch it if he just reached out.

What the hell is wrong with me?

Alex was disgusted with himself. Sure, like most guys his age, Alex looked at girls. However, the overpowering lust that he had for Gabrielle—and Selene and Jasmine—was appalling. She was such a kind and innocent person. She didn’t deserve to be treated like an object.

Calming down, Alex watched Gabrielle while she worked. The OS that she was using to calibrate the suit was a lot different than anything he’d ever seen. He’d once invented a power suit that was currently being used for mining. It relied on an NPN operating system.

Neuron Pneumatic Newtonian operating systems were a standard for robotics. Alex had taken the standard OS and heavily modified it for human use. Since it was a suit, it didn’t have a true artificial intelligence, but because it required a certain level of intelligence to operate, Alex had replaced the AI operating system with a standard sensor system and a multi-level OS, which performed the basic strength control and movement functions required for such a suit.

That particular invention earned him a hefty royalty fee. Alex made anywhere from 20,000 to 50,000 credits a year from it alone. Technically speaking, if Alex wanted to, he could have retired and lived off just the royalties he accrued from his inventions.

However, Alex had gone into the cadet academy because he didn’t want to just live in the lap of luxury. He wanted to make something of himself. He wanted to ascend beyond his current station, to become something that people looked up to and admired. In short, Alex wanted to be like his father.

His father. The person who he admired most. Even to this day, Alex still looked up to that man, who’d been hailed as a hero. He wanted to be like that man. He wanted to be a hero.

He looked at Gabrielle as she continued to type. She’d already calibrated the OS and was now installing it into the suit. Thin blue lines, like veins or a circuit board, glowed brightly as she powered it up.

Could I become a hero if I protect Gabrielle?

It was true that Gabrielle was not in physical danger, but she was still being forced to marry someone against her will. Surely, if he protected her, kept her from being forced into a loveless marriage, he would become a hero.

“It’s ready!” Gabrielle cheered.

Indeed, the suit’s calibration appeared to be complete. Glowing lines like the circuits in a motherboard lit up the suit. Those lines were part of the network known as the Nerve Synapse System. Alex had learned that this was one of Gabrielle’s personal inventions. She had created it at the behest of her father when she was five.

Being near her makes me feel stupid.

Oddly enough, Alex didn’t mind. Her intelligence was something that he appreciated about her. Her passion for machines and inventing, so similar to his own, was something that he cherished.

“Should I put it on now?” Alex asked.

“Oh, there’s no need,” Gabrielle said cheerily. “The suit will put itself on you.”

“What?”

Alex barely had a second to comprehend her words when, like a ravenous space monster, the crisis suit leaped out of Mr. Calibration and latched onto him. Pain flooded his nerves. Agony lit his veins on fire. Alex tried to scream, but his throat was closed. Gurgles emerged from his mouth. He could feel the suit as it connected with him as if thousands of needles were stabbing into his pores.

He thought he heard screaming. Was that his voice? No, it was too soft, too feminine. Gabrielle? He couldn’t… why couldn’t he…?

The last thing Alex saw was bright silver hair and green eyes.

* * *

Alex was scowling as he cooked breakfast. His entire body still tingled from having the crisis suit synchronize with his nervous system. Simply moving hurt.

“I wish you would warn me when something is going to be that painful,” he said to Gabrielle, who was sitting at the table.

Gabrielle rubbed the back of her head. “I’m really sorry. I didn’t know it would hurt you like that.”

She seemed genuinely remorseful, so Alex let it go. “It’s fine, I guess. I was just surprised.”

“So was I.” Looking at the ceiling, Gabrielle placed a finger against her lips and tapped it. “The synchronizing process isn’t supposed to hurt at all. That it hurt you is puzzling.”

“Do you think it’s because I’m human?”

Gabrielle thought about that for a second and shook her head. “No, the calibrations that I made were done specifically to modify the suit for human use. I’m wondering if there’s something wrong with the map of your biorhythm. I’ll go over it and see if there’s something that I missed.”

Despite not being well-versed in biology and related sciences, Alex understood what she was saying. The map that had been created by her device must have been wrong. It might have been wrong by only a small margin, such as claiming that his body had a .4% iron content when it was really .5%. Such a variation would be enough to adversely affect a system that complex.

“We can go over it later,” Alex said as he stirred the eggs on his pan. They were just about ready. “I don’t really feel like taking this thing off so soon after putting it on. I don’t think my body can handle that.”

“Good point.”

The eggs were soon finished, the toast popped out of the micro-cooker, and he poured three glasses of fresh orange juice, which he brought over to the table.

“Dig in,” he said to Gabrielle, who was salivating over the food.

“Yay! Thank you for the food!”

Alex shook his head as Gabrielle dug in, eating like a voracious beast, and went up to his sister’s bedroom. Opening the door, he poked his head in and said, “Alice, breakfast is ready—”

“Kya!”

“Oof!”

Alex stumbled back as something smacked him in the nose. He blinked back tears, and looked down. A clock sat by his feet.

Did she throw a clock at me?

Walking back up to the door, Alex opened it again. “Why did you do that…?” He trailed off, his eyes slowly widening.

Alice stood in the room, her expression horrified and her face red. She wasn’t wearing clothes. Well, did she have her bra and panties on, but she wasn’t wearing anything else.

Grabbing the sheet off her bed and falling to the floor as she wrapped it around herself, Alice screamed at her brother. “Don’t you ever knock?!”

“S-sorry!” Alex shouted as he slammed the door closed. He pressed his back against the wall, trying to calm his mind. He had just… and Alice was… ugh, he felt like he’d been scarred for life. Pressing a hand against his face, Alex tried to forget what he’d seen.

“B-Bro?” Alice said from the other side of the door, tentative and shy. It sounded nothing like his perpetually bored sister.

“Yes?”

“Did you need something?”

Need something? Oh! “Yes, I wanted to tell you that breakfast is ready.”

… There was a pause. Then…

“Hold on for just a second.”

Alex waited as several noises came from the other side. The door soon opened, and Alice, dressed in her school uniform, stepped out. Her cheeks were still red, and she wouldn’t look at him. Alex guessed he couldn’t blame her. She must have been flustered because he’d seen her in her underwear. Truth be told, he was pretty embarrassed himself.

Desiring to break this awkward silence, Alex said, “So, breakfast is ready.”

“Right. Breakfast.”

As they walked down the stairs, Alex could feel Alice’s eyes boring a hole into the back of his head. It was disconcerting.

“Alex…?” His sister called tentatively.

“Yes?”

“Um, do you… think I’ve changed at all? Physically, I mean.”

Alex paused. He turned back to Alice, who was looking anywhere but at him. Why would she ask something like that? Changed physically? What did she… could she be asking him if she had gained any weight? He’d once heard from some female cadets that women always worried about their weight, and Alice was at that age where looks were beginning to become important.

That must be why she was still half-naked. She’d probably been looking at herself in the mirror.

Grinning, he gave Alice a thumbs-up. “Don’t worry. You haven’t changed at all since we were kids!”

Alice stared at Alex for several seconds. Then…

“Idiot,” she muttered before moving past him and walking into the kitchen.

Alex remained standing in place for several seconds. “W-what was that about?” He asked, sighing as he, too, went into the kitchen.

He would never understand girls.

* * *

After breakfast, Alex and Gabrielle walked Alice to school.

“You’re taking the standardization tests today, right?” Alex asked his sister.

“Yeah…” Alice shuddered.

Standardization tests were a series of basic tests that ran across every subject: math, language, physics, engineering, chemistry, psychology, et cetera. There were over twenty tests in total and each one took one hour to complete. They would start today, and the testing would last throughout the week.

Alex remembered taking those tests when he was in primary. He’d struggled with chemical sciences, biology, and psychology the most. The only reason he’d passed was because he’d aced math, engineering, mechanical science, quantum physics, and theoretical science. The rest of his tests had been in the upper-middle echelons.

“Remember, if you get one-hundred on at least five of your tests and pass the others, I’ll buy you a strawberry cheesecake parfait from Metronome’s.”

“I know.” Unlike during most times, where her face remained bland, this time, Alice looked determined. “You’d better have that dessert ready for me when I finish these tests.”

“Say that after you take your tests.”

“I want a cheesecake parfait, too,” Gabrielle declared shamelessly.

“I’ll get you one after Alice takes her tests,” Alex said, before a devious idea suddenly entered his mind. “In fact, if Alice does poorly, watching you eat a parfait while she gets nothing might be a suitable punishment.”

“I hadn’t realized you’d become a sadist, Bro,” Alice snarked.

“I just want you to succeed.” Ruffling Alice’s hair, Alex smiled at his sister. “I know that you’re smarter than you let on.”

“Whatever.” Alice looked irritated, but she didn’t remove Alex’s hand from her head.

When they arrived at the school gates, Jasmine was waiting for them.

“Oh ho ho ho!” Placing her feet shoulder-width apart, Jasmine put one hand on her hips and raised the other to her mouth. “Good morning, Alexander, Alice… Tramp. I hope you are doing well this fine morning. Oh ho ho ho!”

“Tramp?” Gabrielle asked as if wondering who Jasmine was talking about.

“Good morning, Jasmine.” Alex greeted with a smile.

Alice raised a hand in greeting. “Yo.”

“Why do you laugh like that?” Gabrielle asked Jasmine.

“I do not know what you are talking about. Oh ho ho ho!”

“Were you waiting for me, or are you here to see Alex again?” Alice asked Jasmine, whose cheeks suddenly became stained with crimson.

“That is… oh ho! I mean, of course, I wanted to thank Alexander for his noble deed the other day.” Regaining her bluster, Jasmine laughed some more. “Oh ho ho ho! Though it is only natural that a man of Alexander’s caliber would look after an elegant young lady such as myself. Oh ho ho ho!”

“I’m glad you’re feeling better,” Alex said. “I was worried when you suddenly collapsed on us.”

“O-oh!” Jasmine stuttered. “Th-thank you. I—um, having you display concern for me is—h-hey! I wasn’t done talking to Alexander! What are you—let go of me!”

“Come on, Jas. We’re going to be late for class if you keep talking, and I’m not going to miss out on getting a strawberry cheesecake parfait because you wanted to flirt with my bro.” Alice ignored Jasmine’s squawking as she grabbed the blonde by the hand and dragged her through the gate.

“I’m glad Jasmine is all right,” Gabrielle said.

“Me too.”

“Alex?”

“Yes?”

“Do you mind if we go into the city?”

It didn’t take Alex long to make a decision. “We can do that. I need to head into Mars City anyway.”

“Yay!” Cheering, Gabrielle grabbed Alex by the arm and dragged him off. “Let’s go! Go, go, go!”

Alex didn’t complain as Gabrielle dragged him to the nearest shuttle station. His cheeks did become warm, however, because his arm was being pressed into her cleavage.

He was never going to live this down.

* * *

It took almost an hour to travel to Mars City from the outer district by shuttle.

This wasn’t because the outer district was far from the main city, but because traffic within Mars City was horrible. The air was always clogged. Pilots jockeyed for airspace, while others tried to steal it. Airspace within Mars City was about as lawless as it came, and even though the police had done their best to fix that, there was no way they could regulate traffic when there was a 56,000 to 1 ratio between them and regular citizens.

Alex and Gabrielle stood on a crowded shuttle bus. There must have been at least two dozen people, all of them smashed together like light particles compressed into a photon cartridge. Gabrielle was near the window in the back. Alex stood directly behind her. Due to how many people were there, he and Gabrielle literally had no space to move.

Alex could feel her butt pressing against his front.

It felt really good.

I’m disgusted with myself.

Alex did his best to give Gabrielle a bit more space. With so many people, however, space was hard to come by.

“How does the crisis suit feel?” asked Gabrielle.

Glad for the conversation, Alex said, “It feels a lot better now. I also feel a lot more energized.”

“Then it sounds like it’s working,” Gabrielle mumbled. “That energy you feel is caused by the synapse system regulating your own bioelectric energy.”

“Interesting…”

The body, be it human or otherwise, was a lot like a machine. Food fueled it, rest repaired it, and exercise maintained it.

But unlike a machine, which only consumed energy, a living entity also produced energy. All creatures, no matter how small, constantly gave off bioelectric energy, which was produced inside of the body and expelled as static particles.

The amount of energy varied from person to person. It was scientifically proven that people who produced more energy burned calories faster, had more energy to spare, and their brains functioned at a higher level. That said, it was impossible to determine who produced more energy, or why certain people had more than others.

It wasn’t based on genetics, a theory that had first been proposed in 2122. It almost seemed random. Some people simply had more energy than others.

“There’s no pain anymore, is there?” Gabrielle asked, worry clear in her tone.

Alex shook his head. “No. It doesn’t hurt anymore… should it?”

“I’m not sure.” Alex’s breath hitched at Gabrielle’s thoughtful frown. “I don’t think it should, but this is my first time making a crisis suit for a human. Also, since it hurt before, I thought you might end up feeling twinges every so often. I’d like to make sure nothing goes wrong, so be sure to tell me if you feel anything.”

“Will do.”

They departed the shuttle in a part of Mars City that Gabrielle hadn’t been to. The area surrounding them looked a lot different than the entertainment district. There weren’t as many flashy lights, and the people weren’t as plentiful. Instead of a futuristic city, the place they were at now looked akin to the residential zone in the outer district. Walkways were lined with trees and specially designed grass to help filter harmful gases, and the walkways branched off to connect with various skyscrapers, which towered over them like monoliths.

“Come on.” Alex gestured for Gabrielle to follow him.

Gabrielle rushed to his side, matching his pace with her long legs. “Where are we going?”

“We’re going to Metronome’s Sweet Shop,” Alex said. “Knowing my sister, she’s going to ace exactly six of her tests and purposefully get average scores on the rest. While I’m not going to bring it home, I’d like to place an order for her strawberry cheesecake parfait. They’re notoriously popular, so if I wait until the last minute, they won’t have any to buy.”

“Oh!” Gabrielle lightly slammed her left hand into the palm of her right, a look of eureka! appearing on her face. A second later, the light from her eyes died and confusion took its place. “Wait. Why would your sister not do her absolute best on every test?”

“Because acing every test is too troublesome.” He gave Gabrielle a wry smile when she looked even more confused. “Alice is a genius. However, perhaps because she’s so smart, she doesn’t like to try very hard. She’s a very lackadaisical individual, in case you haven’t noticed.”

“Is she smarter than you?”

Alex shrugged. “Hard to say. She might be, but since she never tries, the only time I see her genius come out is when I blackmail her. Are your sisters like that?”

“No.” Gabrielle’s long hair swayed as she shook her head. “My sister’s aren’t hidden geniuses, though they’re both pretty smart. Michelle is really good at simulation games and psychology, and Ariel is athletic and really strong. I once saw her destroy a mountain with a single punch!”

“A mountain, huh…”

She must be exaggerating.

It was true that Angelisians seemed to have more strength than humans, but the differences in their power didn’t appear to be that vast. More than likely, Gabrielle, being the excitable girl that she was, was simply overestimating her sister’s strength. Still, for Gabrielle to say something like that, this Ariel must have been strong indeed.

Alex barely noticed when they’d arrived at Metronome’s. He’d been so into their conversation that time had passed like lightspeed, and they were standing in front of the shop before he knew it.

“Here we are,” Alex said.

“This is that Metro-Metro place?” Gabrielle asked.

“Yep.”

“Hm… for some reason, I thought it would be really big.”

“Why is that?”

“Because I read that humans have a saying about how bigger is always better.”

“… I have no clue where you heard that saying, but it’s not really true.”

The bell chimed as they entered the shop. Alex glanced around. Selene wasn’t manning the front, but that made sense, considering she had school. An older gentleman stood in front of the register. With a head of gray hair that looked like wires, a bristly mustache, and glasses, Mr. Metronome did not strike an imposing figure.

“Morning, Pops!” Alex greeted the man with a jaunty wave.

“Alex,” Mr. Metronome greeted, his eyes flickering briefly to Gabrielle, who’d immediately rushed over to the display case. “I heard from Selene that you got kicked out of the cadet academy.”

Alex almost stumbled. Though he recovered, he still felt off-kilter. “I should’ve known she’d tell you that. Selene’s never been very good at keeping secrets.”

“She’s not the only one.”

“Ugh, d-don’t look at me like that.”

Mr. Metronome smiled wryly before flicking his gaze back to Gabrielle. “Who’s the girl?”

“That’s Gabrielle,” Alex answered. When Mr. Metronome sent him a flat stare, Alex took a step back. “And… due to circumstances with her family, she’s currently staying with my sister and me.”

“Staying with you, eh?” Mr. Metronome took off his glasses and cleaned them with his apron. “You’ve been living on your own for several years now, so I won’t tell you what you can and can’t do, but are you sure having this girl live with you is the best choice? Don’t you think you’re rushing things?”

“Rushing things?”

What did he mean by that? Gabrielle needed his help, and she kind of needed it, like, now. It was only natural that he would rush things. What else could I have… oh.

“I-it’s not like that,” Alex protested. Leaning in close so that Gabrielle wouldn’t hear, he said, “Gabrielle is having some family issues, so I’m letting her stay with me until they’re sorted out. Our relationship is purely that of a protectee and her protector. Nothing more.”

“Is that so?” Mr. Metronome said.

Alex opened his mouth to say that, yes, it was so. Before he could, Gabrielle rushed over to them and grabbed his arm. “Hey, Alex, do you think we could get one of those sweets?”

“Sure,” Alex said without thinking about it. “I’ll let you have anything except the strawberry cheesecake parfait, since it wouldn’t be fair to Alice if I let you have that.”

“Kay!” Gabrielle didn’t seem to take issue with this. She went back over to the display case, where she looked over the contents again.

“Right. I need two orders of your strawberry cheesecake parfait and whatever Gabrielle decides to get,” Alex ordered.

“Two strawberry cheesecake parfaits and one…” pausing to look at Gabrielle, Mr. Metronome rang up the order. “… French cream cheese danish. That’ll come to seventy-five credits.”

Reaching into his pocket, Alex pulled out several tiny chits of various colors. A credit’s value was determined by its color. Blue equaled one credit, red equaled five, green was ten, silver was fifty, and gold was a hundred. After grabbing the correct amount, Alex paid Mr. Metronome, who slid it into a register slot, which beeped several times before releasing a soft ding!

“I’ll be sure to have the strawberry cheesecake parfaits delivered to you on the thirtieth,” Mr. Metronome said.

“Thank you.”

“Alex! Alex, I want this one!” Gabrielle grabbed his attention and pointed to the French cream cheese danish.

Looks like Old Man Metronome’s predictions are as accurate as ever.

Sending the girl a smile, Alex said, “Okay. We’ll get you the danish.”

“All right!”

As Gabrielle pumped her fist into the air, Alex felt warmth spread through his chest. It reminded him, somewhat, of the times where he’d done something that made his sister happy.

“So, she’s nothing more than someone you protect, huh?” Mr. Metronome said as his eyes, hidden behind his rimless glasses, twinkled in amusement. It was then that Alex realized he’d been staring at Gabrielle for a little too long.

“Don’t. Say. Another. Word,” Alex said, his cheeks burning like someone had turned them into nuclear heating pads.

They left the shop and wandered Mars City. Gabrielle was munching on the French cream cheese danish, which she apparently loved quite a bit.

“This is amazing! Does everything on Mars taste so good?!”

Alex gave her a queer look. “Does food on Angelisia taste bad?”

Pausing, Gabrielle looked up. She had cream cheese on her cheek. “No, it doesn’t, but Papa always has our food checked for poisons and stuff, so it’s always cold by the time I eat it.” Biting into the danish again, she moaned in delight. “This is so warm, and yummy, and fluffy. It’s like tasting heaven!”

To think that she has to worry about being poisoned. I hadn’t realized that her life was so hard.

In hindsight, he should have. Gabrielle was the eldest daughter of the man who ruled the galaxy. A man like that would have a lot of enemies—enemies who wouldn’t hesitate to kill his daughters if it meant achieving their goals.

Alex looked at Gabrielle, who’d gotten even more cream cheese on her face. Sighing, he reached over and wiped the food from her mouth with his finger. Without thinking about it, he stuck the finger in his mouth and licked it clean.

“Hm… that does taste pretty good.”

“Doesn’t it?” Gabrielle sounded delighted. “And thank you for getting that. I hadn’t realized there was some of it on my face.”

Alex blushed as he realized what he’d just done. “S-sorry. I did that without thinking.”

“Why are you sorry?” Gabrielle tilted her head.

“Ah, n-no reason, I guess.”

“Alex? Alex, is that you?”

As they continued to walk, a woman came up to them. Slender and graceful, she carried the air of someone much younger than she was. Her curly brown hair and dark skin were matched by dark brown eyes. She wore a simple light yellow sundress, which contrasted with her complexion.

“Oh, Mrs. Metronome,” Alex greeted with a smile. “Good morning.”

“Good morning, Alex,” Mrs. Metronome said. “I see that you have just come from my shop. You know that Selene isn’t there right now, don’t you?”

“She’s at school, I know. I just stopped by to place an order.”

“And we got delicious food!” Gabrielle interjected.

Mrs. Metronome blinked as she seemed to only now realize that someone was with Alex. She looked between the two of them, her head swiveling like it was on a rotator. After several more seconds, she put a hand to her mouth, hiding a sly smile.

“Oh, my, is this your girlfriend?”

“What? G-g-girlfriend?!”

Alex’s face burned. Girlfriend? Mrs. Metronome thought Gabrielle was his girlfriend? Did they really look like they were dating? Well, they were spending time together on a nice day out. From an outsider’s perspective, it must have looked like they were dating, and the idea itself wasn’t unappealing…

“Um, what’s a girlfriend?”

… Except that Gabrielle didn’t seem to know what a girlfriend was.

Must not facepalm. Must not facepalm. Must not facepalm.

“Surely you jest, dear.” Mrs. Metronome waved her left hand at Gabrielle. “A girlfriend is the most important person in a young man’s life. Many a young man spend their entire teenage lives seeking a girlfriend. She is the apple of his eye, the sweety to his pie, the socket to his plug…”

“Please don’t make such disturbing references,” Alex deadpanned.

“She is his everything, his most cherished person in the entire galaxy, his princess.”

Gabrielle’s excitement grew, signified by the sparkling of her eyes and the way she clasped her hands together. “I’m a princess!”

Mustnotfacepalm. Mustnotfacepalm. Mustnotfacepalm.

“She didn’t mean that in a literal sense, Gabrielle.”

“Oh, my. You are, are you?” Mrs. Metronome’s smile was positively mischievous. Alex did not like that smile at all. “Then would that make this man your knight in shining armor?”

“Knight in shining armor?” Gabrielle tilted her head. “Of course not. Alex doesn’t wear armor.”

Alex facepalmed. “She didn’t mean that in a literal sense either.”

“I mean, is he your protector?” By now, even Mrs. Metronome was giving Gabrielle a somewhat strange look. “A knight in shining armor is a person who protects his princess from everything that threatens her. He’s always around, defending his princess and making sure that no harm befalls her, be it physical or spiritual. He uses everything in his power to keep her safe, dedicating his life to her and giving her his undying devotion. It’s the most romantic thing ever!”

Mrs. Metronome clasped her hands together and wiggled in place. It disturbed Alex a great deal to see this woman acting like a lovestruck teenager, but he’d grown used to her eccentricities—the unfortunate side effect of having known her since he was little.

Gabrielle clapped her hands excitedly. “Alex protects me all the time. He’s always protecting me whenever I’m in trouble. He’s even letting me stay at his house to protect me from my—” She paused, then poked out her tongue and winked. “I mean, from some bad men.”

After they’d made up, Alex had spoken with Gabrielle about keeping her status as an alien princess secret. While she didn’t seem to understand why she needed to keep it a secret, she’d promised not to say anything. It was good to see that she was sticking to that promise.

“Oh, my. Is that so?” When Gabrielle nodded, Mrs. Metronome placed her hands on her cheeks and squealed like a grade-schooler. “Oh, that is just so romantic! I can’t believe that Alex has finally gotten himself a girlfriend! Kya!”

“Kya?” Alex made an odd face at the strange noise.

“It seems like just yesterday when I was first introducing him to Selene. He was such an adorable little boy back then. Why, I remember when I used to make him and Selene take baths together—”

“Don’t say things like that in public!”

“—they were always so adorable! Of course, Selene is going to be most disappointed when she hears that Alex has a girlfriend. I always told that girl that she should stake her claim before someone else nabs him. You will take good care of him for me, won’t you? Now that he has a girlfriend, I won’t be able to look after him like I used to. That’s the job of a girlfriend, you know? Once a young man has a girlfriend, there’s just no place for a woman like me.”

Alex watched, mortified as the woman’s wiggling intensified. It was like watching an earthworm trying to do a handstand. Her body, from her head to her toes, undulated in a boneless manner that horrified him.

“Oh, I can’t believe our little Alex is all grown up, getting himself a girlfriend and doing naughty things with her!”

“We’re not doing naughty things!”

“Farone, Melanie, wherever you are, you must be so proud.”

“Stop talking like I’m not even here! And don’t mention how my parents must be proud of me for doing naughty things with Gabrielle! We’re not being naughty at all!”

A confused Gabrielle looked back and forth between them. “Hey, Alex? What naughty things are we supposed to be doing?”

“We’re not supposed to be doing anything naughty,” Alex snapped.

“What are naughty things anyway?” Gabrielle asked. The sound of Alex’s hand smacking his face echoed louder than it should have in the din of the crowd.

“Oh, dear, surely you know what I’m talking about.” Mrs. Metronome held a hand conspiratorially to her mouth and leaned in toward the younger woman, as if she were about to whisper a beautiful, dangerous secret into the inquisitive Gabrielle’s ear.

* * *

Knowing this woman as well as he did, Alex decided that he needed to get Gabrielle away from her as quickly as possible. “Well, this has been really fun, and I hate to put a stopper on this enlightening conversation, but Gabrielle and I really do need to get going, so we’re gonna have to talk to you later. Okay? Okay. Bye, now!”

Alex didn’t wait for Mrs. Metronome to respond before grabbing Gabrielle’s hand and bolting. He took them to the nearest shuttle stop, hopped onto the first shuttle, and sat in the back.

The shuttle was a little crowded, so Alex and Gabrielle were forced to sit close together. When someone sat down next to Gabrielle, nearly shoving her off the bench, Alex had to wrap an arm around her and pull the girl onto his lap.

“Thanks, Alex.”

“Uh… you’re welcome.”

While Gabrielle didn’t seem to mind, Alex was painfully aware of their position. Her butt rubbed against him, causing all kinds of discomfort. It wasn’t unpleasant. In fact, it felt really good. However, it made him feel awful—guilty—like he was doing something that he shouldn’t be. Alex didn’t enjoy this feeling.

Get a hold of yourself, Alex! This isn’t like you at all! You’ve never been this nervous around a girl before, and you’ve spent time in the company of plenty of beautiful women!

That was right. A lot of the girls who went to the Mars Police Academy were pretty—well, most of them were. They were all in good shape, at least. The training they underwent at the police academy meant none of them would ever need to be concerned about gaining weight, and a good deal of those girls were awfully pretty. Even Karen Kanzaki was downright gorgeous.

A she-devil in disguise, but a pretty she-devil.

Yet something felt different about now and all those other times. The proximity maybe? Yes, that must have been it. He’d never felt nervous around Gabrielle before, except for the time when he walked in on her while she was taking a shower, or the time when she walked in on him when he was taking a shower. Then there was that time where she’d come into the kitchen in nothing but a towel… come to think of it, there were a lot of times where Gabrielle made him nervous.

Alex got the feeling that if this girl’s bodyguards didn’t kill him, then Gabrielle might do it for them.

He looked at Gabrielle, who appeared perfectly content with their situation. She’d wrapped her arms around his neck, and her unguarded smile was still in place. It was like she didn’t even know how wrong it was for a boy and girl who weren’t dating to be this close. Once more, the disparity of her lifestyle and his struck Alex like a stun baton to the face.

Gabrielle was an innocent soul. Everything about her, from the way she smiled to the way she looked at her surroundings with the wondrous eyes of a child seeing things for the first time told him this. She was like a kid trapped inside of the body of an insanely beautiful woman with more curves than he knew what to do with.

“Thank you for taking me out today. I had a really great time.” It wasn’t until she spoke up that Alex realized Gabrielle was looking at him.

“Oh, um, you’re welcome,” Alex replied, returning her smile. “I’m glad you had fun. I had a good time, too.”

Alex had gotten lucky. This shuttle was headed for the outer district and not somewhere like the red-light district. Not bad for a guy who hopped onto the first shuttle he saw.

They were some of the last people to get off. By the time they’d reached the outer district, Alex calculated that it was almost time for dinner. He wondered what he should make.

As they walked along the sidewalk, his companion stopped and looked at the canal. Alex stopped and turned as well.

A grassy slope less than half a meter away led down to the canal. A little way over was a bridge, the large beams of durasteel reflecting light, which was then refracted off the flowing water’s surface. It was a beautiful scene.

“Is something wrong?” Alex asked.

Gabrielle shook her head. “I just realized where we are. This is the same place where you told me to go back home.”

Now that he got a good look at the place, he remembered it quite vividly. This was indeed where he’d confronted Gabrielle about how she had run away from home.

Alex scratched the back of his head. “Ah, so it is. I’m really sorry about the way I treated you back then. I was way out of line.”

“Mm mm.” Gabrielle shook his head, the long silver strands of hair that fluttered catching sunlight. “It’s all right. I understand why you acted that way, and besides, it doesn’t matter what you said back then. You still decided to let me stay with you in the end. You still promised to protect me.”

“Right. I did promise to protect you, and I’m going to keep my promise. No matter what happens from here on out, you can count on me to keep you safe.”

“Alex…”

As Alex and Gabrielle shared a smile, something strange overcame him. His chest became infused with unusual warmth, which spread to the rest of his limbs, engulfing him in a sensation he’d never experienced before. He didn’t know what it was, but it felt nice.

“There you are, Princess Gabrielle.”

The moment was shattered when a masculine voice spoke up. Alex and Gabrielle turned around to face whoever had called her name. Considering this person knew that Gabrielle was a princess, Alex was betting on it being one of her bodyguards.

When Alex caught sight of the person standing several meters away, he gaped. Gigantic didn’t even begin to cover it. Even from a distance, the person looked huge. He must have been at least two hundred and forty-four centimeters tall! And what the heck was up with his clothing?

Strapped to his chest was a large, segmented breastplate. Thick pauldrons covered his shoulders, and the grieves that he wore went up to his knees, glinting as sunlight reflected off their polished surface. Hair the color of dirty snow drifted lazily in the breeze created by atmospheric generators. Dark purple eyes glowed brightly within their sockets. Two massive white wings jutted from his back, flapping like real wings, and long, pointy ears protruded from either side of his head.

Great, another Angelisian—and one who looked like a warrior straight from a fantasy world. Just what Alex needed to complete his day.

“Azazel!” Gabrielle exclaimed.

Azazel crossed his arm over his chest. “Princess Gabrielle, I have come to take you back home.”

Gabrielle, being the mature, elegant young woman that she was, pulled down her left eyelid and blew Azazel a raspberry.

“You can tell Papa that I’m not going back! I’m staying here with Alex!”

“With Alex?” Azazel blinked and turned to him. Alex clenched his fists. His spine tingled. What was this sensation? This strange pressure that felt like a hand was slowly crushing his lungs? “You are speaking of that boy by your side, yes? Why would you stay with a simple human?”

The pressure left with that comment.

“Simple?” Alex clicked his tongue. He was anything but simple. Genius, yes. Extraordinary, definitely. Extraordinarily destructive… perhaps. But simple? No, simple he was not.

“I’m staying with him because I… uh, well… It’s because…”

“Try not to think too hard now, Gabrielle,” Alex muttered when he noticed the young woman struggling to come up with a reason for staying with him. Should he step in?

Deciding to do just that, Alex opened his mouth to speak—

“It’s because I love Alex!”

—when Gabrielle beat him to the punch, obviously blurting out the first thing that came to mind.

“Eh?”

There was no telling who said that word. It could have come from Alex, but it could have just as easily been Azazel. Alex wasn’t even sure if his mouth was working.

“That’s right! I’ve fallen in love with Alex, so I’m going to marry him!”

Gabrielle’s words caused Alex’s brain to restart with a jolt. Is she using me to stay here on Mars and not have to marry one of her old man’s suitors?

“So you just go back to Angelisia and tell Papa that I’m staying here with Alex!”

Yep, she’s totally using me to keep from going back home. Alex sighed. This was becoming even more of a mess with every passing second.

He also wasn’t sure how to feel about Gabrielle’s words. Pleased? Most teenagers probably would have been—heck, he probably would have been, too, if circumstances were different. Alex knew that she didn’t actually want to marry him. That knowledge put a damper on any joy he might have felt.

“I see. So that’s how it is.” Azazel cupped his chin with his right hand. “I had been wondering why you would stay with a human after hearing the reports from my men. This is the man you plan on marrying?”

He doesn’t honestly believe this, does he?

Alex didn’t know what to make of this strange alien knight in fantasy armor. He seemed to be taking Gabrielle’s words seriously. Was he really that stupid?

I should put a stop to this before Gabrielle says anything else.

“That’s right,” Gabrielle said adamantly. “Alex is my knight in shining armor and I’m his princess! He promised to protect me, so I’ve decided to marry him! You go tell Papa that he no longer needs to keep sending me suitors.”

Too late.

Alex palmed his face.

The more this girl opens her mouth, the deeper the hole she digs for me becomes. Man, this is a seriously troublesome situation I’ve gotten myself into. Gabrielle’s trying to force Azazel into accepting me as her groom in order to remain on Mars, but I don’t think she’s quite realized that things won’t work that way even if Azazel did accept it. Ugh, this girl is going to cause me so many problems in the future. I can already tell.

Given the trouble he’d already gotten into because of her, that pretty much went without saying. Gabrielle was a force to be reckoned with, a literal human—um, alien—hurricane, a force of nature trapped within the body of a beautiful girl.

Alex smiled. And why should I care about this now? Didn’t I promise to protect her? I guess pretending to be her groom is just another means of keeping her safe.

Nodding to himself, Alex decided that it was finally time to act. He stepped in front of Gabrielle, blocking her from Azazel’s gaze, pinning the much-larger male with his glare.

“You’re the commander of Angelisia, right? The one who is also said to be the strongest swordsman in the entire Angelisian army.”

Alex had heard a bit about Azazel, though he didn’t know everything, only what Gabrielle had told him.

“That is correct. I am indeed Azazel, the most powerful and skilled swordsman in the entire galaxy, and you…”

Azazel reached toward his waist, grasping at something that wasn’t there. It was only after several seconds of fumbling that he seemed to realize that whatever he was trying to grab wasn’t there. Trying to cover his blush with a cough, the man in armor continued.

“You are the young man who has protected Princess Gabrielle until now, and it seems that Princess Gabrielle has chosen you to be her groom. However…” Azazel’s dominant foot slid forward and he raised his hands in a martial form that Alex didn’t recognize. “… I cannot leave Princess Gabrielle in the hands of a man who I have not personally tested myself. If you desire to marry Princess Gabrielle, then you must prove yourself to me.”

“So that’s how it is, huh?”

“Azazel!” Gabrielle moved forward as she shouted. “This is going too far! You can’t expect a human to—”

“It’s okay, Gabrielle.”

“Alex?”

Alex gave a reassuring smile to the confused Gabrielle. “Don’t worry about me. I can handle this.”

“But Alex,” Gabrielle looked at him imploringly, for once not acting like a naive little girl, “that man isn’t some random bodyguard. That’s Azazel, the greatest swordsman on Angelisia!”

“And where is his sword right now?”

“Eh?”

“You mean you didn’t notice?” Alex grinned. “Take a look at him. Azazel hasn’t taken out his sword. He’s in a martial arts stance. In other words, he plans on using hand to hand combat to fight me, which means his blade skills are practically useless.”

“Urk!” Azazel choked at the mention of his missing sword. “I am ashamed to admit that his words ring true. My sword is no longer in my possession at the moment. I had it confiscated because I got lost and was accosted by a law enforcement officer. And now… and now…”

“Is he crying?” Alex looked disturbed.

“And now it’s gone!!”

“Oh, geez. He is crying.”

Indeed, Azazel was crying. Tears streamed from his eyes like waterfalls, and snot dribbled down his nose, as if he was overcome with sadness at the loss of his sword. It was all kinds of disturbing.

Alex looked at Gabrielle. “Does he do this a lot?”

“Not really,” Gabrielle answered thoughtfully. “But then, I’ve never seen him without his sword before. He always has it with him, and I do mean always. I’ll sometimes catch him staring at it with a reverent expression, and there was this one time when he didn’t think anyone was looking that I saw him rubbing it against his cheek.”

“I-is that so…”

So this guy had some kind of sword fetish or something? Talk about freaky.

Azazel eventually calmed down and wiped the tears and nasal excrement off of his face. He moved back into his fighting stance and gave Alex a look that was meant to be stern but appeared kind of pathetic, with his eyes red and puffy. It didn’t matter how tall and imposing someone was; they couldn’t look stern after spending several minutes bawling like a baby.

Azazel didn’t seem to notice this as he continued. “However, do not think that defeating me will be easy just because I do not have my sword with me. Before receiving my sword, I was well-known for my skills in martial combat. My strength was known far and wide. It is how I obtained that sword, along with my rank.”

“Heh, that’s fine with me. I have no intention of losing to you just because you’re some hardcore Angelisian commander.”

Alex took a single step forward but stopped when a jolt surged from his hand up his arm and into his brain. He looked down at his hand, which was being held by another—a delicate and feminine one. Following the hand up the arm and past the shoulder, Alex stared into the face of Gabrielle.

“Are you still concerned for me?” Alex asked. Gabrielle worried her lower lip. “Don’t be. Remember, I promised that I would protect you, and I’ll do everything I can to keep that promise. Just believe in me.”

“Alex…”

He would never know what went through Gabrielle’s head at that moment. She gazed at him with an indecipherable expression; the look on her face was something he simply couldn’t put into words. Yet he couldn’t deny that seeing the normally bubbly girl completely speechless pleased him. It was the kind of pleasure one got from playing the perfect prank.

Then she smiled at him, and it was such a beautiful thing that Alex almost forgot where he was and why he was doing this. He felt lightheaded, which he soon realized wasn’t because of her smile but because he’d forgotten to breathe. No, it was because her smile had left him breathless.

“I believe in you, Alex,” Gabrielle said. “I know you won’t lose to him.”

“Damn right I won’t lose to him.”

Alex gave her a confident grin, to which she responded by squeezing his hand. Then she let go, and Alex steeled his mind for what promised to be one hell of a fight.

Turning back around, Alex moved several steps forward, away from Gabrielle and closer to his soon to be opponent. He cracked his knuckles and then began to limber up, stretching his arms and legs the way he’d been taught. Azazel just stood there, ready and raring to go for the coming battle.

“I hope you don’t plan on underestimating me just because I’m a human.”

“You needn’t worry about that. One of the reasons I attained the rank of commander is because I never underestimate an opponent based on their species. No matter who I fight against, I will always give them my full, undivided attention and greatest effort.”

“Good to know.”

A moment of silence passed between them, like an old-fashioned stare-down from one of those classic western sci-fi holos that had been popular fifty years before. Alex could feel the blood pumping through his body, carrying adrenaline and enhancing his abilities. The world around him became easier to perceive, and he knew the suit Gabrielle had created for him was working its magic.

With no desire to let Azazel take control of the flow of combat, Alex decided to start the fight off strong. He rushed forward and moved into a slide tackle, trying to take out his opponent’s legs. Azazel proved that his Mars-only-knows-how-heavy armor did not hamper his jumping ability when he leaped ten meters into the air, then came down with a hard ax kick.

Knowing better than to let himself be hit, Alex skipped to his feet and got the hell out of Dodge. It was a good thing, too. The ground shook as Azazel slammed his heel into it. The road and sidewalk split like an egg being cracked open, branched, and split some more, creating a network of cracks like a spider web. The cracks traveled to the canal where cement turned to grass.

Alex felt sweat drip down his face. He wisely decided not to get hit by any attack his opponent threw.

While he was staring at the damage done by Azazel’s kick, his opponent launched himself at Alex, pushing against the ground with enough power that his boots left divots in the concrete. He came in with several super-powered punches that rent the air. His fists howled with an almost sentient fury.

Alex contorted his body like a gymnast to avoid being pounded into a fine paste. Even as the attacks missed, his body still quaked as it was hit by the powerful gust that each punch created.

Just how strong is this guy?!

Already understanding that one hit from Azazel would spell his demise, Alex switched from an orthodox stance to southpaw, leading with his offhand instead of his dominant one. He backpedaled, reacting defensively. He ducked and dodged, wove and spun, all the while moving toward the grassy slope, which he slid down, forcing Azazel to follow.

They stood on the grass. Azazel’s next punch came straightforwardly, aimed at pounding Alex’s face like a mallet to sashimi. The attack was obviously a feint. The real attack would undoubtedly come after Alex dodged.

And he was right. As Alex struck the inside of Azazel’s forearm, turning the attack wide, the Angelisian commander spun around and tried hitting him with a powerful back fist that Alex barely avoided by leaning his backward. Even then, he could swear a few epidermal layers had been shaved off his nose.

Azazel launched another powerful straight punch to the face. Alex had already predicted that he would do this. Instead of coming back up, he allowed himself to fall. Pressing his hands against the ground near his head, he tucked in his legs until they touched his chest. With the strength granted to him via his suit, he launched a double-mule kick at Azazel.

Clang! The sound reverberated across the canal. Alex could feel his legs vibrating as he jumped back to his feet. That attack had not felt pleasant—it felt like his joints had been compressed—but it had served its purpose. Azazel stumbled back, off-balance, unable to retaliate.

Acting quickly, Alex stepped to the left. Azazel recovered quicker than he expected and a punch whizzed by his head. This didn’t deter Alex as he reached out, latched onto Azazel’s wrist in a vise-grip, and pulled. The armored Angelisian stumbled forward. Alex used his opponent’s precarious balance to put a foot through Azazel’s instep, ending his foe’s stumbling advance, then launching a palm strike that bounced off Azazel’s segmented breastplate.

“Yeowch!”

A pause ensued in their battle as Azazel watched Alex run around the grassy canal, frantically gripping his now swollen hand and shouting obscenities.

“Holy crap, that hurt! Why does this hurt so much?! What the frack is your armor made out of?!”

“It’s made out of adamantine, the strongest alloy on Angelisia. A human such as yourself would never be able to break through it to damage me.”

“I already know what your armor is made of! That was a rhetorical question!” Alex snapped, blowing on his hand. By Mars, that hurt! It felt like he’d tried to stop a speeding shuttle by punching it.

Alex made a mental note to avoid hitting that armor.

Unfortunately, this left him with a problem.

There weren’t many places on this guy that he could hit; the armor covered just about everything.

The battle started anew, but Alex moved much more cautiously. He spent more time avoiding attacks than he did giving them. With so few places not covered in armor, he couldn’t safely launch an assault until he had ascertained where he could and couldn’t strike.

The face was an option, obviously, but Azazel was so tall that Alex needed to jump if he wanted to hit this man in the face.

His joints also seemed unprotected, but those required precision to hit, and he had never been the most precise fighter around.

What about the knees? They presented a possible chink in this man’s armor, but he’d have to avoid those grieves. Alex cursed. Fighting this guy was proving to be more trouble than he’d initially assumed.

One of the good things about fighting Azazel was that he didn’t have much speed. Oh, he was fast, but only in a linear manner. He could travel from point A to point B quicker than a speeding shuttle, but his infighting lacked quickness. His arms were so long that it took time for him to hyperextend them into a punch, whereas Alex could launch strikes at a quick-fire rate.

Not that it mattered in this instance. Alex could punch and kick as fast as he wanted. It would make no difference if doing so would only hurt himself. Azazel’s armor was just too strong.

Alex realized that if he wanted to defeat this guy, then he would need to use Azazel’s strength against him. No two ways around it. When you couldn’t take someone down by knocking them out, you had to make them knock themselves out.

Fortunately, Alex had some inventions with him that might help.

Getting out his electro-whip, Alex leaped several meters backward and struck out with his whip, which wrapped around Azazel’s left arm. Then he pressed a button on the handle. The whip coiled around the arm, tighter and tighter until not even Azazel could pry it off, though that didn’t stop his opponent from trying.

“What kind of weapon is this?!”

“Ha-ha-ha! How do you like my electro-whip?” Alex couldn’t help but gloat. “It contains a pulse-field generator that I can use to create a combination of different effects. Right now it’s being used as a magnet. Your adamantine suit might not be a known alloy to humanity, but it’s clearly made of similar ionic bonds, which means you’re now trapped.”

His electro-whip didn’t just shock things. He could change the settings based on what effect he wanted, whether that was zapping people with electricity or bonding alloys together through magnetism.

“So you say, but you seem to have forgotten something.”

“What’s that?”

“I am an Angelisian, and we’re well-known for being some of the strongest beings in the galaxy. Our physical strength is second to none. We can lift and throw several tons without breaking a sweat.” Azazel’s smile made Alex feel like someone had dropped a lead ball in his gut. “How much do you think you weigh?”

“Um, about seventy-nine kilograms… oh crap!”

“ARGG!”

“WAAAAHHH!”

Yanking his arm back, Azazel pulled Alex right off his feet. Alex’s stomach dropped to his shins as he flew toward Azazel like a heat-seeking missile. He screamed his head off as wind whipped by his face. His eyes watered and tears streaked across his vision, the wind stinging his corneas.

“Take this! Ha!”

Alex coughed up blood and bile as he found a fist planted into his stomach. Azazel hadn’t even punched him; he’d simply held out his fist and let Alex’s own momentum do all the work. Alex had practically impaled himself!

“Do you see the difference in our strength now?” Azazel asked as Alex weakly gripped the man’s forearm. His insides felt all squishy, and he was sure that something had broken. “A human such as yourself could never hope to protect Princess Gabrielle. You have no special powers, no unique abilities, and your physical qualities are laughable. Though I’ll admit you are not unskilled at fighting, and you are stronger than I imagined a human to be. However, it doesn’t change the fact that you lack the strength that King Lucifer is looking for in one of Princess Gabrielle’s marriage candidates.”

“…” Alex mumbled under his breath, the sound coming out more like a wheeze than spoken words.

Azazel frowned. “What was that?”

“I said…” His grip on Azazel’s forearm loosened. “… Don’t underestimate me!”

Alex’s grip inexplicably tightened as he used the outstretched arm as a bar to swing himself around and launch a double-heel kick that smashed into Azazel’s face. The sound of a nose breaking was like music to his ears, but he wasn’t done yet.

He let go of the arm while Azazel stumbled backward. Using the strength granted to him by his suit, Alex dug his hands into the grass and lifted his legs until his body was parallel to the ground. Then he hooked his feet behind Azazel’s knees and pulled back with a strong, swift yank.

Just like any bipedal mammal, an Angelisian had several weaknesses. One of them was the joints. When Alex pulled his legs back, the joints they were hooked behind came with them, and Azazel fell onto his back with a loud thud.

Alex leaped into the air and tried to end the fight by smashing his feet onto the prone Azazel’s face. It didn’t work. Azazel rolled out of the way. The ground didn’t crack when he hit it as it did with Azazel’s heel drop, but when Alex pushed himself off the ground and into a bull-rush, deep imprints showed where he’d been standing.

As Alex rushed forward, Azazel launched a punch meant to ring his bell, but he avoided it by tucking himself into a forward roll. The wet ground rubbed his back as he came up from his roll. He landed in a crouch and lashed out with another hook that was meant to take out Azazel’s legs.

Azazel didn’t allow this. He moved back, and then came in with a stomp that smashed into the grassy earth, but Alex leaped backward and yanked out his whip. A quick flick of his wrist caused the light particles to wrap around Azazel’s leg. Then Alex yanked on it. Hard.

“Oh, this is not goOD!”

Whoof! Azazel’s head hit the ground. Alex grinned. His opponent must have been seeing stars by now.

Not one to miss such a golden opportunity, Alex leaped into the air, soaring at least fifteen meters above ground, and then landed feet first on Azazel’s face.

The ground cratered around them as if a meteor had struck it. Dust and debris exploded like a miniature hydrogen bomb going off. Azazel’s legs and arms jerked like they were suffering intense muscle spasms.

Alex jumped off his opponent and landed a meter away from his fallen foe. His breathing was heavy, his chest ached with sharp pains, and his legs were shaking. He really hoped that his last attack had finished Azazel off.

“D-did I win…?”

“He-he-he…”

“Eh?”

Eyes widening in shock, Alex watched as Azazel climbed to his feet. His armor had several grass stains, though it remained otherwise unscathed, and his face looked a little battered. Blood leaked down his nose, clearly broken, and a crimson trail dribbled down the left corner of his mouth, which he wiped away.

He was smiling. “It appears that you are more than just some random human that Princess Gabrielle has chosen as her champion. You are indeed a skilled adversary. I am surprised by how strong you are. I did not know humans could generate that much power.”

Alex wondered if he should inform Azazel that they couldn’t, that he was only this strong because of Gabrielle’s suit.

“However, do not think that you will be able to defeat me with such weak attacks. It’s just as I told you, I am a commander of the Angelisian army. A love tap like that won’t be enough to defeat someone such as myself.”

So, this guy was basically saying that his last attack, which was the cleanest hit that Alex had landed thus far, not to mention his most powerful, was not enough? Oh, that was just lovely. He so wanted to fight against someone who could take his best attack and get right back up like it was a bug bite.

And was it just him, or were Azazel’s eyes glowing a demonic shade of red?

“Now then, I believe it is time for me to take the kid gloves off.”

Alex groaned. “I do not like the sound of that.”

“Here I come!”

“EEK!”

Alex bolted when Azazel shot forward like a human—Angelisian—bullet. Only the heightened reflexes given to him by the suit allowed him to avoid becoming a human pancake when Azazel tried to steamroll over him.

He rolled to the left, coming up on his feet, and tried to wrap his whip around Azazel’s leg again. Unfortunately, Azazel was moving much too fast. Instead of his foe tripping, Alex found himself being dragged along the ground like a dog owner holding onto the leash of an overly enthusiastic rottweiler.

Fortunately, Alex was smart enough to let go, but most of the damage had already been done. His clothes were tattered, his face red, and he felt like a walking bruise. He climbed wearily to his feet, wondering if the way his legs wobbled precariously was a sign of his Vestibular System being damaged or if it was just exhaustion.

Whether he was injured or tired mattered little, as Azazel came back at him. Alex was forced to dodge a series of powerful strikes. Each punch nearly caused him to stumble, not because they hit, but because it was so powerful that it displaced the air. It was a lot like being slapped in the face.

Okay, I’m exhausted, I’m injured, and this guy is relentless. I’m pretty sure I have no hope of winning unless I can pull a miracle out of my ass.

Yes, his defeat was all but guaranteed unless something happened to change his situation. Did he have anything that might help him?

Some quick thinking on his part allowed Alex to slip away from Azazel. He pulled an object from his pockets and, timing it with Azazel’s movement, threw it at the other man’s face. The object struck the Angelisian and detonated, but rather than release fire and shrapnel, it released something bright pink and sticky.

“W-what is this stuff?! I can’t see! Can’t! See!”

The gum-like substance, a form of rubber cement developed by Alex, covered Azazel’s entire face, forcing the man to drop his guard and reach up to try and pry the stuff off.

Not wasting a moment, Alex launched himself into the air, grabbed Azazel’s head between his hands, and rammed a knee into the man’s face. Azazel’s head snapped back.

Alex landed back on the ground, rushed forward, and leaped into the air, drilling Azazel in the face with a double-heel kick.

Bang! Like an old-school cannonball being fired, the sound rang out like thunder, echoing across the landscape. While Alex landed on his feet, Azazel crashed back-first into the grassy slope, which broke apart. Grass and dirt flew into the air, obscuring the area.

Alex would have loved nothing more than to continue his assault, but that proved impossible when the rubber cement-like substance broke apart after his foe smashed a fist into it.

That was the problem with this particular invention—it only worked for a few seconds before the atmosphere caused it to harden and turn brittle. How disappointing. On the other hand, Alex would’ve been stuck to Azazel during his assault. Alex doubted there would be another chance to use it again. This guy didn’t strike him as the type who fell for the same trick twice.

“Very good,” Azazel complimented as he climbed to his feet. “You are a tricky opponent. I can see now why Princess Gabrielle is taken with you. However, it’s all over now!”

“What?”

Before Alex could do so much as blink, something slammed into his chest with agonizing force, like a dreadnaught crash-landing on top of him. He didn’t even have time to gasp before his entire body soared through the air. His insides screamed as everything blurred around him. Then he slammed into the ground.

And everything hurt.

The world tumbled. His bones were jarred. His back screamed and his head was battered. Dirt and grass filled his nose. He would’ve coughed, but he didn’t have the breath. He was a ragdoll, rolling along the ground like a useless sack of old parts.

With a loud “OOMPH!” Alex landed on his back. His eyes were wide open. The light from the sun was blotted out by a shape, a figure. Azazel. The Angelisian commander descended on him, a single foot extended, glowing a bright red as air friction caused the entire limb to catch fire.

Is this it?

Was this the end? The limit of his strength?

Is this as far as I can go?

So much for his promise to protect Gabrielle. It had been foolish of him to think that he could protect anyone, much less a princess, from people like this. He had been naive in thinking that he could become a hero by protecting her from her old man’s suitors.

So, this is a human’s limitations, huh? How pathetic.

Alex closed his eyes and smiled, already prepared for defeat.

“ALEX!”

A shout penetrated his mind. It was Gabrielle! The desperation in her voice caused his eyes to snap open.

I can’t give up here…

If he gave up now, then Gabrielle would be forced to marry someone against her will. Could he live with himself if he let that happen?

No…

He couldn’t.

Can’t give up…

He wouldn’t.

I won’t give up!

“In that case, why don’t I lend you a hand,” a voice said inside of his head.

As Azazel descended upon him, Alex felt something come over him, a feeling that spread through his body like an infusion of energy. It encompassed his being, engulfing him. He felt light. Strong. Invincible. Like he could take on the whole galaxy if need be. He wouldn’t lose here!

Azazel’s foot crashed against Alex’s right arm. The ground exploded around them. Deep chasms opened up. A crack traveled from the grassy plain to the canal, splitting it apart and causing the water to explode as if underwater mines were detonating one after another.

Azazel’s eyes widened. Alex lay on his back, inside of a massive crater, his left arm raised, blocking the leg that should have crushed him into a fine paste. Instead of crushing him, Alex held the leg in an ironclad grip. His fingers were digging indents into the armored grieve.

“This isn’t possible!”

Alex planted his free hand on the ground, using it to push himself up. He felt awful, as if his internal organs had been crushed. Yet even as he moved into a crouch, the wounds became more bearable, less painful. The adrenaline coursing through him must have been blocking out the pain. He also felt stronger, and that strength grew with each passing second.

“No human should be this strong!”

“Don’t…” Alex grunted. “Don’t underestimate me!”

With a loud roar, Alex stood to his feet and spun around. Azazel, still caught within his grip, was lifted off the ground and spun with him. The Angelisian commander wailed as Alex continued rotating. He moved faster and faster. Everything spun by in a dizzying blur of colors. Then, with a final, ferocious roar, he tossed Azazel away, sending his foe flying.

Alex leaped out of the crater, clothing in tatters, bodysuit hanging off his frame, ripped and torn. The silver veins, the Nerve Synapse System, had gone dim, but it still appeared to be working, as he felt power flowing through him. Several meters away, Azazel landed back on the ground, which cratered under the weight of his armor.

Alex glared at him as he got back up. “Tell me something, why are you so keen on taking Gabrielle back home when you know that her father is going to force her into a loveless marriage? Can’t you see how wrong that is?”

“I do this because King Lucifer has ordered me to return her safely home.” Crossing his arms over his chest, Azazel’s expression was about as serious as they came. “Of course I feel for Princess Gabrielle and her situation, however, the orders of my king are absolute. You do not disobey the man who has conquered three-fourths of the galaxy with nothing but his own power and charisma.”

“So that’s it, then? That’s your reason? You’re willing to force a girl as incredible as Gabrielle to marry someone she didn’t choose because your king, her father, ordered it? That’s wrong! It’s completely wrong! No one should be forced to marry when they don’t want to for the sake of someone else’s convenience, daughter of a king or not!”

Alex thought about Gabrielle’s situation and his blood boiled. While he might have been upset after discovering that her kidnappers weren’t galactic slavers, all of that fled upon finding out about her situation; the isolation, her sheltered life, everything. Her father trying to marry her off was merely adding oil to the conflagration.

“You know, in our history class back in grade school, we learned that arranged marriages were pretty common back on Earth. It was apparently done in order to end blood feuds between families and bind noble houses together and stuff. However, humanity abolished those practices ages ago! Centuries before we even knew traveling the stars was possible! I don’t understand how a galactic empire could use such outdated traditions!”

“Hmm…” Azazel cupped his chin, nodding several times. “You do make a good point. To be perfectly honest, arranged marriages aren’t very common on Angelisia, either.”

“Then why are you going along with this?”

“Because this isn’t an arranged marriage so much as it is a competition for Princess Gabrielle’s hand in marriage.”

“W-what?”

That threw Alex off. A competition? What the heck did Azazel mean by that?

“King Lucifer is the most powerful man in the galaxy. While he does not control all of the galaxy, more than three-fourths of it have been conquered by him, and more planets and solar systems fall under his banner with each passing day. I have no doubt that he will eventually control all of the galaxy soon enough.”

“However, this has left my king in a quandary. He wishes to eventually abdicate the throne, but he needs a male heir in order to do so. However, he cannot leave the throne of Angelisia in incompetent hands. In order to find someone who is worthy of ruling his empire, King Lucifer has declared that whoever can prove themselves to be the strongest in the galaxy will marry his daughter and become king.”

Alex’s teeth were grit so hard he felt blood stain his tongue, warm and coppery and repulsive, just like what he was being told. “You know something? I listened to that entire speech of yours, but nowhere in it did I hear a single thing about what Gabrielle wants. Your king treats her like some prize in a game, heedless of her feelings or what she wants out of life.”

Even though Alex had promised that he would protect her, he hadn’t understood how bad Gabrielle had it until this moment. To think that her own father would be willing to do something like this, treating his daughter like a prize spaceship to be won via shuttle racing. The idea was inconceivable.

And yet, here, before him, was proof that this notion, a ridiculous idea, had clearly been conceived by someone, and that someone controlled most of the known galaxy.

It pissed him off.

“Gabrielle is an outgoing and friendly girl! She doesn’t deserve to be treated like this! Not by you, her father, or anyone else! No one should be forced to marry against their will, least of all her! I won’t let you take her back! And I sure as hell won’t let her father marry her off!”

That was right. Even if it killed him, he wouldn’t let Gabrielle go back to a place where she wouldn’t be happy. They might have only known each other for a grand total of three days, but that didn’t change how he felt.

“If you want to take her back, then you’re going to have to do so by stepping over my corpse!”

On any other day, Alex would have laughed at the dumbstruck expression that crossed Azazel’s face, but not today. His body was feverishly hot after hearing about how callously these people acted toward Gabrielle’s feelings.

Gabrielle, who was bright and cheerful, never seeming to let anything get her down…

Gabrielle, whose keen intellect was more than a match for his own…

Gabrielle, sheltered and naive, a person who would undoubtedly be taken advantage of in a marriage of convenience…

This wasn’t even about being a hero anymore. This was about a girl his age being forced to do something that she didn’t want to by a father who was never there for her. What kind of man would he be—no, what kind of person would he be if he listened to this nonsense and let Gabrielle go without a fight because it wasn’t any of his business?

Not a very good one, Alex decided.

Azazel didn’t speak for several seconds. “Why are you willing to go so far for Princess Gabrielle? You can’t have known her for more than a few days.”

“I fail to see how that matters. Still, if you want to know the reasons I’m doing this, then I’ll be more than happy to tell you. I’m willing to protect Gabrielle because I know that what her father is doing is wrong, and I’m not the kind of person who will just stand aside when someone needs my help. I’m doing this because Gabrielle is an amazing girl and doesn’t deserve to be treated this way. I’m doing this because everybody deserves to marry whoever they want, and Gabrielle should have that same choice.”

Alex shook. He felt like his body was being overwhelmed, swept up in the storm that raged within his heart.

“But most of all, I’m doing this because I made a promise. I promised that I would protect her. Do you know what that means? That means protecting her from people who would try to take advantage of her, as well as keeping her safe from bodily harm. I won’t let anyone harm a single hair on her head, and I certainly won’t allow her to be married off to some douchebag whose only desire is to control the galaxy.”

Alex set himself in a fighting stance. A fire lit within his heart. Determination. Resolve. A will of steel forged by his belief in what he was doing. He wouldn’t let this man take Gabrielle back to her caged lifestyle, no matter what.

“So come on, Commander of Angelisia. If you want to take Gabrielle back, you’re going to have to go through me, and I can promise you that I won’t go down easily.”

“Alex,” a voice said behind him.

Alex turned around. Gabrielle stood not even half a meter away, her eyes never leaving his face. Tears gathered in those eyes, and though none fell, the waterworks appeared to be minutes away.

“I…” Gabrielle sniffled, wiping her eyes, overcome with emotion. “You really are an amazing guy. Even though I’ve been nothing but trouble, you promised you would protect me and are even fighting against Azazel for me. You even understand exactly how I’m feeling.”

And suddenly, as if a switch had been flipped, Gabrielle smiled and clenched her left hand into a fist, eyes blazing like an exploding spaceship.

“But you don’t have to worry about fighting alone. I’m not gonna let you do all the work. I can help out!”

“Eh?”

Gabrielle ignored Alex’s confused stare and moved to stand in beside him. She glared at Azazel, who stared at her, the stupid look on his face matching Alex’s emotional state perfectly.

Gabrielle placed her hands on her hips. “It’s just like Alex said. I want to live my own life. There are so many things that I want to do, like eating more of Alex’s food and making more inventions with Alex… oh! And I still have to try that strawberry cheesecake parfait!”

Azazel looked even more confused. “Strawberry what now?”

Alex just snorted. What an odd girl.

“And I want to choose my own husband, too. I don’t wanna marry someone that I don’t like.”

Gabrielle turned to Alex.

“Alex, I’m sorry. What I said back there, about wanting to marry you? When I said it, I didn’t actually want to marry you. I just used it as an excuse to make Azazel leave me alone.”

“Yeah, I thought so. Listen, don’t worry about it, okay? I would have said something if your words bothered me.”

Gabrielle smiled at him but pressed on. “However, after listening to you talk about how you wanted to protect me and wouldn’t let Papa marry me off, I think I can—no, I want to marry you.”

“Huh?” Alex scratched his cheek with his index finger, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable. “Listen, Gabrielle, I’m flattered and everything, really, but I’m not sure you understand the whole concept of marriage.”

Gabrielle just tilted her head. “What is there to understand? Marriage is when two people live together forever, right?”

“Well, yes, but there’s a lot more to it than that…”

“Then that is what I want,” Gabrielle declared. “I want to stay with Alex forever, so we should get married!”

Alex wondered at this girl’s sanity. Did she not understand what she was saying? Wasn’t she against getting married?

And what about him? They’d only known each other for three days. He wasn’t all that sure he was ready for marriage. He was only sixteen!

Even if he did agree to marry her, would she still want to be with him five years down the road? Would she not regret marrying him once she knew him on a deeper, more intimate level? What would happen if she learned more about him and decided that marrying him had been a mistake?

“U-ugh!”

Alex froze. Slowly, ever so slowly like a civilian staring down the turbolaser cannon of a star cruiser, he turned to the person who’d emitted the strange, strangled sound.

Azazel had covered his eyes with one arm. Tears were streaming down the man’s cheeks. He was crying. Again.

What. The. Hell?

“It seems I have lost to you, human—no, Alexander. All this time, I kept trying to follow my king’s orders and ignore Princess Gabrielle’s feelings. I knew it was wrong and that she didn’t want to marry, but I ignored her feelings in order to satiate my own desire to remain true to my king. However…”

Azazel started crying harder. Snot dribbled down his nose, which he wiped away with an armored gauntlet, smearing his nasal excrement all over the gleaming adamantine.

“However, you have shown me that I can no longer remain ignorant of my princess’s feelings and that you, a human who has only known her for three days, have proven to understand her feelings even better than I do. With this, I acknowledge your worthiness to marry Princess Gabrielle and admit my defeat. I shall entrust Princess Gabrielle’s care to you, the person who knows her best.”

“Uh…”

“Isn’t that great, Alex?” Gabrielle lunged at him, wrapping him in a hug that made him remember how tender his ribs were. “Azazel’s going to let us stay together!”

“U-urk… yeah, that’s just… ugh… lovely.”

Goodness but this girl could hug. He was sure that she’d just broken something inside of him. Didn’t she know that he needed those ribs intact?

As if fate wanted to mock him, all of the power that had been coursing through him vanished, and the body damage accumulated from his battle with Azazel suddenly crashed into him with the subtlety of an elephant in a space shuttle.

To make a bad situation worse, as Alex crumbled to the ground with an obliviously laughing Gabrielle on top of him, several Mars police shuttles showed up and surrounded them, and a female voice that Alex recognized but couldn’t place blared out from one of them.

“All right, you three! Put your hands in the air right now! Especially you, Azazel! You’re all under arrest!”

As darkness crowded around Alex’s vision, only one thought came to him at that moment.

This is definitely not my day.

Epilogue

The Beginning of my Un-Normal Married Life

Standing in Karen’s office once more, Azazel received a verbal lashing that made him feel almost like he was being browbeaten by his king. It wasn’t his king doing the browbeating, however, but a human woman with a frighteningly harsh disposition.

“I cannot believe you, Azazel! I thought I had made myself clear! I told you to find your princess, gather her up, and leave, not start a fight with Alexander in the middle of the suburbs! Do you have any idea how much public property you two destroyed in your scuffle? Do you know how much it’s going to cost to have it repaired?”

“You have my utmost apologies, ma’am.” Azazel tried not to sweat under Karen’s intense stare. By Angelisia, this woman was frightening! How could a human woman be so scary? “You did indeed say that, however, Alexander would not let Princess Gabrielle out of his care without a fight and so—”

“Enough of your excuses!”

“Ma’am!”

Azazel watched carefully as Karen visibly calmed herself down, crossing her arms under her bust and leaning back in her chair. It was evening now, and the light from the sun had turned a dark orange, the color playing off her face, giving her a darker appearance. Finally, Karen sighed and ran a hand down her tired face.

“So, not only did you wind up in melee combat with Alexander S. Ryker, the one person I told you not to fight, you also failed to take your princess back, and now she’s going to be living with Alexander for the foreseeable future.” A poignant pause caused sweat to break out on Azazel’s brow. “Is that about right?”

“That does sum the most recent events up quite nicely. However, I would like to make an addendum to that statement.”

“I somehow feel like I’m going to seriously regret allowing you to speak, but go ahead.”

“Thank you, ma’am. The situation is a bit different than how you perceive it. You see, Princess Gabrielle has chosen Alexander as the person that she desires to marry, which means that Alexander has officially become a candidate for marriage, and is now a potential heir to the throne of Angelisia and the title of Emperor of the Galaxy. What this means is that Gabrielle will be staying with and eventually marrying him, provided he can prove himself to be the strongest person in the galaxy.”

Sitting behind her desk with a flat expression, Karen Kanzaki stared blankly at him. “Please tell me you’re joking.”

“I am not. Alexander has proven that he understands Princess Gabrielle in ways that I cannot, and he is the only person who Princess Gabrielle has taken an interest in marrying. Such a thing has never happened before now, despite the numerous suitors King Lucifer has placed in front of her. Alexander must therefore be considered a worthy candidate, for that reason alone if nothing else.”

Karen rubbed her forehead. “This cannot be happening.”

“I am afraid this is indeed happening.”

“Quiet you.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Karen allowed the silence to spread out over several seconds. Azazel didn’t interrupt her. She must have been using that time to contemplate the current situation.

“So, what you’re basically telling me is that Alexander must prove himself to your king, marry your princess, and become the Emperor of the Galaxy.”

“In a nutshell, yes.”

“And what will happen if he fails?”

“If he fails, then he will not marry Princess Gabrielle… and he will probably die, likely killed by one of the other candidates.”

“And you’re telling me that there is nothing I can do to stop this?”

At that, Azazel straightened and, for the first time since they’d met, pinned her in place with a glare. “You cannot stop what is happening here. Doing so would be an insult to King Lucifer, and my king does not take those well. The last person who insulted him was forced to watch as his entire planet was destroyed. He was then jettisoned into space where his body rapidly decompressed. I don’t think I need to tell you the rest.”

Karen paled, though she tried to remain strong. Azazel’s respect for this woman rose. “What will happen from here on out?”

“That will depend on King Lucifer,” Azazel admitted. “I will inform him of the most recent developments with Princess Gabrielle and Alexander. After which, he will decide what to do next.”

“You will let me know what his decision is regarding this, won’t you?”

“Out of respect for your position and personal respect for your fierce demeanor, I will inform you of his decision the moment I learn of it.”

“Okay, then. You can head back to your ship and let your king know what’s going on.”

“Ma’am!”

Saluting to the woman whom he’d gained a steady admiration for, Azazel turned around and left, the door silently sliding shut behind him.

Karen spun her chair to look out the window behind her desk. The city was painted orange, towering spires reminiscent of roaring flames. The view did little to soothe her, for she felt nothing but turmoil.

She wondered what would happen now that this situation had spiraled so far out of control. One thing was for sure, Alexander’s life was going to become a lot harder.

“I need to find some way to keep a closer eye on him,” she decided out loud.

Swiveling her chair back around, Karen tapped several keys on the desk and a holographic image appeared, hovering in the air. It was Alex’s Mars Police Academy file, which had a large stamp on it that said EXPELLED in big, bold letters.

I’m beginning to regret listening to those old codgers, she lamented in the solitude of her office.

* * *

Alex, Alice, and Gabrielle sat together in the living room. While Alice sat on the small couch, Alex and Gabrielle had taken the sofa. Despite the furniture being nearly a meter long, they were practically smooshed together, and Gabrielle had both her arms wrapped around his left arm.

Alice was staring at them like they’d grown six heads and were speaking Latin. Her dull expression seemed even more flat than usual.

“So, let me get this straight. Gabrielle is an alien princess, her father controls more than half the galaxy and wants to marry her off, and you have decided to protect her in order to keep that from happening. Is that about right?”

Alex tried not to let his embarrassment show at his sister’s blunt assessment of what had transpired during the last few days. After being scolded by an upset Karen, Alex had decided to tell his sister about everything that had happened. He didn’t want her getting involved, but the situation pretty much demanded that she at least know what was going on.

“Um, that about sums it up.”

“Ha… I swear you are the most troublesome big brother ever.”

“Considering how everything is troublesome to you, that doesn’t really mean much.”

“Whatever. Is there anything else you’d like to tell me?”

“Not really,” Alex said, though Gabrielle seemed to have other ideas.

“Alex and I are also getting married! Isn’t that great?”

Alice raised an eyebrow as she stared at Gabrielle. When it became blatantly clear that the alien princess was being serious, she turned an incredulous gaze to Alex.

“Is that so? Marriage, huh? Should I congratulate you two on your nuptials?”

“W-we’re not really getting married,” Alex tried to say. “I’m just protecting Gabrielle from her suitors so she can marry who she wants.”

“What are you talking about? Of course we’re getting married.” Gabrielle rubbed her cheek against his, sending tingles down his spine that he attempted to ignore. “I’ve decided that I’m going to marry Alex!”

“You don’t even understand what being married implies!”

“Yes, I do. It means Alex and I get to stay together forever!”

“There’s a lot more to it than that!”

“Like what?”

“Like, um, w-well, like, you know… stuff.”

“No, I don’t know. What kind of stuff are you talking about?”

Within his mind, Alex conjured images of something else that came with marriage, something that every male thought about more often than not: Making babies—or rather, the act of procreating. In other words, sex.

“Hey, Bro, why is your face all red? Are you thinking pervy thoughts about your new bride?”

“I’m not thinking about that at all!” Alex denied it in a squeaky voice. “Don’t even joke around like that!”

“Pervy thoughts?” Gabrielle parroted, looking confused.

Alex panicked. “Don’t listen to my sister. She doesn’t know what she’s talking about.”

Gabrielle looked back and forth between the two, her head swiveling from one to the other, showing her confusion to Alex loud and clear. She, fortunately, decided not to pursue this line of questioning, which was good because he didn’t have the foggiest idea of how to explain these things to her. He didn’t want to extrapolate on what acts of passion and eroticism was to a girl who clearly didn’t know what those things were.

“Well, okay.”

“Heh-heh,” Alice chuckled. “I have to admit, even though it’s really troublesome, I think you two make a good couple.”

While Alex tried to hide in his shirt, Gabrielle’s eyes sparkled ecstatically. “Do you really think so?”

“Oh, yeah. You two go well together. You’re both troublesome, so of course you’d make a good couple.”

“You say troublesome too much,” Alex muttered darkly.

Gabrielle hugged Alex tighter, making him groan in discomfort as his wounds from the battle with Azazel still hadn’t healed. It didn’t help that this particular alien princess could give Heracles a run for his money in the strength department.

“Yay! Did you hear that, Alex? Your sister said we make a cute couple!”

Alex’s smile felt strained. “Yeah, I heard.”

“I’m so happy!”

As the night wore on, the trio eventually branched off and retired to their rooms. The sun had set. Darkness had descended. Mars City did not have a moon, so there was no celestial body for sunlight to reflect off.

As he laid on his bed, reflecting on the circumstances surrounding his life, Alex couldn’t help but feel like his troubles had only just begun. Call it a hunch, but somehow, he knew that his situation would only get more problematic from here on out.

And yet, for some reason, I can’t find it in myself to regret what’s happened.

Yes, he didn’t regret agreeing to protect Gabrielle or agreeing to become her groom—even if they were only pretending to be engaged so she wouldn’t have to marry against her will. Even if he had only known the alien princess for a short time, he understood her. He understood her thoughts and feelings so well it scared him. What’s more…

We’ve bonded. In the almost three days that I’ve known her, she’s become closer to me than anyone else—sans my sister.

That night, as Alex fell asleep with a smile on his face, a few last-minute thoughts penetrated the hazy fog that clouded his mind.

Dad, are you watching me right now? Are you proud of me? Have I stepped onto the path of becoming a hero like you?

Even if he hadn’t, Alex knew he would never regret agreeing to protect Gabrielle. And that was because…

… I want to protect her innocent smile.

Thank you for reading!

Thank you for reading the ebook version of A Most Unlikely Hero, Volume 1! I hope you enjoyed immensely!

I know how important your time is, but if you liked this story and have a quick minute, please consider writing a review. Books live and die by their reviews. A book without a lot of reviews will not reach a lot of readers. I hope if you enjoyed this book, you will help it reach many more readers.

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Afterword

If you've managed to get through all the way to the end of his story and are now reading the afterword, then congratulations! You are one of the chosen few who've read my book!—well, I hope a lot of people have read this, but even if only a couple do, I'd still be happy.

This is one of the many light novel-esque book series that I've begun writing. I suppose it's not unusual. While I love a good fantasy or sci-fi novel, there's no denying my love for anime, manga, and Japanese light novels. I've been a fan for years. Recently, I've begun consuming more light novels than I have regular western novels. I guess it's only natural that my writing would reflect this.

Before I go off on a tangent, I would like to take this moment to thank my illustrator. XuanHanNin is someone who I met on Deviantart, and she's done an outstanding job of making my illustrations. I feel a little guilty because I couldn't give her much direction during the process. All I could do was find references and say “something like this, but different!” I don't think it helped much. Despite that, she's done an amazing job making my cover and manga illustrations. I truly hope she'll be willing to work on me for the other books in this series.

I would also like to thank Dominique. This is my proofreader/editor. They were the ones who turned my sludge pile of garbage into a legible piece of literature. Without her, this story would have never gotten off the ground.

It's been five years since I wrote and published A Fox's Love, my first novel. I feel like I've improved a lot since then. Not only does it feel like my writing has expanded and become, well, better, but I also think I've gained some more confidence as an author. This is thanks to all of the wonderful people who've bought my books, read them, and told me they're amazing. Without all of you, I'd never have amounted to anything, much less an author. Thank you!

I know it's selfish, but as a closing statement, I would like to ask if the people who read my book would be willing to leave a review on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Goodreads, or whatever website they bought this book at. It's certainly not a requirement, nor a demand, but it would help me a lot if you could do this.

Thank you.

I hope you'll all give the second volume of A Most Unlikely Hero a try when it comes out!

P.S. Someone once mistook the title of this series for A Moist Unlikely Hero, which I found hilarious.

~Brandon Varnell

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