Overlord Brawl: Book 1 of the Neon Octopus Ally Series

by L. A. Johnson

  Ari was very excited about the prospect of the tripped sensor. This city-wide security headquarters had been her idea. She had gotten bored with casino security fast and wanted to think about the bigger picture. Once the Command Center was up and running and everybody knew that it was up and running, it had the effect of keeping the bad guys from even attempting anything. Which was good for the city, but unbelievably boring for Ari. Until now.

  "What is it, boss?" Chip asked.

  "I have no idea," Ari answered, "you're the one who set all of this up."

  "Oh yeah." He ran around to the side of a table where he had a laptop hooked up to a bunch of sensors and sat down. He typed instructions onto a couple of different keyboards and then read the attached screens.

  Ari went around to see the screens herself. When she got there, though, she was disappointed. It looked like all the information was written in computer code. "What is this?" she asked him.

  "It's the data readouts from the alarm, of course. What else would it be?"

  "I mean, why isn't it in standard written language? Why is it in computer code?" It bothered Ari that she couldn't understand what was going on. She didn't remember approving that sort of thing and it was going to bother her until she got it fixed, but for now it was probably better to focus on the emergency at hand.

  Chip took a sip of his blueberry wine energy drink. "Get with the times, Ari. B-minus, minus is the newest mathematical and programming language combination out there. It's fast, user friendly, and very specific."

  "Chip!" Ari said. "Just tell me why the alarm is going off." She made a note to do a quick tutorial on that language when she got a chance.

  "Okay, hold on." Chip squinted at the screen for a moment. "What it means is that there's an organism that has entered the city at an abnormally fast pace."

  "Well, lots of people come here on spaceships or portals." Ari said. "That's a very fast pace, right? Doesn't everybody set it off?"

  Chip wiped his mouth and started typing again, bringing up different screens of information. "Nope. The number we're talking about here is orders of magnitude faster than a plane or a portal."

  "That's not possible."

  "Exactly," Chip answered. "That's what we set this place up to catch. The outliers of outliers. The really, freaky stuff. And that's not the crazy part."

  Ari frowned. "It's not?"

  "No. The crazy part is that the organism is composed of sixty-five percent banned organic materials."

  "Banned organic materials. I didn't expect that one to come up so soon."

  Chip finished his drink and set the cup down. "I didn't expect it to ever come up. Scanning biological matter to find scofflaws in disguise was your craziest idea. Nobody else would have ever thought of that."

  After dealing with a Neon Octopus and a terrifying Preying Mantis, Ari had figured she'd sleep better at night with a system in place to detect and deal with beings like Soda and Mantix right away. Then it hit her. "You're saying that there's a banned species in disguise right here in Vega, right now?"

  Chip finished tapping and looked up at her, eyes wide. "That's what the sensors are indicating. Also, whoever this person is, they just walked right in the Regal front door."

  5

  Kirian needed something to do, somebody to punch. She paced back and forth. On one of the forths, she saw Soda enter the room.

  Soda shot her a dirty look. "Give it a rest, She-ra. You're making me nervous. What's your problem, anyway? It's not like you're running for Overlord."

  "Maybe that's it." Kirian stopped pacing. "Maybe I should run for Overlord. I'd be a shoo-in. Everybody likes me."

  "Sure," Soda said. "It's fun destroying your enemies and everything. But believe me, after that it's work, work, work all the time. Endless meetings. Stupid people. Bad coffee. Is that what you really want?"

  Kirian's shoulders slumped. "Oh, you're right. I'd hate that. But I do want to kill Floyd. And I've really got nothing better to do right now."

  "Great, knock yourself out. Tell you what. You can come with me to Arcturis. I'll work on getting Ray, you can take out Floyd, and then we're all happy. In fact, if you do manage to take out Floyd in the Overlord race, then I'll make sure that you get picked up by a private ‘security’ firm." She held up the end of two of her tentacles to punctuate the word security. "Because everybody knows that all the big political players have professional hit-men, er-women in your case. Then you'll have something fun to do without technically getting into organized crime. Although that's probably always going to be an option if you get bored."

  Kirian sat. "I don't know. I do want to kill Floyd. But I don't want to go anywhere with you. This ship. I've lived here for years. Through Celestial and everything."

  "Then it's probably time for a change. Oh, I never figured you'd miss Celestial. Not for how much you complained about it."

  Kirian drew her sword and walked over to Soda. "Don't push it."

  "Yes, yes. The Celestial program was bad. It was wrong to make people become secret agent slash hitmen on my behalf against their will. Fine, happy?"

  Soda smirked at her. Probably. Octopus facial expressions were really hard to read. She held up her tentacles in a mock surrender that managed to make Kirian even angrier.

  "Look," Soda said. "If you think about it, this idea is win-win. You get to finally kill one of your many nemeses and I get my job back. And I'll finally be off this spaceship. Isn't that what you want? Once you kill that idiot Preying Mantis, you can come right back here for all I care," she said, looking around the ship. "And the security offer will still stand. I'll owe you that. Deal?"

  Fleek came around the corner. "Squishy has a point."

  "I told you to stop calling me that," Soda said, extending a menacing tentacle toward his face.

  This time, expecting it, he swatted it away. "Knock it off, I'm agreeing with you."

  Soda withdrew her tentacle. "Oh yeah. Sorry, it's sort of new territory for me to agree with either of you."

  "Why are you taking her side?" Kirian asked Fleek.

  "She doesn't have a side," he answered. "All she has is tentacles and sliminess."

  Soda glared at him.

  "I mean, what she has is a point, Kirian. You're going a little stir crazy here with nothing to do. I have rock star stuff to attend to, and you have people to kill and a galaxy to re-conquer," he said glancing at Kirian and Soda respectively. "I think you’ll both be fine, because nobody and I mean nobody is going to be able to stand against the two of you together. You're like a slimy, evil, gorgeous superhero team."

  "Ha," Soda said to Kirian. "He called you a sidekick."

  Kirian drew her curved sword again and Soda poised to strike, but Fleek jumped in between them. "Girls. I think you two need to work this whole thing out on Arcturis, not here. A change of location will probably do the both of you good. Go forth and kill and conquer."

  "That does sound better than sitting around on the ship," Kirian admitted.

  Soda tapped a tentacle on the console. "And it would be great to see the look on Floyd's smug face when you take him down."

  Fleek clapped his hands together. "Okay. It's agreed. Make sure to text me from time to time to let me know how you're doing."

  Fleek was overjoyed that he was finally going to get them off his ship. After all, how could he blow the thing up if they were still on it?

  6

  Soda arrived back on Arcturis feeling energized and with a steely resolve. "I'll reclaim my throne," she said. "Then they'll pay. Then they'll all pay."

  Kirian rolled her eyes. "You never had a throne, you were never anything more than an overpaid bureaucrat. I'm surprised you even want it back."

  "Oh, I had more power than you can imagine. I used you as a pawn, you just remember that."

  "Fine," said Kirian, "you get back to your imaginary throne. I've got things to do and people to kill."

  Soda had to admit that Kirian looked extra dramatic right now, wearing her s
hiniest black leather armor. The ends of her long dark hair shined with bioluminescence even in the light of day. How did she do that? And the two of them together, walking down the street made quite a sight. The dramatic, mythical girl warrior and ex-Overlord Neon Octopus. Fleek might be right about nobody wanting to mess with them.

  Soda was her best shade of shimmering blue that contrasted well with the gray and white city streets of Arcturis. Suddenly Soda looked around and noticed that they were attracting attention. Lots of it. In fact, they were drawing a crowd. Circled in now with gawking locals, Kirian paced like a caged panther. It was only a matter of time before she drew her sword. Soda looked around and tried to figure out what to do next.

  Then the very thing she hoped for happened. A thin and spindly guy cut through the crowd with a microphone in his hand. Soda used a tentacle to push Kirian out of the circle entirely before the reporter could recognize her.

  There was a scream of indignation from just outside the circle, and Soda pulled back a tentacle missing the very end. She winced and howled in response to the hacked off appendage. "You'll pay for that," Soda yelled to Kirian. "And stay out of this. It's part of my plan. Now go kill Floyd, I'm busy."

  The reporter and his cameraman glanced at Soda with a quizzical look and then looked around to try and identify who she was talking to, but Soda just fixed her attention on him.

  "Can I help you?" Soda asked innocently.

  "Yes. I'm Carl Tark from the Regulus Daily News. If I'm not mistaken, you're Soda, the ex-Neon Octopus Overlord. Is that correct?"

  "Oh, I'm still a Neon Octopus alright, and I'll be Overlord again soon enough."

  "How do you feel about your competition?" he asked her.

  Soda chuckled. "Floyd? I know that you guys love him right now, but trust me, you have no idea what he's really like. And isn't that what every good political campaign is about? The airing of all of your opponents' dirty laundry?"

  "And what about your dirty laundry, Soda?" The reporter ignored everything she had just asked.

  Rude. There's no way I'm going to do this guy's dirty work for him, how stupid does he think I am? She was starting to not like him.

  She slithered closer to the reporter in an attempt to be more menacing. "Well, you see. That's where I have a distinct advantage. My dirty laundry has already been aired, hasn't it? That, and my natural immortality gives me a distinct advantage in this type of battle. If I were you, I wouldn't bet against me or piss me off, no matter who else joins the fray."

  The reporter persisted. "There's been talk of a violent, scorched-earth political process. Is that what you have in mind?"

  "I'm considering all possibilities, and I'm certainly not going to tip my hand this early," Soda answered. "You'd like that, wouldn't you? And you people would be disappointed if there weren't a scorched earth campaign. You might as well be honest, Carl. Am I right?"

  Carl made a face like he swallowed a bug. Then he recovered. "I'd like to get a quick statement from you about the other Overlord candidates. There's Ray, the famous oracle. You've heard of him, right? Everybody likes him, and we haven't found any dirt on him yet."

  Soda laughed so hard she almost fell over before using a tentacle to steady herself. "We've met." She wiped a tear from her face. "You're kidding, right? About him running for Overlord? I mean, I'm being pranked, right?"

  "I don't think so," the reporter said, looking over his notes. "His name is on the official list. Along with some new guy named Froggy-"

  If the interview had continued, the audience would have seen Soda's eyes get huge at the mention of the name Froggy, who Soda knew from her web vlog the Evil Neon Octopus Overlord Vlog in which she purported to show future evil overlords the tricks of the trade. She was simply fleecing them for money to regain power, though. She shook her head. Leave it to idiots like Froggy to take things too far. After all, you can't believe everything you see on the internet. Everybody knows that.

  The reason that they didn't see her eyes get huge at the mention of his name was because at that very moment a flaming meteor came shooting through the sky with a roar of flame and landed where Carl was standing. The resulting boom and earthquake sent everybody flying in different directions. Except for Carl. Carl had mostly disintegrated in the blast. He simply wasn't going to be okay. He was a marginal reporter anyway.

  As Soda recovered herself and stomped off down the sidewalk, she had two problems. One was Froggy. That guy was going to be trouble. A loose cannon. If anything, he might even end up being more trouble than Floyd if that was possible. And thought number two was an angry Kirian who still had soot on her face from the meteor.

  "What the hell, Soda. We're supposed to be working together," Kirian yelled, waving her sword around.

  "Put it away, Kirian. We’re a team, remember? One, I saved your life from that meteor. You're welcome. You were right where that idiot reporter was standing. And two, the plan is for me to distract Floyd and for you to kill him. How do you propose to sneak up on him if he sees us right here in the middle of town doing a press conference together? And three, stay out of the limelight. This is my time."

  "Fine. So who sent that fireball? Floyd?"

  "Not Floyd," Soda said. "Worse. Way worse. I think it was probably from a guy named Froggy. Things just got more complicated."

  Kirian stopped walking. "Wait. Froggy from the internet? The malcontent from your web show? I told you not to keep fleecing those idiots."

  "Fleecing idiots was the point, you idiot. Here." Soda texted her an address. "That's Floyd's Psychiatric practice address. If you even want to call it that, guy's a total hack. Anyway, go sic him. Make my life easier and give yours some meaning, or revenge, or whatever the hell it is that you're after."

  "What about Froggy?" Kirian asked.

  "You leave him to me. These fools have no idea what they've gotten themselves into. I'm powerful, beautiful, and immortal, remember? Now get lost."

  Kirian's phone chimed as she got the text with the address, and then she scampered down the street.

  She'd have to find a hotel later, but for now she needed a gallon size cup of coffee. She wanted to sit down and review this new anti-parliamentary thing. She found it best in these instances to carry a big stick, but also make sure you have your killer ducks in a row.

  She watched as Kirian made her way down the street without even thanking her for saving her life. "You're welcome, Kirian!" Soda yelled after her.

  7

  "Let's move, people," Ari said, jumping up. She wasn't at all sure what to expect. What if it was just a creature trying to keep a low profile? "Chip, can we track this suspect?"

  "Yes."

  "Down to the exact person? The last thing we want to do is be super disruptive to casino operations." Ari didn't get to her position of power by being stupid.

  "Pretty sure."

  "Well, it'll have to do. Eyes up, everybody, we're going to go downstairs undercover. Keep a low profile and don't do anything until I say so. Got it?"

  "Got it, boss," they all replied, emptying out the door.

  Ari ran out the door with the others. As usual, the mural caught her eye. It always did, it was spectacular. Except this time, it was different. Maybe. She could have sworn that the scene by the door had three spiders. She had looked at it a thousand times coming out into this hallway. Only now she wasn't sure. Because now there were two.

  "You coming, boss?" Chip asked.

  "I'm coming. Hold the door." As she made her way down the hallway, she could see Chip holding the door open. His face was an adorable mix of fear and adrenaline. "Breathe, Chip. It's going to be okay."

  "Oh, yeah. Breathe, right. Got it."

  They made their way down the stairs toward the main door that was guarded by the guy with the tommy gun.

  "How are you going to track this person?" Ari asked, making her way down the stairs.

  "Well, the data from the sensors can be routed to a cell phone. One of the reasons that I used that
new math programming language is because there are more map program options and the extrapolated data can be pinpointed more directly."

  "Smart. I'm impressed. When all of this is over, I think you're going to get a raise."

  Then they were out the door and into the casino. It was crowded. Hordes of tourists flocked every which way. Ari looked at Chip who was looking down at his phone. Then he pointed toward the blackjack casino. "That way."

  "Of course," Ari said, rolling her eyes. Everybody headed straight to that casino. She was happy to be getting a test of the equipment, but she had a nagging feeling that in the end this would simply be another iffy tourist. And those were allowed in Vega. Encouraged even, whether their bodies were made of banned chemical compositions or not.

  She followed Chip, weaving their way through hordes of tourists. The rest of the team was keeping their distance per her orders. So far everything was going according to plan. Ari wondered if the person they were going to find would be completely in disguise, like Floyd, or an invasive species hiding in plain sight, like Soda.

  Either way, for a moment it hit her that maybe, just the tiniest bit, she missed her life on the ship with Kirian, Fleek, and even Soda. There's a weird thought.

  For those few months, Ari had been involved in the overthrowing of an Overlord, the saving of an entire planet, and the freeing of the Celestial warriors. She also learned from Ray that she was part Staar. She helped hold off that jerk Staar bounty hunter Spika and his galaxy crushing fleet until Fleek's dad had come to finish them off. It was hard to go from Galactic mover and shaker to busting casino hustlers. Except for the fact that the pay was better and so far, nobody had tried to kill her. Stop it, Ari. Focus.

  Chip stopped at the entrance to the Tinker room. It was a high roller room with mostly blackjack tables. She knew that going in there would be disruptive.

  "Are you sure the person is in here?" She pointed toward the door. "Maybe the tracker wants us to go through this room and to the other side. Maybe we should go around."