“Oh, and Alex?” At the sound of her voice, Alex stopped walking and looked back at Karen. “Be sure to visit Caridna when you get the chance. She’d like to speak with you.”
Alex didn’t say anything. He nodded and left with Gabrielle. The last thing he saw before the door closed was Karen reaching into her desk drawer.
8
Jasmine had been in a foul mood ever since she’d learned that Alex and Gabrielle were engaged. Incensed. That was what she felt, a burning anger that rolled inside of her, causing her stomach to clench.
“Oh ho ho ho! Oh ho ho ho! I cannot believe that little trollop has already ensnared Alexander in a marriage! Alice, why did you not stop Gabrielle from sinking her hooks into him?!”
It was lunch time. Alice was sitting at her desk, eating the lunch that her bro had prepared for her, a standard sandwich with lots of meat and veggies. She was also the unwilling recipient to Jasmine’s rant. She could have left, of course, but that would’ve taken way too much effort.
She sighed. “Because I didn’t even know what was going on? Besides, Bro’s a… well, he’s not an adult, but he’s old enough to make his own decisions. This is something that he’s decided on, so I have no right to interfere.”
“Oh ho ho ho ho! Alice, Alice, Alice.”
Alice twitched. She hated it when Jasmine spoke like this. That condescending “I know better than you so you should listen to what I’m about to say” tone of voice really pissed her off. Jasmine was lucky that angrily lashing out at someone was too troublesome for her.
“Do you not understand that it is your duty as Alexander’s sister and my best friend to keep grubby trollops from pawing at him? Since I am unable to protect him all the time, it is your job to keep other women from getting too close to him in my stead.”
There were times when Alice wondered what she’d been thinking in befriending Jasmine. Yes, Jasmine was a nice person. She helped others and stood up for people who were being bullied, she never spoke poorly of people—unless they were too close to Alex, apparently—and she was always happy to advise others when they asked for help. However, her obsession with Alex was troublesome.
“Look, it’s not like I don’t understand why you’re so obsessed with my bro, but—”
“Oh ho ho ho! You are quite the joker, Alice. My love for Alexander is pure and innocent. Yes, as one who is known as the Queen of Purity, the love that I have for your brother can only be pure in return. Please do not mistake it for something as vile as obsession. Such terms more aptly describe my brother.”
“Well, I can’t deny you on that point.”
Jameson de Truante was unpleasant at best, an obsessive-compulsive freak at worst, and a narcissistic loser with an ego the size of Mars. Nobody liked him. Not really anyway. People just treated him nicely because he was rich.
“Back to my original topic,” Jasmine started.
Alice wanted to facepalm, but that would require effort. “Could we please change the subject? Listening to how my best friend wants to bang my older brother is troublesome.”
“W-wha—I do not want to ‘bang’ Alexander! I thought I told you, my love for him is—”
“Pure. Yes, yes. I know. Your love is so pure. Is that why you have a naked body pillow of my brother at home?”
Jasmine nearly fell out of her seat. Her horrified expression was a sight to behold. “H-how did you know about that?”
“I didn’t,” Alice said, feeling a jolt course through her. Knowing that her friend really did have a body pillow with her brother on it creeped her out.
Jasmine needed a moment to think about that. Alice remained silent as her friend’s face scrunched up, then cleared, and then became bright red. With a quivering finger, she pointed at Alice.
“Y-you tricked me!”
“Yep. It was pretty easy.”
“You’re horrible!”
As Jasmine began ranting about how she should be a more virtuous friend who didn’t trick others, Alice continued to eat her lunch.
This is really good.
Her brother might have sucked at chemistry, but he truly did make the best lunches.
9
“She was pretty angry,” Gabrielle said.
“Yeah…”Alex sighed.
“I’m sorry.”
Knowing that Gabrielle wasn’t to blame made it easier to reassure her. “It’s not your fault… well, I guess it’s both our faults. Either way, don’t worry about it. This happens all the time.”
After leaving Karen’s office, he and Gabrielle had gone back home. Alex’s house was a basic two-story structure that was built to resemble houses on Earth. It had wooden floors through most of the house, a bathroom, three bedrooms, a kitchen, living room, and basement. There was nothing special about it, but it was home.
Alice wasn’t home from school yet. She wouldn’t be home for at least another hour, which meant that he and Gabrielle had the place to themselves. The thought made his insides squirm a bit.
“I still feel bad,” Gabrielle said.
Chuckling, Alex looked up from where he was lying on the floor in the living room. Gabrielle was on the couch, lying on her stomach. She’d taken her shoes off and was kicking her feet in the air, which incidentally caused her sundress, an outfit that she had bought with Selene, to rise, revealing more of her thighs then she probably realized. Not that she would have cared. After all, this was the girl who walked around naked because she didn’t understand modesty.
Alex looked away. “You shouldn’t feel too bad. Like I said, we’re both to blame.”
“Yeah, I know.” Gabrielle paused. “Are you going to see Caridna?”
“I don’t think I have much choice. Whatever she wants to talk to me about, it must be important.”
Gabrielle hummed. “Hey, Alex?”
“Yeah?”
He turned his head to face her. Gabrielle’s bright smile made him think of multicolored rainbows that appeared after an ion storm had passed.
“I had a lot of fun today,” she told him.
He returned her smile with one of his own.
“Yeah,” he said. “Me too.”
CHAPTER 5
THE PUPPET MASTER
Alex had decided to meet with Caridna on Saturday. The reason being that school was out, which meant there wouldn’t be any students present at Atreyu Academy, which was their designated meeting point. Alex didn’t want to run into any old faces. While he’d already met Ryoko and Serah again, he didn’t think he could deal with the shame of people finding out that he’d failed to become a police officer.
The other reason was because Gabrielle was sleeping over at Selene’s, and Alice had gone to Jasmine’s. He didn’t need to worry about them somehow getting caught up in this. Gabrielle was stronger than she looked, and Jasmine had Madison, who could also act as a personal defense robot as well as a maid.
Caridna was waiting for him at the front gate when he arrived. She was wearing an amused grin, which caused a shiver to run down his spine. “You really are a mountain of trouble, aren’t you?”
“Spare me the lecture,” Alex begged.
“Hee-hee. Don’t worry. I’m not strict like my sister-in-law, and I honestly don’t care about what sort of trouble you get up to, or how much credits’ worth of property damage you cause. I’m not with the special forces anymore, remember?”
“I remember.”
Caridna Tepes had been a former member of Anti-Matter, a group founded by his father. The group was currently inactive because the current situation was so peaceful, but when they’d been active, their job had been one of the most dangerous within the IPF. Caridna had told him in confidence that they’d taken jobs that were so dangerous that someone would have had to be mentally unstable to take them and expect to survive.
I wonder what that says about my old man…
“Good. Now, follow me,” said Caridna.
Alex followed Caridna into the school. They walked down several halls, their
feet tapping against cold blue tiles. He tried to keep track of the numerous warp points that they took, but it was impossible. Eventually, after a number of confusing twists, turns, and warps, they arrived in what almost looked like a war council chamber.
The chamber was large, had bright lights hanging overhead, and was longer than it was wide. With its off-white carpet and walls, it reminded him of a debriefing room.
“Pull up a seat,” Caridna ordered.
Alex looked at the chairs, which sat along the floor in rows of seven. There were no tables, but there was a podium at the front and several lockers in the back. Alex chose to sit in the front row while Caridna moved to the stage upon which the podium sat.
She sat on the stage’s ledge. Alex gave her a look. She noticed it and shrugged. “What? I’m short. Sometimes I like feeling my feet touch the floor when I sit down.”
“Ah,” Alex said before going silent.
“Now, I bet you’re wondering why I called you here.”
“The thought did cross my mind, yes.”
“Smart ass doesn’t suit you. Anyway, the reason I asked for you is because we’ve located the puppeteer who attacked you.”
Now that got his attention.
“R-really?”
“Yes, really.”
Fiddling with her IDband, Caridna activated a holographic projector, which appeared over the podium before enlarging so that Alex could make out the details more clearly.
The holographic image was of a tiny room with no windows, a gray floor and walls, and nothing that really stood out. It wasn’t the room that was important anyway. It was the creature within it.
Looking at it like this, the jāhilīyahn really did look like a bipedal insect. Its two legs were triple-jointed. Arms shaped like scythes ended in hands that had ten dexterous fingers, which also had multiple joints themselves. Multi-faceted eyes sat on its bulbous head, which twitched and swiveled in ways that a human head never could. Green skin. Ridgy outcroppings. Chitinous. Yes, insectoid was the perfect way to describe this creature.
Caridna Tepes was grinning as she elaborated, “this image was taken just yesterday. As you can see, the jāhilīyahn has taken up residence within the lower city. This room is in one of the power distribution plants that were abandoned after Mars City built the outer district. We have the exact location, so all you need to do is go there, beat him black and blue, and then bring him to us so that we can deport him.”
“That’s going to be easier said than done,” Alex mumbled.
He remembered how skilled that puppeteer had been. Alex hadn’t won so much as gotten lucky. If it weren’t for Gabrielle’s timely arrival, he might have even been killed.
“True.” Caridna’s smile reminded him of a predator, all teeth. “But isn’t taking down tough opponents like this is what makes all of the pain you were put through before worthwhile?”
1
“This is so delicious!”
Gabrielle was in heaven. She’d gone over to Selene’s earlier that day, and she and her new friend had spent that time doing a whole bunch of fun activities. They’d gone window shopping with Serah and Ryoko, then went to see a new holodrama, and after coming back to Selene’s house, they ate a wonderfully delicious meal.
“I’m so happy that you enjoy my cooking,” Mrs. Metronome tittered. She seemed inordinately pleased with herself. “Selene and Marus never compliment me on my cooking anymore.”
“I compliment you plenty on your cooking,” Mr. Metronome protested.
“When was the last time you said anything good about my cooking?”
“It was, um, I think it was…”
“Two years ago,” Mrs. Metronome said. “And that was about my desserts for the shop, not my home-cooked meals.”
Mr. Metronome looked away and began whistling. Mrs. Metronome clicked her tongue, while Selene giggled.
Leaning over, Selene whispered in Gabrielle’s ear. “Mom is a really good cook. She’s actually the one who taught Alex how to cook.”
“Really?” Gabrielle asked.
“Yep.”
“So cool!”
After dinner, Selene led Gabrielle to her room. She hadn’t known what to expect from her friend’s room. The walls, ceiling, and floor were all white. There were a lot of holographs on display, images of what appeared to be Selene as she grew up. Alex was prominently featured in many of those holographs, reinforcing the fact that he and Selene were childhood friends.
“Ah!” Gabrielle gasped as she spied one particular holograph. “Is that Alex when he was little?”
Selene looked at the picture, and then nodded. “Yeah, that’s Alex when he was… I wanna say… four? Back then, his parents were still alive. He was a lot more cheerful than he is now.”
“Really?”
The image that had captured her attention was one that featured both Alex and Selene. The two were wearing shorts and T-shirts that were dirty and scuffed, as though they had been running around outside. They wore wide, matching grins, and Selene was carrying something in her hands.
“What’s that thing you’re holding?”
“Hm? Oh! That’s a dishboard puck,” Selene said. Gabrielle didn’t know what a dishboard was, but thankfully, Selene seemed to realize that and explained. “Dishboard is a game where four people play on teams of two. Each team is given a pair of pucks, which they have to launch across the board. The goal is to knock your opponent’s pucks off the board, while also getting your own pucks to the other side. Pucks use hover technology to float and jets to move around.”
“That sounds really fun,” Gabrielle said. “I didn’t know you played sports, Selene.”
“I don’t play anymore,” Selene admitted. “Alex and I used to play when we were younger, but he stopped after his parents died. I had played for a while after that, but it wasn’t quite the same after Alex quit, so I eventually stopped playing.”
“Oh…” Gabrielle wasn’t sure what she should say to that, but she felt the need to say something. “That sucks.”
Selene shrugged. “It’s fine. That’s just how things worked out. Anyway, why don’t I show you some more holographs of Alex when he was a kid?”
“Yes, please!”
Gabrielle plopped down on the floor as Selene dug through her dresser before eventually pulling out a large flat disc with a lens in the center. She set the disc in front of Gabrielle and pressed a button. A large holographic image appeared. It was of Selene and Alex, again, when they were much younger, maybe five or six, Gabrielle had to guess. It looked like they were building a fortress out of pillows.
“Oh! You really are true childhood friends!”
Selene laughed. “Well, we did grow up together.”
“It must be nice to have a friend that you’re so close to,” Gabrielle said.
“Do you not have any childhood friends?”
“I do have one... I think.”
“You think?”
“Erm, well. It's been about ten years since I've seen him. His family came to visit Papa once, and we played for about a month during that time, but then he went away and I never saw him again.”
Gabrielle had told Selene in confidence that she was the princess of the galaxy because they were friends, and she didn’t want to keep secrets from her friends. Selene had been skeptical—until Gabrielle had shown her some Angelisian technology. After that, Selene seemed to have accepted that Gabrielle was an alien princess whose father controlled most of the galaxy.
“It must be tough being a princess.”
“I guess so.” Gabrielle stared at the holographic image as it switched from Alex and Selene playing dishboard to them taking a bath together. Alex was really cute as a child. “I never really thought about it much, but my mamas and Papa were always pushing me to study and learn about being a princess and stuff. It was really boring.”
It had also been lonely. Gabrielle still remembered how she’d been confined to the palace for most of her life. A good portion o
f her time had been spent with tutors or her running away from those tutors. Azazel had almost always caught her back then, but that was because she hadn’t been experienced in the art of running away.
“I’ll bet,” Selene said. “Anyway, do you want to see more pictures?”
“Yes!”
A chuckling Selene stood back up and walked over to the drawer again. Gabrielle felt excitement bubbling up inside of her. Having a friend who she could spend time with was the best!
2
It hadn’t been that long since Alex had gone to the lower city in search of Andre Killick of the Black Panthers, but despite only a few weeks—two, Alex believed—having passed since then, it felt like months to him.
Because of what he was there to do, Alex was wearing his crisis suit. Of course, he planned on wearing it every day now, even when he didn’t need to. One could never be too sure these days. After all, hadn’t he just finished running into two marriage candidates within as little as a day of each other? He had. Therefore, the suit was there to stay.
Strapped across his lower back and thighs were several pouches full of gadgets that he believed would help him defeat the jāhilīyahn… prince something or other—he couldn’t remember the name.
The lower city was a lot different than the upper city. The sun was nearly invisible down there thanks to the many walkways above it that blotted out the sky. Buildings were spaced more closely together, making everything look more like a series of corridors instead of walkways. Grease stained the durasteel floors and a number of lower city denizens walked with their heads low and their backs stooped.
That was definitely the biggest difference between the lower and upper cities: Its inhabitants. Citizens of the lower city possessed a melancholy about them, which hovered around them like a figurative cloud of smog. It was almost suffocating.
Crime in the lower city was hard to regulate. Mars City had a population of over 3.6 million. Most of those people lived in the lower city, which was a congested mesh of buildings and walkways. With so many people in such an overpacked space, it was hard for the police to properly regulate crime.
A Most Unlikely Hero, Vol. 2 Page 16