A Most Unlikely Hero, Vol. 1

by Brandon Varnell

  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 doing. 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 as a result 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 this person looked huge. He must have been at least 244 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. This was 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 then 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 literally 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, geeze. 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 because his eyes were red and puffy. It didn’t matter how tall and imposing someone was. Someone 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 hand—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 in 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 staredown to one of those
classic western sci-fi holos that had been popular 51 years ago. 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 that 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 leapt 10 meters into the air, and then came down with a hard axe 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 then split some more, creating a network of cracks like a spider web. The cracks traveled all the way 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 in a straightforward manner, 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.