A Most Unlikely Hero, Volume 10: A Most Unlikely Hero, #10

By Brandon Varnell

BEING A HERO ISN'T EASY WHEN YOU'RE ATTACKED BY TERRORISTS!

Alex returns home with Ariel and Michelle, now members of his ever-growing family. While Gabrielle is ecstatic to learn that her sisters will be joining her, Kazekiri becomes even more conflicted.

While matters at home are coming to a boil, matters abroad have already reached the boiling point.

Karen Kanzaki has been temporarily suspended from the Mars Police Force, a terrorist attacks Alex and Nyx while they're out of the house, and a group of unknown alien assailants enacts a hostile takeover of Atreyu Academy.

It's too much of a coincidence that all these problems have cropped up at the same time. But who is causing them and for what purpose? Alex will have no choice but to find out the hard way, and he may not like what he discovers.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brandon Varnell
• Release date: Jun 14, 2022
• ISBN: 9781951904562

Book preview

A Most Unlikely Hero

A Most Unlikely Hero

Volume 10

Brandon Varnell

Illustrated by

XuaHanNin

Kitsune Incorporated

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.

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A Most Unlikely Hero, Volume 10

Copyright © 2022 Brandon Varnell & Kitsune Incorporated

Illustration Copyright © 2022 XuaHanNin

All rights reserved.

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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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The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use the material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact the publisher. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

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To see Brandon Varnell’s other works, or to ask for permission to use his works, visit him at:

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Website : www.varnell-brandon.com

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Patreon: Brandon’s Patreon

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ISBN: 978-1-951904-55-5 (paperback)

978-1-951904-56-2 (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:

Julian Sanchez; Josh Burnham; ben c; MGeo90; AceandTanis; Drunkenbiker; Zeus aka Matt; Jacob Brokenwolf; John Snoopy Henson; Saber The fox; Jonathan Kautz; Alec Watson; Zach Ulbright; Damen Hailey; cj savage; Kconraw; Charles Savage; Gingy; Mana & Steel; Brendan Kane; Max; randgofire23; MrRedSkill; Thomas Oconnell; Yuno; Chett Nialo; Jordan McDonald; Robert Shofner; Alex Burt; Green and Magenta Beast; Paigeon; Tanner Lovelace; Daniel Glasson; robert warnes; Forrest Hansen; TheGothFather72; Christopher Gross; Joshua Kern; Edward Grindle; IronKing; Brendan Smiley; Bryce McClay; Mark Frabotta; Raymond T; Samuel Donaldson; Bruce Johnson; Nathan S; Thomas Jackson; Sean Gray; Chace Corso; ToraLinkley

Dominic Q Roddan; Rafael; Philip Hedgepeth; Aaron harris; max a kramer; victor patrick bauer;

William Crew; Aesh; Michael Moneymaker; Seismic Wolf

Contents

Proglogue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Interlude I

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Interlude II

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Interlude III

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!

Proglogue

Conference of Fools

Karen Kanzaki did her best not to glare at the people sitting at the long table in front of and across from her. She was in a large conference room inside of the space barge that surrounded Mars. Lights from overhead brightly lit the room, reflected off the glossy black table, and illuminated the twelve faces of the people staring at her with stern expressions that only served to piss her off.

The people sitting around this table, looking at her like she had done something wrong, were the most powerful people within the Galactic Defense Force—ostensibly.

The Galactic Defense Force, also known as the GDF, was the governing/military body that controlled the Sol System. They created policies regarding trade between planets and colonies, civilian laws, military applications, and basically everything else. Each colonized planet had its own GDF outpost, which was where laws and policies regarding any number of matters for that particular planet were created. They even had bases set up in asteroid belts, moons, and man-made colonies to control trade routes. There was also a garrison of soldiers stationed within each domed city. The GDF’s main base of operations was, of course, Earth, the home planet of humans in this solar system.

Consequently, the Galactic Police Force, known as the GPF, of which the Mars Police Force was a branch, was just another offshoot of the GDF. In other words, these people were basically her bosses.

Karen Kanzaki, there have been many rumors flying around about your negligence regarding the reckless actions of a boy named Alexander S. Ryker.

The man who had spoken was rail-thin. Karen could have easily snapped him in half. She would have said he looked like a toothpick if that wasn’t insulting to toothpicks. He wore a black and white military uniform with tassels hanging from his shoulders. Dark hair and sharp eyes made up his most prominent features. They were set on a gaunt face that made her think of a corpse. His ghostly pale skin didn’t help assuage this impression. Oddly enough, his hands, which were clasped together and resting on the table, were quite large, making them seem disproportionate to the rest of his body.

Fleet Admiral Akihiko was not a man to be underestimated despite his frail appearance. Karen knew little about the man beyond what she had seen from him during meetings and on the holonet, but what little she did know put her on edge.

We’ve received numerous reports regarding this child. As he spoke, Akihiko’s aide, a woman in a business suit, typed something on her tablet. A holographic projection appeared on the table. It was of a young man with messy, swept-back black hair, blue eyes, and silver bangs. According to all of these reports, Alexander S. Ryker has been charged with numerous counts of destruction of private and public property. Current records estimate that he alone has close to two billion credits’ worth of damage.

Is this true? asked another person, a woman this time. Like the Fleet Admiral, she wore a black and white military unitard, but unlike Akihiko’s, this one conformed to a generous body that many would have called sinful. Red hair ruffled slightly as she tucked a strand behind her ear. Staring at the holographic image with her green eyes, a strange gleam emanating from them, the woman wetted her lips before turning to look at Karen. This woman, Anastasia Pierce, was the Master Chief Petty Officer.

Karen hesitated for exactly half a second. It is true, but we of the Mars Police Force have done our best to—

We do not care to hear your excuses, Anastasia interrupted with a dangerous smile. A simple yes or no would do.

It took everything Karen had not to grit her teeth, clench her fists, or do something else that would give away her anger. She couldn’t afford to let her emotions be known here. These people could easily have her arrested for insubordination, or some other reason, no matter how trumped up it might be. They could make her life hell if they wanted to.

Yes, she said simply, straightening her spine and glaring at the woman, whose only response was to unpleasantly smile back.

I have a report here that compiles all of the incidents caused by Alexander S. Ryker, said a large man whose black and white unitard stretched across his barrel of a chest. His short, blond hair was wavy and bounced as he moved, pulling up several reports on another holographic projection that hovered in front of him. He has twenty-five counts of damaging public property and three dozen counts for the destruction of private property. His total estimates come to about ten buildings and sixty vessels ranging from private vehicles to cargo shuttles. Total cost is estimated at one point six billion credits.

The man who had spoken was Chief Master Sergeant Johans, one of the few decorated members of the GDF’s board, a man who had taken part in multiple skirmishes against terrorist cells disguised as freedom fighters. Out of all the people present, he was the one she wanted to cross the least. However, he was also, surprisingly, the most mild-mannered out of all the people present. If Karen had any allies here, it would be this man, though she didn’t think calling him an ally was appropriate.

He did not approve of her decision to shield Alex from justice.

It is true that Alexander has caused a lot of problems, Karen began in a calm, even voice. Part of the reason we did not immediately expel him from the academy was that it was our hope that we could mitigate his reckless habits and keep any damage he might cause to a minimum.

Alex had not always been the walking engine of destruction that he was now. When he was younger, his inventions had always been useful and worked properly. Some of them had been so innovative that he had been able to get them patented and was now earning a small fortune by selling them to manufacturing companies and mining corporations.

After the death of his father, though, all that changed. His inventions ceased being useful and instead caused destruction. When they didn’t outright blow up in his face, they went out of control and destroyed whatever was in their path. The Mars Police Force’s mental physician had theorized that Alex’s inability to create inventions that worked properly was the result of severe mental trauma.

Alex did not actually remember what had happened during his father’s death. Karen didn’t know what happened either, but she remembered what she had found. She would never forget the sight of the burnt-out wreckage that had been the Ryker family’s house, nor the corpses that littered the interior.

The most obvious corpses were those of his parents. Farone S. Ryker’s body had a large hole in it, traveling through his chest all the way out his back. Nobody could figure out what had done it, however. One person had said it was like someone had applied an incredible amount of localized blunt force trauma to punch a hole clean through his chest, but even the strongest of athletes could not do such a thing. Alex’s mother had been even worse off. Her body had been torn to shreds.

Most of the other corpses had been burnt and were completely unrecognizable, to the point where they couldn’t even identify them. Forensics officers had done their best, but no amount of lab work and DNA samples had been able to give them an idea of who those people were. Either the DNA was too polluted to work, or those people had never existed in the GDF database.

She didn’t want to think about what that could mean.

Alex himself had been lying on top of his unconscious sister. A trail of blood had gone from Farone to Alice, making it clear that Alex had somehow dragged himself over to her. They had theorized that he had been trying to protect her from the flames.

Autopsies about the people present had revealed nothing beyond the cause of death, which was to say that all of them had been beaten to death. Several of the contusions and other wounds on their bodies showed signs of being performed by someone with very small hands—the hands of a child. Nobody knew what to make of that. They had meant to question Alex when he had woken up, but Alex had remembered nothing, not what happened, not what he had been up to the past two years, nothing. He couldn’t even remember what his father and stepmother looked like.

Several attempts at helping him remember had yielded nothing. Every time he tried to recall the past, his body responded with pain. One of the times when they tried to make him remember, the pain had reached such a critical condition that he had begun bleeding from his eyes, ears, mouth, and nose as though attempting to remember had caused physical harm. She had never seen something like that happen before. Neither had the physician who had been assigned to him.

While it was true that one of her reasons for allowing Alex to become a cadet at the Mars Police Academy had been to mitigate the trouble he caused, and while it was also true that she had done it to honor his father’s memory, she had one more reason for letting him enter the academy.

It had been her hope that keeping him close would lead her to the person who murdered Farone S. Ryker. Her reasons were entirely selfish. She did not care about justice. She just wanted to find the person who had killed the man she looked up to as her teacher. Find them and kill them.

However, it had been several years now. The trail had grown cold. Karen didn’t know if finding the culprit was even possible now.

And how has that worked out for you? asked an older gentleman with dark skin and graying hair. He leaned forward and pressed his white-gloved hands against the table as he penetrated her with a stare. Has he stopped causing problems? Have you been able to mitigate the damage he has caused?

You know as well as I that there is no way of knowing that, Sergeant Major Hendrickson, Karen said. However, if we had not allowed him into the academy, I believe he would have caused more trouble.

Had you merely tossed him into prison, he would have never been able to cause problems anyway, Anastasia said.

Are you suggesting we throw the son of Mars’ hero in prison like a common criminal? Karen balked at the suggestion as she sent the woman a withering stare.

It would have certainly solved many of our problems, Akihiko said.

You cannot throw a minor into prison, Karen rebutted. We have laws that prohibit the act of imprisoning minors. At most, we could have given him a parole officer, but I doubt that would have been nearly as effective as what we have been doing.

There are exceptions to every rule.

In other words, they could have created some trumped-up charge like he was too dangerous to let out, or that it was for his own good because he was mentally unstable.

Karen knew she would get no help from any of these people, that no one here was on her side. None of them had an emotional attachment to Farone or his son like she did. They thought only in terms of the whole, that it was fine to sacrifice the few for the many—or so they would lead everyone to believe. Even though she had no evidence of wrongdoings, Karen was certain that most of the GDF’s board was only interested in their own self-interests. She wouldn’t have been surprised if several of them were on some noble’s payroll.

In either event, even if all of these people believed Alex should be sent to prison, she still had one card to play.

I’m still uncertain why we’re even talking about this, Karen said. All of you know that currently residing inside of Alex’s house are the three daughters of King Lucifer, and one of them is his betrothed.

King Lucifer was the ruler of this galaxy. He was purportedly the most powerful individual in the entire galaxy, a man who was capable of destroying entire planets by himself.

Karen didn’t know how true that information was, but she had witnessed the destructive capabilities of Azazel’s flagship, the Dauntless, as had all of the people in this room. Any vessel capable of destroying a one-hundred-kilometer asteroid with a single shot could not be underestimated. Also, according to Azazel, his vessel was not just one of two hundred other ships with the same capabilities, it was not even the strongest vessel in the Angelisian Fleet.

Ah, yes. Gabrielle Angelise, if I am not mistaken. Akihiko snorted. Are we even certain that this girl is who she claims she is? For that matter, how do we know this Azazel isn’t lying to us?

"I have already shown all of you recordings of what Azazel’s ship, the Dauntless, did to that asteroid," Karen pointed out.

Our own ships could also destroy an asteroid, Johans grunted. "Granted, our ships are not capable of destroying an asteroid in a single shot from its main cannon, but just having a strong ship does not mean anything. The main cannon on the Dauntless seems unwieldy and slow. I’m certain we can defeat it so long as we avoid that main cannon."

Are you even listening to yourself? Karen asked with a scowl. Azazel’s ship is one of two hundred similar vessels. What’s more, they have even more powerful ships in their fleet!

You don’t know that, Anastasia said. He could have been bluffing.

Karen turned a glare at her. Are you willing to risk our entire solar system on that?

A thick tension rose in the air as Karen stared at Anastasia, though Karen was sure most of the tension was coming from her. Everyone at the Mars Police Station called her fearless. However, that wasn’t true. These people made her nervous, maybe not afraid, but being near them certainly caused unpleasant feelings to well up inside of her.

Everyone stared at the two of them. Karen tried to ignore the stares, but she could see the disapproving frown on Johans’s face, the crotchety-looking glare on Hendrickson’s wrinkled jowls, and the… grin that Akihiko was wearing? Karen almost broke her glare with Anastasia. She tried not to blink and looked at Akihiko again, but when she looked back out of the corner of her eye, his face was set in the same stern disapproval as Johans.

This is getting us nowhere, Johans finally grunted, breaking the stalemate between her and Anastasia. Regardless of whether or not we can take Azazel’s words at face value, it does not mean we can afford to jeopardize our solar system on the chance that he is lying. We also cannot deny the destructive capabilities of his ship, nor can we deny there’s a chance they have more like it.

Hendrickson sighed before nodding. While it galls me, you do have a point. The fact that several aliens have entered our solar system and wreaked havoc is definitely evidence in favor of Gabrielle Angelise being the daughter of this galaxy’s so-called ruler, though I am still skeptical about the whole thing.

In any case, perhaps we should shelf this discussion for another time when we have more information, Akihiko said. Everyone agreed. Slowly, one by one, the other members of the GDF’s board nodded their heads. Even Anastasia backed down, though it looked like she only did so with great reluctance as if she still had something to say.

It turned out she did have something more to say. Even if we shelf this topic, I believe we should still discuss Commander Karen’s incompetence in regards to the matter revolving around Alexander S. Ryker and his destructive tendencies. More than that, I believe some form of punishment should be given to Commander Karen for letting that boy’s destructiveness reach this point.

What?! Karen shouted.

I agree, Hendrickson said. Given everything that’s happened so far and all of the trouble we’ve faced, especially with the most recent battle that broke out in Mars Beach Resort, I think it’s only right that she be stripped of her position.

Karen froze like water at the polar ice caps. She couldn’t believe they were discussing stripping her as the Commander of the Mars Police Force. Yes, they might not have been getting along right now, but that didn’t mean she and these people had always been at odds. While Alexander S. Ryker had been a subject of contention for some time, none of them had ever cared enough to bring it up, even though they’d had plenty of chances to do so before now. Also, Karen had been the commander of the Mars Police Force for over five years now, and crime rates within Mars City had gone down. Within the last two years alone, Mars had experienced a seventy-eight percent decline in crime, especially in regard to the drug smuggling and sex slave trade.

I do not believe stripping Commander Karen of her position is a good idea. Johans shook his head. Outside of her ill-begotten emotional attachment toward Alexander S. Ryker, she has done an exemplary job of commanding the police forces on Mars. Stripping her of her position will do more harm than good.

You say that, but there are plenty of people who can take her place and do just as good a job, Anastasia said. Karen could have hit the woman when she saw the smug look being sent her way. The chief petty officer was clearly being vindictive.

Petty bitch.

No, I am afraid they cannot, Johans disagreed. Commander Karen garners much respect amongst her men. If we had her replaced, it could create problems among the rank and file, which would only cause further dissension within our forces. That is not something we can afford right now.

Karen wished she could say something, that she could defend herself, but she knew that even attempting to mount a defense of her actions could result in her actually being stripped of her position. This was not the kind of situation where she could act recklessly.

At least Johans is on my side in this matter if nothing else.

Johans was a military man through and through, and he had led his men on several campaigns with charisma and distinction. He had been praised as a man who led through example. Out of all the people there, he understood the importance of loyalty, which was why he knew how poorly the Mars Police Force would take it if she was forced to step down.

All of you bring up good points, Akihiko said, gesturing with his arms for everyone to calm down. I also think that stripping Karen of her position because of this one issue is folly. However, she still needs to be reprimanded, which is why I propose we suspend her from the position of commander for two months. We’ll let her second-in-command take charge during that time. Of course, this is not just a punishment. Karen, I think perhaps you have been working too hard and become too emotionally invested in certain issues. Maybe stepping back for a bit will help you gain some perspective.

Karen closed her eyes and took a deep breath as everyone voiced their unanimous agreement of her being suspended from active duty. Two months didn’t sound like a lot of time in the grand scheme of things, but a lot could happen in two months. She couldn’t even imagine what kind of trouble Alex and his group might get into during that time. What would they do if another of Gabrielle’s suitors showed up? Who would help them?

I have a bad feeling about this…

Karen did not voice these thoughts out loud.

It wouldn’t have mattered even if she did.

1

Just Another Day

One week had passed since Alex had returned home with Alice, Ariel, Jasmine, and Michelle. Of course, they had come home to a disaster zone. It seemed one of Gabrielle’s inventions had gone out of control… again. The entire house had been covered in sticky threads. In all honesty, Gabrielle, Kazekiri, and Nyx were incredibly lucky that the school field trip had been canceled early, or they would have been stuck like that for days.

Alex was also lucky that it hadn’t been hard to get rid of the threads. After extricating Gabrielle, Kazekiri, and Nyx from their sticky situation with his Aura of Creation, he and Gabrielle had used another invention to get rid of the spiderweb-like threads that had covered every square centimeter of the house.

Life had returned to more or less normal after that, though there had been quite a few changes. The first was that Ariel and Michelle demanded more of his time. So now on top of sparring with Nyx, exercising with Kazekiri, inventing things with Gabrielle, cooking with Jasmine, and making sure Alice was on top of her homework, he had added playing dating simulations with Michelle and caring for animals with Ariel.

Another thing that Alex had started doing was helping the girls train. He and Nyx, arguably the two strongest fighters, had allowed Ariel, Gabrielle, Jasmine, and Kazekiri to join them in their sessions. Alex had also told Michelle that she was welcome to join them, but she had declined, stating that fighting wasn’t her thing.

They didn’t train together often. Twice a week, Ariel, Gabrielle, Jasmine, and Kazekiri would join him and Nyx for group exercises and sparring. Alex would have liked to have them do more, but they couldn’t because everyone else had school—and it wouldn’t do for the four of them to arrive at school exhausted, battered, and bruised.

Fortunately, Ēostre had given them a healing tank and agreed to supply them with cura patches. Her reasoning had been, Anything for my cute daughters! (^-^)

Of course, cura patches and healing tanks only