The Negative Man: Twilight Days (Pacific Station Vigilante Book 4)

by Jeremy Croston

  Everything fell together. The electron generator was going to be used to start another war, just with a different ignitor than what Ellison explained to me. My fear was the generator had been tampered with and the effects of Whisnant’s machine would be very different than he expected.

  And, once again, I would be the catalyst.

  The door opened, and another figure walked in—no, two figures. “Bain, it is about time you got back here.”

  I’d met Bain a few times, but this certainly wasn’t him. Mayor Frank Boosman (also known as Ellison Staley) walked in, with Kyle Wonderton unconscious. “He doesn’t even realize his henchman is dead,” Ellison told me.

  It was Boosman’s voice but it was no doubt Ellison’s inflections. “How long, Ellison?”

  “I didn’t want to have to put this emergency protocol into place, but you didn’t give me a choice.”

  Whisnant was still talking, under whatever delusions Ellison upon him. “Each time I think I can’t underestimate you, I sure as hell do.”

  “Let’s cut the chit-chat, I need you to get into that machine and do exactly as I say. A lot of people you care about will die if you don’t.”

  **Becky Wonderton**

  “That doesn’t seem very mayor-like, does it?” Erin asked.

  Boosman, or Volkkenkrüger, or whatever, was walking out of a closed-up City Hall. In his hands were a gas can and matches. Oh my God, he was going to burn the place down! I rushed forward, not even thinking about the fact this could just be a set up, with Erin and Rich behind me. Boosman, seeing us, waved his hand and the world went black.

  When I came to, I saw I was tied up with my two companions and Doctor Emily Robbins. I was the first one to come to, still feeling the haze of everything.

  “Oh good, you’re awake.”

  I looked down and saw Boosman’s face coming from a phone placed in front of me. “What… how?”

  “I don’t have time for such trivial matters, but know this. Your lives are in good hands right about now. As long as Jericho does what I ask him to do, you’ll live.” That’s when the image moved away from his face and down to his feet. Kyle was lying on the ground. “And your husband’s life depends on that, too.”

  When it cut out, my frustrations reached a boiling point. “Damnit!” I shook Erin a few times, but nothing. “C’mon Erin, we all really need you right about now…”

  **Jericho Staley**

  Between the amusing part of Whisnant still under the impression we were having a conversation and that his so-called helper Jeremiah Presley was working for Ellison, he might’ve been the only person having a worse day than me. Good thing he didn’t even know he was having a bad day; I can’t imagine good things happen when presidents are screwed with.

  I was hooked into the suit. “I’m very disappointed that you chose friends over family.”

  “Family doesn’t screw with each other.”

  He kicked the unconscious body of Kyle, still lying on the floor. “You killed his father yet here the two of you are, working together. Shouldn’t that prove to you how weak-willed some people are?”

  All this conversation proved was how weak-minded Ellison was. “You felt the need to manipulate and play God. Sure, Kyle and I don’t see eye to eye, but respect wasn’t just earned, it was given.”

  Standing behind the controls, Ellison slammed down on a button and the building began to shake very violently. Inside the suit, I gripped down on the handles as the platform began to shift and move upwards. The tower seemed to split open as I made my way to the top. As I ascended past the roofline, I quickly fished out the governor and installed it just as Wilson explained. The problem was going to be getting this blast onto Ellison.

  As I settled in with a great view of Pacific Station, Destiny walked out of the doorway leading back into the tower. She studied me for a moment before joining me in the center. “This is how it all comes together.”

  “A true believer until the end?” I asked.

  “A believer in power. Volkkenkrüger has shown me so much and how the world can be ours, but there’s a wild, unpredictable nature about yours, Jericho. Plus,” she added, “I owe you one.”

  I wasn’t one hundred percent convinced that she would truly betray Ellison, but I did have an idea. “If you say you owe me one, then do this one last thing for me.”

  Her eyebrow darted upwards. “What’s that?”

  “Convince Volkkenkrüger to come up here, face me when this is happening. Tell him it’s time to step out of the shadows and prove to not just us, but to everyone he’s ready to own the choices he made.”

  My request seemed a bit strange to her, but I knew she’d come through. “I have to tell you, I’m surprised you asked for such a thing. Either way, I’ll do it and I hope you survive what’s to come.”

  “Me too.”

  She disappeared leaving me to my own devices. I knew time wasn’t on my side as the power levels in this thing were beginning to rapidly increase. I needed a way to move that conductor towards the door if and when Ellison arrived. My hope was his hubris at such a direct challenge wouldn’t allow him to back down.

  My powers were going to be the key to this. Ha, I laughed to myself. What a way to use them one final time, to try and kill the man who raised me, who I killed in cold blood for. Well, there were less poetic ways to end a story.

  I used all the available electrons floating around and supercharged them with as much Stormfall energy as I could. The polarity of the rooftop was heavily negative within moments. Reaching out and wrenching downward with all the negative particles, my last chance was that the metal that made up the conductor would shift with it.

  Just as the machine reached maximum power, Ellison and Destiny walked out on to the rooftop. “How could I deny such a request? Let’s enjoy one last moment as a fam—”

  Our last moment together was my plan coming together. The concentrated blast, powered by the electron generator, fired a thin, narrow beam at Ellison, not the atmosphere as he had planned. It ripped through the body of Frank Boosman as Destiny disappeared to her safe space. His eyes bulged as he realized it was him who underestimated the lengths I’d go to.

  The last expression on his face was on of true defeat. As his body disintegrated into tiny little particles, I’m pretty sure he mouthed the words, Jericho, you’ll always be my son.

  Chapter 29 –

  Friday Morning; Skyline Tower

  It took me a moment to compose myself. I exited the suit and fell to the rooftop—an ordinary man. There was no call from within me, no negative energy swirling around. There was also a calm to my mind. Ellison was gone, for good this time. For once, the people of Pacific Station wouldn’t be waking up to some horrendous tragedy that I was in the middle of.

  No. Little would they ever know, I prevented some sort of super calamity. It wasn’t exactly a role that I was used to fulfilling.

  I didn’t even realize that two more people were on the roof with me. Whisnant was no longer Ellison’s puppet and he pushed Presley to the ground. He looked over at me and realized that the machine was no longer useful. “No… This is all your fault.”

  He didn’t point his gun at me, but rather Presley. The little man tried to snivel out a response but was quickly silenced by hot lead. His head bounced a few times before stopping, his corpse just another grim reminder at the severity of the situation.

  “I don’t blame you, Jericho. Like me, you were a pawn to that crazy old man’s plan. Funny what a clear mind remembers.”

  I tried to get up, but I was like a newborn fawn, jelly-legged and all. I stumbled for a moment before returning to my ass. Without the power I’d known for so long coursing through me, I was all but helpless.

  Whisnant walked right by me and into the prototype suit. “Victory was never worthy of such power. I am and with it, Project Twilight Days can still be complete.”

  As the suit locked in around him, sparks of blue energy jumped off of it. Whisnant had compl
ete control over my power.

  He stepped down, on to the roof. “You wasted so much potential,” he told me.

  “Or I showed a lot more restraint than people were willing to give me credit for.”

  An arc of negative electricity jumped off his gloved hand and destroyed a tree down below. “After today, not only will the country have a whole new respect for their commander in chief, but the world will tremble before me.” He blasted another tree, just for fun.

  “If I had to lose my powers, why did a jackass like you have to acquire them?”

  He didn’t even pay me any mind. Toying with the landscape, Whisnant was starting to get a handle on just what I could do. That was until the foot of Kyle Wonderton appeared and spun into a kick to his face. Kyle landed like a Morning Lynx was expected to, while the president dropped to a knee.

  It seemed Davy wasn’t the only one free.

  With both hands held out high, “I don’t care who you are; no one is harming my city.”

  “Oh Kyle, it is really a shame that even Bain was against me. Knowing you’re still alive is a headache that I have the antidote for.”

  The one thing that Whisnant wasn’t prepared for was that Kyle was the perfect opponent to take him down. He’d studied me and my powers for years when taking revenge was his top priority. Having a newbie running a suit, well, it wasn’t even a fair fight. Kyle ducked and charged Whisnant, delivering a solid knee to the gut. He used his incredible martial art skills to drop a nasty-looking elbow to his neck, seemingly putting the president down for good.

  Only my old powers apparently absorbed most of the blows.

  Whisnant stood up to his full height yet again. “You’re tough, I’ll give you that. But I’m tougher.”

  The Negative Man imposter grabbed Kyle with one hand and discharged a blast into him with the other. The younger Wonderton flew backwards, slamming into the exposed stairwell.

  “Jericho, we need to leave.”

  Destiny.

  “I can’t,” I answered. “No one steals my powers and walks away with them.”

  “How can you fight him? You’re helpless.”

  Maybe I was, but then again, who knew how to defeat The Negative Man, if Kyle failed? That’d be me. My legs seemed to be back to working and I regained my composure and dignity. I might have been powerless, but I was far from helpless.

  I stood right in front of that arrogant jackass, a smile as wide as the city on my face. “You have to be the absolute worst super villain I’ve ever seen.”

  He started laughing at my brazen outburst. “I’d very much hate to make you my first casualty, but I also wouldn’t lose any sleep over it.”

  I remembered back when I was first learning to use my powers; everything was in a straight line. Knowing that, I moved to the left right before he blasted a beam my way. I dodged back to the right, running in a zigzag pattern like they tell you to do if you’re being chased by a crocodile. As I got within an arm’s reach, I placed my good hand on the suit, wondering if my powers would return to me if I made contact.

  They didn’t.

  At this close range, it was curtains for me as Whisnant wouldn’t miss. Except Erin Cieslik dropped from the sky, in his full Titan mode. He crashed into the president, allowing me to get away. The two of them began to battle it out, but my main concern was Kyle. Knowing there was absolutely nothing I could do, I needed to get The Morning Lynx back in the fight.

  He was awake when I got there. “Jericho, what happened?”

  “You took a pretty big blast, but, and this is a big but, if you trust me, we can take him down.”

  He looked over and we both realized that Whisnant was getting a lot better at controlling what the suit gifted him with. “What’s the plan?”

  “There’s an electron generator in this place. If you hit him with the Stormfall, the generator should attract all the power, keeping the city safe.”

  He eyeballed his hand, knowing what happened the last time he unleashed that move. “Is there a chance you’re wrong?”

  “Of course!” I yelled. “But there’s also a chance that madman is going to kill all of us.”

  Just as I said that, Whisnant sent Erin over the edge of the tower. I’d never seen anyone manhandle a Titan like that.

  “Get out of here.”

  It was a command directed at me, but I wasn’t listening. “Nope, we’re in this together. I’ll distract him one last time. Just don’t be late.”

  Before he could rebut my idea, I ran back out into the open. “You’re still nothing but a second-rate copy,” I said, taunting him.

  “Who cares if I’m a third-rate copy, I’m the only one still standing with the power.”

  He lifted his hand up, a bunch of electron charged particles becoming visible. “Is that all you got?”

  Whisnant couldn’t let it go. He could’ve killed me right then and there, but he kept going, increasing everything to levels that I rarely went to. The dark blue electricity cast a dark shadow on his face, exposing him for the mentally unhinged nut he truly was.

  Too bad the general public would never see this.

  Just as he was about to send me into the afterlife, a bright yellow streak collided with him. Doctor Leonard Cooper’s words rang in my head; when a super operating at maximum capacity is hit by a force that has broken the sound barrier, the resulting fallout would be known as The Stormfall.

  The telltale sign of the sonic boom confirmed Kyle had indeed reached the necessary levels. There was a brief moment, the calm before the storm, where we could see the impact. There was a smoking hole in the suit Whisnant was wearing and it went all the way through. The president was well on his way to dying.

  The first blast of Stormfall lightning crashed into his smoking husk, finishing the job. Not even my shield would’ve been able to stop that from occurring. Kyle jumped away in the nick of time, avoiding the potentially deadly outcome himself.

  That’s when the rest came. Strike after strike collided with Skyline Tower, my theory correct. The electron generator Ellison had below was attracting all the power. If built properly, it would contain everything and, when the situation reverted back to normal, could be neutralized. It was just surviving until that moment.

  “Jericho, your destiny is here!” Destiny was back beside me. “Takes what’s rightfully yours – become The Negative Man once more.”

  The temptation was certainly there. Becoming him again would mean I’d have the chance to rule this city, maybe even more, just how I saw fit. It was what I’d always wanted, even if that dream had been born on a lie.

  A strike of Stormfall struck ever so close to us. “I’m sorry,” I said. “Been there, done that.”

  Destiny looked hurt, as if I rebuked her personally. It wasn’t personal, I just was tired of it all. As she disappeared, Erin reappeared at the side of the building, beckoning me to come. I ran as fast as I could, avoiding the unnatural storm and jumped into his arms.

  It wasn’t the most gracious exit, but as a regular old human being, it was the only one I had.

  Epilogue –

  Two Weeks Later…

  “The two motorcycles just turned off 86th on to Highland. They do realize it’s a dead end, don’t they?”

  “Apparently not, Jericho.”

  This was one of the weirdest situations ever. I was back in the chair I once sat in to help The Dark Lion and here I was helping The Morning Lynx. I even called him ML, just because it felt natural.

  Kyle was at least much more pleasant to deal with. “Why don’t you call it an evening? I can handle the rest of this.” Wait, what? “I overheard Emily on the phone saying she wanted to have a relaxing evening, maybe a movie?”

  “You need to stop eavesdropping. I swear I’m not trying to take over the world anymore.”

  The sounds of two motorcycles came to a screeching halt in my ear. Damnit man, I installed a sound dampener for a reason. “And don’t call Erin. Becky’s busy setting up a meeting between
him and his family. Some things are more important than beating up a couple of thugs.”

  Beating up was an appropriate description. The super thugs were trying to duke it out with Kyle and were losing. “Berkheimer is already on his way and these guys will be gift-wrapped.”

  “Rich is close by, helping Reigart with the church rebuild, if you needed a faster getaway or anything. Hell, I think Wilson is with th—”

  I winced as I heard an uppercut rattled one of the thugs. “Phil never henpecked like this. I’ll be fine; see you tomorrow.”

  No one could say I didn’t try. If he wanted me to have an early evening, then I’d gladly hang up the comm. “If you got this, then I’m out.”

  “Good work tonight, Jericho.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Now you sound like your dad.”

  ****

  Driving, something I hadn’t done in a long time. The radio was still talking about the missing president and the unprecedented storm that we caused the other night. The country was in a panic; blah, blah, blah. Little did they know they had elected a mad man, and not the original one that had been offered to them. I would’ve lost a lot of money on the bet no one would’ve been worse than Victory.

  Whisnant played the long game. His craziness was like a fine wine.

  If only he’d been the worst part of all of this. Ellison Staley, why hadn’t you just rested in peace?

  My phone buzzed and the text was read over the sound system through the smart car technology. Can you pick up a pizza? Pepperoni this time and no funny business.

  The moment Erin set me down on the ground, Emily came running over to me. It was at that moment I realized that she’d meant a lot to me. Destiny, the other woman who’d impacted my life, well she’d up and left after I turned down the chance to become The Negative Man again. We hadn’t tracked her down yet, or, well, I should say, I hadn’t given up her location to Kyle. There was a new owner of Bug Tooth Tony’s and for the time being, she’d kept everything under control.