Hilda giggled, a God’s honest giggle. “Valiant, I do not believe this one thinks we are the Masters of Magic they way we know us to be.”
The dofus in the coat gave his partner an over exaggerated bow. “I think a demonstration is in order, don’t you, Hilda?”
I had no idea what they were yammering about. “DL, I’d suggest taking the girl out first. Something about her is pinging my radar for being off.”
I think he was about to take my advice when her blue eyes began to glow. Mist filled just that area, limiting my visibility. “DL, DL, what’s going on down there?”
“Hell if I know, there’s no visibility. Switch to infrared.” There was silence, then a curse. “Shit, they’re gone.”
As the smoke began to clear, not only where Valiant and Hilda gone, but so was the box truck.
Chapter 4 –
Saturday Afternoon; Alameda Apartment Complex
My apartment, my own personal hell. How I hated this low rent place on the south side of downtown, but here I was. Again, another choice made all in the interest of seeing if my foe’s way was better than mine. A foe I was now working with! The irony was not lost on me.
There was no mention of the box truck heist from last night, as I’m sure the government wasn’t about letting it known to the world a plutonium core was stolen right out from under them. The Dark Lion was pissed though; when he got back he lashed out at an old printer in his personal office before coming down to the secret lair. He gave me one order before I was dismissed, “Find it.”
Being given an order from John Wonderton should’ve triggered a rage inside of me that ended with his death. Instead, I was intrigued to see how this played out. Valiant and Hilda were quite the illusionists and they now had the power to level most of Pacific Station and ruin the west coast. What would they do with it? Did they even know how to use it? These questions popped up in my mind over and over again.
My hacking skills were second to none. My first goal was to find out who these two nimrods were. They over-the-top antics and attire suggested they may’ve been minions to someone else; I just couldn’t get their parlor trick out of my head though. If this was a real super powered talent, what they could accomplish was infinite in its possibilities.
Unfortunately, my search turned up nothing that led me any closer to their identity. There was no black web chatter about the plutonium core, no demands being made to the city. It was like one moment it was here and the next it was gone. If I had pulled this job off, Pacific Station would’ve been begging for reform by the end of the night. Fear wasn’t their motivator then.
An idea struck me – what if they wanted to rid the world of this highly dangerous device? I jumped back on my lap top and began searching for environmental terrorists and this path was a bit more fruitful. A year ago, while I was in the middle of my own path of terror, a military hanger used to store missiles was robbed. That’s right, someone actually had the gall to steal missiles out from underneath the government’s nose. The stolen goods turned up two weeks later completely useless.
No one had any idea who pulled off such a theft, but the markers were eerily similar to last night’s vanishing truck trick. With an idea that was getting results, I dug even deeper.
Hours later, and a delivered pizza on my table, I had a name – Heath Munchop. The guy was a complete loser; dropped out of college, had numerous marijuana charges on his record, and two kids he completely neglected to two different mothers. And then I hit the jackpot, I found his license with a Pacific Station address on it.
“Bingo!” I slapped the table. “Maybe I have a future as a detective.”
I had two options here – give this information to DL or go visit Mr. Munchop myself. Seeing as how I had no social life, I figured it was as good of a time as ever to go meet a fresh face. Pulling on my hoodie, I left my apartment and breathed in the fresh December air. Christmas carols were being played in the apartment adjacent from me, as the family was putting up a rather large tree.
According to my navigation, Munchop’s place was only about ten minutes away from mine. Traffic was light on this Saturday afternoon, so I made good time and pulled up across the street. Someone was home as the front door was open, only the screen door acted as a barrier to me.
I got out of my car and hustled over and rang the doorbell. From the large pocket on the front of my hoodie, I slipped out my Negative Man mask and slid it on as a girl answered. “Hello-” She gasped as soon as she saw me. “You!”
“Yes me.” I pushed her away and entered the house. “Where is Valiant, Hilda?”
“H-h-h-how do you know my name?” She was creeping away from me as quickly as she could. “Please, we have nothing to offer you.”
Blue bolts of energy began to spring from my hands. “You have plenty to offer me, like the location of a certain box truck carrying a plutonium core.” Interrogations were fun. “I’m losing my patience.”
She pointed to the kitchen and I walked in, not before blasting her with enough electricity to power a small town. “A pity, you were quite cute,” I said to the smoking husk.
In the kitchen, lying on the table, was a piece of paper with an address. Underneath were instructions to Valiant and Hilda. Valiant was to deliver the box truck to Crosby Airfield this afternoon and meet a contact named Mr. Adam. “I knew these idiots weren’t the true problems.”
Unexpectedly my phone rang. It was John Wonderton. “Damnit,” I mumbled as I hit the green accept button. “Hello?”
“Jericho, how is it going finding out about our two magicians?”
Short and to the point as always. “Funny you should call – I just found out the name and address for the guy named Valiant.” I gave him the information, which he excitedly took down.
“Good work,” he praised me, which seemed a bit pretentious. “Why don’t you take the afternoon off and go see a movie or something?”
I had some fun plans for this afternoon. “I think I’m going to take a drive to the outskirts of the city. Maybe some fresh air will do me good.”
“I’ll call you after I check out the house.”
The call disconnected. I couldn’t wait to hear his reaction stumbling upon this little crime scene. “Well, let me go see a man about a plutonium core.”
Chapter 5 –
Saturday Evening; Crosby Airfield
It seemed I was too late to see the exchange being done for the plutonium core, but good old Valiant was still here. He was counting stacks of money out of a black suitcase, all the while laughing to himself. He was a cartoon, a disgrace to all of us who’d been supervillains.
I slid my mask back on and slowly made my way over to where he was. He seemed like a real jackass, however, as I learned with DL, you can never underestimate a foe. There may’ve been backup or the real person or persons behind this could’ve been lurking. Plus, I didn’t know how his power worked; I probably should’ve asked Hilda before I killed her. Oops.
My fears were for naught. I was right within arm’s distance of his back and no traps had been laid. My worries beginning to vanish, I grabbed his shoulder and spun him around. There was nothing quite like seeing a man go from his highest high to his lowest low in a matter of a second or two.
Instant recognition formed, just like it had with Hilda. “You’re…”
“The Negative Man, ding ding ding, we have a winner.”
His quivering and groveling continued. “But, you’re dead! We all saw the fight with The Dark Lion!”
“Much like you, I’m a man of great illusion.” His face annoyed me, so I gave him just a taste of my power, blasting him back just a few feet. Nothing lethal, yet. “There’s no way around it, you’re going to die tonight, just like Hilda died a few hours ago.”
Oh man, he was a crier. I couldn’t understand a single word he was saying as he began blubbering all over the place. Couldn’t he at least die with some dignity? “Shut up.” He did. “This is how this is going to play out – you’
re going to tell me how you stole an entire box truck and then you’re going to tell me who you sold it to.”
“If I do that, do I get to live?”
Was he trying to bargain with me? “No you don’t get to live, but your death will be instantaneous and not a long, drawn out painful process.”
Psychology has taught me that given the choice between prolonged pain and an instant, painless ending, most choose the second option. Valiant was no different. “What we did was only an illusion. The truck was still there, just invisible, as were we.”
“How did you two do that?”
“Hilda, she was the super. Her power was to make any object invisible as long as it was in her line of sight or she was touching it.” He swallowed hard. “We had an inside man, the guy in the back. Once everyone left, he drove the truck here and we awaited orders to meet the buyer.”
So everyone the green, environmental terrorists who proclaimed they wanted to save the planet had a price. “Who bought the core?”
“I don’t know. They never said their names and they were masks. I didn’t ask questions, not for half a million.”
I probably wouldn’t have either. The money though, that could probably be traced. “Here’s what you’re going to do. You’re going to write a nice long suicide note about how terrible you feel. You also need to tell the world you killed Hilda.”
“I’d never do that!” His face turned green, like he was going to vomit.
“I wasn’t under the impression this was a choice.” I buried another blast of energy into his chest; this time with a little more oomph behind it. “Remember those two options? You’re exceedingly close to option one.”
He pulled out his cell phone and opened his memo app. He went to work, typing as fast as he could. When he was finished, he handed it over to me. I gave it a quick read. “Well, that doesn’t sound too pathetic. Choice one it is.” I supercharged my hand and placed it right on his forehead. Besides the initial spike, he never felt a thing, his brains scrambled.
I left everything right where I found it and walked on out of the airfield.
****
It was later that evening when my phone rang again. It was DL. I answered with excitement, “Did you find something?” I knew the answer to that one!
“They’re dead,” he said with a lot of bitterness. “Valiant killed himself and Hilda. He left a damn suicide note on his phone.”
I had to pull the receiver away from my phone to chuckle a bit. DL was still ranting about how the lead dried up and there wasn’t anything else to do. “The only thing besides his dead body left behind was the cash someone paid him for the core.”
“We might be able to trace the cash, if it’s real, by the serial numbers.”
That glimmer of hope immediately turned the conversation around. “Can you do that?”
“Yeah it’s not –” A beeping noise interrupted me. It wasn’t on my end, so it must’ve been Wonderton’s phone.
It was. “I have a call coming in from a restricted line; hang on.” Son of a bitch! He actually put me on hold. Probably for a telemarketer, too.
A few seconds turned into minutes and I was this close to hanging up on him when the line clicked back over. “I need you at my office first thing in the morning.”
“Wait, why?”
“That was a call from a two star general named Dave Whisant. He wants to talk to me about finding his misplaced plutonium reactor.”
Chapter 6 –
Sunday Morning; Wonder-Tech Tower
I was sitting in one of the guest chairs, watching Wonderton pace the carpet floor in his office as we awaited this general to show up. The moment he stopped pacing, I looked up and saw three men step off the elevator and make their way towards his office.
The lead man was probably in his early forties, straw colored hair and had glasses over his green eyes. The two men behind him looked like certified badasses. The words special ops immediately came to mind.
General Whisant opened the door and stepped in. He had a slow draw to his voice that was immediately likable. “John Wonderton,” he said as he stuck out his hand. Wonderton shook it. “And who might this be?”
I stood up as he made the introduction. “This is my new head of the IT department, Jericho Staley. He is an expert in computer forensics and cyber tracing.”
I actually was, but I figured Wonderton probably didn’t know that and was just trying to blow smoke up the general’s ass. “It is good to meet you, sir.”
“No need for formalities or pleasantries, you gentlemen are about to be asked a very big favor by the United States government.”
Wonderton stepped in and asked a question. “If you don’t mind me asking, sir, who are the rather imposing men you’ve brought with you today?”
Whisant turned and introduced them. “This is Captain Channel Esposito and Captain Joshua Pabon, both Army Rangers. They’re here to assist with finding the lost plutonium core.”
Army Rangers… those were some bad men. I’d heard rumors of a black ops team consisting of Rangers and Seals used by the government back east to eliminate supers. It made me wonder. Both of these guys looked hardcore. Esposito had a beard with eagle like eyes. Pabon was more subdued, but the huge tribal tattoo on his forearm was easy to spot.
“On to business then – as I told you last night, a plutonium core was stolen by a few supers. That core is my responsibility and we need to find it. The reason I’ve come to you, John, is simple. You have the most resources in the city and you have a reputation for being a tough as nails businessman. I was hoping to tap into both of those qualities.”
I was a bit dumbfounded this general would come to a civilian for help. I got the impression that if he went to his superiors and said, “Oops, I misplaced a potential bomb,” that they would frown highly upon that. Use a few civilians however, we find the core for him and no one is none the wiser.
John seemed to catch that vibe, too. “You’re coming to me because this is a colossal screw up and you can’t afford having the government knowing about this, right?”
Whisant smiled. “This is why I’ve come to you, John.” He stuck his hand out again. “Are you and your IT expert in or out?”
This was a complete no duh situation. Wonderton grabbed his hand. “We’re in. You can expect complete secrecy on our end as we assist.”
“Good, good. So what can I tell you to get this project off the ground?”
“Just how dangerous is this core? Is it a working bomb or does it need to be enhanced in some way?” I didn’t meant o blurt out my question, I was just naturally curious. This had been the best thing to happen in the weeks since I hung up The Negative Man persona.
Wonderton looked a bit pissed, but oh well. Whisant was quick to give us an answer. “That’s a fair question. I don’t know to be honest. If the plutonium is still in a pure state, than yes, it is a bomb this very minute. If the material has been compromised by years at the bottom of the ocean, then I’m guessing some leg work would have to be done to make it functional.”
“Do you want a functional bomb, general?”
“What I want doesn’t matter, John.” He shrugged his shoulders a bit. “What the government wants is the core back, intact if possible. Now if it can’t be recovered, then we are under orders to dismantle or destroy. However, this is a last resort.”
Captain Esposito stepped forward. “Sir if I may?” Whisant nodded his head. “We will also need a list of as many active supers in the area. The west coast is more lenient when it comes to allowing them to be active, something that is a bit unusual for us.”
I wondered how they would react knowing that the two most powerful supers in not just the city, but potentially the world, were in the room with them. Something told me to leave that tidbit out. “I can compile a list with rumors and such I find on the web.”
Captain Esposito seemed good with that. “The sooner we get that list, the sooner we can prepare ourselves for the worst case scenari
os.”
“Let’s not go there, Esposito.” Whisant seemed a bit more rational than his captain. “Our efforts here are strictly to secure the core and get it back home. We’re not here to enforce any laws that this state doesn’t recognize.”
Wonderton and I quickly shared a glance of concern. He decided it was time to end this meeting. “We have our work cut out for us. General, we will get started as soon as possible and keep you in the loop with anything we find.”
That made the general smile. “Glad to hear it. We will continue to mount our own efforts as well. My hope is between all of us in this room, we can find the core quickly and we can get out of your hair.”
“We’re glad to assist the government in any way we can.” C’mon Wonderton, you could’ve sounded a bit more sincere! Either way, the three men across from us seemed to buy what he was selling. We all exchanged handshakes and they left, heading back out the elevator.
We waited until they were out of the building before we headed back to the old secret lair. Once inside, “There is something bad going on here, Jericho.”
“I kind of picked up on that.”
Wonderton flipped open the suitcase of money. Even a rich guy like himself was a bit impressed with the stack of cash inside. “When can you start tracing this money? I just have a bad feeling after that meeting.”
I grabbed a stack of twenties and plucked a few out. “It’ll take some time, but I can get started right now.”
Chapter 7 –
Monday Evening; Station Public Library
The work was tedious, yet I found myself enjoying the challenge. Something that didn’t come easy for me; that’s what my life had been missing. I was in deep on a secure tablet, trying to ping something off the serial numbers I had stored here.
Pacific Station Vigilante (Book 0): The Negative Man [Prelude to Chaos] Page 2
