The Negative Man: Act 1

by Jeremy Croston

  Bolt Publishing Presents

  The Negative Man:

  Act 1

  Story by Jeremy Croston

  First Edition

  © 2016 Bolt Publishing

  http://boltbookspub.wix.com/home

  Please do not re-distribute this book

  in any way or format for

  commercial purposes

  or change the content.

  This book is a work of fiction.

  All of the names, places,

  and events that occur are from

  the author’s imagination.

  Any resemblance to an actual

  person, alive or dead, place,

  historical event, or business establishment

  is purely coincidental.

  Formatting by Gen X Formatting Solutions

  Editorial Team:

  Rebecca Blackburn

  Karen Vacanti

  Table of Contents

  Table of Contents

  The Rise of the Lion

  Prologue –

  Issue #1 –

  Issue #2 –

  Issue #3 –

  Issue #4 –

  Issue #5 –

  Issue #6 –

  Issue #7

  Issue #8

  Issue #9 –

  City of Chaos

  Chapter 1 –

  Chapter 2 –

  Chapter 3 –

  Chapter 4 –

  Chapter 5 –

  Chapter 6 –

  Chapter 7 –

  Chapter 8 –

  Chapter 9 –

  Chapter 10 –

  Chapter 11 –

  Chapter 12 –

  Chapter 13 –

  Chapter 14 –

  Chapter 15 –

  Chapter 16 –

  Chapter 17 –

  Chapter 18 –

  Chapter 19 –

  Chapter 20 –

  Chapter 21 –

  Chapter 22 –

  Chapter 23 –

  Chapter 24 –

  Chapter 25 –

  Chapter 26 –

  Chapter 27 –

  Chapter 28 –

  Chapter 29 –

  Chapter 30 –

  Chapter 31 –

  Chapter 32 –

  Chapter 33 –

  Epilogue –

  The Cast –

  Years Earlier –

  Project Jericho

  Project Jericho 1 –

  Project Jericho 2 –

  Project Jericho 3 –

  Project Jericho 4 –

  Project Jericho 5 –

  Project Jericho 6 –

  Project Jericho 7 –

  Project Jericho 8 –

  Prelude to Chaos

  Chapter 1 –

  Chapter 2 –

  Chapter 3 –

  Chapter 4 –

  Chapter 5 –

  Chapter 6 –

  Chapter 7 –

  Chapter 8 –

  Chapter 9 –

  Chapter 10 –

  Chapter 11 –

  Chapter 12 –

  Chapter 13 –

  Chapter 14 –

  Chapter 15 –

  The Cast –

  Present Day…

  Stormfall

  Chapter 1 –

  Chapter 2 –

  Chapter 3 –

  Chapter 4 –

  Chapter 5 –

  Chapter 6 –

  Chapter 7 –

  Chapter 8 –

  Chapter 9 –

  Chapter 10 –

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12 –

  Chapter 13 –

  Chapter 14 –

  Chapter 15 –

  Chapter 16 –

  Chapter 17 –

  Chapter 18 –

  Chapter 19 –

  Chapter 20 –

  Chapter 21 –

  Chapter 22 –

  Chapter 23 –

  Chapter 24 –

  Chapter 25 –

  Chapter 26 –

  Chapter 27 –

  Chapter 28 –

  Chapter 29 –

  Chapter 30 –

  Chapter 31 –

  Epilogue –

  The Cast:

  Three Years Later –

  About Us:

  Books:

  One Last Thing:

  The Rise of the Lion

  Prologue –

  The Birth of Legend

  "Scum like you doesn't deserve a second chance!"

  "Please, I swear I'll..."

  I couldn't stand to hear any more of his lies. I curled up my hand into a fist and smashed it into his face. Not hard enough to kill, but I felt his bones breaking under my knuckles. Blood gushed from the obviously broken nose. His eyes glazed over and his body slumped to the wet street below. North Terrace had one less gang banger to concern itself with on this night.

  I climbed the closest fire escape and took to the rooftops to get back to my lair. I was all but invisible, except for the yellow cloak that hung over my body. It was a gift from someone important, one that I would turn into a symbol to all the street punks and lowlifes who plagued my home.

  It'd just rained, like it always had, which made the travel that much more difficult. If it wasn't for my powers, the fundamentals I forced myself to learn through them, I would've fallen to my death years ago. How ironic, the one thing I came to despise the most was also my greatest gift. Without the gifts I'd been blessed with, I wouldn't have been able to take up this crusade.

  Powered people started popping up just a few years before I was born. During the great nuclear energy phase in our country, you couldn't go fifty miles without hitting a power plant. Unfortunately, it made for easy targets. Terrorists hit them, and hard. Diseases, death, and disfigurement ran rampant in the aftermath. Those were the predictable results. The one thing no one expected though was the rise of powered people.

  Here we are though, a small but growing number. Too many take the easy way out, turn to a life of crime because it pays well and the police can't stop them. Me, I just couldn't. If the human police couldn't do shit about the supers trashing the streets, then I was going to. My city, North Terrace, wasn't going to become their playground.

  My name is John Wonderton. I'm poor and I'm alone, but that's not going to stop me. I've been gifted superhuman abilities and with them, a way to rid the city of the plague crippling it.

  Issue #1 –

  The Super Stigma

  I slumped in my bed, hurting from another long night of tracking gang bangers and criminals. My little studio (my lair if you will) was barely big enough to call a home, but it was all I could afford in North Terrace. I promised myself one day I would have it made, through hard work and dedication. I wasn't going to take the easy way out like a lot of powered people did.

  Barely an hour had gone by from the time I stumbled in to when my alarm clock went off. The joys of being a lowly paid intern at the tech firm Smart Logic, long nights turned into longer days.

  ****

  When I got to the office, most of the other interns were stumbling in too. They probably enjoyed a night of hard drinking, one I wish I could partake in. Unfortunately, if it wasn't for me, they wouldn't be able to bar hop in the relative peace they did.

  "Wonder-Man! We missed you at Raganrok's last night. Two for one drinks..."

  PJ Douglas, loud and obnoxious as always. "I saw your email yesterday. Unfortunately, I have a second job and with it just barely enough money to cover my rent."

  A year younger than me, money woes didn't plague the large individual in front of me. He married into wealth and so he could party hard. "Yeah, yeah. Next time I'll spot you a dri
nk or two."

  I was done with this conversation and made my way to the staircase. Three floors up was the accounting office, a far cry from the streets I roamed just a few hours earlier. Sitting across from me was the only person in this city I could actually call a friend, Wayne Motts.

  He looked about as bad as I did. "Rough night Wayne?"

  "You don't know the half of it John. Half way through the night, someone broke into the apartment across the hall from me." He shivered as he told me. "Window shattered so loud I thought it happened in my place."

  Like me, Wayne couldn't afford much. Smart Logic was infamous for lowballing interns, knowing we'd all fight for the one or two precious spots that came around each quarter. "I'm sorry to hear that."

  "Don't be. I feel bad for my neighbor, Moriah. She locked herself in her bathroom. Luckily all the guy did was take her TV and stereo. Physically, she's okay."

  Another lowlife making the city a worse place than it had to be. "At least no one got hurt."

  "The bigger problem John is the intruder... he was a powered individual."

  He said it so hushed and so timid, almost as if he expected the robber to have super hearing. "Not all supers are bad Wayne. And you won't need to worry about that guy again. I doubt he comes back."

  He picked up the stack of papers sitting on his desk, ready to be approved. "I wish I had your confidence, but with the supers running wild, this city is going to hell in a hand basket."

  Issue #2 –

  The Mask Appears

  Iran the masked individual down. The idiot had the gull to wear a red ski mask – like that wouldn't stick out like a sore thumb. My only concern was he hadn't showed his power yet; it certainly wasn't speed or agility. When my shoulder collided into his back, he went sprawling across the rooftop, falling face first on to the hard surface.

  I readied myself into the fighting position. As he stood up, green eyes from under the ski mask met mine. "What kinda dumb son of a bitch are you? Do you know who I am?"

  A lot of powered people had huge egos. It was fun knowing them down a peg or two. "I don't really care much who you are scum bag. This is my city and you're a disease to it."

  He broke eye contact, looking down to the ground. An eerie silence swept over us, only broken by his insane laughter. That's when I found out what his power was. His hands flung towards me, releasing little bullet like spikes. I got hit by two in my right shoulder before I could use my reflexes to get out of the way. Searing pain shot up my arm, leaving it useless.

  I tried to take a step forward, but dropped to a knee. The red hooded psycho just kept laughing. "That hurts doesn't it? Just wait until the poison kicks in – you'll beg for a swift death."

  Waiting wasn't an option. I could already feel a burning sensation taking hold of my body. "It'll take... more than that to kill me asshole!"

  My tough words didn't impress him. "I run into a few brave souls, or maybe stupid, every so often. Don't worry, your death will put you in good company."

  My insides were on fire, stemming from the wounds on my shoulder. I watched helplessly as my attacker took his time walking toward me. He'd even gone so far as to pull a knife out of his dark jacket.

  He was casually tossing it in the air, ever so close to finishing the job when the rooftop started shaking. Heavy stomps were charging into the ground and the unknown force rammed into my assailant. An audible crunch of bones breaking was music to my ears. After all the pain his needles caused me, a little of his own was worth it.

  A hand grabbed the back of my hoodie. "C'mon, let's get outta here while he's down."

  I wanted to protest to the person who saved me, but he was strong and I was in no shape to fight. The figure dragged me off the roof and down to street level like I was a child. I guess when he thought we got far enough away, he sat me down. "Are you crazy? Going after The Crimson Mask alone?"

  His poison was still doing a number on me. "He attacked a friend of mine's neighbor. I wanted to get him off the streets."

  My rescuer was wearing dark face paint, almost as if he was prepared to go to war. Add in the fact he was standing in the shadows, I couldn't make out who he was. "We all want him off the streets, but that's one super you don't mess with, at least alone." He looked back towards the main road. "You'll be okay here until the poison wears off." Then as quickly as he came, he stormed off into the night.

  Issue #3 –

  Repercussions

  I'd been beaten, badly. If it wasn't for the mysterious help I'd received, that Crimson guy probably would've killed me. I found a nice, dark spot to lean up against the wall. I let the cool air of the night fill me, trying to purge my body of the poison that crippled me.

  About an hour passed before I could stand up without pain. On my feet again, I slinked back to my flat in defeat. I hated how helpless I felt after the fight. Never again would I get caught that unprepared. I needed to discover more about the Crimson Mask, his powers and maybe even his identity.

  I closed the door behind me, fortunate that no one saw the man in the dark hoodie stumble into his apartment with questionable injuries. In this section of North Terrace, people don't ask a lot of questions. Keep your head down and mind your own business.

  I had a couple of hours before I needed to go to work. I picked up my notebook and began to brainstorm. How would I learn more about this villain? Was there anything at work I could use? Then it hit me, Wayne! He was interning on a project for the city's traffic cams. If I could get access to that, I could track him from the fight.

  The second problem was telling Wayne why I needed access to it. His view on supers was pretty clear from our conversation yesterday. Dropping the bombshell that the guy across from you was a vigilante by night might break him. Of course, I needed a legitimate excuse to give him, because if we were caught doing something, we'd both be back on the streets.

  The first rays of sunlight broke through the window. I was surprised this flat got any light due to the amount of grime on the outside. Like I said, not the best part of town. I lifted my arms over my head; my muscles were still sore, but I think I could shrug it off. I'd just tell people I went too hard at the gym.

  Time to get a move on for the day. The lukewarm water from the shower actually felt good, but getting dressed didn't. From my shitty apartment, I bee-lined it to the corner market. Inside I saw Pops, I didn't know his real name. He gave me a toothy grin. "Morning John, another long night?"

  "What gave it away?"

  He pointed to my legs. "You're walking like a dog with four broken legs." He laughed at his own stupid joke. "You need a behind the counter painkiller?"

  Did I mention he peddled drugs? "I'll stick to the stuff on the shelf. And a large coffee, black."

  He tossed his hands at me and poured my coffee. Grabbing the painkillers and coffee, I hit the street and hailed a cab. I hated spending money to get rides, but I couldn't afford a car. Not yet.

  When I got dropped off, I saw Wayne walking up to the giant glass doors. I ran over to him rather gimply. "Hey man, glad I ran into you."

  He saw how I was moving. "You okay Wonderton? You look like hell this morning."

  I motioned him over away from the other interns piling up out front. "I got jumped in my flat last night and I could use some help."

  "You serious?" His voice went right into a hushed whisper. "Did you go to the police?"

  "They can't help me, but you can." He looked taken aback. "The two of us might be able to do this city some good, that is if you're up for it."

  Issue #4 –

  Information Found

  It was two in the afternoon and the higher ups were all meeting in the upstairs loft. By meeting, I mean getting wasted. Apparently when you had more money than brains, you drank away whatever brains you had left. Fortunately for Wayne and I, that meant the control room for the city camera project was abandoned.

  During the big wigs get togethers, the lowly employees weren't supposed to be in controlled areas.
As North Terrace was paying Smart Logic a lot of money to upgrade the traffics cameras, this room was especially sensitive. Wayne, along with the other interns on this project, was supposed to be downstairs in training. Fortunately, attendance was lax and it was sort of expected for interns to skip now and then.

  The room was nice and dark when we entered. The two of us went over to Wayne's terminal and he logged in. "I can't believe you talked me into this John."

  "Listen, I think this is the guy who busted into your friend's apartment." I thought he had a thing for the girl across the hall. "Don't we need to get this guy for her?"

  With no more hesitation, he started typing away. He got into the city's mainframe and started bringing up screenshots from the night before. "Where should I be looking?"

  "Go to the camera at 8th and Underwood."

  He gave me a funny look. "That's not anywhere near your- "

  "Don't concern yourself with the location. Please just look into it."

  So he went to the address I gave him. We watched intently, waiting for him to show up. Knowing how the fight played out, I knew this was the way he exited the roof. Sure enough, a flash on the screen was the guy in the red mask. He went east on Underwood and ducked into a vacated store front. From what I could see from the old sign, it read Landry's Supply Co.

  I wrote down the info I needed. "Thanks Wayne, I owe you big."

  "I know I say it often, but John, when are you going to get the police involved?” He looked flushed. “This is bigger than us.”

  I had no intention of taking this to the police. There wasn't a damn thing they could do about The Crimson Mask. "He's one of them Wayne." I made it very clear what I was implying. "I might know a guy that can handle this."

  He was ready for an argument, but we heard people coming down the hall. If we got caught in here, we'd be out of jobs. I grabbed Wayne and we left out the back of the room, just in the nick of time too. Climbing up the stairs, "I know what you're thinking, but you need to trust my judgment. I don't want you to worry about it."

  I opened the door to the fifth floor and we exited to the accounting floor. "Wayne, I need those projections for the camera project. Tell that lazy oaf Douglas to turn in his expense reports too."