His voice was sharp and angry as it echoed throughout the car. “Last night’s action against The Station Shadows was an official operation approved by everyone from the mayor on down. In conjunction with The Dark Lion, we eliminated most of the thugs that had been plaguing our streets. Let this serve as a warning shot to the rest of the no good sons of bitches running around out there. You mess with the city; you don’t need to worry about jail time. No, you need to worry about showing up at the morgue in a body bag.”
Heather turned the radio off. “He’s declared war on all the gangs…”
“Can he legally authorize lethal force like that?”
“He just did.”
A shiver went down my spine. What can of worms had DL opened? It made me think of what Jenkins told me, that Grimes was as corrupt as the rest of them. “How is what The Dark Lion and the PSPD are authorizing any better than what The Negative Man did to the city?” More to me than her, “Maybe it’s time…”
“Time for what?”
“Huh?” She startled me with her rising voice. “Oh, I meant maybe it’s time to leave. I didn’t move out here to worry about being caught in a gang war.”
“Oh.” Apparently that wasn’t what she’d been expecting. “You’d leave Pacific Station?”
“I don’t want to, but things back east aren’t like this. Maybe it’s because supers aren’t as welcomed in major cities and the police do most of the actual crime fighting.”
This sort of thing back east would’ve been put down by SWAT teams and government intervention. Never in a million years would anyone tolerate The Aces or The Dark Lion and their killing methods. But Grimes was good with it, mainly because it probably meant less work for him. That, or he just loved violence.
Heather turned into the Wonder-Tech employee parking. “I wouldn’t want to live in a place that had hostile views of people.” She turned the car off and looked over at me. “Are you sure you’re up for this? I think another day off…”
“Trust me when I say I truly appreciate the concern, but even a half day at work will help me stay focused. Sitting around all day with nothing to do drove me crazy.”
I got one last look before exiting the car. It was weird walking in the doors of the building. It’d only been a day, but my attack and the assassination of the deputy mayor in the room behind me were high profile news. The looks immediately started as soon as people realized it was me.
No one really said anything as I walked to the elevator, but you could hear a pin drop in the lobby. Only Heather and I got on and when the door shut, I released a huge breath. “That was really awkward.”
“People were really concerned about you yesterday. I just don’t think they knew what to say.”
That made two of us. “Anything would’ve been better than staring at me like a zoo exhibit.”
“I agree, but remember your attack, plus everything that happened last night, we’re all scared. Even me and you.”
Her floor dinged first. She gave my hand a squeeze and a kiss. “Don’t do anything stupid today.”
“I’ll try, but you might want to email John and tell him the same thing.”
She gave me one last look before the doors closed and I made my way up to the top floor, right to DL’s office. Fortunately no one was here when I entered, no one but DL himself. As soon as he saw me, he got up and the two of us made a direct path to the secret lab.
As soon as the door closed, I lit into him. “Could you’ve made a bigger mess?! I knew you were going to ‘eliminate supply’ but what you did was basically a massacre!” The pun was unintentional, as I doubted that PJ was even there.
DL didn’t look pissed or even surprised that I was mad. “I know you’re not going to approve with all my methods, but the city’s scum all know this morning that they aren’t to mess with us. When The Aces come calling for hired guns, they’ll be shut out.”
I wasn’t so sure of that. “Couldn’t this have the opposite effect? These thugs know they’ll be gunned down and have nothing to lose. They might go to The Aces for protection.”
If my thoughts made any dent in his steadfast belief, it didn’t show. Instead, “Is the flash drive ready to be uploaded?”
I pulled it out of my jacket pocket. “I rewrote and programmed it to do exactly what it needs to. As soon as I plug this in, they’ll start seeing money siphoned from you.”
“Good. Maybe before you call it a day at noon,” I raised an eyebrow. “Don’t look at me like that. Your legal counsel has already emailed me this morning saying you’re only allowed to work half days until further notice.”
“The Dark Lion is scared of a lawyer?”
“That’s neither here nor there. The point is, maybe right before lunch, go down and see Jenkins and get this thing uploaded. Hopefully that’ll move their plans along quicker.” He rubbed his head. “I can’t believe I’m still going along with this plan of yours.”
I could barely keep the enthusiasm out of my voice, knowing DL wasn’t a big fan of this plan from the get-go. “This is exciting. I’m going to be going undercover and infiltrating The Aces…”
He moved the mouse on the nearest computer and the screen came on. The articles on the screen said it all. The first, smaller one was about The Aces latest bank job and then assault of me. Below, in much larger font with a distorted picture of him, the headline read ‘The Negative Man Strikes Again.’
John let me stare at the headlines, making sure they sunk in before addressing my question. “We have to succeed in this Jericho. If we fail, who will pick up the pieces of the city?”
“I don’t know.”
“Exactly my point!” He walked over to his costume, the faded hooded cape that had seen many, many battles. “We’ll do this together; see this plan until the end. Alright, I’m on board with everything you want to do going forward and I won’t try to talk you out of anything.”
I felt the flash drive in my hand as I squeezed it. “I’ve been waiting for a chance to do something real again.”
He gave me a rough pat on the back and an approving smile. “What happened to you Saturday night won’t happen again. You focus on your task and allow me to continue mine. This two fronted assault will finally bring the disease in this city to its knees.”
“Before I go, what about Massacre? I know you gave him the okay to go ahead and tell The Aces your identity.”
DL sat down in a chair and sighed. “I don’t know how much longer we can rely on him. PJ hasn’t been the same since The Aces discovered the man under the mask.”
That wasn’t good. “What does that mean for us? He knows all of our secrets.”
“That falls firmly under things for me to worry about. The only thing you need to concentrate on is getting the flash drive uploaded and winning the trust of Spades. Once that happens, everything else will fall into place.”
And with that, I knew this conversation was over.
Chapter 15 –
Tuesday Evening; Undisclosed Location
I don’t remember falling asleep. Up until the point things went foggy, the day had been void of any real drama. I uploaded the program to the server before I left and it went off without a hitch. After that, Heather gave me a ride home where I spent most of the afternoon watching cartoons and trying to ignore the news coverage from the previous night.
I’d just got back to the couch with my microwaved meal when I felt tired… maybe I’d overdone it? Then poof, here I am in a car going down the highway. I could tell from the road noise and the forward motion; we were going pretty fast. I had a hood over my head and my hands were bound together. I figured there was a driver and at least one other to keep me occupied just in case.
The car started slowing down. I felt the force of a left hand turn and then we stopped. The gear shifter moved all the way to park and the engine went silent. Three doors opened and I felt a hand pull me from the car. Not roughly, just with enough gusto to let me know to move along with it. I stumbled blindly
on the path the hand guided me, only stopping when I heard a door open. We took a few more steps and stopped again.
A hand removed my hood and another freed my hands. We were in the middle of an empty warehouse and three people were standing beside me. Each was wearing a mask – Spades, Hearts, and Clubs. Spades moved forward and extended a hand. “Welcome to our little hangout Mr. Staley.”
The light was dim, flickering even. The place smelled like mold and the floor had some major cracks in it. It made me question the integrity of the foundation. “This is quite the place gentlemen.”
Spades laughed at my comment. “Don’t judge a book by its cover. We already made that mistake with you.”
“I would like to offer my sincerest apologies.” The man in the Hearts mask stepped to me. “Especially after the unfortunate incident at the bank, my instincts told me you weren’t The Dark Lion, but the digital trail led us to you.”
“I honestly had no idea John Wonderton is him. He always came off as aloof and a tad incompetent, but not a super.”
Clubs removed his mask and revealed his alter-ego; Phil Jenkins. “He fooled us all Jericho. Personally, I think he set it up to make it look like you were The Dark Lion just in case anyone looked into him. You were the fall guy just in case shit hit the fan.”
Little did they know just how close to being right they were the first time around. “Part of me is kinda pissed, but the other part of me is pretty impressed. It means I’m not working for a complete moron.”
Spades and Hearts joined Jenkins in removing their masks. I had to control myself – they were Owen Walker and Jeff Trelewicz! Walker looked exactly like the pictures I’d seen in the press releases, younger with brown hair and a politician’s smile. Trelewicz was a larger man, closely shaved head and a scar running down the side of his face. He tried to look polite, but the overall effect failed. “Wait just a minute…”
“I know this is a lot to take in Mr. Staley, but yes, you know me as Owen Walker, CEO of gl-O-bal Labs. I’m sure you have many questions for me.”
I summed everything up perfectly in just one question. “Why?”
“A good question, yes why would we do this? The answer is simple, but also a bit abstract, so I ask you to follow close along with me.” He motioned with me to take a walk with him. I don’t think there was much choice in the matter.
As we walked, “You remember The Negative Man don’t you?”
How could I forget that name? “Yeah, I remember him.”
“When he rose to power a few years back, he showed me something. Power isn’t earned, it’s taken. He had the city on the cusp of disaster, and then he left.” He opened another door which led into a much more impressive room. “We plan to finish what he started.”
It was like we teleported from a dusty old warehouse to a space station. Computers lined the wall attached to huge monitors above. Some were obviously tied to traffic cams, others hacking into various security systems. What made this room barely tolerable for me was it was stark white. The brightness of the paint, floor, lighting, and equipment were almost blinding.
Spades, or Owen Walker if we’re using names, must’ve known about my condition. He pulled a pair of stylish sunglasses out of his jacket pocket and handed them to me. “This should help.”
As soon as the dark tinted lenses were over my eyes, everything felt much better. “Thanks, this will keep the headaches at bay.”
“An interesting condition…” His eyes lingered for a minute before moving on. “This is our base of operations. From here, the city is our playground. We know what targets we can hit and on what days. I’ve even taken the liberty of making a spreadsheet that tells us everything from police shift changes to which coffee places certain targets enjoy.”
Jenkins and Trelewicz were standing by the door. “I’m guessing you put this together with gl-O-bal tech Phil?”
He smiled at the acknowledgement. “This is my life’s work. Owen was kind enough to see my true potential and gave me the tools to exploit it. With this,” he pulled a Mercury 5 out of his pocket, “I can control all of this from anywhere on the planet.”
“I’m confused; I have no powers and my skillset overlaps with Phil’s. What could you possibly need me for?”
Walker motioned me to have a seat in front of a particularly impressive computer. “As you know, we’re a member short. With some of our more complicated jobs on the horizon, I need Clubs in the field with Hearts and myself. By taking the Diamonds mask, you’d be our eyes and ears from here, making sure the operations run smoothly.”
Here came the tricky part. I had to do this just right. “I’m not an idiot, so trust me when I ask this. How do you know I don’t work for The Dark Lion? Why trust me so completely already?”
The three of them looked at each other before a group laugh actually made me a bit mad. Jenkins saw my face and tried to smooth things over. “Jericho, it’s not that we don’t think you’re capable, but what reason would that asshole need you? You can’t fight and apparently Wonderton is a closet computer genius.” His smile sorta went away. “Besides, I combed your entire digital history. You’re clean man, like really squeaky clean.”
Well they weren’t complete fools. I figured Jenkins would’ve done something like that. “So my role would be from here, communicating with you?”
“You would become the brains of the operation while we would function as the heart and body. Together, we’ll finish The Negative Man’s wonderful work!” Walker said it with such conviction that he reminded me of a crazy minister.
“What about The Negative Man? He’s back you know…”
“So it would appear, but just in the shadows for the time.” He sounded disappointed. “Hopefully by continuing our work and throwing his name out there, he’ll see a reason to join with our cause.”
Trelewicz’s phone buzzed. “It’s time boss.”
“Ah yes, the three of us have some important matters to take care of, but before we go,” he walked to the back of the room and opened a drawer. He pulled a box out of it and walked back over. “This is for your Jericho Staley.”
There was a flip latch, so I undid it and the top popped open. Inside was a shiny mask in the shape of a diamond. I carefully lifted it out, the metal was lightweight and cool. “I guess this means I’m in?”
“Welcome to The Aces, Diamonds. You get tonight off, but tomorrow evening, work begins.”
Chapter 16 –
Wednesday Evening; Undisclosed Location
Unlike the previous night, this time I wasn’t drugged before being put in the car. Jenkins and Trelewicz came into my apartment like everything was normal. Jenkins picked up a pizza and Trelewicz had a six pack of beer. This matched up with what I told Heather that some of the guys were coming over for a ‘get better’ game of poker. We even had a few slices and a beer before Trelewicz’s got the message from Walker. “It’s time.”
We left out the back door and Jenkins put a blindfold over my eyes. “Eventually this won’t be necessary, but until we’re sure The Dark Lion doesn’t know you’re one of us, we have to stay protected.”
“I get it. I mean, I do work for the guy as his personal IT lackey.”
A felt a hand slap me on the back, too big to be Jenkins’. “Good man for understanding Staley. Sit tight and we’ll be there in no time.”
The ride over went pretty quickly, at least faster than what it seemed yesterday. In no time we were back in the warehouse and the blindfold came off. Spades was standing there, waiting for us. “Welcome back Diamonds. I do hope the ride over was no problem?”
“Everything was cool boss. Clubs and Hearts even brought me some pizza and beer.”
He nodded at the other two and they headed off. “Come with me Diamonds, it’s time to get the show on the road.” We walked back to the central room, the one filled with their entire lot of tech.
As we entered, I noticed the biggest of the monitors was turned on, focused on City Hall. I hadn’t really
been paying attention to the news since the whole DL massacring the gang members, so I didn’t know what was happening. “Something going down at City Hall tonight?”
“Don’t pay attention to the news do you? Not surprising, based on your generation.” He went to the closest computer and pulled up the browser. Going to the Pacific Station website, I saw the morning headline – ‘Police Hosting Charity Ball.’
I read the article, apparently it’d been called together on short notice due to the death of the Deputy Mayor Martinez. All the benefits were going to the city’s restoration fund with a small portion going to Martinez’s family. “Lots of bigwigs and moneymakers going to be there?”
“Two moneymakers won’t be. John Wonderton turned down his invitation and so did Owen Walker. Both guys however did send sizable checks to the donation fund, with notes apologizing for their absences.”
I’d been at work most of the day, leaving around three at Heather’s persistence, and not once did I hear DL talk about this charity ball. Did he not assume The Aces would hit this? I wonder if he even knew and one of his many underlings sent the note and the check. I knew Wonder-Tech had an account strictly for charitable causes, so it was entirely possible the man John Wonderton didn’t care about this. We’d see if DL showed up tonight though.
Spades handed me my mask. “Put that on. Inside each is a communicator linking each member of the team together. You’re going to be our eyes and ears from here. Do whatever is necessary to keep the police occupied and make sure we’re always in the clear. Do it, and do it well, and you’ll be rewarded handsomely.”
It was like déjà vu sitting in the chair. This was going to be no different than what I did for DL. Maybe that’s why he didn’t say anything about tonight. If I knew too much, suspicion might get raised. “Something tells me you won’t have any trouble with traffic tonight.”
He clapped his hands together. “Excellent! I do love it when I’m graced with good news.” He started to walk back towards the warehouse. “For your own safety, I’m going to lock this door. Its electromagnetic, so it’ll only open with this specially made key. I doubt the police or The Dark Lion would find this place, but just in case…” He walked out and closed the door. A loud pop told me I was locked in.
The Negative Man: Act 1 Page 9
