The Negative Man: Act 1

by Jeremy Croston

  In no time flat, I found the guy behind it (and yes, it was always a guy when it came to crap like that), and emailed it off to John Wonderton for him to decide what to do. That was over my paygrade or my care levels.

  The day stalled out until noon. Erin hopped up and suggested we hit up Del Monte Burgers not too far away. On our way out, one of the lawyers, Heather Adams I think her name was, stopped us. “Thanks guys for getting that creep Brody. God, if I see one more picture of someone’s junk…”

  Erin dug his elbow into my ribcage. “Hey, no problem.”

  “What Jericho means is were just doing our job. He just happens to be really good at it.” He winked at me, like a fool.

  Heather smiled. “Either way, you guys are awesome. Wonderton already fired him and security escorted him out about an hour ago.” She leaned in and gave me a hug. “See you two around.”

  The moment we walked out the door, “Whooooaaa buddy! You should’ve asked her out.”

  “Erin, you have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “Psshhht. I know a thing or three about the ladies, dude. She looked at you the same way my wife looked at me right before I asked her out.”

  “I thought your wife said no to you like five or six times.”

  He threw his hands up. “You’re ridiculous. C’mon dude, I’m hungry.”

  ****

  I was looking at the clock. The weekend was so close. Not that I really had anything to do. Maybe Erin was right, I probably needed a hobby. Being a regular old guy was kind of sucking to this point.

  “Yo, Earth to Jericho, get your head out of the clouds.”

  I snapped out of it and looked over at my overly cheerful co-worker. “What? Did I miss the lottery pool?”

  He came over and pointed at my screen. “Wonderton emailed you like ten minutes ago to go up to his office. His assistant is bugging the piss out of me wanting to know why you’re not up there yet.”

  That couldn’t have been good. I was much better as a supervillain than I was the boring IT guy. Maybe it was time to say screw this to the plan. Sorry Dark Lion, but a life this boring isn’t worth giving you a chance to clean up Pacific Station. I pushed my chair out and made what was going to be my final walk out of this building.

  Instead, when I got to the elevator, I pushed the top floor and made my way up to Wonderton’s office. The assistant was on the phone when I got off and waved me on through. Wonderton wasn’t even there when I entered, so my levels of annoyance were skyrocketing. As I leaned up against the one wall, cursing this menial existence and my stupidity for trying this, the wall popped open.

  Curiosity got the better of me. I followed the hidden compartment around and, “Holy shit…”

  “You’re not supposed to be here,” a voice said ominously.

  Chapter 2 –

  Friday Night; Wonder-Tech Tower

  My powers were boiling just under the surface. Depending on what I stumbled into, I was about to kill whoever was behind me. When I turned, lo and behold, it was John Wonderton. Not just John Wonderton, either. He was half dressed as the man who just put an end to my alter ego. I was standing in front of The Dark Lion.

  My shock at finding out the true identity of The Dark Lion froze me in place. The man didn’t look angry; he just seemed a bit surprised to see me standing here. “Jericho Staley, right?”

  His easy tone of voice snapped me out of my stupor. “Yeah, that’s me.”

  “You’re the guy who found out Brody Williams was sending inappropriate picture to the Legal staff, correct?”

  “I’m the guy.” The general ease of this conversation was really freaking me out. “I can go back to your office and wait, if that’s okay.”

  John pressed a button on a desk near him and the door I came through closed. Well this was an awkward situation. “I’m afraid I just can’t let you waltz out of here. You know who I am.” It wasn’t a question. “This is a secret that can never leave this room.”

  “Are you threatening me?”

  “No, son.” This was getting ever weirder. “Pacific Station needs a hero, especially after what happened just a few days ago at Waves Park.” I almost chuckled and that would’ve been bad. “The Negative Man is still fresh in the minds of those who wish to do the citizens here harm. Today is even more dangerous for this city than last week was.”

  This was quite the impasse. If I had to kill him to leave, I would. After what I sacrificed to give this man his chance, it would be a shame for it to go up in flames like this, today. “What happens now?”

  He rolled a desk chair over to me. “You work for me, both during the day and at night.”

  I looked at the chair. “You barely know me and you want me to work with you? Are you the worst vigilante of all time?”

  He ticked off facts like no other. “Lost his parents young, graduated top of his class – both undergraduate and graduate levels, is a loner by nature, never even had a parking ticket…” He knew Jericho Staley all right. “When you say I don’t know you, I know everyone in this place. Who is trustworthy, who works hard, and who needs a hobby. You check all three.”

  Was his request for me to come up to his office a test? This seemed way too convenient, for him that is. “And if I refuse?”

  “It would be most tragic, for both of us.”

  Honestly, I was never going to say no. Being able to work from the inside, well that was just too perfect. If The Dark Lion couldn’t succeed, even with my help, then he didn’t deserve any more chances. “Count me in.”

  Wonderton clapped his hands together. “Wonderful. As it turns out, I could use your help tonight, if you had no other prior engagements.”

  If he really knew me, he’d have known how dumb a question that was. “Sure, what’s on the agenda tonight?”

  He gestured for me to sit and pill up the computer. I obliged. What I saw were plans for a freighter and the surrounding harbor down by the Wharf District. “What’s all this?”

  “That freighter is the WSB Manhattan. It’s just returned from a trip to the Far East carrying spices and what not.”

  Oh great, our first joint assignment was something the neighborhood watch should handle. “A spice freighter? I’m confused.”

  He smiled and motioned for me to click the mouse one more time. When I did, the manifest came up. It read just as Wonderton said it would, all exotic spices and what not. I was about to question his judgement when something on the document caught my eye. It was near the bottom and easily missed. There was an entire line redacted. “So this spice freighter is carrying something else?”

  “You’re a quick study, Jericho. The Manhattan was on a mission for the government to pull up an old plutonium core at the bottom of the ocean.” He rubbed his hands together. “They were successful.”

  Privately, I licked my lips at the prospects of this. With old school tech like that, the amount of chaos one would be able to bring would be tenfold. A rogue thought entered my mind, to steal this for myself. That was quickly dashed when Wonderton spoke again. “I need eyes and ears here, running the operation from the command station. You’d be my eyes and ears while I’m out there. Can you do that?”

  Most of this equipment was three shades of obsolete, but I could handle that no problem. “Is this a simple escort mission?”

  “The government would never ask a vigilante to partake in this. No, I’m going because word on the street is there’s a new player in town. This would be his, or her, opportunity to make a name for themselves.”

  That actually made a lot of sense. Maybe I’d underestimated the deductive reasoning from my old enemy this entire time. “I can run this station, if that’s all you need me to do.”

  “For now.” He grabbed his signature goggles and slid them over his face, completing the look of The Dark Lion. “We’ll see how this goes and take it from there.”

  “That sounds fair to me.”

  “Good.” In full Lion garb, he began to make his way out of the s
ecret lair and begin the mission. “And for chatter sake over the comms, just call me DL, okay?”

  Chapter 3 –

  Friday Night; Wonder-Tech Tower

  Every camera in the city was at my disposal. I could see DL with each step he took, constantly shifting to the next camera to keep him in sight. He was fast, but even more than that, the man was agile. From my perspective as an enemy across the field of battle from him, I could never appreciate the grace in which he moved. From this bird’s eye angle, it was like watching poetry in motion.

  There were no issues from Wonder-Tech Tower to the Wharf District. It was just another Friday evening in Pacific Station; people getting ready for a night on the town, enjoying pay day. No one was ever the wiser to what was passing right above their heads. To be fair to them, it was also close to the holidays and I’m sure they had their minds elsewhere, as well.

  The WSB Manhattan was a sight to behold. The freighter ship was docked, a huge presence quietly sitting there in the water. How anyone would believe a ship like that would be used for just spices is beyond me. This was a ship that had purpose, that did jobs few others would do.

  “Jericho, how’s the surrounding area look?”

  A few scans from different angles showed no signs of trouble coming. “It’s all quiet from here. I don’t even see the transport yet.”

  “Got it. I’ll be in touch soon.”

  The transport was supposed to be there at eight thirty. It still had about ten minutes to get there on time. I just was under the assumption if you were trying to move plutonium, on time would’ve meant being early. Go figure. However, my experiences with our government had been less than ideal. I still harbored a lot of anger towards the program that produced me and took away the only man I would ever call dad.

  The rumbling of a large truck shifted my eyes back to the screen. A black, diesel engine box truck rolled into the wharf and came to a stop near the freighter. “DL, the transport is here, west side of the freighter.”

  Wonderton gracefully moved positions to a place that gave him a full view of everything going on. The men from the ship came out and checked the credentials of the transport. A few minutes later, when all the I’s were dotted and the T’s were crossed, the process to move the core from the ship to the truck began. It was a labor intensive process that required quite a few men. My heart skipped a beat when the core became visible. Oh, what I would’ve done to get my hands on that.

  When everything was finished, the truck was locked up and the crew of the ship retreated back to the freighter. “DL, where are they taking this thing to?”

  He chuckled into the comm. “The government isn’t one to let their plans be known. We just follow until it gets to its final destination.”

  Following a large box truck through the city was surprisingly easy. I kind of wish I had snacks or something to pass the time. As it got closer to leaving the city limits, I began to think that this new villain DL mentioned wasn’t all the interested in making a name for himself. I was a tad disappointed.

  As it was in the final straightaway leaving downtown and about to merge on to the highway, “DL, it’s a trap!” I always wanted to say that.

  “Where?!”

  To the left of the onramp, I recognized the device, it was an EMP disrupter. “Someone’s about to shut down that truck’s engine.”

  It was too late for us to do anything. The device, a localized one, went off and the truck’s engine kicked off. The large box truck just rolled until it lost momentum and stopped. The three men in the truck got out, guns pointing in every direction. I figured there was probably one more in the back on the truck, as a last resort.

  A camera close to the scene was my first visual on the ones responsible. There were two figures moving into position, it looked like a man and woman. The larger of the two, he was wearing some odd get up that looked like it was out of a steampunk cosplay show. Beside him, the woman was dressed similar, but a bit more useful. Whereas the man was wearing a huge, crazy looking coat, his partner was more streamlined.

  They moved out of the shadows and confronted the soldiers from the truck. “Ahhh, I’d put those guns away gentlemen.” His voice was whimsical and a bit annoying, like a coffee house poet. “You’re standing across from Valiant and Hilda, the Masters of Magic.”

  “Oh give me a break, what amateurs,” I muttered.

  It was apparently loud enough where DL heard me. “What did you say, Jericho?”

  Not sure how he took it, “They appear to be some sort of amateur magician act. I hate those.”

  “They are about to find out how much I hate them, too.” DL jumped down from his hidden perch, landing in-between the magicians and the soldiers. Against the moonlight, it was quite an impressive feat to watch. He stuck out an index finger, “You two rejects should just make your way back to whatever comic bookstore you bought all that garb from.”

  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 i
dea 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.”