The Negative Man: Act 1

by Jeremy Croston

  Quick tip, always remember what powers your girlfriend has. “His name is Shawn Jordan, codenamed Hammerspace. He’s been tasked with tracking the four possible SVIS suspects for me. I’ll call him and tell him to meet you at Wonder-Tech this afternoon. He’ll get you up to speed.”

  Dawn was starting to break, so we took the conversation inside. “Do you want me to engage them while you’re away?”

  “I plan to only be a day or two so no. When I return, it’ll be time to take out the trash.”

  She rubbed her hands together in anticipation. “Will you need any support in North Terrace? Do you even have a plan yet?”

  There was no plan; I was generally pretty good at improvising on the go. “Once I get there, I’ll access databases looking for any clues that link a boy – maybe late teens, early twenties – to Wonderton.” It wasn’t going to be the easiest thing to do, but my computer skills were top notch. “Once I start digging, if I need any support, I’ll call you.”

  She was on her phone, looking at something. “There’s a flight available that leaves at ten forty-two this morning and is nonstop. You’ll be in North Terrace in three hours.”

  “Book it.” The sooner I get there the better. “I’ll pack a bag quick and make arrangements with Hammerspace to come see you as well.”

  The rest of the morning was a blur, getting packed and all. I wasn’t a fan of packing heavy, so I tried to stuff as much as I could into a carry-on bag. Heather was concerned due to the lack of Negative Man equipment that was coming, but I assured her I was going strictly for one thing. “I don’t plan to engage any of the local supers. I want to find out about the kid and get home. Besides, this is why we have the plan in place.”

  She seemed okay with that. “Yes, our plan, the reason we have to keep ourselves safe.” She gave me a long, loving kiss. “If anything were to happen to you, I’d turn North Terrace into a wasteland.”

  It was moments like this that Father Reigart’s words came to me. We’d both been worried about the state of Heather’s mind. This statement just proved that underneath the calm lawyer was a super who was just one broken moment away from unleashing hell. “I promise you nothing will go wrong. An easy in and out trip, that’s all.”

  She seemed to be good with that and we packed up her car to go. On the way to the airport, I called Hammerspace to fill him in. “Shawn, change of plans again.”

  “Boss, you’re killing me. I got nothing new for you.”

  He whined a lot, but that was okay. For some reason I liked him. “No, nothing like that. I have to leave town for a few days, something came up. I need you to go to Wonder-Tech Tower this afternoon and check in with a Heather Adams. Can you do that?”

  I heard the skepticism in his voice. “Why are you having me meet some lady at your day job? I’m not interested in working for you during regular hours.”

  “No you fool, shut up and listen.” He gave a slight yelp from the scolding. “She’s my second in command and I need her informed on the SVIS suspects. Treat her just like you treat me.”

  “Understood. You’ll get no more sass from me.”

  “Excellent. And when I get back, I hope you’re ready for a fight. That’s when we’ll take out the SVIS for good.”

  Chapter 9 –

  Thursday Morning; West Pacific High School

  **Kyle Wonderton**

  Iwas freaking out; that was too close. I couldn’t sleep and I needed someone to talk to. I saw Becky Walker walking to school with a few friends and tried my best not to look like a creeper. The last thing I needed today was to be detained by the police for stalking or what not.

  It didn’t take long for her to spot me. I saw her make up an excuse to her friends and as they kept walking towards the school, she double backed over to where I was. “Kyle? What’re you doing here?”

  I couldn’t help but think I put her in danger by coming here. “Becky, I ran into him early this morning.”

  “Him? Kyle, I don’t under-” Then it came to her. “The Negative Man found you?”

  No point in sugarcoating it now. “Yeah, I don’t know how he found me, but he did. It was the scariest thing I’d ever seen.”

  She took me by the arm and led me away from the school. “C’mon, we need to go someplace safe to talk about this.”

  “What about school?” I heard the bell ringing in the background. “Won’t you get in trouble?”

  Rolling her eyes, “I’m smarter than ninety-nine percent of my teachers. They should be lucky I show up as often as I do.”

  We kept walking and didn’t stop until we got to the comic book store on Salt Water Cove we first met at. Becky gave the glass door a few solid knocks. The sign read operating hours of eleven to seven so I wasn’t sure why we were here. I think she picked up on that. “Diana gets here early. She’ll open in just a second.”

  I still felt exposed, out in the open like this. He could be anywhere, anybody. I know it was only a matter of seconds, but Diana didn’t open the door fast enough. She let us in before she asked any questions, locking it behind us. “Becky, it’s a little early in the day for gaming.”

  “We’ve got a lot of problems Diana. It might be best if we talked about this in the back.”

  I was cool with talking to Becky, but I wasn’t sure about Diana. “No offense, but how can we be sure she’s trustworthy?”

  A very strange and ominous feeling came over the room. That feeling put me under the impression that every part of my body was under some sort of extreme examination. Nothing was hidden from anyone; all my secrets were available to whoever was doing this! Could this be him? Did The Negative Man have this strange power too?

  As quickly as it came, the feeling was gone. The world was no longer invading my body, my mind. Across from me Becky looked on with eagle like eyes. “The reason you can trust her is no one can hide a secret from me. My power is psychic in nature.”

  “Whoa.” I was dumbfounded. I’d encountered a few powered people in my life, but most of them had some physical gift. What she’d just displayed was on another level. “You know everything?”

  She nodded her head. “I don’t use it often, as it takes a lot out of me to do it and it invades people’s privacy. I hope that little display tells you both of us are trustworthy.”

  This definitely wasn’t the first time Diana had experienced this. She was just standing there smiling like nothing had happened. “Trust me when I say this; everything that happens here is for the betterment of the city. There aren’t many safe havens, but this store is one of them.”

  For whatever reason, that actually made me feel more at peace than being probed by Becky’s lie detector power. Either way, I was here and I needed help. “As I told Becky already, I ran into The Negative Man this morning.”

  Diana threw her hand over her mouth. “My God, how did you survive? He’s not known for letting people get away!”

  Becky encouraged me with a look to tell the truth. “My name is Kyle Wonderton, son of the late John Wonderton.”

  “The guy that owned Wonder-Tech downtown, right?”

  “Yeah, the same guy Diana.” I took in a deep breath, not only revealing who I truly was but my dad’s legacy. “You also know him as The Dark Lion.”

  The nice blonde lady fell back into a chair beside her. “I can’t believe it, you’re really his son?”

  “He is Diana.” She put her hand on the confused woman’s shoulder. “This makes the situation that much more dire.”

  If only that was the only part of the bad news. “The Negative Man, he figured it out.” And then for my biggest blunder, “The only reason he found me was because I was doing something stupid.”

  “What were you doing at Mr. Staley’s house?”

  Apparently nothing escaped her power. I very much needed to remember that. “Let me start at the beginning.” It would just save a bunch of questions. “Right before my mom died, a family friend told me who my dad was and the reason he wasn’t with us. That day,
I learned so much about who I was and why I had these abilities.”

  Like an experiment, Becky knocked what looked to be a high priced figurine off the stand beside her. Diana looked mortified, but it was no problem. I caught it before it even started its descent. My new friend looked on impressed. “You do have your father’s powers. Plus you just saved me from having to shell out two hundred dollars for that thing.”

  “As I was saying before Miss Walker interrupted us, my life seemed to make more sense. It’s also when everything clicked and I truly understood how much trouble my dad was in with The Negative Man and The Aces.”

  A customer knocked on the door but Diana didn’t even flinch in his direction. “Is that when you decided to come here?”

  “I wanted to, but I stayed until the very end with my mom. It was only after she passed that I came to Pacific Station. I was just a bit too late to meet my dad and give him a way to stop The Negative Man once and for all.”

  “The folder, you dropped it when we were at Wonder-Tech.” Becky closed her eyes, as if she was picturing something. “So that’s why you went to Mr. Staley’s last night, thinking he may have taken it home.”

  “That’s some gift you have.” I couldn’t help but grin just a little. “Yeah, the folder I lost is the key. Some guy named Dr. Cooper researched a way to kill supers who become too powerful. The research never states any names unfortunately, but I think his findings are linked to The Negative Man.”

  Both girls stood up, like an eureka moment. Becky grabbed me. “We just need to go ask Mr. Staley for your folder back! This is great news!”

  It wasn’t that easy. “I know you like the guy, but something about him makes me uneasy. It’s almost as if he’s too laid back and understanding.”

  “I used my power on him, without his knowledge of course, before I sold my father’s company to him.” It must’ve been nice to be a walking polygraph. “He’s as good as they get Kyle, trust me.”

  “Not to change the subject you two, but what’s in the folder? I’m guessing the path to victory is full of obstacles.”

  I’m not sure how deep into my mind Becky went, for the truth about Dr. Cooper’s research was very dangerous. I wouldn’t tell them everything, just enough to temper their curiosity. “It won’t be pretty; I can tell you that much. The Stormfall, which is the name of the event that’ll take place when the time comes, is like a nuke. That’s why when I do what I need to do; I have to be in the middle of nowhere.”

  “I don’t understand?”

  “Becky, when an attack that breaks the sound barrier strikes a super operating at maximum capacity, all that energy needs to go somewhere. It’s released into the atmosphere and comes back down in a deadly lightning storm. If that were to take place in the city, there’d be nothing left.”

  Diana put her hand over her mouth, her face pale. Becky looked as if she was about to use her power on me again, like she knew I was leaving a portion out. At the last minute, she changed her mind. “Before we talk about this any further, let’s get your folder back okay?”

  My mind was made up either way, but for the time I needed a few allies. “Sounds like a plan.”

  Chapter 10 –

  Thursday Afternoon; North Terrace Airport

  “Yeah, I’m here. The flight was pretty smooth.”

  Heather wanted an update, so here I was walking through the airport assuring my girlfriend I was okay. She was happy to hear from me, which always makes a guy feel good. “Don’t stay up there too long. I’m not a fan of being apart, especially at this distance.”

  Considering the weather here was overcast and looked like it could rain any minute, I didn’t really want to linger too long. “As soon as I get answers, I’ll be on my way back.”

  She told me she loved me and that someone was paging her. It seemed Becky Walker was back. I wished her luck and told her just to give her a visitor pass and let her roam free. The girl was harmless and I would never admit it, but I liked the idea of having kids around with an interest in technology. Maybe when my grand plan was revealed, she could lead the next generation of supers. I was getting ahead of myself.

  I hailed a taxi when I got outside. The driver was a younger guy, and pretty chatty. “Where to mister?”

  “City Hall please.” I figured that would be the best place to start to get info on John Wonderton and his time in this city. Once I was able to access the city network, I’d be able to do my thing and get to the bottom of this. “Does the city have a good wireless connection?”

  He seemed appalled by my question. “I don’t know where you’re from sir, but thanks to Smart Logic, our city is one giant hyper-speed network.”

  Smart Logic, I knew that name. It was a medium sized tech company, not unlike Wonder-Tech, yet it generally stayed within its reaches in the northwest. Under my influence, Wonder-Tech was breaking grounds nationwide. “Care to share anymore about this Smart Logic with me?”

  MP, as my cabbie introduced himself as, was more than happy to tell me everything he thought I needed to know. “They’ve been around for almost thirty years and have produced a few of the most brilliant minds the world’s seen.”

  “Anyone I would know?”

  He laughed. “I’d hope so! I mean, that company Wonder-Tech? John Wonderton himself interned up here!” How did I not know that?! Wonderton did an amazing job of keeping many mysteries from me it seemed. “Shame what happened to him a few months back.”

  Without even realizing it, the cabbie gave me a huge lead. “Instead of City Hall, can you take me to Smart Logic? I’d love to see it.”

  He put on his turn signal and made a quick U-turn. “Sure thing, you’ll find it way more interesting.” He made eye contact through the rearview mirror. “What’s your name sir?”

  “Jericho Staley, acting CEO of Wonder-Tech.”

  He slapped the steering wheel. “Son of a bitch, I thought I recognized you. I just picked up the new Predator phone two days ago. Love the upgrades by the way.” Then his eyes narrowed. “Not going to try and steal any of their secrets are you?”

  Smart Logic’s? No, but I hoped to get some information from them. “No, you have my word. I’m always interested in seeing amazing people at work.”

  “I hope you didn’t take any offense to that. People were talking after the whole gl-O-bal take over. Some thought you might try to expand up here.”

  “I’ve thought about expanding…” Just not in the way he was probably thinking. “We’ll see how the Predator keeps going. You never can tell what’ll happen next.”

  He pulled up to a very modern looking building. Straight lines and abstract wall designs greeted me as I opened the door. “Fancy looking place.”

  MP rolled his window down. “This place is the pride of North Terrace.” He clicked the meter. “That’ll be twenty forty-two.”

  I pulled out to twenties and gave them to him. “Keep the change. I might need a driver again later and that’ll be incentive for you to be the guy.”

  He certainly enjoyed getting the extra incentive. “Here’s my card. No need to even call the dispatch.”

  I stashed MP Ness’s card in my jacket and waved him off. Hopefully the next time I saw him, he was taking me back to the airport. With much to gain and nothing to lose, I walked into the front door and was greeted by quite the scene. Everyone was scurrying around like ants in a colony. Did Wonder-Tech look the same, but I just never noticed it?

  I approached the security check in and showed them my ID. The guard immediately stopped me. “Is anyone expecting you today from the front office Mr. Staley?”

  “No, I just happened to be in town and wanted to see the place my mentor got his start, John Wonderton.”

  The guard got a gleam in his eyes at the mention of his name. “There’s a name I haven’t heard in a long time. You know who you should talk to is old Wayne. Let me page him for you.”

  I was pleased with the response I was getting. Maybe this Wayne had been a friend and wo
uld have a lot of knowledge to pass on. I was getting more anxious by the minute.

  After a few moments of small talk, the guard pointed to an older man getting off the elevator. His dark skin and blue glasses stood out against his stark white shirt and khakis. He limped as he walked and the closer he got, the more grey hair I saw covering his head.

  When he got to me, he stuck his hand out. “Mr. Staley, I’m Wayne Motts. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

  His baritone voice was pleasing to the ears. “It’s a pleasure for me as well Mr. Motts.”

  “Please, call me Wayne. I take it you’re here to talk about John?”

  He cut straight to the chase, a very admirable quality. “I am. I had some business in North Terrace and wanted to see where my former boss got his start. He never really mentioned his time up here curiously.”

  The older man looked around and I guess he didn’t like how many people were trying to covertly eavesdrop on the conversation. “Let’s go down to my basement abyss, more privacy to talk candidly.”

  Sure enough, as I followed the man to the elevator and then down to the basement, he didn’t speak a word. Only when the door shut did he speak again. “If you’re here, then you know John’s deepest secret – that he was a powered vigilante.”

  It wasn’t a question, he was stating fact. “Yeah, I worked alongside of him during his time as The Dark Lion.”

  “That was such a stupid name. When he was making problems up here, the locals called him The Prowler. Between him and that dumbass PJ Douglas, it’s a damn miracle I’m alive.”

  This was far from the conversation I was expecting. “So then you also know the truth about his death? He was killed by The Negative Man in their fight at Waves Park.”

  He reached under his desk and pulled out a newspaper. “Still can’t believe the day this was lying at my front door. I knew it’d eventually come, but damnit, that was one tough way to go.”

  “Were the two of you close?”