The Negative Man: Act 1

by Jeremy Croston

  Father Reigart moved aside and Kim, one of the owners of the store, stepped up to speak. “Ernie saved me once from a terrible fate. When I found out his truth, I wasn’t scared. No, I was relieved people like him with amazing gifts are out there.” He stopped talking, breaking down. Diana went up to get him and lead him back to his seat. I really felt bad for the man.

  The next person to speak was the head of the police department, Chief Grimes. The rumors were true, this dude was as rough as they got. “What happened last night was bullshit. I take responsibility for not knowing that bastard had partners. Everyone sitting here needs to know that the PSPD is doing everything we can to get to the bottom of this.”

  A man raised his hand and then got to his feet. “When will our city ever be safe? How many more good people will have to die?”

  Grimes waved him off. “This is war and people die. Masters knew the cost of protecting you people when he joined up with the police department.” He decided to soften up a little. “Shit, we’re all scared of The Negative Man and what he’s able to do. But, we’ve got our own ace and it’s already won the first hand.”

  Low murmurs broke out across the room. I couldn’t help but notice Kim and Diana seemed annoyed with Grimes talking about this now and in their store. Grimes’ assistant walked up, her hands out. “Everyone remain calm. Let the Chief explain first.”

  “Thank you Deputy Larsen.” She gave a curt nod and went back to her position. “I know the name Titan means something to all of you and I’m here to tell you that last night Titan was able to withstand an attack from The Negative Man.”

  “Impossible!” It was the same man who just asked the question. “How can that even be true?”

  “Oh it is very possible with the proper technology. Your tax dollars have been going to work finding a way to counteract his powers and we’ve been successful.”

  My first question is where they got the research to figure out such a thing. I had read Dr. Cooper’s files front and back and there was nothing in there about counteracting. There was only total annihilation. I wasn’t prepared to give away knowing anything, so I hoped someone would ask for me.

  Curiosity was rampant in the room. Becky did the work for me. “I doubt The Negative Man strolled into the precinct and gave you information on him. I think we have a right to know where your intelligence came from.”

  “I can’t reveal much, but know the government has resources. If you dig in the right spots, you find the right information.”

  Was there more out there on this secret project Cooper had been working on? The man who I got the files from told me that this was all there was left. Talon, I’m pretty sure that was his name. He’d been a broken man for sure and when he found out who my dad was, he made me promise to get these files to him as soon as possible. I had more questions for him, but shortly after our encounter, he went into shock and died.

  No matter where I looked everything on Dr. Cooper had either been redacted or completely wiped away. Hell, I couldn’t even find the name of the project he’d been working on, just he summarization on The Stormfall. If the government was involved, I wondered just how far the conspiracy ran.

  Grimes was still blowing smoke to the people. “The Negative Man has caused Capital City to take notice. Trust me when I say the research we got from inside sources tells us how to combat it.”

  “Do these sources tell you who he is?”

  Exactly! Maybe the police actually knew who he was. I doubted Grimes would tell us, but if he gave the impression he knew, my next stop would be an easy one. Unfortunately, “I’ll tell you as I was told. Some ghosts remain in the grave forever. I might not have been provided with that information, but it’s only a matter of time before the truth reveals itself.”

  The people in the room might have been buying his sales pitch, but I knew better. His voice was all wrong, too confident. This was a man who knew the only way to reveal The Negative Man’s identity was once he was in a body bag. I had a surefire way to make that happen. I didn’t know what the police had, time would tell with that.

  The rest of the service was more of the same. A few people talked about the man, Ernie, while others talked about being saved by the masked hero. Either way, as the service came to an end, most of the folks in attendance were no longer sad. They were angry.

  I didn’t really want to stick around to hear them rabble-rouse and all. I had my own things to deal with and that would be a more productive way to spend the rest of my evening. Just when I thought I was walking home alone, “Hey, not going to say goodbye?”

  “Social etiquette isn’t really my thing.”

  She fell in line with me. “Going back to the Lion Cave?”

  I tried my best not to be annoyed. “Yeah, I have work to do.”

  Apparently she either wasn’t taking the hint or getting it. “Have you thought any more about what we talked about before?”

  I stopped because I had. Her crazy plan about me taking up the mantle from my dad actually worked its way into my mind. I couldn’t stop thinking about the idea of becoming the next generation of Dark Lion. Every night before I fell asleep, I looked at the cloak hanging there. Yeah, it was crazy to think that I could take the role over of protector of the city.

  If I didn’t answer honestly, she’d probably use her power. “I have. Well at least until tonight. You heard Grimes, they have this Titan thing and have a way to fight him on even ground.”

  She grabbed my hands. “You know as well as I do that Grimes is a blowhard. Relying on suspicious reports from secret government officials? Please. At least we know your file is authentic. Who knows what some corrupt political aide gave him to shut him up.”

  “You’re right. The best thing to do is to rely on yourself.” With all this talk of secret projects and cover ups, I really wanted to learn more about what Dr. Cooper was working on. “It’s a shame we don’t know someone who can do some hacking for us that’s one hundred percent trustworthy.”

  Becky got even weirder and started looking at her feet. “Well, I might be able to help with that.”

  “How?”

  “You’re going to have to really be open minded about this guy. Or what’s left of him.” She wasn’t making any sense. “One of my dad’s former associates transferred his conscious to a netbook before he died.”

  Wait what? “He’s mind is in a computer? And you have access to it?”

  “Yep,” she said with a catlike grin. “I have access to it.”

  **Jericho Staley**

  “I just had to watch people mourn the death of a vital member of this community Jericho. So yes forgive me, I am rather upset.”

  This was a rare visit to see Father Reigart where I’d been summoned and not just strolling in off the street. “Ernie Masters was part of the problem, not the solution. I understand people missing the person, but the vigilante? No, he was a nuisance.”

  Looking over I spotted a bearded face rest up against the wooden confessional wall. “I don’t see how you can differentiate between one and the other. Do you consider Jericho and The Negative Man to be two different people?”

  It was an interesting question. “I’m one coin with two different sides. I can separate the two aspects when needed.”

  “When will this end? I’m not asking as a man of God, but as a friend to a friend. Jericho, you’re going down a path that I don’t know that I can condone.”

  I knew my visits here brought about turmoil inside Reigart. He was trying to balance the fact we’d become unlikely friends with his core values and beliefs. “I’m not asking you to condone what I’ve done or am planning to do. All I’ve ever needed was someone to talk to.”

  He then brought up the other hot topic. “Heather, she’s not someone you can talk to is she? Her lust for battle, bloodshed, it’s gotten worse, no?”

  As much as I wanted to lie to him, “It has. I try to keep her in check, to retain the humanity I’ve lost. No matter what I say, she wants to be include
d in the messy stuff as much or even more than I do.” I was supposed to be the agent of change, doing the dirty work.

  “So I ask you again, where does this end? It’s obvious your convictions to her are weighing more on you than your convictions to your cause.”

  “This isn’t the answer you want Father, but it ends when my plan is complete. And if I lose Heather in the process, then it’ll be for the greater good.”

  Chapter 16 –

  Monday Morning; Wonder-Tech Tower

  It was gone. The file containing that idiot Dr. Cooper’s research was gone. I knew it was on my desk before I left for North Terrace, but when I walked in this morning, nothing. I remained calm on the outside, but internally I was raging.

  I checked the log of guests who were checked in. The only names on the list were a few clients and Becky Walker. Nothing here told me who may have been the culprit. Of course, any of the clients could’ve been forged or even infiltrated. I took down all their names with the intent of tracking each one down.

  Before my manhunt could begin, Shawn Jordan entered my office with a little too much pep in his step. He took a seat in one of the chairs and propped his feet up on my desk. I cringed at smudges getting on the glass top. “The three packages have been delivered. I think we’ll be getting confirmation soon.”

  By three packages, he meant the dead bodies of the three gang leaders who were about to enter into an accord with the SVIS. Shawn had been instructed to place their bodies in the driver’s seat of three cop cars at the precinct. I should’ve had him put up cameras too so I could see the look on Grimes’ face.

  I sat down too and gave one last contempt look at his sneakers. “No one saw you?”

  “Pssht, sometimes I don’t think the cops in this city could catch the flu if they tried.” He chuckled at his own little joke. “As always, I was quick and efficient.”

  The man had a bit of an overwhelming personality, but his efficiency and never say die attitude couldn’t be overlooked. “You could’ve called me and told me that. I’m guessing something else has come up?”

  He finally got his feet off his desk. “I need a few days off to deal with some personal business.”

  “Is everything okay?”

  I don’t think he was ready for me to actually give a crap. “It’s not okay, but I don’t want to bother you with it. After everything, I didn’t want to flake out for a few days on you without advance warning.”

  Something was bothering him greatly. Could Heather and I continue on without him? Yes, but superior numbers were always a good battle strategy. “That’s fine if you need to sort something out, yet I’m curious why you won’t tell me what it is.”

  He looked around the room like he was checking for bugs. “A blast from the past is after me. I need to take him down before he gets me.”

  “Would I know this person?”

  “I doubt it.” He fidgeted for a few moments before breaking down. “Last year while lying low of The Dark Lion, I bummed some cash off another super named Hijack. I paid him back a few weeks later, but he wanted more. Said I owed him compound interest.”

  Money, the root of all problems. “Let me guess, he threatened to expose you for what you really were if you didn’t pay him.”

  “Bingo. So I paid the first amount like a fool and when he demanded more, I lost it.” That didn’t surprise me; he didn’t seem too stable. “I went back to his hideout a day later and stole all his money. Took it all outside and torched it just to show that I’m not the kinda guy you mess with.”

  “What power does this Hijack have?”

  Shawn shuddered. “If he touches you, he can take control of your mind for a short time. Happened to me once, damn near impossible to forget that.”

  A super crime boss extorting others? This sounded like the kinda guy who needed to meet the real power in the city. “To be honest, I don’t really care about your personal history with him. What does bother me is having a lowlife scum bucket extorting powered people.”

  “What do you mean boss?”

  “You have a problem and I want to eliminate it. We all know you’re a bit squeamish when it comes to eliminating threats.”

  He didn’t reply which I took for an agreement. With a few minutes of silence, I went to the computer and found what little I could on Hijack. His name popped up here and there on a few dark websites related to powered people and Pacific Station. Turned out he had a long line of people he took advantage of. The more I read, the more upset I became.

  My mind was made up. “Go home tonight and rest up. We still need to complete our original objective.” He looked at me funny. “Hijack is mine and I won’t hear another word about it.”

  Before he left, I had him write down the last known whereabouts of this despicable super. It would be a great pleasure in ridding the world of another parasite, one who’d been around too long. This is the important work DL never understood. Fighting the big threats is good, but allowing the small time bullshit to happen on your watch plagues the city just as much. Guys like Hijack have no right to be free.

  The missing spark had been reignited. My lack of effort after killing The Dark Lion was gone; in its place was the agent of change that I needed to be. Challenges were mounting up and I was eliminating them one by one. Before I went out tonight and took out the trash, I needed to do one last thing.

  I told my assistant that I was heading out early. I couldn’t get home to my lab quick enough. The first thing I did when I got there was take the elemental gun off the shelf and disassemble it. With the completion of the electron gauntlet, I was ready for my final masterpiece – the polarity accelerator.

  With Ellison’s notebook opened, I marveled at the simple ingenuity of Owen Walker’s design. He had me come onboard after he already created the power source; he just needed it modified to take the heavy load on the gun. After his death, I tinkered with the gun for parts until I realized it could serve a bigger purpose.

  Walker, either in a stroke of luck or brilliance, made a power core that focused on stealing the positive energy from atoms to charge the element while using the negative energy to power the firing mechanism. I pulled out the sphere-like power source and its pulsating blue core fascinated me. Even after being dormant for so long, it held a lot of power.

  I hooked a few battery cables up to it and attached them to my arms. I sent a small burst of my own power into the core to see how it reacted. The blue glow intensified for a minute before returning to normal. I placed it back in the gun with the ice element already locked in and fired. “Outstanding.”

  The firing mechanism was powered fully, yet with no source of positive energy coming from me, the core must’ve converted the polarity to make up for it. A small area of frozen space on the wall was visible. Whatever technology Owen put into this, it would be the key to unlocking my true potential.

  I continued to experiment on this for the next few hours until I saw the clock strike six. Right on cue the garage door opened signaling that Heather was home. I put away my work and went upstairs to greet her. She was wearing an incredible sexy business suit as she had been in court that afternoon. “Colette told me you went home early. Everything okay?”

  “Oh yeah, more than okay. Something I’d dreamed up in my head might soon come to fruition.” I started to daydream about being invincible again. “Oh and I’m going out tonight to take care of a minor problem for our pal Hammerspace.”

  I explained to her all about Hijack and what he was doing. Heather was completely onboard with me getting rid of the asshole. “Can I come too? Maybe you’ll let me blow up another one of our enemies…”

  She asked so sweetly, but it also came across a tad insane. “You take the night off too. Starting tomorrow night, we finish off the SVIS and then we can move on to the police and Titan.”

  Crossing her arms in mock disappointment, “You always know how to deny a girl a good time.”

  Chapter 17 –

  Monday Night; Bull’s
Gym

  Going to the south side of Pacific Station could be summed up in two words – it sucked. To steal a quote, it was a haven for scum and villainy. Bull’s Gym, which was the address Shawn gave me, fit in with the rest of the run down area. The only light coming from the place was in a back office. I slid my mask over my face and prepared for my grand entrance.

  I expected an office full of thugs ready to defend their boss’s honor. Instead when I came in guns blazing, only a fat, greasy haired man sat there. He was counting a wad of money and didn’t seem all that intimidated by me. No, he didn’t even react. “How ‘bout next time you don’t blow off my door.” The fat man had a strong accent.

  Undeterred, “I take it you know who I am.”

  He didn’t even look up from the hundreds he was stacking on his desk. “Yeah, I knows you. Doesn’t mean I give two shits about you.” He finished his stack and closed up the lock box. “Why don’t you just leave now before I decide to get reals with you?”

  Clinching my hand, “I’ve killed people for less than that. Give me a reason.”

  “Listen, yous not the bigshot in town anymore. All of us downs here know about Titan, that’s the real deal.” He slid his chair up and pushed himself out. “See unlike those guys you iced and tried to make an example outta to the cops, I took their deal and with it certain liberties. I’m protected bitch.”

  I took his words at face value, Titan was on the way. “I get it; you think I need something from you.” I pointed my gauntlet at the fat bastard. “You’d be mistaken. My visit tonight is for a friend.”

  Wave after wave of energy went into Hijack, overkilling him to be honest. His lack of respect really set me off, so I probably spent a little too much time and energy into his demise. When I finished, I appraised my work. If I was really egotistical and assigned grades to what I did, tonight’s effort was a solid A.