The Negative Man: Act 1

by Jeremy Croston

  Then Heather’s voice broke through for a moment. “Attack… on gl-O-Bal Innovations.”

  As the phone died, the radio filled in the blanks. “Sorry to cut in on the midafternoon commute but there’s an attack on the Wonder-Tech owned gl-O-bal Innovations building. Early reports have a powered individual calling himself Firefight demanding police intervention in The Negative Man manhunt or else casualties will begin piling up.”

  “Taxi, change of plans. I need to get to gl-O-bal right away!”

  Chapter 22 –

  Wednesday Afternoon; gl-O-Bal Innovations

  There were a few small fires burning in the front lobby which I could see and people were fleeing out of the building in terror. The powered person, this Firefight, was standing in the middle of my lobby, a lighter in his hand. He lit the lighter and sent a small fireball towards a few scared employees. It missed them, intentionally, but it scared the hell out of the girls as they exited the building.

  It took everything I had not to go in and put an end to this bastard on the spot. However, with all the first responders and television cameras here, it’d give away my identity to the world. Wait, the television cameras! I saw one lying beside a news van unattended. I needed to get to that camera.

  Everyone’s eyes were on the escalating scene at gl-O-bal, so I walked over to the van and slid underneath. I reached out for the cable connected to it, hoping the cable line was hot. It was and my conscious immediately went in. My next visual was an all-encompassing view from inside every television within three miles. I focused my energies on the ones closest to the scene.

  No longer were people just scared by Firefight. Now The Negative Man was on the scene. “Firefight, come out of that building and face me!”

  My voice echoed into the street, shattering a few of the windows of the buildings across from gl-O-bal. I had total control of the cameras and made sure they were all pointed at the entrance to my building. I waited a few more moments for Firefight to show up before taking the situation even further. “Your death is inevitable Firefight, don’t make me hunt down your loved ones after.”

  The man in the yellow and orange jumpsuit walked out, a flame hovering over his hand. “If my sacrifice brings about a change and your demise, so be it! The normal don’t want to help us, so we’re taking matters into our own hands.”

  He added size to the fireball using the lighter in his hand. When it was the right size, he lobbed it into gl-O-bal, sending waves of flame everywhere. As the gas lines began to break, explosions erupted all over the building. I pulled out of the cameras and slid out from under the van. Everything I worked for was going up in a giant ball of fire.

  Just as I was going to run into the building to try and save it, a yellow cloaked figure descended into gl-O-bal from the rooftop. Cheers went up all around the street as people pointed at him. “The Dark Lion!” Random people began yelling his name.

  He was just as fast as I remembered from the warehouse. It was certainly not super speed, but his reflexes were off the charts. The young super was saving people left and right from the building. I needed to go inside, to save the server farm that powered the Predator cell phone network, yet if I did, he’d just interfere.

  When he brought out another body, I made my mind up and ran towards the building. “Mr. Staley!” Someone shouted at me from behind, but I needed to get this fire under control. My entire plan was about to go up in flames, literally. As I got close to the door, a huge explosion erupted, sending me flying backwards. I landed on the hard paved street, the gl-O-bal building began to crumble to the ground.

  ****

  “Ugh, where am I?”

  My eyes opened to see Heather standing beside me. “You’re at Heights General. You have a concussion and nothing more thankfully.”

  A nurse walked by and she was talking excitedly about the reappearance of The Dark Lion. She called him a real hero. “It seems someone made a name for himself today.”

  “The servers, are they destroyed?”

  She pulled out her cell phone. “As of right now, we have the most expensive paperweight on the market. Consumers are flocking to stores in the thousands to get a new working phone.”

  I felt sick to my stomach. In one fell swoop, some idiot super destroyed everything I’d worked for. The lights in the hospital began to flicker; the machines began to make a weird buzzing noise. Heather’s hand fell on my shoulder. “You need to calm down. This isn’t the time or place.”

  “How many casualties? Was Russell Jackson saved?”

  She looked resigned to give me even more bad news. “No, we lost him. He died in one of the smaller fires early on. This guy was out to make a statement and he did.”

  Russell was my right hand man in the technology department. More importantly he was working on figuring out Titan’s suit for me. I wanted to bring this hospital to its knees, show the world why you don’t piss off The Negative man. But Heather was right. I closed my eyes and concentrated on my breathing. When I regained control, the side effects of my rage ceased. “The super, Firefight, what happened to him?”

  “The new Dark Lion apprehended him and he’s at the police station being booked. He’ll be there for a day or two before being sent off to the prison.”

  Pacific Station had a state of the art prison, Black Lagoon Penitentiary. They called it Black Lagoon because of the manmade waterways the city built around the prison. No one was sure how deep the water was, but it was deep enough to give the water a permanent black color. There were also rumors that all types of predatory animals lived in there, but I chalked that up to nonsense.

  The prison was outfitted to hold both normal prisoners and the occasional powered one. With the natural barriers and the heavy amount of ‘armed to the teeth’ guards, breaking into or out of Black Lagoon was a tall order. Once Firefight ended up in there, it’d be next to impossible to reach him. “I need to get out of here and get him. He needs to pay for what he’s done.”

  Heather left the room and found a nurse. As a lawyer, she worked quickly and efficiently to secure my release and by nightfall, we were leaving the hospital. My head still ached a bit, but that was nothing. Deep seated anger blocked all of that out.

  Wasting no time, my gear was assembled and I was back out into the night. Following the power lines right to the heart of Pacific Station, it was time to begin my assault on the police station. I cut the power to the place, leaving it in total darkness.

  As I stormed in, I heard a few shots of gunfire, but the bullets were disintegrated with ease. A few yelps came forth as I blasted away anyone dumb enough to stand in my way. Officers fled or tried to hide; but they weren’t my concern. I gave a quick look at Grimes’ office, not surprised to see that the chief wasn’t here.

  I stopped at the cell holding Firefight. His arms were wrapped in closed cuffs and his ankles were shackled together. I ripped the door off the hinges and grabbed him. He didn’t look scared or surprised to see me. “Kill me now, for I plan on telling you nothing.”

  He was going to die, but not before he spilled his guts to me. I picked him up and carried him out of the station. Right as I was leaving, a shot was fired. It missed, but the cop who tried to kill me wasn’t going to get off that easy. I overloaded the computer next to him and it blew up with little circuits acting as shrapnel.

  I carried Firefight all the way down to the harbor and dunked him into the chilly salt water. “I don’t have a lot of time before unwanted attention follows me so I’ll make this short.” I pulled out my useless phone, but not the useless camera on it. I snapped a picture of his face. “I will find out who you are and kill each and every person you hold near and dear.”

  His face went white. “No, you can’t-”

  “Can’t do that? I can and I will.” I held the phone over the water. “If you tell me who put you up to this and why you targeted that particular building, I drop this into the ocean before I kill you.”

  Some men when faced with death will gro
vel. Others, knowing their actions led to this point will face it head on. It seemed we had a true believer, as there was no groveling. “I have your word you’ll destroy that.”

  “You do.”

  He stood there, bracing for what was to come. “Nick Parson, he’s the super leading us. He has chosen five high value targets in order to force the police to aid us. I was just the first and before you ask, we don’t know each other’s targets.”

  Parson, the Rhino wasn’t done yet. “I am a man of my word.” I dropped my phone into the ocean and watched it sink to the bottom. “Whether you believe me or not, I’m trying to make this world better.”

  With his head held high, I put as much energy as possible into his death, to make it quick and painless. His dead body dropped on to the wooden dock and I left just seconds before the Titan showed up as I knew it would.

  Chapter 23 –

  Wednesday Afternoon; gl-O-bal Innovations

  **Kyle Wonderton**

  I was watching in horror at what was unfolding for the whole city to see. “Are you sure about this, Becky?”

  She was standing beside me on the building next to gl-O-bal. The Negative Man was issuing threats to the super inside and people were in a panic on the streets. “These people need a real hero, Kyle. You can give it to them.” Her eyes said that she truly believed this.

  Below the fire guy exited the building, but I got a bad feeling he wasn’t done. He said something to The Negative Man and then launched a massive fireball back inside. There was no more time for thinking, I had to do something.

  I jumped down to the roof and hopped into an open window. Explosions rocked the foundation below. Screams could be heard everywhere as people were still trapped inside. I didn’t have time to think, I just had to rely on my reflexes and critical thinking.

  The first few people were trapped behind a wall of fire that had spread throughout the building. I jumped high over the flames and grabbed them. Strength wasn’t one of my super powers, so it was all up to my momentum to carry the weight. I got started on the rescue before actually grabbing them, allowing the force of my leaps and strides to help with the weight.

  I lost track of time as I continued moving from floor to floor, office to office, and gathering up any stragglers. As I exited the building one last time, it blew up. Debris and flames soared high into the air and a number of people were thrown back by the percussion of the explosion. The super responsible for all this devastation was standing in the middle of it all, laughing. “Grimes, anyone else listening! You have no choice now but to bow to our demands!”

  This guy was a loon. From behind his protective eyewear, I couldn’t make out much of his face, but he struck me as oddly familiar. No matter, he killed people today and destroyed an entire business. His time was over. “Stand down and deal with the consequences.”

  He looked at me. “A pretender? Everyone knows the real Dark Lion is dead.”

  A pretender? Is that what he thought of me? I rushed forward and leveled him with an attack before he could flick on his lighter. He collapsed to the ground, a bruise forming from where my fist connected with his face. Cheers went up all around me as those uninjured looked on happily. A young boy not too far from me pointed and called, “The Dark Lion’s come back!”

  A police officer walked up and placed the downed super in handcuffs. “I don’t know how to thank you. We all thought you were dead.”

  “The Dark Lion is dead, but his legacy continues.” Thanks for the words, Becky. “I’ll do what I can to keep this city safe for as long as I’m here.”

  The officer pulled the knocked out super to his feet. “I don’t know who you are but this city needs you.” Another came and took the prisoner. “As you can see, we’re going to Hell in a handbasket.”

  ****

  The rush of success had me pumped. “I can’t believe I was able to do that!” I hadn’t even taken off my new gear yet, similar to my dad’s body suit but augmented to fit my increased agility more than strength. “And I defeated my first real challenge.”

  Becky was drinking a soda and flipping through a pizza menu she found on the internet. “Some of us actually believed and that’s why I pushed you from the start.”

  I put my dad’s cloak back in its spot, little singe marks from the fire marked it up. I thought it gave it character. “In the heat of the moment, sorry for the pun, I just felt faster.” It was true, in a panic to save those lives; my body reacted in ways I never imagined. “I pushed myself to be greater.”

  “You’re going to need a lot of calories. How do you feel about meat lover’s pizza and a stromboli or two?”

  At the mention of food, my stomach rumbled very loudly. “I guess being a hero enhances your metabolism.”

  She picked up the phone and got our order coming. Fortunately, she had a lot of money due to her dad’s inheritance and picked up most of our tabs. “Each time I use mine, I feel like I could eat a horse.”

  “Is there a way to use your powers to a lesser degree? I mean, I feel like yours could be so useful in so many situations.”

  She turned away. “I just don’t like using mine. Besides the physical toll, I feel so bad afterwards.” That was true, I felt that way when she blasted me with her truth ray. “And unlike your dad, mine was a very bad man. If this is my gift from him, the less I use it the better.”

  Under the tough exterior was someone in pain. She’d been here to help me and it was obvious it was time for me to return the favor. “You’re nothing like your dad. Just because of who he was doesn’t mean you’re destined to follow the same path.”

  “How could it not? I mean with my power comes so much temptation to use it for personal gain or worse.” She grimaced at the thought. “The less I use it, the less that temptation lures me.”

  “You’re wrong.”

  She gave me a dirty look. “What do you mean?”

  “I know you’d never use your powers for the wrong reasons. This conversation proves it.” I hopped off my cot and walked over to her. “A person with bad intentions never questions themselves as much as you do. If you could blast yourself with your power, you’d see what me, the Krummels, and anyone else who knows you see; a good person.”

  She stood up and hugged me. We hadn’t had much physical contact, yet I didn’t try to pull away. It was almost nice to have a moment with someone who understood me. Then without warning, she leaned in to kiss me.

  I backed up. “Whoa, hey there!”

  “Oh my God, I’m so sorry!” Her face went red. “Kyle, I don’t know what came over me!”

  I’d been caught off guard. I honestly didn’t know she thought of me as any more than a friend. “No, it’s okay. I just didn’t quite expect that.”

  An awkward cloud formed between us, only interrupted by the knock on the garage door. “Pizza guy.”

  I opened it and grabbed the food. I was starving which wasn’t helping anything. Becky signed the bill and we went back inside, not really sure what to say to each other. There was only one thing to do, stuff my face with food to keep occupied.

  “Am I not pretty?”

  Shit. Oh man, it was situations like these I really wish I’d talked more to my mom about girls. I was lost in a sea full of sharks. “No, it’s quite the opposite.” She was a very pretty girl. I was certain a lot of guys at her school probably went out of their way to gain her attention. “It’s just I’m eighteen and trying to figure out this whole hero thing. I can barely do that right without worrying about feelings and such.”

  She put her slice down on her plate. “So it’s an age thing?”

  It didn’t seem like this conversation was going anywhere. “You’ve got your whole life ahead of you.” Which if my plan was successful for defeating The Negative Man, I didn’t. “You can do a lot better than me, trust me. A lot of guys have a lot less damage than I do.”

  Whatever I said brought the frown off her face. “I’m not giving up on us, Kyle. In a few years you’ll see.”
She went back to happily munching away.

  I was tempted to tell her the truth right then and there. My future didn’t exist. It was fun to play the hero for a bit, but when it came down to everything, my goal was the same. To kill The Negative Man, no matter the consequences to my own life. Yet she looked so happy. So I kept my mouth shut and ate in silence. One day I’d be honest, just not on this one.

  Chapter 24 –

  Thursday Morning; Station Public Library

  Hammerspace was tasked with finding Nick Parson and Heather was working with Legal to recoup the damages that had been done. The only way to keep my mind from collapsing into a fit of rage was to look for the book Wilson told me about. It wasn’t listed in the electronic card catalogue, so the librarian’s assistant directed me to the old school index. “Some books just never make it into the newer databases.”

  This is why I probably never heard of this book. Cooper probably did all he could to keep it hidden, even using a spin-off of his own name as the listed author. I was like a dog with an itch and I wasn’t going to stop scratching until I found it. It took some time, but I was able to get the shelf location.

  It was an old, weathered, unremarkable leather book with faded gold letters pressed into it. ‘Conspiracies that Shaped Our Country’ by D.S. Cooper, and it was in my hands. I took the book down gingerly and opened it. The table of contents was tattered though the chapter I was interested in stuck out like a sore thumb. Chapter twenty-one, it was entitled ‘The Great Electron Generator Failure.’ I flipped to the page just to see what he had to say.

  The first few paragraphs were an introduction to the power craze that hit our country. Every scientist worth his grain was trying to come up with a better way to harness electricity, especially after the great nuclear fiasco. It wasn’t until the third paragraph that we got into some good details. A gentleman by the name of Ted Hightower was the lead on the project with an army general named Bulger listed as the government liaison. The operating theory was that if electron energy could be harnessed, there might be a way through fusion to run a cleaner electrical grid.