Pacific Station Vigilante (Book 2): The Negative Man [Stormfall]

by Jeremy Croston

  Someone broke his first and only rule: no questions. “What about that technological terror you’ve been trotting out into the city? You said Titan was the answer to our questions.”

  Man, I really needed to watch the news more often. I’d apparently missed a lot of banter between Grimes and the press. “Until one of you assholes actually comes up with a plan that’s better than Titan, we stick to it.” If looks could kill… “Are the streets safer? Is crime down? The answer is yes to both and that’s because of Titan.”

  “Citywide damage is at an all-time high and panic has gripped the city.” Geri Paisley was getting into the mix. She’d never been shy about turning the screws on people. “You might say things are better, but the taxpayers, the very citizens of Pacific Station, disagree strongly.”

  His face was red with anger. Mashing his teeth together and basically growling, “We’re losing the point here. Once again, that mutant destroys one of our buildings and kills people without a care in the world. The Sea Hag is the final straw. I’m giving Titan free reign of the city to do what is necessary. Consider Pacific Station under Martial Law.”

  Chapter 28 –

  Saturday Night; Wonder-Tech Tower

  Martial law… Grimes was an idiot. Even on my way over, the only thing he’d accomplished was making the citizens of the city even more panicked. A Saturday night and Pacific Station looked like a ghost town. Many probably disagreed with my methods, but was what I was doing even this bad?

  I chose to do my investigation work at my office due to all the firewalls I’d set up. Not that my home laptop was unsecure, far from it, I just preferred the set up in my office. With one last glance out down to the empty streets, I turned to my desk and logged in. I was hopeful with enough digging I could locate this mysterious super who we all knew as Titan.

  Titan began popping up about three weeks ago. With a good place to start, I began looking into prominent citizens that moved to the area about a month ago. It had to be someone who was connected to the police station somehow. I hacked into the PSPD and took a look at the officer hires. No one was new to the department since Rebecca Larsen transferred in almost seven months ago. I took a closer look at her file.

  She had a reputation for being a hard ass to say the least. In her old department, there were two documented events where she used excessive force on criminals. Nothing happened further, but this cop sounded just like Chief Grimes kind of officer.

  The problem was nothing on her record made her look like super. There were emergency contacts listed, family in Freemont, and even a twenty-four year old daughter to an ex-husband. Most supers tried to keep their families a secret, not flaunt them around like a normal person did. Still, something about the hard look this woman had piqued my interest. I was easily distracted, I know. On a whim, I delved deeper into Ms. Larsen just to see.

  There was nothing on interest except a locked file from sixteen years ago. It was a redacted file that was attached to a government server. I found that odd. I wondered what the hell she’d been up to. I broke the file down and rebuilt it solely on my end. What I saw stopped me in my tracks.

  Rebecca Larsen had been with a private security company that took a job with a government official to raid a secured testing facility. Details were scarce on it – the raid had failed and there were numerous casualties recorded. Sparks flew off my hand as even though it didn’t say it, I knew exactly what had happened. I’d been there.

  I scoured through the now accessible databases for anything that contained the words ‘Project Jericho’ or ‘Stormfall.’ Cooper had done a good job keeping a lot of this stuff off the books, for obvious reasons. It was a black eye to both the government and to his legacy. In the files that were still left over, no names were even used – not mine nor Dr. Staley’s.

  Using the name Jericho Staley had always been a calculated risk. It just meant so much to me, having an identity. From time to time I’d check into it, never seeing it or even hearing any ghosts from the past whispering it. In the back of my mind, though, I knew I hadn’t accessed everything. Larsen’s records proved that. There were a lot of missing puzzle pieces and they could stay that way for all I cared.

  Because of her employment with the private security team, I saw her blood was clean, she was a normal. That put me back in the position of starting over on the Titan mystery. I expanded my search to include businesses and public services.

  The newest business listed was a comic book shop down on Salt Water Cove. Again, that place popped up. The Krummels had opened Krum’s Comics four months ago. They’d been citizens of the city for quite some time – Diana had been here fifteen years and Kim ten. Even though I was sure this was an empty trail, I couldn’t ignore the coincidence anymore.

  Nothing out of the ordinary came back on Kim. He worked for Pacific Choppers until he opened the store with his wife. There was a son listed who lived back east, and for all intents and purposes, he was just an average Joe.

  At first, the same thing came back on Diana. This was her second store, she had a comic book store eleven years ago, but it closed due to the economy. Whereas Kim had always lived somewhere on the west coast, Diana grew up in the middle of the country. Then a newspaper article changed it all – her name, well her maiden name, put her at the epicenter of a nuclear meltdown a number of years ago. This slice of information changed everything.

  As I looked deeper into this mysterious book store owner, certain things began to stand out that I never would’ve attached to super powers. When she was thirty, she survived a head-on collision where everyone else died. The doctors chalked it up to a miracle; I began to wonder if a metallic suit saved her.

  Another article, this time at thirty-four years old tells her apartment was broken into. The police apprehended the suspects, yet Diana was fine, even though there was evidence of gunshots being fired. The first responder to the scene was none other than Officer Harvey Grimes. I made the connection. For emphasis, I circled the article and spelled out Titan on the screen. Seeing it in front of me gave me a sense of pride at cracking the code.

  With this new information in hand, I had a chance to go end things once and for all. A sneak attack, at their home, would really put Titan in a bad spot. Maybe even threaten her husband Kim so she surrenders without a fight. With all these ideas running through my head, I was about to go and pay the Krummels a visit when a hacker’s message popped up on my screen. The screen name in the message was StabbtyBnny. ‘Who is this?’

  How the hell did someone break through my firewalls? I typed back, ‘You don’t want to know.’

  The next message came across very quickly. ‘I’ve been looking into this program for years. The government is hiding stuff from all of us.’

  ‘Who are you?’

  This time the hacker took a bit longer. I tried to trace the IP address from the message, but it was pining all over the world. This guy or gal was good. ‘A friend. If you’re looking into this, we have similar interests.’ My screen went back to the file on Rebecca Larsen and her involvement in the raid.

  Time was being wasted, but I found myself lulled into this conversation. ‘What interest do you have in a decades old government black program?’

  ‘Personal ones, that’s all I’ll say. I can’t pinpoint you and I know you can’t pinpoint me, but here is a token of my trust.’ An imbedded file was attached to the message. He sent one last message to me before disappearing. ‘Help me expose these people for what they are – traitors.’

  With the connection lost and the conversation box dead, the only thing I had left was the imbedded file he sent me. I downloaded it and it became clear this was a recording. There was only one thing left to do, hit play.

  “Hey sis it’s Betzy. I don’t know you’ll get this message in time; I just wanted to give you a quick heads up. The electron generator is going live later today, there’s just something that bugs me about it. General Bulger was walking by earlier with Ted along with some creepy guy named Dr.
Cooper. I think I overheard this Cooper say they want to be able to weaponize this, depending on how the tests go today. I didn’t sign up for that kinda crap. I’m contracted until the end of the month, so when my time is up, I’m hoping to move back to South Terrace. Tell mom I said hi. Well, gotta go; they want me to start getting some systems along. Peace.”

  When the message ended, all I could think was this StabbtyBnny couldn’t have had any idea who he sent this too. This message from this Betzy showed that Cooper was involved long before I was even born. Not that I ever regretted my decision to take his life, but this just proved I did the world a whole lot of good by removing him from it.

  There was just one last thing of his out there. This Stormfall that The Dark Lion’s son had was Cooper’s final legacy. Once I destroyed the Wonderton line and the information he carried, nothing would be left of the villain Dr. Cooper. But before I could do that, I had to pay a lady a visit – it was time for the Titan to fall.

  Chapter 29 –

  Saturday Night; Wonder-Tech Tower

  **Kyle Wonderton**

  I waited until Mr. Staley left the building before risking entrance. He left in quite the hurry and set off down the street like a man determined. As soon as he was out of sight, I jumped from the rooftop across to the roof of Wonder-Tech Tower. I broke the lock and quickly placed the USB in my pocket into the security alarm. Jenkins did the rest and not a sound was heard.

  My dad’s old office was on the top floor, so it was just a quick run to his desk. The computer was still hot and the screen was still on when I got there. I plugged the USB into the port and Jenkins’ face appeared. “Holy crap, a real working computer! I never thought I’d get out of that old laptop.”

  We weren’t sure this was going to work. Becky came up with the plan to see if Jenkins could merge into a jump drive. The first attempt failed as his conscious was just too big of a file for it to handle. A few hundred dollars later, we finally had one that could contain everything. “I’m going to make sure I didn’t overlook anything in any of his files. If you can look on the computer and network, maybe Jericho didn’t delete all of my father’s old notes.”

  “You got it kid.”

  My first idea was for Jenkins to go out into the internet and do his thing. Apparently in the digital world, that would be like sending a small fish out into the ocean. He explained that he had no anchor point and once out on the worldwide web, his digital signature could get swept anywhere.

  So that’s where this plan came in. On a secure network in the building, he said it would be more like a calm pond. He could look around and not have to worry about losing himself or his access point. Becky was against the idea, but if my father had any information on either The Negative Man, or something that we could use so this whole Martial Law thing could end, it was worth it. I wasn’t about to watch my father’s city burn to the ground.

  I didn’t even get a chance to look in the first filing cabinet when Jenkins called me over. “Kyle, you need to see this.”

  On the screen was a bunch of different pages opened up. “What am I looking at?”

  “Jericho Staley’s latest browsing and search history. He was looking into a Rebecca Larsen with the PSPD and…” He stopped. “Oh no, this isn’t good.”

  The screen was still a jumbled mess and Jenkins wasn’t helping. “What’s not good?”

  One by one the different screens were organized on top of each other. “After doing a search on Larsen’s past, the next search terms in a secure government database were ‘Stormfall’ and ‘Project Jericho.’ Why would he be looking into The Stormfall?”

  “That’s my fault.” I remember my first mistake of dropping the file when I investigated the first time around. “He’s seen the file. What’s Project Jericho though?”

  The words appeared on the screen even with no typing on my end. “Without accessing the internet as a whole, nothing comes up on it. Strange that it contains his first name.”

  It was odd, but nothing I needed to concern myself with. “Anything else of value?”

  That screen minimized and a screen showed up with information about Diana Krummel, the comic book store lady. “I think this woman might be a powered person.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  A highlight came on the screen. “She was living in the Midwest at the time of the nuclear meltdowns. She was exposed to high levels of radiation due to the proximity.”

  No, I was around the woman and I know Becky did her mental magic on her. “That’s impossible.”

  He wasn’t done. “Judging by what he was looking at, it seems he may have correlated her as the police sanctioned vigilante Titan. There’s even an article on how she came in contact with Chief Grimes years ago.”

  When that article popped up, there was a big circle around it with poorly drawn letters that spelled out Titan there too. “Do you think Jericho is out to stop her?”

  “I don’t know, nothing here indicates that. The only other clue as to what he was working on is a voice file that was downloaded shortly before we got here.”

  Without hesitating, “Play it.”

  The clip appeared and Jenkins hit play –

  “Hey sis it’s Betzy. I don’t know you’ll get this message in time; I just wanted to give you a quick heads up. The electron generator is going live later today, there’s just something that bugs me about it. General Bulger was walking by earlier with Ted along with some creepy guy named Dr. Cooper. I think I overheard this Cooper say they want to be able to weaponize this, depending on how the tests go today. I didn’t sign up for that kinda crap. I’m contracted until the end of the month, so when my time is up, I’m hoping to move back to South Terrace. Tell mom I said hi. Well, gotta go; they want me to start getting some systems along. Peace.”

  When it finished up, none of it made sense. I heard Dr. Cooper’s name mentioned, the same man who wrote the research for defeating a powered threat. “Jenkins, this just doesn’t add up. We’re missing some pieces to this puzzle.”

  He disappeared into the computer without so much as an explanation. I sat there, in the rather comfortable chair, and waited. We needed to get a move on, as I wasn’t sure if and when Mr. Staley would come back. I highly doubt he’d be okay with some random kid breaking into his office. “Phil, whatever you’re doing, we need to hurry. I still need to find…”

  His face popped back up. “I’m afraid to show you this Kyle.”

  “Show me what?”

  “This.”

  Again, he disappeared and in his place was an email chain from almost a year ago that was sent from a Heather Adams to Jericho Staley:

  ‘I still can’t believe you killed Mike Blackfield like that. It sends chills up my spine. HA’

  ‘Heather, I told you not to talk about that stuff on the company email. My firewalls are secure, but you can never be too safe. JS’

  ‘You’re HIM for crying out loud! With ‘you know who’ long gone, I don’t see the need to hide. HA.’

  ‘I’m not hiding, but building a legitimate front. You’ll see my plans soon enough. JS’

  ‘I hope so, I’m bored. Why don’t you put on the NM mask tonight and we can create some chaos. HA’

  ‘No more, you’ve said too much. I’ll call you after work. JS’

  My eyes had to be playing tricks on me. “Becky vouched for him, said he was a good guy.”

  The email chain disappeared and Jenkins was back. “I’m sorry kid, I didn’t see this one coming either. I knew Jericho well and had no idea he was really The Negative Man.”

  As the words The Negative Man echoed out of the speakers and into my ears, confusion was replaced with vengeance. “He killed my father.” I turned around and kicked a side table, knocking down some pictures and other knick knacks. “THAT BASTARD KILLED MY DAD!”

  “Kyle, calm down. We need to get out of here and regroup okay? Nothing good ever comes from confronting someone in this kinda state.”

  I pulled the US
B out of the computer and Jenkins disappeared back into the portable device. I knew who The Negative Man was and he was going to finally get his for what he did to my dad, a true hero! I began tearing apart his office, in a fit of rage. Wanton destruction felt good, but I needed more. It was time to put my dad’s cape on and honor his memory once and for all.

  Chapter 30 –

  Saturday Night; Krum’s Comics and Games

  Their house had been empty so my next stop was their store. I kicked the locked door down and it too was empty. Or was it? I heard a soft sound coming from behind the cash register. I walked over and looked down. Sitting there with a look of resignation on his face was Kim Krummel, Diana’s husband.

  His empty eyes looked up at me. “She’s not here Negative Man. She’s long gone by now.”

  I’d gone home and suited up. The polarity accelerator was strapped to my chest, but not lowered to its final position. Power was building in the electron gauntlet. Heather had wanted to come with me tonight, but I had made the decision it was too dangerous. Against my better judgment, I used just a touch of my power to knock her out. She’d be pissed later when all of this was over. At least I’d know she was safe.

  Kim looked like he was in a daze. “You know why I’m here then?”

  “You figured it out, that my wife is Titan.” He stood up to look at me. “I can’t say I’m surprised, I warned Diana this day would come.”

  “What’s her connection to Grimes? Does it have to do with the break-in he responded to?”

  He gave a soft, dead laugh. “She had just moved to Pacific Station when that happened. He saw what she truly was and kept that information in his back pocket. When you killed The Dark Lion, he called that one in. When she refused, he told her if she didn’t hunt you down, he’d kill me.”