“And that’s not all. His power is some sort of mind manipulation.” Oh no, I knew exactly where this was going. “Knowledge went two ways during our brief contact; he knows who and what we are, Kyle.”
We both looked back over at him. Even from the distance we were at, we both knew he was looking at us. Our secret was out and we’d just become as big of targets to him as Jericho.
Chapter 25 –
Tuesday Afternoon; gl-O-bal Innovations
Help was needed. There was one person who I trusted more than anyone else at this point to give me the proper information. With sleep, cleaning up, and food all checked off, it was time to boot up the computer one more time. I knew StabbtyBnny was Wilson. It was time for him to come clean and really get involved in helping me. I wouldn’t, no couldn’t, take any other answer but yes.
As soon as the homepage to my computer was loaded, the encrypted direct message box appeared:
StabbtyBnny: Having seen the news this morning, it appears all the players are on the board.
NegativeMn1: I haven’t watched the news today. I find it depresses me -
NegativeMn1: Wilson.
There was no more questioning the identity of my mysterious sidekick. I went straight for the jugular, calling him out from the very first moment.
StabbtyBnny: There’s no point in being deceptive. Yeah, it’s Wilson Fetts, Jericho.
StabbtyBnny: I never meant to deceive you. My father always taught me to hide behind a veil whenever possible, especially in the information game.
NegativeMn1: Your father sounds like a very smart man.
StabbtyBnny: He’s actually one of the reasons I reached out to you. You need people, Jericho, not only to help you going forward, but to watch your back.
NegativeMn1: I agree. That’s why I want to meet with you as soon as possible. Would later this evening work?
StabbtyBnny: As much as I want to, right now it’s impossible for me to get back to Pacific Station. This is where my father comes in.
I didn’t have time to initiate someone new. Wilson was as bright a kid as there was. If he couldn’t help me, then it would just be me by myself. I’d just have to politely decline his offer. Then he dropped a piece of information that changed my entire thought process.
StabbtyBnny: Jericho, my father is Wade Williams. Or as you probably knew him in prison, Clickbait.
As it turned out, Wilson’s mom had an affair with Wade during a break from his step-dad. Trying to keep things hush-hush, they used the step-dad’s last name of Fetts. Wilson had been too smart, though. During some digging on his own, the pieces fell together and he reached out to Wade, who was in prison. The two of them began talking and the rest is family history. Wilson turned out to be a prodigal genius and Wade, well he was one of a kind.
An upload file was sent from Wilson’s computer to mine.
StabbtyBnny: That is the schematics of the prison he’s in. I’ve circled the cells that hold him, Andrew Harrison and Richard Shock. You trusted them to watch your back at Black Lagoon, trust them now to go after Ronald Victory.
NegativeMn1: You’re right. They were good friends to me and I need to return the favor. Thanks, Wilson.
StabbtyBnny: Good luck. And Jericho, once this is all over, there’s something very important we need to talk about.
****
Valley Correctional sat just outside the city. It didn’t have near the intimidation factor that Black Lagoon had, but I suppose it served its purpose. As the sun was beginning to fall under the horizon, it was time to get to work. I slid my mask on and walked down over the hill towards the prison campus.
I was confident Kyle had warned the police and prison staff that those three men had been my friends and to double security. To hell with that, I had no reason to hide. A few more guards weren’t going to be enough to stop me. As I approached the electrified fence, I laughed. This would be too easy.
I ripped the electricity from the fence and mixed it with my own. Seconds later, the entire west side of the prison was without its first line of defense, as the metal fencing laid on the ground, useless. Alarms immediately went off and spotlights began searching for the intruder. They wouldn’t have to look far – I walked right on in.
A sniper took a potshot at me from the tower. The bullet never even came close to killing me. His reward for taking such a shot was being stuck in his tower as it came crashing to the ground. Did he not know who he was messing with?
Guards began to rush from the prison, guns all trained on me. This wasn’t going to go well for them. “Everyone stop!” I yelled. They complied, each stopping where they were at in the prison yard. Still, each guard had their gun ready to fire. “Do any of you think you can stop me with those guns you are holding?”
A nervous energy came over the crowd. While most of them seemed anxious to maybe retreat, one brave soul stepped forward and took off his hat. “I’m sorry, Negative Man. I can’t let you do this.”
“Police Chief Brad Woods, you’re either the bravest man I’ve met or the most insane.”
The police chief, dressed as a regular prison guard, just looked on. “What do you hope to gain from this tonight?” He didn’t give me a chance to answer. “From my perspective, you’re aiming to destroy yet another prison.”
“That’s not fair,” I shot back. “Black Lagoon wasn’t on me.”
“But it was. You were the target, so by association, that is on you.” He took another two steps forward. “There will be no deals tonight. You either turn yourself in, or we attempt to bring you in.”
The usage on the word attempt meant to me he knew it was a losing proposition. The fact he was willing to go with it, well that was worth something. “There’s a third choice.”
“No there’s not.”
Maybe for him there wasn’t, but for me there always was. The fence I’d knocked over was still connected to its power source; it was regaining its energy. I reached out with my gauntlet and felt a buzz over the ground. As easy as pie, I gave everyone standing in front of me a low voltage jolt, not enough to kill them, just to knock them out. As Woods fell, he realized I’d won.
I appreciated an honest and honorable foe. I stopped by his paralyzed body and said, “You’re going to be very good for this city after I’m gone. Don’t waste my generosity.”
What was left of the guards and patrol as I entered the prison pretty much scattered as I walked by. My friends were all in the same cell block, Fourteen Eighty-Five. I blew the door off of it and began tracking them down in their individual cells. Andy was first.
The big, ornery Englishman was smiling as I approached. “I told that bugger Rich you’d be back for us. He owes me twenty.”
Good in a fight, Andy would be the perfect backup in the upcoming ops I was planning to run. I blasted his lock and the door swung open harmlessly. “I wouldn’t let you guys rot away.”
Next up was Old Rich. With Andy in tow, we took a left and went down five cells. Rich was sitting on his cot, reading his Bible. He didn’t even look up. “Damnit, I owe that bastard money.”
“Haha, you sure do!”
He smiled at the two of us as I took care of his lock. “You’ve been busy since getting out.”
“A guy needs hobbies. Mine just happen to involve creating social anarchy,” I responded. “Let’s get Wade and get out of here.”
Wade was the furthest down. He was at the end of the east wing to the cell block. I couldn’t believe my eyes when we got there, he was fast asleep. I jolted the lock off and Andy ran in to rough him up. “Wake up ya lazy oaf!”
Under the oof’s and groans, Wade was suddenly awake trying to fend off a crazed con. When Andy gave him some breathing room, “Jericho – I didn’t think you’d ever come.”
“You can thank your son, Wilson. He reminded me I had a team I trusted just waiting for me.” The three guys bumped fists with me. “Honestly, you guys might be safer in here with what we’re about to do.”
“Father
Reigart was in the other day,” Rich said. “We know what the score is. We’re going after Victory, am I right?”
Fair enough, they knew what we were up against. “Yeah, my end-game is to kill Ronald Victory before the week is out. Though if we have some fun in the meantime, that never hurt anyone did it?” We’d wasted enough time. “C’mon boys, freedom is waiting for us through the prison yard.”
Chapter 26 –
Wednesday Evening; Saltwater Resort
I had Becky’s note in my hand; this apparently was going to be her way of communication. The morning after the break out at Valley Correctional, I found her message taped to the elevator door, on my way out to get coffee for the guys. It was short, yet the message contained all the information in the world:
‘Victory is staying at The Saltwater Resort, Room 4507. The situation is more dangerous than we assumed.’
Not sure what that meant, my team and I spent the rest of the day coming up with a plan that would work. Of course, only after we could get everybody on board with killing the secretary of defense. Old Rich seemed a bit apprehensive about this point. “Breaking out of prison is one thing and teaching someone a lesson is another. However, we’re talking about murder, if we’re being blunt.”
“Don’t think of this as murder, think of it as a public service. Not saying I’m a fan of Vice President Morales, but she also didn’t try to kill me or you guys by extension.”
Wade was busy on the computer behind me. “Is this the best processing speed you could get your hands on?”
We ignored him. He was typing away like a mad man as it was, so any retort wouldn’t have processed. Rich, on the other hand, wasn’t as easy to brush off. “Say this goes down and you succeed. The three of us, we’re not supers. We’re probably going to jail for a very long time.”
“Or getting the needle put in our arms,” Andy added.
“The point is, I completely understand your need for revenge, but there has to be an alternative besides what you’re offering.”
I was a bit dumbfounded. It was no secret I was one of the worst supers the country had ever seen. Most of my exploits had involved me eliminating those in my way. This wasn’t exactly a new development at this point in the story. “Rich,” I began modestly, “when you were trying to get me to remember who I was, did you forget that person was a very bad man?”
“Father Reigart said there was a chance you’d change, that the coma and subsequent time after would humble you, make you more…”
“…human?” I finished for him. “Sorry man, this is who I am.” Rich protected me when no one else gave a crap, so I started to think there was some leeway to give, to honor that debt. “Tell you what – we’ll give him a chance to admit to all of his wrongdoings and let Chief Woods arrest him. However,” I prefaced, “if he doesn’t comply, then it’s my way.”
Seeing this was the best bargain he was going to get, “I guess that’s better than a kick in the ass.”
All of that led us to this plan. With some bugs Wade was able to devise for us, Andy, Rich, and I were going to break into Victory’s room to tap it. When the bugs were in place, the two of them would flee and I would be given the opportunity to use some aggressive questioning tactics.
Wade pulled the Graham’s Lock and Key van up to the vendor and contractor gate at the back of the hotel. He flashed an ID at the card who lifted the gate without question. The guy looked like he wanted to be anywhere else than here. With the first security barrier crossed without a problem, we could move on to the next one.
When Wade parked, he hopped out of the driver seat and booted up the computer from my workshop. He’d been doing some serious modifications to it and the van, making it the perfect outlook for us while we were on the inside. He hacked into the security camera feeds, displaying them in perfect high definition. “Victory’s floor is going to be PIN protected on the elevator. Only employees with clearance to be on his floor have unique numbers to gain access.”
Three locksmiths would have no reason to go up there, unless… “Wade, is it possible to hack into a specific door card reader, without resorting to my usual tricks?”
“One step ahead of you.” He was busy doing stuff that I felt I should’ve been capable of doing. Watching him worked proved I was still missing large chunks of who I was. I was a computer guy, damnit! “The door to Victory’s room has been tripped as offline and there is a note on the front desk server to expect Graham’s Lock and Key to repair it.”
There was no time to be jealous of his abilities and worried about a significant loss of my own. I placed the ball cap on my head, and with the other two, we hopped out of the van with our tools in hand. We showed the backdoor security our badges and he radioed to the desk for authorization. A minute later, we were walking towards the lobby when a manager came rushing at us in a panic. “Thank God you’re here,” he huffed and puffed. “We had no idea Secretary Victory’s room had been locked out. He’s due back in twenty minutes!”
For this job, Rich was acting as the crew chief. “Don’t worry, sir. Direct us to his room and we will get this issue resolved as quickly as possible.”
The manager led us on to the elevator across from us and hit the floor for Victory’s room. The keypad asked for a PIN and he typed his in. The elevator quickly went up a few floors and opened. “Secretary Victory’s room is the last suite at the end of the hall. Please hurry.”
We waved to him as the door closed. With the last hurdle easily taken care of, we walked right on down to the room. Over the comm, “Wade, go ahead and unlock it.”
The door clicked and was back online. The lock popped open and the three of us quickly began the task of getting the bugs in place. I wanted to make sure that when Victory got back here, each word I made him confess was captured on a bug. As I placed one under a pillow of the extraordinarily large king size bed, I heard a muffled shout. I raced back into the living room area of the suite to see Rich being held with a knife to his neck.
This was the super who had kidnapped Adam Morales. “Interesting. Are you here as a friend or foe?”
“Foe.” Her voice was soft with no emotion. She started to bring her blade across Rich’s neck, only to be stopped by a chair over the head delivered by one Andy Dos Cervezas.
The blow didn’t incapacitate her and she did that phase trick where she went transparent. Looking at the other two, “Get the hell out of here!”
Rich scrambled to his feet, with help from Andy, and the two of them didn’t waste any time following my orders. I was half expecting this super to chase after them, but she stayed in the room. She reappeared and seemed itching to take the fight to me. “The Negative Man, how I’ve longed for this day to come.”
“A lot of people think they want to get in the ring with the lion, right up until the point where the lion eats them.”
She pulled another blade out of the black jacket she was wearing before disposing of it on the ground. “When the lion grows old and weak, natural selection takes over. You should know that better than anyone.”
The lion analogy had been intentionally picked. “I’m far from old and weak. You’re about to find out just how far I’ve come.”
She disappeared again and started her attack. What she probably didn’t count on was her power used her body’s own very low frequency charge as a masking agent. The phasing between objects, there wasn’t much I could do about that, but I could short circuit the disappearing act. As she got close, I filled the air with static electricity. She immediately stopped as her body came back into focus. Stunned at how I did that, I punched her in the face.
She was pissed. She jumped at me, letting her body slide through mine to get to the backside. It was there that she struck out with one of her knives and pierced me between the ribs. Ohh man, that would hurt so bad in the morning. She let the knife in just a wee bit too long and I sent another charge towards her, using the metal blade as a conductor. She fell to the ground, unconscious. I ripped the knife ou
t and threw it on to the ground.
Blood was dripping on the floor and, according to the clock, I only had five minutes before Victory was due back. This whole assassin business had really put a dent in my plans. I buzzed Wade over my comm, “Did Andy and Rich make it back to the van?”
“Yeah, everyone’s here. I’ve only got five bugs online though and there’s really no time to add the other ten. Victory just entered the elevator.”
Oh well. A big part of me hoped he showed the same arrogance I had seen on television. If he didn’t comply with my demands, then it was time to put my own plan into action. I found a seat on the one chair that hadn’t been disrupted and eagerly awaited my audience. When the door opened, I jumped up to meet Victory face to face.
It wasn’t Victory – it was the new Titan, or Erin Cieslik as I once knew him. I wasn’t prepared and he stormed forward, grabbing me by the collar. He kept moving forward towards the window and jumped out, with me hanging on for dear life. Erin boosted twice, his leap of death sending us over a mile away from the Saltwater Resort and my target.
When we landed he slammed me on the ground in some awful back alley. Before another attack came, the Titan form fizzled away, showing only the guy I once knew. “Erin, what the hell man? Why aren’t you dead?”
“I just saved your life, Jericho.” If he meant by not killing me when we landed, that hardly counted. “You were never going to beat Victory like that, he’s a super.”
“Shut up.”
“No, you shut up.” Gone was the jovial guy who liked Halloween and Christmas parties, that was plain to see. I may have played a part in that. “You’re going to sit here and listen to everything I have to say.” He leaned in and punched me. “That’s for what you did to me at Dungeon Bay, you asshole.”
As I tasted the blood that leaked out, “Fair enough.” I deserved that. “Now would you please explain what’s going on?”
Chapter 27 –
The Negative Man_Legends Can Die Page 17
