The Negative Man_Twilight Days

by Jeremy Croston

She started walking north, along Tidal Avenue. “I heard from Kyle you’re a bit of a foodie. There’s this little dive bar, probably only been here about three years, that I frequent. They make a delicious chili dog.”

  “Doctor Robbins,” I said astonished. “I would’ve never guessed you as the chili dog kind of girl.”

  “And don’t even get me started on their cheese fries. Probably takes years off my life, but they are worth it.”

  We walked side by side, not much said between us, until we reached the place, about a block and a half from her office. Jak Daniel’s Tavern. It sure was a bit dive-like.

  As we entered, dive bar was definitely a good description. It was dark, smoky, and had a lingering smell. I immediately liked it. “Where did you find this place at?”

  “I helped the owner out once. A year ago.”

  A gruff looking guy walked up to us as we sat at the bar. “The usual, Doc?” he asked.

  She held up two fingers. “I brought a newcomer, Jak. Let’s start him right, shall we?”

  He eyed me. “That’s no newcomer. But his money’s as good as anyone’s.” Jak gave me one last glance before moving on.

  “You have a way with people, don’t you?”

  “Ha, the people of this city have a long memory,” I told her. Even as I said it, I realized we were being watched by a suit over in the corner. He was doing a pretty good job of being inconspicuous, but when you were a super villain for so long, you picked up the markers on someone trying to be covert.

  Plus, I was trained by The Dark Lion.

  “Hang on one second, Emily.” I patted her on the shoulder as I got up and walked over to the corner.

  The man in the black suit didn’t even pretend to surprised. “And The Negative Man returns under the guise of night without the thunder.”

  “Who are you?”

  He stood up, probably to show me he was packing heat. “Chris Bain, head of security to President Whisnant.”

  “Sorry, but I didn’t vote for him.”

  The door opened again and let in the sunlight, ruining the appeal of the place. “That’s okay, Jericho. I speak to everyone. Not just my constituents.”

  “Holy hell, that’s the president,” I heard Emily exclaim.

  I couldn’t have said it better myself. The President of the United States was in this little dingy dive bar with us, smiling like it was no big deal.

  “I heard the chili dogs here are pretty damn amazing,” Whisnant called over to Jak the bartender while he made his way to Bain’s table. “Jericho, I think we have some things to talk about, if you have a minute or two.”

  I may have been one of the most powerful supers of all time, but I wasn’t going to say no to the president. “I think I have a few spare minutes, sir.”

  Chapter 9 –

  Friday Afternoon; Jak Daniel’s Tavern

  President Davy Whisnant was sitting across from me in the shabby booth. The fact chili dogs, cheese fries, and beer were sitting on the table only added to the surreal moment. No one had touched their food. I didn’t think this was what Emily had been expecting when we entered the place.

  It also didn’t slip by me that the president kept looking at my hand. I’m sure he expected a stumped wonder, as it was his job to know everything that could pose a security risk to the country. Yet, he never said a word about it.

  Whisnant did finally broke the stalemate of silence. “I’m not going to try and lie to you, Jericho. I have tech that my former boss, Ronald Victory, had been working on. It is a suit—a power suit if you will—that was meant to replicate your powers. I have it about seventy-five percent working.”

  Honesty from a politician? This was turning out to be quite the day. “I heard you tricked some of my friends into helping you get that tech.”

  “In the wrong hands, the stuff Victory was working on could be very deadly.”

  “How do I know you’re not the wrong hands?”

  A cool smile graced his face. “The world’s changing, becoming more unique and deadly at the same time. Each day new supers rise amongst us and use their powers either for good or for not so good. Depending on the take you have, I may be the wrong hands.”

  Screw protocol, I was hungry. I lifted the big hot dog up and took a monster bite. It pleased me that everyone had to wait for my response until after I finished my bite. “While your candor is admirable, I still don’t know what this has to do with me.”

  Bain opened up a briefcase and Whisnant took out a schematic. “Project: Twilight Days, Jericho – this will be the legacy I leave behind.”

  It didn’t take someone of my intellect to see a game changer when it was laid in front of him. Attached to a nuclear substation, there was an electrical tower with a spot in the top for a single person to be standing. There were two conductors, which looked like they needed to be held to activate. No, it didn’t take me long to figure out his plan.

  “You need me to man the suit.”

  “Jericho, what does all this mean?” Emily asked.

  I didn’t feel it was my place to lay it all out. “Whisnant, would you care to explain it all in simple terms?”

  The president had no problem doing so. I had to admit, I was starting to like the man even though his views were extreme. “This is the answer to the super equation. Twilight Days is about ending the possibility of supers once and for all. If the gene is destroyed at a molecular level, it can never be passed down.”

  “He wants me to man the suit and use my Stormfall enhanced powers to charge the nuclear substation. With the nuke energy and my own mixing in the atmosphere, it could be catastrophic enough to wipe out the powered population.”

  Whisnant finally took a drink of his beer. “We’re not looking for a genocide, Jericho. With my team’s lead engineers on the job, the combination of your supercharged particles, the limited amount of nuclear energy needed, and the safety protocols in place, people will live.”

  I don’t doubt for a minute he believed that. I looked over the schematics again, just to make sure I didn’t misread them the first time. Whoever was on his team, they were feeding him some bullshit. “I truly believe you think you’re doing the right thing. But this,” I gestured to the paper, “this is a death trap, for both the man operating it and to the supers’ genetic makeup your targeting.”

  Whisnant placed a one-hundred-dollar bill on the table and a plain white card with a telephone number on it. “That’s my direct line; I’ll only answer if you call. I know changing the world is a hard task to undertake, but trust me when I say the risk is worth it.”

  With Bain taking the lead, the two men walked out of the bar, leaving me and the good doctor speechless. “That was quite odd, Jericho. And look, he left the schematic behind.”

  “He did that on purpose,” I assured her.

  “Why do you think that?”

  This was another easy one to answer. “He kept looking at my hand. He wants me to take these schematics to whoever engineered my hand. Our fair president is quite a bit slicker than we gave him credit for.”

  Emily placed her elbows on the table, resting her head on her hands. “Would this idea really kill a lot of people?” she asked.

  “That’s why he left it. He wants me to figure out a way to do this without casualties.” I picked up the paper and folded it in half. “There’s a lot of mystery floating around Pacific Station these days.”

  “That begs another question; why Pacific Station? Wouldn’t somewhere more central in the country make the most sense?”

  Emily asked a very good question that I didn’t have the answer to. “The moment I find out, I’ll let you know.”

  ****

  Night had fallen and I was on my way to meet the one man who I knew would be the rock of guidance I needed him to be. As I walked towards St. James Cathedral, that’s when I heard police sirens blaring everywhere. Two cruisers raced by me, heading in the same direction that I was. Skipping the normalcy, I transmutated myself into pure energy
and flickered across the power grid.

  When I came out on the closest rooftop, I was across the street from the church. The building was on fire.

  “Kyle, what’s going on?”

  Out of the shadows walked The Morning Lynx. “I just got here. According to chatter on the radio, an arsonist wearing a hoodie lit the place up. He has two hostages out back. The police can’t get by the blaze.”

  “But we can.”

  The two of us each took direct paths down; me through the power grid again and Kyle by jumping. When we were on street level, Kyle approached Police Chief Brad Woods. “Call your men back, we’ve got this.”

  The chief turned around and saw me standing there. “I’ll take whatever help I can get.”

  I nodded at him and followed Kyle as we went west towards the alley beside the church. Woods began yelling over a megaphone for his men to back up. With the coast clear, the approach was made.

  I put up an energy shield around us so we could breach the fire without having to try and navigate it. Once we cleared the final gauntlet of flames, we saw the man in the hoodie standing in the middle of the gardens with two people on their knees. The first person was Father Reigart and the second was Old Rich. Of course, Rich would be there, he was as religious as they came even if he didn’t show it. Plus, he was in thick with Reigart and the cagey stuff the Father was always up to.

  “How do you want to play this, Jericho?”

  Kyle should’ve known better than to ask me. “I blast the arsonist into next week.”

  There was no chance for foolish conjecture or trying to talk me out of it. I dropped the shield and decided it was now or never to see what this hand really could do. The negative particles in my body rushed towards the new addition like a flood. I lashed out my hand towards the target only to see my best chance at a surprise attack vanish. Literally.

  That was no man under the hoodie. When the arsonist returned, her face was exposed. “Greetings, Jericho. I was hoping I’d get to see you again soon.”

  “Destiny,” I growled. “What are you doing?”

  “Waiting for you, silly.” She walked away from the two hostages and over to us. “You give me five minutes of your time, that’s all I ask.”

  Neither Kyle nor I seemed convinced. “And the hostages?”

  “I never planned to hurt them. As you can see, they aren’t even tied up.”

  I looked around her and, true to her word, Reigart and Rich were more or less just trapped here because of the flames. “If I agree, will you call off this craziness?”

  She stuck out her hand. “I shall.”

  “Fine.” I took it and the moment I did, we both winked out of reality.

  **Kyle Wonderton**

  “That was too easy,” a voice called out the moment Jericho and the woman were gone. “Then again, Destiny does have an effect on most men.”

  “Parker Lattimore,” I said as I turned myself around to meet him. “I’ve been waiting for another chance to bring you in. Kim Krummel’s murder won’t be resolved until you face justice.”

  My former friend and one-time detective looked demented with his disheveled blond hair and the flames behind his body. “Destiny and Volkkenkrüger have a soft spot for that one, Jericho.” He said, ignoring my call for justice. “You, on the other hand, are considered a liability.”

  With my dad’s cape whipping around behind me, I was more than ready for anything this Providence could throw at me. “A liability no longer has a use. You’ll find that I still have many uses to this city.”

  “We’ll see about that.”

  That’s when the two of us attacked each other.

  Chapter 10 –

  Friday Evening; Nowhere

  I’d seen a lot of things in my life that could only be explained by the fact that superpowers were all unique and different. This may have been the most unique of them all. “When you said you left our plane of existence, this isn’t quite what I had in mind.”

  We were in some sort of void pocket. Colors swirled around us, giving no direction or comprehension of where we were. “Most time, I don’t visit this place, Nowhere. Usually, I just keep my conscious just on the other side.”

  I had no idea what Destiny was talking about. “Well, you brought me here. There must be a reason you went to all this trouble.”

  “You know what we are up against, Jericho. Unlike Victory, who just wanted to round us up and treat us like criminals, Whisnant thinks his pacifist approach is more humane. Can you imagine a world where supers are no longer a part of it?”

  Whisnant’s approach did strike a nerve with me. I was an action kind of guy. I had no qualms with fighting over what I believed, whether good or bad. I understood Whisnant wanted to go in another direction, one where the super gene was eliminated without the threat of all out warfare. I’d almost rather deal with Victory again, I told myself. At least I knew what he was doing I opposed. I wasn’t totally sure I was opposed to Whsnant’s plan.

  “Your silence speaks volumes, Jericho.”

  “A world without powered people means that we are all back on an even playing field. Who’s to say we are good for the world?”

  She scoffed and folding her arms over her chest. “Evolution says we are good for the world!” Holy hell, she sounded exactly like Ellison. That’s the sort of scientific approach he would’ve took. “We didn’t ask for these gifts, but here they are! To take them away from us, to me that’s just criminal.”

  The fact Destiny wasn’t more upset about the possible calamity of the death Whisnant’s current plans called for meant that Volkkenkrüger probably had no idea about it. Hmmm… “When I was a little kid, there was a doctor at the Project Jericho facility that looked at me like I was a mistake. Looking back on everything that I’ve done, maybe Cooper was right.”

  “Ellison spoke of Leonard Cooper to me and the tragedies that he inflicted upon you.” Destiny placed her hand against my arm. “Men like him are the reason we must never stop fighting for our right to exist.”

  I laughed at that. “Cooper helped create this monster, yes. But, and it’s a big but, what if I hadn’t been born a mistake of an electron generator blowing up? Maybe I would’ve had a chance for a normal life, not that pretty messed up one I’ve had.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “I don’t know that even you believe everything you’re saying, but alas, you hide your thoughts well.”

  “Are we going to call this a stalemate?”

  “For now, Jericho. Just know, when my eyes find something they like, they don’t look away.”

  Our eyes didn’t break contact for a few moments. As we stood there in silence, I felt a need to reach out and kiss her. I almost did, except at the last minute, Emily Robbins popped into my mind. “I think we’d better get back. Who knows what trouble Kyle’s getting himself into?”

  **Kyle Wonderton**

  My fist connected with the side of Parker Lattimore’s head. I couldn’t tell you how long I’d been waiting to get a clean shot at him for. As he stumbled away, I pounced, living up to my lynx moniker. My knee slammed into his temple again and he fell to the ground in a heap. That’s when I scooped him up and held him over my head.

  “You piece of crap. After everything you’ve done, me tossing you into that fire and letting you burn would be fair justice.”

  Parker knew I was bluffing. “That’s the difference between us, Kyle. I know what it takes to succeed and you’re a slave to rules and regulations.”

  That’s when his foot hit me in the crouch. The immense amount of pain and the loss of air caused me to fall down and let Parker slip out of my grip.

  A sharp pain followed that up as he dropped an elbow on my ribs. He scrambled back to his feet and dug his boot into the same spot. As soon as the leather made impact, I heard the audible sound of the bones breaking. His power was nothing to underestimate.

  He pushed me over with his foot. “Look at you, what a waste! Your father would’ve tossed me into that fire and
not even have blinked. You? Oh ho! You want to be this honorable hero. Newsflash, Kyle, there’s no honorable side when war is coming.”

  His talking gave me time to push through the pain and get back to my feet. “War? No, a few nut jobs don’t get to constitute this as war. Especially when your time is just about up.”

  I twitched once and accelerated on his position. Making sure not to initiate another Stormfall, I reached out of leveled him with a punch to the face he never saw coming. The force of the blow sent him backwards, landing at the entrance to the alley Jericho and I walked down.

  Parker’s body landed right in front of Brad Woods, who was equipped with a fire-retardant suit, his gun out. Parker’s body caused him to fall backwards, dropping his gun. With the sudden appearance of the police chief, I froze for a second. That’s all it took.

  The blow, while painful, didn’t stop Parker from grabbing the gun and putting two slugs into Woods. With the damage done, Parker took off into the flames, leaving me with Woods.

  Father Reigart and Rich Shock, who’d both been standing away from the battle, started running over to Woods. Their call to action snapped me out of my stupor. I beat both of them there.

  There would be no need to call an ambulance. “He’s dead,” I told the two men who got there seconds after me.

  “He’s just as cold blooded as I imagined,” Father Reigart said, shaking his head.

  Rich was more practical. “You froze, kid.” He walked over to the burning alley. “You froze and that dude is a cold-blooded killer. This shit’s pretty deep.”

  The only thing I heard was the fact he called me out for freezing. And that indecision led to a good man getting killed.

  **Jericho Staley**

  Destiny returned us back to the garden area of St. James Cathedral. The moment everything came back together, I didn’t even see her run off into the shadows. By the time I realized she wasn’t beside me, she was gone. With the way her powers worked, if she had winked out, I’d never find her anyway.