The Negative Man: Act 1

by Jeremy Croston

  The nurses who began to flow in and out of my room were loose with information. Deputy Mayor Martinez, who was here for a double bypass, was fried to death. Police had the building surrounded but no one spotted The Negative Man coming or going. Two officers were posted outside my door at Heather’s request. I couldn’t convey the message that I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

  What baffled my doctor even more was that the electricity that hit me actually may have saved my life. It expelled all the air that was building in my lung. With so much of the hospital in disarray, I was left to my own devices and hopefully would begin healing.

  When I woke up the next morning, I felt a lot better but was still in rough shape. Heather was sitting in the visitor’s chair, looking at me. “Rise and shine.”

  My throat was dry and raspy, but I had to thank her. “Thanks for rescuing me.”

  “I’m just glad you’re alive! Why don’t we get you out of here and get you home?”

  I didn’t know if she could make that happen, but that sounded fantastic. “Whatever you say boss.”

  Chapter 12 –

  Sunday Afternoon; Alameda Apartment Complex

  It was well after one p.m. when I finally woke up. I felt like total shit after the night I had. As the room focused in, I was taken aback that the person I was looking at wasn’t Heather. No, John Wonderton was sitting in my bedroom. “Rough night Jericho.”

  “You can say that again.”

  “I heard about everything on the news. Your friend, Heather Adams, she wasn’t too keen on me coming in to see you, but with a little persuasion, we are here alone.”

  DL had a certain effect on people that got them to do what he wanted. Hell, something about his charm convinced me all those years ago to give him a chance. Not that I had much choice in the matter. “I know what each of The Aces can do, their powers…”

  For a second he got the maniacal glee in his eyes, but it quickly went away. “We can discuss that later, once you’re not in such a bad state. Apparently the energy The Negative Man used to kill Martinez also saved your life.”

  “What do you mean?”

  He got up and walked over to the window. “This is a bit outside my area of understanding, but the electric arced into your body and caused the air filling up in your lungs to expel. At least that’s what the doctor’s report said that Heather had on the table.”

  “I feel bad about that guy dying, but at the same time, I’m happy to be alive. Does that make me a bad person?”

  He looked back at me. “Ian Martinez was a scoundrel and a crook. I don’t mourn the man’s loss too terribly, but at the same time, The Negative Man… that son of a bitch just keeps taunting me.”

  “Isn’t that what we do DL? I mean, just like the time you killed Diamonds?”

  “The difference is I killed a known murderer. Martinez was scum, but embezzling money is not an offense worthy of death.” He sat back down, almost like a parent trying to teach their kid a lesson. “The punishment must fit the crime Jericho and that’s the difference.”

  He certainly believed the words he said, but this wasn’t the same DL I’d started working for. He’d been changing, becoming more violent. I’d drop it for the time, focusing back on my attackers. “Are you ready to hear what powers The Aces have?”

  Knowing the box had been opened, “Fine, let me have your report.”

  “Spades can make himself intangible. Each time I tried to punch him, my fist went right through.”

  DL pulled out his phone and began typing. “When you say intangible, you mean as in an apparition?”

  “I wouldn’t say like a ghost. I almost got the feeling he could speed his molecules up so fast that they become unstable, therefore he becomes almost like a hologram.”

  “That will make a fist fight much more challenging.”

  I hadn’t observed Spades power long, but my brain told me there had to be a catch. “I doubt he can keep it up very long. If his molecules didn’t slow back down, my guess is he’d eventually fall apart.”

  “Hmmm…”

  We could worry about theory later. “Hearts is another badass. His power involves creating forces that act as barriers. He’s so proficient in the use; it’s almost an extension of his hands from what I gathered.”

  He sighed as he entered in what I said. “And Clubs?”

  “I can confirm he is Jenkins. He pulled his mask off after my ass kicking to apologize. His power involves putting his mind into computers. Once inside, he has free reign. That’s how they discovered Massacre’s identity.”

  “Was it something one of us did?”

  I tried to put it into words that didn’t blame anyone. “When PJ emailed you a few days ago, he used an unsecure server that had no built in firewalls, so it was easy pickings for Jenkins. Fortunately, your email address is so encrypted that they couldn’t break that one. They have no idea who you are.”

  “They do now.”

  “You didn’t set up the meeting did you? You had PJ give you up.”

  He tossed his phone on the bottom of the bed in disgust. “My mind was made up once I heard what happened to you. They only attacked you because they thought you were The Dark Lion, didn’t they?”

  No point in lying now, the damage had been done. “Yeah, Spades was convinced because of how secure the email was. Jenkins figured only I could create a firewall so invulnerable to attack.”

  “How did you convince them you weren’t me?”

  I laughed, which hurt a lot. “By taking a royal ass kicking. After a few powerful shots and no real defense or counter attacks, Spades figured it out pretty quickly. Unfortunately I was already in bad shape.”

  “For that, I’m truly sorry. I never meant for you to see real combat like that.”

  It was my turn to take over this conversation. “The Aces now know I’m not involved, or at the very least, that I’m not The Dark Lion. My work is far from over.”

  “Jericho, you’ve…”

  “Don’t try to talk me out of this. Jenkins will feel terrible about what happened to me and he’ll reach out trust me. That will be my in and a way for me to get us more information on The Aces.” He was ready to say no, but I put my hand up. “I’m not going to take no for an answer DL. It’s my turn to do some good for the cause.”

  “And there’s no changing your mind?”

  “If you want to prove to the world what we’ve started can change the city, then we all need to do our part. I’ll get the information and with it, you’ll be able to take down The Aces.”

  “I don’t like this plan, but with Spades knowing both mine and Massacres real identity, it’ll only be a matter of time before he confronts me.”

  There was a slight knock on my door. “Is it okay for me to come in?”

  “There is the ever lovely Miss Adams with your food.” DL got up and opened the door. “I thank you for giving Jericho and I some time to go over what happened to him. He is in your care the rest of the day my dear.”

  Heather blushed at being addressed by Mr. Wonderton in such a way. To her, he was our big wig boss, taking time from the clouds to visit us. If only she knew the truth. “Well thank you for ordering this food for us. You really didn’t have to do that.”

  “It was my pleasure. Miss Adams, I shall see you in the morning. Jericho, I don’t want you rushing it. We can set you up to work from home if we need to.”

  “That’ll be good. Just send Jenkins over and I’m sure he can help me configure my tablet.”

  DL knew the real reason, as my tablet was already hooked in through the back door to access not only the business side, but the vigilante information too. “Of course, I’ll get him over one day after work.”

  He waved one more time at both of us before he left. Heather was still in boss shock when she started opening all the food. “I can’t believe John came to your house! You two must be closer than we all thought.”

  “Not really. He came over because he doesn’t kn
ow any of the passwords to his accounts. Don’t tell him I told you that.”

  She gave off her customary laugh which made her even cuter. “Your secret is safe with me. Plus, who’d want to work for a boss that apparently is a functioning moron? Doesn’t even know his own passwords…”

  Heather kept talking, but I started to space out just a little bit. The weight of what I set myself up to do became real. The moment Jenkins came over was the breaking point. Either this would work and we’d figure a way to return the city to its former glory, or else everything would go down in flames.

  Heather stopped in the middle of her story. “You okay Jericho?”

  “Yeah, sorry about that. What were you saying?” I forced myself to listen to her and eat the food we had, no matter how much my brain wanted to go elsewhere.

  Chapter 13 –

  Monday Afternoon; Alameda Apartment Complex

  “No, he hasn’t gotten here yet, Heather.” I was on the phone with Heather, waiting for Jenkins to get to my house. I didn’t live that far from Wonder-Tech and according to her, Jenkins left over an hour ago.

  She was annoyed. “Phil is so useless. I still don’t understand why we don’t fire his ass over the phone prank he pulled.”

  Earlier in the day me, John, and Heather had a tele-conference about the fake phone prototype Jenkins had submitted. Heather represented Legal and they wanted him gone. John overruled them saying it showed initiative in trying to keep the higher up’s (mainly him) honest. What she didn’t know was that Jenkins was our link to The Aces.

  I was about to try and calm her down when a knock came at my door. “Hey Heather, he’s here. Let me go and I’ll call you later.”

  “Ugh, it’s about time. I’ll talk to you later.”

  I put my phone down on my dresser and pushed myself out of bed. It was a small apartment so it didn’t take long to stumble over to the door and open. “Hey Phil.”

  “Jericho…” He looked a tad bit scared. “How are you feeling?”

  “Like shit Phil, like shit. But you’re not here to ask me about that are you?”

  He came inside and I closed the door. “I told Spades you wouldn’t trust me after what happened.”

  It was all coming out in the open. “If you’re here to kill me, just get it over with. I don’t want to suffer again like I did Saturday night.”

  “I’m not here to kill you Jericho.” The thought of that seemed to make him queasy. “I’m here to recruit you.”

  “What?” That was genuine shock. I was expecting to have to work a lot harder to get to this point. “After trying to kill me and accusing me of being The Dark Lion, you’re here to recruit me?”

  “Spades wants me to send his apologies about the misunderstanding in the parking lot. It was mostly my fault due to my interpretation on the encryptions. I really thought you were The Dark Lion.”

  “Well I’m not and I don’t know who is. If someone is using my encryptions for their own use…”

  He stopped me. “John Wonderton is The Dark Lion. An inside source called us shortly after we left the parking lot Saturday evening. Afterwards, I was able to confirm it with some hacking into his accounts.”

  I did my very best to look stunned. “Our boss? You’re referring to the same John Wonderton who can’t even set up his own email?”

  Jenkins took a seat. “He’s played all of us Jericho. He’s been using your skills to moonlight as a vigilante. Worst part, what good is he actually doing the city?”

  “I don’t follow the news all that much. I just know the other day he killed The Ace called Diamonds in a street fight. It was all over the TV, including the police chief basically putting a bounty on your heads.”

  “Grimes is just as corrupt as the Deputy Mayor who got himself fried at the hospital. The man goes through two or three prostitutes a week.”

  A short intake of air got his attention. “Are you guys in league with The Negative Man?”

  “No, but with him being back, it’s only a matter of time he will seek us out and help.” He laughed to himself. “We know the long history between The Dark Lion and The Negative Man. Spades believes if we can get him so hyped on his old enemy, it’ll be easier for us to do as we please.”

  So Diamonds proclamation that The Negative Man would rise again was all a ruse. Then just by coincidence… “Why are you telling me this?”

  “We need a fourth member. Even though you’re not a super by any stretch, you got a lot of talent. Spades would like to meet you and offer you the Diamonds mask, but only after a test.”

  Here it was, my time to shine. “What kind of test?”

  He reached into his pocket and pulled out a flash drive. “Contained on here is a virus that when uploaded onto the Wonder-Tech network will start skimming off pennies from each account. Over the course of a few weeks, that would amount to thousands of dollars. Not a lot, but we want to start off with something small.”

  I laughed at this. “Do you want me to steal a red stapler too?”

  “Be serious for a second Jericho. Just because it’s an old trick, doesn’t mean it’s not a good one.”

  Letting go another wisecrack about originality, “With your ability to merge with a computer, couldn’t you do it?”

  “There was never a firewall I couldn’t break through until I came in contact with yours. You’ll have to rewrite the program on the drive, but I figured the architect could undue his own work.”

  I looked down at the flash drive. It was clear, but it had blue wiring that seemed to glow in my hand. “And if I do this, Spades will meet with me? And he won’t try to kill me again?”

  “No Jericho, do this and we will reward you in ways you can’t imagine. Your life will become something of your own choosing, not being a slave to a boss who hides his true self.”

  “Give me a day or two to figure this out. When you see me come to the Wonder-Tech Tower, you’ll know I’ve figured it out.”

  He clapped his hands together. “Perfect! I’ll let Spades know.” He shot off a quick text before getting up. “I knew we could count on you Jericho. Welcome to the team, unofficially of course.”

  We shook hands and I watched Jenkins get into his car and leave before I did anything. Once in the clear, I went back to my desktop, the place I did my best hacking work.

  The program was a worm, designed to hide in plain sight and basically eat a few pennies here or there as accounts were updated. With the amount of funds coming in to Wonder-Tech daily, no one would be none the wiser.

  I broke the program down to its barest form. The code it had been written with almost felt organic. Part of me wondered as I began to re-write it if I was dealing with a part of Jenkins mind. The fact he could merge with computers and pull information so effortlessly wasn’t lost on me.

  My computer was so firewalled that even if this was part of Jenkins and he tried anything, he’d never get anywhere. On a hunch, I did run a quick system scan and found a sleeper program that tried to break my initial firewall. It never even got close before my programs destroyed it into oblivion. “Nice try Jenkins.”

  After that, the code stayed put, allowing me to work on it free and clear. After about an hour of reworking and adding my own protocols to the program, it was ready for use. I took the drive out and recapped it. With the first hurdle cleared, it was time to confront the second.

  I went back to my tablet and opened a secured line to DL’s phone. His face popped up. “Jericho, has Jenkins left?”

  “Yeah, he came over and pitched me to join The Aces. If I complete one task, Spades wants me to take over as Diamonds.”

  I saw from the background he got up. A heard the doors open that led to the secret computer lab. “What task does he want you to do?”

  “I have a program, one that I already rewrote to work properly, and it’s designed to steal money from Wonder-Tech.”

  He gave a short, sharp laugh. “They’re trying to steal my money? How pathetic.”

  I continue
d on. “All I have to do is put the flash drive on one of the network linked computers and it’ll do the rest. I guess once The Aces start getting deposits, they’ll reach out to me.”

  “How soon can you get in here and get on their good side?”

  The excitement of the mission had rendered the pain almost nonexistent. “If I can convince Heather I’m fine, I’ll get it uploaded tomorrow when I come in.”

  He dropped out of view for a second, but when his face came back, John Wonderton was gone and The Dark Lion was staring back at me. “We all have our missions for tonight it seems. You make sure that girl thinks you’re the most miraculous healer alive.”

  “Will do.” Curiosity about his mission crept up. “What’re you doing tonight?”

  “Remember our conversation about supply and demand? Tonight, the supply of thugs is going to go down by a lot.” He flashed an evil grin before cutting off.

  Chapter 14 –

  Tuesday Morning; Heather’s Car

  “A gruesome scene downtown is unfolding as the city’s waking up this morning. At least fifteen members of The Station Shadows are dead, with potentially another eight to ten on life support at Heights General. Police are on scene and with limited details released, be sure to stay tuned to 105.6 for all the latest.”

  As the news release ended, Heather pulled up to a red light. “What’s wrong with this city?”

  “Well, gangs tend to take each other out, so I imagine that’s what happened here.” I was lying through my teeth. I knew exactly what happened; The Dark Lion eliminated supply.

  I think she was tempted to respond, but the commercial that was playing was cut off and the radio host broke back in. “Sorry for the interruption listeners, but we have just received word that Chief Grimes is about to give a statement regarding the breaking story developing this morning.”

  I looked over at another car right before they cut away to Grimes. It was obvious that every person in the city this morning was listening and wondering just what the hell happened last night. I was equally curious to see how Grimes would respond.