The Negative Man: Act 1

by Jeremy Croston

  I reached a point I could go no further without risk of being discovered. The light was still there, but it was connected to something. From the outline, it looked almost humanoid.

  Below on the ground, two figures walked out of the shadows and dumped a body on the ground. It was Elephant and Crocodile and it looked as if they caught someone.

  The light went away and the shape hovering off the ground collapsed, shaking the area. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, it became clear that this was an armored monstrosity. I’d found Titan.

  Elephant approached the body on the ground. “Listen Russo, I know you’re working with the newly formed Docksiders. You help us and we’ll help you.”

  This Russo didn’t seem to want to comply. “Piss off freak! I’m not going to turn on my crew.”

  Titan took two steps and picked the man up by his neck. From my view, I figured it to be about seven feet tall. Steam whistled from the joints with each movement. Its voice was robotic and monotonic. “Answers are expected or termination will take place.”

  “Titan, we don’t kill perps unless we need to.”

  Russo wasn’t sure who to believe. “Listen bozos, you let me go or I’m going to the cops for assault and battery.”

  Titan pulled out a weird looking gun and pointed it at Russo’s head. “Do not resist – we are in control at this moment. Current chances of survival are decreasing.”

  Elephant looked as if this was a losing battle. “We just need an insider, someone who can help us gain trust of the gangs.”

  Still struggling, “Why would the gangs want to help you weirdos?”

  “Because we’ve finally put together a plan to kill The Negative Man. Don’t you and your crew want him to disappear?”

  Sparks flew out of my hands. The SVIS found Cooper’s old files. They knew who I was. As tempted as I was to kill them now, I stayed where I was. I needed more information on Titan.

  It was hard to tell what was going through Russo’s mind. “You guys are insane. Going against him, that’s a death wish.”

  Titan cocked the gun back but Crocodile stepped in. “We can protect you, but only if you’re willing to help us.”

  The choice between death now and death later was always easy. People choose self-preservation all the time, even if it means they’re only delaying the end. “What do you want me to do?”

  The gun Titan was holding powered down. Elephant seemed relieved – I wonder how many thugs they’ve put in the ground before tonight. “We need you to tell people you were assaulted by The Negative Man tonight. The more we can instill fear, the more we can take advantage of that.”

  “We all know the way he is. No one would believe me, because I’m not dead.”

  Russo was accurate. I didn’t beat people up, I eliminated them. Elephant went on though, which amused me. “That’s because he has a use for you. He left you alive to turn on your fellow gang members. But you’re going to warn them, say it’s time to strike back.”

  This was a terrible plan and the thug was smart enough to see it. “Again, all that’ll do is cause me to get shot by my gang. No one wants a stoolie around.” He looked up at Titan. “You might as well kill me now.”

  “Confirmed.” In one quick motion, Titan brought its gun up and blew off the head of Russo. It then dropped him back on the ground. “Problem eliminated.”

  My energy reacted to the blast that came from the gun. It was the exact opposite of what I was – positive energy. Could this Titan be similar to me, just powered by protons?

  The two SVIS members looked irritated. “That’s the sixth one you killed tonight.” Crocodile rolled the body over. “This one is even more of a mess.”

  “Protocols have been initiated. The time for cooperation has run out. Find the threats and eliminate them. The Negative Man will respond in accord.”

  Finally, someone with a brain. I liked the idea more and more of doing battle with this Titan. Perhaps he, or she, was the one who found Cooper’s work. I refused to believe any of the Zoo Pets were capable of decoding the algorithms anyway.

  Elephant picked up the body. “Okay, we go with your plan, but Grimes needs to sell it.” He looked around to make sure they were alone. “How many more should we take out tonight?”

  The armored colossus lifted back off into the sky. “As many as we can find. Do not pull any punches, only use lethal force.”

  Crocodile and Elephant took off after Titan as it zoomed off into the night, with Russo’s lifeless body on Elephant’s shoulder. I stepped out of the shadows, intrigued by what I witnessed. I couldn’t wait to tell Heather; the sooner the two of us killed off the rest of SVIS, the sooner I’d be able to take on Titan.

  Chapter 7 –

  Wednesday Afternoon; The Big Burrito

  As I took a big bite of my favorite meal, I couldn’t help but be glad this place was back open. Granted, it was mostly my fault it was closed in the first place. Though at the time, how could I know that my powers would accidently give Heather the ability to turn cell phones into explosives?

  “Isn’t this the place that got blown up by that unidentified girl with the weird power?”

  People still talked a lot about that day. Heather’s secret and the destruction she caused were only known by two people and one of them was dead. I wasn’t yet ready to include Hammerspace into the inner circle. “It is, yes. The remodel looks good.” A waitress came by and sat down our food. I really missed the awesomeness they cooked up.

  With no more interruptions expected, it was time to get to business. “You got my message yesterday about tailing the four names on the list?”

  Shawn wasn’t nearly as interested in his food as I was. “I haven’t had time to get all the information necessary.”

  I waved him off. I was too caught up in all the flavors of the world’s best burrito. I took another minute to savor the bite, the lettuce, cheese, and steak all coming together perfectly with the salsa and onions. “I know I moved the time table up so I’m not expecting an encyclopedia on these people. You at least have the basics don’t you?”

  He lightened up a bit, probably realizing the threat of death or dismemberment wasn’t being held over his head. “I was able to scrap up a few things. The four of them have gone out of their way to not be productive members of the community.”

  “In what ways?”

  “Take Ervin Masters for example; the guy is a garbage collector and lives in a flat downtown. He doesn’t own a car, takes public transport and doesn’t even carry credit cards. If you hadn’t given me his name, I’d never have found him.” He pushed some rice around his plate. “I wouldn’t even be surprised if none of them had cell phones.”

  Hmmm, this was interesting. Could these people have more to protect than just their lives? “Did Masters do anything that would give away his secret identity?”

  He held up a finger and popped a taco in his mouth. I was getting concerned with his Mexican food abuse by letting it get cold, so I was actually happy to let him eat. “Nope, granted I only tailed him for a few hours. I gave up on him and went after Wendy Chalmers around five. I tried to divide my time equally, you know?”

  Seeing as the episode in Waves Park didn’t happen until after nine p.m., that would’ve given Ervin plenty of time to take up the mantle, of perhaps Elephant? “Was it more of the same with Chalmers?”

  “She’s a cashier at Frank’s Fish-Mart over on Vacanti Avenue. Her shift was just ending at six fifteen when I caught up to her.” He pulled out his cell phone, a competitor’s I noticed (I’d let that slide for the time being), and pulled up a picture. “The weird thing is that lump under her shirt. That doesn’t look good does it?”

  Wendy was a middle aged woman and she was wearing an oversized polo with the Frank’s logo on it. It just wasn’t big enough to properly conceal what I knew was a reptilian tale – Crocodile. “Where did she go after work?”

  He put his phone away and popped another taco. “She ate alone at the Oceanside Caf
é. She just sat there for a bit, leaving at around seven thirty. The weird thing is she disappeared, almost in plain sight.”

  “I have a pretty good idea of where she went after dinner…” I said it more to myself than anything. “Does she have any family or friends?”

  “Boss, none of these people do. It’s almost as if they’re living under assumed names.”

  His answer backed up what I’d found out myself earlier in the day. There were no social network profiles, no pictures, nothing. “Assumed names, you just might be on to something Shawn. Do you have any contacts that can give us any info on that?”

  He scrolled through his contact list. “None that aren’t dead or in jail. Plus, if they’re working for the cops, maybe we need to assume Grimes set up their fake identities.”

  Everything came back to Grimes. He was the key to the new vigilante Titan and he was the key to uncovering the entire truth about the SVIS, not that I really needed it. It was more of a want. Besides, fully knowing and understanding your prey was very important to make sure no revelations appear at the wrong time.

  With a chip in his hand, “No offense, but why don’t you just wipe them out? I mean, you’re you and they are just a bunch of idiots in masks.”

  “I once underestimated an opponent and it nearly cost me everything.” My first attempt to take out The Dark Lion ended in a well-documented failure. “I’ve learned that you never de-value even the weakest of foes. Hidden threats can come from anywhere.”

  We finished up lunch with a rundown on Nick Parson and Barbra Constance. Again, it was more of the same; very uninteresting lives with little to no contact with anyone or anything. After I paid the bill and began making my way back to work, I tried my best to understand their detachment. It was probably their way of protecting whatever loved ones they had from being used as bait by me.

  The office was quiet when I got back. Sitting on my desk was that manila folder containing all of Dr. Cooper’s work. As I opened it again, I tried to think of anyone capable of producing the kind of attack he described. “Titan’s gun.”

  “Did you say something Jericho?”

  I looked up to see Heather walking into my office. I closed the folder and placed it on the bookshelf. I still hadn’t told her about the scene I witnessed last night. Or the research that had been planted on my desk. “Oh nothing, just thinking of a new project to undertake. As you know, we can never have enough money lying around.”

  She smirked as she came over to sit on my lap. “So I’ve been thinking about my vigilante outfit and I have some designs for you.”

  This I had to see. “Oh really? Is that what’s in there?” I tried to grab the file from her hand but she wouldn’t let go. “C’mon, I want to see what you came up with.”

  Her face went from excited to nervous. “I know you need to see it, but what if you don’t like it?”

  “I’ll never know until I see it.” She relented and I took her design out. “Whoa – you’ve got quite the plan.”

  I’d expected something that screamed sexy and probably impractical. What she gave me was quite genius. Don’t get me wrong, it was still sexy, but she went to great lengths to include detail. The pants looked to be black leather with steel toed boots. The top was like a bullet proof vest that showed off her cleavage and kept her arms uncovered. The vest had a hood too that came down low. There seemed to be a mask of sorts, covering the eye area. However, the genius part was the belt. It looked to have little grenades attached to it, but I knew better; those were disposable cell phones.

  I was impressed. “I can get this made in short order. Well done sweetheart.”

  She beamed at the praise. “I tried to think of something that would allow me to use my powers in the most appropriate way. My arms uncovered will let me pitch the phones like I did in softball.”

  It looked as if she thought of everything. “I’m pretty sure I can get these materials ordered before the end of the day. I’ll even expedite them so they can be here tomorrow.”

  “Oh good.” She gave me a kiss and got up. “One more thing before I go. I’d like a codename; something that we can use when I start going out into the field with you.”

  “Hmmm.” Her powers were related to tracing and blowing up cell phones… “What about Ringtone?”

  The look I got told me what a horrible idea that was. “You’re joking right?”

  I wasn’t. “Sure, yeah, just a joke.”

  She crossed her arms and started tapping her heels on my floor. “Let’s be serious Jericho.”

  So back to the drawing board. Maybe it could be something dangerous; something to do with the way she detonates the phones like bombs? Wait a minute, I got it! “Your codename can be Detonate.”

  Her beautiful eyes lit up at that. “I love it. A name like that screams terror, doesn’t it my love?”

  Chapter 8 –

  Thursday Early Morning; Ocean View Drive

  Heather was fast asleep, but I was wide awake, my creative juices flowing. Not only did I want to perfect my energy focusing gauntlet, but an idea struck me. If I could reverse the polarity of my power, my working theory was I’d survive the attack described in Cooper’s report. With his basis in negative energy, if I could create a device that switched it to positive, my power would become tenfold. Plus, if it was Titan who had discovered this research, I could cancel out its attacks by switching my true state.

  Before I could tackle that problem, I had to take care of the fusion gauntlet. One problem at a time Jericho. I’ve learned that if I let my mind wander in too many directions, my work never got done. Besides, the elemental gun sitting on one of my toolboxes was going to be the key to reversing polarity.

  My silent alarm went off. Someone tripped the proximity device surrounding the property. Who would be foolish enough to come to my house? I grabbed my Negative Man gear and headed out the back exit of my shop to see what brave soul was willing to die.

  The moon was high in the sky, not a cloud to be seen. The clear sky and the light reflecting off the lunar surface gave me a wonderful vantage point of the intruder. Judging by the build, this was a smaller man, maybe even a boy. He was moving very fast, with reflexes that were inhuman. His movements reminded me of DL. Wait a minute? No, that couldn’t be…

  I kept my distance, wanting to observe rather than engage. The intruder didn’t seem to be actually trying to break in, but he was snooping around my house. He looked in the front window and kept going. He bypassed the door, not even giving it a pull to see if it was unlocked. I knew a great deal about the criminal element and something about this kid struck me as different. He was scouting.

  It seemed whatever reason he came here for; he’d decided it either wasn’t worth it or not in plain sight. With a few leaps that would be impossible for anyone other than a powered person, he was off my property and back into the street. I needed to know more, so I took chase.

  This was a person who was trained, well trained in fact, in the use of his powers. He wasn’t a speedster, but his reflexes and movements were so well tuned that he probably could’ve kept pace with one. The only way I was able to keep up was by breaking myself down and entering the power lines that ran above the streets. When we were clear of my neighborhood and out on the open road between the suburbs and the city, I decided to make my presence known.

  I dropped down in front of him; my target able to dodge the blast and stay on his feet with ease. “A new vigilante has come into my city.”

  Like many of us, he used a hood, a faded old black one. Another added precaution was black grease smeared all over his face. I couldn’t accurately gauge who he was or any identifying features. “It won’t be your city for long scumbag.”

  His voice added another layer to my earlier suspicions. I could almost picture a younger looking DL behind the grease. “It looks like John Wonderton had a secret that I didn’t even know about.”

  “Our day is coming Negative Man. Just you wait, not even you can escape justice
forever.”

  “We’ll see.” I charged a low voltage attack, just wanting to stun him, but he flipped backwards away from me and took off. By the time I was ready to get back into the electrical stream, he was gone. Knowing my advantage, he went off road, away from the power lines. “Well played Wonderton Jr.”

  As I made my way home, I thought about all the things John and I used to talk about. Not once did he ever mention having a family or even wanting one. Could it be that he didn’t even know he had a son? And if that was the case, how did the son know about him and his secret life?

  I knew that DL moved to Pacific Heights from North Terrace three years ago. What I didn’t know was much about his life before coming to Pacific Station. That was just another mystery I’d want to solve. It seemed a higher power took notice of my boredom and decided to do something about it. The true identities of the SVIS team, this Titan, and now Wonderton’s son – all worthy causes for The Negative Man to take care of.

  Heather was standing at the front door as I walked up. “Jericho, what’s going on?”

  I couldn’t say ‘nothing dear’ as I was in my battle gear. “We had an intruder. I chased him down.”

  “Did you kill him?”

  “No.” After a quick internal debate, “It was John Wonderton’s son. It appears the legacy of The Dark Lion lives on.”

  I’m pretty sure if I told her it was an alien, the reaction would’ve been less surprised. “How can you be sure? How is that even possible?”

  I was very much sure. “He inherited his father’s powers and his voice was almost spot on. It seems our list of enemies is growing.” So came the conundrum, how to divvy up the responsibility. “I need to investigate Wonderton’s son even further. While I take a quick trip to North Terrace, I need you to take the lead on getting info about SVIS.”

  “So you’re going to let me in on who you’ve been meeting?” How did she know? “Call me cautious, but I can trace phones, remember? I just wanted to make sure you weren’t in danger.”