The Negative Man: Act 1

by Jeremy Croston

  When I opened my eyes, I was inside. “Citizens of North Terrace, you have a visitor!” My voice boomed for all in the vicinity to hear. Everyone stopped and looked on in shock and awe. “Tonight, as a favor to all of you, I will put an end to an urban legend. Tonight, I kill The Crimson Mask for you all to see.”

  From my viewpoint on the street level, I saw fury take hold. Thousands of needles shot out of him towards the street below. Unprepared normal people were being skewered left and right. Panic took hold, screaming people running for their lives, those that were still breathing anyway. Our fight had just begun and the casualties were numerous.

  Chapter 13 –

  Friday Night; Smart Logic Rooftop

  I was back in my regular body by the time his assault stopped. “It seems I pushed a button or two.”

  He whipped around to where I was. “You made a big mistake tonight.” With a low growl, he unleashed another multi layered needle attack. This was quite different than before, a lot more speed with superior numbers. “Die Negative Man!”

  I used my gauntlet to produce a cone shaped polarity attack. It destroyed them all but one. The needle pierced my Kevlar armguard and planted itself in my bicep. Immediately I knew something was wrong. This wasn’t just a needle, there was poison in it. My arm felt as if it were on fire. That hot, wrong feeling began to spread from the injection site.

  He knew he’d hit me. “That feels good, doesn’t it? The neurotoxins will soon start messing with your brain.”

  Soon was right. I pulled the needle out of my arm, but I felt the need to vomit almost immediately. How could none of my research say anything about this? “No matter Hood, I’m still a level above you.” I charged my gauntlet with electron power and slammed it into the rooftop. Electricity surged out and caused a fault line to run directly at him. From there, half the roof collapsed in, taking him with it.

  I needed to move as it wouldn’t be long before my section joined the rest. I tried to phase into the power line running to the electronic shop, but my body betrayed me. The poison was interfering with my power. Instead, I had to push myself up and run over to the stairwell to my left. I made it in just before the rest of the roof began to fall. I didn’t stop until I was at the thirty-third floor, ten levels below the roof.

  I took a moment to access my situation. My powers were acting erratic, the negative energy that powered me trying to fend off the toxin. I still had access to some, just on a much smaller scale. What would really help is if I found an external source of energy.

  The doorway opened and Hood tackled me to the ground. Two punches to my metal mask later, he gave up on that and stuck me in the midsection with another needle. The room started to spin, but I had enough wherewithal to point my gauntlet up and send him into the wall behind me with a quick blast. Blood was gushing from the wound; I had to cauterize it.

  Sparking the index finger on the hand inside the gauntlet, I seared the wound shut. I had to hold my breath to keep from screaming as I dragged the electricity over the open wound. The pain from closing your own wound is unbearable, but I got the bleeding to stop.

  Both of us slowly got to our feet. He tried to skewer me again, but his aim was off. I stumbled forward twice, close enough to grab him by his jacket collar and send him tumbling down another flight of stairs. I fell with him, rolling right behind. My journey ended when I fell on top of him on the next landing.

  I blasted another hole in the wall behind us, allowing fresh air to pour in. I was still fighting off his poison in a bad way, but getting that air helped a little. Knowing the closed quarters didn’t help his cause, he slipped out the floor we were on, leaving me in the stairwell.

  I went in right behind him and offices littered this floor. The ceiling was falling down and sparks were flying from all the ruined electronics. Before I could start my search, a loud voice echoed inside. “This is the North Terrace Police Department! All powered individuals inside come out with your hands up.”

  “Hey, I think you gained some new fans Hood! People are here to see you.”

  I heard a slight movement across the floor but I couldn’t see him. “This is your fault, you idiot. You just had to go and rile me up and get the entire city involved.”

  No one called me an idiot. Even in my diminished state, I knew the battle was still mine to win. There were still a lot of computer monitors that were in good shape for me to use. Knowing I couldn’t do this on my own, I tapped into the exposed wires above. From there, I had a brief moment to slip in to the monitors and locate him. With his location exposed in the northwest corner behind a bookshelf, I returned to make a plan.

  The sprinklers looked to be in working shape and I hit the nearest one, setting them all off. With the unexpected appearance of water, I slid down the aisle to the shelf he was hiding behind. I blasted it with what little negative charge I had left, only to find he wasn’t there. I looked down and saw the broken shards of a mirror! I’d been duped!

  A long spike ripped through the back of my shoulder and exited the front. I cursed due to the pain and my own stupidity. There was nothing left to tap; everything inside me was fighting off his power. “Looks like your monitor trick backfired. It’s a shame all your skills have spread over the news where mine are good and hidden.”

  Another spike entered my leg, the thigh area. The more spikes he used, the more I wondered if Dr. Cooper’s theory of me was right. I doubted I could take much more of this and live. “Going to torture me with your spikes and stupidity huh?”

  “Just for another moment or two, then I plan to toss your body out the window to the pavement below. That’ll make quite the return, huh?”

  This guy’s ego was bigger than mine. “It’s such a shame I ruined that for you. Everyone knows you’re back and you’re here.” He thought he was in complete control and his guard was dropping. “If I wasn’t here, would anyone even care about a washed up villain?”

  Another spike went through my gut. This was getting serious. “You really know how to piss off a guy don’t ya? Stealing his thunder and everything.” The tension left his body, my chance to counter was here. “How’s the poison feeling? Pretty good I bet.”

  At this point my body hurt so bad that I didn’t know which was physical pain or the poison wreaking havoc on me. “There’s just one problem with your little plan. You expect me to die and that’s just not in the cards. You don’t have the power to kill me.”

  I didn’t want to hear any more wisecracks or nonsense. I grabbed the spike sticking out of my shoulder and yanked it out. I bit down on the pain and in one swift move, I plunged his own spike into his forehead. Both of us collapsed to the office floor, him dead and me hanging on for all I had.

  His hood covered up his face; a shame I wouldn’t get to see his last look, never knowing death was so close. Unfortunately, the energy needed to overcome all the damage and toxic waste in me was too much for my body. I couldn’t even register a spark if I wanted. It would only be mere moments before the police came in and took me away. The humiliation of being captured by normal humans left a bitter taste in my mouth.

  The door to this level opened quickly and I heard footsteps running over to the final spot of our fight. It was just a single set, so I was really confused. Would they send in a guinea pig on the chance he got killed? Well my question was answered just a few seconds later. “Oh my God, Jericho!”

  “Heather?”

  She reached down and picked me up. “What the hell happened to you?”

  “His spikes, they’re toxic. I don’t know how much of that venom I have running through me.”

  I heard the door open again. “Hammerspace, he’s over here. Hurry up!”

  Shawn Jordan joined the party and put me around his shoulder. “I got him. Let’s scram before the police show up. I have a warrant out for my arrest here too.”

  The two of them led me back out and we were heading up the stairs. “Guys, how did you get here? And the roof’s gone. Why are we going ups
tairs?”

  Heather was agitated by the questions, but she answered them. You’re not going to like this, but Hammerspace stole a police helicopter.”

  “He what?”

  Chapter 14 –

  Saturday Night; Pier District

  The SVIS team was in front of us with three of the local gang leaders. Heather was itching for a fight; I was more interested in hearing what was going on. I sent Hammerspace closer to plant a cellphone for Heather to tap into. He rolled back like some weirdo ninja. “All set boss. No one saw me.”

  Words failed me with this guy. “Heather, you’re up.”

  Her phone lit up, bringing us their conversation loud and clear. The beauty was the other phone sat there, looking dormant. No one would be the wiser. “We have a proposition for all of you.” I believed this to be Elephant talking. “The Negative Man is killing your minions and you haven’t done anything about it.”

  “So you want us to work with the coppers? We’ll handle our business our way.”

  “We know that you could take a hit on the streets, but the three of you are the smartest of the bunch.” I wish I could see who Elephant was talking to, get a face to match later. “Think of what we’re offering as a chance for some sanctioned mayhem.”

  The three gentlemen just out of view moved in closer and started speaking low. The phone was just a bit too far away to hear what they were saying. The front guy broke away first. “So you’re telling me if we put a hit out on The Negative Man, we can use whatever means we want to?”

  I heard a few grumbles from the three behind Elephant. I don’t think this was a majority decision. “Obviously there are a few rules, mostly no civilian casualties. What I urge you to do is use your underground resources and get this guy. All of us will be happy once he’s dead.”

  That statement was met with approval from all seven people. Heather was pissed, eager to blow them up. “Can I detonate the phone?”

  “Sure.”

  With joy filling her eyes, she snapped her fingers and the disposal cell we’d been using went off. None of them were prepared for that, engulfing the group in debris. As the dust settled from Heather’s attack, figures were on the ground, not dead, just not moving much.

  I did a quick count and saw four bodies – Crocodile and Antelope from the SVIS and two of the gang leaders. “Where’s everyone else? Get visuals quickly!”

  A loud elephant roar broke out from across the street and Ernie Masters began his charge. I figured out his power straight away; two large tusks were growing out of his mouth. He was coming for me with deadly intent. Not being one hundred percent from my fight with The Crimson Mask, the smart thing to do was create some space. “Detonate,” it was weird to call Heather that, “light him up!”

  She took out two phones and lobbed them like grenades. The first hit the ground in front of the running man, blowing up the area around his feet. He face planted on the ground as the second phone hit him in the back. Not even the body armor he was wearing stopped it from ripping his spine to shreds. He screamed for a few seconds before silent death took hold.

  By now everyone was back to their feet and the missing SVIS member, Rhino, was visible. Seeing what happened to their leader and not ready for another super, the SVIS fell back to retreat. The three gang leaders were also trying to run. “Hammerspace, go get them.” As I barked my command, he pulled a baseball bat covered in barbed wire out of his interdimensional pockets and took chase.

  Heather and I stalked towards the running group. “Can you slow them up for us?”

  With a smile, “My pleasure.” She unhooked another phone and let it fly. The path was true, only Titan got in the way and knocked it back towards us. I grabbed her and we dove, missing the explosion. As the SVIS disappeared, only the mechanical hunter was left facing the two of us.

  It hovered for a minute and then dropped to the ground. It had its gun pointed at us, ready to fire. “Negative Man, resistance is futile.” It took another step. “You and your accomplice have five seconds to surrender.”

  The power running the suit was great, but there was some sort of barrier preventing me from gaining access to it. The positive energy running the suit was designed to keep me out. “I don’t think that’s something we can do.”

  The robotic nature of its voice gave nothing away. “I watched surveillance on your fight with The Crimson Mask. I know you are weakened. To oppose me will spell your demise.”

  “I don’t think so.” Even weakened, I wasn’t about to let Titan intimidate me. The fusion gauntlet had been gathering energy since we arrived tonight and it was time to put it to work. “Detonate, now!”

  She flipped two phones in the air in front of Titan. It was getting ready to shoot them out of the sky, but my hand was faster than its gun. Two jolts of negative energy hit the phones and Heather set them off prematurely. A dark burst came forth and slammed into the metal terror. For good measure, I used the ground attack from my rooftop fight with Crimson Mask, hoping to trap whatever was left in the dirt.

  It was all for naught. Titan’s boosters kicked in and it levitated above the controlled area of destruction. There wasn’t even a scratch on the dark metal shell. “It seems you have made your choice. So be it.” It fired two shots at us; Heather and I were able to avoid them in the nick of time.

  “What do we do?”

  This was an unforeseen event. I hadn’t expected Titan to be so close and to interfere in tonight’s mission. “We need to get out of here and fast.”

  More shots were fired and we hightailed it back down the street, towards the pier. Titan followed, floating above us and moving fast. Every so often we had to take cover behind a car or duck into an alley to avoid attack. All the while, I was doing my best to observe how it operated and what weaknesses it might have. Finally, we made it to the old pier no longer in use.

  I pushed Heather into an old bait house and quickly shut the door. I knew these places had trap doors to the water below for easy access to bait fish. It took a moment to find it and I threw it open. Titan was right there though, blowing the hinges off the door. “Jump!”

  Heather dove in gracefully and I was right behind her. The floor blew up behind me from another Titan attack, and we slowly drifted down out of sight. I didn’t know if Heather was a good swimmer, but she seemed to be handling it well. We stayed down for as long as we could, moving towards the east shore. We had to come up for air, and thankfully when we did Titan had gone to the west. I saw the outline of the floating menace in the moonlight.

  “I don’t understand, how did it survive that attack?”

  Shit, there was no telling how. “My best guess is the very nature of the suit provides some sort of blanket protection against me.” Positive energy cancelling out negative. “I couldn’t even draw energy off of it.”

  We saved our energy for the swim to shore. I hated being wet, though I preferred wet to captured. It took a bit, but we eventually made it back to the rendezvous point. Hammerspace wasn’t there, but he did leave a small note tucked in the windshield of Heather’s car.

  ‘Guys, I got the prize. I’ll be at the Grab N Go until morning.’

  “Looks like our night hasn’t been a total waste.”

  Heather begged to differ. “What do you mean? Elephant is dead and the rest of the SVIS knows they can’t handle us. I’d say tonight was quite the success.” She stared up at the star covered sky. “I feel so alive! The rush, the excitement, I could do this every night!”

  For me it was more calculating. First The Crimson Mask showed me I was getting too complacent and arrogant and tonight I learned there was a force out there equal to me in power. My thoughts went back to my lab and my second project. “Excitement will come when I grow stronger.”

  “Well let’s not keep Shawn waiting. I’m sure there’s much we can get out of those gangsters if we take the time to get to know them.”

  I didn’t plan on learning anything from them. “There’s nothing they can say that�
�ll interest me. I plan on taking their heads back to their people and making them beg me for mercy.” SVIS and Grimes wanted to start a war with me; I was happy to oblige. Titan couldn’t protect them all. “And even then I’ll show this city you do not piss off The Negative Man.”

  Chapter 15 –

  Sunday Evening; Krum’s Comics and Games

  **Kyle Wonderton**

  The death of SVIS member Elephant, aka Ernie Masters was hitting the group hard. Ernie had been a close friend of Diana and Kim, so the store had been closed all day. Becky found me at my dad’s place and dragged me here. She said it was right for us to come to the small ceremony and pay our respects.

  When we entered the back room, there were a handful of people there. The three members of SVIS were standing at the front by a picture of their fallen friend with some members of the police department here too. I recognized a few faces from my first meeting here, but I didn’t want to mingle. I sat down in the back and just waited to see what happened.

  A very large bearded man stood up from the front and joined the SVIS guys up front. “Greetings everyone. If you’d all be so kind to take a seat, it’s time to send our friend off to the great unknown.”

  A small figure plopped down beside me, Becky. “That’s Father Reigart. He’s a normal, but he’s very passionate about preaching to the powered community.”

  It didn’t take someone with her skills to see how sad and conflicted the large pastor was. I figured he knew Elephant pretty well. “Our community lost a pillar and most of the world does not even know.” A few people began to weep. “Ernie Masters, the man we all knew as Elephant, died last night protecting us from a sinister force. The work he’s done for Pacific Station won’t ever be forgotten by those here tonight.”

  There was a tug on my shirt. “With his passing, I wonder who will assume the role of team leader.”

  I scanned the other three masked figures as Becky asked me. None of them looked cut out to become the new face of the team. Their body language was horrible – anxious and defeated. I wondered if Elephant was the glue that kept them together.