The Negative Man: Act 1

by Jeremy Croston

  Details of this project had been scarce, almost as difficult to find as anything related to Project Jericho. It amused me how it was all here in this book, a book that seemed to be hidden in libraries that no one even bothered with. Cooper talked a little more about Ted Hightower before a name was mentioned that meant the world to me. His assistant and wife was none of than my mother, Miranda Ryan. I dropped to a knee – Ted Hightower must’ve been my father.

  I closed the book and my eyes. After the electron generator fiasco, my mother was kept in a government controlled hospital until I was born. Immediately after my birth, I’d been taken from her and put in that horrible hellhole of a facility. Only through Dr. Staley had my mom even been allowed to come see me. And after we escaped, I saw her a few more times here and there, always fearful someone would be after her. She died shortly before I came to Pacific Station.

  My mother, she hadn’t even been given a chance to name me. It was moments like this that I was glad I killed Cooper all those years ago. I slammed the book down on the closest desk hoping where ever he was, he felt my wrath. Had it not been for him, I may have had more quality time with that amazing woman.

  I refocused and opened the book again. Wilson said the details of the project might give me some insight into reversing electrons and protons. I read on a little bit more, cringing each time I read Ted’s name. About halfway through the chapter we got to the good stuff. Ted, using an equation he and Miranda came up with, was able to charge neutrons and syphon the energy off of them. In fact, by giving the neutrons an artificial negative charge, they effectively doubled the amount of negative energy the generator could put off.

  How appropriate was it that my mom and dad were the ones to help me! The formula wasn’t listed but the fact they were able to artificially charge the neutrons was the leap of faith I needed. Walker’s technology in the elemental gun was only half the equation. If I could put together how my parents did it, the polarity accelerator would be complete.

  My watch alarm went off letting me know it was time to get back to the office. By this time, my order of Mercury Fives should’ve been there so at least Heather, Hammerspace and myself would have a way to stay in touch. With the Predator network down, I felt dirty using old technology, especially Owen Walker’s.

  Wonder-Tech Tower was quiet upon my arrival. I’d given most of the employees the rest of the week off due to the tragic nature of what happened. It also gave me time to be alone and think. Heather was in my office as I walked in, an open box of Mercury Fives sitting there. “It could be worse. At least these phones operate at similar speed.”

  The phone wasn’t the problem, the delay to our plan was. “Parson is going to regret the day he sent Firefight to gl-O-bal. Even an unknowing mistake is still a mistake; this one will cost him so much.”

  “I take it you’re going to personally oversee the reconstruction of the servers?”

  “Of course. I have no patience for being slowed down. I want those servers fully operational within the month.”

  There was a report on my desk. Heather looked at it but didn’t seem anxious to give it to me. “You’ve had enough bad news. Don’t even read that.”

  “Let me guess, it tells how many thousands of people are buying our competitors’ wares.”

  Her sigh was all I needed. I sat down and started rubbing my head. “I found out who my father was this morning.”

  “What?”

  I was slightly amused by dropping the unexpected on her. “There’s an old book in the library that talks about the project that created me. It mentioned a man named Ted Hightower who was married to a Miranda Ryan.”

  Heather knew the name Miranda straight away. “That’s your mom…”

  “Yep. So that makes it very likely this Ted was my dad.” It was so cool having a name to attach. Dr. Ellison Staley would always be my real dad, but Ted Hightower, even though I never met him, would have a special place. “Not only did I discover my dad, but it seems he and my mom were doing something very similar to what I’m trying to do.”

  She sat down and crossed her long, tan legs. “I really try to understand what it is you do down in our basement, but most of the time it’s all German to me.”

  “You’re extra cute though and that’s most important.” I got a wry smile as I tried to think of how to put this in Lehman’s terms. “Basically I’m trying to alter my natural charge. Titan is an opposite force of me, capable of unleashing attacks that hurt me due to our natures. If I can alter my own makeup and then supercharge it, I should be able to defeat that monster once and for all.”

  “How close are you to succeeding?”

  “I’m getting there.” Enough about this I thought. I had a handle on it. “The sooner we can get the insurance money the better. I’ll scrounge up resources to start the server project, but with our stock prices falling…”

  She stopped me right there. “We’ll rebuild, bigger and stronger. Have faith.”

  Faith, ironic that was something I could use. I thought about visiting Father Reigart for another one of our sparring sessions, though my time could be used better elsewhere. I should go home and finish working on the polarity accelerator, except there was this nagging feeling to go to gl-O-bal. I knew Russell Jackson was dead, yet I wanted to see if the gear was still there. Someone else might be able to work on it, only if I could recover it.

  Heather was staring at me as I was putting together a game plan for the rest of my day. “I’m heading over to gl-O-bal to see what we can salvage. I’ll forward my calls to my new phone. If Hammerspace reaches out, let me know.”

  “What could you possibly want to salvage over there? The fire department said next to nothing was left.”

  If I hadn’t been able to make a dent in Titan’s armor, I’m sure a little fire did nothing to that gear. “That piece from Titan I found, it’s probably still there. Russell knew it was valuable, so I imagine he went to great lengths to protect it.”

  She got up. “Let me know if you’re successful.”

  It didn’t take long to get over there. By now, the area was closed off and I had to make the last part of the journey on foot. When I got there, no police presence was on the ground, just tape and hazard signs. I stepped through the front door, or what was left of it and carefully made my way to Russell’s office. Most of the building had fallen on itself, but if you were observant, you could find ways to certain destinations.

  Russell’s office was still fairly intact, which said more about how well the structure of gl-O-bal was. I used the flashlight on my phone to look around, seeing if the Titan gear was someplace accessible. After a few moments, I spotted nothing.

  I pulled out his chair as far as it would go and then the keyboard tray. The metal snapped off in my hands and fell to the ground. I cursed silently at my own lack of safety, but that turned to smiles when I saw something taped to the bottom of it. There was an USB drive with a scrap piece of paper looking at me. I pulled it off and I saw my name was at the top

  .

  ‘Jericho,

  Someone is attacking this building,

  possibly for what I’ve discovered.

  Everything I know is on this drive. Be careful.

  -Russell’

  This drive in my hand – what had been on it to make Russell go to these lengths to hide it and then issue me a warning? I needed to get this back to my lab as soon as possible. The mystery of Titan was running deeper.

  Chapter 25 –

  Thursday Evening; Ocean View Drive

  I carefully inserted Russell’s USB into my computer. It immediately brought up the contents on the drive and there was only one file. I opened it to reveal a twenty-one page document with a message imbedded on the first page. When I clicked the link, it brought up my media player and Russell’s face was frozen there. I tapped play; a bit nervous by the look he was giving the camera.

  His voice was already in a panic the second it hit my speakers. “Shit Jericho, whatever you had m
e look into, well we’ve found the wasp’s nest alright. No sooner did I get the results back on my material test did the fire freak show up.”

  The poor guy had no idea that was just a coincidence, but it showed why he went to the trouble of hiding everything. “When you first brought me this gear, I figured it was some sort of manmade alloy. It’s beyond manmade – Jericho, this is organic.”

  That news came as a massive surprise. Organic? I needed to know more. Fortunately Russell wasn’t quite done yet. “I don’t know where you got this,” the first sounds of panic were audible to me, “and I don’t want to. All I know is whoever you pulled this off of will be looking for it. It’s my conclusion that this organic alloy reverts back to skin, bone, or whatever when the super returns to their normal state.” Another explosion occurred and the video feed went dead.

  Wow, this added a whole new layer to the mystery – a super who could transform into a metallic alloy that carried a positive charge. I’d never heard of such a thing. If this was truly the right conclusion, I was certain this could point to a weakness. I wish I still had the gear to experiment on. I was certain it was already back in the hands of Titan by this point.

  I started reading all the notes he’d been writing down. It was amazing the amount of detail he went into over every little thing. I saw the progression from an alloy, to manmade, to finally the theory of it being an organic substance. It took him quite a bit to fully commit to that conclusion, but there it was on the note document.

  A crazy idea hit me. I needed to engage Titan again. Heather would just tell me this was a crazy idea, so I geared up and left with just a note on the front door. I’d deal with the repercussions later. It was twilight out and I had the perfect idea. It was time to see if my metal friend wanted to play.

  I phased out of the power lines in the Heights District, close to the hospital and the water treatment plant. Rush hour was slowing down and I had some energy to burn. I walked out into the middle of the street and zapped two oncoming cars. They veered on to the sidewalks and each crashed into the shrubbery guarding the buildings. No one was hurt but they were terrified.

  I kept the attacks going; soon pandemonium was gripping the Height District. Police soon arrived on scene, but it was child’s play toying with them. The fools tried to shoot me; all I did was laugh in their faces as the bullets were cast aside with each volley.

  The gunfire stopped and the police began to back away. Up in the sky, the object of my curiosity dropped down to street level. Its dark blue metallic coverings shined in the light of the setting sun. Its mechanical voice addressed me. “Negative Man, you are under arrest for multiple violations. Lay down your weapons and unmask yourself immediately.”

  “We’re going to play this game again?” I flowed into the electrical lines above. As soon as I entered, I sent wave after wave of electricity down to the street. Cop cars were blown up and people scattered everywhere to avoid the fallout from my attack. Titan just stood there in the middle, not flinching the entire time.

  With the street cleared, I rejoined my enemy. “Last time you caught me on an off day. Today, I feel great.”

  The gun it used began to power up. “I will kill you. No threats to the public are allowed to run unchecked.”

  I knew it was serious; I’d seen it kill in cold blood before. Instead of allowing it to attack, I charged the fusion gauntlet and sent a few rapid fire bursts at it. The armor absorbed each blow with no damage showing to the armor. What I did notice this time as I was checking it closely, the armor shivered with each attack, almost like it got goosebumps or something.

  I let up my attack, seeing that I was successful in delaying Titan from firing back. “So you’re just a super who can transfigure your skin into metal. What a unique gift.”

  Titan took an involuntary step back. “That information is classified. Tell me your source before death occurs.”

  Studying it even further, “It’s not just your body that turns metallic, your mind simplifies too!” That explained the short, curt way it talked. “Just how much of your humanity do you give up when you transform?”

  It pointed the gun at me and fired. I knew that was a possibility with my taunts so I was ready to phase away when it came. From the electrical lines, I was able to jump back and forth all around it. It tried to keep up with my movements, but it was off its game today.

  I reappeared right in front of it and blasted its chest with all the built up energy in the electron gauntlet. The armor began to shiver again and I kept pumping energy in, hoping to break down the organic material. It became a struggle between the two of us as its nature opposed mine and was doing its very best to ward me off. No matter how hard I tried, the armor wouldn’t give.

  Until it started to weaken. Whoever was inside Titan knew they couldn’t hold out this long. I tapped into the wires above me, severing them and bringing even more juice into my body. Success was so close; I could begin to see the person inside the hard shell.

  Right as victory was within my grasp, a foot connected with the side of my head and broke the connection between myself and Titan. Titan’s armor reformed around the hurting super and it flew away from the scene. Another remained, the pesky annoyance that broke up the attack. Clad in a yellow cape, The Dark Lion’s son was here.

  I got up, angry over the interruption. “You have some nerve kid. Wasn’t one failure enough?”

  “This is my city now. The two of you were causing massive amounts of damage.” He had a pair of infrared goggles strapped to his face, these eyes glowed orange. “I might not be strong enough to defeat you yet, but I won’t allow wanton destruction to occur.”

  I was impressed with his courage. “You’re lucky I have a soft spot for your dad, kid. Tonight, I’m not going to kill you for interfering.”

  He dropped into a fighting stance. “You’re under the wrong impression that I’m going to let you escape.”

  “Please.” I hit him in the chest with a low level shot of negative energy. He landed back first on the street. “Do yourself a favor and go home, for good. Your Uncle Wayne wants you to stop this nonsense.”

  He tried to get up quickly at the mention of Wayne’s name, but I put him down again. He growled, “How do you know Wayne? What did you do to him?!”

  “I didn’t do anything to him or anyone of consequence.” This was true, only The Crimson Mask died at my hand on my trip to North Terrace. “If you keep trying to avenge your father, this won’t end well. Like I said before, go home.”

  Before he could respond with the sort of argument where he tried to justify his actions, I left the scene as well. Maybe seeing the difference in power between himself and me would give him the boost he needed to give this up. In my stomach though, I knew the kid wouldn’t. Next time we met, I’d probably have to do what I just wasn’t ready to bring myself to do tonight. If there was ever a chance he’d perfect The Stormfall, I’d probably have to kill him.

  Speaking of getting killed, as soon as I made it home Heather was waiting for me. A storm was brewing under that pretty surface and it was directed at me. “You stupid, foolish, moronic, …”

  “Babe, I did it. With Russell’s help, I found a weakness with Titan.”

  That stopped her rampage. “How?”

  I pulled my mask off, smiling. “Titan is a super, like us. Its suit, it’s made from an organic substance, Titan itself.” I could see my explanation was glazing her eyes over. “Basically, Titan’s suit is made up of the person inside’s body. With a big enough charge, the suit begins to return to its natural state.”

  “So if you perfect the polarity accelerator?”

  “I can make him or her reveal them self and they’ll be powerless against us.”

  Chapter 26 –

  Friday Morning; The Sea Hag

  Shawn called me at one thirty in the morning. Luckily I was still working on the polarity accelerator and was wide awake. “Hey, can you meet me at a place called The Sea Hag? I got some information to
share.”

  I confirmed I’d be there as soon as I could. I cleaned up the mess in my shop and went upstairs. Heather was asleep and I didn’t really want to wake her; however after the stunt with the Titan I wasn’t taking chances. I gave her a few rubs and her eyes slowly opened. “Coming to bed?”

  “Actually Hammerspace just called and wants to meet at a place called The Sea Hag. I wanted to see if you were up for a little late night meeting.”

  She rubbed her eyes open. “The Sea Hag? God, that place is such a dive. Though they have this really killer drink called the Kraken.” She stretched out her arms. “Yeah, let me get dressed.”

  It was a little after two when we pulled into the pretty empty parking lot. It was right against the ocean, with an outdoor bar overlooking one of the piers. The smell of saltwater rushed over me as I got close, with just a pinch of fish. It wasn’t the most pleasant odor in the world.

  Only two customers were inside, Shawn and some seedy looking old man who didn’t even hide his lust for Heather. The two of us joined our crazy friend in his booth. “Couldn’t pick a more upscale place?”

  He just flashed his grin and winked. “No other places are open this late and offer this amount of privacy.” Well, I couldn’t argue that. “Besides, I wanted to buy you a Kraken after that ballsy move taking on Titan.” He signaled three fingers to the bartender and returned to us. “I tell you what; you’re one crazy son of a bitch.”

  “Please don’t encourage him.” Heather was tapping her nails on the old wooden table. This place had definitely seen better days. “What the lovely Mr. Staley did tonight was foolish and stupid. One of us should have been there for back up.”

  I didn’t want to go down this road again. “What’s done is done and Shawn brought us here for new information.” I looked pleadingly at him. “Please tell me you have some good news to share.”