Pacific Station Vigilante (Book 2): The Negative Man [Stormfall]

by Jeremy Croston

  I looked around, pretending to care what he said. “The only person I see is you and I doubt you would pose much of a problem to me.”

  He reached behind him and grabbed on to something, maybe? His hand was holding empty air as far as I could tell. As he lifted it up, something came into view, a sledgehammer. “My friends call me Hammerspace because I have this awesome trick where I can pull my friend here outta nowhere.”

  Fascinating – what an incredible gift! “I see, like in a video game where the hero’s always pull their weapon from nowhere.”

  “You’re up on games, I like it.” He took a step closer. “Unfortunately for you, I like that watch a bit more. Hand it over and we won’t have any issues.”

  The fool had no idea who he was mugging. Not that it mattered; The Negative Man would be seeing him again soon. Unclipping the watch, “Fine, take it. You earned it.”

  He reached over and swiped the watch out of my hand, looking at me a bit confused by what I said. “Yeah, I did earn it, didn’t I?” He slipped the watch into one of his invisible pockets. “Well, nice doing business with ya, but I gotta-”

  Four figures dropped in around us – the SVIS. They’d upgraded their suits, they seemed to be wearing tactical police uniforms, the only difference was the animal masks they were wearing. Oh what a joy, to be saved by such heroes! The one in the elephant mask yelled out first. “Freeze Hammerspace, you’re ours this time!”

  Before he could even respond, the large oaf codenamed Rhino charged at him. Now in flight or fight mode, Hammerspace did the only logical thing, he grabbed me. “I’d stop what you’re doing right now!” All four of the idiots froze in place. “I know who my target is and I know what he’s worth to this city. So the two of us are going to walk into that alley over there while the four of you wait here patiently, got it?”

  Elephant responded for the group. “If you harm a non-super, you know what the punishment is, life at Black Lagoon.”

  “You morons stay here and nothing will go wrong.” He pushed me towards his exit. “C’mon Mr. Staley, we’re going to take a walk.”

  Hammerspace had one more little surprise for the SVIS. He reached behind him back and pulled out a grenade from his interdimensional pocket. Without a second thought, he lobbed it at the masked freaks, who had to rush to take cover. He pulled me into the side alley as the grenade went off. The sound of the explosion set off car alarms down the street. In the pandemonium that ensued, I knew the SVIS wouldn’t be able to pursue.

  “Sorry about the noise. Those damn idiots always make things so much harder than they need to be.”

  I gave a quick laugh. “I can’t blame you. They didn’t even assess the situation correctly.”

  He let me go when we were far enough away. “Even so, I bet their day’s coming. It’s only a matter of time before The Negative Man puts them down. Honestly, I’m surprised he hasn’t already.”

  Under my breath, “Oh, I’ve come close.”

  “Did you say something?”

  Looking up, “No, just being thankful that no one got hurt tonight.”

  He reached into another invisible pocket and pulled something out. “For being a good sport tonight, this is for you.” Whatever it was, he tossed in the air towards me.

  I caught it and gave it the once over. “Is this supposed to be a joke?”

  “At least you got another watch out of the deal. Not as nice as yours, but you’re a cool guy.” He gave me one last cheesy grin before ducking off.

  Knowing the wild herd was anxiously awaiting my safe return; I took a deep breath and returned to the street. I glanced at my new watch one more time. “Well, it’s not that bad.”

  Chapter 2 –

  Monday Night; Ocean View Drive

  “I don’t get it. Why do you insist on walking home?”

  Heather was watching the nightly news; no matter which channel she settled on, they’d be talking about The Negative Man. Tonight was no exception. “It gives me a chance to clear my head. Besides, I enjoy being out there, learning and observing.”

  Her attention left the television and came fully to me. “I take it something happened this evening?” She looked me up and then back down. “That’s not your watch.”

  I was wearing the ‘gift’ with pride. “A mugger named Hammerspace actually robbed me tonight. I would’ve learned much more about him, but those idiot SVIS supers interrupted us.”

  In the world of crime fighters, those clowns were the sideshow. Even against The Aces, the animal weirdos were seriously outgunned. There used to be five of them, but one discovered my secret. Tiger, or Mike Blackfield, was a friend. Yet when he figured it all out, he became a liability and I had to tie that up. Heather seemed to enjoy his demise more than I did.

  As for the remaining four, that blubbering blowhard Chief Grimes used them as his special op’s task force. As tonight had proven, they were not at all competent and provided little to the city. “I think the time has come for The Negative Man to put an end to their insufferable ways.”

  “Why should you get all the fun?” In her hand was the latest Wonder-Tech phone, the Predator. Much like the name I came up for it, the phone was taking over the country, eating up the competition. All part of the plan mind you. “With this, I can easily eliminate any target we want.”

  Heather’s power was very unique. When I attacked Wonder-Tech Tower as The Negative Man last year, I accidently hit her with a full blast of my power. By some reaction in her body and the fact my negative energy burst through a phone she was on, she gained the ability to make phones explode. Without her talent, I may have lost my fight against The Dark Lion.

  Once we knew those morons identity, “Yes, you can blow them up if you choose to. I’ll make it my top priority in finding out who they are.”

  An evil grin formed under those beautiful eyes. “You know how to sweet talk a girl Mr. Staley.”

  I was about to take advantage of the situation when something from the news caught both of our attention. Brandon Howard, the featured news anchor, was talking about an armored vigilante. “In a story we saved until we could verify the source, it appears a new hero is taking the place of the fallen Dark Lion.”

  The screen flashed away and in Brandon’s place was a full shot of this newest hero. Him, or her – no way to tell, was covered head to toe in a high tech, dark metal suit. From the shot, the hero could be seen floating off the ground thanks to rocket boosters in the legs. I wasn’t prepared for this – how did I not know?

  The screen faded out and Brandon reappeared. “So far we have limited news about this hi-tech hero, but our source has told us they go by the name Titan. As we know more…”

  I needed to find out who this source is. I walked over to the television, Heather looking on with curiosity. “What are you planning to do?”

  “The city’s far too comfortable. It’s time I did what I do best.” I reached out and grabbed the cable line running into our house. I embraced my power and reached out across the city, finding the path that would bring me to my target.

  I found him and I took over. “Brandon Howard, who is your source?”

  I knew my distorted image was broadcasting live everywhere. It felt good to be in control once again. Brandon, for his part, pretty much shelled up as soon as I appeared on camera. “It’s him!”

  “My patience is wearing thin. For every minute you don’t tell me who your source is, a random family will suffer.” This was no bluff. It would be easy to send arcs of electricity into televisions everywhere. The results from the attack would be severe. “Thirty seconds – do you want their blood on your hands?”

  His skin turned ashen colored, his face breaking out in sweat. “I can’t tell you…” His voice was so low, it was barely audible.

  He would, he was about to break. “Ten seconds and you become a murderer Mr. Howard.”

  At the sound of that, he cracked under the pressure. “Chief Grimes! All of our information on Titan has come from Grimes
!”

  I reigned back in all my power. “Now was that so hard? You’ve done well Mr. Howard. I return everyone to their regular programming.”

  As quickly as I took over, I was back in our house out on Ocean View. Our place was nice, but modest in comparison to what John Wonderton called a home. The kitchen had nice upgrades for Heather and I insisted on a wood burning fire place. Plus I needed space to create a state of the art workshop for my alter-ego to use. Other than that, it was just a typical three bedroom, two bathroom home by the ocean.

  So Grimes was up to something huh? How I would so enjoy having a heart to heart with him as The Negative Man. When I looked up from the cable line I’d just poured myself into, Heather was smiling and clapping. “Well done, that was played beautifully.”

  “Men like Brandon Howard aren’t cut out for the front lines. You tell them their actions will cause death or destruction, they will fall.”

  The doorbell rang, which I wasn’t prepared for. “That’s our pizza dear. I bet you’re very hungry now.”

  The rest of the evening went as normal as a regular couple. We ate, we laughed, and we talked about work. We didn’t even bring up Grimes name again, yet it was in the back of my mind. After Heather went to bed, I found my way into my workshop. I could foresee this Titan becoming a problem rather quickly.

  I looked over all of my equipment. I had my mask, which was my trademark. Along with it I used very simple grey body armor and rubber soled boots. I remember how intricate The Dark Lion’s suit was and I couldn’t help but be a bit jealous. After all, I created a good deal of it.

  The one thing I wanted to do was create a better way to channel my energy. Sometimes, in the heat of battle, I would get so pumped that I’d end up using too much at one time. Against most opposition, this wasn’t a problem. What I learned in my fight against The Dark Lion was an equally skilled combatant might use that against me.

  On my table was my newest project, the fusion gauntlet. This was near and dear to my heart because it used technology my mother discovered before I was born. She was a scientist and an engineer, working on an electron generator. From what little I was ever told, it blew up when she was pregnant with me and the energy released was absorbed into the womb. After years of digging, I finally found the notes that Dr. Staley kept – the notes that would be the key to unlocking my powers even further.

  Ellison Staley was a great man, killed well before his time. Without his intervention in my younger years, who knows what may have happened to me. I flipped his notebook to one of the middle pages, on his theory of how the electron generator affected my cellular make up. The great thing about him was his attention to detail. With his theories and my mother’s research, my fusion gauntlet would make me the most powerful super the world’s ever seen.

  I still had my Red Wolf tools that Owen Walker bought me when I took a job at gl-O-bal Labs. I really missed the crazy maniac. His plan to kill The Dark Lion and become the hero that saved the city from The Aces was rather brilliant, but unfortunately, there was a wild card. He was not fit for the leadership mantle Pacific Station needed. That role was destined for me.

  With both Wonder-Tech and gl-O-bal under my control, I had access to the most brilliant minds on the west coast. With my cell phones being distributed all over the country and Heather’s powers becoming even more precise, no one would stand in my way.

  I looked over my latest circuitry work leading into the gauntlet. By hardwiring these into my arm for a pure connection, my hope was to have pinpoint control of the flow of energy leaving my hands. I put it on my right hand, pushing the sharp electrode into my forearm. A small static charge escaped; I may’ve needed a new grounding wire.

  Even so, it was time to run the test. I reached my hand towards one of the homemade targets I had stationed around the room. I focused on the picture of the elephant and funneled my energy towards my hand. As it left me and entered the gauntlet, I felt the circuits hold off a majority of the power and a small concentrated blast of electricity escaped from the mechanism on the palm.

  The picture of the elephant fell to the ground, burning up as it went. The gauntlet was smoking, but the test was a success. “Get ready world, Pacific Station is just the first to fall.”

  Chapter 3 –

  Monday Night; Krum’s Comics and Games

  **Mystery Man**

  This was the place I had written down, a comic book store. I walked in and the blonde lady behind the counter addressed me with a warm greeting. “Welcome to Krum’s, anything in particular you’re looking for?”

  There was a lot to take in, comics from all over the years and cool trinkets, but I wasn’t here for the merchandise. “A friend told me to stop by. Said the gaming was out of this world.”

  Without even missing a beat, “You’ll want to join my husband Kim in the back. They’re just getting set up now.”

  There was a black door at the back of the store, so I took that as where I was supposed to go. When I opened the door, it made a weird sound, almost as if the building was getting ready to take off. Suspicious of a trap, my paranoia fell when I saw a group of eight people sitting around a table. By the looks of them, they were probably just like me.

  A shorter guy stood up and reached out with his hand. “Hi there, I’m Kim. You must be the new guy Crocodile told us about. She told me you were a bit of a tricky one.”

  Huh, so she told them to expect me. The weird SVIS lady in the odd mask gave me two options when she caught me a few nights ago. Show up here, learn something, and help or spend a night or two in jail for trespassing and criminal mischief. I had no intentions of going to jail and having people discover who I was. So that left me with this unappealing option. I saw no point in it, but this was my own fault for getting caught and worse, letting her see me use my unique traits.

  I wasn’t used to being in a group setting; I’m not a people person. “Yeah, she said to try this place out, you know because I’m different. I hope I’m not wrong for trusting her.”

  Kim showed me to an open chair and started the meeting. “Welcome one and all for coming. As you know, my wife Diana and I aren’t blessed with your abilities, but we’ve been affected by him.” He acknowledged me. “We don’t ask for names or what your powers are, but we do want to know why you’re here.”

  The group turned to me, waiting to hear my reasons. “The Negative Man killed my father. I know it’s not some large scale tragedy, but he took away something very important.”

  Two seats over, a red headed man took a turn. “The bastard killed my child a few years back when he screwed with the city’s power company. A surge of electricity fried my boy through his ventilator.” His eyes were turning red, grief setting in. “It doesn’t have to be large scale to be a good reason.”

  A hand touched my shoulder. It was a young girl, maybe fifteen years old and she looked angry. “He killed my dad too, but people don’t really mourn his loss.”

  I recognized another tortured soul. “Why do you say that?”

  Kim answered. “This brave young lady is Becky Walker. Her father was Spades, leader of The Aces.” As soon as he said it, I recognized her father in her face. “She’s suffered more than any of us though. Some say she should be held accountable for the terrible things her father did.”

  A child hidden in the shadow of their father. This girl and I had a lot more in common than she knew. “The sins of the father should never be cast down on their kids.”

  “It sounds like you know from experience.”

  Her eyes probed mine for answers, but now wasn’t the time to announce my true identity. It was one I was still carving out for myself. “I do, but that’s about all I feel comfortable with saying tonight.”

  It looked as if she wasn’t going to let me off the hook that easily when Kim’s wife Diana burst into the meeting. “Turn the television on quick. We all need to see this.”

  Kim grabbed the remote and did as his wife asked. He flipped two channels and stoppe
d as soon as he saw the inverted picture of the man we all wanted dead. His soulless face had taken over the screen, taunting someone mercilessly. “My patience is wearing thin. For every minute you don’t tell me who your source is, a random family will suffer.”

  His voice was calculating, cold. Whoever was in the crosshairs, I genuinely felt bad for them. His taunts didn’t stop there. “Thirty seconds – do you want their blood on your hands?”

  I jumped out of my seat. This bastard was going to start killing random people! “We have to stop him!”

  Diana looked down to the floor, saddened by reality. “We can’t, at least not yet. That’s why we meet here.”

  The conversation on the television continued. “Ten seconds and you become a murderer Mr. Howard.”

  My God! Whoever he was threatening just needed to tell him what he wanted. How could they let a family die? Finally, “Chief Grimes! All of our information on Titan has come from Grimes!”

  The image of The Negative Man started to fade away. “Now was that so hard? You’ve done well Mr. Howard. I return everyone to their regular programming.” With that, he was gone, just like he hadn’t even been there.

  The news anchor, Brandon Howard, sat there shaking. Kim turned the television off, sparing us from having to watch the man have a nervous breakdown for all to see. “The bastard knows no end. Pacific Station has cowered to him enough.”

  An older man to my left shook his head. “Kim, what can we do? If the police and their special vigilante squad can’t take him down, how can we?”

  As much as he wanted to give us hope, “That’s something we all need to work on. Together we’re stronger as a unit than we are as individuals.” This latest episode by The Negative Man seemed to have taken the wind out of him. “I think that’s enough for tonight. Feel free to grab some tacos and soda out front.”

  I joined the small crowd moving out to the front. I had no plans to mingle anymore when a hand grabbed mine. It was Becky Walker again. “You know me, so how come I can’t know you?”