The news report was still going on, but I turned it off. “Little do they know Jericho’s in a coma. The chief doctor at Black Lagoon has no idea if he’ll ever wake up.”
Becky was reading all the stories on her phone. The fact that both Diana and Jericho had somehow passed her lie detection skill really bothered her. “If I was better with my powers, we would’ve known a long time ago. Today, half the police force wouldn’t be dead and a good portion of the city in disarray.”
“Don’t beat yourself up.” I tried to smile at her, but it wasn’t my thing. “We have plenty of time to hone our skills. Just because Jericho is locked up doesn’t mean this city doesn’t need its heroes.”
“Correction – vigilantes. But unlike the past two, we’re going to do things the right way.”
The stuff Jericho said about my dad hurt me. The worst part is I believed him. Through everything, I never felt like he lied to me during any of our confrontations. “That’s a guarantee.” There was one more thing bothering me. “Is it wrong to feel dirty that he saved my life at the end? I mean, he pushed me out of the way and took the blast from The Stormfall. Why did he do that?”
“I believe he meant his final words. You’re the future for the city and the one to do things that both he and your father couldn’t. You’re going to keep Pacific Station safe.”
**Heather Adams**
The rumors were Jericho was either in a coma or dead. That brat took away the one thing most precious to me. All the hate that Jericho kept at bay was no longer hidden. “I will destroy this city for you my love.”
Wonder-Tech was closed, the police were investigating us all, and so I went to ground. Heather Adams was dead; all that was left was Detonate. And when I was finished with this city, I was going to prove to each and every one of them, with this Lynx’s dead body in my clutches, that Legends Can Die.
The Cast:
Jericho Staley – The Negative Man
Heather Adams – Detonate
Kyle Wonderton – The Morning Lynx
Becky Walker – Student; West Pacific
Shawn Jordan – Hammerspace
Michael Reigart – Father; St. James
MP Ness – The Crimson Mask
Dr. Leonard Cooper – Former Government Contractor
Dr. Ellison Staley – Guardian of Jericho Staley
Wayne Motts – SmartLogic Employee
Russel Jackson – gl-O-bal Innovations
Harvey Grimes – Police Chief
Titan – Police Enforcer
Diana Krummel – Owner; Krum’s Comics
Kim Krummel – Owner; Krum’s Comics
Ernie Masters – Elephant
Nick Parson – Rhino
Barbra Constance – Antelope
Wendy Chalmers – Crocodile
Hijack – Owner, Bull’s Gym
Wilson Fetts – Student; West Pacific
Brandon Howard – News Reporter
Geri Paisley – Field Reporter
Craig Sanders – Doctor; Black Lagoon Penitentiary
StabbtyBnny – Mysterious Hacker
Three Years Later –
Black Lagoon Penitentiary
**Father Reigart**
Dr. Craig Sanders was leaving the ward that Jericho was being kept in. “Father, I don’t know why you bother coming. That guy’s not waking up.”
It mattered not. “Even the most evil person in the world can use redemption, Dr. Sanders.” I walked by him and entered the room. “I’ll be just five minutes.”
He locked the door after me and I sat down beside my friend. “Not much has changed since last week. The flowers are beginning to bloom, but the weatherman is saying we might get hit with one last cold front before winter is officially behind us.”
For a second I thought I saw the light flicker in the room. I watched it closely for another moment, but nothing happened. “Thought maybe you were going to join us today.” It was a foolish thought as Dr. Sanders said, Jericho was showing no improvements. “Ah Jericho, I wish you’d come back so maybe you could find your redemption.”
I sat there for a few more moments before getting up to go. “Same time next week. I’ll have an update about the start of baseball season for you.”
When I reached the door and knocked on it for the nurse to unlock the door, this time I knew I wasn’t seeing things. The lights flickered again, going out for almost a minute before popping back on. The machines hooked up to Jericho began to make all sorts of noises. That was just the beginning. As soon as the bulbs in the lights began breaking and bursts of electricity fired from the sockets, I knew it was trouble.
Dr. Sanders and two nurses burst into the room and went over to his bed. “He’s showing remarkable amounts of brain activity!”
“What does this mean Dr. Sanders?” He didn’t answer me, but I got my answers when I looked at Jericho’s face. His eyes were starting to open and they looked angry. “Father above, he’s waking up…”
As a special thank you for reading Stormfall, I present to you for your enjoyment –
Rise of the Lion:
Prologue –
The Birth of Legend
"Scum like you doesn't deserve a second chance!"
"Please, I swear I'll..."
I couldn't stand to hear any more of his lies. I curled up my hand into a fist and smashed it into his face. Not hard enough to kill, but I felt his bones breaking under my knuckles. Blood gushed from the obviously broken nose. His eyes glazed over and his body slumped to the wet street below. North Terrace had one less gang banger to concern itself with on this night.
I climbed the closest fire escape and took to the rooftops to get back to my lair. I was all but invisible, except for the yellow cloak that hung over my body. It was a gift from someone important, one that I would turn into a symbol to all the street punks and lowlifes who plagued my home.
It'd just rained, like it always had, which made the travel that much more difficult. If it wasn't for my powers, the fundamentals I forced myself to learn through them, I would've fallen to my death years ago. How ironic, the one thing I came to despise the most was also my greatest gift. Without the gifts I'd been blessed with, I wouldn't have been able to take up this crusade.
Powered people started popping up just a few years before I was born. During the great nuclear energy phase in our country, you couldn't go fifty miles without hitting a power plant. Unfortunately, it made for easy targets. Terrorists hit them, and hard. Diseases, death, and disfigurement ran rampant in the aftermath. Those were the predictable results. The one thing no one expected though was the rise of powered people.
Here we are though, a small but growing number. Too many take the easy way out, turn to a life of crime because it pays well and the police can't stop them. Me, I just couldn't. If the human police couldn't do shit about the supers trashing the streets, then I was going to. My city, North Terrace, wasn't going to become their playground.
My name is John Wonderton. I'm poor and I'm alone, but that's not going to stop me. I've been gifted superhuman abilities and with them, a way to rid the city of the plague crippling it.
Issue #1 –
The Super Stigma
I slumped in my bed, hurting from another long night of tracking gang bangers and criminals. My little studio (my lair if you will) was barely big enough to call a home, but it was all I could afford in North Terrace. I promised myself one day I would have it made, through hard work and dedication. I wasn't going to take the easy way out like a lot of powered people did.
Barely an hour had gone by from the time I stumbled in to when my alarm clock went off. The joys of being a lowly paid intern at the tech firm Smart Logic, long nights turned into longer days.
When I got to the office, most of the other interns were stumbling in too. They probably enjoyed a night of hard drinking, one I wish I could partake in. Unfortunately, if it wasn't for me, they wouldn't be able to bar hop in the relative peace they did.
"Wonder
-Man! We missed you at Raganrok's last night. Two for one drinks..."
PJ Douglas, loud and obnoxious as always. "I saw your email yesterday. Unfortunately, I have a second job and with it just barely enough money to cover my rent."
A year younger than me, money woes didn't plague the large individual in front of me. He married into wealth and so he could party hard. "Yeah, yeah. Next time I'll spot you a drink or two."
I was done with this conversation and made my way to the staircase. Three floors up was the accounting office, a far cry from the streets I roamed just a few hours earlier. Sitting across from me was the only person in this city I could actually call a friend, Wayne Motts.
He looked about as bad as I did. "Rough night Wayne?"
"You don't know the half of it John. Half way through the night, someone broke into the apartment across the hall from me." He shivered as he told me. "Window shattered so loud I thought it happened in my place."
Like me, Wayne couldn't afford much. Smart Logic was infamous for lowballing interns, knowing we'd all fight for the one or two precious spots that came around each quarter. "I'm sorry to hear that."
"Don't be. I feel bad for my neighbor, Moriah. She locked herself in her bathroom. Luckily all the guy did was take her TV and stereo. Physically, she's okay."
Another lowlife making the city a worse place than it had to be. "At least no one got hurt."
"The bigger problem John is the intruder... he was a powered individual."
He said it so hushed and so timid, almost as if he expected the robber to have super hearing. "Not all supers are bad Wayne. And you won't need to worry about that guy again. I doubt he comes back."
He picked up the stack of papers sitting on his desk, ready to be approved. "I wish I had your confidence, but with the supers running wild, this city is going to hell in a hand basket."
Issue #2 –
The Mask Appears
I ran the masked individual down. The idiot had the gull to wear a red ski mask – like that wouldn't stick out like a sore thumb. My only concern was he hadn't showed his power yet; it certainly wasn't speed or agility. When my shoulder collided into his back, he went sprawling across the rooftop, falling face first on to the hard surface.
I readied myself into the fighting position. As he stood up, green eyes from under the ski mask met mine. "What kinda dumb son of a bitch are you? Do you know who I am?"
A lot of powered people had huge egos. It was fun knowing them down a peg or two. "I don't really care much who you are scum bag. This is my city and you're a disease to it."
He broke eye contact, looking down to the ground. An eerie silence swept over us, only broken by his insane laughter. That's when I found out what his power was. His hands flung towards me, releasing little bullet like spikes. I got hit by two in my right shoulder before I could use my reflexes to get out of the way. Searing pain shot up my arm, leaving it useless.
I tried to take a step forward, but dropped to a knee. The red hooded psycho just kept laughing. "That hurts doesn't it? Just wait until the poison kicks in – you'll beg for a swift death."
Waiting wasn't an option. I could already feel a burning sensation taking hold of my body. "It'll take... more than that to kill me asshole!"
My tough words didn't impress him. "I run into a few brave souls, or maybe stupid, every so often. Don't worry, your death will put you in good company."
My insides were on fire, stemming from the wounds on my shoulder. I watched helplessly as my attacker took his time walking toward me. He'd even gone so far as to pull a knife out of his dark jacket.
He was casually tossing it in the air, ever so close to finishing the job when the rooftop started shaking. Heavy stomps were charging into the ground and the unknown force rammed into my assailant. An audible crunch of bones breaking was music to my ears. After all the pain his needles caused me, a little of his own was worth it.
A hand grabbed the back of my hoodie. "C'mon, let's get outta here while he's down."
I wanted to protest to the person who saved me, but he was strong and I was in no shape to fight. The figure dragged me off the roof and down to street level like I was a child. I guess when he thought we got far enough away, he sat me down. "Are you crazy? Going after The Crimson Mask alone?"
His poison was still doing a number on me. "He attacked a friend of mine's neighbor. I wanted to get him off the streets."
My rescuer was wearing dark face paint, almost as if he was prepared to go to war. Add in the fact he was standing in the shadows, I couldn't make out who he was. "We all want him off the streets, but that's one super you don't mess with, at least alone." He looked back towards the main road. "You'll be okay here until the poison wears off." Then as quickly as he came, he stormed off into the night.
Issue #3 –
Repercussions
I'd been beaten, badly. If it wasn't for the mysterious help I'd received, that Crimson guy probably would've killed me. I found a nice, dark spot to lean up against the wall. I let the cool air of the night fill me, trying to purge my body of the poison that crippled me.
About an hour passed before I could stand up without pain. On my feet again, I slinked back to my flat in defeat. I hated how helpless I felt after the fight. Never again would I get caught that unprepared. I needed to discover more about the Crimson Mask, his powers and maybe even his identity.
I closed the door behind me, fortunate that no one saw the man in the dark hoodie stumble into his apartment with questionable injuries. In this section of North Terrace, people don't ask a lot of questions. Keep your head down and mind your own business.
I had a couple of hours before I needed to go to work. I picked up my notebook and began to brainstorm. How would I learn more about this villain? Was there anything at work I could use? Then it hit me, Wayne! He was interning on a project for the city's traffic cams. If I could get access to that, I could track him from the fight.
The second problem was telling Wayne why I needed access to it. His view on supers was pretty clear from our conversation yesterday. Dropping the bombshell that the guy across from you was a vigilante by night might break him. Of course, I needed a legitimate excuse to give him, because if we were caught doing something, we'd both be back on the streets.
The first rays of sunlight broke through the window. I was surprised this flat got any light due to the amount of grime on the outside. Like I said, not the best part of town. I lifted my arms over my head; my muscles were still sore, but I think I could shrug it off. I'd just tell people I went too hard at the gym.
Time to get a move on for the day. The lukewarm water from the shower actually felt good, but getting dressed didn't. From my shitty apartment, I bee-lined it to the corner market. Inside I saw Pops, I didn't know his real name. He gave me a toothy grin. "Morning John, another long night?"
"What gave it away?"
He pointed to my legs. "You're walking like a dog with four broken legs." He laughed at his own stupid joke. "You need a behind the counter painkiller?"
Did I mention he peddled drugs? "I'll stick to the stuff on the shelf. And a large coffee, black."
He tossed his hands at me and poured my coffee. Grabbing the painkillers and coffee, I hit the street and hailed a cab. I hated spending money to get rides, but I couldn't afford a car. Not yet.
When I got dropped off, I saw Wayne walking up to the giant glass doors. I ran over to him rather gimply. "Hey man, glad I ran into you."
He saw how I was moving. "You okay Wonderton? You look like hell this morning."
I motioned him over away from the other interns piling up out front. "I got jumped in my flat last night and I could use some help."
"You serious?" His voice went right into a hushed whisper. "Did you go to the police?"
"They can't help me, but you can." He looked taken aback. "The two of us might be able to do this city some good, that is if you're up for it."
Issue #4 –
Information Found
It was two in the afternoon and the higher ups were all meeting in the upstairs loft. By meeting, I mean getting wasted. Apparently when you had more money than brains, you drank away whatever brains you had left. Fortunately for Wayne and I, that meant the control room for the city camera project was abandoned.
During the big wigs get togethers, the lowly employees weren't supposed to be in controlled areas. As North Terrace was paying Smart Logic a lot of money to upgrade the traffics cameras, this room was especially sensitive. Wayne, along with the other interns on this project, was supposed to be downstairs in training. Fortunately, attendance was lax and it was sort of expected for interns to skip now and then.
The room was nice and dark when we entered. The two of us went over to Wayne's terminal and he logged in. "I can't believe you talked me into this John."
"Listen, I think this is the guy who busted into your friend's apartment." I thought he had a thing for the girl across the hall. "Don't we need to get this guy for her?"
With no more hesitation, he started typing away. He got into the city's mainframe and started bringing up screenshots from the night before. "Where should I be looking?"
"Go to the camera at 8th and Underwood."
He gave me a funny look. "That's not anywhere near your- "
"Don't concern yourself with the location. Please just look into it."
So he went to the address I gave him. We watched intently, waiting for him to show up. Knowing how the fight played out, I knew this was the way he exited the roof. Sure enough, a flash on the screen was the guy in the red mask. He went east on Underwood and ducked into a vacated store front. From what I could see from the old sign, it read Landry's Supply Co.
I wrote down the info I needed. "Thanks Wayne, I owe you big."
Pacific Station Vigilante (Book 2): The Negative Man [Stormfall] Page 17