Pacific Station Vigilante (Book 2): The Negative Man [Stormfall] (15 page)

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 me 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 themself 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.”

He looked around, not like there was anyone else listening to us in here.  When he was sure, “I found Parson and his newly created super militia.  They’re calling themselves ‘Supers of the Revolution.’  I tell you what, these guys are nuts.”

“How did you find them and where?”

“Trust me on the how part Jericho, it wasn’t easy.  As for the where, they’re right here.”  The doors to The Sea Hag burst open and nine supers rushed in with assault rifles.  At the lead was Parson, in his Rhino mask.  “Sorry man, they caught me and when push came to shove, Parson gave me a lot of money to sell out.”

The guy in the Rhino mask slid it to the side.  “Jericho Staley, never would’ve guessed you were The Negative Man.”  He snickered at Hammerspace.  “Seems like you really are a complete sell out.”

“I told you.”

Shawn never saw it coming.  He was holding his cell phone in his right hand when Heather blew it up.  There was nothing left of the upper part of his body after that.  “You’d think he would’ve known better.”

I didn’t have time to worry about the dead traitor.  These people knew my identity and couldn’t be allowed to leave here.  “You’re all fools for thinking you’d live to see the sun rise.”  The old knob and tube wiring in this place made it easy to grab a large amount of energy to augment my own.  “Heather, duck.”

She went under the table just as I unleashed arcs of electricity everywhere.  The bartender and the creepy old guy were unnecessary collateral damage due to knowing my secret.  I don’t know if the supers thought their superior numbers would overwhelm me or not, not that it mattered anymore.  In the closed space, there was no place for them to go, each one took the full blast of my powers and wasn’t going to live to tell about it.

When I let up, there were eleven charred husks lying on the floor of the old bar.  Most of the inside was destroyed from my outburst.  I helped Heather back to her feet.  “You have any spare phones in your car?”

“I have five burners in the trunk.”

We placed those phones around The Sea Hag and she detonated them.  The bar went up in flames as it sunk into the briny water below.  We scrammed before any first responders showed up, though I doubt they’d find much to work with.

**Kyle Wonderton**

“Stop twitching, it’s only making things worse.”

Becky was trying to pour peroxide on the wounds from where The Negative Man blasted me.  His energy cut right through my suit and tore my chest up pretty bad.  “I can’t help it, the stuff burns like crazy.”

She put the bottle down.  “Let’s try this.”  The next thing to be applied to the burn was a cool gel.  “According to the internet, aloe works really well.  Your dad had a big supply of it in the one bathroom.”

That felt a lot better than the liquid she’d been pouring on me.  “We should’ve started with that.”

“The peroxide kills infections.”  She finished applying the aloe to the wound before letting me get back to resting.  “You’re so lucky he didn’t kill you again.  How many of your nine lives are you willing to risk engaging him?”

A lot about my brief encounter with The Negative Man really bugged me.  He hadn’t killed me, no instead used Uncle Wayne’s name and told me to go home.  “It’s obvious he knows who I am and my true identity.”  That sent a shudder down my spine.  “I knew he was in North Terrace because of that whole fight he had with the super up there, but man, it really hits home.”

She hopped up on the end of my cot and crossed her legs Indian style.  “We’ve always been at a disadvantage with this.  But the way you’re going about it, you’re becoming a real hero.”

That’s not what I wanted though.  My plan was never to stay here as a hero.  It was to come in like an avenger of darkness and sacrifice myself to kill him.  I laid my head back against my pillow.  It was so frustrating to be so far behind me, enemy.

I don’t know when I dozed off but I was awoken some time later.  “Kyle, you need to see this.”  Becky was still in the room and she had her tablet on.  “The Sea Hag, one of the older bars down by the ocean, it’s been destroyed.”

I sat up and watched the live streaming news she had up.  “Most of the bodies inside were too far gone to identify, but a source within the police department confirmed that a rhino mask was found.  Though this is unconfirmed, we do believe one of the victims inside is Nick Parson.”

She muted it.  “Those fools.”  She said it with such bitterness.  “They all knew they were outgunned but they still went through with an ambush attempt.”

“Do you think that’s the group from out front of the comic store?”

“Yes.”  She tossed the tablet on to the little table, beside the laptop which held Phil Jenkin’s mind.  “Parson became a bloodthirsty idiot and all those others followed him right off the cliff.”

My chest was still a bit of a mess.  While she looked like a ticking time bomb, I went over to Jenkin’s and plugged him into the wall.  It was becoming more and more obvious The Stormfall was the only choice to take care of The Negative Man and I needed to improve fast.

After taking a moment to boot up, Phil’s pixelated face appeared.  “Hey Kyle, I was wondering when you’d get back around to talking to me.”

“Were you able to clean up the video and learn anything?”

With the memory stick still plugged in, his face disappeared and a cleaner shot of my first Stormfall attempt came online.  “Remarkable isn’t it?  What you were able to accomplish with one attack amazed me.”

Phil knew something.  “Out with it Phil, what did you learn from watching?”

He replayed the video and stopped it right before impact.  “I judged the speed you were going.  Did you know you were still accelerating at impact?  If you had just ten more feet, I think your body would’ve done something incredible.  I think your attack would’ve broken the sound barrier!”

Phil didn’t know what that meant to me.  “Are you sure?”

Becky was behind me as he continued his explanation.  “Your reflexes are like high powered rubber bands, allowing you to gain speed without actually having that ability.  Each step you take, it’s like the rubber band is re-flung forward, allowing you to accelerate.  Unfortunately, if you do this too many times in a row, like an actual rubber band, you will snap.”

I didn’t care about that.  “What were you saying about still gaining speed?”

“Oh right – I figure if you had just ten more feet, as you were about twenty five feet away at impact, you’d break the sound barrier.  How amazing is that?”

For the first time since coming to Pacific Station, I felt like I earned my dad’s last name.  “Phil, you have no idea.”