Pacific Station Vigilante (Book 1): The Negative Man (City of Chaos) (13 page)

Traffic hadn’t been bad from Heather’s house over to my new place of employment.  A week ago she’d been able to come home, but the doctors believed she was at least another two weeks away from returning.  She asked me a few times how I’d been able to heal so much faster than she had, but I told her it was just different for different people.  I also hadn’t been the recipient of the full blast like she’d been.  That had been saved for Deputy Mayor Martinez.

I couldn’t believe for the first time in years I was beginning a job that wasn’t with Wonder-Tech.  It’d been an awkward last two weeks once I put in my notice, but it was all part of the plan.  Besides, it was way different than the last time I’d been here robbing the place. 

With that memory in my mind, I walked up to the front kiosk and was greeted by the receptionist.  “Good morning and welcome to gl-O-bal Labs.  How may I assist you?”

“Jericho Staley, new hire for R&D checking in.”

She typed something into her computer and then looked up.  “Seems you are to report to Mr. Walker’s office.  Allow me to give you a visitor pass so you can access the Management level.”

With the pass in hand, I found the elevator fairly easily and saw where to slide the pass.  As soon as I did, the elevator closed and went up to the twenty-sixth floor.  Greeting me as I got off was Owen Walker’s personal assistant, Jeff Trelewicz.  It was weird seeing him in a business suit.  “Welcome Mr. Staley.  Mr. Walker’s office is the last one down the left side hallway.”

“Thank you.”  He gave me a bit of a wry smile and let me pass.

All the offices were glass, yet a good deal of them were empty.  I passed two with people working in them and a third that had Trelewicz on the name plate, but that was it.  Owen’s door was also glass, but fogged up so I just knocked.  The fog instantly vanished and the door popped open.

Taking that as my sign to come on in, “Mr. Walker?  Jericho Staley here for my first day.”

“Come on in and shut the door would you.”  I did as asked.  “There, with the door closed we’re good to speak freely.”

His office was a bit plainer than I expected.  There was a pretty sweet computer sitting on a contemporary style desk, but that was about it.  One wall was just a giant window overlooking Pacific Station, but the rest were bare, just a white color.  There were no decorations or pictures of anyone.

I took a seat in one of the two guest chairs in front of his desk.  “John has no idea you’re Diamonds and that you know his true identity?”

“Mr. Wonderton’s a decent guy but a bit on the clueless side.  He spends a great deal of his time trying to figure out how to get his email to work properly.”

Owen just shook his head in disbelief.  “His R&D department has to be top notch for an imbecile like that to be running one of the world’s largest tech corporations.”  He kicked his feet up on his desk.  “Well that’s good for us, as we need to finish the elemental gun.  I would’ve liked to have had it complete by now, but I agree with you, not giving two weeks’ notice would’ve been a bit suspicious.”

I had talked Owen into letting me do that.  It’d given me time to get John all set up with everything he’d need during the run over at gl-O-bal.  “Clubs is going to have his hands full.  I bet John turns to him for all of his tech needs.”

“Phil Jenkins can handle it.  That was one of the reason’s I was able to turn him.”

This was a subject I was privately curious about, how The Aces came to be.  “How did you discover others with super talents?”

“Jenkins was trying to hack into my system a year or so back when we caught him.  The way he was doing it, it wasn’t like anything I’d seen before.”

I got the feeling Jenkins was on site and tried to do so by what he called ‘organic hacking.’  “It must’ve been pretty freaky to see someone in the state he’s in when he does his thing.”

“That is was.”  He looked like he was reminiscing about something.  “A few weeks later we met at a conference and we stayed in touch after that.  It took some time for us to gain each other’s trust, but in the end, it all worked out.”

He turned his chair to face out the window.  “Jeff and I have been friends for a long time.  We both knew at a young age we were different and vowed to make a difference.  Believe it or not, there is a point to my madness with The Aces.”

“What’s that?”

He swiveled back towards me.  “Fear Jericho, the ultimate motivator.  As The Aces we terrify the city, to the point where they’re close to giving up on The Dark Lion.  At that instant, when he fails for the final time, a new hero will rise and take control.”

Did Owen fashion himself a hero?  “Someone who will miraculously put a stop to The Aces?”

“Yes, in one swipe, an epic battle if the city needs it, a new hero will be born and the people of Pacific Station will cheer for him.  Of course,” his smile turned a bit sinister, “the new hero will rule the city with an iron fist.”

I already knew the answer, but I felt like feeding the ego in front of me.  “Are you really The Negative Man?”

Delighted shock formed.  “Oh no, but that would’ve been a good punch line wouldn’t it?”  He laughed for a moment before going on.  “I have no idea who he is and where he’s at.  I wish I had a chance to speak to him directly, to help my cause.”

“Sounds like you’ve got this all figured out, create an evil the city can’t handle, break the current hero, and then replace him.”

“Exactly!  The Negative Man inspired me so much that I want to finish what he started!  And we’re so close…”  The last part was more to himself than it was to me.

This is where my part came in.  “So the elemental gun, is it still in the same state it was when I last saw it?”

“No one’s touched it.  It is awaiting you in your new state of the art workshop on level B5.  You’ll be the only person, besides me, with access to that level.”

I knew it was a terrible cause, but the thought of my own state of the art workshop excited me a little.  “Then there’s no time to waste.  Let me get down there and get started.”

He opened his desk drawer and pulled out a company card.  “This is your ID card.  Much like that guest pass brought you right up here; this one will lock the elevator and take you to B5.  You’ll also have a phone down there that’ll connect you directly to me.  Any questions?”

“Yeah, there’s a toolbox full of Red Wolf’s waiting for me right?”

“Ironically with the money you help me steal from Wonder-Tech, I was able to fit that into the budget.”  He offered a smile and a wink at his little inside joke/dig.  “I hope you enjoy you’re state of the art facility.”

State of the art?  Hell NASA would want some of this stuff.  There was every tool known to man lined up on the far wall, a huge work table on which a steel briefcase was sitting, and a drafting table, full of paper and pencils.

I walked over to the briefcase and popped it open.  Sitting inside was the elemental gun, but this time it had all the different chambers in a case off to the side.  Each was labeled; heat, electricity, wind, and aether.  I had no idea what aether was, but a black liquid was swirling around inside.

I grabbed a screwdriver and immediately opened the power compartment again.  Grabbing a pencil, I started making a diagram of the wiring and seeing where I could add new ones.  It was tedious work, but it’d been so long since I did actual mechanical work, that I didn’t mind.  Don’t get me wrong, I loved computers, but my real passion was building.  Even though this was going to be designed to kill The Dark Lion, I couldn’t help myself from enjoying this.

I was like a whirlwind in my workshop.  I hadn’t even noticed the time or the fact the elevator door opened.  By then, I’d taken the wiring down and had the power cell in a stable container for observation.  I wanted to know just exactly what this thing could do before I attempted to create a new gun to house it in.

“Sweet mercy, you’re not one to lollygag are you?”

I had a pair of darkened safety googles on, to help see but also keep the light out of my eyes.  Shifting them to the top of my head, “Mr. Walker, welcome to the madness.”

Besides him was Trelewicz.  I could see he was out of his element, but he still seemed very impressed.  “Are you sure you’re not some kinda super?”

“That I am.  I’m just good with my hands, that’s all.  I guess you could say I have a knack for working with currents.”

Owen was already at my table marveling my sketches and the progress at which I made.  “I thought I was a genius, but you’re putting me to shame.  Jericho,” he looked up and over at me, “I believe your potential exceeds anything I’ve ever seen.”

I was never big on compliments.  “Hold off on those thoughts until you get a working gun.  I’ve still got a lot to do before then.”

The one thing about not working at Wonder-Tech anymore was my hours.  At five o’clock on the dot I’d get a call from Owen telling me to leave.  The first day there, I ended up working until eight thirty and the next morning he asked me what the hell I was doing.  “I’m just working boss.”

“Listen, I don’t know what kind of tyranny Wonderton runs over there, but at gl-O-bal, we leave at five, understand?”

So on Tuesday and again today, he personally made sure I left.  Progress on the elemental gun was coming along, I’d built a new outer shell and when I left today, had been tinkering with a new wiring schematic.  Instead of going over to my apartment, I’d gone over to Heather’s and picked her up.

She’d been feeling better and wanted to go out to eat.  “I’m really craving Mexican.  It’s been far too long since I’ve had a good taco.”

And I just happen to know the place to take her.  “You hear of The Big Burrito?  It’s a new taco place down on Wave.”

That’s how we ended up here.  The place was packed and it took some time to get a seat, but it smelled so damn good that there was no way we were leaving.  Heather was practically salivating at the drinks being handed out all around us, but the doctor said no alcohol for the time being.

A very large Pina Coloda was being served at the bar next to where we were standing.  “Does it make me an alcoholic that I want to say screw you doc and grab that?”

“I don’t think so.  They sure do look good huh?”

“And smell good.”  I could totally pick up the hints of rum in the drink.  “They better get us to a table quick so I can focus on tortilla chips and salsa.”

I think one of the hostesses heard us as we soon we’re at a nice table in the back.  No sooner did we sit down than did the chips and salsa show up.  Heather wasted no time tearing in to them.  “Holy shit, that’s amazing stuff!”

John and I had been here for lunch, so we didn’t get the complementary chips and salsa, so it was my first taste of it.  “Whoa, this makes the stuff I buy at the store look terrible.”

That wasn’t even the highlight of the night.  I ordered The Big Burrito’s namesake and the two pound monster they sat in front of me was mind blowing.  “I’m not even going to be able to eat half of this.”

Heather had been a bit more practical and ordered the same two taco combo I did the other day.  When she picked up her fork to go after the black beans, I heard the zap as she dropped the fork.  “That was quite the shock.”  At the same time, both our phones lit up as if we were about to get a message before returning to the sleep screen.

I looked over, a bit concerned.  “Static?”

“I guess so.”  She shook her hand.  “That stung a little bit.”

I watched carefully as she grabbed the fork again, but nothing happened.  Maybe I was just overanalyzing things.  I went back to the burrito and soon was lost in its deliciousness.

The one thing we agreed on was not talking about either place of work.  It was actually something John made me promise before I left for gl-O-bal, as he didn’t want anything to slip and put anyone in danger.  Plus, it was nice not having to worry about Wonder-Tech for a bit.  John and I had a secret meeting scheduled for very early Sunday morning for me to go over everything with him.  That’d be enough for me.

“So when’s your next appointment?  I can take off and go with you if you’d like.”

She pulled out her phone and scanned through her calendar.  “Next Tuesday by the looks of it.  If they give me a clean bill of health, then I’ll be officially done with Heights General.”

Unlike me who skipped all of my doctor’s appointments (I didn’t trust them or really believe in them), Heather had been very punctual.  “I’m glad to hear it.  I’m sure you’re going crazy just sitting around all day at home.”

“It was fun to begin, as there are a lot of smutty TV shows on during the day, but yeah, I’m ready to get back on with life.”

I toasted her with my soda glass.  “Give it a week or two, you’ll wish you were back to watching smutty daytime TV.”

She returned the favor with her water cup.  “I’ve been able to actually catch up a lot on The Negative Man coverage.  Can you believe some stations are hailing him as a hero?”

I shrugged my shoulders.  “It’s all in people’s eyes.  What is bad to some is heroic to others.”

“Maybe, and trust me, I get that Massacre really messed up during The Aces hostage situation by killing those people, but to kill him in cold blood like that?”

Wasn’t that what The Dark Lion was doing though?  “Remember a few weeks ago when The Dark Lion killed off a bunch of thugs and the police chief hailed him a hero?  Again, it just depends on the view of the people.”

She tapped her finger against her glass.  “You’re right.  I mean I always respected The Dark Lion because of his stand against The Negative Man a few years back, but who was really right and who was wrong?”

“I remember the last part of his reign, but what happened at the beginning to turn the city against him?”

A lightbulb went off in her mind.  “That all took place just as you moved here right?”

“Yeah, but I was so focused on my studies, that I sorta ignored the news for a time.”  I didn’t mean to sound as if I didn’t care, “Most of my classmates said it was the darkest time in the history of the city.”

“Unlike The Aces, who steal, murder, and generally do whatever they want, The Negative Man was like one of those ‘I’m going to take over the world’ types.  He attacked various points in the city, each time declaring he did it to show us how weak we were.”

I rubbed my chin and took another drink.  “A megalomaniac super human huh?”

“I don’t know that I’d say that.  Each of his attacks seemed so calculated and precise.  He was like a skilled engineer or something when it came to disrupting the city.”  Her voice contained no disdain for him, more like someone recounting a history book.  “There were deaths of course; he wiped out a number of vigilantes that had taken up arms in Pacific Station.”

Again, the west coast was much more super friendly than the east coast.  That was one of the main reasons for the great divide between the two parts of the country.  “Was that the turning point?”

She went back to her phone and pulled up a website on the browser.  “Check out this memorial page to the fallen supers.”  I took her phone as she kept talking.  “Pacific Station loves their vigilantes.  The police force basically endorses them to do the hard jobs.”

I recognized the names on the memorial page.  “Devil’s advocate here, but what if all these heroes had done something like Massacre did?  Do you think they’d still be worshipped?”

“That’s an interesting question.  In the legal field there’s a saying – time heals all wounds.”

“Maybe that’s why some of these stations are now on The Negative Man bandwagon.  Time healed the wound.”

She snapped up a chip and dipped it into the salsa.  “You’d make a fine lawyer Mr. Staley.”

The conversation took a less serious turn as we began speculating about the upcoming baseball season.  I had ties to my team back east, but was also a big Pacific Station fan, so I was telling Heather I was hopeful they’d both make it to the Series.  “I can totally see Rollins having a break out year.  He was really turning it on-”

“Jericho…”  Her skin was starting to go flush and pale.  “I think something’s wrong.”

I saw how hard she was gripping the table.  “Do we need to get you to a doctor?”

Sweat started forming at her hairline.  “I don’t know.  I really don’t feel all that well.”

Getting up, “I can take you to the bathroom.  Here, take my arm.”  I offered her my left and she took it.

We were on our way to the back of the restaurant when she stumbled a bit.  A waitress that was nearby came over to see if we were okay.  “Is there something wrong?”

Phones began ringing everywhere.  Both of ours had been left on the table due to rushing Heather over to the bathroom.  I looked down and saw Heather’s eyes were white – no irises.  The waitress saw this too and starting backing up.  That’s when the explosions starting happening, everywhere.