by Wes Grant
When I went to work at the hardware store the next day, I specialordered some pipe used in offshore oiling. It’s lightweight, heat resistant, and nearly indestructible. I was told it would take a week to get to the store, so now the countdown began, one week until I’d avenge Von. While at work, I overheard an older lady at my job talking about her son. She was saying how a man named Spear saved her son from some thugs. She was so happy; she had already lost one son to gang violence she couldn’t take losing another. That’s when I realized that it was more than just my friends and family who needs protection. There were innocent people all over this city that couldn’t protect themselves from all the bad out there. They need someone to watch over them, like a protector… a hero… a Superhero. I had a new promise to myself now; it was not only to watch over Von like he was my little bro but also to protect my family, my friends, and anybody else who couldn’t protect themselves against the dangers out there.
One day after work I called Neil over to my house. I told him about what I had been doing at night. He said I was crazy, but in the end he understood my reason. Von was like family to him too. I told him the other reason I needed him over was because I needed to come up with an outfit that screams BAD ASS. He used to work at a clothing store, so he knew styles. I tried on a couple of different outfits, but in the end we both agreed on one. The outfit consisted of a black vest cut short with a hoodie, no shirt underneath because with the adrenaline I was using I would burn up running around the city, dark cargo pants with a cool belt buckle with a red Spear head that I had bought at a street fair because of my lasts name, and last sports boots that were heavy duty but I could still run in them. I also put some ankle weight on my ankles and wrist to restrain some of the strength because I still didn’t have full control over my strength. I didn’t want to accidentally kill someone. All that, along with the face paint, and I was a sight that would send the hardest criminal running.
I trained with the weights with my remaining time until finally on Friday, the special pipes I ordered came in. I used the special pipe cutter at work to cut the pipe into four even pieces. I then took the pieces along with some other supplies that I bought home to work on my special weapon. I worked all through the night. By morning time I finally finished and my weapon was complete. It was a combination of three types of weapons in one, a new weapon I call a Tristaff. The first form is the two rods. The ends snap together to make a bow staff and you push a button to separate them. Last if you put the rods next to each other and twist in the middle, they pull apart into a pair of nunchucks. (Cool Huh) The bow staff covers reach and power, the nunchucks covered speed and maneuverability, and that the rods covered strength and balance. With the outfit and weapons ready, I was ready to take down the leader of the D Venoms. I went to bed to get some rest; it was going to be a long night.
After I woke up and got something to eat, I called Neil he wanted to help getting the guys who hurt Von. I told him to drop me off close to the hideout. We had long range hand radios to keep in touch. I told him to park a couple of blocks away while I surveyed the area. I told him to wait fifteen minutes after I gave the word that I was going in, then go to nearest payphone and call the police telling them he heard gunfire coming from the building at the address I told him. It had been an hour or so before I finally saw the guy I was looking for, the bald-headed man with the cobra head on the scorpion’s tail. It looked like there might be twenty or so men in the building all together.
Two guards were on the roof, which I took care of fairly easy. There was a huge skylight over the middle of the room. I then radioed Neil and told him to call the police after fifteen minutes and remember to call from a pay phone so they couldn’t trace it. (What can I say? I watch a lot of movies.) The man I was looking for was on the couch in the middle of the room with two females. I told Neil to start timing; then I hung up, went diesel, and jumped through the skylight into the middle of the room, startling everybody in the room. The boss got up and said, “What the! Who are you!?” I asked, “Are you Razor?” He answered, “Yeah, who wants to know?” I said, “Call me Spear.” He said, “Spear, so you’re the costume wearing nutbag beating up my guys causing me trouble. You cost me a lot of money hurting my guys getting them locked up. Funny thing was, I just about to put a hit out for you, but it seems not only are you crazy but you’re stupid too. Jumping into a lion's den with no exit. This will be the easiest kill ever.” I then said, “You hurt someone close to me.” Razor said, “Take a number, I hurt people on a daily basis.” I then told him, “Well, it ends now,” and pulled out my two rods. He began to laugh then said, “Are you serious? You brought pipes to a gang hideout. What are you, a plumber? No, no, no, you’re on drug. You have to be to come in my house, with pipes, dressed like it you goin trick or treating and think you’re coming out of here alive.” He then pulled out a gun. I told him, “You really don’t want to do that.” He said, “You know what, you’re right. You’re not worth me wasting my bullets. Guys, take care of him.” All of his men in the room pulled out guns and took aim. I quickly snapped the rods together to make the bow staff. He then said, “What difference is that going to make? Shoot him, guys.”
They began shooting, and I started spinning the bow staff rapidly in front of me. Once again everything slowed down. It seemed like the bullets were coming at me in slow motion as they ricocheted off my staff going all over the room. The ricocheted bullets were breaking things in the room, like the TV, the ceiling fans, glass object, and as I started getting the hang of it, I began trying to aim the bullets at the men. To my surprise it worked. The boss realized this and told them to stop shooting and just get me. After they stopped shooting and ran toward me, I took the bow staff, pressed the button in the middle to snap it back to the rods, then twisted them apart to turn them into the nunchaku. I started knocking out the men one after another. I knocked guys into TVs, tables, over counters, through doors—name it, I put them through it. While I was messing up his men, Razor tried to run out and get away. I still was finishing up his men and he sent up the rest of the men to distract me while he made his getaway. I quickly took care of those men, then jumped out the room back to the roof. I saw him start his car down at the end of thealley and try to drive out. I wasn’t going to let him get away so I snapped the nunchaku back to rods then jumped off the roof toward the car speeding out the alley. While in the air, I snapped the rods together into a staff and speared it straight through the engine of the car into the ground stopping the car in its tracks. The sudden stop sent Razor head slamming into windshield. (Remember kids always wear seatbelts) I landed behind the car and walked up to the driver’s side. I ripped off the door and pulled Razor out. I dragged him disoriented and bloody on the ground then put him up against the wall. I began to punch him repeatedly to get out my anger. I told him, “Not so tough without your men protecting you, huh? And don’t bother looking for your gun,it’s in the car.” He muttered out, “What, what, do you want from me? A sorry OK, I’m sorry that your friend was in the wrong place at the wrong time.” I punched him in the gut then replied, “I don’t want your weak sorrys, I don’t even want you to feel bad. I just want to take you off the street permanently.” I then lifted him up by the neck with one hand choking him and raised my other hand to kill him. I said to him, “You see that door I ripped off, I’m bout to do the same to your face.” He replied, “We all gotta go sometime.” I clenched my fist but for some reason, I couldn’t do it. I dropped him, and he began to gasp for air. I realized if I killed him, there’d be no difference between him and me, that there’d be no turning back. I would be a killer, andregardless if I’m good or not, if I killed someone, the police would see me as a murderer and put me on trial as one if they ever caught me. I wasn’t willing to risk my life for this scum. Razor began to laugh, coughing up blood. I asked him, “What’s so funny?” He said, “You come all this way, ’cause all this destruction in the name of your revenge, you have the person you’ve been looking for right i
n front of you and now you’re too soft to kill the guy that supposedly hurt someone close to you.” I then walked toward the front of the car and said, “You know what, maybe you're right, maybe I am too soft to kill you.” With one hand pulled my staff out the ground and car’s engine. I then walked slowly back to the guy. He looked at me and said, “What you gonna do? We both know you’re not going to kill me.” I said, “You’re right, I’m not.” I then swung my staff at his shin with one arm and broke them. He dropped to the ground like a rag doll, screaming in pain. I began to walk away when he said, “You’re gonna pay for this! You think this is over, you don’t know who you’re dealing with. When my boss finds out who you are, you’re dead. Your whole family’s dead, everyone you care about is dead.”
I turned around and walked back over to Razor; he tried to drag himself away from me. When I got in front of him I crouched down and asked, “What do you mean your boss, you mean you’re not the boss? OK then, tell me who is.” He then said, “Just know the name Mr. P. and that’s all you’re getting.” I then said, “You know I could break your arms.” He then said, “Break ’em, it’s nothing compared to what he’ll do.” I started to hear police sirens getting close, so I just leaned over to Razor’s ear and told him, “If I ever see you on the street doing something that doesn’t look right, I will break your legs again and again where you stand. I don’t care if you just bought breakfast or coming out of the YMCA. If you look like you’re up to something I will jump down and break them so you either clean up or get out of this city. Oh and tell your boss, This my city now. Spear protects it.” I then jumped to the fire escape and got to the roof to get out of there in the nick of time before I shrank back to normal. Luckily, I was two roofs down when that happened, so I could rest a little. After I recharged, I ran across the Neils car. We high fived then drove home. On the way I told him all the details. Then next day, I got a call that Von had woken up and was asking for me. I drove straight to the hospital. When I got there, Neil was already there. I went to the side of Von’s bed and told him not to worry, the guys that hurt him got justice.
Von said, “So I hear you were kicking butt and taking names, literally.” I said, “Yeah, nobody messes with my little bro, friends, or family.” In the background you could hear the newscaster talking about a major arrest. Neil turned up the TV. They were talking about the guys that I beat up last night and how they found illegal guns and drugs, and the boss’s gun was used as evidence in over a dozen homicides. Neil said, “I guess they did end up getting what they deserve.” I said, “I kinda feel bad for him.” Neil said, “Are you serious? Why?” I said, “Because I broke his legs. In prison when he takes a shower, his head will be at everyone’s waist height. And he can’t run.”
Neil said in a judging but humorous manner, “You’re wrong.” We all laughed.
SHRINK
Chapter 2
Head Case
The lines in one particular major banks in New York City was unusually short this Monday morning due to the holiday weekend coming up and most of the regular customers already on the road traveling or trying to get out of the City to their destinations. The two undercover cops in the corner were talking among themselves, and the atmosphere in the bank was calm. The tellers were bustling back and forth completing the customers’ transactions. Suddenly the door opened and in walked seven guys wearing masks of superheroes. The leader was wearing a superman mask. He belted out, “Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, we will be your bank robbers for today. Please do not attempt to step on the silent alarm because I will know and I will have you shot.” He then told two of his guys to go to the entrance, close the blinds, lock the door, and to make sure to put the Closed sign up. Two others were told to collect the money from the tellers, and two others were to take the weapons from the two undercover cops in the corner and tie them up. The leader then put his two fingers to his temple and said, “That guy right there,” as he pointed to a teller. In an instant one of his guys shot the teller dead. Everyone screams in shock.
Shrink is a former criminal psychologist (now criminal, robber, murderer). He frequents the New Jersey and New York tristate area where major banks are located. He is thirty-five years of age, 5'11" tall, and weighs 170 pounds. He has salt-and-pepper hair, brown eyes, and the ability to read people’s thoughts. He is in great physical condition, has a second-degree black belt in karate, and a first-degree in jujitsu, but he has well-above-normal intellect. He can talk to his colleagues using the technique he created called mind speech tech, or MST for short. Sherman Weber, “the Breaker,” now known as Shrink, was born and raised in Minnesota. Always with perfect grades, he graduated top of his class and got a scholarship to Harvard. While in Harvard, he was taken in by the FBI to be the psychologist of thegovernment’s most criminally insane. After a decade of working with the insane and spending most of his time working, his wife left him because she couldn’t take his job anymore, and so he snapped.
Shrink then states, “As I said earlier, do not attempt to step on the silent alarm because I will know. This is not a complicated rule. Just do as I say and everyone will be fine.” He then asked, “Who is in charge of this bank?” He pointed to a guy and said, “You come over here.” He then explained to the man, “OK, we’re going to play a quick game called truth or fear. The way it works is, I ask you a question. If you tell the truth, then no harm comes to you. If you don’t, then you fear what body part I shoot you in. Could be the head, could be the leg. Who knows,I’m in a spontaneous mood today. Do you understand the rules?” The man shakes his head and says, “Yes.” The leader then begins, “OK, The first question is a test. I see you have a wedding ring on your hand. Are you a faithful husband to you pregnant wife?” The man said, “Yes.” The leader said, “Hmmm, so you’re sure you’re not sleeping with Carla in your office and Samantha outside of work in your car.” as he points to each teller. Startled the man said, “How did you—” The leader interrupted him, “Never mind how, just know that I know when you’re lying, and you my dear sir are lying.” He slowly begins walking around him with his customized gun with the words KARMAengraved on the side. He then replies, “OK, test over. Now the real game begins. First real question, are you in charge of this bank?” The man said, “Yes.” The leader said, “Good, now we’re getting somewhere.” Then he asked, “Is your name Joseph Critinelli?” The man answered, “Yes.” The leader then asked, “Do you know where the vault is?” The man replies, “Yes.” The leader burst out, “Great! I feel a connection, you feel a connection cause I feel a connection.” Then the leader asked, “Can you open the vault?” The man said, “No, onlya district manager can open it.” The leader shoots the man in the hand. The man screamed out in pain and dropped to his knees holding his hand now with a hole in it. Everybody else jumped in fear. The leader then said, “You were doing so good, I thought we had something. You’re not taking the game seriously! I’ll ask again, can you open the vault!?” The man whimpers, “Yes,” holding his bleeding hand. The leader then says, “Good.” He then called over two of his men and told them to walk with the guy to the vault and have him open it, also to take only what they came for andnothing more. The two guys said, “OK, boss,” and walked off with the man. The leader turned to the man and said before they walked out of the room, “Oh, and please don’t try to stall because I will know and I will have them kill you, OK?” The man nodded yes, then gets walked off. The leader sits down and rest his feet on the desk and replies, “How ’bout them Yankees?” The room is silent with fear. He then said, “What, nobodylikesthe team? I find that kind of hard to believe considering Marcus over there bought season tickets,” as he pointed to one of the hostages. Then he looked over to the tiedup undercover cops and said, “Officer Bishouf, you really don’t want to try what you’re thinking, I mean your daughter Emily has a recital and she will be really sad if her daddy does something really stupid and gets himself killed when all he has to do is sit and wait.”
The two guys
walked out with the bank boss and said, “OK, boss, everything is ready.” The leader got up from his seat and said, “Great timing, this crowd is tough.” He walks backward as he looks towards the hostages and yells, “Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Most of you have been wonderful guests, we will be leaving now.” He turned to the bank boss and said “Joe, tsk-tsk, that’s a shame. Cheatingon your pregnant wife, and people say I’m an asshole.” He starts walking toward the back while saying to Joe, “Watch it, Joe, one day karma will get you. Oh wait, that’s today.” Then he turned around and shoots him in the head. Then he said, “Everybody, please calm down, the police will be here shortly. Lie down and count to sixty, and it will all be over soon, and remember, no peeking ’cause you still might get shot.” He takes a bow and gestures the word, “Arrivederci” and exits the room.
When they counted to sixty, they got up slowly and looked around. The men were all gone. They heard police sirens outside, The police called out over the speaker if everyone was ok as the door opened slowly. The police aimed their guns but the hostages put their hands outside the door. They yelled, “We’re the hostages! The robbers already escaped.” A hundred dollar bill lands on a police car. When the police look up they see the sky raining onehundred-dollar bills for blocks, and traffic was jammed with people frantically in the street trying to get as much as they could.
The robbers were blocks away in an armored police truck away from the chaos. They had got what they came for. They reached in the bags and took out international bonds and place them in suitcases. They pulled up to an underground entrance and got out of the armored truck wearing business suits carrying suitcases. They walked down the tunnel and came to a door. When they opened the door, they come out into the middle of a packed subway filled with businessmen. They got on the train and disappeared.
