Break: An Urban Hero's Journey

by Wes Grant

  Spear replied, “Talk about a giant ego.”

  Midas replied, “Not ego, more amour-propre” Spear replied, “First, I don’t know what that means and second, please don’t act all high and mighty like everything you do is legit. Someone I care about almost died, thanks to someone employed by you! What do you have to say about that?”

  Midas said, “My dear boy, do you think about that ants you step on when you walk, or the bugs that hit your windshield when you drive. I can’t keep track of every casualty in my business ventures.”

  Spear walked closer towards Midas and said, “Casualties, ants, bugs! That’s all they are to you.” Spear then turned around and said, “I can’t take the money, the cost is too high for what I have to give up.” He then began to walk away.

  Midas replied, “You do know this is a one time offer.” Spear said, “Yeah, I know, you’ll regret this blah -blahblah.” As he’s walking toward the main door, six guards with guns run into the room to the left side and six more run to the right side. Spear turned around and ran toward Mr. Platinum but was stopped by a reflective wall that shot out of the floor to the ceiling around Mr. Platinum’s desk. It was like a bulletproof, one-way mirror four inches thick.

  Spear said, “I knew I couldn’t trust you.” Midas said through the speakers, “I was sincere about my offer, but you’re very naive to think I’d let you turn down my offer and walk out of here alive. You are the main cause of my problems.”

  Spear turned around toward the guards with guns then pulled out his rods and said, “Come on guys, you really don’t want to do this. Just put the guns down and nobody gets hurt.” They looked at each other and put their guns to the side holster.

  Spear replied, “That’s more like it. See, I know we could—” Just then they each pulled an Uzi from behind them and aimed it at Spear. Spear then said, “Why doesn’t anyone ever just give up?” At that moment then they began shooting at him. Spear snapped his rods together to make a staff and began to spin it in front of him, deflecting the bullets. Mr. Platinum watched through the glass at what was happening. Spear spun his staff to deflect the bullets and ran toward the guards. He got in between them making them hesitate as to not shoot one another and went on the attack. He swept one guy’s legs with the staff and kicked him into another guard. He then stomped on one guard’s foot making him grab his hurt foot and hopped on one leg. Another guard came after Spear, and he hit that guard in the foot with his staff. That guard began to as well hop on one leg. Spear looked at the two guards and thought it’s funny, so he moved super fast and hit the rest of the guards in one foot to have them hop too. The view of ten guards hopping on one foot in a huge office was hilarious. Spear began to laugh out loud. Mr. Platinum saw this and pressed a button sending electricity through the metallic path to the door. Two of the guards were being electrocuted right in front of Spear at his feet. Luckily Spear had taken precautions having fought someone with electricity powers before so the souls of his sneakers were super thick rubber. He saw the electricity flowing through the floor and jumped off the path to the side. He looked to where Mr. Platinum was and yelled, “Hey, what’s the big idea cheating like that? You already got twelve against one with guns and now you try to electrocute me?”

  Midas said over the speaker, “I’m curious as to why you weren’t electrocuted.” Spear said, “Oh please, don’t you think that after all those freaks you sent after me I would pick up some tricks? How bout this. I tell you how your little trick didn’t work and you let me go. Sounds fair, right?”

  Midas said, “I'm sorry, that deal doesn’t benefit me in the slightest, it’s a shame you won’t work for me. Men, now stop playing around and take care of him!”

  The men went on the attack again, and Spear countered. He dodged one guard’s punch and kneed him in the stomach then back-fisted him in the head, sending him flying into the wall. Another guard tried to hit Spear, but he grabbed the guard’s shoulders and rolled to his back and kicked the guard up to the ceiling. He then rolled to his feet and grabbed a guard behind him, lifted him up, and put him where the other guard was just standing. He stepped back, and the guard he kicked up at the ceiling fell on the on in front of him. Spear realized he had to end this quickly and get out of there so he moved super fast and kicked the rest of them into the wall. One of the guards broke through the main doors into the hall. Spear ran out after him, but was greeted by a hallway full of guards with guns. He jumped back into the room and ran back to the one-sided mirror. The room then filled with guards of about fifty.

  Spear turned his head toward the mirror and yelled, “Oh come on, who has this much security at night with the lights out?” All the men aimed their guns at Spear. Spear knew he couldn’t deflect all their bullets forever, so he looked around out of the corner of his eyes and tried to assess ways out of this predicament. An idea came to him although it be a little crazy and reckless.

  Spear yelled, “Wait! Before you shoot, I’ve got a question for you Mr. Platinum.”

  Midas said, “Very well, what is it.” Spear re plied, “Have you ever dance with the devil in the pale moonlight?” Midas and the men seemed perplexed by the statement. Spear replied, “Jack Nicholson… Tim Burton… nothing. Oh well.” He used this time to grab three of his smoke bombs and toss them at the floor. The office instantly filled with smoke.

  Midas yelled, “Don’t let him escape!” The men began to shoot through the smoke. Spear ran through the smoke to the straight at the window to the side and jumped at it. Unfortunately they were reenforce windows and it slammed into it like a bug on the windshield. He said to himself, “Let's try this again.” He backed up and threw his to rods at the window. They broke through sticking midway. This weakened the window so he ran at the window jumping feet first and kicking through the weakened point while grabbing his rods. As jumped through the window he yelled, “See ya, flunkies!” He put his rods back in there holders as he began to fall.

  As he fell he grabbed from his side the new grapple he had been working on from. He took the hook and string then began to spin it round in a circle to the side of him. When it had enough momentum, he threw it at the side of the building while at the same time saying to himself, “Please don’t be reenforced, please don’t be reenforced, please don’t be reenforced.” The hook broke through the window and flew through the walls of a couple cubicles. When it stopped, the hooks opened and it began to drag the walls and all the furniture. Spear swung toward the side of the building and broke through the windows. He rolled through a multiple cubicles, causing major damage to that floor, and stopped when he slammed into a solid wall.

  In pain Spear stumbled up from the pile of tables, chairs, and cubicle walls and shook his head. He mumbled, “Yeah, definitely gotta get some rocket boots.”

  He stumbled his way over to the exit door, but when he opened it and stepped in the hall, he looked over the railing and saw guards coming up the stairs. He looked up the railing and saw guards coming down the stairs. He went back out the exit door onto the floor. He stepped back and looked at the floor number over the exit door. He saw that he was on the forty-third floor. He then ran toward the center of the room. He pried open the elevator doors. He saw the top of the elevator, it was down about twenty stories. Spear hopped on the cables and slid down to the roof of the elevator. He pried open the doors above the elevator and climbed to the floor. He then ran down the hall toward the other side of the building facing away from New York. When he got to the other side of the building, there were still some people working late at their cubicles. Spear began to run toward the window. He ran past someone at their cubicle with a candy bar on the desk. Spear skidded to a stop. He backed up, took the candy bar, and said, “Do you mind? I haven’t eaten all night.” He then ran off and yelled, “Thanks!” He ran and jumped through the window and dropped down to the second multi level roof four floors down.

  Someone went up tothe guy and said, “Dude, Spear just punk you for your candy bar.” Meanwhile Spear ran
to the edge of the roof and took out his old grappling hook and hooked it to the side of the building. He repelled down the side of the building onto the lowest multi level roof only ten stories high. Spear then ran and jumped off the roof toward the flagpole. He grabbed hold of the pole and spiraled down to the floor. When he got to the ground, he took off and made a break for it.

  Some time later Spear found a place to change and headed towards is car. He got in and drove home. On his way home, he reached in his pocket but was shocked to realize that the mini tape recorder was missing. Spear yelled out, “CRAP!” The evidence he had on Mr. Platinum was gone.

  Meanwhile at the Platinum Tower, the guards were cleaning up the mess left by Spear. Mr. Platinum was looking out at the city and water. The guards came in, and Willus said, “Sorry, to report, sir, but Spear got away. But we did recover this, sir.” He then took out a mini tape recorder and placed it on Mr. Platinum’s desk. Mr. Platinum turned around and picked up the recorder. When he played it, he heard the conversation that he and Spear were having. From the expression on his face you could tell that this angered him. That fact that Spear almost outsmarted him, so he said in a calm voice, “Mr. Willus, please make sure you take care of this situation . . . Oh, and, Mr. Willus, . . . the only reason you’re still here is because you found that mini recorder because remember I told you I don’t like failure.”

  Willus said, “Thank you, sir, I won’t fail you again. And, sir, do you want me to alert the authorities of his breaking in?” Midas said, “No, it’s about time I took this pest seriously, and the only way to do that is to show no mercy. You can go now, Willus. I’ve got some phone calls to make.”

  PSYCHO SPEAR

  Chapter 12

  The Five Pillars

  This story takes place just days after Spear’s face -to-face with Mr. Platinum. Sherman Weber (a.k.a. Shrink) was in his cell in New Jersey State Prison. It was mail day; the guard yelled, “It’s mail time.” He stepped in front of Shrink’s cell and said, “It seems you’ve got a letter.”

  Shrink ask, “Who’s it from?” The guard laughed and said, “What’s the matter, can’t you read my mind . . . Oh, that’s right, that cell you’re in is especially made for you. You can’t use your little mind tricks as long as you’re in there.” He ripped it in half then tossed the letter through the mail slot into Shrink’s cell.

  Shrink thought to himself, “That’s strange, who could be sending me a letter?” He read it and was perplexed. He put the two pieces together but the letter didn’t say who it was from, and at first glance it didn’t make much sense. He looked at it intently and realized it’s an anagram. He focused, and his brain started unscrambling the words and made a new letter. It basically told him that someone would help him escape tomorrow night. They would have someone at 9 o’clock turn off the frequency jammer that he had in his cell, keeping him from reading anybody’s mind. His freedom had a catch; the letter had two other names of people also in prison that he had to get out with him along with their cell numbers.

  The next night, Shrink was in his cell waiting. One of the guards was on his regular walk through cell checks. While the guard was walking by Shrink’s cell he asked, “Do you mind telling me what time it is.”

  The guard walked up to the cell and replied, “Why, do you have somewhere to be? Just shut up and be quiet in there.” While the guard walked away Shrink could hear his thoughts. He knew that was his opportunity to get out. Shrink called out to the guard an d said, “Hey, wait, you’re Jim, right? Jim . . .” He bided his time until the guard thought of his last name. He then continued and said, “Jim Hulez, right?”

  The guard said, “How do you know my name?”

  Shrink replied, “I know a lot of things. You have a wife, right?” At that moment the guard thought of his wife’s name. Shrink continued and said, “Catherine, right?” The guard was shocked that Shrink knew his wife’s name. He stepped closer to Shrink’s cell and angrily said, “How the hell do you know her name?”

  Shrink calmly said, “Easy there, big guy.”

  The guard gets louder and said, “No! How the HELL do you know her name?”

  Shrink said, “You know what, since you’ve been such a pleasant host these past few months, I’ll tell you a little secret.” The guard said,“What do you mean, tell me a secret! Tell me! How do you know my wife?”

  Shrink said, “OK, OK, I’m sorry to tell you but your wife is cheating on you.” The guard said, “What! . . . . How do you know that! No, no, no, I heard about you. You’re messing with my head. You’re doing that Jedi mind crap.”

  Shrink replied, “Am I, am I really. You know I can’t use my powers in this cell. It keeps me from using my abilities.” The guard said, “OK then, how do you know my wife is cheating on me then?”

  Shrink said, “That’s easy. I had sex with her.”

  The guard said, “What! No, no way. Now I know you’re lying. There’s no way she could have met you.” Shrink said, “She’s a realtor, right? When I found out your last name I know it sounded familiar. She was showing me some houses a little while ago and we hit it off, literally. I’ve even been to your house multiple times.” At that moment the guard started shaking his head no and started thinking about his wife, the house, and the rooms.

  Shrink used that and said, “Yeah, the red house with the white porch, the old dining room set, she even let me sit in that old lazy boy Cathy told you to throw away.”

  The guard pushed against the door and said angrily, “You shut your stupid mouth right now, or I swear to God I’m gonna— ” Just then Shrink interrupted him and said, “Hey, hey, nobody told you to take the graveyard shift. Somebody had to take care of her while you’re out, but don’t worry, since you’re an officer, we played a game to make her feel safe called cops and robbers.”

  The guard got angry and said, “You son of a bi…..” Shrink interrupted and said in a condescending way, “Don’t get mad, we didn’t do it in your bedroom, that would be disrespectful . . . we did it in the baby’s room.”

  The guard slammed his fists on the door and said, “You’re dead.” Shrink said, “Please, you’re not going to touch me. You know why, because you’re out there, and I’m . . . in . . . here.” He then smirked at the guard knowing it would push him over the top. The guard then started putting in the code to unlock Shrink’s door. He looked in the cell at Shrink and said, “I’m gonna kick your scrawny little butt.”

  Shrink acted scared and said, “Wait, what are you doing? You can’t come in here . . . I . . . I was just joking.”

  The guard said, “Too late to save your butt now,” and opened the door.

  A few minutes later, Shrink came out of the cell wearing the guard’s loose-fitting clothes and closed the door behind him. He fixed his collar and said to himself, “That was easy.” He then walked away from his cell down the hall. Inside Shrink’s cell, the guard was dressed in Shrink’s prison clothes lying under the sheets, tied up and knocked out with a sock stuck in his mouth.

  Shrink went to the first cell of the person from the list to get out. He walked up to the guard and said, “Shift change.” The guard said, “Your early, where’s the regular guy?” Shrink read his mind and replied, “Jim called out today.”

  The guard said, “Ok, hope he feels better.” then began walking away.

  Shrink called out to the guard and said, “Hey, you heard about this guys cell release code right?” The guard thought about it and said, “No, what?” At the moment Shrink read his mind and got the code from him then replied, “There’s gonna be an update or change later this week.”

  The guard replied, “Great another code to remember.” He turned around and walked away. Shrink walked up to the cell that looked more like a vault. Inside a really big man was sitting on the edge of his bed in the dark. Shrink stood in front of the door and looked in.

  The man in the dark looked at Shrink and said in a Russian accent, “What the hell are you looking at?” Shrink replied, “A ve
ry lucky man.”

  The man said, “And why is this?”

  Shrink replied, “Because apparently someone with really high connections want you out of here along with me and someone else.”

  The man got up in the dark and walked toward the door. He was a tower of a man at 6'7". He stepped into the light shining through the door and said in his Russian accent, “Who are you, Little Man? What is your name?”

  S hrink said, “Me, you can just call me Shrink.”

  The man said, “Shrink like movie, Honey, I Shrink the Kids.”

  Shrink said, “No, more like a psychologist, and I think you got the title wrong, but we don’t have time to tell our life stories right now. What should I call you?”

  The man said, “You can call me Crank, Little Man.” Shrink said, “OK, let’s get this straight. I’ll get you out, but you’re going to have to stop this little man talk . . . Do I make myself clear?” Crank said, “Hey, you get me out of here, I’ll call you anything you want.”

  Shrink then put in the code. Crank ducked down and came out of the door frame. Shrink said, “Wow, you’re a big one, aren’t you?” Crank said, “So how you plan for us to get out?” Shrink said, “Hold on, we’ve got one more person to get out.”

  The two of them headed out further into the prison. They came to an intersection in the prison. Shrink put out his arm in front of Crank to stop him because two guards were coming down the hall. A big guy and a rather thin man were doing their nightly walk. They were just having guy talk about personal stuff. Shrink signaled Crank to wait until the guards got closer. When the guards were coming up around the corner, he signaled Crank to take them out. Crank sprang out in front of them and took them out before they had to change to warn anybody on the radio. After knocking them out, Crank dragged them away. A few minutes later, Shrink and Crank were in guards’ clothes.