Break: An Urban Hero's Journey

by Wes Grant

  The fire hydrant started to lose pressure and Spear landed on top of a car near Jack. He pulled out his rod from his back and poked Jack. He put it back then front flipped on to the ground to see if Jack was still alive. He cautiously walked toward Jack. He paused and wondered if he was knocked out or dead. He inched his way a little close until he was a couple feet away from Jack.

  Spear crouched down and said, “Hey Jack, you still alive?” Jack opened his eyes with a big grin, then squeeze something in his hand.

  Further back Samantha was reporting about the fight so far, saying, “It looks as if Spear, local hero to many, has brought down the terrorist named Bulletproof Jack. We see here as he walks up to Jack and—” All of a sudden there is a huge explosion that shook the ground. The reporter and everyone else ducked for cover.

  Back at the scene of the explosion Spear was on the ground knocked out in front of a minivan that the explosion had thrown him into. Jack was embedded in a wall on the side of a building. He reached his arms forward and slammed them back against the wall breaking him free. He began to walk toward Spear. Spear slowly opened his eyes, and everything was blurry with ringing in his ears. Everything was to the side as he realized he was laying on the ground. He saw three Jacks walking toward him. As he climbed to his knees, the three Jacks came closer together. When Jack realized Spear’s disorientation was wearing off, he began to run toward Spear before he could pull himself together. Spear got to his feet but was stumbling. Spear tried to figure out which Jack to dodge, but it was too late, and Jack tackled him into the minivan. He then lifted Spear up, put his arm over his shoulder, put his head behind Spear’s arm, jumped and slammed in on the top of the van caving it in around them. He dragged Spear by the vest and tossed him against a small street tree, but before he could hit the ground Jack tackled him through the tree, then through another and another. He ran with him until the hit the side of a car. He backed up as Spear coughed up blood holding his side curled over in pain. He punched Spear knocking him down to the ground then grabbed his feet. He swung him around three times before letting go and letting him fly into the side of a mail truck. At this point Spear was unconscious when Jack ran towards him slammed his body into Spear, embedding him deeper into the side of the truck. He backed up and did it again and again for a third time until there was a hole on the side of the truck with half of Spear inside.

  Jack backed up and said, “Don’t quit on me now , the fight was just getting good.” He whistled and clapped his hands then said, “Eh anybody in there. This is pathetic. You promised me a good fight… Really. This is how you’re gonna die, in a mail truck.” He backed up then stretched his arms back and said, “If that’s all you got left I guess I’ll end it now.” He went for one more rush but stopped in his tracks when he saw red eyes peering at him from the hole in the mail truck. For some reason his body wouldn't move as if his instincts were telling him to run. He couldn’t understand why he was having this feeling. He hadn’t felt this kind of dread in a very long time. He thought to himself, “Snap out of it Jack. He’s just a kid, he can’t hurt, you nobody can hurt you now.” He screamed as he broke free of his fear and charged at Spear. He saw something and at the last second he put up his forearms. A slash attack emanated from the truck so strong that it knocked him back off his feet. He caught his balance but slid back about 30 feet. The slash attack was so wide it went past him and through the first floor of the buildings behind. When Jack took down his arms the attack left four slash marks on his forearms. Spear jumped out of the truck and it looked like something had taken him over. His body was still normal, but his eyes were red and filled with rage as he breathed heavily. The building behind shook due to the attack damaging the support beams and all the people still inside on the higher floors screamed. The screams woke Spear up from whatever state he was in, and he looked confused.

  Jack asked, “What the hell was that?”

  Spear replied confused, “What happened?” He looked and saw the people screaming and said, “What did you do to them?” Jack replied, “Me? Oh no, mate, I can’t take the credit for that. It was all you.” Spear asked, “What do you mean? all me?”

  Jack replied, “Are you serious? You really don’t remember what just happened. That must be the psycho mode I’ve heard so much about.”

  Spear asked confused, “What are you talking about?!” Jack looked at the slashes in his forearms and said, “Boy, that’s some attack ya got there, I can’t even heal the cuts . . . But that was fun, bring it out again.”

  Spear asked, “Bring what out again?” Jack replied, “Don’t play stupid now, I’ve seen it for myself. But from the description I got that didn’t look like the full version. Nothing was different, just your eyes.”

  Spear asked, “How do you know about that form?” Jack replied, “I heard it from a little birdie.”

  Spear said, “I can’t do it. I can’t turn into that again.”

  Jack replied, “What, I’m not good enough to show me your true power.”

  Spear said, “No, I can’t change into that thing. I don’t even think I still can. I think it was a one time deal.” Jack replied, “Well obviously you still got it in you. I’ve got the scars to vouch to that. You just need some proper motivation.”

  Spear says, “What’s that?” Jack replied, “Simple, I’ll just have to beat it outta ya. ’Cause this time, nothing’s getting in the way of my ultimate challenge.” He then ran at Spear and swung. Spear dodged out of the way, but he was slow and injured from the earlier attack. Jack swing at Spear with his right hand. Everything slowed down as Spear used his super reflexes to barely dodge the attack. As Spear dodged out of the way, Jack straightened out his left hand and used his momentum to backhand slice through a street sign pole. Before the pole fell, he continued turning and grabbed it with his right hand swinging it like a baseball bat catching Spear off guard. Spear flew into a building. Jack chased after him into a store, tackled him and ran with him busting through the walls of one store into another parallel to the street. He knocked him across the street into another store. At this point Spear had one broke and three fractured ribs amongst the other injuries. He hid in the department store and went back to normal to recharge so he could heal a bit.

  Jack was walking across the street saying mockingly, “Come on, honey, we can’t go to every store.” When he got in the store he saw that Spear was nowhere to be found. He yelled, “So we play hide and go seek now or maybe Marco Polo.” He put his hands up to his mouth and yelled, “Marco…” He leaned his head to listen. He then yelled again, “Marco…” He listened one more time before he said, “I guess, hide and seek it is.” Three minutes had passed but Spear gave himself some extra time to heal before he fought again. Jack was getting impatient and yelled, “You really gonna hide the whole time. This fight’s getting boring again.”

  Spear found a sledge hammer and smiled. He yelled out, “Polo!” Jack smiled and said, “Now that’s more like it.” He then yelled out, “Marco!” He listened and hear, “Polo!” from the other side of the store. He ran over to where he heard the sound. He then yelled, “Marco!” and heard “Polo” closer to the front of the store. He walked closer to the front of the store and yelled again, “Marco!” As he walked closer to the display window he saw an employee hand radio as it said, “Polo Stupid.” When he turned around Spear hit him across the face with the sledge hammer. Jack stumbled back, he hit him again from the other side of his face and Jack stumbled again. He spun one more time and swung up hitting Jack in the chin, sending him flying through the window into the side of a van. Spear jumped through the opening and tried to hit him one more time with the hammer but Jack was ready. He caught Spear in the air and slammed him into the van.

  He grabbed Spear by the collar pulled him closer inches from his face and said, “That’s that spirit. Give it all ya got.” He punched Spear in the gut, then in the face, his side, his other side and face again. Each hit felt as if someone was hitting him with an aluminum
bat. He grabbed him and threw him into the front windshield of a taxi. Spear rolled off the hood of the car and tried to crawl away.

  Jack walked after him as he crawl away, leaving a streak of blood. He lifted him up and said, “So you ready to bring out your full power yet?”

  Spear, with one eye bruised, nose bleeding, and blood all over, mumbled, “I . . . can’t . . . do it. I don’t know how.” Jack replied, “Have it your way, I guess I gotta turn up the level of motivation.” He then grabbed Spear by both legs and began to swing him around in a circle faster and faster. When he let go, he sent Spear crashing up across the windows of the building. He bounced off the windows to across the street into the corner of a building, breaking off a piece, and landing on the sidewalk. Jack ran across the street, up the side of a building digging his hardened feet into the wall then came down on Spear with an elbow breaking through the sidewalk and sending them both into the subway.

  The reporter and cameraman managed to find there to the fight. Soon the ground shook, followed by screams. The Sam told her cameraman to start recording as she spoke, “This is Samantha Carter reporting live from the fight that ensued Manhattan midtown area. It seems the fight has now been carried to the subway area.” There was a loud—bang! that shook the ground followed by an—AAAHHH. She continued to report, “Last we saw of Spear, things were not looking good for him.” Another bang interrupted her followed by another, “AAAHHH”. She stopped reporting and Manhattan was silent except for the agonizing screams of pain echoing through the streets. Everybody in the area and everyone watching on TV was cringing from the sounds of pain being inflicted on Spear as each attack shook the streets of Midtown Manhattan. Tears began to run down the cheek of the reporter as her and everyone listened to the horrific beatdown Spear was getting.

  Samantha said, “Sorry ladies and gentlemen, I don’t know how much more of this we can record.” The rumbling and screams stopped and the street went silent.” Samantha continued and said, “Things have grown silent, we’re all hoping local hero Spear is OK.” One of the pedestrians yelled, “Spear! Kick his ass!” The crowd slowly began to chant, “SPEAR, SPEAR, SPEAR.” All of a sudden Spear burst out from underneath the ground on W. Thirty-second Street and flew through the bridge connecting the Manhattan Mall. Spear landed on a taxicab and bounced into a street vending cart.

  Back at the hole Jack climbed out to street level. The people on the street hide quickly. Jack looked around but didn’t see anyone. He then looked to the people on the higher floor, and yelled angrily, “Where’d he go?” They looked at him and didn’t say a word. He stomped his foot into the ground shaking the place as he yelled louder, “Where is he!” They pointed down the street, scared he might attack them.

  Spear was barely conscious saw drinks and water bottles laid out on the floor from the vending cart. He grabbed them and started guzzling them down to replenish his energy. He started thinking to himself, “What am I doing? . . . Why did I even come to this fight? . . . I have no idea how to beat this guy . . . I can’t use my Cannon Punch on the street cause it’ll send him flying and someone might get hurt, and even if I did use it, it still wouldn’t put him down for good. He survived it before pointblank. I’m sorry, Dean, but we won’t get our rematch.” He then remembered Master Chen Lou and what he said to him: “You are still young, you focus too much on the outside, a true warrior focuses on the inside.”

  Spear thought to himself, “ What does that even mean? And why do I keep thinking about this old guy when things get bad. It’s not like he’s my dad or something. But I guess his interest in me was more than I ever got from my real dad. All that mumbojumbo about my true potential, it did help me become stronger, but this guy Jack is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. He’s indestructible, and nothing I hit him with leaves a scratch. His outsides are unbeatable . . . outsides . . . outsides . . . that’s . . . that’s it. I’ve been focusing too much on the outsides. I need to shrink to normal and focus my energy inside. Use everything I’ve got and everything I’ve learned.” He dropped the weights from his wrist and ankles and shrank to normal size. He sat down with his legs crossed in a meditation stance to focus more on the healing to regain back his strength.

  Jack jogged down the street and slowed to a walk when he saw Spear on the street sitting with his eyes closed, bloodied up, not moving a muscle. He walked closer to Spear and said, “Don’t tell me ya given up already.” He made his way to Spear stopping a couple of feet from him.

  Jack looked at the thinner Spear and said, “Geez, it looks like I beat the muscle outta ya.” Spear’s slowly opened his eyes with a dead serious look in them. Jack said, “You’re a tough one though, I give ya that. You’re not indestructible like me, but you sure can take a beating.” Spear didn’t say a word. Jack asked, “What, no quip remarks, no jokes… You’re no fun like this. You should be enjoying this fight. Nothing’s more exciting than testing your own limits. No knowing if you’ll come out alive. It’s been a long time since I’ve felt that from one person. I thought you would fully bring that feeling out for me again but once again I’ve been disappointed.” He then walked over to Spear, lifted him with one arm off the ground, by the collar and said, “If you have any last words, speak now or forever hold your peace.”

  Spear then closed his eyes and opened his mouth revealing one of his homemade flash ball temporarily blinding Jack. Jack let go of Spear and stumbled back.

  Jack rubbed his eyes, and when the blurriness cleared, he saw Spear standing there back to his normal diesel size. Jack said, “What the hell was that? I woulda thought you’d make a run for it again after a stunt like that.”

  Spear said, “That was a little light ball I made for blinding enemies. And I didn’t do it so I could get away, I did it so that I could finish gathering my strength.”

  Jack said, “What for? You don’t actually still think you can beat me like that do ya. . . I must have hit you too hard because now you’re talking crazy. Don’t you get it? Nothing you can do will hurt me. No electric, no bomb, no gun, no attack, nothing! Geez, and they say I have a thick skull.”

  Spear said, “You said you wanted m e to bring out my true power . . . Well, you got it, but it’s not the power you wanna see. It’s the power I’ve made for myself. The power I possess because of the family and friends I have that believe in me. It’s because I have people who believe in me and people to protect that I can’t lose to anybody. Not now, not ever.”

  Jack clapped slowly and said, “Very touching, but speeches won’t win you fights kid.”

  Spear replied, “Then how ’bout I just show you what I mean.” Jack said, “That sounds more like it, go out swinging like I always say.” He then went into a fighting stance.

  Spear said, “OK,” He crouched down to the ground like an animal about to pounce.

  Jack asked, “What kinda fighting style is that?”

  Spear said, “Don’t know yet, but I’m thinking WILD STYLE, oh and try to keep up.” Jack replied, “Oh don’t you worry about m…” Spear suddenly disappeared from his sight and reappeared to his left just before he kicked the back of Jack’s left knee, causing him to fall to one knee. He then kicked him in the back of the head. Spear began to jump off objects to build up speed. Jack was getting hit from every angle. He got up, but the Spear’s attacks were focusing on weak points of the body making him stumble all over the place. He couldn’t stand his ground like he normally could. After enough speed was built up, Spear jumped at Jack landing on his chest feet first causing him to stumble back into a car then as if in slow motion he grabbed hold of his collar and fell back and kicked Jack up 20 feet in the air. He then said, “Say Hi to the birds for me,” as a ring of air shot from under Spear. He said the words, “CANNON” as he stuck his fist in the air, twisted his wrist and yelled, “PUNCH!” Shooting a burst of energy straight at Jack sending him soaring straight up into the sky. Spear rolled back to his feet and waited. Jack flew up about 40 stories before he started falling. He started to b
alance himself out as he fell. Spear squatted down and used all this leg jumped up to meet Jack. As Jack was balancing himself out to brace for the landing, Spear appear behind him and flipped him over and grabbed Jack in some sort of suplex. He began spinning him to the side in the air. Jack began to get nauseous as Spear spun him. As they spiraled towards the ground he jumped off Jack sending him spiraling toward the ground crashing into the street below. The speed and spinning left a bigger crater than the one he left when he fell from the helicopter. The crater was about eight feet wide in diameter. Jack was knocked unconscious for a second having landed on his back hitting his head. As he opened his eyes, he saw Spear in the air in that same stance as before when he did that powerful attack.

  Jack screamed, “Don’t you get it? That same attack won’t work on me anymore!” Spear said, “I know,” then continued, “PALM…” He then turned his fist into a palm dropped towards Jack. When Spear came down to Jack, he slammed his palm down on his stomach and finished with the words, “CRUSH” and almost in slow motion he turned his wrist releasing his energy. A crater thirty yards wide spread out under them with Jack in the center.

  When Spear opened his eyes, he saw Jack lying there with his eyes dimmed. Jack muttered out the words, “Good job, mate,” as he began to cough up blood. He then said, “That’s a nice little move ya got there, saving the best trick for last (cough) Thank you for giving the best fight of my life. (cough) But ya gotta finish me now.”

  Spear, panting and breathing heavily, said, “No, I don’t, I beat you. I don’t kill in cold blood.” Jack chuckles and begins to cough up blood. He then said, “I got beat by someone not even trying to kill me . . . so I take it you could have made that attack you just did much stronger.” Spear didn’t say anything. Jack said, “I’ll take that as a yes . . . You were wrong, I did have people close to me that I cared about and wanted to protect. I would have given my life for them. But they died because I was too weak to keep that promise. That’s why I chose the life I’ve led, a lonely life. So now, I only have to look out for number 1.” He said as he put up one finger. He then pointed to his necklace of dog tags and crocodile teeth and said, “All of them died because I couldn’t protect them. They died because I wasn’t strong enough. You have the strength I didn’t . . . They died in combat, so I need to die in combat to join them. Now finish me off!”