Break: An Urban Hero's Journey

by Wes Grant

  Two weeks later Nick Spears, also known as Spear, is an assembler at a commercial hardware store by day and a vigilante by night. He resides in New Jersey where crime thrives. He is twenty-four years of age, 5'9" tall, weighing 150 pounds, but it can be changed to 185 pounds. He has black hair, gray eyes, and has the ability to control the adrenaline level in his body, which in turn makes him abnormally strong, very agile, and with high endurance, extremely fast, having amazing reflexes, ability to sense other breakers nearby. He has former martial arts training, has great technical skills, makes his own weapons, and heals fairly quickly. He has a very strong will, quick thinking, and unbreakable resolve. Nick Spears, “the Breaker,” now known as Spear, was born in Kingston, Jamaica, where his mother, a single parent, raised him up to the age of two when they came to the United States. They lived in Rochester, New York, for a few years. She then left him with her parents in Rochester and moved to New Jersey so she could get a job and a place to raise her son Nick. Soon afterward, she brought him to New Jersey, where he’s been living until now. After an accident, where he saved his mother’s life, he awoke in the hospital feeling a bit strange but energized. After being discharged from the hospital, he got home and realized he had new abilities. After something happens to his best friend’s little brother, Von, whom he also considered to be his little brother, Nick uses his new abilities to get justice but in the process realizes that it was not just his family and close friends that need protection but so do other good people that can’t protect themselves. Filled with the urge to give his life’s purpose, he made a promise to use his powers to protect his family, close friends, and the innocent that can’t protect themselves.

  Nick was at Neil’s house playing video games with him and Von. After winning for the eighth time in a row, Neil said, “Not fair, you’re using your super reflexes to do the combos.”

  Nick said, “Quit making excuses, you’re Asian. Isn’t it in your blood to be good at video games . . . and math?” He laughed out loud. Neil yells out, “Rematch.” While they played Von hopped on the computer in Neil’s room. On the main page he saw the headlines in an article about a recent string of robberies. Von said, “Nick, did you hear about the strings of bank robberies committed in the tristate area. The last one happened two weeks ago.” Nick said, “No, why?” Neil said,“Isn’t that kinda your job, stopping bad guys?” Nick said, “Beating up thugs and drug dealers is one thing, taking out bank robbers is something completely different . . . and besides, what time did they rob the bank?” Von said, “A little after one in the afternoon.” Nick said, “See, I’m at work when that happens. I’ve got bills to pay. I can’t leave work every time something happens to fight crime.” Neil said, “Sounds to me like someone’s afraid of bank robbers.” Nick said, “I don’t see you in Jersey City fighting crime, heck, I don’t see you in Jersey City when the streetlights come on.” Neil said, “Hey, I’m not the one with superpowers, and anyways, neither did you until you gained super reflexes to dodge bullets.” Nick said, “Anyways, it’s getting dark, time for me to do my rounds.” Von said, “It’s gotta be getting expensive to drive there every night.” Nick said, “Yeah, why couldn’t I get flying powers too, right? Anyways see ya.”

  Spear was running across the rooftops in Jersey City when he stopped in journal square to rest and recharge his adrenaline. He suddenly felt this chill in his body. He looked around and saw something strange going on at the bank down below. It looked like a simple money exchange with an armored bank truck and police officers, but because of the strange feeling Spear was getting, he jumped down to check it out. He crept to the back entrance where he saw the officers and hid in the shadows behind the truck. He looked around the corner to see in the bank. While Spear was looking around the corner to see what’s going on; he felt a gun to his back, and a person said, “Don’t move or I’ll shoot.” Without turning around, Spear said nervously, “It’s OK, Officer, I was just making sure everything was OK. It’s just a big misunderstanding.” The man with the gun said, “Just walk inside.” When they got inside, Spear saw guys in police outfits but with masks on their face. The leader said, “Who the heck is this?” The guy with the gun said, “He was outside snooping around, so I brought him in to see what you wanted to do with him.”

  The leader walked closer, and that strange feeling Spear had earlier got stronger. Spear said, “Something tells me you guys don’t work for the bank or the police, do you?” The leader said, “You’re a sharp one, aren’t you. Whatever tipped you off. Could it be the masks?” The leader then said, “Who are you supposed to be anyways, Robin Hoodlum?” Then Spear said, “No, I’m—” The leader interrupted him and said, “Wait, don’t tell me Spear . . . right?” Spear said, “How did you—” The leader interrupts again, “Know.” He then leaned over to Spear and whispered, “I’ll tell you a little secret, I can read people’s surface thoughts.” Spear replies, “Surface thought?” The leader replies, “You’d be amazed at what you can get people tothink about with just the right key word.” He then walks off and says, “Your little arrival was unscheduled, but luckily, I always have a contingency plan, and you’re it. When the police find you, they’ll look into who you know and think you worked for us but was double-crossed thereby throwing them completely off our trail.” Spear then asked, “Who are you?” The leader then said, “They call me boss, but I also go by the name Shrink.” Spear said, “Shrinkage, I don’t know if that’s something you want everybody to know about.” The men in the masks begin to chuckle but stop immediately when Shrink looks back. He tells his men, “One more chuckle I’ll have you all killed.” You could hear all of them swallow in fear. Shrink then said, “Very funny, but the name isShrink.” Spear said, “Why Shrink is that a nickname you got at a pool or… ” Shrink replies, “You are a clever one. You think these childish insults will distract me long enough for you to get away.” Spear replies, “Had to try something.” Shrink replies, “Nice try, but I’ll tell you anyways seeing how no one will believe you: the name is Shrink as in someone that gets in your head. Shrink!” Spear said, “I don’t get it.” Shrink replies, “What don’t you get?” Spear replies, “The whole Shrink thing. It’s still a stupid name.” Shrink replies back, “How is it stupid, a shrink gets into people's heads, I read people's thoughts, what’s so difficult to understand.” Spear replies, “It sounds like a third grader thought of it. Plus it’s corny.” Shrink yells, “Third grader! I have a genius level IQ and the name is not CORNY! Why am I even arguing with this simpleton, we’re almost done here anyways. Knock him out and leave him for the police.”

  At that moment Spear moved out of the way of the guy holding the gun, knocked it down, then kicked the guy in the head, sending him flying out the exit into the wall. Shrink yelled for his men to kill Spear. The men started shooting at Spear. He uses his rods to hit the bullets back at them and hit two in the leg. The men drop to the ground writhing in pain. The leader told the other three to grab what they had so far and get to the truck. He would hold off Spear. When they start heading towards the truck, Spear heads towards them. Shrink jumps in his way and says, “Sorry, I can’t let you go pass.” Spear replies, “Seriously, you don’t want to do this.” Shrink replies, “And why, do you think that, because I’m the brains, I’m too weak to beat you.” Spears replies, “Well, I wasn’t gonna say it, but yeah, I’m kinda out of your league.” Shrink chuckles and replies, “Out of your league, huh, you my dear lad are nowhere near my league. It’s not all about brawn. Come on, give it your best shot and I’ll show you the difference between talent and brute force.” Spears says, “Someone's cocky, but hey don’t say I didn’t warn you. Let’s get started,” He ran at Shrink on the attack. He swung with the right; Shrink dodged it. He swung with the left, Shrink dodged it. He tried to sweep Shrinks legs; he jumped over it. Every move Spear made, Shrink was one step ahead of him. Shrink then said, “What’s wrong, I thought I was no match for you?” Spear then thinks to himself, He’d use his speed and knoc
k Shrink out with one punch.He jumped back then ran at Shrink as fast as he could in a blur. At that moment, Shrink moved out of the way, grabbed Spear’s hand and using his momentum, sent him flying through the wall.

  Shrink heads to the truck and jumped in. He tells his men, “OK, let’s go, we’ve got half the bonds. One of his men says, “What about the other three?” Shrink replies, “Don’t worry, we’ll come back and get them. The police might be on their way by now and we have to get these bonds out of here. They won’t talk before we get to them.” When Spear crawled out the hole in the wall, the truck was gone, but the one he knocked out was still on the floor and the other two were on the ground bleeding. He heard the police sirens, so he got out of there quick and went to the rooftops. Spear was coming close to his time limit so he jumped across a couple roofs before he depowered. When he recharged he made his way back to his parked car. He drove back home with a bruised rib and pride from getting taken out so easily by Shrink. While resting, he remembered hearing what Shrink had said to his men, “Don’t worry, we’ll come back and get them. The police might be on their way by now and we have to get these bonds out of here.They won’t talk before we get to them.” Spear thought to himself that maybe he’d get a rematch after all.

  While he’s home, he ate some food and went to sleep for work the next day. He woke up at 6:00 a.m. and headed to work. While at work on his lunch break, he searched on his phone for the location of the police station that the robbers he left wounded were being held. He had a feeling they might be broken out soon and he was going to be there when they tried. Spear found out that the three robbers were being held at the local police station in Jersey City until they were transferred to the prison to await their trial. That night, Spear waited on the roof of the police station. He waited there until 1:00 a.m. He almost gave up and went home when he got that strange feeling again. He ran around the perimeter of the building’s rooftop, but he didn’t see anything unusual. He felt the strange feeling begin to get weaker, so he followed it across the rooftops a couple of blocks down where he saw the armored truck from the night before. He noticed what seemed to be a sewer grates moving. Six men came out of the sewer and got into the truck. The seventh must have been waiting in the vehicle. When everyone was in the truck, Spear used this as his chance go deisel and to jump down to sneak on top of the truck silently without them noticing. He rode on the roof for what seemed like an hour. When they finally got to their destination, Spear jumped up into a tree.

  They all got out of the truck and went into a secluded building. The place had cameras everywhere, and it looked like motion sensors as well. Luckily, it was a windy night, so Spear jumped from tree to tree when the wind picked up to camouflage his movements from the sensors. He got right above the huge garage, and luckily, they had a skylight so he could see straight into the place. It looked like they were getting ready to leave the place because they had bags ready and suitcases all lined up. He figured this was just a temporary hideout and they were probably going to leave this place real soon and move on to the next bank. He figured this would be his best chance to catch them off guard. He watched and waited. Shrink made a call on the phone and began talking business with someone. He walked into another room. He figured he’d take out the hired thugs first before he got to the real challenge: Shrink. When they were all close together in the garage, Spear jumped down through the skylight and landed in front of them. Four of the six men pulled out their guns and began shooting. Spear snapped his two rods together to make his staff and spun it to deflect the bullets. They stopped once the bullets started to ricochet.

  Once they did that, Spear ran at them and started cleaning house. The two that were shot in the leg before tried to limp away. Two others pulled their guns out again and shot at Spear. He deflected it, and it hit the two limping ones in their good leg. They fell to the ground and screamed at the other guys, “Stop shooting, we can’t take any more hits.” When they stopped Spear quickly knocked them out. Shrink busted down the door and yelled, “What the heck is going on here? Spear. Not you again. How did you get here? Never mind, I figure you rode on top of the truck. I don’t know how I missed it, but you’re not leaving here alive.” Shrink then said, “So you’ve come here for a rematch . . . OK. But in case you didn’t figure it out and from our last skirmish I’ve got a background in martial arts myself. In fact I’ve got a second-degree black belt in karate and a firstdegree in jujitsu. I’ve trained my mind through numerous methods to be able to truly understand how people think. Add that to my ability to know your moves before you do, and that equals you not having a chance.” Spears said, “Damn, for real, I thought villains only did monologues in movies. I mean, are we gonna fight today, or should I make an appointment?” Spear went on the attack once again, and it had the same outcome. Every move he made, Shrink was one step ahead of him. No matter how fast Spear was, Shrink would counter it or avoid his move altogether. He once again got thrown into a bunch of cabinets. Spear’s time limit was coming close when his adrenaline shut off. Spear tried to hide until it was recharged in three minutes. Shrink said, “What’s this, you ran out of power? Don’t hide now, I already know where you are . . . And I’m not gonna give you time to recharge.” Shrink then ran over to where Spear was hiding and kicked him out of the spot. Spear still tried to fight back, but he was no match for Shrink, and even with powers, he couldn’t touch Shrink. Shrink had his fun beating the crap out of Spear until he laid on his back barely moving. He then put his foot on Spears’s chest and pulled out his gun KARMA. Shrink looked at his watchand said, “Three minutes, huh, too bad I took you down in about two and a half. You’re not gonna live to three. It’s been real fun having a challenge for once but you know how it is, tying up loose ends and what not. You’ve seen my face.”

  Shrink readied his grip on his gun, Spear closed his eyes and focused as much as he could. Spear could hear the trigger being pulled and at the last second his strength came back and kicked the gun out of Shrink’s hand. He grabbed him by the shirt then pulled him in close and said, “Anyone ever tell you, you talk too much?” He then rolled back and kicked Shrink across the garage into some shelves. Shrink said, “OK, you want to go again. All I have to do is stick it out for another fifteen minutes then it’s back to normal, and then I kill you.” Spear thought to himself, That’s right, I have to find some way to beat him before I run out of energy again. Shrink said, “There is no wayfor you to beat me, don’t you get it? It’s over! Give up now and save yourself the pain and trouble. Plus I’ve gotten into your head. You won’t kill us, and I have no problem killing you. So how ’bout you run out and never come back. I’m in a good mood, I won’t kill you if you leave now.” Spear said, “I don’t have to be a mind reader to know you’re lying right there.” Shrink said, “Ahh, ya got me. I am going to kill you anyway.” Spear said, “OK, Round two, lets go.” He stood there waiting to make a move. Shrink stood there trying to read his mind. Then all of a sudden he heard an echo of Shrink saying in his mind what was he thinking. Spear said, “What you say?” Confused, Shrink said, “What?” Then both just looked at each other with a confused look on their face. At that moment, Spear remembered when he used to train in martial arts and they did this exercise where you would do a set of combinations without thinking and just let your body react. Spear thought to himself, hey, he had nothing else to lose, and ran straight at Shrink. Shrink dodged the first swing but got hit by the second. Spear attacked again and again Shrink dodged the first attack but got caught by the second. This continued to happen, but as the fight went on he got hit more and more by Spears’s strikes. Spear just went faster and faster throwing multiple kicks and punches so fast without thinking that Shrink couldn’t block any of the attacks; he got hit with a barrage of attacks and with the last attack it sent Shrink flying through the garage door outside into the windshield of the truck. Spear tied up Shrink and the other robbers then called the police and told them where to find them.

  Spear took o
ne of their spare shirts and some money from their wallets. He took off his face mask and went down a couple of blocks. A cab he called earlier was waiting at a corner. He hopped in. Thecab driver looked at him and said, “Rough night?” Nick said, “You have no idea but it ended well so…” As the cab pulled away Nick could see the flashing police lights coming around the corner. He smiled and turned forward as the cab driver began small talk.

  VOLTEDGE Amped Up

  Chapter 3

  Shocking Development

  Joshua Johnson has almost given up on life. He’s thirty -one, 5'9" tall, and weighs 220 pounds. He has blond hair and lives a very mundane life in Teaneck, New Jersey. He also lives at home with his obese mom who is always complaining about something or the other. He works as a cart pusher at a local supermarket. Every day, he does the same thing: he wakes up, goes to work pushing carts, goes home, and then goes to his room in the basement and works on all his electronic devises.

  Today Josh woke up, brushed his teeth, and got ready for work. He went upstairs to get some food, greeted his mother who was sitting in a motor chair, watching TV and engorging her face. His mother said, “So finally your lazy ass is out of bed.” Josh said, “Good morning, Mom.” His mom responded, “Morning, it’s 11:30 a.m.! What are you doing down there, playing with your toys again?” Josh said, “They’re not toys, Mom, they’re miniature electronic models.” His mom said, “Models, shmodels—they still look like toys to me. Why are you so useless, why don’t you get a real job instead of that crap you call work?” Josh said, “Mom, I don’t need this right now. I’m closing today. I need to leave now to get to work.” Mom said, “Go ahead then, I’m not stopping you from going to your pointless job. Oh yeah, and bring one of those bucket of cookies when you’re coming home.” Josh said, “Yes Mom.” stepped out the door and headed to work.