Break: An Urban Hero's Journey

by Wes Grant

  Jack jumped back and said, “Nice toy ya got there. Didn’t think any sword could cut through this skin of mine. That sword must be special. I guess someone’s been a good li’l boy for Santa.”

  Ice replied, “Now that you know my sword can cut through your skin, give up. You can’t win.” Jack smirked and said, “You think because your li’l sword cut through my skin I should give up . . . Now what fun would that be? I guess I’ll just have to make my skin harder than your sword now, don’t I?”

  Ice replied, “You can stop bluffing, this sword cuts through anything.”

  Jack said, “I guess we’ll have to see about that now, won’t we.” Jack clenched his fist and began to focus. His skin began to change color starting from his head moving down. It changed from gray to an intense darker gray that had a look similar to granite. As his skin hardened, the cut from the sword instantly closed up and healed. The look of his skin was shiny, smooth, and sparkled as if diamonds were in it. He then looked at Ice and said, “Let’s give that sword another whirl now.”

  Ice went into a fighting stance. Jack then spread out his arm, lifted his hands up and said, “Come on, I’ll give you a freebie. Go for the fingers, they shouldn’t be too hard to cut off, with your fancy sword there.”

  Ice pissed off by his taunting, went for the attack and swung the sword at the fingers. In slow motion, the sword made contact and slid across the surface the fingers, leaving a small trail of sparks. He followed up with a hard kick to the chest and flipped back awayfrom Jack, but Jack didn’t move an inch from the spot. When Ice was done attacking, Jack looked at the back of his fingers and said, “Huh, not even a scratch.” He then looked at Ice and said, “You still sure I’m going with ya?”

  Ice went into fighting stance again, when out of nowhere someone yelled, “So you started the party without me, I figured this was special invitation only seeing how my name is written in the sky.”

  Spear looked closer and recognized Ice and yells, “Ice, is that you? Nice suit, you just got that?”

  Ice replied, “I’m a little busy here.” Spear said, “Man, how long you been here? And who the hell is that?” He looked at Jack and said, “Dude, what happened to your skin?! They got ointment for that, I think. Call your Dermatologist bruh, you need to take care of that.”

  Ice yelled, “Shut up Spear! I got this.”

  Spear replied, “Got this, you should have had this ten minutes ago before I got here. Dude, you’re getting rusty.” Jack interrupted and said, “Hey Spear, why don’t you come down and cut in? This guy’s no fun, and besides, you’re the real prize I’m after.”

  Spear said, “Nah, I’ll let Ice take care of you, I wanna see why it’s taking him foreverto beat you.”

  Ice annoyed with Spear’s remarks said, “You know what, I’m good. Spear, come down and take over. Show me how it’s done.” Spear replied, “Well, if you insist.” He jumped down to the ground and walked toward Ice. He then said, “I’ll let you see the master at work.”

  Ice said while walking past Spear, “The last time I saw the master at work, he was on the ground getting his butt handed to him.”

  Spear said, “First off, it was five on one, second, I’ve been training and I’m a lot better than the last time we fought.” Jack interrupted them and said, “Yeah, I hate to ruin the reunion, but Iwanna fight you sometime tonight.”

  Spear and Jack began to walk around in a circle slowly. Spear said, “OK, OK, I don’t know why you’re in such a hurry for a beating, but I’m ready to hand it to you.” Jack replied, “Let’s just hope you don’t disappoint me. That’s the pattern I’ve been having lately. I’ll even give you the first shot. And remember, give it all ya got, I can take it.” He said while pointing to his cheek.

  Spear said, “Big mistake,” then moved super fast and punched Jack in the face. Jack slid back about ten feet with his head turned to the side. When he faced forward he saw Spear holding his hand, hopping, saying to himself, “Owe, owe, owe, that freakin hurt! Holy crap that hurts. What’s your head made off, bricks.”

  He looked up and saw Ice on top of a pile of cars laughing. Spear yelled, “You could have told me he had a jaw like a tank.” Ice replied, “Why, I wanna see the master at work.” Spear said, “You know what, you’re an asshole.”

  Jack said, “Don’t tell me you’re done already. The fun’s just starting.” Spear replied, “Don’t worry, I got plenty more ways to kick your butt.” He pulled two rods from his back. He then said, “Now shut up and come at me.”

  Jack replied, “My pleasure mate, I’ve been waiting for a good challenge.” and ran at Spear. Spear started running at Jack and ducked past Jack’s first attack. Spear hit him in the side then his back; he spun then slid to a stop. He went back on the attack as Jack turned around. Spear threw a barrage of attacks with his rods at Jack, but they did no damage at all. Jack kicked it up a notch and began to show his close combat skills. He started to throw a barrage of his own attacks. Only thing is, Jack’s attacks had incredibly more weight to it. His attacks knocked away Spear’s rods as if they were cardboard tubes. Spear spun the two rods in his hand and snapped them together to make a staff. He then began to attack Jack with the staff, but it still had no effect. While attacking Jack, he grabbed hold of the staff. Spear jumped over him holding the staff and tried to flip him over his back, but when Jack fell back, the weight was more than what Spear expected. He started struggling to flip Jack over him. Jack grinned and backflipped over Spear while still holding the staff. When he landed in front of Spear, Jack Spartan kicked him in the chest while tightly holding the staff. Spear was sent flying backward without his staff to the ground. Spear rolled to his feet and skidded back. Jack took the staff and broke it into two pieces and said, “Nice li’l toys you got here, not as cool as your friends there, but quent. How many boxes of cereal did you eat to get these in the mail?”

  Spear replied, “Shut up. What the hell are you made of anyways? You’re heavy as hell!”

  Jack said, “That’s not nice. You should never talk about someone’s weight.”

  Spear said, “I can when crap doesn’t make sense! You’re my size but you weigh a ton.” Jack said, “I’ll admit I put on a few extra pounds, but enough about my weight, mate. I’m getting bored with this fight. Why don’t you bring out this beast form I’ve heard so much about? that’s the real challenge I came for.”

  Spear replied, “Wha. . . what are you talking about?” Jack said, “Come on now, mate, don’t act stupid. I talked to one of your victims and he told me all about what you can do . . . And from what I’ve seen so far, you do not live up to my expectations.”

  Spear chuckled and said, “Sorry to disappoint you, but what you see is what you get.” Jack replied, “That’s too bad, I guess I’ll just have to finish this up quickly then. I like my game to give a little challenge, but if this is all you have to offer, there’s no point in stretching this fight on. So let’s just get this over with.”

  Spear said, “Don’t try to play me out . . . I haven’t shown you all my tricks.” He then went into a different fighting stance than usual. Just then Ice jumped down in front of Spear, looked over his shoulder, and said, “Spear, don’t worry, I’ll finish this up.”

  Spear yelled, “No, I don’t need your help. This is my turn.” Ice said, “You have no weapon, and your physical attacks don’t hurt him.”

  Spear said, “That don’t mean nothing. I had a plan, and I was about to kick his ass.”

  Ice replied, “Well, now it’s my turn to kick his ass.” Spear said, “Says you! You had your turn, I’m kicking his ass.”

  Ice said, “If you don’t shut up, I’ll kick your ass then his ass.” Jack was standing there in awe that these too adults were arguing like kids. Jack then yelled out, “Are you two serious? You guys sound like a bunch of overgrown babies.” He then threw the rods to the ground.

  Spear and Ice looked back at Jack, and Spear said, “Yo, Ice, how ’bout we both kick his ass.” Ice
said, “Sounds like a plan to me.” He then said over his shoulder, “Hey, Spear, can you still fight at the level you did last time we fought?”

  Spear replied, “Yeah, can you still fight at that level?” Ice said, “Please, I’m past that level.”

  Spear replied, “Only because of that suit.”

  Ice said, “That ain’t the point. Are you ready or not?” Spear replied, “I’m ready.”

  Ice said, “OK,” then turned the symbol on his belt, instantly making him bulk up a bit, and Spear flexed a little to get ready. Jack said, “That’s more like it, maybe the two of you will get serious and give me a better challenge.” Ice said, “OK, on three.”

  Spear said, “OK.”

  T hen they both at the same time said, “Three!” and moved super fast to the point where it almost looked like they disappeared in front of his eyes. Jack was caught off guard by their speed. He then saw the rods he threw on the ground disappear from the ground. Now following Spear and Ice one could see that Spear grabbed the rods from the ground, moving in slow motion while it looked like Jack was standing still. After Spear picked up the rods, he gripped both hands around the rods and swung them like a bat against Jack’s forehead, making his head tilt back. In slow motion, Ice did a back hook kick to the back of Jack’s left knee making it buckle a little. Then this in slow motion Spear back-kicked Jack behind the other knee then followed up with a hit to Jack’s back with the two rods. When Jack leaned forward from that attack, Ice followed up with a roundhouse kick to Jack, turning his head to the side.

  The speed was back to normal, and Jack was standing there with blurs moving around him. You could tell Jack was getting hit, but Spear and Ice were moving too fast to see them fully. Jack began to swing wildly trying to hit them, but it was useless. Sparkswere flying off Jack from all over from Spear and Ice’s attacks. Spear and Ice were still just a blur to him. Frustrated, Jack put his arms under his vest and went into a locking stance with his legs in place and his head tilted down. Jack concentrated while he was being attacked from all sides waiting for the right time to counterattack. While concentrating, he felt the attacks stop for a second; then he heard what sounded like someone jumping off a car. Jack then made his move and pulled out two trigger grenades, one in each hand with his arms spread open. In slow motion again, Spear and Ice were jumping off cars toward Jack for a combined hard attack on Jack when Spear and Ice noticed Jack with his arms open with something in his hands. Right before they hit him, Jack triggered the grenades, causing a huge explosion. Spear and Ice were caught in it and were tossed back. Jack jumped out of the explosion fire and put his hands over Spear’s and Ice’s faces. He ran holding them off the ground and pushed them back until they slammed into a beat-down school bus, denting them into the side of the bus.

  He started tightening his grip on their heads. Ice’s visor began to crack and Spear had blood dripping from a cut on his head. Spear and Ice grabbed onto his handsbut couldn’t budge them from their faces.

  Jack leaned in and said, “I gotta give it to ya, mates, you put up a quite a good fight together, but sorry to tell ya, mates, once I take on a job, I don’t stop till I get my target.” He then looked at Spear andsaid, “And you mate, are the most profitable job I’ve ever taken.” He then turned to Ice and said, “You, I don’t know who you are, but if you’re helping Spear here, I’m sure I could get a pretty penny for bringing you in too.”

  Spear said, “Wait, your getting paid to catch me. Let me guess, Mr. Platinum.”

  Jack said, “Sorry, mate, but I never discuss my employers’ identities.” While Spear distracted Jack with questions, Ice slowly pulled out his sword then stabbed it at Jack’s eye. Jack let go of them and grabbed the sword and screamed, “AAAHHHHHHH, MY EYE, MY BLOODY EYE!” He stumbled backward, holding on to the sword swinging his head from left to right. After making a scene, he stopped then began to make a sinister laugh.

  Jack pulled down the sword from his face showing no injuries at all and said, “I’m just joshin’ ya, mates. Nice try though.” Spear said, “What the hell!” Jack replied, “Surprised, right? Did you forget my skin is indestructible? That includes my eyelids to. Good thing I blinked.” He then took the sword and broke it over his knee.

  Ice yelled, “My sword!” and moved forward.

  Spear stuck his arm out and stopped him. He then said, “Hold on, I gotta end this.”

  Ice yelled, “Forget that, he broke my sword.”

  Spear said, “Ice . . . this was supposed to be my fight from the beginning . . . now move back and let me finish this.” Ice replied, “You don’t think you can beat him by yourself, do you?”

  Spear said, “Ice, I got this.”

  Ice said, “But you—” Spear interrupted him, looked him in the eye, and said, “Ice, I said I got this.” Ice shook his head and said, “Whatever man, don’t come begging for my help when he starts whipping your ass.” He then began to walk away.

  Spear said, “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

  Jack said, “Hey, where’s he going?”

  Spear replied, “Don’t worry about him, I’m the one you were after in the first place.” He then went into a fighting stance. Jack shook his head then stroke his hand over his bald head and said, “We’re not gonna do this dance again, mate. are we? I’m getting bored. You do know what the definition of insanity is right, doing the same thing over and over expecting something different to happen.”

  Spear replied, “I guess it’s a good thing I saved my best moves for last then, huh?” He started moving his legs into a stance that’s reminiscent of Master Chen Lou’s fighting stance.

  Jack looked at Spear and said, “You’re gonna try to hit me again. Boy, you Americans sure are stubborn.” Spear looked at Ice while going into his stance. He put his rods behind his back again, chuckled, and said, “I was hoping to use this move on you first when we had our rematch. But I guess I gotta settle for him.” He then turned his head to look at Jack again. He slid his left foot forward slowly then slid his right foot back on a pivot. He began to slowly inhale and exhale to focus his energy with his eyes closed. All of a sudden burst of energy came out of Spear, spreading a ring of dust on the ground out from him.

  When the ring of dust passed Jack’s feet, he saw Spear was serious now andsaid, “OK, mate, I’ll give ya another shot. But this time, try to move me more than a couple of feet because this is ya last freebie.”

  Spear opened his eyes and said, “I’ll see what I can do.” He then jumped forward at Jack with his right hand cocked back and yelled, “Cannon…” Jack leaned his head forward to stop the punch, but in slow motion Spear brought his right fist forward and stopped the punch a few inches from his head. He began to turn his wrist and when his wrist stopped turning he yelled, “PUNCH!” there was a huge burst of energy that shot out of Spear’s fist. The energy that came out of Spear’s fist sent Jack flying away from him at mach speed plowing through pile after pile after pile of cars. The shockwave of energy sent a huge gust of wind flying behind Spear shaking the ground, cars, and other vehicles. The attack left a trail of destruction leading to Jack at the other end of the junkyard covered in cars.

  Spear was panting and out of breath. He looked at Ice and gave him a thumbs up.

  Ice yelled, “You were gonna use that on me?” Spear replied, “First off, I haven't mastered the move yet, I still needed to learn to control the amount of energy I put out, and second, stop your whining you wear a super suit of armor.”

  Ice said, “Shut up. What did you called that move again.” Spear replied, “I call it my Cannon Punch.”

  Ice replied, “Cannon Punch, kinda cool name. Now let’s see if he’s still in one piece.” He then ran off with Spear following. They made their way to the other side of the junkyard where Jack was covered by a pile of cars. They began walking toward the pile when they began to hear something. The noise went, “Beep, beep, beep, beeeeeeeeep, BOOM!” A huge explosion sent cars flying all over the place.

>   Jack slowly walked out the fire an d said, “Now that’s what I call an attack. What did you call it? Well never mine, you got any more attacks like that. You really got my blood pumping now.” He bounced on his feet in a boxing stance. Ready to spar.

  Spear was in disbelief that he still barely had a scratch on him. Other than tears in his pants and vest, he was unscaithed. For the first time in a while Spear was speechless. Jack yelled, “So you ready for round 3… or is it 4. Ahh who cares. I’m ready for some more fun. So you come to me or I come to you.” Spear just stood there. Jack said, “I guess I come to you.” He then began to run toward them.

  Spear was surprised and jumped back into a fighting stance. Ice said, “Stealth mode.” His suit lit up then went invisible. All of a sudden a round tablet landed on Jack’s chest with metal wire wrapping around his arms making him immobile for the moment. He stopped running and saw a tablet land on a car to the left of him, then another one a little more behind him, and it happens three more times around him. While still invisible, Ice came behind Jack and leaned him back and kicked him off into the air with both legs. When Jack was high up in the air, Ice activated the tablet on his chest, and it acted like a super magnet pulling the other tablets with the cars attached to them flying toward him. When the five cars bound Jack in the middle in midair, Ice jumped up and kicked off the cluster of cars sending Jack flying into the car compactor. Ice then jumped toward the control panel of the compactor and turned it on. Jack was trapped in the middle of the five cars and began to get crushed in the middle of them.

  Jack screamed out, “When I get out, I’m gonna kill the both

  of ya. YOU CAN’T KILL ME, I’M BULLETPROOF JA—” He was enclosed in the compactor, and it went silent. The compactor opened and pushed out a huge block of crushed cars with red liquid leaking out from it.

  Ice landed next to Spear and turned visible again, startling Spear. Spear said, “What the hell was that? You turn invisible now?” Ice said, “You’re welcome.”