The Pen is Mightier

by J. A. Cipriano

  29

  Something slammed into the roof of the elevator crumpling the three-inch-thick metal. Alarms blared, and lights flashed as the entire car jerked violently, throwing my friends from their feet. Marty lost his grip on the rocket launcher, and as it hit the wall beside me, my fingers slid over the smooth metal wall as I struggled to keep upright.

  The elevator jolted again as the brakes caught, and I stumbled my head smacking painfully against the wall. My vision went blurry as a robotic voice cut through the sound of the alarms.

  “Cable break imminent, prepare for emergency measures.”

  As my brain tried to make sense of the words, the elevator lurched, and the sound of screeching metal filled my ears. We fell, the elevator banging downward as the brakes sought to engage, but even though I could hear the grinding steel outside, I knew it wouldn’t matter. There was too much weight, and we were going too fast.

  A robotic fist tore through the center of the ceiling, splitting the metal like tinfoil. As cybernetic fingers gripped the steel and pulled it back like the lid on a tuna can, I grabbed hold of Marty’s rocket launcher.

  “Drop the pen—”

  I had half a second to realize this mech wasn’t being driven by Wayne before I cut off its words by blasting it full in the face with some kind of rocket launcher. The impact tore through the mech’s midsection, burying itself into the steel contraption before sending it flying up the shaft in an explosion of heat that melted the metal around the ceiling into slag.

  As molten metal dripped from the ceiling, I tossed the rocket launcher to Marty and grabbed my pen. A moment later the elevator was repaired, and as we hung there in the relative safety of our steel cage, I knew we didn’t have long. For one, I had no idea if the mech was actually destroyed, but even if it wasn’t, I was willing to bet there’d be more than one.

  Worse, Wayne wouldn’t dare come at us so directly now. I’d had a chance to kill him, and somehow, I’d failed. That realization pissed me off way more than it should have, and I seized on that rage, using it to guide me.

  “What do we do?” Maggie asked as she got to her feet, M16 raised. I doubt this is going to do much to stop them. She waved the gun at the newly repaired ceiling. She was right of course, but that was fine.

  “We fight fire with fucking fire,” I snarled, slamming my hand on the elevator’s control panel. Instantly the wall to our left opened, revealing a room that hadn’t been there a moment before. “Come on.”

  I hustled into the room with the others trailing behind me, and as I did, the lights came on, revealing three mechanized suits of armor, similar to the ones we’d encountered before.

  “Whoa,” Marty said, dropping his rocket launcher and following me as I moved past the suits. “You’ve been holding out on us, man.”

  “I didn’t know they were possible, but now that I do.” I shrugged as I approached the mechanized chair at the front of the room.

  A loud clang echoed from outside, letting me know the elevator had been mounted by mechanized assholes again. I’d reinforced the armor, but from the way it was getting pounded on, I knew it wouldn’t last much longer. That was fine though.

  “Get in the mechs,” I said as I jumped into the chair. “You should know how to use them.” Then I hit a button on the chair. The elevator in the shaft began to glow before shooting toward the ceiling like a bat out of hell. Flame burst from the jets at the bottom, flaring like the sun right before pushing out of the way.

  A half-second later, I heard it slam into the ceiling at the top of the shaft with an earsplitting clang. Then as the foot-thick steel doors to the shaft closed, the sound of the elevator exploding filled my ears. It was loud even in here, making me wonder just how much damage it’d done.

  Actually, I didn’t care. As my friends got in their mechs, I stared at the screens that rose all around me. In an instant, I could see every inch of my new base, and because of that, I knew we’d barely even started to fight back. There was an army of soldiers back in the room where we’d fought Wayne, some in mechs, but most not.

  The room looked like it’d been devastated by the explosion, making me wonder how many I’d taken out. Not enough, anyway.

  An idea occurred to me. I was trying to stop them from getting through the tunnels to my secret lair, but I didn’t necessarily need to do that. No. I’d made those tunnels. And I could unmake them just as easily.

  With a flick of my wrist, I erased the elevator shaft.

  I can’t quite explain how it looked because one moment mechanized soldiers were leaping down the shaft, and the next, there was a solid wall of dirt because the shaft didn’t exist, leaving the soldiers trapped beneath the Earth like fossils.

  As I stared at the dirt while my friends moved toward the door that was now a giant wall of earth and steel, I took a deep breath and thought. The mechs hadn’t died. And while I didn’t know what their ability to escape actually was, I didn’t want to rely on them being frozen forever. No. It was time to take them out now.

  While I still couldn’t directly affect them with the pen, I could definitely affect the surrounding matter, and I did so with a smile on my face.

  I circled each mech on the layout of the area that appeared in front of me and wrote the words small black hole lasts long enough to destroy each mech.

  No sooner had I finished it when every single mech was sucked into the void, and the black holes extinguished themselves. I was glad that had worked because I’d worried that it might kill us all, but thankfully, it had seemed to happen so quickly, no further damage was done.

  Unfortunately, that still left those who had stayed above, and even a cursory glance at them revealed most had backtracked into the actual hotel.

  That was good and bad because as I erased the entrance to my lair, I realized while they couldn’t technically get to me anymore, we couldn’t escape.

  “Cortiri, are you there?” I asked, addressing the state of art AI, I’d written into being that was in charge of controlling my dungeon. “Can you take over the controls and kill all these fuckers?”

  “It would be my pleasure,” the seductive voice of the AI replied.

  As alerts began to pop up all over my screen, indicating Cortiri had taken over the controls and was waxing fools with impunity, I hopped from my command chair and moved toward the far wall.

  “Open,” I said, causing the wall to slide into the ceiling, revealing another elevator that would lead down into the depths of my new lair.

  There was just one problem. As I turned to tell my friends to come, Wayne Danner’s voice boomed through the space as a holographic projection of him appeared between us.

  “Well done, Mr. Stevens. You’ve defeated my first salvo.” He held up two hands, fingers splayed and slowly lowered one finger. “Can you defeat the next nine waves?” He shook his head. “I don’t think you can. After all, I’ve killed lots of other pen bearers and withstood multiple attempts on my own person. There is no way you’ll last the night. Even with your cute little AI.” At those words, all the power in my lair went out, pitching us into darkness save by the light cast from Wayne’s hologram.

  A pang of fear shot through me. How had he taken out my AI so easily? Even with his own stupid pen? It didn’t make sense, and as I frantically tried to reactivate it with my own pen, he started talking again.

  “Whoops, did I do that?” He smiled at me and shrugged. “Anyway, here’s how this is going to go. I’m going to kill all your friends. Then I’m going to kill you.” He smirked. “This saves you the trouble of telling me to pry the pen from your cold, dead hands, after all.” He met my eyes, and I got the impression he could really see me. “You wouldn’t have it any other way…” He began pacing, arms folded behind his back. “Or would you?”

  As he said those final words, the holographic image of him expanded to include four women tied up next to him, and the sight of them nearly stopped my heart.

  “Say hello, will you, ladies?” Wayne said, tur
ning and gesturing at them before frowning. “Ah, I guess you can’t since you’re all tied up at the moment.” He shrugged. “You have ten seconds to reopen the chamber to your lair and hand me the pen, or I start killing people.” He pulled out a gun, walked toward Lisa, and put it to her head. “After the waitress, I’ll kill your boss, then your counselor, and finally? Well, finally, I’ll kill that cute cheerleader you fucked with that big old dick of yours.” He smirked. “Don’t worry, everyone does that at least once. I don’t judge.” He met my eyes. “Bring me the pen. Now.”

  The image vanished, leaving me to stand there in complete darkness.

  Time seemed to slow down as I stood there, trying to figure out what to do. Obviously, I couldn’t just go up there, give him the pen, and expect everything to turn out well. No. I needed to have a plan, only I wasn’t sure what I could do given my limited time unless I wanted to just let them die.

  And I couldn’t do that. It was weird because while I didn’t fancy myself a good person, I felt like those girls were under my protection, and because of that, I couldn’t let harm befall them. Besides, this fucker thought he was better than me, and maybe he was, but I wasn’t ready to buy that just yet.

  Part of me wondered if I could drop a satellite out of orbit onto his skull or write something to save the girls, but I didn’t know quite what to write since I didn’t know where he was. I was also pretty sure it wouldn’t work.

  Every time I’d tried to directly influence Wayne so far, it hadn’t done a goddamned thing. Worse, he seemed to know that. Hell, he seemed to know more about the pen than I ever could or would.

  No. If I was going to defeat him, I needed to do it myself. Sure, I could use the pen, but I was more than the pen dammit.

  “What do you want us to do?” Skye asked, coming toward me in her mech, and as she caught my eyes, I could tell she really wanted to help me. The thing was, I wasn’t sure how she could help.

  “Just leave them, bro,” Marty said, eyeing me as took a deep breath I began to walk toward my friends. “You have infinite power. You can’t risk it for a few girls.” He gestured toward Skye and Maggie. “Both of them are way hotter, anyway.”

  “That’s not the point,” I said, gripping my pen tightly as I brought it to my pad. “Those girls are mine. He can’t have them. Not while I still breathe.”

  “Bro,” Marty said right before popping open the cockpit of his mech. The hiss of escaping air made me turn toward him as he landed roughly on the ground beside me. “Listen to me. You can’t go up there without us or without a plan.”

  “Actually, I can do whatever I want,” I said, staring at him, and as I did a really bad idea popped into my head. “And I need you to come with me.”

  30

  Even though he’d given me ten seconds to make it back up to the top, I was really hoping he hadn’t been literal because it took me almost three whole minutes to make it back. Even after I’d spent the better part of a minute writing the elevator shaft and corresponding rooms back into being, once I’d climbed aboard, the ride alone had taken almost thirty seconds.

  Part of me had wanted to make it go faster, but I was willing to blow Wayne off on this one. He seemed to be able to see my every movement, to follow me as I did whatever. He had to know I was coming. Besides, a bit of quick writing on the way up let me feel the heartbeat of all my people, and the four he held captive were still alive.

  Unfortunately, that might not matter in the next few minutes.

  As the elevator reached the apex of its flight, I sucked in a deep breath. I was wearing body armor that could withstand nearly everything, but I still didn’t feel safe.

  “Are you ready, Marty?” I asked, mouthing the words into my hastily made communications system.

  “Yeah,” he said as the doors opened, revealing the room where I’d fought Wayne earlier. Only now it showed no sign of a battle having taken place. Instead, it was just an expanse of cold, unfeeling steel, and as I stepped out into it, I couldn’t help but feel exposed.

  No. It wasn’t that I felt exposed. It was that the unmistakable feeling of being watched had settled over me once again. I didn’t like it, but there was no use dealing with it now. Obviously, Wayne was watching me.

  It sort of pissed me off because I had no way of knowing what he was capable of. What if he had other magical items even more powerful than the pen?

  I wiped the thought from my mind. I couldn’t think about that now. It was time to put my game face on and punch this dude in the dick. Or die trying anyway.

  “Where do you want me to go?” I asked aloud as I moved across the room toward where the passage would lead back into the hotel. “You never told me where you were.”

  “I find it amusing that you think I can hear you,” Wayne’s voice boomed through the tiny room, and as the sound of it echoed off the walls, his holographic form appeared before me. “Come this way.”

  He turned right and phased right through the goddamned wall, and as I stared at it, I couldn’t figure out what to do. The wall had been solid steel, and I didn’t remember drawing a passage here.

  “How?” I asked, confused.

  “You have a magic pen, figure it out,” Wayne’s voice said, and this time it was like a whisper in my ear.

  “You want me to make a passage?” I stared at the wall, feeling for a secret doorknob or something.

  “Yes,” he hissed, head appearing back through the wall. “I can’t believe you, of all people, got the pen. You’re so dumb.” He pointed at the wall as he phased halfway through it. “Open the goddamned door with your pen.”

  “Is this so you can make sure I didn’t create a duplicate or something?” I asked, and he smiled at me with all the humor of a great white shark.

  “Exactly.”

  I sighed and did as he asked.

  Open an enormous door to the passageway beyond.

  The golden letters flared, and for a moment, I thought they would evaporate. Then the wall in front of me slid open like the aperture on a camera, revealing a long circular tunnel.

  “Did you find a giant worm or something?” I asked, staring at the giant burrow as Wayne began to walk down it, not a care in the world.

  “Something,” he replied, shrugging. “You know you’re dead, right?” He turned to look at me. “I probably shouldn’t tell you that, but you are.” He smirked. “And it won’t even be me who kills you because I plan to honor our deal.”

  “Eh?” I asked, confused. “What do you mean?”

  “Give me the pen, and you can keep all this.” He shrugged. “It won’t matter though. You’re definitely on someone’s radar by now. They will find you.” He tapped his chin. “If you were smart, I’d give you ten days, maybe. You probably have less.” He was scared. It wasn’t in his posture or his words, per se. No, it was more in his suddenly desperate need to tell me. He should have killed me already and taken the pen, but he hadn’t, and while I didn’t quite understand why, I was wondering if that was important.

  “Who would come after me if you don’t?” I asked as we reached the end of the tunnel, and I found myself staring at what looked like a giant submarine drill thing straight out of a mole men comic. Its nose was a giant circular drill, and while I could tell it had robotic arm things that could slide out from the sides, I was way more impressed by the treads on the outside. They covered nearly every inch of its body, so it could propel itself forward through the rock even when the jets on the ass end didn’t provide enough thrust.

  “The other pen bearers if you’re lucky.” With those words, the hologram vanished, and the door opened, revealing a soldier dressed in the same body armor the others had earlier.

  He had a scar on one cheek and stood nearly seven feet tall. His military style buzz-cut made it hard to tell his hair color given the low light cast by the digging machine, but even still, I could feel the wave of authority coming off of him.

  “This way,” he growled, and as I watched him, I realized he hadn’t bo
thered to point his gun at me. Instead, it hung loosely on the strap of his shoulder. Part of me was disappointed, but most of me knew why. If I wanted to hurt him, I could, and if he pissed me off, I could definitely do it. Maybe I couldn’t turn him into a frog or anything, but there wouldn’t be a lot to stop me from doing something else.

  “You could stand to be nicer,” I replied, following him inside. Admittedly, part of me was surprised he gave me his back.

  “You killed a bunch of my friends. If I could, I’d gut you like a fish and use your entrails to chum the ocean while you’re still alive.” He glanced at me over his shoulder as we marched past an area filled with soldiers. They were all seated on chairs that were attached to the walls of the digging machine, reminding me of the seats in those giant military planes. “After I’ve raped all your women in front of you until they can’t walk anymore.” He nodded toward the soldiers seated in the chairs all around me. “They’ll all help me too.”

  “Everyone loves a good old-fashioned raping, I guess,” I said, feeling my rage surge up inside me. I clenched my hands, trying not to do something that would fuck up my plan. If I did that, we’d all die. I could deal with this fuck stick later.

  “Not everyone, but I don’t employ the ones that don’t for long. They’re not sadistic enough.” He looked at me for a long time. “Come on.”

  “You know I’m going to kill you, right?” I asked, raising an eyebrow as he pressed a button beside the door at the far end, causing it to slide sideways into the wall.

  “I am looking forward to seeing you try.” He touched the tattoo on the side of his neck. A series of six vertical slashes. “You’ll make the seventh.”

  “Asshole,” I muttered, my hands clenched into white-knuckled fists.

  “Ladies first,” he snarled, gesturing for me to go ahead and enter.

  “Then you should go first, but at the end of the day, no one cares what you do,” I replied, and before he could respond, I stepped into the room. I was done verbally sparring with someone who wouldn’t be alive a few seconds from now.