The Pen is Mightier

by J. A. Cipriano

  Grabbing my pen, I filled the hallway with fire caused by a broken gas line from the suite across the way. As the smell of burning flesh and smoke filled the air, and screams resounded through the hallway, I knew it had worked. Whoever was controlling the hallway, hadn’t thought to protect the other rooms.

  Suddenly, I felt a lot better about our chances for success. I waited a few moments longer, and then scratched out the line, causing the flames to not only die away since the leak was no longer there, but the fire sprinklers to work like they were on a mission from God.

  “Skye, are you okay?” I called, turning to look at the bedroom I’d just occupied.

  She nodded at me from the doorframe, Uzi gripped tightly in her hands. “I think so.”

  “You’ll find body armor in the closet,” I said, a lot louder than I needed to since my ears were still ringing. “I’m gonna check on Marty and the others.”

  As she disappeared back into the bedroom, I crept forward toward Marty’s room. The line about their safety was no longer written on the pad. Fuck. I’d given him and the other hookers the same powers I had, but a bullet would still kill them dead. I just had to hope that hadn’t happened yet. If these assholes had killed my friend, there would be hell to pay.

  I reached the bedroom a moment later and quickly knocked on the door. “Marty, are you guys okay?”

  “I think so,” he called back right before the door opened, and I saw him peering at me from a crouch. “What’s going on?”

  “People are after me,” I said, taking a deep breath. “There’re weapons and body armor in the closet for you and the girls. Get it on while I guard the door. Then we’re leaving.”

  “How are we leaving?” he asked as I heard movement behind him, indicating the girls inside were moving to the closet.

  “There will be a helicopter on the roof. We just need to get to it.” He nodded at my words, disappearing back inside as Skye reappeared in the doorway across from me.

  She was clad from head to toe in body armor like some kind of Special Forces agent, and as she met my eyes, I couldn’t help but smile.

  “Damn, you look hot.”

  “Glad to know the quickest way to get you to notice is to be fully clothed.” She rolled her eyes. “Mind telling me what’s going on?”

  “Bad guys are trying to kill us,” I said, pulling out my pen and turning the walls in front of me into one-way bulletproof glass. “I don’t want us to be dead.”

  “How did you…” Her mouth fell open as she stared at the wall, which was when I remembered she couldn’t see me writing thanks to the notes I’d made.

  “I’m a wizard. A real one.” I waved a hand. “Not important. What is important is we need to get to the roof.” I sighed. “The downside is you guys will have to cover me so I can work my magic.”

  “Are you insane?” Sky replied, and as she spoke, I did a terrible thing. I made her and the others want to protect me because I could already see more soldiers coming up the hallways.

  “Just do as I say, and we’ll all get through this,” I snapped as I made the floor beneath the soldiers’ break, causing them to fall into an oddly placed vat of sulfuric acid.

  “Whatever you say, sir,” Skye replied, moving past me with all the practiced ease of a military bad ass. She reached the door a second later, her back pressed against the wall as she peered through the glass. “More are coming.”

  “Okay,” I said as Marty and the other girls appeared behind me. “You guys move out and cover her. We don’t want to lose anyone. Also, someone give me a phone.”

  There was a collective assent as every last one of them, including Marty, moved to obey my command. My friend quickly handed me his phone before taking his place behind the girls, M16 at the ready.

  Flipping open his phone, I used my pen to help me tap into the hotel’s security system through an app that appeared on the screen.

  Through the hotel’s cameras, I saw men coming toward us, but I could take care of that. Taking a deep breath, I readied my pen. Then I began to write.

  There’s a laser tripwire just ahead of them that triggers mines.

  The floor is really slippery.

  On my screen, the first of the soldiers lost his footing, and as his arms shot out for balance in a vain attempt to keep himself upright, his fingers hit the infrared line of the tripwire. The hallway exploded into fire and brimstone as a zillion metal balls tore the soldiers into ragged chunks of flesh.

  Only, there was a problem. As I watched the smoke start to clear, more soldiers hustled through. It was insane because I’d just blown away six of them and they didn’t seem to care. It was like watching a swarm of ants throw themselves charging forward even as they were mowed down in the process.

  That was fine though. I had a few more tricks up my sleeve, and at the end of the day, there were only a few dozen of them.

  Automated turrets rise from the floor and shoot down intruders.

  This time the words vanished, and as I tried another line to turn the floor to lava, it also didn’t work. Fuck.

  A giant Indiana Jones boulder breaks through the window.

  I breathed out a sigh of relief as the boulder rolled over the men, crushing them. Yet there were still more. No sooner had the boulder rolled through the hall and broken through the wall at the far end, did more come.

  “We need to get out of here,” I said, looking at my comrades as the words The floor is really slippery vanished. “There’s just too many of them, and my pen isn’t working as well as it should.”

  28

  As we reached the stairwell, a massive explosion rocked the hotel, throwing me sideways into the wall as I struggled for balance. Debris rained from the ceiling as my shoulder slammed into the wall and pain shot through me. The girls immediately stopped, assessing the situation as Skye carefully pushed open the door to the stairs, checking it over with quick, practiced movements.

  “Seems clear,” she said, turning her eyes to me. “But the stairs above are filled with smoke and fire.” Her face fell. “The helicopter…”

  “Yeah,” I mumbled, staring at my phone. The cameras on the top three floors were just gone, making me think the floors were gone too. Without the helicopter, we wouldn’t be able to escape, but as I stared at the phone, I realized that was a dumb idea. How hard would it be for someone to shoot us out of the sky once we got up there?

  No. That was a bad plan. What we needed was to be creative, cunning, and smart. It didn’t seem like these guys had my ability, but they also were immune to it directly and tenacious. Traps though… those had seemed to work well.

  What I needed was to put lots of traps between them and us to give us time to escape in a way they never expected.

  “Let’s go down, Skye. To the basement,” I said, slinging my Benelli over my shoulder before offering the phone to Marty. “You make sure we don’t get ambushed. I’ve got some writing to do.”

  “Okay,” my friend said, nodding as he took the device and motioned for Skye to continue. She stepped into the hall, M16 at the ready and swept it for bad guys before moving down the stairs.

  The rest of the girls moved around me, keeping me hidden between their bodies as I set to work. I couldn’t repair the building or anything, but I didn’t plan to do that at all.

  Instead, I began to sketch out a drawing of the building. It wasn’t that good or anything because I was horrible at art, but that wasn’t the point. Instead, I used that and a combination of notes to turn the complex into a veritable dungeon.

  Deadfalls, snake pits, alligators, and the like materialized with each stroke of my pen as we headed down. Screams filled my ears, and while I was troubled by them, I knew it wasn’t from innocent people. The note that anyone not after me would stay in their room or vacate the premises saw to that.

  “Down,” Maggie, the short redhead with amazing tits and pale skin bringing up the rear said right before she shoved me to the floor and leapt on top of me. Bullets slammed into
the wall where my head had been, ripping through the drywall and covering me in debris. The other girls returned fire, filling the stairs above with lead as I struggled to suck in a breath. That had been close. Too close.

  “Go, go, go!” Maggie said, her Irish accent in full swing as she pulled me to my feet and dragged me toward where Skye was engaged in a shootout with soldiers on the flight below. The sound of gunfire obliterated my hearing and made it almost impossible to think.

  “They’re everywhere,” Marty said, glancing at me as Maggie pulled a grenade from her bandolier and flung it behind us. It hit the ground with a thunk before exploding in a wash of flame and shrapnel that turned the men behind us into minced meat.

  “I’ve got a plan,” I said, furiously writing.

  “Good because we’re trapped,” Maggie said, keeping me shielded by her body as best she could.

  “This way,” I said, turning and hitting the wall with my palm. The wall squeaked as the place I’d pressed opened, revealing a secret passageway between floors. “Come on.”

  Maggie nodded to me, stepping through the new doorway and moving ahead to guard me moments before two of the other girls flanked her. Marty and I followed next with three more girls behind us before Skye stepped inside, taking the rear. As soon as she passed through the doorway, the passage sealed itself with the hiss of electronic locks as the steel security door slid back into place.

  “What is this place?” Marty asked, glancing at me, his eyes flicking from the phone to me and back again. “It doesn’t appear to be part of the system.”

  “This is my secret lair. That’s what I’ve been making this whole time,” I said, smirking as I pushed past the girls. “Let me through.”

  They nodded but didn’t look happy about it. Unfortunately for them, I didn’t care. Moving forward, I quickly came to another door, this one made of solid steel. As I approached, I put my hand on the small metal cube adjacent to it.

  The cube lit up, filling the hallway with green light moments before the door slid open, revealing another passageway.

  “Everyone inside. Once we’re through, I’ll activate security and the area between these two doors will turn into a killing field.” I gestured at the walls. “Behind those steel walls are enough weapons to take down a goddamned tyrannosaurus, and even if that doesn’t stop them, the room will fill with nerve gas. Also, there are explosives should they try to enter without the proper authorization.”

  “I’m glad you’re on our side,” Skye said, moving next to me and giving me a kiss on the cheek. “I can’t wait to see what else you have in store.” With that, she led everyone inside leaving me in the hallway. I quickly activated the security protocol and stepped through the door. As it slid shut behind me, I felt a lot better. They might get through it, but they’d have to get through it, and that would cost them. Dearly.

  “Everyone in the elevator,” I said, crossing the room.

  “I already sent everyone else down,” Skye said, waving to me from just beside the elevator doors. “It’s just me waiting here for you.” She gave me a sly smile. “I wanted to get everyone else to safety, and besides, I figured you were more than man enough to save me if something happened.”

  As I glanced at the closed elevator doors, I wasn’t sure whether or not I should be angry or happy. On the one hand, she had saved everyone else, but on the other, it had left me trapped here.

  “Well, hopefully, they don’t get through those doors in the next thirty seconds,” I said right before an explosion rocked the room so violently, I nearly lost my balance.

  As the ground shook, and I grabbed the wall for stability, a surge of panic shot through me. That felt close. Too close.

  “What was that?” Skye called, racing back toward me, and grabbing my arm. She hauled me forward as my eyes flicked to the cameras on my phone. Every single one of them showed static. How could that be?

  “Not sure,” I said, reaching for my pen so I could fiddle with the cameras.

  “It sounded close,” she said, pulling me against the elevator doors. “Too close.” She stepped in front of me and leveled her weapon at the door.

  The entire room shook again, and the door at the other end of the hallway blew inward in a burst of flame and steel. The metal security door bounced, gouging a hole in the floor and throwing sparks into the air as Skye opened fire. Only as the bullets penetrated the thick black smoke pouring from the doorway, they bounced off, ricocheting in all directions.

  “You may as well stop firing. That gun will never be able to penetrate my armor.” I’d barely comprehended the words before a giant ass dude in a mechanical suit straight out of EXO-Squad marched through the smoke.

  I could see a tanned man with a balding head and a white-grey beard behind the sheen of glass covering the cockpit.

  “Wayne Danners?” I said, confusion filling me as the last of Skye’s bullets ricocheted off of the mech, pinging off the walls before harmlessly falling to the ground. This was the guy I’d seen with John in all the pictures. Why was he here?

  “Oh, so you know me.” He narrowed his eyes at me. “Give me the pen, and I won’t turn you into jelly. It probably goes without saying, but your pen won’t work on me.” One of his hands came off the controls for his mech and reached into the neck of his blue button-up. He pulled out a golden chain and on the end of it was a pen that looked really similar to mine only the coloring was different.

  “Let’s just see about that,” I snarled as I moved to write something that would help us escape, but before I’d moved even a fraction of an inch, the mech’s left arm lifted, pointing what looked like a giant missile launcher right at me.

  “If you try to write anything else, I will blow you to smithereens,” Wayne replied. “You might survive thanks to the added resilience the pen grants its owner, but your girl there most definitely will not. Furthermore, even if you do survive, you won’t be in any condition to stop me from walking across this room and taking what’s mine.”

  “So, do it then,” I snarled, rage surging up in me. “Take the pen.”

  “I figured I’d offer you a choice,” he said, and a hint of boredom entered his voice. “On account of the fact the last day or so has been the most exciting one I’ve had in the last century.” He smiled, but his eyes were filled with sadness.

  “A choice?” I asked, suddenly confused. “What choice?”

  “You can give me the pen, and I’ll let you keep everything you’ve acquired thus far, or I can kill you and take it and everything.” He smirked. “Giving me the pen back is a good deal.” He gestured at the room. “Don’t think I don’t know about that lottery ticket for the jackpot you’ve got. That’s the first thing everyone does.” He smirked. “This whole dungeon thing. It’s always the second. Trust me. I’ve seen it a dozen times before.”

  “Maybe we should consider—” Skye started but was cut off when Wayne fired a blast of machine gun fire from his mech that tore into the space right beside her head.

  “You don’t talk, sweet cheeks. This is men’s business. Pen business.” He fixed his eyes on me. “Decide.”

  “You can have the pen,” I said, and as I began walking toward him, hoping I could close the distance between us and find some way to stop him, a blast of gunfire ripped up the ground in front my feet.

  “No. I’m not letting you get close either. Just set it on the ground there.” He pointed at the floor. “Then roll it to me with your foot.”

  “Dammit,” I growled right as the elevator behind me dinged, and for a second, I couldn’t figure out what the sound was. As I turned and found Marty standing there with a giant ass rocket launcher on his shoulder, I became even more confused.

  “Get down!” Marty cried, and as Skye tackled me to the floor and the sound of gunfire filled my ears, an explosion of flame ripped out of the weapon as Marty fired.

  We crashed to the ground, and as pain shot through me, a wave of heat and sound erupted from behind me before the shockwave sent u
s toppling forward toward the entrance. As I slammed haphazardly into the wall, Maggie rushed toward is.

  “Come on,” Maggie cried, dragging me to my feet and toward the elevator. Marty stood in the doorway trying frantically to reload the weapon by himself.

  “What about Skye?” I replied, moving to help the blonde. She was still on the ground, and from the look of things wouldn’t be getting up anytime soon. Anger and rage exploded through me. She was hurt because she’d shielded me from the blast, and as I stared at her body, gunfire ripped through the flaming threshold down the hall.

  Bullets pinged off the walls, letting me know he couldn’t see us well enough to hit us and was firing blindly.

  “Maggie, get Skye in the elevator,” I snarled, ripping my pen and pad free of my pocket.

  The floor in the room beyond opens up over a pit of hot lava.

  Heat ripped through the room like someone had opened a doorway to a blast furnace as the gunfire stopped. The smell of sulfur hit my nose, and a self-satisfied smirk crossed my lips.

  “Survive that, jackass,” I muttered, turning back toward the elevator as gunfire ripped through the opening once more, tearing through the space I’d just occupied.

  I threw myself sideways, barely making it through the elevator doors as Maggie slammed her hand on the door closed button. I wasn’t sure how the fucker had survived a hot lava bath, but either way, I was going to fuck up his whole day.

  Only, my hand had barely found my pen when Marty fired his massive rocket launcher through the closing elevator doors. The shockwave rattled the elevator, throwing my friend off his feet. The giant gun fell from his shoulder, hitting the ground with a clang as the sound of bullets pinging off the steel doors between us and Wayne’s mechs filled my ears.

  Then we were flying downward so quickly, my stomach hit my throat, and I thought I was going to throw up.