The Pen is Mightier

Chapter 1

**Takes place immediately following "For the Team, Season 2"**

Striding into the vintage office of Artie Neilsen, Pete Lattimer tosses a baseball casually in the air passing the time in between assignments. Taking a seat, he spins around twice in the chair until the squawk of Artie's computer stops him mid spin. As he wheels himself closer Artie shoos him away and reads. Picking up his Farnsworth, he opens it and calls. On the other end, he sees his beautiful agent Myka Bering looking down into the device on her end.

"I'm only a few minutes away with Claudia. You said we didn't have to be in for another 15 minutes!"

Artie only nods. "I know, I know. That's not why I'm calling. Have you two unpacked yet?"

Claudia takes the Farnsworth away from Myka and yells into it. "Oh come on! We just got in late last night!"

Artie nods understandingly. "I know, but something just came up, and Pete is still out of commission. Get that artifact here and head back out. I'll have everything ready for you two when you get here."

He shuts off the video-phone and starts printing out pages of documents and plane ticket receipts. Pete gathers the folder of papers together and hands them to Myka when she and Claudia return from putting away Godfrid's Spoon. Artie turns from his chair and addresses the pair.

"The regents were asked to take an artifact into safe keeping from our eastern European counterparts. A lot of countries dislike the warehouse being in someone else's country, and they see it as if it belongs to a particular country automatically. The Russian officer will make the exchange in Seattle, near their embassy. The specific item is to remain unknown, because if anyone catches a whiff of this item before the exchange occurs, it can unbalance things in the world. Every one of their Communist leaders had and used this item until Gorbachev. He made sure it went into his secret vault, until a year ago, when it was stolen. Our Agents there just tracked it down, and got special authorization to transfer it to our warehouse for safekeeping. So, take my bag, Claudia, and get there expeditiously! Please, with sugar on top. If we don't secure this item, it can also cause a major international incident, unsettling the balance of power across the world. Do not speak of it, just look at the notes. DO NOT SPEAK about what the item is, or its appearance, just read and do not speak a single word of what it is, even in the car. I mean it! There are still artifacts out there which can key onto the spoken word and it can found that easily. Read my words, but NEVER say what you are getting or specifically where the meeting is."

Artie has her come to his desk, where he shows her a picture of the item, along with the address. "Got it?"

Myka's concerned expression tells of her understanding for the situation, and she nods before she takes her gear and leaves quickly with Claudia in tow.

The 6 hours of flights and driving puts them on the waterfront of downtown Seattle. Claudia, anxious to talk, discovers the difficulty of not talking about something which no one can talk about. Rationalizing that its no different than before, she can't believe it's actually bugging her. Trying to concentrate on not talking of the artifact, she eventually blurts out about the next annoying thing on her mind.

"Why did Artie have you see what it was and where we are going, and not me?"

Myka ponders the question longer than she probably should have before responding.

"I imagine it's because I'm considered the senior agent and all. And if only one of us knows what it is, we're less likely to blurt it out in casual conversation. It's a very common item per say in appearance, so we might blurt out 'buckle' when referring to it, when we aren't supposed to talk about it at all. Ya'know?"

Claudia disliking the taste of logical reason and common sense, just tries to change the subject for the remainder of the ride, despite the gnawing sensation burning at her tongue.

Spending 20 minutes finding parking, near the ferry port, they make their way up the hill towards the shops. Finding an elevator, Claudia smiles broadly seeing an iconic sign ahead: "PUBLIC MARKET."

"Pikes Fish Market! This is so awesome! We're meeting him here? Whoa! Starbucks is nearby, let's get some quickly from the first Starbucks!"

Myka checks her watch and nods. "We have 25 minutes."

Spending nearly twenty of those minutes in line, they rush to arrive in front of the fish market right on schedule and find a small crowd gathered to watch the fish-toss. Confused, Claudia scans the crowd and can't distinguish exactly who they are supposed to meet. As she turns to Myka, she sees her donning a gold pin with a red ruby in the center. It seems to glow on its own, not a product of the sun's glint or refraction of light. Like magic, Claudia turns back to the crowd to see a short raven-haired woman immediately eye the pin, smile subtly, and head towards them from across the opposite side of the market. No taller than Claudia, the young woman wears a pair of purple spectacles, and has her straight black hair out of her face and in control behind her ears. Claudia can't help but notice her milk-white skin and lack of exposure to sunlight, but is sure she's not an albino, and she probably never gets out into the sun. Keenly dressed in a lacey white blouse, black knee-length skirt and matching jacket, her black flat shoes compliment her ensemble.

As they get closer, the roar of the fish crowd suddenly captures everyone's attention as the fish goes soaring to a buyer nearby, causing a loud gasp and laughter. Myka returns her gaze onto the approaching courier and sees her stopped leaning on a table. Myka surges forward and reaches her as she collapses to the floor with a bunch of red roses clutched in her arms. As she catches the young woman's head from cracking against the floor, Myka realizes she wasn't holding flowers, but instead she was keeping her abdomen from spilling out onto the floor.

Trembling, she gasps her final words in a thick Ukrainian accent. "Forget me…Ivan Bok stole the artifact…go…"

Claudia gapes helplessly at the dying woman, brutally disemboweled in public. Myka snaps her out of it by dragging her away towards a tall bald man running furiously towards the docks. Ordering a woman to call 911 while flashing her badge, Myka takes off with Claudia in tow. With the man having a full minute's head start, Myka knows he can easily lose them if he got lucky or had a getaway car ready. Banking on he was prepared as she was, she has Claudia cut him off if he turns south on Alaskan Way street, along the bay of Pugent Sound. As she reaches eh end of the street, she smiles inside, knowing that he can't keep up her pace, and the sound of police cars approaching will keep him from turning right, or north on Alaskan Way. He turns his head left and right, and begins running towards the ferry dock. As she reaches the dock she screams seeing him being jetted away on a speed boat. Claudia reaches her and asks what to do next.

As Myka struggles with her options, a strong feminine voice behind them says:

"How about a little help?"

They turn to see their infamous ex-warehouse agent Helena Wells standing in the crowd wearing a long raincoat.