Elijah touched down just outside the courthouse, dismounting and patting his pegasus's flank as he approaches the makeshift base, freaking out Lanie, who was standing guard. She instinctively drew and fired an arrow at Elijah, which broke once it hit his breastplate, staggering him.

He threw his hands up in a 'don't shoot' fashion, and called out, "Hold your fire! It's Elijah!"

She cursed under her breath as she lowered her bow. "Sorry, Eli! We all thought you were dead. 'nd, that new armour you've got isn't exactly friendly-lookin'," she called to him, jogging out to meet him.

"Nope. I'm very much alive, and ready to win this war," he says with a smile.

"Great," Lanie says, grinning. "Head on in. But I'd suggest removing the helm."

"Alright. Thanks."

Elijah heads in after removing the helmet, nonchalantly striding into the lobby, quickly noting the time. 7:03 AM. He walks up to Alex, who was still looking after some kids, despite the bandage on his arm and medical tape on his nose.

"Hey, who'd you guys put in charge after me?" he asks.

"J-James is in charge, now. He's in the security room, still trying to access the security feed," Alex replies, caught off guard at the sight of the presumed dead soldier.

"Thanks. By the way, you're doing amazingly," Elijah says, before walking off to the room he'd previously met James.

He poked his head into the room, and saw pieces of paper strewn around the room, and the wall had a dent in it. The teen he was looking for was sitting in an office chair, glaring at the computer that had the decryption program open, but, other than that, wasn't doing anything with it.

"Still having trouble?" Elijah asked, startling James.

"Wha-? Oh, yeah," he replied, turning to see who it was, then shrugging it off and returning to studying the screen, unmoved by the sudden appearance of Elijah.

"I didn't get to try my hand, earlier. Mind if I have a go?"

"Knock yourself out," James said, standing and stretching. "I could use a nap, anyway. Or a coffee."

"Alright. Have yourself a nap. It'll help for tonight," Elijah said, patting James softly on the back as to not knock him over.

He raised his arm in a joking salute. "Aye aye, Cap'n." James started towards the doors. "Oh!" he exclaimed, turning on his heel. "Before I go, I've got your sword in here. It's hidden, in case one of the Hermes kids thinks it's better than his own sword. Want me to get it? I know how much you like it."

"Um… No. You can keep it for yourself. It's a good blade, and will save your hide if you take care of it."

James looked shocked. "A-Are you sure?"

"Yup. I've got cooler toys, now."

"Okay… I'll get it tonight," James said, still slightly apprehensive.

"The sword is called Lepída, so you know."

"Lepída? You named your sword 'sword'?" He's laughing.

"Shaddup," Elijah says, but he's smiling, as well. "I had it for a while, and it was a very good blade. Served me well, and fit perfectly in my hands, so I thought a name was in order."

"Just not a creative one."

"Just go take your damned nap." Elijah shooed James from the room.

"Whatever you say, Boss. Oh, and good to have you back."

Elijah was already working on cracking the code, and James left before he could acknowledge he said something.

Elijah's first tactic was to just go at it. He wasn't experienced in hacking, but how hard could it be?

He failed instantly.

Next, he tried to go off of James's notes. Which he immediately regretted attempting; it looked like it was written by a drunken chicken suffering from a case of the shakes.

His father's words came back to him concerning the pen. '…magical properties that allow it to do extraordinary things.' He thought why not give it a try. If only he could get to it. All the armour is in the way.

He started the long and familiar process of removing his armour, when he found that, to his shock, there was no fastenings. He tried to pull the armour off, but to no avail. He walked to a mirror on the wall and tried to see if there was anything that could help.

The only thing he saw was him. Nothing of use. Just his armour. Smooth, black and silver. Right at his sternum was a silver design.

He took a double take. He hadn't remembered that. He walked closer to the mirror to see what the design was. It was one of those old drama masks. Out of curiosity (and desperation), he touched it. Instantly, the armour began to shrink and compress, going to the design. Even the helmet, which was still on the desk, came over and was absorbed. Eventually, Elijah stood, the only thing left was his clothes, his new sheathe and sword, and a leather necklace, not unlike his camp one, with a gold coin hanging from it. He looked down at it, and saw the same mask design imprinted on it.

"Cool," he thought aloud. "Now for the pen…"

He reached in his pocket and took out the black and silver fountain pen. It looked pretty ordinary. He uncapped it and nothing happened. He saw a lever on the side, where he'd press to shoot out and refill ink, and flipped it. Instead of ink shooting out, the pen turned into a silver dagger with a blade about ten inches long, and a handle that fit in his hand just perfectly, with enough pommel sticking out to break someone's nose.

"Alright, now how to put it back…" he wondered.

After a minute of searching, he found a small sliver of a lever tucked under the guard, and pulled it. Next thing he knew, he's holding a pen again.

"Okay, what else can you do…?"

He had a hunch, and unscrewed the tip. On the other side, was a USB plug.

"Perfect!" he exclaimed, and plugged it into the computer.

The computer blinked, before a text box came up. It read, 'What would you like me to do?' and had a section for a typed response.

Elijah grinned and typed, 'Hack security footage'.

A second passes, and the security feeds are shown on the screen.

Another box appeared. 'Now what would you have me do?'

Elijah, no longer finding need for it, since the task is complete, attempts to yank the pen from the computer.

That box closes, and is replaced. 'One does not simply yank without ejecting… What would you have me do?'

Elijah sighs and types, 'Eject', and the box closes. The pen then is ejected out of the drive as if it's being pushed. He takes it and screws it back into the body of the pen, capping it and putting it back in his pocket.

Once he looks up, he grins like a madman. He accessed the live footage. Granted, several cameras were out, but any camera angle is useful.

He yawns, and is reminded of his words of wisdom to take a nap. So he goes down, informs Alex, because he didn't know who else to, about the hacked footage, and heads off to the beds for a nap. All the comfiest chairs were already taken, and there was one couch free. He throws himself in it, falling asleep instantly.

Late, I know. But I was... preoccupied, yesterday. Anyway, thanks for reading, and all that.

~SoA