As S and Osfour are approaching the dock, Osfour is gunned down by a sniper and S is attacked by another assassin. S is tackled, and the valise he holds yawns open on the ground. Just before S succumbs, he manages to defend himself with the poisonous pen and eventually kills the attacker. “[…] he strikes out with it, slashing and stabbing away until he feels the sharpened nib sink into tissue, hear the moist chiff it makes”, writes V.M. Straka.

S feels feral and unstoppable. He is about to strike again when he sees a figure picking up the valise, only to stop when that same figure hands him the valise and offers him direction.

Here, S completes his first kill in his campaign against Vevoda. While S is nearly murdered by Vevoda’s assassin, S will soon embark on a journey of assassination (see the Interlude)–for the cause of peace restoration.

The valise is a reoccurring symbol in the book. It represents resourcefulness and information . Its appearances and contents are summarized here with great details. While Jen focuses on the gore of the stabbing (“‘moist chiff? gross”), a young Eric nimbly discovers the reference of pen. He writes: “Pen as weapon. Exactly what VMS would believe.” VMS’s novels are so influential that they generate not only social movements that topple exploitative regimes, but also conspiracy theories and multiple crime accusations. Pen is VMS’s most powerful weapon.

The Chapter 4 ciphers indicate that FXC’s bag was stolen from the Grand Central Station. Following the bag reference, Jen writes: “VMS would’ve been crushed if he’d known the bag was stolen from Grand Central.”