Egg cracker

"Because I won't lose the fight, Ted. I've been anticipating having to deal with you since before you arrived. Hindsight may be twenty-twenty, but it's the people who look forward who win."

Alexander's eyes, gold, started to flake and peel. They revealed a burnished red.

With each fallen flake and revealed bit of red, his vision took on a red tint. He could see the entirety of Ted Havens, inside and out.

With his free hand, he drew his wand, and he tapped his pocket, before tapping his eye.

White text began to flow into the backdrop of blood red and dark shadow, and the expanding image of Ted Havens, analyzed in full, in motion, in stillness, in emotion.

A little bit of fate, a little bit of strife.

Invisible to Ted's eyes, they began to gather between.

Moments of hesitation, of doubt, of recollection, of dismay. Frustration at Bristow, even.

Little landmines that would slow the man down and create openings.

This wasn't going to be a drawn out fight. It was one pass. One exchange. Lesser 'landmines' would pave the way for the big one. Which would be when Alexander struck.

He had many forms of awareness, many Sights, many tools. He fixed them on defeating a man who had seen tens or hundreds of thousands of years on this Earth.

Good.

That left one last measure, to secure this fight before it started.

He jerked, and for a moment, saw only stars, heard only raucous noise. His eyes rolled up and his head turned skyward.

"What are you-" Ted started.

The man wasn't at his best. Having just lost Bristow, faced with what might be his worst fear, he was prepared to throw it all away, and that kind of preparation could give a man an edge.

Here, it only added to bewilderment. The incomprehension.

"You're-" Ted started, stopping.

Alexander's head dropped, and he knelt.

*

"According to him, you saved my life. He was going to beat me and then kill or enslave me."

"Yep."

"Yeah. I won't say anything. I could help with the body, and the crime scene."

"Go, Ted. While you still can."

"Is that a threat?"

"It's a warning. About them. Everyone who would chase you."

Ted remained where he was. He took a deep breath, staring, then sighed.

John remained where he was, watching Ted, until Ted finally looked away. His head turned away first, then his body followed, as if the scene had a hold on him.

John didn't move until the man was gone. He wiped his gun down with a cloth, then holstered it, wet the cloth with his water bottle, and then wiped his hands.

"Which one of you is out there?" he asked the woods.

Branches and leaves rustled.

"His head-" Lucy said. "It's gone. Cracked open."

She sounded so much like a kid.

John walked, long, quick steps, until he stood between her and the body. He put a hand out to steady her, to keep her from pulling away or moving to a point where she could keep looking.

"You didn't need to come."

*

"I don't really believe you," she whispered to him. She was shaking a bit. "Sorry."

"I can't lie."

"And I can't believe you, that I have so little responsibility, bringing you here when I knew deep down that this was possible."

"It had to happen."

"I know. I really do. I-" she broke off. Her voice, already shaky, became a tremulous whisper. "John, I think he's still alive."

John pushed Lucy behind him as he turned, drawing his gun.

He stared for long moments, at a man with a head that had cracked like an egg. Large caliber bullet.

He'd waited, used extra senses, about war and conflict, to determine the moment Alexander might be most distracted, or have the most senses turned away. Then he'd fired.

"He's not, Lucy."

"But I can See-"

"His awareness. He set powers into motion and extra forms of sight and analysis. Observation. It'll keep going until the power runs out, even though the man is deceased."

"Oh," Lucy's answer was a shake breath with a word sort of in it.

- Gone Ahead 7.x