Alex stared at the man in black as the man in black stared back at him. To an outside observer, it would've seemed like Alex was frozen, but in reality he was working on creating a skill.
He was creating telekinetic tendrils that attach to a target for an attack or weapon to flow along so it never misses its target. Sort of a telekinetic zip line, except they didn't have to be taut to work. Things could flow along it even if the pathway was curved or loose.
[New skill created: Telekinetic conduit]
"Hey boy! What are you looking at?" The man in black said.
"Someone who's probably sweating their ass off right now," Alex replied.
Alex started working on a second skill. This one used telepathy as the base skill. This one worked along a similar principle to the previous one. He wanted to create a connection with a singular mind, the man in black's, that was a one-way street to Alex.
He wanted all of the man's thoughts and feelings to flow into him, without any of his thoughts and feelings flowing into the man.
[New skill created: Telepathic conduit]
Alex could now feel everything the man was feeling, down to the physical sensation. These feelings were distinct from Alex's own feelings. It was almost like watching an incredibly detailed movie or reading a book as it was being written.
"It is kind of hot out here. I dressed to be stealthy last night. I didn't expect to be working into the next day," the man said, reloading his revolvers. "So are you just trying to have an ill-advised conversation or are you going to get between me and my goal?"
"I'm not sure," Alex said. "No one has presented any reason for me to get in the way or out of the way. I'm kind of waiting to see what Gamma Gertrude has to say."
"Hey, kid! I'll sell you my whole stock for 10 coins if you get rid of this guy for me," Gamma Gertrude said.
"What makes you think I can?" Alex said.
"You have a bandolier of knives strapped across your body and daggers on your hips. You seem equipped for a fight," Gertrude said.
"Oh yeah," Alex said, just now looking at his body and noticing the weapons. "I guess I do."
"What's it gonna be, kid?" The man in black said in a gravelly voice. "We ain't got all day." Alex felt the man's grip tighten on his reloaded revolvers.
"Deal," Alex said.
As soon as he said that, the man's guns came up. Alex could see and feel him aiming for his chest. With the information the telepathic conduit was supplying him, Alex could've blocked the bullets with the daggers on his hips.
He didn't for one very important reason. The bullets were explosive. They would blow his hands clean off his body. Well, not clean off. It would probably be messy.
Alex felt the man squeeze the triggers on his guns. Just before the guns went off, but after the point the man could pull his fingers off the triggers to stop himself from firing, Alex let his body go limp and fall to the ground.
The bullets sailed way over Alex's head into a nearby cabbage cart. Chunks of cabbage exploded outwards, covering Alex's back. Some of it even landed on the man.
Alex took two throwing knives out and threw them into the air. They followed the curved paths of the telekinetic conduits through the air, going up and then dropping back down, piercing through the tops of each of the man's feet.
"Fuck! Goddammit, that hurts! What'd you have to do that for?" The man said. He put his guns in their holsters and pulled the knives out one at a time.
"I wouldn't do that, ok, you did it," Alex said.
He got up off the ground and took his jacket off, shaking the cabbage off the back of it. The cabbage guy was going to be very upset when he got back. He might even yell something like, "My cabbages!"
"That's going to increase the blood loss, which is usually not very good for your health," Alex said. "To answer your ridiculous question, I obviously did it because you're trying to kill me. Second, this is your first warning to walk away."
"You're giving me warnings now?" The man said. "I'm Jebediah Pursenmangai. I give the warnings!"
"Wait. You're name is person-man-guy?" Alex said.
"Yeah. What of it?" Jebediah said.
"Nothing," Alex said, holding back a laugh.
"You may have got me this time, kid, but mark my words: next time, the only thing left of you will be your boots...because everything else will be all blown up and stuff," Jebediah said. "Because my bullets are explosive. They make things blow up."
"Yeah, I got that, with the exploding cabbages. By the way, you got some on your shoulder there," Alex said, pointing at Jebediah's right shoulder. Jebediah immediately put a hand on his left shoulder. "No, not that one. Your other shoulder." Jebediah looked at the cabbage stuck to his right shoulder and brushed it off. "There, you got it."
"Thanks," Jebediah said.
"No problem," Alex said. "If you're so confident in your abilities, do you wanna go another round? Maybe try your luck a second time?"
"Yeah, I want to go another round!" Jebediah said. There was a long silence, and then, "Which one of us goes first this time? Do you go first? Is that how this works? I usually kill people before the second round, so this is new for me."
"I think one of us just goes, but I was going to wait for you, so it seems like I'm giving you a fair chance before I kill you," Alex said.
"Ok, that sounds fair to me," Jebediah said.
There was a long silence where Alex and Jebediah stared each other down. Alex used the moment to attach his telekinetic conduits to another location.
"Whew! The pressure's getting to me," Jebediah said. And then more to himself, "You got this, Jebediah. You can do this!" He shook his head vigorously, his cheeks flapping as he made a noise. "Hbbbbrrrbbbhhh!"
Then Jebediah got serious. He stared Alex down, and Alex stared back. His hands drew closer to his guns. Suddenly, he drew them and fired.
The two bullets whizzed past Alex and exploded a second cabbage cart that was behind the first. This time it was far enough away that they luckily didn't get cabbage all over them.
"How did you?" Jebediah squinted his eyes at Alex. "You turned sideways right before I fired, so the bullets went past you. You can't do that! You gotta let me kill you."
"No, I don't," Alex said. He pulled two more throwing knives and threw them at the same time. There were two distinct clinking noises that happened almost at the same time, to where an untrained ear might think it was one.
Jebediah checked his body. No stab wounds. No pain. Well, then what did he-? Jebediah thought as he casually looked at his guns. There were two knives stuck into the barrels of his guns. One knife per barrel, to be exact.
"What the-" Jebediah said. He tried to pull the knives out of the barrels, but they wouldn't come out. They were stuck in there real good.
"No matter. I just have to," Jebediah said as he pulled the triggers.
"No no no no no, don't!" Alex said. But it was too late. Alex ducked.
The guns fired, and there was a loud explosion. A piece of shrapnel whizzed past Alex's ear, barely cutting it. When he looked up, Jebediah's guns were missing, along with his hands. And it was not clean. It was not clean at all.
"Oh, god," Jebediah said. "I don't suppose you know a good hand doctor, do ya kid?"
Jebediah's eyes rolled into the back of his head, and he fell over, dead.