The showdown (or is it?)

One-on-one with paintonhigh for nine_wonders

( The showdown (or is it?) )


Last updated: June 24

Ice cream.

One-on-one with daughterof_evil for nine_wonders.


( Ice cream )


Last updated: June 24

For Claude at nine_wonders, set a few years before 'Six Months Ago'.



Gabriel Gray was leaning in closely to the tiny device he was holding in between his long fingers. He handled it with extreme care, as if the instrument of time was so delicate, so fragile, it would fall apart with the smallest wrong movement he might make.

Narrowing his eyes slightly he looked through his special magnifying glasses to examine the inner body of the watch he was working on. He'd been studying this particular piece for days now and though it was working again the sound of the ticking mechanism was still slightly off. The instrument was running a second too fast.

Gabriel knew he was close to fixing it and his trained eyes wandered over the inner body until he finally found the flaw in the design. A soft smile came across his lips and an accomplished feeling ran through his veins as he replaced the tiny particle that had caused the problem. When he was done he held the watch near his right ear, just to make sure it was working perfectly again.

Tick, tock, tick, tock.

There was an exact second between each tick the watch made. He felt pleased having been able to fix it.

The doorbell rang and Gabriel placed the watch carefully on his work desk. He first made sure all his instruments were in the right place before he took off his glasses and turned around to see who had entered the watch store. The man didn't seem familiar to him, it wasn't a regular customer.

Standing up from his chair Gabriel said, "Can I help you?"

They were everywhere, he could feel them.

At first it had just been a vague sense of someone like himself being not too far, someone with a special ability within hands reach. So tempting, yet the feeling was still too scrambled to actually point an exact location. It was so frustrating to know that the powers were so near, yet untouchable.

That was weeks ago though, his own power had developed and it was like a sixth sense now. They were indeed everywhere and he didn't just felt it, he knew it. From miles away he could sense them and had he been interested he'd have their heads cut open within seconds, devouring the power and leaving the former owner for dead. But he wasn't interested in them all, not yet. He was on a mission. There were some powers that were far more significant than others, tugging his sense and teasing his desires. One of them was walking only a good 50 feet in front of him.

Sylar dug his hands deeper inside his pockets as he fastened his pace. A baseball cap was shrouding most of his face in shadow as he moved swiftly towards his target. He couldn't do anything yet, not here, in the park. Not that any of the people jogging, biking or running alongside him could do him any harm, he was more powerful than all of them combined. But he didn't want to attract any unwanted attention, thus decided to keep following his victim and wait with the attack until they had reached a less crowded area.

It wasn't long until they left the open space of the park and made their ways alongside deserted buildings and through back alleys. The sound of one pair of footsteps echoed through the small streets. If his victim was to turn around Sylar would no longer have a very likeable excuse as to why he was walking the exact same route, but he knew he'd think of something. Half the fun of killing after all was what happened before it. The observing, near stalking, and the discovery of what made his victims tick.

An expression that could only be described as a smile appeared upon his face as the distance between himself and his victim decreased. It was now or never.

tick, tock, tick, tock.