Preparation [8]

Gio took the poison unceremoniously. 

"It's almost a shame. If you became my servant, wouldn't I be able to control your whole team?"

He joked about something most wouldn't have the confidence to make light of, but Raymond took it on the chin. He expected this child to be reckless with his words since long ago. 

"Even if you could, what would you do?" he asked with a shrug. 

"It isn't like you'd know how to use it anyway."

Gio returned the shrug and the words together.

"That's up for debate. Anyway, this concludes the contract we signed before. I appreciate your consideration, by the way. I'll count it as something to repay in the future, but let's leave any more conversations until then."

He was polite, but he also very bluntly said that this was the end of their current interaction. 

It was quite rude even from a child, making the rest of Raymond's team cast Gio nasty looks. When one had the context that he was actually an adult, it became even more inexcusable. 

'Well, that's how I was at this time.'

He had to admit that he was unruly as a child. He could clean himself up a little, but if he acted too differently, people would question it. 

It was enough to get rid of the most annoying and intolerable parts of his childhood personality for now. As the years passed, he could naturally act more responsibly. 

Truly, if he wasn't a child, people like Raymond wouldn't give him the time of day with the way he acted. No, if he wasn't a child with potential, he surely would have felt the consequences of his actions by now. 

Nevertheless, he was lucky enough to be viewed that way. 

Raymond subtly signaled his team to ignore the remark while turning to Gio with a smile.

"Well, then, let's leave it at that. I look forward to our next meeting, Gio."

"It's the same for me."

Gio returned the farewell casually, walking to the door and opening it. As he watched the four people who entered his home enter their vehicle and leave, he sighed to himself. 

'It would have been better to continue the interaction, but it isn't possible right now.'

Gastle was the safest place they could be, but it also wasn't a place where Gio could fully reveal his ambitions. After all, he was known by too many people. He didn't need them noticing his changes.

A short interaction with Raymond was enough for the Old Lady to find out exactly who he was.

'To build a relationship with Raymond, I have to be the real me, not an impersonation of my childhood self.'

Gio also knew that the Old Lady wouldn't do anything to cause him harm, but that didn't mean the information she learned couldn't harm her. It was best to keep the past and the future separate so they couldn't converge too much. 

'I have his number, anyway. If I want to form that connection, I have the means.'

His eyes went down to the vial in his hand. 

'There are better things to be focusing on right now.'

He only waited because he didn't want Raymond's people to see him leaving the city. When he was sure they'd left, he instantly rushed for the Dome.

The housing was completed a couple months ago, and the rest of the toxins had just been rotting in the main lab. 

It was time to change that bleak situation.

***

"Sir, is that really the kid you were talking about?"

As Raymond and his team made their way back to the zephyr, he was inevitably asked the question. 

"What do you mean by that?" he returned. 

The woman who asked him, the navigator of their team named Alice, wasn't shy enough to hold her words back. 

"That kid doesn't look like anything special. More importantly, he has the personality of a Scavenger. You know how those people end up when they reach the Upper Strata."

Raymond smiled wryly. It wasn't as if she was wrong. The reason why he could accept Gio's behavior was that it was the most common personality for those in the Wasteland. They were tired of their lives and lashed out at everything, caring only about their own personal goals and desires.

It was only obvious what would happen when that kind of person arrived in the Upper Strata and interacted with its people. When those people became Sequencers and gained power…

"Well, I think there's something different about him."

It wasn't hard to understand why the others couldn't see it. 

"He's doing a really good job, but I saw a little bit of it when we met on the zephyr. He's definitely a scheming kid, but that rude front he puts up is all an act. It's like he's blending in because he knows that attitude will suit him best while he's in the Wasteland."

"That isn't any better, is it?" Alice retorted. 

"Maybe it isn't," Raymond said easily. 

"But for a Sequencer, the ability to be crafty is a necessity. If he gets rid of the traits that'll make stronger and more unruly people kill him on the spot, he'll grow into someone great."

Alice's brows furrowed. She couldn't understand why Raymond would think that way, but she also didn't question him further. Raymond usually didn't act on a whim unless his intuition was telling him something, and over the years, she'd learned to trust that intuition. 

The other two were the same. Otherwise, Natalia and the man who was with them, David, would have raised their concerns as well. 

'That kid…'

Natalia was the one who'd been keeping track of his information as their agents trailed him. 

'...the Captain isn't wrong about him.'

From what she'd heard, he was definitely someone worth keeping an eye on. It wasn't uncommon for harsh environments like this one to birth talent. 

However, to say that he would become someone great…

She would have to see something more from him to determine that part.

Gio was unaware of the people following him. He didn't know that there were expectations being placed on his head.

However, with the plans he had for the future, he was bound to surpass any expectations that could possibly be set for him. 

He stood in the main lab at the Dome with a vial of purple-black liquid in his hands. The fact that he was wearing a full suit of protective equipment that didn't allow a single speck of his skin to touch the air and the fact that nobody else had been allowed anywhere near the vicinity of the main lab for the past day was enough to tell of the strength of that liquid.

Carefully, he used a pair of tongs to lower the vial into the container he created prior. He placed the top of the contraption back onto the rest and moved it into a machine that would completely seal the housing. 

He looked down at the cylindrical device. His eyes trailed to the various iterations of the housing he'd made before assembling the final device. 

It was a much harder process than he was prepared for, but it was over now.

His killing weapon was complete. 

And there was a snake waiting for him in the middle of nowhere that was practically begging to get a taste of it.