"So big deal you found out… Now what?"
There are few things Girisia was ever scared of, among which included his history teacher, the deep ocean, and his older brother. But Wilkis was never someone he feared in his life.
The man Girisia knew in his old life was someone who sticks to the code to a fault and won't ever lash out at people unless they went too far.
He was also someone who made Gyatri his sworn brother and they also fought a certain entity together.
And due to this relationship, Wilkis also treated Girisia with respect when he first met him. Though Girisia knew that his previous perception of Wilkis might be at fault after he returned to the past. He still treated him with familiarity.
It's hard for a person to change his true nature and for someone as old as Wilkis, it was all the more true.
"You seem not as worried from your tone of voice," Wilkis said to Girisia who was floating in the air bound by chains held by drones.
It was pretty uncomfortable for Girisia, who had also lost both of his mechanical arms. But there was no fear on his face. He was constantly learning as time went by and had gone through hell already. This much pain is not scary to him.
As for his life that may be in danger?
"Why should I?... You now know about my true nature so you know how important the information hidden in my head is."Calmly, Girisia explained his reasoning.
"Though what I am confused about, what took you so long if you had been spying on me for so long?..." There was no fear in Girisia's eyes. He may be trash as a person but he was not someone who remained static.
He understood that having a glib tongue was not a powerful tool in itself, he needed personality and intelligence to back it up.
And from his current understanding, the reason why he asked the reason for Wilkis taking his time was that Wilkis was not sure whether it would a good choice. He probably struggled in his mind on whether to detain someone with Girisia's talent.
'Not to forget, he is just not that kind of person.'
"I never planned to… but you got too close to Yoshikov." A different answer than Girisia expected but an answer he somewhat understood the reasoning of.
"You always knew about Utena?... even before learning about it from us?" This was a major surprise for Girisia. In the first timeline, when Utena was exposed to the whole world and CItadel came under fire for their underhanded actions by the Variant-H members of the federation. Wilkis acted ignorant about Utena and even went to raid one of their camps along with his Sekhon siblings in tow.
And from the current words of Wilkis, Girisia was sure that Wilkis knew the existence of Utena since the start and maybe lots of 'Others' in the previous timeline who acted ignorantly when Utena's deeds came to light.
'This complicates things…' Girisia thought he can't approach the 'good guys in the future because of his misconception born out of his experience. He needs to take a guarded approach towards these 'good guys' unless he is sure. '
On the other side while Girisia was going through his thoughts. Wilkis looked at Girisia as if he was looking at an Idiot. "For someone who knows a lot about the future, you don't seem to know the kind of things people of my rank are exposed to." There was certain scorn in Wilkis's tone.
"Then from your current reaction, it doesn't seem like you like them very much…" From the words of Wilkis, Girisia learned one thing. He is not someone who likes Yoshikov or Utena that much. And this can also be proven by his past actions in the other timeline.
"What are you trying to do Korus…" Wilkis was not very much appreciative of how calm Girisia acted which was made worse by the fact that Girisia was not pretending. He genuinely was not even scared about his future and even went as far as to have a normal conversation with Wilkis.
"Just trying to spend some time… Being bound in the air is pretty boring."
"We won't be waiting for too long, Tarkov will come here soon enough," Wilkis answered. From his understanding, Tarkov will probably reach the city in an hour at most and if he was someone smart, he would take time to learn about what had happened in the city for the duration of time he was absent from one of his associates.
And this associate happens to be just working under him. Slain was never Tarkov's right-hand man completely. He was one of the many eyes Wilkis uses to keep track of his captains and commanders.
Wilkis had always been a paranoid man and this paranoia had helped him a lot.
"Then why wait for him, why not just apprehend him directly when he reaches the city, with your skills, I do believe it will be easier," Girisia questioned his understanding of Wilkis may not be as deep as he had thought before, but he was sure about one thing, Wilkis was someone who knew how to use his time properly. He never wasted even one second.
"Unless your goal was never to capture us… But then why..." Girisia was getting more and more confused with the actions of Wilkis. He was using his whole brain power but still couldn't come to a proper answer.
"You don't intend to expose us nor even capture us. Instead, you want to work with us?... For my knowledge?" Girisia got it right, the hints given by Wilkis became too apparent as he thought harder.
The way Wilkis approached his room, the way he never harmed a single hair on Girisia's body, the way he talked amicably with Girisia, and the way he peacefully waited for Tarkov's arrival, everything led Girisia to the singular conclusion.
Wilkis never wanted the word of what happened in this room to get out, neither did he want to harm him or Tarkov.
"You picked up on it pretty fast." Wilkis clapped his hand, showing some appreciation for the man with 30% of his brain rotted away.
"But why… aren't you worried?... Tarkov hates humanity as a whole, he wants to kill your necessary evil that is Utena and Yoshikov by proxy. And I am someone who is aiding him."
"Not to mention…"
"Not to mention the bone marrow you asked Tarkov to bring here… right?" Wilkis interrupted and continued Girisia's sentence on his own. Knowing he had an advantage, he took over the flow of the conversation.
"Yes?" Girisia was genuinely confused, Wilkis's actions seemed erratic to him. What was going on in his mind was out of his understanding. At this moment, the only thing he was sure of was that he was not only safe but can probably resume his usual life after the events of this night go by.
"I just genuinely wish to make a contract with both of you… I have already deemed that both of you are not a danger to the city and the knowledge in your head can help us."
"Your utility as a translator may not be that high for now, but the knowledge in your head is pretty precious and I don't want to expose this knowledge to others, specifical people like Yoshikov and the people behind him."
"So a monopoly?... But why not just dig the information out of my head. With someone of your capability, it will be easy to extract information like that." Knowing there was no harm coming his way, Girisia asked a question that was in the back of his head for a long time.
"The data that we can extract has an error margin of 20% and that is a chance I am not willing to take." Wilkis understood the negative effects of incomplete information. Being completely ignorant about something is safer than having an incomplete understanding that can create misconception as one's mind tries to fill in the missing information with their wild imagination and in turn heighten the danger they can cause to an individual if they deem that incomplete information as truth.
"Who's to say what I know is completely correct?... The visions I have had may be just something I made up on my own, the words and knowledge I gave Tarkov may also be lies that I conjured up or learned from an outside source while sending him on a wild goose chase. You must have had these thoughts at least… how can you be so sure?" Girisia asked, not knowing the way Wilkis can easily learn if he was speaking the truth. He was trying to take control of their discussion in his hand. But Wilkis was a lot more experienced than he expected.
"Do you know Korus… you speak a lot when you are alone." This one reply was enough of an answer to Girisia. These words made him recall all the stuff he had spoken when alone and was glad to find that he never called himself Girisia or spoke about his level up out loud.
But he did talk about his plans and how he 'obtains' something special from conversing with anomans.
These facts turned Girisia's face to stone.
"Do you know about the mutant fiend that will be visiting your city?" He asked, knowing the answer that Wilkis will give him
"Yes… and information like that is the true reason why you have not been thrown into my private prison… yet." With a similar expression, Wilkis replied.
He had already expected Girisia to pick up these details soon enough. But what he didn't expect was the later words of Girisia.
"Then do you know how your precious mother murders you in cold blood?... And not just you, but everyone in Riber city…"
A bombshell, Girisia was fed up with how snobbish Wilkis was coming across, and out of pure ridicule, he used the worst way to take over the conversation.