The old man was a master at creating all kinds of gadgets and inventions.
He was once a bomb expert during his time in the army so he had quite a lot of experience working with bombs and other similar things.
He knew how to make and disarm all kinds of bombs or traps.
His expertise helped him to be able to support himself after he left the army and that developed further as he made new contacts.
He felt abandoned by his country after he was no longer of use so he sought to only look out for himself.
He gained the kind of ideology that it was better for him to call the shots in his own life rather than be at the mercy of someone else who would order him around and then abandon him when he was no longer useful.
It seemed quite easy for him to convince himself that he could live such a life for the sake of self-benefit so long as he could live well even if it was at the cost of others.
He was ordered to kill others for the sake of his country yet when he did it for money, he kept telling himself that he had evolved to become more than a mere puppet.
He was his own man and he could decide how he would use what he had as he lived on his terms.
He lived from then on as a mercenary for hire and he could take on anything he wanted so long as the job paid well.
Morality or ties to his country no longer played any role in his new line of work.
It did not matter who his targets were or what was requested of him so long as the pay was enough and it was something within his capabilities.
As he got older, he had to learn how to be more creative in his jobs to avoid dying on the jobs but that was when most hero support agencies started to begin flourishing.
He started to branch out into that area to help support himself in his activities while some other of his things were sold on the black market.
His most recent activities were related to many dangerous contraptions that were used to kill his targets and some among them were heroes.
He was clever enough to make use of things people would usually not pay much attention to but they would be very dangerous once triggered.
The most dangerous among them was when he studied his targets for their likes and habits for a long time and then had a well-suited item delivered to his target.
Once the item had arrived, all it required was for it to be triggered by a certain action or by remote detonation for the item to kill its targets.
Most of his gifts were usually addressed to someone the target knew and usually came at times when gifts were expected to arrive so many of his assassinations were successful.
He had no specific pattern or way to identify his methods precisely so it was difficult for others to avoid his assassinations when it happened and it was just as tricky to figure out who he was.
His codename or alias in the underworld was known as Gideon which had the meaning of 'Destroyer'.
Gideon was a very dangerous person to mess with and if not approached carefully, it could mean the end for anyone who could become his next target.
The old man was surrounded by many toys and dolls as he fixed up the latest ones that had been brought in when there was a noise that came from the front door.
The door was not opened yet there was a noise which caught the attention of the alert old man.
His eyes sharpened as he looked around before turning his attention past the shelves towards the front door.
Lying under the door was a letter that had been posted through the letterbox and there was nobody else around.
He did not see anyone else outside after looking for the person who posted it.
It was like the person who posted it had quickly done it before running away as fast as they could.
Gideon could not chase after someone with his current condition and he had no reason to do so over a letter being delivered.
It was quite suspicious that it was posted inside when the store was open and it could be delivered personally but there was nothing he could do about that.
Gideon checked over the letter cautiously using his expertise to look for anything strange before he opened it.
He pulled the paper out slowly before unfolding it to read from it.
His gaze became cold and alert when he read the first lines written on the page.