From a young age, Jacob had always known he was destined for more. Everyone around him, young and old, they were all so...slow. He could understand things better than they ever could, quicker than they ever could.
Intelligent.
A genius.
A prodigy.
That's what his teachers had said when he was young when the system still enforced education in its children. Then he entered middle school and everything changed for him at that point. Gotham didn't care about its future, it was a shit hole that swallowed everything and everyone in it and then spat them back out again. Each of them was just as cruel and as twisted as everyone else, some could just hide it better than others.
Gotham was a dystopia, but to the criminals, it was a utopic heaven. A place in which they could freely do everything they wanted without fear of reprisal, every cop was on the payroll of a crime lord, every elected member of the government, having skeletons in their closet they'd rather not see the light of day.
Everything in Gotham belonged to the criminals.
But to many parents that lived difficult lives, whose will had been broken down by the rampant cruelty and evil that festered within the city, there was still one foolish hope. A belief that maybe, just maybe, their child could escape it.
For Jacob, his life was no different.
A whore for a mother.
A father that was one of many possible candidates.
His home, a brothel.
His family, prostitutes.
In an environment like that, his intelligence was easy to spot. There were some amongst the prostitutes of his home that had, like him, tried hard in school. Tried to escape the grasp of Gotham City and make something productive of themselves, only to learn the hard way that was not going to happen. They taught him what they could, offered advice and through him, that same foolish hope that had once driven them when they were young, was reignited.
Jacob had bought into that foolish hope, that by knuckling down hard and working to do his best, he could succeed. But of course, that was impossible.
If he was from Gotham Heights, he would have been held up as a genius, offered a scholarship to some of the most prestigious schools in Gotham. Perhaps, if he had been from Gotham Heights, under the constant preview and protection of the Gotham City Police Department and the Batman he could have done something good with his life.
However, he wasn't from Gotham Heights, he was from the East End. The place within Gotham City that all criminals fled to when Batman began his crusade. A place that was so violent and crime-ridden that even Batman, after years of fighting couldn't make it even the slightest bit better. It was a place that many said, couldn't be saved and they were right.
Because there was no one stuck there, that had been able to leave.
Cops never entered and children were quickly turned into men, thugs and criminals that worked for one of the many crime families and organisations. School, beyond the point of Elementary School, was a long-forgotten thought, often nothing more than a recruitment ground. A place in which children fought for the position of the top in an effort to be noticed by those above them.
Cupping the water in his hands, Jacob splashed his face with water, taking a moment to take a deep breath before reaching to the sink. "Jacob, come out with your hands up!" There he took the gun that was there, throwing it into the bin as he raised his hands up.
"Alright, I'm coming out."
"Open the door, slowly." Doing as instructed, Jacob opened it up slowly. "Now stick your hands out." Once again he did so, Jacob suddenly feeling two pairs of hands drag him out as the door burst open.
Pinned to the ground, Jason did nothing to fight against the police that pinned him to the ground. Both hands dragged behind his back as handcuffs were placed on them. "You're under arrest for the murder of six students." Despite the situation that he was in, Jacob just smirked as he looked towards the classroom just within sight.
Students were down the hall, looking upon him as police, so rarely seen outside of Gotham Heights raided their school down in the gutters of East End. Blood splatters decorated the broken and yellow stained windows, bodies placed in body bags being carried out.
It was just as he had planned.
No doubt, there would be someone else waiting for him.
-X- Line Break -X-
Sitting comfortably in the backseat of the cop car, Jacob watched the world go past. They had entered the 'borders' of Gotham Heights, leaving the East End behind. It was strange, the difference between the two parts of the city.
One was dirty, rotten, on the verge of falling apart.
The other, concrete towers and while not perfectly clean, still possessed that dirty underground that belonged to every corner of Gotham. 'I'll be here one day.' Jacob thought to himself with a frown, turning away from the window as the vibration of a phone caught his attention.
He watched as one of the police officers upfront in the car picked up the phone, looking at the caller id which he couldn't make out. The gaze of said officer, looked in the rearview mirror, directly at him before answering.
He paused, listening to what the person on the other end had to say. "Yeah, we've got him." There was another pause. "Alright, I'll bring him in." Switching off his phone, the officer took a deep, ragged breath, his nerves clear on display. "He wants to see him."
"I told you that he would." The other replied, extending one hand out as the other officer unhappily slapped down some money into his palm. "Usual spot?"
"Yep." He then pointed to the side of the road. "Just pull over now before we get any further into town."
-X- Line Break -X-
As the hood was ripped off his head, Jacob winced as the light almost blinded him. Looking around at the empty warehouse, filled only with a single SUV, a metal desk and two metal chairs, one of which I was sat upon.
But as my vision began to clear, I noticed that what I once assumed were blurred shadows, were in actual fact, people. Each of them stood in smart, black suits, various animal masks adorning their face and submachine guns clutched in their hands. While Jacob couldn't confirm, he felt like they were all looking at him, though they may also have been looking at the police officers standing behind him.
It was then the door to the SUV opened and outstepped a single man.
One whose presence alone caused a shift in the barren warehouse. He was dressed as smartly as his men, but even from this distance, Jacob could tell that the make of this man's suit was far beyond that of the masked men. Not only was it white, with a black shirt, different to their black with a white shirt, it was also far more expensive.
A clear showcase of the hierarchy of power.
But it was the mask adorning his face that caught Jacob's attention.
The black skull mask.
"Black Mask." He muttered quietly, his voice carrying across the quiet warehouse.
"So you know who I am." Black Mask replied, pulling out the chair and sitting down upon it. "That's good, it does answer one question of mine. But it does raise another." He leaned backwards, a single Glock 19 being placed upon the table with a thud. "If you know who I am, what possible reason do you think I could be here for?"
He waved his hand dismissively, the police officers quickly scurrying to the corner of the room. Even though Batman with the help of Commissioner James Gordon had helped clear up the GCPD and reduce the amount of power and influence the crime lords of Gotham had, they still held a great deal of power. Their influence spread far and wide, so deep in fact that the crusade Batman had waged, had barely dislodged them from power.
There was still many police officers and government officials on their payroll.
"For killing one of your peddlers." Jacob's response on the other hand was simple and calm. He had expected this, known this would happen and had prepared himself accordingly. It was precisely what he had wanted from the beginning and Jacob was not about to squander this opportunity.
Schools in the East End were a recruitment ground, teachers all members of various gangs and families. The students, forming factions that fought one another in a bid to be noticed by the teachers who would report back to their bosses. In the East End, the educational system was a joke, it was nothing more than a way to recruit peddlers.
"So you knew he was one of my peddlers and still killed him anyway?"
Jacob hesitated for a moment, once again reaching a crossroads. An area in which he had been unable to decide the proper course of action. Did he lie and hope that Black Mask didn't catch him in said lie? Or did he tell the truth and hope that Black Mask wasn't intimidated by the fact that he had orchestrated this entire series of events just for a meeting.
One showed pure dumb luck another showed a frightening amount of intelligence. Each had its pros and cons, but both had a high chance of resulting in his death. "I knew." Ultimately though, if he wanted to survive, Jacob knew he would have to prove that he had worth, enough to outweigh the death of a single peddler. "That's why I did what I did because I knew it would get me an audience with you."
"An audience?" Black Mask sounded amused as he said those words. "So that's what this is all about? You wanted an audience with me? Well then, go on, you have my interest."
"I want to work for you." Jacob's response was firm and straight to the point. "I imagine you've done your research on me. You know how smart I am, but I also know that you have an idea of my extensive medical history. I'm never going to be strong enough to stand on my own feet. So it's best for me to attach myself to someone who can do what I can't."
Black Mask hummed. "You're right, I did my research on you and you're right about what you said." Taking the gun, Black Mask opened his blazer and put it into a holster. "But I don't just hire anyone. You're not the first kid who thought he was smarter than he actually was. You want to work for me, you need to prove that you're worth it. And because you think you're so much smarter than everyone else, I want you to double it."
"Double what?" Black Mask didn't answer, just rising to his feet and buttoning up his suit. 'So I guess I have to either accept this task, not knowing what it is. Or refuse and no doubt I'll be killed here and now.'
To Jacob, the choice was clear.
"I won't fail."