Leaning back into his chair, Jacob looked out the window, watching as the city of Gotham passed by slowly. He wasn't in a rush to get anywhere, instead simply driving steadily across the city, allowing him to fully gain a view of the cities actions.
Gotham Heights was truly much better than the East End.
The latter was a mess, there was usually dozens of bodies lining a sidewalk, whether they were simply drunk, overdosed or dead not completely clear. In every other alleyway, there was someone getting beaten up or a prostitute being used. Every building was on the verge of falling apart making each one indistinguishable from the last.
However, Gotham Heights was while not the direct opposite of East End, was slightly better. Buildings were mostly, in good condition, sidewalks were only decorated with drunks and passed out bodies, alleys weren't filled with muggings and sex, besides the occasional one here or there.
It was still a dark and dangerous place to live, but far better than the East End.
That difference was never more clearly felt than when they passed the border of Gotham Heights and entered into the East End. Instantly, Jacob felt a sense of nostalgia and familiarity, a comforting feeling as he returned to his former home.
He periodically made visits here, just to remind himself as to where he had come from and why he did what he did and would do. In Gotham, the strong ate the weak and the weak perished. To survive, Jacob knew that he needed to be strong mentally, to make up for his physical weakness and that meant having the willingness to be just as bad as his enemies. If he couldn't be ruthless and cruel, then he would fail and failure meant death.
Jacob wouldn't accept defeat or death.
"Boss, we're approaching one of the sights." Today though, Jacob was not here for a need to remind himself of why he did what he did or what he would do. He was here for another reason entirely, one that was pivotal for his future plans.
As they pulled up to the side of the road, one of the False Face Society members from a car behind his own, stepped out and made his way into the alleyway. For a few moments he was gone, when he returned, he came straight to Jacob's car, the window rolling down and being handed to the guy on his right.
As soon as he had, the window rolled back up, the guy returning to his car as the convoy took off once more. "Here you go." Nodding his head, Jacob took the memory card, and flipping open the lid to a small box, placed it inside.
Within the memory card would be the video footage that the numerous security cameras, obvious and hidden would have captured. This would be pivotal in showcasing who had stolen the little prize he had hidden for anyone brave enough and/or smart enough to try and steal it. He didn't want revenge, no, Jacob wanted to find people that could be extremely valuable to him in the future.
All over the East End in territories owned by the False Face Society, Jacob had set up similar areas, bags with a few thousand dollars in cash, in areas that could believably be assumed to be hidden deposits to those smart enough and brave enough to rob the False Face Society. Cameras, hidden and obvious were placed around, recording every inch of the area, ensuring that whoever attempted to steal this money would be caught on camera.
All of it was part of Jacob's little talent searching project.
In the East End, intelligent people were often lost or killed in the violence that possessed this section of the city, just as he nearly was. Intelligence like that often resulted in being seen as weakness and weakness led to death.
Even if by some miracle, intelligent people survived to a certain age, especially in the East End, they would be viewed as a threat by crime lords. Like all threats, they would be quickly eliminated, Jacob imagined that Black Mask was already preparing to do the same to him. But that was fine, Jacob had predicted that long ago and was well on his way to ensuring his survival.
Some might say it was strange, to search for these people when they could prove intelligent enough to try and overthrow him. Jacob however did not care, if he was beaten, then it simply meant he had not been good enough. In that case, he had no one else to blame but himself and that's exactly who Jacob would blame.
Yet by recruiting these people into his sphere of influence, Jacob would see a massive increase in productivity, income and all other venues. It was just up to Jacob to make sure that none could ever beat him and if someone did, then that defeat was on him.
He knew what he was inviting into his 'home' and if he couldn't handle that, the that was on him.
At the end of the day, this talent selection process was just another aspect of this plan.
-X- Line Break -X-
Lifting his welding helmet up revealing his sweaty and flushed face, Jacob placed his welding torch against the bench as he looked down at his finished product. A project he had been working on for many weeks now, involving a great deal of effort and intricate knowledge in all sorts of subjects that often, Jacob had to simply look up on the internet to give himself a crash course on.
However, in very little time, Jacob learned the basics of what he needed and set to work. A lot of the money he earned, the little that was being spent on renovating the large office space and running his businesses, was spent entirely on purchasing Venom and the materials necessary for this project.
There was little money that Jacob had left to stockpile as he was quite literally, spending more money than he was earning in the beginning. Yet, Jacob had lived off very little for much of his life, being poor was an old friend to him.
Hearing a ping on a computer, Jacob turned away from the large, metal contraption. 'So it's finally done.' He thought to himself, removing his welding gloves and moving over to the computer.
Venom, was, as Jacob had quickly learned, far from perfect.
For the product and the desired outcome, Venom did not need to be improved in any way shape or form. It gave the right boost, for the right amount of time with the perfect side-effects necessary. Anything more or less would be imperfect for the product.
However, Venom was far from perfect.
A great deal of its make-up could be developed and enhanced further, which is precisely what Jacob had been working to do. It was not easy at all, far from it. As smart as Jacob, nearly all of it was self-taught and learning things like chemistry to a degree needed to not only develop, but break down and enhance Venom, was not simple.
That was one of the most difficult things about this task, but Jacob had always been very good with computers and the development of code. So, as the saying went, work smarter, not harder, Jacob did what he did best. He developed a code that could do what he needed, analyse and break down the components of Venom and how it worked.
All the while, Jacob did his own research and taught himself what was necessary to be able to further develop the code. It no longer simply brokedown Venom, but it went further, looking at the 'recipe' and figuring out what needed to be increased to reach certain results.
This led to the development of Tank and Speed.
However, Jacob's main goal was not simply enhancing Venom but removing its toxic and addictive traits. This was something that had stumped Jacob for a long while, even the code couldn't crack this puzzle, no matter how many times Jacob improved upon it further. Constantly teaching himself more and more about the necessary sciences and using that knowledge to improve the code and its performance.
Two hundred and thirty-seven, that's how many times Jacob had revisited the code, constantly making amendments to it. But finally, on the two hundredth and thirty-eighth attempt, Jacob had finally cracked it.
Reading through the list, Jacob's smile widened further. "So, that's what I needed to do?" He wondered to himself, looking over his shoulder at a large bench decorated with vials of chemical equipment. Behind it, large glass cells with unconscious people strapped to lab beds. "Well, let's see this for myself."
It could be wrong, a mistake or a problem in the code itself that ended up in the wrong result. Jacob wasn't arrogant enough to believe that he couldn't make mistakes or overlook a simple detail.
That was why Jacob always made sure to have a ready pile of subjects to test his new products upon. He would never use himself as a test subject, not when he had so much more to achieve. That was a quick and easy way to end your life much sooner than normal.
He was not in the business of doing such a thing.