Controlled Violence

Some things take time to come to fruition, like a fruit that needs to ripen. It takes time for everything to fall perfectly into place because one misstep, one simple oversight and everything could end in failure.

Jacob was someone who meticulously planned everything he did, made sure not to miss out on anything that could possibly affect his plans. He studied the False Face Society thoroughly, looking at their past actions under both Richard and Roman Sionis. He looked at their enemies, former enemies, allies and former allies. Everyone who could possibly try and take them out and mess with his plans.

Of course, he wasn't stupid enough to go to the information brokers in person, or use the same stand-ins each time.

That was a simple and easy way to get himself killed.

Information brokers were a shady bunch, they kept track of everyone and everything, including those who came to them looking to buy information. All so they could sell it to the people who would need the information the most, at an inflated price of course.

If there was one thing that Jacob could rely upon, it was the Gotham was predictable in its unpredictable.

For a long while now, Gotham had been peaceful, or at the least, the organised crime part of Gotham had been. No one wanted to make a mess because in doing so, they would bring down the attention of Batman on them.

That was just bad for business and so no one was willing to do anything to disrupt the delicate balance that Gotham had found itself in. The risks and potential cons often outweighed the rewards, though if managed carefully, the rewards were quite large. It was just navigating that chaos which was dangerous and bad for business.

Everything just took time and patience.

He waited for sixteen years before he took his chance and made a mark. That led him to Black Mask where he had been working at for less than a year. He made his way up the ladder till he was now the most powerful lieutenant in the False Face Society. Though considering the amount of money he spent on personal things, that position was known only to him. There was no proof of that to anyone looking in, but if they took a closer look at his territories, they'd see the impact he had on them.

Now though, with Venom completed and his suit finished, it was time to move on to bigger things.

Jacob had reached the limits of what he could do with the constraints placed on him, he needed to remove those shackles. That was the only way he was going to be able to move past his limits and that's all that mattered to Jacob at this point.

"The men are in position." David, his body double, spoke from beside him, lowering the phone from his ear.

Jacob remained silent however, just continuing to watch the city pass by. As they passed by numerous high-rise buildings, approaching a large complex, Jacob turned towards David. Black Masks main base was up ahead, a large business building belonging to the False Face Society. A fanciful location, one that purposefully stood out amongst its opposites. It was something that a lot of crimelords did nowadays.

Batman made wars between them bad for business.

So instead, they competed through real estate, who could own the most, who could build the biggest and most fanciful locations in Gotham. It was the way things were done in this day and age, Jacob found it a little pointless really. Yet he could understand why earning the attention of Batman could be bad.

However, he had no intention of avoiding violence, not when it got him what he wanted.

Violence was good when used in measure.

When it was quick and effective, without malice.

If emotions come into play, it would often get messy and cause problems, it would be drawn out. Long conflicts would definitely bring Batman down on them and that was the last thing Jacob wanted.

Today's conflict would end just as quickly as it began.

That's what he had been preparing for, for so long. He had studied everything he could about Black Mask, long before he joined the False Face Society, but with his expanded resources, looked even deeper. Jacob had looked at the floor plans of the main base for Black Mask, even studied the building himself during his tenure as an accountant for the man.

To get to the middle floor, the place in which Black Mask was situated, it would take approximately fifteen minutes from the moment they entered the building. Two minutes to clear the bottom floor of the guard, five to make their way up the stairs, luckily, Black Mask had spent more money on extravagance rather than the height on this building. This timeline was only going to work if the resistance they faced on the stairs was minimal, which was unlikely. A more accurate number would be ten minutes, however, Jacob had brought a little backup to ensure that this would progress a little quicker.

After that, it would take the remainder of their time just to enter into Black Mask's office. Though if it took fifteen minutes to do all that, Black Mask would escape. Luckily for Jacob, he had no intention of ending this in fifteen minutes.

"Tell them to set a timer for thirty minutes and wait for your call," Jacob explained, the car slowly pulling up at the side entrance, the one used to ensure that the connection this building shared with the False Face Society was kept secret from the public.

Getting out of the car, Jacob looked to the cameras atop the entrance and looked directly into them, one focusing right on him. Black Mask would no doubt know it was him, each mask of his lieutenants was designed in a certain way as to make it clear who was who, only to him. But Jacob wanted him to know it was him as the rest of his men got out of the car, submachine guns in their hands as one opened the door.

David remained behind in the car, he didn't have the stomach for this kind of work.

As the group flooded inside, Jacob was quickly assaulted by the sounds of gunfire, the guards inside each gunned down in quick succession. It was quick and simple, Jacob had already informed his soldiers of the patrol routes of the guards on the bottom floor, made them memorise it all.

With this, it was easy to catch guards by surprise, know exactly where they would come from and prepare to gun them down. Just as Jacob had planned for this entire operation to go down in the first place.

Quickly the group made their way across the floor, people screaming out in terror as they saw the guns and the bodies dropping to the floor. But Jacob and his men ignored them all, making their way to the door to the stairs. The elevators by this point would have been shut down, not to mention they would be a deathtrap.

The stairs in most cases wouldn't be much better.

However, Jacob had come prepared for that.

'I was right.' Jacob thought, ducking behind cover as they came under fire from men above shooting down at them. They were each donning the masks of the False Face Society, Black Masks' personal and trusted armed thugs. 'In five minutes, Black Mask will make his decision on whether to stay or leave.'

This was the pivotal moment for him, Jacob knew that much.

Black Mask would remain in his office, for now, just to see how events would play out. If things were going his way, he would stay behind and watch it all unfold. However, if things started turning against him, then Black Mask would make a speedy exit.

"It's time," Jacob said. "I want two men going up and dealing with them."

There was a pause and Jacob rolled his eyes before pointing to the two closest to him. "You two, now." They each shared a glance before nodding their heads. Each reached into their jackets and pulled out a syringe, their hands were shaking, but not from fear.

These were men that Jacob had forced the man who stole from him to give up, that very same man was dead now after being used as a test dummy. However, he had spared the rest, each of them high-functioning addicts and the new breed of criminal he could use to his advantage. These were people he was purposefully going to get hooked on Venom and by controlling the supply of the drug in Gotham thanks to his business deal with Bane, he would also control them.

That was why he was comfortable with revealing his leadership to them.

Jacob wanted them to know that it was him in charge and not David because he didn't want them thinking they could get Venom without him.

As the two men injected themselves, they groaned out in pain, dropping to their knees on the stairs as the gunfire continued. Yet the sound of cracking bones was clear to see, each of them slowly rising to their feet, much taller and bigger than they were previously.

"Clear a path." Then they moved, much quicker than a normal human should have been capable of.

"What the fuck?!" The men above cried out, turning to fire on the men rushing up the stairs. The bullets for the most part did little, but from the few splashes of blood, it was clear that they weren't completely bulletproof. Then again, this wasn't the improved Venom but the common strain often found on the streets.

It proved enough for this job though, the men coming onto the group at the top of the stairs and tearing them apart, quite literally in some cases. Fountains of blood raining down, body parts dropping to the bottom of the floor as Jacob and the rest of the men made their way up the stairs. Along the way, they passed the door to the thirty-second floor at which point, Jacob indicated for a group to peel off down that corridor.

He and the rest meanwhile continued up the stairs until they reached the Venom enhanced men. They were perfectly fine, their increased stamina keeping them fit and able. The bullet wounds they did possess, were shallow and the blood covering their forms, mostly belonged to the torn bodies at their feet.

"Good job," Jacob said. "Now, you two go on ahead, there should be more men waiting for you upstairs. Kill them and I promise another dose of Venom shall be waiting for personal consumption."

The problem with Venom is that not only did it mix highly addictive substances making it more addictive personally. What made it even more addictive though was the power it gave, that power was addictive and the feeling that came with it, even more so. Getting hooked on Venom was a very easy thing which was what made it so dangerous.

It was also what made addicts so easy to control.

Thanks to his offer, Bane was now shipping Venom through his territories and eventually, the expanded territories of the False Face Society. Jacob would be acting as the overseer of such a thing. He would be in control of the False Face Society, but a sub-branch of Bane's wider criminal empire. That was fine with Jacob, after all, he would be the one overseeing control of Venom in Gotham and therefore, anyone addicted to it in Gotham would belong to him.

It was that which would make his rise to the top possible.

This was all part of the plan after all.