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Any other day, Jacob would be having fun by killing these people, gunning them down like the rats they were while delightfully laughing as the blood flow freely and splattered everywhere, staining the walls and floor with a pretty shade of red. But they took Max, they took his cop, and most likely they hurt him, there was no joy in Jacob, only rage, hate, thirst for vengeance, he wanted to get his hands in every single bastard who dared touch Max and tear them to pieces, make an example out of them as to why nobody touches what’s his, or the people he cares about.

Because that was the truth, wasn’t it? He could barely contain his emotions, his anger felt overwhelming, and all that because he allowed himself to care, got close to a cop who shot him the first day they met. And he wasn’t fooling himself, it wasn’t one, but two people who he allowed to pass through his barriers, Ruby was just as important, and had she been the one taken, Jacob would have done the same thing, barged through, guns blazing, killing anyone who stood on his way. He felt vulnerable, but at the same time, it was like those two gave him strength.

As the first two fell down dead with Jacob’s bullets, Ruby entered the room not far behind, her semi-automatic spraying bullets and destroying everyone on their path, the enemy didn’t even have time to breath a surprised yell, before they were falling to the ground like flies. The scent of blood permeated the room naturally, and the slaughter Ruby and Jacob were inflicting only made it worse. It was the smell of death. Jacob’s assault rifle sprayed in a bullet hell until it made a click as he had emptied the entire magazine in a few minutes, he could see some of the more lucky rats had managed to find cover and didn’t die on the first assault. Good, it was one more excuse to Jacob play with them.

Entering deeply into the appropriately named slaughter house, Jacob was finally able to see Max, his heart sunk, and he had a moment of distraction where his worry got overwhelming and he froze. His friend, Max hanging on meat hook, like a cow ready for slaughter, blood pooling on his feet, and for a horrifying moment Jacob couldn’t tell if the man was breathing or not. What if they were too late? He was brought back to the moment by a hand grabbing his shoulder and someone attacking him with iron pipe. He managed to dodge, if only barely, and used his rifle push the person back. He took the pipe from the man’s hand, using it to hit him on the head, once, twice, three times and the man fell limp, blood splattered not only on the ground and the weapon, but also on Jacob.

Panic filling his chest, he turned to see Ruby hacking away someone’s head. The few still surviving people were scattering, trying to escape the hell the two of them had brought upon them, but it was no use, no one here but Max, Ruby and himself would walk away tonight. He shot one more look at Max, the urge to go to him and see if he was fine was strong, but he had to kill everyone first, or they could turn the tables on the slightest distraction. There was a table full of bloody torture instruments, and Jacob felt his blood boil, it was obvious whose blood that was.

On the corner of his eye he saw someone pointing a gun to where Ruby stood, the woman was distracted burying an axe in someone “Oh no, don’t fucking dare.” He muttered grabbing the first thing he could reach, a spiky sort of chain, and run towards the armed person. The little rat wasn’t expecting an attack from behind, when the chain was wrapped around the person’s neck, they dropped the gun quickly, and Jacob pulled at the ends of the chains, the spikes digging into skin, blood pooling at their feet, choking noises were the last sound that rat made.

He shot Ruby a glare, and she sent him a meaningful look regarding the axe. He tilted his head curiously, before extending his arm to grab the weapon. He could see one last surviving man, agonizing with a few bullets holes on his legs. Jacob approached him, dragging the bloody axe behind. The man muttered some pleas, begging for mercy or something equally useless. Jacob had no mercy to spare though, only rage, and a thirst for vengeance. He smirked lightly, looking down at his victim and raised the axe before stiking down, first on the man’s leg, which mad him let out a terribly delightful scream. The axe got stuck on the bone, and Jacob had to shake it slightly to loosen it. He brought the axe down a second time, the victim still screaming, in pain or fear until he couldn’t anymore, the axe now embedded on the man’s neck.

He looked around the slaughter house, there was blood everywhere, including on himself and Ruby, but from what he could see, there was no one unimportant left alive. He dropped the axe quickly, before lifting the demon mask on to the top of his head and running towards where Max was hanging, his feet leaving bloody footprints where he stepped. He hugged Max by the waist to lift him up so Ruby could undo the restraints. He made sure to be mindful of the man’s wounds, but there were so many and there was so much blood, he wasn’t sure how successful he was. He gently held the cop once he was out of the hook, his bloodstained hands that were killing without mercy not five minutes ago, now light and careful, his fingers went to Max’s wrists, looking for a pulse, and relief flooded him when he felt a steady beat of his heart. It was weak, but it was there. “Sorry for the wait, Max, you're fine now.” He said softly, his voice full of care, more than he had ever shown anyone, but at that moment, he didn’t care to keep his composure, he just wanted his cop to be okay.

Ruby was snappish and impatient, her worry clearly making her reckless. Her words regarding the card was a sign she wasn’t thinking straight. As much as Jacob was worried as well about Max, he didn’t want to go in blind and end up with all three of them dead, he’d rather carefully plan their course of action, come up with a way to get Max out unharmed Instead of bursting in, guns blazing and risk making the situation worse. He realized, however, that they didn’t have much time to waste, every minute spend was one more minute of Max being on the enemy’s hands, and who knew what they were doing with their cop. “It matters if we don’t want to be ambushed.” He clarified, shooting her a brief glare, before turning his attention back to what he was doing.

As much hurry as they were in, a few guns were always welcomed, and he was glad Ruby thought so as well. He waited for her to pick a gun first, a semi-automatic that would do quite the damage in a bullet spray. “He didn’t want me to tell you, he probably will be angry with me for this, but he should have thought of that before being kidnapped.” Even if he was still joking around, there was tenseness on Jacob’s tone, the words sounding bitter to his own ears. He quickly selected an assault rifle, the shotgun he used before was back on its place, and it was a good weapon, but too slow for is tastes. He was used to moving quickly, so a quick firing gun was better suited for him. He quickly closed the secret drawer after that, making sure it was locked before leaving the bedroom. He shot a look on his way towards Ruby, curiously watching as she gathered some clothes, presumably for Max.

Time to go, Jacob had no car with him, it would be stupid, his identity was already plenty compromised when it came to Jack White, he did not wish to add to it by using his personal car. Max’s car, however, was fair game. Quite familiar with the cop’s residence as he was, it wasn’t difficult to find the car keys, he tossed them to Ruby without much thought “You can drive, probably will make us get there faster, just don’t kill us on the way.” Only a truly desperate situation like this would make Jacob willingly give Ruby control of a car, they would probably have to compensate Max for the destruction of his vehicle, but right now, the most important thing was to get to their cop as fast as possible, if Jacob had to have a near death experience in the form of reckless driving, so be it.

He spared Lucius a quick reassuring pat before grabbing his laptop, still with the map that showed the way to the slaughterhouse open, there was no way they could take the puppy with them, it needed much more murderous training before it was in any shape to aid them in rescuing its master, it was a shame to leave the dog alone though, thankfully Jacob wasn’t the most empathetic person, so he didn’t really mind much. He exited the apartment quickly, trusting Ruby to be not too far behind him, and went to the parking lot towards the now known police car Max owned. The rifle he had chosen was slung over his back, not very conspicuous, but people would probably be more worried about the speeding car than any possible guns anyway. He climbed on the passenger’s seat and waited for Ruby to do the same on the driver’s side.

The laptop stayed on his lap, so he could use it to help Ruby navigate, and Jacob took a moment to cover his face with the Japanese mask Max had given him as a birthday gift. The mask’s presence served also as a reminder of what was at stake here, the anger Jacob felt for Jack White was silent, cold and deadly, he would enjoy cutting that man up like pig, but he also needed a clear head to not make any harsh decisions. He fastened the seatbelt and was ready to go.

So eager to heed any advice Jacob said, it could be said it was a dangerous thing, to listen to a stranger when it came to surviving in the crime world, but in all honesty, Jacob didn’t really care if his companion listened to him or not, he was just sharing his own experiences in this life, and that included a lot of backstab and nasty surprises. In the end, Jacob could tell the man how many stories and advice he wanted and as in much detail, but nothing taught survival better than hard earned experience, and that’s exactly what they both just gained: experience in what to expect from the Bianchi family as allies. He honestly didn’t want to know how they treated their enemies. But now that he thought about it, he already had a pretty good idea.

There was a brief silence after Jacob was done handing out advice to the newbie, enough time for them to arrive at the mansion. He parked the car quickly, not bothering to go all the way to the mansion’s parking lot, the Bianchi had an army of staff to do that, he just wanted to get to the front door fast. The man, Alessandro apparently, suddenly asked for Jacob’s name. He tilted his head curiously, thinking how to best answer that question. “Nice to meet you Alessandro.” His American accent really made the man’s name sound odd, but that was not his problem. “I don’t make a habit of sharing my name, to be honest, nothing personal, just like to make it harder if someone wants to find me” He actually thought Alessandro was pretty okay, a rarity among the Bianchi. “You can call me… Mask? Bunny? Birdy? I don’t know, whatever strikes your fancy.” He had so many nicknames, maybe he should write then down to keep track.

He exited the car shortly after, time for the moment of truth, Alessandro could show what he was made of, make a proper report, start to make his name known among the family, show what he was capable of. Yeah right, it wasn’t that big of a deal, but the man needed to know how to do these things, and Jacob wanted to watch him do it for the first time, for science. “Ready for that report?” He asked his companion as he made his way towards the mansion’s entrance, a smirk hidden behind the mask. Who knows, maybe they would be lucky and there was no one around to report to, and then they could forget it later… nah, Alessandro wouldn’t forget, probably wanted to prove he could do his job properly too much for that.

It had been a busy day. It was like everyone suddenly remembered Jacob existed to solve people’s problems, he went from one side to the city to the other, and the worst part was that it wasn’t even the fun job who demanded such attention. It wasn’t a sudden increase in assassinations or information gathering. No, it was misbehaving electronics that demanded Jacob’s time and effort, he didn’t remember the last time he actually worked so much as an IT tech in a single day. It was tiring too, not the technical side of things, but having to deal with people and pretend he was a normal person, all nice and pleasantries for people who didn’t know the concept of turning a computer off and on again. Sometimes he thought this front wasn’t worth the effort, but then he remembered it was important to keep his identity hidden, and he just had bear with it.

By the time he was finished and arrived back at his apartment, he noticed that his phone had no battery and hoped no one tried to contact him with anything important. It wasn’t really concerning, if it was truly important, they would call back later. Jacob didn’t plan on leaving his house again that day anyway, just enjoy the peace. But he had no such luck, as he heard his phone ringing not long after he was done charging it. The screen informed him it was Ruby, and he briefly considered not answering, or just telling her he was busy. He really didn’t want to go out today.

He answered, but his sarcastic greeting died before he could say it, the distressed tone on Ruby’s voice immediately putting him on high alert. Her words were even more worrying. “WHAT? Hey, hey, slow down, are you in his apartment?” What did she mean, someone took Max? Who would dare? Anger boiling inside him, mixed with worry at the pit of his stomach he sprung to action. “I’m on my way.” He informed Ruby, hanging up the phone and quickly grabbing his things. She said she had a phone number he could trace, so he grabbed his laptop to bring along, but he had to make sure it had the necessary programs to do so first, so he wasted more time on that than he was comfortable with.

If someone really took his cop away, they would pay dearly, there would be no amount of begging that could make Jacob change his mind. He grabbed a very special mask without put it on just yet, along with a few weapons. But he intended on raiding Max’s stash for this, the cop had way more guns than was strictly necessary, and it would be nice to put them into good use. Jacob made his way to Max’s apartment as quickly as possible, worry clouding his judgement, making him think of all the horrific scenarios of what could have happened, Ruby’s words dancing around his head, they broke in, he’s nowhere, they took Max. He all but run to the building’s front door, his hands shaking when he attempt to pick the lock, which meant he took longer than usual to open a simple door.

Once inside, Jacob didn’t bother waiting for the elevator, he run upstairs, so eager to get there he barely felt himself get winded by all those flight of stairs. He got to Max’s door, and as Ruby had said, it was busted open. He wasted no time waiting around, and entered the apartment hurriedly. “Ruby?” he called to her, worry still very present on his voice. The apartment was a mess, but not because Max didn’t know the meaning of cleaning this time. It was raided, things were purposely upturned, like the people were looking for something. A deep angry frown appeared on his face, as he cautiously made his way through the mess, looking for Ruby. He found her with the puppy by the kitchen. “What happened?” he asked in a dark tone, unable to contain all the anger from his words.

Was it better or worse to have your family caught up on this kind of life? On one hand you didn’t have to lie, and they knew what they were getting into enough to protect themselves and expect the worst, on the other hand it was dangerous and brought so many expectations. If he had to choose, Jacob would stay exactly as he was, the only one in the family who had any involvement in crime, while everyone else remained oblivious, and for that he went to great lengths to hide his identity. And then there was this man, whose family had connections with the Bianchi, but not enough to know details in how dangerous it could be, apparently. “Good thing you don’t want out even after this, because I’m pretty sure it’s already too late.” Now they knew stuff, the family wouldn’t be happy if stuff got told in case he wanted out. “It gets easier as you go… well, not really, but you get used to it.” And came to expect betrayals like that as well, if you’re Jacob and can’t stay loyal very long.

The man still seemed a bit skittish, it would take a few days for all this excitement to process so he could come in terms with it, but Jacob honestly thought the man would be fine. He nodded at what he said, a good start indeed, a scare to show things won’t be easy, without anyone being injured… well, anyone that mattered anyway. Jacob didn’t often deal with newbies in a job, it most due to the fact that he usually worked alone, but as time went by with the Bianchi, he got to know quite a few people, some of them more incompetent than others, and now someone who could possibly grow into a fine criminal. Jacob huffed a laugh at what the man said. “Eh, we’ll see if you really can do it, don’t start throwing threats just yet.” He said playfully, an amused smirk hidden behind his mask.

He hadn’t meant for the apology to be serious, but the man took it as that anyway. Jacob was well aware that he wasn’t the one calling the shots in the family, and frankly, he wouldn’t have any other way. Now if only they respected their employees more… “That’s usually how it goes, yeah. They tell you to do something, you do it” Jacob did what he was told, and so did most other Bianchi associates, it kinda worked most of the time, but this system had it flaws, situations like this one, where people could be caught in crossfire because they weren’t given enough information to go on, and then they get pissy.

It wasn’t the most difficult thing in the world to report, Jacob usually told how it went down and then threw some sarcasm around if he was feeling particularly snaky and the person he was talking to wasn’t one heads of the family (it rarely was), but it would be a good experience for the new guy, he supposed. “Sure, tell them how everything went down.” He scoffed when the man explained how they might react badly. “Just tell them we would have been more successful with that if we had known this was a trap beforehand, not in an accusing way, but in a false apologetic way, like ‘I’m saying sorry but we both know it’s not true and we will pretend everyone here is civilized’.” Or at least that was how Jacob did it, it worked, usually.

The Bianchi Manor soon was possible to be seen looming on the distance as the car approached more and more, it shouldn’t take them very long to arrive, and then his partner could do his first debriefing, with Jacob silently following curiously.