Chapter Text
No one else was dying. No one else was going to suffer, he would make sure of it. If anyone was going to die it would be Jack.
Or himself.
Honestly, at this point, he felt he deserved death, he deserved to be ripped apart. Jack was angry at him he shouldn't be angry with the others. Jacob shivered and continued to walk home. He needed to figure out a way to end this....he couldn't just run down the streets and alleyways screaming for Jack to come out.
And sending out the other assassins to reason with him was NOT an option anymore. He scowled and opened the door to his shitty small home and slammed it shut behind him.
He didn't know what to do!
He had to get rid of Jack...but how!? He wasn't an easy kill not like all his other targets. Jack was an intelligent man and very good at what he did and that was the problem.
Jack knew how he worked, he knew all his moves...he knew everything. He was at a loss for what to do, he wasn't good at all this planning and thinking ahead. He was the kind of person who would just jump into it, and improvise. Evie had always been the planner, the one who'd be sure that everything would go as she wanted. He wouldn't say that to her though.
"I figured you'd notice I'm here by now."
Jacob jumped, startled and he looked up and saw a hooded figure standing in front of him, their arms crossed. The figure sighed and lowered their hood. "I heard about what happened earlier," She said softly.
He exhaled and calmed his breathing, "Lizzie....you shouldn't be here. You need to leave!" He hissed. Lizzie was one of the other assassins in London, after Evie left for India with Greenie he had gotten some apprentices. By now most of them had grown up and become full-fledged Assassins.
Lizzie scoffed and tucked a strand of her curly dark hair behind her ear. "Jacob....I'm not leaving. We aren't afraid of him! We can stop him it's only a matter of time," she said confidently. She wasn't going to hide in Crawley with the younger apprentices she was not a coward.
Jacob looked at her and narrowed his eyes. "That was an order!" He growled. "I'm not losing anyone else." This was his war, not hers and not anyone else's.
"Jacob you can't stop him alone," She argued. "This is a war and wars have casualties....it can't be helped."
Jacob sent her a cold glare. "It can't be helped?" He growled. He rubbed his temples and paced back and forth. "Yes...yes it can! It can be helped." How he didn't know at the moment but he'd work on getting an answer. Hopefully sooner than later.
"How can it be helped, Jacob?" Lizzie crossed her arms.
"We...we just need to weaken him," He muttered continuing his pacing. "He's got lieutenants that run the gang scattered about London...." He could pick them off one by one, show them no mercy. "Then the Rooks will be a disorganized mess...." He paused and turned and looked out the window. "Then we get rid of Lady Owers."
"So we take out the people he depends on. Excellent, shall I fetch the others?" Lizzie asked walking up to where he was standing by the window. "T-" She started to say but was cut off.
"No."
She raised her eyebrows, "No?" She looked at him dumbfounded, "You can't take out all of those people by yourself!"
When she got no response she sighed in defeat, "Can you at least write to your sister...? Update her on the situation...just in case-"
"I'll be fine," He replied quickly.
Lizzie just frowned and headed to the door. "Alright, Jacob..."
He watched her leave and shut the door and once she was gone he sighed. Maybe he would consider writing to Evie.
Finding Jack's lieutenants proved to be a bit more challenging than he had hoped. And it seems that Jack suspected Jacob would target them eventually.
But Jack seemed to have forgotten that NOTHING and NOBODY could hide from Jacob. After some digging around he had managed to find a stronghold right in the heart of London.
Jacob smirked crouched down on a roof and looked down below. About five 'Rooks' were huddled around a small fire desperately trying to keep warm while a lieutenant was inside an old run-down house.
"What a shame," Jacob grinned. He was hoping for a real fight...
"Move your bloody arse over!"
"Shut your pathetic mouth!"
The fire wasn't big enough to warm up the five Rooks so they were arguing about who had to move over and such.
"Oi, quit your bickering'"
A fight was about to break out between the group but one paused when they thought they saw something move in the corner of her eye. "Er' I think I saw somethin," She said frowning.
"Nothin' is out there," another replied. "It's probably a rat or something."
She frowned. "No..." She was certain she saw something over by a large pile of firewood. "I'll go an look." She took out her weapon a flimsy knife and slowly made her way over to the wood pile. She looked behind it, in the little spaces between the wood and she even looked around it again.
After she found nothing she turned to go back to the fire with the others but she stopped in her tracks when she felt something cold prick the back of her neck. But before she could even her mouth to scream or even register what happened she collapsed to the ground dead.
"She's taking awhile," A rook grumbled. "HEY!" He yelled looking over to the wood pile, "Get back over here! You're going to get sick in the cold!" It was a rather brutal fall this year.
After no response, the Rooks grew nervous. "She can stay over there," One grumbled. They were not going over there.
The Rooks grew silent and stood by the fire in silence. Everything was quiet and relaxed up until the fire made an odd hissing sound and a gross smell filled the air. "W-?" A rook started to say but was cut off by another pulling out a knife.
"Gah!" One yelled going to strangle another.
Jacob sat on a roof watching the chaos down below. He always enjoyed watching them turn on each other...watch them betray their friends. Those bastards deserved it.
They betrayed him after all.
After they had eliminated each other and died sputtering messes Jacob approached the building. It wasn't well guarded at all so he was assuming this wasn't a very important lieutenant. Or they weren't that valuable to Jack.
Jacob sighed and narrowed his eyes, ah just the lieutenant was in there sitting at a desk. This was getting too easy...
Jacob kicked the door open and the Lieutenant jumped out of his skin and fell back from his desk. He didn't hear the chaos the Rooks caused out by the fire. Jacob smiled, "So sorry, I seemed to forget my manners," He apologized and gently knocked on the wall.
The Lieutenant opened his mouth but all that came out was jumped up words. "W-wh, Mr. Frye!" He stumbled back up against the wall and held up a knife.
He walked up to the terrified man and when he made a pathetic attempt to stab him Jacob grabbed his wrist and twisted it. The man howled in pain and dropped the knife. Jacob pulled him to his feet and shoved him over to a chair, "Now, word on the street is you're one of the Lieutenants of Jack."
The man lost all color in his face and he seemed to be getting ready to make a run for it, Jacob gave him a grin and showed him his hidden blade. "If you even think about moving from that damn chair I'll make you wish you were never born," He growled.
"You're making a big mistake, Frye!"
He chuckled at the poor bloke's sorry attempt at a threat. "You're the one who's made a mistake. Working for Jack? Throwing away all your morals and just blindly following his lead?" He scoffed, "You're a pathetic excuse for a man."
"Mr. Jack won't let you kill him! He's a better leader than you ever were, Frye!" The man sneered, "Whitechapel belongs to us now! You can't stop us! You're just an old man, your only backup is some prostitutes!" He laughed. "You can't even have your sister help you!"
Jacob was done with this man, he stood up, and before that bloke could even blink he had him on the ground with a blade to his throat. "Whitechapel doesn't belong to Jack," Jacob growled and quickly slit his throat.
Killing him was very rash and he hadn't really thought about how he'd get information from him...since he was now dead. But he knew he wouldn't say anything so he figured rummaging through the desk would be easier.
And that it was.
He had found multiple letters and documents. One in particular caught his attention, it seemed to be a letter meant for Jack. It mentioned taking prisoners and taking them to old Navy ships and giving them use. It also mentioned a Chief Warder being in charge of the whole prison.
And he found a letter directed to Lady Owers, it didn't have anything that he could use or need but he took it anyway.
He'd already acquired a list of other lieutenants scattered about the city. He grabbed all of the documents and made his way out of the building, he couldn't wait for some other rooks to see the dead bodies left behind.
Hopefully, they'd take that as a warning.
He had targets.
Actual targets.
Lady Owers and a Chief Warder. He knew who Lady Owers was and where he could find her, she'd be an easy target and he most certainly looked forward to killing her. Jack's eyes and ears would be gone. Now he just needed to know who Chief Warder was and what role he played.
Jacob pushed his pint aside and stared down at the letter once more, ignoring the noise of drunks around him. He currently was sitting in one of his favorite bars in Whitechapel, it was warm and lively in here. And his current lodgings were cold and very depressing.
Now what was that chief Warder's role? Prisoners on Navy ships? Why on Earth was Jack taking prisoners now!? He sighed and rubbed his temples.
"Jacob."
He looked up and saw Nellie standing beside him, a grim look on her face. "Please tell me he hasn't killed anyone else." He didn't know if he could handle another murder tonight.
She sat down across from him grabbed his hand and held it. "No, he hasn't struck again. I was just checking up on you," She replied. "You need rest Jacob, you look like you're going to drop dead!"
Jacob sighed, he was thankful to have Nellie as a friend. She was a feisty lady, that was what caught his attention. She'd grabbed a cane from some man who had been hurting her friend and she had screamed up a storm and beat the shit out of the poor sod. "No time for rest, Nellie," He replied pulling his hand from her grip. "I found some ways to weaken Jack."
She raised her eyebrows, "How?" She asked.
"I'll kill his eyes and ears," He replied proudly.
Nellie seemed confused for a moment but after a second it seemed to click. Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped, "You're gonna kill Lady O?" She whispered. "You can't do that, Jacob." She shook her head and gripped the table, "It'll cause more problems I'm just sure of it."
"Nellie if she's dead Jack will be drawn out, and you and the others will be free from her abuse. She won't take advantage of you and the damn gangs will stay away from the brothels. They won't mess with you!" The Rooks had been tormenting the 'unfortunates' since Jack had taken control of them. And they were talking orders from Owers herself.
If she was gone all problems in that category were solved.
"Too much could go wrong Jacob," Nellie said quietly. "She's not an easy target, she's got rooks at her side and estate at all times."
"I'll be fine, Nellie."
"Just... Could you write to your sister? Let her know about what's been happenin' so if something does happen...she'd know...and she'd be here," Nellie replied.
Jacob went silent. "I don't need her help with this, she's all the way in India. I'll be wasting her time." And he was completely capable of doing this on his own.
He was really getting sick of everyone pestering him about writing to Evie.
"Please, Jacob!?"
"No."
"Just for me! Please! I'm your best friend and it'll make me quite happy if you'll write to your damn sister!"
"No."
"Fine, I'll write to her for you then."
Jacob sighed and looked at the bartender. He needed another drink.
Tonight was going to be rough.