Jacob ran across the rooftop, streets passing rapidly below him. Taking a left, he rolled overtop of an A.C unit before getting a sprint towards a ledge, planting his foot and vaulting over to the next building. Several more roofs passed in silence as he ran before he slid to a halt, looking over a ledge and across a street. He peered into the dark, finding two men in obvious Los Harcones colors standing guard in front of a door, what looked like automatic pistols in their hands and bandannas covering their faces. Kneeling higher up to see better, he watched as the two thugs opened the door and several more left, carrying empty duffle bags. They walked over to a dark van down the alley, rolled open the door and tossed the bags inside, removing several more. He peered harder, barely able to see but clear enough to assume the bags were full.

Perfect, he thought to himself, smiling behind his mask. As he watched, the thugs carried the bags back inside, through the door before the two door thugs shut it. Looking up, he started checking out the building; several windows adorned the front, most were barred, there was what he could only assume was a fire door on the roof, unguarded at that.

Perfect for an escape route, he thought to himself, but what about entry? He looked back down to the door, taking into consideration the two guards and the constant in and out traffic. A window would be quieter, he thought looking up at them, but what's in those rooms?

He stood up, deciding to take his chances on the window. Loading a cable arrow, he sighted just above the window and loosed the arrow. The rear sank into the wall behind him as the front embedded itself just above the window. He reached up, hooking his bow on the cable and swung off the building. After a few seconds of hangtime, he released the cable, smashing through the window and rolling onto the floor. He crouched low, freezing and letting his eyes adjust to the darkened room. A few minutes of intense silence later and things started coming into focus, finding tables stacked to the brim with bricks of cocaine and several bulging duffle bags. Jacob walked over, unzipping one of the bags and looked inside.

Jackpot, he thought to himself, zipping the bag back up and tossing it out the shattered window.

"What the hell was that?" he heard someone outside the room call.

"Came from the storage room," another voice called out.

"Lil P, Strange, Go check it out!" someone else called, following some arguing between the three.

Jacob stood up, looking around the room for the perfect vantage point. Stepping to the closest darkened corner, he drew a normal arrow and knocked it. Hearing the door handle start to turn, he drew back the arrow and held it, waiting for the first body to enter the room. An arm snaked around the door, flicking on a lightswitch just inside.

The room illuminated suddenly, Jacobs eyes dilating and throwing his aim off. He reflexively released the arrow, spearing the person's arm to the wall. With a startled, pain filled scream, a Los Harcones thug shoved into the room.

"What the fuck is going on?!" The guy behind him screamed, trying to shove the first thug out of the way.

"My arm!" the first shouted, trying to yank the arrow out. "Something's stuck in my arm!"

The second thug shoved around his cohort, took one look from the arrow then turned around the room. Before the thug could spot him, Jacob had knocked another arrow. Sighted and loosed. The arrow embedded itself in the thugs chest, dropping him on the spot. The first thug watched in horror as his companion hit the floor, eyes growing wide as soon as he caught sight of Jacob. Instantly the thug started screaming in Spanish, Jacob bolting forward and slamming his head into the wall. Plaster and blood began running to the floor as the thug sank down, his arm still pinned. Unfortunately, Jacob had not silenced the man fast enough; the remaining men all heard the commotion and started streaming into the hallway. Jacob grabbed two arrows, simultaneously knocking them both and dropped the first two men as they headed towards him. The second round all raised their guns, letting loose a hail of bullets down the hallway. Moving as fast as he could, Jacob rolled around the door frame, hoping to avoid all he could; he winced as two rounds slammed into his left arm. The Kevlar held, stopping the bullets from penetrating through his sleeve but not stopping the impact. Pain radiated up his arm as he ripped it back closer to his chest. Ignoring the pain, he yanked another arrow back, leaned around the doorframe and dropped one of the remaining thugs. The rain of bullets paused as several of them reloaded, giving Jacob the perfect opportunity to close in. He rolled out into the hallway, popping up just in front of the head thug, and slammed his bow hand directly into the man's face. A resounding crack echoed around the hall as blood began to rain down from the point that had been his nose. The man gasped, hands dropping both the machine pistol he held, along with the fresh magazine, as he instinctively went to cradle his face. Jacob spun the man around, arm slipping around his neck as he used his body as a shield before kicking the next in his knee. The second thugs leg buckled back, sending the owner tipping forward with a scream. Jacob brought his bow down as hard as he could against the back of the man's head as he fell, bow meeting his skull and forcing his face to smash off the floor. The man lay motionless, either knocked out cold or dead, Jacob didn't care. By the time he hard turned back to the remaining thugs, they all finished loading fresh magazines into their weapons, pulling back on the charging nubs and preparing to fire in Jacobs direction once again. The thug Jacob had a hold of noticed this, hands abandoning his pulverized nose to shoot out in front of him. A flurry of Spanish flew out of his mouth to stop his cohorts but they ignored him. Jacob first slammed his bow hand into the shields kidneys, stunning the man before kicking out both his knees. The thug buckled forward at the knees as Jacob dragged his bulk backwards, shielding himself from the incoming bullet storm. The thugs laughed as they squeezed their triggers, bullets peppering their cohorts body causing the man to thrash and scream in Jacobs' grasp. In a matter of minutes, their guns clicked empty accompanied by the clatter of their magazines hitting the floor. Ignoring the throbbing pain all throughout his body from the bullets passing through the body, Jacob thrust his legs down as hard as he could, launching the bleeding corpse up and into the thugs in front of him. They screamed in horror as the corpse hit them in the chest, knocking all three back and onto their asses. The fourth managed to crawl backwards out of the group, face contorted in horror as he tried to stand up. Jacob slowly and calmly pulled a single arrow, knocked it and loosed it into the man's chest, ceasing the thugs panic scrambling. Turning around, he heard the three working their way out from underneath the dead body, hands and feet slipping in the pooling blood. Jacob dispatched each one with ease, snapping the first one's neck, stabbing the second through the chin with an arrow before shooting the last with that very same arrow.

Satisfied that the threat was dealt with for now, Jacob turned towards the nearest door, throwing it open and finding a room full of chemicals, bottles with ripped labels filling each table inside.

Ignoring the room for now, he moved on, throwing each door open as he passed through the hallway. What he found was much the same: more chemicals, more bricks of cocaine and stashed of other various drugs and bags of money. Opening the last door, he found a small kitchen. He ventured inside, one hand resting on the end of an arrow, ready to pull it free at a moment's notice. What he found looked oddly normal; a fridge stocked with various alcohol and food, a dingy sink and an old gas stove. A stack of papers on a nearby table caught his eye, turning and picking one up. Scrolled across each one, in both English and Spanish, was what looked like a wanted poster; a crude drawing of his head and face mask accompanied them. Stuffing one of the leaflets inside his jacket, he scoured the sink cabinets for anything flammable. Coming up with some cooking oil and a lighter, he grinned. After dumping the cooking oil across the papers and the room both, he managed to coax the gas stove to light one of its burners. Holding several of the papers over the flames, he tossed each flame in a separate direction before bolting out of the room. Racing down the hall and managing to not slip in the pool of blood creeping farther along, he noticed a door at the farthest end of the hall swing open, more armed thugs spilling forth and readying their weapon. Before they had a chance to fire, Jacob ducked into the room where he found the various chemicals. Snatching up two random bottles, ones he hoped were flammable, he spun around the door frame and launched them down the hallway. With an echoing shatter, he heard the bottles land, unfortunately neither seemed to light.

Shit! He mentally screamed, snatching up his last normal arrow and knocking it. Peaking around the doorframe, he looked up and down the hall. At one end he heard the thugs spilling from the door, and to his amazement, an ever building cloud of grey fumes. The opposite end of the hallway led to a window he couldn't see out of and what looked like a set of stairs leading to the roof. With a steadying breath, he rolled into the hall, launched his arrow and sprinted towards the stairs. He heard a crunch ass the arrow struck something before the smell of a spark reached his nose. Before he knew what happened, something had knocked him off his feet and shoved him with extreme force towards the window. He heard the shatter of glass before he felt the shards fly by his body, slamming into a cold hard metal surface. Rolling over with great protest from his shoulders and back, he looked back towards the window he just flew through, right in time to see a raging inferno rushing his way.

Forcing himself to stand, he shoved himself up the ladder and the fire ball whooshed out past the window, throwing glass everywhere and blowing several more windows out around the building. Jacob kept pushing forwards, making it to the rooftop by the time his ears quit ringing and most of the pain became bearable.

After making it to the top, he paused and leaned over the ledge to look down. Every window in the building had smoke pouring out of it. With a grin, he took off for the next rooftop, clearing the gap despite his aching body. Down below, he heard the screech of tires, then the overtaxing roar of a vehicle's engine as it raced down the street. With a grunt, he turned towards the sound intent on chasing after the van. A chirping sound in his ear made him jump, realizing he still had his comms left in.

"Go ahead," he reflexively said, reaching up and tapping his ear.

"I take it you're the reason for all the commotion?" Sin asked, the sound of SCPD radio and the EMS band echoing behind her.

"Yep," he stated flatly, taking off across the rooftop.

"You feel any better?"

"Much," he chuckled. "Found something interesting too."

"Well I'll be here," she sighed, the radio clicking off.

Jacob smiled to himself before pushing onward. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a flash of metallic green before something slammed into him. The impact knocked him off his feet momentarily, rolling and standing back up with both of his batons outstretched. He spun around, determined to face whatever had attacked him, but nothing was there. Slowly turning around in a circle, he surveyed the entire rooftop. Barely making a sound, he thought he heard metal brushing against itself before feeling pain in his chest. Looking down, he saw a slight tear in his jacket, cutting down to his flesh which parted and began seeping blood. He looked back up intime to see a green metallic mask come rushing at him, two shining blades humming through the air. Jacob raised both batons and managed to keep the blades at bay, but was forced to step back after every strike. Farther and farther he was pushed back, until his left foot bumped into the rooftop wall. He tried to push forwards, timing a strike of his own to interrupt the flurry of blows. Unfortunately, his timing was off, his strike missed and he was rewarded with two quick slashes to his extended arm, Kevlar splitting and blood starting to ooze out of the wounds. Before he could so much as formulate a counter attack, he saw a flash of brown leather, a boot, hurtling towards his chest. With a dull thud and a spike of agony, he felt the boot land and pushed him over the rooftop ledge. His batons fell from his hands as he fell backwards, body starting to flail. He hung in the air for what seemed like endless seconds before crashing through the lid of a dumpster in the alley below. Pain radiated throughout his body, clouding his sight and blocking all thought. He gazed back up at the roof as his eyes went black, the flash of metallic green being the last thing he saw before passing out.

A few hours later, Jacob was woken up by a rat crawling its way across his head. Brushing it away and attempting to sit up, his whole body exploded in pain and protestation. Flinging the garbage from his body and trying to ignore the pain, he half pulled, half rolled his way out of the dumpster and fell to the alley floor. Standing up and trying not to pass out again, he climbed back up to the fire escape and stepped out onto the rooftop. He looked across it, the sun starting to come up and partially illuminating the area. Spying his batons over near the ledge, he walked over, picked them up and collapsed them. Blood and droplets led him back to where the initial attack occurred, but other than the marks left by where he scuffed his feet, nothing else remained.

What the hell was that? He thought to himself, recalling how each strike landed and trying to discern the direction it came from. With the ever approaching dawn, he dare not take long. Growing impatient and starting to get unusually woozy, he opened his eyes. Yet still nothing showed itself.

A series of chirps rang out in his ear, breaking his concentration.

"What?!" he grunted, taping his earpiece.

"Dude where are you?" she asked, her voice full of worry. "Sunrise is in like twenty minutes."

"I'm on my way," he grunted back, tapping his comm back off before sheathing his batons.

He went to take a step forward, a sudden sense of vertigo overcoming him and making him stumble. Pausing and throwing an arm out to steady himself, he took a series of deep breaths The sensation vanished as quick as it had appeared, making him shake his head and blink rapidly. He took another step and when the sensation didn't return, took off across the rooftops back towards the clocktower.

Jacob rolled into the window of the clocktower, the sun's light streaming through the glass and lighting up the inside. Landing on the floor and stumbling to get up, he stood up, pulling off his hood sluggishly before tossing it to the table; missing the table completely.

"Dude are you alright?" Sin asked, jumping up from the chair at the workstation. "What's that smell?"

"Dumpster," he grunted, making his way to the weapons table and un-slinging his bow. "Something isn't right."

Turning his attention towards the jacket, he attempted to undo the fasteners. For some reason, his fingers didn't want to work. He fumbled with the buttons before getting aggravated and just yanking them off. Peeling the jacket away from his sweat soaked skin, he began to inspect the cuts. Both the ones on his arm and the one on his chest were a putrid yellow color with dark grey splotches coming off of them. The veins trailing away from each wound were starting to turn purple. The sudden feeling of vertigo hit him again, this time amplifying and making him fall to his knees.

"What the hell's going on?" Sin asked, standing up and watching in horror as he hit the ground. "J, can you hear me?"

Poison, he thought, his tongue not wanting to work and feeling extremely heavy in his mouth.

"Poison," he managed to choke out weakly, pain creeping up throughout his body. "Get….the….herbs."

Sin stared blankly at him for a few seconds, almost as if she hadn't heard him before her eyes dashed around the room. She bolted from where she stood, finally spitting the dull green canteen sitting across the room. She snatched it up and ran back to where he had fallen, kneeling down and quickly unscrewing the cap.

"Wait," Jacob croaked, stopping her from dumping any down his throat. "Blood...sample…"

"Blood sample?" she asked, squinting, her hand holding the canteen frozen in front of her. "Where? With what?"

Jacob blinked rapidly, raising his left arm and tapping it in the crook of his elbow with his right. Pointing with his left, he indicated the far wall where a leather bag sat. Sin took a second to get his meaning, scrambling up and gathering up the bag She undid the drawstring, running back over to him before dumping the contents out beside him. Several items fell out of the bag and scattered themselves on the floor before she spotted what she needed. Being careful not to prick herself, she picked up a needle with a plastic cone shaped piece at the end, along with two glass vials. Reaching across Jacobs body she tapped his arm till a vein showed itself, plunging the cone shaped needle into his skin. Jacob let out a small sigh, his eyes starting to fall closed as she pressed the glass vial into the cone.

"J, can you hear me?" she asked again, eyes flickering from the vial to his face. "Shit, come on!"

She managed to fill the first vial and was switching to the second when his eyes shut completely.

"Oh fuck," she breathed, watching the vial fill. "Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck."

She pulled the second vial free and was about to pull out the needle when his whole body began to convulse.

"Fuck fuck fuck!" she repeated, abandoning the needle and trying to hold his body still as she reached over for the canteen.

Jacobs body rocked and shook violently, causing her to spill the canteen as she pulled it over to herself. Finally managing to get both her hands on it, she pressed her knees down on each side of his head, holding his arms down. Grabbing a hold of his face, she wrenched open his mouth and dumped some of the contents down his throat. Jacob coughed and sputtered, the herbal remedy splashing everywhere. Still Sin spread on, dumping more and more down his throat.

After a few minutes, the convulsions stopped. Sin closed the canteen, trying to save what little was left inside. Pressing her ear to his chest, she heard his heart thumping away as he breathed in and out rapidly.

"Well you're breathing," she sighed, wiping the water and sweat off her forehead. "That's always a plus."

With a sigh, she got up off of his arms, rocking back and sitting just away from him. Watching his chest rise up and down, she shook her head.

"What did you get yourself into?" she asked, putting a hand to her head and just watching him.