A few hours later, just as the sun was dipping below the city skyline, Sin let out a groan and rolled over to her side. She sat up, rubbing her head and blinking, turning to see Jacob still cross legged beside her.
"What time is it?" she asked, rubbing her head and trying to ease her headache.
"Sun down," he smirked, sliding the canteen closer to her. "Drink up."
"What is it?" she asked, uncorking the canteen and eyeing the contents.
Jacob let out a hearty laugh, watching as Sin looked up at him with a very confused look on her face.
"I did the same thing when it was first given to me," he told her, waving away the look. "Just drink it, it's good for you."
She shrugged, taking a drink from the canteen before making a sour face.
"Goddamn that's nasty," she groaned, putting her arm over her mouth to stop from puking. "What the hells in that?"
"It's an herbal remedy," he explained. "The herbs in it are extremely good for you, can heal you and cure most poisons."
"You drink it a lot?" she asked, groaning and taking another drink.
"Quite a bit when I was with Sara," he laughed, nodding. "I'm proof it actually works."
"Does it ever taste any better?" she gasped, forcing herself to drink more.
"Never," he grunted, shaking his head.
They sat in silence for a few minutes as she quietly drank from the canteen, her expressions making him laugh before finally frowning. She took another drink, watching him.
"You miss her don't you," she asked gently, watching his face. For a second, his expression changed before becoming blank.
"It's...complicated," he muttered, shrugging his shoulders.
"Dude, try me," she pressed, taking another drink.
"Its…" he sighed, brushing his hand through his hair and making himself look remarkably younger in the moment. "She's family, yet she's so much more to me."
"You love her?"
"Yes, more than just a sister or family member. With Sara it's like, I have someone I trust regardless, then there's this urge…"
"You two fucked didn't you?" she asked grinning.
""Well," he paused, unable to keep from grinning back at her. "Yeah, twice."
"Can't blame you," she laughed. "She's hot. The family thing's a bit weird but...still, damn."
"But then there's Thea," he went on. "With Thea, there's history, memories, possibility. It's all just soo…"
"Messy?" Sin laughed, raising an eyebrow.
"You have no idea," he agreed, catching her double meaning. "I can't be with Sara, I know that, I understand that. Thea isn't even guaranteed either but maybe I…"
"Dude your love life is weird," she shot back, shaking her head. "If I had two sexy ladies like that wanting me, I'd be all over it."
"Yeah, well," he sighed, looking out the window then back to her. "How's your head feeling?"
"Actually," she paused, touching where she thought she had felt a lump forming. "Not half bad, considering you knocked me unconscious."
"Good," he chuckled, standing up. "Lets see if you can run."
She groaned but nodded and stood up as well, keeping her balance.
"What do you have in mind?" she asked, stretching her arms and legs while corking the canteen. Jacob only grinned in response.
"This is totally not what I thought you meant by run!" Sin yelled as she fought to keep up with Jacob across the rooftops.
"How do you think I got from place to place?" he called back before planting his foot and jumping off the roof edge to the next. As soon as he landed, he dropped down to his knees and rolled, his momentum carrying him forward before popping back up to his feet.
Turning around, he looked back to see her mutter something before sprinting to the same point he had just launched from. With a grunt, she leapt off the roof, clearing to the next one but landing nowhere near as well as Jacob. Her left foot caught a raised edge on the rooftop, causing her to stumble then completely trip, sprawling down to the top in a cluttered mess. When she came to a stop, Jacob walked up to her and knelt down. Before he could say or do anything more, she started pushing herself back up, her hands majorly scuffed up.
"Shit," she groaned, brushing off her knees. "That hurt."
"You'll have to work on that," he laughed, standing up and turning towards the next roof's edge. "You said Abernathy likes the same Chinese restaurant, yeah?"
"Yeah, corner of Willard and Walton," she confirmed, trying to catch her breath. "Why?"
"Cause I'm looking at it," he chuckled, pointing down at the illuminated Chinese symbol across the street.
"What?" she gawked, standing up and walking over beside him. Sure enough, it was the same place. "How'd you do that? I couldn't tell which streets we passed."
"Something else you'll have to work on," he smirked, turning to watch as Abernathy's black, unmarked car pulled up and paused. "What do you know about the place?"
"It's called the Full Moon…" she started, shrugging.
"Main, moon," he corrected, reading and translating off the sign illuminated in the window.
"Let me guess," she sighed, rolling her eyes. "You can read Chinese?"
"Yě shuō ba (speak it too)," he chuckled, slightly mocking her. "Don't roll your eyes."
"Well aside from the Lo Mein being alright, it's not really a remarkable place," she went on.
"Any connection to the Triads?" he asked, folding his arms across his chest.
"Not that i know of," she answered, shaking her head. "Soon as we get back to the tower, I can do some more digging. Why?"
"A Los Harcones paid cop walks into a Triad owned restaurant," he chuckled, looking down at the sign as Abernathy walked inside. "Somehow I don't think it would end well."
"Maybe he's an informant or a mediary between the two?" she guessed, looking over the roof.
"Hope not," he muttered. "Rather not try to take on both just yet."
"Least you wouldn't be doing it alone?" she shot back, grinning up at him.
"The two of us against the Triad?" he laughed and shook his head. "Clearly you underestimate them. Their presence might have dwindled lately but they're still formidable."
"You know something I don't?" she asked, looking up at his face.
"Lots," he grinned before pointing at a figure coming out of the restaurant. "There's our target."
Sin looked back over the rooftop, squinting slightly as she watched what she guessed was Abernathy, pull a cigarette out of his shirt pocket, fish out an old style lighter and spark up. Taking a long drag from it, he held it in before releasing a circular cloud out into the air.
"We taking him tonight?" she asked as he fished out his keys and unlocked his car.
"No," Jacob responded, watching him as well. "We follow him for the time being."
"Well there he goes," she nodded as his car took off to the north.
"Then we follow," he grunted, turning and taking off.
Sin grumbled something under her breath before heading off in the same direction.
After an interesting hour of running, Jacob stood watching as Abernathy pulled into an alley between two warehouses. Sin managed to catch up, running up to Jacob breathless with two new bruises forming on her arms. As she knelt beside him trying to regain her breath, Jacob peered across the roof, barely able to see the car, let alone what was going on.
Looking over the edge and gauging the distance between himself and the target, he began formulating a route.
"Stay here and stay down," he muttered to Sin before jumping over the edge and sliding down the fire escape.
After a few seconds, he hit the first landing, vaulting up and over the rail before falling down to another landing, skipping several in between. Hitting the ground and crouching behind a dumpster, he peaked out and tried to get a better view. Barely being able to see, he sprinted across the alleyway, taking to the shadows and creeping closer to Abernathy's car. Once his eyes adjusted enough, he could see someone standing beside a dumpster talking to the man through his open car window.
"It's not enough," he heard Abernathy say, blowing a cloud of smoke out. "Do your people not understand, I control whether or not SCPD gets involved in your business."
"All the good your doing with the fucking masks," the dumpster man shot back. "That freak is becoming a problem to our operation."
"That's not my problem," Abernathy laughed, spitting out the window. "I handle the cops, your people pay me, plain and simple. If you can't pay, I'm sure my LT would be happy to send a search and seizure team to each one of your locations."
The man by the dumpster grunted something in Spanish before throwing a fat envelope through the window at Abernathy.
"Pleasure doing business with you," Abernathy laughed, pulling out another cigarette and lighting it.
"Best watch yourself, Cabron," the man shot back as the car began to pull away.
Jacob shook his head, slowly crept away from his spot and made his way back to the rooftop where he left Sin. Climbing back up the fire escape, he found her peering over the rooftop, watching as Abernathy pulled out of the alleyway and took off.
"What was that about?" she asked, right as his feet touched the rooftop.
"Abernathy is trying to put the squeeze on Los Harcones," Jacob laughed, shaking his head. "Good new is, the hits are working."
"So what do we do now?" she asked.
"Let's get back to the tower," he replied, looking her over. "You look like you could use some rest."
"Man," she grumbled. "I'm fine, slightly bruised, but fine."
"Keep up then," he laughed, starting back the way they came. "If you can."
He took off, effortlessly making it across the rooftop before rolling to the next one. Sin grumbled to herself for a second before following after.
Both Jacob and Sin arrived at the clocktower at the same time, crawling through the window one at a time. Jacob stood up once inside, whipping off his hat and shirt in one smooth movement, chucking them to the side and starting on the salmon ladder. Sin tumbled in after, breathless and covered in sweat. She stood up, gawking at Jacob as he worked his way up the ladder, one rung at a time.
"How do you have any energy left?" she asked, gawking at him.
"Lots of practice," he grunted, jumping up another run.
Sin groaned and shook her head.
"I need a shower," she muttered, wasting no time in whipping off her shirt and walking over to the stall.
Jacob looked over his shoulder just in time to see her kick off her pants and step into the shower, a black tattoo standing out on her inner thigh. He froze for a second, eyes adjusting and focusing on it. A very calligraphy S with devil horns and a tail sat just below in a very provocative manor.
He laughed silently to himself before dropping down off the ladder and stretching his arms. Midway through his second set of arm stretches, Sin stepped out of the shower, her normally pale skin now a fresh pink tone. As she was ringing out her hair, he noticed the scars across her chest, once again raising many questions.
"You going to tell me how you really got these?" he asked, folding his arms over his chest.
"Soon as you tell me how you got yours," she shot back, not even looking up.
"..." he paused, mentally contemplating telling her no before sighing. "Pick one."
She stood up, the towel on her head flipping up behind her as she did so. Water began trickling down her face and trailing down her chest.
"Seriously?" she asked, somewhat shocked while wiping the water away absently. Jacob nodded silently in response. "The star splatter on your shoulder."
He looked over at his shoulder, touching it and smiling sadly.
"It's from when Sara was training me on that damn island," he sighed, rotating his shoulder as he recalled the pain. "I was making my way to a rendezvous point when a spiked log slammed into me. Damn thing snapped right off and I ended up carrying it the whole way there. Sara pulled it out and seared it shut with a hot knife."
"Fuck man," she grimaced. "That had to hurt."
"It did," he nodded. "But not as much as it hurt when i was shot in that very same spot."
"Well shit," she gasped, eyes growing wide. "How didn't you lose your arm?"
"A very well timed stroke of luck and a damn good med bay," he replied smiling. "Now tell me about those scars."
"Well it was Seattle," she shrugged, looking away. "I moved out there not long after Sara disappeared and someone started masquerading as her. It was after the whole Glades uprising and I was looking for a new start. So i met this chick, fell for her crazy fast, thought it was love. Got her name tattooed across my chest right here," she touched the area between her breasts and neck. "Her name was Christina. Well turns out Christina was a lying bitch and had a psycho wife. Crazy cunt snuck into our place and poured hydrochloric acid on my chest. Shit burns dude."
Jacob nodded, grunting and motioning for her to continue.
"Well needless to say, things ended with Christina. Spent about six or so months in the hospital before those buzzards in accounting came calling. I bounced. Figured id come back here."
"And the tattoo on your thigh?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.
"Oh, heh, that," she giggled, blushing slightly. "That's just a little joke. Christina used to call me a devil, so I had a tattoo drawn up. It's not the worst thing ive had done, by far."
"I'll have to take your word for it," he muttered, shaking his head.
"I mean i sleep naked so you're bound to see it," she went on, ignoring him and going to remove the towel from around her waist.
"Get some sleep," he grunted, turning around and starting with the Salmon ladder again.
She laughed, pulling the towel off anyway and grabbing fresh clothes off the table before laying down on the bed. With a sigh, she sat the clothes down at the head before laying back and closing her eyes. Within minutes she was fast asleep, her breath coming and going in short easy pauses.
Jacob silently laughed, hopping down from the bar before padding silently over to the computer chair and sitting down. With a sigh of his own, he leaned back in the chair and started to pull up every file he could on Abernathy and the Los Harcones, plotting his next move.
Jacob sighed in frustration, finding no new information in the SCPD database.
Maybe the hits are putting them onto the fact I'm in their system, he thought to himself as he ran his hands through his hair. He sighed again, turning on the police band and dialing down the volume so as to not wake Sign up. Spinning around in his chair, he turned to look at her. She slept on her chest, arm thrown out under the pillow with her hair falling over into her eyes. Every so often her face would twitch and she would mutter something under her breath, but Jacob couldn't make it out. He smiled, chuckling quietly before standing up and walking over to where his bow sat. Looking up at the targets he sat up for Sin to practice on, he gathered up a handful of arrows. Taking a breath, he quickly knocked the first one, sighted, pulled back and released. The arrow whistled for half a second before spearing the target clean through the middle.
As fast as he could, he repeated the process, shooting arrow after arrow into almost the same spot; each arrow seemed to skim off the last. When the last arrow landed, the target fell off the stand, thumping to the floor.
"Dad?" Sin gasped, sitting bolt upright and eyes going wide.
"No?" Jacob replied, confused and turning around.
"J?" She asked, blinking rapidly and squinting to see him. "Oh…"
"You alright?" he asked, setting the bow down.
"It's nothing," she muttered, shaking her head as she reached for her shirt, quickly pulling it on. Jacob ignored the attempt to avoid and stared at her.
"Don't look at me like that," she grumbled, rolling her eyes but still getting the stare as she pulled on her pants. A few seconds of silence passed as she finished dressing, Jacobs gaze and position unmoving.
"Ugh, fine," she sighed, giving in. "I was dreaming about my dad…"
"Is that a bad thing?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I mean…" she groaned. "Sort of, I haven't seen him since I was a kid. Don't know if he died or ran off with some woman or what."
"I could try looking into it?" he asked, motioning to the work station.
"Nah, man," she sighed, brushing the idea away. "SCPD tried missing persons years ago. Came up with a load of squat, I'm over it."
"But yet you're dreaming about him," he shot back, trying to be gentle.
"I…" she stopped, picking up her shoes and throwing them on. "I'm going to get food."
"It's the middle of the night," he chuckled, looking at the clock in the bottom corner of the computer screen.
"I know a place that stays open," she insisted, getting up and heading for the elevator. "It's not far."
Before he could say anything more, she called up the elevator, gotten in and had left.
Jacob shook his head, turning away. Looking from his bow to the target, sighing when he realized it was still laying on the floor. With a grumble, he headed over and picked it up, pulling each arrow back out after setting it back on the stand. Walking back to the table, he dropped it down and caught sight of his phone. Pausing for a minute, he unlocked the screen and scrolled down to Sara's name, thumb hovering over the dial button. After a few minutes of silent mental arguing, he hit the button and held it up to his ear. A single solitary ring came over the speaker before Sara's voice came.
"Hey," she called out, her voice making it sound like she was smiling as she answered.
"Hey," he replied, actually smiling.
"Is everything alright?"
"I promised i would call from time to time," he laughed.
"It's about time you listen to me," she laughed back, not trying to hide her smile.
He went silent for a minute, aching to see her face to face.
"Are you sure you're ok?" she asked, voice switching to a more worried tone.
"I miss you," he replied instantly, breath catching in his throat and causing him to groan the moment he said it.
"I miss you too," she giggled, making him smile. "But i have a feeling you didn't call to just tell me you missed me."
"I need a favor," he started. "I met someone, you might remember her…"
"So she's dreaming about her dad?" Sara asked after he finished his lengthy explanation, sitting against her room wall on The Waverider.
"Yea," Jacob confirmed, nodding to himself. "Is there any way you can find out about him? Maybe have Gideon do a scan over the timeline or something?"
"No need," she sighed, blowing a stray strand of her hair out of her face. "I know exactly where he is."
"Can you take her to him?" he asked, leaning up. "Or tell me where and I'll figure out how to get us there."
"I don't think that would be a good idea," she sighed again. "He's dead."
"Where's he buried?"
"You'll love this," she chuckled bitterly. "It's on Lian Yu. He was a pilot who crashed during the time Oliver and I were trapped there."
"Wonderful," he groaned, head leaning back into the chair.
"So why are you doing this?" she asked.
"I need her mind set at ease," he replied flatly. "That way she can focus, stay alive. Plus if i can help someone get closure from something like that, the better."
"Like your doing?" she asked, a little too quickly.
"You know I have my reasons," he grunted back, remark slightly stinging. "Can you help or not?"
She froze for a second, wanting to say something, wanting nothing more than to just hug and kiss him.
"You know I'd help you with anything," she muttered quietly. "Just give me some time to figure out how."
"Thank you," he sighed, closing his eyes. "Call me whenever you do."
He took the phone away from his ear, thumb hovering over the end call button.
"Jacob," he heard her call. "I love you."
"I love you too," he whispered before he heard the line click dead.
With a sigh, he sat the phone down on the desk and scratched his head. A few minutes later, Sin walked out of the elevator, holding two Styrofoam clamshell plates full of what smelled like breakfast foods. She took one look at his face, then looked at the phone on the desk, still displaying Sara's name and number.
"You alright?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Not really," he grunted, turning away and looking towards the weapons table.
"You talk to Sara?" she asked, walking in and setting down the clamshells, seeing her name still lit up on his phone.
"I did," he acknowledged, starting to stuff arrows into his quiver. "And I need to hit something."
"Alright," she muttered quietly. "You want to eat first?" she opened one of the clamshells, revealing a platter of scrambled eggs, bacon, hashbrowns and toast.
"Maybe later," he grunted, turning away and grabbing his league gear.
As he moved, he threw on his jacket, slinging his quiver over his shoulders with practiced ease. Snatching his bow up and pulling on his mask, he left out the window. Sin frowned as he took off across the rooftops and into the night.
Looking at his phone, she saw it still sat unlocked. Taking out her own phone, she flicked the screen unlocked and copied down Sara's number.
Just in case, she thought to herself before locking both phones and sitting down. Spinning the opened clamshell around, she pulled a plastic fork from her pocket, unwrapped it and started digging into the food.