The sun had just begun to rise over Gotham's jagged skyline when Jacob stood still for a moment on the edge of the Narrows bridge, staring out at the city that had made him—and nearly unmade him.
He was done.
Not with his mission. Not with his code. But with Gotham.
Staying would be tempting, seductive even. His ambition would grow wild in this cursed soil. The money, the reputation, the hunger for power—it would spiral until he became exactly what he hated. Gotham gave birth to beasts, and Jacob knew, if he stayed, he would become one.
He couldn't let that happen.
The $480 million he had stolen now lay cleanly distributed in a maze of offshore accounts—untraceable, unbreachable, protected by firewalls even the NSA would take years to crack. He alone held the keys.
It was time to move. Time to breathe. Time to control.
---
The Road Out
Jacob took nothing flashy. A used black sedan with mismatched hubcaps, dark tints, and just enough horsepower to escape if needed. No name, no ID. Just a man with a hoodie, a pack of clothes, a burner phone, and his mind.
He drove quietly out of Gotham.
With each mile, the gray skies faded, and he could feel the tension in his bones ease. Gotham had coiled around his spine like a serpent. Now, it was slowly unwinding.
As the distance grew, so did the memories.
His mother's laughter. The softness in her voice. The screams when she was taken. The fire. The cold. The pain. Gotham had taken her. And in doing so, forged him.
But he had made a promise.
"I'll keep you safe. And I'll keep Gotham safe… in my own way."
---
Star City: A Different World
He arrived in Star City by afternoon. The sun was warm and golden, unlike Gotham's grim haze. The streets were clean. Trees lined the sidewalks. People smiled here—not out of desperation, but because they could.
He parked near a modest commercial area and stepped outside.
The air smelled like coffee and fresh pastry. He watched a young woman walk by, holding her child's hand. They stopped at a corner café named "Hero Brew," giggling over the cartoon versions of the Green Arrow and Black Canary on the menu.
Jacob paused.
There it was—that sharp ache in his chest. A kind of grief for a life he never had. A life where he could've been that boy, with his mother, smiling over cocoa.
But Gotham had taken that from him. What was done was done.
He inhaled. The present is what mattered.
---
The Apartment
Jacob found an obscure apartment on the outskirts of the city. It was an aging complex, mostly ignored by realtors. Quiet. Out of the way. It suited him perfectly.
He approached the landlord as just another drifter, spinning a clean alias and paying upfront for seven months, using cash drawn from a legitimate-looking front. Nothing fancy. No red flags.
He lived modestly. Ate modestly. But every night, while the world slept—Jacob planned.
Not for vengeance. But for mastery.
He studied Star City's architecture, its networks, its elite. He read every newspaper, tracked its vigilantes, and researched its criminal underbelly. But more importantly, he read books—on strategy, control, restraint.
---
Control Before Power
Jacob knew: strength without discipline is a liability.
In Gotham, he had learned how to think like a villain. But in Star City, he would learn how to become more than a villain.
He would learn patience. He would learn stillness. He would learn how to be the storm that no one saw coming.