files

Who: Eris and Jakob
Where: One More Round
When: Early evening

Jakob was pleased with himself, no denying it. He'd taken his time to come this far, but he was on the verge of true pride, the sort that was normally reserved for a new father perhaps. Everything was coming together; Brett's files, Jakob's own intel on the dirty secrets of the city, and his slow machinations within both fronts of organized crime. They all lined up, the details in Brett's files had told him they would. And if they were played in the right order? He'd have managed the impossible; redeeming a man the whole city had passed judgment on. Not true redemption, sure, but in their eyes it would be, and it would be public. It would be inarguable, even, if Jakob's plans paid off.

He'd skimmed over almost all of Brett's file in the day since picking it up, skipping rote repetition in Captain Hardy's reports where he could and taking notes on the rest. The man who'd gathered all of this had been a technical master, his paperwork was flawless, but it was boring. Jakob was more interested in the dirty details of Brett's time undercover, and with good reason. He'd known, during all his time spent reading, that his two days were up. He owed Eris some contact, and these files. And this time? She couldn't complain about him taking too long.

Leaning on the bar of One More Round until the tender noticed him, Jakob pointed to a vacant back booth near the stage where the house band often played. It was early enough that the Round was still pretty empty, and hopefully this time they could skip the traipse through the city. "Fetch the lady of the house," Jakob instructed the barkeep, slapping a five dollar bill on the bar, "Tell her that her benefactor is calling." He moved off towards the booth without another word, shrewdly studying the few other occupants as he moved and settled into a seat.

The message Eris got wasn't necessarily so poetically put, though she was told the gist. When she appeared, it was a good ten minutes later. She had a drink for herself, and one for him as she slid into the booth, looking at him from across the table with an unreadable expression in her eyes, though her lips were curled in a light bit of amusement. Though what might be amusing, one didn't know. She hadn't bothered attempting to cover the dark bruise on her neck either, what was very clearly a bite mark. "My benefactor?" she inquired, light lilt to her voice. "At least you're a little more timely this time around."

"In that what I do is for your benefit, yes," Jakob explained with a thin smirk, raising the glass Eris had brought him and sniffing it critically. He wasn't suspicious, far from it in fact. He was excited, so much so that if Jakob wasn't careful, he'd end up on his fourth drink without realizing. "And really, you need to abandon this idea of a time table you labor under. No one in this city could've done what I'm doing, certainly not in the bare ten days since you'd contacted me first," he said, quite unceremoniously dropping the hefty files onto the table between them. "I'd always thought dying would teach patience, after all."

He wasn't terribly intrigued about the bite mark, she'd been a madam, after all. Though who had put it there... that was a curiosity. Stockard was a paranoid woman, with good reason. "Who, I wonder, do you let close enough for that?" he asked, tapping his own neck with a mischievous expression as he rested his other hand on the file he'd brought.

"You'd be surprised what dying teaches you, Hollis." Eris said, pulling the files over and she opened them, though with the open part facing the wall, just so no one would actually see what they contained. She saw a photograph of Brett paperclipped in, an old one, probably right after he joined the force. Of course he looked serious, but there was a lighter quality to his expression that he didn't hold these days.

When he asked the question, she glanced up, gazing at him through her eyelashes. "Someone deserving." she told him. "No one you would know." Which technically, from a certain point of view, was true. Brett was certainly not the man he'd been when he was in the force. He was a changed man. Not as changed as he liked to think, but still. Altered irrevocably.

Taking his first sip, Jakob smacked his lips in approval, settling back in his seat and watching Eris shrewdly. "I know a great deal of the city," he reminded her, "Those with use. And I suspect that anyone you would deign to be so exposed to has their uses." He chuckled quietly, swirling the contents of his glass and watching the scotch catch the dim lights of the bar. "Your proof was hard to locate," Jakob mused, "All traces of it were scrubbed from the station's records quite deliberately. I believe whoever did so is still suspicious."

No lie there; for all the fun he was having framing people, murdering, and orchestrating? Jakob didn't trust Eris one bit. He'd known her, she'd been the only person for years that he counted as a peer, and in truth? If she hadn't posed her problem as a challenge, he would've done everything in his power to make her fail at it. "My arrangements are nearly ready, as well. A few days from now, the opportunity will be there for Trent to exonerate himself. But..." he trailed off, smiling mischievously, "The lynchpin of it all cannot come from me. I can set the stage for you, Trent, whoever you may trust to see this through, but that is all."

"You do know a great deal of the city." Eris agreed, closing the file as she took her drink up and sipped at it. "But you keep laboring under the delusion that you know everything. That, sweetie, will get you into trouble one day." she told him, smiling in a manner that could only be described as predatory. "What exactly is going to need doing when everything is set?" she asked. She'd give Brett the option, she supposed. Tell him what was going on. She imagined he would want to do it himself. Her doing it for him would take something away from it, in her opinion.

He laughed richly now, shaking his head at her warning. "I never expected anything less for myself, Stockard. I am not a man who will die naturally, I know," Jakob confessed without losing an inch of his smile, "But these dogs who believe themselves wolves? Russian, Italian, Chinese, they are fools." In Jakob's mind, the only way he faced real danger from either side was if one found out about the favors he did for the other, and he was just too smart for that to happen. "As for the act needed, it is a simple one," he assured her, "A meeting, likely a brief one. With the commissioner of police, at that. I will arrange the chance, arm the arbiter you choose, and the rest is up to them. Make sure you select someone with their wits about them."

There was that arrogance again, like she'd seen in their last encounter. Jakob had really started believing he was above everything. That was when people fell the hardest. She knew. She'd seen it. She'd experienced it. But she said nothing of the kind. She listened, instead. "What's the final piece? What will you be 'arming' them with?" she asked.

"Truth," Jakob murmured simply, giving the lone word a moment, "Truth against the lies, the necessary ones that keep these old men in power. You offered me information on the night you asked for my help, remember? Some of it may prove useful, but I will provide a portion of my own." He had a glint in his eyes, a wild and ecstatic look that plainly said Jakob wanted to be there when this happened, to see the moment it all came together. "When you face another man in a gamble, a good hand is invaluable," he explained, "But just as valuable? Confidence, determination, a poker face if you will. I can provide evidence that would incriminate many in the city's hierarchy, the commissioner among them. Some if it is included with Trent's files, in fact. I can guarantee that neither syndicate will have the time or resources to react. Unless the man is a fool or your agent is a traitor, I imagine Trent will find himself pardoned in any fashion he likes. I would recommend publicly, to ensure that word spreads quickly."

Eris looked a little more through the files, less on Brett's specific one but more on the others there, that looked more like they were focused on the Commissioner's dirty dealings. Something she knew a bit about and could flesh out on her own as well. "I know all about facing opponents, Jakob. You don't actually need to give me lessons." she said mildly, still reading things over. "When are you setting things up for, and what are you handing over that'll pad things?" she asked. She smiled, that same unreadable expression. "If I didn't know better, Hollis, I'd say you just wanted a front row seat." With the sort of attitude he was expressing of late, she did know better. This would be something he'd want to see, want to be part of so he could watch it all fall into place.

"I only offer lessons out of your best interest," he replied without a hint of sarcasm, shaking his head, "I started this life with an aluminum badge and two rumors, Eris. I know these people well, I know how they will react. You asked for my help, so please don't take offense when I try to offer it." Again, rare as it was, it was the truth. With all he'd done, actually getting his hands dirty? He wanted this to work, he wanted it badly. "My plans will be situated in... three days? Perhaps longer if certain co-workers ask too many questions, but I doubt it highly. So yes, three days time." He took another swallow of scotch, wiping one corner of his mouth with his thumb before going on.

"As for the rest of my 'incentives for cooperation? It depends. I know enough to hobble a great deal of people, is there anyone you bear a grudge against? Or shall I just pick and choose freely?" he asked, genuinely curious there. They'd failed to kill Eris after all he'd done to help her fall, and for that? He was willing to tailor the details for her. "You're right, as well. I would love very little quite as much as witnessing this. This is... this is my opus."

Eris smiled at him. "Did you not notice?" she asked lightly. "Those I've wanted to specifically hobble I have already." Considering the O'Malley's were in ruins right now, not even a name anymore, and any stragglers were disappearing themselves fast. Her eyes were on him, watching for a reaction to her specifically actually saying now that she had had quite the hand in taking the family down and scattering them to the winds. She took another sip of her drink. "So, feel free to pick and choose." she told him. "I'm sure that'll entertain you. You can, and undoubtedly will, use it to your own ends if you wish. Just so long as it does the job, and can't be undone." she told him.

She got the reaction she'd been looking for; a spark birthing in Jakob's eyes and spreading to stretch his grin wider, even making him stifle a laugh. "You?" he murmured, clearly amused, "You managed to have Moira O'Malley ripped apart by her own people?" Her fellow factions was more accurate, but still. She'd trusted them, and it had gotten her killed. "That is the Eris Stockard I remember," Jakob praised quietly, "The one that many people knew better than to cross. Welcome back."

He was elated, he wanted to lean across the table and give her a matching bite mark. Everything he'd done to ruin her life had been a curiosity, a test. What happened to the brilliant, the shrewd, if you pulled away their foundations? In some sense, Jakob wanted to see her fall so he could see himself fall. And now he had proof that it couldn't stop her; she'd returned to balance the injustice against her. And this is why I do not watch my own shows, he mused, still beaming at her. "Anything less than death can be undone, but I will make sure that each person dragged into this is willing to kill their own mothers to remain safe."

"I would expect nothing less." Eris said, nodding a little in approval. She was also pleased with his reaction. It gave her a bit of a precursor to how others might react--only they wouldn't be pleased. Hollis was a specific specimen of man. Others? Knowing what she'd done, what she and Brett had done, really, should inspire that twitch of fear. It was just getting a large reaction from the man that helped her assess that. Brett had said she'd inspire it. Now she was slightly more confident he was right. "Three days." she said. "Where will the meetings in question take place?" she asked. "First with you, then with the commissioner?"

"With me... here, perhaps," Jakob suggested at length, "That encounter will be a simple one. A delivery, a short list of places to avoid for a day or so, nothing more. The commissioner?" He laughed richly, shaking his head. "Men of routine, Eris. They do not know the weakness of their schedule. I can put your representative in the commissioner's car with him, a driver is easily dealt with."

Thinking about that, Eris shook her head. "Not a car." she said. "Someplace more public. If you put someone in a car, then there aren't any witnesses if anything happens to go awry." Her tone suggested that she wasn't going to be swayed on the matter. No way was she putting Brett in a vehicle with the commissioner when the man could be carrying, probably would be, and could end his problem pretty quickly by putting a bullet in Brett's head.

Jakob scowled at the insistence, though it melted away fast enough to suggest he was faking his ire. "Fair enough," he agreed, "I'd liked the idea of showing him that he is not safe anywhere, but you have a valid concern there. So perhaps you would like to pick? I'd already intended to co-opt his driver's loyalty, it is just as easy to have him delivered to a meeting ground of your choosing." He would've suggested any number of poetic spots; the ground where Captain Hardy was murdered, the ruins of Babylon, the police academy itself, maybe even the library.

Eris thought about it. "I'll get back to you on the location." she said. "No later than tomorrow. Then we can arrange everything from there." She figured she'd give Brett his choice on that score too. Wherever he decided felt safest for him. She wasn't going to go making decisions on that for the man, not when he'd be the one going through with it. Or, assuming he would do it at all. It might wind up being her. He didn't believe there was a way out, after all. He'd been clear on that. She had to prove him wrong, but she had no idea how he was going to react.

"Then unless there's anything else you feel we should discuss?" Jakob said, the intent to leave clear in his tone. Three days, a time limit he could definitely work with. It would be a busy three days, no doubt, but he was confident. More, he was excited. This city was going to tremble at what was unleashed upon it in the name of clearing Brett Trent, and Jakob felt no guilt for it. All he was doing was creating the moment, letting human nature do the rest.

"Not a thing. You have a nice night, officer." Eris said to him, tone a little too sweet. But it didn't have too much bite, either. It was nicely inbetween. She sipped at her drink some more, then turned back to the files, wanting to go over them again. She'd call Brett, leave a message she needed to see him...and things would go however they were going to.