Baccano!/Recap/1934 Alice in Jails Street/Episode Prologue Five

1934. Chicago, Illinois.

At the lakeside, the Poet milks a gigantic invisible bovine as he recites his Purple Prose-laden poetry. He is interrupted by a spinning high kick, courtesy of an annoyed Sickle. She coldly reminds him that they are under orders from Huey to keep a low profile until the operation begins. They banter for a while, and are eventually interrupted by Rail and Frank, the former reminding Sickle that a young woman landing a spinning high kick is itself pretty attention-grabbing as well.

Rail apologizes for arriving so late--he was traveling with the toddler-proportioned 7'+ tall Frank, which isn't such an easy task when trying to keep on the down-low. Frank apologizes to Rail, who tells him that it's all Huey's fault--not Frank's. Rail openly insults Huey, and the Poet announces that Rail has committed blasphemy by turning on their creator and master.

Sickle interrupts the Poet with a kick to the throat, calling him an idiot, but notes that Rail is indeed really spiteful towards Huey. Rail asks her if she's going to report him, but Sickle doesn't think Huey would spare the effort to kill Rail. On the contrary, she thinks that he probably already knows about Rail's lack of loyalty. Rail agrees and laughs. He then asks who else from Lamia will be coming for the mission.

Sickle tells him that Leeza and Chi will be joining them, but Adele will be away guarding Tim, and that Christopher is still MIA. Neither of the twins have found him in the year since he went missing, so they're expecting the worst. Rail's expression darkens.

The Poet interrupts the moment by launching into another poetry recital. Rail wonders what he means by the poem, and Sickle deduces that the Poet meant he was getting tired of waiting. Rail laughs, impressed by the Poet's ability to turn that simple phrase into incomprehensible Purple Prose in an instant.

The Poet advises Rail (in poetry) that words are one of the greatest things in the world, and that they can express anything--words are power. He adds, however, that they aren't quite enough for him to control the laws of physics with, so he requests that Rail blow away Sickle with his physical ability, in the Poet's place.

Sickle grabs the Poet by the neck, advising Rail to not pay too much heed to the Poet's words, adding that she'd rather not be blown away by Rail. Then she wonders when Leeza will be contacting them.

A short distance away, three men are spying on the Lamia members gathered at the lakeside. They are all wearing trenchcoats and fedoras, and while that in itself isn't too unusual for the time and place, they carry themselves like gangsters. The leader of the trio is a man with a knife scar on his face, who is using a pair of binoculars to watch the members of Lamia.

They confirm that Rail and Frank's appearances match the Wanted Posters, but aren't sure about Sickle or the Poet--but they wave it off, justifying that if the two are bystanders, it was just their unlucky day to be caught up in this. One of the men wonder if they should go at it on their own, but the leader looks through the binoculars and tells him to wait and call for backup.

Suddenly, the leader hears a woman's voice from out of nowhere, and turns from the binoculars. His companions are lying on the ground with silvery chakrams sticking out of the back of their heads. Then Chi appears and comments that the misfortune was with them, not Lamia, and revealing his hidden Wolverine Claws.

Leeza greets the other Lamia members. Sickle complains that she had to put up with the Poet for so long because Leeza was late, and the Poet takes this as a cue to launch into another tirade. Chi joins them, and comments that the Poet's gotten even worse than when Christopher was around. The Poet proclaims that Christopher was the only one to truly understand his spirit, despite his annoying habit of trying to sing his poetry.

Chi shows the others the Wanted Posters he found on the guys who were spying on them. They are surprisingly detailed, and partially soaked in the blood of their previous owners. Sickle asks if Chi and Leeza took care of them, and Chi tells her that the last one slit his own throat on his claw.

Leeza confirms that Huey has yet to decide if he should use New York or Chicago, and that it all depends on which bait the FBI will take. Although they have definitely taken the New York bait, Senator Beriam and Nebula are a much more pressing concern for Huey at the moment.

Leeza adds that since their faces aren't known to the FBI, it's likely that their team will be undertaking the operation, as opposed to the New York team. These Wanted Posters are a problem, however, as they contain information on not only their appearances, but they also mention Huey's other teams, such as Larva, Rhythm, and Time. Worst case scenario, they will have to act as bait for the New York team.

Everyone can tell that Leeza is dead serious. Even the Poet is silent. Rail, however, smiles and wraps a stick of paper with the Wanted Poster, and tosses it into the lake. A moment later, it explodes with a loud flash on the surface of the water. Chi commends Rail for the amazing improvement he's made to his bombs. Rail admits that he actually bought these bombs from a Hollywood filmmaker, who had supposedly bought them off a group of delinquents not much older than Rail himself.

Rail decides to spend some free time for the time being, asking Leeza to have one of the twins give him a heads up when the operation is about to begin. Frank follows, reminding Rail that it's dangerous to move alone. Leeza asks them if they could take care of the bodies of the three men they just killed, and Rail jokingly claims that it's corpse disposal requests like this that are turning him into a twisted human being. He goes with Frank to get rid of the bodies.

Chi quietly remarks that Rail's becoming more and more like Christopher--for all his hatred of Huey, Rail had always been close with Chris. Chi wonders where Chris could be now.

Leeza orders everyone to disperse for the time being, promising to have the twins contact them when the time comes. Everyone leaves, leaving only the Poet standing at the lakeside. He wonders if their world could be comparable to Neverland from Peter Pan, but decides that Alice in Wonderland fits much better.

Meanwhile, Rail and Frank arrive at the location of the corpses, only to find the area empty. Not a trace of bloodshed remains.