Baccano!/Recap/1933 The Slash/Part Two Finale the Slash
The chapter starts with a Flash Back to Tim's past, when he spoke with Huey about his dead mouse. To Tim, the mouse was his entire world--until, of course, he found it with a pair of scissors sticking out of its back. Huey tells Tim that he should create a new world, one that can't be so easily destroyed. Huey convinces Tim that helping him will create that world Tim wants.
At 10am the next morning, Tim stands in front of the Mist Wall in preparation for the mission. The area is deserted because it's still raining heavily, and few people are going in and out of the building. All of a sudden, a black car stops in front of the Mist Wall. Tim sees Senator Manfred Beriam coming out of the car and disappearing into the building.
At the same time, Christopher, Chi, and Adele are at Firo's apartment in Little Italy. They thank him for letting them stay the night. Czes thinks that there's something off about the trio, and realizes that they're extremely similar to Ennis.
Meanwhile, Jacuzzi's gang is at the Mist Wall parking lot. Everyone but Jacuzzi, Nice, and Donny are wearing white work suits. Jacuzzi goes over his discussion with Tim the other night, having only agreed on the condition that they would not be killing anyone on this mission. Tim provided the gang with sleeping gas, which they would spread throughout the building while dressed like janitors. This would create the distraction necessary for Larva to sneak into one of the labs to collect the elixir. Jacuzzi, Nice, and Donny are the only ones not dressed up, as they would stand out too much--they decide to wait for the others at the restaurant at the top floor of the Mist Wall. Jacuzzi tells his gang that they'll be stealing the elixir from Larva after this mission so that they can use it as a bargaining tool with the mafia. The gang cheers.
Ennis returns to the Alveare because she's worried about Firo--Ronnie had taken Isaac and Miria with him on his way to speak to Jacuzzi--and finds out that Firo is still probably out looking for her. She's shocked and feels extremely guilty, but the phone suddenly rings. Sena hands it to Ennis, who doesn't recognize the person on the line. The caller introduces herself as Leeza, and complains that she'd spent all night at Ennis's (by extension, Firo's) house waiting for her. Ennis is shaken, but Leeza continues. She tells Ennis that they have Firo with them, and that Ennis has to come alone to the restaurant at the top floor of the Mist Wall. Maiza asks Ennis what is going on, but Leeza immediately adds that Ennis most definitely should not tell the nice bespectacled man beside her anything. She warns Ennis that the twins are always watching, and that her allies are those who have inherited Szilard's will.
Firo, Christopher, Chi, and Adele arrive at the Mist Wall. Chi is pleasantly surprised that Firo has no qualms about walking around in public with strange-looking people like them. Firo realizes that it's because he's spent so much time in the past year or so with Isaac and Miria, and regrets ruining their domino setup the day before.
Tim sees Firo, Christopher, Chi, and Adele enter the Mist Wall. He's already in position, pretending to read the paper at the far end of the lobby. Adele approaches him, and Tim tells her that everyone else is set to go, including Dallas, keeping watch on Jacuzzi's gang at the top floor restaurant. He asks her who the newcomer is.
Adele goes back to Firo and informs him that Dallas is at the restaurant. Firo immediately runs into an elevator headed for the top floor. Christopher goes up to Tim for a little Trash Talk, and officially begins the mission by loudly announcing a Merry Christmas... and is corrected by an attendant. Christopher amends his statement to celebrate Halloween.
He then stabs the attendant in the throat with a gun-knife. There's a gun-knife in his other hand as well, showcased when he stabs another attendant with it in the same fashion. The people in the lobby fall into mass panic as Christopher shoots people down (with the knives still stuck in the attendants' throats) while singing about Trick-or-Treating and eating Halloween candy. The people try to run from the building, but the glass doors are locked shut. Leeza's chakrams start flying around before anyone can try to break them down, cutting down people that have managed to avoid being shot at. Some people are still managing to escape, however--all of them are non-Nebula employees.
Tim watches in shock, as he had not been told about the mass slaughter portion of the plan--Christopher informs him that Lamia's mission was to kill all Nebula employees in the New York branch. Tim realizes that only Nebula employees have been killed, and that since Huey was always careful to not involve any bystanders in his experiments, this must mean that the entirety of Nebula has been designated as part of an experiment.
Christopher splits up the team, himself going up to the restaurant with Adele to start killing from the top floor down. He sends Chi to work his way up from the ground floor, and stations Leeza on the first floor to take care of any stragglers.
Some time earlier at the top floor restaurant Babel, Jacuzzi, Nice, and Donny are looking over the menu while they wait. The waiter asks them if they would mind sharing the table with another group, to which Jacuzzi agrees. The waiter seats Ronnie at the table. Jacuzzi is shocked, but his fear is instantly offset by Isaac and Miria popping up from beside Ronnie, praising Ronnie's talent with magic tricks.
Meanwhile, Dallas watches Jacuzzi, Nice, and Donny from two tables away. He recognizes Isaac and Miria as the couple that ran him over and just barely restrains himself from attacking them, but his restraint is destroyed when he hears a familiar voice--Firo.
Dallas yells Firo's name while emitting a Death Glare, and Firo responds with a glare of his own, and demands to know where Ennis is. Dallas is confused, but Isaac and Miria interrupt and tell Firo that they've already rescued Ennis. Firo ignores Dallas and goes over to Ronnie, Isaac, and Miria in relief. Dallas goes berserk and tries to attack him from behind, only to get his ass handed to him in a spectacular fashion. At this point, Ronnie hears gunshots from the first floor.
Maria, Tick, Vino, and Chane are in front of the Mist Wall. They decide to leave Eve and Fong outside while they storm the building. However, all the doors are locked and there are signs posted everywhere forbidding entry due to construction. Maria decides to cut through, but Vino picks out one of her hairpins and starts picking the lock. Suddenly, he sees someone coming at them from behind through the reflection on the door. It's Ennis, completely soaked and not even sparing a glance at Vino et al., instead focusing on the door beside them. She kicks it down in one strike and runs into the building, heading for the elevators. At this point, Vino manages to get his lock open, and slightly upset at being shown up, pushes open a door that opens outwards. He states that he will officially complain to the girl that showed him up. Chane gives him her silent disapproval, and Tick comments that Vino and Chane must be very much in love. Vino is embarrassed. Maria wonders how she ever lost a fight to a guy like that.
Meanwhile, Christopher and Adele reach the top floor of the Mist Wall. Firo tries to pretend that he doesn't know them, but Christopher yells out Firo's name and asks him if he managed to find Dallas. Isaac and Miria still think Adele is a magician. Firo asks him what he's doing here, but Christopher asks for the manager of the restaurant, and upon confirming that the manager works for Nebula, shoots him in the head without so much as a warning. The restaurant falls into panic. Donny immediately throws a table at Christopher, who dodges it by bending 90 degrees backwards. Donny tries to crush him with brute force, but Christopher pushes him back with his left arm alone. He catches Donny in a stumble and is about to shoot him, when Nice detonates a flashbomb right in front of his eyes. Jacuzzi takes the chance to try and take Christopher's gun, but Adele stops him, apologizing. Jacuzzi calls them out for lying about not killing anyone, to which Adele responds with a creepy laugh and a reminder that she wasn't the one who made that deal. Chrisopher holds his gun to Jacuzzi's head, saying that they need a hostage to make the mission go smoothly. Firo tries to talk down Christopher and offers to become a hostage in Jacuzzi's place, but Christopher refuses because Firo is immortal.
Meanwhile, Chi works his way up the building, slitting throats by the dozens. He runs into Nick and Jack from Jacuzzi's gang, who are taking cover from the sleeping gas. Chi leaves them and goes along his way, licking his claws, when he notices something strange. Then he bolts, having noticed something terrifying. He runs up the stairs towards the top floor, yelling at the top of his lungs for Christopher to get out of the building.
At the same time, Tim is searching through the last of the labs, having failed to find the elixir anywhere else. He remarks that things have been too easy so far, and muses that Nebula may have been aware of the plan from the very beginning. All of a sudden, Senator Beriam shows up from behind him and explains that there was no elixir in the Mist Wall to begin with, and that it was all a plot to ensnare Huey Laforet. As he is a Non-Action Guy and Senator Beriam is accompanied by a pair of bodyguards, Tim tries to bluff his way and demands to know where the lab is. Beriam responds by telling him that the entire building is the testing ground for the incomplete elixir of immortality.
At the restaurant, Firo demands to know how Christopher knew about his immortality. Chris apologizes for declaring Firo's immortality in public and Firo is about to ask again, when the elevator bell rings. Christopher approaches the elevator doors and waits for it to open, and is immediately sent flying by a kick to the face from Ennis. The restaurant patrons dash for the emergency stairwell, as Firo is reunited with Ennis. Once the restaurant is devoid of most bystanders, Christopher reveals that he and the other members of Lamia are incomplete homunculi, made from Szilard's half-complete research. Firo searches through Szilard's memories and realizes that Huey Laforet must be behind this.
The elevator bell rings again, and this time Christopher picks up three knives from the tables and throws them into the opening doors. There's no sound of the knives hitting anything. Vino exits the elevator, holding the three knives, followed by Chane, Tick, and Maria. Firo is pleasantly surprised by Vino's presence, but Christopher demands to know who Vino is and what he is doing here. Vino ignores him and tells Jacuzzi that the number of sleeping people downstairs must mean that the mission was a success. Christopher thinks Vino's lost it, and Isaac and Miria still think it's all a magic show.
Suddenly, Firo notices that the restaurant manager's head is coming back together. For a moment, everyone is confused. Christopher then looks at his knife, which is much too clean for a weapon that's just killed upwards of hundreds of people. At that moment, Chi comes in through the emergency stairwell, telling him to retreat.
Turns out all the Nebula employees are immortals.
Tim is shocked by what Beriam is telling him. All 1200 Nebula employees in the Mist Wall were injected with the incomplete elixir under the guise of a vaccination, and Huey knew of this when he sent out Lamia and Larva on this mission. Beriam declares his hatred of immortals, and leaves. Tim orders his team to retreat.
Everyone at the restaurant is surprised by the revelation about Nebula's employees (except Isaac and Miria, who conclude that "immortal"=not dead=alive, therefore everyone in the building is safe). Christopher asks Chi why they have to retreat when they have Firo and Ennis, a pair of perfect immortals who can devour all the incomplete immortals. Firo refuses and tries to leave with Ennis, but Christopher stops them because Firo has the knowledge that Huey wants--how to create a complete homunculus like Ennis. Firo turns to leave and Adele tries to stab him in the back, but Vino catches Adele's spear with his fingers before it can connect. Vino realizes that Adele was the one who cut Chane's face. Christopher tries to shoot him, but Vino blocks all the bullets with Adele's spear. One of the deflected bullets graze the side of Adele's face, and Vino decides to call it even.
Tim finally comes up to the restaurant and orders Christopher and Adele to retreat. Christopher takes this as having finished his mission, therefore being off duty and free to do as he pleases. He attacks Vino and knees him in the chin. Firo is shocked to see Vino take a hit. Christopher and Vino continue to fight, and the latter remarks that Christopher is likely the third strongest person in the world, after himself (#1) and the former Felix Walken (#2). Christopher decides that he wants to kill Vino for being strong. Vino suggests that they take the fight outside because other people could get involved, and breaks one of the windows open.
The top of the Mist Wall is shaped like a pyramid, so there's room for footholds. However, one wrong move could send them plummeting to the ground. Despite Tim's protests, Christopher exits through the broken window. Chi follows to observe, and he is followed outside by Chane.
Maria stands beside Tick, still hesitating to challenge Adele. Adele herself starts fumbling through her words, saying that she was terrified when Vino managed to catch her spear. Tim tells her that the mission is over, but Adele takes it to mean that Jacuzzi's gang is no longer necessary. She takes her spear and stabs at Jacuzzi's face.
Meanwhile, Eve and Fong watch from outside the Mist Wall as its walls become faintly smeared with red.
Vino and Christopher continue their fight outside. One of Christopher's bullets rebounds against the wall and hits Vino's shoulder, though he's not showing any sign of pain. They banter about who is the strongest, and Christopher tells Vino that every moment of his life has been about killing. Vino comments on Christopher's weird eyes and teeth. All this leads up to the reveal that Christopher is now out of bullets.
Back inside the restaurant, Adele's spear is stopped by Maria's katana. Maria is still uneasy about having to fight Adele, but convinces herself that there's no turning back. She resolves to trust her katana, Murasamia.
While conversing with Firo, Ennis recalls that Leeza is suspiciously missing from the battle.
Vino and Christopher discuss weapons and friends while battling it out on the pyramid. Vino assumes that Christopher must have no friends, to which Christopher retorts that he has good friends that help him out in situations like this--at that exact moment, one of Leeza's chakrams fly towards the back of Vino's head. Vino responds that a fiancee will go so far as to watch his back in situations like this. Chane catches the chakram by the ring with her knife.
Inside, Tick pleads with Tim to stop Adele, because he feels that the fight itself is meaningless. Tim tells Tick that he can't do anything at this point, since Adele is too far gone. Inwardly, Tim is exasperated at being treated like an authority figure by his older brother. Tick walks away, disappointed, and Tim reaffirms his abandoning the past.
While fighting Vino, Christopher reveals that Adele was labelled a failure and treated as nothing more than an experimental subject. He explains that as she started helping out Christopher on his missions, she grew to believe that killing people would make others acknowledge her.
Chane continues to fight off Leeza's chakrams, and Leeza begins to taunt her. She gives her a theoretical "Friend or Idol?" Decision, asking Chane what she would do if Huey ordered her to kill Vino. Chane hesitates, and five chakrams swarm towards her. She only manages to deflect four of them, but Vino intervenes and catches the fifth in the nick of time. He also offers a solution to Leeza's conundrum--Chane can try and kill Vino for the rest of their lives, and Vino will evade all of her murder attempts while still being madly in love with her. He then makes a wild guess that Leeza's voice is coming from Christopher, who is secretly two people, or practicing ventriloquism. Christopher shoots those ideas down. Vino realizes that amidst the fighting, they have reached the top of the Mist Wall's pyramid.
Maria and Adele are still fighting in the restaurant when the elevator doors open and security guards storm the restaurant. Adele strikes one down and goes for the rest of the fear-stricken guards, while Maria catches sight of the unflappable Ronnie still sitting in his chair. Ronnie asks her if she wants to borrow his strength to defeat Adele, but Tick comes over and tells him that Maria would never do such a thing, because she's strong enough to defeat Adele on her own. Maria resolves to win and asks Tick to trust in her katana Murasamia with her--but Tick refuses. Tick tells her that he can't believe in something formless like Maria's trust in her katana. Instead, he offers to place his trust in Maria herself--because he's seen all the hard work she puts into training, he's sure that she can win. Tick decides that Maria will believe in Murasamia, and he will believe in Maria.
Jacuzzi snaps them out of it as he points out that Adele is still slaughtering the Nebula guards. The dead are already beginning to heal, and Firo and Ennis are just barely fighting off Adele. Maria intervenes, and shocks Adele by tossing Murasamia. The thrown katana is parallel to the ground and pointed at Adele--Maria then stabs the bottom of Murasamia's hilt with Kochite, her second katana. Maria's managed to bypass the spear's longer range, but Adele deflects Murasamia with her spear. However, she fails to account for the balance of the two katanas put together and is stabbed straight through the shoulder by Kochite. Adele staggers and tries to support herself with her spear. Maria sees that Adele's no longer trying to kill her, and leaves Tim to perform first aid on Adele.
Maria goes back to Tick, and declares that she feels like she could cut through anything--steel, wind, and even the rainclouds hanging over the sky. She walks over to the window and draws her katana dramatically. The sky starts clearing and the sun starts to shine through the clouds. Ronnie smiles mysteriously.
Tim, having treated Adele to the best of his abilities, decides that he can't afford to go back for Christopher and Chi, and supports Adele on their way to the elevator. However, Dallas steps in between them and the elevator doors. He takes out his knife (rusted from those two years in the Hudson) and tries to attack, but Adele manages to stab him through the chest before he can do anything. Tim takes out a handgun to keep Dallas down temporarily, but Dallas smirks and notifies Tim that he happened to encounter a certain bomb freak the other day...
Hearing Dallas, Nice turns to see an extremely familiar spark on the inside of Dallas's shirt and yells for everyone to take cover.
Outside, Eve and Fong see an explosion at the top floor, which sends down a shower of red-tinted glass. No one notices that the red climbs back up the walls and onto the top floor.
The explosion tears through the restaurant as Vino and Chane continue to be occupied by Christopher and Leeza respectively. Vino asks Chane to go back to the restaurant to make sure everyone's safe, and decides to get serious. He catches six chakrams flying in from behind him barehanded without even turning around, and throws them all at once. They spin towards Christopher, who dodges them all, but he's caught off guard by the attack--which is enough of an opportunity for Vino to close in an grab Christopher by the throat. Christopher tries to stab Vino in the head with his knife, but Vino slams the back of Christopher's head against the top of the Mist Wall pyramid before the knife can connect. Christopher loses consciousness.
Back at the restaurant, everyone is still reeling from the blast. Tim notices that Adele tried to shield him from the brunt of the blast, and tries to get her to safety, but Dallas stomps on him and tells him that he will kill them both for threatening Eve's safety. Dallas drags them over to the broken windows.
Vino throws Christopher's unconscious body over to Chi when Chane comes back to tell him that everyone is safe. Chi realizes who exactly Vino is, and leaves with Christopher. Leeza is also gone.
Firo and Ennis wake up the unconscious Isaac and Miria, who are still under the impression that the whole thing's a magic show. Firo notices that Dallas is near the windows, trying to push Tim and Adele off the building. He's about to go and stop him, but notices that someone else has beaten him to the punch--someone with a familiar pair of scissors, which are now stuck in Dallas's back.
Tick apologizes to Dallas for having to hurt him, but says that he had no choice but to intervene when he saw that someone was trying to hurt his younger brother. Tim--Tock is shocked that Tick knew of his identity, and Tick confesses that he'd known from the moment they met at the Genoard Manor. Dallas tries to remove the scissors from his spinal cord, but Tick stops him by adding another pair of scissors to Dallas's right shoulder. Tick continues to explain that although he wanted to be happy to see his brother again, he didn't want to get in the way of Tock's new life and weigh him down with burdens of the past. Tock tells his brother that he'd wanted to cut himself off from his past relationships, while Tick tells him that he was always trying to figure out the relationships between people.
Tick stabs Dallas in the side this time, and tells him to forget about getting revenge on Tim, and to direct the anger at himself, Tick Jefferson, lest Eve Genoard suffer for Dallas's vengeance. Tick removes the scissors one by one and thanks Dallas for showing him the relationships between family. Then he pushes him off the side of the building.
Eve decides that she's had enough of standing around outside and insists to a distraught Fong that she is going to join the others inside. However, they suddenly notice something falling from the top of the building. Fong, realizing what it is, covers Eve's line of sight. Seconds later, something splatters against the ground with a sickening noise.
Carrying an unconscious Christopher, Chi returns to the restaurant and is surprised to find Tim and Adele heavily injured. Tim calls over the twins, and the waiter who seated Ronnie, Isaac, and Miria comes out of the shadows. Tim identifies him as Sham, and orders him to help them carry Adele outside. Chi, carrying Chris, and Sham, carrying Adele, leave via elevator.
At this point, most people, including the security guards, have gone downstairs. Firo asks Ennis if she's concerned about the other homunculi, who should be like brothers and sisters to her--she responds, to Firo's dismay, that she is already happy with Firo and Czes, who are like brothers to her.
Vino and Chane discuss the involvement of Huey and Nebula in this incident. The former declares that the next time a big incident happens, he will go visit Huey Laforet personally, nevermind the fact that he's currently imprisoned in Alcatraz.
Jacuzzi's group, meanwhile is on the elevator on the way down to the gang's rendezvous point, when a certain demon finally manages to catch up to them for a long, long chat. The elevator doors close before they have a chance to escape.
On their way down to the first floor, Tim asks Tick the long-awaited question--why did he kill Tock's pet mouse? Tick answers that he did not kill the mouse, but found it that way when he came in. He did not deny killing it at the time because denial would have made him more suspicious. Tim wonders about the implications of this as the elevator stops on the ground floor. The only police car outside seems to be there for the explosion, and everyone is just going about their business. The lobby appears as if nothing had ever happened, and Tim, to his horror, once again realizes just how much influence Senator Beriam has.