The Flying Pussyfoot

"Once upon a time, here in America, there was a train called the Flying Pussyfoot that was involved in a certain incident, a singularity that brought together all kinds of lives and their respective fates. . . . That train certainly changed many lives; that's what makes it unique. Of course, the world kept on turning even as the train ran along its tracks."

- Ronny Schiatto

The Flying Pussyfoot was a luxury transcontinental express. On December 30, 1931 the train was hijacked en route from Chicago to New York City by three parties: the Lemures, demanding their leader Huey Laforet's release from prison in exchange for the passengers' lives; Ladd Russo and his White Suits, intending to kill many of the passengers and crash the train unless paid a ransom; and seven members of Jacuzzi's Gang, aiming to steal the smuggled explosives that Czeslaw Meyer planned to sell to the Runorata Family.

After an overnight power-struggle which saw Jacuzzi's gang relatively victorious and the innocent passengers safe, the Flying Pussyfoot reached Pennsylvania Station two hours late at 2:00 PM on December 31, 1931. Although the incident itself would immediately be covered up to the general public, it would later inspire Graham Specter's attempted train hijacking in December 1934 and the Copycat's attempted recreation on board two cruise liners in August 2002.

Characteristics
The Flying Pussyfoot was owned by Nebula, with its greatest distinguishing feature considered its independence "from the usual railway corporations' operation [...] it was run by borrowing the rails from the railway companies." Among the regulations from which the train was exempt were uniform regulations, and so Flying Pussyfoot conductors wore a custom white uniform in order to flaunt the train's uniqueness.

The train's interior design took inspiration from the British Royal Train; however, unlike its model, the exterior of the Flying Pussyfoot was also extravagantly decorated with ornamental features which resulted in the train's association with the nouveau riche. Ultimately, its design prioritized aesthetics over functionality.

Another key distinguishing features of the Flying Pussyfoot was its system for generating electricity for the train's lights via its wheel axles, with each car outfitted with its own independent electric wiring. This unique system generated more electricity than a typical train's electric system would, with it technically being possible to make the cars' interiors as bright as day. The generators' exchange switches were located under the cars, something that the Young Conductor regarded as a design flaw; the cars' undersides also happened to be a tad more spacious than those of ordinary cars, and each cars' floor was fitted with a trapdoor which could be used for emergency inspections.

The train also had large lamps specially installed under the tail lamps attached to the exterior of its rear car, likely in accordance with the Flying Pussyfoot 's operating procedures. These procedures required its conductors to periodically contact the engineers by turning the exterior lamps on and off. The scheduled light signals served as a way to reaffirm the status quo: a missed scheduled signal would theoretically indicate to the engineers that the rear car had been detached or that some other trouble had arisen, leading the engineers to potentially bring the train to a halt.

Unlike many other trains, the Flying Pussyfoot divided its cars into classes according to their distances from the locomotive. The order after the engine was as follows: three first-class carriages; a single dining car; three second-class carriages; one third-class carriage; three cars fitted with freight holds; and a rear car with a spare freight hold and the conductors' compartment.

All first-class compartment interiors were embellished with marble and similar materials; the second-class compartments were built in a corresponding fashion. Both first-class and second-class compartments came with beds, whereas third class compartments only offered seats. With the exception of the dining car, all cars' corridors fell on the left side according to the direction of travel.

Although the Flying Pussyfoot was utterly 'dry' during the December 1931 hijacking, owing to the Young Conductor's strict adherence to policy, it usually ignored Prohibition's laws and not only served passengers alcohol but smuggled liquor on the side. This was not the reason—or, a sole reason—its dining car earned it popularity: the dining car was first available to all passengers regardless of class; second, it offered a variety of cuisines including "French dishes[,] Chinese cuisine, [and] the Creole specialty jambalaya."

Departure
During the late afternoon of December 30, 1931, Goose Perkins, Ladd, Jacuzzi, and their respective followers join their fellow passengers in boarding the Flying Pussyfoot—aboard which Czeslaw's explosives have already been smuggled. Goose secures permission for some of his Lemures to guard their 'instruments' (weapons) in a freight hold, while the White Suit Dune murders Tony and steals his special Flying Pussyfoot conductor's uniform—which he will use to impersonate a conductor later that night.

When two passengers decide last-minute not to board, Elmer C. Albatross buys their tickets and boards the train in their stead. In the meantime, Rachel and Lebreau Fermet Viralesque separately sneak on board without tickets as stowaways. With the seeds of machinations planted, the Flying Pussyfoot departs from Union Station without delay.

The Hijacking
The first few hours of the journey pass without incident; once evening falls and the dining car is full of passengers, the Lemures and the White Suits stir to action—the White Suits at Ladd's order, the Lemures at a signal from their conductor, who thereafter attempts to murder his younger colleague. His colleague—the Young Conductor—murders him instead; when Dune enters the conductors' compartment a minute later wearing the conductor's uniform, he interrogates Dune on Ladd's plans and murders him as well. Though the two murders do not immediately affect the dining car hijacking, their consequences will be felt throughout the night.

Instead, the Lemures' and the White Suits' plans to hijack the dining car go immediately awry on account of happening at the same time: three Lemures; Vicky the White Suit; and Jacuzzi Splot's misguided friend Nick burst into the dining car all at once. Rachel escapes the dining car during the ensuing pandemonium, which sees Vicky and two of the Lemures dead while the third wounded Lemur escapes to First Class. After Ladd leaves the car, and before Goose arrives, Natalie Beriam instructs Czes and her daughter Mary to find a hiding place in or beyond Second Class. Eventually—sometime after Ladd orders his White suits to disperse—the Lemur Chané Laforet will discover a White Suit manhandling Mary, kill him, and reunite Mary with her mother in First Class.

Despite these immediate complications, the Lemures successfully seize control of the dining car and escort Natalie—the wife of Senator Manfred Beriam, with whom they plan to negotiate Huey's release—to First Class, where she is kept hostage via personal guard. The Lemures will retain control of the dining car for much of the night ahead by stationing two guards inside it, having gained the initial upper hand due to their high-quality weapons but especially sheer numbers. Not long after, they enjoy two more early victories in capturing the White Suits Lua Klein and Who and Jacuzzi's friends Nick and Jack.

In response to the Lemures' early lead, Ladd instructs his White Suits to 'go wild' in opposing the Lemures—and subsequent White Suit-Lemur clashes in the night will see deaths on both sides. He later rescues Lua and Who—with Jacuzzi's group afterwards rescuing Nick and Jack—from their bindings.

Throughout the night and the White Suit-Lemur clashes, the Young Conductor—Claire Stanfield, now the Rail Tracer—actively thins both factions' numbers by killing off most of the Black and White Suits he comes across. In-between killings, he regularly returns to the conductors' compartment to make the scheduled light signals necessary for the train to continue at pace. These proceedings proceed smoothly until he overhears Czeslaw ask Ladd to kill all the dining car passengers on his behalf, a request Ladd refuses via shooting Czes in the head. When Claire later discovers Czes is an Immortal, he confronts Czes and soon begins torturing him for a period of time.

While Claire is busy with Czes, Jacuzzi's gang splits up in a bid to save the passengers, with Jacuzzi and Donny dropping off Jack on their way to the rear cars while Nick and Nice Holystone head for First Class. Their route is inadvertently blocked by a rooftop duel between Ladd and Chané, resulting in their capture by the Lemur Spike who then escorts them to First Class to be interrogated by Goose. At their claims of a 'Rail Tracer' monster on the train, Goose sends Upham and four other Lemures to the freight holds, where the five split into groups of two and three.

Upon seeing Rachel for a second time, Claire ties Czes underneath the train and resumes his anti-hijacking priorities. Rachel takes it upon herself to rescue the Beriams; though she succeeds in freeing them from their Sham Lemur captor, she is wounded by Spike in the process and joins Nice and Nick in captivity.

Ladd confronts the Lemur trio in the freight hold and interrogates one on Chané, killing the second and allowing Upham to escape; Upham is soon captured by Jacuzzi and Donny who then interrogate him on the Lemures' plans. During this time, Claire kills off the two Lemures guarding the dining car, one of their replacements, and allows the second replacement to return to First Class. Goose leaves his hostages to check on the dining car, allowing Rachel the opportunity to free herself, Nice, and Nick from their bonds.

Thus does Jacuzzi's gang become the Lemures' primary opposition for the rest of the night, and so does the tide begin to turn in their favor: Jacuzzi and Donny seize control of the dining car and reconvene with Jon Panel and Fang Lin-Shan, while Nice and Nick prepare for a counterattack. In the meantime, Ladd and Chqné have their second rooftop encounter while Elmer and Upham (whom Elmer freed) encounter Fermet in the conductors' apartment, an encounter which results in Fermet's expulsion from the train. Claire briefly chastises Elmer and Upham before intervening in the rooftop confrontation, whereupon he proposes to Chané and causes Ladd and Lua's own expulsion from the train; he then saves Chané's life when Spike shoots at her with the intent to kill, and expels Spike from the train in turn.

When Nice answers the Lemures' gunfire with explosives, Jacuzzi orders Donny to begin unloading the smuggled explosives in the second freight car while he hurries to assist Nice, leaving Jon and Fang in control of the dining car. Claire attributes the explosives to a 'thief posse' chasing after the train to the train's elderly, hard-of-hearing engineer brothers and urges them to increase the train's speed rather than bring the train to a halt.

Following Jacuzzi's rescue of Nice and Nick, Goose takes chase along with a few other Lemures; Jon, Fang, and the dining car passengers—having retrieved the Lemures' weapons from the freight hold—force those Lemures to surrender at gunpoint, leaving Goose without backup in his rooftop confrontation with Jacuzzi. In the meantime, Isaac and Miria free Czes and Claire and Rachel have an emotional encounter which ends with Claire giving Rachel a ticket.

The rooftop confrontation results in Goose's expulsion from the train and the Rail Tracer rescuing Jacuzzi, and Jacuzzi's retrieval team retrieves all the smuggled cargo from the river to the tune of a successful train robbery—as well as Chané, who jumped voluntarily at Claire's suggestion. Prior to this point, Jacuzzi's retrieval team was involved in thwarting the Lemures' riverside team in responsible for negotiations.

Arrival and Aftermath
Upon the Flying Pussyfoot 's arrival at a stop point some miles away from its final destination, all of the surviving Lemures and White Suits with the exception of Chané, Upham, Spike, Lua, Who, and Ladd are taken under arrest. The police conduct a two hour investigation of the train while its steam engine is switched out for an electric locomotive and its ornate cars—due to the heavy damage they sustained—are switched out for ordinary cars with which to transport the passengers.

Thus does the Flying Pussyfoot eventually arrive two hours late to Pennsylvania Station at 2:00 PM, December 31, 1931 despite Claire's efforts to secure a timely arrival. Nebula and Senator Beriam bribe countless passengers and officials to cover up the incident and furthermore scrap the Flying Pussyfoot, saving its locomotive but otherwise leaving its cars to stand idle in a public park on the city outskirts.

These abandoned cars are eventually destroyed by civilians celebrating the end of Prohibition on December 5, 1933, and so is the Flying Pussyfoot forever lost to history—save for a small part of the rear car's roof that Claire tore off to preserve Chané's 'love letter' to him.

It takes around seventy years for the government to finally declassify the Flying Pussyfoot incident, though the government's version of events differs from reality. Filmmaker John Drox secures the rights to produce a film based off this edited declassified information in the early 2000s.

Staff

 * Two engineers (a pair of elderly brothers; their hearing loss makes them unable to hear the slaughter in the other cars)
 * Claire Stanfield (Young Conductor)
 * Senior conductor (Lemur)
 * Gregoire (head chef of the dining car's kitchen)
 * Fang Lin-Shan (assistant cook; member of Jacuzzi's gang)
 * Jon Panel (bartender; member of Jacuzzi's gang)
 * Several other assistant cooks

Lemures ("Black Suits")

 * Goose Perkins
 * Chané Laforet
 * Spike
 * Upham
 * George
 * Senior conductor
 * A Sham vessel
 * Thirty in total, excluding the conductor

Ladd Russo and His Men ("White Suits")

 * Ladd Russo
 * Lua Klein
 * Who
 * Dune (impostor conductor)
 * Vicky
 * "Ten group members" believed left following Vicky's death

Jacuzzi's Gang

 * Jacuzzi Splot
 * Nice Holystone
 * Donny
 * Nick
 * Jack
 * Jon Panel
 * Fang Lin-Shan

Other passengers

 * Isaac Dian
 * Miria Harvent
 * Czeslaw Meyer
 * Natalie Beriam
 * Mary Beriam
 * Fred
 * Turner
 * Elmer C. Albatross

Stowaways

 * Rachel
 * Lebreau Fermet Viralesque

Characters who did not board the train

 * Jacques-Rosé Boronial (originally bought a second-class ticket)
 * The owners of Dolce Restaurant (sold their tickets to Elmer at the platform)

First Class

 * Ten Lemures (including: Goose; Spike; Chané; and Sham)
 * Natalie Beriam; Mary Beriam; Czeslaw Meyer (sharing same compartment)
 * Mr. Turner

Second Class

 * Ten Lemures
 * White Suits (including: Ladd; Lua; Who; Dune; Vicky; and others. Based in Room Three)
 * Fermet (stowed away in the compartment Jacques-Rosé would have occupied after eavesdropping on his conversation with Rosetta)

Third Class

 * Ten Lemures
 * Fred (moves to Ladd's room after given permission; treats patients there)
 * Jacuzzi's Gang (Jacuzzi; Nice; Donny; Nick; Jack)

Etymology
Flying is a slang term that could mean majestic or successful. Being a new transcontinental locomotive, this is fitting. Pussyfoot is another slang term that meant "to walk or go on carefully." Since the train was new, it is also fitting that the name is faring the passengers and crew well and telling them to have a safe trip.

Trivia

 * The main Flying Pussyfoot arc (i.e. the contents of Volumes Two and Three, not Volumes Fourteen or Twenty has received more adaptations than any other arc in the series. Adaptations include the 2007 Baccano! anime, the first audio drama, the first manga adaptation, and an adventure visual novel for the Nintendo DS.
 * The 2007 anime changed the train's final destination from Pennsylvania Station to Grand Central Station, in major part due to the production staff visiting Grand Central Station during their location scouting. In reality, a direct train route from Union Station to Grand Central Station would not have been possible in 1931.