1934 Alice in Jails: Streets/Chapter 1: Mistimed Prologues

Synopsis
Two Lamia members by the name of Poet and Sickle stand idle on the shore of Lake Michigan in a "certain month" of 1934. The Poet waxes lyrical until Sickle kicks him and reminds him their master Huey Laforet wants them to "lay low" before they begin their mission, and they have a back-and-forth until they are joined by fellow Lamia Rail and Frank.
 * Prologue V—Miscreant Formation

Rail points out that Sickle's high spin-kick is hardly an act of "laying low" itself, and explains their late arrival: keeping a low profile while traveling was difficult and took time due to Frank's appearance. Frank apologizes, but Rail assures him that Huey, not Frank, is to blame. Rail's antipathy towards Huey leads Poet to call him "blasphemous," which earns the Poet a kick to the throat courtesy of Sickle. Sickle herself comments that Rail seems to truly loathe Huey, but she does not intend to report Rail; she doubts that Huey would bother to kill them anyway. In fact, she expects he probably already knows Rail hates him and is disloyal.

Sickle informs Rail that Leeza Laforet and Hong Chi-Mei will be joining them while Adele will remain behind to guard Tim—and Christopher Shaldred remains missing in action. As neither Sham nor Hilton have detected any traces of Christopher during the past year, they have started to assume worst-case scenarios.

The Poet interrupts to express his impatience through poetry, and then exalts the power of words. As words do not have much influence over physics, he requests Rail use their physical power to send Sickle flying on his behalf. Sickle grabs him and tells Rail to pay him no mind, and then muses that Leeza should be contacting them soon.

In the woods nearby, three men with the air of gangsters spy on the Lamia via binoculars. The leader, Krieck, confirms Rail and Frank's identities but is not as confident when it comes to Sickle and the Poet; however, none of them are really concerned if the latter pair really are innocent bystanders or not. Krieck decides they should call for reinforcements before they try to capture the group—but at the sound of a feminine voice, he lowers his binoculars and turns to find his two companions dead, chakrams lodged in the backs of their heads. Less than a minute later, Chi kills him.

By the time Chi joins the rest of the Lamia, Leeza has already greeted them. After commenting that the Poet has gotten "worse" since Christopher went missing, he shows the Lamia the wanted poster the three men were carrying and informs the others of the three men he and Leeza killed. Where Frank is worried by the idea that they were being watched, Rail finds it 'interesting' and checks to make sure Huey has not signaled for them to move yet. Leeza confirms it, saying that Huey still has not decided between Chicago or New York City; while the Bureau of Investigation seems to be taking the bait in New York, there are still problems when it comes to Manfred Beriam and Nebula's proteges.

Leeza adds that the BOI only knows the faces of Tim's group, not Lamia's, which means there is a greater chance of Huey picking Chicago. This makes the wanted poster a problem, as it mentions Huey's other factions—at worst, the Lamia will have to act as a diversion so Tim's group can act in New York. Rail is confident that they can blow up whoever comes after them, and they blow up the wanted poster with one of their bombs.

Chi compliments Rail on how their explosives have improved, but Rail admits that they bought these particular explosives off some Hollywood technicians and miners, who in term may have bought them off a group of delinquents. They then declare that they will do "whatever they want" until Huey delivers his orders, so they ask Leeza to pass Huey's orders when the time comes as they wander off. Frank, worried, hurries after; before either of them leaves, Leeza asks that they dispose of the corpses in the woods. Chi remarks that Rail is becoming more and more like Chris.

All disperse at Leeza's instruction, leaving the Poet alone at the lakeside. The Poet compares their world to Neverland, and those imprisoned in it to Alice from *Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.* Meanwhile, Rail and Frank fail to find any corpses in the forest—not even any traces of blood.


 * Prologue VI—The Mafia Returns

In an abandoned factory on Chicago's outskirts, Graham Specter tells his followers that he used to work at this factory as a mechanic, only for his employers to start using the factory to brew alcohol during Prohibition. Not wanting to participate in such greed, he reported them. The story is so sad that he takes out his negative feelings on a machine component, dissembling without letting any of its parts touch the ground—a feat so impressive that it launches him into good spirits.

Graham's right-hand man, Shaft, applauds and requests Graham catch his wrench with his head rather than his hands next time (promising to attend the funeral if he does). Once he has Graham's attention, he informs him that Placido Russo summoned him thirty minutes ago. In addition, he has heard ten versions of Graham's factory story by now and is starting to tire of it. Graham has a go at half-strangling him while the others watch on.

A brief rundown of the Russo Family's downturn over the past few years is given, starting with a summary of the day that began it all: a pair of thieves stole their monthly earnings; they lost their contact in a terrorist organization; and several Russo men had been found dead, killed by local delinquents. Furthermore, Placido's nephew had split off from the family—after which local outfits had started to pressure the Russos and some of Ladd's followers left the syndicate. Later on, several Russo men were killed in a deal with the Chinese Mafia gone south.

Graham and Shaft arrive at the Russo mansion and enter Placido's office, where Placido warns him he better have not done something as "stupid" as the train robbery he pulled when he was traveling to Chicago. He then states that he wants Graham's people to capture some "guests" for him and bring them to the mansion alive, if a little worse for wear. Once Graham accepts, Placido signals for Krieck and his two companions to enter the room; Krieck and Graham immediately rub each other the wrong way, but Krieck hands Graham the Lamia wanted poster and tells him not to mention the Russos if he is caught.Graham, meanwhile, is quite taken with the Lamia's unusual appearances.

After Graham and Shaft leave, Krieck asks if they can really trust Graham. Placido is not sure as Graham is loyal to Ladd rather than the Russos, but all the same he will use Graham to gather information on the Lamias—information that "the brass" has a keen interest in.

Krieck and Placido talk for a little while, and when Krieck asks if Placido is planning on giving Graham's "punks" a "shot of the liquor," Placido dismisses the idea. He then asks Krieck how coming back to life felt; Krieck says it was not his "favorite" thing to do, and that he does not want to go up against "monsters" like the Lamia often. Placido counters that pain is something one can overcome; stabbing his left hand with scissors, he adds that it can even become addictive as he watches his wound heal.

Krieck exits the office and into the corridor, where his companions ask what will happen once Ladd is out of prison. Krieck replies that there is nothing to worry about now that they have immortal bodies, and considering they already have a hostage to use against Ladd, what happens is up to the boss. Meanwhile, a youth brings the hostage in question—Lua Klein—some soup, Lua currently confined in a room with a barred window.

In Winter 1933, Christopher Shaldred wakes up on a bed in a Chicago hospital. At the sight of Ricardo Russo by his bedside, Christopher ignores the ferocious pain in his back and remembers the events that led up to this point:
 * Prologue VII—Unnatural Blessings

Following his loss to Felix Walken at Mist Wall, Christopher had gone to one of Chicago's lakeshores to spend time with Mother Nature—only for a junkie to stab him in the back. He had managed to kill the junkie, but soon collapsed due to the dangerous stab wound; forced to confront the differences between himself, immortals, and humans, he had been trying to figure out what those differences were when Ricardo happened upon him. He had asked Ricardo to be his friend, and Ricardo agreed and introduced himself.

Having recalled all this, Christopher introduces himself to Ricardo before passing out.

Christopher's health improves over the next several days, and when he is feeling clear-headed he contemplates his situation. According to his doctor, the hospital has ties to the Russo Family, whose don is Ricardo's grandfather. The doctor had also said that Placido is overlooking Christopher's debt to the family, and that Ricardo had called Christopher a friend when he asked the doctor to save him.

Christopher wonders why Ricardo saved him, and asks him as much when he stops by Christopher's room. Ricardo replies that Christopher seemed like someone capable of "smashing" the world that he [Ricardo] hates, including Ricardo himself, and thus he became friends with Christopher in order to use him. Christopher does not mind this truth.

Ricardo confesses he witnessed Christopher and Chi kill multiple Russos, but that he did not tell Placido. Christopher wraps his right hand around Ricardo's throat and asks if he is not concerned Christopher might kill him, but Ricardo says he would not mind being killed by a friend. Finding him fascinating, a "completely different brand of weird" to the other Lamia, Christopher promises to introduce him to the other Lamia members and Firo Prochainezo when he has the chance.

As the two make small talk, Christopher decides to stay with Ricardo since he finds him so interesting—until whenever Huey contacts him through the twins. He thus becomes Ricardo's bodyguard once he is out of the hospital, and a year goes by without contact from Huey or the twins.

Cultural References

 * Neverland (from *Peter and Wendy*
 * Alice (from *Alice's Adventures in Wonderland*
 * Pandora's Box