1934 Alice in Jails: Prison/Prologue III: Assassin

Synopsis
In a basement of Nebula's Chicago headquarters, a woman in a lab coat rushes about in a panic until a forgotten book on the ground sends her tumbling to the floor. Elsewhere in the room, a young man sitting at a desk tries, futilely, to convince a figure hiding a curtain's shadows that he does not need to hide his face.

His suggestion is met with silence. Giving up, the young man informs the figure – that his target is Huey Laforet, an undying man currently imprisoned in Alcatraz. Huey is different from the 'experimental cases' the figure has seen in Nebula: he is a true immortal over two-hundred years old, and is somehow managing to give his hundreds of followers orders while in jail. The young man clarifies that Nebula does not want the figure to actually kill Huey, but before he can explain further, the woman in the lab coat trips and spills the tea tray she had been carrying over to him. Though the figure dodges the hot tea, the young man fails to dodge the corner of the tea tray, which strikes him in his temple.

After the woman apologizes, the young man tells the figure to ask her for 'the rest' – that is, the rest of the request she personally made that very morning. The woman, Director Renee Parmedes Branvillier, remarks to the figure that it has been a long time since she last saw him. Once the young man fills her in on how much he has told the figure so far, Renee turns to the figure and announces that she would like him to gouge out one of Huey's eyes for her.

The scene skips to the meeting's end, where Renee calls the figure Felix Walken and thanks him for his help. The young man reprimands her for using the figure's name, only for the figure to say that he sold the name a long time ago. She apologizes and calls him Mr. Hitman instead, for which she is also reprimanded.

As the figure walks away, he reflects on Renee's amorality; or rather, how she commits evil deeds without any malice or conception of her deeds as 'bad' whatsoever.

Trivia

 * This chapter marks Renee's debut appearance. Her debut emphasizes her clumsiness and forgetfulness to lead the reader to assume she is a secretary or intern, assumptions which are later subverted with the reveal that she is the young man's superior.
 * The chapter specifies that this is the ninth job the figure has taken for Nebula.

Cultural References

 * Playmate

Characters in Order of Appearance

 * Renee Parmedes Branvillier
 * The young man in a suit
 * The Former Felix Walken