New York. The Big Apple. The City That Never Sleeps. Masha Johnson couldn't believe she made it there. She had always thought that she would be content over there in California, living her life by working a low wage job at a convenience store and residing in a dank apartment in a shady neighborhood.

At least that was the way she thought before her older sister got married to some shady looking Russian named Aleksander. He always seemed to wear a pair of tinted orange glasses and have a cigarette in hand. Despite meeting the rest of her family, oddly, he zoned in on her at once, screw the other relatives. He kept bugging her, trying to get to know her, and they got along fine. Three years ago, one year after her marriage, he gave her a job proposal, and she jumped at it like a hyena to fresh kill.

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"Masha…" She jumped and turned to her brother in law. "What's up?" "I heard you were looking for a job." He smiled at her. "Ah, well, yes." She looked down at her hands, shuffling her feet a bit."But I haven't had much luck." "It's because you're young. Why don't you just wait until you graduate high school?"

"Well, um, I just want my own money that's all. I don't like the fact that I have to depend on other people to buy me something…" "I understand, it's nice to see kids in this generation that don't like to impose. It gives me hope." Masha wrinkled her nose as he ruffled her hair with one of his large hands. "Well then, I suppose I could help you out if you want." "Really?" He grinned at her as she stared up at him with wonderment. "Of course! Anything for my darling sister-in-law."

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She never trusted that man, in fact she more had this irking suspicion that he was down I something dirty, like crime dirty. Well, dammit, she was right all along. It started off with simple errands, delivering messages and running packages then later escalated into something more. At several points in time, he had he sit in bushes or under a window sill, listening to the plans of small time gangs. Masha saw he first fire fight within the first six months. She never killed anyone, oh no, never. Her sister made sure to threaten her husband that whatever happened to Masha, would happen to him twofold, so he kept her away from most of the violence.

That's right, she knew what was going on, what kind of dirty, filthy, violent shit her husband had gotten her little sister into… and she was fine with it. Masha was so sure that she had never experienced something so exciting in the whole 17 years that she lived.

Then of course, shit hits the fan just when something's getting good, like always. Her sister died one day in a car accident while going out for some groceries, leaving Masha with her three-year-old daughter, Katja. Alexander had gone off to New York to settle some things and wouldn't be back for a couple of months.

Now that wasn't so bad… except for the fact that young Miss Katja thought that she, Masha, was her mother! Really? Not much of a shocker actually, despite their seven year difference, the two of them practically looked like twins.

So, here she was, alone, taking care of a confused three-year-old, single handedly leading largely wanted gang, oh, and not to mention she was still in high school. Sounds Grand doesn't it?

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"Mama?" Katja tugged on the sleeve of her aunt. "Yes darling?" she tried to sound loving, she tried to sound like her sister did. It never felt right though. "Where's Papa? When's he coming back?" "He'll be back in a couple month's dear" "Ah."

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So one day, it was made so very apparent that her sister never taught her child it's not safe to play in the street. There was Katji, the cute little devil, playing with a ball in the middle of the street, when some fucking Ford Focus comes screaming around the corner at oh say, 70 fucking mph, going right at her adorable niece. Now if you're asking me why she would let her three year old niece play in the middle of the street, they lived in a cul-de-sac and there have been no records of any car, namely Ford Focus's, that have ever come screaming around a corning and rammed into poor your defenseless girls.

Right so, next thing she knew, she was propelling her cute lil niece off to the side as a fucking Ford Focus rammed straight on into her. The windshield shattered, she went flying onto the hood, and her back just so happened to meet said pieces of glass. Ow. And then she slid of when the damn car just so happened to skid to a halt, onto her back.

She attempted to blink the stars out of her eyes unsuccessfully and they got larger and larger, listing to the screams of her niece become quieter and quieter, and watched as the puddle of blood under her get bigger and bigger. Aw hell.

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I apologize for the delay! Sooooooooooooo much! But, it Summer! And I've graduated high school so I should have plenty of time on my hands… maybe. I still have to apply for college and my mother wants me to take Driver's Ed. this summer so I'm not entirely sure of my schedule.

I didn't change much in the prologue, simply because I think it's fine. But the intial plot of the upcoming chapters has been changed, I wanted to go along with my first draft of the story where she has a bit of a normal life before she get's dragged in. The whole suddenly-dragged-into-the-mafia-the-second-she-hits-the-ground wasn't working for me, neither was Masha's personality. She was too frustrated in my eyes, I felt like I was pouring my anger into this story and found myself stuck, I wanted to turn her into a more rational person. Soooooooooooooooo, yeah. But for you Konstantine fangirls, he'll still be in the first chapter, more or less than the original.

A word of warning, this is probably a bit of a self insert as some points of Masha's overall persona and life situations resemble mine slightly such as in the next chapter she has an Uncle in New York that helps her out, I also have an Uncle in New York but he lives in the country side. I don't have much experience in life so I try to use what I can. Also, I don't really know what New York City is like, I've only been to Buffalo so I'm absolutely clueless XD.

Many thanks to my editor Emillime.

Is there really any need for a disclaimer in this chapter? There's absolutely nothing related to Baccano in here!