Through sheer luck, Theodore and Lila lived another day, but with a snag, James Crane, or as he preferred them calling him as, Jimmy, wanted Kira back.
He didn't care if they kill Lady Annika to do it, but he'll make it worth their while if they managed getting her to him alive without Kira knowing, but he's understanding if they took the permanent route with her. He stressed that if they can't bring her back without Kira finding out, don't risk it, kill her.
Jimmy gave them a deadline of only a few days, he made it clear he's in a hurry and needs Kira back, and with a gun pointed at their faces, made it clear that any foul-ups, he'll make them wish they never woke up this morning.
Looking between them, Jimmy added that if they succeed with this, he'll keep his word, they'll live to see another day.
If there's something to be said, Jimmy kept his words like a priest keeps his hidden flask. One of the few better traits compared to other gang leaders in the area.
Getting a description of Kira, Theodore and Lila ended up pushed out of the pub, Jimmy wanting updates as they pursue Kira and Annika.
With the description and what little Jimmy found out about Annika, it set the two off on a spiraling adventure.
Walking side by side, the two procured a map of London, showing them the city as it was in the 1920s, and with what Jimmy told them, they'll find Annika and Kira somewhere near the affluent area.
As they walked with the map guiding them, Lila mulled over what she felt from them speaking with Jimmy, how he showed possessiveness over Kira, the way he acted in general.
No wonder Kira left him and his gang the moment Annika showed up.
Whether it's desperation for a life better than the one she's living in or she knew that Jimmy couldn't cross a crocodile filled moat to strike back at her, Lila doesn't know.
Jimmy's a creep that'll be lucky to push fifty with the way he knocks drinks, smokes more than a chimney, makes opium and cocaine producers weep with bitter joy, and partakes in his salacious ways that even the depraved would've gawked.
It's difficult for Lila finding a reason for Kira staying around him for so long, lord only knows what the woman put up with before Annika showed up.
While internally thinking to herself, Lila recognized that Theodore's poking his nose into her quiet thoughts, catching on that something's bothering her, and she admitted that if not for Jimmy holding a gun to their faces, she would've told him to pound sand.
Leave Kira alone, clearly if she wasn't as strong as he said she was, he wouldn't care at all that she left.
"You can't change everything, Lee," Theodore reminded her that while her heart's in the right place, they can't fix everything, and Lila nods as she admitted that he's right.
They can't fix everything.
Even if it's something they heavily disagreed with or deserves fixing, there's some things that remain out of their control, and for good reasons.
The universes, in their infinite ways, have everything thought out from the beginning to end.
Attempting to subvert that for the sake of preventing a woman returning to an abusive employer, might've caused more issues down the line, even if it meant she wouldn't deal with him, anymore.
"Besides, we haven't heard her side yet," Theodore pointed out that they haven't spoken with Annika. He reminded Lila there's always two sides in a story, they've heard enough from Jimmy, but not from Annika.
More, there's something odd hearing how there's an improbably tall woman wandering around London.
If Jimmy's right, she's roughly 3 metres (9'8") tall and considering the time period they're in, it's rather strange that her height hadn't garnered her publicity since it's unusual, nay, improbable, that a woman reaches that height, much less unaffected by thinned bones.
Compared to Kira, she's roughly 2.2 metres (7'2") tall, so Annika towers over her, too, and from conversing with Jimmy, she too doesn't suffer from thinned bones due to her abnormally tall height.
Two improbably tall women, in 1920s London, no doubt they'd be easy picking out of crowds, but given their heights, it's probable they wouldn't go out much to hide from crowds or from Jimmy.
Where they'd go in the affluent area, maybe somewhere without any eyes, and with their heights, either they get around a mansion simply hunkering down as they walked through doorways or Annika built one suiting her needs.
Given the period of her showing up, Theodore doesn't think she built a mansion suitable for her height, else Jimmy probably would've heard something about it, as he's presumably inclined looking for potential targets for burglary.
Though, Jimmy isn't the type that looked into things closely when he's incensed.
Frowning, Lila followed Theodore through the darkened London streets, nobody outside except them, the only sounds coming from their footsteps against the cobbled roads.
Hard to find anything without a huge neon sign above it, but there's something to be said going back in time before the invention of animated billboards and light pollution.
It took a while, but they found the affluent area, patrolled by hired men from the families living in their luxurious homes fenced off from the streets with a mix of brick and metal.
"Now the problem, which house is it?" Lila scratched the side of her flushed head as she's eying the mansions from a safe distance, away from the well-lit areas with men patrolling.
They don't have enough time to scrounge for records on who owns what and Jimmy didn't exactly endow them with enough information to go on as it is, in other news, water is wet.
Chewing on his inner lip as he's trying to find a way for them to figure out the answer to their problem in a timely manner, Theodore deduced that he'll have to simply ask one of the patrolling men which house the women reside in, at least narrow their search.
"Oh yeah, because nothing ever goes wrong going up to a hired 'bobby' and asking him, 'Hey, you know where we can find two tall women. We kinda promised a big scary crime boss we find them and if we don't, we're going to die, horribly.' What could go wrong?" Lila summed Theodore's plan and he meekly shrugged as he pointed out they don't have many options at their disposal and with the limited time that Jimmy gave, they can't be too choosy how they find information.
Besides, they have an ace, the psychic paper, and as long as the lie isn't too big, it wrong short out, because David doesn't like having to take time out of his day fixing it for them.
Would've done it themselves, but David's got his own system, chaotic one at that, that Theodore couldn't make heads or tails what David exactly did in the making of the psychic paper.
"Worth a chance," Theodore sighs as he took a gamble on finding information.
With the clock counting, they don't have much choice, that said, Theodore didn't exactly want to end up beaten to death, either.
Thinking on his feet, Theodore got an idea.
He convinced Lila helping him find clean water for him to wet his hair, turning it from a deep brown to raven black, and he smoothed down every wild curl until he managed to reshape his hair from wild to looking clean.
Putting on his pearly whites, Theodore headed towards one of the men patrolling near one of the houses, Lila watching on as she hid behind one of the corners.
A man in his thirties, the patrolling man instantly stopped and sharply turned his head towards Theodore approaching him.
He asked what Theodore wanted as he clenched his billy club, before Theodore put on a show, explaining that he received an invitation from Lady Sokolov, but the address became smudged.
Showing the man his psychic paper, Theodore convinced him that it's an invitation signed by her, with the address smudged.
Looking it over with his beady brown eyes, the man pondered before pointing Theodore to the right direction.
Thanking him, Theodore returned to Lila's side, and they began their walk up the street towards a large house on the hill.
"What're we thinking, humans can't be that tall, not without complications," Lila pointed out that Annika's nearly 10ft tall.
Humans couldn't reach that height without stilts.
There were people who reached 7ft, like Kira, but none ever came close to staggering 10ft, and if they did, their bones, thinned and under constant tension from the weight, the affected people risked death by their legs giving out from under them or worse.
It's highly unlikely that the person they're dealing with's human, no chance, with what Jimmy told them, no amount of cocaine or opium's going to dull the pain of bones thinner than a pencil unable to sustain the weight of a grown human.
"I don't know, giantess weren't my father's forte," Theodore pondered their situation as he's trying to come up with ideas.
His father never experienced a situation like this, if he did, he probably wouldn't know what to think of it either, but probably wouldn't hesitate giving Jimmy a taste of his own medicine.
Unable to come up with an idea, other than Annika wasn't human, the two continued their trek up to the house on the hill.
While they walked, they discussed the story they'll tell Annika when they meet her, since she's aware of Jimmy, and probably cautious about Kira, they're fumbling with ideas.
"Could always ask for work," Lila suggested them trying to work for her, why not, worked for Jimmy.
Thinking, Theodore remarked that it wouldn't surprise him if Annika hired them to kill Jimmy, instead. With the explicit instructions that they don't let Kira know about it.
Pondering, Lila then remembered what Jimmy said, Kira came from a circus, and asked if it's possible they use that to their advantage.
Pretending they're former carnies down on their luck, would've garnered sympathy from Annika, surely, and make Kira comfortable around them.
"It could work, but what would we tell them?" Theodore responds as they stood behind the brick fence under the moonlight while they discussed their cover.
Lila pointed out that Theodore's strong, so, clearly, he's the strongman of the circus, for her part, well, Lila held her breath for six minutes consecutively under salt water on a trip to Virginia Beach, making her the woman doing stunts in tanks of water.
"Well, it's better than nothing," Theodore noted that while it could've been better, it's better than nothing, and they advanced through the gate, going up the cobbled path to the beige house with copper sidings.
On their walk, Theodore dried out his hair, allowing the wild curls' return, and changing the colour back to his normal deep brown.
Heading up the brownstone steps, they stood in front of an elegant French style set of doors.
Taking a deep breath, Theodore reached up to the door knocker and knocked a few times.
Waiting in silence, the two sheepishly looked around, as they see darkness behind them, dotted by the street lamps.
There's light thudding coming from within the house and it stopped short of the doors.
A rattle, the doors opened inward, standing in front of them, there's a tall woman wearing a flowing silver dress down to her feet, kneeling slightly as she's looking at them with her golden eyes, with curiosity.
There's heavy perfume coming from her, smelled of boysenberries, and her hair's black as the night, carefully combed, styled as one of the popular styles at the time.
"My, what do we have here?" Annika looked down at them with curiosity as she shifted in her spot, her bright ruby red curvy lips glistened under the light.
Her accent, Theodore couldn't recognize it, it sounded proper, but something's unique about it.
Clearing his throat, Theodore spoke up as he gave his and Lila's backstory.
They worked for a circus that traveled somewhere in France, it's a small circus that hadn't made it big, and it struggled for a long time, trying to make a name for itself. Did everything a small circus' able with little francs it had, but alas, it wasn't meant to be, and the ringmasters furloughed the carnies as a result.
They barely reached England, trying their best, rather hard with little money they've scrounged together, and they've become aware of the growing gang wars happening in London, exacerbating their problems.
While entrancing Annika with their tales of woes, Theodore peaked into her head, trying to see what he's capable of finding on a glance.
Unfortunately, it seems that he wasn't able to read her mind, and he couldn't press further without fear of her learning that it's his doing or her dropping dead at their feet.
It felt like Annika walled off everything, he couldn't peak through the wall if he wanted.
Bizarre, but with the working theory that Annika wasn't human, it's possible that their theory's true.
After finishing his woeful tale, if only his father saw it, Annika's entranced by their struggles, allowing them inside her house.
Immediately, they're greeted by marble statues of various men and women, the marble flooring, the cascading black staircase with silver railings.
Large Vases filled with fragrant flowers and there's paintings covering most of the walls.
The ceiling's roughly 7 metres (22ft), giving Annika room to walk in the main area freely.
Every step she took, almost made mini quakes, as she led them towards the dining room with the scent of food in the air, the sound of crackling coming from the massive fireplace made of marble.
Allowing them through the doorway first, Annika carefully knelt as she walked through the doorway, joining their side, At the long wide table, filled with food, there's a lone woman, wearing similar clothes as Jimmy and his men, sitting at one of the mahogany chairs, her broad shoulders, noticeable jawline, muscles, it's Kira. She looked at them with her weary grey eyes before looking up to Annika.
"You'll have to forgive her, she's shy," Annika tells them that Kira's shy around strangers.
The way it sounded, it almost sounds like a mother explaining her child's quirk, the softness in her voice, helped convey that.
Leading them to chairs, Annika encouraged them to sit, while she provided them drinks and plates, before she took her place at the head of the table, the large chair custom made for her, as she took her spot.
Across them, they see Kira as she quietly ate from her plate.
She didn't look at them, almost avoided catching their eyes, but Theodore's able to see visible bruising on her exposed wrists as she moved her hands, when she moved her head, briefly he sees bruising around her neck.
Given an opportunity, Theodore attempted a chance at peeking into Kira's mind, and unlike Annika, he's able to glance inside it.
It's dark, dreary, barely any light, a heavy feeling in the air, a sense of doubt, and yearning.
Quiet, Theodore made out a small voice, vying for love, afraid, lonesome, a strong sense of wanting.
He pieced out that Kira's desperate for love, afraid of being alone, she only wanted a place in the world, a place in the light, and it's evident that Jimmy exploited that for his own uses.
The dinner between Annika and Kira resumed with Theodore and Lila joining them.