1896 - Fred Karno's Army

Meanwhile, in the 1890s, an underground guild has been assembling unbeknownst to HIC. The guild, operated by a lethally trained, extremely skilled slapstick performer named Fred Karno, has been set up to train young orphans in the deadly arts of combat and comedic performance. The result, when the young warriors mature, will be a group of vaudeville assassins, mostly famous for their notable stage performances, but in the shadows play pivotal roles in history, assassinating key dangerous figures. Karno's Army was rumored to be commissioned and funded by Calamity. 

Harry Houdini (22) is currently the protege of Karno. He is of nearly equal skill, and spends a good deal of time directly training the orphans himself. Houdini also travels around the northeastern US in the early 1890s performing, making a name for himself, attracting the attention of Twain, who keeps an eye on him. Covertly, Houdini has been investigating the emerging Crocker and Skaianet empire, and has been surreptitiously committing various acts of sabotage to gum up the works. His sabotage usually involves making things disappear. Money, employees, even entire bakeries. Twain alerts HIC to this activity, who is furious. She tries to catch him in the act, but this Houdini fellow is a very slippery character. Incredible ability to escape. 

Twain assigns Einstein to tail Houdini and learn more about what he's up to. As far as anyone can tell, Houdini doesn't know Einstein is in the Crocker network. Einstein is still young, has maintained a low profile, and is still essentially just a lackey for now. Einstein uses some of the con man tricks taught to him by Twain to follow Houdini around Europe. Einstein does some fairly bad character acting, playing the role of an affable drunk, who is a fan of Houdini's act, and wants to get to know him better. Einstein playfully asks him to do the stomach punching trick. Houdini says alright, braces himself, and lets Einstein pathetically punch him in the stomach. Einstein is "amazed" Houdini is not phased at all by the punch. Houdini has no reason to suspect him, so the ruse is successful. Einstein talks his way into doing some menial work for Karno's Army, which he promises to keep a secret. 

This leads Einstein back to one of Karno's small orphanages which houses some kids Houdini is training. Einstein's job is just to look after the kids while Houdini is traveling. Einstein's infiltration is successful, now he just needs to gather intel. In the house, he meets three promising young students of the army. Well, two are promising, one is a complete shit. Their names are Charlie Chaplin, Stan Laurel, and Adolf Hitler. They are all about 6 years old.

Einstein is still "in character", a drunk, ugly American who is starstruck by Houdini, attempting to do bad card tricks, and is just excited to be helping. Chaplin and Laurel don't give a shit about him at all. They focus diligently on their training, telling jokes very seriously, performing slapstick, and honing their combat skills. Hitler however is extremely suspicious of Einstein. He doesn't buy his bullshit at all. Hitler does not take his studies seriously in any way. He spends time making horrible drawings of people dying. He's not the slightest bit funny. He despises Einstein for trying to pull some fake shit on everyone, and he hates the other kids for not caring. Einstein continues babysitting them for several weeks. During that time, he's mocked and tormented by Hitler, who calls him a phony fraud. His anti-semitism also begins to escalate, mostly as a means designed to continue owning Einstein. 

Eventually, Hitler and Einstein get into a major physical altercation, with Hitler absolutely wailing on him. Einstein's like, ow man, fucking STOP. A bunch of stuff spills out of Einstein's jacket, like a full deck of playing cards, a bottle of booze, and an old timey photo of Twain and HIC posing together. Chaplin and Laurel run in to break up the fight. Laurel grabs Hitler, but Hitler headbutts his face, bloodying him, knocking him down. They argue. Laurel absolutely loathes Hitler. Hitler lashes out at Chaplin, but Chaplin subdues him with ease. Chaplin is the star student. Hitler bitches and moans loudly, flailing, but Chaplin choke-holds him until he passes out. Einstein is embarrassed, and sick of this shit. He quits the babysitting job, and never comes back. 

Laurel apologizes to Chaplin for his sloppy form, and letting this fool get the better of him. Chaplin says it's ok, he's still learning. In years to come, Laurel will be Chaplin's understudy. As Chaplin drags unconscious Hitler off to his bed, Laurel wipes the blood off his face, and looks at the mess on the floor. He picks up the picture of Twain and HIC. He thinks she is the most beautiful woman he has ever seen. He puts the picture in his pocket. 

Einstein returns to HIC with some good intelligence. He reports on Karno's Army. The organization intrigues her. He also reports it is funded by a competing baking baroness called Little Debbie. It's a fake name though. He heard Houdini refer to her as Jane. HIC knows exactly who that is.