The Universe's Mixer

John Watson was lost in his own hospital. He blamed the problem on his tendency to camp in the clinic; it wasn't that he disliked Dr. Tam, but John didn't share space well. He hadn't been to his desk in over a week, but there was paperwork to do and he couldn't hog an examining room when he had a corner to himself in the administrative wing. Dr. Watson strode down the stark white halls in search of the placard with his name on it, and in spite of his coat and ID, he probably looked like a visitor instead of a member of the staff.

Damn it. Maybe he'd gone right past.

John turned and retraced his steps, looking more closely at the doors this time around. He dismissed each stranger's name in turn until he reached one that he recognized: Dr. Lecter. Dr. Hannibal Lecter.

Jennifer hadn't been kidding. There was a Hannibal Lecter in the City. John considered walking away, but he didn't. Perhaps he'd been living with Sherlock for too long, but curiosity would not allow him to keep going. Watson lifted his hand and knocked.

Pond was gone. Ordinarily, this would not have been cause for concern, but she'd taken a communicator - not one of those City mobiles, but a proper earpiece that used the TARDIS as an antenna and shouldn't have gone out. He'd made it himself. ( And, if the City were interfering somehow, the Doctor was going to take it as a personal affront. )

Much had happened for Jack in the past while. Nothing many might find exciting. But he'd gotten the Asylum back. He'd fixed his hair. It was a shame that Harley hadn't been there to do it. She would have done it better. Made sure that the green roots weren't showing. Hard to be sneaky when your hair was bright green. But House hadn't been able to fix that part. No. It was black dye for Jack. She would have also made sure the mohawk was straight. He'd had to kill a guy for that.

But it was alright now.

And now Jack was exploring the City again. Out and about again. Looking for people. Seeing who was still left over. Seeing who was new. It was a good thing to get acquainted with the people of the town you loved to terrorize. Better to know who to run from and who you could torment for a good long while. He hadn't seen any sign of Brucey. Which was a little sad. But then again, there were no little Robins around either. So no little boys were getting touched in their no-no places. Dirty Bats.

He actually wasn't having any luck at all finding faces he knew. Not from his own special universe and not from his previous times. There had to be somebody here that he knew, it was just rediculous that it wouldn't happen. It probably just meant that the City had other plans for them right now and was keeping him away so that it could have it's own fun for a while. Then it would let him have them, and well... then all would be happy.

Jack was about to start looking for somebody to take his frustrations out on when he spotted a familiar sign. A familiar sign that brought back very beautiful memories.

"Oh my!" Jack exclaimed, fanning his hand over his face in a dramatic fashion. The picture of Southern excitement. "My dear, if you are not in there waiting for me, I am going to be disappointed."

Nearly skipping, he crossed the street, through traffic of course, not caring to go the extra five feet to the crosswalk. As horns blared, Jack displayed the finger that would tell them all what he thought of them, and combined with his manic grin, they didn't even consider getting out of their cars to confront him.

He peered into the window and spied a familiar blond head of hair. Attached, of course, to a familiar face. With relish, Jack flung the door wide open and sauntered inside. Oh, what a good game this was going to be!

To think. His first adventure out and he gets to play with Dinah Lance!

After work, Dinah headed up to the apartment above the shop. While she wasn't generally using it, it was a good place to get ready for the night. Particularly because Harry was going to pick her up. It was too much of a risk to Barbara's computers-she bit her lip at the thought and corrected herself, since Barbara wasn't here-to the Clock tower's computers to have a wizard in the vicinity. As much as she hated that, she knew she'd have no skills to fix them and there wasn't anyone she trusted enough to let up there.

So, her old apartment worked as a nice meeting place to that end. She couldn't exactly ride her motorcycle in a dress. Or, rather, she could, but it would be murder on the skirt.

After Harry had done some further digging into the investigation, he'd agreed to let Dinah accompany him to the Velvet Palace. A dinner date seemed like the easiest way to get in the door, even if she knew he still wasn't comfortable with the idea.

Dinah zipped up the black silk dress that skimmed her knees, and then added her accessories. A bracelet with a hidden lock-pick, hair pins that could be used as a weapon in a pinch, a small assortment of tools attached to her garter.

And with that, she was ready to go. Dinah took one last glance in the mirror and then settled into one of the stools at her kitchen counter and waited for Harry to show up.

( The Blue Beetle wasn't the most stylish of cars... )