The Universe's Mixer

Charlie had been right. All Annie had needed to do was look and there were things there. First a set of keys, and then the phone. Though, the phone had been where the set of keys had taken her. Or, more where the streets had taken her after she'd discovered the keys. Which had been an odd experience in and of itself.

Her keys opened a store called Fixit, which happened to have a small apartment above it. A place to live. A shop of her own. A shop of her own? Annie didn't know if she was ready for that kind of responsibility, but she supposed that she didn't have much of a choice in the matter. It was hers.

The best part, though, was that the place was filled with things that made her happy. Machine parts, computers, computer parts. Everything that Annie loved was sitting right there in the store. And everything that could greeted her as she walked in. That made her smile a lot. She felt like she fit right in immediately. She felt at home.

And then the phone, that had been sitting on a table in the apartment. The thing was pretty amazing. It was a tiny computer that fit into the palm of her hand. It was advanced even for what she was used to. The thing was everything one would need in a computer, but small enough to fit into a pocket. She loved it.

She was busy playing with it while standing at the counter in the shop, her shop, when the bell above the door rang. Annie couldn't quite tear herself away from the thing, she glanced up and saw red and black hair but that was about it.

Hank took a running leap off of one of the taller buildings in the City, eyes closed as he fell, cold wind swirling around his limbs and through his hair. Better and more dynamic than having a convertible going at top speed.

He fell until he hit the rooftop of a much shorter building, tumbling and winding up on his feet, letting out a grunt and a breath as he hit a crouching position. Then he grinned, looking up at the height before slowly standing up. He was getting much better at landings, something that had recently come to his attention as needing work. Since joining the Justice League he'd resolved to get himself more fit, in case he was needed by the group to be on scene again. If they were going to be a task force every member should attempt to be their best, and Hank knew that he had never even attempted to seriously reach his true potential.

Besides, he hadn't been able to sleep lately. Ever since that last meeting with Red Hank hadn't been able to let go of her during his inactive hours. It was like she was hanging onto his thoughts, and even though he could avoid the thoughts through mental discipline during the daytime, at night his dreams had become consumed by her presence. They weren't exactly… nice, either. The one last night had been downright bestial, though to Hank's waking horror the ferociousness and animalistic attributes had been his own. Red had been as she was in more dreams, a beautiful, inviting figure of warm and permission for him to do as he liked.

The dreams unsettled the boy when he was awake, and wore on his nerves. To combat it he'd been working himself to his dropping points, setting up his new laboratory in the JLC headquarters, moving out, and exercising and training at night.

He'd made himself the start of a new suit for the workouts, a skintight, breathable shirt and the loosest pair of sweatpants he could find to leave all movement unhindered. He was discovering that with stretching he had incredible range of motion with his limbs.

Turning he looked out across the rooftops and then down at his watch, setting the timer. If he really pushed himself he could attempt to break his four-block sprint across the City. He readied himself, then clicked the button before exploding forward, jumping from rooftop to rooftop, hands and feet moving fluidly to carry him forward faster than any human could sprint on a simple road.