The Universe's Mixer

Beep...beep....beep....

That sound was becoming too much. Too definitive. Too real. That was the sound of defeat. The sound of his life hanging on by cables and wires.

Oh Scarecrow, what have you done?

Edward couldn't remember much. Some of the things his damaged brain showed him could've been a dream...a nightmare, or it could've happened in reality. The boundary between what was true and false was no longer there to separate the fantasy from the reality.
His mind was blending things together that shouldn't have ever been mixed.

Effie? Was that you?

Edward took a gasping, wheezing breath and he forced his eyes to open. Instantly the haze covering his vision was penetrated by the glare of harsh fluorescents.

A cough, and a shift which earned a grunt.

His body felt like it was made from cement, and boy did it itch.
Edward lifted a hand to scratch, or at least he thought his hand was lifting when really all his fingers were doing were clawing desperately at the sheet beneath him on the bed.

That's better.

A sigh, and finally after making his eyes open from the wince they'd taken Edward was able to see clearly. Or as clearly as he could. Had he a mirror Edward wouldn't have been able to recognize himself.

His face was swollen from the punch he'd taken which had resulted in the loss of a tooth, which was an underlying cause of the ballooned injury.

His body was worse, bandages covered his wrists from the burn he'd received during the constant struggle, the burn he'd taken on his thigh was wrapped and the 'S' shaped wound on his side was patched and mending. His broken leg was re-set and wrapped in a hard cast. Bruce had even pushed his arm back into socket.

Face numb, Eddie emitted a gurgle. His eyes swept the room and he was unable to place where he was. This wasn't familiar. Most hospitals looked the same...the bed with the curtain and the television in the corner playing some crappy show or infomercial.

This was entirely different. No television for starters, and it looked more like a lab than a hospital room. And where was the nurse?

With the tilt of his gaze, Edward looked for a call button, seeing nothing.

He shook, and winced as his body screamed for him to lay still. A whimper and Eddie obeyed. For once....God for once he obeyed.

( ...Ef-fie... )

Fred hadn't headed right in to the building. She couldn't; it didn't seem right. She could have done it without upsetting anyone, but she didn't. She just stood there with a bag in one hand and a cup carrier in the other. Four cups of what had to be coffee set in the carrier; she thought this was a good way to thank Dinah, as well as the two fellows along with her. Dinah had warned Fred that Sam would be coming along. Fred didn't know if Sam was prepared to see her or not. She'd suspect so.

"Dinah, I need to use the computers to link up to the City and figure out what's wrong with it? I promise you'll be able to use it later. Probably. I'll figure out a way to fix it. Probably." Her brows furrowed as she worked on the way to ask permission to possibly cannibalize the Clock Tower's computers. She didn't want to do that, but there was a possibility, wasn't it?

The brainy female shifted her weight back and forth as she waited. There was a queasy feeling in her stomach. Sam was going to be there. She was going to ask for something awful without having a real idea of what might have to happen. She looked around and stood a little straighter as the Impala came around the corner.

She hadn't gotten much sleep, but she'd hopefully gotten enough to not look completely out of it.