The Universe's Mixer

The headlines in that day's paper would capture the attention of a lot of citizens in The City. The beast always did have a profound affect on most people, but some would consider the headlines more important than others. The initial story had not been expected, the first full page had been reserved for the mayoral campaign which had abruptly been shoved to settle on page three.

Hulk is back!

The three words spoke volumes to the situation at hand, and the article featured all of the highlights of previous matters in the City proper. Included were photographs of the recent sighting, a large shadow beyond the cloak of a dust cloud just visible through the destruction. A pile of cars and just beyond the cloud was what seemed to be a military issued jet fighter that now lay in a scrap of twisted metal, broken glass and fire.

Shame. Shame was all Bruce could feel besides regret. He held no hope for the aftermath of the rampage. He couldn't remember crash landing here or anything other than waking up in an abandoned grove of bushes and making his way to an apartment that was already waiting for him. The key in his pocket and the fob bearing his name guided him and the place wasn't hard to find. But what kind of a name was Agreeable Apartments? Was it really that agreeable or was that just a clever name?

He was glad that the apartment was cool and vacant. His skin was hot and he was exhausted. The struggle to make it from the place he had awoken in and to the seclusion of the apartment had not been easy. But he had made it and he felt like passing out and sleeping for the next two days. He doubted he would but his head was pounding hard enough to make his thoughts scatter. The darkness was welcome and once the scientist closed the door to apartment twenty, he sank into the first piece of furniture he came across (which was strangely similar to a certain worn out old couch in a lab he remembered in Stark Tower) and even before his head hit the cushion he was out.

Sleep was not something that blessed him often. And being in an apartment complex scared him. But now was not the time for digging into answers. No. He had to regroup first.

When he awoke, Bruce had managed to gather himself, and get a newspaper. The lines screamed up at him from the black and grey article. A duck back into the apartment and he was in for the rest of the day. He couldn't yet bring himself to face anyone just yet. They would come find him, they always managed to. But for now the solace was what he wanted. The sirens could wait.

The Hulk was back. It had been in the papers. Liv was too new to have known there was a Hulk in the first place but she was sympathetic to the mindless monster of destruction. Without a steady supply of brains, that could be her, in a smaller, self-replicating sort of way.

The green indestructible giant wasn’t the most interesting part, however. Out of all the stories covering the Hulk only one mentioned Dr. Bruce Banner in tandem, and when she dug deeper into the subject, she found the connection buried in the public record. Yes, it was awful Dr. Banner sometimes became the Hulk, but what she was really interested was his level of experience and knowledge in biochemical research.

Sure, he might not have been able to cure his own condition, but what about a rabies-like zombie virus that may or may not be connected to a new designer drug? Her friend former supervisor Ravi seemed to think there might be a cure, and she was pretty sure he didn’t have the genius required himself to turn himself into Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

It just so happened that Dr. Banner’s name was added to the hospital directory. Liv arrived at work early to see if she could catch him in his office. When she arrived, Liv tapped her pale knuckles on the glass.

“Dr. Banner?”

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"Nonono, get back here!" "Sparrow" yelled, sliding over a rooftop, her long red skirt flaring out behind her, the leather of her nomex suit catching the light. "K, grab him!" she yelled through her mic, trying to direct her partner on the other roof to grab the kidnapper they were after.

As her target took off to leap towards the roof Killian was on, Effie slashed out with her bo staff, trying to trip him, not really caring if he fell onto the roof or the ground below. She cursed as she just missed by an inch, leaping into the air after the man again, bo staff ready to slap the man upside the head if Killian didn't get him first.

There was a flash of light. The Bifrost was too bright, too quick to be a fleeting rainbow. In it's wake it left a scorched, circular pattern on the road in the middle of traffic. Thor knew what cars were and the basics of how they worked and awkwardly made his way out of the road, confused to still be on what looked like Midgard instead of his home of Asgard.

"HEIMDALL!" Thor bellowed to the sky. But nothing happened. The all-seeing, all-hearing Asgardian did not respond to the lost prince. Something was wrong. The people of the City continued to pass Thor on the sidewalk like the man in the red cape was merely an inconvenience. In many respects, he was.

"Excuse me. Excuse me, madame." Thor needed space to swing his hammer, launch himself into the sky, and get a better look of where he was, what city he was in or where his closest allies were. This place was busy like New York, if that was the case the Avengers Tower would be nearby.

[WARNING: SPOILERS FOR AGE OF ULTRON BECAUSE THOR IS NOT CONCERNED WITH MESSING WITH PEOPLE'S TIMELINES BY TELLING THEM THINGS THAT HAVEN'T HAPPENED YET. HE HASN'T SEEN BACK TO THE FUTURE, OKAY?]