The Universe's Mixer

The City Hall was chosen because it held a room within it that was big enough to accommodate the droves of people that were sure to come. Plus, being inside space, there were no worries over weather that couldn't be controlled. The people could sit and listen and not have to try to hear past traffic or wind.

Even with the late notice, everything was done well before the scheduled start time, which Thomas was proud of. He was glad that the ones who were born here weren't entirely useless without him around. They were keeping their heads together, doing what needed to be done. Of course, it also could have been the fact that they believed Thomas was who he claimed to be, and with his presence there with them, they felt better about the situation they were currently in.

Thomas looked at the stage. That's where he would be standing, talking to the people he had brought here. He had no doubts that they would be the ones with the questions, the ones who demanded answers. He was ready. He could do this.

He sat in a seat hidden by a curtain, where he could still see the stage and the rows of chairs beyond, and waited.

The shop was slow today, so Annie was organizing everything. Whomever had run the shop before had just kind of put things on the shelves randomly, and there was hardly anything entered into the computer at all. Not that she minded, really. She could find things by speaking to them. Or speaking to things near them. But it did make it hard on the customers, who always had to come ask her if she had something.

She had music on very loud, some band that had been around way before her time but was popular here. All Annie knew was that it had a nice beat and the singer had a nice voice. Which, she supposed, was all music really needed to be good anyway.

She was also dancing. Not something that she ever did when somebody could see her. Her shop shades were pulled because of the way the sunlight hit directly into the windows when the afternoon came around, so she figured that she was safe.

Annie went from section to section, sorting and placing. Entering items into the computer.

Dean sighed softly as he drove through the City's streets. Something didn't sound right in his baby, and he was having a hard time figuring out what it was. He'd recently changed the oil, the spark plugs, and a few belts. He could probably flush the system, but he didn't think that could be it. Most people would believe the car was just fine, yet something about the way the engine sounded was off. He knew the Impala from the ground up, and he'd rebuilt it a time or two. So, when he thought that there was a problem, there was more than likely a problem.

"I'm sorry, baby. I'm listening. Just keep talking to me. I'll figure it out." He finally slowed down and let the car idle, as if it would actually give him some answers. He needed to go back to the garage that Dinah was so nicely letting him use. He let the car run a little longer before shutting off the engine. He'd pulled up outside an auto parts store to pick up a few items. He was going to head back definitely.

"I'll get you better, don't worry." Dean's hand brushed along the hood of the car as if he were trying to comfort the black beauty. As if the car could understand anything he said. He cared about the car. He headed into the store to get what he thought might help. He'd make sure his baby would fire on all cylinders, so to speak, soon enough. He wouldn't let her down.

Exploring was a lot easier with the streets in one place, but not nearly as much fun. Annie had to admit that without the movement, she was a little let down. Streets were still in every other universe ever, fictional and otherwise. Moving streets and buildings were unique here, and she missed it though she hadn't been around for very long.

It was so easy to get from point a to point b it was almost frustrating.

She wasn't expecting any kind of excitement for the day, really. She was just going to go to the store and pick up some essential things and then go home. There would be no random encounters because she wasn't going to take very long to do her errands now that everything was immobile.

So when she came across the guy with the tracking system in his hands, she was pleasantly surprised. She walked right up to him and stared at the device.

There was a lot of this place to explore, and Annie didn't have all the time she wanted to do so. She had the store to take care of, and she wanted to do that right. Already, she'd filled it with more computers, more game consoles, more phones, more electronics. Instead of just parts, there were actual machines in there. It was busier than she'd thought it would be, as well. She had no idea, but some days, she felt like it was the only shop of it's kind. She'd had to pick a day and close Fixit entirely, just so she could have some real rest. Some days, she didn't even get a lunch.

So she was taking this day off, in addition to the day she usually closed the store, to explore the city some more. It wasn't an easy task, because besides the size of it, there was the fact that everything moved. She knew that she was seeing some shops more than once. Some streets, as well.

She'd passed a botanical garden that she told her phone to note for later, and a zoo. She wondered if Rufio would go to the zoo with her. She saw a park, and a district that she noted to never come back to that was by the water. It looked very sketchy and scared her. She felt like she might run into people there that weren't nice, and weren't looking out for her best interests. People that she did not want to meet.

Eventually, she found a place that sold the stuff that Charlie had been eating. It turned out there were a lot more flavors of ice cream than just banana. Annie stood, staring at the sign, unable to make a decision on what she wanted to have.

"Holy crap."

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.

She wasn't sure what happened. One moment she was walking away from Doom, into the heart of Halo City, and the next she was in a place that looked nothing like where she'd been. The tech was all so much older. She'd run back around the corner to find no trace of Doom, the car he'd forced her to steal, or even the spot where the two had been.

Confused, Annie wandered for a while, looking at the cars that were not the same as she was used to, being bombarded by things that wanted to speak to her, not sure what she was doing here, not sure how to get back to where she was - but not sure she really even wanted to go back. It wasn't as if home had been the greatest place to live. She knew it, sure, but could this place be any worse? The only problem with this place was that she didn't know how she'd gotten here.

Hey.

Annie turned. She didn't see anybody nearby. She began to walk again.

Hey. Please. It wasn't precisely words, not like other people might understand them. More like feelings projected. More like ideas. But she'd been at it so long, it was like plain English to her.

This time, she looked down. There, on the ground, was a watch. It's face cracked, it's strap broken. Annie knelt down, the watch looked really old. Though, she supposed it could be somebody's favored antique. Something that their great grandparent had worn, and had been kept in the family. That would be really rare, though. She didn't think a lot of things like that had survived the war. Not a lot of people had survived the war. But, this place didn't look as if there had been a war. Ever.

Don't leave me here.

"What if they come back for you?"

They won't. He won't. He doesn't care about me. He saw me drop and left me. Please. I can be fixed, I'm sure of it.

"Let me see..." Annie didn't touch the watch, not yet. She felt as if she might hurt it more somehow. As if it were a human body and it's neck was broken, if she moved it, she might kill it. She closed her eyes and pushed away all the strangeness that had just happened to her, blocking out all the noise. Then she looked at the watch again. Internally, it appeared to be fine. Annie smiled. "You're right. It's just your face that's broken. And your strap."

She reached down to pick the watch up.