The Universe's Mixer

She was feeling a little better after talking with Ollie. She still wasn't sure what was going to happen. They needed to talk to the League, have a vote. She was just glad her name would be off the table because yikes! Pressure!

She had to follow up with Jack, however. He was willing to talk with the League about working together with the City, but there was a delay. She didn't want him to think they'd changed their mind. She'd teleported his phone back to his office, but she wasn't entirely sure it made it there. Only one way to be sure! Good thing she remembered his number.

Alice had told Hatter right off the bat that she was living in Jack's apartment. Technically, she guessed it was her apartment, too, now. But she preferred not to think of it that way. Especially since she was looking for another place to live. She'd been hoping that Hatter would ask her to stay with him, but he'd just mentioned going for pizza without her and acting as aloof as ever. He'd admitted to going through the looking glass to find her, but was it just to escape Wonderland or was it because he wanted to see her? She supposed she would never really know unless she asked him outright, and that wasn't going to happen any time soon.

She was in her room. Amazingly before the City had stopped moving, her closet had been filled with all the clothes she would normally wear, including some jis for martial arts practice. She was fingering them, wondering if she'd ever be able to teach again, when she heard the doorbell.

She was pretty sure Jack would get the door, but she was curious about who it could be and she opened the door to her room and stepped out into the hall that led to the living area and the front door.

She gave Jack a small smile and nodded as he reached the door and stood back slightly to see who was behind it.

The League meeting had been a bit of a disaster. She felt guilty for arguing with Dean, but only a little bit. The guy was a serious dick. Zee was beginning to think all guys were dicks since that seemed like all she had met lately. Except for one, but...technical difficulties there. Bother! She'd need to make time to talk to Dinah about what happened. See what could be done for the hunt against Eric.

Meanwhile, she was placing surveillance cameras for Jensen. He'd given her a map, a bag of small cameras and thorough instructions on how to activate them that had been written in words with no more than two syllables. She had a feeling he'd tried for monosyllabic words but it was hard to replace "button". Of course he hadn't told her that some of the locations were five stories up on the side of a building! Apparently he had been counting on her teleportation working right because she'd found herself in free fall more than once, tagging a camera and turning it on before teleporting out of danger rapidly. She was SO going to punch Jensen in the face when she got back to the Clocktower!

The final camera was fortunately to be placed in a tree, and not that far up. It was just awkward since she had to put her weight on a low hanging branch and reach up to put the camera right where Jensen wanted it. "...c'mon you little bugger get on..there...ha!" She got the camera attached and activated the transmit switch then leaned back onto her feet. "Final-EE!" The branch gave a crack, then a snap as it broke away from under her. The next thing she knew she was back in free fall.

It was the weekend. Jack's days were blending together, but he knew that he needed a day off at some point in time. No matter how hard he worked, he was never going to fix this situation. Not until the City started moving again and food started appearing in kitchens, etc.

Funny that something that seemed to be chaos was preferable to it acting like an ordinary city.

Not that Jack knew much about 'ordinary' by most standards. He was from Wonderland, after all.

Since he did need to take some time off, Jack chose to go horseback riding. There was stable at the edge of the park and Jack was able to pay to take a horse out for the afternoon. He missed the horses at home, but there was nothing to be done for the things he missed really.

It was relaxing to put the horse through his paces. Even if it was still a little chilly, the weather was comfortable enough that a brisk ride through the park was refreshing. Fortunately, most of the people milling about the park didn't seem to notice the mayor. Or if they noticed, they didn't try to intrude on this rare moment of relaxation.

Dinah was doing the avoiding thing for the most part. Zee had tried to call and she'd sent a text telling her friend that she just needed some time and would call when she was ready. She didn't want to talk to her friends right now, but she did want to keep busy. Which meant that she'd been spending a lot of time working on getting the shop fixed up. She was currently sweeping up the glass and soon she would be installing the new windows that had just been delivered. Unlike the last time the shop had gotten trashed when the materials to fix it up had just magically appeared, Dinah had had to wait for everything to be delivered.

But it was here now, and working with her hands was exactly what she needed.

Working with her hands and... answers, really. She needed answers. She wanted to know what had happened to Jake. She needed to know if he had made it back home-even if she dreaded the confirmation of that news.

She knew how his story turned out. She knew that if he'd made it back home, he didn't have long before his death.

She knew all that.

But she still needed to know. Not knowing was driving her crazy.

Somewhere in the middle of sweeping up the last of the glass, it hit her. There might be someone in the City who could answer her questions. Someone who had shown up when they'd needed him most. She still didn't know if he was a god-or God, capital G, or just a guy with god-like abilities. She really didn't know what to believe in that.

She also didn't know how to get ahold of him, and she wasn't usually much for praying.

All the same, she did say a little prayer. She wasn't sure if she should say it silently or out loud. And she wasn't really sure if she was wasting her time or not.

"Um, Jesse. If you're out there, I could really use someone to talk to right now. I suppose if you are around, you're probably busy with more important things. Assuming you can hear me at all. But if you can hear me and you're not too busy... I could really use your help."

A tear slipped down her cheek as she admitted out loud that she needed help, but she just swiped at it and went back to sweeping. She didn't expect an answer, but she'd tried anyway.

Jack had just been getting a handle on his job as mayor once he'd hired Ted to do the budget. Things were starting to fall into place and he'd finally found a rhythm with things.

Until everything changed. Again.

Only this time, it wasn't the streets or the buildings or even the balance on the bank account provided to take care of the City's needs.

No, this time... everything came to a screeching halt. Maybe not everything, but it certainly seemed like that.

The good news was that the streets and buildings were all in one place and maps made sense again. Once everyone adjusted to the change, there were far fewer people getting lost.

And he hadn't heard about anyone else getting shanghaied and arriving in the City. So he supposed that it was a good thing that no one else was getting taken from their homes against their will.

That was where the good things stopped.

Things that everyone had taken for granted-that even he had started to take for granted because he couldn't afford to spend time thinking about things that got done automatically when he had so many other things to attend to-suddenly all of those things just stopped getting done.

It was a mess. An absolute, complete, mess. The streets were no longer being cleaned up. Garbage was no longer being picked up. There were people complaining about the fact that their cupboards were no longer being restocked and their bank accounts were no longer magically refilling themselves. Thankfully, there still was a food supply being delivered to the grocery stores, but Jack didn't know where it was coming from or what he might do if it suddenly stopped.

In all the chaos, he'd barely been home, let alone had time to think about his strange and awkward new living situation, nor had he had time to help Alice get situated in the City.

No, currently Jack was stealing naps here and there at his desk in his office. He was exhausted, but he was doing his best to work through the complete and total upheaval and make sure things started running smoothly in the City again.

Alice was a little concerned. She remembered waking up in the hospital after stepping through the looking glass. Her mother had been there and said that she'd been found in an abandoned building by construction workers. She'd been getting ready to leave the hospital, but that was the last thing she remembered before she found herself standing on this street corner. Had she blacked out? Sleep walked?

She might have assumed she'd gone back through the looking glass if this place didn't look exactly the opposite of Wonderland. It was a bustling city, and there seemed to be people everywhere. But none of them were people she recognized.

Were she someone else, she might have panicked a little. Maybe cried. But she was Alice Hamilton, and stranger things had happened.

Really, the only option, the only thing she could do, was explore. Otherwise, she'd never find her way back. And Alice always found her way back.

After speaking with Charlie, Jack was ready to offer the job to Ted. He still wasn't going to give the man carte blanche with the City's finances, but he wouldn't do that with any new hire.

However, he was happy to have the help and he did trust Charlie's word enough that he would give Ted the benefit of the doubt even in the face of his criminal history. He saw coming to the City as a clean slate for most. There were others who had become something very different upon arriving here and it sounded like Ted had tried to turn over a new leaf even before he'd shown up here.

Jack picked up his office phone and dialed.

Jack hadn't had much time for working out over the last few months. He was stressed and a physical outlet was definitely in order. He'd found a dojo in the City and he was now suited up and ready for a workout.

The class he'd signed up for went well and afterward, people started to break into pairs for sparring. Jack took his station near the wall and watched as each pair fell into the graceful dance of trading blows.

It had been a busy couple of weeks, but Jack knew he needed the extra help with the budget. So he finally took the time to call down to the police department and set up a meeting with Charlie Crews. He could have gone down to the police station, he supposed. But it would be better to have a private meeting without the chance of being overheard.

He'd done some checking into Detective Crews' record and he was impressed with what he'd seen so far. He seemed to be a fine police officer, and Jack could think of few better to serve as a reference, assuming that Detective Crews was in fact willing to vouch for Ted.

Snooping was hard when you stood out. A hat and sunglasses kind of helped cover her hair, ear, and eyes, but Megan hated covering her wings. It was uncomfortable and it made her nervous, since she liked being able to fly at a moment's notice. But it needed to be done.

She needed to investigate. Who was the mayor? Why had Rufio decided that he needed to be fought? Did the mayor know anything more about the city that she did? (She hoped so. He ran the place, after all.) Megan couldn't very well know how to defend herself and her friends--current, future, whatever--if she didn't know anything about this threat. Or if he even was a threat. Stupid lack of information.

Which was how she ended up in oversized sunglasses and her hair tucked mostly under a really snazzy fedora being all inconspicuous just outside of Mayor Heart's window, trying to peek in all spy-like. Hovering. Because the stupid coat was uncomfortable and too warm and people never looked up anyway, right?

Fred had continued to come help Jensen in the comm central of the Clocktower after their...understanding. Of course Jensen had occassionally turned on the little boy charm to pout at her just enough to ask that she come back. To help. Yep! Helping was now defined with randomly snitched smooches. Suddenly his job didn't suck quite so much.

Today there were some final beta tests being run to make sure he had all of the critical programs working properly with his OS. That meant there was no time on their hands. Part of him was tempted to see how far Fred was willing to take those smooches, but decided he should probably behave himself and take them on a coffee run. All of the cups, makers and cupboards were bare of the essential goodness anyway so he suggested they go get some together. Maybe grab a sandwich while they were at it. He whined that he was running on empty as they left.

His goofiness increased the more fresh air he got. He didn't get out enough lately. It led to Fred getting her ribs tweaked from behind and him looming over her shoulder as he made to bite at her neck and spoke in a cheesy Dracula accent. "Perhaps you still have some caffiene in your blood system."

Jack was busy at work in his office. But then again, he was always busy in his office. Today was no exception. There was a lot of paperwork to file regarding approving permits for the zoo to continue to care for King Kong, and making sure that they had arrangements in place so the giant gorilla stayed put.

He hadn't yet heard from Fred, though he supposed he didn't really expect her to call him. As much as he wouldn't have minded hearing her voice again, he didn't want to hear from her in regards to this. He also hadn't heard from Zatanna, which made him a little sad but again he wasn't looking forward to her reaction to this.

He supposed that it wasn't something he could sit and worry about, however. He'd done what he felt was right and he would face the fallout when and if it happened.

"Mayor Heart celebrates the results of the Justice League's capture of King Kong, but would like to make it clear that the actions of the League were in no way sanctioned by the City. The Justice League acted outside of the law and risked the lives of many while attempting to subdue the giant gorilla. The Mayor is glad that no one was hurt but believes that the next time there is a situation, the City's law enforcement services need to be allowed to handle it themselves, to ensure that there are no unexpected injuries or casualties as a result of amateurs attempting to do the work of highly trained professionals."

Jack read over the statement yet again, still torn on whether or not to give it his approval or not.

He was very concerned with the actions of the Justice League. While they had rescued the reporter and stopped King Kong before he could hurt anyone, they had also almost gotten the reported killed. And who knew how many other people might have been killed if things had gone poorly? Worse, he didn't know what might happen if the team of vigilantes with abilities that seemed extremely dangerous truly did become a force outside the law. He didn't know for sure if the City's police department had the capability to stop them, and he didn't like the idea of people who were operating without any care for the laws that were in place to protect the residents of the City.

When it came down to it, he believed that if the members of the League wanted to help, they should have offered their services and agreed upon some sort of code of moral conduct instead of taking it up like it was some sort of hobby. If they'd just waited another half an hour, he would have sent out his forces to stage their own rescue.

He sighed and then signed the statement. He pushed a button on his phone to buzz his assistant to pick it up so it could be released to the paper.

He was sure that Zatanna wouldn't be happy with him, as he had spotted her with the group. And he knew that Fred considered them her friends as well and was possibly still helping them out. He didn't want to think about Fred's potential reaction to this. But in the end he had to do what he felt was the right thing to do. Even at the risk of upsetting those that he cared about.

Bringing down King Kong had been more than a little crazy. At times there seemed to be too many people calling the shots; at others not enough. Then there were the people, the heroes, the big giant monkey. It was definitely crazy. Fred had spent the whole time in the Tower, helping Jensen and doing some of the more menial computer work. She did miss being the “Oracle,” but Jensen seemed to have it covered. Soon, she wouldn’t be needed even there. She wasn’t sure how she felt about that.

She wasn’t sure about much of anything lately, and she was beginning to think that was her problem. It was one thing to be definite, to know what she wanted, but lately she didn’t. Breaking it off with Jack had seemed like a good idea, and she was still pretty certain that it was. Yet, there were times she started asking herself the “what ifs,” which everyone knew that “what ifs” when it came to emotions and relationships were often a very bad idea. Science and invention and sometimes even cooking or eating which was slightly scientific, “what ifs” were good to ask and try to make happen.

Life would have been so much easier if she’d stuck with the science rather than the emotion. Yet, she wasn’t able to get away from those darn things, ( emotions. )

How could he not be happy? It had been a long time since something weird had happened in the City. He'd had a very nice couple of holidays with Charlie and their cat. He was teaching at the City Institute a couple of days a week. He had a couple of investment clients that were very satisfied with what he was doing for them. There was very little to be unhappy about. Currently.

The pessimist side of him kept wondering when the other shoe was going to drop, when he was going to end up on the bad side of something. But it was easy right now to push that side away and make it shut up.

Today he'd decided he was going to take a stroll. The weather was warm. As if it was still spring. Though, he'd noticed, that's the way that it was most of the time. Occasional rain, some wind, but for the most part, it was like they were in a controlled environment. Always the perfect temperature. Until the City threw some big snowstorm at them, or like that massive storm a few months back. Ted supposed that not having to deal with that kind of thing all the time made up for the few days that they did have to.

Really, this place wasn't all that bad in the end. It sure as hell was better than prison. Though, honestly, Ted was confident that living in a sewer was better than prison.

Ted stopped to look in a store window and admire some things inside. He knew that technically he could go in there and buy everything he was seeing, but it still felt a little weird. He still thought of it as Charlie's money. Charlie's house. It was like he was living Charlie's life. He wasn't used to just doing what he wanted with all of it.

Jack had spent the morning fighting the crowds to shop for something for Zatanna. Her mention of buying herself presents to put under the tree had sparked an idea in him. So, after going through the awkward moments with trying to explain to a salesgirl that he was shopping for a woman that was not a girlfriend but a friend and getting some advice, he'd come away with a nice burgundy scarf and a pair of gloves. He'd had to resist getting anything for Fred, who still wasn't returning his phone calls or acknowledging the flowers he'd been sending her ever since she'd agreed to 'sleep on it' in regards to their break-up.

He found Shadowcrest easily enough and knocked on the door, present in hand. He had definitely not wrapped it-it was much too neat for that. Thank goodness for the offered gift wrapping services in the store this time of year.

Jack knocked on the door, still not quite sure what to expect from his introduction to Christmas specials.

Her ankle was getting better. She was down to a small, stubborn limp but without the ace bandage. She refused to give in to more than that. She was still glad that the healing circle had taken care of the knee or she'd have been in much worse condition. She still needed to call Lindsey and thank him again for being so nice after appearing in front of his truck. Dean she was trying not to think about at all, pain in the ass that he was. And she needed to have lunch with Dinah again soon. Her social schedule rolled around in her head trying to organize itself as she made her way into the coffee shop that was swiftly becoming her favorite if only for those peppermint mochas!

Coffee and scone acquired she went into the dining area to find a table and blinked at what she saw. Oh it wasn't the crowd of shoppers that surprised her, it was the man in the hat and sunglasses that brought out a small chuckle from her. She wormed her way through the crowd in that direction then smiled when she reached his table.

"Hello, Jack." The smile became a bit of a smirk. "I take you are off the clock at the moment so I'm assuming I don't have to call you Mr. Mayor?"

The votes were in and the announcement had been made. Jack's campaign manager had already made arrangements for a victory party, just in case. This was a new concept to him. Back home, when his mother had been dethroned, the citizens had celebrated in the streets. But there hadn't been a party to celebrate his victory. Of course, that was because it really wasn't his victory at all. He'd worked behind the scenes to set things up, but in the end it had been Alice that had made it possible for them take back Wonderland and free the Oysters (and the general populace from the addiction to the false emotions bottled in tea form that had been generated from the Oysters).

All the same, Jack was just a little bit uncomfortable with being treated as though he'd had a great accomplishment by winning the election. Becoming the leader of a place wasn't a prize to be won. It was a duty, and for sure an honor that he'd won. But an achievement? No. Making things better for those who lived here would be an achievement, if he could accomplish it.

So while he didn't feel that he 'deserved' a party, he was here nonetheless. His campaign manager had insisted that it was a good way to get to know those who had voted for him, and to start earning their trust as leader.

Jack straightened his tie and surveyed the reception hall. Waiters in tuxedos milled around with trays of champagne and h'ors d'oeurves while a few security guards watched the perimeter. A band struck up the first few chords of a song and a few people in formalwear had started to arrive,

Unfortunately, Jack thought that if the boy with the vividly colored spiky hair decided to crash, the security force wouldn't be able to keep him out. But since the last rally, no one had complained about him wearing his sword wherever he went.

OOC: any characters are welcome, and feel free to socialize amongst yourselves as well as giving your character the chance to meet and greet the new mayor.

Welcome to the rally for Jack Heart!

There is a stage decorated nicely in the candidate's colors, right at the edge of the park. There is a table with refreshments for free, and another where you can get signs supporting your candidate to hold, or put on your lawn or in your windows, they even have bumper stickers for your car. There are balloons tied everywhere to draw your attention. There is a podium on the stage where the candidate will stand.

In his speech, the candidate will speak about:

Family values.
Education.
Economics.
His platform.

And he will answer a few questions for you!