The Universe's Mixer

Zoe had been hurt before. She'd been a gorram zombie and dead! But, nothing, nothing prepared her for this. This plague. She didn't care what the receptionist said, or the men in security, or even the doctor. This was the plague. She didn't wine, yet she knew something wasn't right.

The Amazon had left work earlier than normal and stocked up on things that everyone seemed to think was good. Sure, people got sick in her time, but it wasn't the same. She could easily fix things back home; they had a quick fix for so many things. And, she'd dealt with so much worse; she'd been in a war after all.

She'd tried to get into the Batsuit, but one sneeze in the damn helmet had her thinking otherwise about going out on patrol. So, she'd gone home. She'd let the steam gather in the shower. She'd used a small vaporizer. She'd started the tea, and the broth.

As if it might make her feel better, she pulled the scarf from the package it'd shown up in and wrapped it around her neck. She poured the tea and broth in small cups, and had every intention of drinking them. It didn't happen. As soon as she curled up on the couch, she drifted off to a rest; the scarf wrapped bout her, her robe tight about her too.

Dinah had a lot of questions rattling around in her brain these days. She needed to talk to the Batman but he was even less accessible then he'd been back home. In fact, some of her questions had to do with Batman and just who was under the mask. She was starting to think that it wasn't Bruce. At first she had chalked the differences up to possibly alternate universes or just changes over his time in the City. But now... well, she hadn't seen Bruce outside of the costume at all. So either he had completely retreated into the mantle of the Bat (which was highly likely) or... well, she wasn't sure who else might have taken over or why. But if Alfred was still around, then she could only guess that whoever it might be had gotten Bruce's blessing. Or had Alfred's blessing, which was good enough for her.

Dinah also had questions about Zoe. She suspected that there was more to the woman than met the eye, but that was another mystery that she'd had yet to unravel. She did suspect that Zoe might know what had become of Bruce. She was very clearly in a position of trust when it came to Wayne Enterprises, which meant that she had to have gained Bruce's trust to some extent. And Alfred thought highly of her as well.

She chose to seek out Zoe first. Since the Joker seemed to have gone underground, she hoped that she could at least chip away at the mystery surrounding Batman and where Bruce might be now. She was stopped by the doorman on her way into the building and left her name so he could call up to the woman to see if she would take a visitor. Dinah just hoped that she would.

Oliver saw to it that anyone who had worked with the Justice League had been invited. He wasn't sure how many of them would actually show up, but he'd made sure to contact them all, one way or another. At the rate things had fallen apart, he was beginning to feel less averse to the idea of Dean coming along with Dinah. But that remained to be seen.

He'd set the meeting for a Monday, mid-morning, to allow everyone time to make it, or at least to check in, if there was something going on out in the real world to prevent attendance--and hopefully to start the week out right. The younger of the Winchester brothers was already present, working on some IT stuff at Oliver's behest. Now all they had to do was hurry up and wait.

Hannibal had done his best to find the ones that he knew were missing. Eric, Pam, Baba, Henry and others. But of course, they were nowhere to be found. Not even a trace of what had happened, not a hint that they would be back. While the City lost people and gained them all the time, in his years spent here, he'd never seen a thing such as this. It was new, and it was worrying. Were these people gone forever? Would they return? Did the City even realize that they were gone?

At first, he'd managed to keep himself busy. Though Baba was not there to help or enjoy the work that he did, Hannibal continued on their quest to punish the last of the Arkham employees. Finding himself first a nurse and then an orderly. They were both undone in spectacular fashion, and he thought that his companion in death would find them enjoyable. He would willingly describe his deeds to her if he ever saw her again.

But it was not the same, ultimately. He wanted her to be there to revel in the end of lives, not just hear about it after the fact. She was as angry as he was at what had been done to them, she wanted the revenge as clearly as he. Dispatching two without her felt more wrong than satisfying.

So other than his job at the hospital and practices at the Opera House - another who had gone missing was Erik, and Hannibal was unsure if things would continue without him, but he refused to give up his time at the piano just in case. When Erik returned - if he returned - he would be undoubtedly ashamed of any musician or dancer who had failed to continue their work. Hannibal would not be one of those.

He left the Opera House an hour and fifteen minutes after he'd arrived. Practice over. Nothing to do for the rest of the evening.

The hammering of his blood inside his veins woke him. With one hand, he shielded his eyes from the streaming light on his face; with the other, he reached for the bottle that was always present at his side. After a few painshot moments of aimlessly floundering for said bottle, he cracked an eye open.

Then he dropped his hand.

The next move was a mistake, though; standing up so quickly with a raging hangover he'd been building for months meant that he immediately sat back down again. Where was he? Too much absinthe? But he'd never actually hallucinated on the stuff before...

It was morning. He was in a city. But it wasn't Montmartre, and it wasn't even Paris. The buildings were wrong -- the streets were wrong. He sat up straighter on what appeared to be a bench plastered with advertisements that didn't need glue....

Back in 1894, there had been a race with the newest, most modern invention; the streetcar. He'd even seen one before. But the streetcars here were wrong. Christian, bleary-eyed and suffering, straightened his rumpled suit jacket and ran a shaking hand through unkempt hair. How long had it been since he'd shaved? He stood - far more carefully now - and tried to decide what to do.

Jesse had taken the advice given to him by the witch... or whatever she really was... to heart. He'd decided he'd had enough with the being tired, and figured that Zoe was also pretty through with it, and so he wasn't going to be tired anymore, unless it was at a time and place where it was okay to be. Falling asleep in the arms of his girl was okay, but falling asleep at her dinner table was not.

It still felt a bit wrong, to let go of that much more of his human origins, but in the end, it seemed that he either do it this way, or stop helping people. Since he didn't think he was ready to stop the latter, there wasn't really any argument left. He finally convinced himself that it didn't make him any less him, it made him a better him. A him that could do all the things that he wanted to do and not be troubled by it. Not have the bad side effects that were causing problems in his personal life.

He was wide awake and waiting for her. He'd cooked a meal in preparation, and this time didn't eat it before she'd shown up. He wasn't dosing on the couch, or gazing glassy eyed at the television. He was in the kitchen, fixing dinner when he heard her key in the door.

Jesse had been very busy, still, and Zoe was doing her best. She'd never had a man who was a god type too, even if some thought otherwise. In order to keep from losing complete contact with the man, or kicking him out the next time he fell asleep during dinner, Zoe thought they could try something a little different - lunch in public. Jesse didn't care if he fell asleep in public exactly, but it might keep him awake enough to eat. She really wasn't sure, but she was trying.

In one of her more tailored suits, including the heels that made her legs even longer, she stood waiting near her favorite Chinese bun stand. She didn't pace. She just waited. Her hands at her side as she stared out into the street, her lips turning slowly from a line to a frown. She was going to have to eat, but she hadn't thought he'd get caught up in something.

She never considered herself one of those silly women who determined their worth by how much attention their men showed them, but she was certainly starting to feel...odd. She didn't like being mad at him because he was helping people; he was a big damn hero, possibly one of the biggest. But. There was always that gorram but.

Jesse did the inviting. He was the only one - that Dinah and Dean knew of - who knew everyone who was to be involved in this. The invite also only really went out to Dinah directly. It felt awkward trying to contact Dean to ask him to come along. But he suggested to Dinah that she might want to bring him, since he was right there anyway.

Not knowing, of course, what had happened with the apartment.

He had not gone out to do any do-gooding, and made sure to be rested. Mostly because he didn't want to disappoint Zoe again, and partly because he really did believe that the three of them would draw on him if he fell asleep at the table. He didn't think that Dean would be nice about it, either. There would be no mostaches and goatees from Dean. It would be dicks pointed at his mouth and bad words scrawled across his forehead, and he wasn't sure that Zoe wouldn't be unamused enough to stop it.

They had cooked together, him and Zoe, for the dinner, and it was so easy with the give and take between them that everything was ready in no time. Like clockwork.

Now, all they had to do was wait.

Zoe didn't say anything after she left the conference room; she hadn't even stayed to see if there was indeed an answer. She simply walked out. Perhaps she should have run, but she thought she'd give Jesse a little room to calm down. Just a little.

She caught up quickly though, for all the room she gave him. She didn't touch him until she was at his side, making sure he could see her. The Amazon took his hand, not slowing him down, not stopping him. She walked with him wherever he had thought to go; walking without stopping didn't exactly mean she wouldn't say anything.

"You asked more than one question." It was a small joke, and she was risking making him even angrier. "Don't think you're going to get your answer out here."

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.

When she'd moved back to her townhouse, Alfred had sent her home with tupperware containers filled with meals to last about a week. Dinah had finally managed to wash all of those and put them in bags to return to him. She appreciated the butler making sure she was well fed, especially because she'd barely had the energy to order takeout lately.

She'd left a message to let him know she was coming to return the tupperware, but it might not have been received. Whatever the case, Dinah had been expecting to find Bruce, perhaps, at home or to find just Alfred. She certainly hadn't been expecting to find anyone else at the Manor.

She parked her car on the driveway looping in front of the sprawling house and walked up to the door to ring the doorbell. She was planning just a quick visit, though she wouldn't be surprised if Alfred took one look at her and lamented how thin she was as per usual lately.

Rufio crouched on a fire escape over looking one of the busier streets of the City. He'd found it a bit disconcerting when the buildings stopped moving and everybody started setting up routine methods of travel, but everybody else seemed pleased by the change. Still, it felt far too permanent the way it was now. Rufio didn't like it.

The growing boy dangled his legs over the side of the fire escape, leaning through the bars and watching the dull crowds at the end of the work day. Sunset would come very soon, and then he may be more inclined to get up and find something to do, but for now he was content eating a bag of potatoe chips and ocassionally dropping a water balloon on a passerby from the small box sitting next to him. That was always good for a laugh.

It had been a while since Joker revealed himself - Zoe hated thinking about it in that way, but it was apt. Zoe had added wherever Dinah was living with Jake to the patrol route. When the man who was a less connected and possibly just as odd Mr. Universe sent out the memo about Jake's disappearance, Zoe continued to check on Dinah; grief made people do crazy things.

Thankfully Dinah moved to the Wayne Manor which made checking on her much easier. Zoe didn't feel that she always had to see the woman for herself, just trust Alfred when he reported. Plus, it was easier to explain why the Bat could be seen skulking, not that Zoe would ever say she was skulking, about the Manor.

( On one of the nights the Bat was definitely not skulking... )

Now that he and Zoe were officially an item (something that he was having a sort of hard time getting used to), Jesse wasn't exactly shy about showing up at her place, even when she wasn't there. Sometimes he had food waiting for her, and sometimes it was just him waiting for her, and food came around later.

Tonight he'd had food ready for her, but an hour after her usual return time, he'd started eating it. Then he started reading some really trashing romance novel that he found hidden not-so-neatly under her couch. At first he was only reading it so he could make fun of her for it later, then it got to the point that he couldn't put it down. Before he knew it, it was almost through the whole thing, and all of the dinner was gone.

On top of that, he discovered he'd also lit up a cigarette. It hadn't been too long ago, the thing was still half there. But he'd promised Zoe he wouldn't smoke in her place. In a panic, and not giving any consideration to the fact that with his powers he could just zap the smell away, Jesse was opening windows and spraying whatever he could find that smelled nice around her space when he heard the door open.

Ted was excited to hear from the Mayor and learn if he had a new job or not. He'd managed to keep it from Charlie, to keep from even hinting at it, which wasn't easy. But he didn't want to jinx it. He wanted to be able to go to his friend and say 'Hey! I got a job with the Mayor!' and have it be a complete surprise. Though, since the Mayor was going to use Charlie as a reference, maybe it wasn't going to work out quite like that.

But at least Ted would get to say the confirming words.

He was just leaving his favorite little coffee shop to go home. It was almost dinner time. He was hoping to get to have dinner with his friend and a quiet evening just reading or something along those lines. Maybe they could pop in a movie.

If he'd spoken this aloud, maybe Ted would have had the thought that he and Charlie had become like a married couple. Since he didn't, he wasn't worrying about it at all. Just looking forward to the potential night.

As he turned the corner, he ran into somebody. He backed up and tried to scoot out of the way with a muttered apology, but the guy mimicked his movements. Ted's attention centered, then. The guy was wearing a hooded sweatshirt with his hand in the front pocket, and there seemed to be a heavy bulge there.

Ted sighed.

The bulge - a gun, Ted was sure - was waved at him, and he looked behind. There was an alley there. He was going to be mugged in an alley. That was great. That was really fantastic.

He carefully backed himself into it. He wasn't the kind of guy to fight back. He just hoped this ended with the mugging and didn't get any more serious. If he just did what the man wanted him to do, maybe then he'd get away with his life.

Zee liked to read the personals and want ads over her morning coffee and cereal. What she saw almost made her choke. She recalled them telling her that the Joker had been around, but for some reason that hadn't sunken in as a reality until now. Oh, sure. The ad could be from any number of imposters, but she rather doubted it. There was just a certain...something...that carried through from that crazy bastard that no one could duplicate. She was pretty certain that Batman had seen this, but she had to be positive.

She called the tower and got Jensen to send a message to Batman. Their communications specialist was weird but he didn't goof around when it came to business. She appreciated that, and his discretion. She wanted to meet with Batman. Privately. She'd been avoiding him, but maybe with this gesture from the Joker it was time she faced her ghosts.

She told Jensen to give the address to a certain well known building with the instructions that she would be there. Waiting. Then went to change into her costume and head out. Without her teleportation to rely on this could get interesting getting there.

Jennifer had been in a pretty good mood since her date with Dean. It had devolved pretty severely into one of the most interesting dinners she'd ever had. Then the things after that... well. Interesting wasn't really the right word for that, was it? They'd gotten back to her place, but just barely. Even the mention of a talking cat hadn't deterred him.

To top the evening off, she'd left the torn undergarment in his pocket before he left her place.

She was a little distracted at the moment thinking about it. For an odd reason, she wanted to tell Charlie about it. She wasn't sure why. This seemed like something she should talk to him about, but it didn't matter at all, since he wasn't here. She also wasn't delusional enough to think that it meant there was any kind of relationship between her and Dean now. It was just a fun time.

There was a pile of paperwork on her desk, so she didn't really notice when she sat on that pile while trying to read a report belonging to her partner and ended up sitting on the Bat communicator she'd been given.

It had been a quiet night. Rufio was up in the rafters, staring through a small hole in the ceiling at the stars. He couldn't fly anymore, the pixie dust had worn off, but he wasn't so upset about it. There were fun enough things on the ground. All he was really worried about would be if he saw Megan flying up somewhere and he wouldn't be able to catch up to her.

It was late, far too late for anybody regular and boring to be around when he heard something happening in the back, in the cold room with the carts and moving boxes. He'd painted over some the 'LO' and 'G' letters and dubbed that region of the warehouse "ADIN BAY", but in truth he never really went back there. Just set a few of traps; nets and paint bombs and a few nasty spring traps that were so well hidden Rufio sometimes forgot where they were, and didn't like to go back there without being able to float.

There were big metal doors separating that from his painted, festive piece of Neverland, but right inside the doors of his home the traps were dense it was impossible to make it through without setting off something, by land or by air, and each one was meant to disorient the victim. Once you fell in one even if you managed to free yourself you'd most likely walk straight into another.

( And now there were sounds back there... loud sounds. Harsh sounds. Metal on metal and the big doors were shaking. )

It had been a slow news week for Lois. No, who was she kidding? She had been scooped on all of the big stories ever since she'd arrived here. She'd had a handful of interviews with some fascinating people, but where were the stories? Where was the human interest?

She was either losing her nose for news or the City was conspiring against her, as some might speculate. Either way, Lois was just waiting for the day when she got the axe.

That was, of course, assuming her editor even knew her from all of the other people in the bullpen.

She wasn't going to give up though. That was why she was currently hanging out at one of the trendier restaurants in the City, rumored to be a favorite eatery of the mayor. Despite it being late December, the restaurant, located on the patio in front of one of the City's skyscrapers, was perfectly comfortable. The warm weather normally would have unsettled Lois for the time of the year, but she was too focused on finding that next cover page story.

She supposed that some people might say that you should be careful what you wished for.

There was a rumbling and Lois heard the slight chink of dishes rattling together. She felt the ground shaking, though it didn't exactly feel like an Earthquake. It was too much of a rhythmic pattern for that.

Lois turned as the shaking began to get more intense and she heard the sounds of something very heavy smacking against the pavement.

"You have got to be kidding me," was about all she had time for as a gigantic face turned its attention towards her and then a furry hand swept downward and scooped her up as if she was nothing more than a rag doll.

As the gigantic gorilla-yes, gorilla-started off toward the Wayne Enterprises tower, Lois looked up at it, still in shock.

"No, no no. This is not happening!" she shouted. The shout gave way to a scream as the gorilla reached the tower and grabbed hold of it, beginning to climb upwards.


OOC: open to reactions from all. The JLC will be doing the actual defeating the giant ape but others are welcome to join in with the rescue if you'd like :)

Zoe stared at herself in the mirror. She fixed her hair, then looked at her dress. It had been some time since she cared about someone and how she looked for said someone. She rarely bothered with dressing up; the dinner was already in the oven, remaining warm. It wasn't anything overly fancy, but it was actually something different. A stew with cornbread. It was something more suited to his upbringing perhaps. Yes, she'd taken the time to find out what he might have eaten before he came to the City.

The dress tight in just the right places, hung in others, cut just right to show exactly how female she was. Her hair had been straightened for a slightly different look. She was a woman tonight, and she partially wondered if he would even notice or care about the difference. There was some part of her that wanted to throw it all out and not worry about it.

For once Zoe Washburne was making a conscious effort to be something more. Or something different. Now she just had to wait for him to show up.