The Universe's Mixer

Dean couldn't believe the crap they were dealing with, and he couldn't believe just how good it felt to be digging through said crap with his little brother, soul and all. It wasn't something he'd done in a while, or at least something he'd felt good about or right about. There had always been something missing. That look or that feeling had been gone, and now it was back.

They'd had to clean up a small ghost problem at one spot. Had to explain away a situation in another. They'd even pulled out the FBI badges, that actually said "CBI" but who was paying that much attention. They hadn't used every trick in the book, but quite a few to get where they thought the bastard was hiding.

The docks. The boys had been to the docks, or dock like area, and on at least one occasion had seen Sam possessed. That wasn't the case now. Nor were they dealing with vampires - though that had been more of a mill. Either way, Dean couldn't exactly hide the smile or the grimace when he thought of his brother; he was torn. He was glad Sam was back to normal or as normal as the Sasquatch got, but he wasn't glad that Sam was caught here. That he'd have to deal with the guilt. They'd have to have a talk about a particular death soon, but right now...right now they'd hunt demon and do what they were raised to do.

"This is it." The older Winchester motioned to a warehouse. "Why's it always warehouses?"

Sam had spent long enough hating himself. Oh, he still hadn't forgiven him self for the things that he'd done without a soul, but wallowing wasn't the way to handle it. He woke up one morning and realized that he needed to be doing something. He needed to get out there and try to make amends.

That meant getting back to hunting, and getting to a point where Dean didn't feel like he had to babysit all the time.

The first thing Sam did was head out to the corner store to buy a newspaper. It was strange leaving the house for the first time in days, possibly even weeks. The sunlight was harsh after sitting in the half-darkness of his apartment for so long, but it also gave him a small sense of hope. Maybe he could start over. Maybe he could make up for the things he'd done.

Sam returned home before the usual time when Dean would come over in the morning. He didn't look at the paper right away. Instead, he took out the waffle maker and waffle mix and started to make breakfast. It was partially a thank you to Dean for being there, and partially a way to show his older brother that he was on the way to okay.

Once the waffles had been cooked, Sam settled in with the paper and started to look for any stories that might point to something that they could hunt.

Dean made sure Sam was comfortable. He also made sure that the weird basket from Fred had been set to the side, almost hidden. It was a basket full of waffle related items: batters, preserves, whipped cream, syrups, even little pitchers and dishes. No waffle iron, but when he was putting things away, the older Winchester found the waffle irons; he didn’t think too hard about that one, just chalked it up to the City. He really hoped whatever version of his brother that had lived here before the current one...he hoped that Sam hadn’t shared a weird waffle fetish with the brainy loon.

The basket had come with a card, and wanting to see if it was safe or not, Dean had read it. So, I heard you got your soul back... Dean stopped right there and shoved the card in a drawer with cooking utensils, not thinking Sam would go looking through those drawers anytime soon.

“Okay, Sammy, I’m heading out for a bit. Call if you need anything.” He didn’t go kiss the guy on the top of his head, nor did he pat him on the shoulder. He just gave Sam a wave and headed out. He had a plan.

( ---- )

Dean was reluctant to let Dinah go off with Fred, but they both knew what had to be done. Or something like that. He gave her one more kiss, silently promising that he would return to her, before he let her go. Slipping into the Impala, he followed the women for a few blocks before turning another corner and heading to Sam's apartment.

It was strange that they lived in real places, or as real as the City allowed. The brothers had few opportunities to live in one spot for long, and when they did, it was usually after something very bad happened. Dean had lived with Lisa only after making a promise to Sam, only after Sam had sacrificed himself. Sam had lived with Jessica for how long when he decided to leave his family and become a regular boy - a college student? They had become isolated, yet here in the City, they didn't have to be so separated. So, why were they?

Because Sam wasn't himself.

No, it was more than that. Probably, possibly. Dean wasn't going to let himself think about it right now. He was good at avoiding the whole thinking thing. He was damn good, and right now he was going to have to act, in more ways than one.

Along the way, Dean had picked up a bucket of chicken, a six pack, and a pie. He'd also made sure he had rope - the kind they sold to survivalists and worrywarts, it collapsed down to seemingly nothing - and a good bit of holy water. He'd hidden away a silver blade or three in his jacket, and he was ready. Or as ready as he could be.

A few minutes after getting out of the Impala, the older Winchester stood at Sam's door and knocked.

While Fred showered, Dinah made two calls. The first was for food delivery. She knew that Fred was hungry and thought that they’d all be better off if there was some sort of food available. Though she was pretty sure that Dean might not want to eat when she said what she had to say.

She just hoped that Dean wasn’t with Sam right now. The important thing was that Sam wasn’t tipped off that they might be onto... whatever it was that was going. While Fred was washing up, she picked up the phone and dialed, pacing the apartment and trying not to worry too much about his safety while she waited for him to pick up.

After all, if Sam wasn’t Sam, there was a chance that he would try to hurt Dean next. Then again, she knew full well that Dean was going to be hurt by this in one way or another. Even if that hurt might not be physical.

( The truth is out there. )

Dean had been so caught up in the Fred case that he hadn't noticed the City doing more than defying normal science. It was going full tilt screwed up scifi, and he didn't know what to make of it. He was on his way to check on Fred, maybe see his own personal superheroine while he was at it. His thumb grazed the palmside of the ring, but he didn't try to activate it. It was strange to feel comfort in a lo-jack.

The older Winchester glanced down at his watch and thought of shaking it, but he knew it wouldn't matter. Things had been off for nearly a day, and he didn't think it would get better. This was not good. He'd have to ask the two women he was going to see if they'd seen something like this. Dinah hadn't been in the City much longer than he had, but still, she might have seen something in that whacky verse of hers before all this.

As he was going to see Fred, one of those he knew could appreciate a good burger, he decided to hit up a burger stand that had become one of his favorites. The people of the City, the ones born there, seemed okay with the strangeness. Dean wasn't, but at the time, there wasn't much he could do. He had a few ideas of who to ask, but it'd have to wait.

He got in line to wait and stare at a dark starlit sky that should have at least had a little bit of sun in it.

Dinah had just pulled her bike into the garage when she received the call from Jack Heart. Her first instinct was to wonder exactly why the mayor would be calling her. As Jack started to explain, she felt a little weak from the shock but she also resisted the urge to laugh out of sheer relief.

Fred was alive. She was in rough shape and Dinah couldn’t visit her until the morning, but she was alive. Jack had warned that there was some memory loss, but Dinah could only hope that that would come back in time.

Whatever the case, her friend was alive. Dinah thanked the mayor, trying not to wonder out loud as to why he was the first to know about this. For now, she was grateful for the fact that Fred had survived the fire at her place.

She let herself into the shop and made sure that everything was still in order there. She hadn’t been to her flower shop for awhile and she missed it. Truthfully, she was really hoping that she would be able to catch some downtime once she had made sure that the City was safe. It seemed like lately Dinah and everyone else she cared about had been running themselves ragged as they rushed to put out one fire after another.

Dinah caught sight of something in the window of the building as she went to start checking things out. She jumped before she realized that whatever it was out there was person-shaped but wasn’t moving. The Canary wasn’t sure what that meant, but she couldn’t just hide in here. She wasn’t the sort to hide and hope that the bad things just went away.

What she found out front wasn’t what she expected at all. The statue was eerily lifelike and her first thought was that this was just the latest in the long line of Joker’s sick pranks. It was only once she inspected it closer that she started to wonder if it was a statue indeed. Or rather, it was most definitely a statue, but there were certain things about the pose and the expression on the statue’s face that she didn’t think any sculptor would have chosen to sculpt.

She also found the petrified flower-shaped bomb stuck in the sidewalk. She frowned and looked from the flower to the bronzed Joker.

Finally, she sighed and made her way upstairs. It seemed that she had another mystery to unravel, but for now she was exhausted and just wanted to share the news about Fred with Dean and curl up to the man that she hadn’t gotten much alone time with lately.

( Never a dull moment. )

Dean had settled into the normal mode when finding out that something terrible might have happened to someone he knew and/or cared about. It could be a truly frightening and dangerous mode. The look in Dinah's eyes when the couple realized the voices on the scanner were talking about Fred's place was more than enough fuel for Dean's anger. He cared about the brainy Southern gal, and he cared even more for one of her good friends. Begrudgingly agreeing to investigate the fire, Dean let Dinah continue with a slightly larger problem...alone. He'd get back to her as soon as possible; he'd made that promise.

He pulled up as close as the fire trucks and police cars would allow, and his heart sank as he realized just how much damage had already been done. It was too the point that the experts were letting the fire burn itself out. The City, being a true survivalist, had sequestered off the burning building to a strange little island. Nothing else would be damaged.

The hunter got out of the car, went to the back of it, and found a hopefully convincing jacket and a badge. Fire inspector. He never thought he'd use this one. Well, not since that one time in Pasedena...a flicker of a naughty boy smirk slipped across his lips before it was gone and he was walking toward a crowd of official looking types.

"What happened here?" he asked in one of his gruffer more authoritative voices.

(backdated to before Damon heals Enigma)

Once Dinah heard from Hank that the gas masks were ready, she sent out a message to everyone that could possibly be help with this current situation. There were the new recruits and those who had helped out in the past. She didn't know how many would show up or how the meeting would go. She had hoped that she would have had more time to introduce the new recruits to each other and to start building up the trust between the team before the next crisis, but life never did work that way, did it?

Truth be told, she wouldn't have minded just having a few quiet nights with Dean as well.

On the other hand, this was the only life she could picture for herself. She'd taken her time off and it had never felt right. Saving people, helping people-that was what she was meant to do. She didn't live for the potential disasters, but she couldn't picture herself doing anything but trying to avert them.

She had brought along the gas mask that Enigma had loaned her for the reverse engineering. She wanted to return it as soon as possible anyway and it also give her an excuse to get Dean the chance to look the young woman over. Dinah had no problem with getting a second opinion as to how much of the tip about the plan could be believed.

She gave Dean's hand a squeeze as she waited in the lobby of Stark Tower for the redhead in question to grant them permission to visit. Whatever came of this and the meeting, they would handle it together. That in itself was a reassurance.

Enigma’s news about the Joker and Scarecrow’s plan had pretty much wiped everything else out of Dinah’s mind. Her first instinct was to call Dean, but he’d already texted her the night before and told her that he was coming home today, so she would wait. She wasn’t going to rush him home from whatever it was he felt that he still needed to be doing now that his hunt was done.

She’d dropped off the gas mask with Hank to see if he could reverse engineer enough for the team and now she needed the time to think and draw up plans before she talked to anyone else. The hardest part was that she didn’t know how much of the new team she should involve, if any of them.

As soon as that thought popped into her head, she shoved it aside. She couldn’t make that decision for anyone. She had to give them the choice. She had to make it clear what sort of enemy Joker could be and make it clear that she would make do if they decided to stay away from him. She believed in the people that she’d recruited recently and she couldn’t start doubting their abilities and being overprotective now, no matter how much she might want to.

She also wanted Dean involved with this. She would feel better with him watching her back and she believed that he had a point-they needed to be there for each other with things like this. They needed to start working as a team instead of compartmentalizing when it came to danger. They wouldn’t always have to work together on crimefighting or hunting but with something this big, it didn’t feel right to leave him out.

The apartment had already been stripped of Christmas decorations. She’d taken those down on Christmas Eve because truthfully, she’d been overcompensating with the holiday cheer. The first Christmas without Jake was always going to be rough and she’d simply hoped that she could drown that out by celebrating her first Christmas living with Dean. So she’d decorated and shopped and tried to make plans and it hadn’t been fair to expect him to somehow make her forget that her adoptive son wasn’t here for this.

She didn’t know what time he planned to be home and she wasn’t going to wait all day-she’d call him eventually and tell him what was going on if it got too late, but for now she sat at the kitchen table scribbling plans in a notebook as she tried to work out the best use of the team’s resources to stop this plan before it became a problem for the people of the City.

( Come up to meet you, tell you I'm sorry... )

After the information garnered from the CBI agent, it wasn’t hard to follow the breadcrumbs and surmise that it was tied into the feud between the two families that owned the buildings involved. From there, they had both started researching. When Sam came across the Greek mythology involving Alastor, the god of blood feuds. A little bit of digging gave Sam all of the answers that he needed. Once the two brothers traced the family trees, it was easy to pinpoint the next victim. It would seem that the spirit was working his way down the branches of the family tree. Those that were the closest relations to the source of the feud had gone first and then it had continued to work its way outward.

What Sam didn’t bother to tell Dean was that Alastor could only be killed immediately after he’d taken a life. The next victim wouldn’t be saved, but would instead be bait for the trap. Sam had no emotions either way about the collateral damage, but he imagined that Dean might have a problem with it. It was better to at least keep up the appearance of trying to save that next victim.

Both brothers had armed themselves with a stake before setting off for the separate apartment buildings, but Sam was pretty sure that Dean wouldn’t be in much position to use it since he was focused on saving the victim as well as killing the demi-god.

( Same name, different creature )

Upon his arrival in the City, Sam had found keys to an apartment and a car. He assumed that they had belonged to the previous Sam, but truthfully he didn’t think too much on it either way. He didn’t much care whether or not he had a home but it made things easier to not have to find a new motel every night he supposed. It was just one less thing to worry about.

Dean’s phone call hadn’t garnered much reaction on his end. Though he did toss a few pillows on the bed in his second bedroom. It might be difficult to hide things with his brother around, but he would manage.

Sam had given the address and now he was going over the clues. He’d set up a corkboard in which he’d pinned all of the the things that they knew already. He frowned at it, studying each piece of information and trying to figure out how things fit together, trying to find a pattern that would explain what it was they were hunting.

( A role reversal of sorts? )

Dinah wasn’t at ease in the wake of her discussion with Eric. No, she didn’t like just how casually and easily he had found her. She also wasn’t sure how she felt about the truce, even if she was the one who had proposed it. She did believe that it was the best way to keep people safe. To keep Dean safe, assuming he went along with it. She didn’t plan on dropping the ball on Eric. She wasn’t going to assume that he would keep his word. Though if he did, that would give them the chance to focus on the Joker and Scarecrow. And Enigma, if the girl continued to make trouble.

Dean wasn’t home when she got home, so she decided it was time to wrap presents. She wrapped his first and slipped it under the tree. There were two for him-a ‘naughty’ and a ‘nice’ present. She smiled a little and started humming to herself as she settled into wrapping some of the other presents. She was nervous about the discussion that would be had whenever he got home but for now she would just enjoy the fact that there wasn’t a crisis happening right now. That she could be at home, wrapping presents for the people she cared about.

( Snow's coming down, I'm watching it fall... )

Dean stared at the building. The owner of said building had called Fred about something living inside it. Fred done some research and found nothing that would suggest ghosts or poltergeist or anything else they usually looked for. In fact, it seemed like a very normal building, but things weren't right. There had been multiple deaths recently; none of which seemed more than mere accidents. Not that any accident was mere when it took a life.

The older Winchester called in the younger for a hand. He had said that they should hunt together, and so he thought he'd take the chance to do so. Some of their work was already done by the brainiac that Dean was still refusing to claim as boss. She was more of a mediator or contractor than boss. She was his pimp - not that he'd ever say that to her or Dinah. It did amuse him somewhat.

"Bet it's some lame ass curse. I know Fred said no one died in there, and let's face it - there isn't much else it could be. A demon? A demi-god? You do any digging?" He didn't think Sam would just take Fred's word for it, even if she did seem to have a way of getting information. Hacker. He'd bet she was just that. He didn't mind. Sometimes hacking was the only way to get anything good.

The holidays were going to be hard for Dinah. She’d expected that. Facing the prospect of Thanksgiving and Christmas without Jake made her heart ache. She still thought about her lost son often, but she was in the process of making peace with it. Having Dean around helped a lot. It helped to keep her mind off the grief and gave her a shoulder to cry on when she really needed it. It had also helped to get back into fighting crime. Having a purpose, having something to drive her made it easier to avoid falling back into the despair that she’d felt in the months after Jake’s disappearance.

Since Thanksgiving was the first holiday without Jake, she’d dreaded it. But she’d also started to make plans. It was her first holiday with Dean, and she wanted to do something to celebrate that. She knew he liked pie and all kinds of food, really. And from what she knew about his life before the City, she doubted he had had many big Thanksgiving meals.

Since Dinah’s form of cooking generally ended in things being burnt to a crisp or over-seasoned or some combination of the two, she’d enlisted Alfred’s help. She’d invited the butler (though really, he was so much more to Bruce and to everyone else who had stayed at the Manor or been a part of the inner circle) to dinner, but he’d politely declined. Dinah felt bad about letting Alfred go back to the empty manor on the holiday, but he’d pointed out to her that Thanksgiving was a traditionally American celebration. So she’d given him a hug and thanked him profusely once everything was done for the turkey dinner.

Then it was a matter of waiting. She’d asked Dean to try to be home at a certain time today, without telling him exactly what was going on. She had hoped it could be a surprise. Whenever he did come home, it would be to a table filled with turkey, mashed potatoes, yams, stuffing, rolls, and to an assortment of pies waiting in the kitchen. She knew he liked his pie after all.

As Dinah had expected, her phone reappeared in her pocket on the way home from Enigma's warehouse. As soon as it did, she'd called Dean. If she knew him as well as she thought she did, he would have been worried by now, possibly frantic and almost certainly out looking for her.

She was still twitchy and exhausted and she was really glad to be going home. She just wanted to see Dean and make sure he was still okay-to make sure that none of the nightmares she'd had about him over the last half day had come to pass.

By the time she made it home, she definitely looked the worse for the wear. She did the best she could to smooth her hair down, trying to look as presentable and 'okay' as she could before she let herself in the door.

Eric was pleased.

Not just because there was going to be a party, to which they'd invited every single person in the City, but because it was for him and Baba. But to top that off? It was in their new home, Castle Dracula.

He would retain his sleeping place, and she would - of course - retain her cabin. Both would be used for various things, but their main residence was going to be the castle. Eric was in love with the building. The rich history, the fact that it belonged to living relic, every aspect of the castle was glorious to him. Baba had warmed to the place.

It was decorated with the red and black that they had decided on for colors. Tastefully done, but very gothic. The front door was wide open, welcoming all visitors. From the front gates to that open door was a pathway of red roses, to guide people inside.

The castle held many rooms, but only the ones on the ground floor were open to wandering. The stairs leading to the levels below and above were cut off by large men and velvet ropes. Strict instructions were given that only himself or his wife were allowed to pass. Even with these restrictions, there was more than enough room to fit every citizen, should they choose to show. Plenty of room to poke around.

In the great dining hall stood large tables laden with many kinds of food and smaller tables with chairs for people to sit at. Tables had been placed in other rooms, too, for people to take their food, drink, or company. Catering staff roamed with hors d'oeuvres and took drink orders. There was a large room filled with art and two fondue stations - chocolate and cheese. A room with a nice, even floor and a grand ceiling which also held the orchestral quintet he had found. Once the sun set, the grounds around the castle would be lit up with tiny fairy lights.

There was to be only one truly scheduled event, and that was when he and Baba would make their appearance and introduce themselves to the rest of the City as Eric and Red Northman. This would happen closer to sunset so that the other vampires could attend. The rest of the time, the people would be allowed to do as they wished when they wished to do it. Eric had spared no expense to get this rolling along. He wanted his new wife to have a party that nobody would soon forget.

Freshly moved in to her new place, Megan was in a good mood. And good moods should be spread. In this case, Megan decided to pay it forward by doing some outreach for Fixit. Annie would like the business, right? More business meant more machines to talk to, as far as she figured. It would be like making new friends. Maybe. She still wasn't clear on the absolute specifics of how Annie's powers worked. And there was a new employee to hire! All in all, lots of work to be done.

So Megan made flyers. Come visit the store flyers. Help wanted flyers. Lots of neon flyers. She thought they looked cute, and she'd remembered to put the name and address of the store on it and everything. And in those bright colours, there was no way they'd be missed.

She spent an afternoon out 'porting to various parts of the City, taping them up, leaving them in little piles inside stores, and slipping them underneath cars' wipers. So much more interesting than taking something out in the paper, she thought, bending back the wiper of a black car and shoving a couple of flyers underneath.

Opening night for Verdi's La Traviata ran as smoothly as the City Opera House manager designed it. He allotted a certain number of complimentary tickets to be distributed by high-performing members of his production. Those lucky enough to receive these tickets were placed on a special guest list and personally escorted by the house staff to their box seats. The manager himself claimed a seat in Box 5, which was otherwise empty.

Tonight, the crowd glittered and shone brightly under the warm glow of the opera house. Attending the opera was as much about high art as it was about being seen. With every playbill this night came an invitation to the opening night celebration following after the performance. There, all would get their fill of the glamor brought out by opening night.

When the lights in the auditorium dimmed, so too did the chatter. Then began the orchestra, casting its spell with rich, full-bodied music. The pianist, one Hannibal Lecter, would be remembered by musical types for his mastery. But there was limelight enough for others, as well. The production's Violetta, Ms. Christine Daeé, sang soprano with a curious and heady combination of seduction and fresh youth, while the Flora of the opera, Ms. Enigma, carried the darker mezzo-soprano with an expert's touch. And when the lights came up, it was to the roar of an audience recognizing the triumph it just witnessed.

Once the curtain calls were done, the crowd began filtering down the staircase and into the Grand Foyer, where the night was just beginning. The wine flowed; the violins hummed -- a triumph indeed.

Jo had a few days to think things over and hopefully figure out a way to keep the re-opening of the newly combined bar from resulting in bloodshed. Whatever Eric said about his rules, she wasn't sure how much she could trust the vampire or the rest of his clientele to keep from seeing her clientele as juice boxes with legs.

The first step right now was keeping her customers away. Jo had put the word out to some of her regulars already. Now it was just a matter of tracking down Dean and Sam. She really didn't want to tell Dean because she had a feeling that the hunter's first instinct would be to try to step in and for better or for worse, this was her problem to solve.

Jo dropped by the apartment over the flower shop and knocked on the door. She wasn't sure she would ever get used to the idea of Dean living over a flower shop. It did seem rather... ill-fitting and just a little bit amusing at that.