The Universe's Mixer

Castiel was staring at a strange sight. Standing on one of the taller rooftops and staring down, the angel was indifferent to the stiff breeze playing with his hair and coat. He was watching an incredibly strange spectacle of one man fighting others. Apparently they were bad guys, and the man fighting them now was dressed.... well, like one of the super heroes. Except not. His costume was very odd, it was an unsettling red. And aspects of it, especially some odd horn fixtures on his helmet, resembled the modern interpretation of Lucifer. Castiel didn't waste time anymore thinking about how off the humans were in their imagery of him and his kin, but he was very confused why a human would dress himself in such a manner with the apparent intent to prevent criminals from succeeding in their acts.

The angel also noted the man's fighting style. He was obviously very well trained, and extremely disciplined. But it wasn't typical for a human. Castiel wondered if he was some kind of mutant, he seemed to be reacting to his environment with senses humans were not meant to have. It gave him an edge in the fight, one he could have used to end it quickly; minimal damage sustained and with several lives righteously taken. But again, he wasn't clear in his intent. He was taking more hits and drawing out the fight, using his weapons to simply knock each thug unconscious. It had to have been draining physically to draw out the fight, but as the last man dropped Castiel could tell, even at this distance, that they would all live.

He vanished from his position high above the scene, reappearing at the edge of the roof where the men were, exactly behind the victorious figure. His arrival didn't disturb the air around him or even the gravel under his feet. He didn't breathe or move, simply staring at the red figure in body armor. He wondered if the man would be able to detect him without turning. His body did not give off many signals mortals usually relied upon; he had no breath or heartbeat. He was able to keep perfect stillness if he wanted, discounting the slight rustle of his garments as the breeze caught them. But he suspected this man used another sense to keep track of what happened around him. And, if he did, Castiel was keen to test it. It may wind up giving him more insight as to the nature of this new encounter.

It was a nice day. The days since she'd arrived had all been nice, which Clarice had only noticed in a vague sort of way. She had been busy reading old files, familiarizing herself with the problems of the City, learning the ins and outs of the new technology, and then putting together a file on Hannibal Lecter in her spare time. He--they?--had been very quiet in her time here, but she would not be caught off guard.

The fourth time the booking officer found her asleep on a couch in the break room, he had ordered her out. "Nothing's going on, Starling," he said. "The City won't fall apart if you take an afternoon off."

Clarice, unsure of that, had protested but found herself shooed outside. There she'd noticed the weather and decided to walk in the City that she'd been studying. She found herself sitting on a bench in the park, people-watching, leaning back with her arms crossed. The vast majority of those that she saw were the people she now recognized as City-born natives, the ones with a certain something missing. They were almost uniformly pleasant but somehow emotionally flattened. Like pigeons, she thought, watching them walk by. Someone of a certain mindset could easily see them as less than human, animal-like, a subhuman flock to be hunted.

The thought chilled her.

The City was creepy.

Rose hadn't gone straight to her apartment to find what she wanted to move to Matt's. She started making a list of the things she wanted to take, yes, but instead of heading back to Agreeable Apartments, she got on a bus and took it to the edge of the City closest to the island. Then, she caught a taxi that took her over the bridge to the island itself.

And then she walked.

It felt like a far longer walk than she remembered, getting to the TARDIS. The ship was dark and still, and it felt terrible seeing her like this. She almost didn't do what she had come to do, her heart too heavy to easily say goodbye.

Because that's why she'd come. To put her past behind her. To move on. That was what he wanted her to do, after all. She was so angry with him, angry with the Doctor, for giving up on her when she'd been willing to do whatever it took to find him and to stay.

Only, he hadn't wanted her. Her chin lifted, as she remembered the new face and the same exact eyes... He hadn't wanted her. He'd moved on, perhaps years ago. She was the only one in that relationship now, if one could ever call it that.

Rose turned the key in the lock. "Hey," she whispered into the silent room. "I came to say goodbye. There's... There's this man. And he... Well, he's not The Doctor, but he's good and he's kind, and he loves me. I love him, too. And I can't keep holding on to the Doctor when he's let go of me a long time ago. I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

She set the key on the floor, then stepped back through the doors.

And she ran all the way across the bridge.

It was a little more than an hour later than she arrived back at her apartment. She'd found that the City had boxed up all the things she'd mumbled to herself that she wanted to take. Yes, the City was creepy. But at least it'd done something nice for her. She squared her shoulders, gathered up her things, and went to her new home. She went to Matt's.

And that's what she found herself doing sometime after 5pm - pushing open the door to his apartment. Now theirs.

There was no excuse for it.

Rose knew better, and was trying to hide it from everyone, even from herself. But today...

The sun was bright, the air was clean, and there was something about the City streets today that made her want to run -- run, the way she used to run, hand clasped in long fingers, laughing all the way (even when there was something chasing them). She missed it. She couldn't bring herself to even think the rest of the thought (she missed him), because missing the running was quite enough.

It could have been the season. The body kept a time all on its own. This would have been around the time of year when she'd last seen The Doctor. Not his copy, and not the older one that came after him, but her Doctor. She didn't want to miss him. She didn't want to even think about him. So she thought about the running, when she admitted to thinking about anything other than the work in front of her at all. She thought about the running.

And that's why she'd frozen between file cabinets, her hands full of hanging manilla folders, as if she'd forgotten why she was standing there at all. How long? She shook herself and opened the file cabinet, riffling through the listings with an elbow.

"One of these days, we should move all these paper files into an electronic format," she said, trying to be cheerful. Her voice was too bright. She screwed on a smile and nudged the first file cabinet closed, then moved to the second to finish filing what was in her arms.

It was lonely in The City. She missed having a boss that knew her secret, her potential zombie boyfriend Lowell, and even the friends and family that had known her when she was still alive who had to keep at arm's length for their own safety. The lawyer Matt Murdock seemed to know something was up, but Liv wasn't sure just how much she wanted to confide in him. The hearing her lack of regular heartbeat was just weird.

Liv finished up in the morgue with the recently deceased Mrs. Winkle, who died at the age of ninety-seven due to a stroke. She looked like a nice enough old lady. Maybe Liv would develop a fondness for playing Bridge, knitting, or go check out a lively game of Bingo.

It wasn't until the next day that Liv realized she'd eaten half the brain of a unrepentant cat lady. Just because she was aware of Mrs. Winkle's tendency to take in strays didn't mean she had the willpower to stop doing it. She'd already taken in three cats from the shelter and due to Mrs. Winkle's cunning, charmed all the neighborhood stray cats with milk and other treats.

Part of Liv knew she was going to be in trouble. Even if she managed to hide all her newfound four legged companions from the building manager and her neighbors, what was she going to do with the cats once the old woman was out of her system?

The Mrs. Winkle part of her didn't care. For the first time since coming to The City, Liv wasn't lonely anymore. It was nice having company that wouldn't judge her for her dietary needs.

Liv passed two cats inside the building on the way to her apartment, trying to walk as quietly as possible with her grocery bags filled with milk, tunafish, cat food, catnip and other paraphernalia. Another cat zipped out her apartment door the moment she opened it.

"Wait, Charlie, no!" she whispered with a wince.

The day felt strange to Matt.

It felt more right than anything else had been before and he wasn't sure as to why. Why. It was a good question to ask though it seemed like such a small thing to struggle with. Had he been normal, not so in tune with his surroundings perhaps that subtle shift would have gone unnoticed. It felt a little like it had when he got close to the TARDIS. It felt a touch like the bit of energy across his skin and then it had faded as fast as it had come. He would mention it to Rose, see if she could tell him exactly what had happened. Matt had not had the chance to pick up that day's newspaper or he would have discovered the change instantly. Before the dates had been reading November...December...and now that same paper was claiming the date had been shifted forward. May 1. That was a pretty big shift and that the City was capable of such a thing...Matt doubted it would have surprised him. This place did have a power, he could feel it.

Trying to shake the strangeness of the day, the lawyer and vigilante hero made his way down the sidewalk. His baton swung back and forth as he moved, though he didn't need it. He had even taken to not using his sunglasses hardly anymore. Rose had seen the scars, the haze over his eyes and she hadn't run screaming. He figured that the same chance should be given to the rest of the people in town. Maybe they wouldn't be as giving as the Brit, but he would never know if he didn't try.

Laurel had vanished. She had been his new partner at the firm and while Matt hated giving up Foggy's office, his best friend hadn't exactly been there to stake claim on it. The name of the firm had not changed, it was still the same Nelson and Murdock that it had been before. Except now it was just him again. Him, and Rose and Paulina the receptionist. And he hadn't even had to pull out his costume from the back of the closet and dust it off, either, lately. It had been sort of nice knowing he could fall into the comfort of warmth of Rose's body heat and the invitation of comforters and pillows. That the City didn't need his mask, his services or his protection. That helped him keep his promise to Rose that he would always make it back to her, one way or the other.

Of course all of Matt's thoughts ceased to exist as a strange sound floated into his ears. It was definitely a heart beat, but it wasn't the usual lub-dub that the organ made. The pace was much slower, for one. And two...well, it was the sound of someone dying. On alert, Matt stopped abruptly in the middle of the sidewalk, pedestrian traffic be damned, and waited to find the source of the beat. He hoped he would make it in time.

Matt sat back against the hard wood of the chair, swiveling slightly on the mechanism to face his client some. Eddie whispered something in to his ear, a quip of some sort that Matt found distasteful and wrong. But Matt smiled anyway, albeit small and tight-lipped, offering a bit of encouragement to his client.

It seemed the entire courtroom was holding their breath as they waited for the verdict. All of the facts had been given for and against Eddie, the witnesses had been summoned and examined and the scenarios offered.

Matt had made the closing arguments to the jury and then the panel left to deliberate.

Some where behind him, Matt knew Rose sat. Her presence gave him confidence. He would need her support more than ever after the jury deliberated and came to a conclusion.

It took only an hour before the jury was back. The foreman stood, lifting the folded paper at which their decision lay.

Eddie leaned forward in his seat, primed with anticipation. Matt continued to sit settled against his chair.

"We the jury..." the woman breathed. She licked over her lips and her fingers trembled as she held up the paper "...find the defendant Edward Nashton not guilty of kidnapping and aggravated assault."

Matt emitted a breath.

Edward flashed a wicked smile and clapped Matt on the shoulder. The gavel hit the desk and the Judge dismissed the case and everyone in the courtroom.

Feeling like he was floating, Matt found himself standing on the steps of the courthouse. Somewhere in the distance Matt felt a pair of lips on his cheek; he knew the Nashton girl had kissed him. He felt outside of his own body and that brought him back a little.

The lawyer offered the girl a small, patient smile and a nod before he turned to look for Rose.

Edward beamed for a moment, proud, before narrowing his eyes in pain at the smack upside the head he had received from his husband. "Ow!" Eddie grunted, rubbing the side of his skull where Jonathan had hit him. But he was teeming with love and his long arms went around the thin frame of the man he loved.

It was over. Eddie was free and no charges were brought. Matt was far too good at his job, and Edward would make sure to compensate the man accordingly for it.

Warning: NC-17 for adult situations, what can I say

Those were the rare ones - the nights that sang in memory long after the night itself ended. Rose knew that she was living one of them tonight. It hadn't mattered where they ended the night - only that they ended it together. Her last conscious thoughts before dropping into a euphoric sleep was that they two must have looked like living cliches to an outside observer, all tangled up in each other.

She wasn't sure what woke her. Rose had left the window in her bedroom wide open - one of the benefits of living on a high floor. The night air had already chilled her bare shoulders and back, but not unpleasantly. It helped to have the warmth of the man lying beside her, too. It was too early yet for her to know how shallowly Matt slept. Had she known, maybe she wouldn't have...

...propped herself up on her elbow and watched his scarred back rise and fall with his breathing. She'd done plenty of exploring his body, but never like this, never just with her eyes. The scars were varied and gleamed silver in the moonlight from the window. She knew the one on his arm - raptor - but the rest... Frowning, she touched a fingertip softly against one with jagged edges that crossed over his shoulder blade, then covered it completely with her hand. It hurt to look at. All of it hurt to look at.

"You could never have deserved this," she whispered to his sleeping form, before lifting her hand and touching another scar. This one puckered his skin. This one looked like a puncture wound. This one resembled a burn. This one... Well, that was a knife, wasn't it?

"God, Matt," she murmured. So much of her heart fit into those two words, and so much of it she gifted over his skin. She didn't think she'd ever get enough of her heart back again to make a gift of it to anyone else. It was his kindness. It ran through him like life, and when she was around him, it made her.... Better. And so many people had hurt this man, this one that was putting her back together again. She dropped her lips against his shoulder and kissed as gently as she could.

"I'll be just another minute," Matt said softly, eyes on the blonde lingering in the threshold of the door to his office. He offered Rose a smile and then returned his attention to his computer. Fluidly, his fingers moved over the keyboard. It was something of his own design, small bumps of Braille to represent the appropriate letters. The screen was blank to his vision, even with the Sonic Sense, but it spoke softly to him. He was finishing up the last of his appeal for Edward Nashton and his set trial. Matt hated that he allowed himself to agree to help a criminal, but that was how things went sometimes. He didn't always love and cherish every aspect of his position but he was a public servant in more ways than one, so his natural affinity to help always seemed to shine through. Even when it was up against a terrible odd.

Matt had finished the paperwork for the Nashton girl, too, though he was hesitant to call her. The last time they had met, over lunch at a place that was more fitting of Rose due to its charm and elegance, Effie had surprised him. Not just with her attire and the confidence she pretended to carry herself in, but with the conversation exchanged. There was some good in her. He knew it because he could sense it. Even if she didn't think she had it in her. And Matt couldn't actually blame her for being the way she was. She was a product of serious misfortune, and sometimes even good people got dragged down into the water and couldnt find the strength to swim back toward the sun. He had been there, himself. Never as wild and careless as she was, but he had seen the darker parts of himself shine through. He didn't let them consume him, though.

"....according to City Law section fifty part two, subsection G, paragraph nine..."


The computer continued to chatter away.

Finally satisfied, Matt saved the document, breathed out a sigh of relief and sat back in his chair. If he had to defend Eddie he would do it the same way he always did, with ferocity and passion. Matt would never admit he was the best defense attorney in the entire state, his reputation spoke volumes enough for him. He didn't need to say it. He had a feeling The City, too, would know in due time just what he was capable of. Not that he cared what anyone else thought about his practices. Well, except for Rose. Matt did care what she thought. It showed in the way he carried himself around her that he respected her opinion and valued her insight.

Matt had agreed to meet Effie for a lunch meeting since it had taken a little bit longer for him to gather and process the documents than he had expected. An unfamiliar court system could be a pain, but he was easy enough to get along with and by the end of everything Matt had made a few good friends. He had not expected to bump into Steve Rogers, that was a blessing that had come when Matt had really needed it. And now once Effie had chosen her path with her marriage, Matt would be free to represent her father to the best of his ability. Which kind of made him sick, but he wouldn't think about it.

His mind wandered to Rose. He missed her already. The environment at the office was much more comforting to him because he knew it. He knew Paulina would be filtering the phones and door traffic like she always did, keeping out the unwanted riffraff. Laurel would be in her office next door working and Rose...well, Matt always looked forward to any moment in the day when she could escape her own duties and pop in to see him. Even if it was for only a minute. He had grown fond of their lunch hours together, too, even if it was filled with the same orange chicken. He didn't mind. The point was seeing her, hearing her talk and laugh. And after that night at his apartment his feelings for her had grown.

Now Matt was standing in the foyer at a small cafe that served brunch, lunch and dinner options. He was waiting on Effie to arrive, so they could finish their business. It was one case he wanted entirely off of his desk.

A hand was curled around the handle of the briefcase, and he glanced out of the window as if he could see the traffic on the street. This was a perfect spot to do business, it was quiet and private for the most part, and the food was good from what he'd heard. Entertaining clients was never really his thing, he always represented the small people. But he supposed it was a nice change.

Matt pinched the bridge of his nose for a moment, feeling a headache coming on. Headaches weren't usual for the lawyer, not something that he incurred any more than anyone else might. But the call that had come in to the office pertaining to a certain incarcerated male was enough to spawn the beginnings of a whopper of a migraine. This was the last thing, for the last person on Earth, that Matt wanted to deal with at present. He had not signed up for all of the baggage when he agreed to assist Effie Nashton with her marital problems.

Effie was one thing, an easy enough ordeal fixed with a quick process. Edward was more complex and he was still trying to work through all of the details. When the call had come from The City Jail, Matt had managed to stifle a series of irritates groans as he discussed representation with the Officer. Edward had named him as the appropriate outlet of legal representation, and while Matt wanted to refuse....well, he really couldn't. Ethically, Matt avoided cases like these. He did not want to represent an obvious criminal against the justice system, but he knew that nobody else would take the case if he didn't. Matt was not going to push this case off on Laurel, either.

It was better that he handle it, clear it up and be rid of it as soon as possible.

So after a dreaded trip to the Jail to get the full story from the battered man he was supposed to offer legal counsel to, Matt found the idea of a late lunch to be welcome. And necessary. There was so much to go over, and from what his client had described, Matt knew Eddie had deserved every beating he had taken. Honestly, Matt would have been honored to shake the hand of he man responsible for beating up his client. The idea actually made him smile a little in amusement because Matt would have done the same thing to Eddie had the oppertunity presented itself in the same way. But he hadn't been out sweeping the streets looking for trouble, either, and he felt a little bad about it.

Rose would understand a nocturnal check of the surrounding area, right? He hoped so. If anything like what happened to Ariel even came in a breath near Rose, Matt would be doing more than putting a man in jail. He hoped it never had to go there.

He pushed open the door to the Deli next door, and the chime of the bell greeted him warmly. His briefcase was clasped in one hand, white-knuckled, anxious to get back to the office and begin sorting through everything needed to wrap this case up. The other hand was holding his baton, the end near the ground swaying back and forth as he moved. Only when Matt reached the back of the short line to the register did he stop.

This was turning out to be one hell of a day.

"Yes, I am aware I don't have an appointment, sweetie," Effie's voice could be heard floating through the door to Matt's outer office, a sweet honey coated knife that was clearly directed at Matt's receptionist.

"Then I'm afraid you'll have to wait or make an appointment," The receptionist said, only to be cut off in a choking sound.

"I'm busy, now shush," Effie said, finishing wrapping duct tape around the woman's mouth before stalking past her and into Matt's office itself, taking a seat and crossing one long, mesh clad leg over the other. "Mr. Murdock." she said by way of greening, giving him a warm smile as if she hadn't just duct taped the man's poor receptionist. "I am in need of you...services."

"So I thought I'd take you up on that dinner tonight," Rose said, faux-casually leaning against the side of Matt's big wooden desk while her heart raced three times too fast. "Say, 7?"

Cursing loudly around the knuckle she'd shoved into her mouth, Rose dropped her curling iron on the countertop and stared angrily at her hair. She couldn't get it right, no matter how hard she tried. It was 6:52, and she still hadn't dressed, and this was the third time she'd burned herself.

Mum would know what to do if she were here.

Rose put both hands on the edge of her bathroom counter and leaned forward, breathing out her anger. Mum would tell her to stop her fussing, do something Mum-like, and suddenly, Rose's hair would be perfect.

Mum wasn't here, and Rose suddenly felt like crying. Over what? She tossed her hair over her shoulder quickly, then smoothed it with her hand, trying to think of how Mum used to do it. It wasn't the same, but she still needed to get dressed.

"I mean, if you still want to --" she continued, rapidly losing the cool persona she'd been trying to pull off. But Matt smiled, then, and the smile really looked sincere, like he really meant it when he said he wanted to, when he said 7 was fine, when he said he was looking forward to seeing her... So maybe it was all right after all.

Rose rarely ever wore black, but tonight was special. She guessed it was silly, picking a LBD for a da... dinner (but... was it a date?) with someone who couldn't see. But Rose knew well enough that he could still make her form out, so she dressed carefully all the same, making certain that the dress on her made an absolutely perfect silhouette. Two minutes left. She tossed on some earrings on her way to the shoes she'd set out by the door, and tossed on her shoes while she grabbed her door key from the table just beside the door.

One minute - and she was locking the door and heading for the elevator. And 53 seconds later, after only a few quickly-taken steps, she knocked on the door to Matt's flat.

( Severely lacking credentials. )

The City was easier to navigate than she had any right to expect. After a morning spent at the City Library, she'd learned that the most recent phone book on file didn't have any mention of 'The Doctor' or 'John Smith.' She'd expected to feel disappointed. She hadn't expected to feel... lighter. And, when she found no mention of Leonard McCoy, she was surprised again to feel nothing but a gentle regret that wasn't entirely free of satisfaction either.

The next name she'd looked up had been a little easier - Matthew Murdock. She already knew his home address (and how interesting that her name was already in the phone book, too), but the business address was new information. Checking her watch, she decided that it was close enough to lunchtime for her to bring him something. She wasn't exactly the best cook, so she found a Chinese take-out place and stopped there before heading up to the address of the law firm where he worked.

Receptionists. Rose never really knew how to talk with those.

"Uh, I -- I'm just a friend, I don't actually have any appointments, uh. He... He teaches me martial arts forms --" The receptionist was staring at her as if she'd grown two heads. Rose lifted the paper bag with a black-and-white panda on it. "Lunch delivery," she sputtered at last, hoping it worked.

A spot of weather never bothered Rose much. Ignoring the rain clouds, Rose still met with Matt on the beach to train. She'd worked up quite a sweat as they finished their forms together, and so it was that Rose was rubbing a hand towel over her face when the sea started sucking back away from the shore.

"What the..."

Then the rumbling started. She ran back to Matt, immediately latching onto his arm. "There's sumthin' wrong with the sea," she shouted over the increasing growling of the earth. Vaguely remembering something about earthquakes and tsunamis and the tide, she thought it would be a lot better if they got into the TARDIS -- and hurried.

But the rocking of the earth made it difficult - and then, as she saw exactly what was happening, saw how the entire island was lifting out of the sea and rising into the sky, she stopped altogether.

"Are you seeing this?" she asked.