The Universe's Mixer

The City she had a sense of humour sometimes though most would not see it that way. Another task, another dispatch of one of the chosen ones. The list was getting long but not long enough and now someone new to be added right quick.

Whether from drink or general imbalance, though the latter was guessed, the pirate captain staggered along the water, on the dock close to a ship. It could only be his for whom else would have one that looked like that?

Following at a distance, there was a slight breeze in the air but he had not noticed he was being followed yet. Quicker came the footsteps, hard soles tapping on the ground.

Would be by knife tucked away in the pocket or by his own sword at his side? He had a reputation that was for certain so something of a plan had to be made.

If one kills a pirate captain, can they be the pirate king?

What a night.

Bruce was still a little wobbly as he made his way down the halls of the City Institute. It was too early even for the type-a students to be roaming the halls, and he relished the cold peace. The silence broken by his own footsteps on linoleum allowed him to get in the mindset of a professor again, to put away the events of last night. He wasn't suppressing them, he reminded himself, just setting them aside for now. Dr. Samson had taught him all about the dangers of suppression. It's what helped make him a monster in the first place.

Right now he was Dr. Bruce Banner, professor of nuclear physics, and he had a class to teach in forty minutes. He needed some coffee. Good old sour, sludgy break room coffee, with good old dull, faceless fellow teachers going through the motions of the day.

As he stirred the sugar (no cream) into his coffee, he spotted something out of the corner of his eye. Someone didn't belong here.

The day was bright and warm, the sort of weather that made it a perfect time for people-watching. People-watching was a sport that Alice particularly excelled at. At this given moment, she was sitting cross-legged on the rim of a fountain, beads of water lightly misting her hair, and watching the passersby from behind cat-shaped, rhinestone-studded sunglasses.

A man walked by, carrying a newspaper and a briefcase and a tray of coffees in paper cups. Alice wished him a pair of extra hands. A couple of teenage girls scurried by, their hair gleaming green and violet, giggling raucously. Alice thought she spotted River's graceful glide through the crowd, but it could have been any dark-haired dancer going to or from rehearsal.

Then a flash of bright white, patterned with red, made Alice gasp and jump up, nearly toppling backwards into the fountain as a result. The rabbit! Alice took of running after him, her Mary Janes hitting the pavement with a rhythmic beat. She had to catch him! She was Queen now, after all, and it would be nice to have someone to talk to that knew it.

Then she rounded a corner and ran smack dab into someone. "Oof!" she said, staggering back, and peered anxiously over their shoulder. The rabbit was lost. "Oh," she said, barely able to keep the disappointment from her voice. "I'm so very sorry."