The Universe's Mixer

What was this place? She knew what a city was, or at least thought she knew, but this was unlike anything her eyes had ever laid upon. She had been with Peter many times to Earth, where he would go to the house of the Darlings, take Wendy and her brothers back to their home in Neverland, and have adventures. Sometimes Nana, thier dog and house keeper, came as well. Sometimes it was just she and Peter, and those were the times she cherished the most. She remembered the time that they went to fight the pirates, and Captian Hook was holding her for bait, and Peter came to save her! Oh Peter! Her heart swelled with the mere thought of Peter Pan, however he had betrayed her. He had taken her for granted, then run off to Earth to be with Wendy, and his had to grow up and forget everything. Peter had even forgotten that she loved him. Sure she was only three inches tall, but pixies have hearts too, and they break. Especially if the love of thier life forgets about them, and runs of with another woman. A stupid one at that. Oh she couldn't stand Wendy! She had wished many times for the girl to have an accident, and there had been times that Tink had convinced the Lost Boys to shoot arrows at Wendy as she flew, or had pushed her into the lagoon for the mermaids to drown. That always brought a smile to Tinks pretty little face. The fact that Peter had left Neverland for good had just about killed Tinker Bell. She had been in her little house, curled up in her little bed, waiting for the darkness to take her. Pixies have a very short lifespan, like most small winged creatures and bein broken hearted didn't help.

But she was here, and very confused. After fluttering around the streets, lonely and confused, Tinker Bell settled down on the arm of a wooden bench in the park, her white dress, the shroud she was going to wear for her final journey to the Garden, fluttering around her tiny, curvy frame. She had put her face in her hands, palms cupping her jaw, fingers splayed over her eyes, releasing large, exaggerated sobs. She crossed one of her legs over the other, wings fluttering sadly. Her whole body glowed, and she was a small glowing ball of gold against the darkness. Everywhere she moved she left gold pixie dust, though it didn't have anything to grasp onto, so it faded simply away. She was aware that she was alone, and though it was scary, she could only feel sad at the moment. Pixies could only feel one emotion at a time, so sometimes her emotions could get a little exaggerated and take her over.

She sniffled, pulling her face out of her hands, setting her chin in her palm, and her elbow against her knee, large wet years still spilling over the lower rim of her eyelids, leaving tiny streaks on her cheeks. She sighed, looking around at the very large park, trying to find somewhere that might look remotely comfortable to live. She didn't see any bird houses, or any trees that might have vacant holes in them. She was a tiny little woman in a big persons world, and she was all alone.

She opened her mouth for a moment, saying something to herself, a series of small tinkles erupting into the night instead of words. The voice of the pixie was too high pitched for humans, except for a certain few that could learn to hear it, but she had nobody here to translate. Peter could understand her, the Lost Boys too, and she missed them terribly. She missed the pirates, the Indians, the Lost Boys, and even the tickin crocodile. She hated the mermaids and tiger lily, but she made exceptions for them when they were being mean to Wendy. But they wouldn't do that anymore.

Why her? She didn't know. She wiped her eyes with her hands, and sat there by herself, not knowin what she was going to do. It was a big world out there, and she was so little, and this was so different to her. She was now all alone.

Maggie sat at the hospital's front desk, hands in the pockets of a tastefully battered denim jacket and a knit cowl scarf pulled high up over the lower part of her face. It wasn't exactly a surgical mask, but since she'd apparently come to the Twilight Zone, she wouldn't take any more chances than she had to. She wouldn't trust the note left on her bedside table that had claimed that her Kellis-Amberlee was now only infectious through her blood. If the past year and a half had taught her anything, it was how not to trust, especially where KA was concerned.

"Ms. Garcia?"

She looked up from watching the other people in the waiting room and jerked her head to the receptionist who had called her. "Yes?"

"We have a room open now."

She followed the nurse who came to get her, explaining that no, she'd really rather talk to someone before anyone took her vitals, and sat down gingerly in the exam room. It seemed friendlier than any of the ones she'd ever been in. The lack of blood testing kits and bleach sterilizers at the doors was definitely off-putting, though. She resisted the urge to flip through magazines, even with her gloved hands. Instead, she sat and waited, hands still in her pockets, trying not to jitter impatiently.

There were a lot of rumors around the City these days. Lois had a whole notebook worth of leads to check out. Most of them were simply wild goose chases, but Lois was still working her way down the list with the hopes that something would turn up her next headline.

After all, it was a reporter's job to wade through the false information and get to the truth.

She'd heard reports of some sort of disturbance a few nights back. The stories that she'd heard from people who had called it in had ranged from bizarre to completely unbelievable. Then again, Lois herself had been kidnapped by King Kong himself and saved by a team of superheroes, so she wasn't going to write off anything as impossible.

Armed with notes on an apparent monster that was gigantic and green and a vampire having some sort of throwdown, Lois set off to find the area that the fight had occurred. Sure, the buildings might have moved around, but she could only hope that the damage would still be there. She was fortunate enough to find one of the office buildings that had been reportedly in the line of fire and even more fortunate to find a spot on the side of the building where some bricks seemed to have been knocked off in an impact with something or other. Without bothering to worry if anyone was watching or would question her presence, Lois started to climb the fire escape to get a closer view.

One of the other rumors that Lois thought was worth looking into had to do with Arkham Asylum. The Asylum had an interesting history as far as the City was concerned. From what Lois could surmise, every one of the non-locals to the City had ended up in Arkham for a time. And then for quite awhile, it had been condemned and there had been some talk of it being controlled by a madman.

Now, it was somehow miraculously repaired and operational again. There were other rumors surrounding the asylum now. Those regarding patients who were checked in and dissolved further into madness instead of finding help and sanctuary inside the walls.

Lois had chosen to call ahead for an appointment with one of the newest doctors, a Dr. Jonathan Crane. Sometimes she extended that courtesy. One did sometimes catch more flies with honey. Not always, but it was worth giving the polite approach a try before she started in on the more discreet investigative reporting.

She arrived on time for the appointment and checked in with the secretary. She had a list of questions already scribbled in her notebook and was prepared for the interview, though perhaps not as prepared as she should have been for the man she was about to meet.