The Universe's Mixer

(Warning! Graphic content! :))



( Let's spar! )

Bruce was done.

Finished.

He couldn't take it anymore.

The constant reminders made him sick to his stomach and he needed to be free of the burden. Every time he turned around, even in his own lab, he was reminded of her. From the scraps of leftover wrapping paper on the floor that he had yet to pick up, despite Owsin pointing them out, to even the smallest vial of Hulk serum that lay in a heap on the too of his desk....all of it shouted at him. Screamed. And he no longer wanted to hear it.

So the scientist did the only thing he knew how, and that was run. He gathered what he could, small things. A suitcase large enough to hold the plans for Dean and Dinah's costumes, what he could manage of Hulk serum, and a few other precious things. He left the necklace Effie had given him for his birthday on the tabletop in the lab. That was the last thing he needed, to feel her heart beat.

The sadness was infinite and it seemed only to continue to multiply exponentially with every second that dragged by. The last few days had seemed like an endless eternity and a place that had had once felt the most comfortable in the world had become a prison. His sanctuary had become only a burden and he had to escape before it consumed him.

Packing what he could, Bruce instructed Jarvis to watch after Timmy, a task to which the AI dutifully agreed to, albeit with a tone mixed between sadness of seeing the doctor go and loathing for the task at hand. Bruce hated to burden the AI, but Timmy was a robot, and he was most at home there amongst the rest. All of the restrictions on Tony's lab and anywhere else remained. He didn't even bother to lockdown his own lab, he just didn't care anymore.

With that in place Bruce fled.

He took the elevator to the garage but instead of choosing a car Bruce instead mounted up his bicycle and took off for a motel, one he had stayed at before moving into the warehouse with Effie way back in the day. Before everything. With a sadness in his heart at being driven from the one place he had known as home, Bruce peddled as fast as he could and left the looming tower in the distance. And with it the weight finally seemed to abate.

Jo had a lot on her mind these days. Her house had gotten an awful lot more crowded. She didn't mind the crowd, but it was an adjustment to have a five year old and a guy whom she was still just getting to know living with her. It was like... from far away, they might seem like any family. But up close, it was more three people who had been brought together by chance trying to navigate those waters. And typical families didn't have to worry about the five year old turning human beings into animals, or about hunters who might have a problem with that.

To add to all of that, the Roadhouse was back. Jo wasn't sure what to feel about the fact that Purgatory had disappeared and the City had gone back to having separate vampire and hunter bars. She didn't know if the protection spells were still in place over the Roadhouse, and she didn't know why it felt a little sad but oddly fitting that this was happening now that Eric was gone. Yes, she'd wished for it, but it had been a wish made out of anger and frustration.

Her apartment-the one that had been above the bar-was back too. She didn't know if that was the City giving her what she'd wished for or if maybe it was a sign that it was a time to move out and let Wash and Maxine do their thing. The five year old wasn't nearly as fond of her as she was of Wash. Not that Jo could blame her because Wash had taken to parenting like he was born to do this. Jo cared a lot for the little girl but still felt like she deserved better than a hunter who'd actually sought a life of impermanence and risk.

Speaking of said life, Jo caught on to something that seemed right up her alley. She still wasn't sure what was responsible, but there was a rash of mysterious disappearances that someone needed to look into. And really, what better way to get her mind off the heavy emotional things than going on an old-fashioned hunt?

Eventually, the trail of the missing women led her to a house in one of the older-looking neighborhoods in the City. On the outside, the house looked like it hadn't been touched in years. Jo picked the lock on the back door and took out her gun before entering the house. She stopped short as she saw the strands of what looked like a gigantic spider web inside.

"Shit," she muttered.

She was pretty sure that she knew what these were, and they were really damn rare. If she was right, she didn't know what she had in her arsenal that was going to kill it, but she knew that she was going to pump the creature full of a whole lot of bullets.

There was a hissing sound from somewhere inside and Jo knew that it was too late to turn around and try to go research this. In for a penny, in for a pound. A gigantic spider/man hybrid stepped out of the shadows and lunged for her. She didn't scream, but she did let out a whole torrent of swear words as she unloaded her gun in the direction of the advancing arachne.