The Universe's Mixer

Hank was taking a break from his work to go out and get something to eat. Not that take out food and frozen dinners weren't delicious, but every once in a while he liked to sit down in a cafe or diner and have something to eat.

Today it was a diner, a place where he could get several large cheese burgers, a salad, and two large orders of fries with a large milkshake and a glass of water to wash it all down. An immense amount of food for a man who, with an inducer and tight clothes to control his fur, didn't look that big.

He sat in a back wall booth with a pile of books from the library, having checked out some physics books he'd never seen before for some light reading during his meal. He was turning the pages like he was only pausing to read the page numbers, munching on a hamburger as he did, legs folded up on the booth to allow the book to rest against his knees.

He was in a very happy place, glasses perched on the end of his nose, just enjoying the light afternoon rush in the public space.

During that strange night, the crone had stretched out under the sun; her dress pulled up enough to expose a good bit of her thighs. The straps insubstantial so as not to make much of a mark. Her eyes closed, as she relished the sun. She'd laid out in it, soaking it up. While some might consider her a creature of a harsh landscape, cold and desolate, that harsh landscape could have very long days, at least in some areas. It could have what seemed like a never ending sun, and the crone had missed that.

She almost wanted to thank the City for a small piece of reminisce, when it hit her that this was not normal. Of course, the City may be experimenting with sleep patterns or light and darkness, but that didn't set well with her. There were others who had been here much longer than she, and she wondered if this sort of day/night issue had happened before. Time felt...off. The people and animals didn't seem to mind.

So, she settled in to watch once the night had came back. She doubted whatever happened had been the City giving her a little bit of her home, so very far far away. She did not believe that there was anyone powerful enough to stop the sun, well, none that would do it anyway. She did not care for havoc that she did not cause or have some finger in, save for that bit of murdering of the silly women. Oddly, that seemed to be getting solved as quickly as her own bit of fun, or perhaps not so oddly. The police were dreadfully dull.

"Mundies." She lounged on the bench, now and then seeing her home along with the cabin that had become the damn castle's friend somehow would pass by as the City shifted this way and that. She'd yet decided if the castle was indeed alive, or had simply been integrated into City's ever changing inner and outer landscape. She watched the park and those in it. One day of sun. She could think of signs found in darkness, but not so many found in the shining of the sun.

Wash hadn't even really noticed that so much time had passed. For some reason The City had been giving him a stipend and he had been using it with nearly blind obedience. He was being rather unsocial, not traveling too far from where his apartment landed the next day for fear of crossing paths with a tall Amazonian woman. The one that was his former wife, that was. Knowing The le se City it wouldn't at all be unusual if it decided to drag an actual woman from the amazon here. Oh, to see the mud fights between her and Zoe. Might due his broken heart well.

Yes, Wash was becoming quite the hermit. That's not to say that he was depressed. Scratch that, he was hopelessly depressed. He'd finally showered, at least. After that odd encounter with the curious, pixie-like woman he figured it would do him well. He'd even showered more times after that, it had felt so good! If showers helped mend broken hearts he'd have at least 75% of his heart fixed up quicker than Kaylee could get a dead engine to start again! But as showers had yet to develop that particular ability he settled himself into a drab routine.

Wake up.
Maybe shower.
Go to closest cafe.
Flirt mercilessly with first elderly female server he saw. Either get free coffee/breakfast or get evil eyed and cold coffee.
Go to closest grocery store. Exchange naughty jokes with young, pimpled bagger (one at every grocery store).
Go home.
Eat.
Read paper.
Stare at crack in wall for an hour or two while sighing pitifully.
Eat.
Go up to roof of apartment via fire escape ladder and watch sunset, sighing pitifully.

His fun-filled day was no different today. He even took a shower! But after an hour of watching the sunset, things seemed a might odd. Mainly that he'd spent an HOUR watching a sunset. He narrowed his eyes at the edge of stars that remained around the brilliant final minutes of the day that had turned into a brilliant hour. It was enough oddity to shake his apathetic, depressed state for a bit. If anything mattered to him, it was the sky.

Addled, he climbed back down the latter and rode the creaky elevator to the ground floor. A yellowed clock read 9pm. With hunched shoulders he felt a drive to investigate. Investigate what? Well he wasn't sure. But anything that distracted him from his drowning in self-despair routine was enough reason to act. Even if the 'acting' part was just him staring at the sky and pointing dumbly saying, "What?" while donning his brightly colored pajama bottoms and A-line undershirt in the middle of the street.

Tact, he had not.

The second that Fixit was closed, Megan 'ported herself back to the cottage, directly into her room. There was half an hour until Dinah had said that they would meet up again in front of the store, and while that had seemed like plenty of time earlier, Megan had forgotten the state of her room.

She started digging through her closet for workout clothes, throwing things aside, and stopped. Typical. The City knew. Her old X-men uniform hung in the back of the closet: reinforced fabric, armored boots and gauntlets, everything.

Megan hesitated for just a moment before grabbing for the familiar black and yellow. If all else, it was something she was familiar with.

Pulling her hair back, she 'ported herself back to Fixit to wait.

Had he not replaced all of his facial hair with fur, Hank would be fully bearded by now. He didn't want to admit that Baba's marriage to Eric had bothered him that much, but even with the invitation to the wedding he hadn't been able to make himself go, and he'd quietly immersed himself in a new phase of an old project; interactive holograms.

He'd barely left the lab for weeks, almost indifferent to the passing of time. He was absorbed in his science, and could block out everything else. The usual weight loss that accompanied these marathons was countered by his muscle and fur, but the food wrappers and coffee grounds overflowing in the trash were the same. As was the whirlwind of mid-project tools, parts, and notes that blanketed the whole lab.

Hank still didn't really notice this, too busy sitting cross legged in front of a floor device that was emitting a glow, holding a large touch screen control panel and typing in commands as he worked out what he wanted to create to test his final adjustments. He was dressed in nothing but sweats and a sleeveless undershirt, hair brushed straight back and glasses perched precariously on his nose.

He paused, then typed in some quick commands and smiled slightly as a Greek style column faded into view, roughly ten feet tall and a foot in diameter. He reached out into the light and put a finger to the side, smiling as he felt firm resistance. He withdrew his hand and started making modifications to the commands. The end was in sight, he was nearly there... that was always a reason to smile.

Oliver saw to it that anyone who had worked with the Justice League had been invited. He wasn't sure how many of them would actually show up, but he'd made sure to contact them all, one way or another. At the rate things had fallen apart, he was beginning to feel less averse to the idea of Dean coming along with Dinah. But that remained to be seen.

He'd set the meeting for a Monday, mid-morning, to allow everyone time to make it, or at least to check in, if there was something going on out in the real world to prevent attendance--and hopefully to start the week out right. The younger of the Winchester brothers was already present, working on some IT stuff at Oliver's behest. Now all they had to do was hurry up and wait.

Hank was glad to be in the City, though honestly he was worried about Fred. He'd left a message for her at the tower, asking her to call or text him when she got in, and he'd gone out with a telescope and some improvised satellite equipment to examine the sky and search for any sign of the planet. He couldn't tell if the City was turned away from it or if he was one the wrong side to see it, or if it wasn't there anymore, but he did want to look.

He found himself quickly in a park, and set up his equipment, dressed in a t-shirt and pair of loose jeans. He wasn't bothering with the image inducer, the people of the City weren't skittish enough to warrant it for unnecessary use.

He was glad to be back in a better civilization, of course, with more food and comforts. But he was worried about his friends, and about the other Fred he had met. She was much like the Fred he knew and he'd felt an extreme affection for her from almost the first moment they'd met, and he wanted to find her again if he could.

Perhaps it would all be in vain, after all the City had a way of making you do or be where it wanted you to, so it was up to it to determine his success or not. In the meantime he could only hope for the best and do what he could.

Hank was feeling restless. He was finished with the image inducer, but after spending so long in the lab. So, instead of celebrating his completed project with a test run, a nice dinner, or a good long nap, he shed his shirt and glasses (because such things were precious to him and didn't have much of a shelf life around the object of his venture out) and escaped out a window of the tower.

It was quiet out, near enough nightfall that the City was settling down some before the nightlife kicked into gear, and Hank made his way over the rooftops easily, testing the wind at various points to get a sense of where he might find her. He was getting much more comfortable being around without a shirt on, and besides, after the way he'd slipped into feral docility with her and her boyfriend last time they'd met, there wasn't much point in getting dressed up if he was looking for her specifically.

He caught her scent after only an hour or so of searching, and tracked her down to the library. He paused, remembering the prize he retained from his last encounter with her in the building, then opted to enter through a window on the second story to avoid running into any staff. He landed on the carpeted floor with a soft thud, then crept through the building, finding her quickly enough. Her scent was strong and easy to track, something he was grateful for tonight but which made escaping her difficult when he wanted to try to find peace of mind away from her.

Red.

His blood quickened just at the sight of her, and a familiar hunger took his body everywhere but his stomach. But he was feeling playful, too, and so when he located her he paused, going into stealth mode and sneaking up behind the seating area where she was, surrounded by books. He took a moment, then thudded along the floor, making just enough noise that she shouldn't scare too badly, then pounced up and over the back of the couch and caught himself before landing fully upon her.

"Boo," he grinned, all teeth and fluffy fur, before he caught a much stronger scent. He paused and frowned, sniffing at one of the delicate looking hands holding a book, his brows knitting together. "Were you bleeding?"

After his time with Eric and Baba Hank found himself rather... lost feeling.

He'd shut himself up in his lab, working on his image inducer (it was very close to being completed, he was happy to note) and mulling over what had happened in the back of his mind. He'd gotten home fine that night, he remembered all of it, but even after a good long rest the beastial side of him hadn't receded. He could feel it, just as present as his human consciousness, but it was different this time. It wasn't fighting him, and he wasn't fighting it. It was just... present.

He wasn't too concerned about it either, oddly. Maybe it was still something about the blood loss and the experience he'd had with the other two, but he just wasn't anxious about the way he got distracted by a fly until he'd caught it on the ceiling, or that he spent and hour snoozing against the warm back side of his computer. Or that when he started making real progress with the image inducer for the first time in a while he'd started to purr. Frankly it seemed to be working for him, too, he was quite relaxed and unwilling to try to push himself into any type of feral frenzy.

Contentedness keeping him busy, it took some time for him to remember to check his email, but when he saw a note from Fred explaining to the rest of the JLC that Jensen was gone. He frowned, having known they were close. He glanced over at the "reply" button, but it seemed.... rather empty a gesture just to write a note. Very cold. And the feral part of the youth didn't like the cold at all.

Deciding to take a break he left the lab, wearing only a T-shirt and sweat pants, and thudded up through the halls of the tower until he found a recent scent of Fred's. He went and followed it, sniffing, and then pushing himself up to walk on his legs only as he approached the computer lab and Fred's scent got stronger. "Fred?" he called out, frowning. He could smell the sadness in the air, intensifying the scent and making the beast in him antsy and unhappy.

The crone had found the conference very interesting, but that reporter had asked questions later in her paper she didn't care for. The fact that the City was now...normal hadn't been missed either. How could she not know that her spell had been broken by someone with a good deal of power? She didn't have to think long or hard on who that someone was either. The god was a being she'd have to handle; she'd noticed the woman with him, but for the moment, she'd decided to take up a bit of distraction.

Baba Yaga'd sent a woman dressed in the crone's clothes to the Tower, given the woman instructions, and set her loose. The woman would definitely smell like the crone as she stood waiting for the beast to come out and play. She was built much like the crone, or Red, was, and she held a small basket with pieces of tasty meat inside. On the basket was a small envelope, inside, a note:

You may enjoy this one, or you may come play in the park. Bring the food. We could have so much fun, my darling.

It was unsigned, but the scent alone should be enough to tell the blue furred genius who sent him his little present.

The crone sat on a park bench and watched the world move around her. She had picked a spot that seemed more wooded than normal. Quite possibly her cabin was close by. Perhaps Eric would feel the strong hint of mischief, anticipation, and lust from the small woman. She was certainly in the mood for a distraction with so much possibility.

Warning: Slightly adult content.

Frustration was not the word for it. Anger wasn’t either. Sadness, loss, so many other emotions warred within the little body. There was a definite need for satisfaction; the meeting with the girl had not gone at all how she had hoped or expected, and she still didn't know what that was. That she felt anything at all would set off the emotions once more, and she’d feel lost. This was not how she should feel; this was not what her path dictated, even when she was the one choosing the way.

Rather than go back to her cabin, which had showed but could feel its mistress’ anger, the crone started off across the park. She didn’t run; she didn’t fly. She walked. Rather determinedly. She knew where she wanted to go, and while it took longer than she liked, still, she found the damn tower where the heroes liked to stay. She didn’t need the City to know this.

She didn’t pay attention to any security measures, cameras or otherwise. A little bit of magic could short circuit much, and she had no problem doing so. It helped matters that this was not her first time to here. ( She wanted to see her bouncing blue beauty of a boy. )

After talking with Ollie about taking time away from the League, Dinah had asked him to give her a few day to tell everyone else. She really did owe each of them a personal explanation. Hank was perhaps the conversation she dreaded the most because she'd been the one to bring him into the League. She would miss working with him-with all of them, really. But she didn't think she had any business holding lives in her hands when she couldn't save herself. And when she couldn't have saved Jake either.

Giving up the League and her role as Black Canary meant that she had precious little left these days. She had again moved out of the Manor because she didn't want to intrude on Bruce's space any longer than necessary. At Alfred's urging, she was still there for dinner most nights, but she was back to sleeping in the eerie silence of her townhouse.

There were times when the emptiness would hit her as soon as she walked in the door. Worse still were the times when she would forget and expect Jake to come running out from his room when it was time for dinner, or if he needed help with his homework.

She hadn't reopened the shop to the public yet because she didn't think she could guarantee the safety of her employees or her customers. She had taken to filling her days in the garage attached to the shop, upgrading her bike and doing any repairs that she could think of. She wondered if she shouldn't seek out the parts to build a bike from scratch, but there was a part of her that remembered the words of the man who'd claimed to be the City. Remembered that he might have taken Jake away because she wasn't happy with what she'd been given, whatever that meant. She even wondered if perhaps it was angry that she hadn't stayed in the apartment she'd been granted upon arriving here. Not that she would ask Dean to move out just so she could move back in and appease the City. All the same, it was hard to keep the doubts and worries away.

It was an empty existence, though she knew that she did have friends. She appreciated knowing that they were there and there were times when she tried to find the words so she could better explain what she was going through, or better explain why she had utterly fallen apart.

Failing that, she'd just taken to mostly avoiding contact with anyone.

Save for today. She owed Hank a personal explanation, and she wanted to see how he was as well.

Which was why she stood outside the door to his lab and knocked.

If nothing else came out of the fiasco that had been the League meeting he had gotten pseudo permission to start lacing video cameras all throughout the City. Sort of. He was supposed to be monitoring some big bad vampire dude's movements, ostensibly at his club Fangtasia, a silly name in Jensen's opinion. No one said JUST around Fangtasia, and Jensen felt that this guy was probably cocky and moved around a lot of places so why not have a lot of coverage?

He got Zatanna to put up the cameras near the club since she had mystical teleporting abilities and he didn't. (No sense tempting fate, right?) Everywhere else he was putting up himself. The new search and GPS program was already geared up to take in feed from the cameras once they were activated and triangulate movement. Even if the City started switching around again, Jensen would have his location. Take THAT vampire bitches!

He had put up the last camera for the day and decided he could eat something. He spotted a Chinese restaurant across the street and thought it looked familiar. He couldn't quite place why he knew it, but figured if it stuck out in his mind chances were he liked the place so after checking traffic he jogged across the street, his bag bouncing against the back of his hip.

Once Dinah had had the chance to talk to Zee about everything, she called the Justice League together for a meeting. They needed the chance to pull together as a team now because they had all been going in opposite directions since that first fight with King Kong, and that was her fault more than anyone's as well. A good leader brought people together and didn't get bogged down in her own personal issues, letting the team possibly fall apart as she did.

She didn't know if the rest of them would still want her as a leader, but she knew that they would want to discuss what could be done about the vampire that could walk in the daylight. They could also take the meeting to discuss whether or not Dinah should remain as leader.

Fred was specifically left out of the meeting because of her sympathies for Eric. It was safer that way. Jen was left out as well, but that was simply because Dinah knew that she needed to talk to Jen privately about whether or not the CBI agent wanted to continue to risk her career by associating with the League. She had told everyone that she'd been able to talk to about the meeting that Dean would be there. It was a courtesy, since he wasn't officially a part of the team. But he had information that could help them and he had as much a right as anyone to help take down the vampire.

Not to mention that Dinah trusted him as much as she did any of her teammates.

She waited outside the Clocktower for Dean. She would let him in rather than give him his own code. Because while she trusted him, it wasn't fair to everyone else to give him access without the team clearing it. She was also waiting because she wanted to have the chance to make sure that he would be able to work with Zatanna. She thought that he was capable of it, but she didn't want there to be any personality clashes once they got into the meeting.

She was in her full costume with fishnets, leotard, jacket and all. She paced outside the tower in an attempt to keep warm because the weather was still a little bit too chilly to be comfortable.

Hank trudged into his lab in the JLC headquarters slowly, looking around and feeling a shiver go down his spine. He hadn't been here in weeks, hadn't even contacted anybody. He knew it wasn't the most responsible way to handle things, but after realizing there was no way to reverse what his serum had done to him he'd retreated to his apartment and not even noticed that so much time had passed.

Once he had, though, and had also run out of food, he realized that it was ridiculous to stay cooped up for so long. He needed to return to his work; he'd promised to care for a team of superheroes and there was a vampire on the loose. He also wouldn't be able to study how to reverse what he'd done to himself unless he was back in his lab.

So he was back, using his newfound senses and increased agility to avoid running into anybody until he got to his lab.

He was now in a clean pair of sweatpants and a sleeveless undershirt, which still was less than comfortable packing all of his fur in but it was all he could come up with to remain decent and covered.

Once he got into the lab he naturally picked up his white coat and put it on, though he realized quickly that it was too small. Another little jab at his self image. He put the coat down and then went to his coffee maker, turning it on before sitting to write an email to the team.

Apologies for the unexpected absense. I've returned.

- Hank

It took him nearly twenty moments to work out, but finally he hit send and then went to pour himself a cup of coffee. He'd need to get himself a bit more centered before the inevitable encounter with his teammates. Might not be today, if his past time in the lab was any indicator, or it might be very quickly if somebody needed him or was upset by his absense. Either way, he wasn't looking forward to it.

Backdated: Happens right after this

They'd called him down into the clinic today because the hospital was being overrun. People were coming in with all kinds of complaints and much panic. All of the staff was present unless they had a very pressing matter to attend to, and even then they were told to return as soon as they got finished.

Hannibal was currently standing in front of a woman, the bridge of his nose pinched in his fingers, eyes closed. Trying to not get angry.

"No, I assure you. You are not dying." He said. It sounded like it might have been easily the fiftieth time he'd said it. "The streets not moving has nothing to do with the numbness in your arm. Which has nothing to do with a heart attack. You've told me yourself you spent a good deal of time today watching the news for any updates. You told me that you were using your arm as a pillow. Now what that does is cut off circulation... no, the news does not do it, the weight of your head does it. Since you did not rise at the first sign of numbness, this matter has had a while to form. The feeling will return to your arm shortly, and it isn't going to feel very good. But that will end soon as well, and then everything will be back to normal. Until then, if you like, you may sit in the waiting room. We have no place for you to sit in an exam room. No. If you don't wish for me to kick you out of the hospital entirely, you will wait where I tell you. Thank you."

Hannibal turned away from the woman, shaking his head. He'd known that the people born of this place weren't exactly the smartest creatures ever, but this was a new low. Stubbed toes and lightly bumped heads, and all of them nutjobs.

He could only be thankful that the people the City had brought in were not this dense.

He stepped into a supply closet to get a moment of peace.

Beast woke up in the a quiet, lightly wooded part of the park. It was comfortable here, but something was wrong. His head lifted, emerging from beneath the blanket he'd curled under over the night. It was a good smelling blanket, but the little female it smelled like was no longer next to him like she had been when he'd passed out.

He scowled deeply, testing the air. She'd been gone for a while, and that was unsettling.

Climbing off the wooden pallet that had been his bed the creature-like man stayed on all fours, stretching out and letting a grunting snarl out as new muscles were called to duty. He felt immensely better, the pain from the night before was almost gone and he was rejuvinated. Now the only thing wrong was his stomach, and the lack of his companion from the night before.

He dropped the blanket, it smelled good and of her so he'd return here to sleep, but he had no use of it if he was going hunting. He followed where his nose hinted she might have gone, leaving the small canopy of trees and heading across the park, still on all fours. He followed her scent until a much stronger one caught his attention, and more importantly, his appetite. A delicious smell coming out of a box with wheels where a few people were gathered. Beast changed his course almost immediately, and was pleased when he didn't have to do anything to scare them off except snarl a bit. The people, one a mother with a small child, took off running, leaving him to stick his fist through the side of the flimsy glass box and get at the lovely pieces of meat roasting inside, stuffing himself full of hotdogs without worry or care about where he was or who was around him.

( Don't go into the alley. )

( Transformation. )

Hank looked over his electronic message once more before he hit send from one of the computers in his new laboratory. It was a simple request for the team members to contact him to make appointments for physicals and blood samples, so Hank wouldn't have to deal with the varied people blindly in case of emergency. There was medical data he needed to know before medical treatment was required, blood samples to take and keep, abilities and medical histories to discuss. He was a professional, after all, and this was the main reason Dinah had reached out to him. Attached to the end of the notice was also a quite offering of assistance in the creation of tactical uniforms (he didn't like the word 'costumes') to conceal identity and control or amplify any natural abilities they used in the feild. Some members (at least, the ones who had been heroes in their past lives) already had protective outfits, but after the Mayor's condemnation of the Justice League's actions Hank had become uncomfortably aware that it might be something all world-venturing team members might want for matters of personal safety.

He hadn't done anything about his own possiblity except a rudimentary yellow and black outfit that was built to let him move unhindered, with an attachable pack on the back to carry medical supplies in case he was needed. It was hung on one wall at the moment, a simple example of his ability to manufacture an outfit that hopefully didn't look too campy.

His brow furrowed at the last part of the message and he grunted, hitting 'send' before he could overthink the matter. It was his job to look after the health of the team, and in his mind the uniform offer of help went along with that, now that he had the lab fully equiped to handle the team's medical needs. And who knew, parthaps even the already outfitted members of the group would like enhancements. Everyone except the Batman fellow, who just unnerved Hank. The full body suit was hiding something, the boy could tell, though he couldn't put his finger on what, yet.

Finished with the message he pushed back from the computer station, his wheeled chair moving swiftly and easily over to one of the broad, oversized tables that didn't have designated hardware on them. Climbing out of the chair he sat in the middle of the table, which otherwise was ammassed with bits and pieces of electronics, tools, wires, and spare bits of metal. He picked up a small device he'd been working on and strapped it onto his wrist, turning towards a full length mirror he'd put on the wall temporarily, clicking a button on the wristband.

"Ouch," he winced, the electric shock that came from the band taking him somewhat by surprise. It stopped, though, and as he watched his reflection it started to become fuzzy, then slowly dissintegrate into a patchy, unfocused set of sparkling colors, flickering in and out. Hank's lip twitched and he turned off the device, his physical image in the mirror reverting back to the normal picture of a gangly, skinny boy in doctor's clothing. This image inducer technology was exciting, but so far he couldn't even get close to a human-like image to lay over whoever wore the wristband. As a method of protection it didn't seem like it would be a readily available disguise.

Hank picked up some tools and opened the device, starting to fiddle with the contents, loosing himself in the innovation and trying to push out thoughts of his cure out of his mind. He was still waiting for things to settle, still waiting to see what his place in the team might be. He hadn't really interacted with any of them since their initial mission, but he trusted that soon they'd come to an understanding and he'd be able to better guage the best time for him to try the solution out. In the meantime he'd do his best to contribute to the team by working on his technology, a task which he lost himself in easily for hours and even days without noting a change in his surroundings.