The Universe's Mixer

It had not, actually, taken the City two weeks to figure out that the planet was not another being like itself, and that the stealing of citizens had not been purposeful, but rather reactionary to the City's closeness. What the planet had done was not an act of war, rather just the drawing in of people that it needed and happened to be close by.

But it still hadn't sent those people back right away that it had taken from there. Whether it was from compassion or some other reason, it didn't know itself. But it let them roam the streets for two weeks before it decided that they needed to go back to the planet they'd come from. There was the issue of the doubles, mostly. Having two of the same face within it's wall was too strange. Too hard on others.

The City didn't let them go back empty handed, of course. Not when it knew the state of things, and not after it had seen Beauty so lovingly help, and heard her concern for those planet-side. It sent back with them food, fresh clothing, medical supplies, and various other items that it thought they might need or at least appreciate having. It couldn't stock them with enough to see them through to the end of their lives, but it could send enough to make things more comfortable for a little while. It even bestowed some gifts on those who had walked it's streets. Little things for them alone.

When the strange faces were back in their strange places, the City turned and moved away quickly. It didn't want to risk more of this back and forth happening. The planet wouldn't understand what had happened, wouldn't be generous in the future in response to the City's generosity. It didn't want to risk more of it's own having to face that wasteland.

Dean was covered in dirt, and there were a few cuts here and there. It wasn't hard, but it wasn't easy. It would have been easier with his brother around, or Bobby, anyone. But, he could do this sort of thing on his own; he'd done it many times alone after all.

He didn't know how he got to the park from the cemetery, but he'd gotten there all the same. The smell of hot dogs after taking down a nasty ghost helped to distract him from the aches and pains of real ghostbusting. It wasn't like he had a proton pack and a cage. He had to fight the damn ghost, dig up the remains, salt them, burn them, and who knew what else.

Dean settled in line and did his best to ignore what he saw. He did not see a purple dragon fly off with some grey haired type.

Aidan was doing better. He'd come down off of the blood drunk after finding a place to stash himself and wait it out. It was a small apartment. The key had somehow appeared in his coat pocket. There were clothes in the closet that were similar to the sorts of clothes that he would have picked for himself. There was plenty of room in the fridge for the blood, and every time he opened it to make sure it hadn't gone anywhere, there seemed to be more of it.

After standing in the shower for so long that it began to run icy, Aidan dressed and made for the outside. He didn't know what he was doing, or where he was going, but he sure as hell wasn't going to waste this opportunity sitting inside. Even if he did kind of just want to glut himself on the blood.

This was a real city. Cars, people, streetlights and stores. Just the various smells were enough to make him happy. But the sights and sounds were also wonderful. He'd never thought he would have missed exhaust so much. Or gum on the bottom of his shoe.

He did stop to pull that off, leaning against a building and using a stick to scrape at it.

Being back in the City after being on that horrible planet made Ted realize just how much he appreciated certain things about his life. Also, how much he'd taken some for granted. Or not even taken the time to explore them properly.

Like the park.

The park was a vast and beautiful place filled with lots of trees and really random food choices. The park had a small lake in it. Or a large pond. Whatever. The park had children laughing and parents watching. Balloons, and grass.

Just in the park were a hundred things that the planet he and Jo had been on didn't even remotely come close to pretending to have. Which was why Ted was there today. Walking around and not caring about work - which he might get yelled at for later, but that was later - and looking at every single thing that he could look at.

A man who has been to prison knows how to enjoy the world outside of the walls. A man who has been to an apocalyptic planet knows how to enjoy the world as a whole. Ted was a man who was both.

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.

That Fortress place sucked.

There really wasn't a polite way for Megan to put it, even if she didn't say so out loud once the entire time she was there. She was proud of herself for that. Take that, everyone back home who said that she was absolutely incapable of not saying everything that popped into her head the second she thought of it! Of course, she said it out loud the second she woke up in her own bed, in--well, not her own City, but it was near enough to home these days, and she did a little dance, and got dressed in something that didn't look like it had been rolled in dirt and used on the set of a movie about the end of the world, and set out for real food. Chocolate. Anything chocolate.

She decided against teleporting, since that was what got her into this whole mess. And besides, she wanted to take it all in, enjoy the familiar sights, and see if she recognized any of the people she'd missed. She flew down from her flat, but walked to a corner store for food, and then kept walking after she'd gorged herself, grinning happily at everything and everyone.

It was great to be back. And this time, she'd even returned from the unexpected trip elsewhere with what remained of her soul intact! It was shaping up to be a wonderful day.

Fred walked quietly beside Dinah for a moment. She'd left her tablet behind for the other Fred; she'd put it under some books, and left it there. It wasn't that she was sure it would stay because she didn't know she was going anywhere, but she had put it under some books and did her best to forget about it. It was one of the last things from Jensen, and she didn't partly wonder if she'd intended to leave it behind because it was one less thing to remind her of her heartache. She didn't think so. She went to the Tower and that was covered in Jensen.

Finally, she decided she'd have to speak. "So, I'm dating Dean's brother in the other world. I'm having sex with Sam Winchester. Which makes us girlfriends in lust one world removed." She was trying to make a joke. It was the only way she could get her brain around it, and it didn't really work.

"Sorry. I just don't get it. It's got to be events; they work out certain ways leading to certain outcomes. We get to see how we end up in different situations. The other me is kind of nice. A little spacey and talks a lot, but I guess that's me." She laughed softly and shrugged. "Are you okay?"

The meeting with Dinah had been strange. Meeting her with Fred proved to be even stranger. They were people be knew, but he didn't. He'd be the first to admit he didn't know them well, yet it was strange seeing Dinah look at him that way sometimes, and then Fred without Sam? Sure, he'd seen her on her own, but it just felt like something was missing from her somehow.

He'd agreed to take on the small job, a little ghostbusting, for the brainy woman mainly because he felt damn awkward around her and Dinah. He took the opportunity to get out of their before things became worse. So, he was quickly walking down the street, no Baby was a little irritating, to the address he'd been given. The streets' refusal to work properly was even more irritating than the lack of his car...possibly.

The older Winchester, even if he was out of place, headed into a store to gather what he was sure he'd need. Salt, lighter fluid, disposable lighter, a crowbar, a small pack shovel. That was all he needed, wasn't it?

Annie pulled herself out of slumber, expecting there to be a snarky older gentleman next to her. She'd been staying with him in the rather small apartment, going out into the strange world only a little bit. Mostly she was content to sit and work, or talk to the suit. She was also worried about running into the people that Tony had warned her of. It seemed smarter to stay inside, really.

When she woke in her own bed, in her own apartment above Fixit, she actually felt a little bit of disappointment. She hadn't been happy to be in a world with very little tech, or one that wasn't the City, but she'd found in Tony somebody who she felt a new kind of connection with. She had felt something similar in Fred, but in a much different way.

Of course, she did immediately climb into the shower and stay in it until the water was getting cold, and used up a lot of her favorite shower gel, just because it was actually there. Following that, she might have overindulged some on the snacks in her cupboard that the City provided for her, as well as some soda and ice cream.

Post these events, Annie made her way out into the streets, where she was greeted with the noise of city living. Technology all around her. Cars on the streets. Buildings that didn't look like they'd been next to an explosion. A wall that was there to keep them from falling off of a space-island instead of keeping bad things out.

She did miss the suit already, though.

Really, she was torn. Tech and food and cleanliness VS Tony and the suit. She wondered if she should try to find Dean, or Charlie. Or Fred. Or Megan. She wondered if anybody else had made the trip she had, or if she was the only one. Had they missed her, if so?

Not sure what to do, Annie stood in front of the shop, staring at the sky.

Piotr wasn't sure what happened. Between trekking to the lake - or trying to - again, and getting back to die Festung, something changed. It was a gradual thing. The forest stopped looking wild and overrun and became more park-like, and then he was stepping out from the trees into a normal city street. Naturally, he turned to look behind him. Had he turned wrong while in the depths of the forest? Had he not been paying enough attention while crossing the ruins? Was this another section of the planet that he'd not yet encountered? And if that was so, why wasn't everybody living here?

"This is some bullshit." Piotr mumbled to himself. He was wearing a pretty ratty pair of sweatpants and a tanktop that had seen better days. His shoes were unlaced and his facial hair was in an unforgiving state. Seeing people running around in clothes that hadn't survived a war situation made him feel particularly grungy.

And grumpy.

Another thing occurred to him. If he was here, where was Kitty? Had she come too? Was he supposed to live with losing her again after they'd finally managed to get their shit together and be together? He didn't like that one bit.

At least he had the wherewithal to keep the metal flesh to himself. He needed more information about what was going on here before he revealed what he was. What if this was some anti-mutant haven?

It had happened again. This time when Tony was out walking around. No suit, which worried him honestly. It meant the Iron Man was back on the other planet, and though it was at least something to know that it was locked down from use it by anybody but him, it was still disconcerting to know.

At least he was back in a real civilization though. He'd walked through the streets, trying to get his bearings, finally finding his way into a pub. Good alcohol and pub food, there wasn't anything better after what he'd been eating lately. He didn't know how he was going to pay for this, but he'd figure out something. Or just run like hell when he'd had his fill.

He sat at the bar, making his way through a plate full of buffalo wings, watching some kind of sports program on the television and sipping off some bourbon. He'd work out where he was and what he was supposed to be doing later. First he wanted a decent bite to eat.

Sam wasn't where he was supposed to be. Again.

Last time, he'd at least met Fred. This time, he was in the middle of a city and the streets were shifting and changing around him. It had to be the city, or City, capital C, that Dean had talked about.

He didn't know why he was currently in the City or where Dean was-either of them. Or even the other Sam. Or both of the Freds. All he knew was that this place was a bit unsettling, even if it did seem to be better kept-up than the postapocalyptic world.

Still, he didn't care if this place had better food or electricity or more comfy accommodations. None of that mattered if he couldn't find his brother (brothers) and his girlfriend.

Two weeks of exploring the strange new world with Jesse and Peter, and Murphy suddenly found herself back within the walls of the old, familiar City. No real warning, or explanation. Just there one moment, and here the next. This time, she wasn't all that surprised, but it she had a feeling it was going to take at least a day or two to catch up with all the paperwork and whatever else she had missed. Her first order of business was to head down to the precinct to ensure that her unexcused and unexplained absence hadn't gotten her suspended...again.

After the tremors, Dinah found herself in... a city? She looked around at the buildings, even recognizing some. Others, however, were completely out of place. Where was she?

It wasn't Gotham or Metropolis or any other city she knew about, even if she did see Fieri brothers on the corner.

Dinah did a double take as the aroma of home-made Italian food wafted toward her.

"I have to be dreaming," she told herself.

All the same, just in case she wasn't dreaming, she moved closer to the restaurant. Her mouth was watering at the idea of eating pasta again. Hell, at this point she would take any food that wasn't postapocalyptic food. If chocolate and wine were added to the mix, she might just have to conclude that she'd died and ended up in some sort of Heaven.

Zee felt the swirl of energies around her and needlessly held her breath. It was just a stupid habit she couldn't help doing during a transport or teleportation. Where it was transporting her this time she couldn't be sure, but it had to be better than die Festung and that world. She had a moment of hoping whatever this was had nabbed John too, but that thought went out of her head when her vision cleared and she found herself standing in the living room of Shadowcrest. She was home! She was home!!

She let out with a happy squeal as she turned in place to take in the sight of her family home, so lost in the elation of being there that she didn't notice how still Shadowcrest had gone. If she were paying attention she would recognize the house's reaction as utter confusion and hesitancy. But she wasn't paying any attention to it as she darted up the stairs. She wanted out of these clothes and into clean ones. NOW! Oh sure she could magic up clean clothes, but it wasn't the same as the clothing she had bought specifically for herself.

Bursting into the bedroom she noticed that the bed was not empty. Zee pulled up short for a moment wondering who she'd need to blast out of her house, then caught sight of some rumbled blonde hair peeking out of the blankets, gracing one of her pillows. John! Whatever power brought her back brought him too! Yay!!

"sehtolC enog!" The incantation was almost breathless in anticipation of enjoying her homecoming with John in the time honored fashion, a flick of her wrist practically sweeping her clothes from her. With an eager, but gentle smile on her face she slid under the blankets with him. Her hand smoothed along his arm as she pressed a kiss to his neck. Hopefully he wasn't too hungover and it wouldn't take too much more to wake him up. "Hey, baby. We're home."

The crone sighed softly as she stretched; her body felt...normal. It wasn't that she had felt overly abnormal, off, but the feedback from her surroundings had felt different. They were not the ones she'd grown accustom to. Rather than shooting up and out of whatever bed she lay in, she curled up tighter and willed herself back to sleep. She'd worry about cleaning up later.

Later seemed to come quicker than she had expected. She felt the rumblings as the cabin in which she felt most at home lift and start walking. She didn't move from her curled up spot; it was just too damn comfortable, even with the blood and such on her clothes. The rocking was slight, but enough to send her back to dreaming about multiple Erics and Pams. It was enough to make an old woman giddy.

Finally, with the thud of a settling cabin, she stretched, pushing the covers from her body. She glanced down, making a face. She looked at the homespun sheets and rustic bedding, the bed just as "rustic." She looked around at the other minimal furnishings before glancing over the herbs, the bones, the kettles, the pots, the books. The bits and pieces that were her tools of a trade she had given up long ago, mostly.

"You should go back." She couldn't be angry at it, not at the moment. She felt oddly in need of the comfort of the familiar. She'd been scared, alone, angry, and it had been the first time that she had also been mad that someone hadn't come along to save her. "You should go back; I'm not her anymore. I haven't seen the face staring back at me in the mirror." She got out of bed.

"And if you tell anyone I said that, I'll kill you. I can, you know?" The cabin just gave a slight shake. It could have kicked her out. It had before, but it seemed content for the moment to be her safe haven. It was better than any old abomination, wasn't it? She still needed it. Plus, it wasn't like it'd want to go back to the Farm; it could roam free in the Park.

This was what the crone came back to. And, the "human" moment was just as confusing as everything else she'd been feeling recently.

It was fortunate and a moment of relief when Ted discovered himself back in the City. He had had enough of the place he'd been put, and was ready to return to the oddness and moving streets. That he could handle. Apocalypse, he wasn't too gung ho for.

It was unfortunate that he returned without Jo by his side. No way of knowing if she was alright either, other than calling her number, leaving a message and sending a quick text right after. Which he did. Ted knew that in some places where call service didn't work, the short burst of a text would get through. If she wasn't in the City, maybe she could still get it. Of course, if she was back as well, hopefully she'd take it as worry and not him being some crazy stalker.

The only thing he could think to do immediately was to return to Charlie and the horse and the house. He'd learned that he had many things to tell his friend, and he wanted to see if Charlie had gone to the other place, too.

Ted found the door unlocked - as usual - and immediately headed up the stairs.

He wouldn't have been able to say what happened if he was asked. Quite frankly, he had no idea. One moment he was entering a hole in the wall in die Festung to sit down and nibble at food he had absolutely no interest in, pondering the blood of the woman he'd attacked and the curse she'd placed upon him, and the next, he was walking into a door.

Actually walking into it.

His head contacted the wood, and he looked around, confused. Lost. The smell was antiseptic. A smell he had become very familiar with. Bleach and ammonia to cover the scent of death and disease. The world he'd been living on did not have facilities such as these.

What's more, when he turned around, Aidan discovered that he was in blood storage. Surrounded by bags of the stuff. His instincts hit him quickly, and before he could stop himself, he was chewing through heavy plastic. When the cool blood hit his tongue, the pain that had been promised him ripped through his body. But he couldn't stop. He'd been without fresh supply for so long. The woman's had been strong, it had lasted him several days, but in the end, he'd drunk live. Live was always harder to quit. A stronger pull.

So he doubled over in pain, but pulled down several more bags with him to consume on the floor. Aidan pushed the plastic against his mouth to keep himself from crying out or screaming, but there was nothing to do to stop the tears that sprang to his eyes. It hurt so badly, yet at the same time, his system was happy with him. His hunger and need satisfied. It was enough that Aidan continued to drink despite the pain until he was ten bags down.

Able to relax some, he rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling, content to lay there forever. Until he heard voices. This caused a panic, and he was up in a hurry. Picking up the empty receptacles and full ones, shoving them into an emergency transport container until the thing was almost too full to close. He wiped his face with his shirt and used his jacket to cover it up.

Blood drunk, but still able to sense he'd be in a lot of trouble and with enough wits to get himself out of the hospital, Aidan pushed the door open and made a break for the waiting room. He wasn't questioned until he was to the front doors, and by then it was already too late. He had what he wanted and he was free.

Only then did he take time to wonder about the place he'd been put.

Dinah had spent most of her time in the postapocalyptic world recovering from her injuries. It was irritating to be sidelined like that, especially in a place that so clearly needed help. She had also spent quite a bit of the time trying to deal with the idea that she might not get back to the City.

She wasn't sure if she could keep losing people. First Jake and now Dean, Zatanna, Fred, Jennifer, and everyone else that she had come to care about in the City.

So when the Earth shook and she suddenly found her somewhere else again, it took Dinah's mind a few minutes to catch up. Once she saw the moving streets, she couldn't help but grin.

It was strange to think of the City as home, but it had become that over the last year and a half. And the apartment over Sherwood Florist had truly become a home lately.

Dinah turned and set off in search of that home, hoping to find her boyfriend right where she'd left him.

Being long lived doesn't mean you've seen and done it all. It just makes it more likely that you have come close. At least have seen more than most beings. The universe doesn't like to show all of its cards, especially the ones up its sleeves. Alternate realities, tributaries from the time stream and the like. It might be physically impossible for any one life form to have literally seen and done everything there is to do in the vast plane of existence. Captain Jack Harkness was no exception regardless of what his bravado might suggest, and he was getting mighty tired of the universe driving that point home.

One minute he was strolling down the broken down streets of die Festung on his way to a favorite pub, the next his world turned inside out, shunted sideways then spat him out of the tumble setting. How he hadn't come to consciousness on his ass wasn't something he was particularly concerned about. What was was where the hell was he now?

Looking around himself with a perplexed frown on his face he immediately assessed his surroundings. The buildings, cars, technology in the hands of people walking past him on the sidewalk all seemed to indicate Earth standard, late twentieth century, maybe early twenty first. From a time traveler's standpoint who didn't have a functioning vortex watch it was difficult to tell for certain. At least he assumed his watch still wasn't working. Jack flipped open the cover guard to check only to find that instead of the solid red light that indicated a full charge but a technical malfunction the read out was going haywire. Dates, times and charts were cycling randomly with no rhyme or reason. Great. It was more of a tease than before.

Jack closed the watch then let his arm fall as he looked around again. Everything looked Earth like, but he didn't recognize the city, and he knew he'd been to every city on the planet that could match this size. Which meant this could possibly be an alternate reality. One of those tributaries. If that were the case, then all he'd have to do is hang out, wait for the parking brake of the TARDIS to wheeze and whine its arrival then he could hitch a ride with the Doctor. The Time Lord didn't like tributaries in time. They tended to muck things up too much in the time vortex to the point of possibly blending with other tributaries. If that happened too often it got really messy. Meanwhile, he figure he could always wander and try to figure out where he was.

"Hopefully this isn't a probability that didn't believe in bars."