I'd like to take that intern position!

[drhorriblesblog]

When: Tuesday, February 24, 10:00 AM
Where: Dr. Horrible's home
Who: Dr. Horrible and Jane Davenport, and later Tex (CLOSED)
What: A job interview
Rating: M for Mad Science

Comments

[imnurgeenz]

"You have the same guarantee I have that you won't steal my ideas and hold me for ransom in exchange for money and/or devious doomsday devices from my parents." Her bright smile never faltered, nor did her earnest gaze ever leave his face. "Which, as we both know, is none."

Mad scientists are a mistrustful lot for good reason; it's hard to be trusting of someone who has equal reasons as you for wanting to rule and / or destroy the world. Even her parents would undermine the other's work occasionally to make sure they remained on equal footing. But this internship was more to Jane than just learning the ropes of mad science. She could have stayed home for that. She needed to be close to this particular mad scientist for her own future.

A slight shift of weight cast a glare over her glasses. "Listen, you don't have to make a decision right now. How about you give me a trial period? Give me one month and if you don't like having an intern you can wipe my memory and send me on my oblivious way. That way I can't even steal your

[drhorriblesblog]

Fair. At least she hadn't tried to pretend innocence. Neither of them was a fool or a novice; they both knew what sort of ground an arrangement like this stood on.

"That sounds reasonable." He nodded, and extended his hand again. "A month. We'll see how things go." Until recently he would have been hesitant to try to wipe her memory, but back at New Years he'd gotten that device sorted.

Glancing around the entrance hall, he made a decision. "This is probably as good a time as any to show you my lab. Though I will have to introduce you to my housemate at some point so she doesn't shoot you. So none of them shoot you, I guess." With a roll of his eyes, he led her back to the door leading down to the basement. "I'm considering making other living arrangements. It was useful sharing housing with one person willing to shoot anyone who came around to bother me, but it's starting to get crowded now."

[imnurgeenz]

Just barely resisting the urge to jump and squeal, she settled for a brilliant smile and a firm handshake. "Yes, sir! I think you'll find I can bring a lot to your schemes."

"Really? Your lab? Already? Really? Doomsday devices and everything??" Seeing another mad scientists' lab was as exciting to Jane as shoe shopping with an unlimited credit card might be to another girl. It took a great deal of effort not to dance in place.

"If you're looking for another place to stay, my parents bought me a place a few houses down." She was already craning her neck around, wondering where the secret entrance to his lab might be. "I think it's at least as big as this place and it's just got me."

[drhorriblesblog]

When they reached the entrance, it was just a door. He grimaced, knowing full well what she would have expected. "Unfortunately there's no secret entrance here yet. We only moved a few weeks ago, I haven't had time." The secret entrance at the old place had been something to be proud of. A whole false back to the pantry, virtually undetectable

[imnurgeenz]

"A good secret entrance takes planning and shouldn't be rushed," she agreed as she watched his security measures with interest. Hmmm, paranoia. Interesting. I can't tell if it's an effect of the madness or a sign that it hasn't taken hold yet. Mental note: Ask Dad about lab security. At least, Jane was fairly certain there were no security measures about the lab. Not nearly as many as Uncle Madblood at least.

"Ooo, nice chains. Mom always complains to Dad about our lack of heavy chains. Dad said that was because of Aunt Mel... which I never understood." Voiceprint and DNA? Man, he doesn't work genetics, does he? A little saliva, some hair and I could become him in a snap and get down here with just Mr. Cracky! She had an odd love of naming her inventions

[drhorriblesblog]

He didn't work genetics. Fortunately, neither did the crazy people living in his house who were his main concern when he installed the elaborate security system. Tex was also part of his security, since he knew she'd try to keep her friends away from his lab, so he'd really just needed something convoluted enough to discourage them from wandering it when she wasn't around to stop them

[imnurgeenz]

He might as well offered her a deluxe box of Godiva chocolates if her reaction was any judge. "You have werewolf blood?? That is beyond cool. That is... that is..." Her hands waved in broad, circular gestures, trying to convey the enormity of his find. She needed more hands. "Do you know what you could do with lycanthrope blood? I mean," she waved a hand dismissively, "besides the obvious attempt at a cure or water-borne disease-ish applications. I've got a whole file cabinet drawer devoted to weres of various shapes and sizes. Have you heard the theory that not everyone exposed to lycanthrope necessarily needs to change into a wolf?"

"Thought Manipulator?" Like any good little evil intern she immediately set a part of her brain to work on a small counter device to carry about her person. "How much manipulation are we talking about? And what's the radius of the field when using a Van De Graaf globe instead of a ray? Can you affect the whole town? Or just a small radius from this house?"

[drhorriblesblog]

Her acute interest was a bit of a surprise. Oh, sure, he knew the stuff was rare, but he really hadn't had anything to do with werecreatures before the other weekend, nor known much about them besides the occasional article in the trades

[imnurgeenz]

"Lycanthropy is a big topic this year. Mom even tried her hand at weregerbils but..." She shook her head sadly, bright smile fading to somber horror. It only lasted a moment before she shook herself.

"But, right! Not messing around with your sample without your permission. Since I'll only be here with you that shouldn't be too much of a problem. Oh, and the tranqs won't mess up the genetic structure unless you're using some very strange tranqs," her voice trailed away as she contemplated genetic tranquilizers.

"A hypno-globe! Nice! Hard to make people go around assassinating your enemies, but an effective way of manipulating a vote to put you in office. Have you thought about using a contained, high energy explosion that's been slowed down with your freeze ray?"

[drhorriblesblog]

"I don't have any interest in taking office." It was just a lot of paperwork and public attention distracting from the real work, as far as Dr. Horrible could tell. "Putting a carefully selected candidate in office, on the other hand..."

He let that thought go, looking at the girl beside him with new admiration. "No. I hadn't considered that possibility." Obviously there was something to be said for growing up around mad science. And for having someone like-minded around to bounce ideas off of. He had never really had that and he hadn't missed it, but now he was starting to see that having her around could have more advantages than he'd first realized.

[imnurgeenz]

Which is what she meant, but it came out wrong. Still, much better for him to correct her; always make a mad scientist feel important. They really liked being right. Her thoughts usually were leaps ahead of her mouth anyway, so she was used to being correct. Hmmm, maybe that means I should take the cure.

"The only downside to using it are heroes. If it's obvious what's powering the device and it's easy to get to, the heroes will usually try to reverse it, making you and your lab explode. One mad scientist had the great idea of a decoy energy source and actually made the heroes believe that his doomsday device was run by a cat with buttered toast on it's back."

[drhorriblesblog]

Dr. Horrible did like being right. He liked it a lot better than being corrected, at least, which could have been because everyone always seemed to be chomping at the bit to tell him he was wrong. Several people had also suggested to him (mostly sarcastically) that he run for office back at election time, which was why he was ready to assume Jane meant the same.

He grimaced. "I'd prefer to avoid having my lab blown up again. I remember reading about the supposed 'perpetual motion cat'. About a year and a half ago, wasn't it? Ver-r-ry clever." Aided, of course, by the fact that heroes were a bunch of brainless jocks. He made a gesture toward his head. "The 'heroes' here in Aternaville are a little scattered. Plenty of people make threats, but they're not too proactive about actually foiling my plans. Which I appreciate."

[imnurgeenz]

She chuckled and continued to peer around the lab, making mental notes about various weapons and projects. "Well, that's only because you haven't done anything to really threaten them yet, right? When you start manipulating their thoughts or blowing up their houses they might not seem so scattered."

One round frame was magnified by the fizzing green liquid in a beaker on the worktop. "They always seemed hypocritical to me, heroes. I mean, they enforce their own beliefs on society and get applauded. Someone else tries to change things by enforcing a new belief and suddenly they're "evil" and need to be brought down."

With an exasperated snort, she straightened, the light glinting off her glasses. "Dad always says, 'You show me a hero and I'll show you an uptight, vigilante with public opinion on their side.'" A little, wicked smile curved her lips. "Now, Mom on the other hand says, 'You show me a hero and I'll show you what my orbital laser can do.'"