No Happy Endings Act 14 - Not A Death Ray
Title: No Happy Endings (14/15 - "Not A Death Ray")
Rating: PG-13
Paring: Billy/Penny
Word Count: 3383
Summary: The Hero is dead, and the Villain has taken over the city. Caught between worlds, all Penny wants is to get back to a normal life, only to find that she's already a pawn in epic struggles she didn't even know existed. AU from 'Slipping'.
A/N: The end is nigh! Most of the action's in this chapter, hence the unwieldy length. I had the ending cliffhanger, but everyone kept talking, and it ended up longer then I'd expected. Sorry. Anyway, enjoy!
“Penny, come on,” Captain Hammer murmured, leading her away from the Guild Guards and Billy’s unconscious form. She didn’t resist, but she did look back as Hammer helped her climb into the backseat of one of the SUVs. Justice Joe was watching her, and when he saw her looking he raised his hand in a mocking salute, then turned back to his direction of the guards who were carrying Billy to one of the other cars. She shuddered and shrank down into the seat.
Hammer climbed up beside her and shut the door.
“Hi,” he said, awkwardly. There was an uncomfortable moment where he leaned in to kiss her and Penny ducked it by hugging him instead.
She smiled as they pulled apart. “I thought you were dead!”
He didn’t smile back. “Almost, thanks to your Billy.”
Penny decided to ignore the undiluted hatred in his voice for now. “And Moist? Johnny? Are they OK? What happened at the airport??
“They’re fine. The Heroes’ Guild picked us up-I wanted to go back for you, but they wouldn’t let me. Then that night- They said you’d survived, but I couldn’t believe it until I saw you.”
He looked like he was going to say something else, but then the driver got in, and he only shrugged and looked away.
“Where are we going?” Penny whispered as the engine purred to life and the convoy started down the dusty road that led, she assumed, back to the highway.
“Somewhere safe. I think.”
Penny rolled her eyes. “Don’t tell me the Heroes’ Guild has a secret hideout in the mountains too.”
Did he look slightly embarrassed? “Uh, kind of. It’s more of a…warehouse. It’s were the Guild stores the stuff that’s confiscated when we take down a villain. It was away from the city so if anything exploded…”
“Right. Well, sounds like it’s something, at least.”
“You should see the War Robots they got when Justice Joe killed the Titanium Devil!” For a second he sounded childishly excited, but he quickly sobered when he saw the look on Penny’s face. “What is it?”
“What’s going to happen once we’re there?”
“Don’t worry,” he assured her. “You’ll be fine.”
“It’s not me I was worried about.”
He frowned, but didn’t answer. Maybe he couldn’t. Penny sighed and looked away, watching the dry hills through the tinted window. It all looked so normal, if slightly unreal and dreamlike. Like everything in the last few days.
She lost track of time after a few hours. She wasn’t even sure now where they were-they could have gone all the way into Nevada and she wouldn’t even have known the difference. The Heroes’ Guild warehouses though, once they reached them, were unmistakable.
They were three pole barn buildings the size of airplane hangers nestled in a sheltered valley ringed by pylons. There were only a few vehicles parked around them, and Penny guessed the force sent to bring Billy and her in was just about the extent of their resources.
A tired-looking woman with hair turned dirty-brown with dust herded Penny away from the convoy as soon as she got out. She looked vaguely familiar to Penny but it took a moment to place her.
“Jessica?” She’d been the receptionist at the old Heroes’ Guild headquarters. Penny almost hadn’t recognized her without her makeup and impeccable pants suit.
“That’s right. Come on.” The sliding door at the near end of the closest hanger was firmly shut, but there was a normal size door in the wall beside it. Inside, it wasn’t as dark as Penny had expected. Yellow floodlights beamed down from the rafters illuminating the relatively empty space in the middle of the warehouse and the curtained-off portion at the far end. The crates that were its original occupants had been pushed against the walls to make room for the thirty-odd Heroes, sidekicks, and hangers-on that had survived. No one seemed to notice Jessica and Penny’s entrance.
“You hungry?” Jessica didn’t look like she really cared what Penny’s answer was.
“Yeah.” Penny didn’t want to push her luck, but she was starving.
“There isn’t much-” There was some hastily constructed shelving by the wall that held cardboard boxes stocked with a few mournful-looking energy bars and bottled water. It didn’t look like there was enough of either to keep the Heroes going for long.
“Actually, I’m fine.”
“Don’t be such a martyr. You eating is the least of our problems. Anyway, if everything goes according to plan, it won’t matter.” Jessica shrugged and handed Penny an energy bar, keeping another for herself.
“Sorry, what?”
The other woman looked confused. “I thought you talked to Hourglass?”
That casual name-drop probably shouldn’t have surprised Penny as much as it did. “She’s here?”
“Hourglass is the reason we escaped. We owe her our lives.”
You’re not the only ones, Penny thought. Just how many people has Hourglass ‘rescued’? “I talked to her, but I don’t think she told me what she told you,” she said aloud. “How long has she been helping the Heroes?”
“A few months, ever since Dr. Horrible joined the ELE. I would have thought she’d have told you though. Everything revolves around you getting Dr. Horrible to cooperate.”
And it was back to that: Penny’s first meeting with Justice Joe when he’d told her that she needed to bring Dr. Horrible around so that when things got bad he’d be on their side. Had they known what was going to happen for all that time?
“Penny!”
She turned to see Johnny Snow standing twenty feet away grinning at her.
“Oh, it’s you,” Jessica said. “In that case, I’m leaving. See you, Penny.” She stalked away.
Johnny watched her go, then snapped his head back to Penny when he realized she was watching him. “Um…”
“I’m glad you’re alright,” Penny said, smiling.
“That’s a matter of opinion. Anyway, everything should be fine now.”
“You’re not talking about Hourglass’s plan are you? The one that everyone seems to know about except me?”
He looked confused. “What do you mean you don’t know?”
“I’ve been getting a lot of that.”
“Look, I came to get you. Dr. Horrible’s conscious, but he’s refusing to talk until he knows you’re okay.”
Penny tried not to roll her eyes. A sweet gesture, but way too dramatic. “Lead on.”
She’d guessed that Justice Joe wouldn’t have established his office in the same place as the rest of the Guild was staying, and she was right. They’d set up an almost anachronistic canvas tent that could have belonged to a Civil War general between the buildings, with a pair of Guild Guards flanking the door. Penny rather liked it-it fitted him perfectly.
Countless possibilities of what she was going to find inside flashed through her head as they approached the tent, each nastier then the last. Then, when Johnny pushed back the flap, she saw the thing she’d probably least expected: Billy sitting on a chair by Justice Joe’s desk and staring murderously at the cracked china mug in his hands.
“Um, Sir?” Johnny said, clearing his throat.
Billy jumped, but Joe didn’t even look up.
“Come in.”
The inside of the tent was surprisingly well decorated. Penny wondered briefly how they’d brought Joe’s desk all the way from LA, then decided that some things just weren’t worth worrying about. What was-well, the Hero and the Villain were a start. She caught Billy’s eye and smiled. He responded with a quick twitch of his mouth that could almost have been a smile, but was gone so quickly she couldn’t be sure. Also of note was Billy’s failed ray gun propped up on the Hero’s desk-Billy had brought it when they were escaping from the ELE, but Penny had assumed they’d have left it in the car. Surely they weren’t planning on using that-
“So now that she’s here, are you ready to tell us how to make this work?” Justice Joe asked, looking from the papers on his desk for the first time. “Your plans-” He held up a blueprint. “-Are unsurprisingly vague on the actual operation.”
“I’ve told you, it doesn’t work.” Penny could practically hear him trying not to grind his teeth. “It’s impossible, it can’t be done.”
“Come on, what kind of mad scientist gives up after the first trial?” Joe sounded almost giddy and, not for the first time, Penny questioned his sanity.
“And you’re supposed to be dead.”
“Your point is-?”
“You obviously didn’t come out any better on even the second trial.”
The Hero’s perfect smile didn’t slip. “Penny, do you think he’s lying?”
“No,” she said without hesitation. For all she knew, he could have been, but a line had to be drawn and sides taken, and she certainly wasn’t on Joe’s.
“Hmm. I’ve been told otherwise.”
On cue, the tent flap was pulled back, and Hourglass swept regally in. She stood in the doorway for a moment, considering the four of them. “Good, everyone’s here. I take it the Captain’s not coming?”
“I decided it would be best not to have that added dynamic,” Joe murmured.
“And we don’t need him anyway now, do we?” Johnny Snow shrugged at his parka in a manner that was clearly intended to be impressive. “Dr. Horrible has a new nemesis now!”
“Are you saying-” Billy was frowning at Penny.
“Sorry, yeah.”
His eye began to twitch, and she couldn’t help but find it ironic that he could be almost perfectly calm as a captive in the middle of his enemy’s camp, but that finding out that one man was still alive was enough to make him loose his composure.
“So, we meet again, Doctor,” Hourglass said.
“Hi.”
She walked across the tent, and sat in the chair across from him. Penny almost unconsciously echoed her movement, ending up standing at Billy’s side.
“I know you think this doesn’t work, but it will.”
Billy scoffed.
“The resources here are impressive. Just imagine-every ray gun, every diabolical concoction, every strange machine that alters the fabric of reality-all yours to use. You can make a super computer out of tin foil and a few old phones: don’t tell me you can’t make something truly impressive given the right materials.”
He set his mug on the corner of the desk and leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms.
“And what makes you think I’d even want to finish it?”
“Because in my mind you already have, and I know you want Penny to survive this.”
There was a long uncomfortable silence. Billy broke first. “Fine. I’m going to need a lab.”
* * *
Penny wondered if it was a good sign that they’d already set up a lab for him, in a tiny cleared-out portion of Warehouse 3. Not everything was crated here-in the dim light she could make out a half dozen giant humanoid shapes leaning against the far wall, and what looked like an above ground swimming pool.
“Nice place,” she said to Billy, shivering.
“Oh, look, the Titanium Devil’s War Robots!”
Penny snorted, and shifted circuitry off a stool so she could sit. They were alone again: the Hero’s had shown them in, then left as quickly as they could, even Johnny. Penny didn’t mind, and she guessed Billy could focus better without them there anyway. She hadn’t planned on staying with him, but he’d given her puppy-dog eyes when they’d mentioned her staying with Jessica, and she’d given in.
“I’m glad you’re here,” he’d whispered as Johnny had shut the door behind him.
Now it was just the two of them, and the atmosphere quickly became a whole new type of uncomfortable.
“About last night-” Billy started. He was inspecting a soldering iron on his new table and trying not to look at her.
“Let’s not worry about it now,” Penny said, a bit too quickly.
“Okay.” He was blushing though.
“Do you think you’ll be able to make it work?”
“Um, maybe. They’ve actually got Wonderflonium, which should help…” He started mumbling calculations under his breath, leaving Penny feeling bored and useless.
After maybe an hour, Billy spoke again. “This might actually work!”
Penny jumped. “What?”
“I don’t know if there’s going to be time for a trial, but I usually test stuff on myself first anyway.”
“Is that…wise?”
“I’m still alive, aren’t I? Anyway, I’ve been thinking.” He turned to face her. “I’ve been trying to figure out where it went wrong, which point in time I could change to make the most impact. I think I’ve figured it out. I’m going to need Hourglass to help me with the equations, but I think I know what I need to do.”
“Uh-huh?”
The door opened and they both started.
“Him,” Billy hissed.
“Hi Penny,” Captain Hammer said. He walked in gingerly, keeping his eyes firmly on Billy. “Dr. Horrible.”
“So they brought you back to life?” Billy sounded calm, almost conversational, but Penny could see him reaching for a wrench on the table behind him.
“And they haven’t killed you yet, which is nice for me. I can kill you myself the moment you stop being useful.”
“Okay, stop!” Penny stood abruptly. “There isn’t time for this! You’re on the same side now, haven’t you realized that?”
They both stared at her.
She turned to Hammer. “Did you have something to say?”
He collected himself. “Yes. You’re right, Penny, there isn’t time. The ELE are on their way. They’ll be here within the hour. I’m here to make sure you get your ray-thing finished. What are you calling that one, anyway?”
“Retcon Ray,” Billy mumbled. He turned back to the table. Penny marched over to Hammer and pulled him aside.
“Are you going to loom over him the whole time?” He looked shocked. “Because that’s not going to help.”
“Look,” Billy called. “Penny, why don’t you go get Hourglass? This is just about ready to be programmed.”
She hesitated. “And leave you two together? I don’t think so.”
“It’s fine,” he said, looking at Hammer as he spoke. “Isn’t it?”
“Yeah, fine.” Hammer sounded less than enthused at the idea.
“No fighting?” To Penny’s surprise, they both looked slightly intimidated, which was actually rather nice. “Good.” She just hoped they wouldn’t kill each other while she was gone.
Hourglass was still in Justice Joe’s tent. “It’s time then,” she said when Penny walked in. It wasn’t a question. Penny nodded. “Let’s go.”
Penny was expecting to find the worse when she and Hourglass went back into Warehouse 3, but Hammer and Billy seemed to be fine. In fact, it almost looked like the Captain was helping Billy.
“We’ve come to an agreement,” Billy said when he saw her staring.
“Oh, good,” she said faintly.
“Hourglass, come look at this.” The other woman inspected the ‘Retcon Ray’ carefully.
“It looks like it’ll work,” she said after a moment. “Where do you need to go?”
“The dedication of the homeless shelter,” he said without hesitation. “I need to stop myself from killing Captain Hammer.”
And that, of course, was when all hell broke loose.
The door was flung open, and a shadowed figure rushed in. “Doc!”
Billy was already smiling. “Moist!”
The henchman stopped and panted for a moment, face even sweatier then normal. “They’re here. They had a helicopter. The fence is giving them some trouble, but it shouldn’t take long.”
“Okay. Um, someone, all you need to do is point it at me, and pull the trigger-Penny, honors?”
“Already?” It was happening too fast, what was going to happen to them now? Were they just going to cease to exist, or were they going to break off into a parallel universe or something? She’d read science fiction, she knew what kind of options she could expect. Either way, she was going to loose everything, and in a sudden moment of utter selfishness she wasn’t sure if she could bear that.
“Quickly!” Hammer was looking around, she presumed for some kind of weapon.
She took a step towards the Ray, but the ground suddenly shifted and rolled like in an earthquake. A few of the crates that had been stacked the highest fell to the ground, braking into splinters, their contents strewn across the warehouse floor.
There was shouting and gunfire coming from outside now, along with electric crackles. It was a battle out there, between Heroes and Villains. Even without seeing it, Penny could understand how so few survived a fight like that.
“Good luck,” Hammer said, sweeping down on her, and kissing her gently before she could react. “Come on!” He ran out the door.
“See you, Doc,” Moist said, and followed him.
Hourglass was looking through the debris of the fallen crates, and Billy was making frantic last minute adjustments on the Retcon Ray.
“Penny,” he said, wrestling with a handful of wires. “Can you help me with this?”
She held them together while the twisted ends together, then pushed them down as he tried to screw the cover back over them. Outside the sounds of fighting grew louder and nearer. Penny thought she heard a scream coming from just outside that sounded horribly like Captain Hammer. Her hands shook, and it took all her willpower to steady them and focus on nothing but the Ray and the man working on it.
Billy was babbling. “Okay, now I just need to calibrate the self-eliminating temporal boosters, and reconfigure the chronal loop-Great, that’s done. Now if-there.”
There was someone standing in the doorway, Penny couldn’t tell who. “Billy…” Surely Hourglass would have said something if they were a Villain though-
“Okay, Penny, we’re done!” He hadn’t noticed the figure in the doorway. “It’s ready-”
“Billy? Billy!” He’d slumped suddenly to the ground, falling way from her, blood quickly soaking through his tee-shirt from the hole in his chest.
Penny dropped her knees beside him, which saved her life-the next bullet whizzed harmlessly over her head. “Billy, Billy, no-”
His eyes stared up at her, blank and glassy, lips parted slightly in what was either an unspoken cry or a half formed word.
“Penny?” She knew that voice. “Come on, stand up, I won’t shoot you.”
“Yeah right!” Her voice cracked, ruining her false bravado. She stumbled backwards, away from Billy, towards the metal tank twenty feet away. She didn’t know where Hourglass was-hopefully she had some kind of shelter.
Dead Bowie followed, keeping his gun trained on her.
She made it behind the pool, but it wasn’t as good a cover as she thought it would be. It was only a few feet tall, and its lid had fallen off in the mini-earthquake, revealing it the bright green liquid inside.
The Villain was too close, Penny had nowhere to run to, and she really didn’t want to die hiding behind an oversized metal kiddy-pool. She stood, shakily.
“Ah, there you are,” the dead man smiled at her. “Don’t worry, everything’s going to be alright-”
Fire exploded from somewhere behind him and knocked Bowie forward, into the tank. Penny jumped back as the acid splashed, and tried very hard not to look at the rapidly decomposing body in its depths.
Hourglass stood by the Retcon Ray, cradling what looked suspiciously like a flamethrower. “Come on,” she called to Penny. “There isn’t much time.”
Penny walked back over to her, stopping by Billy’s body to brush a hand across his face, closing his eyes.
“You’ll have to go back now. Here, take this.” She pulled something out of her pocket and handed it to Penny. It was the little ray gun Billy had given her back in LA. The metal felt cool and heavy against Penny’s palm as she took it.
“What do I do with this?”
“Fire it at the Freeze Ray before he can kill Captain Hammer. I’ll disrupt the circuits-that’s what it’s designed for. I think he knew all along that this might happen.”
“You mean you told him.”
“I suggested that it might be a good idea to make this for you.”
Penny wanted to hate her, but she didn’t have the energy. “Alright then.”
Hourglass smiled and fired the Retcon Ray at her, engulfing Penny in writhing blue energy. “Bon voyage!”
Then, all Penny could see was Blue.
Rating: PG-13
Paring: Billy/Penny
Word Count: 3383
Summary: The Hero is dead, and the Villain has taken over the city. Caught between worlds, all Penny wants is to get back to a normal life, only to find that she's already a pawn in epic struggles she didn't even know existed. AU from 'Slipping'.
A/N: The end is nigh! Most of the action's in this chapter, hence the unwieldy length. I had the ending cliffhanger, but everyone kept talking, and it ended up longer then I'd expected. Sorry. Anyway, enjoy!
“Penny, come on,” Captain Hammer murmured, leading her away from the Guild Guards and Billy’s unconscious form. She didn’t resist, but she did look back as Hammer helped her climb into the backseat of one of the SUVs. Justice Joe was watching her, and when he saw her looking he raised his hand in a mocking salute, then turned back to his direction of the guards who were carrying Billy to one of the other cars. She shuddered and shrank down into the seat.
Hammer climbed up beside her and shut the door.
“Hi,” he said, awkwardly. There was an uncomfortable moment where he leaned in to kiss her and Penny ducked it by hugging him instead.
She smiled as they pulled apart. “I thought you were dead!”
He didn’t smile back. “Almost, thanks to your Billy.”
Penny decided to ignore the undiluted hatred in his voice for now. “And Moist? Johnny? Are they OK? What happened at the airport??
“They’re fine. The Heroes’ Guild picked us up-I wanted to go back for you, but they wouldn’t let me. Then that night- They said you’d survived, but I couldn’t believe it until I saw you.”
He looked like he was going to say something else, but then the driver got in, and he only shrugged and looked away.
“Where are we going?” Penny whispered as the engine purred to life and the convoy started down the dusty road that led, she assumed, back to the highway.
“Somewhere safe. I think.”
Penny rolled her eyes. “Don’t tell me the Heroes’ Guild has a secret hideout in the mountains too.”
Did he look slightly embarrassed? “Uh, kind of. It’s more of a…warehouse. It’s were the Guild stores the stuff that’s confiscated when we take down a villain. It was away from the city so if anything exploded…”
“Right. Well, sounds like it’s something, at least.”
“You should see the War Robots they got when Justice Joe killed the Titanium Devil!” For a second he sounded childishly excited, but he quickly sobered when he saw the look on Penny’s face. “What is it?”
“What’s going to happen once we’re there?”
“Don’t worry,” he assured her. “You’ll be fine.”
“It’s not me I was worried about.”
He frowned, but didn’t answer. Maybe he couldn’t. Penny sighed and looked away, watching the dry hills through the tinted window. It all looked so normal, if slightly unreal and dreamlike. Like everything in the last few days.
She lost track of time after a few hours. She wasn’t even sure now where they were-they could have gone all the way into Nevada and she wouldn’t even have known the difference. The Heroes’ Guild warehouses though, once they reached them, were unmistakable.
They were three pole barn buildings the size of airplane hangers nestled in a sheltered valley ringed by pylons. There were only a few vehicles parked around them, and Penny guessed the force sent to bring Billy and her in was just about the extent of their resources.
A tired-looking woman with hair turned dirty-brown with dust herded Penny away from the convoy as soon as she got out. She looked vaguely familiar to Penny but it took a moment to place her.
“Jessica?” She’d been the receptionist at the old Heroes’ Guild headquarters. Penny almost hadn’t recognized her without her makeup and impeccable pants suit.
“That’s right. Come on.” The sliding door at the near end of the closest hanger was firmly shut, but there was a normal size door in the wall beside it. Inside, it wasn’t as dark as Penny had expected. Yellow floodlights beamed down from the rafters illuminating the relatively empty space in the middle of the warehouse and the curtained-off portion at the far end. The crates that were its original occupants had been pushed against the walls to make room for the thirty-odd Heroes, sidekicks, and hangers-on that had survived. No one seemed to notice Jessica and Penny’s entrance.
“You hungry?” Jessica didn’t look like she really cared what Penny’s answer was.
“Yeah.” Penny didn’t want to push her luck, but she was starving.
“There isn’t much-” There was some hastily constructed shelving by the wall that held cardboard boxes stocked with a few mournful-looking energy bars and bottled water. It didn’t look like there was enough of either to keep the Heroes going for long.
“Actually, I’m fine.”
“Don’t be such a martyr. You eating is the least of our problems. Anyway, if everything goes according to plan, it won’t matter.” Jessica shrugged and handed Penny an energy bar, keeping another for herself.
“Sorry, what?”
The other woman looked confused. “I thought you talked to Hourglass?”
That casual name-drop probably shouldn’t have surprised Penny as much as it did. “She’s here?”
“Hourglass is the reason we escaped. We owe her our lives.”
You’re not the only ones, Penny thought. Just how many people has Hourglass ‘rescued’? “I talked to her, but I don’t think she told me what she told you,” she said aloud. “How long has she been helping the Heroes?”
“A few months, ever since Dr. Horrible joined the ELE. I would have thought she’d have told you though. Everything revolves around you getting Dr. Horrible to cooperate.”
And it was back to that: Penny’s first meeting with Justice Joe when he’d told her that she needed to bring Dr. Horrible around so that when things got bad he’d be on their side. Had they known what was going to happen for all that time?
“Penny!”
She turned to see Johnny Snow standing twenty feet away grinning at her.
“Oh, it’s you,” Jessica said. “In that case, I’m leaving. See you, Penny.” She stalked away.
Johnny watched her go, then snapped his head back to Penny when he realized she was watching him. “Um…”
“I’m glad you’re alright,” Penny said, smiling.
“That’s a matter of opinion. Anyway, everything should be fine now.”
“You’re not talking about Hourglass’s plan are you? The one that everyone seems to know about except me?”
He looked confused. “What do you mean you don’t know?”
“I’ve been getting a lot of that.”
“Look, I came to get you. Dr. Horrible’s conscious, but he’s refusing to talk until he knows you’re okay.”
Penny tried not to roll her eyes. A sweet gesture, but way too dramatic. “Lead on.”
She’d guessed that Justice Joe wouldn’t have established his office in the same place as the rest of the Guild was staying, and she was right. They’d set up an almost anachronistic canvas tent that could have belonged to a Civil War general between the buildings, with a pair of Guild Guards flanking the door. Penny rather liked it-it fitted him perfectly.
Countless possibilities of what she was going to find inside flashed through her head as they approached the tent, each nastier then the last. Then, when Johnny pushed back the flap, she saw the thing she’d probably least expected: Billy sitting on a chair by Justice Joe’s desk and staring murderously at the cracked china mug in his hands.
“Um, Sir?” Johnny said, clearing his throat.
Billy jumped, but Joe didn’t even look up.
“Come in.”
The inside of the tent was surprisingly well decorated. Penny wondered briefly how they’d brought Joe’s desk all the way from LA, then decided that some things just weren’t worth worrying about. What was-well, the Hero and the Villain were a start. She caught Billy’s eye and smiled. He responded with a quick twitch of his mouth that could almost have been a smile, but was gone so quickly she couldn’t be sure. Also of note was Billy’s failed ray gun propped up on the Hero’s desk-Billy had brought it when they were escaping from the ELE, but Penny had assumed they’d have left it in the car. Surely they weren’t planning on using that-
“So now that she’s here, are you ready to tell us how to make this work?” Justice Joe asked, looking from the papers on his desk for the first time. “Your plans-” He held up a blueprint. “-Are unsurprisingly vague on the actual operation.”
“I’ve told you, it doesn’t work.” Penny could practically hear him trying not to grind his teeth. “It’s impossible, it can’t be done.”
“Come on, what kind of mad scientist gives up after the first trial?” Joe sounded almost giddy and, not for the first time, Penny questioned his sanity.
“And you’re supposed to be dead.”
“Your point is-?”
“You obviously didn’t come out any better on even the second trial.”
The Hero’s perfect smile didn’t slip. “Penny, do you think he’s lying?”
“No,” she said without hesitation. For all she knew, he could have been, but a line had to be drawn and sides taken, and she certainly wasn’t on Joe’s.
“Hmm. I’ve been told otherwise.”
On cue, the tent flap was pulled back, and Hourglass swept regally in. She stood in the doorway for a moment, considering the four of them. “Good, everyone’s here. I take it the Captain’s not coming?”
“I decided it would be best not to have that added dynamic,” Joe murmured.
“And we don’t need him anyway now, do we?” Johnny Snow shrugged at his parka in a manner that was clearly intended to be impressive. “Dr. Horrible has a new nemesis now!”
“Are you saying-” Billy was frowning at Penny.
“Sorry, yeah.”
His eye began to twitch, and she couldn’t help but find it ironic that he could be almost perfectly calm as a captive in the middle of his enemy’s camp, but that finding out that one man was still alive was enough to make him loose his composure.
“So, we meet again, Doctor,” Hourglass said.
“Hi.”
She walked across the tent, and sat in the chair across from him. Penny almost unconsciously echoed her movement, ending up standing at Billy’s side.
“I know you think this doesn’t work, but it will.”
Billy scoffed.
“The resources here are impressive. Just imagine-every ray gun, every diabolical concoction, every strange machine that alters the fabric of reality-all yours to use. You can make a super computer out of tin foil and a few old phones: don’t tell me you can’t make something truly impressive given the right materials.”
He set his mug on the corner of the desk and leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms.
“And what makes you think I’d even want to finish it?”
“Because in my mind you already have, and I know you want Penny to survive this.”
There was a long uncomfortable silence. Billy broke first. “Fine. I’m going to need a lab.”
* * *
Penny wondered if it was a good sign that they’d already set up a lab for him, in a tiny cleared-out portion of Warehouse 3. Not everything was crated here-in the dim light she could make out a half dozen giant humanoid shapes leaning against the far wall, and what looked like an above ground swimming pool.
“Nice place,” she said to Billy, shivering.
“Oh, look, the Titanium Devil’s War Robots!”
Penny snorted, and shifted circuitry off a stool so she could sit. They were alone again: the Hero’s had shown them in, then left as quickly as they could, even Johnny. Penny didn’t mind, and she guessed Billy could focus better without them there anyway. She hadn’t planned on staying with him, but he’d given her puppy-dog eyes when they’d mentioned her staying with Jessica, and she’d given in.
“I’m glad you’re here,” he’d whispered as Johnny had shut the door behind him.
Now it was just the two of them, and the atmosphere quickly became a whole new type of uncomfortable.
“About last night-” Billy started. He was inspecting a soldering iron on his new table and trying not to look at her.
“Let’s not worry about it now,” Penny said, a bit too quickly.
“Okay.” He was blushing though.
“Do you think you’ll be able to make it work?”
“Um, maybe. They’ve actually got Wonderflonium, which should help…” He started mumbling calculations under his breath, leaving Penny feeling bored and useless.
After maybe an hour, Billy spoke again. “This might actually work!”
Penny jumped. “What?”
“I don’t know if there’s going to be time for a trial, but I usually test stuff on myself first anyway.”
“Is that…wise?”
“I’m still alive, aren’t I? Anyway, I’ve been thinking.” He turned to face her. “I’ve been trying to figure out where it went wrong, which point in time I could change to make the most impact. I think I’ve figured it out. I’m going to need Hourglass to help me with the equations, but I think I know what I need to do.”
“Uh-huh?”
The door opened and they both started.
“Him,” Billy hissed.
“Hi Penny,” Captain Hammer said. He walked in gingerly, keeping his eyes firmly on Billy. “Dr. Horrible.”
“So they brought you back to life?” Billy sounded calm, almost conversational, but Penny could see him reaching for a wrench on the table behind him.
“And they haven’t killed you yet, which is nice for me. I can kill you myself the moment you stop being useful.”
“Okay, stop!” Penny stood abruptly. “There isn’t time for this! You’re on the same side now, haven’t you realized that?”
They both stared at her.
She turned to Hammer. “Did you have something to say?”
He collected himself. “Yes. You’re right, Penny, there isn’t time. The ELE are on their way. They’ll be here within the hour. I’m here to make sure you get your ray-thing finished. What are you calling that one, anyway?”
“Retcon Ray,” Billy mumbled. He turned back to the table. Penny marched over to Hammer and pulled him aside.
“Are you going to loom over him the whole time?” He looked shocked. “Because that’s not going to help.”
“Look,” Billy called. “Penny, why don’t you go get Hourglass? This is just about ready to be programmed.”
She hesitated. “And leave you two together? I don’t think so.”
“It’s fine,” he said, looking at Hammer as he spoke. “Isn’t it?”
“Yeah, fine.” Hammer sounded less than enthused at the idea.
“No fighting?” To Penny’s surprise, they both looked slightly intimidated, which was actually rather nice. “Good.” She just hoped they wouldn’t kill each other while she was gone.
Hourglass was still in Justice Joe’s tent. “It’s time then,” she said when Penny walked in. It wasn’t a question. Penny nodded. “Let’s go.”
Penny was expecting to find the worse when she and Hourglass went back into Warehouse 3, but Hammer and Billy seemed to be fine. In fact, it almost looked like the Captain was helping Billy.
“We’ve come to an agreement,” Billy said when he saw her staring.
“Oh, good,” she said faintly.
“Hourglass, come look at this.” The other woman inspected the ‘Retcon Ray’ carefully.
“It looks like it’ll work,” she said after a moment. “Where do you need to go?”
“The dedication of the homeless shelter,” he said without hesitation. “I need to stop myself from killing Captain Hammer.”
And that, of course, was when all hell broke loose.
The door was flung open, and a shadowed figure rushed in. “Doc!”
Billy was already smiling. “Moist!”
The henchman stopped and panted for a moment, face even sweatier then normal. “They’re here. They had a helicopter. The fence is giving them some trouble, but it shouldn’t take long.”
“Okay. Um, someone, all you need to do is point it at me, and pull the trigger-Penny, honors?”
“Already?” It was happening too fast, what was going to happen to them now? Were they just going to cease to exist, or were they going to break off into a parallel universe or something? She’d read science fiction, she knew what kind of options she could expect. Either way, she was going to loose everything, and in a sudden moment of utter selfishness she wasn’t sure if she could bear that.
“Quickly!” Hammer was looking around, she presumed for some kind of weapon.
She took a step towards the Ray, but the ground suddenly shifted and rolled like in an earthquake. A few of the crates that had been stacked the highest fell to the ground, braking into splinters, their contents strewn across the warehouse floor.
There was shouting and gunfire coming from outside now, along with electric crackles. It was a battle out there, between Heroes and Villains. Even without seeing it, Penny could understand how so few survived a fight like that.
“Good luck,” Hammer said, sweeping down on her, and kissing her gently before she could react. “Come on!” He ran out the door.
“See you, Doc,” Moist said, and followed him.
Hourglass was looking through the debris of the fallen crates, and Billy was making frantic last minute adjustments on the Retcon Ray.
“Penny,” he said, wrestling with a handful of wires. “Can you help me with this?”
She held them together while the twisted ends together, then pushed them down as he tried to screw the cover back over them. Outside the sounds of fighting grew louder and nearer. Penny thought she heard a scream coming from just outside that sounded horribly like Captain Hammer. Her hands shook, and it took all her willpower to steady them and focus on nothing but the Ray and the man working on it.
Billy was babbling. “Okay, now I just need to calibrate the self-eliminating temporal boosters, and reconfigure the chronal loop-Great, that’s done. Now if-there.”
There was someone standing in the doorway, Penny couldn’t tell who. “Billy…” Surely Hourglass would have said something if they were a Villain though-
“Okay, Penny, we’re done!” He hadn’t noticed the figure in the doorway. “It’s ready-”
“Billy? Billy!” He’d slumped suddenly to the ground, falling way from her, blood quickly soaking through his tee-shirt from the hole in his chest.
Penny dropped her knees beside him, which saved her life-the next bullet whizzed harmlessly over her head. “Billy, Billy, no-”
His eyes stared up at her, blank and glassy, lips parted slightly in what was either an unspoken cry or a half formed word.
“Penny?” She knew that voice. “Come on, stand up, I won’t shoot you.”
“Yeah right!” Her voice cracked, ruining her false bravado. She stumbled backwards, away from Billy, towards the metal tank twenty feet away. She didn’t know where Hourglass was-hopefully she had some kind of shelter.
Dead Bowie followed, keeping his gun trained on her.
She made it behind the pool, but it wasn’t as good a cover as she thought it would be. It was only a few feet tall, and its lid had fallen off in the mini-earthquake, revealing it the bright green liquid inside.
The Villain was too close, Penny had nowhere to run to, and she really didn’t want to die hiding behind an oversized metal kiddy-pool. She stood, shakily.
“Ah, there you are,” the dead man smiled at her. “Don’t worry, everything’s going to be alright-”
Fire exploded from somewhere behind him and knocked Bowie forward, into the tank. Penny jumped back as the acid splashed, and tried very hard not to look at the rapidly decomposing body in its depths.
Hourglass stood by the Retcon Ray, cradling what looked suspiciously like a flamethrower. “Come on,” she called to Penny. “There isn’t much time.”
Penny walked back over to her, stopping by Billy’s body to brush a hand across his face, closing his eyes.
“You’ll have to go back now. Here, take this.” She pulled something out of her pocket and handed it to Penny. It was the little ray gun Billy had given her back in LA. The metal felt cool and heavy against Penny’s palm as she took it.
“What do I do with this?”
“Fire it at the Freeze Ray before he can kill Captain Hammer. I’ll disrupt the circuits-that’s what it’s designed for. I think he knew all along that this might happen.”
“You mean you told him.”
“I suggested that it might be a good idea to make this for you.”
Penny wanted to hate her, but she didn’t have the energy. “Alright then.”
Hourglass smiled and fired the Retcon Ray at her, engulfing Penny in writhing blue energy. “Bon voyage!”
Then, all Penny could see was Blue.