commentary, for the hell of it
I feel like writing some commentary, so you guys get the first two bits of Saving Expertise.
Saving Expertise
This came from a crossover-drabble meme, and... pretty much exploded from there into some epic awesomeness. But, well. Tony would like Billy's projects, and have enough sway to talk him off the League; it comes of being a hero by standards other than Captain Hammer's.
Captain Hammer smashes in the nefarious hijacking device on top of the van, then jumps off, seeing a chance to remind his adoring public that he's there to protect them from certain doom. He barely registers the van crunching against something until the person responsible for it interrupts him.
"Okay, first off, it looks like whoever was responsible for steering the van had it under control, and second, do you have to sing about it?"
"Ah. Iron Man." Captain Hammer crosses his arms, doing his best - which is damn good - to look unimpressed by the red and gold suit of armor. "You might know a lot about dramatic appearances, but it seems your so-called 'heroics' leave a lot to be desired."
Captain Hammer's POV can be fun, but I can't really sustain it for very long (A Man's Gotta Do aside; that's not quite in the same world as pure canon). It's kinda like Bad Horse, in that regard.
"Says the man who can't be bothered to make sure bystanders remain that way."
"Psh. Bystanders. They're only standing by to see my thrilling heroics. It's the damage done by villains like yourself that puts them in danger."
Iron Man's mask is fairly static, but the tone of his voice still gives the impression of a raised eyebrow. "Villain? Me? All I do is blow up terrorists."
Which most people who aren't the terrorists would call a good thing. But this is Captain Hammer. If there's science involved, all bets are off, in his book.
"Your good publicity might have the press fooled, but I can see right through your act. Anything with that much science--" he waves a hand at the suit - "can't really be that good."
Captain Hammer's distracted by a flash of white in his peripheral vision; in turning to deal with Dr. Horrible's appearance, he misses Iron Man stepping up behind him - until he's hit on the head with enough force to take even Captain Hammer down.
***
Dr. Horrible pauses by the van, when Captain Hammer crumples. He's not one to call Iron Man a villain, which makes this turn of events all the more surprising.
"That's better," Iron Man says. "Was that your steering gadget?"
Dr. Horrible manages to nod.
"Nice work, from what I saw."
"Thanks. It was fine before the friendly neighborhood Corporate Tool smashed it in..." He opens the back of the van, since its driver seems to have deserted the area; when he turns around, he finds that Iron Man's deemed the area quiet enough to lift his visor.
"...I knew it. I knew it! When you have a new toy, you tell the whole world. You don't joke about it."
A possibility quinby and I have floated around is that after the 'actually... I *am* Iron Man!' thing, Pepper and SHIELD spun it as Tony cracking a joke. Plenty of people who pay attention would suspect otherwise.
Tony Stark smirks. "I get that a lot. We should talk, but this isn't the best of places - how about you come by my house this weekend?"
"...Seriously?"
"You think this is the sort of thing I'd joke about?"
"Well, no." Dr. Horrible smiles. "Thanks."
"No problem. And leave the van be - if it's Wonderflonium you're after, I can get you some."
That's even more of a shock; it must be clear from his face, because Tony adds, "Hey, anyone who doesn't get along with this asshole can't be all bad."
It's a fair point, all things considered. And a key point in steering Doc toward chaotic neutral.
Also, people have asked what happened to Penny, in this scene. What happened is, she carried on collecting signatures as best she could. Tony intercepted the van before it got far enough to threaten her.
***
Tony Stark's house isn't difficult to find, Billy will grant that. It's also nearly too impressive for words, and in normal circumstances, he'd be feeling way too outclassed to even approach the place.
But since Tony Stark is the guy who bashed Captain Hammer's head in the other day (even if Captain Hammer reportedly got up and walked away ten minutes later), these are far from normal circumstances. He takes a moment before getting out of the car to steel his nerve, then goes to the front door and rings the doorbell.
He's not sure what he was expecting, but it definitely wasn't a panel of blue lights coming on and a refined British voice with a decent dose of 'disembodied' saying, "Good afternoon. How may I help you?"
Oh, Jarvis. I heart him so much, and wish I could have got more of him into this fic. Oh well; perhaps, if I ever revisit this universe, he'll have a bigger part to play.
"...Um. Hi. Mr. Stark wanted to talk to me? If you tell him it's the guy Captain Hammer was bothering, he should know."
"Very well. One moment, sir." The time that actually passes before the voice comes back is way too short for an actual person to run around a house this big; Billy's thinking it's probably a damn sophisticated computer, knowing who owns the place.
"He'll be upstairs in a moment. In the meantime, come in." The door doesn't open by itself, which is almost disappointing, but he does hear it unlock.
On a reread, that apostrophe in the dialogue BUGS THE HELL OUT OF ME. But oh well. I don't quite care enough to fix it. XD
"Thanks," he says, opening the door and trying not to go bug-eyed at the inside of the place. He'd expected extravagant - this is, after all, a billionaire's house - but expecting it and seeing it are working out to be a little bit different.
The hole in the floor, straight through an alcove that looks big enough for a grand piano, is a little incongruous, but given the suit, Billy can guess how it got there.
I don't know why it amuses me to think Tony hasn't fixed the floor yet. And yet... here we are.
Before too long, Tony does come up the stairs, wiping his hands on a rag. "Good, you made it. And it seems you've already met Jarvis."
"If that's your..." Billy makes a vague gesture, that happens to take in a control panel with the same blue lights from outside on it.
"He runs the house. Programming's gotten a little more complex than I originally expected, but these things happen. So, what do I call you when you're not in the lab coat?"
Tony Stark: Master of the Understatement. (Well, sometimes. Jarvis outgrowing his original programming is one of those times.)
"Billy. Matthews."
The last time doesn't really mean anything; it's a product of Quin and I noodling around with the crossover concept.
"Nice to actually meet you." Tony grins. "Come on downstairs, let's talk."
Of course, when they reach the garage, Billy needs a good minute or so to really take it all in. He doesn't bother hiding the bug-eyed reaction, this time, since he thinks Tony would be smirking like he'd just put a kid in a candy store anyway.
"...Wow. This is really - hey, that's my controller, isn't it?"
Tony nods. "I'd have asked, but it's not really functional at the moment. Anyway, it looked solid from the air, so I thought I'd take a closer look. How'd you steer it?"
"Wrote up an app for my iPhone. It would've worked just fine, if it hadn't attracted a certain day-saver's attention."
Even though I formulated the explanation later, I like the idea that the phone Billy answers in Act II is a League-only phone. Aside from the fact that Apple isn't really evil enough for the League, I wouldn't want to give them my actual phone number...
"Yeah, I guessed that. It's a clever idea, but I can think of better ends for it than what you tried. What do you do for a living, anyway?"
"Tech support." Billy rolls his eyes. "Which basically means refilling the copier, since the rest of the office can't seem to remember where we keep the paper, and telling the idiots who call in that if they had the Internet in their computers, a lot of people would be very pissed off."
Many people have commented that Billy doing tech support makes quite a bit of sense. It fits, in my head; I don't think he gets out much, other than the laundromat (and similar errands) and some of Dr. Horrible's exploits. The 'Internet in your computer' line is based on a tech-support question my brother-in-law answered several years ago.
"...Damn, no wonder you're veering toward the dark side of the Force. Tech support's enough to make anyone crack. That said, you want a job?"
"...What?"
Tony shrugs. "I've been looking for a good, creative engineer for a while now, and as far as I'm concerned, that little doohickey counts as one aced interview."
I can see Tony doing this with just about any engineer he thought was up to snuff. And he wouldn't be above looking in unorthodox places.
"You're... not joking."
"I joke about many things. Engineering is not and will never be one of them."
Billy's too stunned to react, for a few moments. He shoves down the protests building in the back of his head - he doesn't have official experience, he didn't even major in engineering when he attempted college, the League application's actually getting a thorough look this time - and tries to focus on the positive elements.
He's got some good reasons to say no, really. And he might have done, if he felt like he was making progress.
The thought of working for someone who understands the habits of a reclusive tinkerer-genius and that Captain Hammer isn't as much of a hero as he likes to think - not to mention the virtually unlimited funding - pretty well outweighs any obstacles, particularly with experience or lack thereof already declared no object.
But the benefits outweigh the drawbacks by a long measure.
"...Okay. I think I'm in."
Saving Expertise
This came from a crossover-drabble meme, and... pretty much exploded from there into some epic awesomeness. But, well. Tony would like Billy's projects, and have enough sway to talk him off the League; it comes of being a hero by standards other than Captain Hammer's.
Captain Hammer smashes in the nefarious hijacking device on top of the van, then jumps off, seeing a chance to remind his adoring public that he's there to protect them from certain doom. He barely registers the van crunching against something until the person responsible for it interrupts him.
"Okay, first off, it looks like whoever was responsible for steering the van had it under control, and second, do you have to sing about it?"
"Ah. Iron Man." Captain Hammer crosses his arms, doing his best - which is damn good - to look unimpressed by the red and gold suit of armor. "You might know a lot about dramatic appearances, but it seems your so-called 'heroics' leave a lot to be desired."
Captain Hammer's POV can be fun, but I can't really sustain it for very long (A Man's Gotta Do aside; that's not quite in the same world as pure canon). It's kinda like Bad Horse, in that regard.
"Says the man who can't be bothered to make sure bystanders remain that way."
"Psh. Bystanders. They're only standing by to see my thrilling heroics. It's the damage done by villains like yourself that puts them in danger."
Iron Man's mask is fairly static, but the tone of his voice still gives the impression of a raised eyebrow. "Villain? Me? All I do is blow up terrorists."
Which most people who aren't the terrorists would call a good thing. But this is Captain Hammer. If there's science involved, all bets are off, in his book.
"Your good publicity might have the press fooled, but I can see right through your act. Anything with that much science--" he waves a hand at the suit - "can't really be that good."
Captain Hammer's distracted by a flash of white in his peripheral vision; in turning to deal with Dr. Horrible's appearance, he misses Iron Man stepping up behind him - until he's hit on the head with enough force to take even Captain Hammer down.
***
Dr. Horrible pauses by the van, when Captain Hammer crumples. He's not one to call Iron Man a villain, which makes this turn of events all the more surprising.
"That's better," Iron Man says. "Was that your steering gadget?"
Dr. Horrible manages to nod.
"Nice work, from what I saw."
"Thanks. It was fine before the friendly neighborhood Corporate Tool smashed it in..." He opens the back of the van, since its driver seems to have deserted the area; when he turns around, he finds that Iron Man's deemed the area quiet enough to lift his visor.
"...I knew it. I knew it! When you have a new toy, you tell the whole world. You don't joke about it."
A possibility quinby and I have floated around is that after the 'actually... I *am* Iron Man!' thing, Pepper and SHIELD spun it as Tony cracking a joke. Plenty of people who pay attention would suspect otherwise.
Tony Stark smirks. "I get that a lot. We should talk, but this isn't the best of places - how about you come by my house this weekend?"
"...Seriously?"
"You think this is the sort of thing I'd joke about?"
"Well, no." Dr. Horrible smiles. "Thanks."
"No problem. And leave the van be - if it's Wonderflonium you're after, I can get you some."
That's even more of a shock; it must be clear from his face, because Tony adds, "Hey, anyone who doesn't get along with this asshole can't be all bad."
It's a fair point, all things considered. And a key point in steering Doc toward chaotic neutral.
Also, people have asked what happened to Penny, in this scene. What happened is, she carried on collecting signatures as best she could. Tony intercepted the van before it got far enough to threaten her.
***
Tony Stark's house isn't difficult to find, Billy will grant that. It's also nearly too impressive for words, and in normal circumstances, he'd be feeling way too outclassed to even approach the place.
But since Tony Stark is the guy who bashed Captain Hammer's head in the other day (even if Captain Hammer reportedly got up and walked away ten minutes later), these are far from normal circumstances. He takes a moment before getting out of the car to steel his nerve, then goes to the front door and rings the doorbell.
He's not sure what he was expecting, but it definitely wasn't a panel of blue lights coming on and a refined British voice with a decent dose of 'disembodied' saying, "Good afternoon. How may I help you?"
Oh, Jarvis. I heart him so much, and wish I could have got more of him into this fic. Oh well; perhaps, if I ever revisit this universe, he'll have a bigger part to play.
"...Um. Hi. Mr. Stark wanted to talk to me? If you tell him it's the guy Captain Hammer was bothering, he should know."
"Very well. One moment, sir." The time that actually passes before the voice comes back is way too short for an actual person to run around a house this big; Billy's thinking it's probably a damn sophisticated computer, knowing who owns the place.
"He'll be upstairs in a moment. In the meantime, come in." The door doesn't open by itself, which is almost disappointing, but he does hear it unlock.
On a reread, that apostrophe in the dialogue BUGS THE HELL OUT OF ME. But oh well. I don't quite care enough to fix it. XD
"Thanks," he says, opening the door and trying not to go bug-eyed at the inside of the place. He'd expected extravagant - this is, after all, a billionaire's house - but expecting it and seeing it are working out to be a little bit different.
The hole in the floor, straight through an alcove that looks big enough for a grand piano, is a little incongruous, but given the suit, Billy can guess how it got there.
I don't know why it amuses me to think Tony hasn't fixed the floor yet. And yet... here we are.
Before too long, Tony does come up the stairs, wiping his hands on a rag. "Good, you made it. And it seems you've already met Jarvis."
"If that's your..." Billy makes a vague gesture, that happens to take in a control panel with the same blue lights from outside on it.
"He runs the house. Programming's gotten a little more complex than I originally expected, but these things happen. So, what do I call you when you're not in the lab coat?"
Tony Stark: Master of the Understatement. (Well, sometimes. Jarvis outgrowing his original programming is one of those times.)
"Billy. Matthews."
The last time doesn't really mean anything; it's a product of Quin and I noodling around with the crossover concept.
"Nice to actually meet you." Tony grins. "Come on downstairs, let's talk."
Of course, when they reach the garage, Billy needs a good minute or so to really take it all in. He doesn't bother hiding the bug-eyed reaction, this time, since he thinks Tony would be smirking like he'd just put a kid in a candy store anyway.
"...Wow. This is really - hey, that's my controller, isn't it?"
Tony nods. "I'd have asked, but it's not really functional at the moment. Anyway, it looked solid from the air, so I thought I'd take a closer look. How'd you steer it?"
"Wrote up an app for my iPhone. It would've worked just fine, if it hadn't attracted a certain day-saver's attention."
Even though I formulated the explanation later, I like the idea that the phone Billy answers in Act II is a League-only phone. Aside from the fact that Apple isn't really evil enough for the League, I wouldn't want to give them my actual phone number...
"Yeah, I guessed that. It's a clever idea, but I can think of better ends for it than what you tried. What do you do for a living, anyway?"
"Tech support." Billy rolls his eyes. "Which basically means refilling the copier, since the rest of the office can't seem to remember where we keep the paper, and telling the idiots who call in that if they had the Internet in their computers, a lot of people would be very pissed off."
Many people have commented that Billy doing tech support makes quite a bit of sense. It fits, in my head; I don't think he gets out much, other than the laundromat (and similar errands) and some of Dr. Horrible's exploits. The 'Internet in your computer' line is based on a tech-support question my brother-in-law answered several years ago.
"...Damn, no wonder you're veering toward the dark side of the Force. Tech support's enough to make anyone crack. That said, you want a job?"
"...What?"
Tony shrugs. "I've been looking for a good, creative engineer for a while now, and as far as I'm concerned, that little doohickey counts as one aced interview."
I can see Tony doing this with just about any engineer he thought was up to snuff. And he wouldn't be above looking in unorthodox places.
"You're... not joking."
"I joke about many things. Engineering is not and will never be one of them."
Billy's too stunned to react, for a few moments. He shoves down the protests building in the back of his head - he doesn't have official experience, he didn't even major in engineering when he attempted college, the League application's actually getting a thorough look this time - and tries to focus on the positive elements.
He's got some good reasons to say no, really. And he might have done, if he felt like he was making progress.
The thought of working for someone who understands the habits of a reclusive tinkerer-genius and that Captain Hammer isn't as much of a hero as he likes to think - not to mention the virtually unlimited funding - pretty well outweighs any obstacles, particularly with experience or lack thereof already declared no object.
But the benefits outweigh the drawbacks by a long measure.
"...Okay. I think I'm in."