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darkly_ironicTitle: No Happy Endings (6/? - "We All Have a Choice")
Rating: PG-13
Paring: slight Billy/Penny
Word Count: 1737
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'.
Hammer was waiting for her in the lobby. They didn’t talk until they were back in Penny’s apartment.
“What happened?” he asked. He hadn’t looked happy when they left the Heroes’ headquarters. Penny guessed he had been answering phones after all.
Penny hesitated. “They want me to spy on Dr. Horrible.”
Captain Hammer flinched. “That’s suicide!”
“Thanks for your support!”
He clutched at her arm like a drowning man. “Penny, he’s dangerous. He killed me! There’s nothing to stop him from doing the same to you.”
“Except that he loves me.” It was weird to say it, but Penny felt oddly relieved to have it out.
Hammer’s hand dropped to his side.
“—Or maybe it’s more of an obsession, I don’t know, but I don’t think he could kill me.” Penny hoped she was right. Really hoped. She knew she had to do this. It made sense, and if she could really make a difference, if she could save lives, if she could save his-- It wasn’t just Justice Joe’s insistence that she work for the Heroes, this felt right.
Penny had always wanted to change the world for the better, but deep down she’d known that she didn’t have the influence or the money. She was always just a paycheck away from joining the homeless she was trying to help. She was a nobody, and she thought it’d always be that way, but now at least she had a chance.
Hammer had turned the TV on, and the familiar faces of the newscasters were reading a litany of the day’s tragedies—over a hundred presumed dead in the city center, sporadic looting, the start of a riot that the police had quashed before it reached full strength--two more dead there.
“Hammer.” Penny frowned at him. He was ignoring her, which she had learned was his way of dealing with things that bothered or confused him. “What’ll you do?” He didn’t answer. Penny left him sitting on the couch and went to make lunch.
* * *
She did hesitate to give her answer to the Heroes’ Guild, waiting until the next morning to catch the bus to the headquarters. Penny had half-hoped she’d think of some way to talk herself out of it, but her sleepless night had just proved she really didn’t have a choice at all.
There was another brief, guilty hope that Justice Joe had decided they didn’t need her after all, but that was quickly disproved when he greeted her like she was planet Earth’s last hope.
“I knew you’d come around,” he told her, wearing a smug smile that Penny was starting to think was taught in a class taken by all Heroes. His tone made her want to snap back with something pithy and clever, but she couldn’t think of any actual words, and she just wanted to get this over with.
“Do you know where he lives?” Joe asked, searching through the papers on his desk.
“I did. Didn’t he move though?”
“That’s right. He actually took over Captain Hammer’s old house.”
That made Penny shiver. Since she lived with him, it was hard to remember that Hammer had been horribly murdered not that long before. She shoved that train of thought to the back of her mind, and asked the question that had bothered her the most the night before.
“Where will Captain Hammer live now? He—doesn’t like to leave the house.”
“We’ll take him in here. There’s plenty of room.”
Penny thought of asking why they couldn’t have kept him from the beginning, but decided it wasn’t worth it.
“So, you can find the house?” Joe asked. He’d found a slip of paper with the address on it.
Penny nodded. “What do I say?”
“I’m sure you think of something. Maybe you were too frightened to stay alone in the city?”
Penny nodded again. “I’d better be going then.”
Joe smiled, and it almost seemed sincere. “Good luck.” As the elevator doors closed Penny thought she heard the end of that sentence. “You’ll need it.”
* * *
Penny had never thought she’d go back to the house. It was a stuccoed monolith in an isolated, elite area of the city, complete with formidable security, palm-studded park-like grounds, and a bubbling pineapple fountain in the courtyard.
The gate was locked and looked like it might be booby trapped, so Penny didn’t press her luck. There was an intercom, so she tried that, then listened to several minutes of static from the other end. Penny was just starting to think no one was home when there was a growling answer from the other end.
“Declare yourself!”
“Um.” Penny hesitated, then realized she recognized the voice. “Moist?”
“Uh, yeah.” The voice sounded far less intimidating now. “Who is this?”
“It’s Penny. I wanted to see Bil—Dr. Horrible.” She winced at her almost-slip.
“Ok.” There was a buzz from the gate. “Come on in. I’ll tell him you’re here.”
Moist opened the door before she could knock. The entrance hall looked much like it had when Captain Hammer lived there; Dr. Horrible clearly didn’t put much focus into interior decorating.
“Hi,” Penny said quickly. She couldn’t remember the last time she felt so jittery—she’d gone from job-interview-nervous to wisdom-teeth-extraction-without-anesthetic nervous the moment the door opened.
“He’s down in the lab. I tried to talk to him, but he wouldn’t open the door. I don’t know if he heard.”
“Ok.”
“It’s good you’re here, actually.”
That surprised Penny. She’d been expecting to have to convince them not to throw her out. Moist led her down the hall, and down a small flight of stairs to the door to the basement. He gave her a thready smile, and went back upstairs, leaving Penny facing the blank door. She only hesitated for an instant.
“Billy?” She didn’t know what else to call him.
There was a long pause, then the door was pulled open so suddenly that Penny almost fell into the room. He was staring at her with the startled, almost worshipful expression that Penny recognized from the first time she’d tried to talk to him at the Laundromat.
“Penny?!”
“Hi.”
For a second Penny thought he was going to hug her, but he pulled himself together. “You shouldn’t be here.”
“I know.” Penny readied the speech she’d prepared on the taxi ride over. “It’s just that—”
“No, I mean it, you really shouldn’t be here.” He edged past her onto the bottom step, closing the door behind him. Penny caught a glimpse of the lab, shiny countertops, beakers filled with oddly colored substances, and some sort of fancy new ray gun before the door shut.
“Come on.” They went back up the stairs. Billy was wearing his old white lab coat, and his goggles were pushed up on his forehead. He didn’t look like Dr. Horrible to her in that outfit now, just Billy dressed up as a mad scientist. Penny didn’t think that was a good sign.
At the top of the stairs Billy stopped at what looked suspiciously like an average circuit box, pulled open its door, and started messing with the distinctly un-average controls inside. “Moist let you in?” he asked.
Penny nodded, then realized he wasn’t looking at her. “Yeah.”
“And no on else saw you?”
“I don’t think so.” Penny was instantly reminded of bad horror movies, and wondered if she should have answered differently. “What are you doing?”
“Wiping the security cameras.” He gave her a quick apologetic glance. “It’ll look like you were never here.”
“Oh. Ok…”
“How did you get here? The buses still aren’t running, and you don’t have a car—”
“I got a taxi.”
Billy bit his lip. “That’ll make it tricky. I can hardly call a taxi here…”
“Doc?” Moist stuck his head around the corner. “You’ve got ten minutes.”
“Ten minutes?”
He was frowning at the circuit-box-thing. He closed the door, and walked back out into the hallway leaving Penny to trail behind. “Moist?”
The henchman was in the kitchen.
“Did anyone see Penny come in?” He turned to Penny. “You’re timing is … The League is having a meeting here tonight.”
Penny was starting to think she’d be fine walking back to her apartment.
Moist shrugged. “I don’t think so. Everyone pretty much clears out when there’s a meeting.”
“Good move. Penny, they shouldn’t be here for too long. It’s vital you stay as quiet as you can. They can’t know you’re here.
Penny agreed with that.
“You can stay in the lab, that should be safe. Just…don’t touch anything that can explode.” He smiled, and Penny wanted it to be genuine, but right now she really couldn’t tell. “I’m gonna change.”
* * *
The lab wasn’t as cold and dank as Penny had expected it to be. It was the only place she’d seen in the house that looked like someone actually lived there, with its tidy stacks of notes, and the bookshelf along one wall that’s contents were an equal mix of science and science fiction.
There was a ridiculously large chair with weird upholstery that looked comfy. Penny curled up in it, conscious of just how tired she was. It had been a long day—scratch that, it had been a long three months. When would this end? Penny remembered what her life had been like before she’d met Billy and Captain Hammer—it seemed peaceful now instead of dull. Penny wondered if she could bear to go back to that now, even if she could.
She didn’t realize she’d fallen asleep until a gloved hand touched her shoulder.
“Penny. They’re gone.”
She opened her eyes, and flinched reflexively. He looked hurt behind the goggles and went over to the worktable, pulling off gloves and goggles, and unbuttoning his red lab coat. He was wearing a tee shirt and jeans underneath, and it was almost weird for Penny to see him in normal clothes again. Another bad sign.
“How’d it go?” Penny grimaced. Bad question.
“You need to get out of the city.” Billy perched on the arm of the chair. He looked much younger then he normally did, and he couldn’t meet her eyes.
“Billy, why don’t you tell me what’s going on?” She touched his face gently. He finally looked her in the face.
“It’s happening, Penny. The ELE are going to take over the world. And they’re going to start tomorrow.”
Rating: PG-13
Paring: slight Billy/Penny
Word Count: 1737
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'.
Hammer was waiting for her in the lobby. They didn’t talk until they were back in Penny’s apartment.
“What happened?” he asked. He hadn’t looked happy when they left the Heroes’ headquarters. Penny guessed he had been answering phones after all.
Penny hesitated. “They want me to spy on Dr. Horrible.”
Captain Hammer flinched. “That’s suicide!”
“Thanks for your support!”
He clutched at her arm like a drowning man. “Penny, he’s dangerous. He killed me! There’s nothing to stop him from doing the same to you.”
“Except that he loves me.” It was weird to say it, but Penny felt oddly relieved to have it out.
Hammer’s hand dropped to his side.
“—Or maybe it’s more of an obsession, I don’t know, but I don’t think he could kill me.” Penny hoped she was right. Really hoped. She knew she had to do this. It made sense, and if she could really make a difference, if she could save lives, if she could save his-- It wasn’t just Justice Joe’s insistence that she work for the Heroes, this felt right.
Penny had always wanted to change the world for the better, but deep down she’d known that she didn’t have the influence or the money. She was always just a paycheck away from joining the homeless she was trying to help. She was a nobody, and she thought it’d always be that way, but now at least she had a chance.
Hammer had turned the TV on, and the familiar faces of the newscasters were reading a litany of the day’s tragedies—over a hundred presumed dead in the city center, sporadic looting, the start of a riot that the police had quashed before it reached full strength--two more dead there.
“Hammer.” Penny frowned at him. He was ignoring her, which she had learned was his way of dealing with things that bothered or confused him. “What’ll you do?” He didn’t answer. Penny left him sitting on the couch and went to make lunch.
* * *
She did hesitate to give her answer to the Heroes’ Guild, waiting until the next morning to catch the bus to the headquarters. Penny had half-hoped she’d think of some way to talk herself out of it, but her sleepless night had just proved she really didn’t have a choice at all.
There was another brief, guilty hope that Justice Joe had decided they didn’t need her after all, but that was quickly disproved when he greeted her like she was planet Earth’s last hope.
“I knew you’d come around,” he told her, wearing a smug smile that Penny was starting to think was taught in a class taken by all Heroes. His tone made her want to snap back with something pithy and clever, but she couldn’t think of any actual words, and she just wanted to get this over with.
“Do you know where he lives?” Joe asked, searching through the papers on his desk.
“I did. Didn’t he move though?”
“That’s right. He actually took over Captain Hammer’s old house.”
That made Penny shiver. Since she lived with him, it was hard to remember that Hammer had been horribly murdered not that long before. She shoved that train of thought to the back of her mind, and asked the question that had bothered her the most the night before.
“Where will Captain Hammer live now? He—doesn’t like to leave the house.”
“We’ll take him in here. There’s plenty of room.”
Penny thought of asking why they couldn’t have kept him from the beginning, but decided it wasn’t worth it.
“So, you can find the house?” Joe asked. He’d found a slip of paper with the address on it.
Penny nodded. “What do I say?”
“I’m sure you think of something. Maybe you were too frightened to stay alone in the city?”
Penny nodded again. “I’d better be going then.”
Joe smiled, and it almost seemed sincere. “Good luck.” As the elevator doors closed Penny thought she heard the end of that sentence. “You’ll need it.”
* * *
Penny had never thought she’d go back to the house. It was a stuccoed monolith in an isolated, elite area of the city, complete with formidable security, palm-studded park-like grounds, and a bubbling pineapple fountain in the courtyard.
The gate was locked and looked like it might be booby trapped, so Penny didn’t press her luck. There was an intercom, so she tried that, then listened to several minutes of static from the other end. Penny was just starting to think no one was home when there was a growling answer from the other end.
“Declare yourself!”
“Um.” Penny hesitated, then realized she recognized the voice. “Moist?”
“Uh, yeah.” The voice sounded far less intimidating now. “Who is this?”
“It’s Penny. I wanted to see Bil—Dr. Horrible.” She winced at her almost-slip.
“Ok.” There was a buzz from the gate. “Come on in. I’ll tell him you’re here.”
Moist opened the door before she could knock. The entrance hall looked much like it had when Captain Hammer lived there; Dr. Horrible clearly didn’t put much focus into interior decorating.
“Hi,” Penny said quickly. She couldn’t remember the last time she felt so jittery—she’d gone from job-interview-nervous to wisdom-teeth-extraction-without-anesthetic nervous the moment the door opened.
“He’s down in the lab. I tried to talk to him, but he wouldn’t open the door. I don’t know if he heard.”
“Ok.”
“It’s good you’re here, actually.”
That surprised Penny. She’d been expecting to have to convince them not to throw her out. Moist led her down the hall, and down a small flight of stairs to the door to the basement. He gave her a thready smile, and went back upstairs, leaving Penny facing the blank door. She only hesitated for an instant.
“Billy?” She didn’t know what else to call him.
There was a long pause, then the door was pulled open so suddenly that Penny almost fell into the room. He was staring at her with the startled, almost worshipful expression that Penny recognized from the first time she’d tried to talk to him at the Laundromat.
“Penny?!”
“Hi.”
For a second Penny thought he was going to hug her, but he pulled himself together. “You shouldn’t be here.”
“I know.” Penny readied the speech she’d prepared on the taxi ride over. “It’s just that—”
“No, I mean it, you really shouldn’t be here.” He edged past her onto the bottom step, closing the door behind him. Penny caught a glimpse of the lab, shiny countertops, beakers filled with oddly colored substances, and some sort of fancy new ray gun before the door shut.
“Come on.” They went back up the stairs. Billy was wearing his old white lab coat, and his goggles were pushed up on his forehead. He didn’t look like Dr. Horrible to her in that outfit now, just Billy dressed up as a mad scientist. Penny didn’t think that was a good sign.
At the top of the stairs Billy stopped at what looked suspiciously like an average circuit box, pulled open its door, and started messing with the distinctly un-average controls inside. “Moist let you in?” he asked.
Penny nodded, then realized he wasn’t looking at her. “Yeah.”
“And no on else saw you?”
“I don’t think so.” Penny was instantly reminded of bad horror movies, and wondered if she should have answered differently. “What are you doing?”
“Wiping the security cameras.” He gave her a quick apologetic glance. “It’ll look like you were never here.”
“Oh. Ok…”
“How did you get here? The buses still aren’t running, and you don’t have a car—”
“I got a taxi.”
Billy bit his lip. “That’ll make it tricky. I can hardly call a taxi here…”
“Doc?” Moist stuck his head around the corner. “You’ve got ten minutes.”
“Ten minutes?”
He was frowning at the circuit-box-thing. He closed the door, and walked back out into the hallway leaving Penny to trail behind. “Moist?”
The henchman was in the kitchen.
“Did anyone see Penny come in?” He turned to Penny. “You’re timing is … The League is having a meeting here tonight.”
Penny was starting to think she’d be fine walking back to her apartment.
Moist shrugged. “I don’t think so. Everyone pretty much clears out when there’s a meeting.”
“Good move. Penny, they shouldn’t be here for too long. It’s vital you stay as quiet as you can. They can’t know you’re here.
Penny agreed with that.
“You can stay in the lab, that should be safe. Just…don’t touch anything that can explode.” He smiled, and Penny wanted it to be genuine, but right now she really couldn’t tell. “I’m gonna change.”
* * *
The lab wasn’t as cold and dank as Penny had expected it to be. It was the only place she’d seen in the house that looked like someone actually lived there, with its tidy stacks of notes, and the bookshelf along one wall that’s contents were an equal mix of science and science fiction.
There was a ridiculously large chair with weird upholstery that looked comfy. Penny curled up in it, conscious of just how tired she was. It had been a long day—scratch that, it had been a long three months. When would this end? Penny remembered what her life had been like before she’d met Billy and Captain Hammer—it seemed peaceful now instead of dull. Penny wondered if she could bear to go back to that now, even if she could.
She didn’t realize she’d fallen asleep until a gloved hand touched her shoulder.
“Penny. They’re gone.”
She opened her eyes, and flinched reflexively. He looked hurt behind the goggles and went over to the worktable, pulling off gloves and goggles, and unbuttoning his red lab coat. He was wearing a tee shirt and jeans underneath, and it was almost weird for Penny to see him in normal clothes again. Another bad sign.
“How’d it go?” Penny grimaced. Bad question.
“You need to get out of the city.” Billy perched on the arm of the chair. He looked much younger then he normally did, and he couldn’t meet her eyes.
“Billy, why don’t you tell me what’s going on?” She touched his face gently. He finally looked her in the face.
“It’s happening, Penny. The ELE are going to take over the world. And they’re going to start tomorrow.”
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no subject
Date: 2010-04-18 04:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-04-19 01:50 am (UTC)Thanks for commenting! : )
no subject
Date: 2010-04-18 08:08 am (UTC)Still loving this story.
no subject
Date: 2010-04-19 01:56 am (UTC)I'm happy you're enjoying it! : )
no subject
Date: 2010-04-19 12:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-04-20 12:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-20 07:49 am (UTC)And the alive Captain Hammer using 'he killed me' as a defence made me giggle.
Your inclusion of Moist makes me stupidly happy :)
no subject
Date: 2010-06-23 02:03 am (UTC)It was fun to have Moist in it again! : D