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darkly_ironicTitle: No Happy Endings (10/? - "Some Kind of Harmony")
Rating: PG-13
Paring: slight Billy/Penny
Word Count: 1544
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: End flashback. Meanwhile, the plot is thickening... Enjoy! : )
Penny didn’t realize it was Captain Hammer breaking the door down at first. That realization came a few seconds later when someone roughly the size of a tow truck slammed into her, pulled her into a rib-shattering hug, and shouted, “Penny! You’re alive!” right into her ear. It took a few moments for her to disentangle herself.
“I was,” she gasped.
“Oh, sorry.” He stepped back.
Moist was staring at them. “Penny, is that Captain Hammer?”
“Silence,” the short young man that Penny recognized as Johnny Snow said. “You have no right to address her!” He grinned at Penny. “Glad you’re alright. Had us scared for a while.”
“What are you doing here?”
“We’re…rescuing you,” he said it like it was obvious.
“We can go over that later,” Captain Hammer informed them. “Come on, Penny, let’s get out of here.”
“Um, wait?” Penny slipped out from under the arm Hammer had thrown around her shoulders, but he didn’t seem to notice. He was looking between her, Moist, and the hastily packed suitcases.
“Were you leaving?”
“You guys haven’t seen the news?” Moist was incredulous.
“Should we have?” Hammer asked bluntly. There was a short pause were Moist tried to communicate psychically with Penny, and she stared at him in confusion. Finally, Johnny broke the moment by fumbling with the baggy-encased remote and switching the TV back on.
“—And to think that only a few months ago,” the Newswoman was saying, “no one had even heard of Dr. Horrible.”
“Sad times,” the anchor agreed. “Following his shocking hijacking of the airwaves earlier today, Dr. Horrible stormed the city’s temporary headquarters and held the Mayor, Deputy Mayor, and assorted clerical staff hostage for fourty-five minutes before disappearing without even collecting the ransom money.”
“All those in the building escaped unharmed, but the Mayor is currently receiving psychiatric care due to mental trauma.”
“And they’re not going to show us what he said?” Hammer looked as worried as Penny had ever seen him.
“Yes they are, look.” Penny gestured towards the TV. They were showing Billy’s proclamation again. Penny wondered how many times they would air it over the next few days.
They watched the clip in silence. Penny had seen enough five seconds in, and watched the faces of the men instead. Moist was worried, and trying not to let it show. Johnny seemed excited, almost eager, and Captain Hammer was frowning, staring at the TV like he couldn’t believe what he was watching.
“What’s wrong with him?” he asked when it was over.
“Who cares?” said Johnny. “The guy’s obviously snapped. We’ve got the element of surprise though—if we move fast we can still bring him in!”
“Element of surprise?” Penny winced at the scathing edge in Moist’s voice. “We’re half a state away, unarmed, and would have to take on the ELE to get to him. Not to mention that every half-rate Hero in the West is going to try and take him out, and did I mention we’re half a state away? California’s long, in case you didn’t know that.”
“We’ve still got the advantage,” Johnny insisted. “We’ve got a secret weapon.”
“A secret weapon?”
Johnny grinned. “We’ve got Penny.”
Penny thought this had gone far enough. “Ok, hold on. I’m not a secret weapon. I’m not even a weapon. I’m just…me.”
“You’ve got a point,” Hammer told Johnny. “With three Heroes, we might stand a chance.” He favored Penny to one of his most blinding smiles. “And you’re perfect just as you are.”
“Um, thanks, I think, but actually, if we have a secret weapon, it’s Moist since he actually knows what we’re getting into.”
Everyone turned to look at the quietly sweating Henchman. “Ok, this is what we’ve got to do,” he said, taking advantage of the sudden attention. “Firstly, we’ve got to find Bil-Dr. Horrible. Then we’ve got to find out which League members are working with him—or controlling him, whatever it turns out to be. Then we get him out any way we can—kidnap him if necessary—and get the hell out of LA.”
There was a short silence. “That’s your plan?” Hammer asked. “Even I could come up with a better plan than that.”
“Like what?”
“Um, we find where he is, introduce anyone in the way to the fury of the Hammer—”
Penny snickered.
“These hammers,” he clarified, holding up his fists, “ and save the day. Easy.”
“So, basically, what he just said,” Johnny said slowly.
“No! My plan is nothing like his, it’s completely—yeah, I guess it is.”
It took another half hour to reach a decision, and in the end, the plan was essentially the same as Moist and Penny’s original scheme. Four hours later, they landed in LAX. Everything was going according to plan.
Penny glanced over her shoulder as they hurried down the airport concourse. She and Captain Hammer were together, and if she turned her head just a little she could see Moist and Johnny Snow walking as far apart as possible and about 20 feet behind her. Hammer had an arm around her waist, and to her surprise Penny didn’t mind. She felt more jumpy then she had since—well, since she’d first arrived at Billy’s, and it was comforting to have a solid mass like Captain Hammer at her side. It was sort of like having a portable brick wall with sentimental value.
People were scared, and there weren’t as many as Penny would have expected. She could see them eyeing the black-clad security with their semi-automatics and trying to pretend everything was normal. Every so often over-loud laughter echoed off the ceilings, only for it to be quickly hushed. Penny hated it. She wanted to get as far from there as possible, out of the almost empty airport that was quickly becoming oddly claustrophobic and away from the edgy guards with their large guns, but it was probably no better outside. She shivered.
“You ok?” Hammer was looking around too.
“Fine. Do you see anything?”
“Nothing. Almost wish I did.”
Penny looked up, shocked. “Why?”
He shrugged. “It would feel more normal if I could punch someone.”
Several lectures and accompanying statistics about the destructive nature of violence came to mind, but Penny decided it would be best if she didn’t voice them. The brief conversation gave up and died.
They were almost out of the airport. Hammer leaned over to whisper in Penny’s ear. “I think we should find you a gun.”
“No!” She said it quietly, but with as much force as she could manage. What was it with the men in her life trying to give her firearms?
He pouted. “You’d be safer.”
“No.”
“Fine,” he muttered.
The doors were flanked by nervous a pair of nervous National Guard, but they didn’t seem to recognize Captain Hammer. Penny relaxed slightly as they left the airport, glancing back to make sure Moist and Johnny had made it out. They weren’t there.
She stopped and scanned the tangle of luggage and taxies by the exit. Nothing. They’d been right behind them, and while Penny could imagine Moist blending into the crowd, Johnny was still wearing that intrinsically obvious parka.
“What?” Hammer had stopped too.
“They’re gone,” she said quietly.
He frowned gallantly. “No, they can’t be. They probably just had to use the bathroom or something.”
“They were right there,” Penny hissed.
“Well—” His frown deepened. “Stay here,” he told her, then strode back through the doors.
Penny sighed.
“It must make you angry, him telling you what to do when you’re just as capable,” a quite voice said from behind her.
Penny whirled around.
“You know he means well, but there’s a sort of latent misogyny there too, and you still haven’t forgiven him from using you.” The speaker was a woman in her late thirties with dark hair and an aristocratic face that went seamlessly with her formal British accent.
“And you are?” Penny was trying not to sound shocked, but she wasn’t sure if it had worked.
“Billy calls me ‘Hourglass’,” the woman said. “It works as well as anything.”
Penny went from surprised to suspicious. “You know Billy?”
“We’re acquaintances. I do, however, have an interest in keeping him alive, and that’s why I’m talking to you. We can’t talk here though. I have a car waiting, would you like to--?”
Penny glanced back towards the doors; Hammer was out of sight.
“It’s too late for them. The ELE has already acted. They would have taken you as well, but my presence is some small protection.”
“But—”
“Come with me, and I’ll tell you how to rescue them. You’re going to save the world Penny, I know it.” Hourglass smiled.
Penny didn’t want to believe her. Hammer would come out any minute now, and Moist and Johnny would have just ducked into the bathroom after all. Their carefully designed plan would still work. Everything was going so well.
“Ten minutes, that’s all it’ll take,” Hourglass said. “Then you can decide if you want to listen to the rest.”
Captain Hammer wasn’t coming back. Moist and Johnny were gone. Billy’s life was in danger, and for all Penny knew he could already be dead. She wanted answers.
“Ten minutes,” she told Hourglass.
Rating: PG-13
Paring: slight Billy/Penny
Word Count: 1544
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: End flashback. Meanwhile, the plot is thickening... Enjoy! : )
Penny didn’t realize it was Captain Hammer breaking the door down at first. That realization came a few seconds later when someone roughly the size of a tow truck slammed into her, pulled her into a rib-shattering hug, and shouted, “Penny! You’re alive!” right into her ear. It took a few moments for her to disentangle herself.
“I was,” she gasped.
“Oh, sorry.” He stepped back.
Moist was staring at them. “Penny, is that Captain Hammer?”
“Silence,” the short young man that Penny recognized as Johnny Snow said. “You have no right to address her!” He grinned at Penny. “Glad you’re alright. Had us scared for a while.”
“What are you doing here?”
“We’re…rescuing you,” he said it like it was obvious.
“We can go over that later,” Captain Hammer informed them. “Come on, Penny, let’s get out of here.”
“Um, wait?” Penny slipped out from under the arm Hammer had thrown around her shoulders, but he didn’t seem to notice. He was looking between her, Moist, and the hastily packed suitcases.
“Were you leaving?”
“You guys haven’t seen the news?” Moist was incredulous.
“Should we have?” Hammer asked bluntly. There was a short pause were Moist tried to communicate psychically with Penny, and she stared at him in confusion. Finally, Johnny broke the moment by fumbling with the baggy-encased remote and switching the TV back on.
“—And to think that only a few months ago,” the Newswoman was saying, “no one had even heard of Dr. Horrible.”
“Sad times,” the anchor agreed. “Following his shocking hijacking of the airwaves earlier today, Dr. Horrible stormed the city’s temporary headquarters and held the Mayor, Deputy Mayor, and assorted clerical staff hostage for fourty-five minutes before disappearing without even collecting the ransom money.”
“All those in the building escaped unharmed, but the Mayor is currently receiving psychiatric care due to mental trauma.”
“And they’re not going to show us what he said?” Hammer looked as worried as Penny had ever seen him.
“Yes they are, look.” Penny gestured towards the TV. They were showing Billy’s proclamation again. Penny wondered how many times they would air it over the next few days.
They watched the clip in silence. Penny had seen enough five seconds in, and watched the faces of the men instead. Moist was worried, and trying not to let it show. Johnny seemed excited, almost eager, and Captain Hammer was frowning, staring at the TV like he couldn’t believe what he was watching.
“What’s wrong with him?” he asked when it was over.
“Who cares?” said Johnny. “The guy’s obviously snapped. We’ve got the element of surprise though—if we move fast we can still bring him in!”
“Element of surprise?” Penny winced at the scathing edge in Moist’s voice. “We’re half a state away, unarmed, and would have to take on the ELE to get to him. Not to mention that every half-rate Hero in the West is going to try and take him out, and did I mention we’re half a state away? California’s long, in case you didn’t know that.”
“We’ve still got the advantage,” Johnny insisted. “We’ve got a secret weapon.”
“A secret weapon?”
Johnny grinned. “We’ve got Penny.”
Penny thought this had gone far enough. “Ok, hold on. I’m not a secret weapon. I’m not even a weapon. I’m just…me.”
“You’ve got a point,” Hammer told Johnny. “With three Heroes, we might stand a chance.” He favored Penny to one of his most blinding smiles. “And you’re perfect just as you are.”
“Um, thanks, I think, but actually, if we have a secret weapon, it’s Moist since he actually knows what we’re getting into.”
Everyone turned to look at the quietly sweating Henchman. “Ok, this is what we’ve got to do,” he said, taking advantage of the sudden attention. “Firstly, we’ve got to find Bil-Dr. Horrible. Then we’ve got to find out which League members are working with him—or controlling him, whatever it turns out to be. Then we get him out any way we can—kidnap him if necessary—and get the hell out of LA.”
There was a short silence. “That’s your plan?” Hammer asked. “Even I could come up with a better plan than that.”
“Like what?”
“Um, we find where he is, introduce anyone in the way to the fury of the Hammer—”
Penny snickered.
“These hammers,” he clarified, holding up his fists, “ and save the day. Easy.”
“So, basically, what he just said,” Johnny said slowly.
“No! My plan is nothing like his, it’s completely—yeah, I guess it is.”
It took another half hour to reach a decision, and in the end, the plan was essentially the same as Moist and Penny’s original scheme. Four hours later, they landed in LAX. Everything was going according to plan.
Penny glanced over her shoulder as they hurried down the airport concourse. She and Captain Hammer were together, and if she turned her head just a little she could see Moist and Johnny Snow walking as far apart as possible and about 20 feet behind her. Hammer had an arm around her waist, and to her surprise Penny didn’t mind. She felt more jumpy then she had since—well, since she’d first arrived at Billy’s, and it was comforting to have a solid mass like Captain Hammer at her side. It was sort of like having a portable brick wall with sentimental value.
People were scared, and there weren’t as many as Penny would have expected. She could see them eyeing the black-clad security with their semi-automatics and trying to pretend everything was normal. Every so often over-loud laughter echoed off the ceilings, only for it to be quickly hushed. Penny hated it. She wanted to get as far from there as possible, out of the almost empty airport that was quickly becoming oddly claustrophobic and away from the edgy guards with their large guns, but it was probably no better outside. She shivered.
“You ok?” Hammer was looking around too.
“Fine. Do you see anything?”
“Nothing. Almost wish I did.”
Penny looked up, shocked. “Why?”
He shrugged. “It would feel more normal if I could punch someone.”
Several lectures and accompanying statistics about the destructive nature of violence came to mind, but Penny decided it would be best if she didn’t voice them. The brief conversation gave up and died.
They were almost out of the airport. Hammer leaned over to whisper in Penny’s ear. “I think we should find you a gun.”
“No!” She said it quietly, but with as much force as she could manage. What was it with the men in her life trying to give her firearms?
He pouted. “You’d be safer.”
“No.”
“Fine,” he muttered.
The doors were flanked by nervous a pair of nervous National Guard, but they didn’t seem to recognize Captain Hammer. Penny relaxed slightly as they left the airport, glancing back to make sure Moist and Johnny had made it out. They weren’t there.
She stopped and scanned the tangle of luggage and taxies by the exit. Nothing. They’d been right behind them, and while Penny could imagine Moist blending into the crowd, Johnny was still wearing that intrinsically obvious parka.
“What?” Hammer had stopped too.
“They’re gone,” she said quietly.
He frowned gallantly. “No, they can’t be. They probably just had to use the bathroom or something.”
“They were right there,” Penny hissed.
“Well—” His frown deepened. “Stay here,” he told her, then strode back through the doors.
Penny sighed.
“It must make you angry, him telling you what to do when you’re just as capable,” a quite voice said from behind her.
Penny whirled around.
“You know he means well, but there’s a sort of latent misogyny there too, and you still haven’t forgiven him from using you.” The speaker was a woman in her late thirties with dark hair and an aristocratic face that went seamlessly with her formal British accent.
“And you are?” Penny was trying not to sound shocked, but she wasn’t sure if it had worked.
“Billy calls me ‘Hourglass’,” the woman said. “It works as well as anything.”
Penny went from surprised to suspicious. “You know Billy?”
“We’re acquaintances. I do, however, have an interest in keeping him alive, and that’s why I’m talking to you. We can’t talk here though. I have a car waiting, would you like to--?”
Penny glanced back towards the doors; Hammer was out of sight.
“It’s too late for them. The ELE has already acted. They would have taken you as well, but my presence is some small protection.”
“But—”
“Come with me, and I’ll tell you how to rescue them. You’re going to save the world Penny, I know it.” Hourglass smiled.
Penny didn’t want to believe her. Hammer would come out any minute now, and Moist and Johnny would have just ducked into the bathroom after all. Their carefully designed plan would still work. Everything was going so well.
“Ten minutes, that’s all it’ll take,” Hourglass said. “Then you can decide if you want to listen to the rest.”
Captain Hammer wasn’t coming back. Moist and Johnny were gone. Billy’s life was in danger, and for all Penny knew he could already be dead. She wanted answers.
“Ten minutes,” she told Hourglass.
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no subject
Date: 2010-05-06 06:03 am (UTC)Ahahaha, so true xD
I can't wait for more!! What's happened to the others? Oh, this is so good...
no subject
Date: 2010-05-07 06:35 pm (UTC)I was rather proud of that description of Hammer, so I'm glad you liked it! : D
"What's happened to the others" is a good question! I'm still trying to figure it out myself... : ) Thanks for commenting!
no subject
Date: 2010-06-20 08:25 am (UTC)In other news... The plans were amazing. And I loved Hammer tackling Penny and screaming that she was alive! He's such a big little kid :) And being compared to a brick wall and a semi. Sooo hilarious.
And Captain Hammer and Snow being all smug and happy to save her and Penny being all, 'Qua? Save me?' And MOIST! I love Moist. So much.
Hourglass! Go Hourglass! And I hope Penny can fix the world! AH! So intense!! :D
no subject
Date: 2010-06-26 05:33 pm (UTC)Hammer and Snow have a tendency to misread situations. : )
I'm happy you liked it!