Disclaimer: I don't own Dr. Horrible, it all belongs to JJMZ (Joss, Jed, Maureen, Zack.
Summary: the Evil League of Evil are evil, not stupid. They know that Dr. Horrible wouldn't kill anyone, and they know that he's in love with Penny. After Dr. Horrible's failure with his Freeze Ray, Bad Horse decides to take Penny's fate into his iron hooves.
Notes: it's been done before, but this is my take on what could have happened during/after Act III of Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog. As always, I'll try to make it as original as I can. Constructive criticism is accepted and welcomed.
Read on, oh faithful ones...
...
Act III - One factor changes Penny's fate.
...
"My colleagues, we seem to have a problem.
Dr. Horrible applied to the Evil League of Evil once more.
This his third time attempt in three years.
Another failure must not occur," Bad Horse's Chorus sang.
"His Wonderflonium heist was a success.
However, the application of the Freeze Ray,
Was disappointing to say the least.
Now, assassination is his only way."
"We have been watching him,
It seems that he is in love.
Love is a difficult emotion,
And may still his glove."
"If Dr. Horrible does fail again,
It will look bad for the E.L.E.
We are known for being evil, not failures,
Therefore, we must deal with Penny."
The chorus men finished their song, and Bad Horse neighed loudly, waiting for any to disagree. When nothing was said, he stamped his iron hoof on the ground. Their decision was made.
...
Penny smiled at Captain Hammer as she closed her phone and walked towards him. "So they say we'll have blankets and beds; we can open by Monday, thanks to you."
"Thanks to me," he said arrogantly, grinning.
Her smile faltered slightly, and she made some excuse of making the beds up as she left him standing there. Hammer shrugged to himself and sat down, leaning back on the chair.
"Penny?" a man's voice called to her as she walked away.
"Yes?" she asked, trying to keep her tone pleasant.
"This came for you. The note says it's from Billy," the man said, holding out a brown paper bag for her.
That gave him her attention and Penny's cheeks went red as she took the bag and looked inside it to find two frozen yoghurts. "Thank you. Did he drop it off himself?" she asked, but the man was gone before she finished her question.
She glanced over at Captain Hammer, but he was sitting down while everyone else was rushing around trying to make this ready in time for Monday morning. He had barely lifted those strong hands of his for more than a minute to do anything to help!
Penny clenched the brown bag, then counted slowly to calm herself. Making a decision, she looked at her watch. The laundromat was open, of course, she just hoped she hadn't missed Billy... She wanted to invite him to the Caring Hands' homeless shelter opening tonight.
...
"This is perfect for me, so they say.
I guess he's pretty okay.
After years of stormy sailing, have I finally found the bay?"
The laundromat door opened and Penny couldn't help but look to see if it was Billy. She sighed softly when some stranger walked in.
"There's no happy ending, so they say.
Should I stop pretending,
Or is this a brand new day?"
The frozen yoghurts were starting to melt, and she took the lid off hers, starting to eat slowly.
...
Dead Bowie left the building quickly, watching as Penny left soon after him, the brown bag clutched in her hands. He followed her, waiting until he had seen with his own eyes that she had eaten the frozen yoghurt.
His part of the mission was done. Now it was up to Professor Normal (Professor Boring, he thought with a grin) at the shelter's opening tonight.
Whistling China Girl under his breath, he hurried back to E.L.E headquarters to change back into his usual outfit, and report to Bad Horse.
...
Penny wasn't feeling well at all. Her forehead was starting to burn up, and her hands felt clammy. But Captain Hammer convinced her to get up on the stage with him, saying that he needed her to be there with him, and had she written his speech yet?
She'd handed the small cue cards over, the ones she'd spent all of her afternoon writing, and forced herself to smile as people filtered into the building and sat down, watching her and Hammer on the stage.
"... And in just a few minutes, we'll unveil the statue of the man himself. Justice has a name, and the name it has besides justice, is Captain Hammer. Ladies and gentlemen, your hero," the mayor said and applause sounded as Captain Hammer stood up.
He shook hands with the mayor, moved behind the podium with a broad smile, pulling the cue cards from his glove.
"I hate the homeless-" Captain Hammer began. "-Ness problem that plagues our city. Everyone should have the basic... You know what? I don't need tiny cue cards."
Penny heard a rumbling in her stomach, and even the mayor looked at her quizzically. She really felt sick. Now to top it all off, Hammer wasn't going to use the cards she'd spent hours preparing?
"When I fell deeply in love with my serious, long-term girlfriend, Penny. Wave your hand for me."
Deeply in love? Serious, long-term girlfriend? He'd never mentioned being in love with her, and they'd only been dating for a week! She didn't even know his name. Was he delusional? Penny was embarrassed, but she raised her hand with a slight wave, wondering what Hammer was doing, especially in front of all of the media that had come for the opening.
"There she is. Cute, huh? Sort of a quiet nerdy thing, not my usual, but nice."
Now Penny didn't know if she was sick because of her stomach and fever or because of his words. Why couldn't he just read off the cue cards so she could go home and rest? He knew she wasn't feeling well!
"Anyway. She turned me onto this whole homeless thing, which is terrible. And then I realised I'm not the only hero in the room tonight. I'm not the only one who's fighting...
"It may not feel too classy, begging just to eat.
But you know who does that? Lassie!
And she always gets a treat."
Did he just compare the homeless to a dog? Another lurch in her stomach, and she let out a small whimper of pain that wasn't heard above Captain Hammer's singing.
"So you wonder what your part is,
Because you're homeless and depressed.
But home is where your heart is,
So your real home's in your chest.
"Everyone's a hero in their own way,
Everyone's got villains they must face.
They're not as cool as mine,
But folks, you know it's fine to know your place."
Know your place? What on earth was he talking about? Penny was almost positive that her head was on fire. She tried to block out what Captain Hammer was singing about, but it became difficult to do moments later...
"So I thank my girlfriend, Penny.
Yeah, we totally had sex.
She showed me there's so many,
Different muscles I can flex."
Penny's eyes widened as everyone seated looked to her. Even the mayor was looking at her. They were all judging her, and now she felt more than embarrassed, she was mortified. How could he tell everyone that personal and private information?
"There's the deltoids of compassion.
There's the abs of being kind.
It's not enough to bash in heads,
You've got to bash in minds."
Standing, she tried to keep the smile on her face as she moved to leave and escape their judging eyes. She wiped her clammy hands on her shirt discreetly.
Hammer's song stopped suddenly, and a shiver went up Penny's spine as a low evil laugh sounded. It was a nice contrast to the heat in her head, actually...
Another song began, a more sinister one, one sung by someone who sounded familiar. Penny ran up to the stage and got the mayor leave, ignoring the fact that she didn't feel well. She hid behind the chairs, trying to push away the burning feeling in her head, and the twisting in her stomach. Maybe she could distract whoever this villain was long enough for Captain Hammer to save them.
"It's gonna be bloody,
Head up, Billy buddy,
There's no time for mercy.
Here goes no mercy."
Yet he was being merciful and looked undecided, even as the ray gun behind him faltered. Penny stood up more (Billy buddy?), ready to run out to stop whatever foolish plan Billy - Dr. Horrible - was acting out.
The gun stopped completely, and she let out a small gasp as Hammer punched Dr. Horrible - her Billy buddy - so he flew back across the room.
She watched in disbelief as Captain Hammer - the one who was supposed to be the merciful hero - pointed the death ray down at Billy, his foot on his chest stopping any escape. Penny began to run forward to stop him, knowing it was helpless, even as Hammer squeezed the trigger.
She wasn't sure what happened, but Penny found herself against a wall, pieces of the death ray embedded in her body. Was it too late to recognise the irony? She watched as Billy's eyes widened and he ran to her, while Captain Hammer ran away.
"Penny? Oh. Penny. Penny."
"Billy? Is that you?"
Was breathing and talking always this difficult? At least her head wasn't on fire anymore.
"Penny. Hold on. Oh no, oh no, no, no, no.
"Are you all right?
"Hold on.
"It's okay; it's okay."
She tried to smile again, but that seemed too much.
"Captain Hammer will save us."
He was the hero, he was supposed to save them no matter what. But it was Billy, the villain, who was here beside her. And Penny found that she didn't mind that so much, even as she died for trying to save the villain from the hero.
...
Dr. Horrible carried Penny's body and placed her on the stretcher. He barely saw anyone else, already slipping into a world in his mind.
The ambulance officers pushed the stretcher quickly, putting it in the back of the vehicle. The ambulance drove off and they looked to each other in confusion when they realised that neither one of them were driving. What would anyone want with a dead body?
The media didn't care about the stolen ambulance, nor about the person who had been put inside of it. All were too caught up in the defeat of Captain Hammer and Dr. Horrible's victorious rise to fame.
...
End of Act III.
Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed the first chapter.