Hey guys! I always wondered what Penny's life was like. Because even though she's a main character, we don't really get to hear much about her. So this kind of explores what she went through during the events of Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog.

Disclaimer: If some of the dialogue sounds familiar, that's cuz it's from the show. I don't own any of it, and this was purely a personal exploration project. Hope you enjoy!

Flipping the Coin

Act I

Penny Cooper stood on the corner with her petition.

"Will you help?" She tried to offer the clipboard to a passing couple, but they just looked down and hurried away. It was just as embarrassing for her to stand on the corner and offer them the papers, as it was for them to turn her down.

"Please, just sign. You don't even have to read it." She asked a mother and her child. They, hurried along, mother urging the child into a walk so fast it was almost a run. Penny sighed. She just wanted to make the world a better place for other people, since she couldn't do that for herself. She looked around at all the people going about their days. The teenage girls on their way to the mall, parent's twenties sitting safely in the pockets of their jean shorts, ready to be spent on anything from food to cosmetics. These girls wouldn't know hardship. There were the teen age boys, skateboarding across benches and handrails. They looked scruffy, but Penny knew that each one of them had a parent that loved them. None of these people, not the teens, or the caring mother, not the couple, knew how terrible the homeless had it.

But she did, and that spurred her on, more then any amount of signatures could. She knew the cold nights, where you could only fall half-asleep, and had to be ready at a moment's notice to protect yourself or your belongings, how you had to endure the looks of pity and disgust from every passerby, it they bothered to look at you at all.

"Penny?" A voice broke her out of her revere. It was her room mate, and coworker, Nicole.

"We need to get to work darlin'." Nicole called from the window of her car. Penny tucked the clipboard under her arm and quickly slid into the passenger side of the car, ready to get out of the neighborhood as fast as she could.

Penny worked as the receptionist at a charity clinic where Nicole was a nurse. She was happy with her job, and the way it was going. She was able to help people, and it didn't matter wether or not they had insurance, or could pay at all....

"Penny!" Penny looked up from her desk to see the HR rep. walking toward her.

"Hey Mr. Johnson." She greeted, smiling. They say if you love what you do, you'll never work a day in your life. Penny's never actually worked a day in her life.

"Penny." He repeated, in a more somber tone. Penny shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She clicked the caring hands window closed on the ancient computer, and started organizing the stacks of paperwork on her desk.

"You've been a wonderful employee, but the checks came in, and there's just..." Penny braced herself for the worst. She had tried to make herself invaluable, and she thought she had done a good job, she had impeccable bookkeeping, and there had never been one complaint about her service, but apparently it hadn't been enough.

"I trust you know what to do, and you'll clear out by Friday." Mr. Johnson actually had the decency to look saddened as he walked away. Penny angrily dumped the cardboard box under her desk of things that needed to be filed, let someone else do it, and began packing up her things.

Penny didn't have very much, only a few silly photos in funny frames, and her 'office utensils', which she dumped into the box, not caring wether or not they survived the rough treatment. She hefted the box, balancing it on her hip, while she navigated her way to Nicole's station.

"Penny? What do you need?" Nicole asked, concernedly looking up at her friend.

"I got fired." Penny mumbled, embarrassed. "Can I leave my stuff here till you get off?" She asked Nicole.

"Of course! Where are you gonna go? I'll just pick you up when I'm done here." Nicole offered, taking the box over the laminate countertop and stowing it out of sight.

"I think I'm just gonna head over to the park, maybe something will happen there." Penny said, before turning toward the door.

"Pen," Nicole stopped her. "I'm so sorry." Penny looked back at her sympathetic friend with a smile.

"No, don't worry. Everything happens." She said, before walking out the door to the street.

Penny ended up in the city park, sitting on a bench, reading. She was trying to lose herself in the plot of the story, but her mind kept wandering towards all the new problems she had to solve. Rent, food, utility bills, all the expenses that Nicole's paycheck wouldn't totally cover. Penny was so engrossed in thought, a slight clicking in the bushes made her jump. She looked around, alarmed. She had heard plenty of horror stories of just what happened to lonely women on their own. Penny marked the page in her book, and got up. A woman on the move was far safer then the girl who sat oblivious, In her mind anyways.

Time must have flown by while Penny was lost in thought, because she ran into Nicole on her walk around the perimeter of the park a couple minutes later.

They rode home in an awkward silence, arriving none too soon at the apartment they shared.

"So, how was the park?" Nicole asked, trying to start conversation as she flopped down on their couch, in front to the tiny tv. Nicole loved her reality shows, and Penny hated tv, so the room fell silent.

"I'll make dinner." Penny suggested, a weak excuse to get out of there and be alone, which seemed to be what she really wanted to do.

Penny woke up the next morning to find the house empty, and a note from Nicole, saying that she'd be out late. Penny wasn't bothered by this, she actually appreciated the time alone every once in a while, and if it involved Nicole going out on party days, it was worth it.

Penny dressed quickly, and, foregoing breakfast, grabbed her clipboard and headed down the street to the condemned hotel. She sighed, thinking of her failure yesterday, and steeling herself for the worst today. She stood in front of the building, asking people as politely as she could to sign the petition, pleading that they didn't even have to read it. But the general public is blind to the needs of the lower class, and after an hour, she still had no signatures. Some movement in an alleyway caught her attention, and, despite the better judgment, she walked over to investigate. Luckily for her, what she found was less then terrifying.

It was one of the regulars, she thought, from the laundry mat. The shy, awkward, sweet guy who lived alone, hadn't had a girlfriend in a while, and worked with chemicals. Penny prided herself on being able to read people and their laundry. She also though he may have a crush on her, but she wasn't quite sure yet.

In any case, he may sign, and it didn't look like he was doing anything important, so she nervously walked up to him.

"Will you lend a caring hand?" She asked, as sweetly as she could. Penny had received many answers to this question, apologetic, rude, sympathetic, but she had never been screamed at. There weren't even words, just "Aaaah!" She was speechless.

"What?" He asked, after calming down a bit.

"I was wondering if I could just..." She paused, it was the guy from the laundry mat. That made this so much easier.

"I know you!" She smiled, maybe they could become laundry buddies? 'Don't get ahead of yourself Penny girl.' She chastised.

"Hello, you know me? Cool!" He seemed pleasantly surprised, and slightly over eager. 'Maybe that laundry fantasy isn't so far off..'

"I mean..." There was that awkwardness, she smiled, it was adorable. "Yeah, you do. Do you?" It took Penny a second to wrap her mind around that circle. Was he not from the coin wash? She suddenly felt really embarrassed.

"From the laundry mat?" it was more of a question then a statement. If this wasn't him, Penny was pretty sure she would die of embarrassment.

"Oh, Wednesdays and Saturdays except twice last month you missed a weekend." Penny was slightly taken aback by that. Crush theory, check! He seemed to realize that that wasn't what he should have said, so he tried desperately to cover it up, "or... if that was you, it could have been someone else." She found it adorable, even if it was slightly creepy. But then again, didn't she know all about his schedule? She wasn't really one to talk, let alone judge someone on the fact that they were observant.

"I mean I've seen you." Penny paused, unable to decide how exactly to react to this situation.

"Billy, is my name." She smiled at his stilted sentence coverup.

"I'm Penny" She smiled, and cheerfully extended a hand, but Billy has already gone back to his phone-remote contraption. She hesitatingly continued,

"Um, what are you doing?" She asked. Come on Penny, reel him in. First signature of the- well, ever, actually.

"Texting, it's very important." He was so engrossed in the little buttons on the touch screen that she had a feeling she could just walk away and nobody would notice.

"It's very important, or I would stop." Penny rolled her eyes, but stayed put, this was the most action she'd seen all day, and she wasn't going to give up just yet.

"What are you doing?" Penny prepared herself to give the speech she'd practiced dozens of times back at the apartment. She glanced at the clipboard and began reciting.

"Actually, I'm out here volunteering for the caring hands homeless shelter, Can you spare a minute?" Why was he looking away? 'The homeless aren't that scary.' Penny mentally rolled her eyes.

"Um, Okay, go." Penny smiled, a little nervous, this was the first person she'd gotten to pay her any mind. She was going to get a grip and dive right in.

"Okay, um, we are hoping to open a new location soon, expand our efforts." He looked interested, that was good, right? "There's this great building nearby that the city is just going to demolish and turn into a parking lot.." Telling someone besides her reflection about this injustice felt really good, Penny was surprised at how, instead of shrinking back for his approval, she kept going, caring more about her cause then his opinion of her. She smiled.

"But if we get enough signatures--"

"Signatures?" Billy cut her off, rolling his eyes and sounding cynical, and completely unlike he had earlier.

"Yeah." Penny matched his tone. What else was she supposed to do. A hero could maybe just convince the mayor, but she wasn't a hero, not yet at least. And he was looking at his phone again.

"I'm sorry, go on." He seemed sorry, almost. But Penny let it go, and continued.

"I was saying, um, maybe we could get the city to donate the building to our cause." He looked cynical again, but she continued.

"We would be able to provide two hundred and fifty new beds, get people off the streets and into job training..." and he was distracted again. What was so important that he couldn't spend two minutes listening to her? Penny was ready to give up. "So they can buy rocket packs and go to the moon, and become florists." She finished, only slightly bitter. But the in and out mood swings she had witnessed seemed to hint at something else.

"You're not really interested in the homeless, are you?" He turned back, finally paying attention to her, and not whatever was down the ally way.

"No, I am." He at least sounded a little apologetic for his in attentiveness. "But they're a symptom, you're treating a symptom as the disease rages on, consuming the human race." Penny almost wished she could write this down, for an awkward, almost anti-social person, Billy had a way with words, she could use this metaphor in her own speech, and maybe it would be more effective.

"The fish rots from the head, so they say," He made a lot of sense. "So my thinking is, why not cut off the head?" Wait, cut off the head of what the disease is ravaging, which is the human race. Penny's mind finally caught up.

"Of the human race?" She asked. That couldn't be what he had meant to imply, but that's how it came out. He looked slightly uncomfortable, now that his metaphor had been reiterated and examined.

"It's not a perfect metaphor, I'm talking about an overhaul of the system." Penny felt elated again, they were on the same page! "Putting the power in different hands." Wasn't that what she was trying to say?

"Well, I'm all for that." But he missed the point of the petition. "This petition is about the building?" She ventured again, and was almost surprised to her him say,

"I'd love to sign it." She handed him the pen.

"Thank you!" Penny flipped through the actual petition to the signature page, and pointed.

"I-I'm sorry, I come on strong." Penny almost missed his comment, in the heady rush she was getting, Billy was signing, and standing so close, he smelled like detergent and something she couldn't really place. It was like a dream, then he stepped away, and the feeling was mostly gone.

"But you signed." She smiled, clutching the petition, all the more precious, since someone else approved.

"Well, I wouldn't want to turn my back on a fellow..." Fellow what? Humanitarian? Common-place hero? "Laundry... person." Oh, well, it was better then nothing, she guessed.

"Well, if we can't stick together, I don't-"" Billy's phone made a terrible screeching sound, but she ignored it, he didn't, and he turned around again, effectively cutting her off. When he didn't turn back, Penny decided it was time to excuse herself.

"I'll probably see you there." Then she walked off. Well, she thought he liked her. With the relationship drama aside, she jumped a little bit. The whole exchange had given her the confidence to more actively pursue the elusive signatures. There was a distinct bounce in her step as she exited the ally way, and a smile on her face as she approached the first person she saw on the street.

"Homelessness is a disease, that's corrupting the human race." Okay, maybe that was a little strong, but the woman she had stopped wasn't trying to leave. "If you sign this petition, Caring Hands homeless shelter will be able to convince the city council to donate that building there," she pointed to the goal, "so we can turn it into a shelter, and save the people of Los Angeles from this horrid disease." The woman signed. That was two signatures in the span of five minutes. Penny was getting really excited now. She was actually helping, not just pretending to, and she was going to make a difference. She thought happily about how the shelter would hire her to run the building she would get them, and how then she and Nicole would not have to worry about their rent, or bills, because managing a homeless shelter would get her enough to cover everything herself. She smiled giddily, and wished she had a cell phone so she could call Nicole and tell her the good news. Penny was so wrapped up in dreaming about her perfect future, that he didn't notice the black van racing towards her until it was only feet away. Was this how she was going to go? She'd always wanted to go out at a high point in her life, but this couldn't qualify. Penny panicked, what was she supposed to do? She couldn't out run the van, and it had turned the corner by it's self, so what if it swerved and hit her as she tried to step out of the way? Luckily, Penny didn't have to think for long, because Captain Hammer jumped, from where Penny couldn't tell, and pushed her out of the way, preparing himself to stop the van with brute strength. Penny waited to hear the- what ever sound a car made when it ran over an unsuspecting human, but the sound never came. Instead, she heard two raps on the van, and voices start arguing.

"You Idiot!" Who was that? Penny tried to push herself up to see who had joined Captain Hammer.

"Dr. Horrible, I should have known you were behind this." Penny had heard of Dr. Horrible. He was a two-bit villain, nothing threatening, but apparently he had been underestimated. Penny's hand hit something wet, and she it finally registered that she was laying in a giant pile of garbage. Suddenly, it was more important to get out. But standing up was harder then it seemed. The voices continued.

"You almost killed her." Her? Did he care about the car that much? Penny couldn't imagine it was his. Black didn't seem to be his color.

"I remember it differently." Captain Hammer corrected.

"Is she-" Dr. Horrible cut him off. Penny realized that she couldn't focus on their banter and get up at the same time, so she tuned the two men out. She finally managed to get to the top of the pile, and saw Captain Hammer with his hands around Dr. Horrible's throat. Penny was not an advocate for violence, ever. So She started talking to distract Hammer, who in her opinion, as a hero, should have come and helped her up.

"Thank you hammer man, I don't think I can explain how important it was that you stopped the van." She was, however, dying to explain how important it was. If she had been crushed, who would be able to take her place in the quest for the shelter? Penne blushed as she tripped over a bag, giving up hope that one of those men would be chivalrous and help her out, since unfortunately, Captain Hammer seemed to be more interested in smashing Dr. Horrible's head into the van, and staring at her like a piece of meat. "I would be splattered, I'd be crushed under debris." She stepped onto solid ground, thankfully, and got a good look at her, admittedly handsome hero. She couldn't help it, she was smitten. "Thank you, sir, for saving me." He looked her up and down, before callously remarking,

"Don't worry about it." He tossed Dr. Horrible aside, and turned back to her. Penny continued, admitting to herself that she wanted him. "You came from above." Well, that was cheesy, Penny wished she could take it back. "I wonder what you're captain of." She murmured, trying another line out before she actually said it.

"Seems destiny ends with me saving you." He looked like he was seeing her for the first time, and he started towards her. Penny was nervous. She'd never picked up a guy before, let alone one like Captain Hammer, and her last relationship had ended so badly. But then he was flexing, and she found herself admitting how fast her heard was actually going.

"Must be in shock." She excused it, sheepishly, but who could blame her for the word vomit when he was looking at her like that? Penny couldn't help but go all the way with what she said next.

"Assuming I'm not loving you to death." He smiled, and she knew she'd won. "Please give me a sec to catch my breath." He stroked her face, and she took a step back. It was a little much, even though he seemed to agree on their instant connection.

"I'm Penny." She offered her hand.

"Captain Hammer" He said, as he took her hand, and pulled her closer to him. "But you knew that." She smiled, he was cute, even if what he said was corny.

"So Penny, you must be shaken." He started. Penny wasn't really, but she nodded anyways.

"How about you get cleaned up, and I can take you out to make up for it?" It was phrased like a question, but Penny knew she couldn't say no. Besides, it looked to her like she had the city's biggest hero on a string, and that could do wonders for her plan for the future.

"That sounds nice." She agreed, and Captain Hammer started leading her towards where she assumed he had parked his car.