Captain Hammer's boot crashed into the door, sending it splintering free of its hinges to fall with a satisfying thud inside the room. He strode inside, confidently (was there any other way?), placed his hands on his hips and shouted: "Doctor Horrible! We meet again! At last-"
The effect was spoiled by the fact that it was so dark inside. His voice echoed, as if several of the rooms had been knocked into a cavernous space. Also, it was freezing cold. His breath made white plumes in the air where the bright light from outside illuminated him, making him a perfect target. In fact, Captain Hammer's brain only just nudged him in time to duck away from the laser beam that missed his bicep by an inch, hitting the wall behind him and sending a cloud of plaster into the air.
"Give up now, Doc!" Hammer said, spluttering. The dust had really got in his eyes! A little more carefully, he moved inside the room, staying close to the wall. A few sturdy metal hooks hung above him on the ceiling, linked by a metal chain, They creaked as they swung. "You can't get away this time!" Hammer could see a couple of weak pools of light as his eyes adjusted and what looked like some kind of work bench. Behind it… a shadowy figure. Hammer's hands clenched into fists inside his gloves. This time… yeah, all he needed was his fists. He's pound that little weasel well and good. He's pay him back for everything - the ten weeks of therapy, the humiliation of having to re-apply to the Heroes Union and… for the nerdy red-haired chick. He breathed hard, warm air snorting from his flared nostrils like an enraged bull.
Continuing to move forward, telling himself he was being stealthy rather than cautious, Hammer kept his eyes on that workbench. These last few weeks had been a dark time for the city of LA. The spate of disgusting, inhuman crimes carried out by a ray-gun toting menace had all been attributed to the bad Doctor. Oh, how the Evil League must have laughed, thinking Hammer was now out of the picture. How he'd prove them wrong! For Los Angeles. For America! Captain Hammer stood a little taller, chin jutting out.
"Give it up, Doc. You know you never stood a chance against me…" His tone was softer now, a dangerous growl. The shadowy figure didn't answer him, but even so, Captain Hammer knew something was wrong. His silhouette… not the sleek, mad-scientist-coated shape that was so familiar… bulkier somehow. The head was too large….
Then he had it! The little snake was wearing…
"A parka? Ha ha ha…" Captain Hammer chuckled. "What's 'a matter? Mummy wrap you up to protect you from the cold? I say, Doc, I'd never thought I'd see the day-"
"Shut up, you idiot!" The figure levelled a gun at him. It was a new design, all glass tubing and flickering blue light. "You really have no idea, do you?" The figure pulled the fur-lined hood of his coat down round his neck, revealing a familiar-and-yet-unfamiliar face.
"Johnny?" Hammer said with dumb realisation. "Johnny Snow?"
His brow furrowed as what was quite clearly Johnny Snow stepped back, revealing something behind him, swinging on one of those metal hooks from the ceiling. It was… a…
Captain Hammer paled. He swallowed. "No…"
What was suspended from the hook in the ceiling was a human body. A person. A naked person. A naked person wearing only a pair of goggles and white boots. A dead-looking naked person.
"No…"
"Weeeell," Johnny drawled, his eyes ice-blue, flashing in the dimly flickering light. "I had to get him out of the way if I'm going to take over the world and set it to rights."
"You…" Hammer's gaze was torn between Johnny and the swinging body of Doctor Horrible. "Is he… dead?"
"He he he he…" Johnny's laugh was small, thin and irritating. A bit like him, Hammer thought. "Not yet. Bet he wishes he was when he wakes up though. Nah, I didn't kill him!"
"But you… killed… all the others. Everything, the last two weeks… that was all you?" Hammer looked up at Johnny with something close to respect.
"Eeee! Of course, dufus! Strike one for the good guys, eh?" Johnny's knuckles whitened as he clutched the laser-gun to his chest. "Us super-heroes… We always lose, the villians always win. And why? Because they never play by the rules, man! From now on, 's gonna be my rules, man!"
Hammer's head swivelled, eyes darting from Snow to Horrible and back again. "Yeah…" He said weakly, then. "Yeah…! All you need to do now is finish him!" He jerked his thumb at the pathetic figure swinging from the meat-hook. "Tidy up the loose ends?"
Johnny's skeletal features split into a grin. "Yeah, man. Yeah!" His body swivelled around to face Doctor Horrible's dangling body.
"But hey… buddy…" Hammer said gently. "Be a pal? Let me do it? Let me kill him?" His grin didn't reach his eyes. "After all, I've got the more reason to be pissed at this loser than you have. He did kill my… my…"
Johnny nodded eagerly. "Your girlfriend, yeah man. That was harsh." The tip of the laser dropped in his hands. "How'd ya wanna do it? I've got stuff…" Johnny indicated the work bench in front of him and for the first time Hammer was close enough to see the instruments it contained. Sharp and pointy metal instruments.
Hammer smiled glassily. "I think I'd like to turn one of his own inventions against him. Let me do it with that laser?" He gestured to the gun in Johnny's hands.
"Sure dude," Johnny said, hefting the weapon to hand it over. "You want I should wake him up first?"
"Nah, that won't be necessary," Hammer said, holding the gun in one hand as if it were no more than a toy. He grinned. "Finally…" He mused. "Finally I get to kill the bad guy!"
With a flick of his wrist he fired the weapon into Johnny's chest, the ice-beam burning a hole right through the parker-clad former super-hero.