Everything I Ever

Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews! I was pleasantly surprised to see people notice my intentional switching between "Billy" and "Dr. Horrible." I almost mentioned it in my first author's note because I was afraid people might think it was a mistake. Anyway, that said, enjoy.

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Chapter 2: Of Death and Rebirth

"What do you mean, 'the freeze ray's not ready?'" Snake Bite shouted over the jet's engines. The private jet had been provided courtesy of Bad Horse himself, leaving no question of how important this assignment was.

"We don't need it," Dr. Horrible insisted. "I can shut down the security system. It's on you to get in without waking them up."

Snake Bite rolled her eyes. "Fine, fine. Where's your equipment?"

He looked down at his empty hands and gave a dismissive wave. "We'll stop at a Radio Shack when we get there."

"Did you do anything?"

"I have a plan. Without me, you'd be trying to sneak up on this kid at the playground."

"Whatever. If this goes bad, I'm not taking the fall."

"It won't go bad. Not if you're as good as they say."

They boarded the jet without another word. Snake Bite took the seat behind the captain's cabin. Dr. Horrible went to the back, sitting as far away from her as possible. He leaned back in his chair, trying not to think about the corpse in his lab.

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Penny stopped running, bent double and wheezing. Her head pounded, but she forced herself to take stock of the situation. She had no idea where she was or how she got there. She tried again to remember where she had been before she woke up, but still all that came to her mind was a faceless sea of people and a voice. A man's voice.
She looked at her surroundings. The street was unfamiliar and empty, and there was something ominous about it, as though the trees themselves were holding their breaths, waiting for something terrible to happen.

She shivered, feeling exposed in her black dress. Her feet ached in the shoes too tight for her feet. Where were all the people? There should have been people out walking around, kids playing on front lawns, cars driving past.

As though in answer to her question, something moved at the edge of her vision. She looked around to see the curtain in a house's window wavering, as though someone had just swept it shut. She bolted up the path to the house.

When she rang the doorbell, no one answered. She knocked, but still nothing. "I'm sorry to bother you," she said, unsure if anyone could even hear her. "I need help."

There was a sound of movement from within, and the door opened a crack. An elderly woman with her hair in pink curlers peeked out. "What do you want?" she asked.

Penny wavered. "Please, ma'am. I don't know where I am. Can…"

The door slammed shut in her face. She stumbled backwards and let out a yelp of surprise as she almost fell off the stoop. She walked slowly back to the street.

A large sign on a nearby lamppost caught her attention. She moved closer. It was a wanted poster, slightly worn as though it had been up for a long time. The picture was a head-shot of a man in a red lab coat with a pair of goggles on his forehead.

The blurry image of a figure in white flashed through her mind, accompanied by a stab of pain. She clutched her head, squeezing her eyes shut until the feeling ebbed. She forced herself to read the poster:

Alias(es): Dr. Horrible

True Identity: Unknown

Organization(s): Evil League of Evil

Known Associate(s): Moist (Henchmen's Union, treasurer), Bad Horse (Evil League of Evil, leader)

Possible Associate(s): Professor Normal (Evil League of Evil), Purple Pimp (Freelance Villains' Union)

Known Arsenal: Freeze Ray, Death Ray

Other Known Disguise(s): white lab coat, white boots, white gloves, black goggles

If you have any information about this or any other villain, please contact the police department at 555-3845. Consider this man armed and highly dangerous.

Penny stared at the description of the second disguise, trying to bring the picture in her mind into clearer focus. Was this the mysterious white figure? She stared at the pale, expressionless face depicted. A dull pain returned at the base of her skull, but that only made her concentrate harder. She felt as though she should recognize this man. The fact that she did not was very disconcerting. Had something happened to her mind? She could not have total amnesia. She knew who she was. She could remember the details of her childhood, the daily minutia of her life. She must have forgotten something, though, because she had no idea what was going on.

A loud crash jolted her from her thoughts. She tore her eyes from the poster and looked around to see six preteen boys in red lab coats jogging away from a house with a shattered window, laughing.

"Hey!" Penny called. She regretted it at once as the boys glanced at her and took off at a dead run. She hurried after them, but she had no hope of catching up in her heels. "Wait, I just want to talk!"

One of the boys tripped over his coat and fell flat on his face. The others did not even break stride. The fallen boy tried to get up, but Penny caught up and grabbed the back of his coat with a desperation she had never felt before.

"They made me do it!" the boy cried, cheeks bright red and eyes fearful. "Please don't turn me in!"

"I'm not going to turn you in. I just want to ask you some questions, I promise."

The boy stared at her, his lip quivering. "O…okay," he stammered.

Penny released him but kept a hand on his shoulder to make sure he would not try to run again. "What street is this?"

"Jefferson."

"What's going on here? Why is there no one around?"

The boy furrowed his brow "You don't know?"

"Know what?"

"It's been all over the news for months. Captain Hammer's gone. This is Bad Horse's city now."

The name Captain Hammer stuck in Penny's mind, as though she should have known it. "What happened to him?"

The boy shrugged. "He just kind of disappeared after the whole Dr. Horrible incident. Everyone thought he'd come back, but..." He trailed off, tilting his head to one side with his eyes narrowed at Penny.

She did not notice, too focused on her disappointment. "Oh. Well, thanks anyway." She turned to walk away but made it only a few yards before she heard the boy's voice again.

"Wait!"

Footsteps slapped against the pavement as he rushed to catch up with her. His jaw dropped when he saw her face again.

"Oh my God. It's you! You're...you're What's-Her-Name!"

"Huh?"

"Captain Hammer's girlfriend!"

"I...um..." Penny said, taken aback. This had to be some mistake. But then…why did she recognize Captain Hammer's name?

The boy continued on as though he did not hear her. "But you're...where have you been?"

Penny shook her head, sighing. "Honestly, I don't know." She glanced around. "Listen, um...do you have to be home anytime soon?"

The boy snorted but quickly composed his face to seriousness again and shook his head. "Nope."

"Do you know where Captain Hammer lives?"

He nodded, grinning. "I'll take you there."

"Thank you." Maybe now she would get some answers.

The walk was shorter than Penny had thought it would be—just a few streets—but she was grateful. Her feet felt swollen and numb, but they were the furthest things from her mind. She was more concerned with the empty streets. She had never known the city to be so utterly devoid of people. Occasionally, a huddled group passed them, but the groups never stayed on the street for long, and the only two cars she saw drove by at twice the speed limit, disappearing around corners before she could even glimpse the drivers.

Just how much time had she lost?

The boy stopped in front of a lavish apartment complex with walls covered in graffiti. "Want me to wait for you?" he asked.

"No, that's okay," Penny said vaguely as she walked up to the door.

An expansive hall opened up in front of her, decorated with expensive furniture and intricate designs painted on the walls. At the curved front desk, a young doorman stood at a computer, typing something. He looked up when she entered.

"Excuse me, ma'am." The man eyed her disheveled appearance with suspicion. "What is your business here?"

"I'm here to see Captain Hammer," she said, hoping she sounded more confident than she felt.

To her surprise, the man looked relieved. Then he smirked, his eyes sweeping over her again in a way that made her skin crawl. "Nice to see he's back to his old self. He's in the penthouse on the top floor."

Penny thanked him and moved toward the elevator as gracefully as she could manage while her feet throbbed with every step. Once the doors shut, she leaned against the wall and yanked the shoes from her feet, letting out a sigh of relief with each. When she reached the top floor, she walked barefoot down the short hallway to the only door and knocked on it.

No one answered.

Wondering if he was even home, she raised her hand to knock again and froze, pressing her ear against the door. She thought she had heard something moving inside.

"Hello?" she called.

Nothing.

"Captain Hammer?"

"Go away!" a shrill, yet unmistakably masculine voice yelled.

Penny backed up and nearly turned to leave, but her desperation made her reach for the doorknob. She stopped herself, but not before realizing that the door was unlocked. Taking a deep breath and gathering her courage, she pushed it open. As she did so, she heard hurried footsteps inside.

The stale air inside hit her so hard she stumbled, pressing the back of her hand to her mouth. The room beyond was dark, its windows shuttered, and in spite of the smell, it was immaculately clean. There was a couch in the middle of the floor, facing away from the door, an armchair sitting beside it, reminding her of a therapist's office. A pair of wilting ferns stood on tables on either side of the room.

"Hello?" She moved slowly forward, peering into open doors. She saw a large, sterile-looking kitchen with an attached dining room. Down a hallway, there were two richly decorated bathrooms and three extra bedrooms, two of which were full of mismatched but expensive looking furniture. The third seemed to hold just an excess of trophies, plaques, and medals on shelves, scattered over tables, and even in heaping piles on the floor. At the end of the hallway, she found the master bedroom. In contrast to the rest of the apartment, it was sparsely decorated with just a bed and a nightstand with a lamp. On the other side of the bed, a muscular man crouched in the corner with his back to her. A hissing whisper issued from him.

"Captain Hammer?" Penny repeated, approaching cautiously.

The whisper grew intelligible as she drew closer. "...lock the door. He didn't lock the door. Stupid, useless..." He leaned his head against the wall and hunched his shoulders so he curled up into as small of a space as possible.

Penny stooped behind the man, touching his shoulder. "Are—?"

The man twisted around so fast she fell backward and hit the ground hard. She groaned, but the sound was drowned out by the man's yelp of fear. He cowered against the wall, his hands up over his face. On his shirt, she saw a picture of a hammer.

"It wasn't my fault!" His voice was so strangled she could barely understand him. "Don't hurt me!"

"Hey, hey," Penny touched the man's arm, shocked at how warm his skin felt under hers and how pale her skin looked next to his even though he looked like he had not seen the sun in months. "Shh, it's okay. I'm not going to hurt you."

Several tense moments passed. Then, slowly, he lowered his arms.

The picture of the faceless crowd flashed unbidden through Penny's mind again. This time, however, she saw this man—Captain Hammer—standing at the podium on the stage. His was the voice she heard.

Without thinking, Penny reached toward his face.

He jerked back at away at first, but then allowed her to run her fingers along his cheek. He reached up a shaking hand to cover hers. Then, without warning, he leaned in.

Penny drew back, pushing herself to her feet. She took a few steps away and stood awkwardly in the middle of the floor with her arms crossed.

"Are you a ghost?" the man asked.

She turned back. "What?"

"They told me you died," he said faintly.

Her heart leaped into her throat. "Who told you?"

"My ther...the police," he said. "They said…" He gave a fearful glance towards the nearest window and lowered his voice to a whisper "…Dr. Horrible killed you."

Dr. Horrible. Penny remembered what the boy had said and summoned the blurry image of the man in white. Had he done something to her brain? If so, what did he want her to forget?

Captain Hammer was on his feet now, though she could not remember him standing up. He stepped toward her and stopped just inches away, towering over her. His hand ran lightly over her hair, drifting forward to rest on her cheek. He leaned in again.

This time, she did not back away.

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Dr. Horrible stood outside the mansion gates, watching the seconds tick by on his watch. Snake Bite was taking too long. His security deactivator worked like a dream, considering how little time he had to build it, but he worried about the cloaking device he had thrown together for her. His last attempt at one was two years previous, early in his evil career when he was still doing grunt work for other villains. Needless to say, it had not been successful and was the reason why he could no longer pass within ten miles of Pasadena, California, without risking a bullet in the back of the head.

Snake Bite had wanted him to go in with her, of course, as a good faith gesture. He had declined with the excuse that the cloaking device would only work for one person. The real reason was that he could not allow himself to see the murder. Originally he had planned to go with her, but recent events made him err on the side of caution. Billy's emotions were at the surface, and Dr. Horrible could not risk jeopardizing the assignment. Just standing outside the gates knowing that Snake Bite was inside pumping venom into a ten-year-old was almost too much for him to handle.

Loud barking interrupted his thoughts. He looked up to see a dark figure rushing away from the mansion at breakneck speed, a pack of dogs at its heels. Dr. Horrible lifted the remote he had wired into the security system and pressed several buttons. The door creaked open just in time for Snake Bite to slip through, slamming the gate shut behind her and doubling over.

"You...bastard!" she gasped through ragged breaths.

"Did you do it?" Dr. Horrible asked.

"No thanks...to you." She straightened up, wincing as her back popped audibly. "Amateur."

"I did my job. I got you in. If you got caught, it would've been your own fault."

She pointed a finger in his face. "Bad Horse is hearing about this." She stumbled off down the driveway, clutching a stitch in her side.

Dr. Horrible followed, grumbling under his breath while a hint of panic bubbled under the surface of his mind. Even more than jeopardizing the assignment, he could not afford to have Bad Horse suspecting his loyalty when he had not yet cleaned up the mess of his unauthorized experiment.

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Author's Note: Please review. This chapter actually ended in a different spot than originally intended since it seemed wrong to give Dr. Horrible just that short part at the beginning. I haven't decided yet exactly where the next chapter's going to cut off, but my teaser should be accurate anyway. Next chapter: As Penny continues the task of repairing her broken memory, Billy's plan to clean up the mess of the Wonderflonium experiment becomes a lot more complicated.