Billy stepped down from the ladder onto the concrete floor of the damp, dark tunnel. Dead Bowie was standing a few feet from him and holding out a flashlight to illuminate their surroundings. Professor Normal and Fury Leika were above him, climbing down the ladder that descended from the street above.

Billy hated these tunnels. In addition to the dark and dampness, they had a strange musty smell and sometimes there were rats. There were crumbling and cracked walls or pillars that always made him question the structural integrity of these tunnels. And some areas were caved in, though whether done on purpose to keep the public out or by earthquakes, Billy was never certain.

There were always strange relics down here, too. Signs that marked the no-longer-existent exits or platforms dotted the length of the tunnels. Sometimes closets with old toilets or cleaning supplies could be found. Once, he had stepped on an ancient pair of glasses and kicked a lady's glove that he assumed had once been white.

The way sound echoed through the tunnel when he walked … Billy found it all very creepy. He didn't like how old and dirty everything was. He didn't like the little reminders that all things perished and crumbled with time. He'd much prefer to be up on the streets where he could think of progress and the shiny prospect of a new world order that he ruled over.

So that was what he focused his attention on while he and the three accompanying members of the ELE started their trek down the tunnel. This one still held old trolley tracks, and Billy averted his eyes, looking instead at the back of Dead Bowie's head.

The other half of the League had decided to split up to explore another tunnel in case the wonderflonium had been moved. Bad Horse hadn't joined either group. He remained back at headquarters, ensuring preparations were in place to remove the flonium from the city should they succeed. Billy didn't want to think of what might happen if they didn't.

The master plan was to build a giant freeze ray using blue prints from Billy's two-handed one. It would need a lot of wonderflonium to get up and running. Los Angeles' supplies were just the first step - everything they needed to take control of the city. Once they secured their hold…

Well, Billy wasn't quite sure how it was all supposed to work out. He'd been out of the loop for a while, what with trying to bring Penny back. But he knew the general idea was to make it to the governor. They'd take over the state of California, and then they'd move on from there. But first, they had to drudge through this grimy tunnel.

The tunnel wasn't very long, and yet Billy felt it took forever to walk it. True, it was dark and they were going slow to make sure they didn't miss anything, but Billy wanted nothing more more than to just get out of here. That, and he wondered if Moist had had any luck with finding Penny.

"This is it," said Bowie as they reached the end. The tunnel was caved in, and they were blocked from going further.

"The flonium's not here!" cried Professor Normal in frustration.

Billy felt his spirits sink. They'd come all this way for nothing, it seemed. With any luck, the other group would have found something. At least, he hoped so.

"Wait!" yelled Fury Leika, stepping forward and grabbing Dead Bowie's arm. The flashlight swung upward, briefly illuminating a gap between the rocks at about waist height. There, the light caught something that wasn't rock.

"The wonderflonium!" Bowie fell forward onto his knees, shining the light through the hole. They could all plainly see the briefcase within. As he swung the beam from side to side, they could see more briefcases, all labeled.

"How do we get to it?" asked Billy as he stepped forward and pulled on one of the rocks, which were a quarter of his size. They didn't budge. The LAPD must have piled the flonium back there and then painstakingly built the wall to keep the ELE out. There was no way this had been the result of a cave in or the flonium wouldn't be intact.

"I can get it," said Fury, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a handful in incendiary rice.

"No!" Billy told her. "If we blow up the wonderflonium, we've wasted everything."

Professor Normal flexed his fingertips as Fury put the rice back in her pocket. His goal had always been to make himself fully bionic, though the process was slow and he seemed to make completely useless parts of himself into machine. In addition to his bionic mutton chops, in the past two years he had made progress on his promised bionic arm by finally achieving bionic fingertips.

Billy stepped aside to watch as Professor Normal strode forward. He was curious if those finger tips were as useless as they looked. Normal gripped a rock, smiled in his confidence, and pulled.

Absolutely nothing happened.

Billy restrained the urge to slap a hand to his forehead as Normal continued to try. Idiots! He was surrounded by idiots!

"We're all awaiting your brilliant idea, Dr. Horrible," said Dead Bowie, swinging the flashlight in his direction and catching Billy's apparent frustration with his fellow villains.

Billy faced the group in front of him. He knew what they thought of him, that he didn't have what it took to be in the ELE, that the only reason Bad Horse had kept him around after his negligence to his duties the past two years was because he was needed to build the giant freeze ray. Well, Billy would show them. He'd prove them wrong.

"Give me that thing!" he said, grabbing the flashlight. He knew there was nothing he could do about the rock pile. He didn't have super strength, but maybe he could find something in the tunnel itself that could help them.

They walked back down the length of the tunnel. Billy swept the light from side to side, searching for anything that might aid them. Something as simple as rope or some wire could be used to tie around one of the rocks. With all of them pulling, they might be able to loosen one and slowly take the wall down or at least make the hole bigger. Even something like a crowbar could be used as leverage and would be better than nothing.

He was starting to think the LAPD had done their job too well, that they had completely cleaned the area and there was nothing to be found when he kicked the ground in frustration. A piece of the track came lose, and Billy bent to examine it. Much of the track was rusted or otherwise damaged. But this piece seemed fine.

Billy took it and went back to the wall of rocks blocking their path. He knew his companions thought his idea foolish, and he could hear them chuckling in his head, even though none of them had actually made a sound. He'd show them. He'd get the rocks loose, and he would reach the wonderflonium. And then they would stop talking about him behind his back.

He walked back and forth along the wall, trying to find the best spot. If he chose poorly, the whole wall would come down, risking damage to the flonium. In the end, he decided to attempt to widen the hole where the flonium could be seen through.

It was painstaking work. The piece of track was hard to get leverage on. He was lucky that it had a slight curve to it so he could get through the narrow space and behind the rocks he wanted to push. The piece also wasn't as sturdy as he had originally thought and he bent it in a couple places. He didn't know how long he worked with his fellow villains doing nothing but watching, and by the end of it all, he was drenched in his own sweat. But he'd made a hole big enough for one of them to slip a head and an arm through.

Professor Normal checked his watch. "And in another hour or so, we might be able to actually reach the flonium."

Billy scowled, checking his hole. They would be able to reach some of the flonium, but a lot of it was out of reach. He'd need to make the hole bigger if they intended to get it all.

He didn't want to admit it, but his arms were tired. He wasn't used to this kind of manual labor. He had death rays and freeze rays. He was used to blasting things that he couldn't get through. Not all this pushing and shoving and pulling. It was exhausting.

But he couldn't admit his weakness to his colleagues, so he raised the piece of track again. Just a little more work, and they would have what they came for.

Another light shinned on Billy's face. "Not so fast, Dr. Horrible!"

Billy turned, shielding his eyes as he did so. His companions stepped aside, and eventually his eyes adjusted to make out a line of silhouettes he recognized as the LAPD. The beam of light shifted and he could see they were all pointing guns at them.

"Drop it!" one of them ordered.

But Billy held on to the track piece. He eyed his companions. Professor Normal was flexing his bionic fingertips. Fury Leika had exchanged her incendiary rice for a ball and chain that she swung in her hand. Dead Bowie stared at the group of police officers as though trying to hypnotize them.

"Drop your weapons!" another cop shouted. "Or we will open fire!"

Billy stared at the guns, for a moment uncertain. But then he thought of the wall behind him and of the tunnel all around him. They wouldn't open fire, he realized. They couldn't. All that noise and commotion… things were far too unstable down here. They wouldn't take the risk.

Bowie must have realized the same thing because he raised his arm toward the cops and said, "You're bluffing."


Penny rode the Hammer Cycle to the area Steve had told her the tunnel entrance would be. She'd worried she wouldn't be able to find it, but when she rounded the street corner her search was made easy by the circle of cop cars. One of the police officers approached her as she drew near. She was thankful for being able to bring the cycle to a smooth stop this time.

"Miss," he said. "You're going to have to turn around."

"I'm here to help," she told him as she swung her leg over the bike.

He eyed her costume, and she realized he thought she was just another kid dressed like a superhero but without any special powers.

"Miss," he said. "I'm sorry, but we can't let you through here. Please get back on your bike and turn around."

Penny glanced from the police officer to the row of cars behind him. It didn't look like they had the ELE in custody yet. And without help, she wasn't sure they would be able to do so. They hadn't been able to in the past two years.

"I'm sorry," she told the cop before sprinting past him.

"Wait!" he shouted, trying to grab her.

But she was too fast. Her super agility moved her body forward at a speed she didn't realize she was capable of. She knew exactly how to move, how to bend, how to place her feet against the road to get the perfect amount of leverage to push herself forward. She knew exactly how to carry that momentum through as she pushed through the air. In no time at all, she was passed the cop, through the line of cars, and down the ladder of the tunnel.

She paused at the bottom to take in her surroundings. The tunnel was dark and damp with little to no lighting. She thought she heard voices coming from the other end, and as she moved toward them a gun shot fired, then a few more.

Penny broke into a run, eventually reaching the end of the tunnel where the police were engaged with the Evil League of Evil. The LAPD were slowly backing away, trying to maintain the line they had formed. Fury Leika was advancing on them, twirling a ball at the end of a chain in the air.

Penny surveyed the scene, trying to decide where she could best make a move. Then she sped through the line of police toward Fury Leika where she punched her in the stomach, sending her backward.

"What the-?" someone shouted.

Penny turned around to face the rest of the Evil League of Evil. There were fewer members here than she'd thought there would be, but that didn't make them any less dangerous. Her eyes wondered over them as they stared at her. Eventually, she noticed Dr. Horrible who held a case of wonderflonium in his hands.

"Drop it," she told him.

He continued to stare like he couldn't make up his mind if she was the real deal or not.

"I said, drop it!" Penny tried again.

Dr. Horrible stared at her for another moment or two before Penny felt herself pulled back. Fury Leika had grabbed her by the ankle. Penny tried to push her off but was surprised at the strength the super villain possessed. She pulled Penny to the ground and they grappled with one another, punching and kicking.

Above them, what sounded like an explosion erupted. The rest of the ELE had arrived and were doing battle with the police still up on the street.

"Fall back!" came Dead Bowie's voice. "Grab as much of the wonderflonium as you can!"

Professor Normal ran to the hole in the wall and reached inside. Dr. Horrible stepped forward and held his case of flonium in front of him like a shield. The police couldn't shoot and risk hitting the flonium. They holstered their guns and raised their batons, advancing on the group before them.

Billy didn't have a weapon, nothing but the case in his hands. He'd dropped his track piece when he'd rushed to the hole to grab a case of flonium to stop the police from shooting. Not thinking, he swung the wonderflonium at the police officer who neared him.

What made wonderflonium such a wonderful and valuable energy source was the same thing that made it highly unstable. There was a reason containers of flonium always came with the warning "do not bounce." Billy hit the woman alongside the head with his case, knocking her to the ground. But then the case bounced, flinging him toward the tunnel wall as he clung to the case's handle.

He ricocheted off the wall, flying across the expanse of the tunnel. In hindsight, he'd wonder why he didn't just let go of the case. But as he'd flown through the air, his body had told him to hold on to something, anything that he might be able to grasp and stop himself. It didn't matter that the very thing he was holding on to was the thing that was propelling him. Instinct had sadly overruled logic.

Penny was finally able to gain the upper hand on Fury Leika. She punched the super villain in the face, knocking her out. As she climbed to her feet and watched as Dr. Horrible ping-poned from one wall of the tunnel to the next, she found herself mesmerized, unable to determine what to do next as she watched the scene before her.

The LADP were crouched low to ground, trying to avoid being hit by Dr. Horrible's haphazard flight. But Dead Bowie and Professor Normal were using the opportunity to slip away, running between police officers and ducking their heads whenever Dr. Horrible whizzed near.

Penny ran after them, catching up with them a little further down the tunnel. She grabbed Professor Normal by the back of his shirt, flinging him down. He hit the ground and then bounced toward the ceiling, the two cases of wonderflonium he held propelling him back and forth. Eventually, he had the sense to let go, and he lay dazed on the ground.

Penny turned to face Dead Bowie, only to find he was right in front of her. Her gaze caught his eyes, and she couldn't turn away. Something about his look captivated her.

"Stay right here," he said.

She wouldn't be able to recall his words later, but the command stuck with her. She turned in her spot, following Bowie as he stepped over to help Professor Normal to his feet, but she didn't move from where she stood. The thought didn't even occur to her.

The two villains left the cases of wonderflonium behind as they bounced uselessly between the floor and ceiling. Penny found herself fixed on the cases until one shot past her head, breaking whatever spell Dead Bowie had placed on her.

She turned at the sound of a groan and found Dr. Horrible lying a few feet away where he had finally let go.

Penny listened as the police from the end of the tunnel approached. The sounds of the battle from the street above had stopped. And though she waited, the ELE never emerge into the tunnel. They had gone and left both Fury Lieka and Dr. Horrible behind.