Disclaimer: I don't own Dr. Horrible.
Read on, oh faithful ones...
...
Act V, pt. 1 - Decisions and choices
...
Billy was going insane. That was the only explanation for it. First he was hearing voices - Penny's voice - in his head, and now he was seeing her everywhere. It was absolute insanity, and he had to do something about it. Maybe it was because he'd been in the E.L.E headquarters for ten days straight without leaving, and all of the time inside had made his mind snap?
Although, it hadn't been a waste of time, really. He'd spent three days creating the bug finder, and another two slowly disabling all of the hidden bugs in the apartment. Dr. Horrible had also reversed one of the cameras so that he could use the E.L.E's own security system to see who was doing what. It was amazing at how thorough - or paranoid - they were. There were hundreds of different cameras simply everywhere, and he hadn't even finished going through them yet.
But, back to his impending insanity. Penny. He was seeing her everywhere. He'd gone into the kitchen, and was sure he'd seen a flash of red hair, but Kiev had all-but pushed him out of the door before Billy could have a proper look. There was a strawberry frozen yoghurt - Penny's favourite flavour - in Professor Normal's not-so-secret laboratory (his secret-secret laboratory was at his house). In the library, he was positive that he'd heard Penny's voice - and the Evil Librarian laughing, but that was something he was trying to forget - and when he'd come around the corner, the Evil Librarian seemed to be laughing at Garfield's miserable day in the paper. Even when he'd walked into the E.L.E. boardroom, conversations seemed to die completely. Fury seemed to be watching him all the time, and Billy had no idea if it was a good or bad thing that her bridesmaids weren't with her.
Stepping in front of his bookcase, Billy pressed a button on his remote - the switch was so old fashioned and far too cliché. Anyone looking for a secret lair or laboratory would go straight to the bookcase, but no one would take notice of an extra remote - and Dr. Horrible stepped into his laboratory.
He had to do something, and something was exactly what he would do. Settling down onto his armchair, Dr. Horrible switched on the TV that had the security feed running through it. If Penny was in E.L.E., then he would find her. If she wasn't, and she was just in his mind, then maybe he'd go see that evil psychiatrist downtown. Apparently he had some sort of healing procedure that involved Chinese burns. Actually, on second thoughts, the shrink that Captain Hammer was seeing might be a better option.
...
Another two entire days passed before Dr. Horrible discovered that Penny really was alive. Even then, it was after an incident that had simply been confusing rather than enlightening in any way.
He was ashamed to admit that he'd been distracted by the soap opera that was the E.L.E. headquarters, with Fake Thomas Jefferson lusting after Dead Bowie, who really wanted Professor Normal, who was arguing with his wife about mortgage payments and school tuition, and really wanted nothing to do with Dead Bowie. Tie-Die and Snake Bite seemed to dance around each other whenever Fury Leika wasn't in the room. Dr. Horrible had caught Tie-Die and Snake Bite making out after the Chorus left a bottle of wine in the common area, and recorded it for future blackmail.
Through the videos, he had also discovered that the Chorus - Jordan, Jack, and Zeke - had actually been a famous band in the '90s, but after trying to stab one of their audience members with a microphone after mentioning sparkling vampires, they'd had to turn evil in order to support themselves. They'd been Bad Horse's Chorus for the past eleven years since he'd escaped The Farm, and the weight of singing people to their deaths had started to take its toll, so they'd turned to alcohol to escape and cope.
The Evil Librarian had a stack of Garfield comics that she liked to draw on, and Dr. Horrible wondered if she was breaking her own rules by doing that. Kiev was usually in the kitchen, and it seemed that he enjoyed to sing while cooking. Dr. Horrible hadn't heard of any vegetarians in the E.L.E., but he seemed to be making a lot of vegetarian meals lately. He filed that piece of information away for future reference and continued searching the camera feed.
It took more time than he'd be willing to admit, but Dr. Horrible eventually realised that whenever Fury Leika wasn't with Snake or Tie-Die, it became almost impossible to find her. She wasn't in the usual areas, her room was empty and then he'd spotted one of the bridesmaids heading down a corridor that was usually empty. It had taken five camera switches to follow the bridesmaid properly, and then an illegal hack into the room that Fury was currently occupying. He doubted anyone would care about his hacking into a security camera considering he already had access to the rest of the building. He couldn't access the room that she was looking into, no matter what he tried, and Dr. Horrible came to the conclusion that it mustn't have a camera inside.
"You really have to calm down," he heard Fury say.
She was standing behind the glass of the room, and beginning to sweat profusely as the temperature increased with Penny's anger. The only reasons the alarms weren't going off was due to them being disabled earlier in the week after four episodes like this in one day. Bad Horse had used his death whinny on the sugar-delivery boy because of it, and the Board had heard about it constantly until Billy - Dr. Horrible, she reminded herself - came into the room.
Fury had found herself watching the newest E.L.E. recruit more often, beginning to see him the way Penny described him. Dr. Horrible wasn't evil; he was simply playing pretend because he thought that this was what he wanted. He'd even hesitated killing Captain Hammer, despite the threat on his life (or manhood) if he didn't assassinate someone in order to gain entrance to the E.L.E.
One of her maids offered her a small box, and Fury moved to the doorway, throwing the incendiary rice into the raging fire. The rice exploded instantly, the noise distracting Penny but it seemed that it still wasn't enough to put out the flames. Fury frowned; it had worked the last four times. What the hell had she been thinking about or reading to make this sort of fire? The flames reached where she was in the doorway, but Fury didn't back away, planning on waiting until her box refilled to throw more rice into the room.
"Leave," Penny said, a wave of heat pushing Fury out of the doorway.
Her maids threw themselves on top of her to protect Fury right before the flames escaped the room. The fire split in two, each part moving on either side of her without making a mark on Fury's body, before rejoining and continuing down the corridor, burning their way towards the exit. The maids disappeared when they deemed her safe and Fury stood up, looking to where the flames had gone. She looked into Penny's room only to discover that the redhead was no longer there.
Up in his secret laboratory, Dr. Horrible used the remote to switch to the outside camera feed, tracking the fire's progress. It seemed to have a will of it's own, the element going against every physics law and chemistry equation when it moved around a corner.
Just what the hell was that fire? Dr. Horrible wondered, losing sight of it when it was out of range from the E.L.E. cameras.
...
Travelling in a bright pink car was not something that Moist enjoyed doing, but since he couldn't take the bus to the E.L.E. headquarters, and didn't have his license since kept ruining his test pages with nervous and power-induced moisture, it was something he just had to live with. Especially if he wanted to see Billy now that he was part of the E.L.E.
Moist looked out the window, wishing that Pummeler didn't have to play show tunes quite so loudly while he was driving (he switched the pink boxing gloves for pink driving gloves). He frowned on seeing blue and red flashing lights ahead, and quickly turned off the car stereo, ignoring Pummeler's immediate protest.
"Pull over. Quickly," he said, urgently enough to make Pummeler pull over to the side of the road.
Moist slid out of the car, making his way over to the fire engines. The firefighters were dousing a large fire that was on the side of a building, defying all logic, and he briefly wondered what would happen if they realised just how close they were to the E.L.E. headquarters.
Glancing down a side alley, Moist frowned when he saw a redhead lying on the dirty ground. He was no hero, but maybe Billy was rubbing off on him, and he found himself walking down the alley, glancing behind to make sure he hadn't garnered any attention from the heroic firefighters (was it even possible for a firefighter to be evil?). His eyes widened when he recognised the redhead as Penny, the girl Billy had been in love with.
"Bad Horse's hooves, this is bad," Moist swore quietly.
She was wearing a tie-dyed shirt, similar to the ones Tie-Die made. On seeing the black pattern on the side of the shirt, Moist realised that it actually was one of Tie-Die's shirts. Due to her hippie fan-base, Moist knew that the selling price of that shirt could probably pay for his rent for the next month...
Thinking of Billy's devastation since Penny's death (was it faked? How had it been faked? Was Billy really that good an actor?), Moist sighed and crouched down beside her body, awkwardly checking her pulse. Feeling for a temperature was useless since he couldn't feel anything properly with his constantly-damp fingers. A pulse was there. It was weak, but she was alive.
Moist felt a buzzing in his pocket and pulled his phone out (water-proof, and as top of the line as his poor henchman budget could afford), wondering who on earth was texting him at a time like this. There was a small amount of relief when he saw that the text was from Hourglass.
Take her to the E.L.E. headquarters.
The message was short and to the point, but told Moist more than enough. The E.L.E. had something to do with Penny still being alive, and as he dialled Pummeler's number so as not to attract attention, Moist wondered if Billy knew that she was alive.
Pummeler, who had been staring at one of the firemen (homosexual! his gay-dar was screaming at him, it's voice similar to his father's, and he shivered slightly at the phantom pain that accompanied any memory involving his father) turned away when It's Raining Men started playing loudly on his phone.
So much for not attracting attention, Moist thought with a sigh and shake of his head.
"Moist? Where are you?"
"Down the alley. I need your help... Yes, I know there are firefighters out there! Just hurry, or I'll give the Evil Librarian your new phone number," Moist threatened.
Pummeler was beside him in moments, and he picked Penny up carefully, not wanting to do anything to change Moist's mind. He could be mean when he wanted to be.
With everyone's attention on the firefighters, Pummeler and Moist were able to get Penny into the car without anyone noticing. Pummeler kept his eyes on that one firefighter as they passed him, telling himself that he'd find him later.
...
The bridesmaids were further away from Fury than they'd ever been before, and the strain began to make her feel nauseous. They had to find Penny soon; there was no saying what she'd do when she was still weak and as angry as she was.
"She's been brought in, Fury dear," Professor Normal informed her quietly. "Dr. Horrible's henchman, Moist, found her a few blocks away, collapsed in an alley after she set fire to a building."
Fury kept her eyes closed, waiting until Normal had left to open them. She was actually relieved that Penny was safe and back in the E.L.E. headquarters, which she found odd considering that it was rare for her to feel anything other than extreme hatred towards others.
Her bridesmaids were the only ones she really cared about, because Fury knew that they'd be by her side when she finally found Ira. She barely considered Snake Bite and Tie-Die as her friends. They were more there to support her as the only other women on the board of the E.L.E. board. Snake Bite and Tie-Die were usually the ones who calmed her down when she wanted to kill Dead Bowie and FTJ after they started another one of their ridiculous arguments over sparkling clothes and powdered wigs.
It only took a moment for the bridesmaids to be by her side, and Fury levelled the four women with a brief glare. "You were looking for Penny who had disappeared in a blaze of flames. Yet you didn't think to look at the nearest building that had caught on fire?"
Blue stepped forward hesitantly. "You told us to keep out of sight. We didn't dare go near the firefighters because then we would have killed them."
She sighed in frustration. Without her, the maids were overcome by a blood-thirsty rage that almost surpassed her own when they were faced with too many men. "Where did you look?" Fury asked reluctantly.
"We went to the Caring Hands building," Blue replied.
"Oh... Good thinking."
The bridesmaids smiled brightly at her praise. Down the hall, Tie-Die screamed at their happiness. Fury glowered at her dramatics, and Blue rolled her eyes.
"Come on, let's go check on Penny," Fury muttered.
Thankful that they were forgiven, the maids hurried to follow her out of the room and down to Penny's room in the lower levels.
...
Dr. Horrible hadn't changed the video feed since the fire had escaped the building. He'd sat perched on the edge of his armchair, watching and waiting. He noticed Pummeler's pink car pull up and park in the allocated guest space. He'd almost dismissed Moist and Pummeler's presence as them simply visiting him, until he saw the large pink-clothed man carrying a limp redhead in one of Tie-Die's shirts. Penny.
In his shock and excitement, Billy fell off his chair, sliding down onto the floor with a thud.
Penny. It was really her. She was alive.
For a long moment, he could do nothing but simply stay in his uncomfortable position on the floor, his brain trying to process the fact that she was still alive.
Well, Billy buddy? Are you going to get up, or just sit here until I die again?
Billy glanced at Penny beside him. He wondered if it was a good or bad thing that he could still hear her - see her - in his head like this when she was alive.
Without further prompting, he hurried to stand. His legs were numb from sitting on his armchair for so long, and Billy stumbled out of his secret laboratory.
He made his way down to the foyer, but Moist, Pummeler and Penny were nowhere to be seen. Frowning, Billy turned around, trying to find a clue as to where they could have disappeared to so quickly. Painting, plant, painting, a few lounges, coffee table, plant, another painting...
Wait, there'd only been two paintings when he first came into the E.L.E. headquarters, Billy realised, making his way over to the large depiction of Bad Horse. His eyes seemed to follow you, he noticed with a barely repressed shudder.
"Hey, buddy. What are you doing?" Moist asked behind him.
"Hey Moist," he replied distractedly. He stopped with a frown, turning to see his henchman standing behind him. "Uh, weren't you just... Nothing... Never mind," Billy said, glancing at the painting before turning his attention back to Moist. "So, why are you here?"
"Came to see you, why else?" he asked, and there was a hint of nervousness in Moist's voice that made Billy immediately suspicious.
"Then why are you sweating?"
Moist gave a nervous laugh, stepping back away from him. "Y'know what? I just remembered I left the stove on. I'd better go make sure my apartment's still there! See you later," he called over his shoulder, all but running out of the building.
For a moment, Billy simply stared after where his friend had run out. Turning his attention back to the painting, his eyes widened when he saw that the painting was no longer there.
Desperate to know what had happened, Billy hurried up to his apartment to check the video feed. In his rush to find Penny, he'd left his apartment door unlocked, and arrived to find it wide open. Stepping inside cautiously, he closed and locked the door behind him. All of his belongings were where he'd left them, the cameras he'd discovered were still disabled, and the bookcase-entry to his secret lab was closed.
Swallowing briefly, he took up the remote, stepping forward and pressing the appropriate button. The bookcase spun and Billy walked into his lab. He barely spared his equipment a glance, looking straight to the TV in front of his armchair. The screen was flickering, and white noise all he could hear. He sank down onto the chair as he realised the implications of this. The video feed was completely erased, and his way of finding Penny destroyed. Not to mention, someone had been able to enter his secret lab, despite him changing the switch.
Gritting his teeth, Billy sat up straighter, determined to find Penny, and to get his revenge on whoever had done this to him.
...
Penny woke up in the room of white, her eyes wide as she sat up with a gasp, memories flooding her mind. What had happened to her? What had she done? What had she become?
"Are you all right?" Fury asked, stepping forward to her.
She glared at the white-clad woman. "Stay away from me!"
"Are you still too hot?" she asked, hoping that was the case.
"What did you do to me? Why did you do this to me? I died! There was no reason to bring me back! I ... I don't want this! I almost destroyed that entire building because Captain Hammer was mentioned on the news! There could have been children inside!" Penny screamed, her body starting to flame. "I was a good person! I am a good person! I don't want to do this! I don't want this! Take it away! Kill me again if you have to!"
Again, Fury tried to move to her, but Penny glared, the flames becoming hotter and brighter on her body.
"Don't come near me," she hissed.
A blast of hot air from the flames pushed Fury out of the room. The door slammed the moment she was gone. By the time she overcame her surprise, her bridesmaids were already beside her, Old and Borrowed helping her to her feet. Blue and New were standing at the door, the former holding out the bouquet of poisonous flowers and the latter holding her box of incendiary rice.
Fury stood, thanking Old and Borrowed quietly. She shook her head at Blue and New's offered items, heading down the corridor without retribution. Confused, the maids followed her, Blue hurrying to pick up the ball and chain as she made her way into the foyer and up to the apartment level.
Fury couldn't blame Penny for her reaction. She'd yelled at Professor Normal only days ago for what he'd done, after all. When she'd been left at the altar, Fury had hated Ira with every fibre of her being, cursing the male gender with everything she had. Then that dove had turned her into this... She couldn't hate the dove for what it had done, because even after the years of still not knowing where Ira was, she still hated him more than she could possibly hate one small bird.
When she'd first awoken to find the bridesmaids with her, the ball and chain attached to her ankle, Blue holding out her bouquet of flowers and New offering the incendiary rice, Fury hadn't wanted to take them either, hadn't wanted the life that accepting the items brought. She still hated Ira, of course (she doubted the feeling would ever leave), but there had been a moment where she'd just wanted to return to her life, to her job as a manicurist, to get away from what had happened and everything she'd become. But she knew that if she had gone back to her life, to her job, her friends, she would never get away from what had happened. Everyone would talk about Ira, everyone would give her pitying looks, and she would forever be the woman-who-was-left-at-the-altar. Fury had made her decision in that moment, and she'd never looked back. She was certain that Penny would have a similar life-changing moment, and she too, would make her choice. But that day was not today, despite what had happened.
"Thank you, Blue," she murmured, taking hold of the heavy ball.
Her bridesmaid nodded in response. Fury could feel their worry inside her mind, and she sighed heavily. Going to reassure them that she was fine, she heard the gun trigger behind her a moment too late, and then she was frozen solid.
Dr. Horrible's low and chilling evil laugh filled the corridor. The bridesmaids were frozen, just as Fury was, and could only helplessly watch as the blonde man hauled their bride into his apartment. One by one, as Fury started to lose consciousness, the maids disappeared.
...
"I don't want to hurt you, Fury, but I will if you don't answer my questions... Hmm... If you don't tell me where she is, I'll hurt you!" There was a moment's pause. "No, too abrupt," Dr. Horrible muttered to himself.
Fury blinked slowly, her brow furrowing in confusion as she she heard Dr. Horrible practising his lines. Really, that just made it far too obvious that he hadn't thought this thing through.
Trying to raise her bridesmaids sent a jolt of electricity through her body, and her subsequent groan of pain gained Dr. Horrible's attention.
"Don't bother trying to get your maids, Fury. I've given you a temporary paralysis concoction I found in Professor Normal's lab."
Alarmed, she attempted to move, only to find that he'd told the truth and her limbs refused to obey her commands.
"Where's Penny? Tell me where she is, or I'll cause you multitudes of pain! And I won't remove the paralysis!" Dr. Horrible threatened.
As with Penny's paralysis, Fury found she was able to talk. "You wait until Bad Horse finds out you did this. It's in the contracts that we're not allowed to hurt each other," she said, glaring at him.
"It is?" he said, faltering briefly with a frown. Rummaging on his desk, he found his copy of the contract and flipped through it. "Huh. Well, I won't hurt you then... So what can I do that'll get you to tell me where Penny is? Don't try to tell me that she's not in here, or that she's dead; I saw her with Moist and Pummeler!" Dr. Horrible added, glaring.
"Don't worry, I'm not an idiot. I figure you'd only do this if you were desperate and knew she was alive. If you weren't, I'd send you to the psychiatrist to get your issues worked out," she muttered.
Billy tried not to glare when he heard Penny laughing.
"When my maids get back, you'd better take care. If I can't control them, they might kill you."
"I thought you said we couldn't hurt each other?"
"I did say that, and we can't hurt each other. But they didn't sign a contract," Fury said, smirking.
Dr. Horrible paled slightly, fumbling over his words as he tried to reassure her that he didn't want to hurt her, but if she told him where Penny was, then he'd give her the antidote, and it'd all be over, and please don't let the bridesmaids kill him, not when he could finally see Penny alive again.
Fury rolled her eyes slightly at his inability to even stay evil and scary for a minute. She sighed to herself, blaming herself for watching the amateur too often, and then blamed Penny for making her see him in a different light. Honestly, the boy was barely even touching the surface of evil. He'd probably cried for days straight after Penny had died.
"I can take you to her. But you have to give me the antidote first. It'll be far too suspicious if you attempt to carry me anywhere. That, and my maids may just kill you for carrying me in the first place," Fury added.
Penny - the one in his mind, that is - was sitting by Fury's feet, watching Billy curiously to see if he would agree. Billy didn't see how he had a choice; he wanted to see Penny, Fury would take him, but to do that, she had to walk by herself.
"Okay, fine. But I'm taking this with me," Dr. Horrible announced, picking up a gun from his bench, "and if you try to do anything other than take me to Penny, then I will use it on you."
"What's it do, then?" Fury asked, and by her feet, Penny grinned.
"It's my ..." he paused for a moment, having picked up the gun due to it's size rather than it's functionality, "my transmatter ray gun!"
"Oh, that's just great. Don't turn me into cumin, all right, kid?" she muttered.
Dr. Horrible bristled at being called a kid, but eventually set the gun down carefully and took the needle with the antidote. He pressed it into Fury's arm (Penny winced. Or maybe that was him), pushing the liquid into her bloodstream.
"So, how did you find out that Penny was alive anyway?" Fury asked as she waited for the antidote to work, and her paralysis to wear off. "You weren't in the foyer when Moist and the Pink Pummeler came in."
"I hacked into the foyer cameras," he admitted with a hint of pride and a quick shrug.
"Smart move... So, tell me, Dr. Horrible, why did you want to be evil in the first place? There has to be a reason you chose the E.L.E. over the Justice League of Justice."
The J.L.J.? Are you kidding me? All those weak minded fools and corporate tools,
The ones who didn't understand the importance of money and jewels?
The same lot who always took orders without asking why or questioning?
The very same group who condemn a man because he can dance and sing?
"I've always been bad, and turning evil was just a natural progression," he replied with a shrug.
"Really? So, meeting Penny hasn't changed that in any way? It hasn't made your progression regress to simply being bad with a touch of good?"
He scoffed at the very idea, and shook his head. "Of course not, why on earth would you say that?"
Fury looked down at the binds around her, and then up at the man willing to harm a fellow E.L.E. member just to see a girl again. "No reason."
"The paralysis should have worn off by now. Would you like to try moving?"
Attempting to flex her fingers, she sighed in relief when they moved. Fury nodded at Dr. Horrible and he moved forward, undoing her binds. He struggled with one of the knots before realising that it had been frozen, and hurried to reverse the problem with his gun. (Fury wouldn't admit to wincing and holding her breath in fear. She still hadn't found Ira yet, and had no desire to be killed by a boy's toy gun.) Thankfully, the gun worked and the final rope was removed from her body. Standing quickly, Fury swayed woozily, her head spinning - or perhaps it was the room moving around her. Billy took her arm, steadying her (he was stronger than he looked, she thought dazedly), and lowering her back into the chair.
"Just stay there for a moment while I get you some juice. You need to have something before attempting to move," he said, grabbing a remote control.
Blanching slightly, he grabbed another control as well, swapping them around and pressing multiple buttons in an effort to mask which one opened the bookcase. Stepping in front of the shelves, Dr. Horrible disappeared from view. The moment he was gone, Fury's maids appeared. Blue crouched by her in concern, New stroked her hair, and Old and Borrowed adjusted her veil and train.
"I'm okay," she reassured them quietly.
Blue didn't seem convinced, but gave a brief nod. Fury smiled slightly at her youngest maid's concern and closed her eyes to help the room stop spinning.
"Fury!" Dr. Horrible squeaked, making her open her eyes again.
He was being held up by the neck by Blue and New, the latter holding the poisoned bouquet. Old and Borrowed stood to the side holding a glass of juice and small bowl of nuts he'd brought in from his apartment. He was struggling against their grip, but the two murderous and men-hating women were far stronger and enraged than Dr. Horrible.
"Put him down, girls. Do you really want Penny to be angry at you?" Fury added when they hesitated.
Blue and New glanced at each other briefly, and a second later, Dr. Horrible dropped to the floor in a crumpled heap, wheezing and clutching his tender throat.
"Thank you," he breathed, but there was a part of his mind that was already curious about the power Penny had if Fury Leika's bridesmaids were worried at angering her.
She took the juice from Old and the nuts from Borrowed, drinking and chewing slowly as she watched him stand up and brush himself off.
"I wasn't sure what sort of food you liked, but I've got frozen yoghurt if you want that instead?"
"This is fine," Fury muttered.
Taking a few deep breaths, she stood up once more, holding New and Blue for support. When she nodded, they let go of her hesitantly, and she took a few steps to make sure she was steady. Thankful to have movement in her limbs again, Fury rolled her shoulders and shook her arms out briefly.
"All right, let's go, Billy boy," she muttered, stepping towards the bookcase.
He frowned, not liking the fact that she was calling him something so similar to Penny's nickname for him. His desire to see Penny again overcame his dislike, and Billy stepped forward, pressing a button on the remote control to open the bookcase once more.
...
End of Act V, pt. 1.
Hope you liked it!