Lo siento! Lo siento! Oh, I am terrible at updating, grr, I need to get my act together! Past few weeks have been hectic, just got my GCSE results (straight A's and A*'s...I'm such a boff) and I've had to transfer schools 'cause my dumb ass comp can't let me do English Lit, English Lang and Biology. Sigh. So, looks like I'm off to a school in a different county, completely on my own in a town that I don't know at all. Fabulous...
Anywho, my complaining aside, Chapter 10. Not sure if I like this one as much as my last ones, I just hope you don't find it too dull. Massive cyber hugs to the lovely people who reviewed again, and I bribe potential reviewers with plates of cyber flapjack!
Chapter 10
"Tonight's big story on 'News LA'- Police still unable to find leads on the theft of a body at the Angeles Rosedale Cemetery."
"The grave was discovered to have been disturbed on the 2nd of November, but it is believed that the coffin was removed two or three days previously. The grave was that of a Miss Penelope Fitzgerald, believed to be the serious, long term girlfriend of the fallen super hero, Captain Hammer. Fitzgerald was murdered three months ago, the first victim of the infamous Dr Horrible, one of LA's most feared villains."
"So tragic. And such an awful crime."
"Yeah, I hope they catch the sick bastards who did it. What kind of a psychopath steals a corpse?"
"A pshyco one."
"Ha ha! In other news, Gerard the Budgie has learnt how to water-ski!"
"A water-skiing budgerigar? That's a new one!"
"We go over to Simon, who has the latest on this bird's new found hobb-"
Dr Horrible flicked off the television set off without looking up from his work. He was sat staring at a monitor that was linked up to the Resurrect-Ohm-Meter, pummeling the enter key over and over.
"Work already, you stupid computer!" he snarled "Argh!" the monitor had flashed blue and powered down for about the tenth time in as many minutes.
"You alright?" came Moist's voice from the bathroom.
"Yes, yes, just the computer messing me about again…" Horrible aimed a kick at the tower. The thing was harder than it looked, and all he got for his efforts was a very sore toe. Cursing, the Doctor grabbed a hold of the tower and shook it hard.
"For God's sake, just work!" the PC spluttered back into life and began to load again. Sighing, Horrible resigned himself to the fact that he was going to have to enter all the data…again. Eventually, after a minute or so of whirring, the programme he was using popped up again with a little hum.
"Scan brain…yes, yes, I clicked 'okay' already… decode synaptic connections, sync with hippocampus and cerebral cortex… yes, I wish to proceed, or why else would I of clicked it? Scanning… still scanning… I know you're still scanning… hurry up, before I'm fifty… yes, yes, yes, commence visual memory conversion… for goodness sake, yes! Jesus, how many times do they have to ask you if you want to proceed?" Horrible tapped in a couple of commands and waited for the computer to register.
"What? File corrupt? How can it be corrupt, it's her memories!"
"Try turning it on and off again!" Moist's voice was muffled by the sounds of water gushing from the tap.
"Done that three times already and the computer did it itself double that!" Horrible groaned as the download bar popped up again.
"That does it, I'm making coffee." the weary Doctor shuffled over to the kettle and popped it on whilst he shoved some Nescafe Original into a chipped mug. He'd been up, what, three days trying to access Penny's hidden memories? Yes, it was the 13th; as soon as the tank chemicals had rebuilt all of Penny's cells (which had taken the better part of a week), he'd started on the long task of turning brain connections into video files (thank God for 21st century technology…and an IQ of 179). At first, it had been easy, and the computer had just puttered along, but now… he had to get access to the memories even Penny herself couldn't remember, stuff she'd forgotten, or thing's she had shoved into the deepest corner of her mind. Intruding into her most private memories made Horrible feel a little uneasy, but it had to be done; he would have to re-stream the memories back to her during the resurrection, unless he wanted her as a mindless zombie. But he needed the memories for another reason… he wanted to change a couple, make it so that, when she awoke, she saw Billy as more than a friend…
The kettle bubbled to a boil, and the Doctor absentmindedly poured the scalding water into the mug and all over the table, lost in thought a little. To be honest, he wasn't all that sure how exactly he could alter memories. It would be impossible to visually alter them; they would become too unrealistic and who knew what would happen if that occurred. No, he could do nothing to what Penny had seen… but maybe physical memories? As in, her feelings? That might be easy enough, he could alter the amount of certain hormones her brain recorded sending at a particular time. Horrible sipped his coffee, nodding. Yes, that would work…
"Download complete. All data converted to file. Save progress?" the electronic voice made the Doctor jump out of his skin. Slamming the mug down, Dr Horrible raced towards his machine, skidding to a halt when he reached the monitor.
"Save, save, save!" he cried, pounding enter again.
"Can you keep it down?" Horrible rolled his eyes as Hammer's voice floated over from his bedroom. No, correction, their bedroom. Horrible shuddered. He hated sharing with that…man, but the stupid apartment didn't have enough rooms, the lounge was too cluttered for the sofa (all of the stuff in Horrible's vault room, including his Equation's Board, were piled in the living room) and neither of them wanted to share with Moist. For the obvious reasons. So it had come to be that the arch nemesis' had to share a room. An arrangement the Bad Doctor did not enjoy one bit.
"Whatever." replied Horrible, too busy watching Penny's visible memories and statistics load to pay much attention to Hammer's complaints. The load bar was 78%...83…90…97…99-
An e-mail icon popped up in front of the load bar just as it completed. The Doctor looked at the sender. Professor Normal, ELE. That was odd; Normal hadn't called on him for awhile- last time was just after Horrible and the others had retrieved Penny's body, and that was just for some help on the general building of the Professor's own Resurrect-Ohm-Meter. The other mad scientist had said that he wouldn't require Horrible's assistance until the final parts had been delivered; the processor and its components, the piece of equipment required for life to actually be given to any corpse wired up to the machine. But those were out of stock, they weren't meant to arrive for weeks…
Dr Horrible double clicked the e-mail. It said only two words: 'It's finished.' Instead of being all excited, the Doctor groaned loudly.
"No, no, no, why did he have to finish it today? Why?" Didn't Professor Normal know that he was extremely busy? Actually, come to think of it, Horrible didn't want him to know; he could only imagine what would happen if the Professor found out about the duplicate machine in Horrible's apartment.
The Doctor sighed. He supposed he would have to wait to look at Penny's memories. Billy picked up his goggles and snapped them in place. He wondered how Normal had got the parts so quickly… maybe he'd found another seller instead of the guy that was living in a cave in Scotland. When he was finished adjusting his headwear, Horrible looked longingly at the 'Open file?' button that was hovering in the center of his monitor. His fingers itched to accept, but no. He snorted with ill-contempt. First, he would have to go help Normal with his machine.
"Moist, Hammer! I'm going out! Don't touch the computer!" there were two grunts of acknowledgement, which Horrible took for yeses. Just before he left, the Doctor looked over at the Resurrect-Ohm-Meter one last time. He could see the figure that was Penny, floating and wired up in the green-filled tank. The computer monitor shone onto the glass, illuminating the red-head's face in an eerie manner. Letting off one last, annoyed sigh, Dr Horrible set off to the ELE.
The stairs leading down to the lab were as dark as ever as Dr Horrible descended them to meet up with Professor Normal. On his way, the Doctor had carefully kept track of how many security cameras there were in the ELE building from the entrance hall to the labs. Nine-hundred and seventeen. Not to mention the lazer beam sensors, motion detectors and caterwauling alarms. Those were all going to pose some serious problems. But, he had also checked the rota for the guards, and was pleased to find out that it would be Stock on night duty for the next three days. So thank God for small mercies.
"Ah, excellent. You took your time." Professor Normal was waiting outside the metal doors, tapping his foot impatiently. "I hope you bought those fig rolls." The other scientist had messaged Billy on his way down, insisting that he bring three packets of the snacks.
"Yeah," replied Horrible, taking the packs out of his coat "what do you need them for? Do you need them to power the machine?"
"No, I'm starving; I've not eaten in days." the Professor ripped open one of the packets with his metal hand and shoved a handful of the rolls into his mouth.
"Oh…" Billy mentally grimaced at his stupidity. Of course they were for eating! How could he have thought that they were to power the Resurrect-Ohm-Meter? All that panicking that he had missed something on the blueprints for nothing…
"Now that you're here…shall we get this show on the road?" Professor Normal strode through the metal doors, with Horrible in tow. The laboratory looked vastly different from the last time the Doctor had visited; most of the desks had been pushed against the walls, the scraps of metal and tools gone, the clutter cleared. It even looked like the Professor had gone over the place with the vacuum cleaner. The Resurrect-Ohm-Meter stood grand and tall in the centre of the room, far bigger than the one Horrible was housing in his apartment. The machine was whirring with life, the computer flashing as it loaded data. Weirdly, the invention too had been cleaned of the oil and grime that had coated it previously. Horrible found all this preparation strange, until he saw the rest of the ELE seated around the back of the Resurrect-Ohm-Meter. Snake Bite, Fury Leika, Dead Bowie, the newbie, old Voldie, Tie Die and even the terrifying, the terrible Bad Horse himself were sat watching the machine, with anticipation, glee, but mostly with boredom. They were evil; they had more evil things to do than watch presentations. Weren't those sort of things for grade-schoolers?
"Neigh!" Bad Horse tossed his head, glaring at the two scientists with one dark eye.
"Bad Horse says can we hurry this up; he has an appointment with the farriers at twelve, and then he's getting his mane trimmed after."
"Yes yes, I promise that myself and Dr Horrible will not take up too much of your time; however, I felt the need for you to witness the first resurrection using my Resurrect-Ohm-Meter." the Professor strode towards the monitor at the front of the machine, arms held up towards the thing for dramatic effect. Dr Horrible followed and sat himself down at the screen.
"As I told all of you before, the purpose of the Resurrect-Ohm-Meter is a very simple one; it raises the dead, as suggested in its title. The construction of this machine is a highly convoluted process; one I don't expect the likes of Voldemort-"
"Lord Voldemort! Do not anger me, or else I will Avada Kadavra you…"
"-to fully grasp. Nor do I expect any of you, other than my Horrible friend here, to truly understand how my device really brings the dead. I shall only say, it requires a great deal of data imputed into this computer here, the use of an ununhexium and uranium compound as a power source, enzyme-rich chemicals used to rebuild decayed organic matter and my newly acquired processor-" the scientist gestured at cylinder shaped object visible in a glass case that connected the computer mainframe to the actual machine "-that I recently purchased for an absolute steal on that bidding site, e-bay."
Dr Horrible mentally facepalmed himself. Why did he always forget e-bay? He had always had a bit of a grudge against it after he'd spent $20 on a lucky cat that never bloody turned up, but, seriously, he needed to check that place out more…
The Doctor waited impatiently as Normal went through all the ins and outs of the machine, ploughing through his presentation even though he was clearly boring everyone so much that he would probably have to resurrect the entire ELE after it. Bad Horse snorted every now and again, stamping his hoof. Snake Bite appeared to have gone into hibernation and Dead Bowie was playing Angry Birds on his iPhone. All the while Horrible sat, fingers itching to start the resurrection process so that he could go home and look at Penny's memories.
Finally, after forty five minutes, the Professor said "Doctor, start streaming the extracted memories to our subject!" with relief, Billy typed in a few commands and the computer whirred, its electronic voice screeching out "Memory log transferring. Please wait." Horrible could hear the buzz of the electricity as it sped along the wires, heading towards the wired-up figure floating in the tank.
"We must carry out the memory stream," shouted the Professor over the noise of the machine "in order for our villain here to regain use of his powers. Without this crucial step, he wouldn't remember how he used to operate in the criminal world, what his skills were, or even that he used to belong to the ELE. In fact, he would be a mindless zombie. Obviously we would miss out this stage were we to resurrect an army of zombie civilians, but I wanted to restore this deceased ELE member to his full evilness, as I think that his abilities will prove invaluable in future evil-doing." Normal pulled a large lever and punched a number of buttons, spurring the main part of the Resurrect-Ohm-Meter into life. Tubes flashed an array of colours, coils of electricity zipping through them. The machine roared, the processor shaking slightly as it worked to decode the instructions Horrible was furiously typing into the computer. The two scientists had their peer's rapt attention now as the device spat and sparked, working at full capacity in order to restore life to the figure in the glass tank.
"Horrible, it's almost ready! Inject the neutralizing agents into the tank!" The Doctor complied, and the liquid in the tank fizzed violently, clouding the person in the tank from view.
"Power 100%! Restore life-force now!" Billy pressed the red button (why was it always red?) on the desk. The machine went silent. The room was still and anticipation turned to disappointment. Normal couldn't believe it; how was it possible? His inventions never failed, ever! He angrily turned towards Dr Horrible, who looked at the scientist, his eyes wide like a deer's in as set of headlights. Horrible must've done something wrong, the fool! Probably imputed the instructions wrong… oh, he was going to have his head on a platter for this, for making the great, the genius Professor Normal look like a complete and utter berk, he was-
The Professor's murderous train of thought came to a halt as the Resurrect-Ohm-Meter let out an almighty roar. The members of the ELE gasped in shock, and Normal turned around to see the interior of the tank glowing a brilliant white. All of the sudden, the whirring began to slow and became nothing more than a quiet hum, and the light began to dim. The figure in the tank, which had once been floating completely unanimated, was now thrashing around, swimming towards the roof of the tank in an attempt to get air. Normal hurried over to open the tank. The lid slid open, and out climbed a soaking wet, but clearly alive super-villain.
"Ladies, Gents and Stallions, may I present to you the newly revived: Lord Lucan!"
The man before them was wearing clothes that looked like they belonged out of the Victorian period; a dripping wet waist-coat, sopping pinstripe trousers and a velvet top hat, which was sagging a little from being submerged in the tank. The man raised a gloved hand in greeting as the other ELE members welcomed him back into the fold. After muttering a thanks to Professor Normal, Lord Lucan lodged his monocle into his eye and addressed the ELE.
"Well, it is utterly spiffing to be back amongst my comrades in evil antics." Horrible watched the resurrected guy with interest; he had never met Lord Lucan before; he had died several years ago, when the Doctor himself was nothing more than a small-time criminal. As he continued to talk to his old friends, Billy noticed that Lucan spoke with a British London accent, and that even the words he chose were as old-fashioned as his outfit.
"-many thanks again to Professor Normal, my old friend, for allowing me to once again terrorize LA, a past-time that I delighted in for so many years prior to my premature demise." the Lord clasped hands with the Professor, and, for the first time as he looked over his comrade's shoulder, noticed Dr Horrible."
"Who the bloody hell are you?" Billy startled, stuttering for a moment. Professor Normal rolled his eyes.
"That is one of our newest ELE members, Dr Horrible. He assisted in the construction of the device that brought you back." Lord Lucan smiled at Horrible, which made the Doctor twitch nervously. Lucan raised an eyebrow at Nomal.
"He seems a little…jittery to be a member of the ELE. Doesn't look like real ELE material"
"He has been a bit of a liability in the past, yes, but he has had his uses." Normal paused for a moment. "In fact, he has done you a massive favor."
"Has he now? How exactly?"
"He defeated that bafoon who murdered you…what's his name…Mister Spanner?"
"CAPTAIN HAMMER?" Lord Lucan's head snapped back over towards Dr Horrible, who looked like he was about to pass a brick.
"You killed him, good Sir?" Horrible gulped as Lord Lucan came up close to him. The guy's breath smelt like…raw meat? The Doctor gulped.
"Not exactly…"
"But you defeated my arch-nemesis, yes?"
"Well…technically, he's my arch-nemesis now…and yes. Yes I did." Horrible thought that Lucan was going to pull his hand off, the way he was wringing it so hard.
"Jolly good job, my fellow! I feel we are going to get on horribly well." he chuckled at his own joke.
"Now, who else is new?"
"NEIGH! PRRRR!"
"Bad Horse says that Lord Voldemort is the only other new guy and that if this doesn't finish in the next five minutes, he's Death Whinny-ing."
"Voldemort? Isn't he that baby tattoo artist?"
Snake Bite clapped a hand on the Dark Lord's shoulder as he hissed with fury, his fingers inching towards the folds of his cloak. Dead Bowie cleared his throat loudly, warily watching the pale guy trying to reach his wand.
"Sooo… Normal, is Lord Lucan still able to, you know, 'do his thing'?"
"I believe so." Normal grinned at the man next to him. "Care to give it a try?"
"Certainly chap!"
Intrigued, Dr Horrible leant closer to see what Lucan's 'thing' was. He regretted it almost immediately. The man let out a blood-curdling howl which almost bust Billy's ear drums. The Doctor fell to his knees, clutching his ears and waiting to see what the hell the racket was actually doing. The room seemed to be shaking; Horrible swore that the flasks and vials on the pushed back tables were quivering, particles of dust jumping around. Then, after a few minutes, the doors burst open and some weird…wolf…things leapt through it, stumbling with excitement to reach their master.
"My underlings! My babies!" Lord Lucan was laughing as he stroked all the yapping dog hybrids. They looked kind of gross, all boney with massive fangs and huge ropes of drool hanging from their muzzles. The strange thing was, there was almost humanoid element to them.
This was why Dr Horrible remained firmly a cat person.
"My little pookies," cooed Lord Lucan, scratching several of the creatures behind the ears "have you been good boys whilst Daddy's been away?" To Billy's shock, the mutts actually replied, with low gravelly voices.
"Yes! Yes! Been very good!"
"Yes Daddy!"
"I'm sorry Daddy, I pooed on the carpet!"
"Well, I think that this is sufficient evidence to prove the validity of my machine." Professor Normal walked over to the surrounded Hound Master, trying to avoid the slobbering dog things as well as he could.
"You are all free to go. Lord Lucan, I need to discuss a few things with you, regarding your resurrection. You need to know, you will experience a few rather severe-"
The monster's yapping reached an irritatingly loud climax as their master's attention turned to Normal. Dr Horrible, unable to take the noise and desperate to get back to his own little project, leapt to his feet, crossed the lab and hurried out of the ELE as fast as his legs could carry him.
"This file was downloaded from a remote source and may contain viruses or malware. Are you sure you wish to open file?"
"YES, for the love of God, yes!"
Finally, after days of waiting and swearing, the video files popped up. Dr Horrible clapped his hands together with glee. This was it, this was it, this was it!
"Moist! Moist, get in here, it's finished! I've got them, I've got her memories!" The henchman raced into the room clutching his razor. He looked between the grinning Doctor and the screen, a shocked 'o' on his face.
"It's worked? It's actually worked?" Moist took the mouse off of Horrible, who was sat with his arms folded proudly across his chest. His flatmate shuffled through the years of catalogued memories.
"Hey, October 12th 2005! Isn't the day you met?"
"What? How the hell do you know that?" Moist rolled his eyes.
"Seriously, you talked about her so much that day I could never forget."
"Play it." his friend complied, moving the slider to about ten in the morning. Through Penny's eyes, they could see that she was on the same street as the Laundromat. Horrible felt his heart stop as Moist hit 'play'.
Dr Horrible watched as Penny headed towards the Laundromat's entrance, her eyes shifting down to check on her load. The door tinkled in its familiar way as she pushed her way into the cleaning shop. He knew exactly what was going to happen next, but it was so strange to see it happen through her eyes. Penny turned her head, and her gaze landed straight on his younger self. Dr Horrible saw their eyes meet, and cringed as he saw his jaw slack. Penny looked away quickly, probably out of embarrassment and then there was a loud 'bang'. She turned to see what it was to find the man who had just been staring at her sprawled all over the floor. She hurried over to help the Doctor up, placing her washing on one of the machines on her way.
"Are you alright?" her voice was just as Horrible remembered it and it made his heart pound to hear it again.
"Mrrffle…" the Doctor grimaced as he watched himself splutter and stammer at Penny, and finally stagger to his feet unassisted, blushing redder than a lobster. As Penny returned to her laundry, Moist paused the memory.
"Did you see it Doc?"
"See what? Me make a complete fool of myself?"
"No, no, her stats." Moist slid the slider back to the moment just before their eyes first met and played it again.
"See! There! Right there!" he pointed at the chemical levels in Penny's system.
"High amounts of Adrenaline…" Dr Horrible felt his stomach jolt. Then he shook his head. "That could mean anything…"
"Heart rate raised, by a fair bit. Large amounts of Serotonin and Dopamine are also in her system. Now, I'm no chemist but…"
"Th-that can't be right!" furiously, Horrible fast-forwarded a bit. He watched random parts of her day, and noticed that there were random releases of Serotonin in her system…
Dr Horrible felt his mouth slack, unable to believe it. He went to a later date, to the time when he and Penny were meeting up at the Laundromat. She was sat next to him, and he could hear them talking about something, from the look on his face, probably Captain Hammer. Suddenly, he remembered what particular day that had been. Surely enough, her hand reached out to his shoulder. Horrible watched his own face contort into a shocked expression. But the present day Doctor's face mimicked his past self's; he stared at the stats on his screen, unable to believe his eyes.
"High quantity of Adrenaline recorded…" Horrible put a gloved hand to his mouth. "I don't believe it…"
"Well, at least this means that you won't have to change anything." Moist stopped the screen once more. "This does mean what I think it does, right?" Horrible nodded slowly.
"I-I think so. Penny- but no, she can't have, she was with Hammer… I don't know, but this suggests that…Penny, Penny, she was-"
"Penny was what?" the Doctor and henchman almost fell off their chairs. Captain Hammer was walking towards them, stretching and yawning.
"Nothing, nothing." Dr Horrible turned to the hero, smiling in spite of himself.
"She was the ginger, right? Dorky kid, kept going on and on about some homeless thing." Hammer headed towards the fridge, and Dr Horrible quickly turned the computer off.
"Oh, you fixed your computer? Can I play 'Space Invaders' on it yet?"
"No!" Hammer pouted, clutching a bag of crisps. "I have a job for you anyway."
"I'm not going into another super-hero lair."
"No… I need you to get me some sweets. And a radio. A walkie-talkie sort of thing."
"What kind of sweets d'you need?"
"I don't care. Chocolate. Bon-bons. Haribo. Anything."
Captain Hammer nodded, smiling knowingly. "They're for your sciency thing, aren't they? For, like a potion or something?" Horrible stared at Hammer in disbelief. Was he honestly that…?
"No, I want to eat them you idiot!"
"What, the radio too?" Horrible sighed. He seemed to be doing that a hell of a lot.
"Just get them for me."
"Why can't you get them yourself?"
"I've got to be…somewhere else." Moist looked curiously at his employer, immediately aware that he was hiding something. He tried to catch his eye, but the blonde was purposely looking away from his friend.
"In fact, I had better get going." The Doctor adjusted his goggles and vacated his seat.
"Radio and sweets!" he called behind him as he strode out of the door.
A little while later, Captain Hammer was strolling down the street, grumbling about the unfairness of it all. Why did he always end up doing everything for that horrible Doctor Horrible, huh? He felt abused; that evil scientist could make him jump through hoops and he couldn't complain, 'cause else he would refuse to permanently restore Hammer's strength. He wasn't sure if the Doctor realized that he was going to give him hell as soon as he gave Hammer back his powers; they had never discussed being all buddy and friendly after Hammer had finished doing all of that meany's chores and stuff. Oh, the Captain was going to punch Doctor Horrible's lights out, and everything was going to be back to normal. The Doctor would be groveling on his knees…
The little sweet shop was right on the corner of the high street, and was swamped by kids that had just got out of school for the day. Hammer shoved his way through the crowd, getting a lot of funny stares off of the teens gathered around the door. The door opened with a cheerful bell tinkle. Pushing his way past the school kids, Captain Hammer made his way to the till, ignoring the children's annoyed shouts.
"Hey," said Hammer, grinning at the man behind the counter. He looked less than impressed.
"What'd ya want? I ain't time for chit-chat…" Hammer raised an eyebrow at the man.
"Well that's no way to treat a customer." The cashier didn't really seem to care much about shop-keeping etiquette, judging by the death-glare that he was now giving the hero. Hammer's smile flickered a little.
"Fine. I'll have some sugar mice… a few liquorish allsorts…a scoop of Haribo Star Mix…a load of jelly beans and chocolate peanuts. Oh, and chuck in a couple of bon bons too." the server gritted his teeth and began to shovel the candy into a large paper bag.
"That'll be $3.70." Captain Hammer blinked rapidly.
"Sorry?"
"$3.70."
'What was that again?"
"I said that lot'll cost ya $3.70." the man tapped his foot impatiently, hand held out in expectation. Then Hammer realized; the man expected him to pay.
Captain Hammer had never paid for anything in his entire life.
And Dr Horrible hadn't given him any money.
"But, I'm Captain Hammer!" said Captain Hammer pointing at his t-shirt and smiling winningly. "Savior of the people, local hero and all."
"Never heard of you."
"Well, I don't pay. I don't have any money, and to be frank, you civilian people owe me for saving the city so many times."
"On your bike." the man glared at the confused Captain angrily. "You heard me, get out! You can't pay, don't stay!" the cashier grabbed hold of a nearby broom and brandished it threateningly at the Captain, who hurried out of the door, amidst the jeers of the angry teens that he'd pushed in front of.
Well, how rude!
Captain Hammer huffed outside the shop, wondering what he was going to do next. He didn't have any sweets, and he didn't have a clue where he was going to get a radio from. He glared at all the laughing kids that were stuffing their faces with sugar and e-numbers with jealousy. He couldn't believe that man had refused to give him, Captain Hammer the sweets, after all he had done of this damn city! And not only that, he had chased him out like some common normal person. And those kids had laughed! Hammer felt like everyone had forgotten all about him…
A little girl bumped into him, almost sending the hero flying as she rushed away clutching a bag of sweets. It was like nobody saw him anymore. Hammer didn't get it. He watched the kids surrounding him, sharing their sweets with one another, giving them to and taking them from their friends.
That was when it clicked; if he couldn't get anyone to give him the sweets for Horrible, then he was just going to have to take them…
The Captain sidled up to a lad with a particularly large sack of candy, trying to be as inconspicuous as he could with his 6"2 bulk. The boy was busy laughing with his friends, hardly paying any attention to the paper bag that was hanging limply in his hand. The kid saw Hammer looming over him at the last moment, but he was too late; quicker than a viper on red bull, Captain Hammer's hand shot out and snatched the boy's bag.
"What the- hey!" Hammer hurried away from the scene of the crime as quickly as possible. Oh, he was good! It was a wonder that he had never got a medal or something for his reflexes. Hammer smiled to himself; oh yeah, he had!
"Stop right there, mister!" halfway back down the road, the hero stopped in his tracks. Slowly, he turned around to see a haughty-looking police woman stood with her hands on her hips, the boy Hammer had nicked the sweets from standing beside her, fuming.
"This kid says that you stole his sweets?" the cop looked disgusted at him. "That true?"
"Maybe…" said Hammer guardedly, clutching the bag closer to his chest. The woman shook her head, glaring angrily at Captain Hammer.
"Well, why don't you just give them back, and then this won't have to go any further." she patted the pistol in her belt, a threat that anyone whose name wasn't Captain Hammer would've got. But the Captain was looking at something else in the officer's belt…
Without even thinking about it (which, lets be honest, isn't something that Hammer was famous for), the hero started towards the cop, beginning with a slow walk and gradually building up pace. The woman watched the strange, strange man as he quick-walked towards her, doing odd skipity jumps every now and then. Now, she was an LAPD officer, she was used to these sorts of nut-jobs staggering around doing weird things, but this guy was seriously bizarre. He had a hammer emblazoned on his chest, had stolen a kid's bag of sweets and, according to the shop keeper she had talked to, thought he was some kind of super hero. Her hand inched towards the tazer on the inside of her jacket as the man started sprinting. With just seconds before he smashed into her, she whipped it out, but just as she was about to pull the trigger…
BAM!
The man's palm collided with her chest, and the officer felt the wind being whistling past her face. There were screams, hurried footsteps, and then a great deal of pain as she slammed into the ground and several school kids. Breathless and clutching a probably broken arm, the cop staggered to her feet, intent on putting a few rounds through this git's skull. But, to her shock, she found that she was at least a hundred feet away from the fleeing mentalist, who was weaving through the stunned onlookers up the street.
"Hey! Get back here unless you want to know what happens if you mess with a DeLauny!" Officer DeLauny stumbled after Captain Hammer, shoving civilians aside. It was no use; he was too fast, and she was too badly hurt. She reached down to call for back up, but, she grasped nothing. Confused, DeLauny groped at her belt. Nothing there.
"What…?"
Where the hell had her radio gone?
Dr Horrible returned from his…business to find Captain Hammer lounging on the grubby carpet, playing Uno with a somewhat unwilling looking Moist.
"I pick…green."
"You always pick green…you've not even got any green cards!"
"So? I pick green!"
"But-but- oh, look Billy's back!" The Doctor didn't think that he had ever seen his henchman looking so glad to see him. Moist mouthed a very sincere 'Thank you' before being barged aside by Hammer, who handed the villain a massive bag of candy and a walkie-talkie.
"Oh, you got them then?" Horrible rooted around in the paper sack. "Ooo, Red Vines, my favorite!" munching on the red stick, Dr Horrible assessed the little radio, flipping it over in his gloved hands.
"Excellent…this will work. I think." He picked up a screw driver and opened up the little device, examining its circuits. After a bit of fiddling, Billy winkled out a circuit board and a little black box and popped it on his desk, to add to the machine later.
"Right. There is only one thing left that we need to get, and the Resurrect-Ohm-Meter will be complete."
"And I get my strength back?" Captain Hammer was glaring hard at Horrible.
"Yes, yes."
"Doc, to get this thing you need for the machine, do we have to go into the ELE?" Horrible fidgeted with his coat for a moment.
"Um…kind of."
"By 'kind of' you mean 'yes'?"
"Well, you could say that." Moist groaned loudly. Great, first a graveyard, now the ELE. Couldn't any of the components for this stupid thing be found at Wal-Mart? Come on, it was probably the only shop where you could get a child's chainsaw and a litre of chocolate milk on the same isle.
"Anyway, I thought we could go tomorrow night."
"Can't, I've got a date."
"Fine, the day after."
"The Red Socks are playing!" Dr Horrible glared at Captain Hammer with such venom that he actually quailed beneath it.
"I could…record it?" Billy smiled. Oh, he felt powerful! And happier than he had ever felt before. In just a few days time, he would have Penny back.
He would have all he had wanted.
Everything he ever…
Just a quick end note, I don't normally do these but, just to let you know, next chapter is the last chapter on the building of the machine, so you can all jump for joy! HUZZAH! The wait and stifling boredom is nearly done. But the fic isn't... oh no, there is still much MUCH more to come...which is either a good thing or a bad thing, depending on whether or not you like this story. Also, this thing is a hell of a lot longer than I intended it to be. Sorry, I ramble so much. All the little ideas in my brain keep yelling at me, going 'pick me!', 'pick me!' and I don't like leaving any of them out, so...