Part 3

Billy took a chance and missed the next E.L.E. meeting. To be fair, he had locked himself in his lab and asked Moist to make sure that he wasn't disturbed. His new Horrible Headquarters was an old mansion house and was a great deal more comfortable (not to mention spacious, with a wonderful basement lab) than his old downtown apartment. Also, Moist was very good at fending off undesirable callers.

Any member of the League would definitely come under the heading of "undesirable" right now.

Trouble was, without really understanding Dead Bowie's super-power, it was hard to come up with a defence against it. Billy guessed that it was a variant on Bad Horse's own ability - some kind of mind control. But the zombie's power seemed a good deal more subtle than Bad Horse's (or any one of the number of Heroes who had similar powers). No, Bowie's was more a sort of magnified charisma - an ability to persuade people to do what he wanted, or even to want it themselves. Now he looked back at all the League meetings he'd attended, Billy could see very clearly where Bowie had steered the decision making.

How could he triumph in a battle of wills with someone who would stoop so low as to use his powers to seduce people?

Billy tutted, standing in front of his trusty white board and scowling at all the equations written there. The nearest he could get was to use some kind of neural-dampening device. He'd built a kind of "mind-wipe" ray a while ago that had never really worked, but he could fit a very crude version to his goggles. It would be tricky and impossible to test but he couldn't go back into the E.L.E. headquarters without at least some remedial level of protection. Billy knew, with an instinct honed from years of being the victim of bullies, that Dead Bowie saw him as a conquest. He wouldn't let that happen.

He was Doctor Horrible! He had a PhD in Horribleness! He wouldn't let himself be… French kissed… by a walking corpse.

(no matter how good it had felt).

With a confident smile, Billy began to work on the circuitry required for the modification to his mind-ray. He's show Bowie! He'd show all of them!

*--*--*

Billy took his seat at the conference table and smoothed down the material of his coat. He turned his gaze on Bowie and tilted his head, giving the zombie his best sarcastic grin.

Bowie shrugged and had the gall to ignore him!

In fact, he ignored him throughout the entire meeting.

Billy realised pretty quickly how incredibly boring the meeting was without Bowie's interjections. Okay, so it moved along more quickly without the zombie picking apart every proposal and plan, but Jefferson's voice was just so dull that Billy found himself lulled almost to sleep by the drone, plus the slight whine from the mechanism in his goggles.

Was it the goggles that were protecting him from Bowie? Or was Bowie just behaving himself after being warned off by Bad Horse?

It was frustrating! Having geared himself up for a confrontation, Billy really wanted to test his new device and prove for once and for all that he could resist Bowie's charms. He wanted to prove it. He needed to prove it. And he was being frustrated.

Billy didn't cope well with frustration.

He was roused from his stupor by Bowie poking him under the table.

"Hey, Doc…" The zombie whispered. "Meeting's over." Bowie's fingers skirted over his ribcage. "Still no body armour? My, but aren't we a brave one!"

Billy grabbed Bowie's hand and bent his fingers back and he pushed them away violently. "Don't touch me…" He hissed.

"Ooo, I believe the lady doth protest too much!" Bowie said, staring at him.

Billy grinned. He didn't even feel a flicker of Bowie's power. The goggles worked! He laughed - a low key version of his trademark laugh, just a rumble of thunder before the storm.

But Bowie just looked smug. "Oooo… Have you done something? You have, haven't you? You've built some sort of gadget-y thing to protect yourself against me. You're scared of me! You think I might persuade you to do something you want to do…"

Billy didn't reply, but behind the goggles, he was blinking rapidly. His gloved hand balled into a fist. "I'm not your plaything, Bowie. Now give it up!"

Bowie leaned forward, putting on hand on Billy's knee then sliding it up, under his lab coat, until he squeezed his thigh. "I think you want this, Doctor. I think you want this as much as I do, sweetie…"

Billy sat still, rigid, determined not to betray the fact that his body was pulsing with energy and warmth and all he wanted to do was kiss Bowie, hard, hard enough to bruise his lips.

Damn it! The goggles weren't working! Were they?

Were they?

Was it is own desire or Bowie's that was driving him?

Bowie was grinning now, damn him, his hand moving higher and higher, squeezing and squeezing. "You know what I like about you, Doctor Horrible? Billy…? I think you're a challenge. And I like a challenge."

Billy gulped but stayed still, using all his self control not to react. Any reaction would just give Bowie what he wanted. Any reaction at all. Just stay still, he thought. Stay still…

Then suddenly, without warning, Bowie ripped the goggles from his face and kissed him, his mouth claiming his, his tongue lively, battling his own. With the goggles off, Billy's control withered and died under the full force of Bowie's charisma and he found himself kissing Bowie back just as enthusiastically, although a great deal less skilfully. He held the back of Bowie's head with his gloved hands and let out a moan, not caring who heard him, hardly even aware of where he was. It didn't feel like Bowie was controlling him or freezing him or doing anything to him. He felt in control. He felt a passion and a power that he'd never experienced in his life. He didn't stop to draw breath and he held nothing back. Months of sorrow and mourning and regret burst out of him in that kiss and he didn't back down an inch, didn't think beyond the moment and might not have come up for air if it hadn't been for the high-pitched laugh coming from behind him.

"You boysss! Would you pleassse get a room?" It was Snake Bite.

Bowie broke the kiss but didn't move back. Billy still held him in place, their lips were only inches from each other. They stared at each other, panting.

"You're… you're hypnotic!" Bowie finally said, pulling away. He laughed uncertainly.

"You're a very good kisser," Billy conceded with a slight frown.

"Thank you!" Bowie replied with a cheeky grin. "But I do know that."

Billy rolled his eyes. "Now give me back my goggles."

Bowie grinned and held them out. "My pleasure. They're actually kind of sexy."

Billy chuckled at that. "Dude! Seriously. Stop it."

Bowie didn't back down. "I'd like to see you wearing them goggles, an' nothing else…"

Billy laughed. "Will you give it up? I'm not going to sleep with you!"

Bowie grinned. "You say that now. But you know how persuasive I can be."

Billy tapped the goggles before putting them on. "That doesn't work when I'm wearing these. So that screws with your fantasy."

Bowie raised an eyebrow. "Or does it? Perhaps the challenge is to get you in the sack while you're still in control of your faculties?"

Billy shook his head. "I don't think so."

He didn't. He really didn't. Despite how Bowie tasted. Despite the fact that his thigh was still tingling.

Bowie laughed. "Give me a week. You'll be begging me."

Billy turned away with a sigh.

"Two weeks? Come on, Billy." Bowie reached out, running the back of his hand over Billy's bicep.

Billy turned back to him and tilted his head. "Is this some kind of weird mad scientist fetish that you have?" He asked.

"Yeah," Bowie replied. "I just want to have sex in your lab." He laughed.

"Ew!" Billy managed.

"Do you have a lab in your bedroom?"

"No!" But he found himself blushing. "That's it, I'm leaving. Meeting's over." Billy got to his feet, a little unsteadily. He tried his best to ignore Bowie as he shouted after him "Do you have test tubes?" and followed it with an incredibly dirty laugh.