tampered | Log (ongoing)

Log (ongoing)

When; February 3, afternoonish
Rating; PG-13 for various "don't do this at home" exploits
Characters; Dr. Horrible (

horrible_phd ) and Carl (

somekindofsin ), with Karrin and the illustrious Captain Hammer later on.
Summary; The elevator in the City's laboratory is unwilling to take orders. Attempts to fix it lead, naturally, to mayhem and plans to destroy the carousel for the good of humanity. Or whatever.
Log;

Carl shuffled about the laboratory's lobby, waiting for his associate (well, they weren't really associates, as they worked independently and on different levels of the laboratory, but Carl was in the habit of thinking about all other scientifically-minded individuals in his general vicinity as associates), Dr. Horrible. The friar didn't usually collaborate with anyone with "horrible" in their name, but the City hardly allowed one to be picky. Anyway, Carl suspected Dr. Horrible was more of a Dr. Morally-Ambiguous.

From what Carl had learned from personal experience, the elevator that they were going to attempt to fix refused to allow any one City citizen access to more than one floor of the laboratory. There was undoubtedly a reason for it, but the arrangement made it rather difficult to visit associates on other floors. Carl was almost certain that whatever odd 'magic' infested the City controlled the elevator's movements, making the contraption rigged rather than broken. This didn't faze him. Neither did the fact that he had virtually no experience with lifts of any kind. Carl had no doubt that scientific ingenuity could overcome virtually everything, supernatural forces and general ignorance included.

Of course, Carl also had every intention of trying to destroy the City's carousel at a later date, which, he surmised, threw a fair amount of doubt on his convictions and sanity.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Well, it's about time we went up. And now that we have a nice little hole in the ceiling we can--"

It was a nice little hole, fairly circular, no jagged edges, and it appeared not to be spreading. It would be really interesting to get a chance to actually work with Carl, but first they'd have to actually get out of there, and--"Er. What exactly was it that we were going to do next?"

"What? Oh! You can get your hand through the hole, can't you? You might use it to steady yourself while you open the trapdoor. I wonder if--there's every chance that the material around the hole has been weakened. If you can't open the door, I suppose you could do something to enlarge it..."

"Okay, then let's go for it, with less falling this time. By the way, assuming we get out of here fairly soon, would you be interested in working together on something else? I'd been thinking of trying to find out more about the clock."

"Less falling would be useful, yes." Carl didn't fancy being landed on again, if such a thing was avoidable.

"The clock?" The mechanism was of great interest to Carl. How convenient that it would come up in conversation! "Actually, I was going to try to destroy it. From what I've learned, it appears to be the focal point of the City's power. There's every chance that eliminating it might put an end to the curses and send us all back to our respective worlds."

Of course, there was also every chance that destroying the clock would end all worlds, but one never knows until one experiments.

"The clock itself is underground and protected by some sort of shield. No one, however, has attempted to get at the clock via the carousel, which is directly above it."

The, Actually, I was going to try to destroy it, sounded so incongruously pleasant that it took Billy a moment to parse the phrase, since if he had said something like that it probably would have been accompanied by maniacal laughter and some posturing.

"Huh. I'd wanted to destroy the clock too, before I got a roommate and a pet and mostly got the ticking to go away. But even though I have been exploring the Underground a bit, there are a lot of monsters, and I'd like my Stun Ray to be more powerful before risking an encounter with one. I never thought about going the other way. That's a really great idea."

He began the attempt to use Carl as a human ladder once again, this time a little more carefully.

Carl had, of course, considered being a mad scientist after leaving Oxford. His inability to sound convincingly sinister or evil--as well as a lack of funding--had put an end to that idea. He suspected he was also a bit too amiable and morally-upright for that sort of career.

"You've been down there?" Carl was impressed. He liked to avoid monsters and other things that could kill him. "Oh, thank you--careful, there."

Billy reached up and tried to grab the edge of the hole. It crumbled, but he managed to not lose his balance completely and grabbed the part behind it that was solid.

"Yeah, there are shops down there which sell some of the more unusual pieces of equipment I need and supplies that are hard to find anywhere else. It's not that dangerous in that part, though it's not totally safe, either. How were you planning to get through the Carousel?"

The lack of immediate falling pleased Carl quite a lot.

"I imagine it's dangerous enough. Mm? Oh! Well. I was going to try throwing a bit of trinitroglycerine at it. Really, if that doesn't effect the Carousel, I don't know what would."

"I don't know what would affect it, really. I mean, it might be sheilded or it might not be made out of the ordinary things carousels are made of. I think it would be a good idea to at least find out."

Billy managed to get the trapdoor open and began trying to climb his way through. Suddenly, the elevator shuddered and jerked.

"Of course," Carl agreed cheerfully, "and what better way to find out than to fling unstable, explosive chemicals at it?"

The elevator's sudden movement sent Carl--known for falling over on ground that isn't moving--stumbling, which effectively robbed Billy of his friar-ladder.

Wow, okay, clearly they were destined to be friends forever. Only the was no time to think about that because Billy's legs were dangling in thin air. Unfortunately, he just didn't have much upper body strength, and had to focus all his energy on getting his upper body onto the roof of the elevator.

"I personally can't think of one," he said, and looked to where the next floor was. He should have been right next to the doors, but they were slowly moving away from him. "So...it looks like the elevator is working again. Well, at least moving. That's a start."

Carl hauled himself to his feet. "Yes, but where is it moving to? ...Pull your head back in, won't you? Knowing the City, there's likely something in the elevator shaft waiting to decapitate you."

"We're not moving very fast, and we're going down--maybe about a floor? Anyway, I guess you're right. I'm coming down." Billy hoped Carl wasn't beneath him, but it wasn't like he could have stayed up there much longer anyway. He let go and tried his best to land on his feet.

"With any luck, we'll end up on the ground-level. That would certainly simplify the exiting process!" Carl, as it was, had had the foresight to stand aside, just in case Billy decided to do precisely what he did.

"It certainly would." The doors opened. "But since when is anything simple here?"

It was not the ground floor. However, it was an intriguing new part of the library with shiny new equipment and lots of differently shaped glass flasks and tubing and things. "I think we might be on the first floor up. Personally I'd rather be trapped there then in here. I say we get out."

"Aside from never..."

The first floor is heaven. How heaven became trapped in the City, Carl would never know. "I second that." He paused. Surely this was too good to be true; there were likely booby traps.

Billy was too entranced to worry about the fact that most of the things that seemed wonderful in the city turned out to be a tease. Like those darn buttons. He walked right in and began dashing around inspecting things with glee. "Oh wow. I mean, there's plenty of stuff on my level, but--ooh, look at that!"

[ooc: would you be interested in fast-forwarding through the making-explody-things-bit? I love this thread, but I want to get to Carousel craziness.]

When nothing terrible befell Billy, Carl felt free to step out and prod things.

[ooc: I'd be very interested! Exploding = Most Awesome.]

"Let's make something explosive!"

Half an hour later Billy was missing half of an eyebrow and part of his labcoat was inexplicably orange.

"I'd call that a success," he said, sounding satisfied.

While Billy's methods were unconventional--even by Carl's standards, which were rather generous--his enthusiasm was encouraging.

How he had managed to turn his labcoat orange, however, was beyond Carl.

"What is it you've come up with?"

"I'll show you! What won't be missed? Maybe I could try blowing out the windows..."

Billy had made an Explosion Gun. He wished he could call it a ray, which was more his style, but it didn't actually produce any kind of ray. He hefted it into the air, but he wasn't entirely sure how powerful it was and didn't actually want to ruin any of the new stuff they'd found.

"...Or I could just explain. Um, it shoots out pellets that explode on impact. What did you make?"

"Or you could shoot at the Carousel," Carl suggested hopefully, not keen on having his own eyebrows put in peril. He was clearly in the presence of a mad scientist who placed a strong emphasis on mad.

Not being the most eccentric person in the vicinity was a nice change.

"That should come in useful." Carl paused. His first pause didn't quite give him enough time to make up a decent-sounding lie, so he paused again and then opted for the truth. "Ah--I didn't actually make anything. I did, however, come up with a number of ideas." He showed Billy the notebook he had been scribbling in which was, as expected, full of incomprehensible formulas, illegible notes, and overly complex diagrams. "I don't work that quickly, you see."

[ooc: Sorry for the lag, there, and for future lag. A bit sick, at the moment.]

"Well, I was mostly modifying stuff I already had." Billy took a look at Carl's notes. The formulas actually seemed like they might make sense if one took the time to puzzle through, but there was a distinct lack of stick figures, so must of the meaning of everything was lost on him.

"I'd like to try shooting the Carousel, but we don't have to do that right away if you want time to work more on one of your ideas now."

[ooc: awww. I'm probably going to bed soon anyway, but I'll be around tomorrow.]

"Oh? You came prepared, then?" Carl had seen the tool kit, of course, but not just everyone carried readily modifiable weapons on their person. Obviously, Dr. Horrible was a man to take seriously (provided he didn't start singing again).

Carl tucked his notes away. "Oh, well... we don't have to, but I'd like to. I'm ready enough."

[ooc: Sleep well when you do, and see you!]

"Well...a lot of my inventions have the same basic pattern. I'd started this one thinking it would shoot a muscle neutralizer, but I tried that before and it didn't work, so this is probably a better use." Dr. Horrible had mostly been keeping weapons on his person since the arrival of Captain Hammer.

"The question is, do we risk getting back in the elevator or try to get out some other way?"

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