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

"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?"

"I don't know... I think anything would induce paralysis might come in handy, particularly in the City." Particularly when zombies and vampires attacked, although Carl wasn't sure their nervous systems and muscle controls operated in the same way as those of living things. Perhaps he would need to test the idea out on Marishka the next time she came after him.

Carl eyed the elevator. "I would rather chance exiting from the windows. We can't be too far off the ground."

"True...it didn't work on the intended target, that's for sure, but maybe I could get it to work on something."

Billy eyed the elevator as well. Honestly, he'd probably taking the stairs up to his apartment for a while from now on. Just in case. "Yes, I think we'd better try the windows. There should be a small balcony off one of them and we could lower ourselves with...do you see some rope or something?"

"What was the intended target?"

Carl went to the nearest window. There was indeed a small balcony--a small, sturdy-looking balcony. It was just the kind of balcony one looked for when attempting to escape a laboratory with a possessed elevator. "We don't need rope," Carl said, fumbling in his robe. He was glad he carried most of his inventions on his person, even if it made maneuvering difficult. He pulled out something he hadn't quite gotten around to finishing: a miniature grappling hook (it was supposed to be a multipurpose tool, but Carl had yet to decide what else one would need when using a grappling hook). "This should do. The cable is steel... I imagine it should be more than strong enough."

"Captain Hammer, who else. I really wanted to see what he would do without his super-strength, but no such luck."

Billy followed Carl to the window and looked out. It was really too bad that he was stuck in the basement all the time. He was impressed when Carl produced the grappling hook--apparently the man was 50% pocket.

"That's handy. Who goes first?"

"He has super-strength? That's hardly fair."

(It should be mentioned that Carl was only 28% pocket. The rest of him was mainly oddball weaponry and silly hair.)

"Well, thank you." Carl opened the window and exited onto the balcony, peering down at the ground. "...Oh, after you."

"I know, right? But I'm A LOT smarter."

Billy looked down. It wasn't all that far, and he had learned, of necessity, how to take a fall (and how to take a punch, and how to not asphyxiate, etc.) He also checked whether anyone was looking. The potential for embarrassment and looking suspicious were very high. "All right, here I go."

There was some falling involved, but not a lot. And the Explosion Gun did not get broken, which was important.

"I suppose that evens things out."

Carl knew he should have offered to go first, but frankly, Billy looked more durable. "Good luck, then."

Much to his surprise, there were no unfortunate incidents or unplanned explosions. Dr. Horrible's great success encouraged Carl greatly, and he took his turn descending. While he was considerably slower than Billy, he made it to the ground without breaking anything (either in his body or in his robes). He retracted the small grappling hook. "I would call that a success. To the carousel, then?"

"To the Carousel! Wahahahaha."

It just sort of slipped out. He couldn't really help it, but it was appropriate to the occasion, so hey, he indulged in a little more diabolical "Ha"'s.

"Just keep a lookout for a big guy with a hammer logo on his shirt. He might get the wrong idea and try to stop us." Actually, the problem was that he might get the right idea considering they were about to attempt to blow up a public landmark.

"Erm. Right." Far be it from Carl to judge a man over a few evil laughs. He frowned at the very idea of someone trying to stop them. "Why on earth would he do that? We could very well be taking the single most important action ever taken! This could--and I'm not saying it will, because it hasn't been tried and tested--this could send us all home. At the very least, damaging the clock underneath the carousel might disrupt the curses."

"He...wouldn't see it like that. He'd basically see me doing something with a weapon and jump right in to be all 'heroic.' Punch first, ask questions later, that sort of thing."

Billy did his best to conceal said weapon, and started walking

"At least it's starting to get dark-ish. And since it's cold out, hopefully there won't actually be anyone at the Carousel."

"Ah. He sounds like every other heavy-browed, prehistoric caveman I've ever encountered. Heaven forbid they use their brains first." Carl shuffled after.

"It hardly matters if there's anyone there. I'm sure they'd move if they knew what we were doing."

"And he even has groupies. I just don't understand how people can admire him." As usual, whenever Billy thought about Captain Hammer he got very frustrated, and he began walking faster than he really meant to. They were almost to the library now.

"In fact, I think they'd move pretty quickly."

"Groupies?" Interesting new word. "Ah... is there a reason you're in such a hurry? I suspect the carousel isn't going anywhere in the immediate future."

"Oh, sorry. Probably not. Well, not anywhere but around." He forced himself to slow down. "Groupies are fans. They follow him around and ask him for autographs and wear t-shirts with his face on them."

Carl appreciated the more moderate pace. He didn't, however, see the appeal of groupies. "That sounds bothersome, having a crowd after you. You wouldn't get any work done at all."

"Well, some people prefer being famous to actually getting things accomplished." To be perfectly honest, he really wouldn't mind having groupies and he very much did want to be famous--that was partly what becoming Dr. Horrible had been about. But he did also want to actually accomplish other things. "Not that there's anything wrong with people knowing about you, you know, to get your message out."

"True enough. I suppose that applies to the vast majority of the higher clergy. Mm? Do you have a message, then?"

"I advocate social change. I post a lot on my world's version of the Network." He also spent a lot of time talking about Penny and complaining about Captain Hammer, but that wasn't really his message. Though, maybe his message did have a tendency to get lost under all that.

"Hey, look, we're nearly there."

[ooc: explodey bits soon? Captain Hammer is prepared to show up.]

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