Captain Hammer definitely thought that this was a bad idea. He’d had absolutely no intention of facing Dr. Horrible again, but when the call came through to the Heroes’ Guild that the villain had reportedly created some sort of monster, the other heroes were all suddenly too busy to go.

And so, Captain Hammer found himself standing outside a dilapidated apartment block, psyching himself up to face his arch nemesis again. At least a monster wouldn’t be armed with an exploding Death Ray, he reasoned. Probably not, anyway.

He peered at the list of tenants. Apparently Dr. Horrible lived in apartment 3A, assuming he was Billy _____ - Captain Hammer couldn’t read his surname as the paper had got wet at some point and the ink had run. Anyway, Penny had called him Billy, and Captain Hammer doubted that Dr. Horrible had lied about his alias.

He pushed open the door and, after seeing the broken lift, made his way up the stairs. Captain Hammer cautiously walked down the dingy corridor and, equally cautiously, gently tried the door handle to Dr. Horrible’s Evil Lair. Or small two bedroom apartment, depending on your point of view. Unfortunately (and unsurprisingly), the door was locked, but it didn’t take much effort for Captain Hammer to cautiously break it down, as cautiously as it was possible to kick in someone’s door.

He paused in the doorway, not sure what to expect. The room was empty, but there was a glowing blue light coming from the next room, which presumably was Dr. Horrible’s Evil Lab.

“That’s where I’ll find the monster,” Captain Hammer muttered to himself, trying to steady his nerves.

As he sneaked across the room he imagined the terrifying monster Dr. Horrible had created, picturing long tentacles and poisonous spikes, huge yellow teeth framing a dripping maw, gleaming red eyes and long curved horns.

What he definitely want’s expecting was to see his dead ex-girlfriend standing naked in the middle of the lab.

“Penny?!” Captain Hammer gaped.

She smiled cautiously. “Hi.” She looked even paler than normal, with dark shadows around her eyes and a blue tinge to her lips.

“But… you died.”

Penny shrugged. “Yeah… well, technically I still am dead… Billy resurrected me.” She pointed towards the corner of the lab.

Captain Hammer frowned and took a few steps forward. He caught sight of Dr. Horrible, or rather, Dr. Horrible’s body – half the man’s head was missing and he was lying in a large pool of blood.

Captain Hammer turned away, feeling ill. Nemesis or not, there were some things you didn’t wish on anyone.

“I guess his experiment backfired then?”

Penny frowned. “No. I’m here, obviously.”

“Then… what happened to him?”

“Oh.” Penny looked awkwardly at the floor, and Captain Hammer imagined that, if her blood still pumped around her body, she would have blushed. “Um, well, when I woke up I was pretty hungry, and I…”

Captain Hammer recoiled. “You ate him?”

“Just his brain!”

“…I thought you were a vegetarian?”

“I am! It’s just… He was really smart, and his brain smelt so good, I couldn’t help it…”

“Oh.” Captain Hammer thought about that for a few moments. “Wait, does this mean you want to eat my brain?”

Penny pulled a face. “Uh, no. No offence, but yours really doesn’t smell that great.”

Captain Hammer frowned. “Are you saying I’m stupid?”

“Would you rather I wanted to eat your brain?”

“Good point.”