Disclaimer: Not mine. Credit Joss Whedon, Zack Whedon, Jed Whedon, Maurissa Tancharoen, and the cast.

I think the series was incredible; really, Act 3 was the only way it could have concluded. That said, here's a revision for a more open ending that I can build on.

Extraneous explanation/ description apologies to those of you who saw the series, I'm hoping this will also be accessible for the people who haven't seen it. Just a forewarning, I'm not going to refer to Dr. Horrible as Billy except in select circumstances because there's no way of knowing if that's his real name or just an alter-ego. He calls himself Billy once, but that seems to be directly referring to something Penny (who believes his name is Billy) said to him.

Moist, Dr. Horrible, and Captain Hammer (he'll be here too, and I'll try to be fair) are easy to write, both as personalities and in dialogue, because they're all well established. But Penny is tricky, because what is known about her character has to be pieced together. Still, I'll try to do her wise/naïve cheerful/sad modest shy champion-of-the-people archness justice.

The prologue's pretty short, but the next chapter's longer, I promise.

Prologue

Soft cries of frightened citizens hiding behind cheap aluminum chairs followed the accidental explosion, joined by the unrestrained wails of their supposed protector from the stage where he had landed after the backfire. The dark-haired musclehead scrambled to his feet and threw some poor woman out of his way as he fled in pain.

The one remaining light in the reception hall flickered as a flaxen-haired figure in a white labcoat pulled himself up the leg of his tripod-mounted Freeze Ray, coughing and waving away the smoke. Dr. Horrible wrenched the time-distorting gun from its stand, suspecting strongly that because of that extra precaution, his weapon had powered down preemptively and freed his antagonist from stasis.

His other gun, the Death Ray, had been malfunctioning, and his brainless nemesis had tried to shoot him with it anyway. The resulting metal fragments had peppered the reception hall, but he didn't see anyone with any serious injuries…

No. Oh NO. She was dating Captain Hammer, of COURSE she'd be there for the unveiling of his stupid statue! He ran to her side as she laid propped up against the wall, impaled by the shards and struggling to breathe. She was just trying to help the unfortunate, to give hope to a world gone mad. She was innocent.

Penny blinked green eyes in recognition as he shook her gently, pleaded for her to hold on, brushed back a strand of her auburn hair. "Billy?"

She was running out of time. So, Freeze Ray in hand, he stopped it for her.