Title: Declaration, Chapter 1: Truth

Author: Fearcat (Max Evelyn on )

Co-Author/Beta: dal_niente (megamind_movie Community)
Summary: Post-movie, the truth is out and the good citizens of Metro City are mad. When Megamind promises to help someone in need.

Author's Note: I have dyslexia, so trying to beat it by writing my own fanfic will help. Yes, it's going to be slow going…but I will not give up. Megamind didn't give up, did he now?

I really have watched this movie so many times now that I've lost count. I've completely fallen in love with all the characters (but I think there needs to be more Megamind and Bernard fanfics). Anyway…this is what happens when you make a playlist of songs you think fit your fandom.

oh and a big thank you to the members megamind_movie community for your help.

###

The invisible car, which was very visible for a change, pulled up in front of Metro City Hall and Megamind and Minion stepped out. Cameras all around them flashed, all wanting the best pictures of the city's new defender.

Forty-eight hours before, Megamind had made an important announcement from the Lair to call a city-wide meeting with the mayor and other important people in the city. He had invited all the news station as well, and informed them that the meeting would be held at Metro City Hall, where all their questions would be answered.

Initially, Minion walked beside Megamind, but he stepped away from the blue alien when they entered the building. He looked back over his shoulder at the horde of flashing cameras. "I hope this works," he said in a low voice, and added "Sir," just as Roxanne's boss, Carl Frost, came up to them. Megamind smirked.

"Carl."

"Megamind, welcome!" Carl looked around expectantly, noticing that there was someone missing. "Where is my star reporter, Roxanne?"

Megamind glanced quickly at Minion, then looked back at the thin, blonde man, who looked to be in his late fifties. "She'll be here shortly," he smiled, and looked into Minion's grey eyes. "She'll not want to miss this announcement".

Carl looked at Minion. Something seemed odd about the fish today, but Carl couldn't put his finger on it. "Hello, Minion."

Minion smiled at the man. Out the corner of his eye, he could see Megamind trying hard not to grin, and he sighed inwardly and forced his usual cheery tone. "Hello, Mr Frost!"

The room where the interview would he held was large, as Megamind had requested. Carl stood with the other news station managers, and all the elite members of the city – including the Lord and Lady Scott – stood off to one side. Minion's eyes widened when he saw the Scotts, and he turned to look at Megamind, who had seen what he had been looking at. Megamind gave a shrug and a weak smile.

The mayor chose that moment to walk up to them, glancing nervously around the room as he came over.

Megamind waved, then sighed. "Ollo Alex, and would you stop being so jumpy?"

Mayor Alexander Thurston stared at him. "How can you be so relaxed about this?" He, Megamind, and Roxanne had been in contact for much of the past twenty-four hours, and Megamind could tell that Alex had not had much sleep. He looked completely stressed out.

"Oh, it comes with the job title." Megamind took a look around the room before turning back to the mayor. "I was worried that telling you had been a bad idea," he said, and grinned a little, "but I am pleasantly surprised to see that you kept the news to yourself." He glanced over at Minion, but the fish was still staring at the two people not far away, and Megamind turned back to the mayor. "Seriously, though, Alex. Try to relax."

Alex nodded jerkily. "Yes, yes. Relax." He looked away and jumped. "Excuse me! I have to go, the commissioner's just arrived."

Megamind's grin widened. "Oh, do give him my best." He watched as the mayor walked away, then grabbed Minion's arm and pulled him over to the chairs that had been set aside for them.

The announcement would go live in twenty minutes, and Carl spotted someone who he hoped could shine some light on all this madness. "Roxanne!" he called, and moved past the others and ran over to her. "What's going on? Can you tell me why he's called a meeting like this?"

She turned to look at her boss and smiled sweetly. "Sorry, but I can't say a thing – I promised," she apologized, and waved her hand in the direction of the central chairs and both aliens.

Her boss sighed heavily. "I hope it's worth it."

Roxanne's smile widened. "Oh, it will be."

"By the way, why did the police surround the building after everyone was inside?" he asked.

"Oh, just in case there's some kind of trouble," she said vaguely.

"What kind?"

"Not sure. It was his idea."

Carl looked confused for a moment, then looked past her at Megamind and nodded. "Ah…okay?"

Roxanne bit her lip and glanced over her shoulder, and noticed that almost everyone was seated and waiting – those who weren't were trickling towards their seats. "I'll talk to you later, I need to talk to them." Without waiting for Carl to respond, she turned and rushed off.

Megamind and Minion were sitting in front of the waiting crowd and were talking to one another in low voices.

Roxanne came up to them. "Hi, boys," she grinned.

Minion stayed where he was. "Hello, Miss Ritchi."

Roxanne smiled at him, then looked at her blue boyfriend and narrowed her eyes. "Are you really expecting trouble?"

Minion turned to Megamind at this question, and the new hero looked past Roxanne, out at the crowd. "A little, yes," he said, then looked back two pairs of confused eyes and added, "But I have made arrangements just in case."

Minion and Roxanne looked at each other. "Oh?"

Suddenly Megamind grinned darkly, then slowly stood and called out, "Brainbots! Lock all the doors and then set to guard this room!"

Unsurprisingly, everyone in the room stood, their voices rising in panic and worry. It had only been a matter of months since Megamind had defeated Tighten and had begun to rebuild the city and the newly reopened Museum while he was recovering. There was still a lot of distrust and resentment towards Megamind.

Megamind whistled loudly to get the panicked citizens' attention, and then he sat calmly down again in his chair, pure unconcern written all over his face. As he spoke, he gazed slowly around at the gathered citizens. His voice was excited, but his body was totally still and calm and his friends looked at one another, knowing he was up to something. Off to Megamind's right was a camera that would be broadcasting his announcement live, but it wasn't recording anything yet.

"I wouldn't worry too much," Megamind said loudly. "The police already know about all this; I personally told the commissioner, myself." He winked at a man standing at the back of the room, then made a gesture with his hand to signal everyone to go back to their chairs.

"You could have told me," Roxanne hissed at him.

Megamind grinned and leaned close to her, dropping his voice and raising his eyebrows. "And miss that surprised look in your eyes?"

Roxanne's irritation faded and she smiled at him. His childish behaviour could be endearing, sometimes. "I'll let it go this time," she told him, then turned to go to her chair. "Okay. The show's all yours, boys. Knock them dead!"

Megamind laughed and nodded.

Jeremy Autumn was a man who worked for the same news crew as Roxanne. He was well-known around the city, but was not well-liked when he was off-camera. He was a large man but he was not short, and now he stood up and addressed Megamind, glaring. "You don't want us to worry? For all we know, you could be keeping us here!"

Minion looked worriedly at Megamind, but Megamind was still sitting calmly with his eyes closed. "Well, Jeremy." As he spoke, his eyes opened slowly and he looked at the man with a lazy smile. "If you want an answer to that, go look out that large window over there." He lifted an arm and pointed.

Jeremy and most of the others moved to look where Megamind was pointing, and while they were distracted Minion leaned over and whispered into Megamind's ear, "You're enjoying this too much."

"Don't worry, I'll get to the point once these men stop freaking out," Megamind replied.

The people who managed to get a look out the window could see police standing almost shoulder-to-shoulder outside, but they all were facing away from the building – almost as if they were waiting for something.

Megamind's voice made the gathered citizens turn around again.

"Now, ladies and gentlemen, if you wouldn't mind." He interlaced his fingers and tilted his head down a little, shadowing his face and making him look very much like the villain he had been. "If we can get on with this, I think we all have better places to be."

As the crowd was once again returning to their seats, a young woman came over and started fiddling with the camera. Megamind raised an eyebrow and looked over at Roxanne, who smiled and mouthed, That's the new camerawoman I told you about. Megamind smiled back and nodded.

A few seconds later, a man walked out from the room next door and Roxanne stood and greeted him. "Hi, Tom. Thanks so much for doing this."

"Oh, it's no trouble." He looked around the room and smirked. "I just can't wait to see the look on Jeremy's face."

She giggled at that. "You two really have to stop this silly rivalry."

"Oh, I think it's only going to get worse after today." He winked at her, then walked over to the chair not far from Megamind and Minion and smiled. "Hey, boys."

Megamind grinned at him happily. "Welcome again, Tom Wilson."

Minion watched as Megamind chatted with Tom, who was a friend of Roxanne's. In the last month, Megamind had made a few new friends – mostly ones who knew Roxanne. Tom Wilson was one of them.

A moment later, the former villain turned to Minion and smiled. "Are you ready?"

Tom raised his voice. "Ladies and gentlemen," he called, "we would like to request that you hold all comments and questions until after Megamind has finished speaking. We'll begin now." He then looked over at the two and nodded.

Seconds later, there was a bright blue flash on Megamind's right side and the crowd – predictably – gasped in varying combinations of pure shock, surprise and outrage as Minion disappeared and was replaced by another well-known face. In Minion's place now sat the former hero of Metro City, Metro Man – also known as Music Man, also known as Wayne Scott.

Megamind stood up quickly and held up his hand, shouting to be heard over the unhappy and confused crowd, but they ignored him. He scowled, and then he shouted again and pulled his gun, firing up at the ceiling. That got the crowd's attention long enough for Megamind to look over at the Mayor and call over the din, "Sorry about that, I'll fix it later, okay?" Then he turned his focus back to the people in front of him, and glared at them fiercely. "Okay," he barked, "now, there will be order in here or I will have my brainbots remove all those of you who don't shut up."

Wayne reached out to gently grab the blue alien's arm, stopping him. "Please sit down."

To everyone's surprise, Megamind sat. He knew this was his former rival's time to set a few things right in the eyes of the citizens of Metro City – the real truth about why he had quit – so Megamind leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest and waited. He was only there in case the whole thing went south – that was the deal.

Tom had been sitting still through the action, waiting calmly until the shock had died down. Then he looked over again at the two former rivals and smiled to himself. They both seemed to be handling this really well.

From where Wayne was sitting, he whispered into Megamind, "Do you still think this was a good idea?"

Megamind looked sharply at him, and oh, if looks could kill. In a low voice, he hissed at Wayne, "This was your brilliant idea, remember?" He looked away at 'Camerawoman' but continued, "I had planned to wait a few more months – a year, at most," he looked back at Wayne, "but, oh no, you had to do it now."

Suddenly an impatient member of the news crowd shouted, "What? So copper isn't your weakness?"

Megamind looked at Wayne and smirked at that comment. Then he saw how Wayne was glaring at him, and that only added fuel to the grin. But, almost as quickly as it had appeared, it vanished when someone else yelled, "Super blue alien freak, go back to Vega!" and then something was thrown.

Wayne looked down at what had been thrown, too shocked really to react, and saw that a handful of copper coins now littered the stage. He scanned the crowned sharply to try and find the one who had spoken and thrown the pennies, but he couldn't.

Then just as quickly, someone else yelled, "Azure!"

The vehemence of Megamind's reaction to that word probably was not what the human had expected, but it had its desired effect, and Wayne could only sit in shock as Megamind shot to his feet and bounded forward, his blue face twisted with fury. Wayne knew all too well how that word affected Megamind – he had once called his rival "Azure" when they had been fighting in the city streets, just to rile him, tease him a little. He had rarely seen the villain get truly angry or hurt anyone, but as soon as the word had left Wayne's lips, Minion and the brainbots had scrambled for cover and Wayne himself had been sent careening into the side of a building at a smack from one of Megamind's early battle suits. It had been an early version of the large robot that Tighten had destroyed, and it delivered blow after blow to the hero until he had realized that Megamind was no longer playing their game – was no longer thinking at all. He had been running on pure anger, and his rage had lasted for some time before Wayne was able to stop him. After dropping Megamind off at the prison, Wayne had sworn never to call him that again.

Now he sat, frozen, and watched as Megamind stalked up to the man who had spoken, his green eyes cold and his face hard. Those nearby scrambled to get out of his way, trying to put some distance between them and him – his eyes were nearly glowing with anger – and the object of his attention was as frozen as Wayne until Megamind was looming over him. That was when Megamind went for his gun, and Wayne pulled himself together, speaking out with the full force of the hero he had been.

"Megamind!"

Wayne's commanding tone had the desired reaction on the blue hero, who turned his head and locked eyes with him. After a long, terse silence, Megamind sighed heavily and re-holstered his gun, but he still didn't move and he still looked livid. The man in front of him was glancing wildly around and looking for help or support, but none was forthcoming. The blue alien leaned in close and the man's attention snapped back to Megamind.

"Next time," Megamind said in a low voice, and it was obvious that he meant what he said, "Next time, I will not hold back. You got lucky." He straightened and glanced over at Wayne, knowing that the former hero had heard what he had said, then looked back at the white-faced man in the chair. "Brainbots, take this thing out with the trash." Two brainbots zoomed over and seized the man who had made 'Daddy' angry by the arms, lifting him into the air as he yelled and out the doors before they closed again.

Everyone else, including Wayne and Roxanne, carefully sat or stood or stayed where they were and watched as Megamind made his way back to his chair and sat down. The tension and nervousness of the crowd was almost tangible; everyone was a little jumpy.

Once he was seated, Megamind glanced around for a moment and then grinned like a child who had been found with his hand in a cookie jar. "Sorry about that," he said brightly. "You were saying, Wayne?"

Wayne shook his head, unsurprised by Megamind's sudden emotional change, but he knew the other alien and he knew they were in the clear. And he hoped that the crowd would know better than to test Megamind again. "I'm—"

"Mr. Scott!"

One word and he was interrupted by Lisa Cambell, a new reporter for another news station.

Wayne looked over at her. "Actually, it's just Wayne now." He glanced sadly at his parents, and could tell that his mother was glaring at him. He had hoped they would forgive him, but he understood. Faking his death had hurt them the worst, really.

Lisa nodded in understanding, and then her face fixed on one emotion: anger. "What kind of lying coward are you?"

Roxanne looked at the two aliens, and she could see that Wayne wasn't at all shocked by the question. Megamind was staring at the young woman as if he was very much interested in what she was saying.

But Lisa didn't stop her attack. "First, you fake your death because you're tired of being a hero. You let someone else take the rap for you not having the guts to be up front about the whole thing, and then when something serious goes down with a new super gone bad, you sit in your secret hole with your head buried in the sand and do nothing?"

While she said all this Wayne looked down at him lap until someone nudged him in the arm, and then he glanced to his right and saw green eyes staring at him expectantly. He looked up at the crowd. "I'm – look, I'm sorry."

Lisa's face became angrier still as she moved out of her chair and closer to where Wayne was sitting, continuing to rage, "Were you afraid that the new guy would beat you? What about your family?"

Wayne looked over at his parents again, his heart sinking a little in his chest. They were his parents. Keeping away from them after faking his death had been one of the hardest things he had ever done. The woman's voice still kept on going. "Did you bother to give them a heads up, or did you just figure you wanted to stop being their son, too?"

"No!" Wayne exclaimed, louder than he had meant to.

One of Lisa's colleagues finally dragged her back to her chair to cool off, and Wayne sighed. "Okay, okay. I'll explain. I don't really expect any of you to forgive me, but…"

"I did," Megamind muttered gruffly, and jerked a thumb over at Roxanne. "So did she."

Wayne glanced at him. "Yeah, but you're special," he said quietly, then raised his voice again. "Despite all my powers, each citizen of Metro City has something I don't – a choice. You all got to choose what you wanted to be when you grew up. I didn't." He looked to the camera and knew that his words were being broadcast live to everyone who hadn't been invited to the press conference. Megamind and Roxanne looked at each other as he spoke.

Wayne felt like he had back in his underground home all those months ago, telling Megamind and Roxanne his reasons. They sound as ridiculous and desperate now as they had then. "And I kept thinking, what about what I want to do? What about my life? And then it hit me, you know, this big question – what am I doing with my life? Nobody said the hero thing had to be a lifetime gig, but I couldn't exactly quit, could I?"

Jeremy spoke next. "So, was it ever really about truth and justice, or was it all just about you getting the spotlight and having people suck up to you?" He stood up from his chair in the front row as he spoke.

Wayne looked at the man. "Yes – it was about truth and justice." He looked at Megamind and flushed. "Well…you see…"

A heavy sigh from the blue alien got Jeremy's attention, and his gaze flicked to Megamind, who was sitting with his eyes closed again. "We're not human," Megamind said, taking over for Wayne, but he didn't open his eyes. "I think everyone knows that by now, and I think what Wayne is trying to tell you is that we were younger than you think we are."

Jeremy grinned at this new information. "So you're both just two alien children, and your parents picked this planet and our city for you to use as your own playground." He turned around and smiled significantly at the crowd of reporters and important citizens behind him. A couple of the people nearby tried to make him sit down, but he spun back to face the aliens again – he wasn't finished.

"And what about Megamind being framed for murder?Hmmm?" He stepped closer to the aliens with no fear, grinning smugly at Wayne. "How does he feel about that? How does Megamind feel about it?"

Wayne's head was spinning with all the questions that had been fired at him so quickly that he almost couldn't think – he had never had to answer like this before, he had never had to defend his actions before – but after that one, Wayne looked at Megamind and saw that the blue alien was still sitting calmly with his eyes closed.

He opened his mouth to ask his old rival what he felt, but Megamind's eyes shot open and he leaned forward in his chair, placing the tips of his fingers together in front of him. Wayne was pretty sure he was ready for anything that Megamind was going to say, so he closed his eyes and waited.

Megamind scowled at Jeremy and waited for a minute before he spoke. When he did finally speak, his voice rose rapidly. "Look, I'm used to people hating me," he said, "so I really don't care about all that. But I never," he added, aiming a finger at Jeremy's chest and stabbing, "I never want you or anyone else to speak ill of my or Wayne's biological parents." He looked past Jeremy, out at the crowd, and sat up a little straighter. "They gave us a change to live, and yes, we both picked the wrong paths for a while. People make mistakes and bad decisions. It happens. But time marches on, and I think – I really believe this is a chance for us all to put the past behind us." Former hero and villain grinned at one another, and all Jeremy could do was look on in shock.

TBC…