Take my hand

He seriously didn't know how it happened. A few seconds ago he was standing on the roof of Metro Tower exchanging witty banter with Megamind and the next he was leaning over the other alien and the villain was hanging off the roof's edge. They were alone, maybe beside few random citizens, policemen and reporters from the local news stations, all whom were crawling under the tower and observing the turn of events. After a moment of silence, they've heard a familiar voice.

"Sir, wait up! I'm coming!" Called Minion.

Both hero and villain looked down to see a small, black dot as it quickly rushed to the building. Megamind's heart shook within his chest, seeing the big distance that was separating him from the ground, so he rapidly turned his gaze back to Metro Man.

"It's the end, Megamind." Said the hero. "Give up or you will die."

The villain laughed quietly and gave his enemy wide smile.

"Evil don't give up, Metro Man!" His expression became serious. "After all these years you should know it by now."

His hands started to shake. He knew he hadn't much strength to hold his grip on the edge, but he was determinate to hold on, until Minion won't arrive to help him. Damn it! Why he didn't agree on that stupid hover pack? And why the hell he took this dumb, heavy-as-hell cape?

Metro Man realized that Megamind was weakening. For a few seconds he was hesitating whenever help him or not. He won't change anyway, why bother? But then Metro Man looked at his old enemy, who was hanging there between life and death, and he mentally kicked himself for thinking that way. He was the hero. No matter, who needed his help, he was obligated to save that person. Besides, this was a good opportunity to change Megamnid's ways.

"I will give you a hand, but you must promise me that you will become a good citizen and won't do any more crime in the future."

"Stop being a villain? Ha! No way, Goody-Two-Shoes." Said Megamind panting from the effort.

OK, that didn't go the way Metro Man had imagined it. Maybe he was expecting too much. Either way he offered his hand to Megamind. At first the eyebrows of villain raised with shock, but then he smiled, laughed quietly and looked at the hero.

"You're naïve, Goody-Two-Shoes. Even if you will save me, I won't stop to be a villain."

"Come on. Don't tell me you want to die, Megamind."

"Well, that's what I want. I'd rather die than stop being the bad guy. It's who I am."

"Then you will be the bad guy. Now take my hand."

"So you can hand me to the police? Yeah, right! "

This guy was impossible…

"I know you don't trust me, but Minion may not make it in time to save you."

"You underestimate him. He can be incredible, when he needs to."

Megamind's grip were weakening with every passed second. He wouldn't be able to hold on for long. Half of his mind wanted to take Metro Man's hand, but the other half suggested to wait for Minion. So Megamind was silently praying that his fishy friend would come soon. Please, hurry up, buddy…

"Why you don't want my help so badly?"

"You didn't help me earlier, so I don't need your help now."

"Stop being so stubborn, you blue idiot, and take my hand or you will die."

"Oh no, Goody-Two-Shoes. You know how it will end. You will save me, so the next time we will meet, I will have to return the favor or do something equally stupid."

"Oh, so you want to fall from the building and make that big head of yours smash on the street? Take my hand, Megamind!"

The villain couldn't keep his grip anymore. It was time to decide. And since Minion hadn't appeared there was only one allowable solution.

"Sorry, Goody-Two-Shoes. I won't give you that satisfaction."

He let go of his grip and closed his eyes. His body seemed to gain with the heaviness the futher he fell. He could hear the hum of the air and distant scream of a scared Minion, but suddenly he felt someone's arms catch him in the middle of falling. Then that person popped him up and wrapped around his waist. Megamind opened his eyes and realized that Metro Man was slowly going down with him. Great, Minion was on top of Metro Tower and his brainbots were out of reach, so there was no way he could get away from that mess.

Metro Man put him down and handed him over to the policemen, who took the villain to the police van. Megamind turned back to see familiar sight of Metro Man being surrounded by reporters, who were going to make another stupid interview with him. The blue alien knew it wasn't his good day, actually he could easily count it as one of his worst days in life. Not only he had lost, but he had been saved by the Goody-Two-Shoes! How he be able to look at himself in the mirror after something like that? His uncles won't let him live it down.

The van's doors closed and Megamind was now on his way to the prison. Metro Man was looking as the car was distancing from the place, but then he turned back to the reporters.

"So, Metro Man." Of course Roxanne Ritchi was the first person to ask him a question. "How do you feel about saving Megamind?"

Many possible responses passed through his head, but he only smiled to his favorite damsel in distress and said:

"Well, miss Ritchi, it is my duty to save those, who are in grave danger, no matter who they are. He was quite stubborn and refused taking my hand but, as you could see, I've managed to catch him and save him anyway."

"And how do you think Megamind is feeling about the fact that his rival saved his life?" Roxanne inquired. Metro Man laughed quietly and responded:

"I'm sure, he's looking forward to save my life."

The story behind this fic is simple - I've read on TV Tropes the Save The Villain trope and thought: "How it would like with Metro Man and Megamind? For sure in their long careers they had at least one moment like that." So I wrote it.

As to how Megamind will return the favor - I probably won't have any ideas how it turned out, so I chellange you to write a partner fic to this one and show the scene, when Megs saves Metro Man! But if you feel like writing something like that, do it. If not, don't.

Edit: And so someone has already took my challange and did it pretty well. Please, read Laelwen's story Something Equally Stupid.