Disclaimer: I do not own Megamind. That belongs to Dreamworks, etc.

Author's Note: While this isn't a direct sequel to Thaw, it's sort of in the same vein and follows more or less logically from my version of Roxanne's thoughts in that story. I think fans will recognize the scene right off the bat, but this begins shortly after MetroMan has refused to don the cape again. I do reference the video comic included on the Button of Doom DVD just a little, but if you haven't watched it yet, you probably won't even notice.

Thaw II

"I'm the bad guy! I don't save the day, I don't fly off into the sunset, and I don't get the girl!" Megamind nearly shouted. Then he turned, looking more defeated than Roxanne had ever seen him, and added, "I'm going home."

Watching him trudge down the hill, Roxanne felt like she'd been punched in the gut. He didn't get the girl? Why did he have to make this about her? Unless…unless it had always been about her. Megamind had singled her out to kidnap, forcing MetroMan to rescue her, with the result that everyone assume that she and MetroMan were a couple. Because she felt nothing for Hal – Titan – whatever, he'd turned evil and was using his powers to tear up the city.

Why me? Roxanne thought. How did I become the focus of all of this attention? She didn't think she was that much more attractive than the next girl, or more talented, or…well, anything, really. Roxanne knelt to pick up the white cape Megamind had discarded. Holding it close, she rose to view the skyline of Metro City. If she squinted, she thought she could just make out a tiny figure, flying around and burning things with his heat vision, and her heart sank. Both MetroMan and Megamind had refused to take up the mantle of the hero, so where did that leave her?

Wherever there's evil, good will rise up to face it. Roxanne genuinely wanted to believe that. Taking a few moments, she tried to sort through everything she'd just learned in the last half hour. It was a lot to take in, especially the fact that MetroMan had faked his own death so that he could retire.

Everything Megamind had mentioned just now represented stereotypes, like being a villain was just a costume he put on. Like he didn't know how to be anything else. He was another puzzle that she knew she could figure out, given enough clues and a little time. Did she have that time? Did the city?

Roxanne frowned, turning back to the old building behind her. Megamind had recognized it as his old school house. Didn't that imply that he and MetroMan had gone to school together? Suddenly, she saw an image in her mind, a photograph she thought she'd glimpsed, and she rushed back in, heedless of invading the powerful alien's privacy again. After all, dead people don't have property rights.

Tossing the cape carelessly to the side, Roxanne made her way to the memorabilia on the walls. There it was – a photo of a classroom. A levitating boy with perfect hair was surrounded by a group that Roxanne could only think of as sycophants-in-waiting. Off to the side, attempting a weak smile, stood a skinny child with an overlarge head, wearing a prison jumpsuit and holding a globe with a fish inside it.

Suddenly, she could see it all in her mind's eye, in full, living color: the strange, alien child, who just wanted to fit in, ostracized by the young MetroMan; the other children, naturally, following the example of their ringleader and staying clear of the newcomer. Closing her eyes, Roxanne recalled something else Megamind had told her, this time as Bernard: "In school, nobody really liked me. I was the last one picked for everything."

She also remembered her glib response: "Well, it's too bad we didn't go to the same school."

Roxanne felt a twinge of guilt that deepened into a pang the more she thought about it. If a scrawny, blue kid had shown up at her school one day, would she really have had the strength to go against her peers and befriend him? She'd like to think so, but sad to say, she wasn't really sure.

"Forget something, Roxy?" MetroMan's voice boomed behind her, startling her out of her reverie.

"Ah!" she exclaimed, jumping and turning around quickly. She'd been so lost in her thoughts that she'd forgotten she wasn't really alone here. As she took a deep breath, she regarded the former protector of Metro City, seeing the arrogant boy of his youth within the man. Given his dream of being a rock star, it seemed he'd never really grown up. Shaking her head, she said, in a voice that was soft yet intense, "You created him, didn't you?"

For a moment, he looked puzzled, but then his eyes moved to the wall where she'd been looking. His gaze returned to her briefly before dropping to the floor. At least he had the grace to look somewhat ashamed.

"I guess you could say that," he admitted. "I was always…showing off. He tried to be liked, but everything he did just went wrong."

"You could have helped him," Roxanne accused, her voice gaining strength and partly fueled by her own sense of guilt. She gestured back at the picture. "They all looked up to you!"

"Look, I was just a kid! You might even say a spoiled brat. I was rich, good-looking, and super-powered. What else could anyone expect?"

It went unspoken but understood that Megamind was physically weak and odd-looking by human standards, having only his superior intellect to recommend him. MetroMan's words triggered another memory. In a previous monologue, Megamind had gone on about how MetroMan had received everything he wanted in life, while Megamind had been forced to struggle. Roxanne hadn't paid too much attention to it at the time, but now…

She turned back to the picture, lifting up a finger to touch the tiny face, feeling a surge of an emotion she couldn't quite identify. Whatever it was made tears prick her eyelids. She blinked them back and swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat.

"He just wanted to be liked," she whispered. Earlier, she had been annoyed when Megamind expected an apology from her when she was actually requesting one from him. Now, she was realizing that he hadn't been that far off base. She'd judged him based on appearances, just like everybody else in his life (except, apparently, a loose community of felons). Besides, now that Megamind turned out to be innocent of the worst thing she'd believed he'd done, killing MetroMan, her feelings towards him were softening. As Bernard, he'd been funny and thoughtful. As Megamind, he'd cleaned up the city and the park and given back the things he'd stolen, and it was now obvious that he'd done those things to make her happy. She was just beginning to understand that the person she'd gotten to know as Bernard was the real Megamind, the person who lay behind the supervillain bravado. For all of her protestations today, the thought of going into battle by his side held a certain charm, and having him leave her like he did left her feeling, well, a little rejected. Was this how he'd felt the night she dumped him?

"Okay, I'm not proud of it, but it happened," MetroMan responded. "That's one of the reasons I faked my death, to make up for it."

"How does this make up for that?" She turned around to face him again.

"I was the one who accidentally convinced Megamind that it was his destiny to be a villain. If I took myself out of the equation, I hoped he'd finally find his true path."

"But – if you don't do something, the city will be destroyed!" Roxanne decided it couldn't hurt to make one final attempt to bring him back into the fight.

"I can't. I'm sorry."

"Yeah, you are," Roxanne shot back, fuming as she climbed out of the hidden complex beneath the school and got into the news van. She drove back into the city, ignoring the bedraggled crowd trying to get out. If no one would help her, she was determined to face Titan herself. There must still be some remnant of the old Hal in him, right?

She did her best and failed miserably. Tied up at the top of Metro Tower, she knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, who her hero had to be – and more than that, who she wanted her hero to be. Raising her head to look into the camera, she began her plea.

"Megamind, I don't even know if you're listening…"

Author's Note: Since Roxanne didn't appear to overtake Megamind before he found a bus stop, I thought Roxanne must have lingered at MetroMan's hideout for a few minutes. I hope the ending's okay. I thought ending it there made her speech from the film even more poignant.