Kiss of Death
For Music Man life after the "Titan incident" was surprisingly smooth and effortless as it had during his former life as Metro Man. His natural charm, good looks and perfect smile opening doors that remained firmly closed to lesser mortals. Despite his mediocre ability to sing and compose original songs within a month's time they were playing on the radio and he was so swamped by clubs wanting to book him he quickly found himself in need of a full-time manager.
Life could hardly have been more perfect. Several years ago when both his parents passed away he inherited everything (minus 1% of the total assets which went to charity), so money was never an issue. Although he had never made Megamind and Roxanne promise never to reveal he was alive, thankfully any potential charges against Megamind for Metro Man's "murder" were never carried out.
The only thing he had to work out was forging his new identity as strictly a civilian and a professional musician; a vexing problem that could only be solved by obtaining false documents. It was a simple inescapable reality that he had used his powers as a young boy openly and freely and everyone in Metro City knew that Wayne Scott was Metro Man. He didn't dare ask the city or the federal government to clean up the mess he created and cover for him. He was on his own.
How unfortunate and ironic that his untimely downfall did not come at the hands of any number of the dangerous and bizarre mechanical contraptions of his former rival, but as a consequence of his celebrity status.
Of all the possible dangers and traps of the celebrity lifestyle Music Man was not done in by drugs, alcohol, or falling out of favor with the music business and self-destructing.
No…the indestructible man was done in by a stalker. Early into his new career it did not escape Music Man's attention that a certain woman appeared everywhere he went. She was there in the front row when he performed at a clubs…always. At first she was just content to stand in the crowd, but soon that was no longer enough and he was sure he spotted the same woman at a coffee shop he regularly visited. She would just sit and stare at him pretending to be busy with something, but every now and then she would stifle a giggle.
After so many years in the spotlight he would have thought he would be able to handle this type of thing. For years he had dealt with violent, hardened criminals, how hard could this be? He smugly thought to himself.
The woman in question sat quietly at her table on the other side of the coffee house wearing a pair of large black sunglasses. She was scared stiff as she sensed a large figure bearing down on her. To his powers of observation the woman seemed perfectly normal and average. Average build, blond hair a little longer than shoulder length, blue eyes and wearing jeans and a pink button up shirt—everything registered as normal.
"Hey, mind if I sit here?" He said indicating the chair across from her.
She expected him to be hostile, to tell her to get lost, but instead he offered her a smile and introduced himself.
Her heart soared dancing in delight. He noticed her. OH…MY…GOD…
If only Music Man had the ability to read minds…her thoughts were an incoherent jumble of OMG's, pride at finally capturing the attention of her crush and appraisals of her crush's attractiveness. She could barely contain her excitement. Too overcome to speak she humored the talkative musician smiling and nodding making simple one sentence remarks. She was so caught up in the moment that his words didn't register. Music Man may as well have been speaking gibberish because that is how much of the conversation she could comprehend when Music Man got up to leave.
Music Man beamed with pride at how well it went as he got up to leave. He gently put her down without hurting her feelings.
He had never been good at saying 'no' and telling people off.
At his next event he was surprised to recognize the same woman front and center who seemed even more excited than she usually was fiddling with her shirt in a suggestive way like she was going to flash her boobs.
Why is SHE here...? Music Man thought his face involuntarily twitching in disbelief. He couldn't stop staring at her. The former hero shook himself out of his daze and stormed off stage.
"Get—her—out—of—here…" Music Man said through gritted teeth to a security officer backstage. The guard looked at Music Man and looked to where he was pointing and gave a shrug with raised eyebrow. As concisely as possible he told the guard she was a stalker. The guard gave a nod and told several security guards to take care of it.
"Hey, get your hands off me!" The woman shrieked in indignation. "I bought this ticket fair and square and I'm not leaving!"
"Sorry, but we're going to ask you to leave."
"On what grounds!" The guards repeated that she needed to leave to which she replied by taking a swing at them with a handbag vaulting over the railing and tried to make a run for it, but was quickly tackled.
Music Man winced at the unsightly scuffle a pang of anxiety washing over him. By engaging her in conversation he had only provided encouragement. When the backstage guard confirmed the situation was under control he took a deep breathe and took his rightful place on the stage.
At the end of every performance Music Man could normally feel satisfied that he gave it his all, but tonight the events that took place just before his performance weighed heavily on his mind.
He resigned himself to never having a girlfriend and never marrying so long as he was Metro Man. He was married to his work and that's all there was to it. It was a convenient cover that everyone thought he and Roxanne were dating despite making brazen remarks about being married to Metro City. As Music Man he didn't have that protection anymore. It was inevitable people were going to start needling him about his love life. He hoped that his tall muscular appearance would be enough of a deterrent to keep his female admirers at bay, but apparently not.
When he asked Roxanne why she didn't seem bothered by it, she said something along the lines of 'making her life easier,' that she had given up on finding a guy and wanted to focus her energies on her career.
He deeply sighed…he gave up everything so he could be Super-cop and tell other people how to run their lives…?
Even if his new life had its drawbacks he could deal with it.
He did a quick equipment check, grabbed his guitar case and made his exit out the back door. He had barely stepped down the small set of stairs and turned when he heard a voice.
"Music…Man…?"
CRAP.
Slowly…very slowly he turned around and it was the same woman. She was clad mostly in white. White shorts, which were too short to hardly be considered shorts a matching sleeveless jacket, a gold colored tank top with his logo and white leather boots.
"You should go," he said trying to sound stern.
"I know…I'm sorry about earlier." She said mumbling without really looking at him an arm reaching across her chest to clutch at her other arm. She stepped closer and closer. He REALLY didn't know what to do. Dealing with criminals was one thing…but this. They were now standing an arms length apart and she found the courage to look him in the eye.
"I just….I JUST MISS HIM SO MUCH!" She said throwing her arms around him breaking down into sobs as she buried her face in his chest.
To hug or not to hug…?
Ok—it's not like it will kill me…
Reluctantly he hugged his female admirer until she calmed down and put his hands on her shoulders pushing her off.
"Listen…it sounds like you're going through a hard time. Whatever is going on I'm not the answer. You need help."
"I know…I know…its' just…"
"You miss him…"
"Yeah…"
He shouldn't ask, but he was too curious.
"Who did you lose?" She immediately began to blush and she turned away as new tears threatened to spill down her cheeks.
"Metro Man…" She faintly whispered.
DOUBLE CRAP.
The impact of her words was enough to make him step back and take his hands off her.
"You…just…everything about you…reminds me of him."
"We all miss him." He just wanted to leave, wanted to escape, but he couldn't simply use his super speed to get out of this mess and there was a part of him that cared perhaps…a little too much. "Maybe you miss him so much that you see him everywhere." To this the woman wordlessly nodded.
Oblivious to Music Man's cringing and visible discomfort the distance between them began to close once again.
"I never believed the rumors that Roxanne and Metro Man—he said it himself, 'I'm married to Metro City!' And how could Roxanne move on so easily if they were a couple! Hhhhh….but now he's gone and I never..."
All it would have taken was one firm nudge from a finger pressing on his chest to topple him over, he was that petrified.
"I know it sounds crazy, but could I kiss you? I know—I know you must think I'm crazy and I know it's not the same…but could I kiss you and just for one minute pretend that it's Metro Man that I'm kissing…?"
This very possibly had to be the creepiest thing he had ever heard in his life, yet he couldn't bring himself to say 'no,' if somehow this could bring her closure and she could move on he would do it.
"If I do this…" he said mustering as serious a tone as he could, "you don't show up to anymore of my performances, ok? This isn't healthy and any other guy might use this as an opportunity to take things further than you want to."
She did a double take, he didn't think she was crazy and he was willing to do this for her. "Ok," she said with a nod. She just wanted to leap into his arms and kiss him, but she couldn't do that. She had to show restraint and control.
"The next time you show up at a performance I'm filing a restraining order," Music Man added. The woman's features visibly deflated, but she still looked at him hopefully in anticipation.
With care Music Man set his guitar case down and thought about how he was going to do this. He was just so tall and even in her boots she couldn't have been any taller than 5'5".
"Why don't you stand on the steps?"
"Oh…I get it." She said with a wink. She trotted back toward the steps leading to the backdoor. She rested her elbows on the painted metal railing with a dreamy expression adorning her face. Music Man followed behind and took stock of the logistics, this should definitely make it easier. For a moment they just stared sizing each other up.
"What's your name?"
"Harley…"
"Harley…" He let the name roll slowly off the top of his tongue… That's a nice name.
The woman made the first move and Music Man followed meeting her lips. It had been so long since he had, had this kind of attention. It was scary AND addicting. All this time this one woman rightly suspected he was never romantically involved with Roxanne and she…never got up the confidence to ask him out…to kiss him?
If she had asked would he have said yes, or only so long as it was their secret?
They pulled away with equally dopey, contented smiles his hand in her hair and hers stroking his chin hair. Something in him caved and he kissed her again. There was an odd taste in her mouth that he couldn't make out, but he paid no attention to it.
It then suddenly occurred to him that HE had crossed a line that he shouldn't have crossed. He was about to pull away when it dawned on him that she hadn't.
Both in need of air the pair reluctantly parted. He didn't know what to say or what had just came over him. The woman standing before him by all accounts seemed visibly conflicted. At first she seemed happy, but that gradually turned to something else…
"Metro Man…" The blond said in a barely audible whisper.
"Uhhh…I should get going…I'm going now. Hope you feel better…Harley."
This was wrong on so many levels. He wasn't ready for this.
"Wait!" Harley said trying to grab him, anything to slow him down as she descended the steps.
He had just reached for his guitar case when he suddenly couldn't breathe. The inside of his throat was swelling shut. He fell to his hands and knees gasping for breathe.
"Oh God…" She knelt by his side unsure what to do. Without exchanging a word she had a sense of what was wrong. Whatever caused it he couldn't breathe the way his face was turning pale and one of his hands was clutching at his throat. "Hold on…I'm going to get help…" She said forcing herself up. "SOMEBODY HELP!" The woman took off frantically screaming darting into through the backdoor of the club to find anyone who would listen.
All his senses were dulling: vision blurring, sounds becoming fainter and his whole body going numb.
What could have possibly brought this on…?
Every attempt was made to save Music Man's life, but it was simply…too late.
Metro City—the entire world was shocked when an investigation was made into Music Man's personal life and it was revealed the musician was in fact Metro Man. For the longest time speculation swirled around how Metro Man could have dropped dead.
There was nothing in Wayne Scott's medical records to indicate any medical problems, but then it had been years since he had a physical (for obvious reasons). With nothing else to go on all attention turned to the woman at the center of it all. Surely she must have had some prior connection to Metro Man. Mr. Perfect must have led a double life. Good guy by day, sex fiend by night. There were also various conspiracy theories that Harley had been working for a foreign government and this was their way of getting back at the USA.
The only thing that stood out to the doctors who worked to solve the case is Harley from the very beginning told investigators that only minutes before kissing Music Man she had taken some prescription drugs.
After several months of much argument and discussion it was concluded in the autopsy report:
Wayne Scott a.k.a. Metro Man a.k.a. Music Man died as a result of anaphylactic shock brought on by a severe undiagnosed allergy to a prescription medication that he was exposed to while kissing.
If only Metro Man could have learned the valuable lesson of saying, 'no.'
Notes: I got the idea for this when I thought: what would be the most awkward, but plausible way for Metro Man to die? This is the result.
My first fanfiction fic "Confronting the Past" is simply done-as is. It's not perfect, but I have moved on and don't know how to render a halfway decent ending for it. This is the first fic in a while that I have worked on AND been able to complete so hope you enjoyed.