"Minion! I need your assistance in the lab! Immediately!"

The urgency in his boss's voice told Minion that the crepe soufflé in the oven had to fend for itself. Rarely had he ever heard Megamind's voice warble with such a twinge of panic and distress, so he abandoned his cooking and started running across the lair's recently cleaned (by himself, of course) floor, forgetting to remove his pink apron in the process. With Megamind calling like that, everything else became unimportant... especially clothing and cooking as well as cleaning. Some of the Brain Bots, sensing the distress, barked and floated after the fish, red eyes flashing with as much concern as the fish's.

Minion pulled open, practically ripping down, the large velvet curtain that normally hung across the doorway leading to the laboratory. Whenever Megamind wanted to really work and concentrate on something he'd close the drapes, meaning he didn't want to be disturbed for anything. The fish had learned quickly enough how much privacy Megamind wanted at times like those, since he wouldn't have to stop and explain everything to him. In fact, it had been a while since Minion had stepped into the lab, so long that the last time he was here they had been creating the 'Metro Man pill' which had set everything down its course.

It had been clean and tidy, then. Well, as tidy as a super villain's lab could be. Now, though, so many of the glass vials had been knocked over, and chemicals giving off strong smells were splattered everywhere. The wind, also, was somehow whipping around the room, and just how this was possible became quickly apparent.

The DNA-extracting machine was going haywire. It was spinning faster and faster than he had ever seen it do before, and there was Megamind at the controls, trying to regain control of it. He was pulling on levers, pressing buttons wildly, his eyes wide as he stared up at the machine. His cape was caught up in the wind flapping around his large head, and was becoming dangerously close to becoming snagged by the grinding gears of the machine.

In fact, that's just what happened. Minion saw it play out slowly, painfully, as the black material suddenly snagged onto something. It tightened around Megamind's neck, and the alien choked out a startled gasp as his frail frame began to leave the ground, following the path of the machine.

"SIR!" Minion screamed as ran towards the machine, and threw his hands out. His wrists extended rapidly, and his metal hands clamped down onto Megamind's arms and pulled back, trying to pull him out of the machine.

"MINION, MINION!" Megamind screamed back, breath stolen by the tightness of the machine and body burning from the heat radiating off of it. "IT'S GOING TO BLOW!" he called out. "RUN!"

"NO SIR!" Minion was close to the machine now, still holding tightly onto the alien caught somewhere between him and the machine. "NEVER!"

"OBEY ME MINION, OBEY ME!" demanded the alien, since, truly, if there was going to be an explosion he didn't want the fish getting caught up in the blast.

But then a Brain Bot flew up from out of nowhere. Its sharp jaws came down on the cape, ripping it in half entirely. Megamind flew into Minion's arms due to momentum, and the two spun around before collapsing onto the ground as the poor Brain Bot's long legs were caught up in the machine and it was sucked into the gears with a painful yelp and a sharp grinding noise. The machine suddenly seemed to growl as the extra Brain Bot parts began knocking around inside of its gears. It suddenly lit up like a Christmas tree, and Minion looked up at it, before realizing he had no time to run, or push his boss to safety.

So he covered him entirely with his robot body seconds before there was a deafening explosion that knocked out the power for four blocks around the lair, was picked up by the geologists in Metro City, and set off car alarms in the direct area. It even blasted a hole in the side of the lair, and at the point of explosion, bright, blinding light filled the day sky as if everything had been shrouded in night.

Megamind coughed violently as the dust in the air decided to intrude upon his trachea, and waved his hands in front of his face as he desperately tried to breathe again. The weight of Minion's robot body was almost crushing against his small frame, but it had, indeed, protected him from falling debris as well as the explosion itself. The fur along the body had been blasted off entirely, leaving the robot body just that… a pile of scrap metal and broken glass. But it was only once Megamind could breathe again that he lifted his green eyes to stare up at the glass dome where Minion lived, and was horrified to see it had been shattered in the explosion... and Minion wasn't there.

"NO!" he screamed, despite his throat aching terribly, as he wriggled out from under the useless robot's body. "Minion!" he called, trying to see through the dust and make his way around the pieces of the machine, and wall, that now covered his lab's floor. "MINION PLEASE! Where are you! This isn't funny!" Megamind demanded as he tripped over more pieces of twisted metal. "COME OUT NOW!"

A horrific image filled Megamind's mind for a moment: Minion's small, broken body squashed somewhere under some metal, or burned alive by the explosion. Hearts racing rapidly, Megamind began to search harder still, ordering the Brain Bots to search for Minion as well. He pulled away pieces of bricks and metal, trying to keep ahold of his emotions but failing miserably. If Minion was dead... what would he do? What could he do? He couldn't go on without him; he'd always been there with him... Roxanne could never fill the hole, not only in his heart, but his soul itself. Why hadn't he ever told him these things? Why hadn't the alien ever taken the time to really tell his friend just how much he meant to him, how lost he would be without him?

He suddenly heard the most wonderful sound in the . Megamind spun around, eyes wide, looking to where he heard the coughing. "Minion?" he asked desperately as he began running towards the place.

"Ughh..." Minion's voice came through the thick dust. "S-Sir are... are you all right?"

"Of course I'm all right, but how about you, where are you are...are you... you..." Megamind's voice trailed off into silence. The last thing he expected to find was sitting there on the ground before him.

It was a body. A very human-looking body. Of a man. A man with soft, pale green skin that covered every inch of him. Large brown eyes blinked up at Megamind, and yet, somehow, a familiarity was there in those eyes. Megamind knew those eyes. Ears, ending in a slight point, stuck out against his head, and that head was of average human size. He had jet-black hair that stuck in all directions thanks to the blast and was thick with dust. The face had freckles, but not everywhere... they worked around his eyes and forehead, and on his shoulders there were obvious darkened sections of skin that mimicked the stripes a little fish used to have on his sides.

Was this...?

"Minion?" Megamind asked quietly.

"Yes, Sir?" the man asked back, voice belonging to that of his fish.

"Oh my God," the alien said as he lifted his hands, pressing them to his mouth.

"What is it? Sir? Are-" Minion, who had been dazedly lying on his back, since what else could a fish do after an explosion, suddenly realized that he... felt.. beyondwhat he normally felt. He wasn't feeling dried out at all, despite being blasted out of his water into the dry world outside. Did he...

Cautiously, slowly, he moved his fins; but instead, fingers moved. Minion tried to move his tendrils; instead a leg suddenly kicked up in front of him before flopping back down onto the ground. His brown eyes doubled in size and his heart raced within his chest. "Oh my God oh my God oh my God oh my God oh my God-" he began saying, again and again.

"Calm down, Minion, calm down!" Megamind rushed forward, grasping the naked man by the shoulders. "Y-you're fine. You're fine you-you must have been blasted with some genetic material in the machine before it exploded, it-it just... just re-wrote your genetic code into... into this..."

This was amazing, though. Despite his friend's panic, Megamind couldn't help but see the wonder of it all, the scientific majesty. Minion, a fish, had been turned into a ... a human-alien hybrid! He had the same familiar skin tone of his fish body, still had the markings, even the freckles were reminiscent of his bioluminescent lights! "It'll be all right, I'm here. Calm down. Breathe. In. Out. In. Out."

"Is this what air tastes like?" Minion asked weakly, mind still racing at everything he could suddenly feel. He had arms, legs, toes, fingers, chest, abdomen... his fish body had been changed so dramatically. He suddenly stared down at himself, taking in the full view of himself in the clearing light. The human body wasn't what you'd call overly muscular, but he wasn't a skinny whelp either. He was just that little bit more defined physically than his boss, but he was a little sturdier, which seemed to mimic his poor robot body that now lay in a crumpled heap.

"Here, come on..." Megamind grabbed at Minion's wrists, slightly surprised at how thick and strong they felt. "Let's... let's get you to your feet..."

"Whoa, whoa whoa..!" Minion shakily got to his feet, his legs wobbling under his weight. It was almost like a baby learning how to walk for the first time. Normally, Minion only had to think the ability to walk and it happened. This... this was muscles, and bones, nerves and everything else inside the human body. It felt ever so strange, and unnatural. "I-I don't think I can, Sir it..."

"Nonsense. You have to walk. You've been walking for years!" Megamind insisted, barely even noticing or seemingly caring that Minion was as naked as anything. The fish, as well, didn't seem at all upset about it either, since he had always been naked. When the cold would get to him though, then he would feel a bit put off. "Come on now. Walk!"

All while Megamind was trying to teach his best friend the wonders of walking again, neither seemed to realize the commotion happening outside. It had been a disaster, after all, so there was already a crowd of people gathered around. Paparazzi were snapping photographs as the police blocked off entrance to the lair, while the ambulance and fire engines were parking around outside. A handful of cops rushed in, and were instantly blocked entry by the Brain Bots, who growled and barked at them. Like their daddy, the Brain Bots tended to forget they were good guys now, so whenever they saw police they tended to growl and bark.

The barking didn't go unnoticed by the two aliens, and Megamind turned his head before looking up at the gaping hole in his lair, which, somehow, he hadn't noticed. "Oh... this will take some explaining..." he muttered. "Babies!" Megamind called out. "Leave the police alone! Let them in!" he called before turning to look at Minion. "I think it's good that-"

"WAH!" Minion's foot tripped, and he ended up falling over and on top of his boss, easily pinning him beneath him. "Oh, Sir I'm sorry!"

"It's fine, get off, get off!" Megamind spluttered, the wind knocked out of him. "Honestly!"

He heard the awkward noises from across the room, and the two aliens turned their heads to stare at the group of policemen, and one lone fireman, who stood in the doorway where the remains of the red velvet curtain once hung. They had expected destruction, maybe a fire or two, and some injuries, but instead they found Megamind underneath a naked green man.

They really didn't know where to put their eyes, or what to say.

"Help us up, you fools!" Megamind demanded. "Minion, get up, get off!"

"Sorry Sir, I'm sorry; I, I don't know what does what..." Minion flustered, face turning a deeper shade of emerald as Megamind squirmed beneath him. "I-I'm just glad you're all right, most of all," he admitted. "I thought, I thought-"

"Yes, yes, me too, but can this touchy-feely moment wait until we're not being so touchy-feely?" Megamind asked since, finally, he realized how very naked Minion was and how heavy he felt.

The policemen helped in lifting Minion to his feet whilst the paramedic there wrapped Minion in a silvery metallic-looking blanket to help keep him warm and no longer exposed. "Thank you."

"Megamind, what, what happened?" asked one of the policemen as he looked around the destroyed laboratory.

"My DNA extraction machine underwent a hyperactive instability caused by-" he stopped when he saw just how much these humans wouldn't understand. He sighed, and put his hands to his hips. "Overheating. My machine blew up."

"And this?" asked one man, pointing to Minion, who was wobbling on his feet.

"Minion did his job and protected me and, as a result, got blasted with some DNA. It scrambled his own and made him into this." Megamind gestured to the fish. "Simple, really."

"I think I'm going to fall over aga-AIN!" Minion hadn't been propped up by the police and ended up falling over onto his back, feet up in the air. "This is getting annoying."

"For everyone involved," Megamind added, trying not to look. "Somebody find him some pants, please?"

To be continued