OK, my second published fanfic ever! Cool, hope you like it. I thought this up in Spanish class today by the way ;)

This was originally published on fanpop, but only two of my friends read it, so I hope I get some more feedback—and I like all sorts of feedback, so feel free

16 Years Later

Chapter 1: Life so far

6:00 AM

The sun comes up early in the morning on an apartment building in Metro City. Most teenagers would either still be in bed or have just gotten started getting ready for school. Not Mandy, she's been up for hours working on her new invention. It's taken her months to perfect her practice on brain chemistry, and today she was going to upgrade her already robotized dog, Millie. She'd rescued Millie just two years before when she was deathly ill and managed to save her with her dad's help.

She listened to her iPod whenever she was doing mechanical work, so her regard for others in the building was very little. And this kind of invention made a lot of noise.

"Her teachers complain that she falls asleep in class." Roxanne said, still lying in bed. "Should we tell them that she gets up at 3:00 o'clock in the morning and builds space ships for NASA?"

"I don't see the use in telling them." Megamind said. "They'll just try to council our parenting. I think I know how to parent! I've done it for fifteen years and she's the smartest teenager probably in the world!"

"Honey, even if you didn't raise her, she'd still be the smartest teenager in the world, that's genetic."

"Why can't she just be home schooled again? I love spending that much time with her. I also love teaching her physics." Megamind said, sitting up.

"Teaching physics? More like experimenting with the laws of physics. Do you know how many times the Fire Department had to come to the lair?" Roxanne said, also sitting up.

"It was only 22 times." Megamind said, as it was nothing.

Roxanne stopped for a second, rethinking her come back. "I was going to say 'too many times to count,' but apparently you counted. Either way, she's finishing high school."

"Come on! She has higher than a 4.0 GPA and she's bored!"

"She needs to be social. If she's home schooled her whole life, she'll end up some introverted-evil genius or something."

"OK, genius is genetic, but not evil, she knows better than that. And the only 'social' activity she's participating in is doing her so called 'friends' homework!"

"She stopped doing that a month ago!"

"Then you didn't see me burn 3 tons of essay papers yesterday! She probably doesn't know how to say 'no' to them."

"Why? She says 'no' to you every day."

Their conversation was interrupted by an abrupt open swinging of their door. Mandy came in ready and dressed for school. Her long black hair, even parted down the middle and pulled into a pony tail always found a way to cover her eyes. Her blue skin was perfect in Megamind's eyes and he hated how she hid the pink tips of her ears with her hair.

"Wow, you guys are talkative this morning. I'm gonna walk to school now."

"You'll be more than an hour early." Roxanne said.

"I'll walk slow." she tried to convince them. She knew they didn't approve of her being alone in the city for too long, but she was restless. They knew she didn't go straight to school, she was never a fan of school.

"You can't walk, it's raining." Megamind added.

Mandy looked across the room at the window. It was a perfectly clear day. "It's not raining."
Megamind quickly opened the drawer of his night stand to get his weather remote, but Roxanne stopped him.

"Don't even think about it." She said. She turned to her daughter. "You can go ahead, Mandy. On one condition- I don't want another call today from a teacher saying you fell asleep in their class, got it?"

"...Fine." Mandy reluctantly agreed.

"Why can't you be a normal teenager who wakes up late to school?" Megamind asked, not expecting a real answer.

"Normal is recessive in this family." Roxanne joked, although at the same time, it was mostly true.

"Very true, mom." Mandy agreed. "Maybe you'll get a normal grandkid someday."

Megamind guffawed. "Let's...wait a very long time for that to happen."

"Dad!" Mandy said, almost embarrassed. "Seriously? Whatever. I'm leaving now. Bye." She turned around and took the door handle.

"Try to enjoy school today." Megamind said, mispronouncing "school."

Mandy laughed at his mispronunciation and closed the door behind her.

"We love you!" Roxanne added. They could hear her saying, "Yeah, yeah, I know" through the wall. They heard the front door open and close.

Megamind sighed. "They grow up so fast."

6:00 PM
Roxanne entered her apartment to find her husband flipping through TV channels. "Hi, honey." She said.

Megamind mechanically said "hi" as she walked around the couch and sat next to him. She took the remote from his hand and turned off the TV. He immediately sat up and sighed in relief.

"Do you know how addicting watching television is when no one's home? We should really get rid of it; I can feel my brain rotting just by looking at it!"

"No one's home? Did Mandy come home after school?"

"Yes, but she left a few hours ago. She was going to meet Isaac somewhere."

"Isaac again, huh? So where's Minion?"

Megamind attempted to avoid the question by changing the subject, but it was no use. Roxanne knew him too well.

"Minion is...spying on them."

"Hmph." Roxanne smirked and looked away into the distance, knowing that her vague response would annoy him. It did.

"What? You should know me by now, I hardly ever let her out of my sight."

"You should really leave her alone. She needs to live her own life...without you always looking over her shoulder."

Megamind started to say something, but gave up, knowing that she was somewhat right. He slouched and crossed his arms, almost in denial, but called Minion on his watch anyway.

"Minion, are you there?"

After a delayed pause, "Yes, sir."

"I need you to fall back."

delay..."Why, sir?"

"Because I said so."

"Sir, I feel Roxanne had a hand in persuading you to do this."

"Roxanne has nothing to do with my decision..." Megamind could feel her eyes on him. "Ok, maybe a little. Just fall back!"

"I will as soon as I'm done eating my fries."

"Good-wait, why are you eating? I told you to look after Mandy."

"I know, that's what I did, but she saw me and made me sit with her until you called. I believe you've been busted, sir. By both women in the family, might I add."

Megamind glanced over at Roxanne, defeated once more, then back at his watch.

"Well...just be home before seven."

"Got it, daddy." Mandy's voice came on, she was laughing. Even if it was at him, Megamind loved to hear her laugh.

"Megamind out." He said as he switched his watch back to normal.

Silence. Defeated silence. But he made a quick rebound. "You know," Megamind began in sudden confidence, "that should count as being social-"

Roxanne shrugged off his attempt to be right for once. "Oh please! That so does not count, they've been friends for a long time-"

"Exactly, they're friends, that's being social-"

"He's her only real friend!"

"I only had one friend-"

"That's different!"

"How is that different! Tell me how that's different!"

Now they were half joking, laughing at themselves for dragging the same argument on for so long.

"You know," Megamind said, "you were my second friend. Sort of."

"Sort of?"

"Yeah, because I was disguised as someone else before you found out and dumped me. In the rain!"

"Are you ever going to let that go?"

"No, never." Megamind said sarcastically, smiling at her. Roxanne scooted closer to him and they both leaned in for a kiss. Right before their lips touched, Minion barged in.

"We're home!" Minion practically sang.

Both Megamind and Roxanne jumped in surprise. Megamind looked at Minion with an almost annoyed look on his face.

"You could have warned us." He said dryly.

Minion smiled. "Sorry."

Mandy and Isaac walked in and went straight for her room. "Hey mom, dad." Mandy said. Millie came bounding across the room, greeting her master.

"Hi Mr. and Mrs. Ritchie." Isaac said.

"We're gonna work on our science project."

Neither of her parents had to remind her not to do all of the work because of their security with Isaac. They've only been friends since she entered high school two years ago, but he was pretty trustworthy and he demanded to do at least half of the work for every project they did.

"When does your dad want you back home?" Roxanne asked.

Isaac shrugged. "He didn't say."

Roxanne had never personally met Isaac's father, but she'd talked over the phone with him before. He had a very low voice and he sounded serious, but nice. Roxanne turned to Minion and waited until the kids were upstairs. "Minion, why do you listen to him?" She said, pointing to Megamind.

"Why wouldn't I listen to him?"

"He tells you to go spy on our daughter and you listen to him?"

Megamind scooted closer to her. "Hello? I'm still here!"

"Well, Mrs. Ritchie," Minion began, ignoring Megamind, "I've been taking orders from him all my life-"

"Minus the last seventeen years."

"True, but it only feels natural to do as he says, even though we aren't partners in crime anymore. Also, I like spying."

Roxanne found that kind of weird, but then again, she found Megamind and Minion weird in every way, so most weirdness had become normal.

"I'm gonna go wash the dishes." Minion said, excusing himself. Roxanne also found it weird that he liked doing the chores, but she never complained about that.

"And...we're alone again." Megamind said, slipping his arm around her waist. "I do have my reasons for spying."

"Oh really? And what would that be?" Roxanne asked.

"Ever since Mandy was little, I've been worried about...everything."

"Everything?"

"Everything. I knew she wasn't going to have a normal life. But it's not just that. After she was born, the only nightmares I've ever had were about her being kidnapped."

Roxanne nodded. "Well, that makes sense. You're a super hero and all, enemies might try to kidnap her, but no one's even been able to rob a bank after you switched sides."

"Yes, but I'm not just worried about super villains or enemies, but about...the government!"Megamind said dramatically.

"Why on earth would the government want to kidnap Mandy?"said, astonished that his imagination would go that far.

"To bribe me! Or, something. Think about it, they've been calling and sending mail for years now, they want me to make them weapons for the military, but I don't want to! They'll eventually try something-"

"Megamind, you're over thinking this!"

"Am I? Isn't it normal for a father to be protective?"

"Well, to an extent," Roxanne said, putting her arms around him. "But you seriously need to relax. Mandy is safe as long as she's in Metro City; as long as we're here."

Hope you liked that taste of the story, because there's more!