Disclaimer: DreamWorks owns Megamind. I own nothing. DreamFlight wrote "Pale Blue Shadows," which inspired this little story.
Dénouement by IMPhoenix
"Go."
It was spoken so softly, it barely registered in the girl's mind.
"Just go."
She raised her eyes, and saw him standing in the doorway. The robotic body, while incredibly adaptable for precision movement, was not very good at expressing emotion, although the face of the fishlike creature, enclosed in the glass headpiece, would have shown his despair if she had looked for it. But she was too focused inward on her own emotions: amazement and elation at achieving her perilous task; the thrill of power at having brought down the evil tyrants; the shattered brokenness she felt about the second assassination, (no, mercy killing, she firmly told herself; the woman had asked for it, after all); fear of retribution, of being killed in turn, by one of the overlords' servants. She thought she'd been prepared for it, resigned to it, but once the act was completed, the fear had returned. And it had spiked to terror when she realized she was observed.
She did not perceive that the lips of the fish quivered just a little before he spoke again. "You've done what you came for.… Just… just go."
Finally, finally, she understood. The cyborg servant was allowing her to leave unharmed. He was not here for vengeance against her. All those years of serving the alien master- perhaps he had been in thrall; perhaps he too wanted freedom, and this was why he was allowing her to go. Suddenly, she realized she had dropped to her knees after the second gunshot, overcome with relief at accomplishing her goal, and shocked at how easily she had taken life. Scrambling to her feet, she ran swiftly down the hallway to an exit. Only later would she wonder why none of the robot servants had impeded her flight.
Minion slowly walked to his master's body, crumpled on the floor, the look of surprise still lingering in the green eyes. How could his heart seem like a lead weight, yet also feel so hollow? He had dreaded this, even expected it, but had not really thought it would happen.
There was no one there to hear when Minion whispered, "Oh, my poor Sir. I had such high hopes for you, such a brilliant child. Was it all inevitable, once the spacepod landed in that prison? Raised by criminals, treated like a criminal even when a small child. Were you doomed to seek your destiny through crime and destruction? At first, you seemed more concerned with the theatrics, the show, wanting to be acknowledged for your genius. I thought, I hoped, that eventually you would see the …wastefulness, the futility of it all, or at least get bored with it, and then you could be convinced to … turn to a different path."
Minion shifted his gaze to Roxanne, focused on her face, and not the pool of garnet liquid that formed, oozing from her body. "When you moved into the lair with him, because of everyone turning on you, I thought maybe it would help him, heal him somehow. You appeared to genuinely care for him, admire him for his abilities. Within such a short time, you two seemed so happy, so in love. Seeing it filled me with joy. I had seen such integrity in you, such a passion for truth in your journalism. I thought you were recognizing his potential for goodness, and that you would want to foster that.
"But later I realized you were willing to join in his villainous activities because of your own anger over the way you had been treated. Still, I thought you had a stronger ethical center, that you would return to that when your anger had cooled. I hoped then you would help me steer him away from a truly dark path. And there were moments when you questioned him, challenged his choices as he slid further away from his own moral code.
"I clung to that hope, even when I saw that the link between the two of you was altering you more than him. At first I denied it; I didn't want to see that your bond seemed to reinforce the weaknesses, the faults in each of you: the hurt, the sense of betrayal, the desire for revenge; cycling back and forth between the two of you over and over, overshadowing, overwhelming the genuine love you shared.
"I thought that you would bring out the best in him. But instead, you brought out the worst in each other."
Backing away, he looked again at his master. "I failed you. I failed both of you. But I couldn't think what to do," his whisper becoming a wail. Focused again on Megamind's lifeless body, his voice rising, "You know I can't disobey you, our bond doesn't let me. I can hint, suggest, encourage, I can even argue. But when you order me, I have to do what you command."
He regarded Roxanne's silent form, Minion's tone again a whisper. "I did warn you of that. But you didn't listen." Glancing back at Megamind, a flicker of anger rising, he spit out, "Neither of you listened to me. I tried to warn you against modifying her with your genetic experiments. That, and the bond, changing her, changing you. Both of you becoming fixated on revenge and power."
And then the guilt washed over him again. He had suspected the girl was an assassin. No, he had known it, but closed his mind to that awareness . Loyalty so long ingrained would not permit him to actively work against his master. But inaction, that was different. Inaction was much like keeping secrets. And Minion had great experience with that. He would not admit to himself that he welcomed the girl doing what he could not: stopping them from further killing, further atrocities.
The anger and the pain bubbling up inside him, Minion's speech became louder and faster. "How could I know it would happen this way? That the two of you would pull each down in a spiral of … of what seemed like madness? Until I felt I had thoroughly lost you, lost both of you. I hated what you had become, hated how I had to assist you in your plans that become more and more evil. I just wanted it to be over, finished. And in the end, Miss Ritchie, your goodness awakened just in time to contribute to his death, to both of your deaths. Too late, too late for any of us…And now," he sighed, "there is no hope at all."
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There was one last service he could perform for his master. Minion did not want to take the chance that the mob, released from fear of their evil overlords, would desecrate their bodies. Megamind and Roxanne had both disappointed him, but he still loved them, or at least loved what they had been. They deserved better than that at least.
It was simple to broadcast a video of the assassination, recoded by the brainbots, who recorded everything that happened in the lair. He had helped Megamind break into the airways often enough. The difficult, emotionally wrenching part was watching it first, deciding what to edit. He thought of doing a voice over, offering an explanation, a plea for pity for the two people who lost their way, stumbled, and slid into evil. But he just didn't have the heart to try. What could he say that could persuade anyone? He hadn't been successful in persuading the person he understood the best in all this world; how could he expect to convince the residents of this alien planet? Perhaps Miss Ritchie's final words would help some of them to see the truth, but he was beyond caring.
He set up the explosive charges that would destroy the lair, the incendiary devices that would burn all evidence of their inventions. It seemed fitting that the de-gun was set to vaporized the remains of the two people he had loved. The cameras would show the destruction in action, and hopefully erase all doubt of the demise of the evil overlords. A compete and thorough obliteration. No one would come seeking them, and therefore no one would come seeking him.
He considered suicide. His whole life had been dedicated to the care and serving of Megamind. What was there to do without him? But Minion was surprised to realize that, even in his black despair, his innate will to live, and to serve, was still strong. Then he realized there was still more he could do.
Destroying all the brainbots felt wrong. Yet he couldn't abandon them to be captured, maybe dissected and analyzed by the humans. Megamind had loved them, considered them his children. Roxanne had come to care for them too. And Minion saw that, in many ways, he had more in common with them than he did with the humanoids he had served; with the brainbots' living tissue components, and Minion's dependence on his robotic suit, they were both forms of hybrids. He had someone to take care of, and he would, to the best of his ability. He knew how to access all the secret bank accounts, the passwords and access codes. There were sufficient funds for the tasks ahead.
The brainbots knew that their masters were dead. They were already programmed to follow Minion's orders when Megamind and Roxanne were unavailable. He selected one of the backup lairs, but they wouldn't stay there long. There was no longer any tie to Metrocity for him. That had always been Megamind's choice. He would find another location for their permanent lair, far from this place.
Under cover of darkness the brainbots sped to their new home, each one taking a different path so as not to draw attention to their flight, and all carrying some piece of equipment Minion deemed worth saving. At the last moment, for mostly sentimental reasons, Minion decided to utilize the cloaked hover bike, not wanting to destroy it. He didn't know what he would do besides caring for the brainbots. He suspected that eventually it would not be enough to satisfy him.
He refused to examine his purpose in taking the genetic samples from Megamind and Miss Ritchie, now secreted in the hover bike's compartment, protected in a stasis box. He wouldn't think about how much he wanted a second chance, another opportunity to get it right, to raise his charge as a proper genius, dedicated to discovery and invention for their own sake. A fitting legacy, that's what he would prefer to leave behind when he finally died on this alien planet. He wouldn't think about it now. Maybe he would think about it later.
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Author note: I really thought I was done with Megamind stories. Haven't written any in over a year. And was only reading ones by a select group of authors I had on "alert" status, and a few stories similarly tagged, like "Pale Blue Shadows." After I finished the latter, a plot bunny hatched, and I had to write it. Sent it to DreamFlight, who approved it. And I posted it. So there.