*gapes at the screen* Omg. I never thought this little idea would generate this kind of interest! Wow! You guys are fantastic!

Oh, and bad me, I didn't say this before, but this entire story takes place about 4 months before the movie takes place.

Chapter 1

Megamind was directing his many Brainbots in prepping his false Lair of the moment, an older warehouse outside of town, but his mind wasn't quite focused on the Evil Plan of the Day. (And it was a great plan too, like that festival with the running of the bulls, but these would be Mechanical Chihuahuas of Doom that would run all throughout the Metrocity area! Mwahaha!) But it was a little difficult to focus with all the other things running through his head. Minion had gone to fetch the object of his thoughts.

His favorite hostage, Roxanne Ritchie.

The last time he'd kidnapped her, those three weeks ago, the reporter had regained consciousness in a state of panic. Roxanne had hurriedly glanced around to get her bearings and then rudely interrupted him right as he was starting his eeevil monologue. She'd actually started fighting to get out of the ropes she'd been tied with, something she hadn't done since the first few kidnappings. The woman had been frantic, nearly doing herself harm trying to get out of the ropes and begging him to let her go.

She had actually begged. Said please and everything. For one horrifying minute, he'd almost thought she was going to cry.

Roxanne had never, ever begged before, not even that very first kidnapping. It had honestly bothered him to see it. She was fire and pride and deliciously sarcastic wit. Not reduced to begging.

When he'd asked what in the world was so eevily important that she would act so unprofessional, she'd told them that right before Minion had nabbed her from her apartment's parking lot, she'd been on her way to the hospital. She'd just received a phone call from her mother telling her that she had gotten terrible news and had just been admitted to the hospital. And that Roxanne needed to get to there as fast as she could.

The woman had looked so...heartbroken. Like she honestly thought whatever news the hospital had for her would destroy her. Minion, of course, completely over-reacted and insisted on letting Miss Ritchie go to her mother. Megamind had agreed, but only because with the state Miss Ritchie was in, she'd be no good as a hostage that day. That was the only reason, really. Really! But this certainly didn't excuse her for any other kidnapping in the future, he'd pointed out with a huff.

She had actually smiled at him in gratitude. No one had ever looked at him like that before except Minion, but his faithful fish had never made it look like that. That smile had changed her entire look. Oh, she was always beautiful, for a hostage, but she always looked smug, snarky, amused, or irritated when she was with him. This time, that smile had seemed to light her from within, making her look happy. Happy...with him? It was certainly something to see.

It had also done strange things to his insides.

Roxanne had sincerely thanked him, asking rather politely if they could drop her off by her car so that she could be on her way to the hospital as fast as possible. Minion had been all set to agree until Megamind had pointed out that she would be in no fit state to drive after getting dosed with knock-out spray twice in one day. If she would agree to keep a blindfold on, they could drop her off right at the hospital. She'd looked shocked at his consideration, but thanked him again with that stunning smile. Minion had taken her to the hospital without further ado, leaving Megamind to ponder over everything that had happened as the Brainbots cleaned up.

Now it was time for another kidnapping and Brilliant Evil Plot by the Master of All Villainy! (He just hoped that she would be in better spirits this time around. Only because it was nowhere near as much fun when she was in a bad mood, of course.)

He perked up a bit at the sound of the invisible car pulling into the building, quickly walking over to the garage bay to see his 'guest's' arrival. "Ah! Minion, you're back: and how is Miss Ritchie doing toda-," the alien stopped in his tracks, jaw hanging slightly in shock. "...what in the world is she wearing?"

The fish glanced down in a bit of confusion. It was a simple sundress of blue cotton, very flattering to her figure, and a soft, black, cotton, button-up cardigan. A pair of strappy blue satin pumps and a small silver necklace completed the outfit. She looked very pretty in it, but Minion didn't quite understand what the big deal was. "Um, a dress?"

Megamind walked slowly around the woman that Minion was already tying to the chair. "Its blue."

Minion quirked an eyebrow. "Yes...?"

"And black," the villain said blankly. "She's wearing blue and black."

"Yes, she is, Sir," Minion said, still confused. "What of it?"

"Don't you get it?" Megamind said in mild shock and awe. "She's wearing my colors! She's never worn my colors." Ever since that first kidnapping, he could not recall seeing her wear any blue and very little black, not at work, at her home, or anywhere else. So why was she dressed like this? "What does it mean?"

"I-I'm not sure, Sir. Maybe she wants to get your attention? Why, I have no idea," Minion muttered the last very quietly to himself as he finished arranging Miss Ritchie's ropes.

If its my attention she wants, she's always had it, Megamind thought to himself. The little...temptress. "I suppose we'll find out what the lady wants when she wakes. Now, onto the plan!"

A very soft, "Mmmm?" sounded from Roxanne. Both aliens turned in some surprise to see her already stirring. Megamind shot Minion a look. "How can she be awake already? What, did you just graze her with the mist from the spray?"

Minion blinked in surprise at the woman. "She got the normal dose, Sir, I swear!"

"I'vvvvve," she swallowed, blinking hard to try and clear her head of the drug's haze. "I'vvvve been wooooorkin'...intolerencyyyyyy...fis a spaaaay..."

The two friends exchanged looks of confusion before Minion spoke up. "Miss Ritchie, do you mean that you've been building up a tolerance to the knockout spray?"

She blinked hard, shaking her head to clear it. "Ye-yeah. For the past threeeee," she cleared her throat, "no, ssssssix years now."

"And all this time, you've stayed quiet for another half hour every single time just so you could spy on us?" Megamind asked, a bit of anger in his voice.

"No! Not spying!" Roxanne said worriedly. "I just didn't want to watch up-I mean, wake up badly like that one time with the cobra pit, remember that?"

"Oh. Yes, I do remember that," the villain said in some embarrassment. That had been the time that he'd gotten more than 500 cobras to milk them for the venom, in the hopes of poisoning Metro Man. It hadn't worked, (they hadn't been able to inject the venom into him, damn the impenetrable skin of his!), so Megamind had decided to use the snakes to threaten Miss Ritchie. After all, there was no need to waste a perfectly good batch of terrifying animals just because they didn't work on Metro Man.

Roxanne had woke up a bit earlier than normal, right before Minion was finished tying her up over the pit of cobras. It turned out that Miss Ritchie had still been groggy from the knockout spray, and had instinctually jerked back from the pit, trying to get away. Normally, she was awake enough to know to hold still, but she hadn't remembered in time. The ropes hadn't been tight enough, and she'd fallen into the pit before Minion could catch her.

It was the only time she'd ever screamed, and Megamind was still certain that his heart had actually stopped. He then had yanked out the dehydration gun and shot the entire pit of snakes into glowing blue cubes in less than 15 seconds. A very shaky and panting reporter had been gently lifted out of the pit by a trio of Brainbots into Megamind's arms. He'd quickly carried her to his own chair, gently setting her down as Minion immediately came over, apologizing profusely for not catching her as Megamind checked her for any bites. Thankfully, she'd not been bitten. The plot had been immediately cancelled, and she'd been knocked out and taken home.

It had been the worst kidnapping ever, in Megamind's opinion. The snakes had been shipped off to the city zoo less than an hour later.

He did have to wonder at her slightly odd behavior now, though. But he would think about that later. "So then, besides your renaissance, which in most everywhere else in the world is called spying-"

"Reconnaisance, Sir," Minion corrected.

"Whatever. So then," he said with a clap of his hands, the Brainbots humming in anticipation, "shall we start? A bit unorthodox beginning, but I'm sure we can work it in-"

He can say 'unorthodox' but not-oh man. And this is the man I'm trusting my mother's life with? Roxanne glanced around, taking in the new laser, the robotic animals, the Brainbots, and what surely had to be a neural interface graphed onto Minion so that he could pilot that robotic gorilla suit. He can do it. I know he can! Oh please, please God, let this work and not go horribly, hideously wrong.

She took a deep breath, gathered her nerve and called out. "Megamind?"

"-which will overwhelm those pathetic drones Metrocity calls policemen, and then I can-"

Oh hell, he was in full rant mode. She called louder. "Ah, Megamind?!"

-"and bring Metro Mahn to his knees!"

"Megamind!"

"Yes? What now, I'm monologing!"

"I-...I..." god, why was this so hard? "I need..."

The blue villain rolled his eyes. "Really, Miss Ritchie, we haven't got all day, we have a duel to keep-"

"Schedule, Sir," Minion pipped up.

"That's what I said! Now spit it out-"

"I need your help."

He paused, certain he hadn't heard her right. "...what?"

"I need your help. I don't know who else to turn to, and you're the only one I'd ever ask for this, and with all your inventions I know you can do it-"

Megamind just stared in something like horror. "Miss Ritchie, are you asking me to kill someone for you?"

She blinked in surprise. "What?! NO! I need you to help me save someones life!"

He gave her a flat look. "...that's a bit outside my area of expertise, don't you think? Shouldn't you be asking your boyfriend for this sort of thing?" Megamind said with a small huff.

Roxanne was glad her hands were tied, or else she would have facepalmed in frustration. "For the last time, he's not my boyfri-that's not important right now. Listen to me, I need the smartest man alive, not the strongest! You're the only one that can help!"

Megamind sat down in his swivel chair, leaning forward to look at her. "And what exactly would you have me do, Miss Ritchie?"

"I need you to make a cure for cancer."