Ok everybody here is chapter 2 and introducing a new character to the scene, I hope you all like her.
Also on a further note for this story, there will be two stories happening at once. It is mostly told from the infamous perspective of Roxanne Ritchie and the other told by her best friend and this new character Daniella Daniels. Of course the perspectives of Megamind and Bernard will be equally important and while their views will not always be addressed, you will hear from them here and there so that everyone gets a clear idea what is motivating them. So without further a due chapter 2.
"You have got to be kidding me! Are you seriously going to sit there drinking coffee and eating doughnuts and do nothing?!" The angry outrage voice of the woman came from the Chief of Metro City Police's office.
"Miss Daniels, there is noth-"
"Don't you dare tell me there is nothing you can do! Roxanne has been missing now for 3 weeks! You can count that high I am sure! And I know that if a person is missing after 24 hours you are required to investigate! Furthermore you and I both know who has her!"
"Miss Daniels we can't do anything against that super intelligent villain. He's-"
"You are scared of him! That is why you won't do anything to help her! It would be obvious to a blind man that he has her!"
"Miss Daniels if we try to force the issue with Megamind he could unleash his brain bots and who knows what else on us."
"It is a wonder you managed before Metro Man came to be the hero here! You are all a bunch of cowards!" With that the door to the office slammed open and out walked the hot tempered lady.
Attired in black and purple hiking boots, blue jeans, and a grey button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up. Daniella Daniels didn't look the part of a reporter. She wore no make-up, but she did have a delicate beauty that barely called for it. Her dark auburn straight hair was loosely tied back and fell just pasted her shoulders.
Walking purposefully out of the Metro City Police Station, Dani as she preferred to be called; grumbled under her breath about how incompetent the police really were. It didn't help that one cop sat at a desk with his feet up reading the paper. The cover showing a picture of a smiling Roxanne Ritchie, but the title was something Dani would rather not have read. 'Week 3 of Roxanne Ritchie's Disappearance! Police call off search.'
Finally Dani got to the double doors before her temper could get her in trouble and heads for the parking lot. Once she gets in her Nissan Exterra, she calls hers and Roxanne's boss James on her cell and sets it to loudspeaker to avoid breaking it. "Dani, please tell me some good news."
"I'm sorry boss, nothing good. The police won't do anything, they know Megamind has her but are too afraid to do anything about him. Bunch of yellow spineless cowards!" Dani gripped the steering wheel, her knuckles going white.
"I take it from your tone you let the police chief have the full blunt of your temper." It wasn't a question, her boss knew her well for being bluntly honest and short tempered. He gave a humourless chuckle when silence followed. "God I swear that tongue of yours Dani is sharper than a lightsaber out of Star Wars! I bet you could've cut even Metro Man down to size with words alone! Metro Man if only he was here now, Roxanne would be here working."
"I am sorry I know I promised to keep my cool with the police chief, but-" Dani started to explain.
"No need to apologize Dani, I wasn't complaining. You have every right to lose it with him. I going to put a plea in the paper, it's all we can do now. Plead for Megamind to release her. If uh you want it I'm giving you some time off, she is your friend and well... I'll understand if you want it." James voice saddened and seemed to loose all hope and it made Dani's heart sink.
"James I'm not giving up on her, she is not lost to us yet. Maybe... maybe I can try to learn more about Megamind, I mean I know the general knowledge but maybe I can find something that will help. Maybe I can convince him to let her come home. I'll take the time off, but I am not giving up and neither should you."
There was a lengthy silence as James digested her words. "Alright, you're right Dani, Roxanne deserves better than that. You'll get paid time off, three weeks. Is that enough time?"
"It will have to be." Dani sighed softly; James was a wonderful and friendly boss, the best type to have. She and Roxanne were lucky to have such a great guy for a boss, because he cared about his people unlike some of the executives at KMCP 8.
"So what is your next move then?" James asked after a moment. Dani thought for a moment and looked sky wards for an answer. Peeking just above the buildings in the distance was the Metro Man Museum and the idea sparked.
"I'm going to do research and learn all I can of Megamind. I'll be at the Metro Man Museum, James." Dani answered.
"Alright, keep me posted and I'll do that same here." With that the phone call ended.
It took half the time it normally would to reach the Metro Man Museum, few wanted to be out and about in case Megamind attacked the city so there was hardly any traffic to slow Dani down. Parking her car, Dani picked up her cell, keys, and wallet and slipped them into her pockets. She never bothered with purses; she didn't want worry about bag snatchers.
Entering the Metro Man Museum, it seemed even more deserted than the city. Checking the navigation map for the museum she found the second floor to be the library with all books about Metro Man and a small section dedicated to Megamind. Perfect! Heading for the second floor, Dani made a B-line for the Megamind section to look for any clues she could find.
No sooner did she start to look when a flat voice spoke up, making her jump and whirl around. "Aren't you in the wrong section? Fan girl's usually go for the Metro Man section."
The man had messy light brown hair and glasses. To Dani the man would've even been cute if he would ditch the emotionless and bored expression. He wore a brown suit and blue turtleneck sweater. "Well it is a good thing than that I am not a Metro Man Fan girl, isn't it?"
The only visible expression was a raised brow and an 'I-don't-believe-you look'. "Oh really? Than what are you doing here?"
"The name is Daniella Daniels and I am here to find out as much as I possibly can about Megamind, fact not fiction please. Also, if I could have your name then that would be great." Dani internally winced perhaps her blunt tone was too blunt, or too sharp. A small fleeting expression crossed the man's face before he answered in his usual flat tone. "Bernard Dunmar, I am the curator here."
Well at least he answered her, and didn't get angry at her tone. Taking on a sweeter tone, Dani replied. "Well Bernard, it's alright if I call you Barnard right?" The man looked bored but didn't answer. "Right um Bernard I need to learn all I can about him and find his evil lair. I work at KCMP8 news and am a reporter, but you probably know my co-worker Rox-"
"Yes I know Roxanne Ritchie she is the reporter Megamind always kidnapped." Bernard interrupted wanting her to hurry up to the point of the conversation.
"Well than you know she has been missing for 3 weeks and I am trying to find her. So which books here is fact and which are fiction?" Dani's blunt tone was back, apparently Bernard gets bored easily, but he merely folded his arms over his chest and droned out.
"All the books here hold some fact, but each author adds their own creative license to the books. No one is usually that interested in Megamind to make an actual factual book minus the fiction." Well that sucks! No one could write a book based only on facts? Great!
"Great so I have to shift through a bunch of BS to find any truths?" Again Bernard looked bored, and then Dani sighed. "Is there a Megamind expert that you know of? I need facts and have limited time. Hell Roxanne has limited time for all I know!"
"You're looking at said expert, I spent most my life studying the villain and understanding him." Bernard replied flatly.
"Oh well that's good to know, can you help me out?" Dani tried a sweeter-sided tone hoping it'd work on him. "Please." She added sweetly, remembering Roxanne's trick.
Bernard scoffed at the request, well the 'please' trick always worked with Roxanne, but apparently Dani needed more practice. "I have better things to do than help an amateur looking for clues to save some stuck up reporter."
Ok no more sweet tone with this jerk, Dani forced her temper down but not her biting tone. "And I have better things to do than chat up some heartless emotionless robot curator that knows nothing about Roxanne Ritchie, but can only make an ass out of himself by assuming he does."
A Flicker of shock crossed the man's features at the blunt truth shoved hard at him, but Dani didn't care she was done playing nice. "Excuse me." She bit out before whirling around to go through the Megamind section, and purposely ignored the curator. Stepping in front of the shelf she pulled out several of the more promising books and set to work. Vaguely she was aware of the curator back at his station, but never bothered a glance. Instead she got some copy machine paper to take down notes and was wishing she had brought a notepad.
Hours drifted by as she went through books and writing down what she knew was common knowledge and 'questionable facts', but felt like she was running into a dead ends repeatedly. Finally she realised someone was standing nearby her and looked up at the emotionless Bernard.
"What?" She asked sounding bored now herself and not in the mood to waste time conversing with the unhelpful curator. The curator sighed and set down a tray with two coffees, a carton of milk, sugar packets, and stirrers. The he sat down across from her.
"At this rate you will never leave, so here's a coffee and if it gets you out of here quicker... I'll help you." Bernard said in his emotionless tone. Dani's eyes shot open wide in surprise at the help she would be getting. "Wow um, okay, thank you."
"Please do not mention it, ever." Bernard said as though not wanting to tarnish his 'emotionless reputation'. He removed a couple of books from the table stating that they were useless fact less books, then took a couple more off the shelf saying that the ones he picked would be more helpful.
"So to clarify, tell me what you already know." Bernard said wanting to know how much she knew of Megamind to save time and effort.
"Okay I know Megamind crash landed in prison with his fish named Minion. He was raised by the criminals mostly and hidden amongst them until he built a tricycle with license plates and broke out of prison. The Warden discovered him and was pushing to adopt him, but the government stepped in before the warden gained full custody. Rumour is Megamind spent 2 years as a government lab rat, and finally the warden gained custody of him and Megamind was returned to the prison. He was reunited with Minion and went to school. He eventually got expelled when he released a blue paint bomb. It was later learned that the school was funded by the Scott's, but the teacher did not have a valid license. Later he was allowed to attend high School, because the previous school he attended was not part of the School Board of Education. His first kidnapping of Roxanne was at prom when she was named prom queen and Wayne Scott was named prom King."
"Bravo, you're not a complete loss. It is true that he was a lab rat for 2 years, and the reason the warden gained custody of Megamind is because the warden had government ties. The pod Megamind and Minion arrived in was also returned to the prison after studying it, also due to the warden's government ties. Megamind also had to win the court case against the first school before being allowed into a public school, by that time he was a teenager and his advanced intelligence allowed him to enter high school." Bernard pointed out flatly.
"Alright so we are on the same page then, general facts known. Now what are the facts not everyone knows?" Dani asked wanting to get to the point.
"He was royalty on his home planet, which was why he was saved. Royalty are the only one's allowed a Minion. He would have been the future ruler of his planet had it not been sucked into a black hole." Bernard droned on, "His people was a super advance race, highly intelligent and more so than any human on the planet; so outsmarting him is not an option. More information about his people is stored in the pod, but you would need the Warden's permission to view it. He only allows access to Megamind, Minion, and 'experts'."
Drinking some of her coffee she thought over the new information. "Would the Warden grant 'you' access Bernard? You are a Megamind expert after all? Maybe you could help me get in to learn more of Megamind."
"Right because the Warden is just dying to allow a reporter access to Megamind's crashed pod to report on it." Bernard replied dryly, the sarcasm far from lost.
"I am not doing this research and trying to locate Megamind's lair for a scoop, I am doing it for my best friend whom disappeared out of her own apartment 3 weeks ago. I could care less about reporting what toilet paper Megamind uses." Dani replied bluntly but with a pleading edge to her voice. "Please Bernard help me, no one else is doing anything to find or help her."
Another flicker of emotion that was gone too quick for Dani to read, but Bernard was hesitating and looked like he was about to refuse her request. "Besides if you help me, it get's me out of here all the quicker, and you won't have to worry than about me coming back and nagging you."
It was enough to push Bernard in the direction she wanted him to go, and Bernard gave an annoyed sigh. "Fine I will help you, but now it is time for the museum to close, if you want to continue studying Megamind we'll have to go elsewhere."
Dani looked at her watch, almost 8pm. "Alright can I check out these books?"
"Sure." Bernard answered flatly, as they approached the counter to rent out the desired book to Dani, she noticed only one car parked in the lot, hers.
"Where is your car?" She asked
"It broke down last Monday and is still being fixed. I'm taking the bus." He answered flatly.
"The bus will be too dangerous at night, crime has gone up." Dani pointed out then had an idea, "How about this, come back to my place with me and help me go through these books."
"I haven't eaten dinner." Bernard pointed out flatly.
"Do you like Chinese?"
"It's tolerable." He replied blandly.
"Than I'll buy us take out, we study for bit, and I drive you home. What do you say?" Dani asked pointedly.
"You barely know me, Miss Daniels; and you're inviting me over to your place." He was pointing out the obvious, she hardly knew him, but that hardly mattered to Dani. Both she and Roxanne took self defence classes when they were younger and she knew how to look out for herself.
"Well your bubbling personality and sparkling wit has won me over, Mr. Dunmar. I think I am in love and am willing to take that risk of inviting you over." She said in a mock breathless voice.
Again a flicker of emotion that was quickly masked, and that was when Dani realised it, Bernard wore an emotionless mask for some reason. Later she would have to discover why that was, but for now she wanted to find Roxanne. "The sarcasm was too heavy, but fine I can tolerate your company better than others. Just let me lock up and I'll be out in about 5 minutes."
Dani waited in her car, and as soon as Bernard closed up they left for a well liked Chinese take-out restaurant that oddly Bernard 'tolerated', Dani guessed tolerate was code for liked. Then the pair headed for Dani's apartment. Her apartment was in the same building Roxanne's was in even the same level, but rather than get off the elevator and head immediately right which lead down the hall to Roxanne's apartment. They went left, around the corner and passed the stairs, down a short hall and there was Dani's apartment.
On entering, the format was similar to Roxanne's apartment because of how the architect made the building and apartments, but because her apartment was on the opposite wall the kitchen was to Dani's right, and the hall leading to her bedroom, the spare bedroom and bathroom was on the left. Like with all the apartments it was an open floor plan and the glass double doors leading onto the balcony were straight across the room. "Come in, and make yourself at home."
Heading for the table, Dani set their food down to get them ready to eat, thinking it would best to study after they ate even though Dani was not particularly hungry. For the past 3 weeks she had solely been living on coffee and little else. By now she was even scrawnier then before, and she was thin to start with. Bernard scoffed and shook his head when she picked up a pair of chop sticks. "What?"
"The average person has trouble using chop sticks, thus they look ridiculous when they attempt to use them. Best thing for you to do is to save yourself the embarrassment and use a fork." Bernard replied dully, again with him underestimating her. With that Dani broke the chop sticks apart at the top and neatly picked up a clump of rice without it falling apart.
After popping the rice in her mouth and swallowing she replied. "Hmph! For an average person I seem to have mastered the use of chop sticks. Making assumptions as you are Bernard I thought you would've learned by now." A raised eye brow, it seemed whenever she surprised him or did anything unexpected she saw a trace of emotion before he would through the mask up. "My brother and I love Chinese food, we practically lived on the stuff so we practiced and learned to use chop sticks."
After eating they were about to do research when Bernard pointed out she had 3 unheard messages and pressed play. 'You have 3 unheard messages, first message was at 3:45pm: Dani its James I got you the time off as requested. Unfortunately I have no updates on this end but I will put a plea for Megamind to release Roxanne in tomorrow's paper. I hope you have better luck and be careful out there.'
The look Bernard gave, made Dani answer automatically. "He's Roxanne's and my boss. He's a very nice guy to work for, very understanding."
'Second message at 5:15pm, Hey Dani it's Hal I overheard the boos saying your getting time off and I know it's to look for Roxy. I want to help, so I'll be dropping by tomorrow morning, cya.'
Dani groaned disgusted, "Not that li'l creep! He's Roxanne's cameraman, he's living a fantasy thinking him and Roxanne are a couple. Creepy little-" Dani bit back what she wanted to say as the answering machine continued and she turned to get the books out.
'Third message at 7:55pm: Dani!' The frightened voice on the message machine made Dani whirl around and drop the Megamind book. 'Please answer me! I don't much time, I picked Minion's pocket and got his phone! I'm being held at Megamind's evil lair, and don't know what to do! He hasn't hurt me or anything, but something is wrong! I can hear his thoughts and feel his emotions and he can do the same! Please you have to find me; I know your looking for me! Use my spare key go to my apartment and into my room, there's a loose floor board in the closest where I keep my kidnapping journals and scrapbook, get them maybe they'll help! Please find me Dani...Oh no he's heard my thoughts and is coming back-'
The message ended abruptly, and Dani stared at the answering machine in shock, then her eyes trailed to the clock 8:25pm. Roxanne had called a half hour ago, and worst of all for the first time ever she sounded scared.
Ohhhh and here's a cliff-hanger!
Now before I get angry reviews, about the situation Roxanne is in. It will be fully explained later why she has been missing for 3 weeks, ok? Next I think I need to clarify, Roxanne is not afraid of Megamind and he has in no way harmed her. I want that out front and centre before anyone gives a review. Roxanne is scared however of this bond, it's a bit out of her comfort zone. But I don't want to say much more otherwise it might spoil the story. Hope you enjoyed and chapter 3 will soon follow.
Please give reviews and tell me what you think of Dani.
