The brunette blinked seeing Bernard, which was standing in front of her, panting for the emotion.
"Bernard? What are doing here? I thought that you were already at the restaurant…" she asked, with a puzzled tone, raising her eyebrows.
Megamind sighed in relieve, seeing her disheveled, but alive, and dashing towards her, crying.
"Oh, Roxanne, I'm so happy that you are alive and all right! Sorry, sorry, sorry! It's my entire fault! If you are going to not forgive me, I would understand, and I would live you alone, even if I know that I would suffer without you. But I would deserve it!" the disguised alien was able to say, between sobs.
Roxanne returned the hug, a little hesitant. She had no idea what he was talking about.
"Bernard, what are you talking about? It's not your fault if that idiot of Hal has received Metro Man's powers! Don't be silly, the one to blame is…" but she didn't finish the phrase, because the truth hit her like a hammer.
She was breathless, and went away from the hug angrily, looking at the man from a distance.
She looked at him from head to foot, especially the eyes, and wondered why he had not noticed before.
"Megamind! Oh my God! How I didn't notice this before? That voice, those eyes! I feel like an idiot! You must explain yourself! NOW!" she said with a tone full of anger, clenching her fists, and watching him with a fiery expression.
The alien lowered his eyes, and since she had already discovered who he was, turned the watch's dial, returning himself.
Then he watched her with kicked puppy eyes, and she felt her stomach clenching only for that glance full of sadness and…something else that she couldn't decipher.
He sighed sadly, and said, "I came here to tell you the truth. I'm sorry to have lied to you, to…impersonate someone that wasn't I. And I must apologize for Hal too. He…is in love with you, and I said to him that if he saved the girl of his dreams, she would be his. But I swear to you that I DIDN'T KNEW that was you!"
"I have… risked your life to continue my game! I'm not a genius; I'm a complete idiot! For…for…this stupid game…I have risked to loose the girl I love! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I don't know what to say except…please, forgive me!" he finished through his tears, head down and clenched fists, sure that she would storm away from him.
Roxanne stood in place, in a whirl of emotions: at first, she felt a primeval rage, for being teased like that, but suddenly she recalled all the happy moments shared with "Bernard", and she was divided if whether she should re-evaluate the alien or to be angry with him.
She got breathless when he cried in that way, and especially at the phrase "the girl I love".
So, to dissipate any doubts, she asked him with a resolute tone of voice, "It was all a deceit? All? The things you said to me? The jokes, the laughs? I want to know."
Although she thought to know the answer, she wanted to know.
Megamind inhaled a lot of air, to exhale it in a trembling breath.
"No, only my disguise was a lie, all the rest was true. I…I showed you a side of me that nobody had ever known, except Minion. I showed you the…the real me. I…I beg you…believe me…it isn't…it isn't a trick to cheat to you," he said with an almost inaudible tone, trembling for the effort to hold the tears, and waiting for her storming out, and maybe even give him a slap.
He said to himself that he deserved it, after all that had happened.
Roxanne sighed, and evaluated the situation, weighting the words that she would say to her kidnapper.
She thought again at the moments passed with him, at the Library, at the Museum, at the park.
The restitution of all, and especially to what he had said when they were at the garden, which was always the last chosen.
She thought about the exchanged jokes at the Library, and knowing looks between them.
Then she thought about all those years of kidnapping, at the banter between them, which resembled more flirting.
Finally, she did not know why, she thought that the things said by the alien at that time were true, and she believed them, and felt her heart twisting to those words.
It was a lot of effort to admit it to herself, but she was always been attracted to the blue alien with a large brain.
"I don't know if I can pardon you completely…for the moment. Did you realize that you killed Metro Man, took over the city, and got me to care about you! It's also true that you restored all, and that now the streets are cleaned, etcetera, but you fooled me anyway, and you've done some very bad things. In the other hand…mh…I liked those moments with "Bernard", namely you."
"I would be honest, you…mh…well…I like you, and I didn't imagine that you was like that. You re the man that I always searched, but this doesn't mean that I would pardon you so easily. And I want to ask one question: what are you going to do, now? You've created a hero that isn't very…heroic! A superhero don't go everywhere to pick up girls, and tossing them in the air, like he has done to me!" she finished angrily.
The alien gulped loudly, due to the scolding received, but his hope raised a little, when he heard Roxanne announcing him that he was her ideal man, and for the other things she declared.
"You are absolutely right, I'm a fool, and I'm evil, but I'm prepared to change…for you. If it's true that…mh…I'm the man you have always searched. I'm prepared even to give myself to justice and to serve my eighty-eight life sentences, if that would make you happy. Or…to resolve this problem and then give myself to justice."
"I…I don't want to be a villain anymore. I like to do good things…and I like you. And I'd do anything really, if this will make you happy. Even if I would not see you anymore," he said with a melancholy tone, watching the glass-covered floor, pondering that that floor was like his life in that moment: shattered in thousand of pieces.
The reporter sighed again, after holding her breath, touched very deeply by the alien's words, shedding some tears, beginning to understand a little the choices that he had made in the past.
Then she smiled, and she said sincerely and with a calm voice, for not to show the knot in her throat which had been formed, "I say that firstly is better fix this business, then we can think about the rest. I…I think to have faith in you. And together we will adjust this mess. Mh…I was thinking that, at the end, it was also my fault, that you have the idea to create a hero, and even the fact that Hal had received those powers. If I hadn't come to the Evil Lair, none of this would happen, right?"
Megamind looked up and saw tears running down her face. He gasped at her gesture and words, and walked slowly to her, for fear that she refused him.
Then, with a little courage, took her face in his gloved hands, and took away the tears from her face with his fingers, smiling sweetly.
Roxanne felt herself struck by this tender gesture, so she closed her eyes, and letting her instinct guide her, she took Megamind's face in her hands, like he had done to her.
The alien stiffened at that ouch, don't expecting it, and also because he wasn't used, and then widened his eyes, when he saw her leaning the head forward, and finally he melted in a blissful state, when she kissed him on his lips.
After a while they detached from that chaste kiss, and Roxanne giggled seeing the state of pure peace on the face of the criminal who wanted to redeem himself.
At that sound, Megamind woke up from that "trance" and he watched her in the eyes, with an impish glance.
"You are a terrible temptress, Miss Ritchi! Look at the state you have me rendered, and with only a kiss! I will have to be careful in the future if I do not want to fall into that trap again! But maybe I could leave you implement your evil plan!" he said with his usual verve, all emboldened by the gesture of his favorite kidnappee.
Roxanne rolled her eyes, and laughed, happy that the tension was finally dissipated.
She was pleased to provoke a similar reaction in him. And she thought that, in any way things went, she would give him a chance.
She felt a strong chemistry between them, and she was sure she had finally found the man of her dreams.
"Did you have already a plan? I was thinking to going home to change, I'm not so comfy in this dress," the brunette declared, pointing the elegant purple dress.
Megamind blinked, and smiled.
"I think that I've already a plan, and I would be very happy to bring you home, so you can change."
Roxanne smiled, and took his hand, making him stiff again.
The alien wondered why, when he was Bernard he hadn't problems touching her or hugging her, while like that he get all restless.
As they were going to the elevator, Megamind jumped because Minion had called him with the watch.
"Sir, there is a little problem, some policemen had arrived here, and I saw that there is the warden too. I've moved the car too, because has started to rain, and I risked being seen. What are we going to do? If you come down, you risk to be caught, and so we cannot stop Titan," he affirmed with a preoccupied tone.
The blue genius considered all the possibilities, and at the end decided to exit, because he had an idea.
"Don't worry, I have a plan. And I wanted, in any case, to go to the warden or to the police to explain the situation. I hope that they don't arrest me immediately," he finished, his face darkening.
Roxanne smiled, and said, "Don't worry. I would ask them to not arrest you until all would be clear. Then we see what to do, ok?" she asked with a positive tone.
Minion heard the reporter's word, and smiled.
"Miss Ritchi! You have…mh…pardoned Sir? Anyway, I'm happy to hear that you are on our side," he said cheerfully.
The brunette smiled, infected by the positiveness of the ichthyoid.
"Let's say that…I've pardoned him…with reserve. Better get going. We haven't a minute to loss. Hal is dangerous, with those powers, and I have no idea of what he could do, especially after I dumped him in that way," she finished with a worried tone.
Megamind nodded, with a serious look, and they went down with the elevator.
When they exited, they were immediately surrounded by police, in the rain, and some police had already the handcuff ready, after seeing Megamind, while others had puzzled expressions, wondering why he was with Roxanne Ritchi and she was not tied, but mainly because he was there.
"Stop! Don't arrest him! Let him explain!" Roxanne said imperiously to the police, putting himself in front of the alien.