What It admired the most and about humans was their ability to create. Music, art, another human; of course, It was also jealous of those abilities. It could not create. When a human saw a tree, he saw a painting or a sculpture or a table, and heard the music made by the wind in the tree's branches. It just saw the tree. Neither could it create another like itself. It could only copy or manipulate humans to do something it wanted.
The most annoying thing about humans was that they came in two genders. Male and female. This was the biggest obstacle for It. It was neither. Gender, it reasoned, could be a great help in order to understand them. That's what It thought at first. Then It thought; maybe if I have none, then I can choose one? But it was more complicated that it seemed. Humans had complicated their genders so much that even It could not comprehend them. And to tell the truth, It didn't care for gender at all. But because it was something important for humans, It experimented with this part of the characteristic. Though, something was always odd. Even It could feel that. But it was useful, nonetheless.
Especially now. During It's short stay in Metro City a year ago, It had avoided the 'underground elements'. Now, It needed to pay a visit to the other villains; people who were really evil, unlike Megamind during his 'supervillain' days.
It entered the night club wearing a female form. The suit was changed to a short, black and white flapper dress with parallel rows of fringes; the two-tone shoes were exchanged for black, T-striped shoes; only the white gloves and the hair tied in a knot using two white sticks remained the same. The No mask was absent. For now. It had borrowed the face of some random woman on the street.
People in the club ignored It, too drunk or drugged to notice. But some…
" 'ey baby! Wanna 'ave fun?" A drunk man sneaked his arm around It, sending a cloud of alcohol-stinking breath toward its face.
It grimaced in disgust and rolled its eyes. It had already studied the addicted types of human and had no interest in this person. And It had business here; important business, otherwise It might have stopped to play with him. But for now…
It grabbed the face of the man, sapped his neck and threw him toward the bar. When the friends of the unfortunate individual found him, It was already behind the doors leading backstage.
A week later…
The KMCP8 News reporters were busy like never before. The news was coming in like a tidal wave. The gang fights were more violent, and even Megamind could not help prevent them or stop the fighters before it was too late, and most of the participants were wounded, deadly wounded or already dead. He couldn't be everywhere at once, and he didn't know everything which happened in the city, no matter how many Brainbots he had. Many people started to whisper; if Metro Man was still alive, this would never happen. Some hissed that it was Megamind's fault; after all, he was responsible for Metro Man's "death".
This kind of commentary, if heard by Roxanne, fueled her anger and resulted in a good scold from her. The comments were very unfair toward Megamind, who was working really hard in order to stop the wave of crime. He reprogrammed and improved his security systems and installed the programs into the police network. He was no Metro Man, but he tried his best. It wasn't his fault that the gang leaders had gone bonkers and started fighting each other. And, by looking on the bright side, it wasn't some supervillain trying to take over the city.
Roxanne sat at her desk in a sour. It was all Wayne's fault… She decided she needed to talk with him and negotiate something about that 'death' of his… It was so unfair on Megamind…
"Ritchi! My office, now!" Frank Bonnin, Roxanne's boss, shouted from the other side of the room.
Curious as to what her boss might want from her, Roxanne quickly followed Bonning into his office.
"What happened, Frank?" she asked him, just in front of the door to his office.
"Get inside." The older man opened the doors. Roxanne walked inside and on the small couch she saw a dark haired man in his forties. He wore black suit, white shirt and black tie. The brunette wondered if he was in mourning; he was very solemn, almost expressionless.
Frank closed the doors and sat behind his desk.
"Roxanne, this is Nicolay Nikto. Mr. Nikt, this is Miss Ritchi, our top reporter," Frank introduced the stranger to Roxanne. The man nodded to her. "Roxanne, Mr. Nikto here is a representative of NanoCorp. He's asking if we can help advertise his company."
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mister Nikto." She smiled and greeted the man.
"It's Nikolaj, Miss Ritchi. I hope we can work something out." He smiled stiffly, as if not used to such movement of muscles. He spoke fluent English, which only got cracked on his name. "My company comes from Russia; we're producing microchips and running research on nanotechnology," Nikto explained.
"Why would you want us to help advertise your company, Nicolay? And it's Roxanne." She tried to stay friendly with the businessman, though something about him bothered her.
"NanoCorp just started their operations in USA, and we would like you to do a report, yes? And we need someone who has some competence in the subject. You, Roksanne, have a lot of contact with the science field through your current boyfriend, right?" He probably meant to make this sound like a light and friendly comment, but a lack of emotions in his voice made it sound quite opposite.
"Why not CNN?" She dug deeper into the subject.
"We're starting here in the region of Great Lakes. We're taking small steps; we want to adjust ourselves to Amerika. CNN will come later." Nicolay waved his hand casually, making this sound like a trivial matter. "Will you do it Roksanne?"
"I… well, can I talk for a moment with my boss privately, Nicolay?" She sent a look to Frank, who nodded slightly.
The businessman shrugged. "I have no objections. I'll wait outside."
When he left, Roxanne sighed with relief.
"Frank, I understand you want something else other than the gang fights on the evening news, but I'm not sure if I should do it."
"He's suspicious, I know," said Frank, rubbing his chin. "But they'll pay us." He smiled at her and she tried to look innocent. "They wanted you, and I know that if there's something stinky going on, you'll find it. You're the best when it comes to investigations. And if you're unsure about the topic, you can always…"
"Ask Megamind." She smiled, finishing for him. "I know… Fine, I'll do it."
"Great. Let's call him in and set a date for the interview and a laboratory tour." The man happily called his secretary, asking her to invite Nikto back.
Later…
"NanoCorp? Yeah, I've heard about them." Megamind put down the wielding torch and looked at his girlfriend. "They're fresh players, but there's rumors that they're quite the dark horse. Why are you asking?"
"Today we had a visit from a guy named Nicolay Nikto…" she began, but Megamind snorted and she looked at him. "What's so funny?"
"You know… Nicolay Nikto. His name is funny."
"Why?"
"In Russian, Nikto can mean 'none' or 'nobody'. Nicolas Nobody." Then a light bulb had lightened up in his head. "You don't think…"
Roxanne looked a little horrified, but she put on a brave face to hide the pain. That didn't stop her from making the same connection as her boyfriend. "Looks like Frank was right. This will be an investigation, after all."
For those of you who are familiar with my 'Addiction' story, Frank Bonnin was Roxanne's producer in the original script of Megamind (Master Mind) ;] So say thank you to the LJ comm and ScarletFrost for finding it ;]
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