Ok, things are going to start getting pretty dicey now. Just a little heads up, there's some drug use involved in part of this chapter, so if that makes you uncomfortable, you can just skip that part. You'll see it coming, then just skip down to where Megs and Minion come in.

Thank you to my sweet friend and Beta Reader Nora Salisbury, you're the best! :)

To everyone else, thanks for reading. I hope you enjoy it! By the way, I love your reviews… they make me smile!

The evening was very wet; rain pummeled the streets and houses in the run down neighborhood with out mercy. Although it wasn't particularly cold, the lashing wind tore through the darkness, making the lonely figures that walked the sidewalks clutch at their coats to stay warm. The last of the autumn leaves that clung to the trees had been blown away during the day's storm, and now the branches were left empty as they bent and shook in the wind.

This was the seediest neighborhood in Metro City. The homes that lined these streets were in advanced stages of disrepair, with sagging roof lines and porches, and peeling paint. Trash was scattered along curbs and against fences, and whipped through the air on the wind.

The residents who lived here were as sleazy as their environment. The streets were crawling with ruthless dealers and violent gangs, and even the police tended to hang back from this area. In the past, an incident in this part of town always warranted a call for Metro Man's help, but now the Metro City PD turned to Megamind, who was always ready to step in and heroically lend his assistance when needed.

One particular house on this block was notorious for the shady class of people who stayed there. The two story building was by far the most run down residence on this shabby stretch of road, with boarded up windows, and graffiti covering walls that had once been painted white. Even the nastiest inhabitants of this threatening neighborhood tended to avoid this place.

Inside, things looked even worse than they did from the outside. Garbage was piled in corners and closets, and the smell of it filled the house. The walls were covered with holes where the plaster had crumbled, or a hole had been knocked clear through by the destructive behavior of the people that lived there.

There was very little furniture in this house, most of it consisting of mattresses that had been dumped on the floor in various places. Each one was filthy and ripped with the stuffing popping out of the tears; and a couple of them were occupied by the sleeping forms of people.

In a back room lit by only a single dim bulb, Colby Kessler sat in a broken down folding chair, using a large cardboard box with a piece of plywood over the top as a makeshift table. He was one of the city's worst dealers, and well known to the MCPD, who had a file on him as thick as a good sized novel. Although he had been arrested more times than he could remember for crimes ranging from dealing illegal drugs to attempted murder, the police had never been able to find enough evidence to hold him. The charges were always dropped, and he would be back on the streets in less than a week.

Colby was in his late twenties, but because of the drugs he pumped into his body on a daily basis and the hard, violent lifestyle he had lived since he was in his early teens as a runaway, he could have passed for a man in his late forties. His pocked, lined face framed hard eyes and a mouth filled with rotting teeth. He had long ago stopped caring about his ruined looks; he could get anything he wanted from the kind of women he knew by dangling drugs in front of them, regardless of his appearance.

As Colby sat at his cardboard box, he impatiently watched the minutes tick by on the alarm clock that sat on the windowsill. The man he was waiting for was very late, which made him nervous. He had tried for months to get in contact with him to arrange a meeting, but he had been almost impossible to track down.

No one seemed to have any information about him at all, not his name, what he looked like, where to find him… anything. There were only rumors that he had a new drug that people were desperate to get their hands on, and that he was a very dangerous character. Most people were too afraid to go into business with him, and any information that may be out there about him was kept completely quiet out of fear. So quiet, not even the police knew about him.

But Colby was different than the other thugs in town, he had a vision for his future. He had followed every trail he could find searching for this elusive man, and his efforts were finally about to pay off. If the rumor was true and he could just get things worked out with this guy, he'd be making more money than he'd ever imagined, and he could finally pull himself out of this dump that he stayed in.

His nervousness was beginning to intensify as the time passed, and he twitched his foot as he sat glancing every few minutes at the door. His uneasiness was increased by the sound of the wind howling outside the house and the rain beating against the boarded up windows. The one thing that gave him a little comfort was the gun that he wore hidden at his side. He looked around, wondering if he should just give up for the night. No one is going to show up hours late like this, he's obviously not coming. He let his eyes wander around the dim room as he considered this.

In the far corner of the room on the only broken down couch in the house, a woman of about twenty lay sleeping. She was his current "girlfriend", who was actually nothing more than another girl that offered herself in exchange for the drugs he was never in short supply of. Now would be a perfect time to take advantage of those benefits she offered him, so he rose from his folding chair and began to cross the room to where she slept.

As he walked, he felt a prickle at the back of his neck and for a moment he caught a slight odor on the air that was new to him… bitter and sharp. Some instinct made him briefly glance toward the door without even realizing he what he was doing. At first, nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary, it was the same cracked wall with the same old sheet hanging in the doorway as always. Just as he was about to look away, he thought he caught a glimpse of two small pinpoints of dull reddish light in the dark corner, at about eye level. What the hell?

He froze and squinted his eyes to try to focus in the dull light. He thought that perhaps he might be seeing things, and wondered if it was an annoying side effect of his drug use. But this was different; he not only saw something strange, but he could feel that he wasn't alone. It was the same feeling he would get when he could sense that someone had walked into the room, even though he had his back facing the door.

His heart was thundering in his chest, and he could hear the rush of blood in his ears. As he stared hard at the corner, his eyes began to register the form of a man standing there, still and menacing.

"Is that how you always treat guests?" a dry, whispery voice inquired.

When Colby heard this, he almost jumped out of his skin. "How'd you get in here?"

"I'm a man of … bizarre talents. Now, what is it you want? This had better be worth my time. Venturing out in a storm like this isn't something I would normally do, and it puts me in a bad mood."

The creaky voice as it scraped out the barely veiled threat made Colby's skin crawl. His breath was coming in ragged gasps, and his heart continued to hammer beneath his ribs. Remember what you're trying to do here, Colby. Keep it together!

As he tried to get a handle on his fear, the man stepped out of the shadowy corner where Colby could get a better look at just who he was dealing with. He was tall and very thin, and of an indeterminate age. His skin had a sickly color and was drawn tightly over his face. Longish, greasy hair hung limply around his head, and was mostly concealed by a shabby wide brimmed hat. His eyes no longer seemed to have the reflective reddish glow, but they were surrounded by deep gray circles and had a dull and lifeless look to them.

Panic began to rise in Colby's chest as he watched the strange man step nearer, and he couldn't stop himself from backing away a little. He caught himself looking toward the door wondering if he could make a dash for it past the creeper if he had to. When he realized that wouldn't work, he cast his fearful gaze toward the window, wondering if he would have enough time to pull the loose boards away and jump for it in a pinch.

"Well?" the empty voice croaked, with a hint of danger that made Colby's blood run cold.

Colby cleared his throat and tried his best to swallow his fear. He didn't want to look like he was easily spooked or couldn't handle himself. After all, first impressions were everything. He straightened himself and walked toward his makeshift desk, reluctant to turn his back on his eerie guest.

As he sank into his seat, he indicated another folding chair. "Sit down."

Even the way this man walked was creepy as he moved across the room to take the proffered chair. His movements were slippery and fluid, more of a glide than a walk. Colby felt cold fingers travel up and down his spine as he watched him move.

"Let's just get down to business." Colby stated when his guest was seated, trying to keep his voice steady. "Word is you've got something new out on the street, and I want to sell it"

"Really?" the strange man sneered. "You know, you're not the first person to come to me with an offer like this; but I do have to say finding someone who wants to go into business with me is… rare. And a bit impressive, it takes a lot of guts to deal with me. Or a lack of brains; which is it with you?"

Every thing about him unnerved Colby, and he was growing so agitated it was becoming difficult to think. He didn't know how to respond to this question, and he was angry with himself for behaving this way. He looked weak, and that's the last thing he wanted to do when he was trying to work a deal with the one person who could actually be his ticket to the nicer things in life that he had once only been able to dream about.

"No comment? Oh, that's ok, I think I already know the answer. So, I assume you want to sample my goods."

"I never use when I'm in the middle of a deal, I want to keep my head clear. But I've got my little guinea pig over there, we'll let her try."

"Hmm, that's surprisingly wise." The stranger reached into the pocket of his fur lined jacket and pulled out a small package, then tossed it on the table.

"If we're going to work together, I want to know your name." Colby said.

"Ah, ah, ah. That's a piece of information I keep to myself. If we need to be in contact, I'll find you. Hunting people down is another one of my little talents"

These words sounded like another threat to Colby, and his chest tightened as he saw the way the man stared unblinkingly at him. The thought of working with this person was beginning to sound like less and less of a good idea, but he snatched up the package and walked across the room to where the girl slept, glad to be able to put some distance between himself and his new associate.

When he reached her, he grabbed her arm and yanked her to a sitting position. "Wake up. I've got something for you."

"What?" She was groggy from being rudely awaken, and looked around in a daze.

"Stick it under her tongue." The man instructed.

At the sound of the quiet, groaning voice, the girl immediately tensed. Her eyes snapped to the chair where the stranger sat, and as she saw the figure sitting there, a rush of fear passed through her. She gripped at Colby's hand and shrank back into the old couch.

"Try this" Colby demanded. He took the tiny tablet out of the wrapper, and grabbed her face, squeezing until she had no choice but to open her mouth, and popped it under her tongue.

The instant the tablet was in her mouth, her eyes widened, and every muscle in her body went from tense to rigid. As the drug was absorbed into her system, she began to tremble and let out a wailing cry. Her arms began to flail about, and she caught hold of Colby's shirt, pulling and tearing.

In all of Colby's years of dealing, he had seen some strange and terrible things. He had grown so used to the violence of the world he chose to live in, it didn't even phase him anymore, but for some reason there was something about what he was seeing right now that froze his blood.

He tore himself away from her grip, and took a few steps back to watch as she continued to loose control. Her whimpering rose in volume until she was belting out a piercing scream, waking the other occupants in the house. Her wide eyes opened further than Colby thought possible, and she began glancing around as though she was watching something moving around her, although there was nothing there. Unintelligible words tumbled from her as she screamed.

As he watched all of this unfold, his horror rose until he spun around and shrieked at the man, "What the hell did you give her?"

The stranger simply sat in his chair unconcernedly. At the sound of the shouted question, he began to make a strange hollow sound, and it took Colby a few moments to realize that what he was hearing was laughter.

Racing through the dark streets in the invisible car, Megamind sat in the passenger seat with a sappy smile, contentedly thinking about his precious Miss Ritchi and the evening that they had promised each other to continue when he got home.

Minion glanced at him from time to time as he drove, tilting his little body inside his habitat to allow him to keep his eyes on the road as best he could while he weaved in and out of traffic. He knew exactly what kind of thoughts were bouncing around inside that big brain whenever he saw that dreamy look in his friend's green eyes.

Normally this wouldn't bother Minion a bit, and he would in fact find it pretty amusing to watch his boss pine away with that love sick expression. However, considering that they were on their way to a crime scene to lend a heroic hand, he thought Megamind should have his thoughts on what they were doing.

"Sir, I know you're a bit… um, distracted right now, but you might want to start thinking about what we're on our way to do. Distraction is definitely not a good plan during hero work."

Megamind rolled his eyes and looked at his companion, "You're such a pill, Minion. I'm not distracted! I'm well aware of what we're doing, and I have it all under control. We haven't met anyone yet who even comes close to being a match for the two of us, except Metro… um, I mean Music Mahn. And he's too busy writing his ridiculous songs to even bother with coming out of his hideout." he said with a scornful chuckle and a shake of his head. "Anyway, I certainly don't expect things to be any different tonight."

"Yes, but don't you think it's a good idea to expect the unexpected? You never know what's going to happen, and just like Miss Ritchi said tonight, it's important to be prepared."

Megamind gave Minion a patient look that one would give to a child that asked too many questions and sighed, "Minion, all we usually have to do is show up on the scene, and the bad guys wet their pants and throw down their guns. I'm telling you, this'll be no.. big.. deal. Watch, I bet we'll be out of there in five minutes, ten tops."

"Well, consider what neighborhood we're going to, Sir. That's a pretty rough place. Don't you think we should be just a bit cautious? After all, just think how crushed Miss Ritchi would be if something were to happen to you." Minion knew this would get his attention.

The complacent expression faded from Megamind's face for a moment as he considered this. He couldn't bear the thought of putting Roxanne through any pain, and he knew that if something were to happen to him, it would break her heart.

"You're right, Minion. I'll be careful, and I'll keep my mind on the situation at hand, but like I said, I really don't think there's anything to worry about."

"I'm sure you're right, Sir" Minion said, slightly comforted that his boss seemed to be focusing.

For a few moments, they were both silent as they sped through the city, watching out the windows as their surroundings began to look more and more deteriorated as they went on.

Suddenly Megamind piped up "Minion, I've been thinking about something important for a while, but didn't want to say anything until I made a decision. I think I've finally come to a conclusion."

"What is it, Sir?"

"Well… I'm going to propose to Roxanne."

When Minion heard this, he almost swerved into the car that was to the left of them, and it took all of his considerable driving skills to prevent an accident. He tore his big brown eyes away from the road for a moment and studied his friend. He knew this was going to be coming at some point, but hearing Megamind say this so soon was a shocker for Minion.

"Wow Sir. I'm not sure what to say. Don't you think it's a little soon? After all, the whole thing with Titan, and the…" he cleared his throat uncomfortably, "Bernard incident was only six months ago. I mean, you might want to consider giving her a little more time."

"Yes, yes. I know that Minion, and that's one of the things that I've been rustling with,"

"Wrestling, Sir"

"Alright, wrestling. But Minion, I love her, and I honestly don't know how I ever got along with out her before. I know I could never live without her now, and I know she feels the same way about me."

He was quiet for a moment, and judging by the thoughtful look on his face, Minion knew he wasn't finished. It was rare for Megamind to lay his feelings bare like this, so the fish waited patiently for his boss to continue.

"In hindsight, I can see this long chain of events in my life that has been nudging us together all along. All those years of me believing that being a villain was my destiny, I was completely missing the plane"

"Ah, I think you mean boat Sir"

"Oh yes, boat. That's right. But as I was saying, I can see now that all along, aside from being a hero it was Roxanne that was my destiny, and I don't want to let another day go by without her. I'm thirty five, Minion. Too much of my life has been wasted on silly things like city wide domination and striking fear into the populace, you know the drill. She's more important to me than anything in the world, and there's nothing I want more than to spend the rest of my life with her."

His words were so sincere, Minion had to turn his eyes away from the road again to look at his boss. When he saw the way his eyes were lit up, and the look of pure joy reflected there, and how his every movement radiated the love that he had for the sassy reporter, his fishy little heart melted.

Minion had always been a bit of a romantic, a fact that he tried to hide from his boss for fear of the ribbing he knew he'd receive if Megamind ever found out. But now that Miss Ritchi had come into his life in such a special way, his boss was turning out to be an even bigger romantic than he was.

Minion's eyes filled with tears, which was difficult to do considering that his dome was filled with water, and his chin quivered a bit as he said in a slightly tremulous voice "Oh Sir, congratulations! I'm so happy for you both!"

"I know!" Megamind said with a sniff, his eyes looking suspiciously misty as well. Then he suddenly straightened and cleared his throat, and with an impatient voice he commanded "Pull yourself together, Minion! We're almost there, and it won't do to have the hero and his sidekick looking like a couple of crying sissies when we arrive!"

"Certainly Sir! You're right!" Minion quickly answered, and as they turned the corner and saw the police cars, ambulances and flashing lights surrounding a broken down old house, they proceeded to pull themselves together so they would look sufficiently heroic when they got out of the car to handle whatever situation awaited them.

When Megamind and Minion arrived on the scene and stepped out of the car, it caused more that a few of the officers that had been sent to handle the situation to jump. They were already feeling quite skittish under the circumstances, and seeing the handsome blue hero and his simian sidekick step out of mid air was just a little too much.

As they approached the officer that seemed to be in charge, Megamind noticed a couple of things at once. The first thing was that every cop on the scene seemed spooked, and as they set about putting up road blocks and getting things situated, they continued to nervously glance at the house in question. If it wasn't for Metro Mahn, I would have gotten away with all my acts of mayhem in my villainous days. Look at the way they're wandering around, they're practically useless!

The second thing was a sound that at first didn't register in his sensitive ears over the howling wind; it was the sound of a woman screaming.

When he realized what he was hearing, the bright mood that he had been in was shaken, and his face began to darken with worry. He rushed over to the officer in charge, who happened to be Roxanne's friend, Chris O'Donnell. "Thank God there's actually someone here who knows what they're doing! Tell me what's going on, Chris."

Chris's face immediately showed his relief that Megamind was on the scene. "Well Sir, we received a call reporting a woman screaming. The call was made by someone inside the house and they were frantic with the 911 officer. We just arrived on the scene right before you did, and when we got here we heard that," Chris motioned to the house, and the terrifying sound that was escaping it to be carried away on the wind.

"You have no other details for me?"

"No, I'm sorry Sir. We have three witnesses over there who just came outside, but we can't get any information out of them. They're panicking and seem to be in shock… nothing they're saying is making any sense."

"Ok, thanks. You go ahead and set things up out here. Watch the exits and don't let anyone out. Minion and I will take it from here."

With this, Megamind motioned for Minion, and the two of them approached the house cautiously.

"I asked you a question! What was in that?" Colby shouted again. As he watched the stranger continue to sit and laugh quietly, his fear began to turn into anger.

The girl's shrieks and cries were growing worse, and accustomed to the rough street life though he was, Colby found himself wanting to cover his ears to block out the sound. While he watched her, her trembling grew worse and soon turned into spasms and convulsions.

"Just a little cocktail I mixed up. Don't worry, it's all part of the experience." the stranger said. "Now, lets talk business."

Colby finally realized just how dangerous it would be to do any business with this man, and he snapped to a decision.

"No, get out." he said unsteadily.

"Ah, having a change of heart? Well I'm afraid it's too late for that now. You're the one who initiated this; now that you've seen me you have no choice." As the man said this, he rose from his chair to face Colby. The quiet, scraping tone of his voice changed slightly, and now it seemed to be dripping with menace.

"I said get out! I'm not doing business with you." Colby shouted over the screams of the girl as she lay writhing on the couch.

When the man heard these words, he took a step nearer and said "I'm afraid that's a very poor decision. I was right about you; you calling me here was due to a lack of brains rather than a surplus of guts. Now you've gotten yourself into trouble."

Colby began to detect again the strange, bitter scent on the air that he had noticed earlier, but this time it was much stronger. So strong in fact, it caused his head swim, and made it very difficult to think clearly. The combination of the terrible noises behind him, the mind numbing smell in the air, and the presence of the stranger was causing Colby to panic, and he pulled his gun with shaking hands and aimed it at his unwelcome guest.

Once again, the odd hollow laughter began to escape the lips of the man as he walked nearer, and he said "You don't really think that's going to help you, do you?"

As he said this, a frightening change began to take place in him as Colby watched. He was suddenly surrounded by a swirling purplish mist that seemed to come from the man himself, and caused the sharp smell in the room to become unbearable. The pale, tightly drawn skin of his face changed to a shriveled gray that clung to his face so tightly, Colby could see every outline of the skull hidden beneath. The empty eyes were lit from within by that reddish gleam that he thought he had imagined earlier in the evening when this nightmare had first begun.

As the combination of all these things registered in Colby's frightened, foggy brain, his heart raced in his chest and threatened to burst from the exertion. Never in his life had he been more terrified, and as he watched this monster close in on him, Colby began to scream.

Megamind and Minion approached the house and stood on the doorstep, listening as the frightening sounds coming from inside grew louder. Minion looked at his boss with an expression of uncertainty. It wasn't that he was afraid; he was as brave as a lion and would fearlessly do whatever it took to protect someone in need, especially his precious Sir or Miss Ritchi. But he was a sensitive and empathetic fish, and hearing these terrible sounds was very disturbing to him.

Megamind noticed the distressed look on his friend's face and said quietly "I'll take this, Minion. I need you to hang back and watch the door, and I'll signal if I need your help. Make sure you have your watch ready so you can hear me if I call."

"Ok, Sir. Be careful!" Minion said, the expression on his face filled with concern for his friend. He had complete confidence in Megamind's ability to handle any situation he was confronted with, though he couldn't help but worry a little.

Megamind stealthily walked through the grungy house following the noise, eyeing the dark doorways as he went along. He checked the setting on his De-gun, making sure it was set to the standard Dehydrate. As he turned a corner, he saw a dimly lit doorway ahead, the obvious source of the disturbance.

He approached the door silently to get a look at what was going on inside; preferring to have a plan before he burst in on a situation if possible. He could hear over the top of the woman's cries two male voices, one was low and threatening, the other raised in a hysterical shout. Before he had the chance to see anything, all hell seemed to break loose inside the room. One of the male voices suddenly began screaming in terror, and then the sound of gunshots rang out, echoing through the empty house.

Well, forget about that plan. Time had run out, and Megamind was going to have to improvise. With his De-gun in his hand he instantly stepped into the room, and the sight that met his eyes stopped him in his tracks.

The room was filled with a strange purplish smoke that oddly seemed to be coming from a very tall, thin looking man in a long fur lined coat. He had his back facing the door, preventing Megamind from seeing his face. He was standing above another man, who was laying on the floor as he thrashed and squirmed with a look of pure fear in his eyes. A gun lay on the floor at his side. On a couch in a corner was a woman, twitching and jerking. She was presumably the woman who had been screaming moments ago, but now seemed to be unconscious.

As he took all of this in, the tall man seemed to sense that someone else was in the room with him, and he turned to face the doorway. The act of spinning toward Megamind caused some of the smoke to waft toward him, and as it began to drift around him he noticed an odd pungent odor, and his thoughts were momentarily muddled. Then he noticed the face of his adversary, and his heart jumped into his throat.

The man before him was more a walking skeleton than a man, with grayish purple skin clinging to his bony face, and a dull red gleam reflected from deep within hollow looking eyes.

"Ah, look who showed up. Metro City's new Hero!" he sneered with a groaning laugh as he eyed the blue figure standing in the doorway. "I wondered when I was going to run into you."

Megamind was so shocked at the sight of this person standing before him, he was completely at a loss for words and unable to engage in the witty banter that had always been his favorite part of each confrontation. His mind was still slightly foggy from the smoke that had drifted his way.

Rather than bother with this bizarre new villain he trained his De-gun on the man and fired, assuming that a glowing blue cube would be easier to deal with than a deranged criminal. But instead of being reduced to the expected cube, the blue beam from the De-gun had no effect, and instead passed right through him with a puff of smoke.

Megamind's eyes widened in confusion and shock. As his incredibly brilliant brain rapidly tried to puzzle through what had just happened, the monster looked at him with a vicious glare filled with pure hatred, and in a swirl of purple mist he was gone.

At that moment, Minion burst through the door in a panic. Having heard the gunshots, he came running at full speed, ready to help his friend. When he saw Megamind standing there unharmed, relief flooded through him and he cried "Oh my god! Are you ok? When I heard the… Sir?"

Minion, having come in seconds too late, watched in confusion as Megamind stood staring at the center of the room where the villain had only moments ago disappeared into thin air, and a strange haze of purple smoke drifted idly around the room.