Theme: Keeping Secrets
Another day, another one-shot. These are just writing themselves at the moment! This one is set somewhere in the middle of Megamind's criminal career.
"Minion! Be more careful you great oaf! That is precious cargo you carry!" Megamind yelled after regaining his composure. He was following Minion to some strategic point hidden deep within the city, where they could hold Roxanne Ritchi as their hostage. She was once again an integral part of their scheme and as such should most definitely not be dropped! Minion's giant metal foot has snagged while walking up the bare metal stairs and his whole body had pitched forward and had lolled to one side in an attempt to gain his balance. The woman he carried over his shoulder had very nearly been pitched over the edge into the stairwell below. That would have been an absolute disaster.
As he had watched the event which had only really lasted for a second or two, his hear had leaped into his mouth and now pounded alarmingly in his chest. He griped the leather at his chest in an attempt to reduce his heart rate to something more acceptable. He repeated in his head that he was only concerned for the affect her fall may have had on their plan and decided to brush the incident off as a slight overreaction.
Minion looked at his boss quizzically, he had only tripped and no harm was done. The fish rolled his eyes, his boss had a tendency to overreact when he got excited about something. This was one of his more eccentric plans after all so it made sense for him to a little more jumpy. He placed Roxanne down on a table that had been placed in the middle of the room, he hoped that Megamind didn't notice the pile of blankets that had been pre-arranged on the table to offer the woman at least a little comfort, lying flat on your back on a wooden table was bound to be a very unpleasant experience.
He lay her unconscious form down gently, noting the fact tat Megamind was watching his every move. Carefully he lifted her arms and chained the to the table above her head before moving to her legs and chaining them down as well. Minion was glad she had decided to wear a pair of smart black trousers with a white blouse today, the dresses she normally wore to work would have made his job a little more… difficult.
"I'll be back in a moment sir with the rest of the equipment." Minion said as he headed back down the stairs, the sound of his large feet striking the metal stairs echoed around the concrete structure.
Megamind carefully examined his surrounds, yes it had been a good choice to use this as their attack base. The building was yet another high rise office building that was currently under construction in the intimidating shadow of the Metro Tower. The skeletal structure of the building had been completed leaving it an open concrete shell with sonly a few internal fittings such as the metal staircase that ran all the way up to the roof. He had chosen the 16th floor, high enough to launch a board attack on the city street below but low enough to still be able to clearly see the terrified citizens running for their lives. He found himself cackling to himself quietly as he ran over the details of his plan in his head. A muffled groan from behind him brought him out of his thoughts as he turned around to face his captive.
She was still unconscious and it was still a while before her planned awakening, she should not have been stirring. He moved closer to her, examining her face for any signs of consciousness, going over in his head whether a second dose of knockout spray would have any lasting negative effects. A noise escaped her throat again as her face twitched slightly. At some point the had ended up leaning over her, mere inches separating them as he closely examined her facial expression. He jumped backwards when he realised how close he was standing, his heart once again pounding in his chest. He frowned at the sensation, not liking the effect her presence seemed to be having on him today.
Her brow twitched down into a frown as her head lazily lolled to one side. Cautiously he reached out to her face and placed his fingertips on the pulse at her neck. Her pulse was slow and steady. Exactly at the rate it should be whilst under the full influences of the knockout spray. His fingers drifted over her cheek to carefully open one of her eyes. He gazed into her blue eye, clouded with unconsciousness and showing no signs of becoming aware of her surroundings. All the physical signs were within normal parameters, so why was she making noises like that. After freeing her eyelid and closing it gently over her eye he held onto her face, gently cupping it in his hands. He never got the chance to be this close to her, oh he had thought of it, it was what the bad guys did when they had the damsel in their clutches. Any other bad guy would have taken advantage of her condition long ago, the thought made him step back from her hurriedly and rub his fingers against his forehead. Some of the men in the prison had been incarcerated for the very same thing.
It made him feel sick.
For all the ropes, all the peril, all the dangerous and intimidating situations he put her into, he had never once actually put her into harms way. Not intentionally anyway. There had been one time that he and Minion had taken her to the hospital after one of his inventions had very badly malfunctioned and had taken on a life of its own. The machine had gone into a wild spin and one of the wicked spikes it was adorned with had caught her on the side of her head before he could pull her out of harms way. Minion had managed to cut power to the machine a few seconds later but not before Roxanne had been knocked unconscious and lay sprawled across Megamind's chest, her head wound bleeding all across his uniform. All he could do was lay there on the cold floor, staring at her in shock. He had reached out to her face, brushing her hair away from the wound, the sheer amount of blood that was flowing from the 4cm gash was transfixing, her hair was already matted and he could see the sheen of read against his black leather. He could even feel some of her blood drying on his face and neck, where it had splashed during their fall.
"Minion…" He had whispered, still in shock, "Get the car."
The flustered fish had managed to get a hold of himself a few moments later, his panic causing his mechanical body to become a bit erratic. Megamind stayed exactly where he was, one hand using his cape to put pressure on the wound in an attempt to stop the bleeding. He was trembling, the fact that her blood was still rushing from the would on her head the only indication that her heart was still beating. Her face was pale and her skin was clammy as she lay on top of him completely still. He could hardly hear anything over the pounding of his heart in his ears, Minion had to physically touch him on the shoulder to get his attention. That was all he needed to snap him back to life, he had scooped her up into his arms and instructed Minion to drive them to the hospital as quickly as possible. It was a wonder the crying fish managed to avoid causing a major traffic accident. Thankfully he had the presence of mind to switch on his disguise generator before flinging himself out of the car, pulling Roxanne out with him. The wound on her head was still bleeding but to his utter relief she opened her eyes groggily.
"where am I?" She muttered into his chest, her eyes not focusing.
"The hospital, you are going to be fine I promise!" He said into her hair before running into the Emergency Department and shouting for help, barely registering the fact that his voice had remained the same despite the disguise, "I'm so sorry Roxanne!"
"I know -" She whispered before dropping into unconsciousness again. He placed her carefully on the trolley the medical staff had wheeled in front of him and he described her injuries, telling them that he had seen her fall and didn't know what she had hit her head on. They wheeled her away into the emergency room and told him to fill out some forms and wait. He had stayed long enough to give them her personal contact details and then slipped out, not wanting to answer the questions he knew were about to be put to him.
He had slumped down in the passenger seat of the invisible car, his energy truly spent, telling Minion to just drive. The fish had done so, feeling slightly better now that she was in a place that could help her. A few hours later Megamind hacked into the security cameras of the hospital, searching each image carefully for any sign of her. Eventually he found her, at the very edge of one of the shots, through an open door to a private room. She was asleep, her head bandaged tightly, her beautiful hair sticking up in the most unprofessional manner. Fortunately the machines she was connected to could be seen by the camera, from what he could see her vital signs looked good, he doubted there was any deep damage so hopefully, the fact that she had been left unsupervised, showed that she was going to be ok.
He had kept that camera feed up on his monitors for the rest of the night.
Megamind shook his head, bringing his thoughts back to the present. That had been nearly 6 months ago and neither of them had mentioned it. Her news network had reported her injury as a mugging resulting in some unknown good Samaritan taking her to hospital. They had reported that she had suffered from a form of amnesia, meaning she couldn't remember anything about how the accident happened. Megamind had been relieved at that, believing that it was better for everyone if she didn't know what had happened. He couldn't stand the thought of her knowing that he had been the cause of her injury but at the same time he didn't think his reputation could stand being unmasked as her saviour as well.
Now, here they were again, she was tied to a table and about to bear witness to another one of his diabolical plans. He couldn't resist the smirk that pulled on the side of his mouth at the thought of what she would do if she knew about this secret that he was keeping from her. The secret that she was even keeping from herself.
Minion appeared again at that moment, carrying a host of equipment which he hastily deposited by the open end of the room, looking briefly over the edge before busying himself with the final touches of their plan. Roxanne moaned again, showing more signs of waking up. Megamind grinned, bringing his mind back to the plan at hand. Tonight would be the night that Roxanne, along with the rest of the mindless drones in this city, would know the true power of Megamind!