Author's Note: This prompt:

"Anyone else ever wonder why they weren't any other villains besides Megamind in Metro City? It's typical for there to be a one city/one her ratio, but the hero usually faces multiple villains. My idea is that, pre-movie, there was another villain in Metro City. Megamind had a grudging respect for them, and maybe they teamed up a few times, but they otherwise ignored each other. Then the other villain kidnapped Roxanne..."


Megamind was, by nature, a somewhat territorial person. He'd never left Metrocity, and never felt an inclination to. The city was his city, its occupants were his victims, and its hero was his archnemesis. Simple as that. So when that unfortunate incident at the chemical waste disposal plant resulted in one of the under-paid workers getting a face full of acid (and naturally gaining 'superpowers') he hadn't been sure what to think of it. He'd been in jail when the news reports had started coming in. The madman dressed in an interlocking red and black costume, sort of like a one-piece pajama suit with a squiggly line right down the middle, and called himself 'The Puzzler'. At first his interest in Metroman had seemed minimal. He'd been more fixated on getting revenge against his former employers for failing to install proper safety regulations, and had opted to go about in a way that seemed perfectly reasonable to Megamind – he'd trapped them all in gigantic labyrinth full of poison gas, and the same acidic death-traps that he'd been forced to work alongside day after day, and assaulted them with trivia questions in exchange for their survival.

Things only really got tricky once Metroman showed up to foil him. Megamind hadn't quite liked that. He was Metroman's arch enemy, not that pajama-clad industrial accident, and he hadn't been impressed at all when the upstart had vowed vengeance against the hero. Even if he'd done so with impressive vitriol and flare.

Then he'd been dragged off to prison, locked in the same high-security wing as Megamind himself, and they'd had an opportunity to hash things out.

"He's my archnemesis," Megamind had insisted, during their supervised daily exercise. The guards had all rolled their eyes. "You can go on with your corporate sabotage and revenge schemes and everything, but don't think you're taking the top spot. You're nowhere near qualified."

Puzzler – who just looked sort of tragic and scar-faced when he wasn't in costume – had blinked at him, obviously taken aback at having been spoken to at all. "You're Megamind," he'd observed, cocking his head to one side, like some sort of hideous man-bird. Megamind had wondered for a moment if he'd overestimated his intelligence, because obviously. "You hate Metroman too, don't you?" Puzzler had leaned close, then, in a sort of uncomfortable, total-lack-of-personal-space-bubble way that was actually quite unnerving.

"Yeah, no kidding," he replied. Then he caught himself, and grinned malevolently. "I've hated him for all of his wretchedly goody two-shoes existence! Thwarting Metroman is my life's destiny!" He clenched a fist for emphasis.

Still staring at him with a too-intent expression, Puzzler had nodded. "Good," he said. "Good. I think we'll get along, you and I."

It had been a weirdly creepy moment, and Megamind had subsequently avoided the other supervillain whenever possible. Puzzler proved to be almost as adept at prison breaks as he himself was, but he lacked the means and motive to concoct schemes with the same regularity and scale as Megamind, and hadn't garnered nearly as much attention. Just so long as he wasn't a threat for the title of Metroman's archnemesis, Megamind had concluded that The Puzzler's existence was inconsequential. Perhaps even a little useful. The lunatic made for an excellent distraction, now and then, and sometimes even volunteered himself to aid Megamind in his plots. In return, Megamind offered him a few tips on where to find the good lairs, and after about six months of semi-cooperative supervillainy, even helped him construct a gigantic sphinx that spouted flames from its mouth whenever someone answered a question wrong. It was sort of almost like having a friend (apart from Minion), except for the bit where he found The Puzzler's personality utterly repellant, and always felt vaguely relieved when they didn't have to be in the same room as one another.

"That guy's creepy," Minion had once sagely observed, after Puzzler had stopped by to ask after a good formula for knock-out gas. They'd given him one of the very basic ones.

"Mm. Very," Megamind had absently agreed.


Roughly a year after The Puzzler's debut, Megamind found himself cornered by the other supervillain at prison while he nursed a sore arm. Metroman had yanked him pretty hard when he'd pulled him out of his experimental combat suit. One of the guards, Terry, had given him an ice-pack for it, but the Warden had confiscated it away again. Which was a shame, because Megamind wasn't even planning on escaping for another few weeks, at least, and the numbed pain had been doing wonders for his mood.

"Why do you always kidnap Roxanne Ritchi?" Puzzler had asked, leaning too close and staring a little too fixedly at his face.

Megamind blinked. "What do you mean, 'why'?" he asked back. "Isn't it obvious?"

Puzzler tilted his head. "You show a preference to abducting her over any other resident of the city. Metroman would rescue any of them. Why take the same woman over and over again?"

"Ah," he replied, shifting a little so that there was some more space between them. Swallowing, he marshaled himself away from his discomfort, and treated Puzzler with a vaguely condescending smirk. "Because, my nefarious associate, Metroman is in love with Ms. Ritchi. She's beautiful, she speaks for the common peons of this city, she exudes the same shiny-bright goodness that he stands for – she's his perfect match. Love makes fools of all men," he explained. "Since that bulk-headed bruiser has no physical weaknesses, I have opted to strike a blow at his emotions instead. His heart, at least, is not indestructible!" For a moment he thought about throwing in a good evil laugh, just because, but Puzzler was really killing his buzz. So instead he simply waited for a good opportunity to make his excuses and leave. Really, there was something just off about that guy.

He was almost relieved when, two days later, the guards scrambled and the alarms went off, and the Warden angrily demanded if he knew where The Puzzler had escaped to. Megamind had tented his fingers and chuckled in a foreboding fashion, and provided suitably evasive answers whilst inwardly fending off the relief at not having to spend another exercise period getting creepy stares. Let Metroman deal with it all for a while. He'd sit back, enjoy the show, and work on his own plans. The prison was in heavy lockdown for a few days, so he didn't have much to do except keep an eye on the news and make small-talk with Terry and Fred through the door.

Less than a week later, The Puzzler's masked face was splashed across all of the local stations. Raising an eyebrow, Megamind had lowered his remote, and leaned back in his chair to see what old scar-face had planned for the day. Another maze, maybe? A coded series of bombs around the city's airport? Perhaps some sort of game show of terror?

Puzzler said something in his frantic, high-pitched villain's voice (really, though, he sounded like he was trying way too hard) and Megamind was only sort-of paying attention until the camera panned out to reveal…

Roxanne Ritchi, dangling over a gigantic vat of acid.

He blinked, then did a double-take, accidentally knocking his remote to the floor with a loud clatter as he suddenly stood up. "What?" he demanded, as Puzzler went back to talking, making some silly demand about Metroman. "What? No, absolutely not! That is my act, you thieving little pajama-clad viper! How dare he? How dare?" He fumed, feeling a sudden burst of outrage surge through him as he glared at the television set. What was he thinking? Kidnapping the love interest was the province of the archnemesis, it was his scheme, his domain, and he was doing it all wrong, there weren't nearly enough gizmos and the rope she was dangling from was far too thin and she was much too close to the fumes from that vat, which didn't create the proper level of professionalism, that hack. Megamind glowered and ranted at the screen, drawing some concerned attention from the guards outside, and he was still going at it long after Metroman had turned up to rescue Roxanne, and The Puzzler had just barely managed to escape re-capture.

While the news stations showed footage of the incident long into the night, Megamind quietly decided that, really, Metrocity just wasn't big enough for two supervillains.


"Hello, Jeff," Megamind greeted as The Puzzler finally came-to, being sure to use the other villain's legal name.

Puzzler blinked, his eyes glassy around his scarred face, confusion resting prominently in them as the knock-out gas slowly cleared from his system. "Megamind?" he asked, looking around himself. "What are you doing?"

Rising to his feet, Megamind folded his hands behind his back, and began taking measured steps around the perimeter of the room. They were in The Puzzler's own lair, a place that he himself had formerly used. It had been remarkably easy to track him down. Minion loomed silently in the background, robotic arms folded across his chest. He chuckled. "Oh, Jeff. You're the one who's supposed to be good at answering questions. Why don't you tell me?" he suggested. There was an unexpected edge to his voice. He paused, making a mental note of it – that actually sounded rather intimidating. He would have to try and duplicate the effect for future use.

There was a moment of befuddled silence. Puzzler shook his head, still a bit groggy, and shifted against the ropes he'd been tied with. "You've captured me… what for?"

Megamind raised an eyebrow at him. "Puzzles, Jeff. Puzzles," he replied, moving over to a large mosaic which the other supervillain had erected upon his wall. Absently, he flicked a finger against one of the jagged corners. "They make a picture, don't they? And that whole picture is combined of many smaller pieces. Each piece in its place." He smirked, whirling around a little, the edge of his cape fluttering at his ankles. The Puzzler actually looked a little nervous – not an expression he generally wore. "All of the pieces have to fit properly together, as I'm sure you're aware. If you try to jam two pieces into the same spot… well. You just end up with a mess." Slowly, he shrugged, extending his arms in a grandiose gesture of 'what can you do?'.

Puzzler licked his lips, darting a nervous glance over at Minion. "I see," he said. "I see. Yes. This is about Ms. Ritchi, isn't it?"

A mockery of an approving smile spread across Megamind's face. "Very good, Jeff. That was a gold star deduction. However did you puzzle it out?" he sarcastically demanded.

The color slowly drained from The Puzzler's face. "I didn't mean to overstep-"

"But you did, didn't you?" Moving closer, Megamind glowered imperiously down at the other man. Inside, he was a little bit surprised at how successfully he was intimidating him. Minion looked a little bit surprised, too, shifting his footing anxiously. Things were going well, he decided. Then he leaned down, getting uncomfortably close, opting to take a page from Puzzler's own book on unnerving behavior. "You thought you could come into my city, challenge my nemesis, and for a while, I played nice with you. I let you have your fun. And how did you repay my astounding generosity?"

"I'll never do it again," Puzzler quickly promised. Funny. He didn't seem so creepy anymore. As a matter of fact, he just seemed very, very frightened. "Please don't kill me."

"You abducted my damsel."

The Puzzler started struggling against his bonds. "Please," he begged. "Please, don't!"

Megamind smirked his very best, most utterly evil smirk, and activated the trap door beneath the other supervillain's chair.


When the bag came off of her head, and Roxanne blinkingly found herself in a darkened room full of blinking dials, consoles, mysterious tubes and Tesla Coils, her first thought was one of relief. Which was ridiculous, really, because she'd covered the recent story about The Puzzler herself – the mystery of why a man who had recently escaped justice would voluntarily turn himself over to the police, actually requesting solitary confinement in the process. So she knew it wasn't him. It couldn't have been. Still, that particular kidnapping had been an extremely unpleasant experience, so maybe it was just a little bit understandable that the first thing which flew out of her mouth when Megamind whirled into view was:

"Oh, thank goodness it's you."

There was an awkward pause.

Roxanne felt a sudden surge of embarrassment rush through her. Megamind blinked, darting a glance sideways, a little color rising to his cheeks. Minion coughed awkwardly.

"Yes. Um. Well," the supervillain said after a minute, regaining himself and throwing his shoulders back. "I'm afraid your wily reporter charms won't do you any good here, Ms. Ritchi! Your fate is sealed!"

He cackled. Minion loomed. Roxanne rolled her eyes, and tried to pretend that she hadn't just said that thought out loud.

There were worse ways to be kidnapped, she supposed.