I apologize for how long it took for this chapter to get out! Life got in the way for a very long time; but now that the busy holiday season is over, I've gotten over my vertigo, and flu, and I've been rejuvenated after an amazing vacation snowboarding I am ready to write again!
I really hope that you all like this chapter; I also may possibly (if time permits between writing new chapters and working on my other fics) go through this story and edit any typos I may have made.
And thank you to everyone who has read, followed, reviewed and for the never-ending support
Chapter7
There were very few times in which the Lair was actually quiet during waking hours. There was the normal ticking and whirring of computers and the brain bots, but other than that the Lair was quiet; save of course for the occasional sigh of thought or frustration.
Mykael had taken up residence in his favorite executive chair responding to what felt like email after email and non-stop phone calls all in response to a press conference he had held just days ago. He had been willing to let the dinner fiasco go, but the intrusions had grown worse. First he was mobbed getting out of his car while entering City Hall. Three hours later he was called away from lunch with the Warden for what he thought was an emergency but turned out to be nothing more than a young woman with a broken down car who had used the excuse to call Megamind. Then poor Minion was bowled over while shopping in the grocery store. But they all had the final straw when Mykael found a strange young man circling his car, after having walked into it, and had begun an attempt to climb inside and follow the hero home.
Megamind informed his good city that while he appreciated their reverence and while he was delighted they are all so eager to see him and greet him, there were times when he required his privacy and that it had been grossly invaded.
"There are certain times when a hero must hang up his cape for the night and simply be a citizen; to eat dinner with his family, in privacy, without the prying eyes of cameras. True it is my job to be there for our fair city, for all of you, to protect and serve; but that does not mean we can abuse that. I cannot be pulled from my dinners and my own personal down time for matters that our own police, fire and rescue are more than capable enough to handle. Nor should I have to be concerned about being mobbed while doing as simple a task as picking up the dry cleaning." Okay that was a bit of the stretch, they rarely if ever actually dropped off dry cleaning, but the point got across all the same."And so I ask you, dear citizens of Metrocity, to come to an understanding and an agreement, for privacy and personal security, while I continue to serve our city."
That had been three days ago and he was once more stuck answering questions about the invasions of privacy and what tasks he would deem enough of an emergency to call him directly. He assured many people over and over again that his many brain bots stationed throughout the city would alert him directly to every danger that may need his attention.
Roxanne had holed herself up in her corner of the lab, bent over a keyboard. This was not an abnormal position in which to find the reporter, but it was the work she had buried herself in that differed. As the need for privacy grew and the respect for personal space lessened Roxanne grew ever more determined to finish her plans for their disguise generators. However, if Roxanne had to be completely honest she also had other motives other than privacy for her desire to have disguises.
Her aggravated sigh broke through the quiet and Mykael looked over in concern before he kicked off the ground and wheeled his chair in her direction.
"Is my damsel in distress?" he joked, waggling his eyebrows. She glanced to him and her lips cracked into a smile before her chuckle broke through.
"Oh I'm just getting frustrated. I keep thinking that I am so close and then something else goes wrong."
"I seem to remember you once telling me that if something got frustrating I needed to step away from it. So..." he leaned down, placing his lips against the skin of her neck. "Why don't we step away for a bit? Say oh…I don't know, an hour maybe? Maybe longer if we are feeling particularly frustrated."
From his seat over on the couch Minion glanced over at his friends and their flirtatious ventures, and was both surprised and admittedly saddened when a particular blonde headed figure popped into his mind. He had been thinking recently of how much he had come to care for Reena, but always knew that nothing could come of it. They could talk and laugh, and he could smile over the way her eyes lit up when she became excited over something, or was feeling particularly mischievous and teasing him or making fun of their friends. But he knew, deep down, that there could never be more than that. He could never hold her without fear of crushing her. He could never feel the warmth of her skin against him. And kissing? Well it wasn't something the fish had ever considered before, not that he had ever had a reason to anyway, but now? Now that there was this beautiful woman he adored who sought out his company? He shook his head sadly, it was a thought that he would have to put away and forget about. How could he ever ask her to accept him anyway? She was a human, and he was…well he was an alien fish with a bulking robotic body.
Minion was brought from his thoughts as his attention was diverted by the warning bells. He rose and headed to the monitors, frowning slightly at what he saw there.
"Sir? You might want to take a look at this…" he looked over to find one blue headed alien canoodling with a certain brunette reporter and sighed. He cleared his throat and spoke a little louder. "Sir, the brain bots are picking up some rather suspicious activity on the Metro Bridge."
Megamind slowly rose from where he had been leaning onto the chair, and after giving Roxanne a playful poke on her nose, walked to the monitors to look into the situation.
"They've been following a rather suspicious character for a few hours now."
"Hmm…can we get a closer image?" the hero inquired, hitting a few buttons on the keyboard. In seconds they had a closer image of the man. He was tall, with dark brown hair and large biceps and a beer gut to match. He was clothed in dark blue coveralls and wore a standard yellow construction hat.
"He's just a worker, probably checking up on the work being done. Don't you remember Minion? We had concerns about the bridge's lack of maintenance, and the mayor wanted to tie the lights into the power source? I'm sure that's all it is."
"I wouldn't be so sure about that Sir…brain bot surveillance says he's been acting oddly." Said Minion.
"Acting oddly how?" Mykael nearly huffed, clearly aggravated at having been torn away from his lady love at what appeared to be a mere suspicion. He looked back to the screen again, watching the earlier footage on one box and the current on another. "Hold on a second…" he zoomed in closer and went rigid. "No…"
"What's wrong?" Roxanne had made her way over and leaned in next to him to look at the screen.
"The Destruction Worker."
"I'm sorry…who?" Roxanne questioned.
"Minion, I want all civilians off of that bridge; send out all brain bots active and reserve if you have to."
"On it!" Minion rushed off to the control panel for the bots.
"Woah now…what is going on? Who is this guy?" Roxanne grasped Mykael's shoulder before he could run off. He spun around to look at her.
"He's a member of the Doom Syndicate. Last I knew he had been in a high security prison, but it looks like he got out. He's dangerous Roxanne…" he stared into her blue eyes, and she could see all his worry and concern there. Without missing a beat she nodded her head.
"Well alright then, go do what you do best."
As he ran for his motorbike Roxanne headed for her desk to grab her phone.
"I'll call the station and alert them to what's going on, if they can get the word out maybe we can get a detour started. I'll head out soon to start filming."
"Roxanne, I don't want you anywhere near him."
"Well you can't expect me to sit here wondering if you're okay or not." She argued. Megamind looked to her, reading that determined expression on her face.
"I don't want you in that kind of danger." He said sternly. After a silent moment of locked stares he sighed. "I'll have a roadblock set up a mile out, would you report from there?"
"Yes; but if I hear that anything's happened to you I won't hesitate running through that roadblock."
Megamind had called into the police station, requesting extra backup in rerouting any and all traffic and clearing the bridge of the current traffic it held. As he hovered his bike over the bridge he saw The Deconstruction Worker walking along the footpath, holding a strange remote in his hand.
"Look who made it out of the pound." Megamind called out. The Deconstruction Worker whirled around at the unsuspected voice and his gaze quickly landed on Megamind."
"Heh! Well well look who it is! Old Blue. Word on the street is you've made a hero out of yourself."
"Well you know what they say; good news travels fast." He touched ground and swung off of his bike, striding towards The Deconstruction Worker.
"Still too good for our side, eh?" the villain asked.
"I was always too good for your side…now what are you doing here?"
"Can't a fella visit a new city every now and then?"
"You're supposed to be in jail."
"So they let me out on plea bargain. I busted out and they were pleading with me to not kill them all." The Deconstruction Worker laughed gruffly. As always Megamind's brain was working in many directions at once, and he had already seen the remote in the man's hand and guessed on what he was about to do. "So I decided to visit the big city, to have a little fun."
"The rest of your nutcase posse didn't make it out? Or did they just abandon you?" Mykael challenged. To the last of his knowledge much of the Doom Syndicate had been locked up; The Deconstruction Worker and Psycho Delic had been locked up in the highest security prison in D.C., while Lady Doppler and Hot Flash had been locked up in the Metro City Prison in their high end villain wing.
"Wouldn't you just love to find out?"
Megamind gave a rather dramatic yawn just then before glancing to his wrist.
"Yes well now that we've gotten your boring empty threats out of the way, what say we just wrap this up already and get you back behind bars?"
"Who says they're empty threats?" The Deconstruction Worler raised the remote in his hand and Megamind internally cursed himself for getting caught up in the banter. Quick as a whip he pulled his de-gun from its holster and aimed it at the man.
"Don't do anything you'll regret." Megamind warned.
"Who says I'm gonna regret this?"
"You're only going to make this harder for yourself." The blue hero pressed. His eyes focused just over the shoulder of his adversary, watching as the brain bots on duty and the police who had come to assist ushered the citizens off of the bridge.
"It's all been pretty easy so far." He then turned around and his face dropped at the now empty bridge and the gathering of police cars. "What the!?" In his momentary distraction Megamind shot for the remote, dehydrating it into a small blue cube that clattered to the ground. A trio of brain bots hurried behind The Deconstruction Worker, yanking his arms tightly behind him. He growled as he looked to Megamind.
"It's not just me you know, I'm just the first. People like you can't be a hero. The world wasn't meant to be saved! "
"People like me? And just what is that supposed to mean? Good people? Or people who used to do bad? Either way that would still make me good. And good will always win."
"Believe what you want to believe blue man, there's an evil like you aint never seen, and it's coming your way." He said to Megamind. The hero stared at him, frowning.
"Empty threats won't work on me." He said. The Deconstruction Worker began laughing maniacally.
"Oh it's no empty threat! It's a bonafide guarantee! You just wait and see Megamind! There's more of us! And we're coming!" his laughter continued as he struggled against the brain bots and the pair of handcuffs that a nearby officer had slapped around his wrists.
"Take him the prison." Megamind commanded.
Early the next morning word had come in that the newest prisoner had been found dead in his cell. Megamind had remained troubled for days before he let it go and he made a decision to keep an eye out for any further action from the Doom Syndicate.
Roxanne pulled into her normal spot in the garage and was greeted by the sounds of rock music and power tools. The reporter made her way to her fiance's work area and called through the curtain, as per protocol. After a short wait the curtain was pushed aside and he swept her into his arms, wheeling them both across the floor in his chair. He hugged her tightly as he buried his face into her neck.
"Oh Roxanne you're back! You were late and I was so worried that you were never never never coming back! But you are back! And I'm so happy!" he pulled away a bit, taking in her face. "And you've had your hair done! You look beautiful!" It was true, Roxanne had indeed had her hair done; which was why she had come home from work two hours later than normal. Her growing locks had been cut into short layers and she had added caramel highlights. The brunette chuckled at her lover's affections.
"Woah there space ranger, how many cups of coffee have you had?"
"Oh just a few, two or three, maybe five, pots that is, but who's counting really? I'm just so happy you're home!" and with that he hugged her close again and spun their chair round in circles.
"Oh just forget it! I don't even know why I bothered trying!" Reena's yelling echoed through the cavernous room and was followed by the slamming of the door. Her heels clacked angrily over the cement floor as she crossed the room, passing the couple on her way.
"Reena?" Roxanne questioned wearily; she could practically feel the angry waves rolling off of Reena.
"Not now Roxie! I'm not in the mood." The blonde said as she continued to walk by and stormed out through the holographic wall.
"Reena! Hold on!" Roxanne hurried after her friend, intent on catching her and finding out what was going on.
Mykael's gaze drifted up the stairs towards the door. He rose from his seat and made his way upstairs. He found Minion in the kitchen chopping up carrots in a rather violent manner as he muttered angrily under his breath.
"I think that's enough carrots." Mykael said calmly, indicating the very large pile of carrots on the counter. His friendly warning went unanswered however, and Minion only went on to mutter under his breath. He placed the cutting board of carrots aside with a loud bang before placing down a pot in a similar manner. He grabbed the chicken from the fridge and threw it onto another cutting board before he began his attack on it.
"Minion?" he slowly approached his friend, taking care to watch the knife. "Minion? Are you alright?" he moved to place his hand on Minion's large arm when the fish slammed his hands onto the counter.
"Sorry Sir, what?" he spun around, clearly trying to cover up the fact he had been stuck in a personal tirade.
"Everything alright old friend?"
"Everything is fine." Minion replied tersely. Megamind shifted his stance back and crossed his arms as he looked his friend up and down an huffed; completely unconvinced.
"Doesn't seem so fine."
"It's nothing at all."
"Oh come off it! I'm not an idiot. First Reena storms out of here, and then I find you butchering dinner! What happened?"
"Nothing at all Sir; just a slight miscommunication. Everything is fine." Minion turned around, moving to get back to dinner. His hands slammed down onto the counter and he spun back around to face his friend. "Oh it's absolutely absurd! Here we are just having a polite conversation and next thing I know she's asking me out to dinner."
"Well…I don't really see the problem with that. Reena is a lovely girl." Mykael said, truly confused to what had upset his friend so.
"Sir! It's ridiculous! I can't go out to dinner with her! I'm…I'm this! And she's.." Minion flailed his hands gesturing to himself and in the air. "Honestly, the press was bad enough once, I can just imagine the field day they would have if they saw us out to dinner."
"The press? This is about not wanting to show up in a tabloid? Oh Minion…"
"Sir it's more than just that. I'm…well I'm me. She can't honestly want to be seen with me in public. No; no, she was just being nice."
"Is that really what you think?" the voice came from the kitchen door and two pairs of eyes turned to find Reena standing there, a hurt expression in her brown eyes. She slowly stepped into the room with Roxanne following just behind her.
"Reena.." Minion stammered, his mouth gaping.
"Do you really think I only asked you to dinner out of politeness? Out of some stupid social norm?" her gaze bore into him. "Do you really think I would care at all about anything some stupid trashy paper has to say? I couldn't give a rat's ass what they think of my personal life, if they so choose to be involved in it. They don't matter!"
"Well maybe you don't care what they say, but I do." Minion responded. Reena opened her mouth to say something back and he shocked everyone by speaking right over her. "You've seen what they can write, how they can twist everything around. I've been there before. I don't want them dragging you down next. You don't deserve that."
"I don't give a damn what they say. I just thought that maybe, after all this time, it would be nice to go out to dinner; I dunno maybe I thought that you might actually enjoy my company." Her eyes shot up to look at him, her emotions clear in her eyes. "Clearly I was wrong." And with that Reena turned about face and stormed out, past the silent Roxanne and Mykael, and out of the Lair. The couple slowly turned to look at Minion; he was stone silent, his expression one of hurt and anger. He bit his bottom lip, staring at the door before he threw off his apron and stormed out as well. They soon after heard the slam of his bedroom door.
Originally I was going to continue the chapter but I felt as if here was a good place to cut it. I do hope you all enjoyed; I always love hearing reviews