OK, I just have to say "Sorry!" for my slow pace at updating lately. I have so much going on, it's a miracle I ever get a chance to sit down and write at all! Thanks for your patience, all you wonderful Megamind fans!

Just a heads up, the slightly longer delays may continue for a while; I've started a new multi-chapter story that I'm really excited about. It's been bugging me for a while now, and I just had to scratch this itch before it started to drive me a little bit crazy! ;)

No worries, I'm not abandoning Secret at all. I'm going to do them both at the same time, but it will probably delay my progress a little bit. Hope you will all check out the new story too; It's called "I'm Not A Hero". So far it's a really fun one! :)

Alright... so go have fun reading!


Megamind awoke to the sound of Minion knocking on the bedroom door. He opened one eye and peeked at the clock… 1:47 AM. Irritably, he lay still and closed both eyes again tight, trying to ignore the sound of his friend's metal fists banging at the wood. If I don't answer him, maybe he'll just go away.

After several moments, it became quite clear that no matter how long he ignored the fish, he just wasn't going to go away. With extreme annoyance, he tossed back the covers and trudged to the bedroom door, attempting to be as quiet as possible so as not to wake his sleeping girlfriend.

He opened the door and peered grumpily at the fish with heavy brows, "This had better be important."

Minion could immediately see the irritation in his weary friend's face, and with a squeak he said, "Sorry Sir, but you have a phone call."

Megamind rolled his eyes, "It couldn't have waited until morning? Do you have any idea what time it is?"

"I know, I really am sorry. But no… it actually can't wait. It's Chris. He says it's important." Minion said apologetically, holding the phone out to the sleepy blue hero.

The instant he heard who was waiting on the line, Megamind's alarms went off in his head. This can't be good. Despite his instant concern, he was still tired and half asleep, and not willing to let go of his frustration just yet at being awoken at this ungodly hour.

With a huff, he stepped out into the hall, shutting the door behind him, and snatched the phone out of the flustered fishes' robotic hand.

"What?" he snapped, his voice gravelly from sleep.

"Sorry to wake you. I know this is a terrible time to be calling, but you need to know that Colby Kessler was just found dead in his hospital room."

The instant these words registered in Megamind's prodigious brain, all remnants of sleep evaporated in a flash. His eyes grew wide, and he stood silently as he tried to process what the lieutenant just said.

"Are you there, Sir?"

"Megamind, not Sir. And yes, I'm here. What happened? I thought I said I wanted you and Bennett to stand guard last night. Where were you?"

There was a pause, and then the officer responded in a strained voice, "We were here the whole time. No one came in or out, and the widows were locked from the inside."

"When was he found?"

"The nurse found him about ten minutes ago."

"What happened?"

"We don't know yet. There's no visible signs of injury other than what he had when he got here. We're treating it as a crime scene, and the forensics guys are on their way over right now. But at the moment it looks like it's related to what happened to him last night. The doctor thinks his body was just too weak from all the drug abuse, and he just couldn't pull through.

Right off the bat I can't see anything that would indicate that an intruder forced his way in and finished Kessler off. I know no one got past us. We're just going to have to wait for the word from the coroner about the cause of death at this point."

"You didn't see or hear anything odd?"

"No, nothing."

"How about an odor, or smoke?"

"No Sir; I mean Megamind. Why do you ask? Do you know something I should know?"

He stood quietly again, thinking.

"Megamind?"

"Nothing. What about Miss Robinson?"

"She still hasn't woken from her coma."

"Don't let her out of your sight. Someone needs to be with her at all times, and I mean in the room with her. Let me know what you find out about Mr. Kessler as soon as you hear."

"Got it. Are you coming down?"

"No, I'm sure you have it in hand. Just keep me posted."

He closed the phone, and continued to stand silently, staring off into nothing as he mulled the situation around in his mind.

Minion had watched his boss's progressing anxiety with concern, and when the phone was closed and sat clutched in Megamind's hand, he asked, "What happened?"

"Kessler's dead."

"Oh, no."

"I know."

"How?"

"They don't know yet. Chris said there was no sign of intruders or any of that, but I don't think our guy needs to use conventional routes of entry. Judging by the way he just evaporated like that when I fired the De-gun at him, he should be able to enter anywhere he likes without the use of doors or windows."

Minion looked thoughtful. Something had been eating away at him since this whole situation started, and he just couldn't hold it back any longer. "Sir, I know you don't want to tell the police about this guy until we know more, but under the circumstances, I really think you should consider… "

"Listen, I told you I don't want to be held down by their rules, and the moment I bring them into this… "

"They already are in this. They're just as involved in this as you are!" Minion was becoming increasingly frustrated with his ward. He's so hard headed, I wish he'd just listen to reason!

"You know what I mean Minion! And, I don't want to share this with them until I have facts, and right now all I have is a crazy story and the word of a drug dealer that they don't believe anyway, who just happens to be dead right now, by the way."

"But that's my point; this changes everything! They need to know. And I think you need to give them a lot more credit than you are. Things are different than they were in the old days, they trust you now. You're the hero, the Protector of Metro City! They wouldn't have given you the job if they didn't trust you."

Megamind looked up at his life long friend with a slightly downcast expression. Usually his enthusiasm and positive energy was a force to be reckoned with, but he also had a fragile side that only showed itself when there was something that was incredibly important to him at stake.

His new office as protector of the city he once terrorized on a regular basis had become more important to him than he had ever dreamed that it could when he first accepted the offer to fill that position. Protecting the citizens of the city he had grown to love was second only to his relationship with Roxanne, and his friendship with Minion.

With a deep sigh, he responded to his friend's comment, "I know that, Minion. But I was the bad guy for so long, and there are still so many people out there who don't trust me. They're just waiting for me say or do something wrong so they can point it out to the whole city. I need to know a little more so I have facts to bring to the cops, rather than an incredibly far fetched and unconvincing story."

It hurt Minion to see his boss's rare lack of confidence. He was the most self assured, prideful, and at times arrogant person in Metro City, but even he could fall into a slump at times. The last time this side of his boss had shown itself was shortly before the battle with Titan when he was ready to give up, convinced that his efforts would be useless because bad guys don't get the girl.

It was no wonder Megamind was worried about the trust that the MCPD had in him. He had only been the hero for a year after all, and he had a lifetime of bad feelings and mistrust concerning them that he was trying to unlearn. He had come such a long way in that short span of time, but he obviously still had a little way to go to completely break down those walls he had built up over the years. However ungrounded Minion felt his friends feelings were, he couldn't blame him too much for feeling that way.

He decided to approach the subject from a different angle, hoping to convince him using the "back door method", something he had tried on his boss from time to time when he was at his most stubborn, and found that it surprisingly worked more often than not.

"Yes, I can see where you're coming from Sir, and you're probably right. But now that this has happened to that poor man, don't you think we might just have a way to prove to them that there really is someone out there with uncanny abilities? I mean, if there was no way for anyone to go in or out of his room, that seems like a pretty good indicator that something really strange is going on."

Megamind looked at his sidekick, and as he did, Minion could see his wheels turning. This is good, I'm getting through to him.

"And lets face it, the PD has to know we're not the only weirdoes hanging around the city. For whatever reason, Metro City has always been a magnet for people of unusual abilities and origins. I honestly don't think it would be too difficult for them to believe you if you decide to tell them what's really going on."

"Maybe, but at the moment, they're leaning toward the idea that he died as a result of his wounds, and not because someone came back for him. If I tell them I think the bad guy turned into smoke and snuck in through the air vents or something like that, they're going to think I've lost it. I don't have to remind you that most of the guys on the force in our fair city aren't the sharpest tools in the shed."

He does have a point. Minion was incredibly discouraged. He thought for certain Megamind would see things from his point of view after he explained it using the tried and true back door.

"Well maybe we should go down there and help them? You know, to make sure they're looking in all the right places and doing the investigation right."

"No Minion. I'm the hero, not a cop; that's their job. And Chris is there, he'll make sure things are progressing the way they should. I may grouse about the collective lack of intelligence of the MCPD, but Chris is one of the few that knows what he's doing. If there's anything to find as far as evidence goes, I trust that he will make sure it's found."

Megamind watched his fishy friend's face fall. He knew he had his best interest in mind, and he could certainly see where Minion was coming from, but he just wasn't quite ready to let his reservations drop.

He reached out and put his hand on his friend's furry shoulder. "I'll tell you what, let's wait and see what they find out today. If they do come to the conclusion that he just died from his injuries, then we'll give it a little more time so we can get some facts to back us up. Either way, we'll tell them what's going on soon."

Well, at least that's something. Minion knew that if he pushed Megamind any further, he would just become increasingly obstinate, so for now he decided to leave the matter alone. He could always revisit it later. He just hoped his stubborn friend would decide to spill it before something terrible happened, and he could see that's exactly where this was headed from a mile away.


Bright and early the next morning, the reformed villain and his henchman arrived at the hospital to check with Chris and see how things were progressing. Both were anxious about the outcome of the investigation, but Minion was particularly hopeful that they had been able to find enough evidence to entice Megamind to let go of his reservations about sharing vital information with the cops.

He had stayed awake the remainder of the night, worrying for his friend and trying to come up with an argument that would convince him to listen to reason.

Megamind was incredibly hardheaded, and once he got an idea in that great big brain of his, it was nearly impossible to get him to let go of it, or to see things from a different point of view.

The blue hero was convinced that he was approaching this situation in a wise and well thought out manner. If the situation didn't seem so volatile, he may even be right in his insistence on keeping things close to the cuff for now. But under the circumstances, Minion was terrified that not telling the police right away was going to backfire.

As they walked down the hallway in the ICU wing of the hospital, they could see a flurry of activity as officers began to wrap up their examination of Kessler's room.

Chris was standing among the hustle and bustle, directing his subordinates about what they should do next, and listening to various experts as they shared their findings.

He turned toward them as they approached, and they were slightly shocked to see how haggard he looked. He sported deep dark circles under his eyes, and his slightly thinning hair was rumpled; a far cry from his normally neat appearance. Both friends thought to themselves that he looked quite a bit older this morning, doubtlessly due to the stress of the last few days.

When Chris saw two heroes approach, relief instantly registered in his tired blue eyes.

"I wondered when you'd get here. We were just wrapping things up."

"Already? That was incredibly quick," commented Minion, trying not to show his concern that things seemed to be progressing far too quickly for his liking.

"Well, I drove them like slaves all night. I'm not the most popular guy on the force right now, that's for sure. We've scoured the whole area, and I feel pretty certain we didn't miss a thing."

"Driving the soft headed grunts like slaves? A man after my own heart!" Megamind responded approvingly with a prideful smile. After a moment he seemed to think better of his choice of words and added, "Well, the more villainous version of my heart… before I reinvented myself, of course."

The strained expression on Chris's face crumbled into a smile, and he shook his head as he chuckled at the comedy that so often accompanied a visit with these two.

"So, did you find anything? Any evidence of an intruder?" Megamind asked, suddenly becoming very serious.

Minion looked at the lieutenant with scrutiny, his stomach becoming jittery as he waited for the answer.

"Not a thing. The whole place was clean. Like I said, the windows were locked tight from the inside. There's only one access to the room, and Bennett and I were sitting right in front of it the whole time, wide awake and watching. Not to mention the guys that were watching Miss Robinson's door right next to us.

There was no sign of a struggle, and no injuries except the ones he already had when he was admitted. And not a single finger print to be found. Believe me, I made these guys scour the place more than once… far more than once, for anything that could be considered evidence. We came up with nothing."

When Minion heard this, his jittery stomach seemed to drop to the toes of his mechasuit. He had been hanging his hope on the idea that there would be something there that would be the deciding factor in Megamind fully disclosing his suspicions sooner rather than later.

The two aliens looked at each other; Minion with a look of appeal to his friend's common sense, hoping that he would change his mind and spill it, and Megamind with an expression of stubborn resolve. The blue hero shook his head determinedly and quickly looked away from the fish to let him know there was no use discussing it further, they'd just have to do a little more digging before they approached Chris with their suspicions.

Chris stood watching as this silent exchange took place. No one he had ever met even came close to being as expressive as Megamind; you could read his face like a book, and right now what he was reading was something's up.

"Is there… something you want to share with the class?" he asked.

"What? No, not a thing. So is there anything else you can tell me right now?"

Chris looked at him a bit suspiciously for a moment before he continued. "No, we're just waiting for word to come from the coroner about the official cause of death. We put a rush on it so we can get the results back as soon as possible; we should be hearing in a couple of days."

At that moment, Megamind's ringtone sounded; ACDC's Thunderstruck, which was the exclusive tone he had reserved for his calls to heroic duty.

"Ah, looks as though I'm being summoned yet again." he said as he pulled it from the little hidden pocket in his cape.

"Hey, before you answer that, I just want you to know you can trust me." Chris said as he looked back and forth between the hero and his sidekick.

He was met with two completely different stares. Minion's was filled with relieved excitement, but Megamind's was lost somewhere between hopefulness and apprehension.

He really felt for the former villain, his infamous reputation had been so hard for him to live down. After a year of working tirelessly to defend the city and it's citizens, most of the city had been won over whole heartedly by their charismatic protector. But there were still those who didn't trust him and seemed to live their lives for no other purpose than to point out his mistakes and make him look bad.

"Listen, everything that happened back then, it's in the past. I know you've changed; you've proven yourself at least a hundred times over. This whole situation may look pretty straight forward right now, but I have a feeling that something else is going on, and I've been doing this for too long to ignore these feelings. If you do have any information, you can share it with me."

The apprehension on Megamind's face relaxed for just a moment. He reached out to give the lieutenant a friendly pat on the arm and said, "Thank you, that's good to know. I do have some ideas, but I think I need to find out a little more first."

The entire time this exchange was taking place, Thuderstruck continued to repeat rather obnoxiously, echoing throughout the halls of the hospital.

"I've got to get this. We'll be in touch soon." As he finished his response, he was already turning to head down the hall toward the exit, phone at his ear as he sized up his next call to action.

Minion stood a moment longer looking quite exasperated. He shot a final concerned glance at Chris, and then followed his partner down the hall.


The call that the hero and his sidekick had been summoned to was at a jewelry store in the historic Old Town district of Metro City. Lincoln Jewelers was and old and respected business, which had attracted the patronage of Metro City's upper crust citizens for ages, including the Scott family.

As Megamind and Minion sped their way to the call, they passed the old market which had been the site of the robbery that was the beginning of everything they found themselves dealing with now. How incredibly coincidental to be called just a block away from the very place that started it all, and today of all days.

Pulling up, they were disappointed to see that the police had already responded, which meant the possibility that it was already too late for the heroes to be of much help in stopping a crime or emergency in progress. If the MCPD was feeling brave enough to be working the scene rather than waiting on the heroes to do the dirty work, it usually meant that whatever had been happening when Megamind had received the call was probably over and done with by now. If that was the case, it also meant that the duo now had the aggravating job of babysitting the slightly clueless Metro City police to make sure they were doing their job correctly.

Lacking the super speed that Metro Man had used to his advantage in his hero work, it was sometimes difficult for them to travel from one end of the city to the other in record time, which bothered Megamind immensely. He had recently begun brainstorming ideas to come up with another one of his amazing inventions that would alleviate that problem, getting them from point A to point B in a flash.

Despite the underlying worry, the excitement and anticipation of a rescue call rejuvenated most of Megamind's confidence and swagger on the ride over. When the invisible car pulled to a stop and the former diabolical duo jumped out to assess the situation, he strutted like a rooster as he headed for the entrance of the store.

Upon approaching the front door however, he passed a group of cops who stood outside the entrance, taking notes as they interviewed witnesses. Megamind addressed the officers by name as he sidled by, clapping some them on the shoulder in his usual friendly fashion, but rather than answer back with the typical joking he expected, both the officers as well as the citizens they spoke to looked at him with tense, almost suspicious expressions as they walked past.

There was more of the same as they entered the building; gone were the usual looks of excitement and appreciation, and the room became too quiet as they walked through. The tension in the air was so thick, it seemed difficult to breathe, and nervous faces cast sidelong glances at the two as they made their way to the back of the establishment.

The store itself was torn up considerably. Glittering shards and flecks of broken glass from mirrors and cases were littered everywhere, and it was obvious that the thief had pretty well cleaned out the precious stock that had been lovingly tucked inside each of the once beautiful displays.

"I wonder what happened to get everyone so tense? Did the dispatcher say anything to you when he called?" Minion whispered out of the side of his mouth as he looked around and took in the strange scene.

Megamind rolled his eyes and answered with a sigh, "No, they never do! All they said was where to show up. They just expect us to roll up and fix everything without having the slightest idea of what's going on, just like our predecessor did. When are they going to realize our weapon is brains, not brawn? We need to know the situation before hand so we can think our way through rather than just flying in and knocking the bad guys flat without distressing a lock of our perfect hair like that empty headed quitter."

"Sir, I can remember plenty of things, not just bad guys, you've knocked flat since you've been the hero, and we don't even have any hair… "

"Ughhhh, Minion… that's not the point! What I'm trying to tell you is no, they almost never tell me what's happening when we're called for a rescue, and they certainly didn't start now. I have no idea what's going on, or why everyone's so uptight."

They heard muted voices coming from a short hallway at the very back of the establishment, and as they turned the corner, they saw Lieutenant Crandall, a grandfatherly detective who was coming close to retirement. He was talking to an older man and a young woman, both of whom seemed incredibly shaken up. It was obvious that this was the owner of the jewelry store and one of his employees.

The two were completely engrossed in telling their story, and didn't see the duo as they approached. EMT's were hovering around the older gentleman, fussing over him with their instruments, though from a distance he didn't seem to be hurt.

Just as Megamind and Minion had stepped around the corner, Crandall turned and saw them. He quickly excused himself, and with an odd look at the officer who was accompanying him, he hurried back and motioned for the pair to follow him.

"Crandall, what's going on? Why's everyone so uptight? It just seems to be a standard robbery, no need to get upset. Minion and I will have the culprit in hand in short order."

When Crandall heard this, his brows knitted and he looked down, and to the side; seemingly unsure of what to say next.

"What? Was that man in there hurt? He looked alright to me… " Minion began.

"No, he's fine." answered the aging officer, looking at the fish uncomfortably.

"Oh, good to know." Megamind interjected. "So, let's get down to business. Give us as many details as you can about what happened here so Minion and I can get this wrapped up for you. Do you have a description of the suspect?"

"Um, yes. Well, we do but… "

"Ok, go. Tell me everything."

"Well, the way the suspect is described by the witnesses, it seems that… um, he seems to match… "

Megamind gave an amused laugh at the detective's nervousness. He couldn't help but think how funny it was the way some people stammered all over themselves when in the presence of a celebrity, especially one of his magnitude.

"Hey, no need to get tongue tied! Just tell us what the guy looked like, and Minion and I will have him rounded up for you in record time."

Crandall looked between fish and genius uncomfortably. His expression was one of someone who would do just about anything to be anywhere else but right here, right now. When he spoke, the look in his eye shifted a bit, and took on a slightly harder edge. "Well, going by the description given to us by the witnesses, the suspect is… well, it's you."


Thanks for reading! And I'm not above begging, so please review? Pretty, pretty please?