9

Megamind spent a good portion of the afternoon chatting with Tako. She was fascinating and their stories were so similar. Except that she had been elected into power and that he had seized it by force but that was just one small detail. He had thoroughly enjoyed her company and looked forward to seeing her again once she had finished her important business. He briefly wondered where Minion had gotten to and then smiled. He was probably out somewhere chatting up Shiyounin. And good for him. It was about time he'd found someone.

He made his way up to the room he shared with Minion and Roxanne and found Roxanne curled up on the bed with iBot who was quietly playing some tunes. He liked seeing Roxanne when she was asleep. It hadn't happened often but she looked so peaceful. Not arguing with him, or stressed about work, or giving him that odd look she'd been giving him lately towards the end of their dates that made him hurry through his 'goodbye' and run for the invisible car.

She was not asleep this time. She was staring at the wall and Megamind knew something was wrong. And from what he'd learned of human relationships from various television shows he concluded it was something he had done.

"Roxanne? Are you okay?" he asked. He stopped short of sitting on the bed beside her and instead sat on the floor.

"Jetlag." She said. Megamind raised an eyebrow.

"Mmmhmm, seriously this is me you're talking to. I've been kidnapping you for years and I know when you're upset." She rolled over and faced him.

"I want to go home. Something is seriously wrong here." She said.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"I mean Tako Kujin knows far too much about us. And yet she's never tried to contact you before this, doesn't that seem strange? She's insulting me every chance she gets. She's trying to make me look stupid and I think it's because she wants you."

"Me?" Megamind laughed. "In case you hadn't noticed I didn't make the list of Metrosity's top 100 eligible bachelors this year." He'd come in at 103, just ahead of Hal 'Titan' Stewart.

"It doesn't matter. You're like her. She doesn't like humans and she's disgusted with the thought of being with one. She wants you for herself. That's why she invited us here."

"Using that logic I should worry about you with every human man on the planet." He remarked. He found this exciting. He'd never had a woman jealous over him before. "I don't want her Roxanne. You're the only girl for me." He tried to kiss her but she turned away. She'd never done that before. His face fell.

"I trust you. I don't trust her. I want to leave." She said.

"I don't see why." He said, frustrated. He'd hoped he would have more time to get to know the only other blue alien on the planet. He met her gaze and the worried look in them calmed him down. "How about this then? We'll stay tonight and I'll get Minion to book us seats on the first plane home tomorrow."

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"Of course. Tako and I can get to know each other from a distance. That's what Facebook and Skype is for!" Roxanne thought about it for a minute, chewing her bottom lip absently. "I can't ignore her existence Roxanne. She is the closest thing to family I'll ever have." He said quietly. Family. She'd never thought about it that way.

"Okay then. I'm sorry Megamind. I'm probably imagining it."

"It's perfectly natural to be jealous. I am incredibly handsome after all." He said with a grin. Roxanne glared, and then smiled.

"Whatever." She said. He gave one of his patented evil laughs

"And we can always come back another time if you change your mind" he suggested. "In the meantime why don't you go and visit the shopping district? Go and buy clothes and shoes and whatever else women like to buy, eat some dinner that isn't the cold dead flesh of an unfortunate fish and we can catch up tonight."

"Okay. Your obvious chauvinism aside that's not a bad idea."

"I'll have dinner with Tako and see if she can help me with these robot-suit specs. It's just about done but it needs a core to direct the movements and I just can't figure out how to make the synthetic brain compatible. Minion will be with me the whole time in case she has the sudden urge to ravish me in your absence." He said, and then instantly regretted it. She looked shocked at his choice of words. He was normally so careful to keep what he said completely asexual. There was an awkward silence. "It was just a joke."

"I know." She got up off the bed and stretched. He glanced up and down her body as she arched her back. He let his eyes linger on her neck as she tilted her head back and then side to side. Megamind wondered how on Earth she could ever feel threatened by Tako. "I'll go find Shiyounin and ask her to call me a taxi."

"There's nothing to worry about. Oh but if you see Shiyounin could you ask her to send Minion up? I'd like his help with a few things. Take Bitey with you just to be safe."

"Okay." She kissed him softly, stroked iBot on the dome, and then opened up one of the brainbot suitcases. She touched Bitey and her pink glow came to life. "Come on Bitey. We're tourists this afternoon."

"Bow boww." It agreed. They left the room.

Megamind took off his jacket and sat down in front of the television and waited for Minion. He flicked through a few stations and found a cartoon about gigantic human-driven robots. He hoped he could maintain a friendship with Tako via Facebook and visit occasionally. He was sure Roxanne would come around eventually.