"This is Roxanne Ritchi reporting with a most curious crime. Funeral home Lanchester and Sons arrived into work today to find things quite amiss. The crematorium, where bodies are brought to be cremated, had been operated at some point during the dead of night by unknown assailants who broke into the funeral home."
The woman stood outside a distinguished looking funeral home, where a black hearse was parked out front but luckily without a coffin in. Roxanne guessed it had been placed there for show, to ensure that those people watching the news would remember how great and fancy a funeral home they were because of their big flashy car.
"Nothing was reported stolen from the funeral home, and when security checked the tapes they found nothing." of course they had found something but not something people wanted aired on the news since the last time this kind of breaking and entering had occurred it had been orchestrated by Megamind. The security cameras, all of them, had turned themselves off around midnight and had remained off for an hour.
How would the city know that Six, and a select few, had broken into the funeral home to cremate a small dead fish that had been kept in a ball full of chemicals for too long? Roxanne had been shocked when Six had appeared outside her window, an hour to midnight, and asked her if she would come with him. Overjoyed to just see the alien alone, she had agreed. So she had been there, wearing new shoes and dressed in black, standing alongside Six and Lady Doppler.
What a strange service it had been. Six, dressed in simple black clothing, had said very little.
"He's always been my friend. He's always been a part of me. But now it's his time to rest."
With that he had opened the ball, drained the fluids down a sink, and had placed the small baby fish the size of a peach into the large machine. It didn't take long for it to happen, he was so small after all, and it had happened in complete silence. Six had then gathered up the ashes, broken the two girls out of the funeral home, restarted the cameras and dropped Roxanne off home.
"Are you going to be all right?" Roxanne had asked around one thirty in the morning, when Six was perched on her balcony holding a small jar that now contained the remains of the fish.
"I don't know." he had replied honestly.
"Where are you two now, you still won't tell me." she wanted to know, badly. "None of you will tell me..."
"It's better that way." Six had said quietly. "You may be being watched. Or bugged. I can't contact you. You can't know. Just know..." he trailed off and looked at her, those probing green eyes of hers staring into her very soul. "...it's not going to be easy."
With that he had stepped off the balcony, fallen down into the darkness of the city, and was gone.
Which was why, when Roxanne awoke this morning to a ringing phone call to go to Lanchester and Sons funeral homes she knew what it was all about. Of course, she couldn't let that slip at all, that she was there and had been at an odd little funeral for an odd little fish by the alien who had loved him in death as much as he would have in life. But still her mind swarmed. Lady Doppler hadn't answered any questions; in fact the woman had barely said five words to her during the entirety of the night. The tall, beautiful, white haired woman had practically hung off Six for the duration of the ceremony, stroking his arms, hand, even his head.
Which, kind of, was a relief to see Six growing so used to being touched by people. Just the fact it was this person, who had brought so much trouble to Metro City in the first place, upset her. That was the only reason of course; there was nothing more to it.
The story covered she cut the camera and sighed.
"Wonder why the big wigs didn't want ya mentioning the cameras?" Hal asked as he carried the camera over towards their news van. "I mean, don't people have a right to know the truth about stuff?" he continued to ask her even if it was possible she wouldn't answer him. If she gave him a too specific answer he might jump to conclusions. But the red head appeared to be doing all the jumping himself, this time.
"Oh man remember the last time cameras 'round the city began to mess up?" he turned to look at her, his eyes wide with recognition. She just stared back at him with mild interest, but very, very mild interest. "Megamind!" Hal announced loudly, making Roxanne flinch slightly.
"Oh come on Hal." she sighed as she walked around him to the passenger side of the van to pull the door open. "Megamind's been dead for three months."
"They never found a body!" Hal pointed out.
"Would the government admit to that?" Roxanne asked pointedly.
"They would, after everything he did to the city! This, this whole place was his play ground for years 'n we didn't even know it! What if he faked his death, only to come back now? But why would he break into a funeral home, take nothing, and leave?" Hal asked, more of himself, as he stroked his chin stubble before shoving the camera into the back of the van and slamming the doors shut.
"Exactly Hal." she replied, climbing into her seat as he joined her in the drivers. "Why wouldn't he steal something? It's what Megamind did. This isn't him, it can't be him."
While Roxanne hoped that since the guys in charge had informed her to not mention the cameras meant that the French men wouldn't learn of the break in, she had her doubts. They had signed permission from the vice-president of the United States to do what they had to in order to get a hold of the two aliens running around Metro City. In fact, she wouldn't be surprised if they were well aware of it not an hour after the break in.
A sleek black car suddenly drove around them, and Roxanne couldn't help but notice the car had no number plates on it. A small white plaque stuck out on the back window, which probably gave the car permission to be places it shouldn't, and Roxanne felt her heart freeze in her chest. It was them, she just knew it! They had already been at the funeral home searching for things that the regular police would miss! Had she seen any men in black suits during her shoot? She couldn't remember, but would they want her to recognize any of them if it was them?
"Hal!" Roxanne suddenly said, making Hal jump behind the wheel.
"What, what?" he asked.
"Follow that car, but discreetly!" she said, pointing to the black car.
"What, why?" Hal asked, looking at her briefly before back to the car.
"Just do this for me, Hal. Please?" Roxanne looked at him imploringly and judging by his face turning beet red when he saw her told her he was already going to say yes.
Hal groaned and, as predicted, did as instructed. The black car didn't seem to pick up on being followed since it wasn't trying to loose them at all. Roxanne thanked her luck for this as the white van kept a good distance from the expensive looking black car that lead them through the city towards the dock areas that were coined 'Scrap Road'. It was there where a great deal of scrap yards took up business, impounded cars were brought here too, and hoodlum cars were destroyed.
They parked a good distance away and Roxanne watched, amazed. The black car drove into one of the scrap yards that was full of garbage and junk and pulled behind some and vanished.
"A scrap yard?" Hal asked incredulously.
"A scrap yard." Roxanne echoed, remembering M's confession. His father had run a medical facility which had been turned into a prison for a blue alien, located under the city. Was this it? Was this where the entrance way was? She wouldn't dare go any further, at least in day light, and swallowed thickly.
"Are these the guys you were after, Roxy?" her camera man asked, watching her face carefully.
"...no, no. I thought they were. Guess they're just... rich metal yard owners or something..." Roxanne said quietly.
Hal, naturally, asked all kinds of questions as he drove her back to the station about why she had him follow them, were they somebody she knew, if so how, but she refused to give him any answers. The less Hal knew, the better it was for everyone. If news got out and spread by word of mouth, or any other kind of way, things could go from bad to worse.
But, she wondered, maybe it was already set to go worse anyway?
~*~
"Today's a big day. Are you all ready?" Six asked the fish tank where four sets of eyes stared out at him.
"Sir yes sir!"
"Oh yes."
"Very!"
"I'm so excited!"
All were said at once so it was a jumble of answers and Six had to laugh at the enthusiasm. "All right then."
A lot had been leading up to this day, and for the past few weeks Six had worked on nothing but the suits that now hung suspended by the ankles above him. They were of four animal designs, and he was quite proud of them since just like Minion's first robot suit they had been created from various scraps of metal he had found. Even some machinery from the old cinema had been worked into a design, here or there. His designs this time consisted an ox, a bear, a lion and a monkey with wings. The last one had been inspired by the Wizard of Oz, one of the movies he and Lady Doppler had discovered in the cinema and had watched.
Six had a strong connection with animal shaped suits since they offered much more room for strength, and fire power, than slim, human shaped ones. While these suits could move on all fours, they could also operate on two legs if needed be by the fish who would be positioned, like Minion, in the head of the creature.
"Jaws, you're up first." Six said as he reached into the water and picked up the red eyed fish.
"Affirmative, Sir!" retorted the fish who, somehow, had picked up army like responses. He had been the 'bully' fish inside the tank, who had nipped at his siblings to keep them in line and because of this he got the lion's body that had fake fur along its legs and of course around the neck. A pre-filled dome of water was being held by Lady Doppler, and Six lowered Jaws into it before attaching the dome to the body.
"All right... moment of truth now." the blue alien slowly turned the lions body so it was down on all fours. He released his control of it and the metal body fell to the floor with a noisy clang where it lay there a second. "Remember the training in the trial body. You can do this." he said quietly to Jaws, who was shifting around in the domed head. "Feel the body. It's an extension of you now."
Lady Doppler moved closer to Six and had to wonder, was this anything like how a normal adult felt when their child took a first step? Watching Jaws' steely resolve in his features as he bared his sharp teeth and the legs began to move at his command made her feel... proud? But she had little to nothing to do with this creation. This was all Six's, whose face was watchful.
"That's it. You're doing it. You're doing it!" Six cried out as the lions body suddenly stepped back onto its hind legs, testing itself. "Oh. That's wonderful."
Jaws looked down at his front hands, and tested them. The paws became hands, claws remaining, and he grinned triumphantly. "Mission successful!" he announced, and looked to Six with a huge grin on his face. "Achieved control of body, as ordered, sir!"
"Wonderful."
What followed were similar experiences. The fish, who had named themselves Blue, Claw and Alice got into their bodies. Blue, which was oddly colored a deep, rich green, was housed in the ox body complete with horns sprouting out of the top of his dome. Claw, a silver glowing fish, was placed in the bear and that left Alice, a pinkish red fish and only female to survive out of ten, got the winged monkey.
All four of them had their own distinct personalities, too, which Six found amazing. Jaws was abrupt, honest but brutal about it. Claw was a loner who kept mostly to himself but knew the importance of team work and sticking with his siblings. Blue was never too serious and got on Jaws nerves a lot. Little Alice was sweet, loyal, and like what Minion might have been if he had been female and... well. Alive.
On top of that, all of them called him a different thing. To Jaws, he was Sir. Blue called him Mister. Claw called him Master. And Alice called him my Lord. While Six had tried to get them to all follow Jaws and refer to him as sir, as Minion... might have done, there was no changing the fishes mind. They were stubborn that way, but Six could only accept that's what made them different to Minion. They were their own fish, and he had to willingly accept that.
"Oh don't you look amazing, all of you!" Lady Doppler gushed as she ran a hand through the fake fur on Blue's arm. "Monsieur Mind truly went all out in creating all of ze bodies."
"He's very good at what he does." Alice spoke up, "But I didn't like how he went without sleep so often!"
"Agreed." Jaws said. "Sir deserves a good long rest while we keep guard of the good Lady Doppler."
"Mister, Lady Doppler's right." Blue said as he walked closer to Six in his new mechanical body. "You look like death warmed up, and that's being polite."
Six sighed, but gave a small smile as he rubbed at his eyes. "I know. I know. You're right. You're right." A metal charm in the shape of a fish that hung around his neck glinted in the evening light, and if you knew what he had done the night previous you would know that the small fish, and chain itself, had been made of a mixture of Minion's remains and some metal. Like he had promised, somewhere, the fish would never be left alone again.
After almost being ordered to bed Six made his way to the mattress he had 'found' a few days ago. It was amazing what people dumped, and with a few blankets and sheets it made a doable bed. Sitting on the bed he removed his jacket and was just reaching down to unlock his legs when the door to the old projection room opened, and Lady Doppler walked in holding a cup of hot tea. Many of the devices in the cinemas cafe and back room were still operational, it just took a matter of connecting them to the power core he had created out of his binkey and buying a few bits and pieces and everything went fine.
"Is something wrong?" he asked.
"Non." she shook her head as she walked up to him and sat besides him on the bed.
He nodded and continued removing his legs. They were due for another quick maintenance check, but he could do that once he had gotten a good sleep. "They're good, aren't they?" Six asked quietly.
"Zey are a piece of art, Monsieur Mind." Lady Doppler replied with a smile. She set the cup of tea besides the bed. "Zis ez for you."
"Oh, oh thanks. You didn't have to..." Six mumbled.
"Yes, I do." she said firmly. "You 'ave done so much around zis place, et ez amazing. But you never give yourself ze credit you deserve! You just spent four weeks work making animal bodies for ze leetle fish, and zey look up to you so much, just like I do. But every compliment we give, you turn away. Why? You think you do not deserve et?"
Six held his right leg in his hands and stared at her for a moment, before looking back at his leg and sighed. "I. I don't want to get... I'm afraid if I start to think too much of myself, I might become too much like how I used to be. I was so full of myself. Megamind was full of himself. Nothing fazed him, or me." not even murder, blackmail, criminal activities…
"You are scared zat you will become something evil again?" Lady Doppler asked quietly, knowing this was like walking on egg shells.
"...I'm terrified of it." Six admitted quietly as his hands gripped the leg tightly in his hands. "That... that Megamind comes back, but worse. Do you know how mad he was at the loss of our power? He was infuriated. It took so much energy to keep him under wraps I was in a trance for weeks. I barely ate, slept, or anything. I was a mess."
Lady Doppler took his leg from him and placed it on the floor before gently grasping his face, and lifted it slightly so they were looking at each other eye to eye. "You are not a monster, Monsieur Mind. Every day you are becoming your own person, ze man you were meant to be. Megamind 'as not 'ad control of you in weeks, and zat ez a good thing! You 'ave come so far in such a short time, I am so, so proud of you. I wish zat my English was better, so zat I could really tell you 'ow proud I am." she said.
Six looked at the woman, before lifting his hands and placed them over the white gloves she wore and smiled faintly. "You don't have to improve your English. It's fine the way it is."
"My accent ez 'orrible." Lady Doppler said with a pout.
"No, no. It suits you. I like it, the way it is." he replied, before giving a faint laugh. Seems it was suddenly his job to give her a pep talk instead of the other way around.
"I like you ze way you are too, Monsieur Six." Lady Doppler said quietly, as she withdrew her hands from him. "I like you very, very much."
The blue alien stared at her blankly for a moment, before a look of realization crossed his face. Was this what he thought it was? He could easily find out, he knew he could, but his conscious said no, don't do that. Let her say what she wants to say to you, don't destroy this. He swallowed slowly, and gave a slow nod. He had to be honest with himself, didn't he? This woman who had all but crashed into his life had been an almost constant part of it since that day. He made her feel safe, and she made him feel sane. They both relied on each other for two totally different things, and sharing a similar history together had meshed far quicker than he thought possible.
She had read the reports he had taken back from Roxanne, and sometimes he would be in the middle of working on something when she would rush up to him and hold him for so long he wondered if she had fallen asleep. Neither asked the other of their experiences, since it was too painful to. Instead they talked, and laughed, about so much else. On some days when they were feeling brave they'd head out into the city, to try and have a 'normal' day together. They went shopping for food, or clothes. The two would sit in the park and watch the world pass them by. They watched movies in the old cinema together, and most times the woman would end up leaning against him or just placing her hand over his.
It was a natural thing, something Six would never have thought possible. Before her, his life had been full of pain in some shape or form. Physical, emotional, spiritual... everything had hurt, in some way. But with her, it hadn't been that way at all.
"I'm scared." Six admitted quietly, unable to look at the white haired woman. "I don't know what to do. I don't know what to say. I've never been unsure of myself and... and that scares me."
"Zen let me be ze one who knows what to do, for once." Lady Doppler said softly. "All right?" she asked.
"...all right." he replied quietly.
He watched as she began to move closer towards him, and his whole body stiffened as she closed the space between them and pressed her lips softly to his own. The blue alien was unresponsive, still, unmoving and unblinking at this happened. His memory exploded and he remembered the last time a woman had kissed him, and what had happened afterwards. Had Roxanne kissed him out of pity? Was Lady Doppler doing this, now, because of pity? It couldn't be that. It didn't feel like that, at all. It felt of many, many things, none of them of which he was sure about. He felt her begin to pull back, but she returned moments later, her arms wrapping around his shoulders as she kissed him a second time, possibly trying to gauge a response from him.
This was right, wasn't it? It felt a kind of, a shade of right. She wasn't hurting him, and he had never hurt her, he had promised her he never would. Her breath was hot against his face as she breathed out of her nose, and he was suddenly aware of everything about her. The way her heart was beating so quickly within her chest, the breath in her lungs being withheld since she didn't want to break away from him for a silly thing like breathing, then there was the strength of her arms around him, how her hands clutched at him desperately.
It was like reading her mind yet he wasn't.
Six shuddered against her and finally retaliated. His arms lifted and clutched at her back as his mouth apprehensively kissed her in return, since he had only ever experienced something like this with one other woman before, and it felt like a life time ago.
This was a new life for him, and her, and so far it had been better then the last one he had alone. If this, whatever it was that was happening between them, would further cement a life together he would never deny it again.
To be continued
