"Information is not knowledge."~ Albert Einstein

Silver and Black- Chapter 9

Megamind scratched his chin with narrow eyes. In his hand, he had a print of the photograph of the two silver thieves. There had to be some way he could find out more about them.

"Minion, do you have any ideas?" he asked as the fish walked into the kitchen. It was already dark and they'd decided to leave patrolling to the cops and stay home. After all, they'd already stopped a drug store from being robbed, and the police had to have something to do!

"Why don't you ask Sophia to hear with Mr. Triggs, Sir? Maybe he's heard some news?"

Megamind lightened up and got out of his chair. "Excellent idea, Minion! Where is she?"

"I think she's downstairs, Sir."

As his master left, Minion turned to the counter, deciding to warm up some of the new fish food he'd bought at the pet shop earlier. He'd wanted to try it out for some time now and it was always good to be open to new flavours. Especially shrimp flavours. But he ended up looking around, searching the room for something that was missing.

"Where's the microwave?"

"Sophia, are you down here?" Megamind walked down the stairs to the basement Sophia had declared to be her 'lair' several years ago.

"I'm here, Dad!" she called and showed up behind a counter, dressed in a white lab coat and goggles. The father chuckled.

"You know, if it weren't for the hair and complexion, I'd think you were me from several years ago!"

Sophia grinned and removed the goggles. "At least I don't have a beard," she said as she poured a few drops of something purple in a bottle of weird bluish liquid, making it boil. "Is there something you need, Dad?"

"Yes, I was wondering if you could ask-"

'Bang!'

The bottle and its liquid exploded in a light of blue, the pressure sending both geniuses to the floor. His ears rang after the high sound and he sat up, massaging his head.

"What was that?"

Sophia was already on her feet, taking in the mushroom shaped blue cloud rising from where the bottle had been. "Hmm... too much vinegar I think. But what a great explosion, huh Dad?"

The smile across his face told the truth; it had been great, even though his ears were ringing! There was no denying it; the two did have a thing for explosions. Oh, and the time they accidentally blew up the old TV! It was his screensaver on one of the computers back at the Lair. Not that he would ever tell Roxanne that.

"Yes, it was! What did you have in there?"

"A bit of this and a bit of that. I hoped to use it in a container so that I could blow it up at a distance with a remote, but guess not. So, what was it you wanted to ask, Dad?"

Megamind had been examining the remains of the liquid on the counter, thinking it looked an awful lot like something he himself had made back at shool, but Sophia reminded him of the reason he'd come down in the first place.

"Oh, right. Yes, I wanted to ask if- wait. Is that the microwave?" he asked, and tried to look behind his daughter. She giggled nervously and tried to cover it with her body.

"M-microwave? Don't know what you're talking about!"

Crossing his arms, Megamind tilted his head. "That microwave."

"Huh, oh this? It's... it's an old one! Very old one! Found it... on... on the street! Yes, on the sidewalk! Abandoned and alone!"

A tiny smirk on his face said 'Really?' "You know, it looks a lot like our microwave. The new one. The one we bought three months ago after you accidentally blew up the last one."

"What? Nooo! You must be mistaking, Dad!"

He rolled his eyes and decided not to take it any further. "Found on the street, OK. I came down here to ask if you could do me a favour tomorrow."

Sophia lifted herself up on the counter to sit (while cleverly hiding the microwave behind her back). "What kind of favour?"

"Could you ask Timothy if he has heard anything new in the... enn-viron-mant... he hangs out in?"

"You mean, can I ask Timothy if he knows about anything odd happening in the darker and more illegal crowds of Metro City when he tries to kidnap me tomorrow on my way to school?"

"Yes!"

She nodded and smiled. "Of course I can, Dad. I didn't see him today anyway since I reached the bus, and I wanted to give him a slice of my birthday cake."

"Great. I think it's good you keep a good connection with your... kidnapper," Megamind stated, not sure if he could use the term on the weird guy. After all, Timothy had only succeeded once; the very first time. Back then, Sophia didn't have her watch and was a lot younger, so all Tim really had to do was pick her up and carry her off to his apartment before calling Megamind, demanding his retirement for his daughter.

He'd been a blue cube before he'd finished his sentence. They hadn't even bothered to press charges. Ever since, Tim had tried every day. Megamind didn't worry; after all, his gun wasn't even loaded. Even he had at least managed to kidnap Roxanne every week for a decade!

"That's OK, Dad, I'll ask. On one condition!"

His brows tangled. "What?"

Looking around, as if she expected someone to overhear her, she whispered, "Don't tell Mom I'm blowing things up down here. She said I wasn't allowed to do that inside the house anymore!"

"I promise!" he laughed, before looking over her shoulder. "Um, but now as you have stolen the microwave..."

A mischievous grin spread across Sophia's slim face. "I'm way ahead of you!"

"Hi, Minion, I'm back!" Roxanne announced as she heard the familiar sound of the robotic gorilla suit from the kitchen. She'd been out for a late interview and had just arrived home, glad to know she could spend the rest of the evening with her family.

"Miss Roxanne, you wouldn't happen to know where the microwave is, would you?"

Roxanne leaned against the doorframe, her expression telling that she didn't have a clue. But before she had the chance to say anything, a loud explosion came from downstairs, and shortly afterwards two figures, covered from head to toe in blue (not that it mattered for one of them), stepped into the kitchen.

"Roxanne," Megamind coughed. "We have to go microwave shopping again."

3...2...1

"Freeze, Ritchi!"

In one move, Sophia had turned and pressed the watch, once again covering the poor man in ropes of blue goo.

"Hah! I win again, Tim!" Then she noticed the handkerchief on the ground next to him. She picked it up and barely sniffed at it before grinning. "Oh my god! Chloroform. Timothy, you are starting to learn!"

Tim had just managed to free his mouth from the blue goo, showing his smile. "Yes, I thought I'd give it a try."

"Woohoo! This is great! You know, if you hadn't said anything first, you might have gotten me."

"I might?" The praise made his face lightened up.

"Yeah! How many years has it taken for you to try this?"

"Mm..." he hummed, while freeing himself from the rest of the ropes, sucking in his stomach and slipping the goo off his arms. "Let's see. I first kidnapped you when I was 21. That makes it... five years? Yes, you were 10 at the time."

"Five years," she said and gazed into the air, nostalgia painted all over her. "Ah, I remember. You didn't even bother to tie me up. Said I was too young to be bound and gagged to a chair. You really are a secret gentleman, Tim."

"I'll take that as a compliment, then," he decided and finally got up on his feet, brushing off dust from his checked shirt. "So, Sophia, what can I do for you today? We could get into my car and drive down to an abandoned factory or something and call Megamind, what do'ya say?"

She giggled and shook her head. "Sorry, Tim, but I've got school!"

"Yeah, you're early by the way. I usually have to wait a few minutes before you come by; today I barely got the time to drench the handkerchief!"

"Yes, I wanted to ask you something on behalf of my dad."

Tim frowned. "Again? Am I the only person he can ask about these things?"

"That's classified information, Timothy Triggs!" Sophia said with a fake serious voice. "But anyway. Is there anything new going on in the illegal environment? Anything weird."

Timothy scratched his sand coloured hair, thinking. "Well. Adams said something we all thought was a bit odd."

"Yes?"

"Apparently someone is paying good money for chimps. Dunno why."

Sophia wrinkled her nose. "Buying primates? From where?"

"Anywhere. Stolen from zoos, transported overseas. I dunno, haven't asked. It's not my style, Sophia. I don't steal animals and sell them! That's just mean."

Her gaze went far away as she thought to herself. She couldn't really see a connection between illegal shopping of animals and silver humans, but she would report it back to her dad. After all, it was a serious crime, selling and buying primates.

"But just so we're clear, Sophia, Megamind won't tell anyone I'm his... um..."

"Informant? Of course not, you know that. Your secret is safe with us."

Tim let out a relieved breath he'd been holding. "Oh that god. I mean, if the guys down at the club found out, I'd be toast!"

Without noticing it, Sophia's jaw dropped. "You have a club?"

"Yeah! 'The Crime Club'. It's downtown. Not anything near as exclusive as the lounge, but still! I've got a job there as a bartender. Though..." he pouted, "They hardly consider me a criminal. You didn't even press charges that one time I kidnapped you."

"Aw, I'm sorry Tim!" Sophia said and petted his arm. "But hey, chloroform! You're getting there. You'll see someday soon I won't turn around fast enough!"

"I'm looking forward to that. Oh, and that reminds me!" Tim dug into the pockets of his jeans and found a little card and gave it to her. "Happy late birthday, Sophia! I wanted to give it to you yesterday, but I guess you caught the bus."

Sophia examined the card with an amused smile. "A 'get out of the kidnapping' card! Wow, Tim, that's ambitious!"

"You said it yourself, Sophia! Someday I'll get you, I promise you that. You can have it in your wallet until you get use of it."

The gift had reminded Sophia of something and she quickly opened her bag and found the box. "And here, Tim; a slice of my birthday cake! Hope you like blueberries."

"They're my favourite," he said with a happy grin.

Timothy Triggs. The guy is somewhere between sweet, weird, pathetic and patient. He's a Jack Black type who works at the bartender down at 'The Crime Club'. The guy has a dream of becoming a true villain and join the crime lounge, but he really doesn't have it in him. Tim's just to nice. Every day he tries to kidnap Sophia. You might say Sophia has a minor Stockholm Syndrom, she feels kind of sorry for the guy. Though after my story 'Remember' (Don't read it if you don't like sad) he stopped in respect for her. The club even send her a card.

Triggs is an English last name, it's root being old norse 'trigger' and means loyal.