Disclaimer: Despicable Me and Megamind belong to their respective creators. I'm not getting any money for making this.
Chapter Twelve: Deal
Doctor Nefario arrived the hotel half an hour after Margo's calling. He had had problems for the guards to let him go, considering the mess he had caused in the visiting area. But being as old as he was, the warden had decided that someone of his age shouldn't be put behind the bars for about something that simple. They had let him go under the condition he would never visit Gru again.
The old man asked the receptionist for Gru's room. The woman gave him a suspecting look, it wasn't allowed for her to provide information about guest. Especially if the person asking was a weird old guy, wearing clothing with burnt stains. Especially, if he was looking for someone who had been discovered as a criminal that same morning.
The old guy had a hard time convincing her he was Gru's old friend, and that he had just been in a car accident that had left him luckily unharmed. Still doubtful, the receptionist gave him the room number and let him pass without saying anything else. The old man practically ran towards the elevator.
However, twenty minutes later the mad scientist went back to the reception wearing a frown. The room was closed. Up until then the woman informed, blatant smile, that Megamind had passed by hours ago to pick the girls, also he had called recently to make clear the kids were still with him doing all right. Doctor Nefario complained for not hearing that before. The receptionist shrugged, it was pretty obvious since the news had been airing it on TV the whole day; about the visitor in that specific room being caught as a robber.
"And who's that Megamind?" Nefario blasted completely puzzled. Gru never had talked about the ex villain with him, since they were never interested in local villains. The receptionist shoots a dreamy expression, like the one young girls make when thinking about her favorite actor. Megamind was the new hero in Metro City.
Typically, when the spaceman was a villain, every person in town would describe him as a fearful person; but now he was loved by everyone. Only current villains saw him with different eyes, and Nefario happened to enter in that category. Thereof knowing Gru's little daughters had been taken by a sort of 'hero' was beyond bad news; and after the prison escape fiasco, the old man was sure he was fine screwed if he'd not return home with the girls. He walked out of the hotel and fast dialed a number.
"Pokepeko?" A slightly annoyed voice answered at the other side of the line. It was Brandon, a one eyed serious tall minion, who was waiting in a warehouse somewhere in the city; along with another short minion with one eye and messy hair called Sack. They had been waiting inside the ship following Nefario's orders.
"It's me, Doctor Nefario"
"Pola cota ne?" Sack interrupted Brandon's conversation. Both argued while Nefario was trying to explain what had happened. He realized the minions weren't listening; instead they were fighting for the phone. This way was impossible to give them instructions for retrieving the girls. He lifted his goggles to massage the bridge of his nose. Only Gru was able to put his subordinates on their place. Then took a seat in the hotel reception, and waited patiently for the corn kernels to stop.
In that precise moment, several miles away inside the prison, Gru had his own problems. He no longer had the possibility to break out using the cookiebots; he had to find a way to escape by himself. And considering that the last time he was a prisoner in there had been a headache to do it, he was starting to feel desperate. Warden John had seen Gru as dangerous material; which made him decide to throw the villain inside the most secure cell in the entire prison. Just hoping Megamind wouldn't want to pass by for spending the night in that cell, like he used to do from time to time.
Gru found himself inside a completely enclosed cell. The walls were painted with infantile patterns of several animals. The legend 'Happy thoughts make happy people' could be read in red stylish letters facing the only metallic door, which had a small circular window. Thought it the warden's face appeared.
"Well Gru, until we find a better cell for allocating you, I recommend you to do not mess with the place, ok?" Then that diminutive window was closed with more metal.
Gru sat on the convertible rolling chair that was placed in the exact center of the chamber. The buttons Megamind had showed him fifteen years ago were no longer there. He remembered:
It had been after his ninth failed attempt for breaking out. Gru was staring at the ceiling of his cell, head lying on the bed, body beaten on the floor. It was almost three a.m. He was wondering if that prison was truly impenetrable, when the bars of the door moved smoothly, and a blue pre-teen wearing an orange jumpsuit uniform got in as if he were in his house.
"I've been thinking about what you told me. But this happened to give me an idea, which is completely of my own creation". The boy sat on the floor next to Gru, who was trying to ignore him, even if the conversation seemed interesting. "I decided I'm going to defeat Wayne in an amazing battle of good against evil, and then I'll become the evil overlord of this city".
Gru frowned, wondering in which moment he had played as inspiration for such a lame idea. The boy continued.
"I was thinking to collect experience defeating heroes by myself, but considering you're sort of a veteran villain. I'm going to give you the honor of teaching me how to beat Wayne."
"What!" Gru sat up so fast the bruises the guards had made him reproached on his body. "Why should I do dhat?" The villain hissed.
"Because, I'm the only one who can take you out of here." Even in the darkness, Gru could notice an evil grin in Sxy. The 'veteran' took some minutes to process the pros and cons, young Megamind was easily exasperated "It's a deal?"
Gru nodded and whispered "Deal".
They shook hands, and the boy made him stand up to take him to his cell.
At first Gru was cautious about walking freely by the hall, but as they advanced things seemed complicatedly easy.
"I was just wondering, Syx." Gru whispered behind the boy, who seemed unaware of the dangers of being out of the cell after the curfew "How ees dhat you open my door dhat easily? Do you have a key?"
"Sort of. Those doors don't have lock; they work by a system of magnets. The only thing I do is invert the polarity enough time for opening them and enter." Megamind showed under the dim light of the moon a device disguised like a thumb nail painted in black. Gru was impressed.
Once they entered Sxy's cell, Gru realized it was custom made for the boy. Who obviously the warden's favorite, since that room was the only one with its own TV hanged to the wall. Back then warden even had allowed Megamind to hang papers with notes from the ceiling, and paste post it all along the wall, as long as he didn't cover any of the animals or the lemma painted in red. Gru tried to decipher the notes; everything seemed as a very confusing idea map.
"Welcome to my cell" The boy motioned with both arms open, and then he threw himself on the chair making it spin two or three times. "Please have a seat" he was doing his best to be polite, but since there was an only chair in the room, Gru rolled his eyes and leaned on the wall.
"Dhen, which ees your plan for breaking out?" Gru went straight to business, it was getting late and he had to get back to his own cell just in case. He didn't want any other bruise on his body.
"No, no, no, if I tell you how to get out of here right now you will never accomplish the deal" the boy replied nonchalantly "just tell me what you did for beating Wayne Scott. If I discover his weakness, there's a hundred pur-cent I'll fulfill my goal"
"I didn't do anything kiddo" Gru slid with tedium alongside the wall until he sat on the floor. He was starting to feel sleepy. "If you want to beet dhe guy dhat much, why don't you poison him?"
Megamind winced "Don't you think that's a little too harsh?"
Gru frowned, and then sent an evil grin to the boy. Of course it was harsh. That was exactly what real villains did.
The boy considered the possibilities of killing Wayne with a poisoned cookie, or chocolate milk. The he shook his big blue head in denial, even if he didn't know if lethal poison could be harmful for his archrival, that wasn't the path he wanted to follow to defeat him. "Any other idea?"
"Kill someone he loves...perhaps his mother..." Gru was almost sleeping by then. If he were in his five senses, he wouldn't give that kind of advice. He had a bad relationship with his mother, but that never meant he could like the old woman to be death. Young Megamind considered the idea was far sicker than the one about poison and asked for something else.
"Throw him off a cliff..."
"He can fly!" The boy pouted.
"Freeze him..." The advice almost glided from Gru's lips as a wind blow, before he'd close his eyelids and completely fell asleep. The boy hurled cheering shouts that woke up Gru completely.
"What a fantastic idea I have gotten!" Gru complaint immediately, if Syx was thinking the idea was all his making, they couldn't finish the deal. Then the boy gave him just 'a tiny bit of credit, enough for helping him to get out of prison'. Gru nodded. Since it was almost hour to the inmates and all the personal to wake up, he turned towards the exit for going at his own cell. Then Syx made him stop, he no longer needed the villain. He pressed some buttons under the arm of his chair; it immediately slid out of the center of the room. A deep hole appeared where it once was. Gru approached to peep in the hole. He sent a glare to the boy.
"Eet's too narrow" He stated.
The man was right, Syx couldn't argue about it. That hole had been made like five years ago all by himself, he didn't like to repeat the same escape pattern twice, so he didn't quite remember which was the width he made it back then. About to say something else, the sound of footsteps froze them. Everything was turning living in prison since it was time for the morning activities.
"Crap!" Both thought. Gru went out of the cell trying to avoid being seen. Both had decided that Syx was going to give him another escape route by tomorrow morning, and also Gru could help him with more advices for beating Wayne Scott.
Back to the present, Gru lifted the chair this time using his own strength. There was nothing but tiles under it. He could hear the warden's laugh out from the door; he faced him as he stared cunningly at the chair "Did you really think Megamind was going to leave any of his escape paths when he turned a hero? Ha ha ha, enjoy your stay Gru" The only window closed. Leaving Gru controlled by anger and impotence. He missed his kittens.
Author's Note: Like how long since last update? O.O I'm sorry, been recently inspired enough to pull myself to continue writing my own novel (I would love to share more about it, but it's written in Spanish). This chapter was kinda short. At first I thought Gru was mean enough to imply it was good idea to kill Wayne's parents, but I changed my mind after watching the movie once again ^_^ What do you think about it?
