Author's Note: I had really, truly intended this to be a single chapter, but as I might've known, the Muse had other ideas. Fortunately, she provided a logical break at a good point, so rather than present my good readers with an 11,000 word chapter, I give you two. The Muse also had the grace to let me keep my promise — though this is not the last we will see of Meleagris gallopavo. More will be coming soon! And as always, my humble and grateful thanks to my kind reviewers!
XII
The Calm Before
The shop that Megamind had mentioned to Roxanne carried a good selection of high-end leather goods and clothing as its primary merchandise, though it also had a remarkable variety of other clothing and one of a kind decorative items available. Though the scent of the shop was primarily than of leather and wood, what caught the eye to someone first entering was a semi-circle of soft leather couches, colorful hand-woven throws, and fascinating coffee tables made from the carved trunks of trees or huge slabs of natural agate and jasper. Though the furniture could be purchased, it had been set up for the comfort of customers who wished to rest their feet for a minute, or wanted to try on some of the leather shoes and boots available.
The place was quiet when Megamind entered, managing to get inside just before a downpour let loose. "Here comes another one," he heard a woman's voice say from off to his left beyond an obscuring wall of hanging clothes and tall wooden carvings, almost in a groan.
"Well, the weather reports said we'll be getting these bands of rain all day, until after the front passes through," a man's voice from somewhere on his right replied, his figure also hidden by racks and other display cases holding everything from jackets and shirts to boots and shoes.
"That means lousy sales until then," the woman sighed. "When's that front due?"
"Around four or five, last I heard. If it clears off after the storms roll through, like they're saying it should, business should pick up by evening. It's not that big a deal, Sunny, we needed a break to get some restocking done."
"I guess you're — oh, wow!"
While idly listening to the conversation of the two shopkeepers over the background music from a radio, Megamind had been studying one of the tables with a stone slab for a top, fascinated not only by the banded pattern of the black and gray agate, but by the naturally formed cavities filled with tiny sparkling druzy quartz crystals that were part of the asymmetrical oval. The woman's exclamation sounded nearer than her other comments and caused him to look up, simply out of habit.
The woman — Sunny, who looked to be about forty, dressed rather casually in jeans, an embroidered peasant blouse, and a beaded leather vest, her long brown hair pulled back with a leather thong — had stepped out from behind a display of women's suede coats. She'd spotted the newest potential customer; her gray eyes sparkled with recognition, and she was grinning from ear to ear. "Hey, Charley, hold off on the restocking for a minute and come out here!"
"What?" came the somewhat testy reply. "Unless we've got some tour bus just pulling in, I wanna get these boxes emptied, we need the space!"
Sunny rolled her eyes. "Fine, fine, suit yourself, I'll take care of this myself. Your loss!"
The answering snort was just shy of rude. "Yeah, yeah, like I'm working on commission..."
The woman chuckled. Megamind was a bit puzzled. "Does this have something to do with me?" he asked.
She nodded. "Oh, don't worry," she forestalled when it looked as if he was about to start doing just that. "I'm not trying to sell you something or ask for anything. But aside from the things we get from some high-end manufacturers, we carry items made by local artists and artisans. That table, for instance, has a base hand-carved by a woodworker in Ellison Bay, and some of the metal sculpture is made by a blacksmith we know in the Valmy area. Some of our leathers are custom made by a friend of ours who has a reputation for combining art and function. You're practically a legend to all the leather workers who live anywhere near Lake Michigan, you know. They all want to find out who makes your outfits, they're that impressed."
That revelation brought a half-relieved smile to the blue hero's face. "They don't already know? I would've thought the media would've covered that a long time ago. They seem to publish every other scrap of information they can find on me, even when they aren't true!"
Sunny understood. "Yeah, I've seen those tabloid and celebrity gossip rags. They say you have your gear made by a fish, but that seems just a little — well, out there, if you know what I mean."
Now, Megamind laughed. "I suppose it does, but for once, it's true. My friend Minion either makes or alters most of my clothes, since I wasn't exactly able to go to an ordinary tailor until recently. He is a fish, but not from Earth; he's fully sapient and quite intelligent. He came with me when I was sent here as a baby, just before our homeworld was destroyed, and I've made him a number of neurally controlled robotic suits that let him move and work almost like an ordinary human — even better, in some ways. He's astonishingly good with his hands, and he does remarkable things with leather and fabric."
The woman was surprised, but not displeased. "Really! We know about Minion, of course, but as your sidekick. We didn't know he had those kinds of skills! Did he come with you?"
The alien shook his head. "No, though he might come to join us, in a week or two. For now, he's at home, minding the store for me."
"Well, if he does come up, would you ask him to stop by, if he's interested? Our friend Toby would love a chance to meet him, to tell him how much he admires his work."
By now, Megamind had learned the wisdom of not speaking on behalf of his guardian. "I can't promise he'll come, but I'll give him the message."
"That's more than enough, thanks. Oh, if you have a minute, there's something I'd like you to see!" Sunny turned to move back the way she'd come, motioning for Megamind to follow. Beyond the rack of coats, he could see that the shop spread to the left in a larger wing, filled with leather goods, furs, hats, boots, and other useful or decorative items. Near the centrally located rear door was a large glass display case between a pair of small computerized cash registers. Sunny moved behind the counter, to where concealed shelves and cabinets kept things that had been set aside for one reason or another. "Toby does custom leathers for some of the bikers who come through; a lot of 'em like taking the Lake Michigan Circle Tour," she explained. "We heard you were in the area early last week — don't be too surprised about that, news travels fast among the locals, especially when it's about something or someone interesting or exciting. Toby's a huge fan of yours, for a lot of reasons — the leatherwork for one, and being an ex-con who went straight and cleaned up his life for another."
As he followed Sunny, Megamind's attention had been wandering to some of the Native American artwork on display, suspended from the rough-hewn rafters; now, she had his full attention. "Your friend was a felon?"
She nodded. "He was half-Ojibwa in a little town that didn't care much for half-bloods. He wound up falling in with a bad crowd when was in high school, trying to find a place to fit in. Ended up in and out of prison a bunch of times — never for murder or assault, thank God. The last time he made parole, he decided that this time, he wasn't going back, he was gonna find a way to straighten up his life for good. He had some troubles at first, but about the time he discovered his knack for working with leather, you up and turned around from being the Holy Terror of the Western Great Lakes to taking over the job of the superhero you'd been fighting with for twenty years! Toby almost couldn't believe it, until footage started making the rounds on all the news stations of you in action. He was inspired, especially after what you did at last year's Summerfest down in Milwaukee. After that, you became a role model to him — a sort of hero, too. If you could make a good life for yourself after a whole lifetime of dealing with prejudice and being on the wrong side of the law, so could he. It really helped him get his life back on the right track again."
For a few moments, Megamind didn't know what to say. In Metro City, he had, of course, had dealings with former prisoners, some who had completed their sentences, some who were out on parole, others who'd escaped and were up to no good. Most of those who had gone straight had nothing but support for him, but some on parole considered him a traitor, selling out to the enemy in the worst way possible, by becoming one of them. Those who had no intention of cleaning up their lives actively hated him. Because of those experiences, he was always a little leery when he heard that someone was an ex-con, never knowing how they would react to him. That this Toby fellow not only approved but looked upon him as a positive example was both encouraging and a relief.
"I'm glad to hear that he's doing well now," he finally said. "I know how difficult it can be, trying to survive as a social reject, then trying to get beyond all your past mistakes when you finally wake up and smell the coffee. I have to admit, I really hadn't considered myself as that kind of a role model, until just now."
Sunny smiled as she continued to search the storage areas. "I think you'd be surprised to find out just how much of a positive influence you've had that way, without knowing it. I know Toby would be first in a long line, wanting to shake your hand for giving him that kind of help. Anyway, he was here in the store last week when we heard that you were in the area on vacation. We didn't know how long you'd be around, but he got an idea and just had to go to work on it right away. He brought it in this morning on his way down to Green Bay to pick up supplies, and was a little disappointed that it took him more than a week to finish it. A lot of folks only spend a weekend or a week here, unless they have a place of their own. He won't be back 'til tonight, but he'll be thrilled to hear you stopped by. Just let me find it, I think you'll get a kick out of it." She ducked down to rummage through the lower storage niches and hidden cabinets.
While she was searching, Megamind glanced at the wares inside the display case. On the lower shelves, there were a number of knives with decoratively carved handles and fine-tooled leather cases, along with an assortment of small and very expensive looking leather goods. The entirety of the uppermost shelves was filled with cases of jewelry, rings and bracelets and necklaces of bright metals and sparkling stones of many different colors. "Are you the jeweler the owner of the rock shop mentioned to me?" he wondered.
"You mean a real jeweler, high quality gemstones and precious metals type?" Sunny shook her head, still searching. "No, that'd be Max Andersen. His gallery's right behind us." She waved one hand toward the tall windows flanking the shop's back door, which led to a parking lot and a low log-cabin style building beyond it. Even through the rain, Megamind could read the sign for the shop, proclaiming that it specialized in custom fine jewelry. "He's one of the best goldsmiths I've ever seen, does original work both fast and beautifully. If you're in the market for something special, he'd be the man to see. Darn it, where is that stuff? Hey, Charley, what'd you do with the things Toby dropped off this morning?"
"It's in the shoe storeroom," Charley's voice came drifting back from amid the wares at the far west end of the shop. "I didn't want to leave it out where someone might see it and get the idea that it's a new line we've got for sale."
"Thanks," she called back. "This'll just take a minute," Sunny promised, heading for the room in question. Megamind nodded distractedly as she hurried off. His eyes were still focused on the pretty things in the cabinet, though he wasn't actually seeing what was there. The wheels in his head that were always working on so many things turned a bit, and another puzzle piece clicked into place, the mental image he'd been pondering early that morning came into clearer focus.
Almost as if on cue, Roxanne came rushing in through the front door, huddled under a small umbrella that wasn't offering much in the way of protection from the heavy rain outside. She shook herself off as she quickly closed the door behind her. "Whew!" she sighed gustily, running a hand through her hair. "I know it's raining cats and dogs out there, 'cause I think I caught some of the fur in my teeth!"
Megamind had started to smile when he saw her entering, but the look instantly turned to one of confusion. "I have never understood that phrase! What does rain have to do with cats and dogs? Cats are supposed to hate water, and it makes dogs smell terrible! Is this another one of those ooxiemorons?"
"Could be, hon," his girlfriend said as she tried to shake off as much dampness as she could before getting too close to the merchandise. As she set aside the umbrella, she glanced around the shop. "Wow, nice stuff they have here! But I thought you said it carries leather goods...?" She could smell them, but not easily see them from that vantage.
"Ladies' items are to your left," Charley's voice called out from somewhere among the racks and cabinets off to the right of the door. "Sunny, would you give the lady a hand? I'm a little hemmed in by boxes right at the moment..."
"That's okay," Roxanne called back, "I can browse on my own for a few minutes, thanks! It's good just to be out of the rain!" She moved in, away from the door, and saw what the clerk had mentioned, racks and displays of leather jackets, coats, vests, even some dresses and skirts, from very practical to very decorative, all quite nicely made. "Ooh, great!" she said with a grin. "I've been thinking I should have a few good leather pieces, so we can sort of coordinate from time to time. I just didn't want to bother Minion with it, he spends enough time keeping your things in shape. Do you mind if I take a look?"
Her beau shook his head and was about to say no when Sunny exclaimed, "Ah, here it is! Mister — uh, sir, would you come this way for a moment?" For some inexplicable reason, she didn't want to use his name.
Roxanne, figuring it was the usual reaction people had when they wanted to be polite to the alien but felt a little weird calling him "Mister Megamind" or even just "Megamind," waved him off. "Go ahead, I'd like a little time to see what I might like before you start suggesting black skin-tight and ten pounds of studs and spikes." She was plainly teasing, so unoffended, he went to join the clerk.
She heard delighted laughter come from that end of the store a minute later. "Is everything okay?" she called, idly curious rather than concerned.
"Oh, yes, it's fine," Megamind's voice answered, bright with good humor. "Just keep browsing, I'll come show you in a minute, all right?"
"Okay, take your time, I've barely started looking." When that was acknowledged with an amused snort, she turned in earnest to checking out the wares. After a few minutes' search, she had spotted a couple of interesting jackets and was looking for appropriate sizes when she heard the sound of footsteps and ill-suppressed chuckles returning to the center of the room.
"Well, what do you think?" Megamind asked, using the suavely not-so-menacing voice that had always reminded Roxanne more of James Bond — Sean Connery era, or maybe Pierce Brosnan — than any villain she'd ever heard. She turned to see what was up and made a sound of pleasantly startled surprise.
The reformed villain had exchanged his black jeans and sneakers for an almost-classic set of black biker's leathers that had the updated novelty of being designed to incorporate his blue lightning bolt emblem in the construction of both the jacket and the pants. Rather than hidden as they were on his working costumes, the broad-toothed silver zippers were quite apparent, running up the slanted and slightly off-centered front closure that allowed the lapels to be overlapped and tucked in to cut the chilling effect of high speeds. More zippers ran across a number of pockets on the body and upper sleeves, and up the forearms from their snug cuffs to just below the elbows. The jagged blue portion of the design on the chest area was very similar to that of his traditional costume, though it was also incorporated into the outer part of the arms, over the shoulders and to the neck. The collar was completely an homage to that of his cape, slightly reduced in size but still flaring up his long neck to frame the lower part of his large head. There were bright silver buckles on the straps that could be used to tighten the waist and cuffs to prevent any cold air or damp rain from creeping in; those at the wrists were adorned with a band of short silver spikes.
The close-fitting black leather slacks were cut in jeans style rather than the smoothly seamless look of his costume; the blue of the lightning motif lanced down their outer seams to disappear into a pair of high black boots that were very similar in style to those he typically wore, with blue and silver tooling at the front seams mimicking the lightning design. Decorative straps around the tops of the boots and across the ankles were set with the same short spikes as the wrist straps. All he needed was his silver logo buckle and his de-gun and he'd be ready to hop on a suitably tricked out black Harley and head out on street patrol in the roughest part of Metro City.
"That's perfect!" Roxanne declared as her beau happily showed it off for her, strutting and posing as he might to display an exceptionally good new cape from Minion's hands. "Who made it? That can't be something they just had on hand, your sizes are usually impossible to find without alterations!"
Sunny laughed, and gladly told her the story of their friend Toby, and his admiration for her unique blue hero. "Toby has an almost uncanny eye for figuring out someone's exact measurements without using any tapes or fittings. He's never seen — ah — him in person, so he could only guess from what he'd seen in photos and news footage, but he came very close, I think."
"Perfect, I'd say," was Roxanne's opinion. "Does it feel right to you, sweetie?"
"Almost," the alien had to admit. "The upper sleeves are just a bit tight across the shoulders, and the strap on the jacket waist needs another grommet hole to cinch in properly. That I could live with; it's the pants that're a little too off." From the way he wriggled and winced, she understood perfectly.
"Don't feel bad about it," she suggested with an appreciative wink and a deliberately misdirected pat on her boyfriend's snugly beleathered behind. "With the protective layers and the support structure Minion builds into your gear to keep you from getting hurt in a fight, people do tend to think you're as anatomically correct as a Ken doll."
"No doubt that's where all those absurd rumors start," he grimaced, trying his best to adjust the inseams that were threatening to geld him without being indiscreet in front of a strange woman. When he saw Sunny's concerned expression, he smiled. "Oh, I'm not complaining! Your friend did an astonishingly good job, seeing that we've never met and I'm not what could be called normally proportioned for an adult male. Even the best tailors always need to make a few alterations before an outfit's finished, and working with leather can make things even more difficult — especially cowhide, it's not as forgiving as buckskin or glove leather. Your friend didn't expect me to take this with me, did he?"
"I don't know," Sunny admitted. "He said he just finished it last night, and like I said earlier, he dropped it off so Charley and I could see it. He had no idea you'd be here today, or were even still in the area. He may stop by again this evening, but I can't say for sure. He's going to be sorry he missed meeting you."
"He doesn't have to be. You wanted me to ask Minion to stop by when he comes to join us. I don't see why all of us can't come back then. I'd like to meet Toby myself, and I think we could kill two boards with one stone."
"It's 'birds,' hon," Roxanne gently corrected him.
Megamind lifted his chin in a perfect display of haughty disdain, made even more effective by the flare of the high leather collar. "It is for other people, not for me," he said indignantly. "Heroes do not kill innocent little birds!"
Both women laughed, Roxanne especially so, remembering the incident at the Lair almost two years past, with a little bird Minion had called Buddy. Their laughter got Charley's attention. "All right," he grumbled, "I'm finally finished emptying those danged boxes — now, what's so funny?"
As the man's footsteps could be heard approaching, Sunny deliberately scooted away to move more or less out of sight, gesturing for Megamind to stay where he was at the open center of the room. Roxanne followed the other woman's cue and ducked behind a rack of jackets, peering over the top to watch the scene unfold.
The ex-villain could never be accused of not having a keen flair for the dramatic. Catching on to what Sunny wanted, he swept up the jacket's collar to its fullest height, found a useful puddle of light under an overhead tracklight, and struck his best Evil Pose with the appropriate Evil Smile as Charley — a shortish older man with glasses and seriously thinning hair — emerged from among the hanging coats and shirts and jackets. "Okay, what's — up?" His voice turned from bark to squeak as he caught sight of what looked to be the Alien Biker From Hell.
"Good afternoon, Charles," he said in a flawlessly silky villain voice that could send shivers up the spine of a yeti. He'd seldom nailed it so well even in the days when he was a villain. "Do you think you could help me find some—" He steepled his fingers and raised one black eyebrow, his growing smile baring gleaming white teeth. "—accessories?"
Luckily for Charley, there was a pile of fluffy sheepskin rugs on the floor behind him to cushion his fall as he fainted.
Roxanne was still prone to fits of laughter long after they'd coaxed poor Charley back to the land of the living and apologized for the unexpected result of the little prank. By the time he'd come around, Megamind had changed back into his own clothes and was looking considerably less threatening — sheepish, even, if the word hadn't been a little inappropriate, given what had saved the poor man in his fall.
Charley took it all with admirably good humor, especially since it had been Sunny's idea, her way of getting even with him for not coming out when she'd called for him right after the blue-skinned visitor had entered their shop. Sunny gave them every contact number she could think of and they provided the number for the Scotts' summer house; promises were also made that they would get in touch after Minion had come to join them during the latter part of their stay. Roxanne decided that she would hold off on her clothing shopping until then, especially since Charley told her that they were due to receive several new shipments of the things she was most interested in next week. He also asked for the reporter's sizes, so he could set aside for her anything especially interesting that might come in, to give her the first pick of the best stuff.
It was well after two by the time they were on the road again, headed for the grocer's in Egg Harbor. The heavy rain had lightened a bit, but the radio at the shop had continued to predict bands of heavy rain, high winds, and some strong thunderstorms until a front pushed in somewhere around four. Since they had wanted to return to Cave Point to see it in stormy weather, this seemed like it would be a good day for it, as Egg Harbor was halfway there, and unless things changed dramatically, there would be plenty of time to do their marketing and make even a cautious drive to the other side of the peninsula. Sunny had heard them discussing this after they'd heard the weather report, and loaned them a pair of oilskin rain jackets that would provide better protection than the inadequate umbrella Roxanne had borrowed from one of the clerks at the bath shop. They gratefully accepted the offer, even though the protective hood would be of no use on Megamind's singularly large head.
"It's a good thing that that poor man landed on those sheepskin rugs and didn't have a heart attack!" the reporter couldn't help but giggle as they headed down the highway toward their next stop. She'd already given him the full tale of the confrontation in the bath shop, and he'd filled her in on what had happened with him in the rock shop and before they'd joined up again at the leather store. "I don't think it would've done much for our vacation, not to say our reputations, to get hit with some kind of lawsuit!"
Megamind snorted, munching on a bit of his fudge. "And it's a good thing you didn't literally start pushing around that Walker woman, like you used to do to me when you got mad! Did you really tell her off like that?"
Roxanne looked away from the road before her long enough to aim a wicked grin in his direction. "Of course I did! I'm sick and tired of people who've never met you passing judgment on you, and she went way beyond that, accusing you of being some kind of child molester! If I ever hear anything that even hints that she's gone and spouted that filth after she left that shop, I'll see to it that she's hit so hard with charges of slander, she won't know her head's been spinning 'til it comes to a stop facing her ass!"
The blue hero couldn't help but smile. "Ah, Roxanne my love, I think you should've been the one to take up a career as a supervillain! Even Wayne with all his powers and invulnerability wouldn't have stood a chance against you!"
She batted his arm, playfully. "Yeah, right. Roxanne Ritchi, Incredibly Short Super Suer and Master of All Litigation. Doesn't have a very nice ring to it, does it?"
"I guess not, but really, I'm... flattered? Touched? You have your own reputation to consider, your own career, and ripping a new one on bigoted snobs might not be a wise thing to do, no matter how much I appreciate your support."
Now, she settled her hand on his thigh and squeezed, gently. "Someone has to stand up to them, Mykaal. If I just stood around and let them say things about you that aren't true without speaking up, I'd be no better than they are. No career is more important than defending the people you love."
Smiling more widely, he settled back in his seat and covered her hand with his own. "Thank you. I hope you know that I'd do the same for you."
"Of course I do. You've saved my life more than once, haven't you? I'd say that qualifies as defending someone you love."
"I suppose it d—aaaagh!"
Roxanne suddenly slammed on the brakes, half-strangling her beau on his seatbelt as the car screeched to a halt. "What is it?" he demanded, rubbing his abused neck. "What hap—oh my God! What's that?"
They had just passed through a stretch of road with thick woods on either side. As they'd come into a more open area with the woods only on one side and an orchard on the other, a rather large and dark critter had darted in front of the car, causing Roxanne to hit the brakes rather than it. It was a good thing, since the first running creature was followed by more, dashing across the road. For a moment, Megamind thought it was deer again, but these were lower, smaller, and darker.
"Turkeys!" Roxanne replied as well over a dozen of the big birds ran, very fast, from the orchard on their right, across the road, and into the woods on their left.
"Turkeys!" At the very utterance of the word, he forgot all about his throttled neck and plastered his face to the window beside him, hoping for a closer look at the hitherto elusive wild fowl. Though most of the flock — which the ex-villain's extensive (one might say obsessive) research had said would be most properly called a rafter, not a flock — had already moved onto the road or off into the woods, three stragglers were racing toward them at top speed, which that same research had claimed could be as fast as 25 miles per hour. In a car, such speeds might feel like a crawl, but when it was a running critter that stood about three feet tall and weighed in the vicinity of twenty pounds or more, it seemed considerably faster.
"They're coming right at us!" Megamind shrieked, suddenly sure he was about to witness the kind of avian stampede Wayne had mentioned and just as suddenly unsure that it was such a good idea. If the things ran headlong into a stopped car...
Two of the birds dashed in front of the car, mere inches from the grill, while the third — which looked as if it was about to broadside them — suddenly appeared to bounce, then hopped onto the car's hood and launched itself toward the woods, its huge wings spread wide. It landed at the edge of the underbrush, joining the other two just before all of them swiftly disappeared in the tangled shrubbery beneath the trees.
"Wait!" the alien cried when Roxanne got the car moving again. "I barely had a chance to see them...!"
"It's raining, hon, we can't go after them," she pointed out most reasonably, not surprised when he started to pout. "Look, considering the weather, I think we're lucky to have spotted any at all. I don't imagine they like standing out in heavy rain any more than you do. But we know they're around now, and we know they're active, and we know they have to eat. Maybe if it does clear off later like they're predicting, we'll see more. They'll probably want to come out to find food if they've been lying low during the heavy rain."
It never failed to amuse her, how quickly Megamind could go from pouting to positive. "Do you think so?" he asked, his mood instantly perking. "Yes, that would make sense, wouldn't it? I'd imagine some of the farms we've driven past would be perfect places to look, they have both ready sources of food and shelter. Did you bring your camera?"
She grinned. "Always. With you around, I never know when I'm going to come across a moment that's too priceless to miss."
He frowned, demonstrating that his emotional pendulum could swing just as rapidly in either direction. "You aren't planning to use any of that to embarrass me in front of Minion or sell it to the media, are you?" His tone promised dire consequences.
But Roxanne merely laughed. "Oh, c'mon, you know I have professional ethics! If I don't want the paparazzi pulling stunts like that on me, I can't very well do it to someone else! I'm not a hypocrite, after all. And I don't think you have to worry about Minion seeing any of this. Even if some of it might look a little silly, you know he wouldn't tease you for it — much. He's your best friend. Friends do that to one another, sometimes, and he knows if he takes it too far, you'll just turn around and find a way to get even. You guys can be such a pair of kids, sometimes."
Megamind wasn't sure if he should feel relieved or insulted. "Doesn't that bother you?"
But she shook her head. "Not unless you drag me into it when I don't want to be, or let it get way too far out of hand, like with the jello thing back around Easter."
"Hey, he started it!"
"Maybe, but don't you think you carried it just a little bit overboard when you clogged every water pipe in the Lair with lime jello and had the local news thinking that some industrial crooks were secretly dumping chemical waste into Muskegon Bay when you finally flushed it from the plumbing?"
He had the decency to turn a bit lavender, but he also couldn't cover a smirk. "That was funny, wasn't it?" he said, both cheeky and abashed.
Roxanne didn't want to encourage him, so she coughed to hide a chuckle. "For you, yes, but not for the company that got accused. If you hadn't offered to do the clean up for them with one of your 'miraculously heroic' gizmos, it would've been pretty unfair, letting them take the blame for your stunt that got out of hand."
Now, he was contrite. "I guess you're right. But I did volunteer willingly, didn't I? You didn't have to push me into it."
"No, I didn't," she agreed, and now smiled because she did want to encourage him. "You did the right thing, especially when you told the media that there was no evidence of a chemical dump, just some 'freakish accident' that caused harmless green goo to show up in the bay. You do realize that if you'd had to 'fess up, you'd be calling yourself the freak."
His chagrin deepened along with his color. "I know," he admitted. "And I would've deserved it, it was my fault that things got so out of hand. I should've just told the investigators what happened before anyone else got dragged into it."
She leaned over quickly to kiss his cheek, not wanting his mood to sink any lower and completely spoil the excitement he'd been feeling only moments ago. "I'm proud of you for being willing to own up to it. Maybe you should've told them, but then again, maybe the way things were handled was best, all around. The company was cleared of any wrongdoing, your reputation as a hero and reformed criminal wasn't undermined, and things were cleaned up. Next time, maybe you'll think twice before trying to have the last word in these one-upmanship squabbles with Minion. You let it go too far, and you'll wind up back in that same game-playing rut you were stuck in with Wayne."
The blue genius made a spluttering, dismissive sound that was more amused than anything else. "Oh, please," he scoffed, "that would never happen! I like Minion!" And that was that.
To be continued...
