Disclaimer: Based on characters and concepts owned by others. Written for fun, not for profit.
Rating: PG-13
Characters / Pairing: Ensemble / Megamind/Roxanne
Warnings: Drama, betrayal, and super-villainy.
Author's Notes: Very often when I write a story, I begin with a solid visual of the ending. So, as is customary with me, many of the scenes in this chapter have been bouncing around my head since this fic's inception. I was so happy to finally write them - and yet so anxious for them to be perfect that working them over took a very long time. The chapter ended up being much more lengthy than I had originally intended (the longest chapter of the story, in fact), but I'm actually very happy with the way it turned out. I really hope my readers like it, too!
As usual, so much credit goes to the lovely ladies who took the time to look this over for me. This story is truly better because of them. I don't know what I would do without you, raywing and Dani Kin. Your help, your advice, your reassurance, your spot-checking, and your creative consulting are appreciated far beyond words. Dani, I'm particularly grateful for your assistance in streamlining this massive chapter.
After this, one more chapter remains! I hope you enjoy!
Rain on the Just
by Rummi
Chapter 14 - Boiling Point
"Tempt not a desperate man."
- William Shakespeare
(Romeo & Juliet Act V, Scene iii)
Roxanne was only distantly aware of the spider-bot silently crawling outside again, retreating back to the open-air section of the old elephant paddock. Wayne had been dumped half onto his side, where he briefly remained in a motionless, hunched pile. A moment later, he attempted to twist his torso and push himself into a more upright position. As he moved, beads of rainwater rolled across the surface of the boa plasma in strange, shimmery rivulets. They puddled on the floor around Wayne's body. He and the spider-bot must have been outside this entire time.
At first Megamind didn't move. He stood frozen and staring at the oversized offering that now lay at his feet. Roxanne could see that his eyes were still wide and his expression still aghast, but after a few moments of watching him, she also began to see a flicker of something else in his face.
Something very familiar.
Her gaze quickly shifted back to Wayne. Although Roxanne was relieved to finally see him again, it was obvious that he wasn't faring any better than he had been the last time she had seen him. The boa plasma was still molded to every inch of his body, and every movement he made appeared strenuous and difficult - as though he was physically wrestling against his own super strength just to do something as simple as raise his head. Seeing him like this was both surreal and scary for Roxanne. In many ways, it was even worse than the memory of a flayed skeleton strewn upon the fake observatory floor.
Because this time, it wasn't just a charade.
This time, it really was Metro Man - sprawled at the feet of his former nemesis, slumped in an undignified heap, and struggling just to move.
Wayne grunted with exertion as, inch-by-inch, he fought to twist and lift his body. If anything, he seemed to be struggling even more than he had before. The time spent trapped inside that substance must have really been taking its toll. His gritted teeth and the strain in his chiseled jaw betrayed the effort he was expending to just push himself up from his position on the floor. His head drooped and his hair created a shaggy curtain over his eyes. His shoulders sloped tensely as he tried to get one arm propped beneath him.
After what felt like an endless stretch of time, Megamind finally moved. He approached Wayne slowly, never once taking his eyes off him.
Roxanne watched as the new expression she had seen flicker across Megamind's face a moment ago began to become much clearer - much more defined. She knew that look; she knew it very well. She had seen it on him countless times before - back when he had still been a villain, as well as since he had become a hero. On Megamind's expressive face, it was unmistakable.
It was a look of utter fascination.
Megamind stopped directly in front of Wayne's prone form and, after a brief pause, crouched slowly down to his former rival's level. He barely blinked as he took in every facet of what was in front of him. His head cocked to the side and his huge, inquisitive green eyes flitted back and forth rapidly. They roved over every detail before them, gazing curiously and clinically as Wayne continued his strenuous efforts to raise himself.
After another moment of intense scrutiny, Megamind sank all the way to one knee and leaned forward against his arm. Then he reached out, placed his other hand beneath Wayne's scruffy chin, and guided the former hero's head upward so they were finally looking each other squarely in the face.
Roxanne's lips parted and she inhaled a small, startled breath. She recalled the day, not very long ago, when Megamind had first demonstrated the effects of the paradox gun to her. He had said that once an object was encased in the cloudy plasma its movements were extremely limited, but that external forces could act upon it without much difficulty. Roxanne could now truly see what he had meant by that. Up to this point, Wayne's own movements had been strained, difficult, and tense, however when Megamind had reached forward and raised his chin, the action looked almost as effortless as . . .
Well, . . . as effortless as anything Metro Man, himself, had ever done.
Megamind said nothing at first, but continued to stare, captivated. He tilted Wayne's head from one side to the other, examining him closely - almost scientifically - and looking every bit as spellbound as he had the day he and Roxanne had first discovered Wayne alive in the bunker beneath the old schoolhouse by the lake.
Wayne, on the other hand, had no choice but to yield to the movement of Megamind's hand. He looked as though he wanted to say something, but all he seemed capable of right now was heavy, labored breathing. Roxanne wasn't surprised; he had been fighting the boa plasma for hours.
After another moment, Megamind reached forward with his other hand and took hold of one of Wayne's arms. He slid the limb forward so it could serve as a support for Wayne's upper body, propping him up off the floor so he wouldn't fall forward again.
Roxanne couldn't help but think of an artist molding clay as she watched Megamind easily manipulate Wayne's body position - in a way that Wayne, even with all his super strength, had been unable to do for himself a moment ago.
For another minute or so, Megamind's huge, fascinated eyes drank in every detail of the tableau before him. Then he paused, his head once again tilting curiously. He looked Wayne fully in the face again and finally spoke.
His words, however, were not directed at Wayne.
"What is he doing here?" he asked Owen pointedly.
Owen's body gave an awkward shift. He looked back and forth in slight confusion, mutely gesturing with his open hand for a moment, then his arms dropped unceremoniously to his sides. The hand holding the spider-bot's remote just sort of sagged beside his hip. He looked puzzled.
"Why is he here?" he replied incredulously. Clearly Megamind's question wasn't the one he had been expecting. "Well . . . I mean, it's . . ." Owen's lips twisted bemusedly and his features set into an odd, perplexed squint. "I-it's Metro Man," he concluded, as though that were explanation enough, and motioned feebly forward with both hands.
Megamind finally turned his head to the baffled young man, giving him a measured, peevish look over his shoulder. His previously wide eyes had narrowed into a stern glare.
"I can see that it's Metro Man," he retorted edgily. "That wasn't what I asked." Megamind rose to his feet again and faced Owen directly, leaving Wayne propped heavily against his own arm. "What I fail to see is how his presence here factors into your city-wide grudge."
Owen looked taken aback. He blinked in silence for a moment. Then his mouth began to move wordlessly, like a stranded fish. It was several seconds before he was able to force any sound out. "But I thought you . . . I-I mean he was-" he stammered, ineffectually fidgeting with the spider-bot's remote control as he spoke. "He's your enemy."
Megamind arched one eyebrow impassively. He crossed his arms over his chest and glared at the flustered young man. "Again," he droned coldly, "I'm very much aware of who he is. If there's a point to all this, though, Owen, I'm still waiting to hear it."
Owen shifted again, and Roxanne could see his face growing steadily paler. "I-I told you," he stuttered uncomfortably. "I needed to make up for . . . for what I did. I needed something big - something important. So . . ." Owen gestured insistently toward Wayne's large, hunched form on the floor. His voice began to rise with what sounded like hints of panic. "He's yours," he insisted. "I-I got him for you."
Megamind sneered. His green eyes reignited with unmistakable flashing traces of intense anger. He took a step forward and surveyed the young man icily. "So what you mean to say is: this was your purpose in stealing my belongings," he said. It wasn't a question.
Owen instantly blanched. "Oh," he gasped as some sort of realization seemed to dawn on him. The hand that was gripping the spider-bot's remote began to tremble. "No, Mr. Mind. I wasn't trying to take a victory away from you, I just . . ." He swallowed hard. "I-I thought you'd be pleased." His voice had gotten very small.
Owen slid the remote control back into one of his side pockets - possibly so it wouldn't clatter out of his grip - and took a slow, nervous step forward. He cleared his throat in what was probably an attempt to force some strength back into his voice. He raised his empty hands entreatingly out in front of him.
"This was the only thing I could think of to give you to . . ." Owen winced. ". . . to make things up to you. I wanted to prove to you: I really am on your side."
His pleading hands curled into fists as he continued to hold them toward Megamind. "Your sworn enemy is completely at your mercy," he said breathlessly. "I may have found him for you, but it was all because of you that he was defeated." Owen's eyes brightened slightly as he spoke. "You know it, I know it, and soon the whole city will know it, too. You finally did it!"
Roxanne watched as the young man struggled to vindicate himself. His throat worked anxiously as he attempted to swallow down some of the obvious dread that had begun building up inside him.
"I read the notations you made in your database - especially the ones about the paradox gun," he explained. "I saw your theory about what it could do - even to someone with Metro Man's powers. And you were right. It worked! Just like you said it would!"
Roxanne could see Owen's eyes begin to spark back to life as he continued and it caused her stomach to turn uneasily. His initial panic was beginning to ebb away, his face was growing more and more elated, and his brown eyes were becoming bright and manic.
"I pulled the trigger," he confirmed, "but you . . . you made it all possible. It was your genius that finally put Metro Man in his place, once and for all. You're the one who actually defeated him, Mr. Mind . . ." Owen straightened his shoulders and a small, self-satisfied smile returned to his face. "And I was the one who helped you."
Megamind didn't respond to that. He merely continued to stare Owen down, just as he had been doing for the past several minutes. Owen's excessive flattery had clearly done nothing to quell the anger that seemed to be coming off Megamind's lean shoulders in waves.
Owen's excited smile faltered and weakened until it finally slipped entirely from his face. His body twitched nervously and his lip curled. "Why are you looking at me like that?" he muttered, shifting his weight from foot to foot. Then his voice began to rise. "What did I do wrong?" He instinctively backed up a step.
Megamind did not respond.
"I was only trying to help," Owen insisted adamantly, his voice pitching higher as he went on. His empty fists began to clench and unclench at his sides. "And I only did it because there was no way for you to have known-"
Then he stopped. He blinked. And a shadow of sudden suspicion crossed his features.
"Mr. Mind, you-" He paused and glanced back and forth between Megamind and the crumpled form of Metro Man. Megamind had completely turned his back to the hero at his feet, and had not acknowledged him since he had begun speaking to Owen. The young villain's head gave a twitchy little shake and he narrowed his gaze. "You knew, didn't you?" he said. His voice had become raspy. "You knew Metro Man wasn't really dead."
Megamind glared at the young man. A small, dour smirk began to twist at the corner of his lips. "Of course I knew," he replied matter-of-factly. "What do you take me for?"
At that, Owen's wide eyes seemed to go slightly out of focus with shock. He stared vacantly into the middle distance between him and Megamind. His thoughts must have been racing because at least a dozen different expressions flickered across his face in only a few short seconds. Then his brows knitted together and his confusion turned sharply into a very clear, very pronounced, anger.
"But," he countered, "all this time?" His eyes focused back on Megamind's face and his voice rose stridently with indignation. His shoulders began to rise and fall in quick, large movements. "He's been hiding right in front of you! For a whole year! And you're saying you knew?"
Megamind's shoulders straightened slightly and he almost seemed to give them a nonchalant shrug. "Of course," he repeated. He raised an index finger to tap it pointedly against his own temple. "I'm a super genius, Owen. There's very little I don't know."
Owen fumed. His hands tightened into quivering fists at his sides. Roxanne imagined that the young villain was quite literally witnessing the last vestiges of his plan crumble to pieces right in front of him. His citywide bombings had been stopped, he hadn't been able to coerce Megamind into returning to villainy, and now his attempt to use Wayne as a bargaining chip - a "gift" to help make amends - was a complete failure.
Roxanne grinned knowingly.
The "Fire Bug" was about to go down in flames.
Owen's body was quaking with barely contained fury as he locked eyes with Megamind across the short distance between them. Traces of hurt, anger, frustration, and betrayal flashed in quick succession over his face. He took a deep, heavy breath in through his nose, like a bull mustering itself up for a final charge.
"I see," the young man hissed bitterly. Then he shrugged. "So I guess that means you also knew about his little afternoon trysts with your girlfriend."
Megamind sniffed derisively.
"Naturally, I-"
Then he stopped, blinked, and stiffened.
"What?"
"What?" Roxanne also said, at nearly the exact same moment. But while Megamind's voice had suddenly gone quiet, hers was sharp and astonished as she stared, wide-eyed, at Owen.
Owen, on the other hand, slowly began to regain some of his lost composure. The anger in his face smoothed out a bit as he glanced from Megamind to Roxanne and back again. His eyes narrowed archly and a small, scornful smile started to curl on the corner of his lips.
"Oh," he said in a tone that was both innocent and scathing. "Guess that one slipped past you, huh?"
Roxanne's features melted into a scowl, but only briefly. Once she had shaken off the initial shock of what he had just said, part of her almost wanted to laugh. The young villain had been dropping hints all afternoon about revealing some sort of "truth" to Megamind - presumably about her. Now that the revelation had come out, however, it seemed almost too ridiculous for words.
That was it? That was Owen's last-ditch effort to win Megamind over? He was trying to make it seem as though she had secretly been seeing Wayne?
Roxanne's lips curved into a wry smirk and she audibly scoffed.
Megamind knew full well that she and Wayne had never been a couple, so Owen wasn't going to get anywhere with this plan either.
Megamind's body gave a visible little shake. He may have been slightly slower to recover from Owen's announcement than Roxanne had been, but eventually he, too, had banished any residual surprise that had been evident on his face. Once again, he was frowning balefully at the young villain. He crossed his arms over his chest and arched one eyebrow in irritation. "Don't be ridiculous," he said.
"Right," Owen countered. He shrugged contemptuously. "I guess it could just be a coincidence that I happened to find them both in the same place at the same time today." He crossed his arms over his own chest, mirroring Megmind's posture, then he crooked one finger against his chin in mock thoughtfulness. "But how to explain all those other times . . ." He also raised his eyebrow as his voice trailed off suggestively.
At that, Roxanne began to see red. She had heard enough. She was perfectly happy to let Owen's absurd claims crash and burn on their own, but she simply wouldn't stand here and allow him to make blatant, ugly insinuations about her - or about Wayne, for that matter. And she absolutely refused to allow him to attempt to use her as a means of getting under Megamind's skin.
She was finished being the villain's bait.
She reached forward and gripped the bars tightly. "That's the big revelation you've been threatening to make?" she spat indignantly, shaking her head. "You are so far off-base, Owen, it's not even funny."
"I'm sorry." The young villain faced her challengingly. "Is it customary to canoodle in public with one's presumed-dead ex during lunch break?" One of Owen's hands slid down his side and disappeared into his pocket again. "Because I've gotta say, it strikes me as a little suspicious." His voice purposely emphasized the last word, playfully but contemptuously.
Roxanne glared daggers at him. "Oh, you've really got some nerve, you know that?" she snarled. "But here's a news flash for you, Fire Bug: Megamind and I both knew Metro Man wasn't dead - for a long time, in fact." She clutched the bars tighter and looked Owen directly in the eyes. "So you can come up with all the vicious fabrications you want," she sneered, "but nothing you say is ever going to work."
Owen's lips twisted into a disdainful grin. "Oh, I don't need to say anything, Ms. Ritchi," he replied. There was a click-clack sound from across the room as the projector he had set up earlier sprang to life. He raised an eyebrow at her. "Not when these say about a thousand words a piece."
Owen's nasty smirk widened as he drew his hand from his pocket and held up the small, thumb-sized remote control he had used previously to turn the machine on. At first, there was only bright, white light illuminating the screen. Then, with another click-clack, an image slid into place.
Roxanne's eyes focused on it. A moment later, her stomach gave a distinct twist.
On the screen was an enlarged photograph of both her and Wayne, sitting together at the Café Beanery. Roxanne barely blinked as she studied the frozen image of her own face casting an earnest, glowing smile in her companion's direction. She was leaning across the surface of the small table between them, covering his large hand gently with her small one. Her expression radiated sincere affection, which Wayne returned in kind. His smile, beneath the shadow of his fedora, was lopsided, sweet, and far more genuine than the former, toothy grin of his heroic alter-ego.
At the sight of the picture, Roxanne suddenly couldn't breathe. She remembered that day very well. After all, the first time she had encountered Wayne at the café hadn't been that long ago. By itself, this captured moment was innocent and innocuous. If Roxanne remembered correctly, she and Wayne had even been discussing Megamind at the time - which would probably explain the faint blush dusting her cheeks in the photo. However, the method by which Owen had chosen to present it-
. . . Highlighting the openness of her smile, the happy shine in her blue eyes, the intimacy of their touching hands, the unguarded warmth in Wayne's honest face as he looked back at her . . .
-Owen had managed to turn it into something perverse.
Super-villainy. The thought struck Roxanne like a sledgehammer. It's all about presentation.
Owen clicked onto another slide. This one was similar to the first, but Roxanne noticed that her outfit was different. It was the one she had been wearing the day of the Metro Tower bombing. The new image depicted her and Wayne, once again sitting together, and leaning conspiratorially toward each other from across the table. On Roxanne's face was a bright, playful grin.
The next slide showed her once again in her original outfit. (Another from the first day, apparently.) Roxanne was lightly squeezing Wayne's arm and her eyes were slanted into a beguiling, sultry gaze - as though the camera had captured the image just as she had been batting her eyes dramatically. The frozen moment made her look excessively flirtatious.
The click-clack sound of the projector continued to echo through the hallway as Owen pressed his thumb upon the remote and the picture changed yet again.
By now, Roxanne's face was burning and her entire body was trembling with abject fury over Owen's outrageous new attempt at manipulation. Yet through it all, Megamind had yet to say a word. As Roxanne turned her head to finally meet his eyes, she expected to see his expression mirroring the incredulousness in her own.
What she saw instead was like a punch to the gut.
He wasn't even looking at her. His huge, green eyes were intensely fixated on the screen in a stunned, unblinking stare. His lips were parted slightly and he looked positively aghast as he stood across from her, silently frozen to the spot.
Roxanne's stomach turned. She had been so certain that his reactions would reflect hers: anger, indignation, and outrage over the sheer impossibility of Owen's claims. She wouldn't even have been surprised if, after a beat, Megamind had struck an overly-dramatic stance, as he was prone to do, smirked widely, and shot down Owen's last-ditch effort with a robust laugh and some well-placed banter.
But she hadn't expected this. Not this silent, desolate shock. Not after the months she and Megamind had spent together. Not after he had changed so much . . . after everything he had done for this city . . . after what he and Roxanne had shared. He had to know how much she cared for him. He had to know she would never . . .
But as she looked at him now, her heart spasmed with what felt like a very palpable stab of pain. Right before her eyes, Megamind's larger-than-life confidence had suddenly vanished. Every buried anxiety he had ever felt seemed to flash inexorably through his over-bright eyes. Every suppressed insecurity he had ever suffered as a result of his isolated and solitary life played across his expressive face in horrific detail.
The weight of it made Roxanne feel physically ill.
And as Megamind's jaw throbbed slightly, as his throat forced down a silent swallow, and as the relentlessly hollow echo of the rain pounded against the outside of the building, Roxanne vividly recalled where she had seen that expression before . . .
It had been raining that night, too.
God. Oh, God.
"Megamind."
She had intended to get his attention using a confident tone - something bold and strengthening to counteract the damage Owen was attempting to do. She had wanted her voice to anchor him, to assure him that what he was seeing simply wasn't true. That while the pictures were real, the sentiment displayed in them was an embellished lie. But when Roxanne spoke his name, the word instead slipped out in a breathless, desperate whisper.
Megamind did not react to the sound of her voice, however, and his eyes remained glued to the pictures on the screen.
Roxanne desperately wished she could go back in time and tell Megamind right away about running into Wayne at the coffee shop. At first, it hadn't seemed important, and later, when Wayne had asked her not to mention it, she had attempted to honor that request. But now . . .
"Megamind," she tried again, "please, listen to me-"
More than anything, she wanted to tell him that the afternoons she had spent with Wayne were nothing - that they had meant nothing. But that would have been a lie, too. Through those meetings, Wayne had become her friend - after years of merely being participants in an elaborate role-playing game, they had finally, truly forged a real friendship. And to deny him now - especially after what he had sacrificed today to protect her - would be equally cruel. She couldn't do that to Wayne; she couldn't treat him like he didn't matter - like what he had done for her didn't matter. She owed him at least that much.
No.
She needed to make this right. For both men. Roxanne Ritchi was not a woman who gave up easily, and she wouldn't give up now. Especially not now.
She took a deep breath, gathered herself, and forced some strength into her voice. "Megamind," she said, clearly and steadily, "you need to understand me. Wayne and I are friends. We're not-"
A small chuckle interrupted her from Owen's direction and she angrily shifted her gaze. He was standing there, arms crossed, and smirking at her.
"Oh no, go on," he urged lightly with an encouraging brush of his hand. "I did say I wanted to see you look him in the eye and try to deny this."
At that, Roxanne completely rounded him. "How dare you!" she exploded. "You manipulative little monster!"
Owen only seemed to use her fury as fuel. He scoffed at her in response. "Oh, come on, Ms. Ritchi," he said. "Don't take it out on me just because you got caught red-handed."
He shrugged. "Besides, you're in the media; you should know there are eyes everywhere." He looked around dramatically and wiggled his fingers for emphasis, then crossed his arms back over his chest again.
A memory suddenly hit Roxanne. Her eyes widened then narrowed, flashing at him venomously. "You were the one who bumped into me, weren't you?" she said accusingly. "That day in the coffee shop." Her fists clenched and unclenched with barely contained rage. "The guy with the cell phone." She cocked her head at him with a sneer. "Let me guess: camera?"
Owen smirked nastily.
The projector click-clacked again and again and the barrage of photographs continued their assault:
. . . Roxanne casting her eyes bashfully downward as she coyly swept her bangs across her forehead . . .
. . . Wayne propping his chin against the dome of his interlaced fingers as he leaned toward her from across the table, a wistful look on his face . . .
. . . Even more shots of Roxanne touching Wayne's arm or holding Wayne's hand . . .
. . . Meaningful, playful glances over the rim of a cup of coffee . . .
And through it all, Megamind stood frozen and thunderstruck, his rapt attention hostage to the images on the screen.
Roxanne squeezed her eyes shut until her head ached. She pressed the tight fists of both hands firmly against her temples. "Stop this," she said with a gasp. "Stop it!"
Owen paused and looked from her to the projector screen to Megamind and back again. By now he had managed to regain much of the confidence he had lost earlier, and when he spoke there was an unmistakable, villainous swagger in his voice.
"But Ms. Ritchi," he said with a cruel smile, "this last one is my favorite."
The click-clack of the machine echoed one more time through the hall. Roxanne opened her eyes, which felt slightly moist, and stared in horror at the final image.
In the photo, she was standing beside Wayne's chair, leaning down to his level and placing a tender kiss upon his cheek. Her eyes were closed softly, and one of her hands was gently cradling the other side of his face as her lips pressed against his skin.
When this had actually happened, the kiss had been quick, affectionate, and friendly. But this picture - from the angle of the shot to the focus on her face - made it seem much more meaningful . . . personal . . .
Intimate.
Roxanne let out a frustrated, anguished moan and gripped the bars in front of her - not certain she would be able to stand up straight otherwise.
Megamind blinked hard and finally managed to shift his attention away from the images on the projector screen. His wide eyes stared straight ahead, making little, darting movements within their sockets but focusing on nothing in particular. His thin chest expanded rhythmically with short, shallow breaths. Judging by the expression on his face, his thoughts were probably racing uncontrollably.
Roxanne pulled herself against the bars and searched his face intently. She wanted to reach out to him, but he was standing just out of range. ". . . Megamind . . ."
Owen mercifully scrolled past the final image, leaving the screen white and blank once more. Then, with a click of the remote, he shut the projector off.
"Look," he said carefully, "I know you probably feel like shooting the messenger. And believe me, after what happened today, I wouldn't blame you. But you needed to know about this, Mr. Mind." He slid the remote back into his pocket and took a cautious step toward Megamind, his empty hands raised in a calming gesture. "You needed to see it for yourself," he emphasized. "Your heroism is based on a lie. The people of this city don't care about you. Your girlfriend was just using you. And your old nemesis was hiding out under your nose." He sneered hostilely. "They must have been laughing so hard behind your back. Both of them."
"He's lying," Roxanne interjected angrily. Her voice was gravelly, but she had managed to make it calm and steady. "Megamind, I told you how things were. Last year, remember? Please tell me you're not believing this."
Megamind continued to stare off into space, his shoulders rising and falling in small, shallow movements as he breathed. Owen slightly shifted his position and attempted to move directly into Megamind's line of sight.
"I know you probably hate me right now," Owen said, his voice quiet and pacifying. "I know I have a long way to go toward earning any kind of trust. But I think, in time, you'll see I was right. I couldn't let them keep making a fool of you like that. They turned you into something you spent your entire life fighting against - something completely against your nature - then they indulged in their own agenda when your back was turned."
"No," Roxanne countered again, vehemently. "Megamind, you know that isn't true. None of it. I would never hurt you. And neither would Wayne." She wrapped her hands around the bars again and tried to will Megamind to look at her. "It was just coffee with a friend," she said adamantly. "And a creep with a camera and too much time on his hands," she added, casting a vicious, accusatory glare in Owen's direction.
Owen, however, continued to ignore her. He swallowed hard and stretched a pleading hand outward. "I spent most of my life planning to measure up to the villain that you were," he said as he then placed that hand over the beetle on his chest. "Let me try now, please. I'm the only one here who's really on your side."
Roxanne tightened her grip on the bars so much that the cut on her hand throbbed almost unbearably. "I'm warning you, Owen," she said. Her throat felt tight and her voice was low and dangerous. "I told you I wouldn't let you get away with dragging him down."
Owen finally cast her a sidelong glare. His eyes narrowed. "Check the mirror, Ms. Ritchi," he countered. "I'm not the one who did this. I just showed him what he needed to see."
"Who are you kidding?" Roxanne hissed darkly. "You didn't do this for him." Her stiff body trembled and her eyes began to sting. "You are selfish, and you're manipulative, Owen, and I promise you: I will find a way to make you pay for doing this."
Owen's lip curled. "And I told you to just try it," he retorted. "Take your best shot."
". . . Enough . . ."
Both Roxanne and Owen turned at the raspy sound of Megamind's voice.
Megamind's eyes slid closed for a moment. When he reopened them, they had regained some of their focus. He aimed them pointedly in Owen's direction first, regarding the young villain with a stony glare. "I've heard enough."
For several seconds, there was only a profound, eerie silence in the stuffy air of the old zoo. Then it was broken again by a heavy, labored sound rising up from beside Megamind's feet.
". . . Little buddy . . ."
Roxanne looked down and gasped. Wayne had somehow managed to shift his position on the floor so he was now angled toward them. His face was lined with exertion. He must have put up a huge struggle against the boa plasma to move his body, even such a small distance, but he had managed to prop himself up and raise his head. His steel-blue eyes were focused intently on Megamind above him and his shoulders rose and fell with deep, strenuous breaths.
"Little buddy," he said again, his voice heavy with effort. "It's not . . ." he grunted, ". . . not what you think."
Megamind tilted his head to stare down at the prone form beside him. For a moment, his eyes appeared curious again as they regarded Wayne. Then, suddenly, a shuddering spasm went through Megamind's shoulders. His fists seemed to reflexively curl into themselves at his sides, his expression darkened, and his bright eyes narrowed angrily.
He shook his head and let out a small scoff. "Not . . . what I think?"
Roxanne noticed a distinct, biting aggression in his response. Hearing it sent a shiver over her skin.
Megamind refocused his eyes on Wayne and turned to face him more fully. Then he bent down closer to him. "You . . ." he continued, his voice rising slightly in pitch. "You think you actually know . . . what I'm thinking?" He gave another little, mock chortle. "I assure you: you do not have the slightest idea what is running through my head right now." His face hovered very close to Wayne's as he spoke, and his impossibly green eyes seemed to ignite like a solar fire.
Roxanne set her jaw and narrowed her eyes. "Megamind," she said steadily, pulling herself up against the bars again. "Please, you need to focus. Owen wants you to blame-"
A second quick, sharp scoff interrupted her and Megamind's mouth twisted into a sardonic, humorless smile. It was enough to startle Roxanne into silence. He didn't turn his head to look at her, however; he kept his full attention on Wayne.
"Oh, I'm very much aware of what the delinquent is trying to do," he replied. His eyes slid upward and fixed themselves briefly on Owen, who shifted nervously beneath the acid-tint of his glare. Megamind then straightened to his full height and refocused his eyes back downward onto Wayne.
"I am a superiorly intelligent being," he pointed out casually as he began taking slow steps around Wayne's body. "I can recognize a rudimentary attempt at mani-pul-ation when I see it. I cannot be swayed by such things."
His voice had noticeably lightened, but his body language acutely reminded Roxanne of a circling predator. Despite his claim, something about the way he mispronounced the word "manipulation" - with a longer "oo" sound in the middle than needed - created a deep, uneasy feeling in the pit of Roxanne's stomach. She swallowed hard against it as her eyes continued to follow him.
Megamind looked down at Wayne again and the muscles in his face gave a distasteful twitch. "But as someone with such advanced intellect," he went on, gesturing conversationally with his hands as he spoke, "it's a particularly thorny problem when I encounter a question I'm unable to answer. I admit, I don't like being faced with things I can't understand."
When he had completed his circle, he stopped, lowered his hands, and looked directly down at Wayne again. "This particular question has plagued me for years," he said. "For a short time, I actually thought I had moved beyond the need to answer it." His jaw shifted from side to side, as though he was grinding his back teeth. The fingers of one hand twitched and clenched, then relaxed again at his side. "It seems I was mistaken."
Wayne kept his focus on Megamind's face. He breathed steadily and heavily.
For a brief moment, Megamind continued to regard his former rival blankly, his lips forming a thin, pale line. Then his features darkened considerably and he leaned down closer to Wayne's level. "Perhaps you can answer it for me, old friend," he said coldly, growling the last two words out through his teeth as though they were a curse. He brought his face very near to Wayne's and hissed, "Is there nothing I won't lose because of you?"
Roxanne felt her insides squirm. "Megamind," she said. For an instant her voice was breathy and alarmed, but the she quickly added some force to it. "Megamind, look at me."
But he didn't. His eyes were burning as they fixed upon the man before him.
Wayne's jaw clenched. "Listen," he finally said in retaliation. His voice was gentle, but heavy with obvious effort. "I know how this must look, but-"
Megamind abruptly straightened, as though physically pushing himself away. "Oh, I don't think you do!" he exclaimed as he threw his hands up in a show of exasperation and backed away from Wayne. "I mean, honestly. Didn't you already have enough?"
Roxanne gave a start at the sudden shift in him. One moment, Megamind's entire body was trembling with a tight, seething anger, and the next he had all but exploded into a much more exclamatory, ranting kind of frustration. She was used to seeing such quick mood swings in him, but something about this one was different.
Then Megamind's brow furrowed and the corners of his mouth pulled down. He sighed, deflating. "Didn't you already have everything?"
The anger seemed to vanish completely, as quickly as it had come. Megamind's tone had softened, the reproach had left him, and the aggression had died. His last statement had barely been above a whisper, but Roxanne had noticed a distinct catch in his voice as he'd said it.
Her heart sank.
Wayne, however, frowned back. He shifted his weight as much as he could manage and his jaw tightened with challenge. "Everything?" he repeated. "You want to talk about 'everything'?" His words were still strained, but he was able to force some strength into them as he spoke. "Take a closer look, little buddy," he said as he managed to raise the fingers of the arm he was propped against and gesture to himself with them. "Does it really look like I have so much to brag about?"
Megamind stared back for a few seconds. Then his expression jarred abruptly out of neutral. Just as quickly as it had drained out of him, the anger was back.
"Oh, spare me!" he countered with a defiant snarl. "Don't pretend for a minute that you didn't choose this." He gestured widely with his arms. "What? Am I supposed to feel sorry for you? Just because things didn't turn out the way you planned? Please. You're talking to the guy who raised failure to an art form." Megamind narrowed his eyes and glared unforgivingly at his former adversary. "You may not be satisfied with the results, but make no mistake: this was your choice."
While Megamind had been speaking, Roxanne had caught a glimpse of Owen out of the corner of her eye. She turned her head to get a better look. The young man was simply standing there, looking both dumbfounded and intrigued by the scene playing out before them. He didn't look as though he had been expecting this, but he didn't appear disappointed by the spectacle either.
At least he didn't seem to be posing any additional threat.
Roxanne quickly turned back to Megamind. He was flourishing one hand in small circles through the air. "Why is it," he mused with a distasteful sneer, "that whenever the great Metro Man gets dissatisfied with his life, everything and everyone around him is just collateral damage?" Megamind fell into a crouch in front of Wayne. "Care to answer that one?" He leaned forward and insinuated himself deep into his rival's space. The two men were nearly nose-to-nose.
Wayne grimaced, but looked resolutely back at Megamind. "Little buddy-"
"Shut up!" Megamind cut him off sharply with an abrasive hiss. "Just shut up." He squeezed his eyes closed momentarily, and trembled. When he reopened them, they were once again alight with absolute fury. He straightened to a standing position, his spine poker-straight and tense. "Don't you dare patronize me," he spat. "At what point in our entire sordid history together did you ever get the impression that we were friends?"
Wayne's eyes widened and he seemed to recoil as though he had been struck.
Owen simply stood there - jaw hanging open as though it had broken a hinge.
Roxanne gasped at the undisguised venom in Megamind's voice. Over the past year, she had come to realize just how much he had actually admired his former adversary. And just a few hours ago, Roxanne had been so certain that Megamind would have been more than receptive to Wayne's offer of friendship. But now . . .
Now the sense of betrayal radiating off him was practically tangible. It was surreal and exceedingly unlike him. Which made it truly frightening.
"Our symbiotic relationship didn't exactly benefit us both, you know," Megamind continued, scoffing harshly. "Oh, you got what you wanted," he spat accusingly and began to pace the length of the floor in front of Wayne's body. "You always got what you wanted." His hands clenched and unclenched tightly as he stalked back and forth. "You set your sights on being a shiny, flawless hero-" Megamind shrugged. "-so I obliged. I was the perfect, diabolical yin to your yang, after all. All those years. The ideal Dark, Dashing Villain to your Mr. Goody-Two-Shoes. "
Megamind regarded Wayne with a sidelong glare. Sharp, angry lines marred the smooth planes of his face. "Until you got bored, of course, and decided you wanted a game change," he hissed viciously. "And, once again, it was all about what you wanted. For the record: I was perfectly fine with things as they were. But, no. No, you decided that you'd rather loaf around in your bathrobe, plucking guitar strings and growing unsightly facial hair."
Roxanne noticed a flash of confusion flicker over Owen's face at that last bit of information, but he remained rapt and silent.
"So, fine," Megamind conceded with another exaggerated shrug. He prowled back up to Wayne and loomed menacingly over him. "I took your cast-offs. I let you cast me in the role you no longer wanted. And you know what?" He sneered. "I was good at it."
"I know." Wayne attempted a weak smile. "I heard."
Megamind leered spitefully. "So it seems."
Immobile as he was, Wayne actually seemed to rear back at that. Then his brows pinched together sharply and he, too, began to get angry. "Look, Megamind," he asserted insistently, "I know you're upset, but you need to get a grip. You really are getting the wrong idea about all this. Roxanne and I are friends - just like she said. You can think whatever you want about me, but you can't honestly believe she would-"
Wayne's words cut off by a sudden bark of unsettling laughter. It was a joyless, hostile sound that seemed to boil up slowly from deep within Megamind's chest. The sound of it prickled the hairs on Roxanne's arms and raised tiny bumps across the surface of her skin. It was noticeably different from the carefully-crafted evil cackle to which she had grown so accustomed over the years - those laughs had always been so full of exuberance, even delight. This one wasn't overly theatrical, but it did have a hollow force to it that somehow filled the small room, rolling off the walls with the same intensity as thunder over clouds.
Megamind fixed his angry eyes on Wayne again. "You actually think this is about me being jealous?" he asked. His voice was low and tight with obvious emotion, as well as the lingering remnants of his previous laughter.
Roxanne's lips parted slowly and her eyes narrowed. She shifted them between the two men. She wasn't sure she understood what was going on either. If this hadn't been a reaction to those photographs, then what was it?
Megamind shook his head and his features hardened. He leaned down further into Wayne's space once again. "No, this isn't about jealousy," he snarled. "In fact, I'm finished being jealous of you. This is about the detrimental effect your very existence continues to have on my life. It's about the fact that everything I've ever done, for better or worse, has somehow been influenced by you. And-" He straightened abruptly and thrust out an accusing arm, pointing severely at Owen, who jolted back. "-it's about the fact that delusional idiots like this one think my life is still defined by your presence in it."
Megamind's body went so rigid that he trembled, his pointing arm shuddering, even as his eyes remained steadily locked on Wayne's. Then he drew back the finger that was pinning Owen to the spot and lowered his arm back to his side.
The young man finally shifted, expelling a breath, as though he had been physically released from some invisible bonds. Megamind's hand curled into a trembling fist beside his thigh. He continued to scowl down at Wayne. His shoulders rose and fell slowly.
"The reason he came to my lair today was because of you," Megamind said, his voice softer, but with a noticeable quiver. "Except I wasn't the one who found him there."
Roxanne's body suddenly turned cold. Her fingers went loose around the bars in front of her. A moment later, both hands had slowly risen to cover her mouth. She had no idea how long she stood there, frozen.
"Oh, my God," she finally breathed. Minion.
Wayne's eyes went very wide. His jaw worked wordlessly for a moment before he could force out any sound. "You mean-?"
"There," Megamind affirmed with a curt nod, a riptide of tension churning beneath the surface of his skin. "Now you know what I'm thinking." His jaw clenched and a muscle in it throbbed like a pulse. "This parasitic pyromaniac may have been the one who pulled the trigger-" Megamind's eyes glinted. "-but you were the reason he was there."
For Roxanne, all the air was suddenly suctioned out of the room. Her wind felt cut off, as though she had been punched in the gut. Even the noise of the rain outside seemed to have been filtered away and the air of the old zoo hung thick with a mixture of eerie silence and a steady, phantom ringing in her ears.
Megamind was staring at Wayne, the green of his eyes roiling like a celestial storm. Then he glanced slowly to his left and back again. He straightened to his full height, set his shoulders back, and cocked his head to one side. The features on his face smoothed to a sudden and almost impossible calm. "And maybe I just don't want you influencing my life anymore," he said. "Hero."
Then he turned on his heel and stalked swiftly down the hall to his left - to where the dehydration gun had come to rest beside a pile of rubble. He scooped it up in a quick, fluid motion and strode with deliberate purpose back toward Wayne again.
Roxanne felt her insides jolt and she immediately reached for the bars again. "Megamind!" she protested, feeling the word tumble from her mouth before she was even fully conscious of saying it. Her brain had begun flying in several different directions at once . . .
. . . The paradox gun . . . the dehydration gun . . . the fact that getting rid of the boa plasma meant destroying whatever was trapped inside it . . . the suddenly horrifying memory of the lair's floor littered with small chunks of barely identifiable debris . . .
That last detail was what she had feared most ever since Wayne had succumbed to the blast from the paradox gun in the café. In the back of Roxanne's mind, however, she had never doubted that Megamind would work tirelessly to find another way to free him. She had even thought he would enjoy the fact that Wayne was entirely dependent upon him for help for once. Roxanne hadn't doubted this because she knew Megamind - his love of a challenge, but also the fact that he had never truly hated his former rival.
But the moment Megamind's fingers wrapped resolutely around the filigreed hilt of the dehydration gun, Roxanne felt a stab of doubt she had never felt before. Creeping fingers of uncertainty wormed their way into her mind, and her heart began to hammer mercilessly against her ribcage.
Oh God, what did he think he was doing?
"Megamind," she implored again, her voice nearly breathless. "Wait!"
The next instant, Roxanne swiftly shifted her eyes back toward Owen. While Megmaind's attention on him seemed to have become sporadic, Roxanne's certainly hadn't. Owen had remained silently dumbfounded throughout the prior confrontation, but Roxanne knew all that could change now that Megamind had reclaimed his weapon.
Owen, however, didn't appear as though he felt threatened. At least not right now. In fact, he looked positively enraptured by this turn of events. His brown eyes glinted in spellbound fascination and the clear hint of a cold smile graced his parted lips.
He was actually enjoying this.
Roxanne turned quickly back to Megamind, in time to see him halt directly in front of Wayne again. His thin, blue fingers were practically choking the handle of the dehydration gun as it hung stiffly at his side. His stony eyes glared down the length of his nose at the figure on the floor in front of him. Then, with a quick flick of his thumb against the grip of the weapon, the prongs surrounding the gun's barrel sliced open like talons.
Roxanne noticed that Megamind hadn't adjusted the gun's cylinder at all, which meant it was still on the same setting that had destroyed the far wall. Fear fluttered inexorably in her stomach as the bulbous gas chamber began to churn with an eerie, electric light.
"Megamind!" Roxanne called out to him. "Megamind, look at me!"
His eyes did not stray from Wayne. But a subtle clench in his jaw betrayed his shift in focus when she spoke - as though he was fighting to keep himself from glancing her way. Roxanne found some encouragement in that.
"Come on, I know you're listening to me," she said emphatically. "Megamind, you need to stop this." She swallowed and her voice softened. "Please."
Megamind inhaled deeply, but remained resolutely focused upon his rival at his feet. Wayne returned his gaze, looking boldly and silently back up at him.
Roxanne leaned her head forward against the bars for a moment and gathered herself, taking a deep breath of her own. Then she looked at Megamind again. "I know you're in pain," she said softly. "I can't even begin to imagine how much you must be suffering right now. But, please, you need think this through. You can't blame Wayne for what happened to Minion." She gripped the bars tighter. "If you do then you'll have to blame me, too."
Megamind pursed his lips into a grim line and seemed to be putting a great deal of effort into ignoring her. As he gripped his weapon, little fingers of electricity danced inside the swirling gas chamber.
"Wayne's not your enemy; he really isn't. Not anymore," Roxanne continued. "And he needs your help right now. The two of you may have your issues, but he didn't cause this." She fixed her eyes on him insistently and set her jaw. "Someone else did."
That got Owen's attention.
The spell of captivation he had been under was suddenly broken and he turned to Roxanne with a start, fixing her sharply with an angry glare. "That's enough, Ms. Ritchi," he warned.
Roxanne ignored him. She pressed herself as close to the bars as possible and focused only on Megamind. Once again, she wished more than anything that she could tear her way through this iron cage and actually do something. But with Megamind standing just beyond the stretch of her fingers, all Roxanne had to reach him with was her voice. It would have to be enough.
"I know you," she said earnestly. "I've known you for such a long time. And I know who you really are, Megamind - you're not cruel, and you're not ruthless." She offered him a dry grin. "Despite all your efforts to the contrary over the years." Then her grin faded and her brow furrowed as she took in the sharp lines of his hardened expression.
"You're hurting," she added softly.
Megamind still didn't look at her. Owen, on the other hand, had faced her completely, his eyes narrowing with aggression.
Roxanne turned her head to him for a moment, then defiantly looked away again - as though the young villain's growing hostility wasn't worth her concern. She focused back on Megamind.
"You're also a super genius," she said emphatically. "And I know that as soon as you sort through the million-and-one thoughts that must be racing through that brilliant head of yours, you'll see things clearly." She smiled wanly. "Then you'll take down the real guilty party with style, just like I said you would."
Owen growled a curse under his breath, and took a threatening step in Roxanne's direction.
This time, she didn't even acknowledge him as he advanced. She kept her attention completely on Megamind.
"This guy thinks he can bait you back into villainy by forcing you to do something vengeful - something irreversible," Roxanne said. "He thinks he knows you, but he doesn't. Not the way I do. And I know he can't pull you down to his level. Because you're better than that. You were always better than that, Megamind. Being a true hero is who you are."
The cold expression on Megamind's face did not falter. But his throat visibly tightened and his Adam's apple plunged deeply as he stood there, motionless.
Encouraged, Roxanne felt her thin smile warm into something more genuine. "You won't do this," she added with a soft confidence. "I know you won't. Because I have faith in you. You don't give up without a fight." She took in his profile with open affection in her eyes, and her heart thrummed in her chest. "And that's the man I fell in love with."
Megamind stiffened immediately - his shoulders and his body going rigid. His eyes were suddenly enormous as he - very, very slowly - shifted them away from Wayne and onto Roxanne.
A timeless, pregnant pause lingered in the room - only interrupted by the steady tapping of rain against the outside of the building and the occasional grumble of distant thunder as the worst of the storm began to roll away.
"What?" Megamind finally asked in a breathless murmur, his face dazed and slightly mystified.
"What?" Owen echoed derisively, his own expression pinched into an incredulous sneer.
At Megamind's unguarded, earnest surprise, Roxanne's face broke into a tender smile. She couldn't help it. As usual, his reactions had such an effect on her. The shocked, silent sense of wonder in his elastic face made her insides warm and her heart flutter. Despite the grimness of their situation, and the hardships continuing to loom over them, he still managed to make her smile. He always managed to make her smile.
Roxanne completely ignored the fuming, young villain who had stopped advancing a few feet to her right. She was entirely focused on the adorably befuddled, blue man who stood directly across from her. Roxanne's smile broadened and she beamed at him. "Oh, you heard me," she chided affectionately as her mouth curled into a gentle smirk. "I'm in love with you."
For a moment Megamind only continued to stare at her, dumbfounded. His eyes were double their usual size and so, so vibrantly green Roxanne swore they were glowing. His facial features had slackened and he even seemed to be trembling slightly - probably from all the built-up tension in his body. Then he lifted the dehydration gun level with his hip and glanced down at it as the churning substance in the electrified chamber faded to nothing. A moment later, he raised his eyes back up to meet hers.
"Roxanne," he finally said. His voice was breathy and thick with emotion. He looked away again, eyes falling somewhere on the floor near his feet, and shook his head slightly. "I- I'm so sorry."
Roxanne offered him another reassuring smile. It was okay now. He would be fine. They would all be fine. They would stop Owen, they would finally get out of here, they would find a way to help Wayne, and afterwards, whatever they needed to get through, they would face it together. Roxanne waited for Megamind to meet her eyes again.
When he finally did, the look on his face gave her pause. Some of the previous marvel had receded from his expression, leaving behind a strange sort of sorrow. A churning, uneasy sensation began pooling in the pit of Roxanne's stomach. Her smile slipped slowly from her lips.
"Megamind?"
He inhaled deeply - his shoulders rising and falling stiffly. His eyes were still lantern-bright, but the shocked emotion in them was noticeably gone.
"I'm sorry," Megamind repeated. "I truly am." He shook his head again. "I'm not sure I can ever make you understand why I need to do this." His thumb moved and the barrel of the dehydration gun sparked to swirling life once more. "I only hope that, one day, you can forgive me."
An icy finger of panic shivered its way up Roxanne's spine. Her blood ran cold. Her entire world seemed to have frozen on its axis. By the time her brain caught up to the sweep of dread that had taken hold of her body, Megamind had broken eye contact again.
"Wait . . ." she gasped - a desperate, disbelieving sound that seemed to lodge itself directly into the thick panic in her throat. "What?"
Megamind turned his eyes back down onto Wayne. One corner of his mouth curled up, but there was no joy in his smile. "Get up," he said coldly, and bent down to Wayne's level.
His fingers grabbed the collar of Wayne's white t-shirt. The viscous exterior of the boa plasma yielded to his grip as though his blue fingers were sinking into jelly. Then Megamind tugged upward. Wayne grunted as his legs were forced to trail woodenly behind the upward motion of his body. Once again, Megamind demonstrated how external forces were able to act upon the boa plasma: with a bit more effort this time, he managed to haul Wayne's huge torso upward. The rest of the former hero's body had no choice but to follow.
"No," Roxanne gasped out again. She tried to insinuate herself into Megamind's line of sight, cursing the bars that held her back. "Megamind, please," she said desperately. "Please."
Owen was once again staring, wide-eyed and spellbound, at the renewed altercation between the two rivals.
Once Wayne had been hoisted to his feet, Megamind took a step back and looked him up and down. Wayne's hulking frame stood with an ape-like hunch. Although he was now upright, his thick, weighty limbs pulled heavily downward from the force of the substance that clung to every inch of him. Megamind shook his head.
"That won't do," he said offhandedly.
He stepped forward again and moved behind Wayne. With a push to the lower back and a pull at the shoulders, Megamind was able to manipulate the large man's body out of the heavy slouch. Wayne grunted again through his clenched teeth as he was molded into position. Soon he was standing at strict attention: his spine straight, his chest high, his shoulders back. As a final touch, Megamind walked back around to Wayne's front and took hold of his arms, weaving them into an imposing crisscross over the broad expanse of his muscular chest.
Then Megamind stepped back and took a second look. Another small smile pricked at the corner of his mouth.
"There," he mused appraisingly. "That's more like it." His eyes glinted with real amusement. "No excuse for sloppy presentation."
Roxanne felt her stomach churn violently. She slammed one fist hard against the unrelenting iron bars that held her back. "Megamind," she cried out again. Try as she might, however, she couldn't force her voice into anything beyond a terrified gasp. "Don't do this," she pleaded. "Please, don't do this."
Horrifying recollections of the last time she had uttered that particular plea assaulted her memory. She had been just as trapped - just as helpless. That time, however, it had been her own doom that had been looming, and she had had nothing but her words to get through to her captor.
. . . I know there's still good in you . . .
Unfortunately, those words had been thrown cruelly back at her.
She had been wrong about Hal. So heartbreakingly wrong. But she wasn't wrong about Megamind. She couldn't be wrong about him.
She loved him.
Roxanne pressed her head to the cold bars and squeezed her eyes shut.
". . . Please."
Megamind regarded Wayne with a growing sneer. "You know," he said musingly. "I've always wanted to ask this." His eyes glinted. "Any last words, Metro Mahn?"
Wayne was able to angle his head downward. His Intense Scowl of Justice was once again evident on his face. Metro Man had unmistakably reemerged. "You're choosing the role of the villain, then?" he asked.
Megamind's eyes narrowed hostilely. "Not necessarily," he replied. "I've become a big believer in shaping my own destiny. And as I told you: I've been handling your job very well." He approached Metro Man's towering form and looked straight up into his face. "I can still be Metrocity's defender," he said. Then he shrugged and brought the gun up. "I'm just finished living under the shadow of its old one."
Roxanne gritted her teeth in desperation as she watched Megamind retreat backward for a few deliberate steps, leveling his dehydration gun steadily upon his enemy as he went.
Oh God, this wasn't happening.
Metro Man's mouth quirked ruefully. "You can't be a true hero without conviction," he said. "Otherwise, you're just playing a part all over again."
Megamind grinned. "All the world is a stage," he mused. Then his face sobered and he almost seemed to pout theatrically. "Though I admit: I'd always imagined we'd have a bigger audience for this particular scene." He raised an eyebrow. "Didn't you, old friend?"
A corner of Wayne's mouth curled upward in heroic defiance. "I seem to remember having the entire city at my last curtain call," he managed to quip.
Megamind smirked back, a dark sort of approval ghosting over his face. "Too bad," he replied. "It seems that Justice won't be getting much of an encore."
"A smaller venue is usually a more meaningful one," Wayne retorted.
Megamind's mouth spread into a sinister, Cheshire grin. "I always did love a captive audience," he said silkily.
Roxanne bit down hard on her bottom lip. She couldn't take this. They were actually bantering.
"Please," she said. Her voice sounded so small and raspy in her own ears. "Please, stop this . . ."
Megamind stared down the length of his arm to where the dehydration gun was trained unwaveringly upon Metro Man. "It looks as though I'll actually have the chance to say goodbye this time," he mused, his voice deceptively soft. Then he cocked his head. "Goodbye, old friend."
Metro Man lifted his chin in proud defiance, and Megamind pulled the trigger.
A sizzle of electricity crackled down the length of the beam that shot from the gun and struck Wayne solidly in the chest. Roxanne refused to scream, but she quickly averted her eyes with a small cry. She couldn't watch this. She had to be trapped in some sort of horrific nightmare. She squeezed her eyes shut and clutched at the iron bars tightly, waiting for the explosion she knew would follow . . .
Countless seconds ticked by.
The endless silence was almost too much for Roxanne to bear. The only audible sound was the intermittent echo of the gradually dying rain.
Roxanne's heart continued to race. Her breath was heavy and erratic as she clung to the bars of her cage. Still, the explosion did not come. Curiosity finally got the better of her and she forced herself to peek her eyes open.
Then she gasped.
Metro Man was still there.
. . . Sort of.
Roxanne opened her eyes more fully. She drew in another sharp breath and took in the new scene in front of her. Her first reaction was one of overwhelming relief: Metro Man's body had somehow not been obliterated by the blast from the dehydration gun. But that was only momentarily reassuring.
He now almost looked like . . . a statue. A motionless, white statue like the one that used to straddle the entrance of the original museum. That mental image almost immediately triggered memories of what, exactly, had happened to that statue. Roxanne shuddered at the thought.
But as she looked closer, Roxanne noticed something else. The substance that now surrounded Metro Man was less like solid stone than she had originally thought.
Roxanne blinked.
Whatever it was, it almost made Wayne look like a mummy.
That was the only way Roxanne could think to describe it. Even trapped several feet away, she could still make out what appeared to be crisscrossing bandages swathing Wayne's entire body. Countless, white strips intersected each other over and over, from his feet to the top of his head. They froze his form where he stood, and hid him completely from view.
Roxanne blinked again, then squinted. She began to notice several sporadic, gray patches dappling the "statue's" surface. They appeared damp. But they were also getting gradually smaller. It was almost as though the whole thing was drying - hardening into a more solid sculpture right before her eyes.
Confused, Roxanne finally forced herself to look at Megamind again.
He casually raised the dehydration gun to his lips and blew a quick puff of air across the muzzle. He twirled the weapon sharply on his finger and - in the absence of a holster lashed to his thigh - he shoved the barrel into the pocket of his trousers. Then he closed the few steps of distance between where he had been standing and Metro Man's frozen form. For a moment he simply stood appraising it, then he crossed his arms and turned back to face Owen. He regarded the young villain with a stony expression and raised an eyebrow expectantly.
Owen nearly jumped out of his spellbound trance as he suddenly seemed to realize that Megamind was waiting for a reaction.
"Oh!" he said with a slight start. "Oh sorry, Mr. Mind!" He focused on the statue that had once been Metro Man and dutifully raked his eyes over Megamind's handiwork - exaggerating his effort with a full up-and-down motion of his head. "Gee, that's . . ." he assessed with a nod and a shrug, ". . . that's cool."
Megamind's eyebrow arched a little higher on his forehead. "Cool?" he echoed dispassionately.
Owen jerked again, his hands fidgeting in front of him as he began to flounder. "Oh! N-no," he stammered. "What I mean is . . . it's, um . . . awesome?" He rubbed the back of his neck uneasily with one hand. "I'm sorry, Mr. Mind, really. I guess I was expecting something else. After reading your database, I imagined it would be more like a 'sonic boom' - less like 'frozen-in-carbonite'." He finished with a weak, unconvincing laugh.
Megamind let out a mild chuckle of his own. His expression lightened slightly - some of the deep, angry lines smoothing over. With his arms still crossed, he leaned back nonchalantly against Metro Man's mummified form.
"Oh, Owen," he drawled with a slight shake of his head, his eyes casually closed. "You know, you're actually amusing." He shrugged. "When you're not being infuriatingly annoying or violently psychotic."
Owen stiffened slightly. He didn't respond, but his lips parted and his eyes narrowed guardedly.
"Forgive me," Megamind immediately backtracked. He held one hand out in front of him as the other covered his heart apologetically. "What I mean is . . . this . . ." He gestured to the substance coating the immobile body behind him. ". . . is not a fictional cryonic alloy." He finally refocused his eyes on Owen and shrugged a second time. "It's découpage."
Roxanne found herself absentmindedly tightening her grip on the bars. She didn't know why, but her heart had begun to pound again.
Owen, on the other hand, merely looked confused. "Oh," he replied, before adding, "What's that?"
"Well-" Megamind pushed away from the statue and turned slightly to place one hand on Wayne's petrified bicep. "-it's the art of decorating an object by gluing strips of paper onto its surface. But that's not important right now," he said, brushing his hands through the air in front of him as though clearing the unnecessary details away. "What really matters is that you're absolutely right, Owen."
The young man still looked confused, but he craned his head forward expectantly.
"About my database," Megamind explained. "The 'sonic boom', as you called it, is indeed one of the only ways to dispose of the boa plasma."
Owen shifted from one foot to the other. "One of?"
The steady flutter in Roxanne's heart rapidly increased.
"Yes," Megamind answered, stepping casually between Owen and Wayne. "You can, of course, destroy it at a molecular level." He bobbed his head back and forth slightly. "Along with whatever is trapped inside."
Owen shifted again, his fingers twitching slightly at his sides.
Roxanne's eyes widened and she held her breath.
"There's another?" Owen asked.
Megamind glanced up and locked his gaze onto the young villain. A sly glint flashed through the penetrating green of his eyes.
Reflexively, Roxanne felt herself smile.
"The other," Megamind replied, "is to completely dry out the hydraulic base of the gel."
Owen took an instinctive step back. "What-?" he murmured breathlessly.
"The substance I created for this particular setting on my gun is not, of course, ordinary glue," Megamind explained as he patted the weapon now resting on his hip. "Like most of my inventions, it truly is fantastic."
Then his lips curled into a genuinely devious smile that made Roxanne's heart absolutely soar.
"It dries exceptionally quickly," he added.
Owen stumbled backward a step, nearly tripping himself on his own feet. "You mean-?" he countered incredulously.
"I mean . . . ," Megamind drawled pointedly. He raised his watch casually to his eyes for a quick look. "In the time we've been talking, that substance has been drying the boa plasma into nothing more than a fairly solid stone. Hardly a problem for the likes of Metro Man." He glanced up from his wrist and smirked shrewdly back at Owen. "In another few seconds, I'd say you're going to have a pretty super-powered problem on your hands."
Owen tightened his fists at his sides and stared back at Megamind with a growing venomous scowl. "So," he said, his voice thick and raspy with accusation, "you didn't destroy him."
Megamind shook his head with another small chuckle. His lips were quirked in amusement. "Well, you probably wouldn't have allowed me to retrieve my weapon if you didn't at least think I was capable of it," he replied. "But, no. No, I didn't."
Owen's body was now trembling with absolute fury. "Why?" he grated through clenched teeth.
"Oh, haven't you been paying attention?" Megamind said, raising his hands with mock exasperation. "All that time visiting my lair - observing everything - and you didn't notice?" He let out a small, dramatic groan.
Then his demeanor shifted completely; he focused his eyes on Owen with blazing intensity.
"I'm a hero now," he said.
An absolute thrill of happiness raced through Roxanne's entire body. Her face split into a beaming smile. "Ha!" she interjected triumphantly. "I told you!"
Owen shifted his scowl to her briefly, then back to Megamind. His shoulders were rising and falling in large movements. Flashes of rage, hurt, and absolute betrayal chased each other across his face.
Megamind crossed his arms back over his chest. Then his expression seemed to soften sympathetically as he looked back at his one-time fan. "Besides, Owen," he said in earnest, "and I speak from experience: destroying one's enemy is not always as fulfilling as you might think."
Owen's lip curled angrily. His eyes narrowed. "Well, Mr. Mind," he whispered harshly, "let's test that theory."
He quickly brushed his short cape aside behind him and reached back to his waistband. When he thrust his arm out again, the pistol was clutched tightly in his quivering grip.
Megamind suddenly froze, his eyes blowing wide.
Roxanne's heart immediately leapt into her throat. The world spun around her as she helplessly clutched the bars of her cage. She needed to do something.
So she did the only thing she could think of.
She screamed.
It wasn't just a quick cry of protest, either. Roxanne Ritchi let out a pure, horrifying shriek that echoed stridently through the small hallway. It was blood-curdling . . . it was ear-splitting . . .
And it was enough to get Owen's attention.
Startled, the young villain jerked. He shifted his aim away from Megamind as his body spun wide toward the sound. Roxanne felt a huge surge of relief. She had seen how nervous and erratic Owen had behaved all day, and the scream had certainly broken his focus.
But Roxanne's relief only lasted for a moment.
Because as Owen's attention abruptly shifted to her, so did his aim.
The dark, hollow barrel of the pistol trained upon her, and Roxanne also froze. At that point, she realized she had no idea what to do next.
What she hadn't realized, was how very quickly Megamind was capable of moving.
He was in front of her in an instant.
A deafening explosion erupted through the hall. A flash of orange fire flared for just a fraction of an instant from the muzzle of the gun.
Roxanne watched in helpless horror as Megamind's body slammed backwards into the bars and slid bonelessly to the floor in front of her.
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To be continued . . .
Endnotes: No retcons here, by the way! Just lots of references to little details from earlier chapters - especially Chapter 2. (I love it when a plan comes together!)