"Are you sure about this?" Maggie asked, looking up as Megamind hooked himself into the machine. "I mean, I could always—"

"No!" Megamind barked, fear, worry and anger intermingling in the strange harshness of his voice. The fervor in his shout surprised Maggie, and scared her a little. Why would he...? "I—what I mean is—Roxanne is your friend, not mine. And I am a villain, after all; I have to keep up my image."

"But you could—"

"Besides," Megamind cut her off, "it's too dangerous. It isn't tested. If it blows up, I've had more experience thwarting death. Such a puny weakling human as yourself would never last!" Maggie looked ready to argue, then decided against it, and nodded.

"So what am I supposed to do?" she asked, seeking direction.

"Here's the plan," Megamind replied, getting out his metaphorical compass. "I come in and distract Titan, you grab Roxanne from the tower—" (they'd just seen a broadcast straight from Titan stating that if Megamind didn't show up in an hour to hand over the city, not only would he kill Roxanne, but he'd also go after Minion) "—get her to safty while I lock Titan up in this copper con-tun-ner, and then look for the defuser!"

"It's safety and container," Maggie corrected.

"What?"

"You said—never mind." Maggie shook it off, then smiled down at the bike beneath her. "You know, I've always wanted to drive one of these!" she giggled, gripping the handlebars. She sounded a bit childish, like a six-year-old having the training wheels taken off their bike for the first time.

She saw the strange look Megamind gave her and blushed in embarrassment. "Well I have!" she defended. "Evil may not be my specific cup of tea, but you do make it look good."

"I—I do?" Now it was Maggie's turn to give Megamind a speculative glance, and he straightened and puffed out his chest to make up for his moment of surprise. "I mean, of course I do! I am Megamind, after all; the Incredibly Handsome Criminal Mastermind, Master of All Evil and Villainy and Ruler of Metrocity!"

"Adding some titles there?" Maggie asked, and he returned with a roguish grin that Maggie reciprocated with a slightly cheeky smile of her own. Then she revved the engine, twisting the handlebars and kicking the bike into gear. Megamind watched as something seemed to change in her. A wild smile bore down on her usually pleasant and controlled features, her blue eyes flashing with a dangerous flame, every movement filled with bottled excitement, before her face became deadly serious.

She strapped on the helmet Megamind had given her—one he had used in dodge ball as a boy, the electric field now disabled. Determination inhabited her features as she turned her head to look to Megamind. He would never have admitted it to anyone, not even Minion, but the hatred that burned so heavily in her for the Hal creature he had created? It scared him. He'd seen a lot of sides to this captive in former years, especially over the last few months, but this had never been one of them.

"Let's go," she ordered, her determination and sudden seriousness spreading to her voice, now darker than it had been. Then she shot out of the lab through the hole in the roof that Megamind had opened to get their machines out. As he watched her go, chills ran down his spine. She was truly beautiful, remarkable, unpredictable, and he knew right then that if she'd had her choice of parts to play in this game, she would have been the hero. And even worse; she would have had no trouble killing him. None at all.

Of this, he was deadly certain.

Author Comments:

MWAHAHAHAHAHQHAHAHAHAHA! Yes, Megamind, this character is a very different love interest from the one you would've had otherwise. She's more than a damsel in distress or nosey reporter. She's a writer. And she's dangerous.