Chapter 21: What do you Want?

Megamind hated being shoved. He hated it in s-hool. He hated it in prison as a teenager. He hated it as Metrosity's supervillain. And he definitely hated it as the city's new hero. Whether it was against a brick wall for a wedgie, being driven into the ground by Metro Man or into the backseat of a black sedan by some drone of a lackey following the orders of Lilit the super witch, Megamind hated being shoved.

The blue hero finally learned the name of the woman he despised so much, her name being mentioned several times by her brainless foot soldiers in the forms of obedient responses. Her last words before Megamind's guards lead him away echoed in his head, "You two, you have your orders. Take him."

Where they were taking him, Megamind had no idea. Nor did he even care to ask. Like as if anyone would tell him.

Two bulky criminals with a body mass that could easily be four times that of Megamind lead the disgruntled hero into the black sedan that was sitting stationary in the side street of the hideout. Megamind noticed there was actually a line of cars shadowed down the side street, the owners obviously hiding the presence of so many cars from any arrivals. It didn't take a genius for Megamind to calculate the owners were the gang of criminal inside the hideout and they had been waiting for him, cunningly hiding their cars to disguise their numbers.

Just as Megamind was thrown into the back seat he heard a familiar voice murmuring outside the car. One of the bulky crooks was in the midst of sitting next to Megamind to make sure he didn't try anything clever but was stopped in his tracks by a hand pulling at his shoulder.

"I'll take care of that." Alan declared

"Beat it twerp." The crook shot back glaring down at Alan like a physically abusive bully would glare at a smaller and weaker victim. But Alan did not waver.

"I insist. Lilit's orders. If you disagree, you can take it up with her."

The crook cringed but submitted and Alan hopped into the back seat next to Megamind as the two giants squeezed into the front seats. Megamind curled his lip in disgust refusing to meet Alan's gaze, even though he was fully aware the traitor's eyes were squarely affixed on him. If Megamind had had a choice, he would prefer the smelly ape rather than the slimy snake. Breaking the tense silence the car's wheels screeched into motion and took off into the night streets.

Alan decided to say the first words, keeping his voice so low that it was hard for Megamind to hear. But he heard. "Megamind, I'm sorry."

Megamind could care less what Alan had to say, but he couldn't keep his lips shut any further. Giving Alan a look of complete disgust he gritted his words through his teeth, "I should have never helped you out of prison. Liars like you deserve to be behind bars. I may have been a supervillain, but at least I was honest about it."

Alan grimaced, "This coming from someone who had eighty eight life sentences." Megamind turned his head away from Alan staring out into the night, preferring the darkness to his face. Alan exhaled attempting again to plead with Megamind, "Please try and understand…"

Megamind snapped his neck back to Alan snarling, "I don't need to understand anything. There is no excuse for handing me over to the bad guys. And I would rather have dumb and dumber here pound my big bulb head against a wall than listen to what you have to say." With that Megamind turned away from Alan and any word Alan uttered after that fell on dead ears.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Almost an hour later and everything was in place. In the darkness of the night evil stalked in the shadows with sinister intention.

Lilit stood exultantly in her black skirt, white blouse and high heels with an evil malicious smile plastered across her face. On top of her office's corporate building, the city skyline motionless before her, the final adjustments were being made by her gang of ten or so lackeys to a cylinder metal contraception affixed in the middle of the roof.

"Turn it on boys!" She called out. Without a hint of disobedience the metal cylinder powered up and out shot a beam of bright white light shooting straight up into the sky. The white beacon could be seen all across the city and any citizens of Metro City awake at such an early hour in the morning with a clear sight found themselves staring at the white beam in confused puzzlement.

Not a minute had passed before a gush of wind could be felt by all the bodies on the roof and a familiar white clothed figure hovered above them, descending roughly onto the roof slightly cracking the concrete surface below.

The gang of crooks gasped and took a step back from their spots, but Lilit stood with firm conviction, an impious snicker seeping through her malevolent smirk.

"Well, you look great… for a dead man." She sassed.

Metro Man stood straight, his muscled body showing no hint of intimidation as he stared into the wicked eyes of the woman a few metres in front of him.

Metro Man glared, gritting his teeth and clenching his fists. "Where are they?" He raged.

Lilit grinned, "Ha! Poor little Metro Man. With all your powers you are powerless against me!"

"We had a deal!" Metro Man ranted taking a step towards Lilit and clenching his right fist in front of her.

"Which you broke!" Lilit fumed, her cold expression turning into red eyed wrath,
"Faking your own death. Imagine my surprise when I received a call in the middle of the night with news that you were alive."

Metro Man had forgotten how spiteful Lilit really was, how could he possibly thought she would tell him what he wanted to know. That she wouldn't weave her wicked nails into him just like she had done before.

"…You really ruined all my plans by dying. But I should have known that that fumbling excuse for a villain couldn't possibly kill you. Which is why you are so important Metro Man." Lilit's heels clicked as she slowly walked towards Metro Man, running her spider fingers across his wide set chest. Metro Man recoiled at the touch instantly brushing off her hand. Taking offence to his reaction Lilit cringed and scratched his arm, not enough to cause any harm, after all it was Metro Man, but enough to sting.

Lilit seethed, "Fine, if that's the way you want it. If you will not agree to help us, we will make you."

Metro Man took in a deep breath, "No."

"What?"

"You heard me" he declared "I said no!"

Lilit glared and then grinned, "Oh, I think you will be changing your mind very quickly."

Lilit's face lit up in a glow of ridicule aimed directly at the white caped hero standing before her. Metro Man knew she was about to pull out all her cards, it was her token look before she drove you down into the ground. But still, he couldn't help but gasp when she revealed the walkie talkie from inside the waist of her skirt. Given historical events, a reasonable sane person would have predicted Lilit would have had a backup plan. She always did. Even all those years ago when she first conned Metro Man into doing her bidding, he still foolishly underestimated her. Maybe because she was human, maybe because Metro Man was so used to undermining Megamind's plan at every turn, that he let her corner him every time he tried to wrestle free from her web of lies and manipulation. Or maybe because he let her sink her teeth into him.

The walkie crackled with static as Lilit hovered her poisonous lips over the speaker, "Boys, let your captives say hello to their dear hero."

Simultaneously four voices called out over Lilit's walkie as she held the speaker towards Metro Man. Not that he needed her too, considering his super hearing, but it made the moment even more enjoyable for Lilit to feel like she was holding the lives of his loved ones in her hand, literally.

"Metro Man!"

"Metro Man?"

"Son!"

"My boy."

Metro Man knew all four voices instantly and a fiery rage rushed through him forcing him to dig his fingernails into the palms of his hands. "Let them go!" He screamed.

Lilt just cackled. "I'd choose my words carefully if I were you."

"You evil twisted witch!" Metro Man fumed.

"Now now." Lilit mocked, "words like that hurt my feelings. And when my feelings are hurt, I get all… killy."

Metro Man had had enough. He wasn't going to just stand there and take this, let this woman use him again to do her bidding. No. This time things were going to be different.

Couching down and using all his strength Metro Man hurled himself into the sky setting out to find Lilit's prisoners. But just as he shot himself up from the ground his super hearing picked up Lilit screaming from below, "You can't save them all! Get back here now or they die!"

Taking heed of her threat Metro Man decided to give Lilit one chance to explain, "What does that mean?"

Holding up her walkie she declared, "All four are spread all over the city, each dangling by a thin rope on top of a building. One word over this speaker and all four will drop to their deaths. You may be able to save one, or two, but you cannot possibly save all four. Who will it be hero?"

Lilit spoke loudly into her walkie, "Your adoring mother." And as she took her finger off the speaker Metro Man eyes widened in horror hearing his mother's voice on the other end, "Son, don't listen to her…"

Lilit continued pressing her finger on the speaker button , "Your stern father."

"… Son take her ou…" Metro Man shaking his head in denial.

Lilit returning her venomous voice to her walkie, "Or how about the damsel in distress."

"Metro Man kick her as…" Roxanne's message being cut short by Lilit's trigger finger.

"Or Metro City's new hero."

"Alan would you please shut up; I'm hanging from a building here!" Metro Man didn't know who or what Megamind was rambling about, but his mind was too preoccupied with the dire situation he was in to question what Megamind was complaining about.

Lilit cocked an eyebrow at the stricken hero, "So what's it gonna be hero… save a few, or save them all? Make your choice!"

Metro Man paused for a second considering his options. Even with his super speed, he couldn't fly around hoping to find them all. He didn't know where they all were. And who knew where Lilit had them. Knowing her, they wouldn't even be in Metro City.

Lilit started counting into her speaker, "Drop them in 5…4…3…2..." And as Metro Man heard a scream from the receiver of the walkie he crumbled.

"No wait" he yelled in defeat. "Ok… Ok…" Lilit smirked as the hero submitted lowering his head in a shame he had experienced too often before Lilit.

Metro Man exhaled, "What do you want?"

Hello again dear readers!

I know I know. Another cliff hanger. I am so evil… well, not as evil as Lilit.

Please review guys, it keeps me inspired to keep working on this, and of course, thank you to all my continuous reviewers. I always try and respond to all your wonderful comments between work hours, lol, aslong as my boss isn't looking.