Half way home

It was a warm and blissfully quite day in the greenhouse. Though the world outside was boisterous and chaotic, the only sounds that penetrated the lush embrace of the magnificent greenery was the babble of flowing water and the call of strange birds. A brilliant stained glass roof let sunlight stream into the verdant room with occasional patches of blue or green filtering in from the colored sections of the abstract above. Roxanne Ritchie sat idle by an indoor fountain that was in the shape of (and not so surprisingly) a coiled serpent with his head lifted to the heavens, while a stream of sparkling water surged from its mouth. The more she stared at the bronze statue the more doleful the bejeweled eyes and painful grimace seemed. Water trickled down the serpent's snout and leaked along the eyelid to give it the effect of weeping. "But why does it weep" she puzzled passively. She sighed in boredom and swirled the water at the edge with absentminded strokes of her finger tips. Small curious fish came to ogle her hand and occasionally would painlessly nibble at it. It tickled and she chuckled softly. She leaned over the edge of the pond and a few locks of hair hung down in front of her eyes. As she looked at the auburn tresses, she noted how long it was getting.

Nearly six months, that's how long she had been gone from Earth. She hadn't even thought much about the passage of time since she had took up reluctant residence in Mirth's mansion, accompanied by Minion and Megamind of course, though she rarely saw much of the latter. He was always off making something or out getting something done, of which she was envious. As directed by Mirth, she was not to leave the premises for her own safety. She, being an independent spirit had a hard time with being locked away, so whenever she had time to herself she would sneak out and visit Blossom and Dr. Osher who were now in hiding, you could say.

After visiting his father in secret, the doctor decided to stay in Old Towne where he was needed. Dr. Osher took up the name Dr. Resho when he was working, and once again was a very popular doctor to visit. Aside from the fact he wasn't a quack, he now had a cute assistant working at the front desk. Roxanne was so glad Blossom didn't have to work at that whore house anymore; since she paid for her freedom with the money Roxanne gave her that one time.

Through her visits she learned that Blossom was the daughter of a wealthy merchant, and had learned how to navigate and fly fairly well from him before he was captured and put to death for smuggling people out of the star system. Mirth was impressed by the spunky red head when she stopped by to see Roxanne one day. She had nearly demanded to join their cause, and with a strange look on his face he agreed. Roxanne couldn't really pinpoint what it was besides flustered. Roxanne laughed aloud at the thought of Mirth being flustered buy such a tiny woman.

"Did I miss a joke, Miss Ritchi," asked a familiar smooth voice, "or are the days of solitude getting to you."

Roxanne turned toward Megamind with a flirty smirk pulling at the corners of her mouth, "I'm afraid so," she sighed, and placed the back of her open hand across her forehead, "Your plot to destroy the remnants of my sanity is starting to prevail, bravo dear villain!"

He smiled and played along, "At last you have fallen for my trap. Muahaha! And now you must submit to my evil will."

Roxanne raised an eyebrow, "and what, pray tell, would your 'evil will' entail?"

Megamind got quiet for a second and stroked the thin line of hair on his chin thoughtfully like one would a loyal pet, and shrugged, "Do you want to test my new inventions?"

Roxanne followed him to his work area were Megamind began to enthusiastically show off his latest creations; which included strange full-face gas masks, small ray guns that could stun their targets with one zap, and a utility belt that Batman would be jealous of.

"This button here is a communicator, and this one supplies smoke pellets, this clip is a grappling hook, this is a tracking beacon/locator, this disables locking mechanisms, this is a modified version of my holo-watch, and this is a coffee dispenser."

Roxanne raised an incredulous brow, "a coffee dispenser? Where did you find room for the coffee?"

Megamind pouted, "Now, now ," he chided, a leather clad index ticked back and forth like a metronome, "An evil genius never reveals his secrets."

"I don't suppose they have cream and sugar aboard an alien space craft," Roxanne said sarcastically.

"My dear miss Ritchi, there's no need for that," Megamind grinned, "It's already included."

He pressed the button and held out his hand expectantly toward the belt. A white paper cup materialized in his hand, filled with the piping hot caffeine beverage. He took a sip and nearly spat it back out, declaring it to have burnt his tongue.

"Hmm, impressive," Roxanne teased.

"I'm going to have to fix the temperature setting before finishing it," he grumped, taking another experimental sip after a moment. He turned away from her and hunched over the belt on the workbench.

Roxanne leaned on the edge of the bench and laid her chin in her hand. "I still don't understand," she said quietly.

"Understand what," Megamind asked as he picked carefully at the wiring within the belt with specialized tools.

"Why you insist on being the villain. It's not really your forte, when compared to recent events."

Megamind snorted, "And I suppose heroism is?"

"Yes, it is. It suits you. And after hanging around you for so long, I fail to see one evil bone in your body."

Megamind's lips twitched upward in a seductive smile, "Oh I'm sure there is at least one, Miss Ritchie. Would you like to examine closer?"

Roxanne's cheeks tinted red when she caught the innuendo, and smacked his bicep with the back of her hand, "Besides the fact that you have a tendency to turn much of what I say into something sexual, no there isn't."

"Ow," he said pouting in mock pain, "that hurt."

Roxanne cocked an eyebrow at him, "your arm?"

"My evil pride," Megamind quipped, turning back to the jumble of wires.

Roxanne leaned further into her hand, "I'm starting to think most of that big head of yours is dense skull."

Megamind chuckled through his nose but didn't look up.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Dinner was more rowdy than usual with the arrival of a few guests. The whole gang was there; Ahi, Grego, Roxanne, Megamind, Minion, Blossom, Dr. Osher; and gracing the head of the table, Mirth. Roxanne let her eyes settle on several characters before her and went over the things she had learned about them in the recent weeks due to snooping.

Ahi Tibbs was a grand champion knife fighter from the time he was nine till he had turned sixteen. He was kicked out after his sponsor had been killed in a bar fight, due to lack of funding, and started kicking up trouble where ever he went. But then he met Mirth, who took him under his wing and turned him into one of the most bad ass spies Roxanne had ever heard of. Though still in his early twenties, he put James Bond to shame even without the fancy gadgets.

Grego was a bright eyed fleet commander who was captured and sent here when his ship broke down. Apparently, after being pelted by heavy fire and risking life and limb just to get back to the Mother Ship, he was abandoned by his cowardly fleet and his crew members were tortured to death. After being sent here, Mirth took a liking to him and they've been sort-of- friends-but-not-quite ever since.

Dr. Tim Osher (much to Roxanne's surprise) was the creator of the refined drug, but its original purpose was to lessen the pain or knock out his patients as he worked on them. After a time Mirth came to him and wanted to buy the formula for a 'pet project' he was working on. At first the doctor was reluctant, but Mirth became more insistent and offered a huge sum of money to him. He finally agreed but he wanted his payment through bought goods such as medical supplies and the unrefined drug, which explains the packages she had to deliver. Upon asking him why he wanted his payment in goods, he said that this way his 'master' couldn't skimp out on the basic necessities of his line of work nor steal much from him.

As for Megamind, she asked Minion and got a little out of him. Though he was reluctant, he told her of some the injustices he had to endure from the time he arrived on Earth at only eight days old to the time he finally escaped prison at about eleven years old and created the Evil Lair. Roxanne's heart went out to him as he told her bits and pieces of Metro Boy's bulling, the rough treatment he endured at the prison, and nearly getting dissected by the government had it not been for the Warden.

Roxanne turned her attention to said blue alien, her eyes caressed his angular features as she glanced over at him. He was speaking animatedly to Mirth about a propulsion system that he could improve on. It was so cute how he got all excited about his inventions, his mouth barely keeping up with his brain. Mirth was following along rather well, and when Megamind paused he started to put his own contribution in. Megamind's eyes wandered in her direction, shooting her an 'I caught you' smirk, and she rolled her eyes. She struck up a conversation with Blossom, who was rather dressed up for the occasion, though she preferred jeans and a T-shirt to an evening dress normally. They spoke of something along the lines of what they missed about their home planets, but Roxanne noticed she too was a little distracted. Her eyes kept darting over to Mirth, a little grin played across her lips.

Roxanne sighed internally, "I guess we're both love sick," she mused. She stopped herself, and shook that thought off. "Me? Love sick? With him?" She peeked over at Megamind, a blush dusting her features, "Get a grip, girl."

Mirth stood suddenly, tapping his wine glass to get everyone's attention. By the time the resulting rings ceased, the room was completely still.

"By now I guess you're all wondering why I've asked you all here tonight on such short notice and I assure you it is of the up most importance," he said while swirling the dark red liquor restlessly. "At approximately 2130 hours yesterday evening, a message from the royal Asuki trade ship announced they would be arriving a few days earlier than previously scheduled. The new time of rendezvous is tomorrow evening at 2200 hours."

"Well, it's a good thing everything is ready," Ahi said sipping his wine leisurely, "The last thing we need it to go scrambling about at the last minute."

Every one nodded in silent agreement as dessert was served, Baked Alaska surrounded by sweet berries and caramel dressing. Though it was delicious, Roxanne picked at it nervously, letting the ice cream bleed out of the toasted meringue shell. The full weight of the situation hit her as she munched the berries. "This could be very dangerous, are you sure you want to do this," one side of her mind rebuked. "What's wrong with you," the other said, "You are Roxanne Ritchie, fearless reporter! You laugh in the face of danger!" She banished those thoughts and choose to focus on her melting delicacy.

After dessert was finished everyone shuffled off to bed. Roxanne felt sort of heavy from the sweet treat as she showered and dressed for bed. She slid between the silken sheets and nestled into her pillow, willing sleep to enfold her in it soft warmth. "Just think Roxy," she mumbled sleepily, "your already half way home. Isn't that a good thing?"