Soleana, in your review you asked if Megamind could grow facial hair. Yes indeed he can! He has a goatee in the movie. For some bizarre reason, he doesn't have it on the DVD cover. Apparently, the goatee was added fairly late in production, and was left off the promotional art. Or something. That is what I read somewhere, anyway. It still makes no sense, but yes, he has to shave. :)
Thank you so much to everyone for the reviews! You guys are awesome. This is one of the most intense stories I've ever tackled, and it is a tough one, too. Your reviews help keep me motivated! I've made some mistakes, which just goes to show you can never do enough research. For instance, did you know that bladeless wind turbines are really noisy? I didn't, until recently! I should have given Megamind a quieter way of powering the Lair. (Just imagine, though, if you will, a quiet night in Metro City, and a mysterious whistling sound wafting through the streets, the citizens looking around and wondering where those odd sounds are coming from...)
Roxanne moved her cheek against the pillow. There was a faint odor of sweat. Not unpleasant. A hint of musk, slightly salty, warm and oddly comforting. Familiar. She'd caught Megamind's scent from time to time, despite the massive amounts of deodorant he slathered on, especially when one of his schemes was going up in flames. At times like that, his sweat held the sharp tang of panic, when Metro Man was moving in for the kill. Well, not literally kill, of course, but...
Roxanne's eyes snapped open and her entire body stiffened. Oh no, she'd fallen asleep in his bed. She was a genuine floozy. Marching into his room and taking it over.
By cautiously turning her head, she could tell she was the bed's only occupant. She'd suspected as much, as she didn't feel the weight or the warmth of another body next to her, but it was a little bit disappointing.
She grimaced. Oh for Chrissakes, disappointing? She was lucky he hadn't accepted her presence as an invitation. Very, very lucky. Imagine, if he had... had laid down beside her. And woken her with a gentle caress, like maybe put a hand over her waist. There'd be no need for words between them, and she could stop ...stop pretending to be good. Stop pretending to be unimpressed. Stop pretending to...
She pressed her knuckles against her teeth and forced her brain to quit it. Those damn romance novels must have infected her through osmosis. She struggled to make her feelings line up in neat, logical order appropriate to the situation, but it was an uphill battle.
She peered out from under half closed eyelids and scanned the room. With no windows and the clock out of her range of vision, it was impossible to tell what time it was. Maybe she'd only dozed off for a couple of minutes, and he hadn't even come in yet.
But there was a blanket covering her, and she was sure she hadn't pulled it over herself. The overhead light was off. Another light shone somewhere, and the room was in partial darkness.
A soft snore rose from somewhere around ground level. Oh no, she'd made him sleep on the damn floor. She rolled onto her back and, feeling the silky fabric slide over her arms, realized that it wasn't a blanket, it was his cape. He'd covered her with his own cape and laid on the floor.
Guilt burned within her, along with a certain amount of exasperation. It was touching, really, but good grief, how gentlemanly could you get?
He should have woken her up and told her to go to her own sleeping spot, that's what he should have done. Roxanne rolled her eyes. Yeah, all his fault, sure, I'll keep telling myself that.
She got up on one elbow to look down on the back of his large blue head, pillowed on the crook of his arm. One closed eye and his nose were visible. Another cape was bunched around his shoulders. His other hand rested by his face.
She hardly ever saw him without gloves. The long fingers ended in neatly trimmed nails. His gloves were probably why he had such nice hands. His expressive face was relaxed and peaceful.
Okay, what were her options here? She could lie there until he woke up and they could have an awkward conversation. Or she could sneak out to her own sleeping spot awaiting her and they could have an awkward conversation later. Or pretend it never happened.
She wrinkled her nose. No. Or, third option, she could wake him up now and have an awkward conversation.
Well, why did it have to be awkward? They were all adults here. It bolstered her nerve, the reminder she was a grown up and not a blushing teenager. Anyway, it wasn't embarrassing, it was an accident, her falling asleep. No big deal. Really.
She could see the digital clock on the dresser. It was 6:37. She swung her legs over the side, the mattress creaking noisily, but his breathing remained steady.
What should she say? she thought as she padded around to where he lay. Here, you can have a turn sleeping in the bed? Ha, ha. Eh, why not? A little humor could only help.
She stepped around his booted feet and crouched by his side, reaching out to touch his shoulder. "Megamind," she whispered. Nothing happened.
She tried a more vigorous shake. "Hey, wake up. You want a turn on the..."
Megamind went from horizontal to vertical in a single bound. Roxanne flailed back and landed on her butt, too surprised to even yelp.
Megamind loomed over her, fists raised, breathing hard, eyes wild and unfocused. He stared at her, then blinked and lowered his hands. "Miss Ritchi," he gasped. "Oh."
Roxanne muttered, "Good morning to you, too."
"I am so... so incredibly sorry," he whispered. He held out his hand to help her to her feet.
"Guess that'll teach me," she said, taking his hand. "Better let sleeping villains lie."
His eyebrows scrunched together in a worried grimace as he hoisted her to her feet. "Are you hurt? Did I hit you? You need ice?"
"No, no, and no. I think I'll live."
He looked down at their clasped hands. He snatched his hand away as if burned, leaving hers briefly suspended.
He darted past her and clicked on the overhead light. She squinted at the sudden brightness.
"Your shoes are on," he blurted. "And so are mine."
She wrapped her arms around her middle. "Y-e-es," she said cautiously. "Yes, they are."
"That proves that nothing happened," he said, his voice turning breathy and desperate. "Isn't that a thing? I thought that was a thing. Proof of, of, of, nothing happening." His hands fluttered around as he struggled to give shape to the unexplainable.
Roxanne pondered this for a moment. That sounded vaguely familiar. Keep your shoes on and your feet on the floor, some sort of cautionary guidelines. Straight out of a 1950's guidebook for naive, impressionable girls.
But you could, in fact, manage to have sex, and still keep your shoes on and your feet on the floor, with a certain amount of clothing moved out of the way.
By the way Megamind's cheeks and ears were turning lavender, he was having similar thoughts on physics and the nature of hanky-panky. He rubbed the back of his neck. "Um. Y-you. You're not injured?"
"No, no. I'm fine." Her butt cheek had throbbed a little bit, but was fine now. "You always wake up like that?"
He huffed out a breath and shook his head. "No. I was so deeply asleep, and I forgot you were here. I hit Minion once like that. Hurt me a lot more than it did him, let me tell you." The words came out in a rush and he clicked his teeth shut as if to keep any more from escaping. He glanced around and hopped to one side. "Want to leave?"
She tilted her head. "You asking me to go, or..."
A pained look appeared on his face. "No, but I was standing in front of the door and blocking your path."
"Megamind, would you relax?" she said, letting out an incredulous laugh. "I'm not panicking, or trying to escape! Look, everything's fine, okay?"
His hunched shoulders slowly relaxed and the frantic quality left his face. His mouth twitched briefly into a smile, and he opened his mouth, but whatever he was about to say was lost. From outside the room there was a distant sound of voices and footsteps, coming closer.
He looked at her, and his mouth twitched into an apologetic smile, but it had overtones of grimness, too, as if he knew what sort of news was coming their way.
The knock sounded. "Sir, it's zombies," Minion said. "At the border. Are you decent?"
"All right, I'm coming." Megamind walked over to the nightstand where the de-gun holster lay, and buckled it around his waist. He picked up the cape from the floor and swept it around his shoulders as he crossed the room to get his spiked shoulder guards. "And of course I'm decent! We're both decent!"
Roxanne watched his blue hands making neat, nimble movements, straightening the high collar, and clasping the whole get-up together with the decorative 'M' at the base of his throat.
Megamind grumbled, "Am I decent. What kind of question is that. Nothing but decency as far as the eye can see."
There was something incredibly cute about his huffiness. A fluttering under her rib cage made her hug her stomach again. She regretted that they hadn't had more time to talk. Just when he'd been starting to calm down, too. She realized she was staring, but, well, she had to look at him, right? They had business to attend to. She tried for a less-stare-y, casual sort of gaze. "I'm going to need a camera. For reporting."
She watched his blue hands disappear into the blackness of his gloves as he flexed them into the fingers. She could see the transformation taking place with each piece of clothing he put on. He no longer looked flustered and ready to bolt. His face was set with determination and focused on the tasks at hand. And yet his eyes remained fixed on her as she spoke.
"How about two?" he said. "One for close-ups, one for wide shots?"
She nodded. "Yeah. That'd be great."
His gaze flickered to the bed. His cheeks colored again and his Adam's apple bobbed up and down, then he swept out, face carefully blank.
Roxanne looked. The blouse she'd balled up and held next to her last night had come undone, and her bra lay perkily on top of the wrinkled fabric. Oh, great. She scared him off.
She wasn't going to make a broadcast wearing this t-shirt. The blouse, wrinkled and sweat-stained, would have to do. She wondered if Megamind could give her a lift to her apartment so she could get some clean clothes.
She locked the door so he didn't accidentally barge in on her. If he interrupted her while she was changing, he'd probably self-combust.
She wished she had some deodorant or perfume or something, because the shirt reeked. A deodorant stick sat among the debris on Megamind's desk, but no. She had intruded enough.
Besides, Megamind noticed things like that. If she showed up smelling of his deodorant, he would know she had helped herself to one of his personal care items. He was annoyingly good about picking up little details. Or maybe just details concerning her.
Everybody carried some natural stink on them these days. Toiletries were in short supply, as well as the opportunity to use them, so you just got used to being a member of the unwashed and breathed through your mouth. At least she'd gotten a shower last night.
She went out and, dodging around slumbering bodies on the floor, hurried into the bathroom to relieve her bladder. Someone was busy being sick in one of the stalls. She thought she recognized the pair of shoes on the end of the kneeling legs as belonging to Kailey. Hoo boy. Hope that's not morning sickness.
Two other tousle-haired women were at the sinks. They splashed water on their faces and one of them yanked her hair into a pony-tail on top of her head. That one stalked out without a word to Roxanne, but the other woman gave her a timid smile and said, "You get called to the front, too?"
Roxanne smiled back "Yeah, I guess so." She and her fellow refugee came out and followed the sound of Megamind's shouting to the other side of the Lair, where Minion was passing out rifles to a group of sleepy-eyed people.
One man with torn-off sleeves dangled his rifle from one hand, swinging it idly back and forth. He sighed noisily.
"Get that barrel up," Megamind said, striding past him. The guy swung the rifle into the crook of his arm in an exaggerated way. He made a face at Megamind's back.
Megamind snapped his fingers at the ceiling, where a cloud of brainbots hovered. "You two!"
Two brainbots swooped down and hovered on either side of her like bad-ass angels.
"This is Muybridge and Eastman," he said. "Give them instructions as you would your regular cameraman." He handed her a wireless microphone. "Your voice will be recorded using light tech." Minion trotted over with her handgun and she strapped the holster on.
"Move out!" Megamind strode down the hall with the swirl of a cape.
Just outside the entrance, Megamind slowed to a stop and stared at something on the ground. Roxanne, a few people behind, came up next to him to see what he was looking at.
Hank snored under a sleeping bag by the wall, and he wasn't alone. The red-haired woman curled up next to him was definitely not his wife.
Roxanne shook her head. Their first night in a safe place, Hank gets it on with Jessica again. No wonder Noelle felt like she had to keep an eye on him. And what the hell was Jessica thinking?
The defenders shuffled their feet, a few of them snickering. None of them had been part of Roxanne's group of refugees and so had only met Hank yesterday, but word could get around that the guy sleeping outside had scored. Noelle would undoubtedly hear.
"Wish I was a cop," the sleeveless guy said with a smirk.
"Should have more privacy around here," the pony-tailed woman muttered.
Roxanne leaned toward Megamind, who was frowning at the sleeping couple. "Megamind, is there a way to be discrete about this?"
Megamind gave her an unreadable look, then walked over and kicked Hank sharply in the ankle region. Hank yelped and jerked upright. Jessica's eyes flew open. She gasped at the sight of the smirking crowd and yanked the sleeping bag over her face, almost giving them all an untrammeled view of the entire vista of Hank. He clutched the remainder over his lap.
"Rise and shine, copper," Megamind said. "The zombies await. Minion's got your gun. And for the love of all that's ee-vil, put your pants on." He turned to the defenders. "Get to the hovercraft. Give them some distance."
Everyone hurried past, the sleeveless guy and a few others smirking and tittering.
Roxanne climbed aboard with the other defenders while Megamind paced on the ground. Everyone watched with interest as, across the way, Hank tried to put both feet in one pants leg and fell over. The sleeping bag wriggled as Jessica struggled to get dressed undercover.
Roxanne leaned her elbows on the railing. "That's your idea of discrete?" she said drily.
He raised an eyebrow at her. "You want his wife to catch him when she brings out breakfast? Though it would have been nice," he said, giving Minion a pointed look, "if lover boy and his consort could have hidden their affair in a tent."
"It was moldy. He said he didn't need it, long as it didn't rain."
"Jessica's actually a pretty good shooter," Roxanne said.
Megamind paused in his pacing, then started up again. "Good to know, but she can have a turn at zombie killing next time. It'd be a good idea to separate the lovebirds for a while. Wouldn't it?" He shook his head with a growl. "It's giving me a headache. If Noelle kills them, at least I'll have something for the alligators." He shouted across the yard, "Move it, flatfoot, we don't have all day!"
Hank came at a jog, stuffing his shirt into his waistband. He didn't look nearly as embarrassed as Roxanne thought he should. For a moment she wished Megamind had kicked him a lot harder, higher up.
At the border to the mainland, a horde of brainbots were busy at work, biting zombies, shooting zombies, tearing zombies limb from limb. Bones cracked, zombies wheezed and groaned. The spider-bot was there too, leaping at one zombie after another, crushing them. Arms and legs and worse things lay on the pavement. Roxanne, heart hammering against her ribs, reminded herself that they didn't feel pain.
"We got out of bed for this?" muttered the sleeveless guy.
Muybridge, she'd discovered, could give her a countdown. In other circumstances, she would have been amused by the three pincers it held up so seriously in front of her, counting the seconds, but not with those awful sounds of dismemberment in the background.
"This is Roxanne Ritchi, reporting from Metro City. Megamind is leading a group of brave men and women to meet the zombie threat. I'm given to understand that most of them are armed with laser rifles of his own design, though a few defenders, such as Officer Hank Gilmore, have more conventional handguns." She wasn't real keen to give that philanderer credit as a defender, but he was the only one there that she knew, and adding names to a report would increase interest.
She turned sideways to keep an eye on the action. The bowg-ing of the 'bots grew in intensity as they descended on a large group of zombies. None of the undead made it within a block of the border.
Megamind paced back and forth, facing the carnage whichever way he turned. The sleeveless man yawned loudly. The defenders shifted their weight, and tapped their fingers on their guns, and watched Megamind, waiting for his signal.
Megamind came to a halt. "Kevin," he barked. "Front and center."
The sleeveless guy stiffened and glanced around looking for help, then, finding none, slowly began walking to where Megamind stood, watching the milling 'bots.
"One of the defenders, Kevin, has been called forward," Roxanne said quietly, feeling a little foolish about stating the obvious, but she had to. Sometimes pictures were unclear, or footage was lost, and if you didn't have the obvious statements, it was easy to lose the thread of a story. She was out of practice.
Without her having to give an order, Muybridge pointed its little camera toward the shuffling figure.
Megamind waved an arm around at the chaos. "What do you see, Kev?"
Kevin mumbled, "Your robots. Killing zombies." He mumbled something else Roxanne couldn't pick up.
Megamind raised an eyebrow at him. "Really? Here's what I see." He took a deep breath. "Brainbots! Brutebots! Spee-ider-bot! Fall back and regroup!" he bellowed. "Behind the line!"
Soon all the 'bots had flown back, some of them breaking off in mid-attack. The Spider-bot skittered to the side and crouched down, motionless except for its multiple eyes which twitched and blinked. The other 'bots returned to the invisible boundary line that marked off Megamind's territory from the rest of the city.
Roxanne stuck her microphone under her arm and drew her gun. "For some reason, Megamind has called off the brainbots," she said, leaning her face down so the mic would pick up her voice. "Zombies are now coming this way." She fumbled for the safety catch, "For some reason," she repeated more loudly, "he has called off the defense." Gun in one hand, mic in the other, her hands sweated.
"Here's what I see," Megamind said, pitching his voice to carry to all ears. "I see the 'bots are disabled, and I am out of action, struck down in my prime." He staggered, flinging an arm over his eyes. "Minion's out of action too, clobbered by some... oh, I don't know, a random meteor strike. Minion, stand down. You're dead."
Minion, who had hurried up with his own rifle, gaped at him, and hesitantly took a few steps back, fins trembling.
Roxanne backed up to press against the other open-mouthed defenders, sticking close to the brainbots and brutebots. "The zombies are almost on us," she said a little breathlessly into the mic. "But I'm sure Megamind won't let his lesson get out of hand."
Megamind ran his gaze over the defenders. "No one shoots without my express order. Anyone who opens fire without my say-so gets a week's dehydration."
"Sir-!" Minion cried.
Megamind wore a feral grin. "Even you, filet mignon. Stand down."
"What?! Oh come on, Sir, isn't that-"
Megamind shot him a warning look. Minion shut his mouth with a click.
Kevin started to back up, but Megamind grabbed him by the shirt and yanked him back into place with one hand. "Hold it right there, bucko. You are the last hope of your fellow survivors. What do you do?"
"Ah-ah-ah-ah... I...shoot them?" he squeaked.
"Boingo!" Megamind shouted. "Fire at will."
Kevin hoisted the rifle up. Laser shots darted away like frightened birds.
"Head shots, Kevin, head shots," Megamind said. Finally, finally, after much too long a time for Roxanne's comfort, he drew the de-gun and shot the zombies that Kevin missed, which was almost all of them.
"Several difficulties arise with zombies," Megamind said, still pitching his voice to carry. "They feel no pain. Even when you shoot their legs off they keep on coming. Like that one, there. It might have been in that zombie pile-up yesterday, look at it, it's half-trampled. But it's crawling along, and both feet missing! What a trooper. Of course, a shot to the torso..."
He paused to shoot three dangerously close zombies in their heads in quick succession. PEW-PEW-PEW went the de-gun. Kevin whimpered.
"A shot to the torso would stop a living human in his or her tracks. But not zombies! A head shot is the only sure way to stop them," Megamind announced. "The torso is a larger target, and therefore easier to hit, the head is much smaller, and, now stay with me here, more difficult to hit. On account of being smaller. A head shot should be easier as a zombie gets closer, but here we find that another difficulty presents itself."
Roxanne jammed the microphone into her waistband so she could hold her gun with both hands. She wasn't going to do any more recording until this stupid fucking lesson was over.
"The closer they get," Megamind said, voice bouncing off the buildings, "the more terrifying they become." He pointed with the de-gun. "You can see their faces. And they may even be people you know. You can see the rot. You can see the horrific injuries they have endured as they shuffle through unlife, getting hit by cars, falling from heights, clobbered by baseball bats wielded by terrified humans."
He shot five more zombies. PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW. Bodies thudded onto the pavement. "The broken limbs, the torn skin, the occasional dangling eye... oh, look, that one's dragging its own intestines. So your hands shake." He tapped Kevin lightly on the wrist with the de-gun's barrel. "Your shoulders hunch," he said, tapping Kevin's quaking shoulder. "Your knees get weak. And your aim gets progressively worse."
Kevin, shaking like a palm tree in a hurricane, had a hopeless, glassy-eyed look. Wheezing zombies crowded the street, lurching, staggering over the fallen, red mouths gaping.
Megamind ran a hard gaze over the defenders. "This. Is why. We practice," he thundered. "This. Is why. I drag a select number of you out of your cozy blankets when the zombies attack. My 'bots are a fantastic defense, but even they are not infallible. If they should fail, if Minion and I should perish, you will be on your own. Prepare for the worst, hope for the best, all that crap. All right, people. Line up."
Roxanne didn't lower her gun until the nervous defenders had gotten in position on either side of the sagging Kevin and Megamind.
"Brainbots and brutebots, flank," Megamind barked. He lifted his hand. "Oh, and try not to hit my 'bots, if you don't mind. Fire."
Guns went off, the brainbots and brutebots dove.
Roxanne took out the mic and faced her camerabot. She was glad that her hand shook only a little. "Megamind has delivered a very... pointed lesson on the necessity of being prepared. One wonders if he might have gone too far." She shot him a sharp look, wondering if he could even hear her over the noise. He glanced at her over his shoulder and gave her a grim smile.
The sun was high by the time the zombies were mowed down. A few fluffy clouds and the cool wind coming off the lake gave some relief from the heat. Megamind dehydrated the corpses. Minion stored the cubes in a satchel. At last the streets were clear, leaving only a few smears of red.
They walked back to the hovercraft.
"Excellent work, Miss Ritchi," he said, smiling.
She snorted. "I could have done without almost getting overrun by zombies, but other than that, yeah, went pretty well."
"So long as you got my good side."
Minion muttered, "Wasn't that lesson a bit much, Sir? Kevin almost peed his pants."
"Nonsense! It was motivational. He's got enough energy to bitch and moan and make faces behind my back. I merely redirected it into a more worthwhile activity."
The shade of the taller buildings cut the heat by a good five degrees.
Megamind called Hank over to walk beside him. "After lunch I want you to assess all the newcomers. See which ones have firearms experience. If they don't have any, see that they get it."
"I don't know how to work those laser rifles. And I'm almost out of ammo."
"Minion will show you how they work. The firing range is in the basement."
Hank nodded. "Okay, Overlord."
Roxanne thought, Huh, that's actually pretty appropriate. She chuckled, and looked over to Megamind to say so, but she was alone.
Megamind had stopped several paces behind her, head pulled back and mouth hanging open, eyes wide with shock.
In the next instant the stunned look disappeared under a mask of rage.
There must have been a secret signal that Roxanne missed, because suddenly Hank was surrounded by brainbots. The other defenders flattened themselves against the brick.
Megamind's hands clenched into fists at his side, his eyes alight with fury. "Was that a joke?" he said in an icy, quiet voice.
Yikes. Roxanne glanced at Minion for help in getting him calmed down, and was taken aback by the fierce expression on the henchfish's face. She realized that Minion, whom she had assumed was the more cool-headed of the two villains, didn't like cops either. The way he stuck out his toothy jaw and hefted the rifle made Roxanne suspect he wouldn't protest if Megamind gave the 'kill' order.
A chill ran through her. Megamind wouldn't do that, would he? He was furious, but there was an inflection in his voice that she thought she recognized as hurt.
Hank stood rigid within the circle of snarling 'bots, his elbows clamped to his sides and his hands up by his chest. "N-no! Not... I didn't... I wasn't...that's not what I... I didn't mean..." He stammered to a stop.
Roxanne stuck her thumbs in her pockets. "You got to admit, it fits," she said, and was amazed at how casual her voice sounded.
Megamind's eyes snapped toward her, and she was heartened to see a flicker of uncertainty. Uncertainty meant he was thinking, reassessing. She gazed calmly back and the fires of rage died down a little. He turned his glare back to Hank. "Explain," he said, still in that cold voice.
Hank gulped. "I wasn't...wasn't dissing you. Seriously. It's ironic, kinda funny. Not funny ha-ha," he added quickly as a muscle jumped in Megamind's jaw. "I meant, funny strange. Strange-how-things-work-out kind of thing? You trying to take over the city for so long, and now you kinda have? So...Overlord."
"Yeah," Roxanne said, nodding. "Just what I was thinking. You're the closest thing we've got to law and order in the city, Megamind. Sounds like Overlord business to me."
Megamind searched her face as if trying to see if she was kidding. His brows were still drawn together, but now he looked more puzzled than angry.
Minion's eyes grew round as he drew in a slow gasp of wonder. "It's a dream come true," he whispered, fins quivering.
One of the defenders, a man with long scraggly hair, grinned. "Hey, yeah, man. You're, like, really the Overlord now." There was a general nodding and chuckling.
Megamind glanced at the defenders, then over at the beaming Minion, who nodded encouragingly. Some of the angry stiffness left him. His fists relaxed and became hands again. "Well. That's... all right then," he said. "I guess."
He waved his hand, and the brainbots lowered their menacing arms, withdrew their lasers, and drifted away. Hank let out a long, slow breath. Megamind gave him another brief, suspicious look before turning on his heel and marching back to the hovercraft.
After he deposited the cubes in the morgue and came out, the Overlord name was on everyone's lips.
People acted as if they were proud of it. As if it was cool and hip and awesome. As if he hadn't spent the last two decades bragging about becoming the Overlord and grinding them under his heel. Somehow the part about Hank nearly getting torn asunder for his effrontery was lost in the retelling.
The Lair bustled. Children ran back and forth, shrieking. People put blankets away on shelves, sorted through belongings, borrowed dry towels, shampoo, laundry detergent. They called out across the Lair, greeting him cheerfully with "Hi, Overlord!" "Hey there, Overlord!" "Hey, Overlord, whasss-uuuppp!"
He didn't smile or frown, and responded with curt nods bordering on rudeness, and they loved it.
What the fuck?
He checked to make sure his blueprints were safely locked away, and cast a glum look at the marker and crayon streaks covering his drafting table. When he'd said it was okay to use any of his tables for arts and crafts, he hadn't expected this. The amount of mess a person made, he decided, was inversely proportionate to their size.
He peered at the table more closely. What was that... that glittery dust? Glitter? He brushed at it but the tiny granules stuck to his glove.
Luke, ex-con and former pot-head only because there was no pot to be had, walked up with a hand held high. "Hey, Overlord, how's it hangin'?"
Megamind's glare froze Luke in his tracks. Ice crystals formed in the air.
Luke wheezed out a nervous chuckle and shoved his hand behind his back. "Okaaay, Overlord's not a fan of the high five. Aheheh. Got it. No problemo." He smiled madly and backed up. "Great, uh, talkin' to you, Overlord." He scuttled away.
Megamind brushed his hands off, but the glitter merely spread itself around. Insidious, evil substance! He strode through the Lair, nerves twanging, ready to deliver his wrath upon the first person who exhibited any hint of mockery, regardless of age or gender. No one appeared to be laughing at him, and no one tried to high-five him again.
There was an unusual amount of cheer in the Lair, but it was a generalized sort of cheer.
What was this! As little as a month ago, he and Minion were the entirety of the Lair's mood, he, Megamind, especially! Now all these others were stuffed into it, cluttering up the atmosphere with their moods and emotions and melodrama.
Roxanne stood with her two friends, deep in conversation. As one woman, all three looked at him. His face grew hot under their combined gazes.
His jaw tightened, and, rather than walk by as had been his original plan, he walked up to them.
"Miss Ritchi. Pilar. Agnes." He nodded at them.
Pilar's and Agnes' eyebrows went up. "You got everybody memorized?" Agnes asked.
"I haven't heard the names of all the newcomers yet, but I will learn them," he said. "Miss Ritchi, we need to discuss another broadcast opportunity. In about ten minutes?"
"Sure," she said. "Whenever you want."
Her eyes were very bright. He could get lost in those eyes. For a few seconds the noise of the Lair faded.
Pilar coughed. Flushing, he glanced at Roxanne's buddies, but both of them were looking off into the distance.
Roxanne gave him a brief smile, her hand fluttering up to push a lock of hair behind her ear. "Um, anything else?"
Oh my God, those ears. Did she do that on purpose? He swallowed and forced himself to meet her eyes. "All right, then. I-I mean, no. Nothing else." He frowned at Agnes, who appeared to be choking, then he left to find Minion.
They watched him stride away. Pilar said, "Nothing happened last night? For real?"
Roxanne sighed. "Of course nothing happened. I told you, I didn't mean to spend the night in there. It won't happen again...What?!" she snapped as her friends exchanged meaningful looks.
"I don't think you should back off. Go back again tonight."
"Seriously?! Waltz into his room and take over his bed again? Ha, very funny."
"No, you don't have to, you know, go all the way, but it's probably a good idea to stake your claim. Lot of women around here."
Agnes nodded. "Some might want to hook up with the Overlord."
Pilar pointed with her chin. "And I don't want to alarm you, but I'm pretty sure that chick over there checked him out when he went by."
Roxanne stiffened. "Which one?" she muttered, looking around cautiously.
"The blonde with the swishy hair."
Roxanne studied her out of the corner of her eye. Damn it, that woman did have long blonde hair that probably went 'swish' when she tossed her head. Roxanne felt her hackles rise, covered with spikes and ready to deliver bodily harm. She looked away and frowned at the floor. Am I going to get into some stupid catfight? 'Hands off, he's mine'? How cliche can you get? But...I saw him first! I'm the one he kidnaps, the only one. Hell, I'll bet that girl wouldn't be looking at him like that if it weren't for this zombie business.
A hard little knot formed in her stomach. She knew nothing about his private life. She'd always assumed... he was such a dork in so many ways, she assumed he didn't really have much experience with women. Dork he might be, but a very attractive one.
Had other women noticed how attractive he really was? His athletic grace, his infectious excitement? Goddammit, why did he have to walk around in that skin-tight outfit all the time? Despite his bragging about being so incredibly handsome, she had chalked that up to his false bravado, and maybe even self-deprecation.
Was he aware of how attractive he was?
He had become quite adept at flirting with her. Had he ever... flirted with anyone else?
The tidal wave of jealousy that washed over her almost took her breath away. She had no claim on him, really, and had no right to object if...
Pilar touched her arm. "Hey, look, maybe you could talk to him again? We were just teasing about staying in his room."
"Yeah, we're not gonna dare you to go in there or anything," said Agnes.
"Or judge you," Pilar said. "Totally no judging here. But seriously, that woman gave him the ol' up and down look."
They were looking at her in concern. She nodded. "Thanks, guys. I know what I'm going to do."
The inspiration for Roxanne's jealousy comes from setepenre-set's story "Jealousy." Highly recommended! At first I wasn't going to have any kind of jealous feelings surface, until I realized that this could be the push that Roxanne needs to try to speed things along. Her feelings for Megamind are real, and the jealousy thing will just give her a little extra nudge, that's all. :)
