Chapter 3: House Call
The sun shone brightly in the sky as a nondescript black sedan pulled to a stop in front of a simple, two story house in the suburbs of Metroville. Stepping out of the car, Agent Rick Dicker walked around it before pushing his way through the gate in the white-picket fence that surrounded the well kept lawn outside of the yellow house, a plain brown briefcase in his hand. Walking up to the red front door, Dicker pushed the glowing button to the left of it, causing a doorbell to sound within the house.
"I'll get it!" a young voice called before Dicker heard the sound of rapid footbeats approaching the other side of the door.
A moment later, the door swung open, revealing a young boy standing on the other side. He appeared to be roughly five years old, and stood about three feet tall. He had a mop of auburn hair and bright blue eyes that looked up at Dicker. He was currently dressed in a red, Mickey Mouse t-shirt and brown cargo shorts with only white socks on his feet. As he looked up at Dicker, the boy's expression turned from one of curiosity to delight.
"Mister Ricker Dicker!" the boy exclaimed before running forward and hugging Dicker around his legs, the force of the boy slamming into him almost tripping the agent.
"Hey, there, Jack Jack," Dicker greeted with a bemused smile as he tousled the boy's hair affectionately, "Man, you've gotten big since the last time I saw you."
"Jack Jack? Honey?" a female voice called from within the house, "Who's at the door?"
A moment later, a middle aged woman came into view. She was of average height, with a curvy figure and auburn hair that hung down to the base of her skull. She was dressed in a grey, short sleeved, button-up shirt and a pair of blue jeans. As she looked at Dicker, her brown eyes lit up with recognition.
"Rick!" the woman greeted with a raspy voice as she quickly stepped forward and pulled Dicker into a hug, "What a surprise! Bob didn't tell me you were coming over!"
"Well, that's because he doesn't know, Helen," Dicker replied as he returned the hug with his free arm.
"Is everything okay?" the woman, Helen, questioned as she pulled back and looked at Dicker with concern.
"Everything's fine," Dicker answered, "I've got some serious news but it's not an emergency."
"Well, I suppose you should come in then," Helen replied as she stepped to the side and allowed Dicker to enter the house.
"Bob's in the den," Helen explained as she took Jack Jack's hand and began walking deeper into the house, "I'll gather everyone and we can talk in the kitchen."
Dicker followed Helen into a simple kitchen, at the center of which sat a wooden table.
"Bob!" Helen called as she stepped up to one of the doorways leading out of the room, "Bob, Rick is here!"
"Rick?" a deep male voice questioned from the other room, "What's Rick doing here?"
A moment later, a massive man stepped into the room. He stood at least a head taller than Rick and had broad shoulders that also made him twice as wide. He had short, wavy blonde hair and blue eyes set into a face with a lantern jaw. He wore a white, button up shirt and brown slacks held up by a brown leather belt.
"Rick!" the man smiled as he spotted the agent, offering a large hand to him as he approached, "What brings you here?"
"Hey, Bob," Dicker greeted as he shook the man's hand, "There's something I needed to talk to your family about. Is Dash around?"
As he spoke, there was a rush of air and a blur of motion before a young man suddenly appeared in the room. He appeared to be roughly fifteen years old and was tall and lanky, with blue eyes and windswept blond hair. He was dressed in a yellow t-shirt and a pair of red and black gym shorts.
"Hey, Mom, have you seen my sneakers?" the young man questioned, "I was hoping to go for a run before…."
The young man trailed off as he noticed Dicker standing behind his mother.
"Oh, hey Rick," the young man greeted, "I didn't know you were coming over today."
"Dash, why don't you sit down with us," Helen told the young man as she sat down in one of the chairs that surrounded the kitchen table, pulling Jack Jack into her lap as she did, "Rick wanted to talk to us about something."
"Okay," Dash agreed and took a seat in one of the chairs, looking around at everyone hesitantly.
"If you wanted to talk to all of us, Rick, I have to say, you have pretty bad timing," Bob commented as he took a seat as well, "We just got back yesterday from dropping Violet off at college in San Fransokyo."
"Couldn't be helped," Dicker stated with a shrug as he sat down, "She'll get the info one way or the other. The most important thing is that I talk to all of you."
"You're making me worried, Rick," Helen commented, "I know you said this wasn't an emergency, but you still seem rather grave."
"It's a serious issue," Dicker confirmed with a nod as he lay his briefcase on the table, "But, I believe it is overall good news."
"Well, lay it on us then," Bob urged.
"So, I'm sure you are all aware of the increasing number of incidence since you all fought Syndrome five years ago," Dicker explained, "The Titan incident, the Battle in the Bay, and I'm sure you're aware of what happened in San Fransokyo a few months ago."
"Yeah, where the Big Hero 9 fought those aliens?" Dash questioned, "Dad was hoping to run into them while we were there but it didn't end up happening."
"Figures that they break up a bank robbery the day after we left," Bob grumbled.
"Well, as you may have noticed, despite the Supers Act still being in effect, not many people are enforcing it anymore," Dicker stated.
"Oh, I've definitely noticed," Helen commented with an amused chuckle, "My whole family should have been arrested ten times over by now."
"The public's opinions on superheros is changing," Dicker stated, "And my higher ups are noticing."
"What are you getting at Rick?" Bob pressed.
"The AVL wants to put an officially sanctioned superhero team together," Dicker explained as he opened his briefcase, pulled out a file, and laid it on the table, "And I'm in charge of picking who's on the team."
Bob, Helen and Dash looked at Dicker in shock, while Jack Jack pulled the file over to him and opened it to see what was inside.
"Are you serious?" Bob all but whispered, a note of excitement rising in his voice.
"Bob, when am I not serious?" Dicker questioned with a quirked eyebrow.
"Yeah!" Bob suddenly exclaimed, startling his family as he hopped to his feet, knocking over his chair in the process, "Oh my God, yes!"
Turning towards Helen, Bob grabbed her shoulders and began shaking her with excitement.
"Did you hear that, honey!?" Bob asked excitedly, "We're officially back in the game!"
"I heard him, sweetie," Helen replied with a bemused chuckle, "I was sitting right here, after all."
"So wait, I'm actually going to get to be on a superhero team?" Dash questioned with an excited grin.
"As long as your parents are okay with it," Dicker stated.
"Please, Mom," Dash said as he turned towards Helen as Bob stepped away from her, "Pleasepleaseplease."
"Of course, Dash," Helen replied with a smirk, "I've been letting your run around in costume for the last couple of years. I'd be a bit of a hypocrite if I tried to stop you now."
"Yes!" Dash shouted as he punched the air with so much excitement, his fists became a blur of motion.
"Oh, I can't wait to tell Lucius!" Bob said while running a hand through his hair before a thought occurred to him and he turned to look at Dicker, "We're bringing Lucius in on this, right?"
"Of course," Dicker confirmed with a nod, "We're going to need as many veteran superheros as we can get."
"I can see why," Helen replied as she began looking through the file in front of her, "This team is mostly made up of rookies."
As Helen flipped to a new page, she saw something that caused her eyes to go wide in shock and hissed with a sharp intake of breath before she slammed the file shut.
"What was that?" Bob asked in confusion.
"Nothing," Helen quickly answered as she turned to look at Bob, not noticing as Jack Jack slid one of the pages out of the file.
"Mommy?" Jack Jack asked as he held the page up for Helen to see, "Why is this man blue?"
"Blue?" Bob asked as he reached out and took the page from Jack Jack, "Here, let me see that."
The room fell silent as Bob looked at the page, watching as his brows furrowed and his expression darkened.
"Is this a joke?" Bob demanded as he glared at Dicker.
"I don't joke, Bob," Dicker replied with a stony expression.
"Then what the hell is this?" Bob demanded as he turned the page towards Dicker and pointed at the figure depicted on the paper.
"Bob, you've seen the news," Helen said gently, "He's been doing a lot of good lately."
"I don't care what the news says!" Bob snapped as he slapped the page back down on the table, "There's no way I'm working with Megamind!"
Meanwhile, in Metro City
The sun shone brightly down on the bustling metropolis of Metro City. All across the city, people were going about their business in the labyrinth of skyscrapers. Except in one part of the city, where daily life had come to a screeching halt.
On the corner of one of the blocks in Metro City's downtown area, a jewelry store sat. Normally, it's glass display cases showcased numerous pieces of dazzling and elegant jewelry. Now though, those cases were smashed and empty, the alarms attached to them shrieking within the store. At that moment, four armed men, each wearing face concealing masks, were busy smashing in the display cases with the butt of their rifles before quickly grabbing the jewelry within and stuffing it into the duffle bags they wore around their shoulders. As this was happening, patrons and clerks alike lay face down on the floor, cowering and whimpering.
"Come on, come on!" one of the robbers shouted, "Let's move! We got to be out of here before the cops show up, or worse!"
"Or worse?" another one of the criminals asked with contempt, "Don't tell me you're actually scared of that blue freak?"
"He's been busting guys all across the city," the first criminal argued, "If he shows up, we're as good as caught."
"Yeah, whatever man," the second robber snorted, "I hope he shows up. I'd love to put a bullet in that big blue head of his."
As he said this, the criminal turned to head towards the door. However, to his shock, he found a man standing between him and the exit.
The first thing the criminal noticed about the man was that his skin was entirely blue. The second thing was that his bald head had a cranium that was roughly twice the size of a normal person's. The man was dressed in a black spandex bodysuit with splashes of blue, along with a pair of black gloves, black boots and a black utility belt around his waist. He looked at the criminal with bright green eyes and smirked, his mouth tugging on the black soul patch that ran down to his chin. The thing that then caught the criminal's attention was the futuristic-looking handgun the man had leveled at his head.
"Ollo," the man greeted before pulling the trigger, causing a beam of blue light to shoot out from the gun and strike the criminal. In a flash of light, the robber disappeared and was replaced by a tiny cube of matter that hung in the air for half a second before it began to drop to the ground. Before the cube could hit the floor, the man snagged it out of the air and grinned at it before slipping it into a pouch on his belt.
"Fear not, good citizens!" the man declared, causing the three other robbers to turn and face him, "Everything will be fine, now that I am here to save you!"
"Holy crap, it's Megamind!" one of the robbers shouted.
"Waste him!" another ordered as all three leveled their weapons at him.
"Uh oh," Megamind mumbled to himself, his eyes going wide with surprise.
Diving forward a half a second before the robbers could pull the triggers of their weapons, Megamind took cover behind the display case at the center of the room as bullets ripped through the air above him, causing the innocent people in the store to begin screaming. Reaching to his utility belt, Megamind retrieved a small, metal orb and pushed a button on the top before tossing it over the display case. The orb rose into the air before stopping at eye level and hovering. A moment later, the side of the orb facing the robbers began pulsing rapidly with bright light, causing the criminals to let out cries of surprise as they lowered their weapons and tried to cover their dazzled eyes.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Megamind spun the cylinder on his gun before standing up and aiming it at one of the robbers. Pulling the trigger caused a burst of blue energy to erupt from the gun, and strike one of the robbers in the chest. The blast knocked the robber completely off his feet, carrying him over one of the display cases before smashing him into a wall. The force was enough to leave a large dent in the store's drywall, and the criminal groaned in pain as he slumped to the floor.
"Oops," Megamind muttered his eyes wide with surprise as he looked down at his gun before turning the cylinder again, "Wrong setting."
By that time, the orb had stopped flashing its lights and the robbers were starting to recover. Grabbing the orb out of the air with his free hand, Meganmind aimed his gun with the other hand and fired at another of the robbers. This time, the blue shot out of the gun in a short beam and struck the robber. The instant he was hit, the robber seemed to fall unconscious and he collapsed to the ground in a boneless heap.
"That's more like it," Megamind commented with a grin.
As he spoke, the sound of the door opening reached his ears. Spinning around, Megamind saw the remaining robber had managed to stumble past him and was now rushing down the street away from the store.
"Hey, wait!" Megamind called as he raced after the robber, "I need to finish arresting you!"
As he exited the building, Megamind discovered that the robber was already halfway down the block. Seeing this, Megamind's brow furrowed in frustration, but a moment later, an idea came to mind and a smile spread across his features. Bringing his hand up to his mouth and putting two fingers between his lips, Megamind blew a sharp whistle.
A half-second later, three small robotic creatures came flying into view. At a glance, they resembled flying, mechanical jellyfish, possessing ovaloid bodies from which dangled pairs of metallic tendrils that ended in robotic claws. The top half of each of the machines' bodies was made up of glass domes that glowed bright blue, across the middle of which ran a spiked, mohawk-like frill. Each of the robots had a set of jaws that resembled a bear trap and a single, glowing red eye on a stalk. The trio of robots quickly flew to Megamind's side and began to hover in the air around him.
"Brainbots!" Megamind called as he pointed at the fleeing robber, "Fetch!"
At his command, the trio of robots turned their attention towards the robber before they shot after the fleeing criminal. Swiftly flying through the air, the brainbots quickly caught up to the robber. Dipping low, the first brainbot to reach the criminal latched its jaws onto the man's leg, causing him to let out a cry of surprised pain as he tumbled to the ground. As the first brainbot held him, the other two brainbot quickly flew up to the robber and grabbed his arms with their claws. Then, together, the trio of brainbots hoisted the struggling robber into the air and carried him back to Megamind.
"Good boys!" Megamind congratulated the brainbots in a cutesy voice, "Such good boys! Now, drop him."
In response, the brainbots dropped the robber unceremoniously to the ground, the criminal letting out a grunt of pain as his back connected with the sidewalk. As Megamind pat one of the brainbots affectionately on the top of its dome, the sound of approaching police sirens caught his attention.
"It sounds like the police are on their way," Megamind observed as he looked down at the robber, "I think I'll just leave you here for them to find."
Reaching into one of the pouches on his belt, Megamind retrieved the tiny cube he had turned one of the other robbers into before he crouched down and placed it on the criminal's chest.
"Make sure the police put your friend in some water," Megamind explained, "He'll be fine as long as they do that."
With that, Megamind stepped over the criminal and began making his way down the street, his brainbots trailing after him.
"Have fun in prison!" Megamind called back to the criminal with a jovial wave of his hand, "Say hi to the warden for me!"
Chuckling to himself, Megamind turned a corner and continued making his way through downtown Metro City. As he did, a buzzing sound came from his wrist. Pushing the sleeve of his costume up, Megamind revealed a hi-tech watch strapped to his wrist, which was currently buzzing at him. Touching the watch's face with his finger, Megamind held it up to his mouth.
"Ollo," Megamind spoke into the watch.
"Hello, sir," a cheerful voice replied through the watch, "How did the jewelry store robbery go?"
"Excellent, Minion," Megamind replied, "I captured all the criminals this time. I do have to remember not to announce my presence before disabling everyone armed with an automatic weapon though."
"A wise thought, sir," Minion replied before his voice turned nervous, "Uh, sir, the reason I'm calling is because someone is at headquarters to see you."
"Ooo, is it Roxie?" Megamind said excitedly, "We have a date tonight, so I figured she'd-"
"Um, Ms. Ritchie is here, sir, but that's not what I was calling about," Minion interrupted.
"Oh?" Megamind replied in surprised confusion, "Who else is there then?"
"A Ms. Lucy Wilde, sir," Minion answered, "She says she's an agent of the AVL."
"The AVL!?" Megamind whispered fearfully, "They found me!? Okay, Minion, you keep her busy while I go to the secret backup lair and wait for-"
"Sir!" Minion cut in, "Sir, I feel the need to remind you that you're not a supervillain anymore."
"...Oh, right," Megamind replied as realization dawned on him, "I….I guess I'll be there as soon as possible, in that case."
"Excellent, sir," Minion replied, "I'll let Agent Wilde know you're on your way."
With that, the call ended, and Megamind was left with nothing but the foreboding feeling that had settled into the pit of his stomach.
Later,
On the outskirts of Metro City, sitting along one of the city's many waterfronts, was what appeared to be an abandoned warehouse. The building had a disheveled, unused look, with boarded up windows and graffiti covered walls. A tall, chain link fence topped with barbed wire surrounded the building and it looked like no one had been on the premises for years. Nonetheless, Megamind slipped through a hole in the chainlink fence and made his way towards the warehouse, glancing around to see if anyone was around while his brainbots trailed behind him.
Walking around to the side of the warehouse, Megamind stopped in front of part of the wall that prominently displayed some graffiti that read "Nobody lives here, go away!" Glancing around suspiciously, Megamind opened a hidden panel built into the wall, revealing a keypad inside. Quickly entering a code into the pad, Megamind closed the panel and stepped back as the section of wall slid aside with a mechanical hiss, revealing a corridor sitting behind it. Megamind then quickly stepped inside with his brainbots, prompting the section of wall to close behind him.
Inside, the warehouse appeared to be anything but abandoned. Most of the building's single, large room was dominated by various pieces of advanced machinery, while a web of thick cables crisscrossed across the area to provide power to the equipment and dozens of brainbots zipped about. Near the center of the room was a large work table around which three people had gathered.
The first person was a woman roughly Megamind's own age, with pale skin, a slim physique, and short brown hair. She was dressed in a light blue blouse and tan skirt, and her blue eyed gaze was focused on the redheaded woman standing before her. Next to the brunette, hovering nervously, was a hulking creature that appeared at a glance to be a cybernetic gorilla. Even more unusual was the fact that in place of a head the creature had what appeared to be a dome filled with water. In the dome was a small, fish-like creature that was greyish-green in color and possessed large, intelligent eyes.
"Come on," the brunette prompted, "You have to be able to tell me something."
"I'm sorry, Ms. Ritchie, but my organization doesn't have anything to say to the media at this time," the redhead replied with a helpless shrug.
"I swear, you government types are all the same," the brunette sighed before smiling as she spotted Megamind, "Hey, babe."
"Ollo, Roxie," Megamind replies, smiling as the brunette planted a kiss on his cheek, before he turned his attention towards the redhead, "And ollo to you too, Ms-"
"Agent," the redhead interrupted as she pulled a badge out of her blue coat and flashed it at Megamind, "Agent Lucy Wilde, AVL."
"Of course, Agent, sorry," Megamind replied as he looked at Lucy nervously, "How, exactly, did you get in here?"
"I knocked," Lucy replied blandly as she nodded at the creature, "Your doorman let me in."
At this, Megamind spun around and shot an accusing glare at the creature.
"Minion!?" Megamind hissed.
"I'm sorry, sir," the creature replied, "I thought that, with you being a superhero now, we didn't need to keep the lair a secret anymore."
Sighing in defeat, Megamind turned his attention back to Lucy.
"Am I under arrest?" Megamind questioned.
"Sadly, if you ask me, no, you are not," Lucy answered with a sigh as she put her badge away, "I'm actually here to make you an offer."
"An offer?" Roxie questioned, "What kind of offer?"
"An offer that I will be giving in private," Lucy stated as she gave Roxie a stern look.
"I mean," Megamind began nervously, drawing Lucy's attention back to him, "I'm probably going to end up telling her anyway, so…."
Megamind trailed off as Lucy shot him a withering glare.
"Fine," Lucy spat as she turned her gaze back towards Roxie, "But if a word of this ends up in the papers, I swear to God, I'll-"
"You'll stick me in some deep, dark hole and forget about me," Roxie finished with a roll of her eyes, "You can spare me the big, bad government speech, I've heard it before."
Lucy gave Roxie another glare before she walked over to the work table, where a briefcase sat. Opening the briefcase, Lucy pulled out a file which she then lay on the table. Looking back at Megamind, Lucy beckoned him over.
Walking over, Megamind picked up the file and began flipping through it.
"What is it?" Roxie asked curiously as she walked over.
"It's a dossier about some kind of team," Megamind replied as he furrowed his brow.
"A team?" Minion questioned as he joined everyone, "What kind of team?"
"A superhero team," Lucy explained as she leaned casually against the work table, "The AVL is putting one together, and somehow, you ended up on the shortlist."
"Really!?" Roxie questioned excitedly before looking at Megamind, "Babe, do you know what this means!?"
"Boy, do I!" Megamind replied, equally as excited as he held a page up from the file for Roxie to see, which, among other things, had a picture depicting some kind of half man, half insect creature, "It means I get to work with the Dr. Cockroach!"
Meanwhile, in Area 51,
Deep beneath the deserts of Nevada was a rat's nest of tunnels and bunkers that had been constructed in secret by the United States government over decades. Mirage was currently walking down one of these tunnels, her high heeled shoes clicking against the cement floor, a briefcase clutched in one hand.
Next to her walked a man dressed in an United States Army uniform, the insignia upon it marking him as a general. He was relatively short, standing about as tall as Mirage herself, but was broad of shoulder and thickly built. He had grey hair in a crewcut style and hard, green eyes that stared directly ahead.
"Nice base you've got here, General Monger," Mirage commented as they walked.
"I'm not one for small talk, Agent," Monger replied curtly, "You can save that for the team."
As they walked, a pair of squat, alien creatures wandered by.
"How are your new guests fitting in?" Mirage inquired, prompting Monger to sigh in resignation, which caused the woman to smirk.
"The Boov are fitting in fine," Monger commented as another pair of aliens walked by, "I never thought this place could feel crowded, but here we are."
"You give them free roam of the base?" Mirage questioned.
"Not free roam, of course not," Monger answered with a snort, "But we're not locking them up either. They use to be slaves, so we're treating them more like refugees than criminals."
"What about the Gorg?" Mirage inquired.
"Oh, he's locked up like the animal he is," Monger replied, "Along with his little toady, Smek."
"What became of the Gorg's egg?" Mirage asked.
"It hatched," Monger answered with a shrug, "Now our scientists are doing their best to raise a few dozen starfish babies. If we're lucky, they won't turn into galactic conquerors like their daddy."
Rounding a corner, Mirage found herself in a massive corridor, the roof easily reaching a few stories above their head. Before her was a giant steel door that looked like it could take a barrage of tank shells and remain standing. As they walked towards it, there was a loud cranking sound from the door as it slowly began to open.
Stepping through the door as it continued to open, Mirage took the time to observe the room before her. It was massive one that reminded her of a missle silo, with a ceiling easily three times the height of the corridor she had just left. The room was spartan in appearance, with grey walls and a grey floor, illuminated by lights built into the ceiling. The room was circular in shape, with a number of doors similar to the one she had just come through spread out around it.
The first thing that caught Mirage's eye was the massive creature that occupied the room. The creature looked like it weighed hundreds of tons and even laying down it loomed taller than a multistory building. The thing it most resembled was a gigantic moth, with most of its body covered in what seemed to be orange and tan fur. While its head and thorax were rather large and bulky, its abdomen was slimer and almost resembled a tail. A pair of elegant pink and blue butterfly wings sprouted from the creature's back and four spindly legs were tucked against its body. A pair of feathery antena sprouted from the creature's head, while its decidedly uninsect-like pair of eyes were closed in slumber.
Near the giant moth, a table had been set up, around which four people sat, who Mirage was able to make out as she drew nearer. The most normal among them was a woman in her mid-twenties. She had a slim build and was relatively short, the most noticeable thing about her being her pure white hair that she wore pulled back in a ponytail. She was dressed in a navy blue jumpsuit with orange highlights, and a pair of red sneakers.
Next to her sat what appeared to be some kind of cross between an ape and a fish. It was mostly humanoid in appearance, with a long tail that ended in a fin and simian-like hands and feet. Its body was largely covered by green scales which turned to a dull white on its stomach and chest while frills grew from the sides of its head, its spine and the sides of its forearms. Its face was taken up mostly by its large, toothy maw, and it looked out at the world with beady black eyes beneath a thick monobrow.
The third figure was mostly human in appearance, except for its gigantic insectoid head. The most noticeable feature of the creature's head were its bulbous, sickly yellow eyes, each of which was as large as a person's skull. The creature was completely lacking in a nose and ears, but did have a pair of long antenna that sprouted from the top of its head. The skin of its head resembled the dull brown chiton of a cockroach and was bald, though it did have large, bushy eyebrows and what appeared to be a small mustache. Below its head, the creature appeared like a normal human, with pale skin and a slim, tall build. It wore a white lab coat over a black turtleneck and brown slacks, with brown shoes covering its feet.
The final figure was not humanoid by any stretch of the imagination, but actually a blob of blue goop roughly twice the mass of a person. The only features the creature possessed was a single, red eye and a large, toothless mouth.
As she drew closer, Mirage realized, to her astonishment, that the four were playing cards. Each of them was holding a number of cards close to their face, all while carefully studying each other, the blob creature having apparently formed a pair of hands and arms for this purpose. Suddenly, the blob creature let out a deep, jolly laugh as he laid his cards on the table.
"Royal flush!" the creature declared, "I win!"
The others gave the blob creature confused and dubious looks.
"Bob, buddy," the fish creature said with a deep, gravelly voice, "We're, uh, we're playing go fish."
"Got any queens?" the insectoid creature said with a cultured voice as he leaned in to see the blob's cards as the creature wore an expression of dumbfounded confusion.
"Doc!" the woman admonished, "That's cheating!"
The insectoid creature shrugged before he noticed Mirage and Monger's approach.
"Well, it seems we have guests," it observed as it rose to its feet.
At this, the others looked over as well, the fish creature's eyes going wide as it spotted Mirage.
"Boy, do we," the fish creature stated with a broad grin, before he pushed his way past the others so he could approach her.
"Hey, I'm the Missing Link," the fish creature said suavely, offering Mirage his hand while his eyes roamed her body, "My friends call me Link. How are you?"
"I'll be better when you stop looking at me like that," Mirage replied as she gripped Link's offered hand and twisted it painfully to the side, causing him to let out a squeak of pain. Releasing him, Mirage turned towards the insectoid creature as it approached.
"I'm sorry, Link can be a bit of a cad," the creature stated as he offered her his hand as well, "Dr. Cockroach, at your service."
"Agent Mirage," she replied as she shook his hand.
"Mirage?" the blob creature questioned with a snort as he slid over, "That's a weird name."
"And what would yours be?" Mirage asked with an amused smirk.
"Benzoate Ostylezene Bicarbonate," the blob creature rattled off, "But most people call me Bob."
"So," Mirage said as she began pointing at them each in turn, "Bob, Dr. Cockroach, and the Missing Link. The large one I take is Insectosaurus. Which leaves…."
"Me," the woman stated as she walked up and shook Mirage's hand, "Hi, I'm Ginormica, but you can call me Susan."
"I have to admit, I was expecting someone taller," Mirage commented with bemusement as she looked at Susan, who stood slightly shorter than the agent.
"Oh yeah," Susan agreed with a chuckle before holding up her right wrist, on which was what appeared to be a white smartwatch, "Dr. Cockroach built me this so I don't have to be big all the time."
As she spoke, Susan took a dozen or so steps away from everyone. Once she was far enough away, she pushed a button on the side of the watch. A moment later, Susan was surrounded by a light blue energy field before she suddenly began to glow exponentially. The next thing Mirage knew, Susan was standing dozens of feet tall, her towering figure casting a long shadow over the others.
"Ta da!" Susan declared with a smile, her voice now loud enough to cause Insectosaurus to begin stirring in its sleep, prompting Susan to shush the creature as she gently stroked its fur.
"Very impressive," Mirage commented with a smirk, raising her voice so Susan could hear her, "Now, if you don't mind coming back down here, I have something I'd like to discuss with you all."
Nodding in reply, Susan pushed the button on her watch again and shrunk back down to normal size before joining the others around the table.
"So, Agent Mirage," Dr. Cockroach began, "What does bring you to us today?"
"I have an offer for you all," Mirage explained as she placed a file on the table, before a thoughtful expression crossed her face, "Well, perhaps not an offer."
"What do you mean?" Link questioned with a quirked eyebrow.
"You're all being transferred," Monger spoke up, "You'll be working for the AVL from now on."
"What for?" Susan inquired as she took the file and opened it up in front of her so the others could read.
"We're putting a team together," Mirage explained, "And we want all of you to be part of it."
"Wait, hold up," Link said as he looked through the file, "Are you saying you want us to be superheroes?"
"Yes," Mirage confirmed with a nod, "We feel that with your track records, you would all be valuable members of the team."
"Oh my God!" Bob suddenly shouted as he pointed at something in the file.
"What?" Susan asked as she looked where Bob was pointing in confusion, "What is it?"
"I just realized, I can't read!" Bob answered dramatically.
The others looked at Bob in stupefied silence for a moment before Dr. Cockroach turned his attention back to Mirage.
"I'm sure we'll make you proud," he said, dryly.
"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm pretty excited for this," Susan said as she pulled the file out from under Bob's hand and flipped through it again, pausing on a page with a perplexed look, "Though you seem to be missing some info on these people."
Holding the file up so Mirage could see, Susan showed the agent the part of the file documenting the Big Hero 9. Seeing that, Mirage gave the other woman an enigmatic smile.
"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that," Mirage assured her, "We have someone looking into it as we speak."
A/N: So, this one took me awhile, but I will admit, it kind of got away from me. Hell, this is the reduced version of what I was originally planning. Still, it was a lot of fun introducing most of the other characters, and I hoped you all enjoyed it as well. As usual, feedback and critiques are always welcome, so please review! Later!