Megamind's phone rang, playing the first notes of Halloween's Heavy Metal is the Law, and the hero groaned. He and Roxanne were cuddled in a sweating, sated pile on the floor, his cloak spread beneath them. His ringtone sounded again.

"Someone had better be on fire," he groused. "Could you please hand that to me?"

Roxanne moved enough to reach up onto the work table and feel for the buzzing cell.

"Ollo?" Megamind asked as he brought it to his ear. Pressed this close to him, Roxanne could feel him suddenly tense as the voice on the other end said something. "When?" the hero asked, sitting upright. "Uh-huh? Where? Yes… Yes, thank you. I'm on my way."

"What's happening?" Roxanne asked as Megamind hung up.

"That was Police Chief Simmons. I asked him to keep me updated about any unusual accidents," he stood and began gathering his clothes. "It's a good thing I did, too, or this one would have slipped under the radar. No one was seriously hurt, but it was a close thing."

"I'm going with you."

"Roxanne, if Ares is still around—"

"You don't even know he was involved."

Megamind sighed. "No, possibly not, but still—"

"I'm going with you," she said, determination in her voice. "I'm an investigative reporter. I know how to talk to people. I can help."

He took a deep breath and nodded. "Yes. Yes, of course, You've never been a helpless damsel, and I shouldn't treat you like one. Alright, get dressed. We leave in ten minutes. Minion," he spoke into his watch. "There's been an incident. Code: get the car."

The Metro City Sudmeister Brewing Plant was near the docks, in an area given over entirely to manufacturing, warehouses, and dingy office parks. There was a single police cruiser parked outside, and Minion pulled the invisible car up beside it.

"I'll just let you out and find a place to park, shall I, sir?"

"Oh, just leave it somewhere it won't be hit."

"But sir! If it's illegally parked—"

"Then no one will notice. That's the point of it being invisible."

"Sir!" Minion was appalled. "You are a HERO now!"

"Ah. Right." Megamind looked abashed. "Yes." He recovered himself. With a dramatic swish of his cape, he swung out of the vehicle and spoke clearly. "Minion, go and park the car somewhere safe and entirely legal!"

"Maybe we shouldn't announce the invisible car is here in case Ares is still around?" suggested Roxanne, climbing out after him.

"Oops." He shrugged. "On the bright side, I'm fairly certain if he's here he will have noticed us appearing out of nowhere anyway."

"That's the bright side?" she asked.

Megamind grinned back at her. "It's the little things," he said.

Inside, a round, balding man was wringing his hands while two police officers spoke to him. One was an earnest-looking young man, not much over twenty, with a blond crew cut and a bearing screamed that "rookie," while the other was a slightly pudgy, bored older woman with shoulder-length brown hair. After reporting from numerous crime scenes, Roxanne knew it was a sign the precinct was not viewing this as a particularly serious event. Probably these officers had pulled the short straw, and were stuck taking what they doubtlessly viewed as a pointless report.

"I just don't know what happened," the bald man was saying.

"The caller reported a flash and a rapport," responded the young cop, checking his notes. "Like an explosion."

"That's impossible," the bald man shook his head. "There was nothing up there to explode; just cables and bolts."

"Nothing is impossible," Megamind said, striding up.

The older cop looked at him. "Defender, this isn't exactly your usual scene."

"Oh, being a hero isn't all epic battles and public praise," he said.

"Why is there a reporter with you?" The female officer's voice turned sharp.

"Don't mind me, Officer…?" Roxanne turned the last word into a question.

"Hanesley," the older woman said, crossing her arms.

"Officer Hanesley," Roxanne remained polite despite the officer's brusque tone. "I'm not here in a professional capacity."

"Why are you here, then?" Officer Hanesley demanded.

"As my partner," Megamind informed her over he shoulder, already examining the damage. Several steel walkways ran above the hug vats and machines, and a section of one of them was hanging by a twisted piece of metal.

"What about the other one?" Officer Hanesley was saying. "The mechanical fish guy?"

"He'll be along shortly."

"And you need two partners to look at a broken catwalk?"

"I'm sort of in training," Roxanne said, and hurried on before Officer Hanesley could offer another objection. "We believe this incident may be related to another case Megamind is looking into."

"You mean it wasn't an accident?" the bald man asked hopefully. Roxanne guessed he was the plant manager, and a nearly fatal accident in his facility might have negative effects on his career. At least a deliberate attack couldn't be blamed on negligence.

"Oh, this was no accident!" Megamind announced from the wall below the hanging catwalk. "Look at this!" He brought over part of a plastic casing containing metal small knobs and what looked like a microchip. A collection of burned wires were hanging from it.

"What is that?" asked the young cop.

"That," said Megamind, "appears to be part of a store-bought actuator. This melted black thing with the metal filaments sticking out used to be a sensor," he added, holding the box out for examination. "If I had to guess," he added, rubbing his narrow chin, "I'd say it was activated by a cellular phone or remote control. It looks like this was modified from a jerrage door opener or something."

"A what?" asked the bald man.

"It's 'garage,' Sir," explained Minion, walking up. "Not jerrage."

"Oh, whatever," said Megamind distractedly. "People ought to spell words they way they mean them to be pronounced. Very sloppy."

"Well, Sir, the English language—" began Minion.

"What? Oh, not that," Megamind waved a dismissive hand. "This," he added, lifting the device. "It's sloppy. Store-bought components, poor soldering… This was done in a hurry." He turned to the officers. "Call in an explosives team. Judging by the damage, this was intended to be completely destroyed by the blast. That and the fact that the walkway didn't fall completely tells me something didn't go right. There may be an unexploded charge somewhere."

That got the older officer's attention. "What kind of explosives do we tell them they're looking for?"

"I'm not sure," Megamind admitted. "Likely something that can be made from household materials. I'll know more after I examine this." He started to pocked the device.

"Uh, Mr. Megamind, sir," the younger officer protested. "That's evidence. You can't just—"

Officer Hanesley, however, now appeared to be completely on their side. "Ferguson! How many arrests have you made so far?"

The younger officer's neck turned a little pink. "Uh, three?" he answered.

"Do you know how many criminals this man," she gestured to Megamind, "apprehended last week? Seventeen, Ferguson. Seventeen!"

"But—"

"He's the reason this city's crime rate is down eighty-seven percent! Our standing orders are to aid and assist him in whatever way necessary!"

"What will the captain say if we just—"

"I know exactly what he'd say: 'if the hero wants the device, give him the device!'"

"Not to worry; Police Chief Simmons is the one who called me," Megamind assured the rookie. He seemed almost to pity Ferguson, but then, Roxie considered, Megamind had been an underdog himself for a long time.

"But what if—" the young officer was saying.

"Ferguson," Officer Hanesley glared at her partner. "Just stop talking." She turned to Megamind. It seemed she was in full professional cop mode now that there was evidence of a real crime. "What else do you need from us?"

Roxanne stepped forward. "We'll need a complete list of anyone who saw the event, and we'll need to speak to the witnesses."

Officer Hanesley nodded. "You can talk to the witnesses right now, and I can have headquarters send over the list this afternoon."

"So," Megamind said later as he, Roxanne, and Minion sat in the workroom. "We have seven witnesses, but only three of them were actually on the walkway."

"Mr. Hernandez was here," Minion pointed to a spot on the floor plan Megamind had drawn out. Even knowing his incredible intelligence, Roxanne had been impressed by her lover's ability to recall precise details and measurements.

"So he wasn't on the portion that fell," she agreed. "That leaves only two possible targets."

"Mr. Matt Kearsey and Mr. Didier Bello," agreed Megamind.

"From what I was told, Mr. Bello was walking over the damaged section the moment it fell," Roxanne said. "Mr. Kearsey was close behind him. It was Bello who grabbed the steady section with one hand and Kearsey with the other. Hernandez ran forward and helped them both up."

"The question is," said Megamind, "was Bello intended to fall, or was he supposed to step onto the safe portion of the platform just before the device detonated?" He paused. "Minion, get me both men's addresses!"

"Right away, sir!"

"I want brainbots on twenty-four-hour patrols near both residences, as well as around the brewery. Ares will know by now he failed, and he'll be planning his next move."

"Yes, sir."

"But why did he fail?" Megamind asked suddenly, jumping up to examine the half-destroyed device on the table. "The Ares I knew would have never thrown together something so clumsy. Of course, obvious though it was, but the police still didn't find it." He paused, picking up the battered little plastic box and holding it before his green eyes. "What are you up to?" he asked quietly. "Was this meant to fail? Are you trying to throw me off your trail? Or have you gotten overconfident?"

"Could he think you've taken his warning, Sir?" Minion suggested as he busily tapped keys on the supercomputer. "Like you said, the police were ready to write it off as an accident."

"We can't afford to make any assumptions just yet. But be sure the brainbots stay out of sight as much as possible! If we do have the element of surprise, I want to keep it!"

"Maybe we could give them a quick camouflage paint job?" Roxanne asked, looking at the rather obvious flying robots. Their metallic bodies, red camera eyes, and painted, jagged fins weren't exactly inconspicuous.

"I like the way you think, but we haven't the time," Megamind answered. "And camouflage is specific to particular environments... Not exactly versatile," He paused thoughtfully. "I should create and install invisibility shields for some of them so we'll be ready next time. I wonder if I could make the devices small enough..." He grabbed another piece of paper and started frantically scribbling calculations.