Disclaimer: "Megamind" is owned by Dreamworks. I am not profiting from this fanfiction.

Syphon

Part VI

Roxanne saw the entire exchange on the monitor, glowering at the end. Okay, so he was tricky, sending a brainbot in his place, but Megamind had still taken too much of a chance. When she saw Syphon flip around and pull herself up the building like that to reach him, her heart had almost stopped.

So when Megamind, triumphant in his latest endeavor, returned to the lair with a wide grin, satisfied with himself, he met an infuriated Roxanne.

She'd been waiting for him by the control center, arms crossed. His grin faltered before he cemented it in place, coming nearer to her.

"So. . .I won!" he started, apparently trying to force his good mood onto her.

She narrowed her gaze. "I saw," she intoned.

He cleared his throat, glancing around. "S-so. Where's Minion?"

"He left to give us some privacy," she answered. In fact, Minion had noticed her disposition and excused himself with a muttered "don't want to be here for this. . ."

Megamind paled just a little. He began tapping his fingers together. "He left, huh?" he repeated.

She could see he was retreating, both mentally and physically. He took a step or two back, clearly knowing he was in trouble. Repeating what was spoken was a nervous habit of his that he displayed only when he knew he'd screwed up somehow. It was a new habit, too; up until recently, he would force himself on blindly, thinking up excuses and changing subjects.

It made her believe he really didn't want to deceive her in any sense of the word, so this was his way of admitting that he'd done wrong.

"Don't you dare walk away," she warned.

He froze as if she'd said red light! Then he swallowed. "Okay. Right. . ." He glanced this way and that, finally settling on her. He sighed. "What did I do?" he demanded at last.

"You put yourself in danger," she reminded him.

"It's part of being a hero," he countered.

"After you told me you'd only talk!"

"I did only talk!"

"You pulled your gun on her! That's provocation!"

"I did nothing of the sort! The brainbot in my place did!"

"Did she know that?"

"Eventually, I'm sure she did," he added almost to himself.

"Eventually!" she echoed, throwing her hands in the air. He winced.

"Now, now, Roxanne," he started, gesturing to her in a calm down manner.

"Don't now, now me!" she snapped. "You could have at least told me you were going to trick her like that! I almost had a heart attack watching you two!" At his sudden, shocked look, she added, "It's a figure of speech. I didn't really come close to having a heart attack."

"Oh," he sighed. "Good. I mean - no. Look, I'm sorry you fell for the trick, but it didn't even come to mind until after I left you and Minion here."

"How hard would it have been to yell over your shoulder, 'By the way, I'm going to trick her using holograms?' God, I swear, it's like you just. . ." She trailed off into a series of frustrated noises, gesturing with her hands in grabbing, choking, and hitting motions.

He winced again. ". . .Not very," he allowed. "But, come on. You know the phrase. To fool your enemies, you must first fool your friends."

Okay, she wasn't expecting him to quote a video game character, despite it being a really good quote. A part of her indignity melted away. At length, she gave a sigh. "Alright, fine. I can see the logic in that. But really, you know what I was thinking?" He looked curious, if a bit apprehensive, so she went on, "I was thinking that she was going to get you and be able to take you to wherever-her-lair-is and I wouldn't be able to do anything about it."

He looked down at his feet, akin to a scolded child. He murmured something.

Assuming he didn't want to repeat himself, she ignored that. "Just don't. . .leave me in a situation like that again. I hate being scared." She hugged herself.

When he glanced up, his eyes were surprised. In fact, his whole expression read disbelief. He repeated, "Scared?"

"Yes, scared."

"You don't get scared," he pointed out, looking at her now as if he didn't know her.

She felt a sting of hurt at his words, as if he'd just belittled her somehow. What, she wasn't human enough to feel fear? She shook her head. "Of course I get scared. Everybody does."

He considered that for a few moments, finally saying, "But you never looked scared. . .before. When. . .you know. . ."

I used to kidnap you.

"That was different. I know this might be a little hard to believe, but I had faith in you, even back then." She shifted, uncomfortable with admitting that tidbit.

"Faith?" he echoed, eyebrows shooting up. "In me? You believed in me?"

"I. . .ah. . .how do I say this," she added to herself, glancing away as she thought it over. She bit her fingernail as she considered phrases. At length she looked back up, saying, "Of course I didn't trust you back then. You would lie and cheat and you were always trying to get me to scream. But I could see the effort you put into your creations, your machines, everything. I knew you wouldn't use a single one until you were sure it would work perfect.

"So what I had faith in was your ability to make them work flawlessly, and your restraint. That's why I always sat still in the chair. I knew if I moved, I could get nicked by something, but if I was stayed still, I was perfectly safe. You never actually put me in any danger. It just. . .may have taken me a few 'nappings to realize that."

His eyes were taking up the majority of his sizable dome now. And they appeared to be glossed with tears. His bottom lip began trembling.

"Oh, you," she sighed even as she smiled. She stepped forward, opening her arms, and he snatched her up, clutching her as he buried his face in her neck.

Though he didn't cry, he did sniffle, which tickled her just a little. He murmured broken thoughts like "faith" and "in me" and "can't believe it". She just kept hugging him, at length beginning to stroke his back with her hands in what limited range she had, smiling. The last of her anger faded, and with its departure, she could really see the genius of today's confrontation.

Despite looking for him from the multitudes of cameras, she'd never spotted his hiding place. Sometimes the super-genius was just that: ingenious. He could be quirky and a little faulty with most everything else, but sometimes he could really shine.

For a long while they stayed like that, happy and content and maybe a little overwhelmed on his side, until a voice broke in.

"Awww!"

They jerked apart, both of them spotting Minion with a lovesick grin on his toothy face. When they glared at his interruption, he gave a sheepish smile.

"Sorry?" he offered. Then he cleared his throat. "R-right. Anyway. Great work out there today, sir," he approved with a grin to Megamind.

Megamind actually expanded as he puffed himself up with pride.

She rolled her eyes. Just what he needed, another shot of ego. She nudged his shoulder to get his attention, then rose her brows. "So, do you promise?" she prompted.

He gave a delicate cough. "To never leave you worried like that again?"

"I'd be happy to demand it in writing," she hinted.

He shook his head. "As if I'd need it. Faultless memory," he reminded her with a gesture at himself, neck to waist. At her impatient look, he hurried on, "Y-yes, I promise. I'll let you in on any further plans like that I may concoct. Unless there's no way to get the information to you," he added to himself, thinking on it.

"Then you will also be promising never to do that on purpose," she said before he could work it his advantage.

He snapped his fingers with a lopsided grin pointed her way. "Foiled again!" he declared. When she smiled, his grin became more solid and he said, "I promise."

"That's what I like to hear," she replied.

Then everything seemed to change, becoming all-business. Megamind set his gaze on Minion, who nodded, and the two began talking quickly. Roxanne followed the conversation to the best of her ability, but despite how well she knew the two, she didn't know them nearly as well as they knew each other. It was a little like how she was with her twin sister Maxine; half of what they communed with each other was nonverbal, and the phrases they used were sometimes inside jokes. All in all, it left bystanders dumbfounded.

Overall, she caught that they were analyzing Syphon, the direction she'd gone, and the convicts. Megamind had rehydrated the civilians but picked up the escaped prisoners and the fiery male, taking the five shimmering cubes with him back here. Minion was to contact the police about the five, work out a delivery of sorts.

Once Minion departed, Megamind turned back to her. "Did the two of you do any work while I was out?" he asked.

She shook her head. "Minion may have gotten back to it after Syphon took off, but I didn't."

He looked just a little irritated at that.

She glared. "I don't care how important the plans are. If I'm mad at you, I'll drop everything and come find you to give you a piece of my mind." She'd spoken with just a little warning.

Surprise flitted over his expression, and then he smirked, as though pleased with this. He replied, "I'll hold you to that."

She inclined her head. "Please do."

"I will."

"I'm waiting."

"Watch me." With a jerk, he pulled her against him, bringing them close. But when she moved in to meet him for a kiss, he twisted, bending her over his arm. The move made her seize him in reflex. Then, with a roguish smirk that made her heart skip a beat, he delivered the kiss he'd just denied her.

For a few moments, it was like drowning, pleasant and serene and just a little passionate. And then it ended and he righted her. However, he didn't release her.

Now he said, "So I'm forgiven?"

How he could still give her the hurt puppy-eyes after a kiss like that, she didn't know, but she suspected he'd done it on purpose. She melted in a sense that was almost literal.

"Do you need it in writing?" she teased, unable to resist stringing it out a moment more.

He frowned and the hurt look strengthened.

"Yes, you're forgiven," she laughed, looping her arms around his neck. She kissed his cheek, glad to see his features smooth over. Manipulator, she chided to herself. He was most definitely learning how to bend her to his will with his words and his looks. "Now I thought we had to get back to work," she hinted.

His fingers on one hand began trailing up her spine. "It could wait a few minutes more," he suggested.

"Do you think Syphon would wait with us?"

His expression deadpanned. "Point taken." He took a step back from her, allowing a hand to slide around and grasp her own. "Back this way?"

She nodded, following when he led, keeping their grips. At length, she said, "So what do you plan to do with the fire-guy?"

"Fireproof the walls," was his answer.

"Hah, funny. But really."

"The only thing I can get ready quickly is a cell made of cinder blocks and glass. The blocks would require a lot of heat to catch fire, but the glass he could melt right through. I don't know the extent of his powers, so it's best if I keep him dehydrated for now."

She stopped then, a thought entering her mind that worried her. When she tugged on him, he turned, giving her a questioning look. "You have five of the cubes, right?"

"Right."

"Aren't they mixed up?" she asked pointedly, thinking that they could accidentally rehydrate the super, believing it was a convict.

"No, no, I kept him separate from the others," he denied, shaking his head.

She released a heavy breath. "Good. For a second there I was worried."

He shrugged a shoulder, pulling on her to continue their trek. "And it isn't like I couldn't take pre-cayshuns -"

"Precautions," she corrected.

"- in case I did mix them up."

"That makes me wonder. . ." she started, using a tone and phrase she knew he couldn't resist. There was nothing he loved more than outright knowledge, whether it be teaching or learning.

He shot an expectant, eager glance over his shoulder. "About what?"

"You mentioned locking Syphon up for a few decades as a cube. Wouldn't she age?"

"Only very little. The ratio for aging while dehydrated is one-to-eight hundred eighty eight." At her silence, he explained further, "It's the equivalent of one hour for every thirty-seven days spent as a cube."

"Wow. So it would be a little like cryogenic freezing."

"Maybe. But I wouldn't try it. The longest I've ever had someone frozen was for three weeks -"

"You had someone frozen for three weeks?" she cut in with a sharp tone.

He winced. "Uhh. . .specifically it was twenty days. More specifically it was four-hundred seventy-six hours. Or even more specifically -"

"Why did you have someone frozen for three weeks?" she interrupted.

"S-someone. . .frozen. . ." he repeated, giving in to his habit again. He scratched his arm absently, avoiding her gaze when she tried to maneuver around and catch his eyes. "Well, this was. . .a long time ago. Way before we met. This man was insulting me and I wanted him to shut up, so I dehydrated him. Then set the cube aside and forgot about it for a while. Later, I rehydrated him, but only to ask about the experience; that was the first time I'd dehydrated anything other than inanimate objects and Minion.

"He took off without answering, and then it occurred to me that he might've been aging a bit. So I found someone else and kidnapped him, taking bits of his skin cells. I dehydrated him right after. The I aged it down to the mitochondrial level, waited three weeks - or, well, until I couldn't stand it anymore - and rehydrated him. I took another sample and let him go, repeating the process of determining the age. The math was complex, but eventually I had it down to decimals. He had aged thirty-two minutes and nine-point-six seconds, so that equaled a ratio of one hour to eight-hundred eighty-eight."

At the end, he gave her a pleased grin, as though proud of himself for having figured it out.

The complexity of his brain never failed to stun her when he went into scientist mode. This time, she found herself thinking that he must have mastered every last theorem laid out by the greatest thinkers in mankind's history. In fact, he'd probably mastered even greater theorems, going above and beyond what humans were capable of comprehending.

The most difficult theorem she could recall was quantum physics. So now she said, "Okay, this is going to come straight out of left field -" confusion swamped his features, so she broke off. "It means out of the blue. Out of nowhere. Without provocation," she settled on. Finally, understanding lit his face. "I'm going to go ahead and assume you've mastered quantum physics. . ."

He rolled his eyes. "Child's play, Roxanne."

"Yeah," she laughed, "for you, maybe. How old were you when you mastered it?"

"Quantum physics?" he checked. "Fifty-eight days." He actually looked unimpressed. But a moment later he was gazing at her with concern. ". . .Roxanne?"

"Fifty-eight days?" she echoed. Her mind refused to process this. Even knowing everything she did about the blue super-genius alien before her, she couldn't grasp it. Days. Not years, as she would've guessed, not even months. Just days.

Child's play, he'd said. She hadn't thought he'd meant it literally.

He answered, "Well, yes. It actually took me a few days to figure it out but - Roxanne? You're blanking out." He waved a hand in front of her, though she barely perceived it. He began snapping his fingers, making her blink. "A-are you okay? You look. . .uh. . ."

"I'm just having an out-of-body experience," she replied calmly. He seemed to pick up that she was joking, though it did nothing to help him relax. "That's like two and a half months. How would you even have gotten your hands on that information?" she wondered.

"The prison library," he explained. "The wardens there included philosophical books and history books among them. Whatever they could get their hands on that was complex enough to keep a prisoner struggling to understand it for weeks, they had."

"I'm going to also assume you went through every book in that library," she added. It didn't bother her anymore that he'd been raised in a prison; it was unorthodox, but in the end, he'd had a family of sorts with the prisoners and - as much as she may hate to admit it - there was probably nowhere else in the city that would have taken him in.

"Within a year," he shrugged.

"God," she sighed, "is there anything written or otherwise that could stump you?"

"I'm still trying to figure out the reset button," he offered weakly.

"Liar," she chided with a smirk. "You said it was impossible."

"Making possible the impossible is part of living, I thought," he countered.

She chuckled. "Then why don't you start with the square root of a negative?"

"Actually, that's not too difficult. All you have to do is -"

She lifted a hand for silence. "Save it. I would never understand it anyway."

Now he narrowed his gaze. "Who told you you couldn't figure it out?"

"Nobody. It goes without say. With my IQ - heck, with my comprehension, it's way out of my grasp. I couldn't even figure out quantum physics and I'm an adult. I'm pretty sure the rest is beyond me, too."

"Not even quantum physics?" Surprise colored his features. "It's really not difficult. Look, I could show you, it would only take a minute -" He broke off, pulling on her.

She pulled back. "We don't really have time for this, remember?"

"Just a minute," he stressed.

"You shouldn't bother. I won't get it."

He huffed. "Really, Roxanne, it's like you're doubting yourself and my ability to teach you."

"I kind of am," she admitted. "For one, I couldn't learn it in four years of college, and for two, it's hard to follow along your thought trains anyway. There is no way -"

"You can learn this," he argued.

"Exactly!" she agreed, twisting her hand free to stop the pulling.

He stumbled forward, gracing her with a confused frown. She could see the wheels turning as he replayed their sentences, putting the words together. Then he scowled. "I'm serious, Roxanne," he said at last.

"So am I," she returned. They faced off, both stubborn. She was honestly surprised - and flattered - that he thought he could teach her quantum physics, of all things. But it seemed badly-timed and more like he wanted to prove his point than actually teach her anything. At length, she sighed. "All right, I'll give you this. Put this subject on hold. We'll come back to it later, and I'll let you take a crack at teaching me quantum physics, but I'm not making any promises about understanding a single thing."

She remembered having a hard time with figuring out the rate of slopes in line graphs. Now that years had gone by, she had lost her grasp of it completely. If it was this hard to remember mathematical formulas, she doubted she would ever understand the more harrowing aspects of quantum physics.

He positively preened, smiling wide. "Alright. I'm holding you to that," he added in a sly tone.

"Please do," she laughed. "Now, I believe we left off," she hooked a thumb over her shoulder, "somewhere between blueprints and prototypes."

"I love it when you talk nerd," he teased as he started them off again, taking her hand.

"I only do it for you," she winked back.