"Did I not just tell you that this woman was clearly in hysterics? That didn't happen, Rob. No, none of this can go in the article!" Roxanne sighed in frustration as she paced in the formerly-evil-lair. Megamind focused on the clicking and clacking of her heels on the floor to ground him, confident that this was the only thing keeping him form spiraling into a panic attack.

He was seated on the end of the couch closest to Minion's over-sized arm chair (which still barely fit his large, bulky frame) where Minion was sitting now. Both aliens' eyes were trained on the small, metallic remains of the bomb that Megamind had salvaged from the restaurant earlier that evening. Every once in a while, Minion would nervously glance at Megamind, who had yet to move. He and Roxanne entered the lair with her already on the phone and him looking worried. When he was sure Roxanne was fully occupied with her conversation, he pulled the object out of his pocket and set it on the table without a word before sinking into the couch and resting his chin on the backs of his folded hands.

"I don't know what to say, Sir," Minion started timidly, about five minutes into the staring contest between Megamind and the bomb. "I would say that it was uncollected from a defective plot-"

"But I hardly ever used bombs," Megamind finished, "And they were never placed around civilians." He felt his heart rate increase as his mind began to wonder if that new police officer would believe that he barely used bombs. Would he even give Megamind the chance to defend himself? Surely the officer didn't already have enough sway to really affect him, but what if he turned to the media? What would the people who so readily hated him in years past think then?

Breathe, he thought, in a desperate attempt to reclaim control of his brain space. He shut his eyes tightly and focused on the sounds around him again: click clack, click clack. If worst really came to worst, he knew he had the Warden on his side. And the media wasn't going to go completely against him, after all. Not with Roxanne having monopoly over the other reporters.

"…Sir?" Minion ventured, growing more concerned the longer Megamind sat there with his eyes squeezed shut.

Megamind opened his eyes wearily, glanced at Minion, and then rubbed his eyes with a groan.

"I just don't know, Minion," he said, slouching backwards into the couch cushions. "Forget who did it, I don't even know how they did it. All of my technology is locked away here."

"And I was just doing the rounds about the time you said this exploded, Sir. Everything was in order. Nothing misplaced or broken into," Minion reported happily. His smile receded, however, when this seemed to only confuse Megamind more.

"Then how, Minion?" he demanded, springing to his feet and beginning to pace himself.

Minion began to twiddle his metal thumbs. "Well, Sir, it could be someone else's technology," he answered hesitantly. "Whoever it was could've just put your old logo on it."

Megamind stopped mid-pace and considered it. He hadn't thought of this before, of course, he'd just assumed that they'd somehow stolen his tech. Hopeful that this could solve at least one piece of the confusion, he scooped up the bomb and inspected it more closely.

Minion stood up now as well, and looked over Megamind's shoulder as he held the bomb with the logo side facing them. Megamind ran his thumb over the electric blue logo thoughtfully before huffing and tossing it over his shoulder, not realizing that Minion was right there and was now scrambling to catch it.

"It's no good, Minion. I always ensured that the logo was engraved and then painted on. Unless we are working with an impeccable copycat, this is stolen technology," he all but threw himself back onto the couch, rubbing his temples, trying to stop his headache in vain. The constant noise of Roxanne arguing with her superior and her shoes hitting the concrete was no longer comforting, and he was trying hard not to lose his mind.

Minion, however, wasn't listening. Something inside the bomb's metal exoskeleton had caught his eye. He stuck his pinky finger into the half of the bomb that had been blown off and guided it towards the yellowed and charred piece of what turned out to be paper, and pulled it out into the light. "Sir? You're going to want to see this."

Megamind raised an eyebrow and glanced at him before slowly standing up and coming alongside his friend. What Minion held in his hand was a battered and burned slip of paper, of which only half remained, and only that much because it appeared to have been laminated at one time. Megamind snatched the paper away from Minion, with Minion's cry to be careful with it barely even registering in his ears. The part that could be read stated: Property of the Metro City: Battle Ground Through the Ages Museum.

This particular museum was founded by Mr. And Mrs. Scott shortly after Megamind became Metro City's hero. They began planning for it as soon as their son, Wayne Scott, otherwise known as Metro Man, had 'died'. It focused on both the battles that had taken place before Metro City was erected, such as soldiers being mustered from the little village that was once there to join the forces for the revolutionary war, and the battles that Metro Man and Megamind had regularly engaged in. Unfortunately, Megamind thought, everyone let the ridiculous stories of far-fetched 'involvement' in America's wars slide, because Mrs. Scott had always been a history buff. Roxanne and Megamind agreed that it was a guise for keeping a museum that had at least something dedicated to their son in existence.

The only time Megamind had visited the place had been at the grand opening, where he had endured undercutting comments and general hatred from the Scotts, who didn't want him there in the least. Which was completely understandable, considering that in their minds he had killed their son. But he came out of the event incredibly frustrated that they couldn't at least put on a face of kindness on for the sake of the mayor, who was the one that invited Megamind to the opening in the first place. In fact, it had been the mayor who had been playing liaison between Megamind and the Scotts while trying to arrange for Megamind to donate some tokens of different battles he and Metro Man fought for the museum. Megamind was happy to do so, but happier that he didn't have to directly deal with the Scotts themselves. He was glad to hear that just two weeks of living in a small apartment in the city, seeing as their old mansion had been converted into the museum, the Scotts decided to move down to Florida into a home of a size that they were more accustomed to.

Megamind looked up at Minion, but couldn't quite see him through the gears turning behind his eyes. It all made sense! Anyone who knew anything knew that Megamind's lair was incredibly well-guarded, and that with the Brain Bots on patrol at all hours, there was no way of getting in undetected without months of planning. So they took the easy way out, and got what they needed by visiting that horrible museum!

"…Sir?"

Megamind was pulled back to the present by the voice of his friend, and grabbed either side of Minion's tank with little regard for the paper in his hands. It went flying as he exclaimed, "Minion, you fantastic fish, you!"

Minion smiled broadly in response. "You've figured out who did this, Sir?"

"No, Minion. We're far from that." Megamind stooped down and delicately picked up the fragile piece of paper. He then tucked it back into the bomb that Minion was still holding and took it into his own hands. "But now we know where to start!" he finished, beaming up at his friend once more.

Megamind spun away from Minion and began pacing again, one hand holding the half-demolished, silvery bomb with the other gesturing decisively as he spoke. "We'll search the museum first thing tomorrow." He said, both informing Minion and working to formulate a plan for himself.

Minion frowned. "Not while Miss Ritchi is at work, Sir? I suppose I assumed that you would want this all kept from her."

It was Megamind's turn to frown. He had, of course, been considering keeping all this from Roxanne. Waiting until she went to work to investigate would be a part of that, since she usually dropped by the lair in the mornings if she wasn't running late. After all, he didn't want to burden her with the obvious concern that the information of a copycat brought, much less the struggle she would face debating whether to include all of this in her reports. But now that he realized they were dealing with someone reckless enough to break into city property and not smart or calculating enough to make his own copycat devices, he made up his mind quickly.

"No, I don't think that's an option any more, Minion. I'll have to tell her so I can try and convince her to let me send some safety measures with her."

"Safety measures for what?"

Megamind turned to face her, standing behind the couch and smiling at him, smacking himself internally. Fantastic. This was not how he wanted this conversation to start.

Roxanne's hair was slightly out of place, a sign that told Megamind that she'd been running her free hand through it often during her phone conversation. She was lower than eye level with him now; she'd kicked off her heels at some point. She looked as tired and as frustrated as he felt, but she had yet to lose the spark of determination in her eyes. She was beautiful.

Megamind shifted his gaze down to the remains of the bomb in his hands, fighting to formulate words. How could he tell her that she was in danger, and he didn't know what to do?

"Why don't you come sit, and we can talk?" Roxanne offered softly, now curled up on the couch next to where Megmaind usually sat. He could hear the openness and comfort in her voice, but a twinge of concern made its way to his ears as well.

He smiled a weak smile in response to the one she wore and made his way over to the couch. He sat close to her, but the piece of metal in his hands once again held his gaze.

They sat in silence for what must have been five minutes. Megamind tried to focus his energy on verbalizing his thoughts, but it insisted on occupying itself with every distraction the room had to offer, from Minion slipping out of the space to a stray Brain Bot that whizzed by. His thoughts ran in circles after one another, getting nowhere. This isn't this hard, he thought bitterly. Why couldn't he just talk like a normal person? Roxanne is right there, waiting for him to say something, and all he can do is sit here like a mute idiot -

Roxanne reached out and put a hand on his arm, startling him out of his spinning thoughts.

"Hey," She said with the same soft tone from earlier. He peeled his eyes away from the bomb to meet her dazzling blue ones. If there was a word for a combination of feeling so incredibly loved and so incredibly useless, he was feeling it. Her eyes never flickered in kindness and openness, even when they flitted down to the object in his hands.

"Would it make things easier if I asked questions and you just had to answer?" She asked, now wholly focused back on his eyes. He felt something shift in his chest; how did she always know just what he needed when he couldn't verbalize a thing?

Megamind nodded, and without a hint of accusation or anger in her voice, she said, "What's in your hands?"

He swallowed hard and sorted through everything he wanted to say to find the answer to her question. They'd done this before with other circumstances, and Megamind knew that she would be willing to let him sit and form words for as long as he needed, but this time felt different. He wanted to answer her as quickly as his mind would allow. She deserved that.

"It's what's left of the bomb that went off as we left the restaurant earlier," he choked out.

"Why did you bring it back with you?" She asked, confusion mildly knotting her brow.

For an answer, he turned the bomb over in his hands to expose the side that bore his old super-villain logo.

He felt Roxanne tense at his side. He glanced up at her face and saw her mouth open and close several times, no doubt trying to decide on her next question. She finally pursed her lips and ran her left hand through her hair, and looked back at his eyes.

"What does this mean?"

He paused. He started to tell her that it certainly wasn't one of his - but he stopped short. She knew that. She doesn't think the worst of you, he chided himself. He had told her that months ago after he'd stumbled over his words, as usual. It was still taking some getting used to, but he was seeing progress in himself.

"It means, that for one reason or another, someone wants it to look like - like I did this." He waved his hand vaguely over the half-demolished bomb at the end of his statement. The deflated, defeated feeling returned with vigor.

Roxanne, however, hadn't lost her drive. Not yet. "Where do we start?"

His hands turned over the bomb once again and his fingers delicately reached inside and retrieved the tag from the wrecked inner workings. Handing it to her, he said, "There's a place to start, but that's all I have at the moment. I can't think clearly enough to try and identify anyone who would want to frame me-" he stopped, reconsidering. "That is, I don't know who would want to do this and who would be out of jail to do so."

Roxanne just nodded, listening.

He sighed. "All I do know is that we're dealing with someone who is smart enough to get past the city's security systems, let alone reckless enough to break into city property." He met her eyes once more. "That leaves me worried about what they'll do next."

Roxanne gazed back at him, taking it all in.

"And to make it all worse, I'm stuck wondering if that police officer we were talking to saw the bomb." He grimaced, fighting his mind once again for control over the anxious tendencies that came with that thought.

"That's a possibility," she agreed, worry creeping into her voice again. "But he had to be knew, if you didn't know him, right? That means his word isn't worth much yet," she reasoned.

"Not with his superiors, no, but what about the press?" Images of old headlines centered around his villainy flashed in front of his vision, followed by new headlines declaring him to be a false hero after all. He could see the cameras and microphones with operators demanding answers to their questions, the city filling an official investigation of him, the Warden's disappointed face -

"Megamind," Roxanne called gently, causing his vision to snap back to the couch where he sat; back to Roxanne sitting next to him.

She cupped one of her hands around one of his that was holding the bomb in his lap and placed the slip of paper back inside before pulling on his hands just enough to get them away from the deformed piece of metal and intertwine their fingers. Megamind watched her hands, focusing on calming down his breathing.

"Look at me?" She said, making sure it was a question and not a command. He obeyed, nevertheless. "If he's able to get to any of the press, it'll be the cheap, garbage magazines that no one trusts anyways. I doubt he'll make it any further than those. No one who matters will believe him over you with only one supposed incident. And there's no way I'll allow KMCP to hear him out. We're in this together, remember?" She smiled softly.

Her smile proved contagious. Megamind contented himself with sitting and smiling with his fiancee for just a moment, forcing his worries to the back of his mind.

The moment ended without notice, when Roxanne broke the silence. She was just as gentle as she had been all night, but he found he wanted his moment back the second it was gone.

"So what's next?" She asked, determination thick in her voice.

"Well," he began, gathering his thoughts. "I need to go see what I can find at the museum the bomb came from. But I don't want you going to work without protection…"

"I have my watch that calls the Brain Bots," she responded. "I'll make sure I'm wearing it tomorrow. Okay?"

Megamind's brow furrowed. "I don't know that the Brain Bots will be enough," he mumbled more to himself than her.

"What else would you want to do," she started, a laugh nipping on the edges of her voice, "escort me at work?"

"Well…" he said, gears spinning in his mind once again. "Minion and I could afford to wait to examine the museum. That could work…"

Roxanne's eyebrows shot up. "Megamind, I was joking," she spit out quickly.

"Oh, yes, of course," He corrected himself, cheekbones and ears going slightly violet. She laughed lightly, and beamed at him once more, but he remained unsatisfied with just the communication watch she'd assured him she'd wear.

Roxanne released one of his hands and pulled her phone from her back pocket, glancing at the time. "It's getting late, Megamind. I should probably go." She leaned in and gave him a quick peck on the cheek, turning him more violet, but also returning a smile to his face. "I love you," she said when he turned to meet her eyes.

"I love you too," he replied, leaning in and stealing a kiss of his own. Roxanne smiled into the kiss, happy to be slightly delayed in leaving. After a moment she stood up and wandered around the couch to find where she'd left her shoes.

"How did your phone call go?" Megamind called from where he sat, realizing that he hadn't asked her yet.

Roxanne huffed before answering. "Rob was being annoying again. I swear he has no clue how to filter through what everyone says and find the truth. It's even more of a nightmare when I didn't witness whatever happened so I can set him straight."

Megamind smiled softly. How was she so perfect, even when she ranted?

"Good night, Minion!" she called loudly.

"Good night, Miss Ritchi!" he yelled back cheerily.

"I love you, Megamind," she repeated, smile evident in her voice.

"I love you too," Megamind replied, turning to smile at her. She smiled back, and headed towards the garage. A moment later he heard the engine of her beetle start up, and he sighed as he heard her drive away.

He turned back to the mangled bomb in his lap. He flipped it over and looked at the inner workings of it for the first time. He recognized it, of course, as it was his design. But that was the curious part; it wasn't a remotely activated device. This was meant to be more of a grenade that he kept on his person, in case he needed a distraction for Metro Man for a moment.

His head jerked up, thoughts spinning harder and faster than ever.

Someone on the scene did this?