Okay so here it is at long last! The very long Chapter 8, with which I have labored over whilst trying to balance out daily drama and procrastination… (Curse you temptation!)... so get ready for a big old heap of explanation. =)
Catching up
Minion rushed out of the kitchen with a heaping plate of what looked like beef and purple mashed potatoes and set it before Roxanne, who pounced upon it the moment it was laid on the table. A glass of water accompanied the food and she took turns gulping water and scarfing down food. Megamind and Minion sat quietly for a moment as she demolished half the plate. She took notice of their silence and looked up, wiping her mouth slowly.
She cleared her throat, "Feel like I haven't eaten in forever."
Minion spoke up, "Dr. Tim- attended to your nutritional needs as best he could, but I'm guessing it wasn't very filling. When he said you were comatose on the second day, it scared Sir and I half to death."
Megamind looked down at his dusty boots. He wasn't wearing his usual leather suit, it was replaced by a muddy white button up shirt pushed up to his elbows and a tight pair of black pinstripe pants with lots of pockets and buttons. He looked like a Steampunk engineer with the brass goggles around his neck and the brown leather work apron full of tools. He looked tired, dirty and slightly sweaty.
"So what happened while I was out? Anything interesting," Roxanne inquired.
Minion and Megamind exchanged a knowing glance. "What do you recollect, Miss. Ritchi," Minion asked.
She thought a moment, giving them the hazy overview of what she could remember. Megamind nodded and he and Minion began to fill her in on what had happened.
0o0o0o0o0o0o
Dinner was a slightly busy event. There was Megamind, Minion, Dr. Tim, Wart, and two new comers all crowded around the table with a mishmash of chairs and plates piled with food. The guests were apparently Dr. Tim's son and daughter in law, Mr. and Mrs. Tim, which got confusing since they apparently didn't have first names. They all looked pretty much the same except for minor differences. The two younger beings had smooth, shiny skin that had a greenish tint and had slightly swollen abdomens indicating they were clearly pregnant. Mr. Tim explained to Megamind and Minion that this was because his species were neither male nor female; it was more of a preference in marital title, which they picked up from other species. In a sense the babies would essentially be twins carried by separate parents.
Minion got along famously with Mrs. Tim, sharing recipes and household tips. Megamind listened in on the conversation between 'Father' and 'son'. Evidently Mr. Tim was a mechanic across town that mostly dealt with generators and engines, but also tinkered with anything from locks to clocks.
"It's been getting pretty busy lately, and I'm not in the best condition to run around Towne right now," Mr. Tim sighed.
"Well you need a helper then. Megamind here is handy with a wrench, I bet." Dr. Tim patted him on the back, "Azureians are renowned for their cunning."
Mr. Tim nodded and looked to him, "Well Mr. Megamind? What do you think?"
Megamind smiled wryly, "Sounds better than sitting around here. When do I start?"
"I just need to see your card and we're all set," Mr. Tim said.
"Card," Megamind questioned, "what card?"
"Why, your citizenship card. Everyone needs one to do anything here."
"We're new here. Wart brought us here this morning to get Miss. Ritchi's wound taken care of."
"You had better get it done quickly, the guards will have no mercy on you if they find out you don't have a card."
"And how does one acquire a card?"
"You have to be cleared by the Council Members and go through the card registration process. It's really time consuming. The gate keeper did tell you to go to the great hall, right?"
"Yes, but he allowed us to get Miss. Ritchi taken care of first."
"Very kind of him, but get that citizenship square away first thing in the morning or risk getting thrown in prison."
Megamind was about to gloat about being an escape artist, but thought against it. Having gone to prison as many times as he had would not look good on his record. Having 88 life sentences wouldn't help either.
"No, I wouldn't want that. So first thing tomorrow, right Minion?"
Minion looked up from his own conversation, "Hu? Oh, right, Sir!"
After dinner Mr. Tim and his 'wife' left for home. The patrolling Guards eyeing them as they hurried through the darkened streets. Megamind peeked in at the sleeping form of Roxanne. She hadn't moved an inch since she fell asleep; she had this blissful expression across her face. Megamind smiled and crept to the spare room that he and Minion now shared. Minion was already powered down in the corner, snuggled safe and sound in his little castle somewhere in the chest cavity. Megamind shed his body suit and climbed into bed in his boxer shorts.
"Good night, Minion," he sighed, and rolled over to sleep.
When the first light of morning came, Megamind was waiting for it. He was still curled beneath the sheets, trying to convince himself to roll out of bed. He'd gotten a few hours sleep, nothing that wasn't normal, but he'd had a strange dream.
Roxanne was standing among a circle of shadowed figures. She looked out of place and more fragile than he'd ever see her before. The figures were whispering among themselves, snide comments and insults hissed through the crowd. She looked like she was on the verge of tears when Megamind tried to run to protect her, but the faster he ran the further away she seemed. Before he knew it, she was a spec in the distance and he fell to his knees in exhaustion.
He heard Minion stir in his suit, and decided to get up and get dressed. Dr. Tim was already up, sipping tea and reading a news paper in a foreign dialect. Wart had made green eggs and sausage, which tasted like any other egg but slightly saltier.
"So Megamind, do you plan to see the council in a torn suit," Dr. Tim inquired.
Megamind looked to see several rips along his right sleeve showing blue skin. He reasoned that it must have happened in the desperate scramble up the tree the night they arrived.
"Don't worry my friend," Dr. Tim said, "I've have some spare clothes that will probably fit. Come."
He shuffled to his room with Megamind following behind. The Doctor's room was very neat, not a book out of place nor a wrinkle in the sheets. Dr. Tim reached up to the top self and pulled down an old carrying case with many pairs of clothes. He gave them to Megamind to try on and they fit like a glove. He wore a long sleeved dark blue shirt with a black vest and black pants with silver buttons.
Dr. Tim smiled sadly, "They were my eldest son's cloths. It's been a long time since they've seen use."
"What happened to him," Megamind asked cautiously.
His eyes seemed to focus on something far away, "He was taken by slave traders, five years ago. For all I know he's dead, but I still have hope that he's alive out there."
Megamind nodded solemnly, he somehow felt he was intruding by wearing the clothes, but Dr. Tim insisted.
"They're just gathering dust in there," he had said.
The great hall was a tall white marble building with spiraling columns guarded by twin statues of some ferocious fanged beasts. Two heavy set guards stood watch at the grandly craved doors.
"State your business," One said with a voice like gravel.
"Were here to see the grand council," Megamind said firmly.
"On what business," the other rasped.
"Citizenship," Megamind answered.
One guard gave him a harsh look before knocking on the door, moments passed and a thin, short man with a pig snout answered the door.
"Yes," he asked boredly.
"These two need to see the council for citizenship passes."
The thin piggy man sighed exasperatedly, "this way, if you will."
He led them to an empty waiting room and told them to wait there before disappearing behind a set of doors on the other side of the room. The room was very classy; high painted ceilings, more spiraling columns, colorful potted plants, and many plush chairs with oddly carved legs. The ceiling mural portrayed a battle between a snake with many legs and the same beast as the statues depicted; some sort of lion headed boar. The legs of the chairs all looked like different types of feet, which were eerily realistic. He could almost imagine them prancing about.
Half an hour pasted before the piggy man came back, "This way, please."
Megamind and Minion got up but, but the piggy man said only one at a time. Megamind went first giving Minion a reassuring pat, and followed quietly into a darkened room that looked much like an arena with a lighted podium in the center. Megamind stepped into the spot light and looked up. Some men entered the room, all in long black hooded robes. They all looked very old, the one's that looked like Dr. Tim, very much so, especially the one with the milky blind eyes. There were many different kinds including an Azureian, like himself.
The bailiff entered through a door under the tall wooden benches. "All rise for the honorable Chairman Glak," he bellowed.
They all rose from their seats and held their fists to their hearts. A tiny hunched man painfully slowly hobbled to the highest bench, assisted by a twisted cane. He had huge hairy bat ears that where as large as his body was, a funny looking five nostriled 'nose' that flared constantly, a long white fu manchu and so many deep wrinkles that Megamind wouldn't be surprised if there was another dimension somewhere in there.
He sat slowly with a sigh of relief. The others followed and looked to Megamind. Glak took up the flat stone gavel and pounded it on the bench thrice, "The deliberation of one - Mr. Megamind has now come to order. You come here on what charges?"
Megamind swallowed, "Um, pardon me, Sir?"
"Charges, son. What was it? Theft, battery, assault, murder… you were charged with something, were you not," One member asked gruffly.
Megamind's face contorted while he tried to process what was going on.
"Oh dear," chairman Glak said softly, "he did not arrive in the normal fashion, gentlemen. This man teleported to this place."
A murmur went up around the room.
"Why on earth would he want to do that," one of the council members demanded, "everyone wants to get away from here, not break in."
"He could be a spy! Don't let on to anything," another said.
"Maybe he can lead us out," added a third, "if he got in he might be able to get out."
Megamind looked questioningly at the chairman, a million questions racing through his brain. Megamind concluded that the chairman must be able to read his thoughts if he deduced this much from a look. Glak burst out laughing after a moment, the council fell silent as he hooted with laughter.
"Goodness, poor lad," he huffed as the giggles subsided, "I do apologize for the outburst, but oh the irony of it all!" He chortled some more before a wheezing cough rattled him.
"The irony, Mr. Chairman?"
"Yes, that you of all people would pick up our signal, and have no idea where or why you are here."
"Could you explain what's going on?"
"In a moment son, first the deliberation, otherwise you would be considered a breach in security. Now, do we have your consent to witness the last 72 hours before your arrival to sector 3-4447?" Megamind cautiously agreed. He didn't like the sound of this witnessing business.
"Council members, if you please," he held out his hands to the robed beings on either side of him and all fifteen individuals gasped hands in a large semi-circle around Megamind. They closed their eyes and hummed in concentration. Glak's ears fluttered like fuzzy wings, dipping and twitching in all directions. The light above Megamind brightened suddenly and he felt like cold fingers were prodding around in his precious brain and a buzz filled his ears. An instant replay of the chain of events that lead up to arriving here flashed by in his brain at high speeds, as did some of the headlines he featured in recently.
The mental intrusion ceased, and the group relinquished their neighbors' hands. Megamind shook the feelings of exposure off and nervously straightened his black vest. There was a silence in the room so thick you could cut it with a knife.
Chairman Glak abruptly spoke, "your findings friends?"
There was a low hum of voices for a time before the first person spoke up.
A slender, lilac female with a long flat head and purple freckles to Glak's right stood, "Though he has been classified as a dangerous man, we of the Agricultural Guild find this man harmless to our existence."
A burly red furred man with four arms and two large tusks jumped up ferociously, "Harmless? This man has a history of malicious intent! A man like him doesn't belong here."
"Captain, you can hardly call his plots life threatening. His single foe was a Glaupunkian, the only thing they die of is old age and black holes," one of the old Greys hissed, "He was just irritatingly stubborn more than anything else. That's just the way of the Azure, isn't that right Roux? "
The old white bearded Azureian to whom he was referring furrowed his brow, "Stereotypes are not welcome in this court," he hissed venomously.
"Order," Glak commanded, "Order please! If you can't speak civilly then refrain from doing so. I recommend a quick recess in which I would ask you to deliberate among your guilds so we can come to a decent verdict." The gavel was hammered twice and the court dispersed in groups of three.
Megamind was sent into the waiting room where Minion sat nervously.
"How goes it, Sir," Minion asked hopefully
"I have a few on my side, but it seems the Capitan of the Guards is against me."
"Don't you worry, Sir. I'm sure it's fine," Minion grinned.
They sat and chatted for half an hour before the piggy man called Megamind back to the court room. The council was seated again as he went back up to the podium. All eyes were on him as the Chairman asked for their final verdict.
The first to stand was the group to the far right, Roux spoke for them, "We of the Science and Technologies Society find him acceptable. His intellect and knowledge base would be a huge advantage to our cause."
They sat and the next group stood the same purple woman speaking for them, "Our verdict has not been swayed, the Agricultural Guild welcomes him."
The Capitan stood after, staring down his nose at Megamind, "The Towne Guardians are stead fast in their previous answer, Sir."
A portly yellow toad man precariously stood, a greased up toupee perched like raven on his head, "We of the economic and public affairs committee have some concerns about the future actions of Mr. Megamind," He said in a high nasally voice that reminded Megamind of that old Marvin Martian cartoon, "however, at this time we have concluded that his presence in our community is more of an asset than a liability at present. We cautiously accept his arrival to our peaceful Towne."
Chairman Glak listened to the Council's decision with hands folded neatly on the desk. He nodded when they had finished their short speeches, he turned to the old blind Gray beside him and whispered something, getting a nod and a strange hand signal in return. He turned to a tall shabby bird man beside him who listened to his whispering and softly clacked his chipped beak in return.
Glak turned to Megamind, standing up as straight as is gnarled back would allow, "Mr. Megamind, we of the high council have listened to our peers and have concluded that you are eligible for citizenship," Megamind sighed in relief, "however in exchange for this we ask that you work with the President of the Science Society on a little 'pet project' of his."
Roux stood quickly, worry tingeing his words, "Forgive me for questioning your judgment, but would that be wise, Sir?"
"You said it yourself Mr. DuPont, he could be a great help."
"Yes, Sir," Roux answered ask he slowly sat.
"Thank you ladies and gentlemen. This session has now concluded," he banged the gavel a few times, "Please follow the bailiff to the next room, Mr. Megamind. Mr. DuPont will accompany you shortly."
Chairman Glak beckoned forth the next case which Megamind knew was Minion, but he was ushered through the door beneath the tall benches before he appeared. He knew Minion would be fine, he had a pretty clean slate besides assisting him in his 'evil' schemes.
The dark wooden door closed behind Megamind and he was now in a smaller waiting that was much less grand than the first. There was a lot of dark wood paneling making the room seem even smaller, and a pale thin youth with long eyestalks and no neck leaned boredly against the counter that separated the room in two. She was wearing a gutsy green dress that left her cleavage all but ready to spring out at him.
"Well hello there handsome," she said in a high girly voice, her eyes swaying to and fro, "Please sign these forms and we can get started."
She winked at him. He took the clipboard with the three forms attached and a pen from her clawed paw he glanced down at the words. It was a strange cuneiform writing with which he was unfamiliar. He reluctantly turned back to the desk.
"Pardon me madam, but do you have one of these in English?"
She brayed with laughter, "Oh silly me, did I do that? How embarrassing! There you go handsome," Megamind cringed at the feel of her clammy hand brushing against his as he handed her the other form, "call me if you need anything at all."
She gave him a shark toothed smile as he sat in the farthest corner near an old lamp. Megamind wasn't sure what creeped him out worse; her laugh, her snail eyes, or the way she was leering at him. Megamind concentrated purposefully on the questions the document asked, making it top priority to ignore the desk clerk. He was nearly done when Minion was ushered through the door and he stepped up to the clerk, who looked him up and down before sliding the clip board over to him slowly and biting her lip
"I bet you have all sorts of neat gadgets in there," she said leaning over the desk, "would you mind showing me some time?"
"Uh- I- I- No, I'm sorry, umm," Minion stammered, backing away and finding a seat next to Megamind. He looked at Megamind with wide eyes communicating silently how displeased he was at being verbally assaulted. Megamind nodded in understanding and he impatiently waited for Minion to finish his paper work. They turned it in and she said they could move on to the next room.
"Toodaloo, you two. Come on by sometime and see me."
The two friends practically ran for the door, which lead them to a small room with a monitor, a camera, a back drop, and a bulky piece of equipment that looked like an old copy machine. An orange being that was mostly mouth and stomach looked between the two.
"Is Drezelda that bad today," he asked humor thick in his voice, "a real man eater isn't she?"
He croaked a guffaw and turned to his monitor screen, placing small spectacles on his wide nose. He took down pretty much the same information the form asked for and took their pictures and fingerprints. The giant printer slowly warmed up and printed out two IDs, both cream colored and laminated.
"Now hang on to these boy's, without your cards the guards have the right to do with you as they wish."
"We will sir, thank you." Minion said as he and Megamind made their way out.
Roux was waiting for him at the same door they entered, now dressed in a sharp looking navy coat and matching pants. Grandly shaking his and Minion's hand introducing himself formally. He asked Minion if he could borrow Megamind for a while and swept him away. Roux didn't say much as he walked at a break neck pace through the streets, stopping only when they reached a stone observatory.
"Could you please explain what's going on now Mr. DuPont," Megamind asked as he entered his domicile.
Two fish that looked much like Minion in sleek white suits looked up from scrubbing the stone floor. One was mud brown the other clay red.
"Sir! Your home," one sang happily, "and you've brought a guest, how lovely."
"Lady DuPont is in the kitchen with Jade and Zar, they have a lovely lunch prepared, Sir," the other sang.
"That won't be necessary right now," Roux said gently, "my guest and I have some important matters to discuss in my study."
The two fish bowed and continued to scrub the floor, humming tunelessly.
They entered this book lined study and Roux settled himself in a high back red velvet chair behind his desk, Megamind took a seat in the smaller chair opposite him. Roux looked regal and important as he folded his hands on the desk. He examined Megamind with carful, all seeing orange eyes.
"The Chairman told me that from what he saw, you were not aware of the interplanetary coalition. You are from a planet called Earth, correct?"
Megamind nodded
"Do you know of our planets destruction?"
Megamind nodded again, "I was eight days old at the time. I was sent away in an escape pod just as the black hole destroyed the whole planet."
"Ah, so that's what happened to it. I was wondering what happened to my work."
"Your work, ?"
He smiled sadly, "it's why my family was condemned here on this god awful planet."
"Excuse me for being blunt, but could you explain what the deal is with this place? I haven't gotten one straight answer all day, just tell me what's going on," Megamind raised his voice.
Roux sat back slowly, considering his impatient demand. "This place," he began slowly, "is a prison for the members of society that are deemed unwanted and deserve to be exiled completely. Needless to say there are a fair few that are innocent of the charges placed upon them because of the corruption the Asuki have brought to the judicial system. They own the court rooms, and if you need to be gotten rid of you're either carted off to the gallows or sent here. Asuki are warmongers with an insasiable taste for blood and conquest. Whenever they come across a weaker planet they capture it, take any useful technology, take its resources, capture slaves and move on. Our planet withstood capture for a very long time because of the technologies we could produce, but we lost eventually. The commander of the Asuki forces commended us on a battle well fought, and spared our planet so we could build his people wonderful new machines. We resisted, but after they took away our interplanetary transports, we couldn't do much. For five years they occupied our planet before we started to organize a revolt. We secretly planed new weapons and ships that would obliterate the puny one's we had them oohing and ahing over, building them was much more difficult though. They had regular inspections of all the warehouses and kept close tabs on all the materials ordered. After building and testing a small proto type of the propulsion and life support system, we made large scale crafts with weapons to rival that of ten Asuki cruisers. We were forced to build underground bunkers to conceal our steadily growing fleet. My wife, a coworker and I were caught smuggling supplies to one of these bunkers. We convinced them that we didn't know where the supplies were going, but not before my coworker was tortured to death. We kept our silence in order to protect the hundreds of people working to save our race; and in return for our loyalty the Asuki sent my pregnant wife, my young son, our minions and I to waste away on the hostile planet, sector 3-4447. At the time there was only one village. A sleazy pit they called Towne, which was the only protection from the beasts of night, but it was full of the scum of the universe. A small group of people came together and set out to make a safer place to dwell. We followed them into the jungle and helped them build the peaceful village that we now know as New Towne. The original founders came together and formed a sort of government, allowing in only the people who's crimes were falsified or weren't severe enough to be shunned from our society. After fifteen years we had a thriving town full of hundreds of species from all across the charts. New comers would bring news of the 'war' that was going on up there, between the Asuki and everyone else. You would think that with so many races with interplanetary travel capabilities we would at least over whelm them in sheer number, but the Asuki's population was expanding exponentially every day."
Roux paused, he was slightly shaking. When Megamind saw his narrowed eyes, he knew it was from rage.
His voice was deep and angry when he continued, "One day seven men came into town battered and bruised, most wearing uniforms of service. They had been chased down by a swarm of razorbacks numbering in the thousands, and out of the seventy-two that arrived only those seven survived. Three of those men died that night from blood loss and numorous Razorback bites. I heard from one of those men that the Azureians had finally risen up, taking a large chunk out of the Asuki war fleet before being smote by a new toy they had picked up from yet another dominated race; a ray gun that made small black holes. It had sucked in the entire Glaupunk quadrant in only a few hours before collapsing in on itself. Luckily for everyone else they lost the one and only gun and the ship that carried it to the very black hole it created. After that tragic day, I vowed I would avenge my race and start it a new, but to do that I would have to escape from this place first. Despite the illusion of freedom we have here, we are being watched by Asuki outposts on several of our moons and yearly inspections check for trace radiation signatures from anything more advanced than what they allow. I started planning escape routes, ruling out a ship immediately since they would destroy it the moment it left the atmosphere. Then I thought, why not a teleportation device? They can't see or shoot down particulate matter hurtling through space, so I went to work scavenging whatever I could with the help of my two boys and a few close friends. Progress was slow going since Old Towne was a little faster at picking up prisoner pod scraps than we were. I thought I had it done a few days ago, so I flicked the switch and sent a fruit through to test it. The device overheated and blew out most of its hardware, but just before it did it connected to a signal of some kind. I'm thinking since you might have been teleporting at that time with a similar signal, I somehow intercepted your destination and you came here, or close enough, just before my machine short-circuited. I was thinking about that ever since the meeting and I want you to know how sorry I am for getting you into this mess."
Megamind got a crazy grin on his face, a soft chuckle bubbled in his throat and grew until it blossomed in to hysterical peals of laughter making him double over.
"Mr. Megamind," Roux inquired cautiously, "are you alright?"
"It wasn't my fault," Megamind panted after a while, "It wasn't me!"
Megamind hopped up out of the chair, "You will never know how grateful I am to hear that Mr. DuPont. I didn't screw up my escape! It wasn't a result of bad testing, faulty circuits, or anything to do with the satellite. I've been going over and over in my head what could have possibly brought us way out here in the first place, but it was just my old foe fate. HA!"
Megamind turned to Roux slapping his palms on the wood of the desk, "so when do I start?"
Roux smiled softly, "thought you'd never ask."
He lead Megamind past several minions busily doing house chores, down through a trap door at the end of a hall, down a spiraling stair case into a wide room with many workbenches and chalkboards littered with scrawling notes and spiraling drawings. In the center of this chaos like the eye of a storm was a lustrous black hoop with antennas sprouting from the sides like a crown laying on its side. The side panel was charred and blown off, the cables and circuits were burned out and melted. Several lay in a sad little heap nearby. Megamind gave a low whistle. This was going to need a lot of work. He went over the designs with Roux, correcting some errors that caused it to over load in the first place. Together they drew up a new fool proof plan that would need more parts, and time.
Roux invited Megamind up for dinner to meet them family after one of his minions called them up to eat, and what a large one it was. There was Adela, Roux's wife; Vincent, his eldest son; Pascal, his youngest; Then their minions Luc, Sophie, Zar, and Odette; and then all eighteen of their combined children some of which were running around precariously in small trainer suits. Megamind was a little overwhelmed by the activity and was somewhat relived when Zar suddenly showed up with Minion close behind. The children clustered around him, particularly the older ones to ask him questions and examine his strange bulky suit. Sophie called the chaos to order and conduct the swarm of small minions into the kitchen to sit at the children's table, the older ones sat at the long table with the rest of the adults.
One in particular, Jade, barely took her eyes off of Minion. She was aptly named, for her scales were a pale earthy green that was unlike anything her brothers or sisters had. She flirtily batted her long lashes at him, in a way that made Minion gulp and look uncertainly at his master. Megamind shrugged as he tried to keep up with the DuPont's questions.
By the end of the night, Megamind and Minion had had enough socializing. Megamind was on edge with the constant stream of Q & A, most of which he was unwilling to answer. They excused themselves, thanking their gracious host and headed back to Dr. Tim's house. The house was silent as the grave when then entered.
"I'm back here," he called to them wearily.
Dr. Tim had a tube down Roxanne's throat and an intravenous drip her arm; he explained that Roxanne had become unresponsive whilst they were gone as a result of prolonged exposure to the infectious bacteria that found its way into her blood stream.
"She could be like this for a few days or a few months, it depends on what type of strain she contracted and how strong her immune system is," Dr. Tim said solemnly, striping off some latex gloves and depositing them in a yellow container. He pulled a curtain around her for some privacy and they left her to sleep.
Megamind worked in turns for Roux and Mr. Tim, all the while worrying over Roxanne's unchanging condition. When he wasn't searching for scrap metal with Vincent and Pascal, or fixing busted up machinery in Mr. Tim's garage, he sat in the chair Dr. Tim had provided for him and reminisced of the good old days. Her snarky comments, her feisty attitude, her utter fearlessness. He missed it more than he was ready to admit, and to see her lying helpless in a hospital bed with a breathing apparatus covering that lovely face of hers broke his twin hearts.
About nine days had come and gone before anyone really realized it. Dr. Tim was busy cleaning Roxanne up that morning. Checked her stitches, taken out her IV, and putting fresh clothes on her. They were plunged into darkness without warning as he laid her back down. The doctor carefully slipped the breathing apparatus off so she wouldn't suffocate and went to go locate the problem. The generator behind the house had broken down cutting off the power. Megamind, who hadn't left just yet, took up his tool belt and started poking around inside the mechanism. The filters were clogged and the pressure gauge showed that there was a leak somewhere along the line. He powered it down and got Minion to rinse out the filters while he reluctantly climbed up underneath the maze of valves and pipes to look for the steam leakage. A gasket had blown in the far corner, so he had to climb half way inside to patch it, getting covered in mud and dirt and grease in the process. He turned it back on only to hear the hiss of more leakage. Back off it went and he started hunting around again. Twenty minutes later, Megamind turning the generator on hearing nothing but the blissful sound of its gentle steam powered hum. Satisfied with his work he headed back inside. Dr. Tim was bandaging up another walk in with a work injury.
"Dr. Tim, I finished the repairs on your generator. There wasn't much to work with but it works great now," Megamind said proudly.
"Oh bravo, boy! Thank you so much, I'm so glad you could fix it so quickly. By the way, your little Miss. Ritchi just got up. She looks rather shaky if I do say so myself. Be a good lad go help her before she falls."
Megamind nearly jumped out of his skin at the sight of her pale figure leaning against the door jamb, "Ro- I mean, Miss. Ritchi!" he rushed over getting ready to catch her.
"Wow, what happened? I go to sleep for a few hours and you act as if I was dead," Roxanne said sarcastically, she swayed slightly and Megamind hoped she wouldn't fall.
Megamind counted off the days in his head, sadden by his lack of progress on their way home, "Miss. Ritchi, it's been much longer than a night. You've been in a coma for over a week now."
0o0o0o0o0o0o
And so they had come full circle. Megamind and Minion had given her the short story to save time, omitting details that weren't necessary. And for just being told she was trapped on a planet entirely for the miscreants of society, she was very calm.
She merely stated to him confidently, "about that 'homeward bound' plan you have, how can I help speed it along?"
Megamind smiled cool as a cucumber, "Why, I thought you'd never ask, Miss. Ritchi."