Metro Man's mouth fell open. The wind whipped his white cape back from his big shoulders. Then a laugh sounded from deep in his chest.

"Oh, man, I can't believe I almost fell for that," he said. He waggled his finger at Megamind. "You, my friend, are a genius."

"Why, yes, I am," Megamind said, examining his black-gloved fingers.

"How could I not be human?" He pointed at himself. "Just look at me!"

"Do I have to?" Megamind said with a grimace, and shook his head. "Physical appearance counts for little, genetically. You may look human, and an acceptably white one at that, but you are not of this world."

"There are other supers. There's all kinds of ways I could have gotten these powers!"

Megamind raised a sardonic eyebrow. "Did your pregnant mother get caught in a fiery chemical explosion from a secret lab at some point? As she drove home from a charity event, perhaps?"

"So I'm an alien." A skeptical smirk settled on Metro Man's face.

Megamind laughed. "I'm telling the truth, Hero Boy. You're no more human than I am. You arrived on Earth on the exact day that Minion and I arrived."

"On the same flying saucer, I suppose."

"Don't be ridiculous. Minion and I were in one spacepod, you were in the other. We bounced into the prison yard, you landed in the Scott mansion, and the rest is history."

"That is the stupidest thing I ever heard."

Megamind shrugged and crossed his arms over his chest. "Ask Minion. He remembers."

"Yeah, like he won't back up any story you make up," Metro Man said disgustedly. "Am I right?"

The ichthyoid looked at him somberly. "It's true, Wayne."

"So where is this spacepod?"

"How should I know?" snapped Megamind. "The attic? I don't even know where mine is." He'd hacked into numerous secret government files without success. The feds had hidden their trail unusually well. Other than a few newspaper articles and dry government documents that didn't do any more than provide a bare physical description of the spacepod, he couldn't find any mention of it, not what it was made of, or where it was stored, or whether it had been dismantled. Nothing.

He gave the glowering hero a thoughtful look. The attic. Perhaps he should try again, with a different set of search parameters, focusing on the holdings of the Scott family. It would not be the first time that Metro Man's father had interfered in Megamind's life.

Metro Man snorted and waved his arm down the sidewalk. "Let's get going."

Lifting his chin, Megamind clasped his hands behind his back and began walking again, at a casual stroll.

They walked in silence between the gray buildings, with only the sound of the wind and their footsteps. Just as Megamind's ears caught the first hint of a police radio he said, "Why don't you give your folks a call?"

"And ask them if I came flying out of the sky in a spaceship? I'm not listening to you anymore."

"It's a simple question, with a yes or no answer."

"You're just delaying. I have to get back. My parents have over three hundred guests, you know."

"You already said that, and I am just terribly impressed," Megamind said, rolling his eyes. "If you are so weary of my presence you only have to whisk me over to the men in blue. They're just around that corner."

He stopped and turned to look at Metro Man. "I think you like talking to me. I can only make an educated guess why. Are you attracted to my incredibly good looks?" he said with a smirk and a wink. "Or perhaps it's because I'm the only one who won't kiss your gold-plated butt. And maybe you are not as sure of yourself as you would like. One simple call. On that fancy little phone you've got in your fancy belt."

"This phone is from the police station, for work only."

"Surely they won't object if you call your mommy just once. You can always pay them back later for the cost. Can you spare a few cents or did you use up your allowance?"

Metro Man glared at him, nostrils flaring, then he tucked the de-gun into the crook of his elbow and took out the phone. "Don't move," he said, pointing a warning finger at them, and dialed.

A tinny, muffled voice from the phone said, "Wayne? Where are you?"

"Yeah, hi Mom. Everything's okay, I'm almost done here." Raising his eyebrows, Megamind leaned theatrically close and put his hand to his ear. Metro Man turned to the side and cupped his hands around the phone. "Yeah, I know, it was rude, taking off so suddenly," he said with a heavy sigh. "Mm-hm. Uh-huh."

Since Megamind could no longer hear what Metro Man's mother was saying, he glanced around at the boarded windows, calculating their chances of sneaking away, but such an attempt would be futile. A subway stop was only two short blocks away, but if they started running now, Metro Man would be on them in a flash and all Megamind would get was winded.

A heavy gust of wind blew a smattering of sleet against his bare head and ears, and only pride kept him from hunching his shoulders. An empty plastic shopping bag winged its way down the street. He heard another burst of chatter from a police radio around the corner, and indistinct voices, talking. He'd be out of this foul weather soon enough.

Still, discussing the situation with Minion was a way to pass the time, and it was possible a way of escape would present itself. A new idea could surface, or the situation might shift in their favor. Metro Man could suddenly keel over from a stress-induced heart attack, for example. Best to be prepared.

{"There is a..."} he began to say in their native tongue, then hesitated. He didn't know the words for 'subway station'. Presumably subways had existed on the homeworld. Or maybe they hadn't. His experience and vocabulary was incomplete, restricted to what he learned from his parents and a few other people in eight days, and built on Minion's vocabulary, which had been about the same as a three year old Earth child's when they escaped the destruction. Sometimes they resorted to words from other languages to fill in the blanks.

But maybe Minion knew these words. They'd never talked about subways in their native tongue before.

"La estacion de metro," he said, using Spanish so that Metro Lug wouldn't understand what they were talking about, unless he had magically become bilingual in the past few weeks.

Minion waved his fins thoughtfully. {"You want to say, 'cho reet miri ellsnah'."}

He nodded. 'Station-for-train flowing under wave.' That made sense, though the phrasing was a little odd. Then again, their homeworld Ah-Ri had been covered with a lot of water. {"Does that mean the tunnels were under the ground under the water? Or did they go through the water?"} he wondered.

"Ummm." Minion scratched his dome as he thought back. {"I think there were both. The waterways were like big..."} He waved his fins and opened his robot arms simultaneously. "...hamster tunnels," he said, dropping back into English.

Metro Man glanced at them.

Uh oh, Megamind thought. He is listening. Minion should have used Spanish.

"Just a second, Mom," he said, covering the phone. "Why are you guys talking about hamsters?"

"We're getting a pet," Megamind said. "Exotic hamsters from the mountains of Nepal."

Narrowing his eyes, Metro Man turned back to the phone.

Megamind watched him for a moment before resuming the conversation. {"The subway station is two streets away."}

{"We won't make it. He'd catch us."}

{"We could hide in one of these buildings."} Even as he said it he knew it was a terrible plan, with no more chance of success than making a break for the subway, and his temper flared. {"Why did you have to get caught?"} he muttered. He kicked a styrofoam cup against the nearest wall.

{"I thought you got hurt."} The faithful ichthyoid gave him a defiant look.

{"Now I have to free myself, you, and the de-gun. It's not good, Minion."}

It was more than a matter of imprisonment, he feared for Minion's life. About two years ago Megamind had been transferred to juvenile hall, because it dawned on the powers-that-be that an adult prison was no place for a teenage criminal. Minion was classified as a dangerous animal and was at risk of being destroyed, but the warden, John Parker, vigorously fought against any such action.

At least the old man was good for something, Megamind thought. The warden stubbornly held on to his fatherly role, despite Megamind's efforts to dissuade him, and came around on a regular basis to shake his head at Megamind's latest bruises and try to talk him out of villainy.

Minion's well-being was one of the few subjects they could discuss without it turning into a shouting match.

The henchfish inhabited a gray area in which there was a great deal of debate, encouraged by the warden since it delayed the courts from doing anything drastic, about whether he ever intentionally harmed anyone without provocation, or whether it was his robot suit that really caused the damage. They could have simply asked Minion about the fights he'd been involved in, but that would have defeated the purpose of defining him as an animal. As a compromise, they would strip Minion of his robot body and send him home with the warden.

Or at least Parker used to take him home. He got tired of Megamind breaking into his house to steal Minion back, so now he kept the ichthyoid in the office aquarium at the prison. It made no difference to Megamind, but at least the warden didn't have to keep replacing his own locks.

Parker was working on getting some certificate to prove that Minion was a sentient being with rights, but so far without success.

Megamind was not going to sit around and wait for some silly piece of paper to protect Minion from getting executed, but the police and prison guards wised up to the fact that he'd always spring his faithful friend from the pokey and he had to act quickly after his own escape before they had time to set up an ambush.

Minion straightened the robot suit in a stoic manner. {"I'm sure I'll be fine, Sir."}

{"Next time, follow orders,"} Megamind said crossly. Minion wouldn't look at him. {"You will do as I command,"} he said.

"All right!" Minion cried.

Metro Man scowled and flapped his hand at them to keep quiet. "Listen, Mom. I've got something to ask you. Now, this might seem kind of crazy but...did you find me in a..."

"Golden spacepod," Megamind said loudly.

There was a sharp question from the phone. "Nobody, Mom," Metro Man said quickly, turning the phone away. Megamind snorted. "But, did you? Find me in a golden spacepod?"

There was silence on the other end of the line, then the voice spoke up again, slowly and hesitantly.

Megamind watched with interest as the hero's forehead wrinkled, his eyes widened, and the corners of his mouth turned down, but all he said was "Oh. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Okay. Uh-huh..." in a dull voice.

Sighing heavily, Megamind stamped his feet to get some blood moving in his legs. If the blowhard was going to have a mental situation, he wished he would hurry it up.

"No, Mom, I'm not mad. Really. I just... Yeah, we can talk more later. Bye." Clicking the phone off, he slipped it back into the case on his belt. He walked over to the curb and sat down, carefully placing the de-gun on the ground next to him, then rested his elbows on his bent knees and wrung his hands together, staring off into space.

Lightning flashed deep inside the clouds, and thunder growled.

Megamind studied his slumped shoulders, then shot Minion a sideways glance. It wasn't a heart attack, but it was something.

He walked over to the sagging hero and placed his hand on his shoulder. "This must be a terrible shock for you."

He put the toe of his boot against the de-gun and pushed it backwards. Gritting his teeth at the soft scraping noise it made, he said loudly, "Still, I'm sure it's for the best. At least it's all out in the open now."

Waggling his free hand behind his back, he gestured at Minion to pick it up.

"I just can't believe it," Metro Man said in a hushed voice.

"Mm-hm, mm-hm, well, I'm sure they meant to tell you when you were ready." He sensed Minion edging closer and gave Metro Man's shoulder a sympathetic pat, talking to cover up the ichthyoid's stealthy movements. "Parents always mean well, they never mean to cause harm, no doubt they were certain you'd have questions, you'll have to forgive them, they're only human."

Out of the corner of his eye he saw the robot hand lift the de-gun off the ground. He made another gesture, using yet another language only he and Minion knew, the hand signals they sometimes used to pass along information. Go. Now, he signed.

"I always knew I was different, I just never guessed how different," Metro Man said, running a hand through his perfect hair. "I can't believe I was so stupid."

"Neither can I," Megamind muttered. "I mean, yes, everyone feels that way. Different, is what I'm trying to say. Alienated from society to a certain degree. Heh. Just think about that for a moment," he chuckled. "You and I are really alienated, am I right?"

He listened for the sounds of movement that would indicate that Minion was sneaking away. He chanced a quick look back. To his extreme irritation, Minion stood there like a big metallic lump.

You come too, the ichthyoid signed.

Damn it! Soft-hearted fool. Both of them couldn't possibly get away. This was Minion's chance to slip the noose and get away with the de-gun. Two out of three was the best that could be hoped for in this situation. He wished he could tell Minion that, but any speech at all, even in a language that Metro Oaf didn't know, would remind said oaf of Minion's presence, and that would not do.

Again Megamind signaled, jabbing the signs at the reluctant henchfish as if he could physically push him down the sidewalk. GO. NOW. GO. NOW.

He jerked his attention back to the hero with an expression of intent concern as Metro Man shifted his weight to look up at him.

"And you always knew," said Metro Man. "You never told me."

"Well, I thought your parents would have told you. Or that you would have at least asked them where you came from. Didn't you have questions?"

Metro Man looked down at his clasped hands. "Mom told me my powers were a gift from God, and that I was here for a reason."

"Weeeellll, yes, fair enough, but that doesn't really explain anything, does it?" Megamind said. He hoped Minion could make it down the block before he ran out of useless platitudes. "I suppose you could say that that's why we are all here, but really, what does it mean? Where do you come from, exactly? And I'm not talking about the birds and the bees, you should have asked for details. But I can't blame you for being upset. "

Absent-mindedly he gave Wayne another hearty pat on the the shoulder and took a quick look up and down the sidewalk.

Minion was nowhere in sight.

He smiled. Excellent.

"What happened to our homeworld?"

Megamind's smile froze. "What?"

As the cold spread through him and gripped his throat, Metro Man looked up at him again, face bleak. "Our homeworld. What happened to it?"

In my headcanon, Megamind is virtually identical to Earth humans, genetically. (Because I want him and Roxanne to have kids. :) )But he doesn't know that at the time this story takes place.