Swiftshadow dodged another blue coloured beam. Another one of those flying bots dissolved into a small blue cube. She was pretty sure that was what happened to her last night. And she had no intention of re-experience it again. She tightened her jaws around Wilson.

She darted around a stack of barrels hoping to find an form of exit. It seemed like the person who designed this building completely forgot widows existed cause there weren't any what so ever. At least the building was large and spacious, so she could fly around to keep the chase going as she figured out this maze.

Megamind fired his pistol at her again. She took the air in her wings and launched. She ignored Megamind's commands to halt. An exit sign caught her eye. A miracle! She silently thanked the powers that be, And dove for it. She pressed the crash bar and charged through, only to find herself tumbling down.

She hit the bottom hard. Disco music blared as she found herself face to face with an alligator. several alligators in fact. Various squeaky toys were strewn across the floor.

"Sir! I think she's in the Exciting Room!" She managed to hear over the music.

Crud.

She stared at the alligator before her, noting the his murky green scales and curious slitted eyes. She focussed. She was no longer a dragon. she was now an alligator. Her scales were not black but green. She had no wings or sabre teeth.

"You're changing," Gasped Wilson. She hazarded a glance at her tail. Long narrow, and paddle like. She couldn't see her wings but she could still feel them. Already she could feel the magic beginning to fray.

'See, I'm an alligator, just like you,' She mentally told her companion. He merely blinked in response.

Minion poked his head out of the door, "Uh, sir, how many gators do we have?"

"Five, why?"

"Cause there's six down here," Swiftshadow could feel the illusion slipping.

"Our quarry has the ability to disguise themselves, I see," She struggled to keep it together as Megamind came into view, "Now which one are you,"

The illusion shattered.

"There you are!" Megamind fired. Swiftshadow launched. The beam whizzed by as she forced her way through the door. A dozen robots swarmed her as she took off. A bot grabbed her by the wing, pulling it back. She tumbled down into hard cement. Wilson slipped from her jaws.

He skidded across the the floor only to end up at the feet of a woman.

The last thing Roxanne expected to see when she entered Megamind's lair was a wild goose chase. And the goose looked to be some sort of dragon. It darted nimbly through the maze of vehicles and machinery as Megamind fired wildly at it, shouting all forms of commands and instigations of banter. The dragon however remained mute. When Roxanne looked closely she noticed that the beast was carrying something in it jaws.

It was only when a cloud of brainbots wrestled the beast out of the air did she find out what that thing was. A small robot dinosaur. Intricate and sleek silver plates formed its casing. Cobalt highlights made it stand out amongst the greys and blacks of the lair.

Was this the robot dinosaur Wayne was talking about yesterday? If so where was the girl he was travelling with? She gripped the guitar cases handle tightly.

The dragon thrashed around as a swarm of brainbots tried to pin it down. A swipe of claws turned a brainbot into scrap. Its husk flew into a stack of crates. Roxanne winced. Despite the fact that Megamind had an endless supply of them, he still did care about each one of them. Their AI meant that each one had their own rudimentary personality.

"Brainbots! Code: Get the fail safe! We got her now!" Megamind shouted triumphantly. A second swarm of Brianbots grabbed a cage from a corner and dropped it on top of the beast. The dragon roared in fury, clawing and biting the bars. One of the bars snapped off in her jaws.

"Swiftshadow!" The robot raptor yelped as Minion picked it up. The dragon stopped tearing at the bars and gave him a cold icy glare. Its lips still drew back in a snarl. The broken bar at her feet. Roxanne hated to see what this beast could do to bone.

"Oh, Roxanne. Excellent! we could use your reporter skills to interrogate this felon into telling us where she has hidden all those abductees,"

"I haven't abducted anyone!" The beast growled. Her bladed tail swished like an angry cats.

She eyed the little robot velociraptor squirming in minions grip. Metro man had mentioned that it was accompanied by a teenaged girl. Yet all she could see was a large black snarling dragon. Then again there was that possibility.

"Megamind," She said, "What makes you think that this creature is responsible for the disappearances?"

"What else was she doing running around in the middle of the night? If not hunting for targets?"

"My only target was the thing possibly abducting people. Which got away, thanks to you,"

Roxanne sighed, "First off, whats your names?"

"Swiftshadow, and my friend in the fish gorillas hands is Wilson," The robot had since stopped squirming and hung defiantly from Minions hand.

"A couple nights ago you wouldn't have encountered a man named Wayne Scot?"

"The musical hobo who lives in an abandoned school house?"

Megamind stifled his laughter in a series of unbecoming snorts.

"That's one way to describe him," Said Roxanne, "And he told me that you were a teenaged girl,"

The dragon winced. Sighing she stepped back and shifted. Her body twisted, falling apart and reconfiguring itself in an almost mechanical fashion. The wings and tail receded inward as its form shrank. She reared back to stand on her rear legs. A pale faced teen with black hair stared back at her with deep blue eyes.

Roxanne felt the satisfaction of her hunch being right and the awe of the transformation before her.

"I am," said Swiftshadow as she leaned on the bars, "Now could you tell doofus here that I don't belong in a cage?"

"hey! I'm right here," Megamind broke from his stupor.

"And I would like very much to be put down, please," Said Wilson.

"What makes you so sure she's not the culprit?" Questioned Megamind, "And what are you doing with Metro man's guitar?"

"To answer both of those questions, I think Wayne has been taken,"

"WHAT!?" Megamind both Minion shouted.

"That's impossible, no one on earth has the ability to subjugate him," Megamind said, "Besides, that man has the power to benchpress a skyscraper,"

"Perhaps you could explain your reasoning further, Ms. Ritchi," Said Minion.

"You know he had a gig last night? He was going to call me this morning to tell me how it went. When he didn't I decided to try and find him. I talked with the bar owner and he told me that he had performed, collected his earnings and left at around midnight,"

"A full forty five minutes after our encounter with Megamind," Wilson interjected, giving the blue alien a smug look.

"I looked around and all I could find was this," She held up the guitar.

Megamind took the instrument from Roxannes grip. He placed a hand on its lid, "But thats impossible. Nothing of this earth should even have the power to defeat him,"

"What about something not of this earth?" Swiftshadow said. He blue eyes alight with curiosity and determination.

"What are you saying? That our culprit is an alien from another planet?" Asked Minion.

"Not another planet exactly, more along the lines of another realm, dimension, plane of existence, et cetera"

"You've encountered something this before, haven't you?" Roxanne noted.

"Found a whole village where the entire populace had literally vanished overnight. Turned out they had all been cursed so that they were cats by day and monsters by night. All controlled by a vengeful ghost with a cursed pendent,"

"So we're dealing with a vengeful spirit?" asked Megamind.

"Don't be ridiculous Megamind. Ghosts don't exist," Roxanne said adamantly.

Swiftshadow nearly toppled over in laughter, "Shows what you know, cause, trust me I've seen things. Besides we're dealing with something far worse than a vengeful ghost. A cursed pendent,"

"How is a cursed pendent far worse than a ghost?" Megamind demanded.

"I ain't telling you anything more until you get me out of this cage,"

"Fine, but on the condition that you help me rescue the captives,"

Swiftshadow sighed, "Deal,"

Metro man felt himself being pulled from his slumber. A deep haze filled his head. It took far too long for the world to come into focus. He was glued to the wall of a large warehouse type building. Sturdy windowless brick walls and a heightened ceiling concealed the concrete floor in perpetual darkness. He could almost Imagine Megamind making a lair out of this place. He discovered that he was wrapped tightly dark inky cocoon. He wriggled around in an attempt to break it. Dark shadows constricted him further making it difficult to even move.

Several figures stood in huddled in a corner. When Metro man looked closer he realized that they were deer. A herd of about eleven deer of varying species all stood watching him. A gangly moose calf had pinned his ears as he snorted. A depressed looking mule deer made a sad bleat.

"So you finally awaken," A voice slithered in. The same dark figure from last night appeared before him.

"Who are you, felon?" Metro man challenged.

"Who am I? What an interesting question," The being mused, "I guess you could say that I'm going to be Metro City's next villain,"

"A villain? Why would you want to be that?"

"Why for the respect of course! Besides this city has gotten a touch boring since Megamind hung his villains cape so to speak. Anyways I could stand here and tell you my huge grandiose plan on wrecking havoc on this city, but I've got places to be and people to meet."

"Maybe you could just tell me what my role is in all this?" Wayne started to build the lasers in his eyes. Their searing heat building just beneath the surface. He waited for an opportune moment to escape. Megamind had to be warned.

"An evil overlord needs an army at his beckon command, does he not?" The figure glanced over to the herd of deer.

"What makes you think I'll join you?" Metro man challenged.

"What makes you think you have a choice?" A gem emerged from the shadowy muck on the beings chest. Vibrant blue and in the shape of a stag.

Metro man didn't wait to find out what his fate was going to be. His laser vision seared open the cocoon. He charged forward with a fist at the figures chest. He felt himself freeze. Fist a mere inch away from its target. Something dripped to the ground. Thick and crimson. His eyes wandered down. A dark spike penetrated his side.

Pain.

For the entirety of his life, Metro man never once experienced pain. Pain was simply another foreign concept. His invulnerability meant that he could never be hurt. He'd been shot through buildings, exploded and hit by things that would instantly kill a normal person. He always walked off not a hair out of place. Never once had he ever felt pain. discomfort yes, but never pain.

His lungs were filled with both too much air and not enough. His hands shook as he reached for the spike. Everything froze as the colour left his vision. His legs felt like they were made of jelly. He stared at the being laughing before him.

"Now isn't this interesting," A shadowy hand grabbed him by the chin, "The only person able to do that was killed a few months ago, wasn't he? Now this little discovery does not change my plans, Only accelerates them,"

His body keeled over. His joints felt like they were on fire and his coat no longer fit. The last thing Metro man saw was a bright blue light.