Chapter 4: Orientation
San Fransokyo Institute of Technology,
Near the heart of the bustling metropolis of San Fransokyo was the sprawling campus of SFIT. Gently rolling hills of green grass were broken up by modern-looking buildings made out of bright white stone. Scattered across the campus were dozens upon dozens of students, each making their way to one building or another, and many with lost expressions on their faces.
Walking across one of the quads, Hiro, Baymax, Wasabi, Go Go, Honey and Fred observed the numerous students that surrounded them. Dressed in his civilian clothes, Hiro wore a blue, zip-up hoodie over a red t-shirt, along with khaki cargo shorts and black sneakers. Next to him was Go Go, who wore a black leather jacket over a white t-shirt and black, red-lined running shorts over a pair of black leggings, along with black sneakers and black, fingerless gloves. On Hiro's other side was Fred, dressed in an orange t-shirt over a white, long sleeve shirt, along with olive cargo shorts, green sneakers and a teal ski cap that was pulled over his lanky hair. Behind Go Go was Wasabi, dressed in a olive sweater, black pants and dark brown loafers. Behind Fred was Honey, dressed in a bright yellow mini-dress over white leggings, with a yellow jacket, yellow headband and yellow platform shoes completing the outfit.
"Ah," Fred sighed happily as he turned to face the others while taking a large intake of breath, waving his hands up towards his nose as he did, "Do you smell that, guys?"
"Your B.O.?" Go Go questioned with a quirked eyebrow.
"Are you wearing recycled underwear again, dude?" Wasabi questioned, "Because, I swear, if you are-"
"No, no, no," Fred replied with a quick shake of his head, "It's the smell of a new semester!"
"I do not believe that a new semester can be detected with olfactory senses," Baymax observed, earning a chuckle from Honey.
"It's a metaphor," Fred stated, before gesturing to the bustling campus that surrounded them, "I mean, look at all these new, fresh faced students, eager to learn!"
Glancing around, Hiro smirked as he saw many of the other students had nervous looks on their faces.
"It looks to me like they're eager just to get to their first period classes," Hiro observed.
"You're right," Fred agreed as he glanced around at the students before beaming at his friends, "Luckily for them, Fred Lieber is here to show them the way."
"Oh boy," Go Go muttered as they all watched Fred step directly into the path of a female student.
"You!" Fred declared, pointing a dramatic finger at the student, almost poking her in the eye process as she stopped in front of him, "Are you lost!?"
"Um, yes," the student replied in startled surprise.
"Where you trying to get to?" Fred questioned in a friendly tone.
"The, uh, aeronautics lab?" the student replied, clearly thrown off by Fred's forward demeanor.
"Right there, across the quad," Fred explained as he pointed at one of the many buildings on the campus, "It's the one that's sort of shaped like a football helmet."
"Oh, thanks!" the student replied with a surprised smile before she began to make her way towards the building, giving Fred a happy wave as she went.
"Uh, are you giving people directions?" a male student asked as he walked up to Fred.
"Sure am!" Fred answered cheerfully, "Where are you trying to get to?"
"I was hoping to get to building 322?" the student replied.
"Just head past that building, take a left and it's right there next to the cafeteria," Fred explained, "They're doing sloppy joes today. If you want them extra sloppy, tell them Fred sent you."
"Thanks, man," the student replied with a smile as he made his way in the direction Fred had indicated.
"Hey, do you think you could help me out?" a nasally female voice asked from behind Fred.
"Sure," Fred said as he turned to face the voice, "Where do you need to…."
Fred trailed off as he caught sight of the young woman now standing before him. She had a willowy build and was relatively tall, standing an inch or so above Fred himself. She had long, raven hair that hung down to her shoulder blades, which she kept out of her face with a yellow headband. She wore a pink polo shirt along with blue jeans and red sneakers with a purple backpack slung around her shoulders. Her blue eyes were focused on Fred with a hopeful look.
"I'm looking for the applied physics lab," the young woman explained, "Do you know where that is?"
"Uh…." Fred replied dumbly, his eyes focused on the young woman as his face began to heat up, "I think….uh…."
Fred's reaction caused his friends to look at one another in confusion as the young woman's brow furrowed in concern.
"Are you okay?" she questioned.
"Y-Yeah, I'm fine," Fred replied quickly with a nervous laugh, "Just you know…."
An awkward pause fell between the two as Fred trailed off, causing the young woman to arch an eyebrow at him.
"Know what?" she pressed.
"How difficult it can be to find your way around here," Honey quickly answered as she stepped up next to Fred and offered the young woman her hand, "Hi, I'm Pamela Rodriguez, but everyone around here calls me Honey."
"Violet Parr," the young woman replied as she shook Honey's offered hand.
"So, you're studying applied physics?" Honey asked sunnily, "I'm a chemistry engineering major myself."
"Yeah," Violet answered, "Specifically, energy fields and light refraction."
"Pretty cool," Go Go stated as she walked up on Fred's other side and offered Violet her hand, "I'm more of a magnetism girl, myself. Name's Yuri, but most people call me Go Go."
"Nice to meet you," Violet replied as she shook Go Go's offered hand.
"If you want to talk about energy fields though, my boyfriend Wasabi is studying that sort of stuff," Go Go explained as she pointed her thumb at the young man in question.
"Wasabi?" Violet asked in confusion, arching an eyebrow as she looked up at him.
"Look, that one wasn't my idea," Wasabi replied with a sigh.
"Who's idea was it?" Violet questioned.
"Why, that would be Fred here," Hiro spoke up as he walked up next to Fred and patted him on the shoulder before a thoughtful look crossed his face, "Hey, why didn't you ever give me a nickname?"
"I, uh, couldn't come up with one," Fred mumbled as he glanced between Hiro and Violet.
"So, you're Fred," Violet surmised, pointing at the young man before turning her attention to Hiro, "Who might you be?"
"I'm Hiro Hamada," he answered as he reached out and shook Violet's hand.
"And who's your friend?" Violet questioned as she looked at Baymax standing behind Hiro.
"Greetings," Baymax replied, giving Violet a small, circular wave as he spoke, "I am Baymax, your personal, healthcare companion."
"He's your robot nurse?" Violet questioned as she looked back at Hiro.
"Well, he's not my nurse," Hiro explained, "But that's basically the idea."
"I will now scan you to check for health anomalies," Baymax stated.
"I'd rather if you-" Violet began to say as Baymax quickly looked her up and down.
"Scan complete," Baymax stated, prompting Hiro to elbow him in his inflatable gut.
"Dude, we talked about this," Hiro hissed.
"I have detected a genetic mutation," Baymax continued, causing Violet's eyes to go wide, "I believe-"
"Baymax!" Hiro snapped, cutting the robot off, "Seriously, stop. I'm pretty sure this counts as a HIPAA violation."
"But Hiro-" Baymax began to argue.
"Enough," Hiro stated pointedly, before looking at Violet apologetically, "Sorry about that. He can be a little overeager at times."
"It's fine," Violet replied as she looked at Baymax wearily, "I should probably get going anyway."
"Of course," Honey agreed, before pointing towards a building on the other side of the campus, "The applied physics lab is that building over there."
"Thanks," Violet replied, giving Honey a smile as she began walking in the indicated direction, "It was nice meeting you all!"
"Same to you!" Wasabi replied as he gave Violet a wave.
"See you around!" Go Go added as Violet turned away from the group and made her way across the quad.
Once they had judged that Violet was out of earshot, the entire group turned their attentions towards Fred.
"What was that?" Wasabi questioned.
"What was what?" Fred replied, trying and failing to feign ignorance.
"You know what we're talking about," Go Go stated, "You practically tied your tongue in a knot talking to that girl."
"I, uh, I don't know what you're talking about," Fred argued, glancing away from his friends as his cheeks turned red.
"Guys, don't you see?" Honey questioned with a smile, "Fred thinks Violet is pretty."
There was a pause as Fred's face went completely red and the other's looked at Honey in surprise. The silence was then broken as Go Go let out a bark of laughter.
"Oh man, you're right!" Hiro exclaimed as he laughed as well, "He's totally in to her!"
"Increased heart rate would indicate a physical attraction," Baymax added.
"Come on, guys, it's not that funny," Fred groaned.
"You've got to let us enjoy this a little bit, Fred," Wasabi said with a grin as he wrapped his arm around the young man's shoulders and pulled him into a one-arm hug, "You've teased all about our relationships in the past. This is only fair."
"I think it's sweet," Honey stated, "She seems like a very nice girl."
"I guess," Fred replied with a shrug, "We only talked to her for like five minutes."
"Sometimes that's all it takes," Honey argued with a shrug.
"Well, whether she's nice or not doesn't really matter," Fred sighed, "After putting my foot in my mouth that badly, I doubt she'd want anything to do with a weirdo like me."
Across the quad, Violet paused outside of the applied physics building and turned to look back at the group. A pensive expression on her face, Violet pulled out her phone and opened a picture of the Big Hero 9. Examining the grainy picture, she glanced between it and the group of six standing on the quad, a sneaking suspicion scratching at the back of her mind.
Undisclosed location, a few days later,
A red station wagon rumbled through the forested landscape of a national park, a mountain looming before it as it traveled down a disused path. Inside were Bob, Helen, Dash and Jack-Jack Parr, with Bob behind the steering wheel of the vehicle. Along with them was an African-American man roughly the same age as Bob and Helen. He had a tall and lanky build with brown eyes, a bald head and a trim goatee. He wore a navy blue turtleneck along with blue jeans and white sneakers.
"Are you sure this is the place?" Helen questioned.
"I mean, this is where Rick's instructions told us to go," Bob replied as he held up a piece of paper, "At least, it matches the coordinates he gave us."
"I don't know," Helen commented doubtfully as she looked around at their forested surroundings, "You sure we didn't take a wrong turn or something?"
"Look, honey, I don't want to sound like a stereotypical guy here, but this isn't exactly a situation where I can stop and ask for directions," Bob said before he looked over his shoulder at the other man, "I mean, help me out here, Lucius."
"Well, it certainly wouldn't be where I would put a top secret superhero base," the man, Lucius, replied as he looked around at their surroundings, "But I imagine that's the point."
Bob was about to say something more when movement at the edge of his vision caught his attention. Looking out the window next to him, Bob saw that the bark of the tree right next to the car slid open, revealing a metal compartment, in which was the eye of a camera and a speaker.
"You are in a restricted area," Bob heard an an authoritative male voice said through the speaker as he rolled down the window, "Identify yourselves."
"Uh, I'm Bob Parr," he said in reply, clearly caught off guard by the sudden question, "I'm here with my wife and sons, and Lucius Best. I believe we have an appointment?"
There was a pause before the speaker crackled to life again.
"Hello, Mr. Incredible," the voice greeted, "Special Agent Dicker is awaiting you inside. Welcome to Home Base."
As the speaker finished talking, the ground beneath the car began to shake, accompanied by a metallic rumbling. A moment later, the ground began to descend, revealing that the car had been sitting on a massive elevator platform disguised as part of the surrounding landscape. As the elevator continued to descend into the bowels of the earth, the group exited the car, looking around in wonder at the massive elevator shaft. A few minutes later, the elevator began to approach the bottom of the shaft, allowing the group to see a large, open chamber.
The chamber was octagonal in shape, illuminated by fluorescent lights set into the ceiling. The walls and floor were off-white in color and many hallways led out of the room, allowing dozens of people to come and go about their business. At the center of the floor was an orange oval, upon which were emblazoned the letters AVL.
Standing between the elevator and the symbol was Rick, flanked by Lucy and Mirage, the three watching as the lift came to a halt even with the floor.
"Glad you could make it, Bob," Rick commented with a sardonic smirk as the group approached them, offering the large man his hand as he came.
"Well, we had a little trouble finding the place," Bob joked as he shook Rick's offered hand, "You might need to cut back the shrubbery."
"It keeps the solicitors away though," Rick explained with a shrug.
"Mirage?" Helen questioned as she stepped up next to Bob, Jack-Jack trailing behind her.
"It's been awhile, Helen," Mirage said as she gave the other woman a nod of acknowledgment.
"Rick had mentioned you were working for the AVL," Helen commented as she held out a hand to Mirage, "Happy to see you on our side."
"Happy to be here," Mirage replied as she smiled and shook Helen's hand.
"You must be Frozone," Lucy stated as she stepped forward and offered Lucius her hand, "I'm Agent Lucy Wilde."
"Nice to meet you, Agent Wilde," Lucius replied as he shook Lucy's hand, "Though you can call me Lucius."
"Happy you could join us, Lucius," Rick stated.
"Well, Honey wasn't happy about it, but I couldn't turn down the opportunity to get back out in the field and do some good," Lucius replied with a shrug.
"Glad to hear it," Rick replied with a nod, "The General and the Director are going to be briefing you in the ready room."
With that, Rick turned and began leading the group across the room, Lucy and Mirage following as well. Walking down one of the long hallways that led out of the entrance chamber, the group followed Rick as he led them into another large room.
The room was mostly taken up by a large circular table, around which had been set up a number of chairs. The room was illuminated by overhead lighting and one wall was dominated by a large television screen. Inside the room, Susan, Bob, Link and Dr. Cockroach were conversing with one another, but they all looked up as the other group entered.
"Our last remaining recruit should be arriving soon," Rick explained, "We'll let you all get acquainted in the meantime."
With that, Rick, Lucy and Mirage left the room, leaving the two groups alone.
"So….wow," Susan spoke up as the agents left, "If I read that file we got right, you guys are like, real superheroes."
"You're Susan, right?" Helen said as she stepped forward and offered the white-haired woman her hand, "Or, I suppose Ginormica is the correct name. And from everything I've seen, you certainly seem to fit the bill to me too. Both as a hero and a super."
"I….uh, I guess I am," Susan acknowledged as she shook Helen's hand, "I had never thought of it that way."
"What's a super?" Link questioned.
"A super is the colloquial term for a human enhanced with superpowers," Dr. Cockroach explained, "By definition, Susan and I would be examples, while you and Bob would not."
"Wait, what?" Bob spoke up, his brow wrinkling in confusion, "I uh, don't know what you think, uh, Dr. Bugman, but I'm definitely a super."
Dr. Cockroach looked at Bob in confusion for a moment before he blinked in understanding.
"That's right," Dr. Cockroach stated, "You're Mr. Incredible a.k.a. Robert "Bob" Parr."
"Ah, that's gonna cause some confusion, isn't it?" Susan commented.
"What is?" Dash questioned.
"Allow me to introduce Benzoate Ostylezene Bicarbonate," Dr. Cockroach said as he gestured towards the blue, cyclopean blob.
"The blob monster?" Lucius questioned, "Yeah, I read about him. What's that got to do with anything?"
"Well, all that science-babble is kind of a mouthful," Link explained, "So, we just call him-"
"Bob," the hulking man said with a sigh.
"Hey, that's me," the blob spoke up with a smile.
As the others talked, Jack-Jack wandered over to where Bob was standing, looking up at the blob monster with wonderfilled eyes.
"You're….jiggly," Jack-Jack said before he stepped forward, pushing his hands against Bob's sides, "Like Jell-O."
"Wait, do you know Jell-O?" Bob questioned in surprise, "How is she? Is she seeing someone? Did she-"
Bob cut himself off as Jack-Jack managed to push through his membrane, causing the blob monster to accidentally absorb him, leaving the child floating in the blue goo. A hush fell over the room as everyone stared at Jack-Jack floating inside Bob's mass. Slowly, Bob looked away from Jack-Jack and scanned the room with his one wide eye.
"Um, that might be a problem," Bob stated wearily.
"Oh my God!" Susan exclaimed, her eyes wide with panic as she rushed over to Bob's side, "Bob, get him out of there!"
"I'm trying!" Bob replied, his voice sounding strained as he began to jiggle in place while Jack-Jack began laughing.
"Bob, buddy, it'd be great if you didn't dissolve a kid on our first day!" Link hissed angrily.
"We might have to cut him out if Bob can't regurgitate him," Dr. Cockroach said quickly, "I'll need a moment to construct a cutting laser."
"Cutting laser!?" Bob exclaimed shrilly.
As the monsters continued to panic, Lucius and the Parrs looked on in bemusement.
"Do you think we should tell them?" Dash proposed.
"They've probably suffered enough," Helen stated.
"Okay," Bob said with a smirk before turning his attention towards his youngest son, "Alright, Jack-Jack, that's enough clowning around! Come on out of there!"
Looking at his father, Jack-Jack laughed again before disappearing in a flash of blue light. Eyes widening in surprise, Susan, Link and Dr. Cockroach each jumped back from Bob in alarm.
"What happened!?" Bob demanded before he looked down at himself and burst into tears, "Oh no, he's gone! What have I done!? He's gone!"
A moment later, Jack-Jack reappeared next to his parents in another flash of blue light, now covered in blue goop.
"Oh, there he is," Bob commented, regaining his composure in the blink of an eye.
"Hahahaha!" Jack-Jack laughed as he looked at the goop he was covered in, "It tingles!"
"That's cause it's probably acidic," Lucius observed.
"Here, Jack-Jack," Helen said as she stepped up next to her son, "Give Mommy those yucky clothes. I'll see if I can get them washed before they dissolve."
Nodding in reply, Jack-Jack quickly stripped out of his clothes, revealing the red and black jumpsuit with a lower case, yellow i emblazoned across the front that he was wearing underneath.
As Helen gingerly took the soiled clothes from her son, Dash looked Jack-Jack over.
"You should probably get the rest of that off of you too, Jack," Dash commented.
"I think I know what will do the trick," Bob stated as he looked down at his younger son, "Jack-Jack. Go boom."
Grinning like a mad man, Jack-Jack spread his legs wide before dramatically throwing his arms out.
"Boom!" he shouted before his entire body burst into flame, the orange fire obscuring his features to the point that it appeared that his eyes and mouth had been replaced by black dots.
"Whoa!" Link exclaimed as the monsters looked at Jack-Jack in astonishment, "Just how many superpowers does this kid have!?"
"A few," Bob replied with a smirk and a nonchalant shrug.
As the fire burnt, it consumed the goop, causing a cloud of bluish smoke to raise from Jack-Jack. Sniffing the air, Dash, Lucius and Bob let out gagging coughs and quickly backed away from Jack-Jack.
"Oh, that is foul!" Lucius exclaimed as he covered his mouth.
"Alright, Jack-Jack," Bob coughed, "I think that's enough fire."
"Okay," Jack-Jack replied before the fire abruptly cut off, revealing the boy clean of goop and unharmed.
"Wow," Susan sighed as she placed a hand against her chest, "I was really worried there for a second."
"Ah, Jack-Jack has been in worse spots then that," Dash said as he affectionately rubbed his brother's head, "And he's not even in grade school yet."
"Maybe we should actually take the time to introduce ourselves," Helen said before gesturing to herself, "I'm Helen Parr, but out in field, I'm Elastigirl."
"This, as we've established is my husband, Bob," Helen continued as she gestured towards the hulking man, who waved politely.
"Then, we have my sons," Helen went on as she gestured towards the two boys, "Jack-Jack and the Dash. Or as they're known to most people, Kid Incredible and….the Dash."
The conversation came to a pause as the monsters all looked over at Dash, who was striking what he imagined to be a heroic pose.
"Seriously?" Link questioned with a quirked eyebrow.
"We've tried to talk him out of it," Bob explained with a sigh.
"You guys don't give Violet a hard time for her codename!" Dash argued in a huff.
"Yeah, that's because Ultraviolet is actually clever," Lucius commented, "Your codename is just your name with the word "the" in front of it."
"That's right, the file said you had a daughter as well," Dr. Cockroach observes as he glanced around the room, "Where is she?"
"Violet couldn't make it today," Helen explained, "She just started classes at SFIT."
"The San Fransokyo Institute of Technology?" Dr. Cockroach questioned with an amused grin, earning a nod from Helen, "Why, that's my old alma mater. She must be quite the bright young lady."
"Bright as they come," Lucius commented, "I'm Lucius Best, by the way. Or, if you prefer, Frozone."
"It really is great to meet all of you," Susan stated, "So, I guess it's our turn. As Helen said before, I'm Susan Murphy, or Ginormica. And you've already all met Bob."
"Hi, I'm Bob," Bob said happily.
"We've also got the Missing Link, or Link for short," Susan went on, indicating to her other two compatriots, "And Dr. Cockroach, or Doc."
"Are team also has Insectosaurus, but well…." Link said before trailing off awkwardly.
"She's a giant moth so she doesn't really fit in the room?" Dash supplied helpfully.
"Pretty much," Link answered with a chuckle.
"Well then," Bob said as he clapped his hands together eagerly, "Now that introductions are out of the way, I guess we should get settled in for the meeting."
"Aren't we still waiting on someone?" Susan questioned.
"Boy, I hope not," Bob replied with an annoyed sigh.
"Come on, honey," Helen said with an admonishing tone, "We've talked about this."
"Look, I get that he's trying to turn over a new leaf," Bob argued with a sigh, "I get that he's managed to do some good, but it doesn't make up for what he's done in the past."
"I don't like it either, but we're going to have to learn to work with the guy," Lucius stated.
"No offence, Lucius, but you didn't know him like I did," Bob replied, "In my opinion, if I never saw Megamind again, it would be too soon."
At that moment, one of the doors to the meeting room was suddenly kicked open and Megamind stepped in, with Minion following.
"Ollo, fellow heroes!" Megamind declared in a loud, raucous voice, "I have arrived!"
An annoyed expression took hold of Bob's features as he looked down at Helen, who could give him an awkward smile in reply.
"Oh my gosh!" Megamind declared as he looked towards the monsters, "It's really him!"
Rushing over to Dr. Cockroach, Megamind skidded to a halt in front of the scientist, grinning like a giddy school boy.
"Dr. Cockroach," Megamind said as he offered the scientist his hand, "It's an honor to meet you. I'm Megamind."
"Well, this is a surprise," Doc replied with an amused smirk as he shook Megamind's offered hand, "And here I thought you wouldn't have heard of me."
"Wouldn't have heard of you!?" Megamind exclaimed with a laugh, "Your paper on genetic resequencing changed my life!"
"They still publish that old thing?" Doc questioned with a chuckle, "I figured they would have tossed it out after my, er, accident."
"It's still out there if you know where to look," Megamind commented with a smirk.
"Hey, pal," Link said as he stepped up and offered Megamind his hand, "Name's Link."
"The Missing Link," Megamind stated as she shook Link's hand before indicating behind him, "I read the report about you. I think you'll get along great with my friend, Minion here."
Turning to look at Minion, Missing Link study the strange creature for a moment.
"So, you're like a fish piloting a robot gorilla suit?" Link questioned as he gestured at Minion.
"Alien fish," Minion correct, "But yes, essentially."
"Cool," Link commented with a nod, "Cool."
"Hi, I'm Bob," Bob said as he slithered up and offered Megamind his hand. Instead of shaking Bob's hand, Megamind leaned down and began examining the pseudo-arm that was extending from the rest of his mass.
"Fascinating," Megamind mumbled as he moved away from the arm and began examining the rest of Bob's mass, "And it's true that you don't possess a brain?"
"Turns out you don't need one," Bob answered.
"That seems very debatable," Megamind commented as he turned away from Bob and offered his hand to Susan, "Megamind."
"Ginormica," Susan replied as she shook Megamind's hand, "Or you can just call me Susan."
"It's good to meet you, Susan," Megamind said, "No, tell me, what's it like being fifty feet tall? I've built a couple of giant robots roughly that tall, so I've got some sense of what it's like, but it's not the same as being that tall, you know?"
"Uh, sir," Minion spoke up.
"Yes, Minion?" Megamind questioned as he turned to look at his companion.
"Don't you think you should finish introducing yourself to everyone before commencing with small talk?" Minion suggested.
"Right, of course! How rude of me," Megamind replied as he spun around before approaching Lucius and the Parrs, "Megamind, a pleasure."
A hush fell over the room as Megamind stood directly in front of Bob Parr, his hand extended towards the other man. Looking down, Bob examined the offered hand for a moment before raising his gaze to glare at Megamind. The moment dragged on, an Megamind began to awkwardly glance around. Finally, Bob reached down and took Megamind's hand.
"Bob Parr," Bob introduced himself coldly.
"Another Bob?" Megamind questioned in amusement, "My, I'm sure that's going to be-"
Megamind cut himself off as he let out a yelp of pain, accompanied by the cracking of bones as Bob squeezed harder on Megamind's hand.
"Bob!" Helen snapped angrily.
"What?" Bob questioned as he released Megamind's hand while Dash chuckled and Lucius pinched the bridge of his nose, "I'm just shaking the guy's hand."
"That's quite the grip you've got there, Bob," Megamind commented as he cradled his injured hand against his chest.
"Oh, like you weren't expecting it," Bob snorted contemptuously.
"...Why would I expect that?" Megamind questioned in confusion.
There was a pause as Bob blinked in bafflement.
"You do know who I am, don't you?" Bob questioned after a moment.
"You're….Bob?" Megamind replied hopefully.
"No, that's me," Bob the blob spoke up.
At this point, Minion quickly hustled over to Megamind's side and laid a hand on the alien's shoulder while Bob began finishing for something in his pocket.
"Sir, did you read all of the files Agent Wilde gave us?" Minion questioned quickly.
"I may have skimmed some of them," Megamind admitted.
"Sir, I feel it's very important that I tell you-" Minion began to say but stopped as Megamind held up a hand.
"Please, Minion, you're being very rude," Megamind said as he began to turn back to Bob, "Can't you see that I'm talking to-"
Megamind cut himself off as he looked at Bob again, finding the man was now glaring at him from behind the domino mask he had put on. As Megamind looked at Bob, he felt his throat go dry, forcing him to take a loud, nervous gulp.
"Mr. Incredible," Megamind finished, giving Bob a nervous smile as he did, "My, it's been a long time, hasn't it? I'd say, what-"
"Twenty years," Mr. Incredible answered through gritted teeth.
"Yes, that sounds about right," Megamind replied as he began to lean away from Bob, prompting him to lean in closer, "You're not still mad about-"
"I'm still mad about all of it!" Bob snapped as he reached out and grabbed the front of Megamind's uniform before halling the alien off of his feet.
"Bob!" Helen snapped, "Put him down!"
"Whoa, wait, you guys know each other?" Link questioned as the other monsters looked on in surprise.
"Well, Metro Man may have been my archnemesis," Megamind explained, looking over his shoulder as he hung in the air, "But I did dabble in fighting other heroes from time to time. Especially-"
"Me!" Bob snarled, bringing Megamind's attention back to him, "And since you killed Metro Man, I guess that makes me your new archnemesis, you murdering son of a-"
"That's enough, soldier!" a new voice spoke out from over the room's loudspeakers as the image of a hard looking, grey haired man in an Army officer's uniform appeared on the screen, taking up half of it, "Put him down."
"General Monger?" Bob questioned in surprise, "Sir, I-"
"That wasn't a request, Parr," Monger said, an edge to his voice, "Put him down."
A resigned expression crossed Bob's face before he tossed Megamind onto the ground.
"Wait, you guys know each other?" Link repeated, sounding even more confused than before as Minion helped Megamind off of the floor.
"That we do," Monger confirmed with a nod, "Bob and I go way back."
"I'm surprised they haven't forced you out yet, sir," Bob said as he removed his mask.
"There's still fight in me yet, soldier," Monger commented with a chuckle.
As he did, the second half of the screen was filled with the image of an overweight man with brown hair and a tweed suit.
"Ah, I see you're all here," the man observed, his voice colored by a refined British accent, "Excellent, if you all take your seats, we can begin."
Slowly, everyone found and took seats at the large table.
"I suppose introductions are in order," the British man continued, "I am Silas Ramsbottom, the Director of the Anti-Villain League. My compatriot here is General W. R. Monger of the United States Army."
"Heh," Bob whispered with a giggle to Susan, "He said monger."
"I believe you're all up to speed on why you've been brought here?" Ramsbottom asked.
"You wanted to put a team of superheroes together," Lucius commented, "Something of an old fashioned notion if you ask me."
"Which is why we figured it'd be a good way of testing the waters to removing the Supers Act," Monger replied, "Get people use to having superheroes out in the open again."
"While still maintaining strict, governmental control," Ramsbottom added.
"Makes sense to me," Helen commented with a nod.
"Now, while we're not ready to act on this information, we should inform you as to why we chose to activate this program," Ramsbottom went on.
"There was a specific reason?" Susan questioned.
"My agents have recorded a large uptick in supervillain sightings," Ramsbottom explained, "Including a number who haven't been seen in years."
"Any idea what it's about?" Lucius questioned.
"Not yet," Monger answered, "But we think it might be connected to this."
A moment later, the two men's images were replaced by the pictures of the destroyed Russian lab.
"What's this?" Link questioned.
"A secret Russian facility that was attacked recently by persons unknown," Ramsbottom informed them, "All we know for certain is that the facility had been working on creating an mutagen known as PX-41."
"Any idea what the mutagen does?" Doc inquired.
"Not at the moment," Monger answered.
"All this, there must be someone behind it, right?" Helen suggested, "Someone bringing all these villains together."
"It would appear that you are correct Mrs. Parr, as my agents have collected chatter referring to just such an individual, though we've only managed to ascertain his quite appropriate name," Ramsbottom explained, "Enigma."
Unknown location
The room was dark except for the overhead lights that hung just above the workbench. A figure, cloaked almost entirely in shadow, sat at the bench, working on something with a screwdriver in his left hand, its right arm ending just below the shoulder. As the figure worked, the door to the room opened and Phantasma stepped in.
"Sir," she stated simply, standing a few feet away from the figure with her hands clasped behind her back.
"Report, Phantasma," the figure said in a harsh, electronic voice, not looking away from his work as he spoke.
"Experimentation with PX-41 has been completed," Phantasma reported.
"Results?" the figure asked.
"Optimal," Phantasma replied.
"Excellent," the figure said happily as he put down the screwdriver, "Have you finished compiling the data you collected on the Big Hero 9?"
"I have, sir," Phantasma answered, "It is awaiting your study."
"Good, good," the figure stated as he picked up what he had been working on, a skeletal, mechanical arm, "Tell our contact in San Fransokyo, Mr…."
"Mr. Yama, sir," Phantasma supplied.
"Tell Mr. Yama that our plans are a go," the figure said as he placed the mechanical arm against the stump of his right arm, which made a loud, mechanical clicking noise before the arm hung in place, "Once he gets a sample, that is."
"Yes, sir," Phantasma replied with a nod.
"And inform the others," the figure continued as he flexed the fingers of his metal arm experimentally before curling them into a fist, "I think it's time we prepare for stage two."
A/N: So, this one ended up getting away from me a little, but I think it turned out pretty damn good in the end. Let me know what you think! As always, feedback and critiques are always welcome, so please review! Later!