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Isthmus	By : AwfulLawful Category: +M through R > Megamind Views: 3514 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Megamind or make any profit from this story, it was done purely out of love for the characters.

Chapter List
- 7
- 8
Right in the Middle
"Love, like everything else in life, should be a discovery, an adventure, and like most adventures, you don't know you're having one until you're right in the middle of it." ~ E.A. Bucchianeri, Brushstrokes of a Gadfly
On how long it has taken me to update this:
I really wish I could hire someone else to be an adult for me so I could actually have a hobby.
Kouru-Kage: Thanks for pointing out that error! It WAS supposed to be viviparous, not oviparous. I will have to blame my brain on that one because I totally did a double-take on your review and went back to check the chapter and wound up grumbling to myself while I went and fixed it. I had the terms mixed up in my head somehow.
The past week had been interesting to say the least, starting with the failed caper that had honestly been one of the most enjoyable social events of Roxanne's winter thus far. That said so many things about her recent social life that she dared not dwell on it too much, but she did have to admit that back when they were kids she and Megamind had always seemed to get along relatively well if Wayne Scott wasn't in their vicinity, no matter what he'd been called at the time. Inevitably whenever he showed up to 'defend' her Megamind would bristle, Wayne would respond, a banter would break out, and she'd wander off and leave them to their theatrical bullshit. Sometimes they'd glance back at her and she got the impression they might have been trying to entertain her somehow, despite the fact that she thought it was childish and annoying.
Roxanne had been pleasantly surprised when a woman had called her the morning of the most recent kidnapping to warn her that Megamind was planning to kidnap her. Despite Roxanne being well aware of that and providing the woman with blithe thanks she persisted in trying to get Roxanne to go somewhere safe. Clearly this woman had no idea just how crucial it was to Roxanne's career that she keep playing along – not only did it make her so valuable to the station that they paid her enough for a corner apartment with a balcony, but it provided far more opportunities to speak directly with Metro Man than she would normally be afforded with their respective work schedules. He HAD to talk to her, at least as he flew her off to either work or home or, rarely, to the inevitable ambulance squad after Megamind was thwarted to treat minor scrapes and bruises.
Getting kidnapped on a regular basis made Roxanne Ritchi the only reporter in the city with steady access to exclusive Hero interviews, and occasionally villainous ones too. That was a kind of job security very few ever had in this business. Thus, she couldn't afford anyone interfering with the game, no matter how well-meant, and did her polite reporter-level best to tell the woman that she could take care of herself but thanks for caring and if you get too meddlesome I will end you.
Even the EMTs that treated her occasional scrapes afterward didn't worry about her being truly injured anymore; this woman would just have to learn that the only person Megamind actually intended to harm was impervious to it.
Figuring out who that phone number belonged to had been a bit of a shock – a Dr. Vanessa Mardling at the new Metro Man museum. HOW the woman had figured out the schedule for the day was a question she would have to investigate on her own later, especially since Dr. Mardling was apparently the Metro Man expert there NOT the Megamind one. Roxanne was positive Metro Man didn't know about the schedule, too. She had either gotten the schedule from Minion somehow or had worked out a pattern that Roxanne hadn't figured out yet. Either way she was currently a threat to Roxanne's career; so, this Dr. Mardling needed to either become an ally real fast or learn to mind her own business.
She kept these things in the back of her mind while she pondered the MAIN thing she was trying to work out.
Something was definitely going on between Metro Man and Megamind, but she wasn't sure what.
Metro Man had clumsily tipped her off the day he had clearly allowed Megamind to escape, which had never happened before. Yes, Megamind occasionally managed to get away while Metro Man was busy with Roxanne or something else like herding civilians or cleaning up still active robots, but he had never clearly stalled for time before. She didn't really like to be suspicious of her friends… but she was a reporter and occasionally got suspicious of her friends. And they knew that.
Which meant she couldn't just ask Metro Man what was going on. If he wanted her to know what was going on, or even just wouldn't mind her knowing, he would have already told her. So, it was a secret.
Roxanne had a problem conceptually with her friends having secrets from her.
Currently Roxanne was sitting next to her balcony window, which she could not open due to the layer of plastic keeping her heating bill from exceeding real numbers. A steaming mug of tea in hand was keeping her calm while she mused to herself on how to go about solving this problem. Staring at the snow provided very little in the way of inspiration. The lights she'd put up around the outside of the door, though, at least gave her a warm feeling while she thought things through. She mentally drifted back to the last kidnapping again.
After Minion had returned with the spray and Megamind had bid her a sufficiently polite farewell to keep their impromptu heart-to-heart from being unreasonably awkward she had woken up in her apartment. On the couch, as usual, because Minion seemed to believe that breaking into her actual home was fine but going into a woman's bedroom without permission would just be rude. She'd had a glass of wine to help the lingering fuzziness from the knockout spray be less unpleasant and mused on everything they had talked about – especially how Megamind had essentially confirmed one of her long-held suspicions about him.
He desperately craved Metro Man's attention.
The villain had played it off as basic jealousy and disappointment that Metro Man seemed to have written the blue man off as unworthy. Of course he was trying to lead her into thinking what he wanted; that was a pretty normal part of their interaction and was to be expected. The sympathy act was not going to work; Roxanne had known Megamind way too long to believe he took anything less than pleasure out of his chosen career and enjoyed the hell out of their game.
There was that moment, though, when Megamind was resting his face on the back of the chair and pretending to think (as if it took him long enough to be melodramatic- she knew better) when his faked brooding looked just a little too honest. Smart as he was in terms of manipulation, the guy just couldn't seem to keep the truth off his face if it bothered him, and he was far less intelligent in terms of his emotions than literally everything else. Both of the aliens she knew had that problem, actually. It seemed to her as if Megamind, and Metro Man for that matter, were still mentally stuck in their early twenties at the latest. Some people just didn't mature at the same rate as the rest of the world and they both reeked of late adolescent uncertainty sometimes.
Maybe their respective species matured slower than humans in terms of emotional understanding, or may not have the same standards of emotional maturity that Roxanne understood indicated adult thinking on Earth. Or maybe they were just perpetually immature people – those existed too.
Roxanne was positive that Megamind really was bothered that Metro Man had snubbed him; enough that it slipped onto his face. And as usual Megamind was unaware that he wore his heart on his sleeve; he was terrible at hiding how he was feeling. At least from her.
Not long after the drop-off and around Roxanne's second glass of wine, Metro Man had stopped by to make sure that Megamind had, well… followed the rules. Roxanne had the privilege of listing the new rules for him and earned some annoyed grumbling in response before he left in something of a huff. She'd invited him to stay and rest for a bit after cleaning up that little lake of fire problem. Not that the Icelanders had NEEDED him for that, he had pointed out wryly – they had mostly had it under control by the time he got there. They lived over a mantle plume and already knew how to deal with it so the whole time there he had basically been following the orders of those that were already on-site and he had been merely fulfilling the role of heavy equipment.
He wouldn't stay that evening, even after she'd promised there would be no interviews for the station and he could be officially off-duty and just be Wayne for a while. He'd just left in something of a snit. Was Metro Man disappointed that they hadn't played the game that day, too? Or was he disturbed that Roxanne hadn't actually needed him to rescue her that time? He ought to know by now Megamind didn't mean her any harm, she was just the bait.
If he had stayed she would have just asked him. He never was very good at lying. She'd been able to read his face like a book since fifth grade.
…which was likely why he'd been avoiding her all week. He hadn't behaved like this since just after the breakup seven years ago. Calls were either missed (i.e. ignored) or short and to the point. Invites to meet for lunch or coffee before work were brushed off. He insisted that everything was fine despite the tightness to his tone. It was like her friend had become her Ex again. So he was either mad at her specifically for something or didn't want her figuring something out before he was ready to talk about it.
Given that Megamind had skipped an appointment right after a failed caper it only made Roxanne think that Metro Man's weird mood swing had something to do with a certain villain.
Or the Museum design, she snorted. If someone had consulted Metro Man on the design and he'd approved it she would have been surprised. That damned statue… It was like Metro City was trying to create their own Colossus of Rhodes. Thankfully the rise in the popularity of pants in the 2000 year interim prevented her from having to look up at something that she would very likely recognize as painfully inaccurate, physically. There was no excuse for it, really. He was already on the Metro City Seal and had his likeness plastered everywhere from advertisements to cartoon characters – most of which without his consent. Everyone just figured their generous hero wouldn't mind it.
Roxanne had no idea how he could stand to be the center of all that insanity. It'd certainly drive her to distraction and a perpetually foul mood, no question. Her career paying off and leading to general fame was one thing, there's no such thing as bad publicity, after all; but being the center of an entire city's Hero Worship would drive her to drink. She'd have hidden in her apartment with a bottle of whiskey and a straw and refused to come out.
"And now I'm thinking like my grandfather," she laughed to herself, then thought, *Too bad drinking does nothing for Metro Man.*
She really did want to know what was going on, but she'd hold off on it for now at least and give her friend some time to decide to tell her on his own. She was curious as hell. However, it was clearly something that upset him and she could wait a while before intruding on what Metro Man had decided was a private matter. It just galled her that it was a private matter between Metro Man and Megamind.
The possibilities swirled in her head. Was Metro Man reanalyzing how he should treat Megamind in battles? That implied Megamind was either changing his tactics and posed a danger to everyone, herself included, or his general threat level was being reduced. Was it that Metro Man was questioning how necessary fighting Megamind actually was? THAT wouldn't be surprising, but if he was planning on trying to reform Megamind then 1) that was unlikely to work period, 2) Metro Man would definitely need her help and, 3) they'd have to enlist Minion first because he could act as a moral tether and knew Megamind better than anyone else did. Had Metro Man accidentally hurt Megamind during the last battle? It wouldn't be the first time and he wouldn't be likely to hide it from her, so that couldn't be it. Did Megamind have blackmail material on Metro Man? Or if that was reversed and Megamind had asked Metro Man not to tell anyone… meddling would basically force Metro Man to break a promise or a deal, which would legitimately piss off Megamind, and THAT would end spectacularly badly.
Damn, but she had a hunch the blue alien would be a serious threat to the planet as a whole if he got well and truly furious. Like omnicidal maniac 'screw-this-planet-I'll-find-a-new-one' levels of destruction.
She winced and urged herself to stop speculating.
Wayne had a week, tops. THEN she would meddle. Because it was driving her spare.
In the meantime Roxanne would go and see this Dr. Mardling and figure out the friend or foe thing and act accordingly to preserve her privacy, the Game, and her career.
It wasn't quite snowing that morning.
It seemed to be putting in a good effort to snow, but all it really accomplished was very dense and icy fog with a problem staying fog for very long. What fat mist didn't slowly fall to the ground after solidifying stuck to everything it contacted like spray paint by virtue of being not-quite-frozen yet still cold enough to chill to the bone; both of which made everything dangerously slippery. It wasn't quite snow but managed to be more frustrating than snow itself could ever have been. Not only were you still going to get irritatingly cold and wet even if you had dressed accordingly, but you couldn't see five feet in front of you either.
Snow, at least, had the decency to remain somewhat clumped and generally only hit you from above, not hover in the air like miniscule depth charges.
It was perfect Megamind-proof weather. Wherever he was anyone familiar with him knew he was damn well going to wait for this foreboding miasma to pass unless the odds were higher that he would die from cabin fever. Even then he might have chosen the latter as the less painful method of expiring.
Wearing glasses turned five feet worth of visibility into less than half an inch due to the aforementioned spray paint effect, so Dr. Mardling found herself leading Bernard along by the hand toward the museum. He grumbled and squinted into the pervading greyness, having given up and put his glasses away in his bag before even leaving his car, which effectively blinded him for all practical purposes. While Dr. Mardling wore glasses too, her prescription was less than one fourth the strength of her assistants' and she could still tell the difference between blurs that were stationary and blurs that were moving either toward or away from her without them. Bernard wouldn't have been able to tell her the difference between a firefly, a star, and a lighthouse in this, even if it was dark enough for stars.
Regardless of his outer persona, it spoke very clearly of Bernard's character that the older woman was currently wearing his coat – he had wordlessly tossed it on her the moment they'd left the vehicle and ignored her completely when she tried to give it back.
"Is there a reason you need me for this?" Bernard complained.
"No, I just don't want to do it by myself," she said, trying to shut him up with blunt honesty.
It seemed to work until they got to the door at least. Vanessa frowned at the door, lost in thought for a moment. Was this really a good idea? True, she had an obligation to inform her patient of the test results, but was this betraying Megamind's confidentiality as his doctor too? If Megamind or even Minion had found out and called her on it she wouldn't be able to argue. This was just one of those things where she knew she was both right and wrong and waiting to figure out where the sides weighed in would only make the situation worse than it already was.
She HAD to tell Metro Man. Megamind had already called 'not it' anyway.
"Thanks for coming, Bern."
"Bernard," he corrected flatly, but walked inside when she held the door open. He hadn't even complained when she stood outside musing, as if he already knew what was going on. He probably did, the asshole.
Bernard didn't even seem surprised to see Metro Man waiting for them in the Lobby.
The large alien gave him a nod. "Hey."
"Hey yourself." Bernard greeted when Vanessa didn't immediately reply to him and wrung her hands in her scarf instead. He grumbled and snatched her hand, pulling her to the elevator so they could get to the office quickly. Metro Man didn't join them, preferring to float up to the next floor instead, and while they were in the metal box anyway he took his chance. "Sure you want to do this?"
"Yes."
"Then quit acting like a scolded kid and do it."
"Ass," she said. "Only you wouldn't be afraid of pissing off Megamind. Just because he likes what you did with the exhibits-"
"I don't think he's as much of a threat as everyone believes."
"You're right," Dr. Mardling imitated Bernard's drawl. "I should fail to see how anyone else's discomfort is my problem."
For an instant she thought she saw a slight upturn to the stoic man's lips, then the elevator opened and it was gone.
Metro Man was waiting just outside the elevator, but frowned when he saw her face. "Is something wrong?"
"I work with an asshole Vulcan," she sighed before stalking to her office. Even Metro Man's mildly accusing look at Bernard didn't calm her nerves.
Once inside Bernard sat down and set his laptop on the table, pulling up the information that Dr. Mardling had collected just in case Metro Man needed visual aids. "Do you know why we're here?"
Metro Man scratched his neck, looking a bit awkward. "Ah, no."
Dr. Mardling smiled a bit nervously. "We need to tell you what we've discovered about the biological differences and similarities between you and Megamind. There's a lot of information and it might take a while, so-"
"So why isn't he here?" Metro Man asked. "Shouldn't he be part of this too?"
"He already knows. Figured it out before we did," Bernard said. "Had a little fit over it-"
"Bernard," Dr. Mardling warned while the hero gave the man a concerned look.
"Well, he did."
She let out a gentle breath as opposed to sighing and began to explain.
Megamind scowled as he watched the video feed from the bugs he'd put all over the museum. Hacking in would have been a simple matter, but their surveillance system just wasn't up to par and missed some crucial places he really wanted to monitor in the event someone tried to steal what he definitively still considered HIS stuff.
Metro Man had met the good doctor some time ago and, despite not feeling particularly driven to stop them doing it, he rather resented that the woman was spilling everything to his enemy already. And though he was loathe to admit it to himself… Megamind felt like he'd been let off the hook in a huge way. The only alternative was Megamind himself explaining the situation to his nemesis and he really, really did NOT want to do that.
Megamind had neither the courage nor the patience to explain it himself, and he would rather not be there when the inane questions started flying. He would defer the task to the good Doctor and hope that Metro Man didn't react too badly to finding out he shared genes with a villain he'd ostracized since naptime had been a regular part of their days.
In the meantime, he had something to do.
Megamind just could not be comfortable with this situation until he worked out his place in this instinct-driven territorial mess. Being raised where he was that was one of the things his fellows had ingrained in him as deeply as they could; ALWAYS know where you stand. He'd spent the previous night going through his memories and searching for clues again; the only tool he really seemed to have that had proven to be helpful was hindsight and being able to view his memories objectively. There wasn't much, to be honest. Most of it was stuff he already knew. Nothing he hadn't already taken into account as far as their rivalry went.
It wasn't until he was musing on the incident that had caused this whole cascade of discovery that Megamind honed in on something to search for specifically; the small lapse in his usually perfect memory that had been caused by Metro Man growling from afar, the noise that had triggered his injury, and prompted Metro Man to meddle as he had never meddled before.
So he searched not for memories, but small lapses in memory. Perhaps instinctive reactions had occurred before and he'd merely written them off as unimportant.
Megamind found two of them, and they were old memories indeed.
Thrice Metro Man had come to his aid unexpectedly and, in two of those instances – the ones that coincided for the brief lapses, he had been nowhere near Megamind at the time. Once occurred during Anatomy class when those vapid bullies had him cornered wielding scalpels in what Megamind still wasn't entirely sure had been an empty threat. The other had been in their younger days just before Metro Boy had flown off with the little Schoolhouse. He'd been stung by a wasp on the shoulder and it had hurt far more than it would have pained any of the other children, he was certain. He hadn't cried as such, but Metro Boy appeared out of nowhere and pinched what venom he could out and blown cold on the badly swollen purple welt before Megamind could gather enough wherewithal to protest.
After both events there had come a common social problem.
Those that had been present for the memory lapse later teased him for 'whining'.
He didn't recall doing it, but Megamind knew now he must have made a noise. He was a male of the species, after all, if not a territorial one. It only made sense he'd be able to sound a call of sorts too. It might even be a trait all his people shared. A species-wide alarm system. The territorial males would warn their wards away from battles and the blue people could call their defender to them if needed. The only explanation was that his memory lapsed due to instinctive responses taking over and suppressing conscious choice.
It made him feel a bit better that the reflex made sense. No matter how fast it is, stopping to think could get you killed.
A big brain is often a detriment to evolution. Biologically speaking they are monstrously expensive. If you have a big brain it's because it was worth the energy and time expenditure to make and maintain it, even if only just. Simple, fast reactions are just a much better investment for survival unless critical thinking is a near requirement. The human reaction to sounds at 19 Hertz was again significant here.
Physically feeling a fear reaction that makes you reflexively bolt when a Tiger growls in your general vicinity is a LOT more useful than waiting for a brain to process the thought of, "Oh, look a Tiger… maybe I should run or find a weapon or something to defend myself with," especially when one would have to wait for visual confirmation before that occurred. Stop to think too much, and… you're a cat snack. Even if all it did in the modern day human was cause hallucinations and perceived hauntings when air conditioners malfunctioned enough to create a sense of dread in that general area, the trait had been so useful up until very, very recently that it still functioned perfectly.
Sometimes, for survival's sake, a body had to wrest control of itself away from the conscious mind.
Had he instinctively called the territorial male to his aid? That was… somewhat embarrassing. Metro Man had simply appeared next to him as if by magic. At that point in their rivalry Megamind was unaware the hero possessed super-speed despite the fact that their general animosity, plotting, and gameplay had already begun. Hindsight was a wonderful thing in that regard; Metro Man hadn't even considered the risk in revealing an unknown power to a potential enemy. He had simply heard a call and responded as if he were pulled there by instinct himself.
Would that noise work if he tried it again?
Megamind frowned, wondering if that was wise for his rather fragile ego at the moment. It made sense to try it, but the thought still made his gut churn with wounded pride already sore from the very personal matters Metro Man had been poking his nose into recently.
Call Metro Man for help!? Even for the sake of experimentation?
Megamind grumbled unhappily and stood to pace.
It wasn't FAIR, but he HAD been raised by humans. In not exactly the best environment for sexual education beyond the strictly practical 'tab A/slot B' instruction along with an absurdly heavy dose of conquest mentality (i.e. never be the slot). Regardless of basic logic Megamind now felt himself as less of a male than the brute, which was stupid and flatly incorrect. Metro Man couldn't inseminate a female alone either. The fact that Megamind's body was designed to be imbued by a male didn't make him any less biologically male himself and he knew it. It was flat-out necessary for reproduction for his species, it wasn't even a mere option for those that preferred it or just liked to indulge like it was for humans. His species simply operated in a different tab and slot orientation.
For reproductive purposes humans had tab A and slot B. Megamind and Metro Man's people had tab A, slot B and tab C, and slot D with the blue males acting as a conduit and activator in between A and D. Simple, not at all difficult to understand, and it served so many practical purposes that Megamind was amazed that his was the first species he'd seen that configuration in. Hell, the ability for one's genes to be passed on to offspring even if the sire had died weeks ago was so insanely useful that Earth's simple two-gender system now seemed vastly less sophisticated as a survival strategy. Megamind understood this all perfectly.
But nurture did play a rather large part of any creature's life regardless of instinct and the knowledge that logic provided, so this whole thing still felt like an attack on Megamind's inherent maleness regardless of whether or not it made any sense. His initial plot to start testing his boundaries and his place in this territorial, three-gendered, insane instinct-driven social mess had been thwarted by molten basalt a while ago. Since then Megamind had tried coming up with more plans to try and figure out what his role was and how he could metaphorically poke the bear just enough to get a reaction that would give him more insight… but aside from trying to re-enact a plot that Miss Ritchi was already aware of this was all he had to go on.
Unless he wanted to go for broke and try and leave the territory outright, and THAT thought made something strange and unsettling swirl at the back of his thoughts like a specter; a vague sense of menace Megamind was certain was intended to keep him right where he was unless there was more danger inside than outside. And there wasn't, honestly. Metro Man was, for all intents and purposes, a perfectly adequate guardian from a physical standpoint. They had verbally, physically, and mentally battled time and time again and the fact remained that Metro Man had never laid hands, or powers, on Megamind with the intention to truly harm. Accidents didn't count, especially if he made up for it.
The only reason Megamind was considering leaving the brute's territory at all was due to curiosity over what the consequences of that would be and not due to an actual desire to leave it. And he knew roughly where that barrier was, too, once he paused to think about it.
Those industrial places where the air tasted unpleasantly different and made him pause. He'd noticed them in some places in the outskirts of the city when he was younger and had to scrounge for metal in scrapyards and unattended storage areas for old construction equipment. That taste always made him pause with his mouth open and something in the back of his throat, way up high just at the roof of his mouth, burned like he'd swallowed something foul. At first he assumed it must be chemicals that didn't bother humans but were detrimental to him, as many of these places were near landfills or treatment plants. It was VERY unpleasant to him and he'd always left quickly, retreating back to the inner city areas.
Now Megamind knew they were scent markers. He hadn't noticed them until he was around fifteen so perhaps that was when he'd either gotten old enough to sense them, or that was when Metro Man had started putting them there. It even made sense they would be in those chemical-laden areas because those districts would naturally be in the outer areas of a city where people didn't normally want to live.
"How did he not know he was doing it?" Megamind mused aloud. He seriously doubted Metro Man was so dense that he wouldn't realize he was spreading scent on things. Megamind certainly didn't recall doing it himself; yet another blow to his ego, because often with territorial creatures there could be overlap between those of different hierarchies. But no, it didn't seem to Megamind as if his type of male had territories at all; he simply lived inside one, albeit with the clear right to his own private space within.
And THAT was the true reason for the mutually exclusive lairs. It must be. The more Megamind considered their behavior all their lives the more instinct he kept finding. So MANY of the rules of the game were them figuring out their natural behaviors and heeding them to mutual benefit.
They'd been dancing around outright flirting for decades whether they knew it or not.
And Megamind hadn't left.
This begged the question of how the scent was spread along the boundaries. The comical image of the Hero of Metrocity getting the sudden urge to pee on things on the edge of town was entertaining to say the least, if unlikely. Someone definitely would have gotten pictures of that and posted it online by now. There were an awful lot of pictures of Metro Man rearranging things in those areas, though. Perhaps it was his hands? That would certainly explain the hulking man's occasional habit of deciding to Feng Shui the hell out of a scrap or lumberyard without asking the owners. Nobody minded this because they assumed he was being randomly helpful or keeping mounds of stuff from collapsing – preventing disasters before they happened. He probably even believed that himself, rather than realize he was heeding an instinct to touch ALL the things in that area.
So… Megamind knew where the boundaries were now, roughly. He felt safer knowing this, as it meant he could avoid them if he got the sense Metro Man was going to enforce some sort of 'you-shall-not-pass' rule. Once again his human upbringing rubbed his ego raw over this, despite the fact that he wasn't intellectually bothered by it at all.
The main problem was that Megamind had no ability to fight it if he wanted to. Nearly any problem could be solved with logic and reasoning if one thought long enough, except a physical battle with Metro Man. This was something he could not counter because it hit him as purely a problem of physics and not one that could be reasoned with. You can't breathe rock, you can't change the past, you can't damage Metro Man. As far as his reaction to the scent itself went, how could he fight or logically explain away a feeling; a reflex? Anything would have been easier for him to deal with than this invisible taste of foreboding that circled the city and inevitably forced him to turn back, slinking back to the safety of his home – well within the boundary – like a kitten huddling under a porch from a storm.
He didn't feel endangered or trapped, it just felt belittling. Maybe their culture might have thought of it differently, regarding the boundary as a protective shield rather than a wire-top fence… but Megamind had begun to internalize the belief that he had always been in prison; he just hadn't known it. And that was mortifying when he considered the identity of his Warden.
He hadn't felt this helpless since he was too young and not yet developed enough to be stronger than the average human, back when every single person he passed that was his own size or larger could have overpowered him and he was dreadfully aware of how much words affected the violent and simple.
Everything he'd discovered pointed to a very real and inescapable fact; until otherwise tested (and he was very reluctant to test it, lest he be proven irrevocably correct) Megamind had no other option but to assume he belonged to Metro Man and there was nothing he could do about it – not without grave risk of consequences he could only guess at.
Megamind felt awkward and anxious about it all and didn't know how to cope. He needed to have SOME kind of power here, some tools to use to give himself more of a status than 'landlocked potential DNA distributer'.
Now perhaps he should test the 'whining' thing.
Could he really call Metro Man to him?
Did he want to attempt it?
What if it didn't work and he could only produce the sound when legitimately frightened or hurt? What if it DID work and he interrupted a rescue? Metro Man would likely be drawn away from a human in need to attend to one of his own species' calls. Without a damned good reason for using it, especially if he caused someone to get hurt by pulling the hero away, Megamind was positive the man would be furious with him; one of the very few things that he knew beyond a doubt would truly earn him the brute's anger was hurting one of his precious citizens if even by proxy.
Damn it, he'd have to time it carefully, then… or just do it in one of his sound-proofed lairs for practice first. Just to see if he could.
Sighing, Megamind looked back up at the screen. Dr. Mardling and Bernard had been talking to Metro Man for quite a long time now, pointing to things on the computer screen and gesturing emphatically and giving him pause to think. Megamind usually didn't use the audio – he rarely needed it if he was looking at the images. He could read lips and muse to himself at the same time thank you very much. Now, though, he wanted to hear the voices. Perhaps he'd be able to judge how Metro Man was reacting emotionally before the results of the conversation hit Megamind later at the end of a white-gloved fist.
He at least needed to know if the brute was angry, because that was never pleasant.
To maintain the illusion of control to himself at least, Megamind slammed his fist onto the volume control instead of merely pushing it because he didn't want to see his hand shaking.
"Thank you for telling me all this," Metro Man finally said after taking two coffees worth of time to mull it over. "And Megamind already knows?"
Dr. Mardling nodded. "He put the puzzle together long before I did. His moniker really is very accurate."
Metro Man pointedly looked to Bernard. "What kind of fit?"
Dr. Mardling winced, having really hoped he would have forgotten that bit.
"Mild panic attack," the other man said while pushing up his glasses. "Minion called to ask Vanessa what to do. Seems like he flipped right the fuck out."
Metro Man stood, setting his cup down on the table and speaking in an unreadable tone. "I'd better go and see how he's dealing, then."
The sudden disappearance from the screen could only have been achieved by the man using his Super Speed. Panicked, Megamind shoved himself away from the console and whipped around before he could stop himself. His first thought was that Metro Man was going to simply materialize behind him and put him in a hold, then refuse to release him until he did whatever the brute wanted just to gain freedom. It wouldn't have been the first time, though admittedly the first time in a long damned time, that particular interrogation tactic had been used. Idiot Jock Headlock had forced everything from homework assignments to gossip to the locations of hidden tools out of Megamind.
The empty lair seemed threateningly quiet with no Metro Man in sight and only seemed more foreboding with every passing second. What was taking him so long?! Had he been caught up in a rescue on the way?
Megamind turned in a full circle, waiting, eyes wide and tense and expecting at any instant to find himself immobilized. Minutes passed. Metro Man definitely should have been here by now. The longer the waiting went on the more Megamind wished he would just get it over with already.
"Where are you?" he asked apparent nothingness, hating the tremor in his voice.
A knock on the upper floor windows startled him so badly he leapt backward into the drafting table and hit his shoulder. Megamind rubbed the spot uncertainly as he stared at the shadowed figure, cape flapping heroically behind him.
"We need to talk."
"Do we?" Megamind sneered instantly, because he'd be damned if he was going to give in to an order like that. He flipped a switch that made lights on the outside of the warehouse turn on so he could see more than a shadow while he yelled at it. Metro Man didn't even have the decency to blink from the sudden brightness.
Metro Man frowned and put his hand on the glass. The confusion only lasted until those wandering blue eyes spotted the screens where Dr. Mardling and Bernard were clearing up after the meeting, then the man deflated a little. "Are you going to let me in?" he asked, carefully keeping his tone polite and not the pre-banter hero tone he'd used before.
"That depends; do you intend to break in anyway if I don't?"
"No-"
"I do NOT believe you!" Megamind admitted to himself he was panicking a little and antagonizing was probably not the BEST course of action at the moment. He was still angry over the last time Metro Man had come into his lair without permission, and asking permission NOW seemed far more like condescension than a polite request. It hadn't even occurred to Megamind that he would be given the option of refusing again once that rule had been broken; his lair had been invaded and it felt like a permanent arrangement.
Besides, Metro Man had been blundering his way into Megamind's business like a force of nature thus far, so why would he stop now?
"Please."
"Actions and words, old friend. Nice try. Still NO." When Metro Man frowned but didn't break in and instead seemed to be waiting for Megamind to make the next move, enough of the tension eased for the blue man to recognize the hero was actually trying to be respectful and not force his way in. He knew they were going to have to talk it out eventually and stalling due to something as minor as being startled at how fast the confrontation was happening would only prolong the torment. Megamind rubbed his neck and grumbled to himself for a moment before speaking again.
"We- we'll go somewhere else."
"In this weather? You'll be pretty miserable," Metro Man said.
Megamind huffed. "Not if I drive us in a heated vehicle. Do you just assume everyone wants you to carry them everywhere?"
"That is usually the case, yes," he admitted.
"Well I very much don't want you to carry me anywhere," Megamind lectured. "We will talk elsewhere, on neutral ground, and I am driving. Take it or leave it."
Metro Man almost answered. Then he frowned and nodded. "I'll wait by the gate, then. At least turn off the invisibility, okay?" He flew off, presumably to hover just outside the warehouse grounds.
Megamind was beyond grateful that Metro Man had listened. He had already figured out that inviting the territorial male into his private space deliberately was probably the equivalent to inviting him to stay for breakfast, and bring his toothbrush along too. That wasn't happening, at least not YET. While Megamind was willing to let the brute at least attempt to reach an acceptable compromise that would help them come to terms it still rankled him that, should they succeed forming a relationship in the future, some vapid twits would regard it as an inevitability and not a choice.
All evidence thus far pointed to his species very much being cognizant of consent and this was a mess he was choosing to delve into, damn it. This was not 50 Shades of Blue.
Megamind continued to grumble and took his sweet time getting ready to go out in what he was well aware was weather almost as evil as he was, hoping the whole time that Metro Man was looking in and listening to the foul things he was saying.
- 7
- 8
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