Fic: Cold Fusion, Chapter 3
Fanfic: Cold Fusion, Chapter 3
Author: Dal Niente
Rating: T
Word Count: 2,841
Chapter 3
The two of them fall into a routine astonishingly quickly. According to Minion, Megamind does not need anything but to be allowed to lie motionless until he wakes up, so Roxanne begins her week determined to ignore his unsettling presence as best she can.
Apparently, Megamind gave the brainbots some instructions before he lost consciousness, because the first thing Roxanne notices when she goes to the office on Tuesday morning is that there are droves of the yapping little machines traveling the streets. Where the traffic lights have been destroyed, brainbots hover in midair, stacked three deep, holding up glowing discs of red, yellow, and green in perfect formation. In a couple of places, they are busily installing new traffic lights. Others are clearing rubble from streets and sidewalks. A shadow passing over her car makes her look up to see more of them carrying I-beams in the direction of the Bay Bridge, and few minutes later, an immense concrete circle flies by, and Roxanne realizes they are rebuilding Metro Tower. Curious, she takes a detour, and discovers that the ruins of the tower that had nearly killed Minion are almost gone. Anything salvageable is being put to use in the construction of the new tower.
When she arrives at the news station, brainbots are replacing the windows while her nervous co-workers look on. Roxanne heads to her cubicle, taking advantage of her coworkers’ distraction to avoid being noticed and questioned. One of the older models of brainbot, the ones that look kind of like armadillos, is already there, lying under the small full-spectrum lamp she keeps on her desk. “Hey,” she says, surprised, and the movable ‘eye’ flickers to life and turns towards her.
“Yeah, sorry about that thing.” Jo, the girl at the next cubicle in the row, is peering over the top of their divider. “It just showed up, turned on your light, and wouldn’t leave.”
Roxanne is actually kind of happy to see the little bot. She recognizes the glowing markings and robotic tail; this is the one she’s always called Nibs. It and a host of others had been assigned to her security at one point, not that they had helped much when Metro Man showed up. “Hey, Nibs,” she says again, and reaches out to rub its dome as she falls into her chair. Nibs whirs under her hand like a hard drive spinning to life. The tail thumps against the desk.
“Nibs?” Jo echoes faintly, blinking.
Roxanne nods and turns on her computer. “Yeah. I’m surprised this little guy is still operational, most of his model were destroyed a few years ago when Megamind’s Superstorm Generator failed. The older models didn’t react well with the lightning.” She grins up at Jo’s shocked face. “If I’d told Megamind once, I had told him a thousand times, surge protectors, but would he listen…?” She shakes her head and runs her fingers over the diodes under Nibs’ chin, and Jo gives a little scream when the bot yaps and flings itself into Roxanne’s lap.
Roxanne laughs. “Fully charged now, are we?” Thaum thaum thaum, says Nibs, and plugs itself into her computer. “Hey,” she exclaims. “Where’d you get the flash drive?”
The cursor moves on her screen, opens a blank .txt document.
Brainbot Model 6.3, Designation: 77
Serial No. 236AR904D
Alternate: “_Nibs”
Hardware USB 2.0
Added 11.21.2010
Software installed 11.21.2010
Roxanne grins. “Was that Megamind’s idea, or Minion’s?”
Nibs whirs for a minute. Insufficient data to generate response.
“Either way, color me impressed.” And she is, really. She hadn’t expected Megamind to make the brainbots compatible with regular hardware.
Input: _FLATTERY
InputSource: =RRitchi
Output: “_gratitude”
Jo has come to stand behind Roxanne, staring at her computer. “It talks?”
“It’s programmed to answer complex questions,” Roxanne says absently. She drums her fingers on the desk for a moment, chewing her lip, before she finally decides that she might as well go ahead and ask. “Nibs, can you give me Megamind’s medical files? I want to know how much damage Hal might have caused.”
Input: Locate: BioInfo
NameOf: Daddy
Ref: “_MetroManOffense” OR “_RRitchiDefense” OR “_RRitchiOffense”
CrossRef: “_BluntForceTrauma” AND “Sub_01” OR “Sub_02” OR “Sub_03” OR “Sub_04”
CrossRef: “_StructuralIntegrity” AND “Sub_01” OR “Sub_02” OR “Sub_03” OR “Sub_04”
Sub_01: “_Skeletal”
Sub_02: “_Dermal”
Sub_03: “_Vascular”
Sub_04: “_Neural”
Jo watches the brainbot putter. “What are you doing?” she asks quietly, and Roxanne jumps.
“Nothing,” she replies, more sharply than she had meant to.
AuthorizationCode?
She frowns. She probably ought to have expected this. “Nibs, I don’t have an authorization code.”
Access to desired information contingent upon AuthorizationCode. AuthorizationCode?
“Can I override it?” she asks hopefully.
Override_AuthorizationCode: AuthorizationCode?
“Yes.”
Input _YES
InputSource: =RRitchi
Invalid AuthorizationCode.
Override_AuthorizationCode: AuthorizationCode?
Roxanne bites down a strangled scream of frustration. “Nibs, please.”
Input: _PLEASE
InputSource: =RRitchi
Output: “_apology”
It doesn’t matter, really. Minion will have all the information Roxanne wants. She sighs, and says, “That’s all right, Nibs. Thanks anyway.”
She pinches the bridge of her nose and closes her eyes for a minute. There’s a difference between asking Minion and having tangible information in front of her, but it doesn’t look like that’s going to be an option.
Jo clears her throat. “Um. Roxanne?”
“Yeah.”
“It’s still talking to you,” Jo says, pointing, and Roxanne lifts her head.
Output: “_reason.for.request”
Tone: query
Tone_2: polite
She laughs a little. “It’s okay, Nibs, really. I’m just interested.”
Output: _reporting.capacity= “_negative”
Tone: query
“Yes, it’s…” She hesitates. Well, the truth will out eventually. “It’s a personal concern.”
Input: _PERSONAL_CONCERN
InputSource: =RRitchi
Output: “_consolation”
Output_2: “_there.there”
Jo laughs shakily. “Well, if that isn’t the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen. A supervillain programming his robotic army to be nice.”
Roxanne has to smile at that. She forgets, sometimes, that she’s really the only person other than Megamind himself who understands the brainbots. “That’s all Nibs, actually. Try telling it you’re concerned.” Jo looks dubious, but obeys. Nibs whirs for a moment.
Input: _PERSONAL_CONCERN
InputSource: =unfamiliar
Output: “_who.are.you”
Tone: rhetorical_question
Output_2: “_piss.off”
Tone: request
Jo’s eyebrows disappear under her bangs.
“The brainbots are amazing,” Roxanne tells her, looking at Nibs. “Some of the newer ones even have decision-making capabilities. If Nibs were current, I might be able to persuade it to give me the information I want.”
Jo regards her curiously for a minute. Roxanne’s tone is one of respect, and that’s something Jo hadn’t expected at all. “Why do you want to know Megamind’s medical details?” she asks, and Roxanne winces.
“Well, you know. I’m. Worried, that’s all,” she says, and Jo’s eyebrows creep even higher. Before either of them can say anything more, Nibs beeps, and they look down.
Input: _WORRIED
InputSource: =RRitchi
Output: “_worried.re.daddy?”
Tone: query
Roxanne hesitates. The last thing she wants to do is admit to a coworker that she is worried about Megamind.
Output: “_vocalize.response.re.previous.output”
Tone: command
“Is it…is it trying to give you orders?” Jo is aghast.
“Looks that way,” Roxanne says slowly, eyes narrowing. Years of experience have taught her that the brainbots never do anything without a reason.
“What happens if you don’t do what it says?”
Roxanne shrugs. “Let’s find out.” And before Jo can stop her, she says clearly, “Nibs - No.”
Input: _NO
InputSource: =RRitchi
Output: “_please”
Tone: urgent
Roxanne frowns, and Jo bites her lip. “Roxanne, I think you’d better say yes.”
Roxanne turns back to Nibs. “Okay, Nibs. Input re. previous output: Yes.”
Input: _YES
Re: _worried.re.daddy
InputSource: =RRitchi
Command: _load_autosave:_RoxanneDictation06072010.23:57?sourcecode=classified
AuthorizationCode? “_YES ”=_re:_worried.re.daddy&?sourceid=RRitchi
AuthorizationCode: =TRUE
=run_command_prompt_003591.A
=_load_autosave:_RoxanneDictation06072010.23:57&?sourcecode=authorized
{
Roxanne,
I told Nibs to meet you at your office. Sending him to your home didn’t seem like a good idea. This is just to let you know that I’ll be keeping my head down for a bit, but I haven’t run off and I’ll probably turn up eventually. If you’re worried, which you won’t be, but in case you are, don’t. I’ll be fine. Hopefully, you are also fine. None of my business, I know, but I hope you’re okay. I instructed a few of the brainbots to keep an eye on you. I should have asked you, but there isn’t time. The override is 008921RR09 if you want it. Tell Nibs. He’ll let the others know.
I’m sorry.
}
Roxanne’s almost glaring at the screen, and she isn’t quite sure when or how that happened, but she wants to cry. She knows Megamind pretty well, and she can imagine him sitting in the sterile detox chamber, dictating a disjointed memo to Nibs, keying it to her concern so that she can only access it if she’s worried about him because he doesn’t want to overstep his bounds a second time. I should have asked you, but there isn’t time. The note was autosaved yesterday at three minutes to midnight, probably just before he lost consciousness.
She remembers Megamind lying still and pale on her bed, and Minion’s frantic circling, and a city bus and a flash of light and a cry of pain, and she reads the note again. I’ll probably turn up eventually, and that’s all it takes for the tears to spill over. It’s too much, in too short a time, on too little sleep.
Probably.
Roxanne sniffs, swears, rubs her eyes, then jumps when Jo wraps an arm around her shoulders. “Hey. Hey, it’s okay. What’s wrong? C’mere.”
Roxanne can only shake her head. “Bathroom,” she manages, and Jo nods and follows her.
Once they’re away from the rest of the office, Jo turns Roxanne around to face her and hands her a roll of toilet paper, her round face the picture of concern. “Roxie, tell me what’s wrong.”
Roxanne manages a damp smile. She really isn’t crying that hard, she’s just worried and nervous and nothing is certain, and Megamind’s note put her over the edge for a moment. “I’m really okay. It’s just a lot to take in, that’s all.” She blows her nose.
“What is?” Jo peers at her. “You’re scaring me, hon. You’re not the emotional type.”
Roxanne starts to answer, then stops. Jo is a reporter.
But she’s also one of Roxanne’s closest friends and she won’t stop worrying unless she has a satisfactory answer. And Roxanne trusts her. She needs to trust somebody.
So she lets out a shuddery breath. “This stays between us, okay?”
“You got it.”
She nods, sniffs, opens her mouth, closes it again. She does not want to say it. Saying it will make it true. But she is an adult, with a job, with responsibilities, and hiding behind superstition is just childish, so she grits her teeth and says, “Remember how I told you that I was with Bernard?” Jo nods, confused. “He’s in a kind of coma. I’m not sure if he’ll recover.”
“Oh, no,” Jo says, horrified. It is the expected response to such information, but from Jo it is sincere. “Oh, Roxie, that’s awful. I know how much you liked him.”
“There’s more,” Roxanne tells her, and takes a deep breath, grimaces, and lets it out in a rush. “Bernard is Megamind in disguise.”
Jo’s sympathetic exclamations cut off abruptly and her eyes go wide. “What?”
“It was my fault, really.” Roxanne cannot seem to stop talking, now, and she registers that she may be freaking out just a little. “I gave him the idea for Titan when he said reset buttons were impossible, and then I broke into his lair and he only wanted me to leave without touching anything or breaking anything and he saved me from the alligators, and then I told Hal that Bernard was my partner and I don’t think Bernard quite knew what to do with that, and then I told Ber - Megamind that I’d call him tomorrow and he said sure, okay, and then we were working together trying to figure out Megamind’s latest evil plan only we were sort of dating at the same time, and -”
“Roxie.” Jo gives her shoulders a little shake. Her face is pale. “Roxanne, honey. Breathe. It’s okay, everything’s gonna be okay, did he hurt you? Did he, God, did he touch you?”
“No.” Roxanne had wondered, that night, how far he would have taken it, and she’d managed to convince herself that he would have gone as far as he wanted, but that isn’t true and she knows it. “No, he wouldn’t, he would never. He wouldn’t hurt me.”
“Only this is Megamind we’re talking about, isn’t it, not Bernard?”
“That’s just it, they’re the same person,” Roxanne exclaims. “Bernard is…everything Megamind can’t let himself be in front of people.” When Jo still looks doubtful, Roxanne sighs and forces herself to calm down. “Jo, how many years have I been getting kidnapped?”
“Almost ten?”
“Yeah. And how many times has Megamind actually carried through and hurt me? Even when Metro Man was late?” Jo frowns. “He hasn’t. Not once.”
Jo shakes her head. “There was that time a couple years back when he broke your arm. He tore you up pretty badly, as I recall.”
Roxanne closes her eyes. She remembers that, and she remembers the news report that had aired afterwards. “Megamind didn’t break my arm. An energy beam ricocheted, and it hit Metro Man, and he dropped me. It was an accident. And I would have broken a lot more than my wrist if Megamind’s brainbots hadn’t caught me,” she adds, patting Nibs. “It’s not the brainbots’ fault, either. They’re just sharp.”
Jo stares at her. “But the news said-”
“I was in the hospital afterwards. I didn’t write that report, I didn’t have any input at all, and by the time anybody would listen to me, it was too late. I could have broken my neck, you know.”
Jo doesn’t quite know where to go with this information. She leans against a sink, arms crossed over her chest, frowning. “Huh.”
Roxanne just nods.
Jo is quiet for a minute. “When’d Bernard tell you who he really was?”
“He didn’t.” Roxanne hunches a little as she remembers the scene at the restaurant. “I found out.”
“Ah.” There is another long, stretching pause while Jo thinks, tapping a finger against her lips. “All right, I think I get it. Roxie, honey,” she says, and laughs a little, “it’s okay to be worried. And it’s okay to be confused. You’re scared, you don’t know if you can trust him, you want to trust him and you think you can because the two of you go way back and you’ve gotten the chance to see who he really is, but now you’ll never know if he would have told you the truth eventually.”
Roxanne stares at Jo. “That’s…how did you…”
Jo laughs again. “I read too many bad novels, and I know you too well. You said Minion brought him to you? Where is he now, Metro Hospital?”
Roxanne shakes her head. “No, he’s…in hiding, like he said. Keeping his head down. I don’t want to say where. You understand.”
Jo’s lips quirk into a little smile. “Of course I do. Just try not to worry too much, all right? If this is a natural biological process for him, he should be fine. And he said he’d turn up eventually.”
“Probably,” Roxanne says. “He said he’d probably turn up.”
Jo fumbles for a minute, then says firmly, “Well, you’ve done what you can. Worrying won’t help anything, so come on. We’ve got a lot of work to do, and it’ll be a good distraction for you,” and leads Roxanne back to their desks.
Jo is right, work is a good distraction. It’s familiar, and comfortable, and after a few emails and follow-ups and chance encounters with other coworkers, Roxanne is back in her element. She calls the usual people on the assumption that she is still the city’s resident authority on the hero’s whereabouts (never mind that his “hero” status is still being debated by a lot of confused citizens). At this point, other reporters and news stations have stopped questioning Roxanne Ritchi’s sources, so when she tells them that Megamind is at a secure location and out of commission for the foreseeable future, nobody argues. A few even express concern regarding his well-being, and she makes sure to laugh and assure them that no, everything will be fine, he just needs time. By the end of the day, she is in much better spirits.
“Hey,” Jo calls over their wall when she hears Roxanne’s computer shutting down, “you wanna go someplace for dinner? Get out for a while, maybe meet some new people?”
Roxanne hesitates. Going out would be nice, but she wants to go home more. God only knows what Minion has been up to while she’s been away, and what if Megamind’s condition has worsened? “No,” she says, “but thanks. I just want to get home and get some sleep. I was up kind of late last night.”
Jo laughs. “I bet you were. Okay, honey. Drive safe, and if you need anything, call me. Doesn’t matter what time.”
“Thanks,” Roxanne says again, and reaches for her keys. Nibs follows her to her car.
Chapter 2
Chapter 4
Author: Dal Niente
Rating: T
Word Count: 2,841
Chapter 3
The two of them fall into a routine astonishingly quickly. According to Minion, Megamind does not need anything but to be allowed to lie motionless until he wakes up, so Roxanne begins her week determined to ignore his unsettling presence as best she can.
Apparently, Megamind gave the brainbots some instructions before he lost consciousness, because the first thing Roxanne notices when she goes to the office on Tuesday morning is that there are droves of the yapping little machines traveling the streets. Where the traffic lights have been destroyed, brainbots hover in midair, stacked three deep, holding up glowing discs of red, yellow, and green in perfect formation. In a couple of places, they are busily installing new traffic lights. Others are clearing rubble from streets and sidewalks. A shadow passing over her car makes her look up to see more of them carrying I-beams in the direction of the Bay Bridge, and few minutes later, an immense concrete circle flies by, and Roxanne realizes they are rebuilding Metro Tower. Curious, she takes a detour, and discovers that the ruins of the tower that had nearly killed Minion are almost gone. Anything salvageable is being put to use in the construction of the new tower.
When she arrives at the news station, brainbots are replacing the windows while her nervous co-workers look on. Roxanne heads to her cubicle, taking advantage of her coworkers’ distraction to avoid being noticed and questioned. One of the older models of brainbot, the ones that look kind of like armadillos, is already there, lying under the small full-spectrum lamp she keeps on her desk. “Hey,” she says, surprised, and the movable ‘eye’ flickers to life and turns towards her.
“Yeah, sorry about that thing.” Jo, the girl at the next cubicle in the row, is peering over the top of their divider. “It just showed up, turned on your light, and wouldn’t leave.”
Roxanne is actually kind of happy to see the little bot. She recognizes the glowing markings and robotic tail; this is the one she’s always called Nibs. It and a host of others had been assigned to her security at one point, not that they had helped much when Metro Man showed up. “Hey, Nibs,” she says again, and reaches out to rub its dome as she falls into her chair. Nibs whirs under her hand like a hard drive spinning to life. The tail thumps against the desk.
“Nibs?” Jo echoes faintly, blinking.
Roxanne nods and turns on her computer. “Yeah. I’m surprised this little guy is still operational, most of his model were destroyed a few years ago when Megamind’s Superstorm Generator failed. The older models didn’t react well with the lightning.” She grins up at Jo’s shocked face. “If I’d told Megamind once, I had told him a thousand times, surge protectors, but would he listen…?” She shakes her head and runs her fingers over the diodes under Nibs’ chin, and Jo gives a little scream when the bot yaps and flings itself into Roxanne’s lap.
Roxanne laughs. “Fully charged now, are we?” Thaum thaum thaum, says Nibs, and plugs itself into her computer. “Hey,” she exclaims. “Where’d you get the flash drive?”
The cursor moves on her screen, opens a blank .txt document.
Brainbot Model 6.3, Designation: 77
Serial No. 236AR904D
Alternate: “_Nibs”
Hardware USB 2.0
Added 11.21.2010
Software installed 11.21.2010
Roxanne grins. “Was that Megamind’s idea, or Minion’s?”
Nibs whirs for a minute. Insufficient data to generate response.
“Either way, color me impressed.” And she is, really. She hadn’t expected Megamind to make the brainbots compatible with regular hardware.
Input: _FLATTERY
InputSource: =RRitchi
Output: “_gratitude”
Jo has come to stand behind Roxanne, staring at her computer. “It talks?”
“It’s programmed to answer complex questions,” Roxanne says absently. She drums her fingers on the desk for a moment, chewing her lip, before she finally decides that she might as well go ahead and ask. “Nibs, can you give me Megamind’s medical files? I want to know how much damage Hal might have caused.”
Input: Locate: BioInfo
NameOf: Daddy
Ref: “_MetroManOffense” OR “_RRitchiDefense” OR “_RRitchiOffense”
CrossRef: “_BluntForceTrauma” AND “Sub_01” OR “Sub_02” OR “Sub_03” OR “Sub_04”
CrossRef: “_StructuralIntegrity” AND “Sub_01” OR “Sub_02” OR “Sub_03” OR “Sub_04”
Sub_01: “_Skeletal”
Sub_02: “_Dermal”
Sub_03: “_Vascular”
Sub_04: “_Neural”
Jo watches the brainbot putter. “What are you doing?” she asks quietly, and Roxanne jumps.
“Nothing,” she replies, more sharply than she had meant to.
AuthorizationCode?
She frowns. She probably ought to have expected this. “Nibs, I don’t have an authorization code.”
Access to desired information contingent upon AuthorizationCode. AuthorizationCode?
“Can I override it?” she asks hopefully.
Override_AuthorizationCode: AuthorizationCode?
“Yes.”
Input _YES
InputSource: =RRitchi
Invalid AuthorizationCode.
Override_AuthorizationCode: AuthorizationCode?
Roxanne bites down a strangled scream of frustration. “Nibs, please.”
Input: _PLEASE
InputSource: =RRitchi
Output: “_apology”
It doesn’t matter, really. Minion will have all the information Roxanne wants. She sighs, and says, “That’s all right, Nibs. Thanks anyway.”
She pinches the bridge of her nose and closes her eyes for a minute. There’s a difference between asking Minion and having tangible information in front of her, but it doesn’t look like that’s going to be an option.
Jo clears her throat. “Um. Roxanne?”
“Yeah.”
“It’s still talking to you,” Jo says, pointing, and Roxanne lifts her head.
Output: “_reason.for.request”
Tone: query
Tone_2: polite
She laughs a little. “It’s okay, Nibs, really. I’m just interested.”
Output: _reporting.capacity= “_negative”
Tone: query
“Yes, it’s…” She hesitates. Well, the truth will out eventually. “It’s a personal concern.”
Input: _PERSONAL_CONCERN
InputSource: =RRitchi
Output: “_consolation”
Output_2: “_there.there”
Jo laughs shakily. “Well, if that isn’t the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen. A supervillain programming his robotic army to be nice.”
Roxanne has to smile at that. She forgets, sometimes, that she’s really the only person other than Megamind himself who understands the brainbots. “That’s all Nibs, actually. Try telling it you’re concerned.” Jo looks dubious, but obeys. Nibs whirs for a moment.
Input: _PERSONAL_CONCERN
InputSource: =unfamiliar
Output: “_who.are.you”
Tone: rhetorical_question
Output_2: “_piss.off”
Tone: request
Jo’s eyebrows disappear under her bangs.
“The brainbots are amazing,” Roxanne tells her, looking at Nibs. “Some of the newer ones even have decision-making capabilities. If Nibs were current, I might be able to persuade it to give me the information I want.”
Jo regards her curiously for a minute. Roxanne’s tone is one of respect, and that’s something Jo hadn’t expected at all. “Why do you want to know Megamind’s medical details?” she asks, and Roxanne winces.
“Well, you know. I’m. Worried, that’s all,” she says, and Jo’s eyebrows creep even higher. Before either of them can say anything more, Nibs beeps, and they look down.
Input: _WORRIED
InputSource: =RRitchi
Output: “_worried.re.daddy?”
Tone: query
Roxanne hesitates. The last thing she wants to do is admit to a coworker that she is worried about Megamind.
Output: “_vocalize.response.re.previous.output”
Tone: command
“Is it…is it trying to give you orders?” Jo is aghast.
“Looks that way,” Roxanne says slowly, eyes narrowing. Years of experience have taught her that the brainbots never do anything without a reason.
“What happens if you don’t do what it says?”
Roxanne shrugs. “Let’s find out.” And before Jo can stop her, she says clearly, “Nibs - No.”
Input: _NO
InputSource: =RRitchi
Output: “_please”
Tone: urgent
Roxanne frowns, and Jo bites her lip. “Roxanne, I think you’d better say yes.”
Roxanne turns back to Nibs. “Okay, Nibs. Input re. previous output: Yes.”
Input: _YES
Re: _worried.re.daddy
InputSource: =RRitchi
Command: _load_autosave:_RoxanneDictation06072010.23:57?sourcecode=classified
AuthorizationCode? “_YES ”=_re:_worried.re.daddy&?sourceid=RRitchi
AuthorizationCode: =TRUE
=run_command_prompt_003591.A
=_load_autosave:_RoxanneDictation06072010.23:57&?sourcecode=authorized
{
Roxanne,
I told Nibs to meet you at your office. Sending him to your home didn’t seem like a good idea. This is just to let you know that I’ll be keeping my head down for a bit, but I haven’t run off and I’ll probably turn up eventually. If you’re worried, which you won’t be, but in case you are, don’t. I’ll be fine. Hopefully, you are also fine. None of my business, I know, but I hope you’re okay. I instructed a few of the brainbots to keep an eye on you. I should have asked you, but there isn’t time. The override is 008921RR09 if you want it. Tell Nibs. He’ll let the others know.
I’m sorry.
}
Roxanne’s almost glaring at the screen, and she isn’t quite sure when or how that happened, but she wants to cry. She knows Megamind pretty well, and she can imagine him sitting in the sterile detox chamber, dictating a disjointed memo to Nibs, keying it to her concern so that she can only access it if she’s worried about him because he doesn’t want to overstep his bounds a second time. I should have asked you, but there isn’t time. The note was autosaved yesterday at three minutes to midnight, probably just before he lost consciousness.
She remembers Megamind lying still and pale on her bed, and Minion’s frantic circling, and a city bus and a flash of light and a cry of pain, and she reads the note again. I’ll probably turn up eventually, and that’s all it takes for the tears to spill over. It’s too much, in too short a time, on too little sleep.
Probably.
Roxanne sniffs, swears, rubs her eyes, then jumps when Jo wraps an arm around her shoulders. “Hey. Hey, it’s okay. What’s wrong? C’mere.”
Roxanne can only shake her head. “Bathroom,” she manages, and Jo nods and follows her.
Once they’re away from the rest of the office, Jo turns Roxanne around to face her and hands her a roll of toilet paper, her round face the picture of concern. “Roxie, tell me what’s wrong.”
Roxanne manages a damp smile. She really isn’t crying that hard, she’s just worried and nervous and nothing is certain, and Megamind’s note put her over the edge for a moment. “I’m really okay. It’s just a lot to take in, that’s all.” She blows her nose.
“What is?” Jo peers at her. “You’re scaring me, hon. You’re not the emotional type.”
Roxanne starts to answer, then stops. Jo is a reporter.
But she’s also one of Roxanne’s closest friends and she won’t stop worrying unless she has a satisfactory answer. And Roxanne trusts her. She needs to trust somebody.
So she lets out a shuddery breath. “This stays between us, okay?”
“You got it.”
She nods, sniffs, opens her mouth, closes it again. She does not want to say it. Saying it will make it true. But she is an adult, with a job, with responsibilities, and hiding behind superstition is just childish, so she grits her teeth and says, “Remember how I told you that I was with Bernard?” Jo nods, confused. “He’s in a kind of coma. I’m not sure if he’ll recover.”
“Oh, no,” Jo says, horrified. It is the expected response to such information, but from Jo it is sincere. “Oh, Roxie, that’s awful. I know how much you liked him.”
“There’s more,” Roxanne tells her, and takes a deep breath, grimaces, and lets it out in a rush. “Bernard is Megamind in disguise.”
Jo’s sympathetic exclamations cut off abruptly and her eyes go wide. “What?”
“It was my fault, really.” Roxanne cannot seem to stop talking, now, and she registers that she may be freaking out just a little. “I gave him the idea for Titan when he said reset buttons were impossible, and then I broke into his lair and he only wanted me to leave without touching anything or breaking anything and he saved me from the alligators, and then I told Hal that Bernard was my partner and I don’t think Bernard quite knew what to do with that, and then I told Ber - Megamind that I’d call him tomorrow and he said sure, okay, and then we were working together trying to figure out Megamind’s latest evil plan only we were sort of dating at the same time, and -”
“Roxie.” Jo gives her shoulders a little shake. Her face is pale. “Roxanne, honey. Breathe. It’s okay, everything’s gonna be okay, did he hurt you? Did he, God, did he touch you?”
“No.” Roxanne had wondered, that night, how far he would have taken it, and she’d managed to convince herself that he would have gone as far as he wanted, but that isn’t true and she knows it. “No, he wouldn’t, he would never. He wouldn’t hurt me.”
“Only this is Megamind we’re talking about, isn’t it, not Bernard?”
“That’s just it, they’re the same person,” Roxanne exclaims. “Bernard is…everything Megamind can’t let himself be in front of people.” When Jo still looks doubtful, Roxanne sighs and forces herself to calm down. “Jo, how many years have I been getting kidnapped?”
“Almost ten?”
“Yeah. And how many times has Megamind actually carried through and hurt me? Even when Metro Man was late?” Jo frowns. “He hasn’t. Not once.”
Jo shakes her head. “There was that time a couple years back when he broke your arm. He tore you up pretty badly, as I recall.”
Roxanne closes her eyes. She remembers that, and she remembers the news report that had aired afterwards. “Megamind didn’t break my arm. An energy beam ricocheted, and it hit Metro Man, and he dropped me. It was an accident. And I would have broken a lot more than my wrist if Megamind’s brainbots hadn’t caught me,” she adds, patting Nibs. “It’s not the brainbots’ fault, either. They’re just sharp.”
Jo stares at her. “But the news said-”
“I was in the hospital afterwards. I didn’t write that report, I didn’t have any input at all, and by the time anybody would listen to me, it was too late. I could have broken my neck, you know.”
Jo doesn’t quite know where to go with this information. She leans against a sink, arms crossed over her chest, frowning. “Huh.”
Roxanne just nods.
Jo is quiet for a minute. “When’d Bernard tell you who he really was?”
“He didn’t.” Roxanne hunches a little as she remembers the scene at the restaurant. “I found out.”
“Ah.” There is another long, stretching pause while Jo thinks, tapping a finger against her lips. “All right, I think I get it. Roxie, honey,” she says, and laughs a little, “it’s okay to be worried. And it’s okay to be confused. You’re scared, you don’t know if you can trust him, you want to trust him and you think you can because the two of you go way back and you’ve gotten the chance to see who he really is, but now you’ll never know if he would have told you the truth eventually.”
Roxanne stares at Jo. “That’s…how did you…”
Jo laughs again. “I read too many bad novels, and I know you too well. You said Minion brought him to you? Where is he now, Metro Hospital?”
Roxanne shakes her head. “No, he’s…in hiding, like he said. Keeping his head down. I don’t want to say where. You understand.”
Jo’s lips quirk into a little smile. “Of course I do. Just try not to worry too much, all right? If this is a natural biological process for him, he should be fine. And he said he’d turn up eventually.”
“Probably,” Roxanne says. “He said he’d probably turn up.”
Jo fumbles for a minute, then says firmly, “Well, you’ve done what you can. Worrying won’t help anything, so come on. We’ve got a lot of work to do, and it’ll be a good distraction for you,” and leads Roxanne back to their desks.
Jo is right, work is a good distraction. It’s familiar, and comfortable, and after a few emails and follow-ups and chance encounters with other coworkers, Roxanne is back in her element. She calls the usual people on the assumption that she is still the city’s resident authority on the hero’s whereabouts (never mind that his “hero” status is still being debated by a lot of confused citizens). At this point, other reporters and news stations have stopped questioning Roxanne Ritchi’s sources, so when she tells them that Megamind is at a secure location and out of commission for the foreseeable future, nobody argues. A few even express concern regarding his well-being, and she makes sure to laugh and assure them that no, everything will be fine, he just needs time. By the end of the day, she is in much better spirits.
“Hey,” Jo calls over their wall when she hears Roxanne’s computer shutting down, “you wanna go someplace for dinner? Get out for a while, maybe meet some new people?”
Roxanne hesitates. Going out would be nice, but she wants to go home more. God only knows what Minion has been up to while she’s been away, and what if Megamind’s condition has worsened? “No,” she says, “but thanks. I just want to get home and get some sleep. I was up kind of late last night.”
Jo laughs. “I bet you were. Okay, honey. Drive safe, and if you need anything, call me. Doesn’t matter what time.”
“Thanks,” Roxanne says again, and reaches for her keys. Nibs follows her to her car.
Chapter 2
Chapter 4