Cold Fusion: Twelve Days, Ch 3 (Part 2)
Thornton, Colorado
3:50 PM EST
1:50 PM MST
They switch drivers and top off the tank just outside Denver, and Roxanne slips into the driver's seat. Megamind pushes his nose against the window, eyeing the snow-covered mountains plunging up behind the skyline. "Whoa."
"They're pretty high, yeah."
"Are there bears?"
She snorts. "What is it with you and bears?"
"They're big and scary!" he exclaims. "I don't think I could take on a bear if one attacked us. I packed the de-gun in my suitcase."
"They're not going to attack us. They're asleep. I told you that yesterday." She smirks at him and decides to have a little fun. "You should be more worried about mountain lions."
He actually goes a little bit pale. "I forgot about those."
She hums happily. "They're active all year rou-ound…"
"Sing-song voice isn't helpingggg…"
A tiny Prius swings in front of her, and she has to stomp on the brake. "Shit!"
"Argh!" Megamind yips, then shudders and hisses at the car in front of them. "I do not like not driving in the city! Don't get me wrong, I trust your driving, but if we get in an accident I want to know it was my fault."
She pats him on the knee. "You're just a control freak, sweetie."
"Well yeah," he grumbles, clamping his arms over his chest and aiming his best supervillain glare at the Prius. "You don't become the de facto King of Metrocity without developing some control issues, come on. Use your turn signals, you-!" There follows quite a lot of what Roxanne suspects is profanity, but she's not sure in what language.
She changes lanes. "You don't really see yourself as King of Metro City, do you?"
"Well. I mean." He shifts uncomfortably in his seat and composes himself. "Maybe not king, but I'm the one who keeps the city safe. I'm the one who sorts out the disputes between Lancaster and York. I'm the one the police call when they're out of their depth. I'm the one people contact when they can't get funding for their projects and whatnot. I'm the one who fixes the crap that goes wrong. And what's worse, people come to me when they think I can help them." He rolls his eyes at her. "Every time some new debate starts up, the first question people ask is, what's Megamind think about it?"
He's right about that one. It's to the point that he's started wearing Pavel even when he doesn't need to, just to avoid scrutiny. "You're a celebrity, hon. They like you."
"They don't like me," he says, "they just don't cower when I walk past anymore. They're still wary of me, though, and I'd like to keep that going for as long as I can. I can still tell them to back off and they'll listen. Remember the Italian joint?"
Roxanne had been conducting an interview with him over lunch-it's one of the only ways they're able to go out together in public without people catching on-when one of the reporters from the Metro Times had spotted him and come over with his notepad in hand, asking all kinds of blanket questions about issues in the sciences, animal testing, human rights activism, and so on and so forth. Megamind had ignored him and signaled for Roxanne to do the same, but when the man hadn't taken the hint, he'd turned and said, very clearly, "Get out of my face." People nearby had put down their forks while Roxanne looked the other way, trying not to laugh.
"Right, yes, this'll only be another second, if you could just give me your thoughts on the late Lord Scott's company, which is currently under investigation for human rights violations-"
Megamind had him by the tie before he could blink, one hand on the thin end and the other on the knot, dragging the horking reporter down towards the table. "I said get out of my face."
"S-sorry to have disturbed you." Wheezing, the man had stumbled away.
"Human rights violations," Megamind had scoffed, turning back to Roxanne. "I never heard such malarkey. Scott has always been perfectly up to code."
She snorts at the memory. "I do remember that," she replies. "I half expected you to pull some kind of 'kneel before Zod' stunt; he was certainly heading in that direction."
Megamind grins at her. "I will admit that the thought crossed my mind. There's nowhere you can go but down when somebody's got you by the throat like that-I love ties, they're so useful-and let's face it, I'm almost a textbook Superman villain."
"You, my dear, are evil."
"You love it."
The rest of the city driving passes without incident, and as soon as they're headed up into the mountain, Megamind has his nose against the window.
"Looking for lions?" Roxanne says slyly, and he turns just long enough to cast her a dirty look.
"I have reached the conclusion that you were only trying to scare me," he declares, "and I shall take this opportunity to inform you that your attempt was completely unsuccessful and you ought not to try again." Then he resumes his as-close-as-inhumanly-possible scrutiny of the passing landscape.
"Uh-huh. Ready to tell me where we're going?"
He's glad he's staring out the window so she can't see his silly grin. "Not even a little bit."
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Glenwood Springs, Colorado
7:10 PM EST
5:10 PM MST
"You're going to want to take this next exit."
She gives him a strange look. "Glenwood Springs?" It's late afternoon, so this is almost certainly where they're going to be staying for the night, but that will leave them with eighteen more hours of driving tomorrow.
He scowls at her. "Just get on 82, would you?" he says, and follows these terse directions with an even terser sequence of "Turn right here"s, so close together that Roxanne has to start laughing.
"Turn right, turn right, turn right again, and then just before you disappear up your own rear end, you get there. Is that it?"
Megamind doesn't get the joke and simply looks puzzled. "Actually, it's about five more miles down the road. And then we have to turn right again."
Roxanne peers dubiously at the road ahead. It appears to lead into the wilderness. Scrubby bushes rise on a steep slope one side; fields of snow sprawl behind dark pines on the other. "Admit it, you're bringing me out here to kill me."
He snorts. "Yes, this has all been part of an elaborate plan to feed you to a pride of mountain lions."
"Joke's on you; mountain lions don't travel in prides. They hunt alone."
He pokes her. "Oh, just-shut up and drive."
"I can't. I don't know where I'm going."
Megamind dissolves into helpless laughter. "Oh, ffff…fractals. We have been in this car way too long."
"Are we close?" she asks. The scenery out here is rather pretty, but Megamind isn't the only one about to go into exhausted hysterics. "Please tell me we're at least getting close. You're using math terms to swear; that's not a good sign."
"Yes, pretty close. Close-ish."
'Close-ish' turns out to mean 'two minutes away,' but when Megamind says, "Finally. Pull in here," Roxanne finds that she has gone abruptly speechless. It's not a hotel. It's not a motel. It looks like somebody's house-a massive dark log cabin with pale chinking, stone chimney and stone porch.
Mutely, she puts the car in park and turns off the engine. Megamind is out of the car and stretching before she can think of anything intelligent to say, so she just stays quiet as she gets out and sets about reminding her knees of their proper functions.
"So?" Megamind says, leaning on the side of the car and grinning at her over the roof. "What do you think?"
Roxanne looks around. I think I didn't know you realized bed and breakfasts even existed. "I think I haven't seen the inside yet."
He laughs and points down the hill, towards a shadow in the trees. "We're not staying in the main house; we're staying in that one. Come on, let's go talk to Bob and Lucy." With that, he turns and bounds fearlessly up onto the porch, knocks on the door as though he's known these people his whole life. "Hoy, Bob! Anyone home?"
The door swings wide and a stout old woman with a sunny smile appears in the doorway. "Well hey there, stranger, you must be Dr. Chudakov," she exclaims, "c'mon inside."
"Please, it's Pavel," he insists, and returns her brief embrace, bumping his cheek against hers in greeting. "And this is my lady, Roxanne." Beaming, he half-turns and holds out his arm, guiding her forward. "Roxanne, I'd like you to meet the lovely Mrs. Underhill, who has been instrumental in arranging this surprise."
Roxanne, who has never been called anyone's 'lady' before, hides her surprise well and smiles at Lucy Underhill. "It's good to meet you. Sorry I'm a mess, I had no idea he'd be taking me anyplace this nice-!" She nearly chokes as she's pulled into the most back-breaking hug she's ever had.
"Oh, don't apologize, I hear you've taken quite a hike today. All the way from Nebraska, is that right? Come on, I'll give you a quick tour and then you'll probably want to rest for a bit. This here's the main house, you'll have breakfast here, just come on up when it's time and come right in." She shrugs on a quilted coat and steps into a pair of wellington boots, lifts a key from a hook on the doorframe. "You're down by the creek, right?"
"That sounds right, yes," Megamind says, and follows her out into the snow.
The three of them tramp down the hill through the trees, Megamind and Lucy chatting amiably about the weather and the drive. Roxanne stays quiet, just watching-she hardly ever sees him this bright and exposed, cracking jokes, flattering the older woman shamelessly, laughing at her dry humor. He's like a completely different person. It's amazing.
"Okay, now, you've got the cabin to yourselves," Lucy says as they round the corner of the small building. "The creek there is louder in spring-usually you can hear it all night from here, and the birds just love it in the mornings. It's frozen now, though, so you'll have it pretty quiet. Here we are," and she opens the door and flicks on the light, and oh, wow.
The walls are rough wood panels, glowing darkly in the golden light from the small chandelier. Heavy log beams cross the peaked plaster ceiling. The bed in the corner has a hand-made quilt and matching shams, its iron bedstead fitting in perfectly with the rustic décor, and there's a small table with two chairs opposite a low futon sofa.
Roxanne looks around, finds Lucy and Megamind watching her, and realizes she's been staring. "This is gorgeous," she says, and means it.
Lucy smiles warmly at her. "Well, I'll leave you two to get settled in. What time tomorrow do you want breakfast?"
"Is six too early?" Megamind asks. "We have a long way to go yet."
She raises an eyebrow but shakes her head. "Six is fine, Bob and I are always up by half-past four. Just call and let me know if you change your minds, all right? And don't worry if you decide to sleep in."
As soon as she's gone, Roxanne flops onto the bed, which lets out a series of delighted squeaks. "This is the best bed," she says, patting it. Squeaking won't be a problem; she and Megamind both sleep like the dead.
Megamind collapses onto the futon sofa, kicking his boots off and sprawling his arms out, taking advantage of the room to move. "So, seriously, what do you think? Nice place?"
"Very nice place. Where did you find it?"
"Internet," he says with a shrug. "There were a few options. I narrowed them down to two, this place and another bed and breakfast three hours down the road, which probably would have been better because now we'll have, what, seventeen hours of driving tomorrow? But Bob got back to me first, and I liked him. Very personable. You really like it?"
Roxanne smiles at him. "Sweetie, I love it. You done good. I'm surprised you didn't pick somewhere more urban, though."
He shrugs a little. "Urban is what I'm used to, but the whole point of driving all this way is so that I can see more of the country, so I tried to pick somewhere a little more remote."
"You picked somewhere beautiful is what you did."
He smiles. "Well. I'm glad you think so. So now we're here, what do you want to do?"
She hesitates, biting her lip. "Honestly? I kind of want to take a nap. But if you'd rather do something else, that's fine by me-"
He stands and starts putting his boots back on. "Tell you what, I'm not sleepy. I'm going to go explore for a while, stretch my legs. Then I'll come back here, wake you up, and we'll locate somewhere for dinner. Okay?"
"You really don't mind?"
This gets her a firm shake of the head. "No, I really don't. You rest. Stay here."
She eyes him suspiciously for a moment, but finally decides to take him at his word. "Thanks."
He glances up at her and grins, thrusts a finger into the air with a flourish. "I shall return with a mountain lion in tow, Miss Ritchi!"
She chuckles, already curled up in the middle of the bed with her eyes closed. "Try not to get eaten."
"They won't eat me, I'm far too scrawny." He closes the door quietly behind him, then turns and looks around, breathing deeply.
It really is amazing, how muffled the world feels when it's covered in snow. He sets out with a purpose, his eye on the pines on the mountain that rises on the other side of the small valley. It doesn't take him too long to get past the small cluster of buildings, and he looks again at the mountain. It doesn't look so far. He'll be able to climb it and be back before dark.
Back to Part 1
Top of the Page
Forward to Chapter 4
Return to Master List