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Roxanne had been high on adrenaline and emotion after Tighten’s defeat. It hadn’t been until the next day that she’d broken down and cried. Hal really would have killed her. He would have killed Megamind, and Minion, and so many others. The deaths he was indirectly responsible for had still been rising as emergency services and brain bots sifted through the remains of office buildings. Later, she would be grateful that most people had taken the downtown evacuation warning seriously. Metrocity residents had gotten so used to Megamind’s schemes that they rarely bothered to change their day.
Megamind had readily complied when she’d asked for space. He had been doing his best to secure the unsafe parts of the city and keep more people from getting hurt. For three days, the only sign of him she’d seen had been meal deliveries (which she was fairly sure were Minion’s actual cooking). On the fourth, a flip phone had been left in a blue box at her door. There were two saved numbers. The first was labelled Megamind. The second was labelled Damsel Support.
Damsel Support wasn’t the name of an organization, that had just been Megamind’s way of ensuring she’d be curious enough to call the number. And it had worked. The number had rung through to the office of a woman named Beatrice, who hadn’t been the least bit surprised when Roxanne had introduced herself. Beatrice, AKA Dr Neuropia, was a retired member of the long-defunct SPJ (Society for Peace and Justice) who now very privately specialized in patients who were heroes or hero-adjacent. Bea didn’t talk about her other clients, except once to say that she had reached out to Megamind early in his career of villainy. She’d witnessed his initial rise and had immediately pegged him as a grey villain with potential for rehabilitation. Megamind had politely declined her offer. Roxanne had been dying to ask more about her villain interventions but managed to hold her tongue.
And now, after weeks of “damsel” therapy, Roxanne was back at Wayne’s “hideout”. Working through her feelings about Hal, both as her co-worker and as Tighten, hadn’t been that bad. The life-threatening encounters she’d had with him were traumatic, but she didn’t feel sorry for him and she didn’t need closure. Hal was an entitled jerk who hadn’t hesitated to hurt people. He could rot in prison. Her feelings for Megamind were… complicated. But he listened and was doing his best to be honest and open with her. It helped.
Wayne, however, still pissed her off.
There was a big difference between concealing your identity and essentially going on a few dates (despite being a hated supervillain) and letting one of your close friends watch you “die” and abandoning them to said supervillain. Megamind was trying to make things right. Wayne was still in hiding. The betrayal she felt had dropped to a low simmer, but she wasn’t willing to let “Musicman” off the hook. Honestly, he could have used some time with Bea himself. Instead, he was going to get some hard truths from Roxanne.
She’d meant to be nice, start slowly and ease into it. Unfortunately, her journalistic instincts had gotten the better of her.
“But you didn’t know that!”
“I knew you weren’t afraid of him.”
“Not by the end, not when I knew the routine and that you’d be there… but you were way too overconfident.” Roxanne pointed her finger at his chest. Wayne was wearing proper clothes now, an off-white shirt and tan pants. Maybe with time, more colour would work itself into his wardrobe.
“Oh really?”
“Yes, Mr, Superspeed. You can beat him in a direct fight. But you weren’t watching Megamind all the time, were you?”
“No, but-”
“And you don’t actually know how all of his technology works either, do you?”
“It’s not that-”
“Because if you did, you’d realize how terrifying he is.”
“C’mon Roxy,” Wayne smirked a little. “Megamind flashiest’s weapon temporarily turns people into cubes and is easily reversed.”
“Was the death ray harmless?”
“He only used it on me.”
“Right. Because he never intended to kill you in the first place. And he didn’t blast anyone else because we’re incredibly lucky that our “supervillain” turned out to be a decent huma- a good person.”
Wayne nodded and Roxanne leaned in.
“But imagine if he weren’t, Wayne. That death ray you’re so casual about? Did you know that he can widen the beam? That any psychopathic villain could have used it and wiped out a city of millions.”
“Wait, is it-” Wayne stood abruptly, as though he might fly up and rip the thing out of the sky that very second.
“No, he’s already deactivated it. Minion let it burn up in the atmosphere last week.” Roxanne reassured him. “But you are not off the hook! You took a huge risk in letting Megamind win. He could have destroyed the city a thousand times with the brainbots alone. He could have made more weapons. Imagine a brainbot swarm armed with de-guns.”
“I’d rather not.”
Thankfully, Megamind’s turn at running through the streets resulted mostly in theft and graffiti. No one was killed, tortured, or forced to flee the city. The power stayed on and the water stayed clean. Half the businesses he graffitied had been boarded up already.
Wayne sat and locked eyes with Roxanne. “You know I would have stepped in if it had gotten bad.”
“Do I?” she held his gaze. “Did you know everything that was happening? Did you know about Hal?”
“Not… exactly. I mean,” Wayne gestured in the air, “I knew there was a new “hero” and that Megamind was somehow involved.” He slumped back into his chair. “I figured it would blow over.”
“It didn’t.” Roxanne let the words hang in the air. “The death toll is up to 37.” Which was miraculously low given the circumstances.
Wayne rubbed a hand over his face. “What do you want from me, Roxy? You want Metroman back?”
“No, actually,” she said. “People have warmed up to Megamind being a good guy. He has swarms of brain bots flying around and patching up the worst of Tighten’s damage. He’s got everything under control.”
After the initial preventative work, Megamind had very quietly presented the City Council with his plan to rebuild sections of the city. For their approval. His proposal had also included covering the costs, as he took the blame for the Tighten’s rampage (Megamind hadn’t chosen Hal for the powers but he had let things get too far out of control). Roxanne had reported on the Council’s extended session about the proposal, which they had unanimously accepted.
“So… why do you need me?”
“Tighten was powerful but incompetent. Megamind can’t be everywhere at once and who knows what supervillain will pop-up next.” She was well aware of the interest Metrocity was gathering from other news outlets and hoped they wouldn’t get a new supervillain trying to move in and prove themselves. “I want you to let him make you an emergency pager. Just in case.”
“Just in case? Metroman returning from the dead is going to be a PR disaster. They’ll eat me alive.”
“Oh, stop moping. You can stay dead. Minion can make you a totally different costume, with a mask even. No one would have to know.”
“That might work.” Wayne straightened and muttered something to himself about keeping his beard. “Emergencies only, huh?
Roxanne celebrated her win by strolling into the lair with a box of profiteroles.
“Oooh,” Minion clocked the bakery name on the box immediately. “What are we celebrating, Ms. Ritchie?”
“Minion, you know you can call me Roxanne.”
“Mmm. Sir? Ms. Ritchie is here.” Roxanne rolled her eyes. At least Minion was consistent.
“Roxanne!” Megamind swanned into the room, brainbot under one arm. “How did it go?”
She shot him a thumbs up and a grin.
“No,” he gasped. “Really? Well done! I can’t believe he caved. I should never have doubted you.” Minion bobbed in agreement.
“Damn straight," she said. "Now, help me eat these.”