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Fic: Rain on the Just (12/15)
Title: Rain on the Just (12/15)
Author: Rummi (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sharelle)
Characters / Pairing: Ensemble / Megamind/Roxanne
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 5,147
Summary: A former villain and a former hero each try to adapt to the new destinies they've chosen. It's not always easy . . . especially when a new danger threatens to blow everything apart.
Previous chapters can be found here. (Or at FF.Net.)
Author's Notes: What's this? The question mark is gone! Yes, it appears I finally have a solid end-point in sight. So unless I do a major overhaul between now and the finale, there should be three more chapters following this one.
I'm so very grateful to everyone who has stuck with me this long. (Especially during the longer breaks when Real Life, sadly, took precedence over fandom fun.) I would have had a blast writing this story no matter what, but knowing so many others have also enjoyed the journey has made it an even more wonderful experience. I truly hope you like this part, as well as the upcoming final installments.
Thanks, as always, toray_wing for the beta! I also must also thank dani_kin, once again, for her invaluable thoughts, suggestions, and feedback! ♥
Rain on the Just
by Rummi
Chapter 12 - A Little Fall of Rain
When it was obvious that Owen would not be coming back, Roxanne had turned around and slumped leadenly against the bars of her cell. She wrapped her arms around herself and pillowed her forehead upon her drawn knees, closing her eyes as they burned with angry, unshed tears.
It felt like there was a lead weight deep in her chest. She had spent so much time pacing this cell, wondering why Megamind hadn't come yet. And now that his delayed arrival had been thrown into such a sharp, cruel perspective, it made her stomach turn. She couldn't seem to prevent her mind from dwelling on what Owen had implied about Minion-
No.
Roxanne squeezed her eyes even more tightly shut, fighting back the tears, as well as the horrible feeling of grief that threatened to overtake her.
No, no, no . . .
She couldn't lose it; she needed to keep her head. Owen could have been lying about Minion. Roxanne had no reason to take him at his word, after all; he was clearly insane. She prayed with everything in her that what he had said had merely been intended to shake her. While this meant giving Owen credit for being crueler, more calculating, and even more intelligent than she previously had, at least it would leave her with some shred of hope that both Minion and Megamind were somehow all right. Delayed, but all right.
Unfortunately, the longer she spent here - the more time that dragged silently on, offering her nothing to do but wait and think - the more difficult it became not to imagine the worst.
Roxanne dug her fingertips into her arms as she continued to rest her head against her knees. If Megamind was alone and suffering because of what Owen had done, Roxanne wanted to claw her way out of this old animal cage and race to his side. She hated the idea of just sitting here and waiting. After so many years, she was used to being a captive; what she wasn't used to was feeling so terribly, terribly helpless.
Roxanne set her jaw and finally raised her head. She leaned it back against the bars behind her. The hallway was much darker than it had been when she had first arrived. Roxanne wasn't wearing a watch, but she guessed it had to at least be early evening by now. The dim lights Owen had placed sporadically through the room didn't help much either. Roxanne heard a very low and distant rumble of thunder. It was probably going to start raining soon.
A momentary flash briefly illuminated the hallway as a fleeting pulse of lightning brightened the sky outside. It created a patchy, dappled pattern upon the floor around Roxanne, and cast long shadows through the room. The sudden light source drew Roxanne's attention upward.
She blinked.
Thunder began to grumble again off in the distance, and Roxanne's eyes suddenly widened.
Her cell had a window.
High above her was a small, dingy pane of glass, close to where the wall met the ceiling. She hadn't really noticed it before - but then, she had been facing the other direction for most of her time here. However, now that the light in the hallway was waning from the gathering storm, the brief burst of lightning was enough to draw her attention to the presence of the old, grimy windowpane.
Roxanne pushed herself into a standing position, sliding upward against the bars as she stared at the window in her cell. Then she glanced up and down the hallway to see that there were, in fact, a few other small windows spaced along the upper wall. She turned her eyes back to the one above her again. It didn't seem to have any additional reinforcement - no bars or added caging protecting the glass. Apparently, whatever animal had been kept in this cage all those years ago, it hadn't been small enough or dexterous enough for the zookeepers to concern themselves with fortifying the window.
Roxanne's eyes trailed toward the climbing apparatus in the corner of her cage. She studied it for a moment, then looked back at the window. They were a good several feet apart, but the distance didn't seem impossibly far.
Roxanne shot a quick glance down the hall as far as she could see. She cleared her throat and called out, "Owen?" She paused and listened as the echo of her own voice filled the hallway. "Owen, hello?"
There was no response. It had been some time since Owen had left. She wondered if he was even still in the building. At the very least, he seemed to be out of earshot. But if she waited around any longer to find out, then she realized she might miss this one chance.
Roxanne Ritchi had spent years as a frequent hostage, but she had never been a damsel in distress. She had to do something.
She opened her right hand and looked down at the dim, blue light of Megamind's tracking device as it continued to glow against the skin of her palm. He had given these chips to her to use in an emergency - so he could find her easily. And she knew he would. There was no doubt in Roxanne's mind that Megamind would come for her - no doubt at all. But if Owen hadn't been lying about Minion and something tragic really had happened, then Megamind needed her. So she had to find a way to get to him instead.
Wherever Wayne was right now, she hoped he would be okay until she got back.
Roxanne looked down at the ground. When Owen had shot the wall earlier the blast had scattered some debris and chunks of cement across the floor. She picked up the largest piece. It filled her entire hand and she gave it an experimental squeeze. Thankfully, the old masonry didn't crumble to dust in her grip and Roxanne felt her lips curl into a small, dour smirk. She slid it into the pocket of her blazer as she hurried over to the apparatus in the corner.
Roxanne surveyed it for a moment. It looked like a super-sized version of something cat owners might buy to keep their pets occupied. There were several levels of platforms, tunnels, and ramps, all decorated to resemble a jungle setting. The highest platforms were just a few feet from the ceiling. She glanced up as she approached the structure.
Like everything else in this building it was caked with dust and dirt. Its chipped paint and overall clunky appearance made a rather depressing mockery of the natural habitat it was trying to imitate. Several limbs jutted from the structure at all angles. They were probably supposed to resemble tree branches, but they really just added to the cheap, counterfeit appearance of the whole thing. Roxanne approached one of the low-hanging ones.
She kicked off her shoes. They only had a small heel this time, but still - a pair of pumps wasn't exactly conducive to scaling a jungle gym. At least she had chosen to wear slacks today rather than a skirt.
She grabbed for the nearest "branch" and began to put her weight onto it. Almost immediately, it creaked loudly. The sound echoed through the chamber and Roxanne immediately froze in mid-climb, listening and barely daring to breathe. Her stomach did a flip-flop as she waited to see if the noise had alerted Owen to what she was attempting to do. When no further sounds emanated through the hall, Roxanne slowly released her breath.
She studied the section of the apparatus that she was grasping. It dawned on her that these smaller, branch-like appendages were probably just for decoration and therefore not as sturdy as the rest of the structure. If, as she suspected, this cage had once been home to a species of jungle cat or some other sort of large animal, odds were they hadn't needed the smaller limbs to climb. Most animals like that could probably make it to the first platform in a single leap. Unfortunately, that wasn't an option for Roxanne since the lowest platform was almost level with her forehead; she needed to hoist herself with something if she was going to get up there.
She placed a tentative bit of weight on the fake tree limb again, attempting to control the amount of noise it made the second time. She gritted her teeth as it finished creaking, then paused again and listened. Outside, the thunder rolled and the intermittent sound of raindrops began to tap against the exterior surface of the building.
When Roxanne was certain that she heard no evidence of Owen down the hall, she swung one leg up, then the other, hooking them upon the first platform. She grunted softly as she slowly pulled herself onto it, curling her legs against its surface and inching her hands, one over the other, up the dangling limb. When Roxanne finally reached the first level off the floor, she paused, crouching on her hands and knees. She breathed heavily from exertion, but shallowly so as not to be heard.
After taking a moment to compose herself, Roxanne fixed her eyes on her path upward.
Getting to the second level was significantly easier since she merely had to walk up a connecting ramp. It was steep though, so she still had to be careful not to slip. Roxanne proceeded cautiously, staying on the balls of her feet and bent at the waist to steady herself with her fingertips as she went. Like everything else, the ramp was covered in an accumulation of grime and dust from years of abandonment. Roxanne left small footprints behind as she tip-toed warily up the slope.
There were several platforms along the top level, each having its own distinct "play area" built for the cage's former inhabitant - from oversized scratching posts to large, metal tunnels, which were painted to resemble hollow tree logs. Roxanne headed for the platform nearest to the wall. Thankfully, this one was only about as high as her torso, so it didn't take much effort for her to hoist herself up onto it. Then she straightened to a standing position and placed one hand on the ceiling to steady herself.
She glanced down at the floor below. She was about twenty feet up now, but it felt a lot higher than that. In general, heights had never really bothered Roxanne. In fact, if she added up all the instances of dangling from Megamind's doomsday devices and sweeping through the sky with Metro Man over the years, she had probably spent more time off the ground than most amateur pilots.
Not every adventure in elevation had been a positive one, of course. Being tossed around like a ragdoll by Titan certainly hadn't been. Neither was sliding down a Metro Tower utility ladder while wearing a dress and heels. And Roxanne didn't even want to think about the last time she had been up there.
But with Megamind's schemes, there had always been a kind of safety net. With Wayne, she had simply been safe. However, neither of them was here right now, which made being this high off the ground suddenly unnerving.
Roxanne set her shoulders and carefully made her way to the edge.
She braced her feet upon the corner of the high platform, as close to the window as she could possibly get, and surveyed the distance to the wall. Its vertical surface wasn't far from where she stood now, but the gap would increase greatly as she drew closer to the window. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes.
"Come on," she murmured to herself. "You can do this."
She reached her arms out before she had the chance to change her mind. Then she opened her eyes again and leaned forward slightly until her hands touched the wall.
She felt the small bump of the tracking device on her right palm as she pressed against the stone. She wondered for a moment if she should try to peel the little chip off first. However, she wasn't sure if removing it would affect its signal, so she decided to leave it. After all, she wanted Megamind to know where she was, but she also wanted him to be aware that she was moving.
Roxanne exhaled slowly and risked a glance downward as she propped diagonally against the wall's surface. Compared to all the other times she'd been off the ground, this was relatively low. But it was still high enough to hurt her if she were to fall. Roxanne looked up, fixed her eyes on the window to her right, and began to move sideways toward it.
Slowly and carefully, she walked her hands along the wall, blowing out long, steadying breaths as she went. The farther she went, the more she began to notice an uncomfortable strain across her middle. With nothing to support it, Roxanne could feel her torso wanting to sag toward the floor. She grunted softly with the effort to keep her body plank-straight as she moved along.
Once she was stretched as far as she could reach, Roxanne glanced up to see her progress. Immediately, she felt her heart sink. The glass was still about a foot away. She had misjudged the distance between the platform and the window; she simply wasn't tall enough to reach it. From here, there was no way she'd have the leverage or the proximity she'd need to try and break the window, much less find a way to climb through it. And she couldn't take the risk of it not working the first time. Even with the growing sound of the storm outside, the breaking glass would be loud; she needed to be in a position to move fast and make it count.
There had to be some way to get closer.
Roxanne looked down at her feet as they hugged the very edge of the platform, then she trailed her gaze to one side. Just beside where she stood, there was another one of those fake tree limbs jutting outward sideways like a gnarled branch. Roxanne bit down on her bottom lip. She knew it wouldn't be as sturdy as the platform she was standing on now, but compared to the rest of the structure, that outcropping was actually much closer to the window. And the last one had held her weight when she had climbed to the first level . . .
Another flash of lightning illuminated the hallway, followed by a louder growl of thunder. Rain was pattering steadily against the window and streaming down the glass in thin rivulets.
"This is crazy," Roxanne whispered, shaking her head and squeezing her eyes shut. "Oh, this is just so completely crazy."
She took a deep breath and opened her eyes. She spread her fingers wide as she planted both hands firmly upon the wall. She could feel the round press of Megamind's tracking device upon her skin again. Her heart pounded against her ribcage, but she only allowed herself a brief pause. Then she slid one foot cautiously to the right.
The limb groaned a little and Roxanne felt it give slightly. She froze, though her heart continued to race. The branch held, so she shifted most of her weight onto that leg to test it further. When nothing else happened, Roxanne expelled a nervous burst of air and finally, tentatively, slid her other foot to join the first - leaving the solid platform behind. Her bottom lip automatically found its way between her teeth again and she tried not to think of the long drop beneath her as she moved carefully through space. She didn't look down; she kept her eyes fixed fiercely on the window.
Roxanne slid slowly along the fake branch. When her feet were finally level with her hands, she stopped and expelled a long, settling breath.
"Okay," she whispered forcefully to herself. "You're almost there."
Two more shifts of her arms and legs brought her directly in line with the glass. She braced her palms firmly against the curve of the window ledge. The fake branch felt like a narrow balance beam beneath the arches of her feet. Roxanne shifted all her weight to her left hand temporarily and reached back into the pocket of her blazer with her right. Her fingers found the hunk of cement she had placed there and wrapped around it tightly. Then she quickly brought her hand back to the window ledge before her other arm began to tremble from supporting all of her weight.
For a moment she allowed herself to rest, suspended in space - breathing, gathering her wits, and listening to the sound of the rain. She knew once she started, there wouldn't be time to waste; she was going to have to move very quickly. Roxanne narrowed her eyes at the window and clutched the cement chunk in her fist. She wound back. A loud crash of thunder echoed outside as she slammed the rock hard against the glass.
She grunted sharply from the force she put behind the blow. A shattering high note sounded through the hall, and Roxanne quickly dropped her arm to clutch the window ledge again, regaining her equilibrium. She looked up at the window to see a fist-sized starburst blooming upon the glass. The little streams of rainwater detoured erratically around the countless cracks. Roxanne smiled grimly. The break didn't go clean through, but at least the glass wasn't shatterproof. Another direct hit should do it.
Roxanne gripped the hunk of rock tightly, wound back a second time, and struck.
She felt her balance shift again as, this time, the rock smashed completely through the windowpane; the satisfying sound of shattering glass rang in her ears. She felt rhythmic drops of cool rain against her fist, and she breathed in the fresh, moist air from outside. Roxanne smiled again, her heart pounding with adrenaline.
Then another loud crack echoed through the hall as the branch beneath her feet suddenly snapped out from under her.
Roxanne's momentary elation shifted into abject panic as her lower half began falling through space. Her hold on the window ledge tightened as her body swung down in an arc and hit the wall hard, knocking the wind from her lungs. Her bare feet scrabbled frantically for purchase against the vertical concrete surface.
Roxanne immediately dropped the rock in her fist and reflexively grabbed at anything she could to pull herself up. Her hand closed around a shard of broken glass.
Roxanne cried out in pain and, before she could think, she let go of the window ledge.
Her bare feet hit the floor first and her legs crumpled beneath her as she fell into a painful heap. When the whirlwind around her had ceased, Roxanne found herself flat on her back in her cell, staring up at the broken window high overhead. Another bolt of lightning illuminated the sky beyond the glass.
Roxanne groaned and squeezed her eyes shut. Defeated tears pricked hotly at the very corners, but she was too angry to let them flow. She gritted her teeth in frustration.
Roxanne clenched her right hand tightly into a fist and cradled it against her with the other. She didn't have to look at it to know that there was probably a decent slice across her palm; she could feel it burn and throb as though it had its own miniature heartbeat. It was also beginning to feel warm and damp. She worried that she may have lost the tracking device when she grabbed the glass, but she couldn't bring herself to open her hand to check; it still hurt too much.
Roxanne groaned angrily as she lay upon the hard floor. She could feel a light mist of rainwater falling upon her face from the broken window.
Finally, she opened her eyes.
Owen's upside-down form was staring at her from the other side of the bars.
Roxanne gasped and scrambled to her knees. Her head spun dizzily from the sudden movement as she righted herself. Her injured hand ached as she clutched it against her chest. She scowled at Owen from her position on the floor. He had a large weapon slung over one shoulder. Roxanne recognized it as the one he had fired at her back at the café - the one Wayne had protected her from.
Owen glanced from her to the broken window and back again, raising an eyebrow and frowning. "What were you doing, Ms. Ritchi?" he asked suspiciously, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.
Roxanne immediately fumbled to a standing position. Her trembling muscles wavered slightly but she fought through it. She was determined to face Owen on her feet. She wasn't about to give him the satisfaction of standing over her. Her legs hurt from striking the floor, but at least it didn't feel as though she had broken anything. She continued to clutch her hand to her chest, pressing her fist closed against the painful pulse of the cut. She stepped closer to the bars, meeting Owen eye-to-eye.
"It was getting stuffy in here," she drawled in response. "Thought I'd let some air in."
Owen continued to frown at her. He propped the large weapon against the wall and twisted his body to grip at the hem of his cape as he approached Roxanne's cage. He blew out a heavy breath, his lips creating an annoyed flutter. "God," he grumbled, "were you this much trouble for him all those years?"
Roxanne narrowed her eyes into harsh slants. Owen had frightened her earlier, but now that feeling had passed. Now, she was simply angry, and her failed escape attempt only added to that. She felt the anger swell inside of her and she donned it like armor. Threats or no threats, Roxanne wasn't going to allow Owen to intimidate her again. She steadily met his gaze.
"I don't think you really want me to get into the differences between the two of you," she said, her voice quiet and harsh.
"Whatever," Owen grunted, though he only seemed to be half-listening to her. He continued to tug at the hem of his cape until Roxanne heard a ripping sound. She watched in confusion as he struggled to pull the fabric apart. Soon Owen had torn a strip of thin, black cloth from along the entire bottom of the cape, leaving the hem jagged and frayed.
Roxanne eyed him dubiously, half expecting him to ask if the tattered edges made him look more menacing.
"Seriously," Owen continued to mumble with a shake of his head. "Escape through the window? Even I could have told you that was a bad idea." He straightened and held the frayed strip of cloth up, smoothing his other hand down its length. "And the last thing I need is for him to think I did this to you."
Owen's hand shot forward and he seized her by the wrist.
"Hey!" Roxanne instinctively tried to pull away from his grasp. She braced herself against the bars with her other hand to keep Owen from pulling her toward him. "Let go of me!"
Owen grunted as he tightened his grip on her wrist. Roxanne continued to fight him, but he slowly managed to pry her fist away from her chest and through the bars. "My God, would you relax?" he grumbled. "It's not like I need him to have another reason to want to tear my head off. Now hold still!"
He squeezed his fingers against the base of her hand. Roxanne cried out reflexively as the pressure of his grip pinched her fresh cut. Her palm peeled open against her own volition to reveal a sticky, wet patch of red upon her light skin.
Owen grumbled incomprehensibly as he laid one end of the strip of cloth he had torn from his cape at the base of her wrist. He held it there and began to wind the fabric securely in place.
Roxanne watched him and, for a moment, she was so surprised she forgot to struggle. She stared at Owen with wide, suspicious eyes as he set about wrapping the makeshift bandage around her injury. He scowled as he worked, tension radiating off him in waves. He seemed more frustrated by the circumstance than genuinely concerned for her well-being, but his actions were still enough to catch Roxanne off guard.
In her shock, her hand relaxed and fell all the way open.
An instant later, she realized her mistake. A pulse of electric-blue circuitry flashed across the bottom edge of her vision. She gasped and looked down at her hand. At that same moment, Owen froze - halting his efforts to wrap the strip of cloth around her cut. Immediately, Roxanne tensed and tried to pull away again, bracing against the bars with her free hand, but Owen held her fast. Roxanne's gaze trailed slowly from her hand up to Owen's face. He was already looking at her. His eyes were wide and panicked.
"What . . . ?" he asked. His voice shook. His hands began to tremble. He tried unsuccessfully to hide the shaking by tightening his hold on her wrist. "What is this?"
Roxanne winced. Her eyes watered slightly from the sharp stab of pain his grip sent through her fresh cut. She squinted her eyes open and glared at him.
"I told you that Megamind would be coming," she said. "I wasn't just being melodramatic."
Owen's eyes widened even further. His gaze shifted back to the small chip on Roxanne's palm. "No," he breathed, shaking his head in protest. "No, no, not yet."
Roxanne tried again to yank her hand free, but he held her steady in his grip. He pulled on her arm as he fumbled roughly to scrape the tiny tracking device off her skin with his other hand. Roxanne winced again as the fingertip of his glove scratched over her cut. Once Owen had peeled the adhesive of the chip loose, he finally released her wrist with a shove.
Roxanne overbalanced and tumbled backwards onto the floor of her cell. The ribbon of cloth from Owen's cape fluttered in her wake and puddled beside her like a tattered mummy's bandage. She snatched it up and continued to wind it tightly around her wound herself. She glanced back up at Owen.
He stared in horror at the small azure device between his gloved fingers for a moment. Then he flung it to the floor as though it had burned him and stomped on it over and over like he was killing a spider.
"No, no, no . . . !" he protested with each pound of his boot against the floor. He clenched his fists at his sides and ground his heel into the device one more time for good measure. The blue light of the tracking device dulled and died as the tiny fragments scattered upon the concrete. Owen brushed them away from him with his boot, putting some distance between him and the pulverized remains. Then he turned his furious glare upon Roxanne.
She returned his look unflinchingly as she tucked the ends of her makeshift bandage securely into place.
"I left him cards," Owen insisted. "I left him clues. That's how he's supposed to find me. Because of me - not because of you." A shudder rippled through him as he glared at her. "You don't get to twist the game in your favor by treating this like it's some kind of rescue, Ms. Ritchi. That's not why you're here."
Roxanne's stare hardened as she flexed her hand against the dressing surrounding her injury. "You're crazy," she finally told him, climbing back to her feet. "But it doesn’t matter, you know. You can be as cryptic as you want, Owen, but you and I both know that Megamind will find you." She wrapped her hands around the bars of the cage and lowered her voice. "It doesn't matter if I'm here or not; it doesn't matter if he has a tracking signal to follow or not. After what you did - after everything you did - he'll find you."
Another visible tremor shivered over Owen's body, but he managed to sneer at her. "Then I better make sure I'm ready, shouldn't I?"
He turned on his heel and tromped hastily over to the table with the projector. He picked up two remote devices that had been sitting beside it. Roxanne could see the young man's hands quiver as he fumbled to flip a switch on the larger one. A small light bulb at the top glowed orange, and he slipped the remote into one of the deep pockets of his cargo pants. The other device was much smaller, like a laser-pointer. He aimed it at the projector and squeezed his thumb against it. The machine turned on and a rectangle of light slowly appeared upon the white screen. No images were being projected, however - just the light. Owen slipped that remote into his pocket as well.
As Roxanne watched him, her jaw clenched, grinding her back teeth together anxiously. Nearly everything Owen had said and done since they had arrived here had left her baffled and confused: his reasons behind all those attacks, his apparent animosity toward her, his insistence that he was doing all this to help Megamind somehow . . .
So many unanswered questions circulated through the reporter's brain endlessly. However, there was only one thing she needed to know right away:
"Did you really hurt him?" she asked, her voice softening involuntarily as she spoke.
Owen turned back to her, his face looking confused, anxious, and impatient. "What?" he snapped.
"Minion," she clarified. "Did you-?" Her voice quavered slightly. She swallowed hard. "Is he dead?"
Owen stared back at her. His face was stony and impassive, but physically he looked highly agitated. His shoulders rose and fell in large movements as he took deep breaths in and out through his nose. After a moment, he merely shook his head. "I don't know."
Roxanne narrowed her eyes at him. "What do you mean you don't know-?"
"Look, he wasn't even supposed to be there, all right?" Owen shot back angrily. "I watched the car leave - they always leave together. Don't you think I know that they always leave together?" Owen bristled. His fingers rubbed together anxiously. "How was I supposed to know the fish had stayed behind this time?" He shook his head. "I told you I didn't want to do it, Ms. Ritchi. But he didn't give me a choice."
Roxanne scowled at him. "What you haven't told me, Owen, was what he would have stopped you from doing," she said. "If you really did hurt Minion, you've made things even worse for yourself - you have to know that." She paused, regarding him icily. "Was it worth it?" she asked, her voice pitching low and quivering in anger. "Whatever your plan was . . . was it worth it?"
Owen stared at her for a moment, then his face split into a feverish grin. "Ohhh no, Ms. Ritchi," he droned, shaking his head reproachfully as he wagged one finger back and forth in her direction. "You don't get to make this about my mistakes. If this is anyone's fault, it's yours." He arched an eyebrow. "And you know what? In a way, that fish may have actually done me a favor. Maybe it's better that I didn't do this in the lair. Megamind might have thought it was a trick - a fabrication. Maybe it's better that it worked out this way. Because with you here, he can look you in the eye when I show him how you used him."
"You're insane," Roxanne breathed.
"And you ruined my life!" Owen shouted back at her, his voice cracking shrilly.
Roxanne flinched away from the bars, but continued to scowl heatedly at him.
Owen's body began trembling even more violently. He was furious. "I had a purpose once, you know," he said, his voice shaking. "I knew exactly what I wanted and what I was meant for." His hands clenched tightly into fists. "All those things I've been trying to show him - all the plans, the blueprints, the inventions . . . You think I came up with all that just over the past few months?" Owen giggled harshly and shook his head. "Think again! That was years' worth of work! I spent half my life waiting to show him what I could do."
Roxanne swallowed thickly and steeled herself. "You admired him," she said breathlessly. "Megamind. You-"
"Admired him?" Owen asked, cutting her off. He frowned darkly. "Shows what you know. That guy was my freaking hero," he hissed through his teeth. "Not this city's - mine. And true fans don't abandon their heroes, Ms. Ritchi." His eyes narrowed and he grit his teeth savagely as he looked her up and down. "Not even when they sell out."
Roxanne clenched her fists furiously. "And the buildings you targeted," she said. "That was why you chose them? To prove some kind of twisted point?"
"It's not like it was hard," Owen replied snidely. "It's amazing how people don't even look twice at a guy with a delivery uniform and a paper bag." He snorted derisively and shook his head with a dry grin. "Even that cop in the guard booth hardly batted an eye when I handed it to him. He just mumbled something about having to be the messenger boy every time somebody on the inside ordered lunch. And when he set it aside without even looking at it - or at me - I knew I was free and clear."
Roxanne wrapped her hands around the bars again and glared at Owen fiercely. "Destroying all the places that played a role in Megamind becoming the city's hero isn't going to put everything back the way it was, you know," she said. "It takes a lot more than that to change a person."
"I know that!" Owen growled in response. "I'm not stupid." He prowled back and forth for a few paces in front of her cell. "But throw in throngs of cheering idiots, some novelty knick-knacks with his face on them, an oversized public monument or two . . ." Owen stepped back and appraised Roxanne again, his lips twisting nastily. ". . . And let's not forget a persuasive smile from a pretty girl."
Roxanne fixed him with a hostile glare.
"Given all that, I can't blame him for switching sides," Owen mused. "For someone like him, it would be hard to turn away from that sort of public approval. Heck, he even thought his main rival was dead. Of course," Owen added with a dry, humorless chuckle, "we both know that's a lie, too, don't we?" He shook his head, placing his hands on his hips. "No, I don't blame Megamind for what happened, Ms. Ritchi. Not at all." He pinned his eyes on Roxanne with a hateful sneer. "I blame you."
"You really are crazy, then," Roxanne retorted, keeping her voice calm and even.
"Then that's your fault, too," he snarled in response. "Imagine having all your life's plans crushed just when you were getting ready to finally act on them. Megamind would have helped me; I know he would have. Because I was probably the only one in this whole freaking city who admired him the way he was. He would have accepted me the way I accepted him. But I never got the chance to show him." Owen's face twisted as he regarded her. "You took away my purpose, Ms. Ritchi," he said. "But now you're going to help me get it back."
Roxanne hardly blinked as she glared back at the unstable young man before her. There was a tight clenching in her chest, but it wasn't from fear. It was from fury.
"I don't know what you've done today, Owen," she said. "I don't know what you've done to Minion, or how you think you're going to use me and Metro Man to get what you want. But I do know one thing . . ." Roxanne glowered at him, her low voice resonating with challenge. "If you somehow manage to drag Megamind down to your level, I swear I'll make you pay for it myself."
Owen approached the bars and loomed a breath away from her face. Roxanne met his eyes defiantly and refused to flinch away.
"Take your best shot, Ms. Ritchi," he hissed at her.
The tense standoff was broken a second later, when the far wall of the zoo's main chamber suddenly exploded in a massive eruption of fire and granite.
Both Owen and Roxanne shielded their eyes against the blast as chunks of old masonry surged inward to litter the length of the hallway floor. A brisk wind from the storm outside swirled dust, debris, smoke, and rain together in front of the new, gaping hole in the side of the building.
Roxanne coughed several times as the dust settled and waved one hand in front of her face to clear the air. Then her breath caught in her throat.
A slender silhouette with an oversized cranium stepped deliberately through the haze and into view.
The light of the dehydration gun faded as he brandished it beside his shoulder. He advanced a few more steps, coming to a halt just inside the yawning hole he had created. His eyes fell upon Roxanne and she thought she was able to detect the barest flicker of relief in his face.
The moment he shifted his gaze to the young man beside her, however, his expression immediately darkened.
"Ollo, Owen," Megamind said coldly.
Click here for Chapter 13.
Author: Rummi (
sharelle)Characters / Pairing: Ensemble / Megamind/Roxanne
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 5,147
Summary: A former villain and a former hero each try to adapt to the new destinies they've chosen. It's not always easy . . . especially when a new danger threatens to blow everything apart.
Previous chapters can be found here. (Or at FF.Net.)
Author's Notes: What's this? The question mark is gone! Yes, it appears I finally have a solid end-point in sight. So unless I do a major overhaul between now and the finale, there should be three more chapters following this one.
I'm so very grateful to everyone who has stuck with me this long. (Especially during the longer breaks when Real Life, sadly, took precedence over fandom fun.) I would have had a blast writing this story no matter what, but knowing so many others have also enjoyed the journey has made it an even more wonderful experience. I truly hope you like this part, as well as the upcoming final installments.
Thanks, as always, to
ray_wing for the beta! I also must also thank dani_kin, once again, for her invaluable thoughts, suggestions, and feedback! ♥by Rummi
Chapter 12 - A Little Fall of Rain
When it was obvious that Owen would not be coming back, Roxanne had turned around and slumped leadenly against the bars of her cell. She wrapped her arms around herself and pillowed her forehead upon her drawn knees, closing her eyes as they burned with angry, unshed tears.
It felt like there was a lead weight deep in her chest. She had spent so much time pacing this cell, wondering why Megamind hadn't come yet. And now that his delayed arrival had been thrown into such a sharp, cruel perspective, it made her stomach turn. She couldn't seem to prevent her mind from dwelling on what Owen had implied about Minion-
No.
Roxanne squeezed her eyes even more tightly shut, fighting back the tears, as well as the horrible feeling of grief that threatened to overtake her.
No, no, no . . .
She couldn't lose it; she needed to keep her head. Owen could have been lying about Minion. Roxanne had no reason to take him at his word, after all; he was clearly insane. She prayed with everything in her that what he had said had merely been intended to shake her. While this meant giving Owen credit for being crueler, more calculating, and even more intelligent than she previously had, at least it would leave her with some shred of hope that both Minion and Megamind were somehow all right. Delayed, but all right.
Unfortunately, the longer she spent here - the more time that dragged silently on, offering her nothing to do but wait and think - the more difficult it became not to imagine the worst.
Roxanne dug her fingertips into her arms as she continued to rest her head against her knees. If Megamind was alone and suffering because of what Owen had done, Roxanne wanted to claw her way out of this old animal cage and race to his side. She hated the idea of just sitting here and waiting. After so many years, she was used to being a captive; what she wasn't used to was feeling so terribly, terribly helpless.
Roxanne set her jaw and finally raised her head. She leaned it back against the bars behind her. The hallway was much darker than it had been when she had first arrived. Roxanne wasn't wearing a watch, but she guessed it had to at least be early evening by now. The dim lights Owen had placed sporadically through the room didn't help much either. Roxanne heard a very low and distant rumble of thunder. It was probably going to start raining soon.
A momentary flash briefly illuminated the hallway as a fleeting pulse of lightning brightened the sky outside. It created a patchy, dappled pattern upon the floor around Roxanne, and cast long shadows through the room. The sudden light source drew Roxanne's attention upward.
She blinked.
Thunder began to grumble again off in the distance, and Roxanne's eyes suddenly widened.
Her cell had a window.
High above her was a small, dingy pane of glass, close to where the wall met the ceiling. She hadn't really noticed it before - but then, she had been facing the other direction for most of her time here. However, now that the light in the hallway was waning from the gathering storm, the brief burst of lightning was enough to draw her attention to the presence of the old, grimy windowpane.
Roxanne pushed herself into a standing position, sliding upward against the bars as she stared at the window in her cell. Then she glanced up and down the hallway to see that there were, in fact, a few other small windows spaced along the upper wall. She turned her eyes back to the one above her again. It didn't seem to have any additional reinforcement - no bars or added caging protecting the glass. Apparently, whatever animal had been kept in this cage all those years ago, it hadn't been small enough or dexterous enough for the zookeepers to concern themselves with fortifying the window.
Roxanne's eyes trailed toward the climbing apparatus in the corner of her cage. She studied it for a moment, then looked back at the window. They were a good several feet apart, but the distance didn't seem impossibly far.
Roxanne shot a quick glance down the hall as far as she could see. She cleared her throat and called out, "Owen?" She paused and listened as the echo of her own voice filled the hallway. "Owen, hello?"
There was no response. It had been some time since Owen had left. She wondered if he was even still in the building. At the very least, he seemed to be out of earshot. But if she waited around any longer to find out, then she realized she might miss this one chance.
Roxanne Ritchi had spent years as a frequent hostage, but she had never been a damsel in distress. She had to do something.
She opened her right hand and looked down at the dim, blue light of Megamind's tracking device as it continued to glow against the skin of her palm. He had given these chips to her to use in an emergency - so he could find her easily. And she knew he would. There was no doubt in Roxanne's mind that Megamind would come for her - no doubt at all. But if Owen hadn't been lying about Minion and something tragic really had happened, then Megamind needed her. So she had to find a way to get to him instead.
Wherever Wayne was right now, she hoped he would be okay until she got back.
Roxanne looked down at the ground. When Owen had shot the wall earlier the blast had scattered some debris and chunks of cement across the floor. She picked up the largest piece. It filled her entire hand and she gave it an experimental squeeze. Thankfully, the old masonry didn't crumble to dust in her grip and Roxanne felt her lips curl into a small, dour smirk. She slid it into the pocket of her blazer as she hurried over to the apparatus in the corner.
Roxanne surveyed it for a moment. It looked like a super-sized version of something cat owners might buy to keep their pets occupied. There were several levels of platforms, tunnels, and ramps, all decorated to resemble a jungle setting. The highest platforms were just a few feet from the ceiling. She glanced up as she approached the structure.
Like everything else in this building it was caked with dust and dirt. Its chipped paint and overall clunky appearance made a rather depressing mockery of the natural habitat it was trying to imitate. Several limbs jutted from the structure at all angles. They were probably supposed to resemble tree branches, but they really just added to the cheap, counterfeit appearance of the whole thing. Roxanne approached one of the low-hanging ones.
She kicked off her shoes. They only had a small heel this time, but still - a pair of pumps wasn't exactly conducive to scaling a jungle gym. At least she had chosen to wear slacks today rather than a skirt.
She grabbed for the nearest "branch" and began to put her weight onto it. Almost immediately, it creaked loudly. The sound echoed through the chamber and Roxanne immediately froze in mid-climb, listening and barely daring to breathe. Her stomach did a flip-flop as she waited to see if the noise had alerted Owen to what she was attempting to do. When no further sounds emanated through the hall, Roxanne slowly released her breath.
She studied the section of the apparatus that she was grasping. It dawned on her that these smaller, branch-like appendages were probably just for decoration and therefore not as sturdy as the rest of the structure. If, as she suspected, this cage had once been home to a species of jungle cat or some other sort of large animal, odds were they hadn't needed the smaller limbs to climb. Most animals like that could probably make it to the first platform in a single leap. Unfortunately, that wasn't an option for Roxanne since the lowest platform was almost level with her forehead; she needed to hoist herself with something if she was going to get up there.
She placed a tentative bit of weight on the fake tree limb again, attempting to control the amount of noise it made the second time. She gritted her teeth as it finished creaking, then paused again and listened. Outside, the thunder rolled and the intermittent sound of raindrops began to tap against the exterior surface of the building.
When Roxanne was certain that she heard no evidence of Owen down the hall, she swung one leg up, then the other, hooking them upon the first platform. She grunted softly as she slowly pulled herself onto it, curling her legs against its surface and inching her hands, one over the other, up the dangling limb. When Roxanne finally reached the first level off the floor, she paused, crouching on her hands and knees. She breathed heavily from exertion, but shallowly so as not to be heard.
After taking a moment to compose herself, Roxanne fixed her eyes on her path upward.
Getting to the second level was significantly easier since she merely had to walk up a connecting ramp. It was steep though, so she still had to be careful not to slip. Roxanne proceeded cautiously, staying on the balls of her feet and bent at the waist to steady herself with her fingertips as she went. Like everything else, the ramp was covered in an accumulation of grime and dust from years of abandonment. Roxanne left small footprints behind as she tip-toed warily up the slope.
There were several platforms along the top level, each having its own distinct "play area" built for the cage's former inhabitant - from oversized scratching posts to large, metal tunnels, which were painted to resemble hollow tree logs. Roxanne headed for the platform nearest to the wall. Thankfully, this one was only about as high as her torso, so it didn't take much effort for her to hoist herself up onto it. Then she straightened to a standing position and placed one hand on the ceiling to steady herself.
She glanced down at the floor below. She was about twenty feet up now, but it felt a lot higher than that. In general, heights had never really bothered Roxanne. In fact, if she added up all the instances of dangling from Megamind's doomsday devices and sweeping through the sky with Metro Man over the years, she had probably spent more time off the ground than most amateur pilots.
Not every adventure in elevation had been a positive one, of course. Being tossed around like a ragdoll by Titan certainly hadn't been. Neither was sliding down a Metro Tower utility ladder while wearing a dress and heels. And Roxanne didn't even want to think about the last time she had been up there.
But with Megamind's schemes, there had always been a kind of safety net. With Wayne, she had simply been safe. However, neither of them was here right now, which made being this high off the ground suddenly unnerving.
Roxanne set her shoulders and carefully made her way to the edge.
She braced her feet upon the corner of the high platform, as close to the window as she could possibly get, and surveyed the distance to the wall. Its vertical surface wasn't far from where she stood now, but the gap would increase greatly as she drew closer to the window. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes.
"Come on," she murmured to herself. "You can do this."
She reached her arms out before she had the chance to change her mind. Then she opened her eyes again and leaned forward slightly until her hands touched the wall.
She felt the small bump of the tracking device on her right palm as she pressed against the stone. She wondered for a moment if she should try to peel the little chip off first. However, she wasn't sure if removing it would affect its signal, so she decided to leave it. After all, she wanted Megamind to know where she was, but she also wanted him to be aware that she was moving.
Roxanne exhaled slowly and risked a glance downward as she propped diagonally against the wall's surface. Compared to all the other times she'd been off the ground, this was relatively low. But it was still high enough to hurt her if she were to fall. Roxanne looked up, fixed her eyes on the window to her right, and began to move sideways toward it.
Slowly and carefully, she walked her hands along the wall, blowing out long, steadying breaths as she went. The farther she went, the more she began to notice an uncomfortable strain across her middle. With nothing to support it, Roxanne could feel her torso wanting to sag toward the floor. She grunted softly with the effort to keep her body plank-straight as she moved along.
Once she was stretched as far as she could reach, Roxanne glanced up to see her progress. Immediately, she felt her heart sink. The glass was still about a foot away. She had misjudged the distance between the platform and the window; she simply wasn't tall enough to reach it. From here, there was no way she'd have the leverage or the proximity she'd need to try and break the window, much less find a way to climb through it. And she couldn't take the risk of it not working the first time. Even with the growing sound of the storm outside, the breaking glass would be loud; she needed to be in a position to move fast and make it count.
There had to be some way to get closer.
Roxanne looked down at her feet as they hugged the very edge of the platform, then she trailed her gaze to one side. Just beside where she stood, there was another one of those fake tree limbs jutting outward sideways like a gnarled branch. Roxanne bit down on her bottom lip. She knew it wouldn't be as sturdy as the platform she was standing on now, but compared to the rest of the structure, that outcropping was actually much closer to the window. And the last one had held her weight when she had climbed to the first level . . .
Another flash of lightning illuminated the hallway, followed by a louder growl of thunder. Rain was pattering steadily against the window and streaming down the glass in thin rivulets.
"This is crazy," Roxanne whispered, shaking her head and squeezing her eyes shut. "Oh, this is just so completely crazy."
She took a deep breath and opened her eyes. She spread her fingers wide as she planted both hands firmly upon the wall. She could feel the round press of Megamind's tracking device upon her skin again. Her heart pounded against her ribcage, but she only allowed herself a brief pause. Then she slid one foot cautiously to the right.
The limb groaned a little and Roxanne felt it give slightly. She froze, though her heart continued to race. The branch held, so she shifted most of her weight onto that leg to test it further. When nothing else happened, Roxanne expelled a nervous burst of air and finally, tentatively, slid her other foot to join the first - leaving the solid platform behind. Her bottom lip automatically found its way between her teeth again and she tried not to think of the long drop beneath her as she moved carefully through space. She didn't look down; she kept her eyes fixed fiercely on the window.
Roxanne slid slowly along the fake branch. When her feet were finally level with her hands, she stopped and expelled a long, settling breath.
"Okay," she whispered forcefully to herself. "You're almost there."
Two more shifts of her arms and legs brought her directly in line with the glass. She braced her palms firmly against the curve of the window ledge. The fake branch felt like a narrow balance beam beneath the arches of her feet. Roxanne shifted all her weight to her left hand temporarily and reached back into the pocket of her blazer with her right. Her fingers found the hunk of cement she had placed there and wrapped around it tightly. Then she quickly brought her hand back to the window ledge before her other arm began to tremble from supporting all of her weight.
For a moment she allowed herself to rest, suspended in space - breathing, gathering her wits, and listening to the sound of the rain. She knew once she started, there wouldn't be time to waste; she was going to have to move very quickly. Roxanne narrowed her eyes at the window and clutched the cement chunk in her fist. She wound back. A loud crash of thunder echoed outside as she slammed the rock hard against the glass.
She grunted sharply from the force she put behind the blow. A shattering high note sounded through the hall, and Roxanne quickly dropped her arm to clutch the window ledge again, regaining her equilibrium. She looked up at the window to see a fist-sized starburst blooming upon the glass. The little streams of rainwater detoured erratically around the countless cracks. Roxanne smiled grimly. The break didn't go clean through, but at least the glass wasn't shatterproof. Another direct hit should do it.
Roxanne gripped the hunk of rock tightly, wound back a second time, and struck.
She felt her balance shift again as, this time, the rock smashed completely through the windowpane; the satisfying sound of shattering glass rang in her ears. She felt rhythmic drops of cool rain against her fist, and she breathed in the fresh, moist air from outside. Roxanne smiled again, her heart pounding with adrenaline.
Then another loud crack echoed through the hall as the branch beneath her feet suddenly snapped out from under her.
Roxanne's momentary elation shifted into abject panic as her lower half began falling through space. Her hold on the window ledge tightened as her body swung down in an arc and hit the wall hard, knocking the wind from her lungs. Her bare feet scrabbled frantically for purchase against the vertical concrete surface.
Roxanne immediately dropped the rock in her fist and reflexively grabbed at anything she could to pull herself up. Her hand closed around a shard of broken glass.
Roxanne cried out in pain and, before she could think, she let go of the window ledge.
Her bare feet hit the floor first and her legs crumpled beneath her as she fell into a painful heap. When the whirlwind around her had ceased, Roxanne found herself flat on her back in her cell, staring up at the broken window high overhead. Another bolt of lightning illuminated the sky beyond the glass.
Roxanne groaned and squeezed her eyes shut. Defeated tears pricked hotly at the very corners, but she was too angry to let them flow. She gritted her teeth in frustration.
Roxanne clenched her right hand tightly into a fist and cradled it against her with the other. She didn't have to look at it to know that there was probably a decent slice across her palm; she could feel it burn and throb as though it had its own miniature heartbeat. It was also beginning to feel warm and damp. She worried that she may have lost the tracking device when she grabbed the glass, but she couldn't bring herself to open her hand to check; it still hurt too much.
Roxanne groaned angrily as she lay upon the hard floor. She could feel a light mist of rainwater falling upon her face from the broken window.
Finally, she opened her eyes.
Owen's upside-down form was staring at her from the other side of the bars.
Roxanne gasped and scrambled to her knees. Her head spun dizzily from the sudden movement as she righted herself. Her injured hand ached as she clutched it against her chest. She scowled at Owen from her position on the floor. He had a large weapon slung over one shoulder. Roxanne recognized it as the one he had fired at her back at the café - the one Wayne had protected her from.
Owen glanced from her to the broken window and back again, raising an eyebrow and frowning. "What were you doing, Ms. Ritchi?" he asked suspiciously, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.
Roxanne immediately fumbled to a standing position. Her trembling muscles wavered slightly but she fought through it. She was determined to face Owen on her feet. She wasn't about to give him the satisfaction of standing over her. Her legs hurt from striking the floor, but at least it didn't feel as though she had broken anything. She continued to clutch her hand to her chest, pressing her fist closed against the painful pulse of the cut. She stepped closer to the bars, meeting Owen eye-to-eye.
"It was getting stuffy in here," she drawled in response. "Thought I'd let some air in."
Owen continued to frown at her. He propped the large weapon against the wall and twisted his body to grip at the hem of his cape as he approached Roxanne's cage. He blew out a heavy breath, his lips creating an annoyed flutter. "God," he grumbled, "were you this much trouble for him all those years?"
Roxanne narrowed her eyes into harsh slants. Owen had frightened her earlier, but now that feeling had passed. Now, she was simply angry, and her failed escape attempt only added to that. She felt the anger swell inside of her and she donned it like armor. Threats or no threats, Roxanne wasn't going to allow Owen to intimidate her again. She steadily met his gaze.
"I don't think you really want me to get into the differences between the two of you," she said, her voice quiet and harsh.
"Whatever," Owen grunted, though he only seemed to be half-listening to her. He continued to tug at the hem of his cape until Roxanne heard a ripping sound. She watched in confusion as he struggled to pull the fabric apart. Soon Owen had torn a strip of thin, black cloth from along the entire bottom of the cape, leaving the hem jagged and frayed.
Roxanne eyed him dubiously, half expecting him to ask if the tattered edges made him look more menacing.
"Seriously," Owen continued to mumble with a shake of his head. "Escape through the window? Even I could have told you that was a bad idea." He straightened and held the frayed strip of cloth up, smoothing his other hand down its length. "And the last thing I need is for him to think I did this to you."
Owen's hand shot forward and he seized her by the wrist.
"Hey!" Roxanne instinctively tried to pull away from his grasp. She braced herself against the bars with her other hand to keep Owen from pulling her toward him. "Let go of me!"
Owen grunted as he tightened his grip on her wrist. Roxanne continued to fight him, but he slowly managed to pry her fist away from her chest and through the bars. "My God, would you relax?" he grumbled. "It's not like I need him to have another reason to want to tear my head off. Now hold still!"
He squeezed his fingers against the base of her hand. Roxanne cried out reflexively as the pressure of his grip pinched her fresh cut. Her palm peeled open against her own volition to reveal a sticky, wet patch of red upon her light skin.
Owen grumbled incomprehensibly as he laid one end of the strip of cloth he had torn from his cape at the base of her wrist. He held it there and began to wind the fabric securely in place.
Roxanne watched him and, for a moment, she was so surprised she forgot to struggle. She stared at Owen with wide, suspicious eyes as he set about wrapping the makeshift bandage around her injury. He scowled as he worked, tension radiating off him in waves. He seemed more frustrated by the circumstance than genuinely concerned for her well-being, but his actions were still enough to catch Roxanne off guard.
In her shock, her hand relaxed and fell all the way open.
An instant later, she realized her mistake. A pulse of electric-blue circuitry flashed across the bottom edge of her vision. She gasped and looked down at her hand. At that same moment, Owen froze - halting his efforts to wrap the strip of cloth around her cut. Immediately, Roxanne tensed and tried to pull away again, bracing against the bars with her free hand, but Owen held her fast. Roxanne's gaze trailed slowly from her hand up to Owen's face. He was already looking at her. His eyes were wide and panicked.
"What . . . ?" he asked. His voice shook. His hands began to tremble. He tried unsuccessfully to hide the shaking by tightening his hold on her wrist. "What is this?"
Roxanne winced. Her eyes watered slightly from the sharp stab of pain his grip sent through her fresh cut. She squinted her eyes open and glared at him.
"I told you that Megamind would be coming," she said. "I wasn't just being melodramatic."
Owen's eyes widened even further. His gaze shifted back to the small chip on Roxanne's palm. "No," he breathed, shaking his head in protest. "No, no, not yet."
Roxanne tried again to yank her hand free, but he held her steady in his grip. He pulled on her arm as he fumbled roughly to scrape the tiny tracking device off her skin with his other hand. Roxanne winced again as the fingertip of his glove scratched over her cut. Once Owen had peeled the adhesive of the chip loose, he finally released her wrist with a shove.
Roxanne overbalanced and tumbled backwards onto the floor of her cell. The ribbon of cloth from Owen's cape fluttered in her wake and puddled beside her like a tattered mummy's bandage. She snatched it up and continued to wind it tightly around her wound herself. She glanced back up at Owen.
He stared in horror at the small azure device between his gloved fingers for a moment. Then he flung it to the floor as though it had burned him and stomped on it over and over like he was killing a spider.
"No, no, no . . . !" he protested with each pound of his boot against the floor. He clenched his fists at his sides and ground his heel into the device one more time for good measure. The blue light of the tracking device dulled and died as the tiny fragments scattered upon the concrete. Owen brushed them away from him with his boot, putting some distance between him and the pulverized remains. Then he turned his furious glare upon Roxanne.
She returned his look unflinchingly as she tucked the ends of her makeshift bandage securely into place.
"I left him cards," Owen insisted. "I left him clues. That's how he's supposed to find me. Because of me - not because of you." A shudder rippled through him as he glared at her. "You don't get to twist the game in your favor by treating this like it's some kind of rescue, Ms. Ritchi. That's not why you're here."
Roxanne's stare hardened as she flexed her hand against the dressing surrounding her injury. "You're crazy," she finally told him, climbing back to her feet. "But it doesn’t matter, you know. You can be as cryptic as you want, Owen, but you and I both know that Megamind will find you." She wrapped her hands around the bars of the cage and lowered her voice. "It doesn't matter if I'm here or not; it doesn't matter if he has a tracking signal to follow or not. After what you did - after everything you did - he'll find you."
Another visible tremor shivered over Owen's body, but he managed to sneer at her. "Then I better make sure I'm ready, shouldn't I?"
He turned on his heel and tromped hastily over to the table with the projector. He picked up two remote devices that had been sitting beside it. Roxanne could see the young man's hands quiver as he fumbled to flip a switch on the larger one. A small light bulb at the top glowed orange, and he slipped the remote into one of the deep pockets of his cargo pants. The other device was much smaller, like a laser-pointer. He aimed it at the projector and squeezed his thumb against it. The machine turned on and a rectangle of light slowly appeared upon the white screen. No images were being projected, however - just the light. Owen slipped that remote into his pocket as well.
As Roxanne watched him, her jaw clenched, grinding her back teeth together anxiously. Nearly everything Owen had said and done since they had arrived here had left her baffled and confused: his reasons behind all those attacks, his apparent animosity toward her, his insistence that he was doing all this to help Megamind somehow . . .
So many unanswered questions circulated through the reporter's brain endlessly. However, there was only one thing she needed to know right away:
"Did you really hurt him?" she asked, her voice softening involuntarily as she spoke.
Owen turned back to her, his face looking confused, anxious, and impatient. "What?" he snapped.
"Minion," she clarified. "Did you-?" Her voice quavered slightly. She swallowed hard. "Is he dead?"
Owen stared back at her. His face was stony and impassive, but physically he looked highly agitated. His shoulders rose and fell in large movements as he took deep breaths in and out through his nose. After a moment, he merely shook his head. "I don't know."
Roxanne narrowed her eyes at him. "What do you mean you don't know-?"
"Look, he wasn't even supposed to be there, all right?" Owen shot back angrily. "I watched the car leave - they always leave together. Don't you think I know that they always leave together?" Owen bristled. His fingers rubbed together anxiously. "How was I supposed to know the fish had stayed behind this time?" He shook his head. "I told you I didn't want to do it, Ms. Ritchi. But he didn't give me a choice."
Roxanne scowled at him. "What you haven't told me, Owen, was what he would have stopped you from doing," she said. "If you really did hurt Minion, you've made things even worse for yourself - you have to know that." She paused, regarding him icily. "Was it worth it?" she asked, her voice pitching low and quivering in anger. "Whatever your plan was . . . was it worth it?"
Owen stared at her for a moment, then his face split into a feverish grin. "Ohhh no, Ms. Ritchi," he droned, shaking his head reproachfully as he wagged one finger back and forth in her direction. "You don't get to make this about my mistakes. If this is anyone's fault, it's yours." He arched an eyebrow. "And you know what? In a way, that fish may have actually done me a favor. Maybe it's better that I didn't do this in the lair. Megamind might have thought it was a trick - a fabrication. Maybe it's better that it worked out this way. Because with you here, he can look you in the eye when I show him how you used him."
"You're insane," Roxanne breathed.
"And you ruined my life!" Owen shouted back at her, his voice cracking shrilly.
Roxanne flinched away from the bars, but continued to scowl heatedly at him.
Owen's body began trembling even more violently. He was furious. "I had a purpose once, you know," he said, his voice shaking. "I knew exactly what I wanted and what I was meant for." His hands clenched tightly into fists. "All those things I've been trying to show him - all the plans, the blueprints, the inventions . . . You think I came up with all that just over the past few months?" Owen giggled harshly and shook his head. "Think again! That was years' worth of work! I spent half my life waiting to show him what I could do."
Roxanne swallowed thickly and steeled herself. "You admired him," she said breathlessly. "Megamind. You-"
"Admired him?" Owen asked, cutting her off. He frowned darkly. "Shows what you know. That guy was my freaking hero," he hissed through his teeth. "Not this city's - mine. And true fans don't abandon their heroes, Ms. Ritchi." His eyes narrowed and he grit his teeth savagely as he looked her up and down. "Not even when they sell out."
Roxanne clenched her fists furiously. "And the buildings you targeted," she said. "That was why you chose them? To prove some kind of twisted point?"
"It's not like it was hard," Owen replied snidely. "It's amazing how people don't even look twice at a guy with a delivery uniform and a paper bag." He snorted derisively and shook his head with a dry grin. "Even that cop in the guard booth hardly batted an eye when I handed it to him. He just mumbled something about having to be the messenger boy every time somebody on the inside ordered lunch. And when he set it aside without even looking at it - or at me - I knew I was free and clear."
Roxanne wrapped her hands around the bars again and glared at Owen fiercely. "Destroying all the places that played a role in Megamind becoming the city's hero isn't going to put everything back the way it was, you know," she said. "It takes a lot more than that to change a person."
"I know that!" Owen growled in response. "I'm not stupid." He prowled back and forth for a few paces in front of her cell. "But throw in throngs of cheering idiots, some novelty knick-knacks with his face on them, an oversized public monument or two . . ." Owen stepped back and appraised Roxanne again, his lips twisting nastily. ". . . And let's not forget a persuasive smile from a pretty girl."
Roxanne fixed him with a hostile glare.
"Given all that, I can't blame him for switching sides," Owen mused. "For someone like him, it would be hard to turn away from that sort of public approval. Heck, he even thought his main rival was dead. Of course," Owen added with a dry, humorless chuckle, "we both know that's a lie, too, don't we?" He shook his head, placing his hands on his hips. "No, I don't blame Megamind for what happened, Ms. Ritchi. Not at all." He pinned his eyes on Roxanne with a hateful sneer. "I blame you."
"You really are crazy, then," Roxanne retorted, keeping her voice calm and even.
"Then that's your fault, too," he snarled in response. "Imagine having all your life's plans crushed just when you were getting ready to finally act on them. Megamind would have helped me; I know he would have. Because I was probably the only one in this whole freaking city who admired him the way he was. He would have accepted me the way I accepted him. But I never got the chance to show him." Owen's face twisted as he regarded her. "You took away my purpose, Ms. Ritchi," he said. "But now you're going to help me get it back."
Roxanne hardly blinked as she glared back at the unstable young man before her. There was a tight clenching in her chest, but it wasn't from fear. It was from fury.
"I don't know what you've done today, Owen," she said. "I don't know what you've done to Minion, or how you think you're going to use me and Metro Man to get what you want. But I do know one thing . . ." Roxanne glowered at him, her low voice resonating with challenge. "If you somehow manage to drag Megamind down to your level, I swear I'll make you pay for it myself."
Owen approached the bars and loomed a breath away from her face. Roxanne met his eyes defiantly and refused to flinch away.
"Take your best shot, Ms. Ritchi," he hissed at her.
The tense standoff was broken a second later, when the far wall of the zoo's main chamber suddenly exploded in a massive eruption of fire and granite.
Both Owen and Roxanne shielded their eyes against the blast as chunks of old masonry surged inward to litter the length of the hallway floor. A brisk wind from the storm outside swirled dust, debris, smoke, and rain together in front of the new, gaping hole in the side of the building.
Roxanne coughed several times as the dust settled and waved one hand in front of her face to clear the air. Then her breath caught in her throat.
A slender silhouette with an oversized cranium stepped deliberately through the haze and into view.
The light of the dehydration gun faded as he brandished it beside his shoulder. He advanced a few more steps, coming to a halt just inside the yawning hole he had created. His eyes fell upon Roxanne and she thought she was able to detect the barest flicker of relief in his face.
The moment he shifted his gaze to the young man beside her, however, his expression immediately darkened.
"Ollo, Owen," Megamind said coldly.
Click here for Chapter 13.