Old Friend -- Chapter 5!
OK, here it is! Chapter 5 of Old Friend! I hope you guys like this one! :D
In case you missed the previous chapters, you can find them here:
Chapter: /1/ /2/ /3/ /4/
Author: Megam1nd
Story Title: Old Friend
Chapter Title: Chapter 5
Chapter Rating: G
Overall Rating: PG
Chapter Warnings: None
Overall Warnings: Suggestive themes, religious themes
Crossover: Despicable Me
Pairings: Megamind/Roxanne Ritchi
Summary: Megamind has never celebrated Christmas before. Roxanne insists he throw a Christmas party at the lair and invite an old friend to truly experience the magic of the holiday.
Chapter Word Count: 4,105
Old Friend
Chapter 5
After bouncing back and forth between his guests for a while, trying to make sure everyone was having a good time while Minion kept an eye on the snacks and drinks, Megamind finally leaned up against a wall with a sigh of relief, Gru joining him. “Whew! Parties are hard work for a hero!” he practically panted, chuckling as his eyes met the villain’s. “Everyone wants to shake your hand! Still, being good has its benefits.” He turned and grinned almost evilly at Gru, his eyes mischievous as he suggested, “The perks are great! Are you sure you don’t want to give it up, Gru? Being good really isn’t so bad.”
Gru lifted a finger and opened his mouth to reply, but before he could, Margot slipped up beside him as if from nowhere and insisted confidently, “He has a point, Dad.” Megamind chuckled as she moved to stand beside him, Edith and Agnes following behind her. “I’ve been saying it all along. Maybe you should listen. Megamind’s very smart, you know… You should take his advice. He won’t lead you wrong.”
“Margot, this is a conversation between me and Megamind,” Gru scolded the young girl firmly. “Your opinion has been noted. Now if you would just leave us alone…”
“We’re bored!” Edith protested loudly. “We want to hang out with Megamind!”
Megamind laughed, but Gru was adamant. “Megamind is busy! Now respect my wishes, and leave us be! I thought I saw the other kids playing pin the tail on the reindeer or something… Go play that!”
“No, that’s dumb…” Edith groaned, but her eyes lit up as she spotted Megamind’s dehydration gun in its holster on his hip, and unable to control her curiosity, she darted forward to grab it as she asked, “Hey, what does this do?”
Megamind screeched as he realized the girl had gotten a hold of his gun and was now aiming it right at him. Darting quickly forward, he managed to knock her aim aside, but the weapon fired, hitting a nearby police officer instead. He squealed in alarm as the man suddenly turned into a shimmering blue cube on the floor, and he tore the dehydration gun out of Edith’s hands as he cried, “Give me that!” He groaned loudly, then shouted across the room to where Minion was looking in his direction in concern, “Minion! Get me some water! And hurry!”
As Minion hurried to obey his master’s command, Megamind knelt down to pick up the cube before anyone else could notice what had happened. “Cool!” he heard Edith exclaim in delight, and turned to frown at her. “What did it do?” she was asking excitedly. “Is the change permanent?”
“Luckily, no,” Megamind groaned at her. “I had it set to dehydrate, not destroy…”
“Edith!” Gru scolded the girl, looking her directly in her eye, the sternest look on his face he could muster. “We’ve talked about this! Weapons are not toys! Megamind only has that gun on him for emergencies! Right, Megamind?” He cast a questioning glance to the blue hero for confirmation. Megamind nodded his giant blue head seriously. Gru sighed and shook his head. Why did his girls always pick the worst times to act up? “Please, Edith, try to behave?” Edith shifted on her feet, trying to look guilty, and he groaned out loud. He loved his girls, but sometimes he could swear they’d be the death of him…
“Here you go, Sir!” Minion cried, rushing up to the blue hero with a glass of water.
“Ah, thank you, Minion,” Megamind sighed in relief, taking the cup from his fishy friend. Placing the cube back on the ground, he declared, “Now to fix this mistake…” and dumped the glass of water on the glowing blue block.
The cube trembled, then popped back into shape, the policeman reforming before their eyes looking a bit confused and a little dazed, but otherwise no worse for wear. Megamind hurried forward and brushed him off, apologizing profusely in embarrassment, “Oh, I’m so sorry, officer! The little girl got a hold of my gun… Uh, it won’t happen again, I swear! No harm done, right? You’re fine! Now go with Minion… He’ll get you a nice hot cocoa and we’ll forget this ever happened, huh?” The policeman raised an eyebrow at him as he laughed anxiously, but chuckled as he shook his head and turned to follow Minion as Megamind had suggested.
Megamind watched the policeman go, wringing his hands nervously, then turned back to Gru as he moaned, “Oh, my gosh, that was too close… I’m going to have to install a better safety lock on my dehydration gun now… I don’t want to go back to jail!”
“Don’t worry, you won’t!” Edith assured him confidently.
“Yeah, heroes don’t go to jail!” Agnes chimed in, then she and Edith took off to explore as Megamind rolled his eyes and groaned.
Margot hesitated for a moment, her eyes on Megamind, then stepping in just a hair closer to him, she insisted, “Relax, Megamind… They have a point. You’re a hero… No one’s going to send you to prison for a child’s mistake.” His eyes met hers and she smiled at him, then took off after her sisters, the two yellow minions following closely behind her.
Megamind sighed and collapsed against the wall with a heavy thud. “I don’t know what to make of your girls, Gru,” he admitted as the villain chuckled beside him. “Edith and Agnes seem determined to give me a heart attack before the night is out, but at least Margot seems to have some control… Do they cause this much trouble at home with you?”
Gru nodded, laughing softly. “All the time,” he responded honestly. “They’re always getting into things, playing jokes, making messes… They know how to get under your skin, I’ll give them that, but they also know how to warm your heart. I’m not ashamed to admit it: I love those girls. I will never let them go again.”
Megamind was about to reply when he suddenly noticed the music had changed. Instead of his carefully selected Christmas playlist, pop music was now blasting out over the loudspeakers. His mouth dropped open as he realized his lights weren’t syncing properly either, and one quick glance to his central control system told him why: The two yellow minions were laughing and playing with the controls, bickering with each other and randomly pressing buttons as Edith and Agnes stood nearby laughing. Margot was a few yards away, hiding her face in her hand, refusing to have any part of it.
Upset that his party had been so rudely interrupted, his equipment sparking as the minions began to bang on it, Megamind immediately flew into action. Charging over to his sound system, he shouted at them, “Get away from that, you little yellow gremlins!” The minions screamed as he chased after them, running away from him as even Edith and Agnes scattered before him. “You’d better run, you pea-brained mutants!” Megamind shouted after them after he’d successfully managed to scare them away. “Don’t touch my equipment again!”
Drawing in a deep, calming breath as Minion arrived by his side to help him, Megamind assured his confused guests, “Just bear with me a few minutes here, Folks… I have to realign the lasers and sync up the music…” He shrugged at them with his best, well-practiced what-can-you-do look as he joked, “Kids and technology. It’s a potent mix, am I right?” To his relief, everyone laughed in agreement and complete understanding, and he turned his attention to the sparking equipment as he tried to quickly repair the damage and get things running again.
It took a few minutes, but with Megamind’s genius and nimble technologically skilled fingers working at it, the sound system and the lights were soon up and running again as though nothing had happened. Megamind was greeted by a round of applause for his success, and waving at his guests as he insisted they continue to enjoy themselves, he headed directly over to the snack table to get a candy cane to suck on to soothe his nerves.
Megamind had almost made it to the table when the whole thing was suddenly uprooted and tossed aside, snacks, candies, and chips flying everywhere as the blue hero suddenly found himself being bowled over by a swarm of overexcited brainbots all chattering away at once. Looking up at them in confusion, he was shocked to see one of them being ridden by a small yellow minion, the others chasing after it to try to help it dislodge its unwanted passenger. Edith, Agnes, and the second minion were following the swarm below, laughing as they practically ran right over Megamind in pursuit. Margot, again, was nowhere to be found.
Megamind’s hands clenched into fists as he realized his entire snack table and all the tasty treats on it had been ruined, and leaping to his feet, he roared at the top of his lungs, “BRAINBOTS! COME TO DADDY!”
The pack of brainbots all stopped in their tracks, turning quickly to heed their master’s call. The one being ridden by the minion, however, seemed to have difficulty directing its flight path, and was the last to respond to Megamind’s unhappy command. Edith and Agnes huddled to the side as Megamind strode forward and ripped the minion off his creation, scolding it, “You behave, or I’ll have you thrown out of my lair along with your buddy!” The minion whimpered and trembled, babbling something incomprehensible, and he tossed it aside in frustration. Turning to his brainbots, he frowned at them, wagging a finger in their faces. “Now what did I tell you? I said to remain at the ceiling! But did you listen to Daddy? No! There will be no fetching tonight. Now get back up there where you belong.” The brainbots all barked at him in a rather sad way, but he gestured firmly towards the ceiling, daring them to defy him. “I said GO! NOW!” They obeyed without another moment’s hesitation, and Megamind sighed as he turned to face the mess that had been made, his shoulders drooping in disappointment.
“I’ll clean it up, Sir,” Minion assured him, hurrying over with a broom and dustpan. Smiling at his blue friend cheerfully, he assured him, “Don’t worry, Sir! We have plenty in reserve. I’ll just set the tables back up and bring out some more. Why don’t you go make yourself a peppermint cocoa? That’ll make you feel better.”
“Thanks, Minion,” Megamind sighed in relief, wiping a hand across his forehead as he tried to relax. “You are one fantastic fish.” Turning to his guests, he apologized again, “It seems this night will be full of surprises, huh? Don’t worry; more snacks are on the way! Hopefully this will be the last disaster of the evening.” Thankfully, everyone laughed again, and Megamind headed off to make himself some hot chocolate, hoping against hope this would be the last time Gru’s girls and his minions would cause trouble at his party…
It wasn’t.
Returning to the party with a steaming cup of cocoa in his hand, Megamind’s eyes immediately began looking for the girls. Unable to find them, he quickened his pace over to Gru and demanded, “Where are the girls? Did you see where they went?”
Gru shook his head, looking entirely embarrassed. “No, I’m afraid I did not…”
Megamind shot him a pointed look. “Will they behave now?”
“Uh…” was all Gru managed to say, an uncertain look on his face as he shrugged, but a loud bang issuing from the other side of the lair drew both his and Megamind’s attention…
As he heard the unmistakable sound of robotic hooves and mechanical bleating heading towards the main room, Megamind’s face went pale. “Oh no…” he groaned, and in a flash he was off, dashing as fast as he could through the crowd towards the sound of an oncoming stampede. He was too late to stop it. A metal gate swung open and about a dozen robotic sheep came charging out, rushing straight into the middle of the party as the guests began to scream and run for cover. His experimental robo-sheep were on the loose…
Doing his best to push his way through the terrified crowd, dodging the uncoordinated movements of bleating, bucking robotic sheep, Megamind quickly made his way towards the control room adjoining the main hall. “Minion!” he shouted desperately over the sound of screams, the fish’s robotic body stomping into the room to join him as they both began to frantically press buttons on the large control panel, Megamind making a mental note of the two girls and two minions trying to slip quietly from the room. Ignoring them for now, he focused his attention on the controls, desperately trying to stop the sheep’s rampage. “Minion! I thought I told you to disassemble the robo-sheep!” he scolded the alien fish sharply.
“I’m sorry, Sir!” Minion cried, pressing buttons as frantically as his master. “I’ve been meaning to get around to it, but we’ve been so busy, and they were just so cute…”
“I don’t want to hear excuses, Minion, I want to see results!” Megamind shouted, and as he hit a final button, he was relieved to see the robo-sheep come to a halt, their systems shutting down as they fell over where they stood. Breathing heavily, he wiped a hand across his brow as he sighed in relief, “Thank goodness they didn’t activate the electrical fleece of doom!” He groaned. “Come on, Minion. Let’s go clean up this mess and try to settle the guests back down…”
Stepping back into the lair’s great hall, Megamind gestured to his guests that it was safe to come back out. As the screams subsided along with the sheep, he apologized for the third time that night, “I, uh… I’m very sorry for the disruption… I am still in the process of dismantling some of my earlier designs, and I’m ashamed to admit this was one of them… It’s safe now; the robo-sheep have been deactivated, and will be removed immediately. Please, don’t be afraid… I won’t let any harm come to you! Let us continue to celebrate, and rest assured I will do everything in my power to make sure nothing like this happens again!”
This time there was no applause to greet him, though the guests all muttered their gratitude for the robo-sheep’s demise, slowly returning from their hiding places to restart the party. Megamind immediately began barking orders to his brainbots, the chattering mechanical creatures swooping in to carry off the robotic sheep at his command, Minion doing his best to tidy up any damage done to the decorations and furniture. Casting a quick glance towards his special nativity scene, Megamind heaved a heavy sigh of relief as he realized it had survived the attack in one piece and remained undamaged. Well, at least that was encouraging.
Once everything had been cleaned up, Megamind spent the next half an hour passing between his guests, making sure they were all right, assuring them he was in control of the situation, and doing his best to cheer them up. Trusting in their blue hero to ensure their safety, it wasn’t long before everyone was laughing happily again, dancing, and just enjoying the party.
Music Man found Megamind soon afterwards alone in a corner, just breathing and looking awfully distressed. “There you are, Little Buddy,” he greeted him warmly, but the blue superhero just looked at him sadly, and he leaned up against the wall beside him. “Some party, huh?”
“This isn’t how I planned it…” Megamind sighed, smiling weakly as he spotted Roxanne heading towards him. His new fiancé wrapped a supportive hand around his waist, her eyes understanding as he groaned, “Everything was supposed to run perfectly tonight… This has just been one disaster after another. I don’t even want to know what those girls or the minions will do next…” He looked worriedly up at Music Man as he admitted awkwardly, “Those robo-sheep were not the only weapons of doom I was in the process of developing back then… What if they release the others? Then we’ll all be in trouble…”
Music Man patted Megamind encouragingly on the shoulder while Roxanne squeezed him tight, but before either could say a word to reassure him, Megamind’s eyes widened as he spotted Edith staring up at his nativity scene, her hand reaching up towards it as Agnes and the minions watched curiously from beside her. His heart in his throat, he darted towards her as quickly as he could, crying desperately, “No! Don’t touch that! You’ll…”
He never got to finish his sentence, Edith’s hand slipping as she dropped the figure of the blue baby Jesus, the ceramic icon crashing to the cement floor and breaking into pieces…
The silence that spread throughout the lair as the guests took notice of what had happened was deafening. The look on Megamind’s face as he fell to his knees to gather the broken figure in his blue hands was heart wrenching. “Break it…” he finally whispered the last two words to his sentence, his voice cracking as he choked. This couldn’t be happening…
Edith froze in shock as she realized what she’d done, her hands flying to her mouth as Gru arrived, frowning as he pulled her back away from Megamind. Shaking her head as she tore out of her adoptive father’s grip, she took a step in towards Megamind, her eyes on his. He wasn’t looking at her… The blue alien’s green eyes were focused entirely on the broken fragments of his most cherished figure as he seemed about to cry… “Megamind, I…” she started to apologize, but the look in his eyes was pained, and she suddenly felt so guilty she couldn’t speak…
Squeezing the pieces of his infant Christ figure tightly in his hand over his heart, Megamind slowly rose to his feet and called to Minion. “Minion… Get me my superglue. We can’t have a Christmas party without its central figure.”
“Right away, Sir…” Minion nodded, casting his best friend a sympathetic gaze, then hurried off to fetch the glue.
When Roxanne arrived at his side and pulled him into her arms, Megamind accepted the embrace gladly, sighing against her as he squeezed her tight. He closed his eyes for a moment, merely savoring her warmth as he drew comfort from her nearness and tried to resist the urge to cry he felt welling up inside of him. Nothing was going as he had planned, and now even his favorite figure of his nativity scene - the one he’d put the most work into, the one that meant the most to him - was broken, its pieces held tightly in his hand. Even Gru was looking at him sympathetically, the party seeming to have come to a halt as every eye watched him sadly. Pulling back from Roxanne’s arms after a moment, Megamind quickly brushed his hand over his eyes, then forced a weak smile onto his lips as he turned to his guests and insisted, “Come on, everyone! This is a party! It’s supposed to be a time of joy and happiness, not mel-on-cholly. Don’t worry, this will be fixed in just a matter of minutes. Don’t stop the music on account of an accident! Go on! Celebrate!”
The guests slowly turned away to go back to the party, but as Gru shook his head at Edith, he couldn’t help but overhear one of the men nearby him mutter to his friend, “Poor Megamind… He’s trying so hard, but those kids keep getting in his way… I feel bad for him. You could see how much of his heart he put into those figures too… A shame the most important one had to break.” Gru’s heart twisted into a knot as he looked over to where Megamind was gluing his figure back together again, Roxanne gently running a soothing hand over his back in an attempt to comfort him. His girls certainly had put the blue hero through a lot in one night… He couldn’t help but feel responsible.
Once the figure was glued back together again and in place, Gru tried to approach him. “Megamind…” he called his name, and the ex-supervillain’s eyes met his. Gru scratched his head and tried to apologize, “I’m really sorry… Uh…”
Edith cut him off before he could finish, “No, Dad… It’s me who should be apologizing.” Turning to face Megamind, she took a few steps towards her hero, Agnes right behind her, both of them looking entirely guilty and as submissive as they could be. Megamind blinked at them. “I’m sorry, Megamind…” Edith apologized sadly, looking up at him through big watery eyes. “I didn’t mean to cause any trouble… I was just curious… Your home is so fascinating! I couldn’t help myself. I’m sorry…”
“I’m sorry too…” Agnes pouted, taking Megamind’s hand in hers. “Can you forgive us?”
Megamind stared down at the little girl holding his hand, unsure how to feel about everything that had happened. The girls… No, the minions had caused him so much trouble, had almost wrecked his party and frightened his guests…They’d had him running ragged trying to clean up after them since they got here, and had strung these girls along for the ride. Now his favorite figure in his centerpiece had been broken… Edith and Agnes were asking him to forgive them, Gru busily scolding the two yellow creations of science and banishing them from the party to wait outside instead. He blinked as he spotted Margot nearby, her eyes hopeful and distressed, and realized the older girl had had no part in any of this, but wanted desperately for everyone to get along. Glancing back down to Edith and Agnes, he was surprised to see tears threatening to form in Agnes’s big brown eyes, her lower lip trembling, and his heart melted. Kneeling down to her level, he placed a hand on her shoulder as he gestured for Edith to come closer so he could do the same to her. Looking back and forth from one girl’s eyes to the other’s, he insisted seriously, “Listen, I’m a hero… I believe in second chances. I know that most of the trouble here was probably not your fault, but Dave and Phil’s… Am I right?” The girls nodded. “Then don’t worry. I forgive you. But I do have to ask you to try to be more careful, all right? I did my best to make sure this place was safe enough, but you seem to have a knack for finding things you shouldn’t be getting into. I’m trying to have a party here, and I can’t enjoy that if I’m having to worry about what you’re getting into and who it might hurt. Do you understand?”
Both girls nodded and chorused in unison, “Yes, Mr. Megamind.”
Megamind smiled at them, then gave them both a little push as he suggested, “Good! Now go enjoy yourselves - but be good! I hear Santa will be here in a few minutes, and you don’t want him to think you’ve been bad, do you? I hear he’s bringing gifts, and I’d like to see you get them!”
Both girls’ eyes lit up as they exclaimed together, “Yay! Presents!” and trotted off to get some candy canes. Gru heaved a heavy sigh of relief.
“Thank you, Megamind,” Megamind heard a soft voice speak up from beside him, and blinked as he noticed Margot standing awkwardly beside him. “I know my sisters can be a little… troublesome at times, but they mean well. I’m just sorry your figure got broken… It was very beautiful.”
“Thank you,” Megamind sighed, smiling softly. “I worked very hard on it.”
“I could tell,” Margot smiled at him. “I’m glad you were able to fix it. It’s the perfect centerpiece.” She turned to follow her sisters, but paused to call back, blushing softly, “Don’t worry, I’ll do my best to keep Edith and Agnes out of any further trouble. I’d hate to see them receive coal from Santa.” Without another word, she hurried after her sisters.
“I really am sorry, Megamind…” Gru apologized guiltily, an almost helpless look on his face as he moved to stand before the superhero. “You grow to love them though, I swear… They really are very sweet.”
“I’m sure they are,” Megamind chuckled, then gestured for Gru and Roxanne to follow him. “Now come on. Let’s go get ready for Santa Clause’s big entrance.”
In case you missed the previous chapters, you can find them here:
Chapter: /1/ /2/ /3/ /4/
Author: Megam1nd
Story Title: Old Friend
Chapter Title: Chapter 5
Chapter Rating: G
Overall Rating: PG
Chapter Warnings: None
Overall Warnings: Suggestive themes, religious themes
Crossover: Despicable Me
Pairings: Megamind/Roxanne Ritchi
Summary: Megamind has never celebrated Christmas before. Roxanne insists he throw a Christmas party at the lair and invite an old friend to truly experience the magic of the holiday.
Chapter Word Count: 4,105
Old Friend
Chapter 5
After bouncing back and forth between his guests for a while, trying to make sure everyone was having a good time while Minion kept an eye on the snacks and drinks, Megamind finally leaned up against a wall with a sigh of relief, Gru joining him. “Whew! Parties are hard work for a hero!” he practically panted, chuckling as his eyes met the villain’s. “Everyone wants to shake your hand! Still, being good has its benefits.” He turned and grinned almost evilly at Gru, his eyes mischievous as he suggested, “The perks are great! Are you sure you don’t want to give it up, Gru? Being good really isn’t so bad.”
Gru lifted a finger and opened his mouth to reply, but before he could, Margot slipped up beside him as if from nowhere and insisted confidently, “He has a point, Dad.” Megamind chuckled as she moved to stand beside him, Edith and Agnes following behind her. “I’ve been saying it all along. Maybe you should listen. Megamind’s very smart, you know… You should take his advice. He won’t lead you wrong.”
“Margot, this is a conversation between me and Megamind,” Gru scolded the young girl firmly. “Your opinion has been noted. Now if you would just leave us alone…”
“We’re bored!” Edith protested loudly. “We want to hang out with Megamind!”
Megamind laughed, but Gru was adamant. “Megamind is busy! Now respect my wishes, and leave us be! I thought I saw the other kids playing pin the tail on the reindeer or something… Go play that!”
“No, that’s dumb…” Edith groaned, but her eyes lit up as she spotted Megamind’s dehydration gun in its holster on his hip, and unable to control her curiosity, she darted forward to grab it as she asked, “Hey, what does this do?”
Megamind screeched as he realized the girl had gotten a hold of his gun and was now aiming it right at him. Darting quickly forward, he managed to knock her aim aside, but the weapon fired, hitting a nearby police officer instead. He squealed in alarm as the man suddenly turned into a shimmering blue cube on the floor, and he tore the dehydration gun out of Edith’s hands as he cried, “Give me that!” He groaned loudly, then shouted across the room to where Minion was looking in his direction in concern, “Minion! Get me some water! And hurry!”
As Minion hurried to obey his master’s command, Megamind knelt down to pick up the cube before anyone else could notice what had happened. “Cool!” he heard Edith exclaim in delight, and turned to frown at her. “What did it do?” she was asking excitedly. “Is the change permanent?”
“Luckily, no,” Megamind groaned at her. “I had it set to dehydrate, not destroy…”
“Edith!” Gru scolded the girl, looking her directly in her eye, the sternest look on his face he could muster. “We’ve talked about this! Weapons are not toys! Megamind only has that gun on him for emergencies! Right, Megamind?” He cast a questioning glance to the blue hero for confirmation. Megamind nodded his giant blue head seriously. Gru sighed and shook his head. Why did his girls always pick the worst times to act up? “Please, Edith, try to behave?” Edith shifted on her feet, trying to look guilty, and he groaned out loud. He loved his girls, but sometimes he could swear they’d be the death of him…
“Here you go, Sir!” Minion cried, rushing up to the blue hero with a glass of water.
“Ah, thank you, Minion,” Megamind sighed in relief, taking the cup from his fishy friend. Placing the cube back on the ground, he declared, “Now to fix this mistake…” and dumped the glass of water on the glowing blue block.
The cube trembled, then popped back into shape, the policeman reforming before their eyes looking a bit confused and a little dazed, but otherwise no worse for wear. Megamind hurried forward and brushed him off, apologizing profusely in embarrassment, “Oh, I’m so sorry, officer! The little girl got a hold of my gun… Uh, it won’t happen again, I swear! No harm done, right? You’re fine! Now go with Minion… He’ll get you a nice hot cocoa and we’ll forget this ever happened, huh?” The policeman raised an eyebrow at him as he laughed anxiously, but chuckled as he shook his head and turned to follow Minion as Megamind had suggested.
Megamind watched the policeman go, wringing his hands nervously, then turned back to Gru as he moaned, “Oh, my gosh, that was too close… I’m going to have to install a better safety lock on my dehydration gun now… I don’t want to go back to jail!”
“Don’t worry, you won’t!” Edith assured him confidently.
“Yeah, heroes don’t go to jail!” Agnes chimed in, then she and Edith took off to explore as Megamind rolled his eyes and groaned.
Margot hesitated for a moment, her eyes on Megamind, then stepping in just a hair closer to him, she insisted, “Relax, Megamind… They have a point. You’re a hero… No one’s going to send you to prison for a child’s mistake.” His eyes met hers and she smiled at him, then took off after her sisters, the two yellow minions following closely behind her.
Megamind sighed and collapsed against the wall with a heavy thud. “I don’t know what to make of your girls, Gru,” he admitted as the villain chuckled beside him. “Edith and Agnes seem determined to give me a heart attack before the night is out, but at least Margot seems to have some control… Do they cause this much trouble at home with you?”
Gru nodded, laughing softly. “All the time,” he responded honestly. “They’re always getting into things, playing jokes, making messes… They know how to get under your skin, I’ll give them that, but they also know how to warm your heart. I’m not ashamed to admit it: I love those girls. I will never let them go again.”
Megamind was about to reply when he suddenly noticed the music had changed. Instead of his carefully selected Christmas playlist, pop music was now blasting out over the loudspeakers. His mouth dropped open as he realized his lights weren’t syncing properly either, and one quick glance to his central control system told him why: The two yellow minions were laughing and playing with the controls, bickering with each other and randomly pressing buttons as Edith and Agnes stood nearby laughing. Margot was a few yards away, hiding her face in her hand, refusing to have any part of it.
Upset that his party had been so rudely interrupted, his equipment sparking as the minions began to bang on it, Megamind immediately flew into action. Charging over to his sound system, he shouted at them, “Get away from that, you little yellow gremlins!” The minions screamed as he chased after them, running away from him as even Edith and Agnes scattered before him. “You’d better run, you pea-brained mutants!” Megamind shouted after them after he’d successfully managed to scare them away. “Don’t touch my equipment again!”
Drawing in a deep, calming breath as Minion arrived by his side to help him, Megamind assured his confused guests, “Just bear with me a few minutes here, Folks… I have to realign the lasers and sync up the music…” He shrugged at them with his best, well-practiced what-can-you-do look as he joked, “Kids and technology. It’s a potent mix, am I right?” To his relief, everyone laughed in agreement and complete understanding, and he turned his attention to the sparking equipment as he tried to quickly repair the damage and get things running again.
It took a few minutes, but with Megamind’s genius and nimble technologically skilled fingers working at it, the sound system and the lights were soon up and running again as though nothing had happened. Megamind was greeted by a round of applause for his success, and waving at his guests as he insisted they continue to enjoy themselves, he headed directly over to the snack table to get a candy cane to suck on to soothe his nerves.
Megamind had almost made it to the table when the whole thing was suddenly uprooted and tossed aside, snacks, candies, and chips flying everywhere as the blue hero suddenly found himself being bowled over by a swarm of overexcited brainbots all chattering away at once. Looking up at them in confusion, he was shocked to see one of them being ridden by a small yellow minion, the others chasing after it to try to help it dislodge its unwanted passenger. Edith, Agnes, and the second minion were following the swarm below, laughing as they practically ran right over Megamind in pursuit. Margot, again, was nowhere to be found.
Megamind’s hands clenched into fists as he realized his entire snack table and all the tasty treats on it had been ruined, and leaping to his feet, he roared at the top of his lungs, “BRAINBOTS! COME TO DADDY!”
The pack of brainbots all stopped in their tracks, turning quickly to heed their master’s call. The one being ridden by the minion, however, seemed to have difficulty directing its flight path, and was the last to respond to Megamind’s unhappy command. Edith and Agnes huddled to the side as Megamind strode forward and ripped the minion off his creation, scolding it, “You behave, or I’ll have you thrown out of my lair along with your buddy!” The minion whimpered and trembled, babbling something incomprehensible, and he tossed it aside in frustration. Turning to his brainbots, he frowned at them, wagging a finger in their faces. “Now what did I tell you? I said to remain at the ceiling! But did you listen to Daddy? No! There will be no fetching tonight. Now get back up there where you belong.” The brainbots all barked at him in a rather sad way, but he gestured firmly towards the ceiling, daring them to defy him. “I said GO! NOW!” They obeyed without another moment’s hesitation, and Megamind sighed as he turned to face the mess that had been made, his shoulders drooping in disappointment.
“I’ll clean it up, Sir,” Minion assured him, hurrying over with a broom and dustpan. Smiling at his blue friend cheerfully, he assured him, “Don’t worry, Sir! We have plenty in reserve. I’ll just set the tables back up and bring out some more. Why don’t you go make yourself a peppermint cocoa? That’ll make you feel better.”
“Thanks, Minion,” Megamind sighed in relief, wiping a hand across his forehead as he tried to relax. “You are one fantastic fish.” Turning to his guests, he apologized again, “It seems this night will be full of surprises, huh? Don’t worry; more snacks are on the way! Hopefully this will be the last disaster of the evening.” Thankfully, everyone laughed again, and Megamind headed off to make himself some hot chocolate, hoping against hope this would be the last time Gru’s girls and his minions would cause trouble at his party…
It wasn’t.
Returning to the party with a steaming cup of cocoa in his hand, Megamind’s eyes immediately began looking for the girls. Unable to find them, he quickened his pace over to Gru and demanded, “Where are the girls? Did you see where they went?”
Gru shook his head, looking entirely embarrassed. “No, I’m afraid I did not…”
Megamind shot him a pointed look. “Will they behave now?”
“Uh…” was all Gru managed to say, an uncertain look on his face as he shrugged, but a loud bang issuing from the other side of the lair drew both his and Megamind’s attention…
As he heard the unmistakable sound of robotic hooves and mechanical bleating heading towards the main room, Megamind’s face went pale. “Oh no…” he groaned, and in a flash he was off, dashing as fast as he could through the crowd towards the sound of an oncoming stampede. He was too late to stop it. A metal gate swung open and about a dozen robotic sheep came charging out, rushing straight into the middle of the party as the guests began to scream and run for cover. His experimental robo-sheep were on the loose…
Doing his best to push his way through the terrified crowd, dodging the uncoordinated movements of bleating, bucking robotic sheep, Megamind quickly made his way towards the control room adjoining the main hall. “Minion!” he shouted desperately over the sound of screams, the fish’s robotic body stomping into the room to join him as they both began to frantically press buttons on the large control panel, Megamind making a mental note of the two girls and two minions trying to slip quietly from the room. Ignoring them for now, he focused his attention on the controls, desperately trying to stop the sheep’s rampage. “Minion! I thought I told you to disassemble the robo-sheep!” he scolded the alien fish sharply.
“I’m sorry, Sir!” Minion cried, pressing buttons as frantically as his master. “I’ve been meaning to get around to it, but we’ve been so busy, and they were just so cute…”
“I don’t want to hear excuses, Minion, I want to see results!” Megamind shouted, and as he hit a final button, he was relieved to see the robo-sheep come to a halt, their systems shutting down as they fell over where they stood. Breathing heavily, he wiped a hand across his brow as he sighed in relief, “Thank goodness they didn’t activate the electrical fleece of doom!” He groaned. “Come on, Minion. Let’s go clean up this mess and try to settle the guests back down…”
Stepping back into the lair’s great hall, Megamind gestured to his guests that it was safe to come back out. As the screams subsided along with the sheep, he apologized for the third time that night, “I, uh… I’m very sorry for the disruption… I am still in the process of dismantling some of my earlier designs, and I’m ashamed to admit this was one of them… It’s safe now; the robo-sheep have been deactivated, and will be removed immediately. Please, don’t be afraid… I won’t let any harm come to you! Let us continue to celebrate, and rest assured I will do everything in my power to make sure nothing like this happens again!”
This time there was no applause to greet him, though the guests all muttered their gratitude for the robo-sheep’s demise, slowly returning from their hiding places to restart the party. Megamind immediately began barking orders to his brainbots, the chattering mechanical creatures swooping in to carry off the robotic sheep at his command, Minion doing his best to tidy up any damage done to the decorations and furniture. Casting a quick glance towards his special nativity scene, Megamind heaved a heavy sigh of relief as he realized it had survived the attack in one piece and remained undamaged. Well, at least that was encouraging.
Once everything had been cleaned up, Megamind spent the next half an hour passing between his guests, making sure they were all right, assuring them he was in control of the situation, and doing his best to cheer them up. Trusting in their blue hero to ensure their safety, it wasn’t long before everyone was laughing happily again, dancing, and just enjoying the party.
Music Man found Megamind soon afterwards alone in a corner, just breathing and looking awfully distressed. “There you are, Little Buddy,” he greeted him warmly, but the blue superhero just looked at him sadly, and he leaned up against the wall beside him. “Some party, huh?”
“This isn’t how I planned it…” Megamind sighed, smiling weakly as he spotted Roxanne heading towards him. His new fiancé wrapped a supportive hand around his waist, her eyes understanding as he groaned, “Everything was supposed to run perfectly tonight… This has just been one disaster after another. I don’t even want to know what those girls or the minions will do next…” He looked worriedly up at Music Man as he admitted awkwardly, “Those robo-sheep were not the only weapons of doom I was in the process of developing back then… What if they release the others? Then we’ll all be in trouble…”
Music Man patted Megamind encouragingly on the shoulder while Roxanne squeezed him tight, but before either could say a word to reassure him, Megamind’s eyes widened as he spotted Edith staring up at his nativity scene, her hand reaching up towards it as Agnes and the minions watched curiously from beside her. His heart in his throat, he darted towards her as quickly as he could, crying desperately, “No! Don’t touch that! You’ll…”
He never got to finish his sentence, Edith’s hand slipping as she dropped the figure of the blue baby Jesus, the ceramic icon crashing to the cement floor and breaking into pieces…
The silence that spread throughout the lair as the guests took notice of what had happened was deafening. The look on Megamind’s face as he fell to his knees to gather the broken figure in his blue hands was heart wrenching. “Break it…” he finally whispered the last two words to his sentence, his voice cracking as he choked. This couldn’t be happening…
Edith froze in shock as she realized what she’d done, her hands flying to her mouth as Gru arrived, frowning as he pulled her back away from Megamind. Shaking her head as she tore out of her adoptive father’s grip, she took a step in towards Megamind, her eyes on his. He wasn’t looking at her… The blue alien’s green eyes were focused entirely on the broken fragments of his most cherished figure as he seemed about to cry… “Megamind, I…” she started to apologize, but the look in his eyes was pained, and she suddenly felt so guilty she couldn’t speak…
Squeezing the pieces of his infant Christ figure tightly in his hand over his heart, Megamind slowly rose to his feet and called to Minion. “Minion… Get me my superglue. We can’t have a Christmas party without its central figure.”
“Right away, Sir…” Minion nodded, casting his best friend a sympathetic gaze, then hurried off to fetch the glue.
When Roxanne arrived at his side and pulled him into her arms, Megamind accepted the embrace gladly, sighing against her as he squeezed her tight. He closed his eyes for a moment, merely savoring her warmth as he drew comfort from her nearness and tried to resist the urge to cry he felt welling up inside of him. Nothing was going as he had planned, and now even his favorite figure of his nativity scene - the one he’d put the most work into, the one that meant the most to him - was broken, its pieces held tightly in his hand. Even Gru was looking at him sympathetically, the party seeming to have come to a halt as every eye watched him sadly. Pulling back from Roxanne’s arms after a moment, Megamind quickly brushed his hand over his eyes, then forced a weak smile onto his lips as he turned to his guests and insisted, “Come on, everyone! This is a party! It’s supposed to be a time of joy and happiness, not mel-on-cholly. Don’t worry, this will be fixed in just a matter of minutes. Don’t stop the music on account of an accident! Go on! Celebrate!”
The guests slowly turned away to go back to the party, but as Gru shook his head at Edith, he couldn’t help but overhear one of the men nearby him mutter to his friend, “Poor Megamind… He’s trying so hard, but those kids keep getting in his way… I feel bad for him. You could see how much of his heart he put into those figures too… A shame the most important one had to break.” Gru’s heart twisted into a knot as he looked over to where Megamind was gluing his figure back together again, Roxanne gently running a soothing hand over his back in an attempt to comfort him. His girls certainly had put the blue hero through a lot in one night… He couldn’t help but feel responsible.
Once the figure was glued back together again and in place, Gru tried to approach him. “Megamind…” he called his name, and the ex-supervillain’s eyes met his. Gru scratched his head and tried to apologize, “I’m really sorry… Uh…”
Edith cut him off before he could finish, “No, Dad… It’s me who should be apologizing.” Turning to face Megamind, she took a few steps towards her hero, Agnes right behind her, both of them looking entirely guilty and as submissive as they could be. Megamind blinked at them. “I’m sorry, Megamind…” Edith apologized sadly, looking up at him through big watery eyes. “I didn’t mean to cause any trouble… I was just curious… Your home is so fascinating! I couldn’t help myself. I’m sorry…”
“I’m sorry too…” Agnes pouted, taking Megamind’s hand in hers. “Can you forgive us?”
Megamind stared down at the little girl holding his hand, unsure how to feel about everything that had happened. The girls… No, the minions had caused him so much trouble, had almost wrecked his party and frightened his guests…They’d had him running ragged trying to clean up after them since they got here, and had strung these girls along for the ride. Now his favorite figure in his centerpiece had been broken… Edith and Agnes were asking him to forgive them, Gru busily scolding the two yellow creations of science and banishing them from the party to wait outside instead. He blinked as he spotted Margot nearby, her eyes hopeful and distressed, and realized the older girl had had no part in any of this, but wanted desperately for everyone to get along. Glancing back down to Edith and Agnes, he was surprised to see tears threatening to form in Agnes’s big brown eyes, her lower lip trembling, and his heart melted. Kneeling down to her level, he placed a hand on her shoulder as he gestured for Edith to come closer so he could do the same to her. Looking back and forth from one girl’s eyes to the other’s, he insisted seriously, “Listen, I’m a hero… I believe in second chances. I know that most of the trouble here was probably not your fault, but Dave and Phil’s… Am I right?” The girls nodded. “Then don’t worry. I forgive you. But I do have to ask you to try to be more careful, all right? I did my best to make sure this place was safe enough, but you seem to have a knack for finding things you shouldn’t be getting into. I’m trying to have a party here, and I can’t enjoy that if I’m having to worry about what you’re getting into and who it might hurt. Do you understand?”
Both girls nodded and chorused in unison, “Yes, Mr. Megamind.”
Megamind smiled at them, then gave them both a little push as he suggested, “Good! Now go enjoy yourselves - but be good! I hear Santa will be here in a few minutes, and you don’t want him to think you’ve been bad, do you? I hear he’s bringing gifts, and I’d like to see you get them!”
Both girls’ eyes lit up as they exclaimed together, “Yay! Presents!” and trotted off to get some candy canes. Gru heaved a heavy sigh of relief.
“Thank you, Megamind,” Megamind heard a soft voice speak up from beside him, and blinked as he noticed Margot standing awkwardly beside him. “I know my sisters can be a little… troublesome at times, but they mean well. I’m just sorry your figure got broken… It was very beautiful.”
“Thank you,” Megamind sighed, smiling softly. “I worked very hard on it.”
“I could tell,” Margot smiled at him. “I’m glad you were able to fix it. It’s the perfect centerpiece.” She turned to follow her sisters, but paused to call back, blushing softly, “Don’t worry, I’ll do my best to keep Edith and Agnes out of any further trouble. I’d hate to see them receive coal from Santa.” Without another word, she hurried after her sisters.
“I really am sorry, Megamind…” Gru apologized guiltily, an almost helpless look on his face as he moved to stand before the superhero. “You grow to love them though, I swear… They really are very sweet.”
“I’m sure they are,” Megamind chuckled, then gestured for Gru and Roxanne to follow him. “Now come on. Let’s go get ready for Santa Clause’s big entrance.”